In the ever-evolving world of search engine optimization (SEO), understanding and implementing the latest strategies is crucial for staying ahead of the competition. One such strategy is semantic SEO. This approach focuses on the meaning behind the words and phrases users type into search engines, rather than just the keywords themselves. But what exactly is semantic SEO, and why is it important? Let’s dive in.

The Basics of Semantic SEO

At its core, SEO is about optimizing content for the intent behind a user’s search query. Instead of focusing solely on specific keywords, semantic SEO considers the context and relationships between words to provide more relevant and comprehensive search results. This approach aligns with how search engines like Google are becoming increasingly sophisticated in understanding and processing language.

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How Semantic SEO Works

Semantic SEO leverages advanced algorithms that understand natural language and context. These algorithms can interpret synonyms, related concepts, and even the sentiment behind queries. By optimizing your content with a semantic approach, you help search engines better understand the context of your content, which can lead to higher rankings and more relevant traffic.

Why Are Semantic Keywords Important in SEO?

Semantic keywords are crucial because they reflect the way people naturally speak and search. Here are a few reasons why they matter:

1. Enhanced User Experience: Content that addresses the user’s intent provides a better experience, which can lead to longer site visits and lower bounce rates.
2. Improved Search Engine Understanding: By using semantic keywords, you help search engines grasp the broader context of your content, making it easier for them to match it with relevant queries.
3. Higher Rankings: Content optimized for semantic search is more likely to rank higher because it aligns with the sophisticated algorithms of modern search engines.
4. Increased Visibility: Semantic keywords can help your content appear in a wider range of search results, capturing traffic from various related queries.

The Role of Structured Data in Semantic SEO

Structured data plays a significant role in semantic SEO. It helps search engines understand the context of your content by providing explicit clues about the meaning behind it. Implementing structured data, such as schema markup, can enhance your site’s search engine visibility by enabling rich snippets and other enhanced search results features.

Semantic SEO Tools

Several tools can help you implement a semantic SEO strategy effectively. Here are some of the most popular ones:

1. Google’s Natural Language API: This tool analyzes text to understand the structure and meaning behind it.
2. SEMrush: Offers features to identify semantic keywords and analyze content for semantic SEO.
3. Ahrefs: Provides insights into related keywords and their context, helping you optimize your content.
4. MarketMuse: Uses AI to suggest content improvements and identify semantic gaps in your writing.
5. Surfer SEO: Analyzes top-ranking pages to help you optimize your content semantically.

Implementing Semantic Keywords in Your SEO Strategy

Incorporating semantic keywords into your SEO strategy involves several steps:

1. Keyword Research: Start by identifying primary keywords related to your topic. Then, use tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to find related terms and phrases.
2. Content Creation: Write content that naturally incorporates these keywords. Focus on creating comprehensive, in-depth articles that cover the topic from multiple angles.
3. Use Synonyms and Related Terms: Don’t just repeat the same keywords. Use synonyms and related terms to create a more natural and varied text.
4. Optimize for User Intent: Consider what users are looking for when they type a query. Aim to answer their questions and solve their problems.
5. Structured Data: Implement schema markup to help search engines understand the context of your content.

Case Study: Successful Semantic SEO

Let’s look at a hypothetical case study to understand the impact of semantic SEO. Imagine a travel blog looking to increase its organic traffic. By adopting a semantic SEO strategy, they might do the following:

1. Identify User Intent: Understand that users searching for “best travel destinations” might also be interested in “affordable travel destinations” or “family-friendly travel spots.”
2. Create Comprehensive Guides: Develop detailed guides covering various aspects of travel destinations, including costs, activities, and family-friendly options.
3. Use Structured Data: Implement schema markup to highlight key information, such as location, price range, and user reviews.
4. Monitor and Adjust: Continuously use tools like Google Analytics and SEMrush to monitor performance and adjust the content strategy as needed.

By focusing on the semantic relationships between keywords and understanding user intent, the travel blog can attract a broader audience and rank higher in search results.

Common Misconceptions About Semantic SEO

There are several misconceptions about semantic SEO that can hinder its effective implementation:

1. It’s Just About Using Synonyms: While synonyms are part of it, semantic SEO is more about understanding and addressing user intent.
2. It Replaces Traditional SEO: Semantic SEO complements rather than replaces traditional SEO practices. Both are essential for a successful strategy.
3. Only Big Sites Can Benefit: Any site, regardless of size, can implement semantic SEO to improve its rankings and visibility.

Future of Semantic SEO

The future of semantic SEO looks promising as search engines continue to evolve. Here are some trends to watch:

1. Voice Search: With the rise of voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, optimizing for natural language queries will become even more crucial.
2. AI and Machine Learning: These technologies will further enhance search engines’ ability to understand context and intent.
3. Visual and Video Search: As visual and video content becomes more prevalent, understanding the semantics of these formats will be key.

Conclusion

Semantic SEO is a powerful strategy that goes beyond traditional keyword optimization. By focusing on the meaning and context behind search queries, you can create more relevant and comprehensive content that meets user intent. Implementing semantic keywords, using structured data, and leveraging advanced SEO tools can significantly enhance your site’s search engine visibility and rankings. As search engines continue to evolve, staying ahead with semantic SEO will be essential for maintaining a competitive edge in the digital landscape.

FAQs on Semantic SEO

1. What is the difference between traditional SEO and semantic SEO?

Answer: Traditional SEO focuses on optimizing content around specific keywords to improve search engine rankings. It involves practices like keyword stuffing, backlink building, and meta tag optimization. In contrast, semantic SEO emphasizes the meaning and context behind keywords, understanding user intent, and creating content that addresses those intents comprehensively. It uses related terms, synonyms, and structured data to help search engines understand the broader context of the content.

1. How can semantic SEO improve my website’s search rankings?

Answer: Semantic SEO can enhance your website’s search rankings by aligning your content with how search engines understand and process language. By optimizing for user intent and context, you create more relevant and comprehensive content. This improves the user experience, leading to longer visits and lower bounce rates, which are positive signals to search engines. Additionally, using structured data helps search engines better understand and display your content in rich snippets, further boosting visibility.

1. What tools are best for implementing semantic SEO?

Answer: Several tools can assist with semantic SEO implementation. Some of the most popular include:

• Google’s Natural Language API: Analyzes text to understand structure and meaning.
• SEMrush: Identifies semantic keywords and analyzes content for optimization.
• Ahrefs: Provides insights into related keywords and their contexts.
• MarketMuse: Uses AI to suggest content improvements and identify semantic gaps.
• Surfer SEO: Analyzes top-ranking pages to help optimize content semantically.

1. How do I find semantic keywords for my content?

Answer: To find semantic keywords, start with thorough keyword research using tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Google Keyword Planner. Identify your primary keywords and then look for related terms, synonyms, and variations. Analyze search queries and user intent to understand what users are looking for. Tools like Answer the Public can also provide insights into common questions and topics related to your primary keywords, helping you identify semantic keywords that align with user intent.

1. Why is structured data important in semantic SEO?

Answer: Structured data is crucial in semantic SEO because it provides search engines with explicit information about the content on your website. By using schema markup, you can help search engines understand the context and relationships within your content. This can enhance your search engine visibility by enabling rich snippets, knowledge graphs, and other enhanced search results features. Structured data helps ensure that your content is accurately represented in search results, making it easier for users to find and engage with your content.
In the ever-evolving world of search engine optimization (SEO), understanding and implementing the latest strategies is crucial for staying ahead of the competition. One such strategy is semantic SEO. This approach focuses on the meaning behind the words and phrases users type into search engines, rather than just the keywords themselves. But what exactly is semantic SEO, and why is it important? Let’s dive in.

So, a few months back, I posted the outline to my King in Yellow inspired Strixhaven campaign. Eight months and 20ish sessions later, we are finishing our First Year and SO much has happened. I am really happy with how things have fallen into place, and surprised even by how poetic some accidental events were. So, in these 22 sessions since I last updated, my players started to make friends with different groups of students, and really feel like they belonged here in Strixhaven. They have developed their own plans for their school years, and what they want to study. Meanwhile, bad things were happening. After investigating the mimic attack at the Biblioplex, they found out that the librarian who was on duty that day had disappeared. They searched for her, and searched for the origin of the Eldritch balm. They discovered that everything was being shipped from the Radiant Citadel (my campaign takes place there) into central Campus, specifically into a place known as the Tower of the Circle of Eight (Mordekainen and friends). There they found the lost librarian, being possessed by a mindflayer brain parasite. They tried to save her but ended up having a boss fight with a mind flayer. After that, things cooled down for a bit, and they pursued their own plot lines for a bit: my tiefling sorcerer got kidnapped by religious freaks hell-bent on using his magic blood to purify the world and they had to rescue him. They went on a two session trip to the Feywild, were they witnessed the War of the Seasons and found out what had happened to the other grimalkin (the race of my cat-like warlock). They robbed the Afterlife casino (from the Keys to the Golden Vault) trying to get the logbooks of the criminal organization that transported the Eldritch balm. Then, they discovered a strange door in the Sedgemoor, locked with an arcane contraption, which (they don't know it yet) holds the laboratory of the secret villain of the arc: Mavinda Sharpbeak. The last two sessions were really intense as well, because it started with them following some clues from their backgrounds (to keep it short: one of their mentors had assisted Strixhaven and gave them a list of people they could visit and talk to, and one of them had been murdered. So they investigated the murder) and ended up right up in the midst of the Cult of the Eldritch Eye (the Vecna adventure that just came out) having to fight the cultists and save one of their own from being taken as a thrall. Today we have our next session, which will be all about the End of the Year fair and the School Play (which, of course, will be a small reprised version of the King in Yellow play) while they have to heist the key to that door from Captain Dapple wing's manor AND give an end of the year presentation. All in all, really fun stuff.

Actually, I'm still on my last sem of my sophomore year, pero I do think I'll graduate Magna.
For context, I am an Educ student na consistently pasok sa President's list every sem since freshman. And to tell you honestly, I have two older brothers' taking the same course as me, and even same major. Sunod-sunod yung birth order namin kaya pati sa college sunod-sunod kami. Graduating na yung panganay, cum laude sana pero may grade siyang 2.75 sa isa sa mga subjects niya nung freshman kaya 'di siya qualified. Yung pangalawa naman, Junior na ngayon and top of his class, expected na rin na cum laude base on his grades. Not that I assume na mataas na agad yung makukuha niyang grades sa senior year pero from what I experience sa school na 'to, they take care of potential Latin students and they do not give low grades sa mga graduating students.
Now back to me. It all started nang maging highest ako sa battery exam sa buong College of Education sa aming Univ(1st out of about 300 students). Since then, I've been hearing rumors na they have high hopes na magiging Magna ako. I brushed it off kasi I'm about to become sophomore pa lang thinking that there are a lot of things that can happen. Pero now, I do thinks it's actually possible and I am not happy about it.
Why? I don't like the pressure that comes with it. I have an avoidance behavior din kasi. I'd rather maging cum laude na lang with the others kaysa magstand-out as Magna. I don't believe in manifesting, napaka-pessimistic ko kayang tao. Kaya for me to think na magiging Magna ako is not that easy, backed with facts kaya to. (if I keep up my current academic performance)
I'm not saying na madali mag-educ kasi if you really don't like teaching, magagaya ka sa'kin na all I think about is "ayoko magturo, ayoko ng bata, ayoko na."
I like having high grades, being the top of the class, highest sa exams, at pinakapogi sa room (kakaunti lang kaming boys). Pero yung maging Magna, plss lang wag na.

