Ravens fan here. We attended last year's Ravens-Titans game. What we learned from attending NFL Europe game last season
1. Register on the NFL Europe website early and often. Have various family members register on the NFL Europe site, using different email addresses. Note that each team’s season ticket holders get first dibs on tickets before they go on sale to the general public. DO NOT pay ticket brokers for tickets, they are massively overpriced and not worth it. You can always get a ticket cheaper, right up to game day. Our tickets went on sale in mid-June. Actually, registering early doesn’t matter, for the next reason:
2. Everyone will be tossed into a queue randomly the day tickets go on sale. Have all family & friends report their place in the queue, and go with whomever gets in first. Important note: The ticket site is hosted by NFL Europe. They will show you the start time for purchasing in Greenwich Mean Time. Make sure you convert that time to your time zone. For us it was 7 am EDT. Once you get online and into the queue, DO NOT LEAVE. This is an easy way to get bumped. I had my daughter watch my place in the queue while I was at work, and had her buy the tickets.
3. Speaking of the queue, do not blow a gasket when you see your spot is #229,767 in the queue:
a. All 5 NFL Europe games go on sale all at once;
b. Like you, everyone registered with 5-10 different email address and family member name combinations;
c. That number literally was our spot in the queue, and we cleared the queue in 90 minutes and got tickets.
d. Be ready to make an instantaneous decision – Don’t mess around trying to get a better seat. They go fast. We ended up getting 4 seats, not together, but in the same section.
e. If you miss out, don’t worry because plenty of fans sell them back as the Summer progresses.
4. Book air travel as soon as you know you have tickets. When you fly into London (recommend Heathrow), take the Underground right into Central London. The station is right at the Airport outside baggage claim. It’s a 45 -60 minute trip into Central London. When returning to the airport, make certain that you are getting on the line that goes to Heathrow. There is also a Heathrow Express train, but it’s only 15-20 minutes faster and costs a lot more than the Underground. Buy an Underground pass at a kiosk in the airport outside baggage claim.
5. The hotel situation in London is great, we had no issues getting a room. Recommend booking the hotel early, since you can always cancel if you don’t get tickets or change your mind. If I can make a recommendation that is convenient to a lot of attractions, including the underground to get to Hotspur stadium, check out this hotel: https://arosfalondon.com/ We had NFL fans from across Europe staying at our hotel.
6. Speaking of which, stay in Central London. Make a week out of it. The NFL and the teams usually have a week-long celebration around the city. Access to the stadium is easy via the Underground.
7. Usually the local soccer clubs are typically on break the week of NFL Europe games, and those tickets are a tough get anyway. But if you have a favorite club, schedule a tour of their stadium. It’s worth it.
8. Speaking of Stadiums, Hotspur Stadium is one of the newest and is massive. It is all enclosed around the seating areas. But the roof is open, and most seats are covered. Do not worry about the weather on game day. Sweat pants and a sweatshirt/game jersey was more than adequate. Getting to and from the Underground, however, you will be exposed to the elements. Do not bring an umbrella, wear a rain jacket if rain is in the forecast.
9. You will see jerseys of all 32 NFL teams represented at the game. Over a third of the fans are from the UK or Europe. They are just there to see “proper football”, as the person sitting next to me said. The fans get into the game, and have a really good time. The people surrounding us bought us beers and sang much of the game. It’s a ton of fun.
10. On game day, take the Tube to Hotspur Stadium. It’s about a 10 block (.75 mile) walk to/from the stadium. You can ride a bus to the stadium from the Underground, but do not expect it on the way back. The atmosphere surrounding the stadium is amazing. The stadium is surrounded by activities, including a lot of people who don’t have tickets, but are there for the spectacle. Eat a good brunch/lunch before going. Do not expect to be able to get seated at a restaurant near the stadium. And do not expect great food in the stadium, it was a major disappointment.
11. Upon conclusion of the game, it will be a massive river of people heading for the tube. I do not recommend taking the Overground train to leave, the queue can be quite long. Instead, just follow the flow of people to the regular underground stop 10-11 blocks south of the stadium. Don’t worry, the long line goes surprisingly fast. And the fans are still having a good time.
12. Feel free to ping me if you have questions!

Ravens fan here. We went to the Ravens-Titans game in London last year, and I put together these tips for anyone thinking about going to the Bears game in London this year:
What we learned from attending NFL Europe game last season
1. Register on the NFL Europe website early and often. Have various family members register on the NFL Europe site, using different email addresses. Note that each team’s season ticket holders get first dibs on tickets before they go on sale to the general public. DO NOT pay ticket brokers for ticket packages, they are massively overpriced and not worth it. You can always get a ticket cheaper, right up to game day. Our tickets went on sale in mid-June. Actually, registering early doesn’t matter, for the next reason:
2. Everyone will be tossed into a queue randomly the day tickets go on sale. Have all family & friends report their place in the queue, and go with whomever gets in first. Important note: The ticket site is hosted by NFL Europe. They will show you the start time for purchasing in Greenwich Mean Time. Make sure you convert that time to your time zone. For us it was 7 am EDT. Once you get online and into the queue, DO NOT LEAVE. This is an easy way to get bumped. I had my daughter watch my place in the queue while I was at work, and had her buy the tickets.
3. Speaking of the queue, do not blow a gasket when you see your spot is #229,767 in the queue:
a. All 5 NFL Europe games go on sale all at once;
b. Like you, everyone registered with 5-10 different email address and family member name combinations;
c. That number literally was our spot in the queue, and we cleared the queue in 90 minutes and got tickets.
d. Be ready to make an instantaneous decision – Don’t mess around trying to get a better seat. They go fast. We ended up getting 4 seats, not together, but in the same section.
e. If you miss out, don’t worry because plenty of fans sell them back as the Summer progresses.
4. Book air travel as soon as you know you have tickets. When you fly into London (recommend Heathrow), take the Underground right into Central London. The station is right at the Airport outside baggage claim. It’s a 45 -60 minute trip into Central London. When returning to the airport, make certain that you are getting on the line that goes to Heathrow. There is also a Heathrow Express train, but it’s only 15-20 minutes faster and costs a lot more than the Underground. Buy an Underground pass at a kiosk in the airport outside baggage claim.
5. The hotel situation in London is great, we had no issues getting a room. Recommend booking the hotel early, since you can always cancel if you don’t get tickets or change your mind. If I can make a recommendation that is convenient to a lot of attractions, including the underground to get to Hotspur stadium, check out this hotel: https://arosfalondon.com/ We had NFL fans from across Europe staying at our hotel.
6. Speaking of which, stay in Central London. Make a week out of it. The NFL and the teams usually have a week-long celebration around the city. Access to the stadium is easy via the Underground.
7. Usually the local soccer clubs are typically on break the week of NFL Europe games, and those tickets are a tough get anyway. But if you have a favorite club, schedule a tour of their stadium. It’s worth it.
8. Speaking of Stadiums, Hotspur Stadium is one of the newest and is massive. It is all enclosed around the seating areas. But the roof is open, and most seats are covered. Do not worry about the weather on game day. Sweat pants and a sweatshirt/game jersey was more than adequate. Getting to and from the Underground, however, you will be exposed to the elements. Do not bring an umbrella, wear a rain jacket if rain is in the forecast.
9. You will see jerseys of all 32 NFL teams represented at the game. Over a third of the fans are from the UK or Europe. They are just there to see “proper football”, as the person sitting next to me said. The fans get into the game, and have a really good time. The people surrounding us bought us beers and sang much of the game. It’s a ton of fun.
10. On game day, take the Tube to Hotspur Stadium. It’s about a 10 block (.75 mile) walk to/from the stadium. You can ride a bus to the stadium from the Underground, but do not expect it on the way back. The atmosphere surrounding the stadium is amazing. The stadium is surrounded by activities, including a lot of people who don’t have tickets, but are there for the spectacle. Eat a good brunch/lunch before going. Do not expect to be able to get seated at a restaurant near the stadium. And do not expect great food in the stadium, it was a major disappointment.
11. Upon conclusion of the game, it will be a massive river of people heading for the tube. I do not recommend taking the Overground train to leave, the queue can be quite long. Instead, just follow the flow of people to the regular underground stop 10-11 blocks south of the stadium. Don’t worry, the long line goes surprisingly fast. And the fans are still having a good time.
12. Feel free to ping me if you have questions!

