So I recently got a job at this video store in my town. The place has been open for as long as I could remember. And through circumstances I will not get into now, I was hired there. Now, I am using the term ‘Video store’ very loosely here. It’s more of a large storage facility that just so happens to rent out VHS tapes. And weirdly enough, the store actually gets quite a few customers.
I am only one of three employees that work at the store. There is also the manager but I had only seen him once throughout my whole time working here. One of the employees that works with me to serve the customers is a girl, who I will call Sunny. I see Sunny at the front desk, or in the break room making her 100th coffee. There is also Jared, the store's Archivist. He does as his job title implies. He is given a box of VHS tapes and is told to watch, catalog, and sort them into the store.
The store itself is a whole different story. On the outside, it just looks like your average brick and mortar warehouse. The inside however, if I may describe it in one word, is dark. I have no idea why but there are now windows in the store. The only windows being the glass doors at the front entrance. So when you need to navigate the store, in search of a tape, you need to bring a flashlight with you. And even with a source of light, the place is like a labyrinth. Going deeper into the store proves to be the most frustrating and stressful part of the job. As you need to do it quickly if you don't want the customer to grow impatient. I now cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for Sunny. As she does the night shift at the store. So it is dark inside and out.
Lastly there are the customers. They are peculiar to say the least. They range from salesmen, homeless people, Even clowns that one time. I've heard from Sunny that when it is night shift. You get some weird customers.
So, now that I have told you what my job is, Ill tell you what got me into this mess. I just arrived at the store early this morning. When I do, I always find Jared in the break room, making himself some tea. This time he wasn't there. “Hey Sunny, where’s Jared?”
Sunny turned her head to face me while she was making herself coffee. “He called in sick today. The manager also wants to see you upstairs in his office.
My stomach churned when she said that. The first time I met the manager I was instantly freaked out by him, his skin was almost perfect. like a wax doll, And his ear to ear smile with perfectly symmetrical teeth made me shiver, he looked like an idyllic business man, almost like a living parody of one.
I walked up the metal stairs to his office and opened the door. The manager was sitting in his chair filing some paperwork. He asked me to sit down. “So new employee. How are you coping?” His voice was sincere yet eerie. He gave that familiar ear to ear, perfect teeth grin. “Good sir.”
“Amazing news new employee! Now as you may have heard from the night shift employee. Our archivist has called in sick. So I’ll be making you the surrogate archivist for today.” the manager said. Opening his desk drawer and pulling out a key, the key’s head was painted with a pale, sickly green color. “Now I know that you have only been working here for how long?”
“Oh uh, 1 month sir.” I answered. His face contorted into what looked like a surprised face. “ 1 whole month. So you have fitted in nicely? Got along with the two employees?” He stretched out the ee’s in ‘employee’ to make his point. “Yes sir.”
“Good then. Now the green key is to unlock the archivist’s office. The night shift employee will guide you. If you do a good job, then I will give you a bonus for this week's wages. But any mistakes. Well, the consequences will be costly.” The seriousness of his tone completely caught me off guard. A hot, red fuzzy feeling grew ever present in my gut. “I-I understand sir.”
“Alrighty-yo then. Now get moving.” the manager turned his focus back to the paperwork. I took the green key from him and walked down the iron steps.
Meeting Sunny below. She took me to the archival room. “Alright. The door opens with the green key, you have it?” she looked back at me. I took the green key out of my pocket to show her. “Okay, now listen to me. If you are in any trouble. There is a black phone near the bottom of the steps. There will be two options on it. Being the front desk and the manager's office. Press the front desk if you need my help. You understand.” her voice was assertive. I nodded solemnly. She said goodbye and walked away from me. I waved and looked back at the door in front of me.
Opening the door I was surprised to find a long dark stairway leading into the inky abyss. I took out my small flashlight and flicked it on. Flashing the light down the stairway it just showed more steps. With a long sigh I stepped down, closing the door behind me. The soles of my shoes tapped against the steel steps. Sending a slight echo throughout as I descended. To keep my mind off of the fuzzy feeling in my gut, I started counting every step I took. When my foot hit the smooth concrete floor at the bottom, I had counted around 50 steps.
I flashed the light across the basement. The walls were simply just featureless, smooth concrete. The only things in the basement were Four shelves, all different colors ranging from red,purple,blue and green. An old CRT Tv near the middle of the room, it looked like one of those old tv’s teachers would wheel into class to play a movie or something.
There was also an old desk hugging the wall, only a few feet away from the CRT Tv. Some journals lay strewn about. With a singular page torn out, laying on a bunch of notebooks. I came closer to read the page. Here is what is said;
“Hey Buddy. So if you are reading this then that means that I am probably at home, in bed, coughing my lungs out. I haven't been feeling well yesterday and decided to write this note as the manager is probably going to ask you to do my job. So I’ll be leaving this note here with the rules on what to do.
1st— All the tapes you need to watch are in the box near the Tv. Pop them in and watch them. If you didn’t finish a tape. Whether it be for having explicit imagery or it was just causing too much distress. Pop it out and slap a Golden star sticker on the side.
2nd— there are four shelves, all different colors. Red is for if it is explicit stuff. Purple are for tapes that seem normal but give you an uneasy feeling, make your body ache, pain etc. Blue are for tapes that are just static and random flashing lights. And lastly green is if the tape is just a regular old by the books VHS.
3rd— there will be a notebook titled ‘Volume-124’ lying beneath the page you are reading. Make sure to document what you saw on those tapes. If you don't know how you should document them. Just look at some examples in the notebook itself.
4th— Do not. Under any circumstances. Watch a VHS with a red strip of duct tape stuck on its side. If you encounter one, then please leave it. Don’t touch it. Don't look at it. Don't even think about it when you see it.”
That was all the letter had to say before I turned around and looked at the box, lying near the Television set.
Opening the box I found it filled to the brim with neatly stacked VHS tapes. I decided to take my phone out of my pocket to check the time. 8:30.
I sighed and put my phone back in my pocket. Best to get it done and not slack off.
The first few tapes that I watched were slightly unnerving. Some were old cartoons that made my body feel stiff. Others seemed to be videos of crime scenes. I wrote down what I saw on the volumes. The examples I had to look at in the notebook just showed I had to write short sentences with a clear point on how they made me feel, what was the tape about and what category it ends off with an ascending number. ‘Tape 2234’ and then ‘Tape 2235’.
I won't be talking about all of the ones I saw. But there were a few I had to mention. There was one that was some old student project film about a half bunny, half man that was going on a rampage throughout a college dorm. The blood and viscera made me think that the practical effects of this movie were realistic. I am a bit too realistic. So I thought of just putting it on the red shelf and moving on.
Another VHS featured a documentary about this old farm. Retelling the generations of its inhabitants and how they seemingly died of strange causes. Like being impaled by a tree branch or seemingly strung up in the barn. It was actually quite a bit entertaining in the way you find murder documentaries entertaining. It was descriptive with the details. Which is technically telling ‘explicit information’, but again, no gore or frightening material. Si just just put the tape on the desk and told Jared I didn't know what to do with it.
I was finally now finished down to only two tapes. I now saw the tape with red on it. Now if I was an absolute idiot I would have watched it. Ignoring the rules laid out by my good old friend Jared. Don’t get me wrong, I was very much tempted to pop it in and watch it. See why it was so forbidden. See if it is a snuff film. But well, the fear of actually seeing a snuff film and getting in trouble for it, stopped me.
So I took the VHS That lay beside it. The name of it was scribbled on its side. ‘Lisa.’
I inserted it into the player. The subsequent screen that flashed on the tv was of a cellar door. The footage had an unusual blue, distorted filter to it. Like the camera that was filming was submerged into water. I sat there in the uncomfortable fold up chair, Staring at the screen unblinkingly. After some indeterminate time had passed. I stood up from the chair. My gaze upon the screen now gone. The sound of screeching metal erupted from the television. I jumped and cursed under my breath. Quickly flicking my gaze back at the screen.
The Rusted cellar doors were now open. Revealing a deep void. I stood. The warm fuzzy feeling I had felt was now ever present across my whole body. From the void, a pale hand emerged. It was heavily contrasted against the blackness behind it. The arm stretched out and grabbed the dead grass in front of the cellar. Then slowly. Another pale hand appeared. Doing the same as the others. The arms now seemed to haul up a ghostly looking woman. Her long, jet black hair covering her face.
Suddenly, the arms propelled the figure out of the cellar, moving swiftly and smoothly towards the screen. I couldn't help but give out a startled gasp as I was jumpscared by the video. The figure of the woman was now inches away from the supposed camera filming her. Her face is now slightly visible.
The skin on her cheeks and jaw were stretched thin. The iris of her eyes is a deep crimson color. I never in my life expected what was about to happen.
With an eerie determination, she pressed her hand against the screen, her pale fingers pushing through, defying the boundaries of reality. I couldn't help but scream in terror. She started climbing out. Water spilling over from the film world into mine. Her long black hair trailing along as half her body was now out of the television.
My fight or flight response kicked in as I grabbed the metal fold up chair and hurled it at her, then booked it for the stairs. Now I know that I had counted 50 steps on this stairway, but my feet probably landed on only a quarter of them as I was jumping hurriedly across 2 to 3 steps at a time.
Reaching the top of the stairs in leaps and bounds.
I grabbed the handle of the metal door and pulled. It didn't budge. Looking behind me I saw she was now crawling up the stairs like a feral beast. Rapidly approaching. I pulled the green key out of my pocket but it slipped and fell onto the floor.
The ghost woman was only 6,5, only 4 steps away from presumably ripping my souls out of my body and sending me to hell. So, out of sheer panic. I thrusted my leg out. My foot connected to her face with enough force that she lurched backwards and started falling down the steep stairway. The woman was wailing out until her head landed on the step. Her screams cut short with a loud crack and tumbled hearing her tumble the last few remaining steps before silence.
I was cupping my hands over my mouth. Trying my best not to scream. I stood there for what felt like an eternity before I slowly started descending back to the basement. The now familiar glow of the Tv showed that the woman was very much not moving.
An inky black liquid was seeping out of her opened skull onto the smooth concrete floor. I then remembered what Sunny had told me. And so I looked around and saw the black phone on the wall near the steps.
The only buttons on it had the words ‘manager’s office’ and ‘front desk’. I took the handset of the phone and pressed the ‘front desk’ button. A short beep came out the receiver before I heard Sunny’s voice.
“I’ll be right over.” is all that she said to me. That was an hour ago as of typing this. So now here I am asking you this question. How do I dispose the body of a ghost?

Hi all! I'm 6 months postpartum and have been exclusively pumping since day 2.
I don't live near any family so when they visit, they stay at our house.
When my immediate family comes to visit, I'll pump in front of them. I'm not 100% comfortable so I'll shield myself for setting up/taking off the pump but it's no big deal with my immediate family.
When my in-laws visited, I pumped in my bedroom every time. I'm pumping 5x a day and it takes 35-45 minutes each time. I know I could pump in front of them but I don't want to. We're not super close and MIL is extremely judgemental and critical.
My husband offered MIL multiple times last visit to leave the house (go pick up food, go for a ride with my husband etc) and she refused every time so she was always home. (FIL sometimes left).
Maybe it's irrational but I'm annoyed that they don't mind the fact that I'm banished to another room multiple times a day because of their visit. At no point during their visit did they attempt to excuse themselves or even hint that they realized their presence was causing me inconvenience.
I don't really know what the solution is here... it's likely just something I have to put up with until I wean. Just wanted to vent and see if anyone else felt this way?

