Main abg tiri
Alembic animation causing Vellum hair sim problems
2024.05.10 06:49 TrueNemoide Alembic animation causing Vellum hair sim problems
 | Hi! I'm new to Houdini and I'm having a real headache with this. I can't seem to find the right information to fix it. This hair simulation setup works perfectly with a static mesh. However, whenever I add a bend node (or in this case, import this animation of the same mesh from Blender), the hair guides go crazy! Any help would be greatly appreciated. submitted by TrueNemoide to Houdini [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/veaxi8t74jzc1.png?width=1917&format=png&auto=webp&s=6f907b5172c9578e81ca7fc63e801a3a435c2912 |
2024.05.01 21:29 Simple_Sail2459 Faze announcements video rankings
I don’t really watch max and silky so might be a bit biased so lmk
1) Lacy => actually fit his personality was funny and had some charm to it best actor in the group out of the 4 didn’t feel awkward at all 2) Max => All the budget went to this one was funny. Max’s aura was there no signs of fear and funny cameo of your rage Diddy being the main character and going to jail fits his personality . Felt like a movie 3) Jason’s => man lowkey had no aura corn level acting and had nothing to do with Jason’s stream / vibe if ba made the donation instead of banks it would’ve been a 10/10 but since no abgs at all it was cool ig but could’ve been better if Ron was in it or something best overall part was the end with the song and 0————-0 being brought up 4) silky => I deadass don’t know anything about silky but the party was the most weak party I’ve ever seen no aura no bad bitches the concept was cool like he funna lock in type shit but idk it was like whatever tbh nothing gained I feel like the TikTok rizz party looked way more fun than that party LMK y’all’s rankings mines 1)Lacy 2) Max 3) Jason 4) Silky
submitted by Simple_Sail2459 to jasontheweenie [link] [comments]
1) Lacy => actually fit his personality was funny and had some charm to it best actor in the group out of the 4 didn’t feel awkward at all 2) Max => All the budget went to this one was funny. Max’s aura was there no signs of fear and funny cameo of your rage Diddy being the main character and going to jail fits his personality . Felt like a movie 3) Jason’s => man lowkey had no aura corn level acting and had nothing to do with Jason’s stream / vibe if ba made the donation instead of banks it would’ve been a 10/10 but since no abgs at all it was cool ig but could’ve been better if Ron was in it or something best overall part was the end with the song and 0————-0 being brought up 4) silky => I deadass don’t know anything about silky but the party was the most weak party I’ve ever seen no aura no bad bitches the concept was cool like he funna lock in type shit but idk it was like whatever tbh nothing gained I feel like the TikTok rizz party looked way more fun than that party LMK y’all’s rankings mines 1)Lacy 2) Max 3) Jason 4) Silky
2024.04.30 23:44 Short_Ad3957 High humidity/damp soil plant recommendations
Hello,
My paludarium has essentially 2 sections, one is damn near sopping wet because of the splatter from the waterfall, and the other 1/3 is 'moist/damp'
Ive lost a lot of plants to the damp side, figured it was due to the water being splashed on the leaves, essentially only Monstera, pothos, and the bamboo plant survive over in that section, the pothos just thrives like crazy, and even into the water section.
Ive had the strawberry pegonias, even FERNS, wandering jews, persian shield, purple heart, spider plant , among other high humidity plants not survive in my paludarium, and the best conclusion is that the further they are from that waterfall section the better chance of survival lol. Also, I have tossed a bunch of pearl weed around the super moist areas and they have begun carpeting, which is funny because it is supposed to be an underwater carpeting plant lol
I even have a misting system that goes every 24 hours for a few seconds, this is to mainly water the plants in the pots in the background, even some of those dont survive either :-/ along with a fogger that runs every few hours for 10 minutes or so.
So Im wondering if there are any plants that just love watedamp substrate. Substrate is ABG mix with some potting soil, and little bit of charcoal.
I also have some inhabitants, vampire crabs, snails and shrimp, unsure if that matters for plants though.
The left side where the bamboo is where the waterfall is, so it's super damp there and gets dryer as you goto the right.
TLDR, want recommendations of plants that do fine in extremely damp/humid conditions
submitted by Short_Ad3957 to paludarium [link] [comments]
My paludarium has essentially 2 sections, one is damn near sopping wet because of the splatter from the waterfall, and the other 1/3 is 'moist/damp'
Ive lost a lot of plants to the damp side, figured it was due to the water being splashed on the leaves, essentially only Monstera, pothos, and the bamboo plant survive over in that section, the pothos just thrives like crazy, and even into the water section.
Ive had the strawberry pegonias, even FERNS, wandering jews, persian shield, purple heart, spider plant , among other high humidity plants not survive in my paludarium, and the best conclusion is that the further they are from that waterfall section the better chance of survival lol. Also, I have tossed a bunch of pearl weed around the super moist areas and they have begun carpeting, which is funny because it is supposed to be an underwater carpeting plant lol
I even have a misting system that goes every 24 hours for a few seconds, this is to mainly water the plants in the pots in the background, even some of those dont survive either :-/ along with a fogger that runs every few hours for 10 minutes or so.
So Im wondering if there are any plants that just love watedamp substrate. Substrate is ABG mix with some potting soil, and little bit of charcoal.
I also have some inhabitants, vampire crabs, snails and shrimp, unsure if that matters for plants though.
The left side where the bamboo is where the waterfall is, so it's super damp there and gets dryer as you goto the right.
TLDR, want recommendations of plants that do fine in extremely damp/humid conditions
2024.04.30 12:30 JulianSkies Black River, White Tail - Ch1 "Rainy Trail"
[<-PREV][FIRST][NEXT->]
Still, there had been nothing happening around Blackriver aside from a small pest call a couple of days ago and Keya hadn’t screamed as loudly in the recent days. So he’d taken to doing some more studies, he did love animals after all and finally he had chances to learn about skalgan wildlife. His idle studies of random facts, however, was interrupted by the patter of his boss’ claws on the floor.
“Are you sure there isn’t someone better for this?” turning around to look, he saw Keya walking into the main office fully focused on her holopad. She held it close to her head, entrenched in some conversation he could only hear one half of “The Regional is still giving you that much trouble? Didn’t headquarters change up their staff at this point?” there’s a beat “Ah, I see. I suppose availability goes for bigger cities first”
With complete casual effort, she pulls a chair and brings it closer to Santos’ desk, sitting on it “Keep trying to get someone with actual expertise in this, we’re pulling out as soon as you do. But for now I think we can make do but I swear you will owe me for this” she finishes the call, before tilting her head slightly and turning her ears towards her human coworker “How’re you doing right now?” she asks him.
With a deep, slow, sighs Santos looks up at the ceiling “I was bored. Now I’m dreading. Tell me this is going to be something simple, for once?”
Keya’s tail sways right and left in an uncertain motion “Precinct in Everrain Valley, bit of a tourist town, needs some help. Just remote work, but they’ve got some new information and some old cases they want to review.” Santos furrows his eyebrows as he focuses his eyes on the one facing him “Look, I told them we’re no experts, but all of the actual police consultants the UN had available have been sowed over to the larger cities. And the closest thing to someone with some expertise in forensics to some degree they could find was you”
“Can never be simple…” Santos presses a button on his holopad to close the previous information he was looking at “So, what is it?”
Keya brings her own closer to his, transferring the call over “Just look at some three old cases from Everrain. They were marked as gandri kills, but new information has made them re-evaluate that idea.”
Santos raises an eyebrow at his boss, before looking back at his pad. Who was on the other side of the call was perhaps the skinniest gojid he had ever seen, for a species with such naturally wide and thick frames this man was built like a beanpole. “Ah, you’re the human I’ve heard much about! Tiri, at your pleasure.” even his voice was squeaky for a gojid.
“That would be me, Santos. Boss said you had some old cases that needed looking over?”
“Indeed” Tiri leans back on his chair “How up to date are you with the native fauna? I know you’re good with it, Protector knows better than we are, but did you look over the gandri?”
Santos presses a few symbols on his holopad, summoning up a different screen beside the one with the call, a quick cursory search brings up a somewhat goof little beast- Long, sinuous body somewhat reminiscent of a snake but much shorter, short stubby paws on the back of the body and equally short but thick claws at the front, smooth scales across its body. Like a weird reptilian dachshund with large claws “Yeah, been reading on those. Don’t seem too dangerous despite a few reported attacks, funky little lizardsnakes. Haven’t seen any records about their habits”
“Big dangerous claws, forward-facing eyes, what else is there to look at, right?” Santos raises an eyebrow as Tiri offers an awkward, toothy grin that was clearly forced. Then, with a couple of commands they summon a new screen to show him showing a diagram of a set of teeth “Until your people started showing how to properly understand animals- Or well, I should say, your people made it safe for ours that always had this interest to actually do their jobs. And we ran into this”
The diagram of the teeth gained new colors, showing different types “Mostly tough molars, couple sharp incisors… Specialized herbivore teeth. On a beast with forward-facing eyes and large claws?”
“On a very awkward beast whose claws are absolutely built for cutting given their curvature” Santos taps idly at the claws in the image on his screen
Tiri taps his own claws on his desk “What a misunderstood little burrower. I’ve been, personally, studying them. They’re root eaters! We’re lucky we’re not a farming town here! I’d love to know more about their place in the biosphere, but-”
“But you have deaths with marks matching that of gandri, I take it?”
Tiri brings up a new image, it is a rather strange mass of… Something, that seems to be uncooked dough. There are three long marks in it, ragged and uneven cuts caused by quite obviously long claws. From how ragged they are, the claws seemed to struggle deeply to make any kind of cut.
Then, Tiri summons a second image, this time of a sheet of paper which has been just thoroughly destroyed by presumably the same set of claws. “Tried using the same paper method I read about you using, but let me tell you gandri do not like those claws. Had to use move their claws across it myself and look what happened. Did some further research and after a call to the police department on Dayside, bless those officers, I’ve got a recipe to mix a this… False flesh mixture. Fascinating, let me tell you. Still couldn’t coax the gandri to attack no matter what, so I had to once again push their claws against the material myself”
Santos leans back on his chair to think, he stays in silence for a moment until something a little surprising happens on the other side of the call, a long sinuous body appears on the Tiri’s desk, and the gojid gently offers a palm-up paw to the seemingly-lethargic wandering gandri. The beast walks up the offered pawn and simply flops itself on the gojid’s arm “That’s a wild beast… Are they that non-aggressive?”
“Big reason why we’re certain this isn’t because of them. They just don’t attack, when threatened they just try to burrow. I mean, amateur research on my part, but i’m confident”
Santos pushes away all of the other screens “Do you have any image of the actual wounds of the cases?”
Showing quite clearly that he’s using his off-hand, Tiri awkwardly calls up a few more images. One is just of a kolshian’s body from a distance, the grass beneath it stained purple. The second image is that of a nevok, though the image is closer this time and the grievous wounds on the chest are visible. They’re uneven and numerous, having turned the body into a terrible mess “How long was this second one dead before they were found?”
Tiri does something on their end of the call “Unknown, per se, but they were missing for at least four paws prior.”
Tapping gently the bridge of his nose, Santos thinks for a moment before calling up a search screen on his own pad, after a couple of minutes of silence he finds the information he wanted “Hrm… Body should be showing more signs of decay, nevok blood degrades faster than most. And if you’re right about how much effort it took you to make gandri use their claws… Then it doesn’t make sense to have this much damage.”
With another movement, Tiri pulls up the third image, or rather set of images. This time there’s been a few different photos from different angles of the damage the fissan had suffered. Santos takes a moment to pull out a sketching program, recently acquired free application from human networks, and starts tracing the profile of the wounds. After a few seconds observing Tiri tilt his head he shares the screen with the other exterminator, showing him the process of getting a wound profile “Again, I’m not a forensics expert. But this…”
Five sets of wounds, a pretty gruesome destruction of the torso. The wound pattern definitely did not match the patterns that Tiri had gotten out of the gandri, and he was about to start checking it against the database of known damage patterns when something caught his attention. With a very small amount of image editing he zooms in on the upper body of the mauled fissan, not focusing on the wound but on the shoulders… Though somewhat difficult to see… “Wounds on the shoulder, clean of blood but still open” he comments
The gojid on the other side of the call taps a claw on the table before, presumably, doing a similar process on his end. He tilts his head one way and the other, trying to focus his vision more sharply “I see what you mean… With all the blood elsewhere, those went by unnoticed- If those were old they should have been closed” for the span of five heartbeats, the two remain in silence
“I’m going to see if I can get someone from the police involved” Tiri announces, busying both paws with the lizard lazying in his arm” At least some of them have had to have finished their training but- Damn, the police department here haven’t even started theirs, I don’t know of the others have any personnel or-” for a moment, his ears fold back as his stare focuses on infinity “No, not considering the other alternative. I know you had some experience with that, do you think you could-”
“We’ll send someone, two officers. But I want two in return while they’re there” Santos nearly jumps out of his chair, pushing it away from the venlil that he had forgotten had been hovering around his shoulder “Go get your team ready, I’ll be sending mine off as soon as I’m able”
“Thanks a lot, Keya. I owe you one”
“Nonsense” she waves dismissively with her tail, despite the fact it’s out of the camera “We should have been working closer like this from the start”
With the call finished, Santos sighs as he closes the multiple screens on his holopad. He starts to disconnect it from the secure connection on his desk when his boss puts a paw on his shoulder “Nope, you’re not going mister human”
“Bu-”
“No!” Keya puts a little bit more pressure “This is not your specialty, this is not what you’re made for.” she sighs, touching gently one of her belt satchels with her free paw “And it’s past the point we start handling those burdens ourselves. You’re just another one of my officers, that’s it. And for this mission I’m sending Marik and…” she looks around at the office, at the attentive ears aimed at her “Aren. They should be the best suited for this kind of work”
Santos takes a deep breath, rubbing his eyes “Alright, alright. I’ll let them do the police work, Marik prefers that part of the job anyway and Aren’s basically a firefighter anyway” then he turns back to his partially unhooked holopad, and fixes the connection “But I’ll be looking over them anyway, just to feel like I’m not ignoring the thing, okay?”
Before she can protest any further, a tail slaps her on the shoulder “If you don’t let him do that he’ll do it without permission” Aren whistles by her side “What about firefighters have anything to do with this, anyway?” he asks his human companion.
He shrugs “Where I’m from they’re part of the police”
Aren first stops by his desk, they might have mostly slow days in this little town but an exterminator must always be ready. He quickly detaches his holopad from the secure connector, puts it on his belt and picks up a couple of clip-on satchels to add to it; he preferred to keep some old and new tricks on hand for any eventuality.
When Aren arrived at the armory, he saw the void-black venlil already preparing weapons. There were two on the table as well as a clip-on holster for one of them and a bandolier for the other. A long rifle with dark red plastic stock, the coils machined into the barrel at specific lengths, the timing electronics hidden and protected by the metal. He picks it up, pointing it down he opens the back of the stock revealing the battery reading full, closing it he picks up the holster up one of the two magazines he’d been assigned and looks inside, this one was full of metallic sabots encasing tranquilizer darts, so he loads it in the gun and clips on the bandolier before throwing it over his sohulder, the second magazine has solid metal slugs in it and he stores it in a pocket at his waist.
The second gun is a small pistol, a similarly-designed coilgun but instead of the electronics being protected by a metallic shell, instead the barrel and its accompanying electronics are encased in a rectangular barrier of opaque black resin. He puts the gun in the waist holster and picks up one of the two magazines for it, another one with metallic sabots for the tranquilizer darts, less darts in the pistol than the rifle as the pistol’s battery was located in this magazine. As expected, the second mag had solid slugs “Coil pistols?” he asks as he pulls the worn out armorer holopad to sign the guns he’s picked up.
Marik turns his eyes to him, facing him head on as he’s began to do those days “Managed to get some from another precinct with a better Regional. If we’re going to ostensibly do police work we need to be prepared.” then he looks back down at a different rifle, it had a long metallic barrel, with visible accelerator rails instead of coils, though some wiring was visible on the outside connecting the rails to something hidden within the stock made of red wood it was tautly pulled and organized, a slide was present at the side to adjust some inner working and it had a human-make lens perched on it. Also, unlike any modern weapon, it lacked a magazine. “Also, last time we dealt with a proper murder we needed something that worked faster than a tranquilizer”
The noise of the electronic lock squawking signifies the door of the armory opening, and the heavy metal slam signifies it closing behind Marik. Aren follows his coworker towards the garage, making a beeline for their sole car. He does a double-take as Marik continues walking before realising where he is going as they both head to the man’s personal vehicle on the other end of the parking space.
It does not take long for them to have made their way out of the garage into the streets outside. Aren looks up at the cloudy sky, raising his right paw he stares at the burn marks in his arm.
“Why do I feel like something strange is going to happen?”
[<-PREV][FIRST][NEXT->]
Ooh, what is this? A little bit of Blackriver, separated from the main story? Well, here's something a bit special :D
submitted by JulianSkies to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]
Chapter 1 - Rainy Trail
At this point, Santos didn’t know whether slow days were a blessing or a curse. By all means, every day should be a slow day, the guild’s work was work that should not happen often, if at all. And yet, every time something terrible happened, it started with a slow day.Still, there had been nothing happening around Blackriver aside from a small pest call a couple of days ago and Keya hadn’t screamed as loudly in the recent days. So he’d taken to doing some more studies, he did love animals after all and finally he had chances to learn about skalgan wildlife. His idle studies of random facts, however, was interrupted by the patter of his boss’ claws on the floor.
“Are you sure there isn’t someone better for this?” turning around to look, he saw Keya walking into the main office fully focused on her holopad. She held it close to her head, entrenched in some conversation he could only hear one half of “The Regional is still giving you that much trouble? Didn’t headquarters change up their staff at this point?” there’s a beat “Ah, I see. I suppose availability goes for bigger cities first”
With complete casual effort, she pulls a chair and brings it closer to Santos’ desk, sitting on it “Keep trying to get someone with actual expertise in this, we’re pulling out as soon as you do. But for now I think we can make do but I swear you will owe me for this” she finishes the call, before tilting her head slightly and turning her ears towards her human coworker “How’re you doing right now?” she asks him.
With a deep, slow, sighs Santos looks up at the ceiling “I was bored. Now I’m dreading. Tell me this is going to be something simple, for once?”
Keya’s tail sways right and left in an uncertain motion “Precinct in Everrain Valley, bit of a tourist town, needs some help. Just remote work, but they’ve got some new information and some old cases they want to review.” Santos furrows his eyebrows as he focuses his eyes on the one facing him “Look, I told them we’re no experts, but all of the actual police consultants the UN had available have been sowed over to the larger cities. And the closest thing to someone with some expertise in forensics to some degree they could find was you”
“Can never be simple…” Santos presses a button on his holopad to close the previous information he was looking at “So, what is it?”
Keya brings her own closer to his, transferring the call over “Just look at some three old cases from Everrain. They were marked as gandri kills, but new information has made them re-evaluate that idea.”
Santos raises an eyebrow at his boss, before looking back at his pad. Who was on the other side of the call was perhaps the skinniest gojid he had ever seen, for a species with such naturally wide and thick frames this man was built like a beanpole. “Ah, you’re the human I’ve heard much about! Tiri, at your pleasure.” even his voice was squeaky for a gojid.
“That would be me, Santos. Boss said you had some old cases that needed looking over?”
“Indeed” Tiri leans back on his chair “How up to date are you with the native fauna? I know you’re good with it, Protector knows better than we are, but did you look over the gandri?”
