When I played ARK on the official NA-PvP-36 in ~2017, there were moderately sized active stone bases of ~4 people every 500 yards, everyone knew their neighbors and was generally friendly with them. Some people built public buildings like a tavern, or us building an arena where we would let beachbobs fight wild Dilos, which attracted people from all tribes. I remember trading metal from the mountain-tribe for my silica pearls, randomly meeting strangers riding rexes and talking to them. While exploring the map, you would also find many ruins with the occasional squatters, leaving you to wonder who built this and when, but you could easily find out by asking the nearest tribe, because there was always someone to talk to. Of course, among the established tribes there was drama, stealing and the occasional wipe if really bad things happened, with everyone being sure to justify it as best as they could in global-chat, which was as much of a battleground as the map. But in general it was a healthy, active community like it is described in the explorer-notes. Most interactions were funny and memerable, which was the reason why I played
When I tried Ark again in 2022 and I was sad to see what became of the servers. There was simply nothing there. No bases, no people to talk to, no ruins. It was like being unfrozen 3000 years after the apocalypse. Just a single huge metal cube of turrets if anything. The usual online population of ~20 went down to 2. And if you met any of them, it was you being killed instantly by a ridiculous lv 500 pokemon that would swoop down on you out of nothing, as if you stepped into the aggro radius of an NPC that wasn't even sentient
What happened? What game design ideas led to this stupidity? And can it ever be like it once was, especially on the new ASA?

Ok so this was few years ago. I (maybe 20 nonbinary) had a summer job in this hotdog place. I was making the food and this older man came up to me with his order and told me that there was a hair in his food.
Now, it is important to note that I didnt mean ANY of this to me snarky or rude. It makes it even more funny:
This man was most likely thinking I would tell him im sorry and maybe give him his money back. But he didnt know who he was dealing with.
I asked him to give me the hair and I looked at it and noticed a familiar pattern and told him "It isnt a hair, it is a cat hair" (in my language human hair and cat hair have different words)
I was going to tell him that im pretty sure it is my cats hair since the pattern and color are the same but he looked mad and I had no idea why. In my mind there was literally no reason for him to be mad since he blamed me about a human hair and it wasnt that.
But cause he looked mad i just. Kinda left the kitchen and he said "do you think that you are funny?"
I just remember being like ???no??? And not understanding what went wrong until I told someone
So yeah I was diagnosed as autistic later the same year
TL;DR: some dude was mad that his food had a hair but i told him it was a cat hair and he was not happy

Hi all! I am currently coming out of years of being pregnant/breastfeeding and trying to find a good bra. My biggest issue right now is finding a shape of bra that I like, basically I like a more compressed look. I’m currently wearing a random sports bra from amazon most days but am hoping to find something that has a bit more shape and thicker material to hide my nipples haha. I’ve tried a few options so far, I’ll list my measurements and pics/descriptions below. Any help would be appareciated!
Measurements:
Loose UB: 37.5in
Snug UB: 36in
Tight UB: 35in
Standing B: 44.5
Leaning B: 48
Lying B: 46in
These measurements gave me a 38FF/G sizing
ibb.co/KbCHfqD
ibb.co/SrkRZp1
The panache envy in 38FF seems to fit perfectly, but the shape feels ridiculous to me! You can’t tell as much in the pictures but it feels like my breasts are way too high/forward, it actually made me laugh wearing it under clothes haha, like I felt like a cartoon of a busty woman drawn by a man. I also hate the lace, I’d like to be able to wear a bra under a t-shirt and not see any texture/seams/nipples
ibb.co/ZJNjc28
ibb.co/LPxj5fz
I also tried the Freya Idol Balcony T-Shirt Bra in 38FF and it seems like both the band and cup were too big? I like the idea/general shape of the bra more than the envy but this one almost seems to wide (but I imagine this could be bad sizing)
I’ve tried a couple other bras but my biggest issue with most of them is the weird up/forward shape they give me. Maybe I’m too used to my sports bra and a well fitting bra seems ridiculous to me now? But my husband agreed with me that the envy looked bizarre on me and was not flattering under clothes. Any recommendations for me?

Hey I’m going into my third year of Deca and I’ve decided my event for this upcoming year is going to be EIB. EIB is a 20 page paper and I have what I believe is a super good idea for it. However in my first two years I chose role plays, last year STDM and the year before was sports and entertainment marketing series. So needless to say I have zero clue how to write a paper for Deca. Any and all help and or tips for this would be wildly appreciated! 👍

Background- I (26M) work in minor league sports and travel with the team on the road. About a month ago a players GF introduced to her best friend (23F) and we hit it off. After a few dates and nights spent at each others houses, the team took a 4-day road trip. While we were gone, I got a few check-in messages, like she was watching online and happy we won, but I felt something was off.
We get back in town and she calls things off giving me a paragraph basically saying a whole lot of nothing and "I dont know what next year is going to look like and I dont think it's fair that we keep seeing each other and i really wish nothing but the absolute best for you." The consensus was she caught feelings for the first time in a while and did not know how to handle them, so she ran away from the situation.
Hurt, but that stuff happens, where it gets interesting is she still shows up to the game last weekend, not with the players GF (her best friend) I had heard from other GFs on the team that she just showed up by herself. It's a public place and I get it... then she shows up to the team bar afterwards for the celebration, a place we had been multiple times together. The players GF told me she told her not to come and it was a bad idea if she actually wanted things to be done, but she didnt listen. Just weird to me. I noticed she was there, didnt make eye contact or acknowledge her but every time I was walking by or going to the bathroom she turned away.
At the second bar the GF came up to me and said the girl left because I didn't say anything to her or even look at her. I was confused because I thought I was not suppose to if she was the one who ended things. The GF said she had no idea why she ended things but they would talk all the time about our dates and time together. I know she's still keeping tabs on me, but I dont know what my next move is. Me and her havent talked in a week and I know she's out of town right now, just dont know what to expect when she comes back.
Do I bring it up again with her friend? Reach out and tell her what she did is wrong, or hope she realizes it on her own?

Did anyone see the Westminster show yesterday? I caught the sporting group competition and the LR, though he didn't win the best in the group, definitely won the cuteness award.

