Please note: he went to the vet immediately after he threw up blood with no conclusive diagnosis or issues found. I will call the vet today when they open to see about the scab. I'm hoping to ease my mind until then.
• Species: Cat
• Age: almost 3 years
• Sex Neuter status: Neutered
• Breed: DSH
• Body weight: 11.9 lbs
• History: Vomits his food up twice a month on average. No patterns that we can see that link to a specific flavor. He eats a combo of dry food and Fancy Feast pate everyday.
• Clinical signs: No symptoms at all besides the vomiting. No lethargy, lack of appetite, etc.
• Duration: 2 days
• Your general location: Florida, USA
Cat threw up food and small hair ball 5 hours after his meals on 5/12 (pic below). Blood was found in the second "round" of vomit, but was not seen in the first or third (it was a lot of vomit). He went to the vet immediately where they did x-rays, fluids, and a shot to help with vomiting. Vet said x-rays looked normal but still awaiting reviews from consult. He made it through all day 5/13 eating and drinking, using the bathroom, and acting normally without vomiting. They prescribed him a probiotic powder, metronidazole, and famotidine which I gave him with food. This morning, 5/14, he threw up 15 minutes after eating his wet food and I noticed a small scab-looking thing inside the vomit. Pics below.
Assuming this isn't a serious blockage or injury (since the vet said 24 hours without vomiting was a good sign and x-rays seemed okay), what could this be? Again, hoping to ease my mind until the vet opens. TIA!
Pics of vomit: https://tinypic.host/image/IMG-7146.D9FRAm https://tinypic.host/image/IMG-7168.D9Fjxv
Edited to fix formatting

Arknights has a very wide roster of bosses, so i come here to ask you all: What are the bosses you like and dislike the most for whatever reason? Be it gameplay, story, visuals, etc?
My choices are:
Favorite: Ishar'mla, For me she's so good, not bullshit in any way, good mechanics, design and a fantastic soundtrack. Her fight also feels so creative and there are so many ways to beat her, she ended up being my favorite. (I'm talking Difficulty 6 and below, because i'm not into the higher difficulties of IS, i can imagine her being a nightmare on higher difficulties)
Hate: To be honest, it was hard finding a boss i hate, the ones i don't like i just find kinda boring like Big Sad Lock, but there's ONE boss i actively hate, and that is The Last Knight. The Last Knight feels like an experiment of Eikthyrnir, and while Eikthyrnir works, The Last Knight simply doesn't, dealing with his gimmick is just not fun and requires way too specific counters, freezing an operator on every 2 hits he takes basically shuts down 95% of the roster, so you have very few approaches to him.
What about you guys?

The greatest player in WSL history is leaving the club. On a free. At the age of 27. The GOAT. Vivianne Miedema.
Over the next few months we will hear and see the stats over and over. 172 appearances, 125 goals, 50 assists. Over a goal or assist a game. Incredible. But the true pleasure was just watching her play, something we’ve all been robbed of over the last few years. That may have been nobodies fault, but I could certainly name whose fault it is that we will be robbed of watching the rest of her career.
For such pioneers of women’s football, Arsenal have handled Vivianne Miedema’s departure horrifically. Women’s football is not the same as Men’s and should not be run in the same way. In women’s football relationships are built between fans and players as quickly as lesbians fall in love. The accessibility is there and encouraged. Rightly or wrongly, winning isn’t always everything, the priority is growing the game and inspiring the next generations.
Make no mistake, not offering Viv a contract at 27 years of age is the same as Barcelona turning around to Alexia Putellas and not offering her a contract. It is the same as letting Thierry Henry leave on a free. In no world is it a sensible decision. In no world does it make sense for team aiming to win trophy’s. And in no world is any true Arsenal fan going to allow this to be swept under the rug. Could there really not have been a conversation about a contract even if the club felt it was a risk? Could that conversation not have been had? This is Vivienne Miedema, with all due respect, there is nobody better.
This is a huge disrespect and something that the club, specifically Jonas and Edu need to address publicly. Especially if the plan is for Jonas to continue. Not only that it brings into question the ambition of the club, within minutes Man City are sniffing and being vocal about it.
But as difficult as it is for us fans, and as baffling, the real victim is Viv.
To Viv, thank you, thank you, thank you. Not just for what you have done for the club on the pitch, for who you are off it. For being unapologetically yourself, and showing us the most important thing is you and your wellbeing regardless of what directions you are being pulled in. We will always be holding out hope that there will be a U-turn and you end up staying, but the reality is even if the club were too they don’t deserve your forgiveness for this. I hope wherever you end up you don’t just confirm what everyone except the club knows, but make Arsenal have to re-evaluate every persons position who helped come to this conclusion. Because it’s the wrong one, and I’ll die on that sword. But who knows, maybe one day you’ll be winning the WSL with us as manager. I’ll be wishing it in every shooting star I see.
I know we will have to let it go, just as you will have had too, but we aren’t ready yet.
So whilst we may not be ready to say So Long Viv just yet, we will never be able to listen to that song without thinking of you.

