Without going into all the nitty gritty details:
I purchased a used car from an official dealership of a major car manufacturer in 2021, with the agreement that I'd be swapping it for a better deal on a brand new car in 2022 once it was delivered.
Come time for the new car to arrive, there was no mention of the exchange, and I have few bits in writing that lead to/indicate this but there is nothing that says straight up that it was meant to be an exchange per se, but I have costs written down by the dealership on things like transferring the dash cam, the price they'd pay for the used car in exchange, etc.
The dealership refused to respect the previous agreement due to management changes, they've gone through 2 management changes and all the original staff left.
I contacted the manufacturer about this and they said they have "dealership standards" (and listed some points from them), but refuse to enforce them.
I contacted the finance company which is part of the manufacturer group, and they tell me to contact the manufacturer or dealership.
The manufacturer tells me to contact the finance company or dealership.
The dealership refuses to correspond with me, tried reaching out to their head office too but they refuse to respond.
I also tried reaching out to The Motor Ombudsman a couple of months ago, but haven't heard anything back from them either.
I'm at my wits end here. I don't know who to contact or how to go about getting this resolved before my finance agreement ends in November.
Tldr; mis-sold car finance agreement and the manufacturer, finance company or the dealership want to take responsibility for it and keep passing me around to each other. This has been going on for ~7 months.
Edit: based in England

Hi everyone,
I'd like to get this off my chest and ask for advice on things I may be able to do or even something to think about.
I'd also like to share a brief history of us for context.
We met about 5-6 years ago in Highschool and eventually became best friends, as far as I can remember. Our relationship has been platonic at least until 2 years ago which was when I think I've started having feelings for her.
I can't remember what changed, all I knew after knowing her for a while that I see something in her that I adore.
I chose not to say anything to for a while due to the fact that she was in a relationship. I respect relationships too much to become a problem or get in between of one because I've experienced first hand how it feels like when a 3rd party ruins a relationship.
Eventually they broke up and I mustered up the courage to confess to her how I felt. She was at a loss of words and didn't know what to say. I remember telling her that night she didn't have to say anything, just think it over. After a week or two, she asked me to meet her and she was quite drunk.
I might be wrong but I'm a firm believer of "Drunk words are Sober thoughts" just from experience of what people have told me while intoxicated.
She was a mess, but I wanted to be there for her. I remember she told me that she felt safe around me and if I do like her, then prove it.
It was very tempting but I did give her a kiss that night. She wanted to keep going and take it somewhere but I stopped it. It just didn't feel right and I didn't want to take advantage of her vulnerability.
We talked about giving it a shot and seeing where it leads to but unfortunately she spiraled down and got depressed and shut down all connections. We didnt talk for a while, next time we talked. I find out she was in a new relationship which of course sucked for me.
But I respect her decision. We started catching up and eventually she expressed that I was starting to become a problem with her current relationship as the bf doesn't like the fact with had a small history which I understand so I decided to back off because I would hate to be a problem in someone's relationship.
I got into a relationship of my own that lasted for about a year and my best friend and I didnt talk at all for that duration.
I got into a toxic relationship which pretty much controlled my social connections so going out after that relationship, I didn't have much friends to connect with and it was getting lonely.
I had no ill intentions and I reached out to bestfriend again, I just wanted my friend back. We started catching up again, all is good. I was even opening up to her all the shit I've been through from my previous relationship which a whole story of its own. I've compromised too much of myself, and it was never enough type of deal.
After a month and a half or so, I wanted to lay some boundaries given our past. As I came into some realization. I expressed to her that I don't think my attraction for her will change. My emotional and physical attraction for her is just a lot to simply just get over off. I told her that I will understand if she doesn't want to proceed being friends again because of this, but I can live with it as long as she's okay with it. I just thought it's something that should be said instead of keeping it in.
She thanked me for my honesty and after a week or so. She's been wanting to tell me about what she was going through but hesitant but finally decided to open up. She told me that she also broke up with her partner, just weeks/month apart after I ended mine due to same reasons, she had to get out of it.
I wasn't getting any ideas, and I just wanted to provide comfort and that's when things start changing.
One restless night, she was out drinking and I couldn't sleep and we started talking and she asked me to come at her friend's place where she was hanging out. I said sure, why not. But as soon as I came there, she was acting very different. More physical that she ever was towards me. We were sitting on the couch and she would lean on back on me and lean her head to either my chest or shoulders.
After they called it a night, we decided to hangout because she didnt want to go home yet. We hanged out and talked about a lot of stuffs and eventually talked about our friendship. She brought up that she never gave me the chance before because she was afraid of hurting me.
I told her that just sounds a lazy excuse, and Id rather risk getting hurt than not getting a chance with her.
On thing led to another, we were cuddling, I was embracing, providing her comfort and warmth. I tried preventing any sexual acts as I didn't want to take advantage of her current state, I tried to embrace her tightly and just give her comfort as she was having a rough time. But she's expressed to me how pent up she was and cant control herself around me.
I can only resist so much when someone is practically throwing herself at me.
After that, we officially became friends with benefits.
She's quite aware that my intentions with her is more than what we currently have. I do like this girl, a lot. But I've heard from people that we both practically doomed ourselves with our situation as it can only lead to either a long relationship or the friendship would be over once we meet someone else, as our new SO would most likely not be okay being close with FwB history.
Has anyone gone through this same thing and had a positive outcome?
Any advise or wisdom is definitely welcome, I apologize if I overshared too much details before I can get to the point, I just wanted to provide context. I'm happy to answer additional questions as well in exchange for your opinion.

XBOX users: Are you looking to buy or sell something for money? This is your thread!

• There is a whole sub devoted to maintaining a reputation, which you can find here, but keep in mind that YOU need to copy/paste and search usernames here, not just trust links that get sent to you.
• CLICK HERE to search a user on the Universal Scammer List. This will tell you if a user has been banned or not. Remember that banned users can still message you.
• As a reminder, any reposting of the same/similar content within this post will be considered spam and against our rules. You may post to the PM thread later when it gets posted.
• You can find the detailed rules here. Please review them before commenting.
• Make an effort to condense your comment or it will be removed. Don't make it scream for attention; you're selling something, we get it. If it's taking up half a mobile screen...it's too much. If you're using the heading text, all caps, etc. it's too much.

PS4 and PS5 users: Are you looking to buy or sell something for money? This is your thread!

• There is a whole sub devoted to maintaining a reputation, which you can find here, but keep in mind that YOU need to copy/paste and search usernames here, not just trust links that get sent to you.
• CLICK HERE to search a user on the Universal Scammer List. This will tell you if a user has been banned or not. Remember that banned users can still message you.
• As a reminder, any reposting of the same/similar content within this post will be considered spam and against our rules. You may post to the PM thread later when it gets posted.
• You can find the detailed rules here. Please review them before commenting.
• Make an effort to condense your comment or it will be removed. Don't make it scream for attention; you're selling something, we get it. If it's taking up half a mobile screen...it's too much. If you're using the heading text, all caps, etc. it's too much.

