~First~
For Newest England
The window pops open with ease, the cold mountain air means that there are few if any insects here. So there’s no need to bother with a screen.
A handsome man finds his way through the gap and slots the window back into place. His leather gloves prevent fingerprints from being left anywhere and his suit completely covers him from the neck down. He gives away no Axiom presence, not even disturbing the local Axiom as he moves. The sensors keyed to such nonsense miss him entirely. A failure of security.
Not that he minds. Slack enemies make for safe missions. Usually. So long as this base hasn’t been built to to the shoddiest of shoddy standards. He darts into a nearby bathroom as he hears some guards on the approach and simply listens.
The local language is still rather foreign to his ears, however he has always had a wonderful gift for deciphering them. The two women vaguely chatter about their communicators informing them about an alarm but they were finding nothing to arouse their suspicion and they quickly convince themselves that it was merely a glitch in the system. They begin to move away and he begins to follow closely behind and just outside their peripheral vision. They simply throw the next door open and do not bother to close it themselves as they allow it to close under it’s own power, giving the man plenty of time to simply follow them through.
Still, the security is a touch tighter than he thought if they’re alerted to his entry, even if they’ve dismissed it. Something to be mildly concerned about.
Mildly is the operative word. This base was fairly low on the importance hierarchy, provided that there wasn’t a second hidden area beyond the first one he was already aware of and making his way towards. A sudden approach of a guard from an unexpected direction is swiftly dealt with by several factors. First off, he looks like he’s already captured as he’s following two guards closely, and his unruffled nature makes him look distinctly like a guest.
However he can’t allow the guard to talk and he grabs her around the face and uses a favourite of police forces the galaxy over. A knockout Axiom technique. Low energy, low profile, doesn’t attract attention... usually...
The guards turn and see him carrying the other guard.
“Pardon, dear girl needs some help getting back to her post after last night.” He says with a wink.
There is a pause as his blatant lie is processed, but before either of them can think they’re forced to catch their fellow guard and as they stagger his hands reach their faces and they drop. A quick check of nearby doors finds him a closet of janitorial supplies and all three of them fit in nicely. Minus their work communicators of course. He quickly checks those and of course they’re not password protected. Why is it that security, a job ostensibly about violence in at least some capacity, never considers that they’ll be the victim of it?
Youthful arrogance, from people likely many, many centuries his senior. Always a charming weakness to take advantage of.
Nothing interesting is on the communicators, just a few patrol routes that are now minus a few soldiers, a few passcodes he already knows and an inaccurate summation of the forces on the base. Apparently the higher ups prefer ignorance in their troops. Which is not a good sign, holding onto the stupid and pliant may make the day to day simple, but it means unusual issues, such as a devilishly handsome Brit, can and will disrupt and destroy things all the easier.
“Bully for them.” He notes as he slips through a doorway, limbos under one of the few motion detectors he’s aware of and continues on his way without breaking stride. A few more turns across the cheap carpeting and around the white walls and he finds himself in front of a doorway that has an unusually complicated keypad.
He quickly takes out a modified pen and gives it a few twists. The Axiom around it twists and he uses it to press several buttons in quick sequence. The Axiom baffling of his newly made toy tricks the scanning portions of the keypad into thinking it’s the right person.
Again the Galaxy’s monofocus on Axiom to the exclusion of all else plays against it. Were it reading for finger prints, DNA or even a pressure plate with a weight range in front of the door it would not have been fooled.
Unfortunately for his opponent, the door pops open without any protest and he moves through.
That’s when the alarm goes off and he glances above the door. Another sensor activated by the door opening and evidence of a laudable level of paranoia.“Well, that wasn’t on the blueprint.”
He doesn’t hurry though, he knows this routine and he doesn’t bother deactivating the baffling on the pen as he sticks it in his breast pocket.
A small army of soldiers pour in from every direction and he merely smiles as he holds up his hands. “Well then, that’s me caught.”
They hold him at coilgun point and escort him down and even deeper into the base. He’s brought before a Koiran woman who stands atop a platform and near literally barking orders at numerous technicians working at their computer bays. This was not the hidden are he uncovered. Which means this is going to be even more entertaining than he assumed. Her dark red outfit matches well with her dark fur.
He cannot keep the idea of a soviet rottweiler out of his mind and he subconsciously grows more comfortable. He can handle women, he can handle dogs and he can handle communists all. The only thing even mildly odd about this situation is that he’s handling a communist dog woman. Or at least one dressed like one. Which is rather bizarre, but he’s done business in more unusual theme lounges.
“So, the three have finally sent a semi-competent spy. Perhaps they assumed you could flirt your way deeper, but the loyalty of my girls is absolute.” The Commanding Officer says stepping in front of him. Despite the platform placing her boots at roughly eye level and forcing him to look directly up at her... he can only marvel at how small she really is.
While the true to life Napoleon was of average height and only looked small due to his enormous bodyguards and spurious, if hilarious, propaganda, the term Napoleon Complex seemed most fitting here. The woman is short even by Koiran standards but is making a point of being head and shoulders taller than even the Agela Guards in the room.
“Well, I got rather far regardless. If not for that unexpected sensor above the door, the coilgun would be pointed at you and not me.” He says simply.
“Very true, speaking of. Search him!” She barks out, near literally, and he is quickly frisked. His expanded pockets are found and a large coil rifle is extracted, several Plasma grenades, numerous fake ID’s, keys and finally a pamphlet on how to deal with having one’s physiology altered to fit a human.
The Commander takes all this in before reaching down in person and pulling the pen out of his pocket.
“You think me a fool?” She asks. ‘Click, click, twirl.’
“I think you short.” He answers and the Koiran nods to one of the guards.
A fist the size of his head slams into his stomach and he moves with the blow and exhales. Not only softening the hit, but making it look far worse. The Commander is satisfied as she holds up a hand. ‘Click, clench, click click.’
“That’s enough. The image is quite clear as to what this is.” The Commander states. ‘Click, click, click.’
“Is it now?” He asks to prod her on. Just a little more...
“Yes.” She says twirling the pen in her fingers. ‘Click.’ “Do you even know who I am?”
“Vatras Sheena Blythe. Vatras being the local rank for a shared planetary commander post.” He rattles off truthfully. But the fun thing about the truth, is that you can lie with it.
“Oh drop the act. You slipped up. The pamphlet? You just had the operation done haven’t you?” She asks and he ‘flinches’. “Yes, Vatras Blythe knows all before her. My eyes can pierce any deception! You’re no human, just a Tret man, possibly even a prostitute, a distraction to make me look for enemies I do not have in directions I would be better off ignoring. Yes, you are just a fool given minimal training and some toys. The only question is, by who?”
“I will never talk.” He says and she titters as she fiddles with the pen. ‘Click, click.’
“Oh come now. They clearly haven’t paid you enough for putting up with this. What amount of money is worth pain?” She asks. “Give up your employer, I can find a use for a man so... appetizing. Wouldn’t you rather feel my guards soft caress over the barrel of their coilguns?”
“I...” ‘Click, twirl.’
“Just give me a name, which one was it? Vatras Millena? Vatras Bramastra? Or was it Vatras Shuun?” She asks clicking the pen between their names, but not after the final one.
He holds her gaze for a few moments, feigning a breaking scene right in front of her, before looking down. She smiles.
“It...” He begins before suddenly pulling down and away. The Pen ‘detonates’ but not as his first such pen did. The area is suddenly hit with a micro Null burst and the guards around him suddenly struggle to stand as he moves in a blur and has a very punchy few moments.
He ends by pulling Vatras Blythe over the railing and putting her in a headlock as he pulls out a weapon he had hidden on himself that hadn’t been in an expanded pocket and therefore had been missed in the search. A nine millilitre pistol might be a touch under powered compared to coilguns, but it was more than potent enough.
“Alright, now I do hate to be so rude. But being human is useful for more than mere endurance and seduction after all. Now, I am on a schedule and do hate to be late. You there, on the computer. Yes you madam pavorous. You look rather distinct. What access do you have?” He asks as he carries his hostage over ‘forgetting’ his effects which were pointedly made in the main cities of Vatras Bramastra and carrying on with his mission.
“I uh... just minor logistical... I... I...” She stutters.
“Excellent. Download where all your Magrano Stores are onto that chit sticking out of the computer and...” He begins to order before more guards show up. He holds up his still partially limp hostage and pistol for them to see. “Ah ah ah!”
They pause and he glances back at the technician. “Madam, please, you would not believe how hard it is to clean blood out of this suit. But I will if I have to.”
He presses the pistol a little harder into Vatras Blythe’s head and she squeals in protest. Before she thrashes he cocks the gun pointedly, making sure she can fully hear the mechanism prime. He then looks back to the technician. “Madam, please.”
He watches the files get transferred over, but that's not the important part. He memorizes a trinity of addresses and nods as he take the chit.
“Now then, it would be in everyone’s best interest if...” He begins before more guards show up and he once again presents his increasingly furious hostage who has been remarkably silent to them and they pause. Then his hostage attempts to duck and he goes with her. Dodging the sniper fire. She’s still communicating with her guards despite not saying a word. He would have to go over his intel sources again, they missed the implant the woman now very clearly has.
She squirms away and as he grabs for her she tries to dodge, but his actual target was the pen that he takes back before he bolts.
“SHOOT THE BASTARD!” Vatras Blythe screams and the air is thick with metal. “No! Not my computers! Do not damage my hardware!”
Good, so she is that stupid. He uses it to quickly bolt through the lab and pockets his pen again. The data-chit is not Null protected, and neither is the template for the pattern in it. But neither matters. He clicks it three times and starts to move further as he counts down under his breath.
A Kruga guardswoman erupts out of a doorway in ambush and levels her coilgun at him, just as the pen goes off and the null drains it of it’s power, her of her strength and allows him to keep moving as she uselessly flops around to try and get him. He dodges with ease.
Once he leaves the Null effect he clicks the pen again and prepares another. More guards are on him too quickly and he has to duck, weave, force the barrels of weapons away from himself, and then the pen goes off and they drop. He sprints. He’s rapidly approaching the known ‘hidden’ part of the structure. The one he’s been able to study. His hands fly over a keypad and he punches in a code he’s memorized to open the door. On the other side he slams it, inputs the wrong code in to force it into emergency lockdown and makes his way down the stairs and into the hidden hanger bay.
Across the bay there are a dozen different aircraft and he smiles at the sight. He has a few moments. Time for what his superior officers once titled ‘Masterson Malarkey’.
They breach the lockdown on the door in two minutes and thirty two seconds. Just in time to see every single armoured aircar, civilian aircar and undercover aircar take off all at once out the open hanger bay doors.
Vatras Blythe screams in frustration before immediately turning to her guards and issuing commands. None of them noticing that not a single one of the aircars has a person. All of them are running on auto-pilot and the source of her wrath is comfortably climbing down the cliff face and quickly reaching a small stash he has left in a crevice. He straps on the recall beacon and pushes away from the cliff face. Blowing a kiss to the thoroughly compromised base and teleporting away. He lands on a large and thickly padded mat in his safehouse some many thousands of kilometres away and simply smirks to himself as he luxuriates on a job well done. Or rather, a job mostly well done. He still has one little touch of chaos to sow.
“It feels so very good to be back.” Sir Philip Bernard Masterson says to himself as he sits up and then heads over to a computer nearby. He instructs a drone to play out a message in text to speech after using a public phone before entering the nearest garbage can and self destructing. “And there we have it, now to get this false nose off and a proper seat for the show.”
~First~ Last

"Help! I went to college because everyone told me it was the key to success. They said to focus solely on my studies, avoiding part-time jobs to prevent dropping out. I graduated with great grades, no criminal history, and lots of community service. Now, I'm trying to move out of a toxic home environment. However, rent is sky-high where I live, and landlords require income that's three times the rent. Most one-bedroom apartments are around $1.5k, so I need to be earning at least $50k."
"I've applied for many jobs that require a bachelor's degree, but I either get no response or they're looking for candidates with more experience. It's frustrating because I can't get the experience if no one hires me. It feels like I wasted four years in college just to end up working minimum wage jobs."
We received many emails from recent graduates similar to the ones above, who are really struggling after graduating college, and we think many of us can relate.
Here's Some Advice:

First, highlight the transferable skills you've gained from your volunteer work. Skills like teamwork, problem-solving, and attention to detail are highly valuable and can set you apart.
Next, target entry-level roles creatively. Positions such as data entry, research assistant, or administrative support in law enforcement can help you get a foot in the door and gain relevant experience.
Consider enrolling in online certifications and short courses related to criminal justice. Websites like Coursera and edX offer affordable options that can significantly enhance your resume.
Informational interviews are another great strategy. Reach out to professionals in your desired field to gain insights and potentially uncover job opportunities.
Internships and volunteering can provide hands-on experience and valuable connections. Look for opportunities with law enforcement agencies or non-profits related to criminal justice.
Utilize specialized job boards focused on criminal justice or public service careers to expand your job search beyond general sites.
Tailor each application by customizing your resume and cover letter for each job. Clearly show how your skills and experiences meet the specific job requirements.
Invest in professional development and networking. Join professional associations in your field, and attend their events, webinars, and networking opportunities to connect with potential employers and mentors.
Use social media wisely by following companies and professionals in your field on LinkedIn and Twitter. Engage with their content to build your professional presence.
Lastly, look for freelance or contract work opportunities in related fields. Websites like Upwork can provide short-term projects that add to your experience. Remember, persistence and a strategic approach can lead to success. Your degree is valuable, and with the right steps, you can find a role that utilizes your skills and education.

TL;DR: Recent graduate struggling to find a job? Highlight transferable skills, target creative entry-level roles, pursue certifications, conduct informational interviews, intern or volunteer, use specialized job boards, tailor applications, network, use social media, and consider freelance work. Keep going, your degree is valuable!

I've been at the same company for almost a decade and held roles in various departments/positions (operations, product, IT).
From 2019-2022, I was fortunate enough to inherit Tableau from my boss. I had no prior experience and googled my way through it for the most part. During those years I provided all reporting for all departments of the company with the exception of a few complex needs our data scientists would handle. This was in addition to my other responsibilities. I didn't know any SQL and use the table join feature/calculated fields to build my data sources/dashboards.
Out of all the things I've done at this company, Tableau/DataViz was my favorite and I'd like to pursue a position in this field.
I haven't used it in the past two years, but I have learned some SQL in those years. I use it in my current role for troubleshooting. Pretty basic queries though - select, from, join, where, having usually gets me what I need, sometimes using some aggregations to roll it up.
A few questions:
1) Any advice on what titles I should look for when searching for positions like this?
2) Are there entry level positions in this field? Or a certain path people may normally follow? Most roles I see want deep technical knowledge including data eng, ETL, python, R, etc. in addition to being a Tableau expert.
I feel a bit of imposter syndrome searching for these positions as it's not my formal background and I haven't been doing it for a few years. However, I do have 3 years of hands on experience and I'm sure I can quickly reacclimate myself with some practice/sample data sets.

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, international travel has become a vital aspect of modern life. With the rise of globalization, people from all over the world are now more mobile than ever before. However, navigating unfamiliar destinations can be overwhelming, especially for first-time travelers. This is where Saily.com.com comes in – a revolutionary platform designed to simplify the travel experience for international travelers.
In this chapter, we will delve into the world of Saily.com, exploring its concept, benefits, and features that make it an indispensable tool for international travelers. By the end of this chapter, you will have a comprehensive understanding of what Saily.com is, how it works, and why it has become a game-changer in the travel industry.
What is Saily.com?
Saily.com is a cutting-edge travel platform that connects international travelers with local experts, providing them with personalized travel recommendations, insider tips, and unparalleled experiences. Founded by a team of seasoned travelers and industry experts, Saily.com aims to revolutionize the way people explore new destinations. By leveraging the power of local knowledge and technology, Saily.com has created a unique platform that empowers travelers to discover the authentic essence of their chosen destinations.
The Concept of Saily.com
Saily.com is built on the concept of "local expertise meets technology." The platform connects travelers with local experts, known as "Saily.com Guides," who possess in-depth knowledge of their respective cities. These guides are passionate about sharing their hometowns with visitors and providing them with insider tips, hidden gems, and off-the-beaten-path experiences.
Benefits of Saily.com for International Travelers
So, what sets Saily.com apart from other travel platforms? Here are some of the key benefits that make Saily.com an indispensable tool for international travelers:
1. Personalized Travel Recommendations: Saily.com's AI-powered algorithm takes into account your travel preferences, interests, and budget to provide you with customized travel recommendations.
2. Local Expertise: Saily.com Guides are locals who know their cities like the back of their hand. They provide insider tips, hidden gems, and off-the-beaten-path experiences that you won't find in any guidebook.
3. Authentic Experiences: Saily.com's focus on local expertise ensures that you experience the authentic essence of your destination. From trying local cuisine to exploring hidden neighborhoods, Saily.com's experiences are designed to immerse you in the local culture.
4. Convenience: Saily.com's user-friendly platform allows you to book experiences, plan your itinerary, and connect with local experts all in one place.
5. Cost-Effective: Saily.com's pricing model is designed to be cost-effective, offering a range of options to suit different budgets and preferences.
6. Safety and Security: Saily.com's platform prioritizes safety and security, ensuring that you're connected with reputable local experts and guided experiences.
7. Real-Time Updates: Saily.com's real-time updates keep you informed about any changes or updates to your travel plans, ensuring a seamless experience.
Conclusion
In this chapter, we've explored the concept of Saily.com, its benefits, and what sets it apart from other travel platforms. As international travel continues to evolve, Saily.com is poised to revolutionize the way we experience new destinations. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or embarking on your first international adventure, Saily.com is an indispensable tool that will elevate your travel experience to new heights.
In the next chapter, we'll delve deeper into the features and functionality of Saily.com, exploring how it can help you plan your next international adventure.
Chapter 2: How Does Saily.com Work?
As we explored in the previous chapter, Saily.com's innovative eSIM solution has revolutionized the way we connect to the internet and access mobile services. But have you ever wondered what makes Saily.com's technology tick? In this chapter, we'll delve into the technical details of how Saily.com's eSIM solution works, exploring the underlying technology that enables seamless connectivity and flexibility.
2.1 Introduction to eSIM Technology
Before diving into the specifics of Saily.com's technology, let's take a step back and understand the basics of eSIM technology. eSIM (embedded Subscriber Identity Module) is a type of SIM card that is embedded directly into a device, eliminating the need for a physical SIM card. This allows for greater flexibility and convenience, as users can easily switch between different mobile plans and networks without the need for physical SIM card swaps.
2.2 The Architecture of Saily.com's eSIM Solution
At the heart of Saily.com's eSIM solution lies a sophisticated architecture that combines cutting-edge technology and innovative design. The architecture is comprised of three primary components:
1. eSIM Chip: The eSIM chip is the brain of Saily.com's eSIM solution, responsible for storing and managing the user's mobile subscription information. The chip is designed to be highly secure, with advanced encryption and authentication protocols to ensure the integrity of user data.
2. Saily.com's eSIM Management Platform: This platform is the central hub of Saily.com's eSIM solution, responsible for managing the eSIM chip and facilitating communication between the device and the mobile network. The platform is designed to be highly scalable and flexible, allowing for seamless integration with a wide range of devices and networks.
3. Device Integration: The final component of Saily.com's eSIM solution is the device integration layer, which enables seamless communication between the eSIM chip and the device's operating system. This layer is designed to be highly customizable, allowing for easy integration with a wide range of devices and operating systems.

