Weakness of the single wing
STRAYING OUTSIDE OF THE STATUS QUO IS FOR MELVINS
2017.08.28 04:31 carsausage STRAYING OUTSIDE OF THE STATUS QUO IS FOR MELVINS
http://redd.it/1476ioa
2014.10.23 16:16 umyeahsurewhatever Red Wing Shoes
Discuss Red Wing Boots and Shoes
2009.01.04 09:21 Donate: the charitable wing of the internet
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2024.05.16 10:52 Adeptus_Gedeon Few Lovecraftian inspirations from the real life and beliefs
The article is intended primarily for Game Masters who play games in settings inspired by Lovecraft’s works. 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:
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/
submitted by Adeptus_Gedeon to gurps [link] [comments]
- 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.
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/
2024.05.16 10:32 Bl6zing I’m 18 and I feel like my life is already over.
(Just think of this as a vent post, I know this will get buried anyways.)
It’s just as the title says, I (18m) just feel like there’s nothing I can do to make myself in the right track again. To make it short, I’m pretty much worthless, I’m failing school (still in grade 10), barely have any friends, no talents or practical skills to speak of, and have zero experience in the ‘real world’ as I’ve never had a job nor do I really think I’m mentally capable of one, i know I’m weak, you don’t have to tell me. I’m a burden both mentally and financially to my mother with my horrible attendance to school and my addiction to vaping, which I’m obviously not proud of.
I’ve had multiple attempts of suicide, all failed as you can tell, it makes me feel pathetic to wake up back in my bed either in immense pain or just plain ol’ high. Despite my history, nobody asks if I’m okay or even tries to, and on the inside I feel as if nobody cares either. I would say I’m depressed but I’ve never been officially diagnosed as I’ve never been to a doctors appointment in years, I’ve tried therapy that my school set up but I seem to automatically lie about how I feel, I want help but I also push it away at the same time, I’m just a living contradiction, I say I want to die but at the same time I’m so afraid of it as well. My mind flip flops around so much in one day, one hour, I could be optimistic and hopeful for myself, thinking that I could turn this horrible situation around and become ‘normal’ again, then the next hour I’m at rock bottom yet again, hoping for nothing more than to be dead, it’s an exhausting cycle of this every. single. day.
I know that I’m young(ish) and that there’s still so much time to get things together, but it feels impossible with the state I’m in now, which is lying in bed all day with no physical and mental energy, avoiding any texts or game invites from my friends and family, and wanting to change without putting any effort in doing so, it’s just an endless cycle. And yes, I know my situation is barely a pebble on the road compared to what many others have been through, but I just needed to let this out and be relieved of these thoughts that threaten to consume me.
Excuse the horrible writing of this, I pretty much word vomited everything that’s been building up for however long it’s been since I’ve told anyone how I’ve felt. Have a lovely day/night.
submitted by Bl6zing to TrueOffMyChest [link] [comments]
It’s just as the title says, I (18m) just feel like there’s nothing I can do to make myself in the right track again. To make it short, I’m pretty much worthless, I’m failing school (still in grade 10), barely have any friends, no talents or practical skills to speak of, and have zero experience in the ‘real world’ as I’ve never had a job nor do I really think I’m mentally capable of one, i know I’m weak, you don’t have to tell me. I’m a burden both mentally and financially to my mother with my horrible attendance to school and my addiction to vaping, which I’m obviously not proud of.
I’ve had multiple attempts of suicide, all failed as you can tell, it makes me feel pathetic to wake up back in my bed either in immense pain or just plain ol’ high. Despite my history, nobody asks if I’m okay or even tries to, and on the inside I feel as if nobody cares either. I would say I’m depressed but I’ve never been officially diagnosed as I’ve never been to a doctors appointment in years, I’ve tried therapy that my school set up but I seem to automatically lie about how I feel, I want help but I also push it away at the same time, I’m just a living contradiction, I say I want to die but at the same time I’m so afraid of it as well. My mind flip flops around so much in one day, one hour, I could be optimistic and hopeful for myself, thinking that I could turn this horrible situation around and become ‘normal’ again, then the next hour I’m at rock bottom yet again, hoping for nothing more than to be dead, it’s an exhausting cycle of this every. single. day.
I know that I’m young(ish) and that there’s still so much time to get things together, but it feels impossible with the state I’m in now, which is lying in bed all day with no physical and mental energy, avoiding any texts or game invites from my friends and family, and wanting to change without putting any effort in doing so, it’s just an endless cycle. And yes, I know my situation is barely a pebble on the road compared to what many others have been through, but I just needed to let this out and be relieved of these thoughts that threaten to consume me.
Excuse the horrible writing of this, I pretty much word vomited everything that’s been building up for however long it’s been since I’ve told anyone how I’ve felt. Have a lovely day/night.
2024.05.16 10:13 gobias_bees So many women are just not tough enough to handle this
I am aware my feelings are harsh/unsympathetic and may indeed be burnout/exhaustion from EPing for 9mos. I also have a job in mental health where I can only be patient, empathetic and non judgmental. There might be some compassion fatigue happening. Still, I have to get my real feelings off my chest as I sit here sick and tired doing yet another night pump.
To my sister and friends and everyone giving up on breastfeeding and pumping because it’s inconvenient, they didn’t ‘like it,’ they want to sleep through the night, smoke pot, drink alcohol, etc: you are literally just not tough enough to handle this and do what’s best for your child.
I see so many posts about miserable moms proudly stopping and doing what’s best for them. It’s literally not about you. You have one job- to give your child the best possible chance at health and happiness in their life. Breastmilk is so beneficial any amount you can contribute is worth doing. In my eyes there is nothing wrong with supplementing or combo feeding. You just can’t give up because this is hard. I am never so grateful my child is on 80-90% breastmilk than when we’re sick and I can fight it off myself and pass on these antibodies and white blood cells.
I am so sick of pretending that formula is fine. I don’t think cow’s skim milk powder and oil and powdered vitamins are fine. I don’t eat processed shit food- why is it ok to give to baby? I’m filled with resentment when I see moms in my life crack open a can of formula and my clock is counting down until the next uncomfortable pumping session. Why do I have to keep acting supportive when they throw in the towel? I want to shout you’re just weak. I literally saw comments on this sub that said the WHO should recommend exclusively formula feeding because it’s better for everyone. What a complete crock of shit. To all the formula moms claiming their child is so healthy because of their weight- I want to say there are so many markers of health that are not weight related! You are burrowing your head in the sand. I felt ragey at an appt this week because there was an enfamil poster in the waiting room.
For me it is motivating to look at the ingredients list on the formula package and know my time and efforts are in service of another. I feel like I can go on with this when people validate the benefits and get real. Seeing others quit motivates me to keep going. You do have to be so so tough. You do have to reach within yourself and reflect on what this means to you. You can do this. Don’t give up. Every single drop is worth it. I recognize your sacrifices and give you pumping moms so so much credit. You are selfless and doing the right thing.
submitted by gobias_bees to ExclusivelyPumping [link] [comments]
To my sister and friends and everyone giving up on breastfeeding and pumping because it’s inconvenient, they didn’t ‘like it,’ they want to sleep through the night, smoke pot, drink alcohol, etc: you are literally just not tough enough to handle this and do what’s best for your child.
I see so many posts about miserable moms proudly stopping and doing what’s best for them. It’s literally not about you. You have one job- to give your child the best possible chance at health and happiness in their life. Breastmilk is so beneficial any amount you can contribute is worth doing. In my eyes there is nothing wrong with supplementing or combo feeding. You just can’t give up because this is hard. I am never so grateful my child is on 80-90% breastmilk than when we’re sick and I can fight it off myself and pass on these antibodies and white blood cells.
I am so sick of pretending that formula is fine. I don’t think cow’s skim milk powder and oil and powdered vitamins are fine. I don’t eat processed shit food- why is it ok to give to baby? I’m filled with resentment when I see moms in my life crack open a can of formula and my clock is counting down until the next uncomfortable pumping session. Why do I have to keep acting supportive when they throw in the towel? I want to shout you’re just weak. I literally saw comments on this sub that said the WHO should recommend exclusively formula feeding because it’s better for everyone. What a complete crock of shit. To all the formula moms claiming their child is so healthy because of their weight- I want to say there are so many markers of health that are not weight related! You are burrowing your head in the sand. I felt ragey at an appt this week because there was an enfamil poster in the waiting room.
For me it is motivating to look at the ingredients list on the formula package and know my time and efforts are in service of another. I feel like I can go on with this when people validate the benefits and get real. Seeing others quit motivates me to keep going. You do have to be so so tough. You do have to reach within yourself and reflect on what this means to you. You can do this. Don’t give up. Every single drop is worth it. I recognize your sacrifices and give you pumping moms so so much credit. You are selfless and doing the right thing.
2024.05.16 10:07 AdamantAce The New Titans #9 - War Dove
DC Next Proudly Presents:
Issue Nine: War Dove
Written by AdamantAce, GemlinTheGremlin & PatrollinTheMojave
Edited by Deadislandman1 and Voidkiller826
Next Issue > Coming Next Month
“Raven!”
Slade’s gruff voice pierced through the deafening, wave-like roars in Raven’s head, but the rage was too much to bear. Her hands sizzled as hellfire danced in her palms, her body readying for another attack. She locked eyes with a reptilian soldier, dismounting his simian steed and charging on foot, but as she lunged forwards to strike him, she watched a man fly into her path. Slade Wilson caught the young Titan’s hand and pushed, throwing Raven backwards.
“Come on, kid, snap out of it!” But as Slade’s words fell on deaf ears, he felt the familiar sting of a fist to his jaw, a crack echoing in his ears. He recoiled from the attack but powered through his injury and stood his ground. Sinking his heels into the ground, he locked eyes with the girl before him. Her face seemed contorted and uncanny, as if all of the rage she was feeling was pouring out of her. She groaned angrily as she thrusted her head downwards, her forehead making contact with Slade’s teeth, before pulling her head back up again in preparation for another attack.
Before she could make one, however, one of the lizardmen had almost reached the warring duo’s sides, and as he lunged forward with his long spear, he made contact with Raven’s side. A small rip formed in the side of Raven’s outfit, which seemed to only anger her further. However, it did seem to distract her enough; Mar’i fired off a single Starbolt which struck only the ground - a warning shot.
“Raven! Please!” the half-Tamaranean cried out. But the Raven she knew was buried under unfathomable amounts of fury; she ignored her teammate’s call and instead flew forwards and swung out at the reptiloid. The strike glowed with red flame, sending the creature skidding across the floor, barely conscious. Slade spotted a flash of something else on her face, as if she was finally able to fight back against the endless rage - pain, perhaps, or anguish. But in an instant, it was gone.
That flicker of something other than white-hot anger was enough for Slade.
He clutched his side as his still open wound began to ache, the bandages feeling wet with fresh blood. His jaw felt crooked, and as he gritted his teeth, it felt as though they sat differently atop each other. And yet, he clutched his staff tightly in one hand, and with the other he beckoned to Raven.
“Kid, you’re fighting it, I know you are!” Slade felt his mouth filling with blood rather than saliva.
Within a moment, Raven’s attention was locked on the white-haired man once again. She fired bolt after bolt of black and red flame, but Slade was still dextrous despite his pain. He dodged and dived, weaving through the fire, until he finally managed to make contact with his opponent. He drove his staff into her chest and pushed his weight against the weapon, forcing her backwards. She rose into the air, a black mist pouring from her arms and over her face, a large ghostly corvid taking her place. He felt the deathly cold shadow of the bird’s wing fall over him, his feet leaving the ground as she scooped him into the air.
He looked down at the ground far beneath him. A fall from this height would kill anyone, he thought, let alone someone beaten half to death.
Then, as a verdant bolt of energy struck it in the side, Raven’s Soul Self shrieked and the shadows retreated inwards. Slade felt himself falling through the air for a second, then two, before he felt his back collide with something soft and cushioned. As he looked up, he met the gaze of Conner, who soared to the ground in an instant, placing the snow-haired man on the ground and giving a swift nod.
Raven let out a pained, frustrated yell as she returned to the ground, aided by a grappling line expertly positioned by Tim, and in response, Conner jetted off towards the sound of her cries. Slade’s feet faltered beneath him, and he stumbled to keep his balance. His breathing was laboured and his vision was becoming fuzzy. It felt as though, he realised, all the blood loss and violence he had suffered over the past few hours were finally catching up to him. Was this what dying felt like?
“Slade!” shouted a voice, followed by the dulled drumming of hurried footsteps. Slade pulled his hand across his face to wipe away the mental haze and drops of blood. It was Don, sprinting towards him. When Slade felt Don clasp him by shoulders, he realized just how slowed he was by his injuries. “Plan?,” Slade coughed out.
“You’ve seen what she can do. I only see one way out of these without one of the kids getting hurt. I’d do it myself, but I’m out of practice and this is too important to leave to chance.” Don looked around anxiously, his face betraying that he had a lot on his mind. “I’m giving you the powers of a god.” Slade opened his mouth to ask a question, a million came to mind. He glanced across the battlefield. Through a blurry film, he saw Raven’s Soul Self bat Conner away with its wing. He careened into the trunk of a thick tree, uprooting it with a deep crunch. “Are you sure?,” Slade asked, breathless.
“I’m not losing another Titan.” Don squeezed his eyes shut. His grip on Slade tightened as pale, almost blinding light enveloped them. It felt warm. No, better than that: it felt peaceful. With his enhanced senses, Slade could hear his erratic heartbeat slow. Fleeting visions bubbled up in his mind, opening up his awareness beyond the wildest dreams of Project Veritas. He felt rivers of magical energy flowing through the air and earth. Each of them spiralled towards a depression. Towards Raven, he knew instinctively. Iridescent blue light spread outward from his shoulders. It washed over his body armor, bleaching the jet black panels until his entire body shone with radiance. The pain from wounds old and new faded, replaced by serenity - and power. Don opened his eyes again and sighed gently; a concoction and joy, relief, and quiet mourning.
“There,” Don remarked. Slade felt lighter, less angry, less burdened. He looked down at the iridescent light enveloping his body. Magical energy buzzed against the surface of his skin. “The powers of the Dove - officially yours.”
Slade sucked in a nervous breath. “Don…” Even rejuvenated, he was still lost for words.
“They’re yours now,” Don smiled weakly. “Now go earn them. There’s a Titan in dire need of our help.”
Conner floated out of the dense jungle, rubbing his forehead. “Is Slade glowing or do I have a concussion?”
Slade looked over at Raven. She seemed less erratic, her movements driven by her brain rather than her gut. Tim’s staff batted fiercely against her, each strike buffeting her back more and more, but it was clear to Slade that Raven was not any weaker physically - her mind, however, was another story.
Slade began marching towards her, the ache in his side dulled. “Raven. You’re strong. Fight this rage inside of you.” Raven glared at him, a spark of something in her eyes, as she swooped in towards him at top speed. As she neared him, however, Slade readied his staff, stretching it out in front of him. As the tip of the weapon struck Raven, a beam of white energy coursed through her, as if she had been struck by lightning, and her body was flung backwards across the dirt.
Slade danced a hand over his rifle, but something felt different. He pulled it into his hands and inspected it swiftly; nothing seemed out of order. Raven rose slowly from her supine position, snarling softly to herself. Her movements had slowed, the expression on her face becoming closer to horror than rage. She was doing it.
“You’re nearly there, kid,” Slade soothed, his words suddenly like butter. He watched Raven’s shoulders start to relax. “That’s it. Just fight this, Raven. You’re almost there.”
Despite her tremendous progress, Raven’s blistering fury won out once more, and she charged a large bolt of hellfire in her hands. Slade fiddled with his rifle and crossed his fingers. There was a standstill between the two. Slade analysed his rifle again; there was something different about the barrel, as if it had been swapped out for another similar model. The stock felt lighter, too, as if the weight had been–
Raven roared at him, swiping wildly with glowing fists, and in an instant Slade instinctively pulled the trigger.
What fired from the gun was not a silvery bullet, but a familiar glowing bolt of white light, cloud-like in appearance. As it struck Raven, she sucked in a deep breath, the energy engulfing her. Her face softened and her posture relaxed. Then she swung out for the man’s weakened side, his bandages poking through the aura of light. And yet, as he stayed steadfast, not even attempting to dodge the attack. Sparks flew from the point of contact. Slade just readied another shot and fired.
Her body swayed with the blow. Slade closed the gap between them and focused on the new warmth he felt, concentrating it into his staff as best he could. Then, as he held it out in front of him at arm’s length, he swiped at Raven and struck her in the side of the shoulder. Each blow seemed to be more effective than the last, but as Raven’s movements continued to slow, Slade held fire.
“You’re doing it, Raven,” Slade encouraged. He watched as the other Titans surrounded Raven, each of them ready for any further attacks. Everyone watched with bated breath as their teammate and friend thrashed and recoiled from the hit. Her breathing was rapid, although it felt closer to panic than unabashed fury. She clasped her hands over her head, groaning. Then, suddenly, she stopped.
Her face had softened completely, her jaw slack, and tears filled her vision. She looked up at Slade with a comfort in her eyes. The aura emanating from him was pervasive and contagious, and although she had felt lost in a sea of impossibly vast emotions, its warmth and comfort cut through. The anger was still there somewhat, the last remaining dregs still working its way out of her system, but the comfort, the peace that Slade was providing was the anchor for her to stabilise herself. She had only ever seen this kind of power when Don…
Raven’s eyes widened as she realised what that meant. She collapsed to her knees, suddenly feeling the bone-deep fatigue her rage had suppressed. Her teammates rushed in around her. Mar’i dropped to a knee by her side and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s OK. You’re safe. Everyone’s OK.”
“Don I’m—” She wiped away a stream of tears, stumbling her way out of the emotional vortex she’d been sucked into. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened. I’ve lost control before, but never like this.”
Don looked older. Creases ran across his forehead and around his eyes. His smile hadn’t changed. “Raven, my brother and I got those powers when I was a kid. We didn’t ask for them. We weren’t ready for them. We didn’t know how to use them, let alone control them.” He laughed dryly, recalling Hank. “I don’t regret anything. Giving my powers to Slade is the best thing I’ve done with them in years. I know Hank would feel the same way.”
In the moment of silence that followed, Raven rose to her feet and pulled her cloak tightly around herself. She was still shaking. Tim’s eyes drifted from her to Slade. “Something’s gnawing at me. Kestrel’s powers are weakened in Skartaris. Don’s…” He coughed, “Slade’s powers are amplified. If this place is what affected you—”
Mar’i’s face flashed with recognition, “—your powers must be tied to the Lords of Order and Chaos!”
Tim furrowed his brow. “Maybe.” He hardly had time to consider further when a thundering crack tore open the sky. Two bolts of swirling energy - one red and one blue - met above them, forming a swirling portal at their vertex. The Titans readied their weapons, expecting the worst.
“It’s them.” Slade murmured, still put off by his uncanny awareness. Terataya and T’Charr descended from the sky, one wreathed in mist, the other, magma. The two elementals stopped a few feet above the ground, hovering.
Terataya was the first to speak. Even at a whisper, her voice reverberated through the air. “I don’t usually care for surprises, Don, but this was a pleasant one.” A thin smile appeared on her face.
“Slade Wilson.” Terataya’s neck turned at an unnatural angle to face him. “You wield the powers of Order with great skill. Who understands the dangers of unchecked War better than a soldier. Become my champion. Protect the balance.”
Slade took a step back, then glanced at Don.
“She’s right.” Don said, with only a hint of hesitation. “It took me years to use the powers like you used them today. You’re a natural.”
Slade looked at his hands, still gently pulsing with pale blue light. “Thanks.” He allowed himself a weak smile. “But no thanks.”
“What.” T’Charr’s voice boomed.
“It doesn’t take Zatanna to realize an old soldier like me makes a piss-poor Avatar of Peace. I fight for a living, and I’m not deluded enough to think that makes me good at anything but fighting. If you want someone who understands the need for balance, Don just sacrificed everything special about him for it.”
Don raised an eyebrow. “None taken.”
“His actions today were noble, but they do not make up for years spent squandering the gift.”
“Squandering? The Titans wouldn’t exist today if he hadn’t pulled them together. Everything they’ve done. Everything they’ve achieved for your balance wouldn’t have happened without him, including stopping that monster you made.”
“Watch your tone, mortal.” T’Charr threatened.
“There may be a vein of truth to his words, lover.” Terataya said. “But *if we were to restore Don Hall’s power, we would need assurances. His indecision led down this path.”*
Rocks ground against each other as T’Charr landed beside Don. “You would have weeks, not years, to select a counterpart and return to your duties.”
Don’s response was instantaneous. “I’ve made a decision.”
“You’ve decided if you’ll take up the mantle of Dove again?”
Don nodded. “And who should be the new Hawk.”
Terataya giggled. “Full of surprises today. T’Charr?”
“We should discuss this.” He said. “In private.”
The three of them vanished, leaving the Titans and Slade alone on a battlefield riddled with bits of dino meat and ape fur.
○○ Ⓣ ○○
“You don’t think they’re gonna come back in like, 200 years, right?” Conner asked. He sat beside the depowered Slade Wilson, who was downing aspirin to make up for the sudden deficit in peace energy.
“I don’t know.” Tim said. “But we should give them more than fifteen minutes.”
As if on cue, the skies opened again. Again, the chromatic energy lit the sky and again a portal opened its swirling maw. This time, however, it wasn’t two elemental Lords to descend. Raven squinted to make the figures out.
“Oh my god.” Conner said, having a far easier time with his super-vision.
“What? Who is it?” Tim asked.
“Donna!” Mar’i shouted. She shot off the ground towards her. Her black combat armor was replaced with a crimson and white bodysuit studded with stars that seemed to twinkle as the light shifted around her. The sword at her side was gone too, replaced with a coiled loop of rope suffused with the same brilliant energy. The two collided into an embrace, spinning through the air as they held each other tightly.
