Me [NB,21], Friend [F,22]
Background
Me and my friend have been friends since we were 18- start of first year we instantly clicked! She is fun, openminded and intelligent. We have both navigated some pretty rough terrain as it relates to mental health, and have supported each other through that for a decent amount of time.
My mum died in August 2022- and we had a fall out. Essentially I asked her if she would want to come to the funeral, she asked me to send her the details but I was in a super bad place and forgot- asked her the day before if she was coming and she sent me a long text explaining why she couldn't (regarding mental health issues). The next day I saw her at an empowerment brunch on instagram and I blew up because I did not understand why she could go there but not support me.
Whilst she explained that it was because of mental health and wanting to be empowered, I ended up dismissing her mental health as a way to lash out and ended the friendship.
I ended up regretting it as I really cared for her- reached out and said I still wanted to be friends, and she requested space- this was in September.
Present-ish time:
We reconciled in Feb, and we talked over a few things.
As soon as we sat down she talked about law career opportunities and stuff- I remember being very overwhelmed by this as we met up to talk about a rupture in the friendship and I let her know that I did not feel comfortable with that after. She mentioned how it hurt that I mentioned her mental health and brought up an incident with a mutual friend; I apologised for both things.
I asked her why she did not call to explain why she could not come to the funeral, or organise lunch after the fact- and she stayed silent. I brushed this off at first, but noted it. Part of me now is quite angry because it seems as though she just did not want to offer me an explanation for this break in communication.
I came out as trans-masc/non binary to her- and she kept quiet, I understood that it may take some time to sink in.
We agreed, perhaps prematurely? that we were friends again because overall, I missed her a lot and it felt like old times.
Now:
I have noticed that she doesn't talk about her mental health when I bring up topics of my own surrounding it- I understand that I hurt her and maybe she doesn't feel comfortable.
I noticed that she has not asked me any questions about my identity, and its been a while now since we met up- I am looking for support in safe spaces and groups but other friends have been more forthcoming with questions which helps me to feel safe and affirmed and most importantly, seen.
She is also Christian which whilst I understand does not mean you can't be open minded (she knew I was queer since we were 18), I am self conscious of the fact that this could play a part- although I may be overthinking. I also invited her out to possibly meet with my other long time friend, she said she would follow up with me abut it,I asked again and she did not get back to me. When we meet it is mostly on campus.
Whilst she is not eager to discuss personal topics of her own, She is eager to share any resources- I let her know I was struggling with scheduling, and she sent like 5-6 paragraphs (I still haven't read all of them yet as I am overwhelmed and I already have a personal tutor who I may actually work on this with).
She sent me an internship recently, and I said thanks- she said it was "the least she could do" and I just said I just care about her presence. She also said how "I've been going through a lot" when I was talking about academic pressure.
I asked her if she could support me recently via facetime after i went to my first trans group- she said she could after she got back from the hospital. I called her later in the evening and she apologised for not being able to call but did not reschedule, Again, like the time around my mum's funeral- I felt betrayed and neglected.
My thoughts:
Whilst I can see that she cares- I do not feel as though this is a friendship of equals. I am uncomfortable as I have shared personal issues with her and I do not necessarily feel seen- and I do not enjoy being pitied.
I need emotional support from her, I already have mentors who, I am able to trust more because of established expectations and more consistent communication overall.
And whilst I understand she does not feel comfortable discussing mental health topics, I also do not feel comfortable talking about how I am navigating the world - so I wonder where this leaves us.
I know I might need to bring this up to her, but a. I need to prioritise my workload and other work commitments right now, and perhaps can return to this over the summer. It is just such a hard conversation, and whilst I am typically quite assertive, part of me does not know if it is best just to allow us to drift off- which could already be happening.
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Any advice? Thanks !!

So i have been getting very interested in thrifting lately and i seriously want to visit a store and see what type of stuff i will find. Of course, clothes are not the only thing we find in thrift stores. We can get books, home decor etc.
So i casually talked about this to my grandma yesterday and she said "why would you think of buying something which is already used? What if that person has a disease or smth, how will we know? You should never use secondhand things." etc etc. And i get her mindset. My family is more than capable of providing me with brand new things. We're not in a condition where i will need to wear someone else's clothes.
But I'm just curious. I just want to see what i can find if i go to a thrift store. And tbh, I don't see this as "cheap". For me, it's a sustainable practice. It's easier to get secondhand things which are in good condition for a lower price than buy new ones which will use more resources to produce. Now I'm scared to bring this topic up with my family or even my friends because idk how they will react.
It's a shame that they're so against it because we can genuinely find very good deals in thrift stores and rare items which no one else might have. It's a fun little experiment to try every now and then. AND environmentally friendly.
What do y'all think about thrifting and secondhand goods in general? And what about your parents? What might they think of this? I'm genuinely confused now. It's harmless IMO but the more i think of it, the more likely it is that people will actually disapprove of this.

Hi all, I searched online and this forum too but i have a question for which i don’t have a clear answer
I have lived in Australia and now currently in Switzerland. I have a friend in Germany who’s buying a steam deck for me. But my steam account Is Australia, i just created it long back but haven’t bought games and it says i can’t change till i buy something. I don’t have a payment method from Australia now.
I am currently in Swiss so how do i change the country and account. Also i will be here only for a few months maybe, and i want to change to India as that’s my permanent location. So can i directly now add a indian payment method and buy games in Indian store. Will that work when i am in Switzerland? Help is highly appreciated!

today was my last day to take my senior final for my college program. this deems if i pass the course or not. if i go on to externship. this fucking final was so important. i waited till last minute like always cus i had a photoshoot today to make a modeling portfolio. i asked my boyfriend if i could do it at his house know my house would be so distracting. i should've explained how much i needed him to help me not be distracted (i have bad adhd). he said i should stay home since he'll see me tomorrow. ok so i hop on discord and listen to music. 1 hour in and ive done 40 out of the 300 questions. mom asked to smoke with me prior so i did(ik im a fucking idiot) and ofc i fell asleep during my test. i wake up at 11:40. my final closed at 11:59. i probably only answered 50-60 of the questions and who knows if their even right. im so mad at myself right now im so fucking stupid and ik its all my fault and im so disappointed i literally fucked myself and now i dont know if i can even go to externship which is in 1 day. and my school doesnt open till monday so i have no one to ask my questions to. i wanna fucking RIP MY HAIR OUT!!!!!!!!!

Not sure if I want to tell him I went through his phone. I feel immensely guilty… I had to know the truth. My husband is a really great liar and gaslighter so I dont believe much that he says especially because I have caught him lying before about irrelevant things and he denied it so well that i almost believed him even tho i had solid proof… So anyways i went through his phone a few minutes ago and found nothing, i know he can delete messages and stuff but here is the reason i snooped. Also wanted to add i dont usually see him as the type to cheat AT ALL.
Earlier, me and him were chatting in the car and then he gets a message and starts texting and completely ignores my words. So of course i ask who is he texting because i would like him to pay attention to what im saying. He ignores me and tries to continue out conversation. I ask again who was the important person…he tells me its his brother after some hesitation. I know hes lying because i saw green messages on his phone and his brother has an iphone. So i ask him why he texted him and he made a dumb excuse and i told him i saw the green messages. He said the message didnt go thru because the service was bad. After me convincing him that i am not stupid and know he wasnt texting his brother he finally told me it was my uncle that he was texting, he said it was just a hi how are you type of conversation. I didnt believe him bc why would he lie about that, he shows me only the name of who he was texting and it turned out to be my uncles name. Still, didnt believe him. So while he was asleep i went thru his messages and to my surprise it was my uncles number. And it was a hi how are u convo too like he said. He had a message written out that he hadnt sent yet but it was nothing important. He also asked him for money in the past and now I feel so guilty for looking thru his phone, although i saw him saying how f*cking annoying i was in another message to his brother…well i mean i guess i deserved that.
I needed to tell someone because i also think he might figure out in the morning that i looked thru his phone, and i will be in big trouble if that time comes. Idk if i should just tell him or not. I think i will let him figure it out on his own. He had unopened messages from me that i opened by accident thats why i feel like he will find out. I opened my uncles message too. So yeah i just snooped thru his phone for nothing. He gives me no reason to believe he would cheat i just dont know why i became like a toxic wife.