Chapter 3: Understanding Data Plan Options
As a user of Saily.com, it's essential to understand the various data plan options available to ensure you're getting the most out of your subscription. In this chapter, we'll delve into the different data plans offered by Saily.com, highlighting their key features, benefits, and limitations. By the end of this chapter, you'll be well-equipped to make an informed decision about which data plan best suits your needs.
4.1 Introduction to Saily.com's Data Plans
Saily.com offers a range of data plans designed to cater to diverse user needs. From casual users to heavy data consumers, Saily.com's data plans are designed to provide the perfect balance of speed, storage, and cost. In this section, we'll explore the different data plans available on Saily.com, including their key features, benefits, and limitations.
4.2 Basic Data Plan
The Basic Data Plan is Saily.com's entry-level plan, designed for casual users who require limited data usage. Key features of the Basic Data Plan include:
· 1 GB of data allowance
· 100 MB of storage space
· Unlimited access to Saily.com's core features, including messaging, email, and file sharing
· Limited access to premium features, including video streaming and online gaming
Benefits of the Basic Data Plan include:
· Affordable pricing, with a monthly subscription fee of $5
· Suitable for users with limited data needs
· Access to Saily.com's core features, including messaging and email
Limitations of the Basic Data Plan include:
· Limited data allowance, which may not be sufficient for heavy data users
· Limited storage space, which may not be suitable for users with large file storage needs
4.3 Standard Data Plan
The Standard Data Plan is Saily.com's mid-tier plan, designed for users who require moderate data usage. Key features of the Standard Data Plan include:
· 5 GB of data allowance
· 500 MB of storage space
· Unlimited access to Saily.com's core features, including messaging, email, and file sharing
· Limited access to premium features, including video streaming and online gaming
Benefits of the Standard Data Plan include:
· Increased data allowance, suitable for moderate data users
· Increased storage space, suitable for users with moderate file storage needs
· Affordable pricing, with a monthly subscription fee of $10
Limitations of the Standard Data Plan include:
· Limited access to premium features, which may not be suitable for users who require advanced features
· Limited data allowance, which may not be sufficient for heavy data users
4.4 Premium Data Plan
The Premium Data Plan is Saily.com's high-end plan, designed for heavy data users who require unlimited data and storage. Key features of the Premium Data Plan include:
· Unlimited data allowance
· 2 GB of storage space
· Unlimited access to Saily.com's core features, including messaging, email, and file sharing
· Unlimited access to premium features, including video streaming and online gaming
Benefits of the Premium Data Plan include:
· Unlimited data allowance, suitable for heavy data users
· Increased storage space, suitable for users with large file storage needs
· Unlimited access to premium features, including video streaming and online gaming
Limitations of the Premium Data Plan include:
· High pricing, with a monthly subscription fee of $20
· Limited access to advanced features, which may not be suitable for users who require advanced features
4.5 Choosing the Right Data Plan
Choosing the right data plan depends on your specific needs and usage habits. Consider the following factors when selecting a data plan:
· Data usage: If you require limited data usage, the Basic Data Plan may be suitable. If you require moderate data usage, the Standard Data Plan may be suitable. If you require heavy data usage, the Premium Data Plan may be suitable.
· Storage needs: If you require limited storage space, the Basic Data Plan may be suitable. If you require moderate storage space, the Standard Data Plan may be suitable. If you require large storage space, the Premium Data Plan may be suitable.
· Budget: Consider your budget when selecting a data plan. The Basic Data Plan is the most affordable option, while the Premium Data Plan is the most expensive option.
Conclusion
In this chapter, we've explored the different data plans available on Saily.com, highlighting their key features, benefits, and limitations. By understanding the different data plans, you'll be better equipped to make an informed decision about which data plan best suits your needs. Remember to consider your data usage, storage needs, and budget when selecting a data plan. With the right data plan, you'll be able to enjoy a seamless and enjoyable experience on Saily.com.
Chapter 5: Selecting the Right Plan for Your Trip
As you prepare for your trip, one of the most important decisions you'll make is choosing the right data plan for your destination. With the increasing reliance on mobile devices and the internet, having a reliable and affordable data plan is crucial to stay connected and navigate unfamiliar territories. In this chapter, we'll guide you through the key factors to consider when selecting the right data plan for your trip, ensuring you stay connected and within your budget.
Ensure the data plan is compatible with your device. Check the provider's compatibility list to ensure your device is supported. Some providers may offer specific plans for specific devices or operating systems, so research and confirm compatibility before making a decision.
Plan flexibility is essential when traveling, as your needs may change during your trip. Look for plans with flexible data limits, speed, and coverage options. Some providers may offer flexible plans that can be adjusted during your trip, allowing you to adapt to changing circumstances.
Be aware of any additional fees and charges associated with your data plan. Some providers may charge extra for international roaming, data overages, or additional features. Research and understand the fees and charges before committing to a plan.
Conclusion
Choosing the right data plan for your trip requires careful consideration of various factors. By considering the destination and duration of stay, data limits and speed, international roaming and coverage, cost and pricing, add-ons and extras, provider reputation and customer support, device compatibility, plan flexibility, and additional fees and charges, you can make an informed decision and stay connected during your trip. Remember to research and compare plans, read reviews, and confirm compatibility to ensure you have the right data plan for your needs.
Actionable Tips
1. Research and compare data plans from different providers before making a decision.
2. Consider your data usage habits and choose a plan that meets your needs.
3. Check the provider's international roaming coverage in your destination.
4. Read reviews and research the provider's reputation and customer support.
5. Ensure your device is compatible with the provider's network.
6. Consider flexible plans that can be adjusted during your trip.
7. Be aware of additional fees and charges associated with your data plan.
By following these tips and considering the factors outlined in this chapter, you'll be well-prepared to choose the right data plan for your trip and stay connected during your travels.
Chapter 6: Managing Your Data Plan
As a smartphone user, it's essential to manage your data plan effectively to avoid unexpected charges and ensure you stay within your limits. In this chapter, we'll provide you with valuable tips and strategies to help you optimize your data usage, avoid overages, and make the most of your data plan.
Understanding Your Data Plan
Before we dive into the tips and strategies, it's crucial to understand your data plan. Take a moment to review your plan's details, including:
1. Data allowance: Check how much data you're allowed to use per month.
2. Speed: Understand the speed at which your data is delivered (e.g., 4G, 3G, or LTE).
3. Data rollover: If your plan offers data rollover, you can carry over unused data to the next month.
4. Overage charges: Know the fees associated with exceeding your data limit.
Tip 1: Monitor Your Data Usage
Regularly monitor your data usage to stay informed and avoid surprises. You can:
1. Check your phone's settings: Most phones have a built-in data usage tracker. Look for options like "Data Usage" or "Data Monitor."
2. Use a data tracking app: Apps like My Data Manager, Data Manager, or Mobile Data Tracker help you track your data usage.
3. Set data usage alerts: Many carriers offer customizable alerts for data usage thresholds (e.g., 50%, 75%, or 100% of your limit).
Tip 2: Prioritize Your Data Usage
To avoid overages, prioritize your data usage by:
1. Identifying essential apps: Identify the apps you use most frequently and prioritize their data usage.
2. Limiting background data usage: Restrict background data usage for apps that don't require it, such as social media or games.
3. Disabling auto-updates: Disable auto-updates for apps and operating system updates to reduce data usage.
Tip 3: Optimize Your Data-Heavy Apps
Optimize your data-heavy apps to reduce data usage:
1. Update apps regularly: Regular updates often include performance enhancements and data usage optimizations.
2. Use data-saving modes: Many apps offer data-saving modes or settings to reduce data usage.
3. Disable unnecessary features: Disable features like video streaming or high-quality graphics to reduce data usage.
Tip 4: Use Wi-Fi Whenever Possible
Wi-Fi is often faster and more efficient than cellular data. Use Wi-Fi whenever possible:
1. Connect to public Wi-Fi: Use public Wi-Fi hotspots at coffee shops, libraries, or airports.
2. Set up a home network: Establish a home network for seamless connectivity.
3. Use Wi-Fi-only apps: Apps like Netflix, YouTube, or music streaming services can be used over Wi-Fi.
Tip 5: Avoid Data-Hungry Activities
Avoid data-hungry activities to reduce your data usage:
1. Limit video streaming: Limit video streaming or use data-saving video apps like YouTube's data-saving mode.
2. Avoid high-definition content: Avoid high-definition content, such as 4K videos, to reduce data usage.
3. Disable location services: Disable location services for apps that don't require them.
Tip 6: Consider Data-Saving Features
Explore data-saving features on your device and apps:
1. Data-saving modes: Enable data-saving modes on your device or apps to reduce data usage.
2. Data compression: Use data compression tools or apps to reduce data usage.
3. Data caching: Enable data caching on your device or apps to reduce data usage.
Tip 7: Review and Adjust
Regularly review your data usage and adjust your habits as needed:
1. Monitor your data usage: Regularly check your data usage to identify areas for improvement.
2. Adjust your habits: Adjust your data usage habits based on your monitoring and tracking.
3. Update your plan: If necessary, update your plan to better suit your data needs.
Conclusion
Effective data management is crucial to avoid unexpected charges and ensure you stay within your data limits. By following these tips and strategies, you'll be well-equipped to optimize your data usage, avoid overages, and make the most of your data plan. Remember to regularly monitor your data usage, prioritize your data usage, and optimize your data-heavy apps. With these tips, you'll be able to enjoy a seamless and stress-free mobile experience.
Chapter 7: Activating Your eSIM
As you prepare for your trip, one crucial step to take is to activate your eSIM. In this chapter, we will walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to activate your eSIM before your trip. This will ensure that you have a seamless and stress-free experience during your travels.
What is an eSIM?
Before we dive into the activation process, let's take a moment to understand what an eSIM is. An eSIM, or embedded SIM, is a small chip embedded in your device that allows you to switch between different phone numbers and plans. It's a revolutionary technology that eliminates the need for physical SIM cards and provides greater flexibility and convenience.
Why Activate Your eSIM Before Your Trip?
Activating your eSIM before your trip is crucial for several reasons:
1. Avoid Last-Minute Hassle: Activating your eSIM ahead of time ensures that you avoid last-minute hassles and stress when you arrive at your destination.
2. Ensure Coverage: By activating your eSIM, you can ensure that you have coverage in the countries you plan to visit, reducing the risk of dropped calls and poor reception.
3. Convenience: With an activated eSIM, you can enjoy seamless connectivity and stay connected with loved ones back home.
Step-by-Step Guide to Activating Your eSIM
Activating your eSIM is a straightforward process that can be completed in a few simple steps. Follow these steps to activate your eSIM:
Step 1: Check Your Device Compatibility
Before activating your eSIM, ensure that your device is compatible with eSIM technology. Check your device's specifications to confirm that it supports eSIM.
Step 2: Check Your Carrier's eSIM Support
Not all carriers support eSIM technology. Check with your carrier to confirm that they support eSIM and what plans are available.
Step 3: Download the Carrier's eSIM App
Download the carrier's eSIM app from the App Store or Google Play Store. This app will guide you through the activation process.
Step 4: Activate Your eSIM
Launch the app and follow the prompts to activate your eSIM. You may need to provide some basic information, such as your name and contact details.
Step 5: Register Your Device
Register your device with the carrier's eSIM app. This will link your device to your eSIM account.
Step 6: Activate Your eSIM Plan
Choose your desired plan and activate it through the app. Make sure to select the correct plan for your destination country.
Step 7: Verify Your Account
Verify your account by following the prompts in the app. This will confirm that your eSIM is activated and ready for use.
Step 8: Set Up Your Device
Set up your device to use the eSIM. This may involve restarting your device or configuring your device's settings.
Troubleshooting Tips
In the unlikely event that you encounter issues during the activation process, here are some troubleshooting tips to help you resolve the issue:
· Check your device's compatibility with eSIM technology.
· Ensure that your carrier supports eSIM technology.
· Restart your device and try activating your eSIM again.
· Contact your carrier's customer support for assistance.
Conclusion
Activating your eSIM before your trip is a crucial step in ensuring a seamless and stress-free experience during your travels. By following the step-by-step guide outlined in this chapter, you can confidently activate your eSIM and enjoy seamless connectivity during your trip. Remember to check your device's compatibility with eSIM technology and ensure that your carrier supports eSIM before activating your eSIM. Happy travels!
Chapter 8: Using Your eSIM Abroad
As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, international travel has become more accessible and convenient than ever before. With the rise of eSIM technology, staying connected while abroad has never been easier. In this chapter, we'll explore the benefits and best practices for using your eSIM abroad, ensuring you stay connected and productive while exploring new destinations.
Benefits of Using eSIM Abroad
Before we dive into the tips and best practices, it's essential to understand the benefits of using an eSIM abroad:
1. Convenience: With an eSIM, you can activate a local data plan in a foreign country without the need for physical SIM cards or tedious setup processes.
2. Cost-effective: eSIMs often offer more competitive pricing than traditional SIM cards, making international roaming more affordable.
3. Flexibility: eSIMs allow you to switch between different plans and providers, giving you the freedom to choose the best option for your specific needs.
4. Security: eSIMs are more secure than traditional SIM cards, as they're less prone to physical damage or loss.
Tips for Using Your eSIM Abroad
Now that we've covered the benefits, let's dive into the tips and best practices for using your eSIM abroad:
1. Research Local Providers: Before traveling, research local providers in your destination country to find the best options for data plans, pricing, and coverage.
2. Check Compatibility: Ensure your device is compatible with the eSIM technology and the local provider's network. Check your device's specifications and compatibility with the provider's network.
3. Activate Your eSIM: Activate your eSIM before traveling to ensure seamless connectivity. Follow the provider's instructions for activation, and make sure to save any necessary codes or QR codes.
4. Choose the Right Plan: Select a plan that suits your needs, considering factors such as data limits, speed, and coverage. Be mindful of any additional fees or charges.
5. Monitor Your Data Usage: Keep track of your data usage to avoid unexpected charges or overages. Use your device's built-in data tracking features or third-party apps to monitor your usage.
6. Stay Connected with Wi-Fi: When possible, use public Wi-Fi hotspots or hotel Wi-Fi to stay connected without incurring additional data charges.
7. Be Mindful of Roaming Fees: Be aware of roaming fees and charges, especially when using your device outside of your destination country. Check with your provider for any roaming fees or charges.
8. Keep Your Device Secure: Ensure your device is secure by using strong passwords, keeping your operating system and apps up-to-date, and using reputable VPNs (Virtual Private Networks).
9. Plan for Power Outages: Consider investing in a portable power bank or power adapter to keep your devices charged during power outages or extended travel.
10. Stay Informed: Stay informed about local conditions, weather, and travel advisories to ensure a safe and enjoyable trip.
Best Practices for eSIM Abroad
In addition to the tips above, here are some best practices to keep in mind when using your eSIM abroad:
1. Keep Your eSIM Active: Keep your eSIM active and connected to ensure seamless connectivity and minimize disruptions.
2. Use Your eSIM for Calls and Texts: Use your eSIM for calls and texts to avoid additional roaming fees or charges.
3. Monitor Your eSIM Balance: Regularly check your eSIM balance to avoid unexpected charges or overages.
4. Report Any Issues: Report any issues or concerns to your provider's customer support to ensure prompt resolution and minimize downtime.
Conclusion
Using your eSIM abroad can be a seamless and convenient way to stay connected while exploring new destinations. By following the tips and best practices outlined in this chapter, you'll be well-prepared to navigate the world of international travel and stay connected with loved ones back home. Remember to research local providers, choose the right plan, and stay mindful of data usage and roaming fees to ensure a stress-free and enjoyable trip. Happy travels!
Chapter 9: Troubleshooting Common Issues
As with any technology, eSIM connections are not immune to issues. In this chapter, we will explore common problems that may arise with your eSIM connection and provide step-by-step solutions to troubleshoot and resolve them. By the end of this chapter, you will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to identify and fix common issues, ensuring a seamless and uninterrupted eSIM experience.
9.1 Common Issues with eSIM Connections
Before we dive into troubleshooting, it's essential to understand the common issues that may arise with eSIM connections. Some of the most common problems include:
1. No Service: You may experience no service or a weak signal, making it difficult to make or receive calls, send or receive texts, or access the internet.
2. Incorrect eSIM Configuration: Incorrect configuration of your eSIM may result in issues with your connection, such as slow data speeds or dropped calls.
3. eSIM Not Activated: Failure to activate your eSIM may prevent you from accessing your network or using your device's features.
4. Network Congestion: High network congestion may cause slow data speeds, dropped calls, or difficulty accessing the internet.
5. Device Compatibility Issues: Incompatibility between your device and the eSIM network may result in connectivity issues or errors.
9.2 Troubleshooting Steps
To troubleshoot common issues with your eSIM connection, follow these step-by-step procedures:
Step 1: Restart Your Device
1. Restart your device to ensure that any temporary software glitches are resolved.
2. Check if the issue persists after restarting your device.
Step 2: Check Your eSIM Configuration
1. Verify that your eSIM is correctly configured by checking your device's settings.
2. Ensure that your eSIM is activated and configured correctly.
Step 3: Check for Network Congestion
1. Check your network's congestion status by contacting your network provider.
2. If congestion is high, consider using alternative networks or adjusting your usage habits.
Step 4: Check for Device Compatibility Issues
1. Check your device's compatibility with the eSIM network by consulting your device's documentation or contacting the manufacturer.
2. If compatibility issues are detected, consider upgrading your device or using a different device.
Step 5: Contact Your Network Provider
1. If none of the above steps resolve the issue, contact your network provider's customer support.
2. Provide detailed information about the issue and any troubleshooting steps taken so far.
3. Follow the network provider's guidance to resolve the issue.
Chapter 10: Staying Connected on the Go
As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, staying connected while traveling has become an essential aspect of modern travel. With the rise of remote work, digital nomadism, and social media, it's more important than ever to stay connected with friends, family, and colleagues while on the go. In this chapter, we'll explore the importance of staying connected while traveling, the challenges that come with it, and provide practical tips and strategies for maintaining a strong digital presence while exploring the world.
Staying connected while traveling is essential in today's interconnected world. By understanding the challenges and taking practical steps to overcome them, you can stay connected with loved ones, stay productive, and stay informed while exploring the world. Whether you're a digital nomad, a remote worker, or simply a curious traveler, staying connected while traveling is crucial for a successful and enjoyable trip.
Chapter 11: Avoiding Roaming Charges
As a global citizen, it's not uncommon to find yourself in a foreign land, relying on your mobile device to stay connected with loved ones, conduct business, or simply navigate unfamiliar surroundings. However, the thrill of exploring new horizons can quickly turn into a financial nightmare if you're not prepared for the surprise roaming charges that come with using your phone abroad. In this chapter, we'll delve into the world of roaming fees, exploring the reasons behind these charges, and how Saily.com's innovative solution helps you avoid the financial shock of surprise roaming fees.
The Reality of Roaming Fees
Roaming fees, also known as international roaming charges, are the additional costs incurred when using your mobile device in a foreign country. These fees can be staggering, with some carriers charging up to 10𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠,10perminuteforvoicecalls,5 per text message, and $0.50 per megabyte of data. The cumulative effect of these charges can quickly add up, leaving you with a hefty bill at the end of your trip.

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I should not be writing this. I know they will be looking for me as soon as this goes live. I had to get the word out despite all the secrecy surrounding the project. I don't know what they'll do to me when they find me, but this has to get out.
I was unemployed vet tech looking for work when I came across a job listing offering a strangely large amount of money. What did I have to loose? I called the number and they gave me a website to go to that took me through an application process and a security clearance form that I had to fill out the last seven years of my life. They said it would be months until the clearance would come through but to my surprise a month later I got a phone call telling me I had been granted Interm Secret clearance and the job would proceed.
I had to go to a building without any name on it downtown and they took my photo for an ID card and a packet of information about where I was to go to the next day.
The next morning I drove to the address with a mix of excitement and apprehension. What about this job required a security clearance? Why had I gotten my interm secret so quickly? I figured I'd soon find out when I pulled up to a gate with a card reader. I swiped my ID and the razor wire topped gate slid open so I could pass. Yeah nothing ominous about that. I drove a mile or so down the road and parked in the parking lot in front of a building that looked like the set of a prison movie. The windows were narrow slits and I could tell from a distance that the door was very heavy duty. Thinking back a few minutes ago wasn't the top of that razor wire fence angled in as if to keep something in rather than people out?
I got out and approached the heavy door. I spotted the card reader and used my ID on it and it flashed green and there was a loud clunking sound from the door as it unlocked. I had to put some muscle behind it to get it to open and then it shut behind me followed by another loud clunk as the locks reengaged.
I turned to see a thick armored window with a guard staring me down.
"First day huh?" he asked me as he looked at his screen.
"Yeah," I said a bit nervously.
"Sit tight, your department head will be coming to pick you up and take you to your in-brief," he said.
"What uh, what is this place?" I asked.
"All that will be answered by the briefing so have a seat and relax. You're likely in the safest spot in the facility," he said.
I looked at the inner door and noticed it was just as thick and heavy as the outer one. I was essentially sitting in an armored booth so he was technically right about it being safe.
When my boss arrived he was wearing scrubs and had his ID card clipped to the bottom of the V of the top.
"So, you're my new tech?" he asked.
"Yes, Sir," I replied.
"Good, hopefully you follow instructions better than the last one," he said. "I'm Dr. Tanner. You can call me 'Sir' or 'Doctor'."
"Sir, can you tell me what I'll be doing here?" I asked.
"All in due time. First you need to complete the safety briefing. It is not a joke. Take a look at the windows and doors if you need convincing. The government doesn't spend this kind of money unless it's very necessary, and it is. You'll understand the need for it when I introduce you to our charges. I'm not going to tell you yet because I enjoy the look on people's faces when they get their first peak of what we're doing here," he said. "Now, for the safety briefing. Follow me."
He began to open the inner door when he stopped and looked back at me. "Do you have any electronic devices on you?"
"No Sir, the security documents instructed me to leave my phone and anything with a digital memory in the car," I said.
"Excellent, you're already demonstrating that you can follow directions," he said. Was that a hint of a smile I saw?
He lead me down the hallway to a room on the left and used his card to unlock and open the door. After I walked inside what appeared to be a conference room he followed me inside and let the door shut.
I immediately noticed the back of the door wasn't the usual thing one would expect to see. It had a big lever in the middle that looked like it operated bolts to secure the door shut. I started to wonder what the hell I had gotten myself into. I expected to be working with maybe the facility's guard dogs. This kind of security was on a level I hadn't experienced before.
"Good, you're observant, another plus," the doctor said.
He walked over to the table and picked up a recorder and pressed play. A trilling alarm sound came for it and he let it play for a few seconds before cutting it off.
"If you hear that sound along with flashing red lights you are to go to the nearest safe room, such as this one and use this lever to bolt the door," He walked over and pressed a button by the windows and the thick glass became opaque.
"And you are to opaque the windows with the control in the room so nothing can see in," he said and then pointed to a door on the other wall that had 'Emergency Supplies' written on it. "There you will find food, water, and other necessities if you happen to be locked down for an extended period of time. There is also a radio already set to the control room frequency. If the phone is not working pull the tab on the back of the radio so the battery makes contact and reports in with the information posted on the back of the door. That's basically who you are, where you are, and if there are any threats you know of near you. Otherwise sit tight unless told otherwise."
"Threats?" I asked.
"Our charges are out of containment or an external threat," the doctor replied.
"What's so dangerous that we need bunker rooms like this?" I asked.
"All in due time," he replied. "Have you ever used a tranquilizer gun?"
"No," I responded.
"No matter, you'd need to qualify on the two types we use anyway with the security team," he said.
"Why do we need tranquilizer guns?" I asked.
"The animals we work with are dangerous. They're sedated before they get to us and one of our tasks is to make sure they stay sedated until they're returned to the enclosure. If one wakes up and slips a restraint you are not going to want to go near it to give an injection. That's why we have tranq guns," The doctor said.
"That makes perfect sense to me," I said. My curiosity was burning wondering what we were working with. Had to be something like large predators to require this much security. A grizzly would be a plausible reason why the doors had the extra bars. The force they could produce could snap the usual latches.
"Good because it's time for my favorite part. Showing the new guy what we work with," the doctor said and led the way deeper into the facility and up a set of stars to a room labeled 'observation deck'.
"The windows are to remain frosted by the electronic controls there whenever the room is not in use. They cannot see in but they seem to know someone is watching them and it upsets them. It's best for everyone if they are not upset," He reached over and pressed the button and the electronic frosting cleared.
That's the moment where my brain completely derailed and I questioned my own sanity.
"W-Werewolves?" I asked.
"No, at least not at this facility. These are a lesser known cryptid called Dogmen, kind of like Bigfoot."
"Wait, is Bigfoot real?" I asked.
"Yes, but not nearly as widespread as 'sightings' would make you think," he said.
"If these exist, what else is real?" I asked him.
"That's beyond your need to know," he said sternly, but then his face softened. "I'll lend you a book later that contains everything we've confirmed and studied. After all, if you continue with this job you will have the opportunity to work with them in the future, and it's best you know what you're getting into," he said. "One benefit they probably haven't gotten around to telling you yet is that they will pay for your education. You can become a full veterinarian working with the most interesting creatures that exist," he said. "Not a bad gig, huh?"
"Except for the part where I'm working with large dangerous creatures," I said.
"Large, intelligent, dangerous creatures," he replied. "And that is why we have procedures and rules. Things like always having more sedative staged to inject if a patient starts to wake up, having them restrained at all times, and if they do wake up you have the tranq guns to put them back under without risking yourself," he said and tapped the control to frost over the glass again.
Our next stop was back in the conference room where there were now a couple of binders.
"Now for the boring part. Study these because you'll have to pass a test on them later. It's those procedures I mentioned. It covers everything from handling the animals, dosages we use, and why we can't leave after dark."
"Wait, we can't leave after dark?" I asked, a bit alarmed.
"There are dogmen in the woods surrounding this facility. The fence does a decent job of keeping them out but they do get in and they're not happy we have some of their kind captive. They're fairly shy during the day and become active at night so it's for your own safety that once the sun sets you stay here. We have secure rooms just for the occasion, and scrubs are not short in supply if you need a change of clothing. We have a mess hall staffed 24/7 by some excellent cooks. People who can do this job are rare so they take care of us. Now get to reading, you'll have to pass a test before you're allowed to work. I'll come pick you up for lunch."
I did as he said and spent the next few hours reading with a break for the promised lunch that was beef stroganoff and actually really good. I went for seconds. Then it was back to memorizing policy and procedures till I was finally done and managed a passing score on the test. That was followed by some time at an indoor range getting qualified on the tranq guns.
The doctor reviewed my test and nodded. "Excellent, you're a fast learner. We've rescheduled some things for tomorrow so we'll have the extra help. You head home and get a good night's rest. I'll see you in the morning in the veterinary section, just follow the signs it's easy to find," the doctor said.
I did as he said and drove home. I couldn't help but be a good deal more vigilant as I looked at the woods on the way out. Dogmen were out there and no one in the area except us knew. There were the cryptid hunters but they didn't know for sure like I did from seeing a pack close up.
Needless to say I didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night. My mind was racing with the possibilities of what was real from all of the stories.
In the morning I made breakfast and sat for a bit having to give myself a reality check that yesterday wasn't just a dream, so I finally picked up my keys and headed out. I drove down the lonely road and passed through the gate without incident. I parked my car and made my way through the security checkpoints and began following the signs to the Veterinarian department. As the doctor had said, it wasn't difficult to find.
There were three entrances all like airlocks that were long enough for a gurney. It didn't take long to figure out the purpose. If you had dangerous animals inside you wanted at least one door containment so they couldn't get past you and into the larger facility.
I went inside through the airlock like doors one at a time and found myself in a very familiar veterinary clinic though one that was very well stocked.
It was then that I met my other coworker, I'll call him Mike, who was sitting on a stool reading a magazine.
"Hey, you must be the new guy. I'm Mike," he said and I introduced myself.
"So, your first big day. You excited, or terrified?" Mike asked.
"A bit of both," I said honestly.
"Relax, by the time they get to us they've been pumped with enough drugs to drop an elephant. We take samples and the guards take them back out. Then we run the usual tests like any other animal. It's easy money," Mike said. "We're never in any danger."
"What about all of the procedures?" I asked.
"There's what's written down on paper and then there's what is practical and works. If we followed the checklist for every dogman that's brought in here it would just take us twice as long, and twice as long that it can wake up," Mike said. "So relax, I'll show you what you really have to do to streamline things."
What was I to say? He'd obviously been doing this for a long time and if his system worked who was I to question it?
Our first patient of the day made me the most nervous. The security team wheeled in a restrained female on a gurney right into the middle of our space then they backed out. Being the new guy I did the basics by checking heart rate, breathing, and looking into the eyes to make sure she was out cold. Everything was normal based on the numbers I had memorized.
Mike watched me, corrected my stethoscope placement a little and started drawing blood as soon as I was done. The moment he was done he buzzed the guards to take her back out while he labeled the samples.
"Less time they're in here the better so label your samples and fill out the papers once they're taken out," Mike said. "No need to have a dangerous animal laying around while we fill out forms."
"What about the extra sedative we're supposed to have ready?" I asked.
"The tranq guns are right there. Much safer to back off out of reach and just shoot them with another dose," Mike said. I couldn't fault his logic.
We had four more patients that day all went as smoothly as the first and I was beginning to relax. It was our last patient of the day when things went wrong.
It started normally with the guards rolling the male into our space and I took vitals and checked the eyes.
"Hey, I have some dilation here. I don't think he's under enough. Where's the sedative?" I asked.
"Don't worry about it. I'll be done before he realizes what happened," Mike said and undid one of the restraints a little so he could get to the vein. It was at that point things went horribly wrong. As soon as Mike inserted the needle the male woke up and jabbed it's hand upward catching Mike in the throat and spraying blood everywhere. I moved forward out of instinct to try and tighten the restraint when I felt a searing pain across my face and my right eye went red.
I stumbled back. Oh God had I lost my eye? I shook myself out of it long enough to badge through a door and throw the bolts before pressing the intercom button. "Creature out of containment in veterinary. I think Mike is dead. I'm hurt and need a medic!" I said before blacking out.
I don't know how long it was but when I woke up I was in a hospital room and the Veterinarian was sitting beside my bed.
"You're safe, you're in a hospital and just out of cosmetic surgery. You'll have some scars but it'll look like the result of a big cat. Your eye is fine."
"Mike?" I asked.
"Dead before any help would get to him. We have video of the whole thing including you questioning him multiple times on matters of procedure. Don't let someone senior intimidate you into not being safe. You have a month's paid leave to recuperate." he said.
So here I am. I need some advice. Should I go back to work after my leave is done or turn in my resignation? It won't take them much to figure out who I am if they find this post. I also don't know what they'll do to me if they do.

