"That's a load of bull!" Gus burst out, his laughter bouncing off the cozy walls of the small diner.
"Yeah, Tony. That's not how it went down at all," Vinny chimed in, a grin spreading across his face.
Tony leaned back in his chair, swirling the ice in his glass. "Alright, then spill the beans. What really happened?"
Gus shot Tony a playful glare, trying to stifle his laughter. "Come on, Tony, I'm not playing your game."
Tony chuckled, shaking his head. "You're a real character, Gus. Vinny, what's the scoop?"
"We got ourselves another Rossi problem," Vinny sighed.
Gus sat up straight, a frown creasing his forehead. "Rossi again? How much did he stiff us for this time?"
"The whole damn tab," Vinny replied, his expression grim.
Gus slammed his hand on the table. "The whole thing?"
He glanced around the diner, his mind racing. "Tony, get the car ready."
Tony quickly finished his drink and rose from his seat to fetch the car keys.
"Sammy!" Gus called out over his shoulder.
A tall, sharply dressed man hurried over to their table.
"Gus?"
"You got a smoke?" Gus asked, his voice calm despite the urgency in his demeanor.
Sammy reached into his pocket, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. With a nod, he offered it to Gus.
Gus took a cigarette, then hesitated before accepting another. "Thanks," he muttered, tucking them into his shirt pocket.
"You're welcome, Gus," Sammy replied before heading back to the counter.
"Can't stand that guy," Gus murmured. "Talks like he's got a screw loose." Despite his annoyance, he chuckled softly, though a sharp pain shot through his side.
"Let's get moving. Tony's waiting," Gus declared, pushing himself up from the table.
As Gus and Vinny exited the diner, they found Tony waiting by the rear driver's door, already open for Gus. Gus climbed into the car while Vinny walked around to the passenger seat.
"Why can't Rossi just pay what he owes?" Gus grumbled, pulling a cigarette from his shirt pocket and placing it between his lips. "I'm not asking for the world."
Gus patted his pockets, searching for a lighter. "Vinny, got a light?"
Vinny reached behind the seat to retrieve a lighter and flicked it, igniting Gus's cigarette.
"Thanks," Gus muttered, taking a few puffs.
"Maybe business is slow for him?" Tony offered as he pulled away from the curb.
"All year?" Gus shot back, disbelief evident in his tone.
Tony fell silent, his focus on navigating the streets.
"I don't want to have to resort to drastic measures," Gus admitted, exhaling a cloud of smoke. "I've always liked Rossi... but he's not leaving me much choice."
"What else can you do?" Vinny asked, his voice tinged with concern.
Gus remained silent, his gaze fixed on the passing scenery outside the window, lost in thought.
"Remember Beans?" Gus asked the car, his voice carrying a tinge of nostalgia.
"Beans?" Tony echoed, trying to jog his memory.
"Tall guy, slick hair? Used to run with Sonny's crew back in the day..." Gus prompted, eyes fixed on the road ahead.
"Oh yeah, Beans. I remember him now. What about him?" Tony recalled.
"Beans had a brother named Larry," Gus continued, taking a drag from his cigarette. "Larry owes me twenty grand as of yesterday."
Tony's expression softened. "Oh, I see."
"Anyway, Beans fell off a boat a few years back," Gus added casually, his tone belying the gravity of the situation.
"Oh," Tony murmured, understanding the unspoken implications.
"I heard Little Larry moved out to Minnesota or something after Beans passed," Vinny chimed in from the passenger seat.
"Yeah, he did. But he's making a return trip for his sister's wedding," Gus explained.
"Vicky's getting married?" Tony asked, surprised.
"No, not Vicky. The other one," Gus clarified, a hint of amusement in his voice.
Vinny twisted around in his seat to gauge Gus's expression, realizing he wasn't joking.
"Who's the unlucky groom?" Tony inquired, intrigued.
"Some hotshot lawyer from Manhattan," Gus replied, his tone dripping with disdain.
"When's the wedding?" Vinny inquired, breaking the momentary silence.
"Today," Gus replied tersely.
"We're here," Tony announced, pulling the car to a stop in front of a quaint flower shop.
"What's the plan?" Vinny turned to Gus, anticipation evident in his voice.
"First, we deal with this Rossi mess..." Gus began, only to be interrupted by Tony.
"And what's the plan for that?" Tony interjected, his tone expectant.
Gus paused, considering his words carefully.
"Let's go," Gus declared, swinging the car door open and stepping out onto the street, with Tony and Vinny following suit.

You know, sometimes life feels like an unending spiral of frustration and heartache. Dating after a divorce? It’s like piecing together a shattered mirror, constantly cutting yourself on the sharp edges of past trauma. Everyone says, "Just get back out there," but how? How do you even start when the weight of your past clings to you, refusing to let go? Flirting feels foreign, like I've forgotten how to speak a language I once knew fluently. And hooking up? It’s not just about the physical act—it's the emotional barriers that feel insurmountable.
I put in the effort to look good, to project confidence. But just when I think I’m making headway, life throws another curveball. This week, it was getting laid off. Perfect timing, right? Just another blow to my already fragile self-esteem. It feels like life delights in kicking me when I’m down. I want to rebuild myself, to believe that things will get better, but the weight of it all is so crushing. It’s exhausting.
The loneliness is suffocating. Sometimes, all I crave is someone to hold me, to whisper that it’s going to be okay. But even that seems impossible now. Trust? It’s a foreign concept. Every time I start to let someone in, fear grips me, reminding me of past betrayals. It’s a vicious cycle, a never-ending loop of hope and despair that I can’t escape.
Is it too much to ask for a moment of respite? Just one moment where I can breathe without feeling the crushing weight of everything going wrong? I need something to go right. Just once. Something to remind me that it won’t always be this hard.
And let me make one thing clear: I’m not saying this for sympathy. I just need to get this off my chest, to scream into the void and hope that maybe, somehow, things will change.

I met my twin flame in August. She had a boyfriend, and was moving to New York with him in December. But as soon as we were in the same room our eyes were locked onto each other, and we magnetized to each other until she ended the romance because she was moving to New York with him and I cut off all contact because I knew I could never be "friends" with the person I wanted spend my life with. So while she was the one that asked me to stop bringing her flowers, poems, and gifts, I am the one that said don't text or contact each other well never speak again. Sometimes I regret saying that but it felt like it was the right thing to say then so oh well.
Now it has been 6 months (we stopped talking in November). I am still just as in love with her now as I was then. I reject every girl that comes into my life because they don't compare (if I found someone who made me feel this way I would date them, but nobody has). It feels like the universe has not brought me a new person, but also not letting me move on. I think about her constantly. Dream about her. I still make gifts for her and dedicate artwork and all of my accomplishments to her. I know what I want.
My question is this. What do I do? I have paid attention to the twin flame journey. I am in therapy. I am focusing on improving myself and healing. I am looking inside and understanding who I am and how I relate to the world. But that doesn't change the fact that she is the girl I love and I want to be with her. I could reach out to her. I don't think I would change her mind (we have been no contact since November 28). She seems to have dived deeper into the 3d to avoid acknowledging the connection we share. So I know better than to think I can change that. But I hate this feeling of no agency, of being powerless and dreaming of a reconnection.
I want to surrender. i read about the people who have and I'm jealous. I've tried to surrender actively and passively. I ground myself in nature and try to reconnect with my inner child. But I feel completely powerless because this need for her almost feels like its happening to me. I fear that I will never move on. I know that I will either move on, she will come back, or I wont move on. I hope that she comes back. Does it make sense to not try to reconnect and just let her be? Does it make sense to never reach out and let her come back to me only? I feel very overwhelmed and like I don't have the tools to ever make sense of what happened to me in the fall.
TLDR: I have been 6 months no contact with my TF, and am considering reaching out just to tell her I still feel the same way. That feels like a lack of self respect. Looking for guidance on how to move forward.

I have an old non-Muslim friend from college who I started to feel was less my friend as we got older. He would sometimes talk about me when not around, and be snoopy through stuff of mine. I cut ties when he hung out with someone who threatened me after i made it clear i wanted no parts with the person. Long story short, we do not hang out much at all, but he’ll come over here and there due to mutual friends maybe a couple times a year. (I am in America so people have bf/gf often).
Anyways, recently I went to a friends party, some people were Muslim, most weren’t. I did not want to go, but I showed up to be supportive. Apparently, one of the girls there was my old friend’s spouse. She knew of me, saying he mentioned me all the time, but I knew nothing of her. She was hurt by the fact that I did not know her and that she wasn’t mentioned. I tried to assure her that my old friend didn’t mention her because we don’t talk much and she felt better. However, later that night, one of the guys there told me he was leaving to hang out with a girl, when he said it she walked up to him and left with another guy as he put her hand around her shoulder. I was shocked and didn’t know what to do so I avoided it.
I said nothing of this to my old friend. It just feels like drama and I want no parts. I guess I’m just asking if there is anyone who can reference Quran or a scholar that may know the best way to go about this from some sort of Hadith or anything. Again, I am American so people date here. I have been doing Istighfar daily but I want to make sure it is okay for me to avoid this. My old friend called me a day later saying how much he likes her and introduced her to his parents.

