Straight talk unlimited pin

Let's talk about the Chaos Trial of Haste. Has anyone actually managed to do this? How in the world is that 4/5 difficulty?
Most other trials I managed to do first try. A few trials defeated me first as I was learning the mechanics, but I managed to do pass them the second time. I probably haven't unlocked all of them, since I'm still missing three aspects, but those that I have were somewhere between really easy and reasonably difficult, even that one 5/5 trial with the Aspect of Thanatos.
But the Trial of Haste? It seems not only difficult but straight up impossible. How are you supposed to go through the entire Mourning Fields and defeat Cerberus in 5 minutes?
The fields are huge, so you already waste time finding where the boons are in the first place. While doing that you'll run past some corrupted shades who get aggressive and then interrupt the actual encounters, since you don't have time to get rid of them before.
The encounters themselves take 20 to 30 seconds, unless I'm missing something that could significantly speed up the process. You have to pray that it won't have these annoying minibosses in them otherwise you won't even make it to Cerberus in time.
But even if you make it to Cerbie, the problem isn't the difficulty of the fight, the starting boons are more than enough to beat him. It's the lack of time. When I arrive, I usually have barely a minute left. So I fight really aggressively but even then, there is the section after half his health is gone, where he hides until all foes he summons are defeated, and that alone is enough to run out the clock while I can't even land any damage to him.
I don't know what I'm missing, I have fully upgraded aspect of Melenoe to the final legendary level. I have fully upgraded Hermes' keepsake so it stays active for the entire time. But no matter what I try, whether I focus on attacks, specials or casts, use omegas or not, I'm always a minute or two short.
Is anybody else struggling with this, or am I losing my mind?

This is a really long story but I’ve been so desperate to just tell it from start to finish so thank you in advance if you make it all the way through.
To provide context to the rest of the story, I (22f) was in a very bad, very controlling relationship for three years. Near to the start of this relationship, I worked at an escape room where I met an awesome group of people and we started to play DND together – DM’d by the guy who ended up becoming my best friend, we'll call him Brad (23m). My ex got worse over time in various ways, but one of which was his jealousy which seemed to focus on Brad. Every time that I would go to DND I would have to remind my ex that Brad was already in a relationship with his long-time partner, Bella, and therefore he did not have feelings for me. This came up constantly and was always a fight.
It was incredibly difficult to escape, but with the support of my three closest friends, Jenna (23f), Millie (26f), and Brad, eventually I got out. I moved back in with my mum, but I was in a very bad mental state at the time and would do everything in my power not to be alone. For this reason, I would have sleepovers at all my close friends’ houses as often as I could – sleeping in Brad and Bella’s closet when I would stay at theirs. I did become closer with all of the other members of my DND group too (there were 7 of us in total) but for the purposes of keeping things simple I will focus on these four. I leaned on these friendships hard. All my friendships had been so monitored and controlled for years before this and I was so excited to be a normal adult finally. For about six months, life was amazing.
It was some time around October that I met my now partner (22m) and we started to form a relationship. He was kind and funny and I was so excited to share it with all my friends. Brad always seemed apprehensive about it, but I figured that was just because of my previous relationship. It was also around this time that Brad started struggling with something but wouldn’t share what. Jenna and I genuinely theorised that he was terminally ill with the way that he was acting. One night, I had driven Brad home from work, and I used the opportunity to ask about it because everyone was really worried. After a bit of coaxing, he told me that he thought that he was polyamorous. He had been with Bella for about five years at this point and he was worried by revealing this to her that he would destroy their relationship. He said that aside from his therapist, I was the first person that he had told and asked me not to tell anyone, which I obviously agreed to. Eventually he told her, and they told the group together, and said that they were going to make it work.
It was about December now, and I moved jobs and fell into a depressive episode. I stopped seeing my friends very much at all, and at the worse of it I had made an attempt at my life. My partner was amazing through this considering how little time we had been together, and not long after I started to get help and rebuild. When I tried to rejoin DND, everything felt different. Brad was suddenly talking over me when my character would try to speak up, wouldn’t have NPCs speak to my character, and really he would hardly look at me. I had tried to meet up with Jenna, Millie, and Brad, to tell them about what had happened with me during my episode, but Brad blew me off every time. I was so stressed that I had done something wrong, but I couldn’t figure out what since I had been away for the past couple of months.
Finally, shit really hit the fan in May at Millie’s wedding. I was standing with Bella while she told the story about her and Brad working out polyamory, and in telling the story she said that she had been the first person that he had told. This threw me for a loop, since I knew that he had told me first, and it massively irked me that he had hid that from her. I left the conversation to find Jenna to tell her, to which she took me aside and told me that Brad had been in love with me for a while now, and I had caused a lot of issues in his and Bella’s relationship. I felt awful for the rest of the wedding and sat on the cold street to vent this all to my partner.
I went to a few DND sessions after that, but I felt so self-conscious about the arguments that I had apparently caused between two friends, and since Brad was basically ignoring me in the sessions anyway, I decided one day to send a short and sweet message to the group thanking them for the years of fun, but that I would be dropping out for now.
My first regret was, when Brad pressed about why I had left, softening the blow as much as possible. I did tell him that I knew about his feelings, but I said that I was mainly leaving for my mental health, which was not true as I was in a much better spot at this point. He was very angry at Jenna for telling me, but otherwise the conversation was fairly civil. He apologised, gave me more context, explained that that was why he had been distant, confirmed that I had been a big issue in his and Bella’s relationship, and explained that I was the reason that he had figured out that he was polyamorous – I expect from me staying over at their house so often. Finally, he told me that I would be welcome back to DND at any time. I said that I was frustrated that he hadn’t spoken to me like an adult because I just thought that he had hated me, and he said that I was just a complicated situation. He also told me not to tell anyone about any of it, but especially Bella that we had had that conversation as he wanted to be the one to do it. Fine. I was upset, but I still figured that I would be able to return to the group at that point.
Months pass, and I haven’t been to any group events for a combination of reasons. I feel too uncomfortable to face Brad and Bella, I figure that removing myself from the situation is the kindest thing to do to give them space, and since I can’t tell anyone else about what happened, I feel socially a bit isolated. No worries, I can rejoin the group again when I feel comfortable, right? I have Millie over one day and she asks why I left. After a bit of back and forth, I think that she knows some level of what happened, but more than that I am just desperate to get this off my chest, so I give a brief, sympathetic overview of the situation. She is an amazing listening ear, which was exactly what I needed because this had been eating me away, and she is very mature when I ask this to not affect her relationship with him. Little did I know that I had just thrown a match into a powder keg.
I’m not totally clear on what happened, but basically Brad hadn’t told Bella that we had had a conversation. Millie accidentally revealed that I had told her, and Bella (rightfully so honestly) was furious with Brad, who then was furious at me for telling Millie. In this second conversation with him, I explained that I had thought that Millie had known to a degree anyway. He kept going on about how much of an impact this had made to his and Bella’s relationship, and I got frustrated and explained that they were actually the sole reason that I had left the group when I did, and it had had a massive impact on me too. He got apologetic, but in retrospect I think it was just trying to tide me over. He told me that Bella was uncomfortable when he and I were in a room together, which put the final nail in the coffin for my hopes to ever return to the group. He still swung the conversation back around to how hard it had all been for them and ended the conversation with a long list of Bella’s insecurities. In retrospect, this was a bit random and I’m not sure why he did that. In any case, I responded with a big paragraph refuting each of her insecurities one by one and talking about how great she is. I wish that I had just sent this message straight to her, as honestly, I doubt, she would have ever seen it.
So now we’ve had two conversations, and I don’t see any way that I can return to the group. Months later again, and I see them for the first time at a Halloween party. I had made a great new group of friends at this party, and given the history, I thought that it was fairly reasonable not to go up and have a chat with them. At one point, I am talking with someone when Brad walks up, without Bella, and says hi to me. Maybe I was petty, but considering Bella wasn’t even there and one of the last things that he had told me was that Bella was uncomfortable when he and I were in a room together, I wasn’t particularly excited to chat. I just said a cordial hi, stayed in the conversation for a minute longer, and then migrated away.
Honestly, I hadn’t even thought twice about this. By this point, I hadn’t seen Jenna for maybe six months, and the rest of the DND group for even longer. The only one who I’ve stayed in contact with is Millie. One day, I ask Millie out for coffee, and about halfway through she has this look of realisation pass her face. She tells me that “she thought I knew” and that was why I had asked her out for coffee. Knew what? Well apparently, Brad and Bella had organised basically a formal meeting with the whole friend group to tell them what had happened with me on that night. Obviously, they had not told me. Millie is amazing and relays to me what happens at the meeting which thankfully is fairly true, but there are two points that irk me. One is that it is entirely “woe is them” focussed, as if I didn’t lose all of my friends, and two is that Brad makes a remark that he thinks that I knew the whole time that he had feeling for me and that I wasn’t just innocent and naive. This is infuriating for me for reasons that I will get to. What actually breaks my heart is that apparently Jenna got up at the meeting and apologised to everyone for telling me in the first place. After that, I had two more people from the group reach out and reconnect, but not everyone and not Jenna.
This all started in July of 2022, and it’s now May of 2024, so I’m largely over it, but here are some of my feelings on the matter. One, I know that I am non-confrontational, and as much as it was initially supposed to be a kindness, I do think there was an element of running away from my problems. Two, my family and close friends kept telling me that I should send screenshots of everything to group chats or tell everyone my perspective. I think that more than anything, I had already lost everyone, and I really didn’t want to turn the group against each other. I think that would have been vindictive and petty and not me. Three, maybe I should have seen the signs that he had feelings for me earlier on, and I feel a lot of guilt about that. However, I had the exact same relationship with him as I did with Millie and Jenna, and I’ve always been of the belief that males and females can absolutely be friends. Maybe my relationships with Millie and Jenna were too close too, but after having been socially isolated for three years I suppose I was and still am hazy about where the boundaries lie. To be so clear, though, nothing ever actually happened. The best clue that I can recall was when he would say I love you man, but that’s the kind of thing that we all said to each other. Otherwise, as far as I was aware, we were just really close friends. Furthermore, I had also just come out of a long-term relationship, where I was frequently convincing my ex that Brad did not have feelings for me. I never told anyone that part because I didn’t want Brad to blame himself, but now that I’ve found out I was wrong, I’ve been going down a spiral about what else my ex may have been right about and what other behaviours he had that may have been justified. I digress. I’ve mourned the loss of my friends and support network more times than I can count, and I am aware that I could have fought to stay in the group and Brad isn’t entirely to blame for that, but it does really frustrate me that, as was clear in the board meeting he and Bella held about me, what I have been through does not seem to even cross their minds. Brad was supposed to have been my best friend. Although, now I can’t help but feel like he, intentionally or not, saw me at a vulnerable point and took advantage of it to get inappropriately close to me, and we were never really “best friends”. If I could erase our entire friendship, I would in a heartbeat. At least then I would still have the rest of my friends. I am open to hearing what people have to say, but as far as I am aware my only crime was being naïve. There are honestly so many more details but this post is already obscenely long. My final note is that my partner is the real MVP as he probably heard me vent and cry about this two dozen times and supported me through all of it. Thank you so much for reading if you made it this far.

