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2023.06.08 11:04 Nicromia The Railway Children Part 4
Hello once again to Chapter 4
This is just a continuation of the previous chapter.
I do try to not have such large gaps between chapter releases, but I would prefer to take my time with these.
If there is any mistakes please let me know.
First/Previous/Next
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Memory Transcription Subject: Timil Minar-Bowman, Yotul high school student
Date [Standard Human Time]: June 3rd 2142
[CONTINUATION OF PREVIOUS TRANSCRIPTION]
As we all looked on in the same expression that I had in the shuttle, Karisa’s toothy smile disappeared as she spoke again. “Wow, I never seen such a cute reaction like that before.” Karisa giggled again; her hand placed over her mouth.
What does she mean, I didn’t think they even had that much.
“Now then kids, when you're done picking up your mouths, follow me and stay close, we don’t want any wanderers. Also, don’t be afraid to voice any of your questions as we tour around the exhibits. I'd love to answer them.”
We eventually found ourselves on the elevated platform in front of the same steam engine that we all saw when we first entered Station Hall, some of the group was still catching up as they took the smaller species-friendly stairs.
As we waited, I felt a hand be placed on top of my shoulder, stroking it gently, “How are you finding it so far. I know we’ve just arrived, but I know your surprised look when I see it.” Dad spoke softly to me. “I’m really enjoying it so far. I never realised how big your steam engines were, or you had that many.” I looked to see his confused face staring me back, then a light laugh escaped his mouth.
“To you, yes they are, but they are big to us as well, bigger than the early engines that’s for sure, but I can assure you Timil, they get much bigger later on. Anyway, its Karisa’s job to tell these things and to answer these questions, ok.” I nodded and turned back to our now collected herd.
“Are we all here…” Our guide looked to the adults. “They are… Excellent. Now we can begin. Ok children, can you all tell me what this locos name is, I want you all to shout together.” Our guide clasped her hands together, pushing her hands out to us. “Ready.”
“Gladstone!” We shouted.
“YES! You are all correct and so observant, this locos name is Gladstone, as you can see on its side. Well done.”
We all looked on, wanting more.
“Now then lets begin shall we... Gladstone here was built in 1882, designed by a man by the name of William Stroudley, these are an improved version of his previous Richmond class passenger train design."
She paused, looking to make sure we were still caught up and to see if we had any questions before she continued.
"It was built about 260 years ago for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, or LB&SCR for short. It was the first of thirty-six [36] to be built, each one having their own name, with the last being built in 1891, they were given the classification of B1 to designate them as a passenger locomotive. These big boys were used to haul the heaviest of passenger trains between the old city of London, to the coastal city of Brighton. It has been with us for so long I don’t even know when it came to us.”
I looked towards Grimir and Maxil, both were entranced. Maxil’s tall ears were pointed straight to Karisa, not even a hint of anxiety showing. Grimir was furiously typing away at his pad, trying to collect as much information I assume.
“Eventually, as with everything, the march of progress made them redundant, obsolete for the world they found themselves to be surrounded with. By 1910, ten of them were withdrawn from service, the rest serving to h-help…”
Karisa’s voiced faltered, looking towards Dad and Miss Hiten. I’m still learning about human faces, I’m still yet to pick up on some but I’m guessing it is a ‘can I say this?’ maybe. Her relived face answered that.
“T-to help with moving s-soldiers to the coastal cities during Earths F-First World War over 200 years ago. By 1926 withdrawals began again and by 1933 the last engine was scrapped after only 50 years of service, Gladstone here being the only one of its class left preserved.”
I see why her face was concerned; she was worried about how we would react. It was no secret anymore that humans have had a bloody past, at some point every species has had at least a war with themselves.
“Any questions?”
A sea of paws and trunks went up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//(TRANSCRIPTION FORWARDING [2 HOURS])//
It took us about two Earth hours by the time we were done with Station Hall, I could see the herd was ready for a break, myself included.
We saw luxury carriages used by old royalty, a much larger locomotive in red, even some goods vehicles from the many different railway companies that Karisa said used to operate, I could'nt believe the variety.
I could see a tired Quirral laying on top of Tamoy the Mazic, I swear that goes against something, but it’s funny to see. Thankfully we made it to the outside café where we can get something to eat, thankfully accommodating to herbivorous species.
A perfect Allotment Salad and apple juice is just what I need, apparently grown on site as well.
As I ate with Maxil and Grimir, we looked over the notes that Grimir wrote, we learned a few interesting things;
Station Hall gained its name because, well, it looked like a station, but apparently it was once a large goods shed that brought in products for the people that lived in the city.
Another thing we noticed is how short of a time period it was there was, between humanity gaining the power of steam to finding out they weren’t alone in the universe. Most notable was the time span between steam to electric operation.
I have to ask Dad more about that. They went from steam, to diesel, to electric, then to biofuel then to electric and maglev again. Amazing!
Though, thinking on it, it was kind of ironic that compared to Earth, I wondered if my species could have had something like this if it weren’t for the Federation.
Lastly, we all thought that it was a shame that the famous human engine Rocket wasn’t here, apparently, we were told it was taken to another museum not long before we visited, and that it was too far for us to go and visit. But we were told that we would learn more about it in the in the science classroom towards the end of the day.
“Ok children, can you all listen to me please.” Miss Hiten called for attention. Us three looked up from our notes. “I know you are all eating and enjoying your break, but me and Mr Bowman have come to an agreement we think you’d want to hear.”
I looked to both of my buddies, each confused. Usually whatever she has to say ends up being not okay.
“Because of the excellent behaviour you have all exhibited so far.” Both adults briefly looked at each other, “Me and Mr Bowman have agreed to allow all of you to explore the Great Hall on your own.”
It took a second before we all cheered, paws and all in the air. That was unnatural for her, I wonder what Dad did.
“However!” She shouted, one claw in the air. “You are all to be in groups of three or more, and I know that safety is in the herd but here on Earth you are all very safe. I speak from personal experience.” She sounded adamant about that last part.
“Mr Bowman, you may continue…”
Dad nodded to her. “Thank you, Miss Hiten. Now, and I say this like I’m a father to you all, do not take your name tags off and always keep your pads with you. Your name tags act as a location beacon so we know where you are at all times, so I say it again, DO NOT remove them for what ever reason. And remember what we told you about Stranger Danger. Do not follow someone you don’t know. Understood!”
“YES SIR!” We all shouted.
“Excellent, now when you are all finished get into your groups and you can head off, be back here in three Earth hours. If you need us, give me or Miss Hiten a call.”
I looked to my two besties; the apprehension was evident.
“Come on then, we haven’t got all day!” I shouted, hopping off to see more trains.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First/Previous/Next
That brings the end to Chapter 4
I unfortunately (if I call it that) used Wikipedia for Gladstone as the area that the loco is in is closed for restoration.
If there are any mistakes, please put it down below.
Hopefully it wouldn't take to long for the next chapter. By only time will tell.
submitted by Nicromia to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]
This is just a continuation of the previous chapter.
I do try to not have such large gaps between chapter releases, but I would prefer to take my time with these.
If there is any mistakes please let me know.
First/Previous/Next
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Memory Transcription Subject: Timil Minar-Bowman, Yotul high school student
Date [Standard Human Time]: June 3rd 2142
[CONTINUATION OF PREVIOUS TRANSCRIPTION]
As we all looked on in the same expression that I had in the shuttle, Karisa’s toothy smile disappeared as she spoke again. “Wow, I never seen such a cute reaction like that before.” Karisa giggled again; her hand placed over her mouth.
What does she mean, I didn’t think they even had that much.
“Now then kids, when you're done picking up your mouths, follow me and stay close, we don’t want any wanderers. Also, don’t be afraid to voice any of your questions as we tour around the exhibits. I'd love to answer them.”
We eventually found ourselves on the elevated platform in front of the same steam engine that we all saw when we first entered Station Hall, some of the group was still catching up as they took the smaller species-friendly stairs.
As we waited, I felt a hand be placed on top of my shoulder, stroking it gently, “How are you finding it so far. I know we’ve just arrived, but I know your surprised look when I see it.” Dad spoke softly to me. “I’m really enjoying it so far. I never realised how big your steam engines were, or you had that many.” I looked to see his confused face staring me back, then a light laugh escaped his mouth.
“To you, yes they are, but they are big to us as well, bigger than the early engines that’s for sure, but I can assure you Timil, they get much bigger later on. Anyway, its Karisa’s job to tell these things and to answer these questions, ok.” I nodded and turned back to our now collected herd.
“Are we all here…” Our guide looked to the adults. “They are… Excellent. Now we can begin. Ok children, can you all tell me what this locos name is, I want you all to shout together.” Our guide clasped her hands together, pushing her hands out to us. “Ready.”
“Gladstone!” We shouted.
“YES! You are all correct and so observant, this locos name is Gladstone, as you can see on its side. Well done.”
We all looked on, wanting more.
“Now then lets begin shall we... Gladstone here was built in 1882, designed by a man by the name of William Stroudley, these are an improved version of his previous Richmond class passenger train design."
She paused, looking to make sure we were still caught up and to see if we had any questions before she continued.
"It was built about 260 years ago for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, or LB&SCR for short. It was the first of thirty-six [36] to be built, each one having their own name, with the last being built in 1891, they were given the classification of B1 to designate them as a passenger locomotive. These big boys were used to haul the heaviest of passenger trains between the old city of London, to the coastal city of Brighton. It has been with us for so long I don’t even know when it came to us.”
I looked towards Grimir and Maxil, both were entranced. Maxil’s tall ears were pointed straight to Karisa, not even a hint of anxiety showing. Grimir was furiously typing away at his pad, trying to collect as much information I assume.
“Eventually, as with everything, the march of progress made them redundant, obsolete for the world they found themselves to be surrounded with. By 1910, ten of them were withdrawn from service, the rest serving to h-help…”
Karisa’s voiced faltered, looking towards Dad and Miss Hiten. I’m still learning about human faces, I’m still yet to pick up on some but I’m guessing it is a ‘can I say this?’ maybe. Her relived face answered that.
“T-to help with moving s-soldiers to the coastal cities during Earths F-First World War over 200 years ago. By 1926 withdrawals began again and by 1933 the last engine was scrapped after only 50 years of service, Gladstone here being the only one of its class left preserved.”
I see why her face was concerned; she was worried about how we would react. It was no secret anymore that humans have had a bloody past, at some point every species has had at least a war with themselves.
“Any questions?”
A sea of paws and trunks went up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//(TRANSCRIPTION FORWARDING [2 HOURS])//
It took us about two Earth hours by the time we were done with Station Hall, I could see the herd was ready for a break, myself included.
We saw luxury carriages used by old royalty, a much larger locomotive in red, even some goods vehicles from the many different railway companies that Karisa said used to operate, I could'nt believe the variety.
I could see a tired Quirral laying on top of Tamoy the Mazic, I swear that goes against something, but it’s funny to see. Thankfully we made it to the outside café where we can get something to eat, thankfully accommodating to herbivorous species.
A perfect Allotment Salad and apple juice is just what I need, apparently grown on site as well.
As I ate with Maxil and Grimir, we looked over the notes that Grimir wrote, we learned a few interesting things;
Station Hall gained its name because, well, it looked like a station, but apparently it was once a large goods shed that brought in products for the people that lived in the city.
Another thing we noticed is how short of a time period it was there was, between humanity gaining the power of steam to finding out they weren’t alone in the universe. Most notable was the time span between steam to electric operation.
I have to ask Dad more about that. They went from steam, to diesel, to electric, then to biofuel then to electric and maglev again. Amazing!
Though, thinking on it, it was kind of ironic that compared to Earth, I wondered if my species could have had something like this if it weren’t for the Federation.
Lastly, we all thought that it was a shame that the famous human engine Rocket wasn’t here, apparently, we were told it was taken to another museum not long before we visited, and that it was too far for us to go and visit. But we were told that we would learn more about it in the in the science classroom towards the end of the day.
“Ok children, can you all listen to me please.” Miss Hiten called for attention. Us three looked up from our notes. “I know you are all eating and enjoying your break, but me and Mr Bowman have come to an agreement we think you’d want to hear.”
I looked to both of my buddies, each confused. Usually whatever she has to say ends up being not okay.
“Because of the excellent behaviour you have all exhibited so far.” Both adults briefly looked at each other, “Me and Mr Bowman have agreed to allow all of you to explore the Great Hall on your own.”
It took a second before we all cheered, paws and all in the air. That was unnatural for her, I wonder what Dad did.
“However!” She shouted, one claw in the air. “You are all to be in groups of three or more, and I know that safety is in the herd but here on Earth you are all very safe. I speak from personal experience.” She sounded adamant about that last part.
“Mr Bowman, you may continue…”
Dad nodded to her. “Thank you, Miss Hiten. Now, and I say this like I’m a father to you all, do not take your name tags off and always keep your pads with you. Your name tags act as a location beacon so we know where you are at all times, so I say it again, DO NOT remove them for what ever reason. And remember what we told you about Stranger Danger. Do not follow someone you don’t know. Understood!”
“YES SIR!” We all shouted.
“Excellent, now when you are all finished get into your groups and you can head off, be back here in three Earth hours. If you need us, give me or Miss Hiten a call.”
I looked to my two besties; the apprehension was evident.
“Come on then, we haven’t got all day!” I shouted, hopping off to see more trains.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First/Previous/Next
That brings the end to Chapter 4
I unfortunately (if I call it that) used Wikipedia for Gladstone as the area that the loco is in is closed for restoration.
If there are any mistakes, please put it down below.
Hopefully it wouldn't take to long for the next chapter. By only time will tell.
2023.06.08 11:03 Naive-Weakness4360 Don't look down on short people.
I'm pretty short for a guy, 5'5 ft or 1m65. At the time of this event I was in college, we had a class about how we were supposed to deal with agression, both instrumental agression and emotional agression. FYI emotional agression is as the name indicated agression coming from emotions like anger or grief. Instrumental agression is agression used as a tool to reach a certain goal, it's manipulative and insidious.
Most of it was practical exercises where one student had to act as the agressor and the other as the one handling the agressor. In this exercise I had to pretend to be the agressor while the other student (let's call him A) had to be the victim while trying to get me to leave the premises. There are certain tactics for this like starting out polite and getting increasingly less polite until eventually the victim keeps yelling "GET OUT!" which is usually where the agressor stops and actually gets out.
A was taller than me by at least 20 cm (7 inches). While we were doing the exercise he laughed and mocked me saying sorry but he could never be intimidated by such a small guy like me. I was trying pretty hard to come over as agressive but all he did was laugh.
It felt pretty humiliating, just do the exercise please even if you have to play along.
Couple of months later we have to do our exam and I get paired up with the same guy, again I am the agressor using instrumental agression, the situation is that I'm smoking in a non-smoking area whereas he is the safety advisor trying to get me to leave.
OOOH BOY, it's payback time. In a normal situation I have to act up a bit and then leave after tactics are used but I felt like simulating real life just a tiny bit more. This is how the exam went while other students and the teacher watched:
A: Excuse me Sir but you're not allowed to smoke in this parking lot, please put out the cigarette.
Me: Nah.
A: Again, it's against the rules to smoke here, I advise you to leave.
Me: Advise all you like boy
A: I'm telling you to leave now.
Me: *Yawns and pretends to ignore him while smoking a fictitious cigarette*
A: Get out.
Me: *chuckles and keeps smoking*
A: GET OUT!! (this is where the scenario usually ends)
Me: *Starts walking towards him and blows fictitious smoke in his face and see him get flustered
A: GET OUT!
Me: *Walk back towards my smoking spot and continue smoking*" "Just because you're yelling now doesn't mean anythings changed."
A's face is beet-red by now and he's visibly shaking from nervousness (it's still an exam after all and he's at a loss)
A: *With trembling voice* If you don't leave I'm going to call the police.
Me: *Cool as an icecube* Go ahead, few more puffs and my cig is finished anyway.
A: *Pretends to call the police*
Me: Welp, I'm done, see ya dumbass.
SCENARIO END
Visible relief on A's face and that of the surrounding students who thought it was all a bit too intense.
A walks up to me complaining that I dragged it out too long, respond by telling him things don't always play out the way you've learnt them in class.
Teacher agreed with what I said and follows up by saying that the important thing was that I left even if his actions didn't have that much impact on me. He still did everything by the book so it's not like he failed his exam which wasn't my intention either.
I just wanted to give him a hard time because shorties are people too, jackass.
TLDR: Fellow student calls me short so I make him tremble.
submitted by Naive-Weakness4360 to pettyrevenge [link] [comments]
Most of it was practical exercises where one student had to act as the agressor and the other as the one handling the agressor. In this exercise I had to pretend to be the agressor while the other student (let's call him A) had to be the victim while trying to get me to leave the premises. There are certain tactics for this like starting out polite and getting increasingly less polite until eventually the victim keeps yelling "GET OUT!" which is usually where the agressor stops and actually gets out.
A was taller than me by at least 20 cm (7 inches). While we were doing the exercise he laughed and mocked me saying sorry but he could never be intimidated by such a small guy like me. I was trying pretty hard to come over as agressive but all he did was laugh.
It felt pretty humiliating, just do the exercise please even if you have to play along.
Couple of months later we have to do our exam and I get paired up with the same guy, again I am the agressor using instrumental agression, the situation is that I'm smoking in a non-smoking area whereas he is the safety advisor trying to get me to leave.
OOOH BOY, it's payback time. In a normal situation I have to act up a bit and then leave after tactics are used but I felt like simulating real life just a tiny bit more. This is how the exam went while other students and the teacher watched:
A: Excuse me Sir but you're not allowed to smoke in this parking lot, please put out the cigarette.
Me: Nah.
A: Again, it's against the rules to smoke here, I advise you to leave.
Me: Advise all you like boy
A: I'm telling you to leave now.
Me: *Yawns and pretends to ignore him while smoking a fictitious cigarette*
A: Get out.
Me: *chuckles and keeps smoking*
A: GET OUT!! (this is where the scenario usually ends)
Me: *Starts walking towards him and blows fictitious smoke in his face and see him get flustered
A: GET OUT!
Me: *Walk back towards my smoking spot and continue smoking*" "Just because you're yelling now doesn't mean anythings changed."
A's face is beet-red by now and he's visibly shaking from nervousness (it's still an exam after all and he's at a loss)
A: *With trembling voice* If you don't leave I'm going to call the police.
Me: *Cool as an icecube* Go ahead, few more puffs and my cig is finished anyway.
A: *Pretends to call the police*
Me: Welp, I'm done, see ya dumbass.
SCENARIO END
Visible relief on A's face and that of the surrounding students who thought it was all a bit too intense.
A walks up to me complaining that I dragged it out too long, respond by telling him things don't always play out the way you've learnt them in class.
Teacher agreed with what I said and follows up by saying that the important thing was that I left even if his actions didn't have that much impact on me. He still did everything by the book so it's not like he failed his exam which wasn't my intention either.
I just wanted to give him a hard time because shorties are people too, jackass.
TLDR: Fellow student calls me short so I make him tremble.
2023.06.08 10:59 Lumpy-Accountant-354 Is it worth it to do graphics designer and web development course?
I just did my matric exam and waiting for the result and instead of doing nothing I wanna do something productive in the meantime like doing a course. Will these courses help me with anything in the future?.. I am gonna do it ics in the future.
submitted by Lumpy-Accountant-354 to pakistan [link] [comments]
2023.06.08 10:44 bweadflouw grade sa portal...
Final na ba yung grade once mapost siya sa portal? I recently completed a GE course days after encoding (kasi di responsive yung prof) and it appeared sa portal na I failed (after completion and believe me, my scores for the course are not worthy of a 5. So I feel like di pa credited yung exams na I took for completion kaya it appeared 5...
I messaged the prof and he said na iccheck pa DAW niya yung output ko and still to be addressed to the Dean's office to finalize the completion pero may lumabas na na 5 as portal. Mapapalitan pa ba yun if ever my grades become updated?
submitted by bweadflouw to Tomasino [link] [comments]
I messaged the prof and he said na iccheck pa DAW niya yung output ko and still to be addressed to the Dean's office to finalize the completion pero may lumabas na na 5 as portal. Mapapalitan pa ba yun if ever my grades become updated?
2023.06.08 10:42 Charleswiyu Head Tracking Spatialized Stereo not working anymore
I got my Airpods Pro 2 less than a week ago. I immediately used the head tracking feature in watching movies and listening to music. All of a sudden I can't seem to have the "3D sound" effect when I turn my head left or right. I have searched online and found that many users experience the same in using the APP2. I also tried troubleshooting it by:
Can somebody help me out here? Are there any attempts I failed to do for troubleshooting this?
submitted by Charleswiyu to airpods [link] [comments]
- Returning the airpods to its case, wait for some time, then pick the pods again.
- Disconnecting and reconnecting via bluetooth settings.
- Turning each device, to which the APP2 connected (iPad, iPhone, and Watch) on and off.
- Tried the "Forget This Device" approach where I re-linked my airpods as if it came straight from the box.
- Tried re-doing the setup for Personalized Spatial Audio.
Can somebody help me out here? Are there any attempts I failed to do for troubleshooting this?
2023.06.08 10:36 Charleswiyu Head Tracking Spatialized Stereo not working anymore
I got my Airpods Pro 2 less than a week ago. I immediately used the head tracking feature in watching movies and listening to music. All of a sudden I can't seem to have the "3D sound" effect when I turn my head left or right. I have searched online and found that many users experience the same in using the APP2. I also tried troubleshooting it by:
Can somebody help me out here? Are there any attempts I failed to do for troubleshooting this?
submitted by Charleswiyu to AirpodsPro [link] [comments]
- Returning the airpods to its case, wait for some time, then pick the pods again.
- Disconnecting and reconnecting via bluetooth settings.
- Turning each device, to which the APP2 connected (iPad, iPhone, and Watch) on and off.