I was with my first love for 3 and a bit years, we met in late 2010 before we broke up 10 years ago in early 2014. We were young and in our early 20s back then, things just fizzled out.
I've always thought about her but eventually we went our separate ways, she got in to a relationship with another guy after me for a few years but eventually he ended up cheating on her, this was around 2017.
After her breakup in 2017 I confessed my feelings for her but we didn't go anywhere with it as she was still healing so I told her I need to cut her off at the point because I told her I was struggling to be just friends with her, to which she said that she was heartbroken that's it come to us parting ways. But we wished each other well and went our separate ways. I was really at my lowest at that point but have come a really long way since in terms of having a successful career and have improved a lot financially and mentally.
At the start of 2019, she did add me on social media but she didn't say anything to me so a few days later I ended up deleting her because I realised I still wasn't over her, I regretted deleting her afterwards.
At the end of 2019 I heard that she was engaged, she ended up getting married but then I heard she got divorced around a year and a half ago. A few monthds ago I found out that the reason for her divorce was because her husband cheated on her and was abusive towards her. They got divorced around early 2022.
As for me I did get in to another relationship with someone else but I was also cheated on so I have been single for a few years now, I have been evolving in my career and proud of how far I've come and have recently started a new chapter in my career. I considered getting in touch with her a few months ago but I noticed that she had cut off a lot of people from her social media so I wasnt too sure how she'd react to me adding her, I thought she'd reject me seen as she's cutting off a lot of people.
So around 3 months ago I took the plunge seen as I had nothing to lose and sent her a request on instagram, and she has accepted and also followed me back. She's been viewing my stories and a month ago I posted a life quote on my story which she liked, I haven't spoke to her yet. I posted a few pictures of myself which she hasn't liked but A few weeks ago I posted a quote on my story that said 'be the reason for someone's pain to turn into a smile', she liked that quote and also another one that I posted last week. It was my birthday a few days ago and she liked a birthday story that I posted on instagram. I'm limiting the amount of posts that I like of hers because I don't want to seem too forward.
I'm assuming she is single but not entirely sure. I added her 3 months ago but she deleted me, I was confused because she only liked one of my stories few days prior. I would have liked to see if there was future for us but don't think she's interested now, i have messaged her saying 'Hi, hope your well. I probably should have said something a long time ago but I didn't, my fault. I've been praying for you, today I realise I've been deleted anyways I hope your keeping happy and healthy'. She replied saying 'Hey I'm good thanks hope you are too, that is kind of you, I didn't expect this kind of message'.
I didn't really know what to say back to her, I still don't understand why she deleted me even though days before she was showing an interest in my stories before and now she's deleted me. I have just replied saying 'that's good. Sorry for catching you off guard with it, I wanted to reach out to you earlier. I'm glad your doing well though' and now she has replied back saying 'can I ask why?' I replied back saying 'It's been on my mind for a while to get back in touch with you, I didn't add you for no reason. But we don't need to if it's not something your comfortable with'. She has now sent a long message as follows: 'You don’t make me feel uncomfortable. I have thought about you over the years and wished you well.
I removed you because you have my ex and his family on your instagram and I removed everyone who has any contact with them. You will have heard that I was married there for a short period of time but it was hell and now I’m out of it I don’t want them knowing anything about my life, so I removed everyone who has any link with them. I didn’t realise till that day that you did. It was nothing to do with you personally.' .
Im not actually friends with her ex husband as he is just someone that lives nearby to me and we have never spoken so I have now replied with this: 'I'm sorry that you had to go through that, I hope your okay and I pray god brings you ease. I wouldn't exactly say I have anything to do with them personally though, only thing I know about them is that they're from my area too. It makes sense now and it's understandable why you did that.'
She has replied back again saying 'I'm great, God is the best of planners and it was the best thing for me. Even so, I removed everyone who had us both so sorry about that' and to which I have replied 'That's fair enough, I'm glad to hear your doing well though and that your at peace now. That's what matters most'. She had now asked 'how have you been, what's new with you?' I have just replied saying 'I'm not too bad thanks, life's changed a lot since we last spoke so there's quite a lot that's new lol'. That was few nights ago, and after that we were speaking generally about the holiday that I'm currently on and what to do as she has been here before too and she also asked how long I'm there for, it was in general a short and civilised conversation.
She ended the conversation 6 nights ago by liking my last message, I don't know if she plans to message me again as she did take a few hours to reply between each message, What are the chances that she'll message me even if we don't follow each other on instagram anymore. I am slightly anxious that she won't message me after this due to her deleting me because her ex is on my Instagram. Was thinking of just giving her space for a few more days, then deleting her ex and requesting her back in around a weeks time.

So my son’s almost 10. It was always easy for him to make friends, full of positive energy and all that. We’ve moved from London to Glasgow 3 years ago and now he’s having some hard time. Kids keep picking on him cuz of his (American) accent, different style, earrings, dyed hair and all that. The thing is he’s very emotional and gives them reactions so they keep doing it. One kids whole life revolves around bullying my son. They’re always on the streets and my son isn’t. They have plenty of free unsupervised time and no goals. I think that’s the main reason why kids do what they’re doing. My son had long purple hair previously and cut them because of his bullies. They’ll be telling him he’s gay cause of his earrings too. I keep telling him to not let them destroy his creativity. Why do people want everyone to just be like them, that’s so boring. I’m considering moving to a different, more diverse area. One of his bullies was kicking our front door few times a week until he was told to stop. My son’s struggling mentally now and I don’t know how to help him. He always has hobbies he picks himself, now it’s swimming and coding (which he absolutely loves and even made a few wee games) and he taught his classmates some little coding too. He goes to boxing classes sometimes too and he knows how to punch. He’s a pacifist tho and he doesn’t want to fight. He just gets emotional and he keeps saying he’s gonna kill him self. I have adhd too and tried to delete myself in the past too so I know how difficult it is now for him. Is there anything we could do about his confidence? How’s he going to learn to protect himself? I’m terrified Thanks In advance and sorry if I’m not making much sense.

So I usually try to mow my yard around every 2ish weeks. I’ll be the first to admit the yard got a little crazy in the back but the front wasn’t too bad. Not the worst yard on the street. Thing is, it rained a good bit. I have a fenced in backyard with the exception of a gate that I’ve been scheduling with my dad to work on that project together sometime this summer. My neighbors backyards are all fenced in. Each time I had planned to cut it myself last week it would rain. I then had to go out of town for Mother’s Day weekend. We do not have a HOA, no fees, or anything. These neighbors aren’t super friendly and mostly keep to themselves. We haven’t had much of a conversation.
I came back home Sunday night thinking I can cut it. Saw my neighbor had just cut his too so I felt it would be good to sync our yards so that they lined up nicely! However, the neighbors had a Mother’s Day party in their backyard that night. So I felt that it was best not to run the lawnmower as it would disturb their party. I did quiet yard work instead. They did not see me, I don’t think. So they don’t know all of this planning I had.
I decided I’d cut it within the next few days as I had the time. I left my house last night at 5:20. I saw the neighbors outside on their porch like usual as I was leaving. I came back by 7:30 to a fully fresh mowed yard…a little confused as I initially thought it was a mistake by a yard service. You could tell there were tractor marks. My neighbors have a tractor. I knew they were home so I thought they’d know what had happened. So I decided to send them a text saying hey hate to bother you guys. Hope y’all are well. I was planning to mow the yard this week but was surprised to see it done. I was wondering if you had seen anyone out here?
They replied that they did it because their toddler likes to ride the tractor with the dad and they wanted to do something nice. Hoped I didn’t mind.
I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t sure how I felt since it was a nice gesture but they didn’t ask me first. I wouldn’t alter someone else’s property without asking if they wanted the help first because I don’t think it’s the right thing to do. Plus it’s sorta trespassing to me. What if they had gotten hurt or something on my yard.
I ended up responding by saying “I appreciate the gesture and was going to take care of it. I know you meant well. In the future, I would appreciate if you ask me first.” I really just didn’t want them thinking they could do whatever they wanted to my house and I probably would’ve paid him if he had asked me first. Maybe it was an asshole response on my part but I was a bit annoyed by the situation.
They apologize for not asking first. I thanked them again and complimented them on their yard. We traded a few more texts and I think we’re good now. I appreciate the help but I feel bad for not looking responsible.
Sigh….Here we go.
Am I the asshole?

