Law office sample business plans

I am currently a junior undergraduate in information systems, with an expected graduation date of April 2025. I've decided to aim for a position as a data engineer within 6 months, as that’s when I graduate and need to secure a job (since I'm on a visa). I've gained experience evaluating technology startups and conducting market analysis during my time as a business analyst at HP Tech Ventures, which I believe has given me a solid foundation. I know it's a bit ambitious, but I want to give it my best shot. Here's my plan:

1. Learn Python and SQL through Mosh Code.
2. Obtain data engineering certifications from IBM and AWS (I've completed 3 out of 15 IBM certificates, but I have yet to start the AWS one).
3. Practice my skills on LeetCode, StrataScratch, etc.
4. Hopefully, land a job at least related to this field.

I know this plan sounds kinda rudimentary, but I’m open to altering this plan to have the most success. I would appreciate any feedback on my plan from y'all

Hi all, I am thinking about joining the USAF later this year and have been in contact with a recruiter.
Here are some of my bullets to offer some context to my question: - I am a green card holder, not a US citizen yet. I went to an AF recruiter the second I received my green card because that’s the minimum requirement for enlisting(Non-US citizens can’t be an officer). And that’s all I’ve ever wanted in my life, serving the country that’s given me everything I have in my life. I am extremely grateful, and patriotic. - I am 27 years old. Pretty old to join imo, but idc because it’s my dream. I have a BS in management, MBA in finance, and a post-graduate degree in data analytics from Wharton. I’m currently a business intelligence analyst, making a pretty decent salary with a nice bonus. So by enlisting, that means I’ll take a pay cut, even I’ll be an E3 after BMT. But again, idc because it’s my dream to serve the red white and blue. - I’m married, have a wife but no kids. She’s super supportive but to embrace this journey she’ll most likely have to quit her job after my tech school. Which means we’ll lose 70k/year net income, that’s how much she makes now after tax.
Ok, so after a lengthy introduction, I hope my question will make sense and doesn’t offend anyone - How fast can I join OTS? Like literally the fastest I can go.
After boot camp I’ll most likely receive my citizenship, based on what my recruiter told me. So I’ll become eligible for applying. But of course I’m not gonna do that, that’s ridiculous to apply for OTS right after boot camp. My plan is to work really really hard for over a year and get my package ready during year 2. And submit it before year 2. Hopefully I can be an E4 by then, if that would even matter.
I want to know how realistic is my plan? And if not realistic at all, can someone please offer me some advice on how to fast track this process so I can get in OTS with a pretty decent shot? I’m really just asking this for financial purpose only. If I became an O-1 with over 2 years of service, the base pay+BAH+BAS will be just around 10k+ more than what I make now.
Now before anyone starts to criticize me and say “if it’s the money you want then don’t join the military”. My answer is “I know”. If it was the money I wanted, I wouldn’t even consider this path to begin with. I’m really just trying to find a balance here. Of course I’m not trying to be an officer only because of the money. I think I have great leadership skills, and I want to be someone who can lead, mentor, and nurture my fellow airmen. Just doing my part to contribute to the AF.
I have a family and want to be financially responsible to them while chasing my dream. And I think with a masters and a post-graduate degree, it could really help my case here. Also I have a 96 ASVAB, I think that’s a good sign for AFOQT in the future for OTS. I have always been good with test taking, guess that’s just in my Asian genes.
Also I’ll be going after a non-rated OTS path, I think generally it has a lower acceptance rate. But I just wanna get in the cyber or intel part of the branch. So if that’s the case, then so be it.
If anyone has some good insights I’ll be very thankful to discuss. Thanks y’all in advance and god bless.
P.S I don’t think this is a recruit question but more of a general question but the bot kept pushing me to post here instead of the USAF channel. So here I am.

I’ve read a good amount of Ginsberg’s poetry and I’ll be honest, I didn’t like it. So I never did much of a deep dive on him as a person & for all I know this is common knowledge… but I was reading Andrea Dworkin’s memoir today and she talked about their brief friendship which I’ve pasted below. It’s long for context but I bolded the important parts if you wanna skim:

I did go to New York just to see him, but when I got to New York I was too shy to call him. I'd spend every waking hour worrying about how to make the call. I picked a rainy night. He answered the phone. “Come on over now, ” he said. I told him that he was much too busy. I told him that it was raining. I went anyway, shaking on the wet sidewalks, shaking on the bus, so nervous on the five flights up to his apartment that I could barely keep my balance. As always when I was nervous, I broke into a cold sweat.
He had warned me that he was working on proofs for a new book of poems and would have very little time for me, but we spent the whole night talking - well, okay, not all of it but many hours of it. He then walked me down to the bus in the rain and told me he loved me. I counted. He told me eleven times.

[…]

When Elsa [the photographer they shared] had a baby I was asked to be his godmother and Ginsberg was his godfather. We were now, metaphysically speaking, joined in unholy matrimony. And still I stayed away from him. I did not see him again, since that time in college, until my godson was bar mitzvahed. By this time I had published many books, including my work attacking pornography - the artifacts, the philosophy, the politics.
On the day of the bar mitzvah newspapers reported in huge headlines that the Supreme Court had ruled child pornography illegal. I was thrilled. I knew that Allen would not be. I did think he was a civil libertarian. But in fact, he was a pedophile. He did not belong to the North American Man-Boy Love Association out of some mad, abstract conviction that its voice had to be heard. He meant it. I take this from what Allen said directly to me, not from some inference I made. He was exceptionally aggressive about his right to fuck children and his constant pursuit of underage boys.
I did everything I could to avoid Allen and to avoid conflict. This was my godson’s day. He did not need a political struggle to the death breaking out all over.
Ginsberg would not leave me alone. He followed me everywhere I went from the lobby of the hotel through the whole reception, then during the dinner. He photographed me constantly with a vicious little camera he wore around his neck. He sat next to me and wanted to know details of sexual abuse I had suffered. A lovely woman, not knowing that his interest was entirely pornographic, told a terrible story of being molested by a neighbor. He ignored her. She had thought, “This is Allen Ginsberg, the great beat poet and a prince of empathy. ” Wrong. Ginsberg told me that he had never met an intelligent person who had the ideas I did. I told him he didn’t get around enough. He pointed to the friends of my godson and said they were old enough to fuck. They were twelve and thirteen. He said that all sex was good, including forced sex.
I am good at getting rid of men, strictly in the above-board sense. I couldn’t get rid of Allen. Finally I had had it. ** Referring back to the Supreme Court’s decision banning child pornography he said, “The right wants to put me in jail. ” I said, “Yes, they’re very sentimental; I’d kill you. ” The next day he’d point at me in crowded rooms and screech, “She wants to put me in jail. ” I’d say, “No, Allen, you still don’t get it. The right wants to put you in jail. I want you dead. ” **
He told everyone his fucked-up version of the story (“You want to put me in jail”) for years. When he died he stopped.”

-Heartbreak: The Political Memoir of a Feminist Militant - Andrea Dworkin
I googled it after because i don’t blindly trust anything I read in any book. I found this long article with a NAMBLA context from someone who was clearly a huge Ginsberg fan. Despite the minimization sprinkled throughout the author makes clear Ginsberg did participate for this organization for years, and was in fact kinda the face of the thing.
So did y’all know this? If you’re a Ginsberg fan do you care? One of my criticisms with, like, Howl for instance was that I thought the pornographic language gratuitous. There is no language so coarse as to bother me from a moral standpoint, for instance I like Henry Miller very much, but I thought it was shock for shock’s sake. If I recall correctly, Howl resulted in a lawsuit over it being banned. I believed then the “cunt wheelbarrows” (or whatever it was - im on my phone & this is from memory) to be a most excellent marketing plan for media attention.
Someone did eventually explain to me that the graphic language was to represent consumeristic culture / selling sex etc. so then I thought the lawsuit garnering him so many fans (book sales!!) was clever in an Andy Kaufmann-esque way - taking his art from poem to performance art - using a critique about consumerism to advertise for free (lawyer fees? But news telling you you can’t read something is sooo much more effective than a magazine ad). beatnik Ouroboros?
But after reading Bworkin & the article linked above… I’m kinda just back to where I started. Maybe he was just a philiac who figured out a way to talk dirty in public, maybe hoping to find some Holden Caulfield in the crowd enamored by his lack of “phoniness” to come back & see his obscure music collection & talk about how teachers really /don’t/ get him, or whatever.
TLDR: The question at the end of the day for Ginsberg: Kaufmann DaDa, Grecian dada, or both?

My friend Anna (35F) and I (36F) have known each other for 10 years. During all of our friendship we have lived across the country from one another. We visit every 6 months, but the majority of our communication is done through, almost daily, texting.
A few months ago, Anna started a new job and the rhythm of our texting drastically slowed down. The first few weeks I tried to keep things going, reaching out repeatedly, but she would always reply a few days later. She has a husband and young kids so, in addition to the new job, it is perfectly understandable she is too busy. Besides, we have had quieter periods in the past, so after my first attempts I just settled in this new rhythm for us.
A year ago we had planned an event to attend together and I had bought the tickets for the two of us which she had reimbursed me for. Since things had been so quiet, I had completely forgotten she was supposed to come and apparently she had as well. She reached out to me 1 week before the event saying she could not attend. I said that was fine and I hoped we would see each other soon. She then explained that, since she had never claimed her ticket, it was still under my account and asked if I had anyone I could sell it to.
The following weeks have been the busiest in our texting in months. Sadly, solely about her asking if I found anyone and if I would be sending her the money soon. Mind you, this is a small amount (30$) and one I know for a fact will not make a huge difference in her finances. They are currently remodeling their kitchen, so they are not scrapping by. I am reimbursing her regardless, that's not the point, but to give some context.
I am really disappointed in that turn around. It seems that, to simply chat with me she has no time. However, to chase me about money, suddenly she has all the time in the world.
I sort of want to point that out to her but I don't know if it would be worth it. Should I just let it go and accept our friendship might just be on its final legs and that is fine ?