Background: I am a 23 year old who graduated college last year in family science. Prior to this, I was a special ed major, but did not qualify to continue the program due to some weird circumstances. After I graduated, an opportunity to work as a special ed teacher in a high school (co-teaching) popped up (contractual), so I took it. I liked it, but admin seemed to not, and my contract was not renewed.
I’m at the point where I have no clue what I want to do with my life. Teaching failed, and I truly don’t know if I was ever even good at it. I think my anxiety got in the way of a lot of things. Now I need to find a new idea for a career. Any suggestions are appreciated. I would still like to do something that helps people, even if it is indirect.
Things I enjoyed as a special ed teacher: - developing IEPs - creating materials for classes - grading - paperwork - reading and analyzing psych and educational evaluations - small group/one-on-one work with students - building relationships with students
Things I struggled with: - teaching in front of the class - Speaking at IEP meetings. I had to make a script for every single meeting, and always froze up when things went wrong and a parent got upset

If this violates rules on this sub feel free to let me know and I will delete the post. I am really just looking for insight from those already practicing, as getting insight from other applicants seems a bit like the “blind leading the blind.”
At this point, I have narrowed down my offers to the following:
UGA - full tuition scholarship, plus Graduate Assistant position paying $10,000/year during 2L and 3L years. If I contribute a large portion of my SA pay towards COL debt, I could leave law school with roughly $0-$20,000 in law school debt.
GULC - 50% merit scholarship, which, after contributing a large portion of SA pay to debt would leave me with approximately $200k in law school debt upon graduation.
I am a 30+ year old with govt, entrepreneurship (co-founded a company), and legal career experience. I am also very focused on a career in health law. My preferred career path would be 2-3 years in BL, then federal government (FTC health group potentially) or public interest practice, eventually leading to either starting my own public interest health law practice or, if possible (I know it is very competitive) pursuing legal academia.
To provide added context:
GULC has one of the best set of programmatic health law resources in the country (although a large student body makes assessing these slightly more challenging), as well as the ability to extern with a federal agency in DC during the academic year.
Conversely, working as a Graduate Assistant at UGA would provide valueable experience within the world of academia. UGA has also already put me into contact with a health law professor whom I respect, although I am not sure if she would actually be the one I would be working with as a GA, but it is possible.
So, the question is:
Is GULC worth $200k more for a better chance at BL and a name that will more easily open doors to BL, academia (although difficult anywhere outside the T-3 + NYU), and would provide better name recognition for later career moves? Also, does the school you went to even hold weight when you are making career moves later on in your career?
I would be happy to hear anyone’s thoughts on the issue. Thanks so much for sharing your insight.

Hey Hey the names Kacper, yes like casper the friendly ghost XD I'm a college student studying English philology but I do voice acting as a side thingy, so hope that means I have a cool voice XDDD
in my free time I like playing video games and would be great if we could play together, especially if you can carry 🙏 I also listen to a TON of music, it's a problem at this point XDD (i had 83k minuteson my spotify wrapped, for the love of god send help). I also really enjoy stuff like writing, reading, painting, watching movies, anime, reading manga, working out and making sculptures out of clay
As for me and my personality, I'll quote my bestfriend here "he's a chill and funny", now you may be asking yourself: was he held at gunpoint and made to say that and yes he was XDD, dont worry he's fine...probably XD, as for looks I have short dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, along with glasses, I'm also average weight and I'm 189cm tall and according to another friend I have a ✨️panache✨️ voice, what does that mean? I have no clue but their pretty looney so I think its good? XDDD
I would prefer someone from 19-25, location doesn't really matter to me, someone charismatic and bold would be great but definitely not neccesary, but most importantly is someone i can have a fun relaxed, comfortable conversation, and not one where im carrying the whole thing like im sisyphus and as for my type I prefer guys like femboys.
I would like to make this more indepth but I'm currently but I'm at work and customers keep coming in, I might need to throw a shoe to keep them at bay 💀 XDD hope to hear from you soon!

Jacob Boehme (or as some say Behmen) was a German mystic and spiritualist who began to write in the 17th century. In his works he inserted a picture of an angel blowing a trumpet, from which issued these words: "To all Christians, Jews, Turks and Heathens, to all the nations of the earth this Trumpet sounds for the last time." In truth it was a curious emblem, but he, the author, was a mystic, and as all experience shows, the path of the mystic is a strange one. It is, as Job says, a path which the "vulture knoweth not." Even as a bird cleaves the eternal ether, so the mystic advances on a path nor ordinarily manifest, a way which must be followed with care, because like the Great Light, which flashes forth and leaves only traces when it returns again to its centre, only indications are left for those who come after seeking the same spiritual wisdom. Yet by these "traces," for such they are called in the Kabbala, the way can be discerned, and the truth discovered.
Boehme was poor, of common birth, and totally devoid of ordinary education. He was only a shoemaker. Yet from the mind and out of the mouth of this unlettered man came mighty truths.
It would be idle to inquire into the complications of Karma which condemned him to such a life as his appeared to be. It must have been extremely curious, because though he had grasped the truth and was able to appreciate it, yet at the same time he could not give it out in its perfect form. But he performed his work, and there can be no manner of doubt about his succeeding incarnation. As Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita, he has been already or will shortly be "born into a family of wise devotees"; and thence "he will attain the highest walk."
His life and writings furnish another proof that the great wisdom-religion―the Secret Doctrine―has never been left without a witness. Born a Christian, he nevertheless saw the esoteric truth lying under the moss and crust of centuries, and from the Christian Bible extracted for his purblind fellows those pearls which they refused to accept. But he did not get his knowledge from the Christian Scriptures only. Before his internal eye the panorama of real knowledge passed. His interior vision being open he could see the things he had learned in a former life, and at first not knowing what they were was stimulated by them to construe his only spiritual books in the esoteric fashion. His brain took cognizance of the Book before him, but his spirit aided by his past, and perchance by the living guardians of the shining lamp of truth, could not but read them aright.
His work was called "The Dawning of the Eternal Day." In this he endeavors to outline the great philosophy. He narrates the circumstances and reasons for the angelic creation, the fall of its chief three hierarchies, and the awful effects which thereupon fell upon Eternal Nature. Mark this, not upon man―for he was not yet―but upon the eternal Nature, that is BRAHM. Then he says that these effects came about by reason of the unbalancing of the seven equipoised powers of forces of the Eternal Nature or Brahm. That is to say, that so long as the seven principles of Brahm were in perfect poise, there was no corporeal or manifested universe. So in the Bhagavad-Gita we find that Krishna tells Arjuna that "after the lapse of a thousand ages (or Night of Brahm) all objects of developed matter come forth from the non-developed principle. At the approach of that day they emanate spontaneously." (Bhagavad-Gita, Chap. 8. ) Such is the teaching of the Secret Doctrine.
And again Boehme shows the duality of the Supreme Soul. For he says in his work "Psychologia Vera cum Supplemento" that these two eternal principles of positive and negative, the yea and the nay of the outspeaking Supreme One, together constitute eternal nature,―not the dark world alone; which is termed the "root of nature,―" the two being as it were combined in perfect indissoluble union.
This is nothing else but Purush and Prakriti, or taken together, what is referred to in the Bhagavad-Gita where it is said: "But there is another invisible, eternal existence, superior to this visible one, which does not perish when all things perish. It is called invisible and indivisible. This is my Supreme Abode."
Clearly the Supreme Abode could never be in Purush alone, nor in Prakriti alone, but in both when indissolubly united.
This scheme is adhered to all through this great philosopher's works, no matter whether he is speaking of the great Universe or macrocosm, or of its antitype in man or microcosm. In "De Tribus Principiis" he treats of the three principles or worlds of Nature, describing its eternal birth, its seven properties, and the two co-eternal principles; and furthermore in "De Triplici Vita Hominis" he gives the three-fold life of man from which the seven is again deduced.
In "De Electione Gratia" he goes into a subject that often proves a stumbling block to many, and that is the inevitableness of evil as well as of good. From this it is easy to pass to a contemplation of one of the difficult points in occultism as shown in the Secret Doctrine, that nothing is evil, and that even if we admit evil or wickedness in man, it is of the nature of the quality or guna, which in the Bhagavad-Gita is denominated raja―foulness or bad action. Even this is better than the indifferent action that only leads to death. Even from wickedness may and does come forth spiritual life, but from indifferent action comes only darkness, and finally death.
Krishna says in Bhagavad-Gita, Chap. IV: "There are three kinds of action: first, that which is of the nature of Satyam, or true action; second, that which is of the nature of Raja, or bad action; third, that which is of the nature of Tamas, or indifferent action." He then says: "Although thou wert the greatest of all offenders, thou shalt be able to cross the gulf of sin in the bark of spiritual wisdom"; and a little farther on "The ignorant and man without faith, whose spirit is full of doubt, is lost and cannot enjoy either world." And in another chapter in describing Himself, he says that he is not only the Buddha, but also is the most evil of mankind or the Asura.
This is one of the most mystical parts of the whole secret doctrine. While Boehme has touched on it sufficiently to show that he had a memory of it, he did not go into the most occult details. It has to be remembered that the Bhagavad-Gita, and many other books treating on the Secret Doctrine, must be regarded from seven points of view; and that imperfect man is not able to look at it from the centre, which would give the whole seven points at once.
Boehme wrote about thirty different treatise, all of them devoted to great subjects, portions of the Secret Doctrine.
Curiously enough the first treated of the "Dawn of the Eternal Day," and the second was devoted to an elucidation of "The Three Principles of Man." In the latter is really to be found a sevenfold classification similar to that which Mr. Sinnett propounded in "Esoteric Buddhism."
He held that the greatest obstacle in the path of man is the astral or elementary power, which engenders and sustain this world.
Then he talks of "tinctures," which we may call principles. According to him there are two principles ones, the watery, and the igneous. These ought to be united in Man; and they ardently seek each other continually, in order to be identified with Sophia or Divine Wisdom. Many Theosophists will see in this a clue not only to the two principles―or tinctures―which ought to be united man, but also to a law which obtains in many of the phenomena of magic. But even if I were able, I should not speak on this more clearly.
For many inquirers the greatest interest in these works will be found in his hypothesis as to the birth of the material Universe. On the evolution of man from spirit into matter he has much more than I could hope to glance at. In nearly all of it he was outlining and illustrating the Secret Doctrine. The books indicated are well worthy of study not only by Western but also by Eastern metaphysicians.
Let us add a few sentences to support this hypothesis from Count Saint Martin, who was a devoted student of these works.
"Jacob Boehme took for granted the existence of an Universal Principle; he was persuaded that everything is connected in the immense chain of truths, and that the Eternal Nature reposed on seven principles or bases, which he sometimes calls powers, forms, spiritual wheels, sources, and fountains, and that those seven bases exist also in this disordered material nature, under constraint. His nomenclature, adopted for these fundamental relations, ran thus: The first astringency, the second gall or bitterness, the third anguish, the fourth fire, the fifth light, the sixth sound, and the seventh he called BEING or the thing itself."
The reader may have begun to think the author did not rightly comprehend the first six but his definition of the seventh shows he was right throughout, and we may conclude the real meanings are concealed under these names.
"The third principle, anguish, attenuates the astringent one, turns it into water, and allows a passage to fire, which was shut up in the astringent principle."
There are in this many suggestions and a pursuit of them will repay the student.
"Now the Divine Sophia caused a new order to take birth in the centre of our system, and there burned our sun; from that do come forth all kinds of qualities, forms and powers. This centre is the Separator." It is well known that from the sun was taken by the ancients all kinds of power; and if we mistake not, the Hindus claim that when the Fathers enter into Para-Nirvana, their accumulated goodness pours itself out on the world through the "Door of the Sun."
The Bhagavad-Gita says, that the Lord of all dwells in the region of the heart, and again that this Lord is also the Sun of the world.
"The earth is a condensation of the seven primordial principles, and by the withdrawal of eternal light this became a dark valley." It is taught in the East, that this world is a valley and that we are in it, our bodies reaching to the moon, being condensed to hardness at the point where we are on the earth thus becoming visible to the eye of man. There is a mystery in this statement, but not such an one as cannot be unravelled.
Boehme proceeds: "When the light mastered the fire at the place of the sun, the terrible shock of the battle engendered an igneous eruption by which there shot forth from the sun a stormy and frightful flash of fire―Mars. Taken captive by light it assumed a place, and there it struggles furiously, a pricking goad, whose office is to agitate all nature, producing reaction. It is the gall of nature. The gracious, amiable Light, having enchained unerupted Mars, proceeded by its own power to the bottom or end of the rigidity of Nature, when unable to proceed further it stopped, and became corporeal; remaining there it warms that place, and although a valet in Nature, it is the source of sweetness and the moderator of Mars.
"Saturn does not originate from the sun, but was produced from the severe astringent anguish of the whole body of this Universe. Above Jupiter the sun could not mitigate the horror, and out of that arose Saturn, who is the opposite of meekness, and who produces whatever of rigidity there is in creatures, including bones, and what in moral nature corresponds thereto." (This is all the highest astrology, from one who had no knowledge of it.) "As in the Sun is the heart of life, so by Saturn commenceth all corporeal nature. Thus in these two resides the power of the whole universal body, and without their power there could be no creation nor any corporification.
"Venus originates in effluvia from the Sun. She lights the unctuosity of the water of the Universe, penetrates hardness, and enkindles love."
"Mercury is the chief worker in the planetary wheel; he is sound, and wakes up the germs in everything. His origin, the triumph of Light over Astringency (in which sound was shut up silent), set free the sound by the attenuation of the astringent power."
It is certain that if this peculiar statement regarding Mercury is understood, the student will have gained a high point of knowledge. A seductive bait is here held out to those striving disciples who so earnestly desire to hold converse with the elemental world. But there is no danger, for all the avenues are very secret and only the pure can prevail in the preliminary steps.
Boehme says again: "The Mercury is impregnated and fed continually by the solar substance; that in it is found the knowledge of what was in the order above, before Light had penetrated to the solar centre."
As to the Moon, it is curious to note that he says, "she was produced from the sun itself, at the time of his becoming material, and that the moon is his spouse." Students of the story of Adam being made to sleep after his creation and before coats of skin were given, when Eve was produced from his side, will find in this a strong hint.
The above is not by any means a complete statement of Boehme's system. In order to do justice to it, a full analysis of all his works should be undertaken. However, it is sufficient if thoughtful minds who have not read Boehme, shall turn to him after reading this, or if but one earnest reader of his works, or seeker after wisdom, shall receive even a hint that may lead to a clearing up of doubts, or to the acquisition of one new idea. Count Saint Martin continually read him; and the merest glance at the "Theosophic Correspondence" or, "Man―His Nature, &.," of Saint Martin will show that from that study he learned much. How much more then will the Western mind be aided by the light shed on both by the lamp of Theosophical teachings.
"Let the desire of the pious be fulfilled."
WILLIAM Q. JUDGE
Theosophist, April, 1886.

