Single line ascii car

For reference our normal headcount is like 25. Apparently we used all the possible labor share, and still ended with a headcount of 6. BOD had 15 mixed cages, every single line was blue lite and we almost ran out of cages because we couldn't have any loaders and cage count was like 115 (goal is 40.) I have never been more discouraged during shift. It felt like nothing I did remotely mattered.
But the most frustrating part is that earlier in the day, one of my coworkers got fired. Now I don't know what he did, as I just showed up at the end but I saw leadership with a huge smile telling him to go to HR like they were so happy they were firing this employee. Now granted, he wasn't the best employee, but we are short staffed every day and leadership is seemingly is celebrating firing people. It's infuriating.
For an entire period we didn't even have 1 staff to fill each position and leadership is acting like that. This place is a disaster

A few years ago, we got a now 7-year-old chihuahua (I think?) mix off Craigslist from an older couple who could no longer care for her. Considering her mannerisms, I wouldn't be surprised if they got her from a puppy mill. While living with them, she had only ever gone to the bathroom on pee pads, had never been socialized with another animal, and had only ever stayed indoors on a carpeted floor. She bit them constantly and they didn't do anything to address it. So when we brought her home, she was scared of EVERYTHING and attacked us frequently.
We got started on helping her get used to going to the bathroom outside shortly after bringing her home, but it was a long, long process because she would panic and freeze anytime we went outdoors. Even now, she has invisible lines throughout the house that she is too scared to cross, and going outside for anything more than a quick potty break or sunbathing on the patio is an automatic no from her. Over the years, we've successfully desensitized her to dogs, grass, and hard surfaces, but only within the confines of our property. If we take her outside of our yard, she starfishes. Respecting her wishes and growing our bond through play therapy has had a massive impact, though. She hasn't bitten anyone in years.
I love her so much, especially because of how far she's come. Initially, I worried about her quality of life given that she was terrified of everything outside of the area covered by the living room rug. Now she's able to move around most of the house, play with toys, play with us, spend time relaxing in the sun, and give and receive affection on her terms. However, training her with treats hasn't been successful at all. It literally takes her minutes to eat a single treat, regardless of the texture. She can't figure out how to get it into her mouth and then hold it in there. She'll spit it out multiple times before trying to eat it again, at which point, she has completely forgotten why she received the treat in the first place, if she ever made the connection at all. It seems that her mouth is super sensitive, and even if a blade of grass touches it, she'll freeze and smack her lips together until we physically move her away from said blade of grass.
She's just not like any other dog I've ever met. People have said she reminds them of the Hyperbole and a Half dog. She moves like an animatronic. She doesn't register the existence of other animals, even if they're standing right next to her. She freaks out when she starts to pant, like she's so confused about why her body's doing it. I don't necessarily care if she ever learns how to sit or stay - I'm just curious why she's like this. Our vets' responses have ranged from, "This is just how some dogs are," to testing her for vision and hearing problems. We've had multiple vets look at her teeth and tongue to try and figure out why she's so sensitive about things that are in or near her mouth. The most popular theory is that maybe her tongue's too big for her mouth.
I feel like her life is so small in just our house and the yard, which is why I've been trying to get her used to taking treats so I can help her be less scared when venturing beyond our property. But at this point, I'm really not sure that will ever be a possibility for us. Should I even continue trying to expand her world?

Im new to the game, just got to rep 21 or so, trying to play the “friend in need” mission, first offroad race of the game. And for some reason, my car is simply too slow. i dont understand why it is that way, you are given the car, my normal ride is level 300 or so and it says lvl 220 recommended, i cannot use my own car, how am i supposed to win this. i am even playing on easy difficulty and the bots are just too fast. it takes about the first 10 seconds of the race and im behind 200m. i even tried live tuning the car youre given, brake style downforce all of it, still nothing. i just get completely destroyed every single time. anyone know a way i can fix this?

Hi all, some advice would be greatly appreciated on a potential plan.
My partner and I are planning on applying for de fact partner visa (been living together 5+ years with a good amount of supporting evidence). Our plan was to apply for 309 offshore visa but looking at some people's expierences and processing times it maybe too long, ideally we want to move April 2025 (to line up with house/car lease expiration).
Could you please let me know if you think this is a valid plan;
Visit Aus mid December 2024 on a visitor visa (already planned to see family/friends) and apply for 820 onshore visa. Back in the UK mid January and then return to Aus in March, before visitor visa expires, ready for bridging visa to take effect. Then will be staying onshore.
Major reason for this is so I can look for work immediately, rather than enter on a new tourist visa and wait the whole 3 month period before it expires and I'm on a visa with working rights.
Are there any rules that wouldn't allow this/what are your opinions?

Men on 1st and 2nd.
Second baseman catches line drive. Both runners try to advance, thinking it’s a single. 2nd baseman is playing directly on 2nd, lands on base after catching ball, then throws to 1st before man on 2nd can make it back.
2 questions: 1. Is this possible under MLB rules? 2. If yes, has it ever happened before?

Greetings all. I’ve run into a morally tough problem.
Recently, the day of the total eclipse, my daily driver took a crap. She had over 400k miles on her so it was inevitable at this point.
Long story short, I lost my job due to lack of transportation. I live in a impoverished and dangerous area. Finding work was difficult with my background.
I enrolled in some schooling, and went back into car washing. I left the industry 5 years ago, just before covid. My schooling is in data analytics, codeing.
The wash company I was hired at needed a site manager and I fell into that position quickly. When I was hired, I just wanted to wipe cars and put some cash in my pocket while I did this data analytics course.
Anyways, I’ll mange the workload and earn my certificate. I structured my week to make it work. The company is in a transition period and there is ample opportunity for advancement with my previous experience and new skills I’ll be learning. They are old school and could use some guidance on moving into the future. I can help that without question.
My dilemma involves one of my employees. The previous manager hired a guy with a previous sex crime. He just got out like 9 months ago after doing 15years for his crime involving a minor. I don’t know the specifics, I haven’t looked.
My new bosses are not happy about this guy working there and are attempting to force him out. Only scheduling him one day a week, on the one day he needs off. They have confided in me their dislike of this guy. And in all honesty, his appearance is not desirable in a customer service environment.
Their background checks are laughable. They just go on public websites to search a guy up and see what pops. That why my background came clear. My cases are 30 years old now. I’ve been removed from all this public directories.
I pulled dude aside and basically told home I’d do my best to get him hours and whatnot. Said I’d go to bat for him when I could.
It’s difficult. They are unaware of my history, and honestly, I’d like to keep it that way if at all possible. But I don’t want to contribute to this guy’s struggles. I know that position. Hell I’ve been in it recently. But I can’t be too obvious in my support of him otherwise I’ll draw negative attention my way.
The pay bump I just got is significant enough that I don’t want to lose it if I could avoid that. I’m a single dad. My daughter is an adult now but she still at home. She works and contributes to the household, she isn’t ready for life on her own yet. My parents have both he kicked me to the curb in my youth, I refuse to do that to my kid.
My loyalty is to her. I feel real shitty participating in the discrimination against a fellow rso. I’m gonna do my best for him, but I can’t jeopardize my position and future as well.
I told dude I’d give him a rockstar reference if he found a different job. And I’ll get him into the wash as much as I can. Still feels shitty.

No offense, just a describtion for persons, who really want to win this game which is fine. But this question came into my mind when today I experienced probably the most sweatiest Henry-player in the game.

• Jumped straight into a car and rushed map-pieces alone in two or three minutes.
• Rushed to the first objective and did it almost solo by using every trick in the game possible (iframes, looping, standing behind a wall, using ability etc.)
• Rushed the looting like a disguised hunter.
• All in all: Henry on steroids. He just doesn't give a single fuck about his teammates or anything else.

So what are your most sweatiest encounters so far?

Here's a few observations I've made over the past 2 years commuting from Somerville to the North shore. First, get the fuck off your phones, you are in control of a potential murder weapon, act like it. That's what cops should be focused on, but they're too busy on their own phones to notice.
Merging: to merge properly you must get up to the speed limit of the road you are merging with BEFORE you merge with it. If the person in front of you is doing the speed limit on the on ramp, get off their ass proper following distance will also make merging much easier. And for Gods sake don't cut the gore to merge, wait until it's time to merge you're not in that much of a rush.
Blinkers: I've gotten pretty good at reading "car body language" and one thing I notice all the time is people positioning themselves to change lanes for a while before they make the change. The time where you know you want to change lanes and you are looking for an opening, that is when you should have your blinker on. Most people sit and wait and then put their blinker on as they change lanes, this is wrong, you should be sitting with your blinker on so we don't have to read your body language. I don't think I'm alone when I say, if you sit next to me with your blinker on I WILL ease up on the gas and let you in.
Traffic backed up in the right lane and your exit is a mile and a half away? Sit in the traffic, it's a line for your exit, join it. This is how it is in Boston, if youre in a rush, you leave earlier. If you leave later, you're going to be late there is no beating the traffic.
Not sure where you are? Pull over and find the fuck out. Don't stop in the middle of the road and cause an accident.
I93: if you want to do 35 on 93, just stay home. There can be no congestion at all and everyone is just doing their own speeds in every lane ranging from 35-50 meanwhile the speed limit is 65. IT IS JUST AS DANGEROUS TO DRIVE TOO SLOW ON A HIGHWAY AS IT IS TO DRIVE TOO FAST. If you can't handle your car at 65, you should not be driving.