The year is 20XX. Mega Rayquaza has been pushed down to OU where it manages to be the 4th best attacker in the format. Its Attack and SpA stats of 180 are merely mediocre against premiere attackers of OU such as Flutter Shy (200 SpA, 200 SpD, 200 Speed), Deoxys-Special (225 SpA, 160 Speed), and Diamond Valiant (190 Atk, 190 SpA).
In terms of rules, Smogon has adopted the No Hand-Checking Clause, which allowed LeBron James (gen12 collab pokemon) to dominate OU. As an anonymous Showdown player says, "Lebron James is Mega Mewtwo's father."
Because OU has banned hand-checks, OU has turned into a hyper-offensive metagame where only HO is the valid playstyle. Top defensive picks such as Double Blissey or Dondozo-Enhanced Gliscor (gen 11 features a mechanic where older Pokémon can be used to enhance other Pokémon) die to the aforementioned offensive threats of OU, especially Diamond Valiant, whose signature move Quark Breaker increases damage the higher the combined Defense and Special Defense stat of the target. Combine this with DV's Booster Energy-boosted Attack, and Adderall Spikes (it is like spikes, but boosts your Pokémon's damage, and is set on your own team like Tailwind), and stall teams die in 2 seconds, leading to the fall of Stall and other defensive teams.
Due to the fall of Stall in OU, HO players and THO players immediately took over the OU council and proposed more bans to OU that weakened HO playstyles, thus creating the HO Empire. Apart from banning the Hand-Checking Rule, which allowed LeBron to dominate as a powerful offensive support lead Pokémon, the HO-installed OU Council also adopted the Burn Clause, which banned Burn entirely. The voting for the Burn Clause was met with extremely controversial results, as the HO-installed OU Council won the ban vote with 332 Bans, and 1 Do Not Bans. This angered the remaining non-HO players entirely, as they claim that they are being disenfranchised by the HO-installed OU Council ever since the OU Council was thrown out of office.
The HO tactic has become so prevalent that Lavos's son is able to win SPL with one hand, and manage the HO Empire with the other. He no longer needs to worry about his Diamond Valiant flinching 3 times in a row as Flinch Clause has also taken effect in OU, which prevents being flinched for two turns in a row.
Assist has also returned and is now legal in OU but even Revival Blessing Liepard is only considered an "off-meta pick" with it. With the new ability of Gholdengo-Outside (Gholdengo's evolution), which turns off all Abilities, Items, and status moves entirely for the opponent team, Revive cats has easily been powercrept to RU last month.
Despite the coup, the original OU Council has not given up in the war against the HO Empire. The original OU Council has actually lived in exile in both Ubers and UU this whole time, and they are planning a revolution against the HO Empire and their puppet OU Council. They have chosen to acquire the services of Primal Dialga that is not the ugly gen8 one to send the OU Council back in time and warn us of the impending threat. This has not worked, as people are calling them "delusional" and that "powercreep would not be this bad".
People refused to listen to this future version of the OU council and their warnings of 20XX, but this ignorance might only lead humanity down a dark path, one ruled by HO players with an iron valiant fist.

1. Time commitment. People who have succeeded on the SHRM certification exam report investing between 120 to 160 hours in their preparation. (That's a solid month: four weeks at 40 hours a week.) You might spend as little as 60 hours or as much as 180 hours—adjust as needed. But remember that hours alone aren't a guarantee of success; the time needs to be well-spent. Keep this in mind as you build your study plan. Look for moments you can steal—use your lunch break to work online in the SHRM Learning System, go out to your car and read a little, and never be without your flashcards (more on that below). It all adds up.
   
2. Practice questions. The more practice questions you answer, the better prepared you'll be. Some of my students have found non-SHRM resources like study apps Quizlet and Kahoot to be helpful in this area.
   
3. Explanations of answers. The online SHRM Learning System has many practice questions for both the SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP practice module exams and finals. After you answer the questions, you'll see explanations for why the correct answers are correct and why the others are wrong. This will help you refine your thinking.
   
4. No shortcuts. A word of warning: While practice exams are helpful, they're not a replacement for studying and learning. Some students become overconfident when they repeatedly take practice exams and see their scores improving—but they aren't learning the content, they're just memorizing those exams! Don't mislead yourself. You've got to do the reading, attend the classes, take notes and study them. On this exam (as in life!), there are no shortcuts to success.
   
5. Flashcards. Become best friends with your flashcards. Whether you choose to print them out and cut them up or download them to an e-reader, always have them with you. That way, you can make good use of small bits of unexpected available time—waiting for a meeting to begin, standing in line at the store, etc. Flashcards help you remember concepts and definitions. If you understand a concept and know a definition, you've got a shot at answering an exam question correctly. (Flashcards are not enough on their own. But if you don't know a concept or definition when you're taking the exam, your chances of answering a question correctly are low.)
   
6. Learning through stories. Throughout history, humanity has always learned through stories, whether sharing ancient lore around a fire or tales from a pulpit. People retain lessons when they can connect to them. Knowing the story behind SHRM exam content can be helpful as well. For example, there are stories behind key employment laws and court cases. What happened to Willie Griggs that made Griggs v. Duke Power a landmark decision? Why is what happened to the namesake of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act relevant today? While the SHRM certification exams won't test you on such stories per se, you might encounter related questions. If knowing the stories helps you retain the knowledge, search online and read all about them.
   
7. Discussions and study groups.SHRM Connect is an online community for SHRM members to discuss all kinds of HR topics. Search for the "SHRM Certification Prep Group." For those of you who like to work in a study group, you might be able to find or start one in your area using this platform. Plus, it's a good networking opportunity—a double payoff.
   
8. Now that you've read some tips on test preparation, here are a few tips for test taking: Trial run. A tutorial available on Prometric's website allows you to try out the test-taking platform before you take the actual test. Do a generic mini-test to use the highlight, strikethrough and flag functions and more. Becoming familiar with the system before the day of the exam will improve your confidence greatly.
   
9. Long questions. It's easy to get distracted by all the information in situational judgment test items or long narrative questions on the exam. Stop to identify what the question truly is. Be sure to pick out the exact question you're being asked to answer.
   
10. Multipart questions. If you encounter a block of text on the exam followed by multiple questions relating to it, different parts of that text will be useful for answering different questions. Use the highlight function to mark what stands out to you—what is relevant to each question—one by one. Erase the highlight when you've answered the question, then highlight the new material that relates to the next question and so on.
    
    1. HR means action!In the modern era of HR, we are expected to get things done and make things happen, to be proactive partners and leaders in our organizations—not sit and wait to be told what to do. The exam reflects this. Look for answers in which you are expected to act.
    2. Use the strikethrough function and other tools that help you focus. Strike through "distractors," which are answers you believe to be incorrect. Eliminating incorrect options improves your focus on the remaining options, which may increase your chances of selecting the correct answer. Learn how to use strikethrough with the tutorial available on Prometric's website (requires Adobe Flash Player version 10.2.0 or later) and practice using the test-taking system before your exam date.
    3. Use the flag function. Not sure what the answer is? Mark the question with a flag so you can return to it later. As you warm up through the exam, you may pick up hints from other questions and answers, or some piece of critical knowledge may get knocked loose from your memory, and you'll be able to come back to the flagged item. (How to use flags is something else you'll learn on the Prometric tutorial.)
    4. Use the calculator. You don't have to do math in your head. There's a built-in calculator, so use it. (Practice using the calculator, too, on the Prometric tutorial.)
    5. Use scratch paper. Scratch paper is provided by the testing center, so use it. Capture things while they are still in your short-term memory. Writing things down helps you see what you're doing, so scratch paper can also be useful for completing math calculations even if you use the calculator.
    6. Know HR math processes. While we're discussing calculations, keep in mind that the four multiple-choice answers offered for a math question will often reflect how the numbers in the question itself are used. For example, if the question involves the numbers 4 and 3, the answers to choose from might be: 7 (4 plus 3); 1 (4 minus 3); 12 (4 multipliedby3); or 1.3 (4 dividedby 3). Learn the processes required for HR math.
    7. Look for differentiator words in the questions. When you see differentiators—"least," "best," "quickest," "most important" and so on—use them to guide your analysis. These words require you to distinguish between a pretty good answer and the best answer.
    8. Approach absolutes in the answers with caution. When you see absolutes—"all," "always," "only," "never" and the like—beware! Absolutes in HR are unlikely and are just as unlikely to be correct answers on the exam. After all, how many things have you encountered in your career that are always or never true?
    9. Answer every question. Not answering is a bad idea: Don't leave questions unanswered. There's no penalty if you answer incorrectly—points are not taken away—so take a guess. It can't hurt, and you might guess correctly. (Of course, if you think you can guess your way through the whole exam, guess again! Refer to the very first test tip in Part 1, which discusses how many hours of preparation time you should plan for.)
    10. Watch your time. Keep your eye on the timer at the top of your screen. Don't dwell on one question for too long; in doing so, you might run out of time, sacrificing your chances of answering other questions correctly later.