Don was the first to land, restored with the powers of Dove. He looked stronger than ever, and maybe more importantly, happier. Even Tim’s typical thoughtful brooding has been pierced by an unimpeachable joy.
“I don’t understand,.” Raven said. “S-She’s alive. How is this possible?”
“I knew there was only one person who could be trusted with the powers of War, with Hank’s abilities.” He scratched the back of his neck, a bit guilty. “And she’d been staring me in the face for years. It took some doing, but eventually T’Charr and Terataya saw that too.”
Donna landed beside him, Mar’i only a step behind. By now Conner had stepped forward. He tried not to choke over his words. “I’m sorry. If I’d—”
Donna didn’t let him get the words out before pulling him into a grapple-turned-hug that quickly grew as the rest of the team piled in. Slade flicked another aspirin into his mouth.
“Danyah!” A voice called out from over the ridge. It was Travis, mounted atop a fanged reptilian creature in the vague shape of a horse and flanked on either side by his gold-armored honor guard. He broke into a gallop, stopping just short of the Titans. “When I saw the skies, I feared the worst. Is it really you? Has sorcery brought you back to us?”
“It’s me, Travis. A Lord of Chaos brought me back.”
“Not to interrupt,.” Slade said, still nursing his wounds. “But did either of you ask them to bring us back to Chicago?”
“I…” Don grimaced. “Donna, how do we get home?”
“How did you get here? Surely you could return the way you came.” Travis said.
“No, we can’t.” Tim said, pressing a few buttons on his wrist’s holographic display. “Whatever magic pervades Skartaris is also causing some extreme time dilation. I can’t guarantee we’d return to the 21st century, or even to Earth.”
“I spent a decade in Skartaris and returned to Earth nearly two centuries later. It’s the influence of Chaos. We’d need a Skartaran mage of overwhelming power to stabilize our return.” She spat the word mage with disgust. Travis’s expression seemed to confirm the reputation of Skartaran spellcasters.
Before their anxiety could spiral, the sky above began to churn. Moments later, the ground shook as a violent bolt of lightning cleaved the air, striking with such ferocity that all but Conner and Donna were flung backward. Mar'i skidded across the damp undergrowth, her senses overwhelmed by the acrid scent of ozone. Her mind was racing; their victory was hard fought, and she doubted they had much left in the tank for another confrontation. She dug her hands into the ground and pushed herself up as she choked from the smell. The Warlord Morgan and his military guards snapped to attention, forming a protective ring around the crater that now marred the earth.
From the smoking pit, a figure rose, unfolding from a crouch like something out of Terminator. Adorned in a red and white jumpsuit that accentuated his lithe build, the young man's appearance was marked by a red cowl and goggles, with sandy brown hair rebelliously spilling out.
Conner squinted through the dissipating smoke, murmuring under his breath, “A speedster?” The Flashes had had a variety of different sidekicks and other allies over the years, but none of them recognised this one
With a nonchalant flair that seemed at odds with the charged atmosphere, the newcomer greeted them. “Hey, everyone chillax. I'm here to get you guys back home.”
Donna, ever the leader, stepped forward and spoke with a commanding curiosity, now emboldened with the war aura of Hawk. “And who are you exactly? Why should we trust you with such a claim?”
Flashing a cheeky grin, he tilted his head and responded, “Well, I’m a speedster for one. Name’s Impulse. If I run fast enough, then I can… well, I guess bend time.”
Behind Donna, the group exchanged sceptical glances. Raven's face remained shadowed by recovery, Mar'i and Conner braced for action, and Tim discretely checked his gadgets, no doubt for something that he could use on a speedster should the need arise.
“Yeah, we figured that much,” Don cut through the tension, his voice calm yet insistent. “Who sent you?”
Impulse chuckled, his demeanour remaining unfazed by their scrutiny. “Look, the details aren't the fun part. Trust me, I can get us back.”
As a silence thick with doubt and scepticism settled over the group, Impulse seemed to realise his casual assurances weren't sufficient. With a theatrical sigh, he reached up and removed his mask, revealing a face familiar to both Mar'i and Raven.
“Brody!?” Mar'i exclaimed, her surprise echoing through the clearing as she stared at the boy who had once hobbled through their college classes with his leg in a cast.
The young man’s grin widened, his eyes sparkling with mischief and a hint of pride. “Actually, it’s Bart.”
○○ Ⓣ ○○
When Slade emerged from the shower, his skin was glistening with moisture, the water tracing the contours of his scars. He wrapped a stark white towel around his waist, and crossed the plush carpet to sit on the edge of the hotel room bed. He released a slow, deep breath; it was a good job the speedster kid arrived when he did. The notion of being stranded in an alien land or, worse, a different time had gnawed at him with a ferocity that was hard to admit. Without Bart’s intervention, every one of Slade’s meticulously crafted plans would have been utterly dashed.
Facing him, a wall-mounted mirror caught his rugged reflection. Drawn to his own image, Slade studied the scars that mapped his trials, the slick white hair that crowned his head, and the deep lines etched into his face. A familiar discomfort nagged at him, focusing his attention on his right eye. Unable to alleviate the irritation through the skin, Slade exhaled heavily and carefully removed the eye altogether. The movement, fluid and practised, spoke of years of adaptation.
He placed the prosthetic gently on the bed beside him and as he massaged the socket, a decades-old habit, his mind wandered. He wasn't accustomed to keeping the prosthetic in for extended periods. Showering with it had been an uncomfortable experiment in necessity - he didn't like it, but understood the importance of maintaining the facade. The Slade he would have people believe he was would have never lost an eye, because that Slade had led a life far from by the darker paths Slade had truthfully trodden.
His thoughts wandered to his brief time wielding the potent powers of Dove, and Slade felt a twinge of regret at their loss. The clarity and strength those powers had provided were intoxicating, yet he recognised that he had a more important goal, one he couldn’t compromise. His current role demanded not the accumulation of power but the perfection of his deceit, ensuring that all believed he was not the Slade Wilson they knew, but a Reawakened, more innocent doppelganger.
Now, with the glass eye resting beside him, Slade stared at his unmasked visage. Maintaining the myth of the noble Slade was critical. The ruthless mercenary, the World’s Deadliest Killer - those identities had to remain buried. The Titans had believed him enough to entrust him with divine powers, their faith a testament to his performance, but the game was far from over; in fact, it was entering its most critical phase.
Next: Return to normality in The New Titans #10
submitted by AdamantAce to DCNext [link] [comments]
THE NEW TITANS
In Shadow of KestrelIssue Nine: War Dove
Written by AdamantAce, GemlinTheGremlin & PatrollinTheMojave
Edited by Deadislandman1 and Voidkiller826
Next Issue > Coming Next Month
“Raven!”
Slade’s gruff voice pierced through the deafening, wave-like roars in Raven’s head, but the rage was too much to bear. Her hands sizzled as hellfire danced in her palms, her body readying for another attack. She locked eyes with a reptilian soldier, dismounting his simian steed and charging on foot, but as she lunged forwards to strike him, she watched a man fly into her path. Slade Wilson caught the young Titan’s hand and pushed, throwing Raven backwards.
“Come on, kid, snap out of it!” But as Slade’s words fell on deaf ears, he felt the familiar sting of a fist to his jaw, a crack echoing in his ears. He recoiled from the attack but powered through his injury and stood his ground. Sinking his heels into the ground, he locked eyes with the girl before him. Her face seemed contorted and uncanny, as if all of the rage she was feeling was pouring out of her. She groaned angrily as she thrusted her head downwards, her forehead making contact with Slade’s teeth, before pulling her head back up again in preparation for another attack.
Before she could make one, however, one of the lizardmen had almost reached the warring duo’s sides, and as he lunged forward with his long spear, he made contact with Raven’s side. A small rip formed in the side of Raven’s outfit, which seemed to only anger her further. However, it did seem to distract her enough; Mar’i fired off a single Starbolt which struck only the ground - a warning shot.
“Raven! Please!” the half-Tamaranean cried out. But the Raven she knew was buried under unfathomable amounts of fury; she ignored her teammate’s call and instead flew forwards and swung out at the reptiloid. The strike glowed with red flame, sending the creature skidding across the floor, barely conscious. Slade spotted a flash of something else on her face, as if she was finally able to fight back against the endless rage - pain, perhaps, or anguish. But in an instant, it was gone.
That flicker of something other than white-hot anger was enough for Slade.
He clutched his side as his still open wound began to ache, the bandages feeling wet with fresh blood. His jaw felt crooked, and as he gritted his teeth, it felt as though they sat differently atop each other. And yet, he clutched his staff tightly in one hand, and with the other he beckoned to Raven.
“Kid, you’re fighting it, I know you are!” Slade felt his mouth filling with blood rather than saliva.
Within a moment, Raven’s attention was locked on the white-haired man once again. She fired bolt after bolt of black and red flame, but Slade was still dextrous despite his pain. He dodged and dived, weaving through the fire, until he finally managed to make contact with his opponent. He drove his staff into her chest and pushed his weight against the weapon, forcing her backwards. She rose into the air, a black mist pouring from her arms and over her face, a large ghostly corvid taking her place. He felt the deathly cold shadow of the bird’s wing fall over him, his feet leaving the ground as she scooped him into the air.
He looked down at the ground far beneath him. A fall from this height would kill anyone, he thought, let alone someone beaten half to death.
Then, as a verdant bolt of energy struck it in the side, Raven’s Soul Self shrieked and the shadows retreated inwards. Slade felt himself falling through the air for a second, then two, before he felt his back collide with something soft and cushioned. As he looked up, he met the gaze of Conner, who soared to the ground in an instant, placing the snow-haired man on the ground and giving a swift nod.
Raven let out a pained, frustrated yell as she returned to the ground, aided by a grappling line expertly positioned by Tim, and in response, Conner jetted off towards the sound of her cries. Slade’s feet faltered beneath him, and he stumbled to keep his balance. His breathing was laboured and his vision was becoming fuzzy. It felt as though, he realised, all the blood loss and violence he had suffered over the past few hours were finally catching up to him. Was this what dying felt like?
“Slade!” shouted a voice, followed by the dulled drumming of hurried footsteps. Slade pulled his hand across his face to wipe away the mental haze and drops of blood. It was Don, sprinting towards him. When Slade felt Don clasp him by shoulders, he realized just how slowed he was by his injuries. “Plan?,” Slade coughed out.
“You’ve seen what she can do. I only see one way out of these without one of the kids getting hurt. I’d do it myself, but I’m out of practice and this is too important to leave to chance.” Don looked around anxiously, his face betraying that he had a lot on his mind. “I’m giving you the powers of a god.” Slade opened his mouth to ask a question, a million came to mind. He glanced across the battlefield. Through a blurry film, he saw Raven’s Soul Self bat Conner away with its wing. He careened into the trunk of a thick tree, uprooting it with a deep crunch. “Are you sure?,” Slade asked, breathless.
“I’m not losing another Titan.” Don squeezed his eyes shut. His grip on Slade tightened as pale, almost blinding light enveloped them. It felt warm. No, better than that: it felt peaceful. With his enhanced senses, Slade could hear his erratic heartbeat slow. Fleeting visions bubbled up in his mind, opening up his awareness beyond the wildest dreams of Project Veritas. He felt rivers of magical energy flowing through the air and earth. Each of them spiralled towards a depression. Towards Raven, he knew instinctively. Iridescent blue light spread outward from his shoulders. It washed over his body armor, bleaching the jet black panels until his entire body shone with radiance. The pain from wounds old and new faded, replaced by serenity - and power. Don opened his eyes again and sighed gently; a concoction and joy, relief, and quiet mourning.
“There,” Don remarked. Slade felt lighter, less angry, less burdened. He looked down at the iridescent light enveloping his body. Magical energy buzzed against the surface of his skin. “The powers of the Dove - officially yours.”
Slade sucked in a nervous breath. “Don…” Even rejuvenated, he was still lost for words.
“They’re yours now,” Don smiled weakly. “Now go earn them. There’s a Titan in dire need of our help.”
Conner floated out of the dense jungle, rubbing his forehead. “Is Slade glowing or do I have a concussion?”
Slade looked over at Raven. She seemed less erratic, her movements driven by her brain rather than her gut. Tim’s staff batted fiercely against her, each strike buffeting her back more and more, but it was clear to Slade that Raven was not any weaker physically - her mind, however, was another story.
Slade began marching towards her, the ache in his side dulled. “Raven. You’re strong. Fight this rage inside of you.” Raven glared at him, a spark of something in her eyes, as she swooped in towards him at top speed. As she neared him, however, Slade readied his staff, stretching it out in front of him. As the tip of the weapon struck Raven, a beam of white energy coursed through her, as if she had been struck by lightning, and her body was flung backwards across the dirt.
Slade danced a hand over his rifle, but something felt different. He pulled it into his hands and inspected it swiftly; nothing seemed out of order. Raven rose slowly from her supine position, snarling softly to herself. Her movements had slowed, the expression on her face becoming closer to horror than rage. She was doing it.
“You’re nearly there, kid,” Slade soothed, his words suddenly like butter. He watched Raven’s shoulders start to relax. “That’s it. Just fight this, Raven. You’re almost there.”
Despite her tremendous progress, Raven’s blistering fury won out once more, and she charged a large bolt of hellfire in her hands. Slade fiddled with his rifle and crossed his fingers. There was a standstill between the two. Slade analysed his rifle again; there was something different about the barrel, as if it had been swapped out for another similar model. The stock felt lighter, too, as if the weight had been–
Raven roared at him, swiping wildly with glowing fists, and in an instant Slade instinctively pulled the trigger.
What fired from the gun was not a silvery bullet, but a familiar glowing bolt of white light, cloud-like in appearance. As it struck Raven, she sucked in a deep breath, the energy engulfing her. Her face softened and her posture relaxed. Then she swung out for the man’s weakened side, his bandages poking through the aura of light. And yet, as he stayed steadfast, not even attempting to dodge the attack. Sparks flew from the point of contact. Slade just readied another shot and fired.
Her body swayed with the blow. Slade closed the gap between them and focused on the new warmth he felt, concentrating it into his staff as best he could. Then, as he held it out in front of him at arm’s length, he swiped at Raven and struck her in the side of the shoulder. Each blow seemed to be more effective than the last, but as Raven’s movements continued to slow, Slade held fire.
“You’re doing it, Raven,” Slade encouraged. He watched as the other Titans surrounded Raven, each of them ready for any further attacks. Everyone watched with bated breath as their teammate and friend thrashed and recoiled from the hit. Her breathing was rapid, although it felt closer to panic than unabashed fury. She clasped her hands over her head, groaning. Then, suddenly, she stopped.
Her face had softened completely, her jaw slack, and tears filled her vision. She looked up at Slade with a comfort in her eyes. The aura emanating from him was pervasive and contagious, and although she had felt lost in a sea of impossibly vast emotions, its warmth and comfort cut through. The anger was still there somewhat, the last remaining dregs still working its way out of her system, but the comfort, the peace that Slade was providing was the anchor for her to stabilise herself. She had only ever seen this kind of power when Don…
Raven’s eyes widened as she realised what that meant. She collapsed to her knees, suddenly feeling the bone-deep fatigue her rage had suppressed. Her teammates rushed in around her. Mar’i dropped to a knee by her side and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s OK. You’re safe. Everyone’s OK.”
“Don I’m—” She wiped away a stream of tears, stumbling her way out of the emotional vortex she’d been sucked into. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened. I’ve lost control before, but never like this.”
Don looked older. Creases ran across his forehead and around his eyes. His smile hadn’t changed. “Raven, my brother and I got those powers when I was a kid. We didn’t ask for them. We weren’t ready for them. We didn’t know how to use them, let alone control them.” He laughed dryly, recalling Hank. “I don’t regret anything. Giving my powers to Slade is the best thing I’ve done with them in years. I know Hank would feel the same way.”
In the moment of silence that followed, Raven rose to her feet and pulled her cloak tightly around herself. She was still shaking. Tim’s eyes drifted from her to Slade. “Something’s gnawing at me. Kestrel’s powers are weakened in Skartaris. Don’s…” He coughed, “Slade’s powers are amplified. If this place is what affected you—”
Mar’i’s face flashed with recognition, “—your powers must be tied to the Lords of Order and Chaos!”
Tim furrowed his brow. “Maybe.” He hardly had time to consider further when a thundering crack tore open the sky. Two bolts of swirling energy - one red and one blue - met above them, forming a swirling portal at their vertex. The Titans readied their weapons, expecting the worst.
“It’s them.” Slade murmured, still put off by his uncanny awareness. Terataya and T’Charr descended from the sky, one wreathed in mist, the other, magma. The two elementals stopped a few feet above the ground, hovering.
Terataya was the first to speak. Even at a whisper, her voice reverberated through the air. “I don’t usually care for surprises, Don, but this was a pleasant one.” A thin smile appeared on her face.
“Slade Wilson.” Terataya’s neck turned at an unnatural angle to face him. “You wield the powers of Order with great skill. Who understands the dangers of unchecked War better than a soldier. Become my champion. Protect the balance.”
Slade took a step back, then glanced at Don.
“She’s right.” Don said, with only a hint of hesitation. “It took me years to use the powers like you used them today. You’re a natural.”
Slade looked at his hands, still gently pulsing with pale blue light. “Thanks.” He allowed himself a weak smile. “But no thanks.”
“What.” T’Charr’s voice boomed.
“It doesn’t take Zatanna to realize an old soldier like me makes a piss-poor Avatar of Peace. I fight for a living, and I’m not deluded enough to think that makes me good at anything but fighting. If you want someone who understands the need for balance, Don just sacrificed everything special about him for it.”
Don raised an eyebrow. “None taken.”
“His actions today were noble, but they do not make up for years spent squandering the gift.”
“Squandering? The Titans wouldn’t exist today if he hadn’t pulled them together. Everything they’ve done. Everything they’ve achieved for your balance wouldn’t have happened without him, including stopping that monster you made.”
“Watch your tone, mortal.” T’Charr threatened.
“There may be a vein of truth to his words, lover.” Terataya said. “But *if we were to restore Don Hall’s power, we would need assurances. His indecision led down this path.”*
Rocks ground against each other as T’Charr landed beside Don. “You would have weeks, not years, to select a counterpart and return to your duties.”
Don’s response was instantaneous. “I’ve made a decision.”
“You’ve decided if you’ll take up the mantle of Dove again?”
Don nodded. “And who should be the new Hawk.”
Terataya giggled. “Full of surprises today. T’Charr?”
“We should discuss this.” He said. “In private.”
The three of them vanished, leaving the Titans and Slade alone on a battlefield riddled with bits of dino meat and ape fur.
○○ Ⓣ ○○
“You don’t think they’re gonna come back in like, 200 years, right?” Conner asked. He sat beside the depowered Slade Wilson, who was downing aspirin to make up for the sudden deficit in peace energy.
“I don’t know.” Tim said. “But we should give them more than fifteen minutes.”
As if on cue, the skies opened again. Again, the chromatic energy lit the sky and again a portal opened its swirling maw. This time, however, it wasn’t two elemental Lords to descend. Raven squinted to make the figures out.
“Oh my god.” Conner said, having a far easier time with his super-vision.
“What? Who is it?” Tim asked.
“Donna!” Mar’i shouted. She shot off the ground towards her. Her black combat armor was replaced with a crimson and white bodysuit studded with stars that seemed to twinkle as the light shifted around her. The sword at her side was gone too, replaced with a coiled loop of rope suffused with the same brilliant energy. The two collided into an embrace, spinning through the air as they held each other tightly.
Don was the first to land, restored with the powers of Dove. He looked stronger than ever, and maybe more importantly, happier. Even Tim’s typical thoughtful brooding has been pierced by an unimpeachable joy.
“I don’t understand,.” Raven said. “S-She’s alive. How is this possible?”
“I knew there was only one person who could be trusted with the powers of War, with Hank’s abilities.” He scratched the back of his neck, a bit guilty. “And she’d been staring me in the face for years. It took some doing, but eventually T’Charr and Terataya saw that too.”
Donna landed beside him, Mar’i only a step behind. By now Conner had stepped forward. He tried not to choke over his words. “I’m sorry. If I’d—”
Donna didn’t let him get the words out before pulling him into a grapple-turned-hug that quickly grew as the rest of the team piled in. Slade flicked another aspirin into his mouth.
“Danyah!” A voice called out from over the ridge. It was Travis, mounted atop a fanged reptilian creature in the vague shape of a horse and flanked on either side by his gold-armored honor guard. He broke into a gallop, stopping just short of the Titans. “When I saw the skies, I feared the worst. Is it really you? Has sorcery brought you back to us?”
“It’s me, Travis. A Lord of Chaos brought me back.”
“Not to interrupt,.” Slade said, still nursing his wounds. “But did either of you ask them to bring us back to Chicago?”
“I…” Don grimaced. “Donna, how do we get home?”
“How did you get here? Surely you could return the way you came.” Travis said.
“No, we can’t.” Tim said, pressing a few buttons on his wrist’s holographic display. “Whatever magic pervades Skartaris is also causing some extreme time dilation. I can’t guarantee we’d return to the 21st century, or even to Earth.”
“I spent a decade in Skartaris and returned to Earth nearly two centuries later. It’s the influence of Chaos. We’d need a Skartaran mage of overwhelming power to stabilize our return.” She spat the word mage with disgust. Travis’s expression seemed to confirm the reputation of Skartaran spellcasters.
Before their anxiety could spiral, the sky above began to churn. Moments later, the ground shook as a violent bolt of lightning cleaved the air, striking with such ferocity that all but Conner and Donna were flung backward. Mar'i skidded across the damp undergrowth, her senses overwhelmed by the acrid scent of ozone. Her mind was racing; their victory was hard fought, and she doubted they had much left in the tank for another confrontation. She dug her hands into the ground and pushed herself up as she choked from the smell. The Warlord Morgan and his military guards snapped to attention, forming a protective ring around the crater that now marred the earth.
From the smoking pit, a figure rose, unfolding from a crouch like something out of Terminator. Adorned in a red and white jumpsuit that accentuated his lithe build, the young man's appearance was marked by a red cowl and goggles, with sandy brown hair rebelliously spilling out.
