Short stacked back

Hi. I know, 2013. It's got 81k miles, 1 previous owner. Bought from a used car dealership. Drove well the first three times I drove it, less than 200 miles driven total. Took it to the dealership for the safety recalls and all the maintenance. Speak plugs, oil change, all that jazz. Today, while driving home, it twice made this horrible grinding noise and I had to pull over, turn it off, and restart it to get the noise to stop. Both times I was going between 40 and 50 mph. I like this car, but it's been stressful in the short time I've had it. I'm calling the dealership tomorrow (again) to see if they can fix it. Again. Any ideas what the problem might be and how costly it'll be to fix? Should I just see if the used dealership will unwind or buy the car back? I'm annoyed.

PTA's pros are that you can stack it quickly thanks to the way your Q works (first target hit in the line counts as a basic attack hit) which gives you more damage on a single target, faster than you'd get it with Conqueror. PTA also has a more lucrative poke pattern for Yone - E in, auto 3 times to get the three hit burst, and you can snap back. If you take Second Wind, Bone Plating, or Taste of Blood, and also use your W (shield) correctly, this USUALLY means you win almost every trade.
Conqueror is better in large scale teamfights because your abilities scale off of the adaptive force that Conqueror gives you. Your W for example doesn't really care if you do 8% more damage with PTA - you're still getting a weaker shield than you otherwise would be getting with Conqueror's adaptive force. But your damage won't ramp up as quickly as it will with PTA - it's only three hits for 8% bonus damage for as long as you're in combat.
At the same time, Yone is a VERY high-risk champion. The little bit of healing you get from a fully stacked Conqueror can be a godsend sometimes. It's not a lot, but it can give Yone just that little bit of sustain that he's otherwise missing as an ultra high risk all-in melee champion.
Overall, my personal opinion is that PTA and Conqueror are overalpping just a little too much. If PTA amplified true damage, then I feel like there would be meaningful differences between Conqueror and PTA. But right now, PTA just does more burst than Conqueror on top of fulfilling that role of providing you a long-term in-combat damage boost. With that said, Conqueror especially when fully stacked will be giving you more than 8% damage in comparison to PTA, in exchange for less burst.
I think the runes are similar enough that you can always just get away with taking Conqueror and ignoring PTA, but you probably want to use PTA more against squishier opponents (like mages in mid) and take Conqueror against the tanks that go top or mid. Conqueror is also more 1v9 than PTA (you'll be able to solo carry 1v9 a game more effectively with the damage and healing from Conqueror than the bit of burst and damage amp from PTA)

https://youtu.be/o502DpdUZWM?si=iLEkisW5--RmP10h
Unreleased track played live on the S.S. Coachella in 2012. Song was only played a few times live pre the self titled record. The name was likely only a working title but was pulled from a picture of the setlist from the show.
I have been searching for this for years after seeing a few short clips back in the day including the video at Dilettante in early 2013. The main riff was always so mysterious and beautiful (my fav Warpaint quality). Someone came out of the woodwork with audio on the Facebook fan group when I asked about it after looking for legit 12 years for full audio (if you post here, thank you, thank you, thank you).
Wish it would have made the cut for the self titled. It appears to been an expansion on one of Emily’s songs. Kinda seems like there was an overall reggae vibe to a few of the songs written around that era. Keep it Healthy was always a bit reggae inflected. Even Chic U and the early version of Drive played at SS Coachella have a reggae feel. I would have dug that direction.
Can’t stop thinking about the song and felt I needed to share!

