Hi everyone! To be honest I do not have a direct question. I just wanted to write here some of my thoughts and see if you think I am realistic enough or not about starting a life together with my girlfriend.
I have to start giving some information about myself and the situation. I am a 22 year old male from Turkey. I study translation and interpreting studies in German (in my 3rd year of a 4 year uni) as my major and I study logistics (1/2) as my minor. My GPAs are pretty good but I will mention this later. I am in a super healthy relationship with a 22 year old Italian girl for the last 4 years which had to be long distance but we were lucky enough to spend a lot of time together thanks to COVID etc.. She lives in north Italy near Venice and studies Japanese.
Okay, the thing is that we do not want to be far away anymore. We will finish our universities next summer. Unfortunately as a Turkish citizen I don't have the freedom of movement within Europe. The only way for us to be together is me moving to Europe so we can be together, right? I mean Turkey here is not really a great choice compared to it. And for me to be able to do this, she has to marry me AT THE AGE OF 23. This freaks me out because I am 23 and I would never ever think about getting married. We had a lot of talks about it and we both agreed to see it as just a paper to be together and we will get "married" when we have our financial freedom.
So, okay lets say we got married and I can move now. The obvious country here is Italy because thats where she lives. Her had has a huge house where we can stay at least couple of years or at least until we are sure that we can have our own place. Now, the problem is I don't speak Italian. Throughout the years I got really good at understanding Italian and reading Italian. I can understand what's going on at a crowded table of loud Italians and answer in English easily, thats a skill. But I can not speak.
This makes my chance to find a job in Italy close to 0 with my skills, which is meh German skills (don't ask, COVID student and the education sucked during the period). I mean, I thought about just focusing Italian and learn it properly before I arrive there but I find it really hard to study 2 languages at the same time, which is I need that German practice every day to be able to "learn" it properly.
But here stuff gets even more confusing. Even speaking Italian, it is really hard to get a job in Italy. So we thought about waiting until I get my Italian residence permit (apprx. 3-6 months) and move to Germany, more precisely to Berlin.
Why Berlin? Because I had a student exchange experience there and I saw the opportunity of being able to build a life with my logistics minor and German/English skills. My girlfriend also wants to move because she also feels insecure with her future language diploma. And the best part of Germany is that the education is nearly free. So after we settle properly, we can (or at least she can) study something else while working. Of course, Berlin has its own problems such as finding a flat, the bureaucracy, the language (mostly for my girlfriend) etc.. But it sounds like a best place for a couple like us to start a life with its English/Turkish (for me) job opportunities.
Now, the problems continue. With an Italian residence permit, I can not work in Germany immediately. My girlfriend has to move first, find a job, find a flat and wait for the whole registering process again for me. If I don't have a job in Italy, I will of course come and help her with settling, finding flat and a job.
We have a friend who thinks the same and the friend plans to move before us. If she does that, my girlfriend can just go to her and register herself and stay there until she secures a job. And after that we plan to move all 3 of us to a bigger flat and if we all have jobs, then it will be easier for us to build our life.
This is how the first German plan is. But I just don't want to rely on the friend only and that makes me feel in between. Because if we can't move to Germany like this at the end of 2024 or start of 2025, then we will have to create our own way via my girlfriend applying through internet and travel back and forth until she finds something. And then again the registering process for me if I don't get my Italian citizenship until then, which is 2 years of marriage + Italian exam and processing time. If I do, then stuff will be easier because I feel like I would find a job easier than her at least in Berlin.
So, I know it is a lot of stuff but this is my mind lately. I even thought about maybe lets save couple more years in our own countries but saving is not really an option in Turkey unfortunately. So the best way is to start at least the process.
But I am not sure if I am being realistic enough. I don't know if being young and not knowing life completely blinds me. If you read all of this, I sincerely thank you and I am open to all of your comments.

⚠ Trigger warning ⚠ : Sex-related stuff
- If you don't have all day, I defined the important parts of the story with bold letters -
-----
About 5 or 6 years ago, when I started going to high school to study graphic design, I met my now best friend John. Both of us were more of an introverted type (I'm INFP and he's ENFP) and this was basically a start of a new life - we didn't know anybody at school and we had to make new friends. We really hit it off about 6 months later when we started seeing each other more often.
I had my classmates and other friends as well, but I do sincerely consider John my best buddy. It's the type of friendship where if a snake would bite his butt, I'd be the first one to suck the poison out lol. We did a lot of things together (and still do) - he taught me how to ride a skateboard and snowboard, we have a funny story about how we tried to buy cheddar and he also introduced me to his childhood friends. Overall - John is my life-buddy, because he helped me become more extroverted and active in my life. I owe to him a lot of things.
He started dating another friend of mine about 2 months ago called Dominika. I know Dominika since middle school, but we didn't start to talk to each other until high school, when we discovered we chose the same school to go to. Dominika is INFP person as well and we talk a lot about girly stuff more often, because I'm attracted more to men. When she and John started dating together, at first I felt a little bit of a discomfort. It felt really weird, because I knew them both only as friends up to that point, and seeing and hearing them kiss together felt out of place. I vented about this problem to them and they assured me that nothing will change. That even tho both of them are dating right now, we'll still do stuff together.
A few days ago all of us went to Dominika's new house and we decided to drink a bit together. We wrapped everything up at around 11 PM, because Dominika had a job to go to next day. I told them I'll be outside for 5 minutes to get some air. Both of us said good night to each other, I closed the door, I went outside, smoked a cigarette and I went back to the apartment. I put off my shoes, put down the keys to the flat and I heard a moan from the bedroom. I stopped and I heard another one. I fairly slowly, but surely, realised both of them are having sex at that moment. I kinda froze and didn't know what to do, so I just went to the other room and waited before they finished.
I should also say that our trio's friendship is fairly open-minded. All three of us talk about personal stuff a lot and we usually don't hide anything. Both of my friends know, that I'm most likely never going to have sex in my life because of the potential genophobia my psychologist said I might have (I didn't spend a lot of time with him, that's why it's not for sure). I have heard John and Dominika have sex before, but I never heard it that clearly like few days ago.
When Dominika left the room and excused herself to go to the bathroom, I texted John I heard everything. Both of us took it jokingly and we didn't really make a big deal of it trough the chat messages. When Dominika came back, I decided to finally knock on the door and invite myself in. All of us felt akward, I was shaking a bit and I told them how I felt about it. I said to them that I know their love is filled with a lot of sexual stuff, but if they're going to invite me next time, it would make me feel better if they told me to at least go outside for like 15 minutes or so. Both of them agreed, they apologized and I left them alone.
The entire time I was laying in my bed I felt very akward, stressed and sad. I decided to chill out playing Animal Crossing on my Nintendo 2DS, but the entire time I couldn't get it off my head. I went to sleep about 2 hours later and I woke very early around 6 AM thanks to alcohol. I felt pretty sad and depressed the entire morning and I did not feel comfortable. The only thing I wanted was to go back to my home and sleep. Me and John went to the city and we seperated ourselves at around 10 o'clock.
This happened 2 days ago I think. I still think I just need more time to process it, but when I look at pictures with them together, I get traumatised a bit and I remember that night. I love both of them and I'm really happy for them, but for some reason I'm mentally strugling to comprehend that both of them are together. It makes me feel ironically more alone and stressed. I should probably talk about it more with both of them, but I just feel like they'll hate me for it or something, idk...
Afterall, I can't tell them "hey, you two, stop having sex" or something dumb like that. I think I'm perhaps overthinking it and I do think I'll tell them something, but what if I won't get over it even after the talk? What if I'll still feel uncomfortable around them? Sex is a very scary topic for me and I don't usually like talking about it. Have you guys ever experienced something similiar? If so, how did you handle this kind of situation?

So, for some background information, I've got a group of six. Of those six, two are longtime players, another is brand new, and three have never played with a veteran DM. So, while I still give a decent amount of leeway, I wanted to introduce some new gameplay elements they hadn't dealt with before. They were informed in session 0 that there were going to be some things that were dependent on their decisions (missable events, consequences of actions), and that it was important to keep notes, because I was not going to remind them of things if they didn't. For the most part, the players have been really great about this, and it's been fun watching them try new and creative things with the system as a result.
However, I've got one player, our bard, who is consistently dropping the ball. He doesn't take notes, which would be less of an issue if he could remember what he was told. Our players who are have been very strict about not being able to help him with knowledge their characters weren't present for, and the party was very nearly screwed out of something in chapter three because he does not remember important beats. As a result, as a DM, I'm trying to make it so his isn't the only character to see things if possible.
Unfortunately, last night's session was another one where he was the only character outside the Gralhund Villa who COULD see the nimblewright run off toward the mausoleum with the Stone of Golorr. And I did a big DM no no for myself by reminding him twice to share what he saw with the group when they were having a team meeting at TSM about the Stone of Golorr. The second time outright telling him to share about the nimblewright because the next part of the plot was dependent on it. (The party knew the nimblewright had the stone because the rogue told them he saw Lady Gralhund give it and a map to it. Through a tl;dr course of great character driven events, the bard and rogue were the only characters who made it to the Villa.) He made the decision to only tell the rogue about it after every other character left the room, and neither of them seemed to think it was urgent to follow the lead that night. At this point, I've figured the trail to the stone is going to be cold by the morning, with Crowelle ultimately being able to deliver the stone to Lord Cassalanter.
Now, in some ways as a DM, this is the best case scenario for me, because it puts me on the path to have the Cassalanters play a much bigger role than it looked like things were headed. Our neutral-leaning-lawful good rogue works for them and has not questioned their motives at all. (I leaned pretty heavily into the "Gralhunds bad" narrative, only bringing up the Cassalanters in reference to them being big on charity and worshipping a benevolent god, and the party ran with it.) But, I also want to do what I can to get them to the vault if possible.
I have a few ideas for how this could potentially play out but am curious if anyone else had something similar happen/how you resolved it in your game. Thank you!

Ah, indie hackers, where do I even begin? They're supposed to be these inspiring examples of innovation, right? Champions of the underdog, the independent thinkers, and the scrappy entrepreneurs. But sometimes, it feels like they're missing the mark.
First of all, let's talk about how everyone seems to think they're an indie hacker just because they have a side project. I mean, come on! Just because you're working on something after hours doesn't automatically make you an indie hacker. There's a huge difference between dabbling in something and actually building a sustainable business. It's time to stop romanticizing the term.
And then there's the whole "I built this in a weekend" mentality. It's great that you can throw together a basic app or website in a couple of days, but what about the long-term vision? So many indie hackers are focused on these short-term wins and hacks, but they don't take the time to think about what their project could become. That's just selling themselves short.
Next, let's discuss the echo chamber that indie hacker communities can become. Everyone's congratulating each other for every little achievement, creating a bubble that inflates their sense of accomplishment. Constructive criticism and honest feedback can be hard to find, leading to a false sense of security in one's own ideas.
The emphasis on making money is another issue. Yes, I get it, you need to monetize your project to keep the lights on, but it often feels like that's the only thing that matters. The passion for creating something genuinely useful or innovative sometimes takes a back seat to generating revenue. Indie hackers need to remember that long-term success is built on creating value and solving real problems, not just chasing dollar signs.
Moreover, the indie hacker movement seems to perpetuate the myth of the lone wolf entrepreneur. This can be detrimental, as it can lead to a lack of collaboration and diversity in thought. Some of the best innovations come from people working together, sharing ideas, and challenging each other's perspectives. By promoting the idea that you can only be a "true" indie hacker if you're going it alone, we're stifling potential growth and creativity.
Another problem is the sheer number of copycat projects. Indie hackers are often inspired by other successful projects, but sometimes this leads to endless iterations of the same idea, with little originality. While it's perfectly fine to learn from others, true innovation requires thinking outside the box and bringing something new to the table. We need more trailblazers, not just followers.
Lastly, the focus on overnight success stories can create unrealistic expectations for aspiring indie hackers. We hear about the breakout hits, but rarely do we hear about the countless projects that fail, or the years of hard work that often precede any success. This can lead to a "get rich quick" mentality, causing people to jump from project to project in search of instant gratification, rather than committing to the hard work necessary to build something truly great.
While the indie hacker movement has undoubtedly created opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship, it's essential to recognize its shortcomings. By addressing these issues, indie hackers can strive for long-term success, collaboration, and genuinely innovative projects that make a lasting impact.

