Funny words that start with v

My husband(38M), and I(36F) have technically been seperated for 2 years, but he just suddenly passed away and IDK how to handle my grief??... Let me explain.
My husband, that I have technically been seperated from for 2 years, just suddenly passed away . We aren't sure if it was an accidental Drug OD or Suicide (still being investigated). I left after years of trying everything to help with his drug problems and depression. I took him to 4 different rehabs, waited and supported him every time he went to jail, went to meetings, therapy appts. You name it, I was there trying the best I could to help him. After years of doing this, he kept telling me he didn't want help because he was done. Eventually, I had to leave. It was making me physically ill at this poijgt, couldn't eat or sleep due to the stress, anxiety. It was so hard but I had hope if I left him he would get a wake up call and turn things around. Apparently, the last 2 years he was worse then everbefore and living at a half way house. He was arrested 3 times for several months as well. I'm starting to feel guilty that this is my fault. I have never experienced grief like this because I'm so sad one minute, angry the next, then the guilt and helplessness poors over me every night. I'm a 36 year old widow with no closure. I feel like I'm grieving twice and I wish I had one last good conversation with him. Any advice with how I can get through this and if this is normal the way I'm feeling? I'm a wreck, any encouraging words would help or anything at all. Thank u

Today I made the unfortunate decision to spend a small amount of time in Bristol city centre after my 4 year old had been to a birthday party. Walking through Broadmead we were greeted by multiple unconscious/sleeping people in the middle of the shopping pedestrianised area at 11am on a Sunday, and piles of rubbish everywhere. I know homelessness is a terrible situation, but some of these people look like they just didn't make it home last night. It was not a nice place to be.
Then a delightful old man with 3 teeth, hunched in a door way, motioned 'come here' to my 4 year old and then started hocking up christ knows what in his throat, and attempted to spit at her. "Daddy, why is he making that noise?". I didn't have a good answer. He then later did the same thing as we walked back, even though we stayed as far away from him as possible. Clearly this wasn't a one off for him.
Then man and and woman stomped past arm in arm, both with massive stinking joints hanging out of their mouths, with totally inappropriate music raging from a Bluetooth speaker. "Motherfucker" was every other word, not to mention racial slurs starting with the letter N. What sort of person walks around a public area forcing their musical on everyone else? Especially with such anti social lyrics. When did people lose all respect for everyone else? Then I had to say no thanks to 3 different religious lunatics trying to force their beliefs on me. What gives you the right to do that? Fuck off!
After getting our jobs done as soon as humanly possible, we got the hell out of there. On the drive home through Stokes Croft I saw a guy walk up to a wheelie bin, tear off a bit of cardboard, and promptly drop his trousers and underwear and start scooping shit out of his bare arse as multiple members of the public walk by. What the hell is going on? Without exaggeration, It's like a dystopian movie scene.
Think what you want about my life, class, privilege etc, that's not important here. This isn't how society is supposed to act in public. At no other point in history have people had less respect for themselves and each other. I felt uneasy and unsafe in a city centre in the middle of the day. People were unpredictable and aggressive. It's a sad state of affairs.