My 6 year old Porkie (yorkie-pomeranian) woke me up last Saturday by suddenly reverse sneezing. I helped her through it & it was gone within 30 seconds. Immediately after, she ran around as if she was being chased & threw up clear stomach acid about 5 times back-to-back. Of course I panicked & called the local emergency vet & explained everything that happened. They had me thoroughly check her gums, heart rate, mucus membranes, & her stomach to make sure it wasn’t hard. Everything was okay except for her breathing, she was at 36bpm (normal is between 20-30). Her stomach also seemed a bit hard but not too bad & she was drinking more water than usual. They told me it wasn’t an emergency & to keep a close eye on her until her vet opened up on Monday. She did not throw up at all anymore but she was short of breath for the remainder of that Saturday. Every time she tried barking, she would cough as if she had fully ran out of breath. She also had a bit of trouble laying on her stomach & seemed extremely uncomfortable. I was worried needless to say.
On Sunday, she pooped normal & decided to eat it. I was extremely confused because she had never done that before. She just seemed so hungry all of sudden.
I monitored her closely until Monday & took her to her vet first thing in the morning. They checked her complete blood panel, her pancreas, her poop, her urine…. & everything came back normal. I spent the last of my grocery money for this vet visit might I add ($500) for them to tell me nothing is wrong with her as per all the tests ran. They DID mention however that her pee was a little dark which indicates possible dehydration. Again, this confused me considering she’s been drinking more water than usual. It’s also worth mentioning that they thought she could have possibly ate something she shouldn’t have eaten & her body rejected the toxins naturally. I think if that were the case, SOMETHING would have appeared on at least one of the tests, right???
Anyway, it’s been a whole week & she is STILL drinking more than usual & also peeing a lot more frequently from all the water she’s consuming. I also want to note that her appetite has been very normal as well as her poop. No diarrhea, fever, or decreased appetite of any kind.
Has anyone else’s fur baby experienced this??? Is it normal? I’m concerned that something was possibly overlooked but I no longer have extra money to get a second opinion from another vet.
Is it possible dehydration like the vet said? I thought maybe Cushing’s or Diabetes but neither her blood or urine showed anything abnormal.
Besides the above mentioned symptoms, there is nothing else wrong with her, & now it’s only the water drinking/excessive hunger that’s worrying me. Please HELP!

one side of my heart is happy to experience such a wonderful, loving and fulfilling relationship. you reddit rats wouldn’t even begin to understand the complexities that life throws at you, point being it won’t work right now. i’m having a difficult time comprehending life without her. she reignited my soul, my ability to love, my interest in living.
remember that first time you fell in love? that person you thought you couldn’t live life without? that person you literally worshipped the ground they stepped on? it’s been almost 17 years since i felt that way, boy life comes at you quick and when that person steps back into your life, later in life, it fucking hurts more than the first time your heart broke.
my heart and soul feels empty. i won’t do anything irrational right now, but im using again just trying to cope with it.
we are all just a bunch of fucking ants floating around on a rock traveling through a universe of sheer uncertainties and unknown. am i that fucking crazy to want to feel a sense of happiness and love during our short time on this home we call “earth”?
your mans is down bad. just wanted to share my thoughts into the empty abyss of the internet. not looking for comfort, just a void to share my thoughts.
godspeed 🤙
🖤🖤🖤

Long story short - Me and my partner live with 3 others. Only the head tenant is on the lease. In a nutshell, since we moved in 2 years ago they have been nothing but manipulative. The most recent situation was me and my partner were away for the weekend. Our room is seperate to all other parts of the house so there's no need to be there unless it's us. When we came back they had their younger family members over (approx age 7) I had gone to do washing and my partner was having a shower in our ensuite - because our room is away from everything we usually leave it open. I came back from doing washing and the child had come out of our room. I mentioned it to the flatmate and they said he didn't know better. I expressed it is their responsibilty to watch any guests they invite into the home. My partner has again messaged them today as some things are not how they usually are. They have gone balistic and said because we didn't see it happen it didn't happen. Regardless - They shouldn't of been in our room. They are now calling my partner a bully for calling her out on it and now we are stuck on how to even co-exist in this space.

I will try to make this as short as possible but want to also give as much context.
TLDR: looking for success stories from those who changed behavior of bratty teenage daughters became increasingly disrespectful.
My niece is driving her mom insane with her smart mouth, attitude, lying, and disobedience.
She has been getting in trouble at school lately and constantly has an attitude around the house and even more so when she is asked to do anything to help out, or the chores she has been assigned.
Recently she even tried to run away claiming that her parents hate her because “all they do is make her clean up all the time”. This is ironic because that is definitely not ALL her parents do , they go above and beyond for this girl and sacrifice a lot to make sure she has what she needs and advocates for her anytime she has an issue at school making sure to talk directly with the administration to resolve any issue she brings to them.
Also, she does not have an overwhelming amount of chores, really the normal stuff parents ask of their kids to help out (clean room, wash their dishes, fold laundry).
Lately she has been giving her mom hell with disrespectful remarks, refusal to listen first time, talking back when asked to do anything, and just walks around the house with a stick up her butt.
My sister is tired of everyone saying “well that’s just how teen girls are” because that is not a solution and also she was not that way growing up so can not relate to being disrespectful to her mom the way my niece is and that everyone is trying to normalize.
I try to play the role of a good uncle and give her lectures on why it is important to act with more compassion, respect her parents, give her mom help around the house given she works all day to provide the things she needs and other kids do not have moms as loving as my sister or a mom at all so she should appreciate her - goes in one ear and out the other and the disrespect continues.
I feel helpless and only can lecture (do not feel it is my place to issue physical discipline)
We have already taken away things she values (her tv and phone) as incentive to straighten up to gain those things back. She will act better momentarily to get them back but then like clockwork falls back into her ways and continues disrespect and getting in trouble at school (skipping class, hitting boys on camera, and lying about grades).
Anyone found a method that worked to make your daughter get her act together ?
Edit: age 13. My sister is not opposed to spankings and has done so but with her getting older does not feel it should have to resort to that or that they are effective.