It's the California girl uptalk.
Holy hell, it's everywhere in the revival series. Practically every character does it. Samantha Maroun. Violet Yee. Kate Dixon. Nolan Price. Vincent Riley. Jalen Shaw. Even District Attorney Baxter. I think the only characters who have never done the Cali-girl uptalk were Frank Cosgrove, Kevin Bernard, and Jack McCoy. But they're all gone now!
Zoomers probably don't even notice these things. But as someone who grew up in the '80s, I find it so bizarre to hear grown-ass men in their 50s doing the Cali-girl uptalk. I had a hard time keeping a straight face during last week's episode when Baxter and Price were having a dramatic argument, and they sounded like a pair of catty 17-yr old Cali girls from 1989. I can't even begin to imagine Adam Schiff and Ben Stone talking like that.
That's probably one of the most noticeable differences between Season 20 and Season 21.

My GF (34) and I (33) have been together for 4 years. We have a son together. I have to highlight how loyal she has always been. She is a big introvert and I have NEVER been having any doubts about, nor have I ever been jealous... until now!About 2 years ago my GF got a new job in a company that has a lot of branches around in other countries. Due to this, she is travelling from time to time (lets say 3 times a year), and I have never had any reasons to be paranoid of insecure about it because of the way she is, she is not keen on the travelling because of the type of a person she is, she is not good at smalltalks or bonding with colleagues or people in general.
About 5 months ago she came to me telling me that her boss wanted her to go to (lets say) Paris for 3 days for a project that she had been working on since starting that new job. I knew she was working with a male co-worker on the project because that has never been a secret, she has always told me he was a very nice guy, very helpful and good at the job, but always assured that he was married with kids, and very not charming or her type at all. However, about 2 weeks before the trip I started noticing that her private phone became a lot more secret, but I wasnt sure if this was just myself telline me this, or if it was actually true because I would never expect something like this from her at all. She has very little friends, and she is barely ever on the phone (unless its family) and certainly not hiding it from me. I let it go until about 3-4 days before the trip. I was lying in bed reading when she got back home late (fitness class), she took her phone and sat on the couch in the living room and suddenly I could hear that she was texting with someone, like a lot (I know because she is one of those people who has the sound on when typing) for a long time (about an hour - 1,5) before I couldnt bare it anymore so I went out and confronted her asking who it was.
She almost jumped out of the couch almost as if I had just busted her in the middle of a murder, confessing that it was him, but that he was just a friend, saying he was not her type, he was married etc etc etc. basically defending herself. I was in shock and kinda blacked out so I dont remember much of that talk / discussion, but shortly after she "had" to urgently go for a shower, funny as she had been home texting with him for more than an hour, but suddenly shower couldnt wait. I was paranoid, insecure and afraid of what was actually going on. I couldnt believe it. next morning during work she wrote to me not to be worried and that it was just nice to have a "friend". I asked her if he was flirting with her, and she told me she did not feel like he was. I did not talk to her for 2 days after that before she came to me one evening saying that she missed me and that she was ready to have a second child with me (Something I have wanted for a very long time so that was a big thing for me) and suddenly everything had changed.
Monday morning she left for Paris and I didnt hear from her ALL day despite the fact that she knew exactly how worried I was. That evening around 8h00!!! pm ish she sent me a text saying she would call in 20 min. More of an "in 20 min, I have a bit of time so be ready!" in a very stressful way. We had a video call for about 20 min and I could sense immediately that she was tipsy if not drunk! and she told me they had just gotten back from work, and that they (according to her, another female colleague, the guy and herself). however, we spoke for about 20 min, she told me she missed me and loved me and it made me feel very good. I slept okay that night.
Next day (last full day in Paris) I didnt hear from her at all again. In fact I texted her during the afternoon that I felt a bit ignored, but again she told me they were busy and that I had nothing to worry about. That evening it was same story. around 8 pm she calls me, I didnt pick up because I was driving, and she asked me when I would be available for a call, again in a very stressful way, so I texted her asking why it was so urgent to which she answered and I quote "We worked so much all day, and I just want to see you because Im so tired I might fall asleep any minute".. AT 8 PM!!! on a business trip... I knew that was bullshit, but I chose to believe it. We had the call as I got home, and after 20 min she says the same, that she had to go to bed because she was so tired, lying on the bed in clothes.!
Next day she had to travel all day back home, this was on valentines day (very ironically), and again I barely heard from her all day. We had agreed long in advance that she would pick up our son and take him home before going to a fitness class (very expensive one that she had paid for in advance). Before arriving home I went for roses since it was valentines day. I got home just in time to see her before her class. She told me she had missed me and that she would never go back to that place, and that she would most probably dump that entire project. She went to her class, but left both her private and her work phone at home. I have never done anything like this before in my life because I had never had reason to do so. But my gut and my intuition told me that something was wrong. I opened the screen on her private phone and could see that she ofcourse had messages from him. I didnt manage to guess her pin code and instead I took her work phone, guessed the code first time and saw the very first message in their chat on Zoom. It was from the night she had told me about the second baby (only 2 nights before the trip) and I quote "Peace has been reinstated at home by a miracle, I will see you Monday"......... My heart pumped harder than ever before and ofcourse it caught my curiosity and I HAD to see more. For weeks, maybe months they had texted nonstop, all day during work via Zoom and evenings and weekends via whatsapp. Now, again my GF is not flirtatious at all so to her defence I would say most of her messages was simple answers which can be interpreted in both ways whereas he was very offensive, at one point very shortly before the trip she even asks him if he is flirting with her to what he is answering "I will let you decide that" and to which she replied "it doesnt bother me at all". I also found out that the night we had a video call when she told me she was too tired, while I was on her screen she had sent him a text sayin "ready to go"
She came home, I confronted her, she begged me to give her another chance assuring me nothing happened physically at all, and that they just had drinks. Next morning we both took off from work. I was exhausted and still in shock. That morning she called in sick, told him that she needed to talk to him in person and they had a call. She told him to stop texting her, and that what they have been doing was wrong and crazy and he agreed, but it didnt stick for long. Only a few days later he sent her messages saying that he missed talking to her and that it was all a misunderstanding, that nothing happened that can be considered cheating etc etc. I know that because she showed it all to me. She didnt reply to his messages.
Its been 4 months now, and I have had some really difficult days with bad thoughts and worries because they still work together which is really hard on me. We still talk about it from time to time when I need to share my worries. She keeps assuring me that they are strictly professional, and that they do not talk about anything but work. They have stopped communicated on whatsapp during evenings or weekends, that I know for sure, but about 1 months ago I felt so insecure that it got me to take her work phone again, and as I wanted to snoop I found that she had changed her pincode again which ofcourse sends me a signal that something is going on (at least in my head). What I CAN see are only the zoom messages on the start screen that he is sending to her (the notifications she is not removing from the start screen), but I cant read the messages she is sending back to him. I check the phone almost every evening since then, and funny enough she ALWAYS without exception has messages from him and it is very rarely something about work, it is not flirtatious either, but it is personal stuff that is not related to work which she promised me they wouldnt. For example her work requires her to work one weekend every 3 months and even saturday 10 pm he asks her if she needs any help and I know that he only does so to start a conversation with her, I mean 10 pm at night on a saturday you sit with your work phone in hand asking your colleagues if they need help?
I almost feel stupid for asking because, especially now that I have been writing it all down and read it through, it seems very obvious to me that I cant trust her, but I would like to hear your take on this. Should I be worried still? Can I trust her, should I leave her?
Should I confront her about the snooping ?