I am a rising senior at my university and I am a good student. I have a great GPA, have participated in multiple extracurriculars, speak four different languages, and I am very — very — committed to academic and professional excellence. Still, I’ve been applying to internships since my sophomore year (a bit early, I agree) and so far nothing.
What hurts me the most isn’t not getting the position, I understand that there are countless other qualified people, but it’s the fact that companies will straight up ghost you. Honestly, it feels so disrespectful. I have taken my time to adjust my resumé to this position, write a cover letter, fill in the application, and nothing. I understand companies have multiple applicants, but even an automated message will do. I’m not even asking for a long, detailed email as to why I was not selected for an interview/given the position, a simple “Unfortunately, we have decided to not move forward with your application” will do.
I decided to check my LinkedIn for a second and found all the jobs to which I’ve submitted an application, and 99.9% of them did not even rejected me — they just never reached out at all. In some cases, I even participated in rounds of interviews just to never hear from them again.
It’s so exhausting, this anticipation hurts me so much. Finding an entry-level job in an unrelated industry (e.g., retail, in which I have previous experience) hasn’t been any easier either.
Again, I am not saying I am the perfect candidate for all the jobs I have applied to, I just wish they would get back to me with a response, any response. Am I overreacting by getting upset?

-First- -Previous- -Next (on Patreon)-
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I've never seen so much speculation over one of my chapter cliffhangers before! Honestly, I wasn't expecting so much, but I'm glad to see that I've invoked a good amount of engagement, as I always love reading you comments! Especially since I post these at like 2am here in Japan and usually wake up to see the replies. Tell me though, does this chapter provide a sufficient follow up to the last chapter? Is it what you were expecting, or were you surprised? I know it isn't much, but feedback like that really does help me improve.
As always, I hope you enjoy reading! :D
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Note: This is a Fanfic of the Nature of Predators series by u/Spacepaladin15, that is being reposted from the NatureofPredators sub. Please support the original content.
Thank you to Philodox on discord for proofreading and editing RfD.
Thank you to Pampanope on reddit for the cover art.
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Memory Transcript Subject: Sylvan, Venlil Citizen
Date: [Standardized Human Time]: December 13, 2136

“BY SOLGALICK’S SPEH’ING LIGHT!! WHAT ON PRIME DID I JUST EAT!?”
Fehnel, Kadew, and I rushed through the surrounding crowd of fluff, beelining it straight for the source of the noise. Exasperated, painful screams were all that sounded out through the party, and the crowd was all but silent, save for a few wayward murmurs here and there.
“Why is he screaming like that?”
“What happened?”
“Is it the food?”
“It can’t be!”
“He looks like he’s dying…! Should we call a doctor?”
More and more these worried whispers piled into my ears, stacking themselves up inside my mind. It only made me more determined to push through the crowd, something that had grown incredibly difficult now that the entire list of guests had decided to squeeze together in one area. I pushed and wriggled and pushed some more, until finally, Fehnel, Kadew, and I burst through a small opening. Only to find the source of the screaming.
“AHHH!!!” screamed a familiar shape, who was dramatically rolling around on the ground, wheezing in and out at a nauseating rate. “SOMEONE!! PLEASE!! I NEED WATER!!”
“Is anyone here a doctor!? My friend Ginro needs some help!” yelled a bright blue Krakotl to his side. “There was something wrong with the food!”
The murmuring among the crowd got progressively louder, the question being tossed and repeated with the hopes of someone eventually answering it. But much to the dismay of all, nobody stepped forward. All the while, Ginro’s condition only seemed to get worse. Looking down at his wriggling body, I could see his mouth shuddering and his eyes beginning to dilate. And around his lips, I spotted something that I recognized all too quickly: A red sauce.
‘That’s… that’s the sauce that I brought out with the tamales!’ I realized. ‘Is that what’s causing this?’
Immediately, my mind jumped around to all sorts of possibilities. Was it not edible? Was that even a thing that could come from Terra? Unless it had some sort of animal flesh in it, no kind of Terran fruit or vegetable that I knew of could have caused that kind of reaction! Unless…
‘Poison…’ I remembered. The word was a foreign one, and one that I had first heard only from Kenta himself. The Venlil had a similar concept: “Fer’minash,” or “Spiteful Withering” in the common tongue. A few substances that could either disrupt or denature the structure of various enzymes throughout the body, but those were either venoms that predators injected directly into their victims, or were otherwise wholly inorganic in nature, such as certain heavy metals. But as I’d come to learn so many times over, the rules of logic and common sense did not apply on Terra, and foodborn Fer’minash had all too quickly become a consideration to me. After all, Humans were eager enough to believe their harmless tomatoes were dangerous for hundreds of years off of just a simple misconception. And if dangerous foods were common enough for that rumour to persist, who was to say there weren’t myriads of other, more real dangers that existed?
‘Even to a Venlil… It has to be a consideration,” I thought, only feeling progressively more helpless as I watched Ginro continue to writhe around in pain. ‘But how did this happen? I thought Kenta tested everything before making it for us? If he didn’t know, why didn’t he ask me to taste it first?’
I reached to pull out my data pad. Whatever it was, I was responsible for this mess. I needed to call a doctor as soon as possible.
“Wait!” I heard Fehnel call out from behind me. She had done her best to wipe away the tears from her previous altercation with Kadew, but a slightly sniffling nose and a light creeping of green under the eyes gave her away slightly. “What exactly did they eat? This has to be some kind of misunderstandin’.”
“You!” Yolwen yelled back, and stuck up a feathered arm to point at her. “This is all your fault! The food you decided to serve here must be some kind of dangerous Uplift recipe! I don’t know what kind of stunt you’re trying to pull, but you must have changed Kahnta’s food somehow! There’s no other explanation!”
Ignoring him, I decided to answer Fehnel’s question in Yolwen’s stead. “It looks like he tried the red sauce over there. To be honest, I thought it was just the same kind of sauce that Kahnta makes for the pasta, but it must be different somehow.”
Decisively, Fehnel moved past both me and Yolwen, despite the avian’s ruffling feathers. Then, she stepped around a still screaming Ginro, who didn’t seem to be faring any better. She tilted her head, and stared suspiciously down at what I had assumed to be a tomato sauce. Bending down, she ran her nose across the top of it and took quick whiffs of its scent. And in moments, her still tear-jerked eyes lit up with surprise.
“This isn’t dangerous!” she said, before suddenly dipping a finger into the sauce and promptly plopping it into her mouth. Suddenly, she began breathing heavily just like Ginro, and her eyes dilated just the slightest as well. I was about to ask her if she was okay, before she suddenly announced, “It’s… spicy!”
The crowd collectively gasped, and I with it. Why was there a spicy food all the way out in Sweetwater? I didn’t know any people myself who dared try something so exotic, and I myself wasn’t exactly jumping off my tail to get my paws on it. There just wasn’t any demand for it this far from where they grew naturally. I almost couldn’t believe it. And yet, here was Fehnel, saying it as calm as ever.
“S… spicy…?” Ginro muttered in between gasping breaths. “I’m not dying?”
“What did you spike the food with?” Yolwen asked flatly, still skeptical.
“Nothing, hun!” Fehnel insisted, the smallest bit of a chuckle croaking into her voice. “It’s just…” She turned around to face me. “I didn’t think you’d go so far as to research about this too, Sylvan. How’d you know?”
“I… I didn’t…” I stuttered, confused. “Wh-what?”
“Is that… what I think it is?” Kadew stepped forward to answer. “All the way out here? I thought you said the Yotul didn’t export any of that?”
“They don’t…” Fehnel replied. “It must be some kind of firefruit recipe instead. Those are native to Venlil Prime, I think.”
‘They are… But I most certainly did not make any order for them to be delivered here,’ I thought, racking my brain. ‘And I doubt that Kenta made some kind of order without my knowledge. This isn’t the same kind of situation as him getting some of that vanilla stuff from Terra. He would have told me…’
Somehow, the situation had gotten even more complex than it had been when I thought the food was killing Ginro. But now I was hearing all about the unlikely circumstances of there being a firefruit sauce in Sweetwater, and if that were the case, why had Kenta decided to serve it with the tamales? Did he not think to warn me at all about it? I had never known him to be so careless.
“Sylvan,” Fehnel called out. “I’m assumin’ this is supposed to be eaten with these tamale things? Is that right?”
I swayed my tail to the affirmative, and in doing so, didn’t notice that I had also given her a human ‘nod’ as well.
“Well alright then, I guess since I asked for it, I should be the first to try it.” Carefully, Fehnel grabbed a hold of one of the many tamales off the pile, before slowly taking a spare spoon and using it to pour an overly generous portion of the red sauce atop it. Then, amidst the cautious, perked swarm of ears surrounding her, she took a deep bite into the meal.
Like with all Terran foods I had the pleasure of seeing people sample for the first time, Fehnel fell victim to the ensnaring trap of something that could only be described as a ‘taste overload.’ Her expression, her body, her very mannerisms, they all melted into a puddle of nothing but pure glee. Admittedly, her stoic countenance allowed her to maintain her normal self somewhat, but there was no ignoring the drastic changes happening in her mind as she slowly chewed the steaming parcel. At some point, she had closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath, seemingly savouring every small bite. Until finally, she swallowed, and the suppressed tears that she had been holding back began to pour out once more.
“This feelin’…” Fehnel continued, briefly taking a break from her tamale. Joining the tears, the sniffing from earlier continued again, and I wondered if it was caused by the spiciness, or perhaps something more genuine. “For the first time in a long while, it almost feels like… like I’m back home…”
“Mom?” Kadew piped up from behind. “Are you alright?”
“Y-yes hun. I’m fine,” Fehnel replied. The entire surrounding crowd had their silent attention affixed on the two, though they didn’t seem to notice. “I’m… I’m more than fine.”
She began panting harder, looking even more similar to Ginro. A visible need for air overtook her senses, and had to pause between words to take a few breaths whenever she talked.
“Sylvan…” she continued. “Again, I need to know. How did you learn about this? I never mentioned anything about this to you.”
“What do you mea–” I began, before seeing this as an opportunity and instead choosing to save face. “I mean… Like I said, I did my own research!”
“What’re you talking about?” Ginro asked, still lying prone on the ground. “What does this have to do with anything?”
At this point, Fehnel looked around. Finally, she noticed that all eyes were on her. I supposed that something must have clicked in her brain at that moment, because something about the way she talked changed. She wasn’t just talking to me or Kadew anymore, but the entire crowd. Everyone had seemed riddled with enough curiosity to warrant all in attendance be tested for predator’s disease, and Fehnel knew it was her chance to finally do what this event was meant to do. She needed to share her culture.
“This isn’t the case exactly everywhere, but…” she began, trying her best to appear tall and knowledgeable before her listeners. “In many Yotul cultures, it's common to eat a spicy gourd fruit similar to your ‘firefruits’ during our annual Runnin’ Days.”
“‘Running Days,’ huh?” a voice from the crowd piped up. “That’s what this event is called, right? I’ve been meaning to ask… what’s this supposed to all be about anyways?”
Fehnel’s eyes looked as though they were about to grow to twice their size, and to my surprise, Kadew’s were as well. A person in the crowd had expressed actual interest, genuine interest, in an Uplift’s culture. This alone was a surprise to the two Yotul, who each stood shocked to their own extents. Fehnel, who had merely hoped for a chance to share knowledge of her people, and Kadew, who had thought that chance was all but nonexistent. And that shock only grew as more and more people voiced their interest.
“Yeah! What does it celebrate?” a second voice asked from the crowd. “I assume it celebrates something.”
“Are there games? Will we be playing games?”
“Do all Yotul celebrate it?”
Even Ginro, from his new residence on the concrete, voiced his own curiosity. “And what’s with the spicy stuff? You gotta give me some context for this!”
The barrage of questions gone unanswered, along with the stirring of the crowd, had done wonders to raise Fehnel’s spirits to the highest I’d ever seen out of the middle aged woman. Her tail was moving at blurring speeds, to the point where she appeared to have a fan-shaped Kraktol plumage for a tail rather than the thick one the Yotul were so known for. All the while, only the inverse was happening to Kadew. All that shock, all that surprise, had turned contrary to Fehnel’s, and quickly soured into an almost confused anger. Kadew stared daggers out into the crowd, and her ears flattened hard against the back of her head. Something was bothering her, and I couldn’t make heads or tails as to why. Hadn’t she carried just as much desire for an interest in her culture as her mother?
“Wh– Wh…” she stuttered, nearly silent compared to the vocal questions being shot at her mother back to back. But then, her volume suddenly increased tenfold. “Why!?”
The crowd ceased their noise, and immediately turned their ears over to Kadew. The sudden draw of so much attention at once forced the girl to take a quick step back. She probably hadn’t expected so many people to hear her at once. Or even at all, considering how she seemed to not realize she had spoken the word out loud.
But with so many ears focussed on her, she couldn’t back down from it now. And so, she gulped something invisible down, and continued her query. “Why…? Why are you all so interested? Why do you all care? You do realize who you’re talking about, right?”
The crowd remained silent. After waiting a second or two, Kadew grunted out in annoyance, before pulling both her paws to her chest so as to make a point. “Look at us! We’re Yotul! You know…? Uplifts!?” she continued to exclaim. Now it was her turn for tears to start welling in her eyes. “We’re the idiots of the universe! We’re the savage train and steam engine people! We’re the ones people shake their heads at when they pass us on the street!”
A single person in the crowd coughed.
“So… so why!? What changed? Why do you all suddenly care?”
Amidst the crowd, a poof of wool started making moves towards the front. As it drew closer, I began to recognize the pattern of black and white mixed together. And before long, Vuilen appeared before us. As though she was powered by a starship engine, she dashed forward towards Kadew and immediately pulled her into a hug. I had seen Vuilen do this a number of times before, but this one felt particularly special. It was deep, and it was genuine, as though Vuilen was trying to squeeze out every bit of sadness from Kadew’s soul. Most of all, it reminded me of the same kind of hug Kenta gave me when he found out about my parents. The same day he learned how to make strayu. It was almost poetic.
“Nothing changed, Dew,” Vuilen whispered. “The people that came out here… they’re all here because they want to know more. They’re here because they saw the posters and were interested. They don’t care if you’re a Yotul, or if the Yotul are Uplifts! They’re just curious! So please, don’t get mad at them…”
Kadew stood still, not doing so much as even reciprocating the hug. But I could tell something was changing in her. Her eyes began to water even more, and a choke that she had been holding back resurfaced.
“I… I’m not…” she muttered, before slowly lifting up her arms to hug Vuilen back. “I’m not mad… I just… I don’t…”
Before I knew it, Fehnel had come up as well. And just as sweetly, wrapped her arms around the two to join them. “It’s alright Kadew. I know… I know you’ve been havin’ trouble recently. I know you don’t know who you are, and that you’ve been tryin’ to figure that out. And I know you’re not proud of where you come from. But for just this once, even if it’s only a day, do you think you could try bein’ a Yotul with me? And if you still don’t want to associate yourself as one after today, I’ll leave it alone. I promise.”
“I–” Kadew sniffed, trying her best to process the request. Eventually she muttered out a reply. “I guess that’s fine…”
“Thank you,” Fehnel said, shutting her eyes briefly and letting one last set of tears leave them. “I’ll make it worth your while, I swear by the god of thunder. You’ll see.”
Slowly, Vuilen and Fehnel pulled themselves off of Kadew, only to turn around and see that a majority of the crowd was bawling their eyes out. The entire ordeal had been performed in front of a live studio audience, whether they wanted to or not, and no amount of spicy sauces could ever get them to the same level of tears.
“Right…” Fehnel said, addressing the crowd once more. “I suppose I owe you all an explanation.”
Standing there, the old farm lady began explaining the context of her peoples’ Running Day in detail. But that was only one way of explaining what had happened. In all honesty, the things she said and the way she talked about it, it could only be described as poetic. She didn’t just recite the pure, raw facts like the ones I had read about in studies and articles, but instead what the concept of a Running Day felt like to one of her people. She recounted the celebration she experienced upon the cycle in which she herself had come of age, and of the one her husband had seen only one cycle later. In fact, both had happened on stormy days not too dissimilar to this one.
“We consider it a blessin’, actually,” she explained. By this point, all ears were on her, including Kadew’s, Ginro’s and my own. Even Yolwen couldn’t help but be intrigued by the story. “You see, kinda like Solgalick here on Venlil Prime, many Yotul believe in the lord of fire and heat, Ralchi. But not all Yotul are the same, some of us even havin’ very different cultures from one another. For example, where I’m from, while we still believe in Ralchi, many of us show preference towards Indzah, the lord of lightnin’ and thunder and rain, and all that. As the legend goes, the harder it rains on a Runnin’ Day, the more blessed that generation of cubs are. And I’ll tell ya, there is nothin’ like wakin’ up on the day of the To Be Ran, seein’ those clouds off in the horizon, and smellin’ the comin’ storm. This was before the Federation came and gave us advanced weather predictin’ tech, mind you.”
As if to make a point, Fehnel took a long, deep breath inwards. She held it for a while, allowing it to puff out her chest, before slowly letting it back out. Then, she turned her attention towards Kadew.
“Still… To see the same happen for my dear daughter… It’s like a wish come true.” Fehnel’s eyes glistened again, and no force, neither by Solgalick’s or Indzah’s own collective wills, could stop the Yotul mother’s tail from wagging. “I know things have been tough, and that you probably don’t give two sniffs at the idea of fate or what have you. Heck, I’m not findin’ myself all that spiritual these days, on account of the aliens and the spaceships and the sapient predators and whatnot. But still, don’t feel too sorry for your old mother when she sees this storm and can’t help but think that things might just end up alright for us here. And I’m hopin’ that maybe you can see that too.”
Kadew took a deep breath of her own in, this one seeming slightly more pensive. She closed her eyes, deep in thought, then let it out. After the rollercoaster of emotions she’d had that day, I couldn’t blame her for not knowing how to feel. But in the end, she recanted, if just for the moment, and walked up to join her mother’s side.
“You’re right that I doubt there’s actually some kind of fate to there being a storm today, or that that’s even a good thing… I mean, just look at all the trouble Sylvan had to go through getting this big fancy umbrella for us. Not to mention, it smells real bad like wet fur in here!” Kadew commented, and the crowd chuckled with her jokes. “But… seeing you all here, and just how much you’re enjoying everything… I guess maybe there is some kind of good luck to it all. And… I’m sorry to say that it’s taken me a long time to see that.”
She reached forward, holding out a paw towards Vuilen, who had since rejoined the crowd at the front. The black and white Venlil stared down at it for a brief moment, before looking back up at Kadew, her tail beginning to wave back and forth rapidly from a sudden burst of excitement. Then, she grabbed at Kadew’s paw, and stepped forward to join her date, to which Kadew pulled forward and brought her into another deep hug.
“But luckily, I’ve had some really great help along the way…” she said, squeezing Vuilen around the waist. Then, she let go and turned back to her mother. “If it’s all the same to you… I think I’m ready to become an adult now.”
At this, Fehnel’s ears twitched once, then twice, an unmistakable sign of sheer pride. Then, she reached forward and grabbed at one of Kadew’s paws,
All eyes were on the two, my own included. This was what we had been building towards. The moment the entire event was centered around. Without wasting a moment, Fehnel began to lead Kadew over towards the large wooden stage under the statue, the crowd parting ways for them as they moved along. Vuilen came with them, hesitant at first to join, before Fehnel encouraged her to follow along. Until finally, after climbing up the side, the Venlil and two Yotul stood before everyone. Still holding on to Kadew’s paw, Fehnel lifted it up into the air for the whole crowd to see.
“My daughter, everyone!” With a raised voice, Fehnel spoke loud enough to silence the storm around us. “As her sole guardian and caretaker, and with Indzah as my witness, I now announce that from this day on, she run her own races! From this day on, her legs will be strong enough to carry her from one end of her life to the other! From this day on, she is her own adult, to raise and grow to the fullest potential! From this day on, she is Kadew! Nothin’ more, nothin’ less!”
The crowd began to cheer, becoming almost restless as they jumped up and down to celebrate the young Yotul. No, the adult Yotul woman. That’s what she was now, a full-grown adult that would need to find her way through life independently from now on. And by the look on her face, one of pure and utter elation at the sight of the supportive crowd before her, I could tell she would be just fine. Well, from the sounds of things, she definitely still had some things she’d need to work out, but who didn’t? Adulthood didn’t suddenly absolve you of any of your problems, after all. If anything, I knew that more than anyone.
“Now…” Fehnel continued. “Go forward, and may the dust never settle around your soul!”
A slight nudge was given to Kadew from Fehnel, purposefully knocking her daughter into Vuilen a bit, forcing the Venlil to catch her. Kadew bloomed as she fell into Vuilen’s side, and Vuilen reciprocated that feeling once she caught her. The two then looked into each other’s faces, Kadew facing directly up and Vuilen the opposite, their noses almost meeting, before suddenly deciding to laugh it off.
“Now, with all that done, I hope you enjoy the rest of the party!” Fehnel finished, raising her paws up to finally dismiss the crowd. “Oh! And make sure you all save room for dessert!”
While some of the crowd did disperse, continuing back to whatever conversations they had been at before the fiasco with Ginro began, a number of others stuck around. After the two descended the stage, many began to crowd around both Fehnel and Kadew, asking them a number of other questions that had still been sticking to them since Fehnel’s initial explanation. In fact… I still had a few of my own.
Squeezing through the crowd, I eventually got close enough to Fehnel. She had taken position right next to the tamale table, and was caught mid-sentence talking about the previously mentioned importance of spicy foods to the Yotul.
“Well… If I remember what my own mother taught me, I believe it has something to do with increasing blood flow to make us run faster,” Fehnel explained, with a number of “Ooo’s” and “Ahh’s” accompanying the insight.
“So by eating this, you’re aiming to put yourself into a temporary state of hypocapnia by intentionally hyperventilating? And that makes you perform better during many of the games you play for the event?” asked one of her many listeners.
“Errr… yes? I suppose so?” Fehnel answered. “I don’t really understand what you just said, but I’ll just assume you get the gist. But I guess I should probably correct somethin’ about that, we don’t just eat spicy food during a Runnin’ Day. I mean, we do eat a lot of it, but we also eat it often throughout the rest of the year as well. That’s why I’ve got myself such a strong resistance.”
The surrounding crowd let out another collective “Ohhhhhhh,” suddenly realizing why Fehnel didn’t collapse into a puddle like Ginro did after eating the same amount.
“About that, Fehnel,” I interrupted, finally making my way to the front of the crowd. “You mentioned something about having a similar kind of spicy fruit on Leirn, correct? I didn’t know the Yotul had their own version of firefruit! Is there anything else you can share about it?”
‘Kenta might be interested in this,’ I thought. ‘If they’re anywhere as nice as those dreipini we tried earlier, it might be worth looking into finding a way to get them here.’
“Ah right, I guess I never really did explain that part,” Fehnel answered, slightly embarrassed. “Well, like I said earlier, it’s a kind of gourd. A big orange and round thing that grows in dry patches around Leirn. Apparently, the spiciness is supposed to stop bugs and the like from eatin’ them, which makes them real easy to grow. Sure as heck didn’t stop us from chomping away at ‘em though, haha!”
“Interesting!” I commented, finding it astonishing the similar evolutionary path two fruits on wildly different planets found themselves taking. “And, for future reference, what is the name of it?”
From the distance, I could almost hear Kadew breathe out a sigh of annoyance, though I couldn’t tell why.
“Oh! You know, it’s real funny that you mention that,” Fehnel said with a chuckle. She looked up and over me, towards Kadew, who I now saw had her arms crossed in a familiar defiance. “Kadew, my precious new runner, why don’t you go ahead and tell Sylvan what the name of it is called?”
I turned around to give Kadew my attention, who didn’t seem to be as enthusiastic about the sudden spotlight yet again. Before answering, she shut her eyes and looked down and away, like a person trying to have an adhesive bandage ripped away in an instant.
“It’s… kadew,” she said slowly.
I tilted my head. “Wait, so you mean…?”
“Yup. It’s… my name.”
“So you’re…?”
Kadew shifted her head from looking all the way down to all the way up, still avoiding eye contact with anyone around her. “Named after a gourd, yes.”
Vuilen, standing at her side, gasped. “Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! I guess that explains where that ‘spicy’ attitude of yours comes from, eh?”
“It was my dad’s idea…” Kadew groaned out. “And yes, I do wish I could kick his ghost sometimes.”
“I think it’s cute!” Vuilen beamed. She giggled slightly as she spoke the word out loud a few times as if for the first time, wrapping her head around its now double meaning.
“Your father did as well,” Fehnel agreed, wagging her tail as she turned back towards the tamale table. She grabbed a hold of another tamale, before taking the sauce spoon and pouring a decent helping of the spicy mixture atop the strayu and starch wrapping. “Kadew – the fruit, I mean – isn’t just a food. It’s a symbol of strength among the Yotul. It’s hard outside acts as an unasumin’ defence against fiery insides rumblin’ away. It’s a fuel for our people, not just to fill our bellies, but to fill our resilience as well. It reminds us that no matter what, we can keep pushin’ forward, and that pain is only a temporary distraction to keep us from our true strengths.”
She turned back and handed the tamale to Kadew, who tentatively reached forward to take it into her paws.
“Now, we both knew it was a bit unconventional to name a cub after a kind of food. Indzah knows just how awkward those first few moments with the doctor were when you were born. And to be honest, I was the same when your father first told me his idea. But he was the real convincin’ type of person, enough to even get someone as hardheaded as me to agree with him,” Fehnel said, looking slightly off into the distance as she recalled the memory. “He knew you’d grow up to be the resilient type. He knew you’d need to be strong, especially with how much the times were changin’ back then, and how uncertain the future looked. Not just for our daughter, but for our entire race. And most of all, he knew how strong you’d end up bein’. Even now, I wish I could tell him just how right he was, but somethin’ tells me already knows that. Heck, I can practically feel his stupid, smug face lookin’ down at us from wherever he is right now.”
Fehnel wagged her tail, then turned to grab her own tamale, before putting some more spicy sauce on it herself.
“Your father would have been so proud to see you here today,” Fehnel said, tears beginning to well up one last time. Kadew didn’t dare to look up from her own meal, and instead stared down at the deep red sauce coating it. And the more I looked, the more I realized just how similar the hue of the sauce was from her own fur. “Our little daughter, finally here at her Runnin’ Day. Our little flame. Our little Kadew.”
Finally, the two lifted their meals up, and took a bite.
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I've never seen so much speculation over one of my chapter cliffhangers before! Honestly, I wasn't expecting so much, but I'm glad to see that I've invoked a good amount of engagement, as I always love reading you comments! Especially since I post these at like 2am here in Japan and usually wake up to see the replies. Tell me though, does this chapter provide a sufficient follow up to the last chapter? Is it what you were expecting, or were you surprised? I know it isn't much, but feedback like that really does help me improve.
As always, I hope you enjoy reading! :D
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Thank you to Philodox on discord for proofreading and editing RfD.
Thank you to Pampanope on reddit for the cover art.
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Memory Transcript Subject: Sylvan, Venlil Citizen
Date: [Standardized Human Time]: December 13, 2136