To make a long story short, tons of people park over the yellow lines by my home’s driveway. We live in SE and parking is just tight. Plus we’re near a bunch of restaurants. I’ve considered calling parking enforcement but that has two problems: 1. It only deals with the one person who broke the rule that one time and won’t prevent others from repeating 2. There’s a risk you piss off a crazy person who will obviously know who called to have his car ticketed/towed.
So here’s the question: is anyone familiar with whether the City would ever install at an owner’s request those parking stoppers you see in parking lots or some other barrier to prevent folks from continuing to block a driveway?
Another option I suppose would be to request a disabled parking spot be put there but that has its own issues and may upset neighbors who lose a street spot (most people don’t have driveways).
Anyway…any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Umm… it’s a long story I guess. TL/DR at the bottom.
Sometimes I really want to divorce. But I also really don’t. I do love my husband a lot and we have had such incredible times together and built a really amazing life. I don’t want to leave it all behind, to start over with someone new, blow up my life and start with literally nothing, but man am I hurting right now. I feel so lonely in my marriage that sometimes I feel like it would just be easier to actually be alone. I don’t like how I’m being treated and I don’t like that I’m asking for bare minimum and not even getting that. Sometimes I feel like I am growing up and outgrowing him/our dynamic and things feel stagnated (I want kids, he wants to drink and party).
My husband (30M) and I (29F) have hit a rough patch, except I’m not even sure if it’s just a rough patch anymore or if we are truly falling apart. Together for nearly 6 years, married for 3. It makes me sick to think about because I feel as if my husband is a totally different person now. I’m so confused because our relationship has never ever felt this wrong or hurtful, I used to believe our love was so healthy and nurturing; my husband used to communicate and be open and loving and now he’s just passive aggressive (he’ll even admit it), hot/cold and mean to me.
He has said some very hurtful things but will never take accountability or apologize for what he has said to me, he often times will spin things around and blame me for all the ways I’m hurting him and never acknowledge what I have come to him with; like I will raise a concern and somehow by the end of it, I’m left apologizing while my feelings were never acknowledged. Or he just goes “ok!?” Like ok so what??? A lot of DARVO and defensiveness, he will twist my words and insist I said something when I know I didn’t. If I call him out, I just get a “sorry I misspoke” from him. If I tell him he hurt my feelings, he says it’s a me problem. That he has no problems. That I should just be happy and move on. In his mind, we wake up the next day and be happy and all is well because we choose to be better (ok sure, fine) but with no apology or repair attempts, I have a hard time “just moving on”. It’s hard to forgive a person that can’t even admit they hurt you or show remorse for how they have done so. I have gone to bed sobbing next to him and it’s never brought up or talked about the next day and he wonders why I’m growing distant. He has zero compassion and empathy for my feelings and I feel really alone in that.
Last year, we were long distance for the whole year (military). Our fights started in September when I went to visit and I felt he was disrespecting me, mocking me, not taking me seriously, disregarding my suggestions in front of our friends. One night, he started picking fights with me at a bar and insisted we go home “because I wasn’t having fun”. I never expressed that, though the bar scene is not my thing, I still went with him and our friends and was enjoying our time. I told him to go have fun, dance, hang out and I’ll enjoy my drink. He kept saying I wasn’t having fun and we needed to leave and I kept insisting I was totally happy to just be there (that was the truth). A lot of times he will project his own interpretations of my feelings onto me and assume he knows what I’m thinking/feeling without asking. We left that night without our friends and grabbed dinner on the way back to the hotel, except he completely ignored me and stonewalled me the entire time. I tried to make conversation but took the hint, let him know I don’t feel welcome in this interaction since he wasn’t engaging in return, and that I was going back to the hotel alone since he clearly didn’t want me there. His defensiveness is usually cold and silent, he has admitted that he “stonewalls me because he’s done talking with me”. He refuses to talk a lot of the time or will say there’s nothing he wants to talk about.
After I had come back home, our fights continued. I asked him a handful of times to please send me the pics we took on our vacations and it took him over a month of me reminding him to please just do it. Finally he became angry and BLEW UP on me and sent them, only half, and I reminded him that there’s more and he spit back at me “THAT’S ALL I HAVE, WE’RE NEVER TAKING PICTURES ON MY PHONE AGAIN” when I knew there were more. What a stupid, petty thing to get mad at me over?
Another time, he completely disappeared on me for 3 whole days and I hardly heard a word from him. I knew exactly where he was (drunk in his dorm playing video games, on a complete bender with his friends online, only taking breaks to go to work drunk/hungover and come back to drinking again). I attempted to reach out, say hi, stay connected, because I feel that’s important long distance? To make an effort to communicate? Because we have a responsibility to each other? I don’t feel like I’m asking for much here, but he was just gone for 3 days. When I finally heard from him and let him know how hurt I was because I felt like he didn’t have time for me (I have often felt second to his online friends, I spent a year and a half going to bed alone and existing without him because he would stay up drinking with them), all he said was “sorry sometimes I just fuck off into my own world”. Like dude you have a wife that you need to be involved with too? I have a really big problem with his drinking and his online life as it’s taken a higher priority over me a lot of times. For a long time, all I saw him do was go to work, come home, drink and game.
Between September to now, things have only spiraled and gotten so much worse. In January, we moved abroad. I knew it would be a hard adjustment for me as I’ve never left home, am incredibly close to my family and overall just a big change, plus I had all my luggage and our two pets to drag through airports and onto flights with. I needed help. I wanted to do it together, as husband and wife, I wanted his support and for us to be doing this new thing in life together… except I had to BEG him to come pick me up. I knew I would need him as my heart was aching over leaving home. There was so much resistance from him though, he said I’d be fine and to just meet him at our next duty station. That it’s such a big waste of time and money to come get me from Asia (he gets a free flight home though??), just to fly back to Asia. Then he started talking about going home to his home state before our move, to see friends and family, and I asked, ok so if you’re in the states already, why not just come up to me and pick me up and we go to Japan together (also, he has time and money to go them but not for me?)? At this point he came unglued and hysterical, insisting again how it’s a waste of time and money and who is going to pay for him to go home? Me? (I’m like, wtf why would I pay for you to go party but you can’t make time to pick me up for a big transition???) he let me know how much I frustrate him and honestly the whole fight just turned into something so bizarre and vague, I wondered what we even were fighting about anymore (as often is the case). I was sobbing and so hurt that he clearly wasn’t choosing me when I needed him, and we fell silent on the phone while I just cried and cried. All he could say was “yeah I know you’re pissed at me”.
Since moving, our sex life has completely declined (my fault). I’ve been depressed, stressed, tired and honestly so hurt by him that I don’t want to have sex with him, especially when he won’t even acknowledge that he has hurt me or apologize. That’s not someone I want to be intimate with. So I have rejected him a couple times, letting him know I’m feeling really insecure about us. I have tried SO HARD to not reject him because I know how hurtful it is, and sometimes in the past, I was just tired. Not in the mood. It doesn’t happen frequently at all (maybe 3 times in our time together), and the times I have said no, he literally will throw himself over in a tantrum like manner and it’s so gross and childish to me. Now, since things have gotten worse, he just goes cold. He told me that if it weren’t for us being married, my couple of times saying no recently would’ve been enough for him to be done with me. And that hurts, because not once has he even attempted to ask what’s wrong, why am I feeling this way, what can we do differently, how is my heart? He can throw everything away over that without even talking to me first? I told him I’m straight up depressed/homesick and having a hard time since moving, not to mention our lack of connection, and he never expressed concern, only his hurt feelings for how rejected and ugly he feels because I won’t have sex with him. He makes weird, off handed snarky comments about how he sometimes “considers going to the gym and getting in shape just to attract some attention and that he never would do that, but he’s thought about it”. The weird comments have happened here and there over a few subjects, leaving me dead in my tracks thinking “what the fuck was that? Where did that comment even come from?”
I have begged him to meet me half way outside of the bedroom, because I don’t feel emotionally connected anymore and that we really need help, and he’s still so dumbfounded that I won’t have sex even though I’ve clearly laid out the ways in which I’m hurting and feeling like we are falling apart. I can’t even remember the last time he told me he loved me first, that he appreciates me, is proud of me, feels lucky to have me, but he used to say those things.
At one point, I wrote him a very long, heartfelt letter stating exactly what was hurting me and why I was feeling the way I am. He read it and didn’t speak to me or even look at me for a week. LITERALLY. When he finally responded (opposite shifts and never any time to talk, a lot of our conversations have been letters or texts lately, because there’s no time/we never see each other and our in person fights derail anyways), he told me he “read my note and felt nothing and that he didn’t care, but knows that he should care so he’ll consider how he should feel.”
I have asked for counseling, to which he insisted he was never going to do again because it’s just a crying/shit-on-the-husband-fest (he is divorced once, I assume he went with his ex), he told me there’s nothing wrong with him, he doesn’t need someone telling him how to live his life, he’s happy with who he is and will not go to counseling. I told him it’s not an option anymore and so we went once (didn’t go well) and he reminded me more than once how stupid it was. I told him I want a husband that has a growth mindset and someone who is wanting to work on things with me, who takes me seriously when I say we need help, someone who is open to talking and communicating. He took offense that I don’t think he’s growth minded because of his spiritual journey and personal growth but I asked him, how are you showing up as a husband? He tells me “we don’t need to be checking in and talking about things”.