I want to preface this by saying that this entire situation is a huge mess that has caused a lot of stress and confusion. I don’t have anyone who can explain to me what to do so I am desperate. Some context: I was friends with a girl who was looking to move in with her bf and was getting rid of her trailer. The trailer was parked in a (very) small town trailer park. I give her the money for the trailer, we let the owner know lot rent will be in my name, all is well. The trailer ended up being more trouble than it is worth damage-wise and it’s not feasible/affordable for me to fix it. My plan was to just sell it since I got it for about $1k.
Here is where my issue comes in: We started the process of getting the title transferred over to me in early Jan. I have not taken it to the DMV to fully get it transferred in my name. I realize it’s been a very long time and a lot of that has to do with health issues and things like that. A month ago the girl I got the trailer from blocked me (still no clue why). Recently I got a letter in the mail saying I owe property taxes because the trailer park reported I owned the property. I don’t (technically). I go to the county tax department and explain my situation to the nice lady and she takes me out of her office and says that because we started the process after January 1st, that the girl who owned it before is responsible for everything but to go ahead and sell the trailer. However—she says that instead of putting it in my name then transferring it again—I should just have whoever I sell it to “sign the bottom” and have them take it to the DMV.
She didn’t explain where to sign exactly. I also definitely don’t want to do anything shady. I can’t seem to figure this out. I can answer any questions if i didn’t explain my problem very well. Basically what I need help with is figuring out the best way to proceed in handling this trailer. I want to be done with it ASAP because it’s done nothing but stress me out. If it wasn’t for the money that’s been put in it I’d just walk away from it completely since the title never went through so it could be the girls problem.
Thank you in advance

some context. i'm 31, and ever since i was a kid the only thing i ever wanted to do was write. i went to college and got my degree in english lit and creative writing actively knowing I didn't want to pursue a career typical of my field. i never wanted to work in an office or be a teacher, etc. I was perfectly content working a menial low paying job if it meant i had time to write. this has been my one constant in regards to any 'life plans.'
so basically I've been doing just that. and while i've written a lot, and i would still consider myself a writer, i'm not published and not necessarily trying to be at the moment. i struggle with depression and anxiety and addiction and have almost made it a year sober, and i genuinely did not think I'd ever survive this long. i work at a low paying job that i genuinely love (with dogs) and i'm working on some passion projects that are just for fun and make me happy.
in my job, almost all of my coworkers are younger than me, and when i'm training new employees, they're typically around 19-23 and they usually make the assumption that i am in that age range as well since i look young and i work a position that isn't typical for my age. today, the person I was training was talking about her plans and aspirations since she's in college right now, and subsequently asked me 'do you know what you want to do?'
it's such a simple question, i know. i answered honestly, that i don't really have a plan except to keep writing and be okay. i left out a lot of detail. my mind keeps coming back to this interaction and i know i'm being ridiculous but i can't help but feel self conscious. are people judging me for being in my thirties and working what is typically considered 'a summer job' for college students full time while living in sober living? or for calling myself a writer even though 'no you wouldn't have read anything I wrote unless you spend time reading fanfiction online'?
and i know it doesn't matter. because my only plans right now are to stay sober and find peace, and i'm really proud of where I'm at and that i'm alive today. and even if being an alcoholic was never the plan (obviously), i'm still standing by my initial life choice, even though it's not a typical path to opt for. and even though everything is hard and i often don't feel great about anything overall, i'm happy enough. but the idea of other people's expectations of me or their shock and potential judgement at where my life is, is getting to me.
ultimately what i really want to say is that i hate societal expectations, and even though i'm always unabashedly fighting them and trying to burn stigmas to the ground, I can't help but feel like it's a fight i can't win and that bums me out. i don't know if sharing this will make me feel better or worse, but writing it certainly helped

I’ve talked about what happened in multiple statements, but none of the teachers believe me without even looking at any of the evidence that I’ve been trying to give them, claiming that they don’t need to see it because they don’t believe the girl would say or do any of that stuff.
For context, I’m a 16 year old Pakistani girl who’s around 5’3. This girl is maybe 4’10, short and white. This girl has also had many altercations in the past whereas I have not.
I’ll try and keep this as short as possible, but I have proof for all of this. This girl, we’ll call her Clobber, called my best friend a slag to another girl. When this girl told my friend this information, Clobber started sending threatening messages threatening to beat her up and asking where she was so they could fight. We went to the destination where Clobber had gone to fight this girl. The girl was actively sat, curled up in the corner of the room saying she didn’t want to fight while Clobber was shouting at her about her personal life which was completely irrelevant to the fight. I came up to her calmly, which also has proof, and I said something like ‘woah if we’re gonna fight about something please keep the topic relevant’. The girl backed down visibly, staring at the floor, but despite this she continued arguing with me, telling me to shut up, asking why I was getting involved, getting cheeky and saying ‘yeah I did all of that, and what?’ I did provoke her a bit by saying ‘you’re not gonna do anything with your four ft height, so fuck off’. She freaked out after I called her out for the stuff she had been saying and doing and actually charged at the other girl who was saying she didn’t want a fight for no reason. Clobber started grabbing and pulling her hair despite the fact that I was the one who was getting stern with her, not even shouting, clobber started punching her in the head and face. I simply pulled her off the girl, not getting violent. She punched me in the face, grabbing a hold of me like she was going to fight. Mind you, I’ve been doing boxing since I was 5 (thanks dad) even though it’s not visibly apparent due to my school uniform. It was like an instinct to taking a punch, I pushed my left leg forward and swung for her once, sending her flying. She paused as if contemplating coming back before breaking down crying as the pain kicked in and running away as if she hadn’t assaulted two students first.
After that, I saw her maybe 20 minutes later and she was hysterically crying to the teachers. I was confused, I hadn’t hit her THAT hard as I’d been caught off guard. I walked up and she had a barricade of teachers surrounding her. I said and I quote ‘Clobber, bro, what the fuck?’ She dropped her bag, still crying as she said in a sniffle ‘do you wanna go again?’ This sent me. I started shouting at her as one of my friends pulled me out of the room. I said ‘you punched me and ran away’ repeatedly.
I was done after the fight, I said to the head of year (teachers in charge) I’m done with this, let’s drop it, I don’t care. Because at the day, it was just a punch, I felt a bit bad for making her cry that hard, I was done. The next day I heard from some close friends that she apparently was under the impression that I apologised and that the girl she punched apologised. Clobber was on the bus after agreeing to drop it saying that she apparently sent my head flying and that it made her look so big and strong despite the fact that she knew she ran away crying hysterically with a barricade of teachers protecting her. I didn’t sleep all night in pure rage. Punching me in the face is one thing, but lying about me behind my back when I’m unable to defend myself is a whole other. The next day I had a final exam. She left the exam at the same time as me at which point I had been awake for 35 hours and felt like I was going insane. I avoided talking to her, but she approached me because I was walking with a girl she wanted to talk to. I didn’t even look at her, I didn’t want to engage with her by any means, but I heard her say something. ‘Don’t start again’. She was actually talking to the girl next to me, but I hadn’t been paying attention so I said ‘huh?’ That’s all. She then replied with ‘shut up (my name)’. I admittedly blew up at her, I started screaming at her and asking her ‘whose head she made fly off?’ And shouting at her to keep her name out of my mouth while the same teachers that barricaded her yesterday separated us and told me to leave. I left and complained to the head of year about it, shaking in anger, and saying that I wanted to go home because i hadn’t slept all night.
They locked me in a room for two hours to write a statement that they didn’t even read. The teacher who ran the room said to me when I asked to see the head of year ‘im not letting you wonder around after what you did out there’. The head of year put me in a room with Clobber and them. in this meeting, they basically said that they didn’t believe that she’d do anything like that and said that I was lying about everything that she said and did. They essentially threatened me with exclusion, said that they didn’t need to see the evidence I was providing and that people were just lying to me. They told me that in the video of her the fight, it looked like I was cornering an animal and like all of my friends were circling her, despite two of them being in a corner, and the other two being in a bathroom not even in her line of sight. They essentially told me to ignore her and for her to ignore me from now on when they don’t believe a word that I’m saying and won’t even look at the evidence I’m providing just because she cried infront of them. The students all believe me, but I’ve got teachers shouting at me and threatening me with exclusion despite exams going on and completely ignoring what I’ve got to say.
Thanks if you made it this far, if you’ve got any advice I would appreciate it as this is a fresh situation that I’m genuinely losing sleep over. I’ve always been a quiet student and never start conflict, so teachers calling me a genuine bully is something I’m not used to at all.