Hi dear people. My younger brother (Sam) verbally attacked me so that all his words linger. He also connected this to the loss of my cat. So it is lingering even more. Do you have advice?
He was inconsiderate when I lost my cat in january after very difficult week at the vets. And the cats death was even more difficult because putting him to sleep did not go well. Understatement. I needed to go to a hospital after the cat died because I got panick attack that felt like heart attack at the time.
My brother knew this and two days after my cat died he calls me. First telling he was sorry my cat died, I was surprised because Im not use to that kind of support from him recently (after i decided to distance myself from our other brother (Mike), and Sam feels Im a bad person because of that).
But then he asks me to babysit his mother in law’s cat, a senior, sick cat that needs alot of looking after. I kind of got numb and felt the panick attack symtoms coming a bit again. I get very panicked in my body and call my parents that are babysitting their children and ask if they cant jump next door regularly and feed the cat. They say that they thought that was the plan. I text Sam and tell him i cant and tell him my parents dont have no problem doing it.
I get another panick attack at home and I then fall asleep and wake up in the night. And send him a voicemessage. Im upset because I feel he has no concerns for my feelings, and tell him it felt like if someone lost a baby and they were asked to babysit. I also bring up that he has been acting like he doesnt care at all, and been acting very cold towards me. The message is not accusing him. It is more vulnerable and in a hurt tone. I say that I dont feel he wants to hurt me, but feels like he doesnt care about my feelings and that hurts. He has been pulling stuff before that I related to that. Like saying in a family gathering that mold allergy is just bullshit, when he knows I lost all my furnature and health for some time because of mold. Feels like he has been trying to hurt me like that after I decided to distance myself from Mike that I have good reasons for. I do talk to Mike and have been nice when we meet, but I told Sam that I would take a distance from Mike with out him realizing it too much. Sam got furious and about him being the only one to know it, because they are best friends. I told him that nothing will change because Mike doesnt have so much interest in me anyway, and that I told him so he would understand when i didnt come to family gatherings. But I do feel Sam has told everybody, but anyway. I am super connected to his kids and have babysat them so many times. But after this ther were not meetings and no babysitting. Ihave been asking for well over a year what is the matter and if we can fix things. If he tells me what is wrong so I can fix it. But he just says everything is fine.
Then january comes with this call after the cat dies. And my voice message that he answers very dimissively and saying that comparing my cat to a child is absurd. He answers that we can talk about this when Im better ( in my mother tongue he says it with a wording like Im mentally ill but not just griefing and in trauma)
Time passes that Im just in my life trying to get better. Maybe one or two months. Then I call his wife and just ask her if something is the matter, I havent seen them or the kids for more than a year even though i often invite them. I tell her Im always asking my brother and if I can make it better and he just always dismisses it and saying everything is fine. She gets agitated and very deffensive. I make sure to keep calm. She blurts out alot of things, Im just happy to get answers so I let her rant thinking it will be healing for the relationship. I dont understand the amount of anger or the reason for that, the reason that are given for cutting the ties are very small, some text message I sent with hearts. But I dont tell her that. I just recieve the anger in the hope it will heal the relationship. And hope the real reason will come forward. But she is screaming, saying i was a dramaqueen after my cat died and that hurt my brother. This anger and blameshift relating it to my cat horrible death is what is one of the things still lingering.
Then I talk to my brother. Tell him his wife told me. He is super agressive and angry. I suggest if he would want us to meet with a third party, a therapist, to heal our relationship. He doesnt want to talk about that. Screams at me for being so emotionaland sensitive. I just say that that is how I am and that I hadjust lost my cat. He was the one calling me and being insensitive. I didnt even reach out to him for help and support. But the only thing that comes from him is namecalling, and what he said still lingers with me. Rationally I can say that what he said is not true and is soemthing I have never been told. But it lingers in my mind anyway. I was just loving and calm, because I wanted him to get the chance to rant if it would heal us. So I feel it hurt me even more because I was letting myself be vulnerable for them to see that it was a safe talk. I kind of just let them beat me with words. But answering though when I thought they were not being fair or right.
I told them. Its been more than a year of no contact. I have been asking and asking and no answers. That I was glad i got some answers finally. But I told them that if there is still no contact in september it will be inevitable for me thinking that the connection is over, that I have to let them all go, the kids as well.
They felt this was manipulative. But I told them it was not an ultimatum. Not me saying that there would be no contact from me. I would talk when meeting, be nice and civil. Just that the uncertainty for my heart was destoying me, their constant silence. And the kids I am so close to. And just that in september I will have to tell y heart to let go and start to heal and accept. That this is the time I will let my heart wait. This was in the beginning of april.
He said he would not be manipulated. He got super angry and agressive. Called me the worst things possible. Trying to hurt me. Then said that this was convincing him to cut all contact with me. I was not allowed to contact him or the kids. This call, the words and cutting me out is what lingers with me i my head. I think maybe because it is being a trauma.
2 weeks later my parents contact me. Tell me Sam has a brain tumor. I contact Sam. Tell him these news make it to hard for me not to say anything. I tell him I understand that I am not the person he needs around him at this difficult time. But that I love him, send him good vibes and that if they need any help I am there.
His wife opens a chat with her, our parents and all of us siblings. She updates us there. The surgery went good and now he is recovering. But then came the children birthdays and I was not invited. And I have been respecting his boundary to not contact.
I told them that I would keep what i said about september no matter what was said in that talk, if he changes his mind. But he is crazy stubborn and never apoligizes. So maybe this is it. I have lost him and the contact with his boys.
Do you have advices, insight because of your own stories, or some reflection of this? I accept if he wants to break contact. I am distancing from a big part of my family anyway. But I just need help healing from this because it is lingering so much and giving me depression episodes of feeling numb. Maybe its just because this is some kind of trauma. The loss and what I feel it being verbal abuse.

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."
First Prev Next (soon)

Happy Sunday shipmates, this is from a post I made in BoomersBeingFools but my retail roots demanded I share the inane behavior with you. It's fortunately a funny, light hearted one.
A light-hearted boomer story from my adventures in the BeeWine/Spirits distribution world. Typically, I spend my work days in liquor stores and bars so no shortage of interesting creatures.
Last Friday, I was wrapping up my day at one of the larger liquor stores in my territory and looking for the manager so I could tell her what the weekly order was and ask if she needed anything special. This store always has a diverse clientele, and it's in walking stumbling distance of a section-8/retirement complex so no shortage of entertainment.
As I approach the counter, an old, disheveled, musty Boomer absently walks in front of me counting the crumbled dollars he withdrew from his ,threadbare, vermillion, flannel shirt. He was clearly doing what I call 'beer math' , "how much Ethyl alcohol can I get per fluid ounce for this amount of money?" The man must have just evolved into that advanced stage of retiree boomer where they are no longer burdened by banal concepts like personal space or personal hygiene.
The boomer walks over to the counter and is cheerfully greeted by a very young female cashier, could not be older than 22-23. The cashier is ostensibly new, but none the less trying to put her best customer service smile on and do her job. Boomer looks past her, eyeing the myriad of 50ml shooters on the wall. It's a tactical decision for him. After a few awkward moments, the Boomer breaks his unflinching gaze and, in a shocking display of humanity, says "you know what? How's about you pick some out for me, sweetheart?" His tone was cajole, but in that strange Boomer way where it's laid on too thick and well, comes off as creepy.
"...what?" she replies.
"Go on, it'll be fun. Dealers choice! I'll take 3" The boomer replies wryly, as if he's making this cashiers day with his charming contribution.
A few moments pass before the cashier turns around and starts looking at the compilation of airplane bottles neatly arranged on the shelves. She scans and then selects a bottle with a burnt umber label, the cap is an off shade of burnished bronze. "Oh! I had this last week at a friends house, its Smirnoff Vanilla & Caramel kissed vodka!" She holds up the cheap plastic bottle to the boomer, a smile beaming across her face.
A wave of revulsion overtakes the boomer and expresses itself as what can only be described as an oral bowl movement. "Bleeehghhhhhhhh!!! Nah sweety, I thought you were going to recommend something GOOD. Just gimme three of those fireballs over there."
The enchantment was broken, as well as the morale of this poor girl who fell into the Boomer trap of "why don't YOU tell me." He paid her for his tall boys of high gravity lager and shooters with greasy singles and an assortment of coins.
I stood there and laughed as he exited the store, the first shooter of fireball already kissing his lips. I looked over at the cashier and shook my head as I guffawed. My professional demeanor dropping, "why the fuck did he even ask you in the first place?!?!"