I don't know how much y'all are familiar with house visitation from church, but I'm going to share my story here about it.
A little background info: I (19F) grew up in a strict, conservative, Calvinist, Reformed church (NRC https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_Reformed_Congregations)
A few months ago, after months of struggling, realized that I lost my faith. I told my mom and dad (pastor) about it and it has been tense at home since then. My parents had house visitation from church about two months ago. I didn't participate because I was going to have a talk with them on my own. I have a little brother and sister who yet don't know about my loss of faith. It would be a bad timing to let them know through the house visitation.
So yesterday I had my own house visitation, with an elder and a deacon. After we had talked a little about my daily life (studies, friends, etc.) they asked about my faith. I told them that I don't really believe anymore, and explained them a little why. They were asking me questions, but really not in a negative way. They were interested in my process. Of course they were sad about it and they wished I turned back to God, but they didn't push anything. They told me something about their personal life, but not too much. They appreciated my respectful, open way of talking with them. And I'm positive about how they reacted.
It was actually totally different than I expected. I expected them to throw bible verses at me, but they barely did that. They just kinda seem to accept it. I feel like they didn't really know what to say, because I was pretty confident about it. I think it worked that I didn't attack them, but just explained to them that it was a personal thing.
When I got home I told my parents how it went. They were happy for me that I had a positive experience. Although my dad was kinda of frustrated that the elder and deacon didn't ask for a follow-up meeting. I guess that's because he just doesn't understand how people can accept this about me, because he never will.
I'll probably still go to church with my parents till I move out. I don't think my parents will allow me to live at home while I don't go to church.
Sorry for this rant. I'm curious how y'all's experiences were with telling the church council about your loss of faith! How did that go for you?

I don't know how much y'all are familiar with house visitation from church, but I'm going to share my story here about it.
A little background info: I (19F) grew up in a strict, conservative, Calvinist, Reformed church (NRC https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_Reformed_Congregations)
A few months ago, after months of struggling, realized that I lost my faith. I told my mom and dad (pastor) about it and it has been tense at home since then. My parents had house visitation from church about two months ago. I didn't participate because I was going to have a talk with them on my own. I have a little brother and sister who yet don't know about my loss of faith. It would be a bad timing to let them know through the house visitation.
So yesterday I had my own house visitation, with an elder and a deacon. After we had talked a little about my daily life (studies, friends, etc.) they asked about my faith. I told them that I don't really believe anymore, and explained them a little why. They were asking me questions, but really not in a negative way. They were interested in my process. Of course they were sad about it and they wished I turned back to God, but they didn't push anything. They told me something about their personal life, but not too much. They appreciated my respectful, open way of talking with them. And I'm positive about how they reacted.
It was actually totally different than I expected. I expected them to throw bible verses at me, but they barely did that. They just kinda seem to accept it. I feel like they didn't really know what to say, because I was pretty confident about it. I think it worked that I didn't attack them, but just explained to them that it was a personal thing.
When I got home I told my parents how it went. They were happy for me that I had a positive experience. Although my dad was kinda of frustrated that the elder and deacon didn't ask for a follow-up meeting. I guess that's because he just doesn't understand how people can accept this about me, because he never will.
I'll probably still go to church with my parents till I move out. I don't think my parents will allow me to live at home while I don't go to church.
Sorry for this rant. I'm curious how y'all's experiences were with telling the church council about your loss of faith! How did that go for you?

Some ideas for a city campaign in Helldivers II. This during the massive Automaton push after surprise massive fleet show up.
Setting
A city of that used to be a thriving human home inhabited by 30 million citizens but the war turned it into a battlefield as Automaton’s relentless offensive since the surprise attack few weeks ago. SEAF desperately held on the city as it is a the center of political capital of the region, not to mention the node of economy and culture too. Sharp fight erupts over a control of an apartment block or sewer system, showing how intense the battle is for weeks. The Helldivers are assigned as tip of the spearhead to attack critical points that can turn the tide of the battle.
Imagine Fallujah 2003, Berlin 1945 or Hue 1968 as sample templates.

Parkour hell

Automatons are pushing hard but still unable to breakthrough due to resilience of the SEAF so far. However this new development worries the High Command enough to merit a Helldiver mission.
Intel assessed and believes that enemy is deploying an artillery system that we never seen before to this sector. What we do know that they break it up to few components that is transported on heavy haulers, about 20 of them and has to go through this no-man zone. You have a limited time window of 15 minutes once deployed.
Once they passed this point, it will be detrimental as they have sufficient parts to assemble into a huge artillery system that might cause problem for the regular troops holding the frontline.
The intel also believes that the only way these haulers can be taken out is their relatively weak top armor. Realistically, you Helldivers have to do parkour on the building roofs and set up ambush points to effect a destruction of these haulers. So every Helldiver must have Jump Pack as a mandatory Strategm, as any street level battle will be suicidal. Do lookout for crumbling building that might go down if you landed wrongly. We have reason to believe that Automatons have rapid response team if the convoy got attacked in mere minutes too. Destroy the haulers before get overwhelmed.
You must at least destroy 60% of the convoy to be considered as successful.
Good luck and give them hell.
Based on the exploits of Chechen's Tiger unit in Battle of Grozny 1994.

