Let's face it, we've all tried to shoot AI from 100s of meters away. It's always been 'cheatcode' as humans Vs AO to shoot them out of aggro range in other games.
But now that the Devs have made it so AI shoot back at us (albeit with iron sights AK spraying us from super far), everyone complains about broken AI and it being unfair or unrealistic.
And rightfully so. It isn't realistic. But we can't just allow the AI to not aggro on us. And just asking them to "be smarter" like "repositon" or "hide/take cover" just kicks the van down the road and doesn't actually solve anything..cuz all we'll do is find a new angle, snipe another..watch them squirm and hide..rinse repeat. All that without ever risking anything, which isn't fun or engaging gameplay.

• So I put it to you, Grayzone players/snipelong-range engagers/scope enjoyers...how would you balance AI long range engagements so that they felt fair and not cheesy?

I'll start. If you miss your shot, target 1 will go find target X who is their resident sniper (every sight, especially military installations, should have multiple of these),who tries to counter snipe you and at the same time rallies 3-4 of his buddies to hunt you down in the location they heard the shot ring out by flanking you and fanning out slowly clearing the wider area. If it's an isolated dude. He runs for cover if not dead on first shot and warns his friends to be on high alert.
After which, crouched and lying down AI are automatically scouting hill ranges and have extended sightlines...if they spot you they fire 1-2 warning shots. If you don't take the hint they start hitting you in your lower body/legs cuz these aren't dedicated snipers like target X, these are iron sight, banana wearing jungle hooligans..so they know nothing about bullet drop and zeroing etc.. Eventually they get more accurate the more shots they hit...but by that time you should have multiple actual snipers trying to snipe you down, a squad closing the distance towards you by flanking and not just b lining it to your LKP. Fan out and clear tactics.
It's actually incredibly hard to program right and make it feel like a real engagement.
Let's hear it. What are your ideas?

So to clarify 1 I am British so my terms my confuse people. 2. This happened in summer 2021 and also a heatwave. 3. names are changed for GDPR purposes.
I use to work in a care home for MJ a beautiful lady in her 30's with physical and learning disability also blind with fragile bones (which is important later). MJ a little petty and finds being naughty or cheeky hilarious.
I was out on a girly shopping trip for new wardrobe as MJ had drastically gained a lot of weight during over 18 months due to physio and hydro being cancelled due to covid and building work. Due to her needs her wheelchair is a little longer and bulkier than the average and her right leg support is straight out as she cant bend it . (also important for later), Also I have to explain what's going on every few minute so MJ knows what's going on and MJ doesn't always know if she's involved in conversations so this is also explained.
After a lovely brunch is a department store we headed down in lift. To resume the shopping. This is when the incident occurred. due to the size of her wheelchair she takes up a good portion of the lift so I have no room to move, can only wheel in and reverse out. As the lift lowered I could hear children approx. 5 -9 in age and guessing 4 in total. The doors took there sweet time to open.
When they did I quietly swore because the store had a massive redesign during the lock down and what was once a nice clear area around the lift was now a narrow area surrounded by a sofa and display stands leaving me a very tight turning space. I then realised the children I heard where using this narrow space to play It/tag.
I called out to them to Excuse me let us through please. No answer from children and no parent telling them to move . Children still running. MJ is already in giggles as she has worked out things are not going to the plan.
I am now aware that the lift doors will shut again soon so reverse out a little to make sure the safety sensors keep doors open. Also hoping this means the children's adult might notice me better and control the little chaos.
I hoped to much and they got louder so I got LOUDER. I shouted You need to move now your in my way. MJ is now in tears because she thinks I'm shouting at her and is asking why. So I whisper to her to not worry its just some naughty children blocking our way out and I might need to yell at them again and she calms down.
This is when the boy who I think was the oldest replied "where not taking up that much space just walk around us." So waved him closer and he came over I explained the problem. " You see these handles I'm holding on to" he nodded "this means its not just me I need space to turn MJ around, so please give us that space and sit on sofa". His reply "my mummy got through okay with my sister is our pram so you get your baby through too". MJ has decided to join in by singing, "I'm not a baby, your a baby, move naughty naughty baby" . I then spot the mummy and wave my arms in the biggest motions possible to get her attention. But apparently the lacy bra she's examine her hand holds all her brain power.
So I shout again. "I'm going to count to 4 and if you kids are not out of my way that's your problem not mine anymore". 1, still kid chaos, 2 , 3, nothing 3 and a half, FOUR !. So I reverse in one quick motion. I'm amazed that I didn't hit walk in to anyone. I take a moment to asses the best route to go and yes the children are still running around. but I no longer care. So I choose go to the section on the left and to do that I have to turn slightly right step backwards line up the wheelchair then go foreword. And the smallest child chose that very moment to run out right in to MJ's right leg support. MJ starts laughing at me for being a bad driver think I hit a display with her leg. I whisper to her what's happened and she laughs more, shrugs and winks at me "oops you told them". Children run over to see there crying sibling and one runs off to tell mum about the mean lady. I check the little girl over (I'm first aid trained and she risked more harm to MJ then her) and went to shop. That's when mum finally appeared and yelled at me "Watch where your going, you Spazzie Retard you hit my kid."
So In the UK these are about the worst words you can use to describe a disabled person. I took the worlds biggest breath and willed my professional BS filter to sensor my inner rage. But MJ had my back. " I can't watch where I'm going I'm blind and she had to parent your kids because you were too busy, she meant to help me shop not babysit kids , good bye B\*ch". I smiled sweetly trying not to laugh and we left her shouting about court . A staff member came over to see if we okay and I explained the situation and they go kicked out of the store of endangering customers.*
After reporting this story to the manager she laughed (unofficially told me served the woman right) and told me to record it for policy just in case she memorised the logo on my badge .But I did not get into trouble. No one was harmed apart from a possible bruise on the child's leg.

I hadn't been having many problems with the second next-gen update other than a mod suddenly preventing me from accessing the in-game mod menu. Once I discovered and removed the mod (Lobotomites fyi) I was back in action. All was well until the game CTD, for the first time after the second next-gen update. When I reloaded my save I was back in Saugus on one of the new questlines - but all of my items were gone, as was my companion, and a stream of "beginning questline" notifications came pouring in. All map locations had disappeared. I was level 102 but the save thought that I hadn't yet begun the game. I tried an earlier save. No dice. I went back to a save from 30 minutes in, just outside of the Vault 111, and it seemed okay. Then I played around for a while, went to Concord, saved, had dinner, reloaded in, and I was still in Concord but without my equipment and the beginning questlines coming in. I deleted all saves and began a new run. I saved just fine and, before exiting the vault, tried to load back in. Bam, back to the beginning though I was just about to leave the vault. The issue seems to have invaded the game files!
So I completed the instructions for a 100% full wipe from my PC and clean installation. I'm downloading Fallout 4 again and can't think of how this issue could possibly rear it's head again. Wish me luck just in case!

