Make my name in graffiti for myspace
sorry about my grammar
2019.02.07 06:30 siouxsie_siouxv2 sorry about my grammar
memes and fakery for fans of the other sub
2016.08.31 13:32 Cooking on a Budget
Budget-friendly recipes and related recipe discussions. Recipe posts must include the full recipe, not just a link to a video.
2011.11.04 01:23 Kawaiijake Fullmetal Alchemist
Come post anything related to Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist anime and manga franchise! Questions, discussion, analysis, fan art, cosplay, quality memes, etc. are all welcome.
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 08:45 thatoneurchin I love Rachel
This is a really random appreciation post.
I see a lot of people say how Rachel is selfish, obnoxious, entitled, annoying, etc. and I think that’s all true, but I just… love her character.
I love her brand of flaws, if that makes any sense. Like she’s so, so obnoxious and over the top, but that makes little scenes that could be boring comical. Take the first scene where she’s signing up for glee club, for example. She’s just writing her name. Totally normal thing to do - but it’s Rachel, so we get this crazy monologue about how she always signs her name with a gold star, got a teacher fired for not giving her a solo, and was allegedly conceived with a turkey baster. She has so much personality, I’d be entertained watching her fold laundry and do taxes.
Another thing I love is how her self esteem is portrayed. Cause on one hand, it seems like she has a hugely inflated ego, but on the other, she just seems a deeply insecure teenage girl. She’ll proclaim that she’s going to be a star one episode, then be crying cause she doesn’t think she’s as pretty as Quinn the next. And it doesn’t feel implausible or give me whiplash either. I can understand how on stage, she’s completely sure of herself, while off stage, she’s unsure and desperate for approval.
Also love how much she loves performing. I think Lea Michele did a really good job, cause you can tell how happy it makes Rachel just by her face. There’s little moments throughout the show where the group will be singing, and she’ll smile like she’s genuinely having fun, just being able to do it. Some of my favorite examples: when they first sing Don’t Stop Believin’, and she’s got this grin on her face, because for the first time, they’re all in sync, and they’re good. When she sings Take Me or Leave Me with Mercedes, and they both get distracted by each other’s talent. When she sings Poker Face with Shelby, and there’s this amazement and vulnerability over getting to share something she loves with her mom.
Oh, that’s another thing. Her vulnerability. Whenever she gets bullied or insulted, there’s always this very hurt look that appears on her face for a second, before she forces herself to cheer up. It always makes me feel so bad for her. Yeah, she’s annoying, but a lot of her friends were comfortable casually insulting her. One example is in Blame It On the Alcohol, where she’s talking to Puck. She says she can’t have a party cause her dads trusted her, he tells her she sucks and is a total bore, and you see her face crumple like “is that what everyone really thinks of me?” Then, when Finn walks in, she’s smiling again.
She’s constantly picking herself up and putting herself back on the horse, while constantly getting bullied. I thought it was really brave of her to keep posting singing videos even when people were laughing and telling her to get sterilized - especially as a teen. Most people at that age would crumble and just want to conform.
Don’t want to make this too long, so lastly, I just love how insanely competitive she is. She has talent, knows it, and puts her heart and soul into winning. I’m never really annoyed when she complains about deserving this or that because I know she’s going to throw her whole ass into the part. She gets this insane look in her eye, too. Like when Jesse was singing Bohemian Rhapsody, she looked about ready to storm on stage and slit his throat. It makes me laugh. And it makes simple singing scenes seem so much more tense and entertaining. It’s like musical warfare with her lmao. There is nothing ironic about show choir!
submitted by thatoneurchin to glee [link] [comments]
I see a lot of people say how Rachel is selfish, obnoxious, entitled, annoying, etc. and I think that’s all true, but I just… love her character.
I love her brand of flaws, if that makes any sense. Like she’s so, so obnoxious and over the top, but that makes little scenes that could be boring comical. Take the first scene where she’s signing up for glee club, for example. She’s just writing her name. Totally normal thing to do - but it’s Rachel, so we get this crazy monologue about how she always signs her name with a gold star, got a teacher fired for not giving her a solo, and was allegedly conceived with a turkey baster. She has so much personality, I’d be entertained watching her fold laundry and do taxes.
Another thing I love is how her self esteem is portrayed. Cause on one hand, it seems like she has a hugely inflated ego, but on the other, she just seems a deeply insecure teenage girl. She’ll proclaim that she’s going to be a star one episode, then be crying cause she doesn’t think she’s as pretty as Quinn the next. And it doesn’t feel implausible or give me whiplash either. I can understand how on stage, she’s completely sure of herself, while off stage, she’s unsure and desperate for approval.
Also love how much she loves performing. I think Lea Michele did a really good job, cause you can tell how happy it makes Rachel just by her face. There’s little moments throughout the show where the group will be singing, and she’ll smile like she’s genuinely having fun, just being able to do it. Some of my favorite examples: when they first sing Don’t Stop Believin’, and she’s got this grin on her face, because for the first time, they’re all in sync, and they’re good. When she sings Take Me or Leave Me with Mercedes, and they both get distracted by each other’s talent. When she sings Poker Face with Shelby, and there’s this amazement and vulnerability over getting to share something she loves with her mom.
Oh, that’s another thing. Her vulnerability. Whenever she gets bullied or insulted, there’s always this very hurt look that appears on her face for a second, before she forces herself to cheer up. It always makes me feel so bad for her. Yeah, she’s annoying, but a lot of her friends were comfortable casually insulting her. One example is in Blame It On the Alcohol, where she’s talking to Puck. She says she can’t have a party cause her dads trusted her, he tells her she sucks and is a total bore, and you see her face crumple like “is that what everyone really thinks of me?” Then, when Finn walks in, she’s smiling again.
She’s constantly picking herself up and putting herself back on the horse, while constantly getting bullied. I thought it was really brave of her to keep posting singing videos even when people were laughing and telling her to get sterilized - especially as a teen. Most people at that age would crumble and just want to conform.
Don’t want to make this too long, so lastly, I just love how insanely competitive she is. She has talent, knows it, and puts her heart and soul into winning. I’m never really annoyed when she complains about deserving this or that because I know she’s going to throw her whole ass into the part. She gets this insane look in her eye, too. Like when Jesse was singing Bohemian Rhapsody, she looked about ready to storm on stage and slit his throat. It makes me laugh. And it makes simple singing scenes seem so much more tense and entertaining. It’s like musical warfare with her lmao. There is nothing ironic about show choir!
2024.05.19 08:42 GuiltlessMaple Best Car Wash Brushes
 | submitted by GuiltlessMaple to u/GuiltlessMaple [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/6gr88fgxwb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f0bbadf42b26242381d553b2bd2e8ec7c49577f8 Welcome to our comprehensive guide on Car Wash Brushes! If you're looking to keep your vehicle sparkling clean, you've come to the right place. In this article, we'll discuss various types of car wash brushes, provide insights into which brushes are best suited for different surfaces, and offer tips on how to choose the perfect brush for your needs. So, dive in and discover the world of car washing accessories! The Top 12 Best Car Wash Brushes
Reviews🔗Car Wash Mop with Extendable Long Handle and Microfiber Headhttps://preview.redd.it/gabjhg6ywb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e77cd1411daa53baadc6695d02fefeedd40f81d0 I recently came across the Oyajia Car Cleaning Washing Mop Brush, and I must say, it's been a game-changer when it comes to keeping my car spotless. The adjustable handle allows me to reach all those tricky spots without having to twist and bend over, saving my back from any unnecessary strain. The chenille microfiber brush is not only soft but also extremely absorbent, making quick work of even the toughest stains. Plus, the fact that it can be easily disassembled into a mitt for interior cleaning is a definite bonus. However, one minor drawback is that the handle might be a tad too long for some users, making it a bit unwieldy to maneuver. Overall, this mop brush has made my car washing sessions faster, easier, and more enjoyable. 🔗Professionally Detailed Auto Wash Brush Sethttps://preview.redd.it/3atlofpywb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7a63a71eea9772517ab7f273c2f09aaa2c76adcf I recently got my hands on the OUTIMI 27pcs Car Detailing Brush Set, and it's been a game-changer for my weekly car cleaning routine. The kit comes with an incredible variety of brushes, from detailed bristles for intricate corners to heavy-duty scrubbers for stubborn grime. I also found the drill brush set to be particularly effective in tackling tough stains and reaching those hard-to-reach areas. The car air conditioner brush has been an unexpected hero in this set. It's made such a difference in cleaning out the vents and improving airflow. Plus, the car foam drill polishing pads have made my car look so shiny and new. The woolen polishing pad has been perfect for getting a smooth finish on my paintwork. However, there have been a few cons. Some of the smaller bristles tend to shed, which can be a bit annoying. Additionally, the storage bag could use some improvement - it's a bit flimsy and doesn't keep the brushes well-organized. Overall, I'm thrilled with the OUTIMI 27pcs Car Detailing Brush Set. It's made a noticeable difference in the appearance of my car, and I couldn't be happier. 🔗Ultra-Soft Ergonomic Detailing Brush Sethttps://preview.redd.it/b9zk6fzywb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd3c56560da3a63fb635b48bb480aa173cf072b7 I recently stumbled upon the Detail Factory Ultra-Soft Detailing Brush Set Gray while searching for a solution to clean my car's intricate details without causing scratches. As a first-time user, I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable it was to hold and use these brushes. The ergonomic design and balanced handle made it easy to clean for extended periods without experiencing any fatigue. The Ultra-Soft Detailing Brush Set truly lived up to its name, featuring ultra-soft synthetic bristles that gently cleaned my car's interior panels without causing any damage. Its metal-free construction gave me peace of mind knowing that the bristles wouldn't inadvertently scratch my vehicle's delicate surfaces. However, the only drawback I encountered was that the brush set comes with only one brush size, which might not be ideal for those who require more variety in their detailing tools. Despite this minor inconvenience, I wholeheartedly recommend the Detail Factory Ultra-Soft Detailing Brush Set Gray for anyone seeking a high-quality, gentle solution for maintaining their car's appearance. 🔗Car Wash Brush with Spray Foam and Rotating Designhttps://preview.redd.it/quprbgazwb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2be18a575f020a9af953d330ad21239c48f1adfc I recently got my hands on the versatile Atmomo Car Pressure Washer Rotating Wash Brush. This amazing tool made my car washing experience a breeze, saving me time and energy. What impressed me most was its automatic rotation feature that doesn’t require electricity. The water flowing into the pipe creates a high-pressure driving force to power the gears and make the brush work automatically. The Atmomo Car Pressure Washer isn't just your regular car wash brush. It also comes with a detergent box that sprays foam when you need it, making cleaning even easier. You can easily adjust the hydraulic pressure too, choosing from three levels according to your cleaning needs. Its rotating design with a soft and plump brush head ensures thorough cleaning while its excellent water-absorbing capacity protects the paint. This multi-functional tool isn't just limited to car washing. It can be used to clean floors, windows, blankets, and even serve as a garden water sprinkler. Its innovative technology has made car washing hassle-free and more enjoyable. However, one downside I noticed was the brush material. It tends to shed a bit during use, which might require some extra cleanup after washing your car. Despite this minor inconvenience, I consider the Atmomo Car Pressure Washer a valuable addition to my car care routine. 🔗Car Wheel Cleaning Brush Set with Tire Brushhttps://preview.redd.it/qke0xlszwb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=59a60240bece2a23f67028e7d2376d96a4cc6160 As a car enthusiast, I'm always in search of the best tools to keep my ride in pristine condition. That's why I recently came across the NIKCOSMK Wheel Brush Kit, and I couldn't be happier with my purchase. This versatile kit has become an essential part of my weekly car wash routine. The Professional Wheel & Rim Clean Brush Set includes a variety of brushes perfect for tackling even the toughest grime on my wheels, tires, and rims. The soft microfiber wheel brushes are gentle on my painted, chrome, powder coated, and polished wheels, ensuring no scratches are left behind. One feature that stands out is the flexible design of the rim brush. Its ability to bend up to 360 degrees allows me to reach deep into tight spaces and thoroughly clean my wheels' faces and lips. Plus, the comfortable silicone hand grip ensures the brush never slips, even during a vigorous scrubbing session. The high-quality materials used in this kit are a testament to its durability and performance. The thick fibers of the synthetic woolie brushes hold tons of cleaning liquid and quickly remove grime from my wheels, while the metal-free construction keeps my car's paint safe from potential damage. Another aspect I appreciate about this kit is its wide range of applications. Whether I'm cleaning my car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, or even my RV, boat, or lawn mowers, the NIKCOSMK Wheel Brush Kit has been an indispensable tool. Overall, the NIKCOSMK Wheel Brush Kit has made maintaining my car's spotless appearance effortless. Its unique combination of softness, flexibility, and performance makes it a reliable choice for car wash enthusiasts like me. 