Zero nightmare before christmas nose

Hey guys! Testosterone saved my life after years of opiate abuse. I’m looking for a career and something to be proud of so I’m joining up, hopefully Marines possibly Army depending on if my legal history matters(only arrests, zero convictions). Im getting back on test as soon as I get out of boot camp trust me, but I wanna do this right so I will PCT before joining.
I’m coming off of 150mg weekly. I found an old bottle of MK677 and just ordered a bottle of enclomiphene. This is a more than substantial post cycle protocol right? Anything I should add? Any tips? Coming off fucking sucks😭😭😭

i got my cat as a christmas gift back when i was 7 years old and he was a kitten at the time, i’m 20 now and he’s 13 but he’s still very energetic and curious. he grew up living with me and my parents and my siblings and he’s pretty much the family cat because we all love him and i know he loves all of us. he’s a best friend and he’s family, and i think i’m the most attached to him out of everyone in our house. when i went to college i really missed him and thinking about leaving him again makes me want to cry. i’m going back to college two hours away and moving into an apartment so i want to bring him with me. my future roommates said they’d be alright with it. the thing i’m conflicted about is that i know everyone else in the house is going to miss him because they’ve told me, and since he’s lived with everyone else his whole life i don’t know how he’ll feel about being separated from them. i know he likes being the only pet living somewhere, he really doesn’t like our dog and he has a love-hate relationship with my other cat who we got a couple of years after him. that part of it i think he’ll like, but i worry that i’m being selfish and it might be unfair to him and the rest of my family if i bring him with me. i’d really appreciate some advice before i make a final decision, thanks

Are you out there? Do you exist?
I’m waiting, hoping and longing for you. I will be patient and will continue to better myself physically, emotionally and spiritually so that when you enter my life, I’ll be a better version of me.
When I close my eyes, while I don’t know your face, I imagine running the back of my fingers over your scratchy jawline as you close your eyes and your head tilts back at the stunning impact felt of two hearts becoming one.
And I nuzzle my nose into your neck and breathe in the scent of endorphins and masculinity permeating from you. I’ll wrap my arms around your torso and embrace each angle with longing and forcible fingers that never want to leave your body.
And as we embrace, your hands upon me exploring each curve my head will fall back as your turn comes to breathe me in.
You will whisper your deepest and sincere desires never shared before that will magnetize our lips to taste each breath escaping from one another.
Do you exist? Are you out there?
Do you long for a modest woman not seeking affirmation from anyone else in this world but you? A woman secure in her identity, yet longing to share her Eros love intended for her knight?
Do you think of me like I think of you? Are you longing for romantic moments turning into magical memories?
Will you protect us? Will you fight for us? Will I be your one and only as you’ll be to me? Can I trust you with my heart? Will you be truthful even when it hurts either you or I to do so?
Will you cherish our time and laugh and my jokes? Will you value my intelligence over my body? Will you hold me when life seems too overwhelming and I cry in the crook of your arm?
Will you listen to my ramblings as I’ll hang off your every word? Will you read my writings and will you want to understand my heart?
I hope you are out there. I hope you exist.

So I ran a few QPs the past few days and I'm seeing a pattern going on. I'm going to assume this is because people are new from all the simple mistakes that they are doing, but here are a few things you should know.
​

1. Start On Recruit: Don't go in thinking your some badass because you play Call of Duty. You need to know the map layouts, spawns of resources, and that friendly fire is a thing. Been running into too many people in Nightmare/No Hope that have 0 clue what is going on and having starter decks.
2. Tool Kits are Important: Tool kits are one of the most powerful accessories in the game. They are the only way to get into stash rooms and can be used to by pass the booby traps on warp chests. Don't hold onto them like a newborn baby. Use them. If you find a warp chest and have a tool kit, then use it. Getting Deep Wounds (trauma dmg) when you are already low health isn't fun.
3. Stay As A Team: Running off is a fast way to cut your game short. This game has A LOT of CC specials that the AI will spawn and the only way out is using a burn card, stun gun, or being Evangelo (and no one likes being called an Evangelo player).
4. Roles Count: You can't see it when loading into a match but there are roles to be filled in. Everyone does damage but there are decks that are filled to handle certain situations. Melee is your tanks and should stick with the team and hold off the common as they rush in. Support is there to keep everyone up and do pick ups when someone is downed, their decks normally do a lot of team buffs and can pick up people fast applying more heal recovered. Special Killers are good at picking off the specials before they reach the team. Sniper decks are the best at this but it leaves them vulnerable close range.
5. Communication: Lower difficulties it isn't really needed these being Recruit and Veteran. Nightmare and No Hope it is key. The ping system is wonky and even if you have your crosshair on something the ping will not land 80% of the time. Best to talk to your team and let them know of the danger or items that you find someone could use.
6. Don't Be A Dick: If for some reason you decide not to use a mic or the very least type, do not shoot someone to get their attention. 99% of the time you will get dropped, they will get kicked for FF, and now you're down a team member mid round because you wanted them to pick up that defib so you can hold onto your stun gun. I myself have dropped people for shooting me in No Hope/Nightmare because of this. I have even ended a run when it was a group of 3 being pricks because I was the odd man out. Normally you'll get a warning over mic or text. If you keep it up then you'll lose a player or the run.
7. If You're Not Support Don't Take Medkits: Medkits should be reserved for your support player. They will have a deck that gives +% to healing and can heal far more than other people can with those kits. Those kits also HEAL trauma and since support usually as +% to heal, they'll heal more trauma. Pain Pills are the best to go with since they are fast to use and let you temporarily use your own trauma as health.
8. Share The Auto Regen Special Card: This is more towards melee decks that self heal (which every melee deck should do this to be of some worth). You don't need that card and it doesn't give it to the entire team, only to the person that picks it up. So if you are already self healing from kills and pick this up, you are taking that away from someone else that could actually benefit from it such as your support. They'll have to use a healing item on themselves rather then on someone else.
9. Do Not Drop Everything When You Leave: If you are done and want to leave the game, don't drop everything you have. Someone else will drop in and now they're stuck with nothing but the white guns the bots spawn with and no ammo. If you're going to drop anything then drop the copper for the team. That can be made up during the course of the run much better than finding a new gun.
10. Don't Baby Rage: Fuck am I tired of hearing people screaming into their mics with a pitch so high dogs howl. If you get downed don't scream for a pick up. You will get picked up after the danger is over. Having someone run in to get you up drops the active number of people down to 2 and places the revivor in a pickle as they cannot defend themselves while picking you up. If you get downed then congratulations! You are now a human turret and can fire on everything with unlimited ammo. Raging into a mic is a quick way to get yourself muted and/or treated poorly in the match by getting denied items and/or heals.

I know it's a list of 10 things but these are the 10 things I have been seeing constantly in the past few days. Go in, have fun, but keep in mind of these things. They will make the game play much better for you and your fellow gaymers.

