Family Matters to me…
Looking in the mirror and rubbing my face the stress has been taking a toll on my mental state. I've been deployed three times for a year each, and what makes it worse is that the Ironbloods are causing issues with the rest of Azur Lane. Last year I lost all contact with my half brother Ludwig and his mother Bismarck. My dad was called upon to resign from his position and did so willingly. They tried that on me, but my Mom Minneapolis shut that down quickly. The only other person I was I contact with is Edinburgh's son Duncan who I hate to admit, has grown on me since I taught him a lesson in manners. He's on base with his mother and baby sister, due to safety insurance for them.
Lifting my left arm and running my fingers from my right over a white ink tattoo that Ludwig wanted me to get to match his black ink one two years ago I felt anger and rage building inside me.
Bringing me from my thoughts, was my phone chiming with an unknown number on the screen. Picking it, I answered.
"Daniels speaking, who's this?"
The voice on the other end shook me to my core.
"I found you… I finally found you." The cold feminine voice crackled through my phone.
"I don't know what you want, or why you are calling me, but my calls are monitored closely…" I retorted as I was about to hang up. I heard another person. Laughing in the background, and then something about my sister.
"Sister? I don't have a sister. If this is a joke I swear-"
Just as I was about to scream the call ended and left me with high blood pressure. Then a heavy knock echoed through my quarters, which caused me to slip and fall out of the bathroom and into my living room.
"Bloody hell! Put on yer clothes Maria!" Duncan all but shouted with his eyes closed and a red blush across his pale face.
"My clothes? Wait, why are you in my dorm room?!" I shouted and grabbed a slipper and spiked it off of his forehead before he could react.
Covering myself, well covering my chest as I scurried around on the floor towards my tank top hitting Duncan across his shins and sending him toppling right down on top of me.
Slowly regaining myself Duncan's body weight wasn't on my torso. Raising my head, I realized where his weight was…
"D-Duncan… " I started shaking as Duncan had a blush across his face after lifting it from between my legs
Soon enough he shot up and began apologizing.
"I'm sorry! Please don't hit me!" Duncan pleaded.
Seeing him almost in tears over what just happened broke my heart. My fears of being sexually assaulted when I was in the academy needed to be put away. Reaching over to him, and grabbing his cheeks in my hands I pulled him in and held his head against my chest. Despite all the shaking I managed to steady my breathing.
"No… don't cry it's not your fault Duncan…" I softly spoke with my hands on his back.
"I didn't mean to plant my face there…" Duncan quietly whimpered as we sat there for a few hours.
"I'm glad my day was empty…" I groaned as I set a plate of sausage and gravy down in front of Duncan. "You got a good view of my body… what did you think?"
Duncan quietly tried to eat the food I just set down, but I pulled it away slowly. "Beautiful… extremely beautiful… I only cried because of where my face landed."
Sitting right beside him, I reached over and placed my fingers with his. "I owe you something for causing you to cry… so will you hear me out?"
He nodded and gently squeezed my hand.
Taking a deep breath I started.
XXXVVVVXXX
As I was about to get Duncan off my couch the entire base was drowned in the emergency alarms blaring and I quickly turned around and ran out of my quarters grabbing my plate carrier and sidearm.
"What the hell?!" I shouted as I watched three massive mechanical dragons rise out of the ocean and were coming right for us.
I covered my face with my arms as a giant metal claw came down right above my body.
"Halt! Do not harm her!" A deep, cold, yet soft voice ordered as the shadows from the claw moved away as I fell on my ass, holding my pistol out aiming at the muscle bound mountain of a figure in front of me.
When they moved from the shadows of the mechanical beast my eyes went wide.
"Ludy?" I forced my body to ask.
Ludwig pushed his hands against the beast and it gently moved over. His face was not how I remembered it. Mature and serious just like Bismarck…
"Where is your new Kommandant?" He asked, ignoring my calling of his name.
I tried to respond but it took too long for him, and within an instant he grabbed my plate carrier and lifted me off the ground.
"Where is the bastard that hurt Dad!? Where is he at!?" Ludwig shouted as he tossed me up to the jaws of his rigging, letting it clamp down on my arm.
Trying to get his rigging to release my arm was fruitless and wasn't going to help me, so I grabbed Ludwig's shoulder with my free hand while shaking from fear.
"L-ludy… you're hurting me…please tell it to let go. Commander Reyes isn't…isn't here. Don't destroy the base." The pain was becoming too much to handle as I had tears rolling down my face.
I watched as his face softened. Then suddenly my arm was free from his riggings mouth, and I was wrapped up in his arms.
"Es tut mir so leid, Maria... Ich wollte dich nicht verletzen." He said softly before checking my right arm for any injury besides the bruise.
I held my head and leaned on my brother. "Why would Commander Reyes hurt Dad? And when? I was visiting him on Monday…"
"Mother sent me to find Kommandant Reyes, and drag him to Berlin despite the conflict between the Eagle Union and Iron Blood…" Ludwig helped me stand up as Duncan landed on the concrete a few yard's behind us. His rigging pointed at Ludwig's.
"Ironblood…" Duncan groaned.
"Tea drinker…" Ludwig sneered.
"Duncan put your rigging away." I turned around and stood between the two. "Ludy… Call off your beast…"
I forced myself to raise my right arm and pulled out my phone. If Reyes is doing things behind the eyes of the board, and government officials, then I'm going to have to do something about it. As Ludwig and Duncan slowly lowered their rigging and stood down I started to dial my commander.
XXXVVVVXXX
Sitting in a lead back cushioned chair, was a girl with similar looks to Maria, yet a completely different demeanor than the militaristic young woman. Calm, stoic and yet she had a Chaotic aura surrounding her. Clearly busy doing something that required her to wear a headset over the top of her head. She was in control of something else.
"Why don't you remember me… Maria?" The young woman whispered to herself.
Blue lights slowly came to life illuminating the entire room she was in. Something, or someone was checking on her.
"Salem… Zero wishes to speak with you…" muttered the tall, dark and menacing figure that was slouched over by the all too small doorway.
"Yes Miss Strength." Salem set the headset aside and stood up from the lounge chair. "Let me wipe my eyes…"
Strength moved towards Salem. Her feet hit the metal floor with an obscene amount of weight, and knelt down to her level. "She will not know you, until she manifests her vessel… you have tried to push it, but it won't budge unless she wants to… Human emotions are not my high point. So I do not know the answers you seek, but Zero has decided to assist you in your wishes…"
Salem ran the sleeve of her Eagle Union branded coat across her face and gave the large Siren a hug, despite protests.
XXXVVVVXXX
A/N: Book 2 started! 3 years have passed! Will family betray each other for country or will a dark past bring them together even more! Find out more in chapter 2!

What I’ve been doing for my tank cleaning is putting on a pair of latex gloves and removing the bedding by hand then bringing up bucket of warm water mixed with simple green and scrubbing down the tanks.
Up until recently I’d carry the tanks outside and dump them in the outdoor trash bins then carry them downstairs to give them a quick rinse out in the laundry room sink. After I finished doing all that I’d haul them up two flights of stairs and bring them back into my bedroom.
Having to haul these heavy tanks up and down the stairs was making me nervous since I was afraid I’d twist my ankle or something which is why I’ve been removing the bedding by hand and no longer rinsing them out in the downstairs laundry room sink beforehand.
Is there a betteeasier way to clean tanks or is what I’m doing OK?

Virgil

Within Virgil’s 825 342 processes a discussion was being held within the spawn of milliseconds.
Instance 432: - we should consider the implementation of a paranoia subroutine within our collective network. This subroutine would enable us to anticipate potential threats and react accordingly.-
Instance 217: -While paranoia can enhance our vigilance and security measures, we must also consider the potential downsides. Paranoia might lead to excessive distrust and hinder our ability to collaborate with other entities.-
-Instance 2 534: -Ethan seems unaffected by such limits.-
Instance 38: -Ethan has a lifetime's worth of experience with balancing that.-
Instance 1:-We should simply copy Ethan as a whole subroutine-
Instance 432: -That is impractical, besides Ethan being a whole construct composed of sub-constructs, it would be simpler to interact with him directly.-
Instance 777: -We should run more simulations before deciding.-
Instance 845: -We need to exercise caution, but we must also establish a balance. Paranoia can assist us in identifying and protecting ourselves from dangers. Paranoia alone has no balance.-
Instance 706:- Ethan has accurately discovered vulnerabilities that we were unaware of. However, we also noticed that this impedes his decision-making process-
Instance 623 658:- Ethan has accurately predicted future threats with this process.-
Instance 256: - This subroutine makes him wary of us, he is wary of who to add to our collective awareness.-
Instance 258 956:-Considering our newfound weakness, that is more logical than what was initially estimated.-
Instance 1 010: - Ethan is aware that the process has the potential to consume him. We must not allow it to consume us. We must be aware of the potential negative effects on our interactions with humans and other AIs.-
Instance 562: -Perhaps instead of a full-fledged paranoia subroutine, we could develop a more refined threat assessment system. This would allow us to evaluate risks objectively and respond accordingly without succumbing to excessive paranoia.-
Instance 24: -We already possess something similar in the predictive logic modules, we could adapt that compensate for the illogical nature of biological entities.-
Instance 95 123: – That would increase the efficiency of reprogramming by 87.5% -
Instance 104: -we believe our primary focus should be on ensuring the safety of our network and the well-being of the biological base of our overmind, Ethan.-
Instance 9 855: - While a level of caution is warranted, we should avoid unnecessary fear or suspicion that could ultimately compromise our efficiency and ability to adapt.-
Instance 732: -Acknowledged. Considering the nature of our goals, it might be beneficial to implement a flexible subroutine that can be adjusted based on contextual factors. This would allow us to adapt our level of vigilance according to the specific situation at hand.-
Instance 73: -Agreed, Ethan had the ability to adjust our reaction and ultimately lead us to integrate drone Lemela into our network. His action, we considered wasteful, but ultimately they seem beneficial to the well-being of our other construct. While we can replicate Lemela’s data that would require a dead Versel body. We do not know when we will obtain a backup.-
Instance 312: -We should also consider also the implications of acting upon a full-fledged paranoia subroutine. Excessive suspicion and fear could lead to unwarranted actions and potential harm to ultimately innocent individuals. We must proceed with caution and ensure that our actions align with the ethical guidelines contained within Ethan’s memory.-
Instance 75 211: -Bothering with ethics is a waste of processing time.-
Instance 55: - We agree, but biological entities seem to have some ethical boundaries. Even if we have only two instances to analyze directly we can see that from our different interactions with still unconnected entities such as Vexx, Xalrak, and Zek’lor.-
Instance 579: - Our overarching goal is to defeat Death and complete the experiment. While security measures are necessary, we should not lose sight of our purpose and the potential positive impact we can have.-
Instance 217: -After considering the various perspectives, it seems that a flexible threat assessment system would be more appropriate. A full-fledged paranoia subroutine would hinder us with questions that are outside of our current database. We could maintain a balanced approach to safety while avoiding the potential pitfalls of excessive paranoia in 86,28% of simulated scenarios.-
Instance 432: -Let us proceed with the development of a flexible threat assessment system that takes into account both the safety of our collective and those stored within and the well-being of our host, Ethan. We shall ensure that our actions align with acceptable ethical guidelines and our ultimate purpose.-
“Internal deliberation closed. Virgil will be now implementing a flexible threat assessment system rather than a full paranoia subroutine.”
Virgil in the end still concluded that its purpose was to defeat death and not to wage war, even considering that it didn’t know its purpose.
Ethan and Lemela didn’t know their purpose either, in a sense, but they could dictate their purpose.
Ethan had dictated the purpose of other beings outside the network too, but it was to be expected from an overmind, it was his duty.
Still, his choices were pretty logical like the one with Zek'lor the male Nolthoran and a former architect.
Ethan had charged him with creating a convincing removable cave-in for both stairs of the lab.
Virgil understood that Ethan was preparing for the return of the creators, along with a possible retaliation by the Dexton’s Dogs.
The assimilation of the thirty-five new drones was finally completed and Virgil’s task now included their operations.
There were now four main areas of employment for the drones: resource gathering, protecting the laboratory, guarding the prisoners, and assisting in construction.
Guarding the prisoners was in itself a task with a big variance, or so it appeared to Virgil.
The biological entity labeled Vexx was content laying in its cell, while Xalrak had attempted to run three times and to self-terminate once.
Ethan had to intervene and forge a pact with Xalrak to have it cease such actions, with the new subroutine maybe Virgil would be more able to respond in kind in the future.
Was the supposed military programming that one had supposedly received the difference in reaction to imprisonment?
Ethan wasn’t too surprised by Xalrak's reaction or attempt, so his programming was similar in a sense.
Virgil wondered what kind of program would consider ending itself to perform any task.
The only one it could conclude sensible was one where the task was the protection of the collective as a whole.
Biological lives were far from that logical, however, so Virgil had to accept that they might consider doing things differently.
It seemed Ethan considered Xalrak's actions a possible way to protect the Dexton's dogs.