🔗Fitosy Complete Car Wash Brush Set for Detailinghttps://preview.redd.it/e0hdw330xb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=705d54f6ae7f17c5eb719e4b798e13c9b027c8fb I recently decided to give my car a thorough cleaning and discovered the Fitosy Car Wheel Rim Tire Brush Set. I was pleasantly surprised by how well-made and versatile this kit was. The 15-inch flexible wool bristle brush stood out for me - it can bend in any direction and reach those hard-to-clean areas on the wheels. Plus, it's made of 100% metal-free materials, ensuring no scratches on my rims. Another feature I appreciated was the sturdy and ergonomic design of the handle. It's comfortable to grip and made of durable material, making it a reliable tool for long-term use. The three different sized detailing brushes also made light work of cleaning my car's interior, tackling tight spaces and nooks with ease. However, one drawback I experienced was that the tire brush, while effective in cleaning tires, seemed a bit too stiff for use on other sensitive surfaces like car carpets or leather seats. Despite that, overall, the Fitosy Car Wheel Rim Tire Brush Set has been a game-changer for me when it comes to car detailing, making the entire process much more efficient and enjoyable. 🔗Carcarez 4-Piece Long Handle Car Wash Mop Kit for Efficient Cleaninghttps://preview.redd.it/slqmz2s0xb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=19d9184f1d41dc05dc21d30a49c0e4a0758b16c9 I recently got my hands on a Car Wash Brush Kit by Carcarez, and I must say, it has become an indispensable part of my car maintenance routine. The 45-inch aluminum alloy long handle provides excellent reach, making it easy to clean hard-to-reach areas of my vehicle. The kit is a 3-in-1 design, comprising a car wash mop, a replacement mop head, and a car wash squeegee. It's incredibly versatile, allowing me to tackle various car cleaning tasks efficiently. The car wash mop is made of a combination of PP and chenille microfiber, ensuring thorough cleaning without scratching my car's paint. The package includes two mops, offering extra convenience. The aluminum alloy long handle is not just sturdy, but also adjustable and swiveling, enabling me to achieve a 180-degree cleaning angle. This feature has proven to be a game changer, particularly when cleaning narrow spaces. The car drying squeegee is another notable component of the kit. It quickly and safely dries flat surfaces, whether it's glass or car paint. There's no risk of water spots either, as the squeegee leaves no marks behind. It's a handy tool that has drastically cut down the time I spend on drying my car. However, there are a couple of areas where the Carcarez Car Wash Brush Kit could improve. The mop heads, while effective, do tend to wear out relatively quickly. Additionally, although the aluminum alloy handle is strong, it can feel a bit unwieldy at times, especially for those who prefer a more lightweight design. Overall, the Carcarez Car Wash Brush Kit has been a valuable addition to my car cleaning routine. Its versatile design, long handle, and efficient cleaning tools make it a worthwhile investment for anyone seeking to keep their vehicle in pristine condition. 🔗Professional 26-Piece Car Cleaning Kithttps://preview.redd.it/uhr1za01xb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=11920da47c305b1f90292c62f381bed31f2053d2 I've been using this car detailing kit for a few months now, and I must say, it's the ultimate car care package. From the tiniest nooks and crannies to the toughest stains on my wheels, this kit has made my car look as good as new. The drill brush attachments are particularly impressive. They've made it incredibly easy to give every corner of my car a thorough scrubbing, making sure no grime is left behind. The long handle wheel brush and tire brush have been a game-changer for reaching those hard-to-access spots on my rims and tires. The car detailing brush set is diverse, providing different sizes for various cleaning needs. The wire brushes have been particularly useful in tackling stubborn stains on the wheels. The soft car washing tool kit, with its detachable handle and water absorption cloth covers, has made windows and dashboards feel like brand new. However, it's worth noting that the bristles on some brushes may not be as soft as expected, so be gentle while using them. All in all, this 26-piece car cleaning kit is a must-have for any car enthusiast looking to maintain their ride in top condition. 🔗Comprehensive Car Cleaning Brush Sethttps://preview.redd.it/8fqyxde1xb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=92d7c3b014e1c12d58660c9eeb454f8a6f749266 I recently discovered the MateAuto 12pcs Car Carpet Brush Set and it's been a game changer for keeping my car interior spotless. This set includes various brushes with different sizes and bristle materials, making it easy to clean every nook and cranny of my car. The Car Carpet Brush is particularly impressive, featuring super hard synthetic bristles that can effectively scrub away dirt and grime without causing any damage to my car rugs or floor mats. The ergonomic handle makes it comfortable to use, even for extended periods of time. I also appreciate the fact that this set includes a boar's hair brush set and a natural horsehair brush. These bristles are soft enough not to scratch the interior of my car, but strong enough to clean away dust and debris. I've found the boar's hair brushes especially helpful in reaching tight spaces like air vents and lug nuts. Additionally, the set includes air outlet brushes for quick cleaning of car vents and blinds, as well as stainless steel, brass, and nylon brushes for even more versatility. It's truly an all-in-one solution that covers many cleaning tasks, whether it be rust removal or delicate household appliances. Overall, the MateAuto 12pcs Car Carpet Brush Set has made maintaining my car's interior so much easier and more enjoyable. Its variety of brushes and applications make it a must-have tool for any car owner looking to keep their vehicle in pristine condition. 🔗Ultimate 62" Car Wash Mop and Brush Kithttps://preview.redd.it/mhg5u6w1xb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a56ea6bfb1f448a04f2999946afed9cb48fadce0 In my daily life, I've been using the HORDALOR Car Wash Kit to keep my car pristine. This kit includes everything you could need for a thorough car wash, even a 62" long-handle car wash brush to clean the hard-to-reach areas on your vehicle. The non-slip handle ensures a comfortable grip while you work, and won't scratch your paint job. One feature that stood out to me was the car wash kit's scratch-free design. The combination of the car bucket and grit trap keeps dirt off your car while washing, which prevents any scratches from developing during the cleaning process. Additionally, the car washing tools are made with premium materials that are gentle on delicate surfaces. However, the packaging could be improved. The Oxford bag is convenient and space-saving, but some users might find it difficult to access the tools when needed. Overall, I'm quite impressed with the HORDALOR Car Wash Kit and would recommend it to any car enthusiast looking for a comprehensive car cleaning solution. 🔗Premium 27-Piece Car Detailing Kithttps://preview.redd.it/1lfk4092xb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d30bcd8d9c8f5ee400f0c0ca9d20c74f63448fc As a dedicated car enthusiast, I've had my fair share of cleaning tools over the years. However, the TTRCB 27pcs Car Detailing Kit has truly stood out among them. With its comprehensive set of brushes and accessories, it's like having a professional car wash right in my own garage. The kit comes with an impressive array of drill brushes, car detailing brushes, wire brushes, and other tools that cater to every cleaning need imaginable. From small cracks and corners to larger areas like wheels and engine compartments, this kit has got it all covered. The drill brushes are especially handy for giving the car's exterior a thorough wash, while the car detailing brushes are perfect for tackling smaller, more intricate areas inside the vehicle. The 3 different types of wire brushes are also a welcome addition to the kit, as they offer versatile cleaning options for various surface types. The air vent brush and car dash duster work wonders on removing dust from hard-to-reach areas, while the microfiber wash mitt ensures that your car stays spotless during the washing process. However, one thing to keep in mind is that the kit does not include the drill itself. Nevertheless, this minor inconvenience is easily overlooked when considering the overall quality and value that the TTRCB 27pcs Car Detailing Kit brings to the table. In conclusion, whether you're a professional detailer or a car enthusiast looking to give your vehicle a thorough clean, the TTRCB 27pcs Car Detailing Kit is definitely worth considering. Its extensive collection of brushes and accessories ensures that no corner is left untouched, resulting in a spotless and well-maintained car every time. 🔗Perform Tool Detailing Brush Set for Auto, Boat, and Homehttps://preview.redd.it/hfqmk7s2xb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=14b3d9f4eee06ad80656e391e9f96fe648187829 I recently decided to give my old car a much-needed makeover and came across the Perform Tool W4992 Power Brush Detailing Kit. I was initially skeptical about its capabilities, but boy, was I in for a surprise! The kit included an array of tools such as power tool brushes, pads, towels, and various sized detailing brushes, making it easier for me to tackle every nook and cranny of my vehicle. The double-sided wash mitt, in particular, came in handy as it soaked up water quickly without scratching the paint. One of the standout features was how the 3 white soft bristle power tool brushes could easily be used with my drill or impact driver, making quick work of cleaning upholstery, leather, carpet, glass, tile, and fiberglass. The two orange medium firm pads were perfect for applying wax and polishes with extra precision. However, there were some minor drawbacks. Some of the detailing brushes felt a bit flimsy, and I had to be extra cautious while using them in tight spaces. Additionally, the lack of proper product specifications and user reviews made it difficult for me to understand the kit's compatibility with various power tools. Overall, the Perform Tool W4992 Power Brush Detailing Kit has been a game-changer in reviving my car's appearance. It offers a comprehensive set of tools to help you detail your vehicle, boat, or home effortlessly. But remember, always use caution when handling some of the smaller detailing brushes to ensure they last long. Buyer's GuideGetting a car wash can be an expensive and time-consuming process. To help maintain your vehicle's appearance and extend the life of its paint job, investing in quality car wash brushes is a practical and cost-effective solution. In this buyer's guide, we'll cover essential features, considerations, and general advice about car wash brushes to ensure you make an informed purchase. https://preview.redd.it/evgweq93xb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=47a2fe197a739127843b66aafb9f3dd92f29d3fc Important Features to Consider
Considerations Before Purchasing
https://preview.redd.it/uko1aeo3xb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=253de9d0972c01e2da938e9771d134438fff3d6d General Advice and Usage Tips
FAQhttps://preview.redd.it/d7khw744xb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e4bb3e504891ac633054459b6486e8217e774d7b 1. What are car wash brushes?Car wash brushes are specially designed tools used for cleaning and detailing vehicles. They come in various shapes and sizes, with features such as stiff or soft bristles, rotating heads, and ergonomic handles to suit different needs and types of surfaces.2. How do car wash brushes differ from regular brushes?Car wash brushes are specifically made for cleaning and maintaining vehicles. They may have stiffer or softer bristles, rotating heads, and ergonomic handles compared to regular brushes to provide a more thorough and efficient cleaning experience on automotive surfaces without causing damage. https://preview.redd.it/bg7wrlf4xb1d1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e7b7c2616e42ceeb49df59cec6bce86ec9c44d2 3. What types of car wash brushes are available in the market?There are several types of car wash brushes available, including:
4. Why should I use a car wash brush instead of a regular sponge or cloth?Car wash brushes offer a more thorough and efficient cleaning solution by providing better access to nooks and crannies, removing stubborn dirt and grime, and distributing cleaning solution evenly across the surface. This minimizes the risk of scratching and ensures a streak-free finish.5. How do I choose the right car wash brush for my needs?Consider the following factors when selecting a car wash brush:
6. How do I properly maintain and store my car wash brushes?To maintain and store your car wash brushes:
7. Can I use car wash brushes on other surfaces besides my vehicle?While car wash brushes are designed for automotive surfaces, they can also be used to clean other items such as patio furniture, boat hulls, and ATVs, provided that the brush is suitable for the material's surface.8. How often should I replace my car wash brushes?The frequency at which you should replace your car wash brushes depends on how often you use them and their condition. It is recommended to inspect the bristles periodically for signs of wear or damage – if the bristles become matted, frayed, or unevenly worn, it may be time to replace the brush.As an Amazon™ Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. |
2024.05.19 08:40 blue_province 34 [M4F] Malaysia, Dutch nomad guy looking for a little tenderness
Do you have a 'job' that you hate and love at the same time? I do, I trade dumb online stuff, I don't like making it my whole personality because those bros are annoying and full of air. Also it's a ponzi, scratch that, it's a scam, scratch that, broad adoption of ít would be a universal nightmare and dystopia. However.... I do seem to be somewhat okay in it. And while I used to have to stay put in one place to work, that does not seem to be necessary now. So I could pick my shit up, go somewhere else and then just do the same soul sucking thing there. (had to filter out the actual word because it's banned on r4r)
I already spent an entire paragraph to the topic but let's stop there, it's might boring. Hi, I am 34, Dutch, and I just moved for a while to Bulgaria, then back home, now I am in Malaysia sweating my balls of. I like history, social-economic issues, cultural things, gaming, but mostly history though, that used to be my major in another life.