Hey there! Looking for a wife, large family and homestead/farm dynamic.
I work in finance currently, and travel alot, so if you can put up with that for a little bit, Ultimately I want nothing more than a wife, large family and some land to homestead and raise our family on. I am both ambitious and Entrepreneurial, so chances are we'd be doing more than just homesteading, but I want that place we can call home and the self reliance and security of being able to produce our own variety and quality of food. I grew up in a large family and love having siblings their my best freinds and I'd want that for our children as well.
A bit about me, I'm 5'10, 165 lbs, Fit, Hung, have Blond Hair and Deep Bue Eyes. I was very athletic growing up, I played every sport I could (mostly a runner, soccer, volleyball, but loved everything). I love the outdoors, Entrepreneurism, I'm a big fan of economic development, I believe strongly in building up the community and those around you and reaching out to those in need. I get along great with every religious belief, whats important to me is that you are honest and sincere and a seeker of truth, if your at least that, wherever you are in your beliefs or relationship with God, we'll get along fine (I am a Christian, but unlikely anything you've ever known or encountered before).
Looking for an attractive women who wants a large family and a intimate lasting marriage, who beliefs in self sacrifice and building eachother up. I understand everyone is coming from different places and has different levels of experience and maturity and at different ages, that said I am looking for a mature women. So If your younger but mature for your age and just looking for somthing real, let's connect, I'd love to get to know you! :)

Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most profitable entertainment franchises in the history of games. It came along as a return to form after what many fans would argue was a misstep with the more gritty and realistic GTA 4. Originally released back in 2013 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3—yes, it spans three console generations—developer Rockstar has supported the game's online mode with continual updates adding new content, new areas, and even all-new mechanics.
GTA V was such a runaway success—and GTA The Trilogy: Definitive Edition was such a dumpster fire—that Rockstar gave up working on a Red Dead Redemption 2 DLC, and has now reportedly abandoned plans to remaster more of its beloved older titles to instead focus on both further GTA Online content as well as the development of GTA 6.
gtaonline fukaru
Naturally, expectations for GTA 6 are incredibly high, and given the advanced age of GTA V, fans are chomping at the bit for any bit of news. That's why there's so much buzz around a report at Bloomberg that focuses on Rockstar's new corporate culture. Company co-founder Dan Houser left Rockstar in 2020, and ever since then the development house has been trying to reshape a corporate culture that the report refers to as being "like a frat house".
Given the nature and tone of the humor in the Grand Theft Auto series, it's really not surprising to hear that the atmosphere inside Rockstar was juvenile and chauvinistic. The report remarks that the workplace culture at Rockstar was "full of drinking, brawling, and excursions to strip clubs." That may sound like a good time to some, but it's admittedly not very professional.
gta1 katie Katie from the OG Grand Theft Auto (1997) on PC (left) and Game Boy Color (right).
As part of the report, author Jason Schreier casually reveals that GTA 6 will have at least two playable protagonists, and that one of them will be a Latina woman. This technically isn't the first playable woman nor even the first playable Hispanic woman in the GTA series; the very first GTA game featured a Latina named "Katie" as one of its eight playable characters.
Still, very few of the series' modern fans even remember the old DOS-based Grand Theft Auto, so we can forgive everyone for forgetting about poor Katie. Regardless, the new girl will apparently be part of a Bonnie-and-Clyde-like crime duo, calling to mind the partnership between Claude and Catalina in the beginning of Grand Theft Auto III. Hopefully the partnership between the new player characters in GTA 6 doesn't end the same way that one did.
Comments1Comments Support Independent Tech Journalism, Become A Patron! Tags: Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar Games, GTA V, GTA, gta 6 exp-player-logo
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KOwen 29 July, 2022
Release the PC version at the same time as the consoles please!
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On a scale of one to ten, one being touching a hot car on a sunny day and ten being falling into the sun, I’d put having something burst into flames in my hand at probably a four. I think four is reasonable. I mean, we’re not talking about blistering heat that roasts your meat black. We’re talking about a little, blue, cat doll just catching fire and enveloping your hand up to the wrist in white-hot angel fire.
I think anyone’s first instinct when something they’re holding bursts into flames is to drop or throw the item. Since I am anyone, I naturally throw the doll with a squeal that turns heads. It hits the side of the closest tent and tumbles down it, paw over whisker. It leaves a trail of little fires behind it. These don’t just sizzle and go out, they get bigger.
Did I mention the smoke? There’s black smoke billowing out of the doll like it’s one of those funny fireworks that does nothing but make smoke. It doesn’t move like smoke though. Smoke just goes up where I guess it gets sucked out into space or something. This smoke swirls around in a ropey fashion like a snake.
“Meredith?” I say to the smoke snake, “Is that you?”
The smoke snake does not respond. Instead, one of the teenagers shouts, “FIRE!” and throws a cup of soda at the side of the tent that’s burning incredibly quickly. They all scatter. Soda is apparently not an effective fire extinguisher. The flames just sizzle and then swallow more of the tent.
I decide not to stick around. “If you’re Meredith, follow me,” I tell the smoke snake, and then turn to run for the busy section of the carnival.
I don’t make it more than two steps before one of the bigger teenagers grabs me by the shoulder. He’s a lanky boy with black hair and one of those “I wanna look grown-up” half mustaches that you almost wonder if you can just rip it right off his face. He’s wearing a Led Zeppelin shirt. I bet Roger and this kid would have been best buds or bitter rivals if Roger hadn’t gotten turned into mashed potatoes.
“Hey! This girl started a fire!” he yells to nobody in particular.
A girl with really short cut bleached blonde hair and one of those nose stud things runs over and gets right in my face. “Let her go, Johnny!” she snaps at the boy holding me. I’m surprised because I thought from her expression that she was going to headbutt me in the face and knock me out or something. “She’s pretty badass in my book.” She looks me in the eyes with something I’m not familiar with. Is that... respect?
Johnny lets go of me.
“That thing’s gonna burn the whole carnival down!” the girl yells. She sounds pleased. She’s even got a big grin on her face as she watches the fire on the tent rise upward.
“Well I’m not sticking around to watch, babe!” says Johnny, and he takes off between two trailers across the way.
There’s already shouts rising over the sound of the crackling fire. I hear someone yell the word “fire!” and the sentence, “grab an extinguisher!” Just over the tent, where the main thoroughfare probably is, some woman screams, and a kid starts crying. Oh God, I’ve gone and killed everybody, haven’t I? The entire carnival is going to burn to the ground and everybody’s probably panicking and stampeding for the exits. Then the screaming lady lets out a big burst of laughter and I realize nobody on the other side of the tent is even aware of what’s going on over here yet.
“Come on!” the blonde girl pulls on my sleeve. I stumble over my own feet and fall to the ground. She doesn’t stick around to help me up. Instead she takes off after her friend Johnny, doing some sort of twirly dance in the process as she runs away into the dark.
I start to get up from the dirt when I notice dark liquid running out from under me. It’s blood. It’s all over my shirt. I’m a sopping wet, red mess. Also, the cow pitcher is shattered. I must have fallen right on it and it broke and I got Nate’s blood all over myself! How am I ever going to explain this to that angry man I borrowed it from?
“What’s going on?” asks Paschar, “I’m getting only bits and pieces. There’s a fire? Smoke? Snakes? Blood? Are you injured?”
Actually, now that he’s asked, there is a big piece of the cow pitcher sticking through my bloody shirt down in my tummy area. I pull on the end of it. There’s a nasty, burning sensation so I stop pulling. I’ve gone and stabbed myself with a cow pitcher! Is any of this blood mine?
“I’ve spilled Nate’s blood all over myself!”
“Don’t rub it in your eyes!”
I wasn’t gonna rub it in my eyes. It’s not like I’m tired or anything. My cousin Susie used to rub her eyes a lot but that was because she had really bad allergies. Her eyes were always bloodshot. Susie’s worst allergy was boat propellers though. She was deathly allergic to those. After her accident, my Uncle George developed really bad allergies too. I could tell because his eyes were always bloodshot.
Someone nearby yells, “Over here!” and a pair of men run up with big, red fire extinguishers. They start spraying the white foamy stuff at the side of the tent. At first, it doesn’t look like the foam is going to stop the flames, but after a minute of spraying and one of the extinguishers running out of juice, the fire hisses and goes out.
The man holding the used-up fire extinguisher looks at the big, black, scorched portion of tent, then down at the crispy, little cat doll on the ground. Then he turns and looks at the claw machine. The machine blinks its lights like it’s saying hello to him. The man finally looks over at me, laying in a small pool of warm blood. It’s the man with orange hair who passed by earlier that I hid from.
“Look what we got here,” he says with a funny accent. I think it’s Irish, but it might be Scottish. I’m not an expert on accents. Everything I know about accents I learned from this movie I watched with my dad about a Scottish guy who was immortal and he killed other immortal people by chopping their heads off with a giant sword. Well, that and Mary Poppins.
The other man sets down his fire extinguisher and turns around. He’s a beefy guy wearing a huge coat with lots of pockets and a floppy-looking cowboy hat. “Who’s that, Gin?” he asks in a non-accent voice.
“Get up, girly!” The man named Gin reaches down and grabs me by my collar. He pulls me halfway up to standing on my own two feet. In the process, the piece of cow pitcher that has punctured me in the tummy area shifts and causes more of that intense burning feeling I got when I tried to pull it out.
“OWWWW!” I yell, hoping he gets the hint and lets go of me.
He doesn’t.
Then I notice that the snaky trail of black smoke is circling his head like a creepy halo. I don’t think he or the other man can see it because if either of them could, they’d surely be freaking out and trying to wave it away.
“This,” Gin says with one of those half-smile smirks that shows the canine tooth on the left side of his mouth, “is who Clay was looking for.”
The black smoke snake hunches back like it's about to strike at the back of Gin’s head. Then it lunges forward and splashes like a wave against him, going in all directions. A moment later, it recollects itself into a cloudy-form and swirls angrily around him like a swarm of bees dealing with Winnie-the-Pooh.
Gin pulls me the rest of the way to my feet. This is good because I aim to kick him in his testicles and I couldn’t do that lying down. As soon as I’ve got my footing, I pull back, swinging my foot out behind me--
--at which point he brings his big, adult fist into the equation by punching me hard in the guts. The pain is so intense I feel like I’m going to puke. Even worse, there’s a really sharp stinging sensation and then a wet kind of warmth. No, I didn’t pee myself. Gin himself winces in pain as he pulls his fist back to reveal the piece of broken cow pitcher stabbed right up between his knuckles. He lets go of me so he can pull it out and I take the opportunity to drop to my knees and double over, clutching where he hit me.
“Word of advice to you, lass,” says Gin as he flicks the pitcher piece away, “don’t broadcast your intention to kick a man in the quongs if you don’t want to get punched in the ovaries.”
I’m too busy rubbing my face in the wet grass to respond but I’m thinking about how annoying this thing with saying what I’m thinking is and I wish I could stop doing it because it really makes fighting bad guys difficult. I wonder if I just said that thought, but judging from Gin putting his boot on the back of my head, I’m guessing not. Bleh, the grass is warm and tastes like ozone. I realize I’m getting Nate’s blood on me. Paschar said to not get it in my eyes!
“What is she, like ten years old?” I hear the other man say, “What about this brat’s got Clay so spooked? You could knock her over with a wet fart.” Thanks for that visual, Sir.
Gin lifts his boot off my head. I take the opportunity to get my face out of the bloody grass and wipe it off my mouth. I can’t tell how much is on my face.
“She killed his kid or sometin’,” he remarks casually, “burned him alive.” He pauses. I look up. He’s looking at the scorched tent. “Seems like she’s got a penchant for fire. Maybe we ought to give her a feel of what it’s like to get burned before we bring her to Clay. What do you say?”
I cough up some dirt I didn’t realize was in the back of my throat. “I didn’t kill Joey.”
Gin wanders a few steps away and the other man comes over and puts a hand under my armpit. He helps me up in a far gentler manner than Gin did. I don’t think about kicking him in the testicles and I don’t plan to. The two men share a brief look and I worry for a second that I just said all that.
“She’s got blood all over her,” the big other guy says, letting go of me and wiping his hands off on his dark jacket.
“I don’t give a rat’s ass if she’s got shit and puke on ‘er,” Gin lights up a cigarette and takes a long drag on it. He looks at me like a kid with a magnifying glass looks at an ant. He blows out a small cloud of stinky smoke. I wonder if he can make smoke rings. “Give me her arm.”
Nothing good ever started with someone saying, “give me her arm.” I instinctively start to pull away, but the big guy puts his hand under my armpit again and moves me away from Gin, twirling me around so he’s between the two of us like a big wall.
“I’ve had enough of this. I’m not letting you put a cigarette out on a little girl. What the Hell is wrong with you, man?”
I put my free arm around his waist and give him as much of a hug as I can. Thank you, Mister, whoever you are.
Gin casually gestures toward the blackened tent flap and scorched patch of ground where the remains of my precious Freddy Lapel doll sizzles with otherworldly heat. “Look what she did, Dutch. She tried to burn down the whole carnival. Could have hurt somebody! Could have killed somebody--” He looks directly at me. “--again.”
Dutch’s thumb digs into my armpit but not so hard that it hurts. He smells like he had bacon recently. And he works on machinery or something, because there’s a distinct scent of motor oil on his clothes. I wonder if he knows Mr. Grizz.
“But thankfully nobody did get hurt. And I don’t know the full story between her and Clay, if there even is one. All I know is a grown-ass, Irish prick is telling me to let him put a lit cigarette on a ten-year old girl covered in blood and I ain’t about to be the guy that lets that happen.”
“I’m twelve actually,” I tell Dutch. He doesn’t hear or just ignores me.
The orange-haired creep named Gin takes another drag on his cigarette. I watch the end of it burn away between his fingers. Then he casually lifts one leg and puts it out on the underside of his boot. He flicks the butt away and then crosses his arms and stares at me hiding behind Dutch. If there was a clock, we could hear it ticking away, but there’s no clock. Instead, there’s just the hoots and hollers of people having a grand old time at the carnival.
After what seems like five minutes of just hard, quiet staring at each other like one of those Mexican standoffs in a Clint Eastwood Western movie --my dad used to love to watch Clint Eastwood movies. His favorite was called High Plains Drifter. I just watched for the horses-- oh right, like I was saying... after five minutes of that staring, Gin shrugs like he didn’t just step on the head of a little girl and then try to put a cigarette out on her.
“I’m fetching Clay.” He lingers for a moment, glaring at both of us, and then storms off in a hurried manner, really working his arms into it.
Dutch’s grip on my pit loosens. I stop hugging him and move away a step. He looks down at me. I can’t figure out what thoughts are going through his head. His expression seems like a jumble of worry and upset and even a little fear. He’s gotten all sweaty. He wipes it away with his sleeve and takes a rough breath.
“Thank you, Mr. Dutch,” I tell him.
He nods silently.
I check my pokey stab wound from the cow pitcher. It’s not leaking profusely but there’s blood and mud caked on my shirt and it’s sticking to me. I hope I don’t get a mud infection. I wish I better understood where germs come from. There’s blood all over my hands but I don’t know if it’s mine or Nate’s.
“I’m taking you to the front entrance and we’re calling the police,” Dutch tells me.
I almost forgot about the cloud of smoke. It is lazily drifting over Dutch’s head now, like a little, black raincloud. It moves unnaturally, not drifting away or dispersing in any way. Just a little, black raincloud over the man’s floppy hat.
We walk away from the burned tent and the claw machine in the opposite direction from the one that Gin went. A noise behind us makes me look back. A blonde woman with an apron covered with pockets from which prize tickets hang out all over comes out of a nearby booth alley and sees the mess I caused. She immediately zeroes in on Dutch and I walking away together.
“Oi! Dutch!” she calls out, “what the Hell happened here?”
“I’m dealing with it, Susie,” he tells her. He puts his hand on my arm as if to show that he’s got the perpetrator and is handling the situation.
I look up at him. “My cousin’s name is Susie.” I don’t know why I feel the need to mention that. My brain is kind of doing a reset at the moment as I try to figure out what I need to do and if that cloud is indeed Meredith’s soul like I think it is.
Mr. Dutch glances down at me and starts leading me away again. “Is that so?”
“My uncle ran her over with a motorboat.”
He frowns and looks away. “Oh.”
I realize I could have worded that better. “By accident.”
Paschar chimes in. “That’s probably not the best topic to be bringing up right now, Lily.”
Mr. Dutch seems to agree with Paschar. “Let’s just get you to the ticket booths, alright? Quiet like.”
Ahead of us, the back alleyway of tent flaps and old, unused arcade machines opens up to the main thoroughfare. I knew it was right there! I can see normal people, mostly adults because it’s so freaking late and kids have got school tomorrow but the carnival is in town so some parents brought their kids because some things are more important than school. Like fishing for little ducks with magnets on the end of a fishing line so you can get a ten cent knick-knack for the price of a couple quarters. Or shooting water in a hippo’s mouth and watching a balloon fill up from out its butt and whoever pops the hippo’s butt balloon wins a prize which is usually just a bunch of tickets like the ones that lady had falling out of her apron pockets.
The little, black cloud follows us, keeping just above Dutch’s head. I wonder if it intends to drop on him like an anvil in a Wile E Coyote cartoon.
Right before we reach the thoroughfare full of laughing, smiling people, I hear something. Fast approaching footsteps. They’re not speed walking; this is more like a jumbling hustle of several feet moving swiftly but trying to be quiet. Oh crap, it’s Gin and Clay. They’re going to burn me with cigarettes or rub deodorant on my wounds and stab me and light me on fire and--
There’s a hard WHOOMP sound right next to me followed immediately by a loud grunt like “UGH” but I can’t do it justice with words. It’s like the sound someone would make if they bang their elbow on the edge of a metal desk right where their funny bone is. Like right between the elbow joint bones, you know? Why does that hurt so bad? I think the person who named it the “funny bone” never hit the corner of a metal desk there. It’s the least funny bone in your body. Or second at least to the coccyx. That’s the little tail end of your spine. Yeah, we got tails. Humans got tails. They’re hidden though, tucked away in the butt area.
Dutch lets go of my arm. I turn to look at him. There’s a foot with a sneaker on it sticking out from between his legs. Just as quickly as I see it, it disappears. Mr. Dutch is the one making the pain sound. He reaches down and clutches his crotch, and his knees give out and he falls forward. Someone kicked this poor man in the testicles!
The foot belongs to the girl with the short, bleached blonde hair. She stands over the large, crumpled form of Dutch and looks at me with a triumphant grin.
“Bleep the authority!” she shouts and pumps her fist in the air. She’s wearing like a dozen rings on the one hand. How can she fit so many rings on such stubby fingers? “Let’s go!” she yells in my face even though I’m right there next to her.
Her friend Johnny is with her. He’s looking around anxiously. “Yeah, let’s get out of here already!”
I’m flabbergasted. “But Mr. Dutch was a good guy!” I try to tell the two of them.
They’re completely enthralled by their own sense of pride in a job well done, saving the little, bloody girl from the big man at the traveling carnival. Mr. Dutch is groaning in severe, testicle-kicked pain. I reach down to try to help him, and the blonde girl grabs my wrist.
“What are you doing?” she asks me through a smile that says she doesn’t even really care what my answer is, “we’re rescuing you! Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, let’s hoof it!”
I feel like that’s one too many horse-themed expressions in a single statement, but I don’t say anything. And not just that, there’s like twelve too many people getting involved in my problems lately. I’m not a complete idiot, I know well what happens to people around me. My whole family is dead. My best friend is... probably a little, black cloud that’s doing some sort of weird interpretive dance over the crumpled form of poor Dutch with the swollen balls. People get hurt around me. Hell, poor Dutch can attest to that at the moment. People die around me. People get torn apart by skinless dogs that form out of fungus that used to be old ladies and I can’t believe that’s even an actual thing I saw. I saw that. That happened.
I take the girl’s hand and remove it from my arm. “Look, I don’t know you or Johnny and you both seem really nice, but you need to get out of here before you get hurt. I’ll be okay. Mr. Dutch was taking me to get help. The bad people are coming, and they like to smoke. They’ve got an angel of death tied up somewhere. And there’s someone much, much worse who could show up any time.”
I think I lost them both somewhere around the part about that creep Gin being a smoker. The boy Johnny does another anxious look around the area, then he grabs the girl’s arm. “Nance, let’s just go. I didn’t come here to get murdered by some whacked-out carney cult.”
The girl Nance drops her arm and shakes her head at me. She starts to open her mouth to say something, then crumples it up into a little mouth and turns and trots away after Johnny. I watch them go. I don’t know who they were, but I hope they get far, far away. The curse of getting involved in my life has a long reach and is unforgiving.
After they leave, I kneel down and pat Mr. Dutch on the back. “All you alright, Mr. Dutch?” I ask him. He mutters something I can’t understand because he’s got his face shoved into the ground.
“You’re not cursed, Lily,” Paschar comments.
“Then why do bad things always happen to people around me?”
“Because your gift is chaotic,” I hear me say. Except I didn’t say it. Not me me anyway.
Paschar whispers, “Oh no.”
I feel the presence of another person standing right behind me. Unlike Nance and Johnny, this person didn’t make a sound. It was as if they rose up out of the ground or descended from the sky as silent as a feather touching a pillow. My whole body tenses up. That sounds impossible but it totally is possible and it’s incredibly uncomfortable. Don’t question it.
I turn around slowly. First at the neck, then the shoulder, finally at the waist. Why am I dragging this out? Because I don’t want to look behind me at the person because I know exactly who it is and I really don’t feel like peeing my pants right now. Or ever. But especially now.
For a second I think I’m just looking in a mirror because I see my own face. Except my actual face probably has more blood on it currently. But less blood everywhere else.
Samael smiles at me. “You got here ahead of me.” He looks at my clothes and then tilts his head and examines my face. “And from the looks of it, you’ve had one Hell of a time. Who did this to you? Was it him?” He points at Mr. Dutch who has finally rolled over onto his back and is staring up at the starry night sky with teary eyes and a really red face.
“This isn’t my blood,” I tell him.
He grins. “But this is,” he gestures at himself. Don’t pee, Lily. Don’t pee.
Paschar raises his voice. “Sam, please, you’ve got to come back! You’re unwell.”
“Really?? Did you really think that’s going to work?” That’s me talking. Actual me. Not Samael. “You can’t appeal to crazy! I mean, come on. You’ve got to have something to back your words up with. When in the history of ever has someone been on the verge of destroying a small carnival and someone else said, ‘don’t do it!’ and they were like, ‘oh, okay.’? Never!”
“She’s right.” Samael says, nodding and raising an eyebrow. Hey, I can’t do that. I try to raise one eyebrow, but I just end up raising both. So I stop and try again. But then I stop completely before it looks like I’m wiggling my eyebrows at him. He stares at me blankly for a moment after, then blinks a couple times and shakes his head.
Mr. Dutch rolls over and gets up onto his hands and knees. He lets out a big breath, then sits up and tilts his head back to look at Samael and me together. There’s a moment where he seems to accept what he’s seeing, but then he clenches his eyes shut, reopens them, cranes his neck forward and looks back and forth between us.
“Don’t hurt him,” says Paschar.
Samael smirks. It’s starting to feel surreal to see myself making faces when I can feel that I’m not. Also, everything’s slightly off because I’m looking at my actual face and not a mirror reflection of it. “I’m not here for Mr. Dutch,” says Samael, “I’m here for the rune-maker, remember? I’m here for Felix Clay.”
“Lillian Alexandra Madwhip!” someone shouts from the direction Mr. Dutch and I just walked away from.
As if he was just waiting in the shadows --which he probably was because it’s such a Felix thing to do-- Felix freaking Clay steps from seemingly out of nowhere and stands about ten yards down the alleyway from us behind Samael. Beside him is his orange-haired friend Gin, smoking another cigarette from the looks of the little glow I can see in his hand. I should have smelled him coming.
They’re a little ways off, but I can see them both pretty clearly, and Felix isn’t smiling. It occurs to me that he always smiled before, even when he was doing things that shouldn’t have made him happy. It’s like his smile is a mask he hides behind. But not now. Now he looks angry. And annoyed. And --why is he holding that hammer? He’s not even holding it right; he’s got the claw side down. He can’t hammer a nail that way unless his arms work backward.
“You came for me and here I am!” Felix yells at us, “But I told you not to come back. So now--” He and his Irish buddy Mr. Gin start marching toward us with very purposeful strides, and I can’t understand what he’s saying after the “so now” part. Mr. Gin pulls something I can’t see out of his coat and holds it close at his side. No doubt it’s a weapon, I just don’t know if it’s a stabby weapon or a shooty weapon or what.
Samael doesn’t look at them. He’s focused on me. He’s smiling. His hands are clenched at his sides, and I remember well that there’s a rune on one that lets him punch through people like they’re made of Play-doh.
As for me, I’m torn. Do I warn Felix that Samael can karate chop him into bits like some sort of bad horror movie? Or do I watch this play out? Maybe I should take this opportunity to just run. I mean, I can’t win against any of these people. Who am I? I’m a Knife That Cuts the Veil that’s dulled by the runes all over the carnival grounds.
While I stand there lost in that thought, Samael reaches forward and pokes me in the forehead. He starts moving his finger around. I just stand there and stare at him, waiting for him to jab a hole right through my head. Don’t pee, Lily. Don’t pee. What the heck is he doing?
“There,” he whispers to me, finishing whatever it is, “that should keep you safe. Just don’t smear it or your head might explode.”
As soon as he lifts his finger away, I can feel it. That tension I had that I mentioned early was all through my body, it just vanishes. I almost go completely slack in fact, but manage to hold myself up. Then comes a wave of warmth starting at the spot on my forehead that he last touched and encompassing my entire head, traveling down my neck, across my chest, down both arms at the same time, through my midsection and then hips, legs, ending at the tips of my toes. The pain in my abdomen that I had actually forgotten about also vanishes. I reach into the hole in my shirt to feel the wound. It’s still there and I feel my fingertip actually go inside the stabby hole for a second before I realize I’m still hurt; I just can’t feel it anymore.
“Who’s your little friend?”
Felix and Gin have finally reached us. Gin looks smugly at me, still holding his hand by his side. Samael turns to face them finally and Gin’s smug look is replaced with one of confusion. Felix stops mid-stride and even takes a step back. He also has a confused expression on his face. I don’t need to see Samael’s face to know he’s got the biggest grin on it right now.