Conner squinted through the dissipating smoke, murmuring under his breath, “A speedster?” The Flashes had had a variety of different sidekicks and other allies over the years, but none of them recognised this one
With a nonchalant flair that seemed at odds with the charged atmosphere, the newcomer greeted them. “Hey, everyone chillax. I'm here to get you guys back home.”
Donna, ever the leader, stepped forward and spoke with a commanding curiosity, now emboldened with the war aura of Hawk. “And who are you exactly? Why should we trust you with such a claim?”
Flashing a cheeky grin, he tilted his head and responded, “Well, I’m a speedster for one. Name’s Impulse. If I run fast enough, then I can… well, I guess bend time.”
Behind Donna, the group exchanged sceptical glances. Raven's face remained shadowed by recovery, Mar'i and Conner braced for action, and Tim discretely checked his gadgets, no doubt for something that he could use on a speedster should the need arise.
“Yeah, we figured that much,” Don cut through the tension, his voice calm yet insistent. “Who sent you?”
Impulse chuckled, his demeanour remaining unfazed by their scrutiny. “Look, the details aren't the fun part. Trust me, I can get us back.”
As a silence thick with doubt and scepticism settled over the group, Impulse seemed to realise his casual assurances weren't sufficient. With a theatrical sigh, he reached up and removed his mask, revealing a face familiar to both Mar'i and Raven.
“Brody!?” Mar'i exclaimed, her surprise echoing through the clearing as she stared at the boy who had once hobbled through their college classes with his leg in a cast.
The young man’s grin widened, his eyes sparkling with mischief and a hint of pride. “Actually, it’s Bart.”
○○ Ⓣ ○○
When Slade emerged from the shower, his skin was glistening with moisture, the water tracing the contours of his scars. He wrapped a stark white towel around his waist, and crossed the plush carpet to sit on the edge of the hotel room bed. He released a slow, deep breath; it was a good job the speedster kid arrived when he did. The notion of being stranded in an alien land or, worse, a different time had gnawed at him with a ferocity that was hard to admit. Without Bart’s intervention, every one of Slade’s meticulously crafted plans would have been utterly dashed.
Facing him, a wall-mounted mirror caught his rugged reflection. Drawn to his own image, Slade studied the scars that mapped his trials, the slick white hair that crowned his head, and the deep lines etched into his face. A familiar discomfort nagged at him, focusing his attention on his right eye. Unable to alleviate the irritation through the skin, Slade exhaled heavily and carefully removed the eye altogether. The movement, fluid and practised, spoke of years of adaptation.
He placed the prosthetic gently on the bed beside him and as he massaged the socket, a decades-old habit, his mind wandered. He wasn't accustomed to keeping the prosthetic in for extended periods. Showering with it had been an uncomfortable experiment in necessity - he didn't like it, but understood the importance of maintaining the facade. The Slade he would have people believe he was would have never lost an eye, because that Slade had led a life far from by the darker paths Slade had truthfully trodden.
His thoughts wandered to his brief time wielding the potent powers of Dove, and Slade felt a twinge of regret at their loss. The clarity and strength those powers had provided were intoxicating, yet he recognised that he had a more important goal, one he couldn’t compromise. His current role demanded not the accumulation of power but the perfection of his deceit, ensuring that all believed he was not the Slade Wilson they knew, but a Reawakened, more innocent doppelganger.
Now, with the glass eye resting beside him, Slade stared at his unmasked visage. Maintaining the myth of the noble Slade was critical. The ruthless mercenary, the World’s Deadliest Killer - those identities had to remain buried. The Titans had believed him enough to entrust him with divine powers, their faith a testament to his performance, but the game was far from over; in fact, it was entering its most critical phase.
Next: Return to normality in The New Titans #10
2024.05.16 09:46 QuailForward3418 Gaslighting Partner
Im M28 and my partner is F27. We’ve been living together for 5 plus years now in an apartment. Recently, I think she gaslighted me - it’s a sunday, I woke up late as I streamed and played a game late the night before.
She woke me up as she cooked eggs and as I was eating, she already finished eating then told me to get up and get the clothes outside. Im fine with it initially as I asked her if I can just finish my eating then I’ll do that. To my shock, she said it cant wait and it’ll be quick. I was asking her if she was joking and as she was leaving to the room she said she wasn’t and closed the door.
I stood up, stopped eating, and followed her to the room asking if she really was joking because I’m still eating and she said she wasn’t. She knows this would frustrate me and I was disappointed and frustrated already I told her why it cant wait as Im still eating, I was asking her what’s with the rush and stuff but she just ignored me and opened her laptop to watch netflix. She ignored me and I was really frustrated. I stopped eating completely, got the hanging clothes outside (which is shaded by the way), I even hanged the newly washed clothes from the washing machine and washed the dishes as well.
We are ignoring each other for about a week now. I still do my normal routing including my solo walks every afternoon and lately it’s been giving me clarity and a moment to think if this relationship is worth it. Of course, this is not the first instance that this happened and recently I just got laid off from my work and it’s too much stress for me to handle. She knows that it takes a lot for me to get through my family problems, recent career problems, Im also not getting younger and the future worries me as I still can’t buy a house or be financially stable to provide for my future family. There are also other instances where she knows it will get me mad and frustrated so she does it or says it. There are also instances where she told me something but when I confirm it with her, she denies it when I really remember that she said it. Another instance which might seem like a little basic is when she gets cold water from the fridge and she returns the glass of water empty or only halfed - I told her to always refill it so we can drink cold water since we dont have a water dispenser and only relies on putting water in the fridge to make it cold. Whenever I ask her why the bottle is empty or halfed, she always denies its her and it’s obviously just the two of us in our apartment.
Another example is she has been asking me if she can loan money from me to buy an ipad but I told her I don’t have much savings and Im planning to go abroad so we have to save as much as we can as were both not from wealthy families, she also has a laptop and an android tablet and whenever I ask her what she will use it for she says just for watching movies and it’s apple - she keeps on repeating this and I always ask her why she can’t but it herself as we’re both working but then she always says she’s just joking but then when she constantly repeats it. I also referred her to my work (which I recently got laid off) even though she has no tech background and she got the job. I thought this could help her buy her mac/ipad. Recently, she bought a macbook thru her colleague’s credit card (she would pay her coworker for 2 months) - she could use this for both work and watching netflix.
I’m not perfect but I keep on telling her I just need peace of mind and for us not to fight and I can continue to fight life and get my stuff together but she is not helping. I have been also waiting for her to initiate and apologize but she appears to be okay even singing (We stay in one room). It’s like she does that care.
Since I’m working from home, I recently tried to work in cafes to get a different environment and think more and she has not sent me a single message to apologize or anything. Her work is only a 3 minute walk from our apartment.
NSFW: Don’t know if this helps but our sexual relationship is pretty normal I think, we have sex like twice or thrice a week (more frequent maybe 3 times or more a week when she’s safe) and just 2 weeks ago she was safe and we just had sex and she says it’s amazing but most of the time I finish before her (about 15 minutes or less I think - she has a nice body I really can’t help it). Last month she also opened up about wanting a sex toy (dildo) and I bought her that and she asks me if I like it when she uses it when we’re making love and I say yeah. Our most recent sex, she made me go outside the room for a couple of minutes then when I went inside she was using the dildo and I made her orgasm with the dildo while licking her clit. Then we do the usual sex without the toy. I noticed however that she denies having orgasm from the toy when I literally see it then she wants the toy removed and she wants my d inserted the .
Tldr: Is my girlfriend gaslighting me? She doesn’t respect my time of eating and she also has been ignoring me and does not appear to care for the past week.
Thanks in advance for thoughts/inputs. Would like to apologize for any grammatical errors if any - Im kind of winging everything right now.
submitted by QuailForward3418 to relationships [link] [comments]
She woke me up as she cooked eggs and as I was eating, she already finished eating then told me to get up and get the clothes outside. Im fine with it initially as I asked her if I can just finish my eating then I’ll do that. To my shock, she said it cant wait and it’ll be quick. I was asking her if she was joking and as she was leaving to the room she said she wasn’t and closed the door.
I stood up, stopped eating, and followed her to the room asking if she really was joking because I’m still eating and she said she wasn’t. She knows this would frustrate me and I was disappointed and frustrated already I told her why it cant wait as Im still eating, I was asking her what’s with the rush and stuff but she just ignored me and opened her laptop to watch netflix. She ignored me and I was really frustrated. I stopped eating completely, got the hanging clothes outside (which is shaded by the way), I even hanged the newly washed clothes from the washing machine and washed the dishes as well.
We are ignoring each other for about a week now. I still do my normal routing including my solo walks every afternoon and lately it’s been giving me clarity and a moment to think if this relationship is worth it. Of course, this is not the first instance that this happened and recently I just got laid off from my work and it’s too much stress for me to handle. She knows that it takes a lot for me to get through my family problems, recent career problems, Im also not getting younger and the future worries me as I still can’t buy a house or be financially stable to provide for my future family. There are also other instances where she knows it will get me mad and frustrated so she does it or says it. There are also instances where she told me something but when I confirm it with her, she denies it when I really remember that she said it. Another instance which might seem like a little basic is when she gets cold water from the fridge and she returns the glass of water empty or only halfed - I told her to always refill it so we can drink cold water since we dont have a water dispenser and only relies on putting water in the fridge to make it cold. Whenever I ask her why the bottle is empty or halfed, she always denies its her and it’s obviously just the two of us in our apartment.
Another example is she has been asking me if she can loan money from me to buy an ipad but I told her I don’t have much savings and Im planning to go abroad so we have to save as much as we can as were both not from wealthy families, she also has a laptop and an android tablet and whenever I ask her what she will use it for she says just for watching movies and it’s apple - she keeps on repeating this and I always ask her why she can’t but it herself as we’re both working but then she always says she’s just joking but then when she constantly repeats it. I also referred her to my work (which I recently got laid off) even though she has no tech background and she got the job. I thought this could help her buy her mac/ipad. Recently, she bought a macbook thru her colleague’s credit card (she would pay her coworker for 2 months) - she could use this for both work and watching netflix.
I’m not perfect but I keep on telling her I just need peace of mind and for us not to fight and I can continue to fight life and get my stuff together but she is not helping. I have been also waiting for her to initiate and apologize but she appears to be okay even singing (We stay in one room). It’s like she does that care.
Since I’m working from home, I recently tried to work in cafes to get a different environment and think more and she has not sent me a single message to apologize or anything. Her work is only a 3 minute walk from our apartment.
NSFW: Don’t know if this helps but our sexual relationship is pretty normal I think, we have sex like twice or thrice a week (more frequent maybe 3 times or more a week when she’s safe) and just 2 weeks ago she was safe and we just had sex and she says it’s amazing but most of the time I finish before her (about 15 minutes or less I think - she has a nice body I really can’t help it). Last month she also opened up about wanting a sex toy (dildo) and I bought her that and she asks me if I like it when she uses it when we’re making love and I say yeah. Our most recent sex, she made me go outside the room for a couple of minutes then when I went inside she was using the dildo and I made her orgasm with the dildo while licking her clit. Then we do the usual sex without the toy. I noticed however that she denies having orgasm from the toy when I literally see it then she wants the toy removed and she wants my d inserted the .
Tldr: Is my girlfriend gaslighting me? She doesn’t respect my time of eating and she also has been ignoring me and does not appear to care for the past week.
Thanks in advance for thoughts/inputs. Would like to apologize for any grammatical errors if any - Im kind of winging everything right now.
2024.05.16 08:42 Glitterbug1017 I hate having a child. I feel guilty every day.
I’m a solo mom to a little girl who is almost 2 years old. Her dad is an addict so I don’t let him around. Let me start by saying I absolutely love my daughter and I make sure she lives an amazing life. We travel all over the east coast, we do everything together, she is my best friend. But I’m miserable. Is it wrong to say I absolutely hate being a mom? I’m exhausted. She stays up til 3-4 am every single night no matter how tired I think she is, she rarely naps, she’s constantly into everything & destroying the house. I work long busy shifts on my feet and sometimes I can barely walk by the time I leave work.. then I have to come home and break my back over this child until 4 in the morning. I totally understand she’s just being a toddler and I’m not mad at her. It just sucks so bad never having even a few minutes to gather my thoughts. I get so annoyed by her & feel so much rage towards her and I know I shouldn’t. The only person who helps me is my dad. He doesn’t listen to anything I say and gives her sugar or caffeine, let’s the dogs lick her which causes her to break out in hives or eczema which I have to deal with & explain to the doctor, he takes her to play in the mud in brand new clothes and shoes so then I have to buy more when he could just change her into play clothes, he will let her take a nap at 8pm knowing she’s going to be up all night. I just cry every single day because I’m so sick of this life with a toddler. And sick of the one person I have to babysit who does not respect my wishes. When does it get easier? I feel so guilty because I do not want to wish the time away, I do not want to blink and open my eyes one day and she’s all grown up. But this toddler phase is killing me and we’re just getting started. How did yall get your kids to sleep? How do you stay sane when you’re a single parent who gets absolutely no free time? Usually I have to wait until she’s asleep after 3am-4am to shower or else she screams at me the whole time I’m washing off because she wants me to put her in the shower with me or hold her. I can’t even sit and watch a 30 minute tv show because my toddler is screaming or throwing a fit to watch her shows. And by the time she goes to sleep it’s already 4am so I can’t do anything else but go to bed. I’m losing so much weight not having a moment to even cook myself a meal, I’m having suicidal thoughts although I would never leave her on this earth without me. I feel like I’m completely losing myself and my mind. I gave birth completely alone as her dad was in jail at the time, I worked on my feet until the day I gave birth and I just feel so defeated and alone. My pelvic floor is very weak ever since giving birth (I assume since I’ve never gotten a chance to lay down and rest or heal) so sometimes after work it feels like I’m giving birth all over again there’s so much pressure on my pelvis. The pain is unreal. I’d never give my child up, sometimes I just wish I could go back and do things differently. I feel like I’m just not cut out for this mom life and it makes me so sad to feel this way.
submitted by Glitterbug1017 to Postpartum_Depression [link] [comments]
2024.05.16 08:28 Exyl_sounds How do I go about learning to sing with a raspy growl like this masterpiece? (cover of Imagine Dragons - Warrior)
Video has the example of growly singing technique I'm trying to learn. Second part of video is my attempt to remake the song (-4 semitones due to my limited vocal range), had to contend with clean falsetto but it sounds weak compared to the original 💀
https://reddit.com/link/1ct6j3w/video/j0u1b1mreq0d1/player
I have literally scoured the internet for ways to sing like this, not a single technique is working for me. I DESPERATELY want to be able to sing like this but whenever I try to engage my "false vocal folds" or pretend I'm clearing my throat, it sounds absolutely NOTHING close to growling, the sound of a dying chicken or a dissonant doubled voice comes out and I'm beginning to lose hope.
I vaguely recall producing this type of sound ages ago accidentally, when shouting... but I can't recreate it on purpose??? I need help, why is this so complicated
submitted by Exyl_sounds to singing [link] [comments]
https://reddit.com/link/1ct6j3w/video/j0u1b1mreq0d1/player
I have literally scoured the internet for ways to sing like this, not a single technique is working for me. I DESPERATELY want to be able to sing like this but whenever I try to engage my "false vocal folds" or pretend I'm clearing my throat, it sounds absolutely NOTHING close to growling, the sound of a dying chicken or a dissonant doubled voice comes out and I'm beginning to lose hope.
I vaguely recall producing this type of sound ages ago accidentally, when shouting... but I can't recreate it on purpose??? I need help, why is this so complicated
2024.05.16 08:26 Weary-Bat4568 So Yes, I’m a Diamond Rank player
 | So I’m writing this after a straight 6-7 losses bringing me from 5861 back to 5200 and my phone being lucky to still be alive after several flights across my room. submitted by Weary-Bat4568 to Brawlstars [link] [comments] I’ve been playing the game for 4-5 months now and I believe I reached this stage of being “too good for bronze to gold” and “too weak for mythic and above”. In other words I’m stuck in Diamond rank since 10 days or more navigating between 5000 and 5900 score and experiencing type battles randomly picked between:
|
2024.05.16 07:38 Mountain_Counter929 Making Aliens based off every pokemon type combination (Fighting)
Fighting/Normal: OHKO (One Punch Man but instead of one effortless punch it’s a touch of death combo he has to )
Species: Mugen
Planet: Sonof
Appearance
Fighting/Grass: Doungwun Nemetrix predator of the Chunwin (See Kung book in Grass Types)
Appearance
Fighting/Fire: Racaln the Nemetrix predator of the Clabestro (See Firing Squad in Fire types)
Appearance
Fighting/Water: Ultimate Slush (See Original in Water Types)
Appearance
Appearance
Appearance
Appearance
Fighting/Ground: Ultimate Mudripper (See Original in Ground Types)
Appearance
Appearance
Fighting/Bug: Ultimate Float Stinger (See Original in Bug Types)
Appearance
Species: Reffox
Planet: Arbeitar
Appearance
Fighting/Poison: Biolence (Fist of the North Star Powered by drugs, and can weaponize their own explosions )
Species: Gomane Planet: Omawoshindyu
Appearance
Fighting/Ghost: Body-structor (Havik from MK1 with hints of Water Law from One Piece)
Species: Rankensain
Planet: Taxodoom
Appearance
Fighting/Dragon: Medisnake (Combat Snake with Street Fighter Chi abilities)
Species: Ansatryu
Planet: Chakrenin
Appearance:
Fighting/Steel: Weapon Blaster (Tank Knight with hand guns that shoots bladed weapons) Species: Arthmo
Planet: Palawar
Appearance
Fighting/Dark: Spotshot
Species: Dalmate
Planet: Cerberence
Appearance
Fighting/Fairy: Best-O Change-O (Magical Girl/Boy Recruiting Bunny)
Species: Usegin
Planet: Lunakessho
Appearance
submitted by Mountain_Counter929 to Ben10 [link] [comments]
Species: Mugen
Planet: Sonof
Appearance
- Humanoid blank white body
- Thick Smooth/Blocky appearance (like made of pillows)
- Headband and Gi are common wares
- Enhanced Strength
- Unlimited Stamina
- Extremely High Pain Tolerance
- Semi-Mechanical Nature does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe
- Unaging
- Slight combat prowess
- Slightly stuns the opponent on contact with physical force (specifically after a physical hit. Applies to non living beings as well)
- Once an attack lands, it’ll receive enough energy to continue physically attacking it in a never-ending combo. Dealing blows significantly faster, gaining strength with each hit and eventually able to deal noticeable damage to almost any target with each hit.
- Slow movement
- Limited Fighting Capabilities
- Attacks are usually short
- Can extend reach but takes notable time so it needs to make an effort to land combo
- Combo can be interrupted, loses momentum and needs to land another hit when it does.
Fighting/Grass: Doungwun Nemetrix predator of the Chunwin (See Kung book in Grass Types)
Appearance
- Green Body
- Mantis like Body
- 2 Pairs of claws with sharp fanged ends, each with a long membrane hanging off of them.
- Multiple pair of locust-like wings under where abdomen should be.
- Reptilian head
- Pupilless Eyes
- Flight
- High reflexes
- Claws able to capture and break of Chunwin limbs, and attach to body of prey.
- Membranes absorb attack from Chunwin
- Long retractible tongue able to launch with precision and strength, able to pierce the body and grasp onto vital organs.
Fighting/Fire: Racaln the Nemetrix predator of the Clabestro (See Firing Squad in Fire types)
Appearance
- Large translucent viscous puddle with various organs inside, including left overs from prey
- A lot of mouths and eyes
- Able to reconfigure organs inside body
- Able to raise body in multiple large bumps of various sizes, which usually containing organs
- Raises body with jaw to consume prey on its body
- Full sensory of targets on its liquid body
- Viscous body can regenerate (and even split into multiple organisms)
- Prey stable on body is inflicted with Hallucinogenic and Auditory illusions, to make them unable to see and hear others allowing the Racaln to strike admit this confusion
- Also able to block telepathic and electronic communication
- Able to use the natural weapons of digested prey (ie the guns of the Clabestro)
Fighting/Water: Ultimate Slush (See Original in Water Types)
Appearance
- Dark Green Body
- Loses gourd
- Various sharp attachments that have the appearance of the sharp bottlenecks of broken bottle
- Core with an unbalanced changing color in head
- Retain expert flexibility
- More aggressive fighting style (while retaining it’s drunken boxer like moves)
- Fire Projection
- Can’t feel pain
- Core hypnotizes targets on sight, intoxicating them
- Able to use sharp accessories
- More Violent personality
- Can’t spill out body to trip opponents
- Loses Elasticity
Appearance
- Long thin build made of lightning
- Normally invisible
- Invisibility
- Intangibility
- Invincibility
- Whenever an Influx of energy (Any kind) in an area appears:
- Able to instantly teleport to any place where the energy is dispersed
- Doing so attacking the target with massive strength directly proportional to energy
- Once energy subsides or moves outside of energy influx, body becomes invisible/intangible again
- When visible, can absorb all kinds of energy
- Able to unleash a large burst of both sound and light with absorbed energy
- Unable to extend body parts
- Can only deal damage in large bursts of energy
- Is no longer invincible when exposed a large energy influx in a prolonged duration
Appearance
- Black/Brown coloring scheme
- Face is more crow like
- Tails are longer
- Hawk-like eyes and wings
- Larger body
- Stronger
- Faster
- Enhanced Senses
- Slight Danger Senses
- Hypnotic Stare
- Invokes Intimidation into targets provoking them into either fighting or running
- When staring at foes, they’re able to read gains seconds precognition into multiple visions whether they fight or fly and combinations of timelines when they do both. Visions show what they would do, but is able to be altered with the newfound knowledge in real time.