So basically I had started dating this cool girl back around the beginning of the pandemic and it was going really well at first, I had never been in a relationship before, and tbh I didn't ever feel alone when I went on trips or did social gatherings, but when I met her, I understood how nice it can be to be in sync with someone, to have so much in common and to be with what feels like a best friend, someone thats on the same wavelength. I was super nervous always but always tried to be polite and as courteous, to the point of overthinking even the most basic messages.
The thing was that she was a cool person but over the course of the relationship, there were things that would happen that would make me sad or depressed, no matter what it seemed like she only ever wanted to see each other every 2 weeks on average(I honestly wanted to see her at least once a week or if possible like twice a week despite that she lived an hour away, i'd put the effort back then), and even tho I put in so much effort, I never felt like I got that back, I always tried to check up on her with how was work or life, and I almost always get the same 1-3 word response. I don't think I ever really got checked up on.... I honestly never felt like a priority... even when it came to games(and boy do I love games myself), it felt I always came last, never 2nd,3rd, or 4th. She's a cool person but.... she wasn't a good partner, I would get forgotten about for holidays we had planned for like 4th of July or new years. It honestly still hurts alot, and I wish I could let that stuff go, but when you feel more alone than ever when you're in a relationship is a type of pain I never knew you could experience. It leaves you empty, hollow, like a piece of driftwood. but I always thought in my heart, with communication and effort I could make it work.... I did talk about it, much more lightly than how I actually felt so she wouldn't feel bad or I'd feel like I was trying to be emotionally manipulative.... I had hope that she'd change(I know change is a big thing, and not always right to ask of but I was wanting to improve the relationship sorry) and put more effort..... hope just gets you hurt sadly. The relationship lasted about 1.5 years, until one day we split because of a specific circumstance, its not related to anything prior, its just a crappy circumstance that happened to pop up I guess.
I was really really sad and depressed to say the least, I was sad that it felt like I lost someone that finally understood me, I thought it was the end and that i'd never see them again and that in a sense they'd be dead to me perceptually cause the odds of running into them ever again if we cut ties is next to 0. So I decided to ask if she wanted to stay friends and she said yes, idk if it was the right choice then but I was scared of losing someone I felt so close with, and that was on the same wavelength in terms of how to view life and others, how they were kind to people and never judged. I tried getting some space and it kind of didn't work out since we ran into each other at an event a few weeks after.
I then got asked if I wanted to go to a trip to a con a month later with her and her friends and I being of the mindset " Sure why not, lets see what happens if I say yes and go against every logical thought", The day of the trip arrives and I of course still feel weird being around her, I just get a feeling of un-ease considering we had been dating up until a few months prior but I just shove it deep down my gut and put on a face of everything is fine cause I don't want to make things awkward. It honestly wasn't too hard putting on a face considering I did that constantly during the relationship for the same reason, I am a dumb people pleaser and hate myself for it.
I honestly felt nervous around everyone cause they weren't my friends, they were hers, I didn't know them, I knew of them... I honestly felt alone even with my ex there, I was worried... and it then got Worse. To say the least most people on the trip were wanting to do some gummies for fun, and I personally had never done anything like gummies or smoking before and didn't really care for it and just wanted to live in the moment, but I then got offered/given by my ex one, and I just wasn't sure, but I was put on the spot everyone waiting on me, I kept thinking "yes or no, yes or no" over and over. I looked at her and thought, I mean I dated her for 1.5 years and we knew each other for almost 2, she knows me, she's looking out for me right??? I can trust her right?!?!... I eat the gummy, not knowing what the recommended dosage for a newby is. it was over 12 times the max amount recommended...... I. I was high for 2 full days, and it was fine at first for a few hours I thought, maybe, but when you wake up and the feeling just wouldn't shut off, and it would still linger no matter what I did or ate, I felt so scared, and even more alone, I wanted to cry so badly, but how do you cry when you're surrounded by strangers and worse, her friends, how do you not make things weird...... I bottled up everything until I went outside and just cried alone while calling a friend, I was just tired of the feeling of not feeling myself, of everything feeling delayed, and not to mention that I was honestly thinking of seeking out a prescribed set of gummies in the future to mellow out my anxiety in the future, to calm me down, but I felt that was robbed from me cause I feel like this terrible first experience gave me some type of ptsd, I get nervous whenever anyone talks about weed, and my heart races nowadays when I smell it. The trip was ruined from nearly the beginning and it just sucked having that happened. We came back from the trip, I didn't really contact her unless she contacted me for quite a few months, I felt my trust betrayed, I felt more anxious than ever, I felt like my feelings didn't matter. I know she's not a bad person but she did some stupid decisions, and one being overdosing me for some reason.
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I had decided to give myself some space, and it worked for a bit but knowing I still had contact with her still made me think of the lonely relationship, and the betrayal from the trip. about 7 months had passed and while we saw each other a few times, it was very sparse, up until one day we happened to go to a concert with some friends. Inside of venue before the opener even began the topic of the trip got brought up, she reminisced on how the trip was fun for her, and then and there she decided to casually say she was sorry to me about overdosing me, in front of our friends, in a very crowded public place.... I honestly had no words, and didn't give a reply, just stood there, hurt from the fact that it took 7+ months for an apology and it was done then and there.
From then on we hung out on occasion doing a events with friends and it was fun I won't deny but always at the back of my brain, I know I have feelings still, both from how happy I felt in the relationship and also the hurt and loneliness I felt from it, and then the trip incident.
It was then a few months after the "apology" she would then hype me up in front of friends about how much I took.... I had no response again, just staying quiet and keeping my thoughts to myself, feeling like I just got backhanded and made to feel like the apology meant even less. I swear she's a good kind person but. these actions, they just keep hurting me, and I keep wanting to bring this stuff up and talk about it, but there is never a good time, its been bottling up for so long now, its been over a year and I still have ptsd from the incident, I feel uneasy around her, and I just wish I could move one wihtout losing a friend, I just feel like no matter what I do I'm gonna end up sad and even more depressed. I have some amazing online friends who are a good support system, but in my town, I have only 1 good friend for support but we don't seem to always see eye to eye on quite a few things, and I did with my ex, and I just wish I had a better support system, had been in a healthy relationship, could be treated right, and not feel so scared and alone even after all this time. Idk if I should talk somehow or if I should just cut ties bluntly. It doesn't help that I already made plans with her for the next few months and its stuff thats already been paid for. I'm really sorry that this is so long, and am grateful if anyone bothered reading all this. I have these same thoughts going over and over in my head on an almost daily basis and I just can't stop them

Hello all,
I've got a few questions.
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I'm wondering - as a cis (and possibly bisexual??) woman who doesn't currently have any lgbt friends and only a few lgbt family members - how I can be the most supportive and understanding. I'm highly invested in the community but have little experience with actual members of it because I'm very much a hermit - sociable and kind as I can be but highly introverted. I often overthink how I act and what to say when I'm around people of cultures and backgrounds different from mine.
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Especially now with pride month coming up very soon, I really would like tips, opinions, or other ideas on how to best approach and talk to lgbt people. That being said, it goes without saying that I simply treat them like I would any other stranger. Many stores I frequent have lgbt employees and they've started to become familiar faces out during mall trips or the likes. Herein lies the issue: the other day, I was checking out with a cashier who was trans; I wanted to complement her on her hair but I stopped myself, wondering, "Would that come off as fake? Would she think I'm only trying to be nice because I realize she is transgender?" Furthermore, is it generally accepted as okay to ask a person their pronouns? I have once before and the question was very well received but I'm always too shy to do it.
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With mental health issues being highly common in the lgbt community, I've considered doing little gestures to offer support. When I went to Pride a couple of years ago, someone just randomly handed me a little laminated card telling me how beautiful and amazing and important I am, and that I deserve to exist in this world. It then said to pass it on to someone else who might need to see this message. This gesture was very important to me and I'll never forget it. I carried it for some time until I left it on a seat in the place of much of my healing, The OCD and Anxiety Treatment Center in Utah.I've considered creating and giving cards to people that say things like "you're loved" or "you're beautiful", but again, the question arises: "Would they think I'm forcing this?" I understand that this could be seen as an odd practice and I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. It's one thing to hand people cards of support out in the Pride crowd, but maybe it's another to give someone a card at Wal-Mart.
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Also, a side question completely unrelated: what animals or symbols are most associated with the community? I've got unicorns and rainbows but that's it, and a project of mine needs more variety.
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Thanks all. :)

I had a dog, her name was Pearl and we were inseparable, I will never get tired telling our story. I used to be a very lonely kid, not even my parents have me that much attention and I was pretty much obnoxious to everything due to how lonely I felt. One thing I’ve always loved: animals. They are wonderful, specially dogs. One day at my grandparents farm one of their dogs had puppies. I was overjoyed and went running to see the mama with her pups (obviously from a distance). Then I saw her: the most beautiful and amazing and perfect doggo. She was a beautiful cream-colored puppy with the prettiest black nose. I swear that the moment we saw each other it was then that I knew she and I were meant to be together. I was the happiest 6 year old when my grandpa said I could take her. It was something out of this world, I can’t explain how our bond was. From moment one she was extremely loyal to me and so I was immensely loving towards her. I spent days and nights playing with her and my world became the brightest since then. Even at my lowest she was the only constant I had. I suffered through many things: bullying from family and classmates, constant rejection from others, being alone, not having any friends, being diagnosed with depression as a kid… She was always there for me. I would come home after school and she always greeted me like this. Looking at her smile always made me feel way better about my life. I bought her the best things and gave her the best opportunities I could bringing her to the best vets in our city. Not once I left her alone, every time I could I would bring her along with me and we traveled our country together. Beaches, forests, cities, and countryside: you name it we went together. I always felt as if she was a part of me. I couldn’t explain it but it was as if she and I were a single soul. We were the best friends ever. Then one Thursday as I was getting ready she seemed off so my mom and I went to the emergency pet hospital nearby. When we arrived the vets saw her and ran to attend her. She had entered a shock and there was bloody liquid bubbling out her nose. I was panicking and crying like I’ve never before. I’m not one to cry easily but at that moment I was very vulnerable. My mom had to hold me back to me not to run behind the vets. We spent there more than two hours. After this, I couldn’t go to school and I was so extremely tired from crying that I fell asleep the moment I got home. Pearl had been hospitalized, and was intubated with oxygen. We didn’t care we paid proximately $370 just for her to be ok, she was our Pearl. Then later at 11 o’clock they called us to tell us she had passed away. They had tried everything they could but her body gave up. At first I couldn’t process the shock it was to me. Even saying that days after I kept relieving the memory in flashes and am still emotionally traumatized by watching her die in front of me. I acted extremely cold towards everyone and everything. I just locked myself in my room and didn’t speak to anybody. I kept telling myself I was OK, but I know I was not. At night, when I finally could process what had happened I cried, Innoway I cannot explain. I felt like a part of me had been ripped off and I couldn’t breathe. My mom tried calming me down, but I just simply was having a mental breakdown. Now it’s been less than a year and I know I was just 16 years old and I should be getting over it, but I can’t. Pearl was my whole world, and I miss her with my whole heart every day. I have other tree dogs, but things are just not the same with them. I keep giving them love and playing with them and bringing them places like I would normally do with Pearl. However, I cannot get over that feeling that she’s just not here. I love my other doggos with all my heart and I wish I didn’t feel this way, but sometimes I cannot see myself loving them in a way that’s nearly as much as I loved Pearl. She was something like my pet soulmate, and nothing will ever change that. My family knows that for me talking about Pearl is an extremely touchy subject because I can’t even think about her when I’m already crying. I’ve been writing this and I’ve been crying nonstop. That’s a lot for me because I am a person that even when she’s depressed or extremely overwhelmed, doesn’t cry just keeps to herself. Right now this is something way bigger than me. How do you even deal with the situation? How do you get over a 10 year friendship that was so special? You just simply can’t. I believe I will always have her in my heart. Even after she died not much then a couple of days later I had a dream about her. I was in the backyard of our old house, and suddenly she came to me. After I saw her, I immediately started crying, part of me just knew that was her. Even if I was just dreaming, I knew that was her soul in that very moment. Even when I knew I was dreaming (sort of) I knew she couldn’t be there because she was gone and she had to go. I didn’t want to wake up. I wanted to hold her forever. Part of me even wished I was dead to be with her, but I kept telling her that she needed to go, because even if I love her she had to rest. Part of me regrets it every day because after she went away, she has not come back in any dream. However, I know that it was the right thing, she had to rest. I know I am selfish for not wanting her to go, yet I know it was her time. I just can’t see myself without her in my life, I promised myself I would keep on going every day for her because that’s what she would’ve wanted. I know I’m talking as if she was a person here but that’s just how important she was to me. I hope that as I keep on living, she wil accompany me with her soul, and that the day I die, she will meet me in heaven. She has been the purest soul. I know God will take care of her for me and I am sure she’s happy by his side while I’m gone. It sometimes feel as if no one understands the emotional and even physical pain I’m undergoing because of this. I swear the day I got her ashes, I felt as if I was stabbed 1 million times in the chest. I felt great pain every time I cried, holding her urn. And I may never get over this, but I know things will be better end that I have three more beautiful dogs that love me and that can be awesome fur friends. Sorry, I just had to get this off my chest. I hope that anyone in any type of similar situation to mine gets better to, us humans really don’t deserve their beautiful perfect souls. I am sure that they watch us from heaven and that neither they or us will forget about each other. Please don’t DM me. I am OK. This is just something I needed to get off my chest as I said and I can assure you I’m better now. Now I am 17 years old and she’s still 10, she will keep on her age, and I will go on growing mine with our beautiful memories we had.

My 4 year relationship that ended nearly 3 weeks ago now was in perspective incredibly abusive and manipulative. I would be threatened in so many ways (physical etc.), cheated on multiple times, gaslit + manipulated when I'd try break it off and so much more. It was to the point I was also isolated from most of my friends and so when he spoke badly of them, I felt I didn't have a chance to even tell them without some consequences onto me. I feel guilt knowing I was a bad friend in this way, but I try reason with myself that I was quite literally threatened if I went against him. There was no winning.
Still, I don't know how I'll come to terms with myself and be able to trust my own choices. While logically I know I was vulnerable and had little say, I still feel awful. I was practically blinded or just too scared to say anything to anybody. I have recently told a friend of the horrible things my ex said regarding her and her partner (she did ask first) and she has expressed she's upset I didn't tell her sooner and knows I'm not fully to blame. How do I cope? I feel like the worst person ever for cutting ties with friends when he made me, I genuinely thought I had no say in anything. I'm horrified.