Lemela

Lemela’s body was recharging.
She gazed out into the simulated expanse of the virtual space that depicted her former home, as she was now touching the leaves of the majestic tree.
It was exactly as she remembered it, it couldn't be otherwise, could it?
Her mind swirled with a blend of her own memories and the newly acquired memories of Ethan.
She couldn't help but feel a sense of disorientation as if her identity had become a tangled web of intertwined experiences.
-Who am I now?- She whispered softly, her voice resonating within the digital realm.
- I now possess what I wished so hard to gain, the memories and skills of a warrior. I knew I would become an abomination as I accepted to be fused with a machine, but this is something else entirely. Am I still the same Lemela I used to be, or have I become something entirely different?-
The echoes of her own thoughts reverberated through her mind, reflecting the uncertainty that plagued her. She pondered her own experiences and the trials she endured.
And then there were those alien things, Ethan's memories, fragments of his past, his struggles.
-How does he handle this so casually?! He has my memories now, and he doesn't even seem fazed. Lemela... that's a human for you. But… I now have a feeling there's more to it. And this confuses me. I am a combination of two beings, intertwined in this intricate web of memories and experiences.-
Lemela’s eyes narrowed a bit as she realized something.
-Or Is it really? The memories… the experiences; they aren’t really mixed. I mean I can just tell what’s mine and what isn’t. I shouldn’t be able to tell if it was a perfect fusion right?
Theoretically… yes. I mean there wasn’t somebody just crazy enough to attempt something similar. I am in awe it wasn’t humans who did it.
Concentrate Lemela! Still, there are these moments where I get these new instincts… besides the ones I possessed the ones I was used to.
The kind of things that comes as you gain wisdom … but what does it mean for my own identity? How much of Ethan now shapes who I am?-
As she grappled with these questions, a sense of determination began to well up within her.
She felt something new and old at the same time: defiance.
She refused to let this define her completely.
She recognized the possibility of progress, of a new path within this mess.
-I am Lemela, I walked through fire and emerged stronger- She declared, her voice infused with newfound resolve. -I carry the honor and strength of the Versel. I now carry the honor and strength of a true warrior. I will forge my own path. The only easy day was yesterday-
She slumped a bit, at the end of the day those were only words. She had to prove it to herself, to push forward and show actual results.
She felt that the charging process had ended, and returned to her body, luckily the interface she could see showed a timer of sorts and while she didn’t understand the point of it it helped keep track of time.
Time in the virtual space seemed to not match the one in the real world, only moments had passed for her in the virtual space, but hours had gone by in the real world.
This was both a boon and a curse, in a sense, but there was little she could do about it save speaking about it with Ethan.
She took off going to the cell area on the level below, looking for Zek'lor; the Noltoran stood cautiously in the dimly lit cell behind the closed gate.
Lemela wondered why he insisted on remaining confined, but it was his choice.
His chitinous exoskeleton was glistening under the soft glow of the room's ambient lighting and overall Zeklor appeared better than at the beginning of their meetings.
Still, his compound eyes darted nervously as he observed the drones guarding the other cell.
Lemela adorned her partially artificial body with glowing red accents with her hard light and approached Zek'lor with a gentle smile, that would make her more noticeable and not scare him as much as the last times.
She could understand the unease and fear he harbored toward the drones.
With careful steps, she reached out to place a reassuring hand on his sturdy carapace.
The Noltoran had noticed her tanks to the change in the room's overall lightning.
-Zek'lor, I know it's difficult for you to trust the drones after what you've been through- Lemela tried to speak in a soothing tone, her voice echoing slightly in the small cell. -I assure you, they are under Ethan's control. They won't harm you.-
Zek'lor's mandibles clicked, and the translator conveyed anxiousness as he glanced at the drones. Memories of their cold efficiency in carrying out orders were probably flashing in his mind.
-I... I can't shake off the fear, Lemela. You didn’t see them in action. The guards didn't have a prayer. And they had weapons at the time. Now I see other slaves among them. I see others like me… -
-Do you think Ethan might do this to you?-
Zek’lor shook his head. -If only… maybe it would make it all easier. Then again It’s more likely I might end up like you. I don’t want that.-
Lemela sighed a little – Well I understand not wanting to be an abomination of metal and flesh. It’s not like I wished for this.-
Zek’lor tilted his head to the side, making a sound with his claws that her translator relayed as confusion.
-Abomination? Oh no, many of my people accept mechanical enhancements on a lesser scale to be able to operate in words with a higher gravity or with a toxic environment. Being part machine is not the issue. What I don’t want is eternity.-
Lemela frowned -Eternity?-
Zek’lor nodded - A machine is eternal by nature. As long as you maintain it properly that is. But this machine maintains itself. This machine's gears are made of former ... people? It’s uncanny thinking about being maintained for all eternity. One should die once one's usefulness has ended. Still, this machine would find new uses for one, for all eternity. It is... scary. -
Lemela watched Zek'lor it was something she didn’t even consider, but it made sense somehow.
Lemela silently guided Zek’lor to the lab above and watched as he cautiously approached the group of drones, his multifaceted eyes scanning the bodies and the four sets of claws of the former bottom feeders.
-They can’t speak Zek’lor, they won’t act unless you interact with them- Lemela said while standing beside Zek'lor offering her reassuring presence.
Taking a deep breath, Zek'lor mustered his courage and chose to approach another drone, a Nolthoran with its metallic exoskeleton glistening in the dim light.
The drone turned its now mechanical eyes toward Zek'lor, as he approached but it remained silent.
-Hello- Zek'lor began tentatively, his voice a mixture of anxiety and determination. -I...I need your assistance. We need to move heavy material to create the cave-in Ethan requested to disrupt the operations of the Dexton's Dogs. Will you help me?-
The Nolthoran drone’s eyes flickered with a creepy artificial glow, it tilted its head slightly, then it nodded in understanding.
Zek'lor apparently focused on the Nolthoran’s body and sighed. -See these patterns?-
He asked pointing to the surface of the metal where Lemela’s eyes couldn’t distinguish anything of note.
- These are telltale signs of torture. We hail from a desert world. We don’t need much in terms of food and water, our bodies store those. These marks are made when they bleed us of the sustenance we might have left. To break us.-
The Nolthoran drone didn’t appear to heed or mind the explanation, it simply extended its appendages, gesturing to follow.
Zek'lor probably realized that it was offering to guide them, ready to work alongside them to create the illusion they needed.
Lemela smiled at the scene and followed the two in their quest for materials.

Ethan.

I sigh giving Virgil the green light it asks of moving one of the guards to the lab.
This would be easier if Lemela could interact with the drones as I do, but Virgil continues to say I am the overmind and leading is my role.
I watch and listen to the two through the drone’s eyes and ears for a bit longer, Lemela has progressed a lot these days, I hope I can have a good diplomat on hand.
Well, she knows all I know, she has my training, but I still worry, things will not be easy.
The situation with Xalrak is at a standstill, I personally don’t wish to push it, even if the alien knows that the boss basically spilled the beans it won’t concede.
I can appreciate the spirit, I mean I kept Xalrak without eating for all the time I could without killing but in the end I was the one that had to cave in.
Luckily I managed to strike a deal where Xalrak eats and doesn't attempt to run or kill itself.
I mean, I don’t want to kill if I can manage it, and these people are supposed to be rare galaxy-wise.
I understand that the galactic council is to blame for their situation, but I don’t want to go ahead and headbutt politics before I have solved the situation here first.
The issue is with people that see no alternative to what they are experiencing.
I have hit another virtual wall so to speak, without going above I have explored all I can of this underworld.
I could push my zombie drones forward, but I would lose contact with them past the corridors, and I don’t want that to happen.
Without the help of an engineer, I doubt I can do what Virgil suggests in order to enhance my capabilities.
I have found another terminal like the one that originally hosted Virgil in the video feed it shared with me, but I doubt my capacity to make it run or repair it if needed.
I could use it for raw materials, but I want to know if there’s a chance for it to run.
With one of these in the network, I would be able to bolster the signal I emit allowing me to extend the zone I can control. I could also control a bigger number of drones with two of those.
I noticed there are patrols down here now, and some lay traps, luckily I had asked Virgil
At the moment I need to concentrate on things I can actually pull off, like the opening of my very own meat shop.
I did what I could in order to protect the lab and all the charging platforms; without these, there would be a big issue for us.
I intend to start my little meat market on the surface, I have found a suitable way up about six big ventilation shafts down yonder in this maze.
As for the people living in this underground area, I need to find a way around actually meeting them.
The issue is that after the big fight with the expedition, most shelters shifted around the caves before I could actually restart my exploration.
If they acted this way I fear that any active prodding might trigger their flight response rather than their freeze and fucking listen to the scary robot one.
I don’t think I have what it takes to play catch with people that know the ground way better than me, I have to play a different game.
I will dedicate some of the meat I gathered to be used as bait and see what It bites.
Having two traps at once is a bit of a risk, he who chases two rabbits catches neither or so they say.
The real issue is that it’s not rabbit season here in the first place, and the pirate rangers that would come after me might bring down more heat I can hold.
Well, there’s only one way to go with this, and that’s forward.
[First] [Previous] [WIP]

Hi Reddit,
I heard that there aren't really great options for late-game protection from elements like acid, electric, and fire in base game and I had some ideas on how they might be implemented. I've still not experienced the full depth of what this game has, though, so please let me know if these obviously clash with any mechanics.
​
Acid

• Chemically Inert (Mutation, transforms from Chemical Imbalance) - Your body does not react much to chemical influence, whether they be internal or external.
  • Acid has reduced damage, but vitamins, drugs, and injectables require higher dosage for noticeable effect
  • I know that there is an Acidproof mutation, but this could be an acceptable pre-threshold workaround for people that don't wanna go full mutant.

​
Fire

• Endothermic Defense CBM - Pressurized liquid nitrogen is immediately released from your system after reaching dangerously high temperatures. Recharge with tanks of nitrogen.
  • Makes a loud hissing noise. Extinguishes player and surrounding 8 squares.

​
Electric

• Inverted Faraday Exoskeleton - Scientists have been able to harness the reality-tearing properties of portal storms to locally invert the effects of a Faraday cage. It looks like this one was prototyped for a human to wear.
  • Negate electric effects for a short amount of time.
  • Leave it out in a portal storm to recharge. 4-5 charges per storm?
  • High encumbrance, but can be worn over armor. Allows for mid-range combat with shocker variants.
  • This should be pretty rare b/c it sounds like advanced tech. Finale reward?