He says I’m trying to change him and want him to be different (because I’ve asked him for help around the house but he doesn’t see the mess the same so it doesn’t matter to him? But to me it does because it’s his mess too and we exist together, therefore we both need to be making an effort? I have taken on 90% of the household chores for a while now and let him know I need help and suddenly he’s saying I’m trying to change him and asking him to “put on his husband mask”, what does that even mean?????) I’ve asked him to attempt to speak my love language more (touch and words), as there’s hardly any intimacy between us (no hand holding, cuddling, hardly any affection outside the bedroom) and that’s asking him to be someone he is not?? Because he’s not touchy feely? He will slap my ass or grope my boobs (huge pet peeve and I’ve expressed that) and when I ask him for a hug instead, there’s push back? He gets mad and guilts me when I won’t drink with him (I don’t need or want to drink every night at home, sorry). One time he was poking and pinching at my sides and I asked him not to as it was making me uncomfortable (struggling with binge eating at the moment) and he got irritated and defensive because “he’s just playing and why can’t I have fun”.
Through all of this, I feel like I am the one saying I want to work on things, I love him and our life and let’s do better, let’s fix things, let’s grow together, I’m the one still making an effort to bridge the gap even though we are hurting, and all I’m hearing from him are all the ways he doesn’t like me: he thinks I’m boring (because I won’t drink with him), that I can’t do anything for him that he doesn’t do for himself (yes he literally said this, what do I even offer him?), that he fell in love with me for my independence and what am I doing now? (I uprooted my entire life and moved to another country to support him, I got a job within 2 weeks of being here and have since secured a government position, I’ve bought and paid off a car in 3 months, I go out and travel in a country where I can’t even speak the language, made friends, and he says I’m not independent?? WTF), that he doesn’t need me or this relationship and only fears I’m wasting his time. He can’t think of a single thing he appreciates about me (his words) when I feel I have given up everything and bend over backwards for him to care for him and our relationship. I really feel he doesn’t like me or respect me, but he’ll say he wants me around. He insists I don’t love him or like him, but I feel that is his own projection onto me. We are long distance again and I have expressed multiple times that it’s important to me to stay engaged and check in at least once daily, to say hi, and I’ve been doing that despite being incredibly busy myself, but he ghosts me constantly and is hardly reciprocating effort. I have hardly heard from him in a month, despite my efforts (I’m starting to feel like a damn fool by continuously reaching out, if I don’t text, we don’t talk, I’m tired of the games and have since pulled back but that feels so shitty to even have to do???). I want someone that WANTS to say hi to me and see how I’m doing???
I don’t feel I have a friend in him, as he never asks about me, my life, my inner world, what’s going on with me, does not express interest in my new jobs, new friends etc, when I am constantly interacting with his world and engaging with him. I have expressed to him I feel like I am his friend but he is not mine because he doesn’t express an interest. We do a lot of what he wants and not a lot of what I want.
I told him I want to go home for my 30th birthday in July (it’s a big deal to me!) and I asked him to meet up with me in my state (he will already be in the states for a work trip). He told me he doesn’t want to come hang out with me on my birthday and was instead thinking of going to a big get together with his online friends in a different state to party and drink with them. That really hurt me. Do I not matter to him at all???
I have a big problem with his drinking (he has driven drunk at least 3 times that I know of, 2 of which I was in the car with him, once my family was also involved), I have expressed my concerns about his drinking and he says “I don’t think it’s a problem”. I told him I don’t want our future kids thinking it’s ok to wake up and pop open a beer for breakfast every day and he dismissed it.
We are not agreeing or seeing eye to eye on our next 5-10 years together: we want kids, but I want to be in the states closer to home so we can have our families be involved with our kids too, meanwhile he wants to live abroad as long as possible and retire out of the military overseas. He wants nothing to do with his family and doesn’t care to be close to them. I knew this, and thought I would be ok with it, but I’ve since realized that it’s actually really important to me to have our families involved and not be on the other side of the world at the moment. We can’t find a way to meet in the middle on this, but I don’t want to be this far away for too long (current trajectory is 3-7 years). He says he isn’t sure if he can compromise because he’s always done for others and not himself. Meanwhile, I feel like: maybe you should’ve thought about that before getting married? Aren’t your spouse’s feelings enough to move you in a direction that would be fulfilling for both of us, not just yourself? I agreed to 4 years overseas when I really didn’t want to, and now that I’m asking that we go home after, now it’s an issue?
We went to a marriage retreat that only further revealed what I have been hurting and expressing concern about: that I don’t feel connected and that we need to be digging deeper and investing more into our relationship. I cried so hard when we returned from that retreat and all he could tell me was how frustrated he was that he took us there only for me to come home and cry about it.
He is ok with pushing my boundaries and disregarding my feelings: example of this a couple months ago, I let him know multiple times and many hours in advance we had dinner reservations (we need to leave by 7). He gets ready around 630. I tell him, ok time to go. He says, just 5 more minutes (on his pc gaming and drinking). I say, ok it’s been 5 minutes, let’s go. He says, wait just another minute. 20 minutes pass and I’m now visibly irritated and telling him, I’m leaving, now we’re going to be late. He gets pissy and storms behind me, I let him know that it’s really important to me to be on time for things and I felt really disrespected by him making us late. He told me with attitude that “it’s fine” and it’s “not a big deal because we’ll still be there and we’ll get there when we get there”.
In the store, I will ask for his input on groceries and he will mutter under his breath to leave him alone, only to admit later that he did that and it was disrespectful: but just as an admittance and matter of fact, nothing more, like he’s ok with disrespecting me and declaring it??
Honestly there’s still so much to this, but it’s getting long - bottom line, I just really feel he doesn’t respect me or like me. I don’t feel like he loves me as a husband should or how I envision a marriage to be. I feel a lot of disinterest and complacency. I wonder if he could ever even properly be there for me in the ways I would want my husband to be (what happens when my dog or parents die, is he just going to dismiss my feelings then too and tell me to get over it? He is very emotionally avoidant, numb and dismissive). I don’t feel loved, supported, heard or understood, I feel so incredibly lonely in our marriage. I feel I am reaching a breaking point and it hurts deeply. He was NEVER like this, our relationship used to be so good and I have no idea what happened or why things changed but I am deeply unhappy now and don’t see a way forward with an unwilling partner who will not participate or sees nothing wrong. I deserve better and I want a husband and partner in life that is just as invested and just as loving and interested in me and willing to grow, as I am to him. I’m a damn good wife and I know that, I know what I have to offer, and I want someone that sees that and appreciates that. I feel my husband is very childish and immature and emotionally unavailable, I have wondered but whether or not he is manipulative doesn’t really matter and I don’t think labels are helpful, at this point all I know is I’m hurting and this isn’t working for me.
Of course this is only my side of the story, and no I have not been perfect. I have found myself in a dark, contemptuous state of mind towards him and tried my best to turn that around and reflect and do things differently. I am reading books, listening to podcasts, going to counseling, trying to model to him real apologies (sincerely too). He will say that I criticize him (I do have a harsh start up at times but have since tried to communicate softer and take more responsibility for my feelings and not find fault in his actions), that I want him to be someone he is not (he says I want him to put on a husband mask??), that he feels ugly and rejected because I won’t have sex with him, that I’m hurting him (but I’m honestly confused as to how because he can’t give specifics when I ask how or what I can do differently).
Sometimes I just feel so done with this and like it’s not worth it. I gave up everything to be in another country with him, I gave up friends, family, a career that I wanted to pursue, EVERYTHING, and this does not feel worth the pain I am feeling being so far away from the things that bring me joy outside of him. I feel deeply unfulfilled day to day.
We used to be so happy. He was so sweet and nurturing and cared for me, took interest in me, prioritized me. We had a wonderful life and home together, supported each other’s dreams and desires, used to communicate openly without defense or combative behavior. This is so left field for him/us that it’s left me deeply confused and feeling so much ambivalence. I used to feel #1 to him and now I just feel like his roommate.
Jesus this is long, if you read it and have any advice, thank you. I feel so alone in these feelings and don’t want to dump on my family and friends more than I have already. I am in individual counseling and that helps but I just needed to get it out of me and into the void.
TL/DR: basically I feel like I started challenging some bad behaviors and speaking up when my feelings were hurt (previously I guess I was the “cool girl” and chill and wouldn’t speak up and now I have resentment), and our relationship has become toxic. I am constantly torn between should I stay or should I go? I really don’t have much optimism anymore as my husband will spin things around and blame me, and I’m really not trying to act like a victim here, but he doesn’t take accountability or step up into being a leading man or husband and I’m tired. I’m tired of fighting, feeling sad, being long distance from my family and life in what feels like a failing marriage and not feeling like I’m being met half way on repairing/moving forward in a healthy manner.