I am looking for a woman, girl, however you wish to name it up to my own age. But you know, not too far under it. I'd like for you to be intelligent, witty, well read (hopefully about history or at least some other social science), but don't worry about the specifics, if you think I am prince charming just dm and we can see where things go you know. What I would like to mention is that I have autism and while it's not 'extreme' it is definitely there. There will be an influence on whatever happens between us because of it and I'd rather be open about it than hide it under the carpet. I might not always understand very well what you mean, but believe me I am trying, so a little acceptance would go a long way. In my past relations it was noted by them that I did not 'act autistic', but really, I am.
Hit me up if you think I sound like someone you'd drink a cup of coffee with. I do have to mention I am a little nsfw
submitted by blue_province to ForeverAloneDating [link] [comments]
I already spent an entire paragraph to the topic but let's stop there, it's might boring. Hi, I am 34, Dutch, and I just moved for a while to Bulgaria, then back home, now I am in Malaysia sweating my balls of. I like history, social-economic issues, cultural things, gaming, but mostly history though, that used to be my major in another life.
I am looking for a woman, girl, however you wish to name it up to my own age. But you know, not too far under it. I'd like for you to be intelligent, witty, well read (hopefully about history or at least some other social science), but don't worry about the specifics, if you think I am prince charming just dm and we can see where things go you know. What I would like to mention is that I have autism and while it's not 'extreme' it is definitely there. There will be an influence on whatever happens between us because of it and I'd rather be open about it than hide it under the carpet. I might not always understand very well what you mean, but believe me I am trying, so a little acceptance would go a long way. In my past relations it was noted by them that I did not 'act autistic', but really, I am.
Hit me up if you think I sound like someone you'd drink a cup of coffee with. I do have to mention I am a little nsfw
2024.05.19 08:38 UsedRag91 Does your pwBPD take their anger out on you? More of a rant than a question.
Hello! I am curious as to other pwBPD and their anger with their partner or fp. I am wondering if they take out their anger on you, regardless of who or what bothered them.
My (40f) pwBPD bf (45m) had undiagnosed bpd but displays virtually all characteristics of it. It never fails that whenever he is angry at something or someone, it gets taken out on me.
It could be him angry at his fantasy football team, long a game in COD, a coworker making a perceived rude comment, the neighbors trying to make small talk, or a package being delivered next door (4 steps away). He gets mad, and yells at me. I get being upset, but he yells to my face while looking at me about what someone else did. He'll never confront them though. If I don't answer his rhetorical questions then I get called names.
He says he doesn't yell at me but is mad at the situation and it just comes out as yelling. I say he yells at me, which is jarring, stressful and my body can't tell the difference. Especially if he is looking at me, yelling at me as if I was the person who wronged him. AND then he gives me the silent treatment for days, without any explanation as to what I did, until he decides we are on good terms again. Meaning he made up with whoever upset him, or he figured out that he was in the wrong.
He will then proceed to not speak to me for days. Sometimes he will purposely trash the house to try to get me mad enough. When I ask him why he is mad at me, he scoffs and simply says "why do you always have to make everything about you? You are such a fucking c*nt. The world doesn't revolve around you."
Because of the isolation, I have no support system. No one to talk to about this or anything really. I don't leave the house, I can't even talk on the phone to family or take work calls without it being an issue. Out of the 7 days in a week, he isn't mad at me for about 1.5 days. The other 5.5.... silence or yelling. I enjoy the silence but I am just so lonely and heartbroken. While he is as happy as can be telling me and everyone that I am the problem. This isn't a relationship, & it's not what I signed up for. I want it to end but I also feel stuck.
Thanks for reading. Rant over.
submitted by UsedRag91 to BPDlovedones [link] [comments]
My (40f) pwBPD bf (45m) had undiagnosed bpd but displays virtually all characteristics of it. It never fails that whenever he is angry at something or someone, it gets taken out on me.
It could be him angry at his fantasy football team, long a game in COD, a coworker making a perceived rude comment, the neighbors trying to make small talk, or a package being delivered next door (4 steps away). He gets mad, and yells at me. I get being upset, but he yells to my face while looking at me about what someone else did. He'll never confront them though. If I don't answer his rhetorical questions then I get called names.
He says he doesn't yell at me but is mad at the situation and it just comes out as yelling. I say he yells at me, which is jarring, stressful and my body can't tell the difference. Especially if he is looking at me, yelling at me as if I was the person who wronged him. AND then he gives me the silent treatment for days, without any explanation as to what I did, until he decides we are on good terms again. Meaning he made up with whoever upset him, or he figured out that he was in the wrong.
He will then proceed to not speak to me for days. Sometimes he will purposely trash the house to try to get me mad enough. When I ask him why he is mad at me, he scoffs and simply says "why do you always have to make everything about you? You are such a fucking c*nt. The world doesn't revolve around you."
Because of the isolation, I have no support system. No one to talk to about this or anything really. I don't leave the house, I can't even talk on the phone to family or take work calls without it being an issue. Out of the 7 days in a week, he isn't mad at me for about 1.5 days. The other 5.5.... silence or yelling. I enjoy the silence but I am just so lonely and heartbroken. While he is as happy as can be telling me and everyone that I am the problem. This isn't a relationship, & it's not what I signed up for. I want it to end but I also feel stuck.
Thanks for reading. Rant over.
2024.05.19 08:37 Sorsha_OBrien Do these family mods exist? 6 little mods I want in the game
Mod to adopt people younger than yourself:
submitted by Sorsha_OBrien to RimWorld [link] [comments]
- Why? I like family gameplay, however, sometimes the parents of a child dies, leaving them alone in the colony. I know 'the colony' technically looks after the child, however, I think it would be cool if another adult/ adults could adopt them as well. The same goes for children who you save/ rescue, buy as a slave and recruit, or even child raiders who you manage to capture and recruit. I say the 'adoption' should be available for anyone younger than yourself in order to form more 'familial' bonds with others. For instance, if there is more than a 15+ year age gap between two people, one could 'adopt' the other as a child (say you have a 20 year old colonist and a 40 year old one). It could also be cool to adopt people as your siblings, possibly again if there's a 10-15 age gap (or more). This could be a ritual as well.
- Why? Idk why this isn't in vanilla honestly, and it means your babies that are not born healthy or that you forget to name don't end up being called something like Baby 'Colette' Bazkin or something like this. You can also rename people's first name rather than just their nickname, or if you wanted them to have a name change for whatever reason you can. Ik character editor is easy to install and doesn't change much in the game, it would just be easier if this was in the game anyways. Maybe it could even be a ceremony or something?
- Why? I don't like when a baby is stillborn and they don't really 'exist' in the family relations. I know it's probably to avoid clogging up relationships but idk, I would still like it in. It would also be cool if instead of 'dead' in the side bar on the relationships it would say 'stillborn' which I think is more specific and tells you more than just 'dead'? I think irl too people still consider stillborn children their children and name them and such. You could argue the same for miscarriages in RimWorld too. Ofc there would be tweaks if this mod came into being so you keep track of miscarriages or not. It could also be great for story telling purposes as well. I remember having a pregnant captive who was too beaten up after battle and lost her baby, and I thought it would be neat if, when she came into the colony, she would try and have another baby to make up for the one she lost. [I also know there's the Pawn Tracker mod, however, I would still like stillborn babies to exist in the 'family tree'/ relationships]
- Why? I'm a sticker for consistency and realism, okay! It's also a bit weird when a surrogate has carried a baby to full term, only to give birth to it stillborn, and not be affected by this at all. I know it's not her biological baby, but if that was me I would be super upset and wonder if it was my fault for the baby being born stillborn. It's strange that the biological mum and dad are the only ones who get the 'stillborn' moodlet, but not the surrogate. Idk maybe I'm in the minority for noticing this since the majority of people in my last game have had their children carried by surrogates. It's funny as well bc if a surrogate carries a baby and then that baby dies, I think they still get the negative 'my child has died' moodlet thing. But they don't seem to get this for stillborns.
- Why? Cue Marge Simpson meme: I just think its neat! It could also be cool to transfer a pregnancy -- say an injured pawn is in her first trimester and you think the baby might be miscarried, do a surgery and transfer this fetus to another pawn OR a growth vat. Likewise, you could transfer a fetus from the growth vat into a pawn. I don't know WHY you might do this, but I'd like the option (lol).
- Why? I'm not much of a war crimes rimworlder and tend to only keep captives for a short time, and don't want someone to be a long term hemogen farm. I also don't like having to manually go around and click 'extract hemogen' on various pawns and have to do this multiple times. I only have one vampire and there are bouts where I have to do this. A little thing, yes, but it could still be automated more via a mod. I also don't want my vampire to just bloodfeed on a bunch of people bc of the negative moodlet and I think negative opinion it also gives? Maybe it could be a bit like the drug policy and you can tune it accordingly, and you can select which pawns are apart of it and which not, and to only harvest blood when they're completely healthy, and every X amount of days.
2024.05.19 08:37 Head_Blacksmith_2035 Why an inside informant of BO in PSB/NPA makes more sense now
 | Firstly I would like to say a couple of words regarding Scotch's death. submitted by Head_Blacksmith_2035 to OneTruthPrevails [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/xo2mqpft8b1d1.png?width=1131&format=png&auto=webp&s=c5bfd8cf53c9dca1d136f801f1b347dc1e42568f This was the last words from Scotch to Rei. Possibly over a text message as Scotch wanted to destroy his smartphone. He already had cut all contacts, meaning the only people they could trace via his phone were Rei and other agents helping him with his infiltration work. But the two interesting points are a) Someone tipped BO about Scotch. Cause they figured out that Scotch belonged to PSB, which is a detailed information. b) Someone tipped Scotch about the information leak. That person wasn't Shuichi else Scotch would have believed him better. So there could be a BO mole, no now I say there has to be a BO mole inside the Police and another mole inside BO (who told Scotch about this breach.) Now what kind of a mole in Police we are looking for ? a) Someone who knew Scotch and his affiliation but never knew that his full name. b) If that person would have come across Sherry then he/she would have triggered her at least once. In camping ground case Haibara got triggered during the presence of both Rumi and Kuroda. Now both are shown to have no links with BO. So who triggered her ? My bet is on Kuroda. Kuroda triggered her. This trigger, Now there are other two pieces of evidence against Kuroda This is Rum demanding info on Kudo Shinichi Bourbon is worried to divulge much to Kuroda So both Rum and Kuroda seemed to have ask for the same info from Bourbon. For some reason Bourbon can't reveal anything to Kuroda that had transpired at the tea party. Pretty soon Rum confronts him, The traitor remark. Rum needs to know two things which would make him suspicious of Bourbon. a) Bourbon is giving old information to trick him. b) He needs to know that the information provided by Bourbon is not really updated or genuine. To know this Rum needs to have another source of information who can verify/contradict Bourbon's claims with a fair certainty. This all points to a mole inside of PSB/NPA, now we never saw Kuroda and Amuro meeting face to face, as of now all their conversations happen to be telephonic. Could be a security arrangement where they don't meet for the sake of the cover. Now there seems to be another instance where Amuro has confided in Kazami about a mission regarding the second mysterious old man. For some reason Kuroda is also kept in dark regarding it. https://preview.redd.it/uu5moxn7mb1d1.png?width=2785&format=png&auto=webp&s=c34a1029534472bfee5eec18e3d99c2eacaf44c1 Also we see Kuroda and Iori discussing how the latter has met Amuro in the cafe. Their conversation is interesting. Kuroda and Iori are old acquaintances but both of them were connected to a mission where Iori used the alias Sakakibara for his undercover work. That mission was depressing for Iori. Plus Iori knows Amuro. Amuro also seems to know Iori. Kuroda virtually didn't need to confirm whether it was really Iori who was at the cafe or not because if he really was Iori then the whole interaction is not a threat. If he had been a BO member, that too is not a threat as Amuro too is a BO member and loyalty testing isn't something Amuro should be running away. This whole interaction seems to with Iori seems to point that Kuroda is gauging how much Iori knows in reality. Plus Kuroda might not be real at all. He could have been a BO member who killed the original one after the original one woke up from Coma or in between the 7 years when he was employed after getting up. Conan has no way of discerning if he is the real Kuroda who was present at the Juke Hotel or a fake who knew/figured out the case and can meticulously spew gibberish to give Conan a false impression. Rumi knows Rum's voice She knows Kuroda's voice She has also heard Tsutomu's voice. She was bewildered. So if she figures out it was Kuroda's voice whom she considers as Amanda and Kohji's killer according to Kuroda then her reaction doesn't make much sense. Also if she knew that Kuroda was innocent and she had identified his voice, she won't be bewildered rather would take a sigh of relief that he wasn't Rum. It seems this voice is alien to her and very likely if there was really a struggle between Rumi and Kuroda. Also something doesn't make sense about Kuroda's accident. His left eye was more exposed to the accident. USA has right hand drive that implies to the steering wheels at the left end of the dashboard. So if the Car was rammed from the left Kuroda's left side would have been more likely to get damaged, but instead his right eye got poked. Also Asaka fleeing from a burning car in front of that many witnesses and nobody saw her at least tended her (as she too would have been heavily injured) sounds too fishy. |
2024.05.19 08:37 Emergency_Macaron973 Any other graduate (or undergraduate) international students disillusioned with academia?
