Dance adjectives that start with n
The best Caribbean waistline moves and party moments on reddit
2021.11.04 12:49 skinoutyuhpunani The best Caribbean waistline moves and party moments on reddit
This subreddit is intended to showcase and promote the sexy side of Caribbean dancing and party culture, with a focus on carnival and Jamaican dancehall. Selectas screaming 'Murdah!, Caribbean women in gorgeous costumes at carnival ("Pretty Mas"), sexy moments at fetes, crazy daggering moments in Jamaican dancehall as well as dancehall queens and dancers skillfully dancing in the dancehall inspired Jamaican dance styles are what this subreddit is all about.
2011.05.16 10:38 looroo electroswing
Discussion about the electro-swing Music genre
2010.03.21 22:07 /r/Hardstyle - Home of the Harder Styles
Welcome to the Hardstyle Family!
2024.05.19 10:05 Fluffy-Lettuce6583 Was rewatching Saamy...and
This was problem with many Tamil and Telugu film. Trisha is shown to be homely girl,the moment romantic duet starts she is in skimpy clothes and dancing like a city girl. Wonder why no one thought that is out of character.
submitted by Fluffy-Lettuce6583 to kollywood [link] [comments]
2024.05.19 09:47 Soup-Cool 31[M4F] UK/Online - Looking for a romantic connection
Hey all hope you're having a great day :)
So like most people i'm missing that special person in my life and it would be really nice to find someone that i can relate to, be 100% honest and open with and generally find my best friend.
Hopefully this would start out as friendship and if we click then we click, open to anyone from anywhere :)
Some stuff about me/hobbies
Video games, this is my biggest hobby by far, i play have an pretty big library of games i play so if you game, there is a high chance we would share stuff we could play, a few games i play often, League(i question it too don't worry) soulsbourne games (unga bunga builds) fallout's, i mainly play pc but have a switch and ps4 too.
TV/Film, if not doing the above, you can find me binge watching shows or films, such as B99, the office HIMYM, GoT (we can discuss how shit the last season was forever), Star Wars, Marvel stuff, SAW.
Animals, i have 2 dogs (yes i'll show you lots of pictures) and in general i love animals so much, so i'll probably spam you with pictures of random animals i think are cute or funny :)
Music, i listen to a wide variety of stuff, from rock and metal to dance/pop some electro swing, rap and other stuff, in general if i like a song i'll listen to it on repeat till i hate it but still listen to it anyway.
I try and be witty and funny most the time, I have a stupid sense of humour but will try and make you laugh most of the time, I can be shy to start with but i open up pretty quickly when i get comfortable with you :)
Don't be shy and hit me up if you think we would get on :)
submitted by Soup-Cool to ForeverAloneDating [link] [comments]
So like most people i'm missing that special person in my life and it would be really nice to find someone that i can relate to, be 100% honest and open with and generally find my best friend.
Hopefully this would start out as friendship and if we click then we click, open to anyone from anywhere :)
Some stuff about me/hobbies
Video games, this is my biggest hobby by far, i play have an pretty big library of games i play so if you game, there is a high chance we would share stuff we could play, a few games i play often, League(i question it too don't worry) soulsbourne games (unga bunga builds) fallout's, i mainly play pc but have a switch and ps4 too.
TV/Film, if not doing the above, you can find me binge watching shows or films, such as B99, the office HIMYM, GoT (we can discuss how shit the last season was forever), Star Wars, Marvel stuff, SAW.
Animals, i have 2 dogs (yes i'll show you lots of pictures) and in general i love animals so much, so i'll probably spam you with pictures of random animals i think are cute or funny :)
Music, i listen to a wide variety of stuff, from rock and metal to dance/pop some electro swing, rap and other stuff, in general if i like a song i'll listen to it on repeat till i hate it but still listen to it anyway.
I try and be witty and funny most the time, I have a stupid sense of humour but will try and make you laugh most of the time, I can be shy to start with but i open up pretty quickly when i get comfortable with you :)
Don't be shy and hit me up if you think we would get on :)
2024.05.19 09:32 Hammered_Eel Hiked to the top of Mt Cotton. Got some K’s before the footy this arvo.
 | submitted by Hammered_Eel to brisbane [link] [comments] |
2024.05.19 09:28 Automatic_Divide_623 AITA for not talking to my cousin?
Sorry if this doesn't make sense English isn't my first language.
2 years ago I moved in with my cousin, her husband, and there 2 kids. All was going, I helped with chores, baby sat for them plenty of times, and even cooked dinner or lunch when they were too tired to cook, I tried my best to be helpful around the house since I didn't have a job, I tried getting a job but every where I went they turned me down. It all went down hill when my other cousin passed away, I was devastated when I got the call from my sister, when I got the call I cried for a while till I fell asleep, when I woke up I just cried more, after I went to bathroom to wash my face, not long after my cousin noticed I was crying and asked if I was okay, I told her that my other cousin passed away and I couldn't even finish my sentence cause of my crying, she comforted me for and told me she was there for me and would do anything I needed from her. I later went to go see how my uncle was doing, my cousin drove me to go see them. I visited my uncle for a bit and went home. My cousin's husband drove me home since she was at work. The next would be planning the funeral. And the day after that they would be moving the body to the church, I had to meet up with my uncle, dad and other family members, so I asked my cousin to drive me, she seemed a little annoyed when she drove me, I felt bad for asking. Next few days family was still planning the funeral. And the night before the funeral I had asked for ride to the funeral, they didn't really answer my question. I couldn't sleep that night, so when it came to the time I should be leaving for the funeral they weren't awake, I waited 20 more minutes for them, still asleep so I decided to walk, it was a 40 minute walk for me. I was hesitant to walk, but I also didn't want to wake them up just for a ride I didn't want to annoy them. I also couldn't ask my dad or uncle for ride as they were already at the church and they don't have service or wifi there. The funeral went by, and before I knew it was 5pm, I had asked my cousin for ride back but she didn't answer . Since she didn't answer me I wait a few hours at the church until one of my other family members was able to drive me home, I got home late and was exhausted so I went straight to bed, I woke up around midnight and just laid there for bit, I couldn't believe that my cousin had passed away, I again was crying, soon later I stopped crying and start scrolling on my phone since I wasn't on it as much that week, and then my cousin walked in my room and asked how the funeral went, I said went fine, and she started a small conversation, that lead her to saying that she wants to spend time with her husband that next morning, she basically hinted that she wanted me to babysit for them the next morning, I was shocked that she said that because I had just gotten home a few hrs before from my other cousin's funeral.But the next morning they didn't do as they planned. A few hours later my mom had texted me and asked if I wanted to go out to eat I said yes, as I thought it would be good for me to get out. I went out to eat with my mom, i went home with leftovers since I couldn't eat all of it. I fell asleep once again when I got home, and only got a few hours of sleep. I had woken up at midnight, I woke up to my cousin and her husband drinking, and there 2 kids watching tv in there room. Mind you this is the night after my cousins funeral, about an hour later my cousin came into my room and had asked me to babysit there kids and make sure they stay in the room, usually I would say yes but I was hesitant to since I was grieving. She said it's okay that I just could hear out the kids and check in on them every 15 minutes, she then left my room, not even 10 minutes later she came back into my room asked me to sit with the kids, again I was hesitant to say yes, but I just said fine since it was alr kate at night and thought the kids would go sleep soon, 1 hour later kids still awake...2 hours later kids still awake...3 hours later kids are still awake...4 hours later kids are still awake... 5 HOURS later kids are finally sleeping. The WHOLE TIME I was with the kids my cousin and her husband were drinking. Safe to say I was pissed, I finally went to sleep too, I woke up late in the afternoon since I was up late babysitting. I was hungry so I went to go heat up my food I had brought home the day before. My cousin walked pasted the kitchen and saw me and came to say hi to me, I said nothing as I was mad at her for basically pushing me to babysit for her while I was grieving, she tried starting a conversation but she noticed I wasn't saying anything to her, she asked if I was okay, I just said nothing and as soon as my food was done heating up I walked away back to my room. I know this may seem childish but I was mad at her for pushing me to babysit for her while she n her husband drink, she knows I can't say not to them. I gave her and her husband the cold shoulder the next few days, up until I went to go visit my uncle, I stayed with him for the night since I need some time away. I didn't plan on staying with him when I went to visit I just did. I usually babysit for them since there work schedules overlap. But I didn't know if I had to babysit that since they didn't tell me if I needed to, so I decided to stay with my uncle for the night. That may have upset my cousin a bit cause when I went back she kept asking what's wrong with me, I said nothing. The next day my sister in-law who is very pregnant started labour. I wanted to be with her since me and her are very close. So I went with my mom to go be there for her. She wasn't dilated enough to give birth yet so we tried walking stairs and walking around all day. That help a little bit, later we went back to my sister-in-laws place so she could rest. While we were at her place I got a text from my cousin, my cousin texted me basically saying that I don't help out, and she gave me a "choice" that I should move out or "help out" more, I was in disbelief I just brust into tears. A few minutes later I had gotten another text from my aunty she had said that my cousin was going around telling people lies about me, I won't say what my cousin was saying about me behind by back since it hurt me she would say that after all I've done for her. I sat there sobbing for what felt like hours, hurt that she would do that to me. I felt like burden sobbing since my sister in law was in the room in early labour. I couldn't help it tho I was just hurt. My sister in law and mom just stood there looking at me, since this was basically the first time in forever they seen me cry like that.I just sat there zoning out, my sister in law stood up for and told my mom what my cousin did to me. My mom didn't say anything. My sister in law went on to say that my cousin shouldn't have done that since I lost my cousin I grew up with. After that my sister in law said I could stay with her. I felt like burden since she was pregnant and could give birth any minute now. But I stayed with her since I didn't know what to do. The next day we went back to the stairs, I stayed on the car since it was close to wifi and I felt like I was gonna have a breakdown. My dad had called me while I was sitting on the car, I told him what happen I couldn't even get through half of it without crying. He told it's going to be okay and to just let it all out, we then talked for bit and I felt better after the call. I went to go see how my sister in law was doing she was tired so went back to her place. She gave birth the next day I was so excited for her , that I forgot what happened with my cousin. But later on my mom pulled me aside and asked what I was gunna do, I told her that I would just move in with my dad. So I did and ever since I did I felt like I have been getting better, but apart of me thinks I should have just talked to my cousin how I was feeling, and what she did upset me, it's just I feel awkward and feel like seeking attention when talking about my feelings. And I feel kind of childish for ignoring her... ever since I moved out I went low contact with her and her husband.
So AITA for not talking to my cousin?
submitted by Automatic_Divide_623 to throwaway1111 [link] [comments]
2 years ago I moved in with my cousin, her husband, and there 2 kids. All was going, I helped with chores, baby sat for them plenty of times, and even cooked dinner or lunch when they were too tired to cook, I tried my best to be helpful around the house since I didn't have a job, I tried getting a job but every where I went they turned me down. It all went down hill when my other cousin passed away, I was devastated when I got the call from my sister, when I got the call I cried for a while till I fell asleep, when I woke up I just cried more, after I went to bathroom to wash my face, not long after my cousin noticed I was crying and asked if I was okay, I told her that my other cousin passed away and I couldn't even finish my sentence cause of my crying, she comforted me for and told me she was there for me and would do anything I needed from her. I later went to go see how my uncle was doing, my cousin drove me to go see them. I visited my uncle for a bit and went home. My cousin's husband drove me home since she was at work. The next would be planning the funeral. And the day after that they would be moving the body to the church, I had to meet up with my uncle, dad and other family members, so I asked my cousin to drive me, she seemed a little annoyed when she drove me, I felt bad for asking. Next few days family was still planning the funeral. And the night before the funeral I had asked for ride to the funeral, they didn't really answer my question. I couldn't sleep that night, so when it came to the time I should be leaving for the funeral they weren't awake, I waited 20 more minutes for them, still asleep so I decided to walk, it was a 40 minute walk for me. I was hesitant to walk, but I also didn't want to wake them up just for a ride I didn't want to annoy them. I also couldn't ask my dad or uncle for ride as they were already at the church and they don't have service or wifi there. The funeral went by, and before I knew it was 5pm, I had asked my cousin for ride back but she didn't answer . Since she didn't answer me I wait a few hours at the church until one of my other family members was able to drive me home, I got home late and was exhausted so I went straight to bed, I woke up around midnight and just laid there for bit, I couldn't believe that my cousin had passed away, I again was crying, soon later I stopped crying and start scrolling on my phone since I wasn't on it as much that week, and then my cousin walked in my room and asked how the funeral went, I said went fine, and she started a small conversation, that lead her to saying that she wants to spend time with her husband that next morning, she basically hinted that she wanted me to babysit for them the next morning, I was shocked that she said that because I had just gotten home a few hrs before from my other cousin's funeral.But the next morning they didn't do as they planned. A few hours later my mom had texted me and asked if I wanted to go out to eat I said yes, as I thought it would be good for me to get out. I went out to eat with my mom, i went home with leftovers since I couldn't eat all of it. I fell asleep once again when I got home, and only got a few hours of sleep. I had woken up at midnight, I woke up to my cousin and her husband drinking, and there 2 kids watching tv in there room. Mind you this is the night after my cousins funeral, about an hour later my cousin came into my room and had asked me to babysit there kids and make sure they stay in the room, usually I would say yes but I was hesitant to since I was grieving. She said it's okay that I just could hear out the kids and check in on them every 15 minutes, she then left my room, not even 10 minutes later she came back into my room asked me to sit with the kids, again I was hesitant to say yes, but I just said fine since it was alr kate at night and thought the kids would go sleep soon, 1 hour later kids still awake...2 hours later kids still awake...3 hours later kids are still awake...4 hours later kids are still awake... 5 HOURS later kids are finally sleeping. The WHOLE TIME I was with the kids my cousin and her husband were drinking. Safe to say I was pissed, I finally went to sleep too, I woke up late in the afternoon since I was up late babysitting. I was hungry so I went to go heat up my food I had brought home the day before. My cousin walked pasted the kitchen and saw me and came to say hi to me, I said nothing as I was mad at her for basically pushing me to babysit for her while I was grieving, she tried starting a conversation but she noticed I wasn't saying anything to her, she asked if I was okay, I just said nothing and as soon as my food was done heating up I walked away back to my room. I know this may seem childish but I was mad at her for pushing me to babysit for her while she n her husband drink, she knows I can't say not to them. I gave her and her husband the cold shoulder the next few days, up until I went to go visit my uncle, I stayed with him for the night since I need some time away. I didn't plan on staying with him when I went to visit I just did. I usually babysit for them since there work schedules overlap. But I didn't know if I had to babysit that since they didn't tell me if I needed to, so I decided to stay with my uncle for the night. That may have upset my cousin a bit cause when I went back she kept asking what's wrong with me, I said nothing. The next day my sister in-law who is very pregnant started labour. I wanted to be with her since me and her are very close. So I went with my mom to go be there for her. She wasn't dilated enough to give birth yet so we tried walking stairs and walking around all day. That help a little bit, later we went back to my sister-in-laws place so she could rest. While we were at her place I got a text from my cousin, my cousin texted me basically saying that I don't help out, and she gave me a "choice" that I should move out or "help out" more, I was in disbelief I just brust into tears. A few minutes later I had gotten another text from my aunty she had said that my cousin was going around telling people lies about me, I won't say what my cousin was saying about me behind by back since it hurt me she would say that after all I've done for her. I sat there sobbing for what felt like hours, hurt that she would do that to me. I felt like burden sobbing since my sister in law was in the room in early labour. I couldn't help it tho I was just hurt. My sister in law and mom just stood there looking at me, since this was basically the first time in forever they seen me cry like that.I just sat there zoning out, my sister in law stood up for and told my mom what my cousin did to me. My mom didn't say anything. My sister in law went on to say that my cousin shouldn't have done that since I lost my cousin I grew up with. After that my sister in law said I could stay with her. I felt like burden since she was pregnant and could give birth any minute now. But I stayed with her since I didn't know what to do. The next day we went back to the stairs, I stayed on the car since it was close to wifi and I felt like I was gonna have a breakdown. My dad had called me while I was sitting on the car, I told him what happen I couldn't even get through half of it without crying. He told it's going to be okay and to just let it all out, we then talked for bit and I felt better after the call. I went to go see how my sister in law was doing she was tired so went back to her place. She gave birth the next day I was so excited for her , that I forgot what happened with my cousin. But later on my mom pulled me aside and asked what I was gunna do, I told her that I would just move in with my dad. So I did and ever since I did I felt like I have been getting better, but apart of me thinks I should have just talked to my cousin how I was feeling, and what she did upset me, it's just I feel awkward and feel like seeking attention when talking about my feelings. And I feel kind of childish for ignoring her... ever since I moved out I went low contact with her and her husband.
So AITA for not talking to my cousin?