We went on the ship in Nov and again in April and this is my April ship review.
It is the same itinerary, except we didn't get to Bermuda in Nov due to weather.
Main reason we keep going on this ship is because the port is driving distance and it is cheap. It was 1300$ for 4 people inside room. When we missed Bermuda, they gave us 300 in onboard credit which can be used for tips or you get it back in cash at the end of the trip. So hard to beat their price and I don't know if I want to pay 1000$ to upgrade from golden corral food to off the strip Vegas buffet food.
For embarkation, this time, we walk right through security whereas last time, it took one whole hour to get through security. They gaved priority boarding to family with stroller after you check in.
The room was ready by 1, but some places were not clean like the remote control was sticky and inside the draws and wardrobe was dusty. The floor in the hallways were not as clean as before. Our room attendant and his assistant were friendlier but not as efficient as the last one. Definitely recommend to bring some disinfectant wipes.
They have Heinz ketchup and condiments now, before they had home made ketchup that was too sweet. Some food was too dry but there was always something you can find. They had more watermelon and pineapple this cruise, might be seasonal. Last cruise was mostly melon and apple and pears and they were not very fresh. Their cold salad bar was so delicious. Even the pizza station has become more Americanized in terms of toppings and more square and thick crust. Last time, it was mostly the white pizza, red pizza and cheese pizza. This time, we rarely see the white or red pizza, it was mostly cheese, pepperoni and pizza with a lot of toppings. I feel like there was definitely more bar server walking around this time compare to last time. Number of people cleaning the buffet was pretty good. Some upholstery on the chairs were definitely wearing down. This ship can definitely use a dry dock soon. They do southern comfort food really really well, their Mac and cheese, BBQ ribs were super good. Also they had congee and fried rice for breakfast every morning. They lack Chinese food for dinner and lunch and there is no Chinese menu even thought it is one of their biggest group on this ship. The only Chinese translation they had was on the water dispenser.
The crew in the main dining room is definitely more outgoing. There was a guy with guitar and a crew singing by dessert. The food was bad, they can't cook a ham and cheese omelette correctly. Their brunch menu of souther fried chicken sandwich was like McDonald chicken sandwich except it was cold like I don't think they heat it up long enough. Breakfast was hard if you have a milk and egg allergy. They do brunch on sea days and during the last sea day, they had a brand new menu which meant everything was super delay but the food was so good. It was like breakfast from around the world. They had English breakfast, France was French toast, Japan had fried chicken with rice. The French toast and fried chicken was amazing. On to dinner, you are assigned a time and we got 8:30pm. The lobster and fish dish were dry. The steak was overcooked and dry. I gaved up on the main dining room after 2 nights with 2 small toddler, it wasn't worth the effort to sit down for 1.5 hours for 50/50 chance of good food. The server are more outgoing but the food got worse. Their Caribbean night food in the main dining room was delicious!
I love docking in Bermuda for three days, it made the going on and off the ship super easy and no long wait. Bermuda was awesome.
We didn't try their kids club because our kids won't go. But here is some information. If your kid is under 3.99 years old and not potty trained, they can go to the baby club which is available during sea days for 2 hours. They have two time slot and first come first serve when you sign up the day before. Their idea of potty training is the kid goes into the bathroom all by themselves and the staff stands outside, so the kid should be able to independently do everything themselves. They do have open sessions in the kids area for family to go together. They have Lego, duplo, switch and playhouse and markers. They also have events at night around 7:30 like dance party or sport event which are drop off or parents can stay. They will also take your child after the appetizer course in the main dining room and bring them to the bigs buffet section and feed them and then watch them afterwards.
They have a outdoor pool, Indoor pool, adult only pool and a splash pad with a 1 feet deep pool. The adult only pool is on the back of the ship right next to the walking track which means you will have old people and young people walking through the area constantly. And they don't really enforce the adult only part. Like kids were standing in the general area watching the sunset and no one told them to go away. The splash pad and kiddie pool was not open last time, so my kids had a lot of fun this time in the splash pad. The splash pad and the water slide are in the same area, so my partner and I took turns on the water slide. Last time no one can tell us why it was closed or when it will be reopen again.
If the weather is bad outside, there was no where inside the ship that was quiet and you can still see the ocean. Every lounge and bar and sitting area had music playing and they set the volume so loud. The only quiet area was the back of the buffet. The music on this ship is too loud.
The shows are still the same, there are more broken parts on the led screen on the main stage. Compare to Nov, they are missing 1 male singer, 1 female singer, 1 male dancer, 1 female dancer. The magician act was same but 2 new magician. The comedy act was a different guy and he was boring. They have two shows on the circle stage that is 12$ if you but it beforehand or 18$ on the ship. It is free for kids under 4. It comes with a alcohol or no alcohol drink. I say the show is worth 2$ if you minus the cost of alcohol drink. It was call Houdini but there was no real magician, it was all singing and dancing. Only two of the crew had circus skills.
Overall, I would do this cruise again because if we don't make it to Bermuda, it would be like 900$ for a week where I don't have to cook or make my room.

I (male, late teens/early twenties) have never danced in my life (except maybe when I was 4 years old and younger) and since I do enjoy Jazz and Rock'n Roll now I am kind of interested to try Lindy Hop. I have found a club/school in my city that teaches Lindy Hop and other related dances. That's a huge step for me, I am surprised by myself that I actually got interested in dancing as I have always hated the idea of me actually dancing. I have also never been to a club or bar and I don't drink any alcohol (I don't like current mainstream music nor any drugs). I am not very social in general. I do sports and I have played the piano for years but dancing is something I have no experience in. I am afraid that if i do join a beginners lesson I will still not be able to learn anything as I have no clue of dancing. I am shy and insecure too so that makes it worse. Also I will need a partner. So if I mess everything up it will affect my partner too. And are people my age actually interested in that kind of dance/music genre? Or am I going to be the youngest one among 40+ year old people. Obviously I want to fit in and not be the child among the older people. And if I actually start learning, how long will it take for me until I can dance to Swing with confidence.
Any advice?

Hi - We have a 2014 AWD CRV-EXL that we are giving to our daughter so we won't be trading in. We are looking at purchasing either a 2024 AWD EX-L or a hybrid. As we are used to certain features, we find ourselves creeping up to the Sport-L Hybrid and it is getting pricey so we are debating about the AWD if we decide on the hybrid. We now live in the south and get a lot of rain. Does it help/matter here?
Is there anything glaring between the EX-L, Sport Hybrid or Sport-L Hybrid that we should be aware of - either pro or con? We do drive about 1500 miles every summer (3,000 round trip) and then mostly local stuff the rest of the year. We are still on the fence and are old school and we don't love the idea about the lack of spare tire and traveling. What work arounds do people have, if any?
On another note, shopping from home is still awful with some of these dealers (and their add-on packages). We tried the Costco route with not a great amount of success. One dealer in our area - and not great. We are also looking at the Mazda CX5 but we think it doesn't have enough cargo space for us.
Are you happy with your EX-L or Hybrid? Please share your opinion and experience.
Thank you so much!

I was submitted by my NCO for an ARCOM a few months ago, and it was finally approved at Brigade as a downgraded AAM. However, it has not reflected in my IPPSA or IPERMS more than three weeks later, and my NCO can no longer see it in his buddy PARs on IPPSA. This award has basically just disappeared; any ideas from some S-1 gurus?