If you ever want to know what’s going on in the world, follow the money. Always follow the money.
So what do you think Ryan Cohen is going to do with the 36,847,842 shares that RC Ventures owns? Sell at the top after a giant squeezy run-up? Lol, no. How would that look, to other shareholders, to institutional investors, to employees, to the SEC? If he sells, what would happen to his control of the company, could he protect his remaining shares? And what would the price action look like if he tried to dump even a fraction of that amount at or near the top?
And let’s assume that RC is not a charitable benefactor whose only purpose in life is to rain tendies upon a legion of regarded apes. He might be in this to make money for himself and employees too. Follow the money.
RC and other GameStop insiders will need to sell or divest some day, maybe decades from now, to retire, to pass to family members, make charitable donations, etc. But they can’t benefit from a temporary squeeze here in 2024 if they can’t sell and the price returns to $10 afterwards. So follow the money...
For RC to get his billions, the gains need to be locked in - not for an hour or a day or a week, but for years or decades. So how can that happen? Follow the money!
This week RC proved that he’s in control of the message. Announcing the quarterly results early was a power move. It shows he can move the stock when he wants to. Shorts should be very afraid because RC is in control of the price (“always has been”, “used to too”). Friday’s price move was 100% intentional, they didn’t have to announce results early, they didn’t have to make a shelf, and even the most regarded investor would know those announcements would drop the stock. Not a mistake. Follow the money.
There is now nothing stopping GameStop from trading their own shares whenever they want, and they’re in control of the message. They can make strategically timed announcements. They have a billion dollars in cash. Soon it could be a lot more. They can buy and sell whenever they want to.
Have you figured it out yet? Here’s my hypothesis: the squeeze will be controlled by RC and it will put cash into GME’s bank account. GME can pump and dump their own stock for cash that will benefit long term shareholders. And nobody can complain because it’s the shareholders that benefit. Anyone swing trading is going to be roadkill. F*** your puts, F*** your calls, cry if you’re short, because RC’s in charge. And at the end, when all the shorts and most of the option traders have given their money to GME, GME ends up with MOASS money in the bank and a book value driving a share price that will stay high for years (which is also the very worst punishment for any shorts who were dumb enough to hang on). Then when RC or any long term investor wants to divest in 10, 20, 30 years they can do that and get their tendies whenever they want. No need to time it, the infinity pool will be there for infinity. That’s my hypothesis.
How does a retail investor benefit during all this? Follow the money. Who’s got 38 million shares, very little diversification, and no apparent exit strategy?
TL;DR: Follow the money. RC has a lot of money invested long term in GME.

Hi experts!
Me and wife are trying to figure out what's wrong here.
We moved 2.5 years ago into a used home where we replaced all carpets and hired painters to refresh all paint.
Painters were highly recommended and also painted our older home to put it in the market.
Paint job looked terrific so we were very happy.
However, about 6 months in (maybe a little earlier) we started noticing that the bathrooms started to have what looked like water drips in all walls. Even bathrooms we do not use as often.
We have an air exchanger that runs periodically and that we also set to run for 1hr every time we take showers (we do it in all bathrooms).
Even weirder, over time, we started noticing the same dripping patterns in walls nowhere near the bathrooms.
Now, the whole house experiences these drips.
Humidity is at normal values, windows don't show excessive condensation in winter (cold climate) nor in summer. We often open windows in warmer weather.
We think it might have something to do either with the used paint itself or with the painters maybe hurrying up the drying process (they had large fans to increase air circulation) but we have no clue what's wrong.
We were planning on NOT painting again whenever we sell this house but it seems we might have to a couple years from now when we move.
Has any of you seen this before?
TIA

Hot and cold, hot and cold. Hoping the hot offense shows up today.
Congrats to u/Jnbrkt (9-3) for a +/- 1 on Friday! Also, congrats to u/Impressive-Tank9803 (4/2) and u/OrangeBuffalo8 (4-2) for +/- 1 guesses on Wednesday!
Lucky Guess Standings

Rank	User	Exact	'+/- 1	Lost Tiebreaker	Points
1	u/Global_Painter1020	2	3	0	15
2	u/TommyPickles2222222	1	1	0	7
3	u/ngmatt21	1	0	0	6
3	u/kingfiasco	1	0	0	6
3	u/gnarkilleptic	1	0	0	6
3	u/Efficient_Wishbone93	1	0	0	6
3	u/DudeFoSho	0	4	1	6
4	u/jjk2	0	3	1	5
5	u/King_Clitoris	0	1	1	3
6	u/Sufficient_Expert333	0	0	1	2
6	u/malkusm	0	2	0	2
6	u/uncleslam7	0	2	0	2
6	u/Bmoreorioles1	0	2	0	2
6	u/OrangeBuffalo8	0	2	0	2
7	u/samir_katta	0	1	0	1
7	u/ngmatt21	0	1	0	1
7	u/Jormmy-NcKegHook	0	1	0	1
7	u/jeffreythecat1	0	1	0	1
7	u/Jeff_Banks_Monkey	0	1	0	1
7	u/Individual_Step6688	0	1	0	1
7	u/hiyazz	0	1	0	1
7	u/EarthquakeJake94	0	1	0	1
7	u/DaddyHausen	0	1	0	1
7	u/BowynArrow	0	1	0	1
7	u/bmorebetta	0	1	0	1
7	u/DrDinglberry	0	1	0	1
7	u/ThatTinyGameCubeDisc	0	1	0	1
7	u/VoteForWaluigi	0	1	0	1
7	u/Iciclewind	0	1	0	1
7	u/joystick13	0	1	0	1
7	u/MrTallGreg	0	1	0	1
7	u/Jnbrkt	0	1	0	1
7	u/Impressive-Tank9803	0	1	0	1

Comments must include:

• Final Score (winner must be specified)
  
• Tiebreaker question
  
• Format: [Score] [Winner] [Tiebreaker]
  

All guesses must be submitted by the posted start time to qualify.
Score will be as follows:

• Exact guess = 6 points
  
• Off by one run = 1 point
  
• In the event of a tie, the loser of the tiebreaker scores 2 points
  

If two users pick the same score with the same tiebreaker, the person who submitted their guess first will be awarded the 6 points. The same rule will apply when two tiebreakers guesses are equally close to the actual result.
Score will be tallied each night and submitted to the post-game thread (sometimes). They will also appear in the "Standings" section of future Lucky Guess posts.

Now let's play ball!

Tiebreaker for today's game is strikeouts thrown by both starting pitchers.

As always, please do not upvote any guessing comment until after the game is over and the winner is determined, then upvote the winner.

Matchup Statistics

You can find the lineups here before game time.
Orioles

Starting Pitcher	Throws	W-L	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	BABIP	FIP
Corbin Burnes	R	3-2	53.2	23.3%	6.7%	51.4%	.241	3.55

Mariners

Starting Pitcher	Throws	W-L	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	BABIP	FIP
George Kirby	R	4-3	50.1	25.1%	2.5%	35.0%	.273	2.89

Good luck!