Santos presses a few symbols on his holopad, summoning up a different screen beside the one with the call, a quick cursory search brings up a somewhat goof little beast- Long, sinuous body somewhat reminiscent of a snake but much shorter, short stubby paws on the back of the body and equally short but thick claws at the front, smooth scales across its body. Like a weird reptilian dachshund with large claws “Yeah, been reading on those. Don’t seem too dangerous despite a few reported attacks, funky little lizardsnakes. Haven’t seen any records about their habits”
“Big dangerous claws, forward-facing eyes, what else is there to look at, right?” Santos raises an eyebrow as Tiri offers an awkward, toothy grin that was clearly forced. Then, with a couple of commands they summon a new screen to show him showing a diagram of a set of teeth “Until your people started showing how to properly understand animals- Or well, I should say, your people made it safe for ours that always had this interest to actually do their jobs. And we ran into this”
The diagram of the teeth gained new colors, showing different types “Mostly tough molars, couple sharp incisors… Specialized herbivore teeth. On a beast with forward-facing eyes and large claws?”
“On a very awkward beast whose claws are absolutely built for cutting given their curvature” Santos taps idly at the claws in the image on his screen
Tiri taps his own claws on his desk “What a misunderstood little burrower. I’ve been, personally, studying them. They’re root eaters! We’re lucky we’re not a farming town here! I’d love to know more about their place in the biosphere, but-”
“But you have deaths with marks matching that of gandri, I take it?”
Tiri brings up a new image, it is a rather strange mass of… Something, that seems to be uncooked dough. There are three long marks in it, ragged and uneven cuts caused by quite obviously long claws. From how ragged they are, the claws seemed to struggle deeply to make any kind of cut.
Then, Tiri summons a second image, this time of a sheet of paper which has been just thoroughly destroyed by presumably the same set of claws. “Tried using the same paper method I read about you using, but let me tell you gandri do not like those claws. Had to use move their claws across it myself and look what happened. Did some further research and after a call to the police department on Dayside, bless those officers, I’ve got a recipe to mix a this… False flesh mixture. Fascinating, let me tell you. Still couldn’t coax the gandri to attack no matter what, so I had to once again push their claws against the material myself”
Santos leans back on his chair to think, he stays in silence for a moment until something a little surprising happens on the other side of the call, a long sinuous body appears on the Tiri’s desk, and the gojid gently offers a palm-up paw to the seemingly-lethargic wandering gandri. The beast walks up the offered pawn and simply flops itself on the gojid’s arm “That’s a wild beast… Are they that non-aggressive?”
“Big reason why we’re certain this isn’t because of them. They just don’t attack, when threatened they just try to burrow. I mean, amateur research on my part, but i’m confident”
Santos pushes away all of the other screens “Do you have any image of the actual wounds of the cases?”
Showing quite clearly that he’s using his off-hand, Tiri awkwardly calls up a few more images. One is just of a kolshian’s body from a distance, the grass beneath it stained purple. The second image is that of a nevok, though the image is closer this time and the grievous wounds on the chest are visible. They’re uneven and numerous, having turned the body into a terrible mess “How long was this second one dead before they were found?”
Tiri does something on their end of the call “Unknown, per se, but they were missing for at least four paws prior.”
Tapping gently the bridge of his nose, Santos thinks for a moment before calling up a search screen on his own pad, after a couple of minutes of silence he finds the information he wanted “Hrm… Body should be showing more signs of decay, nevok blood degrades faster than most. And if you’re right about how much effort it took you to make gandri use their claws… Then it doesn’t make sense to have this much damage.”
With another movement, Tiri pulls up the third image, or rather set of images. This time there’s been a few different photos from different angles of the damage the fissan had suffered. Santos takes a moment to pull out a sketching program, recently acquired free application from human networks, and starts tracing the profile of the wounds. After a few seconds observing Tiri tilt his head he shares the screen with the other exterminator, showing him the process of getting a wound profile “Again, I’m not a forensics expert. But this…”
Five sets of wounds, a pretty gruesome destruction of the torso. The wound pattern definitely did not match the patterns that Tiri had gotten out of the gandri, and he was about to start checking it against the database of known damage patterns when something caught his attention. With a very small amount of image editing he zooms in on the upper body of the mauled fissan, not focusing on the wound but on the shoulders… Though somewhat difficult to see… “Wounds on the shoulder, clean of blood but still open” he comments
The gojid on the other side of the call taps a claw on the table before, presumably, doing a similar process on his end. He tilts his head one way and the other, trying to focus his vision more sharply “I see what you mean… With all the blood elsewhere, those went by unnoticed- If those were old they should have been closed” for the span of five heartbeats, the two remain in silence
“I’m going to see if I can get someone from the police involved” Tiri announces, busying both paws with the lizard lazying in his arm” At least some of them have had to have finished their training but- Damn, the police department here haven’t even started theirs, I don’t know of the others have any personnel or-” for a moment, his ears fold back as his stare focuses on infinity “No, not considering the other alternative. I know you had some experience with that, do you think you could-”
“We’ll send someone, two officers. But I want two in return while they’re there” Santos nearly jumps out of his chair, pushing it away from the venlil that he had forgotten had been hovering around his shoulder “Go get your team ready, I’ll be sending mine off as soon as I’m able”
“Thanks a lot, Keya. I owe you one”
“Nonsense” she waves dismissively with her tail, despite the fact it’s out of the camera “We should have been working closer like this from the start”
With the call finished, Santos sighs as he closes the multiple screens on his holopad. He starts to disconnect it from the secure connection on his desk when his boss puts a paw on his shoulder “Nope, you’re not going mister human”
“Bu-”
“No!” Keya puts a little bit more pressure “This is not your specialty, this is not what you’re made for.” she sighs, touching gently one of her belt satchels with her free paw “And it’s past the point we start handling those burdens ourselves. You’re just another one of my officers, that’s it. And for this mission I’m sending Marik and…” she looks around at the office, at the attentive ears aimed at her “Aren. They should be the best suited for this kind of work”
Santos takes a deep breath, rubbing his eyes “Alright, alright. I’ll let them do the police work, Marik prefers that part of the job anyway and Aren’s basically a firefighter anyway” then he turns back to his partially unhooked holopad, and fixes the connection “But I’ll be looking over them anyway, just to feel like I’m not ignoring the thing, okay?”
Before she can protest any further, a tail slaps her on the shoulder “If you don’t let him do that he’ll do it without permission” Aren whistles by her side “What about firefighters have anything to do with this, anyway?” he asks his human companion.
He shrugs “Where I’m from they’re part of the police”
Aren first stops by his desk, they might have mostly slow days in this little town but an exterminator must always be ready. He quickly detaches his holopad from the secure connector, puts it on his belt and picks up a couple of clip-on satchels to add to it; he preferred to keep some old and new tricks on hand for any eventuality.
When Aren arrived at the armory, he saw the void-black venlil already preparing weapons. There were two on the table as well as a clip-on holster for one of them and a bandolier for the other. A long rifle with dark red plastic stock, the coils machined into the barrel at specific lengths, the timing electronics hidden and protected by the metal. He picks it up, pointing it down he opens the back of the stock revealing the battery reading full, closing it he picks up the holster up one of the two magazines he’d been assigned and looks inside, this one was full of metallic sabots encasing tranquilizer darts, so he loads it in the gun and clips on the bandolier before throwing it over his sohulder, the second magazine has solid metal slugs in it and he stores it in a pocket at his waist.
The second gun is a small pistol, a similarly-designed coilgun but instead of the electronics being protected by a metallic shell, instead the barrel and its accompanying electronics are encased in a rectangular barrier of opaque black resin. He puts the gun in the waist holster and picks up one of the two magazines for it, another one with metallic sabots for the tranquilizer darts, less darts in the pistol than the rifle as the pistol’s battery was located in this magazine. As expected, the second mag had solid slugs “Coil pistols?” he asks as he pulls the worn out armorer holopad to sign the guns he’s picked up.
Marik turns his eyes to him, facing him head on as he’s began to do those days “Managed to get some from another precinct with a better Regional. If we’re going to ostensibly do police work we need to be prepared.” then he looks back down at a different rifle, it had a long metallic barrel, with visible accelerator rails instead of coils, though some wiring was visible on the outside connecting the rails to something hidden within the stock made of red wood it was tautly pulled and organized, a slide was present at the side to adjust some inner working and it had a human-make lens perched on it. Also, unlike any modern weapon, it lacked a magazine. “Also, last time we dealt with a proper murder we needed something that worked faster than a tranquilizer”
The noise of the electronic lock squawking signifies the door of the armory opening, and the heavy metal slam signifies it closing behind Marik. Aren follows his coworker towards the garage, making a beeline for their sole car. He does a double-take as Marik continues walking before realising where he is going as they both head to the man’s personal vehicle on the other end of the parking space.
It does not take long for them to have made their way out of the garage into the streets outside. Aren looks up at the cloudy sky, raising his right paw he stares at the burn marks in his arm.
“Why do I feel like something strange is going to happen?”
Ooh, what is this? A little bit of Blackriver, separated from the main story? Well, here's something a bit special :D
2024.04.29 06:32 PsychoThinker1822 Had the very first heartbreak and can't comprehend. Please help.
TL;DR: My first relationship ended after 2 years, filled with family drama, mental health struggles, and constant fights. Despite my efforts to make things work, including sacrificing friendships and financial stability, my partner became distant, compared me to others, and eventually admitted to hanging out with someone else. I made mistakes too, struggling with bipolar disorder and inadvertently causing harm by involving others. Now, I'm devastated, experiencing panic attacks, and desperate for advice on coping with this heartbreak.
This a long rant and just want to let my heart out.
My partner (F20) of 2 years broke up with me and it was my very first relationship. Things were rocky for us due to various factors including horrifying incidents like we both come for conservative families and were caught being alone at my house, also had serious fights over various issues. I am clinically tested for Bipolar Disorder (mild) and she for ADHD (severe). We were from same high school, even lived near and used to go for same coaching. At first she hated me but eventually fell in love and asked me out. I was already in love with her and it was dream come true. We had a fairytale story for about 8-9 months when the caught incident happened resulting in fights between both families who btw were extremely good with each other before finding out about us. We both were strictly warned never to contact each other ever again but we still did. We both moved for college in same city. I had opportunity to go another prestigious college in far away city, but me being a fool opted for subpar college close to hers. It was traumatic for us both so 2-3 months went in recovering from family fights and we were again having good time. She befriended a girl who was extremely toxic and used to give her ill advices, my partner being immature used to blindly listen and cause issues between us. I also have a female best friend from school as well whic we have completely platonic relationship but she hated the fact that I had her as a best friend as there were rumors of us being a couple in middle school. For my partner's sake I cut off with the best friend and almost everyone she had issues with, I was in deep love and didn't wanted to make her upset and lose her. She always has been a extreme introvert with minimal to no friends and very toxic abusive family. I was with her when she was having the worst time including mental and physical abuse by her parents over studies, college and future. I always encouraged her to make friends, no matter gender and spend time with them.
Almost a year later on my bday she had a dress up party at her college and I had exams. She wished me at midnight, again in morning and that's it. Whole day there were no texts, no calls, no nothing. I was highly upset as I was expecting a surprise as I previously mentioned I had cut off everyone so only one I had was her. Way past 7 PM I got text from her she is leaving from college campus to go to her private hostel, which had path from a slum area infamous for mugging, rapes, etc. I advised her to take another longer but safer route and go in group. She said yes and didn't had any contact upto 9 PM. I contacted her another friend who told me my partner had left at 7 itself... It's been 2hrs no contact with her, also she had not taken the long route and went the infamous one. I sent numerous texts and dozens of calls only to get a text message at 9 - 930 that she was busy having shower and later had a call with her mother. I scolded her for being so irresponsible. She got upset, wished me happy birthday once again and went to sleep. I cried all night and next day decided to end things with her and sent a text addressing the same. She cried whole day and I got call from her various friends and I explained them the situation. Later I agreed to talk to her. I was expecting a apology but she didn't say anything and was making puppy sad faces. It really pissed me off and I started raging out. Also the dress up she wore for the event in college was little revealing (office formals but very tight ones) and in fit of rage said "You went dressed like a w***e", I agree it was way out of line and I regretted instantly. Said sorry multiple times but it offended her a lot.
We fit rough patch after that and had tough 2-3 months. I was confused, I blocked her but used to end up unblocking and talk with her. She had suicidal tendencies and one day ended up drinking entire bottle of cough syrup. Also she revealed to me about her past, where one of her family member had tried to touching her inappropriately. Although I was very angry, I immediately went to meet her and comfort her. But still we had tough time for a month. Then I got a call one day from her friends saying she hasn't been eating much and fainted. I had food poisoning with extreme painful stomach, but I still went h to her traveling 2 hrs on 2 buses and took her out to eat. Where she just had teary eyes and no words were spoken. I left like that but I realised I can't live without her, can't see her sad, can't let anything happen to her and her being so much sad is proof she feels bad, she won't be able to express in words but she feels it, we reconciled following day. After that things started getting normal. Even her toxic friend started showing her true colors and my partner cut her off. All was well and good until she befriended a new friend who has a rich boyfriend who used to pamper her in materialistic as well as other ways. She started comparing me with him.
We used to meet at my home and it being 40-45 min travelling time I used to drop or pick her up, and she used to use cab for one way travel. She used to complain how I don't do both, pick up as well as drop. We used to meet only on weekends and were physically active. She had a high sex drive resulting in 1hr to 1.5 hrs of lovemaking which would drain me out and was too tirying to drop her and come back. But I always used to pay for her cab as well as her other needs like clothes, food ordering etc etc. Her family used to send mere money and I used to spend on her being myself not buying anything or at times skipping meals, just for her happiness. Even send medicines, buy heating bag for period cramps as well as paying off her credit which overall used to consume 30-40% of my monthly budget. Which I never complained or felt bad, seeing her happy made me happy.
But in Jan of this year I got really depressed regarding studies, her fighting behavior as well as family issues. It led to affect my body physically as well and I got IBS. I was admitted in hospital for 3 weeks at my hometown and resting for next 2 weeks. Almost 1.5 months I was away. I was back for my midterms and went to pick her up from the station as she was home as well. She embedded up paying 100x times more to cab for just dropping her from main area to little out. I was upset and scolded her for being so irresponsible and wasting money. She didn't talk with me all the way to home and was silent as well when we reached home. Later we talked and had lovely time but while dropping her off the morning issue came up again and she was quite the whole time. Despite having pain in stomach I had gone to pick her up as well as drop and she being silent bothered me. I dropped her half way to her dorm and booked her a cab to go. Please note it was a populated metropolitan square with 500-600 people passing by and not some dark road. Also I made sure she sat in her cab and went home. I came back and didn't wanted to talk with her. I had to go back to my hometown for further treatment, but it had gotten worse and was admitted again. She had her exams so I never bothered her with details but I had to take high dose multi vitamin injections which were painful as bullet and of wrongly administered can cause extreme pain. And unfortunately one time it got wrongly administered and I had screaming pain, also it was her last day of exams so I just messaged her call immediately after exam which was approx at 3-4 PM. She said ok but didn't text until 7-8 PM. I asked where she was, she just said she was hanging out with friends and came back now and I being in pain said things like, when you will suffer same and your loved one will ignore you, you will understand and blocked her. After a few days I contacted back and never ever I had seen her talk the way she was talking. Extreme rude, careless and right up saying I don't want you. Your illness causes all pain.
I was devastated and tried apologising and making up. She was firm and wasn't budging. This went for few days and she ended up telling she has been going out with some guy, just 2 of them. She admitted it's just friends and nothing else. It was hurtful and cause my IBS to worsen, I was admitted back at 3 AM crying and crying.
I remember , on her birthday I had planned whole day out. Movies, parks, restaurant and various surprises, but she being introvert and lazy chose to stay home with me and order in. And now being so excited to go out with him was shocking for me. Also she started playing video games which she never had interest when I used to tell her to join me.
Also she used to waste a lot of time on social media and YouTube resulting in no studies. I advised her to delete social media to focus on studies. Which used to cause fights. I myself never had any social media except Reddit.
A few things to consider:
She has extreme high temper
She does extreme overthinking
Also always assumes I blame her for everything
And most importantantly, she thinks she is the only one with problems in whole world and other's problems are menial
I got back to the city and tried visiting her, calling her but she didn't wanted to meet. I literally felt my soul leaving my body. Shivering, crying, sleepless nights, and when slept, nightmares. Even had panic attacks and everything. I texted her million times apologising, begging her, literally*
But she just was straight up rude.
I finally planned a big surprise. I cooked burgers for her and her friends from scratch. Drew a drawing of her. Sang her favorite song as well as a self written song begging her to dont let me go or else I will die. Letter explaining my love to her, as well as promise to change according to her. Follow everything she says, never say hurtful stuff, and never do anything she doesn't like. Completely change myself. Also added a bouquet and some care stuff and sent to her yesterday. She said all this was mental torture for her. And she didn't wanted to meet at all. I was deeply upset and just ended up saying suicidal things and went away. Even ended up cutting myself on hand a bit. But she ended up coming to meet me but straight up said I don't want her. She has lost all love for me and never ever want me in my life ever again. And left.
I have been crying all night and even had 2 panic attacks.
Please note:
My behavior was main reason as well:
As I mention I am Bipolar, I used to end up blocking her for days on end just to avoid me saying anything hurtful to her.
I once in my depressive episodes ended up contacting her toxic friend and telling her some of the things, which she ended up telling everyone in their college completely destroying my partner's image which I regret a lot.
Also my female best friend, I used to tell her everything (nothing intimate... But sharing appropriate things) and my partner used to hate it. I stopped doing that immediately but she held a grudge till now.
And I ended up involving a lot of people in this because she had blocked me everywhere and I was desperate for someone to convince to meet me in person and talk it out.
This has been like a truck smashing my out of nowhere and I can't recover at all. Especially with no one to talk and just crying and crying.
People who went through first heartbreaks, or whom you thought was your the one, literally planned entire life with that person, please help me get through this.
submitted by PsychoThinker1822 to BreakUps [link] [comments]
This a long rant and just want to let my heart out.
My partner (F20) of 2 years broke up with me and it was my very first relationship. Things were rocky for us due to various factors including horrifying incidents like we both come for conservative families and were caught being alone at my house, also had serious fights over various issues. I am clinically tested for Bipolar Disorder (mild) and she for ADHD (severe). We were from same high school, even lived near and used to go for same coaching. At first she hated me but eventually fell in love and asked me out. I was already in love with her and it was dream come true. We had a fairytale story for about 8-9 months when the caught incident happened resulting in fights between both families who btw were extremely good with each other before finding out about us. We both were strictly warned never to contact each other ever again but we still did. We both moved for college in same city. I had opportunity to go another prestigious college in far away city, but me being a fool opted for subpar college close to hers. It was traumatic for us both so 2-3 months went in recovering from family fights and we were again having good time. She befriended a girl who was extremely toxic and used to give her ill advices, my partner being immature used to blindly listen and cause issues between us. I also have a female best friend from school as well whic we have completely platonic relationship but she hated the fact that I had her as a best friend as there were rumors of us being a couple in middle school. For my partner's sake I cut off with the best friend and almost everyone she had issues with, I was in deep love and didn't wanted to make her upset and lose her. She always has been a extreme introvert with minimal to no friends and very toxic abusive family. I was with her when she was having the worst time including mental and physical abuse by her parents over studies, college and future. I always encouraged her to make friends, no matter gender and spend time with them.
