Today I want to talk about Tom Bombadil and his influence on, or lack thereof, on the rest of Middle-Earth.
Tom Bombadil's exact nature is either unexplainable or already explained, depending on how you see it. Tolkien's letters tell us that he represents a kind of selfless joy of cherishing nature (as it existed in England in his youth), without the need to control it. They also tell us that his exact category (as relating to Valar, Maiar, mortals etc.) is intentionally unexplained, to make the book feel more mysterious. (Sidenote: I think that's pretty laughable considering we aren't even told what Istari are in the book propee, and even the basics remain pretty confusing until you read the Silmarillion.)
However, I feel like me and many other Tolkien fans aren't exactly irked by the fact that he isn't 100 % explained, but moreso by the fact that what we do know doesn't seem to jive with other established things we know to be true about Middle-Earth. Most importantly, why isn't he affected by the ring??
Maybe this stuff is obvious to you guys, but when I first read that scene where Tom is unaffected by the ring, I thought it was hugely important foreshadowing. When Gandalf confirmed that Bombadil wouldn't be tempted but also wouldn't be any help in the protection of the ring, I was very confused. On the one hand, this seems to imply that he's more powerful than Sauron, but then why does he stay confined to his little tract of land and never interact with anyone? Or alternatively, if he's too stupid to keep the ring safe, then how is he so powerful?
However, now I think I had been misunderstanding some things.

• Tom Bombadil is not more powerful than Sauron

The fact that Bombadil isn't tempted by the ring when we meet him doesn't come down to power. It is because his mind works differently than all the other characters we meet. He represents a selfless love for nature. When he talks to the Hobbits, he tells them about Hedgehogs living in their burrows, the trees growing along the river, and all this other stuff that reads like watching a David Attenborough documentary. The mere fact that these things exist and thrive is enough for him. When Sam puts on the ring he sees images of Mordor transformed into a huge garden. But Tom Bombadil already has his garden. There's simply nothing to tempt him with. The fact that he doesn't vanish when putting the ring on is easily explained by the fact that whatever he is, he exists in the spirit world as well as the visible world, like Maiar or elves. Vanishing when putting on a ring is a strictly human problem/advantage, because they shift from the seen world to the unseen one they don't usually occupy. (Note that hobbits are biologically human as well, even though this has been forgotten in-universe.)

• Tom Bombadil isn't "too stupid" to keep the ring safe

Another huge misunderstanding on my part was taking Gandalf's words about Tom as condescending. They weren't actually. If everyone was like Tom the ring would cease to be a problem. The problem is that while Tom is selfless, he's also laser focused on his little part of the world, where he is the master. Which brings me to my most interesting thought.

• What are the limits of Tom Bombadil?

I am way more satisfied with Tom's existence in Middle-Earth now that I have explained away his immunity to the ring. Yes he can also command Old Man Willow and the Barrow Whights, and while that puts him on par with a minor wizard or a powerful elf, it doesn't totally screw with the world order. But an interesting side note to this is that his immunity to the ring would be conditional. Tom isn't totally selfless in the book, when someone gets into trouble in his land he feels responsible to help them. Most importantly though, he's greatly interested in the conservation of his native woodland. Tom Bombadil is currently immune to the ring because everything he could possibly want, he is powerful enough to change, or keep from changing against his will. Free travellers, chase off whights, or settle the occasional dispute between bucklanders and the sentient trees. The weird way his psyche works means that as soon as his immediate surroundings are in order he enters some kind of meditative relaxation state where he just takes in the beauty of nature (and apparently sings a lot). But if we put him somewhere between an elf lord and an Istari on the power scale, that means that as soon as Sauron actually rolls up with his army, Tom would suddenly want something he cannot get. He cannot keep Sauron from burning the woods, killing the animals, or taking Goldberry from him. Which is why I believe, in that very moment he would suddenly become susceptible to the ring.
And that's why it's a bad idea to leave it with him.

I've always been a proponent of getting a manual license because at least you have it if you ever need it, but after one too many coffees in Spoons I decided to just pull my finger out at the age of 27 and book some lessons. Purely down to the lack of availability I ended up learning automatic, I couldn't find a single instructor who could teach manual with availability any time soon!
I know automatics are a lot easier than a manual to learn, but even in my second lesson it felt natural, I drove 30 miles with the only things the instructor pointing out to improve being observations and speed. Apparently I was going too fast on some corners despite keeping up with traffic! I did the reverse bay park and parallel park on my first attempt once I had the basic gist explained to me.
I'm about 15 hours in and essentially spent the last 2 lessons just driving around the area of the test centre, with very little input from my instructor other than general chit chat, which he says is a good thing?
Anyway, my point isn't to brag but given I picked the it all up so fast, I get the feeling learning manual would have only taken an extra lesson to pick up.
I have my test next week and obviously I'll be doing it in the automatic and if I pass I'll have the automatic licence, but ideally I'd like to upgrade it to a manual, so I have a few questions.

• Is it really as simple picking up manual as I think it will be? I'm fairly mechanically minded and fully understand how it all works in theory, I've just never done it before!
• Is it something I can learn with family, or would I need an instructor. Ie. bad habits they may have purely on the clutch/gear side?
• How would insurance work if I were to use their car if I have a full automatic licence? Technically I would still be a provisional manual holder, but with a full licence.
• Is it worth doing straight away before I pick up any bad habits?

For what it's worth, I personally have no intention of buying a manual, or even a combustion engine car, I'll be going straight for an EV when I get a car, but for hire cars and the like I would still like to have the option.

Background:
I am currently working for a startup company registered in Uttar Pradesh with its office in Hyderabad, Telangana. The company focuses on reusable launch vehicles. My role involved working on two main projects: a vertical takeoff drone and an Engine Control System Avionics, both of which I have completed and deployed.
After nearly a year of employment, I submitted my resignation letter and it has been accepted. I am now in my notice period, transferring knowledge, data, and completing the final documentation formalities.
Recently, the company sent me an NDA and a non-compete agreement. Here are a few things to note about these documents:

1. I had already signed an NDA upon joining the company as a Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET). This new NDA is different from the initial one.
2. The non-compete agreement was never mentioned during my hiring process and has only just been introduced.
3. The company, established in 2021, is a startup and has only recently filed for a single IP.
4. The non-compete document is vaguely worded, with terms that are not well-defined but raise serious concerns.

Dear members of Reddit, I am seeking your advice on the following concerns:

1. Lack of Definitions: The document lacks definitions. Is this advantageous or disadvantageous for me? Could the company add definitions later to frame me in a specific way?
2. Use of the Term "Technology": The document mentions "technology" broadly. Does this mean I would be barred from working with any company involved in reusable technology?
3. Competitors Clause: The document prohibits working with competitors. Does this imply that I cannot join any other company working on reusable launch vehicles?
4. Non-Disclosure During Hiring: Since I was not informed about a non-compete agreement when I joined, am I still obligated to sign it now?
5. Consequences of Not Signing: If I refuse to sign the non-compete agreement and the company retaliates by withholding my experience letter or creating other issues, what legal actions can I take?
6. Defamation Clause: The defamation clause seems designed to silence me under threat of a lawsuit. Is this enforceable?
7. Overall Concerns: Are there any specific aspects of this non-compete agreement that should concern me?

I appreciate any guidance or insights you can provide. Here is a link to the document for reference: [Document Link]
Thank you in advance for your help!

Do you love writing letters and snail mail? Packing envelopes full of stickers and goodies to send to friends? Just love to send care packages or post cards from your travels, or share photos and drawings? Swatches of your favorite inks, samples from your rubber stamps, and more?
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Good afternoon.
Just wanted to ask about something which is regarding the reserve list which I am currently on at the moment (For clarity, it's for a scheme know as the Care Leaver's Internship). To give some context, last year in 2023, I had an interview and was offered an AO role with one of the departments. Went through security clearance which all passed, and they were just about to hand me over an official offer. I then received a letter with them apologising and saying that they had withdrawn my provisional offer "accidentally" (Not much I could do except be frustrated because of their blunder).
So I was placed on the reserve list since October 2023, and they informed me that they would be receiving roles for the next intake period of the internship for 2024 in May. Now I did contact them around the 20th asking for an update to which they informed me that they were still receiving bids from the departments and that they would assign myself a role as soon as possible. The idea was that I was going to be assigned a role before they made the next intake live from June 10th.
However, our PM of course announced a general election a couple days later after that response I received. I then received a message a few days ago from another care leaver whom informed me that they were delaying the application process for new applicants for the 2024 internship scheme. Now that only explained info on new applicants, but I'm just wondering right now if that would also affect those actively in the reserve list waiting for a new role.
My initial thoughts were that they wouldn't stop hiring individuals for the civil service, since you would of course need civil servants to still maintain the workflow of each department. So while I have requested a response myself to DfE in regards to this, I was wondering if anyone could possibly give some potential insight as to what is likely to happen.
Fingers crossed, I'm hoping that they just come back saying that they can get me onto a role since I was a part of last year's intake and I wouldn't be going through the same process "new" applicants would be going through (As that would not make sense to keep those on the reserve list waiting until after the new wave of applications and interviews have finished).
(To be clear, this is NOT a post about where I am on the list. So I would appreciate the automod not deleting the post)

Hire Gmail Hacker for Ethical Needs is an insightful article that delves into the world of ethical hacking, focusing on the unique perspectives of hackers who specialize in Gmail. You will discover how these professionals can help you recover lost passwords, secure your accounts, and investigate potential cyber threats, all while adhering to legal standards and ethical guidelines. The article highlights the skills and expertise of ethical hackers, shedding light on their crucial role in maintaining digital security. With a friendly and approachable tone, the piece offers a deeper understanding of why hiring an ethical Gmail hacker might be the solution you need.

Hire Gmail Hacker for Ethical Needs

Have you ever wondered if hiring a hacker for Gmail could be done ethically? It might sound a bit outlandish, but in certain situations, it can be both legal and necessary. This article will guide you through the ins and outs of hiring a Gmail hacker ethically, while retaining your values and adhering to legal guidelines.

Understanding the Hacker’s Perspective

Who Are Hackers?

Hackers often get a bad rap. The term "hacker" brings to mind images of people in dark rooms, breaking into systems for nefarious purposes. However, not all hackers are bad. In fact, there are "white hat" hackers who use their skills ethically to help others. These hackers follow the law and adhere to strict ethical guidelines.

Ethical Hacking

Ethical hacking is the practice of penetrating systems and networks to spot vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can exploit them. Ethical hackers are skilled professionals who use their knowledge for good. They are often hired by companies to protect sensitive information, ensure security, and train employees on best practices.

When Might You Need to Hire a Gmail Hacker?

Forgotten Passwords

One of the most common reasons people consider hiring a Gmail hacker is to recover forgotten passwords. Life is busy, and sometimes we forget the little things, like email passwords. In such cases, an ethical hacker can help you regain access to your account.

Security Concerns

Perhaps you suspect your Gmail account has been compromised. In such scenarios, a hacker can help secure your account by identifying any breaches, ensuring that your sensitive information remains safe.

Legal Situations

In some legal situations, gaining access to an email account is crucial. For example, in cases involving fraud or embezzlement, an ethical hacker can help retrieve pertinent information that can serve as evidence.

Important Considerations Before Hiring a Gmail Hacker

Legal Implications

Before you decide to hire a Gmail hacker, it's crucial to understand the legal boundaries. Unauthorized access to email accounts is illegal and can result in severe penalties. Always opt for ethical hackers who follow legal guidelines.

Ethical Boundaries

You must ensure that your actions are ethical. Hire a hacker only if you have legitimate reasons, like recovering your account or ensuring security. Avoid any activities that could harm others or invade their privacy.

Verifying Credentials

Not all hackers are trustworthy. Before hiring, do your due diligence. Check their credentials, reviews, and, if possible, get recommendations. Trustworthy ethical hackers often have certifications like Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) or Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP).

How to Find an Ethical Gmail Hacker

Online Platforms

Several online platforms connect clients with ethical hackers. Websites like Upwork, Freelancer, and others have dedicated sections for cybersecurity professionals. These platforms usually have reviews and ratings to help you choose the right person.

Platform	Features
Upwork	Large community of professionals, reviews and ratings available, detailed profiles
Freelancer	Competitive bidding process, wide range of skills, portfolio sections
Guru	Strong focus on security professionals, niche market, reviews, and feedback

Hacker Communities

Hacker communities and forums like Reddit, HackerOne, and Bugcrowd can be excellent places to find ethical hackers. These platforms are often frequented by cybersecurity professionals who are passionate about their work.

Referrals

Sometimes, the best way to find a reliable hacker is through referrals. Reach out to friends, colleagues, or professionals in related fields to get recommendations. This ensures that you are hiring someone trustworthy and experienced.

What to Expect from an Ethical Gmail Hacker

Initial Consultation

Expect an initial consultation where the hacker assesses your needs and provides a preliminary plan of action. This step usually includes discussions about your goals, any specific concerns you have, and the time frame for the project.