Right there in the title, but maybe a little more background required. I've been progressively more and more disgusted with mass market college and pro sports -- all of them -- year after year (can get into why some other time), to the point that I stopped watching virtually all sports about a decade ago.
Enter Caitlin Clark. She's everywhere in the news, unavoidable. "OK, let's see what the buzz is about." In advance of this year's NCAA tourney, I watched highlight reels and was blown away. Watched the tourney, and enjoyed the IA games so much I also watched as many of the other games as possible. "Damn. This is good stuff!" ... and largely unconnected from the things that pushed me away from men's sports.
Ergo: "Sign me up for the WNBA!" Watched my 1st games last night. Obviously the first one was Fever v Suns, but I also caught most of Aces v Mercury.
So, FWIW, here follow some random thoughts of a Clark Bandwagoneer.

• WNBA basketball is way more interesting -- tactically and strategically -- to watch than the NBA. I haven't enjoyed watching a pro sport this much in years.
• The Aces are awesome, and the Suns are also clearly quite good. So many exciting players to watch. Looking forward to seeing the other teams and the rest of the season.
• I have no idea how to evaluate Clark right now. Sure, just one game. And sure, the Fever haven't been good in a while (so I've gathered online). But beyond Clark, I see players like Smith, Boston, Fagbenle, and Berger, and I think: they seem pretty good! Does the team just need more reps to gel? Is the coach just not that good? The team is relatively young, is it confidence/experience? I though all of the players made some glaring mistakes and missed catching a feed or an easy bucket....

In the final analysis, how do you analyze Clark's performance in this context? Even she says she didn't have that good a game. 10 TOs, after all. But she also scored 20 points! On a poor shooting night! WTF?
I dunno. I watched the game, and I just wanted the Fever to be better. It seems like they have enough talent to be a genuine contender, if not at the Aces level of awesome. Wouldn't most teams be happy to have a player who "didn't have a good game" and still scored 20 points? Subtract 2 of her poor passing decisions, tack on 2 or 3 assists that I felt her compatriots should have added to Clark's scoreline, and is this an entirely different conversation/analysis about Clark's debut?
I see a lot of potential here. Both for Clark and the Fever. I hope it all comes together. Regardless, I'm glad I jumped on the bandwagon. The WNBA is the real deal.

Im so lost in this game its not even funny. Theres just so much things everywhere and I get lost and I messed up on Artifacts and ignsinias quest and have no idea where or how to get anymore powders. I was stupid enough to use it on the wrong item. Even looking online Im not sure anyone was silly enough to make that mistake but I did now Im stuck at lvl 17 and no Idea how to get more powders to use it on the right item to progress. Can someone please help me I really love being a cleric but Im so lost.

Hello everyone, welcome to the third discussion about Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Hope you studied hard this week, I sure did!

Summary

Previously, in Thinking Fast and Slow, we followed Kahneman and Amos’s academic bromance in the wonderful world of decision making and biases. Our two main characters model two kinds of behavior of the brain. System 1, always on, is the intuitive one, that makes continual judgments and assumptions. System 2 is the slower one, only called when necessary, that produces rational thinking, mathematical reasoning, and is awfully lazy. We learned that even specialists are really bad at intuitive statistics and apply the law of small numbers when they shouldn’t.
Chapter 11: Anchors When we are asked to consider a possible solution to an estimation problem (eg, did Gandhi die after 100 years old?), our answer will be close to this number, like it’s anchored to it. Even when the proposition is obviously unrelated, like with a rigged wheel of fortune. It has many consequences, like with real estate prices and every negotiation. If someone starts one with an absurd price, make a big fuss and stop it until a more reasonable offer.
Both systems cause this behavior. System 1 because of priming (unconscious influence of a previous information). System 2 makes us start at the anchor, and then adjust, often not enough.
Btw, here are the answers to the questions, it annoyed me that they weren’t in the book. Washington became president in 1789. Waters boils at around 70°C/160°F on top of the Everest. Gandhi died at 78 years old.
Chapter 12: Availability We learn about the availability bias. When we are asked to estimate the frequency of an event, our answer depends on how easily we can retrieve examples from our memory. The more dramatic and personal the example is, the more it works. Making people list examples increases the perceived frequency, except when you ask too much. Finding 12 examples of something is hard, and your brain will interpret the cognitive fatigue as a less frequent phenomenon.
Chapter 13: Availability, emotion and risk Our perception of risk is biased by availability and the affect heuristic. If you feel strongly about something negative, you will evaluate the risk as stronger. It’s especially true with very small risks such as terrorism, which our brain is really bad at evaluating (it’s either ignored or given too much weight). And a recent disaster in the news will make us renew our insurance policies. There is a very negative correlation between benefit and risk in the mind of people. This means that if a technology is perceived as highly useful, you will perceive it as less risky, and vice versa.
Kahneman then presents two philosophies about risk assessment and how it affects public policy. There can be availability cascades around public panics such as the Love Canal controversy, fed by media frenzy and politics. Slovic thinks that risk being not objective (it depends on what parameter we prioritize, such as lives or money), the perception of the citizens should never be ignored. Sunstein wants risk experts to rule, because public pressure make the biased lawmakers prioritize the use of tax money inefficiently. Kahneman wisely stays in the middle of this merciless academic scuffle.
Chapter 14: Tom W Tom W is a fictional university student invented by Kahnmos. The goal of the exercise is to guess his specialty. The subjects are told the proportion of the students in each specialty (the base rate, humanities being more probable than STEM), and sometimes a (dubious) psychological profile. He’s described as a nerdy asocial guy who likes bad puns, and if you’re judging him, remember you’re on reddit, so don’t throw any stone here. Most people, even specialists, will infer that Tom studies Computer Science, despite the probabilities given by the base rate, that mean it is more probable for him to study Humanities. It’s because this tells a better story (they choose representativeness instead of base rate. Even if the added information is dubious. Once again, if system 2 is activated (eg by frowning), people will get closer to the base rate.
Kahneman then gives us advice to discipline our faulty intuitions. You just have to use Bayes’s rule and multiply probabilities in your head! Easy. If you cannot do that, I’m sorry you’re an embarrassment to your family and country, but just remember to stay close to the base rate and question the quality of the evidence.
Chapter 15: Linda or less is more Linda is another fictional character created to make us feel bad. She’s described as a left-leaning politically engaged woman. What is more probable, that she’s a bank teller or a feminist bank teller? Most people will choose the second. The problem is that feminist bank tellers are a subset of bank tellers, so there’s less of them (all feminist bank tellers are bank tellers, whereas only some bank tellers are feminist). So it’s mathematically less probable. However, it’s more plausible, tells a causal story, so our System 1 likes it. It’s called conjuction fallacy.
Apparently, Linda caused another controversy in the field of psychology, but Kahneman doesn’t go into details, probably to protect his readers from the gruesome imagery.
Chapter 16 Causes trump statistics We go back to a Tom-like experiment, comparing base rate to other information. When the base rate is neutral, people don’t care about it. But when it is causal and tells a story, the brain will take it into account more. The story (here, it is that a company’s cab cause most of the accidents) creates a stereotype in our head. And in this case, stereotyping helps improving the accuracy of our intuitions.
The author then discusses how to teach psychology to students. He describes the help experiment, where people isolated in booths heard a stooge pretending to die. A minority of people went to help, because of the dilution of responsibility (”someone else can do it!”). When faced to this result, most students accept it but it doesn’t really change their views, in particular of themselves. However, when shown some individuals and their choices, their ideas really evolved. Once again, we suck at statistics and love to make stories from anecdotes. But now we can hack it?
Chapter 17 Regression to the mean Every performance has a random element. That means that if someone has an exceptionally good run, in sports for instance, their results will go down in the future. The opposite is also true. This is called regression to the mean and happens all the time when there is randomness involved. But our brains love causality and will invent a story around it. For instance, this air cadet performed better the second time because I yelled at him, not because of randomness catching up with his bad luck. That’s why we need control groups in every experiment, because many sick people will get better because of time and statistics.

