Natural muscle relaxants for dogs

I love having people over for dinner, and I love dogs. I usually tell my friends who have dogs to feel free to bring them when I make dinner. But...I have a good friend who I really enjoy very much, who has a 90 pound Labradoodle. He's sweet, but still young and very active. The last time my friend came she spent most of the evening telling him to get off the couch, lay down, etc. It was pretty chaotic rather than being the relaxing evening I had hoped. I want to invite her again, but what is the politest way to say your dog is not invited?

Hey! It’s been a while since I’ve done anything resembling dating, and regular dating apps are exhausting so shooting my shot on here! I have made posts in the past and although I’ve met and spoken with some great people, nothing more really came of it, and I am nothing if not a trier, and am hopeful my person is still out there somewhere!
I would prefer to exchange photos sooner rather than later, as although physical attraction isn’t the only important thing, I think it does play a part in the beginning. I wouldn’t say I have a type, but I do love a strong nose and some nice facial hair, neither are a deal breaker however.
~A bit about me:~
· I live by myself, I’m self-sufficient and very much enjoy my own company. However, I have noticed myself putting up a lot of barriers when it comes to getting close to people and have gotten into a bit of a rut, and hope by putting myself out there and meeting someone, I will feel more ready to try new things! I have a small group of friends and am introverted, but with familiar people my social battery depletes a lot slower.
· I work with teenagers who have additional needs in a mainstream secondary school, and I’m also currently half way through my training to become a qualified children’s therapist. I have an arts degree too but since studying counselling and therapy, I truly believe that it is my ‘calling’ (if such a thing exists). (Disclaimer: I am a naturally empathetic person and although I will always be there to listen and support, I am not going to therapize you!)
· In my freetime, I enjoy sewing and felting, and other crafty things. I also like walking my families dog and like most other humans, music and films are a big part of my life. I was very much an emo kid in school but this still plays a huge part in my life (I have a my chemical romance tattoo). More recently, I have been identifying myself as ‘indie trash’ (which is a term of endearment), but listen to all sorts! I’m not a gamer by any means but I do enjoy classic wii games and the sims.
~Possible turn offs:~
· I have been in therapy for the past 3 or so years, and will continue to be there whilst I am practicing as a therapist myself. I am very in touch with my feelings and emotional intelligence is something I really value in a partner.
· I am on the chubbier side and have tried all sorts of diets and regimes and I’m not interested in trying any more. I am actively trying to make healthier choices, but am well aware that this does not happen over night.
· I do have a few tattoos and hope to get more.
~A bit about you:~
· Aged 25- 34: this is a fairly set boundary for me, but I could maybe sway a year either way if you think we’d be a good couple!
· Somewhere in the UK or Europe, for ease of meeting and time zones etc.
· Kind and caring and able to make me laugh.
· Someone who has their life together and has interests and hobbies and a career of their own.
· Willing to voice call- I really like getting to hear people’s voices, it feels a lot more intimate.
~A bit about the future:~
· I’m not tied down to living anywhere in particular, so would be willing to relocate. However, given the nature of my work, it would most likely be in an English speaking country.
· Hopefully a dog!
· I don’t know if I’d like children. If I do end up a parent that’s cool, but if I never have kids, that’s cool with me too.
I told myself I wouldn’t write too much but here we are! There is obviously loads more I’d like to say but I think this is hopefully enough to go off! I am looking for something long term and ultimately to settle down, and I’d ask that if you’re just looking to have a quick fling, don’t message me. If you’ve made it this far, I’d love to hear from ya, especially what stood out in my post, and a fun fact or two about you :)

I want to know if I’m justified in being upset or if I am truly being a jerk. I, 33F, have been married to my wife, 33F, for 11 years. I love my wife; I do, but I am so upset and feel like I’m underappreciated. This needs background. I'm sorry for the technical details, but it’s how my brain processes and I believe it is necessary.
I want to preface this by saying that I am nowhere near perfect and have my issues and trauma that I know can make me a little difficult to deal with. I have a lot to work on myself, and I try my best to see my faults and mitigate them before they burden her and others.
Okay, details:
I have a labor-intensive job. I am in middle management now, so I work on the computer a lot, but I also go on the floor to keep my skills sharp and keep in touch with my crew. Computer work is mentally draining as opposed to physically draining, but I also get physically drained. I work 40+ hours a week. My job pays all the bills, living expenses, savings, 401K/retirement and health insurance.
My wife works from home. She has her own business that she loves. She sets her hours, can wake up when she wants, works when she feels like it, and is only bound by the constraints of her own time. (I admit, I’m jealous). Her take-home varies. On a good month, 1/3 of my income. She used to have a “regular” job, but it gave her so much anxiety she was miserable, and we were fine to support ourselves, so she quit and went into her business. I have zero issues when it comes to money. Relationships are partnerships, and I long agreed that I was fine doing the bulk of the money-making labor. I have more of a constitution for these things. I would rather have her be happy than have some extra cash.
We have 3 dogs and no children. Our house is small and doesn’t require much daily up-keep. We have a backyard that the dogs run around in all day; no need to do extra walks unless you want to (really, the backyard is huge). I cook dinner 2-3 times per week. I do the dishes and clean up 2-3 times a week. I do the laundry every other week (it only needs to be done once a week). We do takeaway 1-2 times a week and have at least 1 “do whatever” dinner per week. Obviously, this varies. I don’t mind this. I am an adult; I should do all these things to care for myself and my house. This is called being an adult. I grew up in a house where both parents had 2 jobs; I’ve been cooking and cleaning with my siblings since I can remember.
My Mon-Fri schedule:
4am -Wake up with the dogs
5am – work out (I have to work out for my job, IYKYK), feed the dogs
6am – go to work (work starts at 7am) after letting the dogs back in the bedroom, or they’ll bark all morning and wake up my wife
4pm - off work
430- 5pm – Home
5-530pm – Tues & Thur walk the dogs, M-W-F projects or relax
6pm – Free time (630pm – cook on my days)
7pm – eat dinnerelax
745 pm – prep for my morning (set up coffee, pack lunch, etc.)
8pm – bedtime
Additionally, I am in my Master’s program. During the fall and spring, I do homework or study. This summer, I am studying to take tests to advance my career and working on writing projects in hopes of one day being an author.
Saturday and Sunday are my off days. I wake up on Saturday when the dogs wake up naturally, get them out of the room, outside, fed, and relax on the couch. They are good dogs, mostly chill. I drink coffee and do my writing projects or study for school if needed. Sat, I usually get things done around the house: home improvement, my personal projects, mowing the lawn, cleaning, and fixing anything that needs fixing. There is usually about 5-6 hrs of labor on Saturdays. Sundays, I try my best just to chill.
My wife already has her degree, so she doesn’t go to school and doesn’t know what she wants to do in life, so she doesn’t go after a higher degree even though it would be extremely low cost due to my job offsetting tuition for her (and school is almost free for me). She has hobbies that she loves and creates things for herself, her family and me, which I appreciate. She enjoys baking, which I benefit from. But mainly, and this makes me sound like an ass, she just kind of bee-bops around, hanging out. Her anxiety keeps her from having a job outside the house, keeps her from attacking her business full steam, and keeps her from figuring out what she wants to do for school or life in general. She has mental health care, and she is better than she used to be. I am so proud of her progress. But even the projects she creates for herself, like gardening, she doesn’t attack with gusto. She doesn’t have to garden; she chooses to, and yet the plants are going to shit because she doesn’t go out to weed the garden and prep for planting season. I don't care, I do, but I don't because none of it is necessary. She has the ability to do literally whatever she wants.
Anyway, here’s my current issue:
The dogs sleep in the room, next to my wife’s side of the bed. They sleep all night and hardly ever wake up; they are good dogs. But they do get up around 5-6am on Saturdays, because their natural routine is to wake up with me at 4am M-F. To wake us up, they scratch on the gate that separates their area from the bed and prevents them from jumping on the bed. I’m a light sleeper; they can’t sleep on the bed, or I’ll wake up. On the weekends, I hear them scratching, and I wake up, and my wife stays asleep. I am vigilant about waking up because I don’t want them to suffer needing to go pee, or accidentally pee, or if they are sick and need to puke. I love my dogs; I do my best to care for them. My wife loves them equally, but I don’t think she shares in their morning care equally. Once I’m awake, I’m awake; there’s no going back to sleep for me. I wake up 6 days a week, and she wakes up maybe 1 because even on Sundays, I usually wake up from them scratching, even though she’s right next to them. If I hear them, I’m up. I can’t just wake her up and say, “Hey, the dogs,” because now I’m awake.
If she wakes up early, she’s miserable. She complains for the 30 minutes it takes to get them fed and settled, then she goes right back to sleep on the couch. On the occasion I don’t wake up on a Sunday, I’ll come out of the room around 8-9am, and she’ll be asleep, having been asleep since she took care of the dogs. Then, she’ll take a nap in the middle of the day. (I rarely nap, my issues, not hers.)
Last night, one of our dogs got hot and wanted out of the room; I woke up at 1am and opened the door. We’ve been concerned about the girl dog, so I checked she was okay and laid back down. My wife woke to ensure everything was fine but instantly went back to sleep. I know this because it famously takes me an hour to get back to sleep if I wake up crazy early. Then the dog we worried about cried out loudly (she must have turned wrong in her bed and hit something), so I sprang up to ensure she was okay. This was probably 3am. My wife (who didn’t hear it, only heard me say my dog's name) woke up, checked she was fine, then immediately went back to sleep. Then, of course, 515am rolls around, and the dogs are scratching to get out; they are fully awake. Who has to get up? Me.
I just want one freaking morning to sleep consistently. I want Sunday to rest in my bed and not have to wake up. That’s it! I want to sleep. I understand that my schedule is my schedule; I choose what I do, but I do it to better my life and hers. I work hard all day. I work hard to ensure a good future and keep earning good money. I pursue my passions on the side. I take care of the house, and I fix everything because she “doesn’t know how to do that stuff.” I do all the outside chores; I set up everything for summer, then again for winter, then again for summer, over and over, every year, year after year after year. I go to work day after day after day. I come home, and I do as much as I can. I just want to sleep on Sundays. I've expressed this before, and it'll get better for a month, then return to the same thing.
Set an alarm! Do something! She knows I hate it! She should think that I deserve sleep and actively do something to make sure I get it. It's one day! I keep the dogs quiet M-F in the morning. I actively make sure they don’t disturb her, and I made sure that when they go back in the room at 6am that it doesn’t bother her. She doesn't get out of bed Mon-Fri until 8 or 9am. I know because I see the notification for the backdoor being opened while I'm at work. She doesn't have to get up on Saturdays until 9 or 10am and gets to wake up naturally. Just SET AN ALARM ON SUNDAY. Why would you not think, damn, my wife works her ass off and falls asleep on the couch early most days cause she's so tired? How about I set an alarm on Sunday for 5am so she can get some sleep since she has to go to work Monday! Just something! Please!