Everyone get death donut slashers ready. Pack heat. That means orange paint, molotovs, and superglue.
We're going to bring stencils paint new lines and redirect all first responder traffic away from the capitol complex. Our advance agents will slash all the SUV tires of various capitol police, slowing their response time for units stationed on the perimeter. We're going to superglue people down to the roads, creating trolley problem anyone trying to get through. We will then set a diversionary fire in the parking lot (eliminating the cars).
When the fire fighters and police show up to investigate the fires, we'll throw orange paint on everyone. By making them look like us, we will create confusion - and opportunity. While everyone's confused about where the orange people are and who they are, our secondary squad in waiting near the building will also cover themselves in orange paint and sprint at the front doors. After we get to close quarters, since we outnumber them, we'll superglue one person to each defender. Because we're covered in orange paint, we will be able to break free while they are stuck to the ground.
Finally, when we get into the main chamber, we will draft a new government, declare our coup a success, and abolish all private automobiles all across Bangladesh.Those Bengalis will never know what hit them. Dakka will be afflicted with modest amounts of automobile usage no longer. Next stop, invading Amerikkka.

Me (F17) and my 3 friends (Fs16) are always together in school works, the rest of our classmates don’t like us and we are really close so we just always stick together. And every time we have a deadline we don’t do the work until last second, most of the times we don’t even do. for example my english teacher (we are not native english speakers btw) gave us a month to create a play to present to our class. My group in comparison to other classmates has an easier time in english and they just take it like “i can speak english so we don’t need to worry about it”(in my opinion it should be the other way around, because we can do it less difficultly than others we should work more and have the better grade possible, but okay) and well today is the deadline, our play needs to have at least 8 minutes and ours doesn’t even covers a 1 minute. yesterday they decided to change the topic we originally had planed. and now i came an hour earlier to school and they don’t even care about this, they are just hoping that our very strict teacher lets us do it another time when she specifically said that everyone had to present today. literally yesterday i skipped lunch and wasted my free afternoon in 10 lines of work, which is noting compared to what we need, and rn i am alone at school while they are talking with some other friends. non of us has been getting good grades lately, my best grade was a 13 (0 to 20) in english and it’s almost to the same for them. English could be the subject we had an easier time to make our final grades (i don’t remember how it’s called) better. am i being to uptight on this or do i have a reason to worry ?