- Tried the "Forget This Device" approach where I re-linked my airpods as if it came straight from the box.
- Tried re-doing the setup for Personalized Spatial Audio.
Can somebody help me out here? Are there any attempts I failed to do for troubleshooting this?
2023.06.08 10:34 SavingsAnnual3678 I need help getting out of this...
Hello,
Its a long text of wall, I am sorry for this, but somehow,
I am ashamed of my situation, that I let myself in like this. I want to be as honest as I can, and hopefully someone will understand my struggle and my situation, because I feel pretty alone,unloved and left alone to rott somehow...
I have this relationship with a girl from abroad for now almost a year, she is from indonesia, we met through dating website, and pretty fast she confessed her love to me, which overwhelmed me, and i felt very uncomfortable, but she was the first girl that was flirty with me, that gave me the feeling she wants me and not only for the reason i am a foreigner.. Not only that, but also she was so increadibly beautifull, no joke. My eyes got attached to her, and we startet chatting... the first red flag, i ignored, because from my last toxic relationship, i have learned about myself that i can be a catalyst, and i am aware of my short moodswings(i have ADHD, and struggled with that not being aware of myself), so I kinda thought, okay maybe i was just not very kind or something?
The situation was, after 3-4 days of talking to her daily, i was mentioning her thati am not her boyfriend yet, i dont know exact reason why i have said that, but her mood switched instantly, and she was cold, not talking anymore and visibly upset... The next day i wanted to discuss this, and kinda yea blamed myself for her reaction and asked her to be my girlfriend, which she agreed too. At this point I already heard from her, she never had a boyfriend or relationship before..(She was 25 at this point) Which is not a rare statement...
More and more situations like these happened, her temper, I always blamed myself, took the stress, but never yelled or snapped, tried calling her trying to comfort her... at a point, stupid me... I asked just for "fun" if she want to have the number of my ex(I have also a daughter with her), which she said, yes. And i have told her, that this was just a joke"i could not shut my mouth, i regret that so much)... and i gave her the number, i warned her my ex is not an honest person and i am single for a reason..I told her not to contact her, which she stated, i will, but everything she tells me wont have an effect...
I havent had much contact with my ex, and since i was with my new girlfriend now, i wanted to be loyal as possible, since i had a daughter with my ex, it was kinda obvious at a certain point i had to talk with her(the kid lives with me). Fast forward, within a few weeks i got a unrest in my belly, and i kindly asked her to give me a whatsapp screenshot of her recent chats, i wanted to feel okay, i asked her about this because she suddenly wrote to me "dont chat any girls" and as far as i know, i did not... so why would she asked like that.. i said to her, you too, dont chat with boys. Aaaand she gave me the screenshot, bingo, she chattet with a man, flirty(he replied pretty dry), one sentence kinda hurt me the most, she wrote him after he asked, "what are you doing" she replied, "chatting with you 😊" ... she was chatting with me at the same time.
This was the first time, i lost hope with her, but unfortunatley, i was emotionally attached to her already, she told me "its just a friend" ob boy, i cant heat that nonsense... i was devastated, i did nothing, i was loyal, why could she do this to me? I yelled at her, lost my temper... the next day i told her how much i suffer from seeing this, she kinda turned it off, its just a friend, sorry... And i think, when she betray me why she not delete the chat before she sent me it? And i though, okay, calm down, maybe its really just like that.... Later (6 month) she revaled she startet chatting with him, because my ex told her i had a relationship with her and she thought i am unloyal to her.(which i was not at the time)
But the situation at this point, i lost trust in her, i could not trust her anymore, when she said to me over the peroid of 2-3 days "dont chat with other girls" i got so suspicious.... and now i saw this, it prooved what i was scared of, that i found someone again who is not loyal.
6 weeks into the relationship i decided to visit her in indonesia, i have never been there, until that moment we had almost fight on a daily base for small things, wrong questions or whatsoever... but i thought, when i see her, i will know what person she really is, maybe its justa huge missunderstanding .
So i arrived with my daughter at the airport, suprise, the girl is not there, she has a reason the next day she will have an exam(which is not a lie) and will be interviewed by some people and she needed to prepare for that. Atleast thats what she said. (Later she revealed, she did not want to pick me up at the airport, because her friends wanted to join and she felt jealous).. So i was there, alone in the hot sun of indonesia, felt lost and left alone, unworthy, and kinda realise what big mistake i do, someone who i thought loves me, left me alone in a country where i never been too, i contacted her, and ofcource i complained... she asked the hotel staff from the hotel to pick me up, which he did, so yea, i kinda felt atleast she cared, somehow.
the next day, i was in the hotel, i havent showered or eaten yet, only my daughter. She was pretty happy, she loves to jump on beds, so yea, i felt atleast a bit relief that this wasnt a total faulure yet to go there after such a short amount of time.
She said she will visit me after work, which is 16, with driving or traffic problems arround 18 then.. I havent talked to her, because i wanted to wait, guess who could not be reached for hours, at 18, she turned on her phone, said she is on the way, there was an accident on the road, and they will drive a detour... (Later she revealed, that she lied, the story about this isnt very compleeted, just recently she added more details, but yea)
Anyway she arrived at 21:00 on the hotel, and i was in a state between is she playing with me and excitement to see her. I knew she was lying, i had checking up google maps, no way the driving was arround 4-5 hours... So after our heartfull greeting, we where hugging and kissing but somehow these unrest within me, that she might not be serious, so i asked her, did you really drive 4-5 hours? She said yes, there was traffic accident... i knew she was lying, and i asked her, to be honest to me, which she said, she is honest. (At that time i took that very serious, because i dont want to hear any stories, which are false, i am pretty sensitive and could not trust her so easily after she not there at the airport and the previous situation with the chatting boy)
And i made my decision, i asked her to go away, i was just devastated that she lied to me, she startet crying and tried to call with her godmom, its already 3am, and i did not really realised about her situation, after i calmed down, i approached her and said sorry, and we went to bed(she stayed with me) We had no issue so far for the next 2-3 days. After 5 days(the peroid of the hotel booked) i needed to find a new hotel, we, before i went to indonesia agreed that i could stay with her, in her arpartment... Turns out, its not the case, so yea, i booked a hotel for me and her, which she visited me, its very close to her work, so everything was kinda fine, but we argued alot, almost everyday until this point...
And my behaviour was more and more like a brute, i was starting to yell at her when she really dared to pick up a fight again, i could not calm myself, her little things really hurt me, for instance, she asked me to kiss her for 10 minutes, which i refused, and i kissed her for 30 seconds, which was not what she wanted, and she went mad, pointed a google maps route on her phone without saying anything, packed her stuff let the phone on the bed so i can see it, and after she almost done packing, i asked her whast this about... Yup she was about to leave... Small things like this, elevated our sitation always, from small things like these we went up to risk everything, neither she or me wanted to budge and not try to calm down the other person, int he end it was me who calmed first and tried to make the situation less toxic.
Now to the initial situation almost 10 month later... I am sitting here writing this, my ex almost talked oto her and spread lies about me on a weekly base, she believe the most things, and this makes me so broken, i have suicidal thoughts, i hurt myself pretty bad, i have scard on my body(which i never had before!) and she uses everything against me what she can in a "fight" she never approaches ne, never feels guilty, never see's her attiture and her cold behaviour, at this point she knows already i am the weak one here in this relationship, i am the one who will always come back, regardless what she does, at this point she states almost everymonth she want to chat with somerone else(turned out she did that a few times) and also mentioned at some point she wanted to have intercourse with another man.
Besides my mistakes, and yes i really did a few huge things, like i asked my ex, after the first time i saw her chat with another man, i got so sus, that i asked her to translate(my ex also from that country......but living here in my country) and she assure me "hey this girl is nice to you, you need to go with her, she is good for our daughter) so i felt comfortable getting informations and solutions about this what i do, yea she confirmed my relationship with my new girlfriend, and kinda felt supportive... I fell into a deep trap, behind my back she told my currentl girlfriend "he is horrible, dont be with him etc etc etc"
i havent clearly understood everything between those two, neither my ex or my current girlfriend are very open and only reveal a bit by a bit, ofcourse my current girlfriend is super jealous and angry... somehow i cant break this relation, i know myself, the red flags are everywhere, even on my side, i had done a huge mistake and other things which i havent mentioned... but until this day everything i do, she uses against me, a small word, and i end up crying in agony and pain. she hangs up the phone so easily, like i mean nothing to her when she is upset, she can throw me away like garbage when she is about to be angry...
i dont understand, when she states she loves me? how can she constantly disrespecting me and treating me like this.... I really need to get out of this, i dont know how, i am alone and isolated, i have a few friends which they clearly stated at some point, "you dont want to listen, please dont bother anymore with that"
the emotionally attachment makes me crazy, i dont want to feel, i want to be cold and careless, i want to have my peace, how??
submitted by SavingsAnnual3678 to ToxicRelationships [link] [comments]
Its a long text of wall, I am sorry for this, but somehow,
I am ashamed of my situation, that I let myself in like this. I want to be as honest as I can, and hopefully someone will understand my struggle and my situation, because I feel pretty alone,unloved and left alone to rott somehow...
I have this relationship with a girl from abroad for now almost a year, she is from indonesia, we met through dating website, and pretty fast she confessed her love to me, which overwhelmed me, and i felt very uncomfortable, but she was the first girl that was flirty with me, that gave me the feeling she wants me and not only for the reason i am a foreigner.. Not only that, but also she was so increadibly beautifull, no joke. My eyes got attached to her, and we startet chatting... the first red flag, i ignored, because from my last toxic relationship, i have learned about myself that i can be a catalyst, and i am aware of my short moodswings(i have ADHD, and struggled with that not being aware of myself), so I kinda thought, okay maybe i was just not very kind or something?
The situation was, after 3-4 days of talking to her daily, i was mentioning her thati am not her boyfriend yet, i dont know exact reason why i have said that, but her mood switched instantly, and she was cold, not talking anymore and visibly upset... The next day i wanted to discuss this, and kinda yea blamed myself for her reaction and asked her to be my girlfriend, which she agreed too. At this point I already heard from her, she never had a boyfriend or relationship before..(She was 25 at this point) Which is not a rare statement...
More and more situations like these happened, her temper, I always blamed myself, took the stress, but never yelled or snapped, tried calling her trying to comfort her... at a point, stupid me... I asked just for "fun" if she want to have the number of my ex(I have also a daughter with her), which she said, yes. And i have told her, that this was just a joke"i could not shut my mouth, i regret that so much)... and i gave her the number, i warned her my ex is not an honest person and i am single for a reason..I told her not to contact her, which she stated, i will, but everything she tells me wont have an effect...
I havent had much contact with my ex, and since i was with my new girlfriend now, i wanted to be loyal as possible, since i had a daughter with my ex, it was kinda obvious at a certain point i had to talk with her(the kid lives with me). Fast forward, within a few weeks i got a unrest in my belly, and i kindly asked her to give me a whatsapp screenshot of her recent chats, i wanted to feel okay, i asked her about this because she suddenly wrote to me "dont chat any girls" and as far as i know, i did not... so why would she asked like that.. i said to her, you too, dont chat with boys. Aaaand she gave me the screenshot, bingo, she chattet with a man, flirty(he replied pretty dry), one sentence kinda hurt me the most, she wrote him after he asked, "what are you doing" she replied, "chatting with you 😊" ... she was chatting with me at the same time.
This was the first time, i lost hope with her, but unfortunatley, i was emotionally attached to her already, she told me "its just a friend" ob boy, i cant heat that nonsense... i was devastated, i did nothing, i was loyal, why could she do this to me? I yelled at her, lost my temper... the next day i told her how much i suffer from seeing this, she kinda turned it off, its just a friend, sorry... And i think, when she betray me why she not delete the chat before she sent me it? And i though, okay, calm down, maybe its really just like that.... Later (6 month) she revaled she startet chatting with him, because my ex told her i had a relationship with her and she thought i am unloyal to her.(which i was not at the time)
But the situation at this point, i lost trust in her, i could not trust her anymore, when she said to me over the peroid of 2-3 days "dont chat with other girls" i got so suspicious.... and now i saw this, it prooved what i was scared of, that i found someone again who is not loyal.
6 weeks into the relationship i decided to visit her in indonesia, i have never been there, until that moment we had almost fight on a daily base for small things, wrong questions or whatsoever... but i thought, when i see her, i will know what person she really is, maybe its justa huge missunderstanding .
So i arrived with my daughter at the airport, suprise, the girl is not there, she has a reason the next day she will have an exam(which is not a lie) and will be interviewed by some people and she needed to prepare for that. Atleast thats what she said. (Later she revealed, she did not want to pick me up at the airport, because her friends wanted to join and she felt jealous).. So i was there, alone in the hot sun of indonesia, felt lost and left alone, unworthy, and kinda realise what big mistake i do, someone who i thought loves me, left me alone in a country where i never been too, i contacted her, and ofcource i complained... she asked the hotel staff from the hotel to pick me up, which he did, so yea, i kinda felt atleast she cared, somehow.
the next day, i was in the hotel, i havent showered or eaten yet, only my daughter. She was pretty happy, she loves to jump on beds, so yea, i felt atleast a bit relief that this wasnt a total faulure yet to go there after such a short amount of time.
She said she will visit me after work, which is 16, with driving or traffic problems arround 18 then.. I havent talked to her, because i wanted to wait, guess who could not be reached for hours, at 18, she turned on her phone, said she is on the way, there was an accident on the road, and they will drive a detour... (Later she revealed, that she lied, the story about this isnt very compleeted, just recently she added more details, but yea)
Anyway she arrived at 21:00 on the hotel, and i was in a state between is she playing with me and excitement to see her. I knew she was lying, i had checking up google maps, no way the driving was arround 4-5 hours... So after our heartfull greeting, we where hugging and kissing but somehow these unrest within me, that she might not be serious, so i asked her, did you really drive 4-5 hours? She said yes, there was traffic accident... i knew she was lying, and i asked her, to be honest to me, which she said, she is honest. (At that time i took that very serious, because i dont want to hear any stories, which are false, i am pretty sensitive and could not trust her so easily after she not there at the airport and the previous situation with the chatting boy)
And i made my decision, i asked her to go away, i was just devastated that she lied to me, she startet crying and tried to call with her godmom, its already 3am, and i did not really realised about her situation, after i calmed down, i approached her and said sorry, and we went to bed(she stayed with me) We had no issue so far for the next 2-3 days. After 5 days(the peroid of the hotel booked) i needed to find a new hotel, we, before i went to indonesia agreed that i could stay with her, in her arpartment... Turns out, its not the case, so yea, i booked a hotel for me and her, which she visited me, its very close to her work, so everything was kinda fine, but we argued alot, almost everyday until this point...
And my behaviour was more and more like a brute, i was starting to yell at her when she really dared to pick up a fight again, i could not calm myself, her little things really hurt me, for instance, she asked me to kiss her for 10 minutes, which i refused, and i kissed her for 30 seconds, which was not what she wanted, and she went mad, pointed a google maps route on her phone without saying anything, packed her stuff let the phone on the bed so i can see it, and after she almost done packing, i asked her whast this about... Yup she was about to leave... Small things like this, elevated our sitation always, from small things like these we went up to risk everything, neither she or me wanted to budge and not try to calm down the other person, int he end it was me who calmed first and tried to make the situation less toxic.
Now to the initial situation almost 10 month later... I am sitting here writing this, my ex almost talked oto her and spread lies about me on a weekly base, she believe the most things, and this makes me so broken, i have suicidal thoughts, i hurt myself pretty bad, i have scard on my body(which i never had before!) and she uses everything against me what she can in a "fight" she never approaches ne, never feels guilty, never see's her attiture and her cold behaviour, at this point she knows already i am the weak one here in this relationship, i am the one who will always come back, regardless what she does, at this point she states almost everymonth she want to chat with somerone else(turned out she did that a few times) and also mentioned at some point she wanted to have intercourse with another man.
Besides my mistakes, and yes i really did a few huge things, like i asked my ex, after the first time i saw her chat with another man, i got so sus, that i asked her to translate(my ex also from that country......but living here in my country) and she assure me "hey this girl is nice to you, you need to go with her, she is good for our daughter) so i felt comfortable getting informations and solutions about this what i do, yea she confirmed my relationship with my new girlfriend, and kinda felt supportive... I fell into a deep trap, behind my back she told my currentl girlfriend "he is horrible, dont be with him etc etc etc"
i havent clearly understood everything between those two, neither my ex or my current girlfriend are very open and only reveal a bit by a bit, ofcourse my current girlfriend is super jealous and angry... somehow i cant break this relation, i know myself, the red flags are everywhere, even on my side, i had done a huge mistake and other things which i havent mentioned... but until this day everything i do, she uses against me, a small word, and i end up crying in agony and pain. she hangs up the phone so easily, like i mean nothing to her when she is upset, she can throw me away like garbage when she is about to be angry...
i dont understand, when she states she loves me? how can she constantly disrespecting me and treating me like this.... I really need to get out of this, i dont know how, i am alone and isolated, i have a few friends which they clearly stated at some point, "you dont want to listen, please dont bother anymore with that"
the emotionally attachment makes me crazy, i dont want to feel, i want to be cold and careless, i want to have my peace, how??
2023.06.08 10:34 Charleswiyu Head Tracking Spatialized Stereo not working anymore
I got my Airpods Pro 2 less than a week ago. I immediately used the head tracking feature in watching movies and listening to music. All of a sudden I can't seem to have the "3D sound" effect when I turn my head left or right. I have searched online and found that many users experience the same in using the APP2. I also tried troubleshooting it by:
Can somebody help me out here? Are there any attempts I failed to do for troubleshooting this?
submitted by Charleswiyu to applehelp [link] [comments]
- Returning the airpods to its case, wait for some time, then pick the pods again.
- Disconnecting and reconnecting via bluetooth settings.
- Turning each device, to which the APP2 connected (iPad, iPhone, and Watch) on and off.
- Tried the "Forget This Device" approach where I re-linked my airpods as if it came straight from the box.
- Tried re-doing the setup for Personalized Spatial Audio.
Can somebody help me out here? Are there any attempts I failed to do for troubleshooting this?
2023.06.08 10:29 superboii_ 20[M4R] #SA/anywhere anyone down for a call
Hey I'm really bored and I should be studying for my end of semester exams but I have better things to do, like this call.
So I'm 20 years old, a student (I'll let you guess my majors). I play football atleast once a week and gym 3 times a week.
So some topics we could discuss
Gaming
TV shows and movies
Music
Teach me something new
Tell me what the latest drama in your life is
Anything really we can just sort of see how it goes
So if you're interested shoot me a message include at the very least your asl and abit about you and where you'd like to call.
Can't wait to hear from you
submitted by superboii_ to r4r [link] [comments]
So I'm 20 years old, a student (I'll let you guess my majors). I play football atleast once a week and gym 3 times a week.
So some topics we could discuss
Gaming
TV shows and movies
Music
Teach me something new
Tell me what the latest drama in your life is
Anything really we can just sort of see how it goes
So if you're interested shoot me a message include at the very least your asl and abit about you and where you'd like to call.
Can't wait to hear from you
2023.06.08 10:23 Suspicious_Drama2665 Turning an acquaintance into a friend.
The first thing you must figure out before deciding to go all in when making friends with an acquaintance is to see whether or not they want to be friends with you at all. Make sure your not waiting your time.
How do you do that? Just look at how they act around you. Do the smile/laugh when around you? Do they seem energetic/playful? Then they probably do want to be your friend. In fact most people do. It's unlikely someone will refuse to be friends with you "just because" so it's better to take the chance whenever possible. But how exactly do you do that?
--------------------Turning them into friends---------------------
Be a friend- Treating someone as if you're already friends can lead to a natural friendship being formed between you two. It's just as the saying goes "fake it till you make it."
Talk to them- What do friends do a lot? They talk. Communicating more often with this person can loosen the awkward atmosphere and get both of you more familiar with each other. (It also gives you the chance to find a common interest between you two.)
"Get intimate"- Showing likable traits while also "communicating" that you trust them is a good way to deepen your bond. You can do this by pointing out you common interests, bringing out a positive attitude, being more playful with them, and showing your sense of humor. (Sharing something like a secret is a good way to "get intimate." Though you shouldn't do this if your not comfortable sharing something so personal.)
Follow up- What many people fail to realize is when someone says "We should hangout soon" it isn't them saying "I'll look 4 months ahead of my calendar to see when our schedules match". You have to take initiative and follow up on what they said. Ask them when they're free or just invite them randomly. This is especially good to do in a group. Saying "I saw that just came out we should definitely go see it!" Is much easier (at least to me) to say to a group rather than a single person. It also makes you seem more social thereby boosting your "reputation".
Well that was my list of a few ways to get and acquaintance to turn into a friend. Hope you enjoyed and as always I'm open to criticisms/suggestions :)
Ps. It's 4:20am 😭
submitted by Suspicious_Drama2665 to socialskills [link] [comments]
How do you do that? Just look at how they act around you. Do the smile/laugh when around you? Do they seem energetic/playful? Then they probably do want to be your friend. In fact most people do. It's unlikely someone will refuse to be friends with you "just because" so it's better to take the chance whenever possible. But how exactly do you do that?
--------------------Turning them into friends---------------------
Be a friend- Treating someone as if you're already friends can lead to a natural friendship being formed between you two. It's just as the saying goes "fake it till you make it."
Talk to them- What do friends do a lot? They talk. Communicating more often with this person can loosen the awkward atmosphere and get both of you more familiar with each other. (It also gives you the chance to find a common interest between you two.)
"Get intimate"- Showing likable traits while also "communicating" that you trust them is a good way to deepen your bond. You can do this by pointing out you common interests, bringing out a positive attitude, being more playful with them, and showing your sense of humor. (Sharing something like a secret is a good way to "get intimate." Though you shouldn't do this if your not comfortable sharing something so personal.)