Almost a year later on my bday she had a dress up party at her college and I had exams. She wished me at midnight, again in morning and that's it. Whole day there were no texts, no calls, no nothing. I was highly upset as I was expecting a surprise as I previously mentioned I had cut off everyone so only one I had was her. Way past 7 PM I got text from her she is leaving from college campus to go to her private hostel, which had path from a slum area infamous for mugging, rapes, etc. I advised her to take another longer but safer route and go in group. She said yes and didn't had any contact upto 9 PM. I contacted her another friend who told me my partner had left at 7 itself... It's been 2hrs no contact with her, also she had not taken the long route and went the infamous one. I sent numerous texts and dozens of calls only to get a text message at 9 - 930 that she was busy having shower and later had a call with her mother. I scolded her for being so irresponsible. She got upset, wished me happy birthday once again and went to sleep. I cried all night and next day decided to end things with her and sent a text addressing the same. She cried whole day and I got call from her various friends and I explained them the situation. Later I agreed to talk to her. I was expecting a apology but she didn't say anything and was making puppy sad faces. It really pissed me off and I started raging out. Also the dress up she wore for the event in college was little revealing (office formals but very tight ones) and in fit of rage said "You went dressed like a w***e", I agree it was way out of line and I regretted instantly. Said sorry multiple times but it offended her a lot.
We fit rough patch after that and had tough 2-3 months. I was confused, I blocked her but used to end up unblocking and talk with her. She had suicidal tendencies and one day ended up drinking entire bottle of cough syrup. Also she revealed to me about her past, where one of her family member had tried to touching her inappropriately. Although I was very angry, I immediately went to meet her and comfort her. But still we had tough time for a month. Then I got a call one day from her friends saying she hasn't been eating much and fainted. I had food poisoning with extreme painful stomach, but I still went h to her traveling 2 hrs on 2 buses and took her out to eat. Where she just had teary eyes and no words were spoken. I left like that but I realised I can't live without her, can't see her sad, can't let anything happen to her and her being so much sad is proof she feels bad, she won't be able to express in words but she feels it, we reconciled following day. After that things started getting normal. Even her toxic friend started showing her true colors and my partner cut her off. All was well and good until she befriended a new friend who has a rich boyfriend who used to pamper her in materialistic as well as other ways. She started comparing me with him.
We used to meet at my home and it being 40-45 min travelling time I used to drop or pick her up, and she used to use cab for one way travel. She used to complain how I don't do both, pick up as well as drop. We used to meet only on weekends and were physically active. She had a high sex drive resulting in 1hr to 1.5 hrs of lovemaking which would drain me out and was too tirying to drop her and come back. But I always used to pay for her cab as well as her other needs like clothes, food ordering etc etc. Her family used to send mere money and I used to spend on her being myself not buying anything or at times skipping meals, just for her happiness. Even send medicines, buy heating bag for period cramps as well as paying off her credit which overall used to consume 30-40% of my monthly budget. Which I never complained or felt bad, seeing her happy made me happy.
But in Jan of this year I got really depressed regarding studies, her fighting behavior as well as family issues. It led to affect my body physically as well and I got IBS. I was admitted in hospital for 3 weeks at my hometown and resting for next 2 weeks. Almost 1.5 months I was away. I was back for my midterms and went to pick her up from the station as she was home as well. She embedded up paying 100x times more to cab for just dropping her from main area to little out. I was upset and scolded her for being so irresponsible and wasting money. She didn't talk with me all the way to home and was silent as well when we reached home. Later we talked and had lovely time but while dropping her off the morning issue came up again and she was quite the whole time. Despite having pain in stomach I had gone to pick her up as well as drop and she being silent bothered me. I dropped her half way to her dorm and booked her a cab to go. Please note it was a populated metropolitan square with 500-600 people passing by and not some dark road. Also I made sure she sat in her cab and went home. I came back and didn't wanted to talk with her. I had to go back to my hometown for further treatment, but it had gotten worse and was admitted again. She had her exams so I never bothered her with details but I had to take high dose multi vitamin injections which were painful as bullet and of wrongly administered can cause extreme pain. And unfortunately one time it got wrongly administered and I had screaming pain, also it was her last day of exams so I just messaged her call immediately after exam which was approx at 3-4 PM. She said ok but didn't text until 7-8 PM. I asked where she was, she just said she was hanging out with friends and came back now and I being in pain said things like, when you will suffer same and your loved one will ignore you, you will understand and blocked her. After a few days I contacted back and never ever I had seen her talk the way she was talking. Extreme rude, careless and right up saying I don't want you. Your illness causes all pain.
I was devastated and tried apologising and making up. She was firm and wasn't budging. This went for few days and she ended up telling she has been going out with some guy, just 2 of them. She admitted it's just friends and nothing else. It was hurtful and cause my IBS to worsen, I was admitted back at 3 AM crying and crying.
I remember , on her birthday I had planned whole day out. Movies, parks, restaurant and various surprises, but she being introvert and lazy chose to stay home with me and order in. And now being so excited to go out with him was shocking for me. Also she started playing video games which she never had interest when I used to tell her to join me.
Also she used to waste a lot of time on social media and YouTube resulting in no studies. I advised her to delete social media to focus on studies. Which used to cause fights. I myself never had any social media except Reddit.
A few things to consider:
She has extreme high temper
She does extreme overthinking
Also always assumes I blame her for everything
And most importantantly, she thinks she is the only one with problems in whole world and other's problems are menial
I got back to the city and tried visiting her, calling her but she didn't wanted to meet. I literally felt my soul leaving my body. Shivering, crying, sleepless nights, and when slept, nightmares. Even had panic attacks and everything. I texted her million times apologising, begging her, literally*
But she just was straight up rude.
I finally planned a big surprise. I cooked burgers for her and her friends from scratch. Drew a drawing of her. Sang her favorite song as well as a self written song begging her to dont let me go or else I will die. Letter explaining my love to her, as well as promise to change according to her. Follow everything she says, never say hurtful stuff, and never do anything she doesn't like. Completely change myself. Also added a bouquet and some care stuff and sent to her yesterday. She said all this was mental torture for her. And she didn't wanted to meet at all. I was deeply upset and just ended up saying suicidal things and went away. Even ended up cutting myself on hand a bit. But she ended up coming to meet me but straight up said I don't want her. She has lost all love for me and never ever want me in my life ever again. And left.
I have been crying all night and even had 2 panic attacks.
Please note:
My behavior was main reason as well:
As I mention I am Bipolar, I used to end up blocking her for days on end just to avoid me saying anything hurtful to her.
I once in my depressive episodes ended up contacting her toxic friend and telling her some of the things, which she ended up telling everyone in their college completely destroying my partner's image which I regret a lot.
Also my female best friend, I used to tell her everything (nothing intimate... But sharing appropriate things) and my partner used to hate it. I stopped doing that immediately but she held a grudge till now.
And I ended up involving a lot of people in this because she had blocked me everywhere and I was desperate for someone to convince to meet me in person and talk it out.
This has been like a truck smashing my out of nowhere and I can't recover at all. Especially with no one to talk and just crying and crying.
People who went through first heartbreaks, or whom you thought was your the one, literally planned entire life with that person, please help me get through this.
2024.04.26 19:04 -Wahab- Why do the US have so many kind of techs?
Hi! I'm a Nursing Student from Italy and our healthcare system is extremely different from yours so I'm just curious.
Is it just my perception or is nursing in the US extremely advanced from the rest of the world yet so oddly "limited"?
I mean why are there so many techs like phlebotomists, ECG techs, Health Techs, MAs, RTs?
Like what do nurses even do if others draw blood, manage things like mechanical ventilation, Oxygen therapy, change wound dressings etc?
In Italy there are a lot of health care professions but they don't "overlap" with our role.
In most hospital units there are just MDs, RNs and CNAs that's it. Our CNAs main focus is hygiene and assisting in ADL.
Nurses pretty much do everything, start IVs, draw blood, do ABGs, manage ventilation & oxygen therapy, do ECGs, wound care, administer medication, manage urinary catheters, enemas etc
And what I mean is that nobody else can do any of these things in Italy (excepts MDs of course & Midwives). For example in Italy only Nurses, Midwives and MDs can draw blood. It's is unthinkable that someone with a few months course can do that. (Also our healthcare professions education is much more standardized: all healthcare professions require a Bachelor's, there are no Associates or accelerated programs, vocational schools etc)
I'm asking you this because after a few months in this sub I read about nurses refusing to do ECGs (?), and I read that in NYC in some hospitals nurses don't draw blood etc because of the union policy, like what is this madness?
And personally I think RNs in the US are probably the best of the world for their education. Tha fact that a role like NP even exist is so wild to me, we will never reach that level in Italy in the near future; so I view you as a role model for nursing, I'm just confused about some things.
Also I know that nurses in the US do a lot, maybe the "what do nurses even do" is a bit provocative.
submitted by -Wahab- to nursing [link] [comments]
Is it just my perception or is nursing in the US extremely advanced from the rest of the world yet so oddly "limited"?
I mean why are there so many techs like phlebotomists, ECG techs, Health Techs, MAs, RTs?
Like what do nurses even do if others draw blood, manage things like mechanical ventilation, Oxygen therapy, change wound dressings etc?
In Italy there are a lot of health care professions but they don't "overlap" with our role.
In most hospital units there are just MDs, RNs and CNAs that's it. Our CNAs main focus is hygiene and assisting in ADL.
Nurses pretty much do everything, start IVs, draw blood, do ABGs, manage ventilation & oxygen therapy, do ECGs, wound care, administer medication, manage urinary catheters, enemas etc
And what I mean is that nobody else can do any of these things in Italy (excepts MDs of course & Midwives). For example in Italy only Nurses, Midwives and MDs can draw blood. It's is unthinkable that someone with a few months course can do that. (Also our healthcare professions education is much more standardized: all healthcare professions require a Bachelor's, there are no Associates or accelerated programs, vocational schools etc)
I'm asking you this because after a few months in this sub I read about nurses refusing to do ECGs (?), and I read that in NYC in some hospitals nurses don't draw blood etc because of the union policy, like what is this madness?
And personally I think RNs in the US are probably the best of the world for their education. Tha fact that a role like NP even exist is so wild to me, we will never reach that level in Italy in the near future; so I view you as a role model for nursing, I'm just confused about some things.
Also I know that nurses in the US do a lot, maybe the "what do nurses even do" is a bit provocative.
2024.04.25 15:19 UltimateTraders 4/25/2024 Daily Plays Tons of earnings! META 90 but guidance and Spending, I may buy the dip! TX 95 HES 99 LAZ 90 MTH 90 AZN 90 I am in PGNY 32.05 didnt sell BILL 61.40 GDP 1.6% Unemployment strong around 3.8% earnings overall not as good as expected
Good morning these are just some earnings. I checked since 7AM, for reports yesterday after the bell:
IBCP 85 ITGR 75 HESM 60 SHYF 65 GEV 70 FCN 90 UBSI 60 TSCO 60 SPGI 90 UNP 70 CMCSA 70 PHIN 75 HOUS 55 LYTS 65 HES 99 LECO 60
HTZ 50 EME 95 IMAX 70 CNOB 60 MPX 55 KEX 85 ABG 75 ULBI 90 BFH 55
VLY 60 KDP 65 TW 70 POOL 55 SRCL 60 OPRA 70 ARCH 65 NDAQ 60
AAL 60 [Strong Guidance] MO 60 BMY 65 VC 60 LH 65 AOS 60 GTX 65
ADT 55 HZO 50 HOG 70 NOC 80 STRA 75 RES 55 RS 65 CNX 20! YIKES!
FTI 80 SAH 60 IP 55 LUV 55 MBLY 60 CBZ 75 CARR 65 AIT 65 CAT 60
DAR 55 LAZ 90 FCNCA 70 IIIN 60 WEX 60 TXT 60 CMS 60 DOV 65 MRK 80
RCL 85 [Strong Guidance too] AMAL 65 TRU 75 VLO 60 PCG 60 BC 65 XEL 60
OSK 85 TPH 90 WTW 60 WNS 70 HON 65 FCFS 60 WST 65 DOW 65
SBSI 60 ALLE 60 CHKP 65 TAL 80 UXIN 60 OII 85 CDMO 55 HLX 55 AZN 90
STM 55 EQNR 60 FBMS 70 CLB 55 WM 60 TER 65 TCBX 65 OBK 65 CBAN 65
CLS 75 MEOH 70 VIST 55 ALRS 65 ORN 60 CHX 70 MORN 75 AGI 70
TOWN 60 INBK 70 PMT 60 AMED 65 CVBF 60 UHS 80 ATNI 55 HP 60
WCN 65 AMSF 65 GSHD 65 PEGA 60 LOB 60 SLM 85 KALU 70 PLXS 65
ORLY 60 FAF 55 MTH 90 SNBR 60 CNMD 70 EHC 75 STC 75 ICLR 60 URI 75
TX 95 MOH 75 TYL 75 WU 65 CMG 85 [But Tech valuation?] WHR 70 JAKK 55
NOW 80 [Valuation] IBM 60 ETD 50 LRCX 70 F 70
META 90 [Guidance and META AI spending]
I am getting ready for 2 closings set for next Thursday or Friday so I will be doing a lot of that. I spent over 2 hours on earnings so I will have to cut this short.
GDP came in at 1.6%, lower than the 2.4% expected. To be honest I am shocked we are over flat! We have been running hot!
I am surprised that unemployment is still 3.8%-3.9%.
I expected with the rates high, inflation… that people would slow spending, sales would come down, earnings would slow or come down, GDP may go negative.. so I am surprised. I believe we are being funded by Debt.. That is my opinion.
I have not checked final earnings for SP500 2023, but I believe it will be near 220. I have 2024 at 235 or about 5% growth…. I do not know for sure so far if we will see that. Analysts have it about 243 now. [Start of year was 246] We are trading at near 22-23x and we may not achieve this earnings and sales…
META had very good earnings and sales… Awesome, especially for its size… maybe they are sand bagging on the 2nd quarter? They will be spending more in AI and META which the street doesn’t like… however this cash machine has been doing that already and putting out awesome earnings the last 3 quarters… I may buy the dip!
5 trade Ideas:
META – I do not want shares but may buy calls with time. [Leaps 1 year or more] Let me see
TSLA – When it flew to 168 I was looking at puts, let us see, the earnings were pathetic!
PGNY – I am in 500 at 32.05
MTCH – I did bid 31.25 yesterday, but it didn’t drop that much, let us see
YOU – They smashed earnings, dividend, special dividend, buyback and has come down
The contents of this post are for information and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial, accounting, or legal advice. ... By choosing to make a trade you are responsible for your own actions. Please do some due diligence. These are trades I am making and you can follow along. If you make a winning trade, I do not even expect a bravo or thanks but that’s fine, if you lose on a trade the same difference.. I do not even expect an upvote or reward… The Elite team is aware of the risks and volatility in the market.
Good luck everyone let’s make money. Share trades, ideas here during trading hours. Our main goal here is to make money so I hope we can help eachother. I will be in and out of here as well.
submitted by UltimateTraders to UltimateTraders [link] [comments]
IBCP 85 ITGR 75 HESM 60 SHYF 65 GEV 70 FCN 90 UBSI 60 TSCO 60 SPGI 90 UNP 70 CMCSA 70 PHIN 75 HOUS 55 LYTS 65 HES 99 LECO 60
HTZ 50 EME 95 IMAX 70 CNOB 60 MPX 55 KEX 85 ABG 75 ULBI 90 BFH 55
VLY 60 KDP 65 TW 70 POOL 55 SRCL 60 OPRA 70 ARCH 65 NDAQ 60
AAL 60 [Strong Guidance] MO 60 BMY 65 VC 60 LH 65 AOS 60 GTX 65
ADT 55 HZO 50 HOG 70 NOC 80 STRA 75 RES 55 RS 65 CNX 20! YIKES!
FTI 80 SAH 60 IP 55 LUV 55 MBLY 60 CBZ 75 CARR 65 AIT 65 CAT 60
DAR 55 LAZ 90 FCNCA 70 IIIN 60 WEX 60 TXT 60 CMS 60 DOV 65 MRK 80
RCL 85 [Strong Guidance too] AMAL 65 TRU 75 VLO 60 PCG 60 BC 65 XEL 60
OSK 85 TPH 90 WTW 60 WNS 70 HON 65 FCFS 60 WST 65 DOW 65
SBSI 60 ALLE 60 CHKP 65 TAL 80 UXIN 60 OII 85 CDMO 55 HLX 55 AZN 90
STM 55 EQNR 60 FBMS 70 CLB 55 WM 60 TER 65 TCBX 65 OBK 65 CBAN 65
CLS 75 MEOH 70 VIST 55 ALRS 65 ORN 60 CHX 70 MORN 75 AGI 70
TOWN 60 INBK 70 PMT 60 AMED 65 CVBF 60 UHS 80 ATNI 55 HP 60
WCN 65 AMSF 65 GSHD 65 PEGA 60 LOB 60 SLM 85 KALU 70 PLXS 65
ORLY 60 FAF 55 MTH 90 SNBR 60 CNMD 70 EHC 75 STC 75 ICLR 60 URI 75
TX 95 MOH 75 TYL 75 WU 65 CMG 85 [But Tech valuation?] WHR 70 JAKK 55
NOW 80 [Valuation] IBM 60 ETD 50 LRCX 70 F 70
META 90 [Guidance and META AI spending]
I am getting ready for 2 closings set for next Thursday or Friday so I will be doing a lot of that. I spent over 2 hours on earnings so I will have to cut this short.
GDP came in at 1.6%, lower than the 2.4% expected. To be honest I am shocked we are over flat! We have been running hot!
I am surprised that unemployment is still 3.8%-3.9%.
I expected with the rates high, inflation… that people would slow spending, sales would come down, earnings would slow or come down, GDP may go negative.. so I am surprised. I believe we are being funded by Debt.. That is my opinion.
I have not checked final earnings for SP500 2023, but I believe it will be near 220. I have 2024 at 235 or about 5% growth…. I do not know for sure so far if we will see that. Analysts have it about 243 now. [Start of year was 246] We are trading at near 22-23x and we may not achieve this earnings and sales…
META had very good earnings and sales… Awesome, especially for its size… maybe they are sand bagging on the 2nd quarter? They will be spending more in AI and META which the street doesn’t like… however this cash machine has been doing that already and putting out awesome earnings the last 3 quarters… I may buy the dip!
5 trade Ideas:
META – I do not want shares but may buy calls with time. [Leaps 1 year or more] Let me see
TSLA – When it flew to 168 I was looking at puts, let us see, the earnings were pathetic!
PGNY – I am in 500 at 32.05
MTCH – I did bid 31.25 yesterday, but it didn’t drop that much, let us see
YOU – They smashed earnings, dividend, special dividend, buyback and has come down
The contents of this post are for information and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial, accounting, or legal advice. ... By choosing to make a trade you are responsible for your own actions. Please do some due diligence. These are trades I am making and you can follow along. If you make a winning trade, I do not even expect a bravo or thanks but that’s fine, if you lose on a trade the same difference.. I do not even expect an upvote or reward… The Elite team is aware of the risks and volatility in the market.
Good luck everyone let’s make money. Share trades, ideas here during trading hours. Our main goal here is to make money so I hope we can help eachother. I will be in and out of here as well.
2024.04.25 06:38 NebularAmethyst ABG mix? Or similar substrates?
