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(Previous Part)
(Part 001)
A few days after Neil and Hope's meeting.
Henry Cliff walks alone down the hallways of the Labyrinth. He wears a purple-colored T-REX, a status symbol put in place by the higher-ups as a sign of his newfound prestige and military ranking. Its color, as well as the other new colors among the army allow for a quick idea of the ranking of any human soldier at a glance, especially among those who don't know the humans well, such as their allies for today.
Henry's feet quietly plod against the Labyrinth's compacted dirt floor. His breathing remains even despite having walked for over thirty minutes. Thanks to his newly enhanced body, he could run for a thousand kilometers without breaking a sweat. Even he isn't entirely certain just how strong he is. Perhaps, if he were to come to blows with a Demon Emperor, he might roll them out like a sleeping bag.
As he walks, Henry's newfound clarity of purpose mixes with the voices and thoughts of ten thousand other members of Jepthath's Legion. No, more accurately, they are Henry's Legion, now. While their power might be derived from Jepthath, it was the Hero-King's decision to give Henry command of them and become his Voice.
Each person who joined on that day possessed their own thoughts, feelings, and talents. Their combined cumulative experience, which could now be tapped into at will, easily amounted to more than 350,000 years. If the age of every person who merged had been 10, that would have given them 100,000 years, but the fact the average turned out to be 35 elevated their cumulative total dramatically.
And that was to say nothing of the people who had once been a part of Jepthath's Legion in the past. When Henry first became inducted into the Legion, he was shocked by just how much wisdom Jepthath possessed. While he did not have the truly unfathomable and vast breadth of knowledge Solomon possessed, Jepthath was amazing in his own way. What he lacked in raw information, he made up in with mastery of combat.
If Solomon possessed the combined cumulative knowledge of humanity, Jepthath possessed its raw hand-to-hand fighting prowess. And that served to bolster Henry's state of mind significantly.
Just by integrating into the Legion, Henry's ability to peer into the essence of combat increased ten thousand-fold. Over the last few days, he had happened to pass by several different training grounds for humanity's soldiers on Maiura, most of them having been erected at some point by Neil Adams in the past six years. Henry was not impressed by what he saw. If anything, he was disgusted.
[Their movements are so crude. So lacking in refinement.] He would often think, while conversing with the ancient Hero-King. [I want to train them. I can't stand to imagine them using their sloppy combat skills against old demon monsters.]
[A waste of time.] Jepthath would chide gently, whenever he and Henry had this conversation. [The knowledge you have obtained effortlessly cannot be communicated through words or demonstrations. The only way one can become as proficient as the members of Our Legion is by directly transferring Our combined knowledge through Our souls and minds.]
[Then we have to convince more to join Us!] Henry would exclaim. [These fools are wasting their time flailing about, trying to reinvent the wheel. If they joined Us, they would gain all of Our power in the art of war and become capable of adding to Our collective consciousness!]
Jepthath shakes his head. [I made a deal with the Wordsmith. We will not forcibly recruit anyone. If you wish to convince more to join Us, you must demonstrate Our power. Not only do you possess knowledge of countless schools of fighting, but you also possess intimate knowledge of battlefield tactics and guerrilla warfare. By demonstrating that Knowledge is Power, you can enlighten the foolish masses as to what they are missing out on.]
Henry nodded sincerely at that time. He looked up at the night sky and clenched his fist with determination.
Humanity was wasting its capabilities! If other humans only knew how small and frail they were, they would jump at the chance to join the Legion!
Less than a week before, Henry had been a disgraced soldier, a mere civilian, a person who might never even get the opportunity to shine the boots of those he had once trained with.
But now he was an officer, an elite warrior many would come to fear and respect.
This realization made his heart leap and his throat dry. In many ways, he sometimes felt he didn't deserve this position. He certainly hadn't earned it.
Not yet. Someday he would. Someday soon.
His thoughts come back to the present. He continues walking, ultimately falling into step beside an ordinary human commando also donning a T-REX. A small artistic flourish on the side of her armor, a pink rose, hints to him the other soldier might be a woman.
The grey-armored soldier turns her head to look at him as she walks. "Oh! You startled me. And you are?"
Unable to see her face, Henry looks at her helmet instead, and her name and other information pop up in his HUD, allowing him to see her identity.
"I'm Lieutenant Henry Cliff." He says. "You're Private Ashley McCarthy? Aren't you the lady who can transform into an orc?"
Immediately, her previously formal tone turns cold. Ashley snaps her head forward, no longer looking at him.
"Every time. Every time! Is that all I am anymore? Just the ugly bitch who turns into an orc?!"
"Whoa, whoa!" Henry exclaims, taken aback by her response. "I'm sorry, uh, Miss McCarthy. I didn't mean to apologize- I mean, I didn't apologize- mean to offend you! I- I uh, sorry!"
He stumbles over his words, feeling suddenly ashamed that he spoke so bluntly without considering the other person's feelings. Then again, how could he have known it was such a sore subject for her? That thought also makes him feel unfairly slighted, as he committed a blunder without meaning to.
"No, no I'm sorry." Ashley quickly says, suddenly realizing how rudely she just spoke to a superior officer. "It's not your fault, Lieutenant. I, I just... it's a long story. I never asked for this ability. I hate it."
"You hate it?" Henry asks, as they round a corner, passing a dozen goblins who carefully press against the side-wall to avoid the giant humans. "Pardon my bluntness, but why? In this time of war, possessing an orc form must make you pretty strong. Valuable. You could be on the fast-track to a higher rank if you have any ambition."
"Higher rank." Ashley mutters under her breath. "As if that's something I'd want. I'm not some big brained Terran from Old Earth. I'm just a normal girl from one of the Wild Worlds. I only want to be pointed at an enemy so I can hurt them."
That sounds an awful lot like something an orc would say, Henry thinks, but wisely keeps to himself.
"Does turning into an orc make you stronger?" Henry asks, choosing to turn the discussion down a more positive path.
"Oh, sure. A bit stronger." Ashley concedes. "You know how the Body Booster improves a human's baseline physique, putting some of us on par with certain low-ranking Demon Lords? Well, my Orc transformation stacks on that, sort of. I can pick up and throw boulders pretty far."
She pauses, before adding, "I mean, it is really fun being that strong."
Henry reaches up to rub his chin, only for his hand to clank against his T-REX's helmet. He gives up on the idea and lowers his arm again.
"I recently got a, uh, a pretty substantial boost to my strength. You remember how Commander Hope offered for people to merge with the Hero Jepthath? I did that, and it made me a lot stronger."
He turns to look at the woman beside him, but she simply gazes forward, her helmet offering no insight into her current expression.
Her words, however, definitely give away what she's thinking.
"Oh. You're one of the cultists."
Her disappointed tone makes Henry's heart skip a beat.
"No, no, no!" Henry exclaims. "Not a cultist. Who told you that?? Jepthath's Legion have simply unified Our minds and bolstered Our bodies, making Us a lot stronger."
She remains quiet for a few moments.
"Yeah... that's... what a cultist would say."
"We're not a cult..." Henry protests feebly, but his words fall on deaf ears.
This isn't the first time someone has directed a look of disgust his way, or visibly cringed when he proudly declared himself one of Jepthath's Chosen.
Jason's words during the Great Debate made a lot of people immediately strike becoming a Parahuman off their list. They'd rather be ordinary soldiers in body armor rather than part of a weird, unified hive-mind.
Dismayed, the young man falls silent. He doesn't say anything for a full minute, and perhaps feeling bad about dismissing him so easily, Ashley decides to reignite the conversation as they draw closer to their destination.
"So what's it like. Being inside a, uh... hive mind? Is it weird?"
"We're not a hive-mind." Henry says, his mood deflating even further. "We're... we're like brothers and sisters. We understand one another. We share thoughts, insights, wisdom."
This time, Ashley tries to exercise a little tact. "It just doesn't sound right for me. I guess everyone has their own preferences. Me, I think I'd die of shame if everyone around me could hear my every thought. The embarrassment alone..."
She trails off and shakes her head.
But this time, Henry doesn't just back down.
"It's not what you think at all." Henry says. "Do you know why you feel fear at the thought of sharing your thoughts? It's because you're self-absorbed."
"What?!" Ashley exclaims, pausing her walk to look at him. No doubt, her helmet hides an expression of disbelief. "What do you mean by that... sir?"
Henry also pauses. He turns to face her, resting his hands on his hips. "You have friends, right? Maybe even a best friend?"
"O-of course!" Ashley says, her tone defensive. "What, you think I'm friendless just because I'm not a part of some bee-hive?"
"That's not what I'm getting at." Henry says patiently, holding out his hand and modulating his tone so he'll come off less aggressive. "Think about your friend, or your best friend. Really think about it. What's the most embarrassing thing you remember about him or her? What's the worst social gaffe they've made that you can't get out of your head?"
Ashley pauses. She lowers her head and falls into thought for a moment.
"I don't know. I can't think of anything. Why?"
"What about other people?" Henry asks. "Has anyone else you know made any serious social fuck-ups recently?"
"Social ones? No. There have been a few generally bad events recently, like finding out Baron Mara killed a bunch of people. But she's not my friend anyway, so..."
"THAT is my point." Henry states emphatically. "You don't think about the weird and embarrassing things your friends do. So why do you believe they're so fixated on yours?"
Ashley lifts her head to look at him. She remains silent, digesting his words, so he continues to press the issue.
"Do you know why you find things about yourself embarrassing? It's not your fault. Most people are extremely self-conscious about their own insecurities. Now that I've become a part of the Legion, I experience everyone else's insecurities all at the same time as I experience mine. In doing so, I realize that mine never amounted to anything at all. When you have ten thousand other people worrying about what they're wearing, or if they look fashionable, or some other tedious bullshit, you quickly realize that all of them amount to white noise. They don't matter."
He throws his hand up dramatically.
"I'm not picking on you. It's just a fact of human consciousness. All people are held back by their fear of social pressure, but much of that is because we don't know what goes on in the heads of our fellow men and women. If you could see their deranged sexual fantasies all at once, you would realize you're not weird at all. Everyone has a kink. If you enjoy looking at gross bugs, guess what? Someone else is unbothered by bodily fluids. We're all weird, and joining the Legion just made that clearer to me."
He pauses, unable to see the look on her face. "Sorry, I hope I'm not coming off as condescending. Does any of this make sense to you?"
Ashley slowly nods. "Mmm. Yeah, it does."
Henry heaves a sigh of relief. "Well, great! Great. I was worried I was starting to sound a little long-winded."
Ashley turns away and resumes walking. "You're definitely in a cult."
"Goddammit." Henry grumbles.
...
Before long, the two of them make it to the meeting location, where they arrive inside a massive, hollowed-out area inside the Labyrinth. There, they find, of all things, a new Volgrim Warpgate installed, its destination some unknown desert on a planet Henry can't immediately identify.
As they enter the massive arena-like staging area, Hope becomes momentarily disoriented. His newly enhanced senses pick up surges of spiritual energy, all spread out across the humans, demons, monsters, and other creatures inside. The powerful Demon Emperors, only a few of whom have yet to Ascend to Demon Deity, stand near the portal, using their strength as a show of force. Despite their proud expressions, Henry's keen senses detect a hint of fear in their eyes, as they seem to be unable to properly stand as strong as they always have. It's as if they are being suppressed by something...
"Whoa!" Ashley gasps. "I can't believe it. Why are the Volgrim here?"
"The Volgrim?" Henry asks, following her gaze based on the direction her helmet is pointed.
Somewhere in the mass of the crowd, a handful of decidedly alien-looking creatures with tentacles writing under their mouths and heavily-armored bodies stand at attention, looking like proud leaders and commanders. Their postures indicate a level of arrogance bred into their bones by millions of years of dominance over the Milky Way. Compared to the slightly fearful Demon Emperors, these Technopaths truly stand out as cream of the crop, with unknown augmentations that likely elevate their combat prowess to the peak.
"Those are Volgrim?" Henry asks. "Huh. The only one I've ever seen was that one female, the one who didn't have a mouth. She was presiding over my, uh, my tribunal..."
"Your tribunal?" Ashley asks.
She pauses, then turns to look at him strangely.
"Cliff... Henry Cliff? What the- you're that traitor! What- how even...?? You're a Lieutenant now? I didn't even recognize your name- no, forget that. Why are you in uniform? Weren't you banned basically forever from rejoining the military?"
"I was banned from rejoining the main military." Henry says, lowering his head in shame. "But, uhm, Hope's Parahumans are... different. It's a different jurisdiction."
Ashley takes a step to the side, pulling away from him. He can't see her expression, but based on her voice, she suddenly seems disgusted by him.
"All this time, I was talking to him." She mutters to herself, as she turns and walks away without another word.
Henry stands there, silently. He watches her depart, a feeling of bitterness welling up in his heart. He could pull rank on her, write her up for insubordination. Given his new status as a high-ranker, it would be easy to do.
But he doesn't.
In truth, he doesn't blame Ashley for her feelings. Because of his actions, Neil Adams was captured and humanity likely lost far more people during Stormbringer as a result. He indirectly caused the deaths of hundreds, perhaps even thousands.
How can he demand respect from her when he feels he doesn't deserve it?
As that thought wells up in Henry's mind, the thoughts of the Legion feed back into him, suppressing his negative emotions. All of them comment on his feelings and insecurities, offering kind words to help him feel better.
[You cannot and should not demand respect, no, but you can earn it back through your actions.] A 52-year-old Legionnaire says. [People like her will come around in due time. Perform admirably and make the Legion proud.]
[That woman is a mere Private.] Jepthath chimes in. [Do not allow your emotions to be tangled up by the feelings of a random soldier. You will need to bolster your Willpower if you seek to reach the peak of what you can achieve.]
[Right. My willpower.] Henry says, as his mood drastically swings back up. He hardens his heart, casting aside Ashley's comment and instead meditating for a moment to clear his mind. [Thank you, everyone, for the support.]
With his thoughts clear, Henry strides toward the front, keeping his gaze fixed on the Volgrim Technopaths. Having never seen these creatures before, he finds their horrid-looking tentacle mouths fascinating and yet creepy to look at. While all of them appear to be gender-ambiguous, certainly at first glance, as he comes closer, he does manage to make out one or two female-sounding voices among them. Or perhaps they might be higher-pitched males. He isn't entirely sure, and it seems a taboo subject to breach.
"-the Task Force will be working alongside these Technopath Envoys." Demon Emperor Yardrat says, his tone even and unbothered by the Technopaths to his left. "Naturally, full command of this operation will still go to the Archdemon, as the ranking Cosmic. However, because he will be busy dealing with the highest level threats, control of the ground forces will go to one member of each species, chosen via several votes of consensus. Today's operation is a test, and its purpose is to ensure we all work together properly. NO friendly fire. Our enemy is the Plague and nobody else. Save your personal grievances, vendettas, and petty squabbles for after we take our galaxy back from the Kolvaxians."
He gestures to the ten Technopaths. "The Volgrim have dispatched an army of 100,000 Technopath soldiers, and they will be commanded by this High Technopath named Loputo Jidelor, a high ranking commander of Clan Symmetra's ground forces."
Each of the Technopaths possesses their own combination of flesh and blood bodily parts mixed with metal limb replacements, armor-addons, and other such things. In Jidelor's case, he stands on two flesh and blood legs. However, in place of his right arm is a long, metallic limb with dozens of razor-thin threads waving to and fro where his 'wrist' ends. Each one moves independently, much like the tentacles on his left arm, but their movements appear far more precise. Dozens of metallic pieces are attached seemingly at random to his skin and skull.
Jidelor nods. "I am an experienced battlefield commander, but I am not a frontline soldier. I will be controlling our siege weaponry and directing our soldiers from the back."
Yardrat nods, then continues. "For the Demons, it goes without saying that just like with the last ten operations, Emperor Serena will be commanding our forces. Her ability to link souls together has proven instrumental in rapid battlefield communications, and her ability to sense souls allows her to keep up with the emergence of new Plagueborn until the point Diablo steals the world core back."
A beautiful demoness with sightless eyes nearby waves her hand delicately. "I will be in your care, everyone. Let us make it to the end without losing any demons this time."
"For the monsters, Fairy Princess Melia will take point." Yardrat says, nodding to another beautiful woman with green hair, fairy wings, and a look of boredom permanently etched onto her face.
Unlike the previous two commanders, Melia doesn't give a speech. In fact, she only rolls her eyes, crosses her arms, and looks away.
"Alright, and for the humans, General Chadwick will be taking charge." Yardrat concludes. He gestures to a massive Norwegian man who has now donned a Rhino T-REX variant and rests his hands around the shaft of a massive battleaxe. Its head rests on the ground, and he supports his massive armored frame by resting on the weapon's handle.
"Everyone." Chadwich says. "It is my honor to lead this mission. Naturally, Commander Neil is not happy about having to work with the demons, and I cannot imagine all of our soldiers are either. However, I pledge on Hope Hiro's honor that we will not commit any cowardly deeds of treachery, any backstabbing, or anything else of that sort! It was Hope Hiro who pushed for this arrangement because he wants humanity's soldiers to get real battle experience against the Plague. Let's be sure to make good use of this time to bury as many hatchets as we can!"
The crowd nods along to Chadwick's words. Some of the humans vocalize their approval, but many more remain silent.
The humans here are not normal civilians. They are military personnel, countless many of whom have not forgiven the demons. They may never forgive them, if their leaders are being honest.
Perhaps sensing the tenseness in the air, Yardrat briskly moves the pace along.
"In thirty minutes, we will begin. Transfer your forces to my world so that I can begin preparation to open the Intragalactic Portals. The Swarm has begun adapting to my tactics of late, so the moment those portals open, we'll need boots on the ground. No delays! If the Plague has its way, it might flood through the portals back to us, and that would be a whole bloody devil-damned mess."
The other leaders nod solemnly. They spread apart to talk to their forces, and Henry heaves a sigh.
In thirty minutes, we'll find out just how stable this alliance truly is.