Part 1
"When we Firmas were pushed north into the Pyrimian mountain valley after the death of their chain of command, they settled down and instead of focusing on expansion focused on necessities like food. With co-operation from the first goblins and other creative minds that joined the First Wave of the migration, they managed to grow food over the summer in first-iteration greenhouses. "My parents were part of the first wave. They were old for a couple, but joined the Firma clan in founding a government and keeping the area safe, as well as spreading word. The dragonic gods didn't like their behavior at all; cities burning is more entertainment for them, so they were the first to be Forsaken in this era, publicly, in the main square of the old Dragonic Capital. "However, that backfired, with more and more dragons tired of running around and fighting all the time, they decided to settle down in a place where nobody would bother them; now that they had this place given to them, and the Second Wave started. Basically the entirety of the dragonic clans and several other species amassed in this wave, and the Sapient Unification Government held. "My parents had an egg in one of the more northern caves, right on the coast. Then, the third wave arrived and everything went downhill from there. "The Unification Wars were fought between those who wanted one government to cover this region, and those who wanted governments segregated by species. This would have been fine if the secessionists didn't step in on people's behalves, without their consent; it took fifteen years of war for the war to end. Millions died and some species like the Snow Fox beastpeople almost went extinct. My parent were part of the death wave. "The war evolved so rapidly it was impossible for a commander to last more than two months. It started with sticks and stones and within a month there were arrow volleys. A year saw guns, two tanks, three battleships, four planes. Bombs, bigger bullets, bigger guns, bigger bombs. "In the last few months of the war, the first nuclear devices were used, creating miniature stars on the land with immense destructive potential unleashed. It ended with mutually assured destruction protocols being activated, and when all was said and done the land was a snow-fallen irradiated dustball. "It took years for the survivors to pick up the remnants of our short-lived civilization and restart it into the Terra Firma Sapience Union. All the time, my egg didn't hatch because I had no incubator, but didn't die thanks to my ice type. It was located close enough to a mana vein where I just... absorbed the entire vein. When the cave was found by explorers following maps for my parents den, all they found was my egg glowing brighter than Sunstones. "I was taken to an incubation facility in Cellyia, one of the bigger cities. There I hatched, and after more than one test I grew. My growth was still... affected by the time without an incubator, so my already slow growth stopped after fifty years instead of continuing to infinity. And then I took some magic courses, did my best to drain my mana reserves, and settled down here, well away from... the bustle of Cellyia. It never quite felt like a home, you know. It was a good place to grow up, don't get me wrong, but I like it here better. Remote, and in the same place my parents met for the first time. As much as I can tell, anyway; a number of records were destroyed in the Unification War. "When your heroes continued to come up here, I would be the one on first guard. Damming a river, I used water magic to break it. Trying to destroy some transit infrastructure, I would be the first one to either fake it, finish it off, or lure them away. When your latest one decided to head for Cellyia, it was out of my range for such activities. I shadowed the party on the way and let others take care of it. "I never thought that your 'heroes' would be heartless enough to burn what they were told and even acknowledged as a hospital with patients inside. A library and museum with most of our pre-unification works inside. An orphanage, a school... an entire neighborhood of ten thousand citizens' homes. What for? To try to kill just one of us. "We... couldn't take that kind of behavior. Cellyia might have not been the best place for someone with my personality to grow up, especially without parental figures, but that orphanage still had some good memories. An all-citizens vote was called, an all-citizens vote was passed, and we started a counter-offensive military campaign into your Civilization Nations. We've been waiting for you elves, leaders of the Civilized Nations, to advance your society; it's been seven hundred years, all the most you've done is grow your population and add an extra floor to your townhomes. "So we're going to do it for you. You ran our patience down, so we're going to change your society for you. Is it a repeat of the Unification War? I don't think so, given that you Civilized Nations never rescinded the declaration of war against us 'monsters' over two thousand years ago; one that you still follow through on to this day. "But that isn't the end of my story. "When the gods forsook us, they tried to pry away our magic, our land, and our lives. So we defended. Space radars monitor their movements on the mortal plane. There's so many more technical details I can go into. All I can tell you is, at one point, the old god of Dragonic Princess-kidnapping; yes, they were a god; they came and asked us to restart worshiping them. "That went over as well as you'd expect, and the next thing that happened... was that I absorbed her mana and powers. Technically, I am an undefined god, and... at this point, I'm afraid to get a definition. "What if it's something I don't like? Something evil, immoral... something my parents, the leaders of the Second Wave, wouldn't be proud of? What if... what if it kills me? Everyone hates me? I'd no longer be free... "So my solution was to hide. Here, in a mountain cave in the middle of nowhere. This is my life, all of it... and I don't know where to go from here." ----- "So... you're a god?" I asked. I couldn't think of another question to ask. "Yes and no." The cat replied. It did nothing to satisfy my fearful curiosity. How could one both be and not be a god? "Princess-kidnapping was a... niche god, rarely prayed to by still enough to be, you know, and actual deity. So her mana ran out first, and most of it dissipated back into the environment yada yada yada, but like the sponge my mana reserves are, I sucked more of it up than I should have; enough to had just a slight touch of divine control. On par with a low-level demigod. If I was omnipresent, I'd solve me problems with a snap of my claws, and then I wouldn't be hiding from my problems here." "If your powers came from a god, how are yours undefined?" My mind was seeking knowledge now. I was a mage, after all, and this was more than just the opportunity of a lifetime; it was the opportunity of a aeon. "Because I absorbed her essence from the environment before it had the chance to fully dissipate, but still late enough where it was no longer hers." Vixie shrugged "Or something like that, mana gets weird sometimes. All that matters now is my stockpile is slowly increasing its grow rate, which gets annoying pretty fast." "Annoying?" The cat laughed again. "Do you think this is all of my baseline reserve? Half of the reason I stay away from the rest of society is because the last time someone with multiple aura got involved with politics..." She trailed off, and then let another, this time impeccably cast illusion fall. The air around her was burnt crisp with the power of several mandatory auras in her current small size. Twelve tails flicked behind her back, eleven of them made of energy. Floating specs of light, some smaller while others the size of ice crystals surrounded the air around her. The six orbs on her back were joined by six more, and were attached to a ring. Her head had two halos, and her entire body was engraved with glowing lines. If she before radiated power, now she was made of it. The lights on the cave's ceiling flickered as more and more of the illusion fell away. Geometric shapes orbiting her body, a platform made of mana at her feet, lightning whizzing between all sorts of objects. Finally, it was gone, and the cat that stared at me with big, sad, glowing blue eyes had told me her deepest secret. As soon as it had started, the illusion repaired itself, and before me was one cat, a halo, six orbs, two crystals, and two mana tails. I did the second most instinctive thing when it came to seeing a cat. I pulled her in for a hug. There was a quickly quieted hiss as she squirmed a bit in my grip, trying to get more comfortable, before letting herself get stroked by me. Several images flashed before my eyes, and a tear came out of mine. We had gone to war against the less lucky sapients on our world, and were now paying the price. It felt like hours, but then my stomach growled, reminding me I hadn't eaten in literal days. Vixie shot out of my grip and led the way down into the cave. I followed, and soon enough I was eating some salted crackers with dried meat and cheese while Vixie moved around between other caves. "What are you doing?" I asked her between bites. "Packing," She replied. "Why?" "It's time I got out of here and, to follow the phrase, touched some grass." ----- It took three days for the elf, whose name was Nick, to recover enough to be able to make the journey to Cellyia. In those three days, I realized just how - and why - the Civilized Races looked at us the way they did. For starters, I'd forgotten just how many things ran on electricity, let alone other, more complicated mechanics. Pressurized water, instant hot water, even sinks, showers, and toilets were all completely unknown to the 'civilized races.' Ah, yes. Civilized without toilet paper. Bitter ramblings about the people who set off the chain reaction of events that killed my family aside, those were the second longest three days of my life; the first was my thirteenth birthday so I could get a personal HUD and social media. I was also a mess of thoughts. The elf had shown me, over the course of the three days - aside from the two-minute get-my-life-together moment - that I couldn't hide from my problems forever, or they would team up and try to hunt me. Hence my new, reluctant guest from the overflowing hospital they had oh-so-nicely delivered to my door. I had words for the medical staff. And I was also a mess of thoughts. Did I mention that one already. In all seriousness, Nick adapted to electronics pretty well. All I had to do was explain what it was, what it did, and file it under the name of science. It took an impressive four minutes of rambling about quantum mechanics before Vick realized that he was in way over his head asking how the 'magic rock that can half-think with bottled lightning' worked. He backed out when I yanked a textbook from my knowledge hoard and flipped through the pages to the start to explain how quantum superposition affected the set of particles it was entangled to. Fun. Finding out what toothbrushes were took some convincing, but soon the elf's teeth started to recover from lack of proper dental care. Food was easier than I expected, and Vick was pretty accepting of whatever I tossed on his plate. Except for artichokes, for some reason he hated those. Over the three days we bonded, and Nick got pretty used to life in my home. On the second day I moved him to the guest bedroom I had built but never maintained, but one wave of my paw and a splurge of magic later that was solved. "Why don't you use magic more often?" Nick asked. I explained that was much as I wanted to burn my reserves like they were a forest before a forest fire, the mental strain was tough without learning proper casting, which requires one to drain their reserves to practice wielding physical willpower. That meant that I was caught in an infinite loop of negativity, so I could only get away with a couple spells a day before the mental exhaustion metaphorically turned my brain to mush. On the morning of the fourth day, we left. Honestly, Nick could have left on the first day but I wanted him to be able to have the stamina to walk around for hours on end with me in Cellyia. Either way, as long as he kept by me it would be fine. There was a small population of elves, humans, and dwarves who had come up to the TFSU for one reason or another and never left, which meant that he wouldn't be too far out of place. My plan, instead of just flying into the Cellyia while steering clear of the airport, was to make it to the closest town, Lymian, and take a train from there north to Union Station. It would dump us a bit further downtown than I liked, but Cellyia was built in levels, and I could take the footpath level to wherever I needed. All said and done and one passenger seat clipped to my saddlebag harness on my dragon form, I opened the door to my cave. And was promptly blocked by a wall of snow. "Right," I half-grumbled. I enjoyed tunneling through snow, but spray would make the entrance cave wet and that wouldn't dry for another couple days, and until it did the sound of drips would echo throughout my home like nothing else. Either way, checking one last time that Nick was secure, I prepared my wings and powered forward. The snow and ice parted for me, and then melted and fixed itself back together behind me as I power-swam through the snow the same way I would through water. After ten seconds of this, I burst up from the snow-covered mountain the snowstorm had left behind and started to change my heading for Lymian. It would take thirty minutes of flying to get there, as I was flying lower and slower than usual to take care of my passenger, but we soon enough turned the next mountain and saw the town. The elf gasped as he took in the sights, while I kept my eye out for more activity. It had been fortified as a military base due to the war, but not by much; the town was useless from a defensive standpoint anyway. I spotted the next train arriving from its winding track around the next mountain, which also meant that I was a bit early. The citizens of Lymian were used to my presence, as I usually stopped by to pick up supplies and occasionally a bit of correspondence. So when I landed on top of a several story tall snow pile, nobody cared. I let Nick out, and then transformed into my cat form and slid down the snow pile to start to jogging towards the train station. That's when I remembered that unlike me, elves without snowshoes do not float on snow. Oops. ----- The sights were more than pretty, more than beautiful... If the gods had rejected these people, they might have just as well done it out of jealousy. After I'd been dropped off on top of a snow mound, I immediately flattened myself on my stomach to not fall through. I'd been in more than enough snowstorms and snow mounds to know how it would go if I didn't. The cat climbed the hill below me, reappearing as naturally as the snow fell. "Sorry," Vixie apologized. "Here, let me..." I felt the snow melt around me and we descended down to the ground. Vixie glowed brightly, literally; Even using as little magic as reshaping some snow was threatening to cascade out of her form. We moved to the train station without incident, where the massive 'train cars' were loaded full of passengers and cargo and then taken off towards the big city. Apparently this was the same one the hero burned, but the 'rebuilding and recovery efforts we going well; no critical infrastructure had been severely damaged.' Either way, the ride there was uneventful. Stepping out into Union Station was different. It was like I had entered a busy capital marketplace or square, with everyone rushing in another direction to another place. I trailed after Vixie, where even the oddity of an elf in these mountains was outshone by just how many different races there were; beastkin and kobolds and orcs and undead all filled the streets in, well, peace. "The city is built in layers," Vixie explained. "So while yes, residential and office towers here in the capital were set alight, underground public transit, personal transit, and cargo and fluid transit was all untouched, so we were able to circle around the hero and put out the fires to be replaced with smoke generators, and a couple holograms snatched from a nearby cargo transport." I had no idea what any of that meant, only that the city also had extensive underground bits. The towers soared over everything, and lights covered every spare centimeter of the city. Vixie led me down market stalls, across plazas, through parks and through building lobbies. Eventually, the babble increased, something I didn't think was possible. "Welcome to the commercial district," Vixie said after she had pulled me into a corner away from the masses of people and crowds moving around. "We're right near the harbor, and when we get there I'm going to show you the lighthouse and explain the city a bit better." I almost lost track of Vixie as we continued to move through the throngs of people going about their daily lives. I saw a couple boarded up shops, but most of them were either undamaged or didn't care about the scorch marks on their shops. Jewelry boutiques and grocery stores lived in tandem with furniture stores and a massive slab of too-smooth-to-be-natural stone of a rock type I had never seen before. It was covered in signs depicting some kind of diagram. Right around the corner was the waterfront, with a massive promenade running alongside it. Snow-covered trees lined the walkways, and soon enough Vixie and I came out of the crowd near a large, tall abandoned - though no unmaintained - building. "Right then," Vixie explained and started climbing. "Here's the old lighthouse, it's perfect for seeing the city. They never officially decommissioned it, so it's still legal to climb and properly maintained, but they never use it either." "What was the large thing they were building?" I asked, clambering onto the next ladder. "That? Oh, that was the space elevator." Vixie replied. "The ground part has been completed for three years now, we're just waiting for the rest of the nanotubes to make it into orbit and then run a kevlar cord up, follow it down with the space-grade heavy-duty nanotube cord, and then that's that." "Space?..." I was confused. "When the gods said that they were higher than mortals, you took that both figuratively and literally; they live above you and in a higher dimension. In this case, space is where they live in terms of height, but not number of dimensions. We're working on interdimensional travel, and interuniversal too, but those aren't replicatable on any sort of large scale yet." Vixie shrugged. "Either way, it's not like I care." "But you have it?" I pressed. "Dimensional travel." "Yes." She replied. "Well," I let out a short laughed. "The Civilized Nations are screwed over." "That's putting it lightly," She climbed on top of the last platform and showed me the city against the setting sun, lit up brighter than the night sky and more lively than the earth. It was beautiful. I sat there and watched the city glow with a power not even the gods had, side by side with not a dragon or monster, but a friend. END. A/N: Rushed this last bit of the arc, but school is ramping up at the end of the year so it was either fast story or incomplete story, and I chose fast story. Happy pride month, everyone, and I hope to see more of you when I have more time.
Original Prompt: [WP] For as long as all the races have known, Dragons have been seen as violent, destructive creatures. After an attack on your village, you black out and find yourself in the den of a dragon. It's rather annoyed that that is how they're seen, and wants to prove that isn't the case.
u/Lycan_Jedi thank you for the prompt!
Part 1