I'm not going to name any names, but ever since I have been at this university, I have lost all passion and motivation to research or make any type of difference. I've seen people (faculty and PhD students) being recognized for making the university look good. They don't actually make a difference and some have even blatantly admitted to me that they're only writing and researching what will get them money. Is that what academia is about? It's all so profit-driven and not at all focused on knowledge production. Many just write what looks good for grants or the UBC website.
I have a serious problem with this whole "Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity" bs because it's all just talk. They are not actually doing anything that makes me, POC, feel included or at equal footing with others. Until we start to address the real issues, such as socio-economic classes, we are not going to progress.
I'm also done with all these taskforces and offices that are supposed to help students. It looks good to have these, but are they actually benefiting students?? I can't be the only one who is utterly defeated and feeling unsupported... I have never had a good experience with any of these representatives.
I know I matter and my research matters. It just doesn't make UBCO look good because I don't use trendy words. I'm actually genuinely interested in what I do, but I can feel I'm very close to losing that.
Rant over. Thanks for reading.
submitted by Emergency_Macaron973 to ubco [link] [comments]
I have a serious problem with this whole "Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity" bs because it's all just talk. They are not actually doing anything that makes me, POC, feel included or at equal footing with others. Until we start to address the real issues, such as socio-economic classes, we are not going to progress.
I'm also done with all these taskforces and offices that are supposed to help students. It looks good to have these, but are they actually benefiting students?? I can't be the only one who is utterly defeated and feeling unsupported... I have never had a good experience with any of these representatives.
I know I matter and my research matters. It just doesn't make UBCO look good because I don't use trendy words. I'm actually genuinely interested in what I do, but I can feel I'm very close to losing that.
Rant over. Thanks for reading.
2024.05.19 08:37 joonv2 🔥[FREE TRIAL] Most Reviewed and Successful Reddit Coaching Server JOIN Professional PG/CLOL Challenger Coach - 3,000+ Students Affordable Prices 🔥
![🔥[FREE TRIAL] Most Reviewed and Successful Reddit Coaching Server JOIN Professional PG/CLOL Challenger Coach - 3,000+ Students Affordable Prices 🔥](https://a.thumbs.redditmedia.com/CKS2DfcKsZ-nwqnH8ZfSJN-z29zZTP2h__8c9M2qZg4.jpg "🔥[FREE TRIAL] Most Reviewed and Successful Reddit Coaching Server JOIN Professional PG/CLOL Challenger Coach - 3,000+ Students Affordable Prices 🔥") | Hey everyone, my name is Joon and I am a GrandmasteChallenger player on the NA server. I also achieved the Master rank in 100 games on the Korean server. I currently have 5 accounts in 5 roles in MasteGM Elo and I constantly play Solo Q to keep up with meta changes (No Season 3-High Elo-washed up player coaching here 😉). I am also a CLOL collegiate coach for Ryerson University-TMU and verified both on Pro Guides (https://www.proguides.com/coach/joon) and the League Coaching subreddit. submitted by joonv2 to LeagueMarket [link] [comments] Why Choose Me? More than anything I am very proud of the work and progress that I have achieved with all of my students over the course of years of coaching. I would encourage you, my potential new students, to have a look at the student progress page on my server, where many of my students post frequently showing the tremendous progress that they have made since they started coaching with me (https://discord.gg/SUrJuazdBz). My approach to each student is individual and I can quickly identify your strengths and weaknesses. Unlike many other coaches, my goal is not to push you to play my playstyle or my champions but to highlight YOUR strengths in your gameplay and minimize any weaknesses you might have. Pricing - Each coaching session takes 1 hour and costs $30 per session. Do you offer bundles and plans? - Absolutely, I include a FREE 1-HOUR session for a bundle of 5 sessions. (5 Hours + 1 Free) Is there a trial session? - Yes, a trial session lasts around 15 minutes, in which I will review and analyze your OP.GG and watch one of your recent VODs of choice. During the trial session, I will focus on the common fundamental mistakes that you often make as well as point out some windows of opportunities that you tend to miss. Rank Proof Unlike many other "High Elo" coaches out there with no proof or accounts dating back to Season 6 or other prehistoric times when the game was completely different, I grind Solo Q on multiple High Elo accounts and servers constantly while reaching top GM+ ranks on every lane from top to bot on different servers (NA, EUW, KR) every season. In the last 2 seasons, I have climbed to Grandmaster + in every role. Accounts are posted on my discord for proof with screenshots and have my students added on my accounts as they tend to refer to my games for their own improvement. Twitch stream - https://www.twitch.tv/joonvy https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2036933477 - Example of a live coaching of a Twitch Streamer (Starts at 1 hour 50 mins into VOD) https://preview.redd.it/sjao63x4wb1d1.png?width=1283&format=png&auto=webp&s=af3899764b718219632c879dd1d1364454b52234 https://preview.redd.it/m2k6j4x4wb1d1.png?width=963&format=png&auto=webp&s=c2f8aecfc20b191734379f25c7aa059e3f781d7f https://preview.redd.it/xfh9c3x4wb1d1.png?width=1162&format=png&auto=webp&s=d4a05699d6e1af53be5e2012faf359c298475bba What can I expect from the sessions?
Recent Achievements: My recent students climbed from
A student reaching CHALLENGER from Emerald All of these achievements and more you can see posted by my students in my Discord Group (https://discord.gg/SUrJuazdBz)
My Discord is - joonvy DISCORD SERVER: https://discord.gg/uhvrcH5yYS Proguides Review Page: https://www.proguides.com/coach/joon Twitch stream - https://www.twitch.tv/joonvy VOUCH POST: https://www.reddit.com/LeagueCoaching/comments/nkx9td/vouch_post_for_joons_coaching |
2024.05.19 08:37 joonv2 🔥[FREE TRIAL] Most Reviewed and Successful Reddit Coaching Server JOIN Professional PG/CLOL Challenger Coach - 3,000+ Students Affordable Prices 🔥
![🔥[FREE TRIAL] Most Reviewed and Successful Reddit Coaching Server JOIN Professional PG/CLOL Challenger Coach - 3,000+ Students Affordable Prices 🔥](https://external-preview.redd.it/2xLakH3B0nNw4B6bHnMf7HXuSPhnsYfzf0O_i9lwqzk.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=9013363b18a5e7179937c0c429507dae90b4dfae "🔥[FREE TRIAL] Most Reviewed and Successful Reddit Coaching Server JOIN Professional PG/CLOL Challenger Coach - 3,000+ Students Affordable Prices 🔥") | Hey everyone, my name is Joon and I am a GrandmasteChallenger player on the NA server. I also achieved the Master rank in 100 games on the Korean server. I currently have 5 accounts in 5 roles in MasteGM Elo and I constantly play Solo Q to keep up with meta changes (No Season 3-High Elo-washed up player coaching here 😉). I am also a CLOL collegiate coach for Ryerson University-TMU and verified both on Pro Guides (https://www.proguides.com/coach/joon) and the League Coaching subreddit. submitted by joonv2 to LeagueCoaching [link] [comments] Why Choose Me? More than anything I am very proud of the work and progress that I have achieved with all of my students over the course of years of coaching. I would encourage you, my potential new students, to have a look at the student progress page on my server, where many of my students post frequently showing the tremendous progress that they have made since they started coaching with me (https://discord.gg/SUrJuazdBz). My approach to each student is individual and I can quickly identify your strengths and weaknesses. Unlike many other coaches, my goal is not to push you to play my playstyle or my champions but to highlight YOUR strengths in your gameplay and minimize any weaknesses you might have. Pricing - Each coaching session takes 1 hour and costs $30 per session. Do you offer bundles and plans? - Absolutely, I include a FREE 1-HOUR session for a bundle of 5 sessions. (5 Hours + 1 Free) Is there a trial session? - Yes, a trial session lasts around 15 minutes, in which I will review and analyze your OP.GG and watch one of your recent VODs of choice. During the trial session, I will focus on the common fundamental mistakes that you often make as well as point out some windows of opportunities that you tend to miss. Rank Proof Unlike many other "High Elo" coaches out there with no proof or accounts dating back to Season 6 or other prehistoric times when the game was completely different, I grind Solo Q on multiple High Elo accounts and servers constantly while reaching top GM+ ranks on every lane from top to bot on different servers (NA, EUW, KR) every season. In the last 2 seasons, I have climbed to Grandmaster + in every role. Accounts are posted on my discord for proof with screenshots and have my students added on my accounts as they tend to refer to my games for their own improvement. Twitch stream - https://www.twitch.tv/joonvy https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2036933477 - Example of a live coaching of a Twitch Streamer (Starts at 1 hour 50 mins into VOD) https://preview.redd.it/mr2e2nf5wb1d1.png?width=1283&format=png&auto=webp&s=e10a0a4dd3fa1ae8df6322435c177a8e11cda22c https://preview.redd.it/fisiqmf5wb1d1.png?width=963&format=png&auto=webp&s=37880ac8ef329a78398cfb09d446e74ae45dff91 https://preview.redd.it/w7388nf5wb1d1.png?width=1162&format=png&auto=webp&s=c965d375a25b76dd5548ff9fa43c618a53611371 What can I expect from the sessions?
Recent Achievements: My recent students climbed from
A student reaching CHALLENGER from Emerald All of these achievements and more you can see posted by my students in my Discord Group (https://discord.gg/SUrJuazdBz)
My Discord is - joonvy DISCORD SERVER: https://discord.gg/uhvrcH5yYS Proguides Review Page: https://www.proguides.com/coach/joon Twitch stream - https://www.twitch.tv/joonvy VOUCH POST: https://www.reddit.com/LeagueCoaching/comments/nkx9td/vouch_post_for_joons_coaching |
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 Open-Cucumber-5157 Hating my friends of 5 years
Theres alot to this story but i feel like i could also be overreacting?? I know im sensitive and sometimes selfish but i just need an outside POV since i cant seem to detach myself.
Starting off, one of the girls in my friend group (theres 4) had recently found out her boyfriend was cheating on her. This guy has done so much unbelievable shitty things to her and we all hate how much CONTROL he has over her. Shes not aloud to smoke anymore because he greened out the first time he tried it. He took another girl to prom. And on top of all that he hit her and gave her bruises. To cut it short, we found out she was still texting him. Not only that, he was still coming over and they were still hanging out with each other?? To cut it even shorter, we looked at her location and she was at his house so we told her mom. Some may think this is over reacting but if u SAW THE BRUISES. When she came back she sent us a message saying that she wasnt mad at us, but to stay in our lane and out of her business. She also said that she was the one that cheated first and was basically trying to justify him hitting her. Which is super uncalled for since we are teenage girls and tell each other everything.
So we made this groupchat without her and with her ex bestfriend (she used to be in the group until she moved states but we involved her so she could talk some sense into our friend) we talked ALOT of shit about how our friend was lost and how embarrassing it was for her to still be talking to him. We left the topic alone after that night but then next day at school we all acted like everything was alright. This made me feel SO UNCOMFORTABLE i could not even lock eyes or speak to the friend we were talking shit about. My boyfriend also sits with us during lunch so i was just talking to him the whole time. It made me feel even worse that the other girls in the girl were acting like nothing happened.