So I (now 23f) was dating my ex boyfriend (now25m) in Oct 2018 till Sept 2020 roughly 2 years. Let’s call him Blake. I had moved to a new country for college, where I met him. We had one of those relationships where everything was great, we were quite compatible and happy together. We rarely fought. But, we broke up because we wanted different things in life and it made sense to breakup then than later which would’ve caused us both more hurt. However, he changed completely after our breakup and became very bitter. He became very rude towards me and cut all contact. I was hurt and upset over this but thought it was his coping mechanism. We all returned to college in Sept’20 when social distancing protocols were in place. But I found out he had started dating my ex best friend, let’s call her Sarah. (Important Context: She was a narcissistic self serving person who couldn’t see me being friends with anyone but her and tried controlling me which I couldn’t stand. So I distanced myself from her. None of our friends liked her and kept their distance from her. Blake hated Sarah especially and even mocked her in front of all our friends.) So when Blake and Sarah started dating, all of our friends reached out to me and asked me what’s happening? I told them all if you find out, let me know as well. So after we broke up, I still had some stuff at Blake’s place (we had to head back to our country during Covid lockdown in Mar-20) so I sent my best friend to pick my stuff up from his place. He made her wait outside for 30 mins- mind you she had already told him a week in advance that she’ll be coming to collect mystuff and also pinged him the morning of for the same. I didn’t let it bother me and tried to move on.
It was in September-21 when Sarah reached out to me on WhatsApp with a huge text as to how evil I am and how I should stop texting with Blake. I just asked her what she was on about? I hadn’t spoken to him in a year? And I just blocked her because I actually forgot she existed, I was just so calm and happy in my own life that I wasn’t even interested in these two. That was actually the day I had a date planned and I instantly blocked her before she could further piss me off.
Fast forward to January 2022, Blake’s bestfriend randomly pings me on Instagram and makes small talk that lasted upto 3/4 days (I take a lot of time to respond to msgs). Then he told him to talk to Blake. I was surprised and asked him wasn’t he dating Sarah? He said I think he’s not happy and that I should please talk to him. I found it very troubling because Blake’s bestfriend is a “no-nonsense” kinda person and wouldn’t have texted if it wasn’t an emergency. So I reached to Blake on WhatsApp after Sept-20 for the first time. He sounded low and said it’s wrong that he’s talking to me because he’s still with Sarah but only and truly loves me. He wanted to breakup with her but she won’t let him and all sorts of “I only love you. I’ve only ever truly been happy with you. I still look at our pictures” and he also described a lot of things that I did for him that he loved and how happy it made him and at one point he cried and I just muted the phone and chuckled because I didn’t remember any of it because I kinda forgot all about him. I took a whole year to process this breakup and work upon myself and my mental health. He was hurt that I don’t miss him. And he even said that this means I didn’t truly love him. He was the one who started dating someone else in the 1st place. So what does that say about him?
He has mostly recently sent me an email (3page long) from his work address confessing his love for me. I don’t even know what to say. (This was yesterday)
Would I be wrong to just ignore it?

I thought it would be a fun idea to write out my headcanons for the other, unmentioned settlements/cities in the New California Republic. As a SoCal native, I thought it would also be fun seeing how some notable cities in the region would look in the fallout universe. I’ve only included places in Southern California because I honestly don’t have too much detailed knowledge about central/northern CA cities.
I tried fitting it in with the lore at the time of New Vegas in 2281, but there might be a few mistakes here and there.

San Diego Area

-Camp Pendleton: Controlled by one of the largest Raider groups of SoCal, cutting off entry to the San Diego area from the 5 Freeway. Uses restored Vertiberds, Power Armor, and APCs left over by the Marines after the war. Because of this, they are an extremely valuable target for the Brotherhood of Steel, though they have not launched a full-scale attack due to fears of high casualties. This, along with manpower shortages in the region due to the the situation in the Mojave, has prevented the NCR from conducting operations as well. Many in the San Diego area have discussed creating a temporary alliance between Settlers/NCR, the BOS, and the Temecula Super Mutants, though the feasibility of that seems a bit low.
-Escondido: Settlement located along the former 15 freeway and acts as a trade settlement on the way to San Diego. Population: 400. Facing raider attacks from nearby Camp Pendleton and feeling like they’ve been failed by the NCR, some local leaders have considered asking the Temecula Super Mutants to assist in a joint assault on the camp. Population: 500.
-San Diego: Though one of the founding states of the New California Republic, San Diego, now known as Dayglow, is severely underfunded and underdefended compared to other States. Some say this is because of its distance from the capital, others says its because of continued discriminiation towards Ghouls and Super Mutants who helped found the settlement. Despite this, it still operates as a thriving scrap hub and exports many of the materials used by NCR soldiers, vehicles, and machinery. Many smaller settlements still exist in areas farther from downtown, the most major of which include El Cajon, Chula Vista, and Miramar. The latter is the main NCR facility in the area, and has been requesting additional support from Shady Sands to help defeat the Camp Pendleton Raiders. Though having the threat of Raiders in the northwest as well as threats of increased radiation exposure from the Glow in the northeast, many of these settlements are some of the most advanced in the NCR due to the pre-war governance and technology maintained by the descendants of Vault 72. Located near Balboa Park, Vault 72 is the only known vault in the area. Though initially an experiment vault, like Vault 81 in the Commonwealth, its operations were cut short, in this case after a mutiny against the scientists and Overseer by the inhabitants, many of whom were Ex-military due to the Vault’s close distance to the San Diego Navy Yards. For the next century and a half, Vault 72 acted as a control vault. Eventually, its systems started to fail, and many of its inhabitants exited the vault in search of new settlements, bringing the technology and infrastructure found in the vaults with them. As the New California Republic expands, there have been rumors among NCR soldiers about restoring some of the abandoned Navy ships in the former San Diego harbor, though nothing has been completely confirmed. The Brotherhood of Steel also seeks to acquire former military technology in the area, but has been unable to do so.

Inland Empire

-Riverside: Home to “Rubidoux,” a mid-sized NCR town with a population of about 1,000. Located on the base of Mt. Rubidoux. The Mission Inn, located in the former downtown, is now utilized as an NCR armory and base. Possible plans to rebuild more of downtown have been discussed by local leaders, but not implemented. Vault 54 is located near Rubidoux on the base of Box Springs Mountain. It is a rare control vault with around 800 living citizens, and has been frequently trading with the nearby Rubidoux settlement since its opening in around 2245.
-San Bernardino: Took the most nuclear strikes out of all cities in SoCal’s Inland Empire during the Great War. Due to this, Feral Ghoul encounters are common in the area, though their population has been dwindling in recent years due to Rubidoux settlers and NCR forces slowly clearing up the area, mainly to help caravans from the area safely travel the 215 freeway to reach high desert settlements.
-Temecula: Reclaimed by former Master Super Mutants into a small settlement, population of 50. Do not mind caravans using the former 15 freeway that goes through the city to reach the San Diego area.
-Hemet: Thriving farm town. Decently isolated from the SoCal sprawl, Hemet is relatively sleepy and peaceful. Supplies a decent amount of crops to the IE region. Nothing really interesting about it besides that. Population: 300.

Desert Regions

-Idyllwild: Used as a training ground for NCR soldiers due to its isolation in the mountains.
-Palm Springs: Run by the remnants of the Agua-Caliente, Cabazon, and Morongo Native American Tribes. Due to its strategic prominence, being south of the Mojave and west of Arizona, as well as its proximity to the Idyllwild training grounds and routes to Shady Sands, it has become popular with many NCR higher-ups, many of whom own second homes in the town. Population: 1,000. Vault 93: Located in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains. Experimental vault studying the effects of celebrity influence. A dozen celebrities were selected among the 900 civilians who entered the vault, where factions aligning with each of them divided up the leadership inside. No holotapes have been found showing what happened next, though it is to assume that whatever played out led to Vault 93 being opened and vacated. Though considered by the NCR to be repurposed, it sits abandoned, now silently overlooking the Sonoran wastes.

Orange County

-Huntington Beach: Inhabited by the descendants of the Children of the Cathedral, who founded a settlement in what was Huntington Beach after the destruction of the Cathedral in Long Beach and the end of the Unity project in 2162. Though they tend to keep to themselves, there are still some devout Unity believers who kidnap caravans travelling along the former 405 freeway in order to adopt them into the cult and keep the population afloat (They don’t have any FEV to make Super Mutants). Population: 100.
-Irvine: Largely an NCR base centered around the former John Wayne Airport, though there are a decent amount of civilians who have set up shop to cater to the large soldier population. The 452nd Battalion is stationed at the airport, though their numbers have dwindled due to transfers to the Mojave. This has made them unable to respond to the Camp Pendleton Raiders. Population (including soldiers): 2,000.
-San Clemente: A “Ghoul only” settlement ran by wealthy pre-war Ghouls who maintain the area. Despite the exclusivity, it has maintained a population of over 1,000 mainly by bringing in other Ghouls from Orange County and the surrounding area. Mainly keeps to themselves though they accept caravans for trade, though less have been showing up due to the threat of the Camp Pendelton Raiders.