Last year, my INTP husband of 15 years denounced me over a co-worker he had known for maybe 9months. One day he went to work like normal, then shortly before lunch, turned his phone off and clocked out early. He met this person at a local restaurant to slander me.
Some context: husband (45M) is his company's IT guy. She (40s) was a newer employee that started DM-ing him (personal cell) without provocation, so I was told. Hubby told me immediately and I wasn't worried. He seemed to dislike her. He said she was annoying. As time progressed they became kind of friends. Just work friends. I encouraged it initially b/c he has nearly zero friends and she seemed harmless enough. I think she was new to the area too. Then I noticed she started sending him selfies and even nicknamed him. What I gather is that he did not encourage this behavior. He also did very little to stop it. At one point I insisted that he ask her to stop calling him Clark Kent or Superman or Boo. He did, after MUCH reluctance. If I wasn't starting to worry by then, the next bit took my breath away. He was laying on the bed texting her. I knew this and asked what's up. He was about to jump in the shower and he HANDED me his phone to read the conversation. ... He had started to share secrets. Intimate secrets. Ones he was ashamed of. To put it into to context, the very last time we discussed topic X (need some anonymity) he called me a fucking bitch. Yet, she texted the very same thing, and....she wasn't belittled. This is when I started to put my foot down about boundaries. And this is the weirdest bit...sometime here she gets a "stalker". Someone is emailing or texting or both and she is "scared" and needs the IT guy to help. He tried a bit but told her to go to the police
We assumed she had... until one random day. She cornered my husband and told him it was me. She lied about me. I've never met this woman. She had no proof, and if she did, it was fabricated. She said it was either me or him harassing her and she was going to go to HR. I of course didn't know this. I didn't get a chance to defend myself. Instead of going to HR, he took her to a restaurant to smooth it ove talk it over. He believed her. Instantly. Enough to turn his phone off so I couldn't get a hold of him. Enough to clock out and leave work early... He's never done that for me once. Enough to not want to come home. He believed her and I don't understand why.
And to be clear, this wasn't a moment of weakness. This wasn't a one-time deal. He stonewalled me for 8 weeks. Treated me like I was diseased and was contagious. He locked me out of his phone (HE had a no password rule on our marriage and that worked for us).
We discussed the situation three or four times in that 8 weeks and just when I thought he believed me, he would go to work and come back renewed in lies and distain for me. Over. And over. The only reason this behavior stopped was because I started to move out.
I never was told what proof she had. He wouldn't tell me. One time he was so SURE I was lying because HER favorite song came on a YT music station. How the f*** should I know what her favorite song is?
None of this made sense. I really can't get over this. It's been months and i still cry about it. I have never ever harassed anybody like that. I've never threatened a stranger, that's just dumb AF. Like, that's not me. I am ESTP, 38F. He wants to act like it didn't happen. He wants me to move on but I'm not sure I can trust him again. And no, I didn't get an apology for none of it. Not a real one. What I got was, "yea that's what I'm sorry for, what you said."

