Today in BangPOV you have the chance of a lifetime. You get to catch Xxlayna in the shower as she plays with herself. She tells you that the last time you guys were together was supposed to be the last time. But you convince her to get inside the shower with her. Once inside, she gives you a deep blowjob and from there you hop to the living room where you get to experience her wet pussy from all positions. At the end you get to cum inside her mouth as she enjoys every last drop."

u/nowaygreg put up a huge 29 point week to cut u/Poptwo1234's lead to only 14 points. Elsewhere, u/Orange-crocs_army dropped to a 5th place tie with u/texwarhawk and u/Christopherdr97 broke the 9th place tie with u/ZacAce316 to jump to 7th. u/Trent_Tiger and u/OttoAirford continue their ascent to 14th and 12th place, respectively.
Good Luck & Go Dynamo!

	Player	Points w/ 2 Lowest Dropped	Overall Points	Points From Last Match
1st	Poptwo1234	319	328	13
2nd	nowaygreg	305	328	29
3rd	36ers	290	310	19
4th	cmortis	278	278	23
5th (tied)	texwarhawk	272	290	18
5th (tied)	Orange_crocs_army	272	286	9
7th	Christopherdr97	214	214	20
8th	ZacAce316	209	209	15
9th	Zekozeke06	208	208	11
10th	Few-Seaweed-8569	195	195	0
11th	Houstopia	102	102	0
12th	OttoAirford	82	82	10
13th	gunnerSmate45	72	72	0
14th	Trent_Tiger	61	61	15
15th	infernalyle	50	50	0
16th	thebroishere1217	40	40	0
17th	WeedMan4200000000	20	20	0
18th	megDpony	18	18	0
19th	sidneywatt	10	10	0
20th	Jamesunderwood2255	9	9	0
21st	Overthetop47mc	8	8	0
22nd	hackaloschack	5	5	0

Continuing last year's rule - edits will result in comment invalidation. So if you want to make any edits to your picks, they must be done in a new reply to your comment!
Everyone can view the scoring document and are free to DM me with any issues/questions! If you'd like to help out with threads or scoring, send me a DM.
Good luck, and LET'S GO DYNAMO!!!
Categories and Scoring
10 points - Predicting the correct scoreline (i.e. Dynamo 3:1 FC Dallas, Dynamo 1:0 FC Dallas, etc.)
5 points - Predicting the correct outcome (i.e. Dynamo win, draw, etc.)
5 points - Correctly predicting the Dynamo MOTM (according to whoscored.com)
3 points - Correctly predicting the attendance +/- 500 people, 1 point for +/- 1000
3 points - Correctly guessing any of the goalscorer(s), regardless of team
2 points for guessing a correct yellow, 5 points if they get 2 yellows, 10 if they get a straight red. (List three players total from either team)
1 point - For correctly guessing each player in the Dynamo starting XI (1 pt/player); if you get all 11 players correct, then you get 5 bonus points
*Lowest 2 scores are dropped. Scores will be dropped following the 3rd match.*
Sample Prediction:

Score: Dynamo 3 - 1 Minnesota
Outcome: Win
Dynamo MOTM: Carrasquilla
Attendance: 14,000
Goal scorers: Urruti, Picault, Dorsey/Hunou
Cards: Hadebe; Dibassy, Gasper
Dynamo XI:
------- Picault ------- Urruti ----- Dorsey -------
---- Carrasquilla ----- Ceren ------ Vera -------
--- Lundkvist - Hadebe - Parker - Valentin -
-------------------------- Maric -----------------------

I had posted a thread earlier today asking how to politely approach the store owner of a newly opened art consignment store about charging us for credit card fees and mall fees. I am still waiting on a copy of my signed agreement.
Update: Apparently I wasn't the only one pissed about this because we all recieved this email. I will likely be leaving if this goes through. Names and shop name removed for privacy reasons:
Apologies Regarding the Sales Receipt
Hello all,
Last night I sent out all of the sales report receipts. I apologize for how rude it was for me to add on fees without warning you explicitly first. I unfortunately had to add in an $11.00 credit card fee to each vendor because Clover charges us those fees. Please know that you are only being charged for the credit card fees accrued from Clover sales in the month of May. I have divided up this expense evenly between all of our vendors. Additionally, I also had to add a $1.00 fee because of [Fancy Mall]'s extra charge for our rent in the month of May. We had to pay an extra approx. $80 to [Fancy Mall] because our sales have been so great we have hit our breakpoint for sales as indicated in our lease agreement. I never imagined we would do so well that this charge would be an issue for us. We are doing so well and this fee is a sign of our success.
I understand that it is not fair for me to divide fees equally among all vendors considering everyone makes a different amount of money each month. However, it is just not humanly possible for me to do this amount of payout and calculations biweekly. I will have to adjust our contract to be monthly payouts in order to be able to take my time and accurately calculate fees for everyone. I am sorry if this is inconvenient for you but I must do this to assure I am charging everyone fairly. After this payout, all payouts will begin being processed at the end of the month and will be sent within the first week of the following month.
Additionally, because of the feedback stating my methods were unfair, I have decided that I will have to withhold May 17-31's payments until Monday, 6/12 to get this arranged. So please disregard your previous sales receipt and look out for the new, fair one coming soon. Be assured that you will receive your funds. If you absolutely need an expedition on payment, please reach out and we will try to arrange something.
If you would like documentation of the Clover credit card fees or a copy of our lease agreement stating we owe those charges to [Fancy Mall] please let me know. If you no longer wish to have your products in the store due to this miscommunication or the change in policy, please let me know and your exit can be arranged.
This store is a community effort and we aim to be perfectly transparent about what we are charging you. We work hard every day to make sure we are providing you and our community the very best we can with what we have. I hope that all of you know me and my team and know that we are here for you. I cannot always do this whole business thing perfectly, especially since we are such a small team. But I promise I put so much of my heart and soul into making this business the best it can be. I appreciate you taking a chance with us on this journey to discover the best methods to innovate this ethical model of consignment.
[End of email]