*Management style:
Not democratic/participative. Not transformational. Not Coaching. Very much Autocratic/Authoritative/Coercive. Sometimes Laissez-faire. Style depends on the department.
*Chain of command:
The ministry is seen as a church by top management. Top management are the “elders” and the CEO is the Senior Pastor. Then there is everybody else. So, confidence is put on their positions of authority. They are, in all sense and purposes, the “spiritual leaders”. They present themselves as having spiritual authority and, therefore, as being entitled to receive immediate agreement and unquestioned compliance.
Also, there are multiple management layers or chains which this quote sums up as well:
"When you become an admiral, you never have bad meals and you never hear the truth. there are all these layers of management and buffer layers and each one is afraid to tell unpleasant truth to the top levels.... “
Not a culture of authenticity where everyone on the team, including management, is encouraged, and expected to be who they are. There is a sense that top management puts up a false front, they seem to want to appear perfect. Illusions of invulnerability exist. They always lead well, they always make the right decisions, they never admit mistakes, etc. Want people to think they got it all together- all rainbows and lollipops. Do not exhibit vulnerability. Toxic positivity is also very much present: Everything is seen as “awesome”. So, there is judgment if you have a bad (not "everything is awesome") day.
The vertical chain of command, results in less collaboration, slow communication, lack of career growth, feelings of subordination, and decreased employee empowerment. Top management sets the rules and standards without any input from the “bottom” employees. Employee questions, concerns or ideas have to go up several steps of the chain of command so that upper management can address or approve. The bottom employees do not have the ability to make decisions related to their work or a particular situation. So, not everyone feels equal.
So, if you are not a spiritual leader, you are just basically told to submit and listen to those who are in authority over you because they are the people that “hear from God” and you are not and so whatever they say goes. And they set up a scenario where they basically kept those of us who were not spiritual leaders dependent upon them.
Many in management are overconfident and overestimate their abilities. They have a simple idea of how things are and how things work. Unfortunately, they make decisions that impact entire departments without gaining the needed knowledge.
The chain of command and lack of ongoing training also results in many employees being promoted so much that they max out their competence and will remain there until they leave or are let go. So, you end up with many in the role of management that lack the training and competence of the respective department. So, employees with the most authority are often not the most experienced and not adept in the particular field leading team members. And employees with the most experience and skills and knowledge and wisdom have the least (or no) authority.
Good leaders don’t always claim the “leader” title. Oftentimes, good leaders are those with more understated temperaments. Leadership is as much about listening as it is about telling. However, people with the most open and receptive personalities often do not have much authority.
Also, how the chain of command should operate when there is a unit that acted without proper authorization, it is not a junior authority who’s going to bear a responsibility for that, but somewhat of more senior status. And that’s true in any military or business or ministry operating by a code of ethics. So, if someone at the bottom of the chain is struggling, failing, or making mistakes, those at the top of the chain bear full responsibility. Everything stands or falls on leadership. Unfortunately, the chain at FCBH is not two directional.
There is also a sense that top management promotes employees who are least-competent but pose no risk to their own position (in-group bias) to management.
*Feedback:
Work environment or culture is not set up for employees to give honest feedback/opinions or to deliver bad news or to question or disagree with management.
Sample bias is also common. Management will send an email asking for feedback but they won't consider how only the people who are open to talking and sharing their opinions will participate while others won’t. Bias arises because employees with specific characteristics (e.g., extroverts) might be more likely to agree to participate than others, making the participants a non-representative sample. People with strong opinions or substantial knowledge about a specific topic may be more willing to give feedback than those without. Management does not follow up to determine why they are unresponsive or follow up frequently to reduce attrition.
Management claims they want to hear from employees, but they only want opinions and ideas on matters that are superficial or trivial. So, few employees give candid feedback on important and significant matters.
Top management does not involve employees in the change process when changes occur.
Management does not ask for honest feedback on their leadership or on decisions that are made that affect employees. Management will not ask how they are doing as leaders, what employees need from them. No regular check-ins or 1:1 on employees’ professional and personal well-being. Are employees stressed, disappointed or feeling burdened physically, emotionally or spiritually? No growth and career discussions.
Management will ignore most feedback, comments, suggestions even when it's common knowledge but will adamantly listen to employees who preface with "God told me to tell you..." Or “I felt God say …” or “God spoke to me and said…”
For example, management started focusing on Gen Z only after a few people claimed that “God told us that Gen Z are important for our future business growth.” In another instance, someone said “God gave us this word: we as a ministry need to really consider how everyone is wired, how each person is different. How people have different personalities.” Then, management affirmed this “word from God.”
If one employee brings something up to management it is often ignored and the employee is gaslighted. If two or more employees bring the same thing to management, then God is communicating something and they take it seriously (per Matt 18). Even if it is just coincidence or frequency bias.
*Groupthink/Conformity:
Groupthink, confirmation bias, in-group bias, illusions of unanimity, and self-censorship is very prevalent in the culture and especially in their meetings. There is a lot of direct pressure to not question, to conform, to agree with the views and personal convictions of the top management. Employees condemn those who disagree or question top management and they accept those who agree, creating immense pressure for conformity.
So, many employees frequently remain quiet, preferring to “keep the peace” rather than disrupt the uniformity. Employees are pressured to hide problematic information (especially from top management).
*Disagreements/Different perspectives:
Top management will also point out the working and living conditions of international employees to “encourage” local employees to not “complain” or give critical feedback or bring up legitimate problems (e.g., fumes or loud noises from construction in the building).
Management also often commits the "ends (or goals or vision) justify the means" fallacy: the work, the production and distribution of bibles (the ends) being done is more important, so employees shouldn't complain at all about the means or their working conditions (broken chairs, broken or inadequate equipment, poor work-life balance, bad management).
And, if management disagrees with you, with your observations, feedback, suggestions, or theology, they will often try to trump you with spirituality or vague meaningless spiritual terminology instead of using Scripture (properly interpreted), facts and reasoning.
In addition, top managers will take great offense when employees question or disagree with the directions and decisions they make. Dissent is not welcomed. Respectful debates/disagreement is not encouraged. Open discussion and alternative perspectives are not encouraged. Management does not value, support, or respect diverse opinions and ideas. They do not actively seek out different viewpoints. Do not allow people to speak their perspective, their thought of mind. So, there is no psychological safety. Employees do not feel comfortable expressing dissenting opinions without fear of retribution or judgment. Afraid of breaking the little glass image. People do not feel comfortable sharing setbacks, mistakes, failures. Management does not encourage open communication. Management often seeks agreement, instead of posing honest questions that challenge the status quo and provoke critical thinking and discussion. They do not encourage employees to challenge them. In fact, they are seen as a type of complaining or critical feedback and so are viewed as sin. This makes top management seem self-centered.
*Appeals to emotion: Guilt and Shame:
Top management often shares their personal opinions and convictions (e.g., spending money only when absolutely necessary, not accepting large gifts, not buying fancy items) as something everyone should do. It’s never direct. It's always through stories. Management loves stories. The personal convictions of management are presented as more than preferences.
For instance, top management encourages extreme frugality and poverty through their personal anecdotes #loudbudgeting and stories from international cultures. Think along the lines of: “we, here in America, have no right to be sad or to complain about things or to request better things or ask for accommodations or for more employee engagement because others (internationals) have it much worse.” Even wanting better equipment and supplies or asking for better working conditions is frowned upon (in some cases seen as a sin), even if your request helps you to do your job more effectively and makes the work better (a new whiteboard, a new office chair, better computers, etc.)
Example: “You should really try to come in to work even if you feel bad, even if you are snowed in and the roads are hazardous because people need to get our bibles. And our international employees work in much harsher conditions.”
You also get this feeling from the way they communicate that top management would rather not pay their employees. They would prefer it if everyone just worked for free because “we are on a mission from God. We are doing the Lord's work.” There is also a sense that employees should be more than willing to sacrifice their well-being, career goals, financial goals, personal goals for reaching people with their Bibles.
Leadership sets the example and expectations, so this all ends up making employees confused and feeling guilty and ashamed. Guilty and shameful about asks, spending money (even their own). Guilty and shameful about having nice things (new car, new phone, new tv), about making needs known, about sharing concerns regarding work, about asking for raises to keep up with cost of living, etc.
Example: An employee has continued to use an old whiteboard. It is so old it is hard to read and difficult to erase. Management likes to tell donors: “We don't spend money on everyday things like whiteboards…. Instead, we use that money for more bible recordings, for people to hear about Jesus.”
This also causes confusion. Every few months there is a meeting where management discusses how sitting on stores of money is bad, but spending it is also bad, but also not spending it is bad... "Being rich is bad. Money is bad. let's not accumulate money, that's bad. We must think about how people will see what we have. So we should look poor and not appear too frivolous." But top management is okay with receiving gifts from donors and other ministries. Management personally does not like to have nice “fancy” things, and as a ministry, they say FCBH should also not have nice fancy things, they should use the money for other more important things. They don't like when other ministries use their money for nice fancy things, but it's okay if other ministries give FCBH nice fancy things like tote bags, key chains, mugs, phone holders, lunch bags. Another example, it took them years to repaint the parking lot. It was at the point where people did not know where to park. Before repainting, management decided to remodel the hallways and install posters and multiple monitors with language stats.
There is also a subtle sense that producing audio and video bibles is the highest calling one can have. And it's implied that FCBH is the main means God uses to fulfill the great commission: “God needs FCBH to do these bible recordings or people (specifically unreached internationals) will go to hell.” So, top management hints that working anywhere else isn't really serving God (or at least, not serving God as well as one could if they worked somewhere else). They imply that working at this ministry is the only way to truly serve God and fulfill your calling. They also use this framing to guilt and shame employees into not quitting. Management implies that employees should not take opportunities to leave or take other jobs because getting the Bible to people is God’s highest calling for us as Christians:
“If anyone leaves FCBH, then they must not really understand the vision/calling. They are not committed to saving people. We should be willing to give up things to fulfill the calling. The apostles did not pursue better jobs and so God will provide if we need better pay, benefits, career. For those of us who join the ministry to hold true to get God's word to every person, it takes discipline because we have opportunities to do other things. I'm sure that Noah had problems with Builders because he probably had hundreds of people not thousands working on the ark. They started their own businesses and started side things going on. pretty soon they'll have no time to work with him on the ark. and you can have all kinds of diversionary things happen. and so we want to understand they focused in the ministry. and that's been one of the things that I've really tried to do is what did God tell me at the time this ministry began because I was not interested in this ministry. I was interested in living by faith and experiencing God through people and seeing people experience God. and when I was praying about that here in Albuquerque the Lord said bring my church together and make disciples. and then he also told me that when his people think the same they are one. so it's not a matter of getting rid of the buildings or the leaders but it's a matter of people thinking the same. They can go to different denominations, different buildings, have different teachers, and different preachers and leaders but once they think the same, they're one and that's what his objective was. and so that's when I felt like the Lord said get God's word to every person. So I'm challenging us to stay true to what God has called us to do. and every time somebody leaves the ministry there are reasons for leaving. but it startles me a little bit, because I think well we haven't, we haven't communicated the vision very well somehow because they didn't get it. like Noah building the arc. it it's a long project it's not a month or a year two years or three years. our immediate goal is 2033 and it means that we're committed to a cause. and that means some of us we give up something. I we've given up stuff we live in a small apartment and that's what we saw that God had us do and that's our lifestyle we we tone down our lifestyle to get the cause committed to the cause. and and I know that's difficult for some, in some cases maybe there's financial needs because of family growth and stuff there they just can't afford to work in the ministry. but sometimes it's a choice and every time somebody leaves it where it's actually a choice. I think we haven't communicated the mission very good the vision very good. I've been looking at is that could you imagine read reading the New Testament. and finding out that Peter about halfway through or Paul halfway through the ministry all of a sudden got a better job offer. and stopped their portion of the ministry they held the course no matter what happened. whether it was good or whether it was bad. Paul talks about this and sometimes we want to follow the Lord. but we don't impart on ourselves the same responsibilities that those disciples did. so when God Empower them is he empowering you in the same way. and you're making choices that maybe you shouldn't make that you will impart and say the Lord is leading me someplace else when in fact maybe it isn't. it's just a better offer. if the Bible in the New Testament was reading a little bit different than Stephen left the ministry at this point or James left the ministry at this point because of something I think we need to be very very careful and why I say that is that as we work internationally.”
SO, there is a lot of guilt and shame about leaving to pursue other interests or meet needs. Guilt and shame about wanting to leave to advance and develop professionally. For this reason, many remain “loyal” and stay at the ministry.
So there is lots of control and manipulation in the work culture.
*Weekly worship meetings:
These are mandatory and there are some legitimate concerns:
Top management seems to have misconceptions about true worship and worship experiences. They often reduce worship to singing by their communication, the way “worship” is used. Worship is seen as something we do on occasion - once a week, when we gather at work for the mandatory worship time. Top management, by ignoring other styles, seems to believe that there is a single style of worship which is correct for Christians.
And it seems like just about anyone can lead worship or be on the team: anyone that can play an instrument. Top management does not require a worship class or agreement to biblical principles concerning worship as a prerequisite for employees who desire to plan and lead worship experiences. So you end up with people who have different views/philosophies on the worship team. Unfortunately, many who lead do not take the time/effort to plan and lead worship experiences, to discern from songs that are better suited for individual or private worship from songs that are corporate or public worship, to discern songs that are controversial/questionable (have bad theology, weak theology), songs that are theologically ambiguous or songs that lean more towards “feminine” attributes. Most, if not all, of our modern “Christian” worship music is written at a simplistic level of understanding and comprehension. Most music tends to appeal to our emotions. Many songs appeal mostly to women. So there is a great need for teaching on the biblical principles concerning worship. Also a need to choose theologically balanced songs with music appropriate for the people. Unfortunately, many of the songs chosen are theologically incorrect (e.g., having elements from the Word Of Faith movement, New Apostolic Church, New Age). Songs are often not theologically balanced. Songs seem to be chosen for their emotional impact, to make employees feel good; many focus on just one aspect of God (e.g., love). Many promote self-centered worship.
Most of the worship leaders just sing the songs: They do not actually “lead” people into worship. They do not help people connect the lyrics of the song to where they are at in their personal life, to teach them something about God or help the people understand what this song means and what God wants them to get out of it, so they're not just singing songs and just doing, going through the motions or help them understand the depth and the richness of what lyrics mean and how it applies to their life. What matters to them seems to be whether songs are impactful, moving, and beautiful. (Whatever that means.) Whether songs make employees feel good. They don't seem to care whether the songs actually reflect truth: Do the lyrics line up with Scripture? Do the songs glorify self or God? How would new Christians or nonChristians interpret the song?
Theology is the study of God and it's very important doxology is an expression of praise to God so the point here is that all theologies should ultimately lead to doxology if theology doesn't lead to doxology then we've actually missed the point of theology so if you have theology without doxology you just have dead hold orthodoxy which is horrible. On the other side you have the people who say “forget about theology I just want to praise.” But if you have doxology without theology you actually have idolatry because it's just a random expression of praise but it's not actually informed by the truth of who God is so God is
concerned with both he's concerned with an accurate understanding of him and that accurate understanding of him leading to a response of praise adoration and worship towards him.
*Leadership quality:
Top management has more respect for donors and guests than their employees.
Management lacks basic core leadership principles/values:
Unfortunately, many employees are not given power or resources: Management just gives them the responsibility to get things done. Before responsibility is given, employees should be equipped: be empowered, have the authority, be given resources and have the experience. Employees are not empowered as individuals to solve their own problems using their own solutions. Micromanagement is often required every time the situation changes or problems arise. Employees are not inspired to act as leaders for themselves, delivering amazing performance without guidance. They have coaching sessions but only when there’s a problem. True coaching occurs regardless of whether the individual is crushing their goals or falling behind. Management does not seem to care about unlocking a person’s potential and getting the most of their performance. They seem only interested in producing more followers, not more leaders.
No method to hold management accountable to core values listed in their own Employee handbook. Employees are expected to abide by the procedures and rules described in the handbook but top management can choose to ignore it when it is convenient for them.
-Top management are NOT learners: No desire to develop and improve their skills.
-They do not ask employees: What’s one thing you see me doing—or failing to do—that you think I should change?
-They do not ask how they are doing as leaders. Or ask employees how they’re doing.
-They do not ask what employees need from management that they are not giving them.
-No performance evaluations for both management or non-managment.
-They often fail to emotionally connect with employees.
-They do not speak to employees' needs first.
-They do not focus on what they can put into people rather than what they can get out of them.
-They do not understand basic psychology, how people think and behave.
-They are often resistant to (and even hate) change: Perhaps because they fear losing control. In fact, new information, objective facts, research, stats, and even new ideas are often ignored in favor of what's easiest to do or because of tradition. If something has been done and “works”, top management does not see a reason to question it or to improve on it. If something was tried 5, 10, 20, even 50yrs before and failed, top management does not see a reason to try it again even if the exact circumstances have changed.
-They do not empower or give the means, the power or opportunity to do to employees.
-They do not trust others to follow through managing processes and performing tasks.
-They do not lead by example.
-They do not know when to move forward and when to back off, what to improve and how radical those improvements should be.
-They often fail to see options, and plan and prioritize.
-They fail to develop leaders around them.
-Their communication is often poor.
-Their listening is also poor: do not listen for more than facts, but also the feelings, meanings and undercurrents.
-They do not take the time to get to know the people they lead: no weekly check-ins which top organizations have to discuss how employees are doing professionally and personally. Management doesn't ask “what was good this week? What was not good this week? How is your well-being? How is your family?”
Competence in leadership skills is also poor.
-They are not teachable: not willing to keep learning, growing, improving in leadership and management practices: FCBH has a yearly “leadership” summit. But, the way it is set up, it reinforces weaknesses instead of challenging leadership growth.
The summit is also just for a select few in top management. Not every employee is seen as a leader so most employees are excluded.
Top managers attend the summit but there is no followup, no post accountability by other managers and especially by the employees that are under the managers. No discussion on how management will apply what was learned.
Some of the past speakers have had questionable characters and even questionable teachings (Judah Smith). Leadership qualifications and theological background seems to be ignored in favor of charismatics, dynamics, popularity.
-Top management does not take responsibility for their part of a disagreement or failure and apologize.
-They often embrace a victim mentality.
-They often limit yourself by your job title.
-They do not invest in better tools or processes.
-They are content with the status quo.
-They allow their past achievements to stagnate their desire to keep learning.
-There is a lack of discernment, finding the main cause of problems/issues.
-They do not anticipate problems.
-They do not accept the truth of the problem: Do not face up to the reality of the situation;
-They get bogged down in the details.
-They often avoid problems.
-They don’t deal well with problems.
-They do not have their team study all angles.
-They often do not value nontraditional thinking: Don’t embrace change, ambiguity and uncertainty well.
-They do not work well with differences.
-They do not have their own mentors or provide mentorship to others.
-They do not invest to improve their own professional or leadership skills.
-They are often insecure, constantly seek validation, acknowledgement and love.
-They limit employee's success and recognition:
-They do not seem interested in making people successful: Don’t attempt to remove barriers that prevent employees from being successful.

