Dunno what else to do. Tired of being in pain and getting no answers from professionals.
31M, in Canada. Been having neck pain 'headaches' in the same spot of my neck (right side, base of skull, marked with X) for probably 10+ years now. In the last few (3) years it feels like it has progressed to being much more frequently. Maybe longer actually, as I've just got used to this "being the norm".
Some times it's a bit better, in the last two months the best span I've had is 8 days headache free, but more often it's a headache every 48 hours. I would really like to have more than 2 good days a week where I feel functional enough to actually do things and not be a zombie.
Can't understand if there's any specific trigger, and have been trying to nail it down for years. Usually it's laying in bed trying to sleep the neck pain will start to creep up. But not always. Some days I wake up with a dull ache on the spot of neck that always get's unhappy, that I know by the end of the day will progress into a full blown headache.
Neck pain in the marked spot is throbbing. Don't really do anything but take Advil and wait for it to calm down. Ice doesn't help, heat doesn't help. On the days that I don't have this throbbing headache like pain, the rest of my neck muscles still feel tight. Especially sub-occipitals, SCM, upper traps traps, and jaw muscles from behind/under ear all the way along chin/throat. And also random headband like tightness on forehead, eyes, top of head sometimes. Some days it's not so bad and I can forget about it, other days it's like a dull tightness, like those muscles are flexed and just won't relax. Squeezing and have a heavy weight to them, with a crawling tingly. Or like a pulling on the occiptals
Feels like there's just a slowly building up bad-ness, and once that reaches a threshold it explodes into a throbbing neck pain on the right side base of skull location. Maybe some days I sleep on it wrong, maybe some days I exert harder just doing stuff around the house, and those things depend on how many days it takes until it gets bad and is Advil time.
Pre 2018 - Saw physio and talked to doc about this, but basically just lived with it thinking it was normal. Probably started noticing it like 2010, but can not remember really. Don't think it was very frequent, maybe once or twice a month at that point.
2018 - brought this up to my doc. Saw PT weekly for a few months. Said weak back muscles/postural. Gave me exercises. Didn't see any improvement over months. Tried two bouts of dry needling, massages before appointments. Saw a neuro, scanned my brain and it was fine. Not really my neck though. They thought maybe migraines, put on meds, didn't help. (Did have a reaction that had me rushed to the hospital because throat closed up and thought I dying though!)
2020 - Just had been living with it since. Felt like it was time to have another look at it. Talked to doc again, suggested physio again. More massages, non-manipulative chiro (idk they used a little pressure tool on me that went pop and did absolutely nothing). Gave up after months of spending money seeing specialists and not having any relief
2023 - Got hit with vestibular neuritis (yuck) after a viral infection. After that passed, doc suggested physio to help deal with aftereffects. New physio, helps with that, but also turns into trying to treat this neck pain again since I'm there already. See him every 2 weeks for 6 months. Thinks it's weak shouldeneck muscles just getting too exhausted throughout the day under normal use, and then flairs up/tightens up around the nerve there. Gives me general strengthening/stretches, as well as neck/shoulder stretches. (Chin tucks, shoulder shrugs, squeezing shoulder blades together). I do these every second day slowly trying to build up my endurance. But even going very lightly seems to (~2 hours after exercises) cause the neck to start throbbing. I try and "power through this" for a few months, headaches every day, and no improvement. I give up seeing him, and stop doing exercises. Headaches improve slightly from not being irritated from stretches every day (at least that's what I think)
2024 - Bring it up with my doctor again that my headaches are still destroying my life. He suggests a few things to try again. I start getting massages every week for a month, and then every 2 weeks. Massages seem to sometimes help (best "headache free span" was right after a massage, for 8 whole days! but only got that kind of relief once). Try a few simple neck/shoulder stretches, and 2 hours later trying to go to bed, again massive pain.
See a new PT, thinking maybe they'll have a different opinion. Assesses me to find no structural issues with my neck/spine. (But no imaging). Waiting on my next big headache so he can assess me during a flair up and see if there's any different. Talks about nerve blocks, or surgery, or very careful c-spine manipulation (no). Feels around my neck like all PT's have, testing range of motion and stuff. Come out of the appointments (2 so far) feeling like they didn't do anything. No homework or things to try or not to try at home. Just see me again next week and I'll try and release your muscles(?). He says it's not a 'headache' since headaches are in the front of the head, but is more just "cervicogenic neck pain". Terminology I guess.
Brought up the fact that my right side shoulder clicks when I rotate my arm. How my SCM and upper traps feel tight, and how my neck right side muscles "feel pinchy" when I turn both ways, and how those muscles on the right side of where my neck always hurts, feel different to me than the left when I self massage. (Left feels like a tight cloth draped over my neck, that when I try and press in I can't press in deep enough to even touch the neck-vertebra bump thing. But on the right it feels looser, and like there's a divot above and below that right neck-vertebra bump. Like this.) And also that sometimes I feel a bit "wobbly" in my neck, like a bobble head. But no dizzy-room-spinning.
He doesn't comment on any of those, other than "it seems a bit far fetched that your shoulder could be causing your neck pain". Which goes against most of the things I've read about things like forward head posture and cervicogenic headaches, but I'm not the expert I guess. He mentions that maybe migration medication would be useful to try, but wants to see me a few more times before we decide on a "plan". Tried migraine medication 6 years ago for this, did nothing, and feels like I'm going in circles again. Mentions (but doesn't suggest) that surgery can be done to like...open up the space for my nerve. And also nerve blocks. Surgery seems scary and not guaranteed to even help. Nerve blocks less scary, but seems like just a bandaid instead of a way to fix the issue.
My health is good otherwise. No trauma or car accidents with my neck. My weight is good. I'm not as active as I should be but feels like whenever I try it triggers this neck pain. I am self employed so luckily I can take as much time as I need to soothe a headache when it happens. Work at a computer most days. Standing desk. Proper posture, as of 6 years ago. Have even tried staying off the computer for a month and had no noticeable difference. Thought maybe it is related to sleep posture. Tried like 8 different "neck" pillows. Tried sleeping on the floor for a month because maybe mattress was too soft or something. I like to sleep on my side/stomach, so maybe kinking my neck all night. But trying hard to break that habit.
Anyone gone through something similar? Or have had success dealing with this kind of pain somehow? Frustrated with my new PT, and feeling like this is just something I'm going to end up having to live with and it sucks lol. Not sure what else to do. Do I continue to try and power through exercies? Find a PT and also personal trainer to strengthen my neck in a controlled way that will be less likely to cause pain. More massages? More needling (would try it again). Ask for actual proper imaging? Long post, but I'm feeling a bit lost.

I was diagnosed with chronic migraines in 2019. Been on 20+ medications - beta blockers, antidepressants, injections, everything. Currently on supplements (magnesium and riboflavin) aimovig and Botox.
6 weeks ago I had a killer migraine start, and nothing is breaking it. I went through 2 rounds of steroids, tried Elyxb, got an SPG nerve block, a supraorbital nerve block, and occipital nerve block. I went to the ER and had the cocktail of Reglan/Torodol/Benadryl that did nothing, and an infusion of magnesium and droperidol that helped slightly and they released me. Felt better for a day and then pain is back at a 9 again.
Idk what to do at this point. I feel like the ER makes my symptoms worse and sleepy enough to leave and for the headache to come back. I’m having more blood work and an MRI next week but my scans have always come back normal. Is there any cycle breaker that has worked for you guys that I haven’t taken? I can’t judge my relief meds at this point until I break this current cycle - and the pain is so bad I cant function.

Hi all,
I was in the hospital for a few days last week with a 3 week long headache. Towards the end of my 3rd day, there weren't many answers, other than a surprise baby aneurysm and no true solution to the headaches. A member of the neurology team basically said he was guessing it was ON and wanted to try an Occipital Nerve Block.
This has been my experience since then, are your experiences similar?

• Minimal, if any, pain, but I could feel pressure and tightness where the pain usually was - does that make sense?
• Feeling very sluggish/weak
• Brain fog and memory are bad, like I feel so stupid and can't remember super easy names of people/things I just learned.
• 1 week out I experienced a headache again, but it went away after a nap
• Day 8 I am struggling with extreme fatigue, I am normally a sleepy person, but today is rough. I've also had a really difficult time getting out of bed for the past 3-4 mornings.

For added context, I do have Ehler's Danlos Syndrome and I don't know if this is contributing to the not so fun side effects.

Hi, Im 20f. I was diagnosed with occipital neuralgia in November after suffering with what I thought was cluster headaches since I was 14. I had a bunch of tests, more MRIs and CT scans than I can remember. I had mastoiditis for 5 years before I found a doctor to perform a bilateral mastoidectomy on me. After I had the one on my left side done the pain went away for almost a year.
The pain is very similar to a cluster headache. It is a stabbing and cold pain behind my left eye and in the back of my ear and sometimes my neck. My eye tears up and my nose gets stuffy. I am extremely sensitive to light. Most of the time it happens when I sleep, but I will occasionally get one in the day. The ones in the day are usually triggered by smells, heat, or quick changes in temperature. The episodes usually last from 15 minutes to 2 hours, but typically 40 minutes.
The only reason I was diagnosed with this was that while I was seeing my doctor who did the mastoidectomy I started to have an episode. He got a nerve block and a steroid and injected it kinda behind my ear and the pain went away. It was gone for 5 months but now its back almost every night. I no longer see that doctor since he retired, and I don't have a neurologist anymore since my old one refused to belive I had these headaches since I was "too young".
So is this occipital neuralgia? Alot of what im seeing online is that it is a constant pain. My neck is stiff, but the pain isn't constant. I do have siatica aswell, so I'm not sure if that means I'm prone to nerve issues. I am currently trying to look into getting a diagnosis for hEDS because my physical therapist said my joints are way too loose and that is probably whats causing my siatica. She said my vertebrae are extremely mobile and they shouldn't be.

I’ve experienced severe headaches since I was a child. They’ve destroyed my life. I get them in the back of my head on the left side and they progress to my temples. The only thing that helps sometimes is sleep, otherwise I have to go to the ER if it’s bad enough. I travelled across the country recently to see my father who has since passed from cancer and I was in a car accident that someone rear ended me at 75 mph and it made things much much worse.
I currently see a neurologist, a pain specialist and my GP. Neurologist is convinced I have migraines, pain specialist is convinced I have occipital neuralgia, and the GP thinks I have cervicogenic headaches. One wants me on Celebrex, the other on Amovig, and the other on Lyrica or Cymbalta. And when I explain to one of them what the other thinks they get all dismissive of the other doctor.
I’ve tried so many drugs (Topamax, Inderal, flexeril, Klonopin, Tylenol-3 amytriptiline, gabapentin, triptans, Zoloft) and chiropractic, and massage and nerve blocks and Botox and nothing has helped. I’m at my wits end.
Does anyone else juggle with the multiple doctors having differentiating theories and do you have any advice on how to navigate this mess?

DAY: MAY 29 2024
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About 78% of participants in the Apple Hearing Study, conducted by the University of Michigan, have experienced tinnitus—the perception of sound that others do not hear. That is just one of the findings that U-M researchers and Apple shared today from the Apple Hearing Study, one of the largest surveys on tinnitus to understand the effects of
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RESEARCHER CALLS FOR MORE RESOURCES TO BRING REGULAR MAMMOGRAMS TO RURAL TEXANS

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TO SOLVE THE NURSING SHORTAGE, RESEARCHER PROPOSES GOVERNMENT FUNDING FIX

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IMPROVING CELL THERAPY BY CREATING T-CELL ‘SUPER SOLDIERS’