- Precognition can predict unknown interferences like hidden dangers
- Heightened intelligence and brain processing speed to plan out effective strategy to hunt or combat their attempts
- Unable to split self into two forms
- Using hypnotic stare on multiple targets can overwhelm self
- Predicted precognitive visions can be avoided if target resists hypnosis making them prep for things that won’t happen
Appearance
- Skeletally thin limbs
- Very lanky frame (usually hunched over)
- Large Wooly body
- Long clawed fingers
- Sharp Teeth
- Immunity to cold
- Silent movement
- Inflicts hallucinations on target nearby especially Ashe
- Inflicts shadowy hallucination of a competitive animal (usually the same as the affected prey) causing the target to continuously attack hallucination.
- Target eventually tires out attacking hallucination, losing adrenaline and succumbing to hypothermia or exhaustion.
Fighting/Ground: Ultimate Mudripper (See Original in Ground Types)
Appearance
- Diamond Skin
- Loses eyes
- Elongated Snout
- Six pairs of short legs
- Clawed Hands
- Glass Hairs
- Loses Tail
- Enhanced Smelling Senses
- Heatproof
- Durable and ough Diamond Skin
- Sharp Claws
- High Speed Burrowing
- Thermo-adaptation
- Able to resurface lava and create lava motes/small volcanos on ground from underneath
- Drooling Lava Saliva
- Able to walk on surfaces
- Vacuum Adaptation
- Loss of Eyesight
- Can’t Jump
- Unable to grab object with claws as well as base form hands
- Can’t Swim
Appearance
- Sheep-based body
- Green Wool
- Flowers growing on body
- Wool is able to absorb strong impacts
- Vine-like tendrils on side of body able to connect to cliffsides
- Able to camouflage selves into a grass pile
- Grows a disconnected field perpendicular to the cliffside making it look its prey is on the ground
- Field camouflaged to be unable to be seen from below
- Able to communicate with Sabter to trick it on standing on the field, of the cliff before falling to their deaths.
Fighting/Bug: Ultimate Float Stinger (See Original in Bug Types)
Appearance
- Slightly bigger body
- Longer wasp like structure
- New Vertical striped black and white body
- Able to summon a near indestructible hive shaped structure
- This pocket dimension draws in 2 individuals (which can include the creator) into an arena pocket dimension.
- Telepathic communication with all individuals in pocket dimensions
- Individuals in the pocket dimension must follow certain reality altering conditions to set a “fair fight”
- This usually includes removal of “powers” but can also vary to have no removal or even the addition of powers
- Fight doesn’t have to be direct combat and more of a much as a sport
- Individual size are usually scaled to be relatively similar
- Individuals leaves once one or both is considered ‘defeated’ or by the creator’s permission
- Rules set in arena must be made to be fair for both individuals
- No longer able to project honey to prevent powers
- Slightly slower and weaker outside of hives
- Reality altering rules only affect targets inside a hive
Species: Reffox
Planet: Arbeitar
Appearance
- Tall Humanoid muscular appearance
- Body looks skinless and made of muscles
- Egg-shapd head and single eye
- Enhanced Atleticism
- High combat p rowess
- Able to slowly build up strength and speed
- Photographic reflexes
- When looking at any moving target, able to quickly learn, memorize, and mimic that targets moves allowing them to be able to come up with a counter for it.
- Also applies to their use of tools
- Can only memorize and mimic movements not powers
- Can only enhance strength and speed in short bursts
- May be at risks for learning ineffective techniques
Fighting/Poison: Biolence (Fist of the North Star Powered by drugs, and can weaponize their own explosions )
Species: Gomane Planet: Omawoshindyu
Appearance
- Rough Green Skin
- Orc Like Head
- Muscular Build
- Costume comes with a mouth-covering mask
- Large Hands
- Enhanced Strength
- Strength and size are gradually enhances from absorbing normally hazardous or even just unhealthy substances
- Body is slowly producing its own internal toxins
- Noxious Stench
- Poisons eventually build up into large cysts on skin that eventually bursts into powerful noxious and slightly toxic gas expulsion when ‘popped’, able to do damage from force
- Able to control cyst development early
- Cysts become more powerful with more hazardous substances given
- Able to transfer poisonous cyst development onto others from force of contact, usually other species skin is not built to handle the expulsion causing damage when they pop
- When exposed to hazard substances, the Cysts become faster developed and harder to control possibly hindering the body
- Loses strength build after cyst has popped
- Mind can be altered to be more violent depending on hazardous substances consumed, commonly manifests in an addiction or violent temperament (usually removed when expelled)
Fighting/Ghost: Body-structor (Havik from MK1 with hints of Water Law from One Piece)
Species: Rankensain
Planet: Taxodoom
Appearance
- Tone “Action Figure like structure”
- Smoothed out Joints
- Skeletal head
- Sharp Claws
- Retractable Spikes on limbs
- Leathery skin
- Large tail
- Enhanced Strength and Stamina
- Combat Prowess
- Immortality
- Quick Cellular Regeneration
- Able to detach own limbs/body parts and effectively control them when attached.
- Able to grow a detached body part on the detached body
- Able to detach others limbs/body parts of target on contact
- Able to attach body parts detached this way to self
- Body parts detached this way can still be controlled and are controlled by the head/brain they are attached to (all head/brain are in control of themselves). If their original head/brain is detached they can still be controlled by that head/brain unless it’s on attached to another of the same body part in which case they can’t move.
- With the exception of Rankensains who can control their own body parts even while their heads are on a different body.
- Different body parts can be reattached to other bodies detached this way, even in places the body parts don’t go
- Specifically in the Omnitrix after retransformation original rankensain body parts will dematerialize and all new attached body parts from detached bodies will fall off.
- Slightly slow
- Detachment requires strong force of contact
- Targets dispatched bodies can reattach their own parts, and can’t take them off again when put back into place (Can only be detached again by a Rankensain)
- Body parts attached to wrong part of body can be dispatched by anything even by accident
- Targets can disconnect different a body part that wasn’t originally there’s
- After regrowing a body part that was already attached, the original detached body part will lose its structure and melt
- Will die if all body parts are destroyed too fast
- Only their own body parts can detach other limbs
Fighting/Dragon: Medisnake (Combat Snake with Street Fighter Chi abilities)
Species: Ansatryu
Planet: Chakrenin
Appearance:
- Long Reptilian Body built similarly to a Skink
- Dragonoid Scales
- Small Limbs
- Bipedal
- Enhanced Combat Prowess
- Slithering
- Easily able to enter a meditative state for enhanced self-control, psychological/emotional balance, mental clarity, and even healing
- Able to access pressure points that puts allies in a similar state
- Natural chi-like energy and mastery
- Energy skills normally manifest as enhanced athletic skills and energy projection at a basic level
- Energy can be personalized into a different element or even power
- Personalization initially requires a level of training that the Omnitrix transformation doesn’t initially give.
Fighting/Steel: Weapon Blaster (Tank Knight with hand guns that shoots bladed weapons) Species: Arthmo
Planet: Palawar
Appearance
- Tall metal body
- Tank treads for legs
- Knight-Like Helmet
- Short cannons for arms
- Enhanced Durability
- Enhanced Eyesight
- Full rotating body
- Canon arms launch out metal objects commonly melee weapons like swords, spears, axes etc at high speeds
- Weapons are animated and “preprogrammed to move in ways/fly in a direct path and can be “preprogrammed’
- Can be locked onto a focused target and rotate/swing in a specific way whilst following the target
- Other different types of weapon shooting
- Machine Gun type: able to launch out multiple imprecise smaller metal weapons that can’t be animated
- Sniper: Able to launch a singular fast powerful far reaching weapon
- Giant: Able to launch one giant weapon a short distance that stays out longer.
- Drawbacks of each weapon shooting
- Slow Tank like movement
- Can only create simple metal objects
- Weapon projectiles can be moved offcourse
- Weapon projectiles can only stay out a minute before dissipation
- Weapons take time and varying degrees of focus to charge before launch which increases with duration of animation
- Shooting out a large powerful weapon increases load time, and can’t shoot more weapons while the giant weapon is out
Fighting/Dark: Spotshot
Species: Dalmate
Planet: Cerberence
Appearance
- Dalmatian white and black spotted pattern body
- Monkey like proportions and arms
- Dog like head
- Paws for feet
- Long tail with a forked end
- Enhanced Athleticism
- Enchanted Acrobatics
- Wall Crawling
- Able to use forked tail and string-like mucus in between split as a slingshot
- Shoots able to launch “spots” from tail
- Dark skin works good for camouflage
- Combat Prowess
- Spots inflict a strong force on impact
- Leaves a spot mark on the target, and can potentially blind a living target
- Projectile spots are able to fly out of marks
- Able to make spots launch off objects on impact before making mark
- Hitting mark with multiple projectile creates a bigger mark, and a bigger projectile by extension
- Able to absorb Dalmate spots on own body
- Spots dissipate after minutes
- Unable to projects spots marked on body
Fighting/Fairy: Best-O Change-O (Magical Girl/Boy Recruiting Bunny)
Species: Usegin
Planet: Lunakessho
Appearance
- Anthropomorphic Bunny
- Biological Crystal accessories on head
- Natural mask-like fur pattern on head and pupils eyes (males only)
- Crown like horns on females
- Standard outfit of a Tuxedo-like suit, or School-Girl dress based on gender
- Natural magic potential
- Enhanced leaping
- Enhanced Athleticism
- Costume transmutation
- Able to enhance a small hand held object
- Transmutes the object into a specialized weapon and usually able to project a specialized material/force/or element (depends on a combination of both the individual and object)
- Able to enhance another object allowing an Ally to gain a similar weapon and the same powers of an Usegin except the ability to enchant other objects.
- Only able to utilize one weapon at a time
- Applies to allies, they can only utilize their chosen object
- Takes a while to enchant another object for an ally after the first
- After an allies enchanted objects breaks they lose their gained abilities
- Ally abilities also go away when the Omnitrix Transformation ends
2024.05.16 07:33 Party_Cow_9040 Please help with mysterious neuro symptoms - don’t know where to go next
Cross posting from askdocs.
22F. Seeing a general neurologist (already saw MS specialist) and getting an EMG in three weeks but would like to get other people’s opinions - my PCP has no idea what’s going on with me. What should I look into next? Sorry for the long post but I thought I should include all info in case it’s relevant.
Current symptoms: - perceived weakness and neuropathy in left hand/wrist (feels like a weird burning/tingling sensation, sometimes triggered by the cold but present a majority of the time) - this is by far my worst symptom - occasional tingling sensations in other extremities, but never as frequent as left hand - bad upper back pain (comes and goes, gets worse with certain positions and never in one specific area) - derealization/brain fog (feels like I’m out of it/in a different universe, also hard to describe) - occasional chills/shivering - fatigue (sort of comes and goes in waves)
Timeline of my symptoms:
Feb 2023: fell twice while drunk (don’t have balance issues), woke up a two days later with terrible back spasms. A few days after that I noticed weird tingling sensations in my hands and feet and freaked out, also generally not feeling well/having a lot of fatigue. Freaked out about having MS - doctor did brain MRI and told me to chill out, symptoms went away.
Sept 2023: started experiencing chronic fatigue, brain fog, and derealization, chalked it up to weed withdrawals (I was cutting back at the time).
Oct 2023: got Covid - brain fog and fatigue got a lot worse.
Late Oct 2023: started having weird stomach issues - constant bloating and random sharp pains in lower abdomen. Got some tests done, this went away in around a month.
Early Nov 2023: started getting vaginal pain/constant burning sensation. Got more tests done, also went away in around a month.
Dec 2023: started feeling a bit better, then had a terrifying experience on THC (fully disassociated and thought I was dying multiple times), quit again.
Mid Dec 2023: started talking combination birth control for PCOS as per gyno’s recommendation.
Late Dec 2023: started getting weird muscle weakness in both left hand and foot, went away in around three weeks. Also felt chest pain a few times and ended up in the ER for it, where I got my heart tested. Fatigue was pretty bad this whole time.
Jan-Feb 2024: muscle weakness mostly gone, fatigue slowly improving throughout these months, still dealing with some brain fog. Resumed weed use which was probably a bad idea.
March-May 2024: Quit weed for good. Switched to new progestin-only birth control because the combination one was giving me high BP. Started getting all this weird neuropathy and joint pain all over the place, for a few days it was super bad in my left/hand wrist and since then it’s been mostly in that area. Makes me wonder whether I have carpal tunnel or some nerve compression problem - it’s pretty painful. Sometimes shows up in left foot but not that bad there. Still have some derealization and brain fog that shows up for a few hours a day - it’s weird. Fatigue and back pain still present. Symptoms come and go in ways though - I have both good and bad days. I’d like to think I’m improving overall, but days like today make me not so sure of that.
Medical history: - had spinal fusion surgery for scoliosis in thoracic spine when I was 15 - have PCOS - no family history of any autoimmune or neurological conditions except for grandmother with MS. Got genetic testing for 150 ish conditions and every single one was negative
Medications/drugs: - take 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 every day - started birth control in December (right before the neuropathy started - wonder if they might be related?) - chronic daily THC abuse for ~14 months right before all this started, been sober for several months now (possibly related?)
Tests I’ve already had: - brain MRI in Feb 2023 and March 2024 - both showed one/possibly two unchanged nonspecific T2 hyperintensities that the MS specialist said were benign - cervical spine MRI - 100% clear - neurological exams (multiple) - 100% normal - full abdominal and pelvic ultrasound - clear except for benign liver finding that doctor is not concerned about - chest x-ray - 100% clear - two EKGs - normal - thoracic spine x-ray - clear, showed that screws from surgery are in proper place - stool test - normal - urine test - normal - pap smear - atypical cells of undetermined significance, HPV negative - doctor said not to worry about it/continue screening every three years - lyme disease test - initial screening came back positive but confirmation tests were negative so doctors concluded it wasn’t lyme - B12 test - 526 (normal) - A1C - 4.8 (normal) - Rheumatoid factor - normal - C-reactive protein - normal/on lower side - ESR - normal/on lower side - SPEP panel with immunofixation - all normal - Jo-1 antibody - negative - CBC and complete metabolic panel - all normal - hepatic panel - normal - Methylmalonic acid - normal - TSH with reflex - normal - troponin - normal - PT-INR - normal - magnesium - normal - lipase - normal - serum protein electrophoresis - normal - mono (multiple times) - negative - reproductive hormones - elevated androgens (hence the PCOS diagnosis)
submitted by Party_Cow_9040 to DiagnoseMe [link] [comments]
22F. Seeing a general neurologist (already saw MS specialist) and getting an EMG in three weeks but would like to get other people’s opinions - my PCP has no idea what’s going on with me. What should I look into next? Sorry for the long post but I thought I should include all info in case it’s relevant.
Current symptoms: - perceived weakness and neuropathy in left hand/wrist (feels like a weird burning/tingling sensation, sometimes triggered by the cold but present a majority of the time) - this is by far my worst symptom - occasional tingling sensations in other extremities, but never as frequent as left hand - bad upper back pain (comes and goes, gets worse with certain positions and never in one specific area) - derealization/brain fog (feels like I’m out of it/in a different universe, also hard to describe) - occasional chills/shivering - fatigue (sort of comes and goes in waves)
Timeline of my symptoms:
Feb 2023: fell twice while drunk (don’t have balance issues), woke up a two days later with terrible back spasms. A few days after that I noticed weird tingling sensations in my hands and feet and freaked out, also generally not feeling well/having a lot of fatigue. Freaked out about having MS - doctor did brain MRI and told me to chill out, symptoms went away.
Sept 2023: started experiencing chronic fatigue, brain fog, and derealization, chalked it up to weed withdrawals (I was cutting back at the time).
Oct 2023: got Covid - brain fog and fatigue got a lot worse.
Late Oct 2023: started having weird stomach issues - constant bloating and random sharp pains in lower abdomen. Got some tests done, this went away in around a month.
Early Nov 2023: started getting vaginal pain/constant burning sensation. Got more tests done, also went away in around a month.
Dec 2023: started feeling a bit better, then had a terrifying experience on THC (fully disassociated and thought I was dying multiple times), quit again.
Mid Dec 2023: started talking combination birth control for PCOS as per gyno’s recommendation.
Late Dec 2023: started getting weird muscle weakness in both left hand and foot, went away in around three weeks. Also felt chest pain a few times and ended up in the ER for it, where I got my heart tested. Fatigue was pretty bad this whole time.
Jan-Feb 2024: muscle weakness mostly gone, fatigue slowly improving throughout these months, still dealing with some brain fog. Resumed weed use which was probably a bad idea.
March-May 2024: Quit weed for good. Switched to new progestin-only birth control because the combination one was giving me high BP. Started getting all this weird neuropathy and joint pain all over the place, for a few days it was super bad in my left/hand wrist and since then it’s been mostly in that area. Makes me wonder whether I have carpal tunnel or some nerve compression problem - it’s pretty painful. Sometimes shows up in left foot but not that bad there. Still have some derealization and brain fog that shows up for a few hours a day - it’s weird. Fatigue and back pain still present. Symptoms come and go in ways though - I have both good and bad days. I’d like to think I’m improving overall, but days like today make me not so sure of that.
Medical history: - had spinal fusion surgery for scoliosis in thoracic spine when I was 15 - have PCOS - no family history of any autoimmune or neurological conditions except for grandmother with MS. Got genetic testing for 150 ish conditions and every single one was negative
Medications/drugs: - take 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 every day - started birth control in December (right before the neuropathy started - wonder if they might be related?) - chronic daily THC abuse for ~14 months right before all this started, been sober for several months now (possibly related?)
Tests I’ve already had: - brain MRI in Feb 2023 and March 2024 - both showed one/possibly two unchanged nonspecific T2 hyperintensities that the MS specialist said were benign - cervical spine MRI - 100% clear - neurological exams (multiple) - 100% normal - full abdominal and pelvic ultrasound - clear except for benign liver finding that doctor is not concerned about - chest x-ray - 100% clear - two EKGs - normal - thoracic spine x-ray - clear, showed that screws from surgery are in proper place - stool test - normal - urine test - normal - pap smear - atypical cells of undetermined significance, HPV negative - doctor said not to worry about it/continue screening every three years - lyme disease test - initial screening came back positive but confirmation tests were negative so doctors concluded it wasn’t lyme - B12 test - 526 (normal) - A1C - 4.8 (normal) - Rheumatoid factor - normal - C-reactive protein - normal/on lower side - ESR - normal/on lower side - SPEP panel with immunofixation - all normal - Jo-1 antibody - negative - CBC and complete metabolic panel - all normal - hepatic panel - normal - Methylmalonic acid - normal - TSH with reflex - normal - troponin - normal - PT-INR - normal - magnesium - normal - lipase - normal - serum protein electrophoresis - normal - mono (multiple times) - negative - reproductive hormones - elevated androgens (hence the PCOS diagnosis)
2024.05.16 07:10 Various-Artichoke726 Anyone who has cosmetic plastic surgery is an insecure bitch.
Even the ones who "had good plastic surgery"- you're a fundamentally pathetic, insecure little bitch who can't stand to look yourself in the mirror without having a fullblown psychotic breakdown and decide to mutilate your face and body. Your lack of self confidence is laughable, you're weak and worthless and no one will ever truly love you because you can't even love yourself. It makes me very happy when I see ugly ass bitches with balloon lips and sunken cheeks like they're the fucking grim reaper. Cause I know once they're in the retirement home all alone, cause no one will marry someone who's 90% plastic or have kids with them, they're going to wish they were dead as they can no longer inject their saggy decaying skin with plastic. Anyone who gets cosmetic surgery is such an pathetic cunt with no backbone and it makes me angry that more and more women are following the trend. When will you women realize that you look like the fucking blobfish? You actually make men's dick shrivel and shrink just by the sheer sight of you. No one tells you because they know you'll have a meltdown and scream like the whiny little bitch girl you never grew out of being. But just know that every single person who sees your disgusting dog shit face immediately laughs behind your back- and you deserve it for not having any self respect or self confidence. Grow fucking backbones, pussies.
submitted by Various-Artichoke726 to fightsub [link] [comments]
2024.05.16 07:07 Opaquer Today's daily (16/05/2024) 50 stage guide
Hey everyone, I'm back for yet another daily guide! Sorry I didn't get around to one the last couple of days - I tried on the 14th and oh boy was that hard. I gave up half way through because I ran out of time! Thankfully this one is much better because I still had my sanity by the end!
As we've previously found, reloading the browser makes changes to the rng, so now I have notes when the browser has been reloaded so you can reload it too :). As per usual, sorry about the reloads - it'd be much easier if there weren't any, but I had some issues and instead of being able to restart I had to reload. Also there's at least one place where I've said to quit to menu and continue - I don't think this is the same as a reload, so maybe don't reload and just quit to menu instead?
Also, as we've found out, it looks like different browsers have different RNG. I use firefox when making my guides, but if you use chrome, there may be some small differences here and there. If you do use chrome and have some differences, let me know - I'm trying to get some evidence so I can figure out what the changes are and see if there's a way to nullify them so we can have a single guide for any type of browser :)
One thing is that I've got a test run happening in the background - I've tested this guide up to 16 so far (updated as I go) to make sure I haven't missed any notes, but that's as far as I've gone so far, so from stage 17 onwards there might be some reloads missing. If so, let me know and I can update it, or if I get time to do more testing I'll update this note as I go.
ALSO ALSO: we're still trying to figure out exactly what the relationship with reloading is. For now, if when you need to reload, reload once you've chosen your pokemon for the battle, as, on average, that's when I would reload. I don't know if it'll make a difference, but it can't hurt to try and see what happens :)
As per the others, I'm still learning about all this, so sorry for any mistakes I've made - I probably missed at least a couple of reloads, but hopefully I got the majority of them.
A couple of things to note: There's a DNA splicer on wave 38 rewards. I've never used it before and asked the discord who would be some good options to use it for, and people were saying it probably wasn't worth it. If you want to fuse some things together though, go ahead! I will say that if you do, I got offered a Garchompite on wave 41, so if you want to fuse two pokemon together, make sure to do it with garchomp first. That said, taking the DNA splicer may change your rng so you may not get the garchompite, but I'll leave that as an experiment for you to test :)
Lastly, it seems like there's a bug in the game - I've heard it's best to change the "EXP Party Display" to "Normal" as if it's not on normal, sometimes moves you've learnt will disappear when you exit to the menu.