Hello all,
Just completed 4 days of in-person visits in NYC shopping for an engagement ring and thought I'd share my experience (as many of your posts helped me). Please know I am not an expert so just sharing my personal experience.
I met with 6 companies and learned a lot. In addition I also shopped at numerous online retailers. All the companies showed me eye-clean sparkly looking mined diamonds. However, I learned the industry does not provide enough information for us to truly make an informed decision to compare and contrast the diamonds and to ensure we're getting good value for the diamond we end up purchasing. The reality is, most consumers don't seem to care. They buy based on carat size, setting type, price, and sparkle. For those that care more, internet research discusses the 4 C's (usually described in a report from a grading company like GIA or similar). But sadly, this report does not provide all the information required to identify a sparkly mined diamond.
They allow you to compare and contrast in a controlled setting (in-store with fancy lighting), against a few other diamonds (also controlled). If you have a favorite diamond from one store and want to contrast it against another (or against one online), you are unable to do so. Only seeing diamonds side by side, without the controlled lighting, would we be able to truly see the possible difference in color tint and sparkle.
However, there are add'l reports and tools that allow you to ascertain how sparkly your diamond will perform - but almost none of the stores provide these reports. Some of the online retailers do - but they only provide some, not all, of these reports.
Finally, because consumers only care about carat size, setting type, price, and sparkle the cutters (who cut the raw diamonds) are incentivized not to create perfect sparkly cuts without inclusions, but to keep as much of the raw material as possible, which results in many of these diamonds have inclusions, clouds, and angles that do not optimize the sparkle of the diamond (but do leave them a higher carat size) which is what consumers (and retailers want). Retailers want this because they know 2 things... they can charge more for larger stones, and they can sell stones that aren't perfect to consumers since they don't provide us with enough info to make an informed decision. The result is what I found when shopping. Almost every retailer trots out diamonds that appear sparkly and pretty - but have significant flaws (which are not generally noticeable to the naked eye - but do reduce the shine nonetheless and would be more apparent if shown side by side in natural light).
At a bare minimum, the reports one should look at are GIA Report, Holloway Cut Report, and the Gemex Light Performance Report. Most retailers do not provide these reports unless asked. One must ask, if the diamonds they are showing rank as good on these reports, why would they withhold this information? It seems obvious to me they withhold it because the diamonds we are shown do not rank well on the reports. And without data, one is left to choose a diamond solely based on their "eye" and budget, which will not get you the highest quality diamond at the price you can afford.
When in store, optimally, you also want to do 3 things.
1- Look at the diamond through am (Idealscope) hearts and arrows viewer to make sure the hearts and arrows are clean and present (one can be purchased for ~$15 if you want to bring your own). But, imo, any retailer who doesn't have one sitting there for you to use, is obviously showing you diamonds that will not pass this visual inspection.
2- Use an ASET Scope or other light scope viewer to identify how much "bleed" the diamond has. That is, how much light is refracted back to the eye - vs how much light passes through the diamond (and not back to the eye). This will help you ascertain the brilliance/sparkle of the diamond. You can buy/bring your own, but again, any retailer not offering this knows the diamonds they are showing you won't allow their diamond to grade high.
3- Look at the diamonds side by side, over something white, in natural light (put your hand over the bright lights the store has). See from the top if the sparkle differs and see from the side if you can see a yellow looking tint. This may prove difficult if you cannot sufficiently block their bright light and use natural light (which is how you'll be looking at the diamond through your life when it's on your finger.
If you use all the tools above you'll be more equipped to make an informed decision. Now, sadly, after doing all the above, I'm still not 100% confident I received the best diamond at the best price. I am however, more confident I received an excellent cut, sparkly diamond, in the largest size for my budget. In fact of the 24+ diamonds I saw, only 3 passed the tests above - and odds are I would've ended up with one of those rather than the one I bought. So at the very least I ended up with one of the 3 and put the odds in my favor that I wasn't as ripped off as I would've been.
Another thing to consider is your setting. Setting prices (for the exact same setting) were all over the place (from a low of $850 to a high of $3,800). Again, these were for near identical settings. This is another trick... a store may appear to be giving you a deal on a diamond - but once you include the setting price - you end up not saving at all (or vice versa).
On to the reviews. Budget was $20k all in, incl setting, taxes, and shipping/insurance. Round brilliant natural mined diamond. Setting 14k yellow gold 4 prong pave, and thus my color grade to optimize size was ~I (for an excellent stone any of the near colorless options (G-J) will look white next to yellow gold so figured no need to pay more for a colorless grade. Based on my budget, stones I was shown were in the 1.8-2.2 carat range.
Lauren B Jewelry:
(i) Showed 4 eye clean diamonds within my budget. Did not provide any reports alongside the diamonds. However, upon request, did provide the GIA reports. Did not offer any add'l reports and did not provide me with a hearts/arrows ideal-scope or ASET viewer in store.
(ii) Setting price was $2,100 (14k)
My take: Excellent friendly in-store service. Diamonds shown were the lowest quality of any I saw during my visit (as it appears to stay within my budget and size request they had to drop down to SI level) GIA reports and loupe confirmed a variety of inclusions and clouds. Settings were some of the most beautiful however and were priced on the lower end of the setting prices I received.
Jangmi Jewelry:
(i) Showed me 3 eye clean diamonds with GIA reports provided without asking. Showed me stones through hearts and arrows viewer without asking. Provided Holloway Cut reports after meeting upon request. Claimed Gemex reports are redundant and not required once someone has seen the HCA Cut report.
(ii) Setting price quoted at $2,800 (14k, but quote includes adding pave to prongs which may have increased price slightly).
My take: Friendly service, although English was 2nd language. Diamonds were priced competitively however GIA and Holloway showed only average stones (with the better GIA report having a worse Holloway score and the worse GIA report having a better Holloway score). They had a hearts and arrows viewer in-store and the stones did have them (to my untrained eye). However. without a Gemex and ASET viewer it was impossible for me to truly identify the sparkle/brilliance of their stones. It is ultimately possible the stones are above average, however, I was not provided the tools to corroborate this.
Soho Gem:
(i) Showed me 5 eye clean diamonds with GIA reports alongside (without asking). Would not provide Holloway Cut or Gemex reports but did offer to have me come back to the store to view the diamonds through their ASET viewer as well as through an Ideal-Scope. This was not offered to me while I was in-store.
(ii) Setting quoted at $3,400 (18k). 18k increased setting price slightly as well as pave around basket.
My take: Friendly in-store service. The specs of the diamond I liked the most were similar to the stone I ultimately chose. It is possible had I been willing to trek back to the store to see the stones through the ASET viewer and Ideal-Scope the stone may have proved excellent in terms of light leakage and hearts and arrows. But without the add'l HCA and Gemex reports, I'd have lacked the information to truly make an informed decision. Further their diamond was $1,300 higher - so it seemed a waste to go through the effort only to see a diamond that matched the specs of the diamond I bought. Plus their setting was significantly more expensive (even when taking 18k into consideration) and they required a 50% deposit to begin.
Ring Concierge:
(i) Showed me 3 eye clean diamonds. Included GIA reports but would not offer add'l reports calling them "unnecessary as GIA certified diamonds with a cut grade of triple excellent... will have maximum brilliance". She claimed any add'l reports function as a "sales/marketing technique".
(ii) Setting quoted at $3,600 (14k). They do however offer the thinnest band at 1.5mm which no other retailer would build (thinnest anyone else would go was 1.8mm).
My take: Friendly in-store service. However, setting prices were the highest of any retailer and when a customer asks for reports on physics/facts only to be told these are sales/marketing techniques, my antenna go way up. She knows (or should know) that not all of GIA's excellent cut diamonds are optimal in terms of brilliance/fire/scintillation and light leakage. Alongside their high setting prices this store was a hard pass. But ahhh, those beautiful settings.
Frank Darling:
(i) created a 4 diamond flight for me to see in store.
My take: Prior to the meeting I called to ask if they would provide any of the reports described herein and they said they do not provide any of the reports, or ASET or hearts/diamond viewers, so I cancelled the meeting. No point in wasting everyone's time if I will not be provided with enough data to make an informed decision.
I.D. Jewelers (Yekutiel Davidov):
(i) showed me 1 stone in-store (and had another queued up for the following day). Provided GIA report alongside the stone and walked me through minimum specs of the GIA report (i.e., showed me how to weed out certain stones immediately, such as what depth % is optimal, what fluorescence is acceptable, etc). Provided Holloway Cut Report and Gemex report via request.
(ii) Setting quoted at $850-$1,100 depending on 14k or 18k gold preference.
My take: Super friendly and knowledgeable service. The diamond graded very well on all 3 reports but the diamond price was on the higher side. However, with the lowest setting price of all the retailers, the total net price was the same as the others and within budget. Only required $1k down. Ultimately was my 2nd favorite diamond. Would've been great to see the diamond through an ASET or Light Scope Viewer but decided not to as I found another slightly larger diamond that passed all the tests.
David S Diamonds:
(i) showed me 2 in-store diamonds. Provided all the reports and viewers described herein. Also provided training as to why I needed all the reports and viewers (full disclosure - this is the store that explained why I needed all the reports and viewers described herein). So obviously he'd provide everything.
(ii) Setting quoted at $950 (14k).
My take: Very friendly and patient in-store service generous with their time. Provided training on how to buy a diamond and implored me to go back out and to the retailers and shop with my new knowledge (before buying). Showed me a diamond I ultimately bought (2.03 carat, J, VVS2, GIA certified, excellent Gemex scores, excellent under light scope, clean hearts and arrows). Saved me ~$2,200-$3,500 vs the other stores with excellent confidence that the stone I bought is as good as it can get within my budget and specs.
James Allen:
Also shopped online at James Allen and even looked at the "competitor" diamonds that the Holloway Report showed once I ran that report. James Allen's True Hearts competitive diamond (with similar specs and grades) was $5,500 more than the diamond I purchased. And this from the "low cost" online retailer without a storefront.
Other retailers: Kamni, R&R Jewelry and NYC Wholesale Diamonds could not accommodate in-person meetings the week I was in town so I couldn't asses them.
To sum up, if someone wanted me to recommend them a place to start, I'd start with David S Diamonds to get the learning he provides. Then once you have a diamond and price you like from him - go to Yekutiel at I.D. Jewelers and see if he can source something similar at a similar (or better) price. This way you'll have a few options to choose from. You can also double check either of the diamonds you found vs James Allen (or Blue Nile) once you pull the Holloway Cut Report (or have David or Yekutiel provide you the Rapport pricing for the diamonds they are showing). This may give you some confidence that you're getting a decent value/price.
If I had to start this process over again, I would not visit any of the diamond stores that have storefronts and significant overhead - I discovered many of them are Instagram stores - selling much lower quality diamonds for the same price because they are popular among the IG crowd . Further, from my limited experience, their settings are way overpriced in comparison and their deposit policies (generally 50% down) are absurd. After all they haven't given you the diamond yet... all you should be required to pay for is the setting.
Finally, please know I am not a diamond expert, and am just a noob who is sharing their learnings over a very small period and very small sample size. I'm simply sharing what I learned and if it helps someone, great. If not - feel free to ignore.

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this, but, well, where else do I put it?
Background: My dad (as well as me and my entire family) are Christians. My dad and I aren't sure what we think of paranormal activities, though, like ghosts and the like. My grandfather on my mom's side has had a few encounters with a ghost, but that's a different story. I personally believe in spirits and fae and the like, and I think he's leaning towards it too. This is actually the story that made me believe, I suppose. My dad and his friend (the two main characters of the story) are both former police officers, and were both -at least at the time- very skeptical of ghosts and such. I've never heard the friend's view of the story, as I've just never thought to ask when we do see him. This was almost twenty years ago, but the details are surprisingly clear; my dad's has only told this story a few times, but the details have never changed. He elaborated on some of them a little more as I got older, but that's about it.
Sorry for the long background, into the story!
My dad and his friend were working night shift as security at a mine in Northern Kentucky. They were at their post, which was a hill overlooking the entrance to the mine to the left and the owner's house and a lake to the right. They were just talking while they kept watch, when they both just went quiet. They were both facing towards the lake, and there was a figure standing on the bank.
The lake was surrounded by woods, because rural Kentucky, and the figure was standing just inside the tree line. All they saw of it was an outline. It looked, according to Dad, like a man with antlers, about his height (he's about average height).
Dad told me that he felt all the hair on his body stand on end, but he wasn't scared. His body was scared, but his mind wasn't. He was perfectly calm.
They were both armed, but neither of them raised their guns. Like I said, they weren't scared- or at least my dad wasn't. Not at the time, at least; they were both terrified later, but they were just perfectly calm then.
They just kind of looked at it. He knew it was looking at them, even though he could only see an outline of it.
Then, after a while, it turned and walked away into the woods.
Dad knew where it was going. The mine was built extremely close to a Native American burial site (he didn't know the name of the tribe, and we couldn't find any records of it online, but he remembers that it had at least two tribes buried there, small ones), and he just knew it was following the path to the burial site.
I asked him how he knew when he was telling me this story, and he said "Because I've walked that path."
They never saw the creature again, as far as I know, but Dad had an encounter with it later that I'll also include. It took my dad -who's the bravest man I've ever met- a couple hours to go back to that spot, and only in the daylight. He was too scared. And remember, they were both big, tough guys, former police officers who risked their lives every day. He'd faced down people double or triple his size, who could kill him if they wanted to, but he'd earned the respect of almost every inmate in that prison. He wasn't scared by much. But he was scared after that.
They went down to the spot where they'd seen the creature standing the next morning, poking around to see if they could find a trace of it. They were armed, as usual, ready to shoot it if they had to. They didn't see the creature, but what they did find was a massive hole, about two or three feet deep, right where it must've been standing. My dad stepped in the hole, for reference of how big this thing was; it had looked about his size, as mentioned above, but this hole was easily two or three feet deep, and it made my dad look like a child.
He climbed out of the hole, and they looked at each other. He told me then that, whatever that creature was, it was a lot bigger than it had looked. Eight or nine feet tall, he estimated.
Now, for the second bit! There was a group of kids -my dad referred to them as kids, in reality they were in their late teens to early twenties- who would take four wheelers out in the woods near the burial site mentioned earlier. This was completely illegal, for a variety of reasons, and there was a fence of some kind to keep people from doing exactly this.
Well, the "kids" were at it again, and they'd broken the fence. The owner called up my dad and asked him to fix it, which he agreed to.
So, he headed out down the path, the same one he'd seen the creature take, to the burial site. And the entire time, he felt like he was being watched. Not by a person, or something with malicious intent; my dad did a lot of hunting as a kid, and he knew what being watched by a predator felt like. It wasn't like that. He just knew it was the creature from before. And he just knew what it wanted, somehow.
He said "Look, I'm not here to mess with anything. I'm here to protect this place."
He never felt it again. He'd been down there a few times since, but he never felt it again.
Now, I'm a huge mythology nerd, and we have some Cherokee heritage so that was one of the things I looked into, a lot. Originally when he told me the story, he said he thought the creature was a wendigo (He thought a wendigo was a creature that shamans would summon to destroy their enemies; he'd seen pictures and heard about what they looked like and what they did, but didn't actually know the stories behind its existence). We quickly ruled out wendigo, though, because there was no way it wouldn't have attacked him the second time. Wendigos don't care what you're there for, they're spirits of hunger that just want to kill and eat. Nothing more.
So, my current theory is that it's some kind of protector spirit for the tribe buried there. It recognized that my dad wasn't there to do any sort of harm to the burial site, and left him alone. If it was a wendigo, it would've just eaten him, and I wouldn't be here to tell this.
I was wondering if anyone has any similar stories about this kind of thing, or any other ideas about what it was.