Useful Links

• The Love Canal
• Alar Scare
• Bayesian statistics

You’ll find the questions below, feel free to add your own!

It's legit. It's not "just a fan-theory".
From as far back as 2013 and as recent as 2022 the author has talked about it. I speed-ran through all of the author's Narou Blog Posts, used the advanced search feature on X, and noted down the links containing useful information that I found. I hope you find this informative.

1. THE AUTHOR REFERS TO IT MOSTLY IN THREE DIFFERENT WAYS

In this tweet from 2022, he talked about the title of this future story itself being still undecided. Here he casually termed it as "the story of 80 years since Mushoku Tensei", he also called it "the last story in Six-Faced World", but the most often way the author referred to it—and the way the Japanese fanbase mostly called%22%20%E7%84%A1%E8%81%B7&src=typed_query&f=top) it—is "the main story (temporary title)" [本編(仮)] or just "the main story".

2. DESPITE BEING CALLED THE MAIN STORY, MUSHOKU TENSEI IS NOT "THE PREQUEL" OF "A MAIN STORY", AND THE SO-CALLED MAIN STORY IS NOT "THE SEQUEL" OF MUSHOKU TENSEI

This reddit post has excellently talked about Mushoku Tensei being the main story of its own. Even the author himself has tweeted, "The main story of Mushoku Tensei is Mushoku Tensei."
Rifujin-sensei has an aversion of calling it a sequel. Here he elaborated that the story will not be a sequel of Mushoku Tensei. In this tweet he talked about the story not being a continuation of Rudeus' story, although certain characters from Mushoku Tensei will appear since they're directly related to Hitogami's defeat but he insisted it's not the continuation of it. Here he even said he will not write a Mushoku Tensei's sequel.
A fan here compared it to how Fate isn't the sequel of Tsukihime despite being in the same universe, and the author concurred . It's just like how Old Dragon's Tale, Kingdragon King's Subjugation, and Mushoku Tensei are all set in the same universe but aren't prequel/sequel of each other.

3. CHARACTERS FROM MUSHOKU TENSEI THAT WILL APPEAR IN "THE MAIN STORY (TEMPORARY TITLE)"

I think we can infer about which characters would most likely appear based on the chapter The Final Dream in Mushoku Tensei's final volume (since they're directly related to Hitogami's defeat as the author said). However, he kept it vague about how important they would be to the plot itself.
Here he confirmed that Lara Greyrat will appear, but he doesn't even know the story yet since he hasn't began writing it.
In this blog post from 2015, he talked about how he thought Luicellia might appear again in the story set 80 years into the future. He said as a character she was already created even before Norn and Ruijerd. She was described as a beautiful demon girl who is taciturn and straightforward, quick to kill her opponents, but also hardworking, earnest, and single-minded. Considering it's still a concept, her character traits might change (not to mention the traits themselves included being the last Superd).
How about Nanahoshi then? Is she perhaps the main character of the last story?

4. NANAHOSHI SHIZUKA IS NOT THE PROTAGONIST OF "THE MAIN STORY (TEMPORARY TITLE)"

I know certain section of fanbase are believers of this theory, but the author has debunked that idea in this blog post from as far back as May 2013. Someone said they heard it from somewhere that Nanahoshi will be the protagonist of "the main story", and Rifujin-sensei answered that it's a hoax—Nanahoshi is not the protagonist.
What about the Akihito guy then? Good-looking sporty teenage, a summoned hero, managed to charm the unique Blessed Child in his short isekai life the first time, and will possibly have his own harem considering he's perhaps also Nanahoshi's love interest. The planned story of him literally screams "I'm the main character of power trip shonen fantasy", but is he? Well...

5. SHINOHARA AKIHITO IS NOT THE PROTAGONIST OF "THE MAIN STORY (TEMPORARY TITLE)"

You read that right. I don't know if a lot of you believe he is, because I most definitely did. I even (guiltily) spread misinformation that I believe he's the protagonist because I genuinely thought he was.
Then... I discovered this blog post.
Someone asked Rifujin-sensei in early 2015, "Could it be that 'Shinohara Akihito' is actually the main protagonist of Mushoku Tensei? I thought Rudeus was the protagonist who changes the future, but if it turns out that Shinohara Akihito is the true protagonist and Rudeus is merely a pawn, then I feel really sorry for Rudeus." To which, the author replied, "The protagonist of the main story (temporary title) is a different person."
The author added that he also had a story concept where Akihito is the protagonist, but he felt that the story ultimately wouldn't differ much from Rudeus' own so he scrapped it.
Now for the million dollar questionL who is the protagonist? Probably an entirely new guy, but I have a theory.
Kuroki Seiji couldn't get over what happened to him ten years ago. On that fateful day, he would have been died if not for a savior pushing him out of the road when a Truck that lost control almost hit him. His savior was tragically died in his stead, but the stranger thing was the fact that his friends, Shinohara Akihito and Nanahoshi Shizuka, vanished out of thin air. That experience led to him being approached by a secretive magical society he didn't know exist wanting to hear about the "unnatural situation". Ten years later having joined the society and gained various magical knowledge, he stared down at the magic circle he drew after countless research, believing it would deliver him to wherever his best friends have been disappearing to. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he activated the magic circle.
Alright, sorry please ignore my baseless fanfiction idea.
What I know is that in The Final Dream, there are two "Asian-looking" guys among the party that defeated Hitogami. There is a teenage guy who looked to be good at sport, and there is an older guy in his twenties or thirty who noticed Rudeus first and bowed to him. Is the teenage guy Akihito? Probably, but who is the older guy? Is he perhaps the protagonist? Maybe my fanfiction idea isn't so baseless after all (I'm joking).

6. WHEN WILL THE AUTHOR WRITE "THE MAIN STORY (TEMPORARY TITLE)"?

It's not like it's definitive that he will definitely write it, but lucky for us at least he confirms the plan to write it is genuine, he just needs to prioritize other things first.
Like in this blog post from 2021, he give a blueprint of his main priorities for the foreseeable future.