Good morning all, sorry to bother you all again here, i just have some questions Since the last post i made, it hasn't been simple. In my store department there is and has been an effective, ongoing total overtime ban for many months now. No one is allowed even a minute of overtime. My shifts change every week, i have no routine or set shifts whatsoever. I haven't done my scheduled contracted hours since last August. The trouble is, the expectations have gone up a lot since then. Every hour, a manager will come and ask me in the bakery" have you done cookies? The shelf is empty? Can you do counter too? Can you ask the baker to do extra hot cross buns, and you do more thaw and serve?" (The hot cross buns are now on a 50p sale.) That kind of thing. And these things don't get done, because we don't have the time to do it. And as for disposals, they pretty much never get done, because there's never any handsets available and because barely anyone has time. And of course the next day, we end up suffering, because shelves are empty, disposals grow larger and larger. However, my shifts are always cut, one to meet a contractual limit and also sometimes because department hours must be cut. so recently I've been doing less work, obviously. Same for a lot of other employees. Shifts are cut from say, 6 to 1, to 6 to 12:15 . And 4 to 12 to 4 to 11, and there's no baker in the afternoon, very rarely anyhow. So, on a my average shift has been cut to 6 hours or so, instead of 7. Only people not affected by this are the management as far as i know. We also don't have anyone in the afternoon in the instore bakery on Monday or thursday anymore, so bread is never sliced for the next day, less production is done in the morning as cleaning needs to be done by morning staff as well as taking rubbish, washing up etc. This was my role, to work in the afternoon, as well as to work on pizza, but that has disappeared without any communication from my manager. The area manager was reportedly unhappy with our performance, i saw them and and they were clearly a little discontented, they were articulating their disappointment about the bakery department in no uncertain terms. Now, this doesn't bother me. I have sweet fa to do with them. But some managers seem upset. But how am i meant to do more work in less hours? The day after, a manager comes to me and, oh man, are they angry. They said" oh, look, yesterday, it was very very bad with a near empty counter and our area manager(won't say the name) wasn't amused . It was so awkward and uncomfortable having to take the blame for something you should have done. I want and need a full counter, no excuses". I felt so bad, and i nearly cried, because i felt so gutted that i cannot do my job well enough. then another manager says" where's the cookies? Why isn't there more jam doughnuts? Where are the rolls? (less doughnuts because the baker had less hours,less rolls because less hours and also less cookies because i had less hours) and that's been the pattern since Christmas. it feels so demoralizing and frustrating. The shelves are often empty and there is a fair amount of complaints headed my way, from customers and higher up people. All of them ask why shelves are empty often, why the product they want isn't available, etc. what should i do? I feel so imcompetent, because i am and i am letting sainsbury's down. I am so disappointed and unhappy at the moment. Is it normal to be emotional about this? Also Could a employee choose what days shifts are cut? It would help a lot having more choice over the shifts and also that they didn't change every week. It would mitigate the effects, in my opinion and allow more work to be done. Sorry for this big mess of text.

• Putin + Kim Jong (Dictators)
• Blackwater (PMCs & Mercenaries)
• I5I5, H4M4S or 4L-Q43DA (Terrorist organizations)
• CIA & NSA (Governmental bodies and departments)
• Foreign invaders (Military & Special Forces)
• World leader (President & Prime Minister)

In terms of a dictator:

Figures such as Putin are the ones usually giving their subordinates such as mercenaries, special forces or the regular military the order to commit any crime against humanity, so they are the true mastermind, sitting behind the scenes while their subordinates commit the crime on their behalf.
They know that the police can't do shit to them, due to being in power of the country, so it'll not make sense as to why they would arrest someone above their pay grade. It does matter if you pursue the case via the ICC, that only works in absentia but not make them physically present.
They have their own military, law enforcement and equivalent of the CIA, so the police stand no chance on approaching them, despite these people being complicit with committing any crime, such as murder, torture, extortion, kidnapping, etc.

In terms of PMCs & Mercenaries:

Usually, they are employed by a private corporation. Even though the personnel look like soldiers, they are not fighting for a nation, solely for monetary gain, the rules for typical soldiers do not apply since they are not considered as part of the conventional military.
Heads of such PMC firms know that police can't arrest them directly, shifting accountability of their crimes to a third party just to save their own skin, so it'll be a challenge. A real example, there were American mercenaries who murdered 2 Iraqi nationals in cold blood but got away with it.
The most infuriating part is that they were pardoned by the president 9 years after it happened, plus the USA is not an official member of the ICC, making it hard for the victim to pursue justice, basically the government who hired them are deemed immune from legal repercussions.

In terms of terrorist organizations:

You will be in immediate danger if you dared to confront or called the authorities on such people and organizations, since they will kill everyone without mercy if they know you alerted the police of their crimes or atrocities. (Murder: Beheadings)
Police would be too intimidated to face them (since they will also target their loved ones), from terrorists ruthless as I5I5 are known to kidnap, torture and murder anybody regardless of their status and occupation. They have no problem on murdering both the judge and jury.
You can try to pursue justice, but it'll come at a huge sacrifice, plenty of judges, jurors, cops, lawyers, prosecutors, eyewitnesses, private citizens including yourself will all be prey, as all of you will be murdered by these people, so there is no trial or prison time for them.

In terms of governmental bodies & departments:

There is no luck, since they are politicians and have such a strong upper hand over the police, you can be the next Snowden but guarantee that you'll be labeled as a traitor and a whistleblower, you are basically doomed at this point. (There's not much you can do to save yourself.)
Organizations equivalent to the NSA or CIA can orchestrate an assassination staging it as an accident, while they utilize their governmental connections to conceal their involvement. The police are heavily tied to the state, so calling them while being targeted is useless.
These governmental bodies can also hire a hitman too, that is if you know too much. Since they can just order and pay a contract killer to assassinate you, who might subject you to torture eventually on considering killing you.

In terms of the military and special forces:

In a situation akin to what happened in Iraq, the soldiers will consider policemen in the country they are in as combatants, so the police will be murdered in cold blood, as the military remains steadfast about asserting their authority over them.
Despite if the military or special forces being complicit on murdering your loved ones, you got to consider that they are following orders from the higher authorities (usually their superior or government itself) so that will pose a challenge on arresting the true mastermind.
The cloest thing you can achieve is at least arresting one of the soldiers through military justice and a court martial to convict him or her, but not the official armed force branch itself. For instance, what happened at a prison in Iraq, the US troops abused the inmates there.

In terms of a world leader:

Again, like with dictators, they are the ruler of the nation. Whilst still in their tenure, they cannot be prosecuted, the only way that would work is to wait for their tenure to end, once they are no longer in office then you can pursue justice.
For example, Trump incited the insurrection of the white house, despite him not bearing arms, but his rhetoric exacerbated the influence on his supporters to storm the white house, it was too much for the police to handle, although they did arrest some figures involved.
Though Trump himself remained immune whilst in power, although after he was no longer president, there was a case against him for that, it is still dragging on until now. He is not been officially convicted of the insurrection back in 2021.

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I sent a pre-sales email inquiry to [support@hetzner.com](mailto:support@hetzner.com) around 9:45 AM Friday morning (GMT). I figured that being a pre-sales question, it would take 1-2 business days to get a response. Two business days have elapsed, and still nothing but the autoreply robot.
Is this typical for Hetzner support? Once I get setup I should need zero support going forward. I might require some support to initially get established, particularly if things don't work as I'm used to. I am very put-off about Hetzner Support's lack of a timely response during the pre-sales stage, and how it might reflect post-sales technical support responsiveness. I see no chat support options on Hetzner's website, and I'm not calling Germany at $3.00/min to wait on hold until someone picks-up and then discuss my questions/issues. Can any current customers Hetzner's support processes and responsiveness?
Having just been burned by another hosting company, I need to get written verification of some features and capabilities before I commit to starting over again. Things that are not disclosed in either the product features or TOS on Hetzner's website. I am looking for an official response from either [support@hetzner.com](mailto:support@hetzner.com) or u/Hetzner_OL, please.

1. Does Hetzner Webhosting plans with email fully support CalDav and CardDav synchronization with clients such as Microsoft Outlook desktop/mobile and Mozilla Thunderbird? I know that CPANEL has problems with these protocols and they currently don't work at all, but I don't know if Hetzner has a workaround.
2. Can I get ssh access to my webhosting container?
3. Does Hetzner have any plans on their roadmap to offer Webhosting out of a US datacenter?
4. For Hetzner Cloud VPS plans, are there pre-configured Email/CalDav/CardDav app(s) available to install?
5. What are Hetzner's terms of use for running Wireguard and/or Tailscale on a VPS.
6. Does Hetzner bill US-based customers in dollars or in euros?