Today is my empty day and I don't think I'm alone. This probably won't upload until it is too late. I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll start by explaining, I guess.
​
All of this is because of a really stupid reason. It was Friday, I was 15, and I had a chemistry midterm on Monday and a birthday party the Saturday before. I struggled a lot with whatever unit we were doing, something about valence electrons and balancing equations, and I needed the whole weekend to study. I also desperately wanted to go to my friend's birthday party Saturday, which took up the majority of the afternoon. I couldn't do well on my physics midterm and go to my friend's party, there was just too much to study, and I knew this.
​
I had always been science-oriented. If something couldn't be proven, it wasn't true. Gods, devils, and prayer were all frivolous distractions to answer questions that past science could not. But science evolved, we have scientific explanations for past myths. Heaven and hell were comforting fairytales for the mystery of what happens after death. I thought that even when I was 15. I have no idea why I turned to the supernatural that Friday night.
​
I drew countless relic and sigils, honoring every god, devil, angel, and demon I could find. Jesus, Y-hweh, Allah, Gabriel, Satan, the Goetia demons, Horus, Zeus, I prepared a religious buffet even for the most ancient and obsure of beings. I prayed to everything in the cosmic realm for extra time. I thought it was useless, which is why I was so surprised it worked.
​
The next day I woke up to an empty house. My parents and cats were gone, and the date on my phone screen simply read 'February 2019'. No date, no day. My neighbors seemed to be gone too. Birds, squirrels, all gone. Everything except the sluggish jog of the wind was silent. Texts to friends and family simply read 'delivered'. I felt sick. If my prayer worked, how much extra time did I have? Just the one day? A week? Or maybe an evil being like Satan answered my prayer, and I was tricked horribly and forever stuck. I don't really remember what happened, just vague distress, running into an empty town, fear, and crying. Somehow I did end up studying that day, though, even though I got through a fraction of the material I needed to. After that, everything was back to normal. The next day, time resumed, and it was Saturday. I got through another quarter of what I needed to study, went to my friend's birthday party, and finished studying everything else Sunday. On Monday, I did alright on the midterm. I think I got high 80's or low 90's.
​
But after I did that prayer, I've had an extra day each week, between Friday and Saturday. No-one is ever there, no date is ever displayed, just an extra, empty day to do whatever I liked. Usually getting extra work done or just catching up on sleep. As I said earlier, science and school have always been my priority. Honestly, my empty days helped my grades a lot. No distractions, no engagements, just time to focus on whatever I needed to. And Saturday, everything resumed as normal. My empty days were like a little pocket in time which I attended and the rest of the world skipped.
​
My last empty day, I heard a rumbling and banging in the distance. I paid no mind to it, I assumed a tree fell. I should have known something was off, though. Nothing ever made noise on empty days, nothing except for the blowing of the wind. Nothing ever changed.
​
This empty day, I heard another crash. Like last time, it sounded like something big falling. About two hours later it happened again, and it sounded much louder. I could hear it more clearly too- it sounded like wood crunching and glass breaking. Like a giant baseball bat hitting a building. Blunt and blind.
​
I looked out the window and I saw a hole in the window of a house down the block. To call it a hole in a window is inaccurate. The hole *used to be* the window. It looked like something had pushed itself in through the window, but it was much bigger than the window, and it pushed in the frame and most of the surrounding wall. Shattered glass, dusty debris, and harsh, splintered wood giving way to a room with a carpet were all I could see. Red goo with yellow chunks in it oozed from the splintered wood and formed an awful, spattered paste with some drywall dust. It shone in the sunlight like fresh mucus and snot. I watched and heard as something blundered through the house. A couple bangs, a couple crunches, then silence. It probably left the hole it created in the wall. I don't know for sure. As soon as I saw something deep red through the window of the house, adrenaline overtook me and I ducked below the window and scampered to my room.
​
I'm hiding under my bed now. I'm not sure what that thing is, or what it is looking for. I didn't get a good look at it. I saw that it was shiny, dark red, and big. So big it dominated the whole room. It was sleek and shiny and deep red, like a giant wet blood clot. If it is a beast, it is probably hungry. Maybe the empty days, the pocket in time, is a sort of prison to contain it. And maybe the being I prayed to, whoever or whatever it was, thought I would be a good snack for it.
​
Edit: I just had a worse thought. Maybe the giant wet blood clot *is* the being I prayed to. Maybe my empty days have been in its time pocket, its domain. Maybe its prison. Oh god. I asked to be delivered to it on a silver platter. And tomorrow it will be Saturday, outside of the time pocket. If it finds me, it might want something much worse than a snack. What if it brought me to its prison, its pocket dimension, and it will find me and use me to escape?
​
Even if I make it through this empty day, it is going to come again next week. I won't be able to evade it forever. I will die, or worse, sooner or later. And judging by the size and power of it, probably sooner. I just hope my loved ones will be ok. If you see this post, remember, I love you. I love you a lot. I'm so sorry this all happened. I really am.