a somewhat short chapter as I’m busy
(story start)—————— 4
A few hours later
Another devil cam to the front of the warehouse entrance and dropped off a tray of what seems to be alien food before swiftly leave.
Then the devil he was talking to retrieved the food and showed it to him, she then gestured to the tray of food and said
“(Food)”
Before playing a video of a devil eating food, before taking one her self and eating it.
Naturally Franz is alert when being offered food and demands to knows its composition, as he doesn’t know if it’s harmful for him to eat.
“Explain… composition”
Unknown to Franz the Cre’taxians still thought he was a robot and that the food was for the newly appointed negotiator to eat.
At Franz’s response the devil…. No the Cre’taxsian frowns as those 2 words are still not within the database and it the first time she’s hearing it.
It took awhile for Franz to realize his mistake and took out his phone to show the appearance of an atom.
The Cre’taxsian negotiator seems interested in his phone’s design but understands it functions the same as her crystal iPad.
“Atom”
He then shows a few more drawings of atoms and said “Atom” each time
Then he shows a compound H2O (water) and said “composition”
He swipes back to the Atoms that makes up water and points at them before pointing back at the compound.
“Compound”
He then shows a few more simple compounds and points out their atomic make up.
With all that done Franz points to blue alien sand which and said “compound”
The Cre’taxsian frowns a bit before turning on her coms to communicate with the scientists who were watching their interactions.
After a brief back and forth the negotiator taps her pad to show him a bunch of compounds.
Franz squints a bit as they showed him the compounds as 3D model of atoms bonding each other to form a compound.
Like it’s understandable that they didn’t show him the hexagon diagram with English letters on it.
Franz was pretty good chemistry and biology back in high school so he recognizes the fats and amino acids.
‘Those chains of Carbon and 2 Hydrogen must be fats and those….. hmm… everything looks fine to me’ he thought, while he’s no expert chemist he’s saving up money to continue his studies.
Of course the thought that the devils might be lying to him did cross his mind but that still doesn’t change the fact that he’s still trapped in a building surrounded by them.
Not taking their food despite being offered to him might seem rude, especially since the negotiator personally demonstrated that the food is safe to eat by eating one herself.
Besides that do they actually know what’s harmful to a human? Judging by the fact that they’re trying to transcribe English for the last few hours should be a great indicator that this is the first time they meet a human.
After some careful thinking Franz decided to take them up on the offer and took off the respirator covering his face.
Hisssss
“(Gasp)”
The moment he took off his respirator that covers his lower face, the negotiator gasped hard and eyes went wide at the sight.
“(Oh My Goddess! he was an actual man!)” the fresh academy recruit exclaims over the coms —————————————— In the conference room
Everyone was stunned silence for a while as they didn’t quite believe what they’re seeing.
“(he’s actually a male!)”
“(Just by looking at that jawline I can tell that he must have a gorgeous face)”
Discussion broke out amongst the staff
The district commander like the rest of the staff was stunned at first the frowns before contemplating how to deal with this situation.
She the then brought up what she knows about him so far, then she rewatches a brief compilation of the incredible feats he has done so far.
From jump wall to wall to climb a 4 stores building to his mostly recent one beating 3 Hasperax Enforcer mechs.
As she was thinking what to do when an urgent coms request came
She looks at the sender and cursed before sighing
‘Just great’ she thought as the call is from her mother, news must have spread of the 30 or so elite enforcers tactical group along with 3 Hasperax Enforcer mech got wiped out.
Her mother being a senator in pay a lot of attention to reputation.
‘Well then here goes nothing’ she sighs before picking it up.
“(Hello mother……)”
A while later after a long scolding and explanation she puts the communicator back down.
She looks around the room before saying “(It’s out of our hands now)”
She sighs as she sits back down in her chair —————————————————————
Back to Franz
He finished up the alien sandwich before he suddenly hears a commotion out side.
He rushes to a near by window to see what’s happening.
‘Oh boy’ he thought as the troops outside just got replaced by new ones, what’s more is that the new troops are even more armed and armored than the previous one.
The previous ones primarily made up of uniformed officers while these new arrivals are all wearing the same armor that seems fairly high tech.
‘So these must be their military’ Franz thought as the previous bunch must have just been their police force.
At this time the negotiator’s coms suddenly became busy as it seems that a new development has happened.
After their conversation the negotiator turns to Franz and attempted to convey what was happening, unfortunately the vocabulary list is still too short and so could understand.
As the negotiator was still trying convey what was going a dozen of the armored soldiers came rushing through the entrance with their weapons drawn.
Seeing them rushing in Franz leaps towards the side and picks up 2 alien rays guns on the floor before taking cover behind a support column.
As the soldiers in fancy armor pointed their guns at him, he returned the courtesy on by pointing both the ray guns that he has acquired back at them.
…..
After awhile tension slowly rosed
The situation only got diffused when the voice of an angry Cre’taxsian was heard.
Only then did the soldiers lowered their weapon.
Like wise Franz also lowers his weapon.
Then a Cre’taxsian female with a fancy coat and hat arrives, she then looks at the situation within the warehouse.
A bunch of still unconscious elite Enforcers, the wrecks of 3 Hasperax Enforcer mechs and the still standing alien male without a single scratch.
Looking at the pile of unconscious Elite Enforcers that littered the back one of her eyes visibly twitched before she barked a string of orders to the negotiator who quickly salutes and replied in short sentences.
Franz doesn’t know what they’re talking about but he can make an educated guess.
After a brief conversation the negotiator turns to him and said
“Weapon…. Ground” she then gestures for the ray gun in his hand then to the ground.
‘You want me to drop my weapons?’ Franz wondered as he looks at the weapon then to her then back to the ground.
He thoughts for a bit before doing as she suggested and drops the ray guns to the floor.
Drop Drop
Seeing that he drops the ray guns to the floor the 2 of the soldiers then slowly makes their way to him.
These 2 are especially fancier than the rest as they wore capes.
‘What do they want now?’ Franz wondered as he stood still not sure what these 2 caped soldiers want to do.
‘Maybe a fancy ceremony?’ He wondered
When they reached his sides, one on each side then they suddenly leaps into action as they tried to detained him.
‘Mother fuckers!’ Franz cursed as they betrayed his trust.
The enraged Franz easily broke free from their grip, pushed them aside before kicking a ray gun that he has just dropped up.
Franz caught it in mid air before shooting the caped bastard in the head
Beam
The shot hit her helmet but besides a burn mark it didn’t seemed to do anything, seeing that it barely done anything Franz used the alien gun as a club and smacked her hard.
Smack
‘That seems to have done something’ Franz thought as the caped alien he has just smacked in the head got knocked to side.
The alien’s helmet got dented and the gun he used to smack her crumbled into its individual components.
Then Franz turns his attention to the other caped alien, he grabs her by the neck and lifts her off the ground.
Choke
The aliens wisses and flails around as she tries to get his hand off her neck.
Franz then moves the alien that he’s chocking mid air to between himself and the formation of alien soldiers in case they tries to take a potshot out of him.
Oddly enough despite the commotion the rest of the soldiers didn’t moved, the alien with the fancy coat also just stood by and just watched the event happening infront of her.
Since they’re not ganna do anything Franz continues to choke the caped alien mid air.
Meanwhile the other caped alien has gotten back up and tries ti tackle him, unfortunately for her Franz just picks up his stun baton and just smacks her again.
Smack Zaaaaaaaap “(eeeeep!)”
With a yelp she fell to the cold.
With that the only caped soldier left is the one he was still choking mid air.
Franz didn’t rush to zap this other one with his baton as it would make a better meat shield if it’s still flailing around like this.
Besides that he highly doubt that the commander would just stand by watch him slowly chokes her soldier to death in front of her.
It didn’t take long before she muttered something.
Franz then turns to the translator to translate
“Cre’taxsian….. Ground….” The negotiator then gestures to the dangling soldier then to the ground.
Franz looks at the negotiator, the soldiers at that back that still hasn’t moved, the women with a fancy coat alternately for a bit before eventually letting go.
Slop
The caped soldier fell to the ground before frantically taking her helmet off before desperately taking in air.
As the soldier desperately taking in air the women in fancy coat moves forward.
She went to where the fallen soldier who’s desperately catching her breath.
She said something to her before kneeling down and ripping a badge off her chest, she did the same to the unconscious one before turning back to Franz and handing it to him.
Franz stares a bit not quite sure how to make of the current situation but even so he just accepts the badges and stuffs them into his pocket.
Then the women in the fancy cape gestures to the entrance of the warehouse where the soldiers are already line up on both sides.
‘Okay?’ He frowns a bit before cautiously walking towards the entrance, he walks in between the 2 rows of soldiers and out of the warehouse.
The rows of soldiers seems to lead to an aerial vehicle of some sort with its door open.
At this point it’s pretty clear where they want him to go.
Besides that up in the sky there’s a whole lot more alien helicopters flying around, some of them looks like gunships with large canon attached to the bottom.
One thing to note about the aerial vehicles of this place is that they don’t seems to use fan blades or thrusters to fly.
Anyways Franz boarded the alien flyer.

Essentially every April- August I get depressed, and it is quite unbearable. I can't explain the timeframe, but my doctor thinks is related to SAD, but instead of getting depressed in winter (they aren't sure why). When it hits, it is like a train, and when it goes, it is almost as sudden; like waking up and being able to take a full breath after months of feeling like someone has been sitting on my chest.
I have two amazing friends A and R, we are in our late 20s and have been friends for 17 and 20 years respectively. A has chronic fatigue syndrome, and R has anxiety and depression. As I am the most emotionally stable throughout the year, I am usually the one offering support. I like being useful, and they like having someone who is (almost) always in their corner. They are there for me when I tell them that something is wrong, but with both of them having particularly difficult times recently, I don't feel like I can tell them that I am not doing well (suicidal thoughts, thoughts of self-harm, poor impulse control). I know they would want me to tell them, but I don't want to add to their stress and make their lives harder. In past years I would lock myself away and not talk to them for a couple of months, but I know I can't keep doing that to them (or the other people around me); to be honest, I didn't even know I did this until last year, when I didn't respond to them or over a month, and hadn't realised more than a week had passed.
There isn't anyone else I can talk to about this, and I can't afford therapy (also, it is difficult to treat, as it only lasts for a few months of the year, which makes medicating and long-term strategies near-impossible to manage). I know I just have to hold out for a few more months, but I can feel my resolve slipping. Yesterday, I nearly told one of them that I can't support her as well as I usually do, because I am emotionally exhausted. One of them is pretty oblivious to all things unless you tell her directly, but if she knew, she would stop asking for my help and try to support me better. The other (A) is incredibly empathetic, but she doesn't have enough energy to stay awake for 16 hours, let alone deal with my problems.
I know that so many people deal with this year-round, and I don't know how they cope; as the only thing keeping me alive is the fact that I know it will pass in three months. How do people cope with situations like this? I just want my friends to have the easiest ride possible, but I really don't know what to do.

Independence And Self-Reliance: Solo Adventure Trip With Universal Adventures Foster Independence And Self-Reliance.

Introduction:

Are you craving an adventure near you? Look no further than Universal Adventures, a renowned trekking company that specializes in providing exhilarating adventure treks. Taking a solo adventure trip with Universal Adventures can be a life-changing experience, offering endless opportunities for personal growth, self-discovery, and unforgettable moments.
In this article, we will explore five compelling reasons why embarking on a solo adventure trip with Universal Adventures is an ideal choice for those seeking an adventure near me.

Reason 1: Personal Growth and Self-Discovery

A solo adventure trip is a powerful catalyst for personal growth and self-discovery. When you go on an adventure trek with Universal Adventures, you are presented with an opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. This journey pushes you to embrace independence, self-reliance, and resilience. As you navigate unfamiliar terrains and overcome obstacles, you gain a deeper understanding of your own capabilities, fostering personal growth and self-confidence. Moreover, a solo adventure trip allows you to explore new interests and passions, helping you discover hidden talents and igniting a sense of self-discovery.

Reason 2: Freedom and Flexibility

One of the greatest advantages of a solo adventure trip is the freedom and flexibility it offers. With Universal Adventures, you have the power to design your own adventure trek, choosing from a wide range of destinations and activities. Whether you prefer challenging hikes, atv adventures near me, or simply immersing yourself in th+e natural beauty of a serene landscape, Universal Adventures provides options that cater to your preferences. This freedom and flexibility allow you to craft a personalized itinerary, enabling you to go on an adventure tailored to your desires.

Reason 3: Connecting with Nature

Nature has a profound ability to rejuvenate the mind, body, and soul. By taking a solo adventure trip with Universal Adventures, you immerse yourself in breathtaking natural surroundings. From towering mountains to lush forests and cascading waterfalls, these adventure treks provide an escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. The serene ambiance and solitude of nature allow you to find inner peace, recharge your spirit, and gain a deeper appreciation for the beauty of the world around you. Connecting with nature during your adventure trip near you can be a transformative experience.

Reason 4: Meeting New People and Cultures

While embarking on a solo adventure trip may initially seem like a solitary endeavor, it often leads to encounters with fascinating individuals from different cultures and backgrounds. Universal Adventures brings together adventurers from all over the world, creating opportunities for meaningful connections and cultural exchange. Whether it's sharing stories around a campfire, interacting with local communities, or joining group activities, you have the chance to forge lifelong friendships and gain valuable insights into diverse perspectives. These encounters enrich your adventure trip, providing a deeper understanding of the world and broadening your horizons.