Im alone on my birthday. I never thought it would be this lonely. It is currently 4:00am and I just turned 21 today and i haven’t really accomplished any important milestones yet and the existential dread keeps creeping up in my thoughts. I cant stop ruminating on my death and what could have been with my past relationships. I have been in and out of work, getting fired, getting into decent jobs that paid commission in sales but i could never hold onto a job. I still live with my parents. I pay for things when i can like groceries and help out with rent but at the moment im unemployed trying to look for a job. I actually have a interview later today at 9 am. Im just exhausted to work and not own anything. I just feel frustrated. I used to work two jobs everyday. I dont know where my life is headed. Im in constant paranoia and fear. My anxiety never stops. I currently have a girlfriend and i also helped her pay for her car note and insurance. Nobody is coming to help me. Is this what life is to be a man? I just want security. I was cheated on by this current gf and i forgave her. My thoughts are all over the place. All this anger is overwhelming all this pain i have all this regret. Her family tells her to look for a better looking and more responsible man. I used to have a car that i bought with my own money but my father sold it. I havent ate in a while either im just sitting in bed rotting in my birthday. Hopefully it gets better i guess. But ima just past the time watching black pill and try to ground myself to reality.

Hi Eevies/EvTers/Evers!
Wanna vote but don't have time to watch ads? Not a problem!👌 Just participate in our Donation Drive and let the voting team handle the rest! 😎
However, if you do have time to spare, kindly help us with a few taps on your phone and vote! 😁
Here is a list of on-going voting campaigns and their current status:

Winnable Purely by Fan Votes 🤳

UPICK (Rookie Artist of May):

Deadline: May 23, 2024

App Name	Current Place	Opponent
UPICK	1st - 9,968,207 votes	2nd - 9,683,050 votes

We are currently on a 3-month winning streak for this award.
The first 3 months were Elisia, Gehlee, and Yunha (in order).
It's Seowon's turn this month.

KGMA Trend of the Year: Kpop Group (Monthly Voting - May):

Deadline: May 19, 2024 (just ended the other day)
In case you missed it, we won! 🥳
Based on the info given on the Fancast app, there is a chance that a monthly trophy will be awarded to UNIS.
Since I'm not sure 100% sure how this works, I suggest we wait for the official announcement from KGMA.👍
Overall current status (as per Fancast app):

1. Pre-voting (April) - 10% we lost 😢
   
2. Monthly voting (May-August) - 40%
   
3. May - 10% we won! 🥳
   
4. June - 10% save votes for this one!
   
5. July - 10%
   
6. August - 10%
   
7. Main voting (November?) - 50%
   

Great job, everyone! 😃👍

Includes Other Criteria 📊

34th SMA Rookie Award (Monthly Voting - May):

Deadline: May 31, 2024

App Name	Current Place	Opponent
PODOAL	1st - 326,200 votes	2nd - 77,700 votes
my1pick	1st - 49.26%	2nd - 40.45%
K-POP SEOUL	1st - 2,687 votes	2nd - 851 votes

Judging Criteria (as per last year's): 1. Professional judges and SMA Organizing Committee (50%) 2. Album sales (25%) 3. Mobile voting worldwide (25%) - monthly voting contributes to the main voting as per SMA's current front page notice.
As per F&F CEO, an extension of two more years will be considered if UNIS wins the "Rookie of the Year" award.
I have a feeling this is not the only one with an award of this kind though. Please comment below if you have information regarding other "Rookie of the Year" awards.

KM Chart (ROOKIE of May):

Deadline: May 24, 2024

App Name	Current Place	Opponent
Idol Champ	5th - 3.01%	1st - 58.97%
my1pick	5th - 19 votes	1st - 849 votes

Judging Criteria (according to KM Chart's website): 1. Voting (50%) - 25% on Idol Champ, 25% on my1pick. 2. KM chart data (50%)
This is a quarterly award, but it does give a physical trophy to the winner. It can motivate the girls if they get one.
Fan votes contribute as much as the chart data, but it's almost the deadline, so this may not be something we can win. Unless... 👀
Did I miss something?
If yes, kindly mention them in the comments so I can include them on my next update 👍. Thanks!

Hello!
I have 2 tickets (Standing area - stalls) for sale for the concert of Manchester (18th of June). I only sell them through the official ticketmaster resale link: https://secure.ticketmaster.co.uk/rs/36006030F741404E/l5gdg176p

Soo this just passed the house and is on its way to the senate. It basically lays the ground work for a official blockchain style system for STOCKS. There is talk on the towel forums that GME’s recent filing is targeted at this act passing and moving to a blockchain ASAP.
Need apes to look at this and figure out if them towels boyz maybe up to something. Also there is nwl another Icahn related company that filed a similar document as GME to sell things. The icing is the fact that both of these companies have listed 7 things four one big sale :: wink wink ::