Northeast park
Two hours since the invasion began
The invasion is a success. Thousands of savages have been purged and dozens captured. Not as frightening as the vision said, but the description holds true. These are the pale skin. Strangely, some of them have very dark skin and some even have skin as brown as a dwarf's. Strange indeed. Most men were taller than elves and Rosians but not as tall as an orc.
"Excellent.", Ylindar said as he observed the captives being sent through the rift, "They will be fine specimens for studying. We must find their weakness."
The 'humans', as they called themselves, resisted but fell in line eventually. The smaller ones cried and called out to their parents. It made the Rosians present sick. One of the women broke the line and ran to Ylindar. "Please! Stop this! Why are you doing this? Who are you?", she said through tears and shaking breaths.
Ylindar slapped her, causing her to fall to the ground. "Silence you wench! You are not worthy of being in my presence, let alone speak to me. Take her!". Soldiers hoisted her up and dragged her towards the others.
"You monsters!", yelled a man, "You will pay for this! You will all die her-". Before he could say more, Ylindar pierced his chest with his sword. Then he turned to the rest of the captives, "Any more of you savages willing to test me?"
"Stop!", yelled the Rosian captain present, "I demand you give us our share now."
Ylindar raised an eyebrow to that, "Your share?"
"Yes. We fought, pillaged, and brought captives. We did what you asked and now it is your turn to keep your end of the deal."
This made Ylindar chuckle, but he would humor the young Rosian, "Very well. We are an honorable empire after all. You may choose ten captives and split them amongst yourselves."
"Ten?"
"Yes. Take them now before I change my mind."
The captain faced the captains. In truth, he wanted to save the weak and innocent ones from suffering, but he couldn't save them all. He pointed to them one by one, picking out the children and elderly first as well as a woman with a child and a strong tall man who fought against the ferals and dwarves. Perhaps he could give them some insight.
"You over exceed Rosian. I said ten.", said Ylindar.
"This is ten people."
"She counts as two.", he said as he pointed to the pregnant woman.
"She is with child. That is unfair."
"And what will you do about it?"
The captain stuttered. He wanted to save her but it would mean dooming another life. What was he to do? He cursed Ylindar internally. Honorable? Horse shit.
"Leave me.", said the tall human, "Leave me behind and take her. Please." The captain was stunned, to say the least.
"Excellent", said Ylindar, "It appears you can bring them all. Enjoy your spoils.". With that, he left.
The woman thanked the tall man who then grabbed the captain by the arm and looked him in the eyes. "If anything happens to her, I will hold you responsible.", he said.
The captain nodded, "You have my word, warrior.". The man was dragged to the elven slave lines and pushed through the rift.
Ylindar was sitting at his desk writing a letter to the troops on the other side, saying the invasion was a success and a foothold was established. Handing the letter to a messenger he got up and walked to observe his army. Ten thousand elves, all gathered in a barbaric land to bring civilization. He looked up in the sky and saw the wyverns flying through the air. As he looked at them he didn't feel proud, he felt confused. There were too few of them. He brought fifty wyverns, which is half of an army's corps. Now there were less than two dozen. How?
His question would be answered as several strange contraptions flew in the air at the wyverns. They didn't have wings but still flew in a straight line. The wyverns outnumbered them and Ylindar assumed this was a victory, but his hopes were crushed as the contraptions fired what looked like cannons and tore through the wyverns like a sword through parchment.
He stepped back in shock and watched as the cannon-wielding machines finished the wyverns and turned towards them.
"General!", called a soldier, "Enemy carriages approach! It appears to be their army!"
Ylindar grinned, "At last. Soldiers of the light! Prepare yourselves! The savages have finally sent their warriors! We will crush them and clear a path for our reinforcements! Formations!"
The infantry prepared their shields and spears, archers and mages took their positions, it was time to face this world's true force. The metal carriages halted and out of them came out dozens of soldiers. Then dozens more came from flying contraptions.
Raising his sword, Ylindar yelled out the order, "Attack!".
---
"Here they come!", yelled Paterson.
"Open fire!", ordered Jefferson. The rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers wreaked havoc upon the enemy. Bullets tore through shields, machine guns ripped people apart, and explosions turned any poor fool near it into minced meat. Their tight formations only added to their demise.
The attack helicopters arrived when they finished the dragon things and opened fire with their chain guns and anti-infantry rockets. The enemies fell by the thousands and some even started to retreat while most fell to their knees and begged for mercy.
When the firing stopped all that was left of the ten thousand enemy soldiers were scorched bodies riddled with holes. There was almost nothing left of their camp. The screaming soldiers were taken into custody. All but one guy with a cape.
"You-You dare!", yelled the blue-skinned man, "Do you have any idea who I am!? Who I represent!? You shall suffer for your barbarism!". He drew his sword and ran to the nearest soldier, who promptly raised his rifle and shot him in the chest twice.
"Round them all up.", ordered Jefferson, "Send word to HQ that it's over."
The enemy captives were loaded up into trucks and sent to Fort Curz for questioning. As they were being loaded up, one of the blue soldiers started smiling and chuckling. "What's so funny?", asked Paterson.
"This is only the beginning.", he replied. Paterson widened his eyes and ran to Jefferson.
"Sir!"
"What is it?"
"I just information on the attack. This was the first wave. More are coming."
Jefferson wasted no time in reacting and grabbed his radio, "All units, prepare for a second attack! Air squadrons, hold your positions until enough of them group up and shot down those dragons! Don't waste ammo!"
"Rodger that.", said a pilot. The guard and police force pulled back and created a semi-circle out of armored vehicles facing the portal. Hundreds of rifles and machine guns were pointed toward the shining rectangle.
---
Captain Zorgin led the second wave through the rift. The remaining forty thousand elves and ten thousand dwarves marched to the other side. But something wasn't right. When the messenger arrived he reported that the invasion was a success, but later dozens of soldiers came back saying that they should not go through. They came saying how the savages have great machines of death capable of destroying armies. Be that as it may, general Ylindar was out there and Zorgin swore he would bring him back.
"General Bardek!", he called, "You will lead the charge with your troops. After you get through, our cavalry and wyverns will enter and attack."
"Right.", said Bardek, "I can't let Dalmin have all the fun after all.". He rushed forward on his war hog, leading his troops. "Warriors of Nundolar! The enemy we face is formidable! But we will show them the might of dwarven steel!". The dwarven warrior roared and charged through the rift. As soon as they passed through they were met with a horrid sight.
Thousands dead and burned, the camp nor the general could be seen, only the line of carriages and hundreds of enemy soldiers. Bardek didn't stop to think. The adrenalin carried him forward. He charged with his troops, screaming and firing, hoping he could break the enemy's defenses. But hopes were not enough. The enemy opened fire and Bardek experienced true fear. His hog was shot and he fell to the ground. The enemy's boomsticks fired without stopping, their cannons killed dozens of soldiers with each blast, and they couldn't even get close. His pride, his dwarven pride, was broken. He could only lie down and pray he would survive.
Zorgin led his cavalry through. He looked for his general but found nothing but dead bodies and ash. He snapped back as he heard cannon fire and redirected his troops. "Over there! Their flank is less defended! We will break it, come on!". Leading the cavalry charge he kept observing the enemy. They had strange-looking black shields and only a single line between two carriages. They opened fire with their boomsticks and Zorgin's cavalry started taking casualties but still held on. Zorgin was closing in, but then the enemy soldiers fired some sort of metal boxes that spewed smoke. 'What trickery is this?', Zorgin thought, but when the smoke spread and got into their eyes, they understood its purpose. It made their eyes burn and they could hardly breathe. The horses were affected the same way as they stopped in their tracks. They couldn't see anything but they felt as if they were knocked out.
More and more soldiers exited the rift and with their sheer numbers, they were starting to get close. But as they did, the flying monsters of metal rained fire upon them and their numbers kept dropping. The wyverns were blown to pieces by either them or the cannons. It wasn't a battle, it was more of a one-sided slaughter. Only a few dozen were able to run back to the rift. Most were either wounded, screaming from the killer smoke or just lying down and surrendered. Surprisingly, the enemy took them captive instead of killing them. Zorgin tried to resist but to no avail.
"Where is general Ylindar?!", he yelled as he was dragged, "I demand you answer me immediately!"
One of the soldiers in light brown armor came up to him and grabbed him by the arm and dragged him in another direction. After stopping he pushed him to his knees. "Here.", he spoke, "Is this him?"
Zorgin could barely see, his vision was foggy, but there was no mistaking it. The armor, the cape, the helmet, it was him. Zorgin shed tears of regret, regret that he failed in his duty.
"I'll take that as a yes.", said the soldier before lifting Zorgin back on his feet.
"You haven't won!", Zorgin yelled, "Our fleet has taken your shores by now! Soon enough, more ships will follow and you will perish!"
"I wouldn't worry about that.", said the soldier in a calm tone, leaving Zorgin puzzled.
---
Three hours earlier
South coast of California, Del Mar, near San Diego
Admiral Lothar Tanros has passed through the rift. Large enough for more than a dozen ships to pass through it advanced his progress. Each fleet was well-equipped for an invasion. It consisted of twenty troop carriers with held ten thousand troops in total, thirty attack ships with eight cannons, five wyvern carriers with five to six wyverns each, and forty-five supply ships with materials necessary to build and sustain the fleet and build a coastal fortification. All are led by the admiral's personal grand ship. A huge naval vessel with several sails and cannons on both sides. Truly a powerful presentation.
"Admiral!", shouted the first mate, "Land is within sight!"
"Excellent!", said Lothar, "Let the wyvern carriers pass through first. I want air superiority as soon as possible. Along with them, I want half of our troop carriers. We need to take the shore immediately."
"Yes, admiral!".
---
Lieutenant Mitch Floyd was just doing his routine patrols. It was his turn to take the patrol boat for a spin. All he had to do was go to Dana point and back, simple, he's done it dozens of times before. All the while the crew was gathered around a TV and watching the live recordings of the attack in North Carolina. What they felt was beyond words.
"Sir, how can you not watch this?", asked a crew member.
"It's cause I trust our boys to kill those freaks.", Mitch replied, "Don't you?"
"W-Well of course but, damn. This shit is insane. Gotta say I'm jealous, I kinda want to shoot some dragons."
"Careful watch you wish for, kid.". As Mitch sailed on he began to notice something strange in front. A large number of wooden ships heading towards Del mar. In the sky were large dragon-like reptiles. 'Just my luck.", Mitch thought.
"Battle stations!", ordered Mitchel, "Looks like your wish came true Fred!"
Fred looked out and saw three dragons flying toward them, "Holy shit! I didn't mean now!". He ran towards the .50 caliber machine gun and readied himself. The cyclone class patrol boat wasn't something to be messed with. As the dragons got closer, the 25mm machine gun raised itself, aimed, and let loose. The lizards couldn't even react before they got turned into Swiss cheese.
"Woohoo!", cheered Fred, "We got 'em!"
"Don't open the champagne just yet!", Mitch shouted, "We still have those ships to deal with. I count roughly a hundred, various sizes. Richerdson, get in contact with HQ! Tell them what's going on, we need air support. Alert the National guard as well."
"Yes, sir!", said Richerdson.
'God help us.', Mitch thought as he sailed into the fray.
---
"Admiral!", yelled the first mate, "Some of our wyverns have been killed."
"Where?", Lothar asked.
"They spotted a ship coming from the south and decided to deal with it, but now they're dead."
"A single ship?"
"That is what the captain said."
"Tell them to send what attack ships are near to destroy it. Nothing must disrupt this invasion."
"Yes, Admiral."
On the shore, the savages run. They run from the water and into their city. The wyverns already started swooping down and devouring them. Their soldiers in blue clothing fired at them with their boomsticks but did next to nothing. A few managed to shoot down the riders, but that didn't stop the wyverns themselves. Now that the shore was empty, the troops could move in. Dozens of landing boats rowed to the shore and dropped off hundreds of soldiers who rallied and attacked the savages, but their weapons halted the assault.
"Push through!", yelled a lieutenant, "They are few in numbers! We must clear a path!". At that moment, two wyverns descended unto their carriages and destroyed the soldiers in blue. With that, the cohort marched on and reached the wide road. However, in the distance, they saw more metal carriages, but these were bigger and in a different color, with large boomsticks on top. The wyverns flew at them, but they soon got shot down and the carriages halted. Out of them came dozens of enemy soldiers, all dressed in vastly different armor than their blue counterparts.
The cohort got into a shield formation and the mages prepared to block the enemy's weapons, but they couldn't. Their magic wasn't working. "Do not falter!", the lieutenant shouted, "We must-". His mouth stopped moving as soon as it got blown to pieces by the enemy. The shields and armor provided them with no protection. They were all cut down and the enemy advanced. More and more of their carriages arrived and they quickly retook the shore.
"Admiral, we have a problem on the shore.", said the first mate.
"I can see that!", yelled Lothar, "Tell the attack ships to form a firing line and destroy the enemy! We cannot let them... are you listening?". The first mate pointed out towards the approaching ships in the distance. Five of them, two large and the rest smaller, all made of metal, and above them over a dozen flying arrowheads, dropping what looked like eggs. Each 'egg' landed on a ship and blew it to pieces. Dozens of ships were destroyed just like that. Lothar didn't have the words to express himself. He kept looking toward the enemy ships as they aimed their cannons and fired from impossible distances. The crew panicked and begged for help, but Lothar couldn't say anything. In his final moments, he watched as a giant metal rod flew into the sky from one of the ships and blew him to pieces along with his crew and ship.
---
"Boom!", cheered Fred, "They got the big one!"
"Shut up!", shouted Mitch, "Let's do what we came here to do.". He guided his cyclone patrol boat along with another one towards the enemy 'landing crafts'. The two opened fire with their 25mm chainguns they tore through the boats and ripped the soldiers inside apart, scattering their remains across the water. Along the way, they picked up the handful of survivors and tied them up.
In the main battle, two destroyers, USS Dewey-2, and Cutter opened fire on the enemy fleet. They targeted the largest ones first, and when they were done they moved on to the armed ships. The enemy was in complete chaos. Destroying the lead ship with the cruiser missile was a good idea, now they were leaderless and easy to take out.
The jets destroyed the ships on the outer formations and later moved inwards. Eventually, there were only thirteen ships left. Four had cannons and nine looked like they just carried supplies. They surrendered and raised white flags, a smart move. The coast guard boarded and cleared all of them before arresting the crew and towing the ships back.
"This is quite a mess lieutenant.", Fred said.
"It is. You just had to wish for a dragon, huh?"
Now that the attacks were stopped, the hard part began. Counting the losses and making a plan for what to do next.
End of chapter 3
---
Sorry for the short chapter, in hindsight I should have just written one very long one. Won't happen again, pinky promise.
Thank you very much for watching. If you'd like to support me (for some freakin' reason) and get access to future chapters early feel free to upvote, follow, and support me on Patreon (DM me for the link please)