Rattenkrieg – War of the Rats

We believe that Automatons are hiding their crucial ammo and fuel stockpiles in the middle of the city blocks around this sector but we can’t detect accurately from the orbit because they using a stealth net that obscures our Super-Destroyer’s optic and detection systems. We believe by destroying these forward caches, their push will at least slacken to buy SEAF precious time to regroup and rebuild their line.
This is where you coming in.
Unfortunately, we can’t insert Helldivers near to the combat zone since we are not sure the exact locations so you have these deployment zones here and here. So, you have to deploy, get stocked with ammo and equipment then enter the vast sewer system to access target areas from below. That means the Super Destroyers or CAS (Close Air Support) will not able to assist you since you will be cut off underground.
Luckily, there are few gaps via big blasted holes that we can send help shall you need it in middle of the fight. Use those precious window wisely. Also if any reinforcements has to start from beginning zone all over again unless there are hole gaps nearby. Needless to say, the terrain is cramped and very close quarter prone so choose your loadout accordingly. Do note to try destroy the access holes once you completed the target to prevent pursuit by the enemy in the sewers.
We also knew there are caches from the wiped out defenders hiding inside the sewer systems so you can resupply from their stocks. These are approximate locations.
You must destroy at least 5 caches quickly and exit in 30 minutes.
Inspired by Battle of Stalingrad 1942-43.

The Vault

A group of prominent citizens trapped in a big bank vault, hiding from marauding Automaton patrols after unable to evacuate in time during the retreat. It is up to you, Helldivers, to approach the bank from above in your typical fashion or go stealth via underground sewer system. Reach the bank, decommission any resistance, secure the citizens and escort them to a waiting shuttle before the Automaton find their hiding spot.
The bank itself, used to be an architectural marvel during peaceful days has turned into a massive rubble that makes a nightmarish urban combat scenario.
You also must secure data from the bank server while rescuing the citizens at the same time. Also, power up the backup generator underground before you can open the vault and the booting up the server too while fighting the Automatons. This is your speciality, hence the command needs you do it. You have a small window of action about 12 minutes before the enemy begin to send in reinforcements or rapid response force, so act quick.
Here’s the blueprint of the bank. Good luck.

The Towers

The Automaton set up few massive signal jamming tower units that causing troubles for SEAF. What’s worse, we can’t really pinpoint the exact location of the towers since they keep rotating spots to avoid detection by our forces. Therefore, it is your task to drop in and corner these mobile jammer units, render it destroyed. Without doubt, the enemy sentry will be considerable and expect a massive fight shall it turn into a shooting match.
Best way is to use AM rifle to destroy the jammers from far and quickly scoot to the next place.
You have 40 minutes to disable their EW units and evacuate from the combat zone. Good luck.

Good morning beautiful world! Like my title says I'm 30 and a single dad to a rambunctious 4 year old. My life is pretty hectic but would love to meet some new people and hopefully meet some people in person. I love reading (history nerd) playing guitar, just recently started getting into gaming. Hopefully I haven't bored you yet, shoot me a dm:)

I think I’ve come to the conclusion that my mother resents being a mother and doing things mums are suppose to do. It’s not something she enjoys at all, if anything it’s just something she throws herself into to stop overthinking and not have to deal with her (non-existent) social life outside of it.
The way she acts and throws things in my face has made me notice how my friends parents do not act this way. I think a lot is down to financial stress but also as I said not enjoying being a mother. There’s me, my 2 brothers and my sister so I can understand why she hates it to an extent…but that is purely the reason why I don’t want kids in the first place; I could not cope looking after them.
I still live at home but i try stay out at friends when i can, I pay my keep monthly (£300) and when I am at home I try help out but I’ve found that when I do help, she then expects it as a daily task to be done everyday almost like from that moment on I’m taking on a part time parental role.
She complains about having to cook, clean, do the dishes yet doesn’t give my younger siblings consequences for not cleaning their own dishes up? (They’re old enough to wash it themselves) So expects me to scrub their dishes because she has so much else to do?
There’s many things i could say and I fully get why she feels that way but why would you have kids if you know you’d struggle and hate it? Obviously she thought she’d still be with my father but nothing is guaranteed we all know this.