The panel had a mix of takes. They were laughing about Melvin Capital getting blown up in 2021, that DFV did not commit market manipulation, the price is trading detached from its fundamentals, and that individual investors should be allowed to make their own investment decisions without undue interventions from regulators. They seemed to have an outside understanding of events, but Chamath made some really interesting remarks that I thought you might be interested in. You can listen to the episode yourself if you're interested, the podcast was uploaded June 7th. You can scroll through the timestamps to find it. Starts at 32:40.
He was asked: "Chamath, you've had a lot of comments on the markets and specifically this one over the years. What are your thoughts? Is posting this meme stock manipulation or disclosure?"
Chamath: No, it's... he's posting a meme. He put a picture on the internet. I mean, again, this is like the problem that we have, which is that he disclosed his position in a different way. Now we don't know whether that disclosure is accurate because I think it was just a screenshot of some statement inside of a Reddit thread, right? And then that got posted many times elsewhere. Is this accurate? I don't know. Because he has no obligation as an individual to do any of this stuff. Because he's not running a hedge fund and he's not running other people's money.
Now, if he was acting in concert with other people, you could say, hey, hold on a second, if you're repping not just your money, but other people's money, and you did this, then there's probably a disclosure obligation there. But at the end of the day, this is a guy that acted and basically created hype. And right now, the SEC does not have a framework to deal with that because the rules that existed didn't understand social media and whatnot. And he's also not a regulated entity, he's just an individual. Now if it turns out that he was selling while he was posting this stuff and trying to manipulate the market in some way, obviously they could find issue with that. But just for him being a credible influencer and creating momentum for an underlying position, that in and of itself is not illegal.
They went on to talk about how it seemed like Jim Cramer was trying to stir up an SEC investigation when he spoke with Gary Gensler on CNBC.
Chamath continued: If you look at the Wall Street Journal today, there's an entire article basically with the headline, 'Is what Keith Gill is doing illegal?'. And I think you can view this in a different lens, which is here is an individual that is totally outside of the establishment that however he's done it, has gotten a hold of hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe even now billions if the stock keeps going. And I think that's for the establishment that controls those pipes, very disconcerting.
David Sacks also added: Right. If he was one of those apex predators on Wall Street, if he was one of those major hedge funds that donates a lot of money to the political elite, in other words, if he was a well connected political player, I doubt anyone would be asking these questions.
Chamath later expanded on the methods and impact of short selling. I've abridged them down to the core points, because this is where his remarks get juicy:
And they'll do something that's even more dangerous, which is they can get synthetically short*. So they'll add leverage to this using all kinds of esoteric derivatives that other banks on Wall Street will happily sell them... I do think that there are some short sellers who are doing it because they have to hedge a position that they have, but then there are other short sellers who are doing it speculatively. And* there are synthetic instruments that banks will sell you to go massively super short. That's how you can get a situation where 140% of the stock is sold short*, which shouldn't make sense. If there's only 100 shares of a company, how could it be that 140 shares are sold short? It's because you can have these synthetic derivatives...*
So there are ways where if you have a formal trading relationship with Wall Street, and you need to be of a certain size, and they go through a diligence process, they give you, so you know, I have one called an ISDA, and it's essentially an account and a framework that you negotiate with a bank that allows you to call them and say 'hey give me A B or C' and other times they'll call you and say 'hey I have this really interesting way to play X Y Z' and one of the things that you can do with them is you can say, 'listen, I want to go super, super long or super, super short', a theme or a company. And they'll create a contract with between you and them that'll allow you to get that kind of exposure.
Now, you're not supposed to do that on a regular basis, nor are you supposed to lever this up. This is actually what blew up a different hedge fund called Archegos. I remember we covered it. And in that, I guess what happened was the gentleman was calling many banks and doing all these things. And one bank didn't know what the other bank was doing. So all of a sudden there was this massive synthetic leverage that he was getting on, I think it was News Corp stock. And then they found out then it was unwound, then he owed a bunch of money, he couldn't pay it, the whole thing shut down. The stock market went crazy. So there does need to be disclosure, but there isn't a rule that says that. And every time somebody tries to introduce it, the broker dealers basically lobby and kill it.
The host asked: So in a way, it's almost like a parallel universe where bets are occurring on outcomes in the stock market that are not tied to the stocks in the stock market?
Chamath replied: Well, it is tied in the sense that ultimately it all needs to feed back to an actual physical share*. So this is where all this price behavior gets further amplified. I think the point is that* these forms of expressing risk can really amplify what would otherwise happen*. So in Freiburg's example, most people would sit there, get the financials. Some would maybe say historically, this thing looks like a short or I wouldn't even buy it at all. Right. But other people may say, well, if I listen to the chairman, and I think about the future, maybe I go long. That's a, that's a fine thing. You can enter the stock market and do that. But all this other stuff amplifies all these things to a degree that we're not really used to.*
Well there you have it, some insights from a Wallstreet insider about the players on the other side of this investment. Hedge Funds, brokers, and banks using esoteric derivatives to create massive synthetic short positions that result in over 100% short interest, and fighting every attempt by regulators to enforce disclosure.
These synthetic positions drive massive volatility in the underlying stock. And the most compelling point from the entire discussion?
"ULTIMATELY IT ALL NEEDS TO FEED BACK TO AN ACTUAL PHYSICAL SHARE"
DRS works. Shorts are fucked. Time and pressure.