Hi, I have a 2019 Jeep Cherokee that I used yesterday to do some errands. Today when I went to use my car this morning the engine would not turn on saying that the engine is too hot. I opened up the hood to see if the engine was too hot and it wasn’t so I figured maybe i is a lack of coolant.
I saw that the coolant in the coolant reservoir was just below the minimum line So I topped it off with coolant to just above the max line (I couldn’t get a good angle so I over poured a bit). I waited about 10 minutes then tried to turn it on again but that didn’t work.
Is there something else I can try with the radiator because I don’t want to have to get it towed because I don’t know if I will be able to afford it and Im working double shifts tomorrow as well as I have to pick up my brother from the airport.

You. Suck.
Thank God I had the sense to be checking my rear view mirrors when I saw you coming up between me and the car next to me. Had I drifted any closer to my lane line, you'd be dead.
You are not Tom Cruise, you are not a stunt double. I saw you further up weaving in and out of traffic recklessly. There is NO reason for it.
This is why I hate 695. Every single time I drive it, some dumbass thinks they can just do whatever they want, be it in a car or a bike.

Season 5
After a triumphant treble last season, I aimed to repeat the feat and add a fourth with the AFC Champions League. Little did I know, due to Japan's season running from February to December, we'd only play the group stage this time around. So focus remained on the league and domestic cups. As if we failed to win the Champions League this time around we needed to ensure we qualified again for the second half of next season. So, starting as we meant to go on, it was time for transfers.
THE TRANSFERS
Out
Marcao - FLA - £240k
Shunsuke Nishikubo - Fujieda - £300k
Yuji Miki - Tochigi SC - £140k
Fuminori Tabuchi - Kashima Antlers - £300k
Itambé - Al-Fateh - £275k
Caio Cesar - Peterborough - £150k
Kiyohisa Kubo - Gamba Osaka - $400k
In
Hamode Kanaan - Ashdod - Free
Ryuta Sakai - Shonan Bellmare - £775k
Srdan Cvetkovic - Radnicki (SM) - £400k
Seiya Baba - Yokohama F. Marinos - £850k
Thanawat Suengchitthawon - Moangthong Utd - £825k
Yasuki Kimoto - Vissel Kobe - £275k
Our season began with the opportunity to gain another trophy as we faced Cerezo Osaka in the Fuji Xerox Super Cup. Japans answer to the Community Shield. This was a good litmus to see how we stacked up against our biggest challengers from last season with our new line up. This doubled as a testimonial of sorts for Komai Can't Communicate (But he can score) as he was retiring following this game. And score he did, we ran away with the game winning 7-0 and making us all very very excited for the season to come.
The AFC Champions League
We were drawn a decent group but not one that should cause us any issues for qualification, however, such is the way of the AFC Champions League, only one team from each group would qualify so we'd need to be at our best througout. In our group were South Korean side Pohang Stealers, Indonesian outfit Bali United and BG Pathum Utd from Thailand.
Pohang were our first opponents and we brushed them by the wayside winning 4-2 in Korea. We followed up with an impressive 5-1 win over Bali United which left us thinking this Champions League stuff isn't that hard now is it? BG Pathum United set out to prove me wrong, taking the lead early in Thailand. A late equaliser from Diego Medina secured our undefeated status however. We then played Bali United again, in Indonesia, we entered their home and didn't even wipe our feet as we smashed through them 4-0. Pohang were welcomed into our stadium and again, we beat them, a much more reasonable, from their perspective, 2-1 win all but confirmed our qualification and our goal difference was far superior to 2nd place BG Pathum, who we played next and were 3 points ahead. A draw would confirm our qualification but, a lesson was taught, NO ONE DRAWS WITH KYOTO SANGA TWICE! We won 3-1 and are in the second round of the contest. We would just have to wait till next season to play it.
The YBC Levian Cup
We, as defending champions of all Japanese Trophies entered in the second round were we faced the team we beat in last seasons final JEF United Chiba. Much like the finals our first leg tie ended 0-0. In the home leg we were 2-0 up after 50 minutes thanks to goals from Magnus Christensen and Srdan Cvetkovic but Karel Pojezny decided now would be a good time to show off his Crash Bandicoot slide dash impression as he took out a Chiba player on the 59th minute. Luckily for us, Full Blown Bazooka (A renamed Fugo Kazuka) ran clear after a counter attack and gave us a third as we ended the game with 10 men but also a spot in the round of 16.
Here we faced Renofa Yamaguchi, a team from the J2 league. And despite us going 4-0 they fought back to make it 4-3. Fortunately, once again, another late goal, this time from Takeshi Yamauchi set us up with a 2 goal lead going into the second leg. And what a bloody good job he did as we lost the second leg 2-1. We were heading to penalties here as well until a Full Blown Bazooka penalty in the 86th minute put us back in the lead on aggregate.
Shonan Bellmare were our quarter finals opponents. They held us to a 1-1 draw at their place, however, we gently ushered them to our stadium and trounced them 4-0. Meaning we were to take on Urawa Red Dragons in the semi's. And just like the semi in your trousers right now, yes yours, it was unimpressive. A narrow 1-0 win over 2 legs sent us to our second league cup final in a row.
The Emperors Cup.
Now, there's less games in this tournament as much like Paul McCartney's dating history, they're single legged affairs. That doesn't mean we made it easy on ourselves though. First off was Nagano Parceiro in the 2nd round. And boy howdy did we squeak through. It was 4-2 to us with just 8 minutes of time left to play when, young debutante Tomohiro Fukumoto decided to emulate his mentor Pojezny and absolutely massacre Parciero's striker and get himself sent off. Nagano clearly took that personally as they pulled another back almost instantly. Yuya Yamagisha scored for us on the 88th minute which seemed to save us 5-3! But, no, they scored again in the 93rd and again to level the scoring on the 95th. Moving us into extra time with a man less. Thankfully Yamagisha had other ideas as he scored a peach of a volley in the 96th minute to give us the win. 6-5 we're through.
The rest of the tournament was plain sailing, a 4-2 win over Machida Zelvia, 2-0 over FC Tokyo then a 5-0 demolition of Kagoshima meaning last seasons beaten finalists Vissel Kobe awaited us in the semi finals. Revenge was on their mind and they failed miserably at achieving it. We hammered through them 5-1 to set up a third Emperors Cup final in as many years this time facing Gamba Osaka.
The League
Now, the league, surprisingly is the shortest one to get through. We won and we won and we won and we won, but we also drew quite a lot, and lost once or twice. That's the story of the league really. We started to hit a rough patch due to injuries and general fixture congestion as our star man for much of the season Cvetkovic broke his leg and would be out for the remainder of the season. It was a month before the transfer window, so we powered through, drawing 3 of our next 4 games, the player we brought in to replace Cvetkovic, Thai winger Suengchitthawon, looked like a world beater, a player we could rely on to get us goals and fire us to glory, he signed the contract, he attended his first training session, he broke his foot. He..... broke his fucking foot before even sniffing the starting line up. Hello Darkness my old friend.
This left us 6 points behind league leaders Vissel Kobe with 4 games to go, the first of those 4 was against Kobe themselves. A win here, it's a 3 point gap, we can close that in 3 games if we play as I know we can. The league could still be ours. Well, could, but we lost to Kobe. 3-2, a last minute goal from their top scorer Ahmed Atef signed our league hopes death warrant. 9 points behind, 9 up for grabs. This may seem like the set up for a miracle. But, alas, it was not, we also lost our next 2 games against Nagoya Grampus and Kawasaki Frontale. A morale boosting 3-1 win over Jubilo Iwata on the last day did go somewhere to improving feeling about our impending Emperors cup final but the league was over, Vissel Kobe ensured the J1 Title stayed in Hanshin, just sadly, not on our side...... Pricks.
The Finals
The J League Cup, we won it last year and this time just Kashiwa Reysol were left to stop us from retaining the title. They took an early lead, a goal from Takahiro Akimoto in the 7th minute left us worried, but we equalised through Tatsuya Kusumoto in the 35th and then went and scored the deciding goal on 75 minutes, Kazuaki Sato, making his debut due to the previously mentioned injuries scored to win us the YBC Levian cup and give me my 6th trophy as a manager and 5th with Kyoto Sanga.
The Emperor's cup final was a turgid, boring affair, it's very sad that the last game of the season, hoefully an exciting paragraph offered up exactly 1 highlight in normal time, that highlight being a corner Osaka headed over in the 63rd minute. Extra time loomed, we were half expecting penalties as both my previous Emperor's Cup finals had been settled this way with varying results. Hiroaki Abe had other ideas though, the 19 year old Gamba Osaka academy graduate powered a header past my keeper and resigned us to another finals defeat and a disappointing end to our season.
Next season will soon be upon us, we have been drawn against Chiangrai United in the 2nd round of the AFC Champions League, we have a lot to look forward to, Japanese Football? I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!

So, having created my Runesmith Archetype as well as a Khazalid Runework mechanic, I'm going to build four more archetypes, each representing an aspect of Duardin society. It is strongly encouraged that you check out my Runesmith archetype, because at least two of these archetypes start with runes.
First we have the Warden Prince - a frontline fighter who also has some room to dabble in leadership or diplomacy skills.
Then there's the Cogsmith - a character with high crafting who is primarily focused on ranged damage using black powder weaponry, but also gets bonuses when operating war machines or artillery.
After that is the Ranger - a versatile class that specializes in stealth and ranged combat, but also has the tools needed to be a decent frontline fighter in a pinch.
Lastly there is the Alms Matron. The Alms Matron is a name I pulled from a novel called Chronicles of the Wanderer. From what I gather they're basically the Priestesses of Valaya. The Alms Matron is primarily a support class who can use Miracles - I've taken a bunch of thematic miracles from Alarielle, Grimnir, and Grungni, and reflavoured them around Valaya. She also has access to a number of skills and talents that may serve the party outside of combat.
All-in-all I feel like I've laid the groundwork to have a relatively balanced well-rounded party consisting of nothing but Dispossessed.
WARDEN PRINCE
Warden Kings are the rulers of the Dispossessed Clans, and like most Kings, they require heirs. A Warden Prince is the son of a Warden King. From a young age they are trained to fight and to lead, with the expectation that their father shall not live forever. However only one of these children - the eldest son - can take their father's throne. Which then raises the question of what the remainder will do. Some serve the new King as generals and advisors, while others are married off to prominent figures within the clan, or to different clans entirely.
Others become Soulbound.
Many young Dispossessed Princes (and Princesses) who find themselves low in the line of succession leap at the chance to join a Binding. It is an opportunity to earn glory for themselves and their clan without forever remaining in the shadow of their older siblings, and it is also a respectable way to avoid being assigned an unwanted marriage. It also provides a chance to travel the Mortal Realms and potentially even explore the lost Karaks - many Soulbound Warden Princes dream of the day they can say they were the first to set foot in their clan's ancestral home in over five centuries.
A Warden Prince is a trained and well-equipped fighter, who due to the length of Duardin lifespans may already have decades of experience under their belt. Not only can they fight, but they can also lead - having been raised with the expectation that they will play a commanding role in either the court or the armies of their father or one of their brothers. It is possible that a Warden Prince may even have experience leading Throngs into battle. Beyond that, Warden Princes are also royalty, which may prove to be a boon when interacting with the aristocracy of other factions. Thus they are a welcome addition to any Binding of Order.
While travelling with the Binding, a Warden Prince may insist that they explore any lost Karaks they discover if it does not interfere with the Binding's other obligations. The Prince may wish to either scout them out for possible reclamation, or recover lost treasures. The Prince may appear enthusiastic about this at first, but once they finally walk the empty halls they may find themselves becoming depressed, melancholy, or even angry as they are struck by the full reality of their people's fall from glory.
Attributes

• Body: 4
• Mind: 2
• Soul: 2

Core Talent: Mountain Stance (Champions of Order - ignore the "Alarith Stoneguard" requirement.)
Talents (Choose 3)

• Ancestral Grudge (Champions of Order)
• Armour Expert (Champions of Order)
• Bulwark
• Crushing Blow
• Diplomat
• Duelist (Champions of Order)
• Intimidating Manner
• Lead The Way (Champions of Order)
• Opportunist
• Rending Blow
• Shield Mastery

Core Skill: Weapon Skill
Skills (7 XP)

• Athletics
• Awareness
• Determination
• Dexterity
• Fortitude
• Guile
• Intimidation
• Intuition
• Lore
• Might
• Reflexes
• Weapon Skill

Equipment

• Choose Between: Warhammer and Shield, Battleaxe and Shield, Greataxe, or Greathammer.
• Common Heavy Armour.
• One Weapon Rune or Shield Rune (see my Runesmithing Class for more information.)
• A map of one of the eight Mortal Realms, displaying all known Karaks within it (including yours) as well as the passages between them. The map is a copy of a more ancient work, dated during the height of the Khazalid Empire. It may have other landmarks on it as well (such as Realmgates) but it dates back to the Age of Myth and therefore may be unreliable. The map is neatly folded and stored in a well-crafted airtight case of wood and metal.
• 50 Drops of Aqua Ghyranis.