Sort of a continuation of this thing? Author’s note: I got bored. Without further ado,
Lights! Camera! Action!
​
New Day Development Zone, Central Akwilaya City, June 17, 2077
The tenant-farmer-turned-factory-worker rests in his apartment, his feathery wings applying themselves gently to the cushions of his couch. It is the mid-afternoon, and he has recently returned to his new home in the city, built by those travellers from another world who his land now calls neighbors and provided to the commonfolk at an astonishingly reasonable price. He performs the ritual needed to activate his radio, and listens while he thinks about nothing in particular. A light and melodic voice flows from the box.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first broadcast of the Modern History Interviews segment of the Akwilayan Public Radio Network. I am Mahrionel Aentwasieur, and I’ll be your host for the forseeable future. I’d like to introduce our guest, James Stewart. Would you be so kind, Mr. Stewart?”
A gruff yet affable voice is emitted from the box, and though he does not speak the strange language of this particular foreigner, the artifice within grants him perfect understanding. “Just call me James, ma’am, formerly Lance Corporal James Stewart of London’s First and Only, European Army, and currently James, professional collector of pensions.” The man chuckles to himself for a brief moment.
“So, James,” the woman replies, “how about-“
He cuts her off, saying, “Sorry, ma’am, I‘m already taken.”
”None of that, James. We’d like to hear about your experiences in Operation Terms And Conditions, or The Wars, as many of our listeners may know it as. I understand you were involved in the fall of Samn-Ahmnkan?”
”Ah, yes, the Great Seal-Clubbing. So, you’d like a good ol’ fireside chat, miss? Shoulda brought me to the pub, then! I haven’t got nearly enough drink in me,” the soldier replies with a laugh. “Oh, but I can tell ye about it, yeah.”
”Are there no idioms in your language that aren’t absurdly violent and/or vulgar?”
”Eh, probably. More than one way to skin a cat, after all! Oh, but I’ll get on with the story, now. Wouldn’t want to ruffle any of your feathers, bird-lady.”
“Hey, I have a name, you kno-“
​
Neu Berlin, June 7, 2066
For the first time since he had been evacuated from the ruins of London, James Stewart was about to walk into a portal. This time, however, it would be sending him not away from battle, but directly into one. Everyone present had at least claimed to have read the files, and everyone knew who their enemy was. The Grand Duchy of Samn-Ahmnkan, or the Sammies, as everybody called them, were a bunch of dirty slaving bastards who’d only been given aid to be fair for everyone. Of course, they’d gone and used their new gear to enrich their nobles and strengthen their armies, and everyone with half a brain knew they were about to invade their neighbor to the east.
In ten seconds, every single factory, industrial vehicle, lightbulb, and everything else relying on beamed mana-turned-electricity in the Duchy was about to have every ounce of power cut to it. This lack of power would both cause utter chaos and confusion and provide power for the portals which were about to disgorge their cargo of men. James took a deep breath.
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
He chuckled and under his breath he said, “For king and country,” even though the monarchy had been abolished by nuclear warheads years ago, and the country had ceased to exist as anything more than a memory in the hearts of those humans who had fled to the new world they found themselves in.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
He began to sweat.
One.
The portal, shimmering and bright purple, materialized before him, and he stepped through.
​
The Square of the Unworthy, Grand Duchy of Samn-Ahmnkan
Conventional wisdom on this planet, he had been told, said that any incursion into a country must come from either its borders or its coasts. Conventional wisdom on this planet, he had been told, said that only the greatest of mages could transport themselves instantly and infiltrate a land from within, and that even then they could bring only themselves. Conventional wisdom on this planet, he had been told, was reduced to complete and utter bullshit when humans entered the equation. Conventional wisdom on this planet, he knew, was about to be turned on its head.
He and around 90 other men had been dropped straight into the largest slave-holding area in the Duchy. Their orders were simple: They were to get in, put a bullet between the eyes of any Sammy slave-masters who didn’t surrender, shove any who did through the portal and into the waiting arms of the nearest POW camp, give any slaves they found a semi-auto whose design was over 100 years old and which had been produced in ludicrous quantities by the Nor-Ams for exactly this purpose, and hold the line. Easy, at least on paper.
It took him a moment to regain his senses after going through the portal. When he did, he saw countless slaves in the process of being broken in, and their masters in the process of doing the breaking. Unfortunately for the slavers, he had a rifle and they didn’t. Gunshots rang all around him as he and his compatriots unloaded shot after shot against anyone who was obviously not a slave. When the work was done, communications equipment was sent forwards, along with various aid supplies and boxes upon boxes of modified M1 Garands, bayonets already attached and an extended clip already in place.
The unit’s officer got on top of a box, setting his helmet to magnify his voice to the greatest extent it could muster. At the top of his lungs and the deepest recesses of his throat, he shouted, “Slaves, servants, downtrodden of every variety! Your liberation is at hand, and we invite you to participate in it! Take from us a weapon, and rip and tear until the deed is done!”
James had no idea how that speech got approved, but it seemed to work. As he rushed ahead to the gate, he saw slaves drop their tools and, slowly at first, head to the crates of weapons for a crash course in how to use them. He helped create a makeshift barricade at the facility’s gate, and got ready for the big guns to show up.
​
Akwilaya City, 2077
“Well, James,” the voice of Ms. Aentwasiuer asks, “How would you describe their response?”
”Bloody pitiful, frankly. The poor Minotaur- sorry, I mean Oxling- bastards had nearly their whole army on the border, ready to invade some neighboring principality I don’t remember the name of. Half the city guards didn’t give enough of a fuck to actually try and stop us, and the ones who did were bringing swords to a gunfight. And that was before we put on our fancy pants.”
​
Grand Avenue of Samn-Ahmnkan, Grand Duchy of Samn-Ahmnkan, 2066
After a few spare minutes of waiting, the tanks arrived. Slaves and soldiers alike stood clear of the thundering Challenger 3.5s as they rolled through the portal, and James advanced along them out of the gates of the Square and through the city’s main avenue, which would bring them to the palace. Liberated slaves fanned out throughout the area to provide support, as well as a few soldiers with every unit of freedmen to stop them from terrorizing the locals.
His helmet‘s HUD showed new green and blue dots appearing across the city seemingly every second, as slaves were liberated and new forces were sent in via portals. Every cluster of allied forces began to converge on a single point: the palace. Above the city, he saw portals open and immediately close as advanced aircraft marked wyverns and their riders to be hit by munitions transported instantaneously from a classified location somewhere on the planet. Actually, that might not have been true. For all he knew, they were storing munitions in a sealed facility under the bombed-out ruins of Earth.
Wherever the missiles were coming from, they were judiciously effective in dispatching the Duchy’s “air force,” if one could call it that. Equally effective were the canister shells fired by the column’s lead Challenger at an incoming unit of spearmen. Eventually, after meeting minimal resistance throughout the city, they arrived in the palace.
​
Akwilaya City, 2077
“So,” the woman asks, “it is said that the Ducal Guards of Samn-Ahmnkan were among the most capable warriors out of any non-human nation at the time of their fall. What do you have to say about that?”
”Well,“ comes the response, “They certainly had the shiniest armor out of all the Sammies I saw.”
Ducal Palace of Samn-Ahmnkan, 2066
The Mage-Warriors of Gold, The Dark Duke’s Own, The Supreme Palatial Blades, and a thousand other titles were given to the Ducal Guards of Samn-Ahmnkan by their friends and foes alike. They were the sons of nobles from across the land, taken at three years old and trained by the most vigilant instructors to protect the Duke and his home. They were the reason an infiltrator had not set foot upon the palace of Samn-Ahmnkan in over a century. Their record was about to be ended by a unit of pissed-off humans.
Their armor, decorated with gold and forged of the finest steel available to the Grand Duchy, was said to be able to deflect a thousand blows and absorb a thousand more. Their blades were said to slice through flesh as if it were air, and their strength was said to be with neither limit nor peer. Their magical prowess was such that they could burn men alive with a single word, block arrows with the motion of a hand, and glide through the air as easily as they walked.
The gates of the palace swung open for the invaders in a mocking sort of greeting, as if the building were saying to come and take it if they dared. Before them stood thirty of the Ducal Guards, with two more flanking the Duke’s throne, projecting a shield to ensure harm would not come to him. The duke spoke in a voice that was far too loud for the rather stout man.
He said to the humans, “Fiends of another world! Know that you have come thinking yourselves to be conquerors, but that your efforts shall be in vain. Know that my armies march as we speak towards my fine city, and that the forces arrayed before me shall be slaughtered by my finest guards. I see not soldiers before me. I see dead men, who do not know they have perished.”
James said the only thing he could think of. “What armies? Last I checked they all got blown up!”
The duke and his men knew this was false. However, their confusion brought their guard down for just long enough for the thirty men in front to be obliterated by a series of HEAT rounds. The soldiers marched over the charred armor and viscera, into the duke’s throne room.
“You fools! Your children will be bartered as entertainment, your women as servants, and your men as laborers! Surrender now, and you may merely be diced to pieces rather than fed alive to the slaves you have tem-“
Whatever he was about to say was drowned out by two depleted uranium sabot rounds, which broke through the shield and struck down his guards. Intentionally, he survived, and James and three other men were assigned to drag him through a portal that now opened to bring him to his new home in New Guantanamo.
”You know,” James said as he and the three other men threw him to the ground in front of the North American guards, “one of these days they should add monologuing to the list of deadly sins. He was really bloody annoying.”
​
Akwilaya City, 2077
The man ends his tale, saying, ”Y’know, I wish I could say more, but the war pretty much ended for me after that one day. Of course, the occupation went on for a few years longer, but it turns out mass insurgency is a bit hard when you only have spears, and I’m sure nobody wants the story of how I sat around handing kids chocolate bars for two years while they got a government set up. Now if you don’t mind, I’m gonna go get a bloody drink.”
”Well, thank you for coming on to the show. Next up is our station’s Latest Hits section, hosted by-“
The farmer-turned-factory-worker shuts off the radio, cutting her off. He still doesn’t quite understand what in the seven hells human ”pop music” is, but he knows he wants absolutely none of it.

Hey all! I’m in the process of building a gigantic enclosure for my full grown retic. I’m so happy to finally give him the home he deserves. The basic framing is done, we’ll coat the inside of it next week, and then I get to go all out with decor! We’re hoping to move him in there by next weekend. If you guys have any ideas or links for some non-basic decor that’s functional and fun, please let me know! I also have another custom built enclosure for my 6 month old burmese, and although he’s not big enough to move over to it yet, I’d like to get started on it. His name is Goose, so i totally want to go with that theme. Thanks for any suggestions :)

We'll discuss Interpretation of Dreams the following Wednesday. There are many editions and translations, so if you want advice about which to pick, here's a reddit thread from the psychoanalysis sub. If you want to use the public domain version, here is the Gutenberg Brill translation as epub, HTML, etc. and Librivox audio of the Brill translation.
Though of course you're welcome to read the whole book, I'm going to provide an abridged reading of maybe 150 pages covering the most famous excerpts which are often referenced in our culture, along with sections that introduce the main concepts Freud uses for interpretation, these concept being "fulfillment of a wish", manifest/latent content, distortion/"the censor", condensation, displacement, regression, and the somatic/organic.
-- Suggested Abridged Reading --
Section I: I recommend skipping this. Freud starts by trying to supplant the dominant physiological model of dreams. This section introduces the idea that dreams surface things that were once known, but are unavailable to waking consciousness, such as seemingly forgotten facts and childhood memories. Freud advises against rational evaluation in favor of associative, metaphorical thinking. And he claims that every dream from a night's sleep is part of a cohesive whole.
Section II: Read the case on Irma's injection. This begins a few pages in, starting with "Preliminary statement: In the summer of 1895." This case study is well-known and is referenced throughout the book.
Section III: The Dream is a Fulfillment of a Wish. All is worth reading.
Section IV: All worth reading. Introduces distortion and the censor which obfuscates the wish that the dreamer wants to be fulfilled. This section also expands on the manifest (literal interpretation) versus the latent (hidden, multi-faceted interpretation).
Section V. I'll recommend skipping the explication from the beginning and jumping to Typical Dreams. I'll summarize the first part here. Freud describes the raw material he believes dreams are made of. One such material are events from the past few days, especially events that have been resolved and minutiae that lurks below waking memory. Another building block of dreams are memories from childhood. Dreams will also incorporate somatic sensations while sleeping, such as hunger, having to pee, temperature, and sounds. All of "Typical Dreams" is worth reading. It lays out the Oedipus Complex for the first time, along with the beginning of his castration complex idea, which he builds on later. After reading, check out his 1922 one-page analysis of Medusa's head.
Section VI. Read (A) if you're curious about Condensation (akin to overdetermination), the idea that a single part of a dream can be composed of many meanings, associations, memories, etc. And read (B) on Displacement for common substitutions in dreams. Also (G) The Affects in the Dream. Some editions have a section on common symbols. If yours does, that's worth reading.
Section VII. Read the first part on regression until finishing the "Father, can’t you see that I am burning?” story. This dream is a very good synthesis of the concepts used in this book. Zizek cites it in his recent controversial Compact article.