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ULTRASOUND LOCALIZATION MICROSCOPY: BUBBLES REVEAL TINY VESSELS

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chapters 1&2
chapter 3
chapter 4
chapter 5
chapter 6
chapter 7
chapter 8
chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Link to AO3
Gentry’s sweet cravings were getting out of hand.
The last time she had a proper dessert was almost a week ago, and if she had something to say about it, no amount of saccharine text exchanges with pretty boys was going to replace a good old sugar rush. A couple of days ago Sereen treated her to the sweetest snack she could get with her status and that piece of dried fruit was nowhere near enough to satisfy G’s sweet tooth.
So many vending machines and eateries, but not a single good bakery? Hell, even a crappy one would do at this point! She had to hunt down some glucose tonight.
After Sereen’s initial tour around the city, she went off leaving G to explore the city on her own. It was getting easier and easier. With the auglasses on, finding her way around proved pretty intuitive, not in the least thanks to the distinct chessboard-like layout of Ashtapada. Each district had a letter-number label. By remembering one’s “square code”, one could find their way back on foot or by cab in no time wherever they found themselves.
Gentry spent hours exploring the wide walking streets and little nooks that offered yet another glimpse into Ashtapadan reality. She once stumbled upon a bookshop with nothing on the shelves but blank-page tomes. The shopkeeper asked her what she was looking for and after finding out the she was a Newcomer, explained that it was a book-on-demand type of place. She would place an order for a story and he would write it for her in a matter of days.
What confused her most was the snow-white buildings of the city. Despite being made with rough porous concrete, they were drowning in lush greenery that sometimes looked like it nearly chocked the structure. Each had the same distinct feature, though, that made them all look unfinished: however tall or short was the building, the top floor always looked under construction. Though there always were the omnipresent hounds on each of the working site, there were never any cranes or scaffolding visible. The obliging auglasses offered G the answer: everything from the smallest houses to the few high rises was essentially self-producing! From what little she understood reading about this advancement, the carbon in the atmosphere was captured by special aerial filters and dissolved in some water. It later went through the pipes in the buildings’ skeleton-like armature and got sprayed on. As the water evaporated, the carbon solidified into neat coral-like blocks that formed the walls and other structures.
Well, that explained why the fumes she saw on the outskirts smoked backwards!
It was getting dark and the orderly streets came alive once G engaged her glasses that revealed the digital underside of Ashtapada again. Every business had a modest sign in the physical world that didn’t stand out on the angular facades. But there also was a hidden bright animated augmented-reality one that could compete with Broadway neon in brightness.
Signs like these weren’t just decorating the facades: the 3D ones flashing on the ground filled almost the whole field of view, too. They looked amazingly enticing in the evening dusk. Information stalls with digital assistants, huge arrows pointing at meeting points, temporary signs inviting strangers to join a club gathering — Gentry was going to gawk at every single one tonight. She came up to some of them, waving hands in the air to try and touch the flickering lights, not caring what she looked like from the outside. Ashtapadans seemed a very relaxed bunch, not putting their noses in others’ business, which felt liberating. Noting how other people in the streets interacted with 3D service bots, G came up to one of them, too.
“Hello, Gentry, how can I help you tonight?” it chirped. The hologram looked like a cute animated girl with an elaborate pink hairdo. “You can ask me a question directly or say “What can you do” to access the list of commands.”
“Hi!” G said. “Do you have a name?”
“You can call me Yukio,” it responded with a little curtsy. “I can answer any questions, show you around or chat about anything!”
Any question? It must know where the desserts were sold! On second thought, wasn’t there something more important than that? Something that brought G here in the first place.
“I’m looking for a person named Exxy Mah,” she said to the patiently smiling girl. “Is there a citizen or a newcomer with this name?”
“There is!” Yukio answered, gleefully jumping in the air. “Exxy Mah is a famous Ashtapadan, she is an advocate for healthy living. You might have seen her on posters and screens around the city.”
The woman in the picture the assistant conjured up floating in thin air showed an elderly woman. She was looking very fit for her age but it clearly wasn’t the Exxy Gentry knew.
“Hmm... That’s not her...” G said. “There has to be another.”
The girl suddenly looked on the verge of tears. “I’m sorry! It’s the only one in Ashtapada! No other Citizens or Newcomers are registered by this name!”
Did her friend change her name then?
“A friend of mine should’ve arrived here last year under the same name. Can you check where she is now?”
Yukio’s helpful attitude fell apart in an instant. Her posture became stiff like a 3D model she was and a voice void of any emotion informed, “Personal data on people of Ashtapada, including their whereabouts is protected by the privacy laws of the city. Please rephrase your search.”
A blink later, the same cute Yukio was standing in front of G again.
“Can I help with anything else?” she smiled.
Was there a way to ask this dummy in a way that would give her at least a hint about her friend?
“Ok, Yukio,” G attempted. “When did the famous Exxy Mah you mentioned arrive at Ashtapada?”
The girl flickered into a wooden statue again, “Personal data on people...”
“Ok, ok, I got it,” G waved. “Bring back the friendly assistant, you creep me out.”
“Can I help with anything else?” the model went again.
G sighed.
“Is there a place a newcomer can get something sweet, a chocolate or a cake perhaps?”
Yukio gasped indignantly, “Ashtapada has a very strict policy on stimulants! You can’t legally buy any tobacco, alcohol, products with added sugar and other such substances!”
“Such substances!” G hollered, forgetting for a second that she was talking to a lifeless simulation. “Sugar is completely harmless! It’s good for your brains you know! Can I at least ask a Сitizen to get me a snack?”
The girl crossed her arms in defiance.
“You can’t buy any dessert in Ashtapada, whatever your status, the law is for everyone. No refined sugar!”
G thought for a moment, rewinding their conversation in her memory.
“Did you say I can’t buy sugar legally?”— Gentry perked up — “Is there a black market of sweets I can go to?”
“A black market of sweets!”
Yukio stared. It was clearly the first time she had had to deal with this particular word combination. It took her a second or two to process the request.
“There’s no black market of sweets in Ashtapada,” she stated, confidently, at last.
“Ok, pinkhead,” G said, rolling her eyes. “I guess it took all candy floss in Ashtapada to make that hair.”
Annoyed at the assistant, she stomped through the bright neon figure in front of her and into the pedestrian street now full of people.
If there was a place with some glucose in this stuck-up place, she was going to sniff it out.
***
The hunt wasn’t of much success. After watching a street performance by a group of dancers, listening to an impromptu debate and taking part in a couple of opinion polls, Gentry finally felt that it had been a little too much. Even with the auglasses disengaged, he noise, the people and the boisterous crowds in the streets seemed to pour light and sound directly into her brain in an endless stream. It gave her a headache.
Calling up a map from her wristcomm with an already practised motion, she marked a place nearby that looked much quieter and had a swarm of vending machines, too.
Screw the sugar, she just needed some water now.
The place was indeed quite secluded. The narrow street started on the edge of the bustling zone she just left but didn’t seem to cut into the living district. It wasn’t used by many people, but, to G’s surprise, it seemed to be used by hounds, scurrying back and forth with parcels, trash bags and other loads of lesser identifiability.
Perhaps this little alley was shared by humans and these tireless little helpers over the course of the day? The hounds would make use of it in the night but workers would walk it to leave the residential area when the sun was up? That would explain the line of vending machines along both sides, with their tempting lights that invited to at least take a look.
Sadly, their insides weren’t as tempting as the signs promised.
G walked past the rows of healthy corn-based snacks, rows of dried fruit packets, lines of non-edible stuff like auglasses upgrades and finally ended up in front of a drinks machine. It immediately identified her by scanning the device on her wrist and merrily chimed a hello. G frowned. The few options that were available to a newcomer with an embarrassingly low status like hers immediately got illuminated, hiding more enticing bottles and cans in relative darkness.
No need to rub it in, you soulless beast!
But... there was a can that looked a little sweeter than others. Perhaps it was because of its sickly-pink colour, or a pattern vaguely reminding of chewing gum printed along its rims together with the fact that it was unavailable to pheasants like her, but something told Gentry that it probably was it. A sweet drink she was after.
Or, at least, sweetish.
Against better judgment, she tapped the touchglass to order it.
Nothing. The little screen insisted that she must choose what was available.
She scanned her comm again.
Nothing.
She engaged the little flashlight in her glasses and looked at the can more carefully.
Was it... a little askew?
It definitely was.
Its lower rim was half-hanging in the air, the release mechanism lazily holding it in place.
A good shove...
A good shove would probably drop the can down.
Wouldn’t it?
G looked around and immediately felt a pang of guilt.
She hadn’t done anything, officer!
Yet.
No people, just a couple of smaller hounds rhythmically clip-clopping along the dim alley.
Should she?
The can looked at her from behind the glass like a captive princess, waiting to be rescued from the agonizing imprisonment. Someone to grab its slender body, deflower it with a skilled motion and drain its sweet nectar in a couple of gulps.
Hang in there, my sweet prize, your saviour is coming!
Another hopefully inconspicuous glance around confirmed there were still no people in the alley.
Gentry stepped to the side and leaned on the machine, estimating its weight.
Not too bad.
She leaned in heavier, feet pushing into the ground, legs and back straining against the cool metal.
A little more, and...
One of the little hounds stopped and looked G over, like a dog that saw a little furry animal that could be torn apart.
What, little buddy? Just taking a break. Is it against the law to lean on vending machines?
Gentry urged the walking robot to move along with a little shove of her foot and immediately felt a little bad when it obediently left without making much fuss.
Why the guilt? It wasn’t like she kicked the little guy!
Still, Gentry felt emboldened by the little victory against the mindless machine.
Surely, the frigid castle that held her sugary princess shouldn’t be of much trouble either.
With a renewed wind in her sails, she stepped back a couple of meters and slammed her whole body into the automate that answered with a promising clanking. Another good push and the visual assessment confirmed that the pink princess was nearly saved. Gentry smashed into the box one last time and the can that she longed for finally jangled down and into the pick-up box.
Gentry’s exhilaration lasted only for a second, however. Before she could retrieve the can she lusted after, something much bigger than a modest dog-sized carrier hound filled her field of vision. A larger four-legged robot that also had something fastened on its back and belly. It stood motionless, its front camera glinting in the uneven light like a bird of prey’s, watching G as she stood up after the impact, unsure what to do.
Was it a police hound or something? Unlikely. There were no marks on it that would identify it as such. What was its problem then?
It’s alright, mate, be on your way now.
G slowly moved her hand towards the pick-up box and almost grabbed the cool can when the hound gently shoved her hand aside with its boxy head.
What’s your problem, pal?
Gentry considered if it was worth it being accused of theft so soon after arriving at Ashtapada. Was it really that bad though? She could always claim it just dropped there by itself.
She pushed the hound’s stump of a head back, covering its camera with her palm, reaching for the can again. This time, as if blinded by her hand, the hound didn’t do anything to stop it.
Ah, easy. These machines were too dumb.
Gentry stepped back, completely sure that the matter was settled, and popped the can open. Its sweet scent filled her nostrils with a seductive promise. But the hound had other plans. Once his camera was uncovered, it seemed to focus on the offending drink again and made to awkwardly sway its head to kick it out of G’s hands.
Excuse me? What about the Laws of Robotics, mate? Rings a bell?
It wasn’t hard to dodge the clumsy assault, but the sheer size of the robot made G uneasy. If it seriously wanted to harm her, it could just stomp on her foot and shatter the bones there like fragile glass.
Better get out of here then.
Finally making a sip of the promising nectar, Gentry moved back towards the light opening of the alley, flanking the beast at a respectful distance before scrunching her face in disgust.
Shit! The drink wasn’t sweet in the slightest! It was all a lie! Vile flavourings! She was cheated! Her lovely princess lured her with a siren’s song and stabbed her right in the heart!
Disillusioned, G gripped the can tighter as if in retaliation and picked up the pace.
The hound wasn’t having it though. Surprisingly agile on its metal hooves, it appeared in front of Gentry, blocking her way out. The robots usually looked more like docile cows or donkeys, especially when they were loaded with cargo, but this one, now... looked like a real hound. Its posture suddenly squat, the camera glinting once again, it definitely wasn’t going to let the transgressor go that easily.
Shit, shit! Had it seen her face? Had it scanned her comm? Was she going to prison now?
Panic rose in Gentry’s brain like a suffocating wave.
Run? Return the can back? It wasn’t even good enough to be worth the trouble!
Tentatively, without turning her back on the beast, G made a couple of steps back to escape in the other direction but the robot matched her stride, his dark presence looming in the narrow pathway.
Something like this had happened before. A similar quiet spot in her city. A similar evening that started off great but ended in a disaster. The same impending danger, the same feeling of helplessness, a similar... weapon in her hand?
Right. The brawler that attacked her and Pete at The Clockface was human and was taken down by some boiling hot water, and this hound also had eyes. Only one in fact. And if the can is sturdy enough...
Brace yourself now, my princess, it’s time for sacrifices.
With a well-aimed swing, Gentry launched the can into the thin glass of the hound’s camera eye, turning to run for her life at the same time. A crashing sound proved that she succeeded but there was no time to check what the robot would do next. As usual, the time seemed to stretch into a sickening slime and her legs didn’t feel real, but G knew that outside her reeling head everything was moving properly so she had no time to lose.
Run away, mix into the crowd, save your hide.
Feel worthless later.

not to toot my own horn, but i made (what i think is) a really good anki deck for med surg 2. the subdecks are organized by exam, which i know varies by school so here's a summary:
exam 1: Bradycardia, Pacemakers, Heart Failure, Tachycardia, Atrial Fibrillation, Heart Sounds, Angina, EKG, Heart Block, Atrial Kick, Cardiac Output, V-Tach, PAC, Prioritizing Care, Diagnostic Tests, Cardioversion, Afterload, PVC, V-Fib, Atrial Flutter, Code Team
^ really good for reading EKGs
exam 2: VentilatoET tube management, Pneumonia, Atelectasis, Tracheostomy Tube Care + Management, Acute Respiratory Failure + Acute Respiratory Distress, Upper Airway (Sinusitis/Laryngeal), Pulmonary Embolism, Delegation, Chest Trauma, ABGs, Hemothorax, Diagnostic Pre/Post Op Care, Chest Tube Care, COPD, Tension Pneumnothorax, Respiratory History Assessment, Prioritization of Care, Pulmonary Hypertension, Sub Q Emphysema
exam 3: Traumatic Brain Injury + ICP, Myasthenia Gravis, Head Injury, CVA, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Guillain Barre, Meningitis, Seizures + Pharmacological Treatment, Diagnostics, Contusion/Concussion, Delirium, Occipital Bleeding/Ventilation, Tonic/Clonic seizure, Clonazepam, Phenytoin, Intracranial Hematoma, Spinal Cord Injury, Brain Tumor
i would've made a deck for exam 4 but i got tired, sorry. There's a total of 392 cards. i suggest using the cards in addition to whatever textbook/powerpoints your professor provides. i did these cards religiously for about a week before my exam and i was good :) got my info primarily from simple nursing, Lippincott, and my professor's powerpoints.
download here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h6bRsaF-u-sm2xaFgCoOlElACg5EUYGl/view?usp=sharing

Hi,
I have been dealing with CH for a couple of years now, having these clusters once every half year for a couple of weeks. I don't have that much good experiences with treatment of sumatriptan, so it was just sitting it out basically the last couple of times
Today however, I got my first GON injection (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/24934-occipital-nerve-block) as this could help according to some newer studies. I'm really curious what this will bring me. Does anybody has any experience with this treatment type?