• They often feel threatened by accomplishments by employees who are not management:

If an employee who is not management has a great idea to improve the work, management often does not support it and may secretly try to shut it down.
When a team succeeds, management will not give other people credit and instead take the credit themselves.
It seems like some of the people working there were given the title of management, the position, and that alone made them qualified. Management or leaders assume that their position alone qualifies them to make critical decisions where they may not have the best data, insight, wisdom, skill, experience. Just because one may have the word “manger” in the job title, does not automatically make them a great leader. Leadership is about dealing with people, and the dynamics between those people, and influencing people.
*Dead end career path:
For the most part, top management assumes that team members are fine and "settled", rather than taking the time to understand their true feelings and needs. They do not ask employees where they are struggling, where they are having trouble, what frustrates them the most?
Management does not seem interested in making employees better both personally or professionally. They do not have a growth plan or professional development plan for employees. No job related training. They do not provide what is needed to help employees to grow and improve. They don't provide opportunities for employees to apply their talents and expertise. They don’t ask how they can better support employees. Employees don’t check on each other.
One is expected to work until health deteriorates and skills become obsolete so you leave in a worse place than you started. For most employees, there is no long term future with the organization. Management does not let employees know how they are doing and what the future looks like for them. What the opportunities are. They do not take the time to learn from employees what they want to be. No honest conversations to understand employees goals and ambitions. So, because there is no growth or development plan, no career path, once your skills are outdated, they will probably let you go or they will keep you in the same position and your salary will max out.
Management does not coach employees on how to manage their time, priorities, and energy; no teaching on how to problem solve, or make better decisions, or how to set boundaries or how to minimize context switching and zoom fatigue.