I think I got all the unique mons for the candies except one (silly brambleghast didn't want to be caught?), but I might have missed some.
With the below steps, if I haven't said to take a move when one is offered, that means to not learn it. For the table, there's two columns relating to moves - one for moves to take and one for moves to replace. For example, if the "Move(s) to take..." column has Headbutt and the corresponding row in the "... by replacing move(s)" column has Wrap, it would mean you need to replace wrap with headbutt at this stage when it's offered - and if during that stage a different move is offered, don't take it if it's not on the list. Also if there's multiple moves to be offered, the moves offered in the table are listed from top to bottom of the order you get them - so if you have something like the below, it means that Crunch will be offered before Headbutt will, which will be before Firethrower (and their associated replacements):
Also, if there are multiple waves back to back that have the same pokemon (or are within a few waves of each other), I'll label them as 1 and 2 - i.e. Linoone 1 and Linoone 2. This is to help avoid confusion if you're looking back and forth and trying to figure out where you're at
Lastly, with the steps below, if I don't say to switch out to a pokemon, that means you use the pokemon that's come out automatically.
With that, here's the guide:
Steps:
Reward: Pokeballs
Wave 2: Fletchinder
Steps:
Reward: Potion swablu
Wave 3: Swablu
Steps:
Reward: Super potion swablu
Wave 4: Pidgeotto and Spoink
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: So when I started this fight, Spoink got poisoned from toxic spikes somehow (though I can't remember how?) It felt weird, so I exited to the main menu and continued, and it removed the spikes and the poison, so you should too.
Steps:
Reward: Ultraball
Wave 5: Trainer Joren and Myra
Steps:
Reward: Mega bracelet
Wave 6: Pidgeotto
Note for this wave: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late
Steps:
Reward: Potion fletch
Wave 7: Swablu
Steps:
Reward: Pokeballs
Wave 8: Staravia
Steps:
Reward: Pokeballs
Wave 9: Geodude
Steps:
Reward: Potion fletch
Wave 10: Shieldon
Steps:
Reward: Stage end
Note for this wave: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late
Steps:
Reward: Rare candy fletch
Wave 12: Goomy
Steps:
Reward: Potion swablu
Wave 13: Goomy and Goomy
Steps:
Reward: X Atk
Wave 14: Gabite
Steps:
Reward: Potion gabite
Wave 15: Trainer Trisha
Note for this wave: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late
Steps:
Reward: Potion talonflame
Wave 16: Jangmo-o
Steps:
Reward: Potion talonflame
Wave 17: Goomy
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: Exit to menu to remove spikes
Steps:
Reward: Reroll, Super potion gabite
Wave 18: Drampa
Steps:
Reward: Reviver seed talonflame
Wave 19: Goomy and Drampa
Steps:
Reward: Great balls (ps: you might be wondering why I would possibly choose great balls over the revive I so desperately need. Well, I was too excited to get the revive I accidentally went too far over and picked up the great balls :( )
Wave 20: Trainer Drayden
Steps:
Reward: Stage end (sheesh, what a fight)
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: This camerupt has max (31) HP stat
Steps:
Reward: EXP All
Wave 22: Sinistcha
Steps:
Reward: Potion glimmet
Wave 23: Sandslash and Dugtrio
Steps:
Reward: Ultraball
Wave 24: Scovillain
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: This scovillain has max (31) Sp. Atk stat
Steps:
Reward: Super potion cinder
Wave 25: Trainer Yvette
Steps:
Reward: Potion cinder
Wave 26: Mudsdale 1
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: I exited to menu here so the spikes disappeared
Steps:
Reward: Potion Sinistcha
Wave 27: Scovillain
Steps:
Reward: Hyper potion Sinistcha
Wave 28: Donphan
Steps:
Reward: Pokeballs
Wave 29: Mudsdale 2
Steps:
Reward: Great balls
Wave 30: Trainer Clay
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late
Steps:
Reward: Stage end
Steps:
Reward: Pokeballs
Wave 32: Sandslash
Steps:
Reward: Pokeballs
Wave 33: Rabsca
Steps:
Reward: Dire hit
Wave 34: Sandslash and Brambleghast
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: Sorry, I couldn't find a way to catch brambleghast no matter what I tried
Steps:
Reward: Super potion claw
Wave 35: Trainer Sonia
Steps:
Reward: Rarer candy
Wave 36: Orthworm 1
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: Couldn't catch it, but we get one one W38
Steps:
Reward: Potion garchomp
Wave 37: Brambleghast
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: Brambleghasts do NOT want to be caught today - sorry
Steps:
Reward: Dire hit
Wave 38: Orthworm 2
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: This orthworm has max (31) Def
Steps:
Reward: Potion garchomp - note: there IS a DNA splicer here, but I haven't used it before. I asked around and people in the discord said it might not necessarily be worth it for these guys, but if you want to try for yourself, go ahead! It may change the RNG as discussed above, but it could be pretty fun!
Wave 39: Rabsca
Steps:
Reward: Super potion garchomp
Wave 40: Trainer Gordie
Steps:
Reward: Stage end
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: This one is killed but we catch another one on W48
Steps:
Reward: Garchompite on garchomp
Wave 42: Alakazam 1
Steps:
Reward: Reroll, Super potion sinistcha
Wave 43: Sigilyph
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late
Steps:
Reward: Enigma berry garchomp
Wave 44: Alakazam 2
Steps:
Reward: PP Max garchomp's bulldoze
Wave 45: Trainer Walter and Janie
Steps:
Reward: Reroll x 2, X Sp. Atk
Wave 46: Claydol 1
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: This guy just self destructs ASAP, but we do catch another one next wave
Steps:
Reward: Ganlon berry garchomp
Wave 47: Claydol 2
Steps:
Reward: X Speed
Wave 48: Xatu
Steps:
Reward: PP Up cinder's double pyro ball
Wave 49: Grumpig
Steps:
Reward: X Speed
Wave 50: Dialga
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late. That said, for this wave it probably doesn't matter, but better to be safe than sorry.
Steps:
Reward: Daily done!
That should be it! Enjoy your egg vouchers and I hope you get good things! As usual, any changes or anything let me know - I'll be doing a test run in the background when I can to hopefully catch anything else, but if you find waves that don't make sense or reloads that are needed let me know and I can add them in! Also like I said if you find any differences between this and your run and you're playing on a chromium browser, let me know as well :)
submitted by Opaquer to pokerogue [link] [comments]
As we've previously found, reloading the browser makes changes to the rng, so now I have notes when the browser has been reloaded so you can reload it too :). As per usual, sorry about the reloads - it'd be much easier if there weren't any, but I had some issues and instead of being able to restart I had to reload. Also there's at least one place where I've said to quit to menu and continue - I don't think this is the same as a reload, so maybe don't reload and just quit to menu instead?
Also, as we've found out, it looks like different browsers have different RNG. I use firefox when making my guides, but if you use chrome, there may be some small differences here and there. If you do use chrome and have some differences, let me know - I'm trying to get some evidence so I can figure out what the changes are and see if there's a way to nullify them so we can have a single guide for any type of browser :)
One thing is that I've got a test run happening in the background - I've tested this guide up to 16 so far (updated as I go) to make sure I haven't missed any notes, but that's as far as I've gone so far, so from stage 17 onwards there might be some reloads missing. If so, let me know and I can update it, or if I get time to do more testing I'll update this note as I go.
ALSO ALSO: we're still trying to figure out exactly what the relationship with reloading is. For now, if when you need to reload, reload once you've chosen your pokemon for the battle, as, on average, that's when I would reload. I don't know if it'll make a difference, but it can't hurt to try and see what happens :)
As per the others, I'm still learning about all this, so sorry for any mistakes I've made - I probably missed at least a couple of reloads, but hopefully I got the majority of them.
A couple of things to note: There's a DNA splicer on wave 38 rewards. I've never used it before and asked the discord who would be some good options to use it for, and people were saying it probably wasn't worth it. If you want to fuse some things together though, go ahead! I will say that if you do, I got offered a Garchompite on wave 41, so if you want to fuse two pokemon together, make sure to do it with garchomp first. That said, taking the DNA splicer may change your rng so you may not get the garchompite, but I'll leave that as an experiment for you to test :)
Lastly, it seems like there's a bug in the game - I've heard it's best to change the "EXP Party Display" to "Normal" as if it's not on normal, sometimes moves you've learnt will disappear when you exit to the menu.
| Pokemon | Max stat (31) | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| Camerupt | HP | 21 |
| Scovillain | Sp. Atk | 24 |
| Orthworm | Sp. Def | 38 |
With the below steps, if I haven't said to take a move when one is offered, that means to not learn it. For the table, there's two columns relating to moves - one for moves to take and one for moves to replace. For example, if the "Move(s) to take..." column has Headbutt and the corresponding row in the "... by replacing move(s)" column has Wrap, it would mean you need to replace wrap with headbutt at this stage when it's offered - and if during that stage a different move is offered, don't take it if it's not on the list. Also if there's multiple moves to be offered, the moves offered in the table are listed from top to bottom of the order you get them - so if you have something like the below, it means that Crunch will be offered before Headbutt will, which will be before Firethrower (and their associated replacements):
| Move(s) to take... | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Crunch | Vine whip |
| Heatbutt | Astonish |
| Firethrower | Water gun |
Lastly, with the steps below, if I don't say to switch out to a pokemon, that means you use the pokemon that's come out automatically.
With that, here's the guide:
Stage 1
Wave 1: SwabluSteps:
- Ancient power
- Pokeball
- Transfer charcoal from glimmet to raboot
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 2: Fletchinder
Steps:
- Confuse ray
- Pokeball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Venoshock | Rain dance |
Wave 3: Swablu
Steps:
- Ancient power
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 4: Pidgeotto and Spoink
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: So when I started this fight, Spoink got poisoned from toxic spikes somehow (though I can't remember how?) It felt weird, so I exited to the main menu and continued, and it removed the spikes and the poison, so you should too.
Steps:
- Switch glimmet with fletch and clauncher with raboot
- Flame charge x 2 on pidgeotto
- Flame charge x 2 on pidgeotto
- Pokeball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Acrobatics | Growl |
Wave 5: Trainer Joren and Myra
Steps:
- Acrobatics and flame charge seviper
- Flame charge x 2 mawile
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 6: Pidgeotto
Note for this wave: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late
Steps:
- Flame charge
- Acrobatics
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 7: Swablu
Steps:
- Acrobatics x 2
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 8: Staravia
Steps:
- Switch to clauncher
- Pokeball x 2
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 9: Geodude
Steps:
- Aqua jet
- Pokeball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 10: Shieldon
Steps:
- Switch to raboot
- Double kick
- Pokeball x 3
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Stage 2
Wave 11: SwabluNote for this wave: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late
Steps:
- Switch to fletch
- Acrobatics x 2
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 12: Goomy
Steps:
- Switch to swablu
- Dragon breath x 2
- Pokeball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 13: Goomy and Goomy
Steps:
- Switch claunder with fletch
- Dragon breath and acrobatics left (L31) goomy
- Dragon break and acrobatics
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 14: Gabite
Steps:
- Dragon breath x 3
- Pokeball
- Ultra ball
- Replace swablu with gabite
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Headbutt | Baton pass |
Wave 15: Trainer Trisha
Note for this wave: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late
Steps:
- Acrobatics
- Switch to glimmet
- Spikes (glimmet dies here)
- Bring out fletch
- Acrobatics
- Switch to raboot
- Heatbutt x 2
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Water pulse | Snore |
| Rest | Splash |
| Power gem | Growl |
Wave 16: Jangmo-o
Steps:
- Pokeball x 2
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Slash | Sand attack |
Wave 17: Goomy
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: Exit to menu to remove spikes
Steps:
- Switch to talonflame
- Acrobatics
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 18: Drampa
Steps:
- Pokeball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Pyro ball | Flame charge |
Wave 19: Goomy and Drampa
Steps:
- Acrobatics goomy and double kick drampa
- Talonflame dies and revives
- Acrobatics and double kick drampa
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Aerial ace | Flail |
Wave 20: Trainer Drayden
Steps:
- Switch to gabite
- Dragon breath x 2
- Switch to grumpig
- Rest
- Psybeam (grumpig dies here)
- Bring out talonflame
- Acrobatics x 3 (talon dies here)
- Bring out gabite
- Dragon breath (gabite dies here)
- Bring out clauncher
- Smack down
- Rest (claunder dies here)
- Bring out cinder
- Attact
- Headbutt x 3
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Stage 3
Wave 21: CameruptNOTE FOR THIS WAVE: This camerupt has max (31) HP stat
Steps:
- Switch to clauncher
- Pokeball x 2
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Snore | Psych up |
Wave 22: Sinistcha
Steps:
- Switch to glimmet
- Venoshock x 2
- Pokeball
- Replace grumping with sinistcha
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Rock slide | Confuse Ray |
Wave 23: Sandslash and Dugtrio
Steps:
- Switch glimmet with claw and cinder with talonflame
- Aqua jet sandslash and acrobatics dugtrio
- Pokeball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Mortal spin | Rock slide |
Wave 24: Scovillain
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: This scovillain has max (31) Sp. Atk stat
Steps:
- Switch to cinder
- Headbutt
- Pokeball x 2
- Ultra ball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 25: Trainer Yvette
Steps:
- Pyro ball x 2
- Double kick
- Switch to talonflame
- Acrobatics
- Switch to glimmora
- Mortal spin
- Venoshock x 2
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Dragon claw | Slash |
| Power gem | Ancient power |
| Aura sphere | Rest |
| Stength sap | Matcha gotcha |
Wave 26: Mudsdale 1
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: I exited to menu here so the spikes disappeared
Steps:
- Switch to sinistcha
- Mega drain x 3 (this kills mudsdale, but we get another one on W29)
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 27: Scovillain
Steps:
- Switch to talonflame
- Aerial ace x 2
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 28: Donphan
Steps:
- Great ball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 29: Mudsdale 2
Steps:
- Switch to sinistcha
- Mega drain x 2
- Pokeball x 2
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Crunch | Bite |
Wave 30: Trainer Clay
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late
Steps:
- Strength sap x 3
- Mega drain x 4
- Switch to claw (claw dies here)
- Bring out garchomp
- Bulldoze x 2
- Crunch x 3
- Bulldoze x 2
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Shadow ball | Hex |
Stage 4
Wave 31: DrapionSteps:
- Pokeball
- Bulldoze
- Great ball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Bounce | Aqua jet |
Wave 32: Sandslash
Steps:
- Switch to claw
- Water pulse
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 33: Rabsca
Steps:
- Switch to talonflame
- Pokeball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 34: Sandslash and Brambleghast
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: Sorry, I couldn't find a way to catch brambleghast no matter what I tried
Steps:
- Switch cinder with claw
- Aerial ace bramble and water pulse sandslash (this kills them)
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| Steel wing | Aerial ace |
Wave 35: Trainer Sonia
Steps:
- Switch to garchomp
- Crunch x 2
- Bulldoze x 2
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 36: Orthworm 1
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: Couldn't catch it, but we get one one W38
Steps:
- Switch to cinder
- Pyro ball (this kills it)
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 37: Brambleghast
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: Brambleghasts do NOT want to be caught today - sorry
Steps:
- Pyro ball (this kills it)
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 38: Orthworm 2
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: This orthworm has max (31) Def
Steps:
- Double kick
- Headbutt
- Switch to talon
- Ember
- Ultra ball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 39: Rabsca
Steps:
- Acrobatics
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 40: Trainer Gordie
Steps:
- Switch to sinistcha
- Switch to claw
- Water pulse
- Aura sphere x 2
- Water pulse
- Aura sphere x 2 (claw dies)
- Bring out sinistcha
- Mega drain
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Stage 5
Wave 41: XatuNOTE FOR THIS WAVE: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: This one is killed but we catch another one on W48
Steps:
- Shadow ball (this kills xatu, but we get one on W48)
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 42: Alakazam 1
Steps:
- Ultra ball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 43: Sigilyph
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late
Steps:
- Switch to garchomp
- Pokeball
- Great ball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 44: Alakazam 2
Steps:
- Crunch
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 45: Trainer Walter and Janie
Steps:
- Bulldoze and swap out claw with talonflame
- Bulldoze and acrobatics
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 46: Claydol 1
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: This guy just self destructs ASAP, but we do catch another one next wave
Steps:
- Switch to sinistra
- Pokeball (claydol self destructs and dies)
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 47: Claydol 2
Steps:
- Mega drain
- Pokeball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 48: Xatu
Steps:
- Pokeball
- Ultra ball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 49: Grumpig
Steps:
- Mega drain
- Ultra ball
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
Wave 50: Dialga
NOTE FOR THIS WAVE: I reloaded my browser here; make sure to reload during the fight once it's started, and not too late. That said, for this wave it probably doesn't matter, but better to be safe than sorry.
Steps:
- Strength sap x 4 (sinistcha dies here)
- Bring out garchomp
- Bulldoze x 4 (garchomp dies here)
- Bring out claw
- Aura sphere
- DAILY DONE
| Move(s) to take | ... by replacing move(s) |
|---|---|
| None | None |
That should be it! Enjoy your egg vouchers and I hope you get good things! As usual, any changes or anything let me know - I'll be doing a test run in the background when I can to hopefully catch anything else, but if you find waves that don't make sense or reloads that are needed let me know and I can add them in! Also like I said if you find any differences between this and your run and you're playing on a chromium browser, let me know as well :)
2024.05.16 06:57 thr3e_kideuce Are we being too hard of California High Speed Rail?
I mean, almost every single issue that plagued them in the early stage of development into the first years of construction has been fixed (no really). The only ways the cost can increase is...
submitted by thr3e_kideuce to LosAngeles [link] [comments]
- Anyone from not-so Left Wing NIMBYS in LA/SF Bay Area to Right Wing Trolls/Brats in the Central Valley or Inland Empire sabotaging the project either by suing continuously or bash it on social media which can turn people against it. NEVER take these people seriously as they usually don't know what they are talking about as they can't just become experts on infrastructure and transpiration overnight.
- Not getting the full funding sooner, which will drive up the cost of the project. And if anyone speaks against finishing the project, it's the auto and airline industries talking, not their heart.
- It has been DECADES since a piece of infrastructure has been built at this scale. And no, Brightline Florida is not a good excuse since that is not entirely grade separated though Brightline West maybe. I actually think Brightline can help CAHSR finish the Palmdale - LA segment since both will be using the same corridor. Should be a no brainier to get it over with.
2024.05.16 06:56 k2r727 petition: add a new sound for juggernauts
I know this has been brought up more than a dozen times on this sub since this guy came into the game. but I want to saber to know that the community wants this to happen.
From the beeping of the bomber, the gasping of the hazmat to the gurgling of the infector. ALL special zombies have a unique sound. EXCEPT for the bull and juggernaut, because they share the same scream and loud thump of their charge.
I appreciate the addition of the Jugg to the game. it can't be stunned and it can really do a great job in wrecking a team bunkered down in a nice corner or room. it is, by far, the hardest zeke to kill with only its legs as a 'weakness'. But, I believe that I am speaking for the community in this, It SHOULDN'T sound like the bull! sound ques are very important in this game. from the characters saying there is a lurker nearby when all is silent to the iconic 'rawr' sound when a zeke is about to attack you. It gives you some time to immediately identify the threat and react accordingly. When I hear a bull shout, I personally try to stun it with my stun baton or use my stun gun, get behind, and shoot or slash. that is the reaction the sound que is telling me to do. but when the Jugg is hidden behind a giant crowd of zeke or is coming from an angle you didn't expect then it just straight up betrays expectations. yes, I know i can run exterminator and just grenade either of them to death. But i personally don't want to HAVE to play with certain classes to counter specials which I can easily encounter on every single map.
some people may say that this was an intentional design in order to up the game difficulty and as to not rely on sound ques. I strongly disagree! I believe that this was a half-hearted attempt to add new 'content' by essentially re-skinning the bull, not even putting in the effort to add a slightly different shout to it, and repackaging it as a difficulty increase! very much 'its not a bug! its a feature!' kind of moment.
Saber, if you are reading this. please consider this for a future update. thank you for reading
submitted by k2r727 to worldwarzthegame [link] [comments]
From the beeping of the bomber, the gasping of the hazmat to the gurgling of the infector. ALL special zombies have a unique sound. EXCEPT for the bull and juggernaut, because they share the same scream and loud thump of their charge.
I appreciate the addition of the Jugg to the game. it can't be stunned and it can really do a great job in wrecking a team bunkered down in a nice corner or room. it is, by far, the hardest zeke to kill with only its legs as a 'weakness'. But, I believe that I am speaking for the community in this, It SHOULDN'T sound like the bull! sound ques are very important in this game. from the characters saying there is a lurker nearby when all is silent to the iconic 'rawr' sound when a zeke is about to attack you. It gives you some time to immediately identify the threat and react accordingly. When I hear a bull shout, I personally try to stun it with my stun baton or use my stun gun, get behind, and shoot or slash. that is the reaction the sound que is telling me to do. but when the Jugg is hidden behind a giant crowd of zeke or is coming from an angle you didn't expect then it just straight up betrays expectations. yes, I know i can run exterminator and just grenade either of them to death. But i personally don't want to HAVE to play with certain classes to counter specials which I can easily encounter on every single map.
some people may say that this was an intentional design in order to up the game difficulty and as to not rely on sound ques. I strongly disagree! I believe that this was a half-hearted attempt to add new 'content' by essentially re-skinning the bull, not even putting in the effort to add a slightly different shout to it, and repackaging it as a difficulty increase! very much 'its not a bug! its a feature!' kind of moment.