“BY SOLGALICK’S SPEH’ING LIGHT!! WHAT ON PRIME DID I JUST EAT!?”
Fehnel, Kadew, and I rushed through the surrounding crowd of fluff, beelining it straight for the source of the noise. Exasperated, painful screams were all that sounded out through the party, and the crowd was all but silent, save for a few wayward murmurs here and there.
“Why is he screaming like that?”
“What happened?”
“Is it the food?”
“It can’t be!”
“He looks like he’s dying…! Should we call a doctor?”
More and more these worried whispers piled into my ears, stacking themselves up inside my mind. It only made me more determined to push through the crowd, something that had grown incredibly difficult now that the entire list of guests had decided to squeeze together in one area. I pushed and wriggled and pushed some more, until finally, Fehnel, Kadew, and I burst through a small opening. Only to find the source of the screaming.
“AHHH!!!” screamed a familiar shape, who was dramatically rolling around on the ground, wheezing in and out at a nauseating rate. “SOMEONE!! PLEASE!! I NEED WATER!!”
“Is anyone here a doctor!? My friend Ginro needs some help!” yelled a bright blue Krakotl to his side. “There was something wrong with the food!”
The murmuring among the crowd got progressively louder, the question being tossed and repeated with the hopes of someone eventually answering it. But much to the dismay of all, nobody stepped forward. All the while, Ginro’s condition only seemed to get worse. Looking down at his wriggling body, I could see his mouth shuddering and his eyes beginning to dilate. And around his lips, I spotted something that I recognized all too quickly: A red sauce.
‘That’s… that’s the sauce that I brought out with the tamales!’ I realized. ‘Is that what’s causing this?’
Immediately, my mind jumped around to all sorts of possibilities. Was it not edible? Was that even a thing that could come from Terra? Unless it had some sort of animal flesh in it, no kind of Terran fruit or vegetable that I knew of could have caused that kind of reaction! Unless…
‘Poison…’ I remembered. The word was a foreign one, and one that I had first heard only from Kenta himself. The Venlil had a similar concept: “Fer’minash,” or “Spiteful Withering” in the common tongue. A few substances that could either disrupt or denature the structure of various enzymes throughout the body, but those were either venoms that predators injected directly into their victims, or were otherwise wholly inorganic in nature, such as certain heavy metals. But as I’d come to learn so many times over, the rules of logic and common sense did not apply on Terra, and foodborn Fer’minash had all too quickly become a consideration to me. After all, Humans were eager enough to believe their harmless tomatoes were dangerous for hundreds of years off of just a simple misconception. And if dangerous foods were common enough for that rumour to persist, who was to say there weren’t myriads of other, more real dangers that existed?
‘Even to a Venlil… It has to be a consideration,” I thought, only feeling progressively more helpless as I watched Ginro continue to writhe around in pain. ‘But how did this happen? I thought Kenta tested everything before making it for us? If he didn’t know, why didn’t he ask me to taste it first?’
I reached to pull out my data pad. Whatever it was, I was responsible for this mess. I needed to call a doctor as soon as possible.
“Wait!” I heard Fehnel call out from behind me. She had done her best to wipe away the tears from her previous altercation with Kadew, but a slightly sniffling nose and a light creeping of green under the eyes gave her away slightly. “What exactly did they eat? This has to be some kind of misunderstandin’.”
“You!” Yolwen yelled back, and stuck up a feathered arm to point at her. “This is all your fault! The food you decided to serve here must be some kind of dangerous Uplift recipe! I don’t know what kind of stunt you’re trying to pull, but you must have changed Kahnta’s food somehow! There’s no other explanation!”
Ignoring him, I decided to answer Fehnel’s question in Yolwen’s stead. “It looks like he tried the red sauce over there. To be honest, I thought it was just the same kind of sauce that Kahnta makes for the pasta, but it must be different somehow.”
Decisively, Fehnel moved past both me and Yolwen, despite the avian’s ruffling feathers. Then, she stepped around a still screaming Ginro, who didn’t seem to be faring any better. She tilted her head, and stared suspiciously down at what I had assumed to be a tomato sauce. Bending down, she ran her nose across the top of it and took quick whiffs of its scent. And in moments, her still tear-jerked eyes lit up with surprise.
“This isn’t dangerous!” she said, before suddenly dipping a finger into the sauce and promptly plopping it into her mouth. Suddenly, she began breathing heavily just like Ginro, and her eyes dilated just the slightest as well. I was about to ask her if she was okay, before she suddenly announced, “It’s… spicy!”
The crowd collectively gasped, and I with it. Why was there a spicy food all the way out in Sweetwater? I didn’t know any people myself who dared try something so exotic, and I myself wasn’t exactly jumping off my tail to get my paws on it. There just wasn’t any demand for it this far from where they grew naturally. I almost couldn’t believe it. And yet, here was Fehnel, saying it as calm as ever.
“S… spicy…?” Ginro muttered in between gasping breaths. “I’m not dying?”
“What did you spike the food with?” Yolwen asked flatly, still skeptical.
“Nothing, hun!” Fehnel insisted, the smallest bit of a chuckle croaking into her voice. “It’s just…” She turned around to face me. “I didn’t think you’d go so far as to research about this too, Sylvan. How’d you know?”
“I… I didn’t…” I stuttered, confused. “Wh-what?”
“Is that… what I think it is?” Kadew stepped forward to answer. “All the way out here? I thought you said the Yotul didn’t export any of that?”
“They don’t…” Fehnel replied. “It must be some kind of firefruit recipe instead. Those are native to Venlil Prime, I think.”
‘They are… But I most certainly did not make any order for them to be delivered here,’ I thought, racking my brain. ‘And I doubt that Kenta made some kind of order without my knowledge. This isn’t the same kind of situation as him getting some of that vanilla stuff from Terra. He would have told me…’
Somehow, the situation had gotten even more complex than it had been when I thought the food was killing Ginro. But now I was hearing all about the unlikely circumstances of there being a firefruit sauce in Sweetwater, and if that were the case, why had Kenta decided to serve it with the tamales? Did he not think to warn me at all about it? I had never known him to be so careless.
“Sylvan,” Fehnel called out. “I’m assumin’ this is supposed to be eaten with these tamale things? Is that right?”
I swayed my tail to the affirmative, and in doing so, didn’t notice that I had also given her a human ‘nod’ as well.
“Well alright then, I guess since I asked for it, I should be the first to try it.” Carefully, Fehnel grabbed a hold of one of the many tamales off the pile, before slowly taking a spare spoon and using it to pour an overly generous portion of the red sauce atop it. Then, amidst the cautious, perked swarm of ears surrounding her, she took a deep bite into the meal.
Like with all Terran foods I had the pleasure of seeing people sample for the first time, Fehnel fell victim to the ensnaring trap of something that could only be described as a ‘taste overload.’ Her expression, her body, her very mannerisms, they all melted into a puddle of nothing but pure glee. Admittedly, her stoic countenance allowed her to maintain her normal self somewhat, but there was no ignoring the drastic changes happening in her mind as she slowly chewed the steaming parcel. At some point, she had closed her eyes, and took in a deep breath, seemingly savouring every small bite. Until finally, she swallowed, and the suppressed tears that she had been holding back began to pour out once more.
“This feelin’…” Fehnel continued, briefly taking a break from her tamale. Joining the tears, the sniffing from earlier continued again, and I wondered if it was caused by the spiciness, or perhaps something more genuine. “For the first time in a long while, it almost feels like… like I’m back home…”
“Mom?” Kadew piped up from behind. “Are you alright?”
“Y-yes hun. I’m fine,” Fehnel replied. The entire surrounding crowd had their silent attention affixed on the two, though they didn’t seem to notice. “I’m… I’m more than fine.”
She began panting harder, looking even more similar to Ginro. A visible need for air overtook her senses, and had to pause between words to take a few breaths whenever she talked.
“Sylvan…” she continued. “Again, I need to know. How did you learn about this? I never mentioned anything about this to you.”
“What do you mea–” I began, before seeing this as an opportunity and instead choosing to save face. “I mean… Like I said, I did my own research!”
“What’re you talking about?” Ginro asked, still lying prone on the ground. “What does this have to do with anything?”
At this point, Fehnel looked around. Finally, she noticed that all eyes were on her. I supposed that something must have clicked in her brain at that moment, because something about the way she talked changed. She wasn’t just talking to me or Kadew anymore, but the entire crowd. Everyone had seemed riddled with enough curiosity to warrant all in attendance be tested for predator’s disease, and Fehnel knew it was her chance to finally do what this event was meant to do. She needed to share her culture.
“This isn’t the case exactly everywhere, but…” she began, trying her best to appear tall and knowledgeable before her listeners. “In many Yotul cultures, it's common to eat a spicy gourd fruit similar to your ‘firefruits’ during our annual Runnin’ Days.”
“‘Running Days,’ huh?” a voice from the crowd piped up. “That’s what this event is called, right? I’ve been meaning to ask… what’s this supposed to all be about anyways?”
Fehnel’s eyes looked as though they were about to grow to twice their size, and to my surprise, Kadew’s were as well. A person in the crowd had expressed actual interest, genuine interest, in an Uplift’s culture. This alone was a surprise to the two Yotul, who each stood shocked to their own extents. Fehnel, who had merely hoped for a chance to share knowledge of her people, and Kadew, who had thought that chance was all but nonexistent. And that shock only grew as more and more people voiced their interest.
“Yeah! What does it celebrate?” a second voice asked from the crowd. “I assume it celebrates something.”
“Are there games? Will we be playing games?”
“Do all Yotul celebrate it?”
Even Ginro, from his new residence on the concrete, voiced his own curiosity. “And what’s with the spicy stuff? You gotta give me some context for this!”
The barrage of questions gone unanswered, along with the stirring of the crowd, had done wonders to raise Fehnel’s spirits to the highest I’d ever seen out of the middle aged woman. Her tail was moving at blurring speeds, to the point where she appeared to have a fan-shaped Kraktol plumage for a tail rather than the thick one the Yotul were so known for. All the while, only the inverse was happening to Kadew. All that shock, all that surprise, had turned contrary to Fehnel’s, and quickly soured into an almost confused anger. Kadew stared daggers out into the crowd, and her ears flattened hard against the back of her head. Something was bothering her, and I couldn’t make heads or tails as to why. Hadn’t she carried just as much desire for an interest in her culture as her mother?
“Wh– Wh…” she stuttered, nearly silent compared to the vocal questions being shot at her mother back to back. But then, her volume suddenly increased tenfold. “Why!?”
The crowd ceased their noise, and immediately turned their ears over to Kadew. The sudden draw of so much attention at once forced the girl to take a quick step back. She probably hadn’t expected so many people to hear her at once. Or even at all, considering how she seemed to not realize she had spoken the word out loud.
But with so many ears focussed on her, she couldn’t back down from it now. And so, she gulped something invisible down, and continued her query. “Why…? Why are you all so interested? Why do you all care? You do realize who you’re talking about, right?”
The crowd remained silent. After waiting a second or two, Kadew grunted out in annoyance, before pulling both her paws to her chest so as to make a point. “Look at us! We’re Yotul! You know…? Uplifts!?” she continued to exclaim. Now it was her turn for tears to start welling in her eyes. “We’re the idiots of the universe! We’re the savage train and steam engine people! We’re the ones people shake their heads at when they pass us on the street!”
A single person in the crowd coughed.
“So… so why!? What changed? Why do you all suddenly care?”
Amidst the crowd, a poof of wool started making moves towards the front. As it drew closer, I began to recognize the pattern of black and white mixed together. And before long, Vuilen appeared before us. As though she was powered by a starship engine, she dashed forward towards Kadew and immediately pulled her into a hug. I had seen Vuilen do this a number of times before, but this one felt particularly special. It was deep, and it was genuine, as though Vuilen was trying to squeeze out every bit of sadness from Kadew’s soul. Most of all, it reminded me of the same kind of hug Kenta gave me when he found out about my parents. The same day he learned how to make strayu. It was almost poetic.
“Nothing changed, Dew,” Vuilen whispered. “The people that came out here… they’re all here because they want to know more. They’re here because they saw the posters and were interested. They don’t care if you’re a Yotul, or if the Yotul are Uplifts! They’re just curious! So please, don’t get mad at them…”
Kadew stood still, not doing so much as even reciprocating the hug. But I could tell something was changing in her. Her eyes began to water even more, and a choke that she had been holding back resurfaced.
“I… I’m not…” she muttered, before slowly lifting up her arms to hug Vuilen back. “I’m not mad… I just… I don’t…”
Before I knew it, Fehnel had come up as well. And just as sweetly, wrapped her arms around the two to join them. “It’s alright Kadew. I know… I know you’ve been havin’ trouble recently. I know you don’t know who you are, and that you’ve been tryin’ to figure that out. And I know you’re not proud of where you come from. But for just this once, even if it’s only a day, do you think you could try bein’ a Yotul with me? And if you still don’t want to associate yourself as one after today, I’ll leave it alone. I promise.”
“I–” Kadew sniffed, trying her best to process the request. Eventually she muttered out a reply. “I guess that’s fine…”
“Thank you,” Fehnel said, shutting her eyes briefly and letting one last set of tears leave them. “I’ll make it worth your while, I swear by the god of thunder. You’ll see.”
Slowly, Vuilen and Fehnel pulled themselves off of Kadew, only to turn around and see that a majority of the crowd was bawling their eyes out. The entire ordeal had been performed in front of a live studio audience, whether they wanted to or not, and no amount of spicy sauces could ever get them to the same level of tears.
“Right…” Fehnel said, addressing the crowd once more. “I suppose I owe you all an explanation.”
Standing there, the old farm lady began explaining the context of her peoples’ Running Day in detail. But that was only one way of explaining what had happened. In all honesty, the things she said and the way she talked about it, it could only be described as poetic. She didn’t just recite the pure, raw facts like the ones I had read about in studies and articles, but instead what the concept of a Running Day felt like to one of her people. She recounted the celebration she experienced upon the cycle in which she herself had come of age, and of the one her husband had seen only one cycle later. In fact, both had happened on stormy days not too dissimilar to this one.
“We consider it a blessin’, actually,” she explained. By this point, all ears were on her, including Kadew’s, Ginro’s and my own. Even Yolwen couldn’t help but be intrigued by the story. “You see, kinda like Solgalick here on Venlil Prime, many Yotul believe in the lord of fire and heat, Ralchi. But not all Yotul are the same, some of us even havin’ very different cultures from one another. For example, where I’m from, while we still believe in Ralchi, many of us show preference towards Indzah, the lord of lightnin’ and thunder and rain, and all that. As the legend goes, the harder it rains on a Runnin’ Day, the more blessed that generation of cubs are. And I’ll tell ya, there is nothin’ like wakin’ up on the day of the To Be Ran, seein’ those clouds off in the horizon, and smellin’ the comin’ storm. This was before the Federation came and gave us advanced weather predictin’ tech, mind you.”
As if to make a point, Fehnel took a long, deep breath inwards. She held it for a while, allowing it to puff out her chest, before slowly letting it back out. Then, she turned her attention towards Kadew.
“Still… To see the same happen for my dear daughter… It’s like a wish come true.” Fehnel’s eyes glistened again, and no force, neither by Solgalick’s or Indzah’s own collective wills, could stop the Yotul mother’s tail from wagging. “I know things have been tough, and that you probably don’t give two sniffs at the idea of fate or what have you. Heck, I’m not findin’ myself all that spiritual these days, on account of the aliens and the spaceships and the sapient predators and whatnot. But still, don’t feel too sorry for your old mother when she sees this storm and can’t help but think that things might just end up alright for us here. And I’m hopin’ that maybe you can see that too.”
Kadew took a deep breath of her own in, this one seeming slightly more pensive. She closed her eyes, deep in thought, then let it out. After the rollercoaster of emotions she’d had that day, I couldn’t blame her for not knowing how to feel. But in the end, she recanted, if just for the moment, and walked up to join her mother’s side.
“You’re right that I doubt there’s actually some kind of fate to there being a storm today, or that that’s even a good thing… I mean, just look at all the trouble Sylvan had to go through getting this big fancy umbrella for us. Not to mention, it smells real bad like wet fur in here!” Kadew commented, and the crowd chuckled with her jokes. “But… seeing you all here, and just how much you’re enjoying everything… I guess maybe there is some kind of good luck to it all. And… I’m sorry to say that it’s taken me a long time to see that.”
She reached forward, holding out a paw towards Vuilen, who had since rejoined the crowd at the front. The black and white Venlil stared down at it for a brief moment, before looking back up at Kadew, her tail beginning to wave back and forth rapidly from a sudden burst of excitement. Then, she grabbed at Kadew’s paw, and stepped forward to join her date, to which Kadew pulled forward and brought her into another deep hug.
“But luckily, I’ve had some really great help along the way…” she said, squeezing Vuilen around the waist. Then, she let go and turned back to her mother. “If it’s all the same to you… I think I’m ready to become an adult now.”
At this, Fehnel’s ears twitched once, then twice, an unmistakable sign of sheer pride. Then, she reached forward and grabbed at one of Kadew’s paws,
All eyes were on the two, my own included. This was what we had been building towards. The moment the entire event was centered around. Without wasting a moment, Fehnel began to lead Kadew over towards the large wooden stage under the statue, the crowd parting ways for them as they moved along. Vuilen came with them, hesitant at first to join, before Fehnel encouraged her to follow along. Until finally, after climbing up the side, the Venlil and two Yotul stood before everyone. Still holding on to Kadew’s paw, Fehnel lifted it up into the air for the whole crowd to see.
“My daughter, everyone!” With a raised voice, Fehnel spoke loud enough to silence the storm around us. “As her sole guardian and caretaker, and with Indzah as my witness, I now announce that from this day on, she run her own races! From this day on, her legs will be strong enough to carry her from one end of her life to the other! From this day on, she is her own adult, to raise and grow to the fullest potential! From this day on, she is Kadew! Nothin’ more, nothin’ less!”
The crowd began to cheer, becoming almost restless as they jumped up and down to celebrate the young Yotul. No, the adult Yotul woman. That’s what she was now, a full-grown adult that would need to find her way through life independently from now on. And by the look on her face, one of pure and utter elation at the sight of the supportive crowd before her, I could tell she would be just fine. Well, from the sounds of things, she definitely still had some things she’d need to work out, but who didn’t? Adulthood didn’t suddenly absolve you of any of your problems, after all. If anything, I knew that more than anyone.
“Now…” Fehnel continued. “Go forward, and may the dust never settle around your soul!”
A slight nudge was given to Kadew from Fehnel, purposefully knocking her daughter into Vuilen a bit, forcing the Venlil to catch her. Kadew bloomed as she fell into Vuilen’s side, and Vuilen reciprocated that feeling once she caught her. The two then looked into each other’s faces, Kadew facing directly up and Vuilen the opposite, their noses almost meeting, before suddenly deciding to laugh it off.
“Now, with all that done, I hope you enjoy the rest of the party!” Fehnel finished, raising her paws up to finally dismiss the crowd. “Oh! And make sure you all save room for dessert!”
While some of the crowd did disperse, continuing back to whatever conversations they had been at before the fiasco with Ginro began, a number of others stuck around. After the two descended the stage, many began to crowd around both Fehnel and Kadew, asking them a number of other questions that had still been sticking to them since Fehnel’s initial explanation. In fact… I still had a few of my own.
Squeezing through the crowd, I eventually got close enough to Fehnel. She had taken position right next to the tamale table, and was caught mid-sentence talking about the previously mentioned importance of spicy foods to the Yotul.
“Well… If I remember what my own mother taught me, I believe it has something to do with increasing blood flow to make us run faster,” Fehnel explained, with a number of “Ooo’s” and “Ahh’s” accompanying the insight.
“So by eating this, you’re aiming to put yourself into a temporary state of hypocapnia by intentionally hyperventilating? And that makes you perform better during many of the games you play for the event?” asked one of her many listeners.
“Errr… yes? I suppose so?” Fehnel answered. “I don’t really understand what you just said, but I’ll just assume you get the gist. But I guess I should probably correct somethin’ about that, we don’t just eat spicy food during a Runnin’ Day. I mean, we do eat a lot of it, but we also eat it often throughout the rest of the year as well. That’s why I’ve got myself such a strong resistance.”
The surrounding crowd let out another collective “Ohhhhhhh,” suddenly realizing why Fehnel didn’t collapse into a puddle like Ginro did after eating the same amount.
“About that, Fehnel,” I interrupted, finally making my way to the front of the crowd. “You mentioned something about having a similar kind of spicy fruit on Leirn, correct? I didn’t know the Yotul had their own version of firefruit! Is there anything else you can share about it?”
‘Kenta might be interested in this,’ I thought. ‘If they’re anywhere as nice as those dreipini we tried earlier, it might be worth looking into finding a way to get them here.’
“Ah right, I guess I never really did explain that part,” Fehnel answered, slightly embarrassed. “Well, like I said earlier, it’s a kind of gourd. A big orange and round thing that grows in dry patches around Leirn. Apparently, the spiciness is supposed to stop bugs and the like from eatin’ them, which makes them real easy to grow. Sure as heck didn’t stop us from chomping away at ‘em though, haha!”
“Interesting!” I commented, finding it astonishing the similar evolutionary path two fruits on wildly different planets found themselves taking. “And, for future reference, what is the name of it?”
From the distance, I could almost hear Kadew breathe out a sigh of annoyance, though I couldn’t tell why.
“Oh! You know, it’s real funny that you mention that,” Fehnel said with a chuckle. She looked up and over me, towards Kadew, who I now saw had her arms crossed in a familiar defiance. “Kadew, my precious new runner, why don’t you go ahead and tell Sylvan what the name of it is called?”
I turned around to give Kadew my attention, who didn’t seem to be as enthusiastic about the sudden spotlight yet again. Before answering, she shut her eyes and looked down and away, like a person trying to have an adhesive bandage ripped away in an instant.
“It’s… kadew,” she said slowly.
I tilted my head. “Wait, so you mean…?”
“Yup. It’s… my name.”
“So you’re…?”
Kadew shifted her head from looking all the way down to all the way up, still avoiding eye contact with anyone around her. “Named after a gourd, yes.”
Vuilen, standing at her side, gasped. “Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! I guess that explains where that ‘spicy’ attitude of yours comes from, eh?”
“It was my dad’s idea…” Kadew groaned out. “And yes, I do wish I could kick his ghost sometimes.”
“I think it’s cute!” Vuilen beamed. She giggled slightly as she spoke the word out loud a few times as if for the first time, wrapping her head around its now double meaning.
“Your father did as well,” Fehnel agreed, wagging her tail as she turned back towards the tamale table. She grabbed a hold of another tamale, before taking the sauce spoon and pouring a decent helping of the spicy mixture atop the strayu and starch wrapping. “Kadew – the fruit, I mean – isn’t just a food. It’s a symbol of strength among the Yotul. It’s hard outside acts as an unasumin’ defence against fiery insides rumblin’ away. It’s a fuel for our people, not just to fill our bellies, but to fill our resilience as well. It reminds us that no matter what, we can keep pushin’ forward, and that pain is only a temporary distraction to keep us from our true strengths.”
She turned back and handed the tamale to Kadew, who tentatively reached forward to take it into her paws.
“Now, we both knew it was a bit unconventional to name a cub after a kind of food. Indzah knows just how awkward those first few moments with the doctor were when you were born. And to be honest, I was the same when your father first told me his idea. But he was the real convincin’ type of person, enough to even get someone as hardheaded as me to agree with him,” Fehnel said, looking slightly off into the distance as she recalled the memory. “He knew you’d grow up to be the resilient type. He knew you’d need to be strong, especially with how much the times were changin’ back then, and how uncertain the future looked. Not just for our daughter, but for our entire race. And most of all, he knew how strong you’d end up bein’. Even now, I wish I could tell him just how right he was, but somethin’ tells me already knows that. Heck, I can practically feel his stupid, smug face lookin’ down at us from wherever he is right now.”
Fehnel wagged her tail, then turned to grab her own tamale, before putting some more spicy sauce on it herself.
“Your father would have been so proud to see you here today,” Fehnel said, tears beginning to well up one last time. Kadew didn’t dare to look up from her own meal, and instead stared down at the deep red sauce coating it. And the more I looked, the more I realized just how similar the hue of the sauce was from her own fur. “Our little daughter, finally here at her Runnin’ Day. Our little flame. Our little Kadew.”
Finally, the two lifted their meals up, and took a bite.
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Memory transcript: Maarchal , MESEA Astronomers. Date: [Standard Farsul calendar ] September 16th, 3675
“Sigh…. Mark one launch in 3…2…1…”
The rocket shot off the pad in front of us. I was resting my head in my paw and watching the data flow in from the Lidar, recording how the rocket shot off into the atmosphere.
“Deploying flares….”
Suddenly the missile shot out dozens and dozens of distractionary weapons. The computer program sliced through all the false positives with ease, accurately mapping the trajectory of the projectile through all the tests we designed to confuse it.
I stared blankly at the screen as our creation effortlessly did its job, the hum of the computer bank below us pushed warm air out the ideas of the vehicle. I rubbed my eyes to relieve them of the eye… crumbles? Of sleep, I watched the bright light of fire behind the rocket diminish and the top open and shoot out a parachute. My eyes lazily followed the descending rocket as it tumbled onto its side on the ground. I heard Ponthyt and Fiar moan from the bottom of the floor, they were draping cloaks around their heads and were splayed out.
Slightly amused with the consequences of their bout of drinking last night I turned on the radio. “ Mark two, be ready to lau…..” I was pulled away from my current objective by something strange. The Lidar was currently tracking a projectile.
That's odd… we are in restricted air space, what could it be tracking? I sat up and studied the computer. Whatever it was it was high, very high in the atmosphere and it was traveling towards the south pole, It might be a… asteroid?
Suddenly I see its trajectory change and it starts to head right towards us!!! My mind races with possibilities as to what it could be. A spy airplane? a weather balloon? My blood runs cold with the worst possibility becoming the most likely.
“Ship of cartutus do you read?” I was pulled away from my musings from the rocket engineers on the radio. I fumble with my radio and almost drop it off the side of the vehicle.
“THERE'S A MISSILE!!! A MISSILE!!!” I screamed into the handheld device.
“What? Can you repeat that ship of cartutus?” I quickly chock down my fear and force a somewhat level headed response.
“I believe the Lidar has picked up the signature of a missile, its warhead could be nuclear. I have a sense of dread and a suspicion it's from the Crafur archipelago.” I hear a torrent of panicked voices flood out of my radio. Ponthyt and Fiar were shifting on the floor from the unwanted stimuli.
I quickly cover the speaker with my paw and respond. “I am asking you to activate the R.C. interpreter missiles, we are live testing this today on something that could be real!!!”
“...Rodger, we are activating interceptor 34, please highlight the target.”
I force my right arm to force my left to stop shaking, I then type in the command to target the projectile. In our little back and forth it had crossed several hundred miles and was closing in fast. “Interceptor program activated and target designated.”
“Rodger, launching in 3…2…1.” Suddenly another light shone across the tundra as our only hope of survival flew into the clouds. I could hear a horrible screech as whatever was heading towards us was closing in. I saw a bright flash in the clouds and debris falling naught but a few hundred meters from our current location.
I was still holding my breath as I watched the scattered pieces fall to the earth and let it out when I realized and relaxed in my chair. I was breathing heavily and rubbing my stomach, delayed panic coursed through my veins.
“Ship of cartutus, has the target been neutralized?” I forced myself to sit back up and act, I turned to the computer and pressed a button to show me the last instances of the object's trajectory. It showed the two dots closing in on each other head on, and then a swarm of debris fell straight to the ground after the collision. “Confirmed hit, target neutralized.”
“Confirmed, sending out recovery team.'' The next few moments passed by and I couldn't tell if they were minutes or hours.
I saw what appeared to be ants scouring the debris field, back and forth they paced all along it. A cargo auto came by to salvage what remained of the interceptor, I could have watched more closely with my binoculars, but I decided to simply sit and catch my breath. Suddenly I heard a buzz from my radio.
“Ship of cartutus, this seems to be an asteroid.”
Bewilderment suddenly floods me. “What? I saw it on the Lidar, it made a drastic change in direction! Asteroids can't do that? Have you checked the wreckage for any signs of radioactivity?” I was quick to respond, as were they.
“We had someone with a radiation sensor scan the debris, none of it showed any sign of it. We have found no trace of foreign metal, it's all stone.”
Confusion pushed out any lingering panic within me. “Please stand by, I am going to inspect it myself.”
“Rodger, awaiting your arrival.”
I clicked off the radio and tapped on the glass to wake up our driver. “I am going to the debris field, get out and help me down and take me there in the JPA.”
The driver, a military officer, was fast asleep and splayed out on the wide front seats. He shifted when I attempted to rouse him, lazily opened an eye and looked at me. “No, want … sleep.”
I took on an unamused expression as he closed his eyes. I have had enough of his mershit, I grabbed my water bottle and slid open the dividing window. I unscrewed the lid and unceremoniously poured out its contents all over him. He shot up and breathed heavily as the cold contents of the bottle drenched him, confusion mired his Being and he looked around for the source of his discomfort before his eyes landed upon me. His confusion was pushed out by annoyance as he stared at me.
“Good, you're awake, now help me out and drive me to the debris field.”I said with markedly less patience and with a commanding tone I perfected raising two children. He looked even more annoyed but he relented, getting out of the cab and doing as I said.