Reason 5: Empowerment and Confidence

Embarking on a solo adventure trip with Universal Adventures is a powerful journey of empowerment and self-discovery. Overcoming challenges and pushing past your limits fosters a sense of empowerment and boosts your confidence. As you conquer treacherous terrains, navigate through obstacles, and accomplish personal goals, you realize your own strength and resilience. This newfound empowerment extends far beyond your adventure trip, permeating other aspects of your life. It instills a belief that you can conquer any obstacle that comes your way, empowering you to pursue your dreams and goals with unwavering determination.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, taking a solo adventure trip with Universal Adventures provides an incredible opportunity for personal growth, self-discovery, and empowerment. Whether you seek an adventure near you or wish to explore new horizons, Universal Adventures offers adventure treks that cater to your desires. From connecting with nature and meeting new people to gaining a sense of freedom, flexibility, and empowerment, this adventure trip is bound to leave you with unforgettable memories and a transformed outlook on life. So, don't hesitate to go on an adventure with Universal Adventures and embark on a journey of a lifetime.
https://www.universaladventures.in/adventure/Trekkings?utm\_source=reddit.com&utm\_medium=blog&utm\_campaign=refferal&utm\_id=24&utm\_term=universal+adventures&utm\_content=adventure+near+me%2Cadventure+treks%2Catv+adventures+near+me%2Cgo+on+an+adventure%2Cadventure+trip

In many ways, I would describe myself as a fan that "knows everything yet knows nothing". I found out about BABYMETAL through reaction videos on Youtube in early 2020, and although I soon devoured all the concert footage and interviews and stories about them that I could find, I had never been blessed with the opportunity to experience them live until yesterday night in Taipei.
Before the concert, I had "followed" the 2023 Sabaton concerts and earlier Asia shows in real time, constantly checking Discord to see which songs were on the setlist, and if there was anything new or surprising. I would get excited when surprising songs like "Shanti Shanti Shanti" were announced, and hyped to see some new bangers like "Maya".
When you're at the show though, none of that matters. I paradoxically cared about the setlist more as a spectator on the internet, than when I was there in the moment experiencing it. Performed live, every song is a banger, and every song they select is the right one.
Su famously says "Don't Think, Feel" when it comes to BABYMETAL, and she's absolutely right. This idea felt somewhat abstract to me before last night, but afterwards, I truly understood what she was saying. BABYMETAL is often described as a "theatrical" performance. There are various different elements of "theater" that typically come to mind when most people use the word - acting, facial expressions, creating a sense of story and lore, suspension of disbelief, etc.
But there's something else that's a crucial part of theater - it doesn't last. It's there, and then it's gone.
Unlike movies or other forms of visual storytelling, theater performances typically are a "one-time" thing. Sure, a theater troupe might perform the same play multiple times, but each performance is unique. This is in contrast to a movie, which will always be exactly the same. Perhaps you might observe something you overlooked before, or feel differently about it at different times. But the movie itself is static and permanent, whereas every night of "Romeo and Juliet" performed 7 nights in a row is different. The slight differences in inflection, the facial expressions, the emphasis, the little mistakes... the show that you saw today is simply not identical to the show your friend saw yesterday.
This is something that affects both the actors and audience alike, and a big part of what makes theater special - when you know that it's a fleeting experience; that what you see will never be 100% replicated again (recordings are but a limited view), it primes you to focus on "feeling" and "experiencing" the show, savoring each moment for what it is because there's no time to think about it - every moment is passing you by, every second and minute. That moment Moa flashes a ridiculously charming grin, and when your eyes seem to meet, it's as if she's looking right at you and no one else in the world? Cherish that moment, because it was there, and now it isn't.
To be clear, I have nothing against people recording concerts on their phones and taking photos (as long as they're not overly obstructing the view) to share the experience as best they can, and try and preserve memories for themselves and the fanbase. But for my very first show, I decided to (perhaps selfishly) simply soak it all in and bask in the BABYMETAL experience without taking a single fancam video, and that's what helped me enjoy the show to its fullest. (I would note that it seemed there were generally fewer phones out at all times, in contrast to some European or American shows I've seen, and it generally didn't affect the viewing experience at all for me)
In a sense, all the "book-knowledge" I possessed about BABYMETAL and their songs made it easier for me to "Feel" and not "Think". I already knew when I was "supposed" to raise my fists, when to chant, and when to mosh for each song. And that brings me to the first of several points about the concert that really came to mind (I don't plan on doing a full concert recap, as in a sense, the play-by-play isn't actually that different between each performance, but what you personally see and feel is what makes it unique):
1) The audience is an integral part of the show
This is also very much a "BABYMETAL cliche", but it's also absolutely true. I don't know what it is, but it almost feels like we're compelled to be an amazingly hype crowd because we don't want to let them down, almost like we're performing for them. I'd estimate that roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of the crowd may have been from Japan, and they obviously know exactly what the crowd "should" be doing. But the Taiwanese crowd was extremely in sync, constantly cheering and jumping and yelling at the right time, giving the girls further energy, leading to my next point:
2) Perfect combustion
BABYMETAL shows are understandably criticized as being too short. There certainly are ways to pad out the length fairly easily without adding to the physical workload of the members, such as adding Kami solos and some lore videos. But personally, I think the 70 minute pedal-to-the-metal non-stop performance is really exhilarating. Both the members and the audience alike give it everything they've got, spending every last bit of energy to burst past the finish line, and you go home wiped out and satisfied. Knowing that the show would be fairly short, I was able to jump and shout and run around to my heart's content, without feeling like I needed to preserve energy. And I think this is part of what makes the live experience so good; no one's phoning it in.
3) Great mix of old and new
I like the Asia setlist very much, and I think that for a concert participant, it was extremely well-structured. For the older songs from the first album, there was a lot of crowd interaction and chanting, which is always fun. But I don't think it would be the best idea to do this for the entire show - by mixing in newer songs that had fewer sections where we felt "obligated" to do various chants and fist-pumping, the new songs from THE OTHER ONE provided a great opportunity to just stand there in awe and enjoy the music and new complex crisp choreography, before another hype classic begins and you start running around again.
4) Kami Masks
The three members were absolutely mesmerizing. Honestly, I feel that even if the Kamis weren't wearing masks, I would still be looking at Su, Moa, and Momo the entire time; I didn't want to miss a single mischievous smirk from Moa, a habitual tongue blep from Su, and the ball of energy that Momo has become. Obviously others that are more fans of the musicians will feel differently, and perhaps I would as well if I had the chance to go to multiple shows and had the luxury of "wasting" my limited (precious) attention on the Kamis, great as they are. On a related note, I saw Barone walking around the venue a few hours before the show (probably getting some refreshments or something) and it seems like absolutely no one recognized him, which is probably exactly what they prefer before a show.
and lastly...
5) Moa and Momo (and Yui before) are magical
I've always believed that BABYMETAL would have been quite successful even if it had been a more traditional rock/metal band with Su as a solo frontwoman. However, it was the "scream and dance" roles that really elevated BABYMETAL from "great" to "legendary". Moa/Momo/(Yui) really do have a way of making the show feel personal, in a way that can't be captured fully on camera. If I were only allowed to pick one thing when it comes to describing the difference between seeing them in person and on a Blu-ray, it would be the little details of Moa/Momo's crowd interaction. The way I see it, Su makes you want to bow down, but Moa/Momo/(Yui) are what make you want to love them. It's a perfect combination.
Random notes I found interesting/amusing
There were several people wearing frog costumes (I counted 4), I'm sure Su got a kick out of that!
During "Megitsune" it seemed that Su was having some earpiece(?) issues; she seemed to be gesturing several times for adjustment, and dashed off the stage immediately after the song was over, and there was a longer pause than usual before the next song "Iine!" began as they resolved the problem. On a related note, Su sounded amazingly good live, with very few pitch issues compared to what I've heard in fancams. I don't know if that's confirmation bias from being at the show, but I think it's fair to say that phone microphones aren't entirely reliable for capturing what you actually hear at the venue.
Earplugs, oh lord earplugs are needed. I was near the barrier in front of the "Moa" side and it felt like I was getting directly blasted by the sound (and the drums/bass in particular). But I heard from some fans in other parts of the floor that the sound was muffled or quiet at places, so I think where you were standing made quite a big difference. At any rate, protect your hearing, people! If I hadn't been wearing earplugs, I definitely could have permanently damaged my hearing; it's not worth it to go without.
All in all, 10/10, would do again.

Shooting my shot again. Hey, there! I’m currently looking for an anything buddy. If ever you’re near me we can also go on dates if you like, if not we can be chat/study/landian buddies, let’s talk about it.
About me: I’m a transwoman, pre-op, I am 5’8 in height, 59 kg in weight. Fit (not sure you’ll be the judge) body since I go out to the gym. I am from Los Baños Laguna
About you: preferably from the Philippines. Let me be honest na It’s nice sana if we’re the same height since I like tall men. preferably 5'8 above (pero please don’t get me wrong on this). Knows how to hold a conversation. Is open for adventures. We can meet up naman if ever you’re not near Los Baños

Just as the title states. I am a local event organiser and I have a vision of hosting an event in an abandoned house. It's different and unique. The only problem is I wouldn't know where to begin searching for one, let alone setting it up as an event space. Any advice?