2024.05.19 09:26 Sweet-Count2557 Best Things to Do in St Cloud Mn
 | Best Things to Do in St Cloud Mn Are y'all lookin' for the best things to do in St. Cloud, MN? Well, look no further! We, the locals, have got y'all covered.We've compiled a list of the top attractions and activities that this vibrant city has to offer. From gorgeous gardens and parks to thrilling outdoor adventures, fascinating historical sites, and awesome breweries, St. Cloud has it all.So get ready to explore, have fun, and make unforgettable memories in this charming city!Key TakeawaysSt. Cloud offers a variety of gardens and parks for outdoor enthusiasts, including Munsinger Gardens, Clemens Gardens, Quarry Park and Nature Preserve, and Beaver Islands Trail.Visitors can enjoy outdoor recreation activities such as hiking, biking, and picnicking at places like Beaver Island Trail, Quarry Park and Nature Preserve, and Riverside Park.History and culture enthusiasts can explore sites like St Mary's Cathedral, Stearns History Museum, St Cloud City Hall, Paramount Center for the Arts, and Pioneer Place on Fifth.The city is home to several breweries and entertainment venues like Beaver Island Brewing Company, Pantown Brewing Company, Granite City Speedway, and Riddlers Escape.Gardens and ParksWhen it comes to gardens and parks in St. Cloud, we can't miss out on Munsinger and Clemens Gardens. These hidden gems aren't only beautiful, but also offer a peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. As members of the Munsinger Clemens Botanical Society, we've had the privilege of exploring these gardens and witnessing the natural beauty they have to offer.Munsinger Gardens, situated along the Mississippi River, is a delightful blend of formal gardens and wild, natural areas. The winding paths take you through colorful flower beds, manicured lawns, and serene ponds. It truly is a place where you can immerse yourself in the tranquility of nature.Clemens Gardens, on the other hand, boasts an impressive collection of roses and other perennials. The vibrant blooms and intoxicating scents create a sensory experience like no other.While Munsinger and Clemens Gardens are the most well-known parks in St. Cloud, there are also a few lesser known ones that are worth exploring. These hidden gems offer a chance to discover the natural beauty of St. Cloud's parks.Quarry Park and Nature Preserve, for example, features over 20 abandoned granite quarries that have been transformed into stunningly beautiful lakes. The park also offers hiking trails that wind through forests and prairies, providing opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts to connect with nature.Now that we've explored the hidden gems and hiking trails of St. Cloud's gardens and parks, let's dive into the next section about outdoor recreation.Outdoor RecreationLet's explore the outdoor recreation options available in St. Cloud, such as hiking, biking, and fishing. St. Cloud is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts, offering a variety of activities to enjoy the beautiful natural surroundings.For those who love hiking, there are numerous trails to choose from. One popular option is the Beaver Island Trail, which stretches for over six miles along the Mississippi River. This scenic trail offers stunning views of the water and is perfect for a leisurely stroll or a vigorous run.If you're looking for water activities, St. Cloud has you covered. Lake George is a popular spot for boating, fishing, and swimming. The crystal clear water and sandy beaches make it the ideal place to cool off on a hot summer day. For those who prefer a more peaceful water experience, the Quarry Park and Nature Preserve is a must-visit. This former granite quarry has been transformed into a beautiful swimming area with clear blue waters and towering cliffs.In addition to hiking and water activities, St. Cloud also offers plenty of options for biking. The Beaver Island Trail, in addition to being great for walking, is also a fantastic biking trail. The paved path winds through scenic landscapes and offers a smooth ride for cyclists of all skill levels. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced biker, you'll find plenty of trails to explore in St. Cloud.Historical and Cultural SitesWe were amazed by the rich history and vibrant culture of St. Cloud, and so we decided to explore its historical and cultural sites.One of the first places we visited was St Cloud City Hall, a beautiful building that showcases the city's unique architecture. This historic site not only serves as the seat of government, but it also offers guided tours that provide a glimpse into the city's past.Another must-visit site is St Mary's Cathedral, an iconic landmark that stands tall in the heart of St. Cloud. The stunning architecture and intricate details of the cathedral are simply breathtaking. Inside, we were in awe of the beautiful stained glass windows and the peaceful atmosphere that enveloped us. It's a place of worship and a symbol of the city's deep-rooted faith.As we continued our exploration, we discovered that St. Cloud has a thriving arts scene. The Paramount Center for the Arts is a hub for creativity and cultural events. From live performances to art exhibitions, there's always something happening here. Similarly, Pioneer Place on Fifth is a historic theater that hosts a variety of shows, including plays, musicals, and comedy acts. It's a great place to immerse yourself in the local arts and culture.St. Cloud is a city that cherishes its history and celebrates its cultural diversity. Exploring its historical and cultural sites like St Cloud City Hall and St Mary's Cathedral allowed us to connect with the city's past and appreciate its vibrant present. Whether you're a history buff or an art enthusiast, St. Cloud has something to offer everyone.Breweries and EntertainmentBut before we move on to breweries and entertainment, let's take a moment to appreciate the historical and cultural sites of St. Cloud. The city is rich in history, with sites like St Mary's Cathedral, a beautiful Gothic-style church that showcases stunning stained glass windows. The Stearns History Museum is another must-visit, where you can learn about the region's past through interactive exhibits and artifacts. And don't forget about the Paramount Center for the Arts and Pioneer Place on Fifth, two venues that host a variety of live performances, including theater productions and concerts.Now, let's dive into the breweries and entertainment scene in St. Cloud. Here are the best breweries in town:Beaver Island Brewing Company: This local brewery offers a wide range of craft beers made with locally sourced ingredients. With a cozy taproom and a spacious outdoor patio, it's the perfect spot to relax and enjoy a cold one with friends.Pantown Brewing Company: Known for its inventive and unique beer flavors, Pantown Brewing Company is a must-visit for beer enthusiasts. From hoppy IPAs to smooth stouts, their rotating selection will satisfy any palate.Granite City Speedway: For adrenaline junkies, the Granite City Speedway is the place to be. Watch as drivers race around the track, experiencing the thrill of high-speed action and cheering on your favorite drivers.When it comes to live entertainment venues in St. Cloud, you won't be disappointed. Here are a few places to check out:Paramount Center for the Arts: This historic theater hosts a wide range of performances, including Broadway shows, concerts, and dance performances. With its stunning architecture and top-notch acoustics, it's a true gem in the heart of St. Cloud.Pioneer Place on Fifth: Located in a beautifully restored building, Pioneer Place on Fifth is a versatile venue that offers a variety of live entertainment, from comedy shows to live music performances. Grab a drink from the bar and enjoy a night of laughter and great music.Whether you're a beer lover or a fan of live entertainment, St. Cloud has something for everyone. Cheers to a great time in this vibrant city!Educational and Community CentersOur community thrives on the educational opportunities provided by centers like the Great River Regional Library, St Cloud State University, and the Rivers Edge Convention Center. These educational and community centers play a crucial role in fostering intellectual growth and creating a sense of belonging within our community.The Great River Regional Library is a hub of knowledge and exploration. With its vast collection of books, digital resources, and community programs, it offers something for everyone. Whether you're looking to dive into a novel, conduct research, or attend a workshop, the library is a treasure trove of information waiting to be uncovered.St Cloud State University, located in the heart of our community, is a beacon of higher education. It offers a wide range of academic programs, from business and education to science and the arts. The university fosters a vibrant learning environment where students can engage in research, participate in community service, and develop the skills they need for their future careers. The campus also hosts various cultural events, guest lectures, and performances that enrich the community's intellectual and artistic landscape.The Rivers Edge Convention Center is another pillar of our community. It serves as a gathering place for conferences, conventions, and community events. With its state-of-the-art facilities and versatile spaces, the center provides a platform for knowledge sharing, networking, and community engagement. From business expos to arts festivals, the Rivers Edge Convention Center is a hub of activity that brings people together and fosters a sense of unity.Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat Are Some Popular Events or Festivals Held in St. Cloud, Mn?Popular events in St. Cloud, MN include the Art Fair and Granite City Days. The Art Fair showcases local artists and their incredible creations, while Granite City Days is a community celebration filled with live music, food vendors, and fun activities for all ages.If you're looking for a scenic drive near St. Cloud, check out the picturesque Mississippi River Road or the charming Lake Wobegon Trail. These routes offer stunning views of nature and a chance to unwind on the open road.Are There Any Unique or Specialty Shops in St. Cloud That Are Worth Visiting?When it comes to unique shops in St. Cloud, MN, there are definitely some specialty stores worth visiting.From quaint boutiques to one-of-a-kind gift shops, St. Cloud offers a variety of options for those looking for something special.Whether you're searching for handmade crafts, vintage treasures, or locally made products, you'll find it all here.Explore the vibrant downtown area or venture out to the charming neighborhoods to discover these hidden gems.Don't miss the chance to support local businesses and find that perfect item you won't find anywhere else.Are There Any Scenic Drives or Road Trips Near St. Cloud With Beautiful Views?There are several scenic drives and road trips near St. Cloud that offer beautiful views.One popular option is the Lake Wobegon Trail, a 62-mile paved trail that winds through picturesque countryside.Another great choice is the Great River Road, which follows the Mississippi River and showcases stunning river views.If you prefer a shorter drive, consider heading to Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge for a scenic loop through wetlands and prairie.These road trips are sure to satisfy any nature lover's craving for breathtaking scenery.Can You Recommend Any Local Restaurants or Eateries That Are Must-Try in St. Cloud?When it comes to exploring St. Cloud, MN, there are plenty of top-rated local restaurants that are a must-try for food lovers. From hidden gems to well-known favorites, there's something to satisfy every craving.Whether you're in the mood for a delicious burger, authentic Mexican cuisine, or a cozy café, St. Cloud has it all. Get ready to embark on a culinary adventure and discover the mouthwatering flavors that this vibrant city has to offer.What Are Some Kid-Friendly Attractions or Activities in St. Cloud?When it comes to kid-friendly attractions and activities in St. Cloud, there are plenty of options to choose from.Some of the best parks and playgrounds in town include Munsinger Gardens and Clemens Gardens, where kids can explore beautiful landscapes and play to their heart's content.Additionally, there are must-visit museums for kids in St. Cloud, such as the Stearns History Museum, which offers interactive exhibits and educational programs that are both fun and informative.ConclusionSo there you have it, folks! St. Cloud, MN is a hidden gem just waiting to be explored. From the stunning gardens and parks to the exciting outdoor activities, historical sites, and vibrant entertainment scene, this city truly has something for everyone.So grab your friends and family, and get ready to make some unforgettable memories in this charming and timeless destination. Don't wait, start planning your trip to St. Cloud today and get ready to experience the best of what this city has to offer!It's time to make some anachronistic magic happen! submitted by Sweet-Count2557 to worldkidstravel [link] [comments] |
2024.05.19 09:26 Difficult_Way7318 what are the chances an FJO gets rescinded?
Hi everyone! I’m 23F newly graduated and I applied for HR Specialist GS-7 with the DoN. I received my TO on 4/2 and FO on 4/26 with a 6/17 start date. This offer is contingent on my diploma and transcript proofs, which I will send when it is available in a few weeks.
I’ve notified my current job that I will be resigning 5/31 for a grad trip and rest before starting the new job. After reading some posts on here about FJOs being rescinded, and because my start date is so far out, I’ve started to feel worried about the possibility and regret having sent my resignation notice. I’d love some reassurance but also want realistic expectations. This will be my first full-time job out of college so I really want this to work out. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!
submitted by Difficult_Way7318 to usajobs [link] [comments]
I’ve notified my current job that I will be resigning 5/31 for a grad trip and rest before starting the new job. After reading some posts on here about FJOs being rescinded, and because my start date is so far out, I’ve started to feel worried about the possibility and regret having sent my resignation notice. I’d love some reassurance but also want realistic expectations. This will be my first full-time job out of college so I really want this to work out. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!
2024.05.19 09:25 BryggerHeise Numerological day analysis of 19-5–2024 23/5 Unconditional Love or ‘Cry for Love’?/ Expansion, Fullness, Order, Inner Motivation, Adventure, Freedom
 | Inspired by the ability to Heal - to make things “whole” again- you want to express Unconditional Love today which then leads to feelings of Expansion, Order, Fullness, Adventure and Freedom. submitted by BryggerHeise to numerology [link] [comments] 19-5–2024 23/5 Unconditional Love or ‘Cry for Love’?/ Expansion, Fullness, Order, Inner Motivation, Adventure, Freedom Spirit: 19 Healer factor Soul: 5 Expansion; Fullness; Inner Motivation; Adventure; Freedom; Order Body: 24 Day and Night; Light and Darkness The sum total of today is 23: Unconditional Love leading to 5: Expansion. You want to love unconditionally through your Spirit’s Healer Factor, your soul’s Expansion, Order, Adventure and Freedom and your physical Ability to go through the Night to see the Light of a new day. Day of the \"Prophet-Preacher\" Archetype Pentagram Themes There are three major themes driving your process. The axis of ‘Expansion of Self-Awareness”, the axis of ‘Focus-Fate’ and the axis of ‘Change-Transformation’. Blue 2- Red 1: Axis of Expansion of Self-Awareness: 2(6)-7(1) The axis of inner awakening and leadership drives the axis of the expansion of self-awareness. The challenge is to answer the quintessential question: “WHO AM I?’ As It is the second dominant axis in the Pentagram after the central axis, it is imperative in the 15 Pentagram that you work on the expansion of your self-awareness. The two opposing principles are the ‘Healing and Salvation number’ coming from the spiritual level to join with the ‘Visionary’ coming from the physical level. So working on the expansion of your self-awareness brings healing and salvation on the spiritual level which could translate into visionary powers on the physical level. Remember that the 2-7 axis is also called the psycho-somatic axis. If you fail or refuse to work on your self-awareness, it will have its effects on the physical body. Either making you feel depressed, without energy or even allow illnesses to grow. 26: ’Healing and Salvation number’. Positively your Power -Force drives your Intuition and creates healing and salvation. Negatively it may shatter your intuition completely. The earthly-physical power may at times not accord at all with intuition on the spiritual level. It is a difficult number to live. The solution lies in its sum: When you use the feminine receptive side of you, you may be able to bring those two principles together. 76: ’Visionary’ Visionary is the higher dimension of ‘Insight, the Inner Rising Sun, the new dawn of awareness. Being the visionary, you start to understand -on a physical level here- the spiritual relationships and their origins. The balance of these two principles lies in their sum: ‘Factor of Justice; Master’. It is the turnaround of the RuleJudge energy and it demands that Self-Awareness guides the Mind. Being a “Master” means having the awareness of being the Co-Creator of one’s own life. It has at its core the healing and salvation part of this axis. Remember that there is no scientific all-encompassing answer as to Who or What or Why you are. In itself it is a Zen Koan and only you know if you have found the right answer. You do when you the answer resonates with your deep inner feeling of Justice and Mastery. Blue 4- Blue 9: The axis of Fate, Focus and Concentration: 4(8)-9(3) The way you relate to others and how you define your relationships drives your focus and concentration. In short: your relationships trigger what you need to let go of and what you need to hold on to. Should you fail to do so, then Fate falls upon you. The two opposing principles are ‘Karma of the people', coming from the emotional level to join with ‘Spirit of Time, Reformer’ coming from the mental level. You basically want to combine your desire to solve Karma of yourself and others, with your mind awareness of what is actually going on in the world and which reforms are needed. 48: Karma of the People It deals with the current state of our human development. 4-8 is the Astral-Emotional level in the Pentagram. You want to support yourself and others in resolving their fate. It brings the desire for perfectionism and the will to change. Your warm side (8) wants to invigorate your cold (4) side. It calls for a conscious decision for perseverance, intuiting to accept the light and the dark and merging the masculine and the feminine. The danger is to doubt and to refuse to move on. If you do that, it creates even more Karma. 93: Spirit of Time; Reformer 3-9 is the level of day consciousness n the Pentagram: being wide-awake in the here and now. Here you start to pick up the changes in the Zeitgeist, as you hold here all the accumulated experiences and wisdom of your life (and perhaps previous lives). It seeks the same perfection as in the Karma of the people. It calls for the conscious decision for the awareness that God (or the Divine) manifests itself through us and in us by means of Divine Guidance. To balance these two principles you must take the conscious decision to learn and receive insights from karma and that those insights lead to focussing your life. It also brings out the “Luck-Monogram”. Once you hit the right focus, Luck will be bestowed upon you. Blue 5 - Red 4: Axis of Change and Transformation: 59-(10)4 Focus concentration drives your change and transformation. You constantly need to ask yourself: what do I need to let go of and what do I need to hold on to, so that I may advance and create change and transformation in my life? The two opposing principles are the “Ascending Prophet” coming from the physical level to join with “Harshness of Life, Deepest Commitment” coming from the spiritual level. Being on the physical level you become aware that there is more to life than what you can hear, see, smell, taste or touch. On the spiritual level you are aware that the only constant is change-which scares the hell out of you. 59: The Ascending Prophet is still very much in the ‘learning phase’ and thus confronted with the Temptation to either refuse this spiritual calling or to consider as something too special for him and to only concern himself with the external or physical matters of life. The dedication to your own spirituality is the determining factor (in your life as well). If you do commit yourself to that, then from deep within come the conscious insights, which you then want to share, making you a prophet (perhaps against your will) 104: The only constant is ‘change’. Harshness of Life confronts you with that when you desperately try to hold on to what you have and what you know. It feels as if you can only serve progress and transformation through the deepest commitment- without being aware that it is you yourself that blocks the progress and commitment. If you are able to use your receptive femininity to re-construct and re-new, if you trust your intuition to guide you to (un)deserved Luck and manifest your healing- and saving capacities, then Harshness of Life will give you the insight when to stop and when to transform . Life fulfillment will be the end result. To balance the two principles you must become wide awake in the here and now and even take that to a higher level. It calls for developing an “awakened divine awareness” in which the only constant is change. Levels of awareness’ Your spiritual, emotional and physical awareness is high today. On the spiritual level obtained through ‘Healing and Salvation’ combined with ‘Harshness of Life’. On the emotional level through ‘People’s Karma’ and ‘Detachment, Redemption’. On the physical level through the ‘Ascending Prophet’ and the ‘Visionary’. All levels give you the desire to intuitively ‘Know God’ and by manifesting the Divine Connection. In practical terms is means that you listen and act upon your intuition, your insights, your inspiration, your ‘hunches’ as opposed to listening to your instincts. Triangle Your spiritual, emotional and physical awareness is further enhanced today by the connection to the 1st principle. It wants you to expand your serving, healing and aiding of others and yourself, with mastery and power at its core. Quadrants The spiritual-physical quadrant is again active today. You are actively trying to connect the spiritual world to the physical world. It carries the energy of ‘Transformative Healing and Salvation’ and the energy of ‘Immortal Re-Birth, Renewal’. Note: If your birthday is today, the topics described above are your topics for 2024. Should a baby be born on this day, then today’s themes are the baby’s life-themes. See you (virtually) : (D) Arbeitskreis: 7. Juni Hybrid Zoom - Köln For a full explanation of the numbers and how to read the Pentagram have a look at my website: www.pentalogie.com |
2024.05.19 09:23 InformalRazzmatazz78 I (40m) am looking for ways to deal with and improve, while my partner (32f) goes through a sort of quarter life crisis?
My partner (32f) has for the last few months (while we are also doing long distance) has been going through a period of becoming independent (just moved out of the family home due to controlling and emotional near abusive behaviour from her family) and is trying to decide if moving to Australia with me is a good idea for her. I want a house and a family, a wholesome town life, she is trying to decide if she wants to give up going out dancing till late, and the city she is in with lots of night life, and her younger friends…
She says she feels like I am creating a future for us, but it’s maybe not the future she wants, she doesn’t know what she wants… I am clear I want someone financial responsible, someone who act with maturity, someone who is willing to do the hard work to make a great life together.
She needs time off me, she needs time to think. It’s quite hard for me because she is quite cold and very disconnected from me. I feel like I’m a bit of an option to her. And it could take her until October before she makes up her mind and moves here, that’s 5 more months on the 9 month we have already done.
I want to know, how do I sort of get on with my life while keeping her as a partner? I am finding that extremely hard. How do I prepare if she decides not to come and not to be with me? Should I start dating other people without sex? (she has a male friend she sort of does a date night with once a week and sees for coffee a couple times a week, he has a partner who is also long distance… which is hard to watch when she barley talks to me and we are so disconnected)..
I feel like I need a distraction from thinking about her, or us. I want to work on myself to become the best I can be in a relationship and in life, regardless if it is with her or not.
I am currently not working to keep myself available for a maybe visit from her in July for three weeks… I feel like I have put my life on hold for her. I feel like I am wasting time, I feel stuck in like a limbo, holding pattern, and it’s not fun. What can I do about it?
Any advice is so very much appreciated.
submitted by InformalRazzmatazz78 to relationship_advice [link] [comments]
She says she feels like I am creating a future for us, but it’s maybe not the future she wants, she doesn’t know what she wants… I am clear I want someone financial responsible, someone who act with maturity, someone who is willing to do the hard work to make a great life together.
She needs time off me, she needs time to think. It’s quite hard for me because she is quite cold and very disconnected from me. I feel like I’m a bit of an option to her. And it could take her until October before she makes up her mind and moves here, that’s 5 more months on the 9 month we have already done.
I want to know, how do I sort of get on with my life while keeping her as a partner? I am finding that extremely hard. How do I prepare if she decides not to come and not to be with me? Should I start dating other people without sex? (she has a male friend she sort of does a date night with once a week and sees for coffee a couple times a week, he has a partner who is also long distance… which is hard to watch when she barley talks to me and we are so disconnected)..
I feel like I need a distraction from thinking about her, or us. I want to work on myself to become the best I can be in a relationship and in life, regardless if it is with her or not.
I am currently not working to keep myself available for a maybe visit from her in July for three weeks… I feel like I have put my life on hold for her. I feel like I am wasting time, I feel stuck in like a limbo, holding pattern, and it’s not fun. What can I do about it?
Any advice is so very much appreciated.