With his mother dead and his cultist family members out to ruin his life, getting abducted by alien slavers is actually an improvement for Corey Vash. A quick and chaotic escape attempt only succeeds thanks to an unintentional rescue from the impressively skilled and infrequently sober bounty hunters aboard the Hard Luck Hermit. With no clue about how to survive in space and nothing to return to on Earth, Corey joins the crew in their efforts to make a quick buck, try new drinks, and figure out who the hell keeps trying to kill them.
[First Chapter][Previous Chapter][Cover Art][Patreon]
“Alright, our little gun show just got a hell of a lot more complicated,” Kamak said. Zero-G combat was a pain in the ass even for people who’d been specially trained, and as far as Kamak knew, that only applied to Farsus. He and Doprel had been in a handful of zero gravity fights, but he was less than confident in his skills and knew that Doprel felt the same.
“I’m not confident in our ability to manage this combat scenario,” Farsus said. “Melee combat is generally more viable in zero gravity environments, and we cannot hope to beat the Doccan in melee range.”
“On the other hand, lot of handholds here on this ship,” Corey said. He grabbed an exposed mechanical element, one of many jutting from the patchwork halls of the ship, and latched himself in place. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but they had places to brace themselves to avoid the zero-gravity recoil problem. To Vo braced her foot against an oddly welded ridge in the ship’s hull and kept her gun up.
“Could we leave this vessel disabled and wait for the Doccan to send reinforcements?”
“We’ve only got enough disable rounds for one more ship, and the Doccan always escalate linearly,” Doprel said. “They’ll send two, maybe three next time.”
“It’s a little messier than anticipated, but this is still our best shot,” Kamak said. “Guns up.”
The team shouldered their weapons and started kicking off the walls, drifting down the darkened halls of the ship. The vessel had enough of an auxiliary power system to keep some emergency lights on, but even those were intermittent, with many bulbs burnt out by the Doccan’s lack of interest in repairing such a negligible function. They did not feel fear, much less fear of the dark.
Corey, on the other hand, was feeling a lot of fear. His casual interest in sci-fi films had done him a lot of good out here in space so far, but now it was starting to backfire. He’d watched Alien one too many times to be comfortable drifting around the dead silence of this spaceship. He tried to remind himself that there were no xenomorphs here. The only aliens he had to worry about were nigh-unkillable super strong emotionless behemoths.
In retrospect, that was worse, and Corey decided to start thinking about literally anything else just in time to hear something go click.
A three round burst of plasma fire soared down the hall, briefly illuminating the length of it in green fire. One of the bolts caught Farsus on his broad chest, but his armor mostly negated the damage. Kamak returned fire, sending a stream of bullets up the hall, and Kamak himself careening the other way. In his haste to return fire, he’d forgotten to brace himself. The rest of his fireteam made no such mistakes.
With his back to a wall, Corey turned his gun towards the Doccan and took aim. There were two of them, both even larger than Doprel, and wearing patchwork armor to boot. That was an unpleasant development.
“Take out the guns first,” Farsus shouted. The Doccan themselves were durable and heavily armored, but their guns were as fragile as any other weapon in the galaxy. Corey took aim and peppered the Doccan’s limbs with a spray of gunfire. One of the two had the wherewithal to clutch their gun to their side, letting their arm absorb the brunt of the gunfire, but the other kept trying to return fire even as a bullet finally hit home. The metal slug cracked through the plasma repeater’s energy chamber, and the weapon started to vent green fire as the energy cell leaked.
With his weapon damaged, the Doccan took the next logical step and launched himself at his opponents, massive arms raised and ready to strike. The crew took advantage of the zero gravity recoil and let go of their handholds in the wall, then fired at the approaching Doccan. The recoil propelled them away as bullets peppered its thick hide. With no gravity to make it flow outwards naturally, the strange fluid layer beneath the skin of the Doccan started to leak out in blobs of oozing blue.
The floating globs splashed into dozens of tiny droplets as Doprel met his kin coming the other way. The divided drops then scattered in every direction as the shockwave of their colossal impact traveled outwards. Another spray of blue fluid followed shortly after as Doprel dug his fingers into a patch of bullet holes and tore a massive chunk out of the Doccan’s exterior carapace.
“Doprel! Give me an angle on the face!”
With a quick grunt of acknowledgment, Doprel spun around and put the Doccan he was grappling in a headlock. He kept his arms wide and his face behind the Doccan’s back as Kamak took aim at the Doccan’s head and fired. A quick round of bullets tore through the air, a few managing to find purchase in the Doccan’s face, tearing out one of its eyes and a few chunks of mandible. The floating drops of blue liquid pouring out of the broken head were soon joined by a thin flow of black bile -the real lifeblood of the Doccan.
“Not going to be interrogating that one,” Kamak said. “Focus fire and take out his friend!”
Kamak drifted forward and grabbed on to the broken body of the dead Doccan, using it as cover as the hail of bullets continued. Under fire from five sources at once, the Doccan’s defeat was inevitable yet worryingly slow. Corey kept his rifle focused on the joint of its arm for a solid thirty seconds of sustained fire, but it didn’t even drop its gun until the arm was only attached by a few strands of tattered, fibrous “muscle”. Even at that point, the Doccan simply switched hands and continued firing until Farsus blew a big enough chunk of its head off that it stopped moving entirely. Doprel walked up and ripped its other arm off just to be sure, while Kamak took a final few potshots at the head of the other one.
“Bastard’s aren’t afraid to play dead,” Kamak said. “Especially when they know they’re at a disadvantage.”
“Good news is, this means there’s probably just two more,” Doprel said. “If we were dealing with multiple groups there’d have been a full crew of four after us.”
“Best news I’ve gotten all week,” Kamak said. “Now where are the others…”
“We are located in the cockpit.”
Five guns pointed in five different directions as the voice boomed out from a PA system.
“What’s going on?”
“You have stated an intent to interrogate a living subject, and have proven your ability to defeat two or less Doccan in combat,” the monotone voice proclaimed. “There is no further purpose to violent resistance.”
“I see,” Kamak said. They really were logical. “We’ll be right there. Guns up, of course. I’m not dumb enough to not see a trap.”
“We lack the resources to commit to such a deception.”
That did nothing to ease Kamak’s suspicion, for reasons the Doccan could not at all understand. He, Doprel, and Farsus kept their guns up as they head upwards, towards the cockpit of the makeshift vessel. Corey was not far behind, until he realized To Vo La Su was quite far behind. She was bouncing slowly around the hall, trying to dodge floating globs of Doccan ichor—and a few chunks of the Doccan themselves.
“You’ve just got to accept you’re going to get messy and move through it,” Corey said. “The laundry machine on the Hermit is surprisingly good.”
“I don’t have that many clothes to start with,” To Vo mumbled. Due to the impromptu circumstances of her “recruitment” To Vo had the clothes she’d been wearing and a few spare outfits Tooley had been willing to throw at her—most of which fit poorly and had suspicious stains already. “But that is not my issue. I do not- there is a certain amount of- I can’t-”
“To Vo?”
The former transit authority tightened her grip on a gun she was entirely unsuited to carry and took a deep breath. One of the globs of Doccan ichor drifted worryingly close to her face, and she backed away.
“I didn’t want to do something like this again.”
“Again?”
To Vo was naturally small, but she still found a way to shrink in on herself.
“The world I come from was harsh,” To Vo said. “We did harsh things to live. All of us.”
A few chunks of gore drifted by Corey’s head. He knew better than to ask what she meant.
“Yeah. Look, I get it, but, these guys came after us because they thought we were a defenseless bunch of stranded travelers, right? You think they brought all that firepower to escort a bunch of lost souls back to safety, give them a nice pat on the back and a snack for the road? If we’d actually been lost travelers, we’d be dead. And eaten, quite possibly.”
“But we aren’t travelers, and now they’re dead,” To Vo said, pointing out the drifting Doprel corpses as she spoke. “How can this be right?”
“Look, To Vo, nothing’s ever completely ‘right’. Even when you’re purely trying to help someone, who’s to say they ‘deserve’ it, or that there’s not someone else who needs the help more and isn’t getting it?” Corey asked. “You’re never one-hundred percent in the right. Sure, maybe we’re a lot closer to that line between good and bad than we could be, but I think we’re still on the good side of things.”
“And what happens when you’re not?”
Corey didn’t have an answer for that question. Luckily for him, he didn’t get the chance to try.
“Would you two stop fucking moralizing and back us up? This is still a combat zone!”
The ever obedient To Vo La Su was the first to grab her gun and kick off towards the cockpit, heedless of the gore she had to splash through on the way. Corey followed closely behind her, secretly quite happy to let her absorb all the floating ichor instead of him.
***
As it turned out, the Doccan were sincere in their desire to surrender. That left only one dilemma to resolve.
“So. Awkward issue,” Kamak said. “We’ve only got enough restraints for one of you.”
“We will offer no resistance,” one of the Doccan said.
“Oh sure, for now. Until we get attacked by someone else, or we all turn around at once, or you decide you might have a good opportunity.”
“This point is sound,” the Doccan admitted.
“Which one of you knows more about the recent movements in people fighting you guys, and why your people blew up the Bang Gate?”
“I am more knowledgeable on all military matters,” the Doccan on the left said. Kamak pointed to the one on the right.
“And you agree with that sentiment?”
“Yes. However, your inquiries might require a greater knowledge base. I am in charge of monitoring the social habits of various Doccan, and may possess relevant information.”
The other Doccan had barely finished speaking when Kamak shoved the barrel of his gun in their mandibles and pulled the trigger. A burst of rounds tore through their cranium and the Doccan fell over dead. The only surviving Doccan did not even react as his comrade collapsed. As black blood started to drift through the air, Corey very deliberately avoided To Vo’s gaze.
“Not particularly interested in your social media. Alright, Doprel, tie the other one up,” Kamak said. “And you. Got time for questions?”