Does anyone have personal experience or input with using ABG mix (like from Pangea or Josh's Frogs) for their sand boa? I've heard people using organic soils and play sand but I've always worried about accidently getting soils that weren't truly organic and ending up using something dangerous so I prefer to use mixes like ABG that I know is made for reptiles. But would it work for sand boas if I kept it relatively dry (or however dry you would recommend)? The main thing I worry about is the chunks of charcoal in it and how dusty the coco fibers can be sometimes. Would this really be a problem or am I overthinking it? My sand boa is currently on Aspen but it's not holding humidity well and she's having trouble shedding so I just wanted something that could hold a tiny bit more moisture.
submitted by NebularAmethyst to SandBoa [link] [comments]
2024.04.24 14:33 PM_ME_NAPA_CABS "Bringing the Garden to the Beltline". Atlanta Botanical Garden details planned expansion.
 | https://atlantabg.org/bringing-the-garden-to-the-beltline/ submitted by PM_ME_NAPA_CABS to Atlanta [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/6fdwlwe38fwc1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b573e96ed7611c4364e4d7792607ce9e9bb6e44d https://preview.redd.it/9l62t3wb8fwc1.jpg?width=10200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a134104f66d1d2cc72727be0b34b1215333ca381 Some additional details from the Ansley Park Civic Association. "The Atlanta Botanical Garden (ABG) has submitted zoning applications for a planned expansion of the gardens. In 2020 ABG purchased several adjacent properties, including the storage facility along Piedmont. The existing structures are planned for demolition to create a new “front door” for the Garden along the BeltLine, making it the only major cultural institution with a BeltLine access point. ABG believes that increased visitation will lie in pedestrians and cyclists on the BeltLine rather than cars accessing the Garden via the main entrance on Piedmont. Most of the land will be used for new garden spaces. In addition, there will be a new Welcome Center with a café and restrooms along the BeltLine, a maintenance facility, and a future planned orangerie/ event space. Visitors will reach the expansion area through the Storza Woods or, for guests needing assistance, via a new trail winding through the Storza Woods with an electric tram between the current Welcome Center and the future orangerie. Planned improvements to the Piedmont sidewalk will maintain the existing tree canopy. Also included is an emergency access point along Piedmont where the future orangerie will be and facilities access via Dutch Valley crossing through Piedmont Park and across the BeltLine. ABG has promised that the emergency access point will be used only by first responders and is not intended for visitor access, including for any events in the future orangerie. The access road through the park and across the BeltLine would see daily use by three vehicles only (facilities, food delivery for the café, and garbage collection). The Atlanta BeltLine confirms that this is the lowest volume grade crossing of the BeltLine, and ABG is working with the Piedmont Park Conservancy to design the area as an integrated landscape plaza rather than an access road. ABG says they will not expand the Garden Lights exhibit into the new area or increase the maximum number of tickets sold (4,500 a day, down from 6,000 pre-pandemic). Zoning applications will be heard at the NPU-E virtual meeting on April 2. The applications request a variance to eliminate the 70 parking spaces that would be required for the café (the BeltLine overlay has no parking minimums except for restaurants). The APCA Zoning and Land Use Committee has been working with ABG to fine tune the expansion plans and expects a successful resolution to any neighborhood concerns." |
2024.04.23 10:07 Dagaz9565 The Shadows Speak Chapter 9
The Shadows Speak
Chapter 9
Captain Asher Gray of Umbra Vanguard
I watched Xelios walk out of the mess hall, feeling confident that he will do well in his new role within Umbra. I sat back at the table, eating the rest of my dinner as I strolled through my own orders on my device. There was a briefing for every single captain of the Raven division in an hour. It would be faster to give out the details of the mission directly to our COTAD but being in person to go over plans is always nice, it gives a sense of reassurance to hear the mission briefing from your superior in person.
“Feeling nervous for Commander Xelios, captain?” Kyle said with his oh so signature, annoying smile. “Not at all lieutenant, I feel that he will do well on his first mission, and the soldiers under him are picked from his old retinue. He will be fine, but I do feel that the mission will be tough this time.” I said back, not caring that Kyle was probably trying to poke some intel out of me. “Why do you say that, captain?” he asked back, “so far, our missions have been successful, and we will have the element of surprise this time as well.” he continued with a hint of triumph. “You know it’s bad luck to say that.” I remarked back. “The mission this time will be executed in the early morning, for that is when our main fleet arrives. If that A.I. they have is any good, then their reaction time will be fast, and we will have a more traditional warfare on our hands, which is not ideal for rescuing civilians.” I said as I stood from the table. “I will message the company once I am finished with the briefing, head to the gym, or do something useful whilst you have the time. I suspect the briefing will take about an hour.” I said in a slightly commanding tone. “Ay, ay captain.” came the reply.
I shook my head as I headed out of the mess hall. I went to my private quarters, which, given my rank, were quite spacious. I had a nice desk with an inbuilt computer in it, a comfy bed that I was not really using much since Umbra soldiers can stay awake for four days without getting tired and finally some equipment in the corner. I went to the desk and typed in my password. The holographic screen lit up, and I saw I had a few mails in my inbox. I clicked and saw that it was from my wife. Images from my home flashed on the screen when I clicked the folder. The teal colored sky, the trees and grass shining in hues of blue and purple across the semi mountainous terrain. I smiled as I felt homesick, I was just being redeployed when I heard the news from her that she was pregnant. I was overjoyed hearing that but also felt afraid as I had a duty to my federation. “No need to think about the negatives,” I said to myself as I enjoyed going through the rest of the pictures. I lost track of time as I got a ping in my head that the briefing was going to be soon. I sighed as I turned off the computer and started to head out. “I do hope this war will end soon.” I thought as I briskly walked to the meeting room.
I pressed my hand to the side of the door, which it answered with a ping, and the doors slit open. The conference room was spacious and in the centre of it was a hologram table. A few captains besides me were already inside, including Captain Harald and Captain Hayes. I went and stood next to them as the remaining personnel entered. “Feeling excited for the mission ahead, Gray?” asked Harald with a giddy expression. I had never known one besides Kyle, who has such a positive view on life in the Umbra, but I don’t think I have ever seen Harald with a sad expression in my entire career with him. “I wouldn't call it excitement but I do feel a bit nervous since the only info about the mission we have at this point is that it will be the largest coordinated use of Umbra forces in history.” I said back. “And that is what makes it so exciting, I feel ecstatic that we will be there to witness it.” he said with a wide grin. “Save the sweet talk for later. We must first achieve victory here.” Hayes said in a gruff tone that made Harald frown. “You are such a serious man Hayes, it would not hurt to smile once in a while, you know.” Harald snapped back with peered eyes. “They make a good duo.” I thought to myself as I chuckled. As small talk was getting tossed around, the doors opened, and Major Carte entered the room. Everyone stood at attention as the room fell instantly silent. “At ease, men.” came from his booming voice.
He walked next to the table and entered a few keys on the table at the center. It came to light, and the hologram flashed to life, showing the large capital city with the golden spaceship hovering above it. The city had five layers stretching from the ground to the top of the canopy. It looked beautiful as it wove itself around and between the trees. All the layers had their purposes, like in Tirisol but on a grander scale. “Well then, gentlemen, I assume you are all itching to know the details of the mission ahead.” said Major Carte as he got the attention of all of us. “This will be the largest single operation in Umbra history as four divisions, ten thousand strong each will assault the capital at 07:15. The Owl, Panther, and Viper division will be assaulting the city itself alongside the newly established Shadowcrest militia unit under commander Starstrike. Their forces are roughly sixty thousand and will be mainly used as rescue parties but will be used as reinforcements as needed. We estimate that the civilian hostages their number close to 1.5 million, and the occupation force with the new royal retinue is around two hundred and fifty thousand.” he explained in an authoritative tone. “Wow, that is a large number of troops to have under you. Do you think Xelios will be alright?” came a whisper from Harald. “I’m sure he will be fine. He is a capable commander and a trustworthy companion.” I whispered back.
“Raven division will be tasked with entering the ship itself where the main targets are located. The obsidian Sentinel, alongside two Umbra battleships, will enter firing range and destroy the ships' shields and fire EMP bursts at it, which should hamper it for a few moments. In that time, the entire Raven division will assault the ship in Shadowhawk breaching transports. Every company will also be given a device that will allow AI Huginn and Muninn to enter the ships systems and target the enemy AI, these devices must be placed on secure ground as soon as an area has been cleared. There are five enemy targets we must capture and two targets we must rescue, they are the two royal princes, a priestess of Vorakarth, two high nobles of house Drakorin and finally the planetary chancellor and prime minister of Tiri.” Major Carte explained as he pointed to the seven images on the screen.
The two royals looked like they were barely adults, wearing shiny colors like puffed up peacocks that went surprisingly well with their yellow scales. Probably wanting to see how the empire conquered new land. The priestess’s scales were white, which I assumed was because of some sort of albinism but it seemed fitting as she was wearing red drapes with gold scattered around it. The two nobles looked very much like Vorakar, but their scales were in a darker hue of purple, and their crest was a navy blue colour. They both wore scars of battle on their faces and seemed like very capable commanders. The two Alerians had turquoise feathers with a hint of gray in them. They had the presence of a diplomat or a scholar type feel to them, less muscular than Xelios, who was a military man.
“Now, here is the main obstacle of the mission.” the Major continued, a new image popped up, showing a heavily armored Xyrran with a literal shield, sword, and a long pistol. “These are the royal guard, the elite of the Xyrran ground military. They wear a set of power armor that can withstand a few shots from our rifles unless hit in the weaker links. Thanks to that armor, their physical capabilities are enhanced significantly. We should be able to take one down in a one on one fight but be vigilant because their melee weapons can quite easily kill us.
Some will be riding a steed known as a Feralisk as depicted here.” he finished saying as a picture of one of them riding what I could only depict was a mixture of a crocodile and a feline.
The beast was large, three meters at the shoulder, and five meters from snout to tail. Its muscular, sleek body resembled a feline with a long, sinuous tail that probably aided balance and agility. Its claws didn’t look retractable but were sharp nonetheless. The head, however, was distinctly crocodilian, with a wide, powerful jaw lined with razor-sharp teeth. Its skin was a mix of rust colored fur and black scaly plates that seemed to provide good protection.
“So…we will be fighting lizard knights, sir?” Harald asked with a chuckle, which made the other captains do so in kind. “Indeed so, they apparently have some sort of code of honor and are religious zealots that don’t shy away from doing dirty work in the name of their god.” Major Carte replied. “But that religious zealotry is a weakness we will be exploiting as well.” he continued as a new image appeared on the hologram. It looked like the grim reaper, the cloak, and everything but with a white scaled Xyrran face instead of a skull and glowing white hands. It was posing like it was greeting someone.
“This is the god of death for the Xyrran, and its name is Narakoth, and these are its minions that bring the spirits of the dead to the afterlife to rest.” he continued as the hologram now showed a hooded specter with two glowing white hands. “AI Muninn believes we can use this to our advantage by adding hoods to our armor, which when in stealth mode looks quite convincing as harbingers of the death god, especially with the vibro blades active, because the hands of these specters represent death upon touch, so we will not fail to represent here.” he said finally with a huff of satisfaction. “Oh Kyle is going to love this.” I thought to myself. He always wanted to add a hood to his armor for aesthetic looks, and now he actually gets it. He will probably wear a grin for the rest of his life.
“Captain Gray,” came the commanding voice from Major Carte. “Yes sir?” I said back as I stood at attention. “Because of your recent stellar performance in the liberated town of Tirisol, you will be temporarily given the rank of acting major for this operation. If you deem something is off or feel the need to override my orders to achieve success, you have the clearance to do so, and the rest of 1st battalion will answer your command. The rest of the captains feel it fitting that you will be my second in command. Do you accept this duty?” he asked.
I stood still for a good moment, my mind racing as this was a chance in a lifetime to get renown, but it also was a huge responsibility. I steeled myself as I saluted, “It would be an honor, sir!” I called out in response. “Splendid, you will deal with the briefing for the rest of First Battalion and be in charge of them getting their new attire attachments. Now, you are all dismissed.” he said as he walked out of the door.
The silence in the room felt uncomfortable as every captain in the room stared at me with emotionless expressions. “Well then, congratulations, Major Gray, for the promotion. I could not have picked a better man for the job.” came a haughty voice from my side as Harald slammed his hand to my back in celebration. “Indeed, you may be the youngest of us, but I feel you have a natural insight when it comes to leading.” came a compliment from Hayes. The rest of the captains chuckled, congratulated me, and gave words of encouragement. It felt awkward, but I could not ask for a better battalion to be in.
We exited the briefing room and headed to the armory where our new hoods would be given to us. The rest of them jokingly made me walk in front to show my new status, which felt like some sort of hazing. We got our new clothing, which was magnetically locked to our suits. I can see why Kyle would have wanted a hood to be added to the armor. It made us look more intimidating for sure but…and I hate to admit it. It looked very cool.
An hour passed as me and the captains joked around until we got a message that the rest of the battalion was gathered in hangar B3 for briefing. We headed out as we all placed our hoods on. It felt like we were gangsters as the people we met gave us a wide berth when we walked past them. I saw Captain Harald smile like a school boy who got cool new clothes, and I must admit I felt a bit the same way. We entered the hangar and saw the entire battalion standing in lines, straight as arrows, all one thousand of them. There was a small raised platform with a screen behind it and a podium. We all walked up it, and every captain stood in a line with their hands crossed behind their backs, and every soldier imitated it in unison. The sound sent chills down my spine as I walked up to the podium. I saw Kyle standing in front of my platoon, the horns on his head giving him away instantly. “Greetings First Battalion, I am Captain Gray, who will be acting major for the mission ahead, and I will be the one briefing you.” I said, trying to sound as authoritative as I could. Kyle’s eyes lit up at that sentence as he looked at me like a mother looking at her graduating child. It felt embarrassing but at the same time kind of nice.
I briefed the men about the upcoming plan of attack, VIP individuals, and the new ‘clothing’ they were getting, which made Kyle smile even wider. All in all, it was not much of a problem, and I quickly fell into rhythm. Questions were asked, and chuckles could be heard when mentioning the lizard knights, but everyone was on the same page.
“The Obsidian Sentinel has already started to move towards the capital, and we have about 8 hours until it is in location to start firing upon the target. Get some rest, release some stress, and be ready at the designated location depicted on your COTAD at 06:10. You are dismissed.” I finally commanded. They all saluted in unison and started to trickle out.
Kyle met me afterwards, with his new hood and two points sticking out of the top of it. I suppose it won’t fall off, even if he tried to. We went to meet the rest of my lieutenants, who congratulated me on my temporary promotion, and we decided to spend some time playing games and lounge around a bit. It was a good stress relief after the whole day today. It was close to 2 am. when I got back to my quarters. Sleep overtook me, and I had a very fulfilling sleep.
My alarm woke me up at five a.m., and I got prepared and headed towards the designated hangar. The entire battalion was on site and getting prepped, Lieutenant Erik was designated to carry the AI device as it was the size of a large backpack. I called in the captains, “you all know the assignment, correct?” I asked with stern vigor in my voice. “Yes sir!” came the reply from all of them. “Good, I want every platoon to create a perimeter around each device. Once the AI’s start their battle, we will be able to get a layout of the inside of the ship. We will move in teams of fifty and always be within supporting range of each other. Understood?” I asked. “Understood, sir.” came the unanimous reply again. “Alright go into your designated shuttles, and we wait for the guns to start firing.” I finally said as they saluted, and we all headed to our shuttles.
I entered with my platoon. The shuttles could carry 200 individuals. It was tight, but that was by design as we were going to spear into the enemy ship and drop out of a hole. We strapped in and waited for the guns to fire.
Right on que we heard the first batteries fire. The massive guns could be heard even louder as the hangar doors opened. The Shadowhawk hummed to life, and I could feel we started to take flight. It suddenly sped as I felt my harness tighten around me. “Here we go then,” I said under my breath as we were on a collision course with that massive Xyrran ship.
Chapter 8
Chapter 10
submitted by Dagaz9565 to HFY [link] [comments]
Chapter 9
Captain Asher Gray of Umbra Vanguard
I watched Xelios walk out of the mess hall, feeling confident that he will do well in his new role within Umbra. I sat back at the table, eating the rest of my dinner as I strolled through my own orders on my device. There was a briefing for every single captain of the Raven division in an hour. It would be faster to give out the details of the mission directly to our COTAD but being in person to go over plans is always nice, it gives a sense of reassurance to hear the mission briefing from your superior in person.
“Feeling nervous for Commander Xelios, captain?” Kyle said with his oh so signature, annoying smile. “Not at all lieutenant, I feel that he will do well on his first mission, and the soldiers under him are picked from his old retinue. He will be fine, but I do feel that the mission will be tough this time.” I said back, not caring that Kyle was probably trying to poke some intel out of me. “Why do you say that, captain?” he asked back, “so far, our missions have been successful, and we will have the element of surprise this time as well.” he continued with a hint of triumph. “You know it’s bad luck to say that.” I remarked back. “The mission this time will be executed in the early morning, for that is when our main fleet arrives. If that A.I. they have is any good, then their reaction time will be fast, and we will have a more traditional warfare on our hands, which is not ideal for rescuing civilians.” I said as I stood from the table. “I will message the company once I am finished with the briefing, head to the gym, or do something useful whilst you have the time. I suspect the briefing will take about an hour.” I said in a slightly commanding tone. “Ay, ay captain.” came the reply.
I shook my head as I headed out of the mess hall. I went to my private quarters, which, given my rank, were quite spacious. I had a nice desk with an inbuilt computer in it, a comfy bed that I was not really using much since Umbra soldiers can stay awake for four days without getting tired and finally some equipment in the corner. I went to the desk and typed in my password. The holographic screen lit up, and I saw I had a few mails in my inbox. I clicked and saw that it was from my wife. Images from my home flashed on the screen when I clicked the folder. The teal colored sky, the trees and grass shining in hues of blue and purple across the semi mountainous terrain. I smiled as I felt homesick, I was just being redeployed when I heard the news from her that she was pregnant. I was overjoyed hearing that but also felt afraid as I had a duty to my federation. “No need to think about the negatives,” I said to myself as I enjoyed going through the rest of the pictures. I lost track of time as I got a ping in my head that the briefing was going to be soon. I sighed as I turned off the computer and started to head out. “I do hope this war will end soon.” I thought as I briskly walked to the meeting room.
I pressed my hand to the side of the door, which it answered with a ping, and the doors slit open. The conference room was spacious and in the centre of it was a hologram table. A few captains besides me were already inside, including Captain Harald and Captain Hayes. I went and stood next to them as the remaining personnel entered. “Feeling excited for the mission ahead, Gray?” asked Harald with a giddy expression. I had never known one besides Kyle, who has such a positive view on life in the Umbra, but I don’t think I have ever seen Harald with a sad expression in my entire career with him. “I wouldn't call it excitement but I do feel a bit nervous since the only info about the mission we have at this point is that it will be the largest coordinated use of Umbra forces in history.” I said back. “And that is what makes it so exciting, I feel ecstatic that we will be there to witness it.” he said with a wide grin. “Save the sweet talk for later. We must first achieve victory here.” Hayes said in a gruff tone that made Harald frown. “You are such a serious man Hayes, it would not hurt to smile once in a while, you know.” Harald snapped back with peered eyes. “They make a good duo.” I thought to myself as I chuckled. As small talk was getting tossed around, the doors opened, and Major Carte entered the room. Everyone stood at attention as the room fell instantly silent. “At ease, men.” came from his booming voice.
He walked next to the table and entered a few keys on the table at the center. It came to light, and the hologram flashed to life, showing the large capital city with the golden spaceship hovering above it. The city had five layers stretching from the ground to the top of the canopy. It looked beautiful as it wove itself around and between the trees. All the layers had their purposes, like in Tirisol but on a grander scale. “Well then, gentlemen, I assume you are all itching to know the details of the mission ahead.” said Major Carte as he got the attention of all of us. “This will be the largest single operation in Umbra history as four divisions, ten thousand strong each will assault the capital at 07:15. The Owl, Panther, and Viper division will be assaulting the city itself alongside the newly established Shadowcrest militia unit under commander Starstrike. Their forces are roughly sixty thousand and will be mainly used as rescue parties but will be used as reinforcements as needed. We estimate that the civilian hostages their number close to 1.5 million, and the occupation force with the new royal retinue is around two hundred and fifty thousand.” he explained in an authoritative tone. “Wow, that is a large number of troops to have under you. Do you think Xelios will be alright?” came a whisper from Harald. “I’m sure he will be fine. He is a capable commander and a trustworthy companion.” I whispered back.