Since the rumor rn is that Cathay will get another DLC, I'm hoping they give the original 2 lords the proper glow up they gave the empire, which should be the gold standard of reworks moving forward. When Shadows of Change was released, it was clearly horribly rushed as none of the 3 major factions got any real major changes. The new lords did but not the originals or the races as a whole. Yuan Bo is part of that, he's fun, unique, and has a specific focus mechanic and gameplay wise on state building and the compass. In fact he's so good at it, that he overshadows Miao Ying and Zhao Ming with exclusive access to parts of the compass, better WOM management, better foot and dragon lord, better settlements with his matter of states mechanics, etc. Besides the cool starts and cool characters, the other 2 lords feel redundant, CA did well balancing the race but left their original lords behind and I hope the monkey king (if he actually comes in the next dlc) will give them both the proper love they deserve.
Ideally, make the great bastion like the imperial authority system, if you own a chunk of it then you should maintain it and protect it, if you don't, like Zhao doesn't and often doesn't need to care about it until confederating Miao, then you shouldn't have a meter saying you need to watch out for the homeless men on the other side 10 turns from now. The great bastion should also be a lot scarier to protect and provide great benefits for preemptive strikes like what the trees for wood elves currently do, with someway to negate or mitigate the difficulty of settling beyond the wastes if you choose to or economic and growth benefits in Cathay if you decide to stay behind it.
Miao Ying and Zhao Ming are too similar and need to have something to separate each other, have Miao have access to Nan-Gau defensive something-or-other or expand further on her need to hold and protect the great bastion, like what CA did with Karl and his diplomacy mechanics, expand it. Zhao should be able to send additional caravans like Zhatan can, but more importantly, he either needs some sort of focus on alchemy or on warpstone exposure, either a UI about recruiting alchemists and economic shifts like an expanded ice witch training, or something like Malus' possession mechanic lite, where the more warpstone he's exposed to, the more crazed he gets but becomes stronger while the less he's exposed, the better the leader he is. Idk I'm throwing these out at 5 in the morning after 20 minutes of thought so if I've thought about it then hopefully CA has too.
Ok last bit, Cathay is a really great faction, they have so much to offer and are incredibly strong and versatile, they aren't pushovers and will stand up really well against outside opponents, and if the monkey king comes even better for Cathay. The lords are struggling however as they just got left behind during the shit show that was SOC, but with TOD and what they did with the lords for the races that got reworked, I'm very hopeful they can stick the landing and make Miao and Zhao (real creative GW) stand up to par with Yuan Bo and the Monkey King

Am I the asshole for saying that I hope my brother and mother rot in jail and telling them that I don’t consider them family anymore because of the way they treated me? This all happened a little over a month ago. For a little background information, I have a younger brother who is 6 foot 9 inches and is 18 years old. I am a 20 year old female and am only 5 foot 5 inches. I will be 21 this December. When he and I were younger before he had gone to 5 different behavioral facilities, he would constantly abuse me, blackmail me, spread false rumors about me, and threaten me if I didn’t do as he said. Me being the pushover I was, I listened to him. I also barely have friends because of him. He’s also the reason why most of my friends are online especially from Fortnite and Discord. Since then, I have been more confident in myself. Anyways, a little over a month ago I was playing Fortnite Battle Royale solos on my Limited Edition Fortnite Xbox 1S that I had received as a gift from my fiancé’s younger brother, Timothy(not his real name) while my fiancé, Gabriel(not his real name) was watching me play and my brother had called me on messenger. He had introduced me to his new girlfriend Leah(that is not her real name). He also had said that he wanted to see me as I haven’t seen him for over a year. He said that he would put a bullet in the head of anyone who tried to stop him from seeing me. I told him that threatening people would not be a good idea. He also told me if I had a problem with that to get the hell out of his life. Then he proceeded to say that he would kill Gabriel(20M), Timothy(19M), their youngest brother who will be called Max(16M)(not his real name) and their mother(53F) who I’ll call Jessica(not her real name) that he would kill them. I decided to tell my mother (41F) that I’ll call Samantha(again not her real name). She flat out defended him saying that they were keeping me from seeing my family. She also called me a lazy and petty girl who can’t even wash her hair properly(which I can by the way) and told me that I needed to get a job even though my disabilities won’t allow me to hold down a job for very long. I have ADHD, OCD, and PTSD. I’m also autistic and bipolar. My mother is also a liar and a thief. She stole $400 worth of stuff from me which I had bought with graduation money that some family friends of my grandparents had given me and lied to me about it. I had bought a Nintendo Switch and Pokémon: Legends Arceus. She also forced my younger sister (13F) that I will call Emily(not her real name) to block me on Facebook. So I told them that I hope that they get arrested and that they would rot in jail. So am I the asshole for telling them that?

Hi all, I started to play chess last year, now I'm rated 1300 rapid on chess.com tho these last couple of months I've started playing OTB with unexpectedly good results against strong opposition.
Yesterday I've had this game OTB against an almost 1800 rated player (I was black):
https://www.chess.com/analysis/library/4WfgGj2QkN?tab=review
I had a good advantage out of the middle game and I was overall happy with my game, I think I had some good ideas and such. Thing is OTB is very different than online playing since online such a game would be easily won after the middle game, while OTB you fight for 2 and a half hours only to reach a position where things are unclear.
I eventually blundered my advantage and a drawn endgame after 3 hours of playing, and it was the most crushing feeling.
Is there a way to actually get better at this kind of stuff?