There will definitely be a lot more posts of mine here, simply because I just finished the show today and have SO much on my mind.
I was actually in first grade when the show aired (oh WOW I'm old), watched it for the very first time in 5th grade. I watched the show throughout my teenage years, finished it once. I decided to rewatch it at 19 due to a mix of nostalgia and, my main focus, to rewatch the show in the perspective of a (more or less) adult with the experience of watching the show as a 12/14/17 year old. Adding to that: I'm not from the US & watched the show with the German Dub. There might be translation errors or cultural differences which could lead to a few misunderstandings/ me just not knowing about American culture lol.
I have done multiple interesting.. enhancements, you could say - including Speed. Rewatching the show made me SOO mad when it comes to that aspect.
Let's get my personal elephant out of the room - wtf was going on with Maya's storyline? From all I have seen Mayas parents are supposed to be these "chill, laid back, not married when getting kids, tattood" California typa parents, yet as soon as a whiff of a joint crosses their nose, they send her to some CAMP? Like, out of ALL reactions you could have head - chill parents or not - why on earth would you send your daughter SO far away?
Now, let's go to the general elephant in the room - Spencers pill popping
I do understand the motivation and reasoning behind Spencer's usage of the drug - ESPECIALLYYY coming from a household with such immense pressure. Out of the perspective from someone who's taken it before, her taking it in order to keep up with studying/ hunting A is actually the "lesser evil" or "less bad" option out of ALL out there.
What bugged me especially was everyone's reaction after finding out that Spencer was abusing speed.
Just as a reminder: You should NEVER approach a person who's drug abusing (and perhaps on drugs while they talk lmao) in a group of four, hassle around with the "evidence" (iirc they had a bottle of pills which they threw on the ground?), scream at the addict about what bad of a human being they are BECAUSE of their abuse etc.
The way the girls just did a 3v1 against Spencer is just.. disgusting.
Now let me get one thing straight: you CAN get away from drugs. You can get away from the people around you which influence you to take them. You can throw everything related to it away & act like it never happen. You can get into rehab, you can seek therapy and help from your loved ones.
That is however.. easier said than done. You can make the jump over to rehabilitation, but you need to make the jump first. That's usually the hardest step - to realize you have a problem.
During the ENTIRE plotline of Spencer being addicted, there is no one who really wanted to sit down with her and see.. her "side" of the perspective.
They could've written it so far better, implement actual aspects of being addicted. The liArs sitting down with her, hugging her and telling her that everything will be alright. Her parents thinking that they might have pressured her a little bit too much or Melissa realizing that her little sister is an addict. Toby trying to save the love of his life during hardship.
Spencer experiencing the symptoms of withdrawal, fighting against the addiction & slowly gaining more and more control of her addiction. Perhaps her doing a lot of shady stuff for drugs.
Don't get me wrong, there are scenes and important moments of Spencer doing exactly these things, like her digging through arias trash in order to find the pills.
They threw away SOO much potential. If they had taken the aspect of her addiction / Drugs in general more serious, more sympathy/empathy could've been around when it comes to drugs or addiction. It's just so.. weird and toxic the way they approached her on the drugs. Instead of giving her support, a shoulder to cry on or just.. any kind of help they just.. attack her.
Now to top ALLLL of that - the Actress of Paige, Lindsay Shaw, was on cocaine the entire time of her shooting. Later she switched to Adderall because it was easiemore accessible, Emily / Shay Mitchell tried to help her too. Apparently the producers knew about it but never talked about it.
I'm sorry, this is such a long rant but honestly... this has made me so mad lol

Thank you for this universe!
And many thanks to for being a full co-writer on this project!
Kaeden and Vichee belongs to and I thank them so much for working with us! It was an honor!
Sven belongs to Bjorn the Copper Paladin from Discord. I hope to do more with them in the future, and have tons of fun!
And don’t you worry about that final in the title! We have some news at the end!
[First]- [Prev]- {Next Story!!}

{Is the reason that everything happened to Tarlim in the first place?}

{Only up to the ramps, mostly. Trying to impress upon people the importance of accessibility for those with extenuating circumstances. At least according to the records I have access to.}

{The average person knows as much about his friends as they do about Mike Collins.}
<...Who?>
{Exactly. 20th century human spaceman, was there for their first lunar landing. Didn’t get to put boots on the ground, and nobody remembers his name now.}

{Hell, I didn’t even know about him until I put in a search query of niche historical figures just to give you an example. Yeesh…}