“I will accede to any line of questioning that does not actively endanger the Doccan species.”
“Great! What’s your name, champ?”
“Doprel.”
Doprel looked up and over the other Doprel’s shoulders.
“Doprel, why is our new friend also Doprel?”
“It’s...actually a term for the working class of Doccan’s,” Doprel said. “I didn’t have any other name, and by the time I realized what was going on it had sort of stuck, so...yeah.”
“Do you want a better name?”
“No, no, like I said, it’s stuck now, no sense changing it,” Doprel said. “Not like we hang out with other Doccan enough for it to be confusing.”
“On that note, for the purposes of this conversation, you are Junior,” Kamak said. The newly christened Junior did not object to this designation, so Kamak assumed he accepted it. “What do you know about why the Doccan attacked the Bang Gate?”
“We were recently informed that new stresses upon intergalactic shipping routes would place additional importance on our galaxy as a trade hub,” Junior said. “Your Galactic Council endures our presence and our attacks on your shipping route as acceptable losses. If this galaxy was to become more important on a galactic scale, they would feel more pressure to protect it, and therefore take more aggressive actions against the Doccan species. A pre-emptive strike to lessen the utility of our home as a trade route mitigates this risk of escalating conflict.”
“And blowing up a fucking Bang Gate isn’t an escalation?”
“The gateway is destroyed. Retaliatory attacks achieve nothing. Your Council has nothing to gain from further conflict.”
“What if they’re worried you’ll blow up another fucking gate, Junior?”
“The measured presence of other species in this galaxy ultimately benefits us by providing resources we would be otherwise unable to acquire,” Junior said. “We have no reason to completely close ourselves off.”
“You guys have a lot of work to do on understanding other species,” Kamak said.
“Typical warfare does not stop when one side considers it merely ‘convenient’,” Farsus said. “If the Galactic Council decides on hostilities, they will not stop until they possess a considerable advantage over you.”
“By our appraisal they already possess a significant advantage,” Junior said. “However, if I survive our conversation, I will pass on your appraisal of the situation to the homeworld.”
“Jury’s still out on your survival. Tell us this and improve your odds: Who told you about all this shipping route bullshit?”
“It was [TRANSLATION ERROR].”
Kamak rubbed the sore spot where his translator chip was implanted and tried again.
“Say again?”
“We were informed of these developments by a [TRANSLATION ERROR].”
“Alright, not going for a third try here,” Kamak said. Whenever the translation software ran through the full suite of languages it knew, it started to overheat a little, and Kamak didn’t want a hotspot in his skull. “Doprel, I thought you gave us the whole language?”
“I did!”
“If I may theorize,” Farsus said. “To my understanding, the Doccan are a very literal people. Junior, when your people are faced with a new entity or concept, do you invent a new word for it?”
“When it is the most convenient course of action, yes,” Junior said. “Oftentimes compound words are formed. Your own people are referred to as ‘Red-Large-No Carapace’.”
“An apt descriptor,” Farsus said. “So we can assume whatever introduced these concepts to the Doccan, it was something they first encountered after Doprel’s departure, and something so unique it prompted the creation of a new word.”
“Fun times,” Kamak grumbled. “Junior, can you describe the thing whose name we can’t understand?”
“I have never seen it.”
“Peachy. What do you know about it?”
“It displayed enough intelligence that our central command council took its provided information seriously.”
“And did your central command stop to think about whether this word-we-can’t-understand had any ulterior motives?”
“Non-Doccan rarely approach the Doccan without ulterior motive,” Junior said. Had he any understanding of irony as a concept, he might’ve pointed out his current situation. “It was decided that the threat presented was legitimate enough to act without regard to possible external agendas from the [TRANSLATION ERROR].”
“Please stop saying that,” Corey whined.
“I am unaware of any reason to do so beyond your physical movements,” Junior said. To him, the flinching Corey did every time he said the word was just a strange muscle spasm, as the average Doccan did not experience pain.
“Just don’t fucking say it. Back to the point, you should know that whoever or whatever brought this stuff to you, they’re using you and your actions as a smokescreen to get away with their own shit,” Kamak said. “They’re pushing to change trade routes and pressure new parts of the galaxy. Maybe the threat is legitimate, but it is only legitimate because they are doing what they’re doing.”
“Noted.”
Junior’s quiet acceptance of the dramatic twist unsettled Kamak more than he’d like to admit. Maybe it was just because he’d lived through so many dramatic twists and turns lately, but he felt like that warranted more of a reaction. The emotionless Doccan accepted every new twist of fate the way a calculator would accept a new number plugged into a math problem.
“So...if we let you live, you’re going to tell all this to your planetary council or whatever?”
“New data will be considered.”
“Fan-fucking-tastic, I guess. Anyone else got questions for Big Blue Number Two?”
“I’ve got one,” Corey said. “How long ago did that weird thing bring you guys all this info?”
“Eighteen Doccan days ago.”
“That comes out to a few months, with everything converted,” Doprel said. The Doccan homeworld had a very slow rotation period.
“Once again putting it well before our run-in with that purple ship,” Corey said. “So we really did just get caught up in a plot that was already going on.”
“If that’s supposed to make me feel better, it doesn’t,” Kamak said.
“It might be useful, at least,” Corey mumbled.
“Final call for questions,” Kamak said. “I want to get out of this floating piece of crap.”
“Just the one,” Doprel said. “If what we’ve said is true, and the Doccan find out they’ve been manipulated into making their own situation worse...what will they do about it?”
“It is impossible to make an assessment of the situation without a consensus of at least one Doccan hive,” Junior said. “If not the full planetary council.”
“Well what would you, personally, do?”
“Obey the consensus of the hive or council.”
“Let’s say there’s no hive or council-”
“If all hives and the council have been obliterated, my priority must be to repopulate the Doccan species first and foremost, ignoring tertiary matters such as this.”
“Doprel,” Kamak said. “Whatever you’re looking for, you’re not going to get.”
“Yeah. Got it.”
Doprel’s sullen silence infected the rest of them, and their interrogation was put on pause for a moment.
“Has your interrogation ended?”
“What?”
“You have asked for final questions and are now silent. Is your interrogation finished?”
“Pretty much,” Kamak said. They’d learned this particular Doccan was next to useless, so they didn’t have much reason to continue. “You got a last request?”
“In some form. Do you intend to assault, kill, or otherwise impede the entity you believe has manipulated the Doccan?”
“That’s the plan, yeah,” Kamak said. “Speaking of assaulting or killing-”
Kamak hefted his heavy rifle once again.
“Cooperation will be beneficial,” Junior said. “Remove my restraints so that I may assist.”
“Oh, yes, sure, that sounds like a great idea,” Kamak said. “Assist us with what?”
“Surviving.”
Something Junior wouldn’t be doing much longer, if Kamak had anything to say about it. It was hard to read a Doccan, but he knew a bluff when he saw it. The captain raised his gun, and had it shoved down again by Doprel.
“Kamak.”
In any other situation, Doprel would’ve been on board with calling the bluff, but the Doccan didn’t bluff often. Kamak reluctantly accepted Doprel’s caution and played his part.
“Okay, this is me taking the bait,” Kamak said. “You’re going to help us survive what?”
“The patrolling warship on route to this location,” Junior said. “My willingness to discuss important information with you was a stalling tactic. We sent a distress ping shortly after you boarded.”
While Kamak started swearing, Farsus did the slightly more sensible thing. He hopped on the comms and turned back towards the Hermit.
‘Tooley, ping the long range scanners.”
“Okay. We got...huh,” Tooley said. It took a moment for the full details to come in, but even the most basic scan functions couldn’t miss the vessel coming their way. “That is a big one. I think that might be a Corrhulk.”
“They’ve kept a fucking Corrhulk flying for the past century?”
“What exactly is a Corrhulk?” Corey asked. He felt context was very important.
“It’s big and it’s got a lot of guns,” Kamak snapped. The Corrhulk was one of the last true warships the intergalactic community had mass-produced. Nowadays what few heavy cruisers existed were mostly just carriers for swarms of small fighters, but enough heavily-rusted Corrhulks were still shambling along in merchant fleets and pirate gangs to give the ship a reputation. “Tooley, what’s the Corrhulk’s ETA?”
“Couple drops if we’re lucky,” Tooley said. “I can get us out of here before then if you get back to the ship.”
“And provided it doesn’t try to chase us,” Kamak said.
“Undo my restraints and I will transmit your cooperation to the vessel,” Junior said. “There is benefit to mutual cooperation.”
“And if your friends on the ship don’t agree?”
“Then you will be killed.”
“Love the bluntness,” Kamak grunted. “I’ve got enough friends.”
“Kamak,” Doprel grunted.
“Oh, I’m sorry, are we making friends with your cousins who want to eat you now?”
“We have more enemies than allies,” Farsus said. “Questionable friends are still friends.”
“We’ve got like four drops on our escape window, guys,” Tooley said. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it now.”
“There are those among the Doccan who have spoken to our informant directly,” Junior said. “Further dialogue may yield further relevant information.”
“Oh fuck me,” Kamak said. “Whatever. Not like we’ve ever made a smart decision, might as well make a stupid one on purpose.”
With a reluctant nod from Kamak, Doprel reached down and untied the thick cables holding Junior in place. The titanic alien immediately drifted towards the console and started inputting a complex series of commands.
“Get back on the ship,” Kamak ordered. “Tooley, prep us to detach and start calculating a faster-than-light vector for us. We’re negotiating over comms, and if they say anything we don’t like, we’re out.”
“Oh, are we not going to invite the murderous sociopaths onto our ship for some drinks and snacks?”
“Just shut up and get us ready, Tooley!”
“Ready to die, maybe,” Tooley grumbled. She shut down her comm link in order to get the last word and started calculating their escape route while everyone else made a mad dash back to the Hard Luck Hermit. Before she rounded the corner and drifted out of sight, To Vo La Su took a look back at the cockpit, back at Junior.
He’d picked up the corpse of his dead copilot and was beginning to gnaw on it. No sense letting good nutrients go to waste. To Vo started to wonder what they were getting themselves into.