Follow up- What many people fail to realize is when someone says "We should hangout soon" it isn't them saying "I'll look 4 months ahead of my calendar to see when our schedules match". You have to take initiative and follow up on what they said. Ask them when they're free or just invite them randomly. This is especially good to do in a group. Saying "I saw that
Ps. It's 4:20am 😭
2023.06.08 10:17 PocketFMofficial Cathy betrayed Alex, but will she come back after knowing the truth that Alex is Millionaire? How will Alex heal his heart?
 | submitted by PocketFMofficial to u/PocketFMofficial [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/b0hdg0g72r4b1.png?width=764&format=png&auto=webp&s=01edc76d82e3fac73fec90874bed55003526c60d https://preview.redd.it/giq2idpd3r4b1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=04d4577af13a07dcc5659931fa9ba9410c03a6af Chapter 1 "Hello. Heavenly Lion Convenience," Alex Ambrose answered the store phone. "I need a box of condoms and two packs of tissues delivered to room 1302 of the Sheraton South River Hotel. Hurry!" The caller hung up. Alex shook his head. People never seemed to be prepared. He packed the required items, put on a raincoat, and rode his electric bike toward the Sheraton Hotel on the southern side of the river. It was nine o’clock in the evening and raining heavily, and his pants and shoes were soon wet and filthy. Luckily, the merchandise was still dry, but he didn't dare delay any longer, so he hurried toward the hotel. When he arrived at room 1302, he knocked on the door, and it was opened quickly. "Hello, here’s your—" Alex was stunned into silence. The woman in front of him was none other than his girlfriend, Cathy! She was dressed in a white robe, with her long, dark, wet hair draped over her shoulders. The scents of shower gel and shampoo assaulted his nose. "Cathy? What are you doing here?" He stared at her in disbelief, still feeling dazed. "What are you doing here?" Cathy asked. Her heart skipped a beat, and she took a small step back into the room. Her mind went blank and then started to spin. "What's wrong?" Another guy walked up to the door, wearing a robe and slippers, and Alex immediately recognized him. "You! You dare to touch my girl?" Alex couldn't suppress the anger welling up inside him, and he started moving toward Billy, determined to teach him a lesson. "Stop!" Cathy stepped in front of Alex. After a brief burst of panic, she had managed to get back a bit of control. Since her boyfriend had already discovered her betrayal, there was no point in trying to hide it now. She looked directly at him. "Alex, we need to break up." "Break up?" Alex was stunned. He stared at Cathy with wide eyes. "Cathy, we've been together for more than a year. Are you going to break up with me now?" "Yes. We need to go our separate ways." She kept steady eye contact with him and spoke with a strong sense of resentment. "Are you surprised? You have no money, Alex. You can only barely afford the cheapest essentials. We never have anything nice. As long as I’m with you, people will always be laughing at me, and that just isn't the life I want. I’m too good to be living in poverty like this. I was too naive when I was in my freshman year, and I let myself get tricked into being with a loser like you!" She hugged Billy's arm and said to Alex, "Billy is my boyfriend now. From now on, I want nothing to do with you. Don't bother me again!" "Well, seems like you’re just her good-for-nothing ex now!" Billy looked at Alex with a provocative smirk. Alex, standing there in a raincoat and with mud stains on his pants and shoes, felt like Cathy was right. He was a complete loser. Billy took the plastic bag from his hand and took out the box of condoms. He waved it at Alex and laughed as he said, "I’m staying in a nice hotel, having my girlfriend’s ex bring me condoms. And you’re single. Sure was good of you to help me out." "Why are you still here?" Cathy scolded Alex. "Nah, it's good that he didn't piss off. Maybe you want to see me beat him down, huh, Cathy? Gotta give a lady what she wants," Billy sneered. Alex felt utterly defeated. He slowly turned around and walked out of the room. "Bro, you're not even taking the money? Heh, nice. I get a girlfriend and a gift." Billy felt great watching Alex's slumped, dejected posture as he closed the door behind him. When Alex left the hotel, it was raining even harder than before. He took off his raincoat, allowing the cold rain to drench his entire body and help clear his head. Cathy had discarded him because she believed he had no money. Losing such a materialistic woman should be something to rejoice over, so why should he be sad? [Buzz buzz!] His phone vibrated in his pocket. Alex took it out and glanced at it, but when he saw the number, he stopped walking. His entire body was shaking as he read the text. [After a review, the Ambrose family has decided that their son, Alexander, has met the conditions required for entitlement to his inheritance. From today onward, control of his property will be returned to him.] The bean-sized raindrops plopped onto the screen, causing the text message to gradually become blurry. Alex's mind began to spin. If not for this message, Alex would have almost forgotten his identity as a super-rich kid. Over the last seven years, his family had been assessing him, withholding his fortune until they were satisfied he met their draconian conditions. And now, finally, it was over. Everything that rightfully belonged to him was finally his to claim. ** Alex woke up early the next morning and drove to the city. In a great mood, he got out of his car and went straight to Metro Sky Bank, right in the heart of the wealthiest part of the central business district of New York. Various luxury cars were parked around the bank. The people walking in and out of the surrounding plaza were all rich; it was obvious from their clothing and demeanour. Alex strode to the door of the bank and pushed it open. "Ouch!" The main door could be opened both inward and outward, and Alex had been a bit careless when he pushed it open from outside. As a result, the door had bumped into a long-haired young woman who had been heading out of the building. He quickly apologized, "Sorry. I didn't see you." "What do you mean, you didn’t see me? What am I, invisible?" She held a hand to her forehead and glared at him. The bank’s assistant manager, Karen Young, had noticed the incident and hurried over. She checked on the woman first, and then looked at Alex in disapproval. When her gaze swept over him, a trace of suspicion appeared on her face. Metro Sky Bank was different from most banks, as the clientele were almost exclusively high-end businesspeople. Karen knew the young woman was there with her father, but she didn't know why Alex was there. Judging from his appearance and age, he wasn't their usual type of customer. "Sir, can I be of assistance?" she asked with a polite but forced smile. Alex simply said, "I’m here to withdraw money." "Withdraw money?" the sullen woman asked, sneering at him. "Do you have a card?" Karen asked, continuing to smile politely. Getting a Metro Sky Bankcard was not easy. A million dollars of savings was the minimum requirement to qualify. Karen felt certain that the man in front of her couldn't have much experience with the bank and wouldn't know their rules. Perhaps he had thought that other banks' cards could also be used here. "No," Alex replied, shaking his head. The woman he had accidentally hit with the door couldn't help but giggle when she heard his honest reply. He wasn't worth any more of her attention. "Let’s go." Her father had walked up, still arranging the documents he was carrying. "My dad and I are leaving." The woman shook Karen's hand, and then looked over at Alex. "Ms Young, having someone like this around could damage your bank's image and upset your customers. I hope this will not happen again." With that, she took her father’s arm and opened the door. "Take care, Mr Scott." Karen followed them out a few steps, watching as they got into a car and left. Turning around, she headed back inside, having made up her mind to encourage Alex to leave as soon as possible. There was no one standing where Alex had been. Oh! Where’s he gone? she wondered. Was it possible that the kid had been embarrassed and had quietly slipped away? She felt relieved at the thought. Then, just as she was about to go back to work, she caught a glimpse of someone out of the corner of her eye. There’s the brat! No wonder I didn’t see him at first, she thought. He had already reached the entrance to the VIP lounge, and a pillar had blocked her view of him. The VIP room was only for high-status customers who were worth at least thirty million dollars, and this young man had admitted that he didn’t even have a card. If she let him get through, she would be in trouble with her boss. "Stop! Don't move!" Karen yelled, feeling desperate. The other customers all looked around at her, obviously annoyed by her shouting. She could only smile apologetically as she walked quickly toward Alex. But he had already walked through the lounge, opened the door to the VIP room, and stepped inside. https://preview.redd.it/bgp24qcv3r4b1.png?width=764&format=png&auto=webp&s=e9c3c1ed5397d6b4d312662e698e5847873b36ab Chapter 2 Does he have no shame? Karen hurried after Alex with a look of chagrin on her face. She tried to open the door to the VIP room, but it had been locked from the inside. ** "Hello?" Inside the VIP room, Robert Miller, the bank manager, was leaning against the sofa, looking at his phone. When the door suddenly opened, he quickly sat down and hid his phone away. Normally, when a VIP was coming in, Karen would notify him in advance. As the customer manager, he was responsible for thirty-one VIPs, and he knew them like the back of his hand. He immediately began to launch into his normal professional greeting, hoping to undo the poor impression he’d made by slouching against the sofa, but when he saw Alex, his expression froze. He was certain that Alex was not one of his VIPs, nor was he a relative of one. "May I ask who you are?" Robert asked, looking at the young man, who appeared to be around twenty years old. Robert had no idea who he was. Alex got straight to the point. "I'm here to get my money." "You have one of our cards?" Robert asked, suspicious of Alex's calm expression. "No," Alex admitted frankly. Robert was relieved to seemingly be proven right, but even more confused. Access to the VIP room required a minimum worth of three million dollars, but this man didn't have any money. Why was he so composed? "I'm sorry, sir. We can't give out money without a card. Do you require anything else?" He's crazy, Robert thought. Why on earth did Karen let him in? I’ll have to speak to her about this at Monday’s meeting. "You have fingerprint recognition here, right?" Alex suddenly asked. The fingerprint ID system at the bank was for the wealthiest families and businesses to use. Only a few people had their fingerprints recorded in the system, at least in the New York branch, and no one had used it to access their holdings yet. "You want to use it?" Robert could no longer bring himself to call Alex "sir." "Yes." Alex nodded. Robert was feeling more confused by the second. Why would someone who wasn't even a customer request to use a fingerprint ID? To be honest, even though he was curious, Robert felt that it was barely worth humouring the request. But after considering for a few seconds, he finally decided to let Alex make the attempt rather than risk making him angry. He opened the safe and brought out the fingerprint identification device, which he had never used before. "Place your thumb here." Robert indicated the verification area to Alex, who placed his thumb on the sensor. [Beep!] The device lit up with a glaring red light, and the LCD screen displayed the words [Fingerprint not recorded]. Immediately, Robert’s expression turned hostile, and he glared at Alex. He picked up his phone, ready to call the police. "Wait, wait!" Alex said quickly. "Maybe that was the wrong print. I'll try using my index finger this time." Robert smiled coldly. "What’s your plan here? Your thumb doesn’t work, so you’ll try your index finger. Then, if your index finger doesn’t work, you’ll try your middle finger. When you run out of fingers, will you try using your toes?" But Alex had already pressed his index finger on the verification area. Robert resolved that if the man’s fingerprints weren’t accepted this time, he would immediately call the police and have him arrested. [Beep!] A green light appeared on the device and new details flashed up on the LCD screen: [Verification successful. Family account: 01. Verifier: Alexander Ambrose. Account: 01104.] Robert gaped at Alex in disbelief for a moment, and then hurriedly squeezed out a smile. "Mr Ambrose, I'm sorry. I didn't realize. I'm Robert Miller, the customer manager for the New York branch. Please allow me to assist you." "It's fine," Alex said lightly and stood up. "Can I see how much money I have left in my account?" "Please wait a moment." Robert sat in front of the computer and typed away for a while. On his instructions, Alex provided a few more fingerprint scans as authorization. "It's done, Mr Ambrose." Robert clicked the "OK" button on the screen, and Alex's account appeared. Robert pointed to the computer screen and said, "Mr Ambrose, the balance of your account is currently eighty-six million dollars." Robert couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air. This young man had an enormous fortune. It placed him in the topflight of the one per cent. Most people would never be able to even dream of that much money. Alex felt strange as he stared at the numbers on the screen. He reminded himself that he needed to get used to his status as a rich kid as soon as possible. "Oh, and you have other assets as well. Let me show you now." Robert clicked through to check several pages in a row. Finally, he clicked the "OK" button again. The computer brought up a 4 x 4 grid of display screens. "This surveillance screen displays all the physical assets that you hold elsewhere," Robert explained. He clicked on the upper left corner of the screen and brought up the feed from the bank's branch at The Hague, which revealed a sports car. In the lower right corner, it said, [Ferrari Pagani Huayra]. Robert opened up other screens for Alex, one after another. The Hawaii branch displayed a Dominica blue pearl bracelet and four stacks of gold bars. The feed from the French branch in Nice revealed three original Picasso paintings and two Rodin statues. And the Cape Town branch had fifteen 10-carat diamonds, ten pieces of ivory, and another couple of stacks of gold bars. Robert's eyes almost popped out as he looked at Alex's assets. He had never seen anyone so rich. Maybe not even one-tenth as rich. "All right, I’d like a card," Alex said before Robert could collect his thoughts. "Yes, I will see to it right away. Please wait a moment." Robert immediately started to make the necessary arrangements. Within ten minutes, a Supreme Card was produced. Robert looked at the Supreme Card and thought about Alex's assets. This card wasn’t good enough for Alex’s status, but it was the highest grade of card they were authorized to issue at the New York branch. Robert presented handed the card over. "Mr Ambrose, your card." "Thank you." Alex took the card, stood up, and went to walk out of the room. "Mr Ambrose, please wait." Robert didn't dare to appear to be neglecting such an important customer. He should see him out personally, but the asset checking system on his computer had not been turned off yet, and the fingerprint verification machine, iris recognition apparatus, and other sensitive equipment had not been returned to the safe. The monitoring system in the VIP room was connected to the district manager’s office. Karen was anxiously waiting in the hall. What's been going on in there for so long? she wondered. Could that brat have murdered Mr Miller in the VIP room? The more she considered it, the more scared she became. She was on the verge of banging on the door and demanding a response when Alex walked confidently out of the room. "Stop!" Karen shouted. She walked quickly over toward him and grabbed at his coat. "You can't leave. You broke into the VIP room. Once we confirm that nothing is missing, I will call the police and have them hold you for questioning." "What are you talking about?" Alex asked. "Let go!" Karen grappled with him for a while, but she couldn't manage to search his pockets. What’s wrong with this woman? Alex thought. He wasn’t even arguing with her, but she was manhandling him. "What is this?" Karen spotted the Supreme Card that was peeking out of Alex's pocket. She quickly pulled it out and looked at him triumphantly, as if she had found evidence of his guilt. "Oh, you stole a card. This is a crime, and I have to call the police." It didn't even cross her mind that the card could belong to Alex. She imagined he had entered the VIP room, pretending to be there by mistake, and had then distracted Mr Miller with questions and stolen the card when the manager wasn't paying attention. "Let go!" Alex was sick of this woman. "Don’t you feel guilty about being a thief?" She was even more determined. With the two of them creating such a scene, other customers started to walk over toward them, intending to help Karen keep Alex from getting away. Just then, Robert, who had finished tidying up, strode out of the VIP room. Having seen Alex's assets, Robert now knew he was the most important customer the New York branch of the bank had ever had. He had also noticed that the system listed Alex's was listed as just one of multiple accounts attached to a family group, labelled 01. If that single account was so lucrative, then what about the rest of the family? It was rare to meet such important people, so Robert knew he had to be careful to curry favour with Alex. If they got along well, it would be a tremendous success for Robert, and the potential benefits were huge. So, when saw Karen struggling with Alex, he was enraged. Karen's expression was hostile, and Alex was becoming very angry. Karen was an idiot who was playing with fire, and she might drag Robert himself down with her. Of all the bank’s many, many customers, why did she need to pick this one to try and remove? A simple flick of Alex’s finger could be enough to end both their careers. https://preview.redd.it/ibiq0o324r4b1.png?width=764&format=png&auto=webp&s=1a99b27610b71dd123f69c6780b81a8f489cd0a4 Chapter 3 "Stop!" Robert dashed between Alex and Karen. Before Alex could speak, Karen waved the Supreme Card in the air. Her eyes flashed with triumph as she said to Robert, "Mr Miller, look! He stole a card from the VIP room!" She smiled at him, her expression a little smug. Surely, Mr Miller would be happy with her for preventing theft. He had a lot of authority in the eastern district of Metro Sky Bank, and when he had arrived at headquarters, he had seemed impressed with her, so she was hoping for a promotion. Her imagination began to run away with her as she dreamed about her possible future. Mr Miller's face had always been a little glum, but as she watched, his expression grew darker and darker. Before she could figure out why, she was startled by his explosive roar, leaving her entire body trembling. "Let go of Mr Ambrose!" As he yelled, Mr Miller knocked the Supreme Card out of her hand, and she was so scared that she let go of Alex. Mr Miller pushed her aside and bent down to pick up the card. "Mr Ambrose, your card. I'm very sorry. I haven't trained Ms Young properly. I do apologize." Mr Miller's expression showed a mixture of respect, embarrassment, and unease, as the bank's customers looked on in amazement. Karen was stunned. Could the Supreme Card be his? she wondered. Her eyes widened. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make sense of it. If this man had a Supreme Card, then he had at least three million dollars, yet he appeared to only be around twenty years old. A poor, lower-class loser with that much money? No, it was just too unlikely. "It's not your fault, Mr Miller," Alex assured him, slipping the card back into his pocket. "Thank you, Mr Ambrose." Robert dipped his head and paused briefly before straightening up and shouting at Karen, "Why are you just standing there? Apologize to Mr Ambrose immediately!" How could Karen still not understand? Robert thought. The young man standing in front of them was seriously rich and needed to be treated with respect. Karen immediately bowed her head at Alex. "Mr Ambrose, I'm very sorry for my rude behaviour. I made a mistake, created a fuss over nothing, and put my hands on you. It was my fault, and I will reflect on my behaviour—" Alex ignored her and walked away. "Mr Ambrose," Robert called after him. "If you ever need anything, just give me a call, and I'll do my best to help." Robert was excited by this opportunity. It was rare to meet someone as important as Alex, so he shamelessly tried to charm him. "Okay, Robert." Alex smiled faintly. Robert had come to his defence, after all. The use of his first name made Robert feel quite emotional. The wealthiest customers called him by his first name, and now so did this poorly dressed young man, who displayed not even a hint of arrogance. Alex strode out of the bank and hailed a taxi to take him back to Preston University. ** As Alex entered the university building, he accidentally stepped into a puddle, splashing a lot of mud on his legs. He checked his watch then rushed toward the classroom, where Mr Morgan was already standing at the podium, lecturing. He spotted Alex out of the corner of his eye and a hint of disappointment flashed across his face. Feeling guilty, Alex lowered his head. Of all his teachers, Mr Morgan was his favourite. The other teachers tended to ignore Alex because he had no money, and some even openly mocked him. Only Mr Morgan treated him like any other student. Alex slipped quietly into the classroom, aware that all the students were staring at him, and he could hear them whispering. "He isn't usually late. Hell must have frozen over." "Look at his pants! They’re filthy. Doesn’t he have any clean clothes?" "Are you joking? It’s not like he’d have the money for new ones. It looks like he's just thrown on whatever he could find." Some of the boys continued to talk, and the girls in the front row covered their mouths with their hands as they joined in. Their eyes flashed with contempt when they looked at Alex. "Stop talking!" Mr Morgan said loudly. "And pay attention." Throughout the lecture, Alex noticed that Mr Morgan kept glancing at him, his eyes full of disapproval, as if Alex had failed to live up to his expectations. Eventually, the lecture was over. "Class dismissed." Mr Morgan packed up his textbooks and left. "Cathy." The voice came from the doorway. Everyone turned in the direction of the voice and saw Billy walking through the door and going straight to Cathy, who was sitting by the window. She stood and hugged him, both of them were in love Many of the students turned to stare at Alex. Everyone thought that he was Cathy's boyfriend, and they weren’t aware that she had broken up with him. Alex watched in disgust. He’d heard that Billy had taken at least five different girls to stay at that hotel. Cathy was just the latest in a long line, and Alex had no intention of fighting for her. Billy strutted past Alex with his arm around Cathy's shoulder. "Darling, wait a minute," Cathy said to Billy as she stopped in front of Alex and held out her phone. "Since we've broken up, I don’t want to owe you anything. Here's the phone you bought for me a few weeks ago. You can have it back." Alex glanced at the Samsung Galaxy phone and then took it. "Hah, you would have to work part-time for six months to afford one of these!" Cathy took a brand-new phone out of her pocket and showed it to Alex. "This is the latest iPhone, and it’s much better than your phone." "Of course, it's far too expensive for a loser like him." Billy raised his chin and looked at Alex. "Cathy told me that she kept asking for that phone for six months before you finally bought it for her. Do you think you can pick up a girl so far out of your league? You're just embarrassing yourself, so give up. And I'm warning you now: don't even think about her. If I find out you’ve gone anywhere near her, you'll regret it!" "Don't waste your breath talking to a loser like him. Can we go to De Luca’s for lunch?" Cathy had already dismissed Alex. "Call me baby," Billy said, smiling at her. "Baby, let's go." She flirted with him right in front of Alex. "Cathy!" A petite girl stood up, glaring at her. "You're taking it all too far. I never thought you'd break up with Alex, and I'm ashamed of you." "Emma, why do you care?" She scowled. When things had been going well with Alex, she’d been on good terms with Emma, who was a decent person. Sometimes, when Cathy had been fighting with Alex, she had asked Emma’s opinion about who was in the right. "You gave up Alex for someone like Billy?" Emma asked. "How could you treat Alex like this? When you were sick and couldn't even get out of bed, Alex sent you lunch and dinner every day for a month. And when you were walking in the mountains and twisted your ankle, he carried you on his back for miles down the mountain. Don’t you remember that? You know he doesn't make much money from his part-time jobs, but when you wanted a phone, he worked hard for months to save enough money to buy it for you. And this is how you repay him? By breaking up with him and ridiculing him?" Cathy scowled. "I never forced him to do anything. If he was stupid enough to go along with it, that's his problem! And so what if he bought me a cell phone? It was only a Samsung. And why would I want a Samsung when I can have an iPhone?" Emma shook her head. "Cathy, I don’t understand you. Do you only care about money? Will money get you everything you want?" "Yes!" Cathy barked out a laugh. She stared at Emma and said, "I admit that I like money. Is that so wrong?" She took Billy's arm and said, "Come on, baby, let's go. These two poor people disgust me." She glared at Alex and Emma and then swept out of the classroom with her head held high. https://preview.redd.it/frxe4na33r4b1.png?width=764&format=png&auto=webp&s=3d014c775a06fca57c3c49baecf79a44adee3800 |
2023.06.08 10:17 DashcamSchool Prime Minister Laptop Scheme 2023
 | https://preview.redd.it/42culunr6r4b1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a78f77ab8d81fe9f3251d67608a624752de32db4 submitted by DashcamSchool to chatgptios [link] [comments] Background of the Scheme In the past, two schemes had been executed by the Higher Education Commission (PM National Laptop Scheme Phase-I and II). Under PMNLS scheme II, the Higher Education Commission was the executing agency for the program, around 500,000 laptops have been successfully distributed through transparent online system across public sector universities and technical colleges including Federal and FATA colleges. In order to maintain the transparency and information were publicly published on HEC website. It is an established fact that a country’s economic development is determined by its intellectual capital. Pakistan is unique in the sense that almost 63% of its population is below the age of 30. This youth bulge will critically impact Pakistan as a country if not dealt with appropriately, depending on how the country invests in the youth by providing them with quality education, employment, and meaningful engagement opportunities The Government has realized the importance of this fact and started specific programs for tapping potential of the youth, reduce unemployment by providing appropriate skills, and flourish a culture of entrepreneurship. Introduction about Phase-III (2022-23): The Honorable Prime Minister of Pakistan announced that government will provide laptops to talented students. The project aims to give opportunities in the form of laptops to the young and talented students studying in public sector Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) across the country and Azad Jammu & Kashmir. The project has been approved by ECNEC, as the Prime Minister Youth Laptop Scheme (PMYLS) Phase-III. In this regard, 100,000 laptops would be awarded to talented students on merit through an online transparent system. In the past, two such schemes have been successfully executed by the Higher Education Commission. HOW TO APPLY: Students are advised to Apply Online by Registering or Updating Profile at the following link of Students' Service Portal. (Students can apply through web portal or through Mobile App). PMYP official website ELIGIBLE UNIVERSITIES: Students studying in public sector Universities/ Degree Awarding Institutes and sub-campuses duly recognized by HEC Eligible Universities List By HEC. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Students enrolled not earlier than their respective program duration as per the table below:
Students studying in public sector Universities/ Degree Awarding Institutes duly recognized by HEC (Except Distance learning).