FYI, this is a story COLLECTION. Lots of standalones technically. So, you can basically start to read at any chapter, no pre-read of the other chapters needed technically (other than maybe getting better descriptions of characters than: Adam Vir=human, Krill=antlike alien, Sunny=tall alien, Conn=telepathic alien). The numbers are (mostly) only for organization of posts and continuity.
OC Written by Charlie Stastarrfallknightrise,
Typed up and then posted here by me.
Proofreading and language check for some chapters by u/Finbar9800
Future Lore and fact check done by me.
Damn! The last LFIL chapter a while ago had a pretty legendary photograph moment, but this one tops it by far!
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
"Please everyone, calm yourselves. The Galactic Assembly is addressing the issue as we speak."
The crowd roiled and churned like the bubbles in a pot of boiling water. Flags waved and voices rose high into the air.
The chanting increased in fervor.
"Please!"
The Rundi struggled to raise his voice high enough to be heard over the crowd, who only grew with strength and intensity.
Commander Vir keyed his mic,
"Delta units to the GA side of the crowd, some of these protesters are looking extremely agitated. Let's make sure they don't do anything we're all going to regret.”
He stood with his back to the GA chambers, its wide arching courtyard devoid of life, except for those unfortunate Rundi ordered to carry messages from one side of the compound to the other, otherwise they tried to keep their distance from the front facade of the building and the churning mass of protesters.
White flags waved and fluttered.
Commander Vir held the energy shield with one arm, pressing it back firmly against the crowd, so they could not pass the dedicated marking point.
"Commander, the crowd over here is getting violent."
He grimaced and reached a hand down to open the line,
"Stun them and let them calm down, do NOT catch anyone else in the crossfire. We do not want this escalating."
"Yes sir."
Something pushed against his shield and he grunted, pushing back.
The white bandanna on his arm was pressed against the clear blue force field and helped to at least confuse the crowd before them.
And luckily, they would be kept too confused to get violent.
The aliens among the human protesters helped as well.
If this was on earth, things would have broken out into a riot by now, but the Drev the Tesraki and the Finnari tended to be more levelheaded when it came to these kinds of things, and they managed to reign in their humans from doing something stupid.
He closed his eyes tight for a second, praying that the GA would rethink their position.
It hurt him to watch these people struggle like this.
It just felt so strange that anyone should be here in the first place.
Beside him, Sunny had taken control of two young humans who were getting a bit more than rowdy,
"Let’s keep this a protest, and not a riot."
She growled, giving them a look that would have made anyone quell in their boots. It sort of made him half smile, Sunny was such a badass, he wanted to be more like her when he eventually grew up.
His thoughts were cut off, as the crowd churned a bit, pressing into his shield.
He keyed his mic again, prepared to go over the loudspeaker and tell them that if they didn't calm down he was going to turn this protest into a mass nap time.
He had the power to do that if things got out of hand, though he honestly didn't want to.
The GA needed to see this.
He was so preoccupied with the crowd, that he barely noticed as the Rundi ran up from the inside of the compound, flying forward on its long spindly legs.
It stopped by the first Rundi to say something, and the conversation that passed between them didn't look particularly encouraging.
HIs heart sank into his stomach.
He felt... Surprisingly disappointed, very sad for all those people who were going to get their day ruined.
The Rundi waffled around at the front of the crowd for a bit before turning and looking over to where he stood.
Oh great.
The Rundi walked over, and he backed off from the crowd, allowing Sunny to take a step in his place with her shield at the ready.
The people looked as if they were about to start something, but seeing her expression, they decided not to.
He dropped his shield and lowered his head to hear the Rundi over the roaring of the crowd.
"The GA is not budging."
The Rundi whispered,
"They are asking the protesters to leave."
Adam growled in frustration.
Behind him someone in the crowd pointed at him,
"They're saying no aren't they!?”
Others took up the call, and soon enough the rest of the crowd had been alerted. Adam was forced to run back to support Sunny, as everything suddenly grew more intense.
Fights were breaking out on the left and the right.
People were hitting the ground as the guards were forced to stun them.
That only agitated the rest of the crowd who also began to buck and fight.
Adam keyed the mic for real this time, filling the intervening space with his booming voice,
”ALL OF YOU KNOCK IT OFF RIGHT NOW OR I WILL STUN YOU ALL."
The aggression in the crowd died down, though the anger remained sizzling at the surface.
Overhead clouds passed over the sun, before him the crowd roared like a wave, and behind him the GA council chambers were as silent as a ghost town.
"LISTEN, QUIET DOWN ALL OF YOU."
It sort of felt as if he was floating.
The world around him hardly seemed real though that was not the best way to explain it.
The crowd died down a bit,
"You may not understand this! And I have said it before, but these are not humans. Protests don't work on them. When they see a group of angry humans, they get scared and when they get scared, they double down even further. I know it does not make any sense to you NOT to protest for what you believe in, but if you are going to do this, you MUST remain civil. Even now the GA is frightened by you. They don't believe you are rational, and they are not going to listen to you if this keeps up."
The crowd had quieted down to a milling sort of confusion.
"Then what should we do!"*
The shouting came from somewhere and in anger, though he couldn't pinpoint the source.
In frustration he nudged Sunny, and she allowed him to climb on her back as he had before.
The crowd could see him now, and he could see them for the most part.
He waved them down trying to cut off the others who had taken up the chant.
"I understand what you are trying to do, and I support your efforts, but you are only hurting ourselves. The GA can only be won by rational discussion."
"The GA won't see any of our representatives. They are debating only on their own facts and opinions."
One of the crowd's people snarled. The call was echoed and Adam stared at them in shock,
"Wait what!? Are you serious?”
There was a muttering throughout the crowd.
"For fuck's sake."
He muttered under his breath,
"The Rudi think none of us are high ranking enough to be allowed into the council chambers, and none of the representatives will take up our cause. The human ambassador thinks we are disgusting, so she won't do anything and says she won’t represent our minority."
The muttering through the crowd grew louder.
Adam looked around, head turning to see all the angry faces, blushed with red, or streaked with tears.
These people were frustrated, and hurt, and he understood why.
This wasn't right!
He closed his eyes again and took another deep breath.
What was he thinking!?
He stepped down from Sunny's back and walked over to one of the protestors in the front row, pointing to his large flag on a pole that was about eight feet tall.
"May I borrow your flag?"
The protester stared on at him in confusion,
"What, why?"
"Because, I am going to give you the representative you need."
[…]
Commander Vir and Sunny walked alone down the length of the GA outer courtyard.
A billowing white flag streamed lazily over his head, suspended there by way of the pole which rested heavily on his shoulder. The white of the fabric had been marred now by many colors as hundreds of rushed signatures had been scrawled on its face.
He was armed with the backing of a thousand protesters, a hundred signatures, and more than a few dozen stories.
Sunny turned her head to look at him, and he fancied that maybe he saw an expression of pride in her eyes, though she didn't say much except,
"Pretty brave."
He didn't feel very brave, and as they walked through the front doors of the GA atrium, his hand was shaking against the cold metal of the flagpole.
He was stopped by a pair of Rundi guards on his way into the chamber, but was let in after they recognized who he was.
He could hear voices up ahead, and the sounds of the protest going on outside had all but died away,
"They have proven that they cannot be civil, and based on the humanizing effect, we can assume they will do similar things to any non-human lifeform that they encounter."
"I may not agree with their decision counselor, but that sounds like your prejudice against humans is seeping through."
There was an uproar in the council chamber.
He paused for a moment, staying with Sunny just out of line of sight and took a deep breath.
She lay a hand on his shoulder.
"Here goes nothing."
He muttered, before stepping his way out onto the GA floor.
At first no one noticed his presence as he made his slow way into the center of the circle, but his large, white flag soon changed that.
The council chambers went silent.
The chairwoman stood,
"Commander, what are you doing here. Shouldn't you be taking care of the protesters?”
His lips drew into a thing line,
"With all due respect councilwoman, I am."
He rammed the flagpole against the stone, sending a loud cracking sound out and around the wide atrium silencing the council,
"I have been made aware that you refuse to see their representatives based on a ranking issue, well I assume my rank is high enough."
The Human rep leaned forward,
"Commander, this is not your place!”
He shot her a look,
"Then whose place is it counselor? I heard a certain democratic counselor refuses to speak for them because they are and I quote “a too small and insignificant minority”…”
He turned his head in a wide arc at the watching crowd,
"Counselors, you have known me, longer than you have known any human currently in this galaxy. You understand that I know your rules and your customs. You understand that I have only ever striven to protect and uphold the GA and the planet's it encompasses. I have thwarted wars, signed treaties, and broken my own body for your best interests."
There was silence about the room.
"Will you let me speak now, with the understanding that my loyalty has never wavered from you, and never will?”
The silence continued.
Aliens understood the power of human loyalty.
Or at least they should…
The chairwoman took a seat,
"Very well, commander."
He lifted his head, feeling his heart slow as he took a few deep breaths. There was a muscle in his face that had begun to twitch, like it always did if he was extremely angry or nervous, but he held it down,
"I understand you are frightened, and I understand that you are confused, but I want you to know first of all that those people outside are good average people. They don't mean you any harm. They are hurting, and they are afraid for themselves, and they are trying to get your attention. Historically, humanity has used protests to right the injustices of government to combat prejudices brought on by one's sex or the color of their skin. You must understand that they see this as an impingement on their happiness and a decision made out of line."
There was a murmur around the room.
"So, I ask you now, that I may, perhaps, answer your questions and ease your worries. Why are you so against them?"
"It's unnatural."
It was the Bran representative that had spoken, and he did it quite emphatically.
"Why?"
The commander asked,
"Because they aren't even the same species."
"So?"
The Bran seemed caught off guard,
"They... It's not natural. They can't reproduce, so it isn't... A thing that should be done."
The commander shrugged,
"So if one can't reproduce then they aren't natural? I see a couple issues in that logic relating to prejudices against people with infertility."
There was a murmur around the room.
"So, they can't reproduce, so what? You know who we can reproduce with though... Adaptids."
There was a sort of hushed exclamation form around the room.
The commander shrugged,
"They can't have kids.... Hardly a good enough argument to bring to the floor of a government discussion."
"What he is trying to say is that this practice equates itself to bestiality. It is utterly disguting!"
It was the human representative this time, and she stared at him with her eyes narrowed in anger.
He kept his cool, though he very much did not like her.
"That is absolutely disgusting and wildly insulting of you because that implies that one or both parties are no better than animals, beasts as you will."
The room was silent,
"So which one is it, are humans animals, counselor, are the Finnari or the Rundi animals?"
He turned to the Drev counselor,
"Are the Drev just dumb animals that have no understanding, and no decision making abilities?”
The Drev representative stood, angrily cracking his spear against the stone,
"We are most certainly not!"
The commander held up his hands,
"Then what is so bestial about it? Bestiality is absolutely disgusting because you are taking advantages of a creature that can neither understand nor protect itself from what you are doing. It cannot say yes, and it cannot say no. It has no greater understanding than that of a child, and so cannot make its own decisions."
He looked towards the Finnari representative,
"Tell me counselor, is your species a species of children, with no greater concept of their own decision making?”
"Of course not. Why would you even imply such a thing!?”
"I imply nothing, counselor. This is what YOU imply with your decision. So far we have established that all parties are intelligent consenting creatures, and none of you have managed to give me an actually good reason for banning the practice."
The floor was growing more agitated.
"They will be a poor example for the rest of the galaxy. If we make it legal others will surely follow."
Adam turned his eyes on the speaker, an Iotin,
"You're worried that they are going to turn the rest of the galaxy extrial?"
He laughed,
"That is a poor argument which is not only selfish, but foolish. People should be allowed to make their own decisions. And assuming you are right, what then? Oh no... There are a few more extrials... And it does... What exactly?"
He turned in a wide circle,
"If you are worried about population growth or in this case population falloff due to this issue then you should be reminded that extrials comprise a percentage of the human population so small that I could fit the greater majority of them on my ship comfortably. This occurrence is not common, and even if the numbers were to rise, it would not be of enough significance to cause issues."
His heart was hammering hard inside his chest. He felt like he was doing alright, but that might mean nothing.
"In any event, these relationships do not affect the vast majority of the galaxy. Humans cannot be with the Bran or the Rundi due to the water we shed from our skin. The Gromm and the Iotins are out for similar reasons. Vrul and Gibb are incapable of having feelings for humans in that way as far as we know, and both the Tvek and the Celzex are too different from humans for either party to be interested."
He walked around in a circle, allowing the flag to trail behind him,
"Furthermore, the humanization phenomenon happens with or without romantic intent, and as it is, its mention is more a mark of prejudice on humans than it is an argument against the two groups being together."
He left the floor open for a little while, as the council muttered with each other.
Finally, the Drev representative stood,
"My species culture and our way of life has been upturned by the GA. I fear relationships with humans will result in the loss of our culture. We have already strayed far from what we originally were. We are hardly recognizable as Drev anymore."
The commander let his voice soften,
"I understand that the Drev have lost a lot in joining this..."
Sunny held up a hand, and in surprise he was cut off.
She took the floor,
"Your Glory…"
She said bowing her head,
"If you would have truly upheld those ideals, you would not be sitting on this council."
The Drev pulled back in surprise at her words,
"Yes, we lost a lot in joining the GA, and after the war, but I would argue that some of that was for good. Before the GA people like me, with perceived imperfection were cast into the fire and perceived as no better than animals. This practice still takes place on our planet, where these traditions are still alive and well."
Her words made the room shift nervously,
"However, culture changes and adapts, and it must to survive. We changed in order to live among the GA. We found other alternatives to fighting that still maintain our honor and our prowess in war, and this includes the sports that the humans have brought to us. Furthermore, the vast majority of the Drev I see who are with humans are those of us who would not be accepted by our own kind, perceived as ugly or malformed. If this is the case then your traditions remain sound, and those like me are removed from the mating population."
The counselor almost looked ashamed at her words, turning his head away so as not to look her in the eyes.
"As far as a change of culture goes, it was bound to happen, and it seems you are more worried about change than you actually are about human Drev relationships."
She went quiet, and Adam nodded to her taking the floor again.
A Finnari counselor stood,
"I am simply worried about our birth rate. The Finnari were farmed by the Gnarlak for many years, and we are only now replenishing our population."
"I don't think you need to worry. The amount of actual relationships is so small that it will not affect the Finnari population in any significant manner."
The representative sat back down with no real argument to combat him.
The chairwoman stood,
"Your arguments have been heard commander, though, what the others do not mention is the issue of disease. We have seen a great increase of illness transmissible from humans to non humans and-"
"I hate to cut you off chairwoman, but that is NOT related to interspecies relationships, but instead has another simple explanation: the rise in human tourism."
She paused,
"Explain."
"You all know very well that humans are not allowed to leave their planet unless they are tested for all communicable non-treatable diseases. This means that those of us that you see here cannot physically pass our diseases off onto other people, except for the germs that are found naturally on our skin. In this case these issues did not stem from relationships at all, but poor vaccination, the poor regulation of tourism, and allowing aliens to travel onto earth where infected humans are located and not testing them as they leave."
He looked on at them pleadingly,
"You see. You don't even have problems with them, but you are using them as a real scapegoat for the actual issues. And I am here to tell you that, in fact you are causing more problems by banning this! The more you push, the harder they will push back, and eventually someone is going to get hurt, because they are not allowed to be together legally, they do it illegally, and because they do it illegally, they end up in dangerous places exposed to greater rates of crime. They get hurt, and they get involved in things they would otherwise not have gotten involved in if you had not banned it. Just look at Noctoplis. It has the highest rate of extrials living there and the lowest policing force and the most corrupted system. There are no legitimate jobs there, so we see an influx of crime by desperate people who won't be accepted anywhere else. Not to mention that it increased the depression rates, which increases suicide rates. Your laws have ostracized them, forced them to become criminals, and turned many of them to think that killing themselves is better than living in a world where they are seen as disgusting when they don't actually do any real harm."
He had to take a deep breath,
"Earth has seen all of this before, and one way or another, eventually someone will see what I am trying to say."
He rested the flag on the floor beside him, feet planted at shoulder width.
"I hope that this rational conversation will allow a more open mind on the council. I encourage you to talk to their representatives. They are more rational and educated than I am, and they can give you hard facts and statistics. But please, they don't want to cause trouble, if you allow them to do as they will, you might find these problems going away for you."
The human representative clearly did not seem convinced, but he didn't expect to convince her, he expected to convince the others who were more afraid than they were prejudiced.
"It seems as if we have some other potential policies to discuss, commander."
The chairwoman said, tapping her fingers on the table before her.
"I have a suggestion, ma'am."
"And that is?"
"A temporary revocation on the ban, that way you can SEE what the universe will be like without it, and you can judge for yourself whether The ban does any good. You don't have to overturn the law just yet, but temporarily suspend it, that way you can re institute at any time. Then you will have concrete proof. You can do testing, and polls and whatever else, then you would know for sure."
His suggestion turned into a discussion, that dragged on for many minutes before the chairwoman raised her hand,
"It has been decided, all in favor of this temporary proposal please indicate."
The voting lights flashed above them.
Commander Vir waited with baited breath.
[…]
He walked from the venue, hours after he had entered, totally tired and exhausted.
The flag felt heavy in his hands and his boots thudded with exhaustion on the white marble below him.
Outside, the protest field was surprisingly silent, though he could still see their flags.
As he walked closer, he could see that the vast majority of the crowd was sitting down.
Their voices reached him from a distance at first, until he realized they were calmly singing with each other.
Waiting for his verdict.
Suddenly the first people from the crowd noticed the two silhouettes coming from the chambers towards them.
A lone man and Drev were walking from the building.
The man was wearing riot gear, a full helmet, a shield, and carrying their flag, resting against his right shoulder.
The group of them began to stand, rising to their feet and yelling.
Pointing in his direction.
They quieted as he got closer.
"What did they say!? What did they say!?”
He stayed quiet, holding a hand in the air to silence them.
He passed the flag to the original protester who looked on at him with such an expression of pleading that he felt his eyes tingle a bit with rising emotion.
He had to look away, boosting himself onto Sunny's back, keying his mic.
The crowd was silent.
A thousand eyes fixed on one human and one Drev.
"I spoke to the GA."
They waited on tenterhooks,
"And after a long debate, and a slim majority the GA have decided..."
Flags whipped in the wind,
"To temporarily revoke the ban on inter-species relationships until a-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence, drowned out by a powerful wave of noise and joy so overwhelming that he was nearly knocked backwards off his feet.
The crowd surged forward, and Sunny staggered as the group surrounded them, pressing inward and upwards.
Adam found himself on the ground on his feet, packed in by bodies enclosed by hundreds of pairs of arms, which slapped on the shoulder and the arm, as every person tried their best to get one hand on him.
The flag from earlier was ripped off its stand and pressed into his hands.
He was deafened by cheering and an outpouring of gratitude so profound he had simply never experienced such emotion.
He looked up at Sunny, pressed in with him by the enthusiastic crowd.
And she nodded her head in approval.
He grinned.
He had to admit.
This felt pretty good.
Though, weather it was all over was a question for another time.
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author
Thanks for reading! As you saw in the title, this is a cross posted story written by starrfallknightrise and I'll just upload some of it here for you guys, if you are interested and want to read ahead, the original story-collection can be found on tumblr or wattpad to read for free. (link above this text under "OC:..." ) It is the Empyrean Iris story collection by starfallknightrise. Also, if you want to know more about the story collection i made an intro post about it, so feel free to check that out to see what other great characters to look forward to! (Link also above this text). I have no affiliations to the author; just thought I’d share some of the great stories you might enjoy a lot!
Obviously, I have Charlie’s permission to post this and for the people already knowing the stories, or starting to read them: If you follow the link and check out the story you will see some differences. I made some small (non-artistic) changes, mainly correcting writing mistakes, pronoun correction and some small additional info here and there of things which were not thought of/forgotten or even were added/changed in later stories (like the “USS->UNSC” prefix of Stabby, Chalar=/->Sunny etc). As well as some "biggemajor" changes in descriptions and info’s for the same stringency/continuity reason. That can be explained by the story collection being, well a story collection at the start with many standalone-stories just starring the same people, but later on it gets more to a stringent storyline with backstories and throwbacks. (For example Adam Vir has some HEAVY scars over his body, following his bones, which were not really talked about up till half the collection, where it says it covers his whole body and you find out via backflash that he had them the whole time and how he got them, they just weren't mentioned before. However, I would think a doctor would at least see these scars before that, especially since he gets analyzed, treated and goes shirtless/in T-shirts in some stories). So TLDR: Writing and some descriptions are slightly changed, with full OK from the author, since he himself did not bother to correct these things before.

What started out with a Gen2.5 Taco search as led me to a gen 2.5 Tundra search as well. (man it's hard to find a good Toyota truck.)
I got a chance to see photos of this 2014 TRD OR before I see it in person, and the frame is near perfect. Been Fluid Filmed yearly. Recently had some belts and small maintenance done to it as well. Completely stock truck, and the body has no rust as far as I can tell. Owner has had it for the last few years and is looking to sell for 18K. I'm hoping to talk him down some, but needed to know if 180k miles is high for that price in the first place.
I know the market isn't rational, and me being in New England limits me to slim pickings when my wife doesn't trust me buying sight unseen over the internet.