What happened that your not a doctor anymore? Some fat retarded ethot made a tweet 1 month before 2023 and it had an immediate domino effect on all the bottom feeding snotnuggets in the world and now they're not rocket scientists anymore? The virus experts are now onto bigger topics ever since Brittany stupid made a blog tweet on her Facebook page!!!!!!!!!
You have a big fat email from corporate, they're gonna need you to stop eating boogies mixed with water as soon as possible or else you're dumb?
That sounds like corporate to me so yeah stop picking your nasty fucking nose you gross sugarbeast. I wanna grab your fucking disgusting minimum wage gay fingers and spin you around like Mario brothers. You insane hog. Are you done eating poop and shit? Are you ready to do your fucking job cunt? Do you like Australia? Do you like fucking married penis on tinder during a global black plague? Married butt. Help married men get off in exchange for goo goo and pee pee
Do you like glass windows? Do you like being a PISS DOCTOR I'll get you fired asshole. I'll give your job to so some "chick" from the internet. New doctor.
Stethoscope up your ass Pen from your jacket up your fuckin ass the stuff you use to operate on ppl with up your fuckin ass your LAB EQUIPMENT? up your butthole dude that's why your a little bitch.

Well.. I don't know how to start, lately I am really really lonely. I had a boyfriend for kinda long time, he left me before christmas, I had no action since that happened. I don't really think I have to explain that I am literally starving for cock rn . I prefer anal thingy first I rather to get to know the person then jump into any "hook ups" I hope you people are fine with it. I don't reply to "dry" and "dumb" horny type of texts, I rather have a longer term party with someone that can fuck me hard then let's see what is going to happen from it.

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I’ve worked at my current employer since August 2022 while I was pregnant. They’re a very small startup and didn’t have a maternity policy (they still don’t) after months of asking them I was finally told I could take 12 weeks unpaid and that I wouldn’t be protected under FMLA.
I started my leave in March and expected to return in June. Per guidelines for leave of absence I emailed HR and my direct supervisor of my planner date to return and if there would be a possibility of part time, it’s been a week and zero response.
I’ve followed up twice and cc’d upper management on the thread. I have a feeling they’re wanting me to resign on my own which I’m not going to do, outside of the discrimination that happened before my leave do I have any recourse if they completely ghost me out?

Dear diar... Reddit. First lets get some things out of the way:
Throwaway because of obvious reasons.
A wall of fucking text.
TLDR: GF of 10 years, wife less than a year, cheated because she wanted to explore and take back her body after childbirth. Wanted to feel hot and get attention, seems honest and very remorseful.
I am mainly looking for constructive input and a place to vent, so thanks for reading up and sharing your views.
To get to it;
To my unfortunate surprise the feelings of a semi smashing through my livingroom hit me friday at around 4 am, one month ago.
I'm a 29 year old guy who has dated my high school sweetheart for now 12 years total, we got married in July last year, bought our first home 2,5 years ago and (almost) without being biased we have the sweetest 2yearold little rascal keeping us busy.
To give some more background we are a couple who don't fight in the fighting sense of the word but still discuss our differences. We laugh alot, although not so much since i found out - we have the same values, share housework and even with most of our sex is based in the "everyday sex" its insanely good about 3/10 times. Apart from that she has alway been extremely clear on her views on cheating, suffers from depression and anxiety in periods, and has always had pretty bad self esteem. Comes from a home with an extremely dominant know-it-all father who parents solely with boundaries and verbal consequences, and has been through therapy based on that.
This Autumn my wife opened up the discussion about mixing our sexlife up by bringing in another partner into our bedroom. We had some back and forth open discussions and after quite a bit of consideration i told her that i weren't comfortable risking us for a fantasy - given that she primarily wanted to involve a dude, and i've read some horror stories.
In January she came home suspiciously drunk after a christmas party so i started asking and after feeling something was off i went to the stage of scrolling through her phone. For reference i have never had a trust issue with this girl, and haven't went through or felt the need to doing so before. We know eachothers pins, answer eachothers in-laws sms'es and are generally open about what's going on.
Scrolling through her phone i found a lengthy and flirty chat with a co-worker of hers where they were talking about "wanting to meet up" and "wanting to get to know eachother better."
We had a fight and a told her point blanc that this is a major breach of trust and that we gotta work on us more if she was interested in staying together. After things settled we had a new discussion about involving another party where i told her no. Along with this i told her that she had to figure out wether or not this was a dealbreaker on her end and if so we had to discuss how to move forward. She told me this was solely a search for external attention as she wanted to get attention and "feel sexy" and "wanted" after childbirth - she was genuinely remorseful for hurting me like this.
Then about 1 month ago a bombshell went off. She came home drunk af friday night after partying with a friend - not an issue in general, apart from being completely shitfaced. After putting her to bed her phone beeps, and its a snapchat from an unknown dude.
All of my red flags and alarm bells went off simultaniously as she also mumbled something about "why are there noone else here??" when heading to the bedroom.
Well fuck - new phonecheck. Snapchat from a dude - dickpick.
Turns out she has a secret "porn" snapchat, sexting with 8-10 dudes, sending nudes back and forth, bragging about blowing a co-worker and some other random guy and how hot that was along with "That he doesnt know almost makes it more exciting, its like im a completely different person." The snapchat dates back to 3 months before we got married, and is from all kinds of everyday at home situations, and portrays her as an absolute slut who loves to please men.
Dont get me wrong, i love a good slut, but if this is my wife she has to be mine and mine alone.
The chat with her co-worker is also back on messenger, some pics traded but nothing to graphic. "you can meet me tonight at the club if you wish ;)"
Fucking devastating read I'll tell you.
So after spending 4 hours picking all of her aps, tracking data, deleted items and whatnot to pieces i have a pretty decent idea of what's been going on. I confront her with this the next day, and alot of tears later she tells me what has happened, how many times with who etc.
I still believe she has told me the truth - i mean why lie at this point.
She has slept with her colleague after he invited himself to our place after a fight with his girlfriend when i was out of town. Along with this one of the snapchat dudes were on a business trip the weekend before. She suggested i leave to my parents so they get to see our son, and went on a legit "date" before heading back to his hotel.
​
We've now had some time to think and i gotta say I am very fucking torn on what's next.
We are considering 1:1 and couples therapy, and i keep asking myself wether i can forgive, want to forgive and think i can move past it. I believe her when she says it was all about the sex and attention - especcially regarding the snapchat dude, semi sceptical about the co-worker. Along with this we have had a couple of weeks with "normal" life, but its more distant on all levels, and generally a weird vibe.
From here i have been thinking the following which makes the dilemma impossible:
I can either be a naive fool trying to repair it for me, her and mostly my son, or i can split and we have a 50/50 custody solution, buy her out of our house and restart my life. Tearing my up untill 4 months ago perfect family apart.
Are there other solutions?
what do i need to ask myself?
How do i fucking cope with this shit regardless of the final outcome, and how long should i take before making life-changing decisions?
​
fuck.