When I was a child, no older than 7; I would see a pannel appear in front of me at random occasions 3 times. This would be a black pannel with circural moving lights moving counter clockwise. There would be green lights flashing on the top and bottom of the pannel and in the bottom corners there would be two little screens. They would flash one and off with static between skulls that would stare at me and the smiling faces of Robert Reed and Florence Henderson from the Brady Bunch. They wouldn't do anything but sit there and stare like they did on the 3 by 3 grid in the intro. But this was different. Instead of the calm happy smile, they would have this sinister evil grin and when the static changed their face to a skull you could tell the skull was theirs. I would hear voices. It was a female voice echoing over what sounded like an intercom. She would repeat "This is the end, the world is spinning." Every time the lights made a full rotation I would hear a beap that sounded like a radar. The scariest part of all of this was not the pannel, not the Brady Bunch, not the voices, but the spinning. Everything in front of me would start spinning in the same direction as the lights moved. Nothing shook or fell. Even when sitting down in this phenomenon I would stay glued to the floor or my bed when I would go upside down.
The three memories came in my room, my parents room, and my pre-school classroom. Every once in a while it would appear to spawn in front of me when I was in a room where I could read what was on the wall in front of me. Lets say 20 feet. The vision haunted me for years on end. I was in and out of therapy and the doctors thought I was showing premature signs of schizophrenia. Despite not seeing the pannel in years the idea that it could come when I least expect it frightened me. I had the constant worry that if I didn't think about it then it would happen again. I was 13 when I stopped therapy. I have accepted that I was a kid seeing things, or that it was a lucid dream you have as a kid that you think is real when you remember it as you get older. That was until last week.
I was driving home on I4 at about 2:04 in the morning; just like I do every night; when I felt my eyes getting tired so I pulled over to take a power nap. I set an alarm on my phone to wake me up. By the time I woke up; I4 seemed to be abandoned which was very uncommon. I didn't think anything of it though. Then I saw flashing lights behind me of a police car. Probably just an officer making sure I was okay. As he approached my window as I rolled it down, he didn't say "Are you okay sir" or anything I thought a cop would usually say. Instead he slightly leaned through my window to point at my winshield. "What is that?" I turned to look at where he was pointing. All of a sudden, the black pannel in front of me. The lights flashing and appearing like they were moving in a counterclockwise motion. Robert Reed and the now deceased Florence Henderson with the evil grin. Worst of all, I was spinning parallel to the lights giving the illusion of moving in a circular motion in the center of the pannel. But just like the other 3 times it eventually stopped. I looked to me left to see no cop, no car, and nobody on I4. I just started driving back on my route home.
I haven't told anybody about this vision. I do not know the purpose behind it but I know one thing. I was not a crazy kid making something up. I was spinning. The voices were real. And I was gaslit by "professionals" to thinking I was seeing something. Though what I was seeing was real.