Proposal and Agreement

After the consultation, the hacker will present a proposal. This document outlines the scope of work, timelines, and costs. It's crucial to have this outlined in an agreement to protect both parties.

Work Process

Most ethical hackers follow a structured work process, which can include the following steps:

1. Reconnaissance: Gathering information about your Gmail account, such as associated security questions, recovery emails, etc.
2. Analysis: Identifying potential vulnerabilities and devising a plan to regain access or enhance security.
3. Execution: Implementing the chosen strategies, whether it's password recovery or securing the account.
4. Reporting: Providing a detailed report of the steps taken and recommendations for future security.

Follow-Up Support

Good ethical hackers offer follow-up support to ensure that the issue is completely resolved and that you understand any steps you need to take to avoid future problems.

Ethical vs. Unethical Hacking: A Comparison

Understanding the distinction between ethical and unethical hacking is crucial. Below is a table that highlights the key differences.

Criteria	Ethical Hacking	Unethical Hacking
Purpose	To identify vulnerabilities, enhance security, or recover lost data	To steal data, cause harm, or gain illegal access
Legality	Legal, with consent from the owner	Illegal and punishable by law
Approach	Transparent, follows a structured process	Secretive, often deceptive
Reporting	Provides detailed reports and recommendations	No reporting, leaves no trace

Tools Ethical Hackers Use

A variety of tools are available to ethical hackers for Gmail hacking and cybersecurity purposes. These tools aid in recon, analysis, and execution.

Tool	Function
Burp Suite	Comprehensive web vulnerability scanner
Metasploit	Penetration testing framework
Wireshark	Network protocol analyzer
John the Ripper	Password cracking tool
Nmap	Network discovery and security auditing tool

Cost of Hiring an Ethical Gmail Hacker

Factors Influencing Cost

The cost of hiring an ethical Gmail hacker can vary widely based on several factors, including:

• Complexity: The more complex the issue, the higher the cost.
• Experience: Highly experienced hackers charge more for their expertise.
• Urgency: Projects requiring immediate attention could incur higher fees.
• Duration: The length of the project will also affect the cost.

Cost Range

On average, hiring an ethical hacker can cost anywhere from $50 to $200 per hour. Specific projects like account recovery might fall within a fixed price range, typically $100 to $500 depending on complexity and urgency.

Protecting Your Gmail Account

Setting Strong Passwords

One of the simplest yet most effective means of protecting your Gmail account is by using strong passwords. Avoid using easily guessable information like your name or birthdate.

• Length: Your password should be at least 12 characters long.
• Complexity: Use a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters.
• Uniqueness: Don’t reuse passwords across multiple accounts.

Enabling Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

Two-factor authentication adds another layer of security to your Gmail account. Even if someone gets your password, they’ll also need your phone or another device to log in.

Regular Updates and Monitoring

Be vigilant about updating your passwords regularly and monitoring your account activity. Google provides a feature that notifies you of any suspicious activity, which can be very useful.

Ethical Hacking Certifications

Having an understanding of the certifications ethical hackers may hold can help you verify their credentials. Here are some common ones:

Certification Name	Description
Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)	Comprehensive course covering various techniques and tools used in ethical hacking
Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP)	Certification requiring hands-on demonstration of hacking skills in a lab environment
GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN)	Focuses on penetration testing and methodologies, including advanced techniques and tools
CompTIA Security+	Broad cybersecurity certification, covering foundational security skills and knowledge

Ethical Hacking in Business Context

Benefits for Companies

Businesses often hire ethical hackers to strengthen their cybersecurity measures. By identifying vulnerabilities ahead of time, companies can protect their sensitive information and reduce the risk of data breaches.

Regulatory Compliance

In industries like finance and healthcare, regulatory compliance is crucial. Ethical hackers help these companies meet legal standards by ensuring that their systems are secure and up to date.

Training and Awareness

Ethical hackers can also provide invaluable training to employees, helping them understand the latest security threats and best practices for minimizing risks.

Potential Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Finding Trustworthy Professionals

Finding a trustworthy ethical hacker can be challenging due to the abundance of scammers in the market. Always verify credentials and ask for references to ensure that you are working with a reliable professional.

Balancing Costs

Hiring an ethical hacker can be expensive. To balance costs, define your needs clearly and set a budget beforehand. Sometimes, an initial consultation can give you a good idea of what to expect in terms of pricing.

Legal Framework and Ethical Guidelines

Legal Considerations

Understand that ethical hacking must always comply with legal frameworks. Unauthorized access is illegal. Make sure you have the explicit consent of the email account owner.

Ethical Guidelines

Ethical hackers follow a strict code of conduct:

• Integrity: Always act in the client's best interest.
• Confidentiality: Keep all client data confidential.
• Legality: Ensure all actions are legal and within regulatory frameworks.

Final Thoughts

Ethical hacking can provide legitimate support for various needs, including Gmail account recovery and improving security measures. By hiring a professional ethical hacker, you can ensure that your Gmail account is both secure and accessible, without crossing any legal or ethical boundaries.
Navigating the world of ethical hacking might seem daunting, but with the right guidance and considerations, you can achieve your goals responsibly and effectively. Remember, the key is to always act ethically and legally while ensuring that your actions respect the privacy and rights of others.
So, the next time you find yourself in need of a Gmail hacker for ethical purposes, you’ll know exactly what to do and what to look for. Good luck, and stay secure!