So it wasn’t the intrusion of the signal from external reality that awakened the unfortunate father, but the unbearably traumatic character of what he encountered in the dream. Insofar as “dreaming” means fantasizing in order to avoid confronting the Real, the father literally awakened so that he could go on dreaming.

OK. That's it. Have fun reading! Just to get you thinking, here are the kinds of questions I'll ask in 11 days. I'd love to hear your preliminary thoughts about all of this!
-- Upcoming Questions --
Do you have any dreams you think might lend themselves to this mode of interpretation?
Have you had any dreams similar to the ones recounted in this book? Do you think Freud's interpretation works in your case?
Any thoughts on applying these methods to current dramas? E.g. the latest Red Scare free ep which mentions the Callard New Yorker piece, Vanlife girl, Sad NYU study abroad girl, or A&D surfacing insecurity about being replaced on the pod. What about applying the ideas to your current reading or writing?
Freud often invoked the repressed Vienna patient who often suffered from hysteria, anxiety, and neuroticism. Do you think his approach still works for modern patients? If not, what needs changing?
This is Freud's first big, successful work. Do you see hints of his future material? Any thoughts about this work in relation to those he influenced? (Lacan, D&G, Lasch, Zizek)
Did he convince you that "fulfillment of a wish" is at the root of all dreams? If you disagree and think that dreams are random, could his method of analysis still be useful to try to discover hidden aspirations, resentments, sources of envy, anxiety?

Questions Thread
This is a general question thread on. You can find the previous question threads here.
Remember to check the community wiki first.
You can also ask questions in any of the questions channels under the "help" category in our official Discord.
For other discussions, please find the Megathread Directory at this link.
The idea is for anyone to be able to ask anything related to PoE:

• New player questions
• Mechanics
• Build Advice
• League related questions
• Trading
• Endgame
• Price checks
• Etc.

No question is too big or too small!
We encourage experienced players to sort this thread by new.
We'd like to thank those who answered questions in the last thread! You guys are the best.

Mark Skaife: Newcastle result shows Supercars could be entering thrilling new phrase with Gen3 Champion driver Shane van Gisbergen could cut through to mainstream Australia if Supercars adopt a similar platform adopted by NRL and AFL heavyweights, writes Mark Skaife.
Mark Skaife 5-time Supercars champion 4 min read March 26, 2023 - 6:00AM News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom Video-link
Supercars: After being slammed by 5-time champion Mark Skaife for his behaviour following the opening race of the season, defending champ Shane Van Gisbergen has responded to the comments. The arrival of Supercars Gen3 in Newcastle is the biggest vehicle change the sport’s made in 30 years — and I’m genuinely excited about what’s on the horizon.
News broke this week from General Motors in the US that the current Chevrolet Camaro will cease manufacturing in 2024.
This has led to questioning around the direction of Supercars’ new era, but Chevrolet has cleverly said “this is not the end of the Camaro story”.
I’m from a diehard General Motors family that spans generations. Holden’s first Bathurst-winning car was actually from my local garage in Wyong where I grew up. And I’ve represented GM the majority of my working life.
But the choice to build Camaro Supercars was because we wanted to maintain the DNA of the sport while giving GM a platform to market their vehicles in Australia.
Same goes for fans of the blue oval. Ford fans were rejoicing with the worldwide motorsport debut for the seventh-generation Mustang, celebrating the world’s No.1-selling sports car.
The Newcastle 500 provided us with two different winners in Cam Waters and Shane Van Gisbergen (above). The Newcastle 500 provided us with two different winners in Cam Waters and Shane Van Gisbergen (above). I can see how this may boggle minds of those with the “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” mantra, derived from the 1960s. But sports have to evolve in this hyper-competitive Australian landscape. Look at how other issues — namely concussion — force rule changes in football codes. Just watch a game of NRL or AFL from the 1970s and the style of play is almost unrecognisable.
So what is our sport evolving into? It’s a priority we provide an entertaining broadcast product, which at its core, comes from building stories from great racing.
The Newcastle 500 provided us with two different winners in Cam Waters and Shane Van Gisbergen, two different pole sitters in David Reynolds and Brodie Kostecki, all from different teams, plus Erebus sitting on top of the teams’ championship with their Coca-Cola Camaros.
Relatively unknown young gun James Golding, aboard a custom-built Triple 8 Camaro, even out-qualified reigning champion Shane Van Gisbergen.
Van Gisbergen drove an incredible race through the narrow and tight streets of the Newcastle circuit to send a message to his rivals that he’s still the man to beat this year.
Next up is the Melbourne 400 at the Australian Grand Prix. This wide, fast and flowing 5km layout will give us a real show of where Gen3 is at on a different layout across the four sprint races.
V8 legend Mark Skaife is excited about the new generation of racing. V8 legend Mark Skaife is excited about the new generation of racing. Last week I watched Formula One in Saudi Arabia and my jaw dropped at the speed the Red Bull went past Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes on the straights, rendering a seven-time world champ defenceless.
The discussion has shifted towards Red Bull potentially winning every race, but it seems strange there isn’t much backlash from fans.
Like any new generation of racing cars, the Gen3 Supercar will develop over time with tyre life, fuel economy and driver comfort/ergonomics. These are all things that teams will work on, based on driver feedback.
A modern evolution of Supercars is that the competitiveness of the series has to be genuinely credited based on the development of legitimately world-class drivers.
Through this breeding ground, three-time series champion Scott McLaughlin is now mixing it with the best in IndyCars: racing against F1-experienced drivers Montoya, Grosjean, Magnussen, and Bourdais, as well as Nascar’s greatest Jimmie Johnson. Not to mention Antipodean greats Will Power and Scott Dixon.
And Van Gisbergen entered the World Rally Championship as a one-off in New Zealand last year and holding his own.
Much has been made of my post-race comments in Newcastle about how I felt Van Gisbergen conducted himself in the press conference.
Shane van Gisbergen Van Gisbergen was noticeably quiet when addressing the media in Newcastle. Picture: Getty Images. Shane van Gisbergen Van Gisbergen was noticeably quiet when addressing the media in Newcastle. Picture: Getty Images. Passionate discussion about our sport is a great thing and you only have to look at how AFL360 and NRL360 on Fox Sports help set the agenda every week for the leading football codes.
The NRL has household names such as Latrell Mitchell, Tom Trbojevic, James Tedesco. AFL has got Buddy Franklin, Max Gawn, Jack Riewoldt to name a few. These athletes all understand their obligation to their respective sport and their critical fanbases … it’s the lifeblood of sport.
The show rolls off the back of their profiles and allows sponsors a proper link to engage with their codes, ultimately cutting through to mainstream Australia.
This is exactly where Supercars needs to be concentrating its efforts.
Even when the tide isn’t going their way, they all front up to the questions and understand how the media is a vehicle to speak to the fans and ultimately a platform to give their own version of events.
As a driver I’ve had to attend some pretty average press conferences over the years, the Russell Ingall incident in 2003, Bathurst in 1992 after Jim Richards made his infamous comments on the podium, there is a minimum expectation as an athlete to inform fans of what happened on the day.
Supercars/motorsport rely principally on the person from their team, and that person is the driver.
Van Gisbergen could be one of the greatest drivers our sport has seen — Jim Richards-like in comparison. He can help take Supercars to the next level with what he can provide off the track to match his incredible driving feats.
Genuine rivalry is the foundation of sport, it can’t be fake. When I watch Van Gisbergen against Chaz Mostert, Waters, Reynolds, Anton De Pasquale as the leading Ford protagonists it makes me feel our sport is in really good shape.

Support
There are 5 different roles where units can be used in the game and Support is the most subjective. This is the most subjective role because who you decide to use simply comes down to your overall team composition. With this being said, any unit can be used as a Support. A very misguided way of thinking I see a lot is people thinking that a unit that doesn't have any team buffs doesn't make a good Support. Attack and Skill type units are the pure dps units of the game but aren't big on having team buffs. There are a few that do have some team buffs, primarily Speed buffs, but their primary focus is on putting out high damage. So these players would have you believe that even though inflicting damage on defenders is important in killing them, having high damage units like Attack or Skill type units as a Support isn't a good idea simply because they don't usually have team buffs. This is why having a WELL-BALANCED team is essential. If I already have 1 or 2 units providing the team with a variety of essential team buffs, why would I need every other unit to be doing the same thing? When I could build a high damage unit like an Attack or Skill type to primarily focus on getting the kills and build other units around them to help keep them alive. When I built my team, these are the questions I personally considered:
- Who is going to be my main damage dealer for this team? For my main team right now, I use Kushina for my Team Main and chose Minato as my main damage dealer.
- What does this unit provide and lack both buff and debuff wise for the team? For me, the important things he provides are obvious high damage output, Huge+ Team Evasion, Team Invincibility, the rare ability to bypass Huge+ Evasion, Confusion and Paralysis. What he lacks is high defense since he's a Skill type and he doesn't have his own Defense buff or Nature resistance buff to help his damage intake when his Evasion isn't up. He also doesn't have Seal.
- Who can help support my damage dealer overall? I chose Rin because she can provide him with a Huge Defense buff, Large Nature resistance buff, Invincibility, recover both his HP and CP and provide him with Immunity. She pretty much covers all the essentials to keep him alive and going. She also provides both Confusion and Slowed Movement which further supports him because both of his jutsus do more damage when his Evasion is buffed and when the enemy is inflicted with Confusion or Slowed Movement.
- For the last Support, who adds special utility & further plays well off of the other units? Since I already have 2 Assist type units on the team, there is enough team buffs and team protection to add another dps unit to the team so I chose Kid Kakashi. What he provides is extra high damage output, the only Huge Team Attack buff on the team, a damage area that strips both Invincibility and Immunity, Paralysis, Confusion and Slowed Movement (which also helps Minato do more damage just like Rin). Plus similar to Minato, he also does more damage to enemies with Paralysis or Confusion (Minato inflicts both, Rin inflicts Confusion, Kushina inflicts Confusion).
Kushina just covers the basics for a Team Main with Team HP/CP recovery, Team Immunity, Team Invincibility, not the best trap detection on new 4 star but kinda makes up for it with trap activation on old limit break plus she gives 10 second Team Invincibility at level 1 on new ult so it's easy to protect team from ults, especially BM Naruto's.
Essentially with Kakashi boosting the teams overall Attack power and every single unit doing extra damage off of each others debuffs (Confusion, Paralysis, Slowed Movement, Seal, Stat decrease), this team puts out crazy damage, covers the 3 main ailments and works very well together. Plus it presents an actual challenge with units that aren't crazy op or broken instead of just throwing super strong anniversary units on a team.

i hate my roommate so much. hes been nothing but a horrible roommate (and friend) for the past year and a half. now that were almost out, hes putting on this big performance essentially saying "i dont need you guys" when we were the ones that bailed him out of his abusive household.
he slept on our couch, used our computer, our TV, all our dishes, tables, EVERYTHING. he owns NOTHING in this house. his room was filthy for the past year and half. never helped us clean, and even is passive aggressive when we do. now that hes trying to get roommates, hes putting his "best foot forward" and telling us how happy he will be when were gone.
i feel so sorry for the next people. i feel as though hes setting up a trap. they have no idea the shit we've been through, and they wont know until its too late. not until he starts using them for rides and mooching off their belongings. its such a load of shit. im so over it
dude doesnt even own a fucking bed. he sleeps on the floor, and smells like shit because he lays in his dirty clothing. good luck to the next people. we're ready to close this chapter

Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most profitable entertainment franchises in the history of games. It came along as a return to form after what many fans would argue was a misstep with the more gritty and realistic GTA 4. Originally released back in 2013 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3—yes, it spans three console generations—developer Rockstar has supported the game's online mode with continual updates adding new content, new areas, and even all-new mechanics.
GTA V was such a runaway success—and GTA The Trilogy: Definitive Edition was such a dumpster fire—that Rockstar gave up working on a Red Dead Redemption 2 DLC, and has now reportedly abandoned plans to remaster more of its beloved older titles to instead focus on both further GTA Online content as well as the development of GTA 6.
gtaonline fukaru
Naturally, expectations for GTA 6 are incredibly high, and given the advanced age of GTA V, fans are chomping at the bit for any bit of news. That's why there's so much buzz around a report at Bloomberg that focuses on Rockstar's new corporate culture. Company co-founder Dan Houser left Rockstar in 2020, and ever since then the development house has been trying to reshape a corporate culture that the report refers to as being "like a frat house".
Given the nature and tone of the humor in the Grand Theft Auto series, it's really not surprising to hear that the atmosphere inside Rockstar was juvenile and chauvinistic. The report remarks that the workplace culture at Rockstar was "full of drinking, brawling, and excursions to strip clubs." That may sound like a good time to some, but it's admittedly not very professional.
gta1 katie Katie from the OG Grand Theft Auto (1997) on PC (left) and Game Boy Color (right).
As part of the report, author Jason Schreier casually reveals that GTA 6 will have at least two playable protagonists, and that one of them will be a Latina woman. This technically isn't the first playable woman nor even the first playable Hispanic woman in the GTA series; the very first GTA game featured a Latina named "Katie" as one of its eight playable characters.
Still, very few of the series' modern fans even remember the old DOS-based Grand Theft Auto, so we can forgive everyone for forgetting about poor Katie. Regardless, the new girl will apparently be part of a Bonnie-and-Clyde-like crime duo, calling to mind the partnership between Claude and Catalina in the beginning of Grand Theft Auto III. Hopefully the partnership between the new player characters in GTA 6 doesn't end the same way that one did.
Comments1Comments Support Independent Tech Journalism, Become A Patron! Tags: Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar Games, GTA V, GTA, gta 6 exp-player-logo
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KOwen 29 July, 2022
Release the PC version at the same time as the consoles please!
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This is a story from a few years ago, but I figured you guys might like it. It was big lesson for me.
I was just starting to work as a young adult, looking for a part-time job related to my field of study. I found the summer guide job at the castle which looked interesting, so I sent out the CV and then ended up being invited for the interview.
It was rather complicated to get there. The castle was at the other end of the country, "only" two train rides away. My interview was scheduled for one cold day in January. As a bonus, I also had an injured foot at the time and was limping, although I didn't let it affect my life. I combined this journey with the visit to the relatives, took the train to one large city where I left my suitcase at the luggage storage at the train station, and then waited for like an hour for my next train. It was a small local train which took me to the small hilly town, with the castle in the middle of it, towering over the buildings. I walked most of the way. The icy sidewalks were the biggest problem but nothing too bad.
I arrived at the castle and had an interview with two elderly women. Everything went well... until the end. Only then they revealed that they actually had no intentions of hiring me and they knew it from the moment they saw my CV. Why did they invite me then? Well, they found my CV very interesting and wanted to meet me in person, but they had known the whole time that they wouldn't hire me. I’m not kidding. What was the reason? Well, I'm a foreigner living abroad and they said that they didn't want to deal with the "complicated insurance process", so they couldn't hire me. I later found out that yes, it’s a complicated process but more for an employee than their employer (I've dealt with it at some later jobs - and also found out that a good and understanding employer can help a lot). And yes, they also violated the anti-discrimination laws.
Anyway, I felt like an idiot. I limped back to the small crowded train station and waited for the even smaller train. Time and money wasted on this. Don't do this. If you know from the very beginning that you don't want to hire someone (whatever the reason is), don't waste their time by inviting them for an interview, only to tell them at the end that you won't hire them because they are a foreigner.

There is a special cove that has been closed off for 10 years now due to repeated missing cases & very strong waves. But, some people still desire to ride those waves. Surfers will climb over the wire early in the day & try to ride the famous waves. It is usually after a couple of rounds when a HUGE wave appears out of no where & engulfs a surfer currently riding. The surfer will disappear & leave nothing but their surf board. If someone else is also caught in the wave or jumps into it, they will disappear as well. This cove has also been expanding, as people on ships close near the cove will be caught in huge waves & will disappear as well. Or even people on neighboring beaches too. But where do they all go?
These victims will end up in what’s called the [Snakes Colony] it’s a large expansive concrete maze ever winding & never ending. The surfers will usually find themselves soaked & on a pile of seaweed, leaving them the only option to find an exit.
The environment: You will most often find crabs & crustaceans crawling all over the place & into wet cracks. There is even seaweed hanging here & there, always wet & never dry up. Plus there’s lots of algae, which some people find tasty. The environment is mostly a winding burrow like maze, made up of a grey mineral, illuminated by cracks in the wall from glow worms, & often get people walking in circles. Some parts of the maze will move in a zig zag motion, have something resembling stairs, holes to crawl through, or rooms. Rooms are these big spaces that have many paths connecting to it. People will often take refuge in these rooms, but can fall prey to a predator lurking in the cracks or holes of the room.
Levels: There are only a couple levels in the Snake Colony, each varying from 20-50 stories, some parts of the levels will dip down or rise into another. None are fully flat.
The levels are listed from highest to lowest. Bird Nest, Pencil Town, Egg Shell, & The Tundra. Each level is accessible from the different far corners of the Snake Colony, taking the form of holes in the ceilings & accessible by climbing a weirdly bendy tree with minimal leaves. Let’s dive into each level.
[Bird Nest] This is the highest level & also the one with the most nests. Unlike some of the other levels, Nests can be found right next to each other or a maximum of a quarter mile apart. A lot of these nests will have small birds perching upon & making homes in the same trees used to climb up & down the levels. These birds feast off the crustaceans & will use their poop to build nests. The birds resemble sooty terns, yet their body is more grey & have a black bottom.
But they also have a predator being the Concrete Serpent. These snakes will most often be found slithering through the cracks in the walls, occasionally coming out & snatching a bird. Even if the birds fly away, they will fall to the ground within a good minute after being injected with a paralyzing venom. They can survive off just one for a week & can grow to be 6 feet long with a dark & light grey grainy pattern. The snakes show very little aggression unless they are hungry. Some people have been bitten by these snakes, leading them to be paralyzed within 10 minutes. But, one bite isn’t enough as it can paralyze just one limb. These snakes will follow their victims & bite some more when they have the opportunity, usually getting the help of other snakes too. When the person is fully paralyzed the birds will peck at the person’s body, taking off skin & flesh bit by bit as they are left unable to move, feeling everything until they eventually pass out & die. The birds will leave & give some chunks that the snakes can swallow, allowing them to avoid being eaten for the week. It usually takes around a day or two for the person to be fully eaten, filling up the snakes for a week in a half or two weeks. Due to this, the birds will occasionally hunt down a weakened human & allow the snakes to bite them, feeding the snakes & giving the birds a higher chance of survival. While some have avoided the Bird Nest after seeing their comrades die, others have repeatedly fallen prey to the birds & snakes, leading to the Bird Nest having the 2nd highest kill count.
[Pencil Town] This is a special level, kinda like Pluto. It’s the smallest level & overlaps others. Pencil town can be shaped vertically unlike the others & is broken up & poking inside other levels & between different levels. But, it is not like a nest due to it having its own unique environment & creatures, making it a level. Pencil town is made of a much darker mineral than the concrete commonly found through out the [Snake Colony]. At the same time, it has little spikes here & there people can break off & use a writing a tool, hence it the levels name. These spikes are little towers made from the dark mineral & filled with highly durable eggs, created by little crustaceans who like to have people spread their offspring to other parts of the Snake Colony. These little crustaceans will eventually return back to the Pencil Town & restart the cycle.
People can also climb inside the level & out into another, commonly taking a spike/pencil spike or two for writing. These pencil spikes have proven extremely useful for informing other victims about the levels or where to find groups of people that have been collectively captured together. People will sometimes write information about things you can eat, being the crustaceans, and various dangers faced in each level. It also because of these pencil spikes that people have collectively called to name the place the Snake Colony, often leaving writings here & they’re saying “Welcome to the Snake Colony.” And there will be some signatures below & some info for others. But, even with this information, people still die without even reaching a year in the colony, due to lack of nutrition, predators, & the agonizing solitude. Unless they’ve never reached [The Tundra].

TL;DR - Summary

All of the reasons that people are saying that the lost to Shanks is taking Kid out of the race are the same losses that Luffy has taken over the course of the series. The loss of their ship and the crew being eradicated only made the Straw Hats stronger, and I think the wording being the exact same from the Narrator should not be ignored or taken as a sign that Kid is out of the race. It's simply far too on the nose to be used as a throwaway line of Kid's defeat. I believe the Underworld works out of Elbaf, and this sets Kid up through his Underworld connections to build a new ship of Adam wood just like the Straw Hats. Shanks leaving Elbaf also clears a path for Kid to still be the main villain of Elbaf. The Kid Pirates will come back stronger.

Comparisons to Luffy's losses

Kid just got one shotted in a fashion I have rarely seen in any series. If Kid is your favorite character, I honestly feel bad. I wouldn't describe myself as a Kid fan, but this is still a character that I believe serves a larger purpose in the story than getting turned into scrap metal by Shanks. I just don't think Oda would have this character moved along throughout the story for 15 years just to make Shanks look good. Shanks doesn't need that to look good, they literally made a whole movie for this dude lol.
I think what we're seeing for Kid is a series of defeats very similar to Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates that will make him actually strong enough to be a rival to Luffy. Obviously he's going to lose in the end, Luffy is going to be Pirate King. But I just couldn't disagree more with the people saying Oda is just cutting the fat to get to the finish line as fast as possible. I have more faith in his ability as an author than that, and I don't think disliking a character means that their narrative purpose has been served whenever they're done helping Luffy look good.
Like I referred to in the title, I think Luffy and Kid's greatest defeats are mirroring each other until they eventually square off.

Loss of their beloved ship

I see a bunch of people saying Kid has to be out of the race for the One Piece, just look at their ship. How can they possibly get to the finish line first? Well, let's ask Luffy the same thing. Did Luffy's journey end when the Going Merry passed away? Nope. They rebuilt and kept going, with the Merry carrying them as long as she could.
​
Losing a ship does not mean the end of the journey.
Kid's ship, the Victoria Punk, is named after his old friend and childhood crush who died when he was young. People think that because this is something Oda elaborated on in the SBS it's proof that he doesn't care about the character and is just trying to get it out of the way and move on. I disagree. I think he's building up the emotional connection that almost surely exists in them naming the ship after her. And while it's surely a tough loss, Luffy's crew is proof that you can absolutely rebuild. Loss of a ship is not the end of the journey.
I'll even take it a step further; I wouldn't be surprised if the Klaubterman for the Victoria Punk in some way has Victoria's spirit.
People say Kid has to be doomed because he sunk in the water with no ship or back up around to help them. But is this not exactly what happened to the Straw Hats at Enies Lobby? How were the Straw Hats supposed to escape from Enies Lobby? Well... by the end, they weren't. They were doomed, but Merry used the last bit of her spirit to save them with a little help from Iceburg. I don't think it would be a huge leap for the Victoria Punk to save the Kid Pirates and get them to safety.
We've seen ships do crazier things.