#shrm #shrmcp

Hi all, I am thinking about joining the USAF later this year and have been in contact with a recruiter.
Here are some of my bullets to offer some context to my question: - I am a green card holder, not a US citizen yet. I went to an AF recruiter the second I received my green card because that’s the minimum requirement for enlisting(Non-US citizens can’t be an officer). And that’s all I’ve ever wanted in my life, serving the country that’s given me everything I have in my life. I am extremely grateful, and patriotic. - I am 27 years old. Pretty old to join imo, but idc because it’s my dream. I have a BS in management, MBA in finance, and a post-graduate degree in data analytics from Wharton. I’m currently a business intelligence analyst, making a pretty decent salary with a nice bonus. So by enlisting, that means I’ll take a pay cut, even I’ll be an E3 after BMT. But again, idc because it’s my dream to serve the red white and blue. - I’m married, have a wife but no kids. She’s super supportive but to embrace this journey she’ll most likely have to quit her job after my tech school. Which means we’ll lose 70k/year net income, that’s how much she makes now after tax.
Ok, so after a lengthy introduction, I hope my question will make sense and doesn’t offend anyone - How fast can I join OTS? Like literally the fastest I can go.
After boot camp I’ll most likely receive my citizenship, based on what my recruiter told me. So I’ll become eligible for applying. But of course I’m not gonna do that, that’s ridiculous to apply for OTS right after boot camp. My plan is to work really really hard for over a year and get my package ready during year 2. And submit it before year 2. Hopefully I can be an E4 by then, if that would even matter.
I want to know how realistic is my plan? And if not realistic at all, can someone please offer me some advice on how to fast track this process so I can get in OTS with a pretty decent shot? I’m really just asking this for financial purpose only. If I became an O-1 with over 2 years of service, the base pay+BAH+BAS will be just around 10k+ more than what I make now.
Now before anyone starts to criticize me and say “if it’s the money you want then don’t join the military”. My answer is “I know”. If it was the money I wanted, I wouldn’t even consider this path to begin with. I’m really just trying to find a balance here. Of course I’m not trying to be an officer only because of the money. I think I have great leadership skills, and I want to be someone who can lead, mentor, and nurture my fellow airmen. Just doing my part to contribute to the AF.
I have a family and want to be financially responsible to them while chasing my dream. And I think with a masters and a post-graduate degree, it could really help my case here. Also I have a 96 ASVAB, I think that’s a good sign for AFOQT in the future for OTS. I have always been good with test taking, guess that’s just in my Asian genes.
Also I’ll be going after a non-rated OTS path, I think generally it has a lower acceptance rate. But I just wanna get in the cyber or intel part of the branch. So if that’s the case, then so be it.
If anyone has some good insights I’ll be very thankful to discuss. Thanks y’all in advance and god bless.