Author's Note:
9500 words. Needless to say, it's split into two Parts (both posted today). Enjoy!
​
--
​
MOVE!
Rob willed himself to stand up. No dice. The signals from his brain were being rerouted directly to his nerve endings, flashing his body with pain whenever he so much as twitched a finger.
MOVE! MOVE, GODDAMNIT, MOVE!
The pain wasn't the problem. He'd long since learned how to ignore sensations as routine as excruciating agony. No, the problem was that ignoring his pain didn't help – he still couldn't move. Willpower alone wouldn't be enough to hasten his recovery. It felt similar to when he'd first gained Soul Instability, and that had left him frail as an invalid, needing a good ten seconds of recuperating just to get back on his feet.
Kismet wasn't going to allow him ten seconds.
A grim calculus was taking place within the god's featureless expression. Rob could tell that despite their current positions, Kismet felt more pressured now than ever before, his countenance practically oozing desperation. Sure, he'd managed to reverse his fortunes and disable the HUMAN...
But now what? He couldn't count on it being permanent. Bouncing back was Rob's thing. If Kismet didn't strike while the iron was hot, he might never find this opportunity again.
{BEHIND!}
This time, Rob was prepared. He activated Purge Divinity and covered the surface of his body in a sheen of Purging energy. It burnt away the mana that Kismet had been attempting to infuse him with, preventing it from worsening his Soul Instability to fatal levels.
Alert: Your soul is attempting to stabilize. Please survive.
Rob felt a fraction of control return to his muscles. Slowly, he pushed his lips up into a mocking grin. He'd gotten extremely lucky just now, as with his degree of Soul Instability, there'd been no guarantee of Purge Divinity successfully activating...but Kismet didn't know that. All the god saw was his golden opportunity slipping through his fingers, the HUMAN somehow untouchable in spite of being prone and helpless.
Kismet went still and motionless. His hesitation lasted an instant in real time, and an eternity in their subjective, Quick Thinking-enhanced perception of reality. The god seemed to consider a variety of different factors: Almighty Resistance, Dauntless Reprisal, Lifesurge, Rob's vast HP pool, and how long it would take to gather the mana necessary for powerful spells. His expression morphed from calculating, to pensive, to outright unnerving, darkening with a vicious intent.
And then he turned away.
Rob's heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. NO NO NO! He tried to force out his voice, say something to taunt Kismet, but all that came out was a choked gurgle. Rampage – he thought, only for Soul Instability to rear its ugly head and cause the Skill to fail.
There was nothing he could do except watch as Kismet formed a spell and unleashed it upon Riardin's Rangers.
The magic took shape – and Rob froze, relief and confusion flowing through him in equal measures. Rather than conjuring the divine spear rainstorm from before, which would've slaughtered at least half the Party, Kismet had instead surrounded them in skintight prisons of energy. That wasn't ideal, as evidenced by how Riardin's Rangers fell to the ground screaming, but their shared Almighty Resistance would keep them alive for now.
Alert: Your soul is in the midst of stabilizing. Please survive.
His confusion persisted until he noticed Kismet's sightless gaze flickering towards Vul'to. The god had wanted to avoid a repeat of the Soul Guardian's earlier heroics, when Our Shield combined with Not A Scratch protected his allies from certain death. Not A Scratch could only nullify a single instance of damage, and these mana-prisons were continuous.
Better to play it safe and ensure that Riardin's Rangers were immobilized. Kismet's cohorts could handle the rest.
Rob struggled in vain, still unable to move as the seven lesser gods loomed over their fallen adversaries like vultures circling around wounded gazelles. Kismet had enough opportunity to cast another spell, but he just observed everyone, his face unreadable.
"You've done it, Kismet!" one of the gods crowed. It glared at Zamira's trembling form with a savage, predatorial glee, ready to exact vengeance for the numerous Aura Blade scars she had inflicted on its body. "We have finally–"
The god's head dissolved.
Despite losing its mouth, the deity screamed with a voice that resounded across the divine realms. Its terrified cries continued even as the rest of its physique dissolved as well, starting from the neck, then chest, moving down until the god's entire body had separated into a cloud of mana particles.
Six more screams rose up to join it. The lesser gods all rapidly melted away before Rob's eyes, their lamentations mingling to compose a symphony of terror and anguish. A few faint pleas were mixed in there too, asking '"Why" and "Help" – as if that would save them.
They were afforded the same mercy that they'd granted to countless other mortals who had prayed for a salvation that never came.
By this point, after nearly a year in Elatra, it took a lot to leave Rob awestruck. He'd pretty much seen it all. But when the lesser gods' mana rushed over to Kismet, coalescing into an immense orb floating above his head, the HUMAN found himself feeling shocked to his very core.
"Worthless." Kismet stared up at the gods' collected mana with a sharp glare of disdain. "What wretched, inadequate creatures you are. You simply needed to slay one of Rob's Party members – just one. We would have steadily overtaken them afterwards. Yet you have the audacity to lose to mere Combat Class users while I've been holding this...this** ascendant abomination at bay?"
He raised his hands. Rob flinched as the orb began pulsating with tremendous, unfathomable power.
"Not to worry." A line split across Kismet's face, like a manic, ear-to-ear grin. "I've thought of a far more valuable use for your essence."
{Soul Burn,} Leveling High whispered.
Rob's eyes widened as the gods' mana blazed with an all-consuming light. He'd only ever felt this once before – during the Attunement vision where The Cataclysm broke Elatra. This amalgamation of divinity was on par with that. If Kismet chose, he could have reduced the world to dust and still had energy left to spare.
Instead, this second Cataclysm was being aimed at a single HUMAN.
I suppose I should feel flattered.
Alert: Your soul is gradually stabilizing. Please survive.
With laborious effort, Rob stood up. That was about the extent of what he could muster. Forget running or dodging – a passing breeze would've knocked him over.
And he had maybe one second before Kismet drowned him in apocalyptic mana.
Quick as lightning, Rob mentally ran through his options. Rampage to dodge...not remotely fast enough. Dauntless Reprisal...couldn't block all of it. Kismet's attack was going to be continuous. Shield with Purge Divinity...wouldn't last. The Skill was better suited to attacking than defending.
Do I just need more power? Rob glanced at his hand, where a sliver of divinity had been held not long ago. He'd reached the point where he was willing to make distasteful compromises. If I Ascend–
{Impossible,} Leveling High snapped. {You were given a choice, and – despite my counsel – wholeheartedly rejected the very concept of Ascension. Do you think it so easy to shift one's subconscious mentality? Especially now that your Soul Instability has advanced to this state. With a soul that is hanging on by the thinnest thread, Ascending might tear us asunder.}
Rob grimaced. Fine. Got any better ideas?
{Flee to the mortal realms with Waymark.} Its static was buzzing with panic. {The leader god wouldn't dare destroy Elatra. He needs the mana contained therein.}
Rob glanced at Riardin's Rangers. They had fallen unconscious. Partially because of Kismet's binding prisons – and partially because of the God-Orb's oppressive aura of power, so heavy that it was like a mountain pressing down on the battlefield. If he Waymarked to safety, his Party would automatically disband due to the distance limit, removing their shared Almighty Resistance and exposing them to the noxious atmosphere of the divine realms.
To say nothing of what Kismet would do to them afterwards.
{Leave them. You cannot–}
My body is on the outs, Rob calmly explained. Just gonna get worse as time goes on. You really think I'll still be up for a Round 2 later today? Either we kill Kismet now...or never.
{That is a justification to avoid abandoning your allies.}
But am I wrong?
Leveling High had no answer to that.
Rob willed his body to move. He forced and pushed and fought with every last scrap of determination in his ruined soul. Slowly, the feeling in his muscles began to return.
Too slowly. The Orb was just about ready.
Alert: Your soul has almost finished stabilizing.
Rob breathed deep. His hands glowed with Purge Divinity. Compared to the Soul Burnt God-Orb, his light was but a flickering, insignificant candle.
Yet he still stepped forward.
Always forward.
Please.
Kismet's facsimile of a smile grew ever wider. His stolen mana shone bright as a dying star.
Survive.
Rob lifted his arms–
As a spear of lightning impaled Kismet from behind.
It honestly wasn't much. To a deity who'd traded blows with Rob, one lightning spear should have been no more than a mosquito bite. But to that same deity, who'd been repeatedly bit in the ass by unexpected occurrences and unknown Skills...
He felt a brief spark of alarm.
Who? How? Had Rob's allies devised yet another unforeseen ability? What if they were–
Before Kismet could stop himself, he whirled around. The divine ruler expected to find that one of Riardin's Rangers had broken free.
Only to freeze with surprise when he saw Seneschal Sylpeiros, barely standing upright.
Rob was just as surprised as Kismet. Truth be told, he'd forgotten that Sylpeiros was here. The Elf was never meant to journey to the divine realms in the first place. As someone who didn't have access to shared Almighty Resistance, he should've fallen unconscious a long time ago.
Yet he hadn't. Sylpeiros was exhausted, on his last legs, overlooked by both god and HUMAN...but still kicking. And with the last of his strength, he had unleashed an attack with such ferocity that it misled Kismet into believing it came from a Level 99 Combat Class user.
The Seneschal could only laugh as Kismet extended his hands and funneled destructive mana straight towards him. Sylpeiros didn't have the energy to dodge, nor did he try. Thankfully, Kismet's reprisal was so hastily-aimed – and further swayed by frustration – that it 'just' clipped the Elf's side, disintegrating his right arm.
Like a puppet with its strings cut, Sylpeiros collapsed. He locked eyes with Rob, mouthing quiet words that echoed with thunderous intent.
"Give them hell, Human."
Alert: Your soul has finished stabilizing! Soul Instability will remain High, but movement is now possible once more.
Rob didn't hesitate. He took off running, willing his legs to stop being lazy bastards and FUCKING MOVE. One shot. Kismet still preoccupied. Vulnerable to attack.
Can I kill him before he kills me?
Rob considered his Purge Divinity reserves – then regrettably decided that no, he couldn't. Although Kismet was somewhat wounded, the god wasn't on death's door. It would take too long to inject him with enough Purging energy to kill him, and that was if he didn't use some trick to escape. The God-Orb would descend well before then.
Ultimately, it was an easy decision to make. Rob simply chose the only option with any chance of survival. Ignoring the opening that Kismet was presenting, he leapt into the air, his skin prickling as he drew closer to the intense, scorching heat emanating from above.
PURGE–
He plunged his hand inside the Orb.
–DIVI–FFFUCKTHATHURTS!
Not for the first time, Rob felt his flesh stripped straight to the bone. The boiling essence of seven entrapped gods was perhaps a bit too spicy for Almighty Resistance to handle. Its mana cut right through his resistances – just as an impossibly sharp sensation cut through Rob's built-up pain tolerance. A less-seasoned veteran would have reflexively extracted what was left of their arm, and then tumbled to the ground, sobbing.
Rob didn't budge. His Elatran travails had prepared him for this moment. After the Attunement visions, severe Corruption poisoning, Ragnavi's Annihilation, Soul Instability, multiple flayings and decapitations...what was one more type of pain? He merely needed to follow the creed of all like-minded lunatics who extolled Vitality as their stat of choice.
When in doubt: endure.
Clenching his jaw so hard that his teeth cracked, he activated Purge Divinity before his arm was erased entirely. Energy flowed out from his body and into the Orb.
The effect was immediate and apparent. Voices screeched in fresh agony as the God-Orb's surface undulated like churning magma. Cracks split open, and mana poured out as he peered up at the crimson moon, wondering why it seemed closer than usual–
Rob forcibly pulled himself out of the vision, his head spinning from mental whiplash. Even then, he kept Purge Divinity going, never faltering for an instant. All distractions – from Kismet's shouting, to the gods' wailing, to the sight of his friends lying still – were fed into the furnace of his rage, used as fuel to keep his arm steady.
Remnant souls burst out again and again. He was a winged creature soaring under a sky of falling meteors. He was a denizen of the deep sea clutching his throat as the oceans filled with poison. He was a glassy-eyed mother holding tiny, well-dressed skeletons. He was a beloved sovereign watching his pantheon of nations crumble to dust. He was a starving pauper witnessing the end of everything, wondering why they'd ever bothered fighting to survive. He was, he was, he was, he was...
He was Rob – yet in that ethereal moment, he was everyone. Through his Purging hands, he carried out the will of innumerable people and societies ended by cosmic whims.
The God-Orb began vibrating faster. Kismet was trying to detonate it, but control had already been wrested from his grasp. The HUMAN spoke, and with unintelligible words that were a mishmash of overlapping dead languages, he pronounced the final judgement of seven gods.
"~ //// #### {{}} \\\\ \** <<>>".*
I only wish this hurt you more.
Blinding light covered the divine realms.
--
Rob experienced nothing.
At all. He saw, heard, smelt, and felt nothing. The world had been reduced to a void bereft of sensation.
If not for Leveling High screeching in his mind, he might have assumed he was dead. Its grating static dragged him back to awareness. And much like animals are born knowing how to breathe, Rob's very first act upon awakening was instinctual.
Lifesurge.
Upon opening his regrown eyes and taking stock of his surroundings, his second act was to feel grateful that the God-Orb's destruction had knocked him unconscious. Pain tolerance was all well and good, but it was prooobably for the best that he'd missed out on his body being scoured by erupting divine essence.
He was pretty sure that only his brain had been left afterwards.
"You killed them."
The sound of a familiar voice instantly snapped Rob to attention. Fortunately, it appeared that he'd only been out cold for a second or two, as Kismet hadn't yet recovered from his shock and taken advantage of the situation. The last living deity was too busy gazing up at where the God-Orb used to reside, as if staring would make it pop back into existence.
"They were fools," he muttered. "Shortsighted, indolent, antiquated...even so, they were still eternal. Their mana has persisted across a breadth of time that defies comprehension. And you killed them. A mortal killed them."