(Program Selected.)
(Resume Selected Media? [Y])
(Playing…)
Archived Closed Circuit Security Video - Establishment: Exterminator’s Office - Dawn Creek Division - Subbasement - Date Recorded (ST): OCT 31, 2136 - Timeframe (ST): 11:42 - 11:45
The parking bay is silent. Vans are parked neatly in their spots which frame the hallway to the armory and fuel storage for the camera. A ding is heard and something moves in the hallway. Five fully suited Venlil and a Zurulian step out of an elevator and run towards a van. The sound of a door slamming open comes from the hall roughly 6 seconds later. A stream of Exterminators pour out into the hall from the stairwell.
Their voices are indecipherable as they speak over each other. A Sulian runs into the armory and reappears with a huge flamer tank on their back. Another Zurulian can be seen with an extinguisher tank, but a Venlil bleats at them and tosses it aside. They drag the quadrupedal alien quickly into the parking garage before physically throwing them into the back of a van.
From the back of the hallway, a fluid can be seen spreading across the ground. A trio of Venlil back out of a room while holding their flamers up. They are unlit, instead spewing fuel out of their nozzles. The trio twirl around in an overly animated manner as they walk down the hall to the parking garage. A van pulls out of its spot with windows down so the passengers could let out a cheer.
A black-suited Venlil runs up to the spraying trio while waving their arms to get them out into the garage. The microphone just barely manages to catch him saying, “We need to save some for the predators!” One of the other Venlil replies, “Yes sir, Mafchi!” A short flurry of curses is heard as the gathered exterminators pile into the three other visible vans. Two of the vans speed out of the garage, forcing some other Venlil exterminators to dive out of the way in the process.
The black-suited Mafchi picks up a fuel canister that had been dropped and twists off its cap. He slings it under his shoulder and pours a line of fuel. He marches straight to the final van and hops up into the open rear. The van backs itself up to turn out of the garage. The fuel canister clatters to the ground as it pulls away. Before it clears the view of the camera, the Black-suited Venlil is seen standing in its open back. He is holding what appears to be a flare gun.
The flare sails through the air shortly after the van leaves the frame and impacts the ground. It bounces and rolls until it touches the fuel and ignites it in an instant. A small wall of fire proceeds down the provided trail into the hallway, igniting more fuel as time passes. The hallway is quickly engulfed in vividly red fire. Thick black smoke begins to pour out into the garage as the fire inches closer to the primary fuel tank.
Movement can be seen in the hallway between the flickering flames. The silver form of a Venlil Exterminator is seen rushing out of the stairwell and fighting to head towards the fuel storage room. Before they reach, a white flash fills the screen. The feed goes dead, the error code consistent with electrical interruption.
(Specified Media Concluded.)

{Who was what? Mafchi?}

{Hmmm, there aren’t any tags embedded for them. The suits do a rather good job at making the officers anonymous. Let me see…oh.}

{The, uh… the employment records for that Office were…terminated.}

{It looks like…yes, here. Record wipe in 2497. Media with less than 1 bistandannual visit were removed to save space on the university’s central server. It’s…they’re gone, gone gone.}