Last year I (30f) reconnected with an old friend (INFJ 30m) who I havent seen since we were teens and we instantly felt close, we have the same core values, same thought patterns, went thru the same struggles.
We spend a lot of time together, text all day, share daily photos of interesting stuff, play games together, watch stuff etc. so we both call each other best friends/twins. He did/said things that made me feel appreciated like saying i'm the only one they can speak to "this way" (as in have deep convos about feelings n such) or sharing snacks with me.
I'm aware of something i always do and that's feeling these 'friend crushes' on people i feel the closest to me, but I'm realizing this feels stronger than my usual. And it sometimes feels like he feels the same.
I have a hard time being honest about my own needs so I can't tell people "I miss you" or "i feel lonely, let's hang" bc I feel that'd be selfish and imposing of me. That backfires often and I suffer in silence hoping the other picks up on it, I've worded things poorly(letting anger fuel it) and that just embarassed me more.
I'll say all i think about is him but it doesn't go beyond wanting to hang out, maybe hug more. I'm also not that into sex in general, may be a mental thing idk. This person feels very important to me so my fear of abandonment kicks in when i see small changes in behavior and it's driving me nuts tbh.
uhhhh idk how to end this post, i like them and they seem to like me but now that im aware of how happy they make me im actually very nervous overall i'll go now byee

Hey everyone,
As I recently experienced some sleep problems, I wanted to keep track of how good I sleep every night - but also keep it as simple as possible, so I started coloring the days on a physical calendar using green, red, or orange as a way to "rate" the sleep for the previous night
Doing this on paper wasn't very efficient so I decided to create a mobile app for it (currently available only on Android as I use one). And thus, created it and published it on the Play Store so other people can use it too.
It's free, it doesn't have any ads, so I don't make any money out of it. I just wanted to share it with you in case anyone finds it useful. Works both online & offline.
Here's the link
I would appreciate some feedback for future updates, thank you!

Devouring Cancer

________________________________________________________________________________
Meat. /mi:t/
Me it. /mi/ /:t/
It me. /:t/ /mi/
It’s me…
We are eating ones of ourselves…
________________________________________________________________________________
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
/C̶̢͈̈̂͒̀̋̾̓͌Ô̶̻͉̠̱͈̳̮N̸̫̹̱̯̣̣̻̐̽͒̎̃̆̕͜Ǹ̴̛̛͙̫̇E̴͕̮̻͇̒͐̀C̶̳̤̠͔̺̚T̴̘̑̈́̂͛̂̏E̶̡̩̝̮͇̤̣̋̏͗D.
/Mellator Matrix Mind: Inner Core.
/Unit: great [AVALON] the first
/G.R. Era.
/Memory File transmission: Generalized perspective
/Gender: N/A[Neutral]
/Age: {Human equivalent: 2001 years}
/Race: Grrrr’atrrr
/Species: N/A[Hive Mind]
/ Additional verification: Class>>> [Cancer Cells]
/Cradle planet: Ci-3301
/Home planet origin: Mupan
/First person POV not applicable. Generalized Spectator mode.
/Sequence Code: 5-18-5-8 19-1-23 20-8-7-9-14-11-5-12-2-13-21-8
/Memory transmission in 3…2…1…
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

Hunger…
It’s all that drives us. It’s all that unites, connects us… All that pulls us, all that defines and binds us…
Our story began long ago. It all started with a single parasite cell. Not the greatest primordial ancestor indeed, but every Apex Predator started somewhere. But back to our history… That very first cell was our first grandmother, as well as the beginning of our entire civilization. Hard to tell what was the trigger for it’s evolutionary change, as time wipes all. Perhaps it was desire to become something better? Awakening? Or maybe just spontaneous mutation in one of the genome chains, occurring by changes in environment? It really doesn’t matter. All what matters is that that cell evolved…
It didn’t happened quickly of course. Our first grandmother was no different than an average cancer cell that is present in nearly every life form, even us. It just growed into one small neoplasm, or simply, a cancer tumor. But that tumor slowly made it’s way to the brain. We know that because that’s how we, as well as our ancestors, assimilated everything for millennia…
It is impossible to determine which one of the prey species was honored to become the meal of our first ancestor, but it was clear that that feast was something that never happened before. That tumor did not just sucked the nutrients dry till the brain dies from the protein starvation, taking the tumor along the way with it. No, that tumor assimilated it. And that tumor learned. Learned from it. And it saw the world for the first time.
Assimilation is not as easy as other inferior beings think. First, your cell needs to find the prey cell. Then it needs to envelop the cytoplasm of that cell to properly assimilate it. However, after assimilating the “Host”, your cells need to take properties of assimilated cells and even function for the prey organism for the time being so it won’t suspect anything. It is a long, tedious and fatiguing process. That’s why we just ambush other prey organisms, tear them apart, and devour them for protein supplies, to avoid all that bustling.
And say what, the prey doesn’t make it easier for us either. As our first ancestors quickly learned, prey can be sentient too. It is inferior, weak, pathetic… And yet it can create great weapons to stop us. For [decades] these beings create astonishing amount of that pesky, venomous and disgusting antibiotics and chemicals to kill our minds. For thousands of [years] they set our flesh on fire, making us scream as we die in agony cell by cell.
And yet we prevail. When they make those chemistry compounds they call “Cure”, we gain immunity to it. When they set our bodies ablaze, we spray them with our blood and teeth, making their bodies to slowly blister as we eat them inside out. When they close their doors on us, we use ventilations, slithering right above their heads or below their {feet}. When they use special protection suits, we just tear them apart. And when they completely quarantine themselves, thinking that they are safe, we pretend to be one of them, striking from behind…
What is the most amazing thing about this prey? Well, aside that their flesh is delicious… They are clever. And they know how to build stuff. Weapons, tools, technology… Everything to increase the odds of survivability and comfort of their pathetic kind. And by devouring their minds, we gain all this knowledge as well! We learned how to grow cattle to saturate our hunger, we learned how to create faster means of transportation that even the fastest members of our swarm can’t out-crawl with their appendages. And most importantly; we learned how to reach the skies…
Among the prey species that we feast upon, there was a special class, or caste, of highly educated specimens, who called themselves “scientists”. These specimens learned how to use metal, fuel, radiation, and other inedible and in some cases straight up harmful components of nature, and turned them into what they called “Spacecraft”. A special vehicle, capable of leaving the atmosphere of our planet. Something that sounded like fantasy, even for the boldest ones of us, who sometimes managed to grow wings and flew high in the sky. It was a fantasy until we consumed their heads and the knowledge they possessed along the way. From them we gained knowledge of the schematics of these space vessels, and most importantly; the schematics of FTL drives. Devices capable of traveling among the stars with “superluminal” speed. And so, after conquering and discovering each and every corner of our planet, we soared to the great unknown, right into the void…