I'm in my first serious relationship, one month in, with a girl that I share a lot of interests in common with and makes me feel really happy whenever we hang out, and a girl I can definitely see a future with. She's been in a few relationships and she's very respectful and understanding and we are both communicative with each other.
When we first started dating, I told her that I have a girl best friend that I've known for 10 years. She was cool with it and said she was looking forward to meeting her. What I didn't mention at the time is that my girl best friend made a move on me around a year ago. I didn't mention it initially because of what I recognize now of me being stupid and just not knowing better as part of my first relationship. But I told her a few weeks later after we were having deep talks and she asked is there anything I wanted her to know, and she was obviously very upset at the whole situation. At the time a year ago, I denied the advance and told my girl best friend that I wanted to be platonic and she said she understands because we had such a long history of friends.
The same week after I had the deep talk with my gf, I talked to my girl best friend about what happened a year ago because I kind of just brushed it off and we didn't have an actual face to face conversation about it. I let her know that I could see some hesitancy in her whenever I brought up the subject of both of them hanging out. Basically she said that she's happy for me and my relationship but she can't hide away from her feelings from me, but she understands that if we need to take a step back to make things healthy because she ultimately wants me to be happy.
I talked to my girlfriend afterwards and we had a long discussion about the situation and I told her that I understand where she's coming from and I recognize that I need to put some space between me and my girl best friend. She said she hates to put me in a decision of choosing this or that but she feels that her boundary is that I don't hang out one on one with my girl best friend anymore but group settings is okay. I've emphasized with her that it's always been platonic from my side, but she's coming from the point of view that she doesn't know how my girl best friend will feel now, in a year, and longer in the future.
This has been hard for me to digest because deep down I feel like stopping one on ones is the solution I need to go through to truly prosper in my relationships now and in the future, mainly because of the fact that my girl best friend expressed feelings to me a year ago. But it still does feel like it sucks because it's been a friendship of over 10 years and we went through a lot of times together. I feel like I'm accepting of stopping one on ones for the next few months, but haven't really thought about how our friendship would look like in one year.
I feel like I'm stuck in such a tricky spot, trying to balance girl best friend issues with my personal issues of being in a relationship for the first time. I feel like I know the answer is that if I want to develop my relationship with my gf further, then I need to respect her boundary and stop one on ones altogether. The extra layer on top is that my girl best friend is also friends with a lot of my other friends, and we'll all be hanging out in group settings multiple times this summer and in the future, where I would like to bring my girlfriend along. And who knows, maybe my gf and my girl best friend will get along after they meet for the first time, or after a few hang outs in the future.
Just looking for words of wisdom from other people who might have insight on this situation. Appreciate it

In the dynamic and competitive landscape of today's business world, having a well-defined business strategy is crucial for achieving long-term success. Corey Seaman, a seasoned business strategist, emphasizes the importance of strategic planning and execution in steering a company toward sustainable growth and profitability. Here's how a comprehensive business strategy can pave the way for enduring success.
1. Clear Vision and Mission
A robust business strategy starts with a clear vision and mission. These foundational elements serve as the guiding lights for an organization, defining its purpose and the direction it aims to go. By articulating a compelling vision, businesses can inspire and align their teams toward common goals. A well-crafted mission statement provides a framework for decision-making, ensuring that every action taken is in line with the company's core values and objectives.
2. Market Analysis and Understanding
Understanding the market is paramount for crafting a successful business strategy. This involves thorough market research to identify customer needs, preferences, and trends. By gaining insights into the competitive landscape, businesses can identify opportunities and threats, allowing them to position themselves effectively. Corey Seaman advises leveraging data analytics and customer feedback to stay ahead of market shifts and maintain a competitive edge.
3. Setting Realistic Goals and Objectives
Long-term success is built on a series of achievable short-term goals. A business strategy should outline specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives. These goals act as milestones, enabling businesses to track progress and make necessary adjustments along the way. By setting realistic targets, companies can maintain momentum and avoid the pitfalls of over-ambition.
4. Resource Allocation and Management
Effective resource allocation is critical to the execution of a business strategy. This involves optimizing the use of financial, human, and technological resources to achieve strategic objectives. Corey Seaman highlights the importance of prioritizing investments that align with the company's strategic goals. Efficient resource management ensures that the organization can respond agilely to changes and capitalize on emerging opportunities.
5. Building a Strong Organizational Culture
A positive and strong organizational culture is a vital component of long-term success. A business strategy should include initiatives to foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. By creating an environment where employees feel valued and empowered, companies can enhance productivity and attract top talent. Corey Seaman believes that a strong culture not only drives employee satisfaction but also enhances customer loyalty and brand reputation.
6. Risk Management and Adaptability
The business environment is fraught with uncertainties and risks. A sound business strategy incorporates risk management practices to mitigate potential threats. This includes conducting risk assessments, developing contingency plans, and maintaining a flexible approach to change. Adaptability is key; businesses that can pivot in response to market disruptions are better positioned to sustain long-term success.
7. Customer Focus and Value Creation
Ultimately, the success of any business hinges on its ability to create value for customers. A business strategy should prioritize customer satisfaction and loyalty by delivering high-quality products and services that meet or exceed expectations. Corey Seaman advocates for a customer-centric approach, where businesses continuously seek to understand and fulfill the evolving needs of their clientele. Building strong customer relationships fosters repeat business and generates positive word-of-mouth.
8. Monitoring and Evaluation
Regular monitoring and evaluation are essential to ensure that a business strategy remains relevant and effective. This involves tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) and conducting periodic reviews of strategic initiatives. By assessing performance against set objectives, businesses can identify areas for improvement and refine their strategies accordingly. Continuous evaluation enables companies to stay on course and adapt to changing circumstances.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a well-crafted business strategy is the cornerstone of long-term success. It provides a roadmap for navigating the complexities of the business environment and achieving sustainable growth. By focusing on clear vision and mission, market understanding, goal setting, resource management, organizational culture, risk management, customer value, and continuous evaluation, businesses can thrive in the face of challenges and seize opportunities for lasting success. Corey Seaman's insights underscore the importance of strategic planning and execution in building a resilient and prosperous organization.