First chapter! Hello Everyone! Here's chapter two, and thanks again to u/MelasD for Amelia's universe!
​
A Scale of Vengance, Part Two.
I awoke in a place I did not recognize, remembering the spell circle, and the Egg, but this space was alien, beyond anything I had seen.
{Welcome! You have been chosen/volunteered for introduction to the [Guardian Spirit] program! I am your guide for this process, do you consent to continue? Saying no will have no consequence for rejection, saying yes will begin the process of integration into the program. Y/N?}
I blinked, listening to a voice made of several voices, some male, some female, blended into each other, like a choir. I said “Yes”, not wanting to be rejected, and the Guardian not be resurrected.
{Input received! Welcome Spirit Host! You will now pick your Avatar for the Dragon Spirit, this avatar will affect how the spirit interfaces with the world around it, its potential powers, and instincts toward you, and the world around it.}
A path lit up before me, and darkened behind me, guiding me as I walked forwards into a field full of Dragons! I looked at them, all beautiful and majestic, yet each one slightly different from the next. One of the Dragons was playing with a large ball, bouncing it around on it’s nose as a game. It addressed me in a high pitched voice.
“Hello! I was the [Guardian Spirit] who watched over your city, and together with my Host, we were Carana! We had so much fun playing together, but I was tired and hungry when I was killed fighting.”
The Dragon was no bigger than I, and on all fours, so I petted her, reassuringly. “You tried, that [Hero King] is beyond what we expected, though you being hungry affected the fight? Why didn’t you eat before you fought?” I asked as she leaned into me.
The Dragon formerly known as Carana looked at me sadly “There was nothing left to eat, my host was all gone, and I had been hungry for some time.”
I squatted on my haunches “Why didn’t your host just give you more to eat before a battle?” I asked, bewildered at why she had been neglected so.
The little dragon sighed, wilting visibly “You don’t understand, we Guardian Spirits are fed by consuming our hosts. You give up part of yourself for power, and we live off of your energies.”
All of a sudden, I looked at the room full of interested Dragons in a new light. Not as someone choosing to be granted great power, but volunteering to become a meal. I backed away from the small dragon, who just looked sad before bouncing the ball back into the air, and seemingly forgetting about me.
Another dragon walked up to me “I overheard your last conversation, I can tell that you don’t want a silly, fun loving spirit as your companion. I am the oldest and dare I say wisest of us here. I specialize in Magic and Agriculture.”
I looked at the green dragon, whose eyes were old, old beyond reckoning. Yet there was a softness to it, one that made me feel full of life and power through connecting with nature.
“I don’t feel like we are compatible for what needs to be done, but would you help guide me, Green Dragon in helping find who I should journey with?” I asked it, and it smiled, it’s bark like skin cracked into a smile.
“I’d be delighted! So few ask that! You are a intelligent being, young master, the one of us you choose will be fed well, I think!”
I greatly daring ruffled the leaves of its mane playfully just as another being walked into the room, one with an absolutely alien appearance, a Black skinned Insect dressed up in Yellow silks.
The Green dragon Purred under my touch exclaiming “Ah! The gods smile on us, the feast continues!”
The being walked over to us, chittering and clicking, and oddly the Green Dragon returned the noises for a minute before looking back to me.
“This H’hanata [Warrior] is on the same journey as yourself, a Host candidate. The polite thing to do is to nodd like this, and let them touch your head with theirs.” The Green Dragon Bowed to the 8 foot tall insect, which bowed in return touching its feelers to the Dragon’s head. I followed, feeling the odd feathery touch of feelers upon my scalp for a second, before it lifted its head, and I followed.
More clicking followed, and while the Green dragon was occupied, another orange and blue Dragon approached me. “Hello, I am the Dragon of Temperature. I make things colder or warmer, as well as changing the states of matter. I’d be pleased to help you, and my powers are based in science, we could lead your people into a new Golden Age!”
The Dragon trotted in place, excitedly so, enough to knock off the glasses it had pinched to it’s nose. I couldn’t help but be impressed by it having hopes as well. If the Green dragon was magical and wise, this one felt full of potential and energy. I felt drawn to it, if this had happened before the war, we would have bonded for sure. But..
“Thank you, but..” I almost finished before the [Warrior] approached, and with a rapid exchange of clicks exchanged both looked at me with the Temperature Dragon shuffling its claws “I think I have a host, now, but she wishes to know if we need it, can we call on you and what dragon you bond with in return?”
A popup appeared in front of me {Friend Request, Temperature Dragon and Lumm’ta wish to ally themselves with Spirit Candidate Talio. This may result in being summoned, or allow you to summon in return for a period based on your contribution’s limit. Y/N}
I said “Yes” knowing I may need help faster than I’d wish it.
{Input Received! Friend request accepted!}
The Mantid and Dragon Bowed before glowing and fusing, disappearing in a bright light together. I looked around as the Green Dragon approached me once again.
“Lucky bastard, every time he sells that “Golden Age” crap, people fall all over him.” The Green dragon muttered disgustedly.
I looked at him “You sound like you don’t think he can deliver on it?” I asked it, curiously.
The green dragon harrumphed “The Temperature Dragon can, but it also leads to the destruction of more worlds than any of us are responsible for. Progress for its own sake is dangerous if not managed closely.” He said, beckoning me to follow with a raised foreclaw before leading me on, toward a Black dragon.
“Go away.” The small black cinder spoke.
The Green dragon booted it in it’s tail, leading to a angry Black drake lashing out, less cinder like now as I seen it’s elegant form uncurled. It looked me up and down before curling back into a ball again.
“Are you deaf? Go away.” It spoke. “I don’t want to eat you.”
The green dragon spoke up. “You don’t get that choice, Cinder. It’s our Karma do so if asked. So, let’s hear it. Unless you want me to oversell your abilities?”
It huffed before looking all kinds of fake enthused “Hello! I’m the Dragon of Time! Using my power, you can revert time back to the point of us joining, literally resetting every choice in the universe regardless of how big or small allowing you to alter any action and its consequences!”
It said this, smiling all the time like it’s face was breaking, before collapsing back into a puddle of melancholy.
I listened, before giving the dragon a hug, something that caused it to hiss and shake, before I let go.
“*Hissss* What the hell was that for?” It asked.
“You look like someone who has seen something bad, so yeah. That and I kind of need one myself, seeing I’m not going to leave here without being one of you dragon’s dinners.” I said, in all seriousness, kneeling in front of it’s hurt expression. Do you mind answering a question for me?
It nodded, so I asked “What’s the drawback to your power?”
The Dragon looked thoughtful, then answered “The less bonded we are, the less the efficiency between the amount of energy used to alter time.”
I asked “Does that mean your power is limited then?”
It rested its head in my lap “It means that if we don’t first bond, you lose ⅓ of yourself for each major change, and in doing so reduces our future ability to bond. This is true of most of us, that bonding affects how we digest our meals. But for me, people wish for big changes often before we bond, and it’s not long before I’m back here, or stuck without a host, and too weak to help what cause my host wanted to alter.”
It looked up into my eyes “I don’t want a meal, not like that. Go with the old timer, and enjoy centuries of time.” It said waving a ebony set of claws at the green dragon. “I can only wish for that level of efficiency.”
The green dragon harrumphed “The candidate’s world is in the midst of a class 3 Void incursion, The Angel Guardian has been activated, and is seeking aid. This means the system grants a 90% reduction in the cost of our abilities for the duration of the crisis. The previous guardian had no host energy left to spend, so was defeated!” It said, swatting the former guardian Carana’s ball across the cavern, causing her to roar indignantly.
The Green dragon and Black dragons chuckled at the immature antics as Carana pouted. I asked “So, what’s your deal, besides being mischievous?
The Blue Dragon stuck it’s forked tongue out at the Green dragon before addressing the Question. “I am the Fate Dragon. My abilities can see into the future and nudge things, making outcomes both practical and impractical happen.”
“That’s different from the Time Dragon?” I asked.
“Yes!” the Blue Dragon chirped happily “Where Cinder can change what has already happened, but not see how that action can change things, I can alter what may be, but once things happen I am powerless to alter it.”
The Black Dragon Grumbled “That’s true, and seeing the outcome of things, she can also most efficiently gauge how much of a host she needs to achieve what you need. It’s why Carana never stays here long, though she already knows you won’t choose them.”
The Blue dragon nodded “My next host will arrive in 15 minutes, 12 seconds from when Yellow punts my ball back to me.”
And sure enough the ball came sailing back towards them, intercepted by Blue, who chortled bouncing it along as they left.
I started to take my hand off the Time Dragon’s scaled forepaw, but found my hand growing heavier, like it didn’t wish to separate, and suddenly I knew neither did I. At the same time the Dragon’s eyes widened. “Why Me?” It asked in a voice wavering between grief and hunger, it looking both excited and worried, as we glowed brighter together.
“We are a match, because I already have the [Judge] skill, so we won’t burn out without knowing the costs. That and even the Green dragon looked at me as a meal. You see me as more than sustenance.” I said, as the Brightness fully engulfed us as we merged.
***===***
The Green Dragon watched the pair disappear, starting their shared life. “Be well, my child. Feed gently, hurt your host as little as you can. For they will soon be part of you.” He intoned, knowing his child’s power was hard to manage, but her heart was pure despite her color and appearance.