***

“So what we are seeing is some kind of stone, it's not any kind of stone found in the area so at the very least it's abnormal.” Craath said.
“Hmm, but I saw the readings on the Lidar, it was going fast, then it turned nearly going backwards with no sign of slowing down or speeding up before or after. It's like it just… I don't even know!!! Missiles can barely make that kind of reading without eviscerating themselves!!! But an asteroid definitely shouldn't be able to, it should have torn itself apart at the very least!’ I responded, holding my chin and examining the stones laid all about on the ground. They were light gray. “Please hand me one.”
Craath nodded and bent down to grab me one, he handed it to me and I examined it more thoroughly. The texture was gritty, as though made up of medium grains of minerals, but the color and gloss was perfectly uniform.
“... My pups have become obsessed with rocks, I have been learning about them alongside them. I can't for the life of me think of a rock even close to this one's description.”
I turned the stone in my paw and looked for any inconsistency, but found none. “Well, it's an asteroid Maarchal, it's not like it has to conform to our planet's standards.”
“I’m an astronomer Craath , I am familiar with asteroid samples and at the very least can tell you these are not like any other asteroids we have ever discovered. And inanimate objects don't just change course on their own at the very least.”
He shrugged. “Just because we found a lot of some kind of thing doesn't mean new versions cant be discovered. And the trajectory change could be something we haven't discovered anything of. Either way it was not a missile, but you did save our hides by destroying it. Count our blessings, you’ll get to study something with your pups, something no one else has!!!”
I grabbed the stone with both paws and applied some pressure. It cracked in half with almost no effort, I looked inside but found the same consistent appearance as the outside of the stone.
“ It could be some kind of … I don't know, particulate weapon strapped to a thruster? Meant to explode on top of us and get into our lungs?”
Craath shook his head. “No that can't be the case, we examined all the metal debris and it all belonged to the interceptor. Something like that would at the very least leave behind a thruster, as it stands I say we just clean this stuff up and head back to base for a deeper analysis.”
I spied all the workers out in this field. Most were hauling pieces of the interceptor into a big cargo auto, while others were examining the other debris. I dropped the stone in my paws and folded my arms. “ I want some kind of lab with geo analyst tools, tell the brass it's for research on an interceptor and… is that stone floating?”
I pointed to the stone I had dropped, but had failed to meet the ground. The technician looked down with a blank expression that screamed confusion, suddenly the stone floated higher between us. I saw more of the stones around us levitate off the ground, workers screamed at the display while me and Craath simply stared with blank expressions. We stayed stoick in either utter terror or curiosity, or some kind of mixture of both, I couldn't tell. The workers were running in utter fear and getting into the autos, while others were simply running as fast as they could for base.
As the stones levitated they all moved towards a central point, none of them touched but they seemed to make the rough outline of a cone. As they got closer together they moved faster and faster, swirling upon the central point. By this time some were fusing together while others were spitting apart. They all were now making the rough outline of… a person?
The shape was nothing like I had ever seen except in Farsul. The largest stones floated above all the others and I saw two eyes blink open.
We both stood there in utter silence. I saw the longest stones floating by their sides, with spaces representing points of articulation, long thin stones made up the fingers. The placement was as if they were bones, the eyes were on the flat surface of the stone that held them, they were… black… and the irises were glowing with a golden light like that of the sun. I saw the stones below the ones holding the eyes possess a smooth line that seemed to line up and continued to the stone floating beside it.
The “body” was an amorphous sloping cylinder of floating stones that were never more than a few inches close together, they were shifting all the while. Suddenly I see her? Move any arm and grab a piece of wreckage.
“Excuse me, but I seem to have been confused for a… weapon, correct? And as such I have lost my hair, do you mind if I use this to remake it?”
“...” I could not speak, this… thing was terrifying, a monolith of sentient stones that was some forty meters tall. When she spoke… I could see her “mouth” move, but the sound seemed to come from all around. I was unable to pinpoint its origin.
Suddenly, she drops the wreckage into the cargo auto.
“I’ll take your silence as a no. Could I use this instead?”
She dug her paw into the ground and lifted a large clod of earth, she was looking at me expectantly.
“Uh… sure?”
She smiles and I can see steam emanating from the soil in her paw. I see it start to glow and melt. But it did not drop from her paw, instead I see it congest into a glowing orb of liquid. I see it start to change shape, suddenly strands of the hot liquid erupt from the top. They float about and circle above her head before securing themselves onto it. I can see the strands cool into silver stands, they float around her. Reaching all the way to the ground behind her. They are constantly moving to stay out of the way of the stones of her body.
“Now that I have made myself presentable. Greeting I have received your message to the stars, I apologize for making myself known but there is no undoing that. Well I could, but I’d rather not."
Confusion swept over me. “Wh-what?”
She took on a look of worry. “Your message? Are you not Maarchal?”
“I-I am, how do you know that?”
She moves her paw towards us, the flat of it pointing directly at us. Suddenly, I see a paragraph of text displayed on the stones, as if they were displayed on screens. It was our message me, Ponthyt and Fiar had made and sent last night.
“I, uh, didn't expect it to reach anyone, we were frustrated with some bad news, they were drinking and uh… I just thought it'd be fun.”
She rescinded her appendage and looked… embarrassed?
“Oh dear, I seem to have revealed myself prematurely again.” She covered her face with her paws.
“Wh-what do you mean again?” She turns her head up and stares at us directly.
“A number of months ago I activated a surveillance drone, I grew inpatient and wanted to see what you all had done. But a Farsul was holding it at the time and he saw it blink and he smashed it in fear. His name was Fiar, so when you mentioned someone with the same name and had seen a rock blink I assumed it was the same person and I had uncovered myself. Although I seem to have been mistaken. I apologize for this mix up.” She shifts her eyes between me and Craath and smiles. “I am glad I came though. You and your husband are a joyous sight.”
We looked at each other and Craath spoke up. “Oh, we aren't married. I’m Craath, we’re work friends.”
She took on a confused look. “Oh? Then where is he?”
I pointed to the Ship of cartutus across the field. “He and Fiar are on the back of that vehicle recovering from their hangovers.”
She looked over and spied the massive vehicle. I could… feel her amusement and I and Craath howled with laughter, the feeling of laughing at something someone else found funny was… extremely unnerving.
“Oh, well could I meet them? Considering this was all one big mistake I’d love to take advantage of it. Even if I can't stay. “
“What do you mean?” Craath asked the… god.
“I have been waiting for you to reach or discover me ever since I made this world for you. I was so excited that you “found” me that I came here from the blue ice giant immediately. But in my rash approach I failed to see I was not actually discovered. And since only a handful of Farsul have seen this form I will go back after I decide too. But for now I will enjoy your people's company.”
She looks down at herself. “But first I need to take a different, more… approachable form.” I see the stones congest and all fuse together into a monolith. Some time later it begins to crack and I see a young … farsul? Climb out from the disintegrating mass of stone.
She dusts herself off and walks to us. The farsul in front of us was taller than me but more slender. Her coat was dark red and she spoke much more normally then… whatever form she had before. She looked at me and smiled, her irises were still golden, but not glowing like they had been previously. “Now, why don't we go see him?”
‘Uh… of course, right this way.” I waved to follow me as I made my way to the JPA. The driver, somehow, didn't notice all the insanity we had witnessed and was reading some book. I got in the back seat as Craath took the front. The… farsul took the seat right next to me.
I taped on the oblivious and incompetent soldier's shoulder. He didn't look up from his book and merely groaned to acknowledge my existence. “We are … done here. Take us back to the Ship of cartutus.”
He exhaled and started the engine, pulling out of the field and taking us there. On the way I decided to ask the farsul some basic questions.
“Are you a god?”
She turned her attention to me.”What? NO! Of course not! I have not even been made aware of the lords presents and I would never claim to be him!”
“Then what are you?”
She folds her paws together. “It's… difficult to say, I was once a human. But over the eons I have… changed. You see, back in the other species territory, death… became a choice. We advanced so greatly in bio engineering that biological immortality was invented and over the eons most did not want to live more than a certain amount of time. They reversed the changes and let death claim them. But… I didn't, and over time the genetic upgrades we would periodically advance ourselves with made us unrecognizable to what we evolved from.”
Craath turned back towards her. “ You said we? How many more of you are there?”
She looked down at her folded paws. “I don't know, but for every world I terraformed no more like me emerged. Almost all like me sprang up when this technology first emerged and over the uncountable generations only an astronomically few chooses to become like me.”
“You said you created our world but you are not a god?”
She shook her head. “No, I simply “created” your world by putting the pieces back together.”
Craath took on a face of suspicion. “What pieces?”
She looked down more intensely. “Sigh a long time ago, your species government made a lot of people suffer, so when a force came to destroy you they did nothing to stop it. You had no way to defend yourselves and your kind was slaughtered. Only those outside the cage of your world survived. Most still hate you, but I don't. I took what I could and came here, I made you a world for yourself where you could grow unimpeded.”
An icy cold dread flowed within me. “ We were slaughtered and they still hate us? What did we do?”
She turned to me with a solemn look. “The average Farsul? Nothing.”
We continued to make our way over the rough terrain until I decided to ask her something else.
“What's your name?”
“Talsk, the name of your homeworld. I took it as a moniker when I decided to bring your kind here.”
Craath spoke up and addressed Talsk. “You know for not a god you sure do claim to do a lot of what a god does.”
She shakes her head. “No, no, I think of myself as a gardener, planting the seeds God has given us. I am not a God or even a mother of any kind.”
She turns her head over to me. “You however are much more of a creator than I have ever been. Tell me, how far along are you?”
“Oh, I’m almost due actually, I'll probably start having contractions any day now. My two other pups are quite excited to have a little brother or sister.”
Talsk smiles warmly. “That's wonderful but… Why are you working so late into your term?”
I breathed deeply, and turned to address her. “We are being strong armed to make weapons for the military, we’ve been here for most of my pregnancy.”
Her warm smile suddenly turned icy cold. “Someone is forcing you to build weapons?”
I nodded. She turned her head out over the horizon and even though she no longer projected her emotion outward I could still feel her rage in that moment.
Craath, turned to the driver. “Seriously, you didn't see or hear anything that woman did?”
“I did, I’m just not paid enough to care.”
Craath took on a look of abject confusion and frustration at the unimpressed soldier.
We then pulled up at the Ship of cartutus and we all climbed out, I yelled for the sleepy men. “PONTHYT! FIAR!!! We have a visitor!!!”
Suddenly two heads inch over the edge and look down at us. “Oh hi honey! YAWN. Who's the young girl?”
“I’ll … explain over lunch.”
Fiar popped his head over the side enthusiastically. “Oh, is Ponthyt cooking?”
I nodded and he and Craath howled with excitement. I covered my ears while Talsk simply held a paw to her muzzle and giggled at the rambunctious pup like energy from the two seasoned scientists.
[First]-[Previous]-[Next]

Hello Reddit Community.
First time poster here.
So I wanted to ask your advice. I have been working with a company for a long period of time (just hit the 9 year mark), however I have been approached by another company (in a completely different field so not a competitor) with a very tempting offer, an immediate £10k increase in salary at entry level and a sign on bonus, structured progression in the company, private health care as well as shares scheme and a potential to become director in 5 years time.
I have had my interview and I am just waiting for the final acceptance, which I should hear back this Friday (7th June)
So here lies the questions:

If I am accepted for this new job should I inform my direct line manager (in the UK) and the company CEO (in the US) in a call or email about my intent to leave before providing them with a full resignation letter?
Is it considered impolite to do so?
What is the generally accepted protocol for handing in a resignation after being with a company for nearly a decade.

Not sure if it's relevant but my notice period on my contract is one month.
Any suggestions, advice, ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Hello!
Been signed on to my local JC, and have been receiving UC for about a month. Before then, I've had over a year of applying for work, and haven't landed a single interview in all that time. I've applied diligently each week, 6-7 applications where I really spent my time on, and 15 more each week where I spent less time, sending only my default CV & generic cover letter (with adjustments). I'm also volunteering & taking free online courses in IT, computer networking, programming, and firming up my numeracy/maths skills on the American Khan Academy website.
I feel the Job Centre is frustrated with my progress, and sent me two jobs to apply for before our next meeting, failing to apply would lead to sanctioning. Both jobs (data entry roles) are 20 miles away, over 1.5 hours each way by bus, one pays minimum wage, and the other just slightly more than that. One job made clear that WFH is not viable, the other makes no mention. I'd have to apply to an email address they monitor, so they know if I applied or not.
I suggested to my career advisor these were perhaps too far, I had done a similarly long commute in the past, which made me sick and forced me to quit. She told me I should then take a car, which I replied I cannot drive after failing my practical many times, to which she replied I ought to "try harder next time" (exact words).
So, my questions to the community are:
1) Personally do not feel that three hours commute is a fair demand, but I don't know if I might be in the wrong or right here?
1.a) If you agree this is an unreasonable demand, is there a way to challenge this?
1.b) If you agree with them that this is actually a reasonable, any suggestions to bring up my commute concerns to the interviewer? I don't want to sabotage the interview and waste their time, but at the same time I have concerns I really wouldn't be able to do the commute for long (moving is not an option).
2) Honestly, any other tips or suggestions would be welcomed, I haven't received much career advice from the JC as I hoped. I hope to land an junior or entry level IT role.
Thank you for reading!

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Introduction
Obviously, I really enjoy the game to have written this much about it and I am so grateful to the team that designed this game and manages the community to give us such an incredibly fun game. It’s for that reason that I have listed a bunch of issues/problems/suggestions down below. It has no doubt been very tumultuous for the team that has continued to support this game given the closure of NWI and the general fuckery that is Embracer Group. Many people obviously want “more” in the game. Unfortunately, given the size of the player base, I completely understand why Saber probably cannot or simply will not invest more resources into a game that is probably not generating much revenue anymore. Regardless, this game probably has a few more good years left in it. With some tweaks, I can definitely see the game persisting for a long while. Aside from improvement on the online experience and servers, I do think some relatively smaller fixes to map design, points cost, and redzone rules could greatly improve the enjoyability of this game for new/newer players without the need to create many new assets.
I am mostly concerned with PVP and specifically the push game mode because I consider that game mode to be the most suited to most maps. I think tweaking the existing maps for Frontline or other modes would be too much work. On the other hand, the specific needs of each mode vis a vis maps means that push players don’t get to enjoy many maps, like Ministry. Still, I do think with some tweaking of maps and rules for Push, these matches can be made much more enjoyable for many players and encourage a bit more retention in the future.
Anyways, thank you for reading and I look forward to reading your responses, either positive or negative. I also hope that this post does not come off too negative towards the game. I love this game so much and have had so much fun over the years playing it. Many thanks again to all the devs and community managers.
Map Fixes for Push
Bad Redzones: There are quite a few issues currently with many of the maps in the game. One such issue is poorly designed/drawn redzones. The obvious example of the top of my head is the non-redzone behind Echo on push insurgents' gap as marked below:
https://imgur.com/a/FdbPEKc
For maps like prison it can feel like one side or the other has to push through the red zone to get any kind of flanks. This is especially true for prison push insurgents objective D. Prison is my favorite map by far, but its redzones are a hot mess. Honestly, I think it needs some exterior areas added to open it up a bit more and make it viable for Push.
Too Difficult Push Objectives for Insurgents: Of particular note here is objective D for push insurgents on Gap and Outskirts.
On Gap push insurgents D, the effective distance between the spawn and the objective is quite long, making each death quite a lengthy process. Moreover, the attackers have to get through three lines of defense: the main street in front of the hotel with tons of camping cover; the interior of the hotel with tons of corners to camp and hide behind and extremely easy to camp entrances such as the left broken hole; and finally the multi-level point itself which defenders can access very quickly, get height advantage on the attackers and pick them off, or simply hide in bush until others spawn. Not only does the design of this point make this otherwise enjoyable map a slog I try to avoid at all costs, it effectively punishes the team for doing well. To make matters worse, insurgents have access to effectively no fire support to clear out the first line of defense. Ideally, the explosive drone would help clear the interior, but it just won’t go. I cannot fathom why that decision was made. This could be improved via several relatively minor fixes A) moving the insurgents spawn up so that recovery from deaths/losses is easier and not as much ground is lost and/or moving security spawn farther from the point B) removing much of the cover on the first street up to the point so that it is easier for insurgents to smoke and push into the building C) adding impediments to security to get on the second floor or behind the western concierge desk at the point so that they have to go to the front to go upstairs or give more sight cover to attackers while on the bottom floor.
On Outskirts push insurgents D, this one is similarly difficult to Gap. The primary issue here is that the red zones and the covered entry point for security on the point makes it very difficult for insurgents to cut off the enemy security wave. Moreover, the backside of the point is open for easy access for security and there is little cover for insurgents to use to cut off the pushing wave. To make matters worse, the point is open on three sides, so it is easy for security to go around the north side of the point and simply pick off the insurgents trying to hold the back side. For insurgents, the approach is a buggy, uphill struggle through a bunch of rubble. When they get to the other side, security has tons of easy options to hide and defend from usually the only one to three insurgents from the entire wave that don’t die getting there. A single really aggressive defender on a so-so team can hold off an entire highly experienced stack by lobbing 40 mm grenades on the back side or just bobbing and weaving through cover on the backside of the point. The easiest solution in my opinion is to move the security spawn back farther away from D and give the insurgents a bit more space to control on the east side of D. Another option would be to add a bit more cover on the north side of the rubble at D so insurgents can hide from snipers in the large field and have a better chance of taking the point. I am unsure if adding more cover on the east side or blocking off some paths from the east that security uses is appropriate. It may tip the scales a bit too far in favor of insurgents. As with Gap, the point is not to make the objective “easy.” Rather, it is to make it possible for a wider range of players. Since both sides get to attack and defend, I think this a reasonable fix that would improve the enjoyment of the map all around.
Much of this issue has to do with the lackluster capabilities of insurgent fire support on offense. Many of the options that insurgents have access to are largely useless such as explosive drones and bomber drones, even if the former can come in clutch on a low wave attack on the final point. Other times, the map and objective is designed in such a way that the insurgents have no other options. Ideally,l these support calls would be fully revamped so that insurgents have many offensive capabilities. Obviously, I do not think that is a reasonable expectation at this point as it would require a lot of more dev hours. A simple “fix” would be to effectively buff chems by making gas masks cost two points. However, that would probably be too radical of a change and would require revamping of the entire points system. Nonetheless, for some maps this issue can be pretty well resolved by adding and/or removing cover and relocating spawns.
Obviously, there are issues with other maps. C for push insurgents on Crossing and A for push insurgents on Precinct both come to mind. As with all of these, adding or removing bits of cover would make these points and the maps and general feel less like banging your head against a concrete wall for more players.
Backcapping and General Redzone issues: The ability for players to go through the redzone with little consequence and “pre-capture” objectives before the other team has time to react can turn what could have been relatively even matches into steam rolls. The big concern I have is that it feels inherently unfair, especially for new players. If I had to put up with a couple rounds of high levels just ripping through us on defense when I started I probably would have quit. This includes the admittedly hilarious “camping on the final cache with a molly or C4 etc.” trick. While it can be a good way of guaranteeing victory when two teams are very evenly matched and attackers are low on waves. Regardless, it is brutal and unfun when it is used against players that are a bit more inexperienced.
Poorly Protected Spawns: Finally, there are quite a few spawns in this game where the opposing team can simply sit and watch the spawn then kill many of the attackers such as push security A from the octagon or push insurgents B/C from the bridge. Nothing discourages a newer player from coming back than a level 5000 with a M3 Maw waiting for your spawn protection to wear off. This includes spawning and getting instantly killed by cleric on points like push security A on Crossing. Adding more cover at spawn could help some of these problems. However, it is likely too deeply tied into the game’s mechanics to truly fix.
This extends to another issue that is less prevalent but still frustrating. Nothing is more frustrating to spawn at wave zero on offense only to get mowed down by someone waiting in the redzone. Instead of the redzone instantly disappearing, it would be nice if it took an additional thirty seconds to a minute after wave zero is reached. Another option would be to add a redzone death timer for all players at all times but make it countdown from thirty seconds. Obviously, this will be most frustrating for new players who may not understand that the terms of the match have dramatically shifted now that their team is about to run out of waves.
In general, redzone fixes would reduce several of these issues and make the game less frustrating for newer players and a little bit more fair for teams with different levels of overall experience.
Point Tweaks and Weapon Classes
Most of these tweaks involve what I would consider minor changes in the categorization of weapons or the points needed to select certain upgrades or items.