From G2 Romain Bigeard Twitter:
Photo 1
Photo 2

Of course we are disappointed. We thought our efforts finally cracked the code, that it was our time to win it all, that it was doable. Eliminating T1 would have been the incredible start of a glorious and legendary weekend. But those recent wins were only a few steps forward, to be reminded by Faker himself that we are not ready yet. Thank you for the humbling, fuck you for the loss, see you soon for the revenge.
We went all-in for this MSI, opting for a really intense schedule. As many scrims/games as possible, balanced with daily recovery (sport/meditation/1o1/breathing), healthy nutrition (long live brocolis), strict schedule (3 pushups/1min late) and lot of game-related blocks (soloQ/VOD/1v1/2v2). The boys showed excellent discipline and were fully committed to the adventure. We had this common belief that we were on a great mission, and it scaled pretty well. The goal was for everyone to stay healthy (mind and body) until the end, so we could deliver the hardest punchs when it mattered the most.
It started with a 10 days bootcamp, to get into the rythm, adapt to jetlag, food, cultural chock, level up soloQ accounts, content/press, adapt our Berlin processes.
Our first official encounter was a banger, and probably our most interesting BO5 despite the loss. We pushed T1 to game 5, a needed confirmation that we are not "just" good domestically after the Worlds23 traumatic experience. It gave us the boost needed to dive deeper into the competition.
The PSG game was a real challenge as everyone was giving us winners, a powerful external narrative which can lead to carelessness. Underestimating your opponent, even unconsciously, easily leads to elimination. I'm proud of the players for the focused attitude they brought to the serie.
The TES game was interesting. They did not offer us the fight we were expecting, so we ended up going full speed into a seemingly weakened opponent. Our botlane had a statement game and it was a joy to watch.
Friday's game versus T1 was a frustrating experience. Despite good drafts and early game leads, we could not snowball our advantages. They pressured us in surprising ways, clicking better in most teamfights, outplaying us on clutch moments. The World Champions showed up and we could not close a single game. It was their day. GGWP.
Those international events are invaluable in terms of learnings. We played as many Bo5 in 7 days as in 2 full splits of LEC. We scrimmed versus the best for weeks, learning from their strenghts while they were challenging ours. We played in front of thousands of people cheering for us.
We are now back in Europe. Proud of the boys, a great fellowship of fighters, it's a daily honor to build memories together. I want to praise my staff, as we have a crew of badass humans, and the job done by Dylan, Rodrigo, Duffman and Isma to keep the team honest and accountable is a pleasure to experience. They are masters at their craft and they're keeping the leveling up possible. Thanks to all our fans for their support. Your positives messages are seen. You guys make us feel special, so we will make you proud. Keep the hopium warm, we will get the trophy. A few more months of grinding. And when they land in Europe, when the time comes to defeat them in front of our people, we shall be ready.

Edit: formatting

first previous next
Essemi chapter
The Defender of Virtues was … Well, at least it was capable of moving around, which was rather impressive considering its age. It was built during the Aviel succession crisis, more than a century ago. It was, at the time, a brilliant display of engineering.
To be honest, its sheer size was still impressive, and it was probably better to command it than a smaller, more recent ship. Its shape was a classic example of the later Altirian period, a sort of arrow as the main body, with two smaller one attached to the sides. On the side the artificial gravity considered the “top”, there were building-like structures, resembling a city.
The whole thing looked like it was built for atmospheric flight, which was very much not the case, considering it was more than 800 meters long, and as such would probably fall apart under the forces applied. But it was definitely stylish, even if a little outdated, and still very practical.
There were worse ships to be stuck on for months for sure, and the crew was pretty nice too, barring the exception sitting in front of me. Of course, I was the one who needed to manage Commander Zedbi for the foreseeable future.
“I have come once again to make my complaints heard, Captain.”
“Commander, it’s much too late for me to go back on my decision, even if I wanted to. Complaining now will accomplish nothing except waste everyone’s time.”
“Well, perhaps you should have thought about that before limiting me to bringing only three servants on board. Someone of my status needs at least five, even in special circumstances.”
“Commander, this is a long-term mission. Anyone we bring will be a significant strain on our precious resources. I consider three servants to be more than sufficient for our officers.”
“Yes, I guess you wouldn’t understand who would need more personnel than your mother was ever able to afford. Then again, you only have one butler on a captain’s salary. Guess the Temidian blood runs strong in your family.”
“Enough, Commander. Go back to your post or this conversation will be reported to high command on our return.”
“You wouldn’t dare! They’ll know I’m right!”
Curiously for someone so sure of his righteousness, he still left the bridge, letting me concentrate on the maps of what was known on Terra space. The answer was resoundingly ‘not much’. But we could speculate on what systems would be the potentially juiciest to settle for them, considering what we knew.
I was busy planning the best potential routes for our operation, when the absolute darkness I could see through the glass bay suddenly filled with stars, and the main alarm began blasting.
“We left FTL”, screamed a Licam operating the propulsion system.
“I can see that,” I mumble. “Cut the alarm and send everyone to their combat position. Every officer on the bridge. We need to assess the situation.”
I was already thinking. We were five days of travel away from Earth. We had just encountered an FTL disruption field. What could that mean? Well first of all, the map the sensors were building around us didn’t detect any significant body or hostile vessels nearby, which meant… The disruption field filled a significant part of the system!
For what purpose? It was obvious: traversing it without distortion would take us months. It was a wall. I quickly went over the implications. A disruptor station had to be manned, or at least, maintained. That meant they needed ships travelling for months at sub light speed to resupply these stations! That was quite the commitment to prevent us entry. Fortunately, we could easily turn back to exit the field and go back home, which is exactly what I ordered.
Then, something impossible happened. A ship appeared on the radar, as if it had just exited a jump. But it had done so in the disruption field. Even worse, the gravitational wave detector spiked, like we were now almost right next to the disruptor.
I realized that it was the case: this ship could ignore the disruption field, and as such it had no problem having the disruptor on board.
We began blasting at it with our energy weaponry, to no avail. They were essentially teleporting after each time they fired, always being gone by the time our rays reached their position.
After of few minutes of that pointless exchange of fire, were our weapons never hit and theirs did barely any damage, twelve new signals appeared on the screen coming towards us at a terrifying speed. Missiles! No, the way they maneuvered to escape our point defenses ruled that out. Strike crafts…
The Terrans were hopelessly outmatched in firepower, and elven of the strike crafts were destroyed. But the last one managed to slam in the left “secondary hull”, destroying it almost entirely. We could survive without it, but I doubted that was all the Humans had in stock. We needed to get out now, but how? We were in the middle of a light-hour wide disruption field, that our enemy could somehow ignore! But that gave me an idea. If it didn’t work, we were dead anyway.
“Activate the disruptor!”
My subordinates didn’t understand why I would do that when the enemy was clearly immune to it, but they weren’t paid to think, and they knew it! (Those who were paid at all, that is.)
as soon as our own field reached the enemy ship, they became a lot less jumpy. I was right, they could jump in the field they generated, but ours could still pin them down!
“Fire a relativistic missile at them and cut the field so that they can jump a second before it hits them!”
If we destroyed the main craft, I had no doubt the strike crafts would avenge it. If they fled, however, we might have a chance. Of course, the most logical course of action for them would be to dodge and finish us of, but I hoped one second would be a short delay enough to overwrite rationality in the brains of our opponents.
And I was right. After a few hours, when the enormous disruption field had completely dissolved, our enemies still hadn’t returned, and we were able to escape.
If Commander Zebdi had not met his demise during the battle, (a tragedy that took me several seconds to recover from), he would have probably pointed out that that we should have destroyed the ship at the cost of our lives in the name of honor.
I, however, was certain that the intel we were bringing back would be a more devasting blow to humanity than the loss of any ship could be. The fact that it allowed us to remain alive was merely a pleasant side effect.

Boyfriend

Yes, that's his actual name.
Strength - Steps on a plank with enough force to dislodge it and hit Daddy Dearest in the balls - Catches Girlfriend after she gets pushed off her speakers by Pico - Can apparently use his microphone to attack people - Can severely beat up normal people
Durability - Gets thrown into a wall - Gets punched into another wall with enough force to break a mirror - Recovers from his skin being clawed into, and being shocked, causing lightning
Other - Pretty fuckin' stupid. - Despite this, he still has some degree of street smarts, eg: knowing how to deal with a gunshot wound.