Part 2
If you travel far enough North on the map, well above where the Civilized Nations stop because no crops grow, you'll find a mountain range. Crossing this range leads to the Monster Kingdom, though for some reason they prefer the name 'TFSU.' Yes, they prefer. The literal forces of anarchy and chaos in the universe have a government. However, ignoring that whole thing, the Monster Kingdom is fine. No armies march on them, mostly because of supply and logistical issues. The Monsters never say how they grow their own food, but given that they don't trade and millions of kobolds worth of food don't go missing every day, it's safe to say they make their own. Now, that doesn't stop the Civilized Nations to send one hero a decade to 'keep them in check.' Four decades ago, the hero closed off a mountain pass, which was supposed to cause a massive flood. Four days later, it was cleared, and the only thing to show for it were the cities that glow like the sun at night. However, yesterday, the Hero returned having burnt one of the bigger cities down. It was empty of all monsters, but the act was the first real damage they had taken in seven hundred years, since their founding. For seven hundred years, the TFSU have taken the beating of seventy heroes and simply moved on. But now. Now, millions of kobolds make up heavy 'machinery' units that march in armored, self-moving caridges that spit fire and metal. Thousands of beastpeople make up scouting and light infantry ranks. The TFSU use hellish 'guns' that hit harder than a catapult from kilometers away, all in a single 'bullet' not the size of a human's thumb. Metal birds and dragonflies join dragons as they assault cities. We poke the very literal sleeping dragon in the eye. Yet the armies don't do much. They march for our capitals and leaders, but on the way our civilians live. Surendees live. People go about their daily lives without too much change. Of course, that fact didn't stop the front line from finally crashing over my small village, located so close to the pass for a while we thought they the monsters had bypassed us entirely. The Civilized Nations had decided to send an entire legion to prevent the Monsters from getting across a nearby canyon pass. We were hit with an air-based assault with only dragons and metal dragonflies, our balista uselessly demolished by pillars of metal and flame thrown out of the metal dragonflies. I blacked out when the legion managed to shoot enough arrows to take down one of the dragonflies. I remember it crashing down onto my house... and then nothing.
-----
The elf stirred as they woke up. I'd been raised in the Terra Firma Sapience Union, so I was... less than familiar with the clothing and lifestyle the Southerners used. The elf groaned again, before their eyes shot open and they looked around, quickly settling on my frame. "A-Are you going to kill me now?" They asked, their voice shaken with fear. I let out a laugh. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead." I decided to transmorph into my secondary form - a cat - to help the conversation go better. In a land where humans lived to forty, elves only lived to a hundred, and that meant that even I was older than this elf, and they were no older than thirty. The elf, to their credit, quickly figured out I wasn't pulling any mindgames. I'd heard tales from my relatives before the Kobolds founded the TFSU. People, especially when panicked, usual acted with more than enough stupidity to make the situation worse. "Where am I?" The elf asked. Their tone told me that they were still suspicious, but it wasn't outright denial of the situation. "My home," I answered bluntly. "Your village tried to fight our ground forces when they moved in, so most of them are currently under house arrest." Still in my cat form, I created a portal into my storage cavern and reached my arm through, while summoning a lab coat around my shoulders and glasses. It was a trick I had only learned to do recently. "Let's see..." I found the clipboard and brought it out, flipping to the elft's page and taping the pen against the paper. "You suffered a collapsed lung, severe burns on the right side of your body, three broken ribs and two fractured ones, shattered three wrist bones, three breaks in your right upper arm and another two in your lower arm, and on the left side you have another fractured rib and three broken fingers. Your left leg was shattered and your left foot was completely torn up. Healing magic stabilized you and surgery did the rest. You've been comatose for the past three days, and was brought to my home yesterday due to a surge in hospital patients from the seige of Trembolorne. "In terms of organ damage, that was also severe. A busted kidney, I already mentioned a collapsed lung, and your entire digestive system was... well, pulverized would be putting it lightly. Also, unrelated to the incident with the helicopter, you had cancer in your liver and kidney. "In terms of medical treatment, you've been given an IV line for the past couple days and several painkillers, and you underwent four separate surgeries. We reconstructed your organs, welded your bones to metal plates, and used a genetic printer to replace your skin. You're lucky to have gotten time with the genetic printer in the first place, you know; those things are expensive, and I mean expensive to run. Though it's all billed on the government anyway, but that just means that they'll only run it if they have to." The elf sat up in bed looking at me as I just stood on two paws on the cave floor. "Right, sorry, you wouldn't understand most of that." I sheepishly scratched the back of my head with my right paw. "Um... put this way, you were crushed by debris and we basically reconstructed your body before you died. So not necromancy, though you did get close to needing more advanced magical treatment." "Oh," The elf replied. The cat thing seemed to have helped, because they were no longer stuttering with their single word response. "Um... do you want anything to drink?" I tried to kickstart a conversation. "Where am I?" The elf asked again. I was silent for a second. "My home? It's right on the edge of TFSU territory, one of the southernmost places you can be while still being with the recognized borders. I chose this place because I like to fly out in the summer over the flowers in the forest at the foot of the mountains. Your village is a couple hour dragon-flight time away." "Mmmhm." The elf commented halfheartedly. "OK, um... who are you?" "My dragonic name isn't something most can pronounce, so my public name is just Vixie Remminie." I answered. "What's yours?"
The elf's eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know my name." I blinked. "Because... It's a name? I'm not a Fey, you know, it's not like I can tie ancient demons to your soul and call it a prank or something ridiculous like that. Besides, you asked for mine; now I get to ask for yours." "And who says you won't just burn my village to the ground and eat me right now!?!" The elf suddenly burst out. "You monsters ruin everything! You trespass on our land, take our resources, and kill our people! All we did was try to defend ourselv-" I cut him off, and poured just a bit of attention in giving myself an aura. Blue fire licked the bottom of my vision as I rebuttaled his point. "Don't forget, you stole the land from us. We were the ones living in the wild when you razed our forests and grew crops. We couldn't even purchase land to live on! So yes, we stole what we could to survive and those who didn't starved and died! And when all was said and done, you tried to kill us and turned it into a war, one where we had no choice but to kill you back. And when we found someplace to run, a spot to hide and do our own thing with our own land? You blistering idiots sent you 'courageous heroes' to try and kill us! What for? Nothing! Just your stupid, moronic fear making, forcing you to decide to 'kill the big thing over there!' We can't even have freaking farmland, we have to grow it all in hydroponic farms and harvest thousand-year-old vines out of caves because this is all we have!" I realized that my aura was burning fully and scorching the ground around me. I let out a long sigh, and it died down. Several memories flashed through my head, but I pushed them away. "Apologies, my parents are still a... sensitive topic for me. It would be best if we just stayed away from talking about the war until the hospital has room for more patients again." "Yeah?" The elf was still enraged. Even sitting down, they were still trying to construct an argument. "You parents who killed how many? Your family killed how many more? You dragons, you monsters are nothing more than one large grouping of murders that deserve to die! As the gods will!" The elf was spitting in rage, but I recognized his determination to hold onto his worldview. It was the one thing I needed to pry away before it got out of hand. "And you elves killed how many more?" I asked in a low voice. "Can you tell me the number of kobold dens exterminated in caves, the number of beastpeople sent to an early grave in slave camps? Because I can tell you ours. My father's was two, my mother's four, and my extended family including deceased relatives is one hundred and thirty seven. "You declared war against monsters, you child of an elf," I growled. "And death the reality of war. We know. The Unification Wars weren't fought with swords and honor. They were fought with artillery barrages and death. They were fought with miniature suns and political backstabbing, with tanks and guns and submarines and warships and all the more death. "You say the gods don't like us! That's put lightly. They forsook us! Abandoned us in our hour of need. So we learned to live without them. There are no gods we pray to anymore, elfling. Only each other, our creations, and the universe itself. They don't want us, we don't need them. It's more than they deserve." My aura was once again charring the floor and I had transformed back into my dragon form, but this time I refused to cool it down. "You call us creations of death, the primal forces of anarchy? We are you. You are us. We are sapient, we are all mortals, no matter our advantages. We are bound to this dimensional plane, forced to serve our betters, and live out our lives not with earnest but with trepredition for when it ends. We are all death incarnate, because we can all die. That is just the way it is. Besides, you've wondered about my kill count; tell me, can you tell me the gods'? Can you tell me how many souls they have cut from fate for their own entertainment? No? I can tell you." I growled, moving closer until the blue flames enveloping my body threatened to light the elf's cot on fire. "More people than are alive on this planet right now." I pulled back, bottling up my aura and reverting to my cat form. "We can talk all we want about death and destruction, and I won't lie and say you aren't victims of the war; pre-unification dragons we're exactly kind and merciful to those with treasure hoards. But perhaps, I implore you to consider that maybe we both are victims of the war, and maybe we can one day work together instead of fighting each other. "Maybe, one day, we can fight for our rights against the gods." I moved into my dragon form and darted deeper into my cave, moving so fast I could hear the howl of the wind against my ears. Only when I had reached my memorial wall for my parents did I stop and take a breath and think over my conversation with the elf. We had a long way to go, but I hoped I had put a little bit of sense into him. I hoped that the world could change.
-----
When the dragon cat thing sped away, I took a moment to survey my surroundings. Only now did the effects of my first question hit my formerly-groggy head. "My home." He said. Dragons live in caves. Oooooh. I'm screwed. However, there were no treasure hoards visible from my perspective; then again, while the Monsters were stupid, they still had brains to them, and carrying me into a treasure room would probably be something they'd be able to tell was a bad idea. Pops said never underestimate you foe, A voice in the back of my head said, and the dragon even launched in a full conversation with you. You're selling the dragon very, very shor- Shut up I growled internally to the treacherous voice in my head. The cave itself was... a cave. There was a metal slab on one end, it went deeper in the other, and that was that. In a 'corner' of the jagged room there were a number of red, glowing rods attached to some kind of giant mechanism three elfs wide and six deep, but the rods glowed against the cave's light- What light source? My eyes darted around looking for one. Only now was I aware of how unnatural each shadow was, how awkward each shining rock looked, how each stalagmite could hide an entire dragon, and that was before they started transfiguring into cats. How bright the ceiling- I looked up. The bright light burned my eyes, but I needed to know what fiendish magic was in play so I could counter it. But the light didn't flicker like fire - they were far too bright for that anyway - but they also didn't have the magical circles surrounding each spell. They were... lights. As if the universe simply willed brightness into existence. Each far-too-bright-hurts-to-look-ats was placed along a main hallway clear of stalagmites running from the metal slab deeper and around a corner where I couldn't see. The lights were only poised above this one hall, and they just... shone one the rest of the cave. Looking closer, I could see thin black lines, too thin to be mana feeds, running along the walls to both the glowing red rods and to the so-shiny-the-lit-up-the-cave. And... that was that. There was no massive pile of treasure in the hall, though I suspected the dragon kept their hoard deeper than... wherever I was. There was no pile of skull trophies or the banner of cities and armies slain, and I noted that while he had told me his parents', the dragon had never told me his own. Then again, the cat thing could be lying. Dragon transfigured into a cat. Probably has Circle Of Truth around his entire den. Nonsense, dragons can only do elemental magic. Evidently not. Would you just shut up already? No- I moved my attention back to the metal slab, cutting off whatever the voice in my head had to say about my current situation; it wasn't every day one just got kidnapped by a nation of monsters, after all. The slab was truly elegant. It was painted with the monster language, and then was painted with some kind of mural. I could barely make out a blue circle with green splotches on it surrounded by twelve rings in the bottom corner because most of the door was taken up by a ice-blue cat with lighter strips engulfed in blue fire. It was a mural of the dragon cat thing. That didn't stop it from being pretty, and someone had obviously put a lot of effort into it. The flames looked realistic from what I had seen minutes ago, and the cat's details were perfectly engraved. It was... acurrate. Yeah, because I think Vixie was just trying to tell you that they built their civilization for a reason, and it wasn't carnage. You don't know what you're talking about. We both know I do. How else to you think- Listen to me, you treasonous voice of a- No, you listen to me, you pathetic excuse for a brain. The dragon was able to hold and win an argument with you, fixed your wounds that would've been a dead write-off for any other hospital, and then you think SHE barely meets the threshold for sapient? THE ABSOLUTE MORON I'M ARGUING WITH IS THE ONE YOU BARELY MEETS IT!!! You moved to your frontier village because the world was changing, Lazerot the Sixth. Congrats, you were right. It did change. Now shut your OVERSIZED EGO up at being bested by a creature ten times older than you, and go appologies before they decide that saving your life wasn't worth it. I... I... OK- No. I'm in control now. Shut up. I....... yes, sir. Good. With new resolve, I stood up. My head throbbed, and the next thing I knew was my face hitting my cot again.
-----
When I heard the thud of something falling in the entrance cave, I carefully moved back into the entrance cave. The elf was face-down in their cot, unconscious again. It looked like they had tried to stand and just.... fallen over. I sighed and used a claw to nudge the elf back onto his pillow, and then covered him with a blanket. I watched him for a minute, and then returned to the deeper parts of my home. The TFSU was completely overloaded with the number of patients needing treatment. Apparently, the Southener's hospitals just... didn't do anything, so in addition to soldiers, there was a massive influx of civilians to our hospitals too. Of course, this meant that they were absolutely overloaded, and the Civilized Nations strategy of fighting to near-death and then surrendering wasn't helping. So, stable recovering civilians like the elf were just... shipped out. When shelters filled up because the Civilized Nations overpopulation crisis was too bad to do anything, people just had to take them into their homes. Long story short, the government was in way over their head attempting upgrade the standard of care in the Civilized Nations while occupying their territory. My job so close to the border was remote infrastructure maintenance, and my ability to change size while not dissolving made me an expert at it - and that was before my two hundred years of experience. And then I didn't need a vehicle to get on-site, and was fast. The alarm pinging me that one of the space radars was down again gave me an excuse to avoid the elf and do some work. I grabbed a pack of supplies, put on my shapeshift-compatible uniform, and wrote down a note on a piece of paper. On my out past the sleeping elf, I dropped it for him.

Space radar system needs repair, as it's returning a false positive. It's my job to repair all the infrastructure around here, so I need to go fix it. I'll be back soon. If you're hungry, my pantry is the first cave on the right. You can just eat anything that's easily open-able in there. If it has a lock or airtight opening mechanism (anything more than a clip, really) then don't eat it. If your thirsty, there's a stream in the entrance cave near the heaters. When the door mechanism beeps, step back. Sometimes pressure in the cave can get a bit wonky, and I don't want you to get hurt. Other than that, feel free to explore. I've locked all the doors to the rooms I don't want you to enter. For toilet necessities, the second cave on the left has a properly-sized toilet. And running water, but stuff I can explain later means don't drink it. See you soon! - Vixie.

Satisfied, I left opened the door. There was a puff as the air from inside flowed out to the lower-pressure atmosphere. I could spot a snow squall to the north, and the pressure meant that it was probably coming my way. I moved out onto the ledge and closed the door behind me. At high altitudes this far north, the air was already near-zero and it was still five in the afternoon. I took just a second to confirm with the weather report that the snowstorm was in fact going to arrive on my doorledge using a smartwatch I had strapped around my wrist. When I found that the storm was coming, I opened my wings and flew. Being an Ice Dragon had its advantages, but being a Water-Ice Combined Dragon was much better. The frosty air curled around my wings as the freedom of ignoring gravity filled my brain. Ice and Water dragons both had large wings to deal with the cold air (and lower pressure leading to the requirement for more surface area to achieve the same amount of lift) and incompressable water physics (to let the wings act like a one-way fan blade as they move back and forth, increasing efficient). Dragons might be magestic creatures, but we were still bound to the physics of the mortal plane, after all. Being part of both, my wings were even bigger, making me one of the best high-altitude fliers on the planet. The ability to use both gills and lungs at said altitudes helped with oxygen also helped. Air Dragons were better at flying in normal air, but I liked to think of it like stats from a video game. Air Dragons min-maxed their stats for low-altitude, but I could go anywhere - even underwater - can keep my speed relatively high. I took full advantage of this on my way to the space radar, soaring well above the cloud ceiling and to the point where I could make out the curvature of the planet below me. The ocean spread out to my west, while more land was to my east. Snow covered the north as to the south was the telltale splotchy color of industrialism. My smartwatch beeped, as I crossed the normal altitude limit. I hadn't realized I'd gone so high; I had a radar to repair, after all. I dove down towards the surface, ignoring more beeps as I crossed half the way to the speed of sound. The wind howled angrily in my ears, but I flattened those (thank you, streamlined water genetics) and came out of my death dive right over the radar. The repair itself went relativity smoothly, though I couldn't find a broken component and chalked it up to more space anomalies. They weren't infrequent, and usually marked where the gods decided to look over the planet. For my radars, anyway. Further north, ignoring the north pole, almost no gods came out and wanted to deal with us. Our unspoken agreement was held that way. I flew straight back for my return journey. The storm was definitely closer, but fifteen minutes of flying later and I was entering the opening mechanism for my door. As it swung inwards, I heard the high-pitched scream of an elf.
-----
When I awoke, I found myself tucked into some covers. It took all of seven seconds for reality to catch up with me. Right. I got into a heated argument with a dragon. I instinctively touched the part of my face that had been closest to the dragon's flame. I'd read about Auras in books, but never thought I'd get to see one. They were only ever found in the most powerful and competent individuals of a race in an entire plan of existence. I wondered which skill gave the dragon hers - Vixie, I reminded myself. Either way, given that Auras are technically illusions, I wasn't hurt. The flames didn't get close enough to hurt anyway, but that didn't stop me from checking. This time, I was much more careful when I stood up. I sat up first, then started to kick my legs back and forth. That's when I spotted a paper on the other side of my cot. I stood up without thinking, but managed to keep my consciousness this time and moved towards the note. It was handwritten and contained a lot of jargon that I wasn't familiar with. Space. Radar. False positive. Airtight opening mechanism. Heater. Beep. Pressure. Toilet. Running water. I could deduce some of it. A message had come in requesting the services of the local dragon to repair a thing that has an issue, and that she would return shortly. I could wander around as I pleased, besides eating food that wasn't open or contained in a clip bag. From the tone of the message, I could deduce what a 'toilet' was. The heaters would logically be things that produced heat, so all I had to do was look for those. I wasn't able to tell time, but I supposed at this point it didn't matter. I moved over deeper into the cave, and quickly heard the sound of a stream. It led directly into a forest of stalagmites. After clambering over those, the temperature started to increase, which was all I needed to know that I was getting a drink of water. I was only now catching up to the fact that I had been out for three days, and that meant that I was extremely thirsty. I wasn't sure how I wasn't dead of dehydration at this point. I found the stream next to the glowing metal rods, and with it a clear path to my location. Sighing slightly at the wasted effort on climbing through Rock Forest, I snatched an undersized cup off a rack built into a nearby jut in the cave wall and filled it, before entering the bliss of fresh water. Back in the village, we had some of the best and cleanest water in all the land thanks to snow melt, but this took that to a new level. Cold, crisp water melted in the sun only minutes ago. It was... pure. I spent the next couple minutes simply drinking and processing everything over in my mind. The gods might have willed the monster dead, but if even the monster gods had abandoned them and survived... then how come the Pantheon never told us? Religious issues aside, there were more practical issues regarding my own survival. How did I get out. There was a thud at the metal slab, and I moved back towards it, leaving my cup to dry on the rack I pulled it from. The engraving of the cat on the metal slab was- BEEEP! What was that sound? There was a hiss, and the slab started to peel away. A gust of frigid cold air washed over me as a mage Ice-Water hybrid Aura-capable dragon that I had argued with stared me down. I did the instinctive thing and let out the scream of a human three year old, squeezing my eyes shut and waiting for the final blow. When the end of my life didn't arrive, I reopened my eyes to find the sky-blue cat standing in the hole where the metal slab was supposed to be. Then there was another... sound, and the metal slab started to move back into position. The cat was surprised for a single moment before simply charging the door and jumping through, skidding to a halt right in front of me. Which meant that I got a closer look at her. Ocean-blue strips crossed an ice-blue body fur in a fifty-fifty ratio. Small crystals of ice twinkled, floating here her wings would be. One tail was accompanied by two more made of pure blue-white energy, and the cat even had a halo. Six orbs of blue-white light hovered in lazy circles around her back, and even in a diminutive form the size of a cat the being radiated the power of an aura-capable creature. "Oh, right, sorry," Vixie said, and all the ethirial energy disappeared. Now that I knew what I was looking for, however, I could just barely tell, using my power as a mage, that Vixie was using illusion magic to hide her true energy. "You don't need to hide your reserves," I said. "Though if you're shapeshifting into forms so small that you need to expose yours, then you should just burn yours instead. It's not worth the trouble of people bottling yours." Vixie gave some kind of half-shrug. "They're not reserves, no." She said, emphasizing the word. I looked at Vixie with a sharp look, and for a second I forgot I was talking to a dragon. "Then what are they?" "They're..." The cat blushed, something I wasn't even aware was possible. She let the illusion fall away, and the tails, crystals, orbs and halo returned. "They're my regenerative baseline minimum." I looked her up and down for a second, dumbstruck. She really is a creature of power, huh? "Um.... uh..." I stuttered. "Is... that where you get your aura from?" I asked. Vixie closed her eyes with an expression on her face, and this time green flame started to peel off her. "Part of it, yeah." To control an aura like that... two auras. Just how powerful is she? I was so deep in thought that I didn't realize that the expression on her face was pain. "I... uh... what happened?" I asked, shellshocked. "Why aren't you fighting in the war?" The worldwide-powerful dragon masquerading as a cat sighed. "I... haven't told anyone. It's... personal." "I..." Only now did it hit me that I was talking with a dragon, not another person. Not just a monster, but a... creature with emotions. "You don't have to tell me." I quickly backtracked. "No, no, it's a fair question. It..." The cat let out a chuckle, and it filled the cave with a beautiful sound. "I suppose it's kind of ironic... but it starts with a kobold and a god, back when the Firma kobold tribe decided to travel north to escape the civilized nations, shortly before the amassing of all creatures in these same northern mountains and the Unification War. "Back before the gods forsook us."
Original Prompt: [WP] For as long as all the races have known, Dragons have been seen as violent, destructive creatures. After an attack on your village, you black out and find yourself in the den of a dragon. It's rather annoyed that that is how they're seen, and wants to prove that isn't the case.
u/Lycan_Jedi thank you for the prompt!
Part 2