{Maybe, but that’ll do us no good if we don’t know their name. And because of the chaos of that incident, nobody has been able to accurately reconstruct where every individual was in that office. We’d have to already know who they were to find them.}
<...I guess that’s another person I’ll have to remember then, huh?>
{...Guess so. Speaking of remembering, perhaps you should check out Tarlim’s view again? Seeing how we were just talking about him.}
<...Sure. At least people remember his name, right?>
(Command: [exitprogram])
(Are you sure? [Y])
…
{-Program Selected-}
{-Restart From Last Playback Point? Y/(N)-}
{-[USERID-11229KMD]: procViewHist -}
{-Retrieving Transcription Viewing History…-}
{-List Retrieved - Select Desired Subject: (Tarlim)-}
{-Restart From Last Playback Point? (Y)/N-}
{-Playing…-}
Memory Transcription Subject: Tarlim, the Venbig. Date [Standardized Human Time] October 31st, 2136
No matter how much Sven and Anso griped about it, having them leave and return with the trailer was a great idea. The humans who had gone with them the first time were, to my dismay, excited to try and ride in the back. I had at least been able to impress on those four that I couldn’t let anyone else ride like that, and that they were to help with rigging a trailer with some seats.
I had to admit; they did a good job!
Several couches sat bolted to the floor of the covered trailer and even had some ropes that could be hooked across the armrests as impromptu belts. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it would work as well as any bus or short train ride! Certainly superior to jumping in the bed of a truck.
I strode out into the parking road and swayed my ears to greet Anso. Sven had stayed behind here to meet with the humans and entertain the kids, a job which he was slightly less unenthusiastic about compared to last time. “Greetings, Anso! Have you made the necessary preparations for the humans to leave with you?”
The Yotul hopped out of the truck bed and bounced to me. “We have! I have to say those humans were great workers to have helped get this whipped up so quickly! I hope Sven has been behaving himself?”
I let my tail wag behind me remembering my last glimpse of him. He should really secure his sheath straps! “He has! Been entertaining the refugees while I made sure they all had their belongings ready to go. Come on inside, let’s go gather them.”
I guided him with a wave of my arm as we turned back to the door. To be truthful, I hadn’t expected Sven to win the humans over as quickly as he did. Needless to say, his primitive attire seemed to spark joy within them, a joy sorely needed amidst the sadness of recency.
As we entered the building I noticed something, or rather, the lack of something. When I had exited only a few [minutes] prior, the building had been full of life and noise. Now, it was almost dead quiet, save for the sounds of a holovision coming from the lobby. Rather heated sounds, at that.
“I didn’t think it was already main rest claw,” Anso mused as he, too, recognized the aggravated voices coming from the lobby. “And what are they watching in there? Sounds…angry.”
“Yeah…” I trailed off as I followed the noises. As I approached the lobby, the sound of what I assumed was a Gojid yelling. “You know nothing about my family. TALK, JUST FUCKING TALK, NOW!” My ears pinned back at the foul language at play, hoping that Sven and the children were somewhere else.
As I entered the room, I saw that I was only half right. The children were thankfully nowhere to be found, but Sven was obviously present, as was most of the facility staff. I was about to ask what was going on before another voice drew my attention to the holovision, the same as everyone else. The voice of none other than Chief Nikonus.
“There were three of us who laid out the groundwork for the Federation. When Kolshian explorers came in contact with the Farsul, more than a thousand years ago, the galaxy was young. We were the first in this sector to escape our gravity well. You know about the founding of this institution, but I reiterate it just in case.”
“The Krakotl were the third,” another voice piped up from behind the camera. I thought it might’ve been another Gojid, but the voice was far too breathy. Harchen, maybe? I wasn’t given a chance to consider it further as Nikonus continued. “Yes, they were a problem from the start; aggressive, disagreeable. We tried to identify the problem, and why they were so ill-equipped for spacefaring.”
“We learned they were scavengers, who would occasionally go for fish as well.”
His next line was rendered inaudible by the shocked gasps of both the refugees and residents in the room. I was no different, drawing in a sharp breath at the abrupt admission. I remembered that Arvi had said some aliens were revealed to have eaten meat in the past, but was this the way it was decided to be revealed? With such abject callousness?
Nikonus continued to speak, looking not just proud, but smug with his words. He went on about how the Federation had saved these aliens with their manipulations, but the entirety of his body language seemed to indicate he reveled in how devastating this information would be to the people he was speaking to. How they manipulated an entire culture, a RELIGION!
What if they did the same to ours?
That horrifying thought struck through my mind like a derailing train. I had relied upon the Tenets in some of my darkest moments. Found comfort in them when there was none elsewhere to be found. To have such a comfort revealed as a lie in its entirety, used only for some other group to control you…
The voice of Nikonus hit my ears again. “Oh Sovlin, I already told you. For the small minority of species who don’t find herbivory alone, we teach them the right way. Doesn’t the religion against predators sound familiar?”
The Kolshian was insufferably proud of those words. There was no doubt in my mind now; this was mocking. Mocking a Gojid for following The Protector. For being a predator. For being different, but expecting to still be treated as a person. The Gojid were predators, they couldn’t help it, and they were already being mocked for it.
What might happen to all the other species?
I shifted my focus away from the screen to the crowd, searching for one in particular. Vichee, a Krakotl already so different from everyone else, and now my concerns for them were multiplied with every word that fell from Nikonus’ mouth. Were they okay? They had come in here to see Sven, I had seen them. Where are-
I spotted Kaeden in the corner of the room. Next to him, slumped against the wall, was Vichee. The dual colored Krakotl’s eyes were glazed over as they stared at nothing. I strode over quickly, my instincts wanting to comfort them. Kaeden was simply standing there, it was confusing that he didn’t seem to be comforting Vichee at all. As I got closer, their head tilted up to me, regarding me with an unfocused eye.
“He was right.” They said quietly. My implant almost didn’t pick it up over the sounds of the lobby. “Kaeden had asked me soon after our first meeting if Krakotl had once been meat eaters. Said it was the shape of our beaks. ‘More suited to capturing small wriggling prey than filtering algae’. He told me. I nearly flew away right then… If I had, I would have been alone with this news.”I listened, kneeling down to be closer to their level. “You’re not alone, your herd is here. Right Kaeden?”
He looked over at me and nodded. “Vichee was there with me when Earth was attacked. I’m here for them now. Kaabra and Venik are… together, elsewhere at the moment. But they will be here too.”
I flicked my ears in understanding. “Then I hope they may help in hugging Vichee until their tears are dry.” I turned an eye to Vichee. “Please, I just want you to know that you are still you. What your body does has no effect on your personhood.”
Vichee still sat, their mind still likely whirling with the new information. They lifted their differently colored wings. “I’m well aware. This lesson I already learned. But thank you, I understand what you mean.” Kaeden nodded slowly and Vichee returned to their thoughts.
“There’s going to be trouble soon, Tarlim,” Kaeden stated gravely. “News like this? Nothing good will come of it. I can already tell this won’t go over well. Keep your eyes open.”
As if in response to his words, the sound of clanking metal hits my ears. They shoot up, pivoting to locate its source. There, dashing towards the door, was the armored figure of Sven. I didn’t know him enough to know how this broadcast would affect him, but running was never the best sign. I flicked my ears goodbye to my friends and rose, following after the metal man. In my periphery, I saw the television screen had shifted to show Rolem moving onto the stage. I would have to miss whatever it was he had to say, so ducked through the doors and continued to follow the sound of metal.
As I exited, I saw that I wasn’t the only one to see Sven’s actions. Anso was bounding behind him, shouting something I couldn’t hear. Sven didn’t seem to either as he kept running, but his gait wasn’t one of fear. He looked purposeful, sprinting in a straight line. A line pointed right towards-
Towards the observing Exterminator Van.
The metal Venlil didn’t even hesitate at the presence of the fence. He leapt up in a display of strength and agility, vaulting over the barrier and continuing his beeline into the van. It was like phased through the doors with how fast he moved. There were sounds of commotion that followed his entry, and soon two Exterminators fell out of the van. One Venlil…and one Krakotl. I wonder how Kalek is taking things.
I, too, cleared the fence with only a high step and reached the van, peering in to see Sven at the controls. “Sven! What are you doing?” I asked, the Krakotl officer shivering on the ground in my periphery.
“They got my girl!” He huffed, “She’s a Gojid, they got her, I can’t let them do anything worse to her!” He tried to activate the vehicle to no avail, but his words brought up something that I hadn’t thought much over. I remember hearing about temporary emplacements that were being set up. Paly had texted me about exterminators bringing people there. Her too. And that would mean-
-THOOOOOOOMMMMM-
The wind hit me like a truck and rocked the van I was standing next to. Sven even stopped trying to fiddle with the controls to see what had just happened. In the distance, near the center of town, an enormous black cloud rose into the air, the vestiges of fire still burning in the suspended embers. I couldn’t look away from it as my mind raced with horrible possibilities as my mind tripped over itself trying to concoct a plan of action.
I wasn’t given long to think before the radio in the van crackled to life, startling both Sven and myself. “Attention all True Exterminators! The truth has come out about the taint in our midst! For too long we have lived with its danger in our presence! If any of you still hold the safety of The Herd in your hearts, come join us so we may burn ALL the predator taint from this District! Rendezvous at Vulen’s apartment complex, we shall start our cleansing there!”
The name of one of my landlords sparked familiarity in my mind. They had been working to build a series of new apartments to add to his old, and if I remembered, had agreed to house the Gojid refugees. The Gojid! Paly was housed with them!!
In an instant, I reached into the van and grabbed Sven by the arm. He tried to pull away, but my grip was too strong. “Sven! They’re gonna kill the Gojid! They’re gonna burn Paly!”
He finally managed to shake himself free as my paws became jittery from stress. “I gotta save my girlfriend! She’s in a facility! I gotta save her!”
“But they’re gonna burn people here!” I protested, “we have to do something! We need- We need People who can fight them! Kaeden! I need to get Kaeden! We can save them!”
I pulled myself away from the van and spotted Anso nearby. He must have had to go through the gate, but this was good timing. I pointed a claw at him. “Do Not Let Him drive off before I get back!”
I didn’t give him, nor the Exterminators who had recovered from their shock, time to ask questions. Paly was in danger, as were who knew how many others. I faintly heard my data pad chime from within my shoulder bag, the signal my heart was beating too fast, but I couldn’t deal with it right now. I could get the heart rate under control during the drive. Right now I needed Kaeden, he knew how to fight! How to save people when others were trying to kill them!
My paws guided me and I was back in the cafeteria before I knew it. Some of the crowd had dissipated, but Kaeden and Vichee were still in the same corner I had left them in, but with their Venlil friends now joined. Without leaving time for protest, I grabbed Kaeden’s arm and pulled him away. I heard Vichee squawk behind me, but I was in too much of a hurry. I can’t let her get hurt. I Won’t.
Kaeden started to slap my arm as I dragged the soldier across the lobby. “Tarlim! What the fuck are you doing?? What’s going on?”
“No time, they’re going to burn everyone,” I breathlessly said as I burst the facility doors open to get him to the van.
“What? Who?” Kaeden questioned, still resisting my pull. I could hear a tinge of worry in his voice, and I knew he would understand. Anso looked back from his position as he heard my approach, and upon seeing me dragging Kaeden along, he grew visibly concerned.
“On the radio, something about True Exterminators,” I attempted to explain to him as we neared the gate doors. This time, I simply spread them apart with my free paw, metal screeching against itself as the gate was forced open. “They’re going to burn every cured species they can find, and That Means Paly. I Won’t Let Them.”
Kaeden had stopped struggling as I explained the bare essentials to him, and once we approached the van, he finally had enough sense to ask the right questions. “So what exactly is the plan to stop them? We’re strong, sure, I could probably take most of them. But just two of us against a wall of those flamers?”
“Not two,” I corrected, letting go of his arm and throwing open the back doors of the van. Still seated in the drivers side was Sven, who looked back once he heard me permit entrance into the back. “We have him too.”
“Wh- the LARPer??” Kaeden asked incredulously. I wasn’t familiar with the term he used, but his tone told us all we needed to know. Sven’s eyes narrowed at the perceived insult, but Kaeden continued. “Do either of you have any formal military training?? Rushing down there is only going to get you both killed along with the others! For fucks sake, slow down! We need a plan!”
“T-There won’t be t-time f-for one,” a voice peeped in from behind us. We all turned to face the source, and we found it was the Venlil Exterminator. They recoiled under the sudden gaze of our entire party, but they managed to continue. “I-I recognized the v-voice. It w-was one of the n-new recruits. They m-might as well be Y-Yulpa. If you w-want to stop them, it’s now or n-never.”
We all stared at them for a moment in disbelief that they’d willingly hand over that information to us. They were Exterminators, weren’t they? They should be allied with the voice on the radio! Kaeden, after considering the information, gave voice to my confusion. “And why are you telling us this? You’re an exterminator, shouldn’t you be trying to help them?”
“M-My husband is the Krakotl that was in the van with me!” They yelled back, stamping their footpaw on the ground in agitation. “I-I don’t care what his ancestors did a t-thousand years ago, I will not stand for those zealots burning who knows how many people! We’re not all the same, h-human!”
I was taken aback by their words. I had given up hope that there were any redeemable souls amongst the ranks of those silver-suited brahkasses, but living proof of the contrary stood before us. Their breathing was only matched by mine as my pad continued to chime in my pack. Maybe there’s hope after all.
Kaeden started frantically looking all around, his focused gaze falling on the facility, the exterminator in front of us, and the rising smoke in the distance. After a moment's hesitation, he growled to himself and shook his head. “Fine! Fucking- if you want to prove you’re different, you and your partner stand guard at the gate! They’ll probably try to send a division here, so keep on guard! And for the love of God, go ask for help if that happens!”
My tail wagged behind me as I interpreted what that meant. “So you’ll help us, Kaeden?”
He paused for a second, an agonizing second as he fully took in the situation in his mind. But ultimately, he nodded. “Let’s go, we can figure things out along the way.”
Seizing the moment, Anso quickly jumped into the van and pushed Sven out of the driver's seat, much to their visible frustration. Kaeden quickly hopped into the passenger seat, leaving me with the problem of finding a space that would fit me. I stepped over to the back of the van and threw the doors open.
The flamers and their fuel tanks were useless to us, easy to toss all three sets out onto the ground behind me. I made sure that the flamers were disabled first, of course. Just had to snap the pilot lighters and slice a hose with my claw. Even if these two said they weren’t like these “True Exterminators” I didn’t trust them one bit. I crawled inside the cramped vehicle and wiggled myself to close the doors behind me.
As I got myself settled, I watched as the Venlil Exterminator started to inspect the destroyed remains of their weapons. I squinted a glare at them and positioned myself so they couldn’t enter with me. “You two aren’t coming,” I hissed. “You know why you’re not. Try anything with the humans, and they will stop you.”
I slammed the doors shut as their expressions fell, just in time for Anso to get the van into gear. I curled myself up against the wall of the van, watching out the back window as we sped down the road. We were on our way now. On our way to save Paly and all the people gathered because their ancestors ate meat. My heart hammered in my chest, but I would need to control it for what we were about to do. I needed to focus. I needed to breathe. I needed to be calm.
Focus. Breathe. Calm
Focus.
Breathe.
Calm…
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Memory Transcription Subject: Sol-Vah, Fleeing Predator. Date [Standardized Human Time] October 31st, 2136
My legs couldn’t carry me anymore. I had to keep going, but I didn’t have the strength. My pants became wheezes as my body struggled to keep up with the physical exertion of running almost halfway through town. I hadn’t even looked up before now, at least with eyes not blinded by tears. The pain of Mute’s rejection still stung in my soul, a pain so visceral it threatened to rip me apart worse than any Arxur. Protector, what did I do to deserve this? Is there even a Protector, or did the Federation just- just make that up?
I didn’t have time to think about that now, I needed to get to the office. From what little I caught of the broadcast, Nikonus had said they saved us before. I knew what it likely was, but…I was desperate. I just wanted to go back home and have him embrace me like he did before. The safety and love I had felt from him was still fresh in my mind, and if there was any chance I had to get it back?
I’ll happily take it.
As I approached the office, however, something seemed off. I could smell soot in the air, but not the kind of soot that came from our flamers. This was- was…dirtier smelling, as if the fuel had been impure. Upon looking up, however, I saw something that made my stomach drop. A huge plume of smoke, billowing up into the sky. It shadowed the sun itself with its immensity and hate. Did the Exterminators burn more drugs? Or…or…
I felt a renewed vigor as I started to run towards the plume, hoping against hope that I was wrong. As soon as I turned the corner, though, my worst fears were realized. Where the office once stood now sat a burning stack of glorified rubble, every single window in sight shattered and multiple holes in the outer walls. The building was split, it was as if a giant knife had come down and sloppily sliced off its front half to spill flaming debris everywhere.
I stood in front of the building I had once called my home, surrounded by screams and the awful sound of flames roaring. I knew now there was no hope of salvation, no way this could ever be undone. I would never be able to go back to the way things were, never feel the happiness I had for that brief time. I was doomed to this life, abandoned by my love, and forced to live as an abomination devoid of a home.
I suppose that’s all a predator like me deserves.
[First]- [Prev]- {Next Story!!}
You read it right: This is going to be the final chapter of "Of Giants and Journalists." With the conclusion of Sharnet and Vekna's adventure, we will now take the time to show how this announcement has affected our characters and the galaxy at large. We're excited to announce our new series, Nature of a Giant: Aftermath! This series will not be quite as in-depth temporally as Of Giants and Journalists was, mainly because not as much will be happening in as short of a time. Rest assured, though, there will still be plenty of action across the board! You just won't have to deal with over half the story only covering a week of time!
In that vein, we are also excited to announce we are working on another bonus series, one that was teased a long time ago, Venric Lawven: Legal Legend! It will be filling the gap for content while we work on the first few chapters of Aftermath to make sure the scenes are as quality as they deserve, but will have a reduced upload schedule to once a week to accommodate for writing two series at once. On behalf of both of myself and , we'd like to thank all of our readers for sticking with us on this journey. It's hard to believe this series has been going on for over a year in one form or another, but I wouldn't have it any other way! Thank you all again for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you again with Legal Legends! And then...
The Aftermath!!