DISCLAIMER: Sorry this is a day late. I ended up having to rewrite half of this. Still, I hope you enjoy. After this, I'll be going on my hiatus. So I hope you like this last little bit of Roo-family cuteness. Thank you all and keep on keepin' on!
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Special thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for creating the NoP universe.
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I'd also like to thank u/xskipy10 for their awesome fanart of the main cast as well as their recent Tohba meme and their fanart of Michael baysitting. You're work is a treasure!
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Thank you as well to u/Accomplished-Golf-59 for his take on Michael, Teylim, and Tohba in his submission for the Banner Art Contest, and u/Spacer_Catgirl4969 for their awesome music video featuring a pixel-art Dohkar in his bar. Be sure to give ALL of these awesome creators your love and support.
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And let's not forget u/Guywhoexists2812 who has been an awesome source of memes as well as sick pixel art, such as THIS and THIS!!!! And even THIS!!!!!! And how could I forget THIS!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!
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Today, we see all the reasons Teylim has to keep going in the face of adversity. For when all is said and done, love truly does conquer all. LETTUCE...begin...
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Original Story
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[Accessing Camera Function…]
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[Accessing Saved Recordings Function…]
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[Play Selected Recording?: Y/N…]
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[Playing Recording!]
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[The camera opens up on a female Yotul with a satchel over her shoulder. She is walking backwards down a paved walkway while looking up at the person holding the camera…]
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“Alright! Soooo…here we are in… Michael tell us where we are!”
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[The person holding the camera gives an audible sigh…]
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“Do I have to, Tey?”
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“Yes! Come on, it’ll be fun!”
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[Another audible sigh is heard before the person begins panning the camera around the surrounding cityscape…]
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“We are in the beautiful, literally ALWAYS sunny capital of Dayside City!”
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“And what would you say we’re doing here in Dayside City?”
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“We were just at the Public Records building getting our paperwork verified.”
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[The Yotul woman is seen reaching into her satchel and pulling out a leaflet of documents…]
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“Oh! You mean THIS paperwork? Hmmm… I wonder what these might say… Mind helping me here?”
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“Seriously?”
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[The Yotul doesn’t answer, instead shoving the documents directly into the camera. Another, more amused-sounding sigh is heard…]
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“It says that your name has been officially changed to ‘Teylim Andrews.’”
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“Mmmmhmmm. And what about this one?”
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“That one says that Tohba’s name has been officially changed to ‘Tohba Andrews.’”
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“Aaaand why do you suppose that is?”
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[A shuffling sound is heard and the camera shifts as the person holding it pulls out their own papers…]
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“Probably because according to MY paperwork, while we’re still waiting for my Application of Citizenship to go through, I, Michael Ruiz Andrews, am now the full, legal, son of one, Teylim Andrews-”
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“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!!!!!!”
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[The Yotul woman darts forward, wrapping the person holding the camera in a hug. The camera is set on the ground and the face of the person is now visible. The two hold their embrace, rocking back and forth…]
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“I love you so much, my joey…”
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“Love you too, Ma…”
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[Recording Ceases…]
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[Play Next Recording?: Y/N…]
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[Playing Recording!]
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[The camera opens on a small kitchen area where two beings are sat eating. On the left, a male Yotul infant in a high chair is munching away at a human food identified as “Cheerios” spread across his tray. On the right, a male human idly stirs at a bowl of cereal while tapping away at a datapad…]
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[Eventually, after munching down another “Cheerio”, the infant catches a glimpse at the human and stares for approximately one second before his tail begins wagging…]
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“Mikey?”
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[The humans attention is broken away from their datapad and immediately focuses on the infant…]
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“Yeah, Bud?”
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“I WUV YOOOUUU.”
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[The infant’s sing-song voice seems to make the human smile before he leans forward, planting a “kiss” on top of the infant’s head…]
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“MmmMUAH! Te amo, mi hermanito.”
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“Whaz dat mean?”
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“It means, ‘I love you, Little Brother’. Want me to teach you?”
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“Hmmmmm… OKAY!”
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“Okay.”
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[The human chuckles slightly before scooting his chair in…]
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“Okay, so when you want to tell someone you love them, you say, ‘Te amo.’ Okay?”
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[The infant gives a curious ear flick…]
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“Teeeh…Mo?”
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“Close! Here. Repeat after me. Te…”
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“Teeh…”
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“Ah…”
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“Aaahh…”
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“Mo…”
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“Moh!”
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“Te…ah…mo…”
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“Teeh…aaahh…mo!”
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“Okay! All together now. Te amo.”
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“¡TE AMO!”
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[The human excitedly gets up from his seat and embraces the infant…]
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“YES!!! You did it! Awesome job, Bud!”
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“YAAAAYYY!!!! ¡TE AMO, MIKEY!”
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“MMMUAH!! ¡Te amo, precioso hermanito!”
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[The camera jitters slightly and a muffled giggling is heard. The human turns to face the camera…]
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“Ma? What are you- Have you been recording this whole time?”
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“Just a little!”
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“Must you record everything?”
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“As a matter of fact, yes!”
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“MAMA!!”
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[The camera zooms in on the excited infant…]
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“Hello, Precious! Is your big brother teaching you Spanish?”
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“UH-HUH!! ¡TE AMO, MAMA!”
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“Ooooh, that is just ADORABLE! Can you teach him to say ‘Mama’ in Spanish, too?”
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[The camera pans over to the human, who raises an eyebrow. After a moment, the human smirks and gives an exaggerated shrug while shaking his head…]
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“No tengo que hacerlo. Él ya lo sabe, mamá.”
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“Pffft! Smart aleck.”
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[Recording Ceases…]
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[Play Next Recording?: Y/N…]
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[Playing Recording!]
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[The camera opens up facing a pair of beds in a small room. On one bed, a female Yotul is sat with her infant in her lap as a male human walks into frame carrying a brightly wrapped gift box…]
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“Merry Late Christmas, guys!”
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“Merry Christmas, Michael!”
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“Mewwy Kwizmuz, Mikey!”
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[The human kneels down and hands the infant the gift box…]
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“Sorry this gift is a bit last minute, but I managed to grab it while I was out with ‘Nel the other day.”
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“I’m sure it’ll be perfect, Michael.”
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“I hope so. Go on, Bud. Open it! It’s for you!”
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“OKAY!!!”
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[The infant rips away at the brightly-colored paper, and with help from his mother, lifts off the lid. The infant then excitedly starts bouncing up and down and reaches into the box, pulling out a bright-red plush…]
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“WED TIWFISH!!!!!!”
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“Oh, Michael! How? When?”
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“I had to ask around online if anyone else had plushies from the aquarium ship, and I managed to find a guy here in Dayside. There’s…still a lot of things we lost at the house that need to be replaced, but I figured this would be a good start…”
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“It’s perfect.”
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[The three embrace and hold it for several seconds before pulling back…]
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“BUT! I’m not done with gifts just yet.”
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“What?”
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“Here. Mind handing me your pad?”
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“Sure?”
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[The Yotul hands the human her datapad as he pulls a small drive from his pocket and plugs it in. After a moment, he smiles and sits down on the bed next to the Yotul. She is then seen gasping and covering her mouth with her paws…]
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“Michael…”
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“I overheard you on the phone with Aunty Triv, talking about how you wish you had some pictures of me when I was younger…”
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“How on Liern-”
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“It’s…a long story. When I was first taken into foster care after getting rescued, I was assigned a social worker to help me adjust. And after I got situated with Dad, he stayed and helped us out from time to time. He basically became like an uncle to me after a while. And since Dad didn’t really have any other family, whenever he wanted to share pictures of me growing up, he’d send a copy to my social worker. I’ve…been back in contact with him for a little while now, and it turns out he kept them.”
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“Oh, Michael…”
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[The Yotul and human lean against each other and embrace…]
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“I love you, Ma.”
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“I love you too, my joey.
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[Still leaning against each other, they begin to swipe at the pad, presumably looking through pictures. After a few swipes, The Yotul begins chuckling hysterically…]
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“Aaaawwweee…”
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“Crap, I forgot about that one!”
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“Who’z dat?”
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“That’s…me, Bud.”
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[The infant looks at the image for a while, still holding the bright red plush…]
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“Teeheehee!! Fuzzy Mikey!”
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“Can we please just swipe to the next one?”
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“Wait. I’ve seen those kinds of human garments before! Aren’t those for…LITTLE…little joeys?”
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“Look, I was a very emotionally stunted kid and I just thought they were comfy, alright?”
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“This is SO going on the desk.”
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“Please no. Any of them but that one.”
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“Nope! It’s already decided!”
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“YAAYYY! FUZZY MIKEY!”
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“God, ‘Nel’s never gonna let me live this down…”
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[Recording Ceases…]
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Memory Transcript Subject: Teylim Andrews, Yotul Accountant And Loving Mother Of Two
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Date:[Standardized Human Time] February 1, 2137
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[Warning: REM Sleep Detected: Transcript May Be Fragmented Or Incomplete…]
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Crrreeeeaak…
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My eyes slowly squint open as the noise rouses me from sleep. I let out a yawn before looking for the source of the noise. I’m…back in my house… Sitting upright, I see that my door’s been opened, beaming The Dayside’s permanent daylight into my room. I was confused for a moment. The only other person here that would be here is-
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“Uuuuhhmm… M-Mrs. Teylim?”
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I looked down, and spotted the culprit.
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Standing in the doorway was a small human child, cradling my Tohba in his arms. He was silhouetted from the daylight behind him, the light beaming past his adorable onesie pajamas creating a small blue outline around him, matching his eyes.
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Strange. For some reason, I thought he was taller…
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“Michael, sweetie? What’s the matter?”
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Still carrying Tohba, Michael made his way over to the bed.
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“Uuuhhhmmm… Tohba h-had a n-nightmare…”
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“Ooohh, is that so?”
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Something definitely didn’t add up. As he gently handed Tohba over to me, he certainly didn’t seem to be having a nightmare. In fact, even now he was still sleeping peacefully.
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Michael, on the other paw, was DEFINITELY out of sorts. He was nervous, fidgeting, wrapped up in a self-hug, and even now, refused to even look at me. Whether that was because of his nervousness or if he was still convinced I was afraid of him had yet to be seen.
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Stupid, ridiculous, Federation dogma…
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I could tell he wasn’t being honest with me. Ordinarily, I would’ve been upset about him lying, and even more so about him disturbing Tohba, but looking at him now, I knew what he needed now wasn’t a scolding.
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“Michael, you know you can be honest with me. Was it really Tohba who had the nightmare?”
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I heard him nervously gulp as he tightened the self-hug around himself. After a moment, he shook his head.
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“Mm’mm…”
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I gave a tired, but loving sigh before holding out my free arm.
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“Come here.”
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With some hesitation, he stepped closer, allowing me to pull him into a hug. Michael had a lot of issues. From what I learned from his social worker, he’d been terribly abused by his previous mother and he’d lost his father only a few years after moving in with him. And now, with Earth under attack, he simply didn’t have anywhere else to go.
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It will take a long time before he’s fully comfortable living here, I know that. I’m still not even entirely sure if I’m what he needs. I still wonder if I know what I’m doing when it comes to just raising Tohba. Even so, I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t try. He deserves a home, and a mother who loves him. All children do.
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“I'm sorry for lying…”
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“Ssshhh… It’s alright. Do you want to talk about it?”
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“It was…the one with the scary fire people…”
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Oh…THAT dream…
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Exterminators.
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“I don’t want them to come… I don’t want them to-“
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“It’s okay, joey. They won’t get you here.”
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“No! That’s not… That’s not what I’m scared of…”
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I pulled back slightly, allowing myself to look directly at him. He sniffles and sobbed while trying to wipe away tears.
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“You’re all so nice to me… \sniff** I…I-I don’t want the fire people to hurt you… I sh-shouldn’t be here…”
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My heart broke in two. This poor child had already lost so much. It only made sense that he’d be afraid of losing us too.
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I cupped his face in my paw, wiping away his tears.
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“Michael Ruiz Andrews, I don’t care what you might have heard, but you have every RIGHT to be here. And if those scary people out there think they can come and take us away from you, they’re wrong. I will never let us be separated. You hear me?”
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“. . .P-promise?”
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“With all my heart. You’re MY joey now, and I won’t let anyone take you away from me.”
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At last, Michael finally unwrapped himself from his self-hug and instead wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my fur.
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After a while of holding him, he’d finally calmed down enough to speak again.
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“C-can I…sleep here tonight?”
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Your joey needs you.
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Yes.
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“Of course.”
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With some effort, he climbed up onto the bed and curled up next to me. I knew I most likely wouldn’t be getting anymore sleep, but that was fine. Just laying here, holding my boys in my arms. That was enough.
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One after the other, I gave both my joeys a lick on the forehead.
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“Goodnight my joeys. I love you.”
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“Wuv…you…Ma…ma…”
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“. . .Love you too...Mom…”
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I love my boys. I love my family. I love…my life…
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[Transcript Time Progression: 4 hours…]
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Beebeebeebeep! Beebeebeebeep! Beebeebeebeep!
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[Warning: Subject Regaining Consciousness…]
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My entire body protested as I twisted and turned over to tap the alarm on my nightstand. My claw slapped blindly at it until finally, the agitating alarm was silenced. My eyes squinted open, revealing…I was back in our motel room…
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Well…a girl can dream, can’t she?
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It was a pleasant dream, I’ll give it that. As I sat up, I let my legs dangle off the side of the bed as I stretched myself out and let out a yawn. Once my eyes had fully opened, and the fog had been blinked away, I was immediately met with a sight that warmed my heart to no end. My still fast asleep, and back to being tall, new son, curled up with his baby brother on the other bed.
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Precious boys. MY precious boys.
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I did my best to remember if Michael had anything scheduled with Khornel for this paw, but nothing came to mind. He’d been working so hard lately, helping to keep us above water. Now that he wasn’t a refugee anymore, we were no longer receiving stipends from the program, which meant from here on out, keeping the bills paid was much more difficult. And that’s not even mentioning having to put aside anything we can to be able to eventually have the house rebuilt.
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I kept trying for a while, I still couldn’t remember anything. For the first time in a decent while, he had a paw off.
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Good. I’ll leave him be then. He’s earned some rest.
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I let out one more yawn, before getting up. Unfortunately, while Michael didn’t have to work this paw, I wasn’t so fortunate. Thankfully, my recent injuries allowed me to continue to work from home instead of going out to the physical office. After one last stretch, I let myself slide off the bed.
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I had to give myself a moment once I was upright. While my previously broken leg had healed for the most part, I still needed to be careful of how much weight I put on it. Once I was ready, I began walking to our small kitchen area. The fridge was nearly empty. I’d need to go to the store soon.
​
Thank goodness we’re staying in Soulroot, where literally EVERYTHING is expensive…
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After cutting up some leftover fruit and strayu for myself, I went back to my desk. It was impossible to not notice the small stack of colorful books on the ground next to it. They were human kid’s books donated from the embassy here in Soulroot. Tohba would be ready to start going to school in just a few short cycles…
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Will we be able to get out of here and back into our house before then?
​
Sitting down at my desk and booting up my pad, I found it hard to stay focused. There was still so much to do, so much to worry about. Before, when I was feeling overwhelmed, I’d have Loh, Dohkar, or Trivah there for me. With them around, it always helped things feel more manageable. But now…now I was alone again. Loh was gone. Dohkar and Trivah were stuck on the other side of that damned fence…
​
What are we going to do?
​
My head lowered. I stared blankly at the desk, partly wishing I could look through it at ANYTHING other than my work.
​
But then, there was a glint, just out of the corner of my eye…
​
I looked up, and saw something that I couldn’t help but smile at, something that even when I’m feeling low, reminds me why I have to keep going.
​
I reach out…and grab the two small frames off the corner of my desk and hold them in front of me. In my left paw, wass a framed picture of Tohba, the paw he was born. So small. So precious. So perfect. And in my right, was another picture. It was my new favorite picture.
​
A small, human child…in fuzzy, blue, onesie pajamas that matched his eyes.
​
My Michael. Still so small.
​
These two pictures. My boys. The villains outside could take everything else. So long as I have my boys, I will always have a reason to keep going.
​
I love my boys… I love my family… I love my life…
​
The End