2024.05.19 09:23 BryggerHeise Numerological day analysis of 19-5–2024 23/5 Unconditional Love or ‘Cry for Love’?/ Expansion, Fullness, Order, Inner Motivation, Adventure, Freedom
 | Inspired by the ability to Heal - to make things “whole” again- you want to express Unconditional Love today which then leads to feelings of Expansion, Order, Fullness, Adventure and Freedom. submitted by BryggerHeise to NumerologyPentagram [link] [comments] 19-5–2024 23/5 Unconditional Love or ‘Cry for Love’?/ Expansion, Fullness, Order, Inner Motivation, Adventure, Freedom Spirit: 19 Healer factor Soul: 5 Expansion; Fullness; Inner Motivation; Adventure; Freedom; Order Body: 24 Day and Night; Light and Darkness The sum total of today is 23: Unconditional Love leading to 5: Expansion. You want to love unconditionally through your Spirit’s Healer Factor, your soul’s Expansion, Order, Adventure and Freedom and your physical Ability to go through the Night to see the Light of a new day. Day of the \"Prophet-Preacher\" Archetype Pentagram Themes There are three major themes driving your process. The axis of ‘Expansion of Self-Awareness”, the axis of ‘Focus-Fate’ and the axis of ‘Change-Transformation’. Blue 2- Red 1: Axis of Expansion of Self-Awareness: 2(6)-7(1) The axis of inner awakening and leadership drives the axis of the expansion of self-awareness. The challenge is to answer the quintessential question: “WHO AM I?’ As It is the second dominant axis in the Pentagram after the central axis, it is imperative in the 15 Pentagram that you work on the expansion of your self-awareness. The two opposing principles are the ‘Healing and Salvation number’ coming from the spiritual level to join with the ‘Visionary’ coming from the physical level. So working on the expansion of your self-awareness brings healing and salvation on the spiritual level which could translate into visionary powers on the physical level. Remember that the 2-7 axis is also called the psycho-somatic axis. If you fail or refuse to work on your self-awareness, it will have its effects on the physical body. Either making you feel depressed, without energy or even allow illnesses to grow. 26: ’Healing and Salvation number’. Positively your Power -Force drives your Intuition and creates healing and salvation. Negatively it may shatter your intuition completely. The earthly-physical power may at times not accord at all with intuition on the spiritual level. It is a difficult number to live. The solution lies in its sum: When you use the feminine receptive side of you, you may be able to bring those two principles together. 76: ’Visionary’ Visionary is the higher dimension of ‘Insight, the Inner Rising Sun, the new dawn of awareness. Being the visionary, you start to understand -on a physical level here- the spiritual relationships and their origins. The balance of these two principles lies in their sum: ‘Factor of Justice; Master’. It is the turnaround of the RuleJudge energy and it demands that Self-Awareness guides the Mind. Being a “Master” means having the awareness of being the Co-Creator of one’s own life. It has at its core the healing and salvation part of this axis. Remember that there is no scientific all-encompassing answer as to Who or What or Why you are. In itself it is a Zen Koan and only you know if you have found the right answer. You do when you the answer resonates with your deep inner feeling of Justice and Mastery. Blue 4- Blue 9: The axis of Fate, Focus and Concentration: 4(8)-9(3) The way you relate to others and how you define your relationships drives your focus and concentration. In short: your relationships trigger what you need to let go of and what you need to hold on to. Should you fail to do so, then Fate falls upon you. The two opposing principles are ‘Karma of the people', coming from the emotional level to join with ‘Spirit of Time, Reformer’ coming from the mental level. You basically want to combine your desire to solve Karma of yourself and others, with your mind awareness of what is actually going on in the world and which reforms are needed. 48: Karma of the People It deals with the current state of our human development. 4-8 is the Astral-Emotional level in the Pentagram. You want to support yourself and others in resolving their fate. It brings the desire for perfectionism and the will to change. Your warm side (8) wants to invigorate your cold (4) side. It calls for a conscious decision for perseverance, intuiting to accept the light and the dark and merging the masculine and the feminine. The danger is to doubt and to refuse to move on. If you do that, it creates even more Karma. 93: Spirit of Time; Reformer 3-9 is the level of day consciousness n the Pentagram: being wide-awake in the here and now. Here you start to pick up the changes in the Zeitgeist, as you hold here all the accumulated experiences and wisdom of your life (and perhaps previous lives). It seeks the same perfection as in the Karma of the people. It calls for the conscious decision for the awareness that God (or the Divine) manifests itself through us and in us by means of Divine Guidance. To balance these two principles you must take the conscious decision to learn and receive insights from karma and that those insights lead to focussing your life. It also brings out the “Luck-Monogram”. Once you hit the right focus, Luck will be bestowed upon you. Blue 5 - Red 4: Axis of Change and Transformation: 59-(10)4 Focus concentration drives your change and transformation. You constantly need to ask yourself: what do I need to let go of and what do I need to hold on to, so that I may advance and create change and transformation in my life? The two opposing principles are the “Ascending Prophet” coming from the physical level to join with “Harshness of Life, Deepest Commitment” coming from the spiritual level. Being on the physical level you become aware that there is more to life than what you can hear, see, smell, taste or touch. On the spiritual level you are aware that the only constant is change-which scares the hell out of you. 59: The Ascending Prophet is still very much in the ‘learning phase’ and thus confronted with the Temptation to either refuse this spiritual calling or to consider as something too special for him and to only concern himself with the external or physical matters of life. The dedication to your own spirituality is the determining factor (in your life as well). If you do commit yourself to that, then from deep within come the conscious insights, which you then want to share, making you a prophet (perhaps against your will) 104: The only constant is ‘change’. Harshness of Life confronts you with that when you desperately try to hold on to what you have and what you know. It feels as if you can only serve progress and transformation through the deepest commitment- without being aware that it is you yourself that blocks the progress and commitment. If you are able to use your receptive femininity to re-construct and re-new, if you trust your intuition to guide you to (un)deserved Luck and manifest your healing- and saving capacities, then Harshness of Life will give you the insight when to stop and when to transform . Life fulfillment will be the end result. To balance the two principles you must become wide awake in the here and now and even take that to a higher level. It calls for developing an “awakened divine awareness” in which the only constant is change. Levels of awareness’ Your spiritual, emotional and physical awareness is high today. On the spiritual level obtained through ‘Healing and Salvation’ combined with ‘Harshness of Life’. On the emotional level through ‘People’s Karma’ and ‘Detachment, Redemption’. On the physical level through the ‘Ascending Prophet’ and the ‘Visionary’. All levels give you the desire to intuitively ‘Know God’ and by manifesting the Divine Connection. In practical terms is means that you listen and act upon your intuition, your insights, your inspiration, your ‘hunches’ as opposed to listening to your instincts. Triangle Your spiritual, emotional and physical awareness is further enhanced today by the connection to the 1st principle. It wants you to expand your serving, healing and aiding of others and yourself, with mastery and power at its core. Quadrants The spiritual-physical quadrant is again active today. You are actively trying to connect the spiritual world to the physical world. It carries the energy of ‘Transformative Healing and Salvation’ and the energy of ‘Immortal Re-Birth, Renewal’. Note: If your birthday is today, the topics described above are your topics for 2024. Should a baby be born on this day, then today’s themes are the baby’s life-themes. See you (virtually) : (D) Arbeitskreis: 7. Juni Hybrid Zoom - Köln For a full explanation of the numbers and how to read the Pentagram have a look at my website: www.pentalogie.com |
2024.05.19 09:23 RandomAppalachian468 The return of the tree painter, big life changes, and story update!
Hey everyone! Random Appalachian here. I just wanted to check back in with you all and provide some updates, as well as some exciting, if personal, news. I have to type this quick, as my work break ends soon, so pardon any typos, grammatical errors, or weirdly structured sentences.
For those of you who don’t know, I’m a park ranger in real life, and work at a wildlife reserve in Ohio. We’ve been having some issues with vandalism in our northern woods for a few months, and despite our best attempts, haven’t been able to find the culprit. It’s been immensely frustrating, especially when more paint has shown up on more trails, ranging from slashes, lines, and crosses, to dots and even letters. Normally we wouldn’t get too bent out of shape over a few trees being painted, but it’s well over 60 at this point, and widespread throughout the forest. None of the official people who help us maintain the trails in that area say they are responsible, and yet many of the markings seem to be blazes for trails. However the markings are at times absurdly close together, or in abstract places that make no logical sense. One “trail” is no more than perhaps 30 yards long and runs right along a massive clearing in a semi-circle, within plain sight of the clearing, and goes to nowhere; it goes into the woods, and pops back out into the clearing only 30-ish yards away. Most of our established trails that have been painted already have well-made trail markings of our own, and the trails are well-blazed. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to why these things are there at all. I don’t think it’s anything sinister, though the painter has left his/her paint cans in the woods before, so at the very least, they’re a litterbug. There is the concern about potential poaching, which can be a problem in our area. Sure, deer and turkey are commonplace in my rural community, but they are only that way because of conservation and game laws that keep populations intact. Local hunters play a big part in conservation, and if someone starts taking more than their fair share through poaching, that means less for everyone else, and upsets the balance of things. The sad thing is, unlike legal hunters who often hunt for meat for their families, (food is expensive nowadays) poachers usually do it for trophies, antlers, or ‘fans’ from the turkey tail-feathers. But our painter has yet to take any game to our knowledge. We’ve found no gut piles, blood, or discarded gear anywhere. So, if he’s not poaching . . . what on earth does he want?
Then a few weeks ago, we did find a camera inside our central perimeter.
To put this into perspective, we have roughly 10,000 acres to our little reserve. Only 1/3 is fenced in, containing our exotic animals for our tours, and our buildings that we use to operate. Offices, mechanical garages, barns, and storage sheds, that sort of thing. Usually if we have trespassing issues, it's in the northern woods, which is open to the public for walking/biking trails. Sometimes in the southern prairie reserve we get some wanderers, but it's pretty open, so people tend to shy away from it. But our interior, the central area, most of which is fenced in, is sacred ground for us. We have a children’s camp in there for kids to learn about nature, we have our animal barns, and even some staff housing. For people to walk around in there would be like a stranger walking through your bedroom at night, while you’re in the shower.
Not cool. Not cool at all.
One of our ecology survey teams found the camera in a lesser-used section a mile or so north of the children’s camp. Naturally, they assumed it was one of ours, until one of the staff innocently asked another ranger why we’d put a camera by that lake. When the ranger told her that we didn’t have any cameras there, it began to sink in.
We either have two trespassers, or the painter has decided to move his game further into our land.
I’m hoping it’s the former, that I’m overthinking things, but after all, the mystery painter had to have seen a few of the trail cameras we put up in the north to catch him. Could he be doing this as a form of tit-for-tat? I don’t know, but it’s got us rangers frustrated, and our ecology team is spooked. It was fun and games in the unpopulated north, but now he’s getting close to our people, our guests, and our animals. This is serious now. We removed the camera, but there’s not really much we can do without more patrols, more cameras, and more rangers. With our budget already restricted, the last part just isn’t possible.
My foray into trail cameras yielded no results as to a culprit. In fact, the day I came in early to pull them out of the field, it seemed nothing went right. Only two came off the tree, as I forgot the keys for the locks for the other two. I couldn’t find the last one at first, and darkness fell before I could locate it, so that I was wandering around in the northern district in the blackness searching for it. Inadvertently this helped me find the camera in the end; I saw the red light flash as it took my picture and was able to retrieve the SD card. It was in my long return trek to the patrol truck that I discovered the marks on a remote trail I hadn’t walked yet. A capital O and a capital N were scrawled in various places, with dots over the letters. I took German in university, so I know they aren’t grammatical marks from that language, known as umlauts (pronounced as “oomlout” for my fellow English speakers; for all my German speakers, if I spelled that wrong, I apologize). I’d left my phone in the truck (stupid rookie move for a seasoned ranger, I know) so I couldn’t take any photos, and didn’t want to follow the trail too far in the pitch dark. I had a flashlight with spare batteries, as well as my gun (I’m not a complete moron after all) but I didn’t have time to do much exploring, since I had other duties in the park that were waiting on me. I had some VIP’s that were coming in late, and had to be escorted, which meant I had to clamber back to my truck, swatting at mosquitos the whole way. Nothing on the cameras showed any definitive proof, though we might have a lead on a guy with a bow case on his back. Could be nothing though; it’s not illegal to wear camo or carry things, and it could very well have been a camera case, a backpack, or an empty bow case.
In any event, we rangers are working on a strategy for changing up our patrol routes and putting more cameras in the field, as well as checking in on the children’s camp frequently throughout the night. So far, this mystery person hasn’t actually hurt anything that we know of, but even if this is just local kids having a prank, it’s not funny anymore.
Anyway, on to the other news. For the aforementioned reasons, as well as others, I’ve been super swamped this past month, and so writing on the third book in the Barron County trilogy has been slow. I wanted to release it at the beginning of June, but at this rate, I’m going to have to push that back to late June, possibly early July. I hate to think I’ve disappointed you all, but it’s just not ready yet. That, and I’ve been busy with something else . . . something big.
I’m getting married next week.
It’s been a long time coming, but my fiancé and I are super excited. We’ve known each other since kindergarten and have been best friends since forever. We’ve both been running like chickens with our heads cut off to get everything ready, and naturally, we’re both exhausted/somewhat nervous. Our honeymoon will require some flying, and since my fiancé has never been on a plane before, that’s a point of nervousness for her. I’m sure she’ll be fine once we’re in the air, but until then, she’s a bundle of nerves.
All that is to say, I am working on the story, it’s just taking a bit. I cannot wait to get back into the swing of things for all of you and thank you again for your supreme patience in this. You guys and gals are great, and entertaining you all is a massive privilege. Stay tuned for the third installment of the Barron County trilogy, and the epic conclusion of Hannah Brun’s journey into the unknown! Until next time.
submitted by RandomAppalachian468 to u/RandomAppalachian468 [link] [comments]
For those of you who don’t know, I’m a park ranger in real life, and work at a wildlife reserve in Ohio. We’ve been having some issues with vandalism in our northern woods for a few months, and despite our best attempts, haven’t been able to find the culprit. It’s been immensely frustrating, especially when more paint has shown up on more trails, ranging from slashes, lines, and crosses, to dots and even letters. Normally we wouldn’t get too bent out of shape over a few trees being painted, but it’s well over 60 at this point, and widespread throughout the forest. None of the official people who help us maintain the trails in that area say they are responsible, and yet many of the markings seem to be blazes for trails. However the markings are at times absurdly close together, or in abstract places that make no logical sense. One “trail” is no more than perhaps 30 yards long and runs right along a massive clearing in a semi-circle, within plain sight of the clearing, and goes to nowhere; it goes into the woods, and pops back out into the clearing only 30-ish yards away. Most of our established trails that have been painted already have well-made trail markings of our own, and the trails are well-blazed. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to why these things are there at all. I don’t think it’s anything sinister, though the painter has left his/her paint cans in the woods before, so at the very least, they’re a litterbug. There is the concern about potential poaching, which can be a problem in our area. Sure, deer and turkey are commonplace in my rural community, but they are only that way because of conservation and game laws that keep populations intact. Local hunters play a big part in conservation, and if someone starts taking more than their fair share through poaching, that means less for everyone else, and upsets the balance of things. The sad thing is, unlike legal hunters who often hunt for meat for their families, (food is expensive nowadays) poachers usually do it for trophies, antlers, or ‘fans’ from the turkey tail-feathers. But our painter has yet to take any game to our knowledge. We’ve found no gut piles, blood, or discarded gear anywhere. So, if he’s not poaching . . . what on earth does he want?
Then a few weeks ago, we did find a camera inside our central perimeter.
To put this into perspective, we have roughly 10,000 acres to our little reserve. Only 1/3 is fenced in, containing our exotic animals for our tours, and our buildings that we use to operate. Offices, mechanical garages, barns, and storage sheds, that sort of thing. Usually if we have trespassing issues, it's in the northern woods, which is open to the public for walking/biking trails. Sometimes in the southern prairie reserve we get some wanderers, but it's pretty open, so people tend to shy away from it. But our interior, the central area, most of which is fenced in, is sacred ground for us. We have a children’s camp in there for kids to learn about nature, we have our animal barns, and even some staff housing. For people to walk around in there would be like a stranger walking through your bedroom at night, while you’re in the shower.
Not cool. Not cool at all.
One of our ecology survey teams found the camera in a lesser-used section a mile or so north of the children’s camp. Naturally, they assumed it was one of ours, until one of the staff innocently asked another ranger why we’d put a camera by that lake. When the ranger told her that we didn’t have any cameras there, it began to sink in.
We either have two trespassers, or the painter has decided to move his game further into our land.
I’m hoping it’s the former, that I’m overthinking things, but after all, the mystery painter had to have seen a few of the trail cameras we put up in the north to catch him. Could he be doing this as a form of tit-for-tat? I don’t know, but it’s got us rangers frustrated, and our ecology team is spooked. It was fun and games in the unpopulated north, but now he’s getting close to our people, our guests, and our animals. This is serious now. We removed the camera, but there’s not really much we can do without more patrols, more cameras, and more rangers. With our budget already restricted, the last part just isn’t possible.
My foray into trail cameras yielded no results as to a culprit. In fact, the day I came in early to pull them out of the field, it seemed nothing went right. Only two came off the tree, as I forgot the keys for the locks for the other two. I couldn’t find the last one at first, and darkness fell before I could locate it, so that I was wandering around in the northern district in the blackness searching for it. Inadvertently this helped me find the camera in the end; I saw the red light flash as it took my picture and was able to retrieve the SD card. It was in my long return trek to the patrol truck that I discovered the marks on a remote trail I hadn’t walked yet. A capital O and a capital N were scrawled in various places, with dots over the letters. I took German in university, so I know they aren’t grammatical marks from that language, known as umlauts (pronounced as “oomlout” for my fellow English speakers; for all my German speakers, if I spelled that wrong, I apologize). I’d left my phone in the truck (stupid rookie move for a seasoned ranger, I know) so I couldn’t take any photos, and didn’t want to follow the trail too far in the pitch dark. I had a flashlight with spare batteries, as well as my gun (I’m not a complete moron after all) but I didn’t have time to do much exploring, since I had other duties in the park that were waiting on me. I had some VIP’s that were coming in late, and had to be escorted, which meant I had to clamber back to my truck, swatting at mosquitos the whole way. Nothing on the cameras showed any definitive proof, though we might have a lead on a guy with a bow case on his back. Could be nothing though; it’s not illegal to wear camo or carry things, and it could very well have been a camera case, a backpack, or an empty bow case.
In any event, we rangers are working on a strategy for changing up our patrol routes and putting more cameras in the field, as well as checking in on the children’s camp frequently throughout the night. So far, this mystery person hasn’t actually hurt anything that we know of, but even if this is just local kids having a prank, it’s not funny anymore.
Anyway, on to the other news. For the aforementioned reasons, as well as others, I’ve been super swamped this past month, and so writing on the third book in the Barron County trilogy has been slow. I wanted to release it at the beginning of June, but at this rate, I’m going to have to push that back to late June, possibly early July. I hate to think I’ve disappointed you all, but it’s just not ready yet. That, and I’ve been busy with something else . . . something big.
I’m getting married next week.
It’s been a long time coming, but my fiancé and I are super excited. We’ve known each other since kindergarten and have been best friends since forever. We’ve both been running like chickens with our heads cut off to get everything ready, and naturally, we’re both exhausted/somewhat nervous. Our honeymoon will require some flying, and since my fiancé has never been on a plane before, that’s a point of nervousness for her. I’m sure she’ll be fine once we’re in the air, but until then, she’s a bundle of nerves.
All that is to say, I am working on the story, it’s just taking a bit. I cannot wait to get back into the swing of things for all of you and thank you again for your supreme patience in this. You guys and gals are great, and entertaining you all is a massive privilege. Stay tuned for the third installment of the Barron County trilogy, and the epic conclusion of Hannah Brun’s journey into the unknown! Until next time.