I (21NB) have been talking to this guy (26M) for about two and a half weeks. We met at a show in my hometown (he was the guitarist for the opening band) and pretty much immediately hit it off. He stood so close to me his hair was brushing up against the side of my head and he got so excited talking about guitars I couldn't help but immediately develop a crush on him (I'm a guitarist too). We talked for a bit, I went back and watched the headliner perform, and then when I ran into him later, he gave me the guitar pick he'd performed with that night and called me by name.
I pretty much immediately left afterwards, super nervous and giddy about the whole thing, and a few hours later ended up finding his band (and by extent, him) on social media. As soon as I followed him (literally less than a minute is not an exaggeration) he followed me back and sent me a text telling me to have a good night and that it was great talking to me. He even spelled my unusual name correctly, which means he looked at my page.
We've been chatting for a few weeks. He asks me about myself, seems really happy to talk to me, and sends me videos of his band sometimes. He's talked about what he does for work, the music he listens to, etc. I know him way better than I ever expected to. It takes him a while to respond (he's got a lot going on), but he texts me at least once a day and sends me lots of :) and :0 emojis. He also seems to be interested in my hobbies and what I'm up to, even asking me to send him pictures of my art and helping me with my guitar playing.
But... there's kind of a big problem. He's in a completely different state from me. At least a two hour flight. And, yeah... I'm lucky enough to have flight benefits so I could feasibly see him if I wanted to, but I've also never been in a relationship. He definitely seems more comfortable talking to me than before, even sometimes bringing up stuff that could easily lead to more personal, private topics, but I've been kind of nervous to get into that stuff I guess.
I'm about 95% certain based on context clues that he's single, and it really seemed like he was interested in me at the show, but I just don't know how much I should let myself get invested in this. I also have no frame of reference to determine if he's even interested in me or if he just wants to be my friend because I've never been IN a relationship before.
The more I talk to him, the more I like him. He's really cute, he works with kids and he's genuinely just one of the sweetest, silliest people I've ever known. I'm REALLY, really starting to fall for this guy, and I'm just not sure how well I'd be able to handle another rejection if/when it comes to that.
I had some really traumatic shit happen to me last year involving me being SAed by a coworker who I had developed feelings for, and who did everything in his power to ruin my life after getting me to trust him. This has led me to be super cautious and I have some trust issues that developed as a result.
I just don't know what to do. Everyone keeps telling me to just enjoy it, but I just want so badly to know how he feels and I just don't really know what to do. I'd love to see him again but I don't know how I would bring that up without seeming too forward. I don't know what kind of timeline to expect either-- like, at what point would it be okay to ask to video chat? At what point could I bring up visiting him? How would I even go about presenting the idea of being in a relationship with this guy? I'm so lost.

Hi everyone,
I recently got admitted to EPFL's EDIC PhD program in CS and got an EDIC fellowship. My end goal is to stay in academia as a professor and I want your help to evaluate EPFL in that regard. Please provide examples where applicable. In particular, I have the following questions:

1. Brand name. I have heard that brand name of the university matters when applying for faculty positions. How would you rate EPFL in that regard? Do CS students at EPFL regularly secure faculty positions in the US?
   
2. Deferral. Does EDIC program provide a deferral? What are some of the valid reasons for it? What are the terms and conditions?
   
3. Opportunities compared to US. Since most of the opportunities in tech lie in US (e.g., startups, fellowships, internships at top companies), do EPFL students feel left out? How do they build their profile to compete with their contemporaries from US who have access to many more opportunities?
   
4. Internships. Where do EPFL students typically intern during the summers? Does EPFL allow students to intern in the US?
   
5. Miscellaneous. What are other factors in favor of and against EPFL when compared to the US universities in the context of a PhD? These could include anything you personally considered when you were evaluating your PhD admit at EPFL.
   

Thank you so much!

I’ve talked about what happened in multiple statements, but none of the teachers believe me without even looking at any of the evidence that I’ve been trying to give them, claiming that they don’t need to see it because they don’t believe the girl would say or do any of that stuff.
For context, I’m a 16 year old Pakistani girl who’s around 5’3. This girl is maybe 4’10, short and white. This girl has also had many altercations in the past whereas I have not.
I’ll try and keep this as short as possible, but I have proof for all of this. This girl, we’ll call her Clobber, called my best friend a slag to another girl. When this girl told my friend this information, Clobber started sending threatening messages threatening to beat her up and asking where she was so they could fight. We went to the destination where Clobber had gone to fight this girl. The girl was actively sat, curled up in the corner of the room saying she didn’t want to fight while Clobber was shouting at her about her personal life which was completely irrelevant to the fight. I came up to her calmly, which also has proof, and I said something like ‘woah if we’re gonna fight about something please keep the topic relevant’. The girl backed down visibly, staring at the floor, but despite this she continued arguing with me, telling me to shut up, asking why I was getting involved, getting cheeky and saying ‘yeah I did all of that, and what?’ I did provoke her a bit by saying ‘you’re not gonna do anything with your four ft height, so fuck off’. She freaked out after I called her out for the stuff she had been saying and doing and actually charged at the other girl who was saying she didn’t want a fight for no reason. Clobber started grabbing and pulling her hair despite the fact that I was the one who was getting stern with her, not even shouting, clobber started punching her in the head and face. I simply pulled her off the girl, not getting violent. She punched me in the face, grabbing a hold of me like she was going to fight. Mind you, I’ve been doing boxing since I was 5 (thanks dad) even though it’s not visibly apparent due to my school uniform. It was like an instinct to taking a punch, I pushed my left leg forward and swung for her once, sending her flying. She paused as if contemplating coming back before breaking down crying as the pain kicked in and running away as if she hadn’t assaulted two students first.
After that, I saw her maybe 20 minutes later and she was hysterically crying to the teachers. I was confused, I hadn’t hit her THAT hard as I’d been caught off guard. I walked up and she had a barricade of teachers surrounding her. I said and I quote ‘Clobber, bro, what the fuck?’ She dropped her bag, still crying as she said in a sniffle ‘do you wanna go again?’ This sent me. I started shouting at her as one of my friends pulled me out of the room. I said ‘you punched me and ran away’ repeatedly.
I was done after the fight, I said to the head of year (teachers in charge) I’m done with this, let’s drop it, I don’t care. Because at the day, it was just a punch, I felt a bit bad for making her cry that hard, I was done. The next day I heard from some close friends that she apparently was under the impression that I apologised and that the girl she punched apologised. Clobber was on the bus after agreeing to drop it saying that she apparently sent my head flying and that it made her look so big and strong despite the fact that she knew she ran away crying hysterically with a barricade of teachers protecting her. I didn’t sleep all night in pure rage. Punching me in the face is one thing, but lying about me behind my back when I’m unable to defend myself is a whole other. The next day I had a final exam. She left the exam at the same time as me at which point I had been awake for 35 hours and felt like I was going insane. I avoided talking to her, but she approached me because I was walking with a girl she wanted to talk to. I didn’t even look at her, I didn’t want to engage with her by any means, but I heard her say something. ‘Don’t start again’. She was actually talking to the girl next to me, but I hadn’t been paying attention so I said ‘huh?’ That’s all. She then replied with ‘shut up (my name)’. I admittedly blew up at her, I started screaming at her and asking her ‘whose head she made fly off?’ And shouting at her to keep her name out of my mouth while the same teachers that barricaded her yesterday separated us and told me to leave. I left and complained to the head of year about it, shaking in anger, and saying that I wanted to go home because i hadn’t slept all night.
They locked me in a room for two hours to write a statement that they didn’t even read. The teacher who ran the room said to me when I asked to see the head of year ‘im not letting you wonder around after what you did out there’. The head of year put me in a room with Clobber and them. in this meeting, they basically said that they didn’t believe that she’d do anything like that and said that I was lying about everything that she said and did. They essentially threatened me with exclusion, said that they didn’t need to see the evidence I was providing and that people were just lying to me. They told me that in the video of her the fight, it looked like I was cornering an animal and like all of my friends were circling her, despite two of them being in a corner, and the other two being in a bathroom not even in her line of sight. They essentially told me to ignore her and for her to ignore me from now on when they don’t believe a word that I’m saying and won’t even look at the evidence I’m providing just because she cried infront of them. The students all believe me, but I’ve got teachers shouting at me and threatening me with exclusion despite exams going on and completely ignoring what I’ve got to say.
Thanks if you made it this far, if you’ve got any advice I would appreciate it as this is a fresh situation that I’m genuinely losing sleep over. I’ve always been a quiet student and never start conflict, so teachers calling me a genuine bully is something I’m not used to at all.