Part 5
Gerard, God
Somewhere in time and space
He watched the passers-by as they moved about, following their daily routines, unaware of the fate that would shortly befall them. This was the time that fascinated Him the most. The moments before they finally understood that The Threat was here.
It was a sort of last hurrah, He thought. They didn't know it, but Gerard could nonetheless sense a sort of joi de vivre, a liveliness that simply didn't exist in prior times, and couldn't possibly exist in future ones. He watched mothers dote lovingly over their children, watched children hurl themselves into play with abandon, watched addicts take in their drugs like a drowning man would gulp for air. They might not known that there was no tomorrow for most of them, but they nonetheless seemed to put just a little bit of extra effort into everything.
Eventually, it came to an end, of course. It always did, no matter how many times He watched it. He saw happiness and mundanity give way to pain and suffering. Laughter was replaced by the screams of the dying. Life was replaced by death. The world replaced by destruction.
He sighed, leaving this timeline. He never watched the arrival of The Threat twice in the same timeline. There was nothing for Him to learn that way. His power was immense and total. He only had to witness The Threat once in each timeline to understand it.
Worst of all was the knowledge. The knowledge that He would only be able to save a single timeline. That all others would fall into ruin, destroyed and left to rot away. Only one could survive; the one that He chose. He could stop The Threat only once, for doing so would require Him to remain. Ever vigilant, ever ready to stop any recurrence.
He had to choose which timeline. That task was less than He feared, for now he knew that there were an infinite number of them. He could choose one with the right qualities, one whose nature would aid Him in His work. He realized then that He would, once He had chosen the proper timeline, finally watch The Threat come twice. Once, when He reviewed that timeline prior to choosing. And again, when He would stop it.
And stop it, He would. No other outcome was acceptable. He had already sacrificed too much. His mortality, His life, His happiness, His very soul itself. He had wrought Himself into a weapon, to strike down The Threat, and He would fulfill that purpose, no matter what.
----
Jerry Williams, Godslayer
Nibiru
We were sharks, swimming and darting among a school of fish. Gods and devas fled, screaming in terror as we flew through the swirling, chaotic energies that should have driven us -or at least my wife and daughter- mad within seconds. They had thought that their realm protected them.
Little did they know, we were already mad.
Inanna and I flanked a group of fleeing gods, preventing them from leaving this world, extending their essence into manifested bodies somewhere in one of the countless material worlds, or simply crossing the energy that was the core of their beings into the Spirit World. Here, in Nibiru, our divinities and demi-divinities gave us access to unlimited power. We seized it and wove nets with which to entrap those minor gods who could not find escape elsewhere, and had huddled here in fear of our coming.
As the group fled, we sped up, curving our course, which caused them to curve theirs, fearful of drawing too close to either of us. We moved slowly, carefully, angling them where we wanted them to go.
It wasn't long before the gaping maw of the Grandfather of the Gods came into view. Ixlublotl, the primordial god, the originator of divinity. The gods we herded realized their peril and turned to flee back the opposite direction, but there they found Aaina, burning towards them, screaming in rage and bristling with offensive energies.
Trapped, they had no choice. They attacked us. Emotions and thoughts, energy and matter, all of it flew at us in an orgy of sudden violence that churned the substrate of this world into a screaming chaos. All three of us linked our magics into a shield; a half-sphere of anti-magic that absorbed their attacks, sending the energy of which they were made back into into the swirling chaos around us.
They threw everything they had at us, a desperate last stand, driven by necessity and panic. All of it crashed against our defenses, the resulting streamers of magic filling the space around us with an all but impenetrable cloud. Hidden by that cloud, Ixy closed in.
By the time they realized that it was too late, it was over.
Ixy's physical body, that cloud-wrapped cacophony of maw-stalks, eye-stalks, spider-like legs and whipping tentacles, currently the size of a skyscraper, swept in, mouths snapping up the energies that were the cores of our quarry.
We came together when it was done. Inanna created a haven for us, allowing us to release the magic that held our bodies in stasis and protected us from the wild magic all around. It was a copy of our house, something she'd come up with a while back and shown to me with great pride. I had loved it, of course.
I sank into the loveseat with Inanna next to me as Aaina took the recliner.
"That's most of them," Aaina said.
"About thirty more," I replied. "And then we can start the next phase."
"Do either of you have any doubts about what we're doing?" she asked. I could see the indecision in her eyes. She was so young, and such a good girl. My heart broke at having dragged her into such dirty business.
"No," Inanna answered, her voice hard and confident.
"Yes," I added. "But at the end of the day, this is what needs doing."
Aaina looked back and forth between us, then nodded. None of us smiled.
----
Emily Windham, Wizard, Artificer
Fremont, Nebraska, at the corner of E 4th Ave and N Main St
Emily turned just in time to see the massive troll hit Jim Carmichael with a shoulder, sending the trooper flying before angling at her with no change in speed.
Acting on pure instinct, she conjured a wall of force between them. The troll slammed into it, shattering the magics that held it together with raw force, but the wall did its job, stopping the warrior in his tracks.
Emily snatched the rune-engraved knife off her belt and surged forward, jumping at the last second to put her in range of the troll's huge neck. The blade plunged in, and she released a quick burst of magic that made her legs and off hand sticky, allowing her to cling to the thing, too close for it to use its battleaxe on her.
She ripped the knife out and plunged it in again and again as the barbarian roared in pain and indignation at being hurt so badly by a foe so tiny. Emily grabbed his beard, yanking hard to bring his eyes to hers as she slammed the knife in and twisted, the magic in the blade telling her when it found his windpipe and carotid artery.
Blood sprayed, coating her face and shoulders. The troll's roars were cut off in a gurgling, breathy hiss. He stumbled, then fell. Emily rode him down, her eyes locked onto his, watching all hopes of victory, or even survival, fade from them. She lost herself in those eyes, in the mystery that was this troll's life, ending right before her. She saw the regrets, the crushed hopes, the shame of defeat and wondered at the context.
The impact as they hit the ground broke the spell.
Emily released the magic and stood up, instincts trained into her by the security troops and war wizards making her search for more threats before she could even process what had just happened. But there were no more threats. That had been the last one.
Greg Ramirez walked towards her, his rifle barrel pointed down, hanging from the sling in front of his armor and all the various attachments that he and the security troops referred to as their 'battle rattle'.
"Nice work," he said, eyeing the troll, who continued to gasp for air, the sound of his labored breaths reminding Emily of a pig squealing. She looked down, searching for that orgasmic feeling her bio-dad had so desperately wanted her to share with him, but not finding it. All she found was a sense of satisfaction, yet even that was too much.
Years of therapy, of telling her story to trained clinicians and listening to and internalizing their advice. All of it had helped her make friends and move among the normal people, but it had never erased that feeling of satisfaction. This was the fourth time she'd killed a sentient being, and each time, she felt the exact same way. It was a victory.
Her maudlin thoughts were interrupted by the bark of Greg's rifle. The troll's head jerked and deformed, a splattering of blood coming out as a .277 fury round drilled a hole straight through his temples. She glanced up to find Greg still eyeing her.
"You did good," he said, his expression showing some concern.
"I liked it," she said quietly, her eyes turning back.
"You liked killing him?" Greg asked. Emily nodded, wondering if she'd always be fucked up.
"I killed him," Greg said. "And I damn sure liked it."
Emily turned back, eyeing him with some interest. Greg was, in many ways, the opposite of her. Cool, confident, charming and just all-around well-adjusted. She hadn't ever imagined that he wound enjoy something like this.
"It means I won," he explained. "It means that big, badass motherfucker showed up here trying to bully us, and take whatever he wanted from us, and little old me stood up and said 'no', and when he tried to force the issue, I took his life away. It feels like justice. It feels like one less motherfucker trying to kill me and my friends. Damn straight I liked it."
Emily smiled. She didn't realized she had smiled until Greg smiled back.
"I read your psych eval," he went on. "I know you think you're fucked in the head, but I'm gonna tell you right now, you're not. You're a warrior, that's it. Bloodlust isn't a bad thing, if it can be controlled. Enjoying killing isn't a bad thing, if you're killing the people that need killing. Give yourself a break, girl."
He clapped her on the shoulder, then took the back of her head with his free hand and pressed her forehead to his.
"I'm gonna recommend you be allowed to join the war wizard roster. You're all trained up, you're prepared for it, and from what I've seen today, you're a fucking natural."
Without waiting for a response, he let her go and turned away, grabbing the radio fob on his armor and squeezing it.
"Black Lead, this is Black-Two Actual. All raiders at the target site are neutralized. We're commencing a sweep now, will report back in thirty mikes."
Emily smiled at his back as he walked away. A part of her reflected that he was a natural leader, knowing exactly what to say to her in that moment. Another part didn't care, because it worked. She glanced down at the troll again, and didn't see a victim.
She saw a victory.
----
Kathy Evenson, Professional
Somewhere in the ruins of an ancient city in the Seventh World
Kells shifted nervously as Kathy continued to cut chits from the electrical panel lid with the magical laser emerging from her fingertip. He held his machete, really a short sword, in one hand, and his dagger in the other.
"We really shouldn't be much longer, Kath," he said. Kathy had explained to him the difference between Kath and Kathy, and even hinted at the things she'd done while possessed by Pissface and calling herself 'Kath', and even gone into some detail about how much she hated the nickname. Kells hadn't cared. He simply agreed with her, then continued to call her 'Kath'.
And the truth was, she really didn't mind that much.
She wasn't quite sure why, though she could hazard a guess. The man was disarming to a great degree. He presented himself as a dirty wanderer, a simple, violent man who shouldn't be trusted as far as you could throw him. But within just a few minutes of meeting him, she'd seen the intelligence in his eyes and words. She had seen the integrity in his negotiations with her, and the ethics that had turned him protective when the Searchers had appeared.
And despite that protectiveness, he still managed to avoid being patronizing. When she'd told him how she planned to get his chits, he had warned her of the dangers, then agreed to come along without hesitation when she didn't change her mind. Kells was a good man, she thought, and if a good man wanted to call her Kath, she supposed she could let him reclaim the name from the hell it had once represented.
"It won't be much longer," she said. She already had over seven hundred, and this plate would bring her to eight hundred. She only needed five or six more. This deep in the ruins, there was an untouched electrical box on almost every building. Some had been corroded, but most were surprisingly intact.
As she cut the final strip into chits, a roar sounded. It was a gurgling, rasping roar, unlike anything she had ever heard before. Or rather, the first one had been unlike anything she had ever heard before. This was the third time she'd heard it, and it sounded closer than the last two.
"That's no good sign, right thur," Kells said.
Kathy finished, dumping the little squares of galvanized steel into her bag and standing up.
"Come on," she said. "We'll go a couple blocks away from whatever that was before I cut the next one."
"Aye," Kells agreed, his head swiveling on his shoulders as he followed her down the alley. Kathy took note of how spooked he was. He seemed more nervous here than he had with the Searchers right in front of him. She supposed that might have something to do with the nature of the threats. The Searchers were, regardless of power and reputation, mere humans. Whereas whatever was making that roar was clearly some sort of monster.
She led him six blocks in a direction away from the roar before she stopped to examine the buildings. They had moved into a downtown area, which was one of the reasons she had stopped. The buildings here were closer together, which should make the rest of her task quicker. She found a good cover and ripped the little padlock off, then pulled it open and off its hinges.
A mass of spiders rushed out of the electrical box. She jerked her hand away, but they ignored her, scurrying down the wall and vanishing into the cracks between the bricks, safe once again in enclosed darkness.
She began to cut as Kells again stood watch.
She hadn't even made it halfway through the panel when another roar sounded, even closer than the last, and from a different direction.
"Call it," Kells said. "Call it now, Kath. Better ye collect some more later on than deal with the beast makin' them sounds."
"What kind of beast?" Kathy asked. She kept cutting, but glanced up and around, not seeing anything but filthy, dilapidated alleys.
"Walkers, they call 'em," Kells said. "Like great spiders, but rottin' away, with bones stickin' out an' flesh hangin' off th'legs."
"Great spiders?" Kathy asked. "How big?"
"Bigger'n a building."
"You've seen them yourself?" Kathy asked.
"Only once," Kells said, his voice growing quieter. He seemed to be done speaking for a moment, staring around. But after a few seconds, he continued.
"Friend o'mine, name o' Gil. We used t'work together, he an' I. I were real new to runnin' a caravan crew back then, about ten years back. Gil were an old hand at it, though. Took me under 'is wing and taught me th'roads, as it were.
"Anyways, we'd taken a pair o' contracts. Rough ones, with a tight timetable. Merchants needed t'get to Freeman's Port post-haste. One faster'n th'other. Gil took that one, left me with the easier one, though that weren't t'say it were an easy job.
"We was in Craster's Holdfast at th'time, an smack in between there an' Freeman's Port were an ancient ruin. Big one, 'bout the size o' this'un, in fact. Normally, it took about a week t'travel between the two places, but if one were brave or foolhardy enough, they could cut through th'ruins an' make it in five days.
"Well, old Gil had that in mind. We left together, an' at th'place where ye normally would turn north t'go around the ruins, he led his caravan on straight. I prayed fer their safety that night, but never really believed anything would happen. Gil were an experienced caravaner, an' tougher'n anyone else I'd ever met.
"Two days later, we was walkin' this ridgeline north o'the ruins when somethin' called out t'me. Not sure what, exactly. I started lookin' south, scannin' the ruins, an' sure enough, I found Gil's caravan, walking down a wide road between th'largest buildings. They was movin' at quite a clip, I hav'ta say.
"I were tickled pink, at first. Because we'd made near as good a time as they had, despite movin' almost a day's north to skirt th'ruins. But as I watched, I realized that they weren't just travelin', they was runnin'."
Kells sighed, his eyes distant and full of old regrets.
"That's when I saw one. A great Walker, striding out o' th'deepest part o' th'ruins. The way it moved were like nothin' I ever seen before. It crawled along th'sides o' the ruins themselves, like a spider almost, but always with two or three feet on th'ground.
"It came fer th'caravan, and fell on 'em in a slaughter. I watched it breathe fire down on 'em, stompin' men flat with its feet an' scooping 'em up with its great claws."
He sighed again, then looked down. He tucked his sword under his armpit and used his hand to rub his eyes for a moment, before taking the blade up again.
"Killed 'em all, it did. Erry single one, as I live an' breath. An' when it were done, it went around, stompin' th'bodies flat. Never ate one, jes did all it could t'make sure that not a single survivor lived t'tell the tale. I were shook something fierce, I tell ya. Took me own caravan down off the ridge, t'avoid bein' spotted. We ended up arriving a day late, but to this day, I thank me lucky stars we made it at all."
Another sigh came, and Kathy heard the cracks in his voice as he continued on.
"Not Gil, though. Nor any o'them what worked for him, or th'merchant what hired him. A few years later, I worked up th'courage t'take a couple o'men into the ruins, t'find the bodies. I found bones dressed in Gil's clothes. I took his sword, which had survived, an' is th'one I carry to this day. I think Gil'd be pleased to know his blade had saved me life, quite a few times since."
Kathy finished cutting the cover up and stood to put her hands on Kells' shoulder.
"Thank you for telling me that," she said, her voice gentle. "I can tell it's an important story to you."
Kells nodded and sniffed once, then jerked his head in the direction away from the most recent roar. "I still think we should get out o' here, Kath," he said. "I'll face down the Searchers an' be happy o' a good death, should they take me. But them Walkers... They ain't warriors ye can face an' die with honor. One o'them things finds us, there ain't no fightin' it. We jes' die screaming, th'only consolation coming when it's all over."
Kathy weighed his words carefully. Kells knew this world far better than she did. And while she knew her own abilities far better than anyone here, she had to be mindful not to be too arrogant. Kells had told her how a single Walker had slaughtered an entire caravan of experienced fighters, led by an experienced leader.
"Okay," she said. She handed the bag to Kells. "There should be about eight hundred and fifty chits in there. You can count them out later, and I'll trust your count. After I find what I'm looking for, I'll collect the rest and we'll settle up."
"Good call," Kells said. He tied the bag off to his belt and walked to the corner of the building, peeking around. When he was satisfied, he nodded. Kathy joined him, and together, they made a beeline to the edge of the ruins.
They had made it about halfway out when another roar sounded, this one right on top of them. A rumbling crash sounded from her right, and Kathy turned to see rubble falling to the ground as something massive rose off the ground, two blocks over.
"Stars an' stones," Kells swore, then shouted "Run!"