Saber, if you are reading this. please consider this for a future update. thank you for reading
2024.05.16 06:49 thr3e_kideuce Are we being too hard of California High Speed Rail
I mean, almost every single issue that plagued them in the early stage of development into the first years of construction has been fixed (no really). The only ways the cost can increase is...
submitted by thr3e_kideuce to bayarea [link] [comments]
- Anyone from not-so Left Wing NIMBYS in LA/SF Bay Area to Right Wing Trolls/Brats in the Central Valley or Inland Empire sabotaging the project either by suing continuously or bash it on social media which can turn people against it. NEVER take these people seriously as they usually don't know what they are talking about as they can't just become experts on infrastructure and transpiration overnight.
- Not getting the full funding sooner, which will drive up the cost of the project. And if anyone speaks against finishing the project, it's the auto and airline industries talking, not them.
- It has been DECADES since a piece of infrastructure has been built at this scale. And no, Brightline Florida is not a good excuse since that is not entirely grade separated though Brightline West maybe. I actually think Brightline can help CAHSR finish the Palmdale - LA segment since both will be using the same corridor. Should be a no brainer to get it over with.
2024.05.16 06:19 -DarkRoy Do you want to meet him?
In the small town of Ashford, nestled deep in the mountains, there was a legend that the locals spoke of in hushed tones. It was said that HIM, a malevolent entity, roamed the surrounding forests, preying on those who dared venture too far from the safety of their homes.
Caden Moran was a skeptic. As a reporter for the town's small newspaper, he prided himself on debunking myths and legends. So when he heard about HIM, he decided to investigate, convinced that there was a logical explanation behind the fear.
One autumn evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, Caden set out for the forest with his camera and notebook. The air grew colder, and a thick fog rolled in, shrouding the trees in an ethereal mist. Despite the growing unease in his gut, Caden pressed on, determined to uncover the truth.
As he walked deeper into the woods, he stumbled upon an old, abandoned cabin. It looked like it had been left untouched for decades, its wooden beams rotting and ivy creeping up its sides. Intrigued, Caden decided to explore inside.
The cabin's interior was dark, illuminated only by the weak beam of his flashlight. Dust particles danced in the air, and the floor creaked under his weight. In the center of the single room stood a table with a strange, ancient book resting on it. The cover was made of a leathery material that sent a shiver down his spine.
Caden opened the book and began to flip through its pages. They were filled with bizarre symbols and unsettling drawings of shadowy figures. One drawing, in particular, caught his eye—a tall, shadowy figure with eyes like burning embers. Beneath it was a single word: HIM.
A sudden chill filled the room. The temperature dropped rapidly, and the flashlight flickered before going out completely. Caden's breath came in visible puffs as he fumbled in the darkness. The air felt heavy, oppressive, as if something unseen was pressing down on him.
A whisper, barely audible at first, echoed around him. It grew louder, forming words that sent a jolt of terror through him.
"You should not have come here."
Heart pounding, Caden spun around, trying to locate the source of the voice. The shadows in the room began to shift and merge, forming a figure that slowly took shape. It was HIM, exactly as depicted in the book, with eyes burning like coals in the darkness.
"Why have you summoned me?" the entity's voice boomed, resonating deep within Caden's bones.
"I didn't... I was just curious," Caden stammered, backing away slowly.
"Curiosity has a price," HIM hissed, stepping closer. "And now you must pay."
The shadows surged forward, engulfing Caden. His screams echoed through the cabin, but no one was around to hear them. The next morning, the townspeople found his camera and notebook near the old cabin, but there was no sign of Caden Moran.
The townspeople spoke of his disappearance in hushed tones, a chilling reminder of the power of HIM. And on foggy nights, when the wind howled through the trees, they could sometimes hear Caden's anguished cries, a ghostly warning to all who dared to venture too far into the forest.
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submitted by -DarkRoy to TheWaterLew [link] [comments]
Caden Moran was a skeptic. As a reporter for the town's small newspaper, he prided himself on debunking myths and legends. So when he heard about HIM, he decided to investigate, convinced that there was a logical explanation behind the fear.
One autumn evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, Caden set out for the forest with his camera and notebook. The air grew colder, and a thick fog rolled in, shrouding the trees in an ethereal mist. Despite the growing unease in his gut, Caden pressed on, determined to uncover the truth.
As he walked deeper into the woods, he stumbled upon an old, abandoned cabin. It looked like it had been left untouched for decades, its wooden beams rotting and ivy creeping up its sides. Intrigued, Caden decided to explore inside.
The cabin's interior was dark, illuminated only by the weak beam of his flashlight. Dust particles danced in the air, and the floor creaked under his weight. In the center of the single room stood a table with a strange, ancient book resting on it. The cover was made of a leathery material that sent a shiver down his spine.
Caden opened the book and began to flip through its pages. They were filled with bizarre symbols and unsettling drawings of shadowy figures. One drawing, in particular, caught his eye—a tall, shadowy figure with eyes like burning embers. Beneath it was a single word: HIM.
A sudden chill filled the room. The temperature dropped rapidly, and the flashlight flickered before going out completely. Caden's breath came in visible puffs as he fumbled in the darkness. The air felt heavy, oppressive, as if something unseen was pressing down on him.
A whisper, barely audible at first, echoed around him. It grew louder, forming words that sent a jolt of terror through him.
"You should not have come here."
Heart pounding, Caden spun around, trying to locate the source of the voice. The shadows in the room began to shift and merge, forming a figure that slowly took shape. It was HIM, exactly as depicted in the book, with eyes burning like coals in the darkness.
"Why have you summoned me?" the entity's voice boomed, resonating deep within Caden's bones.
"I didn't... I was just curious," Caden stammered, backing away slowly.
"Curiosity has a price," HIM hissed, stepping closer. "And now you must pay."
The shadows surged forward, engulfing Caden. His screams echoed through the cabin, but no one was around to hear them. The next morning, the townspeople found his camera and notebook near the old cabin, but there was no sign of Caden Moran.
The townspeople spoke of his disappearance in hushed tones, a chilling reminder of the power of HIM. And on foggy nights, when the wind howled through the trees, they could sometimes hear Caden's anguished cries, a ghostly warning to all who dared to venture too far into the forest.
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2024.05.16 05:34 Aware-Material507 A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon 95
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Peering down into the now exposed cavern, I wondered what was in there and consequently how I would even get down there. Ordering my marauder to back up a bit so that they would not fall though or anything of the sort, I began floating back up to the surface before blipping over to the factory and more specifically the modification station. Flipping through the menu screen, I quickly whipped up a modification to my crabs so that they would have a searchlight sitting on their claw arm so that they would not have such a hard time seeing the mines. Drifting back over to the mining outpost, I began ordering for the on site construction crew to begin constructing the new lights onto a few volunteers. As they began the process of constructing the modifications for my crabs, I began gathering up a few flight capable drones from the factory since I doubt that my hounds and ants would have a very good time climbing down a eighty plus degree slope down to the bottom.
Perhaps I should have a few of the hornets have some of the searchlights as well. Certainly couldn’t hurt to have some extra lights. Thankfully at the factory there was a much more sizable spider drone presence so my hornets were equipped with the searchlights quickly enough and were able to reach the mining outpost just about when my crabs got theirs as well. Ordering my drones to begin venturing down into the mineshaft, I was finally able to properly see down in the mines although I suppose I had not turelly needed to. I wonder if this would help the rest of my drones ability to mine out ores. The lack of light surely hasn’t stopped them so I guess they probably can see better down here that I could. As we ventured through the mineshaft, I took the time to look around and found that the tunnels which had been carved out looked to have many small patches missing, presumably where they had found valuable ores and the like. Before long we reached the opening to the cavern which looked to be somewhat expanded by the marauders sub drone harvesters.
Ordering my newly equipped crabs to use their search lights in order to light up the cavern a little bit, I was able to quickly enough make out the forms of what had to be organic life which was rather surprising. Squinting my eyes, I was able to see the vague forms of large fungus-like shapes covering the entirety of the rather large cavern like a warping forest which seemed to be perfectly fine with growing on every available surface. Looking over to my hornets and vultures who had volunteered to take a look, I ordered them, along with the harvesters from the marauder, to begin flying down and begin looking around the area. Switching my perspective over to one of my hornets equipped with the searchlights, I watched as they began to descend down to the bottom of the cavern and where the dozens and dozens of tree sized mushrooms and fungus sprouted out from the ground and created a canopy of sorts.
As we descended, I was able to see that every available spot on the surface of the floor was absolutely covered in moss and fungus which had taken root in whatever rocky soil which they could find. As we continued to look around the cavern, one of my hornets seemed to have managed to spot some sort of constructs near the far end of the cavern and soon enough the hornet which I was watching through linked up with the rest of my force as they moved towards the buildings. As they approached the structures, I was able to make out the general shape of the buildings which looked to be rather squat with the occasional second floor which I took as a sign that they were either rather small or there was more underground. With the help of the searchlights, I was also able to see that the constructs seemed to be absolutely infested with the fungus and moss along with a large amount of other dark growths which stretched out from the insides of the building.
Huh, maybe this is where all the fungus had come from. Perhaps it’s a research building that’s focused on botany or something. Floating down to ground level with the rest of my drones, I ordered one of my hornets to open the doors leading into the building proper which they promptly did so by firing their spike launcher into the joints of the door which caused it to be blown off its hinges. A bit overkill but hey, I’m not complaining. Sending a couple drones into the breach to make sure that there were not any hostile contacts in the building, I made sure to have the rest of my drones on high alert for any signs of activity as something about this place was making my nerves stand on end. Upon the confirmation of no hostile contacts present, I ordered the rest of my drones to enter the building as well, minus a couple of hornets I decided to leave guarding the entrance while the rest of us began making our way through the maze of corridors.
Entering into the building, I saw that the place looked to be just as abandoned as all the other buildings in the city, however this place seemed to not even be touched by ferals and the like looking for shelter. Sure everything looked to be messed up but I could not see a single trace of activity in the rooms as we moved through the corridors methodically, keeping our spike launchers at the ready at all times. Entering a research room of some sort, I saw a large amount of glass containers which looked to have at one point helped strange plants and funguses although most of which had died long ago whenever this place was abandoned to its fate. I guess this helps confirm that this place was some sort of research building focused on plants and stuff. As we continued to make our way throughout the building, my drones and I found more and more of the black tendrils which covered the ground and were familiar in some way, however I could not place my finger on it.
Eventually after looking through a handful more rooms filled to the brim with plant specimens, my drones and I encountered a stairwell leading both down into the underground and upwards to the second floor. I made note that the downwards stairwell had a larger than usual amount of the black tendrils which snaked out from the stairwell before infesting the rest of the building. Deciding that I did not wish to go down there, I sent about half of my force down while I and the rest of my drones went up the stairs and checked out the second floor where there were noticeably less tendrils. As my hornets clambered up the stairs, noticeably avoiding the black vine like tendrils whenever possible, I noticed that there seemed to be some artificial light coming from above which was strange, I would have assumed that all the power had been disabled for these ruins.
Moving closer to the source of the light, we eventually entered what looked to be a control room with a large amount of screens and control panels, most of which were entirely deactivated and in some cases destroyed outright. All except for one which seemed to be a simple control panel with a large amount of lights associated with various sections of the compound like the power generators and various research rooms. Looking around, I eventually found a key stating which faintly blinking meant what and quickly began transcribing each of the dim lights which were still finding enough power to give off a noticeable glow. First to gain my attention was the power generators which were flashing a red light stating that they were completely down, however looking at the auxiliary power systems, they were glowing a faint yellow which stated that they were still at least partially functioning. Guess that explains where this thing is pulling the power from, the pitance that it is.
Continuing down the line of blinking lights, I see that most if not all of the systems making up the building and a few of the other, much smaller, buildings surrounding this one seemed to be more or less non-functional which should be expected given that this place had been abandoned for at least a couple decades. As I reached a few lights noted as containment units and found that most were deactivated or destroyed, I received a few messages from my drones I had sent downwards stating that they had found something that I should probably have a look at. Slipping out of the hornet I was currently in and transferring over to one of the hornets down stairs before coming face to face with what they had found. Floating around, suspended by some sort of force field was a disgustingly large bulbous black clump of flesh with faint blue marks and bulbs dotting around its body. Why in the seven hells does this place have a rot specimen? Sigh, I guess this explains where all the power which the still functioning generators is being pumped into. At least it hadn’t gotten out of its containment, that would make this ten times wors- … waaait a minute.
Looking down to the ground where the black tendrils snaked across the floor leading to two other containment units which were worryingly not activated and had two, thankfully smaller, iterations of the rot simply laying there, as if hibernating. Shit! Alright maybe if we back up slowly they won’t notice our presence. It was then the two rot clumps and their many tendrils began pulsating before marks and bulbs on their body began to glow a faint blue and some began to move. Alright, change of plans. Everyone RUN! My drones were quick to obey as they powered on their wings and bolted for the stairwell as the tendrils began writhing as if searching for my drones. One even lurched out and grabbed one of my hornets as they attempted to escape the building, dragging the poor drone to the ground and more tendrils moved in to help keep down my struggling troops who fought valiantly which thankfully diverted tendrils which were dangerously close to my other drones to quickly flew up the stairs and out of the building.
A few tendrils attempted to stop our escape however my hornets quickly fired their launchers and pinned those to the walls of the building and my harvester sub drones proved to be rather effective as they cut right through the rot tendrils that got close. Taking to the skies as quickly as they could, I could see that the rest of my drones seemed to have managed to get out unmolested by the rot tendrils which were definitely not as numerous as the ones underground and they were now covering the rest of my drones retreat as they fired their launchers and cut down any tendrils which got close. Linking up with the rest of my drones, my various hornets quickly turned their own spike launchers to bare against the tendrils, managing to land a few shots before I ordered them to fall back as one of the rot tendrils lashed out and nearly swatted another one of my hornets out of the sky which I decided was too close for comfort.
Turning around as we flew back to the mines and the rest of my drones, I watched as the far side of the cavern where the facility was began to pulse blue as the rot emerged from its slumber and began moving through the fungus forest. I have no idea how the rot works but given that they’re fleshy, I suspect that letting them feast off of the mushrooms is probably going to bite me in the ass later. Slipping out of the hornets as the flew back to the outpost, I began scrambling to assemble as many fire beetles as I could from all of my territories as they had been proven to be one of my best anti-rot drones meaning they would be instrumental in fending off those things from escaping the cavern. As it would turn out, I was rather lacking in the fire beetle department as I could only assemble about a dozen of them which means that I would have to wait a bit before I could start deploying them en masse.
Deciding to make the process as quick as possible, I began ordering for the construction of fire beetles from every available small drone works in my territory but it would still take a while for them to all fabricate and be transported over here, especially from places like the warehouse outpost and the newer outposts near the front lines. While I waited, I continued to watch as the rot began infesting the cavern with reckless abandon and from where my crab was standing, I could see as one after another the large fungus trees toppled over to be consumed by the rot. As the fungal forest was being consumed by the now fully awakened rot, I began wondering whether or not they would be able to use their newly acquired food supplies to create more of the damned tendrils or even more rot clusters. At least there’s only two, maybe three, of them down there. Hopefully my fire beetles will be able to burn the forest down before the rot gets a chance to eat all of it.
Speaking of which, my drones, a few of the suicidal drones had arrived from the factory and were already making their way down the mine shaft over to my position. Once they arrived, I gestured to a few of my hornets who quickly picked up the four fire beetles before flying down to the base of the cavern before placing the fire beetles amidst the fungal forest which they promptly began burning down to the ground. Hopefully they would be able to burn down at least half of the mushroom tree before the rot could eat it or to my beetles for that matter. Watching as the cavern began to glow a bright reddish orange, I decided to check up on the rest of my territory as I waited for more of my beetles to finish being fabricated and transported over to the mining outpost. Deciding to check on my forces in Ping’s territory first, I drifted over to the outpost that my forces had helped Ping take back which was now returning to what I was guessing was its full capacity.
Checking up on my drones which I had managed to rescue from enemy territory, I found that most had been repaired back to functionality and were now going about their duties which mostly revolved around helping out Pings drones with the various patrols or, if my spiders deemed them unfit, working to assist with the movement of supplies around the outpost along with some light salvaging. A fair amount of my veteran drones had been sent back to whatever force I had taken the form, mostly the force at Churn’s front line with the occasional drone working in pseudo retirement which garrison or mine work afforded them. After all, they were likely needed more at Churn's front line where active fighting was still occurring on a regular basis rather than in Ping’s territory where the corrupted AI was being pushed back as Ping got their feet under themselves as they began pumping out drones and defenses.
Checking up on the outpost which Churn had lent me, I found that the enemy force had begun moving back into the now destroyed production hub however not in any significant numbers as the outpost was likely deemed to be not worth the effort of putting a large garrison there. The forces present were likely only there to inform them if I was making moves to attack more of their territory so that they could make the proper adjustments. Thankfully this newly established enemy garrison could not stop my stealth hounds as they occasionally sent back a member or two of their number to inform me of what was going on in enemy territory. In Coopers stead, one of the next most senior drone which happened to be an ant had been receiving the most recent of reports from the stealth hounds which mostly consisted with random enemy movements and caravans which did not really affect me given that I was not willing to start sending out my force to being taking the fight to the next enemy stronghold, at least not while my forces in Ping were still criminally understaffed and my resource stocks were at a minimum.
Perhaps once things stabilize and more resources become available I will begin tasking my force with attacking however until then I was content to sit around on the defense. The thought of constructing more stealth hounds until I could start having them raid caravans briefly flittered across my mind but I quickly cut that off and stored it in my head for later use once the whole situation with the rot back in the mines is resolved. Speaking of which, as I finished reading through reports and stamping away thoughts of pressing the attack while my supply lines were strained, I received the message stating that the first batch of fire beetles were now finished construction and were beginning to be collected by the subway system and would soon be delivered to the mining outpost. Good, the longer I wait, the more dangerous those things will probably become. Hopefully my beetles will be able to handle whatever they encounter down there.
Floating back over to the mining outpost and down to the cavern entrance, I could see that the initial four fire beetles had done a good job at burning down what they could as I was able to easily see that well over half of the forest had been light ablaze as the fungal trees caught fire and whatever moisture the mushrooms had were quickly evaporated. Regardless, the rot still continued to feast upon the biomass that they could get their tendrils on and from where I was watching I could easily see that nearly a quarter of the fungal forest had been completely taken over and infested with rot puss as the area where the rot had infected began glowing blue as their residue began to take place and fester. Hopefully the fires will also be able to burn some of the rot along with the mushroom trees before the rest of my beetles arrive and with some luck take down whatever is left. But for now I watched the flames as they spread and burned down everything in its path.
Next
Sorry it’s late, I had to GM a bit of DnD which took priority over finishing up and posting this.
submitted by Aware-Material507 to HFY [link] [comments]
Peering down into the now exposed cavern, I wondered what was in there and consequently how I would even get down there. Ordering my marauder to back up a bit so that they would not fall though or anything of the sort, I began floating back up to the surface before blipping over to the factory and more specifically the modification station. Flipping through the menu screen, I quickly whipped up a modification to my crabs so that they would have a searchlight sitting on their claw arm so that they would not have such a hard time seeing the mines. Drifting back over to the mining outpost, I began ordering for the on site construction crew to begin constructing the new lights onto a few volunteers. As they began the process of constructing the modifications for my crabs, I began gathering up a few flight capable drones from the factory since I doubt that my hounds and ants would have a very good time climbing down a eighty plus degree slope down to the bottom.
Perhaps I should have a few of the hornets have some of the searchlights as well. Certainly couldn’t hurt to have some extra lights. Thankfully at the factory there was a much more sizable spider drone presence so my hornets were equipped with the searchlights quickly enough and were able to reach the mining outpost just about when my crabs got theirs as well. Ordering my drones to begin venturing down into the mineshaft, I was finally able to properly see down in the mines although I suppose I had not turelly needed to. I wonder if this would help the rest of my drones ability to mine out ores. The lack of light surely hasn’t stopped them so I guess they probably can see better down here that I could. As we ventured through the mineshaft, I took the time to look around and found that the tunnels which had been carved out looked to have many small patches missing, presumably where they had found valuable ores and the like. Before long we reached the opening to the cavern which looked to be somewhat expanded by the marauders sub drone harvesters.
Ordering my newly equipped crabs to use their search lights in order to light up the cavern a little bit, I was able to quickly enough make out the forms of what had to be organic life which was rather surprising. Squinting my eyes, I was able to see the vague forms of large fungus-like shapes covering the entirety of the rather large cavern like a warping forest which seemed to be perfectly fine with growing on every available surface. Looking over to my hornets and vultures who had volunteered to take a look, I ordered them, along with the harvesters from the marauder, to begin flying down and begin looking around the area. Switching my perspective over to one of my hornets equipped with the searchlights, I watched as they began to descend down to the bottom of the cavern and where the dozens and dozens of tree sized mushrooms and fungus sprouted out from the ground and created a canopy of sorts.
As we descended, I was able to see that every available spot on the surface of the floor was absolutely covered in moss and fungus which had taken root in whatever rocky soil which they could find. As we continued to look around the cavern, one of my hornets seemed to have managed to spot some sort of constructs near the far end of the cavern and soon enough the hornet which I was watching through linked up with the rest of my force as they moved towards the buildings. As they approached the structures, I was able to make out the general shape of the buildings which looked to be rather squat with the occasional second floor which I took as a sign that they were either rather small or there was more underground. With the help of the searchlights, I was also able to see that the constructs seemed to be absolutely infested with the fungus and moss along with a large amount of other dark growths which stretched out from the insides of the building.
Huh, maybe this is where all the fungus had come from. Perhaps it’s a research building that’s focused on botany or something. Floating down to ground level with the rest of my drones, I ordered one of my hornets to open the doors leading into the building proper which they promptly did so by firing their spike launcher into the joints of the door which caused it to be blown off its hinges. A bit overkill but hey, I’m not complaining. Sending a couple drones into the breach to make sure that there were not any hostile contacts in the building, I made sure to have the rest of my drones on high alert for any signs of activity as something about this place was making my nerves stand on end. Upon the confirmation of no hostile contacts present, I ordered the rest of my drones to enter the building as well, minus a couple of hornets I decided to leave guarding the entrance while the rest of us began making our way through the maze of corridors.