I’ve met a few people like that. they will interrupt your train of thought and if you let them they’ll talk 2 hours straight non stop.
I have this flatmate who I always try to avoid because he is clueless about that. He is a very good person, nice guy, everything, but once he starts telling any of us anything about whatever we’re fucked.
I give him the signs sometimes that I’m about to leave, or I’ll get up of the sofa and walk stand up by the door, and he acknowledges that and before even said “I’ll just tell you about this one thing and you can go!”
like, wtf.
he is a nice guy and if it wasn’t for that we could even be more friends or closer at least.
However, I’ve tried to talk over what he is saying but it just doesn’t work because certain people take too much long to tell you a one simple thing.
To tell you how to boil an egg he will tell you first how he himself and his mom were one day in the mountains and then after a LONG amazing journey (which he’ll tell you all about) ended up with him learning the best method to boil an egg, while you are just there holding five eggs 😐 waiting for him to go straight to the Fuc*ing point and tell you how to put them in the pan, because HE HIMSELF said he wanted to show you that new method in the first place.
Most of the time while he’s telling me something, I already know what is the conclusion of what he is trying to say, because he keeps spiralling.
Now, I know it can be a symptom of ADHD, but still, what is the best way to snap out of this situation?
because at some point I just have no motivation to keep the conversation and switch on to full listening mode, because I literally give up as I see I’ve no chance to talk and if I want to I’ll have to fight for it and no I’m fine thanks.
I’ve friends who are aware of what a conversation is and give space to me to talk, and they listen to me, and if they interrupt me, they acknowledge like “Sorry for interrupting, but I have to say this…” and that is totally fine.
whereas, this guy and some other people I’ve met they aren’t aware of this, simply. And it is okay, each their own, but I don’t wanna waste my time listening to a monologue, because I’d rather be watching a Youtube video instead about something I actually wanna listen to.
how do I avoid these people without feeling guilty?

This was inspired by a comment on a recent tier list that was disagreeing with Immortal great souls being placed in C tier.
Book one is straight up one of my favorites of all time. The entire book, save for maybe the part where Scorio is stuck in the red lister cave, was pure adrenaline for me and the feeling I got while reading it epitomizes what I love about fantasy. On my list, S+. Book two was alright, didn't live up to the first book, but I still enjoyed reading the whole thing from front to back. Maybe a low A or high B, something like that. But by the end of the second book and as I'm reading the first half of the third book, I suddenly find that I've completely lost interest in the series as a whole. The herdsman mystery, which I was beyond excited for when it was first talked about in book two I can't bring myself to care about. The fight scenes drag on and I find myself wanting to skip to the end of them. In the end, I couldn't even finish the book.
Did anyone else have this experience? If so, how would you guys rate it? Personally, I'm inclined to put the series in high A, mostly because the parts that are amazing are super memorable, and the boring parts aren't, so my overall impression of the series is very positive.