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Ceele strolled through the damp grass along the outskirts of the village, a spring in her step and the dwindling scent of dew following behind. It rained yesterday, which had prevented her from going out to gather supplies, but the mild morning air had been accommodating enough for her to get an early start and make the trip. She was glad she did.
One hand clutched her new prize to her chest, while the other held a fraying wicker basket filled with herbs and some edible roots she gathered by exploring the forbidden forest. Despite her reservations regarding where she chose to go, her excitement now lingered like a steady thrum of shifting stones, giving her energy that defied how long she had been walking. She all but pranced beneath the burgeoning night's sky, gleefully toeing the line between the dirt pathways of the settlement’s outskirts and the trees of unclaimed land. Normally, her path back home would never be so close to the village, but she was far too gleeful to mind. She had come back with a sense of fulfillment and a rare object—or if not rare, then hopefully of great value.
It was hard to point to any one specific reason that she came across the orb. There had always been a ‘draw’ during her travels, urging her that there was something missing in her life, yet it was no more than a mild whim to walk in a particular direction more often than not. Once she reached this part of the continent, she was compelled to wander, never quite able to explain why she obliged the sensation besides having nowhere in particular to be. Even when she finally settled somewhere, it stayed in the back of her mind, suggesting that she was close to whatever would make the pit of vacancy go away. She ignored it, purposefully distracting herself with her work and responsibilities, yet that could only last so long. When she awoke this morning with plans to resupply, and all of her newfound spots had been picked clean by wildlife, she turned to the depths of the forest where she was warned not to tread. It was all too easy to follow the subtle tug in her chest through the loose justification.
The urge to be somewhere grew unbearable with every step closer to the forbidden area. That sense of having a direction she needed to go became stronger and stronger, until she was well into land long since forgotten. She came across an overgrown depression in the hillside, and was entranced by the foreboding image. Something about the cave just…beckoned her. She was far too weak to resist.
Horrible tales echoed into her ears as whispers of fearful voices, warning and unending, yet but a dull drone compared to her hammering heart. She navigated the trees and brushed aside unkempt vines, stepping into the cavern with a mix of expectation and trepidation, then laid eyes on the small obsidian stone perched atop a crumbling pillar. The feeling of needing to travel somewhere…stopped.
The pull was absent, which was why she held the orb close instead of placing it into her basket. She wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but she recalled overheard tales of hidden gemstones, deep cavernous expanses, and the untold terrors that lay within. Comparing the scenes of those fables to the cave seemed foolish now; it wasn’t some torturous chamber, but a dusty depression in a small hillside. Besides, anything this pretty was sure to be worth a fair sum, and she needed the coin. Yet the thought of selling the precious-looking stone was a conflicting one. She shook off the thought for the time being, turning her attention back towards where she was going.
Shadows stretched and faded as the moon stole the last of the illumination afforded by the sun, replacing it with a calming glow that caressed the log frames and thatched roofs of various homes. A star-filled sky came into prominence as clouds lazily drifted away, revealing the promise of tomorrow’s fair-weathered arrival. It was too late for anyone to notice her treading on the edge of their town while lost in thought, but she was still careful not to get too close to the houses or livestock pens where people might be finishing the evening’s duties. It was best that they didn’t see her returning from a place she was told not to go. Still, her feet carried her near the dwellings as she took in the noises.
Ceele enjoyed the comforting chatter from a distance. Indistinct words floated freely. Meaningless gossip and warm goodbyes were exchanged between friends and family. Places of various occupations were dark and quiet, only the faint contented mewls and clucks of livestock coming from their pastures as they ate what was recently put out for them. No metal rang throughout the streets as it was struck inside a centralized smithy, no heated bartering came from an overactive trade house, and the crunch of dirt beneath transport or merchant wagons was absent, replaced by the rapid steps and yelps of children rushing to their homes before it got too dark out. It was all just gentle conversation and life drifting through the wind, taking the rustle of leaves along for the ride, just so she could hear it. Tranquil, in a word.
She wondered what it would sound like if she were yet one more voice within that crowd of kindness. Would it be loud like the larger cities? Would she struggle to maintain a thought with so many stray topics floating about? Would she once more yearn for the peace and quiet of solitude that she had grown used to, or would she immerse herself, free of judgment and laughing like the carefree young that scampered about? Did thinking about it even matter?
Her smile fell from its genuine intensity—still worn, but not as fully. She glanced downward as her stride lost its jubilant bounce, her tail losing its sway as her grey eyes examined the dry black scales that adorned her body against her wishes. It was the ugly hue of tarnished oil, unlike the skin of any other kobold she had met. Some had reds or greens, yellows or whites, while most were between a sandy tan or earthen brown. The rainbow of peculiarities was displayed by the lucky few, and she was one of them…
…Yet she was different in the worst of ways.
Even if she would rather any other colour, she supposed it was that way to make sure no one came near without accepting the unspoken risks. That was what her mother always said, anyway, though the woman hardly feared much of anything in her old age, and dedicated herself to giving her offspring all the love she had left to give—a perk of living a full life. She would always help her daughter bathe, complimenting the colour of what most were unnerved by. That was more than a decade ago now, however. Ceele’s parents had passed on while she was still young, and she took to travelling not long after, working at what she could to afford what little she needed. Never for long, though—just enough to get to the next town between where she was and where the urge to go lay. There were certainly moments she looked back on fondly, but the journey had taken its toll.
The crude material of her ‘dress’ was coarse, old, and heavy, but it helped ease the worst of spring's chill—even if it was more of a modified sack than proper attire. Still, it was all she had after the last of her clothing fell apart, and giving the repurposed material a name that reminded her of something else made it less uncomfortable to wear, somehow. It would have to do until she could afford a pitying seamstress or the like. Until then, she would pretend she didn’t look so desperate, even if it only highlighted her status and made finding work difficult.
But it did. The dishevelled garment was a far cry from the wonderful silks or breathtaking designs she had seen some women wear, harshly marking the distinction between herself and those of affluence. The clothing of commoners was also a leap in style and quality, so she couldn't say her attire was up to even modest standards. No matter how hard she squinted, and no matter how much she fantasized otherwise, she seemed every bit like the vagrant she was, down to the soil embedded in the curvature of her claws and the stains throughout her fabrics. She looked like a serf from the more oppressed lands, yet they too wore crude cottons, which said a lot about how she appeared to those who had never lived a life of servitude. It was obvious that she was an outsider. That she didn't belong amongst the rest. It made changing something as simple as her appearance all the more difficult; prospective employment always saw a young woman who seemed more likely to steal or swindle than make an honest day’s living.
There was one good twist of fate in recent memory, however, and she came upon the result of it after leaving the slowing bustle of the village behind. Her steps carried her through a small copse of trees on the outskirts of town, the small shaded path leading to the back of a large, carefully pruned clearing, a scattering of fruit-bearing trees providing even darker shadow than the already dim moonlight. She skirted along the aging fence on the border that kept predatory animals away, carefully hoisting herself over the barrier where a large vegetable garden she was responsible for tending resided. If one were to tell her she would be living in such an area several months ago, she would have smiled politely and walked away, yet here she was.
A modest, warmly lit home occupied the middle of the clearing, sitting front and centre when one approached from the village path. It looked quite cozy, surrounded by berry bushes that were just beginning to bloom as the last dregs of winter slipped away. A front patio displayed a nice table and well-loved chairs, the rustic appearance only adding to its charm as a place where friends and family spent the warm summer afternoons. A smithy to the left of the house functioned as an additional heated building during the colder months, but usually served as a storefront and to muffle the sounds of hammered iron, though that had become less common. An old stable was nearby, close enough to be accessible, but not so close as to disturb the once occupying animals with sounds of iron craft. It hadn't seen a horse in quite some time, apparently, so it was mostly a workshop for whatever tasks didn’t require fire or metal.
There was a long history attached to each little detail—from the scuffs along the wooden siding to the depressions in the ground where daily routine wore into the earth. Every fault suffered throughout the years was matched by a thousand quirks that made it feel welcoming, like the house itself was merely waiting for the next friendly face with one of its own. She knew that the inside of each building would look just as cared for.
Her concern lay outside, however. It was a comparatively miniscule space just barely visible through the sheltering trees, true, yet it was where her efforts turned into tangible results, and where a stranger’s trust was painstakingly repaid. Once overgrown grass had been laboriously trimmed, the weeds plucked and disposed of, and now nothing distracted from what she could claim she had done.
The small plots of rock-bordered soil had little buds of growing vegetables, a sense of pride never failing to bloom in her breast with the knowledge that it would be barren without her touch. When her troubles and concerns grew heavy, and fears of the future or spectres of the past loomed over her head, she could look at where she had brought life where it wouldn't otherwise be. Some days, that was enough. She smiled in appreciation at what was admittedly amateur work, the night’s sky helping to hide any inevitably made mistakes.
She enjoyed the sight for a moment longer, then turned to walk towards a neglected old tool shed that was well out of sight within the trees, far away from whatever warmth and comfort the larger house offered to everyone and anyone. She put a hand on the degrading wood of the entryway, giving one last sad smile at the garden as she dismissed selfish thoughts of taking the eventual harvest for herself. A breath cleared the uncertainty from her voice, and she pushed open the door.
“I'm home!”
= = = = =
It took a while for Altier to adjust to his situation, and even once he accepted that his mana wasn't being siphoned, he was still reeling from confusion. He had spent centuries with every year passing by without his notice, yet now he was painfully aware of each creeping second languidly dragging on with the expediency of growing grass. It was as disorienting as it was painfully nostalgic.
Time was something he was never good with, and it only got worse as a dungeon. He'd get lost in creating rooms, corridors, creatures, and whatever else needed doing, only pausing to watch or listen to the few adventurers he became interested in. There was a stint where he spent what felt like hours agonizing over new abilities or options while he let the system manage things in the background, though he supposed it might have been much longer. So many wasted days, yet he still hadn't managed to try everything he had gained access to. Some abilities were simply too niche, came with concerning titles, or held descriptions that made him wary. Anything with ‘Decay’ in the name was instantly ignored—he didn't need more reasons to fear his affinity, and from the few he took the effort to read through, they were always vile.
But his existence for the moment was no longer like those endless stretches spent pondering the minutiae of what would help his adventurers grow stronger. Now, he could follow the rhythmic sounds of footsteps and steady breathing that set a calming pace. They were someone else's, yes, but they contextualized how easy it was to slip away without the subtle noises of life that he had long since surrendered to help his family. Of course, there were more differences that he noticed since being removed from his crumbling cavern, and his sight was the newest change.
He never gave much thought to how far he could see before. Why would he? As a man, his world extended as far as he could fathom, yet was also confined to the room where he spent his days, and as a dungeon… Well, who was he to consider distance when an event happening miles away could be seen with a flicker of thought? Nothing was too far when it was within his creation. Or his ‘body,’ he supposed. Sadly, his entire perception currently consisted of the small sphere of his obsidian core, and maybe a finger's length beyond it—which is to say, not much. He could make out the fine details in the dirty burlap he was held against, and how pale moonlight slowly took over the blurred reds of sunset, but hardly anything more. It was all just frosted colours after a certain point, and he found it infinitely frustrating. He just wanted to peer beyond the haze and scaly hand holding him to confirm that the sky he remembered was still there. Alas, the sunlight faded at too quick a pace, yet one oh so agonizingly slow.
The ensuing darkness gave him nothing to do but think about where he was, not that he had any ideas. He was too curious about why he wasn't dead to bother much with his blurry surroundings after the soft-spoken kobold abducted him, thus why he only belatedly noticed how limited his worldview had become. There might have been a forest beyond his cave, but the greens and browns were gone, and the sounds of steps through brush was replaced by the distant din of a village. An idle curiosity pondered if he would recognize any descents of his ‘family tradition’ adventurers there, but he was being carried by what most considered a monster, so likely not.
That short musing was short-lived, however, and he brought his focus back to the matter at hand. He supposed he was being taken somewhere specific, but that was an obvious deduction, considering he was taken at all. The why of the matter was less so; for what purpose would someone want a Decay-aligned core? He hadn’t heard of them before…well, before he was made into one, but he couldn’t imagine many uses. Maybe he was being sold? His…kidnapper? His sudden companion seemed rather pleased by their discovery of him, so that might be the case, and it was morbidly amusing to think that a frail, sickly young man might one day become a coveted, highly valuable item. His abduction could also be a part of some cult’s nefarious activities, but he didn't want to think about that too hard. He experienced enough odd ceremonies from the adventurers who took the time to tell him their tales.
Either way, he wasn't in the dungeon anymore, and he couldn’t see where he was going. He tried to query his menu to glean an answer, but was met with a scrambled mess he suspected read ‘Synchronizing…’ and little else. It gave him a headache trying to make sense of it—which he didn't know was possible anymore—so he dismissed the text and distracted himself with blurs from whatever diluted senses he still had. There wasn’t much to observe other than the constant footfalls and the flicker of shadows on his companion’s burlap garment. They might have travelled through brush again, but it was too dark to really say for certain.
Eventually, there was something new. He heard an old latch rattle and rusted door hinges groan, then a shuddered clack that confirmed he was now in a building. His kobold acquaintance gently cooed at something before moving about the nearly pitch-black space, finally setting him down on a… He wasn’t sure what it was, besides old and wooden.
[D$#@m$n E@$*ded]
The headache from before became a blinding migraine that suffocated him under a flash-flood of suffering. Seconds passed in abject torture until it blissfully abated, the mental blinks clearing his mind enough to notice a change in his existence. Specifically, he could actually see something besides the rotting wood grain he was placed on top of.
And it wasn’t anything promising…
He was more or less in the centre of a room no bigger than twelve paces by maybe ten. Not a terrible size for a space, but it was clearly never meant to house someone. His resting place looked about as neglected as he surmised; it was an upturned feeding trough, he supposed, since calling it a table seemed too generous. The surface was rife with holes and degraded iron, so it was something that once saw regular use before being replaced and tossed into storage, never to see the light of day again.
Actually, most things in the room seemed to fit that description. The window shutters were installed with metal hinges that had since rusted them closed, the misalignment letting in a draft—and whatever weather was outside as well, most likely. A poorly carved bowl sat on the floor, the stain beneath it hinting that it collected any rainwater that slowly dripped from the leaky roof. The wooden floorboards looked old, splintered, and in need of maintenance or replacement, though an effort had been put into abrading it somewhat smooth lately.