COGSMITH
The Ironweld Arsenal - the great union of Duardin and Human Engineering. As Engineers of the Ironweld Arsenal, Cogsmiths are vital to the Cities of Sigmar war machine. Working closely with their human counterparts, they design, build, maintain, and repair the machinery, vehicles, artillery, and firearms wielded by Sigmar's mortal armies.
It is perhaps little surprise then that many Cogsmiths are happy to become Soulbound. An extended lifespan aside and ample opportunity to test out their new inventions aside, they are also well-accustomed to working alongside and learning from other Order factions. The Cogsmiths for their part bring a lot to the table - they are expert tinkerers, able to help repair and even improve the weapons of their Binding. They are well-versed in war machines and vehicles, able to get more out of them than most. A Cogsmith is also a formidable combatant in their own right, possessing experience with a wide array of firearms and war marchines.
Attributes

• Body: 2
• Mind: 4
• Soul: 1

Core Talent: Ironweld Engineer (see below)
Talents (Choose Three)

• Combat Ready
• Combat Repairs
• Crack Shot (Champions of Order)
• Creator (Champions of Order)
• Forbidden Knowledge
• Gunslinger
• Incidential Incendiaries (Steam and Steel)
• Point Blank Range
• Quick Reload
• Tinkerer (Steam and Steel)
• Savvy
• Scholar

Core Skill: Crafting
Skills (9XP)

• Arcana
• Awareness
• Ballistic Skill
• Crafting
• Determination
• Dexterity
• Guile
• Lore
• Reflexes

Equipment

• Choose between: Rifle, or Blunderbuss, or two Repeater Pistols.
• Choose between: Warhammer or Repeater Pistol.
• Common Medium Armour.
• Smith's Tools.
• Engineering Plans and Schematics.
• 50 Drops of Aqua Ghyranis

Ironweld Engineer
You are a member in good standing of the Ironweld Arsenal. Whenever you are operating a war machine, a vehicle, or a weapon mounted on a vehicle, and you are required to make a Ballistics Skill, you may choose to either gain double dice from your Training in Ballistics Skill or substitute your Crafting Skill instead - whichever one is more likely to yield a better result.
In addition to this, as an Endeavour and with 50D worth of crafting materials you can spend one week tinkering with a handheld non-Aetheric firearm to improve it. With three attempts, if you pass an Extended Crafting Test of DN 5:8, you may apply one of the following upgrades:

• Improved Sights: When using this firearm, the wielder's accuracy increases by one step.
• Longer Barrel: The firearm's range is extended by one zone.
• Double Barrel: The firearm now has a second barrel. When you make an attack with this weapon, you may either treat it as a dual-wielding attack and split your dice pool, or as a single attack that does 2 extra damage. Unfortunately, whatever weapon you apply this to also gains the Reload trait if it does not have it already.
• Armour-Piercing: The firearm gains the Penetrating Trait.
• Armour-Breaking: The firearm gains the Rend Trait.

Only two of these upgrades may be active on a weapon at a time. They are not permanent and can be changed.
DISPOSSESSED RANGER
When asked to describe the natural gifts of the Duardin, few would ever think to list stealth as one of them. But it is - if they put their mind to it. Rangers fulfill a vital niche in Duardin armies - that of scouts, skirmishers, infiltrators, and sharpshooters. In the days of the Khazalid Empire, it was the rangers who kept borders clear of Monsters, Greenskins, and Beastmen. It was the rangers who would not only warn settlements of incoming attack, but also harry and harass the foe by any means necessary while the Throngs were mustered. Even today long after the Khazalid Empire's fall, the Dispossessed Clans have find use for rangers. Indeed, it was the rangers who weathered the Fall the easiest, for they were accustomed to wandering without a home.
The life of a Ranger is that of a wanderer and outcast - spending weeks or even months traversing the wilds, and camping under the open stars. The only Duardin who would voluntarily seek out this life are either outcasts or free-spirits, independently-minded with a strong sense of wanderlust. It is a thankless job - their greatest deeds are committed far from any settlement or army, and therefore go unwitnessed. Most Duardin find their lifestyle and tactics disturbing, and thus, treat them with (usually unwaranted) suspicion.
It is little wonder then that a Ranger would be eager to become Soulbound. As a Soulbound, they are more likely to be working with people who have fewer qualms about their tactics, and may even appreciate their skillset. They can spend greater periods of time travelling, being deployed throughout the Mortal Realms in direct service to a higher power, with no obligation of a clan to return to. It is also possible that the Ranger may have a Criminal past they are attempting to escape from. Members of a Binding may also find a Ranger's company preferable to that of other Duardin, for Rangers tend to be less hidebound than most of their Dispossessed kin, while still retaining a strong sense of duty and integrity.
Attributes

• Body: 3
• Mind: 3
• Soul: 1

Core Talent: Hunter
Talents (Choose Four)

• Alley Cat
• Backstab
• Combat Ready
• Crack Shot (Champions of Order)
• Criminal
• Hit and Run
• Iron Stomach
• Loyal Companion
• Observant
• Orientation
• Patient Strike
• Point-Blank Range
• Quick Reload
• Sever
• Sleight of Hand
• Vanish

Core Skill: Ballistics Skill
Skills (9 XP)

• Athletics
• Awareness
• Ballistics Skill
• Beast Handling
• Dexterity
• Fortitude
• Intuition
• Nature
• Reflexes
• Stealth
• Survival
• Weapon Skill

Equipment

• Great Crossbow
• Choose between: Greataxe or two Handaxes.
• Common Light Armour
• Ranger Cloak (see below)
• Flask of Duardin Amberwhisky
• 132 Drops of Aqua Ghyranis

Ranger Cloak
This hooded cloak is dyed to blend in with the environment. Choose one of the Terrain types listed in the Hunter Talent (it does not need to be the same one you picked as part of the Talent.) While adventuring in this terrain, you can double the dice you receive from Training in Stealth. As a week-long Endeavour you can spend 50D to change the dye.
ALMS MATRON
Little is known about the Alms Matrons - also known as the Priestesses of Valaya, Duardin Ancestor Goddess of Hearth and Home. The birth rate of Duardin females was already low to begin with, and most Dispossessed Clans are fiercely protective of their women as a result. Even more confounding is the worship of the dead goddess Valaya. Despite all this, Priestesses of Valaya are an integral part of Dispossessed society - primarily serving as healers and mediators. They wield immense influence over the internal politics of their clans.
It is not impossible that, in less hidebound clans, Duardin of other genders may come to serve Valaya in the same capacity. But it would be regarded as unusual.
Valaya's fate remains a mystery. Some say she is dead, others say she is in hiding. Some say she died during the Great Betrayal, others say her death came long before that - possibly during the last days of the World-That-Was. Some say she will return, as the Fyreslayers believe Grimnir will, while others have given up any hope of this. In either case, it takes far more than the death of their God to make a Duardin abandon their faith.
Additional puzzlement comes in the fact that some Alms Matrons have been known to invoke Miracles of their goddess. Scholars can only speculate as to why this is - perhaps it is due to the power of their faith, or maybe Valaya does still exist in some form. Humans and Aelven scholars have also put forward the idea that perhaps Alarielle or Grungni are behind this.
It is exceedingly rare for an Alms Matron to become a Soulbound, primarily because it is difficult to convince a servant of Hearth and Home to leave both of those things behind. But it can happen, especially if there are other Duardin in the Binding or the Binding's goals align with the Clan's. Though not well-suited to direct combat, Alms Matrons can serve their Bindings in other useful ways - as healers, diplomats, scholars, and priests.
Attributes

• Body: 1
• Mind: 3
• Soul: 3

Core Talent: Blessed (Valaya - See Below)
Talents (Choose Four)

• Any Miracle of Valaya.
• A Warm Meal
• Acute Sense
• Diplomat
• Forbidden Knowledge
• Observant
• Scholar
• Silver Tongue
• Strong Soul
• Caregiver (Champions of Order)
• Compelling Music (Champions of Order)
• Stirring Voice (Champions of Order)
• Alchemist (Steam and Steel)

Core Skill: Devotion
Skills (9 XP)

• Arcana
• Awareness
• Determination
• Devotion
• Dexterity
• Entertain
• Guile
• Intuition
• Lore
• Medicine
• Reflexes
• Theology

Equipment

• Quarterstaff
• Pistol
• Common Light Armour
• Two Consumable Runes
• Holy Symbol of Valaya
• 175D to either keep or spend on whatever adventuring gear you wish.

MIRACLES OF VALAYA
(Note: These Miracles are ultimately just reflavoured Miracles of Grungni, Grimnir, and Alarielle from the Core Rulebook and Champions of Order.)
Hearth Queen's Balance
Target: 1
Range: Close
Duration: Instant
You can heal the wounds of another by taking on a portion of their suffering. A creature you touch can reduce the severity of one Wound. In exchange, you must take a Minor Wound or increase the severity of a Wound you already have.
Blessing of Valaya
Target: Zone
Range: Long
Duration: Permanent
You infuse the earth with the essence of life, causing plants in an area to grow and bloom. This can be used to bolster crops and revitalise a land tainted by Chaos. You can also choose to shape the growth into simple structures, such as growing winding roots and vines into a ladder or small bridge, or creating cover for you and your allies. In combat, these simple structures can form bridges between Zones, or can be used to give one Zone the Cover Trait
The plants and wildlife created by this Miracle are permanent but will decay naturally if left unattended in an inhospitable environment.
Wrath of the Hearthqueen
Cost: 1 Mettle
Target: Zone
Range: Medium
Duration: Sustained
You fill an area with uncomfortable searing heat, scalding and disorienting any who trespass there. Choose a Zone within Medium Range. That Zone gains the Difficult Terrain and Minor Hazard Traits. Additionally, creatures entering or starting their turn in the Zone must make a DN 6:1 Body (Might) Test or be Restrained until the start of their next turn. When you use this Miracle, you can choose to spend an additional Mettle to increase the Complexity of this Test by 1, to DN 6:2. On your turn, you can spend 1 Mettle as a Free Action to sustain this Miracle.
Heat of the Hearth
Target: Zone
Range: Self
Duration: Instant
A wave of heat washes over your zone, comforting your allies and scalding your foes. Make a 5:1 Soul (Devotion) test.

• You and your allies within your zone recover one toughness per success.
• Enemies within your zone suffer one damage per success.