Following students will NOT be eligible for laptops under this scheme
The distribution criteria have been defined as follows:
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2023.06.08 10:09 WaveOfWire One Hell Of A Vacation - Chapter 89
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u/KieveKRS providing the Trash certification of quality! (with help from u/coldfireknight cuz this one needed it.)
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Nalah affixed the massive shield to her back, the rectangular form large enough for him to fit behind while only needing to crouch slightly. It was mostly ironwood, but the sides and front were metal-plated, so it still weighed a considerable amount. Despite that, the thing’s bulk hardly seemed to be noticed by the blonde-furred female, likely due to the constant construction work she involved herself in. It paired oddly with the long pike she insisted on using, but he couldn’t deny that poking at things while hiding behind a mobile wall sounded like a good idea.
Jax was wearing his new armour, the bulky chest-piece a mirror of his blond-furred pack mate’s. Though he forwent the protection a buckler or likewise would offer, he doubled up on gear. Gauntlets, vambraces, pauldrons, and anything else he could wear to compliment the massive axe he had taken a liking to.
Where Nalah was fitted to look like an apocalypse survivor—her protections limited to her torso, forearms, and shield—the black-furred male resembled a giant, if underfunded, paladin. All he needed now was some religious imagery and a penchant for exalting the qualities of their god. Joseph almost nudged the guy to suggest it for kicks.
On second thought, he decided that Jax absolutely did not need a reason to start yelling about the Human-turned-religious-figure, because there was no way in hell he wouldn’t. There was no telling what he would choose to say, and the Grand Hunter was perfectly happy never knowing.
Having been with the male as long as he had, it would probably involve ‘taming’ females or something else that would leave him groaning for weeks, if not just contemplating another high-dive from the cliff.
Joseph fixed his own equipment, the ‘Wraith armour’ worn over his own thin iron breastplate. He wasn’t thrilled to wear the extra weight, but it beat being mauled by the thing they were heading out to kill. The trips so far had been tolerable, fog and overcast skies keeping the temperature in check, but he didn’t want to go out in this on a hotter day as Summer really kicked back in. He was sweaty enough without baking inside all this crap.
He adjusted the wolf-skull mask, the rest of the hunting party having gotten over the worst of the unease it gave them. Though they’d needed to rotate people out for the sake of fairness, this would be their eighth consecutive scouting. Using the information that Raine and Faye provided, they narrowed down a likely stomping grounds for the creature and were systematically clearing sectors. It might have been discouraging to keep looking after so long, but the occasional marking on trees and the odd moss-wolf corpse tipped them off that they were getting close. There was still another week’s worth of searching left if today wasn’t the day, but somehow he doubted they wouldn’t need that long.
All in all, they numbered six; larger parties were attempted, but their efforts at stealth quickly became pointless between so many trudging through the forest and stopping for breaks. There was a bit of a scare where one of Mi’low’s pack went missing, but the guy had just stopped to relieve himself. Since the discovery was made by someone else knocking him over in the process by mistake, they decided that keeping the number smaller made communication easier. And lowered the amount of grumbling about needing a bath.
Jax, Nalah, two security members, one of the hunters, and him. Sure, grabbing Tel or the Wraiths would have been a bit more useful for cohesion, but they were all busy with things, and he didn’t want to grind everything in the settlement to a halt for nothing if the search turned up empty again. They were more suited to taking out their fellow Lilhun than some monster in the woods, as much as he disliked the thought.
Scarlet was spending a lot of time with Violet and the new Atmo, Faye was spending much of her recovery with the moss-wolves and moss-pup, and Tel was in the process of helping Harrow shore up the few security members that were slated to become snipers. Kaslin was still learning chemistry with Toril, and Raine was helping whoever needed a hand, so that marked off all of his usual accompaniment. He could have taken more of his direct pack, but they all had important things to take care of as well.
Sahari was managing the pack and putting people where people needed to be put, Pan was working with Idee and Heralt to make a line of armour for the whole pack, and Mi’low was...well, Mi’low. He was pretty sure she was unofficially the master of the hunter’s lodge and spent most of her time keeping track of what came in and out of it, while also making sure that everyone got their fair share. It needed to be done with the settlement growing as much as it had, and it kept Mi’low busy enough to stymie the flow of complaints, so he wasn’t about to complain.
They double checked that they had everything that was needed; food, water, arrows, bolts, and some bags to store anything that the snares had caught on the way back. Four ranged and two melee weapons meant that they would be mostly using Jax and Nalah to soak hits if it came down to it, the others peppering it with projectiles. Given that Harrow was insistent on the bear-thing being resistant to anything they could use at a distance, they also carried spare weapons for the ranged users, just in case. Nodding, Joseph gestured to the group finishing up their preparations for the day’s trip.
“A moment, sir?” Scarlet called to him as she approached the gate, the Wraith flanked by Rose and Cobalt. The two Atmo were decked-out in their own armour, which appeared to be almost entirely metal, save for the palm lining the inside for comfort. Each of their six legs were adorned with broad shields, their bases capped off with a flat storage carriage. They looked like someone had a little too much fun testing how much the insects could effortlessly carry and had ended up with sapient hexapedal tanks.
“Only if you explain why those two would look more at home if they had cannons installed on their backs,” he quipped, an expression somewhere between surprised, amused, and plain dumbfounded plastered on his face. The blackish red-furred female smirked for a split-second before resuming her usual servile presentation.
“The young mistress had extended her request for these two to accompany you.”
Joseph tilted his head incredulously. “Violet told you to send them?”
Scarlet nodded, gesturing to the outfitted Atmo. “They have been under her tutelage for some time now, and wish to be of assistance.”
The Grand Hunter snapped his mouth closed when he was about to ask why his daughter would teach them anything that might be useful for fighting a deadly beast. Of course she did; It was one of the first things he did for her. It would have been weirder for her not to pass on what she knew after all the hours she spent either seeing him coach the others, or being coached herself. With the time she had under her belt, she was the local Atmo Close Quarters Combat specialist, and no one else understood how the modified boxing she learned worked with their bodies like she did.
He wore a hesitant expression, shifting his weight to his other leg. “Well, they’ve certainly geared up.”
“It is a product our smith is rather proud of,” the Wraith affirmed confidently.
He exhaled slowly. “Seems a bit much.”
She seemed to be expecting the remark, barely pausing to register what he said before responding. “Your kit wishes you safe, yet understands you would not allow her to accompany you. These two wish to be of assistance.”
To punctuate her point, the two nodded in agreement, walking forward and slinging some of the backpacks onto their carriages. It seemed ‘no’ wasn’t something they were going to accept after Violet had said her piece. He sighed, conceding that they wouldn’t slow the party down with everyone carrying so much weight in equipment, regardless of the bags. They took breaks frequently enough to accommodate the Atmo, so that wouldn’t hinder anything either.
“Fine,” he relented with a wave of his hand. “We’ll take them. Not like they’d hurt anyway. But–” He put a warning into his tone. “–they’re not playing the hero and getting themselves killed. This isn’t going to work if they think any of us dying is still a net positive, got it?”
The two Atmo mimed their understanding, Scarlet replying with a victorious smile. Joseph couldn’t help but bemusedly roll his eyes. The female had taken rather well to baby-sitting, and that seems to have extended to humouring the young Queen’s schemes now. It wasn’t an unwelcome addition to their little sojourn. At least they could haul back any larger game without it tacking hours onto the return trip.
He thanked Scarlet for her trouble before dismissing her, confirming with the group that everything was accounted for, and set off before it grew too late. He wasn’t looking to get caught out in the woods during the night. The Lilhuns might be fine, but he was pretty well blind unless the moon felt generous.
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Jax watched the two Atmo quietly follow on the sides of the group, their heavily armoured forms posing no issues with their naturally soundless movements in the forest. In the den, they would make moderate clacks and clicks as their chitinous legs contacted the ground, but the soft dirt and foliage stifled all but the smallest report of their travel. With Scarlet supervising alongside Violet, he wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that the former Blade had influenced their movement with the goal in mind, though he had never paid much attention to how they walked before to compare.
He had to admit, having them carry the additional equipment was exceedingly useful. He had proposed having the group use the newly acquired platforms on their more arachnid-like abdomen to rest in shifts, but Joseph was quick to insist that the insects were of lesser stamina than even Lilhuns. The phrasing seemed like a comparative insult, but Jax had more than enough experience with the Human to know that he had simply spoken his mind. To him, everyone had sub-par stamina. Training had gone some way to remedy the discrepancy, but the Grand Hunter could still continue for longer than even the most well-conditioned of them.
The black-furred male rolled his shoulders, feeling the heft of his axe shift with the movement. It was an impressive size, the weight well-balanced and its edge sharp. He had once laid it to the ground out of curiosity and confirmed that it was about as tall as Pan from head to haft, though only if she stood to her full height. Regardless of its size, it was still lighter than the armour he chose to don.
Having only really worn leathers or a few sets of ironwood protections, the encumbering prominence of the iron equipment took getting used to. It wasn’t entirely restrictive, but did put a damper on any chances he had of sprinting from danger. That was fine, he supposed, since he was wearing it against a beast he had no experience with. It could very well outrun him regardless, and he would rather have the defences in either case.
Nalah seemed to be doing fine, the large barrier she kept on her back swaying slightly as she walked. She was unhindered by it, her movements barely affected by the bulk, which was reassuring. Joseph, however, seemed to be panting more than usual, the rolling cloud coverage easing as the sun progressively warmed the environment. The fog from earlier meant that it was rather humid, and that seemed to bore no well wishes for the male encased in dark leathers and thick plates. He had even flipped down his hood, the sweat beading on his skin adding a sheen to his visage.
“I liked this better when the sun didn’t exist,” the Human lamented quietly, just loud enough for Jax to hear. The black-furred male chuckled.
“It would be rather dark.”
Joseph glared at him for a moment before rolling his eyes. “I just don’t rank ‘heavily armoured hike through the woods’ high up on my list of things I want to do regularly.”
“I believe that list would be occupied by your mates, no?” he ribbed playfully, a smirk arising when the Grand Hunter shunted his eyes closed in a grimace.
“I hate you.”
“I can see your smile underneath your displeasure, Joseph,” Jax quipped, nudging the male with his elbow, then giving an apologetic smile when his friend almost fell. Joseph sighed, waving Cobalt over and fetching a water-skin from the luggage that the insect was ferrying without breaking stride—though he needed to be careful not to get stepped on.
The Atmo always amused Jax. Be it their passive demeanour hidden by their towering stature, or his interactions with the den-kit, they never failed to be curious people. Having the two that accompanied Volta with them was an unexpected development, but he couldn’t claim to disapprove. If they had been imparted the methods of combat that Violet had cultivated, then there was little worry of them being harmed by naught but perhaps their current target. At least not until there was a better reference of its strength than the single encounter the first-years had so long ago.
At the time, it had smashed pillars and pierced flesh effortlessly, claws proving to be little more than tempting ministrations of tender touch to the thick hide. Jax only had some of the pack’s recount to base the experience off of, but was content to take their word for it. He was, ashamedly, preoccupied taking care of baser needs when the event transpired, so he was woefully unprepared for the eventual encounter. Still, he was afforded the best the settlement had to offer so that he might serve his duty of protecting the Grand Hunter. Harrow would never forgive him if only he returned.
His thoughts were disturbed by Joseph calling for a rest, Jax’s legs thankful for the break from supporting the unusual weight for so long. The Human dispensed rations and water for the pack, the Atmo waiting until everyone else was supplied before accepting their portion. They rested on their base directly, instead of curling their legs beneath them like Jax had become accustomed. Perhaps the armour impeded such, or they wished to remain mobile in the event such was required. Regardless, they blocked what little breeze there was, forcing the Grand Hunter to walk beyond them to enjoy it in the shade. It was short-lived however, as Rose quickly repositioned to stay between the pack and whatever lay beyond their protections.
It was a futile effort, it seemed, because it repeated again twice before Joseph groaned loudly and threw himself atop the carriage to lay back, his legs dangling at the knee. He seemed perfectly content with the unorthodox arrangement, snorting his amusement along with a muttered comment about a ‘taxi.’
The entertaining sight was marred by a distant yelp, snapping the group to attention. Jax and Joseph traded looks, subtle nods and gestures given to move out while remaining quiet. Ignoring his earlier complaints, the Grand Hunter flicked his hood up and donned the mask, drawing his crossbow and readying a bolt. The hunter of the pack mimicked the preparation, the two security members loosely nocking their arrows while Rose, Cobalt, Jax, and Nalah took point.
They proceeded quietly for far longer than the proximity of the noise would have suggested, but marks and gashes upon the trees implied a moving conflict. Thoughts of it being a lost cause quickly became moot as a closer growl and bark shattered the careful silence they had been maintaining.
Motioning for the pack to stop, Joseph waved Jax forward, Nalah approaching the other side. Using the large shield as additional cover, they peered around a particularly thick tree. Locked in combat were two moss-wolves, both attacking a truly massive grey creature.
Twice the Human’s height, half that in width. Four pillars as legs—the muscular trunks sinewy and defined—supported the disturbing hunched figure, the wide base tapering slightly into a thick and extended torso. A singular eye-stalk replaced the head, the ocular organ atop it pitch black and free of any indication of its focus. Four arms with deadly claws parried and sliced the two yellow beasts as they attempted to drive off the predator, a sickeningly large maw gaping to catch any attempts at a lunge. The mouth of the creature almost occupied the entirety of the available surface area upon its front, the jagged bone tools of manduction undulating with the promise of sustenance.
Joseph pulled them back, cursing under his breath as he tried to fight off the tension. From Nalah’s worried expression, it seemed his caution was rather potent, the other members of the group smelling his reaction as well.
“So, what’s the plan, Jax?” the Human whispered, his grip on the crossbow alternating with his fingers stretching across the trigger lest his fidgeting cause a misfire.
“I thought that, with your record, you would wish to tame it for the settlement,” Jax replied while thinking through a plan of action. He was glad that his friend trusted him, but he wished he had known the true scale of the beast prior. Joseph grit his teeth, turning to glance past the tree again with sarcasm pouring out of his response.
“Can’t quite see Winnie-the-woodchipper there playing great with kids.”
“You say that after adopting an Atmo as kit, Grand Hunter,” he returned, nodding to himself when a plan formed. The Human smiled, the banter easing the tension somewhat. “Rose, Cobalt, you two are the most well defended of us. Circle around and drive the beast this way. You should be capable of such without noise, yes?”
The two insects nodded, emptying their luggage behind a tree so as not to lose any of it before disappearing into the trees. The slight glimmer of their iron armour was the only indication of their position through the dense forest. Jax hoped that the beast was not particularly curious about the dimly pulsing glare, nor finished with its current altercation in time to impede the pair.
Satisfied with their progress, he motioned for the two security members to scale a tree and gain a superior vantage point. Their weapons would be able to maintain a more rapid pace of sustained fire at longer ranges. Joseph and the hunter were instructed to hide behind trees nearby, though the Human would need to remain grounded as his lack of claws made scaling the large flora difficult with his equipment.
Finally, Nalah and he positioned themselves much closer, in order to flank the creature as it fled the Atmo and occupy it long enough for the others to bleed it out, if not outright dispose of it.
With the forms of the Atmo peeking through the brush opposite them, Jax raised his axe to signal the start.
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Joseph felt the hammering in his chest, his heart preparing him to fight for his life against the walking abomination that easily outclassed the only other predator that he had experience with. Sure, the moss-wolves were easy to take down once you had equipment and a plan, but that thing screamed danger.
He watched Jax and Nalah set up behind thick trees, their goal being for Jax to hopefully disable a leg or two with the war-axe while Nalah occupied it with the shield. As the two strongest members of his little family, he trusted both to do their job.
As a clusterfuck of animal and torture device, he had no faith in the creature playing along.
Swallowing his hesitation, he adjusted his grip on the crossbow again, mentally tallying his shots and cursing himself for not researching explosives. Sure, Toril didn’t want to be involved in that kind of weapon, but at the moment, the tailless white-furred male could suck it up and make one anyway. Joseph would give his left nut to see how quickly the chemist would make weapons of mass destruction just to annihilate whatever that thing called home.
Jax raised his axe, glinting the sunlight of it towards the Atmo. Receiving the start signal, the two clicked and loosed a deafening screech, the Human’s ears ringing even from this distance.
The beast seemed unperturbed by the noise, though the lack of visible ears may have had something to do with the lacklustre effect. Regardless, it did notice the two armour-clad insects charging at it, and smartly decided to extradite itself from the area. The moss-wolves, however, didn’t quite get the memo, mistaking the advancing assistance as yet another foe to defend themselves from.
He had to say, Violet taught the two well. They flashed their blades out in the same flicker jab that he had shown his daughter, and with an unceremonious squelch, the two bisected canines landed in four pieces, a vibrant green ichor now staining the weapon-like appendages of the Atmo. Undeterred by their first act of violence—as far as he was aware, anyway—they continued herding the beast.
It wasn’t as fast as they might have feared, its quadrupedal gait hindered by its proportions, but it was still quick enough to be damn intimidating. Its arms acted as a counter balance, constantly adjusting this way and that just to keep it stable. That thing was clearly never meant for sprinting, all its mobility being given to the overactive maw that pulsated with the exertion.
He readied his crossbow, the shaking in his hands not ruining his aim against such a large target. He eyeballed the distance between the creature and the ambush point, forcibly moving his finger off the trigger so that he didn’t fire early.
Closer. Come on. Almost.
Now.
Jax wound up like a particularly enthusiastic lumberjack, putting his full body into the rotation. The massive axe swung like a horizontal pendulum striking home with all the finality of a clock tolling midnight. It bit into the front leg of the beast, only sinking a few inches before momentum nearly wretched the weapon from the black-furred male. Luckily, the force and timing was enough to trip it, the creature crashing to the forest floor with a deafening roar of pain.
They could hurt it. That made him feel better.
His relief evaporated as the beast swiftly recovered, hauling itself from the ground faster than he thought possible, but his archers took it for an unspoken signal. Arrows and bolts peppered its thick hide, to no effect—it shrugged off the projectiles like they were nothing more than pine needles, none sinking far enough to gain notable purchase.
Jax hefted his axe for another strike, careful not to over-commit this time. Nalah prodded the beast wherever she could with her pike, the melee weapon sliced and skewered just past the surface of the hide, though not enough to do more than marr. It was, however, enough to gain the attention of the target, the creature swinging two of its four arms to rake across the shield that the blond-furred female held. The iron plating across the front let out an unearthly shriek as claws ripped and crumpled the metal.
Well, fuck.
Nalah was quick to react, treating the shield less as an immovable barrier and more like a slight distance buffer, dodging in and out of range to steal jabs with the polearm. The security members nocked another volley, picking different targets than before. An arrow bounced harmlessly off the black orb of an eye, another finding purchase in what passed for gums in its mouth.
The hint was received; aim for the mouth. Thankfully, that was a large target. Less thankfully, it realized that flashing its teeth was detrimental to its health, slamming the maw closed.
Jax managed another swing, this time into one of the rear legs. It wasn’t as effective as the first strike, but it did warrant a sweeping double back-fist from the creature, scoring Jax’s armour with shallow claw marks as he jumped backwards. Joseph let out a breath as he fired his second shot, only just narrowly missing the sliver of a gap between razor teeth that the enraged attack afforded. It couldn’t keep its mouth shut forever, each frenzied swipe pulling its form enough for glimpses of softer flesh within to appear. The hunter dropped from their tree, darting across to reposition for a wider angle to capitalize on. The creature noticed, lunging forward to eviscerate the easier target.