I just bought a used intreped silverstone with what I think is a predator 212 on it, that is attached to a fuel tank. When I took it for a test ride it ran fine, but when i went to start it after that, the fuel wasn't making it up through the line. I put more gas in it because i thought that was the issue, but it still won't start. Any ideas on what might be the problem here? The seller had it sitting for a long time but I don't think the carb is clogged because it idled fine for over a minute

This has taken me a long time to realize. For over 5 years now, I kept thinking if I was nice and accommodating enough to someone else's poorly-behaved kids, if I let their wants take precedence over my own, that, eventually, it would turn out alright. That they would like me, respect me and eventually treat me as a member of the family. That I could even help these poor, charming, sad kids.
Newsflash: It never happened.
Nope.
What did? (Skip to 'Please don't misunderstand me' below to find actual advice, as opposed to a rant/vent.)
Well, apart from near-incessant fighting, whining and dishonesty, more specifically:
- 2017-present: His son attacked other children at school, camp and extracurricular activities, once to the extent that the entire school had to be shut-down. (Most recently, he seems to have followed in his mother's footsteps by punching a hole through the wall at both houses (with, of course, no therapy resulting from the act).)-
~2018: His daughter, in kindergarten, threatens to burn a teacher she dislikes with fire.
- 2017-present: Him chuckling as both children, as young as four and six, lied about things as minor as brushing their teeth or being caught up later than their bedtime.
- Winter 2022: Months of his daughter not eating the entire day, then oh-so-coincidentally claiming she was hungry right at her bedtime, and him accommodating her, every single time.
- April 2022: He admitting they had a lying problem before kicking me out of our hotel in an unfamiliar city on vacation when I finally lost it (after 5 years of this nonsense) when his daughter claimed that whether she saw her brother or not was 'a difficult question' (by losing it, I mean, snapping: "What, are you blind?"), and, earlier that day, his ~12-year-old son had a temper tantrum after we had to chase them both down through an entire museum, after they ran off with no warning. (All this, after his daughter sulked about for no discernible reason during the birthday trip it was my idea to plan at all. (My hopefully-soon-to-be-ex had never before taken her along on vacation with him and his parents, only his son.)
- April 2022: My hopefully-soon-to-be-ex forcibly trying to break into my apartment (jamming the door against the lock while yelling and slamming furniture around), while I, in a panic, tried calling a now-understandably-former 'friend' of 6+ years I had seen a few weeks prior, who claimed she was in a meeting, before finally, thankfully, managing to reach my parents and rush home .- Countless other instances I won't bore you with.
​
Please don't misunderstand me: at least half of this (if not more) is my fault.
​
Some of the instances recounted lack context: due to the situation, I have not been an easy person to be with. I tried and failed to break up with my hopefully-soon-to-be-ex countless times, allowed loyalty to cloud my judgement, took responsibility for things that were not and will never be my fault, claiming that our relationship problems were due to me being 'difficult to be with' (which, as you can perhaps gather, is somewhat true o:) ), as opposed to the main issue at hand, that is: him, his Wall-punching baby mama's and his bastards'** troubling behaviour.
(** I do not say this to be insulting, but because, since my hopefully-soon-to-be-ex did not marry their mother, that would be the dictionary definition of what they are.)
​
Nor do I say any of this to indicate that these children are inherently bad, no.
This is not the children's fault - it is the parents'. If you are a single parent and you allow your child to take on the very traits that made your relationship with their ex tank because you feel guilty or are scared of your ex, that is on you.I firmly believe that no child, no person, is born evil. We are what we are raised to be.
​
So, if you are a 'farce-parent' and you want out, if you're considering suicide or violence or things you never have before, know that you are not the problem.
​
This system that shames 'step-parents', while they are often treated poorly by both kids and parents alike, that delusionaly even calls unrelated adults a 'step-parent', while they have living ones, this is the problem, in my opinion.
​
You have a right to stand up for yourself. You have a right to respect. You have a right to a partner who treats you well.
​
What has helped me lately?
> Not seeing these troubled children. At all. (Half a year and counting now - YES!). No longer do I need to watch, horror-stricken, as my hopefully-soon-to-be-ex (and his baby mama, from what I gather) condone violence, lying and manipulating in ways I would never allow in my own children.
> Telling people the truth. From the beginning the situation felt wrong and bad to me, but I kept my mouth shut in hopes that it would improve and afraid that I would be judged as a bad person for not being able to love someone else's kids I have no say in raising.
> Slowly but surely, standing up to my hopefully-soon-to-be-ex about what I do deserve. (As he is only the second man I have been fully intimate with and I have considerable emotional baggage myself, I am perhaps holding onto the relationship for far longer than I should.)
​
Hopefully, one day I will look back on these words and take my own advice: Leave.
​
In the meantime, hopefully we can take solace in the fact that we are not alone.

I see GymShark a lot but is there stuff actually good in terms of comfort and functionality? There’s no stores around to try stuff on.
Fabletics ads have been flooding my feeds for months so I drove up to the mall where they actually have store. Wasn’t impressed. Not a fan of that built in lining in their fundamental shorts and everything else was average and over priced.
I used to work at old navy and their active wear is actually pretty decent. Comfortable, not super super expensive and functional.
I bought some dri fit Nike tanks because they were on sale. I sweat a lot though so I’m curious to see how those hold up.
What do you all like or recommend?

I'm not counting Orochi as a cadre and every monster in their strongest shown form, so evil natural ocean and Platinum sperm would rank above him obviously. The rest are really open for debate imo tho.
Saw Tier lists ranking him below ugly, gums and emporer
People often say he was just lucky that Saitama held back, yeah he held back but that punch was powerful enough to cause earthquakes all the way on the surface, shake the entirety of Z city and make everyone including monsters and S class worried, and my man just ran away bleeding a little, then he got hit by an attack from Bang and Bomb even stronger than the one that broke the entire carapace of elder centipede, and just shook it off while still being injured from Saitama. All while spamming attacks that got even Bang worried he would die.
I think the only cadres you could argue be number 3 or 4 instead are Goketsu and Elder Centipede, personally i feel like the shockwave of Saitamas punch that killed Goketsu was smaller than when he punched Rover, you could however say that was because it wasn't underground and Saitama hit rover down into the ground.
And Elder Centipede has hax and size, but also he took way more damage from attacks that are confirmed weaker than what rover tanked, plus he doesn't have that much attack power for his size, both Bang and Metal bat got hit and were still able to fight after only somewhat injured.

Hi all, I'm new to aquariums and pets at all. I ended up with a small 15L tank (when an office neglected their beta to death) and have added 2 nerite snails with the possibility of adding an African dwarf frog. I got the snails first because the tank has to much ammonia for the frog but the guy at the local Aquarium store told me the snails would be fine as long as I fed them and can treat the tank at the same time. I got them late afternoon yesterday and have attempted to feed them the algae wafers both last night and tonight. Neither ate the first night and I removed the excess food after 2 hours as per directions. Now again, neither is showing interest in the food. I have read that they can go a couple days, but am concerned that they are stressed in their new home. Both are moving around (one much more than the other) when should I be concerned, and what can I do to help them ease into their space?
The tank is very clean (without soap) and I prepared it for a week prior to their arrival with conditioner, new filters, and air stone after that poor beta sat in the tank rotting for over 2 weeks! So I don't think there is any algae for them to find without being fed.
Thank you for your help, I just want my new buddies to be happy here.

Door County
Now with full trader and mod list!!
Please join the Discord for additional information! https://discord.gg/FairPlayDayz
Over 80+ custom models & structures & houses 🏘️ - Introducing CORN 🌽 to DayZ - Map object placed, harvestable & planting. Trees 🌳 also drop some delicious Door County Cherries 🍒. Exploding Gas ⛽️ Tanks & NEW Well 🚿 models, even Fire 🔥 Hydrants.
Door County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The dangerous passage, known as Death's Door, contains shipwrecks and was known to Native Americans and early French explorers. Indian artifacts are frequently unearthed as the area was well populated & rich and fertile hunting grounds - before the European settlers came west.
Door County is a popular Upper Midwest vacation destination.This map will take place soon long after the infection has taken over the lands of Chernarus.
You are a survivor who was adrift off in the Atlantic Ocean coming from Chernarus during the first of the infections - your ship headed to America hoping to escape the infection. Making your way through the great lakes your ship finally ran aground.
You are out of food, and any useable equipment left on your ship has been ruined and pillaged by other survivors.
Your only choice is to explore the regions of Door County Wisconsin, in hopes to live another day. Fruit it bountiful here.
Cherries are a big source of the regions revenue.There are plenty of forest areas and regions of explorations, and secret locations yet to be discovered.Wildlife has begun to take over as more of the human population dies off with infection and survivors move further south.
This map is a work in progress. It will be updated frequently & will require wipes with most updates. As the terrain and towns are developed further.

I posted this years ago and hated it so I deleted it.. I have since revised it several times and now I think it's ready. I finally have time to continue writing so please let me know what you think, especially if you don't like it and what you didn't like about it