“Raven division will be tasked with entering the ship itself where the main targets are located. The obsidian Sentinel, alongside two Umbra battleships, will enter firing range and destroy the ships' shields and fire EMP bursts at it, which should hamper it for a few moments. In that time, the entire Raven division will assault the ship in Shadowhawk breaching transports. Every company will also be given a device that will allow AI Huginn and Muninn to enter the ships systems and target the enemy AI, these devices must be placed on secure ground as soon as an area has been cleared. There are five enemy targets we must capture and two targets we must rescue, they are the two royal princes, a priestess of Vorakarth, two high nobles of house Drakorin and finally the planetary chancellor and prime minister of Tiri.” Major Carte explained as he pointed to the seven images on the screen.
The two royals looked like they were barely adults, wearing shiny colors like puffed up peacocks that went surprisingly well with their yellow scales. Probably wanting to see how the empire conquered new land. The priestess’s scales were white, which I assumed was because of some sort of albinism but it seemed fitting as she was wearing red drapes with gold scattered around it. The two nobles looked very much like Vorakar, but their scales were in a darker hue of purple, and their crest was a navy blue colour. They both wore scars of battle on their faces and seemed like very capable commanders. The two Alerians had turquoise feathers with a hint of gray in them. They had the presence of a diplomat or a scholar type feel to them, less muscular than Xelios, who was a military man.
“Now, here is the main obstacle of the mission.” the Major continued, a new image popped up, showing a heavily armored Xyrran with a literal shield, sword, and a long pistol. “These are the royal guard, the elite of the Xyrran ground military. They wear a set of power armor that can withstand a few shots from our rifles unless hit in the weaker links. Thanks to that armor, their physical capabilities are enhanced significantly. We should be able to take one down in a one on one fight but be vigilant because their melee weapons can quite easily kill us.
Some will be riding a steed known as a Feralisk as depicted here.” he finished saying as a picture of one of them riding what I could only depict was a mixture of a crocodile and a feline.
The beast was large, three meters at the shoulder, and five meters from snout to tail. Its muscular, sleek body resembled a feline with a long, sinuous tail that probably aided balance and agility. Its claws didn’t look retractable but were sharp nonetheless. The head, however, was distinctly crocodilian, with a wide, powerful jaw lined with razor-sharp teeth. Its skin was a mix of rust colored fur and black scaly plates that seemed to provide good protection.
“So…we will be fighting lizard knights, sir?” Harald asked with a chuckle, which made the other captains do so in kind. “Indeed so, they apparently have some sort of code of honor and are religious zealots that don’t shy away from doing dirty work in the name of their god.” Major Carte replied. “But that religious zealotry is a weakness we will be exploiting as well.” he continued as a new image appeared on the hologram. It looked like the grim reaper, the cloak, and everything but with a white scaled Xyrran face instead of a skull and glowing white hands. It was posing like it was greeting someone.
“This is the god of death for the Xyrran, and its name is Narakoth, and these are its minions that bring the spirits of the dead to the afterlife to rest.” he continued as the hologram now showed a hooded specter with two glowing white hands. “AI Muninn believes we can use this to our advantage by adding hoods to our armor, which when in stealth mode looks quite convincing as harbingers of the death god, especially with the vibro blades active, because the hands of these specters represent death upon touch, so we will not fail to represent here.” he said finally with a huff of satisfaction. “Oh Kyle is going to love this.” I thought to myself. He always wanted to add a hood to his armor for aesthetic looks, and now he actually gets it. He will probably wear a grin for the rest of his life.
“Captain Gray,” came the commanding voice from Major Carte. “Yes sir?” I said back as I stood at attention. “Because of your recent stellar performance in the liberated town of Tirisol, you will be temporarily given the rank of acting major for this operation. If you deem something is off or feel the need to override my orders to achieve success, you have the clearance to do so, and the rest of 1st battalion will answer your command. The rest of the captains feel it fitting that you will be my second in command. Do you accept this duty?” he asked.
I stood still for a good moment, my mind racing as this was a chance in a lifetime to get renown, but it also was a huge responsibility. I steeled myself as I saluted, “It would be an honor, sir!” I called out in response. “Splendid, you will deal with the briefing for the rest of First Battalion and be in charge of them getting their new attire attachments. Now, you are all dismissed.” he said as he walked out of the door.
The silence in the room felt uncomfortable as every captain in the room stared at me with emotionless expressions. “Well then, congratulations, Major Gray, for the promotion. I could not have picked a better man for the job.” came a haughty voice from my side as Harald slammed his hand to my back in celebration. “Indeed, you may be the youngest of us, but I feel you have a natural insight when it comes to leading.” came a compliment from Hayes. The rest of the captains chuckled, congratulated me, and gave words of encouragement. It felt awkward, but I could not ask for a better battalion to be in.
We exited the briefing room and headed to the armory where our new hoods would be given to us. The rest of them jokingly made me walk in front to show my new status, which felt like some sort of hazing. We got our new clothing, which was magnetically locked to our suits. I can see why Kyle would have wanted a hood to be added to the armor. It made us look more intimidating for sure but…and I hate to admit it. It looked very cool.
An hour passed as me and the captains joked around until we got a message that the rest of the battalion was gathered in hangar B3 for briefing. We headed out as we all placed our hoods on. It felt like we were gangsters as the people we met gave us a wide berth when we walked past them. I saw Captain Harald smile like a school boy who got cool new clothes, and I must admit I felt a bit the same way. We entered the hangar and saw the entire battalion standing in lines, straight as arrows, all one thousand of them. There was a small raised platform with a screen behind it and a podium. We all walked up it, and every captain stood in a line with their hands crossed behind their backs, and every soldier imitated it in unison. The sound sent chills down my spine as I walked up to the podium. I saw Kyle standing in front of my platoon, the horns on his head giving him away instantly. “Greetings First Battalion, I am Captain Gray, who will be acting major for the mission ahead, and I will be the one briefing you.” I said, trying to sound as authoritative as I could. Kyle’s eyes lit up at that sentence as he looked at me like a mother looking at her graduating child. It felt embarrassing but at the same time kind of nice.
I briefed the men about the upcoming plan of attack, VIP individuals, and the new ‘clothing’ they were getting, which made Kyle smile even wider. All in all, it was not much of a problem, and I quickly fell into rhythm. Questions were asked, and chuckles could be heard when mentioning the lizard knights, but everyone was on the same page.
“The Obsidian Sentinel has already started to move towards the capital, and we have about 8 hours until it is in location to start firing upon the target. Get some rest, release some stress, and be ready at the designated location depicted on your COTAD at 06:10. You are dismissed.” I finally commanded. They all saluted in unison and started to trickle out.
Kyle met me afterwards, with his new hood and two points sticking out of the top of it. I suppose it won’t fall off, even if he tried to. We went to meet the rest of my lieutenants, who congratulated me on my temporary promotion, and we decided to spend some time playing games and lounge around a bit. It was a good stress relief after the whole day today. It was close to 2 am. when I got back to my quarters. Sleep overtook me, and I had a very fulfilling sleep.
My alarm woke me up at five a.m., and I got prepared and headed towards the designated hangar. The entire battalion was on site and getting prepped, Lieutenant Erik was designated to carry the AI device as it was the size of a large backpack. I called in the captains, “you all know the assignment, correct?” I asked with stern vigor in my voice. “Yes sir!” came the reply from all of them. “Good, I want every platoon to create a perimeter around each device. Once the AI’s start their battle, we will be able to get a layout of the inside of the ship. We will move in teams of fifty and always be within supporting range of each other. Understood?” I asked. “Understood, sir.” came the unanimous reply again. “Alright go into your designated shuttles, and we wait for the guns to start firing.” I finally said as they saluted, and we all headed to our shuttles.
I entered with my platoon. The shuttles could carry 200 individuals. It was tight, but that was by design as we were going to spear into the enemy ship and drop out of a hole. We strapped in and waited for the guns to fire.
Right on que we heard the first batteries fire. The massive guns could be heard even louder as the hangar doors opened. The Shadowhawk hummed to life, and I could feel we started to take flight. It suddenly sped as I felt my harness tighten around me. “Here we go then,” I said under my breath as we were on a collision course with that massive Xyrran ship.
Chapter 8
Chapter 10
2024.04.13 11:03 Express_Line_1319 Current CTC: 8LPA, Should I go for new IIMs?
General, Engineer, Male. Acads (9/8/7): 10th: 95%; 12th: 82%; Grad: 70.5% Work Ex: 34 months
I work with a global performance marketing agency (Dentsu). My CTC is 8LPA. I'm somewhat stuck here. I'm not seeing much growth. My main aim to do an MBA is to get into a FMCG /D2C marketing profile or any growth and marketing profile (also open to Gen Man roles like TAS or ABG or ITC) with decent pay (atleast 2.5 to 3 times of my current CTC)
A/B/C/L/K/I seems like a distant dream now. Considering my average acads and high cutoff required for GEM.
Considering the above caveats, would new IIMs be a good option for me? Guys help!
submitted by Express_Line_1319 to CATpreparation [link] [comments]
I work with a global performance marketing agency (Dentsu). My CTC is 8LPA. I'm somewhat stuck here. I'm not seeing much growth. My main aim to do an MBA is to get into a FMCG /D2C marketing profile or any growth and marketing profile (also open to Gen Man roles like TAS or ABG or ITC) with decent pay (atleast 2.5 to 3 times of my current CTC)
A/B/C/L/K/I seems like a distant dream now. Considering my average acads and high cutoff required for GEM.
Considering the above caveats, would new IIMs be a good option for me? Guys help!
2024.04.12 19:23 JohannGoethe Introduction to Egypto alpha numerics (EAN)
 | Abstract submitted by JohannGoethe to Alphanumerics [link] [comments] This page is an intro “guide” for those new to the growing 📚📕📖 science of Egypto Alpha Numerics (EAN) or Egypto alphanumerics. EAN sub family The following table lists the 17+ EAN subs: EAN sub familyIn which about 2,600-posts were made between 19 Apr A65 (2020) and 19 Apr A69 (2024), in an effort to decipher the root etymologies of the words: thermo and dynamics, i.e. "thermo-dynamics", a term coined) by William Thomson (101A/1854), the science that now defines the laws of the universe. EAN pioneers The following shows the four main pioneers behind this new field, namely Peter Swift, Moustafa Gadalla, Juan Acevedo, and LibbThims: https://preview.redd.it/9yfdj65vtiuc1.jpg?width=885&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a60a47fcd3026fe374ffe4228a176b739c1a2d5 Leiden I350 A large part of EAN, defined by Swift, Gadalla, and Thims, is based on the evidence of the 28 lunar stanza LeidenI350 papyrus, wherein, a large part of the structural framework of the alphabet is found. In the 14th stanza e.g., which is numbered as stanza 50, which is the same as the Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic letter N, which is the 14th letter, letter value: 50, and the letter behind the flood man Noah or Nuh, we read about Hapi, the nile flood god, coming out of his cave, located below Begeh Island 🏝️, before the 1st cataract, which is just after the N-bend of the Nile, between the 3rd and 6th cataract, to release his flood water 💦: https://preview.redd.it/o8b4mkbauuwc1.jpg?width=1239&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=299143b353c47cde3d150a1cd52b5e83d2bdaa07 Snapshot The following image gives a basic visual snapshot of EAN: https://preview.redd.it/wxa1gxxht3uc1.jpg?width=1219&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fe7db7b9c3d61cd065755d6091853e55dd962235 This image shows how the Egyptian modeled the earth 🌍, air 💨, and stars ✨ as the gods: Geb, Shu, and Bet, defined by following glyphs:
In 2850A (-895), 1,500-years later, based on this air-stars-earth or 𓆄 - 𓇯 - 𓅬 cosmology, an ABG Abecedaria had come into existence, comprised of 28-letters, valued: 1 to 1000, that we now call the Greek alphabet. The following, below left, is simplified model as to how 700+ heiro-symbols and 7 hiero-numbers became a 28 number-letter LunarScript turned alphabet letters: https://preview.redd.it/obwrl4ofqguc1.jpg?width=1297&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1228d0d27a6438a0a79728dd5aa5647e2678468 The models of alphabet “invention method”, e.g. here, and “transmission mechanism”, e.g. here, here, are not yet solidified enough to summarize. Bible The way most people now know the above is from the following sentence: ”In the beginning god created heaven 𓇯 and earth 𓅬.”Which, by no coincidence, is made of exactly 28 Hebrew letters (Panin, 65A/1890); the same as the number of letter-god sections on the 28 unit Egyptian cubit ruler 📏. History A key event, to situate the field of EAN research in context, is when Hugo Grotius (IQ:185#80), in 356A (1599), age 17, became the first to decipher the so-called Thoth marriage riddle 🧩 in Martianus Capella’s 1540A (+415) On the Marriage of Mercury and Philology. For centuries, before and after this, thinkers have been working to figure out the riddle of the origin and relation between numbers, letters, and words formed as ciphers from letter-numbers and geometry, and the relation of letters to Egyptian hieroglyphs? Philo Byblos (1840A/+115), e.g., said that the Greek letter theta Θ owed its form to the Egyptian habit of designating the deity by a ringed serpent, with its head turned inward, the dot representing the eye 𓂀 of god in the world. Presently, since the discovery of the alphabetic basis of Leiden I350 (3200A/-1245) (texts; glyphs), first noted by Peter Swift (A17/1972), who coined the term “Egyptian alphanumerics”, while studying Egyptology and civil engineering at Brown University; independently noted by Moustafa Gadalla (A61/2016), who introduced terms such as “Egyptian alphabetical linguistics”; followed by Juan Acevedo, who in A65 (2020) did his PhD on Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic “alphanumeric cosmology“, followed by LibbThims who independently coined the term “Egypto alphanumerics” (EAN) in A68 (2023), the field of EAN has since become spread over a vast range. Work in EAN includes 100s Hmolpedia articles, started in A65 (2020), 1000s of Reddit posts, dozens of YouTube videos, some podcasts, a great history of historical research (see: table of alphanumerics scholars), mostly completed in the last few centuries, all going back to before the Pyramid Texts (4350A/-2345). This mass amount of information, however, has yet to be solidified, into a unified updated presentation; a drafting 6-volume EAN book set outline is in the works. Timeline The following shows the so-called “green window”, from 3300A (-1345) to 2600A (-645), as to when hieroglyph-based writing transformed into LunarScript based alphabetic writing: https://preview.redd.it/g99jsezqqguc1.jpg?width=2072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f08c3cf24af164630af3a13f089b4273803bf039 The following is an expanded 6,000-year visual of the same showing so-called big picture history: https://preview.redd.it/h9uxrbxyqguc1.jpg?width=2013&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=68284c9ad6f2aa3cca23b1d30ee64e691f987a3c The following shows some of the key dates when certain “famously complex” alphabet letter decoding breakthroughs occurred, over the the 4-year so-called “pandemic era”, all of which we can thank the virus 🦠 for: https://preview.redd.it/q705x317fwuc1.jpg?width=2378&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d9c2a37c5c5c7773318ce8ac1065ba0ed164918 Regarding complexity, we will but note that Plutarch, wrote an entire essay “On letter E at Delphi” (1850A/+105), where was a priest, in whose temple hung 3 letter Es, one gold, one wood, and one something else, but he could not figure out where letter E came from, yet offered seven possible theories? Old model New model In the old model, shown below, e.g. the kind you read about in Wikipedia presently, “once upon a time”, some illiterate miners in Sinai (Gardiner, 39A/1916; Goldwasser, A65/2010), who were descendants of Shem, Noah’s oldest son, invented the alphabet, in their spare time; these Shem-ites then became Phoenicians; then, one day, a single Shem-ite Phoenician came to Greece, in the exactly the year 2675A (Carpenter, 22A/1933), and taught “one single Greek” the new Shem-ite Phoenician alphabet (Powell, A36/1991), and the world, especially the Europeans and Indians, who came from an imaginary home that baked PIEs 🥧, learned how to speak 🗣️ alphabetically happily thereafter. The new field of EAN, however, which finds that letter R is the ram head 𓍢 [V1] glyph which was defined as Egyptian number 100 on the tomb U-j number tags, as shown at the 5100A (-3145) date above, a fact decoded by LibbThims on 9 Mar A67/2022, opens up a new 5K historical vista, previously unknown to us, therein revolutionizing the fields of: Etymo, linguistics, LangaugeOrigin, Egyptology, mythology, and religion. Notes
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2024.04.06 04:54 Dagaz9565 The Shadows speak Chapter 7
The shadows speak
Chapter 7
Commander Xelios Starstrike of clan Starstrike
I felt fidgety as I sat in the small transport ship, my mind conjuring up images of how I will deal with the upcoming ordeal. Captain Gray sat besides me, tinkering on his arm tablet. I believe he called it COTAD, which stands for combat operations and tactical analysis device. Apparently you are able to do a whole lot of things with that, and it's supposedly possible to connect it straight to the user's mind. That sounds both dangerous and disturbing, and I will get one, according to the A.I Huginn.
The transport shook as we gained altitude and I could see from the viewport that we were entering thick dark clouds. Storms were not uncommon on Tiri as it is a tropical world but something about this cloud cover seemed off. Flashes of lightning could be seen within it as the noon sunlight faded behind us. A slight shiver went through my feathers as we went further in, dim light and occasional blue flashes lit up the interior which made my companions look more menacing. Besides Captain Gray there were 4 other Terrans sitting across us, Lieutenant Kyle and 3 of his men, their still demeanor and glowing eyes not helping in calming my nerves. Suddenly a hand landed on my shoulder and I flinched, “you feeling alright there commander?” Gray asked with a straight face, seemingly unbothered by the thunderstorm outside. “Just a bit nervous I guess,” I said back, trying hard not to stomp my foot repeatedly that would show my nervousness.
“You don’t have to be worried, commander, we are through the screen. It should be smooth sailing until we arrive at HQ.” said the lieutenant enthusiastically, mildly irritating Gray in the process. I got to know Kyle whilst we were at my cousin's house. He is an interesting character. A big fan of the so-called Batman who is a fictional vigilante of some sort who relies on gadgets and strong wit to fight crime and stop villains. A fitting description for the Terrans of the Umbra Vanguard, although they are significantly more dark in their profession and don’t adhere to the no killing rule, but what did he mean by the screen?
“See?” he said with a smirk as he raised his hands to the sides. What does he mean by that? But to my bewilderment the slight shaking of the ship had stopped and we cruised through the cloud in a low hum. What trickery is this? The winds here should be fast enough that there would be turbulence, but there is none. Kyle placed his elbows on his knees and looked at me with anticipation as if he was waiting for me to show some sort of reaction. Then he gestured with his head for me to look out the window behind me. As I turned around I saw that we cleared the cloud cover and a gargantuan black spaceship hovered to our side about a kilometre away. It was massive, about the same size as the royal Xyrran ship. Ten spheres of some sort hovered around it, crackling blue lighting dancing over their surface as they seemed to hold the clouds around the ship at bay, forming a cocoon around it.
My jaw dropped as I quickly looked back at Kyle who had a wide satisfied grin smeared over his lips. “Pretty cool isn’t it?” he asked in a playful tone. I looked back at the massive ship, “it's extraordinary, is it bending the storm cell around itself as a form of camouflage?” I asked in awe, “no, not really, I don’t know exactly how they do it but it is mimicking a storm cell and adding in all sorts of scramble tech as well in order to mask it’s presence even further. to everyone looking at it from the outside, it simply looks like a regular storm.” He answered back, as even he pondered over the marvel happening before us.