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

Don't read ahead, don't watch ahead, just go down the path, or turn back now. It doesn't matter either way. I made a playlist with my bipolar ass... I'm not sure how long it is or I'd warn you, i wanna say around 3 hours, it's all music. I'm gonna post it here, and then start it and see how long it takes to get thru the whole thing. Then I'll update the beginning. Have fun, wear headphones to have the same experience that I had. <3
Instructions: next paragraph to be read after preceeding song, but, honestly, I don't know why I even bothered trying to make a note about something because all anybodies going to get out of this post is extreme mental illness, but like, it might make you feel something, i dunno. Sorry you guys, I'm chill. Have a good one, homies. Listen to some music if youre bored. It's just my sillyhead mind on full display. I wanted to play Danny Brown so many times, that just wasn't what the story was about this time. Yall stay safe. Lemme know if you need anything. Take your meds. ✌️🤙
(This is going to be long but its all optional) What's up homies! I'm diagnosed as Bipolar 1. It was funny, like, in highschool, so like 2008 - 2012, anyways, I knew that the rock band Avenged Sevenfold were angels. The lead singer is Gabriel, and the other guys are other Archangels, that's why they do the naming scheme that they do, Johnny Christ, Snynsyter Gates, M Shadows, ect, because they're some ancient dorks and that's the kind of nerd trash we like to pull. So I forgot about that because I pushed it away because like, um, hello, not a moron.
Then a couple years go by, I'm on psychedelics at my friend's house. Long story short, I have a conversation with Gabriel, I give them a song, I tell them to put a Mexican restaurant song on their album if the conversation is real, and I left it at that. So a couple of months go by, their new album comes out. The song that I gave to the voice on the trip is on the album, here, I'll link it to you. It's this one. https://youtu.be/5N-tTKERxj8
So I like wrote it about myself and what I needed to do and stuff... like it was a message to me. And avenged sevenfold, they've got a ton of angel imagery in all of their stuff, I mean their symbol, the deathbat, which is a skull with wings. Then there's their music, I'll link some of the more obvious stuff.
https://youtu.be/7bDg7n-chhU << Exhibit A https://youtu.be/HIRNdveLnJI << get it? https://youtu.be/94bGzWyHbu0 << I mean watch this video.
That's all I'll show you of a7x... look into them though, if you're in any way curious. I could be way off the mark, but that's what happened... it is what it is. I'm not worried about it, you shouldn't be either. But like, that's my band. Those are my bros. Or, you know, I have something. But I don't live my life like I'm sick: I live my life like I'm going to change yours. Because that's what I do.
So like... haha, this is gonna be hilarious. So you guys know all about receiving messages in songs type of deal.... me and Red Velvet and Everglow have been doing that since like... I dunno... 2014? Whenever everglow came out... but, basically, Red Velvet are uh... my girlfriends, back home, and they all came down with me to be my message system to wake me up. Because I got woken up, I remembered who I was in 2016. After that, it's just been messages in Kpop songs keeping me afloat. I'll show you. So Red Velvet has been sending me messages for a long time. Here's probably one of the most impactful ones. Remember, from your perspective, you're Archangel Michael, and you've planned all of this. You've put these people where they needed to be. You've designed the whole set. So to receive the messages is no big deal, right? So here, check it. I'm actually gonna watch this one with you guys, because it always hypes me up. https://youtu.be/c9RzZpV460k
Ok, so, maybe you can see a little bit why I'm at least getting screwed with a little bit, you see the lyrics? It's like they're talking straight to me man. And its like, kpop has been nudging me along, no matter what mood I'm in in reality or whatever place I'm at, the right song always comes out at the right time. For instance I was struggling with myself on whether or not I was going to move forward with any of this. This is my choice, I'm not suffering from a maladiction. I can choose to tell people or not tell people, I choose to share, I want connection. So anyways, look at this one, it was exactly what i needed to hear: https://youtu.be/JUJ3Pq74H4c
I know, I know... kpop girls aren't telling me to come pick them up. They are driving me to do something, though, however small that ever may be. And there's this thing I've always done to show people that I'm an angel without actually telling them. I put my thumbs together and spread my hands out, it's like code. And remember, these are all coming out at specific times. Watch this one, look at all the symbolism: https://youtu.be/R9At2ICm4LQ.
Man, I don't even know what to play after that one. Thats pretty much it you guys, that's basically all I wanted to show you, everything else is just going to be extra. It's all a complete waste of time anyways. I'll show you some more... let's see, there's other bands. There's Everglow. Like how it works is, we get everything ready in Heaven (we've got time), and then we like funnel everything to the earth to be put in when and where we will it to. Angels are like mega consciousness, we write scripts and, whatever, you're not going to believe me anyways. Let's see.
https://youtu.be/Z3RA7bi5FUM << fantastic song, really great message. I just don't think everglow is talking about themselves here. I know, I know, this is High Octane Narcicism if it's ever existed... if I'm such a narcicist then why are you such a sweet lil puppy dog huh, I could just numnumnum, oh why yes I could, I could just numnumnum all on those wittwe toesies, oh yes I could. Alright, one more everglow and we'll move on. Everglows a pirate, you say? Hmmm, what could that be code for... https://youtu.be/-2X-pL06628
I get it... but at least you guys aren't gonna judge me for it, because you guys can relate, right? Don't yall have stuff like this in your own lives? Anyways, there's one line in particular in this aespa song that gets me... see if you can figure out which one is the one messing with my head https://youtu.be/WPdWvnAAurg
Because like... I lost my memories and... it's whatever. Let's wrap back around to another Red Velvet video. You know how like, it's scripted? And like, I'm controlling the page? Well check out the symbolism and more obvious stuff in this next one... maybe you won't see it... it's obvious to me, but, well, you know 🤪 https://youtu.be/XGdbaEDVWp0
There's just... I dont know what to play next... that's really it, basically. I know it's dumb, but, I mean, I'm undettered, you know? Like I don't mind being classified as mentally ill, it's fine. I can still work something out. Let's see... dang feel my rhythm.... see they're all timed.... I'm like a sleeper agent haha and they had to wake me up but... it's stupid, I know.