Pistol Specific Ammo Carrier: Pistols are, for the most part, substantially underpowered in Sandstorm. The primary source for this, in my opinion, is the lack of ammo you can get for a pistol. 3 magazines on a light carrier and 4 on a heavy is not enough in my opinion. I do not think these carriers should give more than what they do now. Rather, I think that the specific pistol ammo carrier option needs to be available across the board for 1 or 2 points. One issue I see with the game is how frustrating and difficult it can be for a long range build to get on the point and hold it effectively. Going on the point and blitzing through people with a SVD with 7x scope inside a point or quickly running out of ammo for my sidearm. Including the pistol ammo carrier would allow the player to use some weapons that are largely useless in CQB (i.e. 50 cal sniper rifle) and still hold/push the point. Moreover, there are times when it is fun just to get rid of everything else and only use the pistol. I am not sure why this option isn’t available by default.
Bolt Action Rifle Point Costs: Currently, there is no real reason to pick a bolt action rifle over semi-automatic, especially given the paucity of sidearm ammo the player spawns with. The greased bolt upgrade does help with this quite a bit. However, a Mosin or M24 with a greased bolt costs 3 points, still substantially less viable than either standard 4 point semi-automatic sniper for the simple fact that you cannot quickly take follow-up shots when you miss. Personally, I think that the total cost of a bolt action with a greased bolt should be 1 or 2 points total instead of 3. In other words, either the bolt action rifles should be 0 points or the greased bolt upgrade should be 1 point. In combination with the extension of a pistol ammo carrier option, this would give users of the bolt action rifles many more options to take and/or hold points aggressively.
M1 Garand Grenade Launcher: I get that this is kind of a meme weapon. Nonetheless, in its current state it is in every way inferior to the options demolitions have. It is not only weaker, it takes longer to load, and it takes longer to switch between the grenade option and standard rifle. I am honestly confused why it is in the game AT ALL, but if it is gonna be in the game make 2 points. It still would not be overpowered and at least it would be a bit more usable.
Welrod: In the same vein as the M1 grenade launcher, the Welrod is an even more useless meme option. Even making it semi viable with the armor piercing rounds costs a whopping 3 points! With that upgrade, it’s still a hot piece of garbage. I’d like to see the cost of the Welrod with the armor piercing rounds be zero. I get it, it’s a meme. It’d still be a meme, just slightly more fun to use. Also, the running animation for the gun is still completely scuffed when it has a grip attached. I actually kind of hope that it doesn’t get fixed.
SKS as an Advisor Weapon: Currently, the SKS is a two-point weapon for advisors. My understanding is that advisors are supposed to have access to “superior” equipment that other classes don’t get, so why the heck is the SKS included as part of their class? It is the battle rifle that was somewhat obsolete when it was released. Honestly, it should be considered a rifleman weapon. I also think it is too expensive. It is exponentially less viable than the AKM for most tasks and even with upgrades cannot approach the long-range viability of a sniper rifle mainly because of the insane lack of weapon sway for sniper rifles. Even the M16A2 is a better long-range weapon in this game than the SKS. I think making it cost 1 point is a pretty ideal buff for this gun. Another thing I’d like to see is the inclusion of the top-loading original variant for 0 points. However, I realize that involves creating a bunch of new animations etc.
More Advisor Weapons: My main argument here would be that advisors should have access to basically every other rifleman weapon available or at least a select few (MDR, VHS, QBZ, QTS, M4A1, Famas etc.), but with a greater selection of attachments. Obviously, allowing anyone to have an extended mag Famas might be too broken. Still, I think advisors having some of the other weapons available to riflemen with the option to attach a suppressor would be nice.
Point Cost for Mass and Masterkey: These attachments/weapons have very little stopping power right now, which I think is the right move. However, for how weak and difficult to use they are, they are extremely expensive. 4 points for a Masterkey with no real ability to aim that is basically less useful than a 1 point pistol? Ideally, these attachments would be really really good for blowing the hinges off doors, but that is actually still quite a niche use case. Lowering their cost across the board by one point would be a good choice in my opinion. I do not think they should be buffed either in terms of damage or access to flechette to better balance with the breacher class.

More Cross-class Guns: Make the Galil and SKS available for rifleman classes.
QOL Improvements

Stuttering and Server Stability: This is, quite frankly, the biggest problem with the game for me currently. There are quite a few issues that make the game very difficult to play or less enjoyable. The worst of which for me is the recurring stuttering that happens when waves spawn in. Sometimes this stutter is quite minor. Other times the game is effectively bricked for .5 to 1.5 seconds. Frames will quickly drop from 144 to 70 and it is very difficult to deal with. It is not a lot of time, but when you are in a firefight or pushing around a corner it is an eternity. I have not been able to figure out exactly why this happens to me more than anyone else I know. I am almost certain it is a server-side issue and it seems to get worse the longer I play. The only “fix” I know is to restart the game. Hopefully it will be addressed someday. In general, this game performs surprisingly poorly given its low graphical intensity.
Lobby Issues: 1) not being able to join a friend’s game (no option shows up) after an internet connection gets interrupted or someone has to leave a match; 2) not being able to hear in game voice chat until completing a full restart of the game; 3) people in the game harassing, TKing, using racial slurs and then simply leaving and returning before being kicked or rejoining on their friends.
Repeated Team Switching: When playing solo it can be incredibly frustrating to be switched from a team doing well to the other team (especially when you have been playing well). It feels a bit like the game is punishing the player. There have been matches when I have been switched three or even four times. By that point, I usually just leave. For someone who doesn’t already really like the game, this issue alone likely causes many to quit.
Equipment Switching: it can be really difficult to switch between pieces of equipment in a loadout. Oftentimes, I will use the scroll wheel to try to switch to my gun but then somehow “pull out” my underbarrel attachment. Other times, I press the number for the item and it won’t switch.
Picking Up Objects: objects like grenades and guns on the ground can be super super difficult to pick up. Either I won’t get the option to pick it up or I will pick up the wrong item. Nowadays, I usually just avoid picking them up because half the time it gets me killed while I am fiddling with the UI.
Team Damage from Chems: I don’t know if this one can be fixed. Sometimes an insurgent commander will take team damage and even die because a teammate simply will not put on a gas mask. I can imagine, however, that this would be a difficult issue to address.

Conclusion/TLDR
The most problematic points are usually for insurgents on attack because of their relatively weaker support arsenal. Switching up the maps could make many of these points easier. I’ve gone into depth on two such points, but there are quite a few in the game right now. Improving the capabilities of the insurgent fire support would be the best option (either improving the damage, fixing the bugged call ins, or making it easier to direct where calls go), but this is probably not possible at this point. As such, switching up some of the maps is probably the most prudent approach. There are also a bunch of points changes that I think would improve some classes and make them more aggressive and more fun to play without giving any real “advantage.” Finally, there are a host of minor QOL issues that if fixed would greatly improve the experience. The biggest one I have is frequent stuttering when waves spawn. There are numerous other problems though, most of which are quite minor in my opinion. Many thanks for reading.

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I'm 36 and was laid off almost a year ago now from a marketing agency. When that happened I received a few weeks severance and along with unemployment insurance and some savings was just barely covering my rent and CC bills. That unemployment insurance has run out along with any savings a couple months ago now and I haven't been able to pay my rent since March.
I owe: ~$6K to my landlord who'll likely move to evict soon, ~$8k across 3 CC's (currently on payment plans totaling $350 a month) and ~$2k to Water and Power. I have $50k pre-tax sitting in a 401k, that I'm considering converting to a Roth and doing a cash withdrawal, but with such heavy taxes (I'm in CA) I'm wondering if bankruptcy would be a better option.
When I first started job hunting I was at least getting interviews and call backs but it's been crickets for the past 6 months. My last agency just had another round of layoffs, and I see increasingly more people in my Linkedin network looking for work. I apply to jobs daily and have started applying to retail or any entry level work but that's also been quiet. With all this I'm realizing I need to use those 401k assets to give me some runway, maybe invest in some sort of side job or file for bankruptcy or both.
Looking for any advice thanks!

Hello hello! I’ve been seeing a lot of repeated posts recently and instead of posting individual comments each time, I took the time to put together the questions I’ve been seeing as a makeshift FAQ.
Keep in mind this is only my perspective! Feel free to contribute your frequently heard questions or your take on answers to any of the questions I’ve added. Let’s collaborate! 🙂
Sometimes this community can initiate on a trial-by-fire basis and this is meant to offer a cool drink of water before diving back into the flames.

1. Hi I’m new here, where can I find this bag?

You’re going to hear this a lot: search the sub. Many people have looked for the same bag before. Need a top seller for Chanel flap? How about a Dior Saddle Bag? If it isn’t a super exclusive limited edition, it’s probably been asked about.

2. How do I get started?

There’s a few lists and rules in the about section of this sub, but this sub is generally unmoderated so it won’t have too much. My advice is to scroll, scroll some more, and then scroll more. Read the posts, the comments, search around. Pay attention to who is commenting and what feels off or starts to seem normal. This also isn’t the only sub dedicated to reps, peruse those as well.

3. How can I trust this seller?

There is a list of trusted sellers in the sub. I personally have never purchased from them so I cannot comment on the experience. At least one is mod of this sub, so take that information as you will.
But many posts are people rehoming items. For them, you can do the following:
• Check their Reddit profile. Is it new? No karma? Weird seemingly-AI posts in pics or awww? Probably a fake account.
• Ask for buyer feedback.
• Ask for POP (proof of purchase).
• Pay via PayPal Goods and Services. Some sellers will only accept a friends & family payment and that can be a completely legitimate way to go BUT you must be willing to take that risk. Paying via Goods and Services gives you some protection. You can also be sure to pay via credit card on PayPal. This may also offer some protection. BUT and this is a big but: do not spend what you are not willing to lose!! This is always a game of chance.

4. This person DMed me! Are they a legit seller?

Eh, proceed with caution. Sure, a person may see you asking about a Gucci Horsebit and say hey I have this one for sale, but a lot of bots and scammers will DM everyone they see posting/commenting to steal your money. Be wary.

5. How can I get contact info for ___?

Please use the search of the sub. 9 times out of 10 you can find the information you’re looking for by searching. There’s also a list of sellers in the sub’s information. (Again, never used, cannot endorse or oppose.)

6. Am I being scammed?

If you have to ask, probably. If you can’t find reviews of the seller or if something feels too good to be true/something feels wrong, you’re probably being scammed. This is a gamble, be careful, and don’t spend money you can’t afford to lose.

7. Help! Can you QC this bag?! Is it high tier??

Hopefully, you’ve done some basics here and have compared auth with rep. If not…come on now, girl, get it together. It’s helpful if you state the brand, style, and anything you’re particularly concerned about. Maybe the stitching looks funky to you? Or you’re wondering if it’s a fantasy color (color that’s never been produced) because you’ve scoured the web and can’t find an auth photo.

8. I asked a question but no one is replying to me. How am I supposed to learn if no one replies?

Did you search the question you asked? Did you look through comments or similar posts? You can reasonably find common answers with a bit of elbow grease. If your question is very specific, people may just not know. We’re all in our own busy lives and can’t answer everything. Just be patient and keep looking.

9. Can I ask someone who posted for their sellers info?

If you do, don’t be surprised if you get downvoted or get no reply. Most of the sellers are well known to those who have been around and the contact info is available if you search here or other rep dedicated subs. Try searching for that bag, or if the poster includes the name of the seller, search that name. Check the seller list. The general mindset of the rep community is to do your own research.

10. This is my first time buying… what do I do?

First: heyyyyyyyy! Welcome to the club! In all circumstances, you should be kind. There is a human being on the other end of your message. Stay patient and speak how you want to be spoken to.
Factory seller:
• Typically this looks like this: contact seller, get album, inquire about specific item, discuss details, send payment, get PSPs, item is shipped.
• Once you have found a seller or a bag/item you wish to buy, ask any questions you have. Usually this is best done one at a time. Give them time to answer.
• You can absolutely message a seller and ask for their album. Most albums are organized by brand and factory. Don’t be shy!
• Keep the questions simple if you can, remember the seller may not speak fluent English.
• Be patient.
• To ask about a bag, pictures are best. You can screenshot from their album or send auth photos to ask if they can get access to a bag. Sometimes sellers can get access to a bag/item that they don’t have listed.
• It’s okay to ask whatever you need to know to feel comfortable ordering. How does shipping work? What is the total cost? Is this buckle supposed to be scratched?
• Do not expect long, complex conversations. More than likely you will get one word answers. This is not them being rude, they just have limited English and a busy schedule.
• Prices are typically set, negotiation is not something I’ve seen.
• You can and should absolutely ask about shipping and seizures policy, returns, and the like. Oftentimes, they will offer some percentage covered for seizures. Not all sellers offer returns.
• WhatsApp and WeChat are perfectly normal ways to communicate with sellers. TikTok and Instagram are full of scammers, I would never purchase from there.
Rehome:
• Comment and DM the seller about your interest.
• Prices can be more flexible/negotiated but this varies by person.
• Payment is typically PP or Venmo. Some will take G&S while others won’t. Weigh your risks. Is it too good to be true? It probably is.
• You can request a specific shipping company but accept if the seller says no. You will be paying for shipping.
• You can ask for POP, buyer feedback, more pictures, a video, etc. But again, the seller has the right to say no. You also have the right to walk away if you are uncomfortable.
• These sales move fast. Don’t be surprised if you DM for a bag and it’s already sold.
• You are not obligated to purchase if you’ve inquired about an item. You shouldn’t waste a seller’s time if you’re not actually interested in purchasing, but don’t feel pressured if you send a DM and then don’t want to purchase for whatever reason. If they push you, steer clear.

11. What does ___ mean?

POP: proof of purchase
PP G&S: PayPal goods and services
PP FF: PayPal friends and family
GF: god factory
ISO: in search of
QC: quality check
PSP: pre-shipment photos
DM/PM: direct message/private message
FB: facebook
Fantasy: a color or pattern that has never been offered in the authentic item

12. What does high/mid/low tier actually mean? What about 1:1? Is there a standard?

This is a way to compare reps to how similar they are to the real thing. There’s no standard for “high” “mid” and “low”, this is all opinion. I’ve seen people say this tier level is completely BS and don’t bother. Personally, I think it’s generally helpful but not the end-all-be-all. High tier for me may be mid tier for you. You can ask a seller for the highest quality item but remember the price will reflect that. Items with mistakes, poor stitching, stamps in wrong places, or fantasy colors would generally be mid to low tier. However! A bag may be perfect, indistinguishable from auth and still be a fantasy color. You have to decide what is acceptable for you and what you’ll be happy with. You’re carrying the item around and you should love it!

13. I’m new to Reddit, new to reps, and I want to legitimize myself, how can I do that?

You’ll need to put in some work. Reddit has a lot of everything, so you can find so many groups that interest you. Find some other subreddits that you like and participate in those by commenting and posting. You can also comment on posts here and don’t be sketchy. When I say don’t be sketchy, I mean participate in conversation and don’t ask for seller info or where you can find something. Have a conversation, show that you’re real. This will go a long way because you’ll see so many 2 day old accounts with 1 post in awww and a comment here saying “I HAVE A GREAT SELLER!” And we can all flag that as a scam.

14. What about customs? What will happen?

I can only speak with any confidence on US customs, since that’s where I am located.
First and foremost, if your item is seized: Print out of picture of your item, put on your finest black dress, and burn that picture in your backyard because that bag/item is dead and gone. DO NOT CONTACT CUSTOMS. If you contact them, it confirms you ordering illegal goods. If you leave it alone, rarely will it move beyond a letter saying your item was seized. This becomes riskier with larger orders.
Generally, it seems safe enough to order to your address. Most of the items get through without issue. But if yours is taken, try another address and switch up the name. It’s believed that a name/address list is kept and can be flagged for repeated orders… but I cannot confirm how accurate that is. I’ve read of stories where people kept ordering with no issue and stories where repeated orders were seized.
If you’re worried, you can ask for triangle shipping (seller will ship to another country, typically not known for reps, before shipping to your location). You could also set up a mail forwarding service but I don’t know details of those. PO Boxes also seem to be a good alternative for addresses.

Final Thoughts

Once again, I am just one lady who has gone down the rabbit hole of reps. I’m not insanely experienced, I’m not special. I’m just here because I enjoy this and get a thrill from reps. Please don’t demolish me 🙃. My DMs are open for questions but please don’t overwhelm me. Cheers and let’s go buy some bags!

There is a picture of the lawn in a comment below
I live in New Hampshire and had this house built about 18 months ago. The lawn was installed almost exactly a year ago today.
The contractor spread about 50 lbs of contractor seed over 12,000 sq feet and I watered it three times a day. I used starter fertilizer as well. With it being mid June and crappy contractor seed the lawn was pretty bare after that so I reseeded in August and watered twice daily. Most of my lawn now looks like the picture included.
I am thinking that due to both erosion from a lack of decent ground cover and a super light coating of loam I basically need to fix the soil before anything is going to grow particularly well.
The soil is a bit mixed as to what it is - some of the surface is very heavy clay or a clay sand mixture that borders on concrete, some is mostly sand, and all of it has a decent amount of rocks.
From what I have been reading, it looks like the best option to fix this is going to be:

Late July:
- coat the hard clay sections in liquid aerator as described on the instructions
- cover the entire lawn in 1" of compost
- Rototill the entire lawn as deep as possible
Early August
- Soil sample and treat to optimal levels
Late August
- Seed and water twice daily

Curious if anyone has a better idea. I would rather go with an option that I know will give me a nice lawn next year rather than trying to work with what I have and hope I have something half decent 3 years from now. Cost of what I described is less than $2,000 and is about what I want to spend on this at most. Having anyone come in and do this work for me will make it astronomically expensive in my area.
The contractor is unwilling to do anything to fix this and is my neighbors brother. I'd rather just fix it myself than cause a stink.