Hello /keto Community!
Please use this support thread to talk freely and support each other. **We've switched up the format to last 2 days so that there's more time for interaction on questions and answers.**
All visitors, new and old, are kindly reminded to observe the sidebar rules, check the FAQ, and use the Search Bar before creating new posts.
If you're new to /keto and need some info, start with Keto in a Nutshell and the FAQ. Or, if you have a question that doesn't seem to be covered, head on over to the Community Support thread (pinned to the top of the subreddit) and ask the community!

Hi all, does anyone here know the telephone number for CEX Customer Services. Got sent a pin locked phone, returned to store. The store authorised the refund via email. Had the initial email to say I would get another email with the vouchers within the hour. This is where its all gone wrong, no further emails and currently £340 down.
Customer Services don't reply to anything, via email. I t would be great to be able to talk to someone in their customer services to get my money back.

Basically the title I guess. I had this exam that I talked up, once I did it I felt pretty good about it and was confident I had at least a solid pass secured. Let my girlfriend know. Told her all about it. Once I got my score back, I was pretty sad to see it was a fail. I never brought up the topic with my girlfriend so I never mentioned my grade, I guess its also important to add I didn't refrain from ONLY telling my girlfriend, no one but the examiner and I knew my score. I guess I felt ashamed of myself for thinking I did so well to score so shit? I felt so bad, even when I was studying for my re-sit I told her I was studying for something else. I honestly am not too sure why I kept it - I think I just genuinely felt so embarrassed of myself that I thought not telling her was the right way to go about it. Which, looking back, doesn't make sense since I've told her before when I failed an assignment and she's told me. I've always thought myself an honest person but I don't think my issue here is dishonesty but maybe something more to do with insecurity? Regardless, once I did my re-sit I realised I was being a fucking idiot and told my girlfriend the truth to which she understandably got pretty weirded out by it even with my attempt at an explanation. She thinks its weird that I'd go to the length of lying to her about what I was doing to hide the fact I was studying for my re-sit; Now she thinks I'm projecting and hiding something else from her, something worse. Which is so far from the truth. Besides my fuck up here I've truthfully never lied to her. I really don't know why I didn't just tell her straight up, it would've helped me so much compared to what I chose to do. Damn it. Now I'm worried she doesn't trust me anymore. I'm even more ashamed of myself with that I lied. I never lie. It's so out of character for me.
TL;DR: I didnt tell me girlfriend i failed an exam and lied that i was studying for something else and now she thinks im projecting about something worse that i could be lying about.

I have somewhat a toxic relationship with my mother. I know she loves me and wants the best for me, but there are certain things that have hurt me so much internally that I no longer know how to deal with it and be a good, obedient daughter.
When I was 12 years old, my father was caught cheating and since then my mother has suffered from depression. She became addicted to sleeping pills (ambien) and on so many occasions would abuse them. I am 30 now but I have grown up in a household where I had to constantly tiptoe around my mother and look after a mother who would get high on these pills. She would hallucinate, make a mess of the house, bang into objects around the house because she could not walk straight…pretty much act like a drunk person. There was a time where she drank insect poison….tried cutting her wrist….went into a catetonic state…recently overdosed and had fits for 3 days. She has had counselling, she is getting treatment for her depression but despite everything she refused to give up the pills. Over the years, my grandmother, my moms sister, my dad, her inlaws, her cousins….everyone has complained about her behaviour while is high on these pills because she becomes a zombie. The behaviour would mostly last all day because she purposefully takes the pills during the days. My sibling and I have tried explaining to her so many times in so many ways why this behaviour is so harmful for her, why it hurts us but she has still never tried to stop. I feel as though now I have so much frustration and hatred built inside me because of this, and I don’t know what to do with it. I recently got into an argument because we were meant to go visit a family friend and she decided to take a sleeping pill at 4 pm. I told her nobody likes hanging out with her while she is under the influence of these pills and she shouldn’t have taken them now. Instead she started going off saying you are the rudest daughter ever, a spoilt brat etc. I stopped talking to her. When my brother tried to mediate the situation, I broke down and while crying told her that her bevahiour has affected me so much throughout my whole life. We both tried explaining to her why her getting high and not getting off these pills is affecting everything. she started playing the victim again and said that I am an ungrateful daughter, the brattiest and rudest daughter and I am making a big deal out of nothing etc etc.
Now I just feel guilty like somehow I am in the wrong. I honestly don’t know what to do. We are literally really happy and fine for a while when she runs out of these pills. But everytime she goes and gets a prescription and ends up finishing them all in a few days or week, I feel very triggered. Like during those days I don’t like talking to her at all, and I am angry and cold and very distance. I know I shouldn’t be doing that and be a kind, obedient daughter but to like what extent? I have had 3 dreams recently where I saw myself crying and screaming at my mother over this, so I know there is a lot of anger within me. But I just don’t know how to cope with it anymore because I have had more than a hundred civilised conversations with her. I have tried explaining it everyway but nothing has changed so that recently I lashed out. But she still played the victim and gaslight me into thinking that I was wrong to be angry.

Hey guys and gals.
My wife had a non-riding-related accident shortly before COVID pandemics, and broke her elbow. Due to a good deal of medical incompetency and insurance greed (...) she had to get her tacicle (the joint of the elbow) removed. This lead to every day pain in some degree, and she is starting to give up riding because of that.
She had a Kawasaki ER6n when the accident happened, and to minimize vibrations to the arm we replaced it with a Honda NC750X. Worked fine for some time (looking into retrospective with the pandemics and some other factors, she started riding a bit less, so not sure if it actually worked fine 🤔), but the majority of the days she doesn't pick up her bike due to increasing discomfort and pain upon arrival to work (and back). Traveling is completely off the table for quite a while now... (which sucks... we used to to at least one 'big' family motorcycle trip per year with our daughter; better than having a pillion wife is to have a biker wife... 🤩✌🏻)
We talked a bit, and she believes that one issue might be the extended time the arm is sustained (without support). In fact the NC has a more up straight position than, let's say, my own bike (Kawasaki Z1000 SX), so one of these days she'll take my bike to see if the more 'natural' arm position might help on this. I've seen her driving our car (I'm mainly a bike guy) and she seems to be protecting her arm. She used to drive with the and on the shifting stick, and now puts it on her leg, so that might be a factor.
Long story short (sorry for the long post), I'm asking my fellow redditors for opinions on how to mitigate this, as I'm seeing her giving up riding (she already asked me to sell her bike, but I'm still thinking on helping her try to find other alternatives; I know it would break her heart... wouldn't it break yours? mine would surely... =\ ).
I've seen some elastic arms from the shoulder to the wrist, but not sure if it would help in this case, not if it would last long. Also thought that replacing the NC with a 300+cc scooter could help, because of increased vibration filtering (not that sure on this one... I don't like riding scooters, so don't have much experience to compare; she doesn't quite like scooters, but hey... two wheels are two wheels, and in my book a scooter is a bike also (I know some of you don't agree 😁). 🤷🏻‍♂️
Thanks in advance for your answers 👍
Edit: Clarifying elbow lesion is on the right arm