A tiny and decrepit fireplace was to the left of the door upon entry, its brickwork slowly crumbling due to weathering and age. It was sized more for keeping the room warm during mild days than to keep away the frigid chill of night. Its base only held cold ashes, but there was a collection of deadwood and scraps nearby, so that would probably be rectified soon. A small wheel-less cart had been turned into storage against the opposite wall, some herbs and other foraged items stowed away in it for future use. Various things he remembered seeing his father and brothers use in the fields were scattered about, too. It was nostalgic to see, honestly, even if his recollections had blurred over time.
Bundles of tattered blankets formed a pair of nests in the far corner, the smaller of the two had a pile of rough plants nearby. That answered his silent pondering of the room's purpose somewhat, though he was pretty sure the bedding material was salvaged, and there didn’t seem to be any hay or padding underneath whoever was sleeping on it. He didn’t know what to think about the weeds; they were purposefully placed there, and whoever did so had taken the time to wash them, but it was still strange.
He couldn’t see a doorway besides the entrance, yet most of the hallmarks of residency were put where space could be afforded, however crude. All in all, he surmised that it was a gardening shed of sorts, and his new acquaintance apparently lived here. He wasn't sure what he was expecting when a creature he had only read about came into his dungeon, but it wasn't being brought to a rundown and decrepit shack for unknown purposes.
Even if he had been raised by parents who made a humble living at the best of times, and they had emptied their coffers for unsuccessful attempts to ease his ailments, his acquaintance's living space made him uncomfortable. His family's house was never anything fancy, true—it shared some of the worn qualities that inevitably gathered over the years—but it was never this bad. His home benefited from a father's touch keeping it robust and a mother’s love keeping it warm, whereas this place had seen neither in quite some time. Oh, there was evidence that such was once the case; a wall was adorned with carefully made and well-spaced hangers for the various gardening tools, though the implements themselves had become a victim of neglect. That being said, he could make out the fresh soil and recent scratches exposing furrows of silver, so they were seeing use again.
A scrape and clack of flint drew his attention to his kobold companion. They were kneeling in front of the fireplace, methodically sparking life back into a dead flame with twigs and dried leaves. A slow, steady breath into the reddened base illuminated its face with a dull orange glow, revealing its weary visage and the permanently etched smile that rested beneath its cold grey eyes. The black-scaled kobold looked tired, if he were to guess—much the same as Altier did when he spent countless days watching everyone living a life he could never have through the mossy window of his bedroom. He was probably humanizing it too much. Still, he was surprised by the muted pang of sympathy, and how he would feel much more than blithe curiosity after spending so much time alone in the crumbling crypt of his own making.
A mental breath cycled through him as he looked at the odds and ends yet to be observed. Hardly anything else was of note—everything else was degraded and neglected, too. He did notice a nest of blankets move though, which was as good a distraction as any. The answer to his previous ‘pile of weeds’ inquiry poked a tiny nose from a crease in the fabric, then rapidly pawed at the blankets to dig itself out. Altier stared at the creature in both recognition and confusion.
It was a rabbit…or at least it looked like one, assuming you were to also describe a porcupine and a sea urchin as well. He was pretty sure he didn’t remember any hare that had jagged metal-tipped fur, nor that had said fur arranged into a row of spiked horns that flowed down its spine, terminating at a large fluffy tail, which was equally bizarre to see. The whole of its coat could double as a weapon, with semi-sharp barbs sticking off seemingly at random, yet he remembered an adventurer saying most animals used that sort of thing defensively. He increased his focus as he tried to make sense of the odd creature. Surely he would have heard about—
[Hoppittttttt#%%÷ — Ferro-o-orabbit-it (Ma%$le)
Abil—]
[Null]
[Er0Rrrrrrrr—]
[Und#$f—]
He bit back the pain caused by the sudden intrusion of his menu, blanking out the text and mentally retreating to hide from the source. Did he just inspect something? How? Shouldn’t his entire…‘framework,’ was it…? Yes, that was it. Shouldn’t that have been corrupted? Why could he see the creature’s information when his entire framework was damaged? That was the first ability he lost, so why is it the first to be functional? How was it functional? Was it? It did just spit garbled text at him, but it was something, and that was more than he had gotten from it in a very long time. If it was somehow working—no matter how poorly—then that left the question of why he hadn't heard of anything called a ‘ferrorabbit’ before, assuming he read that correctly.
A soft thud vibrated the tro— table, startling him out of thought. He turned his attention to the button nose wiggling erratically at him, the short, stubby muzzle leading to surprisingly expressive and curious red eyes. Dull brown fur jutted off in random tufts and patches, changing to a darker tint on its paws and the upper half of its ears, while the tips of its spikes were a muted hue of iron. It still seemed just as soft as the less pointed variety he remembered, if a touch dirty. Upright ears twitched this way and that way as its head vigorously shook, eventually settling on pointing in his direction when it calmed down enough.
It was apparent that he had its undivided attention…for all of a few seconds. His scaly companion called something out in their foreign tongue, and whatever conclusion the pointy-furred animal came to, it seemed more interested in the kobold, parting from him after nudging his core with its nose.
[Cre-e-e—]
[Errrrrrr0r: Undefiiiiiiii—]
[Acceeeeep-t-t-t??]
[Yeeee— s s / Nnnnnnn—]
He winced at the intrusion, but the contents detracted from the pain. He couldn’t remember the system ever asking him a question without his explicit intent being involved. It wanted him to…accept something? Was it the system prompting him, or the animal? What was he to accept?
[Creatuuuuu—]
[Acce-e-e-%#@ed!]
…What?
= = = = =
“Hoppit, that's not food!” Ceele admonished half-heartedly, placing a larger branch on the burgeoning flame before she got to her feet. She wasn’t actually that worried; the stone was as big as his head, and she was pretty sure he couldn't bite into it. Hopefully. “Come here, momma has a treat for you!”
The ferrorabbit playfully bumped the gemstone and jumped off the low table, landing with a soft thud that belied how heavy he was for his tiny size. He wiggled in excitement, his ears flailing and releasing a slight clack whenever the two connected. It got even louder when she grabbed her basket and put away the useful herbs, taking out a specific item that she had gathered just for him. The little bun wasted no time in scurrying over and standing tall on his hind legs to judge if the offered plant was to his liking—and it was, based on how he dug in with enthusiasm. She stifled a laugh as she contentedly watched him nibble away on the treat, ignoring the guilt that came with knowing she couldn't afford proper vegetables for him. He had a hard life too, and it tore at her to have so little to give.
She came across Hoppit a year ago, during a storm that worsened while she was travelling between towns. The day had darkened to night in spite of it still being about noon, but the weather didn't care for how bright it was supposed to be. Wind and rain became a typhoon, forcing her to seek shelter in a thankfully abandoned den of what was probably a larger animal. She was fine with waiting out the squall, since the stone roof over her head was more than she usually had back then, but the sounds of dull bangs and thuds near her hideaway was followed by cries of animals yelping in pain. Curiosity won over reason, and she left the safety of her shelter to see what was causing the disturbance. Truthfully, she was hopeful that she'd come across scraps or the like, her hunger driving her forward, and she could always turn back if it seemed dangerous. Yet when she arrived at the source of the commotion, she found herself thinking of anything but food.
Two predators had fought over a small burrow, both trying to dig out a meal and taking offence to the other doing the same. What they didn’t know was that they were assaulting the home of ferrorabbits. Specifically, the home of an angry, protective, and well-fed mother that was keeping her newborns safe from the storm when predators decided to try their luck. From the scene Ceele came across, it was certainly obvious why most people dislike trying to hunt the creatures.
Sadly, the rabbit didn't survive an attack from two predators, but she did make their victory pyrrhic; neither could do much about their hunger with their bodies full of cuts and holes, and it was only a matter of time before they succumbed to blood loss or infection. The mother's sacrifice meant that the babies had avoided the imminent threat, but they were left unattended as a consequence, and it took an opportunistic bird swooping down to shake Ceele out of her shock. Despite her subsequent hurry, she only acted in time to save one of the orphaned young. The warren was new and barely dug out, which meant that it didn’t take much effort for the kits to be found—by both her and hungry maws. All she could do was scoop the ball of fluff into her arms and run back to the cave before anything else tried to eat it.
In retrospect, it was a stupid decision for a number of factors. She barely had the resources to supply herself, and an attempt to raise offspring of any type would only make the inevitable heartbreak worse. But when she saw how quiet and scared he was… How his tiny, shaking body calmed in her arms, those terrified red eyes seeking comfort… She should have just walked away when she knew there wasn’t going to be anything to fill her stomach. She should have put the baby animal down and let nature take its course…yet the preciously furry face stole her heart far too quickly for it to grow so cold. The next day was spent backtracking to the nearest town to get him something suitable to eat, which used most of her meagre savings. Still, it was worth every coin.
Hoppit had been accompanying her ever since. He grew quickly, transitioning from something she saved that stormy night into a presence she had grown to love like a child. The little lagomorph would bounce along beside her during her travels, then ride in her arms as he rested—though the latter happened with worrying frequency as of late. She hadn’t learned much about the springy herbivores, but she knew enough to say that he wasn't as big as he should be, nor was his fur as sharp. No matter how startled he was, his spiky coat never managed to do more than stiffen slightly, which was apparently a side effect of poor diet, according to snippets of conversation she had overheard on the topic. She wanted him to be healthy, but she didn't know what he needed. Not many farmers raised ferrorabbits, and those that did were far away, so she didn’t have anyone to ask what she should be doing. Her best course of action was to give him what little she had.
Ceele was well aware of how he would be better off on his own, but he followed her whenever she tried to set him free. Hoppit just kept launching into her arms and wiggling his ears, ecstatic that he was with her again, uncaring that food was scarce and that they spent most of their days travelling. No amount of cold nights spent bundling up under the tattered blankets she managed to find ever dampened his spirits, and he was content to eat the grass or flowers whenever he felt like it, oblivious to the fact that he wasn’t getting enough nutrition. He would dig and excitedly drag back oddities that he found, and the one time he found a plant that looked particularly good for him, he insisted that it be shared with her.
A black pit still lingered in her chest when she recalled how pleased he was while he munched on the rare vegetable he discovered, then how distressed he became when she wouldn’t have any as well. He bumped and nipped at her, all but begging her to eat. His ears pinned back against his head, his fur bristled in a way she hadn’t seen since. It was only when she took a small bite and let him inspect the new teeth marks that he seemed to calm down, but perhaps she had been looking too deep into the actions of her tiny friend. All she could say for certain was that he was scared she was going hungry.
A morbid thought wondered if his first mother had refused food shortly before being attacked, and he—as small and simple as he was—had connected the two events in his mind, making him absolutely terrified that something would happen if Ceele didn’t have something too. All of that fear, and desperation overwhelmed him, just because she was happier watching him eat. She was determined to erase that issue. She would find something that needed a worker and earn enough to feed them both. One day, she would be able to smile at how big and healthy her little fluffy boy had become, but until then, it was becoming increasingly difficult not to think about how she was spending so much time growing vegetables and fruit that he couldn’t have…
Every morning was an exercise in tending to the gardens while actively shoving down images of a pleased ferrorabbit happily eating the results. That never went well; no matter how determined she was to complete her duties without a single selfish thought, most tasks were done while picturing his full belly and delighted bounces. There were a few weeks until the fastest of the crops would be ready for harvest, and Ceele would have to collect them while fighting the urge to bring back just a few for him.
She couldn’t, because she knew exactly how quickly that could escalate. It would start small—A vegetable here, a fruit there—but seeing Hoppit happy was one of the precious few good things she had in her life. Crossing the line would only become easier each time. They couldn’t risk losing their new home over greed, and she was already betraying the trust given to her by housing a wild animal, especially one known to be a pest for crops. She didn't want to know how angry it would make her benefactors if she was caught taking their vegetables for one.
No matter how tame and precious Hoppit was, and no matter how well he listened, they would only see him as the same creature that ruined harvests in droves. Thus was why she had to tell him to stay cooped up by himself while she was working or scavenging. And to her surprise, he did.
Honestly, she had made the initial request with the expectation of needing to carry him back into their home until he understood that she wasn’t leaving him forever. There wasn’t much she could do to stop the ferrorabbit from digging through the old wooden building if he wanted to get out. He wouldn’t need to damage anything either—a rotting board on the door only needed a little push to nudge it out of the way, and his natural curiosity made sure he was aware of it. But no, Hoppit was well-behaved as always, keeping hidden until she walked through the door, where he would leap from the shadows to personally show her how good he was and how he stayed put like she asked him to. It never stopped amazing her that he had such a surprising level of understanding despite being an animal, and that was to say nothing of how young he was.
All that intelligence, joy, and companionship he offered her…and yet the best she could give back to him was the weeds from the garden and the odd plant she found while scavenging…
Soft clacks of flicking ears dragged her from her pondering, her mind returning to the present. Hoppit finished his treat of the small plant, then bounced in place and scurried over to his bowl of water, perfectly happy to have eaten only that. He was so joyful with how little she provided, approaching every day of scarcity with the same enthusiasm she could never muster, as if certain that everything would be alright.
“It’s bedtime, Hoppit,” Ceele announced through a soft sigh, stoking the fire with enough branches to hopefully last the night. The ferrorabbit perked an ear in her direction, then sat on his haunches to extend the rest of himself up, his two little forepaws adorably held to his chest as he inspected the room like he always did. She smiled and made sure everything was stored away, then laid down on her bundle of blankets, covering herself with the warmest one. Hoppit bolted over to snuggle once he decided everything in the shed was up to his standards, throwing himself to the floor in a dramatic flop of comfort. Her quiet laughter subsided as they both settled in for the night, her tail completing the rabbit’s encompassing cuddle, but her eyes fell towards the obsidian orb on the table, her thoughts following suit.
It sat there, just as she left it, as benign as anything else ever placed atop the improvised furnishing. Yet there was a sense of ease and purpose as well. The old wooden trough seemed…important with its adornment firmly laid upon its surface, and she couldn’t puzzle out why. She was starting to doubt her earlier excitement.
Should she sell it? Would anyone know where it came from? Would anyone know what it was, or if it was worth anything? If she could get even a modest sum for it, she would be able to buy clothing, food, and new bedding. It would be easier to convince someone to give her work if she was dressed better and wasn’t so thin, and then she would have the income to slowly improve both of their lives. She could pay for a wandering merchant to ask a ferrorabbit rancher about the animal, even if it would take time to get back to her, or maybe she could hire a local if they needed to go near one for some reason. The cost didn’t matter to her as long as it happened.
But there was something else bothering her about the idea of selling the stone. She had travelled so far with a tug in her chest, only for the feeling of wanderlust to dissipate as soon as she held it. Was that a sign? She was never one for things like ‘fate,’ but a niggling doubt in her mind discouraged the idea of making a profit off her discovery. Even if what she could gain was so very tempting, and even if Hoppit would be happier if she did…
She tore her dampened eyes away and closed them, ignoring the burning trails running across her face. It would be another early morning, and she needed to sleep so she could take care of the garden. Decisions like this could wait. Once she had nothing else distracting her, and she had time to properly think about it, she would see how she felt about the stone.
Eventually, she dozed off with Hoppit pressed against her chest, and a longing in her heart.
Next
—
A/N: Patreon and Ko-fi will be 1 chap ahead this time around, and I've set it so everything from the lowest tier up can read the newest trashfire! Anything above that is sheer show of love. Hope you enjoyed!