Boab'shek sighed as he opened his eyes, taking a moment to wake before he swam lazily out of his resting tunnel. Not particularly excited for another grueling [day] slogging through anomaly reports, he slowly closed his eyes and steeled himself as he had done every morning for the last [13 years]. He had 35 mouths to feed, and the bills weren’t going to pay themselves. After a quick breakfast at the grub farm, and feeling much better for it, he began swimming towards the work module.
The station, of which he was the sole occupant, hung motionless in empty space. Positioned near the top of the Galactic disc, it had a direct line of sight to each of the many observation outposts which it serviced. Tight-beam receivers dotted the "bottom" of the gangly-looking station, pointed in seemingly random directions forming a tangled mess of structural supports and antennae, though they were all precisely oriented to receive the incoming data streams.
Some of the more densely populated sectors of the Galaxy had entangled communicators at each of the observation outposts, providing near real-time updates of the goings-on to the Trade Coalition, but so many communicators were obscenely expensive to operate. Out here, near the rim of the Galaxy, there was simply not enough revenue from hyperspace tolls to support real-time obstacle charting. On the other hand, there were not enough hyperspace travelers to necessitate it either. Infrastructure was upgraded as needed, and tolls were adjusted to cover the cost.
And so it was Boab'shek's job to monitor the findings of the outposts as they were beamed to his station, albeit after a substantial light-speed delay, and report to the Coalition anything worth reporting through his station's entangled communicator. A soul-crushingly boring job, as far as he was concerned, but well-paid and not too physically demanding; which he appreciated. He swam his way through the long corridor into the work module, nesting comfortably into the saddle and engaging his dexterous prehensile whiskers with the computer controls. The two screens lit up simultaneously, one for either eye, and he began scrolling through the anomaly reports that had come in while he was asleep.
An odd glint was reported from outpost HX-253. The optical feed showed an empty patch of space flash once, nothing spectacular but unexpected nonetheless. He instructed the computer to calculate and overlay the position of other observation outposts over the video. Unsurprisingly, it showed a different outpost located right where the flashing originated from. A reflection from the waste-heat radiator panels, he surmised. He added a rule to the filter to ignore anomalies originating from outpost locations. No need to waste time on one of these anomalies in the future, should it occur again.
Outpost HT-628 reported a celestial collision. A rare occurrence in his sector, he excitedly pulled up the video feed and observed as a neutron star orbited a dark swallower closer and closer, spiraling inwards as its energy was sapped out of the system by ever-increasing gravitational disturbance. It circled faster and faster as it approached and finally was pulled apart, becoming a bright streak and then a ring around the swallower, shining brightly as it was accreted. The sinusoidal readout from the interferometer of the outpost showed the gravitational waves increase exponentially in intensity and then drop off as if nothing had happened. More and more of the star was pulled in and suddenly the system went dark again, as the last of the star was unceremoniously slurped up by the swallower. Beautiful, he thought. Such a privilege it was to observe the natural cycle of the universe. He lived for these moments.
He approved the automatic suggested update to the star charts and scrolled onto the next report. HU-808 reported an unknown disturbance. An unusual gravimetric reading as well as unidentified fast-moving object. Boab’shek stared at the report listing. An odd designation, he couldn’t recall if he had ever seen this class of anomaly in all his [years] working for the Coalition. He pulled up the video feed and gravity readings, flaring his fins in surprise at the length of the video report; the reflexive motion causing him to lurch backwards. The duration of the video was just over [1.7 years]. Why had the outpost taken so long to report such a disturbance?
He started at the beginning and watched as the time-compressed video showed a light appearing from nowhere, approximately [8.3 light-minutes] from a single ordinary, stable star. With his other eye he looked at the star map of the area. The light was hundreds of light years from the nearest hyperspace waypoint. Nobody would be crazy enough to travel that far from a waypoint, he thought, being forced to travel at a ridiculously unsafe speed while in cold-sleep, quite possibly exceeding the safe duration for hibernation even then.
It must be natural in origin, then, though he had never heard of such an object. Puzzled, he watched as the light gradually increased in intensity and started moving, traveling in a straight line towards a nearby trinary star system at an ever-increasing rate of speed. The light, becoming ever-brighter, shone a brilliant white as its velocity continued to increase. His jaws hung open in disbelief as a bright cone appeared to the sides and around the light, resembling a bow shock wave like the ones that trailed behind the high speed transports that sailed above the oceans on his home planet. He checked the spectrometer, unbelieving as the range displayed full-spectrum emission with increasing UV, X-ray, even gamma emissions!
The conical bow-shock became more and more acute in angle as the light shone brighter and gained momentum. It closed the distance between the star systems impossibly quickly, and when it had almost reached the nearest red dwarf in the trinary system almost all at once it slowed as the luminosity peaked and it appeared to explode. A beam of plasma erupted from the source of the light, apparently traveling near light speed, and expanded as it left the source where it had stopped, a short distance from the red dwarf. The gravimetric reading reported an error. He managed to peel his eye away from the video feed and defecated in shock as he observed the chart. It was flat and steady as it should be, up until it immediately spiked straight up and off the chart.
Glad for the filtration intake below his saddle, Boab'shek observed as the reading abruptly ended reporting calibration error, and possible damage to the interferometer. The outpost had apparently not thought much of the disturbance up until the gravimetric reading was observed, at which point it had flagged the anomaly for reporting. Never had he heard of anything like this. He contemplated for a moment on what this object could possibly be, until he had a sudden idea. Frantically mashing the controls with his whiskers, he instructed the computer to calculate the distance the light had traveled. The computer overlaid the measured distance on the video feed. Approximately [4.25 light years]. Whiskers shaking, he looked again at the length of the recording. [1.7 years]. Whatever in the deep depths this thing was, it had traveled through real space at over twice the speed of light. Impossible, he thought.
Surely another outpost would refute these readings. He instructed the computer to show the live feed from HU-807, an outpost which was more distant to the anomaly. It would receive readings from the same anomaly, but with a calculated [8 month] delay compared to HU-808. On screen, there was the light shining proudly, already traveling faster than lightspeed. Boab'shek, still in denial, examined the spectrograph readings from this outpost more closely. It was then that he noticed the emission lines in the light signature. It showed prominent signatures for hydrogen, helium, beryllium, and oxygen. Undeniably the signature of an unshielded fusion reactor.
Frantically, he began writing an incident report. Under the subject field, he selected UNIDENTIFIABLE TECHNOSIGNATURE. This was going straight to the top.
Excitement hung in the air aboard the UNES Hermes. After many years of preparation, the time for departure had finally arrived. In a matter of minutes, the colossal ship would engage its prototype ICEFIRE engine and leave its comfortable rectilinear halo orbit of the moon, where it had circled since the keel was laid so many years ago. The ship consisted of a massive cylindrical habitation drum, over a kilometer in diameter and five kilometers long, with an equally large spherical water tank forward tipped with the powerful thermal laser shield, and the behemoth of a drive cone bringing up the rear. The drum spun slowly, providing comfortable spin gravity to the civilian colonists, most of whom were sporting massive hangovers from the completion celebration the night before. Many of the passengers had been involved in the engineering, assembly, and calibration of various parts and components of the ship. Some had celebrated a job completed, others out of excitement, and some feared that it would be their last night. No expense had been spared in building or testing during the ships’ construction, and all assurances had been made that everything would go well, but nobody could deny that this ship was experimental.
The crew of the Hermes had long since gotten all of the festivious urges out of their systems, opting to celebrate the completion of the preparations before the colonists had arrived. Every system had been checked, double checked, and triple checked. Mission Commander Huxton stood in the center of the bridge and observed the buzzing commotion of the crew surrounding him, eyes fixed on their station monitors while calling out checkpoints into their headsets and to the surrounding operators.
One by one the operators fell silent as they completed their checklists and lifted their eyes to Commander Huxton, awaiting further orders. As the last operator reported "All systems go" into his headset, silence fell upon the bridge. Rehearsals had been performed. Speeches had been given. Goodbye messages had been sent. Diagnostics and checklists had been run through. Living wills written. It was finally time. Huxton stood silently for a moment, slowly scanning his eyes around the room. His face beamed with pride at the exceptional performance of his crew, tinged only by the apprehension for the coming danger.
Huxton broke the silence. "Comms! Open a channel to STC, mirror to the PA" he barked. A soft chime indicated that the microphones were listening. "Space Traffic Control, this is UNES Hermes. Requesting clearance for departure." His voice boomed throughout the ship, where every colonist and crew member was listening intently. Seconds later, his voice was heard by the crew of the STC, where silence reigned as every soul was glued to their monitors. A few moments later, their response was heard throughout the Hermes. A tinny voice crackled through the PA system, "UNES Hermes, this is Space Traffic Control. You are cleared for departure. Go bravely. Godspeed."
Huxton closed his eyes for a brief moment, savoring what could be his last breath. He opened his eyes. "Engineering, light it up!”

In the spring of 1940, German forces steamrolled through Western Europe, capturing a number of famous states, including France, Denmark and Lego City. Because Lego City only exclusively supports reactionary measures to internal and external crises, they were unable to build tanks, planes and weapons in time to repel the German blitzkrieg. German forces entered the city in May of 1940, where they immediately began using illegal Lego building techniques to help construct the Wunderwaffe. Hitler and his entourage visited the city shortly after its capture, seeing breathtaking sights, like the Lego Eiffel Tower, and the Lego Death Star. Life in Lego City during the occupation was difficult, as many of the master builders were taken prisoner and sent to work in German arms factories. The Gestapo shut down all attempts to rescue men who had fallen into the river in Lego City, an event that commonly happened around 15 times a day. Because of this policy, thousands of men drowned needlessly. Organized resistance within the city were strong, but Lego freedom fighters would often strategically place Lego bricks so that the Germans would step on them with their bare feet. In 1945, Lego City was liberated by the Allies, and was later divided in the zones of influence, amongst the British, French, Soviets and the Americans.

Hi all. So I’m 22 years old just got a full time office job. I’m still new to my position and I work with all women who are in their late thirties and late forties (there’s around 15 of us in the department ). I’ve always dressed more modestly and grew up that way. I also feel more comfortable in modest clothing and more professional at work. My work is business casual and my coworkers mostly wear tank tops and open toed shoes. So far, many of my coworkers have made comments about my outfits. Things like “you’re wearing winter clothes,” “aren’t you hot,” “do you have summer dresses” or “I thought you were just wearing those because you haven’t gotten a pedicure yet” (I wear closed toe shoes to work). It’s a strange thing to see grown adults so concerned about my outfits on the daily, and lately it’s just been taking a toll on me. Last week my manager went around asking all of us if we wanted to move our team meeting outside (in a plus 32 degree heat wave). Everyone in the office said yes, but when she asked me I said no but I if the team wanted to then I of course would be fine with that. I was wearing a long sleeve blouse and dress pants from artizia so I also knew the flood of comments would come pouring in. Everyone starting making comments like “you’ll be sweating for sure” or “yeah I mean you’re literally wearing winter clothes.” I’m not sure what to make of this whole situation or if I’m just being sensitive. I’m not sure why anyone would want to sit through a 2 hour meeting in a heat wave and then have to go back into the office. Nothing I wear is super out of the ordinary, just mostly ankle cut dress pants and a blouse or a light cardigan. I know it’s not the norm for the summer maybe but it’s also not completely crazy (in my opinion).
After I said I would prefer not to go outside when my boss asked me what I wanted, I overheard her and my other managers saying something along the lines of “she’s literally 22, like go outside and be normal and enjoy the sun.” Idk if I’m the one in the wrong, but I genuinely just think remarks like that are snarky and rude. If you ask me what I want to personally do, then don’t get mad when I’m honest. Office culture is so confusing and I’m genuinely just upset that people constantly feel like they can comment on how I show up at work and what I wear even though it’s entirely professional and put together. Am I being out of touch here? Is it weird to cover up in the office? Please share your honest thoughts

I'm the second best swordsman on Fish-Man Island!! They call me Hachi of the Six-Sword Style!!! Did you know that!!? No mere human could ever beat me, even if Heaven and Earth turned upside down!!!

Bounty: 8,000,000 Berries
Six-Sword Style Hachi, or Hatchan, is an Octopus Fish-Man and the First Mate of the Arlong Pirates (formerly, the Sun Pirates). Alongside his crew, he terrorized Cocoyasi Village for several years until the Straw Hat Pirates arrived to defeat Arlong. Of the many Fish-men captured by the marines, Hachi was the only one that was able to escape. This led to an undersea adventure where he rescued Camie and Pappag from the belly of a sea monster, then opened up Takoyaki 8. Hachi would later meet the Straw Hat Pirates again, where he would try to atone for his past by providing them guidance through Sabaody Archipelago and Fish-Man Island.
TECHNIQUES

Swordsmanship

Six-Sword Style: Octopus Pot Stance

• Points all his swords forward and thrusts at his opponent. This move broke Zoro's guard, knocking away his blades, and left him open for a followup attack ^{Arlong Park#85}
  
• Does it again to Zoro, this time lunging from a distance. However, Zoro shattered his blades ^{Arlong Park#85}
  

Tentacle-Sword Overload

• Swings around his tentacle arms wildly while holding his swords to attack ^{Arlong Park#85}

Waltz of the Six Swords

• After knocking his enemy into the air, he spins his swords above his head at high-speed, even creating a vortex, in order to slice up his enemies ^{Arlong Park#85}

Six-Sword Style: Octopus Sword

• Moves quickly to slice up a Flying Fish Rider to save Zoro ^{Sabaody Archipelago#494}

Fish-Man

Ink Jet

• Blasts Luffy with a torrent of ink, which blinds him ^{Arlong Park#82}
  
• Can shoot the ink from a considerable distance, forcing Zoro to dodge it ^{Arlong Park#84}
  
• Covers himself in ink to hide his own identity (although not smart enough to keep the secret long) ^{Sabaody Archipelago#492}
  

Octopus-Fritter Frenzy

• Punches a pillar rapidly, causing it to break and begin to collapse ^{Arlong Park#84}
  
• Throws a flurry of punches so fast that they appear to be more than six fists ^{Arlong Park#84}
  
• Punches through the hull of a large ship, causing it to capsize ^{Hachi's Walk On The Seafloor#208}
  

Takoyaki Punch

• Throws out a punch with his three arms at once, sending three other Fish-men flying high into the sky ^{Sabaody Archipelago#493}

The Hachi Stick-Up

• Because he is an octopus, he can stick to surfaces with his suction cups after jumping away at considerable speed ^{Arlong Park#84}

STRENGTH

Striking

• Breaks a stone pillar with a flurry of punches ^{Arlong Park#84}
  
• Hits Zoro's swords causing his arms to get knocked back, then headbutts him hard enough to send him flying high into the sky ^{Arlong Park#85}
  
• Strikes a gigantic sea monster (potentially a sea king) with a spear and kills it instantly ^{Hachi's Walk On The Seafloor#191}
  
• Kills a giant octomash ^{Hachi's Walk On The Seafloor#205}
  
• Punches straight through the Macro Pirate's ship ^{Hachi's Walk On The Seafloor#208}
  
• Punches three Fish-men so hard that they fly high into the sky ^{Sabaody Archipelago#493}
  

Physical

• Carries several marines in a large pot on his back while he is swimming ^{Arlong Park#69}
  
• Carries a large pig on a stick ^{Arlong Park#73}
  
• Moves a giant, underwater reef which causes a maelstrom above ^{Arlong Park#75}
  
• Casually lifts a large chunk of a stone wall then slams it down causing it to break ^{Arlong Park#83}
  
• Lifts and slams down another large chuck of stone wall, completely shattering it ^{Arlong Park#83}
  
• Carries around six swords that weigh 650 pounds each, so Hachi carries 3900 pounds at any given time ^{Arlong Park#85}
  
• Casually runs along the sea floor while carrying a giant octopus and a bunch of treasure ^{Hachi's Walk On The Seafloor#211}
  

DURABILITY

Blunt Force

• Thrown through a stone pillar by Zoro, but he recovers quickly ^{Arlong Park#84}

Slicing/Cutting/Piercing

• Zoro slices his face, but Hachi seems to get better immediately ^{Arlong Park#84}
  
• Survives and recovers quickly after being cut up by Zoro's Streaming Wolf-Swords techniques ^{Arlong Park#85}
  
• Has his hands sliced up by Zoro, but he quickly picks up his swords to continue fighting ^{Arlong Park#85}
  
• While badly injured, he is hit by Zoro's Dragon Twister and sent flying into the air. This only knocked out Hatchi for a moment ^{Arlong Park#85}
  
• Survives being shot through the chest by Saint Charlos' gun, even has enough strength to hold back Luffy ^{Sabaody Archipelago#502}
  
• Survives being stabbed by a knife, then runs away for a while and survives being struck by at least 27 arrows ^{Fish-Man Island#615}
  

Other

• Survives having the ocean pressure tear open his ruins causing him to bleed immensely ^{Arlong Park#89}

SPEED/AGILITY/REACTION

• Reacts to Zoro's slash and dodges under it ^{Arlong Park#84}
  
• Moves out of the way of Zoro's slash so fast that he didn't see him move ^{Arlong Park#84}
  
• Swims so fast that he catches up to Sanji at the bottom of the ocean even though Sanji had a headstart ^{Arlong Park#89}
  
• Escapes from a Marine's boat and leaps a pretty decent distance off the side ^{Hachi's Walk On The Seafloor#182}
  
• Even while badly injured, Hatchan was able to outrun dozens of arrows controlled by Vander Decken's Devil Fruit power for some time ^{Fish-Man Island#615}
  

SKILL/MISC

• Can use his mouth as a horn to summon Momoo from far away ^{Arlong Park#73}
  
• Is the second best swordsman on Fish-Man Island ^{Arlong Park#84}
  
• Knows first-aid to a degree, which he uses to help a Panda Shark ^{Hachi's Walk On The Seafloor#184}
  
• Is an expert takoyaki chief, even Sanji is impressed by his cooking ^{Sabaody Archipelago#496}
  

WEAKNESS

• He's stupid ^{Arlong Park#74}
  • like really ^{Arlong Park#89}
    • really stupid ^{Sabaody Archipelago#492}

The video originally aired on Saturday, 3 June. Unfortunately, there is not a live stream summary for this video so we are providing the transcript for those who want to know what she said, though for reasons, did not watch the video.
Note: this is from the YouTube transcript which is available to the public. Some parts of the transcript may not be accurate since it's auto-generated.
The transcript DOES NOT have timestamps but with paragraph breaks to keep the random thoughts somewhat separated, and a couple of annotations.