The ship was sleek and angular, looking like a six winged bird of prey in the middle of a dive, with its tucked wings serving as hangers of sorts. Guns were darting out of it in symmetrical patterns from stern to bow and faint lights were glowing here and there from it. It was a beast armed for total carnage and it was a stealth ship? Now I wonder what the Terrans main armada ships look like and better yet, why do they have such potent weaponry? What sort of enemy is required to form such a unit as the Umbra Vanguard?
I placed these thoughts to the back of my mind as our transport shuttle turned left as we were heading straight for one of the massive ship's left wings. A hangar door opened and we silently glided in and landed on a raised platform. The hangar was enormous and ships of all sizes and purposes were stationed in it, all in the same matted obsidian colour. The platform turned and we unbuckled our straps, I shook my wings as they were a bit numb from being squashed behind my back in a seat made for Terrans. The back end of the transport opened and I could smell the metallic air flowing in. We exited and to my surprise I saw my first regular looking Terrans working in the hangar. They looked like maintenance personnel, wearing gray overalls but otherwise having pinkish, brown, and tanned skin. “Guess not all who work here are modified.” I thought to myself as we turned left to see an ashen skinned Terran in a pristine, dark blue military uniform standing at the end of the platform alongside a tanned skinned Terran female in a blue jacket, long black skirt which I assumed was an office attire and flanking them were two black armoured soldiers standing still as statues.
We walked up to them and Captain Gray and the rest stiffened up and saluted, “At ease men,” the ashen man said in a booming voice that rang with authority then he looked at me, “glad to have you on board Commander Xelios, I am Major Carte, welcome to the Obsidian Sentinel.” he continued as he walked up to me with a smile and reached his hand out. I met his hand with mine as I looked up at him. He stood almost a head taller than me. When I grasped his hand it felt rough to the touch, and his gaze felt eerie. He was a veteran of war, of that I was certain. “G-glad to be on board,” I stammered back, still taking in the whole scenery. “No need to be nervous, you are among allies here and there is not a safer place on this planet than here.” the major confirmed with a chuckle. My nerves calmed down a bit after hearing that. “Ahh, where are my manners? This is Casandra, she is head of our diplomatic branch.” he said as he pointed his hand towards the female to his side. ”She will have you sign a few documents before we can offer any of our military secrets to you.” he said with a sly wink. “Jeez, I am not here to only have him sign papers, he is an important allied military personnel, and this is just as much of a diplomatic meeting as it is a military one.” she huffed in an angry tone and then walked up to me with a raised hand. ”Glad to meet you, Commander Xelios, I am Casandra Delaney, head of UDB, I will require a bit of your time before you go meet our scientists.” She said with a warm smile as I shook her hand. “A pleasure,” I said back, feeling more calm seeing as she looked like a normal Terran and not an enhanced super soldier. “Shall we get going then?” she asked politely as she gestured to me to walk with her down the stairs. I nodded, and we went off alongside the two escorting soldiers.
We walked down the stairs, and at the bottom was a tram waiting for us, hovering slightly above a rail that bent around to an exit hole in the center of the hangar. “I will come pick you up when it’s time to go to the research station.” Captain Gray shouted as we entered the tram. I nodded and waved my goodbye for now as we started to move slowly in a low hum. The tram picked up speed and we were off into the bowels of the ship. We engaged in small talk but under these circumstances the short trip just felt a bit awkward. Five minutes later the tram started to slow down and we came to a halt before a station that connected to an elevator. We entered and went up what felt like a hundred floors until the doors slid open and a lavish conference room stood before me. An oval table stood in the middle with furnished chairs stacked neatly under it, one chair had a large slit in the back of it, like my furniture at home. “We imitated your design so you could sit comfortably.” Cassandra said as she gestured with a smile for me to sit. I walked to the chair and sat down, my wings sliding comfortably behind it through the slit on the back. The two soldiers stood guard at the entrance of the room, silently staring straight forward with their rifles in their hands, aimed to the side. Why was there a need for them? I hardly pose a threat here.
Casandra seemed to pick up on my nervous glare, “they are just here for decoration, an old habit of the Terran Confederation.” She said with a slight sigh. “Now shall we get down to business?” she asked politely. “Yes, I believe we should.” I said, trying to sound calm. “This meeting will be recorded as you are the first representative of an alien species that will be given secret military technology of the Umbra Vanguard and it is imperative that I have on record that you willingly accept to undergo this process. Do you understand what I am saying?” she asked in a serious tone. “I believe I do. You wish to have an Alerian force for crowd control and want to be able to direct and communicate with us in a more straightforward fashion.” I answered back promptly. “Correct, and do I have it on record that you willingly accept to undergo minor physical alterations in order to assist us?” she continued. “I accept.” I said as I steeled myself, it was now set in stone that I will undergo augmentation. I do not like it, but if it is what is needed to help my people then I shall do what I must.
She handed me a tablet which had a few documents on it. I skimmed over it and most of them were documents about swearing secrecy about what I see and hear during my stay here and that if I break the contract I will be held accountable by Terran laws, as well as a signed agreement that I willingly accept to be augmented. “They sure are a thorough bunch.” I thought to myself as I signed the last document with my name and handed the tablet back to Casandra. She went over them then smiled at me. “Everything is in order, I wish I had more time to talk with you but an old crow keeps pestering me to wrap this up. ”She said with what looked like a forced smile.
“I am not that old and I can’t really age as a matter of fact.” came a voice from a speaker in the ceiling. “Oh? Are you sure about that? You sure sound like one now, forcing me to be quick about this.” Cassandra snapped back in an icy tone as she looked up at the speaker. “Not scientifically possible and time is short, we need to have everything prepared for the operation as soon as possible. I have already notified Captain Gray and he should arrive to take Commander Xelios to his next destination in 43 seconds.” Huginn answered in a monotone voice. “Is that so? Well it was nice meeting you Xelios and I hope I will be seeing you again soon.” Cassandra said with a sigh as she stood up from the table. I stood up as well and thanked her for the brief but interesting interview as I just saw a glimpse into Terran bureaucracy. Exactly on the second, the doors of the elevator opened and Captain Gray stood inside it. “Ready to go Commander?” Gray spoke in an upbeat tone. “Ready as I can be I suppose,” I commented back whilst taking a deep breath. I entered the elevator with him and waved a goodbye to Casandra.
The doors closed and I felt that we started to descend down. There was an awkward silence for a few moments until Captain Gray broke the silence. “Now that you have signed the required documents, you are now considered a part of Umbra, an honorary member, and therefore if you have any questions about us or our history you can ask away and I will do my best to answer.” he said with a kind smile. I pondered a while as we exited the elevator and entered another tram. “How are you and the shadow soldiers…made?” I asked as that was the first thing I was wondering when I first met him. “Heh, I figured that would be the first thing that came to your mind,” he chuckled in response.
“To become a part of the Umbra Vanguard, one has to be handpicked by a screening team. The other major branches of the Terran military have these teams within them and they pick individuals that fit a criteria. Good team coordination, fast response time, good physical health and so forth, I was picked from the marine corps myself. Once a person has been selected, they are given an opportunity to join, most so far have jumped at the opportunity as you get a higher pay and the retirement fund is quite generous but there are risks involved. Once you have signed to join the Umbra Vanguard there is no turning back as you go through your first genetic alteration. This is the first phase and it is the most dangerous one. A soldier is placed within a chamber where a substance is pumped into your body through your spine which alters your genetic makeup, increasing your physical abilities exponentially and your brain problem solving skills, as well as decreasing your response to stress so a soldier can work better under pressure. This is what turns our skin gray. This process of rapidly changing your physiology has the risk of a candidate dying as their body can’t handle it and the mortality rate is about 15%. When they finish the first phase they are officially a part of the U.V. and begin training to get used to their new body, that process takes about 1 month. Then the soldier goes through phase two which is where they get nanobots injected into their bloodstream. This serves two purposes, the nanobots cause microtears in your muscles which makes them denser and more efficient and they also continuously repair damaged tissue which allows for a soldier to continue fighting even with a wound that would normally be fatal. This process is a lot shorter to go through as the soldier is already used to his new body. The third and final phase is where a soldier gets his biomechanical optics and neural interface. The biomechanical optics is the reason our eyes are obsidian, they give us the properties to see in the dark as if it was high noon. With the neural interface the soldiers nervous systems are integrated with the biomechanical armour we wear which also enhances our abilities a bit further. Once that is done, the soldier goes through rigorous military training for 16 months, where he is taught how to use his body effectively and work together with other privates. In those months the ones that show exceptional skills among their peers are given a higher rank. And that is the process of how a soldier of the Umbra Vanguard is made.” Gray explained, a smile creeping its way onto his lips as he seemed to be reminiscing about his own experience going through this.
“That sounds like a lot of work to raise a single soldier.” I answered back with a stunned expression. “That it may be, but a single U.V soldier can turn the tide of a battle by entering behind enemy lines unnoticed, taking out enemy leaders and sabotaging convoys.” he said, raising a finger as if he was making a point. I nodded in agreement, as I have seen the aftermath of their work. “Will I have to go through some of these phases?” I asked nervously after a bit of a pause. “No, there is not enough time for that. You will be given a tweaked COTAD device as well as a neural uplink to said device. A modified version of the nanobots will also be implemented. They will focus on stabilizing your neural uplink as well as quickening your thinking power. The main reason for this is so that you can have a conversation with me or my superiors through the COTAD. The reason it is connected to your mind is so that information and orders can be transferred faster as variables can and will happen on the battlefield.” he answered, looking ahead as our tram was starting to slow down.
It came to a halt and the doors slit open with a soft whirl. This station was more lively. There were Terrans in maintenance grabs as well as a few who wore white coats, I presumed they were of the scientist or doctor variety. We entered through a hallway and came to a stop before a sealed door. Above it stood the words “augmentation chamber”. I was feeling incredibly nervous now, my feathers stood on end as I tried to psyche myself up. “Ready to go?” Gray asked with an encouraging smile. I took a deep breath, “as ready as can be I guess.” I said back as the doors slit open and we entered through.
Chapter 6
Chapter 8
submitted by Dagaz9565 to HFY [link] [comments]
Chapter 7
Commander Xelios Starstrike of clan Starstrike
I felt fidgety as I sat in the small transport ship, my mind conjuring up images of how I will deal with the upcoming ordeal. Captain Gray sat besides me, tinkering on his arm tablet. I believe he called it COTAD, which stands for combat operations and tactical analysis device. Apparently you are able to do a whole lot of things with that, and it's supposedly possible to connect it straight to the user's mind. That sounds both dangerous and disturbing, and I will get one, according to the A.I Huginn.
The transport shook as we gained altitude and I could see from the viewport that we were entering thick dark clouds. Storms were not uncommon on Tiri as it is a tropical world but something about this cloud cover seemed off. Flashes of lightning could be seen within it as the noon sunlight faded behind us. A slight shiver went through my feathers as we went further in, dim light and occasional blue flashes lit up the interior which made my companions look more menacing. Besides Captain Gray there were 4 other Terrans sitting across us, Lieutenant Kyle and 3 of his men, their still demeanor and glowing eyes not helping in calming my nerves. Suddenly a hand landed on my shoulder and I flinched, “you feeling alright there commander?” Gray asked with a straight face, seemingly unbothered by the thunderstorm outside. “Just a bit nervous I guess,” I said back, trying hard not to stomp my foot repeatedly that would show my nervousness.
“You don’t have to be worried, commander, we are through the screen. It should be smooth sailing until we arrive at HQ.” said the lieutenant enthusiastically, mildly irritating Gray in the process. I got to know Kyle whilst we were at my cousin's house. He is an interesting character. A big fan of the so-called Batman who is a fictional vigilante of some sort who relies on gadgets and strong wit to fight crime and stop villains. A fitting description for the Terrans of the Umbra Vanguard, although they are significantly more dark in their profession and don’t adhere to the no killing rule, but what did he mean by the screen?
“See?” he said with a smirk as he raised his hands to the sides. What does he mean by that? But to my bewilderment the slight shaking of the ship had stopped and we cruised through the cloud in a low hum. What trickery is this? The winds here should be fast enough that there would be turbulence, but there is none. Kyle placed his elbows on his knees and looked at me with anticipation as if he was waiting for me to show some sort of reaction. Then he gestured with his head for me to look out the window behind me. As I turned around I saw that we cleared the cloud cover and a gargantuan black spaceship hovered to our side about a kilometre away. It was massive, about the same size as the royal Xyrran ship. Ten spheres of some sort hovered around it, crackling blue lighting dancing over their surface as they seemed to hold the clouds around the ship at bay, forming a cocoon around it.
My jaw dropped as I quickly looked back at Kyle who had a wide satisfied grin smeared over his lips. “Pretty cool isn’t it?” he asked in a playful tone. I looked back at the massive ship, “it's extraordinary, is it bending the storm cell around itself as a form of camouflage?” I asked in awe, “no, not really, I don’t know exactly how they do it but it is mimicking a storm cell and adding in all sorts of scramble tech as well in order to mask it’s presence even further. to everyone looking at it from the outside, it simply looks like a regular storm.” He answered back, as even he pondered over the marvel happening before us.
The ship was sleek and angular, looking like a six winged bird of prey in the middle of a dive, with its tucked wings serving as hangers of sorts. Guns were darting out of it in symmetrical patterns from stern to bow and faint lights were glowing here and there from it. It was a beast armed for total carnage and it was a stealth ship? Now I wonder what the Terrans main armada ships look like and better yet, why do they have such potent weaponry? What sort of enemy is required to form such a unit as the Umbra Vanguard?
I placed these thoughts to the back of my mind as our transport shuttle turned left as we were heading straight for one of the massive ship's left wings. A hangar door opened and we silently glided in and landed on a raised platform. The hangar was enormous and ships of all sizes and purposes were stationed in it, all in the same matted obsidian colour. The platform turned and we unbuckled our straps, I shook my wings as they were a bit numb from being squashed behind my back in a seat made for Terrans. The back end of the transport opened and I could smell the metallic air flowing in. We exited and to my surprise I saw my first regular looking Terrans working in the hangar. They looked like maintenance personnel, wearing gray overalls but otherwise having pinkish, brown, and tanned skin. “Guess not all who work here are modified.” I thought to myself as we turned left to see an ashen skinned Terran in a pristine, dark blue military uniform standing at the end of the platform alongside a tanned skinned Terran female in a blue jacket, long black skirt which I assumed was an office attire and flanking them were two black armoured soldiers standing still as statues.
We walked up to them and Captain Gray and the rest stiffened up and saluted, “At ease men,” the ashen man said in a booming voice that rang with authority then he looked at me, “glad to have you on board Commander Xelios, I am Major Carte, welcome to the Obsidian Sentinel.” he continued as he walked up to me with a smile and reached his hand out. I met his hand with mine as I looked up at him. He stood almost a head taller than me. When I grasped his hand it felt rough to the touch, and his gaze felt eerie. He was a veteran of war, of that I was certain. “G-glad to be on board,” I stammered back, still taking in the whole scenery. “No need to be nervous, you are among allies here and there is not a safer place on this planet than here.” the major confirmed with a chuckle. My nerves calmed down a bit after hearing that. “Ahh, where are my manners? This is Casandra, she is head of our diplomatic branch.” he said as he pointed his hand towards the female to his side. ”She will have you sign a few documents before we can offer any of our military secrets to you.” he said with a sly wink. “Jeez, I am not here to only have him sign papers, he is an important allied military personnel, and this is just as much of a diplomatic meeting as it is a military one.” she huffed in an angry tone and then walked up to me with a raised hand. ”Glad to meet you, Commander Xelios, I am Casandra Delaney, head of UDB, I will require a bit of your time before you go meet our scientists.” She said with a warm smile as I shook her hand. “A pleasure,” I said back, feeling more calm seeing as she looked like a normal Terran and not an enhanced super soldier. “Shall we get going then?” she asked politely as she gestured to me to walk with her down the stairs. I nodded, and we went off alongside the two escorting soldiers.
We walked down the stairs, and at the bottom was a tram waiting for us, hovering slightly above a rail that bent around to an exit hole in the center of the hangar. “I will come pick you up when it’s time to go to the research station.” Captain Gray shouted as we entered the tram. I nodded and waved my goodbye for now as we started to move slowly in a low hum. The tram picked up speed and we were off into the bowels of the ship. We engaged in small talk but under these circumstances the short trip just felt a bit awkward. Five minutes later the tram started to slow down and we came to a halt before a station that connected to an elevator. We entered and went up what felt like a hundred floors until the doors slid open and a lavish conference room stood before me. An oval table stood in the middle with furnished chairs stacked neatly under it, one chair had a large slit in the back of it, like my furniture at home. “We imitated your design so you could sit comfortably.” Cassandra said as she gestured with a smile for me to sit. I walked to the chair and sat down, my wings sliding comfortably behind it through the slit on the back. The two soldiers stood guard at the entrance of the room, silently staring straight forward with their rifles in their hands, aimed to the side. Why was there a need for them? I hardly pose a threat here.
Casandra seemed to pick up on my nervous glare, “they are just here for decoration, an old habit of the Terran Confederation.” She said with a slight sigh. “Now shall we get down to business?” she asked politely. “Yes, I believe we should.” I said, trying to sound calm. “This meeting will be recorded as you are the first representative of an alien species that will be given secret military technology of the Umbra Vanguard and it is imperative that I have on record that you willingly accept to undergo this process. Do you understand what I am saying?” she asked in a serious tone. “I believe I do. You wish to have an Alerian force for crowd control and want to be able to direct and communicate with us in a more straightforward fashion.” I answered back promptly. “Correct, and do I have it on record that you willingly accept to undergo minor physical alterations in order to assist us?” she continued. “I accept.” I said as I steeled myself, it was now set in stone that I will undergo augmentation. I do not like it, but if it is what is needed to help my people then I shall do what I must.
She handed me a tablet which had a few documents on it. I skimmed over it and most of them were documents about swearing secrecy about what I see and hear during my stay here and that if I break the contract I will be held accountable by Terran laws, as well as a signed agreement that I willingly accept to be augmented. “They sure are a thorough bunch.” I thought to myself as I signed the last document with my name and handed the tablet back to Casandra. She went over them then smiled at me. “Everything is in order, I wish I had more time to talk with you but an old crow keeps pestering me to wrap this up. ”She said with what looked like a forced smile.
“I am not that old and I can’t really age as a matter of fact.” came a voice from a speaker in the ceiling. “Oh? Are you sure about that? You sure sound like one now, forcing me to be quick about this.” Cassandra snapped back in an icy tone as she looked up at the speaker. “Not scientifically possible and time is short, we need to have everything prepared for the operation as soon as possible. I have already notified Captain Gray and he should arrive to take Commander Xelios to his next destination in 43 seconds.” Huginn answered in a monotone voice. “Is that so? Well it was nice meeting you Xelios and I hope I will be seeing you again soon.” Cassandra said with a sigh as she stood up from the table. I stood up as well and thanked her for the brief but interesting interview as I just saw a glimpse into Terran bureaucracy. Exactly on the second, the doors of the elevator opened and Captain Gray stood inside it. “Ready to go Commander?” Gray spoke in an upbeat tone. “Ready as I can be I suppose,” I commented back whilst taking a deep breath. I entered the elevator with him and waved a goodbye to Casandra.
The doors closed and I felt that we started to descend down. There was an awkward silence for a few moments until Captain Gray broke the silence. “Now that you have signed the required documents, you are now considered a part of Umbra, an honorary member, and therefore if you have any questions about us or our history you can ask away and I will do my best to answer.” he said with a kind smile. I pondered a while as we exited the elevator and entered another tram. “How are you and the shadow soldiers…made?” I asked as that was the first thing I was wondering when I first met him. “Heh, I figured that would be the first thing that came to your mind,” he chuckled in response.