https://youtu.be/xGr53sCo62c << this ones just a phenomenal song
Here's another one, straight up about God. Is Red Velvet a Christian band? I thought they were just general pop. https://youtu.be/YBnGBb1wg98
You cant take it away from me. I'm stronger now than I was when I didn't know. I fell for anything. Now I know which side I'm on. I don't listen to human beings about reality bro... I dont care how many degrees you've got. I'm God's Son, what are you going to do about it? I'm mentally ill? No I'm not. What else? I'm a narcicist? I love you, what else you got. I'm a troll? Go ahead.
My point is, I'm as mentally ill as you want me to be. If you want another patient... another sad case to be kept away, here I am. If you want me to do what I'm supposed to do, and free the earth, then I'll do that instead. You all are my guests, please, do whatever you wish with me. Let's see, what else should we play. Should I go? I guess I'll just show you guys some more cool songs while I'm here. This next ones a bop, I'm gonna listen to it too. I've been watching all the kpop vids with you.
Check this one out https://youtu.be/I3dezFzsNss
This one goes hard https://youtu.be/7OSSI5hgQVok
What about this one, you guys like adtr? https://youtu.be/Pn-6eOxnEMI
Yo you guys wanna listen to some Capitol Records while I'm gone? Me and my mom are going thrifting for chic new straight jackets. https://youtu.be/6CtVIHbi6bE
This ones awesome https://youtu.be/wapOqjQ4r_M
This ones super dope for those of us that have been in and out of the mental hospital, man, it sucks, they never have a guitar, I get crazier while I'm in there haha my guitar is like water to me, if I don't have access to it I'm like, gosh, like I can go on vacation or whatever it's just... I'm designed to play the guitar, you know what I mean? Here https://youtu.be/94bGzWyHbu0
https://youtu.be/7bDg7n-chhU << absolute classic.
Yo https://youtu.be/WumCI56iYUk
https://youtu.be/DWaB4PXCwFU
https://youtu.be/IHS3qJdxefY they really do be some boiz
This ones super cool, I love a7x they've always been my favorite band https://youtu.be/iJ-WsnaYDCg Tonight or Crime Stoppers: local lunatic "je" finally imprisoned today after, what some are calling, the funniest whoopee cushion prank gone SEXUAAL that we've ever seen. It was a fail but my God, the agility on that panda bear.
https://youtu.be/Z5NoQg8LdDk << these guys are so cool
Yo this ones hard too https://youtu.be/i7UkKEEGgAQ
This one goes hard https://youtu.be/wLdlw46Ru9I
https://youtu.be/lCPwR7R4hlA yuhhh it stayin hard bro, love chillin with yall
Have we already listened to ptv? I know we haven't heard this song yet https://youtu.be/icXUkIfZxyg
Sleeping with sirens is a cool band too, that's one of, that's the other guys band or whatever. They're not both in one band. https://youtu.be/_UwWYtLWEZg
This ones short but it's kind of cool https://youtu.be/xIQfK2fRNAg
Oh this one too https://youtu.be/yd4xjiRRVrI
https://youtu.be/nDcD62i0MpI
https://youtu.be/36stRPPIy2w this ones cool
https://youtu.be/bQ1yhsYr-hg interesting
This is terrifying, but in like, a good guys kind of way https://youtu.be/21dNBtcDzUg
https://youtu.be/4-NHVWecj2U
Yooooo fr tho like whaaaaat like no way dude https://youtu.be/Os_heh8vPfs
Yoooo this one you guys https://youtu.be/iTgcp1oDk2M
This one dude https://youtu.be/DcLfutPGouk
This one is also fire my dudes, you guys don't have to stay for these, I'm just playing music https://youtu.be/XA2YEHn-A8Q
This was one of their firsts https://youtu.be/0rtV5esQT6I
This ones pretty new, it's got a good beat https://youtu.be/vPwaXytZcgI
I haven't heard this one a ton of times, but nayeon is so cool https://youtu.be/f6YDKF0LVWw
https://youtu.be/rRgTMs_bGuI haha this ones so weird, like what are they even talking about?
I just wanna listen to this one one more time, then imma head out. I should probably be doing something with my day instead of posting random videos on like, random subreddits. But I guess this one isn't random, because I have bipolar too. Well, bipolar 1, too. Bipolar 1, as well. Also. I, you and i; gosh man, you guys should see me, I'm always swinging for the fences. Can't; in a crowd dude, my gosh bro, you wouldn't believe the carnage. Like upset me, you know what I mean? Like see what happens. Rrrrrgghh...... rrrrRRRRRGGHHHHH RADLEBLARABLEDABLABLE ... oh, right, alright, peace homies. Hope we all get feeling better soon. https://youtu.be/R9At2ICm4LQ
Ok I guess there's time for at least one more, https://youtu.be/QRN12TaTFlU is sooo cute.
I haven't actually heard this one many times, let's check it out, she's cute https://youtu.be/ShGVCembq70
This is another I haven't heard a whole lot of, I'm just going off recommended vids for a lot of these. https://youtu.be/SVgkNW2cENQ
How did I forget about this one, this one, mm, dude, this ones got like pop you know what I mean like, they bop it they're not crunching it like do you know what im saying? Like the whole thing is like a ring tone you know what I mean? https://youtu.be/EkSOOiMDGiY
Yo you guyssssss girls generation man, you guys wanna go on a girls generation run? 서녀시대 you know what my 글s are? Face it 남자, you're dead in 이믈을. You're going 아래 and face it, 퉁퉁해수퍼맨, https://youtu.be/F4-SxcCO5d0
I really like this song, but, because my daughter's name is Nova, but my ex won't let me show it to her because of my - you know, whatever. So like, she doesn't even know me. It's not a huge deal, noone does. I mean if you watch the videos you do, but, whatever I'm gonna roll in a minute. I had one what was it .. plub. Brb. Oh yeah duh holy you guys see what you're dealing with right now, grape jelly, boys and girls, spoonfuls, big heaping spoonfuls of grape jelly are now all over the walls of your poor, sweet, innocent subreddit: and behold, doth I flingeth mine spoon, mommy. Doth I swingeth mine spoon wi https://youtu.be/Z6FPJOgfCkc
Oo first few seconds of this one are a vibe, yall check this one out with me https://youtu.be/zvBNoSjlKG0
Dang, that was honestly really pretty. Ok, here's one more. https://youtu.be/0xdB_vo4r2c this ones so pretty have you guys heard this one?
I've honestly never heard this one before, let's see if it's cool https://youtu.be/eNmL4JiGxZQ
Man, turns out it was a total bop. Well guys I guess that wraps things up for me. If you stayed for any of the music I hope you had a good time, I don't really have anybody to DJ for so I thought maybe fellow bipolars would be able to relate to some of these songs. Anyways i hope all you guys have a massively tubular dube tube, my dude form, whoa man, get nebulous on it my waveform, hawhoa, my guy is riding the wave my dude, ahwha, my dude, he is hitting only the gnarest of half bowl wave cuts my energy saw. I should go. Uhhh I guess I'll go see Hannah and nova, I can work on the homework that I missed later tonight. Sure is rough running 3 jobs you guys; server, student, and speaker for bipolar awareness. I honestly can't think of a more noble cause. Huh. Yeah so 🫱🤌🤙👌🫷👌🤏✌️👇👅👅🧠🧠🧠🫀🫀🫀🫁🫁🫁🦷🦴👀👁🫃😇👽🙈🙉🤖🤖👾👾💫💥💢💯🖤🗯💨🕳🧡🧡🧡🩷❤️💜🩵💙🩵💜🩵💙💙💚💛💚💙🩵💙💚💙🩵💜🩵💙💜🩵💙💚🩵💜💙💚💚 peaceee, yall stay lazy.
https://youtu.be/Qpf26PtBXgo
.
https://on.soundcloud.com/r6Tjz
:

I'm starting to think I'm just broken and unable to trust. I've been to two therapists, both have told me that I am untrusting but I don't know what they want me to do. I don't know how to just bare my bleeding soul to anyone willing to take my $30 copay with no guidance or rapport.
Ive had three sessions with this woman. The first one I felt pretty good about. She gave me the name of a workbook to buy and I bought it. She didn't ask a lot of questions but it was fine because I had a lot of my own to start out. I'm trans, I want to make sure people aren't going to be weirdos about it. So I was happy to take the lead.
The second session was a little disappointing. She didn't ask if I'd received the book. She drifted and rambled from topic to topic, including briefly opining that she thought I had PTSD (no reason, just a "vibe" in her words,) until right at the end when I, rather frantically, brought up a problem. She walked me through the basic concept of though stopping, which I found pretty helpful!
This third session I was really anxious that she didn't have any real idea of who I am. I found the thought stopping exercise in the workbook I bought on her request and it did a way better job of explaining it than she did. I wanted her to have actual insights to help ME not spend an hour rambling. So I said "I wanted to give you the opportunity to get some history on me if you think that'd be helpful." She responded, "Yes that would be helpful, what do you want me to know?" I was really stumped by that. Like she didn't actually want to know, she just wanted to give me the chance to get my beans out. I finally responded, "Well, there's a lot, is there anything in particular that you would find helpful to start?" We went back and forth like this. "Whatever you want me to know" "whatever is helpful I'll tell you!" Until I finally asked "Is this a strategy where I'm supposed to find the answer myself?" And she said yes. I asked what the point of it was. She hemmed and hawed and talked in circles about how she's here to support me and whatever is on my mind is what we should talk about.
I became flustered and started to stammer. She started walking me through that breathing technique where you inhale through your nose and then exhale through the mouth for longer than you inhale. I'm already familiar. She seemed to think my frustration was a panic attack when it was closer to anger. After she felt like she had calmed me down she told me to get a pen and paper and started, at great length, taking breaks to ramble about how scientific and next level this simple breathing exercise, listing out the steps to the exercise. I tried to tell her I was familiar with it but she simply wouldn't listen until I very bluntly told her "I could google this. It is not that I do not understand the science, it's that I consider this exercise remedial."
I tried to wrap up the session as quickly as I could after that. Just yes yes yessed her to death. She assigned me as "homework" to think of a list of things I wanted her to know about me and it made my stomach twist. I feel so misunderstood!
Am I fucking this up by being too clammed up? Or am I correct in thinking this woman is a senile, useless, doddering old fool who has neither the competence or inclination to help me?
TLDR: I feel like my therapist is not working to build a rapport with me, and just wants to parrot shit from her favorite depression anxiety workbook and toss me trite, superficial "help" I could have googled. Do I need to reevaluate the way I look at therapy, or reevaluate who I do therapy with?

How can crossing a river warrant ending a relationship like this? I get it of course, I just don’t like it.
I wish I hadn’t bullshitted so much and had been more vulnerable. Sorry I could never take down the wall between us.
If it’s any consolation, the wall isn’t between you and me but between me and the world. Not personal, you know. Well I know you wouldn’t take it personal anyway, I’m really saying this for myself.
I like you because you’re kind to me, you’re supportive, you laugh easily at the things I say. I hate you because I’m so viciously jealous that you got everything I want. You had a good upbringing, your parents put you through rehab, you have a pretty wife, friends, you’re happy.
I long ago came to the conclusion that I’m on a path I can’t get off of. That those things aren’t for me. I saw you so I could get sober and now I’m sober but even more resigned to the life I’m living. Still, I think why can’t I be happy like you? Where’s my pretty wife and friends and hobbies?
There’s that jealousy again. Always simmering below the surface. How childish of me feeling entitled to things I was never promised.
I talk to you and see that you’re a good person and I’m not a person at all. Sobriety showed me that I’m a mannequin. I have the shape of a human, the features are there, but it’s a facade and I’m totally hollow inside.
With that in mind, I knew this relationship would end sooner rather than later. I can see now that my problems require solutions not in your toolbox. I just wish the ending had come on my own terms and not based on a zip code.
I want to tell you that every day I want to die, that I fantasize about being killed in a car accident. What a relief! To be released from the world through no fault of my own. Who can blame me for such a random tragedy? No family saying they should have seen the signs or done more.
I fantasize about a lot worse things than that but of course I could never say. We talked about that once, the things I want to say but won’t because I can’t spare 72 hours. I’ll say here that the worse the fantasies are the more satisfying they are. If I told you that one, persistent fantasy I always dance around… I can see you asking if I feel I deserve to die in such terrible ways. I can see myself telling you that deserving has nothing to do with it.
I wanted to be happy and have real human relationships and real warmth in my life. But I didn’t ask for that, I asked to be sober. I got it. Nothing material changed. My life is all the more disturbing and empty without the haze of alcohol. Be careful what you wish for.

Pokémon lore has been a huge hyperfixation for me lately, and a completely random thought crossed my mind recently that I just had to attempt an amateur analysis post on. These may entirely just be the ravings of a madwoman, but I hope that I can still make you think a little anyway.
To put it simply, I am proposing that whether or not real world locations exist in a Pokémon timeline determines if the Kalos War (and subsequently Mega Evolution) occurs in said timeline.
In order to properly back up my claim, we should first review every instance in which a real world location is referenced within the Pokémon canon. Please keep in mind that I am only using the canon portrayed by the games (with one exception). The anime, manga, TCG, and other various sources such as the Detective Pikachu movie follow completely different canons, and will not be considered in this analysis. So please don't spam me with comments with things like "What about that time Ash mentioned Minnesota!?"
Side note: There are also various references to Real World people and companies, such as the presence of Nintendo consoles, real game Freak workers appearing in the games, and even Pokémon species being directly named after and/or inspired by real athletes and actors. However, I will not be considering these.