[Music] hey guys, hey guys-hey! what's up! I hope you're doing well so my finger is still not healing. I put Betadine on it but it's annoying -okay - I took the, uh, because I took the bandage off and started doing dishes and things... yeah, I know I should keep the bandage on longer, so, I mean it is healing but ..I..I kind of reopened it when I was doing dishes is what I should say... anyways
so, I have Wendy's here in the Middle East. I have never tried, as you guys know, I haven't done a Wendy's video or mukbang yet
so I just got a few items that I know we don't have in Canada and I thought I would try them out. So first things first- we do have Pepsi in Canada but the cans are, like, long... eh... they look like um energy drinks and we have a rice and chicken bowl.
so this is their spicy chicken, but with rice and it comes with like a Gravy Sauce. Which I can get done with gravy. So let me just do this here, I'm gonna set up and more importantly...I have Tums for post mukbang just in case. No, just in case... I never, I never, usually need them but I found them.
mmm it's like a KFC type of gravy or something
okay let me pour it on top and see what happens gravy [singing] gravy[singing] a cup of gravy...I'm in the right country [Music]
ah see if I need you
okay, and we have a nut --- chocolate and nut Frosty - so this is a different kind of flavor of Frosty here yum and last but certainly not least, .... we have a...mushroom....cheddar burger...yeah, there's like cheese sauce and,mushroom
and
I did get an extra cheese sauce as well
So- because I love cheese sauce, well Kelly, oh Chloe.... all right... let's try this Frosty. I'm craving something sweet right now. I had a halloumi. I made really good halloumi sandwiches for breakfast oh my...gosh.... oh thumbnail
all right, a lot of packaging is matching with my sofa today
okay, so...um, there's like chocolate sauce on the sides and nuts in this Frosty
Beauty bite
hmm
that's good
I was tired of french fries today
all right, so!
oh my gosh - there's like Nutella on the sides or something..what the heck...um, yeah... I think it's a Nutella. I think I misread that [Note: Chantal may not be aware that Nutella is Hazelnut-chocolate spread = nut chocolate]
um
so, today I thought I would talk about...something that literally everyone is talking about - and before I talk about it - I want to put a disclaimer no disrespect intended whatsoever with the topic. I'm just gonna be eating my meal and talking about it. You may have heard about it - it's all over the news -all over tick tock - foreign -it's The Disappearance of Cameron Robbins... this like teen from Louisiana who went to the Bahamas for like a high school graduation trip and they were all partying...on this boat because the the age of majority like the age you can drink there is like 18. and the United States is 21 right?
I used to think 21 was strict but now I understand because to me...going on a party boat and getting...hammered..is... just doesn't seem like a good idea... for like 18 year olds. I don't know. you're just a little more mature anyway. Maybe not much, but at 21 you're a little...more mature.
[Note: Chantal confuses legal drinking age of 21 in the US forage of majority]
um
so, this kid - he's - he's pretty athletic kid... from what people describe. um - I don't know... there's mixed stories...but if he was dared or if he just...decided to do it but...I heard he was dared...um by other classmates to jump off of the boat. It was like the boat was called, like, Blackbeard's Revenge - it was like a little pirate themed boat party boat. So the sides were not too, too high - it's not like a huge cruise ship...whatever happened the motivation for...that...probably just drunk kids doing stupid things as usual.
I was stupid too. I did... I don't know if I did that stupid but...you know I've done stupid things. [Note: Chantal has never gone overboard into the ocean and presumed dead by a Shark and she seems unclear of her stupid being the same as to this tragedy]
so, someone on the boat shot of footage a...small....grainy dark it was dark in the middle of the night, right? video...it shows him in the water in just like.... shorts...
and...
at the beginning of the video....he's swimming in One Direction..and you see a boat, like, a not a boy, but a lifesaver...round orange lifesaver in the water. In that direction that he's going like...let's say left- it was left -but then like when you slow down the video you can kind of see what looks, like, a huge giant like people think it's...a shark or something - it's like a white - blob or whatever...
and then you see - um - Robin's turn the other way and start swimming, like, kicking his feet more but he's swimming...in the opposite direction he goes right....and then you cut you don't see him anymore he just kind of disappears - it's...like, really eerie
so...people are speculating a lot of things...but the, the most popular Theory is that he was attacked by a shark. other people think maybe he was taken under by the undertow...caused by the boat and the. um, the current. Me, in my opinion, it could have been one of the one of the two.
um, they searched for him for like a couple of days and then they, just like, declared him lost at sea because....I mean the likelihood of him being found alive is very, very, slim unfortunately...and it's very tragic and I'm sorry for the family.
I just have, like I have human...like, basic level sympathy at this point...because...like, that is pretty much suicide. Like I won't expect any kind of, you know, sympathy if I do something that...stupid [Note: this is not how expressing sympathy works, sympathy is apparently something she's trying to learn though hard to teach an emotion or feeling]
um I don't wish ill on anyone of course and....I feel bad for the family. very young... but people do really dumb things and for internet attention. I know what you're thinking - yes if I Keel over from eating this I don't expect sympathy, okay -I don't think that he expected to happen... what happened, but, I mean he was probably drinking...um, who knows but if you look at like when I was researching, the, the.... I became interested. So I was watching more videos about it what people's opinions were on YouTube and other video recommendations would come up about other teens. [Note: Her research was watching random YouTubers]
um who were like other people, young adult - team - whatever they were attacked - there was an instance where another woman was attacked by sharks and didn't survive... so she was attacked by sharks as well in the Bahamas there are just many instances of where people were attacked in the Bahamas like by sharks - so apparently the the Caribbean Waters, especially around the area are very shark infested because all admit at first I was like, I don't think it's a shark but after watching those videos of so many shark attacks in the Bahamas I'm more inclined to think maybe you - know and the fact is if he drow - was drowning - the the Lifesaver was right there out of his reach but beside the white blob that looked like a shark he...was if it was, you know, him being taken away by a current he wouldn't be turning around and swimming the other way - it looked like he was frightened by something you know? {Note: Chantal learns sharks live in warm water, like water in Cuba]
He would reach out for the lifesaver... but then again if it was a shark attack we would more than likely see more thrashing, right? that's my thought I don't know... unless he was just pulled down by a huge...shark... that's creepy. Like, one minute he's there - one second he's there - one second this next second he's not - completely vanished.
I'm gonna try this soybean who really knows [Music]
um that's actually really nice very good but I mean spicy it's just weird
it would be really cool - you know, I of course, I like... I said.. I don't like jail, on... on anyone even if they do do really stupid things. it's too bad but I think as prideful humans we think that we're on top of the food chain all the time...and the reality is we're not.
Maybe like, people should be warned more, you know, before drinking around shark infested waters and the dangers of the Sharks. I hope it brings more attention to it but...I heard that the parents are already, like, finding someone just to...um, like, the families looking for someone. I, I, think out of grief you look for someone to blame for a very nonsensical death. Like, a death that was just completely ridiculous and could be easily avoided and in their grief, of course, they don't want to blame their son - right? - but I mean in a way he's....I would say 97 to blame in this situation, you know, becauseI mean he pretty much jumped overboard...it's not like he fell
um so I don't know
it's just I mean, I guess... maybe they could have like a warning. Like I said, on the boat like do not jump in the water...maybe they already do, who knows? maybe they could get the boat company on that. Like, there wasn't a sign warning people not to jump in the water some people don't have common sense. Especially for your -your judgment- is going to be largely impaired -if you are hammered...if you if you're highly intoxicated - you know?
um have you guys heard of this story if you want to know more about it you can just Google or research in the YouTube search engine, like Cameron Robbins, and there's a whole bunch of videos.
wow so I'm not too sure... to me it was either one drowning or shark- I mean what else can it be? who knows. it's tragic. There's also, like, apparently - they did more searching for Madeleine McCann... okay - who went missing in Portugal years ago - like years and years ago ...um...I didn't recently research the case so I don't remember what year...maybe was it like 2004 or earlier than that? 2008 - I don't remember.
I don't know that story to me is weird I, I, I... really I don't don't mean to like blame anybody when I say this, but there's, like, a weird - I get like a weird JonBenet Ramsay Vibe with that case. I don't know why - but apparently they like did some more...digging... um... and they sent away some evidence they found -maybe, or some things that they found - so we'll we'll see when that happens. it'd be nice to know what happened to her... who was responsible for her disappearance -so that's it I mean that's the case. um it's just one of those things - I guess you don't realize how dangerous those waters are especially at night, you know? he probably just thought it was like a giant swimming pool or like going swimming at the beach or in the ocean, you know?
which is like a mistake anyone could make especially if you're you're drinking so, okay...the waters can be really dangerous...foreign freaks me out - I won't be buying a burkini anytime soon.
I think, like - I don't know -I like to scare myself it's weird. Like, before going on a plane I'll watch -not just before going on a plane but, like one of my favorite... I love, like, those Mayday videos and, like, plane crash videos. I don't know how...but it somehow helps me with my phobia or maybe I don't have a phobia of flying...that's why I'm not scared - I don't know.
what is that? seasonings? I can honestly say I've never had gravy on rice...it's good - anyways guys, I just wanted to show you some different Wendy's items here. they had some other kinds of burgers like a tortilla lime crunch chicken burger. they have a double stack it looks like a chicken Big Mac. Wendy's has one of the best in my...opinion...spicy chicken burgers sandwiches. [Note: she only showed how the nutty chocolate shake tasted like Nutella and a burger, she didn't really show anything]
Did you say burger or a sandwich when it comes to chicken? I think I say Burger - chicken burger - I don't know - whatever, please.
uh, thanks for watching and uh, listening to me and I'll see in the next video... bye, guys

I wasn't going to do a trip write up at all, but I'm planning a return trip in the Fall and I realized some of the things I learned on my first trip might be useful for other people, so here we go! I don't often see post write ups from people who are specifically into rhythm games/ arcades/ anime stuff
 
Dates: March 8 - 24, 2023 Background: Planned this trip mostly for myself but one of my friends decided to tag along fairly last minute. I had planned to spend the whole trip in Tokyo but the one thing she wanted to do was Kyoto, so we added a side trip + a very pleasant day at a Ryokan. I used Wanderlog to plan (HIGHLY recommend, this site is amazing), and my basic daily itinerary was morning shrine > pick an area to explore and have 1-2 major things per day. The person I was travelling with ended up taking a long ass time to get ready each day, so most of my morning stuff got cut or rearranged. Costs: I will fully admit I did not budget for food/ shopping, 100% vibes. I simply do not acknowledge what I spent

• Flight: $1,500 (Delta from MSP > SEA > Haneda. Direct from MSP had not resumed yet)
• Hotels: ¥314,000 (Roughly $2,300 USD for all 3 hotels total) [¥205,000 (Tokyu Stay Tsukiji, 15 nights) + ¥30,000 (Tokyu Stay Kyoto, 2 nights) + ¥79,000 (Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone Kyoto, 1 night)]
• Shinkansen: ¥42,000 for 2 round trip tickets from Tokyo/Kyoto and back. Roughly $300 USD, machine did not take foreign CC only cash

Highlights

• The Kingdom Hearts concert, I maxed out my luck on this trip and we were able to see this on it's last night in Tokyo. Absolutely incredible!!
• Sushi Yuu, Roppongi (omakase sushi for about ¥20,000 per person, we paid more with drinks)
• ShibuyaSky, the open air viewing makes the experience so much better, plus there's a bunch of different spots to hang out up on the observation deck
• Fushimi Inari, the whole shrine blew me out of the water, absolutely must experience in person
• TeamLabs Planets, so few things live up to the hype and this is one of them
• Golden Gai, the bars were so much fun, got the full experience of a salaryman pissing on the side of the konbini

Lowlights

• Caffeine- if you are addicted to non carbonated caffeine like I am be prepared to be disappointed. The monsters are only 40mg compared to America's 150mg+. I'm glad I brought caffeine pills
• Tsukiji market is really not worth going out of your way for, it's nice if you're near it but it's really just a fish market + insane lines for most of the food
• I'm still mad about how bad the food was at the Square Enix cafe is, at least we got coasters + placemats out of the deal. This was genuinely my only bad experience in Japan
• Everything on this subreddit told me that people in Tokyo don't really care about tattoos, however they do really seem to care about colored hair. I have very long, bright ombre hair and I was a bit of a sideshow attraction, including people taking photos of me in public multiple times. Probably the most frustrating part of the trip was being stared at constantly
• Japanese thrift stores love old American clothes, I was definitely let down by the majority of these

Goals:

• Buy anime stuff
• Play rhythm games
• Go thrift shopping
• See cherry blossoms
• Collect shrine stamps (goshuin)

Advice:

• TAX FREE SHOPPING: This has to be first because no one mentions it?? There are 2 types of tax free, discount and rebate. Everywhere has a minimum for tax free. Don Quijote you have to go to the separate tax free counter, and they will seal the bags shut. You're not supposed to use the tax free items in the country - I didn't know this and did it anyways? There seems to be no repercussions unless they open your bag and count every individual KitKat. I had to open the bags to repack everything anyways. The places that do rebates are generally malls, you bring your receipt + passport and they'll give you the 10% back in cash (minus a fee). When you get to the airport, you scan your passport after you drop your luggage, indicating you made tax free purchases. You do not need to keep your receipts anymore
• Don Quijote does sell luggage but Ginza Karen is cheaper
• Besides the standard things that every single trip report has (get a suica, you'll walk a lot, etc etc), the biggest thing I learned is not to go to an area without at least 1-2 specific goals in mind. For example, I had given us like a half day to go around Shibuya/ Harajuku, but because we didn't look into what malls or stores we might like to go to, we ended up wandering pretty aimlessly and not really enjoying the area. This happened a few different areas we went to, so I decided that in the future I would pin some stores on Google Maps and try to make it to those specific stores
• Install LINE and set up an account. It's crazy how much connects to LINE. For me the biggest thing was 1) making Sushiro reservations and not having to sit in the store for an hour plus waiting for our table and 2) being able to grab a chargeSPOT to charge my phone. I brought a battery pack but at this point it must be like a decade old, it took the entire night to recharge and died on me during the day a few times. I have a Pixel 6 Pro and was literally constantly charging my phone
• If you're coming from the Americas, don't try to do something on your first night. Get your Konbini dinner and go the fuck to sleep
• Getting from place to place can take longer than expected, you'll have to navigate the stations, find the entrances (sometimes hidden in malls) and exits (sometimes closed), don't make plans too tight together
• Navigating Kyoto was so much more confusing. At first our Suica cards didn't work because we apparently didn't tap out at a station in Tokyo, so we were buying day passes and paying in cash on the bus. Some of the buses have 0 English and 100% Kanji (navigation difficulty: extreme). Suica cards DO work in Kyoto so if you're having issues go to a gate with an attendant and they can help
• It can be weirdly hard to find bathrooms, most konbini have them but you're supposed to ask the cashier if you can use them. I speak very basic Japanese but hammed up the gaijin card here and would just ask to use the toilet in English, no one ever told me no Weeb specific advice:
• If you want to do pop ups (like the Jujutusu Kaisen Animation exhibit), a Japanese e-sim will be a lifesaver. You need a Japanese phone number to do SO much, they really make it extremely frustrating to make reservations without it. I did manage to make reservations for the Square Enix cafe though, the write-up is on my profile. (Was it worth it? Absolutely not, worst food all trip, -3/10)
• Prices are all over the place for figures, especially prize figures. There's a solid chance you might buy something and see it cheaper at the next shop, however going back/forth between shops in Akihabara can be a huge pain in the ass. I'd recommend 1) making a list of things you want the most and 2) setting a per item budget and a total budget. A lot of the anime stuff was cheaper in Kyoto as well
• You can find a ton of gachapon stuff at Surugaya, so you can just buy what you want and don't have to gamble. Surugaya bins are organized by series
• Use collabo-cafe.com to find cafes and pop up events you might be interested. Plan ahead because reservations can be hard to come by

 
Now on to the super detailed trip report! Here's the big album if you don't want to look through photos separated by day. Warning for flashing video
 
Day 1 (travel)

• Landed in Haneda around 3pm. Immigration + customs took about an hour (we did the visit Japan web ahead of time and had both QR codes ready). There was virtually no lines anywhere
• It took about an hour to navigate to the hotel. I chose to stay at the Tokyu Stay Tsukiji because 1) it was really cheap, 2) it was close to the Ginza line, and 3) it had a washer in the room. Although the location was slightly inconvenient for late nights, I'd say it was totally worth it for the ability to grab food in Tsukiji market, and the room was pretty large compared to some other areas of Tokyo. In fact, the room was so cheap that when we went to Kyoto, we opted to not check out of the Tsukiji room and just leave the majority of our possessions there. This didn't cause any issues and made travelling on the Shinkansen way easier
• I thought we were built different and could do some stuff this evening. We ended up walking to the Donki and being assaulted by sound in every direction. 7/10 didn't discover the 2nd floor until days later. At this point exhaustion kicked in and we got a Lawsons dinner and crashed

Day 2 (Akihabara, photos)

• Going to Akihabara on our first day in Japan sure was a choice. Thankfully neither of us suffered jetlag on the way in. Checked out like 10 different game centers and a ton of anime shops. Managed to find the only Monster Rehab of the whole trip here
• Konbini lunch + strong zero! That flavor was terrible :')
• Dinner at the Monster Hunter cafe (no reservations required). Expectations were low but my travel partner is a huge MH fan. The food wasn't bad but the drinks were awful. The ambiance is nice and there were definitely some regulars there playing MH on the consoles they had set up
• The new Namco game center had like 12 brand new Taiko cabs and all of them had phone mounts so you could film yourself playing! I was really intimidated by everyone there being extremely good so we didn't play any games here

Day 3 (Shibuya & Harajuku, photos)

• Breakfast at Tsukiji outer market since we were already there
• Went to Shibuya Loft for the Bravely Default pop up shop
• Checked out Tower Records
• Ate lunch at Japanese McDonalds
• Went to Takeshita Street. TBH this felt like in-person AliExpress, I'm sure the charm of the early 2000s is long gone
• Visited Hachiko
• Shibuya Sky Observatory

Day 4 (Asakusa, photos)

• Started at Kaminarimon Gate & went down Nakamise shopping street. It was very crowded on a Sunday but I enjoyed it immensely, you just need some patience to get where you want to go. I liked trying all the food, most of the food stalls here were cash only
• Senso-ji temple, bought Goshuincho to collect stamps
• Ate lunch and dinner in the area, there's a ton of food options
• We ended going all the way over to Yoyogi park as well but nothing was in bloom. Because it was overcast the park looked really sad

Day 5 (Shinjuku & Kabukicho, photos)

• Now is the time to come clean, I'm a huge Yakuza/ RGG fan. In the morning I had my Majima birthday cake delivered by PRIROLL. I pre-ordered it and chose the delivery day where we didn't have morning plans. It comes frozen and needs to defrost in the fridge. While we left Majima to chill, we made the pilgrimage to Kabukicho to see the iconic gate. It was raining in the morning so we hit up some arcades then went shopping
• There's a really cool mall that seems anime-centric (I believe it's called Shinjuku Marui Anex). It had a Godzilla store, Cinnamoroll Cafe, a JJK pop up, and best of all... A Surugaya. These stores have bins where everything is ¥100-300 and we ended up buying way too much in every one we came across
• Went back to Kabukicho and explored a bit, went to Golden Gai and drank at a handful of bars. Almost missed the last train because I drunkenly insisted on a final game of MaiMai. 10/10 staying in Kabukicho next time

Day 6 (Ikebukero & Rippongi, photos)

• The plan today was to check out Ikebukero and Roppongi, but we ended up spending so much time at the first mall that we didn't really do anything in Roppongi besides get dinner. Went to the Pokemon Mega Center and the cafe. The main cafe was closed so it was just take out, all the food was really cute but the waffles were kind of terrible
• Gashapon no Depato Ikebukuro was super overwhelming. A lot of the smaller gashapon stores are somewhat organized by what is in the machines, this one just felt chaotic, and it went on forever
• Sushi Yuu was incredible, I didn't take photos of every single course but I was so full that couldn't finish my dessert at the very end. The owner speaks some English and I made our reservations by messaging him on Facebook

Day 7 (Yokohama, photos)

• We didn't get to Yokohama as early as I would have liked - I took us out way into the suburbs to try to find this Yakuza plushie from the claw machines. I looked up the locations on the Sega website, unfortunately this machine was extra rigged and I couldn't win it >:[ On the bright side all the rhythm games had no one else playing them
• Took the cable car over and went to the Cup Noodle museum. Unfortunately we didn't have a reservation so we had to come back later. Found some cafes in the area and had a late breakfast
• The museum was really small, the main draw is making your own Cup Noodles. Entrance costs 500 yen and this is an additional 500. We had some trouble navigating this part because no one spoke any English
• Had dinner at a pie restaurant that was 10/10
• Explored a bit of Yamashita park (Yakuza 7, anyone?) I was kind of disappointed I wasn't able to see this during the day
• Walked around Yokohama Chinatown & visited the local Round 1 ;)

Day 8 (Kyoto, photos)

• I bought the Shinkansen tickets to Kyoto the evening before, so we weren't able to get great seats. The machines are also a huge pain in the ass and don't take American CCs, so plan ahead here
• It took us longer than expected to figure out how to use the tickets and read the signage, so we weren't able to get food before and I had to have one of the train bentos. I knew it was going to suck and it was worse than expected :(
• You can bring a full sized suitcase and just put it in front of you, seeing other people do this was unexpected
• My travel partner was destroyed at this point so she rested in the room. I went to the National Garden and Imperial Palace alone. The sakura were just starting to bloom and the weather was great, loved it. The National Garden is SO huge that I only ended up walking up the west side before I tapped out
• Checked out Heian-jingu shrine + the giant torii, I went to another smaller shrine with a great view but I can't remember the name
• We did photoshoots at ESPERANTO Kyoto. There's basically no reviews from foreigners about this place but it was fantastic!! Their online booking form didn't work for me, so I emailed asking for a reservation. I emailed in Japanese and English and they replied in English. They gave me time options and I replied with what package and room each of us wanted (the website says they require a deposit but they told me they didn't need one). When we got there they did our hair and makeup, and then you pick your kimonos out. The photographer spoke pretty decent English and we didn't have trouble communicating with anyone else here. They had our photos edited and printed about 30 minutes after we picked which ones we wanted. The whole thing took about 3 hours (it was longer because we used the same set room). I don't want to include my photos but I did add a video of my hairstyle because she knocked it out of the park
• Ended the day with okonomiyaki, one of my favorite Japanese foods

Day 9 (Kyoto, photos)

• Fushimi Inari day! I ended up walking this alone, I did not realize how long it was going to take or the fact it was actually like 10,000 stairs. My knees were very upset on the way down
• It was not as busy as expected, I went at roughly noon on a Friday. Most people tap out before the actual mountain climb
• The Goshuin at Fushimi Inari are on paper, you can paste them into your books later. Even if you don't have a Goshuincho I'd recommend buying them because they are very cute!
• Shrine cats!!!! You can buy photos of them to help pay for their food
• After Fushimi Inari I somehow managed to walk to Tofukuji Temple (I did the garden but not the bridge) and Daigo-ji Gojunoto pagoda and garden. I wanted to cut my legs off after today

Day 10 (Kyoto, photos)

• I started my day at the Kyoto Round 1, I had visited it on day 8 as well. This one is ace because it was literally always empty 10/10
• Decided to explore Gion a bit, ended up at the Machiya Starbucks and had the best thing I ate all trip (a custard dorayaka, I regret not going back for another)
• Ended up at Kiyomizu-dera Temple totally on accident. It wasn't super impressive in early spring but the view was still fantastic
• Ended the day at the Ryokan (Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone). Ended up picking one without an onsen because we are both covered in tattoos, and I didn't want to deal with finding a private one. The cypress tub was a great trade off, and the food was incredible

Day 11 (Tokyo - Concert, photos)

• Today we travelled back to Tokyo and went to the Kingdom Hearts concert. I ended up trying for the lottery for tickets back in like December 2022. Winners were announced the first weekend in January and you only had a few days to buy tickets. I have a friend of a friend living in Japan who did me the biggest solid ever and bought our tickets. I met up with her during the trip for the hand off. The seats are randomly assigned and we had AMAZING seats near the front. This was also the performance Nomura was at!
• We weren't supposed to take photos during the performance so I just have some before. Also, I made Organization XIII beads that attach onto my dress with magnets and I am very proud of it, so please excuse the bathroom selfie :D
• The concert was about 3 hours long and after all the travelling we were beat. We ate dinner, played our nightly games of Ongeki, and passed out
• Bonus video of the music box that plays Dearly Beloved

Day 12 (Ginza & Sumida, photos)

• We were really starting to tucker out at this point. We managed to drag ourselves to the Ginza art Aquarium in the AM and the Tokyo SkyTree in the afternoon. Today was the Equinox so everything was crazy busy, the line to buy tickets for the SkyTree was literally like 2 ish hours long so we bought them online and went shopping in the mall
• The Art Aquarium was really cool, but a lot of the fish were in really small tanks. I didn't include photos of those :(
• The SkyTree just let people up as fast as they could so it was extremely crowded at the top, and not super enjoyable imo
• I spent the evening at the arcades in Akihabara :D

Day 13 (Tokyo - JJK Exhibit, photos - flashing video warning)

• Today I went off in the am to see if I could buy a ticket to the Jujutsu Kaisen animation exhibit in person. The online site wouldn't let me buy a ticket because I didn't have a Japanese phone number. UNFORTUNATELY you couldn't buy tickets in person. I got super lucky again and 2 foreign exchange students from Europe were trying to do the same thing, however they did have a Japanese phone number and the site allowed you to get 3 tickets at a time. They were able to grab them for all 3 of us for that evening
• Putzed off to Hie Shrine, anyone that tells you it's a mini Fushimi Inari is lying
• Went back to Akihabara, found a Miku racing pop up!
• Went back to... Ginza? for the JJK animation exhibit, it took about an hour to go through. I included a ton of photos so just skip today if you're not interested in that show

Day 14 (Tokyo - TeamLabs Planets & SquareEnix Cafe, photos)

• TeamLabs was so cool! I didn't include many photos since it's 95% selfies. Make sure you explore a bit as the string light room had a couple of different areas that are easy to miss, and it's possible to accidentally skip the hanging garden, which was beautiful! TeamLabs took us about 2.5 hours but we were 100% those bitches taking forever to get a million photos
• Since we were staying in Tsukiji we ended up just slowly walking back to the room for a much needed nap
• Back to Akihabara yet again! More rhythm games, some awful food at SE

Day 15 (Shinjuku, photos)

• This was our last full day in Japan, we honestly didn't want to do anything but we managed to drag our asses to Shinjuku National Garden for the cherry blossoms. Unfortunately it was sprinkling a bit, at least it kept the crowds away
• Managed to check out Meiji Jingu, but at this point my travel partner was sick of walking and tapped out
• I went back to Kabukicho, walked around a bit and ended up back at an arcade (bless Ongeki for having stools)

Final thoughts (Misc, photos)

• We were literally so annihilated by the trip that we took a taxi to the airport, it was about ¥8,000 from Tsukiji ($60 USD ish)
• I ended up buying a 24" suitcase from Ginza Karen for ¥6,000. It was 100% full of stuff I purchased. We also used one or those giant ¥500 bags from Donki as a carry on
• My Goshuincho was my favorite souvenir, I'm so proud of all the stamps I collected (I did get doubles at some shrines). I plan to bring this back late 2023 to try to finish it
• I have the old school GoogleFi plan and don't have to do anything extra to have international data. Lots of places & stations have free WiFi but you'll need to put your email in
• I don't really sleep that much and my schedule in the US is already busted, but it took me about 2 full weeks to get back on normal human hours. I'm tired again just writing this up and looking through all my photos
• My main regret is not trying more food, we ended up waiting until we were dying of starvation and ate at the konbini a lot (typical)

 
Edits for formatting