Hello,
My ex partners mother gifted him 80k to go towards a property for me and him.
Long story short, he spent 20k of the money and with the remaining 60k this went towards the purchase of the house.
My ex partner can't have a bank account due to bad credit and everything went into my account and the house is in my name.
We split up from each other around 6 months ago and today I have received a letter from the solicitors.
It states that my ex partners mother transferred 80k to me, to enable me to purchase the property and also gifted additional funds for renovations ( which is a lie)
It also states that it is my intention to sell the property (another lie because I don't want to sell yet)
It goes on to say that she would like a security charge to be put onto the property in her favour of 60k as a goodwill gesture as she believes the property is worth 90k and that the solicitors believe she is entitled to a reimbursement and that if I do not accept this generous offer the solicitors will advise their client accordingly.
I'm not going to sign the letter and I'm worried that I can be forced to sell the house, does anyone know how likely it would be that I would need to sell?
Thank you!!
EDIT: forgot to mention the house is bought out right in my name and no mortgage

Given the recent discussion of Shut Up And Ruck’s strength programming, I thought it might be appropriate to address a few lingering comments.
First, we’re not immune to criticism. It is perfectly reasonable to criticize whenever and whoever you want, even me. Clearly, the anonymity of the internet provides ample license to do so. I’m not infallible and I make at least one mistake every fiscal year. I get downvoted all the time and I recognize that many things that I say are taken as gospel based on my years of providing accurate information. I don’t take this leniency lightly. I’ve earned this gift and I don’t look gift horses in the mouth. I certainly don’t shy away from criticizing others, but I always seek to do so from a position of best intentions of the outcome. But if you think that it’s appropriate to draw conclusions like “He definitely doesn’t know what he’s talking about”, “It violates basic principles”, or my favorite “It looks like he stole this from X, Y, or Z” and you’re basing that on one tiny screenshot of one sample day of one singular domain absent of context of the entirety of the programming then you must be special. I wish I had that sort of clairvoyance.
Second, our programming is not a mistake. Is it aggressive? Absolutely. Is it wrong? Absolutely not. It is deliberate and intentional. A few points to consider:
-The higher percentages and rep ranges occur at the end of each cycle. You don’t start off at the high end, you finish there. The passage cited is 9 weeks post 1RM testing. At a minimum the higher % come 5 weeks after testing. You get stronger and the programming reflects that.
-Just because you’ve never done anything like this doesn’t mean much. We follow the evidence, and the literature clearly indicates that our recommendations are appropriate. Aggressive, but appropriate. Here are 6 sources, including some meta-analyses that bring the body of knowledge to several hundred; there are many more.
Source 1
Source 2
Source 3
Source 4
Source 5
Source 6
Your experience not withstanding, our programming is entirely valid. This is especially true given the other variables. 1) we prioritize intensity and we manifest that through heavy weights 2) you only lift each exercise 2 times in every 5 day cycle - plenty of time for macro recovery 3) you are resting up to 4 minutes between sets - plenty of time for micro recovery 4) you are only doing 3 lifts in a day and only one for that domain - you aren’t doing 3 sets of barbell bench, then 3 sets of incline, then 3 sets of decline, then some cable cross-overs, then some dumbbell flys, then finishing with some drop sets on the Smith machine. 1 exercise, at maximal intensity. No need to pace yourself. 5) we are seeking to balance strength and endurance. It’s impossible to fully address both simultaneously. There will inevitably be friction. 6) we are seeking to challenge you, not accommodate you. 7) we emphasize self-reflection, data analysis, and agency. If you are struggling to meet the listed criteria then we encourage you to program accordingly. It’s foundational to our approach.
But allow me to let you in on a little secret. Even though we cite no small amount of literature, you can find lots of literature that argues against our programming. In fact, there is so much ‘literature’ out there that you can find supporting information for damn near everything and anything. So, back to my first point, you are welcome to criticize. But you should at least provide some counter-evidence beyond “in my experience”. In the Taxonomy of Information, anecdotal testimony is the least rigorous. We have presented our arguments, you are invited to present yours. Or be a little more graceful in your criticism.
We are well aware of Prilepin’s optimal reps (for powerlifting), and the NASM 5 Phase Optimum Performance Training Model (which we follow) and the NSCA Performance Pyramid (which we follow). We don’t disagree that they are to be well considered. We did a full and complete survey of the information environment. But we stated in our introduction and made available for free our philosophy…we have no interest in preserving the credentialed protectorate of the fitness industry. SFAS is different, so shall the programming be.
Third, we didn’t “steal” another program and stack it on top of our own stuff. That’s not how this works. If you survey all of the programs and methodology out there, you will find a ton of overlap. If you follow established principles and seek consensus, then you end up looking a lot like the other stuff. Did we look at other programs? Yes, dozens of them. Did we steal them? No. The fact that we favor a more intense program that most programs don’t should make this argument moot. This is a serious accusation and should be reserved for the most egregious circumstances. You might not have experience with this type of programming, you might not be familiar with recent literature, and you are only seeing a very minuscule event absent of any of the other programming and ancillary elements.
Fourth, and finally, I want to address the unhinged discussion of cost. We’re particularly sensitive to this topic because we know that our target population skews younger and likely less affluent, so cost matters. And I don’t like calling guys out necessarily, but u/Certain-Exam-2577 and u/Potential_Presence67 ? You two can go fuck yourselves. You anonymous peices of shit decided from your castles on top of Mount Holy that we are looking for a “money grab”? I could have charged hundreds, I could put all of my content behind a paywall, and I could simply pump and dump and walk away to stack cash. But that’s not the case.
What do you two fucking genius economists think would be appropriate for 8 months of daily programming for strength, conditioning, rucking, mental prep, mobility, skills, recovery and much more? We charge 60 dollars. Let’s take a very small survey the prep environment and see where we stack up:
Evoke - 3 months, requires additional programming prerequisites, $65
Performance First - 3 months, $90
18A Fitness - 4 months, $179
Gritty Soldier - 3 months, $30
Mountain Tactical - 12 months, $329
Blue/Green Training - 11 weeks, $129
We’re looking pretty competitive given these numbers. And these are the better programs. We mostly like them (and others) and we have tremendous respect for their creators and coaches. We don’t think they are as good as ours, especially our ruck programming, but they’re in the ballpark. Many guys in this sub have used them and speak highly of them. There are also near endless shit programs out there. AI generated, generic, point-of-sale trash with slick marketing and zero support.
We are a complete program that covers every single domain, and we have well established our expertise for SFAS. But we don’t rely on reputation, we deliver. We research, analyze, synthesize, and present the most comprehensive program out there. For just 60 bucks. Hell, you’ll spend over half that on a blank journal…we’ve recommended this excellent journal many times. But that’s just a cool journal. Zero programming. So we think we’re not “grabbing” too much.
Our resident pricks go on to say that RUSU wasn’t worth $50. Good thing we only charge $40. And perhaps you’d prefer the 15+ year old, lack-luster competition? They’re in the same price range. They even take a cheap shot at our Muster events as just a ‘wAlK iN tHe wOoDs tHaT yOu cOuLd do for FrEe’ or ‘info you could probably find online’. Our “competition” is $750 and one of the programs isn’t even taught by a military guy, much less a Green Beret. You two retarded laureates haven’t even attended an event, so your opinion is irrelevant.
And I should put a pin in all of this money grab, predatory, grifter talk by reminding them that this is all voluntary. You don’t have to spend a single dime if you don’t want to. Lots of guys don’t do anything extra and they get Selected all the time. But if a guy wants to be compensated for his hard work and another guy wants to allocate the cost of a night out drinking, then maybe your keen criticism could be stymied a bit. I offer plenty of free advice and commentary every day. I note that neither of you provide anything of value.
So, that’s my assessment of the situation. You don’t have to be a part of the conversation, but I thought that I should let you know how I see it. I endlessly tell you about the importance of foot care, so it’s only fair that I weigh in on this important topic. I should note that there was also some very reasoned comments and lots of guys understanding the intent of the programming AND of the program. And the OP reached out via DM and we had a very reasonable and productive discussion. He gets it. And the number of guys commenting is <1% of the number of guys reading the actual full program. I like that guys are passionate about this stuff. If you get 10 Green Berets in a room you’ll get 11 different opinions on damn near every topic. You know what they say about opinions…