Death of a childhood friend

Victoria Shiruton Doruyanaika was Kid and Killer's childhood friend who was killed by a rival gang in their home country. As stated by Oda in the SBS:

Q: Is there a reason why Kid and Killer became pirates? And what’s the story behind Heat and Wire joining them?
Oda: Of course there’s a story. These four were born on a certain island in South Blue, Kid and Killer knew each other since they were kids. The country they live in is not allied with the WG, and a gang ruled the country as if they’re royalties. There’re 4 districts on the island, each of them have their own outlaw group, and the 4 leaders are Kid, Killer, Heat and Wire. There were conflicts every single day.
One day, Kid’s close friend was killed by the gang, her name was “Victoria S Doruyanaika”(Kid and Killer’s crush revealed in previous sbs). Kid, in his rage, united the four group and took down the mightiest force in the country, the gang.
“I don’t want to stay in a closed world like this!” And like that he took his friends and form a pirate crew with them, naming their ship “Victoria Punk”.

I don't have to tell you about Luffy's childhood friends dying. Frankly, take your pick. Either Sabo being "killed" when he set sail from Foosha Village or Ace dying in Luffy's arms.
​
What I found pretty interesting though is that the mindset of why Kid decided to set sail is very similar to Sabo, just living the opposite life.
I'm sure there are stories like this across a bunch of pirates in the story, I just think there's a pretty clear parallel in why Luffy and Kid both set sail. And it was largely inspired by the death of a childhood friend.

Getting absolutely dunked on by a Yonkou

Kid got absolutely destroyed by Shanks. But I don't see how it's any different than Luffy getting one shotted by Kaido. If anybody is in line for Haki blooming, it's Kid with the amount of shit he gets himself in.
It's a tough blow, but it can just as easily be a learning experience like Luffy's first loss (and second... and third... and fourth...) was to Kaido.

Eradicated

Some people are saying that this has to take Kid out of the race because the Narrator came through and said that the crew was eradicated. There are even people using that as an argument to say he's dead (seriously what series are you guys reading who believe this). If the narrator coming in and saying that a crew is eradicated is proof that they are dead or out of the running for One Piece, somebody should really tell Luffy and the crew that they've been dead for the last two years.
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The Straw Hats were eradicated on Sabaody Archipelago, and it wasn't until the following chapters when we learned what that meant. They took the ultimate loss.
There is no chance that a call back this direct is not on purpose. I'll use this to link back to a previous post I made pointing out the many parallels of Egghead Island to Sabaody Archipelago and Post Enies Lobby. Add yet another connection and proof of the validity of that analysis.

Kid is down, but he's not out

Kid is in about as bad a spot as we've seen a character, but I don't see how this eliminates him in the story. All of the reasons that people are saying this eliminates Kid from being a factor in the story are things that we've seen happen to the Straw Hats. Like people who are saying that he's out because he no longer has a ship, if that was the case Luffy's journey would have ended ages ago. I would argue that the Adam Tree is from Elbaf to begin with, being near Elbaf would put him right in position to get a ship upgrade. I think we have pretty solid information suggesting that the Underworld operation going on throughout the One Piece world traces to Elbaf (for example, Mother Carmel's operation).

The Underworld headquarters is ran out of Elbaf

Like I pointed out, I think we can tie a large portion of the Underworld market in One Piece to Elbaf and I think that will be the main portion of conflict in that arc when we finally get there. Where else would be better to run a secretive operation outside of the eyes of the Marines than a secluded society filled with monsters that nobody wants to mess with? Just look at what Cipher Pol said to Mother Carmel after Big Mom killed Jorul
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They never thought she would leave Elbaf.
Why would they think that this character who has been working for the Underworld for decades wouldn't leave Elbaf... unless Elbaf is the home of the Underworld? It puts the market for her activities right next to her. Not to mention Franky engaging in Underworld activities before he became a Straw Hat. This was how he was able to buy Adam wood with the money he stole from the Straw Hats before becoming their friend.
To this day we still have so much mystery surrounding the Underworld operations that Doflamingo was so tied up in.
And while Kid isn't a Broker, we did learn in Punk Hazard that he was connected with the Underworld and aware of the going ons. I wouldn't be surprised if this is how he knows who the man with the burn scar is to begin with.
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Kid has some knowledge of the Underworld that we still need to learn as an audience and as the Straw Hat crew.

Why did Oda make Kid a Conqueror?

This is a question that I've asked in pretty much every discussion of Kid since it was revealed that Kid and Shanks were on Elbaf together. One Piece is a story written by an author, and that author makes decisions for what will close out certain narratives. That's how storytelling works. So the question I ask people who think that Kid will serve no more importance; Why did Oda make Kid a Conqueror?
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The group of known Conquerors in One Piece is incredibly short.
People have suggested that Kid has Conqueror's Haki because it would boost his resume and make Shanks look good. And I truly do not understand this argument at all. If that was truly Kid's role in the story, he doesn't need Conqueror's Haki in order to serve that purpose. If Law went to Elbaf instead of Kid and got one shotted by Shanks, I doubt anybody would be sitting here saying "yeah that's cool, but Law isn't a Conqueror so it's not that impressive." Because that would be silly. Oda could have made Kid as good with his Devil Fruit as Law is and it still would have shown just how strong Shanks is whether he was a Conqueror or not.
Kid did not even use Conqueror's in the fight with Big Mom. Excluding the anime, all we have is Kaido telling us that Kid is a Conqueror and nothing else. So again, why did Oda add this at all? This isn't like Armament Haki where everybody and their mother has it at this point, this is a very exclusive group of characters. And being Conquerors serves a very in your face narrative purpose for almost all of these characters, with the rest still having future roles to play in the story.

• Shanks - Doesn't need to be explained
• Luffy - Really doesn't need to be explained
• Rayleigh - Right hand of the Pirate King, the Dark King himself, and Luffy's mentor on his path to being the Pirate King
• Hancock - Oda could have easily had Hancock be captured and turned into a slave again, but that hasn't happened as far as the story stands now. I don't know what her role will be now that she's left Amazon Lily looking for Luffy, but her strong will power was shown when she faced Blackbeard with no fear
• Doflamingo - A man who desires to tear down the entire Holy Land with knowledge of the National Treasure and controlled the entire Underworld of the One Piece world
• Don Chinjao - A gatekeeper of the old age of One Piece as a combatant of Garp, and Luffy's baptism into combat on the highest level in the New World
• Big Mom - a Yonkou, self explanatory
• Katakuri - The gatekeeper between Luffy and breaking the billion berry benchmark, and the person who gave Luffy the respect of eventually being able to beat a Yonkou (will you come back and defeat Big Mom)
• Sengoku - Fleet Admiral and an Admiral during the days of Roger and Whitebeard
• Kaido - a Yonkou, self explanatory
• Zoro - desires to be the greatest swordsman
• Yamato - future role still pretty up in the air post Wano, but is the child of one of the greatest Conquerors and desires to be Oden. Also the guardian of Wano next to Momonosuke (who will probably also have Conquerors by the end of the story, but that's speculation)
• Whitebeard - 2nd to the throne
• Ace - Ace died before ever truly reaching his potential, but his lived with the desires to make Whitebeard the King of the Pirates and is the son of the Pirate King
• Oden - Shogun of Wano and the central point of the entire saga of arcs that put us in Wano to begin with
• Gol D. Roger - King of the Pirates

Conquerors are all important characters. This is not a power that Oda just hands out. Until we can answer the question of why Kid is a Conqueror, his narrative is not complete. Don't take my word for it; take Kid's (and Oda's).
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If I die now, what was the point of my whole pirating career?

Conclusion

I think we're seeing the path clear for Kid to be the antagonist of Elbaf, even with as shaky as it looks for now. We can pretty confidently say Shanks is not going to be on Elbaf, that possibility was erased last chapter. Blackbeard probably has to get ready for war with Garp. Big Mom is definitely still a possibility, but she has much bigger issues to actually gather her crew first and get to Elbaf (including rescuing Pudding). I think Kid will come back having gone through the same growth that Luffy went through in the Udon mines and by the time Luffy gets to Elbaf, Kid will actually be strong enough to be his rival.
Kid has not served his entire narrative purpose. And because of that, I'm keeping my Kid stocks. I would advise you all to not sell just yet.
Buy the dip!

Hey all,
I recently acquired a Dell R730 that's configured for 2.5" drives. I would like to get a couple of 3.5 drives hooked in to it for storage but I'm not sure what my best option is.
I could easily 3D print or build some 3.5" drive storage that would sit next to the R730 but I'm not sure if a SATA extension cable would work with the SAS ports.
It looks like all 16 2.5 drives are on a single board so switching out half for 4*3.5" seems out of the question.
Whats my best option here?

I'll be getting my ACL and meniscus repaired soon, and thus taking 4-5 months off climbing. While this absolutely sucks from a quality of lifejoy standpoint, I do have to admit that from the perspective of long term rock climbing progression it will probably be pretty great. I would love your thoughts on how to best take advantage of this enforced extended training phase.
Background: age 41, climbing for 10 years. My long term goals largely involve onsighting vertical ish terrain (especially granite), although I love all kinds of climbing. My overall climbing diet has been probably a bit weird, but I feel like it's served me well in terms of gradual, continuous progression: indoors, I do a ton of climbing at a bouldering gym, while outside I mostly focus on mileage, especially multipitch and TR soloing. Since I started hangboarding 5 years ago, I've inserted month long Anderson-bros style repeaters phases (during which I don't climb) into my actual climbing (7 grips, 10s on 5s off, 7(6) rep sets). I have generally started a repeater phase when I feel like I'm starting to fall off things more because my fingers are too weak than because my technique is failing/I'm reading the wrong sequence. In total I've done about 10 full repeater phases, and the progress in terms of both climbing grade and visible hypertrophy have been extremely obvious. I've done many fewer recruitment/max hang phases (I think two) because I have mostly prioritized gaining technique to improve onsighting, and because I boulder indoors a lot, which has a decent recruitment component. My onsight limit is ~.11d, redpoint probably upper .12, but honestly I prioritize redpointing so little that it's hard to say. If I were not injured, I would probably be prioritizing redpointing, largely to get better at falling on a rope.
Plan: Basically I'm planning to do a month of repeaters, then a few weeks of max hangs, then a bit of rest/hb arcing, then repeat. For repeaters, I do 6-7 grips (half + full crimp, a few two and three finger grips, and a pinch or two); on max hangs I cut down to the most important and least tweaky three or four of them. I also have a variety of core and shoulder exercises I will keep up, and will keep training pullups (probably mostly max hangs).
Specific questions:
How long should the max hang phases be? I generally prioritize repeaters since they build potential for future gains, which I can always cache in later by doing recruitment. But I also think I need to do a fair amount of recruitment to enable progression in the next repeater phase. I'm thinking at least two weeks, but maybe as many as four?
How long should the rest/hb arc phases be? I know, especially at my age, it'd be foolish not to have down time before starting a new repeater phase. But otoh I've been hangboarding for a long time and am careful about technique and progression, so generally don't have any actual lingering niggles that I need to get rid of. I'm thinking one or two weeks?
Is there anything else I'm neglecting?