"DoES thAT SuRPRIse YoU?" Rob asked, his voice causing a rift to open up nearby.
Kismet tilted his head.. "I suppose not," he answered, after a moment of silence. "What does surprise me, however, is that you have deigned to speak. What brought on this change?"
Because I just checked my Purge Divinity stores and decided that stalling so it can refill is the way to go. "I'm KEEPING YoU COMPANY. FIguReD yoU'd FEEL LONELY. 'CauSE ALL yoUR fRieNDs ARE DEAD."
"How magnanimous. Do you know what I believe, though?" Glacial lights flared in the space where a human's eyes would be. "If you still possessed even an ounce of that vile energy, you would have charged the second you awoke. The fact that you haven't means your reserves are running dry."
Rob smirked at having his bluff called. Purging a dense God-Orb right as it was about to explode had been...difficult. It'd required more energy than Purging the seven gods under normal circumstances. He wasn't entirely spent, but killing Kismet with what few drops remained seemed highly unlikely.
"I am going to relish wiping that mirth off your face." Kismet drew himself up, his form swelling with power and anticipation. "You haven't yet realized the severity of your predicament – so allow me to enlighten you. Without the ability to Purge, you cannot harm me. Not in any significant manner. All your monstrous power shall be for naught."
The god leaned forward, his false eyes shining with glee, as if he couldn't wait to say what was on his mind. "Furthermore...that power has stopped growing, yes? I haven't sensed it climb to new heights for some time now. You have reached your peak, whereas *I* may still sup on mana leaking from the rifts that you've so helpfully provided. Soon enough, my might will surpass yours. Or perhaps your body will fall apart first? Don't think I haven't noticed that as well. Lastly, now that you have lost the capacity to Purge, I no longer need worry that your presence will collapse the divine realms. I am free to bide my time as your body and soul wither to nothing."
Kismet spread his arms wide. "You fought well, mortal – but the battle is done. At long last, you are outmatched."
Rob chuckled.
It wasn't even on purpose. While he would've laughed to mess with Kismet anyway, regardless of how he was feeling, his reaction was completely natural.
"OOOOH NOOOO," Rob drawled, layering his tone with enough sarcasm to suffocate an elephant. "I'M OUTMATCHED? IN A FIGHT AGAINST AN ALL-POWERFUL ABOMINATION? GEE, \THAT'S* NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE."*
Really, was he supposed to be intimidated? This was just another Tuesday in Elatra. It had been fun to run wild for a bit and put the BERSERK in BERSERKER, but in a sick sort of way, he felt more at home like this. Back to the wall, with no clear win condition in sight.
He could already feel the creative juices starting to percolate.
Searching for inspiration, Rob swept his gaze across the battlefield. It was a sobering view. Riardin's Rangers and Sylpeiros were lying still; so motionless that he could've mistaken them for dead if not for the slow rise and fall of their chests.
Without their efforts, he wouldn't be standing here right now. Purging the God-Orb had been a near thing. If Riardin's Rangers hadn't killed one god and softened up the others before Kismet 'collected' them, Rob would've run out of Purging energy and just straight-up died. And he never would've gotten the chance to destroy the Orb without Sylpeiros' diversion. Seriously, what kind of madman decided that ambushing a literal deity was a smart idea?
Rob gave them all a grateful nod. Riardin's Rangers and Sylpeiros didn't have Purge Divinity or impossibly high stats – and they'd still contributed more than should ever be expected of fighters without system-warping Skills, even Level 99 ones. His allies had gone above and beyond the call of duty.
The rest was up to him.
Time for a stress test. He dashed forward, fists clenched. Kismet warily examined him, waiting to see if the HUMAN would pull out a hidden reserve of Purging energy.
When that didn't happen, the god stood his ground and prepared one spell in each hand. The first will be an emergency escape, Rob inferred. The second...well, he probably wants to run a stress test of his own.
There were no tricks or falsehoods. Neither combatant made any attempt to dodge. Divine magic seared mortal flesh, and titanic Strength collided with the formless mana-body of a god.
Two tremendous claps of noise filled the divine realms, accompanied by a shockwave that sent both Rob and Kismet flying back. The HUMAN landed on his feet, while the god briefly vanished before reappearing in an upright position, seeming unruffled by their exchange.
"Your energy truly has run dry." Kismet sounded on the verge of breaking out into maniacal laughter. "Oh, what revelry this shall be."
Rob rolled his one good eye – the other was still Regenerating. Prick keeps aiming for my face. Kismet was gloating again, so he tuned out the god's ramblings and focused on analyzing his options. What have I learned? Without Purge Divinity, how much damage does a no-frills punch inflict?
Very little. Although Rob had hoped for a dent, he'd mostly just scuffed the god's paint. Raw, unadorned Strength simply wasn't efficient at damaging creatures of mana – especially not one as indescribably powerful as Kismet.
In that case...
Exhaling, he closed his eyes, shutting out all external stimuli. Kismet's blathering immediately quieted as he evaluated Rob's abrupt change in behavior. The god was presumably trying to determine whether this was a ploy to lure him in, but his caution was wasted. Rob merely wanted full concentration and didn't care if he got sucker-punched.
What he chose next would decide the fate of a world. Two worlds, actually, if Kismet got vindictive and hopped over to Earth after depleting Elatra.
Quick Thinking.
Okay.
What paths to victory still remained?
It has to be fast. My body is struggling, and my Soul Instability is High. Kismet will win a battle of attrition.
So that ruled out pummeling him for hours on end. Shame. Rob would've been fine with repeatedly scuffing Kismet's paint until the bits of damage added up and caused his mana-body to give out. Unless...
Zamira proved that a god can be slain through exceptional means. Malika would've unmade some of them as well if she hadn't been busy fixing rifts. Mana manipulation is the key. Can I hurt Kismet by imbuing my fists with mana?
Wasn't that easy, unfortunately. While Rob had boatloads of MP to spare, this was a matter of quality, not quantity. He lacked the fine precision of an Archmage, or...whatever anime powerup Zamira pulled at the end there. Covering his fists in mana might help, but it wouldn't guarantee victory.
If Riardin's Rangers awaken, we can band together to overpower Kismet. Strength in numbers – and teamwork.
It was a decent backup plan. Sadly, he couldn't control when they woke up. Could be soon, could be hours from now. Based on previous instances where his Party members had been forcefully knocked unconscious, the latter was more likely.
Besides – Rob didn't want plans that were just 'decent'. He wanted a silver bullet. Something that could annihilate Kismet in under a minute, if need be.
The stakes demanded no less.
A silver bullet...like Purge Divinity. Nothing else comes to mind. Nothing else is going to be as good, either. The Skills personally hand-crafted it to kill gods, and that process probably took them thousands of years. I shouldn't expect to cook up an equivalent in the eleventh hour.
Rob frowned. All of that made sense, but...
He wasn't satisfied with that line of thinking. When you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Hmmm. While I can't blame myself for getting hung up on Purge Divinity, considering how vital it's been up until now, I might also be tunnel-visioned on the concept of a singular god-slaying ability.
That kind of over-centralized thinking often bled into other aspects of planning. In fact, when he'd assessed his other Skills earlier to see if any of them would be effective against Kismet, hadn't he dismissed them on the grounds that they wouldn't deal enough damage or accurately hit him at range?
As someone who'd learned a Skill called Rampage and primarily utilized it for maneuverability, he should've known better than that. Even when offensive abilities weren't perfectly suited for a situation, they could still be used in inventive ways.
Rob put on a wry grin as several new stratagems promptly came to mind. Guess I'll never be a proper BERSERKER. Can't help but go back to my roots of planning weird nonsense.
Yeah. That felt right. So what if he'd lost his convenient touch-of-death win condition? If the gods didn't have a clear weakness to exploit, he just needed to make one – or magnify the vulnerabilities they already possessed.
Like their mindset. While the gods may be astronomically powerful, they're also batshit crazy and don't seem to realize it. From what I know, most of their problems are self-induced. Like, I'm hardly the most stable individual, but at least I'm not tormenting people and complaining when they fight back, or part of a pseudo-hivemind where ego death is encouraged, or...
...Incapable of breaking a vow.
A bolt of inspiration struck him. Then another, and another, until Rob had been assailed by an entire thunderstorm of interlocking ideas. He thought back to how the gods and Blights were mentally enslaved to their compulsions. He reflected on how they couldn't defy the rules of the system even when their own lives were at risk. He examined the battlefield and juxtaposed it with the actions Kismet had taken and hadn't taken thus far.
His breath caught in his chest. This was the silver bullet he'd been looking for. If his assumptions were correct – which was a BIG if – then it would win the battle in one fell swoop.
If he was wrong...it could do the exact opposite.
Fifty-fifty odds.
Rob opened his eyes, heartbeat quickening as excitement flowed through him. Against a creature on par with the Second Will, fifty-fifty was like winning the lottery.
"What manner of death would you prefer?" Kismet tittered. He was in no hurry to bring their duel to its conclusion, understanding full well that time was on his side. "Quick and painless, as to numb the sting of your failures? Or a glorious last stand fit for the history books? It also isn't too late to become a Skill, I might add. Join your friends in perpetual–"
There's my inroad. "KISMET," the HUMAN intoned."RULER OF THE DIVINE REALMS." He kept his voice low to prevent more rifts from opening, giving off the impression of some unknowable creature rumbling in the distance. "I PROPOSE A WAGER."
The god's mouth snapped shut. After a couple seconds of well-deserved suspicion, he hesitantly replied. "...Of what sort?"
Rob raised a hand and stretched out his fingers. "FIVE MINUTES." Theoretically he would only need one, but better safe than sorry. "IF I'VE YET TO GRIEVOUSLY WOUND YOU AFTER FIVE MINUTES HAVE PASSED, I WILL SUBMIT TO YOUR AUTHORITY AND BE REBORN AS A SKILL IN THE NEXT SYSTEM. THEN YOU'RE FREE TO TORTURE ME FOR ETERNITY OR WHATEVER GETS YOUR ROCKS OFF."
He closed his hand into a fist. "ANTI-LOOPHOLE CLAUSES: THE TIMER STARTS AFTER YOU AGREE TO MY TERMS. DURING THOSE FIVE MINUTES, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO FLEE FARTHER THAN YOU ALREADY HAVE AT ANY POINT IN TODAY'S BATTLE. 'GRIEVOUSLY WOUND' IS DEFINED AS YOU HAVING EXTREME DIFFICULTY CONTINUING TO MOVE OR FIGHT."
"I...see. And what is so important that you would gamble your soul? What do you desire in exchange? "
"THREE BOONS. FIRST – IF I WIN, YOU ANSWER ONE QUESTION OF MINE. SECOND – YOU HEAL MY ALLIES' INJURIES AND ROUSE THEM FROM SLUMBER, WITH NO COMPLICATIONS OR ADVERSE TAMPERING."
Rob cracked his knuckles. "AND THIRD – YOU SIT STILL FOR A WHILE AS I BEAT YOUR FUCKING FACE IN."
Kismet said nothing. Rob could practically hear the gears turning in the god's head. His victory was all but assured, and capturing the HUMAN's soul would be the cherry on top of a complete and total triumph.
However, he also recognized that Rob wouldn't be making this bet without an ace up his sleeve.
"How do I know you won't go back on your word?" Kismet's tone was laden with doubt. "Mortals are not bound to oaths, and you are, technically, still a mortal."
"I OFFER MY PARTY MEMBERS' LIVES AS COLLATERAL."
There was a long stretch of silence. "You're serious," the god marveled.
"YUUUP." Rob jerked a thumb at his friends' unconscious bodies. "HOVER SOME SPEARS NEAR 'EM. WON'T STOP YOU. ALTHOUGH I'M ADDING A STIPULATION THAT YOU CAN'T HARM THEM UNLESS EITHER I BREAK OUR DEAL, OR FIVE MINUTES PASS."
Kismet scrutinized him with a look of disbelief. Rob's poker face worked overtime as he faked being unperturbed, returning the god's searching gaze with a laconic, half-lidded stare.
Eventually, greed won out over prudence. "I accept all your terms." Kismet pointed his hands at Riardin's Rangers. Dozens of floating mana spears materialized above their unmoving forms, ready to plunge down at a moment's notice. Kismet kept an eye on Rob throughout, as if expecting him to rush forward in defense of his Party, but the HUMAN merely waited patiently for the god to finish.
Inwardly, Rob was celebrating. 'You can't harm my friends until five minutes have passed' was a steal of a deal. Without Purge Divinity as a threat, he wasn't confident that he would've been able to prevent Kismet from using Riardin's Rangers as hostages. 'You are not allowed to flee farther than you already have at any point in today's battle' was even more necessary. It meant that Kismet couldn't fuck off to a distant corner of the divine realms and wait out the clock.
The rest of Rob's terms had essentially been a smokescreen to slip those two stipulations through. While he wouldn't turn down free healing for his friends or the opportunity to treat the divine ruler like a punching bag, his requested 'boons' were inconsequential compared to limiting Kismet's options.
It gave him the chance to put his real plan into action.
One chance, specifically. Rob held no delusions that there might be a second. What he had in mind would rely heavily on the element of surprise. If it didn't work on the first try...or if his assumptions about Kismet's nature were incorrect...
Game over.
How many trillions of lives were about to be decided in the next few seconds? Countless civilizations of the present and the future, their survival somehow dependent on a half-baked scheme conjured up by a guy so absurdly enraged that he was cracking reality. Shit, the only reason he was even here was because he'd pushed Jason out of the way when the gods tried to nab him all those months ago. His one small action had kicked off a cascading domino effect with repercussions beyond human comprehension.
Rob couldn't begin to fathom that scale of responsibility – so he didn't bother. Stressing himself would just make him hesitate. Bit by bit, he pared away the overwhelming grandiosity of the situation, reducing its scope until he saw Kismet for what the eternal, cosmic deity truly was:
Just another asshole that needed to be put in the dirt.
"The five minutes have begun." Kismet prepared what was almost definitely a teleport spell, ready to flee at the first sign of danger. "Please execute whatever ill-fated endeavor you have planned before time runs out. I wouldn't want to miss seeing your bravado shrivel into despair."
"WELL, I \COULD* PRETEND TO CHASE YOU AROUND FOR A BIT, LULL YOU INTO A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY...BUT NAH."*
Rob flicked his wrist. "LET'S START THINGS OFF WITH A–"
BANG.
The explosive conflagration of Living Bomb surrounded him.
​
--
​
Link to Part 2