You may spend a mettle to trigger both effets.
Find Strength in Her Absence
Target: 1
Range: Long
Duration: Sustained
Cost: 1 Mettle
Choose an allied target within long range. While the target has no allies in the same Zone, its Melee and Accuracy increase by two steps and it gains +2 Armour. If an ally enters the target’s Zone, this Miracle’s effect is suppressed until the ally leaves the Zone again. On your turn, you can spend 1 Mettle as a Free Action to sustain this Miracle.
Hearth Queen's Endurance
Target: Zone
Range: Self
Duration: Sustained
Make a DN 6:1 Soul (Devotion) Test. Whenever you or your allies within Short Range suffer Damage caused by fire or heat, reduce the Damage by 1 for each success. On your turn, you can spend 1 Mettle as a Free Action to sustain this Miracle.
Cauterise
Target: 1
Range: Close
Duration: Instant
Heat can be used as a tool of healing. Make a DN 4:1 Soul (Devotion) Test as you place a Holy Symbol of Valaya on a wounded ally. They recover Toughness equal to 1 plus the number of successes. When you use this Miracle, you can choose to spend a Mettle to add your Soul to the Toughness recovered.
Comforting Embers
Target: Allies within range
Range: Short
Duration: Sustained
Cost: 1 Mettle
You call forth a rain of glowing embers that fill your allies with warmth and encourage them to press on. When you use this Miracle, allies within range increase their Speed by one step and ignore Difficult Terrain until the beginning of your next turn, though they cannot Flee or Retreat until the Miracle ends. On your turn, you can spend 1 Mettle as a Free Action to sustain this Miracle.

this is long af lol sorry!
maybe this is obvious and not saying much of anything, but it just feels very plain that he was her favorite and that it wasn’t even close 😭 i’ll pull examples from the OS and AYITL, as well as some behind the scenes politics and things she’s said to explain this assertion. this isn’t even coming from a “team jess” place, although i won’t pretend im not, and im sure that biases me a ton, but mostly im just trying to analyze the way he’s written in contrast to the other two and assume ASPs perspective. like she lovedddd that boy and you can tell
to start with the most glaring reason, he’s the only love interest that we regularly see outside of his relationship with rory. we see dean unattached to rory like twice working in doose’s in the first three seasons, and in only a very small handful of scenes in season 4 & 5, and logan in 0. if they’re in a scene that rory herself is not in, there’s still a 98% chance it’s related to her in some way, jess is the only one this doesn’t apply to. this makes it so so much easier for the audience to sympathize with him because we see him as an actual character and not just rory’s boyfriend. when we see him fuck up, which was certainly a lot of the time when he was a teenager, we really understand why and therefore feel comfortable excusing it in ways we can’t with logan and dean. we see his struggles and insecurities firsthand, whereas it’s a lot of guesswork with the other two, we mostly only know what rory knows. plus his dynamic with luke is one of the most beloved on the show and showed really incredible depth to them both.
onto my next point, ASP really made it so whenever he was put up against another rory love interest, he was the more appealing foil and the audience is encouraged to side with/root for him. i know some people really hate him but most people don’t and no audience will ever be 100% in agreement on a love triangle. whether you personally find it appealing, he is arguably meant to be propped up against dean in a flattering way (for the most part). we’re supposed to be charmed just as rory is. then when he meets logan, he’s pretty polite and tries to keep it civil best he can, whereas logan is being a huge huge asshole, even more so than on his typical day. then rory follows him out and jess has the infamous “why did you drop out of yale” speech and gets through to her in a way logan hadn’t been able to. then there’s later the contrast between logan and the bridesmaids and jess having matured and being opposed to helping rory cheat (this also brings up the point that jess is the only guy rory never cheats on, the only guy that never cheats on anyone else, and the one she cheats on the other two with), that props him up as well (even if you don’t think logan cheated because i know that’s a grey area for a lot of people here, i personally always saw it as a major communication issue but not cheating). especially when you remember that most of jess’ major problems seemed to get mostly fixed at 19, whereas logan was 24 and still being a dick. yes that’s a very a weeping assumption because of how little we see jess, but it felt like we’re really supposed to get the sense he’s gotten his emotional shit together and AYITL reaffirms that. he’s really the only one of the 3 that has an authentically positive trajectory from start to finish and that says a lot to me. plus most of the traits people typically hate in jess, his smugness, entitlement, and issues with communication logan has too and in spades-they just manifest differently.
also, i always felt like a small point was made of jess knowing/seeing rory in a way the other two didn’t. in s2 when they’re in the car, he says something about foreign correspondence being too rough for her. he’s supportive and pivots when he realizes he scared her, but the man wasn’t wrong! rory was an excellent writer, a fantastic editor, and had great leadership skills but she was never going to like or be good at being a foreign correspondent, it is so ill suited to her personality, and based on where she’s at in AYITL i assume she learned that. then there’s obviously the “why did you drop out of yale” thing where he manages to get through to her when no one else could, (although im not gonna give him all the credit on that one as her frustration was clearly already mounting and i believe she would’ve gotten there herself soon enough) but he declares he knows her better than anyone which yeah could be interpreted as him talking out of his ass, but i really get the vibe that the opinion of the writer was seeping through there given how that whole speech was framed. then there is of course the book idea in AYITL that sparks her up again which i always found cute (and thought it showed their compatibility as adults quite nicely as jess is also an author).
plus, regardless of your general feelings on logan, he’s objectively not very good for rory. in some ways he challenges her in a positive way, like getting her to be more of a risk taker, but honestly i always felt like she was not her best self when she was with him and often very insecure, too. the drunkenly sobbing on the bathroom floor and crying “why doesn’t he like me” felt like an early indication that this relationship was not going to be healthy for her (personally i always saw it as a callback to dean drunkenly crying in luke’s asking “why didn’t she love me” and foreshadowing how rory would find herself in a different but still vaguely similar position that dean was in with her. this is reinforced by the “you’re not good enough” dinner that happens in the very next episode, something dean had to suffer through in the gilmore house). jess hurt rory a lot too don’t get me wrong, he was not a good boyfriend while they were dating at all, but i do think there’s a difference between being hurt by someone and developing a complex, which i think she and logan had and never properly got rid of. she starts to shake it a little bit in the second half of s6 but it doesn’t rly stick, and it was back full force in the revival.
plus i really do think a lot of logan’s charm would dissipate if he didn’t have a black card at his disposal, and ASP lets us know it! as that was pretty much the only way he pulled off most of his “gestures” except for the lorelai letter and hanging by the coffee cart. then in s7 when ASP got booted as a writer he basically became a different guy overnight, very mature and together super boyfriend? yet in AYITL he’s 35 and back to his old ways so i don’t think that was ever the intended trajectory for him, he was always kinda meant to suck, in a charismatic way sure but still kinda suck
speaking of AYITL, it feels to me like ASP effectively closed the door on every love interest except for jess. dean only has that one small cameo, that’s obviously very much over, and logan’s goodbye scene feels very final to me. obviously he’s the father of her baby (i do believe that’s been confirmed recently) so it’s not a full goodbye, but they both seemed to have really accepted that they’ll always love each other but it’s not the right fit. also, i never really subscribed to the idea that rory has to have parallel love interests to lorelai (“dean is her max” “jess is her luke” “jess is her chris” etc etc) but because im assuming ASP’s logic, she has said that logan is rory’s christopher. to me that says that she never had any intentions of having them be endgame, and their love was absolutely real, but that along the way, he became the one rory “wanted to want” and having a baby wouldn’t change that. maybe it would to them in the short term, but similarly to lorelai and chris they’d realize it’d just never work.
also, logan is for the most part, portrayed as a total dick with 0 growth in the revival, where jess doesn’t have any negative anything. i also always saw a very stark contrast in how they support rory in terms of the book. as i previously addressed, jess knows rory well and he sees she’s stuck and tells her she should write a book, and that seems to be the first thing that’s inspired her in quite some time. and what does logan do? logan buys her a house to write it in, which is nice but certainly no skin off his back and required no emotional anything from him, just his bank account, having a solid grasp of rory’s aesthetic preferences, and a good real estate agent. i just think that says so much about them and who they are to rory. jess is also the only one that gets an optimistic moment when he gazes at rory through the window. yeah we don’t get any indication from her side that she’s been thinking about jess that way, but the door feels open at least a crack, which it doesn’t for the other two. i think ASP wanted to keep the possibilities very open ended but it feels alluded to that if rory had to end up with one of the three, which she doesn’t, it’d be jess.
now, you might say, if ASP loved him so much then why was he only on the show for two seasons? why did he only date rory for like half of one? well, because he was supposed to have his own spin off, wayward circle. the episode where he goes to california was meant to be a back door pilot, but it fell through. when this happened ASP wanted to bring him back as a regular but milo said no and like he felt like jess’ story in SH was kinda done, but he’d come back here and there to honor the character. i think that if that had never happened, ASP hadn’t gotten left behind for s7, and the show didn’t have a surprise cancellation that things would’ve turned out differently for them (although i admit that’s a lot of ifs). maybe rory still would’ve ended the show single but jess likely would’ve had much much more material, but ofc this is all conjecture and it’s impossible to say for sure.
thank you for coming to my ted talk, i know it was super scattered and probably riddled with bias, but id love to hear other people’s thoughts on this!