1. Work hard on anime-related projects.
2. Also work hard on publishing books since they need to be released around the same time.
3. Progress the Orc story bit by bit in between.
4. Once 1 and 2 are settled, continue the Orc story to its conclusion.
5. Heal my shoulders, neck, and eyes.
6. Write the final story of the Six-Faced World.

However, there could be a change of plan in between. Back in 2016, his preference was said to write "the main story" last, and there are also multiple other posts where he said there are more Mushoku Tensei-related stories he also planned to write.
For instance, in an April 2015 blog post this is the list of the stories he planned to tell each as a standalone:

• The story of Shinohara Akihito and Kuroki Seiji
• Young Perugius-sama's wild days (the Laplace War story)
• The old tales of Kishirika and Badigadi (the Second Human-Demon War)
• The life of Ancient God
• Mysteries related to Hitogami and the Dragon Tribe
• The story of Fangs of the Black Wolf
• How Lara and Leo become legendary saviors
• What ultimately happened to Nanahoshi
• Norn-chan's heartwarming school days

Both the Ancient God one and the Mysteries of Hitogami x Dragon Tribe have since been told in Old Dragon's Tale. In this one post there seems to be a planned 11 chaps story outline about Kishirika with Badigadi but was probably scrapped, however a Badigadi's POV from that era has been told as extra chapter in LN Vol. 23. As for the Akihito x Seiji one, I don't know why the author wants to write specifically about the duo. Akihito is understandable since he will definitely be a in the story, but Seiji is supposedly the unimportant one left behind. Hmm, maybe my fanfic—Sorry!
In different posts he talked about wanting to write the reason why Hitogami became so rotten, or about the rewrite version of the notorious Aisha x Arus arc (the relationship is canon, sorry denials), or about Orsted's POV in his previous loops.
Back to the point.
I can only trace the mention of this future story as far back as May 2013 (the Nanahoshi answer one), but it's obvious he already talked about it even before that (considering that post shows someone was already informed about this "main story"). Maybe he first mentioned it in a domestic socmed he used before migrating to Twitter, or there's information from older posts that I missed.
Rifujin-sensei tweeted this as recently as September 2022, here he confirmed he still sticks to his plan of writing "the story about 80 years after Mushoku Tensei" when the Mushoku Tensei anime and Orc's Hero Story both conclude, with rough time estimation being between 2025-2030.
https://preview.redd.it/m6yrmk46gl0d1.png?width=311&format=png&auto=webp&s=82af552ceec8e0aab8014134001fc5b0ea1d598a
Finger crossed, let's look forward to this in a few years.

CANCER ZODIAC TAROT READING - UNEXPECTED INCOME MAY 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ5mIkLhCyY
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I’m not sure where to post this. I hope this is a good place. I woke up this morning and was looking at my 1 month old son and his hair. I thought about my own hair and all the gray hairs I’ve been getting (I’m 24 but my family grays early) and that reminded me I am getting old(er) while for my baby, life has just begun. This lead me to think about my own death, and for just a moment I could not grasp the idea that when I die, it all just ends. Something felt very very wrong about it, very unbelievable and I’ve never felt like that before. I don’t believe in an afterlife really. I don’t believe heaven or hell. Funny enough I believe in ghosts though. I’ve seen them. I just never gave much thought to why/how they exist. I consider myself Buddhist in practice and I’ve considered reincarnation and while I want to believe that, I’ve always struggled to. When thinking of death in the past, I’ve always just thought nothingness. No senses, no thought, no feelings, just and end of it all.. and yet this morning I couldn’t comprehend that. I felt like it’s just not possible that our journey and experience just ends. It was a very intense feeling of denial, and now im left just really challenging my own belief of death and what, if anything, comes after.

I've picked up running as a way to add some movement to my overall stagnant being, I've done this already around a year ago, but back then I went for three runs over around two weeks, ran over 3km each time, no warm up, no post run stretches, partially up hill, on rocky ground with a pace of around 6min / km and absolutely killed my knees. Last run in that session was done on already hurting knees, so I effectively killed them to the point of hurting when walking down stairs...so that was it for that adventure.
Fast forward to now and I picked it up again, this time with the following ideas:

• run a shorter distance, I picked a route which is just over 2km
  
• avoid inclines, the route this time is pretty much flat
  
• avoid hard terrain, the route is half muddy / soil / half grass
  
• use knee braces / supports in the form of elasticated bandages
  
• use Voltarol / anti-infl gel on knees when there's even small amount of pain
  
• do some overall stretching pre and post run
  

So far I've done 5 runs, it started ok, even though I've done no exercises for around 10yrs, I feel OK during / post runs, recovery is very quick, I can even drop below 6min / km, but after run 3 I've started getting those dreaded knee pains again. It's typically on the inside of the knees, there's like a small bulge on the lower portion of the knee side and this is what's hurting, it's not crazy painful, but I can feel it. I've also started getting some pain on the top of the knee cap but that comes and goes. I've used Voltarol on it and it kind of feels fine, but after some time the pain comes back. My last run was pretty heavy pace wise as I forgot my Garmin and just floored it, managing around 5:30min / km which for me is a lot, so there is a chance that it was just too much. I'm now waiting for the pain to go away before I have another go as I don't want to repeat my last "adventure".
So the question is, what the hell? I'm not super old, 40yo, 82kg, slim build, rather healthy, overall those runs are perfect, they are short enough (11-12min), I maintain around 160-180 heart rate through out, I also don't need to stop any more which is an improvement vs early runs, so apart from the knees all seems good. Should I go see a physio? I've not done any heavy sports in the past, or anything with a lot of contact, not had any injuries either, would some leg strength training help perhaps? or is it simply not enough warm up?

Please tell me if I’m seeing things. I’ve been watching wolves basketball for years. I said all season the only team I’d be alright losing to is Denver. Beat the suns, I’m feeling good about Denver, but still feel as though I wouldn’t be disappointed losing to them.
However, I have never seen referees or umpires consistently and systemically fix games as hard as they do in the NBA. You have moments in other sports. Denver and Minnesota are not reffed on the same basis. Again, I, as I have all year, have no idea what constitutes a foul in the modern nba. When you look at trips to the line last game, and the contact that results in free throws, the contact is DRASTICALLY different. Denver was fouling every single posession in the paint, as they have since game 2. We absolutely locked their asses up by punching them in the mouths game 2, and we haven’t been allowed to play a single minute of defense like that since.
Since game 2, all of our bigs are getting in foul trouble while simultaneously being buttf*cked on both sides of the ball with jokic elbows, Aaron Gordon arm rakes, Jamal Murray throwing BOTH elbows into guys posting him up, etc etc etc. Yet we get called for 3 straight charges when the first two were marginal, glancing blows to moving defenders?
Obviously, the wolves began to fall apart late last night. I’m not discounting that. But to be honest, when we had to challenge a clean block 2 minutes into the game after they had gotten away with much much more physical defense, did anyone think we had a chance? Imo, that was a bare minimum 20 point swing, just due to the fact each team was essentially playing a different sport.
I suspect game 6 will be the “best” reffing of the series for us. In minnesota to force game 7? I guess that’s my only hope. Doesn’t even feel like there’s a point to watching this series atp, though I watched them when they were 15th so I’m still grateful for this team. Just wish they were given fair shake, not starring in real housewives of adam silver

This is a crossover fanfiction between original fiction titles: Nature of Predators by SpacePaladin15 and The Last Angel by Proximal Flame respectively. All credit and rights reserved goes to them for making such amazing science fiction settings that I wanted to put this together.
You can read The Last Angel here: Be warned, it's decently long, and at its third installment so far. I highly suggest reading it before reading this, or this story will not make sense.