CW: Mention of SA People like to say “at some point y’all cared and loved one another and that’s how you have a child” but that simply wasn’t true. I loved him yea but I don’t think he’s capable of loving anyone not even himself but he is great at pretending! Me and him were off and on for 3 years, I got pregnant, then he said I was ruining his life by keeping the baby, he will never make being a family work with me, I’d be a terrible mother, I was homeless when I found out and he said I deserved to be, etc. Naturally that led me to be like okay - I will do this on my own but I also have a village that will help me. At some point he changed his mind and wanted to be in our lives and was begging me the rest of my pregnancy to make it work but also belittling, disrespecting, and being an outright monster to me. The way people treat you when you’re pregnant… you just don’t forget about. I told him he can see the baby whenever he likes but I will not be with him romantically. Every week he is trying to push me to be with him, saying I’m a terrible mother for not giving the relationship a chance for the baby, etc. So the reason I even feel like getting anything off my chest comes around.. Mother’s Day. A girl finds me on instagram and asks if she can talk to me about said ex. We get on the phone and she is crying telling me she never knew he had a baby etc. etc. We put him on the call he said that she was lying and just trying to ruin his life. He had a relationship with the girl for 2 years while trying to be with me at the same time with the excuse that I “treated him terribly”. He lied to this girl and said that I knew about her, didn’t like her, and didn’t want her around my baby because she’s white??? He told this girl that I went to the club with him, drugged him, and forced him to sleep with me. Me and this girl both have a history with SA I don’t know why he would lie about that. He told her I didn’t let him see his baby, that I called CPS on him three times, that I did so many things that were not even close to true??? Then he wants to tell me she’s only telling me half the truth, he never loved her, she’s mad because he “chose” us. He was with her my entire pregnancy and told her when I was in labor that he even had a child on the way. I was alone in the hospital for 3 days after I gave birth and he was with her literally talking about how much he loves her, marrying her, making her a mom, saying having a baby doesn’t change anything etc. all while still trying to get with me. We’ve compared screenshots and experiences and it’s insane how we have no original experiences when it comes to this guy other than me having a baby. I spent the last year healing and getting over him so this was more of a shock about what he portrayed me as and confirmation that I wasn’t crazy this entire time about his weird behavior. I think what also makes me feel so uncomfortable and embarrassed is that his friends all knew and looked me in the eyes comfortably. They all call their girlfriends crazy too and red flag number one should’ve been the fact that all of his friends are cheaters. It’s been such a weird time and I’ve just been focusing on my baby and myself but he still thinks he has a chance with me. He’s acting like everything is normal and fine. The kicker is that to him he doesn’t need to apologize we are both hoes and he can have whoever he wants. This is the sparknotes version but he is a predator, emotional and physical abuser, and the textbook definition of a narcissist. My mind is blown. While my head and heart are okay my stomach and gut have been struggling. I haven’t taken the time to feel because my feelings are so conflicting and I feel this need to be strong for my baby. Now I have to walk on pins and needles and not react while I get things handled or else he reacts… psychotically. I genuinely can’t believe this is my experience.

1st year student here and I still have no friends :( I made friends last sem but we don't have classes together na so we don't really talk and hang out anymore. It just makes me really sad na all I do in campus is attend my classes and go straight home.
Wala ako social life LOL 😭 I'm down to do anything like attend parties and go on friendly coffee dates or whatever. Does anyone wanna be friends? I'm a girl and I prefer to be friends w girls and gay guys kasi I feel uncomfy with straight guys sometimes 😅 I hope I can finally have a constant friend/s before this semester ends.
I have classmates who follows me on socmed and I feel like they're trying to be friends with me but I'm just a shy and awkward person kaya I don't know how to act sometimes and I'm not good at starting and maintaining conversations :(

Am I Overreacting for thinking he could be dead?
This guy i’ve been talking to randomly vanished. The last text he sent me was rather cryptic and simply said “i’m resting”. i think this was around 8:30 pm on wednesday. it’s even more strange bc in the text he sent me earlier that day he was all like “hey beautiful blah blah blah” The last time i saw him in person was tuesday and we had a great time and everything seemed normal. he has a history with depression but recently told me he’s been doing better l. his snap score hasn’t gone up since opening my snaps two days ago and when i try to text or call him it goes green or straight to voicemail like his phone is dead. Am i overacting for maybe thinking he could’ve died or something??????

Hi everyone,
So I am kind of having a crisis about this whole applying to medical school thing. I'm a senior in college right now, about to graduate (on quarter system lol that's why it's so late). I have a 3.72 cGPA/3.61 sGPA and was lowkey struggling throughout my second year of college with some mental health issues and got a few C's and B's, but I brought my grades up to pretty much straight A's by the end of it. I did a select few things I was really passionate about in college, but unfortunately since I had to give it my all to bring my grades up and keep up those activities, I couldn't get a lot of clinical hours in. On top of that, I haven't been doing too hot with my MCAT studying so far and definitely need more time to study for it, definitely after graduating. I know I can talk at length about my involvements and everything in applications and interviews because they've been so impactful for me, but I personally do not feel confident in my clinical hours and mid mcat fl scores so far so I wanted to take two gap years to get all of that in order before applying next cycle. But, there are quite a few SMP programs that are still taking apps and I'm just wondering if that is worth going towards instead because some of them guarantee interviews/admissions after completion of their program. So, if that ends up working out, it would leave me with one gap year instead of two, given I kill it on my MCAT. It is also very financially hefty though... so I'm extremely conflicted. I feel pressure from people around me to get this all figured out as soon as possible, but personally, I feel more comfortable taking things one step at a time. I was just wondering if anyone has advice on any of this, especially as I'm about to graduate and am just feeling more and more lost about what to do as time passes. Thanks :)

I will say straight away that if you're only interested in nsfw then I AM NOT your girl. Also I can be needy and clingy ! I suffer quite bad with anxiety (who doesnt) i require regular communication, mainly calls and voice notes if you're down? Still here? Great! Oh and please Playstation only? 😅 I don't have a PC or plan on getting one ! The games I play aren't cross gen.. I am also not interested in dating anyone outside of the UK! Mainly because I wanna meet up regularly etc..
Anyways.. hi! I'm curvy (thicc thighs save lives am I right?) I have short hair.. with an awesome undercut, you could say im alt? I'm constantly dying it! . I'm more extroverted then introverted so if you are too that would be great. I'm also super impatient lol so you'll have to get good at replying quick ! 😅. I bake , I play video games (PS and Xbox) I don't have a PC. If you're also a console boy then you already have my attention. I also love a good flirt! You can flirt with without making it sexual.. preferably.
My type would be someone who looks after themselves ! Is fit and healthy, has great hygiene and a witty sense of humour. Facial hair is attractive in my eyes so no need to worry about shaving! I prefer guys taller then me (I'm 5'4ft). Communication is super important too me so if you're the type to ghost then please don't waste your time. UK is my preferred location ! I'm 2hrs from London (wilts) although I don't drive. My age preference is 25 - 35. Although I'm willing to go a little older .. maybe a little younger !
Again I can't stress enough that the key to my heart is all of the above and more! I'm 100% ready for something serious.. I'd like a photo too so I can see who I'm talking too. And if you read my entire post then please include a 👌. Anyways I look forward to meeting you!

Since last 7-8 months, I am trying to "become gay" after learning about the judicial system. Its not working. I had sex with men within this time period for a total of 6 times (3 different men, of which 1 was a masculine dude, 2 were more on the femme side), but I hated every second of it.
I felt good talking to them and everything, like asking about their life and stuff, but when we move to the actual sexual part, it was, to say it mildly, "bad". In contrast I had straight sex once (which I deeply regret now due to my changed beliefs on the judicial system) when I was 24,25-ish, and like, that was fine. That felt good. I hate this. I don't want to be straight. I hate them.
I know that sexuality is supposed to be a spectrum, but for me this is one fucked up spectrum heavily tilted towards the straight side. Is there literally anything I can do to change this? Anything?

Since last 7-8 months, I am trying to "become gay" after learning about the judicial system. Its not working. I had sex with men within this time period for a total of 6 times (3 different men, of which 1 was a masculine dude, 2 were more on the femme side), but I hated every second of it.
I felt good talking to them and everything, like asking about their life and stuff, but when we move to the actual sexual part, it was, to say it mildly, "bad". In contrast I had straight sex once (which I deeply regret now due to my changed beliefs on the judicial system) when I was 24,25-ish, and like, that was fine. That felt good. I hate this. I don't want to be straight. I hate them.
I know that sexuality is supposed to be a spectrum, but for me this is one fucked up spectrum heavily tilted towards the straight side. Is there literally anything I can do to change this? Anything?
Edit: Based on comments, okay tough luck, seems like I really did waste these months lol. It is not going to happen, best solution I think of is to just crank up my productive work-related hours to fill the vacuum, that should work.