I’ve talked about what happened in multiple statements, but none of the teachers believe me without even looking at any of the evidence that I’ve been trying to give them, claiming that they don’t need to see it because they don’t believe the girl would say or do any of that stuff.
For context, I’m a 16 year old Pakistani girl who’s around 5’3. This girl is maybe 4’10, short and white. This girl has also had many altercations in the past whereas I have not.
I’ll try and keep this as short as possible, but I have proof for all of this. This girl, we’ll call her Clobber, called my best friend a slag to another girl. When this girl told my friend this information, Clobber started sending threatening messages threatening to beat her up and asking where she was so they could fight. We went to the destination where Clobber had gone to fight this girl. The girl was actively sat, curled up in the corner of the room saying she didn’t want to fight while Clobber was shouting at her about her personal life which was completely irrelevant to the fight. I came up to her calmly, which also has proof, and I said something like ‘woah if we’re gonna fight about something please keep the topic relevant’. The girl backed down visibly, staring at the floor, but despite this she continued arguing with me, telling me to shut up, asking why I was getting involved, getting cheeky and saying ‘yeah I did all of that, and what?’ I did provoke her a bit by saying ‘you’re not gonna do anything with your four ft height, so fuck off’. She freaked out after I called her out for the stuff she had been saying and doing and actually charged at the other girl who was saying she didn’t want a fight for no reason. Clobber started grabbing and pulling her hair despite the fact that I was the one who was getting stern with her, not even shouting, clobber started punching her in the head and face. I simply pulled her off the girl, not getting violent. She punched me in the face, grabbing a hold of me like she was going to fight. Mind you, I’ve been doing boxing since I was 5 (thanks dad) even though it’s not visibly apparent due to my school uniform. It was like an instinct to taking a punch, I pushed my left leg forward and swung for her once, sending her flying. She paused as if contemplating coming back before breaking down crying as the pain kicked in and running away as if she hadn’t assaulted two students first.
After that, I saw her maybe 20 minutes later and she was hysterically crying to the teachers. I was confused, I hadn’t hit her THAT hard as I’d been caught off guard. I walked up and she had a barricade of teachers surrounding her. I said and I quote ‘Clobber, bro, what the fuck?’ She dropped her bag, still crying as she said in a sniffle ‘do you wanna go again?’ This sent me. I started shouting at her as one of my friends pulled me out of the room. I said ‘you punched me and ran away’ repeatedly.
I was done after the fight, I said to the head of year (teachers in charge) I’m done with this, let’s drop it, I don’t care. Because at the day, it was just a punch, I felt a bit bad for making her cry that hard, I was done. The next day I heard from some close friends that she apparently was under the impression that I apologised and that the girl she punched apologised. Clobber was on the bus after agreeing to drop it saying that she apparently sent my head flying and that it made her look so big and strong despite the fact that she knew she ran away crying hysterically with a barricade of teachers protecting her. I didn’t sleep all night in pure rage. Punching me in the face is one thing, but lying about me behind my back when I’m unable to defend myself is a whole other. The next day I had a final exam. She left the exam at the same time as me at which point I had been awake for 35 hours and felt like I was going insane. I avoided talking to her, but she approached me because I was walking with a girl she wanted to talk to. I didn’t even look at her, I didn’t want to engage with her by any means, but I heard her say something. ‘Don’t start again’. She was actually talking to the girl next to me, but I hadn’t been paying attention so I said ‘huh?’ That’s all. She then replied with ‘shut up (my name)’. I admittedly blew up at her, I started screaming at her and asking her ‘whose head she made fly off?’ And shouting at her to keep her name out of my mouth while the same teachers that barricaded her yesterday separated us and told me to leave. I left and complained to the head of year about it, shaking in anger, and saying that I wanted to go home because i hadn’t slept all night.
They locked me in a room for two hours to write a statement that they didn’t even read. The teacher who ran the room said to me when I asked to see the head of year ‘im not letting you wonder around after what you did out there’. The head of year put me in a room with Clobber and them. in this meeting, they basically said that they didn’t believe that she’d do anything like that and said that I was lying about everything that she said and did. They essentially threatened me with exclusion, said that they didn’t need to see the evidence I was providing and that people were just lying to me. They told me that in the video of her the fight, it looked like I was cornering an animal and like all of my friends were circling her, despite two of them being in a corner, and the other two being in a bathroom not even in her line of sight. They essentially told me to ignore her and for her to ignore me from now on when they don’t believe a word that I’m saying and won’t even look at the evidence I’m providing just because she cried infront of them. The students all believe me, but I’ve got teachers shouting at me and threatening me with exclusion despite exams going on and completely ignoring what I’ve got to say.
Thanks if you made it this far, if you’ve got any advice I would appreciate it as this is a fresh situation that I’m genuinely losing sleep over. I’ve always been a quiet student and never start conflict, so teachers calling me a genuine bully is something I’m not used to at all.