Otherwise, enjoy the story! Thanks again to u/jesterra54 and u/skais01 for beta and checking of work!
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Memory transcription subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic
Date [standardized human time]: October 22, 2136
The reveal of the Arxur's assistance of Earth was a unsettling, but mostly overlooked note to add to the headlines filling news sites today on Venlil Prime.
UNKNOWN SHIP DEVASTATES FEDERATION FLEET ABOVE EARTH, HUMANITY LIVES
While the ship wasn't currently unknown to us, given the UN's report, General Kam had advised that it would be better left unspoken of what capabilities we did know, so as to not worry the populace. "Leave causing panic to the humans" he said. But I heard the worries and anxious rumors throughout both social media and verbal conversations...
"That ship destroyed an ENTIRE fleet!?"
"Oh Protector, please tell me its not an Arxur vessel..."
"Why don't we know more?"
I couldn't help but feel for my people. I came to disagree with Kam's advice more and more, as I wished desperately to allay their fears of it being an Arxur superweapon, or that it was going to destroy us soon, or other similar worries.
Are you so sure yourself, Tarva? Even the UN government is scared of it, and it supposedly was made by a future Humanity...
I tried not to focus on that pang of paranoia. I just hoped soon enough the UN would make a statement on the Nemesis already. As I accompanied Noah to the UN's remembrance speech today, I did my best to scan for the feelings worn on peoples faces. The Venlil were unsettled as before, but the human refugees were an odder story altogether.
They were devastated, and scared as well as us Venlil were. But on top of it, I could see a common face worn of confusion. The information disambiguation hadn't made its way to Venlil Prime like it had Earth, and as such they were as much in the dark as the public here was. I could only imagine their uncertainty, knowing their race was likely saved by something they had no idea about.
Noah spoke out of nowhere. "I feel for the refugees here. Forced to an unfamiliar place, so unofficially hostile to them, and now they learn of Nemesis like this? I'd be as confused as them in their place." He checked his suit, attending to shift it so slightly as to make him look better in it. "I also can't imagine your opponents didn't run the whole ball with their existence here, too. Are we taxing you harshly, Tarva?"
I gripped his hand tighter. "No, Noah. While there are those that want you off-planet, I will not let them kick you off. I'll fight for you, no matter the cost."
"Seems like anywhere we go, we cause a fight some way or another. Pops always said space was our ticket to a better future, yet all we seem to cause is trouble for merely existing."
"Noah, its not your people's fault we're afraid of you. The Arxur are to blame for that, and we're at fault for holding it against you. What happened to Earth was not your doing, you tried your best, and it just was not convincing enough for millennia of cultural momentum."
He smiled at that, a muted, but still genuine smile. "Thank you Tarva. I'm glad you see the best in us, even when we don't."
I continued to scan the crowd, looking for the sight of Meier. He always seemed alight in diplomacy whenever he was around, it was a strength of his, outshining the room like that. I could only hope he was doing okay in the current state of Earth. The last time we talked, he seemed very tired, very...frustrated with everything.
But I was glad to see him in some his element soon after, amongst a group of dignitaries from other Federation species. He seemed to be listening to a Mazic diplomat, one I remembered by the name of Cupo. Sadly, however, despite Meier's attempt, it seems the conversation was not on a good track.
"-they're a menace to the rest of the galaxy, and you just let them in, not so soon after this ship blindsided an entire Federation fleet out of nowhere!?"
Meier dejectedly sighed. "Cupo, I thought I already told you, when the Arxur showed up, we had no capability to tell them to take a hike. They were ten-thousand strong and we barely managed several hundred ships left. That they even engaged in dialogue rather than just subjugation was a surprise to me."
"That doesn't make much sense either, Elias Meier. Since when do the Arxur play merciful? You're not telling us something here, and it curls my trunk in knots. How can we trust you when you can't even give us the details on what that ship is, or why the Arxur even showed up in its stead?"
The Mazic was not interested in Meier's friendly act, not giving any room for benefit of the doubt. The other diplomats crowded around began to mumble in agreement, as Meier stood there, formulating some response.
"What we do know about the ship and the Arxur, we'll clear up publically later in this event. But neither were expected by us, you have to believe me. Humanity is just as confused as you all are on the results of that battle, and-"
Cupo interrupted this time, clearly not willing to hear an explanation out. "You're running out of trust, Human. We think you ought to be given a chance; as the empathy studies show, you're not the Arxur. But associating with them as you are, with little transparency is not doing you favors with us, and if you want further association with us, you'd best cut ties with those monsters sooner, rather than later." The Mazic's ears hung in displeasure, and I could sense the nervousness in Meier as he stood down one of the races in the room far bigger than he was. Whether Cupo knew it or not, Meier was intimidated by his presence, and was trying to keep it cool to some degree. "We'll at most help with the Gojid refugees at the moment, as they've suffered both of your kind, but beyond that, consider it on hold until that problem is resolved."
They walked away, and some of the alien crowd amongst them followed. The only ones still sticking around seemed to be a Yotul diplomat, a Nevok, and a Fissan. The latter two stuck obviously to discuss more trade details, seeking to cut the other off from Earth to a degree in hopes of exploiting the system, but the Yotul was a surprise. I didn't even realize they had sent one this way.
Given the relatively new uplift of their world, I didn't imagine the Yotul having much stake or spread throughout the galaxy, so how did humanity...?
Meier turned to him. "Ah...Ambassador Laulo, I'm sorry you had to see that. We're...not doing so hot in the grand scheme of things, and some relations are boiling over as a result."
Laulo enthusiastically shook his head in denial. "No, it's okay! I understand the feeling of that persecution, even if it's for a different reason. Feels like the galaxy kicking you while you're already down."
"I appreciate any help we can get in regards to this. You're one of the very few races left that's pledged some sense of unconditional aid. I promise, with all I have in my power, I'll try and return the favor-Tarva!" Elias noticed my presence at last. "I...uh, how long have you been standing there?..."
"Long enough to hear most of it. I'm sorry the more neutral species aren't helping any, Meier. But that's not why I'm here, specifically. We need to talk about the human refugees."
Meier looked at me funny with that statement, as if he wasn't expecting something out of me. "I see...I hope it's not anything too bad, is it?"
I silently cringed at the exact words. Noah filled in the details in my stead. "Meier, the refugees here are seeing images of Earth, of those not too horribly in shock to do anything, there's been an uptick in suicides...a massive uptick. They aren't aware of the full story, due to the Venlil government's reluctance to publish the report sent here publicly. This remembrance speech better give the people here a semblance of peace, of stability, because there's an extreme lack of morale left in the camps."
Meier grimaced and scanned the crowd, glancing at the humans that were here. I assume he too could see how dejected many were, how many seemed at the end of their rope, coming here for the slightest hint of hope left in their lives at the news. They would need some good news, or there was a chance some wouldn't be here tomorrow.