Health anxiety
Tw synthoms
Im a 20 year old female weight 78 kg height 1.64 m
Hi everyone Its been 2 months that im having really bad health anxiety At first I thought there was something wrong with my heart, i was having all the heart attack synthoms : chest pains, arm pain, my troath felt like it was "blocked" , tachycardia etc. All of this stopped when i started obsessing over my head, i started at first with feeling preassure in my head (no pain just preassure), then I started to feel pain too, at first on my occipital area then it kinda shifted everywhere. I got better for around 3 days and then I experienced a brain surge, that scared the shit out of me and after that day its been a month that im suffering over this, convinced myself i have a brain tumor.
I'll tell you about my headache :
1 it gets worst when I sneeze/cough/ lie down/ hold my breath 2 it gets better with hot pad 3 often it changes position/ type of pain 4 sometimes gets better sometimes worst
Googling made this all worse cause it says it is indeed a brain tumor. My doctor said I have a pinched nerve, i went to the E.R and they told me its all in my head. I had scheduled an M.R.I but didnt go cause I was too scared

Tw synthoms
Im a 20 year old female weight 78 kg height 1.64 m
Hi everyone Its been 2 months that im having really bad health anxiety At first I thought there was something wrong with my heart, i was having all the heart attack synthoms : chest pains, arm pain, my troath felt like it was "blocked" , tachycardia etc. All of this stopped when i started obsessing over my head, i started at first with feeling preassure in my head (no pain just preassure), then I started to feel pain too, at first on my occipital area then it kinda shifted everywhere. I got better for around 3 days and then I experienced a brain surge, that scared the shit out of me and after that day its been a month that im suffering over this, convinced myself i have a brain tumor.
I'll tell you about my headache :
1 it gets worst when I sneeze/cough/ lie down/ hold my breath 2 it gets better with hot pad 3 often it changes position/ type of pain 4 sometimes gets better sometimes worst
Ive been taking iprobrufen or tynedol, they dont really help
Googling made this all worse cause it says it is indeed a brain tumor. My doctor said I have a pinched nerve, i went to the E.R and they told me its all in my head. I had scheduled an M.R.I but didnt go cause I was too scared

Tw synthoms
Hi everyone Its been 2 months that im having really bad health anxiety At first I thought there was something wrong with my heart, i was having all the heart attack synthoms : chest pains, arm pain, my troath felt like it was "blocked" , tachycardia etc. All of this stopped when i started obsessing over my head, i started at first with feeling preassure in my head (no pain just preassure), then I started to feel pain too, at first on my occipital area then it kinda shifted everywhere. I got better for around 3 days and then I experienced a brain surge, that scared the shit out of me and after that day its been a month that im suffering over this, convinced myself i have a brain tumor.
I'll tell you about my headache :
1 it gets worst when I sneeze/cough/ lie down/ hold my breath 2 it gets better with hot pad 3 often it changes position/ type of pain 4 sometimes gets better sometimes worst
Googling made this all worse cause it says it is indeed a brain tumor. My doctor said I have a pinched nerve and maybe occipital neuralgia i went to the E.R and they told me its all in my head. I had scheduled an M.R.I but didnt go cause I was too scared
I was wondering has anyone experienced this kind of synthoms too?

Hi everyone Its been 2 months that im having really bad health anxiety At first I thought there was something wrong with my heart, i was having all the heart attack synthoms : chest pains, arm pain, my troath felt like it was "blocked" , tachycardia etc. All of this stopped when i started obsessing over my head, i started at first with feeling preassure in my head (no pain just preassure), then I started to feel pain too, at first on my occipital area then it kinda shifted everywhere. I got better for around 3 days and then I experienced a brain surge, that scared the shit out of me and after that day its been a month that im suffering over this, convinced myself i have a brain tumor.
I'll tell you about my headache :
1 it gets worst when I sneeze/cough/ lie down/ hold my breath 2 it gets better with hot pad 3 often it changes position/ type of pain 4 sometimes gets better sometimes worst
Googling made this all worse cause it says it is indeed a brain tumor. My doctor said I have a pinched nerve, i went to the E.R and they told me its all in my head. I had scheduled an M.R.I but didnt go cause I was too scared

I had an occipital nerve block 6 days ago. It felt great immediately but the next day my usual headache presented above the occipital region, like if there was a bowl on the top of my head. Sumatriptan resolved the headache. The following days I've had neck pain, which maybe I am more aware of since it is stopping at the occipital region. Dr mentioned doing botox next go around if the nerve block isn't enough.
Do any of you get relief with combination approaches like the nerve block, botox, and epidural? Do you still need to take a triptan frequently?