I try to check on any Type 1 clinical trials to see if there's anything interesting near me that I might be eligible for. THis one came up recently. Unfortunately there's no location close to me. It's a trial to test what is/was known as Medtronic's "Simplera" CGM sensor (all in one, like Libre or Dexcom 7) with the 780g pump. Here's the link in case anyone is near any of the testing sites and wants to join. Read the inclusion/exclusion criteria as well.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05714059?recrs=a#contacts

I 16m have this friend 17m who I have a crush on. Both our parents are friends and we have known eachother for nearly 4 years now. He isn't in many of my classes but we are in the same year group and are part of the same friend group with him being the one I get along best with. I am 99.9% sure he is straight though he is supportive of me being bi.
Here's the thing, we will occasionally have these moments which are really nice like tonight when as I was round at his since our parents where partying downstairs and we played video games for a couple of hours before watching a movie. Then during the movie as I was tired because it was late and it was a scary film I ended up resting my head on his chest and he put an arm around me and kept telling me it was going to be okay. Then he kept joking about how that is what he would do if he had a gf.
Thing is I really like him and I see him often as he is my only proper friend and our parents are friends. I am sure he is straight though he sometimes gives off queer vibes so should I tell hi I like him?
View Poll

I (m15) am not a social person. My idea of a good time is to sit alone, blasting death metal, coding, and shutting out the world. But there's a girl in my grade, I'll call her A, who I've gotten to know a little bit just from general interactions, even though I usually have headphones on and am on my laptop during school, who is everything I would want out of a partner. She's pretty, nice, and doesn't do any of the popular kid BS like being an asshole for sport, even though she's adjacent at least to that crowd, and is generally just a great person. I have pretty bad ADHD and have to take meds during the school day, which i don't try and hide or anything, will stutter or trip up when I talk, especially when I'm mad or talking to girls, and I'm generally seen as the weird kid, which is made worse by how awkward I've been the few times I've tried to be social and talk to people, and my few friends are nowhere near A's social group. A's always been super nice to me, and we've had a few longer conversations, most notably when i sat next to her on the plane for a school trip, but she's nice to EVERYONE, and when I see her having conversations with the special needs kids, being just as nice as ever, I can't help but wonder how genuine she was being to me. I want to at least try to interact with her more, as we have a couple classes together, but I have no idea how, or even who she thinks of me as. Any advice on any of this?

How many miles on a GX470 is too many to consider purchasing? There is a ready to overland build near me with 199k on it that is very tempting.

The scene faded back in to a shot of some treetops, Sammy saying "Well, even though we didn't finish, I'm glad I didn't get targeted," as the camera panned down to the Rats walking through the woods. "It was bad enough watching Leshawna and DJ go through it."
"Girl, you can't let that stuff get to you," Leshawna told her, the two girls walking at the front of their team's pack. "Sure it's humiliating, but it'll pass in time. Besides, it's not like any of us would've held your secrets against you, not when my secret was revealed."
"I hadn't thought of that," Sammy said with a contemplative look.
"We can't let our fears control us. It'll just prevent us from achieving what we want to do," Sierra told her team while focusing on her phone. She tripped on a rock and landed on her face as a result.
Confessional: Sammy
"Back home, there's this girl who's basically the princess of my school," Sammy exclaimed. "She leaks out the students' personal secrets just to get even with them or simply be mean," she gulped, "and when one of my own secrets got posted, I was teased for a week."
"Thankfully, my friends didn't bother me about it and still continued to hang out with me."
Confessional Ends
The scene cut back to the Maggots, also walking through the woods together, and focused on Anne Maria and Katie at the middle of their pack.
"This is the longest I've ever gone without using an electronic," Katie droned. "How am I gonna talk to my viewers about my day and give them advice?"
"You don't need to be on a device 24/7," Anne Maria spoke to the girl.
"Easy for you to say," Katie said snottily. "You don't have to worry about vlogs since you focus on maintaining your hair."
"Ya think that's easy?" Anne Maria retorted calmly. "I have to work overtime at a diner just to buy all the hairspray that I can afford."
Confessional: Katie
"Maybe I could've been nicer there," Katie admitted, "but my subscribers can go down if I don't upload anything."
Confessional Ends
The shot cut ahead to Scarlett and Molly, the former looking like she's been listening to the conversation behind her. "Chris has created a disadvantage for us by taking away Katie's gadget right before the game!"
"True, but Chris thankfully had the decency to end the challenge before he could reveal any more of our embarrassments," Molly said.
"The host just thrives off our pain and suffering," Scarlett summarized.
"You can say that again," Molly told her. "Sociopathy is something that could be cured, but Chris is way long gone."
\
"Welcome, players!" Chris announced over the loudspeaker again, the camera cutting down to ground level to show the Rats meeting up with the Maggots again. "Now that you're all here, it's time for part two of today's challenge," the host continued, the shot zooming out to show all thirteen campers standing in some sort of wide field of mud with a wooden ramp leading up off-camera on the right.
"The 'Mad Skills Obstacle Course'," Chris announced, the shot cutting to him standing on some patch of grass.
"The relay race begins with a mad dash from the Kick Start," the shot cut to the wooden platform at the other end of the ramp, where an absurdly large rubber root was connected by wooden shaft and gear to a pole sticking up out of the platform. "Forget coffee," the host said as the boot swung squeakily back and forth in demonstration, "if this baby doesn't get you goin', nothin' will."
"Then it's off to the race against time that is the Cannonball Run," Chris said, the camera following his motion further onward to another stretch of wooden platform. Several cannons situated below suddenly blew gaping holes in it, and the shot zoomed out to show several more cannons hooked up to a scaffold over the platform and aimed downward.
"Over to my personal fave," the shot moved to the end of the platform where a log had been set up to rotate on its side, "Wrecking Ball Alley! Hurts so good," he said as the camera panned across and the titular wrecking ball swung down over the rolling log.
"And moving on," the shot cut next to a few higher, disconnected, and generally precarious platforms, "we head to the Gang Plank, complete with rabid mutant beavers." The shot cut to the mud pit at the bottom where two giant wooly beavers with boney spikes along their back were busily chewing through the poles the gang plank platforms were on.
"Followed by," the shot cut to a close-up of a large, red, butt-shaped apparatus that was moving up and down, "the bouncy agony of Double Trouble." The shot zoomed out to show four of the butt-shaped things moving up and down between two platforms.
"And finally," Chris said, "the Grand Slam," the shot cut to several giant baseball bats sticking up out of the mud surrounding an equally giant baseball mitt, "where you'll use ropes to swing into the giant baseball mitt, while avoiding those deadly bats." The shot zoomed in on the mitt, then panned over to one of the bats as a small red bird flew head-first into it, knocking it out with a clonk. "Piece of cake," Chris said with a chuckle as the shot cut back to the staring and nervous campers.
"Oh, and as you may remember," the host added, "I said that the winning team from part one would have a distinct advantage in part two?"
"But there was no winner!" Sierra reminded the host. "You canceled the first part!"
"Yeah, don't remind me," Chris answered in annoyance. "The losing team was gonna wear snazzy specs while competing," he explained with a chipper smile, "but since we never actually finished the competition," he became annoyed again, "I've decided that everybody has to wear them!" He laughed, and the campers looked behind them to see Chef Hatchet holding a cardboard box.
Dave was the first to step forward, taking out one of the pairs of glasses – thick, ugly things that almost seemed to have a greenish tint to them – and put them on. His brow shot up immediately. "Hey, what's with the old glasses?" he asked. "We won't be able to see anything wearing these!" The perspective shifted to demonstrate what he was seeing, which was little more than an incredibly blurry shot of the forest and some unknown body of water.
"Dorktacular goggles won't make part two easy," Chris said, "or attractive," he shrugged, "but it can be done. In theory."
The campers groaned.
"Since the Maggots have one more player than the Rats," Chris added on, "one of them has to sit this one out."
"It should be Katie," Scarlett suggested to her team, "She's still suffering from her tech withdrawal."
"Fine by me," Molly boldly said. "I don't want her losing for us."
"Competitors, take your positions!" he said, and the footage flashed forward to show Anne Maria and Geoff together near the edge of the first platform, the jersey shore reject waving her hands in front of her face in order to see. "First up at the Kick Start it's Anne Maria against Geoff," the host said before the shot moved on to the next pair. "Then, it's DJ versus Sammy," the brickhouse and nervous cheerleader looked about before the shot pulled back to show the cannons, "versus the Cannonballs."
"Molly faces Scott in Wrecking Ball Alley," the indie chick and social seeker stared at each other. "B is up against Scarlett in the Gang Plank," the camera cut to the base of the ladder then panned all the way up to it to the strong, silent genius and the quiet brainiac on top, "Dave and Leshawna will battle Double Trouble," the normal guy looked warily at the butt-shaped apparatus in front of him while the sista just cracked her knuckles, "and, Sierra will fight Trent for the Grand Slam." The obsessive uberfan nervously looked around while the cool guy tried to maintain his balance, the shot moving out to show the baseball mitt.
"First team to finish wins the whoooole shebang," Chris explained. "And, the other team loses a member tonight! Since it's a relay race," he added, "you'll need something to pass: your mascots," he said with a grin. "Oh, intern~!"
A scrawny white boy with his long black hair flipped over his eyes walked up to Geoff and Anne Maria holding a pair of pet carriers; whatever was inside was snarling angrily enough for the two competitors to exchange a wary look. "Team Rat gets a mutant rat," Chris announced as the intern thrust a large, squealing, six-legged hairless rat into Geoff's arms. "And Team Maggot gets," the host continued, "a mutant maggot," a large, slimy green maggot was thrust into Anne Maria's arms.
"Ew. It's a what?" Anne Maria said in surprise.
"Aaaand," Chris said as he prepared an airhorn, "go!"
At the sound of the horn the giant boot swung down on the two campers. With a yelp Anne Maria managed to duck out of the way, but Geoff was not so lucky and got sent flying with a scream. He landed in the mud between platforms, but kept the rat held high. It burped as Chris said "And Geoff gets the boot!"
Anne Maria hopped across the gap between platforms with the maggot in her arms.
"Anne Maria takes the early lead," Chris continued, and the jersey girl ran up to DJ.
"Here!" Anne Maria held out their mascot.
"I'll take this cute critter from here," DJ took the maggot from her, then turned and ran off down the course.
"Yeah, I got it goin' on," Anne Maria walked back the opposite way...and blindly fell into the gap between platforms, landing with a squelch of mud.
The shot cut to DJ as he ran along his part of the platform. He slammed face-first into a post, then recoiled a few steps. He vigorously shook his head and sidestepped around the post. He only got another two steps before a sudden cannon volley through the floor in front of him forced him to a stop with a yelp.
Now covered in mud, Geoff ran along the first part of the platform with his rat held out in front of him. He jumped the gap, and soon reached Sammy. "We're already far behind! Go!" the party boy held out their team's mascot.
"Got it!" Sammy said, grabbing the rat and running off.
"The Rats take the lead!" Chris called out as Sammy caught up to DJ at the start of the cannonball run. Another cannon fired towards them, forcing both to dart and duck out of the way.
"Okay," Sammy assured herself, "I just have to dodge a bunch of cannons that are impossible to see!" She charged forward, leaving DJ to chase after her.
"Time to try again," DJ added in.
The scene moved to Scott and Molly waiting at the start of the next leg. Sammy ran up and thrust the rat into Scott's arms, panting after she did so.
"Wow. We're in the lead? Great," Scott realized and started to walk slowly. "Nice and slow, all the way to last place. Right, little guy?" He told the rat while walking along the rolling log, but the rat bit him in the chin. He howled painfully and missed the wrecking ball swinging down at him. It caught him and sent him flying, all the way into B.
"Faster, DJ!" Molly yelled as DJ ran up to her and handed over their maggot.
"Good luck," DJ supported Molly as she headed for the rolling logs.
Scott was lying on the floor and petting the rat with B watching as the shot cut back to them.
"Aww, who's my good freak? Who's my good little freak?" Scott faux affectionately talked to the rat in order to slow them down as B was signaling him to pass it to him. "There, there, little guy. Uncle Scotty kept you safe and sound." He saw B waiting. "Oh, do you want this? Why didn't you say so, Beverly?"
Having enough, B took the rat before putting it in his pocket and jumped on to the first precariously isolated platform. It immediately started to wobble and sink, and B quietly cried out in alarm as the camera quick-panned to the base revealing the two mutant beavers making quick work of the pole, causing him to fall down into the mud. He recovered and saw the two ferocious-looking beavers he had landed next to.
Molly was looking up and back just in time to see the wrecking ball swinging towards her. She jumped up, safely grabbing on to the ball and allowing it to carry her forward. She jumped off at the extent of its swing, and sailed further on through the air.
The camera quick-panned over to B as he hastily sculpted a female beaver out of mud. The two beavers looked past the muddy feel and fell in love with it. As they ran over to hug it, B sneakily slipped past.
"And in a surprisingly touching move, B extends the Rats' lead," Chris announced out loud.
Scott was watching from where he landed. "Oh, come on!" he whined in disappointment.
"Go now!" Molly told Scarlett as she handed the maggot over, Scarlett immediately turning.
The beavers stopped hugging the mud sculptured beaver when the head fell off. Realizing that they were tricked, they soon turned vengeful.
Scarlett hopped to the first platform. It immediately wobbled thanks to the beavers gnawing the leg, taking Scarlett down.
"Alright, my brotha!" Leshawna cheered and took the rat from the tired B. "Let me take it from here."
Leshawna threw herself on to the first butt-shaped thing, landed, and bounced off it without a word. She continued on in this way, bouncing from one to the next until eventually she reached the end. "Sierra, take it!" she yelled to her teammate, the fangirl waiting with her back turned at the edge of the next platform.
Despite stretching her rat-holding arms out towards him as she fell, Leshawna was unable to make the pass-off in time before falling completely past her and landing in the mud. "What?" Sierra said as she finally turned around. "Aww. I missed the catch."
The shot cut to Leshawna face down in the mud. The mutant rat scampered out of her grasp. With a growl, Leshawna scrambled to her feet and chased after it screaming "Get back here!"
"Here you go," Scarlett told her teammate as the shot cut back to her holding the muddy and slimy maggot out to him.
"Got it!" Dave said as he reached out for the mutated larva.
It promptly vomited onto his face.
"IT THREW UP ON ME!!!" Dave freaked out and ran while one of the beavers grabbed Scarlett's head and dragged her down.
The perspective briefly changed to show the blurry obstacle that Dave was approaching, then changed back to his head-on close-up as he became visibly determined.
"The quicker I finish this, the quicker I can clean up!" Dave told himself just as he jumped onto the first butt-shaped object; he landed on his chest with a pained yelp and bounced off, continuing on painfully from one bouncy apparatus to the next until eventually he landed on his chest on the far platform with a slam and a groan.
"And Dave takes back the lead for the Maggots!" Chris announced, the camera cutting to him and Chef on their chairs. "He really doesn't like to get messy."
"Alright, it's my turn!" Trent declared confidently, turning proudly towards the end of the course.
"Hurry up!" Dave told him impatiently.
The camera panned back to the left, passing Dave and reaching Sierra just as Leshawna forced their team's mascot into her arms. "Here!" she commanded.
"Sorry I didn't catch it in time," Sierra apologized.
"It's like they say on Blackcomb Mountain. "Best glimpse of heaven's on the way into-" Trent said before reaching the giant mitt and saw how far it was. "Hello."
Meanwhile, Scarlett was in danger courtesy of the two beavers.
"I would ask if you detach from me now," Scarlett begged while a beaver took out a bottle of ketchup and licked their teeth. "I warned you," Scarlett growled before kicking both of their groins, making them moan. "If you had simply not taken me, then I wouldn't have had to resort to kicking you two. I show no sympathy."
Sierra had finally caught up to Trent in the Grand Slam. "This is like the electric eel part of the trust challenge from season one," Sierra talked to herself before grabbing one of the ropes that had been loosely tied there and swung off.
She passed between the baseball bats, and planted her feet on the baseball mitt. Sierra slowly lost her standing and fell into the mud. "Being splattered by mud is better than being electrocuted I guess," she laughed a bit.
Back at the edge of the platform, Trent grabbed the end of the other rope. He unleashed his own terrified cry as he swung blindly through the Grand Slam, and almost made it to the mitt – but slammed into one of the last bats with his legs spread wide. He painfully groaned as he slid down into the mud.
The footage skipped ahead to show a muddy Sierra running up for her second go, the ropes once again tied to a post on the side of the platform. "This time, I should swing higher. Then I'll be on the mitt for sure," the blogger discussed with herself.
"C'mon Sierra!" Geoff called out to her, the shot cutting to show him and the other Rats standing on a nearby platform without the glasses that had been forced on them. "Swing!"
Sierra grabbed one of the ropes again and jumped off. She stuck her legs out in front of her and passed by each bat in turn. However, her muddy hands caused her to fall from the rope just before she reached the mitt and she fell into the mud.
The Rats all groaned.
The camera panned past them and on to Trent, who had grabbed his own rope again and was sizing up his next swing. "My team needs the win," he told himself, tucking the maggot under his arm as he used his fingers to frame his target.
The music turned triumphant as he ran forward and swung off. He hit all the bats, and the peak of his swing put him just about over the mitt. It was then that he let go of the rope and fell down towards the goal, landing on his head as the maggot landed on top of him.
"The Maggots win!" Chris announced, and the maggot mascot threw up on the musician.
The Maggots cheered, having also discarded their glasses, while the five nearby members of the Toxic Rats groaned once more.
"To the Maggots, the spoils," Chris announced as Chef walked over to the winning team holding some kind of gift basket. "McLean Brand Soap, Shampoo, and Conditioner. Guaranteed to wash off the stink!" the host listed over a close-up of the gift basket, showing off its contents against a radiant yellow background.
"I'll definitely keep those in handy!" Dave said with a smile.
"Make sure not to hog all of it," Katie reminded him.
Confessional: Katie
"If my team was up for elimination, I probably would have been the one eliminated, and I wouldn't have my tablet with me. I dodged a bullet there," Katie cheered.
Confessional Ends
"Rats, see you at the elimination ceremony!' Chris added with his usual smile.
The five members of the Rats groaned for a third time. "I could've used the reward to wash off the mess," Leshawna groaned.
Sierra moaned as she got off the muddy floor, coughing up mud in the process. "Losing two times in a row? That's not gonna go well for my blog."
\
The footage flashed ahead to all of the Toxic Rats except for B and Sierra assembled at the steps leading up to their cabin. The camera focused on Scott, who was standing on the ground in front of the others. "All right, guys. Sierra's gotta go. She lost the challenge for us, and she's more focused on using her phone than competing most of the time."
"Now hang on!" Geoff replied. "So she made a mistake and slipped up. We aren't robots. I'm thinking we should give her a second chance."
"Sierra is also a big fan of the show," Sammy said. "Voting her off this early wouldn't be fair to her."
"Fair, smhair," Leshawna muttered. "If eliminating her allows us to sleep without being disturbed by her constant texting to her friends, I'm all for it."
\
The footage flashed ahead again to show the Toxic Rats at the campfire pit, Chef and Chris standing before them with their respective marshmallows.
"Ready?" Chris asked. "Everyone gets a marshmallow, even the loser!" The shot cut to a close-up of the strongbox in Chef's mitted hands. "But that's one marshmallow you do not wanna eat," Chris added as his assistant flipped the lid up and revealed the bright glowing thing inside.
"To the votes! The following people are safe," the host said, picking up the first normal marshmallow off his tray. "Geoff." The party guy caught his prize with a smile.
"Leshawna." The sista sitting next to him was next, satisfied as she caught her marshmallow.
"Scott." The devious, slumped forward, raised his free left hand and caught his prize.
"And Sammy." The nervous cheerleader allowed her marshmallow to fall into her open hands.
"Which leaves, Sierra and Bev," Chris announced, earning a nervous look from both teens.
"What?" Sierra asked in shock.
"And the Marshmallow of Loserdom goes to," Chris said, trailing off as the camera slowly zoomed in on the faces of the bottom two nervous campers.
"Sierra," the host finished.
"Me? But why?" Sierra sputtered in shock while B caught his marshmallow with his mouth.
"Don't know and don't care," Chris said. "You're out."
Sierra dodged the toxic marshmallow thrown her way. "It is what it is, but one last thing!" She whipped out her phone and snapped a photo of her and her teammates, blinding their eyesight and making them audibly yelp. "#ToxicRatsForever!" she enthusiastically claimed and ran to the Hurl of Shame.
\
The footage cut over to the Dock of Shame, the camera zoomed in on Chris and Sierra in the catapult's bucket.
"Any last words before we give you the Hurl of Shame?" Chris asked.
"Of course. Can I have a self-" Sierra said before Chris unflinchingly launched her into the air. Sierra finished with a scream as she disappeared into the night.
Chris laughed. "It was a rhetorical question. Two hurls down, twelve to go! Who will be eliminated next?" he asked the camera. "Tune in, and find out, on Total! Drama! Revenge! Of! The Island!"
(Roll the Credits)