Hey, so you ever get a birthday present that's so not your style, but you really can't return it because it'd be really awkward? Normally it's like, I dunno. Shoes, or shirts or something like that, right?
For me it was four fire-breathing horses.
Okay, so I should clarify. My dad didn't really give me four fire-breathing ponies to keep. It was more of a test for him to treat me like his son again.
See, I just recently got out of a Styx oath that would have led me to eternal damnation if I didn't fulfill it. It's a long story, but to keep it short: I swore an oath on the Styx to be a brave hero by my eighteenth birthday when I really should have just pinkie promised. But yeah. My dad, God of War and dad of the year took it well. …In that he pretty much said that I was a waste of space, disowned me and he'd personally hand me over to the Styx for eternal damnation.
Nice guy. Really should get into motivational speeches.
The night before, after riding the high of not having the threat of being sent to Super Hell I had a pretty bad dream. I mean, it wasn’t the normal David nightmare. It wasn't me killing endless hordes of monsters while my dad laughed at how pathetic I was.
Well, half of that. It was just my dad. To be honest, rather I’d take the monsters.
He was laughing at me, with that smug face of his, in that all-leather biker outfit with the shades that made him look even more like an asshole, as if that's hard to believe.
Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to cuss. Anyways yeah. Me and my dad. Not the best relationship, even by demigod standards.
He gave me a toothy grin, like a shark’s as he circled around me. I instinctively stood up straight, at attention. As much as I hate my dad, ticking off a god is a pretty dumb thing to do. Plus, I was pretty dumbfounded to see him here in my dream of all things.
“Well, color me surprised. To be honest, boy, I thought I'd end up taking care of this myself. So, congratulations on that front. But, sorry to burst your bubble, it might be good enough for ol’ Styxy but…it’s not good enough for me. But, you know, I'm a generous guy! Prove me you're a warrior. Do that, and I'll welcome you back in the family with open arms. I even got the perfect way for you to prove yourself.”
Without warning, he tossed me a set of keys with a miniature boar-headed keychain and a really big switchblade on the end of it. I fumbled with it before slipping it into my pocket.
“An oldie but a goodie. Used to let my sons prove themselves to me all the time with this one. Now, I'm sure once you see what I got planned you'll know the rules, considering you're a fuckin’ nerd. But in case you forget…”
He lowered his shades, revealing balls of fire as he glared right at me.
“Sundown. My temple. Don't be late or I'll toss you in the Styx myself. Well! Have fun, yeah? I'm looking forward to watching you fail this one, like your last quest. Now, get up. Clock’s ticking after all…”
“Gaah!”
I snapped my eyes open, falling out of my bed and onto the hard floor under me. As soon as I hit the floor, I could hear one of my many siblings start to stir from their sleep. Immediately, my sister Tiffany started to sigh as she shot up from her bed. I could see her pastel pink sleep mask perched on her head as she glared into the darkness of the early morning. She groaned in frustration, her words cutting through the quiet of the dawn.
"What the hell are you idiots doing?"
To be fair, I could see why she’d think that. Most of my siblings were fond of pranking each other every now and then. The chaos of the Ares cabin was unmatched from most cabins, except maybe Hermes. But, when you cut off her beauty sleep, the threat of an angry Tiff was usually was enough to make nighttime a truce. Usually.
My sister rubbed her eyes and looked down at me. I sheepishly gave a smile as I rubbed my head, still sore from when it hit the floor.
"Seriously, David?"
Tiffany got out of bed and silently made her way to me. She wordlessly held out a hand and I grasped at it as she pulled me up.
"Thanks Tiff. I had this dream, where Dad called me a nerd and was talking to me about testing me now that my Styx Oath is..."
I felt something hard and metallic poke against my leg, from my sweats pocket. I pulled out the unfamiliar object and to my surprise, there were the same keys from my dream. My eyes widened as I realized that my dream was a little bit more than usual demigod stuff.
"Oh. That...wasn't a dream."
She raised an eyebrow as she looked at the keys that sat in my hand. I played with the accessories, absentmindedly feeling the boar head and the switchblade knife. She leaned in, peering at the keys as the dawn started to rise.
"What the hell are those for?"
She looked to the keys, then back at my face, and then the keys again. She looked at me as if I just said that Kronos was about to come back and throw an ice cream party courtesy of the Titans.
"You're telling me Dad gave those to you or something? You're joking. Have to be."
I shook my head, but I could see why she thought so. I was pretty sure I was near the bottom, if not at the bottom of his list of favorite kids. If I was being honest, I was pretty sure he wanted me dead more than a few times.
"Tiff, you know that I'm not exactly Dad's favorite by a long shot. Why would I say something like that and risk him getting even mad more mad at me because of my lying? Dad disowned me, remember? He mentioned something along the line in my dream that if I pass his test I'd be treated as one of his sons again but he didn't mention what it..."
The gears started turning as I looked at the keys in my hands.
”A test…keys…sundown…oh no. Oh, no.”
I immediately pocketed up my keys and started putting on my shoes. No time for pants, sweats would do just fine, I just had to make sure to take my wallet with me, considering I was going to New York now. I had to be quick or this test was over before it even started.
"No. I...I think I know what it is. But if I'm right, then shoot I gotta get going then! Before our brothers take it."
In hindsight, I probably should have told Tiff a bit about my thoughts. But, the more I delayed the more issues that could have cropped up. I just had to make sure it was safe.
"Take what? Where the hell are you going?!"
I burst out of the cabin, staring at what was in front of our cabin. I felt a bit of nervousness bubble up as my thoughts were proven true. Tiffany was close behind me as she walked outside our cabin. I looked at her face and caught an expression of wonder as whatever she was going to ask me was forgotten. Parked in front of the cabin was a red and gold Harley. The seat was white leather and gave a sorta…humany vibe to it that I did not wanna think about. Only one thing came to mind, something I knew instinctively from the moment I saw it. Dad's War Chariot.
Or as the god of war would call it, his chariot.
"I...I think dad wants me to take his ride for a spin."
I ran my hand over the cold metal, and I realized what Dad meant about the “oldie but a goodie.” A while back, before the Second Titan war ended, and all of the children of the gods had to be claimed, there was a ritual all sons of Ares went through. It was something all my brothers did at fifteen. Drive around his Chariot and return it before sundown. It wasn't easy, my Godly siblings, Phobos and Deimos both loved to mess with whoever was in charge of the chariot at the time. And you had to deal with monsters too, but overall when it came to demigod stuff it wasn’t the most dangerous around. I dunno if that says a lot about how dangerous this life can get though.
But, shortly after the then-counselor Clarisse La Rue became the first girl to do it, Dad pulled the plug. I dunno if it was good ol’ sexism, someone totaling it, or dad not wanting to let all of his kids drive his ride, either way it wasn't super common nowadays. It wasn't like he stopped, but it was something given, not a right. Dad letting me do this was him at least giving me a chance to prove myself to be one of his kids, which was more than I expected to be honest.
I took a breath as I looked at Dad’s ride, feeling a pit of unease in my stomach as I started to climb in. If it wouldn't end up with me being tormented for the rest of my short life, I'd tell him no and go back to sleep. But, telling a god no, especially my dad is a neat way to be turned into a rodent. Or a fine red paste. Or a rodent that would be turned into said paste.
Tiffany's brows furrowed as she processed my words, a layer of disbelief on her face as she chewed over it.
You? He wants you to drive it? I...that...what the hell?"
I fought off a wince as she looked at me, then the ride, then back at me again. I could tell she was a bit annoyed. I mean, yeah from her perspective I was singled out by dad to do something she probably wanted to do for a while. I felt a pit of guilt in my stomach, it wasn't fair, really. But at the same time I had to do this.
"I mean, seriously? He must be out-"
She cut herself off. Calling my dad crazy was another way to get turned into a rat that would then be turned into a fine paste. Actually a lot of things carried the threat, my dad is kinda a jerk. I sighed, figuring I might as well tell her about why Dad was doing this. I didn't wanna hide it, but it's not like I like to talk about the fact that I've been disowned for two years. She knew, most of us did. But it's not something I like bringing up, because yeah. It sucks.
"I read a bit about previous Ares campers. He used to do this more often, at first only his sons did, but later his daughters could. I dunno why he stopped but, this isn't really like he's doing it because he's proud of me. I'm sorta disowned, remember? He said if I can drive the chariot, he'll take me back as one of you guys again. It's...more of a test to earn myself back into his good graces, I think.”
Tiffany listened to my explanation, not saying anything for a bit She looked a bit bothered about the fact that I was chosen to drive the Chariot, which again, not surprising.
"Ugh, I guess that makes sense."
I could hear the frustration in her voice as she crossed her arms. I winced again, preparing for her to resent or hate me. But to my surprise, I heard her add more in a softer voice.
"Well, don't get yourself killed trying to pass this stupid test, I don't want to have to explain to everyone why you're not coming back."
Her icy tone defrosted as she looked back at me with a bit of concern in her eyes. She seemed less annoyed and more worried about me, which was sweet. Not that I'd let her hear that. I hoped that maybe, dad would let her give it for a spin later down the road. If anyone deserved it, it would be her. I gave a nervous laugh as I took the keys out of my pocket.
"Of course, I passed my Styx Oath, didn't I? It'd be really dumb of me to die right after barely avoiding that, right? Oh, yeah. If Ellie asks for me, tell her about dad's little test he has for me. Hopefully it won't be too long but you know how it is with godly stuff. I should be back in time for us to hang out for the rest of my birthday once I do this for dad. I'll bring back something cool!”
I felt my trepidation fade away as I prepared to drive. Lots of my siblings dreamed of piloting the chariot. It wouldn't be right to reject the opportunity when it was given to me. And, who knows? Getting back in Dad's good graces (or as much as one can get in them) might help me out. At least I would have one less target on my back. As I sat down in the white leather seat, I put the keys in the ignition and instantly it began to morph.
OOC:Read this while listening to whats coming up
The front split apart into one steel horse that slowly split into two, and then four cream-colored horses that looked around with a cruel intelligence. The seat dipped, and warped before it became a horse-drawn chariot I was now standing in. The chariot was gold and blood red, adorned with the lovely images of people dying gruesome deaths, because Dad's taste in decor is somewhere between military surplus and serial killer, apparently.
“Okay…so, I need to get to Dad's temple before sundown. I don't know New York highways though, so how can I…oh hey! A gps!”
My fingers brushed against a touch screen set up on the chariot and punched The Intrepid into the coordinates. I gave one last wave to my sister before I lashed the horses and they immediately took off. I led them out of camp easily enough, but as we reached the highway they sped up to an impossible speed for a chariot. Their speed was even faster than any cars on the highway, rivaling the time that Aphrodite camper drove us to the beach once. I pulled back on the reins, trying to get them to slow down. Instead, they gave a rebellious snort and went even faster.
I would like to say that I embraced my inner Ares kid and relished the challenge. But I'm not going to lie, when you end up going past 80 MPH in a chariot, you tend to think you're going to die, fun fact. I screamed for most of the way, yanking and pulling at their reins so we could bob and weave through traffic.
It's a bit of a drive from Camp Half-Blood to New York City, I know it well, it’s a pretty common place for me to go for some monster slaying. But, up until now, I've been in the passenger seat while Argus drives. The speed of the horses really made the time go by faster. As we entered the city, the horses started to slow down and I felt a ray of hope as I started to steer them through the city. I gave a triumphant laugh as I looked down at my ETA. It was surprisingly quick, considering how congested New York can get. And I didn't see hide or hair of either one of my godly brothers, so I felt pretty good, all things considered.
“Huh. That's weird. There's not many cars today…my luck must be turning around!”
“Traffic update: Incoming Monsters. Rerouting. Cannot reroute.”
“Huh?”
Immediately, a massive boar the size of a garbage truck burst from a nearby alley way behind me. Behind the massive pig, two armored bank cars recklessly merged into traffic. One leaned out, revealing a gray-skinned human in body armor brandishing a shotgun.
“Of course! I had to open my big mouth! Is there anything that I’m going to have to deal with?”
“You are on the fastest route!”
“Well that’s just GREAT! Now I can be on the quickest way to the underworld!”
”Rerouting to: D.O.A. Records, Los Angeles.”
“Woah, woah, woah, no! Keep me on The Intrepid! The Intrepid!”
Seeing all these enemies together though, I started to put a thought in my head. They all had something in common, now that I saw them all in front of me. A boar was sacred to Ares, Spartoi too came from a dragon sacred to him. I put the pieces together as I saw the monsters come out of the woodwork and all to me. Now things made sense. The lack of Phobos and Deimos, the sacred beings to Ares, the lack of mortals on the street.
I didn't see my siblings because Dad wanted to mess with me personally.
Even now, I don't know if he wanted to test me in a Spartan way, or if he just wanted to get rid of me without kinslaying. Either way, I couldn't back down now. Not when I was so close. I snapped on the reins and the rebellious horses continued on their path, bickering and weaving left and right as they snorted and whinnied.
I heard the wiz of something traveling through the air and quickly moved out of the way. A metal feather hit the chariot, bouncing off the hull and onto the ground. I looked up and saw a few birds. They were black and crow-like, but their feathers had a metallic sheen, like iron. Their wings flapped and I heard the sound of metal on metal as they soared above me.
“Dad called in feather-shooters too? Come on!”
I steered left and right as I evaded the metal feathers shooting at me. The newcomers behind me quickly gained as I bobbed and weaved. I had to figure a way out of this, and fast. Problem was, I was quickly outnumbered and outmatched. I wasn't the best at archery, and my sword could shoot a blast of force, courtesy of the then Forgemaster. Main issue was it took a bit to charge, and I couldn't take them on so high up.
I couldn't run. I needed to fight out of this. But even if I could fight the two Spartoi and the big pig, the problem was the birds. I didn't have a ranged option…or did I? I looked to the horses, breathing embers as they huffed and pulled the chariot further on. Ares kids couldn't talk to horses, but these were godly horses. They seemed smarter than your average horse. Maybe I could talk them into behaving, the same way I got some of my siblings to listen to the plan during Capture the Flag.
“Hey guys, are you bored? I'm sure Dad and my brothers take all the good fights, huh? You know, if you guys continue fighting each other, I might lose this and you guys will miss out on a good fight.”
At first, I thought it fell on deaf ears. But then, they stopped their jostling and started to take a more unified path as we raced along the streets. Like I thought, they enjoyed a good fight as much as their owner did.
“That's what I like to see. Look, we're pretty surrounded right now. What do you say we rampage a bit before I take you guys home?”
An evil-sounding whinny came from the horses. I couldn’t really speak horse, but I took that as an okay and pointed at the birds above us. Did I feel stupid? Kinda. But as long as it worked, I couldn’t complain.
“See them? All yours. I'll cover you guys from the ground forces, and in exchange, you guys fall in line. Alright?”
A burst of fire came from one of the horses in response and I heard a loud squawk as it engulfed one of the feather-shooters. I breathed a sigh in relief as the rest of the birds started to scatter. They veered left and right in an attempt to avoid the flaming streams that were now sporadically being fired in their direction.
“Alright! Good job, I'll leave it to you!”
I gave a smile as I turned behind to my land-based foes, quickly gaining on me. I could hear the occasional woosh of fire as the horses fought the birds. One of the armored trucks caught up to my right and one of the spartoi leaned out of the vehicle. They aimed down the sights and pointed their shotgun at me.
“Sudden traffic in your area. You will be delayed by…five minutes. You are still on the fastest route!”
“Woah, that’s not fair! Come on Dad! A gun? Really!?”
I felt a tug in my stomach. It wasn’t something I could do a lot in a row without being exhausted, but I had some sorta pull when it came to weapons. When I gave a command, they were able to fall right out of their owner’s hands.
“Alright, let’s even the playerfield shall we?”
I held out my hand and they dropped it, the gun fell onto the ground, crushed by the wheels of the car. The second caught up to my left and once again, a spartoi leaned out of their car, weapon in hand.
“Another one!? Come on! How am I going to…”
I was jerked to the side as the horses suddenly veered right. At first, I thought it was the horses misbehaving again, but then a monstrous squeal came from behind me, rushing forwards.
Crash
I heard the sound of steel groaning as the boar rushed past the truck, pushing their truck out of the way as they aggressively charged forward. It was a good thing I managed to get out of the way, or else I would have been in trouble. I could see the spartoi shaking their fist as they spun out, their car massively dented with a massive gash in the armor. Now that I had to deal with two enemies, I decided to use the boar’s momentum to my advantage. I pulled back on the reins and the boar kept barreling on, too fast to stop as I made the chariot suddenly stop and then take a sudden turn away from the temple. The boar ran straight into a brick wall, seemingly dazed but otherwise okay.
”Rerouting...”
That temporarily took care of two of my enemies. Now that I had one to worry about, and my horses were pretty steady, I could start this fight in earnest. I kept one hand on the reins as I grabbed my Miku keychain. I unclipped it, and the keychain turned into a katana, with said keychain still on the bottom. It was my sword, Anime (I want to clarify, my friend Jules named it, not me). One of the Spartoi readied a spear and lunged at me. I parried it with my blade, and stabbed at their chest. I felt my blade plunge into their body. I pulled away at it, slashing at it again to tear it apart. To my disappointment though, the monster quickly reformed.
I don't know what I expected, to be honest. They wouldn't be much of an immortal soldier if they died after the first hit. But it bought me valuable time as we pushed forward. Almost as soon as its bones knit back together, it struck at me. I guarded once again, my sword starting to glow brighter and brighter with each strike. Our blades clashed and separated again and again for, I don’t know how long to be honest. I was putting up a good fight, but I just couldn’t gain the upperhand in that fight. For starters, if it was a monster or even a demigod it’d be ten ways to Tartarus at the moment. But, no matter how I sliced or diced it, the immortal soldier kept on coming back. Also, I just wasn't used to multitasking like that, I held on as tightly as I could, but the brief times I practiced Chariot combat with my friends Jules and Cel, I was either driving or fighting. Both at the same time was hard, and I was lucky that the horses were so cooperative.
I heard the whinny of one of the horses ahead as I looked back to the front. No sign of the birds meant that there was a few extra-crispy feather-shooters along the road somewhere, which was good news. But then, I looked out in front and realized that there was a big problem. One of the trucks we left behind somehow got in front of us, blocking the road with their car. Five spartoi were standing outside of the car, swords and spears drawn as they headed the chariot off.
At this moment, I knew I was screwed. I was too fast to just stop. And, even if I did stop, I’d have to deal with all the angry skeleton men chasing me down. I just winced, bracing for impact. But then, I heard a neigh as the horses pulling my chariot started to turn into steel and combined once more. The chariot started to shift, the creak of metal folding and turning. I quickly sheathed my sword as the reins turned into chrome handlebars which I gripped like my life depended on it. The chariot continued to morph until once again it was a motorcycle with flame patterns. I veered as left as I could, narrowly avoiding hitting the side of a nearby building as I sped past the skeletal blockade. I braked, motorcycle now turning back into the chariot form as I turned back and watched as the car that was chasing me slammed straight into the other.
The now pissed spartoi stumbled out of the wreckage and started to scream undead obscenities to each other. I couldn’t speak ghost, but whatever they said seemed to be pretty rude, because both sides started to unsheath their swords and get into an all-out brawl. One of the spartoi sliced the other in two, and they didn’t reform this time as their essence slid into their black sword.
Huh. Well, that was one way to deal with them.
“Whew! Good horses.”
I turned, ready to snap the reins once again, but I stopped as I saw what was waiting for me at the other end of the road. The boar, still very much on my trail stood in front of me. It pawed at the ground in front of it, and my horses started to do the same. I stared at the boar, unsheathing Anime once again as we stared off.
“Keep straight for…500 feet.”
The thing about boars is that they can be pretty deadly. They’re brutish and aggressive, and they go down fighting. You know the crossguard that’s near the pointy end of a spear? That’s so the animal doesn’t run up the spear to take you out with it. You don’t think them being that dangerous, but there’s a reason that dad’s symbol is a boar.
I had to make this quick, and efficient or I’d end up maimed, or worse. I snapped the reins one more time, and the horses started to dash down the street. The boar squealed as it barreled to me. I could see it get closer and closer. I grit my teeth, holding my blade in my right hand as it started to shine more and more brightly. My hand held onto the grip tightly, bracing for my next action.
I’d have one shot at this.
I miss, I’m dead.
I hesitate, I’m dead.
I don’t hit the vitals, I’m dead.
Time started to slow around me as I watched the boar rush at the chariot, enraged as it reached the point where there was no stopping it now. I could see the powerful muscles push and pull, the beast using all its power in an attempt to off me for good. I felt heat coming from the front as all four horses breathed a stream of flames at the swine. The boar kept on charging forwards, through the fire as the flames engulfed it. An angry squeal erupted from the inferno as it lept up from the sea of flames, still on fire as it used its strong legs to clear the horses and go straight for me.
Breathe in
I felt a sense of calm wash over me as I pulled my sword hand back. My blade shined brilliantly, even in the May sun. I watched it fall ever closer to me, the flames still eating away at the flesh. I stared into its ever-angry eyes, burning brighter than the flames surrounding it. I don’t falter. I’ve faced monsters that have crushed my bones. I don’t feel fear. I’ve fought creatures that could have killed me in five seconds. This is it. I need it to be perfect.
Breathe out.
SHING
I swung my blade and a rush of air followed it, making an arc that flew to the boar. I don’t doubt my skills. I simply watch, confident that this will end the monster once and for all. The blast, charged from my fight flew unimpeded. The beast’s chuffs turned into surprised squeal as it sliced the boar cleanly in two, bisecting it from the snout down. I sheathed my sword and put both hands back on the reins, eyes on the road as I barely watched what came next. The flaming boar started to fade into dust, still falling through the air until only a tusk was left. I held out my arm and caught it with my right hand.
“Oh hot, hot!”
I juggled it a bit with one hand before placing it down on the chariot floor. I grinned triumphantly as I realized what happened. Dad tried to test me, to see if I was “worthy” or he genuinely tried to kill me. Either way, I beat him this time, proving to him that I was more. That he underestimated me when we first met, that I was a brave warrior all along. In the end, I proved to him that I could fulfill my Styx oath even past what was expected of me. I laughed as I sped up, I felt pretty good about my victory. I wondered how his face would look, or if I could read his expression past his dumb sunglasses.
But as I rounded the corner, a terrifying sight came to my face as my glee turned to sorrow. I watched with horror as I realized Dad’s influence on the fight kept a more dangerous foe than any before at bay. Now that the fight was over, he had no reason to keep it around, and for once, I wasn’t sure if I could get through this unscathed. I gulped as I put my hands on the reins, not ready to face the impossible challenge alone. I hoped it wouldn’t break me as I prepared what little I had to fight this foe.
”There is an unusual amount of traffic in your area today.”
“Now you tell me…”
None other, than New York traffic.
I’d like to say that I did something else. Like I defeated an army of drakons on my way, or managed to fight off crazed demigods sent by my dad…but no. It was pretty much just traffic the rest of the way there. It was long and arduous, but I managed to make my way over to The Intrepid. After that traffic,I had to say, the amount of crazy drivers was almost San Francisco bad. I’d have taken as many spartoi and boars as dad could throw at me, if it meant I wasn’t drowning in the sea of cars. I drove down Pier 86, feeling a sense of relief as I got closer and closer to the aircraft carrier turned museum. As I got within eyeshot, I realized that dad said to take it to the temple, but not where to drop it off at.
It would be really stupid to end up failing just because I wasn’t sure where to leave dad’s ride. I got off the chariot, and was eyeing the prices of a ticket.
“Adults are thirty-six, Seniors and College Students…thirty four… Oh hey! Children of Ares get in free! Now, how do I wheel dad’s chariot through the front…”
Suddenly the side gate opened, lights flashing and clanging as it automatically retracted. The person standing in the booth waved me over and I hopped back onto the chariot, driving it by cautiously. They were dressed like a security guard, shades covering their eyes as they looked down onto their phone that they were absentmindedly playing with. Eyebrow piercings peeked out from behind the shades. They were tall, looked about early twenties, and seemed like your average bored museum guard, if not for that sorta godly aura I got from them.
“Take the chariot this way, Lord Ares will be at the end of Pier 86. Can’t miss him.”
I eyed the godling suspiciously. They seemed like one of those myriad younger and minor gods I saw when I was on Olympus. Not anyone I’d know, but if they wanted to stop me, it’d be annoying to get past them. They didn’t seem to be that dangerous, at least right now. But when you were a demigod, you learned to be wary of free handouts.
“Uh…look man, I’m going to be honest. I just got through some hellish traffic to get through here. So if like, you’re leading me into a trap or if my godly brothers are going to show up to try and take this, can you just start the fight and save me the trouble? It’s been a long morning, and I just wanna get this over with.”
I stared back at my reflection through their mirrored shades. Growing up, I always thought of myself as gangly and awkward. I could see my messed up hair, tousled from the wind. I stood tall, and although I wasn’t the buffest Ares kid around, you couldn’t call me skinny anymore. I looked almost heroic as I held the reins atop the chariot. Was that how I looked now? The godling shook their head as they chuckled, putting down their phone as they looked at me in the eyes.
“Kid, even for a god like Ares who likes conflict, you don’t do something like that in a temple. You can’t just attack his kid on his own grounds. Plus, it's part of the rules of war to respect neutralized zones. Trust me, you’re home free.”
“Oh. Um, thank you.”
He nodded and went back on his phone. I snapped on the reins and the chariot trotted along, even fire-breathing horses had to follow traffic laws apparently. I was on guard, not taking the godling’s words at face value. Mortals in a daze parted around the chariot, a few snapping pictures at me. I freaked out for a split second before I heard the tourists being in awe at what I heard to be a “vintage bomber”. Dumbfounded, I stopped for a brief second. It didn’t even have wings! But, I could see the mist shimmer around me and for a brief moment, see the silhouette of the plane around the chariot. It was an old fighter, a single propellor with flaming horse art on the nose.
“P-40B Warhawk? Alright, guess we’re working with that.”
I frowned a bit, trying to think if I knew that before this, from a school project or if it was more demigod shenanigans. I was never into fighter jets, but when you’re a demigod sometimes your parent’s godly influence shoves itself into your head and it’s always confusing when it does.
I drove the “plane” to the end of the pier, where I could see my dad sitting down on a barricade, blocking off a massive plane above him. It wasn’t used for war apparently, because I had no clue what type of plane it was. Looked cool though, it was really narrow around the nose end and the wings were all near the back end. He had a big wicked-looking combat knife in his hand that he used to clean his nails. He looked up at me, disinterestedly, before going back down to the knife.
“You’re alive.”
I couldn’t tell from his tone if that was a good or bad thing. It seemed… neutral. Like he was stating the sky was blue. But, overall I’d take that as a good thing, considering our last meeting. I spoke a bit warily, not sure if he was in a good or bad mood considering my victory.
“Uh, so Father. I’m finished with what you-”
“No. You’re not.”
“I’m not!? Do I need to do anything or-”
A moment of panic snuck up into my chest. For a brief moment I was afraid he was going to pull a twelve labors on me, but then he whistled and held out his hand.
“Not until you give me the keys kid, then it’s done.”
I hopped out of the chariot, the reins in my hand turning into keys as the horses went back into their motorcycle form. I somewhat clumsily tossed it to my dad, who grabbed it. He pushed himself off his perch, first making sure his motorcycle was unharmed. Then, he turned to me, eying me up and down as he circled around where I stood. I stood still, at attention as I felt my heart racing in my chest. I felt like a deer, cornered by a wolf just waiting to strike. Yet, the first pang of anxiety soon settled down. If he wanted to take care of me, he would have done so already. Or sent something more dangerous like a Drakon at me when I was driving. I felt my heart leap up into my throat as he clapped a big hand on my shoulder. The gesture wasn’t hostile, if anything, the motion seemed friendly. But his grip was anything but. His hand, like the claws of a tiger dug into my shoulder as he grinned at me.
“I have to say, I thought you were a lost cause, but look at you kid. Took you long enough, but I guess you have enough of me in you after all. Well, a late bloomer is better than being completely useless, but man! You were one of my most pathetic kids when you took that oath. I don’t think I had a kid as wimpy as you in a long time. Well, I’m glad my little nudge helped you keep that oath up after all. It would have been a waste of a perfectly good warrior if you didn’t shape up.”
I looked at him, dumbfounded. He helped me? He didn’t do anything! I wasn’t stupid enough to point it out, but I guess he knew what I was thinking as I felt his grip tighten as he growled.
“Come on, don’t give me that look, kid. Oh, don’t look so surprised. Tip of advice: don’t dip your toes into cards. You have a horrible poker face. Your mom was the same way. But, yes. I helped. Not that kids these days would understand. Parents these days are too soft, including most of us gods. Back in Sparta, we’d leave our kids to fend for themselves. Just give them barely enough food and let them hunt or steal the rest. If they end up dying in the hunt or starved, well that’s fine. They were too weak to do anything of note anyway. You should consider yourself lucky I was generous enough to just turn my back on you.”
He chuckled low, and my blood ran cold as he shook me. I shook my head, fighting off a wave of dizziness as he threatened to take off my arm.
“Oh, but that’s in the past! You passed your agōgē period, all by yourself. Now that is true strength.”
His evil grin widened as he gave me the closest thing to an approved look he’d ever given me. I furrowed my brow as I shook my head. This credit, it wasn’t mine to take, was it? Before I could think, I spoke what was on my mind.
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t do this by myself. Everywhere I went, I had someone to help me out. If it wasn’t for the help from my friends, I don’t think I would be standing here. I didn’t-”
My dad’s good mood instantly soured as his grin warped into a snarl. His grip, although somewhat friendly now seemed dangerously tight as he frustratingly interrupted me.
“Oh for the love of! I’m complimenting you, kid. Look. I don’t care about those other twerps one way or another. Allies are fine enough in war, as long as you don’t make them do all the work. Kid, you’ve gotten strong all on your own, like a true son of mine. Don’t deny you and me the kleos you rightfully deserve ever again. Shut up and just take the honor.”
“I…uh…yes, Dad.”
I was surprised that all it accounted to was a mild scolding. My dad, too seemed to calm down after I agreed with his words, as he went back to a smile. He put his hand back into his pocket as he started to walk up to his chariot. He ran his finger across the chrome finish, taking out a cloth and cleaning off my fingerprints from the metal.
“About your joyride. Not bad, not bad at all. It took you a bit to embrace your birthright, but you ended up not even scratching my ride. Nice. Nice. Saves me the trouble of buffing it out. Now, if you could only stop complaining at everything that opposed you. You’re a man, aren’t you David? Start acting like it. If you think a bag of bones and a pig are hard, just wait until your future. The stronger a warrior gets, the stronger their foes get. Make sure you’re strong enough to stand up against them before you end up a stain on the pavement.”
I heard the engine rev as he got into the seat. He threw a bag at me that I clumsily fumbled with before I fully caught it. I opened it, and a few golden drachmas shined back at me.
“Since your agōgē finished up, consider yourself un-cut off. Even I’m not heartless enough to leave a son of mine stranded in New York. Keep the rest. Feel free to hang around my temple, and help yourself to the gift shop if you want, it’s on the house, happy birthday and all that. Just don’t go overboard.”
He turned the motorcycle, wheeling it around so he could leave the pier. He turned around, giving me a few more parting words he shouted over the roar of the engine.
“Don’t think you’re done yet, David. You got a lot more to grow. Especially now that you can receive my blessings again. What, did you think that taking a good hit was all you can do? You’ll see sooner or later. See ya kid! Don’t disappoint me.”
He revved his engine one more time and took off, leaving me behind on the pier. As I watched my dad leave, I realized that with that resolved, the last of what made my Styx Oath so suffocating was finally finished. A part of me felt that I’d always keep the consequences of it with me. Either dad would continue to disown me, or I’d be horribly injured from my jobs. But, to my surprise, everything worked out alright. I worked as hard as I could, and now everything was over, truly over. I…wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I mean, like obviously I didn’t wanna have them with me for the rest of my life. But, for all of my oath’s lifespan I had the deadline looming overhead, and my expectation was that something would happen to me as a result. I was glad to have it over with, but I never felt that I could relax until now. The feeling of not having the anxiety of my imminent demise was something I wasn’t familiar with, and to be honest I still have trouble relaxing. As he disappeared into the afternoon traffic, I realized that, so too did my previous life.
Maybe…maybe I could afford to enjoy my life now after all.
OOC: And there we have it! The final David storymode relevant to this storyline! I meant to have this yesterday but I didn't see the modmail that gave me the okay until literally an hour ago oop. Which means that yes, the Chariot and Ares both are approved from the mods.
Big thank you to Tiffany's writer, angelspoint for helping me with her parts, I had a blast working with them! Hope you enjoyed David's Victory lap!