https://www.youtube.com/@bbclearningenglish/playlists
https://www.youtube.com/@EnglishpronunciationwithTom/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@Canguroenglish/playlists
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=learn+british+english+beginner+level+
https://www.youtube.com/@Oxfordonlineenglish1/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@rachelsenglish/playlists
https://www.youtube.com/@BookLove/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@EngfluentPlus/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@EnglishforCambodia/playlists https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEF6pwHhuQQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXJiq888iLM
https://www.youtube.com/@CambodiansLearnEnglish2019/playlists
https://www.youtube.com/@EdnicheSchool/playlists https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dJztpQukPM
https://www.youtube.com/@DekRean9/playlists https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSKbdoWbc9c
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFsky1qIchUJ1y5jTMtrk7DmMm2VEOwkP
https://www.youtube.com/@studyenglishkhmerchannel/playlists
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCMMRIYgA8Z9H7pmT1r2IJPCzK7afSjzB
https://www.youtube.com/@ComprehensibleEnglish/videos
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening
https://www.memrise.com
https://www.busuu.com
Learn words in sentences and phrases not individual. Watch TV shows and online streams.
Watch movies/series/YouTube channels in English, with English subtitles at first and then without
My khmer family uses my Netflix and what they get out of it has been invaluable in terms of their English. Three years ago my brothers English was very poor. Just from reading subtitles he is now fluent
https://listenaminute.com
https://www.duolingo.com
https://en.islcollective.com
https://www.onestopenglish.com
https://cambodia.britishcouncil.org/english-online/mobile-apps
Reading and listening are important. Listen to English-speaking radio. You can get lots of them on the internet. Try different English-speaking countries. Watch TV shows if you can. Get them on YouTube or other similar sources. Look for programmes like news or documentaries. You have the pictures to help you understand. Language in them is more genuine than in a soap opera. Look for programmes or things to read that are of interest to you. So if you have a hobby or other interest, look for things in English that relate to them. You will learn English and maybe something about your interests.
Lately, I've just found out this site ( https://www.conversationexchange.com/ ) where you can chat/speak with native English speaker, it's really cool.
Always have a notebook with me to makes some notes or write down some new vocabulary or phrases.
And the most important thing … speaking practice. I can recommend you ,,speaky app.,, It’s really cool. Lot of weird people which do not distinguish this app from tinder there but I have found some decent people that I am able to speak a few times per week with. I can even say that after few months they even became my friends.

• try to embed yourself in english
  
• persistance and constistnecy, do it daily, event if it’s just one new word its always step forward,
  
• find an english speaking friend and stay in touch with him frequently
  
• exercise your speaking muscles everyday for 5 minutes
  

https://discord.com/invite/english in there you can find people to speak with anytime
I've learned English on my own through YouTube.
Step 1. Unsubscribe from all the channels in your native tongue.
Step 2. Subscribe to all English Learning Channels you can find.
Step 3. Watch Videos from the subscribed channels whenever you have occasion.
​In 2-3 months you will understand most of the content.
If you're a complete beginner, read books meant for kids.
Honestly I'd suggest trying a couple of nature documentaries first. The speech will be very slow and give you lots of time to understand what you heard. If you're still struggling with that, then worry about kids shows.
I'd also suggest looking at podcasts for English beginners. They should deliberately speak slowly and not use complicated words
Some that come to mind easily are two tv shows called Sesame Street and Peppa Pig because of their simple language (aimed at native English kids learning English).
For listening practice you could try this free Whatsapp group with daily British English listening practice - https://chat.whatsapp.com/ELjBO3HwTMgK3xxqq3mq6d
Try Nonsense.com :) It is free and you get to watch movies.
This explanation is a little long so you can translate it to your native language by using www.Deepl.com
There are many ways you can learn English as a beginner. First, I think it's important to find out exactly what your level is. A great framework for understanding language level is called CEFR "The common European framework for Reference". There are many free tests online you can take to find out your level. I recommend the EFSET test. It's free and fast. Here is the link.https://www.efset.org
After you have found out what your level is, you need to learn the necessary content. You also need to manage your time expectations. Each level of the CEFR A1 A2 (beginner) B1 B2 (intermediate) C1 C2 (Advanced) takes a different amount of time. The A levels take about 100 hours each. The B levels take about 200 and the C levels take about 300 hours.
To complete a level you will need to improve 8 areas:

1. vocabulary = Improve your vocabulary by buying an appropriate vocabulary book. Try to learn 20 new words each day. Download an SRS app (spaced repetition) to help you learn the vocabulary faster. e.g. Anki or Quizlet. Also, try to make or use mnemonics to remember what the words mean.
2. grammar = Buy an appropriate grammar book (I recommend Grammar in Use by Murphy) Each CEFR level has about 200 grammar structures. First, study the structures and understand what they mean, then activate them and make sure you can use them all in conversation. To help with this, you can use my Youtube. I post grammar lessons every day (Yes, I know this is a shameless plug) https://www.youtube.com/learngrammarwithstuart
3. conversation = Make sure to practice what you have learned by speaking to a native speaker. There are a lot of great apps like Italki and Cambly where you can practice this for a very low cost.
4. pronunciation = Improve this by shadowing (listening and repeating what people say) e.g. the audio content from the reading textbook. You can also improve your pronunciation by watching Youtube pronunciation channels.
5. conversation = Make sure to practice what you have learned by speaking to a native speaker. There are a lot of great apps like Italki and Cambly where you can practice this for a very low cost.)
6. reading = Buy a graded reader and practice reading at your level. To see if the content is at your level, use the following rule. If you need to translate more than 10 words per page, the book you are reading is too hard.
7. listening = Improve your listening by watching TV shows that use simple English. I recommend kids cartoons and sitcoms e.g. friends. There are also lots of great youtube channels that you can use.
8. writing = Improve your writing by using an app like Hello Talk or a similar SNS. It allows you to easily practice writing and communicating with other English speakers and language learners.

I hope this helps and good luck with your studies.
About me: I have been working as an English teachecurriculum developer for 16 years.
Mostly pdfs:
https://www.pdf-language-lessons.com/english/english-pdf-lessons/
https://www.infobooks.org/free-pdf-books/language-learning/english/
https://helenadailyenglish.com/101-short-stories-for-learning-english-beginner-to-advanced-level-text-audio-and-video
https://www.englishclub.com/pdf/
https://www.bbc.com/learningenglish/english/course/how-to-speak-english/unit-1/downloads
https://www.englishclass101.com/learn-with-pdf
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-levels/understand-your-english-level/a1-elementary
https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/basic-vocabulary
https://www.learnenglishteam.com/common-daily-english-phrases-for-beginners/
https://www.espressoenglish.net/wp-content/uploads/free/500-Real-English-Phrases.pdf
https://www.bbc.com/learningenglish/english/course/how-to-speak-english/unit-1/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/
https://www.lingoneo.org/learn-english/page/pdf-audio-video-downloads
https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening/a1-listening
https://s1.papyruspub.com/files/demos/products/ebooks/educative-books/general-english/English-for-Everyone/Preview-Course-Book-English-for-Everyone1-Beginner.pdf
https://english-at-home.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/50-Speaking-Phrases1.pdf
https://english-at-home.com/
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/best-websites-to-learn-english/

Hi!
I have a handful of neurological problems for quite some time now but doctors can't find anything so they say it's a depression.

• super sensitive to any kind of vibrations (from heating pipes to the fridge) even when I can't hear it actively.
• when I'm walking on a floor that has slight vibrations, my feet would go crazy (being itchy and feel weird)
• I am not hungry at all
• I sleep for 8 hours but it feels like 2
• muscles are tense all the time
• ... which also leads to my neck being everything but relaxed which makes me struggle with proper breathing.

There is a few more symptoms but those are the major ones and they are almost always triggered by vibrations. The obvious one would be to move houses but I did this a couple of times and there is always some type of vibrations somewhere. And that's fine, I'd like to be able to live with it.
A doctor recommended me to try Thiamin for a bit. So I did one B1 capsule (250mg) the next day. While all symptoms were gone and I would be hungry, my blood pressure was HIGH and it didn't go away for a full two days.
After those two days I took half a capsule of Benfotiamin (300mg, so 150mg) with a very similar result.
I've heard of people taking magnesium in addition to Thiamine but supplementing magnesium usually increases my blood pressure too.
My doctor is on vacation at the moment so I was wondering if there is people with a similar experience.
I would just not take thiamin but it seems to help and crush me at the same time.
Edit: sorry it's Thiamin in german, I am ofc talking about Thiamine.

Hello all,
I’ve been teaching high school English for 11 years and have loved it, but I’m looking for new opportunities in life, either in education or out of it. I’m trying to figure out what I want to do and I wanted to throw myself out there and see what y’all think might work for me, since I have so little idea of what’s out there.
I’m ideally looking for something I can do remotely, and preferably something project-based (ie, get this done how/when you can) than having specific hours, but I’m very flexible. I’ve been working with a career counselor and we came up with a list of interests/personality traits, that I’ll share below.
I’d prefer not to go back to school, or at least, go to school while working. If any of y’all have any ideas, please share. Thanks so much!

• Working from home
• Instructional design
• Anti-capitalist
• Books/Literature (high fiction)
• Dog-lover
• History/sociology - why do societies operate they way they do
• Social studies
• Politics
• True crime
• Psychological thrillers
• Current events/state of the world
• Rabbi/spiritual leader
• Jewish identity/culturally
• Share culture with others
• Sports fan (historical/race relations/sociological perspective)
• Class and power perspective
• What’s going to the be the impact of “that”?
• Teaching in a different context
• Highbrow + career
• Star Trek/scifi
• Chess
• Content creation (ie, videos for YouTube)
• Work in theater
• Writing books and stories
• Higher ed/teaching teachers
• Food
• Cooking
• Movies/TV
• Shakespeare
• Instructional coach
• Museum curator
• Film critic
• Park/trail/nature maintenance

Hello all,
I’ve been teaching high school English for 11 years and have loved it, but I’m looking for new opportunities in life, either in education or out of it. I’m trying to figure out what I want to do and I wanted to throw myself out there and see what y’all think might work for me, since I have so little idea of what’s out there.
I’m ideally looking for something I can do remotely, and preferably something project-based (ie, get this done how/when you can) than having specific hours, but I’m very flexible. I’ve been working with a career counselor and we came up with a list of interests/personality traits, that I’ll share below.
I’d prefer not to go back to school, or at least, go to school while working. If any of y’all have any ideas, please share. Thanks so much!