Joseph blinked as two armoured figures jumped in front of the Lilhun, raising their blades in a tight guard to block the four arms grabbing for a quick meal. The beast recoiled with a thunderous screech, two of its appendages sporting deep gashes that fountained blood, while the others managed to impact above the edged outside of the blades. Rose and Cobalt pressed forward, buying time and space for the hunter to collect themselves and scale up another perch. Taking advantage of its pain, two new arrows ripped through the air, smacking into exposed inner flesh. Two new protrusions joined the first in the mouth, one landing next to the existing projectile, while the other cleared the gateway of serration, driving deeply inside of it.
More flicker jabs and extended straights pushed and cut the beast as it tried to gain distance from the two that wounded it, every retaliatory strike earning it another gash in its grey hide.. Unencumbered by the constant barrage, Nalah thrust into its legs more vigorously, her body leaning into each attack to gain every inch of penetration she could into the muscle and thick hide.
Jax used the chance to score another chopping blow, doubling down on a previous wound to a back leg—striking bone this time, based on the unholy wail the beast uttered. Joseph raised his crossbow to land another shot into its mouth, but the beast flailed wildly to fend off the ambush.
Rose managed to block, Jax lunged backwards, Nalah deflected most of it with what remained of her shield, but Cobalt was caught by a strike, taking the hit to its torso. The Atmo flew backwards, rolling when it landed, the carriage and assorted armoured plates trailing behind it. Rose shifted instantly, covering the direction that their companion had been sent while Jax and Nalah focused on pulling the beast away from the downed combatant.
Joseph’s eyes flicked to the Atmo, waging an internal battle on whether helping the insect would be better or worse for the situation as a whole. He didn’t want to lighten up their assault if it would just mean more injuries, but Cobalt could be in dire need for a patch job. It was hard to tell from where he was.
Cursing, he bolted from his spot, firing off one last round into the gaping maw before clipping the crossbow onto his armour and sliding on his knees in front of Cobalt, healroot hastily retrieved from his pocket.
He paused, sighing in relief when none of the armour bore more than deep gashes, the carapace underneath unblemished by the attack. Cobalt clicked lightly, dazed, but otherwise seeming unhurt. Unlearned in the physiology relevant, he ushered the Atmo to remain out of the fight for fear of concussion or something similar. They could look at the insect back at the base to be sure later.
“Joseph!”
His head spun around at both Jax and Nalah screaming his name, a massive clawed hand sweeping at him—the monster's approach unnoticed while he focused on Cobalt. Lacking a better option, he lunged forward towards the underside of the beast to dodge the swipe, crashing to his shoulder on the dirt below.
The creature raised a leg above Joseph, pounding the earth scant inches from his head as he rolled sideways. Ignoring the kicked up dirt, he brought his fist to the underside of the beast, flicking the release on his bracer.
Blood spouted from the newly formed wound, the blade breaking at the mechanism as the massive animal lurched in pain, Joseph rolling out of the way of another attempted trampling. He scrambled to his feet, feeling the wind of another strike narrowly missing him.
Yeah, that would probably kill him.
Luckily, the injuries renewed the desire to flee in the monstrosity, the group of attackers proving too dangerous to continue challenging. It stumbled away from them, sparing Cobalt from its panicked trudging. Jax and Nalah started to run towards him, worry evident in their eyes, but he barked for them to finish it, redirecting the two to keep the pressure going. He didn’t want to mention the pain in the arm from where the bracer hitched. It didn’t feel broken, and thus was irrelevant.
Pressure applied, the grey beast picked a random direction free of opponents to escape, ignorant of the waiting security. When it was too close for them to shoot into its mouth at a decent angle, they slung the bows over their shoulders and drew the swords they had been afforded, patiently waiting with the blades turned down.
It passed below them, the two Lilhuns dropping from the branches to put their full weight into the plunging blades. Both landed on the large target, one sword sinking deep into a shoulder, while the other managed to pierce one of its hip joints. The beast spun haphazardly to dislodge the ‘new’ threats, both security members kicking off and finding new trees to set up in.
Whatever damage was actually done, it had lost the use of an arm, and its gait shifted awkwardly as the blade lodged in its hip worked more harm with each shambling step.. Emboldened, Jax picked up the pace, struggling to position himself with the amount of metal he wore. Ducking another swipe of its claws, he saw his chance and swung, pivoting with his axe as a counter weight. For the third time, his axe blade found the wound in its leg, adding a sickening crunch as the bone snapped from the impact.
The creature swung wildly, forced to favour its two remaining good legs, and the only other leg that could still support at least some of its weight. It was unstable now, the hunched figure swaying while unmoving. Unable to run, it decided to go down with as many of them as it could.
Rose caught up with the attack, drawing attention from the comparatively squishy Nalah as the blond-furred female deflected a wayward swing with her shield. The once iron-plated ironwood now sporting little more than jagged scraps of metal atop its silver wooden structure, a series of deep gouges marring the surface. Two lunging thrusts with the pike bit flesh, drawing new blood from the beast.
Joseph loaded his crossbow, getting off two bolts, but not managing to keep it steady enough to hit anything of use, his arm faltering under the weight of the weapon. Cursing, he decided to flank the beast and try his luck with the other bracer. If nothing else, the force in which the blade deployed was enough to pierce the thick hide, and the others were doing a good job of distracting it.
The red armoured Atmo let loose a series of directed swings, the fifth severing an arm in motion, the flying appendage forcing Nalah to raise her shield to block the unorthodox projectile. The female was sent sprawling from the weight of the impact, but the beast was too busy voicing its agony to take advantage of it. Jax worked another two chops into the broad legs, but neither managed to incapacitate it any more, and the prolonged exertion was slowing his reflexes.
As if cued into his waning energy, the beast flung Jax with another strike, the hunter of the group sinking a bolt deep into the cavernous flesh of its mouth to prevent an attempt at following up.
Joseph roared, desperate to finish it off before the creature could do the same to his downed pack. He sprinted at the monster's back and slid underneath it with as much speed as he could muster. Throwing his fist into the passing undercarriage, he let the deployed blade leave a long gash in its wake.
The grey monster lost its ability to stand, torn tendons, blood loss, and inflicted injuries taking their toll. The Grand Hunter kicked off his knees to fling himself out of the way of the collapsing figure, grimacing as the remaining bracer proved unable to support the abuse he had put it through. He looked back at the beast, the flailing body failing to right itself as teeth did little more than gouge dirt, its back exposed. Rose approached, raising their blades together and plunging it through the body over and over until it stopped moving.
Exhausted, the Atmo dropped where it was, breathing heavily. Joseph’s instinct to yell their victory was delayed as he hurried over to Jax and Nalah to confirm he didn't need to bring back bad news. Nalah seemed fine, if a bit sore from hitting the dirt and rolling, while Jax just asked to lay down when he heard that everything was over. Cobalt came over to the group, the armour that had come off collected atop the carriage it had managed to loosely affix to its base.
It was light, a chuckle originating from the Human as he slumped to the ground against a tree, but soon the entire group was roaring with laughter as victory settled in their minds. The two security members helped the hunter begin disassembling the beast, their contribution to the fight leaving them with more energy than the rest. They hadn’t been slacking off, that much was certain. The number of arrows jammed into the maw of the thing would have guaranteed a few extra seconds of survival and chances to escape if one of them had been forcibly tossed into there, and it had caused enough pause for the rest of them to get in a few hits up close.
Joseph rested across from Jax and Nalah, letting his heart rate slow from the rapid pace it had been pinned to since the start of the conflict. His arm continued its protests, but from the amount of movement he still had, he guessed that he had just strained the elbow. A few days taking it easy should straighten that right up.
Once the active members were about half way through processing the creature for hide and meat, Cobalt approached him, a mimed request for assistance putting their armour back on being redirected to Nalah since he doubted he could lift the damn pieces without hurting himself at the moment. She obliged, getting the blue Atmo back in full attire, though it took a while.
Rose stood first, stopping over to allow the hunter to place collected bits and pieces onto the carriage before securing it with whatever they could make due. A security member gathered the moss-wolf corpses for a similar treatment. Waste not, want not, he supposed.
Rose ended up carrying most of their spoils. When he was about to ask why, he, Jax, and Nalah were dragged to Cobalt and hefted onto the carriage. A series of confused questions revealed that the rest wanted to head back before it started getting dark, and it was pretty obvious who was the most exhausted of them. Lacking the will or energy to argue it, he flopped back on the Atmo as the trees passed them by, Nalah resting her legs across him as her head sat on Jax’s lap. The black-furred male didn’t so much as smirk, so it was clear he had pushed himself too far to quip about the arrangement as he laid down.
“The next time you wish to exhaust me this much, Joseph,” the Head of Security started after a long while of silence, tiredness in his voice, “I would prefer it to involve my mate and a bed.”
The Human snorted, closing his eyes and enjoying the lack of walking as the surprisingly stable Atmo carried the three of them. “Fuck off, Jax.”
“Of course, Grand Hunter.”
Next
A/N: Patreon is fixed!... aka new one cuz problems with the last. Check it out to support the story, get AI character art every now and then, or even preview sections of chapters as i write them! (aka, before kieve gets to fix them :D)
submitted by WaveOfWire to HFY [link] [comments]
u/KieveKRS providing the Trash certification of quality! (with help from u/coldfireknight cuz this one needed it.)
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Nalah affixed the massive shield to her back, the rectangular form large enough for him to fit behind while only needing to crouch slightly. It was mostly ironwood, but the sides and front were metal-plated, so it still weighed a considerable amount. Despite that, the thing’s bulk hardly seemed to be noticed by the blonde-furred female, likely due to the constant construction work she involved herself in. It paired oddly with the long pike she insisted on using, but he couldn’t deny that poking at things while hiding behind a mobile wall sounded like a good idea.
Jax was wearing his new armour, the bulky chest-piece a mirror of his blond-furred pack mate’s. Though he forwent the protection a buckler or likewise would offer, he doubled up on gear. Gauntlets, vambraces, pauldrons, and anything else he could wear to compliment the massive axe he had taken a liking to.
Where Nalah was fitted to look like an apocalypse survivor—her protections limited to her torso, forearms, and shield—the black-furred male resembled a giant, if underfunded, paladin. All he needed now was some religious imagery and a penchant for exalting the qualities of their god. Joseph almost nudged the guy to suggest it for kicks.
On second thought, he decided that Jax absolutely did not need a reason to start yelling about the Human-turned-religious-figure, because there was no way in hell he wouldn’t. There was no telling what he would choose to say, and the Grand Hunter was perfectly happy never knowing.
Having been with the male as long as he had, it would probably involve ‘taming’ females or something else that would leave him groaning for weeks, if not just contemplating another high-dive from the cliff.
Joseph fixed his own equipment, the ‘Wraith armour’ worn over his own thin iron breastplate. He wasn’t thrilled to wear the extra weight, but it beat being mauled by the thing they were heading out to kill. The trips so far had been tolerable, fog and overcast skies keeping the temperature in check, but he didn’t want to go out in this on a hotter day as Summer really kicked back in. He was sweaty enough without baking inside all this crap.
He adjusted the wolf-skull mask, the rest of the hunting party having gotten over the worst of the unease it gave them. Though they’d needed to rotate people out for the sake of fairness, this would be their eighth consecutive scouting. Using the information that Raine and Faye provided, they narrowed down a likely stomping grounds for the creature and were systematically clearing sectors. It might have been discouraging to keep looking after so long, but the occasional marking on trees and the odd moss-wolf corpse tipped them off that they were getting close. There was still another week’s worth of searching left if today wasn’t the day, but somehow he doubted they wouldn’t need that long.
All in all, they numbered six; larger parties were attempted, but their efforts at stealth quickly became pointless between so many trudging through the forest and stopping for breaks. There was a bit of a scare where one of Mi’low’s pack went missing, but the guy had just stopped to relieve himself. Since the discovery was made by someone else knocking him over in the process by mistake, they decided that keeping the number smaller made communication easier. And lowered the amount of grumbling about needing a bath.
Jax, Nalah, two security members, one of the hunters, and him. Sure, grabbing Tel or the Wraiths would have been a bit more useful for cohesion, but they were all busy with things, and he didn’t want to grind everything in the settlement to a halt for nothing if the search turned up empty again. They were more suited to taking out their fellow Lilhun than some monster in the woods, as much as he disliked the thought.
Scarlet was spending a lot of time with Violet and the new Atmo, Faye was spending much of her recovery with the moss-wolves and moss-pup, and Tel was in the process of helping Harrow shore up the few security members that were slated to become snipers. Kaslin was still learning chemistry with Toril, and Raine was helping whoever needed a hand, so that marked off all of his usual accompaniment. He could have taken more of his direct pack, but they all had important things to take care of as well.
Sahari was managing the pack and putting people where people needed to be put, Pan was working with Idee and Heralt to make a line of armour for the whole pack, and Mi’low was...well, Mi’low. He was pretty sure she was unofficially the master of the hunter’s lodge and spent most of her time keeping track of what came in and out of it, while also making sure that everyone got their fair share. It needed to be done with the settlement growing as much as it had, and it kept Mi’low busy enough to stymie the flow of complaints, so he wasn’t about to complain.
They double checked that they had everything that was needed; food, water, arrows, bolts, and some bags to store anything that the snares had caught on the way back. Four ranged and two melee weapons meant that they would be mostly using Jax and Nalah to soak hits if it came down to it, the others peppering it with projectiles. Given that Harrow was insistent on the bear-thing being resistant to anything they could use at a distance, they also carried spare weapons for the ranged users, just in case. Nodding, Joseph gestured to the group finishing up their preparations for the day’s trip.
“A moment, sir?” Scarlet called to him as she approached the gate, the Wraith flanked by Rose and Cobalt. The two Atmo were decked-out in their own armour, which appeared to be almost entirely metal, save for the palm lining the inside for comfort. Each of their six legs were adorned with broad shields, their bases capped off with a flat storage carriage. They looked like someone had a little too much fun testing how much the insects could effortlessly carry and had ended up with sapient hexapedal tanks.
“Only if you explain why those two would look more at home if they had cannons installed on their backs,” he quipped, an expression somewhere between surprised, amused, and plain dumbfounded plastered on his face. The blackish red-furred female smirked for a split-second before resuming her usual servile presentation.
“The young mistress had extended her request for these two to accompany you.”
Joseph tilted his head incredulously. “Violet told you to send them?”
Scarlet nodded, gesturing to the outfitted Atmo. “They have been under her tutelage for some time now, and wish to be of assistance.”
The Grand Hunter snapped his mouth closed when he was about to ask why his daughter would teach them anything that might be useful for fighting a deadly beast. Of course she did; It was one of the first things he did for her. It would have been weirder for her not to pass on what she knew after all the hours she spent either seeing him coach the others, or being coached herself. With the time she had under her belt, she was the local Atmo Close Quarters Combat specialist, and no one else understood how the modified boxing she learned worked with their bodies like she did.
He wore a hesitant expression, shifting his weight to his other leg. “Well, they’ve certainly geared up.”
“It is a product our smith is rather proud of,” the Wraith affirmed confidently.
He exhaled slowly. “Seems a bit much.”
She seemed to be expecting the remark, barely pausing to register what he said before responding. “Your kit wishes you safe, yet understands you would not allow her to accompany you. These two wish to be of assistance.”
To punctuate her point, the two nodded in agreement, walking forward and slinging some of the backpacks onto their carriages. It seemed ‘no’ wasn’t something they were going to accept after Violet had said her piece. He sighed, conceding that they wouldn’t slow the party down with everyone carrying so much weight in equipment, regardless of the bags. They took breaks frequently enough to accommodate the Atmo, so that wouldn’t hinder anything either.
“Fine,” he relented with a wave of his hand. “We’ll take them. Not like they’d hurt anyway. But–” He put a warning into his tone. “–they’re not playing the hero and getting themselves killed. This isn’t going to work if they think any of us dying is still a net positive, got it?”
The two Atmo mimed their understanding, Scarlet replying with a victorious smile. Joseph couldn’t help but bemusedly roll his eyes. The female had taken rather well to baby-sitting, and that seems to have extended to humouring the young Queen’s schemes now. It wasn’t an unwelcome addition to their little sojourn. At least they could haul back any larger game without it tacking hours onto the return trip.
He thanked Scarlet for her trouble before dismissing her, confirming with the group that everything was accounted for, and set off before it grew too late. He wasn’t looking to get caught out in the woods during the night. The Lilhuns might be fine, but he was pretty well blind unless the moon felt generous.
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Jax watched the two Atmo quietly follow on the sides of the group, their heavily armoured forms posing no issues with their naturally soundless movements in the forest. In the den, they would make moderate clacks and clicks as their chitinous legs contacted the ground, but the soft dirt and foliage stifled all but the smallest report of their travel. With Scarlet supervising alongside Violet, he wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that the former Blade had influenced their movement with the goal in mind, though he had never paid much attention to how they walked before to compare.
He had to admit, having them carry the additional equipment was exceedingly useful. He had proposed having the group use the newly acquired platforms on their more arachnid-like abdomen to rest in shifts, but Joseph was quick to insist that the insects were of lesser stamina than even Lilhuns. The phrasing seemed like a comparative insult, but Jax had more than enough experience with the Human to know that he had simply spoken his mind. To him, everyone had sub-par stamina. Training had gone some way to remedy the discrepancy, but the Grand Hunter could still continue for longer than even the most well-conditioned of them.
The black-furred male rolled his shoulders, feeling the heft of his axe shift with the movement. It was an impressive size, the weight well-balanced and its edge sharp. He had once laid it to the ground out of curiosity and confirmed that it was about as tall as Pan from head to haft, though only if she stood to her full height. Regardless of its size, it was still lighter than the armour he chose to don.
Having only really worn leathers or a few sets of ironwood protections, the encumbering prominence of the iron equipment took getting used to. It wasn’t entirely restrictive, but did put a damper on any chances he had of sprinting from danger. That was fine, he supposed, since he was wearing it against a beast he had no experience with. It could very well outrun him regardless, and he would rather have the defences in either case.
Nalah seemed to be doing fine, the large barrier she kept on her back swaying slightly as she walked. She was unhindered by it, her movements barely affected by the bulk, which was reassuring. Joseph, however, seemed to be panting more than usual, the rolling cloud coverage easing as the sun progressively warmed the environment. The fog from earlier meant that it was rather humid, and that seemed to bore no well wishes for the male encased in dark leathers and thick plates. He had even flipped down his hood, the sweat beading on his skin adding a sheen to his visage.
“I liked this better when the sun didn’t exist,” the Human lamented quietly, just loud enough for Jax to hear. The black-furred male chuckled.
“It would be rather dark.”
Joseph glared at him for a moment before rolling his eyes. “I just don’t rank ‘heavily armoured hike through the woods’ high up on my list of things I want to do regularly.”
“I believe that list would be occupied by your mates, no?” he ribbed playfully, a smirk arising when the Grand Hunter shunted his eyes closed in a grimace.
“I hate you.”
“I can see your smile underneath your displeasure, Joseph,” Jax quipped, nudging the male with his elbow, then giving an apologetic smile when his friend almost fell. Joseph sighed, waving Cobalt over and fetching a water-skin from the luggage that the insect was ferrying without breaking stride—though he needed to be careful not to get stepped on.
The Atmo always amused Jax. Be it their passive demeanour hidden by their towering stature, or his interactions with the den-kit, they never failed to be curious people. Having the two that accompanied Volta with them was an unexpected development, but he couldn’t claim to disapprove. If they had been imparted the methods of combat that Violet had cultivated, then there was little worry of them being harmed by naught but perhaps their current target. At least not until there was a better reference of its strength than the single encounter the first-years had so long ago.
At the time, it had smashed pillars and pierced flesh effortlessly, claws proving to be little more than tempting ministrations of tender touch to the thick hide. Jax only had some of the pack’s recount to base the experience off of, but was content to take their word for it. He was, ashamedly, preoccupied taking care of baser needs when the event transpired, so he was woefully unprepared for the eventual encounter. Still, he was afforded the best the settlement had to offer so that he might serve his duty of protecting the Grand Hunter. Harrow would never forgive him if only he returned.
His thoughts were disturbed by Joseph calling for a rest, Jax’s legs thankful for the break from supporting the unusual weight for so long. The Human dispensed rations and water for the pack, the Atmo waiting until everyone else was supplied before accepting their portion. They rested on their base directly, instead of curling their legs beneath them like Jax had become accustomed. Perhaps the armour impeded such, or they wished to remain mobile in the event such was required. Regardless, they blocked what little breeze there was, forcing the Grand Hunter to walk beyond them to enjoy it in the shade. It was short-lived however, as Rose quickly repositioned to stay between the pack and whatever lay beyond their protections.
It was a futile effort, it seemed, because it repeated again twice before Joseph groaned loudly and threw himself atop the carriage to lay back, his legs dangling at the knee. He seemed perfectly content with the unorthodox arrangement, snorting his amusement along with a muttered comment about a ‘taxi.’
The entertaining sight was marred by a distant yelp, snapping the group to attention. Jax and Joseph traded looks, subtle nods and gestures given to move out while remaining quiet. Ignoring his earlier complaints, the Grand Hunter flicked his hood up and donned the mask, drawing his crossbow and readying a bolt. The hunter of the pack mimicked the preparation, the two security members loosely nocking their arrows while Rose, Cobalt, Jax, and Nalah took point.
They proceeded quietly for far longer than the proximity of the noise would have suggested, but marks and gashes upon the trees implied a moving conflict. Thoughts of it being a lost cause quickly became moot as a closer growl and bark shattered the careful silence they had been maintaining.