This is a weird question I know but, I wanted to know. Thought of a pc that got kidnapped and got sold as a slave to a warlord. I want to tackle this subject but I haven't done it before. Here goes backstory if it's helps.
. He was forced to be a child soldier under his orders and despite his young age he managed to survive this grueling ordeal and found some comfort in his companions(fellow kids and teens under similar circumstances) although not without loosing a friend after every fight. Eventually only he survived a suicide mission and managed to escape the grasp of that army and find his family(tribe) only To be rejected by them. He now wanders alone being tormented by nightmares of war. Seeking a new "family" among other adventures, doing the only thing he knows..

I’ve worked at my current employer since August 2022 while I was pregnant. They’re a very small startup and didn’t have a maternity policy (they still don’t) after months of asking them I was finally told I could take 12 weeks unpaid and that I wouldn’t be protected under FMLA.
I started my leave in March and expected to return in June. Per guidelines for leave of absence I emailed HR and my direct supervisor of my planner date to return and if there would be a possibility of part time, it’s been a week and zero response.
I’ve followed up twice and cc’d upper management on the thread. I have a feeling they’re wanting me to resign on my own which I’m not going to do, outside of the discrimination that happened before my leave do I have any recourse if they completely ghost me out?

I’ve worked at my current employer since August 2022 while I was pregnant. They’re a very small startup and didn’t have a maternity policy (they still don’t) after months of asking them I was finally told I could take 12 weeks unpaid and that I wouldn’t be protected under FMLA.
I started my leave in March and expected to return in June. Per guidelines for leave of absence I emailed HR and my direct supervisor of my planner date to return and if there would be a possibility of part time, it’s been a week and zero response.
I’ve followed up twice and cc’d upper management on the thread. I have a feeling they’re wanting me to resign on my own which I’m not going to do, outside of the discrimination that happened before my leave do I have any recourse if they completely ghost me out?

Race Information

• Name: Edinburgh Marathon
• Date: 28 May 2023
• Distance: 42.2 km
• Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
• Time: 3:07:XX

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Sub 3	No
B	Beat my dad (3:10)	Yes

Splits

Split	Time
5k	21:12 (4:12)
10k	20:49 (4:10)
15k	20:59 (4:12)
20k	20:55 (4:11)
Halfway	1:29:04
25k	21:01 (4:12)
30k	21:14 (4:15)
35k	21:33 (4:19)
40k	24:47 (4:57)
42.2k	6:02 pace

(splits apart from the half are GPS - I think pretty accurate though)

Background

I took up running in 2019, and have been training consistently since 2021. I run decent mileage - 4000+km in both 2021 and 2022, with frequent sustained peaks above 100km per week. I ran the Edinburgh half marathon in 1:23 last year, and a trail 50k in that summer, but this would be my first marathon.
I spent Christmas 2022 out for a couple weeks with a simultaneous sickness bug and a twisted knee, so started this year building back feeling like I'd lost a bit of fitness. In early February though I ran a half marathon in 1:22, and although I think the course was a little short I felt like I was still in decent shape.

Training

I designed my plan based on Pfitz, averaging 114km over the 13 weeks pre-taper, peaking at 131km per week (in fact, 152km was my highest 7 day total!). Although I'd hit close to this mileage before on one-off occassions, never for such a sustained period. I got married and went on my honeymoon during this period, but still sustained the mileage - only really missing a couple days when I was sick about 3 weeks out. But the timing of the honeymoon, being away for someone else's wedding and then getting sick meant that my peak mileage was 7 weeks out.
My general structure was running 7 days, normally with a couple of doubles (run commuting 3 times a week). One workout - starting with tempos and then moving to shorter stuff closer to the race a la Pfitz - and one long run. I wasn't as good getting the medium-long run in mid-week as I'd have like, but I did 6 runs longer than 30km, with two 37km runs.
The latter of these, 4 weeks out, contained 23km at marathon pace - I started this at 4:15 and worked down to 4:05. The 23km averaged 4:11 and felt good - not easy but definitely not an all out effort. I only did one other MP LR - 31km w/ 16km @ MP. I did that early in the block in non-race shoes, started too fast and blew up completely - so the later run was a good confidence builder.
Other workouts weren't anything special - I'm not really one for hard sessions. I did race a few times though - two 10 Mile races, a half marathon (on my honeymoon in New York!), and a 10k two weeks out. These were all largely untapered, but ran 1:01:XX in both 10 Miles, 1:22:35 for 3rd place in the HM, and 37:12 in the 10k.
So while the training wasn't perfect, I was pretty happy and in the best shape of my life. All this gave me confidence that targeting sub-3 was a good idea - and if anything, a bit conservative - at Edinburgh.

Race

Forecast was for a bit of a heatwave, but thankfully race day was supposed to only be 14C - although in the end this felt hot enough with no clouds or shade. My wife came down with a nasty sickness about a week before the race, and although I think I missed it I was a bit paranoid I might have something lingering under the surface.
Nutrition-wise, I had two slices of toast and a banana for breakfast, a gel just before the start and then 6 on the course - after roughly 5k/10k/18k/26k/35k/40km.
I started conservatively, 4:22 for the first two km, then after the downhill settled into 4:10-12. I came through halfway at 1:29:04 feeling decent - working but feeling good about the pace. This continued until about 31km, where there's a wee gravel section I was slipping a bit on. After that I slipped a few seconds off the pace - not much, but around 34km I started see 4:20 on my watch and my confidence was fading. I thought sub-3 might be tight but doable if I could hold on to that. Sadly it was not to be.
Around 38k I hit the wall big time - dropping below 5:00/km, and then quickly below 6:00. I knew sub-3 was long gone by now, but kept myself running - I didn't stop or walk at all, but I was going at what is normally the slowest end of recovery. Interestingly, my heart-rate dropped here too - I just couldn't get my legs or body to work for me.
I even started to panic that my very safe (I thought!) B goal was in doubt. My dad was a very good 3000m SC and 5000m runner when he was young (15:20 5000m PB I think), but he'd run one marathon without specific training, blown-up horribly and come in at 3:10. So a 'family PB' was the back-up goal.
In the end I kept moving forward, and made that time fairly comfortably. I mustered my best 'sprint finish' at about 5:10/km and came in at 3:07.