Day 82.
Hey I made it!
I was watching a video from Chariatan Wonder today. And Instead of a sponsored segment of his stream, he asked "what pleasant think happened to you today that was nice." It doesn't have to be anything big. It can be something insignificant, like you got the toaster setting just right on the toaster today for your toast. Or you went to the store and there wasn't a big line.
With everything going, and what we choose to keep Track of, it can cause us to lose track of the little wins and pleasantries in life. Especially if you are following such a dark topic as what is happening at Anycolor. All that negativity can and will slowly eat away at you. So please, take some time, roughly just a minute, to focus on something positive that occurred, or that you are experiencing.
Please be mindful of your emotions and your mental health when traversing all this information present on this sub, and when posting. Kurosanji is a place to have open discussion about Anycolor. This does naturally mean that critique will occur in such a place, and those with a much more negative tone. It's truely important to remember that each talent is a human person behind them. This human person makes mistakes, and hopefully grows from the mistakes.
It's okay to be frustrated, and hurt. But again, if you find you are making a post because of hatred, and not because of care for the talents, and want to see them for better, take a break. And come back and help us with the fight for the talents when you have come back!
Do what you can. But never resort to harassing anyone. Not NDF, not nijisister, and especially not the talents. Do not ask them to quit or when their graduation will be . If you can only just spread the word thay Anycolor caused 2 talents to be hospitalized for an attempt on their own lives., and Anycolors incompetence caused 2 talents severe finacna issues with their locat government, despite being a international hiring company for years at that point.
But pointing this out does not mean we hate Anycolor. Or the talents. If there is a chance that a message will be sent out from Anycolor, detailing where they have fallen short for their talents, and made actual movements to provide a better environment to ensure they are safe, that would be the best thing for Anycolor. I am just skeptical at the possibility because of how much would need to change for this change to even be possible.
I do not want to see anymore hurt people

Hey Dusty, new here, but I follow and love your content on tiktok and I wanted to submit my own AITA situation. It's been eating at me all day. I'll try to keep this short and informative.
To get right to it, I (36) was with someone (40) who treated me like and emotional punching bag because of what his ex did. We broke up. He's come back wanting another shot. During the break, he got back in touch with his ex. So I told him he needed to cut ties with her if I was to consider rekindling things, he said he'd prove it that he will and so I asked for said proof. He got mad at me for asking and told me I don't trust him (I don't but he can fix that one would think) and said I'll always make him do that. He showed me he blocked her then this turned into a whole fight where he accused me of ruining the day.
This all comes from over a year of comparison to her, being put down because of her, shared streaming accounts with her, undeleted photos together, and the most recent communication with her.
He claims he doesn't want her back but he acts as if he does and me asking for proof he doesn't wrong and I should just take his word for it.
So AITA for wanting proof before considering getting back together?

My boyfriend (35) and I (29) have been together for a year now. We recently moved in together. We love each other, trust each other, and often talk about how we’re going to be together for a long time.
To make this short and sweet, I was recently using his phone and was really taken back by the search history. He looks at naked women almost every day. I know some of it is just porn (I watch it too!!!! Idc about that) but according to his search history, he views naked women sometimes multiple times a day. Even while at work. This prompted me to look at his IG and his search history was the same. Just constantly looking up OF models he’s stumbled on. It’s just totally shocking. It seems like he even does it when we’re in the same room together. Like if I’m working at the table and he’s on the couch, it appears that sometimes he’s looking at naked women.
Like I mentioned above, I watch porn too. I just don’t watch it every day, and I definitely don’t get the urge to look at dick while I’m just chilling on the couch 6 ft across from him. I think our sex life is great and we have such a strong chemistry. We’re always gravitating towards each other, it’s always felt natural. I always said he’s my best friend, but I’d be lying if I said this didn’t completely take a sledgehammer to my heart.
I now feel like something is deeply wrong. Maybe he’s just not attracted to me or he’s a sex addict. Maybe I’m filling a void until something else comes along. A lot of the women he looks at don’t even look like me at all. They’re either younger, have nicer bodies, are different ethnicities. Bigger tits, ass, skinnier, etc. Idk. All these things wouldn’t matter if he wasn’t my boyfriend. I now feel completely insecure and honestly disgusted that he does this so often and sometimes so close to me. My trust in him has also wavered a bit.
Should I confront him about what I saw? To the men reading this: is this just the norm? What should I do with this info now that I know about it.
TLDR; My boyfriend constantly looks at naked women online, even when I’m in the same room. Should I confront him about what I saw?