• Working from home
• Instructional design
• Anti-capitalist
• Books/Literature (high fiction)
• Dog-lover
• History/sociology - why do societies operate they way they do
• Social studies
• Politics
• True crime
• Psychological thrillers
• Current events/state of the world
• Rabbi/spiritual leader
• Jewish identity/culturally
• Share culture with others
• Sports fan (historical/race relations/sociological perspective)
• Class and power perspective
• What’s going to the be the impact of “that”?
• Teaching in a different context
• Highbrow + career
• Star Trek/scifi
• Chess
• Content creation (ie, videos for YouTube)
• Work in theater
• Writing books and stories
• Higher ed/teaching teachers
• Food
• Cooking
• Movies/TV
• Shakespeare
• Instructional coach
• Museum curator
• Film critic
• Park/trail/nature maintenance

Hey folks. I have a 6 month old male intact gsp. AKC. Parents were both dual champions. I’ve had 11 dogs including a working line lab, but this is my first GSP.
We’re having some problems. He’s very good natured, very sweet, very snuggly, very social, and very attached to me. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. However, we’re having some issues with his training.
We had sit, stay, heel, here, drop it, leave it, and down. With “stay” I could walk 30 ft away. Then we took a puppy class, mostly to address pulling when we’re not doing “heel”, and to get him to stop jumping on people. I don’t know what happened, but we lost all the training we had done. He went backwards and now won’t listen to anything. He now pulls all the time and won’t heel any more. Won’t stay. Won’t come. Won’t do down.
The trainer told me to get a freedom no pull harness and a long line for hiking. That hasn’t worked at all and I think he’s actually started pulling worse.
To make things more complicated, he responds well to using high value treats, but all the high value treats (really every treat period) give him diarrhea. So we have to use his kibble for training, which worked for like a month and now he’s like “pssshh. Fuck that. Those treats are boring. I’m doing what I want.”
For the record, he gets a ton of exercise. We hike or trail run for about 2 hours every morning and every evening. Some days we mountain bike for about 2 hours in the evening instead. He has good food that hasn’t changed. Snuffle mats don’t work. Toys don’t work. He has ADHD and even if he picks a toy, he’ll forget about it after about 5 minutes tops. He loves fetching a ball, but hes not ball crazy.
We also do training for at least 30 minutes a day. It just stopped working. Today he just ran off for the first time and ignored recall, which he’s never done before. Was off in the woods for 30 minutes just ignoring me. So we have to do something.

[Detrans female] [will turn 30 in 5 days] [Top Surgery 8 years ago]
My mind is kind of being blown. I had surgery ages ago and my chest has been pretty flat since. I'm also pretty skinny, so the leftover fat in my chest is minimal and even when I gained a bit of weight, it still didn't change my chest (I also lost all the extra weight back).
I recently started going to the gym for the first time ever and first of all, I hadn't even thought about how some of the muscles and nerves in my chest are damaged because of top surgery (I mean, duh, but didn't cross my mind before), so the workouts I can do involving chest are very weak in comparison to rest of my body. That said, it's been maybe a bit over a month and I'm FINALLY gaining a bit of strength on my chest, and what do you know!? It's basically like I have boobs again! I was not expecting that at all. My sort of partner even noticed it before I did, like a week ago. It's honestly pretty incredible. I know they won't actually grow back, but the change is considerably noticeable.
What's ironic is that I'm 110% super happy about having a flat chest even living as a woman (been living as such for like 3+ years now). But hey, not gonna turn down some natural chest development if it continues.
I don't lurk in this sub often anymore, but when I did I remember seeing a lot of folks asking for advise or general questions about chest development after stopping T, so thought I'd share. I know working out isn't for everyone, but worth a try, I think.
Also, still enjoying my ability to develop muscles unnaturally fast for a woman thanks to the 5 years of T I took ages ago. I'm honestly thankful for all the benefits transitioning brought into my life, even after detransitioning.

It’s been a week since I got back from a short trip to visit my in-laws in Florida. It was a 2.5 hour flight. This is my second round trip in the last year, after a 7-year hiatus from flying. We flew down on a 737-700 which was loud but good. We flew back on a 737 Max 8 and unfortunately were headed into bad weather, which had me feeling a bit anxious. The Max 8 is SO MUCH QUIETER than the 737-700 (3 of the 4 flights I’ve been on were Max 8s and all of them were so quiet). We did had a bit of turbulence but I was able to relax enough to even close my eyes and attempt to sleep. I owe so much to this sub! The professionals in here who continuously push back about the misconceptions/fears over the different plane models, the encouragement to avoid turbulence forecasts, and just the first hand experiences shared have changed my life. Although I do get some medication to help, each flight has gotten easier mentally and I have y’all to thank. I think I’ve even begun to prefer the Max 8 for my flights due to the smooth, quiet nature. Big fan! Also, Southwest had us light up our call lights in a dark cabin during some turbulence and sing happy birthday to a young lady. It was so cute and totally helped ease my anxiety!

The Zercher squat has been described as one of the most difficult squat variations due to the intense demand put on the entire body throughout the movement.
Named after Ed Zercher, a strongman competitor from St. Louis during the 30’s-40’s, the Zercher squat requires full body engagement. With the bar resting on your forearms, the weight is in front of the body and requires a strong core to support the weight. There is no point of rest during this movement as your arms are working just as hard as your legs (if not harder).
Any time you load weight in front of the torso, whether it is a Zercher or goblet position, you are making the exercise require more support from the core and quads. This includes posterior chain exercises with Zercher or goblet positions as well, such as good mornings.
HERE’S WHY YOU SHOULD INCLUDE ZERCHER EXERCISES IN YOUR ROUTINE:
CORE ENGAGEMENT
QUAD DEVELOPMENT
LOWER BACK DEVELOPMENT
UPPER BACK DEVELOPMENT
ZERCHER EXERCISES ARE A GOOD CHOICE IF YOU:
HAVE TROUBLE GETTING INTO A BACK RACK OR FRONT RACK POSITION DUE TO LIMITED SHOULDEUPPER BACK MOBILITY
ARE LOOKING TO STRENGTHEN YOUR QUADS DURING SQUATS
WANT TO INCORPORATE FULL BODY RESISTANCE EXERCISES INTO YOUR TRAINING
HERE ARE FIVE ZERCHER EXERCISE VARIATIONS TO ADD TO YOUR ROUTINE.

1. PAUSED ZERCHER SQUATS

The main objective in the Zercher squat is to keep an upright torso with a strong support system from the arms. With your shoulders set back and down, keep the arms flexed at about 90 degrees with your elbows glued to your sides. You want to maintain strict tension in the arms throughout the entire movement. Set your hips back into the squat position and hold for two seconds at the bottom, with your core and arms tight. Drive back up to the standing position while pulling the bar into your body as to not let the weight drift forward and away from you.

1. ZERCHER BULGARIAN SPLIT SQUATS

Bulgarian split squats suck enough as they are, but when you add a Zercher variation to it, it completely lights your quads up. Front loaded weight in an elevated stance challenges your core, quads, and stabilizers. In a single leg stance like the split squat, you’re going to have to work harder to stabilize the barbell from moving during both eccentric and concentric phases.

1. ZERCHER BOX SQUATS WITH CHAINS

Another way to completely wreck your quads is adding chains to the mix. As the chains lengthen when you stand up from the squat, the resistance increases. This helps you develop better lockout strength during the squat. In a Zercher position with chains, the tension you feel in the quads is constant throughout the entire movement, especially as you sit down into the squat. For maximal results in the Zercher box squat, focus on slowing the eccentric phase and sitting back fully onto the bench for glute and hamstring activation.

1. ZERCHER GOOD MORNINGS

Even though the good morning is a posterior chain exercise, you can still add Zercher positions to strengthen the supportive anterior chain muscle groups. As you hinge forward, your upper back and core muscles engage to maintain spinal alignment. Naturally, the bar is going to drag you down and force your upper back to round forward if you are not keeping constant tension in the arms and core.

1. SINGLE LEG ZERCHER GOOD MORNINGS

Pretty much any time you take an exercise and make it a single leg variation, you are going to put more demand on the hamstrings. This is one of my favourite exercises as it challenges your entire body and provides functional benefit. Your hamstrings, lower back, glutes, core, arms, and upper back work together to stabilize the barbell and perform the movement. Stay heavy on the lead foot and keep your hips set high for hamstring activation and maximal results.

I’m dealing with some serious inflammation in my upper and lower back. I’ve experienced this kind of pain before, and usually, some stretching and muscle relaxers do the trick. However, I’m now on day 7 and it’s only getting worse. I’m beginning to wonder if this might be a flare-up and if I should consider starting on some prednisone. I have a gift card to a spa and I'm wondering if I should book a massage? Or would that make it worse? Thoughts?
Has anyone else dealt with something similar? What strategies or treatments have worked for you?

Hello everyone, I'm Mickie, 26F. I'm looking for a best girl friend to chat with about anything and everything. Here are a few things about me so you can decide whether or not we would click (& it's totally okay if I'm not your cup of tea, I hope you find what you're looking for): ◇I'm a middle school teacher, but I still teach at a summer camp during the summer, older kiddos. ◇I'm pretty open to sharing most things - I care about your day but I also love deep conversations. ◇I'm a mom & I'm also engaged, so if you're a mom too, I can relate to the joys & struggles! ◇Hobbies of mine include outdoor activities (nature walks, garden maintenance, plant studies) & photography; I used to write poetry and have been considering getting back to it. ◇I'm still a big Pokemon need, so if you like Pokemon, we will definitely get along. Maybe we can get into playing sometime. ◇I'm what they call a "cozy gamer" when I have time to play games - I love relaxing, open world games that give me goals to shoot for, but are great distractions from the every day life. ◇I have a pretty open music taste, and I'm down to trade playlists to help get to know each other! ◇I try my best to be positive & supportive because everyone needs a little sunshine - but I'm also down to rant if it's ever needed. ◇Feel free to shoot me a message with any questions you may have to see if we click! I look forward to any connections that would benefit us both ♡