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
/Transmission mode: Spectator. Centralized perspective.
/Subject: Verrruur. Grrrr’atrrr. Lead hive mind of the Hunter Fleets.
/Transmission in 3…2…1…
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
We flew among the stars in our glorious ships made out of strongest titanium fusions and covered in our eternal flesh. Yes, what wasn’t made out of the metal hulls and electronics, was made out of sheer muscles and flesh tissue. So many cells… So much nutrition… We could withstand decades without the food and still hunt like our greatest hunters back on Mupan(Apparently, that’s how prior sentient prey species happened to call our planet, and we didn’t really bother to rename it, as for us it was widely known as just plain“Ground, floor, or land”). Our strongest weapons, combined with our most dissolving acid spitters, made us the strongest and most feared hunters, “cementing” our history as the strongest Apex Predators in the galaxy! We defeated, devoured, and assimilated everything… It did not matter if our enemy was a leviathan, an enemy prey fleet, or even an entire planet. If it could be eaten, it was eaten…
Until it wasn’t…
On yet another great crusade in search of delicacy for our insatiable fleets, our sensors captured a strange, but nonetheless familiar signal. The impulse of FTL drive. We made a serious double, and even triple checking of our radars to avoid a major nutritional loss due to false readings. After our intels captured, properly verified, and confirmed the signal, our intercoms just exploded with thousands of jaws:
“Food?”
“Food…”
“ Food! FOOD!!! Food! Food! Delicious prey! Food! We shall… FEAST! Food! Yes!!! Food! FOOD!!! We haven’t ate for [Month]! At last… Some good food… Food! Juicy food… Flesh of prey…
Food! The succulent meat…”
Yes, we felt joy. And anticipation of hunting down these unknown but likely very delicious organisms. It was like opening the present. You don’t know what was inside these flying metal cans, but you sure know that it was likely to be something edible.
Oh, we never were so wrong in our glorious history.
We did not saw them at first, that’s how black and cloaked they were. When we finally identified our “prey” we saw it was a small cluster of black ellipsoids, just hovering there. They did not tried to contact us, like other naive prey organisms did. They were completely silent...
“We will smash you like the eggs you are!” we foolishly thought back then...
They slowly turned frontwards when we approached them. Their range was astonishing, picking our smallest drones instantly before they could even scream, like if they were the candles that these black horrors just blew out.
When we finally reached the required distance and fired our acid sacks and laser guns however, they were still there, not blowing up, retreating, or even moving an [inch]. Then we opened all the airlocks(if we weren’t already outside) and enveloped their ships in our mighty grip, not stopping to pour their shields with our acids and plasma. Usually, after a few unpleasant zaps of enemy shields, they just popped and the ships just were crack open like the [nuts].
But not them...
They did not crumble and exposed their hulls with screaming prey just getting sucked out in the vacuum as usual, no, instead they started to grow bright red. Redder than our flesh and blood…
And burned. Burned stronger and more painful than any flame. Our drones roared in pain but we couldn’t hear any of their songs of torture in this vacuum of silent space. Hundreds of megatons of our flesh clusters was just turned in ashes or were torn off and become drifted dead lumps of burnt meat. Our intercoms filled with screams of fear and agony, our minds losing their mass and density, turning into undeveloped children.
"Father? It hurts…” could be heard from countless drones. And any of them that tried to escape, were sniped with red beams of such accuracy, that our best spitters could only dream of. It didn’t last long when we were the only operating guide ship of entire Armada that was so ingloriously butchered. And then we felt the warmth…
No… NO!
All weapons of this black "eggs" were pointed at us, our last mind. The last memories flashed as we slowly were burned to death. The last though of our last tumor was the realization that there was someone stronger than us. Someone who cannot be eaten. The bigger Predator…
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
/Memory transmission File disconnected.
/Reason: Biological death of the Subject.
/Cause of death: Sterilization.
/End of data log.
/D̵̛̤̂͜I̵̢͎̬̍̄̂͌͋S̴̢̛̙͇̯̽̔̾́͝C̸̭͓̰̤͋͆́ͅÓ̴͖̜̯̻͂̃̉N̵̨̧̦͙̳̍̾̕N̴͙̬͓̽̃̂̇͂͝E̵̠̬̠͉͒C̵̢̛͚̪̭̭̼̿̎T̶̝̈́͋͘͜Ì̸̢̱̙̤̽͑̽̈́̍ͅŌ̵̗̬̑̍̽̒N̷͖͖̗̗͚͈͗͛...
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