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

Otherwise, enjoy the story! Thanks again to u/jesterra54 and u/skais01 for beta and checking of work!
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Memory transcription subject: Adjek, Venlil Space Corps Engineer
Date [standardized human time]: October 24, 2136
I had departed with a collection of other engineers who had assisted on the tethering of Nemesis several days ago back to her massive ship. There were twenty-five of us, although none I knew directly from my work.
As our cargo shuttle entered the direct monitoring range of the beast once more, I felt a bad feeling throughout my fur. I didn't know what, exactly, but it was like we had just stepped into the eyes of a predator lurking in the undergrowth, watching us intently. As if to capitalize on that unease, our pilot Mimek bleated something in a panic that made said fur stand straight.
"T-th-th-there's an Arxur vessel trailing us!"
I whirled onto the oncoming feed near the front of the shuttle. Behind us, was a Arxur Ambusher-class dropship that had taken a path directly behind us. It followed the exact same trajectory as our own, and showed no signs of diverting. I bleated out a panicked command of my own.
"K-kick it! W-we need to get distance from them!"
While I had no authority to tell the pilot what to do in this situation, he must've nevertheless agreed, and as such Mimek kicked the boosters into overdrive to escape their proximity. I kept an eye on the rear display, watching as in response, the Arxur craft opened up its own engines, as if to accept the chase, and closed in.
Mimek spoke again. "Why are they chasing us?! D-didn't the humans forbid them from attacking us in-system?!" I had a horrible thought as to why...
"They've fallen to their p-predator bloodlust! They won't be stopped so long as we're in vulnerable space! Close to Nemesis, fast!" I pointed at the guidance lights to the hangar on Nemesis' keel opening. While the Arxur could likely outrun us in an extended burn, we had the advantage in a sprint over a shorter distance. Nemesis was in that shorter distance range, and so we needed to reach it fast to be in its haven.
Mimek, already piloting at full afterburn, corrected the shop in a sharp turn from the plotted approach vector cleared with the Lunar Shipyards. As this occurred, a reminder from the very same monitors came through on comms.
"Venlil ship, this is LSC Tower 3, you have left the agreed final approach vector, adjust your course to match the planned path immediately, do not continue on your current heading."
The humans did not realize the threat we were currently in, and thus the pilot ignored the warning. The Arxur seemingly took our course change as a challenge, and followed suit.
"I repeat, readjust your course heading immediately or fighters will be scrambled. This is your only warning." Even were that the case, we were far too close for them to plot an intercept vector. The shipyard monitors would need at least [one minute] to reach us, and Nemesis was merely [20 seconds] at full-burn-then-brake approach. We would not let the ship closing in behind us catch us, disciplinary action be damned. The damned Arxur succumbed to their predator madness!
A lazy-curve speed burnoff pattern was adopted, and we rocketed at ever-decreasing, but still frightening pace towards Nemesis in an attempt to shake the Ambusher behind us. The hangar was merely moments away, don't fail us now!
The Arxur vessel broke off the chase near the massive docked ship, seemingly slowing for no apparent reason. Perhaps it realized it couldn't slow down as fast as we could, and as such had to? But, that came with another stomach-hurdling problem: us slowing down. If we didn't, we'd crash and turn into nothing but paste on the walls of the gargantuan ship's hangar.
Thankfully, Mimek pulled through, and we zoomed into the hangar space, hitting the emergency external inertial dampener breaking as we attempted landing. The ship skidded across the floor, as it skipped nearly a [fourty meters] to a stop, crashing through something on the way through, but we were moving at such a pace that I had no clue exactly what.
As the ship came to a complete stop, rocking back onto its belly with a final thump, there was the sound of heavy stomping outside, before something rammed into the back of the ship, nearly rocking it off-balance again. "What...what was that?!" We both exclaimed.
We stepped away from the back exit ramp of the vehicle, all twenty five of us, as it began to groan under immense stress. The door dented in, and a few of us instantly cried out in surprise and fear.
And then again. And again. Another rocking of the ship as a dent formed. Another.
And finally, with an unsettling sound of metal being torn through, a crack in the plating of the door turned into a gap that widened into a shaking hole, until the door literally flew off its hydraulic support. The strain spat out fluids and electrical sparking, and several bleated in fear of the sudden disassembly of the door between us and the hangar. Had the Arxur caught up to us? Were we doomed?
But as the burst of electrical smoke cleared, and the light was filtered through our adjusting eyes, what was on the other side shocked me.
A mechanical monstrosity, far bulkier and massive than the one that had confronted my group and I aboard Nemesis stood on the other side. It towered above us, with a intimidatingly large cannon built into one of its arms, aimed dead center into our room, looking more akin to a vehicle's gun than a handheld one. One could see behind it many more of a similar looking model closing in. It spoke in a wrathful tone...Her wrathful tone.
"What the hell are you doing CRASHING INTO ME? There better be a-"
But I felt a chill as it suddenly cut off, and the featureless head of the bipedal robot swiveled to look directly at me instead. Though I could see no clear indicator of eyes like the nightmarish drone I had talked with in the past, I could feel it gaze directly at me, ignoring the others. It suddenly spoke again, a single word conveying contempt dripping in it. The blood in my veins turned cold as the Twilight.
"YOU..."
+CONFED IO.5+
+READING MAIN SEQ.MEM+
+ADDENDUM: ADJUSTED DATE 24.10.2136+
Something's wrong, I can feel it.
The bearing of the approaching ships has left the supposed approach vector, and directly accelerated towards my open hangar bay. While the ships pose no threat to me directly, I am uncertain if they are capable of stopping quickly enough to not risk the human crew that had just landed. I considered my options...
+grab beam non-responsive, schedule systems evaluation immediately+
I had no capability to tractor the ships from their path, and they showed no sign of slowing. I could fire a particle beam in the path of both ships, but there was no ability to tune down the power enough to not destroy the ships, and it would not reduce their velocity. I plotted the relative course of the Venlil shuttle to be coming at this angle, which thankfully was towards the opposite side of the hangar as the Human delegation. That did not remove the possibility of shrapnel from a crash, however.
I interspersed my Praetorians in front of them, seeking to act as a shield in the case of any flying debris. I warned them in the same instant.
"Take cover behind these drones, there is a problem with the landing Venlil ship on route."
"W..What's going on, Red?" Hailey asked, confused. Never had I been this direct with her physically, actively interspersing my drones in front of her and the rest of the scientific delegation.
"They are likely to crash. Predicted acceleration curves of the shuttle do not meet the prerequisite delta-V to stop safely at this current distance and velocity. Duck and cover."
The shuttlecraft streaked into my hangar bay at speeds that would make a 21st century jet blush. It slowed anomalously upon entering, but did not slow at enough rate to prevent the crash. The Praetorians situated on that side of my hangar were incapable of moving fast enough to dodge out of the way, and I was forced to watch as the shuttle crashed through thirty-two of them in a 45-meter break distance, before slamming into a hangar wall. They were built to withstand incredible munition strength, but not twenty-some odd tons of shuttle at near mach speeds. The impact brutally cast them across the deck, smashing some, tearing apart others.
Debris flew from the front of the shuttle outward, but none reached near the humans. Those moronic aliens were about to answer painfully for their incompetence on my deck.
"Dear god!" One of the humans swore at the sound of the shuttle crashing. Another screamed and ducked down further behind my Praetorian. The drone curled down to better envelop her in protection. Hailey was speechless.
A squadron of Praetorians had been closing in from a safe distance throughout the entirety of the crash. They were a mere hundred meters away, only 4.9 seconds to reach the doors. I collided with the shuttlecraft's exit ramp, and slammed repeatedly into the back of it, aiming to create a gap by which to pry the thing off. Eventually, a gap was made, and the Praetorian body wrenched a manipulator into it.
Then, after tearing off the ramp door to the ship, and beginning to interrogate the idiotic fucks at gunpoint, I find no less that a familiar face has come with them. A familiar face I would have rather not seen again in the slightest.
+identity confirmation, Adjek, Venlil engineer+
"YOU...What, are you doing here, again?"
I stepped forward, into the cargo shuttle, the Praetorian I controlled looming over them, over him, by nearly one and a half meters. I made certain to emphasize that size difference. One does not just crash in me like this without a good reason, or I'd be testing how long a Venlil survives vacuum.
Adjek decided to speak up, fear laden in his voice. "I-I-I...W-we were being chased by an Arxur vessel on the course here! T-They ignored the human's truce and decided to p-pursue us directly!"
I faltered a bit at that. Chased? The Arxur supposedly promised that they wouldn't attack the Venlil in-system, but given how much the bad blood between the Arxur and herbivore races was hyped up, I couldn't toss out the possibility.
"Is he telling the truth?" I swung the Praetorian's fake head about the room, scanning over each Venlil in the audience. It wasn't necessary, I had a panoramic view just from the chest optics alone, but the psychological effect and bait of having a head was palpable. They all parroted something similar to what Adjek and the pilot said, so I had no clear contradiction to go off of yet.
But I wasn't done with intimidation, I warmed the cannon muzzle to be visible within the deep red visual spectrum, and aimed it at him.
"Tell me everything, now."
He began to describe his intent and clearance for coming here...but reality decided to be a pain at that exact moment, as the likely culprit entered the hangar. Thankfully, I wasn't hampered by multitasking. A section of me split attention equally to the Arxur ship landing in my bay.
This ship, supposedly the Ambusher-class Goring Claw going off the IFF, was an armed dropship of some sort capable of intro-extra-atmospheric operation, given the rotary variable mode engines. They had been given landing clearance, but not by me, no, instead by the shipyard.
I would need to ask the UN to bring down that blackout protocol soon. This is immensely inconvenient to not have access to monitoring and communication outside myself, except through Hailey. Nevertheless, I positioned my remaining Praetorians around the likely exit of the dropship, awaiting it to open and...greet...these likely troublemakers. I had one Praetorian stand directly front-and-center to the back end, and aim weapons, but not arm them at the dropship hangar doors.
With a hiss, and a burst of slightly depressurized gas, the door opened, and out marched a line of two pairs of two Arxur guards. Their gear looked highly ceremonial, given its lack of tactical or efficient features, and the choice of weapon being a spear of some sort with a sidearm still holstered. Behind them, walked an even more gaudy individual than the guards, an Arxur with a prominent scar across their face covered in flamboyant ceremonial uniform. I was almost certain this was Chief Hunter Isif, Lithke's commanding officer, given Hailey's description of the visitors earlier. Behind him marched a set of less extravagantly dressed figures, likely advisors of some sort. And, of course, Lithke.
I wouldn't just let them off the hook so easily though, despite their far better entrance.
"Chief Hunter Isif. Lithke. You had best have a good reason for making a Venlil ship crash into my hangar."
Memory transcription subject: Chief Hunter Isif, Arxur Dominion Sector Fleet
Date [standardized human time]: October 24, 2136
Those idiots seriously did not-
...No, calm yourself, a Chief Hunter must always look composed, even in the face of absurdity.
The pilot in control of this Ambusher had heard my order to follow the Venlil in, got target fixation, and decided to escalate it to a chase. I would have him lashed for the offense later, but for now, I needed to quickly rekindle what little good will the Arxur had in Red One's eyes.
Losing it now could mean turning up hungry forever.
"I apologize for my pilot's unprofessional actions. He will be punished severely later for the transgression of letting his instincts override both human and my orders. Is there anything I can do further to fix your appetite, Red One?"
The robot frontmost of our shuttle stepped forward, it's bulk and size intimidating even by Arxur standards. It towered tall enough to nearly be at my head height despite the fact I was standing on the dropship ramp. Red One's response was curt, and [quick to the kill]. "You can start by convincing the odd twenty-five or so Venlil engineers your pilot chased into crashing on my hangar deck that you aren't here to eat them all, or whatever sickening actions you Arxur do. When that's done, then you may converse with Hailey Whitmer."