Wade held Jasmine in his arms as he flew a low height down the long road to another section of the staryard, Tina on his back and Nathan and F right behind them in the air. Together, the five glided across the base grounds, taking care as to not irritate the aerial security during their search for the meeting room. Being outside for the flight, the group considered it a blessing that Wade's 'enhanced cooling unit' allowed his body to tolerate the breaching sun in the still cloudy sky, which, according to F, was dangerous to drones like her due to the inefficient cooling she and disassembly drones like her suffered from. Given F's physical fault, she had to fly under shady areas in order to safely traverse the base at day.
Originally, Wade and his friends had planned to walk to the meeting zone, but after running into a trooper experiencing a health mishap, the group did what they could to help the distressed officer. By the time he was brought to the medical ward by other soldiers, Wade found that him and his team would be at least a few minutes late if they kept on their way with their walk.
Deciding to speed things up, Wade, understanding the concern for performing such an effort, opted to carry the Fowleys around the base to the meeting area. Reluctantly, F decided to come along, carrying Nathan in a similar manner that Wade was carrying Jasmine. Taking notice of the time on his HUD, which read, "9:47 AM", Wade scouted for the building he and his friends were directed to. "8072" He said to himself, the number being for the building that would house the imminent meeting.
"They said it was down here, right?" Wade asked aloud to Tina before stopping himself in mid-air, the girl holding onto him tightly as he tried to speak over the growing sound of a retrofit Apache flying overhead.
Looking about, Tina nodded as she spotted the target building. "Yes, I believe that's the one over there!" Pointing past his head, Wade followed her finger to a large building ahead at his right. The structure was moderately tall, only about two stories high, with several soldiers and officers going in and out of the building. Wade smiled as he noticed the target number, as well as the big, bold words describing the building's designation. "8072, Briefing Center B"
"Good eye, honey. Hang on!" Continuing his low glide, Wade zoomed towards the building's entrance before stopping just meters above the ground, his two friends close behind as they slowed down as well. The troopers around them initially looked startled by the sudden arrival of Wade and his group, but quickly regained their composure as Wade hovered still above them.
"At ease! Just visitors." One of the soldiers declared as they identified the newcomers, who touched down before Wade let Jasmine down to her feet, Tina hopping onto the ground along with her.
Putting his hands up, Wade apologized for his swift surprise. "Sorry for the scare, we got delayed for a meeting we're invited to."
The soldier gave an understanding nod as he replied to the former worker drone sternly. "I can see that, just be a bit more careful next time, Mr. Carter. You gave the boys here quite a scare."
Wade returned the gesture in embarrassment as F put a hand to his back, chuckling at his efforts as Tina questioned the officer. "Is Mrs. J in there? She's the one who called for us."
The guard gave his reply as Wade and Tina pulled out their IDs for clearance. "Yes she is, Miss. The meeting's set to begin in under ten minutes." Checking the two drones' IDs, Jasmine and the others pulled out theirs as well, the watchman motioning another trooper over to verify the group. Once the guard finished checking the five's cards, he nodded in approval as the watchman spoke once more. "You're clear to enter."
"Thank you Sir, again, sorry about that spook back there." Wade replied with a smile as the trooper gave one of his own, the disassembly drone and his allies making their way towards the office door before stopping upon the call of a voice.
"Hey, Felice!" Wade turned to find the origin of the voice, F doing the same as the two quickly spotted a quartet of soldiers walking excitedly towards F. The disassembly drone glanced to her friends with a smile before turning back to the approaching entourage.
Wade examined the four troops as they got closer: Two human men, one woman, and a male worker drone. One of the male soldiers had short, blonde hair, and a small scar to the right side of their face. The second man bore a tan skin tone and had black hair, with blue strips that went down slightly in a mullet style. The woman bore a set of long, dark green hair, with the hair going down and over her left shoulder. As for the worker drone, he wore the standard green soldier helmet, single eye visor and all. He had no hair on him from what Wade could tell, and bore a pair of whiteish purple eyes on his visor.
As F walked over to the soldiers, the same one that called to her spoke again. "Felicity, I didn't expect to see you around here today! Where you been?"
The girl soldier interrupted his initial chatter. "Hang on Carlos, do you even know if she remembers us?"
"Aye, don't she have one o' them memory locks, or sumthin?" The drone added in a heavy Scottish accent.
F waved her hand as she replied to the group. "Easy, everyone. Thankfully I still got my memories, courtesy of my technician back at Central." Lowering her hand, F let down her usual persona as she gave a wide smirk to the soldiers, clearly pleased to see them. "Good to see you guys around here."
The soldiers gave light cheers to F as they all embraced her, the group having a surprise reunion as Wade and the others watched in surprise. These must've been F's old colleagues from when she was in the service, Wade thought. Quite the coincidence for them to be here at this base of all places.
Not bothering with the convenience of the matter, Wade shook the thought off as he and his friends watched F and her old friends breaking the hug, Tina wrapping an arm around her boyfriend as the second male human spoke to her in what the two discerned as Spanish. "Ay, who your new friends, F?"
"Oh, these guys?" F replied in the same language, quietly startling Wade and the others as they had never heard her speak like that until now. Glancing over to Wade, F motioned him and the others to come over. "Everyone, these are some friends I made in the past few days. Wade, Nathan, Tina, and Jasmine." She pointed her hand to the four as she said each of their names. "I met the boys here during my time on Ceres. Jasmine and Tina here are sisters."
The four soldiers gave various forms of excitement, ranging from hearty laughs to low woops and even a whistle from one of the guys. As F stood next to her old teammates, they each introduced themselves to Wade and his friends. The blonde soldier went first. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all, name's Carlos, Lieutenant Marksman."
"I'm Private Alvaros, good with close-range and stealth operations." Said the tan soldier with a salute.
"Sergeant Lucia Vasquez, usually the one who leads this bunch around these days." The female warrior stated with a humorous smirk.
"And Corporal Duncan Wallace, at your service!" The soldier drone stated proudly as he saluted to the bunch in front of him, who gave warm smiles as Wade shook his hand.
"Quite honored to meet you all, seems you have quite the history with F." The former worker drone said as Carlos patted F on her back.
"Oh, we do! She's the one who took charge when we didn't! Did you all hear of the Pasting of Nola VI?" Jasmine and Tina gave nods of affirmation while Wade, not as familiar with such history, held his hand up in a questioning manner.
"I think, wasn't that the battle where the Navy just barely held the outpost in that system? From the Stryker Clan?" Wade asked as Carlos nodded approvingly to him.
"That's right, and if Felice weren't there, WE would've been the ones getting pasted!" Carlos' statement brought victorious cheers and "oorahs" from the group, F letting a blush loose as she chuckled at her team's praise of her efforts.
"Well, that's not wrong." Although she didn't want to break off from her friends and discuss the past few years since they'd last met, F remembered the briefing. Clearing her throat, she continued. "And as much as I'd like to chat about the good times, I've been called to a meeting here, as have Wade and his crew."
The soldier group gave understanding looks to F as Lucia spoke up. "Thought so, Carl here was real eager to see you, though."
"Maybe we can talk after the meeting?" Nathan proposed as the soldiers collectively nodded in agreement, F readying a smartcomm attachment before turning to face her friends again.
"We're probably getting low on time, you all go in, I'll catch up in a sec." Wade nodded in acknowledgement before taking Tina's hand, the lover drones continuing towards the briefing center as Jasmine and Nathan followed behind them.
Passing through the door, the four guests observed a short hallway, which seemed to split into two paths as they came closer to the other end. Looking to a sign on the wall above, they saw arrows pointing to two separate areas, "Primary Briefing Room; Main Lobby + Secondary & Tertiary" Going to the right, they entered the moderately active lobby, several officers walking and standing about in mass chatter. Walking over to the desk up against the wall to their left, Wade and his group waved a hand to the occupying attendant.
"Welcome, what do you need?" The desk attendant asked as Tina raised a finger to reply.
"We're here for a meeting, Mrs. J called us here."
The attendant nodded in understanding before directing an arm towards the other end of the room, where a single door stood. "She should be in the second briefing room down that way."
"Thank you." Tina replied warmly before she and Wade began walking towards the door, their friends behind them as they proceeded into the room.
The room beyond the door was quite sizable, a large circular table occupying the middle with several chairs surrounding it. The walls went up a few meters, with four whiteish blue lights illuminating the room. On the wall opposite to Wade and Tina were three monitor screens, all of which showed the USN in bright blue. In several of the seats were faces both familiar and unfamiliar, several men and women in varying styles of uniforms conversing about quietly or taking notice of the recent visitors. Standing up near the monitors were three people: A decorated officer whom Tina identified as a ship captain, and the so-called operatives, Tessa, albeit as a hologram, and J.
Walking slowly into the room, Wade gave a low wave of his hand as he tried to hide his nervousness. Noticing his shyness in front of the officers, Tina held his hand and rubbed his arm comfortingly while returning a pleasant smile to the staff in the room.
"Ah, Wade, Tina. Glad to see you all here." J stated with a smile as she scanned the group, raising a digital eyebrow as she noticed one missing guest. "Or, most of you, I see. Did F run off somewhere?"
Wade shook his head as he replied to his fellow disassembly drone. "Oh, no. She just ran into some old friends, she should be back-"
"Right now." F finished aloud as she entered the room, seemingly having heard Wade speaking about her absence. The warrior drone fast walked to Wade's team, taking a seat near them as they prepared to do the same. "Not too late, are we?"