2024.05.19 09:17 Aggravating-Glass390 Neck Pain and Sore Throat Preventing Singing / Referred to ENT
Hello All,
Brief summary about my current vocal status: I'm used to singing everyday, currently in a band, and started noticing some vocal trouble over a month ago during rehearsals (voice wasn't easily reaching notes and felt strained after rehearsals). After that, I went on a Vegas trip with some friends, and after attending some concerts, my voice was pretty much gone for a day or two. After I came back from the trip, decided to give some vocal rest and let it heal, but never noticed such a feeling in my throat (hard to describe but its almost like a Sore Throat, but I can feel pain on the left side of my neck). A week ago, I decided to go to the doctor to see why it hasn't healed, and I was told its probably just a cold and he wrote me down for 'Acute Pharyngitis'. I was told to reach out a week later if symptoms didn't resolve. Well its been a week later, and I went to the Dr. today because my symptoms haven't improved, my voice hurts from talking and I have not been able to sing my usual range at all (I can sing within the normal register but trying anything a bit higher is not possible).
At the Dr. today, I was prescribed Pantoprazole (Proton Pump Inhibitor) and methylPREDNISolone (steroid). The thought process behind the Pantoprazole is that acid reflux may be swelling my throat, so I will start taking that tomorrow. For the methylPREDNISolone I was told to give it a few more days, and if still no improvement, to give it a shot. I was also referred to an E.N.T to get in touch and schedule a possible appointment for a Laryngscopy if symptoms do not heal.
I'm making this post to share my symptoms and see if anyone shared something similar because I initially thought this may be related to Vocal Nodules/Polyps, but based on my symptoms now I feel like they still fall under the category of a Flu/Cold thats just lasting a while and not letting my voice heal. I'm currently trying to do vocal rest, drink lots of fluids (including tea with honey), but its difficult as I do have to talk quite a bit at work.
Symptom List: (First 2 symptoms have been going on for about 2 1/2 - 3 weeks currently)
submitted by Aggravating-Glass390 to mildlybrokenvoice [link] [comments]
Brief summary about my current vocal status: I'm used to singing everyday, currently in a band, and started noticing some vocal trouble over a month ago during rehearsals (voice wasn't easily reaching notes and felt strained after rehearsals). After that, I went on a Vegas trip with some friends, and after attending some concerts, my voice was pretty much gone for a day or two. After I came back from the trip, decided to give some vocal rest and let it heal, but never noticed such a feeling in my throat (hard to describe but its almost like a Sore Throat, but I can feel pain on the left side of my neck). A week ago, I decided to go to the doctor to see why it hasn't healed, and I was told its probably just a cold and he wrote me down for 'Acute Pharyngitis'. I was told to reach out a week later if symptoms didn't resolve. Well its been a week later, and I went to the Dr. today because my symptoms haven't improved, my voice hurts from talking and I have not been able to sing my usual range at all (I can sing within the normal register but trying anything a bit higher is not possible).
At the Dr. today, I was prescribed Pantoprazole (Proton Pump Inhibitor) and methylPREDNISolone (steroid). The thought process behind the Pantoprazole is that acid reflux may be swelling my throat, so I will start taking that tomorrow. For the methylPREDNISolone I was told to give it a few more days, and if still no improvement, to give it a shot. I was also referred to an E.N.T to get in touch and schedule a possible appointment for a Laryngscopy if symptoms do not heal.
I'm making this post to share my symptoms and see if anyone shared something similar because I initially thought this may be related to Vocal Nodules/Polyps, but based on my symptoms now I feel like they still fall under the category of a Flu/Cold thats just lasting a while and not letting my voice heal. I'm currently trying to do vocal rest, drink lots of fluids (including tea with honey), but its difficult as I do have to talk quite a bit at work.
Symptom List: (First 2 symptoms have been going on for about 2 1/2 - 3 weeks currently)
- Vocal Fatigue (From just talking. Singing obviously aggravates it more)
- Pain in Neck (I feel pain on my left (mostly left side), and sometimes on the right side, the middle area and under the jaw sometimes as well)
- Phlegm - Started noticing green and yellow phlegm for 2 days (started 2 days ago), but that has now subsided
- Vocal Hoarseness - Interestingly, people around me do not notice my voice being hoarse when I talk, but I can feel that it is not as smooth as before, and there is some gravely quality there.
2024.05.19 08:58 Efficient-Item605 I hate my husband
Yeah, I think I hate my husband. He just can be biggest jerk ever. So, we are planning a trip to the beach for my birthday (we do have an agreement that for our birthday we can ask anything and we will use our money to get it, I said since the beginning what I want is a trip) we are taking advantage of some flights he is getting for free because he is going to the same place for work. So, we booked our Airbnb tonight and I wanted to go eat to this restaurant for my birthday but he told me 2 weeks ago he will have to work on my birthday until 2-2:30pm. I said ok, it’s fine. Then today when I wanted to make the reservation for the restaurant I was thinking out loud and said “I wonder if it’s smart to make the reservation at the restaurant since you compromised to work on my birthday, I’m worried we will not make it on time”… dude got up and got so so mad and starting saying shit and walked away. I stayed there thinking what the heck? Then I got up and I asked him to take the trash out. He ignored me, I called him and asked him again to take the trash out he started saying stuff “why? How is that going to make anything difference on taking it tonight and tomorrow…” I said it was smelling funny and I didn’t want that smell in the house. I was about to take it but he came mad and took the trash out. Then came back inside and started acting upset and I got upset bc I was “what’s the problem?” I brushed my teeth and did all my night routine, dude got in bed and “went to sleep” and I asked him… “what are you so mad about?” He didn’t respond and I said so “you’re just gonna act like that?” “What did I do for you to be mad?” The argument started, he said I told him he “compromised to work on My birthday” bc I was mad, I was trying to make him feel bad, and I was upset about it. I wasn’t upset about it. I was just thinking out loud about the restaurant reservations, so I said, how was I mad when I said that you compromised to work on my birthday? He said then why would you say it? My response was im just thinking out loud, and then he said no you were not. You were saying it because you were mad about it … and we just kept arguing because I really didn’t understand why he is so mad about… Take into consideration that English is not my first language, and I am not from here, so he looked up on Google what compromise means and then he told me that compromise means you doing something that you don’t want to do, even though the understanding for me in my native language means that you agreed to work on that day or do something bc you’re being responsible. He always thinks the worse of me so I wasn’t impressed…and I am here still not understanding what I did wrong. He said that nothing is never enough for me, he started “crying” and mocking me saying “oh poor girl she is going to the beach for her birthday, poor her poor her” and I got very offended at the fact he was mocking me because I never said that going to the beach was not enough and I was not mad about him working but he just kept being upset about it and I was trying to understand and I asked him to explain how me telling him that I was worried about the restaurant and if I should make a reservation was bad. Anyways, he is a jerk. He is always a jerk and he always makes fun of me. He always uses adjectives about me. He told me many many times that he is done and he wants a divorce and I honestly don’t feel heard in this relationship, I don’t feel loved. I don’t feel happy and I am very very miserable. I cry a lot because I hate his jerk comments and I hate the way that he is sometimes, he can be very cocky, have smart ass comments about me and about what I do, he also makes fun of me and my accent in front of people, he also uses me like his little guinea pig to make jokes of me with his friends or with new people, and then he says he loves my culture, and he loves me. I’ve been thinking about divorcing him, I’ve been contemplating the idea on moving out and just going to live by myself, but I feel lonely and I feel scared because I’m alone in this country. I am not worried about being alone and being responsible for myself because believe it or not me as an immigrant make more money that he makes, I have two jobs, I am a very hard-working person, I am a good wife, I keep the house clean, do the laundry, make sure he always has food and I don’t do this because I think it’s my obligation as a woman but because I really care about him, so the fact that he just treated me the way that he does it just breaks my heart because I think i still love him. I am also embarrassed and scared of calling my family and my mother…Tell them all the truth because I always told them that he is a good man and he loves me very well, but they don’t know that he is an asshole a lot of times, and it’s funny that I heard from his high school friends that they told me many times “why did you marry him?” “ What did you see in him” they even told him “what did you do to get someone so good like her, what did you do to get so lucky” His friends like me, I have a great relationship with most of his friends. I am just now thinking he’s always being a jerk. He’s never going to change that’s just the way that he is. Do you guys have any advice? Should I leave him? I know I am not perfect, but he hates the fact that I want to cuddle, he hates the fact that I want to be Sweet, he hates the fact that I want to be cheesy, he is not at all detailist, he never gives me flowers, presents, surprises, anything that is cheesy for him is always a no-no, we don’t do anything that Married couples do, anniversaries,surprises, etc… I don’t think he loves me, even though he sometimes says he loves me, but he loves me only when I agree with everything that he says or has to do or don’t get close to Him, don’t ask him anything, don’t expect Anything… How do I get a divorce? how do I make sure that, I get all my money and everything that is mine like my car and he doesn’t take it away from me? I don’t want to Spend all my savings in lawyers. I hate being with him and hate his personality, I love how creative and smart he can be sometimes but I hate him as a person.
submitted by Efficient-Item605 to offmychest [link] [comments]
2024.05.19 08:45 bonelesstick Is it possible I'm autistic?
I think I may be neurodivergent, I think it's very likely I have dyscalculia, and I think I may be autistic as well.
I've always had a difficult time making friends, and all of my childhood friends are neurodivergent. I do not have a hard time keeping friends, but I do not know how to start conversations with other people. I'm not very good at keeping conversations with neurotypical people going, and the only thing I've learned to do is ask questions, because if I'm asking questions, the other person is talking, which means I'm not, and that's good. I'm not uncomfortable with eye contact, but I do not know how much or how little I should be giving in a conversation, so I tend to stare at people's eyes when they are talking. I do not feel lonely easily, and enjoy being by myself a lot of the time, which may just be introvert behavior. Sometimes, people call me weird though I do not understand what I am doing wrong to be called that. I do not take offense to it. I also get called quiet, even though I enjoy being around people, and I'm not shy, I don't get that either. I listen to people all the time, especially when my friends infodump. I enjoy talking about my interests, though I have realized that many people are not actually listening to me, so I have stopped doing that as much. It hurts my feelings more to know I wasn't being listened to than to not talk about what I wanted to talk about.
I have a difficult time navigating familiar places. My school's layout is still confusing for me, even though I've been going there for nearly 2 years. Driving is an absolute nightmare for me, and I need a GPS to drive otherwise I will get lost. I get my lefts and rights easily confused, and I get confused with my feet a lot. Dancing is really hard for me because I can never figure out what I'm doing. PE was always unpleasant for me because I hate doing group exercise and I never understood the rules of any game. I would always watch people to figure out what was going on.
Some textures and smells bother me a lot. Lavender has been an overwhelming smell for me my entire life, it gives me a headache. Most fruit's texture upset me. I hate the feeling of biting into a strawberry, and I hate how berries pop in your mouth. I also really hate food with any kind of skin to them. Berries are absolutely awful because of this, beans are also really unpleasant, and so are hotdogs. I've always been a picky eater, and was even underweight until I was about 12 because I hated most foods. Thankfully, I've gotten a lot better about it.
I find most places are too loud, and I get overwhelmed very easily. When I get very overwhelmed, I want to leave the room or cry, but I usually just sit there and plug my ears. I think I need to get ound cancelling headphones. I think the sound level in public is fine most of the time, but when I'm already stressed out, it gets much worse. Also, whenever I'm stressed, I hate the way the water touches me when I shower.
I constantly fidget, and I usually wrap my fingers around my hoodie strings, and I have twisted them to the point where they have broken and I have hurt my wrist. I continue to do this even though it has caused me pain. I have also been rolling up paper into little balls for nearly 3 years now. I fill up glass bottles full of these paper balls, and have filled over 100 glass bottles up. I love rolling up paper, and I do not enjoy ripping up the paper very much. I also own 13 3D printed sensory toys, they are all animals and I take at least 1 with me everywhere I go. I like rubbing my thumb on them a lot. Also, I love background noise and listen to music for that reason, but it needs to be quiet enough that it doesn't bother me.
I get very attached to certain topics, such as Rain World lore or Don Hertzfeldt's work. When I find something I get attached to, I try to consume all the content that I possibly can, multiple times. I have probably seen the second episode of World of Tomorrow 100 times, maybe more. Most of the YouTube content I consume are videos I've already seen. I've rewatched Markiplier's Inside playthrough many times.
Anyway, thank you for reading, and I hope you have a better than mediocre day/night.
2024.05.19 08:43 user0138477428 how do i (15f) tell my ex (16m) that im unsure of whether i should get back with him?
lets call this 16m person j. j became my boy bsf over the summer holidays, we gymed together, hung out together, etc. we would always go to each other for advice, but i had a slight feeling he had feelings for me, and i had caught some too. prior to this (when we went to each other for advice), i had been dealing with this other dude (situationship) (keep this in mind) as we had confessed, he had asked me out straight away. we got together, typical bsf to lovers typa stuff. halfway in, i realised that i didnt have time to manage a relationship and balance my life (sports, academics) at the same time (not enough time), and i also felt so rushed and it was too soon after the other situationship. i told j this, and we decided to break it off and just stay "friends". i stopped talking for awhile to him, and slowly built very slow conversation with him (no irl convo tho). 3 weeks-ish after, my friend m (16m) said to go gym, which i reluctantly went to since j and i hadnt talked irl that much. we gymed, and still slowly had convo. m had asked j that day if he was willing to talk to me and gym 1 on 1, and he had said yes to m. j later that day was messaging me and mentioned that m had asked this, and asked if i would be down (we were gym buddies before relationship happened). i had said yes, but said i didnt have much time to. we slowly got back into being good friends, and he mentioned wanting to perhaps getting back into a relationship again. i told him that i didnt know if i would have enough time to try again, but said if i did we could, and he suggested that we just keep "talking". i agreed.
a week after this incident happened, he sent a message to me about not wanting to try it again due to me not having enough time and not "giving enough attention" to him, and apologised. i was fine with it as i figured that this was gonna happen.
a week after that, he tells me he wants to try again and he didnt mean that message that he sent me, and how hes willling to try the relationship again. i was willing to, but i had warned that i wouldnt be able to go out often at all.
so you would think thats it right? but remember how we were gym buddies before this whole ordeal happened? this close friend of mine, lets call her n (15f). n started getting EXTREMELY close to him after we broke up. one on one gym, hangouts, messaging tons etc. keep her in mind
so yesterday, we had hung out and studied together, where he had given me his hoodie. after studying, i had went to hangout with n and another friend. when n and i were alone, she asked me: " how was your date? "
oh. i asked her how she knew about us studying, and dun dun dun! she showed me messages about him telling me what had happened. okay.... idk if i was being sensitive or jealous or whatever but it threw me off. SO MUCH. i didnt realise he would tell n about this, along with her also having his name all over her phone. snaps, messages, reminders, etc.
i havent message him since yesterday since it threw me off and idk if i want to get with him anymore, along with not having time. send help...
submitted by user0138477428 to teenrelationships [link] [comments]
a week after this incident happened, he sent a message to me about not wanting to try it again due to me not having enough time and not "giving enough attention" to him, and apologised. i was fine with it as i figured that this was gonna happen.
a week after that, he tells me he wants to try again and he didnt mean that message that he sent me, and how hes willling to try the relationship again. i was willing to, but i had warned that i wouldnt be able to go out often at all.
so you would think thats it right? but remember how we were gym buddies before this whole ordeal happened? this close friend of mine, lets call her n (15f). n started getting EXTREMELY close to him after we broke up. one on one gym, hangouts, messaging tons etc. keep her in mind
so yesterday, we had hung out and studied together, where he had given me his hoodie. after studying, i had went to hangout with n and another friend. when n and i were alone, she asked me: " how was your date? "
oh. i asked her how she knew about us studying, and dun dun dun! she showed me messages about him telling me what had happened. okay.... idk if i was being sensitive or jealous or whatever but it threw me off. SO MUCH. i didnt realise he would tell n about this, along with her also having his name all over her phone. snaps, messages, reminders, etc.
i havent message him since yesterday since it threw me off and idk if i want to get with him anymore, along with not having time. send help...
2024.05.19 08:41 Silent_Radio5410 I cut ties with my ex best friend.
A few years ago during that time when I was in high school, me and my ex friend went to different schools, I wanted to go to the same school as her but I couldn't since it was too far.
I told her that I couldn't go to the same school but she told me she was glad I didn't go to the same place as her because if I did, me and her wouldn't be friends at all.
You know the reason why she said that? She said if I went there, other people would take me away from her and that she would hate me which I found that stupid. Fast forward a few years later I had a boyfriend during college (he's now an ex) When I went out to town with my family, she called to me crying (while I was in a resturant) because apparently I've been ghosting her and ignoring her saying I've been too busy to even talk.
During this time I was struggling with my mental health, my relationship and college, She would start arguments with me saying I don't have time for her, not texting back saying I'm drifting away from her. Not to mention she wrote a poem about me(I have the poem on my phone) , I didn't know what to say and she asked you're not mad I wrote a poem about you? You won't sue me right?
And I was like it's fine but in my head it wasn't fine. She would make it about herself, I listened to her constantly complaining and she would trauma dump the past. She brought up the fact I didn't turn up to choir practice while I was getting bullied.
She blamed me for that not the girl who bullied me, not to mention she and the bully were friends on Facebook, the girl who bullied me would talk trash about me to her and she would tell me the horrible things the bully said about me, I was so hurt and betrayed yet I still kept her as a friend.
2 years go by and this was before Covid hit, the day she arrived I took her to my dance practice so she could watch before my day. She complained saying that she's tired, didn't take her meds, telling me she wasted her money to come visit me. I was embarrassed when she was having a tantrum infront of everyone that I had to take her somewhere else.
It felt like a burning iron everytime she complained I was flustered and I felt tired just by listening to her. On the evening the day before my birthday party, there was no food at the house since my mother was busy preparing for my debut. She hasnt eaten food or taken her meds but blamed me again, so we both had to walk to mcdonalds in the evening around 8pm just for her to eat.
The day of my birthday party, everything was going well, I introduced her to my college friends and others but after the party we went back to our rooms getting ready for bed, she asked me why didn't you introduce me to those boys? Why didn't you spend time with me? I didn't know what to say anymore because I was tired genuinely that we didn't talk until morning.
Then after a few days I haven't heard from her, She was talking to one of my guy friends but the thing is she would only talk to me if she had problems with him and would come crying in call and texting me about it. I have been reassuring her every time she had problems with my guy friend and it was tiring, he even mentioned to me she was controlling and bossy and he was right .
I never complained about anything between me and her but she wanted to make problems that I didn't talk to her or wasn't talking to her enough, I gave her space and I gave myself space but she still complained why I didn't message her but I did several times but in other days I wouldn't talk to her because I was scared.
I never talked about my mental problems and my trauma with my SA past to her because she'll make me feel worse and trauma dump and mention the past about me leaving her repeatedly when I was bullied by the same girl she was friends with.
I wanted to cut ties with her but I was afraid that she will get mad at me because she had issues with her behaviour for always getting angry and shouting at me when we get into an argument in call and would blame me.
But I was genuinely afraid at the same time losing my only friend because I had no one else to talk to. After a month or two I was messaging her and she brought up the vaccine topic, during that time she was a student nurse and I didn't really want to talk about it but she insisted telling me I should take the vaccine. If I didn't take it apparently I would affect her "family, friends and patients" but what about me? What am I to her? Me and her live in different cities 1 hr away from each other, so how can I affect them if I live so far away? That doesn't make sense.
She told me If I didn't take it she told me people would think I'm a dirty pest and a scumbag.