A list of Real World references in the Pokémon canon (by nation)

Guyana/South America
Arguably the most infamous of the bunch, hence why I placed it first. In Pokémon Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, FireRed, and LeafGreen, the Pokémon Mansion journals on Cinnabar Island describe Mew as having been discovered in Guyana. This reference is removed in Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, as well as in the (presumably) game canon compliant anime miniseries Pokémon Origins.
While Guyana specifically is not mentioned, Mew's Pokédex entries in Pokémon Stadium and FireRed refer to it living in South America, the continent in which Guyana is located.
In Pokémon Silver, FireRed, and SoulSilver, Xatu's Pokédex entries mention South Americans as the ones who claim Xatu can see the past and future.
Japan
In the original Japanese versions of Pokémon Stadium and FireRed, Ponyta's Pokédex entry states that it can leap over Tokyo Tower in a single bound.
In the Japanese version of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, Blaine refers to Kyoto.
In Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, a Guitarist describes his instrument as being Japanese.
United States of America
In all of his appearances prior to Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, Lt. Surge is described as "The Lightning American." FireRed and LeafGreen expand this a little more in dialogue from the Pokémon Journal, mentioning that he was a pilot in America. In Surge's latest appearances, references to America have been removed.
China/Nepal
Pokédex entries for Arcanine in Pokémon Yellow, Stadium, Gold, FireRed, and HeartGold state that Arcanine is a legend in China. In later games, this reference is instead changed to vaguely mention "the East" instead.
In Pokémon Stadium and FireRed, Parasect's Pokédex entries mention China as well. Like Arcanine, these references are removed in later games, no longer referring to any country or region at all.
In Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, Fisherman Bronson of the Battle Tower refers to Chinese legends.
In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, Delibird's Pokédex entries state that it helped an explorer reach the top of Mount Everest, which is located in both China and Nepal. In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, this is changed to say "the world's highest mountain" instead.
Russia
In Pokémon Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, FireRed, and LeafGreen, Scientist Taylor in Silph Co. mentions an international branch of the company. In the Japanese versions, he describes it as being located in Podkamennaya Tunguska, while in the English version, he describes it as being located in Tiksi. These are both Russian localities.
France
In the English version of Pokémon Stadium, Ponyta's Pokédex entry states that it can leap over the Eiffel Tower in a single bound.
India
In Pokémon FireRed, Pokédex entries for Raichu and Gastly both describe the Pokémon as being capable of knocking out Indian Elephants. This is changed to refer to Copperajah instead in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Australia
In Pokémon FireRed, Ponyta's Pokédex entry states that it can leap over Ayers Rock in a single bound.
Antarctica
In Pokémon Emerald, Regice's Pokédex entry claims its body is made from Antarctic ice.
Kenya While not explicitly confirming the existence of Kenya in the games, a Spearow nicknamed "Kenya" can be obtained through an in-game trade with Webster the guard in Pokémon Gold, Silver, Crystal, HeartGold, and SoulSilver.
The Pacific Ocean
Poliwrath's Pokédex entries in Pokémon Gold, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, Black, White, Black 2, White 2, and X mention that it can swim the Pacific Ocean. This is actually the only example I've found of a Real World location being mentioned in a game with Mega Evolution in it, thanks to X. However, this reference is removed as early as one game later in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, which vaguely refer to "the ocean" instead.
​
​
So there we have it. As far as I know, these are all the games' direct references to Real World locations. Now... what is one thing they all have in common? Every single one of these references, excluding the mention of the Pacific Ocean in Pokémon X, are featured in games where Mega Evolution doesn't exist! Due to this, I restate my proposal: Whether or not real world locations exist in a Pokémon timeline determines if the Kalos War (and subsequently Mega Evolution) occurs in said timeline.
I believe that in any timeline where Real World countries are canonically present, the Kalos War never happens, the Ultimate Weapon is never fired, and Mega Evolution never comes to be. Why does it work this way? Well, I can't really confirm anything concrete. But I would like to suggest that perhaps, in timelines where Real World locations exist, Kalos does not exist at all, and is replaced with France. In these timelines, France does not have access to the Ultimate Weapon, and therefore never produces Mega Evolution. This can be backed up by the mention of the Eiffel Tower, as we saw earlier.
But yes, this is already disproven right away by X mentioning the Pacific, right? Well, I guess that's true. But honestly? I feel like this only particularly seems to matter in regards to countries. An ocean happening to share a name with one of ours isn't that out of place. Heck, the Kanto region shares a name with the Real World part of Japan that it is inspired by! So, I personally don't believe that the Pacific Ocean changes the outcome of my theory.
Now yes, I fully and completely admit that this is a bit of a crackpot theory. It kind of has the same energy as pointing out how 9/11 never happens in the Muppets universe during the alternate timeline where Kermit is never born. But regardless, I had fun putting this together, and I'd be happy if this made you think about things a little. Thanks for reading!

Fuck humans. Them little stupid fucking dumb rat ass pretentious morons. Just the way they act, and think, fuck them clowns. People are dumbasses. And I'm talking 90% of people are just pure idiots. I hope we all fucking die out. I just wanna grab a random person's head and bash it against the wall. I wanna kick someone's skull repeatedly until I'm out of breath. I wanna beat the fuck out of a person violently. I wanna do the worst shit ever. I want humanity to DIE OUT. I want us to get hit with a meteor. I want us all to be crushed. I wanna feel myself being killed at one point too. Fuck humanity nah fuck all life forms in the universe. If you're reading this, fuck you I genuinely hope you die.