After years and years of DD, ridicule, stacking, waiting, hodling...we are starting to look reaaally legit right now 😄
''Oh, you mean to tell me China is not buying iron, nickel, zinc, lead and copper, as they used to? Cause their housing bubble bursted? What does that have to do with silver?
"Oh, so about 70% of the silver mined is a biproduct of mining those metals...interesting. But don't we have millions of tons of silver on stockpile? No? It is all gone in solar panels and electronics, and weapons, and...but...Don't we recycle? How much? A quarter at best?" 😐😮
"And we can't mine more silver? Why not? What you mean ore grades are low? Peak silver in 2016? GTFOH! 😮"
"What you mean paper to silver ratio? 398 to 1? No fucking way!" 😮
"Banks are short? There is a short squeeze going on? You mean like GME and AMC? Wait, weren't you guys a fraud? A distraction from the stonks?" 😮😮😮

Rookie APE here. I need some clarity.
When does the Hedge Funds short position expire and when do they start paying for extensions?
So if FFIE held up for 10 days over 1 USD, the share will not get delisted. How many days left for FFIE to hold above 1 USD to avoid getting delisted?
If, the hedgies start to exit their short positions partially, and they now hold shares. Is it possible that they sell them for lower prices, causing FFIE to get delisted, and then earn back from their massive short position?

I met a guy at an event who approached me. It surprised me because I'm used to guys just staring at me without approaching. I found him attractive, and I told him so. He seemed a bit intoxicated, but not excessively. We held hands, had a nice conversation, and it felt natural. He mentioned wanting to hang out, so I got his number, and he texted me later that night. To make a long story short, we went out on a date, had a great time, talked for hours, and at the end of it, he expressed wanting to see me again before he left for vacation (I agreed immediately). I texted him after our date, thanking him for the day and that I looked forward to seeing him again, and he expressed (again) wanting to hang out, but would get back with me when his schedule cleared up. However, he never followed up, and the day he was supposed to leave passed. We both had tests that week, so I understand the need to focus on that, but I wish he had let me know he couldn't hang out. It would have put my mind at ease... but It made me feel a bit disappointed because I value communication and I thought he would be a good guy for me. I've been busy, so I think about him less, but I still wonder why he didn't reach out. However, I'm trying not to take it personally and remind myself that I didn't do anything wrong.
What do you guys think about my situation? Any advice on how to continue moving forward? I tried to keep everything short. Haha.
Thanks in advance.

Hello!✌🏽
I'm 32 years old, an officer, currently on reserves duty in the Air Force, I got drafted a few months ago and went home for a short break and will be back Tuesday morning.
I like cooking, baking sourdough and pizzas (you should check out my profile), gardening, and doing DIY projects.
I would like someone to talk with about recent events and the last few months, to pass some time at night because I'm feeling a bit lonely, and need to process stuff.
I'm willing to exchange pics (in my uniform👻) with the right person
Thanks,
I am looking forward to messages :)