The profusion of identical green tents at this spring’s anti-Israel protests struck many as odd. “Why is everybody’s tent the same?,” asked New York mayor Eric Adams. Like others, the mayor suspected “a well-concerted organizing effort” driving the protests. More recent reporting shows a concerted push behind the Gaza protest movement. But it is not as simple as a single organization secretly rallying protesters or buying tents. Instead, the movement’s most determined activists represent a network of loosely linked far-left groups. Some are openly affiliated with well-known progressive nonprofits; others work in the shadows.
The movement also draws on diverse but generous sources of financial backing. Those funding streams may soon be augmented by the federal government. As I chronicled last year in a Manhattan Institute report, “The Big Squeeze: How Biden’s Environmental Justice Agenda Hurts the Economy and the Environment,” the administration’s massive program of environmental justice grants seems designed to prioritize the funding of highly ideological local groups. The Inflation Reduction Act, for example, earmarks $3 billion for “environmental and climate justice block grants” intended for local nonprofits. Today, hundreds of far-left political groups include language about environmental issues and “climate justice” in their mission statements. If just a fraction of planned grants flows to such groups, the effect will be a gusher of new funding for radical causes.
As the Gaza protests spread across U.S. college campuses, many observers noted an eerie uniformity among them. From one campus to the next, protesters operated in disciplined cadres, keeping their faces covered and using identical rote phrases as they refused to talk with reporters. The Atlantic noted the strangeness of seeing elite college students “chanting like automatons.” Students held up keffiyeh scarves or umbrellas to block the view of prying cameras and linked arms to halt the movements of outsiders. At Columbia University and elsewhere, protesters formed “liberated zones,” from which “Zionists” were excluded. Around the edges of the encampments, the more militaristic activists donned helmets and goggles and carried crude weapons, apparently eager to mix it up with police or counter-protesters. We’ve seen these tactics before—notably during the “mostly peaceful” Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, when full-time agitators helped ignite riots, set up a police-free (and violence-plagued) zone in Seattle, and laid nightly siege to Portland, Oregon’s federal courthouse.
In a remarkable work of reporting, Park MacDougald recently traced the tangled roots of organizations backing pro-jihad protests, both on and off campuses. These include Antifa and other networks of anonymous anarchists, along with “various communist and Marxist-Leninist groups, including the Maoist Revolutionary Communist Party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and the International ANSWER coalition,” MacDougald writes. Higher up the food chain, we find groups openly supported by America’s growing class of super-rich tech execs or the anti-capitalist heirs of great fortunes. For example, retired tech mogul Neville Roy Singham, who is married to Code Pink founder Jodie Evans, funds The People’s Forum, a lavish Manhattan resource center for far-left groups. As the Columbia protests intensified, the center urged members to head uptown to “support our students.” Following the money trail of other protest groups, MacDougald finds connections to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Ford Foundation, and—surprising no one—the George Soros-backed Tides Foundation.
Of course, the current wave of anti-Israel protests also involves alliances with pro-Hamas organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine. Last November, Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies testified to the House Ways and Means Committee that SJP and similar groups have deep ties to global terrorist organizations, including Hamas.
For many keffiyeh-wearing protestors, however, a recently professed concern for Palestinians is just the latest in a long list of causes they believe justify taking over streets and college quads. In Unherd, Mary Harrington dubs this medley of political beliefs the “omnicause,” writing that “all contemporary radical causes seem somehow to have been absorbed into one.” Today’s leftist activists share an interlocking worldview that sees racism, income inequality, trans intolerance, climate change, alleged police violence, and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts all as products of capitalism and “colonialism.” Therefore, the stated rationale for any individual protest is a stand-in for the real battle: attacking Western society and its institutions.
In the U.S., this type of general-purpose uprising goes back at least to the riots at the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle. In those protests, mainstream liberal factions—including labor unions and environmentalists—were joined by “black bloc” anarchists and other radicals eager to engage in “direct action” against police. That pattern—relatively moderate demonstrators providing a friendly envelope for hard-core disruptors—formed the template for many later protests: the Occupy Wall Street encampments in 2011, demonstrations following the police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, 2016’s Standing Rock anti-pipeline movement, and of course, the calamitous summer of 2020.
These uprisings were not entirely spontaneous. In some cases, activists spend months planning mass actions—for example, against economic summits or political conventions—and can recruit street fighters from across the country. In others, an event, such as George Floyd’s death, sparks popular protests involving neophyte demonstrators. Those attract far-left activists, who swoop in to organize and expand the struggle, often tilting it toward more radical action.
That has certainly been the case at the college Gaza-paloozas. At Columbia, the New York Times spotted a woman old enough to be a student’s grandmother in the thick of the action as protesters barricaded that school’s Hamilton Hall. The woman was 63-year-old Lisa Fithian, a lifetime activist, who Portland’s alternative weekly Street Roots approvingly calls “a trainer of mass rebellion.” A counter-protester trying to block the pro-Hamas demonstrators told NBC News, “She was right in the middle of it, instructing them how to better set up the barriers.” Fithian told the Times she’d been invited to train students in protest safety and “general logistics.” She claims to have taken part in almost every major U.S. protest movement going back to the 1999 “Battle in Seattle.”
America’s radical network has plenty of Lisa Fithians, with the time and resources to travel the country educating newcomers about the “logistics” of disruptive protests. And these activists appear to have played key roles in the college occupations. The New York City Police Department says nearly half the demonstrators arrested on the Columbia and City University of New York (CUNY) campuses on April 30 were not affiliated with the schools. One hooded Hamilton Hall occupier—photographed scuffling with a Columbia custodian before getting arrested—turned out to be 40-year-old James Carlson, heir to a large advertising fortune. According to the New York Post, Carlson lives in a $2.3 million Park Slope townhouse and has a long rap sheet. For example, in 2005, he was arrested in San Francisco during the violent “West Coast Anti-Capitalist Mobilization and March Against the G8.” (Those charges were dropped.)
For a quarter-century now, Antifa and other anarchist networks have worked to refine tactics and share lessons following each major action. At Columbia, UCLA, and other schools, authorities found printouts of a “Do-It Yourself Occupation Guide” and similar documents. The young campus radicals are eager to learn from their more experienced elders. And, like the high-achieving students they are, they follow directions carefully. MacDougald asked Kyle Shideler, the director for homeland security and counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy, about the mystery of the identical tents. There was no need for a central group to distribute hundreds of tents, Shideler said. Instead, “the organizers told [students] to buy a tent, and sent around a Google Doc with a link to that specific tent on Amazon. So they all went out and bought the same tent.”
In other words, America’s radical class has gotten very skilled at recruiting and instructing new activists—even from among the ranks of elite college students with a good deal to lose. How much more could this movement accomplish with hundreds of millions in federal dollars flooding activist groups around the country?
From its first week in office, the Biden administration has trumpeted its goal to funnel more environmental spending toward “disadvantaged communities that have been historically marginalized,” partly by issuing grants to grassroots organizations. Previous environmental justice (EJ) grant programs were small in scope. But, with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022, a huge pool of grant money became available. EPA administrator Michael Regan told reporters, “We’re going from tens of thousands of dollars to developing and designing a program that will distribute billions.”
More than a year and a half later, it remains hard to nail down just where the Biden administration’s billions in EJ grants will wind up. Money is being distributed through a confusing variety of programs, and the process of identifying recipients is ongoing. To help outsource the job of sifting through proposals, the EPA last year designated 11 institutions as “Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmakers.” These groups are empowered to make subgrants directly to community organizations, under streamlined EPA oversight. In all, the Biden administration has entrusted these outfits with distributing a staggering $600 million in funding. The money is expected to start flowing this summer.
The EPA’s grantmakers include a number of educational institutions and left-leaning nonprofits. For example, the EPA chose Fordham University as its lead grantmaker in the New York region. Fordham, in turn, lists as partners two nonprofits that oppose immigration enforcement. (One, the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, states on its website: “NJAIJ believes in the human right to migrate, regardless of citizenship or political status.”) Neither group claims expertise in environmental issues. Given that the IRA’s eligibility requirements for EJ grants are extremely vague, however, perhaps that’s not a problem. Almost any activity that could help “spur economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities” (in the words of Biden’s EJ executive order) might qualify.
Perhaps the most prominent—and problematic—EPA grantmaker is the Berkeley, California-based Climate Justice Alliance. The CJA is a consortium of mostly far-left activist groups. It describes its mission as working for “regenerative economic solutions and ecological justice—under a framework that challenges capitalism and both white supremacy and hetero-patriarchy.” The group is a vigorous proponent of the omnicause, embracing almost every left-wing concern as a manifestation of climate change. For example, the CJA website proclaims: “The path to climate justice travels through a free Palestine.” MacDougald notes that the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, one of CJA’s affiliated groups, “organized an illegal anti-Israel protest in the Capitol Rotunda in December at which more than 50 activists were arrested.”
The CJA website also includes a section dedicated to the cause known as Stop Cop City. It refers to an effort to halt the construction of an 85-acre police and firefighter training center outside Atlanta. Rag-tag activists from around the country have gathered around the facility since 2021. They have repeatedly battled with police—sometimes with fireworks and Molotov cocktails—and used bolt cutters to enter the site and torch construction equipment. (CJA’s Stop Cop City page features a cartoon illustration of three childlike activists; one brandishes bolt cutters.) The group also backs a legal defense fund for activists arrested in attacks on the training center or in other protests. For those looking for more inspiration, CJA links to an interview with former Black Panther and self-described revolutionary Angela Davis.
The Alliance is not an ideological outlier in Biden’s EJ coalition. On the contrary, when the White House assembled its White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC), a panel of outside experts meant to provide “horizon-expanding EJ advice and recommendations,” it chose CJA co-chair Elizabeth Yeampierre to help lead the committee. Like other members of the panel, she sees environmental issues through an ideological, not a scientific, lens. “Climate change is the result of a legacy of extraction, of colonialism, of slavery,” Yeampierre told Yale Environment 360. As a group, radical EJ activists tend not to focus on pragmatic ways to reduce pollution and carbon emissions; for them, the real goal is overturning what they see as an exploitative economic and political system. Since these are the voices the White House chose to help shape its EJ policies, we can assume this worldview will dominate grantmaking decisions.
In February 2023, House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer, along with fellow committee member Pat Fallon, wrote to EPA administrator Regan asking for more information on the EPA’s grant programs. They noted that the EPA’s own studies of EJ grants issued in previous years showed sloppy supervision. According to an EPA report, an earlier version of the program funded projects that did “not logically lead to the desired environmental and/or public health [result].” Without better oversight and more clearly defined goals, the congressmen wrote, the EPA’s EJ grant machine risks becoming simply a “slush fund for far-left organizations.”
Since then, the administration has done little to reassure skeptics. To the contrary, the EPA has put at least one far-left organization—CJA—in charge of distributing $50 million in grant money. No doubt, many of the EPA grants will go to worthwhile projects. But money is fungible. A group that gets a large grant to, say, clean up dirty parks or teach children about recycling will also be able to hire more staff and divert more resources to political action.
With graduation behind them, most of the anti-Israel college protesters have stowed away their keffiyehs and moved on to summer vacations or internships. But the peripatetic activists who helped guide and intensify those uprisings are doubtless already planning their next actions. After all, two political conventions are looming. This fall, the college protests will likely flare up again, though by then perhaps focused on a different facet of the omnicause. And, with hundreds of millions in fresh funding flowing through the activist ecosystem, the groups that quietly nurture extremists—like those who firebombed “Cop City,” or who chant “Intifada Revolution!,” or who block bridges in the name of “climate”—will be more emboldened than ever.
A Slush Fund for Radical Protesters? City Journal (city-journal.org)
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---Sample---
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---Fnurfar’s perspective---
---2710 Terran Calenda3 years BF---
All six of my paws desperately scramble against the slick pavement of the Prosperity back alley as I flee for my life!
Pursuing me… is a monster!
His species aren’t meant to be sprinters!
They said if it came to a chase, I just needed to quickly get out of his line of sight and keep going and he’d not be able to keep up!
I skid around a corner and steal a glance behind me, seeing two furious eyes moving towards me so fast that they seem to leave streaks of emerald green behind them as afterimages!
The Fury is so close on my tail that he’s almost certain to catch me now!
It would be laughable how much my… ‘employers’ had underestimated him if it weren’t so terrifying!
‘You’ve got a Terran with you! There should be no issue!’
Yes, that idiot mercenary they hired almost had me going with his smug, arrogant proclamation that ‘Big=slow! Slow=dead!’ as he idly showed off his little knife tricks!
My confidence lasted up until the very moment I saw the one we were supposed to rob!
[20cm] taller than the skinny mercenary and looking like he could easily weigh twice as much, the man was a Hunt damned beast compared to the one who was meant to protect me from him!
I think Flynn reassessed his cocksure attitude as well because, rather than waiting for me to have an opening like we agreed in the [fucking] plan, he just drew a knife and tried to stab the monster to death!
An extremely poorly calculated risk!
There was no competition!
This juggernaut dealt with Flynn as easily as Flynn could have dealt with me!
It took him a matter of seconds to dispatch my accomplice but that was a matter of seconds where he was distracted enough that I was able to snag what we had been after… not that it makes any difference now!
Just as I hear thundering footfalls coming up on my left, powerful fingers impact the space between the bottom of my neck and the top of my top shoulderblades.
I’m slammed into the ground… but not killed…
I can feel the power contained in the iron grip around my neck…
I know that decapitating me would be as simple as deciding to close his fingers but, as I wait for death to come, it doesn’t…
Instead, the hand slides up my shoulders, gathering the loose skin and lifting me up like a kit in her parent’s mouth…
The first thing I’m able to see is the monster’s flat, booted feet, followed by a pair of long thick legs, then a chest and left arm covered in a loose fitting, buttoned shirt, patterned with vertical and horizontal lines.
The red fabric of his top disguises the bloodstain from the wound he got from Flynn, just below his shoulder. However, the nauseatingly metallic smell of it absolutely fills my nostrils!
The final thing to be revealed, as my feet hang more than [a metre] from the ground, is a face… the scarred skin a pale beige, the white, calcite teeth bared in a furious grimace, copper coloured eyebrows tilted downward in the middle over a nose, wrinkled with anger, and emerald eyes, burning with rage!
His shoulders rise and fall, in time with panted breaths he sucks in and out through his gritted teeth, putting me less in mind of a person (or even an animal) catching their breath after exertion and more in mind of some hulking piece of machinery from the Steam Age venting its pressure!
The Terran extends his pallid skinned, long fingered, furless, pentadactyl left hand to me, stained with the ferrous blood that’s run down his sleeve, and growls “Sample!”
“No…” I breathe, terrified.
“GIRL! I AIN’T fuckin’ PLAYIN’ with you!” he snarls, curling all but his index finger and jabbing it towards my snout “You’re gonna. GIVE. BACK. what you. FUCKIN’. STOLE!”
“You… can take it… from my corpse…” I defy, clutching my exhausted, trembling pawhands to the front of my jumpsuit.
Effortlessly, his free hand comes forward, batting my four aside, before pinching the top of the stasis vial and pulling it free, with there being absolutely nothing I can do to stop him!
He holds up the tube, in which is visible a small plant with a rosette of frilly black leaves and through which can be seen a frozen impression of the room it was in when it was stasised, demanding “You’re really willin’ to die for this!? For corporate espionage?!… Why the fuck’s this matter to you like that?!?!?!”
“I don’t care… about the plant… at all…” I answer, defeated.
His face twists in a sneer as he asks “Then why tell me I had to pry it from your cold. dead. hands!?”
“Because… if I come back… emptyhanded… they’re going to… torture my husband… and son… and make me watch!… If I don’t… come back… at all… maybe they’ll let them go!” I pant in answer.
His face falls blank… but I can tell that is not because he’s no longer angry!
Instead, his redoubled rage has gone from white hot to ice cold as he leans in and demands “Who’s ‘they’?”
---2715 Terran Calenda2 years AF---
“One!?” demands the sceptical, lutrine, Nvar man, one of six listening to my story for the first time (along with the two friends who’ve heard it before), holding up a webbed pawhand and extending a single finger “You’re trying to tell us that one Terran dismantled the entire Giluspri Sisters’ Syndicate, overnight!?… Simply because you told him a sob story about them holding your family hostage!?”
“I did say you wouldn’t believe me(!)” I smirk, lifting my drink to take a sip.
“You’re damn right I don’t believe you!!!” he sneers “It might have been a little more believable if you’d made it a team of a dozen or so Terrans that were guarding this thing but one!?… There’s no way it took a single individual a single night to root out and entirely destroy an enterprise that Prosperity’s government had been hunting for nearly [2 decades], even if that individual was a Terran!”
I place my drink down on the table and turn the palms of all four pawhands to the ceiling as I say “Believe me or don’t… that’s exactly how it happened!”
“Hmmm… Don’t know ’bout ‘exactly’…!” comes a familiar voice from behind my head, in the next booth over.
I freeze and straighten my back.
The friends and audience in my booth are looking past me, curiously, but, from their faces, it doesn’t look like they can see anything.
I stand and slide out through the gap between the table and Nafnarl’s footpaws.
I turn right and am immediately able to see that the booth next to us is occupied by a mixture of Terrans and some much smaller humanoids with green skin.
I keep going, rounding the partition to reveal…
“By the Hunt! Victor?!” I exclaim, seeing the man sat with his back almost exactly to where I was sitting, next to another tall, slim humanoid with blue skin and four arms.
His copper hair is much longer, his face isn’t as scarred and isn’t wearing the disgusted sneer that characterised so much of the time he and I spent together but… there’s no mistaking it!
The man turns his head, smiling, before standing up to nearly twice my height and extending a palm to ruffle the fur between my ears, saying “How’s it goin’, Foxy? You look a lot better ’an you did last time I saw you at least(!)” gesturing with his other hand up and down my less skinny and less visibly scarred body.
“Never mind that, Victor! What are you doing here?! You didn’t tell me you were coming back to Prosperity!”
He smirks “Yeah, sorry Foxy… It’s a loose lips sink ships kinda deal… Just thought I’d show my friends here the bar you brought me to celebrate after everythin’ was done that time… Didn’t think I’d actually run into you here!”
I stare up at the man, agog, for a few moments before reaching up with both my left hands and closing them around his wrist.
He allows me to drag him back to the head of my table.
“Nafnarl! Gfurnaf! This is him! This is the one I’ve been telling you about for the last [5 years]!” I say to my two Graufna friends before turning to the rest of the table to declare “He’s the man who took down the Giluspris! He’s Victor ‘Cuddles’ Taylor!”
With mirthful bemusement, the Terran raises his left palm to the table to smile “Y’alright guys!” before his eyes scan the faces and his expression goes concerned. He turns to me and asks “Your hubby alright, Foxy?”
I bare my teeth (I hope friendlily) and answer “Fnarnulf’s fine, Victor!… Fuffarn too! This is just a girl’s night…” gesturing at my two friends “…or… it was(!)” gesturing over the four men and two women, of four different species, who joined us to hear my story.
“What did you mean by it not being ‘exactly’ right?” queries Lunvo, the same sceptical Nvar who voiced disbelief before, still looking sceptical (not that I can blame him) but at least impressed by the fact that the ‘con’ has an (imposing looking) Terran stooge now(!)
“Weeeeell…” Victor frowns down at me, mirthfully “…the way she described me dodgin’ that knife attack, she made me sound almost psychic(!)… In reality, she and this guy weren’t as smooth as she seems to think(!) The fact that I even got nicked by someone I was payin’ as much attention to as that is a bad reflection on my reaction time!… Also, she kinda made it sound like I went into their headquarters with a gun in one hand and a lit plasmasword in the other(!) As I recall, I gave ’em all a chance to surrender and come quietly and it were only after they, shall we say, indicated a lack of interest in that option that my weapons first cleared leather!… Oh! And what was with all that comparin’ the way I pant to ventin’ steam engines, Foxy(?!)”
“But…” starts Muan, a nervous tolypeutine Wne woman beside her Wno husband, Kmuw “…you don’t deny it was you and you alone who brought down the Giluspris?… Without help?”
The pale skin of the Terran’s flat face performs a complicated scrunch as he considers the question before answering “Don’t know ’bout ‘without help’… I had Foxy here for showin’ me the way, after I’d done a lotta convincin’… and, once I’d taken care of ’em, local law enforcers came to take the survivors away… Aaaaand… I probably didn’t actually manage to kill or capture every last one of ’em… just gutted its power structure enough that the rats fled the sinkin’ ship(!)”
“Why are you calling her ‘Foxy’?” asks Lunvo, four eyes narrowed in suspicion “‘Fnurfar’ is the name she gave us!”
The large man shrugs his shoulders “I didn’t get her name until we came here to celebrate… she didn’t trust me to give it… Had to call her somethin’, so I called her Foxy.”
“Hmmm…” responds Lunvo “…I’m not buying it…”
Victor raises an eyebrow “You ain’t buyin’ me givin’ her a nickname(!?)”
“I don’t believe any of it! The whole story reeks of the fanciful!”
I bare my teeth and slam my paws on the table before snarling “I don’t care if you question my honesty, Lunvo, but this man saved my husband’s life, my son’s life, the lives of dozens of others, freed me from effective slavery and freed this planet from its largest criminal syndicate! I will not have you questioning his integrity!”
Lunvo cowers away from me, despite the table separating us.
I feel a large, strong hand on my shoulder.
I turn to see a smiling face.
“Eeeeasy there, Foxy… ’Preciate the defence but there ain’t no need to get heated over it!… ’Specially not when there’s a really easy way to sort this out…” he looks up at Lunvo and asks “Lunvo, was it? Could I ask you to look up the front page of the Prosperity Chronicle from the 3rd of September, 2710?… I think you’ll see a picture of me shakin’ hands with your governor at the time…”
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Discord
Dramatis Personae