This whole thing has left me feeling like i couldnt trust any of them anymore.
Moving on, Ive just always felt like the odd one of the group. Theres this unspoken rule in our group about how we cant hang out with any of the members 1 on 1 because as girls we get jealous i guess. Its hard because me and the other girl used to be best friends and hung out all the time before the group became a thing. But the 2 other girls made her cry when they found out we hung out 1 on 1 so shes been avoiding me everytime i try to make plans so I stopped. I just hate her for actually giving into that rule. its been MONTHS since weve hung out 1 on 1 but recently i found out the 2 other girls made plans without us and were HIDING it from us. I texted the one i was closer with and she apologized and said it was them “trying to get their lick back”. I told her i didnt get it because weve been stopped hanging out and havent even tried it since we found out how they felt about it. Its also weird because me and the other girl that im not so close with had already made party plans on the same day weeks before (we are the only ones who drink so its okay if we hang out to do that)and she was avoiding me when I asked her if the plans were still on. The party ended up getting cancelled so it doesnt even matter anymore.
They also let me go to a concert alone when I practically begged at least 1 of them to go with me (the tickets were only $30). They said they didnt go because they didnt like the music but I spent $75 to go with them to a concert when i hated the music as well. The point is to go together because anything was funner together especially if it was a concert. I ended up going to the concert alone and cried in the bathroom. I left early and got sexually harassed in streets downtown (and i was drunk). Last time I go to a concert alone😭. Can you see why I hate them?
The other day they invited me to starbucks afterschool. At the end of my last hour I rushed to go see them and theyre gone. Im so pissed because the same exact situation has happened before so I call one of them and Im just going off about them not giving me a heads up about going anymore. It makes me feel like the forgotten one.
Theres a couple more situations I can name but these are the main ones. All these little things are adding up and its really overwhelming me and I feel embarrassed to speak on it because of what theyll say. ive told my boyfriend how I feel about it and he said he would hate them too. I cant tell if im just being a big cry baby or if i need to find better friends. its just hard since ive know them for so long.
submitted by Open-Cucumber-5157 to Advice [link] [comments]
Starting off, one of the girls in my friend group (theres 4) had recently found out her boyfriend was cheating on her. This guy has done so much unbelievable shitty things to her and we all hate how much CONTROL he has over her. Shes not aloud to smoke anymore because he greened out the first time he tried it. He took another girl to prom. And on top of all that he hit her and gave her bruises. To cut it short, we found out she was still texting him. Not only that, he was still coming over and they were still hanging out with each other?? To cut it even shorter, we looked at her location and she was at his house so we told her mom. Some may think this is over reacting but if u SAW THE BRUISES. When she came back she sent us a message saying that she wasnt mad at us, but to stay in our lane and out of her business. She also said that she was the one that cheated first and was basically trying to justify him hitting her. Which is super uncalled for since we are teenage girls and tell each other everything.
So we made this groupchat without her and with her ex bestfriend (she used to be in the group until she moved states but we involved her so she could talk some sense into our friend) we talked ALOT of shit about how our friend was lost and how embarrassing it was for her to still be talking to him. We left the topic alone after that night but then next day at school we all acted like everything was alright. This made me feel SO UNCOMFORTABLE i could not even lock eyes or speak to the friend we were talking shit about. My boyfriend also sits with us during lunch so i was just talking to him the whole time. It made me feel even worse that the other girls in the girl were acting like nothing happened.
This whole thing has left me feeling like i couldnt trust any of them anymore.
Moving on, Ive just always felt like the odd one of the group. Theres this unspoken rule in our group about how we cant hang out with any of the members 1 on 1 because as girls we get jealous i guess. Its hard because me and the other girl used to be best friends and hung out all the time before the group became a thing. But the 2 other girls made her cry when they found out we hung out 1 on 1 so shes been avoiding me everytime i try to make plans so I stopped. I just hate her for actually giving into that rule. its been MONTHS since weve hung out 1 on 1 but recently i found out the 2 other girls made plans without us and were HIDING it from us. I texted the one i was closer with and she apologized and said it was them “trying to get their lick back”. I told her i didnt get it because weve been stopped hanging out and havent even tried it since we found out how they felt about it. Its also weird because me and the other girl that im not so close with had already made party plans on the same day weeks before (we are the only ones who drink so its okay if we hang out to do that)and she was avoiding me when I asked her if the plans were still on. The party ended up getting cancelled so it doesnt even matter anymore.
They also let me go to a concert alone when I practically begged at least 1 of them to go with me (the tickets were only $30). They said they didnt go because they didnt like the music but I spent $75 to go with them to a concert when i hated the music as well. The point is to go together because anything was funner together especially if it was a concert. I ended up going to the concert alone and cried in the bathroom. I left early and got sexually harassed in streets downtown (and i was drunk). Last time I go to a concert alone😭. Can you see why I hate them?
The other day they invited me to starbucks afterschool. At the end of my last hour I rushed to go see them and theyre gone. Im so pissed because the same exact situation has happened before so I call one of them and Im just going off about them not giving me a heads up about going anymore. It makes me feel like the forgotten one.
Theres a couple more situations I can name but these are the main ones. All these little things are adding up and its really overwhelming me and I feel embarrassed to speak on it because of what theyll say. ive told my boyfriend how I feel about it and he said he would hate them too. I cant tell if im just being a big cry baby or if i need to find better friends. its just hard since ive know them for so long.
2024.05.19 08:32 ThrowRA-48391 Need Advice: (M25) with gf (F22) who has controlling/manipulative parents. How can I confront this while maintaining a relationship with her?
I have been dating my current gf for about 2 years now. Her parents are from India and hae been very strict the entire relationship. Even when the relationship with the parents was cordial, they obsessively called me whenever I was with her like I became their child. On my first day of graduate school, the father called me 9 times while I was attending my first class because she hadn't answered their texts in 30 minutes. Another time, we went on a beach trip and were coming home (2 hours before their set curfew) and he continued to call and tell me to drive faster and get her home immediately. Eventually, the relationship with the parents deteriorated. They didn't want us seeing each other at all anymore but we stayed together and made it about a year without their approval.
Today was my girlfriends graduation and it was outdoors, so it was open to the public. The parents didn't want me there and I was not invited to the dinner planned for after the graduation. However, since it was open to the public and a large crowd, she told me that she wanted me there and I could just sit away from them. I went and tried to stay away from the parents, but apparently the father spotted me walking into the stadium and became angry. There was no confrontation, but apparently he wanted to come up to me and tell me to leave but was prevented from doing so. My girlfriend texted me that he had seen me and said to stay out of sight and just leave after they call her name to avoid any crazy drama. I did and left immediately after her name and hadn't been in contact with anyone (including my gf) since the ceremony.
I was driving back home when my gf's best friend called me and said that she had a seizure and I needed to go to the hospital she was going to. I was shocked since she had no medical history and turned around to head to the hospital immediately. I knew the parents wouldn't would be angry, so I called my gf's older sister to tell her everything I knew and see if she was okay (my gf had been staying out late all night and had been feeling sick all morning). The sister told me not to come because it would only make things worse and the dad took the sisters phone and began to yell at me.
He told me that this was all my fault and I'm causing so much stress and anxiety in her life and that I'm the reason she's in the hospital. He told me to never contact her again and I responded by telling him that "This is not okay. You will not blame me for this and you will not speak to me that way." He hung up the phone a few seconds after i began talking and told him that nothing he was saying was accpetable to me.
After hanging up, he grew more angry and I received several follow up messages about how everything is my fault and that I need to leave her alone. When my gf finally regained consciousness, he yelled at her for being "so naive and irresponsible" and he told her that she is throwing her life away with me. I didn't know what to do and obviously wanted to prioritize her well-being when she reached out to me, but when she told me her dad said I had disrespected him and been very rude, I had to share the full story and send screenshots.
I feel liket this pattern of behavior isn't out of a dislike for me or a new thing... She had warned me that her parents were crazy and strict before, but this is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I think that there are deeper issues to this behavior than I can tell from my perspective, but I just dont know what to do or say about any of this.
I absolutely do not want our relationship to end. I also can't continue to let the parents continue to control everything in her life and treat me how they treat their children.
I dont know if I should have skipped the graduation and just stayed as quiet as possible until her parents arent as big a factor in her life anymore.
I also don't know what to say about his comments blaming me for the seizure and yelling at her when she regained consciousness. What should I do in this situation? Is there anything to do/say about overly controlling/manipulative parents? Please help with how to handle this situation.
TL;DR; : Girlfriends father was angry that I showed up to her graduation and sat alone. She had a seizure after I left and he told me that it was all my fault and to never speak to her again. He had tried to limit our relationship and prevent us from seeing each other in the past and I don't know what to do now. How can I confront this and maintain my relationship with her?
submitted by ThrowRA-48391 to relationship_advice [link] [comments]
Today was my girlfriends graduation and it was outdoors, so it was open to the public. The parents didn't want me there and I was not invited to the dinner planned for after the graduation. However, since it was open to the public and a large crowd, she told me that she wanted me there and I could just sit away from them. I went and tried to stay away from the parents, but apparently the father spotted me walking into the stadium and became angry. There was no confrontation, but apparently he wanted to come up to me and tell me to leave but was prevented from doing so. My girlfriend texted me that he had seen me and said to stay out of sight and just leave after they call her name to avoid any crazy drama. I did and left immediately after her name and hadn't been in contact with anyone (including my gf) since the ceremony.
I was driving back home when my gf's best friend called me and said that she had a seizure and I needed to go to the hospital she was going to. I was shocked since she had no medical history and turned around to head to the hospital immediately. I knew the parents wouldn't would be angry, so I called my gf's older sister to tell her everything I knew and see if she was okay (my gf had been staying out late all night and had been feeling sick all morning). The sister told me not to come because it would only make things worse and the dad took the sisters phone and began to yell at me.
He told me that this was all my fault and I'm causing so much stress and anxiety in her life and that I'm the reason she's in the hospital. He told me to never contact her again and I responded by telling him that "This is not okay. You will not blame me for this and you will not speak to me that way." He hung up the phone a few seconds after i began talking and told him that nothing he was saying was accpetable to me.
After hanging up, he grew more angry and I received several follow up messages about how everything is my fault and that I need to leave her alone. When my gf finally regained consciousness, he yelled at her for being "so naive and irresponsible" and he told her that she is throwing her life away with me. I didn't know what to do and obviously wanted to prioritize her well-being when she reached out to me, but when she told me her dad said I had disrespected him and been very rude, I had to share the full story and send screenshots.
I feel liket this pattern of behavior isn't out of a dislike for me or a new thing... She had warned me that her parents were crazy and strict before, but this is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I think that there are deeper issues to this behavior than I can tell from my perspective, but I just dont know what to do or say about any of this.
I absolutely do not want our relationship to end. I also can't continue to let the parents continue to control everything in her life and treat me how they treat their children.
I dont know if I should have skipped the graduation and just stayed as quiet as possible until her parents arent as big a factor in her life anymore.
I also don't know what to say about his comments blaming me for the seizure and yelling at her when she regained consciousness. What should I do in this situation? Is there anything to do/say about overly controlling/manipulative parents? Please help with how to handle this situation.
TL;DR; : Girlfriends father was angry that I showed up to her graduation and sat alone. She had a seizure after I left and he told me that it was all my fault and to never speak to her again. He had tried to limit our relationship and prevent us from seeing each other in the past and I don't know what to do now. How can I confront this and maintain my relationship with her?
2024.05.19 08:31 Independent-Ice-5243 25M I'm having a hard time deciphering how I feel and how my friend 25M feels
I’ll use fake name to complicate things less. So a brief backstory, my friend Oscar and I briefly met in high school, didn’t really hang out all that much. Then I left for the Military right out of high school and didn’t think of him much. But on Leave we ran into each other ther and ended up kissing and talking to each other as if we really liked each other. Then when I finished my contract I moved back to my hometown and we became best friends. I didn’t really think of him that way anymore and he didn’t either. I ended up having a crush on a completely different friend named Ronaldo but it wasn’t reciprocated. After about a year Oscar got a new house and wanted two friends to move in with him, and it ended up being me and Ronaldo.