First Previous Next
Mike marveled at the beauty of the inner city. He was familiar with Kael architecture and had even seen some up close at the university, but it was far grander here than on Earth, and it was far grander in person than in the videos and pictures he'd seen. The buildings were a hybrid of Gothic and expressionist architecture built with classical aesthetics.
Mosaics, statues, and murals were everywhere, but despite the grand buildings and beautiful decorations, Mike couldn’t keep his eyes off the ground. Even the streets are beautiful.
The ground he and Dreki walked was like a freshly cooled lava flow paved by slates of colored glass that softly glowed in the dimming light of the evening sun.
As they walked, Mike was woken from his trance by the scent of meat cooking.
Dreki smiled and said, “Smells good. You hungry?”
Mike nodded.
Dreki grinned and led Mike around the corner to a food cart. Mike salivated as the flames licked and sputtered at fat dripping from hunks of what looked like octopus turning on spits. The aroma of meat and spices was intoxicating. Dreki ordered them octopus skewers. As he handed Mike his skewer, Dreki said, “You’re never going to be able to eat earth octopus again.”
Mike chuckled. “I’ve never had it in the first place; I grew up in the mountains thousands of miles from the ocean.”
Dreki looked incredulous. “Did you not have rivers?”
Mike shrugged his shoulders, “Not with octopi.”
Dreki raised his free hand in exasperation. “Whatever. Either way, you’ll be disappointed by the rubbery trash humans call an octopus after eating this.”
Mike took a bite of the meat and groaned in pleasure. It tasted like a beefier version of bacon. Mike wolfed down his skewer in the blink of an eye and exclaimed, “That was fucking good!”
Dreki gave him a “Mhhhmh” with his still mouth full.
Dreki finished his food and led Mike off the main road onto a footpath flanked by wispy trees with dark blue leaves.
Eventually, the pair entered the back garden of a building that looked like a melted cathedral. Dreki led him through an open gate into a well-lit waiting room and held out his arm. “Hand me your bag; I’ll take it to your room. I’ll come get you after.”
Mike slipped his bag from his shoulders and handed it to Dreki. As the herculean Kael was leaving, he turned and said, “Try not to scream when they brand you; it’s an ill omen.”
Mike drummed his fingers on the armrests of the chair in the sea foam green waiting room, which was decorated with pictures of duels and exotic plants in white and blue ceramic pots. He was pretty sure that more than one of the photographs was of Dreki’s father.
Mike was anxious. Getting branded would suck, and getting an AR implant would involve someone sticking a drill through his skull. And without his gargantuan minder, Mike felt almost naked. He knew that he would probably be fine, but this was the home of the enemy. Without any weapons, he stood little chance against any Kael worth their salt in a fight.
Mike chided himself for the thought. Why does everything have to revolve around violence? Is there no world where you can just get along with them?
Mike frowned. No. I hate them. Despite his barely contained rage, Mike felt nauseous as blood-soaked memories bombarded his mind.
He doubted that he could kill again, even if it meant dying.
Dreki’s not so bad; maybe out here, more of them are like him than Ocidea.
Mike’s melancholy was interrupted when the tall door at the far end of the room opened. A short, for a Kaelman, nurse wearing pea green scrubs walked out, locked eyes with him, and shouted, “Mike Anderson!”
Mike followed the short Kael nurse into a cream-colored operating room. In the center an instrument table hovered next to an operating table. Besides the operating table stood a middle-aged Kael with tusks intricately inlaid with silver in triangular patterns. His white lab coat had Chief Surgeon Athocill emblazoned over the right breast pocket.
The Chief Surgeon stared off into space, engrossed in AR. The nurse who brought him in pointed to the operating table. Mike sat down.
A slender Kaelwoman in scrubs and a lab coat identifying her as the assistant surgeon walked in and started arranging the tools.
She glanced at Mike and said, “Take off your shirt.”
Mike pulled the black T-shirt he was wearing over his head and set it on the table next to him.
Without looking away from his work, the Chief Surgeon tossed Mike a leather strap and said, “Brand him.”
The short nurse pulled a heat stamp from its case and rolled the numbers to their correct positions. Mike put the leather strap in his mouth and grabbed onto the table.
Dreki’s warning rang through his head*.*
The Nurse carefully placed the print plate just below Mike’s collarbone and pushed it down. The heat stamp's coils flashed white. Mike bit down on the leather strap as hard as he could, and his knuckles popped as he gripped the edges of the operating table as hard as he could. Tendrils of smoke billowed off Mike’s chest as his flesh was seared, and the acrid smell of burnt hair and torched flesh wafted through the room.
Mike stifled a groan as the nurse peeled the superheated steel off his chest. The Nurse set the smoking stamp back in its case to cool and picked up a small jar of viscous blue fluid and a brush. The nurse opened the jar, dipped the brush in the blue goop, and painted it over Mike’s still-smoking burn. Mike jolted at the freezing touch of the brush. His ribs and abdomen rose and fell rapidly as he took short, shallow breaths as the freezing cold shocked his nervous system.
The nurse put the brush away and closed the jar. “Done”