Motioning for the pack to stop, Joseph waved Jax forward, Nalah approaching the other side. Using the large shield as additional cover, they peered around a particularly thick tree. Locked in combat were two moss-wolves, both attacking a truly massive grey creature.
Twice the Human’s height, half that in width. Four pillars as legs—the muscular trunks sinewy and defined—supported the disturbing hunched figure, the wide base tapering slightly into a thick and extended torso. A singular eye-stalk replaced the head, the ocular organ atop it pitch black and free of any indication of its focus. Four arms with deadly claws parried and sliced the two yellow beasts as they attempted to drive off the predator, a sickeningly large maw gaping to catch any attempts at a lunge. The mouth of the creature almost occupied the entirety of the available surface area upon its front, the jagged bone tools of manduction undulating with the promise of sustenance.
Joseph pulled them back, cursing under his breath as he tried to fight off the tension. From Nalah’s worried expression, it seemed his caution was rather potent, the other members of the group smelling his reaction as well.
“So, what’s the plan, Jax?” the Human whispered, his grip on the crossbow alternating with his fingers stretching across the trigger lest his fidgeting cause a misfire.
“I thought that, with your record, you would wish to tame it for the settlement,” Jax replied while thinking through a plan of action. He was glad that his friend trusted him, but he wished he had known the true scale of the beast prior. Joseph grit his teeth, turning to glance past the tree again with sarcasm pouring out of his response.
“Can’t quite see Winnie-the-woodchipper there playing great with kids.”
“You say that after adopting an Atmo as kit, Grand Hunter,” he returned, nodding to himself when a plan formed. The Human smiled, the banter easing the tension somewhat. “Rose, Cobalt, you two are the most well defended of us. Circle around and drive the beast this way. You should be capable of such without noise, yes?”
The two insects nodded, emptying their luggage behind a tree so as not to lose any of it before disappearing into the trees. The slight glimmer of their iron armour was the only indication of their position through the dense forest. Jax hoped that the beast was not particularly curious about the dimly pulsing glare, nor finished with its current altercation in time to impede the pair.
Satisfied with their progress, he motioned for the two security members to scale a tree and gain a superior vantage point. Their weapons would be able to maintain a more rapid pace of sustained fire at longer ranges. Joseph and the hunter were instructed to hide behind trees nearby, though the Human would need to remain grounded as his lack of claws made scaling the large flora difficult with his equipment.
Finally, Nalah and he positioned themselves much closer, in order to flank the creature as it fled the Atmo and occupy it long enough for the others to bleed it out, if not outright dispose of it.
With the forms of the Atmo peeking through the brush opposite them, Jax raised his axe to signal the start.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Joseph felt the hammering in his chest, his heart preparing him to fight for his life against the walking abomination that easily outclassed the only other predator that he had experience with. Sure, the moss-wolves were easy to take down once you had equipment and a plan, but that thing screamed danger.
He watched Jax and Nalah set up behind thick trees, their goal being for Jax to hopefully disable a leg or two with the war-axe while Nalah occupied it with the shield. As the two strongest members of his little family, he trusted both to do their job.
As a clusterfuck of animal and torture device, he had no faith in the creature playing along.
Swallowing his hesitation, he adjusted his grip on the crossbow again, mentally tallying his shots and cursing himself for not researching explosives. Sure, Toril didn’t want to be involved in that kind of weapon, but at the moment, the tailless white-furred male could suck it up and make one anyway. Joseph would give his left nut to see how quickly the chemist would make weapons of mass destruction just to annihilate whatever that thing called home.
Jax raised his axe, glinting the sunlight of it towards the Atmo. Receiving the start signal, the two clicked and loosed a deafening screech, the Human’s ears ringing even from this distance.
The beast seemed unperturbed by the noise, though the lack of visible ears may have had something to do with the lacklustre effect. Regardless, it did notice the two armour-clad insects charging at it, and smartly decided to extradite itself from the area. The moss-wolves, however, didn’t quite get the memo, mistaking the advancing assistance as yet another foe to defend themselves from.
He had to say, Violet taught the two well. They flashed their blades out in the same flicker jab that he had shown his daughter, and with an unceremonious squelch, the two bisected canines landed in four pieces, a vibrant green ichor now staining the weapon-like appendages of the Atmo. Undeterred by their first act of violence—as far as he was aware, anyway—they continued herding the beast.
It wasn’t as fast as they might have feared, its quadrupedal gait hindered by its proportions, but it was still quick enough to be damn intimidating. Its arms acted as a counter balance, constantly adjusting this way and that just to keep it stable. That thing was clearly never meant for sprinting, all its mobility being given to the overactive maw that pulsated with the exertion.
He readied his crossbow, the shaking in his hands not ruining his aim against such a large target. He eyeballed the distance between the creature and the ambush point, forcibly moving his finger off the trigger so that he didn’t fire early.
Closer. Come on. Almost.
Now.
Jax wound up like a particularly enthusiastic lumberjack, putting his full body into the rotation. The massive axe swung like a horizontal pendulum striking home with all the finality of a clock tolling midnight. It bit into the front leg of the beast, only sinking a few inches before momentum nearly wretched the weapon from the black-furred male. Luckily, the force and timing was enough to trip it, the creature crashing to the forest floor with a deafening roar of pain.
They could hurt it. That made him feel better.
His relief evaporated as the beast swiftly recovered, hauling itself from the ground faster than he thought possible, but his archers took it for an unspoken signal. Arrows and bolts peppered its thick hide, to no effect—it shrugged off the projectiles like they were nothing more than pine needles, none sinking far enough to gain notable purchase.
Jax hefted his axe for another strike, careful not to over-commit this time. Nalah prodded the beast wherever she could with her pike, the melee weapon sliced and skewered just past the surface of the hide, though not enough to do more than marr. It was, however, enough to gain the attention of the target, the creature swinging two of its four arms to rake across the shield that the blond-furred female held. The iron plating across the front let out an unearthly shriek as claws ripped and crumpled the metal.
Well, fuck.
Nalah was quick to react, treating the shield less as an immovable barrier and more like a slight distance buffer, dodging in and out of range to steal jabs with the polearm. The security members nocked another volley, picking different targets than before. An arrow bounced harmlessly off the black orb of an eye, another finding purchase in what passed for gums in its mouth.
The hint was received; aim for the mouth. Thankfully, that was a large target. Less thankfully, it realized that flashing its teeth was detrimental to its health, slamming the maw closed.
Jax managed another swing, this time into one of the rear legs. It wasn’t as effective as the first strike, but it did warrant a sweeping double back-fist from the creature, scoring Jax’s armour with shallow claw marks as he jumped backwards. Joseph let out a breath as he fired his second shot, only just narrowly missing the sliver of a gap between razor teeth that the enraged attack afforded. It couldn’t keep its mouth shut forever, each frenzied swipe pulling its form enough for glimpses of softer flesh within to appear. The hunter dropped from their tree, darting across to reposition for a wider angle to capitalize on. The creature noticed, lunging forward to eviscerate the easier target.
Joseph blinked as two armoured figures jumped in front of the Lilhun, raising their blades in a tight guard to block the four arms grabbing for a quick meal. The beast recoiled with a thunderous screech, two of its appendages sporting deep gashes that fountained blood, while the others managed to impact above the edged outside of the blades. Rose and Cobalt pressed forward, buying time and space for the hunter to collect themselves and scale up another perch. Taking advantage of its pain, two new arrows ripped through the air, smacking into exposed inner flesh. Two new protrusions joined the first in the mouth, one landing next to the existing projectile, while the other cleared the gateway of serration, driving deeply inside of it.
More flicker jabs and extended straights pushed and cut the beast as it tried to gain distance from the two that wounded it, every retaliatory strike earning it another gash in its grey hide.. Unencumbered by the constant barrage, Nalah thrust into its legs more vigorously, her body leaning into each attack to gain every inch of penetration she could into the muscle and thick hide.
Jax used the chance to score another chopping blow, doubling down on a previous wound to a back leg—striking bone this time, based on the unholy wail the beast uttered. Joseph raised his crossbow to land another shot into its mouth, but the beast flailed wildly to fend off the ambush.
Rose managed to block, Jax lunged backwards, Nalah deflected most of it with what remained of her shield, but Cobalt was caught by a strike, taking the hit to its torso. The Atmo flew backwards, rolling when it landed, the carriage and assorted armoured plates trailing behind it. Rose shifted instantly, covering the direction that their companion had been sent while Jax and Nalah focused on pulling the beast away from the downed combatant.
Joseph’s eyes flicked to the Atmo, waging an internal battle on whether helping the insect would be better or worse for the situation as a whole. He didn’t want to lighten up their assault if it would just mean more injuries, but Cobalt could be in dire need for a patch job. It was hard to tell from where he was.
Cursing, he bolted from his spot, firing off one last round into the gaping maw before clipping the crossbow onto his armour and sliding on his knees in front of Cobalt, healroot hastily retrieved from his pocket.
He paused, sighing in relief when none of the armour bore more than deep gashes, the carapace underneath unblemished by the attack. Cobalt clicked lightly, dazed, but otherwise seeming unhurt. Unlearned in the physiology relevant, he ushered the Atmo to remain out of the fight for fear of concussion or something similar. They could look at the insect back at the base to be sure later.
“Joseph!”
His head spun around at both Jax and Nalah screaming his name, a massive clawed hand sweeping at him—the monster's approach unnoticed while he focused on Cobalt. Lacking a better option, he lunged forward towards the underside of the beast to dodge the swipe, crashing to his shoulder on the dirt below.
The creature raised a leg above Joseph, pounding the earth scant inches from his head as he rolled sideways. Ignoring the kicked up dirt, he brought his fist to the underside of the beast, flicking the release on his bracer.
Blood spouted from the newly formed wound, the blade breaking at the mechanism as the massive animal lurched in pain, Joseph rolling out of the way of another attempted trampling. He scrambled to his feet, feeling the wind of another strike narrowly missing him.
Yeah, that would probably kill him.
Luckily, the injuries renewed the desire to flee in the monstrosity, the group of attackers proving too dangerous to continue challenging. It stumbled away from them, sparing Cobalt from its panicked trudging. Jax and Nalah started to run towards him, worry evident in their eyes, but he barked for them to finish it, redirecting the two to keep the pressure going. He didn’t want to mention the pain in the arm from where the bracer hitched. It didn’t feel broken, and thus was irrelevant.
Pressure applied, the grey beast picked a random direction free of opponents to escape, ignorant of the waiting security. When it was too close for them to shoot into its mouth at a decent angle, they slung the bows over their shoulders and drew the swords they had been afforded, patiently waiting with the blades turned down.
It passed below them, the two Lilhuns dropping from the branches to put their full weight into the plunging blades. Both landed on the large target, one sword sinking deep into a shoulder, while the other managed to pierce one of its hip joints. The beast spun haphazardly to dislodge the ‘new’ threats, both security members kicking off and finding new trees to set up in.
Whatever damage was actually done, it had lost the use of an arm, and its gait shifted awkwardly as the blade lodged in its hip worked more harm with each shambling step.. Emboldened, Jax picked up the pace, struggling to position himself with the amount of metal he wore. Ducking another swipe of its claws, he saw his chance and swung, pivoting with his axe as a counter weight. For the third time, his axe blade found the wound in its leg, adding a sickening crunch as the bone snapped from the impact.
The creature swung wildly, forced to favour its two remaining good legs, and the only other leg that could still support at least some of its weight. It was unstable now, the hunched figure swaying while unmoving. Unable to run, it decided to go down with as many of them as it could.
Rose caught up with the attack, drawing attention from the comparatively squishy Nalah as the blond-furred female deflected a wayward swing with her shield. The once iron-plated ironwood now sporting little more than jagged scraps of metal atop its silver wooden structure, a series of deep gouges marring the surface. Two lunging thrusts with the pike bit flesh, drawing new blood from the beast.
Joseph loaded his crossbow, getting off two bolts, but not managing to keep it steady enough to hit anything of use, his arm faltering under the weight of the weapon. Cursing, he decided to flank the beast and try his luck with the other bracer. If nothing else, the force in which the blade deployed was enough to pierce the thick hide, and the others were doing a good job of distracting it.
The red armoured Atmo let loose a series of directed swings, the fifth severing an arm in motion, the flying appendage forcing Nalah to raise her shield to block the unorthodox projectile. The female was sent sprawling from the weight of the impact, but the beast was too busy voicing its agony to take advantage of it. Jax worked another two chops into the broad legs, but neither managed to incapacitate it any more, and the prolonged exertion was slowing his reflexes.
As if cued into his waning energy, the beast flung Jax with another strike, the hunter of the group sinking a bolt deep into the cavernous flesh of its mouth to prevent an attempt at following up.
Joseph roared, desperate to finish it off before the creature could do the same to his downed pack. He sprinted at the monster's back and slid underneath it with as much speed as he could muster. Throwing his fist into the passing undercarriage, he let the deployed blade leave a long gash in its wake.
The grey monster lost its ability to stand, torn tendons, blood loss, and inflicted injuries taking their toll. The Grand Hunter kicked off his knees to fling himself out of the way of the collapsing figure, grimacing as the remaining bracer proved unable to support the abuse he had put it through. He looked back at the beast, the flailing body failing to right itself as teeth did little more than gouge dirt, its back exposed. Rose approached, raising their blades together and plunging it through the body over and over until it stopped moving.
Exhausted, the Atmo dropped where it was, breathing heavily. Joseph’s instinct to yell their victory was delayed as he hurried over to Jax and Nalah to confirm he didn't need to bring back bad news. Nalah seemed fine, if a bit sore from hitting the dirt and rolling, while Jax just asked to lay down when he heard that everything was over. Cobalt came over to the group, the armour that had come off collected atop the carriage it had managed to loosely affix to its base.
It was light, a chuckle originating from the Human as he slumped to the ground against a tree, but soon the entire group was roaring with laughter as victory settled in their minds. The two security members helped the hunter begin disassembling the beast, their contribution to the fight leaving them with more energy than the rest. They hadn’t been slacking off, that much was certain. The number of arrows jammed into the maw of the thing would have guaranteed a few extra seconds of survival and chances to escape if one of them had been forcibly tossed into there, and it had caused enough pause for the rest of them to get in a few hits up close.
Joseph rested across from Jax and Nalah, letting his heart rate slow from the rapid pace it had been pinned to since the start of the conflict. His arm continued its protests, but from the amount of movement he still had, he guessed that he had just strained the elbow. A few days taking it easy should straighten that right up.
Once the active members were about half way through processing the creature for hide and meat, Cobalt approached him, a mimed request for assistance putting their armour back on being redirected to Nalah since he doubted he could lift the damn pieces without hurting himself at the moment. She obliged, getting the blue Atmo back in full attire, though it took a while.
Rose stood first, stopping over to allow the hunter to place collected bits and pieces onto the carriage before securing it with whatever they could make due. A security member gathered the moss-wolf corpses for a similar treatment. Waste not, want not, he supposed.
Rose ended up carrying most of their spoils. When he was about to ask why, he, Jax, and Nalah were dragged to Cobalt and hefted onto the carriage. A series of confused questions revealed that the rest wanted to head back before it started getting dark, and it was pretty obvious who was the most exhausted of them. Lacking the will or energy to argue it, he flopped back on the Atmo as the trees passed them by, Nalah resting her legs across him as her head sat on Jax’s lap. The black-furred male didn’t so much as smirk, so it was clear he had pushed himself too far to quip about the arrangement as he laid down.
“The next time you wish to exhaust me this much, Joseph,” the Head of Security started after a long while of silence, tiredness in his voice, “I would prefer it to involve my mate and a bed.”
The Human snorted, closing his eyes and enjoying the lack of walking as the surprisingly stable Atmo carried the three of them. “Fuck off, Jax.”
“Of course, Grand Hunter.”
Next
A/N: Patreon is fixed!... aka new one cuz problems with the last. Check it out to support the story, get AI character art every now and then, or even preview sections of chapters as i write them! (aka, before kieve gets to fix them :D)
2023.06.08 10:08 TECbill DSM: Version: 7.2-64570 released!
https://www.synology.com/en-us/releaseNote/DSM?model=
Version: 7.2-64570
(2023-06-08)
Important Note
After installing this update, you will not be able to downgrade to a previous DSM version.
This update will restart your Synology NAS.
Starting from this version, logs for drives will no longer appear in Storage Manager > HDD and will be available only in Log Center.
Removed the "Automatically create port forwarding rules" option from QuickConnect advanced settings to increase network security.
Users can now create a Btrfs volume of up to 1 PB on specific Synology NAS models. This update automatically converts existing volumes that use the Btrfs (Peta Volume) file system to Btrfs. However, to create a volume larger than 200 TB, a RAID 6 storage pool and at least 64 GB of system memory are still required.Learn more
The maximum single volume size supported by RS2423+/RS2423RP+ has been adjusted to 200 TB (with a minimum system memory requirement of 32 GB).
Starting from this version, only Windows Server 2008 R2 and above versions will be supported. After installing this update, the current Windows Server 2008 domain and earlier versions will be unavailable.
This update includes fixes to the below issues mentioned in 7.2-64561:
Fixed an issue where updating to DSM 7.2 might fail if users' Synology NAS weren't connected to the Internet.
Fixed an issue where, when the Encryption Key Vault of encrypted volumes was set on a KMIP server, the system would not be able to auto-unlock these volumes after a restart.
Fixed an issue where, if Web Station was installed on an encrypted volume, resetting the system would cause the volume to crash.
Updated C2 Identity Edge Server to version 1.52.0-0186 to ensure its availability and functionality.
For the models below, you can only download the upgrade patch from Synology Download Center because you won't receive notifications for this update on your DSM.
FS Series: FS3017, FS2017, FS1018
XS Series: RS18016xs+, RS4017xs+, RS3617xs+, RS3617xs, RS3617RPxs, RS18017xs+, DS3617xs, DS3617xsII, DS3018xs
Plus Series: RS2416RP+, RS2416+, DS916+, DS716+II, DS716+, DS216+II, DS216+, DS1817+, DS1517+, RS2818RP+, RS2418RP+, RS2418+, RS818RP+, RS818+, DS1618+, DS918+, DS718+, DS218+, RS1219+
Value Series: DS416, DS416play, DS216, DS216play, DS116, RS816, DS1817, DS1517, RS217, DS418play
J Series: DS416slim, DS416j, DS216j, DS418j, DS218j, DS419slim, DS119j
What’s New
Added support for WriteOnce shared folders. This feature is based on the Write Once, Read Many (WORM) technology and can be enabled to prevent files from being modified, deleted, or renamed for a specified period.
Added support for volume encryption. All volume encryption keys are stored in the Encryption Key Vault, which can be set up on a local Synology NAS or via KMIP on a remote Synology NAS.
Added more Synology NAS models to support M.2 NVMe SSD storage pools. Learn more
Added more Synology NAS models to support the M2D18 adapter card: RS822RP+, RS822+, RS1221RP+, and RS1221+.
Added more SSD cache group management options, including changing the RAID type and replacing a drive.
Added support for inline zero-block removal to increase the efficiency of data deduplication.
Adjusted how drive information is presented in Storage Manager. Users can now quickly check the condition of their drives by looking at the "Drive Status" field.
Users can now view the amount of used and free space for each storage pool and volume in Storage Manager.
Added a warning notification for when the available shared folder quota is low.
Supports deleting individual desktop notifications.
Supports sending DSM notifications via additional webhook providers, including LINE and Microsoft Teams.
Supports creating custom notification rules for system events, giving users greater control over what notifications to receive.
Supports exporting a list of users and of groups.
Added support for SAML to integrate DSM with external SSO servers.
Added the option to allow non-admin users to safely eject USB devices.
Users can now manually input the IP addresses or FQDNs of one or more domain controllers in the trusted domain. This allows Synology NAS to sync domain data directly with the specified domain controllers.
Users can now enable Synology's email server to send DSM notifications directly to their Synology Account.
Added support for Auto Block, which restricts SMB login attempts from abnormal IP addresses.
Fixed Issues
Fixed an issue where adding drives to a JBOD storage pool did not expand its capacity.
Updated Mbed-TLS to version 2.28.2 to fix multiple security vulnerabilities (CVE-2021-36647, CVE-2022-46392, CVE-2022-46393).
Updated Libksba to version 1.6.3 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-3515).
Updated SQLite to version 3.40.0 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-46908).
Updated Certifi to version 2022.12.07 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-23491).
Updated Node.js to version 14.21.1 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-43548).
Updated cURL to version 7.86.0 to fix multiple security vulnerabilities (CVE-2022-27774, CVE-2022-27775, CVE-2022-27776, CVE-2022-27781, CVE-2022-27782, CVE-2022-32205, CVE-2022-32206, CVE-2022-32207, CV E-2022-32221, CVE-2022-35252, CVE-2022-42915, CVE-2022-42916).
Updated PHP to version 8.1.9 to fix multiple security vulnerabilities (CVE-2019-11043, CVE-2021-21705, CVE-2022-31625).
Updated Sysstat to version 12.7.1 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-39377).
Updated OpenSSL to version 3.0.7 to fix multiple security vulnerabilities (CVE-2022-2068, CVE-2022-2097, CVE-2022-2274, CVE-2022-3358, CVE-2022-3602, CVE-2022-3786).
Updated Expat to version 2.5.0 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-43680).
Updated Libtirpc to version 2.87 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2021-46828).
Updated GnuPG to version 2.2.39 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-34903).
Updated OpenVPN to version 2.5.8 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-0547).
Updated libxml2 to version 2.9.14 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-23308).
Updated GMP to version 6.2.1 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2021-43618).