First Prev Next Patreon Ko-fi Discord
PRs: u/anakist & u/BroDogIsMyName
- - - - -
It had been a few weeks since Altier was brought to the run-down shack that his black-scaled companion likely called home, and he could now comfortably say he was accustomed to the…household’s routine. The kobold typically left at the crack of dawn, returned a little after noon, and occasionally left again to forage until nightfall. When the weather was bad or there wasn’t a particular need for something, they half-heartedly chased their rabbit around for a bit, which usually ended with a bout of quiet petting while everyone got ready for the night. It was always amusing to see the energetic side of what he had come to know as a relatively lazy loaf of an animal. As for the routine of the ferrorabbit in question… Well…it was at least more interesting than expected.
Hoppit would begin his own series of activities as soon as his caretaker left—the first of which being a check of every nook and cranny in the shed. He sniffed at anything that caught his interest, varying from morning to morning, but he gave every object or corner its due attention. Once he was satisfied with that, he would eat some of the ragged plants that made up most of his diet, take a drink from his bowl, then jump onto the tro— table and plop himself down, his ears pivoting towards the door. It was hard to say if the lounging spot had been established before Altier’s arrival, but it was somewhat amusing to pretend that the little rabbit was standing guard over his core—if it wasn’t for one particular part of the morning ritual, that is.
Indeed, the ferrorabbit had a habit of licking the obsidian orb that sat in the middle of the room, which thankfully didn’t seem to perturb the system enough to give Altier a headache. He was confused when it first happened, but it was commonplace enough now that he barely acknowledged it. A part of him liked that he was getting attention as a core, even if it was delivered via a strange grooming method. The closest he got to being acknowledged as something other than ‘the dungeon’ was through an unfortunate misunderstanding that he could never properly rectify. He supposed that was hardly worth thinking about now, though; too much time had passed for there to be anyone left to correct. The little oddity of his mornings would have to suffice.
There wasn’t much to comment on as far as the rest of the day’s happenings. Hoppit would end his loafing by shaking his head and ears in a way that filled the silence with soft clacks, give the core a customary tongue bath, then jump off the table to nose his way out of the shed through a hole that was hidden by the storage cart against the wall. Where the rabbit went was anyone’s guess, but he always returned before anyone noticed he was gone, and often did so while covered in small cuts and scratches. Any blood from the lacerations was quickly licked off before it could be seen by the kobold, and in the event that the scaly caretaker happened to return earlier than expected, Hoppit would scurry over to the bundles of blankets to finish the cleanup in secret.
Today looked to be following the usual pattern. The kobold left bright and early with various gardening tools and a wooden pail, and Hoppit had since set off into the great unknown for one reason or another. Hopefully, he returned less injured than usual. It was frustrating to admit that Altier had begun to grow rather fond of the fluffy creature, and seeing the thing come back hurt was bothersome. Was it off looking for food? There wasn’t a whole lot given to it, so that was a possibility, and it could be getting into fights over whatever it found. That still didn’t explain why the animal was so thin, and Altier didn’t have enough to go off of to think of a potential solution. He wanted to help it in some way, like by summoning a creature to act as an escort, or maybe just by manifesting something edible like he once could. No, he could only stare at the ‘Synchronizing…’ that occupied his menu, wishing he had more information to work with.
He never thought he would miss the bombardment of notifications and their lingering presence that filled the edge of his mental vision; at least with that he could surmise enough to hazard some kind of action. Even knowing why the menu was acting the way it did would be a start. Yet, try as he might, there wasn’t a history for him to reference anymore, and he had nothing to work with. He was confident the last message had asked him to ‘accept’ something, then took his befuddled ponderance as an answer, but he was no closer to an explanation for what it wanted, nor why it prompted him in the first place. He just didn’t have another experience to compare against, since nothing like that had ever happened before. Not that he was ever in much of a position to allow it.
The entire purpose of having Altier inhabit a core was for him to become a dungeon of Decay, which entailed all the skeletons, poisons, acids, and whatever else came to mind when one pictured the concept. ‘Living’ creatures were something he only had the chance to experiment with near the beginning of his new existence, though he never dabbled past the first few insects before transitioning to the mindless undead. Having a thinking, feeling, breathing entity touch his core was a rite reserved only for the adventurers and soldiers that bested his trials, and that was usually a painful experience. Now, he had spent what he could only guess was hours being held by a kobold, followed by having a rabbit bump against him, and neither felt like what he came to expect. Instead, both had led to a completely novel reaction from the system. The strange circumstances put him at a bit of a loss as to what it all meant for him.
Sure, he could dismiss the deluge of errors from his companion’s involvement by pointing to the numerous ‘corrupted’ messages before it, and Hoppit was a part of mostly unexplored territory, but the lack of clarity nagged at the back of his mind constantly. Being exposed to activity after potential decades or centuries of unchanging solitude made him despise the informational dead end. If he couldn’t make sense of the rabbit’s circumstances, then he didn’t have much hope of deciphering the reason for why his system was misbehaving so terribly. He also didn't know much about the one who owned the decrepit holdings he was housed inside.
He still wasn’t sure what drove the kobold to take him from the cave. His suspicion of becoming traded goods fell flat after the first week or so, and he hadn’t noticed any cult-like behaviour, which was promising. Granted, a lack of nefarious behaviour didn’t mean there was a lack of nefarious intent, but he didn’t get the impression his companion held that either. The kobold itself didn’t seem quite settled on an opinion of his core, though it was up for debate if the hesitation was due to knowing what he was or not. They seemed to mull something over before bed each night, yet never reached a satisfactory conclusion, staring at the obsidian orb through weary grey eyes until they eventually forced themselves into sleep.
Whatever the underlying reasoning for his abduction was, he had observed enough to know that the kobold didn’t deserve to live in destitution. As beaten as the shed might be, they cared for it as best they could, and did so without a single groan or grimace of complaint. The floors were cleaned with a tattered rag and fresh water, dust was removed regularly, and any stray mess that Hoppit made was dealt with promptly. They even took the time to wipe off his core, which was possibly where the ferrorabbit got the idea to start licking him. The only time Altier had seen discontent from the kobold was when they didn’t find much during their foraging, and thus couldn’t give any treats to the excited and bouncy herbivore.
He wasn’t aware that a creature’s face could make such a painfully broken expression, and he was quick to decide that he never wanted to see it again.
Vexingly, his metaphorical hands were tied; a dungeon could only influence their Domain, and given the state of his system, not even that option was available to him. All he could do was glare at the rotting wooden beams that held up the roof and remember when such an issue didn’t exist. It would have taken a mere flicker of thought and a paltry sum of mana to mend the struts when he was a proper dungeon. He could even outright reinforce the structure by weaving in other materials, leaving the appearance as it was while making everything stronger than iron. Well, he once could. Working with other affinities was something that came to him after absorbing the coloured motes left behind by adventurers, and the accursed stone that stole his mana had taken that ability as well.
An attempt was made anyway, his will ordering the deteriorated wood to absorb any trace metals from the ground, but it was no use. He couldn’t feel the iron or stones beneath the shed like he would have been able to before, all but confirming his suspicion that his connection to the Earth element had slipped away. Nature was much the same; the only way he knew when Hoppit had returned most days was from the subtle noise and the essence of injury. The other attributes—Air, Flame, Luma, Shadow, and so on—were ones he never experimented with to any real extent, so it was less noticeable when he lost his grasp on them. Perhaps they faded early. Either way, all he had left was a waning cognizance of his own alignment, and that wasn’t of much use to him. If he had any appreciable mana income, then perhaps he could do something, but he wasn’t even sure what the upkeep of his current Domain might be. It was entirely possible that he was running on a deficit, which would offer a reason for why his system had been so—
[Do#$@n Ex@#d$%^&d! CRe@#r H-H-H-HoPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP—]
[Errrrrrr—]
[Sy$%^hroni%^$zing…]
[Creeee-tu— Hoppit ha@$ esttttb-hed terrrrrrr-ity f^#% t$e dun@&$n!]
- - - - -
“Well then,” he mumbled to himself, taking in the strange scene behind the shed. For one, he could actually view a small distance beyond the structure now, and two, there was a rather proud-looking Hoppit sitting on his haunches before a pair of significantly less prideful examples of the species. They looked quite a bit bigger than the lazy loaf Altier had come to know, yet they were more cut up and dejected than his furry friend. That answered where the injuries had been coming from, he supposed. Hoppit was probably running off to bash heads with whatever animal population existed here beforehand, and they had only just reached a consensus on who was in charge. Impressive.
One of Hoppit’s ears turned back towards the shed, his head following suit as he gave a lagomorph’s approximation of a ‘Look what I did!’ smile. Altier blanked out mentally, but didn’t have time to question anything before the new leader of the local rabbits imperiously pointed a paw towards the surrounding forest, which was equally surreal to witness. Most surprising of all, the…subordinates? The other ferrorabbits did as commanded, keeping their forms small as they took off into the foliage. Soft clacks came from Hoppit’s pleased shake of his head, then he too left the area with only a slightly lopsided bounce to his stride.
The man-turned-core could only gape at what he saw. Were animals always so…expressive? Had Hoppit heard him? What in the world was happening? Why had Hoppit’s personal conquest led to Altier’s Domain expanding?
He lamented not having fingers, nor temples to rub with them. His system was a garbled mess of errors and inconsistent messages, his residence was falling apart at the seams, his companion was someone who abducted him from the dungeon, yet never did anything past that, and his first real experience with an animal was turning out to be more confusing than he thought possible.
All of this was after an unknown amount of time spent commanding legions of undead to strengthen the very people who he would later learn had lied to and manipulated him, making him into a nightmarish entity just to bolster the power of their forces. He almost missed the days spent gazing out of a mossy window. At least then he knew what to expect.
Nothing made sense anymore.
= = = = =
The soft sound of roots ripping free from soil suddenly stopped, only to be followed by a dull thud of Ceele’s palm slapping against the ground to catch her fall before she landed on her rear. She righted herself with her tail and tossed the stubborn weed into a pile with the others. No matter how many mornings she did this, they always seemed to replace themselves faster than she could remove the pesky things. A sigh slipped from her muzzle as she set about grabbing the next one embedded in the vegetable garden.
Aches and spreading stiffness flared up, but went ignored as she neared the end of her duties, though she was well aware that they would come back with force once she tried to settle down for the day. The impending soreness was an inevitable byproduct of spending so much time working. Still, she knew that if it wasn’t for the kindly old couple that allowed her to call their shed home, she would still be sleeping beneath the stars while making sure nothing tried to get at her Hoppit. Even if it was just a part of the deal, they were owed this much in return, and she would see it done properly.
The sun bore down on her back as she did her usual tasks, which was a departure from the slightly overcast weather as of late. It looked somewhat promising when she checked in the wee hours of the morning, yet as her gardening duties dragged on, so too did the intensity of such a clear sky. A disappointed glance at the empty wooden bucket on the edge of the field was quickly corrected. She hadn’t thought to refill it at the river after watering the crops, and her parched throat was making its protests known, while also reminding her that there wasn’t much water left at home either. One more thing to take care of when she was done.
A gruff cough brought her attention towards the old kobold resting his back against a tree some distance away, safely shaded from the unforgiving rays beaming down. Her displeasure at having yet more to do was hastily wiped away. She was undecided on what to think of the detached audience, but looking so sour while upholding her side of the agreement wouldn’t reflect well on her. Hopefully, he hadn’t seen it. Not that she could tell if he did; he always had the same expression when he watched her work. The elder kobold’s arms were crossed, a finger tapping absently against his bicep, while his tail sat motionless on the grass, the muddy red colour of his scales standing out amongst the greens and browns. ‘Makis,’ was his name, assuming her memory served.
Makis had taken to observing her every so often, usually propping himself against this or that at a distance, the unwavering scowl being as unnerving as it was belying of his age. Somewhat loose skin sagged a bit around his jowls and neck, yet the rest of his face was still taut from how much time he spent examining red-hot metal, and his arms were marred with countless burns and cuts from his profession. He held an oppressive aura, though the crinkles around his eyes and muzzle suggested he smiled as frequently as he glowered, even if Ceele was yet to see the former. There was only the same judgmental expression aimed at her when he was around. She could only hope that he didn’t take offence to some unintended slight, but she didn’t know him well enough to say what might be considered one.
They hadn’t spoken since she took up residence on the outskirts of his land. His wife was the one to introduce them, but it was quickly established that he had no intention of being a chatty individual. He led Ceele to the shed hidden amongst the trees on the edge of the property, then dismissed her with only a grunt coming from the elderly kobold. She supposed that it was for the best. Her experience in socializing was centred around convincing others to employ her, and there hadn’t been much of an opportunity to expand her horizons while living a life on the road. If that had been the end of their interactions, she would have swiftly written the terseness off, but he appeared every few days, taking up residence beneath the shade as he watched her work, never speaking a single word. At least he didn’t openly protest her presence, yet she figured that would be easier to manage. He wouldn’t be such an enigma then.
There wasn’t a whole lot she knew about him besides his penchant for ‘supervision,’ and anything beyond that was what his wife had volunteered during the rare opportunity they had to chat. She was told that Makis worked the smithy out front, and although he had retired from doing so in an official capacity, she could still regularly hear his hammer as she tended to the garden, so she figured he kept himself busy most days. It made her wonder what was so interesting about a vagrant like herself, but when there was so little else to do, she could see how anything could be made worth the attention. It was just him and his wife living in the once bustling home, after all; the couple’s children had long since grown up and made families of their own.
She noticed his gaze shift elsewhere as she tugged yet another stubborn intruder from the soil, his arms falling from across his chest and the perpetually worn displeasure melting to that of curiosity. He wandered off shortly after, and she had to make an effort not to fall onto her tail as the pressure on her shoulders unexpectedly evaporated. Did something happen?
Ceele shook her head free of the distracting thought. It wasn’t her business if he grew bored with watching her work. As long as no one voiced any complaints, she could only assume that she was doing a satisfactory job. Maybe he finally decided that he didn’t need to be so watchful because she was doing well! That could be it, right?
A glance at the somewhat sloppily maintained garden erased the false confidence from her face, but she was just as quick to focus on finishing up, unwilling to allow darker musings to fester. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be anything else that needed her intervention. The weeds were all uprooted, the soil was appropriately dampened, and her check for pesky insects or wildlife turned up nothing to worry about. She was free for the rest of the day!
…Or she would be free—as soon as she finished the last of her tasks, anyway.
The black-scaled kobold got up from her crouch unsteadily, shivering and wincing from the pins and needles in her legs. She would have to remember to stretch more often; it was far too easy to forgo that kind of thing just to make the overall work go slightly faster. Her hand reached out to grab the pile of weeds and put them into the bucket as she ran through what needed to be done before she could properly relax. Hoppit’s food needed to be washed, she needed to bathe, and they were running low on water anyway, so she would have to visit the river. Just the thought of dragging herself into the forest again made her muscles protest, but she wouldn’t have the energy to do it later. She forced the smile that had started to fall and took the first of many steps.
- - - - -
The river wasn’t too far away, only taking a few minutes of traipsing through the dense woodlands until she reached her destination. It was an idyllic little spot. The trees thinned out to allow a grassy bank along the water, and there was an appreciably gentle slope from shallows to depths, making for a convenient place to take care of various needs. She had discovered this place during her travels, and it was where a kind older woman found her.
Ceele was washing off at the time, with Hoppit safely taking shelter from the outside underneath the bundled blankets while he waited. The trickle of the stream brushing against rocks covered the sound of footsteps, so she was rather surprised when an aged voice called out to ask if she was okay. Her first reaction was to distance herself and apologize—the why didn’t matter, but she had learned that most people were more lenient of her presence if she seemed apologetic for it, and she usually was. The elderly kobold just laughed at her scrambling, tacking on an assurance that there was no need for modesty. The woman was blind, apparently, which explained how Ceele’s blackened colours hadn’t deterred her.
Strangely enough, there was a comforting sense of ease around the one who introduced herself as Hira. It was a sort of presence that Ceele could only vaguely remember, and it drew her close enough to speak as she finished bathing. The conversation wasn’t anything profound, of course—they hardly delved deeper than surface-level small talk—but Hira lost her smile as she listened to the younger kobold. By the end of it, the old woman posed a series of questions with a dark inflection to her voice, and Ceele struggled to find an answer.
‘Are you tired of looking for something that only slips away? Are you tired of running? Do you really want to be scared and alone?’
If the silence bothered Hira, then it didn’t show. She had simply held out a hand and offered Ceele a way of life that didn’t involve wondering where she would be spending the night, nor entailed cowering in the brush while fearsome predators roamed freely. It would be a simple existence of few fortunes, but it was safe, and it was honest. All she had to do was say yes.
Ceele denied it at first, partially because she knew most people despised Hobbit's species, and partially because she couldn’t shake the offer being too good to be true. Hira was quick to propose a compromise; Ceele could take residence in the gardening shed that had fallen from use, and to satiate the nagging sense of an unfair deal, she would be put in charge of maintaining the garden itself. All Hira wanted was to ‘see’ her favourite space bloom again, since she couldn’t take care of it anymore. The black-scaled kobold stared longingly at where Hoppit was, his little body shivering from the prolonged cold and fear that he would be hurt if he left the blankets hiding him. It was with a heavy guilt that she accepted Hira’s offer, keeping quiet about her true reason for doing so.
That was in the past, however, though she thought about it every time she stopped by and saw the smooth rocks where she and Hira first met. Eventually, she might gather the courage to admit that she was housing a ‘pest’ and beg for forgiveness. Until then, she would just work her hardest to prove it wasn’t a mistake to give her a home. That her endless efforts weren’t meaningless. That Hoppit deserved to be more than a ‘pest.’
That Ceele was more than something she had no control over being.
She cleared her head a bit and started on the reason she came all this way. Her dress was rather easy to wash in the meandering water, and the trees provided a suitable place for it to dry in the sunlight and light breeze. The weeds were fine with a thorough rinse near in the shallows, but taking care of her own hygiene required her to wade farther in, though it only came up to her chest in the middle of the rill. Still, she could scrub off the soil and grime, which was all she really needed. Perhaps some simple soaps would help rid her of the pervasive black that stained her skin and scales, but that was beyond her meagre means for the time being, as well as being mere wishful thinking.
She worked past the dreary mindset that settled in when she allowed it, focusing on how serene the river was. The soft birdsong from the trees helped make for a peaceful experience, and she could feel the somewhat chilled liquid basically pour into the aches and pains throughout her body, washing away the stiffness from spending so long under the unerring sun. It was nice to escape reality and let thoughts drift while held buoyant by calmer waters.
Yet the bliss was short-lived. Even if winter was gone, spring was still far from warming the waters enough for her to laze about for too long. She dragged herself from the soft current and fetched her dress from the low-lying branch she left it to dry on. It was still a touch damp, but it wasn’t anything a bit of time in front of the fireplace wouldn’t fix.
Ceele was only a short distance away from home when she heard a gravelly male voice, but it was the flicker of sight between the trees that made her drop what was in her arms and lunge into a sprint.
Makis stood just outside the gardening shed, a ferrorabbit held at arm’s length by rusty crimson hands placed on the scruff and haunch, the rabbit’s little ears flattened as fear filled its tiny face. Her eyes widened further when she noticed the small stains of blood in his light brown fur. They found out about him. Ephemeral claws of blackness clutched at her soul, ripping the very fabric she was made of as an unseen beast smiled, eager to take yet one more thing from her. Her Hoppit. Her baby. Her everything.
“Hoppit!” she shrieked, her words all but tearing out of her throat in desperation. Frozen blood coursed through her veins, yet poured into exhausted limbs. She broke through the treeline with no regard for the branches slashing against her flesh, panic making each sting fade before it could be processed. The grizzled glare of the older kobold snapped towards her, his usual scowl picking up an actual air of intensity that she never thought could be absent, the promise of violence lurking in his eyes. She skidded to a stop a few paces away, the lump in her throat threatening to clog her airway. “S-stop hurting him!”
“Didn’t,” he barked back, his tone even yet firm. “Cuts ain’t me. I’d’a done worse if’a had ta mind ta.”
The blatant declaration snapped her from blind panic, although his apparent anger didn’t do her fear any favours. “B-but… Then how…”
“‘Hoppit.’ Named it, did’cha?” he grunted, ignoring her confusion and bobbing the rabbit to get her attention again. His gaze shifted back to the animal, the flames of ire cooling slightly. “I was wonderin’ why yer plots ain’t dead yet. Suppose this critter’s why.”
One of her hands hesitantly reached out until she pulled it back, while the other clutched at her chest to stop her heart from hammering against her ribs. She couldn’t act rashly. Not while her baby was in his arms. “I—”
“Soft thing, ain’t it,” the elder kobold commented curiously, cutting her off.
“Y-yes?” she returned reluctantly, struggling to stop herself from lashing out to reclaim the ferrorabbit in his grasp.
“Like fine silk.” Makis tipped and tilted the animal, inspecting this and that with a deep-seated frown, all while Hoppit silently looked to her for help. The pit in her stomach grew. She needed to get him back, but how?
Ceele swallowed the dense dread as she tried to formulate some sort of plan, stumbling over her words and forced smile. “I-it’s nice! Isn’t it nice?”
His eyes snapped back to burrow into her own with hatred. “Wasn’t a compliment, girly.”
“B-but you—”
He released Hoppit’s lower half to jab a claw at the various spikes around his body, plying them with minimal force. “Look. See this? These’r suppose ta break bone. ‘Specially when he’s stiff like this. Ain’t no way I should be able ta bend ‘em. He’s barely more than a walkin’ carcass—all skin ‘n stick. He’s gonna get picked up by a wandering pecker if he keeps pissin’ about out ‘ere. It’s a wonder he’s still kickin’. What’cha feeding ‘em?” His gaze dropped from her face to the rest of her, disgust curling his muzzle into a snarl. “N’ver mind. I can guess.”
She felt the dampness build at the edges of her vision, unprepared to not only worry for Hoppit's immediate health, but also to face such harsh criticism while she was so vulnerable. “I… I try to make sure he has…”
Makis crouched to release the ferrorabbit onto the ground, Ceele dropping to her knees the moment he did. The terrified lagomorph wasted no time, bolting towards his adoptive mother and leaping into her arms, shaking uncontrollably. The rust-coloured ‘bold stared as she started soothingly stroking the animal’s back.
“Yer given’ em the weeds, aren’t ya?” he stated rather than asked. She gave a teary nod when her voice wouldn’t respond for her. The old kobold drew a breath, letting it go in an exasperated sigh as he stood back up, his expression becoming more impatient than antagonistic. “What else?”
“I— Um…”
“What. Else?”
“W-whatever I c-can find!” she sputtered out. Hoppit tried to hide against her neck, prompting her to tighten her hold. She couldn’t stop herself from shrinking, the guilt and confusion pulling her head down. “R-roots, vegetables, fruits… I give them as often as I can.”
His glare continued unimpeded, his cadence cold. “That it?”
There were a million things Ceele wanted to say. A part of her wanted to beg him not to kick them out of the first safe place she had in longer than she could remember, but she couldn’t find the words. She wanted to deny the judgmental tone that stabbed into her insecurity surrounding how good of a job she was doing with Hoppit, but the deadened void in her chest swallowed her pride whole. She knew he was right to critique her. That she was failing in the only thing that mattered anymore. That the feeling of loss would return.
“I try,” she whispered through the beginnings of a sob. “I try to find more, but he needs someone around, and I have to work the garden, so there’s only so much time I can spend looking. He won’t even eat all of what I bring back…” Tears dripped off her cheeks as she aimed a desolate smile at her furry friend. “He wants to make sure I have some too.”
“Yer killin’ em,” Makis pointed out plainly, crossing his arms. “He’ll be dead ‘fore the summer at this rate.”
“I know!” she shouted, forcing back the memories of insidious murmurs that lurked in the back of her mind, eager to creep into her ears again. The hate-filled stares that followed her, the rumours that arrived in towns before she had the chance to make an impression, and the guilt that loomed over her like an executioner's axe… “I know I am… I just… I don’t know what he needs. I don’t know how to make him happy…but I try. I’m trying…”
“…Yer an idiot, girly.”
She looked up to see the elder kobold walking away without another word. Her eyes fell to Hoppit, the ferrorabbit pressing himself against her as much as he could. He was small, thin, soft, and growing weaker by the day, but he never let it keep him down for long. No, he always showed his best for her, giving her joy that wasn’t provided anywhere else. She saw the thin cuts and dried blood, though she didn’t know where they came from, nor how he got out of the shed in the first place. But that was okay. Hoppit was okay, and she had Hoppit, so everything was okay, right?
…But how much longer would everything stay okay? How much longer until her efforts weren’t enough, and she was left desperately reaching for fading memories of what once was? How much longer until she killed her baby too?
How much longer until she was alone again?
Soft footsteps drew near, pulling her from the spiralling thoughts that threatened to gnaw at her soul. Damp, blurry eyes fell on Makis returning with a small wooden crate, the older kobold stopping a few steps away. He dropped the box, a deep, rattling thud produced as it impacted the ground, making Hoppit flinch in her arms. Ceele blinked as she kept him calm, then blinked again, looking up at the man for answers.
“The name, girly,” he spat in irritation. “Ferrorabbit. Ther’ Earth aligned creatures; they need metals. They don’t care where they get it, but they need lots of it. Iron, copper, tin, lead—raw crystal, if they can find it. You name it, they’ll take a chunk out of it. It's why they bother farmers so much; the best soil’s usually top’a gem deposits, ‘n the little bastards have no issue burrowing deep to get it. Dries up the element’s energy ‘n makes the crops weak.”
Ceele’s mouth opened and closed, each unsuccessful attempt to speak making her feel smaller and smaller. More and more lost. Why was he telling her this? How did he know? What was in the—
He kicked the crate with the side of his foot. “Scraps. Don’t’cha look at me like that. I’m a smith, girly. I might be old and retired, but I still work a forge. Now, this ain’t anything pure—it’s just slag and hunks—but I’m sure the critter won’t mind. Your little gardenin’ project pays off, ‘n I’ll see which of my contacts can get in some better ore.”
She ripped her eyes away from the box and met the perpetual scowl of the old kobold, seeing a warmth behind the hostility that she had never noticed before. “…Why?”
He scoffed in amusement, which looked somewhat menacing on such a hardened expression. “Yer a touch stupid, girly, but the missus adores ya, ‘n yer a good worker.” A shadow of a smile formed on his face. “Hira spent more evenings asking ‘bout how the plots are doin’ than I got time in the day. She’d bite my head off if I noticed a critter like that sufferin’ and didn’t lend a hand. ‘Specially when it’s obvious you ain’t tryin’ ta hurt the thing.”
“B-but the garden… Isn’t he a problem?”
Makis rolled his eyes, turning with a dismissive wave of his hand. “If he was, he’da killed it by now. I’d say he’s been keepin’ the others clear ‘n got scratched up for the trouble. That’s more reason to feed ‘em right in my eyes; pay the poor bastard his dues.” He paused after a few steps, shooting her one last incredulous glance. “‘N the rabbit’s right. You’re not much better off than he is. Eat. Before the missus takes my head, preferably. I ain’t need ta hear her worryin’ over you more than I already do.”
And with that, he walked off back to the house, leaving Ceele to sit stunned on the ground with Hoppit quietly nuzzling into her.
“Hoppit…?”
The ferrorabbit perked an ear and gently licked her collar. Fresh tears ran rivulets down her face, yet they didn’t weigh her down. They felt freeing. She adjusted her hold on the rabbit and held him out, taking in the small cuts and numerous other injuries she had never noticed before. He stared back at her with worried eyes.
“You’ve been busy, huh?” she cooed quietly, doing her best to keep her voice from cracking. He shrunk in her hands. “I told you to stay home, baby. What if something happened to you? I wouldn’t know where you went, and…”
Her protests died out as she saw what was unmistakably guilt on his little face. She brought him back to her chest and cleared her throat.
“It’s alright, Hoppit. If… If you want to help momma, then we can work together, okay? Just…please don’t go off getting hurt… I don’t know what I’d do without you…” The rabbit didn’t reply, and she was pretty sure she had never heard him make any sounds that weren’t his happy little ear clacks, but she chose to interpret the nuzzling as an agreement. “Such a smart boy…”
She took a breath and wiped off the excess moisture from her cheeks, setting Hoppit down on the ground. “Let’s bring Mr. Makis’ gift in, and then I need to go get more water so we can clean you up, okay?”
He bounced his way to the door of their home, waiting patiently for her to lug the surprisingly heavy crate into the shed. He was even still behaving himself by the time she returned from picking up the things she dropped in her haste. There wasn’t a single protest from the ferrorabbit as she washed over his wounds with warm water, nor when she asked him to wait as she cut up a small salad for him using an extra portion of her rationed vegetables. Finally, once everything else was gone, she tentatively sifted through the box until she found a chunk of something that didn’t look so sharp, then offered it to Hoppit skeptically.
As startling as it was to see him bite through metal without issue, she couldn’t help but tear up again at how pleased he looked with the bizarre addition to his diet. He munched through the first piece, then stared at the box while pawing at the air, asking for more. She obliged through wet laughs, feeling lighter than she had since he first gazed at her from his burrow, alone and afraid, just like she was.
Her little baby was happy, and that made it okay.
Next
—
A/N: Thank you to my Patrons, new and returning! No Thanks, Emmanuel, and Megathor join the others who get to read 1 chap ahead!