Mike let the leather strap drop from his mouth and put on a straight face as he externally disguised the pain. Showing weakness was not an option, even if every fiber of his being commanded him to scream.
The assistant took hold of Mike’s arm and spoke. “Make a fist and squeeze.”
Mike did as she asked. It was a good distraction from the pain. His knuckles turned white, and the veins in his forearm bulged after a few seconds of pressure.
“You’ll feel a tiny pinch.”
The assistant jabbed the needle into the crook of his arm.
Mike’s head immediately felt heavy, and his whole body tingled. He tried to stay upright, to no avail. His vision grayed out as his head plopped onto the table with a thud.
The surgeon looked to his assistant and asked, “Is he out?”
“Yes.” She answered.
“Let us begin.”
The assistant used a small metal tool to pull Mike's right eyelid open. The chief surgeon plunged a gold needle into the depths of Mike’s right eye.
The surgeon carefully pulled the needle from the human’s eye and set the syringe back down on the floating instrument table.
“Targeting chip in place. Next stage.”
The nurse began rummaging around a drawer in the back of the room, and the chief surgeon plucked a gleaming silver drill from the instrument table.
The drill in the surgeon's hand whirred as he plunged it into Mike’s skull. After just a few seconds, the drill bored through Mike's skull. The surgeon pulled the drill out of the human's head and angled the bit down into a small metal dish that was in the extended arms of the assistant. The chief surgeon hit a button on the drill with his thumb.
A bloody, dime-sized piece of Mike’s skull dropped to the bottom of the metal dish with a clang.
He set the drill back down on the instrument table and held out his hand. “Drone.”
The nurse put an insect-like metal contraption that resembled a whip scorpion in the surgeon’s hand. The chief surgeon's eyes glazed as he entered his AR and took control of the drone. It popped out of his hand and burrowed itself into the hole in Mike's skull.
Inside his AR, he brought the drone to the occipital lobe of Mike’s brain.
“Deploying lattice.”
The arachnid-like drone injected small metal spikes with spools of minuscule wire attached—anchor points—into Mike’s brain. After just a minute's work, the surgeon had crafted a web of wires across Mike's brain. He brought the drone back to the center of Mike’s brain and planted one final anchor spike. A reel inside one of the claw-like appendages at the front of the drone spun, cinching the lattice of wires down to the last anchor point. The surgeon brought the drone around again, ensuring that the web of copper was completely taught against the human’s brain. He brought the drone back out and smiled ever so slightly as the blood and cerebrospinal fluid-soaked drone hopped back into his gloved hand.
Chief Surgeon Athocill smiled and jovially said, “Patch him up.” He was pleased with his performance today. This was the first human to get an advanced AR package, and the procedure went flawlessly. The assistant grabbed a quarter-sized piece of flesh-colored putty and carefully placed the small piece of skull onto it. She placed the putty over the hole in Mike’s head, and it took to life, bonding the fragment of bone back into place and sealing the surface wound.
The surgeon removed his gloves and began typing on a holoprojection. “All systems are operational. I’m linking him to the military network now.”
The assistant pulled the instrument table to her side and plucked a syringe filled with neon green fluid. She said, “I’m waking him up now,” as she plunged the needle into Mike’s arm.
Mike’s eyes flew open, and he grit his teeth against the pain. Tears seeped from his stinging and blood-filling right eye. Every heartbeat brought a jolt of crippling pain to his head. And worst of all was the searing pain from the brand on his chest and the aching cold that barely disguised it. Mike sat up with a grunt. Pain shot through his chest when he brought his hand to his head and felt the hardened disc of putty on his temple.
The surgeon addressed Mike with a soothing tone. “On the count of three, I’m going to activate your AR. It will feel like your head is on fire for a few seconds, but it will only last a few seconds. One… Two… Three!”
Mike nearly collapsed with the pain, but he managed to limit his response to a grunt. Light flashed before his eyes, and Kaelic text appeared in the center of his vision. The doctor asked, “What do you see.”
Mike answered, “AR active. And below that, it says setup wizard.” Despite his best efforts, pain was evident in his voice.
“Ok, Mike, I want you to think, ‘open setup wizard.’”
Mike blinked a few times. “Nothing happened.”
The surgeon said, “Think it in Kaelic.”
Mike’s brow furrowed in concentration. He was fluent in Kaelic, but not to the point where he could think in the language at will.
“Ok, I got it. It says setting menu at the top, and there are a ton of things here. Do you want me to read them off?”
“No. Can you scroll down?”
“Yes.”
“Good. You should be able to get the hang of this pretty quickly; it's very intuitive. You’ll see that there are a few HUD profiles that you can pick from. I’d recommend you start from profile two and then customize it as you see fit.”
Mike nodded as he selected profile two.
“OK, now think clear.”
Mike did as the surgeon asked. His vision was now cleared.
The surgeon smiled. “Feel free to fiddle with the settings, just think clear if it gets cluttered, and reset if you make a dog’s breakfast of it. You’ll have a headache for the next few days, and you may start having more vivid dreams, but other than that, you’ll barely notice the change. Just take it easy for the next few days, and don’t itch at your brand or your eye.”