Entering into the building, I saw that the place looked to be just as abandoned as all the other buildings in the city, however this place seemed to not even be touched by ferals and the like looking for shelter. Sure everything looked to be messed up but I could not see a single trace of activity in the rooms as we moved through the corridors methodically, keeping our spike launchers at the ready at all times. Entering a research room of some sort, I saw a large amount of glass containers which looked to have at one point helped strange plants and funguses although most of which had died long ago whenever this place was abandoned to its fate. I guess this helps confirm that this place was some sort of research building focused on plants and stuff. As we continued to make our way throughout the building, my drones and I found more and more of the black tendrils which covered the ground and were familiar in some way, however I could not place my finger on it.
Eventually after looking through a handful more rooms filled to the brim with plant specimens, my drones and I encountered a stairwell leading both down into the underground and upwards to the second floor. I made note that the downwards stairwell had a larger than usual amount of the black tendrils which snaked out from the stairwell before infesting the rest of the building. Deciding that I did not wish to go down there, I sent about half of my force down while I and the rest of my drones went up the stairs and checked out the second floor where there were noticeably less tendrils. As my hornets clambered up the stairs, noticeably avoiding the black vine like tendrils whenever possible, I noticed that there seemed to be some artificial light coming from above which was strange, I would have assumed that all the power had been disabled for these ruins.
Moving closer to the source of the light, we eventually entered what looked to be a control room with a large amount of screens and control panels, most of which were entirely deactivated and in some cases destroyed outright. All except for one which seemed to be a simple control panel with a large amount of lights associated with various sections of the compound like the power generators and various research rooms. Looking around, I eventually found a key stating which faintly blinking meant what and quickly began transcribing each of the dim lights which were still finding enough power to give off a noticeable glow. First to gain my attention was the power generators which were flashing a red light stating that they were completely down, however looking at the auxiliary power systems, they were glowing a faint yellow which stated that they were still at least partially functioning. Guess that explains where this thing is pulling the power from, the pitance that it is.
Continuing down the line of blinking lights, I see that most if not all of the systems making up the building and a few of the other, much smaller, buildings surrounding this one seemed to be more or less non-functional which should be expected given that this place had been abandoned for at least a couple decades. As I reached a few lights noted as containment units and found that most were deactivated or destroyed, I received a few messages from my drones I had sent downwards stating that they had found something that I should probably have a look at. Slipping out of the hornet I was currently in and transferring over to one of the hornets down stairs before coming face to face with what they had found. Floating around, suspended by some sort of force field was a disgustingly large bulbous black clump of flesh with faint blue marks and bulbs dotting around its body. Why in the seven hells does this place have a rot specimen? Sigh, I guess this explains where all the power which the still functioning generators is being pumped into. At least it hadn’t gotten out of its containment, that would make this ten times wors- … waaait a minute.
Looking down to the ground where the black tendrils snaked across the floor leading to two other containment units which were worryingly not activated and had two, thankfully smaller, iterations of the rot simply laying there, as if hibernating. Shit! Alright maybe if we back up slowly they won’t notice our presence. It was then the two rot clumps and their many tendrils began pulsating before marks and bulbs on their body began to glow a faint blue and some began to move. Alright, change of plans. Everyone RUN! My drones were quick to obey as they powered on their wings and bolted for the stairwell as the tendrils began writhing as if searching for my drones. One even lurched out and grabbed one of my hornets as they attempted to escape the building, dragging the poor drone to the ground and more tendrils moved in to help keep down my struggling troops who fought valiantly which thankfully diverted tendrils which were dangerously close to my other drones to quickly flew up the stairs and out of the building.
A few tendrils attempted to stop our escape however my hornets quickly fired their launchers and pinned those to the walls of the building and my harvester sub drones proved to be rather effective as they cut right through the rot tendrils that got close. Taking to the skies as quickly as they could, I could see that the rest of my drones seemed to have managed to get out unmolested by the rot tendrils which were definitely not as numerous as the ones underground and they were now covering the rest of my drones retreat as they fired their launchers and cut down any tendrils which got close. Linking up with the rest of my drones, my various hornets quickly turned their own spike launchers to bare against the tendrils, managing to land a few shots before I ordered them to fall back as one of the rot tendrils lashed out and nearly swatted another one of my hornets out of the sky which I decided was too close for comfort.
Turning around as we flew back to the mines and the rest of my drones, I watched as the far side of the cavern where the facility was began to pulse blue as the rot emerged from its slumber and began moving through the fungus forest. I have no idea how the rot works but given that they’re fleshy, I suspect that letting them feast off of the mushrooms is probably going to bite me in the ass later. Slipping out of the hornets as the flew back to the outpost, I began scrambling to assemble as many fire beetles as I could from all of my territories as they had been proven to be one of my best anti-rot drones meaning they would be instrumental in fending off those things from escaping the cavern. As it would turn out, I was rather lacking in the fire beetle department as I could only assemble about a dozen of them which means that I would have to wait a bit before I could start deploying them en masse.
Deciding to make the process as quick as possible, I began ordering for the construction of fire beetles from every available small drone works in my territory but it would still take a while for them to all fabricate and be transported over here, especially from places like the warehouse outpost and the newer outposts near the front lines. While I waited, I continued to watch as the rot began infesting the cavern with reckless abandon and from where my crab was standing, I could see as one after another the large fungus trees toppled over to be consumed by the rot. As the fungal forest was being consumed by the now fully awakened rot, I began wondering whether or not they would be able to use their newly acquired food supplies to create more of the damned tendrils or even more rot clusters. At least there’s only two, maybe three, of them down there. Hopefully my fire beetles will be able to burn the forest down before the rot gets a chance to eat all of it.
Speaking of which, my drones, a few of the suicidal drones had arrived from the factory and were already making their way down the mine shaft over to my position. Once they arrived, I gestured to a few of my hornets who quickly picked up the four fire beetles before flying down to the base of the cavern before placing the fire beetles amidst the fungal forest which they promptly began burning down to the ground. Hopefully they would be able to burn down at least half of the mushroom tree before the rot could eat it or to my beetles for that matter. Watching as the cavern began to glow a bright reddish orange, I decided to check up on the rest of my territory as I waited for more of my beetles to finish being fabricated and transported over to the mining outpost. Deciding to check on my forces in Ping’s territory first, I drifted over to the outpost that my forces had helped Ping take back which was now returning to what I was guessing was its full capacity.
Checking up on my drones which I had managed to rescue from enemy territory, I found that most had been repaired back to functionality and were now going about their duties which mostly revolved around helping out Pings drones with the various patrols or, if my spiders deemed them unfit, working to assist with the movement of supplies around the outpost along with some light salvaging. A fair amount of my veteran drones had been sent back to whatever force I had taken the form, mostly the force at Churn’s front line with the occasional drone working in pseudo retirement which garrison or mine work afforded them. After all, they were likely needed more at Churn's front line where active fighting was still occurring on a regular basis rather than in Ping’s territory where the corrupted AI was being pushed back as Ping got their feet under themselves as they began pumping out drones and defenses.
Checking up on the outpost which Churn had lent me, I found that the enemy force had begun moving back into the now destroyed production hub however not in any significant numbers as the outpost was likely deemed to be not worth the effort of putting a large garrison there. The forces present were likely only there to inform them if I was making moves to attack more of their territory so that they could make the proper adjustments. Thankfully this newly established enemy garrison could not stop my stealth hounds as they occasionally sent back a member or two of their number to inform me of what was going on in enemy territory. In Coopers stead, one of the next most senior drone which happened to be an ant had been receiving the most recent of reports from the stealth hounds which mostly consisted with random enemy movements and caravans which did not really affect me given that I was not willing to start sending out my force to being taking the fight to the next enemy stronghold, at least not while my forces in Ping were still criminally understaffed and my resource stocks were at a minimum.
Perhaps once things stabilize and more resources become available I will begin tasking my force with attacking however until then I was content to sit around on the defense. The thought of constructing more stealth hounds until I could start having them raid caravans briefly flittered across my mind but I quickly cut that off and stored it in my head for later use once the whole situation with the rot back in the mines is resolved. Speaking of which, as I finished reading through reports and stamping away thoughts of pressing the attack while my supply lines were strained, I received the message stating that the first batch of fire beetles were now finished construction and were beginning to be collected by the subway system and would soon be delivered to the mining outpost. Good, the longer I wait, the more dangerous those things will probably become. Hopefully my beetles will be able to handle whatever they encounter down there.
Floating back over to the mining outpost and down to the cavern entrance, I could see that the initial four fire beetles had done a good job at burning down what they could as I was able to easily see that well over half of the forest had been light ablaze as the fungal trees caught fire and whatever moisture the mushrooms had were quickly evaporated. Regardless, the rot still continued to feast upon the biomass that they could get their tendrils on and from where I was watching I could easily see that nearly a quarter of the fungal forest had been completely taken over and infested with rot puss as the area where the rot had infected began glowing blue as their residue began to take place and fester. Hopefully the fires will also be able to burn some of the rot along with the mushroom trees before the rest of my beetles arrive and with some luck take down whatever is left. But for now I watched the flames as they spread and burned down everything in its path.
Next
Sorry it’s late, I had to GM a bit of DnD which took priority over finishing up and posting this.
2024.05.16 05:17 Cooperman411 Writer Deck Wine Box Build: SBC, Keyboard, and Cooling Questions
 | I'm transforming a wooden wine box into a writer deck, and I need some input. submitted by Cooperman411 to writerDeck [link] [comments] I don't love the fittings or the color but I think I can fix that with a little stain and creativity. https://preview.redd.it/gh2n5zihcp0d1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5af2c7ab839b49d404d9cd1bc235e479766f83f The interior is just under 13"/237mm long by 3"/75m wide. The top and bottom are both 1.75"/45mm deep. Current Plan:
Questions:
|
2024.05.16 05:11 Flashy_Fisherman2597 What were they thinking when they decided to give egg moves to trainers?
I am stuck on the first elite four member because she has shit that starts throwing out shit like Astral Barrage out of nowhere. Her Drifblim has Oblivion Wing and one shots so much stuff on my team and then heals itself back to full. How the hell am I supposed to deal with this? I have a normal type but it isn't hitting hard enough to OHKO her team. I'm so cooked
Edit: I also want to add that not being able to immediately teach new captures moves with TMs or the mushroom is absolute garbage. I understand you can't have everything, but I have gone 100 floors without a single useful TM and all of my Pokémon I caught later on have already capped out on useful moves they can get from the mushrooms. I'm dying for something better than Psybeam or Water Pulse for coverage on my sweepers!
submitted by Flashy_Fisherman2597 to pokerogue [link] [comments]
Edit: I also want to add that not being able to immediately teach new captures moves with TMs or the mushroom is absolute garbage. I understand you can't have everything, but I have gone 100 floors without a single useful TM and all of my Pokémon I caught later on have already capped out on useful moves they can get from the mushrooms. I'm dying for something better than Psybeam or Water Pulse for coverage on my sweepers!
2024.05.16 05:02 Silent-Detail4419 If you knew your adult child was being abused, you'd help them - wouldn't you...? Especially when you know that child is a DV survivor with PTSD
 | If you answered "yes" you're better than my parents. I don't know where to go for help anymore. Yesterday was my birthday and, no, I'm hardly in the first flush of youth anymore, but I'm not quite middle aged either. But why should my age matter when I am a human being, I am suffering and I need help...? submitted by Silent-Detail4419 to MentalHealthUK [link] [comments] Please forgive me if this is muddled, I'm so weak from malnutrition now I can't think straight. I have sent my parents - more accurately, my mother - several emails documenting the abuse I'm being subjected to in a 'supported' flat in Bristol. She hasn't responded to a single one. I don't know why I was put here, I was never assessed under ether the Care Act nor the MCA. Most of the abuse is food-related; I have been informed that I am NOT ALLOWED to buy my own food, the only food I have is what staff deign to give me; I'm given one or two (rarely three) 'meals' a day, usually consisting of cheap deli meat dumped on a 20cm (~8") side plate, like this: Standard plate size This is what I was given for 'dinner' yesterday evening: 'Dinner' 15/05/2024 That was all I was given yesterday. That's pretty much the standard - open a packet, dump it on a plate. Sometimes they take what they'd put on a small plate and put it on a standard dinner plate spread out, to make it look more (they must think I'm fucking stupid). Sometimes I get cooked stuff, but it usually ends up in the bin because they can't cook; steak, bacon and mince are cremated, pork, chips and chicken almost raw. I have photos of every single 'meal' I've been given in an album on my iPad. I'm so malnourished now that eating often causes me severe abdominal pain. I've been here since November last year and I am now suffering from severe malnutrition. I am now so malnourished I am struggling to breathe. I am now so malnourished I have chest pain I am now so malnourished I have abdominal pain (my abdomen is severely swollen and bloated) I am now so malnourished I have global neuropathy and parasthesia I am now so malnourished I am incontinent I am now so malnourished I have poor bowel motility I am now so malnourished I have severe vertigo (I have this constant feeling I’m going to just literally drop dead) I am now so malnourished I am losing my sight I am now so malnourished I struggle to speak I am now so malnourished I struggle to stand I am now so malnourished I struggle to remain awake I am now so malnourished I have severe muscle weakness and pain I am now so malnourished I am struggling with thermoregulation I am now so malnourished I have severe brain fog I am now so malnourished I am losing my hair, toe-and-fingernails I am now so malnourished I am underweight (I don't know this for certain, of course, but a size 4 is now MASSIVE) It also appears to have increased the severity of my tinnitus and hyperacusis (pathological hypersensitivity to noise). They constantly creep around outside the flat front door and the creaking of the floorboards does my head it; it's almost 24/7, they don't stop at night - I constantly think someone's going to barge in. Even on the nights when they’re not keeping me awake I’m too terrified to sleep in case I don’t wake up again. They claim they “care” about me, but the Care Act only seems to apply when it suits them - it certainly doesn’t apply when it comes to food. How can you give anyone ‘meals’ like these in good conscience…?! How is this anything other than nutritional neglect…?! Due to the Mental Capacity Act, I have no voice, nobody has to listen to me, and nobody is taking this seriously (adult safeguarding in both Bucks and Bristol refuse to believe that I’m being abused and neglected). My advocate won’t treat this as a life-threatening emergency situation and she’s “taking legal advice” (not heard from her for weeks). I spent a very long time compiling a report in Pages which I converted to a PDF and sent to her, she doesn’t even appear to have read it. There's a 100dB alarm attached to the flat front door: The door alarm and its sensor I have removed several of these (they're cheap Chinese tat, you can get a pack of 10 for around £12-£14). I don’t feel safe, there is ZERO respect for my human rights; there’s a lock on the flat door but, if I lock it, they just break in. If I tell them I don’t like them doing something (like creeping around outside the flat because the creaking of the floorboards doesn’t make me feel safe because I constantly think someone’s about to barge in - or to not give me chips (because they’re always undercooked; or mince, bacon and steak (because it’s always cremated)) they just ignore me, there’s no respect for my needs, wishes or feelings AT ALL! I have been severely assaulted by staff many times; they will barge into the bedroom (often at least 4 or more) and if I attempt to stop them (they start searching the room, I have no idea what they’re looking for). The other evening, around 20:00, 6 staff burst into the bedroom in full ‘riot gear’ (face masks, face shields, aprons and gloves), as you’d imagine I was TERRIFIED (I’d got my headphones on, so I didn’t hear them enter the flat). Two of them grabbed me; I went into ‘auto-defence mode’ and tried to get them off me. I was pushed against the wall so violently I bashed my head; one of them grabbed my hair and squashed my face into the wall, with his full weight on the small of my back so I couldn’t breathe. The other twisted my arms behind my back, while the other four searched the room, like police on a drugs bust. I have no idea what they were looking for. When the other four had left, the two who were holding me threw me with full force onto the floor and I whacked my head against the bedside table. This isn’t the first time I’ve been assaulted by staff, either (nor the second or the third…); I have been dragged into the living room and held on the floor, prone, with one or two of them sitting on my back so I’m unable lift my head. “We don’t like having to do this, but you bring it on yourself; if you did exactly as you are being told, then we’d have no reason to hurt you…” Everything is arranged to protect staff from me - there’s NOTHING to protect ME from staff. What threat am I…?! I’m severely malnourished and severely underweight. They KNOW I have PTSD (because I have told them many times) - if someone suddenly bursts into what’s supposed to be your home - what’s your reaction going to be…? Especially if you’re living with severe trauma. Basically, they seem to think they can get away with the abuse because they can just claim they were “acting in self-defence” (which is laughable because I am severely weak and about 7 stone (44kg)). I now feel old - older than I actually am - and I don’t think that I’m EVER going to have any semblance of a meaningful existence, I may as well be dead. I’m mainlining Kratom (in a vain attempt to deal with the pain (both physical and mental). They have taken my phone, and damaged my iPad and MacBook Pro. I don’t have any access to medical care because I have been informed by staff that I wouldn’t be allowed to see a GP or paramedic in private. Staff gaslight me constantly and, due to the MCA, I’m essentially gagged, NOBODY is listening to me. There’s been ZERO consideration given to my physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing, there’s ZERO empathy, everything is out of my control and I have been put in a situation where I am being so severely abused that I fear for my life. I honestly think that nobody will believe how grave this situation is until I’m brought out of here in a body bag. At no point was I ever assessed; at no point was I ever asked what help and support I thought I needed (NONE). All this has happened on assumption, on what is known in social psychology as fundamental attribution error (FAE). Fundamental attribution error is a cognitive bias where observers underemphasise situational and environmental factors for someone’s behaviour while overemphasising dispositional or personality factors. I have ended up in a - very literally - life-threatening situation, because the assumptions have been made that I CANNOT look after myself because I don’t know how to, rather than I can’t because I am suffering from severe trauma. I need very, VERY, urgent help. Where can I go…? Is there anyone here who can help me access help, because I don't think I'm being listened to due to the MCA/DoLS. I’ve basically been locked away, stripped of my human rights, abandoned and left to die… (This has been cobbled together from stuff I'd already had written in Notes, so I apologise if it doesn't make sense, but my brain isn't working). Is there anyone here with any knowledge and/or experience of this kind of situation..? Neither my social worker, nor my solicitor will listen to me, they'll only take instruction from the Court of Protection (the ironically named CoP, I don't feel protected, quite the opposite). I don't mind DMs, but PLEASE only DM if you can offer me some kind of help/support (or know where I can go). This is basically nothing more than legal, state-sanctioned domestic abuse. Finally, if there's a bettemore appropriate sub than here, I can post to, let me know that too... Thank you SJ |
2024.05.16 04:48 NoahLostTheBoat All of Malenia Is Fair. (almost)
I am here, to state my case of reason, to the court of Reddit opinion in defense of the accused, Malenia. As an avid fan of the Fromsoft series of games, having gotten the platinum achievements for Dark Souls 1, Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring I have beaten Elden Ring an approximate of 24 times, with half of those having slain Malenia. With my experience I can confidently say that Malenia's fight is a fair battle between her and the Tarnished. All of her basic slashes can be consistently dodged or parried, while having a few special attacks, which I will go over now. Her kick can be rolled out of easily, with distinct enough follow-ups that causes it to be more of an opening than an attack. Her sword thrust has a very telegraphed and accurately timed animation, making it easy to dodge and punish. Her grab is also very telegraphed, with a massive lean back to tell you that a grab is close to being used. But that is not what is the move at hand, is it? The waterfowl is a perfect push of what the game had been teaching so far; that you must persevere and learn attack patterns. Once you have seen the attack enough times, the player should learn how the attack chain works and formulate a plan for evasion. She telegraphs for long enough to have the Tarnished register they should begin running, then the player can easily dodge into the second flurry after learning that some attacks should be dodged into. After those basic inputs, Malenia will miss without further input from the player.
But, however, I do not believe that Malenia is a perfect boss. For clarification, I will now give a statement in support of the prosecution. Malenia's self healing causes her fight to be too punishing for the average player. In a game where a single attack could kill you, no further punishment is needed. Her healing is able to punish doubly as hard as all other bosses, because minutes of progress can be lost in mere seconds. This is especially intense, because some of the astuter may fight Malenia before Farum Azula, and possibly before Fire Giant.
As a closing statement, I shall repeat all I have said. Malenia's moves are heavily telegraphed and punishable, and waterfowl is a test of reasoning and temper. Her healing is still a weak point of the fight, which should have been reduced or removed entirely.
P.S. Before I get replies stating that of course I would believe the fight is fair, and that I am a Fromsoft veteran. I will say that I started with Elden Ring, and hadn't played any of the other Soulsborne Fromsoft titles until having platinum'd Elden Ring. As well I would like to state that this post was not written in the format of a trial statement to appear pretentious and arrogant. It was written in this style to create a more whimsical feeling to a post that would otherwise be seen as combative and aggressive.
submitted by NoahLostTheBoat to Eldenring [link] [comments]
But, however, I do not believe that Malenia is a perfect boss. For clarification, I will now give a statement in support of the prosecution. Malenia's self healing causes her fight to be too punishing for the average player. In a game where a single attack could kill you, no further punishment is needed. Her healing is able to punish doubly as hard as all other bosses, because minutes of progress can be lost in mere seconds. This is especially intense, because some of the astuter may fight Malenia before Farum Azula, and possibly before Fire Giant.
As a closing statement, I shall repeat all I have said. Malenia's moves are heavily telegraphed and punishable, and waterfowl is a test of reasoning and temper. Her healing is still a weak point of the fight, which should have been reduced or removed entirely.
P.S. Before I get replies stating that of course I would believe the fight is fair, and that I am a Fromsoft veteran. I will say that I started with Elden Ring, and hadn't played any of the other Soulsborne Fromsoft titles until having platinum'd Elden Ring. As well I would like to state that this post was not written in the format of a trial statement to appear pretentious and arrogant. It was written in this style to create a more whimsical feeling to a post that would otherwise be seen as combative and aggressive.