"Not at all." The standing officer answered as the group took their seats, Wade and Tina sitting next to each other as they got comfortable. The captain examined the lot for a moment, glancing to J as he asked about them. "So, these are the ones you helped rescue from the Mojave?"
"Yes Captain, and they helped us out greatly in turn. This is Wade Carter, one of the captured drones whom became a disassembly drone before we could mount the rescue. The luckiest one, if you ask me." Motioning her arm over the others, she continued. "And there's his girlfriend, Mrs. Tina Fowley, and her sister Jasmine." Smirking to F and Nathan, she finished her friends' introductions. "And these two are Serial Designation F and Mr. Nathan, whom I've heard were once under your ranks."
The military captain gave a welcoming smile to the five as they returned the gesture, eyeing F and Nathan specifically before speaking to them. "Indeed they were, we still have records on their contributions to the colonies." Eyeing F, he continued. "Though, in Mrs. F's case, I won't blame her if she doesn't remember us. We've been very well aware of JCJenson's 'memory suppression' protocols when it comes to their DDs."
F laid back in her seat with a smug look as she replied to her former superior. "Well, my friend on the station's a good tech gal. She's... waived that hindrance from me."
"I see, that means your still with us, am I right, Mrs. Lee?" Unlike her friends next to her, F was not startled by her original name being said aloud, rather smiling proudly as she saluted to the captain. "Good to see you again."
"Pleased to be here, Sir." F replied as she lowered her arm, glancing to her companions next to her as J spoke up.
"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Captain Preston Mitchell, commander of the USNV Vickers down at the stardock."
Wade gave a respectful salute to Preston as he spoke first. "It's an honor to meet you, Sir."
"Thank you, Mr. Carter. I've heard about your efforts from J, you did an admirable job back there, son." Wade failed to hide an embarrassed blush from the compliment, but it quickly faded as a beep sounded from a small device on the table. It was swiftly silenced by the captain as he tapped a button on the small, pyramid shaped timer, then facing Wade's group before continuing. "Though, as much as we could use some small talk, it'll have to wait till later."
"Indeed, we're running late at this point." Said another officer, a highly decorated member of the base with dark skin, dark grey hair and a thin beard. He immediately won the attention of everyone in the room as he spoke up. "I'm General Hugh Hood, overseer of this base. I'm certain you know some of the reasons you're here with us, correct?"
Wade nodded as he spoke to Hood. "Yeah, it's cause of those rogue agents from the JCJenson corporation." Glancing to J, the corporate drone nodded in affirmation before speaking herself.
"Tessa and I spent the last hours of yesterday evening clearing up the matter with General Hood, along with several other officials stationed here." She stopped as the middle monitor behind her flashed with a banner at the top, reading, "INCOMING TRANSMISSION", and in place of the USN emblem was a textless version of the JCJenson logo. Below the profile image was another two lines of text. "N. Jenson (Company Exec); Comms Source: Yottrite IV"
"And also told our boss about what happened here too, he wanted to give his say on this ordeal." Looking to the general, J asked him, "May I put him on?"
Hood only gave a nod of approval to the corporate drone before she picked up a remote on the table and tapped a button, accepting the call as the picture shifted to show a middle-aged man in a pristine-looking business suit on the screen.
Wade and Tina glanced to each other before J introduced their guest on the screen. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the CEO of JCJenson: Mr. Noor Jenson."
Jenson gave a pleased nod to his subordinate as he spoke to J. "Thank you for the pleasantries, J. I see we are ready to discuss our plans on dealing with this 'recall' disaster I've bore witness to on the news this morning?"
J nodded as she replied to her boss. "Indeed, I've explained to General Hood here about our efforts yesterday, and, as of recent, we've just received a message from a source we believe to be close to the company."
Mr. Jenson looked down to J attentively as he spoke to her. "Well, that's quite intriguing news, J. Do you have this message available for us to view?" J and Hood both nodded in affirmation, but didn't get an immediate reply as Jenson gazed to Wade and his friends. "...And I presume these are some of the drones rescued from one of the factories?"
Again, J nodded to her superior before explaining her colleagues. "Yes Mr. Jenson, the two drones at the front in particular were among those taken by the Administrator and their subordinates." Pointing an arm to Wade and Tina, she introduced the drone couple. "The disassembly drone here is Mr. Wade Carter, a brother to his-technically speaking-owner, the late Ron Carter. The latter helped us recover Wade during an initial raid inside the Nevada facility." When bringing up Ron, J gave an apologetic look to Wade as to show she did not mean to be offending on him and his brother's relationship. "And this is his romantic partner, Mrs. Tina Fowley. I heard she and her sister Jasmine are pilots."
Jenson looked over the two drones as his obedient employee described them to him, quietly sighing as Wade and Tina returned the gaze with nervous smiles. Once J finished, Jenson spoke to Wade. "I... would say it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Carter. But, given recent events, I don't hold fault to you for feeling frustrated at me for my... former subordinate's actions."
Wade shook his head lightly, taking Jenson's light apology with a faint smile as he replied to the CEO. "Actually, I don't. The only person I have such feelings put towards is," He hesitated for a moment, his anger at Dr. Halloway returning for a short moment before he eased himself. "..That bastard Halloway."
"The feeling's mutual, Mr. Carter. Dr. Halloway has been trying my patience for years now, especially with you and your fellow disassembly drones." Looking to J, then F, he returned his gaze to Wade before questioning him on his new body. "I don't know if J has told you of this, but if there's one truth my company has admittedly not held up to for a while, it's our quality. Recently, some of my research staff here made blueprints for an upgraded variant of the disassembly drone design. It's intended to fix several faults we expected to be nonexistent previously, most notably that atrocious cooling unit."
As a schematic pulled up on the left monitor, everyone glanced to the improved design before F spoke up about it. "If I may ask, Mr. Jenson, how big of an improvement is this new cooling unit supposed to be?"
"Good question, F. Frankly, it's supposed to do away with the issue entirely. Saves us from sacrificing enormous supplies of oil for the poorly built unit in the previous iterations. We even tested it with a repaired drone just a few days ago, and it worked flawlessly." Then, glancing to Wade again, he questioned the former worker drone on his new form. "Speaking of, how does your enhanced body feel, Mr. Carter? I'm certain it feels better to not have to-"
"Actually, Mr. Jenson," Wade interrupted, pulling out one of his canteens as he answered the CEO on his upgrades. "I guess Halloway changed up the blueprints, cause unfortunately this new cooling unit didn't cure the overheating problem. I... kinda learned that the hard way." Wade glanced to Tina apologetically, still feeling bad from her seeing him eat the corpse of the dead murder drone back at the factory.
The corporate CEO grimaced in frustration as he took in Wade's statement, already intolerant of the head researcher's actions as he replied. "...I was worried about that, Edgar always likes to run things his own way, making excuses for that 'Administrator' he watches over." Taking an agitated breath, he continued on with his spew on the two culprits of yesterday's events. "It was only because of all the very impressive creations and enhancements she and her research team provided that I tolerated them for so long, but this..." Sitting up straight in front of the camera, Jenson finished sternly. "J said the Administrator... Cyn, I believe? She was apparently something worse than we presumed originally, and I'm very inclined to believe so after yesterday."
"As well as the program tied to the Administrator, the AbsoluteSolver." J clarified before receiving an agreeing nod from Mr. Jenson, standing corrected on his placing of blame.
Raising a hand, Nathan asked about the supposed plans. "Yeah, about this "Solver Project", what do we plan to do about that?"
"Good question, Nate." Tessa replied as she crossed her arms before looking to Jenson and beginning her explanation. "Initially, we were going to investigate the other factories spread across Earth in order to get some more info on the Administrator before things get worse. But, just this morning, it seems someone else saved us the trouble." Just as Tessa neared the end of her sentence, J held up the remote again, tapping a few buttons before the left monitor shifted to show a slightly grainy video onscreen.
The video only showed a single being, a worker drone, dressed in a chrome suit and bearing a set of yellow eyes. Behind them was what appeared to be a vacant room, a few shelves holding many books within them standing still in the back. The drone's visage indicated they were filled with immense anxiety, terrified of being caught as they spoke quietly to the camera.
"I can only hope someone gets this in time, they're gonna be on me once they find out the transmitter screens are down!" Turning the camera, he showed what appeared to be a large factory room, several more of the mysterious conveyor belts like at the factory slotted next to each other. It was hard to discern every detail due to not only the window reflection, but also the dark lighting in the inactive conveyor room. Filming the room beyond, the drone continued. "Dr. Halloway's a madman, he's got more of those stolen drones being brought here and he's going to be overseeing it in the afternoon tomorrow! I've seen what happened back in Nevada, I can't take this any longer! I'm at coordinates ##.######, -###.###### Please, send someo-"
The suspicious, partially scrambled transmission immediately cut off to static, leaving Wade, Tina, and their friends with confused expressions as Tessa spoke up. "Yeah, that caught me by surprise too."
"So, that guy says they got more drones being sent 'there', but... where is there, exactly?" Jasmine asked with immense curiosity.
"I was hoping you'd ask that, Mrs. Fowley." The technician replied as she glanced to J, who tapped a few more buttons on the remote before speaking over her boss-friend.
"While the transmission itself isn't much to work off of, our friends from Comms over here managed to intercept the signal earlier, and even better, discern where it originated from." As J started her explanation, the screen shifted once more to show a large city, with one skyscraper highlighted in red as it was zoomed towards on the screen. "That scrambled audio wasn't a simple glitch, it was intentionally done so as to hide key information for us to uncover. Upon cleaning up the message, we managed to recover a set of coordinates, which direct to this structure here, in San Francisco."