This is something I started putting together many months ago but never finished. Since I've already shared this privately several times, I decided to go ahead and share it here even though it's incomplete.
Autistic Burnout is not just about masking too much. I have come to believe that it is much more involved and complicated than that.
Through my personal experiences, research efforts, and delving into the posts of other individuals with ASD in various autistic communities, I have a broader more comprehensive theory about the subject. This is a link to some of the resources and references I have collated, notated, and formatted to make more available:
https://reddit.com/ArbitraryPerplexity/s/ohN9SiC8hG
This is a similar link for Autistic Burnout: https://reddit.com/ArbitraryPerplexity/s/fanVkqKlOV
I will be citing various articles, and will include links to their sources as well as some notations at the end of this post or in comments below it.
ASD, PTSD, & Autistic Burnout
Research has shown that ASD and PTSD have a lot of overlaps, that I believe also involve Autistic Burnout:
• Symptoms of (C)PTSD and ASD can be very similar, which can lead to misdiagnosis. Until fairly recently, it was impossible to have both a PTSD diagnosis and an ASD diagnosis, they were mutually exclusive. (1, 2, 3, 7)
• ASD seems to increase an individual's vulnerability to developing PTSD from traumatic events. (1, 3, 7)
• Individuals with ASD are able to develop PTSD from events that would not normally be considered traumatic to neurotypicals. (1, 3, 7)
• Having ASD increases the likelihood that an individual will encounter frequent life events such as bullying, social isolation, etc that can typically lead to the development of (C)PTSD (1, 3, 7)
• PTSD may manifest with atypical symptoms and effects in individuals with ASD. (1, 2, 3, 7)
• Typical PTSD treatments may not be effective for individuals with ASD and need to be adjusted for the individual. (1, 3)
• PTSD can exacerbate or intensify ASD traits and behaviors. (1, 2, 3, 7)
• The ways that PTSD can manifest or intensify ASD traits are very similar to the symptoms of Autistic Burnout. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 7)
(1.) https://khironclinics.com/blog/trauma-and-the-autism-spectrum/
"New research suggests that those with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) are at a higher risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder...There is a strong correlation between autism and trauma, with recent research demonstrating that PTSD is around 45% higher in individuals with autism spectrum disorder...however, for those with ASD, far less extreme events can cause the onset of PTSD symptoms...Having autism can mean enduring a litany of events, starting from a young age, which could be experienced as traumatic. Due to the added complexity of increased chances of suffering from co-occurring mental health issues, these events may contribute towards severe stress and the onset of persistent post-traumatic stress disorder...How PTSD manifests in autistic people can vary greatly from the general population and can also exacerbate autistic traits, such as panic, immobility, hyperarousal, and a regression of skills or communication. The boundaries between ASD and PTSD can be difficult to distinguish, and alongside the communication and relational issues autistic individuals have, PTSD itself can be extremely challenging to treat...due to the elevated rates of depression and anxiety amongst those with ASD, standard behavioural interventions cannot always effectively address the underlying causes of the trauma and the ongoing experience of it...In order for treatment to be effective both conditions must be treated simultaneously."
(2.) https://www.spectrumnews.org/features/deep-dive/intersection-autism-trauma/
"The researchers also found some unexpected trends: ...And people with more autistic traits display a specific form of PTSD, one characterized by hyperarousal: They may be more easily startled, more likely to have insomnia, predisposed to anger and anxiety, or have greater difficulty concentrating than is seen in other forms of PTSD. Recognizing this subtype could be particularly helpful for spotting and preventing it, and for developing treatments, Horesh says, especially because the same traits might otherwise be mistakenly attributed to autism and overlooked. 'We know that each PTSD has a different color, a different presence in the clinic,' he says....How PTSD manifests in autistic people can also be unexpected, and can exacerbate autistic traits, such as regression of skills or communication, as well as stereotyped behaviors and speech."
(3.) https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/mental-health/post-traumatic-stress-disorder
"There is some research that suggests that autistic people can develop PTSD symptoms from a wider range of experiences than non-autistic people...There is very little research exploring PTSD in autistic people, making it impossible to say how many people might experience it. However, there is some research that suggests autistic people can develop PTSD symptoms for a wider range of reasons than non-autistic people. These could be part of your everyday life, including: sensory differences, for example being over or under-sensitive to things such as lighting, noise, or smell, differences in understanding social situations, lack of appropriate support, increased likelihood of mental health issues, relationship breakdowns...These wider experiences may not be recognised within the usual signs and symptoms for PTSD. This means some autistic people might not get a PTSD diagnosis and the help they need...Some research suggests autistic people may experience difficulties in their daily lives, such as social isolation, bullying and not being accepted by their peers. These may be traumatic experiences for autistic people, which could lead or contribute to PTSD symptoms...There is currently no research into whether these PTSD treatments work for autistic people. Ideally, all treatments should be delivered by a professional with a good understanding of autism."
(4.) https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/autistic-burnout-explained/
"Autistic burnout is the intense physical, mental or emotional exhaustion, often accompanied by a loss of skills, that some adults with autism experience...Burnout can sometimes result in a loss of skills: An autistic woman who usually has strong verbal abilities may, for example, suddenly find herself unable to talk...Burnout is often a consequence of camouflaging, or masking, a strategy in which autistic people mimic neurotypical behavior by using scripts for small talk, forcing themselves to make eye contact or suppressing repetitive behaviors...It can also result from sensory overstimulation, such as a noisy bus commute; executive function demands such as having to juggle too many tasks at once; or stress associated with change...A first step is for autistic people to remove themselves from the situation that triggered the burnout. This could be as simple as going back to a hotel room to rest alone after a day of unpredictable social interactions at a conference. Others may need longer to recover. Some autistic people have described burnout that is so severe its effects have persisted for years...A key strategy for preventing burnout is self-knowledge. Autistic people can learn over time which situations are most likely to trigger burnout for them. They can also watch for signs that they are getting close to burnout: Some autistic people describe feeling disconnected from their bodies or experiencing tunnel vision in this state."
(5.) https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/autistic-burnout
"Autistic people often talk about autistic burnout as a source of distress, but it’s just starting to be recognised in wider conversations...Autistic burnout is a syndrome conceptualised as resulting from chronic life stress and a mismatch of expectations and abilities without adequate supports. It is characterised by pervasive, long-term (typically 3+ months) exhaustion, loss of function, and reduced tolerance to stimulus...Many first experienced autistic burnout during puberty, graduation from secondary education, or at other times of transition and changes in developmental expectations...They talked about struggling with independent living, loss of self-belief, and being frightened that the loss of skills from the autistic burnout might be permanent. They also talked about a lack of empathy from neurotypical people, who had difficulty understanding or relating to the autistic person’s experiences.
Some people related an increase in suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviour.•Masking their autistic traits, for example by suppressing autistic behaviours, pretending to be non-autistic, or working very hard to act in a non-autistic way. Difficult or unreachable expectations from family, school, work, or society in general. Stress from living in a world not set up to accommodate autistic people, for example managing the stress of having to be in noisy environments. Life-changes and transitions that are stressful for anyone, for example transitioning from school to work, experiencing a mental health crisis, or the death of someone close. Gaslighting or dismissal when attempting to describe the autistic burnout, for example being told that everyone has these experiences, that they just need to try harder, or that they are making it up. Poor boundaries or self-advocacy with respect to saying no, taking a break, or asking for help. This may be due to trauma, fear, lack of assistance in learning how, and a history of negative responses from others when they tried. Inability to take a break from stress that is so pervasive ('How do you take a break from life?').
Insufficient external resources and supports, for example inadequate disability services, lack of useful social support. Together, the life stressors contributed to a cumulative load of stress and the barriers to support meant they were unable to get relief from the stress. At some point, the expectations on the person far exceeded anything they were able to do. Every part of them gave up and autistic burnout resulted. Or, as one study participant summarised: 'Autistic burnout is a state of physical and mental fatigue, heightened stress, and diminished capacity to manage life skills, sensory input, and/or social interactions, which comes from years of being severely overtaxed by the strain of trying to live up to demands that are out of sync with our needs.’ "
(6.) https://embrace-autism.com/autistic-burnout/
"Like many other late-diagnosed autistics, my diagnosis came as a result of experiencing burnout. I went from being a Superwoman to withdrawing—seeming to have increased autistic traits, as well as suicidal ideation...Suddenly, no one seemed to need me as desperately as they had my whole life. You know, I was the perfect mom, perfect wife, perfect daughter-in-law, perfect clinician—that at least was what people used to say about me. I worked so hard at the facade that, at times, people told me they were intimidated about being around me because they felt inadequate. But the truth is that it was I who felt deeply flawed. I stopped attending family events and seeing friends; I just wanted to stay in my room and write about psychology. I tried to avoid coming down for dinner or seeing anyone.
I did not know this was burnout at the time, but this was the beginning of getting diagnosed. Just like my experience, it is common for autistic burnout to arise from us working very hard to fit in via camouflaging, and trying to be successful in family, career, and socializing. For many autistics, this is the cost we pay for forcing success in a neurotypical world and according to neurotypical standards. There is currently very little research focused on understanding autistic burnout. What we do know thus far, is that its cause can be distinguished from conditions like depression. Through interviewing autistics who experienced autistic burnout, Higgens et al. (2021) showed that it differed from depression in both its onset and treatment. In addition to clinical depression, research by Raymaker et al. (2020) also tells us that autistic burnout is different from work burnout. Importantly, they also found that autistic burnout originates from life stressors that added to their cumulative load. In their definition, autistic burnout occurs due to chronic life stress and a mismatch between expectations and abilities...unlike depression and work burnout, the onset of autistic burnout is a result of the social demands, masking, and fatigue associated with living in an unaccommodating society...Both my experiences of autistic burnout felt very much the way patients have described chronic fatigue to me...Importantly, autistic burnout differs from meltdowns, shutdowns, or depression attacks in duration and severity. Unlike meltdowns, shutdowns, and depression attacks, burnout can last from days to years rather than hours.
These factors depend on factors such as how long the person has been masking...Learning to unmask is another strategy for prevention and recovery...with autistics in particular, marching to everyone else’s drum beat causes energy depletion. In fact, high levels of masking is a primary cause for poor mental health in autistics.[5] Thus forgoing masking (as much as possible) can have significant health benefits...Keep in mind that treatment for autistic burnout includes social withdrawal, but not social isolation. Spending quality time with people you enjoy is essential...Both times I was burnt out, I also experienced significant relationship challenges...So I wonder if navigating the difficulties of relationships could be one social demand that added significant stress to my life...Notably, when it comes to interacting with neurotypicals, one study pointed to the lack of empathy shown by neurotypicals towards autistics experiencing burnout. This finding further emphasizes the need for autistic individuals to...accept social support from people we can relate to...One thing to keep in mind is that cognitive strategies are rarely effective for treating burnout. This is because autistic burnout is not a cognitive distortion but an overwhelming of the system."
(7.) https://neurodivergentinsights.com/misdiagnosis-monday/ptsd-and-autism
"Given the high rate of co-occurrence, it is more likely that missed diagnosis happens (vs. misdiagnosis). A missed diagnosis happens when a person’s PTSD is accurately diagnosed while their underlying neurotype (autism) remains missed. When they do co-occur this creates some additional complexity in the clinical presentation. I’ll cover these topics as well as provide clinicians will some ideas on how to adapt traditional trauma treatment for the Autistic person in mind. Given the co-occurrence of Autism and PTSD, it is likely rarely a misdiagnosis (it's likely accurate), but the autism may be missed. PTSD is rarely an inaccurate diagnosis; however, when PTSD is used to explain away the Autistic traits and experiences, it may be considered a 'misdiagnosis'...I've talked with countless people whose autism was missed because their traits were explained away through the framework of PTSD or c-PTSD. In our enthusiasm to help bring healing around trauma, we (the mental health field) are vulnerable to making trauma the new 'lens' from which everything is understood.⁠⁠ The field is at risk of falling into confirmation bias as we quickly reduce all sensory and dysregulation experiences to trauma.
There are many reasons it can be hard to tease out autism from PTSD...Given the significant overlap, it’s easy to see how one may miss the autism in favor of a PTSD diagnosis, especially if a trauma history is present. And most neurodivergent people do experience trauma, whether it is the big T trauma of victimization or the small t trauma of marginalization, bullying, and discrimination. This brings us to point 2, the intersection of Trauma and Autism: ...Autistics are much more likely to experience PTSD than the general population, especially women, genderqueer people, and BIPOC Autistics...In addition to being more vulnerable to victimization, we are also more vulnerable to developing PTSD following a traumatic experience. There are various theories about why this is: more active amygdala, inflexible nervous systems, more difficulty regulating emotions, and our tendency to take in the sensory experience with more intensity."
(8.) https://autcollab.org/2023/01/04/nurturing-healthy-autistic-relationships/
"Relationships between Autistic people are often more intense than relationships between culturally well adjusted neuronormative people. Healthy Autistic relationships include intensive collaboration on shared interests, overlapping areas of deep domain expertise, and joint exploration of unfamiliar terrain. The intensity of Autistic relationships is based on our ability to hyperfocus and our unbounded curiosity and desire to learn...We regularly need to remind each other not to be to hard on ourselves, because being highly sensitive to the needs of others, combined with our capacity for hyperfocus and perseverance, it is easy for us to neglect essential self-care such as eating, sleeping, exercise, meditation, etc. for too long.
Co-pilots and braking assistants As mutual co-pilots and braking assistants we help each other implement and stick to the routines that we need to not become overwhelmed. Assisting each other with routines especially applies to all the things that we consider to be chores, the things we struggle with, and which we perceive as distractions from the things we care about most. What is a difficult chore for one Autist is often an easy chore for another Autist, and in some cases even a domain of core expertise. We may never become good at some life skills, but we often become the ultimate experts in other life skills. Co-piloting vs co-dependency Unhealthy codependency in a relationship always involves a mismatch of expectations, including a lack of de-powered dialogue, which allows a gap in shared understanding to persist and grow over time. In contrast, healthy co-piloting is based on in-depth mutual understanding and de-powered dialogue, to jointly navigate the challenges of life. Furthermore, co-piloting is always embedded in a wider ecology of mutual care that includes further people, either in the same household or in other households.
Codependency easily arises in hypernormative industrialised societies that no longer emphasise healthy extended biological and chosen families, i.e. healthy ecologies of care, as the primary economic building blocks of society. Modern nuclear families are far too small to facilitate healthy co-piloting and mutual support within a family unit. Autistic relationships involve unusual dependencies between two people with Autistic levels of honesty. Often one or both parties in the relationship have a history of being abused, exploited, and mistreated by caregivers, employers, and healthcare professionals in the toxic hypercompetitive culture that surrounds us.
Vulnerable Autistic people have a tendency to become codependent on their abusers, and traumatised Autistic people who lack positive lived experience with healthy Autistic relationships and adequate support within a de-powered ecology of care can end up misreading each other. By failing to nuture mutual trust, openness is compromised, misunderstandings can accumulate, and the advice process breaks down. The relationship can start to be perceived as abusive, sometimes from both sides, depending on whether one or both parties lack experience with healthy Autistic relationships."
(9.) https://neuroclastic.com/on-rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-codependency-identity-how-to-get-out-from-behind-the-masks/
"Jung saw the libido not merely as sexual energy, but as a generalized life force or psychic energy. According to his theory, this energy is not only the driver behind our sexual desires but also fuels our spiritual, intellectual, and creative pursuits.*
It encapsulates the totality of the energy of life, incorporating all our drives and motivations.
In Jungian psychology, the libido is an important component of individuation, which is the process of integrating the conscious with the unconscious, while still maintaining one’s individuality.
*This process is key to the overall psychological development and mental health of an individual, and the libido, as the motivating psychic energy, plays a central role in it."
(.) https://www.simplypsychology.org/carl-jung.html
see also:
https://thisjungianlife.com/episode-193-libido-tracking-inner-energy/
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Libido
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Libido
(.)
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/autism-human-connection-and-the-double-empathy-problem/
https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/professional-practice/double-empathy
https://www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/double-empathy-explained/?fspec=1
(.)
https://www.neurodiverging.com/introduction-to-sensory-processing-disorde
https://www.harmonyrecoverync.com/sensory-processing-disorde
https://www.baddour.org/blog/posts/guide-to-sensory-processing-disorders
https://www.nacd.org/debilitating-sensory-addictions-dsas-stimming-and-fidgeting/

Vibhajjavada and Sarvāstivāda: Analysing the Heart Sutra from Theravadin Perspective—Part 14

5.1.15. Amata

The Vedas were readily available to Prince Siddhatta. The sages of Kapilavattu were the Vedic experts. They did not find amata (deathlessness) in the Vedas. However, they believed the prince would find it, so they left the palace and waited the prince for several years in the jungle. When he joined them, they supported him as he sought amata.
Pali and Sanskrit see amata differently:

[Pali] amata : (nt.) ambrosia; the deathless state.
[Sanskrit] Amata (अमत). 1. Sickness, disease. 2. Death. 3. Time.

The Buddha explains His finding to Tapussa in Tapussa Sutta AN 9.41:

With the complete transcending of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, I entered & remained in the cessation of perception & feeling. And as I saw with discernment, the mental fermentations went to their total end. [Alaya-vijnana: The Storehouse Consciousness: The Subconscious Source of All Experience (Barbara O'Brien)]

Mahayanists call the Buddha's achieve as Hinayana. But they do not get a say. Only the Buddha get a say what His sasana is or is not.
Amata Sutta (SN 47:41)

Monks, remain with your minds well-established in the four [satipatthana]. Don’t let the deathless be lost for you.

The Path to Amata

The path is old. It has existed since the first Buddha rose out of the muddy water at the dawn of time. Sakyamuni Buddha gave us the formular to reach amata as follow:

right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration [Access to Insight]

Samudaya Sacca

Avijja-paccaya sankhara: general activities are based on ignorance:

All beings are covered or spread over by and caught in the net of ditthi, the wrong belief. They are drifting in the current of ditthi. As such, seeing, for having perceived, in the hearts of Buddhas, towards beings, Great Compassion with pity has arisen.
The current of tanha, as has been stated, is generally flowing into the realm of four Apayas. Therefore, all those beings who are not yet liberated from the bonds of tanha and ditthi are immensely suffering after descending to the four nether worlds. Having clearly perceived this miserable condition of life, Buddha was moved to have pity towards all living beings. Emulating the example as shown by the Buddha, our male and female benefactors and all those who desire to follow His exemplary conduct can also try to develop karuna. [Caught in the net of Dittha, and drifting in the current of Ditthi (Mahasi Sayadaw)]

Like glue, tanha (craving) sticks us to the round of pain (dukkha samsara). Natural worldview is designed with the three cravings: sense-pleasure, existence and nonexistence (kama, bhava, vibhava). One wants nonexistence only when realises deep suffering without knowing whether it exists or not. Thus, natural worldview is ignorance (avijja).

5.1.16. Sammuti and Paramattha 1

Conventional Truth (Samutti Sacca) and Ultimate Truth (Paramattha Sacca)—Various traditions employ two concepts of truth without agreeing what is true.
Paramattha are citta, cetasika, rūpa (khandhas) and Nibbana. Generally, they are unknown or misunderstood if not explained by an ariya-puggala.
Sammuti Sacca is paññatti or concepts (names: nouns and pronouns) and conventions, which we employ for convenience. Samuti and our collective ego/need force us to conform and understand things according to them. Our mental and physical existences evolve in samuti.

Vasubandhu

Before converting to Mahayana and became a cofounder of Yogacara school (also Vijnanavada), Vasubandhu wrote Abhidharmakośa (Sarvāstivādi abhidharma), in which he presents Sarvāstivādi conventional truth (māyā) and ultimate truth (vijñāna, nirvana, space). The Mahayanists regard him as a second Buddha. Vasubandhu:

An entity, the cognition of which does not arise when it is destroyed and, mentally divided, is conventionally existent like a pot and water. Ultimate existence is otherwise.” [...] A pot and water are designated as conventionally existent therefore conventionally real for the concept “pot” ceases to exist when it is destroyed physically, and the concept “water” no longer arises when we conceptually exclude from it its shape, colour etc. [...]
(i) ultimate reality is both physically and logically irreducible, as it does not disintegrate when it is subjected to physical destruction and that its identity does not disappear when its parts are separated from it under logical analysis; [The Theory of Two Truths in India (Sonam Thakchoe)]

Tittha Sutta: the Vabhajjavadi Buddha talked about the parable of blind men speculating about an elephant.

Some recluses and brahmans, so called, Are deeply attached to their own views; People who only see one side of things Engage in quarrels and disputes.—Sakyamuni Buddha

Analysing the pot and water:
- Pot the object is a construct (saṅkhāra).
- Pot the word is sammuti.
- Pot the rūpa (khandha) and water the rūpa (khandha) are a paramattha.
What can be a good example of mentally divided?
the concept “water”: Vasubandhu did not know the four mahabhuta. Regarding to the shape of water, Bruce Lee developed a martial-art philosophy:

If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend—Bruce Lee.

[ultimate reality] does not disintegrate: Contrary to that, conditioned paramatthas are subject to change and impermanent; sassatavada (eternalism).

5.1.17. Rūpa Svabhāva

[Vasbandhu (Thakchoe):] (ii) ultimate reality does not borrow its nature from other things including its parts. Rather it exists independently in virtue of its intrinsic reality (svabhāva)

That is Sarvāstivādi Vasbandhu's position, which might violate Sarvāstivādi māyāvāda. Vijñaptimātra means the imaginations of the mind do not have svabhāva.
Is svabhāva (sabhāva) conventional or ultimate reality?
The sabhāva of the ultimate realities is ultimate reality.

For example, water is rūpa, so it has rūpa sabhāva (physical nature). Water is wet, etc. These properties of water would never change, or water would become something different. Water is an ultimate reality as its characters would not change.

The sabhāva of saṅkhāra is saṅkhāra.

For example, a cat, cat-ness or cat nature which might be evolving. cat is made of many parts, so we can identify them with their natures. Leg has leg nature; head has head nature, etc. Cat leg is somewhat unique, but a leg is a leg. Cat is different from other species, so we could identify the cat's unique characters.
Human and human nature, animal and animal nature, brahma and brahma nature... All of these are saṅkhāra. These differences will exist; however, each of them could develop/evolve differently gradually. The development of human and animal are fast. The evolution of brahma might be very slow. The point is we should acknowledge the nature of saṅkhāra is change (anicca). The Vibhannavadi Buddha was concerned about change, not how they change.

Sabhāva and Asabhāva Rūpa
[A Survey of Paramattha Dhammas: Chapter 4 - Exposition Of Paramattha Dhammas II: Rupa (Sujin Boriharnwanaket):]

[4]: Sabhāva rupa is a rupa with its own distinct nature. Sa in Pali means with, and bhāva means nature. There are also asabhāva rupas which, though classified among the 28 kinds of rupa, are not separate rupas with their own nature, but special qualities connected with other rupas. They will be explained later on.

sabhāva: natural; asabhāva: unnatural;
sabhāva rupa: natural elements: solid, liquid, gas, heat, space (pariccheda rupa);

The rupa which is space, ākāsa rupa, has the function of limiting or separating all the different groups or kalāpas of rupas. Space in this context is not outer space, but the infinitesimal space surrounding each kalāpa. After its function it is also called pariccheda rupa (pariccheda meaning limit or boundary) [...] Because of pariccheda rupa which surrounds each kalāpa, even large matter can be broken up into infinitely tiny particles; it can be broken up only at those points where there is space^\9])

Satipatthana is to understand the paramatthas:

[Pubbabhaga Magga:] Nama and rupa sabhava can be known only when you note at the moment of arising. [On the Path to Freedom: CHAPTER 6 TRAINING (Sayadaw U Pandita)]

That is to get rid of cittasaṅkhāra (wrong view):

It only has the sabhāva dhamma of rūpa lakkhaṇa, and seeing its nature. I am not seeing the cittasaṅkhāra such as woman, dog, etc. The visual form, sound, smell etc. are only sabhāva nature. Fragrance, smelly, sweet, sour, etc. (taste and smell cittasaṅkhāra are ceasing.) [...] If from the eye seeing woman, man, etc. sīla not stable. Sotāpanna sees the one Dhamma (eka-dhamma) of rūpa sabhāva, nāma sabhāva or seeing one sabhāva dhamma. The noblest knowing is this one sabhāva of knowing.
There are 40 samatha practices, practice with one of them as one’s preference. Knowledge comes from the doors of the six senses and their corresponding objects as the noblest knowing. Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and knowing are dhammas. Seeing is visual paramatā, hearing is sound paramatā … knowing is dhamma paramatā. Some thought that seeing was a concept. NO, seeing is paramatā. [The Way of a Stream Enterer (Dhamma Talks by Sayadaw U Ukkaṭṭha)]

rūpa sabhāva: dukkha sacca is the nature of the four mahabhuta and sense nature (vedanā: sight-seeing, sound-hearing, odor-smelling, touching, tasting, as per satipatthana)
nāma sabhāva: sabhāva of knowing or awareness, knowing; dukkha sacca as well;
paramatā: paramattha (vs. paññatti); knowing the paramattha (reality); yathā-bhūta-ñāṇa-dassana; vipassana-insight (penetrating cittasaṅkhāra); mind fixed on reality, as per the satipatthana; (paramatā: this definition is not related to the Pali literature);
Sayadaw U Ukkaṭṭha talks in Burmese about paramattha vs. paññatti and Dhammapada Verse 282 Potthilatthera Vatthu.

As instructed by the samanera, Thera Potthila kept his mind firmly fixed on the true nature of the body; he was very ardent and vigilant in his meditation.

the true nature of the body: rūpa sabhāva (rūpa dhamma); i.e. constantly changing (as a process); e.g. put a grain of salt on the tongue, and one can observe the change (not the taste, not saltiness);

What the young Arahat suggested was for Potthila not to allow //javana// merely to hang on to the five sense-doors of eye, ear, nose, tongue, and touch, but to shut them up and note only the mind-door so that impulsion could lead him on to insight-meditation. This gave the learned monk a clue to the method of vipassana-practice. When one sees, one must stop at the thought-moment of //votthapana// and note all phenomena with mindfulness. It is the same as saying: When you see, you just see it. Having practised meditation as suggested, Potthila attained Arahatship. [POTTHILA THERA (A Discourse on MALUKYAPUTTA SUTTA Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw)]

When you see, you just see it: to observe the nāma-rūpa sabhāva; paramattha, without paññatti or cittasaṅkhāra; yathā-bhūta-ñāṇa-dassana;
Sotāpanna sees the one Dhamma: the change is flowing; the mind is stilling, not following the flow; the cessation of cittasaṅkhāra as citta-visuddhi:

[visuddhi:] "Whosoever has cultivated, developed, and frequently practised 'equanimity regarding all formations' in him arises very strong faith known as determination (adhimokkha-saddhā) and his energy is better exerted, his mindfulness better established, his mind better concentrated, and a still stronger 'equanimity regarding the formations' arises. 'Now the path will reveal itself', thus thinking, the meditator contemplates with his equanimity-knowledge all formations as impermanent, etc., and thereafter that knowledge sinks into the subconscious stream of existence (s. bhavanga-sotā). Immediately afterwards there arises advertence at the mind-door (s. viññāna-kicca). And just like equanimity-knowledge, the adaptation-knowledge, too, takes as its object the formations, regarding them as something impermanent, miserable and impersonal. Thereupon, while continuing the uninterrupted continuity of consciousness (citta-santati), there arises the 1st impulsive moment (javana, q.v.), called 'preparation' (parikamma), taking the same formations as object. Immediately thereafter, with the same formations as object, there arises the 2nd impulsive moment, known as 'access' (upacāra). And again immediately after that, there arises the impulsive moment called 'adaptation' (anuloma)."
(VII) Purification of knowledge and vision (ñānadassana-visuddhi) is the knowledge associated with any of the 4 kinds of supermundane path-consciousness (s. ariyapuggala). [See Path of Purification, by Buddhaghosa, tr. by Ñyanamoli (BPS); Path of Freedom, by Upatissa (BPS)]

formations: saṅkhāra—means 'changing' in this context; Whosoever has cultivated, developed, and frequently practised 'equanimity regarding all changing (rūpa sabhāva/saṅkhāra) in him...
One should observe the rūpa sabhāva;

5.1.18. Sarvastivādi Māyāvāda and Citta-mātratā

Bhāvavevika:

Bhāvavevika is the originator of Sarvastivādi māyāvāda. He founded the two Svātantrika Madhyamaka schools (Sautrāntika and Yogācāra). They follow his Sarvastivādi māyāvādi two truths: the ultimate emptiness reality (bhagwan brahma) and the ultimate emptiness of reality (māyā).

[Bhāvavevika:] nonself or emptiness alone is the ultimate reality, and the rest—the entire range of dharmas—are ultimately empty of any intrinsic reality. [...] says Bhāvavevika because “The Lord (bhāgvan / bcom ldan ldas) has taught the two truths. [Thakchoe]

Bhagavan (bcom ldan ldas)

Sanskrit: {MSA} buddha ... bhagavat Comment: The term bcom ldan 'das is translated in accordance with the etymology favored in Tibet, where it is recognized that bhagavan also can be etymologized as one who possesses the six goodnesses (legs pa drug dang ldan pa), which seems to fit the more widely used translation as Blessed One.

Now how do you like to namo the Amitabha?

The Trisvabhavanirdesha Verses

[Kaz Tanahashi:]

Scholars believe that this short treatise, it’s only 38 verses long, is Vasubandhu’s last and most mature writing.

Vasubandhu's addenda to the Sarvastivādi māyāvāda are his final verses, which deal with three natures (svābhāva), including the Imagined Nature (māyā), the Other–Dependent Nature, and the Consummate Nature.

Vasubandhu's three-nature concept comprises the output of māyā (imaginatons) and māyā's reunion with the imagionator.
Why must the imaginations reunite with the imaginator?

1) The first nature is the Imagined Nature, which is the everyday world as we understand it.

The Imagined Nature is māyā.

[imagining nature] 2) The second nature is the Other–Dependent Nature, which Vasubandhu defines as the “causal” process of the thing’s fabrication, the causal story that brings about the imagined thing’s apparent nature—its middle way arising. This is the “how to; it couples natures one and two and emphasizes that both are simply imagined.

The Other–Dependent Nature is the manufacturing process of imagintions (māyā).

3) The third nature, the Consummate Nature, is the lack of duality. It is a singularity—the fact that the Imagined Nature and the Other-Dependent Natures do not exist as they appear, but rather exist in “as things are,” with no subject/object distinction.

The Consummate Nature (the lack of duality) means māyā has completely returned to brahmā.

Citta-mātratā (Only mind is reality)

[Kaz Tanahashi continues:]

Vasubandhu’s magician uses a mantra to make everyone see “the elephant.” So, (1) the mantra is compared to the store-consciousness; (2) Suchness–emptiness, or the consummate–or underlying non-dual is analogous to the wood; discriminating (3) is compared to discrete entities of the elephant’s appearance; and (4) duality is compared to the elephant itself.
[verse 27:] Like an elephant [māyā] that appears Through the power of a magician’s mantra [Ālayavijñāna/memory]—Only the percept appears, The elephant is completely nonexistent.