Pico

Strength - Cracks a Tankman's helmet and kills him, by hitting him over the head with his Uzi - Pushes Girlfriend of her speaker - Punches Darnell repeatedly - Breaks through a small wall of rubbish bags
Durability - Survives a small explosion, but nearly dies - [Limit] Dies to a knife thrown by Nene - Can take punches from Darnell - [Limit?] Randomly...dies? I don't know.
Skill - Swings his Uzi around while killing Tankmen, with no misfires - Perfectly times a bullet, and ricochets it off Nene's thrown knife - Dodges a knife thrown by Nene
Speed - Outruns Nene

Daddy Dearest

Strength - Punches through a TV, and swings it around - Punches Boyfriend with enough force to break a mirror - Implied to be able to beat Monster in a fist-fight
Durability - Shortly Recovers from being hit in the balls with a plank - Gets various sharp objects stabbed into his head - Accidentally stabs his hand
Other - Has a gun, more specifically the Browning Hi-Power - Able to seal Boyfriend's soul into a video game - Sneaks into Boyfriends house - Has a Boyfriend voodoo nendoroid

Mommy Mearest

Strength - Grabs Boyfriend with enough force to claw into his skin
Other - Can generate lighting - Turns Boyfriend into a figure

Darnell

Strength - Repeatedly punches pico
Durability - Takes multiple punches from Pico - [Limit?] Spontaneously just dies, I suppose
Other - Can improvise small explosives with Spray paints cans and a lighter. Although he can run out

Nene

Strength - Throws a knife with enough force to kill Pico
Durability - Takes a small blow to the head
Speed - Keeps up with Pico

Well, guys, I’m in a bit of a pickle. Please don’t judge me..I realize some of this was poor judgement on my behalf. But here I am. Please note that I am consulting with a couple lawyers next week.
Background:
I am a sport coach professional of 15 years. I have been working independently with a handful of private clients since 2018.
A little over a year ago, I was introduced to an investor who purchased property near me, seeking the guidance of someone such as myself to help develop the property out for a business in my related sport field. I did not seek this investor out, they sought me.
I told the owner I had no interest in running the business, but I would happily act as a consultant to get the best use out of the facility as well as get them connected with other professionals who may be interested in leasing the property upon completion.
We had discussed briefly what compensation would look like, with plans to get things down on paper the following week when the investors were in town. (You might be able to see where this is going).
Well, fast forward — the investoowner of the property decided they did not want to proceed with the professionals I had connected them with, and instead wanted to see what they could do to get me and my business partner in to operate the business. Keep in mind that the investors/owners know NOTHING about my industry.
At this point we are about 4 months into this whole dynamic or whatever it is. At the time, despite how dumb it may sound, I sincerely did not mind going out of my way to help a few hours a week with the guidance of developing this property. No one in the area can help them the way I can. This type of a facility is overwhelmingly needed in this area for our sport, and there are few other professionals, if any, in the area that can help guide the development of their vision for the facility. For the benefit of the community, the time I was putting in did NOT bother me. I wasn’t worried about getting paid, and trusted we would come to an agreement (as had been promised).
Well, upon being re-approached by the owner to please reconsider operating out of the facility, they sweetened the pot by offering an ownership share for the time I am putting in. We met for dinner, they had printed out a sheet outlining the infrastructure of the ownership between me, my business partner, and them. Although nothing was signed, I have a printed copy of what was handed to me. Again, you can probably see where this is going. The ownership offer for my time made it worth it to me to move forward and start this whole thing from scratch. At the time, I had no reason to believe they would go back on their word.
After the meeting, I began putting more of my time into the facility (10-15 hrs per week). By this time, I was working with my business partner to develop business plans, working with their lawyers for documents, and all the normal stuff of building a small business from scratch. I have a years worth of texts and drafts I made for everything regarding the business. We had weekly meetings with the project manager. I began interviews for the team, hired the manager, etc etc. Each week went by, with more conversations about our agreement, promises that lawyers were drafting the agreements, yet each week we wouldn’t see paperwork prepared for us. As I’m sure you can anticipate, the original offer has been redacted and changed last minute. I know, I am really dumb for letting this get this far. Please don’t beat me up more than I am beating up myself.
What they are now offering are three different options
— a small salary + a much smaller profit share percentage
— a bigger salary
— a small salary + a lump sum payment for my time over the last year
A lump sum payment for my time and walking away was briefly mentioned, and my gut is telling me to accept that offer. But I am worried that they may make it very difficult to receive payment for my time, because we never had anything in writing for my consultation except for what was discussed very recently with our project manager and written down (Again, no signing, but I do have a photo of what was written down for my consultation fee). We are a month out from opening, and I am feeling pressured by them to make a decision despite asking for the last 4-5 months to review the final agreement. “The meeting” where the original offer was redacted, involved a lot of degrading statements and manipulation tactics — I believe they are trying to scare me into quickly complying with shady business practices.
I opted for the lump sum payment for my time and smaller salary (verbally). Now, I am waiting for the documents to be sent over to me so I can review the specifications of the NDA and the non-compete with a lawyer.
Although everything the owner has done (the details of the meeting in which the original offer was redacted was terrible — the owner showed their true colors and although I feel dumb, I am generally a good judge of character, and was sincerely blown away) goes against my values as a person, the facility we have built would be incredible for my clients to experience. The follow up meeting with our project manager, where we discussed the details of the new offer and got the stipulations written down on paper to transfer to the legal documents, was one that they were trying really hard to keep me on board, “making up” for the previous meeting. The reality is, once we are operating, I wont be seeing much of the owner at all. Regardless, at this point, if it were for myself and myself only, I wouldn’t move forward. But because of my clients, I want them to be able to train out of a facility like this. We have NOTHING like this in the area. However, although the money isn’t worth it to me, with the encouragement of my spouse, I do believe I need to see something in my pocket.
I believe I have the upper hand because I bring the clients to the facility and the knowledge. The owners couldn’t do this without me and my business partner, period.
Here’s what I’m worried about (aside from the obvious if not already stated) —
The NDA and the non-compete are going to be ridiculous. To be honest, I don’t know what “Trade secrets” would be covered in the NDA aside from their financials…there are no trade secrets in my industry that I can think of. I do think they will try to cover something I discovered and discussed with the owner — lets just say, someone on the property who shouldn’t be on the property due to legal reasons. But this is public knowledge if searched (which is how I discovered we needed to talk about this person and get him off the property, or the success of the business is at stake). But I don’t know if that’s legally possible. However, I do know that I saved “them” by bringing this to their attention because if discovered, quite literally their operation would have been completely shut down and ostracized by the governing body of my sport (For good reason). I think they are going to try really hard to make it difficult for me to leave with the non compete.
Is there a way for me to negotiate protecting myself and the clients I am bringing to the business with the non-compete? Is it reasonable to negotiate that the non-compete cannot apply to the clients I am bringing with me? Or that, if I am fired, or the conditions of my employment change, the non-compete is null and void? How does the recent new ruling on non-competes affect this?
Do I have enough hard evidence to ask for my consultation fee for the last year and just end with that? Or am I completely screwed out of that?
Do you have any advice for me at all?
Like I said, I am meeting with lawyers next week who specialize in my industry and employment, but I just wanted to pick the brains of lawyers here about my situation. Their business practices are clearly shady, and I need to get my head out of my ass and need help with what I should be on the lookout for.