Im sorry about what happened. I didn’t disappear on you intentionally.
If you remember 2010, I left because i had no idea you might have feelings for me or that i did and because i thought you didn’t care about me as a friend. Seemed like you had so many good friends and i was afraid that you would hurt me like N did. Im weird about friendships because I barely had any growing up and seemed to constantly lose friends. I didn’t leave to hurt you I just thought you wouldn’t notice.
Then more recently, i was in love with you. I didn’t want to hurt you. Not ever. I started to think you were using me along with him encouraging that idea then the proxy changed and became nasty and i didnt even know you were still out there loving me. I didn’t know it hurt you and realizing last night from your letter hit me like a truck cause i never wanted to be the person that appears to prove your trauma fears right especially not for you. I know what thats like and i know how horrible it feels (though with a different trauma of course) and it pains me so much that thats how it was for you.
Im so sorry but as i was saying I didn’t do it on purpose. I just didn’t even know. The thing about our relationship is it was through letters and i stopped looking at letters and i guess I stopped writing them too. So you couldn’t know and i dont remember seeing anything from you. I vaguely remember you were upset that i was talking to him but i don’t know if you knew he ghosted me after seeing my picture. I dunno. I was so lost and confused at the time. Writing letters became too difficult, thats why i stopped.
I guess i am a terrible person. I shouldn’t have talked to him though i remember someone kept trying to talk to me during the beginning. It was probably him.
And based on the fact that i got psychosis just from talking to a dude casually a while before that (when we werent talking cause you told me to leave you alone, which id still like to know what happened there, that whole thing really hurt me but that’s not the point of this), i was far too traumatized by men then to have any clue about him (A). Unfortunately. (Btw, i wish we had a more private place to hash out private things)
Im not trying to make excuses and please don’t say i am (cause my mom has forever and ever) but this whole thing was more complicated than perhaps you thought.
Im conflicted because i feel like this is the path i had to go down, to find myself and figure out my traumas but i never meant to hurt you along the way. I never wanted you to feel abandoned and left without a word. I can’t imagine how that must have felt. This will eat away at me probably for the rest of my life.
Im sorry, this is a shitty explanation and apology but apparently all i could come up with at the moment. My brain is all over the place.
So, thats why i thought you wouldnt want to give it a try anymore. Seemed too terrible to ever trust me again.
I do love you (but without any contact how can i show you? I wanna show you) and i see a future everywhere around me of us. Comes up unbidden. Sometimes i think i hear you, im not sure. And i worry im so bad at just everything that youll think im just some user. I don’t know how many users go through extreme embarrassment though lol. They’d be smoother too. Im so awkward.
I froze when i realized just what id done (inadvertently). From the letter. I shut down completely. My guilt is never ending, what’s some more. But for reasons i can’t explain right now (one day though) this guilt is extra excruciating. Cause it’s you. The one i adore most.
You always thought (it seemed) that id done something to hurt you with all this intangible guilt i carried around but it was just how i annihilated the whole world.
I wish i could hold you. You can yell at me if you want. If it helps. I wish i could just be near you.
It’s been like 5 years. I can’t believe it. We’re due to see each other again.
Anyway, i love you and i hope you have sweet dreams when you sleep baby (he calls you babygirl ive noticed). I’ll stop calling you that.

I just completed my Final Year B.E. CS course last week with CGPA 8.7. I got selected for a company in my hometown through college placements after clearing 4 rounds in last year September. During my College days I was really into Computers. I wanted to get into Security but I know its not entry level so I focused more on Backend things. I was really good at integrating things atleast to me.
Started playing RE CTF and got into a UK team and everything was going well. I am very invested in FOSS and did some public speaking , conducted workshops in my College. I was very active during the time India conducted the Debain Conference at Palakkad. But during placement season only Companies hiring for SDE came. So I learned basic coding and a bit of DSA and got placed very soon.
The HR said they will only onboard after completion of all exams. The final round was with the project developers and we had quite nice conversation and I really liked the environment of the Company. Since its near my hometown and I liked it , I never tried for any other off campus hiring. During that time we were building a home so after I got placed I was here home full time helping my dad.
I go to college only for internals and semester exams. My usage of computers drastically reduced to none because of the work I had at home.We took some loan to complete the construction and my dad asked me to cover the repayment which I agreed. The amount is just half my Salary if I got in, So I thought it wont be a big deal. The HR called me in April asking my availability and CGPA and said I will be onboarded before May.
I waited three weeks after May and enquired the HR to which he said the market condition is so bad so there will be a delay. The construction is almost done. Dad has also borrowed some money from lenders with a little bit higher interest rate. He planned to sell his agriculture plot in his hometown for the reapayment of lender but its getting dealyed too because of the recent floods. Dad's trying hard to come out of debt but nothing is panning out and the interest is piling.
Today morning dad asked me about joining I said "Soon". Dad's counting on me for the repayment of bank loan atleast from next month. I thought of getting a temporary job like delivery or something to ease monetory situation at home but one of my senior advised me to get a job related to my education.
I used to love working with terminals, and I did lot of hosting , backend and integrating stuff like hosting my own PBX with Asterisk back then.I believe tools, language come and go. Its the analytical and problem solving thinking that matters. I think it's something I am good at as an Engineer. So I don't wanna do the fancy resume and applying to dozens of jobs on LinkedIn. I will be worth for any organization if you train me for a role. So if you guys have/know any vacancy for a role that I might fit, do please consider. I am comfortable working anywhere in India.
PS : I have the Offer letter as a soft copy and could share for verification.
TLDR: The Company I got offer delays my onboarding. So I need another job as soon as possible to help repayment of bank loan.
​

Greeting fellow soldiers of democracy! We are a cracking elite unit of Helldivers. We're so elite you've probably never heard of us, for we are BLACK WATCH. Grrrr. (not sure why I added that bit)
We are recruiting players who need teammates. Fellow brothers and sisters to fight with and spread glorious democracy and freedom throughout the galaxy, one bullet and one explosion, at a time.
We are very female friendly and have a number of very good female gamers. If you're looking for a group to join then we're perfect for you. For us, you're just another Helldiver to throw into the fiery pits of battle.
We have a great Discord set up with active players on PC and PlayStation. I would say the majority of players are on in the evening/night UK time, as we have a lot of US west and east coast members, but also plenty of UK and European Helldivers.
We are happy to take players of any level. We particularly enjoy training up new recruits and helping more established players farm samples.
We do have a few basic rules... 1. No team killing. Accidents do happen and are often all part of then fun, but intentional team killing/melee is not for us. 2. We are all very chill. We appreciate making friends and having fun games rather than taking it too seriously (please don't tell the Democracy Officer!) 3. I'm sorry, but you really do need a mic! We like to chat and have fun. While I do have a couple of people I play with who don't have a mic, they aren't part of Black Watch. We need to communicate! Everyone is friendly and we like to keep the group that way. On the opposite side, constant nonstop talking is very annoying, as we found out recently! 4. Have fun! There's no point in killing thousands of bots or bugs if you don't enjoy it. That just makes you a nutter! We laugh in the face in the face of Bile Titans and cry in the face of Striders!
Personally, I'm a 46 year old veteran and dad of 2 (almost 3 kids). I'm UK based, PlayStation, and mainly get on for the morning or early evening shift! It would be great to find a few other morning players! But, as most people work normal jobs that's proving difficult!
So what are you waiting for? Join up today! Helldivers are Super Earth's chosen and Black Watch is the best if the best, the top dogs, the bees knees, the dogs bol.. er, stuff.
DM me if you're interested and we'll be side by side, covered in bug guts before you know it!
SUPER EARTH FOREVER 🌎 🫡

One of the recurring characteristics of Loona's discography up to [X X] was lyrical self-referencing: phrases and motifs that would occur in one song and then reappear down the line. It could be a little too much sometimes, but it was a reliable way to keep up the fan engagement and build something like a lyrical identity for Loona alongside a sonic one.
I wrote a post about this five years ago, and I think Dall is the first album since then to really obviously lean into it. So that warrants a follow-up. This is not a theory post - it only examines the text of the lyrics and what connections I draw there.
Translations below are from our Team Subbit versions. Along the way, I also wanted to highlight a few translation notes for discussion.

Virtual Angel

The last time we saw reference to an angel was "Egoist"'s MV, which cast Jinsoul as a "fallen angel" in big neon letters. It's interesting to me that this song, with its broken wings and vision of Eden, leans most heavily on the yyxy era, with none of those members belonging to ARTMS. Looking past that, lyrically I think it does enough to give a sense of closure to the yyxy stories.
1.

In my frozen heart Flowers have newly bloomed And what I’d hidden inside the freezing point Is my heart for you, encased in ice Your angel

This is a reprise of yyxy's "Frozen", which is entirely about the narrator being trapped in a metaphorical ice castle and being thawed out of it by love. We see the same imagery of flowers blooming to signify the thaw. Here's the chorus of that song:

Frozen, frozen Thaw me before it's too late Shine your light And bloom a flower upon frozen lands Hold me, hold me, oh now, right now Thaw me, thaw me, even warmer for me Hold me, hold me, deeper and deeper Would you become my sun

2.

The sin of having swallowed the sun Forgiven in this moment

The most overt reference in the album is, of course, from "Singing in the Rain"'s iconic prechorus 1:

For the sin of having swallowed the daytime sun Burning up, here I am

And you may remember Jinsoul already called this back in "Egoist"'s rap break:

Hey, for the sin of having swallowed you You, beautiful, grow larger You are me, now I am you

Also a translation note: I think the Modhaus sub on this line is mistaken. It currently reads "The sin of absorbing the sun // The moment it causes harm", which is just not what the original says. My best guess is that someone misread "사해진" ["forgiven", archaic] as "상해진" ["spoiled"].
3.

The Moon’s risen and my heart is complete Your angel

Moonrise is such a common image with Loona that you could name a whole bunch of songs here - "Loonatic", "Satellite", "PTT", "Wow", "Need U", and "Pale Blue Dot" just to name a few. But the way this is written specifically reminded me of two things. One is the chorus of "Let Me In", in the sense that both lines begin with the words "달이 뜨고" ("Moon rises and") followed by some kind of transformation:

The moon rises and I become you

The other is the final chorus of "Heat", where moonrise also functions as a signal:

Today I prepared for you A beautiful star is shining bright (I want to float up higher, above) This isn't the end, look up and look for me (Turn around) There, the moon is risen tonight (tonight, oh)

4.

When I open my eyes as a butterfly Save me, savior

References to Loona's most representative song, "Butterfly", have been the most common shared thread among post-lawsuit work: see Loossemble's "A Butterfly's Signal" or Heejin's "Sad Girls Club". This one is kind of random and I think it actually takes away from the song's focus a little, but it's there.
Another translation note that the "저장" ("save") in "save me" is not the word for "rescue", but instead the one for "preserve" or "keep" - like saving a digital file. So the line is not as redundant as it looks, and also helps prime for the next line where Haseul says happiness is "through the line" (which I'm reading as in electronic cords and cables).

Sparkle

1.

Before the Sun goes down Come fetch quickly For the Moon will rise soon

It's moonrise again, but with a subtle difference. The verb used in "Virtual Angel", "Let Me In", and "Heat" is "뜨다", literally just "to rise". This one is "차오르다", which is actually more commonly used to mean the waxing of the Moon. The translation chosen here is "rise" because it's not unheard of for it to be used as "rise" and it contrasts with the sundown line above, but worth highlighting.
Trivia: has any Loona song used the "wax" verb before? Yes! One I recall is "365", where Loona liken themselves to the Moon:

I'd grow ever so small but then A tad closer towards you Again I wax and wane

2.

A different emotion We follow the light

I don't actually think this is a throwback because it's a common phrase, but I just wanted to highlight just how many times "follow the light" is used in the discography because it's a lot. All of these use the exact same phrasing ("빛을 따라") even when translated slightly differently for context.
Sonatine, bridge:

Following the faraway light

Chaotic, bridge:

Following that light, reach out to me

Rosy, bridge:

Following that light, shining on me quietly

Day & Night, prechorus:

Like a habit, I walk towards your light

Flip That, prechorus:

Following the new light that pulls me still

Day by Day, verse 1:

Following the light engraved in old memories

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

This is one of the most celestially-themed tracks any of them have ever done, which is saying something given the entire discography. As a result it has passing shades of a lot of different tracks that I won't bother to name, like the blooming image of "Chaotic" and the orbiting of "Satellite". The 12 constellations and 12 months bits are super on the nose and I'm all for it.
1.

Following the twinkling Morse code I am called dimly Click click, right here [...] The signal comes through clearly Click click, here

The most obvious parallel is another yyxy song, "Rendezvous 18.6y". Both tracks use radio signals and scanning/tuning them as a metaphor for yearning and connection, and Hitchhiker massively expands the scale of that metaphor. Here's the opening verse of Rendezvous:

Where is it from? A sound coming from somewhere Seems to have found me again, this familiar radio tone (8 point 5, what is your signal?) Among the many faint noises, coming clear Is your feelings, making me fly (fly fly fly)

While we're at it, even this jazz-standard line is kind of a throwback.
Hitchhiker:

Fly me to the moon

R18.6y:

Let's stay on the moon On the way back there [...] Let me fly to the moon

2.