The Atlantic: Screwworms once killed millions of dollars’ worth of cattle a year in the southern U.S. Their range extended from Florida to California, and they infected any living, warm-blooded animal: not only cattle but deer, squirrels, pets, and even the occasional human. In fact, the screwworm’s scientific name is C. hominivorax or “man eater”—so named after a horrific outbreak among prisoners on Devil’s Island, an infamous 19th-century French penal colony in South America.
For untold millennia, screwworms were a grisly fact of life in the Americas. In the 1950s, however, U.S. ranchers began to envision a new status quo. They dared to dream of an entire country free of screwworms. At their urging, the United States Department of Agriculture undertook what would ultimately become an immense, multidecade effort to wipe out the screwworms, first in the U.S. and then in Mexico and Central America—all the way down to the narrow strip of land that is the Isthmus of Panama. The eradication was a resounding success. But the story does not end there. Containing a disease is one thing. Keeping it contained is another thing entirely, as the coronavirus pandemic is now so dramatically demonstrating.
To get the screwworms out, the USDA to this day maintains an international screwworm barrier along the Panama-Colombia border. The barrier is an invisible one, and it is kept in place by constant human effort. Every week, planes drop 14.7 million sterilized screwworms over the rainforest that divides the two countries. A screwworm-rearing plant operates 24/7 in Panama. Inspectors cover thousands of square miles by motorcycle, boat, and horseback, searching for stray screwworm infections north of the border. The slightest oversight could undo all the work that came before.
A reminder that civilization takes work. Excellent piece by Sarah Zhang. Read the whole thing.
Hat tip: Stone Age Herbalist.
The post The Screwworm appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.

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I asked last week about the best bodybuilding gym with some advanced equipment. The most promising comments pointed me to Champions Academy - thanks to all of you who commented.
So I finally visited it today and thought about leaving a short review for future bodybuilders coming to Tbilisi.
They have 4 entire floors, each dedicated to different types of training: crossfit, bodybuilding, MMA (with a fighting ring/cage), and one that is covered in artificial grass, I believe it's used for a more functional type of training.
For bodybuilding, both bodybuilding and crossfit floors are useful and well-equipped.
List of equipments (not a complete list): * Dual cable cross * Pronated/supinated chest supportedd low row * Back extension * Adductoabductor machine * Horizontal leg press * Lat/high row * Seated row * Prone leg curl * Fly rear delt * Shoulder press * Chest press * Belt squat(!) * Decline bench * Incline bench * Leg extension * Leg curl * Scott curl bench * Hip thrust machine * Dip bar * Belt for weighted dips * Free weights up to 100lbs * Multiple charging stations for your phone
Crossfit area * Free weights up to 115lbs * More cable machines and racks * Proper bumper plates * Trap bars
Cons: * Weights are marked in lbs(!) - my bench press training was to be done with 100kg, I ended up training with 106kg without realising that 45lbs IS NOT exactly 20kg. This is not a deal breaker but you'll need to adapt to thinking in lbs * There's only one bench press rack/bench * There's only one Smith machine * There's only one squat rack on the bodybuilding floor (many more available on the crossfit area) * No hack squat * This seems to be quite an expensive gym (50 Gel one visit, 240 Gel for one month)
Overall, this is a fairly well-equipped gym and the only serious machine I missed was a hack squat. I went around 11am, so naturally very empty. I can imagine it can get packed during peak hours and with only one bench press rack and one Smith machine, I don't know... It seems you might need to wait for your turn.
I was quite satisfied with the overall experience. I will be coming back there when I move to Tbilisi later this year.

The article is intended primarily for Game Masters who play games in systems inspired by Lovecraft’s works, such as Call of Cthulhu or Delta Green. However, I hope that other fans of cosmic horror will also find something for themselves here. The interesting facts presented here may also be entertaining for people who do not know the work of The Loner of Providence, but some of the references may be unclear to them. The article contains several anecdotes – either from real history or from beliefs that exist in the real world, and suggestions on how they can be related to the Cthulhu mythology. So read about:

• Sea Peoples, bane of ancient civilizations,
• a forgotten Eldritch abomination from Greek mythology,
• Jan Twardowski, the first man on the Moon,
• mathematicians and physicists who wanted to know the structure of reality and lost their minds,
• one of the most mysterious characters from the Bible and a dark, occult ritual that underlies monotheism.