A few days after Neil and Hope's meeting.
Henry Cliff walks alone down the hallways of the Labyrinth. He wears a purple-colored T-REX, a status symbol put in place by the higher-ups as a sign of his newfound prestige and military ranking. Its color, as well as the other new colors among the army allow for a quick idea of the ranking of any human soldier at a glance, especially among those who don't know the humans well, such as their allies for today.
Henry's feet quietly plod against the Labyrinth's compacted dirt floor. His breathing remains even despite having walked for over thirty minutes. Thanks to his newly enhanced body, he could run for a thousand kilometers without breaking a sweat. Even he isn't entirely certain just how strong he is. Perhaps, if he were to come to blows with a Demon Emperor, he might roll them out like a sleeping bag.
As he walks, Henry's newfound clarity of purpose mixes with the voices and thoughts of ten thousand other members of Jepthath's Legion. No, more accurately, they are Henry's Legion, now. While their power might be derived from Jepthath, it was the Hero-King's decision to give Henry command of them and become his Voice.
Each person who joined on that day possessed their own thoughts, feelings, and talents. Their combined cumulative experience, which could now be tapped into at will, easily amounted to more than 350,000 years. If the age of every person who merged had been 10, that would have given them 100,000 years, but the fact the average turned out to be 35 elevated their cumulative total dramatically.
And that was to say nothing of the people who had once been a part of Jepthath's Legion in the past. When Henry first became inducted into the Legion, he was shocked by just how much wisdom Jepthath possessed. While he did not have the truly unfathomable and vast breadth of knowledge Solomon possessed, Jepthath was amazing in his own way. What he lacked in raw information, he made up in with mastery of combat.
If Solomon possessed the combined cumulative knowledge of humanity, Jepthath possessed its raw hand-to-hand fighting prowess. And that served to bolster Henry's state of mind significantly.
Just by integrating into the Legion, Henry's ability to peer into the essence of combat increased ten thousand-fold. Over the last few days, he had happened to pass by several different training grounds for humanity's soldiers on Maiura, most of them having been erected at some point by Neil Adams in the past six years. Henry was not impressed by what he saw. If anything, he was disgusted.
[Their movements are so crude. So lacking in refinement.] He would often think, while conversing with the ancient Hero-King. [I want to train them. I can't stand to imagine them using their sloppy combat skills against old demon monsters.]
[A waste of time.] Jepthath would chide gently, whenever he and Henry had this conversation. [The knowledge you have obtained effortlessly cannot be communicated through words or demonstrations. The only way one can become as proficient as the members of Our Legion is by directly transferring Our combined knowledge through Our souls and minds.]
[Then we have to convince more to join Us!] Henry would exclaim. [These fools are wasting their time flailing about, trying to reinvent the wheel. If they joined Us, they would gain all of Our power in the art of war and become capable of adding to Our collective consciousness!]
Jepthath shakes his head. [I made a deal with the Wordsmith. We will not forcibly recruit anyone. If you wish to convince more to join Us, you must demonstrate Our power. Not only do you possess knowledge of countless schools of fighting, but you also possess intimate knowledge of battlefield tactics and guerrilla warfare. By demonstrating that Knowledge is Power, you can enlighten the foolish masses as to what they are missing out on.]
Henry nodded sincerely at that time. He looked up at the night sky and clenched his fist with determination.
Humanity was wasting its capabilities! If other humans only knew how small and frail they were, they would jump at the chance to join the Legion!
Less than a week before, Henry had been a disgraced soldier, a mere civilian, a person who might never even get the opportunity to shine the boots of those he had once trained with.
But now he was an officer, an elite warrior many would come to fear and respect.
This realization made his heart leap and his throat dry. In many ways, he sometimes felt he didn't deserve this position. He certainly hadn't earned it.
Not yet. Someday he would. Someday soon.
His thoughts come back to the present. He continues walking, ultimately falling into step beside an ordinary human commando also donning a T-REX. A small artistic flourish on the side of her armor, a pink rose, hints to him the other soldier might be a woman.
The grey-armored soldier turns her head to look at him as she walks. "Oh! You startled me. And you are?"
Unable to see her face, Henry looks at her helmet instead, and her name and other information pop up in his HUD, allowing him to see her identity.
"I'm Lieutenant Henry Cliff." He says. "You're Private Ashley McCarthy? Aren't you the lady who can transform into an orc?"
Immediately, her previously formal tone turns cold. Ashley snaps her head forward, no longer looking at him.
"Every time. Every time! Is that all I am anymore? Just the ugly bitch who turns into an orc?!"
"Whoa, whoa!" Henry exclaims, taken aback by her response. "I'm sorry, uh, Miss McCarthy. I didn't mean to apologize- I mean, I didn't apologize- mean to offend you! I- I uh, sorry!"
He stumbles over his words, feeling suddenly ashamed that he spoke so bluntly without considering the other person's feelings. Then again, how could he have known it was such a sore subject for her? That thought also makes him feel unfairly slighted, as he committed a blunder without meaning to.
"No, no I'm sorry." Ashley quickly says, suddenly realizing how rudely she just spoke to a superior officer. "It's not your fault, Lieutenant. I, I just... it's a long story. I never asked for this ability. I hate it."
"You hate it?" Henry asks, as they round a corner, passing a dozen goblins who carefully press against the side-wall to avoid the giant humans. "Pardon my bluntness, but why? In this time of war, possessing an orc form must make you pretty strong. Valuable. You could be on the fast-track to a higher rank if you have any ambition."
"Higher rank." Ashley mutters under her breath. "As if that's something I'd want. I'm not some big brained Terran from Old Earth. I'm just a normal girl from one of the Wild Worlds. I only want to be pointed at an enemy so I can hurt them."
That sounds an awful lot like something an orc would say, Henry thinks, but wisely keeps to himself.
"Does turning into an orc make you stronger?" Henry asks, choosing to turn the discussion down a more positive path.
"Oh, sure. A bit stronger." Ashley concedes. "You know how the Body Booster improves a human's baseline physique, putting some of us on par with certain low-ranking Demon Lords? Well, my Orc transformation stacks on that, sort of. I can pick up and throw boulders pretty far."
She pauses, before adding, "I mean, it is really fun being that strong."
Henry reaches up to rub his chin, only for his hand to clank against his T-REX's helmet. He gives up on the idea and lowers his arm again.
"I recently got a, uh, a pretty substantial boost to my strength. You remember how Commander Hope offered for people to merge with the Hero Jepthath? I did that, and it made me a lot stronger."
He turns to look at the woman beside him, but she simply gazes forward, her helmet offering no insight into her current expression.
Her words, however, definitely give away what she's thinking.
"Oh. You're one of the cultists."
Her disappointed tone makes Henry's heart skip a beat.
"No, no, no!" Henry exclaims. "Not a cultist. Who told you that?? Jepthath's Legion have simply unified Our minds and bolstered Our bodies, making Us a lot stronger."
She remains quiet for a few moments.
"Yeah... that's... what a cultist would say."
"We're not a cult..." Henry protests feebly, but his words fall on deaf ears.
This isn't the first time someone has directed a look of disgust his way, or visibly cringed when he proudly declared himself one of Jepthath's Chosen.
Jason's words during the Great Debate made a lot of people immediately strike becoming a Parahuman off their list. They'd rather be ordinary soldiers in body armor rather than part of a weird, unified hive-mind.
Dismayed, the young man falls silent. He doesn't say anything for a full minute, and perhaps feeling bad about dismissing him so easily, Ashley decides to reignite the conversation as they draw closer to their destination.
"So what's it like. Being inside a, uh... hive mind? Is it weird?"
"We're not a hive-mind." Henry says, his mood deflating even further. "We're... we're like brothers and sisters. We understand one another. We share thoughts, insights, wisdom."
This time, Ashley tries to exercise a little tact. "It just doesn't sound right for me. I guess everyone has their own preferences. Me, I think I'd die of shame if everyone around me could hear my every thought. The embarrassment alone..."
She trails off and shakes her head.
But this time, Henry doesn't just back down.
"It's not what you think at all." Henry says. "Do you know why you feel fear at the thought of sharing your thoughts? It's because you're self-absorbed."
"What?!" Ashley exclaims, pausing her walk to look at him. No doubt, her helmet hides an expression of disbelief. "What do you mean by that... sir?"
Henry also pauses. He turns to face her, resting his hands on his hips. "You have friends, right? Maybe even a best friend?"
"O-of course!" Ashley says, her tone defensive. "What, you think I'm friendless just because I'm not a part of some bee-hive?"
"That's not what I'm getting at." Henry says patiently, holding out his hand and modulating his tone so he'll come off less aggressive. "Think about your friend, or your best friend. Really think about it. What's the most embarrassing thing you remember about him or her? What's the worst social gaffe they've made that you can't get out of your head?"
Ashley pauses. She lowers her head and falls into thought for a moment.
"I don't know. I can't think of anything. Why?"
"What about other people?" Henry asks. "Has anyone else you know made any serious social fuck-ups recently?"
"Social ones? No. There have been a few generally bad events recently, like finding out Baron Mara killed a bunch of people. But she's not my friend anyway, so..."
"THAT is my point." Henry states emphatically. "You don't think about the weird and embarrassing things your friends do. So why do you believe they're so fixated on yours?"
Ashley lifts her head to look at him. She remains silent, digesting his words, so he continues to press the issue.
"Do you know why you find things about yourself embarrassing? It's not your fault. Most people are extremely self-conscious about their own insecurities. Now that I've become a part of the Legion, I experience everyone else's insecurities all at the same time as I experience mine. In doing so, I realize that mine never amounted to anything at all. When you have ten thousand other people worrying about what they're wearing, or if they look fashionable, or some other tedious bullshit, you quickly realize that all of them amount to white noise. They don't matter."
He throws his hand up dramatically.
"I'm not picking on you. It's just a fact of human consciousness. All people are held back by their fear of social pressure, but much of that is because we don't know what goes on in the heads of our fellow men and women. If you could see their deranged sexual fantasies all at once, you would realize you're not weird at all. Everyone has a kink. If you enjoy looking at gross bugs, guess what? Someone else is unbothered by bodily fluids. We're all weird, and joining the Legion just made that clearer to me."
He pauses, unable to see the look on her face. "Sorry, I hope I'm not coming off as condescending. Does any of this make sense to you?"
Ashley slowly nods. "Mmm. Yeah, it does."
Henry heaves a sigh of relief. "Well, great! Great. I was worried I was starting to sound a little long-winded."
Ashley turns away and resumes walking. "You're definitely in a cult."
"Goddammit." Henry grumbles.
...
Before long, the two of them make it to the meeting location, where they arrive inside a massive, hollowed-out area inside the Labyrinth. There, they find, of all things, a new Volgrim Warpgate installed, its destination some unknown desert on a planet Henry can't immediately identify.
As they enter the massive arena-like staging area, Hope becomes momentarily disoriented. His newly enhanced senses pick up surges of spiritual energy, all spread out across the humans, demons, monsters, and other creatures inside. The powerful Demon Emperors, only a few of whom have yet to Ascend to Demon Deity, stand near the portal, using their strength as a show of force. Despite their proud expressions, Henry's keen senses detect a hint of fear in their eyes, as they seem to be unable to properly stand as strong as they always have. It's as if they are being suppressed by something...
"Whoa!" Ashley gasps. "I can't believe it. Why are the Volgrim here?"
"The Volgrim?" Henry asks, following her gaze based on the direction her helmet is pointed.
Somewhere in the mass of the crowd, a handful of decidedly alien-looking creatures with tentacles writing under their mouths and heavily-armored bodies stand at attention, looking like proud leaders and commanders. Their postures indicate a level of arrogance bred into their bones by millions of years of dominance over the Milky Way. Compared to the slightly fearful Demon Emperors, these Technopaths truly stand out as cream of the crop, with unknown augmentations that likely elevate their combat prowess to the peak.
"Those are Volgrim?" Henry asks. "Huh. The only one I've ever seen was that one female, the one who didn't have a mouth. She was presiding over my, uh, my tribunal..."
"Your tribunal?" Ashley asks.
She pauses, then turns to look at him strangely.
"Cliff... Henry Cliff? What the- you're that traitor! What- how even...?? You're a Lieutenant now? I didn't even recognize your name- no, forget that. Why are you in uniform? Weren't you banned basically forever from rejoining the military?"
"I was banned from rejoining the main military." Henry says, lowering his head in shame. "But, uhm, Hope's Parahumans are... different. It's a different jurisdiction."
Ashley takes a step to the side, pulling away from him. He can't see her expression, but based on her voice, she suddenly seems disgusted by him.
"All this time, I was talking to him." She mutters to herself, as she turns and walks away without another word.
Henry stands there, silently. He watches her depart, a feeling of bitterness welling up in his heart. He could pull rank on her, write her up for insubordination. Given his new status as a high-ranker, it would be easy to do.
But he doesn't.
In truth, he doesn't blame Ashley for her feelings. Because of his actions, Neil Adams was captured and humanity likely lost far more people during Stormbringer as a result. He indirectly caused the deaths of hundreds, perhaps even thousands.
How can he demand respect from her when he feels he doesn't deserve it?
As that thought wells up in Henry's mind, the thoughts of the Legion feed back into him, suppressing his negative emotions. All of them comment on his feelings and insecurities, offering kind words to help him feel better.
[You cannot and should not demand respect, no, but you can earn it back through your actions.] A 52-year-old Legionnaire says. [People like her will come around in due time. Perform admirably and make the Legion proud.]
[That woman is a mere Private.] Jepthath chimes in. [Do not allow your emotions to be tangled up by the feelings of a random soldier. You will need to bolster your Willpower if you seek to reach the peak of what you can achieve.]
[Right. My willpower.] Henry says, as his mood drastically swings back up. He hardens his heart, casting aside Ashley's comment and instead meditating for a moment to clear his mind. [Thank you, everyone, for the support.]
With his thoughts clear, Henry strides toward the front, keeping his gaze fixed on the Volgrim Technopaths. Having never seen these creatures before, he finds their horrid-looking tentacle mouths fascinating and yet creepy to look at. While all of them appear to be gender-ambiguous, certainly at first glance, as he comes closer, he does manage to make out one or two female-sounding voices among them. Or perhaps they might be higher-pitched males. He isn't entirely sure, and it seems a taboo subject to breach.
"-the Task Force will be working alongside these Technopath Envoys." Demon Emperor Yardrat says, his tone even and unbothered by the Technopaths to his left. "Naturally, full command of this operation will still go to the Archdemon, as the ranking Cosmic. However, because he will be busy dealing with the highest level threats, control of the ground forces will go to one member of each species, chosen via several votes of consensus. Today's operation is a test, and its purpose is to ensure we all work together properly. NO friendly fire. Our enemy is the Plague and nobody else. Save your personal grievances, vendettas, and petty squabbles for after we take our galaxy back from the Kolvaxians."
He gestures to the ten Technopaths. "The Volgrim have dispatched an army of 100,000 Technopath soldiers, and they will be commanded by this High Technopath named Loputo Jidelor, a high ranking commander of Clan Symmetra's ground forces."
Each of the Technopaths possesses their own combination of flesh and blood bodily parts mixed with metal limb replacements, armor-addons, and other such things. In Jidelor's case, he stands on two flesh and blood legs. However, in place of his right arm is a long, metallic limb with dozens of razor-thin threads waving to and fro where his 'wrist' ends. Each one moves independently, much like the tentacles on his left arm, but their movements appear far more precise. Dozens of metallic pieces are attached seemingly at random to his skin and skull.
Jidelor nods. "I am an experienced battlefield commander, but I am not a frontline soldier. I will be controlling our siege weaponry and directing our soldiers from the back."
Yardrat nods, then continues. "For the Demons, it goes without saying that just like with the last ten operations, Emperor Serena will be commanding our forces. Her ability to link souls together has proven instrumental in rapid battlefield communications, and her ability to sense souls allows her to keep up with the emergence of new Plagueborn until the point Diablo steals the world core back."
A beautiful demoness with sightless eyes nearby waves her hand delicately. "I will be in your care, everyone. Let us make it to the end without losing any demons this time."
"For the monsters, Fairy Princess Melia will take point." Yardrat says, nodding to another beautiful woman with green hair, fairy wings, and a look of boredom permanently etched onto her face.
Unlike the previous two commanders, Melia doesn't give a speech. In fact, she only rolls her eyes, crosses her arms, and looks away.
"Alright, and for the humans, General Chadwick will be taking charge." Yardrat concludes. He gestures to a massive Norwegian man who has now donned a Rhino T-REX variant and rests his hands around the shaft of a massive battleaxe. Its head rests on the ground, and he supports his massive armored frame by resting on the weapon's handle.
"Everyone." Chadwich says. "It is my honor to lead this mission. Naturally, Commander Neil is not happy about having to work with the demons, and I cannot imagine all of our soldiers are either. However, I pledge on Hope Hiro's honor that we will not commit any cowardly deeds of treachery, any backstabbing, or anything else of that sort! It was Hope Hiro who pushed for this arrangement because he wants humanity's soldiers to get real battle experience against the Plague. Let's be sure to make good use of this time to bury as many hatchets as we can!"
The crowd nods along to Chadwick's words. Some of the humans vocalize their approval, but many more remain silent.
The humans here are not normal civilians. They are military personnel, countless many of whom have not forgiven the demons. They may never forgive them, if their leaders are being honest.
Perhaps sensing the tenseness in the air, Yardrat briskly moves the pace along.
"In thirty minutes, we will begin. Transfer your forces to my world so that I can begin preparation to open the Intragalactic Portals. The Swarm has begun adapting to my tactics of late, so the moment those portals open, we'll need boots on the ground. No delays! If the Plague has its way, it might flood through the portals back to us, and that would be a whole bloody devil-damned mess."
The other leaders nod solemnly. They spread apart to talk to their forces, and Henry heaves a sigh.
In thirty minutes, we'll find out just how stable this alliance truly is.