Been a few days.....
Yeah, I been gone a few days. Not gone like away anywhere, but off here. Doing some thinking and restructuring my life. Its kind of weird to be honest. I changed so much about myself for her to make her happy. When I really was not paying attention to myself. I am noticing that now. I stepped away from the trying to talk to her, and forcing myself on a situation I honestly can not control. I mean I can't make her love me, I can't make her talk to me, I can't make her come back. I already said everything I needed to say, whether it be text, email, or letter, hell even voice message. Which Honestly made me feel like a fool, and a complete nut job. If she isn't gonna read or respond, I cant make her. So why have I kept sending stuff? I finally figured that out. Made things a little easier too, I mean once that thought came to mind. It made me think hmmm, just maybe she was not the person she pretended to be the last 3 years. Maybe just maybe over. So what do I do. I told her everything, I have been quite alone lately, pretty much punishing myself for something she is doing to me. Shit, I am a damn victim. That's the thought I got now. Time for me to move on, and not like move on move on... But to keep moving forward, without her. Her loss right? She did change me though, I have noticed it when some people have been coming by recently. People I thought were friends, but yet now I have found them to be more offensive than ever. Like super judgmental. Hell, they only came by for me to change their car battery, and yet came off offensive? How is the that doing me any favors? It's not. I have noticed a lot more about myself and others. Being alone really has not been a bad thing. I have reached out to people who I know need help, Offer them a job. One was a job paying 17.50 an hr. They fucking told me it was not enough,,,, ahhhh They are currently jobless, and about to get evicted... (we can see why now) Another person, is jobless, been an office body all their live... Had their car repossessed, and about to get evicted. Offered them a very small job, just coming to clean shop once a week and to do my laundry. Offered a 100.00 bucks for 4 or 5 hrs worth of work... They got mad at me. Then demanded me to take them somewhere.... Is it just me but people don't know how to take help when being offered? I mean I am not rich, I am far from saying I can live comfortable. Yet, they want more? When I am just being nice offering what I can. Starting to see people for the monsters they really are sucks. But I don't plan on being hurt like i have been again. I dont blan on dating, or hooking up I really dont care to even go out anymore. People are just fucking fake. Love does not hurt. If it hurts its not love. Anyways ttyle