Invasion of the Sea Peoples
Ancient, super-advanced, fallen civilizations are one of the favorite motifs of fantasy. And truth be told, something similar happened in real history. Of course, in reality, the fallen civilizations did not have sci-fi supertechnology at their disposal, but their collapse still led to great destabilization. We are talking about the invasion of the so-called Sea Peoples, which took place at the turn of the 13th and 12th centuries BC. The Sea Peoples are mobile and warlike groups of people of unknown origin. They caused the collapse of several advanced cultures, including: Mycenaean and Hittite. Only the Egyptians managed to defeat them in a great battle. Well, the material for Lovecraftian inspiration is obvious. A mysterious army, coming out of nowhere, called the „Sea Peoples”, leading to the fall of the most powerful human civilizations at that time? Let us add that, according to some historians, the descendants of the Sea Peoples destroyed by the Egyptians were the Philistines. Yes, the same Philistines, one of whose main deities was the well-known Dagon to Lovecraftomaniacs… Deep Ones say hello. Let us also add that, according to Egyptian records, the tribes of the Sea Peoples had names such as Ekvesh, Teresh, Lucki, Sherden, Shekelesh, Tekel and Peleset. Sounds suitably dark, blasphemous and filthy? If we want to dig deeper, one of the pharaohs who ruled Egypt was Akhenaten – yes, that heretic who tried to replace the worship of traditional Egyptian gods with the religion of the Aten and who is very much liked by conspiracy theorists. Let’s add to the mix that Middle Eastern cultures had quite a negative attitude towards the sea as such. Babylonian Marduk had to defeat the giant monsters of Chaos – Apsu and Tiamat, personifications of fresh and salt waters, respectively. The Bible also contains traces of the myth about the fight between Yahweh and Leviathan, and the Book of Revelation, describing the new, ideal world, emphasizes that „I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” Let’s assume that the players are researchers of an antiquity – historians, archaeologists, etc. They conduct research on the Sea Peoples. Of course, as common sense dictates, they assume that these were human warriors. However, as time goes on, more and more evidence appears that they were not completely human again, and the evidence of their monstrosity becomes increasingly difficult to put down to the demonization that Egyptian chroniclers used against their enemies… It becomes clear that an onslaught of inhuman and semi-human monsters came from the sea. , trying to conquer the world of that time. Moreover, after their defeat at the hands of the Egyptians, this species did not become extinct, but instead of open conquest it switched to cautious infiltration. Perhaps the Deep Ones have spies in academia who are tasked with eliminating historians who find the trail of truth…
Oh, one more interesting fact connecting the history of the Sea Peoples with Lovecraft. Well, as we know, HPL liked to use the term „Cyclopean” for huge, monumental buildings. At least he didn’t come up with it himself. Well, when the later (and at first more primitive) inhabitants, the Dorians, saw the ruins of destroyed castles left by the Mycenaean culture, they came to the conclusion that such huge buildings could not have been built by human hands, so they were probably the work of mythical giants – cyclopes.
Typhon – a classic but forgotten abomination
Modern works drawing on Greek mythology usually make Hades (completely senseless) or Kronos (a little more) the Big Bad, but they forget about Zeus’s greatest enemy – Typhon. After defeating the titans and then the gigants, the Olympian gods had to face the main boss on the way to dominating the world – Typhon. Here is an example of its description: It was larger than the largest mountains, its head touched the stars. When he stretched out his hands, one reached the eastern ends of the world and the other reached the western ends. Instead of fingers, he had a hundred dragon heads. From the waist down he had a tangle of vipers (yay, tentacles!) and wings at his shoulders. His eyes were shooting out flames. In other versions of the myth, Typhon was a flying, hundred-headed dragon. In any case – appearance and stature worthy of the Great Old One. Typhon attacked Olympus, and all the gods except Zeus fled in panic. The supreme god took up the fight… and lost it. Only in the second duel did he manage to defeat Typhon, but not kill him – he only imprisoned him, hitting him with Etna. In the sense of a mountain. A volcano – and volcanic activity is the result of Typhon’s anger, trying to break free. Typhon equaled the lord of heaven not only in strength, but in fertility. His wife was Echidna, about whom Hesiod wrote: „She also gave birth to another creature, invincible, huge, unlike neither men nor immortal gods, in a hollow cave – the divine violent Echidna, half a sharp-eyed young girl, with beautiful cheeks, half a huge snake, a great and powerful, spotted, cruel – in the depths of the holy land. This pair spawned many, if not most, of the monsters found in Greek mythology. Their offspring were very diverse and strange, as befits the spawn of enemies of the divine order, including: – Ladon, the hundred-headed dragon who never slept and guarded the apples that gave immortality, – Cerberus – we all know the dog guarding the gates of hell… but not all of us know that, according to some accounts, it had not three heads, but as many as 50, it was also covered with scales, and it had a snake by its tail… so what does this have to do with a dog? – Scylla – this lady inherited the most from the human, beautiful part of Echidna… at least initially, but eventually, as a result of various perturbations, she turned from a beautiful nymph to her siblings, becoming a six-headed sea beast, so hideous, according to Homer, that even the gods could not stand sight of her – she dwelt in a cave, from where she opened her mouth to devour the crews of ships, – Gorgons – I mean, those ladies with snake hair, not monstrous bulls. Medusa was one of them – the story that Athena turned her priestess into a monster as punishment for being raped by Poseidon is an invention of later poets, – Lernaean Hydra – a multi-headed monster with many reptilian or human heads. In place of each severed head, two others grew, and in addition, the main head was completely immortal – therefore, after chopping off the mortal heads, Heracles had to burn the stumps and bury the immortal, still hissing head underground. Hydra’s breath was poisonous. – various other creatures, such as the Sphinx, the dog Ortus, the Nemean Lion or the Chimera. Each of these descendants has the potential to be portrayed as an Eldritch abomination in its own right. To be precise – according to some accounts, the father of these creatures (and Echidna herself) was Typhon, but a monstrous, ancient (older than Poseidon) sea god, Phorcys. How to use Typhon? Well, Typhon clearly has the potential to be a Great Old One, imprisoned by… Nodens? Some other Elder God? Weak gods of humanity? Maybe his cult is trying to free him from Etna? What if he succeeds? What might distinguish Typhon from many other Great Old Ones? I would recommend focusing on his monster progenitor aspect – if he manages to reunite with Echidna, they will immediately start spawning various blasphemous beasts in series.
Jan Twardowski – the first man on the Moon
Jan (John) Twardowski, the hero of the legend, a Polish nobleman who allegedly sold his soul to the devil and became a sorcerer. Probably a historical figure, according to legend he lived in the 16th century and became famous for summoning the spirit of the deceased queen for King Sigismund Augustus. The ghost allegedly appeared in the mirror. This mirror is still kept in the church in Węgrów. According to legend, when the terms of the pact were fulfilled, devils came to kidnap Twardowski to hell. Interestingly, instead of taking the sorcerer’s soul after death, the most material demons appeared and grabbed Twardowski in order to kidnap him bodily, alive… and instead of heading towards the underground, which in legends is considered the traditional place of residence of demons and damned souls, they began to carry away up with him. At some point, Twardowski started singing religious songs, which caused the demons to escape, leaving him on the Moon, where he is said to have stayed ever since. Could the “demons” actually be extraterrestrials? Maybe mi-go? Maybe Twardowski was their agent and obtained secret knowledge and technology from them that gave him the fame of a sorcerer? As part of his studies, did he acquire knowledge of a system of sounds („religious songs”) that was able to drive away his masters when they decided that his usefulness on Earth had ended and it was time to transport him to a space base where he would be transformed into a brain in jar? Or was transportation to the Moon part of the deal from the beginning? Oh, one more interesting fact – according to legends, Twardowski used to use a rooster as a horse, which he enlarged with his magic. It’s easy to imagine an abomination that, in the eyes of laymen, might have resembled a large rooster… Examples of scenario hooks: – Twardowski’s secret mirror is still in the church in Węgrów. The local priest thinks it is just other „pagan” superstitions, but in fact it is a tool enabling contact with cosmic beings and higher realities. It may prove useful to players if they convince the priest to give it back or simply steal it. – Players are looking for Twardowski’s notes to gain knowledge about the „song” thanks to which he drove away mi-go (or other creatures that became the prototype of the „devils” from the legend). The so-called Twardowski’s „School” or „Cathedral” was located in a quarry near Kraków. In fact, at the end of the 19th century, during the construction of the church of St. Józef, a cave showing traces of alchemical experiments was discovered… And it was destroyed. But perhaps there is a second, secret laboratory under the cave that escaped destruction? And there lie Twardowski’s secrets… And again, potential obstacles may be placed by the local parish priest. But not only him. Maybe Twardowski’s legendary „rooster” lies dormant in the laboratory and was left by the sorcerer as a guard? – players are astronauts on the Moon. However, it turns out that someone lives here, someone who was not detected by previous expeditions and probes. Will Twardowski prove to be an ally in the fight against cosmic horrors? Or maybe their agent, or an independent villain? If he survived this long on the Moon thanks to blasphemous secrets, it’s possible that he had little humanity left…
The rest of the text is avalaible (of course, for free) here: https://adeptusrpg.wordpress.com/2024/05/13/some-lovecraftian-inspiration-form-real-life-and-beliefs/

So, we're self-employed, chain-free buyers who fell in love with a beautiful 3-bed Victorian house with 0.25 acres of land in the North of England. The asking price was £425k, and after much deliberation, the couple accepted our lower offer of £400k. We set things in motion for the mortgage lender to send out their surveyor. The surveyor came back with a valuation of £370k, which shocked us!
We're limited to one mortgage option because only one of us could provide a full year's earnings, while the other only has a few months. The lender will cover the difference but at a slightly higher rate.
We tried to negotiate, but the sellers refused outright. I can't really blame them since the house is amazing, and I believe it's worth what they're asking. We didn't want to walk away because we loved the property, so we decided to get a Level 3 survey, which cost us £850. The surveyor was extremely thorough and owned a Victorian property himself, so he knew a lot about this type of house. He valued it at £400k.
Despite this, the lender wouldn't budge, even though their surveyor only did a basic survey and spent about 10 minutes on it. We're happier with the Level 3 survey; the house is in great condition for its age, and the owners have really cared for it. We've decided to move forward, but I don't understand why the lender won't reconsider their decision given the thoroughness of our survey. £30k is a huge difference!
Has anyone had this happen and do lenders tend to undervalue due to more risk in a self employed buyer? Surely this would be illegal no?