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Memory Transcription Subject: Elias Meier, Former UN Secretary-General
Date [standardized human time]: July 21, 2160
The rippling alarm sounded from my holopad, waking me up with some semblance of a normal routine. Virnt had worked tirelessly to adjust the sleep suite, in the hopes of stabilizing my sanity. The Tilfish had worked in the ability to be woken by touch or noises, since it was a problem that I was unwakeable with the press of a button. If there was an emergency or someone who needed to speak with me, I needed to be jolted out of my slumber without going into my code and halting the program. That was doubly true if I was to partake in diplomatic missions outside of Earth…something that might be a necessity should we continue to strike out with Shield members. Our plan, after the Duerten Forum, was to get a few parties with lesser influence on our side to go after the big fish.
I’d tried approaching several species alongside Kuemper: the Racads, a buffalo-like species with brown spots on their creamy hides. They’d been one of the voters for a military alliance with humanity long ago, to take on the Arxur. However, they were circulating absurd notions that we were releasing the Collective behind their backs; they’d already been none too pleased by the light punishment we selected for Isif’s fledgling nation. Our present coziness with carnivores seemed to make several Shield parties, that would’ve allied with us as total unknowns, gunshy about cooperating. I wasn’t sure I could convince even the Sapient Coalition to work with the Arxur, despite our losses.
Ironically, I’d venture the Duerten would be the most likely to accept Collective aid, since they partook in saving Kalqua alongside us. Getting the Forum to help might be the key to bring the Arxur into the fold.
However, Ambassador Korajan had been clear that the gray avians wanted no part in a war. The peculiar Ulven were next on our list, as I’d been quite intrigued by a shape that didn’t seem dissimilar to pigs—if pigs had short, prehensile trunk-like noses and koala-bear ears. They had been part of the group that voted for no contact with humanity, a substantial chunk of the Orion Arm that didn’t care what happened to us one way or another. They’d clearly had a change of heart about not interacting with us, since they had an embassy in Vienna. Much of the Shield had warmed to us since our cooperation in the Battle of Aafa, where the prey-hating Arxur and the Kolshian shadow caste fell to a combined onslaught. It still blew my mind to know that Isif led a rebellion, and that a secret conspiracy operated right beneath where Noah had given his speech.
The Ulven proved anything but warm to an in-person visit; I’d been a little taken aback when their ambassador said to my face, “Well, I guess we can’t even keep predators killed anymore.” She laughed like it was a joke, but I got the impression it was anything but. We were hurried out of the embassy after receiving a flat refusal. It’d caused me to question whether this plan, to send me on visits to our unallied neighbors, was a good idea at all. I walked over to the mirror, pulling my lips apart with my hands, and staring for what must’ve been minutes. The “teeth” were like dentures, lacking any nerves…or any need to brush them and rid myself of morning breath. Why even have a bathroom next to my quarters at all? Every fixture reminded me that I wasn’t human anymore.
“Do you remember how pain felt, robot?” I hissed at the mirror, punching the counter; the metal “knuckles” felt nothing, lacking any skin redness at all. “You ‘sleep’ with your eyes wide open. You don’t yawn, and your laugh—some prerecorded bullshit from a banquet back before first contact. Who are you even helping? I hate you!”
The Elias Meier knock-off’s face grew more emotional and distraught, but it wasn’t like I could shed any tears, even if I felt like it. I slumped over the sink, splashing water on my face; despite the fact there was no need for body temperature regulation. Virnt told me that everything I was feeling now was an emotional matrix, choosing what it thought a human would experience in response to brain patterns. I held my fingers close to my face, noticing how they’d traced Meier’s fingerprints meticulously into the tips of my digits. How did I know I was the only copy-and-paste version of myself? How did I know that I was truly the same person, when it was obvious everything else was so off?
A knock came from the door, a hesitant female voice. A real human: Erin Kuemper, who’d accepted me for reasons I couldn’t wrap my head around. Maybe it was a nice lie, believing that an old friend had come back. Elias Meier was never this volatile or easily lost to the dark thoughts that swirled in my head nonstop—that meant I wasn’t me.
“Elias? I’m sorry to disturb you, but I thought you’d want to see this,” the Secretary-General called.
I forced a calm expression, trying to smooth myself over. “I’ll be right there. I’ve been looking over the files of each Shield species nonstop, trying to solve our dilemma. There’s not too many that let humans onto their worlds—only three, in fact. Therefore, my thinking was we go for—”
“The Leshee. I was thinking the same. They’ve fallen into a powerful role, with the Duerten Forum being a shell of its old strength. If we’re giving it a final shot to get through to the Shield, we have to prostrate ourselves before one of its top dogs.”
“Good. We’re on the same page; that’s why I always enjoyed working with you, Erin.” I strolled over to the door, and faked a smile. “I suppose we should get moving then.”
“Not so fast. It’s obvious you’re suffering quite a great deal in your…new body. You don’t have to do this, Elias. There’s no diplomat I trust more, but you’re under no obligation at all, especially when it might be best for your wellbeing to sit this one out.”
I shook my head rapidly. “Please, no: don’t take this from me. I only feel like myself when I’m helping humanity. It’d drive me even more mad to know Earth is in jeopardy, and I was doing nothing. I swear, I don’t know what’s gotten into me, but I’m going to get a handle on it.”
“You really don’t know?” she chuckled. “Elias, you died. That changes a person. Then, to top it all off, you were resurrected twenty-four years in the future, without your consent. You just said you don’t feel like yourself, and how could you? No human has been where you are right now. We didn’t evolve for such a synthetic experience of the world.”
“I know that. It’s…hell, it’s truly hell. All of the little things I took for granted, never even thought about, are gone.”
Kuemper’s brows knitted with sympathy. “Would you like to talk about it? I can’t say I understand, but I’m here to listen.”
I lowered my head, avoiding her gaze. “Why are you treating me like I’m him? I’m not Elias Meier.”
“I don’t agree.”
“Why?! Why do you just accept that I’m Elias, when I’m zero percent human? I’m as good as a model predicting what he might say, not the real thing. I don’t have his body, his mind…”
“Are you familiar with the Ship of Theseus?”
“I believe so. The ship that has all of its original components replaced.”
“That’s right,” she affirmed. “Is it still the same ship? Or better yet, what if the original components are all used to make a new ship: is that more the Ship of Theseus than the original?”
“Erin, I appreciate your philosophical mind, but I don’t see the point.”
“Humor me.”
“If everything that made it itself is gone, then it’s no longer the Ship.”
“Precisely. Everything about physical Elias Meier that made you alive, that configured your brain a certain way, it’s a faded memory. There’s not a trace of it left in the body presently six feet underground.”
“So, as I simply pointed out, I’m dead.”
Erin wagged a finger. “No, you’re the new ship. Virnt took your original components and remade them down to the finest detail. You have everything that made Elias who he was, every part of him that mattered, from his soul to his mind…so you’re him, as far as I’m concerned.”
“I wasn’t remade with everything that matters. This isn’t the same body.”
The Secretary-General grinned, pointing to her face. “Neither is this. I’m a lot more wrinkly and decrepit than when you last saw me, but you still accept that I’m Erin Kuemper. You’d say I’m the same person as the seven-year-old who ran around telling everyone she worked for NASA; they just didn’t know it yet. My body is hardly the same as then.”
“That’s the natural progression of things, with aging and growth.”
“This is a progression too. You wouldn’t consider someone with prosthetics to not be themself, and this is simply a full-body prosthetic. Skin and bone isn’t what makes us human. It’s about who we are.”
“Thank you,” I acknowledged. “I, um, needed to hear that. Now, I know you’re busy, so what did you call me for?”
Kuemper passed her holopad over, arching her eyebrows. “This military briefing I and the other SC leaders just received. I think you should see it.”
I seated myself on the edge of the bed, spinning the volume wheel glyphs for long enough to crank it up. A congregation of military generals from the world’s countries—a common sight ever since first contact, as extraordinary as it was when they all came together for that initial briefing—were reviewing intelligence information on a starmap. Though she had to be getting up there in years, I recognized the shrewd eyes of General Cora Jones, leading the briefing. The American spymaster had been one I worried about having free reign with vulnerable aliens, but it seemed she’d set her sights on ensuring the SC was never left in the dark again.
Jones’ irises gleamed, as she highlighted a section of the map inside of Paltan borders. “The Sapient Coalition has taken measures to prevent stealth travel through our space. One of those initiatives, as you’re well-aware, was to install permanent sensors in warp at undisclosed locations; needless to say, that project took a lot of resources to cast a wide enough net. However, several days ago, our sensors detected the movements of thousands of drones, Orionbound. The make was indistinguishable.”
“Our enemy? The one who killed the Sivkits?” I asked Kuemper in real time.
She nodded. “We believe so.”
The American military officer turned a solemn look toward the camera. “Our belief was that they followed our subspace trails, so we immediately placed Paltan assets on lockdown and notified UN reinforcements sent to the Sivkits’ aid. However, Drilvar, Jaur, and Takkan assets were tripped later, deeper into our terrain, suggesting they’ve broken into three vectors. And it also lends itself to the…self-evident theory that they know where the heart of our power lies. They must have more intel about us than we realized.”
Murmurs spread through the delegates, as a Yotul islander spoke up. “That would mean Earth, Skalga, and Leirn are in imminent danger. We should lock down all non-essential travel, and widen the net of FTL disruptors flung far out: we can’t let them get near.”
“In my opinion, Onso, all Sapient Coalition members should be prepared. They could also try to take out what they perceive as our weakest links, but we see them coming. With disruptors, we can make it much more of a slog to get into our systems, as you suggested. That’ll acquire vital time to acquire intel on them and their capabilities, and send overwhelming reinforcements to arrive before they do.”
My mind was torn back into memories of how powerless I felt, watching Earth succumb to an extermination fleet that far outmatched it. The cold anger that had gripped me, as I realized my desperate efforts hadn’t been enough to save my home and my species; the magnitude of the death toll had weighed on my conscience even after we drove them off. Looking back with clear eyes, I thought about how I’d tipped off the Arxur to the undefended worlds, in the hopes Kalsim would turn his fleet around with the promise of mutually assured destruction. Humanity lived because I parlayed with Isif, yet that didn’t ease the burden of guilt…knowing how many innocents died on our attackers’ worlds as well.
There is a great deal of blood on my hands; I didn’t see another way, with no one to turn to but the Arxur. I hope that more species come to our aid this time, because the Sapient Coalition needs to stick together. Humanity shouldn’t ever again have to pick who lives and who dies.
Cora Jones continued her briefing, forcing me to refocus. “It is imperative that we don’t release this information in a way that incites panic. We are handling the situation, and simply want to prepare them, so they are equipped for whatever may or may not happen.”
“What the fuck am I supposed to tell Ivrana?” a Bissem general scoffed from the crowd, eyes narrowed in disgust. “I just got word from Tassi we’re hosting Sivkit refugees, which could make us a prime target. We’d need someone to defend Bissemkind.”
“That’s quite magnanimous of you to take in Sivkits, General Naltor, but I sincerely doubt Ivrana is a target—unless they have evidence that you’re a carnivore. I base that claim on the fact that they seemingly slaughtered the Osirs, but even that may have been complicated. Suffice to say, I will keep an eye on your system and ensure we have assets nearby.”
“What do you mean about the Osirs being ‘complicated?’” Onso yowled from the audience. “It’s a little late to change your story. You have millions of them already under development, and you don’t have your facts straight.”
“The matters that I have to share next don’t leave this room. It’s come to our attention that the Sivkits were traveling to the…specific planet because they believe it is their homeworld, Tinsas. We’re uncertain how they got this information, since it wasn’t in the Archives.”
The Paltan leader cleared his throat. “The Federation didn’t go out that far.”
“Or so we thought. Beyond the obvious questions of what regions they tampered with, it means we can’t rule out Federation involvement in any of this. The planet is a high-priority investigation for Project Chronicle, to verify whether this story is true. Our enemies might be aware of the fate the world suffered…for all we know, Sivkits survived there, and that’s who we’re fighting. It’d explain how they know where to look…and that theory suggests they may target the founding members who wronged them.”
“Sivkits? Skittish, unintelligent Sivkits, attacking with that kind of weaponry?” a disbelieving Mazic President Quipa called out.
“You think their targets are the founders? I won’t send resources to help the Kolshians and Farsul,” Venlil Governor Laisa scoffed, earning agreement from several others.
The Krakotl ambassador squawked in alarm, with a sudden realization. “We are considered a founding race! You said there were three vectors.”
It was a bit jarring for me to see one of the blue avians as part of humanity’s alliance; apparently, the United Nations had supported a separatist faction after the war. Learning that the Krakotl had been the first victims of the Federation—the first omnivores converted, in a cultural genocide that chilled my wires when I learned of it—created a schism on Nishtal. I wondered if I might’ve tried to bargain with them differently, had I known before the Battle of Earth. To think the species that decided we needed to be exterminated once ate fish themselves: it was a tragedy that they were brainwashed into such hatred. Our relations could’ve been different in another reality, but it was good to see they’d made amends via the SC.
If Jones is right about this being a hit job on the Federation founders, over a grudge that’s festered for years, that could destroy Nishtal all over again. I don’t want that to happen, just like I didn’t when Earth was under siege.
“That sounds like a plausible explanation,” I told Kuemper, pausing the video. “We can’t let Nishtal be destroyed again.”
The Secretary-General frowned. “We only just rebuilt their homeworld. I didn’t preside over that only to watch it burn to the ground all over again. Their species is on a precarious enough perch as is, with how many died to the raid and upheaval. But we don’t know the target for sure, so we can’t leave our closest allies undefended: it’s a catch-22.”
“The Coalition needs to band together. I agree that we can’t take any risks with Earth, but with 82 members, surely we can disperse their combined forces across a few likely targets.”
“Our generals are trying to do just that. I fear we’re fighting another war across the entire Orion Arm…and another one where ‘war crimes’ aren’t even taken into consideration. Quite simply, we need more ships. I don’t know how you did this.”
“Many sleepless nights,” I admitted. “Our buoys can continue to track them. Shit, why can’t we intercept their course?”
“They’re flying in an erratic pattern, so it’s not so simple to tell their destination. We’ll be watching if any more buoys are tripped, since we have them all over our territory. Speaking of which…you might want to see the last point on Jones’ agenda.”
I groaned. “There’s more?”
“I’m afraid so.”
General Jones raised her hands as I unpaused the video. “We have taken Nishtal’s vulnerability into consideration, and will work on contingency plans to ensure the Krakotl race is not a soft target. We’ll be in touch with all SC members to share our plans on where you can help out. However, there’s another matter I must bring to your attention. I ask you to…temper your reactions; we don’t need another war right now.”
“What other war?” the suspicious Thafki representative piped up. “What did the grays do? They’re the only ones with enough power that you wouldn’t be able to squash them, and that’s your fault!”
“It is about the Arxur, but we’re monitoring them as promised. The subspace sensors on our border with the Collective were set off a few days ago as well. Their pathing is much less evasive than our unknown friends. They seem to be heading for Apep, the Osirs’ homeworld, if my vectors are right.”
“Of course they want to have fellow hunters to join them as they terrorize the galaxy! Why would you tell those monsters?!”
“We didn’t tell the Arxur Collective a thing about this war, or the Osirs’ extermination.”
“Then who fucking did?” the Thafki whirled around, pointing a paw at the Bissem delegation. “Traitors! It was you! We should’ve never let you inside our doors.”
General Naltor scoffed. “How could we have contacted them? You’re just being racist because we’re carnivores.”
I huffed in open frustration, irritated that the Arxur had complicated this high-stakes war even further. Now, it was imperative that we find a way to make the Sapient Coalition, and potentially the Shield, accept the Collective’s aid. We did need more ships on our side, so if we could direct the carnivores to places that would take their help…it might not be a complete disaster. However, their breach of quarantine could kill our chances of turning any of the Shield or Federation remnants to our side. We needed to get ahead of this, before any of them got wind of it through other means. News of drones entering our territory might give us an opening with the Leshee, and it could at least catch Ambassador Korajan’s attention too.
“We’re going to see the Leshee. Right now,” I said to Kuemper, not wanting to waste any more time. “Let’s see if Korajan is willing to join our meeting as well. He could put in a good word for us…and for cyborg Elias Meier.”
The Secretary-General smirked. “Two steps ahead of you. Already scheduled a meeting with both of them in an hour. Who do you think I learned from?”
“I’d say you learned well, Erin. It’s time we get moving.”
I hustled out of the Terra Technologies outpost, knowing I wouldn’t get winded by the quick pace. Kuemper beckoned to her security detail, who were hovering outside with some apprehension: clearly, they weren’t comfortable leaving Earth’s current leader with the robotic mind-replica of a dead friend. That was a definite security risk, though I was glad she didn’t seem to care. It gave me purpose, and a serious distraction, to travel around on humanity’s behalf. After everything we just learned, the urgency of our diplomatic mission had just multiplied tenfold. With enemy ships having entered our space, we had to assemble as many allies as possible all over again.