An interesting look at internal martial arts and strength from Hai Yang - "One should not claim to practice martial arts if their strength is insufficient":
https://youtu.be/TTccQaPyv6g?si=fCUuagyLjLbsB73m
Hai Yang - One should not claim to practice martial arts if their strength is insufficient.
You may recognize a similar assertion from Ellis Amdur with regards to Aikido practitioners in "Great Aikido —Aikido Greats":
"Yukawa Tsutomu was a titan. Shirata Rinjiro was immensely strong. Shioda Gozo, unbelievably, beat Kimura Masahiko in arm wrestling—by Kimura’s own account. Tohei Koichi, post WWII, casually carried two suitcases full of smuggled rice arms-length over ticket wickets at train stations, thereby pretending that the cases were empty: because who could casually hold suitcases with 30 kilos of rice apiece, straight-armed, walking fifty meters until out of sight of law enforcement personnel. When Saito Morihiro was a kid, Ueshiba told him he was too skinny; Saito, working for the railroad, got a length of train track, and repetitively lifted it, this thick-grip weight training and other exercises resulting in him becoming a massive man. In fact, all the Iwama dinosaurs (Isoyama Hiroshi, Watahiki Yoshifumi, Inagaki Shigemi, to name a few) are immensely powerful. Tada Hiroshi is like living whalebone, from all the suburi he did. Tomiki Kenji had huge wrists and when young, a massive neck. Osawa Kisaburo, quite muscular as a young man, asked me to take his son, Osawa Hayato, to Korakuen gym and teach him weight lifting, genially whispering to me in the dojo hallway, “He’s too weak.” There’s more than one body type and more than one way to be physically powerful—but as far as I know, all the great aikidoka were very powerful people, some naturally, others a product of training."
https://kogenbudo.org/great-aikido-aikido-greats/
And what about the Daito-ryu folks?
Well, Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu Menkyo Kaiden Takuma Hisa was, of course, a Sumo wrestler and very powerful physically.
Then there's Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu Kodokai founder Kodo Horikawa:
"Was Horikawa Sensei in good physical condition?
Mrs. Horikawa: He had a smaller body, but his muscles were impressive and well toned. He injured his Achilles' tendon once, but apparently it healed, since it was three times as thick as a normal person's. A normal person's would have been snapped. His whole body was filled with aiki, even to the soles of his feet."

• Conversations with Daito-ryu Masters, Stanley Pranin

Then there's Yukiyoshi Sagawa, the one time Soke of Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu, Yukiyoshi Sagawa himself was powerfully conditioned:
"The most important thing in Aiki is the legs. You must build muscle in the necessary areas of the hips and legs through training the legs in “Henko”."
"In Age-te, the most important thing is building the body."
"The way that I built my body was through push-ups. From the time that I was a teenager I would train 1,500 times a day. Through that it became possible for my body to become a single unit. This is not limited to push-ups, but it is important to continue each physical training method for at least three years. Suburi, for example."
"It’s no good if you don’t have thick thighs. Conditioning yourself and becoming strong means that you’re building muscle."
"The muscle on your hips and abdomen must be thick and you must begin to move from there. Technique done with slim hips will not be effective. However, thickness from fat is no good."
"Aiki no Rentai: The Conditioned Body of Yukiyoshi Sagawa, Part 2":
https://www.aikidosangenkai.org/blog/aiki-rentai-conditioned-body-yukiyoshi-sagawa-part-2/
So here's the tricky part - power lifters, gymnasts, marathon runners, dancers, and even musicians are all strong, but have very different bodies, trained and conditioned in very different ways, that optimize their performance for different practices - their strength and body development are specific to what they're doing. It's a no brainer that conditioning is going to be sports specific - so what's specific for Aiki, and what do you do to get there?

After a smooth and sniper-free launch on BASE yesterday, CAPY quickly rose to over 300K marketcap before dropping down to a 50K floor. The team seem very much active and are ramping up their marketing efforts today.
As with all memecoins - CAPY is for entertainment purposes and has no intrinsic value. The community isn't remotely toxic and the LP has been burned and contract has been renounced. The dev is no script-kiddie either, this is no copy/paste job which gives me confidence.
Coingecko has been applied for along with Coinmarketcap and the LP was burned and contract renounced yesterday.
Buy here: https://app.uniswap.org/swap?inputCurrency=ETH&outputCurrency=0xB951df92512e9aEb407f840997F5ddf17d8D8bE4&chain=base
Website: https://www.capybasesociety.xyz/
Twitter: https://x.com/capybase
CA: 0xB951df92512e9aEb407f840997F5ddf17d8D8bE4
Here is the information from the whitepaper, although as it is a meme coin so don't expect much utility. It's just a fun and 'safe' trade.
Introduction:
As you'll see, no dogs, no frogs, no stress, just capys chilling out here. Inspired by the laid-back and charismatic nature of capybaras, this token is a tribute to meme culture and the crypto community that embraces diversity and creativity. # CAPY was designed for the entertainment and amusement of its holders. Let’s spread this creature worldwide.
Vision:
No vision, just take a seat by the river with the largest rodents in the world.
Technology: The most stress-free CAPYBARA on the planet is built on the Base blockchain, leveraging the security and reliability of this established network. It uses the ERC-20 standard to ensure compatibility with existing wallets and exchanges, facilitating the buying, selling, and trading of the token. Economy: The economy of CAPY is as simple as the idea behind it.
There is no mechanism for generating value or underlying utility to the token. Its value is purely speculative and reflects the mood and culture of the adopting community.
With that said, #CAPY to the moon.
Tokenomics:
Initial Distribution: #CAPY will have a total supply of 1,000,000,000 tokens, with distribution as follows:
50% on pre-sale ° 50% on initial liquidity
LP tokens generated from the liquidity pool will be burned.
Conclusion: $CAPY is more than just a meme token; it is also a meme token. Useless, as always, so don’t take it serious.
Not financial advice - as always DYOR

Hello everyone, I'm Mickie, 26F. I'm looking for a best girl friend to chat with about anything and everything. Here are a few things about me so you can decide whether or not we would click (& it's totally okay if I'm not your cup of tea, I hope you find what you're looking for): ◇I'm a middle school teacher, but I still teach at a summer camp during the summer, older kiddos. ◇I'm pretty open to sharing most things - I care about your day but I also love deep conversations. ◇I'm a mom & I'm also engaged, so if you're a mom too, I can relate to the joys & struggles! ◇Hobbies of mine include outdoor activities (nature walks, garden maintenance, plant studies) & photography; I used to write poetry and have been considering getting back to it. ◇I'm still a big Pokemon need, so if you like Pokemon, we will definitely get along. Maybe we can get into playing sometime. ◇I'm what they call a "cozy gamer" when I have time to play games - I love relaxing, open world games that give me goals to shoot for, but are great distractions from the every day life. ◇I have a pretty open music taste, and I'm down to trade playlists to help get to know each other! ◇I try my best to be positive & supportive because everyone needs a little sunshine - but I'm also down to rant if it's ever needed. ◇Feel free to shoot me a message with any questions you may have to see if we click! I look forward to any connections that would benefit us both ♡