For context - F20, I have been working in a restaurant (kitchen employee) for two-three months. In my contract it says I can quit at anytime/they can fire me anytime. My boss texted me on WhatsApp 4 days ago telling me that they noticed I get really stressed and anxious when im working even when there are little customers. Since I already wanted to fire myself, i basically replied doing so, saying that working there isn't for me but saying I'm still available to work the days I've been scheduled for (so the rest of May). My manager never replied back (she left me on seen). This morning I texted another manager asking the process to fire myself and it seems like she is ghosting me too. I'm supposed to work on Saturday as I am still on the schedule, but none of my managers is working that day so I can't even ask in person. Calling gives me major anxiety. Should I text them again, send an email, or act like nothing happened? How do I fire myself if no one is replying to me?

Anyone else just not invite their parents to anything?
I never invite my own parents to anything unless it’s mandatory, for example, tomorrow at school I’m having an honor roll assembly with the older kids, I hadn’t told my dad about it mainly because I never wanted him to come. I’d be okay if my mom tagged along, both not really at the same time.
I just never want to deal with anything they have to throw and criticize as soon as we get there, I once got scolded for this after not telling them about a writers competition at school that I attended myself and told my dad he wouldn’t have to come.
My mom thinks I’m avoiding them and has made sure to know of any events at school, in fact, the event I’m attending tomorrow my Dad is tagging along, at first I was excited to go because I wouldn’t have to wear the same uncomfortable school uniform, and I’d get to wear a nice dress.
Now that my Dad is coming along, I’m not so excited anymore, because then that means I’ll be subjected to relentless criticism and insults as soon as we get to the school, like any other place we’ve been to together.
I have to go home and deal with their verbal torture and nonstop resentment towards me, it’s hard to maintain an act and be in a good mood at school after my mom just yelled at me and called me a useless child that morning.
Yet besides all that I still have managed to make friends and know others well, be pretty sociable and get reasonable grades, top of my class also, How could I have possibly achieved all this?
By separating a barrier between myself at home and at school. And I think I’ve done a pretty great job at not letting my home rendezvous affect my school experiences.
But when the same people who that barrier has been made for start to step out of bounds and trespass, that’s when it becomes a problem I don’t like to deal with.
Luckily it’s a closer ride to my sweet 18th, not 16 because then I’d still be treated as a kid, I’m surprised at how the emotional abuse hasn’t bitten me as much, aside from a few insecurities and minor people pleasing with doubts, that included never standing up for myself.
But I’ve learned and grown out of their perils, just like I’ve told myself since 6 years old, sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.

Hello everyone, I'm sorry if the Title sounds confusing and my writing isn't the best (I'm on mobile), but I really need to talk about something. As my title says I'm scared of what maybe comes in my future. I live in Germany, I'm 27F and I'm currently in an apprentice ship for a warehouse logistics worker. The job is fun and I really enjoy it, but I have a problem: my migraine attacks. It inherited from my Mum and it's really painful sometimes. That said I got a lot of sick days last year and I'm now looking for a job after I finish my apprentice ship. A huge setback is my condition and I got a lot of negative feedback from it. I feel like that I'm only seen as a sick and non-working body instead of truthful and work-liking person. I'm not sure what to think anymore. I get it that not many want a person in their company that gets painful headaches once or twice a month, but is it worse than someone that has kids and is also sick all the time? Many people in my country getting benefits from having kids. They can go home early, can get more money, being sick more and have to pay less taxes. I don't have kids... I have a medical condition. Does this migraine makes me less of a good worker than those with small kids? Should I even tell my future employer the truth or should I lie about it? I always told them the truth, but it seems that this is what makes them see me more like a medically dependent person instead of a family dependent person.
I'm glad for any tips or words on this matter here.