I was so done, honestly so done after she posted our private conversation on her private story but apparently she deleted it afterwards just for me to see? Not sure if I believe that. I blocked her on every social media and after that I felt better, the heavy burden I held for so long was gone. I was happier without her.
I never even got birthday gifts from her even when I gave hers every year so I stopped gifting her. I wasted 9 years of friendship and stopped trusting people after that.
submitted by Silent_Radio5410 to ExBestFriends [link] [comments]
I told her that I couldn't go to the same school but she told me she was glad I didn't go to the same place as her because if I did, me and her wouldn't be friends at all.
You know the reason why she said that? She said if I went there, other people would take me away from her and that she would hate me which I found that stupid. Fast forward a few years later I had a boyfriend during college (he's now an ex) When I went out to town with my family, she called to me crying (while I was in a resturant) because apparently I've been ghosting her and ignoring her saying I've been too busy to even talk.
During this time I was struggling with my mental health, my relationship and college, She would start arguments with me saying I don't have time for her, not texting back saying I'm drifting away from her. Not to mention she wrote a poem about me(I have the poem on my phone) , I didn't know what to say and she asked you're not mad I wrote a poem about you? You won't sue me right?
And I was like it's fine but in my head it wasn't fine. She would make it about herself, I listened to her constantly complaining and she would trauma dump the past. She brought up the fact I didn't turn up to choir practice while I was getting bullied.
She blamed me for that not the girl who bullied me, not to mention she and the bully were friends on Facebook, the girl who bullied me would talk trash about me to her and she would tell me the horrible things the bully said about me, I was so hurt and betrayed yet I still kept her as a friend.
2 years go by and this was before Covid hit, the day she arrived I took her to my dance practice so she could watch before my day. She complained saying that she's tired, didn't take her meds, telling me she wasted her money to come visit me. I was embarrassed when she was having a tantrum infront of everyone that I had to take her somewhere else.
It felt like a burning iron everytime she complained I was flustered and I felt tired just by listening to her. On the evening the day before my birthday party, there was no food at the house since my mother was busy preparing for my debut. She hasnt eaten food or taken her meds but blamed me again, so we both had to walk to mcdonalds in the evening around 8pm just for her to eat.
The day of my birthday party, everything was going well, I introduced her to my college friends and others but after the party we went back to our rooms getting ready for bed, she asked me why didn't you introduce me to those boys? Why didn't you spend time with me? I didn't know what to say anymore because I was tired genuinely that we didn't talk until morning.
Then after a few days I haven't heard from her, She was talking to one of my guy friends but the thing is she would only talk to me if she had problems with him and would come crying in call and texting me about it. I have been reassuring her every time she had problems with my guy friend and it was tiring, he even mentioned to me she was controlling and bossy and he was right .
I never complained about anything between me and her but she wanted to make problems that I didn't talk to her or wasn't talking to her enough, I gave her space and I gave myself space but she still complained why I didn't message her but I did several times but in other days I wouldn't talk to her because I was scared.
I never talked about my mental problems and my trauma with my SA past to her because she'll make me feel worse and trauma dump and mention the past about me leaving her repeatedly when I was bullied by the same girl she was friends with.
I wanted to cut ties with her but I was afraid that she will get mad at me because she had issues with her behaviour for always getting angry and shouting at me when we get into an argument in call and would blame me.
But I was genuinely afraid at the same time losing my only friend because I had no one else to talk to. After a month or two I was messaging her and she brought up the vaccine topic, during that time she was a student nurse and I didn't really want to talk about it but she insisted telling me I should take the vaccine. If I didn't take it apparently I would affect her "family, friends and patients" but what about me? What am I to her? Me and her live in different cities 1 hr away from each other, so how can I affect them if I live so far away? That doesn't make sense.
She told me If I didn't take it she told me people would think I'm a dirty pest and a scumbag.
I was so done, honestly so done after she posted our private conversation on her private story but apparently she deleted it afterwards just for me to see? Not sure if I believe that. I blocked her on every social media and after that I felt better, the heavy burden I held for so long was gone. I was happier without her.
I never even got birthday gifts from her even when I gave hers every year so I stopped gifting her. I wasted 9 years of friendship and stopped trusting people after that.
2024.05.19 08:39 Possible_Bed_9233 Necron Army List
I'd like to start necrons cus I think they look cool, I am currently thinking of around 500 points to start, and I have an army list in mind.
**++ Army Roster (Xenos - Necrons) [485pts] ++**
**Detachment Choice:** Awakened Dynasty
**+ Character +**
**Catacomb Command Barge [150pts]:** Gauss cannon, Resurrection orb, Staff of light, Warlord
**Overlord [85pts]:** Resurrection orb, Staff of light
**+ Battleline +**
**Immortals [70pts]**
. **5x Immortal:** 5x Close combat weapon, 5x Gauss blaster
**Necron Warriors [100pts]**
. **10x Warrior w/ gauss flayer:** 10x Close combat weapon, 10x Gauss flayer
**+ Swarm +**
**Canoptek Scarab Swarms [40pts]**
. **3x Canoptek Scarab Swarm:** 3x Feeder mandibles
**Canoptek Scarab Swarms [40pts]**
. **3x Canoptek Scarab Swarm:** 3x Feeder mandibles
**++ Total: [485pts] ++**
Created with [BattleScribe](https://www.battlescribe.net)
I was thinking of a gunline army cause I like guns, my idea is that the Overlord equipped with a resurrection orb will be leading a 10 men squad of warriors all equipped with flayers for the range and it'll be a castle gunline because yes, what they shall do is get to a strategic point on the battlefield and gun down the enemies from there and come back with reanimation protocols and the orb when starting to lose men. I've got 2 separate units of scarabs for objectives and to be a nuisance for my opponent (I hope) the main idea here is that my main units which are the warriors and immortals kill as much models as possible while the scarabs steal the objectives from them and to just deal some damage to maybe draw attention away from my warriors and immortals. I've got a 5 men squad of immortals lead by a command barge with resurrection orb, I went with command barge cause I heard it's good and has B I G G U N, it is also apparently a good way to save budget because I get a free overlord along with it. I chose immortals because I've heard they are the heavy infantry and I think that it's just warriors but bigger guns, the plan here is that the immortals target the characters and act as anti-tank. I want to go with deathmarks because they look cool, but I currently don't know how they work. I don't really know much about necrons currently besides that they can resurrect and heal themselves which I found pretty cool, I've seen videos of people using them and it looks fun, so yes, I did take 2 resurrection orbs thinking that it is just a free reanimation protocol (please correct me if I am wrong) . I went with Awakened Dynasty for the +1 to hit for the units lead by characters, which is beneficial to everything except the scarabs who I currently think don't really need it for what I am planning on doing with them. Would love some feedback on this list and any recommendations on where to go from this.
submitted by Possible_Bed_9233 to Necrontyr [link] [comments]
**++ Army Roster (Xenos - Necrons) [485pts] ++**
**Detachment Choice:** Awakened Dynasty
**+ Character +**
**Catacomb Command Barge [150pts]:** Gauss cannon, Resurrection orb, Staff of light, Warlord
**Overlord [85pts]:** Resurrection orb, Staff of light
**+ Battleline +**
**Immortals [70pts]**
. **5x Immortal:** 5x Close combat weapon, 5x Gauss blaster
**Necron Warriors [100pts]**
. **10x Warrior w/ gauss flayer:** 10x Close combat weapon, 10x Gauss flayer
**+ Swarm +**
**Canoptek Scarab Swarms [40pts]**
. **3x Canoptek Scarab Swarm:** 3x Feeder mandibles
**Canoptek Scarab Swarms [40pts]**
. **3x Canoptek Scarab Swarm:** 3x Feeder mandibles
**++ Total: [485pts] ++**
Created with [BattleScribe](https://www.battlescribe.net)
I was thinking of a gunline army cause I like guns, my idea is that the Overlord equipped with a resurrection orb will be leading a 10 men squad of warriors all equipped with flayers for the range and it'll be a castle gunline because yes, what they shall do is get to a strategic point on the battlefield and gun down the enemies from there and come back with reanimation protocols and the orb when starting to lose men. I've got 2 separate units of scarabs for objectives and to be a nuisance for my opponent (I hope) the main idea here is that my main units which are the warriors and immortals kill as much models as possible while the scarabs steal the objectives from them and to just deal some damage to maybe draw attention away from my warriors and immortals. I've got a 5 men squad of immortals lead by a command barge with resurrection orb, I went with command barge cause I heard it's good and has B I G G U N, it is also apparently a good way to save budget because I get a free overlord along with it. I chose immortals because I've heard they are the heavy infantry and I think that it's just warriors but bigger guns, the plan here is that the immortals target the characters and act as anti-tank. I want to go with deathmarks because they look cool, but I currently don't know how they work. I don't really know much about necrons currently besides that they can resurrect and heal themselves which I found pretty cool, I've seen videos of people using them and it looks fun, so yes, I did take 2 resurrection orbs thinking that it is just a free reanimation protocol (please correct me if I am wrong) . I went with Awakened Dynasty for the +1 to hit for the units lead by characters, which is beneficial to everything except the scarabs who I currently think don't really need it for what I am planning on doing with them. Would love some feedback on this list and any recommendations on where to go from this.
2024.05.19 08:37 lark177 Anyone know the brand of those jazz dance shoes?
 | Ages ago I bought my first pair of jazz dance shoes from eBay marketplace but they didn't have a brand name or anything on them. I even asked the seller about it, but they don't remember where they got them. submitted by lark177 to Dance [link] [comments] They have full rubber soles with texture for grip. I absolutely adore them and can't imagine using different ones even though they are slowly starting to fall apart. Is anyone familiar with that particular brand? I'd be grateful for any tips! |
2024.05.19 08:36 Top_Ad_2322 Restraining order, file for harrassment or just no contact..
I'm torn,
On one hand, I so want our son to have a relationship with his father.
His father is verbally and mentally abusive and has a sex addiction. Do I believe he would verbally abuse our son, no. Mental abuse would be inevitable considering the father doesn't think his actions cause any harm.
On the other hand, my family provides such peace, consistency, and stability to our son. His father harasses me via text often, I've done the communication via email only, and I've done the scheduled FT's and meet up's. Nothing seems to.. stick but this one thing. The verbal and sexual assaults I'm so tired of it I've been up all night just reading over my state laws and options now I'm at the point of do I want to move forward with it or not. Typing this out is so silly, but guilt is real but I also know I have not kept him from his son in any way.
I think the first step is to report the harassment?
He has no established paternity, we have no order. I do not plan to do that at this time he is lazy and I doubt he'd ever contact the courts to do this himself... is it worth the hassle or would it be beneficial to start reporting these things. Would it make it worse? If I don't report now would they ask why I never did it things escalate? I'm documenting things best I can but sometimes I wonder if I'm making things harder for the future if I don't report the harassment. Is it worth it? What is considered harassment? Do I tell them it's my child's father even though to the state that's not established? Or do I say I'm being harassed by so n so?
Any advice is helpful, at the end of the day this is very scary and traumatic for me I have encouraged a healthy relationship but there is so much bitterness, contempt, and delusion clouding his judgment I just want it to stop
Gosh its so late here, I most likely won't respond to any of this til the morning 😕
submitted by Top_Ad_2322 to legaladvice [link] [comments]
On one hand, I so want our son to have a relationship with his father.
His father is verbally and mentally abusive and has a sex addiction. Do I believe he would verbally abuse our son, no. Mental abuse would be inevitable considering the father doesn't think his actions cause any harm.
On the other hand, my family provides such peace, consistency, and stability to our son. His father harasses me via text often, I've done the communication via email only, and I've done the scheduled FT's and meet up's. Nothing seems to.. stick but this one thing. The verbal and sexual assaults I'm so tired of it I've been up all night just reading over my state laws and options now I'm at the point of do I want to move forward with it or not. Typing this out is so silly, but guilt is real but I also know I have not kept him from his son in any way.
I think the first step is to report the harassment?
He has no established paternity, we have no order. I do not plan to do that at this time he is lazy and I doubt he'd ever contact the courts to do this himself... is it worth the hassle or would it be beneficial to start reporting these things. Would it make it worse? If I don't report now would they ask why I never did it things escalate? I'm documenting things best I can but sometimes I wonder if I'm making things harder for the future if I don't report the harassment. Is it worth it? What is considered harassment? Do I tell them it's my child's father even though to the state that's not established? Or do I say I'm being harassed by so n so?
Any advice is helpful, at the end of the day this is very scary and traumatic for me I have encouraged a healthy relationship but there is so much bitterness, contempt, and delusion clouding his judgment I just want it to stop
Gosh its so late here, I most likely won't respond to any of this til the morning 😕
2024.05.19 08:35 Heroman3003 Taking Care of Broken Birds [Part 3]
More misery bird? More misery bird. Really miserymaxxing with these fics I have going, but hey, this one is not that miserable actually! Krekos is back and ready to be dense and downcast, but maybe not quite miserable? Read and see!
Big thank you to NoP community for being great and supportive of my endeavors!
Also, obviously, big thanks to SpacePaladin15 for creating this universe and allowing fanfiction well to flow free!
[First] - [Prev] - [Next]
Memory transcription subject: Krekos, Krakotl Refugee
Date [standardized human time]: May 6th, 2137
I stare at the foul creature before me. Normally staring at something directly head on like that would be too predatory for me to do, but after nearly dying of bread yesterday, I didn’t feel patient enough to be gentle. The creature stared right back, though in a much more natural, prey-like way, tilting its head slightly as it looked back at me with one eye and let out a long bwok.
“Are you doing this now? Really?”, I ask, knowing full well it cannot respond.
Well, it can, if another bwok it made is any indication. Of course, translators aren’t yet advanced enough to translate non-sapient speech, but the intention behind sound is intuitively clear. It’s telling me to back off. Well, I tried the diplomatic approach at least.
Raising my wing I begin sliding the bird out of its nest, careful to keep any delicate joints out of its reach. It started clucking in upset indignation, struggling back and even trying to peck at me, but after realizing that I will not relent, it hopped out of the box and rushed out of the cattle house, revealing a single dead egg in the nesting box.
With relief, I finally pick up the last egg and head back to leave them at the house. Turns out that while Reginald didn’t forget to both lock them up yesterday and let them out today, he did neglect feeding them both times, as well as collecting the harvest. So when I was driven back here in early morning, the first thing I did was making sure they were taken care of. I can’t say the horrid birds looked in any way hungry, but the moment I poured the feeding grain for them, they attacked it with more viciousness than I’d expect of an actual predator. And yet only thirteen were present at the feeding, as the one that’s usually the target of flock’s ire remained in the cattle house yet again, Reginald leaving it to it, being unaware of its undesirable habit of trying to hatch dead eggs.
With eggs delivered, I flew my way to my usual spot atop the cattle house and could finally relax. The loner beast first made its way to feast on the scraps of the grain that other birds already all have had their fill of, so I wasn’t too concerned. Instead I tried to reflect on the morning I had so far.
Waking up at the hospital did make me momentarily panic before I remembered the precluding events. Not that I could properly panic, feeling the most starved I’ve been my whole life, and too weak to try flying out of the window. Thankfully, the breakfast they provided was actually well made with krakotl needs in mind, algae soup alongside a few slices of bread, this time without any horrid human ideas like putting eggs in there. Eggs! Turns out they put eggs in some kinds of bread! That’s how I got sick! Eggs! The thought of what I consumed even now made me queasy, and it definitely made breakfast a much less appetizing affair than it would have been without that knowledge, but back then the hunger won over the disgust.
Lena did keep her promise and came to pick me up extra early. Her being a staff member at the hospital gave her some extra privilege, I assume, hence why I was released without any forms needing to be filled out personally. She did have important business today too, which probably explained the earlyness and urgency of her driving me back to her house.
That did not mean I escaped her ire, however. While I couldn’t pinpoint anything to identify the man, as Bob was apparently a common name, that offered me bread, we did come to understanding that he was likely either unaware of the nutritional contents of it, or of extent to which the Cure-induced allergy would be affecting a krakotl. Yet, Lena seemed much angrier at me for failing to take any precautions. Turns out that was the purpose of medicinal injectors, epipens as humans call them, that were provided to me. I was supposed to have them on me in case I accidentally ingested contaminated food. Nobody told me that, I was just handed them back when I first received the necessities at the refugee camp and I had no clue what they were for. Then she also berated me for eating random food from strangers and ignoring bad flavors. Turns out that brioche bread isn’t actually bitter at all, and that was my body reacting to an allergen in it. Reaction that I unwisely elected to ignore, to further ire of my host. By the end, several new rules of my stay here were made, including not eating things I don’t know and always having at least one epipen on me. Thankfully, these rules would be ones I’d start following even without them being established, so I won’t have to concern myself with being kicked out over accidentally breaking them.
As if following the rules will be enough to make them like you.
Trying to distract myself from thoughts of yesterday’s incident, I focused my attention on the flock. All birds accounted for, so at least I knew that my absence did not result in the predator coming to snatch one of them. I do not wish to insult my hosts, but Reginald is far from most attentive people in matters unrelated to his job, and I am not sure the birds were watched at all while I was out. Speaking of, my scannings of surrounding treelines revealed no sign of the predator today. Perhaps it departed to hunt elsewhere, or maybe it ventured too close to a more populated area and exterminators dealt with it.
Actually, did human exterminators work similar to Federation ones? I knew for a fact they had them, although they seemed like a market of private organizations if advertisements are anything to judge by. Still, what methods do they use? I know humans oppose fire, and do not believe in predatory taint, but surely they have measures to protect themselves? They are, by self-admission, far from the best natural predator, and I doubt Earth’s non-sapient predators would just leave humans be. Maybe I should call one of those human exterminator agencies and call them in to deal with that predator? I haven’t told Lena or Reginald about it, as I didn’t want to bother them, but it could pose a serious threat to the cattle, but maybe that’s the way I could resolve it without involving them?
I have not done nearly as much research into human culture and lifestyle as I should have, considering that I’ve lived on Earth for over half a year now, but the sheer width of the topic always overwhelmed me the moment I opened internet search app to the point where I just closed it right away.
And you expect to start studying again with that attitude? You’ll flunk out even from this primitive predator education course.
Extra loud call from the flock made me refocus my attention on them, but it was nothing. Just the loner getting pecked extra hard and lashing out against assailants, causing a small aimless stampede as all the birds ran around in circles, puffing up at one another. The assailants now looked a lot more like victims. I could understand those birds more than I could humans at least. The loner bird is clearly an odd one out. It’s the only one repeatedly trying to hatch unfertilized eggs it lays, and it seems to always avoid the rest of the flock. Humans may deny the existence of Predator Disease, but they can’t deny that prey and predator both can and will sometimes behave in unnatural ways that may threaten the herd's safety. Or pack’s, in case of humans. Birds must know on instinctual level that the loner’s behavior is unnatural and are attempting to combat the Predator Disease on instinctual level. And since that is natural, I still will not interfere in this, unless the loner bird actually becomes a threat to others or will start getting too injured. The first time I attempted to pick one of the birds up was the only time for a good reason, as I have learned their viciousness all too well.
DING-DING
The sudden loud ring startled me enough that I nearly tumbled off the roof. Who would be coming over now? Lena and Reginald have left together and shouldn’t be back until afternoon, and they’d never use the bell. That means someone must be here for them. But wouldn’t they warn anyone to not come over? Especially with their plans for today.
With nobody to answer these questions, I had no choice but to go and discover the answer myself, flying up and over the house, towards the entrance gate. The moment I passed the house roof, I already saw a familiar silhouette. It was the human child from a few days ago.