okay, i'll try to make this short as possible. it's going to be a lot though so feel free to just read the TLDR below which pretty much sums it all up in one sentence.
TLDR: ever since i got baptized in february 2023 i've had several nightmares involving tragedy, the "rapture" (whether you believe in that or not), gore and just overall scary images that leave me feeling scared upon waking up.
short little testimony: first started going to church in may 2022, accepted Christ as my savior, was baptized in february 2023. fell away for a little bit during the summer of 2023, went back to past struggles like vaping, SH and depression, OD'd and almost died july of 2023. repented and came back to Christ around december 2023. been pretty strong in the faith and consistent since then, reading my bible, church every weekend, fasting, prayer, etc. about to go back to serving at my church.
march 2023, the first dream: this was about two weeks after i got baptized. in the dream, my school bus (i was 15 at the time) crashed brutally in my neighborhood. there was gore and blood everywhere, screaming and wailing and crying. i was not hurt and i went up to the bus driver and she said to me something along the lines of, "too much innocent blood has been shed. Jesus is coming back soon." and something about the anger and wrath of God or whatever. i confided in a mentor about this and he introduced me to the idea of spiritual warfare and advised me to read ephesians 6. since then, i began to pray about it.
january 2024, the second dream: this was when i started coming back to Christ after my few-month-long period of being lukewarm and living in sin. i was 16 at the time. in this dream, there was a huge tornado outside and heavy winds, but no rain. thousands and thousands of deer were running rampantly through the streets, away from something- not the tornado but something else. and my dad came up to me and said, "this is it. this is the rapture. are you ready?"
in real life, this is quite ironic, because my dad is a war vet with extreme PTSD and is very lukewarm. he says he is saved, but he refuses to go to church with me every weekend and he doesn't read his bible. but oh well.
may 2024, the most recent dream: this one was last night. i am now 17. i was in some kind of unfamiliar church building and i walked up to a woman at some counter. i asked her something about if she was saved and the rapture may be coming soon and she responded, "baby, didn't you know the rapture already happened? Jesus has already come back. you've been left behind." and i just started screaming and sobbing. i experienced pain, regret, and fear like i have never felt before in my life. i woke up confused and scared. all of these dreams have been particularly vivid, but ive never felt such extreme emotion like in this one. and im slightly confused because i feel like if Jesus came back anytime soon, id be coming with Him? cause ive been doing a lot to grow in my relationship with Him lately, praying and reading my Bible and all the things. it's just scary to think about.
there have been several more nightmares, but i think these are the ones that show the biggest examples of spiritual warfare affecting my dreams. some nights i ask God to come into my dreams and protect my mind from Satan, and some nights i read Psalm 91 before i go to sleep. but i think i need more advice. is there anyone here who can advise me or give their opinion on such dreams? i believe that spiritual warfare is a very real thing, so im not one to take such dreams lightly.

I want to run something by you because I’m out my depth. We go to the same college and are about graduating. I was considering going to a university in Texas for my masters and she’s also university searching. Anyways what I said is how the state of Texas, USA does not allow abortions or marijuana. And I think any of those things may come in handy.
She’s upset. She’s saying that because I didn’t use us or we that means I’m implying it’s sex with other people and I’m telling her of my plans to have sex with other people which she thinks it’s weird. I don’t think it’s a normal inference to develop from my statement
As far as I’m concerned my thoughts on the matter are restricted to the exact words used there. i don’t think I’m responsible for the meanings you’re implying especially when I’ve explained the meaning I intended. I wasn’t thinking of sex or a pregnancy or anyone in particular just that a state with abortion laws might be useful
She also said that the statement implies I’m not including her in my plans for my future which I think is crazy cuz she were considering a school in Australia. I didn’t hear us and we then.
We’ve been together for 3 years and I think I’ve done the most I can while being realistic about a future with her. I say while being realistic because my dad has certain plans for my future which he’s made fairly clear. In my country there’s a compulsory country service period you do after university. My father wants me to skip it and go do my masters abroad immediately. She might do it. I use might because she isn’t sure yet. I do want to have a relationship with her post university but I also understand there’s a chance that might not happen. We’re really young and life’s unpredictable but wishfully thinking I’d love that. She’s convinced that I plan on dumping her when I get the chance. At first it was a quirky, cute insecurity but years later, after reassuring her consistently I feel out of my depth especially now we’re about graduating. It’s as though she’s finding everything she can to support her beliefs

I got a new cutter from a sharpener last week, and relapsed again, this time on different areas.
I havent done it for a few days because they found out. But my mom would slap me and try to pinch me after she found out, and my parents would say, “i thought you liked pain”
They have a point, but its still annoying. But i laughed for a bit, taking it as a joke at first. They also joked about giving me a bowl cut because i cut myself again, which i found funny too.
But earlier, i wanted to buy some stuff from online to make kandi bracelets, mostly so i have a new way to cover my scars other than to use armwarmers or to wear longsleeves. I asked her if i could get some stuff again because i’m not allowed to get stuff without their permission ofc
My mom said, “what other shitty stuff do you want to buy?” And she told me that she won’t let me buy anything until the scars healed.
I don’t want to be with them anymore, I wanna run away. Maybe I’m just sensitive because I didnt take my meds today yet (gonna take them after posting) but idk..am i the only one who doesn’t like this?? who doesn’t like how shes treating me like this?? But i feel like my feelings are invalidated because, “if you didn’t want this to happen then you shouldn’t cut”
I was so happy and i was planning to change how i look for summerbreak but now i just feel disappointed and angry :((

I’m 23 and just started my second job after college. I went from an assistant position in advertising with virtually no responsibility to an account manager at a different agency that oversees the work of multiple departments. I’ve only been at the new gig for about a month, but I keep making mistakes.
I’m worried because I’ve had so many screw ups in such a short period of time, some that delayed timing and one even making a team work this weekend. Every time I do something wrong, I make a note of it and ask for training. I’ll accept any feedback people have and I’m really trying to improve. But it feels more like I’m learning through my mistakes rather than from trainings/onboarding. A lot of the mistakes are things that are within my control, like misinterpreting directions. I’m just receiving so many emails and messages that it’s hard to fully digest everything before I have to act on them. It’s something to get use to, but it’s been a very hard transition.
My manager and director reassure me that I’m doing a great job. It will just take a while to get good a this job, but I’m worried that the onboarding period will pass and the immunity of being new won’t work. My worst fear is that I’ll get fired.
Is there a way to proactively get ahead of making mistakes at a new job or is it just something that takes time?

Story from my first ever playthrough.
First ever New Vegas play through. Hardcore mode, I’m a big survivalist sim kinda girl.
I said “these deathclaws ain’t shit” and stealthed my way straight to the Strip at a very low level. Along the way I picked up Boone as my one and only companion.
I finally caught up to Benny. Intending to work with him to overthrow Mr. House, and having not played before, I chose the “forgive” option. But that Sinatra-loving cuntweasel runs away, then sics his goons on Boone and I. We kill them all and get a message from the legion that they’re holding Benny at their camp, Caesar wants to see me blah blah blah.
I’m too weak to go alone, but I know Boone won’t take the diplomatic route. So I go back to Goodsprings and gear up for the fight of our lives. Trudy died in the powder ganger fight, so I looted all her shit and got a payday. Bought doctors bags, stimpacks, armor piercing ammo, etc but I’m still fairly low level so there are only so many options. But I did find a chainsaw somewhere and tucked that away for later.
Now, we couldn’t go through the dam yet. We had to go around, to the legion river crossing. As expected, Boone attacked on sight. With great effort we killed all the legionnaires and freed the slaves, then crossed the river. He gives me a dialog saying “I think we both know this is a one way trip” and I’m like hell yeah brother, they took your wife bro, go get your revenge.
We fight our way up to the entrance of Caesar’s camp. I was legit worried Boone would kill the legion children but nah, he’s a good guy. We’ve been together a while now, having fought our way through a heretofore unexplored southern wasteland to find the crossing. He’s really grown on me. I know nothing about the game or where to find any companions — didn’t even have ED-E at the time. Just Boone and I. And he saved me so many times.
But I know I’ll have to be stealthy if we’re going to survive, so I have Boone wait just outside the gates and throw on some legion armor. I sneak in and scope the place out but eventually a guard spots me. I fight as best I can but I’m in a really tight spot, limb damage, out of doctors bags, no stimpacks left, low on ammo, about to die.
Guess who comes heroically through the gate, SOMEHOW. Idk if it was a glitch or what, but Boone just ignores my order to wait there and starts sniping everybody and drawing their fire away from me. So I take advantage and loot some bodies for more weapons/stimpacks and then I head inside Caesar’s tent, Boone right behind me.
It’s the hardest fucking fight I’ve ever had in a game but I’m fucking doing it thanks to that chainsaw ignoring DT.
We’re back to back chopping these dudes up when, midway through, I get hit with the Boone has died notification. I only survived thus far on massive amounts of luck, trial and error, and HOURS of gameplay within this camp. I’m halfway to killing Ceasar.
So I dont reload the save. Boone fucking died taking those bastards out 😭😭
After Ceasar and everybody else is dead I chainsaw Benny, find Boone’s body and drag it to Ceasars throne, then sit Boone there looking out at all the bodies and gore.
Never completed his quest, but felt like an appropriate ending for me.
Then found the note to his wife. A game had never fucking GOT ME in the heart like that 🥺🥺