Hello everyone, I’m a longtime lurker of this subreddit. In all likelihood you’ve seen my posts or my comments about the relationship I got out of fifteen years ago.
A while back, I wrote a post about abusers in therapy. I put that out there because a lot of people ask will therapy or anger management help my abuser. It’s a well established fact that it won’t and also will backfire.
There’s another thing that keeps coming up that we need to talk about: the five love languages.
Just to get it out of the way, I read up briefly on the five love languages. I personally think it’s pseudoscience. The person who wrote it had no qualifications or experience to be writing any theories on how humans or relationships work. That is my opinion.
Something I keep seeing on here far too often is a girl is being abused and wondering if the cause of her problem is a mismatch in love language. It makes me sad to see others say things like:
“He keeps grabbing me and groping me after I asked him to stop/told him I don’t like it/hurts/makes me feel violated. But he said touch is his love language. Is it a love language mismatch?”
“He makes me spend egregious amounts of money on him even after I’ve told him I don’t have the money/it’s putting me into bankruptcy. But he says gift giving is his love language. Is it a love language mismatch?”
“He wants me to say nice things to him/not call him out on his bull. But he said words of affirmation is his love language. Is it a love language mismatch?”
“He wants me to spend every second of my life with him to the point that I have no time for anything or anyone else. Is it a love language mismatch?”
“I work more than he does, yet he won’t lift a finger for household chores/childcare. But he says acts of service is his love language. Is it a love language mismatch?”
I stated in my post about abusers in therapy that abusers who go to therapy will become fluent in ‘therapy talk’ and weaponize it against their victim. They’ll use therapy talk to legitimize their point of view and behaviors, and invalidate yours.
If therapy is subject to this diatribe, then concepts like the love languages aren’t exempt either. It would appear abusers are now weaponizing the love languages to justify their behavior and invalidate and discredit their partner’s reasonable objection to their diatribe.
If your partner is violating your boundaries, that’s abuse. Full stop. If you think they don’t know what they’re doing, they know. If you’re wondering why you keep telling them what they’re doing hurts or bothers you yet they keep doing it; it’s because they KNOW it hurts or bothers you.
Abuse of any kind IS NOT a love language. Boundary violation IS NOT a love language. FULL STOP.

Argument backstory:
My boyfriend had a very busy week with work. There’s a lot on his plate, and he had a night of feeling pretty worked up.
I asked him if he needed help, he said yes. So I helped him write a list of all the things he had to do, then rated them from High to Medium to Low priority. He started working away, though I kept seeing him get caught on his phone. We both have the tendency to doom scroll (ADHD), and because I knew he had to finish deliverables that night (it was 10:30pm already) and had to be up at 4am for a ten hour work day, I figured I’d nudge his focus back onto work. So I asked him (in a sweet voice) what he was doing. It really bugged him and he got super defensive & annoyed. I told him I didn’t actually care if he was on his phone but that I was trying to help. He didn’t listen and kept repeating how he couldn’t believe I’d act like that with him. I was very confused, considering he constantly does that to me when I’m trying to study and get off track. He takes my phone away sometimes (after asking me) bc your girl can get derailed easily & so can he.
I then got frustrated because he wasn’t listening to my clarification, and kept getting elevated. So I just got up and walked away. He followed me and I stopped doing my part to contribute to a healthy conflict resolution at this point bc I was angry & upset. He wouldn’t accept the fact that I wasn’t trying to judge him, that I did not care what he did and that I was only trying to help. So I walked away. He followed me and kept saying that I needed to fix it because he can’t handle the additional stress I had caused. I didn’t know how though bc he wasn’t listening to me. Maybe I could have empathized more?
Line crossed:
I eventually said I couldn’t talk about it anymore bc he was elevated and went into the bedroom. He whipped something at the door after I closed it. I opened and asked what happened & he said he threw a pop can at the door but then deflected onto how he couldn’t believe I’d created this. I was really upset at this point bc throwing/breaking things crosses a line for me. I told him that this was not okay with me and unacceptable. I locked myself in the bathroom until I calmed down. When I came back out, he was waiting and said we needed to talk about it. I said no, that he’d crossed a line and I no longer felt safe. He then slammed the door and called me a fucking lunatic.
Am I the asshole here? Should I have been more empathetic at the start? I feel I got defensive because I was only trying to help and he didn’t accept that explanation so I shut down a bit.

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We'll explore user experiences and the science behind the ingredients. Whether you've read rave reviews or encountered warnings of a "Sugar Defender scam," this analysis will provide the insights needed to make an informed choice. We'll delve into independent reviews, consumer reports, and potential complaints to offer a balanced view. Is Sugar Defender a genuine solution for blood sugar management, or just another overhyped supplement? Join us as we uncover the truth.

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Sugar Defender's Promised Benefits
Natural Ingredients: A blend of plant-based ingredients designed for gentle blood sugar support. Liquid Drops: Convenient and easy-to-use liquid drops for daily dosing. Blood Sugar Management: Aims to regulate blood sugar levels and improve metabolic health. Appetite Control: Claims to curb cravings and reduce food intake, aiding weight management. Energy Boost: Aspires to enhance energy levels by optimizing glucose utilization. Cognitive Enhancement: Supports cognitive function and memory for better mental clarity. Money-Back Guarantee: Offers a 60-day money-back guarantee to reduce purchase risk. FDA-Registered Facility: Manufactured in an FDA-registered facility, indicating quality standards. Easy to Use: Liquid format eliminates the need for swallowing capsules or tablets. Free Bonuses: May include educational materials on blood sugar management and healthy recipes.
Product Overview
Name: Sugar Defender Health Focus: Blood sugar management Form: Dropper Ingredients: Eleuthero, Coleus, Maca Root, African Mango, Guarana, Chromium, Ginseng, Gymnema Dosage: 1 ml per day Quantity: 30 doses Benefits: Appetite suppression, enhanced energy, improved cognitive function, weight management Pros: 100% natural, plant-based, GMO-free, non-addictive, 60-day money-back guarantee, FDA-registered GMP-certified facility Cons: Available only on the official website, individual results may vary Side Effects: No reported side effects Bonuses: The Ultimate Tea Guide, Learn How to Manage Type II Diabetes Price: $69 Refund Policy: 180 days Availability: Exclusive to the official website Official Website: Click Here Sugar Defender: A Balanced Perspective Pros:

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Natural Approach: Uses natural ingredients for a gentle solution. Convenient Dosing: Liquid drops are easy to incorporate into daily routines. Multifaceted Support: Targets blood sugar, appetite, energy, and cognitive function. Financial Security: The 60-day money-back guarantee provides some protection. Quality Assurance: Made in an FDA-registered facility, ensuring adherence to standards. Cons:
Effectiveness Unclear: Limited independent verification of effectiveness. Varied Results: Individual experiences may differ. Limited Availability: Only available through the official website, affecting accessibility. Unveiling the Formula Sugar Defender is positioned as a dietary supplement for blood sugar management, boasting a blend of natural ingredients aimed at promoting healthy blood sugar levels and overall metabolic health. The primary goal is to regulate blood sugar, potentially curbing cravings and aiding weight management. It also claims to enhance energy levels and cognitive function. However, it's crucial to remember that Sugar Defender is a supplement, not a miracle cure. Its effectiveness and the validity of its claims require careful consideration. This review provides a balanced perspective on its potential benefits and drawbacks.
The Mystery Behind the Creator
Unlike many supplements that highlight their creators, Sugar Defender's origins are somewhat mysterious. There's no readily available information about the individual or team behind it. This lack of transparency might be concerning for some users, as knowing the background and qualifications of the creators can build trust. However, this doesn't necessarily negate the product's potential effectiveness. Some companies focus more on the science behind the ingredients rather than the creators. For those seeking transparency, this anonymity might be a point of hesitation.
If you're considering Sugar Defender, research the ingredients and their potential benefits for blood sugar management. Additionally, look for independent reviews from verified users to get a broader perspective. The decision to trust Sugar Defender, despite its mysterious origins, ultimately rests with you.
The Science Behind Sugar Defender
Sugar Defender features a blend of natural ingredients aimed at supporting healthy blood sugar levels. Here's a closer look at the science behind some key components:
Chromium: May improve insulin sensitivity, aiding blood sugar control, though evidence is inconclusive. Alpha-Lipoic Acid: An antioxidant with mixed results on blood sugar regulation. Gymnema Sylvestre: Contains gymnemic acid, which may reduce sugar cravings and improve insulin sensitivity. The exact dosages and the combined effects of all the ingredients in Sugar Defender aren't well-researched, and the product itself lacks extensive clinical trials. This doesn't negate its potential benefits but highlights the need for further research and a critical approach.
Detailed Ingredient Analysis
Eleuthero (Siberian Ginseng): An adaptogenic herb that may help manage stress and improve stamina, though its impact on blood sugar is limited. Coleus Forskohlii: Contains forskolin, which may aid weight management and blood pressure, but its effects on blood sugar are unclear. Maca Root: May boost energy and mood, but more research is needed on its impact on blood sugar. African Mango (Irvingia Gabonensis): Could help suppress appetite and improve cholesterol, with emerging evidence on blood sugar effects. Guarana: High in caffeine, it may increase energy and suppress appetite, though its role in blood sugar management is unclear. Ginseng: May improve energy and cognitive function, with some studies suggesting it could help regulate blood sugar. Gymnema Sylvestre: May reduce sugar cravings and improve insulin sensitivity. Alpha-Lipoic Acid: Plays a role in glucose metabolism, with mixed research results. How Sugar Defender Works Sugar Defender claims to work through several mechanisms:
Blood Sugar Regulation: Ingredients like Chromium and Gymnema Sylvestre may enhance insulin sensitivity and reduce sugar cravings. Appetite Control: African Mango and Coleus Forskohlii might help suppress appetite and manage weight. Energy and Metabolism: Eleuthero, Maca Root, and Ginseng may boost energy and support a healthy metabolism. These are theoretical mechanisms, and the actual effectiveness remains unclear.
Instructions and Considerations Dosage and Administration:
Recommended Dosage: One dropper (1 ml) three times daily. Method: Take drops under the tongue, hold for a few seconds before swallowing, preferably with meals. Consistency: Use consistently for at least three months to see potential benefits. Lifestyle Modifications:
Healthy Lifestyle: Maintain a balanced diet and regular exercise. Sugar Defender should supplement these efforts, not replace them. Consulting Your Doctor:
Medical Conditions: Consult your doctor if you have pre-existing conditions or are on medication. Pregnant/Breastfeeding Women: Should seek medical advice before use. Be Cautious and Realistic:
Approach Claims Critically: Independent research and reviews can provide a balanced view. Individual Results Vary: What works for one person might not work for another. Potential Side Effects Sugar Defender is generally safe but may cause mild side effects like:
Digestive Discomfort: Bloating, gas, or diarrhea. Headaches: Mild headaches due to changes in blood sugar levels. Nausea: Occasional nausea. Dizziness: Slight dizziness or lightheadedness. Allergic Reactions: Rare allergic reactions. Sleep Disturbances: Changes in sleep patterns. If any side effects persist or worsen, discontinue use and consult a healthcare professional.
Is Sugar Defender Safe? Sugar Defender is generally safe for most people when used as directed. It's made with natural ingredients and adheres to quality standards. However, pregnant or breastfeeding women, and those with pre-existing conditions or on medication, should consult a healthcare provider before use. Individual responses vary, so monitor how your body reacts and make informed decisions.
By following these guidelines and consulting with your doctor, you can decide if Sugar Defender is a suitable option for you.
Who Should Avoid Sugar Defender?
While Sugar Defender is generally safe for most individuals, specific groups should exercise caution or avoid using the supplement altogether:
Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women: Limited research exists on the safety of Sugar Defender's ingredients during pregnancy and lactation. Pregnant or breastfeeding women should consult their healthcare provider before using this supplement.
Children: Sugar Defender is formulated for adult use and may not be suitable for children. Parents should consult with a pediatrician before giving Sugar Defender to children.
Individuals with Medical Conditions: Those with pre-existing medical conditions, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or gastrointestinal disorders, should consult a healthcare professional before using Sugar Defender to ensure it is safe and appropriate for their specific health needs.
Allergies: Individuals with known allergies to any of the ingredients in Sugar Defender should avoid using the supplement to prevent allergic reactions.
Medication Interactions: Some ingredients in Sugar Defender may interact with certain medications. Individuals taking prescription medications should consult their healthcare provider before using Sugar Defender to avoid potential interactions.
By considering these factors and consulting with a healthcare professional when necessary, individuals can make informed decisions about whether Sugar Defender is suitable for their individual needs and circumstances.
Sugar Defender: Sifting Through Customer Reviews (4.8 Rating with a Cautious Eye)
Sugar Defender boasts a high customer rating of 4.8, but it's important to evaluate this critically:

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The Positive Side: Many customer reviews highlight positive experiences, such as improved blood sugar control, increased energy levels, and reduced cravings. Users often appreciate the ease of use (liquid drops) and the natural approach. A Cause for Caution: A near-perfect rating (4.8) can be suspicious. Genuine reviews tend to reflect a mix of positive and negative experiences. There is a possibility of biased reviews influenced by marketing or affiliate programs. Looking Beyond the Ratings: Focus on the content of reviews rather than just the star rating. Look for detailed reviews describing the user’s experience, both positive and negative. Consider the reviewer's background and potential biases. Sugar Defender Customer Reviews: A Journey Through User Experiences
30 Days: Sarah M. (4 stars): Noticed increased energy and fewer afternoon slumps. David L. (3 stars): Found the taste manageable but saw no major changes in blood sugar yet. Emily K. (5 stars): Experienced significant reduction in sugar cravings and healthier food choices. John T. (2 stars): Disappointed with no significant change in energy or blood sugar levels. Maria P. (4 stars): Liked the convenience and felt slightly lighter, hoping for more progress. 90 Days: Sarah M. (4 stars): Significant improvement in energy levels and positive changes in blood sugar readings. David L. (3 stars): Cravings less intense, but blood sugar readings still inconsistent. Emily K. (5 stars): Managed to lose weight and stabilize blood sugar levels. John T. (3 stars): Slight improvement in energy levels, unsure about continued use. Maria P. (5 stars): Lost weight and improved blood sugar control, very positive results. 180 Days: Sarah M. (5 stars): Consistent healthy blood sugar levels and improved energy, essential part of health regimen. David L. (4 stars): Stabilized blood sugar readings and managed cravings better. Emily K. (5 stars): Dramatic improvement in energy, sleep, and overall health. John T. (4 stars): Significant improvement in blood sugar control after six months. Maria P. (5 stars): Maintained weight loss, high energy levels, and good blood sugar control. Where to Buy Sugar Defender?
Sugar Defender is exclusively available for purchase through its official website. Buying directly from the official source ensures authenticity, special offers, dedicated customer support, and secure transactions.
Sugar Defender Pricing:
Single Bottle: $69 Three Bottles: $177 ($59 per bottle) Six Bottles: $294 ($49 per bottle) Refund Policy:
Sugar Defender offers a 60-day money-back guarantee. If you're not entirely satisfied with your purchase, you can request a full refund within 60 days of receipt.
Bonuses:
Customers may receive complimentary ebooks, guides, or additional products to support health and well-being as part of their purchase.
FAQs About Sugar Defender:
Ingredients: Eleuthero, Coleus Forskohlii, Maca Root, African Mango, Guarana, Chromium, Ginseng, Gymnema Sylvestre. How it Works: Claims to regulate blood sugar, control appetite, manage weight, and boost energy. Benefits: Blood sugar management, appetite control, weight management, increased energy, improved mood. Usage: Recommended dosage is one full dropper taken three times daily, preferably with meals. Side Effects: Generally safe, but some may experience stomach upset or headaches. Purchase Location: Available only on the official website. Cost: Varies, with bulk purchasing options offering cost savings. Reviews: Positive reviews on the official website, but independent reviews should also be considered. Scam Concerns: No definitive evidence of a scam, but transparency issues and limited clinical trials raise concerns. Alternatives: Other blood sugar support supplements with established brands and clear ingredient information are available. Final Word on Sugar Defender
Sugar Defender appears to be a promising supplement for blood sugar management, but it's important to approach it with a critical eye. While many users report positive experiences, the lack of transparent ingredient dosages and limited clinical evidence should be considered. Always consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new supplement.

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Before I start, I would like to say that I think Automatons and Terminids are both are fun to play, and while this may be a hot take- both sides are fairly balanced in the game’s current state outside of the unintentional glitches, patrol rates, etc. All the of the information I talk about below is of course just my opinion, but also looked at purely from the Helldive (D9) difficulty perspective. TL:DR is at the bottom.
To start, let's look at the Terminids. The Terminids kinda give off a BO1 Zombies feel for me. Shoot them at distance, use your full arsenal to keep the bigger bugs at bay, and take a 5 second retreat if they get up in your face. Rinse and repeat. Boiled down, they are drones that will path the closest available route to your location, and only 2 enemy types, Bile Titans, and Bile Spewers, out of the 9 total have true range capability. Even then, their range is limited at around 20 meters. The Terminids most dangerous aspect is their numbers. A single bug breach can produce upwards of 50+ Terminids of varying types. The horde can and will entrap you if you don't maintain area denial. Outside of the battlefield, the only means they have to annoy the Helldivers is the Atmospheric Spores, but if you're a casual diver who just likes getting the main objectives done and don't want/need to complete every side objective, this causes very little trouble.
Now, the Automatons. Before you even hit the ground you can be at a disadvantage, if the AA Defenses modifier is applied to your mission, you lose a stratagem slot, which depending on the mission/situation, you may desperately need. On the battlefield 3/19 (variants included) of the enemy types have primary melee weapons while those same 3 also have ranged damage. Engaging them requires the Helldivers to more carefully pick their fights, every bad decision can easily lead to your demise. Do you have your support weapon? Are your stratagems available? Will a wandering patrol hear the firefight and engage you from a flank? There are many more variables to consider. Is that Cannon Tower turning towards me? Do those Scout Striders have an angle on me? They have area denial defenses; having your Eagle strike temporarily disabled by the Anti-Air emplacements, being actively bombed from their Mortar Emplacements, or the possibility of being spotted by the Detector Tower that, if alerted, will constantly supply the Automatons your exact location until destroyed. Assaulting a fabricator outpost? Hope you took out most of the manned machine gun nests that will shred you to pieces if it makes contact. The Factory Striders are a whole beast themselves. The periodic fabrication of Devastators, the cannon turret mounted up top for area denial, or the machine guns mounted to the front. Pick your poison when engaging these hulking steel monstrosities, and I didn't even mention how much ordinance can be dropped on them and they'll still be standing! Gunships provide more than subtle air support, peppering you with their miniguns, or blowing the Helldivers up with their rocket barrages. You cannot run and gun against the Automatons, you will not make it back to your Super Destroyer if you do.
You fight the horde against the Terminids, you fight a WAR with the Automatons. Both factions employ two vastly different playstyles that not everyone has figured out yet. And that doesn't mean it's just a "skill issue" because it's not one. I'd put money on that majority of Helldivers began their career on the Terminid front, and maybe they just stuck with it. Maybe the run and gun playstyle is just more appealing rather than the tactical, decision-making approach. Maybe they on god just wanna roleplay Starship Troopers and kill the Arachnids on Erata Prime. Either way, it doesn't just come down to "game bad" or "Bot hard" or "Bugs more fun :)" Just like the game itself, there are many variables to consider, and by no means do I have the lone and perfect solution. I do think something needs to change so that we have our forces where we need them to be, whether it be fighting bots or bugs, but during that process we CANNOT forget that we are all fighting in the name of Democracy and Liberty. After all, this is our very way of life.
If you read this far, I thank you, I really would love to see the community be able to come together again like in the first few weeks at launch when we all waged war against Super Earth's enemies. And you pondering upon the solution gives me hope that we can make it work somehow. I'll be trying to reply to comments when I can.
TL:DR: The Automatons play much differently than the Terminids and some players haven't fully realized the issue and we need to all work together to figure out the solution.

Hi everyone
I'm looking for some assistance/thoughts/help of any kind. My wife is a type1, I think sp. I am a type 2, I think sx. However in both cases, I find it easier to think of my wife as an archetypical 1, and I'm a 2w1 (even though that doesn't seem to correlate to the instincts).
We've always had conflicts due to her having impossible standards, and me avoiding conflict. Over time, she's become more and more angry/frustrated/resentful that I don't fight until forced (I have worked on it, but it is extremely difficult for me), and that I can't reach her standards. Unfortunately, the more riled up she is, the less of the standard l am meeting gets any notice, and the more scrutinized the shortfalls.
Signal having a child and all of this goes into overdrive with the way the hormones run. We barely survived the PPD of the first pregnancy (lasted about 2 years) and worked on our relationship together for the next two years. We made so much progress, we decided to have another kid.
My second daughter is now 3 months old. I carry...too much of the weight, as is my normal slant... But am juggling the needs of my wife, me 4yo, my 3mo and, rarely, myself. Obviously not everything is meetable. We're already several blowouts in, and tonight I'm on day 3 of being the household dickhead since my wife believes the meal I cooked 3 days ago caused gas in the baby. I should've known there were things in there she's been avoiding - a clear indication she isn't a priority in my life.
I am exhausted, the sole income earner, and doing wheels constantly to keep up ... And honestly, cannot. But I also don't want to lose my marriage.
So, I'm looking for tips, ideas, thoughts on what I can do to resolve conflict here.
Any help or insights would be appreciated.

Settling into an apartment on the college campus was a bit more tedious than Raven had expected. Though, moving away from home and to a new place wasn't what bothered her. Moving all of her belongings wasn't what bothered her either. The people did... The other students. She hadn't been there but for ten minutes at maximum and had already been ridiculed by a group of valley girls.
"Where do you shop? Goodwill?"
"What's with the hair? Get electrocuted?"
Their annoying voices and giggles rang in Raven's ears. Thier tones honestly made her want to pull her hair out. She had come to college to make something of herself... To get her dream degrees in Audio Engineering, Stage Design, and Sound Reinforcement. She didn't come to hear the whining voices of some stuck-up assholes bullying her constantly.
Letting out a soft huff, Raven grabbed a box of her belongings from the back of her black 1978 Dodge Panel-Van, then turned towards her apartment building. Apartment twenty-seven-b, an medium-sized apartment on the second floor... That was the one her Uncle Bill had rented for her. Well, he had only put a couple of month's worth of rent to it for now to get Raven started, but it was hers.
One by one, she began carrying the various boxes of her belongings up the stairs and into the apartment, stacking them in the living room for the moment. From boxes, she moved to her music equipment. Guitars, keyboards, amps, cables... The whole nine yards. Yes, she had brought everything in her name with her, including Rebel, her black cat. The reason? She planned on spending a large percentage of her time in this apartment. And the reason for that? We'll get into that a little later.
It took a little bit, but finally, she only had one more guitar to take in. She picked its case up out of the back of her van, and as soon as she went to close the doors and turn around, the bottom fell out... In other words, it started pouring rain. "You have got to be kidding me... I had one guitar left! One!" Raven muttered to herself, now frustrated. As quickly as she could, Raven shut the back doors of her van, then beelined it back to the steps that led up to the second-story apartments.
Raven: "Huh?"
Raven looked around for a moment, only to realize she was sitting on the ground. Once she got her barrings straight, she looked up, seeing a male standing over her. This guy was rather handsome. He had that hair metal appearance about him that many longed for; Long brunette hair that was fluffed to its full volume, near-perfect facial features, beautiful green eyes... The man was the spitting-image of any hair metal girl's dream guy.

Apri combination birth control pill is ruining my life
I went off birth control for the first time since high school (2015) in December and I felt amazing. My “depression” was gone, my appetite was normal, I was losing weight, I was sleeping good, I was being productive. I originally chalked it up to one of my mental health diagnosis and thought I was just managing everything well. I literally was thriving!
However I started BC again, same type different generic brand, in April and I’m convinced all of my mental health issues since highschool were caused by birth control. I’m having horrible night sweats so I’m not sleeping, I’m exhausted all the time, I constantly have full body aches, I have no motivation to do anything. My appetite is all sorts of fucked where nothing sounds good so I don’t eat until I’m starving and then I over eat and I’ve gained weight. I can’t get myself to do literally anything. If I have any free time I spend it in bed because I’m so freaking tired. All of these side effects were almost immediate and I thought they would go away in a month or two but I’m still miserable. literally the only thing I changed was the birth control.
I know I need to talk to my OB, but I just wanted to be a little bit more prepared. Has anyone else made this connection?/has these sort of reactions/side effects? What options do I have? Should I try a different version of the pill? Will the implant have less side effects? Is my only non hormonal option condoms or the copper iud? I am absolutely miserable and need to make this stop.