The dark sky loomed over the horizon, as day became night. Smokes stopped churning from the busy factories, revealing the beauty of the stars. Lights started to flicker; their shine mirrored the sight above.
And yet, tranquillity never came. Horse-drawn carriages and trams still strolled upon the hectic boulevards in the great metropolis of Amberton. A city in a constant.

Still, in such hubbub, a young human boy found his solace. A young, naughty boy who defied his parents’ orders to do his homework. Instead, he read the stories of his favourite adventuring party as illustrated in the new edition of ‘Adventurers Weekly’.
Alone, in his room.

Lying on his bed, the child imagined the events as though he was there to witness. Slowly flipping away, page by page. He thought to himself, “Just one more page!”.
Despite the open book on his desk, he was too entranced by the exploits of his idols. Too entranced to notice the clatter outdoors.
Outside the small building, footsteps can be heard. A person, clad in black naught their eyes, was scaling the brown brick wall. Unnoticed by a living soul.
As they reached the window of the young, naughty boy, their paces abruptly stopped. After a few, light taps from the heel, they stomped. With a leap, they trespassed a private property.

The boy was surprised by the improvised acrobatic show. Reflexively, he recoiled and backed himself to the wall. In the process, his journal was thrown off the mattress.
With his vision subjected to the masked intruder, his heartbeats hurried. His breaths were erratic. Cold sweat dripped from his tanned skin.
Yet, he did not scream. As if being visited by a nightmare in a sleep paralysis, the boy was stunned.
He was fearful.
Afraid.

The intruder stood up and then turned to the child in front of them. With a deep voice, they spoke in an oddly calm manner.
“Hello there, boy.”

The boy did not answer. His voice was shackled by dread.

The intruder saw the journal lying on the floor. They then spoke once again,
“Seems like you’re quite fond of legends and adventures, aren’t you?”
“How about one last story about the fall of Rydyan, the elvish king?”

The boy was still locked in fear, keeping his silence. Tears can be seen forming in his eyes.
Step by step, the intruder approached the bed.

“Well, it’s a classic.” They regaled.
“King Rydyan received a prophecy that his granddaughter shall overthrow his rule. Wanting to prevent that from happening, he ordered his granddaughter to be thrown away.”
“We all know what happened next. The granddaughter learned of her heritage, and she grew up to resent the king. After she gained support from the people, Rydyan was overthrown.”

The boy stared in silence. He was backed into a corner, helpless.
His tan face paled; his body trembled. Tears rained down on his cheeks.

The intruder paused, as they slowly breathed. The reflections of their eyes became wavy, damming the sense of guilt. They tried to maintain composure, but slight trembles still escaped as they spoke yet again.
“You see, young lad. My end was written in the prophecies, with you as the bearer. And I will not make the same mistakes as others did.”

Their right hand reached for their hip, revealing a revolver. The boy wanted to yell, but his mouth was locked, bound by fright. He could only close his eyes.
His story would be a short one.
Then…

a thud.

Unexpectedly, the intruder instead lightly threw the gun at the boy. They then removed their mask, revealing the face of a pale human man. The boy’s eyes widened, for it was the face of his idol.
Julius Joules, the gunslinger of the adventuring party shown in the journal.

The man knelt. “This is no way to meet a fan, I know that.” He said as he gazed at the floor. A single tear raced down through his cheek.
“But I’m sorry, lad. Prophecy is prophecy, and I don’t want us to have a lifelong, bloody feud. So, let us just end this right here, right now, shall we?”

The boy was overwhelmed with emotions. A single drop of joy was there, as he saw his hero in person for the first time. Yet, it was overshadowed by the flood of confusion from the strange turn of events. Outshined by the tides of frustration from the unjustness of the world. Combined, they breached the walls of fear.
As the boy was no longer fettered by silence, a shout bolted from his throat.
“I don’t want to hurt you! Why do I even have to do this? You’re my hero!”

“Again, prophecy is prophecy. Run from it, and it’ll catch up anyway.” Said the adventurer, in an attempt to calm the boy and himself.
“And I can’t even try to deny this one, especially when it comes from the seers of the Ezthos Oracle.”

“NO! I don’t care if some old man from a bunch of stupid islands said that I have to hurt you, I won’t do it!” The boy protested. Stubborn.

Julius sighed, “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt me that much. Just follow my lead and it’ll be quick and painless, alright?” He held the boy’s hand and placed his gun in it. The boy pushed Julius away, adamantly rejecting the idea.

Outside, the commotion had not gone unnoticed. Rapid thumps can be heard approaching the room. As they stopped, the door was slammed wide open. A loud smack echoed through the room, marking the entrance of a middle-aged couple; interrupted the conversation between their child and his hero.
“Samar! Are you alright? What the hell is going on in here?” The mother shouted; a knife held high with her right hand.
As they were about to lunge at the trespasser, a shred of recognition flew, “Is… is that… Julius Joules?”

“Yes, it is me, in the flesh. You’ve come at an unfortunate time I’m afraid.”