Thankfully, Lena’s insistence on me carrying an epipen at all times meant I also carried my satchel at all times too, so I didn’t have to go grabbing my holopad, and took it out. But before I could even launch the translator TTS app to type out a greeting, the child was already hopping in place with excitement.
“Mr. Krekos! Hi! I came over to visit!”, she exclaimed, showing off her teeth in an unnerving expression of human joy. I simply tried to avoid that and focused on the pad, typing out my response.
“Hello, Rosie. Why are you here?”
The question was genuine, as the child was not carrying any more of that honey substance from last time.
“I just came over to visit you! Is that okay? Are Mr. and Ms. Vince okay with it?”
Visit... me? Why? While I was confused, I did instinctively type out a reply.
“They did tell me visitors are allowed as long as there’s no trouble when I first moved in.”
And before I could type a followup message asking her why she’s here, she already let out a joyous roar and ran past me.
“Can I see the chickens?”, she asked, and not waiting for an answer, rushed past the house and towards the cattle yard.
“Wait! You’ll scare them!”, I yell after her, but of course without a translator she can’t understand me as she runs like she already knows where to go.
And indeed she has, quickly rushing up to the open field where the birds were grazing. Thankfully she didn’t start chasing them, instead just approaching the flock from a distance and swaying in place, watching them with what I assume was some sort of predatory excitement at the sight of prey. Maybe that’s where the contained hunting instinct of human children showed themselves? In chasing small birds? I was still more subdued, considering she stopped shy of causing a small stampede, but still.
“Grandpa used to take me with him! He helped watch this farm until Mr. and Ms. Vince moved in. I like chickens! I think they’re cute.”, the child told me innocently as she kept swaying and watching as the beasts grazed upon insects of the pasture.
That revelation was... interesting. I suppose it makes sense that between the original owner of this land dying in the bombings and Lena and Reginald moving in, it would be unattended. With nobody to feed and watch over those things, they would be long dead for sure. And it was Rosie’s grandfather... Speaking of. I typed out my words.
“Does your grandfather know you’re here?”
She seemed to get a weird look as she stopped her excited swaying, fiddling with her hands instead. Looks like I asked the correct question.
“...he knows I am out visiting neighbors.”
That did not answer my question. I squinted at the human child, and she dipped her head as she continued.
“...he doesn’t know I’m here specifically. Or that an alien even lives here...”, she explained, her tone suddenly more sullen.
I couldn’t help but squint at that, and it appears that my expression was readable enough that even a human could see the suspicion, as she continued.
“I’m sorry... But if I told grandpa, he’d tell me I’m forbidden from talking to you, like he forbade me from talking to hedgehog people in town... But I want to talk to you! You’re nice and you’re a space bird!”
The child was actually working around the rules established by her guardian to come see me. I don’t know if I should be glad or concerned. Clearly, the man is anti-alien in his opinions, and I’d rather that kind of man not know about how close he lives to one. At the same time, I’d rather not encourage a child for lying to their guardian in order to meet a stranger they know they aren’t allowed to interact with... So I just took the middle path with my next message.
“I see. What did you want to talk to me about then?”, TTS speaks for me.
Her stiffened body language disappears, replaced again with earlier excitement.
“I wanna know more about space! And aliens! It’s all so cool but grandpa says it’s all dangerous because mom and dad died. But it’s not! The hedgehog people were nice, and you’re nice too!”
I wasn’t sure about that logic, but my self-preservation told me I shouldn’t try convincing her to go confessing. Instead I focused more on her chosen topic.
“I am not sure I am the best person to ask about space. I am not a scientist or traveler.”
“But you’re from there! You know way more than me. I don’t even know what you are called. And there’s gotta be cool things out in space!”
I let out a sigh. I suppose it’s childlike curiosity at its finest. So unfamiliar with mundane that it is a wonder. I remember being like that about becoming a doctor.
And then you let your teacher die.
I quickly tapped on the pad.
“Okay, I can answer questions, but I may not know everything.”
The noise that came out of the girl was like a squeal of a panicked dossur as she started hopping and spinning in place.
“Yes! Yes! Thank you, Mr. Krekos!” Sudden movement did cause me to recoil a bit, which in turn caused her to cease her happy flailing and adjust her little dress. “I dunno where to start though... Hm... What are you?”
...for all my trepidation about not knowing answers, I should have anticipated that the questions she asks will be rather age-appropriate and on the same level as we learn in our first school classes. At least I won’t disappoint her then.
“I am from a species called ‘krakotl’. We’re avians, as is obvious. Our home is...”dead, gone, reduced to glass and ash by our own hubris “...was Nishtal. A beautiful planet...”
Thankfully she did not question my hesitant pause. Instead she just nodded along.
“What about the hedgehog people? I already know venlil, but they’re the only ones I know name of.”
Hedgehog people in town she mentioned earlier. The only species I could think of that could be seen there would be the gojid. I have no clue what hedgehogs are, but probably some creature with visible similarity to them.
“They are called ‘gojid’, and they’re from gojid Cradle. Both of our species are... well, used to be known for our might and protecting other species of Federation.”
I am not sure if that’s something to brag about, considering... everything. But I didn’t want this child to get brought down with depressing regrets of our species. Let her know something nicer instead. She clearly lost a lot, but there’s still joy left in her. I wouldn’t want to be the one to ruin that.
“Cool! What about other people? I wanna know more!”
And so I went on, telling her about various species, although I mostly focused on ones in this new human-led union, only mentioning kolshians and farsul beyond that. It’s weird explaining to a child what a tilfish or a harchen looks like, but thankfully my holopad isn’t just a method of communicating with implant-less children. With access to interstellar web, I could easily pull up pictures of various alien species to show to her, even if she struggled to believe that some of them were even sapient purely based off of looks. With how varied species in Federation are, and how some of us admittedly aren’t too far physiologically from our more primal ancestors.
Among other topics, she asked me to tell her interesting things, which I didn’t know much of. I told her about Venlil Prime’s tidally locked status, a rarity among habitable planets, much less homeworlds for species. I told her about the unique architecture of Mileau, designed to accommodate both species of regular size and dossur themselves. I told her about Colia medical academies, some of the most beautiful medical facilities in the galaxy.
I wish I was more well-travelled, but I just wasn’t. My whole life, I never left Nishtal until the extermination fleet took me despite my protests. That may have been what saved my life...
Not that I, of all people, deserved it...
“Hey! Stop that!”
I flinched as I heard the child yell, but quickly realized that it wasn’t directed at me. Instead, Rosie was rushing down towards the chicken flock, breaking up the fight in which the loner was being pecked by a few larger chickens. As the human child approached, the birds stopped their infighting and scattered in different directions, crowing in loud panic and discontent. On instinct, I found myself rushing towards the child, forgetting about translation entirely.
“What are you doing?! Don’t touch them!”
I didn’t want her to hurt the cattle accidentally, and I didn’t want her to get hurt by the angry birds in return. But, it seems like the moment the birds scattered, she was satisfied with her actions and turned back to me, wearing another one of her happy smiles.
“Sorry, Mr. Krekos, I just saw chickens being mean. Bad chickens.” She explained.
I was baffled. Why would she interfere like that? When I tried that back when I was just starting, that got me pecked! But with her, the birds just scattered. What if they pecked her?
I took the pad out again and started typing quickly.
“That was dangerous. Why did you do that? What if they attacked you? Why are you even interfering in their natural dynamics?”, questions flowed out of my pad with an artificial human voice.
The girl simply giggled.
“They’re chickens! They aren’t dangerous. They don’t peck that painful and I’ve been scratched worse before. And I have to stop it because bullying is wrong.”
Then she actually noticed that the one that was being attacked wandered close. She casually approached it from behind, the blind spot and just reached down and grabbed it, picking the bird up. I was ready to rush to help the bird when...
“Mwah! There, all better.”
She did a human ‘kiss’ on the back of the cattle bird’s neck before releasing it, the surprise of it causing it to rush off. I knew what kisses were, I’ve seen enough of them between Lena and Reginald, but I believed they were gestures of intimate affection, not... what was even that?
It seems Rosie noticed my confusion as she explained.
“You gotta kiss it so it heals better! That’s what mom taught me.” The child displayed that smile of hers shamelessly. With how much I was being exposed to it, it almost wasn’t unnerving anymore. Still, it was interesting to learn that kisses are seen as something that helps wounds. I guess some species do have saliva with mild antiseptic properties, wouldn’t be too out there to assume humans are the same. And if that’s the case, maybe that’s how the kissing tradition started? Exchange of protective fluid between lovers?
“I see. I did not know that.” I responded before letting my puffed feathers relax. Okay, this whole ‘watching a human child’ thing is turning out to somehow be even more stressful than I expected at first.
“Wait, Mr. Krekos, what time is it?” She suddenly asked, looking up at the sky.
“It’s nearly twelve.” I respond, holopad having a convenient clock for local time.
“Oh no! I need to be home soon! Was nice seeing you Mr. Krekos gotta go bye!”
Before I had even a chance at typing out an answer or my own goodbye, the child sprinted away and back towards the entrance. I had to take flight just to keep up, and even then she just turned around, waved her arm at me and then kept sprinting down the road after leaving the gate. I simply offered a small wave of a wing back before locking the gate again. I suppose it is hard to keep track of time without a device or clock nearby...
Well, at least I had the usual peace and quiet now. And learned a bit more about the creatures I was in charge of. I should really try to deal with my aversion to looking things up on the human internet...
Just as I was about to head back out towards the yard, I heard a loud car horn, a familiar one, getting my attention. Lena’s car. There they were, signaling me, probably having spotted me at the gate from afar. Deciding to make use of my presence here, and hoping to avoid needing to explain that I had a surprise visitor earlier, I went ahead and opened the large gate, allowing the car to enter.
Once it was parked in the usual space, the doors opened and three people came out. Lena and Reginald were both looking a bit disheveled, but their faces carried these smiles that seemed wider than ever before. And third person... Was a stranger. A human I knew of, but never actually met. As he exited the car, a large bag in one hand, he just stared at me, standing in the front yard...
“...okay, I expected many things when I was told you guys housed a refugee, but not this.”
Oh no. Oh no, he was not one of the ones that was willing to overlook an invader that partook in bombing of his planet being allowed to walk free, of course, Lena and Reginald were the weird ones like that, doesn’t mean their son won’t be... I felt the panic rising as I realized I’d need to return to the camp. Why was I upset about that? This was supposed to just have been a way to make money, but now I have a free education program. Do I need to stay? No, but... Why?! Why do I not want to leave?
“Ken, you said it’s going to be alright no matter what it is, right? Wanted us to keep it a surprise to meet a new friend?” Lena’s voice. She should have told him, that’d give me time to prepare why didn’t they give me time why.
“No, no problems, just, really surprised, that’s all... uh... hey, buddy, you okay? You’re really... trembly.”
He was approaching me, and instinct took over as I recoiled, before stuttering out my answer.
“I-I’m fine...”
...thankfully translators don’t translate voice cracks. I hope, at least...
“Hey, relax... I have no problem with you being a krakotl, I just didn’t think...” He looks over at Lena and Reginald. “Calm down... I can wear my visor if you want?”
Right. Those things humans use to hide their scary faces from us.
“I... I’m good...”
Why would it last? It almost felt good after all.
There was some emotion I struggled to read on the young human’s face, as he sighed and shook his head.
“I screwed this up, I’m sorry. Let... Let me try again.” He straightened out, and adjusted his clothing, before slowly approaching me and giving me a small smile, no teeth showing. “Hello. My name is Kenneth Vince and I'm son of Lena and Reginald Vince. I was told you’re a refugee they took in to help out. It’s nice to meet you. What’s your name?”
That... snapped me out of it. Right... He was... not upset at my existence. He was just very surprised that Lena and Reginald weren’t. That’s a reasonable thing to be surprised about, considering I was surprised about it to this day. I tried to compose myself as I responded.
“My name is Krekos. I live here as... hired help with the cattle. It’s... nice to meet you?”
The smile on Kenneth’s face widens, though he still refrains from showing his teeth. Instead, he extends a hand towards me. A handshake is a human gesture that I found far from comfortable, but I didn’t want to give him a reason to change his mind on acceptability of my existence, so I took it with a wingclaw. He gently took it and held for a few seconds before letting go and sighing again, turning to his parents.
“You know, I always thought you guys would be empty nesters, but I never thought it’d be that literal.”
That got all three of them laughing, as I just tilted my head in confusion. I was fairly sure there were no empty nests in the house until after I adjusted the attic room for my own accommodations. Still, I took the laughter as a sign that the tense moment had fully passed and let my ruffled feathers slowly rest.
“Let’s head inside. Krekos, we’re having dinner, you’re welcome to join us.” Reginald said, picking up Kenneth’s bag. I tilted my head a little and he followed up with elaboration. “We will be having meat... But there’s still going to be stuff you can eat too. It’s a celebration, so I prepared a bit of everything.”
“Dad, you shouldn’t have!” Kenneth responded with embarrassment.
“None of that! Our son returned from the war, alive and a hero, and we can have a celebration. Krekos, I know you’re still... uncertain about meat so you don’t—”
“I’ll join.”
Wait, who said that? And why did they say that in my voice?
Wait, that was me. Why did I say that?
“That’s great to hear! I’ve got some nice steamed broccoli and some vegetarian fried rice as sides that you’ll enjoy!” Reginald smiled at me and I felt myself shrinking into my feathers. That the humans didn’t notice at least, proceeding into the house instead.
Well, looks like I signed my warrant. At least my bag and my epipen were on me in case something at the table triggers the allergy again. Would be rather unfortunate to have it happen two days in a row.
And that’s how, in just ten or so minutes, I found myself sitting at the dining perch, while humans took seats in chairs, all consuming chunks of roasted flesh and somehow managing to also stuff pieces of equally roasted plants in, and converse with one another. You wouldn’t be able to tell on first look, but despite their mouths being relatively small, especially for a predator, it seems they compensate for it by having those be near bottomless in both hunger and small talk.
I am not sure how I managed to shift my focus away from them consuming animal matter in front of me, however vat grown it might have been, and onto their conversation instead, but I succeeded. I suppose that was just part of me going native around predators. Soon, I’ll be the one feasting along with them before I know it, and snacking on those epipens to not die of it.
Like you could ever be on the same level as humans.
“So, Fahl? That’s where you were sent after the Battle of Earth?” Lena asked.
“Yeah. From what I heard, we got a light posting compared to guys at Sillis or Mileau. The most I had to deal with was some exterminator insurgents.”
That’s right. Since harchen participated in the Extermination Fleet, they were one of those who were occupied by humans during the war. It makes sense that there was at least some ground resistance.
“Honestly, the worst thing out there was the heat. Not the flamethrower kind, the climate. The place was so damn dry and hot. At least exterminators you could subdue or evade. Not so much with the scorching sun!”
I couldn’t resist a small chuckle at the idea of a predator being more afraid of hot weather than flamethrowers as I slowly pecked at the vegetables on my plate. Thankfully it was set far enough aside from any meat dishes that no contamination should occur, but I was still examining pieces before putting them in my mouth just in case.
Seems like reacting was a mistake though, as that brought Kenneth’s attention onto me. He finished chewing latest piece of flesh and pointed a fork at me.
“So, Krekos... Where are you from? Cradle was my guess, but I do know there were refugees from other places like Sillis too.”
That’s a weird question. Isn’t it kind of to be expected for a krakotl to be from our actual homeworld?”
“I’m from Nishtal.”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant,” Kenneth chuckled, tossing a piece of broccoli into his mouth and swallowing before continuing, “I meant, where did you live? I kind of assumed you were born there, but it’s not like Nishtal had a chance to send refugees out, and if they did, this is the last place they’d be.”
Oh... I caught concerned looks of Lena and Reginald, looking between me and Kenneth from both sides. Not only did they not make him aware that I was a krakotl, they also neglected to mention just how I came by my refugee status... Which was just a legal workaround to grant me asylum without unnecessary complications or establishing undesirable precedent. Legally, I may be a refugee, but practically... I am a defector. Lena and Reginald know that, I told them my story before. And while they were weirdly accepting, Kenneth... Fought extermination fleet here on Earth. Personally.
Still, I wasn’t about to lie. It took a few moments and gathering mental strength to steel myself, and averting my eyes, focusing on the plate of warm vegetables in front of me rather than the human’s anticipating stare before I answered.
“I did live on Nishtal. I... I came with the extermination fleet.” I responded, doing my best to avoid looking at him. I did not want to witness his reaction, for some reason the thought of seeing it weighed heavy on my mind.
“Oh.”
The response was simple, and had no followup. There was no more clinking of cutlery against plates, or chewing. The only thing hanging in the air of the kitchen was silence, weighing down on me. It dragged on and on... until it just got so unbearable I couldn’t take it.
“I-I’m full... Thank you for the meal.” I quickly said, hopping off the perch and stepping out of the kitchen, quickly making my way to the yard and taking flight.
Fresh air of the outside and rush of it as I flew up and gained speed... I missed that. I knew it’s not safe to just fly over other people’s territory, so I corrected my course into doing large sweeping circles over the cattle yard and simply let my wings carry me.
Flying away from any danger is the only thing I’m good for anyway. The only thing I ever do.
I closed my eyes. With them closed and not focusing on my angle it feels like I’m actually flying away from all the troubles. Away from humans who barely tolerate my existence, away from gojid who see me as worse than a predator, away from Earth and all its incorrigible customs, away from horrid cattle, away from constant memories...
Flying feels nice. It may be a bit harder than it was home, but it’s still possible. I heard that on Venlil Prime or Mileau it’s much harder. But here? Just an extra flap of wings for every few paces and you’re just fine, free to soar the skies...
Alone. With no one to ever share it with me again.
Slowly I let my eyes open back to the bleak reality. Greenery of surrounding pastures and woods, bright blue skies and farmhouses dotted about here and there greeted me. I lowered my gaze down, focusing on what’s below. There they were, fourteen brown and black dots spread around the enclosed portion of the farm territory. I am not sure how much time I’ve spent flying in circles and trying to forget things but my wings were feeling a tad sore. Then as I just began slow descent, in same circular motion, I noticed that one of the birds, a familiar one, was being chased by several others. Recounting the morning, I tried putting the knowledge to action, and shifted direction of descent, swooping down. To my surprise, that actually worked, as the moment I got close to the ground, the cattle birds all got much louder and scattered in all directions, including the loner. Who, at least this time, got off unharmed. I suppose such pathetic flightless creatures would fear a flying one much more than they would when I just run up to them...
Swooping at them from the sky like a predator to intimidate them into behaving... Like an arxur warden.
With the fight preemptively broken up, I flutter up to the roof of the cattle house, to my usual position and rested my wings. I didn’t see any movement from the direction of the house, so I suppose the family is still busy unpacking. Since Kenneth joined the military just before the Battle of Earth, and Lena and Reginald only moved here after their actual house in city of New York got destroyed, it’d be the first time the human is seeing what is basically his new home. There was a room set aside for him since before I even moved in, and while there is also a guest room... That one did not have a large enough window to fit through, which did not feel comfortable. So when I asked for a space with a bigger window they only had an attic to offer. They seemed uncomfortable letting me live in a tiny room with slanted roof, but I found such space more comforting than I would have a large room with a window not large enough to fit even one fully spread wing through.
I wonder if Kenneth will need as much renovation as I did? The house is built for humans, but he never lived there before. Will he need to buy a more comfortable bed? Getting a proper nesting setup in place of a bed took a bit of effort, but I figured something out. Human sheets were comfortable enough for such, and sitting perches were thankfully not that hard to get thanks to help from the refugee administration. Maybe that’s the things that Lena went to buy yesterday? Kenneth’s preferred room decor?