Waking up in the middle of the night I find myself restless
So much has come into focus in the last few days. The station, my first steps on another world. It is all a bit overwhelming. Relaxing my thoughts drift off thinking about how I got here. A young girl on Europa, being selected for training after my aptitude tests, the Academy on Ganymede. Then as always my thoughts drift back to… her…
Lucy…
We started at rivals at the academy, we were from different worlds. Literally, me from Europa a wet ocean world remote and isolated, her an inner worlder from the hot dusty plains of Venus. We were water and fire.
The professors pitted us against each other from day one, based on our aptitude tests we were the top of the class. They split the class into teams and gave us challenges. I like to say I got the better of her, I was fast out the gate winning a few challenges. But Lucy turned back on me in a vengeance, she had a magnetism to her that caused our classmates to almost be addicted to her. People from my team would defect over to Lucy. Soon I found myself vastly outnumbered.
One day after Lucy and her team thrashed me again in a simulated strategy challenge. I left and I needed to be alone. I showered, went into the sauna. Replaying the moves again and again. How was I going to get the upper hand. She outnumbered me so much.
Everyone knew to leave me alone in the sauna. It was where I thought, relaxed, my place of peace. I was frustrated, I lean back against the wall and let me hands wander. Gently down my body, letting my stress evaporate as I tease myself…Then the door opened…. And it was Lucy. A cocky grin in her face.
We had been thinking about nothing but each other and we had both become obsessed. When that tension broke. Let me just say in a sauna fire and water combine to make something beautiful. Lucy and I did as well.
She moved towards me quickly, letting her towel drop, she was direct with a purpose. Grabbing the back of my head and kissing me deeply. I was shocked.. surprised... Excited..
I grabbed the back of her head and kissed her back. A deep need inside of me welling up, our lips slid across each other's as our tongue intertwined. I poured my life water of passion into her. She flared up and accepted my passion. Her hands exploring my body as I moved my knees between her legs.
Fuuuccckkk…. When she arched her back… so beautiful… MMM nnngghhhh an orgasm washed over me in my bed while I thought of Lucy.
Panting… even after all this time, separated by a waygate and unfathomable distance my body still yearned for her, I still yearned for her. Rolling onto my side I stare out my window into the vastness of space and the void. My fingers still ryhmically dancing on my pussy. Fingers sliding in and out
Your taught at the academy not to develop attachments, especially since the top prize, the highest honor of our training, to one day fly a deep space exploration through a waygate. Which would put us alone, in a different system. Like I am now.
Even if I power up my waygate in record time and rush home. Lucy is most likely gone. She was my alternate, meaning had I been unable to go this time she would have. It also means she most likely the deployed to her own system and would be gone before I returned. Likely I would never see her again.
Biting my lips and pressing a hand out onto the glass…yes…yes.. there
Fuck again….Fuucckkkkk LLLLuuucccCC
EeeeeeeeeerrrrrreeeemmmmmAAAAAA, a beautiful black haired woman orgasms in a bed identical to Emeras save the ambient lighting is blue inside of pink.
Fuck…. That was good. I find myself panting as I step out into the hallway of my ship. 2 days since the waygate, 6 months since I last saw Emera. Since she departed through her gate. Stars know if she still lives.
It was a rare happening, another gate coming online shortly after Emera’s departure. I thought I would be flying routine patrols around the system. Now I'm alone. Alone with my thoughts of her, and my AI Julia. Fuck. Why couldn't we have gone together. Why only one pilot to a ship. Who knows maybe she's thinking of me. Technically the systems we are in are closer together than home. That's something…
You're probably wondering if I was outnumbered and Lucy normally had my number in competition then how did I get to leave first. Yes, I did sleep with high command. That was only my closing argument though. You see Lucy had her magnetism that caused people to be addicted to her, she drew people in. But I was better at strategy and nuanced maneuvers.
The rules weren't strict on the teams, people defected all the time. Keeping your people together was part of the challenge. I decided to break that challenge.
No Battleplan survives first contact with the enemy afterall. Why not break the competition itself
My enemy wasn't Lucy, trust me we had been together enough at this point my heart swelled when I saw her. My enemy was the rules, and proctors.
There had to be two team in the academy for the lessons to work. But the rules only set a minimum not a maximum.
Lucy and her best 4 left her team, and me and my best 4 left my team. We formed a new team with Lucy and I at the head. The proctors were fuming. I was called into their offices again and again. Which is what led to me sleeping with a few of them to get ahead. It is always good to solicit a meeting with superiors, you can always be turned to your advantage.
In the Academy, there were 50 of us girls. The proctors let us keep our 3rd team, but declared no one else could join us. It was the ten of us vs double our number on both the other teams. Not ideal… but we had Lucy and I together. My how we shined
We out maneuvered, out paced, and out thought the other teams again and again and again..
Entering into the final the proctors split everyone up, eliminating the team. Just to try and stop us from sweeping the competition. Instead there would be 25 teams of 2 members each of our own selection. Lucy and I naturally selected each other.
We set down on a terraformed valley on Mars, all the other duos were around. The mission was complex. Gather knowledge, survive in the wilderness, there were simulator villages where we had to set up relations, and if possible eliminate other teams.
The gravity is different from what I'm used to, my body feels heavy. Sluggish, they train us on this and soon I'll adapt. But first landing it hits me like a weight. Ffuuuccckkk I murmur as I land my account ship on the surface.
Lucy always compares a new celestial body to a lover. Well for me Mars just grabbed my hair, slapped my ass and pushed in
Fuck I can't imagine landing on Earth. Triple this, fuck that give me my moon mother's oceans anyday.
I suck deep and hard on the control in my mouth and all three extract from me. I am about to get up from the control seat when I feel a palm in the small of my back
“Lucy not funny, let me up” I say
She giggles, and rubs my ass cheeks before her fingers rub against my lips
I moan biting my lip as I push myself against her hand
“I knew the gravity here would give a Moonie like you a good fucking, you're so wet my love”
Rolling my head back and forth..”quickly we have to debrief and set up camp” I moan
She smacks my ass again and her fingers deftly slide to work, one hand pinning me to the chair while she teases my sex, her thumb rubbing in perfect circles on my clit and her fingers pulling on my g-spot
“Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes uuuhhhhh my love it feel so good” shaking my hips back and forth I feel it building as I rock my hips on her hand
Squeezing….my leg….quivering… my voice squeaking… “uuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh ffuuuccckkk” I moan as I feel the orgasm wash over me…
Lucy slaps my ass playfully and licks her fingers… “let's go my love, stop playing around we have to set up camp” she giggles
“Oh!! You!!” I get up and rush after her slapping her ass when I catch up
Carryalls follow us out of the ship.. I immediately sent out the scout drones and assessed our landing spot. Allocating tasks and running diagnostics.
Lucy set about converting the ship to a shelter and arranging power arrays, and deciding on perimeter defenses
We were a perfect power duo. Our carryalls and scouts were soon all at work, and Lucy was finishing up the shelter
I needed to repay her, so I slowly walked up behind her. She heard my heavy steps in the gravity. Turning to look at me she beamed at me. My heart melted and grabbing both sides of her face I pinned her to the side of the ship. Our bodies intertwined and our lips locked.
She moaned at me giggling, pushing my knee between her legs, and we quickly undressed each other. Her mouth on my breast, as my hand glided down to her slick vagina.
Grabbing her chin roughly and up turning her head exposing her neck I sink my teeth into it as I push forward with my knee back and forth pressing my fingers in and out of her.
A deep moan emanates from her, licking my bite mark I kiss up her neck until my forehead is resting hers. Eye to eye, I watch the pleasure build in her. Thrust after thrust of my knee. My fingers pressing into her g-spot every time, my palms pressing and grinding onto her clit
“Cum for me my love, give me your sweetness, I want your water to be the first I drink on this planet” I breath
I feel her pussy tighten and grip my fingers. Her legs twisting around me… she goes silent… a flush rises in her flesh… we kiss deep, and long, and passionately as I feel her gush onto my hand as orgasm rapts her body..
I watch her eyes dilate and relax I kiss her gently again before kissing down, my lips brushing through her pubic hair tickling my lips. Opening my mouth and pressing my tongue in I drink of her orgasm
My fingers inside pressing to work again, she cries out as she rocks her hips grinding her lips to mine. As she gushes another orgasm into my mouth..
I can even taste and feel it now on my tongue…
Releasing her, and helping her up I grin
Walking awayz the top of my leotard open my tits out in the sun
“I'm up by one my love, and you taste so GGGGOOOOoooOOooddddDD” I giggle setting back to work.
Days and weeks pass Lucy and I set up our camp. Wefind nearby teams before they find us. We quickly fall on them in the night, clearing our immediate area, eliminating them from the contest. We bathe in a nearby stream, sun ourselves on the rocks, make love on the soft moss of the forest.
I don't know if I've ever been happier, ever been more at peace l than I was then with Lucy. Her and I… her and I against the world.
We make good progress setting up relations with 12 of the 15 villages. Our camp is well stocked. We receive updates from the proctors from dead drops. Seems out of the 25 teams only 8 remain. Lucy and I have eliminated 7 ourselves.
We need to be the last standing, triumphant together.. so that maybe.. maybe we can convince them to send two of us on a ship. Imagine the wonders, this wouldn't be temporary, but would become our life.
Lucy and I talk about it often. We can convince them. We'll defeat the others then refuse to turn on each other.
Our dream died that night…
We were naked, curled up in each others arms when the alarm sounded..all the alarms
Proximity alert for 14 signals… they had teamed up on us. 14 on 2 they were going to eliminate the front runners while they still could.
Fuck.
Lucy and I turned and quickly downed our emergency biotic vials just as a concussive blast hit our ship shelter.
“Fuck! They aren't supposed to attack equipment!” I yell
“The proctors must have sent them, they should be intervening with that!” Lucy says
“You're better in a fight, charge them and I'll flank” I yell
We nod at each other and we are off naked as the day we were born
Lucy bursts from our ship her shield bursting out in front of her
I dart out the side and task our scouts and drones to make dive bomb attacks on the intruders
I leap over a blast, grab a tree branch and swing. I land my legs on either side of the head. Of one the attackers, twisting my flip her over and knock her out. Back on the run, I see Lucy take out another one as drones dive in and out of the chaos.
Lucy blocks to her right and charges blasting herself high into the air, twirling before blasting herself downward tackling her target to the ground and eliminating her.
She's about to get blasted from behind when I take the attackers in the flank, knee to the solarplex. My hand on the side of her neck I thrust up hard with my knee. In the low gravity she turns and flies off into the trees as I raise my hands and blast another in the side.
She turns just in time to block my attack, when Lucy rockets into her side with her elbow