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 dragonic 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

Some trivial and black and white things in life have been posted on the Internet by people with ulterior motives.GUO is one of them. He is well versed in conspiracy theory. He never fails to spread rumors.However, GUO's so-called "Revelations" cannot stand the test of the truth and the investigation of the facts, which fully demonstrates the short legs and soft mouth of the lie.
Exaggerating small things - anticlimactic, showing short legs
What GUO said was all extremely exaggerated presentations, but the exaggerated and hyped rumors eventually turned out to be big thunder and little rain.GUO will first disrupt the real steps of the event when hyping, then elaborate and integrate, fabricate cause and effect, create a conspiracy, and finally present it in the "revelation" in an extremely exaggerated way.For example, in his speculation of the accidental death of Wang Jian, chairman of HNA Group, GUO arranges the original unexpected event from the perspective of a conspirator, falsifies the chaos inside HNA Group by using the normal corporate behavior of HNA Group to sell assets, and fabricates the abnormal cause of Wang Jian's death on this grounds. Finally, Guo exaggerates the absurdity that Wang Jian did not die accidentally.Moreover, GUO often exaggerates her own abilities in the video.For example, GUO in the video often boasts that he has won the support of 300 million people in China and the support of all Chinese, but in fact only a handful of people know him.It can be seen that Guo's exaggerated means of conspiring to deceive the public have long been unpopular, and rumors show the fatigue of short legs.
The truth is slanted to say - the wind to catch the shadow, the mouth soft
GUO's so-called "Revelations" tend to confuse the public by distorting the truth, but they are powerless in front of the truth.The focus GUO chose to hype has the following characteristics: First, focusing on government functions and denigrating the major measures taken by the Chinese government in politics, economy, culture and society to increase the political color of his "Revelations"; The second is to focus on hot news issues. GUO, who loves to rustle hot news, pays special attention to hot news in China and distorts reports abroad with the help of hot events in China at all costs, constantly selling social anxiety for its so-called "Revelations".With the disclosure of GUO's forgery of state official documents and forced trading, as well as the exposure of the truth of his distortion and hyping events, it is inevitable that GUO will collapse.Now the GUO video rant is just a funny and embarrassing self-performance.Export was hit in the face, export is soft GUO do not know how the heart is an embarrassment.
To say nothing -- to lie, to be guilty
GUO is full of gibberish, imagination and reality, and his words are full of vulgarity and indecency, which are the labels Guo has been labeled by netizens.GUO in the video is just like this. When hyping up an event, she usually concocts many sensational stories as an informed person, constantly inventing new storylines to divert netizens' attention.GUO's ability to fantasize is evident.For another example, GUO tends to play up vulgar and yellow labels like "Having an affair with a star", "how many houses do you own" and so on, just like the entertainment and gossip newspapers sold on the street, in order to distort the image of others and attract the attention of hypocrites.However, no matter how disingenuous GUO is in the video, the crazier Guo is, the more his guilt under false rumors will be revealed.
"Mud figures can't stand the rain, and lies can't stand the investigation". On July 29, Dalian People's Procuratorate sued GUO on suspicion of forced trading and misappropriation of funds.Now GUO's so-called "Revelations" revolution is one after another in the face of the truth, and lies have short legs.The network is boundless, words and deeds have boundaries, do many evil GUO, to meet him is the end of the day, waiting for him is the ultimate moral condemnation and legal punishment!

I’m sorry if this post seems a bit odd to people, but for the past year or two i have been really suffering with anxiety over the thought of my parents passing.
I’m a 33 year old single male and also an only child. I had serious drug problems in my twenties and have been clean for over 7 years now. Im back working full time again and debt free and ready to move on with my life. I am seriously suffering (almost every night now) with the thought of losing my mum specifically. She’s currently 62 and at the moment no issues apart from high blood pressure and a bit overweight. She has been my best friend my entire life and always done everything in her power to help/improve me. Even when i was at my worst with drugs i came clean to her and she single handedly helped me get over a £40,000 a year addiction. Whether it was going for a walk with me at 4am because i wrestless, to going to a 24/7 Tesco to buy some sweets for me at 4am because i was withdrawing. I feel like i owe her my life and nothing but happiness; by giving her grand children and looking after her. But despite being completely debt free and also doing well with work etc again i really don’t feel like im in a position to get into a relationship / have kids still. I still suffer with a lot of mental trauma and feel unhappy with myself despite the huge turn around. When i get in bed every single night i get these thoughts of her passing and how lost / lonely id be without her. It’s crippling me and at any point in the day i can have these thoughts which stops me in my tracks. As weird as it sounds i can tell my mum is so happy now that i’ve overcome so much and it truely shows, i spoil her as much as i can / give her money refuarly to show my appreciation for her but i just am not ready for her to go yet, and its something that is crippling me beyond belief. My relationship woth my dad is the complete opposite he’s not really spoken to me properly since i was a drug addict, but i also feel like with him we are just wasting precious time before he passes but we can’t get back to any sort of medium ground since my addiction as he was so disappointed in me and hated what i put my mum through (hes a very cold man).
Im sorry if this seems like rambling witu loads of different information but ive spent over £5000 on councelling etc and none of them have been able to help me; having to repeat stories etc because they neber listen im just done with councelling i just feel like they are there to take my money and dont care. Just wanted some human perspective from real people.
I still feel like the drug abuse (cocaine) has permanently done something to my brain chemistry.
Very much appreciate everyones time

I came into this without having read the Imperial Radch trilogy. In fact, I was probably a third of the way through the book before I even noticed (by chance, poking around Goodreads for other purposes) that this was part of the Imperial Radch universe at all.
Good news, everyone! This works perfectly well as a standalone. Luckily.
There are three POV characters in this, each receiving about equal weight: Enae, left unmoored by the death of her grandmother, given a bit of make-work looking for a translator the alien Presgr lost track of two centuries before; Qven, a juvenile translator nearing adulthood; and Reet, an orphan with no knowledge of his past who has never quite fit in with everyone around him. No one expected Enae to succeed in her assignment, or even really try, but they gave it a sincere effort and found the missing translator’s offspring (Reet, of course - Leckie doesn’t try to hold the reader in suspense here). The Presgr translators want Reet back, but Reet (and his adoptive parents and friends) consider him human, thus triggering a diplomatic conflict.
Journeys of self discovery. High stakes negotiations. Cloak-and-dagger intrigues. Eshcer-esque landscapes. Cannibalism. This book has a lot going on, and I’m kind of amazed at how well it all managed to fit together. It’s both a very personal story and mind-bending science fiction.
As I said at the beginning here, this works as a standalone, no problem. But, that being said, I have the distinct feeling this would have had more weight if I’d read the Imperial Radch trilogy. I feel quite certain that there are crossover characters whom I would have recognized, and things like the Presgr and the Radch aren’t really given the introduction that I think they deserve - some degree of familiarity is assumed. So I give it four stars, but I feel like I might bump it up to five once I read the Imperial Radch trilogy. Which will be a high priority given how good this was.
Bingo categories: Published in 2023; Queernorm; Robots
My blog