Northeast park
Two hours since the invasion began
The invasion is a success. Thousands of savages have been purged and dozens captured. Not as frightening as the vision said, but the description holds true. These are the pale skin. Strangely, some of them have very dark skin and some even have skin as brown as a dwarf's. Strange indeed. Most men were taller than elves and Rosians but not as tall as an orc.
"Excellent.", Ylindar said as he observed the captives being sent through the rift, "They will be fine specimens for studying. We must find their weakness."
The 'humans', as they called themselves, resisted but fell in line eventually. The smaller ones cried and called out to their parents. It made the Rosians present sick. One of the women broke the line and ran to Ylindar. "Please! Stop this! Why are you doing this? Who are you?", she said through tears and shaking breaths.
Ylindar slapped her, causing her to fall to the ground. "Silence you wench! You are not worthy of being in my presence, let alone speak to me. Take her!". Soldiers hoisted her up and dragged her towards the others.
"You monsters!", yelled a man, "You will pay for this! You will all die her-". Before he could say more, Ylindar pierced his chest with his sword. Then he turned to the rest of the captives, "Any more of you savages willing to test me?"
"Stop!", yelled the Rosian captain present, "I demand you give us our share now."
Ylindar raised an eyebrow to that, "Your share?"
"Yes. We fought, pillaged, and brought captives. We did what you asked and now it is your turn to keep your end of the deal."
This made Ylindar chuckle, but he would humor the young Rosian, "Very well. We are an honorable empire after all. You may choose ten captives and split them amongst yourselves."
"Ten?"
"Yes. Take them now before I change my mind."
The captain faced the captains. In truth, he wanted to save the weak and innocent ones from suffering, but he couldn't save them all. He pointed to them one by one, picking out the children and elderly first as well as a woman with a child and a strong tall man who fought against the ferals and dwarves. Perhaps he could give them some insight.
"You over exceed Rosian. I said ten.", said Ylindar.
"This is ten people."
"She counts as two.", he said as he pointed to the pregnant woman.
"She is with child. That is unfair."
"And what will you do about it?"
The captain stuttered. He wanted to save her but it would mean dooming another life. What was he to do? He cursed Ylindar internally. Honorable? Horse shit.
"Leave me.", said the tall human, "Leave me behind and take her. Please." The captain was stunned, to say the least.
"Excellent", said Ylindar, "It appears you can bring them all. Enjoy your spoils.". With that, he left.
The woman thanked the tall man who then grabbed the captain by the arm and looked him in the eyes. "If anything happens to her, I will hold you responsible.", he said.
The captain nodded, "You have my word, warrior.". The man was dragged to the elven slave lines and pushed through the rift.
Ylindar was sitting at his desk writing a letter to the troops on the other side, saying the invasion was a success and a foothold was established. Handing the letter to a messenger he got up and walked to observe his army. Ten thousand elves, all gathered in a barbaric land to bring civilization. He looked up in the sky and saw the wyverns flying through the air. As he looked at them he didn't feel proud, he felt confused. There were too few of them. He brought fifty wyverns, which is half of an army's corps. Now there were less than two dozen. How?
His question would be answered as several strange contraptions flew in the air at the wyverns. They didn't have wings but still flew in a straight line. The wyverns outnumbered them and Ylindar assumed this was a victory, but his hopes were crushed as the contraptions fired what looked like cannons and tore through the wyverns like a sword through parchment.
He stepped back in shock and watched as the cannon-wielding machines finished the wyverns and turned towards them.
"General!", called a soldier, "Enemy carriages approach! It appears to be their army!"
Ylindar grinned, "At last. Soldiers of the light! Prepare yourselves! The savages have finally sent their warriors! We will crush them and clear a path for our reinforcements! Formations!"
The infantry prepared their shields and spears, archers and mages took their positions, it was time to face this world's true force. The metal carriages halted and out of them came out dozens of soldiers. Then dozens more came from flying contraptions.
Raising his sword, Ylindar yelled out the order, "Attack!".
---
"Here they come!", yelled Paterson.
"Open fire!", ordered Jefferson. The rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers wreaked havoc upon the enemy. Bullets tore through shields, machine guns ripped people apart, and explosions turned any poor fool near it into minced meat. Their tight formations only added to their demise.
The attack helicopters arrived when they finished the dragon things and opened fire with their chain guns and anti-infantry rockets. The enemies fell by the thousands and some even started to retreat while most fell to their knees and begged for mercy.
When the firing stopped all that was left of the ten thousand enemy soldiers were scorched bodies riddled with holes. There was almost nothing left of their camp. The screaming soldiers were taken into custody. All but one guy with a cape.
"You-You dare!", yelled the blue-skinned man, "Do you have any idea who I am!? Who I represent!? You shall suffer for your barbarism!". He drew his sword and ran to the nearest soldier, who promptly raised his rifle and shot him in the chest twice.
"Round them all up.", ordered Jefferson, "Send word to HQ that it's over."
The enemy captives were loaded up into trucks and sent to Fort Curz for questioning. As they were being loaded up, one of the blue soldiers started smiling and chuckling. "What's so funny?", asked Paterson.
"This is only the beginning.", he replied. Paterson widened his eyes and ran to Jefferson.
"Sir!"
"What is it?"
"I just information on the attack. This was the first wave. More are coming."
Jefferson wasted no time in reacting and grabbed his radio, "All units, prepare for a second attack! Air squadrons, hold your positions until enough of them group up and shot down those dragons! Don't waste ammo!"
"Rodger that.", said a pilot. The guard and police force pulled back and created a semi-circle out of armored vehicles facing the portal. Hundreds of rifles and machine guns were pointed toward the shining rectangle.
---
Captain Zorgin led the second wave through the rift. The remaining forty thousand elves and ten thousand dwarves marched to the other side. But something wasn't right. When the messenger arrived he reported that the invasion was a success, but later dozens of soldiers came back saying that they should not go through. They came saying how the savages have great machines of death capable of destroying armies. Be that as it may, general Ylindar was out there and Zorgin swore he would bring him back.
"General Bardek!", he called, "You will lead the charge with your troops. After you get through, our cavalry and wyverns will enter and attack."
"Right.", said Bardek, "I can't let Dalmin have all the fun after all.". He rushed forward on his war hog, leading his troops. "Warriors of Nundolar! The enemy we face is formidable! But we will show them the might of dwarven steel!". The dwarven warrior roared and charged through the rift. As soon as they passed through they were met with a horrid sight.
Thousands dead and burned, the camp nor the general could be seen, only the line of carriages and hundreds of enemy soldiers. Bardek didn't stop to think. The adrenalin carried him forward. He charged with his troops, screaming and firing, hoping he could break the enemy's defenses. But hopes were not enough. The enemy opened fire and Bardek experienced true fear. His hog was shot and he fell to the ground. The enemy's boomsticks fired without stopping, their cannons killed dozens of soldiers with each blast, and they couldn't even get close. His pride, his dwarven pride, was broken. He could only lie down and pray he would survive.
Zorgin led his cavalry through. He looked for his general but found nothing but dead bodies and ash. He snapped back as he heard cannon fire and redirected his troops. "Over there! Their flank is less defended! We will break it, come on!". Leading the cavalry charge he kept observing the enemy. They had strange-looking black shields and only a single line between two carriages. They opened fire with their boomsticks and Zorgin's cavalry started taking casualties but still held on. Zorgin was closing in, but then the enemy soldiers fired some sort of metal boxes that spewed smoke. 'What trickery is this?', Zorgin thought, but when the smoke spread and got into their eyes, they understood its purpose. It made their eyes burn and they could hardly breathe. The horses were affected the same way as they stopped in their tracks. They couldn't see anything but they felt as if they were knocked out.
More and more soldiers exited the rift and with their sheer numbers, they were starting to get close. But as they did, the flying monsters of metal rained fire upon them and their numbers kept dropping. The wyverns were blown to pieces by either them or the cannons. It wasn't a battle, it was more of a one-sided slaughter. Only a few dozen were able to run back to the rift. Most were either wounded, screaming from the killer smoke or just lying down and surrendered. Surprisingly, the enemy took them captive instead of killing them. Zorgin tried to resist but to no avail.
"Where is general Ylindar?!", he yelled as he was dragged, "I demand you answer me immediately!"
One of the soldiers in light brown armor came up to him and grabbed him by the arm and dragged him in another direction. After stopping he pushed him to his knees. "Here.", he spoke, "Is this him?"
Zorgin could barely see, his vision was foggy, but there was no mistaking it. The armor, the cape, the helmet, it was him. Zorgin shed tears of regret, regret that he failed in his duty.
"I'll take that as a yes.", said the soldier before lifting Zorgin back on his feet.
"You haven't won!", Zorgin yelled, "Our fleet has taken your shores by now! Soon enough, more ships will follow and you will perish!"
"I wouldn't worry about that.", said the soldier in a calm tone, leaving Zorgin puzzled.
---
Three hours earlier
South coast of California, Del Mar, near San Diego
Admiral Lothar Tanros has passed through the rift. Large enough for more than a dozen ships to pass through it advanced his progress. Each fleet was well-equipped for an invasion. It consisted of twenty troop carriers with held ten thousand troops in total, thirty attack ships with eight cannons, five wyvern carriers with five to six wyverns each, and forty-five supply ships with materials necessary to build and sustain the fleet and build a coastal fortification. All are led by the admiral's personal grand ship. A huge naval vessel with several sails and cannons on both sides. Truly a powerful presentation.
"Admiral!", shouted the first mate, "Land is within sight!"
"Excellent!", said Lothar, "Let the wyvern carriers pass through first. I want air superiority as soon as possible. Along with them, I want half of our troop carriers. We need to take the shore immediately."
"Yes, admiral!".
---
Lieutenant Mitch Floyd was just doing his routine patrols. It was his turn to take the patrol boat for a spin. All he had to do was go to Dana point and back, simple, he's done it dozens of times before. All the while the crew was gathered around a TV and watching the live recordings of the attack in North Carolina. What they felt was beyond words.
"Sir, how can you not watch this?", asked a crew member.
"It's cause I trust our boys to kill those freaks.", Mitch replied, "Don't you?"
"W-Well of course but, damn. This shit is insane. Gotta say I'm jealous, I kinda want to shoot some dragons."
"Careful watch you wish for, kid.". As Mitch sailed on he began to notice something strange in front. A large number of wooden ships heading towards Del mar. In the sky were large dragon-like reptiles. 'Just my luck.", Mitch thought.
"Battle stations!", ordered Mitchel, "Looks like your wish came true Fred!"
Fred looked out and saw three dragons flying toward them, "Holy shit! I didn't mean now!". He ran towards the .50 caliber machine gun and readied himself. The cyclone class patrol boat wasn't something to be messed with. As the dragons got closer, the 25mm machine gun raised itself, aimed, and let loose. The lizards couldn't even react before they got turned into Swiss cheese.
"Woohoo!", cheered Fred, "We got 'em!"
"Don't open the champagne just yet!", Mitch shouted, "We still have those ships to deal with. I count roughly a hundred, various sizes. Richerdson, get in contact with HQ! Tell them what's going on, we need air support. Alert the National guard as well."
"Yes, sir!", said Richerdson.
'God help us.', Mitch thought as he sailed into the fray.
---
"Admiral!", yelled the first mate, "Some of our wyverns have been killed."
"Where?", Lothar asked.
"They spotted a ship coming from the south and decided to deal with it, but now they're dead."
"A single ship?"
"That is what the captain said."
"Tell them to send what attack ships are near to destroy it. Nothing must disrupt this invasion."
"Yes, Admiral."
On the shore, the savages run. They run from the water and into their city. The wyverns already started swooping down and devouring them. Their soldiers in blue clothing fired at them with their boomsticks but did next to nothing. A few managed to shoot down the riders, but that didn't stop the wyverns themselves. Now that the shore was empty, the troops could move in. Dozens of landing boats rowed to the shore and dropped off hundreds of soldiers who rallied and attacked the savages, but their weapons halted the assault.
"Push through!", yelled a lieutenant, "They are few in numbers! We must clear a path!". At that moment, two wyverns descended unto their carriages and destroyed the soldiers in blue. With that, the cohort marched on and reached the wide road. However, in the distance, they saw more metal carriages, but these were bigger and in a different color, with large boomsticks on top. The wyverns flew at them, but they soon got shot down and the carriages halted. Out of them came dozens of enemy soldiers, all dressed in vastly different armor than their blue counterparts.
The cohort got into a shield formation and the mages prepared to block the enemy's weapons, but they couldn't. Their magic wasn't working. "Do not falter!", the lieutenant shouted, "We must-". His mouth stopped moving as soon as it got blown to pieces by the enemy. The shields and armor provided them with no protection. They were all cut down and the enemy advanced. More and more of their carriages arrived and they quickly retook the shore.
"Admiral, we have a problem on the shore.", said the first mate.
"I can see that!", yelled Lothar, "Tell the attack ships to form a firing line and destroy the enemy! We cannot let them... are you listening?". The first mate pointed out towards the approaching ships in the distance. Five of them, two large and the rest smaller, all made of metal, and above them over a dozen flying arrowheads, dropping what looked like eggs. Each 'egg' landed on a ship and blew it to pieces. Dozens of ships were destroyed just like that. Lothar didn't have the words to express himself. He kept looking toward the enemy ships as they aimed their cannons and fired from impossible distances. The crew panicked and begged for help, but Lothar couldn't say anything. In his final moments, he watched as a giant metal rod flew into the sky from one of the ships and blew him to pieces along with his crew and ship.
---
"Boom!", cheered Fred, "They got the big one!"
"Shut up!", shouted Mitch, "Let's do what we came here to do.". He guided his cyclone patrol boat along with another one towards the enemy 'landing crafts'. The two opened fire with their 25mm chainguns they tore through the boats and ripped the soldiers inside apart, scattering their remains across the water. Along the way, they picked up the handful of survivors and tied them up.
In the main battle, two destroyers, USS Dewey-2, and Cutter opened fire on the enemy fleet. They targeted the largest ones first, and when they were done they moved on to the armed ships. The enemy was in complete chaos. Destroying the lead ship with the cruiser missile was a good idea, now they were leaderless and easy to take out.
The jets destroyed the ships on the outer formations and later moved inwards. Eventually, there were only thirteen ships left. Four had cannons and nine looked like they just carried supplies. They surrendered and raised white flags, a smart move. The coast guard boarded and cleared all of them before arresting the crew and towing the ships back.
"This is quite a mess lieutenant.", Fred said.
"It is. You just had to wish for a dragon, huh?"
Now that the attacks were stopped, the hard part began. Counting the losses and making a plan for what to do next.
End of chapter 3
---
Sorry for the short chapter, in hindsight I should have just written one very long one. Won't happen again, pinky promise.
Thank you very much for watching. If you'd like to support me (for some freakin' reason) and get access to future chapters early feel free to upvote, follow, and support me on Patreon:
patreon.com/SimpleWrites