“Is… Is that a GUN?” His father, holding a shovel, saw the object in Samar’s vicinity.
As the realisation came over them, they panicked. Yet, they did not lunge. They would not take chances like that, not against the famed adventurer.
The father dropped his shovel. “Please, PLEASE! I beg of you! Don’t hurt him! He’s just an innocent young boy! He’s the only one that we have!” He pleaded.
“I’ll give you anything! ANYTHING! Take our money, silverware, spices, just not our son’s life!”

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt your son. And neither I yearn for your wealth. I’m here because of a prophecy.” Explained the adventurer.
“The wise seers of Ezthos Oracle declared that your son shall be the bearer of my end. I know how those stories end, so rather than trying to defy them, I’ll just let him fulfil his destiny. Right here, right now.”

“F*CK THOSE PROPHECIES!” Samar shouted, stunning all in the room. His parents might be upset about his choice of words, but there are more pressing matters at hand.
“Why should I care about what is written for me? Why can’t you just still go explore the world?” Said the boy.

“My son is right!” The father spoke, adding to his son’s wisdom,
“Why don’t you just let fate run its course? Why are you worrying about something so distant?”

Julius sighed, “Well, what if I turn evil in the future if we don’t do this now? What if wickedness overtakes me?”

“Are you evil now?” Asked the boy.

“Well, I don’t know." Answered the adventurer.
"I do try my best to help others, but…”

“Then you’re not evil, and you don’t deserve to be hurt! If you turned evil when I grow up, that’s adult me problem, not today’s me problem!” Said Samar.

“Again, he’s right.” The mother spoke,
“Just live your life, don’t let nonsense like that disturb you. You know, you and your adventures mean a lot to him, right?” She said as she pointed out the various journal clippings on the wall.

“But I…” Julius was speechless. Something had snapped within him.
He was maddened, his obsession with fate overtook him. But the words from the family broke his trance.
What has he done?

He trembled for a second, and all of a sudden, he hugged the boy. He was unable to maintain his calm any longer. His tears finally flew.
“I’m sorry, lad! I’m so sorry! You’re right, you don’t have to do this. You don’t deserve this, not this young.”

The boy wept again, overpowered by his feelings.
Julius Joules, his hero, hugged him. He had convinced the adventurer to stop his insane, prophecy-driven plan. Yet, what just happened was still fresh in the boy's memory, and he dreaded the fact that he would be his champion’s doom.
The parents hugged each other. Relieved. Their son is safe for now.

…

Tears stopped dropping from the adventurer. Calmed down, Julius released his hug, and then slowly walked to the window.
“I’m really sorry about all that happened tonight.” He spoke. “I’ll send compensation soon enough. We’ll meet again someday, hopefully not the way I would expect.”

Just before he left through where he came from, however, the boy’s mother interjected.
“Mr. Joules, please, stay a bit longer. We are just about to have dinner!” Said the woman.
“You’ve probably come a long way from here, and I think you looked a tad bit famished, dear.”

“I don’t think I deserve your kindness,” Replied the adventurer.
“Not after everything that just happened.”

“No, it’s alright. We insist!” Joined the father.
“We have enough for everyone!”

Not wanting to be rude, Julius could only accept.
“Very well. Who am I to be above the laws of hospitality?” He said as he put down his right leg from the window.

The mother spoke, “Good! Now, let me just run the pipes so we all can wash our faces!”
With a slight chuckle, she continued. “I know that we all need that after what just happened.”

"Oh please... You've offered so much already." Uttered Julius.
"Thank you." Said the adventurer; a smile formed on his face.

(To be continued?)

So my girlfriend just started birth control and I was assuming it was the like implant that goes into ur arm because she said it was the “arm one” but after she got it she said that it’s like a sticker that she puts on her arm. Personally I have never heard of this but it’s probably because I’m a man but I did some very very slight researching before I figured that I might get some honest answers here (besides I’m not too good at reading things with big words and stuff about birth control has ALOT of big words) but anyways while doing my research I saw it only has like a 93% success rate, which seems really high but in the likely hood of me being a parent it isn’t high enough. I looked at the IUD and it said it has over a 99% success rate which id probably feel more comfortable with but it is what it is. She also said they gave her a shot before hand and I’m not really sure what the shot was for since google didn’t say anything about getting a shot before the patch. Anyways, do you think patch birth control is safe?

Hi everyone,
My wife and I have a 4.75-month-old daughter, and we started sleep training two days ago based on our pediatrician's advice. We're following the Ferber method. Before sleep training, our daughter would wake up twice during the night for a feed (formula fed) - once around 11:30 PM and then again at 3 AM. Our pediatrician recommended starting by removing the 3 AM feed.
Day 1: It was rough, but we ripped the bandaid off. We only gave our daughter the 11:30 PM feed and stopped the 3 AM one.
Day 2: To our surprise, she slept through the entire night (8:30 PM to 7:30 AM) without any check-ins or feeds! We weren’t sure if we should have dream fed her, but she was in such a deep sleep that we let it go. She slept the entire night.
We have two questions for the community as we prepare for tonight (Day 3):

1. Since we didn’t do any check-ins on Day 2, should we follow Day 2's check-in schedule (i.e., 5min/10min/12mins) for tonight, or should we continue with the chart for Day 3 check-ins (10mins/12mins/15mins)? In other words, should we follow the Ferber method chart with a one-day lag?
   
2. If our daughter is once again in a deep sleep and doesn’t wake up for her 11:30 PM feed, should we dream feed her or let her sleep through the night?
   

Thanks for the help!