This will be sort of a short guide for new players trying to improve themselves. Of course, since the game is still a PS5 exclusive as of the writing of this post, no official datamine has been done, so things I say here might not be entirely correct. What I write here is based on my own experience from playing the game (150 hours for now, beating Midnight and currently at level 100). I encourage other players to contribute their experience.
Counter Spark (will be abbreviated as CS onward) is the game main combat mechanic. As the basic level, it's an attack (well, most CS are attack, there's some special cases where it is a parry stance, e.g. Hayabusa-ryu CS). Unlike other games that focus on parry mechanic (Sekiro, Wolong, etc…), the CS in RotR is quite difficult to master mainly because of 2 reasons: It being an attack makes it very unsafe if you fail, and each style got its own CS with its own property, making the learning process even more difficult. I see many people in the past claim that the timing of CS is inconsistent, or straight out bug, but I presume they have not fully understood how CS work. CS works by clashing its hitbox into the enemy's attack hitbox. For a successful CS to happen, you have to consider the hitbox shape, size, active frame of both your CS and the enemy's attack. Sometimes, you also have to take into account the distance between you and the enemies, as being further would mean the enemy's hitbox would take a few frame longer to reach you.
On the enemy side, specifically their martial art attacks (the red attack), the hitbox would form after the white flash, so in general, don't press your button before seeing that white flash. As for their normal attack, you have no way but to learn their attack pattern and timing. The best way to learn enemy’s attack is to use a style with “easy to execute” CS. A CS easy to use would be CS that has large frontal hitbox (so enemy’s attack will clash into your hitbox easier), and the most important part is that it has long active frame. CS with long active frame usually share 1 common feature: it has 2 slashes instead of 1 slash, some examples: Tatsumi-ryu and Mugai-ryu for Katana, or Niten Ichi-ryu for Paired sword. With how long these CS are, you can press button either on reaction or even a bit early and will still get a successful CS. After you nail down the enemy pattern, you can start changing to a style with harder CS and learn more precise timing. So, just hit the dojo and test out the CS of your weapon of choice.
However, sometimes, you’ll encounter some weird attacks that even using easy CS still won’t net you a successful counter consistently. I hypothesize that these attack have pretty odd (most often extremely vertical hitbox) that hit you at area where your CS does not cover. Fortunately, these attacks are most often on the slower side, so if you have a hard time against those, either take a step back to reposition your CS hitbox, or JUMP and perform an aerial CS. Aerial CS can hit many attacks that normally very annoying to ground CS.
I hope this help. And anyway, please also contribute your own finding if possible.

I don't know if it's my fault that I'm alone or not. I actually try to do things to spend time with others but just can't. Especially since I need to spend time with others to feel motivated and also concentrated, because now, often times I literally feel like I live on my phone while my studies don't matter.
Well first of all, I don't even have many possibilities to spend time with people in the first place. For example here in university for some reason everyone goes their own way during recess and we don't have a common recess or a room for everyone to come together.
Of course I could start a sport or another activity, and I already did in the past, but the issue here is that I'll only spend a limited amount of time in the activity too unfortunately. And even say I'll have to pay a lot.
And another problem is that even when I do meet people and I like them and they seem to like me too, it's impossible to see them outside and organise stuff with them. And that's even worse when I don't even see them in university for example THAT much, it's not like I spend every day with them.
But the thing is that everyone does want to hang out and meet but only in specifically organised events every few months where you need to spend money and bring food. And not like meet even once a week and regularly hang out and have fun. And especially I don't understand this cuz in this university we have more free time than usual. What will happen if I'll go to college the next year where I'll have much less free time?
And somehow people do have free time for spending their lives on social media apparently.
Maybe I'm annoying them too much cuz I ask to hang out too much in group chats and don't say that much anything else? But the thing is that I want to see them irl, not to talk infinitely and send memes and only see each other once a year. I want real socialisation not Internet one.
And also the thing is that I do it cuz I know that in the next year maybe I won't see them again. If I'll switch to another university and study something else then I won't really see them that much. And often time that's exactly what happened. I had "friends" from high school that I've never seen even once time since high school even if I would've loved to.
It was even worse when I met a nice group only at a one time event. Afterwards, I have all their contacts on Instagram, I have 1000 friends there but I don't see any of them anymore.
Maybe I'm too annoying sometimes, talking about stuff that interests me and disregarding the other person. Honestly, I don't know. I try to not be annoying and to be nice and funny. Don't know if this works tho.
I'm kinda depressed cuz I would've loved to have a group of friends, either to have fun and laugh together, or to help each other and do creative stuff. This would've made me more down to earth, actually feel whatever is happening, I would've done more sports, etc. And the main reason why I'm so distracted and living on my phone is because it seems like I have no other option.
Like I wanna have a group of friends like in series. Why can't this be the case? If anything, it seems like series are so popular because we don't have that many friendships in real life anymore, we only hang out online.
I don't know whether it's my fault or rather the fault of the society. Maybe I should move to another country, idk. I live in France and I've heard Italy is better but idk.
Keep in mind I can't actually have to get along with literally everyone, for example I'm Jewish and I won't tolerate anyone who doesn't like Jews.
But even tho this does limit my circle of friends, I don't think that's the main reason why I'm lonely, because even with people who have no problem with that and who are Jewish themselves and who even say that we both get along, even with them there's literally the same problem.

Atheist says there are no afterlife is THERE any way to disprove it?

A slightly controversial title but what I mean is:
I am an "amateur" musician and it has always been my dream to make a living from music and be famous because of my art. I know I have talent and good taste, I can sing, play guitar, mix. I have everything to do it except the right contacts and the time to focus only on making music.
I've always been struck by the story of Robert Johnson, who went down in history because he became an incredible guitar player and famous out of nowhere, attributing to him that he sold his soul to the devil.
My question is, is there any way to achieve this through witchcraft? I mean in a positive way and not by contacting negative entities. And if it were with negative entities what are the implications? What should I risk?
I am very new to the subject and I am just curious sorry if is not an appropriate question.