Wade and his friends stared at the building in shock, examining the tall structure as it stood over the shorter buildings in the city. Tina broke the silence in her gaze. "So, this is another factory? It looks... terribly different from the one we got out of."
"Not exactly, Mrs. Fowley." Mr. Jenson answered, Tina and the others looking to him as he continued. "THAT is the Administrator's main laboratory, its location was kept on the down low so other authorities and terrorist groups wouldn't find out what the buildings true purpose was." Sighing, Jenson completed his reply. "But, with this recent mistake of Halloway's, that place has lost all purpose for us at the company."
Wade raised a hand to speak. "So, we're going to pounce on that place? Get Halloway before he runs off again?"
"Exactly." General Hood replied as he looked up to Mr. Jenson. "This whole 'recovery/recruitment' effort has gotten out of hand all across Sol. We've gotten countless reports of people being killed because of this, be it the brutal robberies here in Nevada or the bloodbath on Ceres. Even if Mr. Jenson refuses to cooperate, this has become a dire matter for us now. One way or another, this insanity will be stopped with due haste."
The CEO nodded in acknowledgement before explaining his own plans for the mission. "Speaking of cooperation, upon seeing what was happening at Earth, I ordered a detachment of our corporate starships in orbit at the time to depart for Sol in order to help with investigating the situation. They're not warships, but they are well-armed. I'll dispatch them to your authority upon concluding this call." Glancing to Wade and his team for a moment, Jenson continued. "As for the mission, I may not have much of a say, but let it be known that you have my blessing to do whatever it takes to end this madness. I don't care what you do with Halloway or any of his lackeys, or what happens to that facility down there... I want that program shut down."
"Thank you for the extra hands, Mr. Jenson. We'll make sure this Administrator is dealt with." Hood replied gratefully as Wade sat firm in his seat, Tina and the others following suite.
"General?" The former worker drone said aloud, catching Hood's attention before he made his request. "I know I'm not a soldier, but I want to help with dealing with Halloway and his grunts. After what he did, after losing my brother, I can't rest until I see that man stopped."
Tina raised a finger as well. "As do I, Wade could use a hand with those people, and given how we did during our escape run out of that place, I think the two of us make quite the duo." She glanced to Wade with a smirk as she referenced their combat prowess when flying together.
Nathan and F stood up before the latter gave her own request. "Sir, I wish to take part in this mission as well. I can also recommend Wade for you too, as I fought alongside him during the factory raid."
"Wouldn't mind giving a hand myself! And I'm sure my pal Kurtis would love to help, he's here at the base too!" Nathan added with a confident smirk, the group's determination encouraging Jasmine to stand up as well.
"I'd like to help too." She stated simply, a smile on her face as the general and his companions observed the five guests.
Admittedly, Hood knew it would be a bit absurd to allow these people to take part in an operation which would certainly involve bloodshed, especially considering most of them merely had civilian status at the moment. But, upon careful evaluation of the five, their desire to see this problem dealt with, and the fact that some of them had experience on the field...
He paused his train of thought as Captain Mitchell spoke to him. "General? I read up on the Fowleys' files when we recovered Mrs. Jasmine here, they provided service in their early careers." He smirked to the pilot sisters as he finished adding his say. "And to be frank, we need more people like them here. The records we have of them showed them to be damn fine pilots."
Tina blushed at the praise from Mitchell as she spoke to the general. "That is true, we uh... did get discharged for our... 'fancy maneuvering'."
"Sir?" Jasmine said, the general's attention on her as she added to the conversation. "Even if our flying is a bit out of protocol, Tina saved a lot of people on that starjet a few days back. I can promise you, she's an excellent woman to have at the wheel."
Glancing to Wade again, Hood took in his face, one of begging desperation as he spoke once more. "Please, Sir. My brother, the troops he brought from the Coalition, Halloway's gotten them all killed cause of this. I want to do this. I HAVE to do this, at least for them."
The good general took a deep, quiet breath, considering his decision once more before finally revealing it to Wade and his friends. "Mr. Carter, Fowleys? I'm probably making myself a fool for saying this, but you're permitted to assist us in this mission."
The drone couple contained their gratefulness in the form of ecstatic grins as Wade replied to the general. "Thanks, General. We won't let you down."
"And Mrs. Lee?" Hood said as he glanced to F, who returned the gesture as he told her, "You're technically under Mr. Jenson's authority, whatever his answer is, it's mine as well."
Bringing her yellow-orange eyes to her CEO, F awaited Mr. Jenson's answer. "F, yes? I heard Mr. Hood call you by a different name just now, I assume you have some experience with the army?"
The warrior drone nodded as she explained herself. "I once inherited the name of Felicity Lee, Mr. Jenson. I served under the USN Defense Forces before joining the DD Division." Then, glancing to the military staff near her, she finished with, "I had hoped to provide my enhancements to the Force one day."
Jenson gave a hint of a proud smile as he finally gave his decision. "Well, it seems you'll finally get that chance. From now on, even after this mission on Earth is over with, you're hereby dispatched to serve under the USN."
F admittedly couldn't hide her excited smirk as she flung a salute to her now former boss. "Thank you Sir!"
Looking up to Jenson, General Hood asked the CEO, "Mr. Jenson, how long until your ships can reach Earth?"
Jenson glanced down at his communication console as he answered the military leader. "At max speed, their Ion drives should be able to bring them into orbit in as little as one to two days. I believe there should be some ships within the system that could help as well."
"Signal them when you can, Mr. Jenson. We could use all the help we can get from them." The CEO nodded to Hood as he stood firmly to the viewer, the general turning to face Wade and his colleagues. "And Mr. Carter? We'll be mobilizing our forces immediately after this meeting concludes. It'll be a minute, but I want you to gather whatever items and belongings you'll need for this operation. Be ready to head to the flight pads in no more than three hours."
"Understood Sir!" Wade said with a salute, Tina, Jasmine and Nathan giving their own as Jasmine raised a finger.
"What about the area around the lab? That place looks like it's in the middle of the city."
J raised a finger as she told Jasmine and the others about their resolution of the civilian obstacle. "Shortly after reporting our findings on the transmission, Hood told us that they were sending in some teams to clear out the civilian population within several miles of the facility. Once we get there, it should be of no concern."
Jasmine sighed in relief as Tina spoke up. "So the people should be safe from any sort of danger?"
"Correct, Mrs. Tina." Preston answered before continuing. "Given the resistance Halloway and his men showed during the Coalition's raid, they most certainly won't hold back there."
"One more thing, Sir." Nathan asked. "The Coalition's going to help us out with this too, right?"
"You can count on it, Mr. Nathan." The Vickers' captain replied as he looked to J, then to Jenson as he spoke further. "I met the leader of the Coalition's detachment working with us when I was introduced to J and Mrs. Elliott here, they intend to see this conflict finished. I highly doubt they're willing to sit back and let us do this by ourselves."
"And their help will be much appreciated." Hood added, everyone's attention returned to him as he looked to Tessa, curious eyes scanning her holographic form. "And Mrs. Elliott, if I may. Do you mind heading down here to assist us in our investigations later on?"
"Funny you say that, General. I'm almost done with my own snooping around on the JCJ up in orbit, Cyn has some small departments of hers aboard, and I thought I'd gather some more intel before coming down." Glancing to Mr. Jenson, she saw him giving an understanding nod before returning her gaze to the military staff. "I should be down there by the evening, judging by where you're located."
"Do what you must, Mrs. Elliott. We could use whatever you find." Hood replied firmly as he turned once more to the JCJenson CEO. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Jenson. We will get to the bottom of this."
"It's my pleasure, General." Glancing to J and Tessa, he spoke to them once more. "J? Contact me when you've finished with Halloway and his Administrator."
"It'll be done, Mr. Jenson." The obedient servant answered before saluting firmly, receiving a final nod from her boss before he ended the transmission.
With their off-world guest out of the way, Hood looked to Wade and his friends, J, Tessa and Captain Mitchells sharing the gaze with them as the general spoke to them in finality. "Well, you know what comes next everyone. You're all dismissed for now. And remember, landing zone by 1300."
"We'll be there Sir." Wade said with a nod as he and his friends stood up, pushing in their chairs before making their way out to the door.
As they neared it, Wade stopped for a moment as they heard Hood call to one of his friends. "And F?" The soldier drone looked to the general as he continued. "Before we depart, would you mind changing your uniform? I believe it could help with identifying you from the other disassembly drones more easily." Glancing to J, then back to F, he finished with, "I recall hearing about the most formidable drones having clones prepared, yes?"
"Correct, Sir. I'll stop by the nearest barracks while I can." F replied before turning back to the door with her colleagues, Wade opening the door for them all as they passed through. After them, Wade passed through himself, shutting the door to the meeting room as he returned to the lobby.
Walking about together, F spoke to Wade and the others. "Well, that went smoothly. I'll be heading down to the barracks, then head over to your place to help out."
"Actually," Wade replied, raising a finger up as he asked his fellow murder drone, "You think you could bring your friends over? We could get to know each other while we're getting ready."
F glanced to Nathan with a smile before returning her eyes to Wade. "I could see about that. You're gonna like them, I can promise you that."
Taking Tina's hand, Wade walked with his girlfriend alongside Jasmine and the others, nearing the hallway they came through as they prepared for the walk back to the apartment.