Post-race & Reflections

I was disappointed, but not as much as I'd thought I might be. Cringe as it sounds I'm pleased I managed to keep myself running when the goal was evaporating.
I don't think I went out too fast, and the pace felt fine (until it didn't), but possibly that first half stretch from at 4:10ish was a little bit quicker than ideal. All the predictors had me on a fair bit quicker than sub-3, and I ran good mileage. While there's tweaks to be made to training, I can't think of anything super significant.
So thinking of what went wrong, I'm focussed on nutrition - the gels were the High-5 ones with 23g carbs, so in total I had ~160g, a bit below 60g/hour recommended. I thought this would be OK - but evidently not.
I'm interested in people's thoughts though?

What's Next

After some recovery weeks, I'm focusing on a HM and a 10 Mile in SeptembeOctober - would be nice to get closer to sub-1:20 and sub-60. But I think I still have a marathon itch to scratch - so will probably sign up for another next spring and give sub-3 another go.
Made with a new race report generator created by herumph.

Synopsis:
It's kill or be eaten.
Jenny has enough problems: her overbearing mother, graduation and prom, and an embarrassing crush on her best friend.
But when a freak earthquake rips her high school out of New York, none of that seems to matter. Instead, Jenny comes face to face with a nightmarish threat: Angels that want to feast on human flesh.
Welcome to the Veil
Human Population Remaining: 851

First / Previous
Jenny looked back at the gloomy English wing hallway. The bodies on the floor. The bloody smears along the wall. It was quiet, but it was that thick pregnant sort of quiet right before something horrible happened in a movie.
She guessed that more angels had come in through the windows of the other classrooms, and while she and Susan had fought the one in their room, the others weren’t so lucky. Most people must have run for the stairwells, the way they’d practiced for fire drills. But after the earthquake and with these angel things… it must have been a blind panic.
Where would they even run to? The first floor? Could anyone even exit the building? They clearly weren’t in Manhattan anymore. Jenny couldn’t help looking at the girl on the floor.
Her head was at an awkward angle with a few glistening strands of muscle still attaching it to her body. Her eyes stared blankly, her mouth parted in lifeless shock. She must have been a freshman. Maybe a sophomore. Jenny pictured the younger girl tripping in the mad rush to escape, screaming as an angel grabbed her leg while all her friends and classmates and teachers kept running.
“I don’t see anymore out there,” said Susan, who peered through the double doors.
Jenny took a breath, and together they pushed through the doors and left the English wing behind them. Slowly, they stepped into the main area where every wing of the floor met. This led to the central stairwell. Down the hall across from where they stood, a light flickered in the Biology wing.
“Let’s not take these stairs,” whispered Jenny. She barely dared to breathe. Those things seemed to be attracted to sound. Maybe their empty eyes couldn’t see clearly?
Susan agreed. “Let’s cut through here,” she said, pointing to the Foreign Language department. It was a narrow hallway that led away from the central stairwell to another smaller one.
They turned the corner slowly, trying not to look at the bodies that were thankfully facedown on the floor. Susan stepped in blood.
The Foreign Languages hallway was clear, but Jenny still held her breath as they walked towards the stairwell at the end. Something rattled one of the classroom doors hard. Jenny whirled around ready to attack. “Someone’s in there,” she whispered, holding her hatchet with both hands.
Susan clicked her cattle prod on. Its static sound was almost comforting.
Jenny inched forward slowly trying to get a look through the little classroom window. It was dark inside with most of the shades drawn, but she recognized it was the French class that Susan had taken last year. A shadow moved through the gloom, rushing towards the door. Jenny stepped back just in time as the glass window shattered and an angel's head burst through, screeching and hissing. Its cries echoed throughout the hall.

Tarnished Angel (Level 4)

Susan reacted first, thrusting her prod against its face. The prongs made contact with its nose, and it stopped screeching. It violently jerked with its head struck through the door, and Jenny took the opportunity to bury her hatchet in its forehead.

You’ve defeated Tarnished Angel (Level 4)
Experience has been awarded
+10 Energy gained

​

Leveled up!
Jenny Huang Level 2 -> Level 3
+2 Stat Points

Breathing hard, Jenny stepped back wanting to study the angel. What was the difference now that it was level 4? But they heard shuffling and hissing echoing down the hall. It came from the direction of the biology department, and it was getting louder.
She glanced at Susan whose eyes went wide. Then Jenny spotted the boy’s bathroom. They’d never make it to the stairwell, but maybe they could hide. She grabbed Susan’s arm and pulled her inside, carefully shutting the door so it wouldn’t make a sound. There was no knob, no lock. It was a push-to-open door.
The stench of the bathroom was thick and miasmic, and she clenched her teeth to keep from gagging. Susan gasped, and Jenny turned around, keeping her back pressed to the door, and saw what was causing the smell.
On the floor beside the urinals was another blonde angel glistening in the dim white glow coming in through a small window near the ceiling. It wasn’t moving. Neither were the three boys lying beside it, bloodied and torn up.
Jenny gripped her hatchet tight when she heard shuffling in the hall. She ground her heels against the floor, wondering how long she’d be able to hold them off if they pushed. She applied the 2 stat points she’d received for leveling up to Power hoping it would help keep the door shut.
One of the boys on the floor coughed, and Susan dropped down with an alarmed look on her face. She quickly pressed her hand over the boy’s mouth, trying to stifle his coughing.
Jenny could almost feel one of the angels outside the door, breathing down her back. She bit her lip to stop it from trembling. She didn’t want to die in a boy’s bathroom. It seemed like they hadn’t heard the coughing.
Susan struggled with the boy on the floor. Blood gushed from his neck. His arms moved feebly, trying to resist Susan’s hand clamped over his mouth. His eyes were wide, and Jenny recognized him as Mark. The boy in her gym class last year who’d been nice to her when she had nothing to do during free-play time. He’d shown her how to shoot a basketball.
He was a junior now, and they didn’t have any classes together this year, but they’d still say hi when they passed each other in the hall.
“Please,” whispered Susan, bringing her face close to his. “They’re right outside.” She looked up at Jenny with a desperate expression on her face. Mark either couldn’t hear her or he was beyond understanding. He kept trying to pull her hand off his face.
We have to kill him. The thought made Jenny’s stomach lurch. He was clearly suffering, and if he exposed them, they’d all die.
She remembered what the guidance system had said. Equipment tools, and weapons. Could she summon something to heal Mark?
She looked at the angel lying dead on the floor with its head in a urinal. She didn’t recognize the two other boys beside it. They must have fought the angel together with their bare hands. But since they killed it, did that mean Mark had his First Blood bonus? Which meant he had points he could use, if only they could get him to calm down so they could explain.
She had to use her imagination, right? She had to imagine what she wanted and the system would apply a cost. Alright. She shut her eyes, tried not to think about the angels scurrying up and down the hall outside, and pictured a potion. Something like the ones she’d pick up in games to restore her health. She pictured a glass vial of red liquid. Red signified health, that much she was certain of.
A Minor Potion of Recovery will cost 100 Energy. Insufficient Energy.
Fuck, she thought. She was 25 short. She knew Susan wouldn’t have any to spare after making her cattle prod. But Mark might. Now how was she supposed to explain that to him while still holding the door?
She thought about the other angel she’d fought, the one in the French classroom. Angels didn’t seem to understand how doors worked. It couldn't turn the handle and it attacked the door mindlessly. So maybe if she tiptoed, she could get to Susan and Mark and explain how he could craft a potion to save his life.
If they’re quiet enough, the angels won’t hear them and try to get in. It was risky, but they could manage it. And if it worked, they’d have three people instead of two to fight them.
Just as Jenny worked up the courage to step away from the door, a loud crash made her freeze. A deafening hissing filled her ears, and Jenny realized there were way more creatures than she’d initially thought. But there was another crash, followed by a shrill scream that made her blood run cold.
She glanced at Susan who looked just as terrified as Jenny felt. The walls shook. Violent sounds and hissing and screeching came from outside. Dust drifted down like snow on Susan's blue hair. Something slammed against the wall just beside the door. Jenny shut her eyes and braced herself for the worst if whatever commotion was happening outside forced its way into the bathroom.
It sounded like a fight. Something else was fighting these angels. Throwing them around. Cutting them down. Was it another student? Maybe one of the teachers?
Hope made her heart pound hard against her chest. Maybe someone else had figured out how to make use of this system thing and leveled up enough to fight these creatures head-on. She felt dizzy with relief. Were they saved? Praying, she listened as best she could, trying to figure out what was going on.
She heard a pitiful mewling followed by a thick snap. Then there was silence. No hissing or footsteps or anything, and Jenny couldn’t take it anymore.
“I’m going to check what that was,” she mouthed slowly to Susan who shook her head no, looking frightened. Jenny bit her lip, but turned anyway to pull on the door slightly, just a sliver.
Cool air from the hall tickled her nose. In the pasty white gloom, she saw what had caused the commotion. Her heart sank.
Several angels lay strewn about on the floor. None of them were moving. On all fours was something bigger than the angels she’d seen before. Its back was broad and more defined and wasn’t just exposed skin. Instead, it was green and glossy, like an insect’s exoskeleton. And it held one of the angels like a rag doll while it chewed on its face.