I’m currently an exchange student in London, where there are a lot of pub crawls. The last time I went to a pub crawl in Scotland and got badly wasted, couldn’t even walk back to my hotel. My friends asked me to join a pub crawl in London tonight with them. But IDK, there is a girl in my class and every time we go to a pub, she makes out with a very attractive dude, like she kisses him in front of all other friends, including me. All the guys she made out with are my type, guess we have the same type. She kisses him like she wants to eat his face alive right there. Weirdly, I wish I could experience that too… but unfortunately, I’m not out, and I don’t have any plans on coming out in the near future. It somehow affected the way I look, that I look nothing like a gay dude in person. I want to enjoy what that girl had… but I’m just not out, and I’m very sad. I want to go to the pub crawl tonight with my friends but that girl is also going so she definitely is gonna make out with an attractive dude tonight and i don’t wanna see it. So yeah, I guess I’m free, depressed, sad and lonely tonight in London.
Edit: The last time I went to a pub crawl in Scotland and a girl came up to my friend and asked him for his insta. I didn’t think much about it but then the next morning I saw that she had added me on insta. My friend also followed her on insta and so I asked him about her, and he said "She wanted you dude". Honestly, if it was a guy, I would immediately take the chance and be with him. Unfortunately, there was a never guy that once hit on me in my entire life so I guess I’m just sitting here and continuing to be sad lol 🫠