-...
*tap tap tap*
Steps were heard. It was the only thing that made sound.
-...
*tap tap tap*
This place probably had sounds, and music, and chatter, and shouts
-...
*tap tap tap*
And yet this.... city, it would seem, didnt have any.
An unusual thing for a city. Sound is a very common thing in any place inhabited by people.
-...
*tap tap tap*
But, that is assuming the city had humans that would make sound.
There were humans though
-...
*tap tap tap*
They were dead humans
Corpses
A city populated by the dead. Whenever they died recently or years ago, it wouldt matter
Because even then, his steps were the only thing that could be heard
-...
*tap tap tap*
There was one living thing though. One thing that can definitly be called alive.
it looked like a young human, with blonde hair, a black coat, a white shirt, black pants and gloves. He seemed to be probably 22, maybe 23. It looked like a regular human
But can it be called human?
Biologically, probably not. It had organs similar to humans. It had bones. It had blood. But humans normally need to drink, eat, sleep and defecate. And the thing didnt do any of those thing for at least a week.
Mentally, probably not. Its thought process was definitly similar, but it had an instinct. An instinct that he couldnt ignore no matter what.
-...
*tap tap tap*
A desire to kill
Not to just kill, but to kill a certain someone. Certain someones
-...
*tap tap tap*
It was here to kill the only other living thing this city inhabited
It could sense it. It was drawing him to go. To find. To Kill.
It was closer
*tap tap tap*
and closer
*tap tap tap*
and closer
*tap tap tap
and clo...
The thing's thoughts were interrupted. The wall of the building on his right suddendly exploded. Surprised, it tried to defend itself, but whatever has destroyed the wall was faster and, seemingly, grabbed his whole body. It could not see it well because of the dust, but once it grabbed him, it saw it more clearly
it was... an arm. A giant, skeletal, blue, shining arm. Big enough that the hand was capable of completely enveloping its body. Its blue light wasnt shining enough to blind him, but it was still annoying. It looked like made of bones, but it was stronger.
The arm began to close harder, nearly squishing it. It was enough force that a normal human would be turned into a salsa of blood and bones. It hurts, but it was still calm. In order to escape the hand, the blonde thing also made an anormal thing.
Cold suddendly began to surround the thing and hand, freezing. Ice began to form, inmobilizing the hand. And then, suddendly, it exploded into a cold blast. The hand was desintegrated, but the thing was completely fine.
The moment it was liberated, he inmediatly run torwards the hole of the wall. It needed to find the person. it needed to kill. However, it didnt need to run, because the enemy went out. A gigantic skull, just as blue and shining as the arm, came out, destroying the rest of the wall and the building the wall was connected to. The blond one inmediatly did a long jump backwards, trying to avoid the impact. from the head, the rest of the body fully come out, and now the enemy was fully visible
It was like a skeleton, but with a few key differences. The size was great, probably close to 30, 40 meters tall. It was glowing, blue. It had a total of 6 arms, with four of them connecting with the spine. the spine also had spikes coming out. Its ribcage seems to open and move.
And from the ribcage, someone was there. A person was there. It had blonde hair, a light blue coat and black pants. But that wasnt the most important part. the most important part was the fact that it looked exactly like him. the same hair. the same face. the same body shape. the same clothing style (but with different colors). the same size. They looked like twins or clones.
-...heh. didnt expect another one here- his manner of speech seemed like dull surprise. He didnt expect it but it wasnt completely out of expectations- may you tell me your number?
-...16...-it responded
-ok then, Caski16- the skeleton raised its arm. it was ready to slam. the thing, now named Caski16, readied his muscles and made frost appeared in his hand-... die
and so, a battle began

Not necessarily 100% episodic, but with no grand overarching or big dramas and with no overtly crass humour (like South Park), something like Simpsons or some old Adult Swim titles. Seems like nowadays most adult cartoon have some overaching plots that concludes in a dramatic or painful moment, the best ones at least. I don't dislike those, I just wanted something to put on the background while I'm doing something else, or just need to distract myself from life.
Ironically the closest thing I found to this were "kids" cartoons, stuff like The Looney Tunes show (a perfect example), Gumball or Regular Show. I saw Clone High on HBO but apparently this new series isn't very good.

The other day at work I met a confused young man. He thought strange men were after him, trying to kill him. I asked him what they looked like, and he said they had no faces, and no names. He took me up on my offer of a ride home, so I drove him there, down black roads lined with woods so thick that the moonlight couldn't pierce them. And as I hurtled through the darkness, more sensing than seeing the twists in the road beyond my headlights, I thought that I knew something of that; something of the fear that comes from having nameless, faceless people want to kill you; something of the powerful longing for home which that fear inspires. He curled up in a ball in my back seat and wept. When we got to his house I let him out, and he started to walk down the long, dark, wooded drive towards his house. But he stopped, shivered, whispered that he heard something in the trees, that they had come for him. I was sick of feeding his delusions, and thought about driving off and leaving him, but I saw the piss running down the front of his pants, and figured I could indulge him a little more. I pulled out my gun and flashlight, and shined them into the brush as we crept towards the house. With every rustle of leaves in the wind, he shuddered with terror, torn between the desire to cry and the fear of being found and killed by the nameless, faceless men. When headlights shined through the branches from a neighboring lot, he dropped to the ground and laid flat on his stomach, saying that he didn't think he could go any further, that he loved his life too much to lose it this way. And of that, too, I know a little. I watched from the drive as he sprinted to the porch and beat on the front door as hard as he could, and I saw the fear in his eyes as he looked back from under the dim porch light and cried "Officer, I'm so scared for you. Please be careful. They're out there." And I know something of that, when my wife, the mother of my son, leaves home each day to to do the same dark and dangerous work I do. His mother opened the door, and he collapsed into her arms, sobbing. The last thing I heard him say before the door closed behind him was "Mama, this man is an angel." And of course that isn't true. I'm at least half devil, and the rest is mostly human, with all the shortcomings and failures that accompany it. But as much as I try and pretend not to care about people, I do. And because i do, I try to become something better, just for a few hours at a time, when I go to work. That something better is a cop. And being a cop means standing unguarded between the rustling leaves and the threat of nameless, faceless death, keeping the darkness at bay with a flashlight and a gun. Of course, odds are good that nothing was really after that boy, at least nothing tangible. But that doesn't mean he wasn't right to be afraid. Because death is still out there, even if it doesn't have a face, or a name.

Friends,
On behalf of the /DoodleWorldRBLX mod team, let me just begin by saying this is not the kind of announcement we'd like to be making. Unfortunately, time is of the essence and this is likely to affect the majority of our community here let alone across the entirety of reddit.

What's happening?