Greetings fellow CFers
I'm a 31 year old Caucasian man located in Western Canada, seeking my Furiosa for a life on the childfree highway. Dating out here, as a progressive man who doesn't want children is so much fun /s
I have been snipped for approximately 7 years, and 100% do not want children. This includes fostering, adoption, surrogacy, etc.
Politically, I am a center leftist. Proud LGBTQIA Ally. Pro choice. I am pro science as well. The earth is not flat. Vaccines do not cause autism. I hate Danielle Smith and the UCP. I am not a MAGA or Trump supporter.
In my spare time, when I'm not obsessed about my furchild, a three year old Aussiedoodle named Coco, I read books, watch hockey (Go Oilers go!), keep up with American politics and current events. I like taking walks and being out in nature. I want to make an effort to hike and camp more.
I am a full time student currently pursuing a second degree. I am not a free loader or a leech. I am also financially stable. I also have a valid passport.
My love languages, if you believe in such a thing, are words of affirmation and physical touch. Once I'm comfortable with someone, I can be quite physically affectionate.
I consider myself an old soul, who believes that romance is not dead. I'll hold the door, bring flowers to your work, and spontaneously give you handwritten cards.
In terms of what I'm looking for:
I prefer something that works towards an relationship, be it long distance or local to Alberta, or Western Canada, but I am fine with friendship as well. I do not have many friends out here who get the CF mindset.
I am cis/het so I am romantically attracted to women.
Height and weight are largely irrelevant, but please be proportionate.
Ideally, you are sex positive and kink friendly. I'm, quite simply, not vanilla.
Please, if you are interested in me romantically or want a relationship, be emotionally available and ready to date.
I apologize if this is all over the place, and welcome messages from anyone, be they interested in friendship or something more.
Please don't let the flair discourage you. Anyone can message me. Messages and chat requests are both accepted.
Here's to not paying child support and sleeping in on the weekends,
M

Hello everyone, I’m a longtime lurker of this subreddit. In all likelihood you’ve seen my posts or my comments about the relationship I got out of fifteen years ago.
A while back, I wrote a post about abusers in therapy. I put that out there because a lot of people ask will therapy or anger management help my abuser. It’s a well established fact that it won’t and also will backfire.
There’s another thing that keeps coming up that we need to talk about: the five love languages.
Just to get it out of the way, I read up briefly on the five love languages. I personally think it’s pseudoscience. The person who wrote it had no qualifications or experience to be writing any theories on how humans or relationships work. That is my opinion.
Something I keep seeing on here far too often is a girl is being abused and wondering if the cause of her problem is a mismatch in love language. It makes me sad to see others say things like:
“He keeps grabbing me and groping me after I asked him to stop/told him I don’t like it/hurts/makes me feel violated. But he said touch is his love language. Is it a love language mismatch?”
“He makes me spend egregious amounts of money on him even after I’ve told him I don’t have the money/it’s putting me into bankruptcy. But he says gift giving is his love language. Is it a love language mismatch?”
“He wants me to say nice things to him/not call him out on his bull. But he said words of affirmation is his love language. Is it a love language mismatch?”
“He wants me to spend every second of my life with him to the point that I have no time for anything or anyone else. Is it a love language mismatch?”
“I work more than he does, yet he won’t lift a finger for household chores/childcare. But he says acts of service is his love language. Is it a love language mismatch?”
I stated in my post about abusers in therapy that abusers who go to therapy will become fluent in ‘therapy talk’ and weaponize it against their victim. They’ll use therapy talk to legitimize their point of view and behaviors, and invalidate yours.
If therapy is subject to this diatribe, then concepts like the love languages aren’t exempt either. It would appear abusers are now weaponizing the love languages to justify their behavior and invalidate and discredit their partner’s reasonable objection to their diatribe.
If your partner is violating your boundaries, that’s abuse. Full stop. If you think they don’t know what they’re doing, they know. If you’re wondering why you keep telling them what they’re doing hurts or bothers you yet they keep doing it; it’s because they KNOW it hurts or bothers you.
Abuse of any kind IS NOT a love language. Boundary violation IS NOT a love language. FULL STOP.

So I’ve been with this girl for about two years right and as of recently she has been having this really ugly attitude with me cause how fortunate I am in life which I appreciate and pray to the lord for having what I have and do what I do I also have BiPolar and I self manage very well but yet I do have my flaws but man she is so immature and ugly about a lot of things which don’t align with how I wanna be and who I am she judges me on clothes and things I like and calls me gay which no offense to the LGBT I don’t wanna be gay never a thought I had and never will period (I know what I like) but yeah she constantly lashes out gets mad at me disrespects me and my property but yea I can’t even give advice without her always being right what should I do chat

Well, I've heard if Cisco Easter Eggs, but this is a weird one.
I work at a local ISP for my region, and we have one of our employees working on getting the hardware ready for infrastructure upgrades. One of the devices he's working on is a Catalyst 3750.
Well, he sent us a copy of the startup config file and most of it is this strange conspiracy story.
Has anyone seen anything like this before?