I just want to preface this by saying I never saw the Sphere shows as a cynical cash grab or anything like that. I saw fourteen shows between 2015-23, and was at all three of the SF finale shows, and we got tickets for a Sphere show the minute they went on sale. Nothing but love for the band, and love for the entire Deadhead community.
But with the lack of official streams, I'm feeling a little disconnected from the band. Even just having a first-song Nugs preview was nice, and having Lambert & Gans debrief on Dead Air between sets and chat with the band was a great way to feel connected with the band onstage and off, and helped feel like the whole world was watching the shows. Heck, even having the setlist photo on instagram after the show was nice.
I understand that these shows are designed to be pretty explicitly visual experiences, and no video will do justice to the experience of being there. But the audience footage alone has clearly been a major selling point to many people, and I feel like having pro-shot footage (some that actually features the band) and commentary from the band's official camp would go a long way to making this a community experience, not just one that you have to travel to Las Vegas for. Maybe it's the new management, maybe it's just trying something wholly new for this residency, but I'm looking forward to being in Vegas so I can feel a little more of that community feeling again. Until then, I'll be keeping my ears peeled for some less-official sources of audio...

Not sure if this guy is a Reddit user but I’m looking for insight into what his thought process could have been because I still can’t wrap my head around it. This might be kind of long because I have a tendency to ramble but I’m going to try and keep it as short as I can (yeah it’s pretty long sorry…)
For background, I’m a female in her late twenties. I met this guy online and started talking to him about two years ago. We went on one official date. I really liked him but we were both pretty busy since I was working full time while getting my masters and he was pursuing a rigorous/demanding degree, so we’d established that we weren’t really looking for a relationship but that we enjoyed each others’ company and chatting, but maybe we could entertain something casual if it ever got to that point. I think we saw each other 3 times in two months. As we were planning the fourth “date” (a movie night at his place), I suddenly got ghosted.
My ego took a bit of a hit but I recovered and ended up meeting a guy who would later become my boyfriend. A few months into my relationship, the first guy suddenly messaged me on IG, sharing a meme and making a joke about something he’d previously teased me about. I just ignored it and moved on. (Note: I had never publicized my relationship status)
Fast forward towards the end of last year, my relationship ends and, I know this isn’t something to be proud of, but I was looking for someone I knew I wouldn’t get attached to to take my mind off things, so I hit this guy up again just to have someone to message to fill in the void. We chat occasionally but the conversation is fairly sparse, and though I THINK he was flirting, he would also redirect the convo every time I flirted back. We attempt to get dinner a few times, but he kept cancelling and then saying I should just come over instead. At this point we hadn’t seen each other for over a year. While I wasn’t opposed to the idea of hooking up, I wanted to either go for food/an activity beforehand, OR have him directly come out and say that he was just looking to bang, not bail then switch on me. Honestly, at this point I was under the impression that we were just friendly and there was nothing more.
Anyways, come February, I land a job that moves me a few hours away. I posted a story at some point after the move that he responds to and we get to chatting again, and he makes a comment about seeing my bed in my new apartment and I joke about stranger danger since we’re practically just pen pals. He asks if he just got friend zoned, and I, thinking he was making a joke, asked him if this was new news. The following conversation was him saying that he always thought that we’d had something and he only backed off when we first met because I said I wasn’t looking for a relationship.
At this point, I’m really confused. For one, he was actually the one who said he was too busy to date when we had the initial conversation, before he ghosted me. Two, we hadn’t seen each other in a year and exchanged a dozen messages every few weeks. I don’t know about anyone else, but that’s not the frequency at which I speak to anyone I’m romantically interested in. I admit to him that I was interested when we’d first met, but since we could never actually meet up and only spoke sparsely, I stopped thinking in that direction. He proceeds to get a bit passive aggressive so I stop responding and I’m just sitting there dazed and confused (and also hungover lol).
I told my friend about it and she said it sounds like a bruised ego since he’s tall, fairly attractive, and is in a prestigious field, but I still cant wrap my head around it. I feel like if he was interested, he could have said something outright and we could’ve readjusted to our situation, but there was nothing? We haven’t spoken since but can someone shed some light on what the potential thought process might be??