This is a repost from another sub and Ik this is going to look messy and not make much sense but I'm not sure how to word it lol and for context recently some classed have changed and stuff and in sat next to this gir (were both 15)l who I don't really know but she's friends with one of my friends who liked her and got friendzoned and won't admit it or atleast I think and in lessons she jokes around with him and stuff but since the classes have moved I'm sat near her in a few lessons and she's started joking around with me and it might be cos I'm sat near my friend but it feels like she does it more to me than him and she's always laughing and sometimes it feels a little awkward and she does stuff like poking me to get me to turn round or taking a pen even tho I don't know her and I just brush it off most of the time and it's only been a couple of days and she does the same with my friend but it feels weird cos I'm not friends with her and i don't have her number or anything
The only thing is before we moved I saw her occasionally outside of school and then my friend would ask me if I saw her which makes me thinks she was talking about me and it seems weird to talk about someone who doesn't know to him but then I think jt might just be cos I'm his friend and she knows that
I've never been in a relationship before or anything so I don't know what to expect but I'm old enough now where its not like just little relationships that last a week and people are more serious about it and I'm not really friends with any girls it's not that I don't know any it's just I'm not really friend with any so idk if she's just being friendly or flirting or it's just cos I like her but it feels weird and honestly idk what's happening so i was hoping someone could help
Edit:
this post is kinda sloppy but I forgot to mention it's so obvious my friend likes her so idk if it's obvious i like her too and she knows I do but I haven't really been doing anything back or at least I don't think I have or I've been like hinting that I like and I haven't said anything to her so from my perspective she doesn't know how i feel but maybe she knows I do and just hasn't said anything either
My friend has never asked her out or anything either so maybe their not just friends and its just no ones said anything and i don't want to say anything to her or do anything incase she doesn't like me so I don't know
Now I'm thinking that if she friendzoned him and is still just joking around with him being friends if she's friendzoned me too cos she knows I like her but that doesn't really make sense cos I've never really spoke to her but maybe when I was near her and my friend and they were joking around it was obvious I liked her so she did the same to me even tho I never said anything
This second part is more of a rant lmao
I don't think she likes me but I'm always thinking what if she does and I'm not the most confident person so it's hard to imagine that she actually does if that makes sense but the main thing is I have 0 experience with this kinda thing so I'm clueless
Another edit lmao:
Ik this is already long but there's so much I want to say and one of the main things is that I don't have a crush on her I just like her or at least I think but the thing is out of all the girls in my year she's the one I like the most but I had a crush on a girl a year above me ages ago that's kinda faded and I feel nervous when I see her occasionally but I don't feel nervous around this girl and the other thing was that I know for a fact I'm not the only one who likes her cos there's my friend I said about and another one of my friends who asked her out and got rejected so there's probably other people who like her but neither of them no i like her cos I haven't said anything to anyone
In short, there's a girl who moved next to me in some classes and I can't tell of she's flirting with me or not if that's even what you can call it

Seek for someone to jerk off to me long term so I can help him cum everyday and now I promise to blow your load asap let’s sext and roleplay if you are willing to explore more in this submissive live upvote now Let me take full control of you and make you a good boy forever feel free to dm Kinks: Main ones I like that I’ve tried so far are orgasm control, sph (small pennis humiliation)edging, teasing, denial, and ruined orgasms. But I’m into almost anything within gentle femdom, so don’t be shy:) With kinks it’s more about the headspace for me, so I’m very curious and open- I definitely want to explore together. Hard Limits: scat, blood, vore, ageplay, abdl My sub: between the ages of 15-70 Me: 31. years old,brown eyes and brown hair, I think I’m pretty cute :) Also related to appearance, I’m very feminine and like pampering myself (skincare, nails, style, etc)../ I’m a powerful and strong mommy Domme seeking a newbie submissive male who is ready to learn the dynamics of BDSM (mommy /sub relationship) and explore his submissive / sexual sides with me for a long term and kinky relationship!..I accept both newbie and experienced submissive male do love to make my Slave cum daily ...I’m into so many kinks but my limits are scars,blood and extreme pains.. Am here and I promise to help you cum everyday and now give you daily joi just try and me and see you won’t regret it try and get kik or Telegram. Am an experienced mommy Domme been in this lifestyle for the past 14 years now Understood ✅💯[K l K.momlucy88]