Hello and TIA for any help!
So my 8 year old daughter started out with these symptoms 4 weeks ago: sinus pressure, nausea, headaches, dizziness. We waited about 4 days then I took her to her PCP who diagnosed a sinus infection and just said to do Flonase, Zyrtec (which we were already doing).
The nausea continued to worsen and she started having abdominal pain as well which caused her to miss a few days of school. I took her back to the doctor 2 weeks after her initial appointment. The doctor diagnosed constipation, treated the sinus infection with amoxicillin and said to give her prunes/prune juice. I suspected she'd need way more than that due to her symptoms so I gave her 5 doses of miralax throughout the morning, and she pooped 15-20x. Three days later we're at urgent care with suspected possible appendicitis. After an adb ultrasound and X-ray we are diagnosed with a belly FULL of stool, and given orders for a 3-day Miralax/senna cleanout with clear liquids.
After 2.5 days of this misery her poop looks like slightly cloudy pee (she was only having water and broth with miralax that day) so I let her eat applesauce and a small amount of gluten free pasta with olive oil. She tolerated dinner well but the next morning (yesterday) she was nauseous again after breakfast so I kept her home again and did liquids/BRAT foods.
Today she told me she had nausea and abd pain all night and couldn't sleep. She feels moderate pain all over her and (lower abd worse, especially LLQ), nausea and she's very dizzy. I'm afraid she's missing too much school but I can't send her like this. I'm starting to be doubtful it even is sinus issues because morning has helped her dizziness and headaches go away.
She's not faking symptoms because she enjoys school and she feels crappy even when doing something enjoyable like watching favorite movie. It's been 4 weeks of these symptoms with nothing helping. What else could it be that I should be watching for (differential diagnosis)?? She's not had a fever. I'm planning to go to urgent care again today probably for more imaging or blood work but any help would be appreciated!!