Updated ImageMagick to version 6.9.12-61 to fix multiple security vulnerabilities (CVE-2020-25664, CVE-2020-25665, CVE-2020-25666, CVE-2020-25667, CVE-2020-25674, CVE-2020-25675, CVE-2020-25676, CVE-2020-27560, CVE-2020-27750, CVE-2020-27751, CVE-2020-27752, CVE-2020-27753, CVE-2020-27754, CVE-2020-27755, CVE-2020-27756, CVE-2020-27757, CVE-2020-27758, CVE-2020-27759, CVE-2020-27760, CVE-2020-27761, CVE-2020-27762, CVE-2020-27763, CVE-2020-27764, CVE-2020-27765, CVE-2020-27766, CVE-2020-27767, CVE-2020-27768, CVE-2020-27769, CVE-2020-27770, CVE-2020-27771, CVE-2020-27772, CVE-2020-27773, CVE-2020-27774, CVE-2020-27775, CVE-2020-27776, CVE-2020-29599, CVE-2021-20176, CVE-2021-20224, CVE-2021-20241, CVE-2021-20245, CVE-2021-20246, CVE-2021-20309, CVE-2021-3574, CVE-2021-3596, CVE-2021-39212, CVE-2021-4219, CVE-2022-1114, CVE-2022-1115, CVE-2022-28463, CVE-2022-32545, CVE-2022-32546, CVE-2022-32547).
Updated FFmpeg to version 4.1.9 to fix multiple security vulnerabilities (CVE-2020-20892, CVE-2020-20902, CVE-2020-21688, CVE-2020-21697, CVE-2021-3566, CVE-2021-38114, CVE-2021-38291).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding Netatalk (CVE-2022-45188).
Fixed multiple security vulnerabilities regarding Python3 (CVE-2020-10735, CVE-2021-28861, CVE-2022-45061).
Fixed multiple security vulnerabilities regarding iproute2 (CVE-2022-3527, CVE-2022-3529, CVE-2022-3530).
Fixed multiple security vulnerabilities regarding D-Bus (CVE-2022-42010, CVE-2022-42011, CVE-2022-42012).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding syslog-ng (CVE-2022-38725).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding inetutils (CVE-2022-39028).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding DNSmasq (CVE-2022-0934).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding BusyBox-udhcp (CVE-2019-5747).
Fixed multiple security vulnerabilities regarding Linux Kernel (CVE-2021-22600, CVE-2021-38209, CVE-2021-4037, CVE-2022-0168, CVE-2022-1016, CVE-2022-1729, CVE-2022-1786, CVE-2022-20141, CVE-2022-20368, CVE-2022-2078, CVE-2022-2639, CVE-2022-2905, CVE-2022-29581, CVE-2022-32250, CVE-2022-3524, CVE-2022-3566, CVE-2022-3567, CVE-2022-36879, CVE-2022-36946, CVE-2022-42703).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding Nginx (CVE-2022-3638).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding ghostscript (CVE-2023-28879).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding curl (CVE-2023-23916).
Limitation
S.M.A.R.T. testing for M.2 NVMe SSDs is no longer supported.
Starting from DSM 7.2 Beta, Virtual Machine Manager will no longer support creating clusters with older DSM versions. Please update each host in the cluster to the same DSM version or above versions for the Virtual Machine Manager cluster to operate properly.
Notes:
This version is released in a staged rollout.
submitted by TECbill to synology [link] [comments]
Version: 7.2-64570
(2023-06-08)
Important Note
After installing this update, you will not be able to downgrade to a previous DSM version.
This update will restart your Synology NAS.
Starting from this version, logs for drives will no longer appear in Storage Manager > HDD and will be available only in Log Center.
Removed the "Automatically create port forwarding rules" option from QuickConnect advanced settings to increase network security.
Users can now create a Btrfs volume of up to 1 PB on specific Synology NAS models. This update automatically converts existing volumes that use the Btrfs (Peta Volume) file system to Btrfs. However, to create a volume larger than 200 TB, a RAID 6 storage pool and at least 64 GB of system memory are still required.Learn more
The maximum single volume size supported by RS2423+/RS2423RP+ has been adjusted to 200 TB (with a minimum system memory requirement of 32 GB).
Starting from this version, only Windows Server 2008 R2 and above versions will be supported. After installing this update, the current Windows Server 2008 domain and earlier versions will be unavailable.
This update includes fixes to the below issues mentioned in 7.2-64561:
Fixed an issue where updating to DSM 7.2 might fail if users' Synology NAS weren't connected to the Internet.
Fixed an issue where, when the Encryption Key Vault of encrypted volumes was set on a KMIP server, the system would not be able to auto-unlock these volumes after a restart.
Fixed an issue where, if Web Station was installed on an encrypted volume, resetting the system would cause the volume to crash.
Updated C2 Identity Edge Server to version 1.52.0-0186 to ensure its availability and functionality.
For the models below, you can only download the upgrade patch from Synology Download Center because you won't receive notifications for this update on your DSM.
FS Series: FS3017, FS2017, FS1018
XS Series: RS18016xs+, RS4017xs+, RS3617xs+, RS3617xs, RS3617RPxs, RS18017xs+, DS3617xs, DS3617xsII, DS3018xs
Plus Series: RS2416RP+, RS2416+, DS916+, DS716+II, DS716+, DS216+II, DS216+, DS1817+, DS1517+, RS2818RP+, RS2418RP+, RS2418+, RS818RP+, RS818+, DS1618+, DS918+, DS718+, DS218+, RS1219+
Value Series: DS416, DS416play, DS216, DS216play, DS116, RS816, DS1817, DS1517, RS217, DS418play
J Series: DS416slim, DS416j, DS216j, DS418j, DS218j, DS419slim, DS119j
What’s New
Added support for WriteOnce shared folders. This feature is based on the Write Once, Read Many (WORM) technology and can be enabled to prevent files from being modified, deleted, or renamed for a specified period.
Added support for volume encryption. All volume encryption keys are stored in the Encryption Key Vault, which can be set up on a local Synology NAS or via KMIP on a remote Synology NAS.
Added more Synology NAS models to support M.2 NVMe SSD storage pools. Learn more
Added more Synology NAS models to support the M2D18 adapter card: RS822RP+, RS822+, RS1221RP+, and RS1221+.
Added more SSD cache group management options, including changing the RAID type and replacing a drive.
Added support for inline zero-block removal to increase the efficiency of data deduplication.
Adjusted how drive information is presented in Storage Manager. Users can now quickly check the condition of their drives by looking at the "Drive Status" field.
Users can now view the amount of used and free space for each storage pool and volume in Storage Manager.
Added a warning notification for when the available shared folder quota is low.
Supports deleting individual desktop notifications.
Supports sending DSM notifications via additional webhook providers, including LINE and Microsoft Teams.
Supports creating custom notification rules for system events, giving users greater control over what notifications to receive.
Supports exporting a list of users and of groups.
Added support for SAML to integrate DSM with external SSO servers.
Added the option to allow non-admin users to safely eject USB devices.
Users can now manually input the IP addresses or FQDNs of one or more domain controllers in the trusted domain. This allows Synology NAS to sync domain data directly with the specified domain controllers.
Users can now enable Synology's email server to send DSM notifications directly to their Synology Account.
Added support for Auto Block, which restricts SMB login attempts from abnormal IP addresses.
Fixed Issues
Fixed an issue where adding drives to a JBOD storage pool did not expand its capacity.
Updated Mbed-TLS to version 2.28.2 to fix multiple security vulnerabilities (CVE-2021-36647, CVE-2022-46392, CVE-2022-46393).
Updated Libksba to version 1.6.3 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-3515).
Updated SQLite to version 3.40.0 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-46908).
Updated Certifi to version 2022.12.07 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-23491).
Updated Node.js to version 14.21.1 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-43548).
Updated cURL to version 7.86.0 to fix multiple security vulnerabilities (CVE-2022-27774, CVE-2022-27775, CVE-2022-27776, CVE-2022-27781, CVE-2022-27782, CVE-2022-32205, CVE-2022-32206, CVE-2022-32207, CV E-2022-32221, CVE-2022-35252, CVE-2022-42915, CVE-2022-42916).
Updated PHP to version 8.1.9 to fix multiple security vulnerabilities (CVE-2019-11043, CVE-2021-21705, CVE-2022-31625).
Updated Sysstat to version 12.7.1 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-39377).
Updated OpenSSL to version 3.0.7 to fix multiple security vulnerabilities (CVE-2022-2068, CVE-2022-2097, CVE-2022-2274, CVE-2022-3358, CVE-2022-3602, CVE-2022-3786).
Updated Expat to version 2.5.0 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-43680).
Updated Libtirpc to version 2.87 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2021-46828).
Updated GnuPG to version 2.2.39 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-34903).
Updated OpenVPN to version 2.5.8 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-0547).
Updated libxml2 to version 2.9.14 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2022-23308).
Updated GMP to version 6.2.1 to fix a security vulnerability (CVE-2021-43618).
Updated ImageMagick to version 6.9.12-61 to fix multiple security vulnerabilities (CVE-2020-25664, CVE-2020-25665, CVE-2020-25666, CVE-2020-25667, CVE-2020-25674, CVE-2020-25675, CVE-2020-25676, CVE-2020-27560, CVE-2020-27750, CVE-2020-27751, CVE-2020-27752, CVE-2020-27753, CVE-2020-27754, CVE-2020-27755, CVE-2020-27756, CVE-2020-27757, CVE-2020-27758, CVE-2020-27759, CVE-2020-27760, CVE-2020-27761, CVE-2020-27762, CVE-2020-27763, CVE-2020-27764, CVE-2020-27765, CVE-2020-27766, CVE-2020-27767, CVE-2020-27768, CVE-2020-27769, CVE-2020-27770, CVE-2020-27771, CVE-2020-27772, CVE-2020-27773, CVE-2020-27774, CVE-2020-27775, CVE-2020-27776, CVE-2020-29599, CVE-2021-20176, CVE-2021-20224, CVE-2021-20241, CVE-2021-20245, CVE-2021-20246, CVE-2021-20309, CVE-2021-3574, CVE-2021-3596, CVE-2021-39212, CVE-2021-4219, CVE-2022-1114, CVE-2022-1115, CVE-2022-28463, CVE-2022-32545, CVE-2022-32546, CVE-2022-32547).
Updated FFmpeg to version 4.1.9 to fix multiple security vulnerabilities (CVE-2020-20892, CVE-2020-20902, CVE-2020-21688, CVE-2020-21697, CVE-2021-3566, CVE-2021-38114, CVE-2021-38291).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding Netatalk (CVE-2022-45188).
Fixed multiple security vulnerabilities regarding Python3 (CVE-2020-10735, CVE-2021-28861, CVE-2022-45061).
Fixed multiple security vulnerabilities regarding iproute2 (CVE-2022-3527, CVE-2022-3529, CVE-2022-3530).
Fixed multiple security vulnerabilities regarding D-Bus (CVE-2022-42010, CVE-2022-42011, CVE-2022-42012).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding syslog-ng (CVE-2022-38725).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding inetutils (CVE-2022-39028).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding DNSmasq (CVE-2022-0934).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding BusyBox-udhcp (CVE-2019-5747).
Fixed multiple security vulnerabilities regarding Linux Kernel (CVE-2021-22600, CVE-2021-38209, CVE-2021-4037, CVE-2022-0168, CVE-2022-1016, CVE-2022-1729, CVE-2022-1786, CVE-2022-20141, CVE-2022-20368, CVE-2022-2078, CVE-2022-2639, CVE-2022-2905, CVE-2022-29581, CVE-2022-32250, CVE-2022-3524, CVE-2022-3566, CVE-2022-3567, CVE-2022-36879, CVE-2022-36946, CVE-2022-42703).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding Nginx (CVE-2022-3638).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding ghostscript (CVE-2023-28879).
Fixed a security vulnerability regarding curl (CVE-2023-23916).
Limitation
S.M.A.R.T. testing for M.2 NVMe SSDs is no longer supported.
Starting from DSM 7.2 Beta, Virtual Machine Manager will no longer support creating clusters with older DSM versions. Please update each host in the cluster to the same DSM version or above versions for the Virtual Machine Manager cluster to operate properly.
Notes:
This version is released in a staged rollout.
2023.06.08 10:07 thestockartist I (31M) kissed her (28F) on our fourth date and even though we still communicate every day, I feel she's a bit more distant than before.
Hey guys, me and this girl are both in our late 20s and have known each other for almost 3 years. We met on a dating app a long time ago and even though we hung out a few times, things didn’t really pan out. We kept in touch here and there, but it wasn’t until about 5 months ago that we reconnected and have been talking basically non-stop since then. 3 months ago we went on our real first date and have had a few more since then. We talk every day, our convos are usually text message. Don’t really call each other, but we will send voice messages sometimes. She is pretty busy with her job during the week and I run multiple businesses. She’s Asian, has only been in the US for 6 years, slightly on the conservative side, and a little nerdy as she works in tech. For whatever reason I think she’s beautiful on the outside and inside and am quite attracted to her. After our first date, our text convos became more detailed and exciting. We would share everything and ask questions to learn about each other, use hugs and kiss emojis, etc etc. We have a pet name for each other and say good morning and good night everyday without fail. Even if some days we are too busy to get back to each other, one of us always texts good night. You know how it goes. If you read our history of messages, you would think “they are definitely into each other”. Anyway, we just had our 4th date in the last 3 months. It’s been about a week and a half since then. The last two times we met up, we held hands during some portions of our time together. I wanted to kiss her on the third date since I saw all the signs, but I wussed out and instead gave her a kiss on the cheek, which she reciprocated back to me. After the 4th date, I dropped her off and we were sitting in my car just talking and laughing about stuff for 30 minutes. I grabbed some gum and started chewing it and she saw me and did the same. She started holding my hand and I said we should go home it’s late and went in for a hug. As I hugged her I slowly moved my lips to hers. She hesitated a bit so I pulled back and said “I’ve been wanting to kiss you for a while, is that okay?” She said yes. So I went back in for the kiss, our lips barely touched for 2 seconds when she pulls back and says “oh I almost forgot I got you something, let me grab it from upstairs, just wait in your car for 5 minutes.” so she leaves to grab the gift. I’m sitting there confused like did I do something wrong? It definitely wasn’t my breath cause I take care of my shit, not to mention I used mouthwash after dinner and chewed gum all day even up until I kissed her. So she comes back down to my drivers side door, I step outside, she hands me my gift. It wasn’t anything extravagant or wrapped up. Just a little kitchen gadget she bought two of and wanted to give me one. I thanked her and we hugged. Thought about maybe trying to kiss her again, but I still felt kind of awkward. Our hug lasted for almost 2 minutes though! We just didn’t let go of each other. It felt really nice. Once we pulled apart, she told me I smelled really good. After that, I get in my car to leave. My window was open so she starts holding my hand through the window and slowly lets go before saying bye almost like she didn’t want to. And that was that. The issue I’m having is that she’s being a bit more distant in our messages. Taking longer to respond, not bringing up as many topics. She will still share photos of food and send random videos and stuff, but it doesn’t feel as engaging as it was before the last date. This past week and a half I have noticed this behavior. She will still always text good morning and good night with the hearts and kiss emojis and use our pet names, but some days we only share a few texts back and forth in between. Sometimes I’ll bring up a topic and her response will be super short compared to mine. She also compliments me less. Mainly I’ve noticed that sometimes she won’t respond for 4-8 hours, though she always does. This started happening literally the next day after our date. It’s not like really bad since we still connect with each other every day, but there is definitely a difference or else I wouldn’t be asking for advice here. The first few days I pretended everything was fine and was still being my usual self. We didn’t talk about the kiss at all. Then I just started mirroring her because I didn’t want to come off as needy or desperate. Once I did that a few times, I’d get a double text from her. Or I would just get a goodnight text before she went to sleep. So what gives? I’m confused. Is she still interested? Is she playing hard to get? You think she’s just busy? Does she want me to chase her? Does she want me to ask her on another date again? I’d love to see her more than every 3 weeks, but I don’t wanna come off as needy or pushy since we are both busy people. Maybe since she’s foreign and a bit conservative, that was her first kiss and she feels confused herself about trusting me and wants to take it slow? Even if that’s the case, I don’t mind at all. I’m into her a lot and would be as patient as she wants. Maybe she didn’t want to kiss and felt I forced it? But she also gave me an affectionate and long hug afterwards and held my hand like it was a romance movie. What do y’all think? I know this is getting long, but I’m almost done. Some more context here. She never expects me or asks me to pay on dates. She tries to pay every time, even though I always say no and insist I will and would be happy to do so. On our last date, she paid the check while I was in the bathroom and I didn’t realize it until I came back. She’s a good woman for sure. And lastly, on Sunday after we texted good morning, she mentioned what she was doing that day and going shopping. I responded back and said that I need to buy a new shirt but maybe next week since I was busy that day. She didn’t respond back until midnight, but to her credit she did reply to each thing I had mentioned before she said goodnight. Referring to the shirt, she said “definitely show me the new shirt! Or we can go together if possible”. I got back to her in the morning and said that yeah I’d really like that. Didn’t ask her formally yet but planning to do so tomorrow. Here is what I had in mind: “Kimmy, how do you feel about Sunday? You can help me pick out a new shirt and maybe some new sunglasses. We can also go check out the Buddhist temple you mentioned last week. I’ve never seen one in person before. Something else that has been on my mind. I hope I didn’t make you feel weird or awkward when I kissed you that other night. I was quite nervous. And you looked so cute and pretty as you always do. I did it with good intentions and because I felt something special with you. I really like spending time with you, exploring new places together, and learning more about each other. I’m not the type of person to move fast with this kind of things, so if you ever feel weird, you can tell me “no” and I promise I won’t take it personally. I just wanted to communicate it to you since it has been on my mind. I feel it’s important to be open, especially since I care about you a lot.” If you read all that, you’re awesome and I could really use some advice. What should I do? Am I just worrying for no reason here? Should I talk about the kiss when asking her to get together on the weekend? Should I bring it up in person? Or even at all? TLDR: Talking with a girl every day for 5 months, started taking it more serious 3 months ago. We clearly like each other and have been on multiple dates. She’s foreign and a bit conservative. A bit nerdy too as she works in tech. I am a business owneentrepreneur. Every previous date has been great and fun and we had our 4th date recently and when I tried kissing her in the car after dropping her off, she pulled back a bit so then I asked if it was okay to kiss her? She said yes, so I kissed her, we barely touched lips for 2 seconds when she pulls back and says she has a gift for me and runs upstairs to get it. As I sit there awkwardly confused, she comes back, gives me a small gift, we hug. Hug is super tight and lasts for almost 2 minutes, just holding each other and not letting go. Didn’t try kissing her again. As I’m about to leave she holds my hand for a few seconds before letting go slowly and saying bye. Up until that night our conversations have always been very engaging and she’s pretty quick to reply. We always say good night and good morning every day without fail and use pet names and hearts and kiss emojis. Next day after date and for this past week and a half, she’s less engaging in convos. Doesn’t text back as quick - sometimes 4-8 hours, doesn’t reply as detailed, and won’t initiate as much as she used to. But she still mentioned a few days ago that we should hang out. It’s not all bad because we still talk every day and she says good night and good morning the same way every day with the hearts and kisses. But I feel it’s different. What do you think and what should I do?
submitted by thestockartist to relationships [link] [comments]
2023.06.08 10:06 DiscoParka Help needed with BCS Requirements Engineering
I'm a fairly new Business Analyst and am working on getting the BCS International Diploma. I unfortunately failed my exam for the BCS Certificate in Requirements Engineering yesterday which has knocked my confidence quite a bit as I thought I was doing quite well. Faced with expensive re-sit costs I want to be 100% certain I'll pass the re-sit but I'm concerned now because I failed and becasue I felt that a lot of the questions were slightly ambiguous (ironically) and some of the content wasn't really covered in the course I took.
Are there any recommended materials to help me pass the exam, such as revision guides/notes and sample papers? I do have a couple of sample papers that were included in my course documents but I'd gladly have as many as I can get to practice and get better at spotting the actual differences between answers so that it seems less ambiguous to me.
submitted by DiscoParka to businessanalyst [link] [comments]
Are there any recommended materials to help me pass the exam, such as revision guides/notes and sample papers? I do have a couple of sample papers that were included in my course documents but I'd gladly have as many as I can get to practice and get better at spotting the actual differences between answers so that it seems less ambiguous to me.
2023.06.08 10:02 aceandspades Please help.
I have an exam on the 12th, and I don't think I will pass sadly due to the amount of content and personal issues. My 50% as of now is 71.5/100, and the final exam is worth 50%. If I fail the exam do I still have a shot at passing the unit due to my other assessments being a pass? Thank you for any help, I'm stressing. This is for LQB187.
submitted by aceandspades to QUTreddit [link] [comments]
2023.06.08 10:01 Ecapvape Simple guide towards e-cigarette purchase
 | The world of vaping is exciting, but with constantly evolving technology, it can sometimes be a little confusing for new vapers. Understanding your e-cigarette is significant. Your first puffs will enormously influence how you consider vaping. In this beginner’s purchase guide, you’ll find all of the information you need to have a great first experience. submitted by Ecapvape to u/Ecapvape [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/q4hvd0173r4b1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=48ab2c1f8697f274a4df8a0d06a88f6ba3c75ad2 Warning: E-cigarette are not recommended for non-smokers and cannot be sold to people under 18 years old. Your smoking habits will dictate what type of e-cigarette you need. If you are a heavy smoker, your vaping device will need long battery life and good nicotine delivery. 1.The strength of Nicotine The first component is nicotine. Not all e-liquids contain nicotine but for most people trying to transition from smoking, this is very important. Choosing the right nicotine strength will vary from person to person, but here’s a broad guideline depending on your smoking habits: Using too low a strength is a key reason why some smokers fail to switch to vaping. It’s important to use a strong enough nicotine strength to curb cravings. Once you have stopped smoking, and are confident you won’t revert, you can always reduce your nicotine strength in the future. Vaping allows you to inhale nicotine by heating the e-liquid to produce vapor. Depending on your previous smoking habits, choosing the right nicotine strength in your e-liquid is essential to enjoy a satisfying vaping experience. 2.The Ceramic Mesh Coil techonology https://preview.redd.it/qx7al1hs3r4b1.jpg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=85f6d669f4ca650a68a0b8b95a9a0dc4cf106881 In fact, the most important advantage is stablity and durability, which is also the reason why ceramic core is popular these days. Ceramic core doesn’t automatically dry burn because of overload power! Moreover, the ceramic atomizition core is more smooth than the cotton core. Ceramic mesh coil will never cause paste core. There is almost a whole process stability in the case of constant voltage. Besides, It is no taste difference by using ceramic core. 3.Budget For new vapors, it is not suggested that buy products at high price at the very beginning, you can start from the entry-level e-cigarettes, then generally find your favorite and most suitable one. As mention above, If you are still puzzled with e-cigarette, might as well click the link ecapvape to have an inspiration on Ecaptech or exeekvapeto start your first vaping journey. Don’t forget to follow us as more useful information referring to e-cigarette is waiting to be unlocked... |
2023.06.08 09:57 Ipod732 25 [M4F] California - A Definitive Advertisement To Find That Someone
Hello! I've posted here on r4r a handful of times now and I wanted to try and write up a more definitive ad. Every time I've written up a new one it contained new information or less information than a previous post so, I'm going to try and compile it all into one master post. That way everything there is to decide whether you'd like to message me is easily available and accessible to you without having to dig around a dozen other posts.