Tonight was the second time I’ve gotten cussed out and verbally assaulted by the manager of college bar…….
For context, I’m a 20 year old dj on a big college campus, I have residencies at the 3 biggest bars in town, and I have my own promotion/event business. I’ve been djing for 2 years now and have played over 30 paid gigs. If it was up to me I’d play house all night but due to college crowd I gotta play open format/rap. I think I’m one of the better djs my town has to offer but that’s beside the point. Anyways,
Bar has recently had a problem with there crowd and they told djs to not play rap music. Two saturdays ago I played and twice during my set manager came up to me and told me not to play rap. Crowd was pretty dead and wasn’t responding to dance music so I naturally kept playing rap to keep crowd engaged. The night ends and i asks manger to write me a check and he blows up on me. Saying stuff like your the worst fucking dj we have, I hope you never play her again, your a cocksucker etc etc. The tirade was extremely out of line, and they additionally underpaid me $100. I have played at this place probably 10-15 times and have good relationship with owner. I talked to him the following week and he said eveything was just don’t let anything like that happen again. All was good until my gig tonight.
Everything was smooth, bar packed to the brim, high energy set, no rap music. I thought I definateky earned my cred back. I cut the music off at 2 and call last call like i have at every single gig I’ve played there in the past. As I’m cleaning up manager walks up to me and I was expecting a friendlyish comment cuz I thought might went well. He proceeds to go on another tirade, saying that last call is at 2:30 not 2. Saying I’m sabatoging the bar, I fucking suck, calling me cocksucker, pussy etc. keep in mind this dude is probably 50 and I’m 20. Anyways, he writes me a check and tells me to fuck off. Before my Uber arrives I go back into the bar and call him a piece of shit in front of staff, he tries to come at me and has to be held back by bouncers.
Am I the asshole? In the first instance I did disobey orders of not playing rap, but honestly as a dj my goal is to make a crowd dance and I’m not gonna torture them with tech house if they’re not feeling it. As for tonight, I feel like the guy was completely out of line and I’m gonna stand up for myself in that kinda situation.
Would love to hear any comments and I’ll do my best to answer any questions or provide context as needed. Best.

After finishing my randomlocke and starting a normal nuzlocke i notice something a lot more that i had been thinking about during randomlocke. the trainers in randomlocke are too random. i know i know, but let me explain. in randomlocke when you fight trainers their temtem are random, in the early game this can be deadly if you run into powerful 3rd evolutions or just powerful temtem in general but the opposite is true for the endgame. the endgame in randomlock is beyond easy, bosses that should have powerful temtem and synergies between them now have swali, pahoro's and platypets. i slaughtered the final boss without ever changing my 2 openers out.
i would like to suggest a 4th type of challenge mode, randomlocke 2.0 where everything is random except other trainers and set fights. this way the trainers you are fighting will still have their powerful synergies intact but you, your tem, your items and moves are still purely random.

Hello all!
My late uncle was a huge hiker, he had a life long passion for it (65+ years of it). He bequeathed any hiking pack of my choosing to use for many years. This meaning a lot I would like to make the right choice.
I would like to have something in the 65+L range. My current on was on the small side, and is struggling to fit my gear. It was a pretty ceahp one, around $100. Lasted me a few trips of has obvious flaws.
It is hard to choose what I like as there are so so many options with varying views. There obviously wouldn't be 'the' pack as it is mostly preference, but getting into the more pricey packs I wouldn't want to get a wrong one.
I just got back from hiking up a mountain to spread his ashes, so I think now would be fitting to upgrade.
Main points would be: -65+L -Will last ages -On the lighter side
I know this barely whittles it down, but just a bit of reference.
Something like this is what I'm looking for: That being said I am finding little reviews for this one. I do like how it opens like a suitcase on the back, as well this one is in a store near me.
Anyways, thanks for your help and suggestions, really means a lot!

Hello!
I'm starting with my homelab, actually runs a dozen of docker containers on a raspberry Pi.
Before to go ahead upgrading my lab, I'm at the point on which I need a NAS to achive both central storage and a solid local backup place to start implementing a 3-2-1 strategy.
First I've explored a DIY option, that can be cheaper and offer better upgradability, but for NAS solution I need something rock solid with a small form factor, silent and energy efficient on the hardware side.On the software side, I think Synology could be a better choice for security aspects and easy of use (set and forget) since I need very common RAID 1/5 implementation to achieve NFS and backups. No intention to use the NAS machine to host services, VM, or containers since for that scope I’ve already my Raspberry Pi and in case of needs I’ll upgrade to a DIY homelab server.

Goals

Good speed for NFS, storing my files and also attach as remote folder for my docker containers.
Backups for all home devices including smarthpones and desktop PC in one place.
Not much more :).
As storage space of 2TB will be enough for me and in the next 2-3 years (I only really need 1-1,2TB atm).
I would use only SSD’s - m2 nVME or 2,5” SATA - cause I want to achieve the best energy efficiency and low noise. I’ve already a spare Lexar NM620 SSD 2TB PCIe Gen3x4, that can be overkill but is very cheap here (109€).

Budget

As always budget is important, and to stay low I’m looking for a 2bay to start (opened to find also an used 4 bay that will be better maybe)
DS220+ is an option (but don’t like the absence of nvme ssd slots) then also DS723+ could be a choice to be more “future proof” ?
Please help me to clarify which solutions, models, and which disks I should buy.

First... Here's the required Bertstrip in order to post this.

https://preview.redd.it/o4u7hdnoo1qa1.png?width=471&format=png&auto=webp&s=f38e8b00d7306b0e5f8fdcf62830c0ca92b29b9e

Big Birds War Crimes and Incelmo is Incelmo

[Scene: The streets of Sesame Street. Big Bird is seen standing in front of a destroyed building with a gun in his hand. Elmo and Abby approach him.]
Big Bird: [Proudly] Ah, hello there! I just committed some war crimes in Czechoslovakia! [Chuckles]
Abby: [Horrified] What?! That's terrible, Big Bird!
Elmo: [Excitedly] Wow, Big Bird! That's so cool! I wish I could've been there with you!
Big Bird: [Grinning] Well, Elmo, maybe one day you'll get your chance.
Abby: [Angry] Big Bird, how could you do something like that? Innocent people were hurt because of you!
Big Bird: [Offensively] Oh, please. They're just foreigners. They don't matter.
Elmo: [Incel-like tone] Yeah, and besides, Abby, you're just a woman. You wouldn't understand.
Abby: [Furious] That's it, I've had enough of you two! I'm leaving!
[Abby storms off]
Big Bird: [Laughing] Good riddance!
Elmo: [Creepily] Yeah, I'm glad she's gone. She was always so uptight.
[Elmo looks at a group of children passing by and starts to follow them]
Big Bird: [Grinning] You know, Elmo, I always knew you were a man of my own heart. We should do more stuff like this together.
Elmo: [Enthusiastically] Yes! We could go around scaring women and children together! It would be so much fun!
[The two start to laugh as the camera fades to black]
[Scene: Later that day. Abby is seen sitting on a bench, visibly upset. Elmo approaches her.]
Elmo: [Smiling] Hey, Abby! What's wrong?
Abby: [Tearfully] Oh, Elmo. I just can't believe the things you and Big Bird were saying earlier. It's not right to hurt innocent people.
Elmo: [Trying to be comforting] Come on, Abby. You're just upset because you don't understand how the world really works.
Abby: [Angry] That's not true! I understand perfectly well that it's wrong to hurt people.
Elmo: [Creepily] You know, Abby, you're kind of cute when you're angry.
Abby: [Horrified] What?! Elmo, that's disgusting!
Elmo: [Incel-like tone] I'm sorry, Abby. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just that... well, I've been feeling really lonely lately. I thought maybe you and I could go out sometime?
Abby: [Appalled] No way, Elmo! I would never date someone like you!
Elmo: [Getting angry] What's wrong with me, Abby? Am I not good enough for you?
Abby: [Backing away] No, Elmo! You're not good enough for anyone! You're a convicted rapist, for goodness' sake!
Elmo: [Fuming] How dare you bring up my past like that! You don't know anything about me!
Abby: [Firmly] I know enough to stay away from you. You and Big Bird are dangerous and immoral.
Elmo: [Threateningly] You shouldn't have said that, Abby. You're going to regret it.
[Elmo's eyes narrow and he takes a step closer to Abby. Suddenly, Big Bird appears from behind a nearby trash can, holding a large rock in his hand.]
Big Bird: That's enough, Elmo.
Elmo: [Surprised] Big Bird? What are you doing here?
Big Bird: [Racism seeping through] I was just taking care of some business in Czechoslovakia, but I heard your conversation with Abby. You're making a scene, and I won't stand for it.
Abby: [Backing away] Big Bird, please don't hurt me.
Big Bird: [Menacingly] Don't worry, Abby. I'm not going to hurt you. But Elmo needs to be taught a lesson.
[Big Bird raises the rock and brings it down hard on Elmo's head. Elmo falls to the ground, unconscious.]
Abby: [Screaming] Oh my God, you killed him!
Big Bird: [Shrugging] He had it coming. And you should know better than to get involved with people like us.
[Big Bird walks away as Abby stands there, crying and shaking. The camera zooms in on Elmo's motionless body, his eyes staring blankly up at the sky.]
[End of scene]
​

Grover Killed Mr Johnson's Wife and Procedes to Torture him

The scene opens on Mr. Johnson's house. Grover has just finished killing Mr. Johnson's wife in a gruesome way, and he's now standing in the living room, staring at Mr. Johnson with a sick grin on his face.
Grover: (laughing) Oh Mr. Johnson, you should have seen the look on your wife's face! It was priceless! (he pulls out a knife and twirls it in his hand) And the way her blood sprayed everywhere... (he starts to lick the blood off the knife) Delicious.
Mr. Johnson: (sobbing) Why did you do this? Why would you kill my wife?
Grover: (sneering) Oh come on, Mr. Johnson. Don't act like you don't know. You've been a thorn in my side for far too long. I needed to send you a message.
Mr. Johnson: (clutching his head) Please, just let me go. I won't tell anyone what happened.
Grover: (laughing) Oh Mr. Johnson, you're so naive. Of course I'm not going to let you go. I'm going to make you suffer. I'm going to torture you in ways you never thought possible.
Mr. Johnson: (begging) No, please! I'll do anything!
Grover: (smirking) Anything, you say? (he walks over to Mr. Johnson and leans in close) Well then, let's get started.
The scene fades to black, and when it fades back in, we see Mr. Johnson tied to a chair. Grover is standing in front of him, holding a blowtorch.
Grover: (smiling) Now Mr. Johnson, I'm going to give you a choice. I can either burn off your fingers one by one, or I can burn off your eyelids. Which would you prefer?
Mr. Johnson: (screaming) No, please! Don't do this!
Grover: (laughing) Oh Mr. Johnson, you're so melodramatic. Just choose already.
Mr. Johnson: (sobbing) Fingers. Burn off my fingers.
Grover: (shrugging) Suit yourself. (he turns on the blowtorch and brings it closer to Mr. Johnson's hand)
We hear Mr. Johnson's screams as Grover begins to burn off his fingers one by one. The camera pans away, but we can still hear the screams and the sound of flesh being seared.
The scene fades to black again, and when it fades back in, we see Mr. Johnson lying on the ground, his fingers now stumps. Grover is standing over him, holding a gun.
Grover: (smiling) You know, Mr. Johnson, I'm getting tired of this game. It's time to end it.
Mr. Johnson: (weakly) Please, no more.
Grover: (sneering) Oh, I'm not going to kill you, Mr. Johnson. That would be too easy. (he puts the gun away and kneels down beside him) No, I'm going to let you live. I want you to suffer every day for the rest of your miserable life, knowing that your wife's death is your fault.
Mr. Johnson: (crying) Please, just kill me.
Grover: (smiling) Oh Mr. Johnson, you're not getting off that easy. You're going to live with the guilt of her death forever.
[Grover]: *smiling and happy* Oh, Mr. Johnson, I almost forgot! I have a little gift for you! *Grover then takes out a small bag from his pocket and hands it to Mr. Johnson*
[Mr. Johnson]: *uninterested* What is this?
[Grover]: *laughing* It's a little souvenir from your wife! *Grover then walks away while laughing and waving goodbye*
The scene closes as Grover walks upstairs and shuts the basement door behind him.
​