I am a young man and I dont know how to deal with this, let me tell the whole story: I have always had really short hair like buzz cut type short and then crew cut later in life, but now I grew my hair out and saw some curls and decided to keep growing it out, but my family specifically my mom are now attacking me about it, saying im forcing my hair to be curly and that its actually straight. I have spent countless days arguing with my mom and even wet my hair one time and brushed it in front of her and told her to brush it as well, I told her to wait for it to dry and we’ll see what I have, and NO WAY I WHO COULD OF KNOWN WOW (it dried and it curled up.). edit: I forgot to add that when my mom’s hair is wet its curly and even today she said “I need to take care of my hair its turning a little curly” and I was like bro. its mainly just that my family for some reason thinks straight hair is superior and “good hair” and curly hair is “bad hair” (what they call it).

Okay so, me and my friend are making a comic (possible webtoon) and we need some input on something.
We have 3 characters that we want to be in the polyamory relationship, but right now its like, they both have a crush on one character, they bond over that, but we want something else for them to bond over or have a mutual understanding that makes them close.
For reference, the girl in this duo is a siren/anglerfish thing that like in most stories, has legs when out of water. Her home and village has been destroyed due to water damage and is currently trying to get money to rebuild it. They're in a group with a runaway princess that has a bounty on her head, thats how they get money. The guy in this duo is a god of some sorts, that comes along to make sure they don't get into trouble, when he sees the ruins that all the people in the groups homes are in, he sort of has a meltdown over how the things he helped create werent as good as they thought they were.
Their crush is a sexy tiefling lady, but we want to have an equal amount of attraction between them all. I hope I've explained it enough, sorry if i cause any trouble lol, ask questions and ill answer them for you!
dynamics: God and Tiefling start off as enemies, but they both find eachother undeniably attractive. Siren and Tiefling bond while doing a kid in the groups hair, they both hold high amounts of respect and attraction towards one another. God and Siren bond over the attraction they both have for the Tiefling, and realize they've fallen for one another later on, but they don't have anything else going on for them.