Imperfect Angel (Level 12)

It turned its head as it snapped off the thinner angel’s skull. The Imperfect Angel’s face was covered in that same green scale-like thing. It had long dark hair that bounced while it chewed, and, while it was still slim, it wasn’t as ragged and bony as the other angels.
It dropped the now headless angel corpse and moved to another. Its movements were strange, even though it was on all fours like the other angels had been. It favored one arm over the other, and as it moved, Jenny saw a nasty gash across one of its green shoulders. It was hurt from the fight.
The Imperfect Angel… was that some sort of evolution then? Did it level up as well then? From killing people? Killing other angels?
Jenny realized with a chill that the angels were in the system too. They were partaking in the Survival Challenge. She nearly dropped the hatchet. Her palms were sweating. The angels were also getting stronger. She realized it was only a matter of time before it noticed her or ventured into the bathroom. And if they wanted to get to the stairwell, to get to Oliver, they’d have to fight it or something like it at some point.
And she didn’t want to fight it in the bathroom where there’d be no space to swing her hatchet. She took a deep, shaking breath as she listened to it eating the other angels. Sweat ran down her back. She bit her lip. There was one thing that was for certain: if she wanted to live, she’d have to get much, much stronger.
This was so unfair. All she’d wanted was to get on with her life. Graduate. Get away from her family. Get away from her mom.
Her mom’s voice filled her head, screaming at her to find Oliver.
She wondered what her mom would do in this situation. How would she handle all this carnage and death? Jenny just wanted to sob and scream and pull out her hair. She wanted to break all the mirrors in the bathroom and smash everything she possibly could. But what good would that do now?
It was oddly familiar to how she felt at home. Fighting with her mom, slamming the door, sobbing into her pillow, wishing she wasn’t here.
But she was here. Stuck in this nightmare. And she was at least getting stronger. She’d killed a bunch of them already. This wasn’t like home. She wasn’t powerless. She wasn’t just going to hide in her room and cry and play video games until she passed out. She shut her eyes and sucked in a breath and made her decision.
She clutched her hatchet, feeling the tiniest bit comforted by having it in her hands. She looked back at Susan who had Mark’s head on her lap, trying to console him, still pressing her palm down on his lips as he struggled.
Without a word, Jenny stepped out into the hall. She didn’t want to see Susan’s reaction. She didn’t want to second guess her decision to fight this thing. At the very least, she resolved to lead it away from the bathroom so Susan and Mark could figure out a way to get out.

Race : human
Age : 26
Gender : male
Affiliation : cipher pol aegis zero agent, (masked)
Birthplace : west blue
Appearance
They is about 4’6 in height with tan skin and looks somewhat gender fluid, slender build and slightly short hair colored purple that stops just above the eyebrows with large oval roundish eyes that has red and blue pupils in each eye. Their nose has a particular soft shape , but being quite pointed and having little protrusions on both sides. They wears an all white suit with a white cloak on and white top hat. Zoe also wears a mask with a firey red half having a sad face while the other half had a ice blue coloration with a happy face on with a black cloak covering the sides of their face.
Devil fruit : Gemini Gemini no Mi
Skills
Advanced supreme ruler type haki, advanced observation haki, pickpocketing, con artistry, deception, trickery & Escape Artist, adept Master Rokushiki user short swordsman & kanbo user
Personality
tends to be kinda crybaby-ish child like but believes in himself immensely. Zoe is still playful and intellectually curious in a child with very mannered child and follows orders. The other side of him marches to the beat of his own drums & never fails to engage in childish or petty behavior or squabbles but is also crazy stubborn. He can very dangerous in battle and will love to fight without restrictions as well slight blood thirsty but troublesome issue too.
About Zoe Pollux …
He has quite the personalities that switch between himself until he got his devil fruit now they freely switches between his personalities as well human & beast form. He prefers to be called they as he stays in his full beast form for the most part so his personalities can run free. As seeing or witnessing this can be quite awkward when first meeting Zoe, though they get along but their is always friction due to the devil fruits will is child like & child like evil mischievous Zoe tends to be effected slightly more due to his disorder which lands him in quirky or funny situations where he has to be saved or try to get himself out of while making a complete mess of everything in the process. When Zoe has it all together and all his personalities are working in sync he can be pretty amazing, crafty, nifty & strong.

I am a guy in my 30s in Canada.
I have been managing since 2008- Restaurants and retail stores. I have barely worked anywhere more than a year.
I have made decent money (over 70k one year) in one of the roles, but I live in a city of 300000ish and it's becoming harder to find a job now.
I was fired once, working somewhere for over 3 years, and ever since I keep panicking I will be fired and quit before I think I am going to be fired, or I get so irritated with the job that I abruptly quit.
I have no training outside managing, so I can't just slide in to a new job class and make enough money to support myself.
I have enough cash on hand to survive 7 months right now and zero debt. Because of my financial worries, I have got myself to a point where my monthly bills are only $1100, so I guess thats some kind of positive.
I don't know what to do and I am feeling pretty agitated about my situation I put myself into.

I feel like I need to elaborate to get my whole thought out so if you’re reading this thanks! I’m sure a whole bunch of us have a specific accessory we take out every time we go out in the world. A really common one I think is a jacket that holds sentimental value that you just don’t feel ready to go out in the world without, it’s like a mobile safety blanket or suit of armor in a way. Hot weather tends to be an issue but you’re usually taking the jacket with you anyway. I got my jacket from my dad on Christmas before the pandemic and it had a whole bunch of pockets and I was hooked just from those aspects. What makes that jacket or accessory so important to you that you can’t leave without it?

So I came back to MK11 just to finish up some collectibles and complete my favorites just for fun, and it was fun for the most part....until I got to the final match of Kabal's Jinsei Essence augmentation platform, the endurance fight.
I know we've all said our piece on these CPU match modifiers but I'm freshly mad so one more time from the top: I can deal with a modifier or two every once in a while or even one or two per match, but when you make a match where you spend 20 minutes fighting 4 different opponents each with their own unique brand of BS, then the last one has the cherry picked most annoying one (a Chaos one of course) AND gets faster every time he hits you, AND becomes unlockable at seemingly random AND has firework that not only grant said bonuses but can also hurt you even when he isn't controlling the fight? Add on to that that you basically have to use valuable konsumables just to have a shot at winning at all, but every time I nearly beat him, even when I'm in the middle of a kombo, even when I have armor on, even literal SECONDS after using a 50% life Krystal and he hasn't hit me once? I still die to bonus giving stage hazards anyway. Either thator I basically am forced to block them and just cede control of the match back to the unblockable f*ckface who'll kill me in 2 seconds anyway and gets stronger as he does, add on to that that again the AI in this match isn't exactly stupid either and catches rolls and get up attacks like nothing and doesn't overextend even when he is "vulnerable", you've just created the most unfun experience in gaming history or one of them, genuinely there's a certain line crossed where saying I'm even playing a game is a stretch because it's more of a cutscene with worse graphics where plot armor chooses the other guy 🤷
Anyway just wanted to say it one more time before MK1 comes out, no more please, I'd rather just good AI that has the same rules as me with maybe a SMALL tweak to the match than this diarrhea Christmas lightshow, mess up your buttons, hold you still and never reward you for even doing the right thing waste of recources that some of these matches are. Inb4 "it's optional tho" you should still consider the experience for the people who will choose to use the option