Take what I have to say with a pinch of salt, I'm new to fishing and I've recently started fishing with lures after moving to the Isle of Man so I wanted to share my perspective from a total beginner.
My only fishing experience is carp and course fishing with my dad 17+ years ago, so I'm self/YouTube teaching myself everything from scratch from gear to knots to finding spots.
Started with a Leeda telescopic spinning rod that I actually found in the shed when we bought our house, the cheapest Shimano reel I could find (size 4000 Catana and fx) some 20/30lb braid, 20lb fluorocarbon leader and some multipacks of different types of spinners and lures. Upgraded the rod as it literally fell to bits after half a dozen sessions. Now I'm using an Ugly Stik GX2 10" 20-80G and a cheap shakespeare predator telescopic to run traces with. Bought a kayak last year and have just got a 4" ugly stik kayak rod so when the weather gets better I'll be giving that a try as well.
I live in Foxdale and work South, so for now my adventures are keeping me Peel/Douglas and south but I'll venture north eventually.
I like to pack light and keep the gear in the back of the car at nearly all times for quick sessions whenever I can. Rod and reel, lures, knife, pliers bucket, Go.
Thought I'd share some of my learning experiences and thoughts from the last few months where I've caught a few dozen Pollock and Mackerel, and a few Wrasse.
Port Erin Breakwater
Callig and Mackerel Galore, my most common fishing spot with about a 70% success rate, close to work and I can usually get 45mins solid fishing on my lunch break. Good size mackerel from early May onwards, Callig/Pollock as well in all shapes and sizes. Fished now at nearly all states of tide and I'd say it fishes slightly better at low tide however don't be dissuaded from having a go anytime.
Seaward of the breakwater for me seems slightly less productive and far snaggier however it seems the more popular side for most folks. I've only caught a couple of times this side and it seems like the 45° out from the breakwater is significantly less snaggy than the rest of it, you just need to grab a spot right on the corner.
My preference is the internal side, go down the steps as far as the tide allows and cast towards the Bouys or as far alongside the breakwater as you can. Tried all sorts of retrieves I usually end up with a steady draw and a few twitches and the fish are closer in than you'd think, several occasions I've seen a Callig come up out of the kelp and rocks to strike the lure more or less at my feet
Looks to me to be an ideal spot for Wrasse and I commonly hear tell of Conger in the remnants of the Old Breakwater. These will have to wait for a time in the future when I've gotten myself a bit of weedless/float fishing tackle.
As you walk down the concrete to the steps over the chain on the right hand side there looks to be a deeper gully between the harbour wall and the remains of a second smaller jetty extending out in the same direction as the steps (you can just see this on Google maps as a darker shadow, see attached photo) looks to me to be a prime place to float fish but it's THICK with kelp and sea grasses in the bottom so I wouldn't recommend spinning lures in here, it'd get very expensive on tackle.
Port Erin Jetty
Only fished here once, first cast, bad snag, lost lure. I didn't have anymore leader or swivels with me so I gave up. Going off that brief experience it might not be the best for spinning lures, I'll try again with Weedless/Float fishing tackle in the near future, part of this pier gets covered by the tide so beware. A good cast with a heavier lure could probably get to the foot of the lifeboat station or towards the Raglan Pier.
Port St Mary Breakwater
Heard lots of hype about this one and it's only a hundred yards from work, tried half a dozen times and blanked every time. Inside the wall, off the end, over the back, high tide, low tide, mid tide, slow tide. Nothing. The only birds in the area are gulls and they never seem to work the water for food, very very rarely see any baitfish/sand eels or Seals in the harbour. To me the waters in PSM bay feel dead, others may disagree but I'm on the waterfront for work Monday to Friday and this has been my experience.
I've been for a chat with people I've seen casting from the breakwater and they always seem to be blanking and have tales of the golden days of PSM fishing that seem a distant memory from when the scallop factories dumped the shells over the side. Perhaps it's me, maybe it's not a lure spot, or I might have just been unlucky. Due to its convenient location I shall persevere and I'm sure I'll eventually pull one out.
I'll be going here soon to try freelining and dropshotting, a few people locally have recommended trying this here with the little green crabs or some rag worm so when I've a few hours I'll be down and I'll update.
Port St Mary Inner breakwater protects the bit of the harbour that goes dry at low tide, I've tried twice here casting out in an arc into the inner and main harbour and not even had a knock. Special mention for the inner harbour as a place to collect bait at low tide, lovely easy to dig sand riddled with ragworm piles. Fella from work has claimed to have seen half a dozen Mullet in this inner harbour (Mid May) and we've checked a few times since but he's the only one to have seen them.
Port St Mary Rocks
So I tried this place on a whim one afternoon, drove past the breakwater and the Anchor Memorial and there's a little car park, follow the path and steps down and the rocks are easily accessible at all states of tide.
I got here 2 hours before high tide climbed out on the rocks as far out as I could get and had a quick spin, 32g blue and silver spinner. Water was a lot shallower than I thought it would be so I was more or less dragging the lures across the rocks close in. Never the less within a half a dozen casts 2 beautiful Ballan Wrasse hit the lure. Had the cut the session short unfortunately because I was on the skive from work but I'm definitely going to revisit this spot, had a couple people say it's unusual to snag Wrasse on a lure so maybe it was a fluke.
There's some deep spots of water here between outcroppings of rock and I think certain spots have potential especially at low tide when you can walk a fair distance out. Lots of crab and lobster pot bouys around here in the deep spots so it's probably a rocky mess on the bottom, float fishing, jigs or rotten bottom rigs for the deeper stuff I'd say.
Fleshwick Bay
Beautiful spot down here, remote and silent. Peaceful. Unless you're a mountain goat this is a strictly hightide +/-2hrs spot, park up follow the path to the right up and down onto the flattish rock that sticks out. Mind how you go. The high point looks like it could be slippy and it's a super narrow game trail.
Lovely crystal clear water when it's calm and plenty of baitfish in the kelp, cast tight up against the rocks or out into the centre and you shouldn't struggle to pull out Callig, Mackerel or Coalies.
Looks an ideal spot to fish from a small boat/kayak and that's something I'll definitely be doing in the summer.
Peel Breakwater
The "famous" Peel Breakwater, recommended by everyone and their dog for beginner anglers... However... Seems like the golden days are long gone.
The local fish factories have been banned from tipping their offal off of peel head, for better or worse I couldn't say. The pristine waters and white sands of Fenella Beach are a byproduct of the tonnes of king and queen scallop shells dumped off the back and in the past have apparently been an amazing food source for droves of fish. Fish stocks lead to Seals, of which Peel hosts plenty. The lack of food dumps and plethora of seals seem to have affected the stocks and nowadays people seem to blank more often than they catch here.
I've tried a rake of times here now and never caught, one memorable trip out saw ~18 fellow anglers off the back wall and off the end, a drove of feathers and lures flying out for 3+ hours and I saw a grand total of 2 mackerel pulled out.
Maybe in the summer it'll come a little better here but only time will tell, might be a good spot for freelining I'll give it a shot when I've figured it out.
Peel Castle Rear Rocks
Tried here recently, had a few hours to sneak out but the tide and weather was against me and I blanked.
Lots of movement in the water, loads of oxygenation around the rocks. LOTS of deep water and gullys in and around these rocks, pick your spot and away you go. I've got much higher hopes for catching back here than I do from the nearby breakwater despite it being a much quieter spot.
Might be better suited for LRF gear but I'm going to persevere with the spinning rig I'll update when I land something here.
Niarbyl
Just the one session here so far, nice evening out wife and one of the dogs had a good wander around while I tried to sniff out a few marks. We were a few hours before high tide so I stumbled over the shoreline hoping to get out onto the rock 'tail' didn't have any waders on however so. I just got out as far as I could on the shore.
Didn't have anything from this spot and I couldn't seem to cast far enough to get past the thick weed close in, I could see a bunch of diving ducks working a bit further out so I still had hope. I retreated up the hill towards the cafe and down the 'path' next to the bench, not quite mountain goat territory but be careful if the ground isn't dry it's a long slide or fall onto very unforgiving pointy rock. Following this trail you can get down and much further out than the beach, plenty of likely looking marks if you wanted to follow the rocks around further.
Nice flat point to stand and cast and really sheltered from the elements for a rougher weather session down at the bottom. Very deep water right at your feet, if I'd had a second rod with me I'd have dropped a 2/3 hook flapper rig, I grabbed a handful of sand and pebbles off the beach and it had 20+ different types of sea snail/shelled invertebrate shells in it, any sort of limpet/snail/crab would be ideal bait here as it's naturally rich with them and they are easy to snag off the rocks anyway.
Alas I only had my spinning rod and a couple of lures with me and with the wife and puppy getting impatient I wouldn't have had time to wait anyway. 10 mins later I managed to land a nice sized Callig, nice fight on it with the deep water at my feet, they do love to dive.
Marks yet to try;
Port Erin Bradda Rocks
potentially mountain goat territory so it might be better attempted from the kayak but it's been mentioned by a few locals. Supposedly larger Callig than the breakwater on the opposite side and some Conger regularly pulled out.
The Sound
Heard good things about a couple of marks down there. Just waiting for a good day where I've nothing planned and I can get away for a good session.
Langness, Fort Island
Walked the dogs round here plenty of times and seems like it'd be good it high tide, lots of rocks and deep water. I'll need to learn to set up a rotten bottom rig for here looks like it's be expensive on lures. The very protected bay seems like an ideal place to launch the kayak for a session.
Scarlet Point
Came down for an explore at low tide a few weeks back, the exposed rocks were a dream for limpet and crab collecting for bait, when the tides in this shallow spot would be great for Wrasse and Conger to my inexperienced eyes. The "Stack" looks a good place for float and jig deep water fishing and I've heard good things about callid and Coalies here.
Battery Pier Douglas
Been for a walk down and had a chat to a couple anglers here, saw a couple bull huss come out and heard tales of mackerel and Callig
Port Soderick
Looks likely for some rock marks and a trip or 2 on the kayak
Kirk Micheal, Ballaugh beaches
Heard of Bass coming out on these beaches, my next challenge I hope. Going to do some research into lures and techniques and hopefully catch a bass this year. When I'm properly equipped I'm planning on walking a few miles up and down here and just fish my way up and down to scout out some spots.
Point of Ayre
Looks a good spot for Bass, Callig, Mackerel the usual. Probably hindered by the giant colony of seals that reside here but probably a great walk out casting as you go.
Ramsey
I've seen a fishing competition on the north beach but they seemed to use baitcasters and gear I don't yet have. High tide from the 2 lighthouses at the entrance to the inner harbour will probably give results. Mullet spotted in inner harbour. Kayak to the legs of the Queens Pier might be a worthwhile trip
Maughold
Lots of likely looking rocky marks around here, only walked round once so I need to properly explore.
Laxey
I've never really looked around Laxey beach with an eye to fishing, very pebbly beach with a huge tidal movements, enough depth to cast from the beach at high tide but it's a very popular beach for people and dogs swimming. There looks to be a path over the hill to the less accessible outer lighthouse and looks like some nice deep water with some structure over the outside wall.
Castletown
Few marks in and around the harbour that are mentioned in the other guide, the lighthouse extends out into what looks like some real nice deep water.
As I said, I'm new to all this and I've struggled to find advice/guidance outside of locals telling lies about fish they haven't caught and vague posts online. I'm hoping this could be helpful to any new starters and I'll be returning to update as I do a bit more.
Any help/advice/guidance for a new starter would be appreciated, thanks all and tight lines.

Hello there,
I hope you're having an amazing weekend either enjoying all the activities that make you happy, or simply by just relaxing at home, and being lazy because why not, right? We all deserve to be lazy sometimes, but please don't neglect the classic Sunday routine... Yeah, I'm talking about cleaning, and doing laundry lol. But don't worry, I think we can enjoy a beautiful Sunday together.
About me:
Ok, let's start by putting a name and a face to whoever is writing this: My name is Miguel, and I'm just a 34 years old guy enjoying a peaceful, and simple life in a small town in Mexico. Here are a few pics because I know that for some people physical attraction is important. But keep in mind that those pics are all good angles and lightning, so maybe I'll have to send you a selfie after just waking up to show you my reality haha.
In terms of personality people describe me, primarily, as a really chatty, goofy, and curious person. But also as caring, supportive, empathic, and attentive. I value honesty, good communication, respect, loyalty, kindness, and empathy. So I'd love to find someone who's in the same channel because I'd love to receive what I can provide.
I consider myself a homebody type of person: I love to spend plenty of time at home watching Netflix, baseball games, interesting (they are random but I prefer to call them that) YT videos, sometimes listening to music, and I have been getting into reading recently (It helps me to sleep better). When I'm not at home I like to go for walks around town or spending time at the plaza or the park. On rare occasions I go to the city either to go to the movies, a baseball game, or just to buy clothes.
I have been slowly getting back into working out after some time dealing with injuries, so I'm taking things slowly, and being mindful about my body. Important to mention I workout at home, so if you're into that we can maybe be gym buddies. Another thing I'm getting back into learning new languages. On top of Spanish and English, I also speak Portuguese, a bit of French, and I'm currently starting with Norwegian (people say it's easy so why not).
Last but not least, animals are a really important part of my life, especially dogs, and even when I don't have pets of my own just yet, my family and I, we take care of a couple of stray dogs, and one feral cat (I'm pretty sure my parents love them more than they love me). So cute dog and cat pictures are always on the menu.
I hope the post is not too long, but I really wanted to share some random facts about myself just to make you laugh and learn a bit more about me.
Bonus:

• I went to a Catholic school for elementary (used to get in trouble with the nuns because I was always talking during class).
• I was a teenager obsessed with Karate Kid movies.
• I broke my wrist when I was kid while playing on a slide.
• I like to do the dishes after each meal.
• I adore rainy days (you know getting wet is good right? Ok, bad lewd joke haha).
• I'm scared of heights, the open sea, and roaches... But who's not afraid of roaches, right?
• Dating tv shows are my guilty pleasure (and Mean Girls movie too).
• I had a raw bean stuck inside my nose for two days when I was a kid.
• Used to love ghost stories as a kid, and also used to scare the shit out of my cousins and friends by reading those stories to them.
• I think LOTR are the best Christmas movies.
• I cry watching emotional movies.
• Pandas are my favorite animal.