Toxic Rats: B, Geoff, Scott, Leshawna, Sammy, Sierra
Mutant Maggots: Anne Maria, Katie, Molly, Scarlett, Dave, DJ, Trent
Episode 02: Truth or Mutant Shark
"Last time, on Total Drama Revenge of the Island!" Chris opened over a long-distance shot of Wawanakwa, the recap montage beginning soon after. "Fourteen new competitors were blown away by this year's challenges," the host said as the yacht carrying the new cast was shown, Chris maliciously pressed a button on his remote control, and the yacht blew up. "They were treated to an early-morning swim," Max was shown trying not to drown, "said hello to the island's wildlife," Dave was shown to get nearly zapped by its eye-lasers, "and did some totem-surfing," the Toxic Rats slid down the hill and into the air, falling from their totem just before it crashed into the better cabin and exploded. "Ex-plosive!"
"In the end," a few short clips of Max trying to be villainous, "Max's non-stop claims about being dangerous made him useless enough that his team sent him packing, Hurl of Shame-style." The recap footage ended with Max getting catapulted off the island.
"Who'll go home next?" Chris asked the camera from the end of the dock. "And how much pain can I put them through first? Find out right now, on Total! Drama! Revenge of the Island!"
XXXXX
The episode opened on a shot of the morning sky and a few far-away bird calls as the camera panned down to the two cabins of Camp Wawanakwa.
The shot cut inside to the girls' half of the Rats' cabins where Leshawna and Sammy were woken up to the sound of Sierra texting on her phone.
"The first day competing on Total Drama was exciting," Sierra talked to her phone. "I managed to make some friends and even though my team lost the first challenge, I'm still staying for another day!"
"Girl, who are you even talking to?" Leshawna mumbled tiredly.
"I'm giving the fans an update about my day and experience being a contestant," Sierra mentioned. "The fansite eats up this stuff."
"Are you going to carry your phone everywhere you go just to do so?" Sammy asked.
"I won't use it during the challenges, but I keep it with me at all times," Sierra said. "Without my phone, I'd probably lose my mind!"
Confessional: Sammy
"So I joined the show because my friend group suggested I do so," Sammy timidly said. "They said it's to increase my self-esteem and make me branch out more or something close to those lines."
Confessional Ends
The shot cut abruptly to a top-down view of the other half of the Rats' cabin, showing Geoff and B sleeping in their bunk beds. The sound of a door suddenly slammed open and slammed shut, waking Geoff up.
It was Scott – flat against the front door with his eyes wide, his breath heaving, and his clothes dirty. "Dude, what happened to you?" Geoff asked in concern.
Scott straightened himself out. "Oh, uh... just had an early morning make out session with one of the honeys," he explained.
Geoff got out of his bed in his pajamas and got near Scott. "Why are you so messy then?"
The footage quickly cut to a scene of Scott running in terror from a Woolly Beaver – one with several boney spikes jutting out of its back. The shot flashed back to the Rats' cabin, and Scott added "A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."
"Wait," Geoff stepped in. "You kissed a guy?" This comment earned him an annoyed expression from Scott.
Confessional: Scott
"All right. I was out looking for that hidden immunity idol, not that they need to know," Scott opened up. "It's all part of my strategy. Let my team lose so the Maggots develop a false sense of security before I pick 'em off!"
He was interrupted by a knock on the wall. "Occupied!" he shouted until the wholly beaver from earlier barged through the wall and frightened Scott into screaming.
Confessional Ends
The camera cut back outside the cabins, zooming on on the Maggots' abode on the right then cutting inside to show Anne Maria brushing and blow drying her hair.
Scarlett walked up behind her from the left carrying a clipboard. "How were you able to sneak those cans in?" she asked.
Anne Maria placed her items inside her pouf. "Easy. I stuck it in my pouf." She noticed the clipboard. "Why are you carryin' that clipboard?"
"I've been working on sleep analysis, Anne Maria," Scarlett answered. "Your stage two sleep spindles were low frequency followed by an intense delta or slow-wave. You slept well."
Anne Maria was a little surprised to hear that. "That's nice, but don't go spyin' on me." She grabbed her hairspray from her pouf and walked away spraying her hair.
Scarlett saw that Katie was still sleeping. "Seems Katie's sleep cycle is lower than I anticipated. Had she not tried to pull an all-nighter, she'd have a higher score," Scarlett spoke to herself.
Confessional: Scarlett
"I have the need to research my teammates and know what their weaknesses and strengths are," Scarlett said. "We were able to achieve victory in the first challenge, and I want to keep it that way."
Confessional Ends
The scene flashed to the boys' side of the cabin, the camera focusing on DJ as he woke up and stretched his arms. "Morning Trent and Dave!" the brickhouse greeted his bunkmates, though Dave wasn't around at the moment. "Where'd Dave go?"
Trent, who had also woken up, shrugged. "Beats me. He probably went to the bathroom."
Confessional: Trent
"This is my first time sleeping in a cabin," Trent confessed with his guitar on his lap. "It was hard trying to fall asleep, so I played some songs that were guaranteed to make me and the guys drift off… at least that's what my friends back home say."
"Anyway, my bunk mates are pretty cool. Dave's a bit neurotic, and DJ's more soft-spoken, but once I get to know them more, I can guarantee you we'll be best buds."
Confessional Ends
The scene cut to the back of the Maggots' cabin where Molly got out of a tent that she pitched.
Confessional: Molly
"I don't like bunk beds," Molly admitted with a shrug. "They tend to break no matter how stable it is. That's why I decided to sleep outside. Besides, I wanted to have a camping experience, and sleeping in a tent is the first way to go."
Confessional Ends
The footage returned to Molly stretching her body, and a few seconds later, Dave walked up to her. "Did you sleep outside of your cabin?"
"Yep," Molly nodded.
"Do you know the negatives of doing that?" Dave crossed his arms.
"I don't think so," Molly shook her head.
"You could get bug bites or get sick," Dave explained to the indie woman.
"I already planned for that," Molly laughed. "Ever heard of bug spray and sleeping bags?"
"I know those things, but why did you sleep outside?" Dave wondered.
"One, I prefer to sleep by myself, and two, I don't like sleeping indoors," Molly gives the germaphobe answers. "I hate following the crowd."
"Okay then," Dave said. "I'm gonna use the bathroom. Are you coming?"
"I'm already prepared," Molly took out toothpaste and a toothbrush.
\
The scene cut to a seagull sleeping in a nest inside the horn of a loudspeaker. A blow horn sounded through it without warning, though, forcing the bird out into the air and revealing its snake-like features as it fell.
"Up and at 'em my little morning glories!" Chris called out, sitting on his ATV below. "It's time for today's challenge!" he announced, the camera moving behind him to show the two teams assembled in front, their respective logos appearing on the screen overhead.
"What?" Sierra asked in shock. "But we haven't even had breakfast yet!"
"Not a problem for me," Molly brushed it off and swallowed a pickle. "I packed enough pickles for me to be full."
"And we haven't had enough sleep," Katie added.
"Cognitive function is dependent on REM sleep," Scarlett acknowledged the host.
"You can catch up on your sleep after the challenge," Chris told them. "Rrright this way, to the Bay of Dismay!"
The thirteen campers groaned, except for Katie, who pulled out her tablet.
"Hey viewers! I'm gonna be at a Bay of Dismay," Katie started to film herself until Chris used a magnet to take her tablet away. "What the?"
"Contraband! Now it's mine! Confiscator's keepers! Come on! Your humiliation awaits!" Chris told a miserable Katie.
\
The scene flashed ahead to the thirteen campers walking along at an even pace. "'Bay of Dismay'?" Trent told Anne Maria as they walked side-by-side. "That doesn't sound depressing at all."
"If Chris is gonna make us fight against alligators," Anne Maria said. "I'm planning on suing him after the show ends for breaking my nails."
Trent frowned, but chose to ignore it.
The camera lingered a few seconds as they walked off, long enough for DJ and Katie to enter the shot together. "So, what kinda challenge do you think Chris is gonna put us through this time?" DJ asked.
"I don't know," Katie answered without looking at him, "but I hope it's one that requires the use of a camera so I can take pictures with it, you know?"
DJ facepalmed, unseen by the influencer.
Confessional: Katie
"It's been four minutes, and I'm already missing my tablet," Katie squeaked out and huddled herself. "How will my viewers know what I'm doing right now?"
Confessional Ends
DJ decided to make Katie happy. "Maybe when the challenge is over, you could get your tablet back."
"Emphasis on maybe," Katie snarked.
"I don't know if this is going to be another physical challenge," Leshawna said to Sierra as the footage cut to the two of them walking together. "We already struggled getting that totem down last challenge."
"Chris probably has an academic challenge planned for us at the Bay of Dismay," Sierra told her as they walked forward, "and I know Chris isn't lying."
"How do you know Chris isn't frontin' us?" Leshawna asked.
"Basic knowledge," Sierra bragged. "I can tell if he's lying to us by his vocal pitch and body language."
"So you really studied the show and how it works, huh?" Leshawna followed up in surprise.
"Of course I have," Sierra said. "I've seen every episode like fifty-three times and auditioned twice before being accepted the second time."
B and Scarlett were now shown walking together. "Any idea on what we'll be facing up against?" the quiet brainiac asked the similarly intelligent boy, who didn't talk back to her. "I can see that you prefer not to vocalize your sentences like me, but you're more exaggerated."
Confessional: B
B simply shrugged in the confessional.
Confessional Ends
The static cut away to the body of water that was, presumably, the Bay of Dismay. Three structures rose out of its waters: on the left and right were two-tiered game-show-like seats that housed the Toxic Rats and Mutant Maggots respectively and bore their logos on the front; and in the middle was a single Greek pedestal upon which Chris stood in his blue tuxedo below a large video screen and electronic scoreboard.
"Welcome to the 'Getting to Know You' Trivia Game Challenge," Chris introduced. "Everyone strapped in all nice and snug?" he asked the contestants.
"Too snug," Scott answered irritably. "It's cutting into my shoulders!"
"Yeah, children's size harnesses will do that," Chris chuckled. "I'll be asking our players embarrassing personal questions," he explained, "and I mean majorly humiliating. If the player I'm talking about hits the poorly-wired buzzer and owns their humiliation before the time runs out," he continued as the shot cut back to Scott looking at the red buzzer on the counter in front of him, the camera zooming out to show Sierra on the left, Sammy on the right, and B, Leshawna, and Geoff on the back row, "their team gets a point." The camera panned across the Maggots, showing DJ, Molly, and Scarlett in the bottom row and Katie, Anne Maria, Dave, and Trent above. "First team to five wins part one, and a distinct advantage in part two."
"Buuut," Chris added as the shot cut back to him, "if no one owns up, this happens!" He took out his remote, pressed the button, and with a mechanical whir the elevated stand the Maggots were seated in suddenly dropped into the bay. The shot cut to the seven holding their breaths below the water, focusing in on DJ in particular. He looked around and screamed when he saw the large mutant shark with arms and legs looking at him hungrily, and his teammates joined in as the shark reared back to take a bite – but the stand rose back up just in time to take the teens away from danger.
The shot cut back to the surface as the Maggots re-emerged, dripping and coughing and generally frantic. "There's some kind of two-legged shark down there!" Anne Maria told the host in a panic.
"You mean Fang?" Chris asked with a broad smile and quick laugh. "Yeah, it turns out toxic waste can mess with stuff underwater too." He pointed up at the screen above him as he spoke, and the camera panned up to show a seemingly ordinary shark drinking a cup of tea on a wooden post underwater...until the screen flashed, and a picture of Fang against a simple teal background replaced the normal shark. "Who knew?"
"Better them than us," Scott said from the Rats' stand.
"Anywho," Chris continued slowly, "if a team gets dunked, their opponents can steal by guessing which dunk-ee is guilty. Guess right, and you get a point. Guess wrong, and this happens." With a sly look he pressed the button on his remote again, and this time it was the Rats who got plunged into the bay. Fang was shown tying a bib around his neck, then looking behind him just as the fresh set of teenagers came into view. He turned around and opened his mouth to bite, and with the muffled screams being heard the shot cut back to the bubbling surface. Chris pressed the button once more, and the Toxic Rats rocketed back up on their stand.
"Now that we understand the rules," Chris told them as they coughed up water, "let's start the game!" The host pulled a notecard out from behind his back. "To the Rats, now listen carefully," he began. "Who does this," he motioned upward to a picture of a question mark, "if they eat or drink any form of dairy?" the question mark farted.
All members of the Mutant Maggots began to laugh, as did the members of the Toxic Rats – all except Leshawna, who seemed to shrink in her seat as the camera zoomed in on her. "Where did you get that?" the sista asked in her embarrassment, pressing her buzzer and yelping at the shock she received.
The shot cut to the scoreboard, the Rats' half changing from 0 to 1.
The camera moved back to Chris and his card, now turned towards the Maggots. "Who sleeps with a teddy bear," he motioned upward to a picture of a brown teddy bear, "even after they turned 13?"
"Really? I thought we were more grown-up than that," Dave cringed at the fact.
Scarlett saw that DJ was feeling embarrassed. "Push the button, DJ! You're clearly harboring some guilt," Scarlett advised.
As the timer continued ticking, DJ finally shuddered, then slammed his right hand down on her buzzer. "Alright then," he declared after getting shocked, "it's me."
A bit of light laughter came from the Rats, and the scoreboard updated to show the Maggots' first point. "And it's one-all!" the host declared, earning a cheer from the Maggots.
"Aww, thanks DJ," Katie whispered to the drooping brickhouse. "I know that must've been hard, and I don't hold it against you."
"Really?" DJ regained his smile.
"I have my own collection of teddy bears in my room," Katie beamed.
Confessional: DJ
"Liking teddy bears is one thing me and Katie have in common," DJ smiled in the outhouse. "We'd have to get to know each other a bit more."
Confessional End
"Rats," Chris turned back to the other team, "whose first name is really Beverly?"
"That's not embarrassing," Trent called out defensively. "None of us will throw a fuss over a girl's name being Beverly."
Over to the Rats, Sierra was looking at a picture of Chris, Sammy was shrugging to signify it wasn't her, and Leshawna was just waiting for someone to buzz in.
B, on the other hand, looked down at his own buzzed timidly, and after some consideration, he pressed the buzzer and got shocked, raising his hand to let Chris know that he owned up to the question.
"Correct, Beverly," Chris teased the strong, silent genius. "Rats get the point, but I would've preferred a verbal response."
"But B is as quiet as a snail," Geoff piped up. "And we still got the point."
"Don't care," Chris said apathetically. "So, as a quick punishment." He smiled as he pushed the button on his remote again.
The Rats were plunged back into the water, and the camera focused on Scott as he hollered before getting chomped up by Fang, the stand rising back up as Fang struggled to close his jaws.
Scott managed to get out of Fang's mouth, shouting "No! Wait for me!" as he swam back to her seat.
Confessional: Scott
Scott winced in the confessional, pulling something white out of his butt. "What the? A shark tooth?" he asked, looking at what was obviously a shark's tooth.
Confessional: Fang
The next to use the confessional was none other than Fang, examining his mouth in a hand mirror with great concern. Upon noticing the gap in his upper row of sharp teeth, he growled angrily and snapped the mirror.
Confessionals End
Scott furiously climbed back into his seat. "Thanks for leaving me down there, team!" Scott scolded his teammates. "You can win this stupid challenge without me!"
"If he's not playing, then I'm not either," Anne Maria chimed in, the shot zooming back out as she and the other Maggots looked towards the host.
"I've already had a secret about me exposed, so I think I'll be leavin'," Leshawna declared.
"Okay, everyone just settle down," Chris told them all sternly.
"I'm with everyone else. We should stop," Molly said, standing up and trying to undo her harness. "I do not want any secrets of mine to be spilled out."
"You can do so after you've had a secret revealed," Scarlett snapped.
"Hey! Host talking here!" Chris barked. "I decide when the challenge is over."
"Whatever," Scott scoffed, having already removed his harness. "I'm out of here."
"Not until we win," Sierra held the dirt farmer back from leaving. "I am not going to have us lose."
Just then, Fang jumped out of the water and took a large bite out of the Maggots' stand, forcing them to yelp.
"Now would be a good time to leave," Sammy remarked and tried to get herself out of her straps.
The shot cut back to the Maggots as Anne Maria and Scarlett began to argue with Dave and Molly and DJ, Katie, and Trent watched the debacle going on.
Eventually, the shot cut back to Chris as he finally shouted "Alright! SHUT IT!" The off-screen arguments promptly ceased. "Thanks to that pathetic digression," he said in annoyance, glancing at his watch, "now we don't have enough time to finish this challenge! Happy?"
The Rats voiced their agreement. Likewise, all the Maggots agreed happily.
"Well you won't be happy for long," Chris told them and the camera with a smile. "Come back after the break for an all-new challenge from which there is no escape. And in the meantime," he added slyly as he took his remote back out and pushed the button, causing both teams to be dunked into the bay with a scream once more.
\
(Commercial Break)
\

Hello!
I'm looking to buy a used lightweight laptop and I'm torn between the x270 or the x280.
From what I understand, the x270 has better battery life, full sized ethernet port (which is useful to me), and upgradable RAM. On the other hand, the x280 has a 4 core CPU compared to 2 cores on the x270, but the RAM is not upgradable and unfortunately in my country only the 8GB version is available, so I'd be stuck with 8GB. Smaller battery life and no ethernet I can live with, but basically I have to choose between better CPU or more RAM.
While this will be my main machine, I don't work with computers and don't do any heavy tasks. I mostly browse the web, watch movies, listen to music, read and write. In fact, I'm currently running Linux Mint + xfce on an IdeaPad with a 2nd-gen i3 and 8GB RAM, and other than some websites taking a few seconds to load it's working perfectly fine, I'm only upgrading because the battery is shot and I'd like something more portable. This led me to think that even the x270 CPU would be a big upgrade and more than enough for me, however I'd like to use this Thinkpad for the next 5 years or so at least.
I've found good offers for both models near my home, both with the same specs except for the processor, the X280 is more expensive but not that much more. Which one would you get for my use case?

I understand that everyone misses obviously placed informational signs occasionally, I’m sure I’ve done it a few times myself but I swear if I put up a sign on something saying it’s broken or empty people continue to try and use it ?
example : I work in a hospital and many of the hand sanitizers are empty, I sit near them as part of my job but it is not my job to replace them, I don’t have the keys to unlock the cases to replace them anyways, I dislike telling everyone who walks in that all but one are empty so I place signs on each sanitizer ether stating that it’s empty or encouraging people to use the sole one that still has sanitizer in it, the signs are ignored by all but around 5 people who enter, many people continue to tell me that they need to be replaced
I just want to know why on earth that’s be a common trait for allistic people, the closest idea I have is most people take “ concepts before details “ whereas many autistics take “ details before concepts “ . Perhaps the signs are more details compared to the concept of getting the task done for them ?? Is there a way to make a sign stand out more to them ?? I’ve tried adding colourful lines and that sometimes increases the amount of people who notice, maybe a drawing related to the sign on said sign would help???? ( like in this case drawing a thing of hand sanitizer on the sign ) I just want to not have to constantly verbalize the information to everyone, it makes me feel overwhelmed after i do it too long.

Hi I'm a 17M who currently lives In brampton. I will be turning 18 In september where I will no longer be able to live at my parents house (for reasons I would prefer not to disclose). By the time september rolls around I think I would have 3K at the bare minnum saved. I plan to take a year off school to enter the work force and make sure Im 100 percent sure on what I wanna do in college, during this time I want to know if theres any finnacial tips I can get from this sub that will help make this process smother, or any thing I should know before, during, or after moving out and another thing I wanted to know is should I stay in brampton as me being a young male its going to be hard to rent somewhere as I see alot of brampton rentals saying Vegetarian only or girls only and having weird reqirements similar to the ones I listed. So should I move to another city thats near me? Honestly any and all advice Is appreciated thank you all for your help.