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The medical tents towards the back of the battlefield were, as ever, a flurry of activity. Everyone moved with certain purpose and the speed born of necessity, from the priestesses of Hecate treating the most grievous wounds with magic, to more mundane doctors setting to work with needle, thread, splint, and sling, to the humble apprentices running water, bandages, medicine, and sutures here and there to their superiors. And of course, there was the large space set aside for a dragonness to land at.
Seramis landed with the wounded in tow, Prince Leonidas among them. With the Scythians retreating, the other members of the evacuation teams could set out. Once the last of her charges were unloaded, Sera’s role shifted from ambulance to trauma doctor. Her first patient was obvious, and nobody was foolish enough to get in her way. She cast as she accompanied the stretcher, shifting down from her draconic bulk to a less imposing humanoid.
Humanoid for certain, but unmistakably inhuman. Even much reduced the dragoness’s humanoid form still stood as tall as an amazon. Owing to the needs of the battlefield, she was clad in a tunic scandalously close to a man’s and reliable, heavy boots. Long dark hair was tied back in a simple ponytail, which nestled between a large pair of wings that sprang from her back. Those, combined with the long, still bladed tail, and a crown of scales about her brow allowed for no illusions that she was human. Most dragons could and did take purely human forms, but Seramis’s pride made her something of an exception.
Once Leon was safely placed onto what passed for a bed, she went to work. Her familiar sprang from her shadow and quickly examining him. “Save that arrow once it’s out of him. I’ll analyze the poison and tell you how to counter it.” Elijah ordered as he examined the wounded prince. Seramis nodded, and quickly washed her hands and tail, drying both with blue-hot flame to ensure their purity.
“Barbed?” Sera asked, peeling back the prince’s armor with her bare hands. Her size might have diminished, but not her strength. Leon grunted and nodded an affirmative. “This is going to hurt, I’ll nullify the pain after but for now-“ She offered the prince a leather strap. He nodded and bit down. Sera went to work, carefully twisting the arrow slightly, and found it gave. It hadn’t hit bone, which made this much simpler. Unfortunately, it wasn’t able to be pushed through, as that would have required going through Leon’s shoulder plate and possibly a rib.Using the blade of her tail as a scalpel, she made an incision around the site, and gently, carefully, extracted the arrow.
Once the arrow was out, she inspected it carefully. It hadn’t fragmented in the wound, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She set it to the side and immediately prepared reagents for casting. Into a basin of purified water she placed a sweet grape, undiluted wine, grapevine, lavender, chamomile, honeycomb, a scrap of paper from a child’s story, lamb’s wool, and goose down.
“Smirete gi nervite što vreskaat.”
“Smiri go telesniot strav.”
“Balemirajte ja bolkata od mlaz krv.”
Leon’s knuckles gradually relaxed from their white grip. The prince slumped forwards slightly, muscles relaxing as the pain of his injuries fled. A cool feeling, like water poured over and into dry skin, spread throughout his body. His breathing came easier, but he still burned to the touch. Sera looked to her familiar, who was still analyzing the arrow. He shook his head, and Sera focused on the work she could.
First, she cast a simple spell of purification by salt, lye, and honey to purify the region from festering and infection. Thrice she cast it, once for each wound. Next, she addressed the arrow wound. The arrow had only penetrated skin and muscle, and her own incision had likewise only inflicted damage on the flesh. This was easily repaired with two basic spells of healing. She cast twice by raw meat, silver, and salt.
“Šie vena do vena.”
“Muskul do muskul.”
“Koža na koža.”
The wounds sealed shut, and she washed the blood away. She continued next to examining the deep wounds in his shoulder and arm. Both would be more complicated, as the Scythian falx had cut to the bone, severing tendons along the way. She’d treated him with a spell to reduce blood loss en route, but would need to release it to begin the healing process. She’d need to work quickly, and the poison was still in effect.
She examined his shoulder first. The attack had cut through to the bone, but only nicked it. It would be a simple fix. More difficult would be re-attaching the tendons, not least of all because Leon had kept moving with his injury, and thus aggravated it. This was going to be careful work, executed quickly to avoid him losing too much blood. She readied her elements, and opened her own palm. She would cast by blood for power and control. Pure water was typically better than most solvents for healing, but blood carried with it the weight of Sacrifice and the control of Self.
“Postavete ja koskata ispravena.
Pletete go so svež rast.
Vari go sekoj višok.”
She cast first for the bone, accelerating the natural healing process. The wounded collar bone knit over with a small lump of bone, which then smoothed itself down to a natural state. Resuming the healing process also ended the spell blocking bloodflow. The operating table quickly began turning uncomfortably red. She cast again, biting the inside of her cheek to remain calm.
“Sekoja tetiva se vrzuva za svoeto skršeno jas.”
“Gi ispružuvaat racete za da se fatat eden so drug.”
“Ona što beše otsečeno, povtorno stanuva edno telo.”
This was the most complicated part. The tendons each had to be set back to their severed halves, a careful process that, while relatively swift, felt agonizing slow. Each one knit back to the other, and gradually began to stretch back out and reconstruct the shoulder. Sera nodded at her work, and quickly cast her spell of mending flesh and skin to close over the wound. It knit shut, and she turned to the wound in Leon’s arm. This was fortunately simpler, and could be addressed with the same spells she had already used.
Finally, Elijah spoke up. “I have it, this is from a Balkan Cross Adder. It’s not normally this potent, but it seems that the scythians found a way around it. The internal structure of this arrowhead is somewhat porous, so it can absorb more venom. It’s attacking his nerves and causing swelling. Put a ward around his heart and gastrointestinal tract to avoid it causing too much damage, use an anti-inflamatory through the wound sites, then a standard purge should clear it out.”
Seramis nodded, and quickly set to work. The first two spells were simple enough to keep poison away and soothe the symptoms. However actually removing the venom was going to be slightly more complicated. A spell to flush the toxic chemical out of where it bound to nerve endings and force it through the body, overclocking the liver and kidneys to rapidly flush it before it could re-bind to anything else. Sera called for water to be brought immediately, then prepared the spell. “Fair warning Leon, this is going to hurt.” She dropped the spell of anesthetic and cast quickly. The surge hit Leon like a prolonged jolt of electricity, and the prince spasmed slightly as the magic cut to his nerves. Then he breathed easier, and laid back to rest.
“It’s done then?” he asked, sore, exhausted, and ravenous. Healing magic did supply a great deal of the energy required for a body to rapidly heal itself, but not the nutrients. He’d undergone several weeks’ worth of repair in a few moments, and his internal stocks had been heavily depleted.
“It’s done. Don’t sleep yet.” Sera replied, and when an aide came with a waterskin, she offered and helped him drink. “He’s stable. Bring him the usual for recovery, with additional fluids, chilled.” She ordered, and the aide nodded, running off at once. Leon grimaced slightly at that. “The usual” was medicine, of a sort. It was a potion of Cassandra’s design, consisting of boiled wine, salt, lemon, honey, juniper berries, and miscellaneous herbs. It was served hot, and tasted at once very sour, bitter, and salty. It probably wouldn’t have been edible without the honey. While disgusting, it was however, very effective in helping a wounded warrior recover nutrients lost during battle and healing, as well as fortifying the immune system against disease, as healing magic routinely exhausted it. It was, at the very least, also served with a soft milk bread heavy with a spread made from apples and large amounts of pork lard to help quickly regain calories. That was generally considered about as delicious as the potion was foul.
Seramis saw the prince’s expression, and gave him a look. He sighed, and nodded. “Afterwards though, I’m going to sleep.”
“Good.” Sera replied with a nod. “You need it, just make sure you don’t get scurvy first.”
With that, Seramis left to attend to other patients. As she worked through the backlog, she briefly crossed paths with Casssandra. The queen had changed into a similarly practical outfit, and was up to her elbows in work. The pair exchanged a brief look. “Leon?” Cassandra asked.
“Will be fine.” Sera confirmed. Cassandra offered a curt nod. They’d speak later.
Later arrived halfway past midday, as the wounded were finally attended to. The army rested outside the nearby village, and the villagers came out to thank them with the usual method, cheering and lots of food and alcohol. It was a bit early in the day for the latter, but they had won a battle, and so it flowed freely. Despite the generally jovial attitude of victory, Cassandra privately felt less than pleased. The trio assembled in her private tent, where all three promptly collapsed, more or less exhausted, into the nearest piece of furniture.
Despite his exhaustion, Leon smiled tiredly, and turned to the others. “Well, it isn’t easy, but another victory for the new age.”
The others smiled. It had been two years since the three had met through a confluence of convoluted plots and miscommunications. Two years since they had faced the evil regent Tyndareus and freed Macedon from his tyranny. Two years of working together to try and fix the damage of twenty years of a cruel rule. It had been a hard two years. It had been a good two years. It had been very short, and very long all at once. Much had been done, and much more remained, though the addition of a horde of Scythians certainly complicated matters.
“Victory.” Cassandra remarked, though not as triumphantly as that word might have been. “But not complete, not yet. We successfully repulsed the barbarians, but their forces remain largely intact, and the injuries they inflicted with this simple skirmish is somewhat disheartening. Still, slaying this many of their charioteers and horsemen will provide us an advantage in the next battle.”
“Presuming there even is one. We thrashed them fairly decisively, and more importantly showed them we could intercept them, even with a primarily infantry force.” Seramis replied, drumming her fingers on the side of her chair. The dragoness lounged over it, lying across the arms of the chair rather than simply sitting in it.
“They’ll be back. Their leader, Tamur, stated it rather plainly.” Leon remarked, still sitting with all formality despite his injuries. “This is far more than simply a raid. It seems more like a migration.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time a barbarian horde found itself trying to occupy Macedonian lands. That’s the whole reason we’re here. Though the fact that it’s the Scythians this time is concerning. Typically they’re the ones driving other groups of barbarians into our lands. If the full might of their people is coming here, then what we faced today would be nothing but the vanguard of their vanguard.” Cassandra mused, fingers steepled and slumped in her chair. “And the reports were accurate, these are, unmistakably, Scythians.”
“I wish I had more intel to offer, but I’ve mostly been focused on developing networks with the civilized world.” Sera apologized, before cracking her neck. “I admit, I didn’t expect the Scythians to show up in these numbers, well, ever. And the other barbarians closer to us have long since learned not to raid into Macedonian territory. Something major must have happened out in the north without us realizing it.”
“You don’t suppose that he might be making moves, do you?” Cassandra asked, leaning forwards.
Sera rolled over into a proper position and shook her head. “Malphus is sealed in that area, somewhere, and if that seal was broken we’d know. He’d already have come south and razed Hellas to the ground.” She spoke with grave import. Malphus, the King Who Devours His People. The dragon who had torn down the ancient Diluvian Empire by his reckless ambition and lust for power nearly rendering their species extinct in the process. Only through grave sacrifice had Seramis’s namesake and the six other children of the Emperor managed to seal him away, two thousand years ago. Sera had taken on his name and guise in the same scheme where the trio had met, and so now his name was spoken of in hushed whispers across the world.
“However, it may be that some of his followers are stirring up trouble in the region. They may have an interest in breaking the seal themselves. I’ll do my best to try and gather information, but between the chaos the Scythians have stirred up and the relative difficulty of gathering information that far from the civilized world, it may be difficult.” Seramis continued.
“I’m certain you’ll figure something out, you always do.” Cassandra replied with a nod. “But, returning to the problem of the Scythians, if this well and truly is a major migration, led by their queen no less, this is a serious problem. Fortunately, their queen seems to be the lead from the front type. Unfortunately, she’s clearly no slouch in combat, and her weapon appears to be enchanted. Leon, did you identify any notable weaknesses during your conflict?”
Leon considered for a moment. “She’s clearly an extremely adept fighter, and while her weapons and armor are less advanced than ours, they still certainly do the job. Her weapon is absolutely lethal while she’s in her chariot, and she’s certainly my equal in archery. Disabling her chariot will have to be a top priority. Without it, it’s possible to close to inside her range, though she’s a skilled, if undisciplined grappler. But her boots are a lot less lethal than that blade of hers. Trying to engage with spear and shield is a fool’s errand, this will be short blade work to capture her. In addition, neutralizing her escort and ensuring a speedy escape once she’s down will be key.”
“Capture? You’re feeling confident for someone who just lost to her.” Seramis teased.
“I don’t hit women, and I certainly don’t kill them.” Leon replied, arms folded.
“Ah, so that’s why you lost.” Cassandra grumbled, putting her head in her hands. “Leon, much as I admire your principles, and most of the time appreciate your chivalry, time and place. A battlefield is no place to be a gentleman.”
Leon shook his head, despite his exhaustion, his eyes remained sharp. “A battlefield is precisely the place it’s most important to remain true to one’s principles. If you abandon your principles in times where they become inconvenient, then they were hardly principles at all. And a warrior without principle is simply a murderer or a wild beast; ruthless violence without restraint, a sword with no sheath, that is an abomination.”
“I concur with the former, which is why I have few principles.” Cassandra replied with a slightly bemused smirk. “But as to the latter, I disagree. To exercise violence with ruthlessness and without principle, that is not inherently chaos, nor is the one who does so wildly. Rather it is to be expected of one acting towards their highest principles, for which all others may be forsaken. It dispenses with the idea of “good violence” and enacts violence for good. Most cannot understand what is good, and so shall be instructed in it, and follow their instructor, and thus, their ruthlessness is a weapon wielded by righteousness. But such is the difference between us, that you are a warrior, who concerns himself with how to fight, and I am a soldier, who concerns herself with why to fight. For this is the requirement of queens, that they must be soldiers.”
“If this is what you say, then you do not think enough of warriors, and too little of soldiers.” Leon countered. “You say that a warrior is one who seeks good means, and a soldier good ends. But a warrior who, by all gentle and upright behavior, establishes slavery, tyranny, and ill-rule has, in fact, disgraced his means. And a soldier who acts with absolute ruthlessness shall find only a wasteland that he may call peace. Both means and ends must be righteous for righteousness to endure. It is a pure draft that abides no dilution.”
“If such is the case, then neither warrior nor soldier is ever righteous, for there is no good way to kill a man.” Cassandra replied. “Whether by arrow, blade, venom, or sorcery, the dead remain dead. They are cut off and will never rise again. Such a thing is a wound which cannot be undone, and yet we who pursue violence, that is, to cause such wounds, do so and dress ourselves in codes and laws that we might ignore it.”
“Such is true, that death cannot be undone, and it is a terrible thing. This is why one must bear the sword with wisdom and with righteousness. For the sword must fall only as needed, and never without reason or in violation of principle. Those who slay without meaning live by the sword, and must be slain by it in turn. But the one who bears the sword that he might strike the wicked and spare the innocent.”
“Then you say instead that warriors are soldiers.” Cassandra countered, and delivered a riposte. “For if you say that a warrior pursues principle that they might only slay the wicked, then their end is justice, and all else is only the means to the end.”
“You misunderstand, for the means and the end are one and the same. You cannot achieve justice by injustice, or goodness by evil, anymore than you can draw water from an oil press or oil from a mountain stream. Consider a city, in which everyone is wicked, but for fifty men and their families. To strike the city with ruthlessness would mean slaying those fifty, and so there would be injustice. The same is true for the sake of twenty, and for the sake of ten, and for the sake of even a single one. For violence exists to protect the innocent foremost, and slaying the wicked is simply how this is accomplished.” Leon explained by way of an example, referencing a famous story told by the Hebrews.
Cassandra considered this and returned in kind. “You say that such is so, but I say to you it is better to destroy the city utterly, even if a hundred are innocent, if indeed all others are wicked. For if there are innocents in the city of the wicked, surely they shall be cruelly oppressed by the wicked. For the wicked shall not content themselves to the city, but will spread like a plague across the land and bring cruelty to all those who they can reach. This will continue until the wicked are utterly destroyed.”
“You say that ruthlessness is cruelty, but I say that ruthlessness is mercy. For the wicked cannot be cruel when they are dead, nor can they pursue the innocent beyond the grave. Decisive action, taken without hesitation, minimizes suffering.” So Cassandra concluded.
“Or, perhaps we could reject all of this nonsense about trying to murder one another and try diplomacy instead?” Seramis finally interjected, tired already and more so of this conversation. “The Scythians wouldn’t be coming all this way without a good reason, and powerful as they are, they might make excellent allies if we could manage it.”
“True, the three ways to deal with an enemy are to make them an ally, a subject, or a corpse. If we can manage the first, so much the better. If not, then we’ll aim for the second, after I’ve dealt with their queen.” Cassandra replied, rolling her shoulders. She gave Leon a look. “I respect your principles, but given it’s a stupid principle, and Sera’s a pacifist, I’ll address the practical concerns here directly. She might be strong, but now that I know her sword’s gimmick, I can kill her.”
“Let’s try and avoid that eh?” Seramis asked. “War is meant to be the last argument of kings, not the first.”