Hello there,
I hope you're having an amazing weekend either enjoying all the activities that make you happy, or simply by just relaxing at home, and being lazy because why not, right? We all deserve to be lazy sometimes, but please dont neglect the classic Sunday routine... Yeah, I'm talking about cleaning, and doing laundry lol. But dont worry, I think we can enjoy a beautiful Sunday together.
About me:
Ok, let's start by putting a name and a face to whoever is writing this: My name is Miguel, and I'm just a 34 years old guy enjoying a peaceful, and simple life in a small town in Mexico. Here are a few pics because I know that for some people physical attraction is important. But keep in mind that those pics are all good angles and lightning, so maybe I'll have to send you a selfie after just waking up to show you my reality haha.
In terms of personality people describe me, primarily, as a really chatty, goofy, and curious person. But also as caring, supportive, empathic, and attentive. I value honesty, good communication, respect, loyalty, kindness, and empathy. So I'd love to find someone who's in the same channel because I'd love to receive what I can provide.
I consider myself a homebody type of person: I love to spend plenty of time at home watching Netflix, baseball games, interesting (they are random but I prefer to call them that) YT videos, sometimes listening to music, and I have been getting into reading recently (It helps me to sleep better). When I'm not at home I like to go for walks around town or spending time at the plaza or the park. On rare occasions I go to the city either to go to the movies, a baseball game, or just to buy clothes.
I have been slowly getting back into working out after some time dealing with injuries, so I'm taking things slowly, and being mindful about my body. Important to mention I workout at home, so if you're into that we can maybe be gym buddies. Another thing I'm getting back into learning new languages. On top of Spanish and English, I also speak Portuguese, a bit of French, and I'm currently starting with Norwegian (people say it's easy so why not).
Last but not least, animals are a really important part of my life, especially dogs, and even when I don't have pets of my own just yet, my family and I, we take care of a couple of stray dogs, and one feral cat (I'm pretty sure my parents love them more than they love me). So cute dog and cat pictures are always on the menu.
I hope the post is not too long, but I really wanted to share some random facts about myself just to make you laugh and learn a bit more about me.
Bonus:

• I went to a Catholic school for elementary (used to get in trouble with the nuns because I was always talking during class).
• I was a teenager obsessed with Karate Kid movies.
• I broke my wrist when I was kid while playing on a slide.
• I like to do the dishes after each meal.
• I adore rainy days (you know getting wet is good right? Ok, bad lewd joke haha).
• I'm scared of heights, the open sea, and roaches... But who's not afraid of roaches, right?
• Dating tv shows are my guilty pleasure (and Mean Girls movie too).
• I had a raw bean stuck inside my nose for two days when I was a kid.
• Used to love ghost stories as a kid, and also used to scare the shit out of my cousins and friends by reading those stories to them.
• I think LOTR are the best Christmas movies.
• I cry watching emotional movies.
• Pandas are my favorite animal.

I’ll be calling the vet tomorrow, just concerned. My dog recently had surgery on his front left paw pad to remove a cyst that was making walking difficult (not the leg with the issue now). A few weeks ago we noticed his front right forearm muscle is larger and very hard. Thought it could be the other was atrophied so this one was overbuilt.
As of middle of the day yesterday will not set the right leg down and limping. Won’t get up which is very abnormal for him. Have inspected and touched his leg all over and no obvious pain point. He has been to the vet weekly for the paw pad and before that a few months back had a liver infection that had our vet running all kinds of tests where nothing else was abnormal, and that was treated. It could be he physically hurt himself but the hard muscle is weird. Ang experience or thoughts appreciated for peace of mind. I’ve considered taking him to the emergency but he is a senior with recent relavent history so I’m thinking his regular vet is best.