I just shot a wedding recently and was completely blown away by the restrictions they implemented for ceremonies. Before I explain, I should state that I'm Catholic, and a majority of my weddings are Catholic or in a Catholic church, so I know how to be respectful of the mass while capturing it. I've shot in small churches, cathedrals, and basilicas, and have never run into anything like this.
Anyway, I arrive after shooting the morning activities and am met by who I can assume is the event coordinator for the church. She's an older woman who was polite enough (to begin with) but she explains to me that I can stand no further than the 5th pew from the back for the procession, and must move to the back of the church and stay there for the remainder of the ceremony. I can move along the sides, but no further than the 5th row. To me, this is ridiculous, as the space is fairly large. My business is small, I shoot weddings with my wife, and we have one long lens capable of shooting a wedding from the back of a damn church between the two of us. This has worked just fine for us for the last 7 years of doing this since I generally have the freedom to move around. I bring up to her that this is going to be a problem for me since I won't be able to capture the photos that my client is expecting based on my prior work. She says "I don't make the rules, I just enforce them. The priest makes the rules." She mentions that a big part of the reasoning is that I would be in the way of their live stream of the ceremony. I find this hard to believe since they have several cameras in the back, all of which are at least 10-12ft above seating space, and a professional technician in a booth managing the stream (this is a church in a very wealthy city in case you couldn't tell).
I know the bride and groom quite well, so I was comfortable talking with them about the matter, asking the bride if she knew about these restrictions beforehand. She is shocked and tells me to just do whatever I need to do to do my job, stating that she cares way more about her pictures than she does a livestream. She also sends her attendants to talk to the priest about it, whom they know really well. The priest later finds me and says as long as I'm respectful and not distracting I can move further up as needed, which I of course would do anyway. I'm not sure if this was mentioned to the coordinator, but she was definitely with the priest when the attendants brought up the issue.
Cut to the ceremony and I do what I was told by the event coordinator as best I can. I'm kind of boy scout with rules and don't want to make enemies with anyone, so I just tried to make the best of it. However, it didn't take long to realize that this was going to be an issue. My second shooter (my wife) is basically useless for the entire ceremony. We can't get any photos of the bride and groom's parents or family since they're in the front row. I can barely get shots of the musicians because of the layout of the church. The way the decor and seating are arranged, we can't even get photos of the bridal party, even if we had longer lenses. By the time we get to the Marian Devotion portion of their mass, I have had enough. After struggling to get a shot that the bride and groom explicitly said they wanted, I send my second discretely up the front to capture it, but we were too late in the end.
Upon heading to the back of the church, the event coordinator walks up to my wife and sternly tells her that she's being disruptive and can't go up that far for photos, which drives me over the edge. I confront her (quietly of course) saying that their rules are hindering our ability to do the job that we were paid to do. She reiterates that she doesn't make the rules, to which I respond that I received permission from the person who does, as well as the bride. Her response is, and I quote, "Well that's just not cool." She then tells us that we're moving around too much and too quickly and being distracting. Apparently, casually and quietly walking around the edges of the church, as instructed, qualifies as such. Never mind the two dozen small children that are making noise and running around, or the crying babies being taken from their pews to the back of the church. We are the distraction. She spends the rest of the mass talking behind our backs to her little henchman helping her with the ceremony, both of whom stare daggers at us the rest of the ceremony.
I've never had to deal with something like this before. Sure I've worked with restrictions, but never anything this rigid. I fully understand that it's their facility and they can make the rules however they please, and I'm sure they're there for a reason. However, when you are permitted by the person who makes said rules to bend them a bit, I don't think there's an excuse to be made. To me, this was very clearly someone who was given a small amount of power and takes it to a level of seriousness that is completely unnecessary. Likely because she can't do so anywhere else in her life.
I also get that there's an argument to the made that if I'm going to shoot weddings then I should have all the necessary equipment to do so, which I believe that I do. Does it help that I have to share that equipment with my second? No, but again, it's worked out just fine for the entirety of my career. This is my side gig, and we all know how expensive equipment can be.
So, my question is whether I should reach out to the church with my experience in hopes of inspiring some sort of change for future photographers. Again, I know there are plenty of places that operate like this (if not worse) and at the end of the day, we all have to make do. This particular set of circumstances, and how it was managed on their end, just don't sit well with me though. I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

Question 0: please be kind. Thank you so much.
A rookie's perpective, I've not had a dedicated flat screen in my life, and nothing larger in the house than my 17" HD laptop. The TV will be for my new house, larger than 79" will just be stupid, even 75" is pushing it, but I just wanna.
The 8K QLED was a lower price than the 4K OLED.
My use will be "everything except TV channels and Netflix, etc. YouTube, downloaded movies, wall art, and some productivity. Room is to the south, but by trees and taller building across the street, so not super light. Due to me never using TV (I might obtain downloads of 4K car racing at times), it's barely a factor that 8K broadcasts are rare.
Yet to learn: the effect of AI upscaling 4K->8K and even HD->8K. These will be very common situations, but the store is not set up to show that. Let alone what productivity tools look like in native resolution.
In the store just now I saw these two next together. Both, I consider to look amazing. The store ran a demo (I think Samsung specific) that was supposedly being broadcast in 8K, I'll believe them. It was on all TV at the same time.
The 4K OLED looked lovely and actually quite bright to me.
The 8K QLED simple offered more depth perception, more immersion. Animal fur, human hair, it just was "that" bit nicer than on the 4K OLED.
I did also see the Samsung 8K OLED in 85". In the dark side room, so an unfair advantage. In 8K, just utterly stunning, even standing pointlessly close. We tried a 4K netflix nature documentary and it was less than meh. Perhaps it was shot in HD and the AI chip couldn't make much of it. YouTube 8K actually looked hor-ri-ble. Salesman attributed that to YouTube's bitrate, 4K comes out looking better he said. Question 1: does a paid YouTube service fix that to any degree?
The salesman echoed what I'd read on Reddit: OLED isn't the thing to have for produtivity with fonts and such. I won't use the 75" TV as my primary monitor (I hope), but for cigar chair or bean bag creative sessions and the odd collab with a house guest...I think I'll have to skip OLED TVs until they've addressed pixel placement.
I intend to get into sim racing. Sometimes the TV may be asked to perform. The serious PC this requires will also be needed for a bunch of my other use cases. This helps me justify the insane cost (that said, as a kid I bought a no-name 80486-DX2-66 MHz SVGA setup that was close to the best one could buy. In today's money, very similar to a decked out game PC minus screen. Do I need 8K for sim racing on a TV? No-one needs that. But it's nice to have.
The wall art, static and moving, just blows me away in 8K. Yes, in OLED it looks even better, but the price more than doubles which is hard to justify when it's largely the same product otherwise.
Question 2: does anyone have REAL experience with 4K media displayed on a 4K panel vs upscaled to an 8K, with the latest AI chips?
Question 3: Sony audio-through screen. Hyped everywhere, but not actively being demo'd in the store. I can ask next time. I am messy by nature, so any opportunity to declutter helps. I don't need BIG audio, can the Sonys with audio through screen save me their premium's worth in external audio devics (banned word, WTH?) and the hassle of keeping it working?
Question 4: Would the Sony keep me from getting an audio system for the room, or integrate into one? Am I correct to suspect that no sane person uses non-Sony flat TV speakers for just music or boost portable devices?
Question 5: What does the AI upscale-to-8K game look like now? Advanced to be expected soon? Samsung brags, but are they at the top in this game? How are Sony and LG doing? I wasn't able to test this yet in the store, or the media available made it suck on the OLED 85" unit. Anyway, you'd need a similar 4K panel next to it which seems a lot to ask from a store. I might not even see regular 4K vs 8K on similar panels :)

I've been with my current boyfriend for 7 months. Things moved really fast and I moved in after 3 months of dating. He has two kids (one biological and one that is the half brother of his son). Living with him has been very difficult. But I never expected things to get so bad.
He's been through a lot of bad relationships. His most recent one was 7 years ago and he was cheated on constantly. My last relationship was 4 years ago and I was severely abused. He didn't have sex or contact with women for 7 years. He is constantly distrustful of me. We've gotten into so many arguments because of really immature shit. Our most recent argument was because I didn't kiss him goodbye before leaving for work because I thought he fell asleep and I was late for work. That turned into a screaming match when I got home.
He also went through my phone last night because he asked who I was talking to and I told him. I was talking to my previous lover's brothers. We'll call him J. J took his own life last year and I've been grieving. I got in touch with J's family and want to plan a trip to see them (they live in England). I got up to take a shower and noticed my phone was moved. While I'm at work today, my boyfriend randomly "suggested" that I go on a trip to England and meet them. He was really aggressive and pushy in the texts and said how he thinks that would make me "so happy". He constantly thinks that he doesn't make me happy (he makes me miserable because of his behavior). He clearly read my conversation. He also made a joke about me to his friend. The "joke" was that his long hair is the only thing I'm attracted to in the bedroom and how that's barely even enough. I haven't had sex with him in weeks because of how awful he treats me.
He also has accused me of cheating because his boss was talking about something that my boyfriend and I discussed days before. His boss also told him that some "random girl knocked on my door today and I let her in". He freaked out and thought it was me. Google maps tracks all of my travels with locations, dates and times. I had to show him that so he would believe me. I've proved him wrong time and time again whenever he thinks I'm lying or cheating and then he just finds something else to be paranoid about.
I'm so miserable and want to leave once I have the money to find a place. He isolates me from friends and family because he thinks that I'm cheating on him whenever I leave the house (I literally leave just to go to work). I'm so miserable and I have no one to talk to about this, so here I am looking for some advice from strangers. Thank you for reading 🧸