I spent over a year going in and out of a crush on Ronaldo because he seemed to always know what exactly to say to keep me strung along. So while this was going on I had no romantic thoughts about Oscar at all. Last year Oscar started dating this guy Alex. Neither Ronaldo or I could stand the guy, he always makes every conversation about himself and he just brags non stop in such a douchey way. For the most part he’s a good guy, just really annoying.
So in recent events there’s been some changes. We all went to a friends wedding a few weeks ago and after everything Ronaldo and I had an actual conversation about my feelings, because he was doing this thing where he kept flirting all night with me and if the feeling wasn’t returned I didn’t want that dynamic anymore, during this he said he wasn’t romantically interested, and I decided from there to completely move on.
So a few days later me and Oscar were talking about an inside joke we used to have but couldn’t remember so we went deep into old messages and found the ones from when we liked eachother. We laughed about it. Then that night Oscar goes “Jake can I ask you something?” And I said “sure” and he said “Can we kiss again?” And I said that it was okay as long as he was comfortable with it. We ended up cuddling and having sex that night.
I promised i wouldn’t tell anyone we know (aka why I’m here on Reddit) and Oscar told me it wasn’t going to be a regular thing. And I said it was fine as long as he's okay with it. After I went back into the living room, I heard from Ronaldos room that he was awake, but have no idea if he knew what just happened. The next day Oscar kissed me again and again said it wasnt going to be a regular thing.
After it happened whenever Alex came over I noticed that he was nicer to me than he was to Alex. Like in the morning when he made coffee and breakfast he asked if I wanted a cup and plate and didnt ask Alex at all. Three days later Oscar and I were home alone, and he started it again. We cuddled and kissed a bit then he started venting to me about Alex, saying that he really isn't sure if he even loves him anymore, that he found out Alex was talking to someone else, and that he doesnt even like Alex touching him anymore. I asked him if this was some kind of payback thing and he said no. He kept asking if I was okay with all this because he doesnt want to hurt me and I said as long as he's okay with it all. Then we had sex again. Then Ronaldo came home from work, but had to leave again because he had to visit his mom, then the second he left Oscar and I went at it again. Then Ronaldo came back then left for dinner, and Oscer and I had sex for the third time that day. Then Oscar took me to dinner, and after we got home, sex for the 4th time that day.
This was about 3 days ago, 2 days ago Alex came over because they had a trip to Vegas planned, and right now theyre at EDC. Right now the house is just me and Ronaldo. Last night Ronaldo came up to me crying his eyes out saying "Theres this guy who used to like me, and I always turned him down, but I think he's moved on but now he's been doing stuff with someone better than me, and its so unfair." and I have no idea what the hell he means.
Now I'm all confused because for some reason I now feel like I'm jealous of Alex, I have no idea what's going on in either Oscar OR Ronaldos head, and I'm not really sure I know what I even feel.
submitted by Independent-Ice-5243 to Crushes [link] [comments]
I spent over a year going in and out of a crush on Ronaldo because he seemed to always know what exactly to say to keep me strung along. So while this was going on I had no romantic thoughts about Oscar at all. Last year Oscar started dating this guy Alex. Neither Ronaldo or I could stand the guy, he always makes every conversation about himself and he just brags non stop in such a douchey way. For the most part he’s a good guy, just really annoying.
So in recent events there’s been some changes. We all went to a friends wedding a few weeks ago and after everything Ronaldo and I had an actual conversation about my feelings, because he was doing this thing where he kept flirting all night with me and if the feeling wasn’t returned I didn’t want that dynamic anymore, during this he said he wasn’t romantically interested, and I decided from there to completely move on.
So a few days later me and Oscar were talking about an inside joke we used to have but couldn’t remember so we went deep into old messages and found the ones from when we liked eachother. We laughed about it. Then that night Oscar goes “Jake can I ask you something?” And I said “sure” and he said “Can we kiss again?” And I said that it was okay as long as he was comfortable with it. We ended up cuddling and having sex that night.
I promised i wouldn’t tell anyone we know (aka why I’m here on Reddit) and Oscar told me it wasn’t going to be a regular thing. And I said it was fine as long as he's okay with it. After I went back into the living room, I heard from Ronaldos room that he was awake, but have no idea if he knew what just happened. The next day Oscar kissed me again and again said it wasnt going to be a regular thing.
After it happened whenever Alex came over I noticed that he was nicer to me than he was to Alex. Like in the morning when he made coffee and breakfast he asked if I wanted a cup and plate and didnt ask Alex at all. Three days later Oscar and I were home alone, and he started it again. We cuddled and kissed a bit then he started venting to me about Alex, saying that he really isn't sure if he even loves him anymore, that he found out Alex was talking to someone else, and that he doesnt even like Alex touching him anymore. I asked him if this was some kind of payback thing and he said no. He kept asking if I was okay with all this because he doesnt want to hurt me and I said as long as he's okay with it all. Then we had sex again. Then Ronaldo came home from work, but had to leave again because he had to visit his mom, then the second he left Oscar and I went at it again. Then Ronaldo came back then left for dinner, and Oscer and I had sex for the third time that day. Then Oscar took me to dinner, and after we got home, sex for the 4th time that day.
This was about 3 days ago, 2 days ago Alex came over because they had a trip to Vegas planned, and right now theyre at EDC. Right now the house is just me and Ronaldo. Last night Ronaldo came up to me crying his eyes out saying "Theres this guy who used to like me, and I always turned him down, but I think he's moved on but now he's been doing stuff with someone better than me, and its so unfair." and I have no idea what the hell he means.
Now I'm all confused because for some reason I now feel like I'm jealous of Alex, I have no idea what's going on in either Oscar OR Ronaldos head, and I'm not really sure I know what I even feel.
2024.05.19 08:30 ThePinkLoftwing Modern Yggdra: Mayor Ashley Drivas: in which you are her assistant
 | https://janitorai.com/characters/7f4ac473-6ef2-4d74-9005-4ffeef21289d_character-mayor-ashley-drivas submitted by ThePinkLoftwing to Dragon_Saga [link] [comments] Mayor Ashley Drivas was Ashbourne’s longest-serving mayor, and for good reason. Her dedication to the city and her people extended above and beyond mere civic duty: whether running toy drives with her hand-made stuffed animals, or reading to children at the library, she always endeavored to give back to her community. Even if it meant occasionally crashing from burning herself out. Just last week, the city held a competition for amateur writers, judged by an esteemed panel of judges including the award-winning journalist and author, Edgar Moore. Imagine the Mayor’s surprise when she learned that her long lost daughter, Pandora Pithos, won the competition with a short story she had written. Naturally, the Mayor was more than pleased to accept when she was asked to read it for a group of children at the Ashbourne Public Library. “Once upon a time, there was a— ‘a Princess!’ you might say. But not this time. This fairy tale is about a mother,” Mayor Ashley began reading for the young crowd. “Once upon a time, there was a mother who lived in a magical tree in a faraway land. Here, she created worlds and her children out of stardust and motes of light. Dragons and fairies, elves and unicorns, even humans like you and I. This mother was named Yggdra, and she represented all that was good in the world, unlike…” Ashley scowled exaggeratedly as she turned to the page featuring the villain of the story, “The Evil Dragon, Kaos.” She deepened her voice to try and imitate the character, but only succeeded in making her young audience laugh. Ashley cleared her throat and looked to her assistant seated to the side. “Oh dear. Would you mind taking Kaos’ lines?” “Thank you so much for your help in there, as always. Would you like to join me for some lunch before we return to city hall? My treat of course.” |
2024.05.19 08:28 No_Specialist_3025 I have so many problems with my dad...
I (21m) love him (53m), and I'm grateful for what he has taught me and provided for me throughout my life. And honestly, regardless of the problems we've had among just the 2 of us, he's been an involved dad who more or less respects my individuality and who I have good father-son memories with.
However, that doesn't undo the many other problems he has brought into the life of me and those closest to him (more the latter than the former).
For one, he's a terrible husband. Aside from earning a good amount of money and being there for me as a father, he is maybe the worst possible husband to my mother. He constantly disrespects her, demeans her, invalidates her feelings, yells at her, calls her names etc. I'm not lying when I say that I haven't seen a single moment of love and tenderness shared among the two of them since I was 12 or 13. She's also a working woman, but he never congratulates her for her achievements, and instead, he pounces on any opportunity he sees to demean her or put her down. Never appreciates her when she cooks and cleans (which is everyday mind you), but always shouts at her when she makes plans to go out with her friends (even though he goes out often too).
Secondly, he's a massive hoarder. This is a problem he's always had, and it's only been getting worse lately. He buys so much shit online relating to violins and general tech which he never uses for some reason, and he never wants to throw any item that is in surplus. We still have the TV that broke and we replaced 10 years ago in our closet because he claimed it can be fixed (among other old things).
Thirdly, he doesn't treat my grandpa well. My elderly grandpa (his own father) is a mild mannered 90 year old who has trouble hearing and walking without assistance. He is genuinely so nice and considerate when it comes to asking for things he wants/needs, but my dad still raises his voice at him all the time. It breaks my heart seeing my grandpa getting yelled at like that by his own son when he doesn't know better or can't do better due to his age.
What confuses and hurts me more is the fact that he very rarely is hot headed or condescending with me like he is with my mom and my grandpa. The only instances he raises his voice at me are when I call him out on his shitty behaviour towards them. Otherwise, if I make a mistake that can only be attributed to me and something/someone other than my mom, he always talks to me in a level headed manner so that I'd learn. This selective behaviour pisses me off.
I always call him out when he is being irrational with my mom or my grandpa, and after assessing every big argument they have, I almost always end up taking a stand against him while trying to temper the argument, but no matter what I do, he never listens. I try to use the goodwill I have with him to listen to me at least about he he should be better towards my mom and my grandpa, but he just never listens and always makes excuses to justify why he's right. I honestly try to see his side all the time, but from what I see, his excuses are mostly just contrived bullshit to justify his shitty behaviour.
Idk man, at this point, all I feel I can do at this point is accept him for who he is, be there for my mom and my grandpa when they feel down due to his actions, take a stand against him when necessary, learn from his wrongdoings and try to be a better man than he is to the other people I hold dear in my life.
submitted by No_Specialist_3025 to TrueOffMyChest [link] [comments]
However, that doesn't undo the many other problems he has brought into the life of me and those closest to him (more the latter than the former).
For one, he's a terrible husband. Aside from earning a good amount of money and being there for me as a father, he is maybe the worst possible husband to my mother. He constantly disrespects her, demeans her, invalidates her feelings, yells at her, calls her names etc. I'm not lying when I say that I haven't seen a single moment of love and tenderness shared among the two of them since I was 12 or 13. She's also a working woman, but he never congratulates her for her achievements, and instead, he pounces on any opportunity he sees to demean her or put her down. Never appreciates her when she cooks and cleans (which is everyday mind you), but always shouts at her when she makes plans to go out with her friends (even though he goes out often too).
Secondly, he's a massive hoarder. This is a problem he's always had, and it's only been getting worse lately. He buys so much shit online relating to violins and general tech which he never uses for some reason, and he never wants to throw any item that is in surplus. We still have the TV that broke and we replaced 10 years ago in our closet because he claimed it can be fixed (among other old things).
Thirdly, he doesn't treat my grandpa well. My elderly grandpa (his own father) is a mild mannered 90 year old who has trouble hearing and walking without assistance. He is genuinely so nice and considerate when it comes to asking for things he wants/needs, but my dad still raises his voice at him all the time. It breaks my heart seeing my grandpa getting yelled at like that by his own son when he doesn't know better or can't do better due to his age.
What confuses and hurts me more is the fact that he very rarely is hot headed or condescending with me like he is with my mom and my grandpa. The only instances he raises his voice at me are when I call him out on his shitty behaviour towards them. Otherwise, if I make a mistake that can only be attributed to me and something/someone other than my mom, he always talks to me in a level headed manner so that I'd learn. This selective behaviour pisses me off.
I always call him out when he is being irrational with my mom or my grandpa, and after assessing every big argument they have, I almost always end up taking a stand against him while trying to temper the argument, but no matter what I do, he never listens. I try to use the goodwill I have with him to listen to me at least about he he should be better towards my mom and my grandpa, but he just never listens and always makes excuses to justify why he's right. I honestly try to see his side all the time, but from what I see, his excuses are mostly just contrived bullshit to justify his shitty behaviour.