Now that the "prologue" is out of the way let's jump into why you're here and what it is I'm looking for.
Who Am I?
A woman who I can meet, befriend, love, marry, have kids, and grow old with. I'm a hopeless romantic, I guess lol. It would go in that order and as for the timeline, that's for fate to decide.
Age - Ideally 21+, but will accept as long as you're 18+. Ideal age range 21-30. If you're slightly older or slightly younger that's fine too. +/- 7 is the general rule of thumb.
Looks - Personality beats looks, but attraction is still important. I don't have a type per se. Don't really care about race/ethnicity. I'm trying to work on my weight myself so I rather not cast a stone at a glass house, but proportionality is something I find attractive. A gym partner or someone who can help me with my weight would also be appreciated(we can run together or go hike, etc.)
Personality - I find that sometimes when I'm not attracted to a person , their personality attracts me to them. Personality can elevate a 5 to a 10 or reduce a 10 to a 1 instantly. All I ask is that you're intelligent(a woman who can think for herself, articulate her thoughts, and is able to challenge me when I'm wrong), kind, communicative(communication is key in any relationship), and is sociable(don't need to be extroverted, just able to socialize when the situation calls for it).
Location - In California, looking to move to California, or willing to relocate (a hard ask considering everyone is leaving California lol). For the foreseeable future, I'm stuck here for work and family. Maybe someday I'll have a nice plot of land in the middle of nowhere and can live off the fatta the land with some rabbits. If you read the post and know the book, you got the reference.
What can I Give You?
Tea - As I mentioned before, I'll brew you tea and sometimes I might have a good story to tell over tea lol.
Laughter - I have a contagious laugh and I enjoy joking around. I laugh at most things so it's not too hard to elicit a laugh from me which might get you laughing too.
Adventure - I like visiting new places with friends or a companion so as long as you desire it, we can always adventure out to new places. Whether it's a beach, a new city, a forest, mountain, you name it, we can go.
Optimism - I have a generally happy-go-lucky attitude with life and I'll be happy to reassure you life is good and things will be fine. And if you need the opposite with harsh realism, ask and you shall receive lol.
Hygiene - I do my best to keep myself clean. I also wash my own dishes. I try to keep my home clean, but it's a bit difficult when you're never home. I bought my first condo in 2021 and now I understand why people rent. It's difficult to maintain everything and expensive. And on top of all that you gotta keep it clean even when you're not home.
Attention - As much as you desire. I enjoy people and having someone around all the time is fine by me. I also don't mind some alone time and lawyer stuff can be a bit time-consuming.
Food - I can't cook, but I'll try. I tried to make sushi and failed two weekends ago. Rice was too sticky and too hot. Also the sashimi refused to thaw no matter how long I waited(was well over 12 hours...) But wrapping it was actually easier than I expected just not evenly distributed along the roll.
I think that covered everything I needed to add or wanted to add in here. If I come up with more I'll be updating this master ad over time. Feel free to message me or use the chat feature. Also if you like we can move to Discord, feel free to ask for it. Attached is a photo of me as well. Thanks for bearing through this long post. And if you didn't read it all, that's fine. It's too damn long.
https://imgur.com/a/GgHS6Iu
submitted by Ipod732 to r4r [link] [comments]
Now that the "prologue" is out of the way let's jump into why you're here and what it is I'm looking for.
Who Am I?
- Future Lawyer - Currently working as a Student Attorney this Summer at my school's legal clinic before my final year of law school. Will probably be taking the Bar July of 2024. I'm not sure as to what kind of law I'll be doing as a full fledged lawyer, but I know I intend to practice here in California. I'm working in Sacramento.
- Philosopher - I got my BA in Philosophy from UC Berkeley. I've always enjoyed philosophical discussion and occasionally write philosophical pieces. I was always into the classical Greek philosophers; Socrates/Plato and Aristotle. If you ever need a deep conversation we can delve into the depths of any subject.
- ENTJ/Leo - For those that enjoy Horoscopes or Myers Briggs tests. I'm an extrovert. I enjoy people and being alone is draining for me. I'm a bit shy and anxious at first, but once I'm comfortable that all goes away.
- Muslim - I know religion can be a big deal for some people, but I don't ask that anyone hold similar religious views as me. As long as we both value humanity, family, and general goodness, a difference in religion shouldn't be an issue. As a Muslim I don't drink and I don't eat pork. I don't care if you do. I'm not the best at praying (it's something I should fix) and I don't do the prayers (I generally just recite prayers to myself without doing the ritual aspects). I do fast during Ramadan.
- Drug Free - I also refrain from smoking and doing drugs. I just ask that if you do any drugs it's no more than weed, but ideally you don't smoke. I just don't like the smell lol and it sets me into a coughing fit if I'm around people that are smoking.
- Writer - I enjoy writing if you couldn't tell from the absurd length of this post. I apologize in advance. I write short stories, philosophy, political opinion, and whatever else comes to mind when I feel inspired.
- Traveler - I've traveled to a handful of places and there are a handful more I'd like to complete. I've been to Italy, Ireland(for a day), Austria, Hungary, Germany, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan
- Mythology - Especially Greek mythology which I'm more acquainted with. My favorite myth is Orpheus or as some know it from the play Eurydice which I have yet to see or read. Also love the myth of Sysiphus hauling the giant boulder up and the one about Prometheus stealing fire for mankind.
- Literature - I try and read on occasion. Haven't been too successful. The last book I completed was last winter and that was Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers. Trying to get through Homer's Iliad at the moment before jumping to Homer's Odyssey. Some of my favorite books include: Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Rand's Atlas Shrugged, Tolkien's The Hobbit, Luo Guanzhong's Romance of Three Kingdoms, and lots more.
- Gaming - PC Gamer, but do own consoles like the Switch, 360, PS4. I just bought a Gameboy Advance SP to play some old Pokemon games. I have a Gameboy Advance, but it doesn't have the light and the battery exploded inside it, rip...
- Movies/Shows - I love films. I watch a lot of foreign stuff too like Kdramas, Chinese, Japanese, language doesn't matter as long as it's good and it has subtitles for me to read. My favorite film of all time is The Godfather. Some of my favorite shows include Game of Thrones(prior to season 8 of course), Better Call Saul, South Park, Rick and Morty, Criminal Minds(before they changed the whole cast), and plenty more.
- Anime - I could've put the animated cartoons in here too, but I'm currently watching Dr. Stone. Some of my favorites include: Steins;Gate, Kaiji, Legend of the Galactic Heroes(the original although the new one is alright), Death Note, and plenty more.
- Comedy - Love a good comedy show. I've been to a few clubs, the Ice House down in Pasadena, the Laugh Factory in Vegas, and Cobbs in San Francisco.
- Sports - Big fan of Soccer. Watch the Premier League when I get the chance and try and keep up. Man United fan. Also enjoy going to Sacramento Republic games. Football is cool too, 49ers. Watch Basketball on the rare occasion as well, Sacramento Kings.
- Music - Rock and Metal fan. Going to be seeing Nickelback in July and I want to see Disturbed in July as well, but have no one to go with, rip. Some of my favorite bands include: Green Day(who I got to see live alongside Weezer and Fall Out Boy), Rise Against, Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed, and a handful of others. My music tastes can be a bit eclectic, but rock and metal is my go to.
- Tea - I'll definitely brew you some tea someday. I enjoy black tea for the most part. I order loose-leaf tea online. I enjoy Assam, Darjeerling, Oolong, Pu-erh, Keemun, Earl Grey, and more.
- Museums - A big fan of history so I enjoy going to museums and looking at old things. Love Renaissance/Enlightenment period artwork. Just about any kind of museum is cool. I love learning new things.
- Going out in General - Whether it's hiking in nature among the redwoods, going to a bar, dancing at a club/bar, eating out, or bowling with friends. I'm good for just about anywhere as I like getting out of the house.
- Homebody - As much as I enjoy going out and exploring new places, sometimes I need a break from adventure and enjoy relaxing at home. Play some board games.
- DnD - I'm relatively new to it, but I'm DMing currently for a group of friends that I played my first campaign with. Been playing around two years now if not three (a bit on and off due to scheduling conflicts).
A woman who I can meet, befriend, love, marry, have kids, and grow old with. I'm a hopeless romantic, I guess lol. It would go in that order and as for the timeline, that's for fate to decide.
Age - Ideally 21+, but will accept as long as you're 18+. Ideal age range 21-30. If you're slightly older or slightly younger that's fine too. +/- 7 is the general rule of thumb.
Looks - Personality beats looks, but attraction is still important. I don't have a type per se. Don't really care about race/ethnicity. I'm trying to work on my weight myself so I rather not cast a stone at a glass house, but proportionality is something I find attractive. A gym partner or someone who can help me with my weight would also be appreciated(we can run together or go hike, etc.)
Personality - I find that sometimes when I'm not attracted to a person , their personality attracts me to them. Personality can elevate a 5 to a 10 or reduce a 10 to a 1 instantly. All I ask is that you're intelligent(a woman who can think for herself, articulate her thoughts, and is able to challenge me when I'm wrong), kind, communicative(communication is key in any relationship), and is sociable(don't need to be extroverted, just able to socialize when the situation calls for it).
Location - In California, looking to move to California, or willing to relocate (a hard ask considering everyone is leaving California lol). For the foreseeable future, I'm stuck here for work and family. Maybe someday I'll have a nice plot of land in the middle of nowhere and can live off the fatta the land with some rabbits. If you read the post and know the book, you got the reference.
What can I Give You?
Tea - As I mentioned before, I'll brew you tea and sometimes I might have a good story to tell over tea lol.
Laughter - I have a contagious laugh and I enjoy joking around. I laugh at most things so it's not too hard to elicit a laugh from me which might get you laughing too.
Adventure - I like visiting new places with friends or a companion so as long as you desire it, we can always adventure out to new places. Whether it's a beach, a new city, a forest, mountain, you name it, we can go.
Optimism - I have a generally happy-go-lucky attitude with life and I'll be happy to reassure you life is good and things will be fine. And if you need the opposite with harsh realism, ask and you shall receive lol.
Hygiene - I do my best to keep myself clean. I also wash my own dishes. I try to keep my home clean, but it's a bit difficult when you're never home. I bought my first condo in 2021 and now I understand why people rent. It's difficult to maintain everything and expensive. And on top of all that you gotta keep it clean even when you're not home.
Attention - As much as you desire. I enjoy people and having someone around all the time is fine by me. I also don't mind some alone time and lawyer stuff can be a bit time-consuming.
Food - I can't cook, but I'll try. I tried to make sushi and failed two weekends ago. Rice was too sticky and too hot. Also the sashimi refused to thaw no matter how long I waited(was well over 12 hours...) But wrapping it was actually easier than I expected just not evenly distributed along the roll.
I think that covered everything I needed to add or wanted to add in here. If I come up with more I'll be updating this master ad over time. Feel free to message me or use the chat feature. Also if you like we can move to Discord, feel free to ask for it. Attached is a photo of me as well. Thanks for bearing through this long post. And if you didn't read it all, that's fine. It's too damn long.
https://imgur.com/a/GgHS6Iu
2023.06.08 09:57 deegoodmusic RCBC Card delivery Failed
I have been waiting for my card to get delivered, mag one month na sa kakahintay. Ive been calling them kc may nrcv ako na failed ang delivery twice. They wont give me a tracking number , how can i make a follow up?
salary of 150T magkano kaya pwede ma credit limit?
submitted by deegoodmusic to PHCreditCards [link] [comments]
salary of 150T magkano kaya pwede ma credit limit?
2023.06.08 09:55 noxnoctum Thank you for the advice on classification for the CBLE
I failed the Oct '22 exam but passed this most recent one and I have to thank several of you who suggested focusing on reading the section/chapter notes and being highly suspicious of "obvious" looking answers based on heading names etc. I "ran out of time" on both tests - I wanted to have 2 hours just for classification which I was able to reach for 4-5 of the old exams - I ended up with 30 min for Oct '22 and 45 in April '23 BUT but I changed strategies for April '23.
Whereas the first time around I just yolo'ed it off the headings only and answered all of them "in full" after spending 2-3 minutes on each, this time I opted to spend my entire remaining time on 5 questions only but read every single relevant section and chapter note for every possible answer. For the rest, I simply guessed blind and wrapped them up in 2 minutes at the very end.
This proved decisive, I did significantly better on that part of the exam, and would have definitely failed the exam overall otherwise.
submitted by noxnoctum to CustomsBroker [link] [comments]
Whereas the first time around I just yolo'ed it off the headings only and answered all of them "in full" after spending 2-3 minutes on each, this time I opted to spend my entire remaining time on 5 questions only but read every single relevant section and chapter note for every possible answer. For the rest, I simply guessed blind and wrapped them up in 2 minutes at the very end.
This proved decisive, I did significantly better on that part of the exam, and would have definitely failed the exam overall otherwise.
2023.06.08 09:54 johny_james Doctors don't know what it is? PCR (not present in my country), stool culture (which found CDiff) and Toxin A+B test (2 times negative), CRP low, Calprotectin low, Bristol stool type 5,6 and sometimes normal stool, symptoms are getting slightly better with the usage of probiotic Visbioime
Summary:
PCR (not present in my country), stool culture (which found CDiff) and Toxin A+B test (2 times negative), CRP low, Calprotectin low, negative for other bacteria and viruses.
Doctors don't think is Cdiff with this overall image, but can't tell what is it.
On and off Symptoms: Bristol stool type 5,6 and sometimes normal stool, symptoms are getting slightly better with usage of probiotic Visbioime, low-grade fever, occasional muscle fatigue,stomach pain, this is going for 2 months nearly with one 2-3 week symptom free period.
25M.
Had IBS previously but it was getting way better by taking some supplements.
6 weeks ago I had stomach infection which lasted 2 weeks. Doctors did not find the cause of it.
Since then a lot of things changed for me in my life. A ton of other symptoms appered.
So the infection started with extreme stomach pain and bloating, I had bloating in the past, but this was not comparable at all.
The first day I had watery diarrhea 4-5 times going to toilet, also had 38.0 °C fever.
I took ibuprofen and paracetamol and the first it was extremely varying (37.5 - 38.0).
Weirdly enough, the other days, the fever was coming only at night
After the second day of diarrhea, I started caloric restriction because I could not endure the stomach bloating and pain. I was having 1 meal a day, and ofc the weight started to go down.
The Diarrhea was like 4-5 days with low grade fever (37.5-37.8), muscle and joint pain, abdominal bloating and pain, small white coating on tongue (which doctors suggested because of dehydration but I was drinking like crazy (electrolytes and what not)), a bit red throat, my phyisican said that I should wait for my immune system to fight off the infection.
I had 2 blood tests, a lot of parameters tested and all came in the range, CRP was also low
I was only taking Vitamin D3 5000UI, Vitamin K2, Vitamin C 500mg, basically vitamin therapy.
After 1 week dealing with this, I scheduled a visit to a infectiologist in a private hospital.
They tested me for Covid tests, blood tests for electrolytes, conventional culture test.
Conventional culture found C. Diff present. The doctor suggested me to go on a BRAT diet and gave me this strong Probiotic
BTW the second week the fever was still fluctuating (37.4 - 37.5), but as I mentioned was going down a lot of times, after nearly 2 weeks of caloric restriction and a BRAT diet, I started having periods of fatigue
At the end of the second week, all the symptoms were gone, the fever was gone, only the muscle fatigue was present for 2-3 days.
And all my symptoms were resolved, but the real mystery is after this 2 week infection.
I started having floating stools with pain at some days (like 1 day a week), I was using L-glutamine which managed some of the IBS symtoms. I started experencing heart palpitations quite regularly, I had palpitations before, but after the infection they are more frequent.
Symptoms were not present, I got back to university, and other sport activities, another thing that appeared was becoming very sleepy after meals, which was a thing I never had before, I always had to take a nap after bigger meals.
And after 1 month of going kind of smoothly, I again got a fever (37.5) and frequent stools (4-5 times a day), this was going around for 2-3 days, I started the above probiotic, and the fever went away, some of the symptoms re-appeared like the small white tongue coating and the new symptom was muscle soreness**(not pain but some of the muscles especially biceps, triceps and calves were just sore and some feeling of muscle stressed).**
After 1.5 week, I again went to the infectiologist, and she mentioned to me that I should not worry, that it will go away, I tested for C.diff toxin A+B which came negative, blood tests were fine.
The Doctor suggested now to use S. Boulardi as a stronger probiotic alternative.
And said that it helps for C. diff infections.
Also mentioned to use this immune supporting product (beta-glucans, fermented yeast cells, vitamins).
I have not started using the above, but today I had 4 stools and 1 watery diarrhea.
Do you guys have any suggestions, since I don't know how to continue with this problem.
Which direction should I take with the doctors to focus?
submitted by johny_james to DiagnoseMe [link] [comments]
PCR (not present in my country), stool culture (which found CDiff) and Toxin A+B test (2 times negative), CRP low, Calprotectin low, negative for other bacteria and viruses.
Doctors don't think is Cdiff with this overall image, but can't tell what is it.
On and off Symptoms: Bristol stool type 5,6 and sometimes normal stool, symptoms are getting slightly better with usage of probiotic Visbioime, low-grade fever, occasional muscle fatigue,stomach pain, this is going for 2 months nearly with one 2-3 week symptom free period.
25M.
Had IBS previously but it was getting way better by taking some supplements.
6 weeks ago I had stomach infection which lasted 2 weeks. Doctors did not find the cause of it.
Since then a lot of things changed for me in my life. A ton of other symptoms appered.
So the infection started with extreme stomach pain and bloating, I had bloating in the past, but this was not comparable at all.
The first day I had watery diarrhea 4-5 times going to toilet, also had 38.0 °C fever.
I took ibuprofen and paracetamol and the first it was extremely varying (37.5 - 38.0).
Weirdly enough, the other days, the fever was coming only at night
After the second day of diarrhea, I started caloric restriction because I could not endure the stomach bloating and pain. I was having 1 meal a day, and ofc the weight started to go down.
The Diarrhea was like 4-5 days with low grade fever (37.5-37.8), muscle and joint pain, abdominal bloating and pain, small white coating on tongue (which doctors suggested because of dehydration but I was drinking like crazy (electrolytes and what not)), a bit red throat, my phyisican said that I should wait for my immune system to fight off the infection.
I had 2 blood tests, a lot of parameters tested and all came in the range, CRP was also low
I was only taking Vitamin D3 5000UI, Vitamin K2, Vitamin C 500mg, basically vitamin therapy.
After 1 week dealing with this, I scheduled a visit to a infectiologist in a private hospital.
They tested me for Covid tests, blood tests for electrolytes, conventional culture test.
Conventional culture found C. Diff present. The doctor suggested me to go on a BRAT diet and gave me this strong Probiotic
BTW the second week the fever was still fluctuating (37.4 - 37.5), but as I mentioned was going down a lot of times, after nearly 2 weeks of caloric restriction and a BRAT diet, I started having periods of fatigue
At the end of the second week, all the symptoms were gone, the fever was gone, only the muscle fatigue was present for 2-3 days.
And all my symptoms were resolved, but the real mystery is after this 2 week infection.
I started having floating stools with pain at some days (like 1 day a week), I was using L-glutamine which managed some of the IBS symtoms. I started experencing heart palpitations quite regularly, I had palpitations before, but after the infection they are more frequent.
Symptoms were not present, I got back to university, and other sport activities, another thing that appeared was becoming very sleepy after meals, which was a thing I never had before, I always had to take a nap after bigger meals.
And after 1 month of going kind of smoothly, I again got a fever (37.5) and frequent stools (4-5 times a day), this was going around for 2-3 days, I started the above probiotic, and the fever went away, some of the symptoms re-appeared like the small white tongue coating and the new symptom was muscle soreness**(not pain but some of the muscles especially biceps, triceps and calves were just sore and some feeling of muscle stressed).**
After 1.5 week, I again went to the infectiologist, and she mentioned to me that I should not worry, that it will go away, I tested for C.diff toxin A+B which came negative, blood tests were fine.
The Doctor suggested now to use S. Boulardi as a stronger probiotic alternative.
And said that it helps for C. diff infections.
Also mentioned to use this immune supporting product (beta-glucans, fermented yeast cells, vitamins).
I have not started using the above, but today I had 4 stools and 1 watery diarrhea.
Do you guys have any suggestions, since I don't know how to continue with this problem.
Which direction should I take with the doctors to focus?