2024.05.16 04:09 KrampusTellsTheTruth Dark side of the moon (Book announcement rewrite)
I held the package close, its precious contents pressed against my spine. The steady beeps that communicated life drove my exhausted legs forward. Even with the combat stimulants running rampant through my blood, my nervous system bringing fibrous polymer muscles to their brink, and a set of assisting servos practically tripling my stride speed, I was exhausted. The sun and its rays bared down on me like a predatory dragon, each ray a fang made of flame, ready to tear open my suit and scorch my skin…but not today.
“Not today!”
I picked my stride up and sent every muscle in my body past overdrive, I tore stone and sand as I sprinted farther forward and collapsed. I had finally made it to one of the only rations of shade on the desolate moon surface. As I hit the ground and retreated into the shade, I removed the pack from my shoulders and gently laid the box down. I opened the zipper that held the sunshade on and looked at the pale figure inside.
“Hello my love, I hope you’re resting well, we finally made it, now just time to wait…and you'll be better again”
I took my helmet off and took a deep breath before beginning to set up camp. I thought back to the mission room, where I was nearly denied entry to Io
“You understand the journey you’re undertaking has never been completed before? This is a mission that as of this moment has a 100% rate of failure. Do you not think it would be wiser to simply say your goodbyes and prepare for a life without her?”
I shook my head as the council stared at me with tired expressions and pained eyes
“I am three times decorated am I not?”
The head minister nodded and shuffled her papers, reading slowly from the top page
“Argon Lethius, 12 tours, 7 rotations, 153 confirmed neutralizations, 3000 pending, strength record unmatched, augmentations class S granted. You’re also the sole surviving candidate of the sky petal program”
The sky petal program, an experimental research project I had taken part in to pay for my wedding. The core concept was simple: graft photovoltaic cells onto our skin and use nanotechnology to create a bio-mechanical ecosystem within the dermis.
The result was going to be humans capable of photosynthesis, making us less susceptible to nutrition based disaster. Rejection however was high in the program and when your body is trying to fight its skin, things get ugly quickly. A dormant gene I had passed on from my mother allowed my body to accept the prosthesis but at great cost, I was now essentially allergic to solar radiation. When I'm planetside I'm just fine, but if I was in an area devoid of atmosphere, the nanotech would go overkill, usually producing energy akin to solar flares from my skin.
“Mr. Lethius, your feats and skills are unmatched, your circumstances are impossible to reproduce and the dedication you’ve shown to this coalition has been unwavering. Which is why we sympathize with your loss, and grieve with you. Crystal was-”
I snapped at her
“Is…she’s still alive”
The minister nodded and corrected herself
“I'm sorry, Crystal is an incredible addition to this council, and we are deeply sorry both internally and externally. But the dragons of Io have no official record, and the sunlight alone could overcharge you in a day, leaving not only our best military asset but also his sick wife stranded without hope of rescue”
I nodded and spoke solemnly
“3 days supply, and a ship to drop me off, if I don't respond in 4 days, come get my body and bury her where we fall. She loves it there. Even if I can't save her, I want her to rest somewhere she would be happy”
I snapped back to the present and finished setting up camp. Unpacking our supplies and connecting a set of solar panels to her cryo-chamber. I watched her take deep breaths through the ventilator as I threw a tarp overhead and began digging into the rockface.
“You’ll be ok my love, by this time tomorrow you’ll be your old self again”
I dug for hours, tearing holes in my suit and flaying the skin from my fingers. As my blood hit the white dirt and stained the cracked surface, I felt a degree of nausea rise up from my stomach. Saliva filled my dry mouth and I bit down on my tongue to prevent the vomit. Bile reached the back of my throat and I dug my fingers into the dirt, searching for the Will to resist my body’s urges. The sun couldn’t take me, my mind couldn’t shake me, I would not buckle before saving her. Before long I couldn't go on, and I needed to rest.
I swallowed hard and sat back, laying down and looking up at the harsh sky.
“Hindsight is 20/20, we can keep trying new things but sometimes this is just how things work out, I’m sorry”
I nodded as the doctor left the room and she sat motionless in her gown.
“That guy didn’t know what he was talking about, there’s so many treatments, we’ll just go to another doctor”
She brushed a strand of hair out of her face and looked up at me
“I’m tired of my love, can we go home?”
I nodded without speaking and embraced her, feeling her slow and weakened heartbeat against my chest, its rhythm in sync with my own.
“Sure, We’ll go home”
That was the last time I saw her awake, she fell asleep on the car ride home…and never woke up. I was able to bring her to the hospital where they revived her, but she was comatose, most likely asleep till the cancer kills her.
“I’m sorry my love”
I looked over at her chamber before bringing my hand up to my face and staring at the mangled flesh of my palms.
“A drop of blood for a question, a thousand heartbeats for an answer”
I heard the voice in my head as if it was a thought I had formulated all on my own, but the voice was different, it didn’t belong to me nor anyone I had ever heard before.
“A single tear for a favor, an entire ocean for its completion”
I crawled to the spot where my blood had dripped into the ground, the sand was stained red but almost completely dry. I leaned over it and thought about my honeymoon, I thought about vacations and work, time together and apart, moments where she was everything. I thought about the idea of my life without her, and then it came like a flood. Tears flowed freely from my eyes and drenched the ground, the first falling square on the red stain in the sand. The liquid pooled on top and a small ribbon of crimson fluid flowed upward into the tear drop. The ribbon danced and waved in a thin line through the microscopic ocean.
“What is your question?”
The voice came from above me now, and as I slowly looked upward, a loomed overhead, blocking the sun from view, and causing my heart to skip a beat.
“What…is your question”
Before me now stood a massive beast, speaking in the voice I had heard in my mind and digging his gargantuan claws into the sand. The tip of each toe ended in a blade that was crystalline and almost translucent. Each blade too had a glowing orange stripe that when shifted, turned the sand underneath him to panes of glass. His arms were broad and powerful, covered in green scales and his maw hung open with a light blue mist emanating from his teeth. He was the dragon, the one from Io who space gods told legends about.
“I…I want to know something about my wife”
He knelt down on his two front arms and brought his eyes to my level, a kindness flowing between his seemingly infinite pupils.
“Your wife. She is a story I myself cannot seem to get over. What do you wish to know?”
I looked up at him and let out a deep breath before gesturing to her
“Can- can she be saved”
His gaze snapped to her case and he slowly moved over to where she slept
“You brought her with you, of course you did, you could never leave her behind.
I crawled over and knelt next to him, tears still flowing from my eyes.
“Please tell me, can she make it?”
He turned around and knelt next to me, putting a massive hand gently on my shoulder and speaking softly.
“My boy, She’s already made it, just not in the direction…you were hoping”
He tapped the monitor screen and it stopped showing vitals, instead displaying a digital sign in dark red letters. I read them aloud to myself.
“Subject deceased, time since last recorded activity. 37 hours 22 minutes 48-49 seconds”
He nodded and spoke calmly
“You wanted to badly for her to live, you saw her living, even when she wasn’t”
I slammed my hand on the crate and opened the lid, picking her up in my arms and putting my ear to her chest.
“Come on, come on. You’re ok, you’re ok”
I clutched her in my arms as silence arrived to my ears. I rocked her and cried into her soft silken hair. Her pale skin had lost its glimmer and I pressed my forehead against her own. I spoke through tears and a tightened throat
‘No, she cant die, I found you! I finally found you! Come on sweetheart you’re ok right? Just wake up. He's here baby we made it, please just wake up, please”
The dragon loomed over head and let out a deep breath, speaking gently, so as not to disturb the silence
“She is gone, and even I cannot save her”
I felt my skin begin flaming as I turned my head back up toward him
“Then what can you do? What can you do if you can’t bring her back to me? Why are you a legend if you cant make her breath again?!?”
He whispered softly into her ears and I felt the wind of the world around me change
“Because I can send you to her”
The planet fell silent and she disappeared along with the dragon. The camp was gone, my hand had been healed, my suit was gone and instead I wore a thin white shirt and loose cotton shorts. I was comfortable, and as I stood to my feet I felt as if my thirst had been quenched, my hunger satiated, I was…ok.
“Hello?”
I called to the emptiness, and before long a soft sullen voice spoke back.
“Hello darling”
She took my face in her hands and turned me around, holding my cheek as my whole body shook
“Hi beautiful”
I brought my hand up to her own and felt her soft warm skin against mine, I pressed my head into her hand and leapt forward, bringing her close and up into the air as I spun her around. She laughed as I gently set her down and wrapped my arms around her.
“I’m sorry you can’t stay”
I looked at her and spoke quickly
“What do you mean I can’t stay? The dragon sent me to you, he sent me to see you, so we can be together again”
She shook her head and kissed my softly, as she pulled away she put her hand on my chest
“It’s not your time hero, I’ll see you eventually, but this is goodbye for now”
I woke up on the sand, the dragon standing over me, holding her body as she began to slowly turn to dust. His tears fell on her degrading body as he handed her to me, and lowered his head.
“I'm sorry, it’s never permanent, did she tell you goodbye?”
I took a deep breath and held her in my arms before walking a few paces forward, and laying her down on the sand. I spoke calmly as tears streamed down my face.
“Yea…she did”
He nodded
“That is more than most get, was she smiling?’
I wiped my eyes and laughed
“Yea…she was”
He fluffed his wings and let the world around us grow heavy with winds
“Then your mission is complete”
I continued to cry as I looked back at him and spoke in a wavering tone
“Did you know I was a general?”
He strolled over and sat next to me, watching her particles flow away with the storm
“You were the most powerful general of all time, incapacitating but never killing, for a man with your rank one must usually commit vast atrocities but you…you never took one life”
I nodded and watched the wind whip and carry sand alongside her body
“I didn’t want to take life, I was reprimanded over and over but I always knew there was a better way, she wanted me to try, to make it so at every opportunity we could fight without ending lives…she hated senseless death…and I think I see why now”
He spoke calmly, wiping his eyes as the last of her bones turned to crystalline dust in the wind
“Her death was not senseless, in fact you'll find that when something as beautiful as her dies, it becomes impossible to make sense of it. That does not mean it happened without sense, and it does not mean her death must be for nothing. When men first meet me, they offer a drop of blood, and that is all I require for the question, but to gain my favor, they must give up a piece of themselves”
I sighed and looked up at him
“What do you need from me then?”
He gestured to where her body had sat moments ago
“You just let the biggest piece of yourself go without a fight. You have paid for more than enough trips to see her”
I nodded and spoke without waiver
“I'm not supposed to keep visiting her though, am I? She won’t be happy till we see eachother again permanently, and if I show up prematurely…she would probably be pissed. So ,I guess now I just live?”
He laid down in the sand and let out a deep groan
“I don’t think I’ve lived in quite some time, I’ve been stranded here for so long, evading capture to exist within my freedom, too afraid to face the cosmos again”
I patted his side and gripped what was essentially his ankle
“You shouldn’t be afraid, fear doesn’t do anything for men like us. Maybe we should sit a while, and see if your fear doesn’t go away”
He let out a deep breath and closed his eyes, laying down as I watched the sun rise over the horizon. My heartbeat continued, but as I watched the last of her ashes swirl through the air, I found a modicum of peace, and I thought about her.
submitted by KrampusTellsTheTruth to Wholesomenosleep [link] [comments]
“Not today!”
I picked my stride up and sent every muscle in my body past overdrive, I tore stone and sand as I sprinted farther forward and collapsed. I had finally made it to one of the only rations of shade on the desolate moon surface. As I hit the ground and retreated into the shade, I removed the pack from my shoulders and gently laid the box down. I opened the zipper that held the sunshade on and looked at the pale figure inside.
“Hello my love, I hope you’re resting well, we finally made it, now just time to wait…and you'll be better again”
I took my helmet off and took a deep breath before beginning to set up camp. I thought back to the mission room, where I was nearly denied entry to Io
“You understand the journey you’re undertaking has never been completed before? This is a mission that as of this moment has a 100% rate of failure. Do you not think it would be wiser to simply say your goodbyes and prepare for a life without her?”
I shook my head as the council stared at me with tired expressions and pained eyes
“I am three times decorated am I not?”
The head minister nodded and shuffled her papers, reading slowly from the top page
“Argon Lethius, 12 tours, 7 rotations, 153 confirmed neutralizations, 3000 pending, strength record unmatched, augmentations class S granted. You’re also the sole surviving candidate of the sky petal program”
The sky petal program, an experimental research project I had taken part in to pay for my wedding. The core concept was simple: graft photovoltaic cells onto our skin and use nanotechnology to create a bio-mechanical ecosystem within the dermis.
The result was going to be humans capable of photosynthesis, making us less susceptible to nutrition based disaster. Rejection however was high in the program and when your body is trying to fight its skin, things get ugly quickly. A dormant gene I had passed on from my mother allowed my body to accept the prosthesis but at great cost, I was now essentially allergic to solar radiation. When I'm planetside I'm just fine, but if I was in an area devoid of atmosphere, the nanotech would go overkill, usually producing energy akin to solar flares from my skin.
“Mr. Lethius, your feats and skills are unmatched, your circumstances are impossible to reproduce and the dedication you’ve shown to this coalition has been unwavering. Which is why we sympathize with your loss, and grieve with you. Crystal was-”
I snapped at her
“Is…she’s still alive”
The minister nodded and corrected herself
“I'm sorry, Crystal is an incredible addition to this council, and we are deeply sorry both internally and externally. But the dragons of Io have no official record, and the sunlight alone could overcharge you in a day, leaving not only our best military asset but also his sick wife stranded without hope of rescue”
I nodded and spoke solemnly
“3 days supply, and a ship to drop me off, if I don't respond in 4 days, come get my body and bury her where we fall. She loves it there. Even if I can't save her, I want her to rest somewhere she would be happy”
I snapped back to the present and finished setting up camp. Unpacking our supplies and connecting a set of solar panels to her cryo-chamber. I watched her take deep breaths through the ventilator as I threw a tarp overhead and began digging into the rockface.
“You’ll be ok my love, by this time tomorrow you’ll be your old self again”
I dug for hours, tearing holes in my suit and flaying the skin from my fingers. As my blood hit the white dirt and stained the cracked surface, I felt a degree of nausea rise up from my stomach. Saliva filled my dry mouth and I bit down on my tongue to prevent the vomit. Bile reached the back of my throat and I dug my fingers into the dirt, searching for the Will to resist my body’s urges. The sun couldn’t take me, my mind couldn’t shake me, I would not buckle before saving her. Before long I couldn't go on, and I needed to rest.
I swallowed hard and sat back, laying down and looking up at the harsh sky.
“Hindsight is 20/20, we can keep trying new things but sometimes this is just how things work out, I’m sorry”
I nodded as the doctor left the room and she sat motionless in her gown.
“That guy didn’t know what he was talking about, there’s so many treatments, we’ll just go to another doctor”
She brushed a strand of hair out of her face and looked up at me
“I’m tired of my love, can we go home?”
I nodded without speaking and embraced her, feeling her slow and weakened heartbeat against my chest, its rhythm in sync with my own.
“Sure, We’ll go home”
That was the last time I saw her awake, she fell asleep on the car ride home…and never woke up. I was able to bring her to the hospital where they revived her, but she was comatose, most likely asleep till the cancer kills her.
“I’m sorry my love”
I looked over at her chamber before bringing my hand up to my face and staring at the mangled flesh of my palms.
“A drop of blood for a question, a thousand heartbeats for an answer”
I heard the voice in my head as if it was a thought I had formulated all on my own, but the voice was different, it didn’t belong to me nor anyone I had ever heard before.
“A single tear for a favor, an entire ocean for its completion”
I crawled to the spot where my blood had dripped into the ground, the sand was stained red but almost completely dry. I leaned over it and thought about my honeymoon, I thought about vacations and work, time together and apart, moments where she was everything. I thought about the idea of my life without her, and then it came like a flood. Tears flowed freely from my eyes and drenched the ground, the first falling square on the red stain in the sand. The liquid pooled on top and a small ribbon of crimson fluid flowed upward into the tear drop. The ribbon danced and waved in a thin line through the microscopic ocean.
“What is your question?”
The voice came from above me now, and as I slowly looked upward, a loomed overhead, blocking the sun from view, and causing my heart to skip a beat.
“What…is your question”
Before me now stood a massive beast, speaking in the voice I had heard in my mind and digging his gargantuan claws into the sand. The tip of each toe ended in a blade that was crystalline and almost translucent. Each blade too had a glowing orange stripe that when shifted, turned the sand underneath him to panes of glass. His arms were broad and powerful, covered in green scales and his maw hung open with a light blue mist emanating from his teeth. He was the dragon, the one from Io who space gods told legends about.
“I…I want to know something about my wife”
He knelt down on his two front arms and brought his eyes to my level, a kindness flowing between his seemingly infinite pupils.
“Your wife. She is a story I myself cannot seem to get over. What do you wish to know?”
I looked up at him and let out a deep breath before gesturing to her
“Can- can she be saved”
His gaze snapped to her case and he slowly moved over to where she slept
“You brought her with you, of course you did, you could never leave her behind.
I crawled over and knelt next to him, tears still flowing from my eyes.
“Please tell me, can she make it?”
He turned around and knelt next to me, putting a massive hand gently on my shoulder and speaking softly.
“My boy, She’s already made it, just not in the direction…you were hoping”
He tapped the monitor screen and it stopped showing vitals, instead displaying a digital sign in dark red letters. I read them aloud to myself.
“Subject deceased, time since last recorded activity. 37 hours 22 minutes 48-49 seconds”
He nodded and spoke calmly
“You wanted to badly for her to live, you saw her living, even when she wasn’t”
I slammed my hand on the crate and opened the lid, picking her up in my arms and putting my ear to her chest.
“Come on, come on. You’re ok, you’re ok”
I clutched her in my arms as silence arrived to my ears. I rocked her and cried into her soft silken hair. Her pale skin had lost its glimmer and I pressed my forehead against her own. I spoke through tears and a tightened throat
‘No, she cant die, I found you! I finally found you! Come on sweetheart you’re ok right? Just wake up. He's here baby we made it, please just wake up, please”
The dragon loomed over head and let out a deep breath, speaking gently, so as not to disturb the silence
“She is gone, and even I cannot save her”
I felt my skin begin flaming as I turned my head back up toward him
“Then what can you do? What can you do if you can’t bring her back to me? Why are you a legend if you cant make her breath again?!?”
He whispered softly into her ears and I felt the wind of the world around me change
“Because I can send you to her”
The planet fell silent and she disappeared along with the dragon. The camp was gone, my hand had been healed, my suit was gone and instead I wore a thin white shirt and loose cotton shorts. I was comfortable, and as I stood to my feet I felt as if my thirst had been quenched, my hunger satiated, I was…ok.
“Hello?”
I called to the emptiness, and before long a soft sullen voice spoke back.
“Hello darling”
She took my face in her hands and turned me around, holding my cheek as my whole body shook
“Hi beautiful”
I brought my hand up to her own and felt her soft warm skin against mine, I pressed my head into her hand and leapt forward, bringing her close and up into the air as I spun her around. She laughed as I gently set her down and wrapped my arms around her.
“I’m sorry you can’t stay”
I looked at her and spoke quickly
“What do you mean I can’t stay? The dragon sent me to you, he sent me to see you, so we can be together again”
She shook her head and kissed my softly, as she pulled away she put her hand on my chest
“It’s not your time hero, I’ll see you eventually, but this is goodbye for now”
I woke up on the sand, the dragon standing over me, holding her body as she began to slowly turn to dust. His tears fell on her degrading body as he handed her to me, and lowered his head.
“I'm sorry, it’s never permanent, did she tell you goodbye?”
I took a deep breath and held her in my arms before walking a few paces forward, and laying her down on the sand. I spoke calmly as tears streamed down my face.
“Yea…she did”
He nodded
“That is more than most get, was she smiling?’
I wiped my eyes and laughed
“Yea…she was”
He fluffed his wings and let the world around us grow heavy with winds
“Then your mission is complete”
I continued to cry as I looked back at him and spoke in a wavering tone
“Did you know I was a general?”
He strolled over and sat next to me, watching her particles flow away with the storm
“You were the most powerful general of all time, incapacitating but never killing, for a man with your rank one must usually commit vast atrocities but you…you never took one life”
I nodded and watched the wind whip and carry sand alongside her body
“I didn’t want to take life, I was reprimanded over and over but I always knew there was a better way, she wanted me to try, to make it so at every opportunity we could fight without ending lives…she hated senseless death…and I think I see why now”
He spoke calmly, wiping his eyes as the last of her bones turned to crystalline dust in the wind
“Her death was not senseless, in fact you'll find that when something as beautiful as her dies, it becomes impossible to make sense of it. That does not mean it happened without sense, and it does not mean her death must be for nothing. When men first meet me, they offer a drop of blood, and that is all I require for the question, but to gain my favor, they must give up a piece of themselves”
I sighed and looked up at him
“What do you need from me then?”
He gestured to where her body had sat moments ago
“You just let the biggest piece of yourself go without a fight. You have paid for more than enough trips to see her”
I nodded and spoke without waiver
“I'm not supposed to keep visiting her though, am I? She won’t be happy till we see eachother again permanently, and if I show up prematurely…she would probably be pissed. So ,I guess now I just live?”
He laid down in the sand and let out a deep groan
“I don’t think I’ve lived in quite some time, I’ve been stranded here for so long, evading capture to exist within my freedom, too afraid to face the cosmos again”
I patted his side and gripped what was essentially his ankle
“You shouldn’t be afraid, fear doesn’t do anything for men like us. Maybe we should sit a while, and see if your fear doesn’t go away”
He let out a deep breath and closed his eyes, laying down as I watched the sun rise over the horizon. My heartbeat continued, but as I watched the last of her ashes swirl through the air, I found a modicum of peace, and I thought about her.