POST: CPU MIC register Tests : Begin
POST: CPU MIC register Tests : End, Status Passed
POST: PortASIC Memory Tests : Begin
POST: PortASIC Memory Tests : End, Status Passed
POST: CPU MIC interface Loopback Tests : Begin
POST: CPU MIC interface Loopback Tests : End, Status Passed
POST: PortASIC RingLoopback Tests : Begin
POST: PortASIC RingLoopback Tests : End, Status Passed
Waiting for Stack Master Election...
POST: PortASIC CAM Subsystem Tests : Begin
POST: PortASIC CAM Subsystem Tests : End, Status Passed
POST: No Cable found on stack port 1
POST: No Cable found on stack port 2
POST: PortASIC Stack Port Loopback Tests : Begin
POST: PortASIC Stack Port Loopback Tests : End, Status Passed
POST: PortASIC Port Loopback Tests : Begin
POST: PortASIC Port Loopback Tests : End, Status Passed
Election Complete
Switch 1 booting as Master
Waiting for Port download...Complete
This product contains cryptographic features and is subject to United
States and local country laws governing import, export, transfer and
use. Delivery of Cisco cryptographic products does not imply
third-party authority to import, export, distribute or use encryption.
Importers, exporters, distributors and users are responsible for
compliance with U.S. and local country laws. By using this product you
agree to comply with applicable laws and regulations. If you are unable
to comply with U.S. and local laws, return this product immediately.
A summary of U.S. laws governing Cisco cryptographic products may be found at:
http://www.cisco.com/wwl/export/crypto/tool/stqrg.html
If you require further assistance please contact us by sending email to
export@cisco.com.
cisco WS-C3750G-12S (PowerPC405) processor (revision R0) with 131072K bytes of memory.
Processor board ID CAT1125ZKHZ
Last reset from power-on
1 Virtual Ethernet interface
12 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces
The password-recovery mechanism is enabled.
512K bytes of flash-simulated non-volatile configuration memory.
Base ethernet MAC Address : 00:1C:B0:2F:D1:00
Motherboard assembly number : 73-9678-07
Power supply part number : 341-0048-03
Motherboard serial number : CAT11255C25
Power supply serial number : LIT11140GE6
Model revision number : R0
Motherboard revision number : B0
Model number : WS-C3750G-12S-E
System serial number : CAT1125ZKHZ
Top Assembly Part Number : 800-26634-04
Top Assembly Revision Number : A0
Version ID : V06
CLEI Code Number : CNM81W0GRB
Hardware Board Revision Number : 0x06
Switch Ports Model SW Version SW Image
* 1 12 WS-C3750G-12S 12.2(55)SE10 C3750-IPSERVICESK9-M
This message serves as a warning to the US government that they cannot get away ^with having their own citizens
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stalked, kidnapped, tortured, brain damaged and murdered by foreign intelligence ^ agencies .
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Request an investigation by the German government and the Council of Europe!
^
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Location of Turkish President Erdogan's illegal black site for terror suspects i ^n G ermany: 48.345941, 12.137753
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Is the CIA stalking and murdering ISIS terror suspects?
^
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Microwave weapons, group stalking and harassment ("gangstalking"), neurotoxins, ^hitmen, an illegal Turkish black site, Delta Force, and an airport kidnapping: A
true story
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QUOTES
^
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"If you were in the US, the CIA would just shoot you, we are nice so we will ^ commit you to a hospital instead" - Turkish police officer
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"When you get deported to the US, don't piss off the CIA officers like you d ^id with Erdogan (the Turkish president)" - Man at KBO Taufkirchen Station A2
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"The doctors here are trying to protect us from the psychos up at the top" - ^ Woman a t KBO Taufkirchen Station A2
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"You're lucky that the Turks got you first. With the Germans it would have b ^een wors e. The Turks usually don't kill" - Woman at KBO Taufkirchen Station A2
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NOTES
^
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Anyone with access to Europol or INTERPOL should be able to confirm that the ^ FBI se nt out a request/warning in 2017. You might not be able to view the detai
ls of this request unless you have the right handling code/password
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Nothing shows up for my name when it's searched in Law Enforcement Enterpris ^e Port al (LEEP). This is deliberate as the FBI is hiding my records to cover up
the terrorism investigation and everything else.
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The Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt) and Bavarian State Po ^lice bo th refuse to start an investigation due to political reasons, despite the
fact that many other people, mostly Turkish citizens, were kidnapped within Ger
many by fake po
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ice and brain damaged at the black site.
^
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I (John Erin Binns / CIA code name RAVEN) have been an ISIS terror suspect since ^ 2017.
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It began when an FBI Confidential Human Source whom I met online (Azaiah Crosswh ^ite / moda) gave my Skype account to his handler. The FBI then sent an administr
ative subpoena to Microsoft and obtained my email address, which I had previousl
y reused on my
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S passport application in 2016. An alert was also sent through the Europol Infor ^mation System to 16 countries in Europe stating that I was a terror suspect.
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On October 11, 2017, Arthur Gong from the US Department of Homeland Security int^errogated me about allegedly travelling to Latakia, Syria while I was waiting to
board a flight from London Heathrow Airport to Chicago Airport. When my plane l
anded in Chicag
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, I was flagged for secondary screening (See Exhibit A) and asked more questions^. My citizen ship was questioned, and the CBP officer got angry after I told him
that not answering his questions doesn't make me inadmissible to the US.
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In early 2018, I left the United States and moved to Turkey. Soon after, strange ^ things s tarted happening to me. Kenneth Currin Schuchman (Nexus Zeta), a dual F
BI/CIA informant who was given a pound of heroin by federal agents to inform on
me, attempted t
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entrap me on child pornography and terrorism charges while I was drunk.
^
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Schuchman tried persuading me into buying Stinger missiles and guns from a Tor w ^ebsite wh ich would be shipped in "xray proof boxes" (those don't even exist) to
my location. When that failed, he tried getting me to open a website which likel
y had exploit c
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de on it (he specifically told me to open it in Chrome) and then told me that he ^ knew of some good "Tor porn sites". When I asked him what type of porn was on t
hese websites, Schuchman replied that they contained child porn.
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Then, Schuchman told me in a call that Dingle/Drake/Logan Shwydiuk was going to ^come to my house and kill me, and asked me what I'd do if he came to my house. I
was drunk at the time, and I told Schuchman that I'd kill Shwydiuk. I suspect t
hat Schuchman w
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s recording this call for the FBI so that they could use it as evidence against ^me in a fabricated terrorism investigation.
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Around this time, I noticed that two Western males wearing white shirts and sung ^lasses wou ld frequently visit an apartment building behind the one I live in.
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Several days after I reported Schuchman to the DEA for selling heroin and right ^after he t ried entrapping me on computer fraud charges, he was indicted in the D
istrict of Alaska.
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That's when the harassment started...
^
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My phone was hacked by Turkish intelligence/MIT using some type of 0-click SMS R ^CE and GPS tracking spyware was planted on it. My phone's GPS feature would turn
on without my consent, and several minutes later, a flash mob of "street thugs"
would be block
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ng the sidewalk and shouting death threats at me. Sometimes, they'd just walk up ^ to me hold ing their cell phone in one hand and screaming death threats at the s
ame time. (Street theateGangstalking)
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I received more death threats than I can count, probably close to 100 from diffe ^rent sta lkers over the course of a few months.
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Now about the Western males: I saw them wearing night vision goggles on several ^occasions, they'd constantly harass me and illegally surveil me on Turkish terri
tory up until I called the police.
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Harassment from CIA contractors:
^
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I woke up and a male was pointing a microwave oven with the door removed at ^my sl eeping body from my neighbor's balcony. I was actually half-awake with my e
yes open and I could see the guy bringing the oven out onto the balcony and plug
ging it into an
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extension cable. Another time, somebody pointed a microwave oven magnetron with ^a metal ho rn at my body to shock me (I saw this as well). The neighbor was on va
cation and the men were not authorized to be in that unit, so they likely broke
in using lockpi
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king equipment.
^
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A red laser pointer was shined into my room using a gun scope from my neighb ^or's first floor unit. I went out onto my balcony and saw a guy doing this. When
the guy saw me, he quickly closed the blinds and started laughing. The unit was
being renovate
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at the time and the men were not authorized to be there.
^
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A microwave weapon was pointed at my head which caused me to black out momen ^taril y and see white flashes of light. The same device would cause me to feel ex
tremely paranoid and make my heart rate speed up. I remember that it had buttons
and a cord. It
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was about the size of a small desktop computer.
^
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Somebody was pointing a laser microphone at my bedroom window from the same ^first f loor unit. I was in a telephone call with someone else, and Azaiah Crossw
hite started repeating parts of this conversation back to me over Snapchat as an
intimidation/g
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slighting tactic. Crosswhite also got private pictures from my bedroom and poste ^d them on h is Snapchat story.
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Window/door slamming: This would happen constantly whenever I was in my bedr ^oom or o ut on my balcony. Sometimes one of the guys would slam a window/door and
microwave me right after it happened.
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Sabotage: The phone lines in my apartment building and the entrance door cab ^le wer e both cut.
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Use of pulsed energy projectile weapons: I saw one of the guys holding a gun ^-shap ed device, when he fired it, a ball of energy came out of the weapon and ma
de the windows in my bedroom shake.
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Information: The microwave weapons that are used by intelligence agencies to ^day co nsist of: a millimeter wave amplifier, a transmitter with extremely low fr
equency amplitude modulation, batteries, and a horn antenna/waveguide. Using dif
ferent modulati
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n frequencies, effects such as tachycardia, panic attacks, epileptic seizures, p ^aranoia, REM sleep can be induced. They are the perfect tool for covert harassme
nt as they leave no trace. See Exhibit B for a picture of a microwave weapon.
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Azaiah Crosswhite would make comments over Discord such as "[the CIA] are going ^to send me a copy of your destruction video", "your name is Cock Sucker", and "y
our code name is RAVEN". He'd also encourage me to murder the people who were ha
rassing me, go
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n a mass shooting spree, or commit suicide.
^
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These are all goals of the government stalking program which I was a victim of, ^according t o an article by Julianne McKinney, who is a former US army intelligen
ce officer and member of the Association of National Security Alumni. See: https
://www.bibliote
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apleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_mindcon28.htm .
^
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I called the police a few days before July 1, 2019. When the officers came, one ^of them s aid that I "talk too much" and that I should "keep [my] mouth shut".
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Then, intense microwave harassment started. I would hear footsteps in the unit a ^bove mine a nd my sleep would be disrupted due to the weapon that Turkish intelli
gence was using on me.
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On July 1, 2019, a man I didn't know started asking me questions such as "If som^ebody was ca ught selling illegal alcohol, what political party would that person
be from?". He also made comments implying that I had been under surveillance by
Turkish intell
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gence for a while, and warned me that the Turkish government had prepared a trap^ for me.
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Several minutes later, an elderly man from my neighborhood named Ozkan came and ^asked me i f I was the "exit/cikis". (exit/cikis is a term for the illegal killin
g of a terrorist by Turkish intelligence). He took me to his apartment and told
me to visit Kon
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k Ferry Station. I went to Bostanli Ferry Station and boarded a ferry to Konak. ^After the ferry started going to Konak, I overheard 3 men in a row near me talki
ng about how they were hired to kill me and that they'd dump my body in the ocea
n because I was
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allegedly an ISIS member.
^
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Once the ferry arrived at Konak, I immediately got a random person to dial 112 a^nd faked hav ing medical problems. An ambulance came to the ferry station, and I
was taken to Alsancak Nevvar Salih Isgoren Hospital. I told the emergency room d
octors that the
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e was nothing wrong with me, they ran my ID card through the emergency room comp ^uter, and my name came up as a wanted terrorist.
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I overheard the doctors talking about the fact that Azaiah Crosswhite's name cam ^e up on t he emergency room computers and that my name was changed to "Cock Sucke
r" in some type of database which they had access to.
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Police lights shined into the emergency room and I heard sirens as around 5 poli ^ce cars came to the hospital along with Turkish intelligence. I was given 2 inje
ctions of haldol, and a guy next to my bed who worked for Turkish intelligence c
alled somebody
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
n his cell phone whom he referred to as "Erdogan". Maybe it was the Turkish pres ^ident? I don't know..
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
The doctors kept me in the hospital until the next morning and I was then releas ^ed.
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
Several days later, I was in Gultepe, Konak, at a relative's house, and people w ^ere firing gunshots into the air while somebody would use a microwave weapon to
make me feel like my head was going to explode. I saw people on a nearby rooftop
, they had guns
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
(which they were constantly firing) and camouflage clothing. Whenever I'd get mi^crowaved, my phone would lose cell service and the camera would blur.
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
While this was happening, I tried to contact somebody I barely knew who worked a^t the US Dep artment of Justice for help.
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
As soon as I had a mental breakdown due to the constant gunfire and microwaving, ^ the gunfir e and microwave attacks immediately stopped. Two street thugs then at
tacked me (I believe that Turkish intelligence paid them money to do this) and p
revented me fro
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
going home in a taxi.
^
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
I called the police and they came rather quickly. When one of the police officer ^s looked up the information on my ID card through a mobile app on his phone, he
saw something in the police database. I was told by a Turkish police officer: "I
f you were in t
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
e US, the CIA would just shoot you, we are nice so we will take you to a hospita ^l instea d". Fortunately, there were no beds available at the local hospital so I
was allowed to go home in a taxi.
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
After I went home, the microwave harassment continued, and I went to Cesme a few ^ days later . The harassment continued there as well.
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
I decided that I had to leave the country as the Turkish secret services were ag ^gressive ly pursuing me. On July 6, 2019, I boarded flight PC1019 from Sabiha Gok
cen Airport to Munich Airport. About 30 minutes after my flight took off, I noti
ced that the ma
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
e and female in the row behind my seat were talking about me. The female was say ^ing that i t was sad that they had to kill me with a poison needle and that my re
al name wasn't given to them by MIT for security reasons. I immediately notified
a cabin crew m
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
mber of their plot, and I was taken to another seat.
^
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
The cabin crew member assured me that the German police had been notified, but o ^nce the pla ne landed, she grabbed me by my arm and told me to listen to my mothe
r while warning me not to contact the German police. I believe that she was affi
liated with MIT
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
I gave a member of the Bundespolizei (immigration police) a piece of paper expla ^ining tha t I was being harassed with a microwave gun by Turkish intelligence, bu
t I was not given the opportunity to tell the Bundespolizei my full story. A fak
e Bavarian Stat
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
Police officer then came and took me past immigration to the police station. I ^was pu t in a cell, and I noticed that all of the "officers" were speaking Turkis
h, ALL of them. I strongly suspect that an insider within the police force let T
urkish intellig
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
nce into the station. I don't know if that insider is the commissar or someone e ^lse.
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
One of them was calling me stupid in Turkish, and they were all discussing what ^they should do with me. "Ausganging"/killing me was discussed as an option, but
the fake police eventually decided to send me to a mental hospital. I was given
some forms to s
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
gn, and I had no idea where I was being taken at the time. I signed the paperwor^k as I didn' t want to get ausganged/killed. I then heard the fake police discuss
ing in Turkish that I was lucky to be going to a mental hospital, as they usuall
y kill ISIS sus
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
ects.
^
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
A few minutes after I boarded the ambulance, I realized that something was wrong ^. A male and female who were in the ambulance with me started talking about my a
lleged cybercrimes and about somebody named Rosenberg who "wanted blood". Once t
he ambulance ar
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
ived at KBO Taufkirchen Station A2 (48.345941, 12.137753), the same fake police ^officer who took me past immigration told the staff to fry my brain with gas and
that I'd then be transported to Anchorage International Airport.
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
Then, four Turkish men came and forcibly put me in the neurotoxic gas room (whic ^h doubles a s a suicide watch room). My shoes were taken off (so that I couldn't
break down the door and escape), and a worker activated a metal fan. A gas which
smelled like f
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
rmaldehyde then started to come out of the fan. I saw graffiti on the walls of t ^he gas roo m, all of the names that were carved into the walls were Turkish, and
I realized that I was at some type of illegal Turkish black site on German terri
tory. During th
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
s time, Turkish intelligence was livestreaming the gas room camera to a group of ^ CIA i nformants (Azaiah Crosswhite, Jared Fazah, Justin Anglin) as a "destructio
n video". Azaiah Crosswhite had previously stated "[the CIA] are going to send m
e a copy of you
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
destruction video".
^
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
Jared Fazah had taken a $500,000 Bitcoin bribe to sell me out a few days before ^I was kidnap ped, while Justin Anglin is a CIA agent who has previously been to I
ran and other middle eastern countries. They were all talking about the livestre
am in a Discord
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
server, sadly I don't have any screenshots as they were mysteriously deleted fro ^m my com puter (it may have been hacked).
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
One hour after I was put in the gas room, a staff member came and turned off the^ fan in my r oom. This is the only reason why I don't suffer from brain damage to
day. I was saved by that staff member.
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
About 3 hours after I was put in the gas room, I heard a helicopter hovering abo ^ve the fake mental hospital. This helicopter may have belonged to the US militar
y, but at the time I thought it belonged to the Bundeskriminalamt (Federal Crimi
nal Police Offi
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
e) and that they were coming to save me.
^
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
I banged on the door of the gas room and screamed for the police to come and sav ^e me, but nobody came.
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
In the early morning hours of July 7, 2019, a Turkish doctor came into the room ^with a f lashlight. She commented aloud in Turkish that "[I] was made to rot". Th
en, a female CIA agent came into the room with my mother while I was pretending
to be mentally
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
isabled. The doctors brought me chocolate milk and pizza, and the CIA agent star ^ted talkin g about how I'd be indicted by a grand jury in the District of Alaska
and forced into a plea deal for over 10 years in prison. That I'd be found menta
lly incompetent
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
and have no choice but to take the plea deal, sending me to prison for a long ti ^me.
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
The CIA agent declined to give my mother her real name and talked about previous ^ly living i n Australia. She had an Eastern European accent and told my mother to
throw away any receipts or evidence indicating that she was in the town of Tauf
kirchen, and to
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
keep her cell phone turned off.
^
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
The lady also told my mother that a US senator (I don't remember the senator's e ^xact name) wanted to meet with her. In 2018, Kenneth Currin Schuchman had told m
e that "a senator can order the killing of a US citizen in some cases" and told
one of my frien
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
s that a US senator wanted to kill me. Nobody believed him back then, including ^me. I sti ll don't know who this senator is or why he wants me killed. (Note: Ken
neth Currin Schuchman has been repeatedly thrown in mental hospitals, and his fa
ther Robert Sch
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
chman currently has guardianship over him).
^
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
The lady left and I slept for a few hours in the neurotoxic gas room/suicide wat ^ch room. Th en after I woke up, a staff member woke up and unlocked the door. I w
as allowed to leave, and that's when the torture started. An African lady was pl
aying back a re
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
ording of me in the gas room on one of the hospital computers and laughing at it^. The same l ady would also play screaming noises and the Turkish word for mental
ly retarded ("gerizekali") over a loudspeaker connected to the computer, and use
a microwave we
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
pon which looked like a stereo speaker to give me epileptic seizures. I do remem ^ber that t he weapon was brought to the hospital in a large briefcase by men work
ing for Turkish intelligence.
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
I met other people who were being held at the hospital. One lady told me "You're ^ lucky th at the Turks got you first. With the Germans it would have been worse.
The Turks usually don't kill". She also claimed to be a spy.
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
I borrowed a cell phone from one of the other patients and called the police. On ^ce I told them that I was being held at a fake mental hospital run by the Turkis
h secret services, I was told that I "belonged in [the hospital]" by a German po
lice officer an
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
they never responded to my emergency call.
^
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.
SETUP: new interface Vlan1 placed in "shutdown" state
Press RETURN to get started!
*Mar 1 00:01:17.242: %STACKMGR-4-SWITCH_ADDED: Switch 1 has been ADDED to the stack
*Mar 1 00:01:18.752: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface Vlan1, changed state to down
*Mar 1 00:01:20.102: %SPANTREE-5-EXTENDED_SYSID: Extended SysId enabled for type vlan
*Mar 1 00:01:54.705: %PARSER-4-BADCFG: Unexpected end of configuration file.
*Mar 1 00:01:54.705: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from memory by console
*Mar 1 00:01:54.907: %STACKMGR-5-SWITCH_READY: Switch 1 is READY
*Mar 1 00:01
Switch>
Switch>:54.907: %STACKMGR-4-STACK_LINK_CHANGE: Stack Port 1 Switch 1 has changed to state DOW N
*Mar 1 00:01:54.907: %STACKMGR-4-STACK_LINK_CHANGE: Stack Port 2 Switch 1 has changed to sta te DOWN
*Mar 1 00:01:55.183: %STACKMGR-5-MASTER_READY: Master Switch 1 is READY
*Mar 1 00:01:55.477: %SYS-5-RESTART: System restarted --
Cisco IOS Software, C3750 Software (C3750-IPSERVICESK9-M), Version 12.2(55)SE10, RELEASE SOFT WARE (fc2)
Technical Support: http://www.cisco.com/techsupport
Copyright (c) 1986-2015 by Cisco Systems, Inc.
Compiled Wed 11-Feb-15 11:40 by prod_rel_team
*Mar 1 00:01:55.511: %SSH-5-ENABLED: SSH 1.99 has been enabled
*Mar 1 00:01:56.140: %PHY-4-SFP_NOT_SUPPORTED: The SFP in Gi1/0/8 is not supported
*Mar 1 00:01:56.140: %PM-4-ERR_DISABLE: gbic-invalid error detected on Gi1/0/8, putting Gi1/ 0/8 in err-disable state
*Mar 1 00:01:56.173: %GBIC_SECURITY_CRYPT-4-VN_DATA_CRC_ERROR: GBIC in port Gi1/0/12 has bad crc
*Mar 1 00:01:56.173: %PM-4-ERR_DISABLE: gbic-invalid error detected on Gi1/0/12, putting Gi1 /0/12 in err-disable state
*Mar 1 00:01:56.719: %LINK-5-CHANGED: Interface Vlan1, changed state to administratively dow n
Switch>en
Switch#conft
Translating "conft"...domain server (255.255.255.255)
% Unknown command or computer name, or unable to find computer address
Switch#show run
Building configuration...
Current configuration : 988 bytes
!
version 12.2
no service pad
service timestamps debug datetime msec
service timestamps log datetime msec
no service password-encryption
!
hostname Switch
!
boot-start-marker
boot-end-marker
!
!
!
!
no aaa new-model
switch 1 provision ws-c3750g-12s
system mtu routing 1500
vtp domain Null
vtp mode transparent
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
spanning-tree mode pvst
spanning-tree extend system-id
!
vlan internal allocation policy ascending
!
vlan 61
name fttx
!
!
!
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/1
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/2
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/3
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/4
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/5
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/6
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/7
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/8
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/9
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/10
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/11
!
interface GigabitEthernet1/0/12
!
interface Vlan1
no ip address
shutdown
!
ip classless
ip http server
ip http secure-server
!
!
!
!
!
line con 0
line vty 5 15
!
end