Disgust / / Take My Hand

Mombasa, The Union of African Socialist Republics 

vibe

"Upheaval of the world, French Guiana the last stand of the West?"

"The torturous end of the Russian hyper-state has sparked a crisis for an increasingly volatile world."

Bandung Daily Issued August 1st, 2072 - 12:00 Mombasa, The Union of African Socialist Republics
MOMBASA - It would seem that the fall of the Great Russian Goliath had been in the making the moment that Dederick Lohengrin's empire collapsed, yet unlike the Álfheimr Civil War - the collapse of Russian Hegemony would be as swift as the dissolution of its predecessor, the Soviet Union. There was no tears to weep, no alliance to mourn, the Eastern Union had long ceased to be anything less than an arms manufacturer for the Bandung Pact - growing increasingly obsolete in the face of an expanding Pact technology network.
How many times had the world called for Russian aid? As much as the Russian and Eastern Union governments had decried the lack of a Western response to the original Downfall of Europe, by the late forties, the Eastern Union so overwhelmed with corruption, had become the very thing that those early Eastern Union ambassadors had loathed - they had, in essence, become the very thing they found disgusting. Italy, fallen at the hands of the Alfr and the Eastern Union did nothing. The countless provocations of the Aesir and never an adequate response, a Japanese Empire chipping away at the very bones of Eastern Union hegemony and in the end, it was only the intervention of INC diplomacy (theorized) that prevented the consumption of anything more than Manchuria. Even as the very Russian nation-state collapsed inward, not even the Bandung Pact could do more than give a shake of their heads while scalping away much of the Russian technological base in a way not dissimilar to the early East African efforts to save the Israeli industry. And as the once Karakum Union once again declared nominal independence from the broader Russian entity, the beginning of the end for Eastern Europe was once again nigh.
Therefore, it was no surprise when the Garden of Eden spread its roots through the former Polish hyper-state, the tendrils of Iohannis grasping at every fallen fruit, each an offering to the Earth Mother (so it's called in Eastern Europe). It was no surprise when the Second Roman Republic, what was once Greece, and the machinations in Yugoslavia equally unified under an expanded Republic partially at the behest of a significant diaspora of Italian veterans of the Gothic Wars. It was no surprise, when in the face of the spreading vines of Kyiv, that the UNSC under all its providence as a GIGAS member - initiated the annexation of what was once Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It was no surprise, when the Bandung Pact did what it could to funnel Russian troops, assets, and civilians out of a collapsing hyper-state. It was no surprise, when the vulture of the Midnight Sun descended on Siberia, consuming Vladivostok and moving into Mongolia and across Lake Baikal.
It was however a surprise when radio messages of a free Europe, began quietly skimming across morning news in the Bandung Pact. It was a surprise when those same messages soon led to declaration of a new "Atlantic Russian Republic", when those radio waves turned into surviving Russian fleets massing in the last quietly surviving Russian territory that all but Russia had forgotten of. At one of the many mouths of the Amazon jungle, stood the Atlantic Russian Republic and the last bastion of Free Europe in the West. The fleets of the Polish-Russian hyperstate had under Bandung support, skulked quietly into the Atlantic Ocean under new flags, until eventually landing in French Guiana. Much like the French Remnant State which survived as the last offshoot until it was eventually subsumed by the Russian government, the Atlantic Russian Republic now stands as a mini Fortress-state, housing the vast Russian Navy and all its kinetic and rocketry might. Just as the French Free Navy slowly starved to death, so too, now does the Russian Navy in its hole across the Ocean. And with a resource crisis still ongoing even if neutered now by the rampant space mining operations of the hyper-powers, the Russian Navy in exile's position remains ever volatile.
November 20th, 2072
Tallinn, Estonia (UNSC Protectorate)
The wind and snow was heavy even for November, that was the thought going through the old dog's head as he watched his ward, the Princess Estelle addressing the rows of former Russian soldiers. And as she finished, the guns ringing out signaling the formalization of the groundwork laid so many years ago it was not hard for the General to maintain his stoic nature as the procession of soldiers filed out of the great hall that had been constructed in Tallinn. Like so many others, they had become nationless men, effectively dead and yet still very much alive and willing to fight.
"So this is what your deal bought you." the ex-Prime Minister, ex-President, Katz finally broke his silence as Princess Estelle made her way back under the cover of the gallery. "My Baltics, turned into the Fens."
There was a sadness to the eyes of the fair-haired Princess, one letting on only a fraction of the pain she had experienced over the past year. "My cousin...he told me this would be an early birthday present." She lowered her head out of respect to the Russian ex-minister. "Had I known...what all that would have entailed, I would have certainly declined."
Timo Kivinen, the General of so many things by now, knew there was bountiful more that the Princess would have wanted to share in that very moment. He had heard it, when they had first been informed of the operation. He had seen Estelle's outrage, as the good Prince George did his best to calm his dear wife. But now, in the aftermath of the Russian Collapse, Estelle had put on her brave face and in true STOICs fashion - mustered a smile and a bout of levity.
"I once asked my cousin to remember us as his family, I hadn't expected this is the path to be walked by our kin." Estelle cracked a wry smile, as she started walking towards the exit. "But there is more to come, isn't that right, General?"
"Yes." Timo nodded, as his thoughts turned to the fleets amassing in the Atlantic.
"What now?" Katz questioned, not expecting much of an answer.
"Promises to keep, we have promises to keep." Estelle's gaze turned towards the Sun and the thought of warm waters.

CLAIM REVEAL: THE EASTERN UNION STATES (MAP)

The Atlantic Russian Republic

• DETAILS
• Head of State: Maxim Katz
  • Other Important Characters (meta control)
  • Those mentioned in bigrockswilderness Fleet Posts for Poland
• Population: 3,863,000 (including Naval and Marine personnel that evacuated Russia)
• Claim Starting Allotments (IE. Special Starting Scenario)
  • Has the ability to access a secret campaign (ALL THROUGH PLAYER INITIATIVE) to reclaim the Western Russian Remnant state in Europe.
  • Has control of 80% of the Russian Navy in entirety
  • Must find remedies for resource drain of the Fleet, or face narrative repercussions.
  • Starts with SECRET information that could lead to the expansion of the claim, early on.
  • Handing over the fleets, or coming under another's thumb or like-scenarios will result in a Naval mutiny. IE. this is not a viable "easy" option to deal with your lack of resources. There will be warning events.
  • Is not immediately aligned with anyone.
  • Has access to the entire Russian tech book (so to speak).

Things to Consider
The Atlantic Russian Republic (ARR) or better, the Russian Fleet in Exile is intended on being a claim that requires heavy amounts of player initiative through the early period of the season to survive. However, can blossom into a rewarding claim if played well.
This is a difficult claim in general, and you can expect to be under fire from many enemies as the Alfr remnant states (North America in particular) and the Bandung Pact both look to subsume or sink your fleets.

The Garden of Eden

• DETAILS
• Head of State: The Earth Mother - Klaus Iohannis
  • Other Important Characters (meta control)
  • Zalmoxis
  • Prophet Amir
  • Burebistan
  • Pleistoros
• Population: Not currently calculable
• Claim Starting Allotments (IE. Special Starting Scenario)
  • Begins with 30% of the Russian Army - corrupted.
  • Receives [BATTLE] bonuses based on the level of "perversion" and its spread across not just the Garden, but of the world. This is internally tracked by the Mods.
  • Likewise, receives automatic NEGATIVE amplifiers to [DIPLOMACY] with NPCs. (You are really freaking out the Japanese and INC AlfRussian remnants.)
  • Has access to the entire Russian tech book (so to speak).

Things to Consider
This is a fairly niche claim, having to wrestle with both the Alfr, INC, and Japan in the immediate vicinity - while attempting to repair (or destroy) relations with other surrounding neighbors as you look more inward.

The Second Roman Republic

• DETAILS
• Head of State: Gaius Appuleius Diocles
  • Other Important Characters (meta control)
  • Can be found here
  • And here for Italian related stuff
  • Niklas
• Population: 60,800,196
• Claim Starting Allotments (IE. Special Starting Scenario)
  • Ceasar's Legions = meta control over approx 200,000 battle-hardened Italian veterans of the Gothic Wars.
  • These legions will specifically receive significant [BATTLE] bonuses when used against Alfr remnant states. However, they are a finite number, each casualty being irreplaceable.
  • Additionally - the Legions have an expressed goal = reclaiming Rome (Italy). If this is not met by the 2/3rd mark of the Campaign, there will be IG repercussions of significant magnitude.
  • Begins the Campaign with positive diplomatic relations with ALL NPCs including Japan, non-playable Bandung Pact members, and non-claimable Alfr remnants. The only exception is TURKEY.
  • Has access to the entire Russian tech book (so to speak).

Things to Consider
The Second Roman Republic is a particularly interesting claim, due to its immediate diplomatic "neutrality through positive relations" and the fact that they have a legitimate claim to Italy if not Rome at large. However, they are also surrounded by power-hungry hyper-states that have increasingly small amounts of room to expand.
Questions please send on discord through private messages or comment on this post.