“To become a part of the Umbra Vanguard, one has to be handpicked by a screening team. The other major branches of the Terran military have these teams within them and they pick individuals that fit a criteria. Good team coordination, fast response time, good physical health and so forth, I was picked from the marine corps myself. Once a person has been selected, they are given an opportunity to join, most so far have jumped at the opportunity as you get a higher pay and the retirement fund is quite generous but there are risks involved. Once you have signed to join the Umbra Vanguard there is no turning back as you go through your first genetic alteration. This is the first phase and it is the most dangerous one. A soldier is placed within a chamber where a substance is pumped into your body through your spine which alters your genetic makeup, increasing your physical abilities exponentially and your brain problem solving skills, as well as decreasing your response to stress so a soldier can work better under pressure. This is what turns our skin gray. This process of rapidly changing your physiology has the risk of a candidate dying as their body can’t handle it and the mortality rate is about 15%. When they finish the first phase they are officially a part of the U.V. and begin training to get used to their new body, that process takes about 1 month. Then the soldier goes through phase two which is where they get nanobots injected into their bloodstream. This serves two purposes, the nanobots cause microtears in your muscles which makes them denser and more efficient and they also continuously repair damaged tissue which allows for a soldier to continue fighting even with a wound that would normally be fatal. This process is a lot shorter to go through as the soldier is already used to his new body. The third and final phase is where a soldier gets his biomechanical optics and neural interface. The biomechanical optics is the reason our eyes are obsidian, they give us the properties to see in the dark as if it was high noon. With the neural interface the soldiers nervous systems are integrated with the biomechanical armour we wear which also enhances our abilities a bit further. Once that is done, the soldier goes through rigorous military training for 16 months, where he is taught how to use his body effectively and work together with other privates. In those months the ones that show exceptional skills among their peers are given a higher rank. And that is the process of how a soldier of the Umbra Vanguard is made.” Gray explained, a smile creeping its way onto his lips as he seemed to be reminiscing about his own experience going through this.
“That sounds like a lot of work to raise a single soldier.” I answered back with a stunned expression. “That it may be, but a single U.V soldier can turn the tide of a battle by entering behind enemy lines unnoticed, taking out enemy leaders and sabotaging convoys.” he said, raising a finger as if he was making a point. I nodded in agreement, as I have seen the aftermath of their work. “Will I have to go through some of these phases?” I asked nervously after a bit of a pause. “No, there is not enough time for that. You will be given a tweaked COTAD device as well as a neural uplink to said device. A modified version of the nanobots will also be implemented. They will focus on stabilizing your neural uplink as well as quickening your thinking power. The main reason for this is so that you can have a conversation with me or my superiors through the COTAD. The reason it is connected to your mind is so that information and orders can be transferred faster as variables can and will happen on the battlefield.” he answered, looking ahead as our tram was starting to slow down.
It came to a halt and the doors slit open with a soft whirl. This station was more lively. There were Terrans in maintenance grabs as well as a few who wore white coats, I presumed they were of the scientist or doctor variety. We entered through a hallway and came to a stop before a sealed door. Above it stood the words “augmentation chamber”. I was feeling incredibly nervous now, my feathers stood on end as I tried to psyche myself up. “Ready to go?” Gray asked with an encouraging smile. I took a deep breath, “as ready as can be I guess.” I said back as the doors slit open and we entered through.
Chapter 6
Chapter 8
2024.04.01 19:07 munro5263 Emigrating to Aus as UK ICU-Trained Nurse
Hi, my partner is an ICU-trained RN from the UK with one years experience in a cardiac ICU and completion of UK Step 1 Core Competencies.
My main questions are:
submitted by munro5263 to nursing [link] [comments]
My main questions are:
- Does anyone have any knowledge of equivalence for UK Step competencies and Aus postgraduate studies? Most jobs highlight postgraduate diploma/certification as pre-requisite which doesn’t apply in UK.
- Would completion of Step 1 have equivalence to postgraduate qualification for jobs?
- What’s the scope of practice for ICU nurses in Aus? Lurking on here it seems things are a lot more senior-led whereas in UK she would be managing ventilators/ABG interpretation and electrolyte replacement independently.
- How do ICU nurses in Aus start work if jobs require the PGCert? Do they do their studies before applying to their first job?
2024.03.30 00:39 itsIzumi Congratulations to the winners of Melee Doubles at Battle of BC 6!
Top 4 Bracket
Main Stream VOD
Side Stream VOD
| Place | Player | Player | Sent to Losers by | Eliminated by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Nouns ∣ Cody Schwab (Fox) | FLY ∣ Jmook (Sheik) | Axe & aMSa | --- |
| 2nd | Tempo ∣ Axe (Pikachu) | RB IFM ∣ aMSa (Yoshi) | Cody Schwab & Jmook | Cody Schwab & Jmook |
| 3rd | NSE ∣ Maher (Marth) | Nouns ∣ Aklo (Fox) | Axe & aMSa | Axe & aMSa |
| 4th | Zuppy (Fox) | Matteo (Fox) | Cody Schwab & Jmook | Maher & Aklo |
| 5th | Veto (Fox) | Pasta (Fox) | Cody Schwab & Jmook | Zuppy & Matteo |
| 5th | Preeminent (Fox) | EGG ∣ Salt (Captain Falcon) | Zuppy & Matteo | Maher & Aklo |
| 7th | MSI ∣ Symbol (Falco) | TXH ∣ Beezy (Marth) | Zuppy & Matteo | Veto & Pasta |
| 7th | 306 ∣ Unruly (Fox) | Espi (Fox) | Maher & Aklo | Preeminent & Salt |
| 9th | DE ∣ Aura (Peach) | ASS ∣ Stiv (Fox) | Maher & Aklo | Symbol & Beezy |
| 9th | ABG ∣ salami (Fox) | Eggdog ∣ Chango (Jigglypuff) | Axe & aMSa | Veto & Pasta |
| 9th | TJGE ∣ Megaman (Fox) | Nouns ∣ Paladin (Fox) | Ryze & Chango | Preeminent & Salt |
| 9th | 306 ∣ Amrak (Fox) | Polo (Captain Falcon) | Cody Schwab & Jmook | Unruly & Espi |
| 13th | DE ∣ Silvi (Sheik) | Vincessant (Peach) | Amrak & Polo | Symbol & Beezy |
| 13th | BC Chris steez (Pikachu) | Marcus! (Fox) | Zuppy & Matteo | Veto & Pasta |
| 13th | 69% VV ∣ Zaza (Captain Falcon) | OG Kid (Jigglypuff) | Aura & Stiv | Megaman & Paladin |
| 13th | Weenie Hut Sr. (Pikachu) | WabM (Peach) | SpikeyMike & JcReans | Unruly & Espi |
Grand Finals Set 1
Cody Schwab [W] // Twitch Twitter Wiki Nouns Esports Jake "Jmook" DiRado [W] // Twitch Twitter Wiki FlyQuest vs. Jeffrey "Axe" Williamson [L] // Twitch Twitter Wiki Tempo Storm Masaya "aMSa" Chikamoto [L] // Twitch Twitter Wiki Red Bull I-FREEK MOBILE| Cody Schwab & Jmook | 1 - 3 | Axe & aMSa | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| --- | Fox & Sheik | Dream Land 64 | Pikachu & Yoshi | 2 Pikachu stocks / 2 Yoshi stocks |
| 1 Fox stock / 1 Sheik stock | Fox & Sheik | Pokemon Stadium | Pikachu & Yoshi | --- |
| --- | Fox & Sheik | Final Destination | Pikachu & Yoshi | 1 Pikachu stock / 1 Yoshi stock |
| --- | Fox & Sheik | Yoshi's Story | Pikachu & Yoshi | 2 Pikachu stocks / 2 Yoshi stocks |
Grand Finals Set 2
Cody Schwab // Twitch Twitter Wiki Nouns Esports Jake "Jmook" DiRado // Twitch Twitter Wiki FlyQuest vs. Jeffrey "Axe" Williamson // Twitch Twitter Wiki Tempo Storm Masaya "aMSa" Chikamoto // Twitch Twitter Wiki Red Bull I-FREEK MOBILE| Cody Schwab & Jmook | 3 - 2 | Axe & aMSa | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| --- | Fox & Sheik | Final Destination | Pikachu & Yoshi | 1 Pikachu stock / 1 Yoshi stock |
| 2 Fox stocks / 3 Sheiks stocks | Fox & Sheik | Pokemon Stadium | Pikachu & Yoshi | --- |
| --- | Fox & Sheik | Dream Land 64 | Pikachu & Yoshi | 1 Pikachu stock / 1 Yoshi stock |
| 1 Fox stock / 1 Sheik stock | Fox & Sheik | Battlefield | Pikachu & Yoshi | --- |
| 1 Fox stock / 1 Sheik stock | Fox & Sheik | Yoshi's Story | Pikachu & Yoshi | --- |
2024.03.25 21:47 Swalon Paludarium build (1)
Hey guys, im planning on building my first paludarium and I want to avoid as much problems as possible. It has the measurements 60x45x90 cm and should hopefully be home to phelsumas, vampire crabs and guppys (I know about the dangers of having geckos and a water area though). Like many others, I was inspired by Dr. Plants paludarium tutorials, so his videos are what im basing my approach to this enclosure on. I most likely will return frequently to this sub reddit in the next months to seek help concerning other things but here are my first questions mainly regarding the smartest way to build the water feature.
submitted by Swalon to paludarium [link] [comments]
- Dr. Plants used leca as drainage layer but only filter foam sheets to „separate“ land from water area. Won’t you over-saturate the leca with water and face the risk of having soaked substrate if your barrier is water permeable? My idea would be to divide water and land area with a waterproof barrier so the drainage layer would only see the excess water coming from the soil. The water would run back to pump through an extra channel (see the pictures)
- for the drainage layer: would you rather recommend leca or egg crate? Im learning more towards leca
- speaking of the water proof barrier: which material would you prefer in that matter? Expanded PVC foam boards or corrugated PP boards (or any other that I dont know of yet)? On other channels like Asu, Mugen Woong or biotope gallery im never seeing the PP boards, only the PVC boards. Does this have particular reason? Apart from enclosing the water area I would use these plastic sheets to build the pump shaft and the course of the water fall.
- have u got any ideas on how I can cleanly incorporate a fogger? I would prefer to hide it within the pump shaft but that would probably take up a lot of space?
- For the substrate: in my region (germany) it seems like I cant get my handy on pre-mixed abg mix. Does anybody has experience with mixing the substrate themselves or have a recipe, respectively?
2024.03.25 07:36 CaptSarah Daily Discussion #634 - Wild Mysticism - Featuring Arax!
 | submitted by CaptSarah to LegendsOfRuneterra [link] [comments] |
2024.03.07 07:11 Dagaz9565 The Shadows Speak
The Shadows Speak
Chapter 1
Commander Xelios Starstrike, Clan Starstrike.
It has been three standard months since the Xyrran empire declared war on us. We were ill prepared at first but our ships defending the borders managed to put up a decent fight, relying on speed and hit and run tactics to slow them down but in the end they fell to the more heavily armed and strong armored ships of our now enemy.
We had an inkling that the Xyrran Empire was an expansionist race ever since we first made contact with them many years ago. They were not bad neighbors at first. They were decent trade partners and otherwise were not an overly friendly bunch. I remember when I first met one in our colony. A researcher he called himself, but I would have thought otherwise at first glance.
On average the Xyrran stood at 1.9 to 2 meters tall, two hands, two legs, four toes and four fingers on each limb. A reptilian with scales either in hues of blue, purple, brown or red covered their bodies aside from their head that had a short plumage of feathers in similar color. That would be the only likeness they had to us, the Alerians. Their face was slightly protruding with sharp back facing teeth that made them quite intimidating. On their fingertips stood sizeable menacing claws that would most undoubtedly lacerate any would-be enemy.
Oh how I wished our government had seen it sooner. That all their envoys and traders coming back and forth was just a ruse. A ploy to learn of our strengths and weaknesses. Our race has always been friendly, wanting to trade and talk rather than raid and ravage. Every other sentient species we have encountered have wanted the same, to trade and prosper together, some even wanted alliances between our species but when the Xyrran declared war none wanted to feel their ire and help us, none except our newest ally. The Terrans.
Despite only being in an alliance with us a mere 10 months, the Terrans were quick to answer the plea for help and ensured they would aid their allies no matter the cost. Though we are not hopeful that their help will come in time. Their borders are on the exact opposite side of our borders with the Xyrran Empire and it will take some time to arrive at our conflict borders even with FTL drive.
As far as we know the Terrans are not as technologically advanced as us or the Xyrran. They have not shared much of their technology and from what I have seen on my data about their diplomatic and trade vessels are nothing special, just average, but I guess it remains to be seen what their military can do.
I rubbed my eyes in frustration from lack of sleep. It had been 2 weeks since the Xyrran came to our colony planet. Tiri was much like our homeworld Aleri, lush jungles, 100 meter high with patches of grassland covering the landscape and our people made the treetops into our beautiful homes.
Our meager defense fleet of a few hundred ships were blown away by their armada of three thousand. I almost felt glad that the Xyrran didn't seem to want to glass the planet, instead they went for ground assault. Targeting our ship ports, grassland and military garrisons.
They landed a large invasion force after the initial strategic bombing and the fighting was fierce, our eyes can see far given our avian heritage and we held out at first, using the terrain to our advantage. but the Xyrran have superb low light vision and went for assaults during dusk and dawn and pushed us out of our settlements.
Now I sit in a hidden military outpost on the outskirts of my home town, contemplating my options as I have but a few hundred soldiers under my command and roughly 2000 civilians that we can't abandon and supplies are running low. The Xyrran are ruthless and take every living healthy Alerian and put them in chains, to be used as slaves and entertainment for their masses in the empire, the rest is dispatched and discarded as useless baggage.
As I sat and brooded a young clan member walked into my room. “Commander Xelios sir” he said. “I have picked up incoming communications directed at us.” He was a young adult of our clan, tall for our species, standing 1.7 meters tall, with a curved beak as all adults have and deep sapphire eyes. His feathers gleaming a dull silver as our clan was known for. From his two fit arms, perched on a pair of five fingers, sat short pruned claws. Two muscular legs with well curved talons fused neatly on each of his eight toes and strong gray wings were tucked neatly behind his back, itching for some release and exercise.
“Is it the Xyrran or other splinter groups of ours?” I asked, wondering how nice it would be to see the young adults fly in the sky, doing our ritual mating dances, not having a care in the world. “No sir, it is neither, the speech is terran sir, he called himself lieutenant Grey, of the Umbra Vanguard.”
My eyes widened in surprise.” The terrans are here? Patch it to my device, and leave me in private” I squawked. I stood over the communication device on the table, waiting until I was alone in the room then pressed the button.
“This is Commander Xelios of clan startrike, to whom am I speaking with?” The silence was for but a mere moment but it felt like minutes had gone by.
“ This is Captain Gray of the Umbra vanguard second company of the 6th battalion, Raven division. Our troops have infiltrated the orbital blockade surrounding your planet. Seven other divisions besides ours have landed in other regions to help liberate your civilians and eliminate the enemy. Our main fleet with civilian aid in tow should arrive by late afternoon your local time the day after tomorrow. My company and I will arrive at your location momentarily.”
I was baffled, they were here. How in the galaxy did they manage to slip that many soldiers planetside? If their military structure is the same as it was in the human history documentary I watched, then that would mean they managed to sneak in 80 thousand troops through the enemy. That is not a small number. Our colony world has just over 15 million souls and we estimated that the Xyrran troop planetside already numbers roughly 500 thousand. How will they defeat that?
Wait, how did they manage to contact us directly and better yet how did they find us? Our location was well hidden and broadcast scramblers were in place so it would be impossible to locate our signal.
“You said you would be here momentarily? When should I expect your arrival Captain?” I asked as I shifted nervously waiting for a response. The air started to feel cold. “We are already here” the voice said in a cold, almost robotic voice. It didn't come from the device on my table, it came from behind me. My feathers stood on end and I felt extreme fear trickle throughout my entire body.
I swiftly turned around to see nothing within my room.”What…. Wher…. Where are you?” I whispered almost too afraid to yell as I felt from somewhere in the room cold calculating predator eyes locking on me.
From the back end of my quarters seemingly out of nowhere walked a figure made out of shadow or blurry black mist in a vaguely terran shape roughly a head taller than me. It moved a bit and the ghostly hue disappeared almost instantly and before me stood a terran clad head to toe in armor, impossibly dark armor with what appeared to be a compact rifle tucked by his side in the same color.
It didn't even shimer in the light of my quarter, it was like it sucked in all the light that bounced onto it, all but one part. The eyes. The eyes glowed in a low blue color. It felt eery, the terran walked two more steps then moved his hand to the side of his face and his visor slid open.
I was even more shocked. The skin compared to the usual terran faces I had seen before, whose skin was pink and rosy, his was gray, ashen even and his eyes were black. All black, no iris, nothing, and his teeth as he showed them in his so called smile as the terrans called it, were surprisingly normal albeit very white which made his smile even more terrifying.
He looked very muscular but sleek at the same time. Like a sprinter and weightlifter fused in one body. He was definitely augmented in some way. Our kind does not dabble in such things but we knew some of our galactic neighbors did.
“Sorry for the fright there Commander but I couldn't resist” the terran said as he made a hand gesture that seemed like a salute. “Ah…eh none taken” I said, still trying to get my nerves and mind under control. “Um how, how did you get in here?”
“That is a trade secret of our military I'm afraid, but the Umbra branch of the military is a special operation unit designed for stealth, infiltration, assassination and in this situation terror assault.”
Terror? Did I hear that correctly? Well they certainly had the looks for that part. “S…so you are here to help us correct ? To liberate our town?” I asked, still coming to terms with the very freighting looking alien standing just 2 meters away from me.
“Correct” he said, as his grin grew wider, making me get a slight shiver. “I would appreciate it if you could give me any knowledge about your town, number of enemies, hostages, layout and so forth so we could compare it with our intel.” He said with more casual expressions.
“Yes….yes of course ” I said, with more vigor than I would have liked.”We keep the majority of our intelligence in the air room of our outpost so that our scouts can fly to and from it with ease”
“Indeed, I saw that when we arrived here, quite peculiar. To have an intel center with no roof. But given that we are high in the treetops and you are an aerial species, it makes sense.” He said as his face changed to what I assumed was a pondering expression.
Wait, we are more than 80 meters above ground, they don't have wings and their bones aren't hollow so he should be at least 3 times my own weight if not more. This made me wonder even harder how he managed to climb up here and without a sound at that.
As we walked out of my residence we were greeted by the vastness of the jungle. Structures lay around and between the thick trunks of trees 100 meters high, with the thick canopy above giving cover over us from any praying eyes above. It was late evening and the sun was about to settle down for the night. Lights flickered on here and there within the housing and platforms scattered around us, making it look like glowing flies were dancing around us.
“Your world is quite beautiful” he said as I watched his face give a faint smile as he was appreciating the scenery. “Indeed it is” I said.”though my home and of course the capital is even more breathtaking. Houses in between the sea of trees as far as you can see, in perfect harmony with nature itself.”
“Then you better invite me to see it when this is all over and we beat those scaly bastards back to their rotten empire ey?” He said, with what I could guess was confidence glistening over his face. Oh how I wished I shared that confidence, it was all but beaten back when our only offensive option left was to harass the enemy scout parties that ventured into the jungles around us.
We walked for a few minutes towards the intel room and met a few bewildered and frightened gazes along the way. I calmed every bypasser and told them the frightening looking shadow man was a friend which made him chuckle.
We arrived at the intel room which was suspended between four large trees. artificial vines and support beams shot out from underneath it to the trunks of the giants. As we entered, the room was quite empty as night was about to fall and no scout would want to venture out when night came. An inbuilt defense mechanism of our species, as we had a night time predator that hunted us when our species was in its infancy, as well as the Xyrran having superb low light vision.