Idk man, at this point, all I feel I can do at this point is accept him for who he is, be there for my mom and my grandpa when they feel down due to his actions, take a stand against him when necessary, learn from his wrongdoings and try to be a better man than he is to the other people I hold dear in my life.
2024.05.19 08:28 K0setsu Sharing a though
Oya! This is gonna be somewhat longread about me being... no, not angry, not ranting about "oii that damned diver stole muh samples!" or anything. I want to share my point of view on what is happening right now in the community with all this ranting amd butthurt around.
First of all, Im not trying to force anyone in my pants nor to share my points. It is entirely up to you how to play the game, what to do and how to do. I am just another random diver from the galaxy-net.
At current time there is a lot of ranting, angry shouting from every second post in this sub. People getting kicked, killed by unexperienced divers who went to levels that are far beyond their power level. I totally can understand that anger and frustration,. I played LoL and other toxic online games long enough to start genuelly HATE randoms in my party. So, Ive made up some rules for times when having random people in your squad/party is inevitable:
There is a ton of people that join the game every day. Some are experienced pve veterans that know what they are doing, some are clueless little potatoes that need to be cultivated. If you yourself managed to grasp the game perfectly - good! Awesome! Now help others become good too. This is no pvp. We work for same team.
submitted by K0setsu to Helldivers [link] [comments]
First of all, Im not trying to force anyone in my pants nor to share my points. It is entirely up to you how to play the game, what to do and how to do. I am just another random diver from the galaxy-net.
At current time there is a lot of ranting, angry shouting from every second post in this sub. People getting kicked, killed by unexperienced divers who went to levels that are far beyond their power level. I totally can understand that anger and frustration,. I played LoL and other toxic online games long enough to start genuelly HATE randoms in my party. So, Ive made up some rules for times when having random people in your squad/party is inevitable:
- Check if things can be done solo. Is there a way to complete missions alone? Private lobbies? If yes, do them. "But I dont want to go alone!" - ok. Grab some friends that can be stackde together by playstyles and go together. You know this people, you know what to expect and how to explain. If you dont have friends - make some. You are in the damned subreddit for the game, make a post! E.g. "Hello my name is Barry, I like go to 9th level, go stealth, do objectives as a one/separate and do things at the same time, no samples/secondaries or gather all till time is up". Its not that hard!
- If you are emded up with a random people and you are a host, assume that they will fuck up. There is no "butts" no "what if". This person here is going to make your life miserable. It is not their intented actions but it will be a result. However, that doesnt mean you need to yell at them how much they f*ck up and stuff, Just assume that it is another gun that will shoot some bots/bugs here and there, it will draw attention from you. Maybe it is a good gun and he will carry. Good for you. If they are useless... still, they are drawning attention from you. You either accept this as a rule of the world or you go solo. Save the pain for yourself and someone else.
- If possible, TELL them what your playstyle is. Before mission started. Communication is important and if you silently go and prepare for stealth while they are gearing out for all in assault - tell them about your plan. Maybe they will leave, maybe they will try to play it by your notes. Either way, you are already not suffering from machine gun above your ear when you are all covered in dirt crawling from drop pod to mission site. This applies if you are playing with friends too. E.g. I have 3 friend groups. One of them prefers goofing around on levels 5-7, collecting stuff, using stupid strats, not minding friendly fire. Second, stealth boyz. Max stealth armor, marksman rifles, crawling here and there metal gear style, calling shots and executing as if we were some special task force (even more special than divers themselves), usually on 7th level. And there is "tryhards" who just cannot shut up about what armor is better, why you should go with that stratagems etc. They cant play with each other, they will just rant about each other untill miission ends.. helldive only, other levels are for pussies.
- Become random yourself! You dont need to host a game. Take the risk of being kicked and try to be if not good at least be OKAY. Do your part. Try to understand what host is trying to do. It is them who is in charge now, you just need to follow the lead and not fuck up.
There is a ton of people that join the game every day. Some are experienced pve veterans that know what they are doing, some are clueless little potatoes that need to be cultivated. If you yourself managed to grasp the game perfectly - good! Awesome! Now help others become good too. This is no pvp. We work for same team.
2024.05.19 08:26 AnthroTechie Ashkenazi DNA in Sephardic Jews -- legitimate or genetic similarity?
Me and u/AsfAtl were debating whether the Spanish results on 23&me in Sephardic Jews reflect genuine Iberian DNA (he took this stance) or strands of Sephardic DNA that were assimilated into Spanish and Portuguese populations (this was my stance). During this conversation, we discussed Ashkenazi showing up in Sephardic Jews on commercial tests, and I thought it would generate an interesting dialogue here.
The question was brought up--although there is known Ashkenazi ancestry in Bulgarian Sephardic Jews, are the amounts of Ashkenazi DNA in other Sephardic groups simply due to genetic similarity, or legitimate Ashkenazi? I personally believe you can make a case for both.
Argument 1 - Genetic Similarity:
23&me undeniably is very accurate with Ashkenazi Jewish DNA, but at the trace level, sometimes it's very weird. I have seen phased results of a child who scored trace Ashkenazi (up to 0.7%) while neither of their parents did.
https://www.reddit.com/23andme/comments/11xdymz/how_can_i_test_more_north_africa_and_jewish_than/
https://www.reddit.com/23andme/comments/xpw4zq/bahia_brazil_updated_results_phased_with_parents/
Even up to the few percentage points, I have experimented with GEDMatch kits of individuals who have scored 1-3% Ashkenazi (although to be fair, sample size of 2). One of them was a half Mexican and half Lebanese individual with 1.3% Ashkenazi, and the other was a half Moroccan Jewish woman with 3% Ashkenazi. Even going down to the 7 centimorgan level, there were no valid triangulated segments with Ashkenazim. So we can assume that this Ashkenazi DNA is a false positive.
Sephardim and Ashkenazim are genetically close to one another (especially western Ashkenazi Jews), and this can be proven with any study. For instance, the Erfurt Ashkenazi Jews could be modeled on qpADM (and with Global25 as well) as 96-97% Turkish and 3-4% German. Pretty similar!
Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867422013782 (underneath the section "Quantitative ancestry modeling"). You can also run the Erfurt (ME) sample on Vahaduo in the "Target" section and use Sephardic_Jew_Turkey and German as reference populations, for replication purposes.
Argument 2 - This is actual Ashkenazi admixture
I talked to a genealogist who told me that 90% of Sephardic Jews have some Ashkenazi DNA in them. He didn't provide the source, but I have heard that claim from other people and he is someone who has a lot of ethos in the life sciences (unlike a certain genealogist with the initials ECH that is often cited), so I don't have any reason to doubt this. If anyone can find the specific link, I would totally appreciate it!
Historically, this makes sense. We now know that the bottleneck of Ashkenazi Jews occurred centuries before initially assumed. This was proven with the Norwich study (source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982222013550 ), so we know that Ashkenazi DNA has been around since the 12th century, if not earlier.
Map of medieval Jewish expulsions: https://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/gallery/expuls.HTM
A lot of Sephardim have roots from Catalonia, due to the 1391 pogroms. Catalonia was home to many expelled French and German Jews who ended up assimilating into the larger Sephardic community. This could explain why many Latino individuals score Ashkenazi in lieu of Sephardic--DNA is not necessarily reflective of one's culture. So some of the conversos who fled to Latin America could have been mostly Ashkenazi by DNA but culturally Sephardic. This also explains why many North African Jews have some percentage of Ashkenazi DNA.
https://jguideeurope.org/en/region/spain/catalonia/
(For those who might be a bit confused as to why someone who is genetically Ashkenazi would practice the Sephardic rite, consider the Greek diaspora--there are Greek individuals who lived in modern day Turkey and score 0% Greek & Balkan on DNA tests, but spoke Greek, were devoutly Orthodox, had Greek names, and were targeted in the 1915 genocides. This also applies to Greek Cypriots, Antioch Greeks, etc. To tell any of these groups that they are not Greek is pretty ignorant.)
Conclusion
This is why in most cases, you will see Ashkenazi in a Sephardic Jew's DNA profile. While some people may disagree with me, I do not believe that a lack of Ashkenazi DNA negates Sephardic (or Romaniote, Italki, or Syrian Jewish) ancestry. You just won't see them as frequently on the subreddits, but I do know for a fact that they exist.
If anyone has other insights or sources to provide, please provide them in the comments! I believe that open discussion and disagreements are essential for scientific research. :)
submitted by AnthroTechie to JewishDNA [link] [comments]
The question was brought up--although there is known Ashkenazi ancestry in Bulgarian Sephardic Jews, are the amounts of Ashkenazi DNA in other Sephardic groups simply due to genetic similarity, or legitimate Ashkenazi? I personally believe you can make a case for both.
Argument 1 - Genetic Similarity:
23&me undeniably is very accurate with Ashkenazi Jewish DNA, but at the trace level, sometimes it's very weird. I have seen phased results of a child who scored trace Ashkenazi (up to 0.7%) while neither of their parents did.
https://www.reddit.com/23andme/comments/11xdymz/how_can_i_test_more_north_africa_and_jewish_than/
https://www.reddit.com/23andme/comments/xpw4zq/bahia_brazil_updated_results_phased_with_parents/
Even up to the few percentage points, I have experimented with GEDMatch kits of individuals who have scored 1-3% Ashkenazi (although to be fair, sample size of 2). One of them was a half Mexican and half Lebanese individual with 1.3% Ashkenazi, and the other was a half Moroccan Jewish woman with 3% Ashkenazi. Even going down to the 7 centimorgan level, there were no valid triangulated segments with Ashkenazim. So we can assume that this Ashkenazi DNA is a false positive.
Sephardim and Ashkenazim are genetically close to one another (especially western Ashkenazi Jews), and this can be proven with any study. For instance, the Erfurt Ashkenazi Jews could be modeled on qpADM (and with Global25 as well) as 96-97% Turkish and 3-4% German. Pretty similar!
Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867422013782 (underneath the section "Quantitative ancestry modeling"). You can also run the Erfurt (ME) sample on Vahaduo in the "Target" section and use Sephardic_Jew_Turkey and German as reference populations, for replication purposes.
Argument 2 - This is actual Ashkenazi admixture
I talked to a genealogist who told me that 90% of Sephardic Jews have some Ashkenazi DNA in them. He didn't provide the source, but I have heard that claim from other people and he is someone who has a lot of ethos in the life sciences (unlike a certain genealogist with the initials ECH that is often cited), so I don't have any reason to doubt this. If anyone can find the specific link, I would totally appreciate it!
Historically, this makes sense. We now know that the bottleneck of Ashkenazi Jews occurred centuries before initially assumed. This was proven with the Norwich study (source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982222013550 ), so we know that Ashkenazi DNA has been around since the 12th century, if not earlier.
Map of medieval Jewish expulsions: https://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/gallery/expuls.HTM
A lot of Sephardim have roots from Catalonia, due to the 1391 pogroms. Catalonia was home to many expelled French and German Jews who ended up assimilating into the larger Sephardic community. This could explain why many Latino individuals score Ashkenazi in lieu of Sephardic--DNA is not necessarily reflective of one's culture. So some of the conversos who fled to Latin America could have been mostly Ashkenazi by DNA but culturally Sephardic. This also explains why many North African Jews have some percentage of Ashkenazi DNA.
https://jguideeurope.org/en/region/spain/catalonia/
(For those who might be a bit confused as to why someone who is genetically Ashkenazi would practice the Sephardic rite, consider the Greek diaspora--there are Greek individuals who lived in modern day Turkey and score 0% Greek & Balkan on DNA tests, but spoke Greek, were devoutly Orthodox, had Greek names, and were targeted in the 1915 genocides. This also applies to Greek Cypriots, Antioch Greeks, etc. To tell any of these groups that they are not Greek is pretty ignorant.)
Conclusion
This is why in most cases, you will see Ashkenazi in a Sephardic Jew's DNA profile. While some people may disagree with me, I do not believe that a lack of Ashkenazi DNA negates Sephardic (or Romaniote, Italki, or Syrian Jewish) ancestry. You just won't see them as frequently on the subreddits, but I do know for a fact that they exist.
If anyone has other insights or sources to provide, please provide them in the comments! I believe that open discussion and disagreements are essential for scientific research. :)
2024.05.19 08:26 Baghdad_BananaStand Foot in the Door?
Hi! I came home late last night to find a neighbour has encroached on my space and hung their clothes on my hanging line. I'm pretty new in the building and I haven't talked to a lot of people so I'm surprised to see this.