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WaveOfWire Edits :D
- - - - -
Harrison’s vision was still foggy from waking up, several blinks failing to clear the tears from his drawn-out yawn. He just escaped the encompassing embrace of his four-armed guardian, leaving their shared bed for the bathroom, where he would have to say goodbye to his beard. If he was going to travel out of the settlement, a proper seal on his gas mask was a must.
It was a shame. The slow buildup of the hair over the last month or so was a representation of his growth in a way, building up alongside his experiences in this hellhole, be they life-threatening or informative. It was almost like wiping the slate clean, even if cutting some chin scruff didn’t really change anything at all—he’d never be able to forget anything he had seen here for as long as he lived.
And there was no telling how long that’d be.
The engineer sighed, splashing the lukewarm barracks water into his face from one of the many wall-attached sinks, allowing him to fully open his eyes and size up the damage done to his favorite black blood-and-sweat-stained t-shirt. It always stayed in good condition with washing and fabricator repairs, but somehow Shar’s talons always found a way to make small holes in it. She wasn’t trying to, but with the way she fully wrapped her arms around him, the tips of her sharp fingers sometimes ended up poking into the fabric and causing some cuts.
It was such a small issue that he never considered bringing it up to her. Plus, she’d probably do her whole guilty talon-tapping thing with puppy eyes and all… He shook his head, letting the stray beads of water on his face drip into the sink.
His palm ran across his beard while his other hand reached for the razor. There wasn’t any shaving cream or the like, but he’d make do. At least he had one of the proper tools for the job. He went into the task, the blade driving through his scruff, slopping off wide areas of his hair from jaw to chin for a few seconds before it was interrupted.
A short ‘woosh’ of the entrance caught his attention.
“Aww, you’re shavin’ it off?” Tracy commented dejectedly through a yawn, the lazy drawl reinforcing the fact that she just woke up. “Th’ beard was sorta growin’ on me.”
He eyed her through the mirror, his voice coming out in a dull tone. “Yeah. I feel the same.”
She squinted under the bright bathroom lights, rubbing an eye with her wrist as she walked up to the sink beside him and started her own morning routine. “Mmm… Womp womp. Why though?”
“Need it to get a gas mask seal,” he stated flatly, focusing on the task at hand.
The technician stopped momentarily, the gears turning in her head before she gave him a downcast frown. “You’re still set on going for the vehicle bay? You know we can just send some long-range drones out there, right?”
His short exhale echoed throughout the tiled room. The engineer closed his eyes, already mentally withdrawn from the conversation. They've had this discussion twice now. “It’s to be better prepared for any chemical, biological, or radiological surprises that might come up—not just for the excursion. Even more importantly, there’s no guarantee the module is in perfect shape. If I’m there in person, I’ll have the means to get through anything for those blueprints. Plus, it should only be four days, so the only issues we have are my beard and finding a way to protect the Malkrin from the radiation while we’re out.”
Tracy looked like she wanted to say something back, but bit her lip and cast her eyes down at the sink in front of her, twisting the knob before mumbling a quiet response. “I don’t think you need to protect them from radiation at all…”
“Hmm?”
She stared at him meekly, his dismissal of her worries having clearly dampened her mood. Guilt tugged at the back of his mind before her words further caught his interest. “I think they’re immune… or resistant or something. Radiation immunity is the whole reason they were sent here. You’ve added up the pieces together too, right?”
He stared down at her, running a hand through his hair with tired exasperation depressing his voice. “Tracy, I’ve been trying my hardest to just make it another day on this God-forsaken planet, not dig into their religion. So, no. I have not spent the time to add up the pieces. Enlighten me, please.”
“…S-Sorry. I just, you know, get a lot of time to think when working on drones, and Cera has been drawing all kinds of representations of these things.” Tracy paused, gesturing toward the engineer. “Okay, so you remember the whole backstory for why the Malkrin are on the mainland in the first place?”
“Pseudo-eugenics?” he commented dryly.
“Yeah.” She nodded, a sense of excitement leaking into her voice. “And what were the parameters of banishing someone?”
“Not getting sick from a rock.”
She eyed him feverishly, brows raised with a sudden zeal. “Aaaaand that rock represented the Sky Goddess’ wrath, which did what?”
“Uhhh…” He looked upward in thought, recalling his conversation with the paladin. “I think Shar mentioned nausea, vomiting, blisters, skin melting… off…” He froze, the pieces forming. “Wait, you don’t think…”
“I do. Those symptoms could mean a lot of things, but the anomaly field was the real kicker. You know that Shar just straight up didn’t have any lingering radiation effects or anything while you were nearly put… six feet under…” Her voice quieted momentarily, the speed of her speech outpacing her train of thought. “Sorry. Um… so, I was gonna say that she, uh, I mean the scanner mentioned she had damage from ‘alpha particles’ on her skin, but nothing else happened to her organs or anything.”
Harrison squinted at her for a moment, mouth slightly opened and prepared to give some alternative reasoning besides ‘immunity.’ Maybe her armor protected her from it? No… she didn’t even have full protection, radiation would have certainly gotten around her eyes or snout. What about her height? What if… No.
He didn’t just want to believe that somehow the Malkrin could just evade a force of nature, but he didn’t have any way of proving or disproving it on hand… Well, no humane way of testing it.
“I… guess?” the engineer grumbled, rubbing his eyes. “Even then, they still need armor and gas masks. The worst part of the radiation isn’t even the ionizing part. It’s the trace elements that get into your lungs and decay there. So it doesn’t hurt to use some CBRN filters.”
“Fair… but it’s interesting, isn’t it?” Tracy beamed. “Like, what kind of evolutionary factors lead to radiation immunity? Why do only some of the Malkrin have it and others don’t?”
The only real cause of radiation he could think of would be a massive nuclear proliferation of some sort. Maybe the anomalies? He ran a hand through his hair, pushing the lingering thoughts away. “I wouldn’t know. You could always ask Sebas to bring up some papers about it or generate some theories when you get the chance.”
“I probably will at some point… Maybe while I’m working.” She poked him in the bicep. “You’re still helping me with the mule, right?”
He bobbed his head, loose beard hairs itching up his chin. “Sure am. Gimme a bit to shave and test the fifty-cal ammo, then I’ll be free to assist.”
“Kay Kay.” The tradeswoman smiled and returned to the sink, washing her face.
- - - - -
“What the hell did you do to your shield?” a stunned Harrison asked the paladin, his face scrunching up in concern… and confusion.
Sharky proudly held up her once grungy orange shield with a smile, looking at its new… paint job? “Artificer Tracy has s—n to imbue my bulwark with the crest of the Sky Goddess herself! Observe the b—utiful wings that cover it!”
The engineer had just got back from setting up and overseeing the automated mule’s first excursion to the mine and back. It was a grueling task, requiring him to reset its pathing several times before it was able to make a round trip without input. Now, the maroon-skinned Malkrin in front of him had apparently gotten her massive aegis laser imprinted with crossing wings in the two hours or so he’d been gone. The areas between the black feather decals were colored with white and blue paints, contrasting with the new dark gray background.
A small weight was placed on his shoulder, Tracy’s forearm suddenly appearing atop it despite her being nearly a foot shorter than him. She beamed, staring up at him with all-too-proud eyes. “The scout regiment symbol looks good on it, right? Cera helped me with the laser engraving.”
“I…” His brows raised in perplexity. “The scout regiment?”
She shrugged, watching the paladin observe her shield from all sorts of different angles underneath the workshop’s light fixtures. “From an anime I used to watch. Men and women who were sent out to battle against massive titans for the greater good of the last settlement of humanity. Somewhat fitting, and fuckin’ awesome on her big-ass shield! Matches the bird’s wings on her armor too.”
He loudly sighed. “You wasted materials on imprinting wings on Shar’s shield? Really?”
“Hey!” Her brows furrowed into faux-annoyance, a smug grin betraying it. “It’s not a waste if you were never gonna use the paint we had on hand. Plus, we’ve got energy to spare with all the wind turbines and power cells you’ve been printing out.”
“Those paints probably could have been used for important designations… or something…” he grumbled.
“Doesn’t matter.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “Anyway, want me to put some scary teeth or something on that big ‘ol fist-sized muzzle break on your shotgun?”
“No?” he took an incredulous step away from her, letting her arm fall off his shoulder and to her side.
“It’s okay to admit you’re jealous of Shar’s awesome decals, bro,” Tracy teased, her smugness growing tenfold. “No need to get defensive.”
He groaned, figuring there wasn’t a point in staying to bicker with the tradeswoman, leaving the two vanity-focused females to their devices. He still had to figure out how to fabricate armor and gas masks for the Malkrin and himself.
“Hey! Where ya goin?” the technician called out, clearly disappointed that he hadn’t indulged in her taunts.
“Work.”
Short taps against the hard floor sounded out as she caught up to him. She leaned forward and curiously looked up at him as she walked, holding her hands behind the small of her back. “What kind? Can I help?”
“Just need to take some measurements and compare options. Right… Speaking of which.” He turned around and cupped his palms around his mouth. “Hey Shar! Get over here, I need your help!”
The addressed Malkrin perked up, snapping out of the small haze of admiring her new shield and happily making her way toward him. She stood at attention, her tail oscillating side to side. “What n—d do you have of me?”
“Just a quick task,” he briefed her, grabbing some measuring tape from his desk… that Tracy had decided was her new chair. He sighed and turned his attention back to the paladin. “Can I bother you to lean down for a few seconds while I take some measurements?”
“Of course. Pl—se, take your time.” She stepped forward and kneeled, her head brought down to his height. Her face wore that simple content look he was growing all too accustomed to by now—slightly vibrating frills, a little curl upward of her lips, and warmly glowing eyes.
He wasted no time getting to work, noting down the various distances around her jaws, snout, eyes, and ears, already piecing together how he could cobble together some gas mask designs to fit the dimensions. She sat there quietly, sometimes leaning into the accidental head scratches adorably. It contrasted heavily with the cold-sweat-inducing layers of razor-sharp teeth within her muzzle as he measured the angle her maw opened at, bringing an idle curiosity prodded his mind.
“Say, Shar, do your teeth grow back if they fall out?” he poked, absently observing the dozens of triangular bone protrusions in her mouth as he held the underside of her jaw.
“They do,” she confirmed, the way she was able to speak despite not moving her mouth still messing with his head. “Do y—rs not?”
“Nope. Only once.”
She attempted to tilt her head, but quickly returned it when it left the embrace of his palm. “Only once?”
He nodded. “Yeah, sometime a few years after birth. They’re replaced with the teeth I have now. Don’t get any new ones, so we gotta take care of ‘em.”
“Birth?” The Malkrin’s eyes widened. “You were not cr—ted as you are now?”
A shock of stress poured down his spine like a bucket of ice water, raising the hairs on his back. Fuck. How did he let that slip? He was supposed to have just appeared from the sky to her, right…? He was doing so well for so long in keeping that in. God, had he really gotten so comfortable with the paladin that he simply forgot what he was to her? His teeth clenched, a huff of air escaping his nostrils as he lightly shook his head. It was a bit too late to backtrack. It could be explained vaguely and brushed off, right?
“Yeah. I was born,” he affirmed flatly. His hand dropped away from Shar’s muzzle, her head falling an inch or two before she registered that she couldn’t keep leaning into his touch. “That’s it for measurements, so you’re free to leave.”
A frown carved through her small smile. “I… See… F—give me if I have brought up someth—g improper.”
His exhalation burned through his frustration at himself, his hand running through his hair to wash away the spike of anxiety. “You’re fine. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Th-Then I shall take my leave,” the massive alien stated softly.
He nodded, feeling a little regretful for pushing the kindhearted Malkrin away as he shuffled back to his desk. Tracy was still sitting atop it, giving him a disappointed reaction with low brows, forcing a pointed reaction from him. “What?”
The technician took a long inhale before shrugging. “Nothin’.”
“…Alright.”
The rolling chair squeaked lightly as he rested himself, his hands already going through the motions of opening the computer and the blueprint folders. There were plenty of tabs open of sensors and motor assemblies he hadn’t closed from the previous night. That wasn’t even mentioning the pile of notes he had on proper radio-protective methods, their corners bent from his frequent flipping through them.
“Soooo…” The short black-haired woman leaned forward from her perch atop the only clear part of his desk. “Can I help you with your ‘comparing options’ work, mister busyman?”
“Sure…” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, raising a brow. “How much do you know about armor?”
- - - - -
“No way. The back support is a must, so you can have extra plating over your shoulders and chest.” Tracy pointed out from her seat beside Harrison’s, all but forcing him to pause his Malkrin gas mask designing to give her argument his full attention.
He calmly took his hands off the mouse and keyboard. “A back support needs leg assistants, which means I’ll need to have at least a fifteen pound battery pack somewhere. Those kinds of exosuits are either all in or not at all. You can go full armor and engine, or lightweight protection and simple limb support.”
“So you’re just gonna go out there with normal armor? Just run-of-the-mill plates and gear? Those fucking things would go through that shit like butter! I know we can’t make synthetic muscle yet, but at least consider wearing something a bit more. Please. Even Sharky has heavy armor!”
Harrison pinched the bridge of his nose, his brows furrowed. “Do I look like a several-hundred kilogram monster of pure muscle to you? I’m more than willing to put on a few extra kilos for protection, but I’m trying to weigh the pros and cons of putting on more armor rather than more equipment. I’d rather fifty pounds of magazines and ammo than fifty pounds of armor. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah yeah… You and your storage space…” she mumbled, swiping through a few more images on her data pad when a familiar Mars-pattern suit showed up, catching his eye.
“Hey, wait, pull that one up…”
She rotated the tablet for him to see a little better—despite already being shoulder-to-shoulder with him. “This one? What’s so special about it?”
He analyzed the few pieces of equipment on screen, noting the rusty-orange and tan color scheme, the old Martian-American flag attached to its breastplate, and the iconic quad-nod integrated helmet. “Holy shit,” he whispered. “That’s… We have that in our blueprints?”
She raised a brow, clearly confused. “Whaddya mean?”
“That’s an Orbital Drop Ranger’s standard kit,” he stated slowly, a simmering sense of awe bubbling up—why the hell was it in their blueprints folder? “It was used during the Sino-Venusian incursion of southern Mars. It still has the Old Earth American flag embedded into it, so you know it’s pre twenty-two-hundred C.E.”
“Oh shit… Pre-St.Loual’s construction? This is ancient, then, huh? Would it be any good?” She leaned in closer to him, eying the tablet further.