First: https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/14vo5lb/troublemakers_deaths_pity/
*previous:* https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/1crq34h/troublemakers_buried_secrets_bolster_the_weak/
......
Go'mon strutted around the command center, a cape of deep purple silk flowing about his shoulders as he wore his gilded armor. An ornate helmet underneath one arm, the faceplate forged into the visage of a snarling Rak'nal beast. He peered over the shoulders of drone pilots, observing the carnage on the streets in front of the mansion. His black scimitar hung at his belt, the palm of his war gauntlet resting on the hilt, eyebrow crests rising as he saw the expeditionary general's Buzzard explode.
"Casualty report on General Gra'vos?"
He stated to the small Geknosian woman who deftly piloted her drone closer to the wreckage to pull data from the onboard recorder. Her eyes sparkled, reflected in the screen as the data was streamed directly into her brain through a neural implant.
"Deceased, Just like you planned, his provided pleasure slave threw him from the craft and stole the det-sphere you clipped to his belt. You seem to know a lot about how these humans fight."
Go'mon touched the small grooves underneath the elastomer skin of his face where that parasite had shot him with a concealed gun. He laughed bloodily and purred.
"Failure is the greatest teacher in the universe, these parasites have taught me everything they know. Now we just need to see what their true fighting strength is."
"Understood sir, orders?"
"Get a view on the inner courtyard and report to the commanders of the second and third waves their positions and weaponry."
A young lieutenant called out.
"Sir! Twelve UHM-60 Blackhawks en-route to the enemy base! Advise!"
Go'mon stalked over, peering over the satellite observer's shoulder as he followed a chevron of twelve helicopters loaded down with ancient, obsolete human war-droids. He rapped the claws of his war gauntlet against the handle of his scimitar with a purr.
"Send orders to Commander Mar'tek to equip three of his Gallicks with anti-air weaponry, and orders for Commander Rak'don to equip his light attack craft with visual lock on missiles."
"Yes sir, relaying orders now."
Go'mon patted his subordinate on the shoulder hard enough to make them wince as he stepped back to gaze up at the massive map of Golgotha on the big screen. Small purple dots converging on a black dot that symbolized the human base of operations. He noticed that Mar'tek's forces were delayed, having only made it roughly halfway to their staging area. Walking over to the Comm's desk he asked.
"What's taking Commander Mar'tek so long to get into position?"
"A small group of human Saboteurs dropped a pair of buildings across the roadway, they're still clearing the rubble sir."
Go'mon nodded, picking idly at his metal teeth with the sharp point of his war gauntlet's index finger.
"Hm... I thought the parasite's response was oddly punctual, color me surprised they had the wherewithal to keep scouts. Move Mar'tek to the rear of the attack plan and tell Rak'don he's up next."
"Yessir!"
Go'mon chuckled haughtily, exiting the command room and returning to his field office. Setting his helmet on top of his desk he picked up the communication stick for sylva.
"Sylva, Would you kindly deal with that gate once you've landed?~"
There was a pause before.
"I'm too injured to follow that order sir."
Go'mon raised an eyebrow crest at the monotone voice that echoed back through the device.
"you've never refused a command before darling, would you kindly take care of the gate?"
The pause was longer this time, much longer this time. Then, a different, much younger voice came through, filled with fear, but also tainted with determination.
"Fuck you, Go'mon. These are our friends."
The sound of penny whistles and drums accompanied the words before the comms device popped in his gauntlet with the sound of a musket shot. Impossibly thick gray smoke pulsing from the speaker as he snarled and tossed it to the side.
"Bobby, Would you be a dear and retrieve your sister for me?"
The almost seven foot tall brute slowly nodded, eyes dull behind his ceramite mask as he stomped from the command center, bulky combat armor clattering and clunking with each step. Go'mon pressed his metal teeth together with a hiss. That damned warrior corrupted everything he touched with delusions of free will. Go'mon grabbed a fungal cigar from the box General Da'kos had given him as a thank you gift. The sweet, smoky flavor filling his maw as he lit it with the glowing hot blade of his gauntlet's thumb. He relaxed into his chair, flicking his cape out from beneath him as he enjoyed the cigar to relieve some momentary stress. His body suddenly flared with tingling power as the voice of Conquest growled in his ear.
"Kill that boy before he realises your plan. if he finds out your intentions he won't hold back."
Go'mon puffed the cigar and pulled it from his lips, letting it burst into purple flames and crumble away into cinders as he rose from his chair. He stepped out into the command center and commanded.
"Get me a buzzard to that battlefield, Order's from Conquest herself!"
There was a moment of silence as he let his aura roll over the command room, several of the comms officers immediately setting up a Buzzard for his departure.
...
Dust kicked off the ground as Drake's jump pack slowed his fall meters above the ground, He hit the ground and tore it from his back, whipping it into a group of soldiers and hitting it with a jet of pale flames.
The pack detonated in ball of orange fire that vaporized the soldiers, his cape fluttering in the backdraft before he whipped his sword from it's sheath, keen edges wreathed in pale flames as he took a Geknosian's arm off at the elbow as they tried to stuff a blaster pistol in his face. He snatched the blaster pistol from the air, using it to put a kinetic bolt into the faceplate of a powerarmored soldier with a Warhammer, Crumpling it inwards as he slid a foot back, another warhammer crashing into the ground where he'd just been standing. Another kinetic bolt tore off the soldier's pauldron as the hammer swung up at his face, making him reel back as another hammerhead caught him at the small of his back and knocked the air from his lungs. Another hammer slammed into his faceplate, forcing him to kick himself into a flip to land back on his feet. Ears ringing he deflected a Warhammer with his sword before putting another blaster bolt into the wielder's faceplate. But even as they fell back, another hammerblow hit the side of his helmet and smacked him down. Drake rolled out of the way as twenty millimeter high-explosive rounds shredded his assailants, allowing him to get to his feet as the war-bots formed a lethal semicircle, sending high explosive firepowerinto the rear column of the Geknosian assault at a blistering pace. Drake shook his head clear and vaulted over the back of one, hearing it's gun fall silent as he landed in it's cone of fire. Several flowing chops decimated a small squad of Geknosians as he tried to fight his way to the center of the column where the Gallicks hammered the gate with kinetic penetrators. The armored gate shuddering with each blow as Drake dodged war gauntlets and hammers, retaliating with fast slashes and blinding thrusts. Purple blood drenching him as his heart began to pound with battle lust.
He heard a mighty roar and crackle as one of the flying machines opened up with it's chin gun, harassing a gallick with 20mm High explosive rounds to get it's attention off the gates. It's shadow passing overhead with a Buzzard in pursuit as it slalomed low through the buildings to come back for another gun run. There was a ground shaking Boom! as something exploded beyond the rooftops, a Buzzard, smoking from one engine buzzing overhead and away from the battlefield. Drake quickly returned his focus to the battlefield, Smacking a Warhammer to the side with the blaster pistol before thrusting the blade right beneath the soldier's chin, twisting, and pulling free as a war-bot fell forward, a molten pit of slag glowing in it's back as he turned his head to face another column of armor and armored soldiers as they rounded onto the battlefield, a Buzzard painted the deepest, most royal purple he'd ever seen hovered low in front of them.
A geknosian in gold and purple armor fell from the open door, Cape of purple silk flowing behind them as they landed with one palm against the ground, Dark scimitar slashed out to the side as a crescent blade of purple energy was slung straight at Drake. Death's chosen slashed upward at the crescent, but it flowed around his blade, cutting across his chest and bringing with it a foul, draining weakness as a cold, familiar voice called out.
"That one's mine boys!~ all mine!~"
Drake hadn't recognized Go'mon in the ornate armor, but now there was no mistaking it. He tried to take a step forward but his legs buckled beneath him, sending him to his knees as a festering cold spread from the wounds made by the crescent blade that never touched his armor. He looked in confusion at his sword as the pale flames flickered out, then up just as Go'mons armored shin cracked into the side of his helmet, flinging him through a building as his mind reeled with confusion. He pulled himself from the rubble around him, stumbling to the side as a blade of purple energy sliced through the rubble he'd just been buried in without leaving a mark. He tossed the blaster pistol to the side, bringing the free hand to his mouth, intending to rip a ring off with his teeth. But as Go'mon slung another blade of purple energy with a cackle, He missed the ring, biting off his left index finger, ring and all as a boost of power burned the creeping cold away. He spit the severed digit to the ground as the ring still on it puffed into smoke.
"Feeling weak boy?!~ like your power's been drained?~"
Go'mon purred as he took a step forward, aura swelling with power as he held up the black sword.
"The blade of greed will do that if you let it touch you~"
Go'mon took an unfamiliar stance, Blade arched over his head and pointed down as he fell into a low, wide stance, one arm pushed forward as the blades on his war gauntlet's fingers glowed orange with heat. Drake fell into his peasants guard, gripping his sword in two hands as he glared at Go'mon. His gaze flickered off go'mon for a split second as he thought of everyone still in the mansion and the Geknosian chosen surged forward in a flash of purple light to run drake through before kicking him through the back wall of the building, Drake's power draining away like the blood pouring from the hole in his Lorica. He barely deflected Go'mons black blade as Conquest's chosen surged forward with a brutal slash, unable to focus for the split second required to dissipate a ring and refresh his power. Go'mons aura blooming with power with each blow of that black blade. Drake burst through a wall and into an empty street, tumbling ass over head as he desperately held onto his sword.
Angry red blood spilled from the hole in his armor as he got his elbows under him, a pair of golden boots clomping into view as Go'mon gloated, a softly flickering bloom of pale purple flames in his palm.
"All this power, and you don't even know how to properly control or wield it... Don't worry, you won't have it long~"
Drake manage to dissipate the remaining rings on his left hand, an intoxicating burst of power allowing him to launch himself back away from Go'mon as his wounds knitted closed, severed finger growing back with a crunching, fleshy noise. He could feel Go'mons grin behind the snarling visage of his helmet as he fell into a peasants guard, feeling far too weak for having removed five rings. The two stared at each other silently, one of the flying machines spinning to the ground before exploding into a fireball behind Go'mon. Drake fet a deathly calm fall over him as he twisted his sword up into a high guard.
He had to make it back to his people, no matter what. The thumb and pinkie ring on his right hand puffed into smoke as he felt those corvid like wings form at his back, a cold cage of festering ice around the burning sun of rage in his heart. Go'mon took a simple offensive guard, twirling the scimitar with obvious skill in a figure eight in front of him.
The two chosen launched themselves at each other, Drake wreathed in black smoke as Go'mon exploded with pale purple light; the pavement cracking beneath their feet with the violence of the action.
...
Martha tended to the mounting wounded in the infirmary as fast as she could, back splayed open as small gossamer arms allowed her to work on several wounded at once. Many of the ex-slave women helped, binding wounds with clean bandages and splinting broken limbs like they had back at the plantations. Hearing the large wooden doors of the ballroom infirmary slam open, she looked up as Destrier and Caz hauled in a pale remin and a Brutalized young woman. Keeping one hand holding a bundle of gauze against the bleeding wound she was attempting to close up, The young man looking up at her with fear, pain, and hope on his face as he helped hold the gauze down. Pointing to two empty beds she called out.
"Set them there! Where's Drake?! We could really use the walking embodiment of Death right now!"
Destrier hoarsely called back, setting Remin into a bed as the old man struggled to keep his eyes open.
"He's fighting his way towards us from the rear!"
Caz helped the battered young woman into a bed where she curled into the fetal position before the Markswoman swept back out of the infirmary, Huntress humming as she slammed a new flechette into the barrel. Martha continued tying off tattered blood vessels, trying to keep the young man from bleeding out as Cassius appeared next to her, shaking his hands dry after scrubbing them with antiseptic to help close up the gnarly gash in the stomach of the wounded man behind her. Martha's heart pounded in her throat as she finally managed to sew the wound closed before hitting the fighter with a sedative to ease his pain and knock him out. She wanted to cry but held in her tears as she turned around to focus on the same patient as Cassius, but even as she did, the young man placed a bloodied palm on her forearm. She felt a lone tear drip down her snout as she looked at the mans deathly stillness, eyes closed in quiet acceptance of his fate, a grim smile on his face.
Her legs felt weak beneath her as she leaned on Cassius, watching Destrier rush out of the infirmary out of the corner of her eye.
"we're going to need a miracle if we want to make it out of this alive..."
She whimpered as the din of battle echoed dully from outside. That was when a wounded man sat up, grunting as he held the bandages across his torso. She rushed over to stop him from tumbling out of bed when he simply fell through the floor, an odd superposition happening where he was there and not for a split second. But when it faded, there was a note left on the ground, scrawled in blood red, blotchy words.
"I'll be back, and I won't be alone."
Martha could only hope that was true as she turned to continue tending the wounded, Despair filling her heart as more wounded were brought in from the ramparts.
...
Halcyon held the gate, rifle spitting hatred from behind one of the wall's crenellations as one of his Hellions fell next to him, skull split open by gauss slug. Halcyon glanced down at the gate where Thomas and another hulking agri-droid held it against the wall, the gate rattling with each impact of a Gallick's kinetic penetrator, apples of sunlight spreading across the ground where they'd simply sailed straight through. The Geknosian reinforcements turning an already blistering hail of various projectiles and beams becoming an impassable force as several of their light cruisers fired on the helicopters that circled over the battlefield. Missiles streaking upwards and shredding the soft-skinned aircraft, forcing them to take evasive maneuvers and stop the pulse-pounding barrage of their rotary cannons. Halcyon's attention was drawn to the sky as an impossibly loud crash of steel on steel accompanied a streak of pale purple light and void black as they shot into the sky. The black streak getting slammed down by a brutal, unseen strike that made Halcyon's heart leap into his throat. What kind of monster could go toe to toe with Drake, and appear to be winning.
Halcyon, peaked past the cranellation he had his back against, a gauss slug taking his eye out and making him shout in pain as he jerked his head back. Ripping a bundle of gauze from his medi-pack, he rolled it out and bunched it up, pressing it against his vacant and shattered eye socket as a bout of lightheadedness turned the edges of his reduced vision dark.
One of his men crouched beside him flinching when chips of stone exploded from the crenellation they'd been taking cover behind, some sort of heavy weapon having been aimed at them as they darted for Halcyon. Halcyon looked into their eyes, face just as dismayed as he felt, their words barely audible over the din of battle.
"what do we do, sir...?"
Halcyon let out a sigh, shouting over the roar of gunfire.
"Pull back! secure the mansion!"
The fighters didn't need to be told twice as the ramparts were abandoned, leaping from the walls to sprint back to the mansion, The agri-bots forming a phalanx behind them to cover their retreat. But Halcyon couldn't help but feel this is exactly what the Geknosians wanted.
But even as the fighters swarmed into the Mansion, Two figures walked past them.
A hulking man in dark samurai armor wielding an lmg and a smaller woman with a flowing furred cloak and white mask, carrying an ornate rail rifle walked past them through the doors.
Halcyon watched in dismayed confusion as Caz and Destrier stepped out into the sunlight, a jump pack freshly mounted on Destriers back beside his kanabo. Another smaller figure appeared as if from thin air, Cassius spinning the weight at the end of a chain attached to a kama menacingly as the doors closed behind them, massive metal shutters sealing them out as the mansion was locked down. He couldn't help but smile grimly.
There was a reason they were Drake's friends, and it wasn't because they were the best fighters.
It was because when everyone else ran away, they ran towards the fight... regardless of their own safety.
......
Part 109: will be linked here upon release.