I've played about 5 or 6 games in total. I always end up getting the Great Depression. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I've tried both planned and market economy. I've tried doing the bailouts and lowering taxes for business while also keeping the budget from going too negative and yet I still get the depression.
One thing I always do in every playthrough is increase military spending while keeping other funding steady (although I always lose the war to Rumburg anyway), so maybe that's the problem? Maybe the money should go elsewhere? Idk man, I absolutely suck at this

TLDR: Cashed out my 401k. Spent $10k planning a trip. RINSED.
I want to post this as a warning for any prospective SDs who struggle like me with self esteem, self confidence, self worth and are “nice guys”. I guess I’m venting here, I am alone and have no one in my life to talk to about this, and I am hoping by writing this it gives me a clearer picture of just how I got here - what happened and what are the red flags I missed. If you are like me, I cannot implore you enough to get out of the bowl ASAP. It will leave you in a much worse position than when you joined. Just…like…me. I’m currently on that $10k trip in the RV right now by myself writing this. Where do I even begin?
I joined the bowl because I was not looking for anything too serious, tired of my age group of women in the vanilla world, and to help my confidence and self esteem. I was married to my ex wife for 12 years. She had a multi year long affair in which I forgave her the first time. She swore it was over - HINT: it wasn’t. Divorced the 2nd time. Dated a few girls vanilla with the last one being 10 months - and she wanting marriage and kids asap after me being honest and upfront about my future wants. No thank you.
Then I joined the bowl. Yikes - it was rough at first. Talked to a lot of women. The first one I met one actually robbed me and took off on our first date. I chalk that up to karma from acting like a John - I honestly just wanted to get the “first one” out of the way in the bowl before it’s someone I can see a longterm SR with. But there were so many red flags that I refused to see through at the time - and I promise you…you will miss the red flags too IF you are like me. Just hope you don’t get hurt and it’s just money.
But one SB always stuck out. We talked for a few weeks before we met. And when we met I was mesmerized. It’s not often you met someone that looks better than their pictures. A reverse catfish. We had a few platonic M&Gs. Got tested. I gifted her a low XXXX gift on our 2nd date. Sent her low XXXX before our 3rd date because she was moving and I wanted to help her. I wanted her to know I was serious. I had an issue with my initial STD test but got it resolved and we were supposed to make our SR official on our 3rd date. But - that night came and of course Murphy’s law - things failed spectacularly. We actually both posted about it on here believe it or not. But we worked through it. I tell her after this if I ever think she is going to bail leading up to this - I will just communicate with you and we can talk through it. She says good! This is important for later.
For the first 6 months we did PPM. And it was absolutely amazing. As beautiful as she was, I was completely falling for the girl on the inside. It seemed we always had an amazing time together. Even her. She said so. It seemed like it. And I foolishly let myself believe it. If you are like me…this will happen to you too. I never thought I would be able to fall in love after my marriage, and here I was falling in love with my SB. Never did I want that. It wasn’t my desire. I wasn’t expecting it. But damn - it felt so good just to know I could. I started trusting her. Slowly. More and more.
I remember I would consistently have some rough mornings at work. But damn the second I got that good morning text - things seemed to get instantly better. We actually spent Valentines Day together. Gifted her a laptop mid between 1-2 XXXX. I wanted her to know how much our first few months meant to me. What she gave me at the time was invaluable (if only it didn’t end up like it did). I am by no means a whale - and I didn’t even spoil my ex wife like I did with her.
Recently, in April, she told me she lost her job. She didn’t formally ask for anything. But I’ll be damned if I don’t give the shirt off my back to someone I love. She knew I would. She knew me. In retrospect, she preyed on my weakness. At this point I am unsure if she really even lost her job. I have no idea what to believe anymore. I have a major business financial situation approaching quickly so my financial situation is unfortunately dire. As in I’m going to have more debt than cash. It wasn’t the best time for her to lose her job. But that didn’t stop me. I tell her I will cash out one of my 401ks and provide her a mid XXXX allowance for May June and July. Ends up around thirteen thousand total to her. I ask if she would like it monthly or lump sum. I trust her. Completely. She said lump sum. I’ll be honest - it wasn’t until physically writing these checks out is when it hit me. That caused me to freak out internally. At that point my trust issues are screaming. She can take off right now. Crap. In my head I’m asking myself what am I doing. But I wanted to prove a point to myself. I can trust again! Not EVERYBODY is going to screw me! And I would have bet my life this girl was not like that. How pathetic of me and foolish.
So I see her the first weekend of May for a weekend trip we had planned. Amazing weekend. Things are great. On the way back I write her the check. Lump sum but she request it in 3 different checks - weird I think but ok. Here is one for May, one for June, one for July.
As I look back, it was almost instantaneous the change and frequency in her communication. I remember thinking it at the time - but considered it could be me and my insecurities so I looked past it. We hang out ONE more time after the checks. Her vibe was VISIBLY OFF. She did not want to be there but it’s like she forced herself too - it was so obvious in the moment.
The following weekend, she goes to a music festival with her friends. Before, she would text me her outfit pictures, how things were etc. this time I didn’t get any of that. But I was honestly ok with it as it was a large festival. Things get crazy - I get it. It wasn’t until AFTER the festival that we didn’t talk at all for 2-3 days. I’m thinking - what in the hell is going on. This is the first time we haven’t spoken in days since our very first text messages. Now I am freaking out.
For the past 3 months, we had been planning a cross country RV trip to another music festival. Months of planning. It was actually going to be her birthday. So…what do I do? I decide to plan a cross country country scavenger hunt with all her favorite things. It’s so detailed I have multiple shops ALL across the country participating in this with me. She loves music as do I. So I not only started writing her a song about the magic she offers, I even produce a song. It’s terrible - make no mistake - but damn I probably spent 60 hours on it. I am going to make this a birthday she remembers forever!
Back to us not talking for a few days - I freak out and text her that I am not feeling good, I think she is going to bail on this trip, and if she is to let me know so I don’t waste a bunch of money buying more stuff then needed. She text back that she is hurt and she ask why I am thinking this why, and that she doesn’t care if I go or not because she’s gonna go herself (wtf?!?). So I tell her exactly why I’m feeling this way which in short was things do not feel real or authentic anymore, something has changed, and I’m trying to figure out wtf is going on. I even tell her - I understand if you met someone - just be honest with me so I can plan accordingly. She blows up, says I’m rude and an asshole, and she can’t dare speak or see me for the time being (meanwhile she has always reiterated she will give me any reassurance I need). Here is the kicker, THE VERY NEXT DAY, I get the alert she cashes the last and final check. So outraged with me, so upset with me, but she has no problem cashing my check. FOR JULY. Deep down, it was that very moment I knew I was going to get rinsed. I don’t respect myself for not walking away then. I followed her like a pathetic broken dog following their owner. For the next few absolutely mentally draining weeks. It was bad. After a week she agrees to meet with me for 10 minutes to chat. We chat, and she says she will go on the trip.
Great! Maybe this will get us back on track and back to normal. I know she will love the scavenger hunt. We text periodically and chat about the trip. The day before the trip she asked if we can push it back a day. Sure I say. The next day, the day before, she says she will not drive with me but prefers flying in for the festival, it makes her feel more safe. I am crushed. I have no idea what to say. Some texting backing and forth and somehow I agree to it (no respect for myself…ugh). How pathetic am I. I text her asking if we can chat on the phone for a quick 5 minutes to coordinate logistics. I get a text back 12 hours later to “drive safe!”(read: I ain’t got time for you). Log in to see she blocked me on instagram and yep, that was all she wrote.
I am relieved it’s now over. The last few weeks have been so mentally draining. In the end, the only thing I can do is learn from my mistakes. If I just blame her for the rinsing, I will NEVER get better. I made so many mistakes. I could have been better. My therapist THROUGHOUT warned me, told me I will regret it, and I refused to listen. He became extremely concerned when he saw how my feelings were developing. He doesn’t know about the 401k yet. That will be a fun conversation next time I see him.
But damn, she has destroyed me. I am beyond crushed because of the WAY she did it. She ruined EVERYTHING we had….even the amazing times. They do not mean anything anymore. They do not even register in my head. It eats at me that she took that from me. I deserved that at least - but she didn’t have enough respect for me to let me keep the good times. That is going to take so long to get over. I really was good to her. I was honest. I was so caring. I would have done anything for her. I was needy. I was insecure. I am not good in the bedroom (stamina issues) but very giving. Not a whale. But very generous. I just don’t understand how she can do this. I mean, I was getting ready to have her meet my family - YIKES. In the end, how can I fall in love for someone that could do this to me? This is a major concern.
For the “nice guy” SDs, use this as a warning. Don’t think what you have here is real - it ain’t. This is sugar. At some point, you are going to get rinsed. Don’t let it be for as much as me. Stick to PPM.
Ultimately, this is all my fault. How irresponsible of me to cash out a 401k. I’m not in the financial situation to afford this. I have always been very logical, emotionally stable or numb (depression), and this SR brought out the 2 complete opposites in me. I have so many things that need fixing. And now it starts. Brick by brick. Step by step. I will now depart from the bowl, for good, and wish you all the best. Be careful.