After beating the game a few times now, I figured I'd write some strategies that helped me beat some hard bosses, namely Owl (Great Shinobi- I have yet to fight Father due to obscure questlines) and Demon of Hatred. There is no guarantee these will work for you, but these methods are what got me through these bosses. I highly recommend getting Ako's sugar, as I used it for both fights.

Great Shinobi - Owl

This is the boss that gave me the most trouble. Luckily, there's an easy- almost cheese- method of beating him.
Items - Ako's sugar, Mortal Draw or Ichimonji or the Ax prosthetic
As I said, this method is almost a cheese, depending on how you see it. Good news is, if you feel that Mortal Draw is too powerful, you should be able to use either of the other two and the method will work fine, it will just take longer.
What you want to do for the majority of the fight is punish his big moves. Things to look out for are his Nightjar slash, which he will use after throwing two shuriken. If you can time it correctly, you can dodge right into him and be in his face as soon as he lands, or dodge to the side to be safer. Once he lands, use any of the three skills above. If you are using Mortal Draw, I recommend only using it once as to save emblems, he will always block the 2nd attack. Once you are out of emblems, use it twice. Additionally, there is one combo you can punish. He will swing at you two or three times, but what you want to look for after that is two, faster slashes. After deflecting these two, hit him with a normal R1. Avoid the medicine charm, I've found it easier to not pursue him while it's out due to the finnicky hitboxes, but maybe attack him from behind or at range if you can. For the phase transition, it does not matter whether or not you attack him or just get near him, he will throw a smoke bomb. Be careful about the move where he jumps off your sword, as in the 2nd phase he will throw poison.
DO NOT USE: CHARGED R1 OR SPEAR PROTSTETHIC, he has a mikiri counter that can deal devastating damage. Shadowrush/hunt will not trigger the mikiri on this version of the boss. If your posture is broken, get up ASAP- he has a move where he will stomp on Sekiro and deal massive damage. Owl has a running slash which will almost always be followed by the medicine ban. There is a move similar in which he will throw a shuriken and then slash, you should do your best to deflect this, it will push you back but otherwise it will deal massive damage, to either your health or posture. This boss does heavy posture damage, so keep your health high.

Demon of Hatred

This boss absolutely sucked to fight the first time I did. I had killed him using a cheese and then fought him in reflection it was that bad. I've gotten a bit of a better hang on him now, although it's still a tedious fight.
Items - Ako's sugar, divine confetti, Suzaku's Lotus Umbrella, Malcontent, Yashikaru's sugar
You want to save the Malcontent and Yashikaru's sugar for the third phase, and the umbrella is not necessary. Make sure you have enough emblems to use Malcontent three times-12 emblems. You will only really get a few hits in at each window, so be careful. This boss has a much different battle flow than the rest.
A lot of the first two phases is running and chasing, so be thankful that Sekiro has no stamina bar. This boss is essentially Run to the Left + Punish Big Moves Simulator. By running to the left, almost all moves can be avoided. For the giant fire slam, either run away and grapple back, or use the umbrella. When he throws the fireball cluster at you, sometimes you can avoid by running to the left, but I've found this inconsistent. Often, the umbrella will be safer. For his combo, I tend to deflect the first, fire arm, hit, before being able to get close enough to hit him safely while the combo plays out. He has a perilous move in which he will drag his arm across the ground, you need to jump ASAP as this is often a death sentence. Other than that, often running to the left will keep you safe. His 2nd phase has a large window in which you can buff, before being hit by a nondamaging shockwave.
Third Phase - This is where you'll use the Yashikaru's sugar and Malcontent. Buff with both confetti and the sugar, then use Malcontent. You will have a fairly small window to get these activated. Once buffed, use an uncharged Malcontent. This will stun him for enough time to get 7-8 hits. After this, use Malcontent again and hit him until he gets stunned. If he still has health after the 2nd Malcontent + stun, use the third charge of Malcontent. This method has consistently killed him for me.
Hopefully these guides help someone, please feel free to criticize as this is my first time writing any kind of guide. I do ask that any criticism is useful, nothing just like "This is useless" or "Doesn't make sense." If these are well received, I may end up writing a guide for Emma/Isshin, as I just beat them last night.