At least it wasn't "you've done enough, stop". I'd seen plenty disappear after that particular response in the Dominion.
"Fine. Blades!" I shouted to the ceremony guard I was issued. "Two of you will hold the pilot at the ship for punishment. He is to not eat, nor rest, nor do anything until I return. The rest will assist Lithke in assuaging the prey that they are safe...for now. I must speak with Red One while you do."
They saluted, and went about their way.
Good, everyone bought it. In a sense, this was funnily enough just the distraction I needed. Perhaps I'll reduce the pilot's lashing count quietly for that.
Now...for the harder part. I had no idea if Red would sense my intentions, and so-
The combat drone spoke once again. "Lithke's sung your praises, Chief Hunter Isif. An icon of 'applied cruelty' in his words. I'm curious as to why that should be praised, out of all things in a leader."
We're still too close to the ship, even if none are around to hear it, audio logs might pick up any dissenting thoughts. I should bring this conversation elsewhere.
"I see Lithke wasn't convincing on his own, it seems. Here, walk with me, I still have yet to meet your Special Envoy Hailey personally." I began to walk towards the group of humans near the other end of the hangar.
"So, you have met her?" Red One instantly picked up on the message, noticing the phrasing. So, she's capable of understanding subtlety...
"Yes, but not directly. She gave a presentation at the UN's discussion on you, which I attended."
"And what, pray tell, did you learn about there?" Red One seemed to press me slightly on the session, clearly looking for something. I'd play along, get in their favor.
"Plenty. You're by far the most powerful ship in the galaxy, as far as I can tell. The Humans and Venlil alike are afraid of you, but the former less-so, seeing a more mixed reaction to your presence."
"And what do you think of me?" Red questioned.
I began with a political mealy-mouth phrase.
"The Dominion is not-"
But she interrupted my train of thought. "No. I didn't ask what the Arxur thought. I was asking what you thought, specifically."
What?!
I scanned quickly, my head paced from side to side as I looked for any potential monitoring agent or tools nearby that could potentially pick up on my dialogue.
"You're...an interesting shake-up to the galaxy. Possibly even a means to an end I've been looking into."
There was a curiosity laden in that tone. "Is that so? What, pray tell, would an Arxur fleet leader need with me?"
Again, I checked about, to make certain none were close. "I...am trying to solve a personal problem. Your emergence is convenient to it..."
"Ah...so I was correct..." Red One's drone stopped in front of me for a moment, before turning directly to address me. "...The constant checking about other Arxur assets, the send-off of your personal guard, the overcompensation on the facial details and micromovements, the ordering of Lithke to 'convince' me of Dominion ideals. How much of it is an act, Chief Hunter Isif?"
She already found me out!?
The mask dropped in a panic, knowing none were close enough to pick up on it. "Quiet! How did you pick up on that?" I hissed under my breath to them.
She neglected to answer that statement directly, instead asking another question. "That's not important. The better thing to ask, is what exactly do you want with me?"
Well, since the meat has been spoiled...
I decided to be blunt, and honest. "I need either a line to directly converse with you on a sensitive matter later, or a method to do it now. There is a deep sickness within the Arxur, and you are a possible lynchpin to excise it. But it is traitorous in nature to Betterment, and they have agents everywhere. I would need it to be done away from their ears."
"I am currently operating in blackout conditions. I cannot send or receive signals from the outside without going through a UN transponder, so the first option is out currently. You need a distraction then, while you're here." Red's drone turned back around and continued walking, not giving away anything to the outside of her sudden skinning of my fake personality. "That can be arranged. But not this instant, we are already too close to outside ears for an extended conversation."
"A codeword, then? Some indicator that I may step away and talk securely with you?"
"A codeword is a start, but I'm more concerned about your personal guard. Are they loyal to you enough to ignore such a conversation?"
"Absolutely not. Effectively none of the group that has come along with me is loyal enough to hear this."
Red One didn't speak immediately, but the pause was small. "A full separation might be possible. I have an idea during the tour. If I say the phrase, 'Feel free to peruse' to you specifically, it will mean I have sufficiently separated attention enough that you may speak to me securely. Do you understand?"
She already has a plan? Her speed on that matter is dizzying.
I would have to trust her method. "I understand."
"Good, mask up again, we are within the distance of maximum human audible range given this volume."
Her matter of figuring out my intentions and act that quickly was unnerving, but it made some sense for a sentient computer. She likely thought far faster than the average Arxur, or even Human. But I could consider that later, I needed to get back in character. While my physical demeanor hadn't wavered any, I needed to give off the mental face of a Chief Hunter once again to allay suspicions. Especially since my personal guard were likely to return soon.
Hailey Whitmer noticed us soon after, and disengaged herself from talking with the other Humans. She began her way over here, leaving them to huddle around their ship, still unloading a collection of scientific equipment and personal belongings. "Chief Hunter Isif! Welcome to the UECNS Nemesis. What happened exactly that caused the Venlil to crash in like that, however? I heard a concerning bit that they were chased?"
I lashed my tail in frustration at that. "Our pilot idiotically got fixated on the Venlil ship. He will be punished later. For now I apologize on their behalf. I will try and...convince the Venlil's not to fear soon, but I honestly don't expect them to listen. They are prey, after all, sniveling in fear at the slightest provocation."
Hailey looked annoyed at that statement, but I could at least take personal solace in knowing it was mere persona. She would simply have to deal with it. "That's rather rude to our allies, Isif."
I corrected her: "Your allies, Human. The prey do not interest me. No, what interests me and my cohort is this ship." I pointed a claw at the robotic soldier behind me.. "I have already met Red One herself, and as you are the UN's Envoy here, I must meet you as well. Lithke has spoken much about both of you."
Hailey's expression changed from veiled frustration to surprise at that. "He has? Hah! I did charm-...oh, excuse my manners. When your entourage arrives over here, we can begin a proper tour with the both of us at the helm. Red?"
A voice emanated from the walls. "Yes, Hailey?"
"Do you have a path listed for a proper tour throughout your facilities?"
She responded immediately. "Yes. The UEC military has conducted tours before of my hull to other officials. I can follow said pathing, ignoring areas currently exposed to vacuum or damaged heavily. It will cover roughly 45% of the ship, and with transportation aid, take roughly 4 and a half hours."
Hailey clapped her hands together. "Perfect! When the three groups are gathered properly here, we can begin."
Given I could see my guard returning, thankfully not laden with prey blood or wounds, that would be soon.
+CONFED IO.5+
+READING MAIN SEQ.MEM+
+ADDENDUM: ADJUSTED DATE 24.10.2136+
I have had tours done of my shipself before. When my form was still under construction, Commander Theodore William Billingsly had given a walk-around to Yasmine, in preparation to turn over the role of Captain to her. The visit had gone rather easily, and familiarized her with my layout quickly in a professional manner. I had given numerous miniature tours of my layout to new crew members, with assistance from more established crew. I figured tours were nothing too special to my sensibilities and experience.
But I had never quite had the experience of juggling a tour where each distinct species of the tour was at odds with the other two. Listening to them was taxing.
"What are you looking at, leaflicker?"
"H-Help! I-It wants to e-e-eat me!!!"
"Could y'all just get along for a single moment? We're coming up on the barracks, supposedly, and yet you're at each other's throats!"
"Of course we're at their throats, those are rather delicious to tear out."
"You predators would focus on our vulnerable spots, w-wouldn't you!"
"Fuck's sake, you can't behave, can y'all?"
"Jealous of our vicious nature?"
"No we're not! What you do to the other races in this galaxy is abhorrent!"
"Yeah, you Arxur monsters have nothing to be proud of! I've lost family to your kind!"
Very taxing.
The human team and Hailey were trying to somewhat wrangle the mood down, but the Arxur and Venlil despised one another, and it showed. There was no quieting-down of their feud for more than a few minutes, before it started up again for the smallest altercations. I was glad I had brought a host of Praetorians to keep them physically separate somewhat, as I'd hate to have seen any humans hurt in the way.
Instead, I tried to focus on just providing an air of authority, as Hailey led them throughout my assorted systems and layout, only providing input where she did not know about. There were at least some receptive comments of myself during the tour that didn't result in lambasting the other two parties.
"The internal layout of this ship is rather unique. It doesn't look like anything in the Federation proper." A Venlil engineer by the name of Joluk mentioned.
"Yeah, I know!" Said a human scientist by the name of George Oscoda. "It's very...Death Star meets Nostromo, made a bit wider, then painted gunmetal black with red detailing."
Joluk turned back to him. "I have no idea what those are, but I don't like the sound of a Death Star." Their tail went ramrod straight, hanging down at the comment. Perhaps a body language fear response?
I decided to clarify from a drone nearby. "The internal design pattern of the UEC favors a highly geometric, hexagonal or octagonal hall layout, for maximum support with little freestanding support. A three-to-two width to height ratio also helps alleviate claustrophobic concerns, and detriments mental health minimally for extended stays."
George spoke up again. "I guess that's fair, but nothing will change how depressingly dark and scarred-up some of these corridors and bulkheads are currently. I get that it's battle damage, but..."
Lithke piped in from the front. "Nemesis wears her scars proudly. She is a predator forged in war, none escape without scars." I couldn't find a reason to directly deny said statement. I did sometimes prefer the reminder of how many Compact Janissaries had died within myself. How I shivered in delight at knowing they met their ends aboard my hull.
I decided to just remain silent on that. Hailey also responded to that soon after. "Well, honor besides, a lot of that damage will have to be repaired eventually. No amount of self-righteousness excuses holes to vacuum in some spots." She was also right. There were various spots throughout me that were not even enterable, let alone habitable as I was. Numerous collapsed-in sections, holes in my hull all-throughout. There wasn't even a main engines section anymore, with the aft exposed to space after redlining to Earth to save them from the Federation fleet. No amount of scars would justify not repairing battle damage.
I was at least partially glad they could not read Compact Standard. The various little easter eggs of alien languages scattered on my walls were filled with warnings and resignations of regret for boarding me. I left them there, to add to the ambient horror of unwelcome borders, but currently it just felt...out of place. I did not want to scare the people on board.
Thankfully there were few along this path, and none noticed it as the language it was offhand, so I avoided those questions. As we walked to the entrance doors to the barracks, there was a hallway we would have to cross first. One I had kept tenderly over the centuries.
I decided to speak ahead of time on it. "We are coming up on a particular area of mine en route to the general barracks. It was not something made in my time with humanity, but more...a personal project. Reminders and trophies of what and who I fought for both myself, and any others who might unfortunately find themselves this far into my halls." Some of the Arxur looked intrigued by that statement.
Hailey looked a little nervous at the way I introduced it. "I-I wouldn't really call it something particularly-"
I kept going over her response. It wasn't particularly polite, but if I was to make a maximal psychological distraction for Isif to say his piece, it would need to be done...
As a drone already within put the finishing touches on the arrangement, and skittered away into the dark lofts above, the doors opened to my favorite rooms, and I introduced the hallway ahead.
"Welcome...to my Collection."
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Hello! I've been on two cruises, both 3-4 day Carnival trips to Mexico. I've fallen in love with cruising and am excited to save up for a longer and better trip next year. I know that Carnival is the budget/family friendly one but don't know much about any of the others. I'd love your expertise on some of the different cruise lines, and any recommendations!
Background: I am a single adult female and typically cruise with my sister or friend. I love food, solitude and being away from technology. On my last trip, I discovered the spa with heated loungers, which was heaven.