Last Wednesday I got called by the HR cause someone made a complaint about me, apparently they found me off when I got shocked when there were changes on the projects that I'm almost done working on which is due a few minutes later. Who wouldn't be shocked to know that hours of work you made will be trashed cause there are changes, I wasn't mad or directly blaming them I was just shocked and being honest with what I felt that time. I explained this to the HR and told them that this was just a misunderstanding and if this situation happens again I will control my emotions.
The HR then asked me for a follow up question regarding anything about work since I'm new to the company and I told her that my supervisor, the company stylist became so distant from me. I told HR that I've noticed that my supervisor wasn't interacting, talking, or even sitting next to me since we share an office desk. I told them that during my first day of work she was very engaging, I asked her a lot of questions about the company, the projects, the workers, and the CEO, I actually thought that we will become close because I told her that I'm gay and she told me that she's lesbian and I was glad to know that there is at least one queer person in the office that I can relate with. We shared our dating lives, how she's in a hurry to leave work cause she's meeting someone and wished her good luck, I shared my fashion style, my favourite films to watch and recommend some, and told her that I'm a Taylor Swift fan and my favourite album is "speak now", I even told her that amongst all the supervisors that I've had she was the only one who I get to be close and can relate with.
As time went on and as I worked there she started distancing herself from me, at first I didn't notice it cause I just thought that since she's the stylist she spends most of her days in the lobby where all the stylings and stuff are like for photoshoots, samples, and all... I went to the HR office to report about my requirements and as soon as I opened the door the first person I saw was her working on her mac, I just said maybe since in our office the ac is broken so she went here to have ac while working, but nope I was wrong the next day she was working in our office but on the other side in different department. The following day she reported to the office but she felt ill so she decided to book home instead, I wanted to ask her if she's fine but then I don't want to stress her with questions so I instead let her be and she was absent for the entire week.
The next week really was the one who takes the cake cause I reported to the HR and her (even though I wasn't sure if she's still sick or not anymore cause she wasn't replying or seeing my chats) that I'd be absent for Monday so that I can start working on my medical examination. The next Tuesday I went to work late cause I went to meralco to pay bills and I really thought that I can make it on time hence why I didn't report to both her and HR but I got a viber chat from her asking me if I'm still going to work. As soon as I arrived at work I saw her sitting on our desk and when she saw me she started packing up her stuff to move to the next desk, the "not reporting late" is also one of the complaints about me. I asked her about how she was after her sick leave since she was absent for the entire week and me being a concerned citizen and all she can say"I'm fiiine" with no follow ups. Okay cool then... So I told those things to the HR.
The HR then said maybe I made something that sets her off or she's just too busy with work or maybe I could go and ask her, I responded by saying that I don't want to bring back our previous interactions I just want to know if there could be a resolution for this since I'm a fresh employee I want to build relationships with my co workers especially her since where in the same department (I actually just told this to HR just to show faces but in reality I really don't care what she thinks of me anymore). The following day I saw her taking pictures with our co workers at dismissal and when she saw me leaving and gave my goodbyes she just byed back and never invited me to the group photo, I found it suspicious to why she's having group photos with all the employees without me up until the next day I found out that that was her last day in the company, I saw the group photos in viber and all I can say was "hmmm" does that mean I'm gonna take over her position, I'm not a stylist I'm the GA, I chatted her wishing her good luck ahead and thanking her for training me even though we were together just for 3 weeks and a half. So yuhh... I'm just there to work and whoever her replacement is I hope they can be as less toxic as her. Byeeee...

Hello all, I’m planning to pursue MSBA from wp Carey school of business this fall and I just received my I20 form from the college. In the form it is mentioned as “Management Science” in the Major 1 column and also the duration from the start to end of the course is mentioned 3 years in total. But my course was only of 9 months. so want to know from any international student that whether it is a mistake from the college side or it is generally mentioned like this in the form always…?

ETM, part of the Ethics Group of Companies, has earned its reputation as the best tour and travel company in India by offering unparalleled travel experiences and exceptional customer service. Whether you're planning a leisurely vacation, a business trip, or an adventurous getaway, Ethics Travel Management (ETM) is dedicated to making your travel dreams come true with meticulous planning, personalized itineraries, and seamless execution.
As the best tour and travel company in India, ETM takes pride in its comprehensive range of services, designed to cater to the diverse needs of travelers. From booking flights and accommodations to organizing guided tours and transportation, ETM ensures every detail of your journey is expertly handled. Their extensive network of partners and affiliates across the globe allows them to offer competitive prices and exclusive deals, providing you with the best value for your money.

I’m 35 and selling a service business for about $17M to private equity… what to do?
I commented here several months ago about the sale of my business. Was told to focus on the close before worrying about investments.
Well, we close next week and I want to be smart with the money and continue to grow the exit $ for future generations while also living how we do now and making one particular purchase.
There are several investment questions, but let me paint the current picture.
2024: $10M pre-tax 2025: $2.7M pre-tax (the earn out; not guaranteed) 2026: $800k (escrow) 2027-29: $6-7.5M (roll up; not guaranteed)
The cash consideration at close is $13.6M, but I’m planning to roll $2-2.5M into the roll up. My shares are the same class as the management team, so that feels like a good play. Lots of consolidation in our industry so it doesn’t seem unrealistic to hit the projected 3x return, but I’ve heard plenty of PE horror stories in here and from friends.
We live in a MCOL market. We’re renovating our dream home now and already have the cash to do that so we don’t plan on upgrading there. My wife doesn’t work. No vehicle upgrades or anything like that. Maybe I’ll buy a watch to celebrate? Idk.
Our only debt is the house will be worth $2.5M and we’ll owe $900k on the note.
I plan to work again or build another business in the future but this is the safety net to take a break and be with my family for a while then build the next thing.
My goal with the exit was to live as we do now($400-450k/year) off of the interest while also allowing half of the interest to compound and not be touched over time. I think I can do that on the cash at close.
I’m mostly familiar with real estate investing as an LP. Not tons of experience, but I’ve done a couple deals with people I know(several friends are in the REI world regionally around me). Most recently, I did a mobile home park investment where I got to write off 100%+ of the invested dollars due to bonus depreciation from a cost seg with preferred 8% return that’s already paying distributions.
Questions… - I love the LP mobile home park investment… 8% pref + big tax savings + money back in 5ish years after refinance, but keep the equity. Is it a bad idea to put 50-60% in these types of investments? - I love the MHP idea because of tax savings. Am I trying to avoid the $2Mish in taxes too much? - Recently read Tony Robbins’ The Money Game and it’s giving me cold feet about investing with a financial advisor. Plus I see everyone and their mother here seemingly is in just Vanguard S&P 500 funds. Am I overthinking not wanting to put $ with a traditional financial advisor due to the additional fees they charge, etc.? Am I overexposing myself by using a Wealthfront or better online option to invest in Vanguard or something similar? - Why is everyone so concerned about being liquid if you’re living well under the projected distributions of your investments? Every financial advisor I’ve talked with mentions liquidity like it’s so helpful. - Are there other investment vehicles I should be looking in to? - What am I overlooking or missing? Where am I not seeing things properly?
A fun question… My only plan to do something ‘fun’ is with the earn out $, if it hits. There’s a Discovery Land(luxury golf / community) property near where I live. I’d like to buy a lot in there. I don’t want to build because we already have the house we love, but it would be about a $2M purchase + $300k initiation. The initiation is 80% equity and I think I could sell the lot for more than it’s worth down the road as our area is growing. But it obviously isn’t a cash flow investment. Is this a horrible idea?
Thanks for any feedback!