Tom. Chapter 1. The mine. Mining sucks. All of your off time is spent in your trailer. It's supposed to be crush resistant, like that matters. It's supposed to be explosion resistant like that's going to help whoever's inside. It's supposed to come with windows but after you see the damage that flying rocks can do you quickly cover those up. Nobody talks about radiation hazards here. Nobody gets to go to the surface including the foreman so that means that everything is recycled in the mine. Water, air, most things are recycled in your trailer. You have power cells to run your equipment. And if you're efficient or if you're lucky then you have enough power left over after your shift to run your console for a time. So here you are day after day sitting in your gear in front of your console. Waiting for your trailer to be crushed by rock. You can hang out outside of your trailer if you want. But the aforementioned radiation hazards that nobody talks about are a little less so in the trailer. Nobody outside in this part of the mine anyway. Everybody works alone. A new wave of mining tools and suddenly instead of working in small teams, it's much more efficient to compete against each other. Besides anybody at this level of mining is a criminal or on the verge of exile. Friendly competition doesn't exist here. The criminal element is the reason I choose to mine as far as I can. To mine alone is one thing. To be alone mining alone is another altogether. Communication here is intermittent at best. You have a rescue beacon. But mining rescue costs money. Lots of money. Up front, and if you've decided to mine an irresponsible distance away from the Foreman's office, I doubt anybody's going to be coming for you. I've been at this spot for 6 years. The transport driver used to come out here but that was five years ago. Automated transport and it's just been me here since.

I have a friend who I have known since high school. We are 37. She is very social and I am not. She constantly wants to hang out. The problem is that she has never done anything directly to me personally, but she surrounds herself with shady people. She is not the best parent and she’s not very emotionally intelligent. I just don’t feel we connect at all. But the more I withdraw the more she keeps texting and calling to hang out.
She has a daughter who is wildly disrespectful and I am this girls teacher. She told me to fuck off in class two inches away from my face. Obviously, my friend felt bad about it but after she failed an entire marking period she took her to a tropical vacation and missed even more school.
I have shown up to social events with my kids not realizing that I was invited as a girls day only. I assume kids are invited because I am a mom but I feel this group is still in a girls hangout mentality. Although that would be nice, I just don’t have people to watch my kids so I can go on outings. She offers her teenager (the one who told me to fuck off) but there’s no way I am leaving my kids with her daughter or the people she hangs with.
Honestly, I just don’t value the same things she does. She herself is very successful in the physical realm but there are just some shady things I can’t entirely put my finger on or agree with. I just feel very guarded around her and my time is so limited I want my friends to fill me up, not confuse me. Ultimately, it isn’t my place to judge but I really ly would just like her to stop trying to hang out with me and regard herself as part of my inner circle. How do I let her down tactfully when she doesn’t seem to get the hint with my short texts and my multiple declines. Our kids go to the same school and some of the same activities so I don’t want it to be super awkward. I just want to withdraw tactfully without hurting her and get on with my quiet life.
She adds me to group texts and I really just don’t want any of it.

I was 15 and oh so cool I had a 21 year old boyfriend. He was also my first actual boyfriend past the carry my books and hold my hand kind of thing.
For years I pushed it away. Even after I hit adulthood I excused it. I was more mature and responsible than most at 15. I had to be. Due to childhood abuse I had been raising my little brother (10 years difference) for 5 years. It was school and him only. I took him with me when I babysat for money because I had been buying my own school supplies and clothes since 12. I got home from school, waited for him to get home, then went about my day. He would get off the bus and we would walk down the road to the 3 kids I watched (3:30 pm to 5pm on school days, 6am to 5pm when there was no school, and every other Friday night 7pm to midnight for their parents date night, something I had started doing when I was 11). I would make dinner over there for the 3 kids and their parents getting it on the table just as they were getting home, my brother and I would walk home and I would make dinner for him and my younger sister once we got there.
Then I would set about cleaning the house. There were 6 of us but my older sister was the golden child. She was frequently out with friends or doing after school extra curriculars (something I never had the time or money for) and my younger sister was "too little" to do chores which wasn't true.
After that I would do my homework and I still managed to take honors courses and graduate early. So you see, I genuinely believed I was not the same.
When I became an adult and had my first child I refused to think about it. I refused to remember much about my teenage life. It was awful so why should I? On top of that I didn't have time. I worked 60-80 hours a week, spent every free moment I had with my husband and children (which wasn't enough). Even with my work schedule I managed to go on field trips, always have some baked goodies around, I was a sticklier for the 45 minute tucking the kids in routine I had (talking about their day, picking a couple songs to sing, reading, etc). My house was spotless, we were always going somewhere (petting zoo, regular zoo, fishing, swimming, movies, etc).
I have 3 children now, I'm in my 40s, and unfortunately i have been waylaid by a host of chronic conditions. I sit at home, on the couch, I do as much as I can with the kids to still make their childhood full of memories as I did their sister (10 year age gap between #1 and #2 due to my fertility issues), but it is not nearly as much as I am unable to. A lot of it is reading together, talking together, or me sitting outside while they enjoy themselves running around or riding a bike.
This leaves me with an inordinate amount of time to think. And think I do. For awhile I dwelled on what was so wrong with me that I was the scape goat for my family. Why I was so unloved. And I fought thinking about that.
Recently I have been thinking about how I was absolutely groomed. And groomed so hard that when he dumped me after 6 months his 24 year old friend was able to step in and I never saw an issue with it. I so much so did not see an issue with it that years later, when I was 17, I ran into both of them in a completely different area (the odds right) and I started seeing the one that had been 24 when I was 15 again. So now I was 17 and he was 26. And I was not just shy of being 18. I was just turned 17 (was no longer living at home, had been tossed away as though I meant nothing).
I was groomed so hard that I could stand up and yell it to the streets that it is grooming. That I would hurt someone for so much as thinking like that about my daughters, and in the same breathe tell you what happened with me was fine.
Only it wasn't fine. More than 25 years later I am finally putting it into perspective, and it was not fine!
The worst part is, at one point, a friend (also roommate) convinced me to make a police report about it. Even though I would insist it was fine. It was still within the statute of limitations. I was 17, she had convinced me to stop seeing the 26 year old and to file a report. I was sitting on the couch and an officer arrived. I think I might have taken it seriously but the officer did not. He commented "oh so this is like a revenge report because the guy dumped you". I told him the guy did not dump me, i broke things off because everyone else insisted it was grooming. It started when I was 15 and he was 24 and since it is statutory rape my friend insisted on calling. The cop berated me for wasting his time and left. I shoved it way down after that. I was a waste of time.
I keep thinking about it now. I have panic attacks thinking about it. I thought about counseling, but when I tried to file that report all those years ago I was berated like that. I don't know if I am making a big deal out of nothing. Maybe it really wasn't that big of a deal and because I have so much time to dwell on it I am making it into this huge thing.