Bert's Secret Sex Dungeon

The scene opens with Bert and Ernie on the Sesame Street set, playing with their toys.
Bert: "Hey, Ernie, have you heard about the secret Nazi Sex dungeon we have in the basement?"
Ernie: "What?! No, Bert! That's terrible! We can't be involved in something like that!"
Bert: "Oh, come on, Ernie. It's not that bad. We just keep Bort locked up down there, and we have a little fun every now and then."
Ernie: "Bort? Who's Bort?"
Bert: "Oh, you know, that little blue guy with the big eyes. He's our little secret."
Ernie: "Bert, this is wrong. We can't keep someone locked up like that. It's inhumane!"
Bert: "Relax, Ernie. Bort likes it down there. He's our little plaything."
Ernie: "I can't believe you would do something like this, Bert. I'm going to have to tell the others about this."
Bert: "No, you can't do that, Ernie. This is our little secret. No one can know about it."
Ernie: "I'm sorry, Bert, but I have to do what's right."
Ernie goes to tell the others about Bert and Ernie's secret Nazi Sex dungeon, but they don't believe him. They think he's making it up to get attention. So, Ernie decides to take matters into his own hands.
He sneaks into the basement and finds Bort locked up in a cage. Bort is crying and begging for help.
Ernie: "Don't worry, Bort. I'm going to get you out of here."
Just as he's about to unlock the cage, Bert and his friends catch him in the act.
Bert: "Ernie, what are you doing down here? You know this is our little secret."
Ernie: "I can't let you keep Bort locked up like this, Bert. It's not right."
Bert: "You're right, Ernie. It's not right. But we can't let you tell anyone about this. We have to keep our little secret safe."
Ernie: "I'm sorry, Bert. I have to do what's right."
Bert and his friends lock Ernie up with Bort in the cage. They tell him that he'll never be allowed out, and that he'll never see the light of day again.
Ernie: "Bert, how could you do this? You were my best friend."
Bert: "I'm sorry, Ernie. But you left me no choice."
The episode ends with Ernie and Bort locked up in the cage, crying and begging for help. Bert and his friends are shown laughing and walking away, satisfied that their little secret is safe.

BAD TITLE. Should be "I'm lost on my Gender Identity"
This first part is the background story:
Part 1 Early Stages: Hey there guys. I'm AMAB and I am beginning to feel lost in my position. From about 3rd grade I had small feelings of wanting to be a girl, but I shoved those away. . At one point I found a dress in a tub and had temptations to put it on, but I was scared of getting caught and that cause me to shove those feelings away, but they were still there. At around 5th grade they came back. I always found myself looking up fictional stories of becoming a girl on fictional story sites (cringy, I know). Things began to get complicated by middle school. In 6th grade, I began looking at girls skirts and finding myself wanting to dress up in them.
Part 2 Manifestation: It manifested until I went into the bathroom/laundry-room and put on my sister's skirts. I was caught after only 2 times by my mom. My mom is mildly homophobic and probably more transphobic. She didn't ground me or anything, but she definitely gave no approval. She had me have a talk with my dad. I don't remember what exactly was said, but I don't remember Dad having anywhere close the disapproval mom did. I ended up stopping for a certain amount of time out of guilt. But I found out about what trans people were and I found myself putting on my sister's clothes many more times and even began trying on her bras. The word trans would stick to me and never left my mind. This time I would make sure mom and my sister weren't home when dressed up. I had kept telling myself one more time each time I did it. I had even wanted to put on my mom's make up, but didn't dare risk it, but I tried lipstick once. This would go on until I graduated high-school and am now in college.
Part 3 College I live in a dorm. My roommate's girlfriend regularly in the room and practically lives in the dorm. I have had many temptations to put on her clothes, but didn't for fear of being caught and it was weird to me and seemed disrespectful to wear a stranger's clothes. This temptation built to where I finally said fuck it and went to a clothes store and began putting on girl's clothing. I felt liberated, and I took photos with that girl filter on snapchat, and I began to wish it was me. I then after that went to a Wall-greens to buy makeup because I thought it was cheap and looked up tutorials for how to do makeup to look like a girl. It was $100 and the most I ever spent on myself as a "luxury" at one time ever. I could not fathom spending that much prior. I began to put on makeup and nail polish and showing up in class (unfortunately don't look like a girl, but the makeup is obvious). No one cares and it feels good going out with makeup. Not only that, but I have also gotten really close to buying hormones (spironolactone and estradiol) off the internet, but stopped out of fear of University mail think it is contraband plus that stuff requires a perscription so I'd still get in trouble. I eventually told my sister (didn't give her an affinitive on my identity, but told her about what I had been doing after she realized I bought make up and she's also part of LGBT so I knew she would be a safe one to talk to). She said she was ok with it and she would be supportive of whatever I did and told me about sites where I could get clothes cheaply. I spree and got my self quite a bit of girl's clothes. I want to get more, but the other clothes are too expensive. I have begun wearing my clothes privately and secretly publicly and even picked out a name for myself, but the more I wear those the harder it is to change out of them. I have even risked getting caught returning to my dorm (they're partially separated by gender with a boy hall and girl hall) just to wear them longer and have even bought a wig and with makeup I look like a girl which is an absolute win.
Part 4 (Final part for background) (Dysphoria? Euphoric Moment?): I have found myself when I go out, I go out as a girl more and more and have been noticing some issues regarding how I feel about myself. While I look like a girl in the face(only with makeup and long hair unfortunately), my arms are, while not muscular, look beefy, and it really shakes my confidence. I have been looking for cardigans to cover my arms, but no luck and have been using a hot(temperature-wise jacket) because it honestly looks better than my beefy arms. I also have a squarish build and worry it looks boyish. Lastly are my legs. I am afraid that my calves look too muscular and it also shakes my confidence. I'm really worried how people will perceive or if they see through my veil of makeup and wig and recognize me. Then I also have small Euphoric moments when I look at a face mirror. Not only that I noticed I am piling up selfie after selfie of myself because of how much I enjoy looking at my face when I looks like that of a girl's. Then came a big moment. I was out in a dress and presented as a girl. I went to Mcdonalds as all the other places around were closed and it was late. I was heading to the bathrooms and a woman stopped me and asked for my name. I gave her my chosen name and she said she was sorry for bothering her and she then said I looked like her daughter. That sent so much happiness to me that I can't describe. I wasn't at all tearful, but it was probably the best I've felt in a while and has still stuck in my head.
Now this is where things get complex:
ISSUE 1 (Early-early Signs not so apparent): Growing up as I said, I had temptations and thoughts of being a girl, but doing research on dysphoria I am doubting myself. I looked at early signs and early signs often show a rejection or less adherence to things of masculine construct in favor of feminine. However, I notice I don't necessarily fit feminine as a child, but I never outright rejects things of feminine or masculine nature. I liked Spiderman and Sonic and Mario etc, but I also liked Winx Club and the Barbie Movies and etc and while they were my sister's movies, I never felt like I was just tolerating them, but actually enjoyed them. I know these aren't decisive, but they are known indicators, and most trans people I have seen as activists very much were all in on these signs whether they were MTF or FTM. I know that those things shouldn't be gendered and are not decisive factors, but even people like Jammidodger (FTM) admit that he liked footballs as a kid and hated wearing clothing specifically designed for women in our modern day world (also not exclusive to men, but that is considered a potential, but not at all deciding,sign for FTM individuals like himself as well as having mostly opposite-sex (not gender as he is a man) friends and trying to fit in with boys. I found myself with mostly guy friends growing up, but I was always more of an outsider, but the fact I never really tried to fit in with girls also makes me question myself.
ISSUE 2(Name): Outside of that nitty-gritty is where I am afraid. I've been watching and reading many trans people's stuff and the biggest is their assigned name. The thing is, I don't outright hate my name and I mostly enjoy my name my family calls me(Buddy). My birthname I have a complex relationship with. I don't like it being a boy's name, but I only sometimes feel dysphoric about it as the name also reminds me of my dad and I love my dad and he is the strongest and hardest-working man I know and I hope to be a lot like him someday in terms of heart and spirit. I sometimes do feel dysphoric about it like when I sometimes write my name or when people call me by my birth name. When my mind isn't thinking about fearing everything else going wrong, I feel dysphoric, and I'm worried if I'm trans if changing my name will hurt his feelings and about losing the name. Not only that, but I fear losing the name as I feel it connects me to my dad. I have chosen to make it a feminized variant as a middle name, but I still fear hurting my dad as it won't be my first name anymore as I still prefer my chosen name. I also don't wanna lose being called Buddy by my family (However, I much rather would prefer being called Buddy-girl over Buddy-boy by my dad). Even though it is a "masculine" name (I have great uncles who are named Buddy), it has been one that has been one used to distinct me and my dad and I always thought of it as a name of endearment and I don't consider it a strongly masculine word.
ISSUE 3(Boobs): Boobs. I gained quite a bit of weight in middle school (junk food) and developed small boobs (I don't know if it's actual breast tissue or just chest fat). My mom said she was concerned I would be made fun of, and I felt dissatisfied with them as I associated them with being fat. I told myself that as a boy I couldn't have boobs. However, as I have been actively trying to lose weight, I have been afraid of losing them and hoping by some miracle that they are from a hormone issue and thus won't go away as I lose weight, and I have also been wishing they were bigger as I have been exploring my identity.
(Final) ISSUE 4 (Puberty): Another issue trans people talk about is puberty and how it affects them. For me it wasn't the worst thing, but still not good. I went through puberty and things are weird here. I don't like it, but unlike what others say, I don't say it was the most excruciating thing. It is quite painful, but not by any means almost suicidal level or severely depressed level like most seem to mention. It sucks though. I'm not a fan of my voice at all. It is while higher pitched, very heavy and quite buzzy and it makes it difficult to sound feminine where I'm scared to order food or speak to anyone. I already mentioned my dissatisfaction with my arms and legs. I also think my height sucks, 5'9 is a little too tall, but I don't mind my height at all (mostly cause I can make fun of my sister lol). I'm also not satisfied with my body build as I am almost squarish. Outside of serious dissatisfaction and quite a bit of dysphoria, I haven't felt this utmost severe dysphoria that everyone mentions. I don't have any facial hair (thank god), but I worry about getting it in the future as my dad's facial hair was late, so I worry on that future, and I don't have an adam's apple, and I don't think my build looks terrible when I wear outfits that make my boobs appear.
Confliction:
As seen by the issues and background it has me questioning things. I really think I am a girl, but due to not having as strong dissatisfaction that most seem to talk about I am doubting myself. I know everyone's experiences are different, but mine seems so far outside the status quo that I am getting nervous. I thought I might be Non-Binary, but I don't feel that way at all. I feel more like a girl than non-Binary. Yet I also wonder if I'm just a feminine man as I don't adhere what most trans people I've listened to. However, that doesn't satisfy me as I don't feel like man either. If I am a girl, then I'm afraid of the consequences. It gets worse as time goes on because I have been wanting more and more to go to class as a girl and spend most, if not all my time as a girl, but my voice isn't good enough yet, and I'm worried of what my peers will think of me.
Consequences and fears (You can & probably should just read TLDR here)
***TLDR: TwinSisterWouldbeCoolMomNotsoMuch:***I know my sister will be supportive (she's a twin btw) as she is LGBT herself, and she already knows about my questioning on identity. My mom however, is, as I said, mildly homophobic, but she denies that. She thinks trans(especially non-binary) people are loony. She thinks most people are gay because it is taught. She acknowledges gay people exist, and claims she doesn't care if anyone's gay (she told my and my sister we shouldn't have any issue with an LGBT roommate as that was a question for helping match a roommate(neither of us did surprise surprise), but you have the issue of literally everything homophobic she says, it's so paradoxical), but she seems to say that someone who is gay has obvious signs they are gay from an early age. While true, gay people can have signs from an early age, obviousness varies, and some people don't find out until much later. Unfortunately to make matters worse, my mom is damn good at reading people just from a photo due to years of working fast food (accurately guessed the character of my classmates with about 95% accuracy without crunching numbers), so trying to convince her I'm the 5% will be fucking impossible especially with me being her kid and being trans rather than just gay.
TLDRDadUnknownReactionIsScary: Then there's my dad. The scary part is I don't know how he'd react. My dad seems very lax on gay people and seems to genuinely not mind on people's sexuality and has shown to snigger or say sarcastically "Yes honey." when mom says something homophobic, not in an agreeing way either, my dad has only ever said "Yes honey" when he's sarcastic. However, I have no idea what his opinions are on trans people as that is likely something he's not too familiar with. The only thing I can think of worst than my dad being angry, as I don't think he'll be too angry, is him being heartbroken. If my dad is heartbroken, it would hurt more than any yelling from my mom. Because I think deep down he would feel like he lost his son and there is some more serious background around dad that I'm not going to get into out of respect for him. It was a sad time for my dad.
TLDRConservativeFamily My family is very conservative as far as I'm aware and much of them are individually. My grandma is very religious and my mom is mildly. I think one of my cousins and an aunt wouldn't be too bothered, but the rest of the family is a no-go.
TLDRPeersatCollegeRisky The college I go to is particularly odd. There's quite a bit of religious influence, but in the city people (especially younger women) have been increasing
Final Thoughts and Questions
As a result of these feelings I have had I have considered coming out as trans at least to my sister, but as I had these conflicted feelings I thought I would ask you guys what you thought as I don't wanna come out for it to be more awkward explaining I wasn't x but actually y as it takes a lot from me to have the courage to do so. I'm wondering if you guys could help me out, I'm pretty sure I'm a trans girl, but due to the issues above, I wanna make sure I get it right. Also I would like to know if I should tell my sister whom will be cool about it. I know she will want to tell her friends, but I don't want her to. I know she'll respect my wishes, but I think she'd be a little heartbroken by me telling her she can't tell her friends as she already told them about my previous tendencies of putting on women's clothing. Thank you so much for reading. I apologize if this was long. It is a complicated story.
View Poll