Hi I live in Spain and after this summer I will be off to uni. In the next 2-3 weeks I need to make a decision on where to apply. This isn’t as last minute as it seems, i have a few bachelors degrees in various fields that interest me i just want to make sure it’s definitely what i want to study and will be helpful in the future.
The programs i’ve been looking into are “Business administration and management”, “international business” and a double degree of “Tourism and Business administration”. I love that these programs could help me set up my own business in the future and i love the idea of involving languages (I am currently fluent in 4).
The programs I’ve looked into are mainly made of economics, law, and maths, though im not sure how much math would actually be involved during learning. I’ve heard some people say that you need to have an incredibly good level of maths to get through the 4-5 years of studying, while others say that math doesn’t get too difficult and business degrees are mostly about logic and “cause effect”.
The reason I’m worried is because for my A-levels and Bachillerato I have only been studying humanities (aside from AS in physics): and those are the subjects that allow me to get into these uni programs in the first place. Q1: Would i be setting myself up for failure?
My ultimate goal isn’t becoming an accountant/finance expert etc but rather understanding how business works and be able to start up something on my own. Q2: Is the business degree worth it? Or should i get a degree in another field? (going to uni is non negotiable with my parents and i would personally love to go myself unless there is a groundbreaking alternative).
Any advice or experience would be much appreciated thank you!

Hi, throwaway because this is my first time writing. I (22F) have resentment towards my brother (30M)
I never was close with my brother nor was I ever dependent on him. We are 8 years apart and out of 5 kids we were #1 and #4. Back round: I am the only girl and he never saw me as someone who can do things like the boys. I remember one time were he told me that I could play with him if I didn't cry (which I agree with), but then was a time were I was in middle school, and he was in college. I walked into our house all my older brothers were around the table with my mom sad, and I asked my mom about buying me soda for a party I went to go to for a friend, but it made them unhappy. I played it off and went to my room when my mom called me down to argue with me about the soda. My older brother showed up and pushed me against the kitchen counter and called me a bunch of names and just making a circus out of the whole thing. When I begged my mom to get him off of me all she could do was to do a non-enthusiastic voice that didn't get him off of me and I had to tell him to get off of me and get physical, run upstairs and call my best friend at the time. I never recovered from this. My dad was on a business trip, so I don't even know if my dad knows this happened and why I was grounded, (never knew why I was grounded, when I asked my mom smiled and closed my bedroom door). I just apologized and never talked to them for a whole year. Until my dad made me talk to my mom and she tried to make me feel bad for the things she had put me through, throughout childhood.
Now, my daughter is about to turn two and a few years ago I knew I wasn't going to rely on anyone to buy things for my daughter instead of me and my boyfriend. Yes he is the father of my child, and we were childhood friends, turned lovers. My whole family knew him as a kid. The grandparents of my child were pestering me so I canceled the baby shower and after that, even though I already felt less, my parents decided to make me feel even more less if that was even possible.
One day I went over to my parents with fast food in hand (pregnant af) because they found a crib that I would like.
Reverse a week to when I told my mom (at the bar I work at) that I was looking at cribs I found on market place cause I was funding my kid on my low income and my boyfriend's spare money he had with a house we bought. She told me "You shouldn't be looking on there you need something that will last, how about I buy you one," I told her okay and said, "I am looking for a wooden crib, not a white, grey, blue, or pink crib. A wooden one." She said okay. I then repeated the same thing to my dad and he said okay.
Back to the situation, I show up and my mom showed me a Facebook ad of a white crib. I am baffeled and said I don't want a white crib, she said I know wooden cribs were expensive, I then question market place and she said they were cheaper there. I get taken back because this thing was less than $100 and during the pandemic this was a good price, but not for what I would want in my house (wooden trim and doors).
My boyfriend and dad make a joke about a white crib so I say, "i'm done with this conversation." and try to keep eating my food. I know my levels of patience and they don't and my mom would want anything to look like the victim. My mom tells me to look at a crib, I repeat myself I'm done with this conversation. She goes over and over again even after my mom switched to a wooden crib and kept repeating myself. It wasn't until my mom gave up and said, "I guess you don't want a crib then," I was 6 months pregnant. So I said, " I guess I'll buy my f-ing own then." she then walked away to her room. When she did I wasn't hungry then and went to throw away my food, and my dad told me don't talk to her that way, and all I could do was look at him surprised and say, "Who tells a pregnant woman 'I guess you don't want a crib then,'. He didn't have a response and I went off on him and told him I had a boundry. I knew when I had enough and they didn't. I drew a line in the sand and they walked all over it because they wanted me to just get over it, but i am done and I was leaving. He said okay. I went home crying and then thought to myself my child deserved more and bought a $200 crib (more than my 2 week paycheck) off of Wayfair.
The next day I was happy to be pregnant as a 20 year old and wanting to buy paint for her bedroom when I received a phone call from my oldest brother. I was weirded out since we don't talk, and I answered. It was a 10 second phone call of him cussing and insulting me for 'yelling at our mother' when I responded "hold on" all he said was no and hung up. Knowing it was my mother I called her and asked her what she said and she said she didn't talk to him only his wife so I said she needs to fix this because it wasn't a big deal. She said she would. we hung up and I called my other sister in law (across the country who is married to my second older brother) she said that my mom made me seem as I was a spoiled brat even though I working at 12 years old and paying for myself and my friends to even going to the movies with me. I even bought Christmas presents starting that age. My 2SIL was the person who told me what was going on with my uncle (substance abuse turned transplant, yes I believe I am a black sheep. I am the last to know when a family member is dying or getting married." While talking to her, I get a text from my older brother uninviting me from my nephews birthday party. I start crying while texting my mom what happened and all she could tell me was " i didn't want to argue with him." So I sent a screenshot of what my brother said and left it at that. Didn't talk to my family for whole 2 weeks and got a "take back what I said" from my 30 year old brother. Atia?
Was I being spoiled or naive?

2 years ago, I had a choice between IIM Shillong and DMS. I chose DMS IIT Delhi because of family pressure. I was bit hesitant in the start but soon I realised that it was fine decision. It is not in the league of IIM Blacki FMS SPJ XL MDI or IIFT but it would catch the premium club sooner than anticipated. Here are few points in favour of DMS IITD.

1. Commitment of 100 percent placement- In the tough times, when other institutes got their placement reports out without 100 percent placement, DMS stayed with their students. They placed each and everyone. That commitment is extraordinary when others are busy in dropping unplaced people from the reports. If you opt for DMS , there is a 95 percent chance that you will end up with a CTC of 18 plus lpa.
   
2. Balanced batch size- Dms has a decent batch size, i.e. 120-150, that is neither too big nor too small. In the coming years it would become 150+, providing ample opportunities with placement safety net. DMS is not meant for only engineering people, the batch is really diverse with people from different fields and experiences. And what I have seen is that non-engineering folks are also performing as good as engineering folks.
   
3. Drifting from the conventional image- They have worked tirelessly to expand their horizons. 5 years ago, they were famous for Operations and Analytics. Now, Operations people are 4th biggest cohort. 25 percent people got S&M jobs, followed by Consulting and IT. Soon, they are planning to expand in Artificial Intelligence, Automation and Robotics and believe me they got the infrastructure to thrive in those fields also.
   
4. Brand image in Foreign Companies- People reckon that IITs are a big brand outside India while IIMs are far bigger in India. That statement is mostly true. HUL, ITC, Tata or Birla group group will prefer a candidate from IIM anyday. ITC and HUL were built by managers from IIM Ahmedabad and Bangalore that's why they have too much influence in these old industry stalwarts. But the situation is different for foreign companies like Google, Netflix, Walmart, Mercedes or Shell oil. They would prefer a candidate from IIT irrespective of countries they are hiring for. I would like to correct the people's statement. " IIMs are a far bigger brand for companies based in India, while IITs are a bigger brand for foreign companies working in or outside India"
   
5. Brand Consolidation - There is a no doubt that IITs are engineering colleges and DMS people are invisible inside the campus. IITs are dominated by Btech people and even poor B.Tech graduate from IIT Delhi have far more potential than DMS mba. People would always look at you in a skeptical way if you tell them that you did MBA from IIT. You would not get respect from the society like people from old IIMs and IITs(B.tech) get. If you are coming to DMS for fame, prestige or satisfying your ego, don't come. Better go for another attempt and try to crack IIM Blacki. But if you want a satisfying career and want to earn good money, then DMS is a place to go. DMS has bred more than 30+ startups and a lot more will come in coming year. People's career skyrocketed after graduating from DMS. I remember one folk who was working in TCS for bare 3 lpa. His life changed for the better in the past 5 years. He is earning a base pay of 85 lpa(5 years work-ex, ctc-1.25 cr) now. There are a lot of more stories. You do your own research, you will find out a vibrant, successful and strong alumni base. Dms has consolidated the brand image in the eyes of industry over the past years but I don't think the people's perception would change.
   

Note- I have tried to give some fair points without being unbiased. I have mentioned all the demerits of being in IIT for mba. I could have said that IIT mba folk have as much respect as IIM, but I kept the points fair. While selecting college, do your own research and talk to alumnis. Discuss it with your friends, families and colleagues. No one really knows what college will suit for them, we have to do a very fine analysis.