When i entered class 10th everybody used to say that if you complete this and this you'll get 95%
if you complete this syllabus by this time you'll get 95%
if you write answers in this manneordehandwriting you'll get 95%
If you write these words in your answersheet they'll improve your results
If u do this blah blah blah, you can get 95%
When u think About it objectively, it will of course seem reasonable how all these tips for an exam like cbse class 10th could change your marks by a great margin
But this was all a fallacy in my opinion
What really ALSO MATTERS at the end of the day and what no one tells you about is WHO WILL BE CHECKING YOUR ANSWERPAPER in board exams and In what Manner will they be checking it in
sure in school you trust and know your teachers enough to understand what marks they have given you, in case there are any mistakes they even correct that
But in board exams u have 0 knowledge about who and where will be your paper checked
I have many friends who didn't know how to speak/write proper English scoring 95 in boards whereas for some who used every goddamn "tip" possible/who knew how to write/speak good english only be able to pull 92 or even worse like 86-85s(me included)
To all 10th students i can at least assure you that if u work hard you will get that result (above 90 or 85) , however for "toppers" or people who do maintain a 90% before and during 10th grade, its understandable your expectations would increase too( 95,94,96,97) however u do also have to take this perspective into account as i mentioned
The anecdotal exp i did mention is in fact the worst case possible scenario(70-30) you could go through so don't be afraid, However i did want some of you to realize this early on than rather be surprised/depressed/flabbergasted when your board results do come out
for some context : i got 93%(best of 5) 92 (aggregate)
i was a student scoring straight 90's and 95's above