I know and consider myself to be a terrible person, and I'm happy to enjoy my existential crisis and I definitely don't need another friend. I keep it to myself alot of the times. I don't ask for anything from anyone, (just family and the small circle of friends I have) I deal with my problems alone for most part as I prefer not to owe anyone anything.
A few weeks ago I came home late and the gate was locked but luckily, the person I'm suspecting to be the owner of these clothes was coming back home late and had the key so they helped me then.
I then went ahead and asked for that key from them a few days later to make a copy for myself and that's the extent of my interaction with them. I don't know their name, I don't think I want to, or even want to associate with them.
I've been wondering why would they do this — is it because they did me a favour before, so they assume they are entitled to invading my space and using my stuff? Is this that "Foot in the Door" moment and how should I deal with this as appearing petty isn't what I want but if need be, so be it.
I need advice on how to handle this as I clearly don't appreciate such behaviours. Any advice please? How would you handle this?
submitted by Baghdad_BananaStand to Kenya [link] [comments]
I know and consider myself to be a terrible person, and I'm happy to enjoy my existential crisis and I definitely don't need another friend. I keep it to myself alot of the times. I don't ask for anything from anyone, (just family and the small circle of friends I have) I deal with my problems alone for most part as I prefer not to owe anyone anything.
A few weeks ago I came home late and the gate was locked but luckily, the person I'm suspecting to be the owner of these clothes was coming back home late and had the key so they helped me then.
I then went ahead and asked for that key from them a few days later to make a copy for myself and that's the extent of my interaction with them. I don't know their name, I don't think I want to, or even want to associate with them.
I've been wondering why would they do this — is it because they did me a favour before, so they assume they are entitled to invading my space and using my stuff? Is this that "Foot in the Door" moment and how should I deal with this as appearing petty isn't what I want but if need be, so be it.
I need advice on how to handle this as I clearly don't appreciate such behaviours. Any advice please? How would you handle this?
2024.05.19 08:26 Throwaway267079 I want to leave my boyfriend because he won’t do anything, ever. What can I do to get out of this as easily as possible?
I, (24F) want to leave my boyfriend (26M) but I don’t know how to go about it. What can I do to get out of this mess?
I met my boyfriend H when we were 18 and 19 respectively. We met in highschool officially but never really interacted until after graduation. A mutual friend of mine dated H before but they had a really bad breakup, and when I started dating H, I lost several friends over that. Things were great for a few years minus the few common early adult relationship problems (who pays for what, etc) and lack of responses while gaming. That sort of thing. We moved in together two years ago in his parent’s home, of which we stayed in a basement room that had a door to the outside and paid rent and helped with groceries and that sort of thing. In January of 2023, his father passed away. Prior to this, he was a waiter at a BBQ place in our town. After his father passed away, he never returned from his bereavement leave and subsequently lost his job due to lack of contact with the boss. Since then, he has had maybe two jobs that lasted about two weeks before he would quit again. I have to get into huge fights with him before he will do anything around the apartment we now rent with our dog. He spends all his time on his Xbox and on Discord or sleeping. He doesn’t complement me, he doesn’t offer to help me with anything, and he refuses to leave the house to do anything with or for me. Yes, he has been in therapy since his father passed, but currently it’s doing nothing and any talk of switching therapists falls on deaf ears. We’re constantly fighting about housework, he’ll cry and talk about suicide, and then he’ll feel so bad about the fight he’ll do ONE chore before repeating the process. I’ve tried making him lists, I’ve tried reminding him several times while I’m at work, I’ve even tried setting timers and reminders on our Alexa. He just blatantly will not do anything. The straw that’s been breaking us lately is he stopped showering on a regular basis. He went over a month without showering and two weeks ago I got so fed up I shut off the internet so he couldn’t play Xbox to FINALLY convince him to shower. I thought driving him to his therapy appointments and things like that would help at the beginning and I do know he has some mental health concerns but good god, it’s not working.
About a month or two ago, a coworker of mine started texting me on WhatsApp, which he found me in a work group chat I’m in (I work fast food, not naming names, but it rhymes with Starby’s) and we hit it off. Previously, I would open with him (I’ll call him T) and we would just crack jokes and goof around (while doing our jobs, of course). In the work group chat I had said “Ughh, my face is breaking out. I don’t want to be at window, they’ll drive away from my ugly ass.” And he sent me a text telling me I’m not ugly, I said how, and he told me I’m not too overweight, I’m not too skinny, I have beautiful eyes, and a beautiful smile. After this, we started conversing back and forth but not crossing the risky or flirty territory. One morning during an opening shift, he told me he liked someone and I pressed because I’m nosy. And he eventually said it was me, but didn’t want to cross a line or do anything because I have a boyfriend. This isn’t why I started the breakup plan, but knowing that someone else saw something in me and I wouldn’t be alone 100% after gave me that push I needed. Though I will admit, he is wayyy out of my league and has a smile that makes me want to cry.
About three weeks ago I was hanging out with some friends and my boyfriend got mad, said he was going to text his ex, and I lost it and broke it off with him. Afterwards, he kept saying he was going to go meet his dad and stopped responding. I got a notification (life 360) that he left the apartment so I went over to grab some stuff and I found a note that said I can have all his stuff. I called non emergency and let them know of the situation because my boyfriend has bipolar (T1) and could injure himself. He wasn’t injured at all, which is what the hospital told me, and he refused any further treatment for psychiatric. I ended up going back because his mother started texting me saying my boyfriend ended up telling her that he was going to run away and not come back, and I was scared and worried. I’m an idiot, I know. He was crying and promised he’d do better and how he was going to fix it, but truthfully, I was just tired after dealing with that for 48 hours and wanted a shower and my bed. Now, I want to leave again but not have him pull all of that because I am so far mentally exhausted. I need advice. Help!
TL;DR My boyfriend doesn’t work or clean or shower and I want to kick him out and leave him but I don’t want him to harm himself.
submitted by Throwaway267079 to Advice [link] [comments]
I met my boyfriend H when we were 18 and 19 respectively. We met in highschool officially but never really interacted until after graduation. A mutual friend of mine dated H before but they had a really bad breakup, and when I started dating H, I lost several friends over that. Things were great for a few years minus the few common early adult relationship problems (who pays for what, etc) and lack of responses while gaming. That sort of thing. We moved in together two years ago in his parent’s home, of which we stayed in a basement room that had a door to the outside and paid rent and helped with groceries and that sort of thing. In January of 2023, his father passed away. Prior to this, he was a waiter at a BBQ place in our town. After his father passed away, he never returned from his bereavement leave and subsequently lost his job due to lack of contact with the boss. Since then, he has had maybe two jobs that lasted about two weeks before he would quit again. I have to get into huge fights with him before he will do anything around the apartment we now rent with our dog. He spends all his time on his Xbox and on Discord or sleeping. He doesn’t complement me, he doesn’t offer to help me with anything, and he refuses to leave the house to do anything with or for me. Yes, he has been in therapy since his father passed, but currently it’s doing nothing and any talk of switching therapists falls on deaf ears. We’re constantly fighting about housework, he’ll cry and talk about suicide, and then he’ll feel so bad about the fight he’ll do ONE chore before repeating the process. I’ve tried making him lists, I’ve tried reminding him several times while I’m at work, I’ve even tried setting timers and reminders on our Alexa. He just blatantly will not do anything. The straw that’s been breaking us lately is he stopped showering on a regular basis. He went over a month without showering and two weeks ago I got so fed up I shut off the internet so he couldn’t play Xbox to FINALLY convince him to shower. I thought driving him to his therapy appointments and things like that would help at the beginning and I do know he has some mental health concerns but good god, it’s not working.
About a month or two ago, a coworker of mine started texting me on WhatsApp, which he found me in a work group chat I’m in (I work fast food, not naming names, but it rhymes with Starby’s) and we hit it off. Previously, I would open with him (I’ll call him T) and we would just crack jokes and goof around (while doing our jobs, of course). In the work group chat I had said “Ughh, my face is breaking out. I don’t want to be at window, they’ll drive away from my ugly ass.” And he sent me a text telling me I’m not ugly, I said how, and he told me I’m not too overweight, I’m not too skinny, I have beautiful eyes, and a beautiful smile. After this, we started conversing back and forth but not crossing the risky or flirty territory. One morning during an opening shift, he told me he liked someone and I pressed because I’m nosy. And he eventually said it was me, but didn’t want to cross a line or do anything because I have a boyfriend. This isn’t why I started the breakup plan, but knowing that someone else saw something in me and I wouldn’t be alone 100% after gave me that push I needed. Though I will admit, he is wayyy out of my league and has a smile that makes me want to cry.
About three weeks ago I was hanging out with some friends and my boyfriend got mad, said he was going to text his ex, and I lost it and broke it off with him. Afterwards, he kept saying he was going to go meet his dad and stopped responding. I got a notification (life 360) that he left the apartment so I went over to grab some stuff and I found a note that said I can have all his stuff. I called non emergency and let them know of the situation because my boyfriend has bipolar (T1) and could injure himself. He wasn’t injured at all, which is what the hospital told me, and he refused any further treatment for psychiatric. I ended up going back because his mother started texting me saying my boyfriend ended up telling her that he was going to run away and not come back, and I was scared and worried. I’m an idiot, I know. He was crying and promised he’d do better and how he was going to fix it, but truthfully, I was just tired after dealing with that for 48 hours and wanted a shower and my bed. Now, I want to leave again but not have him pull all of that because I am so far mentally exhausted. I need advice. Help!
TL;DR My boyfriend doesn’t work or clean or shower and I want to kick him out and leave him but I don’t want him to harm himself.
2024.05.19 08:25 hygund24 I almost got scammed
A woman called me, introducing herself as Kim Medina from Paseo de Roxas, Ayala, Makati BDO Branch. She cheerfully informed me that my BDO credit card annual fees would be waived forever, my credit limit would increase by 20-50k, and I'd earn 500 reward points for every P1,000 purchase, ready to be claimed. I didn't realize it then, but I was falling for a phishing scam.
She knew my work address and the type of credit cards I had. She asked for, and I foolishly provided, my full name, credit card numbers, expiration dates, and CVV numbers for all three of my cards. Two of my cards weren't activated, so I asked her to activate them to waive their annual fees, and she did.
She also requested my online banking username and savings account number. I gave her my username but luckily didn't have my savings account number. When I couldn't provide it, she sent an OTP, claiming it would increase my credit limit and waive my annual fees. I gave her the OTP. She sent another OTP for the second card, and I noticed it mentioned "payment" and "P10,500". That's when I realized it was a scam and ended the call. She called back, but I didn't answer.
I immediately contacted BDO, had them block my cards, and issued replacements. The agent informed me that the scammer tried to make a charge on one of my cards but used the wrong CVV, so the transactions didn't go through. If they had, I would have been liable for the charges. I then asked the agent what would happen if the transactions went through and I filed for chargebacks. The agent said it wasn't guaranteed because an investigation would be conducted, and the decision could go either in favor of BDO or me.
So, don't give out your OTPs. And remember, BDO will never call you from a cellphone number, only from a landline.
submitted by hygund24 to CasualPH [link] [comments]
She knew my work address and the type of credit cards I had. She asked for, and I foolishly provided, my full name, credit card numbers, expiration dates, and CVV numbers for all three of my cards. Two of my cards weren't activated, so I asked her to activate them to waive their annual fees, and she did.
She also requested my online banking username and savings account number. I gave her my username but luckily didn't have my savings account number. When I couldn't provide it, she sent an OTP, claiming it would increase my credit limit and waive my annual fees. I gave her the OTP. She sent another OTP for the second card, and I noticed it mentioned "payment" and "P10,500". That's when I realized it was a scam and ended the call. She called back, but I didn't answer.
I immediately contacted BDO, had them block my cards, and issued replacements. The agent informed me that the scammer tried to make a charge on one of my cards but used the wrong CVV, so the transactions didn't go through. If they had, I would have been liable for the charges. I then asked the agent what would happen if the transactions went through and I filed for chargebacks. The agent said it wasn't guaranteed because an investigation would be conducted, and the decision could go either in favor of BDO or me.
So, don't give out your OTPs. And remember, BDO will never call you from a cellphone number, only from a landline.
2024.05.19 08:25 Chemical-Mortgage981 Is this rare
 | submitted by Chemical-Mortgage981 to Diaryofawimpykid [link] [comments] |