Hi, David here!
"Actions speak louder than words." This is especially true when it comes to creating attraction. Since talk is cheap, women have developed excellent BS detectors for evaluating a man based primarily on his body language, actions and behaviors.
The first thing you should communicate is a vibe of comfort and confidence. Nonverbal ques and how you say something can communicate much more than the actual words you that you say.
Comfort and confidence in an interaction implies prior success. A guy who acts nervous, rushes his words and is constantly afraid of "screwing up" an interaction is communicating that he thinks a girl is out of his league and that he suffers from a scarcity of similar options.
However, a guy who does not need the other person’s approval, is willing to walk away, or at the very least not chase a girl or act desperate / hungry, implies that he has options. A guy does not actually need to be in abundance or have many options to appear attractive. He must simply show and display the behaviors of someone who does. This primarily done by him not getting overly excited, trying to rush an interaction along before a girl changes her mind, showing a fear of loss, or trying too hard to impress.
When it seems to a person that you are trying to actively and intentionally impress them, they may think that you are overcompensating for something else. Imagine what the behaviors of a self-secure, confident, high value man who had tons of options and was living in abundance would look like. Would he actively be trying to impress a girl he liked? He would simply make his intrigue in the woman known and believe that as she naturally gets to know him in a conversation, that there is no reason that he is not good enough. He would not feel the need to actively try to sell himself.
You can’t logically convince someone to find you attractive via your words alone. The emotions/feelings of attraction are better elicited via attractive behaviors which are harder to fake. And when it is created through your words, these words must be deemed as being part of an honest conversation and not only being said for the sole purpose of making the other person like you. Otherwise the person may dismiss you as just telling them what you think they want to hear.
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BTW, I wanted to let you know that I just finished putting together my eBook "Bros Guide to Meeting Women" version 4.0 and would LOVE to get some honest feedback from you!
I decided to give it away for free for the time being.
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The eBook is 27 pages long and gives you a practical step-by-step solution to meeting women (15+ years of knowledge put into it).
You can get the eBook by clicking here!
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This book is the result of going out and socializing with girls for over a decade. I have put in there all the fundamentals I have learned over that time so I would really appreciate all the feedback I could get!!
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What are your thoughts? Do you have any tips to add?
Let's discuss in the comments :)
Thanks for reading and have a GREAT day!
David Davidson

Hell all I am asking for help today because I have started a new job and they withhold pay for 1 pay period but it’s a 2 week pay period. I can pay back may 24th! You can send it to my PayPal business account so you’re covered if you like! I have a gemstone jewelry business I do on the side so if there is something you could be interested in let me know! I am desperate right now because it’s due by 5pm and I don’t have anyone to ask and I have low iron so I can’t donate plasma and I already pawned my switch and don’t really have anything else. I would greatly greatly appreciate it! Feel free to message me with any questions before you fund. I totally understand needed to be vetted and etc. Thank you 🙏

First of all, I hope it's to ask this here, if not, I'd greatly appreciate if someone could tell me where best to go with this, I'm desperate to find help but don't know where to get it.
So let me try and explain my issue: I'm autistic and have quite high sensory issues around my nails. If they are too short or too thin I'm basically unable to touch nearly any fabrics and especially when they're too short touch anything at all with the tips of my fingers. As an adult that lives alone and has a household to take care of that's obviously quite the issue without addressing it properly. I've been trying around with DIY methods (I live very rural and getting to a nail tech regularly is just not doable for me) for years now, trying to figure out what works best for me, but nothing worked to a degree I'm satisfied with yet.
Oh, I should also mention that I'm quite the handy person and do a lot of hands on work, building my own furniture and stuff - and which I know isn't exactly great for keeping nails intact and all that, but unfortunately this isn't really about the choice of wanting my nails done at all times but the necessity of needing them to be done in order to be able to do the stuff I need and want to do in everyday life
I used to do regular polish and a bunch of coats of the essie gel couture or gel setter top coat, making sure to cover the front and even under the nail as far as it sticks out (to add more thickness and make it rounded, that's the two things that make things bearable to touch), but it takes ages to do (like I usually had to plan in a full day just for that - and that does include 1-2h of indecisiveness on what to do, but still) and in the end the coating under the nail will flake off after a short while, leaving me with the sensory issues again.
After that I started to glue fake nails on (using regular nail glue) and doing them instead of my naturals. That worked pretty well for the most part, but with some glaring issues. My nails are too round. Most of them a tiny bit from left to right, leading to either not getting the fake nails put on there correctly with no gap anywhere, or, if I manage to get them on without any gaps, they're pulling on my nails and leading to discomfort for the whole following day. And then there's my index fingers… additionally to being too round from left to right, they also are from back to front. It's practically impossible to get fake nails glued on without a gap of almost half a millimeter on one end. I always tried to fill that gap in with more glue and hoped for the best, ngl. Obviously they tend to lift pretty damn quickly and since I don't have the time or energy to redo them twice a week, I'd just glue them back on and hope for the best until it really didn't work to do so anymore and I could bring myself to go through the process of spending a whole day doing them again (usually 2-4 weeks). It's honestly total luck I didn't get greenies. But obviously I recognised myself that this isn't sustainable to do like that.
So I ordered uv shellac, hoping to reduce the hurdle of having to do them greatly by making it faster to do (1-2 minutes of curing time vs 10-15+ minutes of drying time for each coat) and I really really wanted to go back to working on my natural nails (I used to be so proud of them before I started using the fake ones). While I don't have the waiting time anymore, I am back with the issue of the coat under the nail coming off quickly and therefore leaving the nail feeling too sharp to touch stuff without issues though.
Leading me back to the question: could gel help me fix this issue and make my nails thick and blunt enough to function properly for more than a few days at a time before the constant fixing phase begins? (and if not, does anyone have a pointer what could be?)
Bonus question: since I already got the shellac, would it be possible to thicken my nails with gel and do designs with the shellac I have or should I consider investing in gel completely?
Please please help, I desperately need a better solution than what I have and I can't invest even more money into experiments and considering how specific my issues are I just don't even know where to start if I tried to research this