One officer of mine, an old member of the clan, stood at the central table looking over reports, his silver feather coat almost completely morphed into white, the tell-tale sign of a very old member of our species. The last scout of today was standing next to him giving him reports and showing video feed from his mounted camera. “Good evening Zephyr, how is the scouting going?” I mused as I was waiting for him to look at our direction. The scout noticed me and my companion as I gave our position away and was immediately startled by captain Gray but chose to say nothing. “Good self control” I mused in my mind.
“Bah'' he grumbled. “Nothing good, nothing bad, just the same. Enemy scout parties keep entering and….Holy sky diva! Commander, who is that behind you?” He yelled out in surprise. I was a bit disappointed to not see a bigger reaction out of him but I suppose being a pirate hunter in his younger days makes the nerves tougher.
“This is Captain Gray of the Terran military. ” I explained. “He is part of the Umbra, a special military unit that specializes in infiltration and scouting. He and his soldiers will help us liberate our town from the enemy.”
“Well that is splendid” Zephyr said, not really questioning that there was an alien in a boogeyman armor in the room with him. “So Captain Gray, how many of you are there and how do you plan to help?” He added. “I have 200 soldiers under my command and I think it's best to talk with my lieutenants about our plan here.”
As if on cue four terrans clad in the same armor as their leader seemingly fell from the sky. All of us jumped up in surprise except the captain, who had amusement plastered all over his smug face. “Who, who are you?” Zephyr asked in shock to one of the presumed lieutenants who had two pointy armor plating sticking upwards from the side of his helmet.
“I'm Batman” the terran spoke, in a very growly voice whilst trying to strike a very powerful pose, but looking kinda dorky.” Shut the fuck up Kyle” spat another lieutenant.” You're lucky that you didn't get into trouble for altering your armor past protocol.”“Now, now. Let's be civil here” Gray spoke with a bit of amusement in his voice.
The Captain introduced his subordinates and promptly asked us to show our intel on the enemy within our town. After a brief scan of our database he nods his head.”Yea, this is about the same intel as we have on them.”
Now I felt flustered, although I didn't show it. This was a week's worth of information on our enemy, painstakingly gathered by our scouts over many hours of surveillance, and the Terrans had been here for what, not even a full day? They had the same amount of knowledge about them within a span of a single day? Preposterous.
“Well, it's best we get this started. You can send in your men in the morning Commander. We should be done by then.” The Captain said as casually as if he was talking about putting up a shelf.”Wait, what? That's it ? You're just going to head in there straight away? With only two hundred men? You're outnumbered at least ten to one.”
The Captain chuckled, then looked up into the darkened canopy above. “Well men? what do you think of our odds ?” As soon as he said those words, roughly 200 pairs of glowing blue eyes stared back at us from all over the open roof and branches above.
Sheer terror flowed through my veins. How? How did they all stay hidden and this close? I didn't even feel anything off. Suddenly a hand landed on my shoulder and I nearly jumped up in surprise.” I think we will manage Commander.” He said in a calm cold tone and continued with.“Well then. Gentlemen, it is time to go hunting.”
His visor slid down over his face and for merely a second the lights flickered off and once they came back on they were gone. All of them, without a sound. I shuddered as I felt some pity for the Xyrran. They were in for a night of silent horror.
Chapter 2
submitted by Dagaz9565 to HFY [link] [comments]
Chapter 1
Commander Xelios Starstrike, Clan Starstrike.
It has been three standard months since the Xyrran empire declared war on us. We were ill prepared at first but our ships defending the borders managed to put up a decent fight, relying on speed and hit and run tactics to slow them down but in the end they fell to the more heavily armed and strong armored ships of our now enemy.
We had an inkling that the Xyrran Empire was an expansionist race ever since we first made contact with them many years ago. They were not bad neighbors at first. They were decent trade partners and otherwise were not an overly friendly bunch. I remember when I first met one in our colony. A researcher he called himself, but I would have thought otherwise at first glance.
On average the Xyrran stood at 1.9 to 2 meters tall, two hands, two legs, four toes and four fingers on each limb. A reptilian with scales either in hues of blue, purple, brown or red covered their bodies aside from their head that had a short plumage of feathers in similar color. That would be the only likeness they had to us, the Alerians. Their face was slightly protruding with sharp back facing teeth that made them quite intimidating. On their fingertips stood sizeable menacing claws that would most undoubtedly lacerate any would-be enemy.
Oh how I wished our government had seen it sooner. That all their envoys and traders coming back and forth was just a ruse. A ploy to learn of our strengths and weaknesses. Our race has always been friendly, wanting to trade and talk rather than raid and ravage. Every other sentient species we have encountered have wanted the same, to trade and prosper together, some even wanted alliances between our species but when the Xyrran declared war none wanted to feel their ire and help us, none except our newest ally. The Terrans.
Despite only being in an alliance with us a mere 10 months, the Terrans were quick to answer the plea for help and ensured they would aid their allies no matter the cost. Though we are not hopeful that their help will come in time. Their borders are on the exact opposite side of our borders with the Xyrran Empire and it will take some time to arrive at our conflict borders even with FTL drive.
As far as we know the Terrans are not as technologically advanced as us or the Xyrran. They have not shared much of their technology and from what I have seen on my data about their diplomatic and trade vessels are nothing special, just average, but I guess it remains to be seen what their military can do.
I rubbed my eyes in frustration from lack of sleep. It had been 2 weeks since the Xyrran came to our colony planet. Tiri was much like our homeworld Aleri, lush jungles, 100 meter high with patches of grassland covering the landscape and our people made the treetops into our beautiful homes.
Our meager defense fleet of a few hundred ships were blown away by their armada of three thousand. I almost felt glad that the Xyrran didn't seem to want to glass the planet, instead they went for ground assault. Targeting our ship ports, grassland and military garrisons.
They landed a large invasion force after the initial strategic bombing and the fighting was fierce, our eyes can see far given our avian heritage and we held out at first, using the terrain to our advantage. but the Xyrran have superb low light vision and went for assaults during dusk and dawn and pushed us out of our settlements.
Now I sit in a hidden military outpost on the outskirts of my home town, contemplating my options as I have but a few hundred soldiers under my command and roughly 2000 civilians that we can't abandon and supplies are running low. The Xyrran are ruthless and take every living healthy Alerian and put them in chains, to be used as slaves and entertainment for their masses in the empire, the rest is dispatched and discarded as useless baggage.
As I sat and brooded a young clan member walked into my room. “Commander Xelios sir” he said. “I have picked up incoming communications directed at us.” He was a young adult of our clan, tall for our species, standing 1.7 meters tall, with a curved beak as all adults have and deep sapphire eyes. His feathers gleaming a dull silver as our clan was known for. From his two fit arms, perched on a pair of five fingers, sat short pruned claws. Two muscular legs with well curved talons fused neatly on each of his eight toes and strong gray wings were tucked neatly behind his back, itching for some release and exercise.
“Is it the Xyrran or other splinter groups of ours?” I asked, wondering how nice it would be to see the young adults fly in the sky, doing our ritual mating dances, not having a care in the world. “No sir, it is neither, the speech is terran sir, he called himself lieutenant Grey, of the Umbra Vanguard.”
My eyes widened in surprise.” The terrans are here? Patch it to my device, and leave me in private” I squawked. I stood over the communication device on the table, waiting until I was alone in the room then pressed the button.
“This is Commander Xelios of clan startrike, to whom am I speaking with?” The silence was for but a mere moment but it felt like minutes had gone by.
“ This is Captain Gray of the Umbra vanguard second company of the 6th battalion, Raven division. Our troops have infiltrated the orbital blockade surrounding your planet. Seven other divisions besides ours have landed in other regions to help liberate your civilians and eliminate the enemy. Our main fleet with civilian aid in tow should arrive by late afternoon your local time the day after tomorrow. My company and I will arrive at your location momentarily.”
I was baffled, they were here. How in the galaxy did they manage to slip that many soldiers planetside? If their military structure is the same as it was in the human history documentary I watched, then that would mean they managed to sneak in 80 thousand troops through the enemy. That is not a small number. Our colony world has just over 15 million souls and we estimated that the Xyrran troop planetside already numbers roughly 500 thousand. How will they defeat that?
Wait, how did they manage to contact us directly and better yet how did they find us? Our location was well hidden and broadcast scramblers were in place so it would be impossible to locate our signal.
“You said you would be here momentarily? When should I expect your arrival Captain?” I asked as I shifted nervously waiting for a response. The air started to feel cold. “We are already here” the voice said in a cold, almost robotic voice. It didn't come from the device on my table, it came from behind me. My feathers stood on end and I felt extreme fear trickle throughout my entire body.
I swiftly turned around to see nothing within my room.”What…. Wher…. Where are you?” I whispered almost too afraid to yell as I felt from somewhere in the room cold calculating predator eyes locking on me.
From the back end of my quarters seemingly out of nowhere walked a figure made out of shadow or blurry black mist in a vaguely terran shape roughly a head taller than me. It moved a bit and the ghostly hue disappeared almost instantly and before me stood a terran clad head to toe in armor, impossibly dark armor with what appeared to be a compact rifle tucked by his side in the same color.
It didn't even shimer in the light of my quarter, it was like it sucked in all the light that bounced onto it, all but one part. The eyes. The eyes glowed in a low blue color. It felt eery, the terran walked two more steps then moved his hand to the side of his face and his visor slid open.
I was even more shocked. The skin compared to the usual terran faces I had seen before, whose skin was pink and rosy, his was gray, ashen even and his eyes were black. All black, no iris, nothing, and his teeth as he showed them in his so called smile as the terrans called it, were surprisingly normal albeit very white which made his smile even more terrifying.
He looked very muscular but sleek at the same time. Like a sprinter and weightlifter fused in one body. He was definitely augmented in some way. Our kind does not dabble in such things but we knew some of our galactic neighbors did.
“Sorry for the fright there Commander but I couldn't resist” the terran said as he made a hand gesture that seemed like a salute. “Ah…eh none taken” I said, still trying to get my nerves and mind under control. “Um how, how did you get in here?”
“That is a trade secret of our military I'm afraid, but the Umbra branch of the military is a special operation unit designed for stealth, infiltration, assassination and in this situation terror assault.”
Terror? Did I hear that correctly? Well they certainly had the looks for that part. “S…so you are here to help us correct ? To liberate our town?” I asked, still coming to terms with the very freighting looking alien standing just 2 meters away from me.
“Correct” he said, as his grin grew wider, making me get a slight shiver. “I would appreciate it if you could give me any knowledge about your town, number of enemies, hostages, layout and so forth so we could compare it with our intel.” He said with more casual expressions.
“Yes….yes of course ” I said, with more vigor than I would have liked.”We keep the majority of our intelligence in the air room of our outpost so that our scouts can fly to and from it with ease”
“Indeed, I saw that when we arrived here, quite peculiar. To have an intel center with no roof. But given that we are high in the treetops and you are an aerial species, it makes sense.” He said as his face changed to what I assumed was a pondering expression.
Wait, we are more than 80 meters above ground, they don't have wings and their bones aren't hollow so he should be at least 3 times my own weight if not more. This made me wonder even harder how he managed to climb up here and without a sound at that.
As we walked out of my residence we were greeted by the vastness of the jungle. Structures lay around and between the thick trunks of trees 100 meters high, with the thick canopy above giving cover over us from any praying eyes above. It was late evening and the sun was about to settle down for the night. Lights flickered on here and there within the housing and platforms scattered around us, making it look like glowing flies were dancing around us.
“Your world is quite beautiful” he said as I watched his face give a faint smile as he was appreciating the scenery. “Indeed it is” I said.”though my home and of course the capital is even more breathtaking. Houses in between the sea of trees as far as you can see, in perfect harmony with nature itself.”
“Then you better invite me to see it when this is all over and we beat those scaly bastards back to their rotten empire ey?” He said, with what I could guess was confidence glistening over his face. Oh how I wished I shared that confidence, it was all but beaten back when our only offensive option left was to harass the enemy scout parties that ventured into the jungles around us.
We walked for a few minutes towards the intel room and met a few bewildered and frightened gazes along the way. I calmed every bypasser and told them the frightening looking shadow man was a friend which made him chuckle.
We arrived at the intel room which was suspended between four large trees. artificial vines and support beams shot out from underneath it to the trunks of the giants. As we entered, the room was quite empty as night was about to fall and no scout would want to venture out when night came. An inbuilt defense mechanism of our species, as we had a night time predator that hunted us when our species was in its infancy, as well as the Xyrran having superb low light vision.
One officer of mine, an old member of the clan, stood at the central table looking over reports, his silver feather coat almost completely morphed into white, the tell-tale sign of a very old member of our species. The last scout of today was standing next to him giving him reports and showing video feed from his mounted camera. “Good evening Zephyr, how is the scouting going?” I mused as I was waiting for him to look at our direction. The scout noticed me and my companion as I gave our position away and was immediately startled by captain Gray but chose to say nothing. “Good self control” I mused in my mind.
“Bah'' he grumbled. “Nothing good, nothing bad, just the same. Enemy scout parties keep entering and….Holy sky diva! Commander, who is that behind you?” He yelled out in surprise. I was a bit disappointed to not see a bigger reaction out of him but I suppose being a pirate hunter in his younger days makes the nerves tougher.
“This is Captain Gray of the Terran military. ” I explained. “He is part of the Umbra, a special military unit that specializes in infiltration and scouting. He and his soldiers will help us liberate our town from the enemy.”
“Well that is splendid” Zephyr said, not really questioning that there was an alien in a boogeyman armor in the room with him. “So Captain Gray, how many of you are there and how do you plan to help?” He added. “I have 200 soldiers under my command and I think it's best to talk with my lieutenants about our plan here.”
As if on cue four terrans clad in the same armor as their leader seemingly fell from the sky. All of us jumped up in surprise except the captain, who had amusement plastered all over his smug face. “Who, who are you?” Zephyr asked in shock to one of the presumed lieutenants who had two pointy armor plating sticking upwards from the side of his helmet.
“I'm Batman” the terran spoke, in a very growly voice whilst trying to strike a very powerful pose, but looking kinda dorky.” Shut the fuck up Kyle” spat another lieutenant.” You're lucky that you didn't get into trouble for altering your armor past protocol.”“Now, now. Let's be civil here” Gray spoke with a bit of amusement in his voice.
The Captain introduced his subordinates and promptly asked us to show our intel on the enemy within our town. After a brief scan of our database he nods his head.”Yea, this is about the same intel as we have on them.”
Now I felt flustered, although I didn't show it. This was a week's worth of information on our enemy, painstakingly gathered by our scouts over many hours of surveillance, and the Terrans had been here for what, not even a full day? They had the same amount of knowledge about them within a span of a single day? Preposterous.
“Well, it's best we get this started. You can send in your men in the morning Commander. We should be done by then.” The Captain said as casually as if he was talking about putting up a shelf.”Wait, what? That's it ? You're just going to head in there straight away? With only two hundred men? You're outnumbered at least ten to one.”
The Captain chuckled, then looked up into the darkened canopy above. “Well men? what do you think of our odds ?” As soon as he said those words, roughly 200 pairs of glowing blue eyes stared back at us from all over the open roof and branches above.
Sheer terror flowed through my veins. How? How did they all stay hidden and this close? I didn't even feel anything off. Suddenly a hand landed on my shoulder and I nearly jumped up in surprise.” I think we will manage Commander.” He said in a calm cold tone and continued with.“Well then. Gentlemen, it is time to go hunting.”
His visor slid down over his face and for merely a second the lights flickered off and once they came back on they were gone. All of them, without a sound. I shuddered as I felt some pity for the Xyrran. They were in for a night of silent horror.
Chapter 2
2024.02.28 12:58 GaijinSux Patch 1.04 Notes
 | Quests
New Area: Lawehara Capehttps://preview.redd.it/xene2z6ybblc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=65b6ee75769dadeca2d6386f6de482579450b262https://preview.redd.it/264dgnyybblc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=59ed0c62efcac324ec97d192e275523f8f98cef7 Level Cap Increased
New Tactical Skills
SpellCaster Buffs
Effects Adjustment
Rare Enemies
Named Enemies
Class Level Bonus
Medals
Mount Caravan
Mount Imagine Limit Break
Mission Start ConditionsAdjustments have been made so that the mission can be started if there are 3 or more applicants and 1 minute has passed. The HP of the enemies that appear in the mission will be automatically adjusted according to the number of people at the start of the mission.Ver.1.04.000 applies to surveys, additional surveys, and rush battles. If you join or leave midway, your HP will be adjusted from the next enemy that appears. If the number of people becomes less than 3 due to the entry button not being pressed or retirement, etc., the enemy's HP will be for 6 people. In a future update, we plan to adjust enemy HP when there are less than 3 people. Crafting/Limit Breaking QoL
Field Map QOL
Main Quest QOL
Expanded Storage/Friends/Albums
Others
Additional Missions
Tower Rock Mine Ruins (Additional Survey) Kahuna Cave (Additional Survey) Sea God Cave (Additional Survey) Tomdrum's Hidden Mines (Survey) Attack Checker
Score Attack
Free ExplorationFactory of ExileMiasma Abandoned Mine Defense Battle (Asterliese Defense Battle 2)
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Monthly Event: Wish Upon a Fallen StarCampaigns
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2024.02.27 23:06 Go_cards502 1st purchase - OCL Hydrogen K or Huxwrx flow 762 Ti for mainly 300 blk
Finally going to make first suppressor purchase and torn between the these two options. This will mainly live on a Criterion 10.5 300 blackout AR lightweight build, but also might get some use on a AR10 308 and a 12.5 5.56. In the 300 rifle it now has a titanium bcg with an ABG and buffer spring setup I can tune. I can always change this out with full mass bcg and other buffers/spring combos along with the AGB.
I've heard nothing but good things about both. Price isn't really a concern. OCL gets points for being in my home state for sure. They both seems to fit the bill as far as length and weight I'm looking for. What I'm worried about with the Huxwrx is some mumbling about it not doing well with subsonic rounds, which I want to run. Is this an issue I should be concerned about if I have ability to tune gas with AGB and play with bcg and buffer setup? My concern with the OCL Hydrogen is blowback. Should I be concerned with this having ability to tune gas, etc as well?
Which one should I get this week?
submitted by Go_cards502 to NFA [link] [comments]
I've heard nothing but good things about both. Price isn't really a concern. OCL gets points for being in my home state for sure. They both seems to fit the bill as far as length and weight I'm looking for. What I'm worried about with the Huxwrx is some mumbling about it not doing well with subsonic rounds, which I want to run. Is this an issue I should be concerned about if I have ability to tune gas with AGB and play with bcg and buffer setup? My concern with the OCL Hydrogen is blowback. Should I be concerned with this having ability to tune gas, etc as well?
Which one should I get this week?
2024.02.25 05:10 Positive-Ad2821 ✝️✝️✝️Crosses Atlanta
 | Chino and Shaun were incredible!!! I’m so excited for everyone awaiting their shows on this tour 😍 submitted by Positive-Ad2821 to Crosses [link] [comments] |
2024.02.21 21:33 Hasbotted [H] $$$[W] Malifaux Apex (Cooper) or Wastrel (McCabe)[Loc] WA USA
Im looking for some Malifaux Explorer models/crews. Mainly looking for Wastrel keyword (McCabe) or Cooper keyword (Apex). Need any of them.
Also looking for anything else in Explorers other than Jedza and Tiri.
Finally, also looking for Rail Golem.
submitted by Hasbotted to Miniswap [link] [comments]
Also looking for anything else in Explorers other than Jedza and Tiri.
Finally, also looking for Rail Golem.