“Does it have the assembly view of the armored pieces?”
“Mmhmm.” She tapped a few icons, showing an isometric, exploded view of all the parts and their individual components.
It was a piece of history alright. The armor was produced just about the time when Mars was connecting their orbital stations and ground colonies to work in tandem, allowing for specialized forces to be trained in space and launched anywhere across the planet from drop pods in mere minutes, leading to common nickname of ‘Minutemen’ given to the troopers. The suits were expertly designed to withstand the harsh environments of Mars and give the soldiers the ability to engage with enemy combatants for several days before extraction, though the adept units usually completed their objectives within twenty-four hours of their landing.
The helmet was very angular and blended in with the expected rocky terrain of Mars, each component taking on a sloped frontal design with rectangular prisms flowing behind—radio, breathing apparatus, and vision modules all sharing a sleek, yet bulky look in their own right. It reminded him of some in-atmosphere ships, with the overhanging visor above the quad-nod viewport being the only non-aerodynamic pieces.
The chest and legs were a bit different, following the design of late twenty-second-century operators with tan lightweight rigs, and ammunition pouches alongside armored plates that ran from the shoulders to wrists in segments. There was a rusty-orange undersuit beneath it all for the purpose of keeping air in, which required some sturdy polymer structures to ensure it didn’t rip. Then, of course, there were the classic shock-absorbing leg supports. They weren’t too far off what Tracy was asking about earlier, but these ones didn’t provide any assistance in moving with any motors—just straight-up structural reinforcements.
Hell, the blueprints on screen even had the mag-grip gloves used to scale domes, buildings, and satellites alike. There was no doubt that the Orbital Drop Rangers had some of the coolest equipment on Mars, especially considering that it was the last to keep the ‘operator’ look… It was such a shame the government decided the orb-like helmets and rounded bubble armors were more effective.
“Hey, you know what?” he asked the technician, a shot of excitement in his voice. “This might actually work out as a suitable armor replacement.”
She perked up, her brows raised. “Oh? Actually?”
He shrugged, trying to play off the smirk plastered on his face. “Wouldn’t need a horrible amount of changes to work for our purposes. Just need to remove the oxygen converter on the back and put a gas mask replacement in the front portion of the helmet. Plus, we could probably get rid of the airtight aspect and just keep the undersuit for scratch protection. And, most importantly, it’s radio-protective.”
“Meets all your criteria, then?” She tapped through some UI interfaces, sending the armor assembly to Harrison’s monitor, which he accepted quickly.
“Sure does.” He readily clicked through the different parts and systems to differentiate what needed to be kept. “We have the resources for it, and all it needs is a layer of cadmium plus a few replacements. Definitely doesn’t need the heads-up display since there’s nothing for it to interact with either, so that’ll save on print time and materials too. Shame I cut up the beard… the Orbital Drop Rangers were allowed to have some cool ones.”
The tradeswoman scooted in even closer, practically resting her chin on his shoulder and watching him sift through the working parts. “Yeah, rest in peace, beard. Still, your armor situation is solved. What about the Malkrin?”
“I’ll be working on their gas masks, then I was thinking I’d use another one of your modeled armors for their protection since they’ve helped Shar a hell of a lot. Do you have any recommendations?”
“Mmmmm…” She looked up in thought, a smile forming along her cheeks. “You know, until we can make them any real power armor, I was thinking just some regular phobos-pattern armor. Could color ‘em based on their skin too.”
“Phobos-pattern armor?” he hummed to himself, clicking through the folder to find it. It was just as bulky as Shar’s armor, except it appeared a good bit smoother, with more rounded edges compared to her horns-and-spike-lined gauntlets and pauldrons. The blue suit Tracy was proposing didn’t have the four-armed protection compared to the chaos version, but it certainly had the same thickness of its metal plates. “Looks like it’d work pretty well. Does it have any electric components or anything?”
“No…” she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Not so good with designing that stuff in the modeling program I did the WarHarberd stuff in. Could add in more sophisticated leg support or whatever if you gave me time, but for now it’s just maneuverable slabs of alloy.”
“I think that’s all we need for the time being.” He shrugged. “I just don’t want the others to be vulnerable to getting cut up by the little spider-crab grunts.”
“As long as it works for what we need, then.” Her elbow poked into his arm. “Here, how about I take care of that armor stuff while you finish up the gas masks? They need the extra arm slots too, yeah?”
“I’d actually appreciate that a lot.” He offered her a back-palm fist bump, to which she eagerly took, taking on a grin that he mirrored. “Thanks, Trace.”
“Don’t mention it. I wish work was always just doing my hobbies like this.”
\= = = = =
A grand pylon of metal construction taller than the mightiest female’s frills stood atop the beach. Blue-scaled surfaces extended near the foot of the tower, gathering the power of the sun itself. The lattice layering upon their sides hid the weaving wires and Goddess-blessed machinery. A staff the same as Shar’khee’s peeked from its top, the glass eye on its side given a wide view of the sandy environment it resided on, the defense it now provided becoming absolute. The aura it exuded as a creature of pure metal was awe-inspiring, its mere presence a showing of Harrison’s might and domain.
No abhorrent would dare step foot upon the meadow’s rolling hills, for such a mistake would ensure their immediate execution for encroaching upon his settlement—the ‘fifty-cal-e-bur’ bullet is not one to rend any beast with only simple injuries, especially with three hundred of them available at once.
The maroon-skinned paladin treaded up the hill, having completed her task of setting up the last turret. The craftsman, the juvenile, and the lumberjack had also assisted with its setup, pulling their weight in both mind and muscles to piece the components together. They completed a few others around the modules already, but this one was done without the star-sents’ oversight. The four Malkrin had practiced and learned enough to be entrusted with such.
The idea of Harrison having enough confidence in them sparked much conviction in the group, each of them more than eager to prove him right—none more so than Shar’khee herself, of course.
She finally returned to the workshop, the sun’s last rays pressing into the back of her head and frills as she crouched beneath the doorway, a small gnawing hunger for dinner digging within her stomach. The cacophony of machines soon reached her ears, the sounds of their efforts almost working in tandem with the strange melodic music playing from an unseen source above her.
Tracy was in her corner, working on new beings of metal as always. The bright lights above were turned off in favor of smaller, warmer emplacements atop her surrounding circle of desks. A hard worker, that star-sent was, though both of them were like that, the paladin supposed. Their kind was certainly intent on keeping their hands busy.
Shar’khee passed through the snakes of machines, finding her way to Harrison’s desk with an increasingly strong sway in her tail. He was working with a black object with light gray accents. It appeared to be partially flexible, yet firm in other places—notably, a large glass fixture on one side of it. There was very little she could make out about its purpose, but with the delicate touches he applied, it appeared to be quite important.
Her tongue clicked twice, garnering the attention of the Creator. He paused his work, swiveling his chair to face her and revealing a long blue-leaf jutting from his mouth. Her male appeared quite tired, but his voice did not show it.
“Oh, Shar, what’s up? Did y’all need any help with the last turret?”
She shook her head. “We do not n—d such, for it is completed. Would you care to join me for din—r? The rest of the settlem—t is enjoying their meals as of now. ”
He raised his brows before looking back at the myriad of notes, tools, and materials atop his cluttered desk. “Well, I’m kinda busy, but…” His jaw rolled around in contemplation. “Here. Let’s just test this thing real quick.”
Her head tilted. “What sh—l we be testing?”
“Your gas mask… er, well, a Malkrin gas mask. Kneel down real quick, I’ll run ya through putting it on.” He stepped off his chair and grabbed the equipment, uncomfortably rotating his shoulders. How long was he sitting on that chair? The male approached her and she did as requested. “I had the sewist help me with some of the design. Never considered you guys would ever wear hats.”
She nodded. “It is unh—lthy for one to have their frills touched by the sun for so long. Adequate shade is a must, and trees are not so p—valent along farm land.”
“Mmhmm. Shame this is just a mask… Alright, this might be a bit uncomfortable, but it’ll do the job.”
He stepped forward and slipped the black apparel onto her snout, pushing it over her face until it pressed against the sides of her head. A cool material rubbed against her skin, locking her into its embrace. It was encapsulating, surrounding her wholly.
Her breaths strengthened as she allowed the mask to cover her, a short shock of nervousness riding down her spine. She was only now registering how vulnerable she was, allowing him to possibly suffocate her… but she stayed put, keeping her four palms rested within her lap as he continued to apply the straps around her ears. She would allow it. She trusted him with her life. She would not falter.
The cords around the back of her head were tight, a few of which went along both sides of her frills, pushing up against their sides. He kept going, ensuring a ‘seal,’ but it was getting much too—
Pop.
A lightning bolt of pain rolled throughout the top of her head, sending her reeling. It stung for the briefest of moments, but its effects rebounded through her entire body, short sparks pulsing from its origin. She felt nothing but its agonizing hold for several more moments as the rest of her body caught up.
When her eyes opened once more, she found herself on the floor and staring at the ceiling. The star-sent rushed to her side, appearing to ask many questions while looking over her head, but all she heard was a piercing ring and the gruff vocalization he made whenever he shared his intent. No words reached her mind, only the now faint phantom pains from where her frills met her skull. It put everything in a haze, her eyes barely settling on her dearest’s, despite how nauseous she had become.
His deft hands quickly worked to loosen the straps, practically ripping them off until his voice suddenly reached her, like breaching the surface of the water. His voice was deep, attempting to be calculating, yet despite his calmly created stoic demeanor… she could feel his panic, his sheer worry almost flooding her senses through practiced medical queries. She slowly sat up on the floor, holding herself with two arms while the other pair quelled the kneeling male, assuring him that she was alright with their weight resting atop his shoulders.
“I am well, dearest Harrison. Do not fret for me. The straps were simply too tight.”
His anxious breaths barely slowed, narrowly allowing for his exclamation. “Too tight? Shar, you practically blacked out!”
“Too tight upon my frills, I mean. There was a pain there for a few moments, but it has passed,” she returned calmly, softly kneading his stiff shoulders with the joints of her digits.
He exhaled sharply, matching her gaze with regret in his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Shar. I should’ve known. I was just trying to see how…” He paused, resting his palm atop her forearm. “Nevermind. I just… Are you alright? Should I get you to the med bay for a quick scan?”
“I do not believe that to be necessary, no.”
His guard finally fell. “If… If you say so. Guess I have to redo the straps then. Definitely gotta make sure they’re not pressing on your frills like that.”
She smiled, appreciating his dedication. “Would you like my assistance?”
“As long as you don’t have anything else to do.” He shrugged, his shoulders barely moving upward against her massaging hands.
“There is no greater wish of mine than to be by your side,” she stated warmly.
He was frozen, the soft ministrations of his digits along her arm slowly stopping in contrast to the red flush growing from his cheeks to his ears. The crack of a smirk on his face finally with a short, heart-warming chuckle brought the statue back to life after a few moments. “You know… that’s probably the sweetest thing I’ve heard for years.”
Her brows raised in subtle surprise at his response. “It… was not intended to be such… However… you are more than welcome. You must understand by now that I am speaking only the truth.”
The two of them sat there in relative silence amongst the desks and machines; her half laying on the ground with her hands on his shoulder, and him on his knees by her side, a singular hand running up and down her comparatively large forearm. She felt… weak, in a way. A vibrating sensation rummaged through her stomach, attempting to pull her muscles and nerves astray.
It was warm, just like his palm, each motion of his hand sending lightning through her skin. The upward curl of her lips into her cheeks was suddenly an insurmountable force, incapable of being put down by a thousand females. There was a tear within her to either look away or… close the distance, and she suddenly found looking anywhere but his curious green eyes to be a waste of her time.
Her talons wrapped further around his shoulders and his back, ever so slightly bringing him into her embrace—
“A-HEM.” A voice cut the moment down to its knees. “The fuck happened here?” Tracy’s swift interjection caused the paladin to flinch backwards, allowing her to see that Harrison’s other hand had been hovering right beneath her snout. The female star-sent wore a furrowed brow and crossed arms, looking down at them. “I heard a crash and came over. Are you two alright?”
Harrison cleared his throat, ever-so-subtly scooting away from the paladin. “Uh, yeah. Shar fell because, um, I tied the gas mask a lil’ too tight.”
The artificer wore an expression that told of her disbelief. “She fell because of the gas mask?”
“It was something with her frills.” The male returned with a shrug, picking himself off the floor before offering the paladin a hand up.
She took it, despite not requiring it, and wiped off some loose dust from her pants. The three of them quickly returned to work soon after, with both her and the black-haired star-sent joining Harrison in his quest to produce the gas mask. She was much less… What did the Creator call it? Bubbly? Yes, that was it. She was much less bubbly than usual, sometimes sending a cold yet emotionless glare toward Shar’khee… Nevertheless, the two females offered input on the design and applied help where they could, eventually creating the final piece of equipment.
Tracy commented on its looks, apparently drawing inspiration from the Leviathan itself, as she believed it to be like that of a ‘Sea Dragon’s.’ The maw-covering portion held two cylindrical canisters on the adjacent sides, the bottom portion being capable of distention, so that the user’s mouth may open somewhat. Its motion created what the female star-sent believed to be ‘the coolest teeth design on a mask’ she’d ever seen with how the separation formed alternating triangles.
The monster-like appearance was furthered by her own frills and horns that peeked out from behind the mask. That was not even mentioning the see-through visor that formed a malicious glare of sharp brows. The paladin looked through a hand-held mirror, finding it difficult to disagree with the look. She could imagine the horror on a fisherwoman’s face as such a terrifying creature approached from the depths.
And yet, despite its nightmarish visage, it was apparel designed to save lives, not take them—much unlike the unassuming metal rods that spewed fire with a mere flick of a lever. Curious indeed. The star-sents were seemingly never out of surprises. They even spoke of grand robots and firearms larger than Shar’khee herself as possible future projects.
Only time could tell what machinations of alloy would be birthed from their hands.
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