I felt for them. They didn't deserve this, and our intentional censor of the details, so that Meier could deliver the news likely didn't help with the rates.
"I get that Noah. I really do. What happened at Earth was a tragedy, and the death toll is nearly 800 million. You could likely gather a group of ten or so humans from anywhere, and one of them lost someone close to them. I'll...do my best to raise their spirits, there's plenty to talk about here. The alien diplomats just aren't making this easy..." Meier gestured to the clearly forming bloc of neutral species dignitaries that gathered in the room. They did not seem to want to talk further on any support of Earth until some demands were met, mostly on why things were kept so information-blackout heavy at first. The speech would have to be twofold, at raising human refugees' spirits, and at convincing some of the touchy species to support Earth.
His work was cut out for him.
"Did you wish for any assistance on that front, Meier?" Noah offered. His kindness shone through even in the depths of despair that wore
itself on humanity currently. His soul was purely sweet and kind, regardless of his predator disposition, I so deeply respected that about him.
They began to talk shop, Noah mentioning his current experiences with human refugees upon Venlil Prime, and what topics Meier ought to add on and hit on in his speech. As rushed of advice as it was, Meier seemed determined to fit it in somehow, but I knew he had a silver tongue, his capability to navigate and convince was downright bewildering, present company excepted of course. Nothing would get those species over his diet anytime soon, so I could only hope he could appeal to their empathy as another sentient in this case.
I believed in them. If anyone could turn the state of the galaxy around, it would be these two.
Memory transcription subject: Dorian Abder, Commons Member of Parliament
Date [standardized human time]: October 22, 2136
I sat on my desk, watching out the window of my office at the Westminster Palace, reminiscing on the sad scene outside. Another body under cloth cover, wheeled out on a stretcher from a home surrounded by paramedics. Another swept up in despair, seeing the state of our beautiful planet, of our populace, so brutally scarred, enough to take their own life.
How many was it, so far? Nearly a half-percent suicide rate for every hundred thousand in England? More than eight times the highest resting rate in our entire history. And we were hardly hit in comparison to the rest of the world...how are they doing if it's this bad here?
I leaned back in my chair, back cracking in old age, forcing myself away from the scene outside. I tried to not think about it, just tried to focus again on my work. On the coordination efforts with the UN, the Arxur, and any other races seeking to help. But it was a mountain of work ahead, a peak of papers I could barely see myself climbing in an entire week, let alone the mere day it was handed down here.
We've all lost someone. Not a single soul hasn't been touched by the Federation's bombing.
I thought about how the targeting of cities took. How they focused so heavily on Africa and Asia, the most booming corridors of population on Earth. How they erased 78 cities from existence before their fleet was devastated by The Sword. They weren't aiming to cripple humanity, on industrial depots and power plants, but to exterminate us. They aimed for the most populated cities first, before taking potshots at what remained.
Being put to the death by The Sword serves them right, they deserved judgement by that blade for what they had done.
Or, rather, the Nemesis, as reports had given us. A human ship, but not quite our humanity. A time traveler conveniently sent here by accident, saving us from extinction. An AI piloted ship that sought now to reunite with Earth having defended us. Given what remained of our Guardian Angel, I sought to do everything I could to make their welcome home a celebration, for they defended humanity in our darkest hour.
I recalled my journeys around the globe as a younger man. How my endless wanderlust took me to every corner of the globe in the wake of the Satellite Wars. How the global power vacuum led to so much relief efforts, as the less-touched nations finally had room to breathe, the canopy of carefully controlled superpowers no longer eating up their light needed to grow. How African countries like South Africa and Niger found themselves expanding to match the designation of First World. How beautiful the Seychelles were to see in person.
How my volunteering in the UN's Unfurled Umbrella Initiatives after the Treaty of Shanghai took me to the partially collapsed countries amidst Asia. How Tokyo, despite its immense infrastructure failure, dragged itself back to a powerhouse of a city, as Japan built for itself after so long. How China's government reformed into a Republic after the post-war coups, and how Taiwan finally opened its heart more to them for it. How Beijing found itself all the stronger for adversity.
How the South and Central Americas found themselves no longer under the impressive hand of the United States' geopolitical influence. How the first Diaspora vessels took off from Argentina, seeking to establish a government sentenced only to the annals of history on Earth upon the distant surfaces of Mars. How they were so determined to prove the world wrong on its presuppositions of how a place should be ruled, free of the influence of bullying countries. And how their dream led to the now Martian Collective.
I thought of all the other places the UN took me. Of Cairo, and its deep connection to our most prominent civilization of the ancient past. Of Istanbul, to see the beauty of mixing Christian and Islamic influence over centuries of swapping hands. Of the stunning ports of Singapore, an industrial powerhouse of a nation, so tightly packed into one single city. Of the stunning silver forest of skyscrapers that was New York City, still kicking even after the devastation of the Satellite Wars. Mumbai, Baghdad, Lagos, Mogadishu, Guadalajara, Rio De Janeiro, Berlin. How I drank in all the beauty and magnificent history and culture of the world, and was all the fuller a person for it. These and so many more.
I thought of the honey farmer I met by the Saigon River; how Châu Được's family had kept the traditional job going for so long, and divinely sweet their harvest was they shared with me. I thought of Dari Qazi, how the humble Afghani-borne man had found himself at the forefront of a secular revolution in Pakistan, reaching unrivaled progress not seen since the 1980's. I remembered the ambitious young woman in Monterrey, Mexico, who talked to me of her dreams to build spaceships for the Diaspora program, how she wished dearly she could leave a mark on history, and how now her name was on the finest rockets of the age.
All gone. Dust on the wind. Atomized debris now. Their homes, their families, their history gone, according to reports of which cities have evaporated to bedrock.
Thousands of years of history, erased in moments by antimatter over Rome. Los Angeles was reduced to the basin it was built on those long years ago in America. Cape Town's hard fought for progress from humble beginnings to the most populous and prosperous city in all of Africa, wiped from the record in an instant. Seven-hundred and eighty million dead in the span of an hour.
All those years spent, traveling around the world, drinking in the sights, to know they will never return. To know they are gone and buried, snuffed out by a bloody cruel universe, filled with utterly contemptible aliens. A deep voice spoke inside me on a loop, constantly asking an enraging question.
"Did it all mean nothing to you, Dorian?"
There was only one answer I considered giving to that accusation. To the monsters that took so many lives and homes from humanity, merely for having the gall to eat differently. What answered back blistered with hatred, yet kept frigidly focused.
"It meant everything to me."