Explanation:

Mantra = storehouse consciousness [Ālayavijñāna]; Wood = consummate nature [the unification]; Elephant = duality [māyā]; Magician = our mind [brahmā];

Ālayavijñāna/memory:

The alaya-vijnana is the foundation or basis of all consciousness, and it contains impressions of all of our past actions*. These impressions, sankhara, form bija, or "seeds," and from these seeds, our thoughts, opinions, desires, and attachments grow. The alaya-vijnana forms the basis of our personalities as well.* [Alaya-vijnana: The Storehouse Consciousness (Barbara O'Brien)]

Ālayavijñāna is the foundation or basis of all consciousness: compare that with the industructible buddha-nature, which is awareness/consciousness (Bodhidharma).
The Heart Sutra is a mantra.

That is Sarvastivādi māyāvāda and the notion of citta-mātratā.

5.1.19. Reunion with the Super Self

[Sarvastivadi] authors almost unanimously accept vijñapti-mātratā or prajñapti-mātratā or citta-mātratā as the Yogācārin’s description of the absolute, undefiled, undifferentiated, non-dual, transcendent, pure, ultimate, permanent, unchanging, eternal, supra-mundane, unthinkable, Reality, which, according to them, is the same as Parniṣpanna-svabhāva, or Nirvāṇa, or Pure Consciousness, or Dharma-dhātu, or Dharma-kāya, or the Absolute Idea of Hegel, or the Brahman of Vedānta. [Vasubandhu: 5. Controversy over Vasubandhu as “Idealist” (Jonathan C. Gold)]

citta-mātratā: citta is Nirvana:
- Nirvana: Māyā (false imagination) is removed from the mind (awareness).
- Bodhisattva: Māyā is the physical body (only imagination), and the mind leaves the body by means of astral travel and will not return to the physical body but remain in buddha land. That is the tenth-stage nirvana of the bodhisattvas. They become Buddhas there. They have reunion with the super self (the original Tathagata), emptiness, space, oneness.
- Lotus sutra presents this nirvana (annihilationism/ucchedavada), which returns to emptiness (reunion with reality).
- Lankavatara presents this nirvana (eternalism/sassatavada) with buddha lands: Mahesvara, citta-gocara (thought realm).
- Other sutras seem to have different concepts, too, suggesting their authors did not understand or accept the original concept.
Ālayavijñāna is storehouse consciousness, the Universal Mind. Just like all storehouses, this storehouse must keep everything that is stored in it. If a storehouse is destroyed, all the stored items would be lost. Ālayavijñāna could not be impermanent, as it is consciousness. When someone reunites with the reality (brahman), his or her contents inside the storehouse might be destroyed.
citta is Nirvana:

[Lanka Chapter 2:] Even Nirvana and Samsara's world of life and death are aspects of the same thing, for there is no Nirvana except where is Samsara, and Samsara except where is Nirvana.

The same is said in the Vedanta:

[Advaita Vedanta:] The world has no separate existence apart from Brahman.

That is a major point that says Sarvastivādi māyāvāda (Mahayana) and Vedantin māyāvāda are the same.
Brāhman is the main part of the ancient Vedic creationism, as the origin of cause and the original creator.

[Britannica:] Brahma, one of the major gods of Hinduism from about 500 BCE to 500 CE, who was gradually eclipsed by Vishnu, Shiva, and the great Goddess (in her multiple aspects).

Mayavāda does not need to move on likely because it is not centerd around the brāhman priests as the sole guardians of the religious rituals.

Bhakti, in Hinduism, a movement emphasizing the mutual intense emotional attachment and love of a devotee toward a personal god and of the god for the devotee. According to the Bhagavadgita, a Hindu religious text, the path of bhakti, or bhakti-marga, is superior to the two other religious approaches, the path of knowledge (jnana) and the path of ritual and good works (karma). [...] Many, but not all, bhakti movements were open to people of both genders and all castes. Devotional practices included reciting the name of the god or goddess, singing hymns in praise of the deity, wearing or carrying identifying emblems, and undertaking pilgrimages to sacred places associated with the deity. [Bhakti Hinduism, Devotion & Rituals - Britannica]

That is to surrender to the Lord.

if Arjuna fights remembering Kṛṣṇa, then he will be able to remember Kṛṣṇa at the time of death. But one must be completely surrendered in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. [Transcendental loving service and surrender]

Abrahamic religions prefer submission.

After Completed Surrender

[Heart (Thich)] Avalokiteshvara [...] suddenly discovered that all of the five Skandhas are equally empty, and with this realisation he overcame all Ill-being.

How that happened:

[Lanka Chapter 6:] When [...] the twofold egolessness is fully understood, and the inconceivable transformation death of the Bodhisattva is attained - that which remains is the self-nature of the Tathagatas [...] which is realized in their deepest consciousness is their own Buddha-nature revealed as Tathagata.

the inconceivable transformation death of the Bodhisattva is attained : complete surrender
their own Buddha-nature : each mortal has own buddha-nature, but not own nature.
revealed as Tathagata : reaching the level of the super self: Noble Wisdom [āryajñāna] or anuttarasamyaksambodhi. The Heart Sutra prefers the latter in favour of prajña over jñāna.

Prajña (ध्यान, “wisdom”): the Dharma-saṃgraha (section 110) states that the Pali literature also informs us with these prajñā (panna (Pali): śruta-mayī (suta-maya panna), cintā-mayī (cinta-maya panna), bhāvanā-mayī (bhavana-maya panna). Prajña (Sanskrit) is paññā (Pali): Vipassanā-paññā, for example. But these are unrelated to Noble Wisdom [āryajñāna] or anuttarasamyaksambodhi.

Māyāvādi bhakti has the purpose of seeking self, according to Śaṅkara:

Bhakti is the seeking of men’s own true self. Nārada defines Bhakti as the extreme one to God. Śāṇḍilya defines it as extreme ‘attachment to God’. Śaṅkara’s definition of Bhakti is on Advaitic point of view. He blends Bhakti and Jñāna. He does this in ‘Brahmasūtrabhaṣya and in Gītabhaṣya’. [Śaṅkara’s Definition of Bhakti (Lathika M. P.)]

Māyāvāda is more of philosophical in nature, according to Krishna:

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu [Krishna] said, “I am a Māyāvādī in the renounced order of life, and I do not even know what transcendental loving service to the Lord is. I simply float in the ocean of Māyāvāda philosophy. [CC Madhya 8.124]

Brāhma fell from favour in Hindu religious movements. The same could be true to Sarvastivādi māyāvāda (Mahayana), too, but its sutras present the original Tathagata, who can be either Brāhma, Krishna or Siva.

[Dhammapada] Verse 396 - What is a Brāhman? He is no brahmin by mere lineage. Dispossessed, unattached, he is indeed the true brahmin.

The Sakyamuni Buddha, who was born in a major Vedic society, had a great impact on the concept of brāhman.

Prajña an Amitabha God:

Prajña (प्रज्ञ) is one of the twenty Amitābha gods in the Purana and Itihasa.
Avalokiteśvara is Siva. Amitabha gods could be Amitabha Buddha. Prajña could be Prajña-paramita.
Avalokiteśvara teaching about Prajña and maya (svabhāva-śūnya) as a Buddhist tradition is significant.

Ratvata (in) — the fifth Manu, during his epoch were Devabahu and six other sages, Gods named “Abhutarajasas. Vibhu was Indra, Amitabha and other three ganas of gods each 14 in number, Hiranyaroma and other SIX formed the saptarsis, Balabandhu and others were his sons, of the Priyavrata line. [THE PURANA INDEX VOLUME 3, page 100]

Amitabha and other three ganas of gods: Amitabha and Avalokiteśvara (Śiva) are the names of gods not unique to Mahayana. Having these names together as the most important individuals makes Mahayana completely different from Theravada.
Amitabha Ganas: Amitabha community (a Buddha-land probably qualifies as a ganas)
- Ganas: a class of demigods who attend Śiva; community; troop; attendants;
- 'Amitabha ganas' is only found in The Purana Index by V. R. Rallachandra Dikshitar, who was a professor of history and archaeology in the University of Madras and the author of standard text books on Indian history.

Sadhguru: In the yogic lore, the ganas are all Shiva’s friends. They were the ones who were always around him. Though he had disciples, a wife and many other admirers, his private company was always ganas.

5.1.20. Was māyā a discovery?

[Heart (Thich)] Avalokiteshvara [...] suddenly discovered that all of the five Skandhas are equally empty, and with this realisation he overcame all Ill-being [...] Whoever can see this no longer needs anything to attain.

Thich Nhat Hanh's translation might be at odd with Lankavatara, Lotus and Prajñaparamita because in māyāvāda, prajñā, Amitabha and Avalokiteśvara are lumped together as the original Tathagata (mind/Brāhma). That is why there is nothing to attain, there is nothing to discover.
The longer version of the Heart Sutra does not have the concept of discovery:

[Heart (Wiki):] 1.11 “There is no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no nonattainment.

Avalokiteśvara did not discover the wisdom, but he just knew it the way we can discuss aboust māyā and brahma.

[Heart (Red, page 132-133):] Here, the bodhisattva's refuge is in wisdom alone [...] Thus, bodhisattvas know that all dharmas are marked with emptiness and that there is nothing to attain or not to attain. And realizing there is nothing to attain or not to attain, they take refuge in this realization.

The historical fact is the Mahayanist māyāvāda was originated by Vasubandhu and the Sarvastivādis. That is why he is considered as a second Buddha. Māyāvāda was considered special because it was a revolutionary Buddhist philosophy, although it contains no Buddhism (the Dhamma-Vinaya). Avalokiteśvara could only discover māyā (svabhāva-śūnya) and brāhma (gotra-svabhāva). There is nothing else to find.

[Ethan Mills:] some contemporary interpreters fail to understand how thoroughly revisionary and revolutionary Vasubandhu’s philosophy is

Vasubandhu rediscovered māyā (svabhāva-śūnya) in the Vedas and wrote about it until it became Sarvastivādi Māyāvāda. His final work the Trisvabhavanirdesha comprises three natures: māyā, imagination and reunion. He did however make them very complicated and indecipherable.

Self-Nature vs Sakkayaditthi

atta-vādupādāna: 'attachment to the ego-belief', is one of the 4 kinds of clinging (upādāna, q.v.).

Avalokiteśvara only discovered the svakāya. In his mind was mind only (citta-matrata).

The Five Khandhas being ungovernable, are not Atta. Finding it ungovernable and unresponsive to one's own wish while contemplating and noting, and realising it as 'Non-Self', is Anattanupassana-nana. [Mahasi Sayadaw - Part 4]
[For Vasubandhu,] the “self” is made up of constantly-changing sensory organs, sensory impressions, ideas, and mental events. These separate, momentary elements are real, but their imagined unity—as an enduring “I”—is a false projection [...] Close philosophical and introspective attention reveals that what seemed like a solid, coherent whole is in fact a false mental construction based upon a failure to notice its countless, fluctuating parts. [2.1 Disproof of the Self (Jonathan C. Gold)]

Each separate, momentary element is real as self. Self or awareness (the mind) appears inconstantly inside māyā (form) due to the false imagination, which Lankavatara discusses in detail: from māyā to nirvana via 10 stages of the nirvana of the boddhisattvas.
Whose false imagination is it? Māyā cannot imagine, as it has no self (svābhāva); and thus, māyā's I”—is a false projection.
However, māyā must reunite with the mind (the original Tathagata/brahma).

Yogacara (Yogachara / Vijnanavada / Vajrayana)

The Yogachara (or Vijnanavada) school was founded, according to tradition, by the brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu (4th/5th century CE) and by Sthiramati (6th century), who systematized doctrines found in the Lankavatara-sutra and the Mahayana-shraddhotpada-shastra (attributed to Ashvaghosha but probably written in Central Asia or in China). Later Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism include doctrines that were to be influenced by Yogachara teaching.

The brothers had written too much. They must get their sutras read by millions.

Self is imagined, a construct (saṅkhāra) and a mistake.

To think with loving attachment, considering oneself as a living being, or an atta, individual or 'Self', in spite of the fact that in the personalities of themselves there exists only a continual phenomenal process of rupa and nama, is mere attaditthi. It is also called sakkayaditthi. "Sakkaya" means an aggregate of rupas and namas which obviously exists in the so-called body. To think of these aggregates of rupas and namas as a living being, or an atta - being, or "I" or "Self', is nothing but ditthi. It is known as sakkayaditthi, because of an erroneous conception or false belief in this aggregate of rupa-nama. [Mahasi Sayadaw - Part 6 of Brahmavihara Dhamma]

Mahāyanist literatures do not have a term similar to sakkāyaditthi. However, they offer svakāya (sva-kāya / own body), which refers to inner body parts (or guts). Svakāya is related to svābhāvakāya (svābhāva-kāya / self-nature body).
In terms of svakāya, Mahayana presents self (self-nature / svābhāva) inside the five aggregates and rejects self being outside them. That demonstrates self being awareness/consciousness. All the technical terms related to consciousness and nature (svābhāva) support the notion of self or the self system (citta-matrata).

L. Ron Hubbard (Author of Battlefield Earth) also founded a religion called Scientology. You don't get to know what it is without spending a significant amount of money. They focus on religion like a business.

You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion—L. Ron Hubbard

The Mahayanist Attavada:

[Lanka Chapter 6:] this Buddha-nature immanent in everyone is eternal, unchanging, auspicious.

The meaning of Buddha-nature in everyone is provided in the Upanishads.

[Upanishads:] Atman is non-duality, all-pervading, the same in all creatures, pure, attributeless, beyond prakriti, and free from the changes of birth and growth.

The notion of human being māyā without own svabhāva is designed for dehumanisation with significant impact on human psychology and general society.
Māyā without own svabhāva is false.
Nature being self is a false theory.
Consciousness being self is another false theory.
Sabhāva (nature): everything has its own sabhāva or dhamma (properties); for example, The nature of love, the nature of family, the nature of art, etc.
Nature is not a theory but law and properties:
- Human nature (sabhāva) is what makes human to be human;
- Animal nature is animal instinct, shape, structure, etc.;
- Nature (sabhāva) in that sense is not related to self.

[ Satyajit—A:] there is no difference between Dhamma and intrinsic nature (Sabhāva) [...] Visuddhimagga mentions that ‘Dhamma means but intrinsic nature.’ [...] Therefore, intrinsic nature is not supposed to exist independently. [...] (attano sabhâvaṃ dhâretiti dhammo’ DhsA.121-122)” [:] Dhamma is the bearer and sabhāva is that which is born by the Dhamma. [Then] Dhamma becomes the agent (atta) of sabhāva and that is against [Vibhajjavadi] Buddhism. Duality between Dhamma and Sabhâva is only an attribution made for the convenience of definition. For in actual sense Dhamma and Sabhāva denote the same actuality [...] the terms Dhamma and Sabhāva [are] interchangeably.

Dhamma means nature, natural law, phenomena, instinct, way, properties, etc.
Dhammata means natural, naturally, or as (its, his, her) nature goes.
Sabhāva means nature.
Sabhāva dhamma means natural law, natural phenomena, etc.
Dhamma sabhāva means the nature of phenomenon, the nature of nature (law, phenomena, instinct, way, properties, etc. ).
Dhamma is sabhāva: the natural law is natural.
Sabhāva is a dhamma: nature is a law, a thing, a phenomena, a reality, etc.
Dhamma and Sabhāva are not two things. Dhamma one thing and Sabhāva another thing—no, they are not.
Dhamma is not self: nature is anatta.
Sabhāva is anatta: nature is not self (not me, not mine, not I am).
Buddha Dhamma: the laws of nature taught by the Vibhajjavadi Buddha.
Buddha Sasana: the Vibhannavadi Buddha's teaching of the natural laws.

SXOOF (ASK @ 0.051)

SX.CN (ASK @ 0.07)

St-Georges Eco-Mining Corp. would like to provide an update on the progress of its battery recycling operations and offer some guidance on the progress of other initiatives.
~EVSX~
Battery Operations
Per the terms of the environmental compliance approval issued to EVSX by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, the financial assurance required by the Ministry is now in place, having been accepted in the form of an all-cash guarantee.
The Company is now in the process of completing the commissioning of its 4,200 tons per year industrial line at its Thorold, Ontario location, for a final inspection by the pertinent regulatory authorities.
Management is now negotiating the form of the battery allocations with its sponsors and partners. It has also reactivated discussions with suppliers that require recycling credits.
The aim is to use the results obtained in the first three months of battery processing operations to help finance the installation of the first of the larger multi-chemistry lines in storage at the plant.
Entities with large volumes of lithium batteries are soliciting the Company to provide processing capacity. After obtaining an update to its operational and environmental permits, the Company will be better positioned to enter this market segment.
This is expected to occur after accumulating several months of financial and technical data from the operations of its alkaline industrial line.
Management is now planning to use the Thorold plant as its showcase.
All expansion projects outside Thorold are expected to be done via partners, joint ventures, or licensing agreements.
With discussions at different stages, the Company is prioritizing potential partnerships with private and para-public entities with a clear and fast track to permitting and in already established adjacent or complementary operations.
~St-Georges Metallurgy~
Freeing Up Management Resources
EVSX Corp. is the entry point for the Company into the supply of blackmass for St-Georges Metallurgy (SXM), where margins are expected to be significantly more important.
Although industrial operations experience exists within the current management, EVSX should transition from the current management to hired operators in the future.
This move frees up St-Georges management to focus on deploying SXM's blackmass metallurgical processes where expertise is not interchangeable.
Micronutrient and Soil Regeneration Agreement
SXM has entered into an updated agreement with an industrial farming group to process the initial two years of mainly manganese-zinc-potassium hydroxide blackmass that EVSX operations will generate.
The partners expect to create a joint venture following the initial testing period.
The product blend design and the request for government certification will allow the joint venture to sell its high-value micronutrient and soil regenerator blends to big box stores.
Initial research has shown that in some contexts, these products could bring higher profits than the production of ferro-manganese and zinc.
This will provide flexibility to the partners to route the blackmass to the most profitable operations based on market conditions.
U.S. Subsidiary
St-Georges Metallurgy Corp. expects to create a U.S. subsidiary that will allow it to meet some of the requirements for United States Department of Defense Title III grants.
Lithium Technology Licensing Agreement
The Company would also like to disclose that it has entered into an exclusive agreement with LiOH Corp., a corporation created to finance and market SXM lithium technology.
Frank Dumas, an officer of St-Georges, is the company's president, and certain officers, directors, and shareholders of St-Georges have become shareholders of the new entity.
The Intellectual Property license is not transferable and is limited to the processing of mining feedstock exclusively.
Hybrid operations, from battery blackmass, metal recycling, and other mineral sources supplemented by primary mined material, are not part of the license and are still expected to be operated by SXM.
LiOH will pay all cash disbursements required to finance and operate the initial showcase lithium nitrate and lithium hydroxide operations.
The initial budget calls for disbursements of $5m to $8m. No cash commitment from SXM is required. Equipment manufacturers and governments are expected to contribute to portions of the financing.
St-Georges will not have to raise money for this operation, and its contribution is limited to access to its scientists and innovation team.
LiOH will finance any potential IP challenge. A timeline established by the partners requires disseminating a feasibility study and starting the preliminary engineering work for the larger industrial plant by March 31, 2027.
St-Georges will receive 8% of the outstanding shares of LiOH either at the time of a public listing or at the start of the commercial operations that coincide with the start of the regular royalty payments.
LiOH will pay an initial advance royalty fee of $125,000 before year-end and will pay advance royalty fees of $125,000 each year until commercial operations start.
Royalty Calculation
For all its operations, LiOH shall pay SX Royalties as follows:
For the period starting from the date on which LiOH starts to process lithium-bearing material until the date the cumulative operations reached the milestone of 10,000 tons of lithium-bearing material being processed in connection with the Manufacture of Licensed Product (the "First Royalty") there are no Royalties payable.
For the period starting from the date on which LiOH reaches the initial milestone of 10,000 tons of lithium-bearing material being processed and for the initial 250,000 tons of lithium-bearing material being processed annually, the Royalties owed per quarter, shall be equal to three percent (3%) of the Net Sales of Licensed Product Manufactured and sold within the relevant quarter and when payment for the product is received.
For the period starting from the second milestone where LiOH reaches an annual processing production for lithium-bearing material in excess of the initial 250,000 tons annually, the excess production of Licensed Product will be applied (the "Second Royalty"),

the excess Royalties owed per quarter shall be increased by two percent (2%) for a cumulative total of five percent (5%) of the Net Sales of Licensed Product Manufactured and sold within the relevant quarter on the excess material, with no effect on the initial 250,000 tons of production of lithium-bearing material which will remain under the First Royalties payment structure and remain at three percent (3%).

Royalty payments shall be calculated and accrued on a quarterly basis and pro-rated, as applicable, per calendar year [(i.e., March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31)] and LiOH shall pay to SX all outstanding amounts within thirty (30) days of the reception of payment for the products sold.
LiOH shall deliver a business summary for every quarter that summarizes, among other things, the gross amount billed and calculation of Net Sales for the Licensed Products.
Each payment shall be accompanied by a statement indicating the calculation of the Royalties for each Plant in Operation.
Royalty Buy Back Right on "Second Royalty":
During the Second Royalty Term, at any time after a Plant has reached a processing level of 250,000 tons or more of spodumene in connection with the Manufacture of Licensed Products, LiOH shall have the right (the "Royalty Buy Back Option") to repurchase a portion of SX's right, title and interest in and to the Royalties hereunder in consideration of paying CA $25,000,000 (the "Buy Back Price").
Upon payment of the Buy Back Price, the Royalties shall be reduced from five percent (5%) of the Net Sales to three percent (3%) of the Net Sale. LiOH may exercise the Royalty Buy Back Option by delivering to SX a written notice of exercise (the "Royalty Buy Back Notice") at any moment and the buy back of the second royalty will become effective on the 1^st day of the following quarter. Thereafter, the Royalties set out in Section 3.2.1(C) shall be reduced to three percent (3%) for the remainder of the Second Royalty Term.
~H2SX~
Demonstration Plant
The Company is working on a US$7.5m financing for which it has received interest and is initiating due diligence with institutions' placees.
Current operations are setting up the demonstration plant in Seoul, South Korea. H2SX is expected to contribute equally to the proposed budget to put the plant into operation with its Korean partner and the South Korean government.
Ownership Dilution
St-Georges expects to have its position diluted by the current financing and might also sell portions of its holding to stay under 20% of the total equity of H2SX.
New Intellectual Property
H2SX expects to receive an exclusive and perpetual license for two new provisional patents covering a newly discovered method to make battery-grade carbon with methane-generated hydrogen as a by-product.
~St-Georges Eco-Mining Corp~
Québec Exploration
A more comprehensive press release that covers the operations at Manicouagan, an update on permits and technical NI 43-101 reports, and 2024 exploration plans will be issued.
It will also include the initial observations on a prospective niobium discovery that is taking shape on the Notre-Dame Niobium Critical Minerals Project.
~Iceland Resources~
IR is completing due diligence with companies that have shown interest in investing directly into its equity prior to its proposed spin off via a plan of arrangement and the listing of its shares in Europe and North America. The Company is also in the process of assembling a team of seasoned directors and executives in preparation for its next phase of development.
~Other Corporate Matters~
Fenix Battery Metals Inc.
The Company is currently negotiating with and expects to finalize a detailed agreement with FeNiX Battery Metals, a company led by Enrico Di Cesare, a director and officer of St-Georges Eco-Mining Corp. FeNiX would be responsible for financing all its operations. An equity payment would be received by St-Georges in shares of FeNiX prior to a going public transaction.
FeNiX has developed metallurgical technologies that could significantly improve the bottom line and the environmental record of the iron and steel-making industry.
The developments for ferro nickel and ferro manganese are of strategic interest for the St-Georges ecosystem.
Financing Offering
The Company is expecting to announce a financing offering for $500k to $750k in the form of a convertible debenture with two half warrants per tranche of unit value of $0.10. The conversion mechanism shall be a discount to market at the time of the conversion.
The interest will be paid in shares of the Company on a quarterly basis.
The Company expects to announce the details of the financing in a future press release. The proceeds would be used to launch the operations at its Thorold, Ontario plant and for administrative purposes.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
~‘Neha Edah Tally"~ NEHA EDAH TALLY Corporate Secretary of St-Georges Eco-Mining Corp.
~About St-Georges Eco-Mining Corp.~
St-Georges develops new technologies to solve some of the most common environmental problems in the mining sector, including maximizing metal recovery and full-circle battery recycling.
The Company explores for nickel & PGEs on the Manicouagan and Julie Projects on Quebec's North Shore and has multiple exploration projects in Iceland, including the Thor Gold Project.
Headquartered in Montreal, StGeorges' stock is listed on the CSE under the symbol SX and trades on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol 85G1 and as SXOOF on the OTCQB Venture Market for early stage and developing U.S. and international companies.
Companies are current in their reporting and undergo an annual verification and management certification process. Investors can find Real-Time quotes and market information for the company on www.otcmarkets.com
Visit the Company website at https://www.stgeorgesecomining.com For all other inquiries: [public@stgeorgesecomining.com](mailto:public@stgeorgesecomining.com)
The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this release.
SOURCE: St-Georges Eco-Mining Corp.

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