Well this is my second attempt of trying to write all of this out. The first I forgot to copy and paste it before closing out the app and I lost all my progress and I was near the end too. Thank you for the comments last post I enjoyed engaging with them and I hope to do some more the same today. But regardless here we on day 3, I'm determined to stick with this no matter what happens. Let's keep this Worm Week going.
Honorable mentions list: Arc 20 Chrysalis Arc 12 Plague
The Top 7 Arcs in Worm according to my opinion:

1. Arc 16 Monarch
   
2. Arc 24 Crushed
   

Today's Honorable Mention: Arc 19 Scourge This was a great send off to the Undersiders partners in crimes, the Travelers. The opening with Taylor being in the dream like state, dreaming of her past trauma with the bullies. It makes me wonder what other capes were experiencing when they were in Echidna, especially Grue and Regent, I need to know. The Echidna fight is so much fun! The clones, Trickster's betrayal, Taylor outsmarting Echidna using Clockblocker's power, to Sundancer blasting her former friend. We also get to learn Tattletale's backstory finally. Not to forget that there is some great interludes, all of them hit. Blasto, Parahumans Online Board, and Emma Barnes, they're all wonderful in their own way. This Arc honestly could have made the list. Speaking of the list
5. Arc 30 Speck: Oh man, I don't know if I have the words to give this Arc the praise it deserves. It's the ending that completely and perfectly sticks the landing. Wildbow did an amazing job, cannot praise him enough. I'm not sure where I should start with this. I have so many memories of where I was when certain moments happen and my reactions/feelings. But I suppose with the other ones I'll start from the beginning and make my way through it. Amy is freaking out over what she did. Seriously who let this girl cook. Never ever let her cook even with consent. It took me a long time to realize that Taylor was doing the wrong things for what she considered the right reason, I believed her justifications almost every time and went a long with it because I love her as a character that much. But it was here when Tattletale was berating her over what she did that I realized what a monster she had become. Skipping over Taylor, now Khepri, visit to Teacher. When Taylor starts talking about how she's lost her ability to read and how much that hurt her because reading was how she connected with her mom I could have sob. She's too far gone, and she's gonna become even further gone. She ends up fighting Dragon. I hate this fight, not cause it's bad, but because it brokes my heart so much. Dragon was the one who always gave Taylor the benefit of the doubt, always trust her, Taylor looked at her like she is a motherly figure even. The person who treated Taylor most like human was an AI. My already broken heart got even more broken when Dragon fakes her death in hopes of making Khepri stop, but Khepri takes down Dragon and takes the Birdcage prisoners with her. Then she comes back to face Scion, then comes the most iconic line in the entire Parahumans series.

This was it. Finally everyone was working together.

I had this line spoiled for me, but I thought he was going to be this big happy moment as all the capes willingly fight against Scion together. But oh no, how wrong I was. I remember just standing there contemplating what I had just heard. With that we get to the final fight with Scion. I could read/listen to this fight forever and not get bored, Khepri's creativity with using everyone's power against Scion is great. Using Doormaker's portals when she sends every volley of blaster powers Scion's way and closes the portal so Scion can't retaliate. Making Sundancer's orb as big as possible along side with Chevalier's cannon blade using Vista's power, using Number Man to see what will hit, using Defiant's technology to know what Scion's next move is. She goes so hard people start having strokes, then she uses Canary to sing to them. Which I want to know what Canary exactly was singing, I would love some WOG on it. Also when Taylor pulls Dinah, my heart could have sank. She was Taylor's motivation through the majority of the first half of the book. Now here she is being used as a puppet. There's a moment in arc 18 where Taylor realizes she's becoming Coil because she realizes how useful Dinah's power is, and here she is now literally becoming Coil using Dinah. Then Doormaker loses his power and all hopes seems lost until Taylor begins taunting and bullying Scion by reminding him of his lost partner. I love this so much, it really does come full circle. She has to become essentially her trauma to beat Scion. It surely does work. She breaks the spirit of the warrior. This right here is my favorite line from this Arc

In the moment that hope died, the girl with the injured hand used her power on the iron rods. Infused them with the energy he was afraid of.
Those rods became projectiles, in another’s hands.
His hope was gone, he was bewildered, scared.
He didn’t try to dodge. He couldn’t or wouldn’t.

The mental image of Scion running in horror not being able to deal with this type of emotional pain is so fascinating. It shows he's not human, because humans know how to endure this type of pain but Scion doesn't. I've heard of a lot of people have this head cannon and I do too, that Scion asked his path to victory "How do I make this pain go away?" And the path victory told him, not to move. Taylor thinking everyone is trying to fight her when they are cheering, applauding, rejoicing, genuinely brings me to tears just to even think about. I want nothing more but to give her a hug in that moment. But Contessa takes her away, and in a moment that I will always remember sitting in my bedroom listening to the audiobook screaming no as Contessa shoots Taylor twice leaving her fate unknown. A perfect end to a perfect book.
I'm going to be completely honest I kind of rushed the end because I've been up for way too long and I needed to get this out today. The next 4 days I'm going to try to do my due diligence and make sure these come out as best I can. Please feel free to talk about this Arc in the comments and what your favorite part was, I would love to hear from the community. As always thank you for reading, I'll see you tomorrow.

I've found myself in a challenging situation with a coworker, and I could use some advice on how to handle it.
Let’s call her Stacey. Stacey and I started at our company around the same time, and most of our coworkers are in their late 40s or older.. im the youngest in the entire company, which is kinda typical for our industry and what we do. I was brought on board shortly after Stacey and quickly got up to speed with the rest of the team. However, Stacey has been struggling significantly since the beginning.
I’ve been more than willing to help her, as we have a lot of work to get through. Despite my efforts, Stacey remains at the same skill level she had when she started. She often waits for others to take work from the queue or finds excuses to avoid tasks. She also refuses to seek help from our senior team members, directing 95% of her questions to me. She frequently puts unwanted meetings on my calendar for training, shows up at my desk unannounced, and constantly needs to see how I resolve issues.
Adding to the frustration, Stacey works very odd hours—arriving at the crack of dawn and leaving by noon. When I come in, there are still tasks left undone despite her early start. It feels like her schedule isn’t beneficial to our workload, and her lack of progress is concerning especially needing to be on call...
I’m trying my hardest to remain polite, but sometimes I catch myself being passive-aggressive because of her unwillingness to try independently. In our industry, it's crucial to challenge oneself, utilize available resources, and then seek help if needed. Stacey skips the first two steps entirely and immediately asks for assistance.
I’m in my 20s and don’t want to stir up drama, especially since most of my coworkers are in their 40s and 50s. However, this situation is becoming unbearable. I'm puzzled that none of our senior members have addressed Stacey’s performance issues—at least, not that I’m aware of. Her lack of initiative and persistent need for hand-holding makes me question whether it's worth continuing to invest time and money in her for the companys sake. I'm losing my mind that no one is catching on to her bullshit?
Any advice on how to handle this would be greatly appreciated. How can I navigate this situation without causing unnecessary conflict at the office?

I’m going in for a colonoscopy/upper scope in two weeks and I’m worried they’re not going to find the root of my anemia. They will be testing for h pylori as well.
In August my HGB was 8.8 and my ferritin has been as low as 7 in Feb. I’ve been constipated for 8 months despite never having bowel issues prior and have had an on-off dull, achey feeling near the edge of my last left rib since August. It’s never been painful per se, but uncomfortable if I lay on my side sometimes— like a fullness feeling. Sometimes I’ll feel it days in a row, other times it’s not there. I’ve had an ultrasound and CT scan to see if any organ was enlarged but nothing showed.
Has anyone gone in not having major pain or obvious signs of an ulcer and your doctor found one? I’m anxious about doing the procedure for them to not find anything and then feel like I’m back at square one figuring out what is causing this.
Note: celiac negative, not pregnant, no heavy menstrual bleeding

Hello I have a 5 year old male ferret that has started periodically wheezing since early yesterday. I took him to the Emergency Vet on Thursday because he wasn’t eating and was very lethargic. He also wasn’t going to the bathroom. Anyways they had told me that after X-rays and blood work done that he had gas pockets and fluid in his stomach and the only solution was to try exploratory surgery because they didn’t know the cause. I brought him home and he got a lot better. He was eating again and had more energy. And finally was going to the bathroom again. I then took him to my vet on Saturday and they think he most likely has a stomach ulcer. They gave me medication for him (Amoxi, Metronidazole, and Omeprazole) and he’s been taking it well with a little bit of wet food. But since yesterday he’s been have wheezing fits for a few seconds every couple of hours. I called my vet and asked if it could possibly be an allergic reaction to one of his medications and they told me it is unlikely. His blood work and X-rays didn’t show any respiratory issues. Not really sure what to do. Any help is appreciated.

Settling into an apartment on the college campus was a bit more tedious than Sarah had expected. Though, moving away from home and to a new place wasn't what bothered her. Moving all of her belongings wasn't what bothered her either. The people did... The other students. She hadn't been there but for ten minutes at maximum and had already been ridiculed by a group of valley girls.
"Where do you shop? Goodwill?"

"What's with the hair? Get electrocuted?" 

Their annoying voices and giggles rang in Sarah's ears. Thier tones honestly made her want to pull her hair out. She had come to college to make something of herself... To get her dream degrees in Audio Engineering, Stage Design, and Sound Reenforcement. She didn't come to hear the whining voices of some stuck-up assholes bullying her constantly.
Letting out a soft huff, Sarah grabbed a box of her belongings from the back of her black 1978 Dodge Panel-Van, then turned towards her apartment building. Apartment twenty-seven-b, an medium-sized apartment on the second floor... That was the one her Uncle Bill had rented for her. Well, he had only put a couple of months worth of rent to it for now to get Sarah started, but it was hers.
One by one, she began carrying the various boxes of her belongings up the stairs and into the apartment, stacking them in the livingroom for the moment. From boxes, she moved to her music equipment. Guitars, keyboards, amps, cables... The whole nine yards. Yes, she had brought everything in her name with her, including Rebel, her black cat. The reason? She planned on spending a large perentage of her time in this apartment. And the reason for that? We'll get into that a little later.
It took a little bit, but finally, she only had one more guitar to take in. She picked it's case up out of the back of her van, and as soon as she went to close the doors and turn around, the bottom fell out... In other words, it started pouring rain. "You have got to be kidding me... I had one guitar left! One!" Sarah muttered to herself, now frustrated. As quickly as she could, Sarah shut the back doors of her van, then beelined it back to the steps that led up to the second-story apartments.

Sarah: "Huh?" 

Sarah looked around for a moment, only to realize she was sitting on the ground. Once she got her barrings straight, she looked up, seeing a male standing over her. This guy was rather handsome. He had that hair metal appearance about him that many longed for; Long brunette hair that was fluffed to it's full volume, near-perfect facial features, beautiful green eyes... The man was the spitting-image of any hair metal girl's dream guy.

Basically, I’m real tired of people who can’t read the objectives to the dang events. Especially eviction notice. Here are some things I’ve noticed.

1. You literally need to destroy the meat bags or you get NO legendaries (or very little). Please destroy the meat bags as fast as possible. The faster, the better.
   
2. Stop standing in the spawn point of the legendaries. You’re literally causing the legendaries to be unable to spawn in. It does not take 2 full minutes to loot 3 corpses, plus you can just stand off to the side for the entire 9 minutes and never lose your stuff. They combine in the meat piles for less gibs.
   
3. This applies also to any events that have sub objects though not as harshly as Evic Notice. Moonshine Jamboree, you get better loot and some legendaries when you fill all 60 acid gulper venom. In Radiation Rumble, significantly larger chance of getting better plans and drops, legendaries too if you fill all the ore up. I could continue but you get the point.
   

Sorry I’m just so frustrated with wasting my time going to these events and getting 10% of what their potential drops are.