I looked up to the sky to see the sun beginning to dim. I am not sure if it was me flying that long, or me losing track of time in my thoughts again, but the sun was beginning to set. I began my usual chores, putting out an evening meal and water for the beasts, and while they feasted, ate some myself. I was a bit hungry, having not properly finished lunch and about to skip dinner, but after the earlier conversation, I’d really rather avoid giving them the opportunity to talk to me.
After the birds had their fill, and by that I mean they emptied the tray as they always do, I let out the call, and they started funneling into the cattle house. The lonely straggler being first to go and hop into its nesting box. I bet tomorrow I will have trouble with getting her out of there again...
I took the moment to gather some eggs the birds left over course of the day, and once that was over and all of them were accounted for, I closed it up. When I flew down over to the house, there wasn’t anyone by the back door thankfully, so I just left eggs there, returned the basket, and returned to my room through the window.
Well, at least I didn’t get nearly killed today... That’s nice I guess?
I was about to check my holopad when there was a knock on the door. I approached and opened it to see... Kenneth. Standing in the doorway.
“Uh, hi, Krekos. I just, uh... Wanted to apologize again. I really wish mom and dad told me everything ahead of time... I just want you to know, I have no problems with you whatsoever, yeah? It’s just. Surprising, I guess, to hear all that. I didn’t think there were any defectors from the fleet at all... Just. Uh, please don’t worry about me?” He offered me a small smile, showing his canines before quickly correcting himself and doing a closed-lip one. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories or make you feel unwelcome.”
I had to take a moment to contemplate his words. Was Lena and Reginald’s weirdness hereditary? He almost reminded me of how Reginald talked to me early on, with constant stumbling over the words, as well as constant reassurances that he is fine with me being here. Couple that with failing to avoid predatory mannerisms like eye contact and smiles like Lena tends to and you get this human. But most importantly and least understandably, there was the general fact of him and them just... welcoming me. I couldn’t understand why. I should be one sorry to them.
“N-No, it’s fine... I’m sorry for... intruding on you and your family.”
“No, no, dude, you’re fine! I mean, hell, I was considering entering one of those exchange programs before the bombings happened, and even after, well, I did my best at Fahl to be the perfect friendly soldier just there to make sure no more bombs drop on my home and not kill or conquer anyone. And then mom told me your story, and I can’t believe it... Just... If you have any issues, feel free to tell me. I’m not one of those racist pricks that are too pussy to even call themselves HF anymore because they know they’ll get their teeth knocked. I get that there aren't good or bad species, just people. And you seem like a decent guy if mom and dad’s judgment is to be trusted.” His smile widened, though it was clear from tension on his face that he had to take conscious effort to keep teeth hidden. “So, what I said earlier stands. Friends, right?”
He extends hand forward, for a second time today. I wasn’t sure if I knew this human long enough to call him a friend... Any human really. But it also seems like human definition of ‘friends’ is anyone they’re cordial and peaceful with. Which is weird. You’d think translators would properly use ‘acquaintance’ for that.
Still... We will be living in the same house now. I can’t just say no, and... I can’t come up with a reason to say no. Even him being a predator and a human is not something I could really say I object to, considering how... mundane that became to me over my time here.
So, with naught on my mind but acceptance of the situation, I extended my wing and grasped his hand with my claw. This time he actually gripped it tightly and moved it up and down, as I saw other humans do occasionally.
“Yeah... I guess that’d be for the best.” I responded, shrugging off the hesitation. Fresh start for a third time, I guess?
The human grinned, forgetting to hide his teeth entirely, but I was ready for it somehow and avoided outwardly reacting.
“Cool! Anyway, I’ll try to get some shuteye early, I couldn’t sleep on the overnight flight home. See ya!”
And with that he left. Well... That meeting went well I suppose?
I returned to my nest and picked up my holopad, returning to what I was doing. And there it was, something I awaited every day. A notification that I was messaged on mailing app. Opening the letter revealed the schedule for the study program. Which... only had one day marked on it. And a note that the rest of it will be figured out ‘as we go from there’. So it’s not a schedule, it’s just a mark for the day of the first meeting.
While a bit underwhelming, it was still exciting. It would be an all-alien class so I wouldn’t have to deal with humans’ incomprehensibility nearly as much, and it would allow me to finally return to pursuing what I actually dreamt of. Even if I wasn’t entirely sure that was precisely what I wanted after everything that happened, it was at least something for me to move towards.
...just two days until start. I wonder if there’s some required reading to prepare?
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Big thank you to NoP community for being great and supportive of my endeavors!
Also, obviously, big thanks to SpacePaladin15 for creating this universe and allowing fanfiction well to flow free!
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Date [standardized human time]: May 6th, 2137
I stare at the foul creature before me. Normally staring at something directly head on like that would be too predatory for me to do, but after nearly dying of bread yesterday, I didn’t feel patient enough to be gentle. The creature stared right back, though in a much more natural, prey-like way, tilting its head slightly as it looked back at me with one eye and let out a long bwok.
“Are you doing this now? Really?”, I ask, knowing full well it cannot respond.
Well, it can, if another bwok it made is any indication. Of course, translators aren’t yet advanced enough to translate non-sapient speech, but the intention behind sound is intuitively clear. It’s telling me to back off. Well, I tried the diplomatic approach at least.
Raising my wing I begin sliding the bird out of its nest, careful to keep any delicate joints out of its reach. It started clucking in upset indignation, struggling back and even trying to peck at me, but after realizing that I will not relent, it hopped out of the box and rushed out of the cattle house, revealing a single dead egg in the nesting box.
With relief, I finally pick up the last egg and head back to leave them at the house. Turns out that while Reginald didn’t forget to both lock them up yesterday and let them out today, he did neglect feeding them both times, as well as collecting the harvest. So when I was driven back here in early morning, the first thing I did was making sure they were taken care of. I can’t say the horrid birds looked in any way hungry, but the moment I poured the feeding grain for them, they attacked it with more viciousness than I’d expect of an actual predator. And yet only thirteen were present at the feeding, as the one that’s usually the target of flock’s ire remained in the cattle house yet again, Reginald leaving it to it, being unaware of its undesirable habit of trying to hatch dead eggs.
With eggs delivered, I flew my way to my usual spot atop the cattle house and could finally relax. The loner beast first made its way to feast on the scraps of the grain that other birds already all have had their fill of, so I wasn’t too concerned. Instead I tried to reflect on the morning I had so far.
Waking up at the hospital did make me momentarily panic before I remembered the precluding events. Not that I could properly panic, feeling the most starved I’ve been my whole life, and too weak to try flying out of the window. Thankfully, the breakfast they provided was actually well made with krakotl needs in mind, algae soup alongside a few slices of bread, this time without any horrid human ideas like putting eggs in there. Eggs! Turns out they put eggs in some kinds of bread! That’s how I got sick! Eggs! The thought of what I consumed even now made me queasy, and it definitely made breakfast a much less appetizing affair than it would have been without that knowledge, but back then the hunger won over the disgust.
Lena did keep her promise and came to pick me up extra early. Her being a staff member at the hospital gave her some extra privilege, I assume, hence why I was released without any forms needing to be filled out personally. She did have important business today too, which probably explained the earlyness and urgency of her driving me back to her house.
That did not mean I escaped her ire, however. While I couldn’t pinpoint anything to identify the man, as Bob was apparently a common name, that offered me bread, we did come to understanding that he was likely either unaware of the nutritional contents of it, or of extent to which the Cure-induced allergy would be affecting a krakotl. Yet, Lena seemed much angrier at me for failing to take any precautions. Turns out that was the purpose of medicinal injectors, epipens as humans call them, that were provided to me. I was supposed to have them on me in case I accidentally ingested contaminated food. Nobody told me that, I was just handed them back when I first received the necessities at the refugee camp and I had no clue what they were for. Then she also berated me for eating random food from strangers and ignoring bad flavors. Turns out that brioche bread isn’t actually bitter at all, and that was my body reacting to an allergen in it. Reaction that I unwisely elected to ignore, to further ire of my host. By the end, several new rules of my stay here were made, including not eating things I don’t know and always having at least one epipen on me. Thankfully, these rules would be ones I’d start following even without them being established, so I won’t have to concern myself with being kicked out over accidentally breaking them.
Trying to distract myself from thoughts of yesterday’s incident, I focused my attention on the flock. All birds accounted for, so at least I knew that my absence did not result in the predator coming to snatch one of them. I do not wish to insult my hosts, but Reginald is far from most attentive people in matters unrelated to his job, and I am not sure the birds were watched at all while I was out. Speaking of, my scannings of surrounding treelines revealed no sign of the predator today. Perhaps it departed to hunt elsewhere, or maybe it ventured too close to a more populated area and exterminators dealt with it.
Actually, did human exterminators work similar to Federation ones? I knew for a fact they had them, although they seemed like a market of private organizations if advertisements are anything to judge by. Still, what methods do they use? I know humans oppose fire, and do not believe in predatory taint, but surely they have measures to protect themselves? They are, by self-admission, far from the best natural predator, and I doubt Earth’s non-sapient predators would just leave humans be. Maybe I should call one of those human exterminator agencies and call them in to deal with that predator? I haven’t told Lena or Reginald about it, as I didn’t want to bother them, but it could pose a serious threat to the cattle, but maybe that’s the way I could resolve it without involving them?
I have not done nearly as much research into human culture and lifestyle as I should have, considering that I’ve lived on Earth for over half a year now, but the sheer width of the topic always overwhelmed me the moment I opened internet search app to the point where I just closed it right away.
Extra loud call from the flock made me refocus my attention on them, but it was nothing. Just the loner getting pecked extra hard and lashing out against assailants, causing a small aimless stampede as all the birds ran around in circles, puffing up at one another. The assailants now looked a lot more like victims. I could understand those birds more than I could humans at least. The loner bird is clearly an odd one out. It’s the only one repeatedly trying to hatch unfertilized eggs it lays, and it seems to always avoid the rest of the flock. Humans may deny the existence of Predator Disease, but they can’t deny that prey and predator both can and will sometimes behave in unnatural ways that may threaten the herd's safety. Or pack’s, in case of humans. Birds must know on instinctual level that the loner’s behavior is unnatural and are attempting to combat the Predator Disease on instinctual level. And since that is natural, I still will not interfere in this, unless the loner bird actually becomes a threat to others or will start getting too injured. The first time I attempted to pick one of the birds up was the only time for a good reason, as I have learned their viciousness all too well.
DING-DING
The sudden loud ring startled me enough that I nearly tumbled off the roof. Who would be coming over now? Lena and Reginald have left together and shouldn’t be back until afternoon, and they’d never use the bell. That means someone must be here for them. But wouldn’t they warn anyone to not come over? Especially with their plans for today.
With nobody to answer these questions, I had no choice but to go and discover the answer myself, flying up and over the house, towards the entrance gate. The moment I passed the house roof, I already saw a familiar silhouette. It was the human child from a few days ago.
Thankfully, Lena’s insistence on me carrying an epipen at all times meant I also carried my satchel at all times too, so I didn’t have to go grabbing my holopad, and took it out. But before I could even launch the translator TTS app to type out a greeting, the child was already hopping in place with excitement.
“Mr. Krekos! Hi! I came over to visit!”, she exclaimed, showing off her teeth in an unnerving expression of human joy. I simply tried to avoid that and focused on the pad, typing out my response.
“Hello, Rosie. Why are you here?”
The question was genuine, as the child was not carrying any more of that honey substance from last time.
“I just came over to visit you! Is that okay? Are Mr. and Ms. Vince okay with it?”
Visit... me? Why? While I was confused, I did instinctively type out a reply.
“They did tell me visitors are allowed as long as there’s no trouble when I first moved in.”
And before I could type a followup message asking her why she’s here, she already let out a joyous roar and ran past me.
“Can I see the chickens?”, she asked, and not waiting for an answer, rushed past the house and towards the cattle yard.
“Wait! You’ll scare them!”, I yell after her, but of course without a translator she can’t understand me as she runs like she already knows where to go.
And indeed she has, quickly rushing up to the open field where the birds were grazing. Thankfully she didn’t start chasing them, instead just approaching the flock from a distance and swaying in place, watching them with what I assume was some sort of predatory excitement at the sight of prey. Maybe that’s where the contained hunting instinct of human children showed themselves? In chasing small birds? I was still more subdued, considering she stopped shy of causing a small stampede, but still.
“Grandpa used to take me with him! He helped watch this farm until Mr. and Ms. Vince moved in. I like chickens! I think they’re cute.”, the child told me innocently as she kept swaying and watching as the beasts grazed upon insects of the pasture.
That revelation was... interesting. I suppose it makes sense that between the original owner of this land dying in the bombings and Lena and Reginald moving in, it would be unattended. With nobody to feed and watch over those things, they would be long dead for sure. And it was Rosie’s grandfather... Speaking of. I typed out my words.
“Does your grandfather know you’re here?”
She seemed to get a weird look as she stopped her excited swaying, fiddling with her hands instead. Looks like I asked the correct question.
“...he knows I am out visiting neighbors.”
That did not answer my question. I squinted at the human child, and she dipped her head as she continued.
“...he doesn’t know I’m here specifically. Or that an alien even lives here...”, she explained, her tone suddenly more sullen.
I couldn’t help but squint at that, and it appears that my expression was readable enough that even a human could see the suspicion, as she continued.
“I’m sorry... But if I told grandpa, he’d tell me I’m forbidden from talking to you, like he forbade me from talking to hedgehog people in town... But I want to talk to you! You’re nice and you’re a space bird!”
The child was actually working around the rules established by her guardian to come see me. I don’t know if I should be glad or concerned. Clearly, the man is anti-alien in his opinions, and I’d rather that kind of man not know about how close he lives to one. At the same time, I’d rather not encourage a child for lying to their guardian in order to meet a stranger they know they aren’t allowed to interact with... So I just took the middle path with my next message.
“I see. What did you want to talk to me about then?”, TTS speaks for me.
Her stiffened body language disappears, replaced again with earlier excitement.
“I wanna know more about space! And aliens! It’s all so cool but grandpa says it’s all dangerous because mom and dad died. But it’s not! The hedgehog people were nice, and you’re nice too!”
I wasn’t sure about that logic, but my self-preservation told me I shouldn’t try convincing her to go confessing. Instead I focused more on her chosen topic.
“I am not sure I am the best person to ask about space. I am not a scientist or traveler.”
“But you’re from there! You know way more than me. I don’t even know what you are called. And there’s gotta be cool things out in space!”
I let out a sigh. I suppose it’s childlike curiosity at its finest. So unfamiliar with mundane that it is a wonder. I remember being like that about becoming a doctor.
I quickly tapped on the pad.
“Okay, I can answer questions, but I may not know everything.”
The noise that came out of the girl was like a squeal of a panicked dossur as she started hopping and spinning in place.
“Yes! Yes! Thank you, Mr. Krekos!” Sudden movement did cause me to recoil a bit, which in turn caused her to cease her happy flailing and adjust her little dress. “I dunno where to start though... Hm... What are you?”
...for all my trepidation about not knowing answers, I should have anticipated that the questions she asks will be rather age-appropriate and on the same level as we learn in our first school classes. At least I won’t disappoint her then.
“I am from a species called ‘krakotl’. We’re avians, as is obvious. Our home is...”
Thankfully she did not question my hesitant pause. Instead she just nodded along.
“What about the hedgehog people? I already know venlil, but they’re the only ones I know name of.”
Hedgehog people in town she mentioned earlier. The only species I could think of that could be seen there would be the gojid. I have no clue what hedgehogs are, but probably some creature with visible similarity to them.
“They are called ‘gojid’, and they’re from gojid Cradle. Both of our species are... well, used to be known for our might and protecting other species of Federation.”
I am not sure if that’s something to brag about, considering... everything. But I didn’t want this child to get brought down with depressing regrets of our species. Let her know something nicer instead. She clearly lost a lot, but there’s still joy left in her. I wouldn’t want to be the one to ruin that.
“Cool! What about other people? I wanna know more!”
And so I went on, telling her about various species, although I mostly focused on ones in this new human-led union, only mentioning kolshians and farsul beyond that. It’s weird explaining to a child what a tilfish or a harchen looks like, but thankfully my holopad isn’t just a method of communicating with implant-less children. With access to interstellar web, I could easily pull up pictures of various alien species to show to her, even if she struggled to believe that some of them were even sapient purely based off of looks. With how varied species in Federation are, and how some of us admittedly aren’t too far physiologically from our more primal ancestors.
Among other topics, she asked me to tell her interesting things, which I didn’t know much of. I told her about Venlil Prime’s tidally locked status, a rarity among habitable planets, much less homeworlds for species. I told her about the unique architecture of Mileau, designed to accommodate both species of regular size and dossur themselves. I told her about Colia medical academies, some of the most beautiful medical facilities in the galaxy.
I wish I was more well-travelled, but I just wasn’t. My whole life, I never left Nishtal until the extermination fleet took me despite my protests. That may have been what saved my life...
“Hey! Stop that!”
I flinched as I heard the child yell, but quickly realized that it wasn’t directed at me. Instead, Rosie was rushing down towards the chicken flock, breaking up the fight in which the loner was being pecked by a few larger chickens. As the human child approached, the birds stopped their infighting and scattered in different directions, crowing in loud panic and discontent. On instinct, I found myself rushing towards the child, forgetting about translation entirely.
“What are you doing?! Don’t touch them!”
I didn’t want her to hurt the cattle accidentally, and I didn’t want her to get hurt by the angry birds in return. But, it seems like the moment the birds scattered, she was satisfied with her actions and turned back to me, wearing another one of her happy smiles.
“Sorry, Mr. Krekos, I just saw chickens being mean. Bad chickens.” She explained.
I was baffled. Why would she interfere like that? When I tried that back when I was just starting, that got me pecked! But with her, the birds just scattered. What if they pecked her?
I took the pad out again and started typing quickly.
“That was dangerous. Why did you do that? What if they attacked you? Why are you even interfering in their natural dynamics?”, questions flowed out of my pad with an artificial human voice.
The girl simply giggled.
“They’re chickens! They aren’t dangerous. They don’t peck that painful and I’ve been scratched worse before. And I have to stop it because bullying is wrong.”
Then she actually noticed that the one that was being attacked wandered close. She casually approached it from behind, the blind spot and just reached down and grabbed it, picking the bird up. I was ready to rush to help the bird when...
“Mwah! There, all better.”
She did a human ‘kiss’ on the back of the cattle bird’s neck before releasing it, the surprise of it causing it to rush off. I knew what kisses were, I’ve seen enough of them between Lena and Reginald, but I believed they were gestures of intimate affection, not... what was even that?
It seems Rosie noticed my confusion as she explained.
“You gotta kiss it so it heals better! That’s what mom taught me.” The child displayed that smile of hers shamelessly. With how much I was being exposed to it, it almost wasn’t unnerving anymore. Still, it was interesting to learn that kisses are seen as something that helps wounds. I guess some species do have saliva with mild antiseptic properties, wouldn’t be too out there to assume humans are the same. And if that’s the case, maybe that’s how the kissing tradition started? Exchange of protective fluid between lovers?
“I see. I did not know that.” I responded before letting my puffed feathers relax. Okay, this whole ‘watching a human child’ thing is turning out to somehow be even more stressful than I expected at first.
“Wait, Mr. Krekos, what time is it?” She suddenly asked, looking up at the sky.
“It’s nearly twelve.” I respond, holopad having a convenient clock for local time.
“Oh no! I need to be home soon! Was nice seeing you Mr. Krekos gotta go bye!”