For context I am a first year student studying ece I know the basics of electrical sciences but haven't studied digital design yet. Over the summer I would like to learn how to make a esc myself, and make a modified version of it imagine something like a flight controller. Current cheap bldc simonk ones on the market use arduino chips but I know that the better ones operate a little bit differently. How would one go about learning all of this? Are there any specific online resources or books?

I have always heard people saying that Linux is better than Windows but never heard how, like in terms of memory usage or security.
Can any one help me to get the detailed answer of this question and convince me to switch to linux or to stay on windows.
Edit: thanks for the comments. Many people commented "based on your requirements/usage". I am an engineering student and for me memory usage and efficiency is the primary factor. Please answer in that context. Thanks.

Edit: hey everyone for some context I wrote this post shortly after arguing with a student (who I talk about here) and I was not in an emotionally sound state of mind while typing it. It is hence not worded very well and I sound rlly angry in this post which isn’t how I’m feeling rn. I’m going to take a day to think about what I want to do in regards to the whole initiative because I am also getting lots of WhatsApp messages from other participants asking me to continue with it and I feel rlly bad haha. But I’m going to keep my original post untouched because this was not something that happened just because of that one mean student, it was because I was dealing with many people making character judgements about me. In fact at least the rude student said it to my face the other cowards all created new reddit accounts for the sole purpose of sending me nasty dms. ————-————-————-————-————-
I know that reddit isn’t a very happy place but from my 2 years lurking on this community as a JC student I always viewed it as one of the few nice communities on this app. And I was wrong. I don’t know why I’m even posting this rant over here, it’s unlikely that I will get any validation from the people I am criticising but I am so angry right now that I rlly need to get this out and maybe, just maybe, those of you who have been cyberbullying me (yes that’s what it is) would reflect about yourselves.
TLDR: people who know nothing about me are assuming that I am only offering free gp lessons to bait people into paid lessons and are making extremely unkind dms to me. I was ignoring them and staying off reddit but a student I taught today echoed the same sentiment which crushed me.
I made a post very recently offering free GP “lessons” during the June holidays. My intentions behind offering this was to give back to a community I benefitted a lot from. I am not from a well off family, I couldn’t afford tutoring myself despite really needing extra help due to a host of family and health issues I was facing as a Jc student. My saving grace for GP was this kind man I met through this subreddit while I was in j1. I have no clue what his name is as he wished to remain anonymous but he is an ex Jc tutor whose zoom name was Micheal at one point and Paul after that. He has Tourette’s syndrome, and I’m saying this just so that if he is reading this post or if anyone who knows him is this man literally changed my life. He taught me for 3 2h lessons in total but I continued to use the very techniques he showed me for the rest of my Jc years. He helped me get my first GP A and I have never gotten a lower grade since.
Of course I have also picked up a lot of my own study techniques after that and I wanted to help other people the way he helped me. Which is why in my original post I also stated that I am not teaching GP content but rather study techniques. Due to overwhelming response I have already had a few sessions and those who have attended will know that all I did was ask them where they were struggling in for GP before sharing tips and advice on how to study and improve. I didn’t even have time to go through the prep activity I gave which were 4 essay outlines because the whole 1.5h was spent on sharing studying tips and answering questions.
And it is fair for someone to see a post like the one I made and question my intentions. There’s honestly a 50/50 chance that I could be a good or selfish person. But why is it that so many people have so much hatred and rage in their tiny little hearts that they take the time to create new reddit accounts for the sole purpose of DM-ing me hate comments. I am well aware that the majority of the community perceived my post as one made with selfish intent just from the fact that it has 5 upvotes whereas I have close to a 50 signups on the google form. But to want to harass me not even through commenting on my post but DM-ing me?? What did I ever do that makes you so sure that I am only doing this to make money?
I started this not expecting so many sign ups and when I saw the interest level I was so happy. I even rescheduled my own get togethers to make time for this and I was even planning to make this more regular if I could afford the time. I had plans to try it again next year or maybe set up a telegram chat to answer more questions or check up on the participants as the year goes along. I really enjoy teaching GP and I saw a younger me in the students who were signing up.
So when I started getting harassed on reddit I just deleted the app. I just reasoned that it is normal for people to be cynical and judgmental, I myself would’ve had similar doubts if I was a student looking at my post. Sure the hate dms did upset me a lot but my first session went really well and the student even sent a rlly sweet message thanking me afterwards which was enough to keep me going.
But I had a session just now that has broken my heart enough to make me scrap all plans altogether. I was discussing dates for the second session with a boy who signed up (I have your name number and email but I won’t dox you, but if you are reading this 1-2:30 pm student give yourself a pat on the back, you’re the straw that broke the camel’s back)
I was not free on the days he was suggesting and he questioned why I was free on Friday for one week but not the other and I explained that it was because of the very initiative he signed up for that I had a very messy schedule. Well he goes on to use the meger number of upvotes my post had to claim that I was exaggerating the number of participants I had in a really insulting way. I was offended given that I had spend my precious time and energy reading this guy’s Google form responses where he detailed his gp grades, what topics he is more comfortable in for paper 1 and his gp concerns to choose 4 questions to give him as prep work. Then I had to think of study recommendations for him because my guy stated that he doesn’t study gp outside of school lessons because he has no time. And after a 1.5h+ session of me teaching him all the tips and tricks I had and giving him many sets of GP notes for free he demands I accommodate his schedule and also calls me a liar? I told him to show more respect to someone who is helping you for free and he proceeds to tell me that I’m just doing this to find more tutees. Not once did I bring up my tuition, not to him or anyone else I have taught for free. And yes I am tutoring to help my family who are struggling financially and to hopefully save up for some of my uni expenses which will be large as I am a foreigner. But as someone who hated the tutoring industry as a student for giving an unfair advantage to my richer classmates I always strove to be sincere in eveyhing I did be it by offering extra help to all my students in the form of prepping them for exco interviews or giving them advice when they felt like a teacher was being biased against them.
It hurts so much to hear those words despite all my good intentions and all my efforts to give others an easier time than I had. Iwish I was just doing this for the money, I wish I hadn’t spent hours preparing for these free lessons and I wish I had never offered them in the first place and just chose to be a money minded greed goblin who only helps those who pay me.
So guess what that’s what I’m going to be. To those with whom I have already fixed dates I will see you for 1 session instead of the promised 2 but for the rest who either haven’t messaged me back yet or said you will confirm dates later as your cca hasn’t confirmed their June holiday plans I’m sorry I can’t take it anymore. Pay me if you want my time energy and effort because I’m now a money minded bitch who only helps those who are blessed with wealthy parents and have the ability to fill my pockets.