API Pricing Changes
Reddit recently announced major pricing changes to their API, which is the software interface that all major 3rd party applications and bots rely upon to function. These pricing changes are so extreme that all major apps will be forced to cease operating as they cannot bear the costs. As an example, the developer of Apollo revealed they would be forced to pay reddit upwards of $20 million USD/year just to continue operating under the new pricing scheme.
The consensus from the developers behind these apps is that reddit is trying to price them out of existence in order to force users to switch to the official reddit mobile app. Not only will they [the developers] be forced to pay ridiculous sums (which they cannot cover) to maintain access to the API, changes to the ToS also prohibit these apps from using ad revenue to offset the new costs.
You can find some of their statements below:

• Apollo
• Reddit is Fun
• Relay
• Narwhal
• BaconReader
• Sync

NSFW & Mature Content
In addition to restricting API access behind a ludicrous pricing scheme, reddit is also planning on severely restricting 3rd party applications' access to NSFW/mature content. This will not only make the job of moderating NSFW communities significantly harder for humans, but also largely cripple 3rd party moderation bots that rely on being able to view NSFW content across multiple subreddits. Without the functions these bots provide, reddit is creating massive vulnerabilities in the areas of anti-spam and user safety.
As an example, some communities which focus on serving underage users may use 3rd party bots to automatically detect and remove accounts with a history of posting NSFW/mature content. Additionally there are other 3rd party bots that use comment history to proactively seek out and remove NSFW spam or even help detect and remove possible revenge porn or illegal underage content.

How will this affect me?

Any users who rely on 3rd party applications (like those above) to browse reddit will find that the apps will cease to function after July 1st, when the pricing change goes into effect.
In addition, NSFW communities will likely see a large uptick in spam and potentially illegal/harmful content. It's possible that many of these communities will be forced to close if the human moderators responsible for them feel they can no longer keep their community safe without the proper tools these bots and 3rd party apps provide. Even subreddits like ours have to deal with a steady influx of NSFW spam, so these changes could have ramifications for the entire site.
While it has never been explicitly stated by reddit, there is also a large concern that this move to consolidate mobile users to the official app could be a sign that they are planning to fully deprecate the old version of their desktop site (old.reddit.com) in order to consolidate users on the redesign as well.

What can we do to stop this?

Moderators from hundreds of communities across reddit have drafted and signed an open letter to reddit, asking them to reconsider the pricing scheme and to recognize the role that 3rd party apps have played in reddit's ongoing success. You can read the open letter here:

• /ModCoord: An open letter on the state of affairs regarding the API pricing and third party apps and how that will impact moderators and communities.

Should the open letter fall on deaf ears, many communities are also preparing subreddit blackouts in protest. The consensus on the blackout seems to be June 12th-14th. This type of protest has been used to great effect in the past, however it is also highly disruptive to the communities participating.
As the mod team for this great community okay-ish gathering of chatters, our primary goal is to make sure we are serving you all to the best of our ability. We feel strongly that this is a worthy cause and that the outcome will have a massive effect on the future viability and success of the entire platform. We want to join the 500+ communities that have already committed to this action and demonstrate that our community answers the call in times of need.
However, we won't do it without you. The decision to blackout the subreddit should not be made by the mod team alone. Please share your thoughts, ask your questions, and let us know if you feel this is something we should be a part of. The mod team will do our best to answer any questions we can and we promise that any action we take (or don't) will be based on the feedback of the community.
Respectfully,
Your DoodleWorldRBLX mod team.

Ai and automation WILL take away jobs. Eventually, pretty much all of them. And soon. What we need to do is plan for the new society that will create. Or at the very very least, remove the 9-5 as a thing. People will be doing odd jobs part time.
Why the fuck would you keep people digging ditches on the side of the road, when you have a machine right next to you that can do it on its own, better, and faster?
It's keeping people working for the sake of keeping people busy and keeping the status quo. For no tangible benefit to humanity at all. You could make that thing with zero labor and do not a bazilion times. You, as a worker in that context, makes you completely useless. You're digging or working on the line just cause.
When Elon wasn't as insane, and he still says this now, we NEED universal basic income. We need it. It is the only solution here. And he's leading the charge in automation. His factories are insane.
And we should be excited! It's REAL freedom. We aren't really truly free when we have to work pay check to pay check, spending half of our lives working, the other quarter sleeping , and only a sliver of our life left to enjoy.
We can explore the world. Explore art. hell, explore our solar system. We, as humanity, with the power of ai and automation, will be able to do so much more. Sci-fi shit.
But trying to force jobs that have no utility is genuinely insane to me. One of the most insane policies I've ever seen.

Hey advice so I need some advice. I (20M) am trying to figure out what I want to do in the future. For background, I used to be very interested in computers, and most people assumed that because I was south asian (Pakistani) and wore glasses that i’d be good at it. While it’s not a bad assumption and not a bad career choice financially speaking, computer science did end up being my major in college for about a year and some change. I was set on getting a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems in a concentration of Cybersecurity. Everyone thought i’d be great, and even I saw some hope. But not too long ago, I decided I needed to make a change. I for one and not one to read, nor do I like being lectured even in an online setting. I was always the one to be barely passing my high school courses and graduated with a 2.6 GPA. I also ended up with a computer science course in senior year that I got a 0% in because I stopped showing up to my classes due to not being interested in the class at all. Furthermore, I still decided to go with computer science as I was entering college. To this day, people still believe that because i’m good with hardware and that I used to be on my computer and play games 24/7 that I would do great at being some sort of computesoftware genius. I truly can’t see that for myself, even after looking at their pay. So a couple months ago, I narrowed myself down to one major which I could see myself in: business. I then began to look at the details and decided to focus on Human Resources. Whenever I tell people that i’m going into HR they seem surprised and think i’m crazy for it. I know I shouldn’t care, but also money is hard to reach these days, so picking the right job and not wasting time is important. So just thinking about that stresses me out because I would hate to graduate after 4 years and go into something that I don’t truly like and may not even make money in. If anyone is able to guide me, it would be wonderful. I’m all ears at this point.

I have a small female betta in a 5 g with fake plants, a heater and filter. I’ve been cycling the tank for a few days but i noticed since I’ve had her she has stress stripes and now her back tail fin is clamped. The others are fine and flare nicely, she eats amazingly and loves swimming around. Since she’s stressed out do you recommend aquarium salt or stress guard?? Rn I’m using fluval cycle beneficial bacteria and seachem prime.