Before I had even a chance at typing out an answer or my own goodbye, the child sprinted away and back towards the entrance. I had to take flight just to keep up, and even then she just turned around, waved her arm at me and then kept sprinting down the road after leaving the gate. I simply offered a small wave of a wing back before locking the gate again. I suppose it is hard to keep track of time without a device or clock nearby...
Well, at least I had the usual peace and quiet now. And learned a bit more about the creatures I was in charge of. I should really try to deal with my aversion to looking things up on the human internet...
Just as I was about to head back out towards the yard, I heard a loud car horn, a familiar one, getting my attention. Lena’s car. There they were, signaling me, probably having spotted me at the gate from afar. Deciding to make use of my presence here, and hoping to avoid needing to explain that I had a surprise visitor earlier, I went ahead and opened the large gate, allowing the car to enter.
Once it was parked in the usual space, the doors opened and three people came out. Lena and Reginald were both looking a bit disheveled, but their faces carried these smiles that seemed wider than ever before. And third person... Was a stranger. A human I knew of, but never actually met. As he exited the car, a large bag in one hand, he just stared at me, standing in the front yard...
“...okay, I expected many things when I was told you guys housed a refugee, but not this.”
Oh no. Oh no, he was not one of the ones that was willing to overlook an invader that partook in bombing of his planet being allowed to walk free, of course, Lena and Reginald were the weird ones like that, doesn’t mean their son won’t be... I felt the panic rising as I realized I’d need to return to the camp. Why was I upset about that? This was supposed to just have been a way to make money, but now I have a free education program. Do I need to stay? No, but... Why?! Why do I not want to leave?
“Ken, you said it’s going to be alright no matter what it is, right? Wanted us to keep it a surprise to meet a new friend?” Lena’s voice. She should have told him, that’d give me time to prepare why didn’t they give me time why.
“No, no problems, just, really surprised, that’s all... uh... hey, buddy, you okay? You’re really... trembly.”
He was approaching me, and instinct took over as I recoiled, before stuttering out my answer.
“I-I’m fine...”
...thankfully translators don’t translate voice cracks. I hope, at least...
“Hey, relax... I have no problem with you being a krakotl, I just didn’t think...” He looks over at Lena and Reginald. “Calm down... I can wear my visor if you want?”
Right. Those things humans use to hide their scary faces from us.
“I... I’m good...”
There was some emotion I struggled to read on the young human’s face, as he sighed and shook his head.
“I screwed this up, I’m sorry. Let... Let me try again.” He straightened out, and adjusted his clothing, before slowly approaching me and giving me a small smile, no teeth showing. “Hello. My name is Kenneth Vince and I'm son of Lena and Reginald Vince. I was told you’re a refugee they took in to help out. It’s nice to meet you. What’s your name?”
That... snapped me out of it. Right... He was... not upset at my existence. He was just very surprised that Lena and Reginald weren’t. That’s a reasonable thing to be surprised about, considering I was surprised about it to this day. I tried to compose myself as I responded.
“My name is Krekos. I live here as... hired help with the cattle. It’s... nice to meet you?”
The smile on Kenneth’s face widens, though he still refrains from showing his teeth. Instead, he extends a hand towards me. A handshake is a human gesture that I found far from comfortable, but I didn’t want to give him a reason to change his mind on acceptability of my existence, so I took it with a wingclaw. He gently took it and held for a few seconds before letting go and sighing again, turning to his parents.
“You know, I always thought you guys would be empty nesters, but I never thought it’d be that literal.”
That got all three of them laughing, as I just tilted my head in confusion. I was fairly sure there were no empty nests in the house until after I adjusted the attic room for my own accommodations. Still, I took the laughter as a sign that the tense moment had fully passed and let my ruffled feathers slowly rest.
“Let’s head inside. Krekos, we’re having dinner, you’re welcome to join us.” Reginald said, picking up Kenneth’s bag. I tilted my head a little and he followed up with elaboration. “We will be having meat... But there’s still going to be stuff you can eat too. It’s a celebration, so I prepared a bit of everything.”
“Dad, you shouldn’t have!” Kenneth responded with embarrassment.
“None of that! Our son returned from the war, alive and a hero, and we can have a celebration. Krekos, I know you’re still... uncertain about meat so you don’t—”
“I’ll join.”
Wait, who said that? And why did they say that in my voice?
Wait, that was me. Why did I say that?
“That’s great to hear! I’ve got some nice steamed broccoli and some vegetarian fried rice as sides that you’ll enjoy!” Reginald smiled at me and I felt myself shrinking into my feathers. That the humans didn’t notice at least, proceeding into the house instead.
Well, looks like I signed my warrant. At least my bag and my epipen were on me in case something at the table triggers the allergy again. Would be rather unfortunate to have it happen two days in a row.
And that’s how, in just ten or so minutes, I found myself sitting at the dining perch, while humans took seats in chairs, all consuming chunks of roasted flesh and somehow managing to also stuff pieces of equally roasted plants in, and converse with one another. You wouldn’t be able to tell on first look, but despite their mouths being relatively small, especially for a predator, it seems they compensate for it by having those be near bottomless in both hunger and small talk.
I am not sure how I managed to shift my focus away from them consuming animal matter in front of me, however vat grown it might have been, and onto their conversation instead, but I succeeded. I suppose that was just part of me going native around predators. Soon, I’ll be the one feasting along with them before I know it, and snacking on those epipens to not die of it.
“So, Fahl? That’s where you were sent after the Battle of Earth?” Lena asked.
“Yeah. From what I heard, we got a light posting compared to guys at Sillis or Mileau. The most I had to deal with was some exterminator insurgents.”
That’s right. Since harchen participated in the Extermination Fleet, they were one of those who were occupied by humans during the war. It makes sense that there was at least some ground resistance.
“Honestly, the worst thing out there was the heat. Not the flamethrower kind, the climate. The place was so damn dry and hot. At least exterminators you could subdue or evade. Not so much with the scorching sun!”
I couldn’t resist a small chuckle at the idea of a predator being more afraid of hot weather than flamethrowers as I slowly pecked at the vegetables on my plate. Thankfully it was set far enough aside from any meat dishes that no contamination should occur, but I was still examining pieces before putting them in my mouth just in case.
Seems like reacting was a mistake though, as that brought Kenneth’s attention onto me. He finished chewing latest piece of flesh and pointed a fork at me.
“So, Krekos... Where are you from? Cradle was my guess, but I do know there were refugees from other places like Sillis too.”
That’s a weird question. Isn’t it kind of to be expected for a krakotl to be from our actual homeworld?”
“I’m from Nishtal.”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant,” Kenneth chuckled, tossing a piece of broccoli into his mouth and swallowing before continuing, “I meant, where did you live? I kind of assumed you were born there, but it’s not like Nishtal had a chance to send refugees out, and if they did, this is the last place they’d be.”
Oh... I caught concerned looks of Lena and Reginald, looking between me and Kenneth from both sides. Not only did they not make him aware that I was a krakotl, they also neglected to mention just how I came by my refugee status... Which was just a legal workaround to grant me asylum without unnecessary complications or establishing undesirable precedent. Legally, I may be a refugee, but practically... I am a defector. Lena and Reginald know that, I told them my story before. And while they were weirdly accepting, Kenneth... Fought extermination fleet here on Earth. Personally.
Still, I wasn’t about to lie. It took a few moments and gathering mental strength to steel myself, and averting my eyes, focusing on the plate of warm vegetables in front of me rather than the human’s anticipating stare before I answered.
“I did live on Nishtal. I... I came with the extermination fleet.” I responded, doing my best to avoid looking at him. I did not want to witness his reaction, for some reason the thought of seeing it weighed heavy on my mind.
“Oh.”
The response was simple, and had no followup. There was no more clinking of cutlery against plates, or chewing. The only thing hanging in the air of the kitchen was silence, weighing down on me. It dragged on and on... until it just got so unbearable I couldn’t take it.
“I-I’m full... Thank you for the meal.” I quickly said, hopping off the perch and stepping out of the kitchen, quickly making my way to the yard and taking flight.
Fresh air of the outside and rush of it as I flew up and gained speed... I missed that. I knew it’s not safe to just fly over other people’s territory, so I corrected my course into doing large sweeping circles over the cattle yard and simply let my wings carry me.
I closed my eyes. With them closed and not focusing on my angle it feels like I’m actually flying away from all the troubles. Away from humans who barely tolerate my existence, away from gojid who see me as worse than a predator, away from Earth and all its incorrigible customs, away from horrid cattle, away from constant memories...
Flying feels nice. It may be a bit harder than it was home, but it’s still possible. I heard that on Venlil Prime or Mileau it’s much harder. But here? Just an extra flap of wings for every few paces and you’re just fine, free to soar the skies...
Slowly I let my eyes open back to the bleak reality. Greenery of surrounding pastures and woods, bright blue skies and farmhouses dotted about here and there greeted me. I lowered my gaze down, focusing on what’s below. There they were, fourteen brown and black dots spread around the enclosed portion of the farm territory. I am not sure how much time I’ve spent flying in circles and trying to forget things but my wings were feeling a tad sore. Then as I just began slow descent, in same circular motion, I noticed that one of the birds, a familiar one, was being chased by several others. Recounting the morning, I tried putting the knowledge to action, and shifted direction of descent, swooping down. To my surprise, that actually worked, as the moment I got close to the ground, the cattle birds all got much louder and scattered in all directions, including the loner. Who, at least this time, got off unharmed. I suppose such pathetic flightless creatures would fear a flying one much more than they would when I just run up to them...
With the fight preemptively broken up, I flutter up to the roof of the cattle house, to my usual position and rested my wings. I didn’t see any movement from the direction of the house, so I suppose the family is still busy unpacking. Since Kenneth joined the military just before the Battle of Earth, and Lena and Reginald only moved here after their actual house in city of New York got destroyed, it’d be the first time the human is seeing what is basically his new home. There was a room set aside for him since before I even moved in, and while there is also a guest room... That one did not have a large enough window to fit through, which did not feel comfortable. So when I asked for a space with a bigger window they only had an attic to offer. They seemed uncomfortable letting me live in a tiny room with slanted roof, but I found such space more comforting than I would have a large room with a window not large enough to fit even one fully spread wing through.
I wonder if Kenneth will need as much renovation as I did? The house is built for humans, but he never lived there before. Will he need to buy a more comfortable bed? Getting a proper nesting setup in place of a bed took a bit of effort, but I figured something out. Human sheets were comfortable enough for such, and sitting perches were thankfully not that hard to get thanks to help from the refugee administration. Maybe that’s the things that Lena went to buy yesterday? Kenneth’s preferred room decor?
I looked up to the sky to see the sun beginning to dim. I am not sure if it was me flying that long, or me losing track of time in my thoughts again, but the sun was beginning to set. I began my usual chores, putting out an evening meal and water for the beasts, and while they feasted, ate some myself. I was a bit hungry, having not properly finished lunch and about to skip dinner, but after the earlier conversation, I’d really rather avoid giving them the opportunity to talk to me.
After the birds had their fill, and by that I mean they emptied the tray as they always do, I let out the call, and they started funneling into the cattle house. The lonely straggler being first to go and hop into its nesting box. I bet tomorrow I will have trouble with getting her out of there again...
I took the moment to gather some eggs the birds left over course of the day, and once that was over and all of them were accounted for, I closed it up. When I flew down over to the house, there wasn’t anyone by the back door thankfully, so I just left eggs there, returned the basket, and returned to my room through the window.
Well, at least I didn’t get nearly killed today... That’s nice I guess?
I was about to check my holopad when there was a knock on the door. I approached and opened it to see... Kenneth. Standing in the doorway.
“Uh, hi, Krekos. I just, uh... Wanted to apologize again. I really wish mom and dad told me everything ahead of time... I just want you to know, I have no problems with you whatsoever, yeah? It’s just. Surprising, I guess, to hear all that. I didn’t think there were any defectors from the fleet at all... Just. Uh, please don’t worry about me?” He offered me a small smile, showing his canines before quickly correcting himself and doing a closed-lip one. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories or make you feel unwelcome.”
I had to take a moment to contemplate his words. Was Lena and Reginald’s weirdness hereditary? He almost reminded me of how Reginald talked to me early on, with constant stumbling over the words, as well as constant reassurances that he is fine with me being here. Couple that with failing to avoid predatory mannerisms like eye contact and smiles like Lena tends to and you get this human. But most importantly and least understandably, there was the general fact of him and them just... welcoming me. I couldn’t understand why. I should be one sorry to them.
“N-No, it’s fine... I’m sorry for... intruding on you and your family.”
“No, no, dude, you’re fine! I mean, hell, I was considering entering one of those exchange programs before the bombings happened, and even after, well, I did my best at Fahl to be the perfect friendly soldier just there to make sure no more bombs drop on my home and not kill or conquer anyone. And then mom told me your story, and I can’t believe it... Just... If you have any issues, feel free to tell me. I’m not one of those racist pricks that are too pussy to even call themselves HF anymore because they know they’ll get their teeth knocked. I get that there aren't good or bad species, just people. And you seem like a decent guy if mom and dad’s judgment is to be trusted.” His smile widened, though it was clear from tension on his face that he had to take conscious effort to keep teeth hidden. “So, what I said earlier stands. Friends, right?”
He extends hand forward, for a second time today. I wasn’t sure if I knew this human long enough to call him a friend... Any human really. But it also seems like human definition of ‘friends’ is anyone they’re cordial and peaceful with. Which is weird. You’d think translators would properly use ‘acquaintance’ for that.
Still... We will be living in the same house now. I can’t just say no, and... I can’t come up with a reason to say no. Even him being a predator and a human is not something I could really say I object to, considering how... mundane that became to me over my time here.
So, with naught on my mind but acceptance of the situation, I extended my wing and grasped his hand with my claw. This time he actually gripped it tightly and moved it up and down, as I saw other humans do occasionally.
“Yeah... I guess that’d be for the best.” I responded, shrugging off the hesitation. Fresh start for a third time, I guess?
The human grinned, forgetting to hide his teeth entirely, but I was ready for it somehow and avoided outwardly reacting.
“Cool! Anyway, I’ll try to get some shuteye early, I couldn’t sleep on the overnight flight home. See ya!”
And with that he left. Well... That meeting went well I suppose?
I returned to my nest and picked up my holopad, returning to what I was doing. And there it was, something I awaited every day. A notification that I was messaged on mailing app. Opening the letter revealed the schedule for the study program. Which... only had one day marked on it. And a note that the rest of it will be figured out ‘as we go from there’. So it’s not a schedule, it’s just a mark for the day of the first meeting.
While a bit underwhelming, it was still exciting. It would be an all-alien class so I wouldn’t have to deal with humans’ incomprehensibility nearly as much, and it would allow me to finally return to pursuing what I actually dreamt of. Even if I wasn’t entirely sure that was precisely what I wanted after everything that happened, it was at least something for me to move towards.
...just two days until start. I wonder if there’s some required reading to prepare?
2024.05.19 08:34 Alternative-Heron241 Guy beaten bruttally by drunk local goons
TDLR: A guy (not me) was beat by the local drunk goons having political connections.
I'm posting this on behalf of the victim since he is traumatised having panic attacks.
Around 1-2 hours back a guy (Rajesh) from a Whatsapp group I'm in messaged said that he was beaten up by the local goons. Rajesh was on his bike when he happen to pass by the road where this drunk goon was. The goon came upto him and took out his bike keys and then started to beat him. After some time the goon's friends came and they also starting beating Rajesh, the goons hit his head with stone (https://prnt.sc/nP7WNo8tMrAs). Rajesh has received 3 stitches because of this. He even went to the police station in Thane but the police officials neglicted his case.
Can anyone here please help Rajesh with this?
submitted by Alternative-Heron241 to LegalAdviceIndia [link] [comments]
I'm posting this on behalf of the victim since he is traumatised having panic attacks.
Around 1-2 hours back a guy (Rajesh) from a Whatsapp group I'm in messaged said that he was beaten up by the local goons. Rajesh was on his bike when he happen to pass by the road where this drunk goon was. The goon came upto him and took out his bike keys and then started to beat him. After some time the goon's friends came and they also starting beating Rajesh, the goons hit his head with stone (https://prnt.sc/nP7WNo8tMrAs). Rajesh has received 3 stitches because of this. He even went to the police station in Thane but the police officials neglicted his case.
Can anyone here please help Rajesh with this?
2024.05.19 08:24 americanlover87 PlayStation YouTube video about the ram and how you can switch a games soundtrack by switching the disk?
hey! idk if this is the right place to ask this but I will anyway,,, A while back I saw this YouTube video and it was going over PlayStation stuff (it might’ve not been ps1 but it was one of the older ones) and it was showcasing this one racing game he had. When booting up the game, he explained that the cache (?) or whatever was loaded so he could take the disc out and put in a different games disc and it so he did. When he did, it started playing the other games ost but with the first games game. Can anyone help me find the video???
a/n: I also remember he went to the ost soundtrack playing screen adn when he sleected a specific song to play instead of playijg the actual song it played the song from the other disc
edit: I also think that it was the same game just the second in the series? or something like that
submitted by americanlover87 to playstation [link] [comments]
a/n: I also remember he went to the ost soundtrack playing screen adn when he sleected a specific song to play instead of playijg the actual song it played the song from the other disc
edit: I also think that it was the same game just the second in the series? or something like that
2024.05.19 08:23 No-Attention-2364 Red spots on my body after drinking
https://ibb.co/0JPKsbN https://ibb.co/g7VBJFK https://ibb.co/Gcb4PwV https://ibb.co/vZ6N3Dh https://ibb.co/ZS4rQmc
Red spots on my body after drinking alcohol
I ( 30F ) is of East Asian descent. Ever since I turned 18yrs, I’ve tried very low ABV beers with my friends at home with my family ( raised in Asia ) and I noticed I would get the infamous Asian flush. My family have this issues too so they don’t drink because of this. I, on the other hand, when I had 4-5 bottles of this very low ABV beers ( around 2-3% ABV ), the next day I woke up with all those red spots all over my legs that goes up to my chest. My doctor said it’s unfortunate but count myself lucky, because that means it would be the best to avoid alcohol at all cost.
Fast forward now, I’ve never had a sip of alcohol ever since. But this has made me lose a lot of social life. I recently bought a patch that stops Asian flush, and combined with that I took Pepcid too, and honestly it worked. I had half a glass of Expresso Martini and half a glass of Riesling ( thursday ). I started seeing the red spots but they were mild the next day. Now it’s Saturday and my skin has been SO itchy and the red spots grew. My bf said my skin doesn’t look dry or fly, but I can’t stop itching myself.
What can I do to reduce this red spots in the future?
Help?
submitted by No-Attention-2364 to AskDocs [link] [comments]
Red spots on my body after drinking alcohol
I ( 30F ) is of East Asian descent. Ever since I turned 18yrs, I’ve tried very low ABV beers with my friends at home with my family ( raised in Asia ) and I noticed I would get the infamous Asian flush. My family have this issues too so they don’t drink because of this. I, on the other hand, when I had 4-5 bottles of this very low ABV beers ( around 2-3% ABV ), the next day I woke up with all those red spots all over my legs that goes up to my chest. My doctor said it’s unfortunate but count myself lucky, because that means it would be the best to avoid alcohol at all cost.
Fast forward now, I’ve never had a sip of alcohol ever since. But this has made me lose a lot of social life. I recently bought a patch that stops Asian flush, and combined with that I took Pepcid too, and honestly it worked. I had half a glass of Expresso Martini and half a glass of Riesling ( thursday ). I started seeing the red spots but they were mild the next day. Now it’s Saturday and my skin has been SO itchy and the red spots grew. My bf said my skin doesn’t look dry or fly, but I can’t stop itching myself.
What can I do to reduce this red spots in the future?
Help?