Help Wanted

Did Tape Girl get 'Glitched'?

• I've seen the case made that Tape Girl got possessed ('glitched') by Glitchtrap somewhere around Tape 14-15. The only real evidence I could find is because she introduces herself a second time. Problem is, is that the second time she introduces herself she tells us NOT to assemble the logs and abandon development: "...in hopes that you, whoever you are...and whatever team you are with, will abandon development." and also "I fear that finding them and reassembling them...will also reassemble the very thing I’ve tried so desperately to destroy." So, which is it?

Why did Fazbear raid the office?

• In tape 5 Tape Girl tells that: "The drawers have been emptied out. Someone was here....It had to have been the client." The client is obviously Fazbear Entertainment, but why raid the office? They're presumably looking for the Glitchtrap virus, but how did they know that was on the circuit boards? If they did, why put it with all the other circuit boards? I get the Fazbear is negligible, but I didn't think they were outright stupid.

Is Sister Location an in-universe game?

• After learning that the FNAF games are in-universe canon, does this include Sister Location? In the opening roller-coaster ride it shows the Funtime Freddy power module scene (the part were you fight off Bon-Bon). It also has Sister Location animatronics & segments like the one were you flash Funtime Foxy in Funtime Auditorium.

How does Glitchtrap enter your mind?

• This is a VR game, right? How on earth could a virus enter you conscious via an Oculus Rift? Is this some NerveGear level VR? Or, does everybody have some kind of cybernetic implant in their brain or something?

Why is IT'S ME in the Fall Fest 83 barn?

• The easter egg where you get the three clown posters and throw darts at them for this easter egg is cool, but does have lore significance? Like, is Golden Freddy also in the VR game? Or, is it nothing more than an easter egg for a character that didn't make it to the VR port?

Is Fazbear Entertainment stupid?

• So, the MCI happens, then Fazbear hires this 'indie developer' to make a set of games that make light of it. Then, they decide to pull a 4D chess move and make a VR game about those games to discredit the person they hired to discredit the tragedies that happened.
• First off, they'd be SWIMMING in lawsuits after the first game got released. Secondly, do they really expect no one to start looking into things after someone releases a VIDEOGAME about it? Ever heard of the Streisand Effect, Fazbear? Lastly, did they really, truly, accidently send a hard drive containing emails between the two? Nevermind the idea that they just have that lying around, but to accidently send it?
• That's like someone claiming they don't drink, then 'accidently' sending footage of them drinking to someone. Why do you have that & how do you do that?

Security Breach

Is the Fake Ending of SL actually canon now?

• The main reason I bring this up is because in the Sister Location room, you can see a basket of Exotic Butters on top of the TV, in the same position as they are in the Fake Ending. Also, the popcorn bucket is spilled on the floor, like some got shocked by, say, a massive blob of wires and eyeballs.

Seating Arrangement in the Sticky Note Room

• I got the whole 'robot gaining sentience' thing, but why is there the table of the all the Aftons? Since they're all there does this mean that the Sticky Note occupant is, like, the elusive sixth Afton or something? Table etiquette says that the host and hostess sit at either end, so does the occupant think of themselves as the head of the table? If so, whose the magician guy then?

Nightmarionne Plushies. Everywhere.

• Notice one, you notice them all. Please don't tell me friend was right about what they said.

GGY

• Gregory is on the grindset, ngl.

Patient 46 lied about their childhood?

• According to CD 16 Patient 46 lied about their tragedy. "Wanna guess what I found out when I looked into the tragedy of your past? All that stuff about your parents? You aren't even gonna look at me? Fine. You can look at the floor all you want. But it won't change the fact that none of what you said in your file about your parents was true. The truth is, you had great parents, a great childhood." It's mentioned quite a bit that 46 had a tragic backstory only for the plot twist to be that they didn't. But, why?

Gregory is Patient 46?

• This is a big theory I've seen going around. However, I'm not fully sold on it just yet. I do agree that they seem to be talking to a kid based off their tone and wording, but then they drop things like: "Apparently, the techs were reviewing communications going in and out of this building and they came across some interesting things. They say you were in communication with someone, or maybe something. Pretty strange. What do you think about that? Nothing? Well the techs say it looked to them like it was an attempt to manipulate you, or maybe to lure you somewhere." (CD 15). Patient 46 is also shown to have a very morbid sense of humor, laughing at the idea of chickens running around with their heads cut off, while also being an elite hacker.
• Gregory, however, doesn't really show these skills in-game. He outright tells Glamrock Freddy he doesn't know what to do in Parts & Service to install the upgrades. Patient 46 is also seen to have been in communications with someone with rabbit ears, presumably Vanny, but why does Vanny try to kill him in Security Breach?

Who Left The Message?

• The message written on the wall in the Sister Location room is confusing. It describes what Gregory is doing to the T, but immediately begs the question of who wrote it and why'd they write in this triangle code?

Ruin

How'd the Mimic contact Cassie?

• Cassie says that: "Gregory! Gregory, you there? I got your message." Followed by "I don't get it. Why would Gregory tell me to come to this old place, and then not be here?" How'd it manage to contact her in the first place? I thought it was only in the Pizzaplex network? Does it somehow have internet access? Why not just call the police then?

Does Cassie have the Glitchtrap virus?

• After gaining access to the V.A.N.N.I. network Cassie get an 'occipital transponder' implanted in her eye? Brain? It's unclear. Anyway, now she's jacked into the network, so does that mean she'll get infected with the Glitchtrap virus? How's that gonna go? Is gonna be like the Handsome Jack AI from Tales from the Borderlands?

Roxy outlined in green?

• For some reason Roxy is always fully repaired in the AR (VR?) world, with the parts outlined in green. But, why only Roxy? They appear even before she remembers Cassie, so it's not like her original programming fought against the Mimic's after doing remember her.

Giving Chica her beak back accomplishes...?

• So, you can beat Chica's Feeding Frenzy and repairing her with her beak, but then what? She's out of commission for the rest of the game whether you do that or not, so why include it then? Was it for some scrapped content?

Do Cassie's Dad & Gregory know each other?

• I'm 90% sure he's a Faz-Technician, but wouldn't he already know Gregory then? Because after all, "...because the technicians who work for Pizzaplex know you, or rather I guess it would be better to say that they think they do. They report that they've caught you on camera, or at least it appears to be you. Nothing to say about that? Well the techs are convinced that you've hacked into their system many times." Wouldn't he know that this kid is friends with his daughter? I know people in the Faz-verse aren't exactly the smartest people, but wouldn't that just make logical sense?

We don't just throw out the other comic book endings, right?

• Because there's a comic strip of the Burntrap ending showing the Blob and, well, Burntrap. But, we can still see the Blob in Ruin, so it's not like it's just thrown out the window, right?

Candy Cadet Story V2: Electric Boogaloo

• The story Candy Cadet tells seems to just be what happens in Ruin. The mom finds the monster and throws in the basement, locking it away. Her son is scarred because the monster won't stop growling, so she sings him a lullaby every night. The monster learns the lullaby, and when the mother leaves to find food, it sings it to the boy who opens the door.
• Either this a genderswapped version of Cassie and her Dad, or this is about Vanessa and Gregory. I can't stand firm in either camp since there's so little info about the human characters in FNAF.

Baby Room

• Why. Just...why? Are they trying to bring Elizabeth back or something? To quote Cassie: "What is she doing here?"

Gregory is missing?

• As seen when getting Cassie's lore drop, we see her crying over Missing Gregory posters. I thought Gregory was homeless, though? Who filed a missing persons report? Vanessa? Why? Gregory was only locked in the Pizzaplex for one night, so why is he reported missing?

Brazil Ending has Vanessa?

• The fact that this is supposed to be a fantasy world created by Cassie is fine, but why is Vanessa there? Does Cassie know her? When'd they meet?

M.X.E.S. get found out yet?

• I know that it probably hasn't, but I just thought I'd ask.

Glamrock Bonnie and the Patpats

• Is there any connection between these two? Maybe said/hinted in the books or something?

Anyone Know the Fate of Cassie's Mom?

• I know that Mom's basically don't exist in this franchise, but I thought someone might have some book lore I don't know about. Like, "You see, Eleanor is actually a stand in for Mrs. Afton!" or something along those lines.

Is the Mimic based?

• My favorite part is when Mimic showed up and totally mimicked all over the place. Truly one of the moments in the FNAF timeline.

Help Wanted 2

Do we play as two separate people?

• Mainly because Sun refers to us as a kid and Carnie says we look like we have kids. So, do we play as someone in the AR world and someone else in the real world?

Carnie is Lefty, right?

• The Lefty animatronic is just a repurposed version of Carnie, right? They have the same model type, pull the EXACT same pose in the character wheel, and Carnie and Lefty have the same eye color.

What makes YOU so special?

• I dunno man, I can eat a quarter pounder in 15 seconds, does that count?

Is Mystic Hippo Mandatory or Meaningless?

• I've seen gameplay of the extra Mystic Hippo feature, and it doesn't look like it's anything special. Am I wrong, or is there actually nothing more to it?

How is it a fair trade?

• So, we give the Red King our VANNI mask and he gives us the Glitchtrap plush. How's that a fair trade? Also, why does he just have that? Didn't the Princess kill him in Security Breach?

The Fate of Vanny

• Does the secret ending show Vanny becoming her own thing (i.e. getting rid of Glitchtrap) or her fading away because Glitchtrap no longer exists? The achievement you get for this ending is called 'Consequences', so it's probably the former, right?

Candy Cadet Stories V3: Killing Harmony

• I convinced the first story is just a joke telling you to collect more coins, mainly because it's 5 coins long and that's the same amount you find in the hub. However, the second story is weird. It starts out as something like Cassie, but then diverges into Vanessa. Since we don't really know Vanessa's past or Cassie's future I can't really tell who it's about. Is it trying to be both?

FNAF WORLD

Is Glitchbear the same person as Friendbear?

• The main reason is that they both look identical and use the phrase "Tomorrow is another day." So, are they the same?

Who is Desk Man?

• I've seen almost everyone say that he's Henry (AKA Cassette Man), but Cassette Man dies in the fire in Pizzeria Simulator, so how could Baby kill him then? I get that FNAF World isn't one to one with the mainline games, but they still have overlapping elements.

Do the Yellow Eyes belong to Glitchbear?

• This seems obvious, but this is also FNAF. They say that we need to leave breadcrumbs for 'him' to help him find his way. I'm 90% sure they him in question is the Crying Child, because the trophy for the Clock Ending shows a child sprite without tears. Seems he's found peace.

Old Man Consequences

• Seriously, who is this guy? He just appears, makes you question your life choices, and then goes back to fishing.

Fifth Layer Down?

• After reaching OMC you can drown yourself in the lake, leaving you to fall for about 2 minutes before seeing what looks to be either an angel or someone with their arms around two other people. However, I though four layers was the deepest you could go?

Special Delivery

6/10 Kids Enjoy 'Twisted' Pizza

• "Fazbear's "Twisted" Pizza Recipe was voted "Most Yummy!" by 6 out of 10 children in every survey from 1988-1993!" Is this implying that 6 kids got killed? Or that four got killed and couldn't vote?

First Location Confirmation?

• "The first location of the Freddy's franchise was actually Fredbear's Family Diner."

FNAF 1 Year Confirmation?

• :In 1993, the most dangerous profession in the United States was actually night security guard." Could also be for as a reference to the theory, though.

What, no love for Henry?

• "The famous William Afton is the man responsible for the creation of the animatronics we all know and love." Is this just a Simon Stagg and Alexander Sartorius situation?

So was Freddy's or Baby's first?

• "Some of the first animatronics built by William Afton featured claw mechanisms that were able to hide away items inside them." This feels like I'm arguing the chicken or the egg.

So, FNAF takes place in Utah?

• "Despite the name, hurricanes are actually not the leading cause of death of children in Hurricane, Utah."

Who do we play as in Special Delivery?

• I doubt this was ever answered before it got shutdown, but is there any evidence for some kind of protagonist? Or are just some person who say the service and were all 'You know what would be really funny?'

These are just some questions I had about the FNAF lore.

I'm just posting this to get some "irks" that I have about the new angular.dev doc website out.

1. I find the search by algolia (the irony that google is using them over it's own search engine is so thick you can cut it with a knife) very "mid". For example, if I go search for something like "ViewChild" it pushes the signal version "viewChild()" at the top and the decorator result at the bottom - which I find it super stupid that the results are in a tiny modal that I have to scroll down anyways. The angular.io search bar was wayyyy more convenient IMO and less clunky and had the images to the left of the API names so you can clearly note which is a decorator, etc. Some results have titles giving you a clue to what they are, some don't. I don't know how any directomanager looked at that and said this is better or equal to the angular.io search results. Honestly, it's a big fat downgrade.
2. A lot of the "usage notes" aren't available because of an issue with "inline code blocks", and now since it's a forced re-direct from angular.io to angular.dev I'm now stuck with the potential of not being able to see examples on how to use an API function. I very often use those examples as reference points on how to do something, or at the very least get an idea on how to start working with that API. It's just flat out unacceptable IMO that they did that.
3. This is a lesser gripe, but still one worth noting - for all google does for "readability" and "accessibility" in their component designs, they sure did go out of there way to "mute" the colors on Dark Mode a lot. Especially when looking for clear signs of an API function, decorator, core/abstract class in the API Reference section.

There are other smaller things that I don't like but they may be attributed to me not being used the new website layout, so I'll chalk them up to the novelty of it and give it a pass.
/rant