Something clicked inside; the Federation wouldn't get away with this. We deserved justice. I rustled through my desk drawers, looking for old contacts from my political days. The stacks of papers on my desk could wait, this was more important. I needed to make some calls. Humanity deserved better, and I knew just how we could get it. But it would require a far more coordinated effort than just me. No, it needed a movement.
The galaxy will hear us. One way or another, we deserve justice. And we have just the circumstances to deliver it...
Memory transcription subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic
Date [standardized human time]: October 22, 2136
"-the sting of these days will someday pass. Maybe not in the near future, maybe not even in our lifetime, but we will one day no longer feel his pain, this suffering. Until that day comes, we will not go gently into that dark night, we will live on, mourn our dead, defend those still living, and make humanity known to the galaxy that it will not roll over when faced with such hostility. To those who support us even now, I thank you deeply to the core, and ask for a moment of silence to those lost both above and on Earth...to those who would stand with the Federation, who did so cruelly act upon us, we urge you to reconsider, and turn away, for we bring not a olive branch, but a sword. Those species governments that did this will not get away with this, and those who stood aside and watched...either choose a side, or be labeled on one for your inaction. Thank you."
Meier finished his speech with that, and some applause was heard from human refugees amidst the crowd, but a majority remained mostly quiet, in remembrance of the lives lost. A good majority of the dignitaries from the Federation neutral races had already left by this point, so the pointed message at the end likely missed them personally, even if they listen in later. It was a good speech, but it felt...infused with something that was clearly not Meier's normal calm. It was like seeing a side I had never seen with him before, not rant-angry, but mad nevertheless, hidden behind a veneer of diplomatic politeness.
Noah put it in terms I thought best as Meier walked off stage. "You're a bit more of a firebrand than I thought Meier, but nevertheless a good speech! I'm glad you tied in what advice I could give for the refugees here so smoothly."
Meier smiled at that, a cathartic smile that spoke of being proud of what he delivered just a moment ago. I could only imagine he was aching with tension over the pain of so much loss of life, it was only fair that he be angry at the galaxy at large for it, and make it heard.
"Thank you, Noah. I sincerely mean every word of it. The Federation must not escape scot-free for what they have done, and already now at home we're preparing to bring the fight back to them." He looked at me. "We'll...obviously not go as far as the Federation did, but I speak for everyone in that humanity is not happy, and it shows. Even the refugees that came here looking a mere instant from giving up seem a bit resolved now to that goal. I just wish more were on our side to start...I never wanted war, but the galaxy's forcing it."
"I'm so sorry, Meier. My deepest sympathies for how the galaxy has treated you and yours. Despite the hiccups recently, I guarantee we'll still remain close allies; humanity deserves nothing less."
The remainder of the species in the remembrance assembly started to funnel out; it was mostly just humans and Venlil at this point, but a few stuck around. The Yotul ambassador, Laulo, was an obvious one amongst the stragglers, clearly meaning to talk with Meier and us further. As the room became more and more empty he walked over to us once again.
"Meier! Your speech was wonderful, full of spice and vigor, yet calming all the same. It was like a call to arms while smoking spiritwood. The Federation stragglers hopefully will reconsider!"
I felt a little weirded out by his choice of focus in the speech on The Federation, rather than humanity, but I responded in Meier's stead positively: "Yes, Meier's an expert in political and social matters. Anyways, what did you want? You seem to be just hanging around, waiting for a moment here."
"Ah...yes, about that..." Ambassador Laulo nervously tugged at his uniform. "I was sent here initially just in good faith for humanity, as we knew what it must've felt like for the Federation to bully you so immensely. But this second visit, to the gala itself...we actually want to propose something to Humanity and the Venlil, but I wanted to wait for Federation sympathizing eyes and ears to be far away from here first."
He looked somewhat desperate, but resolved. "We're planning on breaking off from the Federation. Their influence on our planet is awful, given what they've done to us during the uplift. They seek to repress our culture, they constantly call us backward, and primitive, hardly capable of thinking for our own in this galaxy. We're tired of it, but we still are partially relying on their technological development to get to this point, and we don't have a proper fleet made. Your space is closest to ours, and we hoped-"
Meier finished "-that'd we begin our war fronting towards Leirn first? Free your people from the Federation? I'll gladly bring it up with our military advisors. You helped us, we help you back."
Laulo sighed in relief at that, a huge weight taken off their shoulders. "T-thank you. Thank you so much for this. Leirn has sought to be free of their grasp ever since we learned their intentions were not pure. You've been the first species to actually care to some degree, and were our only hope out of this mess."
"Don't thank us just yet. If you'd like to get in contact with our military, I can set you up with some Generals and your government as a liason for the war. You can coordinate anything on your side of the bargain to us through them, and make this smoother." Meier handed him a card, and waved over a human attendant of his to Laulo. She talked with him as the two walked away, and Meier remained.
Noah turned to me, a warm hand scruffing my fur. "I know the state of things doesn't look too great, love, but it could be so much worse. We'll make due with what we can get, and hopefully the galaxy will be a better place for it. Don't worry, all will be well someday."
I believed him. Who wouldn't believe in humanity?
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Just curious if this is a disability worthy thing in California.
I've had it for about a little over 2 years but ignored the signs. I've had a few minor flare ups lasting 1-3 days through my big toe and ankle and chalked it up as maybe a sprain or late bruising from something the day before or something as dumb as kicking something in my sleep. After the very first major one, I had to go see a doctor. I ruined a vacation because of it and missed about 2 1/2 weeks of work. The pain was horrific and lasted a total of 26 days. Since then, I've been on Allo going on about 6 months now. Some minor pain but nothing that'll keep me off my feet, just a minor limp here and there.
Anyway, my job requires me to do a lot of standing, climbing, crouching, bending and just overall constant movement on my feet. Also, I'm required to wear steel toe boots, which are hell sometimes. I'm not in the market to switch jobs. I'm open to the idea of a career change but the job market right now is crap. I do get a lot of perks and personal freedom, the pay is good but am still technically on call. It isn't that bad since the nearest job site is about 25min out and my company gives us a vehicle & paid gas.
With all this, I was wondering if gout is disability worthy. I'd hate to lose my job because of this but am worried my employer might let me go because of another long term flare up. I'm 37 years old, pretty active with sports and outdoor activities, not too overweight, try to exercise at least 3x a week, watch my diet and drink less often than I used to, maybe once a month. I also take Allo now but I know gout attacks are not always going to be 100% curable. Anyone know anything about the disability or have any advice? Very open to ideas and suggestions.