Short version: I've been doing the same workout for a couple of years, but it's taking up too much of my free time. I want to continue exercising to maintain my body, but I wonder if I can adjust the exercises I do or the number of exercises I do in a week.
Long version: Hello, I'm a 29-year-old man who has been strength training for a few years now. I started a few years ago when I got in touch with a personal trainer. To give some context to the training regimen I received, I can share a bit about my fitness status at the time:
Previously, I was quite skinny and had spent most of my time indoors playing video games. One day, I felt like making a complete turnaround and thought that I should either go all in or not at all. Therefore, I told my personal trainer that my goal was to get the ultimate summer body. He told me that I could achieve my goal, but it would be tough. I needed to perform heavy exercises and hit the gym about 6 times a week.
Indeed, the program was quite rigorous, and in just a few months, I had put on a lot of size. In other words, it worked, and I feel that I've reached my goal.
Now, I've been training with the same regimen for several years, and it's been a long time since I've noticed any progress. For me, that's fine, I'm satisfied with how my body is now, but I want to maintain what I have. However, the problem with my workout routine is that it takes too much time. I have work, a partner, and other hobbies.
So my question is: How can I adjust my workout routine so that I don't have to train as hard and often? Are there any exercises I can cut out or replace with others, like full-body exercises? Or is it sufficient if I manage to do all these exercises once a week?
Here is my workout plan. There are 3 days that were repeated twice a week:
Day 1:

• Squats: 8 x 4
• Bicep curls: 8 x 3
• Triceps pulldowns with rope: 8 x 3
• Hammer curls: 10 x 3
• French press: 10 x 3
• Sit-up crunches: 40 x 3 with legs raised at different heights

Day 2:

• Bench press: 8 x 4
• Incline bench press: 8 x 3
• Flies: 10 x 3
• Seated rows: 8 x 3
• Lat pulldowns: 8 x 3
• One-arm rows: 10 x 3

Day 3:

• Deadlifts: 8 x 4
• Shoulder press: 8 x 3
• Front raises: 10 x 3
• Side lateral raises: 10 x 3
• Hanging leg raises: 10 x 4

Thank you for any responses <3

So my girlfriend just started birth control and I was assuming it was the like implant that goes into ur arm because she said it was the “arm one” but after she got it she said that it’s like a sticker that she puts on her arm. Personally I have never heard of this but it’s probably because I’m a man but I did some very very slight researching before I figured that I might get some honest answers here (besides I’m not too good at reading things with big words and stuff about birth control has ALOT of big words) but anyways while doing my research I saw it only has like a 93% success rate, which seems really high but in the likely hood of me being a parent it isn’t high enough. I looked at the IUD and it said it has over a 99% success rate which id probably feel more comfortable with but it is what it is. She also said they gave her a shot before hand and I’m not really sure what the shot was for since google didn’t say anything about getting a shot before the patch. Anyways, do you think patch birth control is safe?