Tonight perhaps two Moons may rise

The obvious comparison is Loonatic, which goes:

Three moons rise up (I'm not insane)

and also has Milky Way references just like this song. The other line that's kind of written like this is "PTT"'s "Keep open the 12 different doors", though I think I'm content to let those lyrics lie.

Flower Rhythm

1.

Adorning the sky, mystical sway Causes your heart to open too

So this reminded me of OEC's "Starlight", but only because I thought that song also combined the word "수놓다" ("to embroider", but more often used metaphorically for stars or other shiny things in the sky) with a sense of something opening. What "Starlight" actually says is this:

Like lighting in the sky The starlight slowly turns on The password solved, this night unlocks

So it was kind of similar (the "unlock" there is the same word as "open"), just without the word "adorn".
More trivia: that embroideadorn word is used in four songs -
D-1, verse 1:

Rainbow of shining stars, the studded bridge

U R, chorus:

It’s like the dotted starlight Is surrounding me

Newtopia, verse 1:

Following the tip of the star-adorned orbit

Day by Day, verse 2:

Adorning my heart full

Candy Crush

Given the subject matter, there are some natural similarities to Choerry's "Puzzle" and the aforementioned "Starlight". I love the spilling/showering light imagery at the start, which "Need U" also pulled off well:

The deepest night Light showering above my head (Candy Crush)
And stars of such faith rain down They rain to make the whole universe shine (Need U)

But I didn't notice any specific wording that hearkens back to older songs. (Obviously "Plastic Candy" can't count since it's the whole song's reference.)

Air

1.

Been been there and I’ve been been there Feel it, what what, a totally different deja vu

As we know, this is just "Butterfly". The first line is obvious and the second line is the opener of that song:

Will you whisper, you're the deja vu that wakes me up

I'm not sure there's anything else in this one, other than "Air Force One" which again shouldn't count. Daft Punk I guess?

Unf/air

This one stands out lyrically from the rest of the album, because of how down-to-earth and comparatively mundane it is. Reminds me of "Valentine Girl" and "Ding Ding Dong" in vibes, if not in expression.

Distress

It's a little curious to me that they translated this title to "Distress". It's not totally wrong, but the word "조난" specifically refers to a shipwreck or stranding. That's the reason why the song refers to signs, lights and sirens, and the context for its overall sense of being lost and drifting. I guess a distress call is maybe what they were going for.
1.

Between the time I’ve waited Always that same light

The concept of being or going "between time" is not uncommon in lyricism, probably because it's evocative yet ambiguous. I also don't think this one is an intentional callback, just a reused phrase. We see it in a few spots in the discography (interestingly, they're all songs mentioned already).
Puzzle, prechorus 1:

Between the cracks of time that passed by, you graze through

Loonatic, last chorus:

Three moons rise up (I'm not insane) Between time that has stopped

D-1, verse 1:

Between a changed passage of time

Rendezvous 18.6y, verse 2:

Beyond the gaps between renewed time and space

Butterfly Effect

As they have said, this is basically a Butterfly sequel. Perfect title as well.
1.

Do you remember The way it began as a little fluttering of wings I’m still believing Ever since that day, it grew, the hurricane in my heart (Butterfly Effect)
It starts with a little fluttering of wings Now inside my heart a hurricane (Butterfly)

2.

The torn paper moon It’s drifted too far away now, can’t reach it (Butterfly Effect)
A folded paper moon, as if to circle between it (Butterfly)

3.

Full of newness, at the end of the long journey I think I’ve reached it, dream of mine Look at the world, distant, at the end of the long journey I think it’s a new beginning, dreams of mine (Butterfly Effect)
The world becomes smaller Take me way too far, become new In this moment dreams, dreams may come true (Butterfly)

Birth

I've posted a comment before about how the Modhaus translation departs from the original. Other than that, this is a wholly original text that doesn't really have a comparison among Loona's past lyrics. Maybe it could be a new archetype for ARTMS.
I will make one shoutout to the "My birth through a false smile" line. It's like a yandere version of the "My day filled with fake smiles" bit from "See Saw".

FYI I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED THIS POST I WAS ASKED TO REPOST ... SORRY AITA… Am I the AITA for, I ( 36f) want my 17 year old son to know the truth, that his father didn’t just let him come live with me, I fought for him tooth and nail, spent over $15000s (not that the money means anything at all I would do it 100 times again if necessary) and many more truths he is completely oblivious of. My main goal is not to put his father down and make him look bad ( he can do that just fine on his own ;)) my main goal is for my son to understand that I never gave up trying to get him, trying to find him, tried to bring him home, and that not one minute ever went by that he wasn't on my mind. MY SON (17) has resentments with me and he is having a hard time adjusting to life not knowing the truth I feel. A therapist discouraged me from telling him " my truth" Let me share some facts before you judge. Almost 9 years ago my sons father (my ex that I was never married to, which is an important fact later on) took my son for a weekend visit, ONE OF THE FIRST WEEKEND VISITS IN OUR SONS ENTIRE YOUNG 8 YEAR OLD LIFE, and then took off out of the state. This began the UNIMAGINABLE journey of parental abduction and alienation, my son being moved to over 30 locations, some of those were living in a car, over 12 states that my son can remember, and 8 years of trauma and awful experiences that no child should ever be exposed to. Again Before you judge when I realized that they had taken off and were not at the address that was provided to me the first thing I did was notify the police. This contact with the police would set the tone for the next 8 years. The police absolutely made me feel like I had done wrong like I was guilty of some horrific crime by allowing my son to visit with his father because The father and I were not married and we did not establish any kind of set custody in the courts because up until this point my son had always been with me the father had not been really involved in his life the police informed me that this was a family court issue I needed to take it to the courts. I was extremely confused I thought that because I was his birth mother that I had custody, I continued to press the matter with the police and question them and ask them for some kind of direction or help or what can I do? Can they do anything? They said sure do you have an address to where they are? do you know where they're located right now? Not knowing or having any idea where they were they said there was nothing they could do and since I couldn’t prove that they even left the state or had intentions to leave the state that FBI couldn't help either. Also keep in mind I was in my early to mid 20s at this point very naïve a distraught emotional wreck and just clinging on to any kind of hope that the police were going to help. So a brief Cliff notes to the next about six years of hell I would artempt to go to the courts to establish emergency custody but unfortunately because I had no idea where they were I could not serve my son's father with court documents. I spoke to a judge off the record where he informed me to hire lawyers and a private investigator find where they are located have a welfare check done to make sure eyes are on my son to make sure he is OK and while that is going on start the process of having him served with court documents. Again being in my young 20s an emotional wreck not in my right mind at all because my baby boy was abducted hiring a lawyer not only where I lived, but also in the state they were hiding at in that time and private investigator on top of that just was not financially possible for me. My family and I however were able to hire a private investigator. This started another game of cat and mouse. I was trying to do this the “right” way. I was trying to obey the laws and go down this “checklist “ so to speak of what I needed to do, but whoever made this “checklist “ did not understand the mind of a narcissist Every time the private investigator would locate my son he would contact me immediately and just like the judge he would suggest to have a welfare check done to make sure my son was OK physically and also hope by some off chance that maybe the police would pick up on something illegal and that they could intervene in some way. (YA RIGHT THIS MAN IS WAY TO GOOD AT ACTING AND MANIPULATING TO BE CAUGHT SLIPPING,) Of course as a beyond worried mother all I NEEDED TO KNOW at that moment was is my son ok? Well IMMEDIATELY AFTER police or department of children and families would make contact before the court documents could be accepted by the courts my sons father would disappear with our son once again! My son was coached And taught how he was to respond to any kind of authorities when they were interviewing him, what to say if he was asked if he was safe, if anyone hurt him, he was told what to say to every possible question. I would request have DCF go and interview my son at school in hopes he would be comfortable to tell the truth away from his father, but it turns out that he was more afraid of repercussions from his father.( These interviews at the school turned out to be extremely helpful and a god send to my son. They were the only glimmer of hope my son told me he had that myself and my family were still looking for him, still loved him, and still even wanted him) there were a few instances when the planets would align and I was able to get the appropriate documents submitted before they would move again, but only to find out that because they had not lived in that jurisdiction for at least 6 months that the courts did not have authority to rule on the matter. More or less the courts didn’t want to deal with a case with so many variables. There are a ton more awful things I could and I may say at a later time but long story short my sons father finally stayed in one place long enough for the courts to have to claim jurisdiction, I was finally able to pay a lawyer To get the process at least started for me to a point I could take over, and it got to a point where my son was going to finally be able to speak to a court appointed guardian ad litem and that scared the father to death because he would end up with not only a child abuse investigation but possibly loose the other children he had and was receiving financial aid and benefits for. The Judge granted me full custody after realizing the reasoning and apologized that system failed us for so long. Now I have an extremely confused teen, who defends his father out of fear, still afraid of what his father could do to him, and he doesn’t know anything close to the truth of our horrible experience So I ask, AITA FOR WANTING MY SON TO KNOW AT LEAST SOME OF THE FACTS? Let me know if you would like more details or questions answered. Parental abduction is an unbearable situation that affects so many people for their entire lives. You would think there has to be help or organizations that can help, but at the end of the day money is the main factor and it is the victims that have to spend the most money to receive any bit of justice! :(

hi. so long story short my (24M) female best friend (24F) proposed me to get into a relationship like 8 months ago. Even tho I haven’t asked the question she pushed the matter and we started doing couple things and we were more or less together.
Well, there was another (crazy) girl 24F with whom I had planed a vacantion before this situation and this girl started hitting on me. I should mention that the girls hated one another. Well this girl that i was going on vacation started hitting on me and tho I said to her that she is hurrying too much she was literally crazy and spamed me everyday with one problem or another regarding our “future relationship” that wasn t in the question.
During that time me and my”girlfriend” to call her that weren’t so good due to some problems at work and it didn’t seem at the time that we would have such great odds and so I did something stupid and I kissed this second girl just to make her satisied for a bit and not to ruin our trip with the intention that after we get back I won t talk to her anymore and ask the first at last to be my girlfriend.
Well…..things with us got better and we went through some rough times but after kissing that other girl 2 times I had to tell her to stop and she didn t get this very well and she did some fuss but not so much and agreed to still go on the trip.
Long story short my girlfriend got suspicious due to some conversations and she went through my instagram and foud the conversation and blocked me after crying for a long time as I told her the truth on a facetime call. The next days has been hell for me… I ve cheated the girl I was in love with and had no courage to admit it. I was very scared that I would lose my freedom, that I will break her heart, that she will break mine etc etc.
I was a child and didn’t see what I had by my side just when it was too late. I should mention that those two girls had a mutual good friend that after finding out about me and this second girl texted me and I was thrilled to see that cuz she could have helped me to calm down the crazy bitch. Needless to say that in the present moment my girlfriend isn’t talking to her either even tho they work together.
I DID A LOT OF MESS I FEEL AWFUL. I VE HURTED BAD THE PERSON I LOVE THE MOST IN THE WORLD CUZ I WAS A SELFISH CHILD. I had a few days in which I cried for the first time in 14 years and went to the church to tell my sins and I wrote some 15 pages of letters to give her after we meet.
Yesterday I went to her office and waited for her to leave and when she cames she pulled me a side and told me that I humiliated her everywhere except her office and she doesn t want to listen to me but she did for like an hour in which I was on my knees telling her what a huge mistake this was and how bad I feel and how I want just one chance to make things right but she wasn’t so impressed. She told me that she didn’t believe anything I say which hurt cuz I was speaking from my true heart for the first time. I was a kid, I lied and decieved even tho i hate those things the most.
Initially she didn t want to take the letters but she did and told me she ll try not to throw them away. I’m not ready to leave her… I know she loves me very much and I know I can be the man she wants and for me to say that is really something new. I am quite a good looking guy and I get a lot of female attention and I was scared of letting go of this version of me. But not anymore, all of them don’t matter. She is the only one that matters and I’ve destroyed her soul. What can I do next ???
I am seeking advice because I want her back and I want to treat her right, the way I always wanted to but was too scared to do so. I was a kid so scared that I would get hurt that I’ve lied and cheated and betrayed the trust of the most important person in my life. The past few days were hell and I think from her face the day before that some chances are still there but I need to wait a while. At this time her ego is probably smashed but I need to keep doing some things in order to show her effort and that I want what she is/ was offering and that now I am ready to be who she needs me to be.
TL;DR: my female best friend (24F) proposed a relationship with you (24M) 8 months ago. You started doing couple things without formally asking the question. Meanwhile, another girl (24F) who you had planned a vacation with started hitting on you, causing tension as she and your female best friend disliked each other. Feeling unsure about your relationship with the first girl due to work problems, you ended up kissing the second girl to appease her temporarily. This act caused suspicion and turmoil in your relationship with your best friend.

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