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Madeline shuffled in her seat, eyes darting around the room, looking at anything and everything apart from Marcus as she tried to sift through her thoughts. Not that there was much to look at between the plain off-white walls and the worn grey carpet. The room was completely bare apart from the table she and the young guard were sitting at. She wondered what it was usually used for. A quiet office? An interrogation room? A holding cell? Or maybe it was reserved for just this — when an inmate wanted a quiet word with a guard.
Whatever it was used for, the room seemed designed to provide as little distraction as possible. But that was good, wasn’t it? No more delays. That was what she’d agreed with Billie. She would ask her questions now, and then it would be done. The chips would fall and if she got in trouble she could start picking up the pieces.
“Madeline?” Marcus prompted. “You really can ask me anything, you know. It might be hard to believe, but I promise that you can trust me.”
She finally let herself look at him, but her lips remained firmly sealed.
“Besides, I’d have thought you were keen to get this over with so you could go and have dinner.” He grinned at her, tilting his head to look out at her under raised eyebrows. “You’re normally very keen to eat.”
Though she couldn’t bring herself to laugh at his joke, it was reassuring how hard he was trying to be nice. She really wanted to believe that it couldn’t all be an act.
She nodded to herself, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It’s just like I said earlier, I really don’t want to give you the wrong idea or get you in trouble or get me in trouble.” Shifting slightly under his steady gaze, she looked down at her fingers fidgeting and twisting together on the table.
Until a hand slid across into her eye line.
She froze.
Marcus froze too, his hand millimetres from her own. Then, it slid forward again and closed over hers. Though she tensed, she didn’t flinch or pull back. She slowly looked up and met his wide, kind eyes. “I… I was wondering if… I wanted to ask you about…” She closed her eyes and forced the words out. “Has anyone ever tried to escape from here before? And if so, what happened?”
The hand on hers twitched slightly but remained where it was. Surely that was a good sign?
She opened her eyes to see Marcus’s gaze fixed on her, his expression frustratingly neutral.
“Yes,” he said levelly. “People have tried to escape before. Of course they have. People value their freedom.”
“And?”
“And some managed. Though some of those were caught again, and it didn’t end well for them.”
“And those that didn’t manage?”
“It didn’t end well for them either. They tend to make an example of anyone who tries it.” The hand on hers finally slid back, but he leaned in closer, face twisted by concern. “Why are you asking this?”
Finally, one of the answers she’d rehearsed! “Well, I was just wondering about Billie’s brother — and anyone else we might want to enquire about. If they’d escaped or tried to escape, would they still be in the system? And would you be able to tell us about it, even if it wasn’t good news?”
His eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t call her out on what now seemed such an obvious lie. “They would still be in our system, yes. As for whether we would pass on the information as to what happened to them… That would depend on the good it could do.”
“Of course. I just know how much closure can help.”
“And that’s the only reason you’re asking?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
She nodded quickly. “Mmhhmm.”
“Because if there might be another reason, I would have to implore you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider whatever you might be planning. Because… Because like I said, it won’t end well.” He inched further towards her, leaning her across the table. “It won’t be by my hand, I can promise you that, but I can’t protect you from the others. And I really, really don’t want to see that happen to you, Madeline. I… I care about you.”
Madeline’s breath caught in her throat. For all Billie’s teasing, she hadn’t really, truly considered the possibility that they might be right. She’d never exactly been popular with boys, particularly with boys like Marcus — a fact that had never really bothered her. And what could she possibly have done to warrant his interest in her baggy shapeless work clothes?
“You remind me so much of my sister,” he continued, glancing down at his hands on the table.
She let out the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding.
“She’d have been about your age. She was shy at first too, but had an outrageous mouth on her once you got to know her. She was smart — always reading — and she was quiet and sweet… too sweet for this world.”
Now, it was Madeline’s turn to reach across the table, slipping her hand over his and squeezing gently. “Did you lose her?”
He shrugged. “I suppose I did in pretty much every sense of the word. Though perhaps I’ll never know for certain. So believe me when I say I know what you mean about the importance of closure.”
“What happened?”
Looking up to meet her gaze, he gave her a wan smile. “We’re not here to talk about me. We’re here to answer your questions.”
She smiled back. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But you’ve been such a help to me here. So if you ever want to talk about it, I’d love to listen.”
He was silent a while, expression glazed over as if his mind was elsewhere. Then, his eyes snapped back into focus as if a decision had been reached. “The short version is that we got separated, like so many people did in the early days. I spent a long time looking for her, and it led me here. I paid my dues and worked hard. When they told me she wasn’t in the system, I didn’t believe them. I figured if I became a guard I could check for myself and, well… it turned out they weren’t lying. Or if they were, they covered their tracks well.”
“I’m sorry that you couldn’t find her.”
“Me too.” Glancing back down, he placed his other hand over hers and squeezed slightly. “And I’d also be very sorry if anything happened to you. So please, Madeline, be careful. While I promise you can trust me, there’s not much I can do to help if you get in trouble. And I really couldn’t stand to see you get in trouble.”
“I promise that I’ll be careful,” she said. After all, it was technically true. And though she’d lied many times to survive in this world, it seemed wrong to repay Marcus’s honesty with her own dishonesty.
“And that includes not mentioning any of this to anyone else. If anyone asks, you were here to talk to me about Liam and ask about the arrangements for your family room, okay?”
“Okay. Actually, since you bring it up, are there any updates there?”
He snorted. “Trust me, as soon as there are any updates I will make sure you’re the first to know.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Madeline. You’re always welcome.” Pushing his chair back, he stood. “Now shall we get you back to the dormitory so you can get some dinner?”
She followed suit, chair scraping across the worn carpet. “That sounds good. And Marcus?”
“Hmmm?”
“I really do mean it. Thank you.”
On the walk back, Madeline felt lighter. She hadn’t exactly learned much, though she supposed she should take heart from the fact that some people had successfully escaped this place. But the thing putting a spring back into her step was the knowledge that she had a true friend on her side. And despite what Billie might say, she didn’t need to worry about giving him the wrong impression or any romantic overtures.
In fact, it turned out that Marcus was just like them. He’d come here in search of someone he’d loved and lost.
Madeline wondered how many of the other guards here had similar stories. She was sure that some were attracted to the role because of the power over others, but plenty of them seemed like nice enough human beings. When she’d first arrived, she hadn’t been able to fathom the sort of person who would willingly work for or with the Poiloogs — at least not one she’d like to meet. But perhaps the world was even less black and white than she’d thought.
She could even start to see a world where she’d be happy enough staying here.
Of course, she missed her freedom. Her books. Her library. But the work wasn’t too bad. She had food and a bed. She had Billie. And apparently, she had Marcus too. And soon, she’d have Liam. In a lot of ways, that was a better existence than the one she’d had just a year ago — free, but alone, surviving rather than living.
Author's Note: Next chapter due on 16th June

I got retraumatized again today.
A sign had the word gypsy on it. You wouldnt see shops with the word n*gger on it would you? I know I have privilege, and you might say "iTs nO bIg DeAl" or "yOuAr dEluSiOnAl" but do we really need to bully each other and further and divide the community? No. All trauma is like super valid ok.
Sure there are families in third world countries starving and homeless but I don't have any money in my bank account to buy food after attending that concert last weekend and my next payday is tomorrow. Food insecurity is truly terrifying.
So I promptly interrupted the retail workecashier who was in the middle of a transaction and told her off.
She honestly said "I just work here"
Like really? Being complicit in RACISM like that? I could feel the bigotry behind her hollow, exhausted, dead eyes. Can't believe it. So I talked to the manager. You bet I sat and waited for this lady. I was SEETHING. My trauma was traumatized. I couldn't wait to post about this. I was already writing up my boycott Facebook post to let people know to STAY AWAY.
Finally this lady shows up, her fake politeness made me even more angry, how dare you continue to oppress my people and then smile at me? Unbelievable.
She said it would be complicated to change the name, but she appreciates me educating her.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Take the sign DOWN. They have screwdrivers, there are companiee that do that! I don't know anything about business, but it can't be that hard! Just do the right thing, the LEGAL THINGS and change your business name!
Apparently there is a lot of "costs" and "talking to a lawyer and filing paperwork" and it's "something they can't do right now because they're a small business"
You run a business! It's like a landlord! You have to be dripping in spare cash I mean come on. Look at all the sales this business makes off the back of OUR PEOPLE.
We should start a petition with the city. Anyone have any traumatic family stories I can use to, uh, show the people in charge how hurtful this whole thing is? Don't worry, you can send me a private message. I won't name names, heck, if it means protecting you? I'll just use my own name.
We are all in this together. Naice Tok.