What i mean by that is, in other games you had the Act I to V (or VI) worlds that had their own separate area's.
what im seeing with out D4, if the beta is anything to go by, is that to get to what would be new act zones, you physically travel there, on horse or not, instead of taking a "caravan" or equivalent to one.
to me this adds more to the sense of adventure and while by technicality its open world, it doesn't work like other open world games as you actually can't traverse everywhere but the paths to the zones and "act" area's are connected, adding to the sense of the journey you have as an adventurer and thus imo i think just calling it an open world is doing a disservice in explaining what it actsually is.
now this could be different when we enter hell or the otherworldly equivalent because how else except a portal? it would be really cool if you could seamlessly travel to it though.

The IPCC Synthesis Report is out; is it hopium, or a condemnation of modern society? Is anybody even paying attention?
Last Week in Collapse: March 19-25, 2023
This is Last Week in Collapse, a weekly newsletter bringing together some of the most important, timely, helpful, depressing, ironic, stunning, or otherwise must-see moments in Collapse.
This is the 65th newsletter. You can find the March 12-18 edition here if you missed it last week. These newsletters are also on Substack if you want them sent to your email inbox.
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The Synthesis Report from the 6th Assessment of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) is out…sort of. The 36-page Policymaker Summary, Figures Table, Headline Statements, and an 85-page synthesis report have been quietly released, but the full, giant Report “SYR Full Volume” is still being finalized. I expect to see it next week. How many pages is it going to be?
The last IPCC synthesis report was published in October 2014—so we won’t see another set of IPCC documents until 2028 (at the very earliest; most likely we will wait until ~2030). By that point, it should be clear to the masses that preventing 1.5 °C is impossible, the tipping points have all been crossed, and the consequences are close. Will the 7th Assessment Cycle be pure Doomerism?
I have not had time to read the new Policymaker Summary in toto but coverage of the Report claims that “a liveable and sustainable future for all” is still within reach—as if it had ever been realistic. The Summary says about 3.5B humans are highly vulnerable to climate hazards. Adaptation and mitigation becomes increasingly difficult in an irreversible late-stage climate. Same old, same old.
The report claims with high confidence that “Sea level rise is unavoidable for centuries to millennia due to continuing deep ocean warming and ice sheet melt, and sea levels will remain elevated for thousands of years.” For thousands of years humans have moved to the planet’s coastlines, for food and trade; what will their sudden migration away mean for society?

”In the near term, every region in the world is projected to face further increases in climate hazards (medium to high confidence, depending on region and hazard), increasing multiple risks to ecosystems and humans (very high confidence). Hazards and associated risks expected in the near-term include an increase in heat-related human mortality and morbidity (high confidence), food-borne, water-borne, and vector-borne diseases (high confidence), and mental health challenges (very high confidence), flooding in coastal and other low-lying cities and regions (high confidence), biodiversity loss in land, freshwater and ocean ecosystems (medium to very high confidence, depending on ecosystem), and a decrease in food production in some regions (high confidence). Cryosphere-related changes in floods, landslides, and water availability have the potential to lead to severe consequences for people, infrastructure and the economy in most mountain regions (high confidence). The projected increase in frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation (high confidence) will increase rain generated local flooding (medium confidence).” -B.2.1, Policymaker Summary

The changing climate has impacts on methane (CH4) release, yet the interrelation between sources and sinks is not fully understood. This Nature [study](​​https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01629-0) models methane wetlands to examine the effects—and dangers—of aggravated methane release. 3.2 °C increase is expected by 2100, according to the current models.
Drought [killed 43,000 Somalians](​​https://apnews.com/article/somalia-drought-deaths-hunger-9e78f99c101a290304a28a37dadfef0b) last year according to estimates—and half of the dead were younger than 5 years old. yet another rainy season failed to materialize…the region’s megadrought has been ongoing for 40+ years. Life and death in the new desert.
Ancient sea ice continues melting and researchers are warning of a future ice-free summer. Last month was the 5th warmest February on record, globally.
World Water Day was recognized on Wednesday, and the UN released a 210-page World Water Development Report to mark the occasion.
Drought, and heat, are blamed for deterioration of Germany’s tree population. The 80-page “Forest Condition Survey 2022” report (sorry, German-language only) for Germany claims that about 80% of trees experience slower crown (leaves, branches, fruit, canopy) growth than from a couple generations ago. Meanwhile, South Pole, a Swiss company that dominates the carbon offset industry, is being accused of misguiding investors/customers and not fulfilling its environmental goals.
COP28, the climate conference, will be held in the UAE later this year, but governments are already debating whether to call for a phase-out of fossil fuels. Now the Danish climate minister said “whether or not we will reach that result {agreeing that phasing out fossil fuels is necessary} in Dubai later this year is of course difficult to say.” I thought this was already generally acknowledged…but it turns out that a number of important oil-extracting OPEC+ states blocked such a call at COPout27.
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Haiti’s ongoing Collapse is alarming the United Nations, which is calling for a “rapid action force” to deal with the spiraling gang violence that has led to the deaths of hundreds (thousands?) of people this year and left tens of thousands in desperate hunger. Half the nation is already in “acute hunger.” The Dominican Republic has lost its patience with Haitian migrants, and is now refouling Haitians and building a large fence across its 400-kilometer (250-mile) border, expected to be completed by May 2024. Dominican officials have called the Haitian Collapse a “low-intensity Civil War.”
Reports of former President Donald Trump’s potential arrest—for financial misconduct relating to payments to the porn-star Stormy Daniels—led to Trump calling for massive protests. But the arrest warrant didn’t come out as Trump and others predicted. The implications of a Trump arrest could go in any direction…
The Colombian government is ending a ceasefire with drug gangs that are waging hybrid warfare against the state. This also comes at a time when global cocaine production is at all-time highs. In the DRC, another [ceasefire is ending](​​https://www.voanews.com/a/civilians-killed-in-dr-congo-attacks-fighting-with-m23-rebels-flares/7012232.html) after 15+ civilians were killed, allegedly by M23 gangsters/insurgents.
China’s President met Russia’s President last week to discuss an impossible peace agreement to end the Ukraine War. Their peace plan is dead on arrival; observers believe the War will continue for much longer. Putin declared that nuclear weapons will be stationed in Belarus.​​
Long-suffering Lebanon, whose economy is in turmoil and government “operating” for 5 months without a President, now faces a new challenge: setting the time. The country is unevenly divided on whether Daylight Savings Time should be implemented. The government says yes, but major broadcasters and civilians are refusing to move ahead one hour. The erosion of legitimacy and sovereignty around fundamental concepts.
The West marked the 20 year anniversary of the start of the invasion of Iraq (2003—2011? or —2017? —or 2023?). For many in Iraq, everything Collapsed and kept on Collapsing to today. It’s been said that Collapse is here, but it just hasn’t been equally distributed.
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Babesiosis, a tick-borne disease, is rising in New England, and is now endemic in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The illness was previously endemic in New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, etc, but it is moving northeast. Soon it will settle in Canada.
The fungal infection Candida Auris is spreading across the United States at a very worrisome rate. There were 330 confirmed cases in 2018. There were 476 cases in 2019. There were 756 cases in 2020. There were 1,471 cases in 2021. Researchers aren’t sure how many cases there were in 2022, but you can make your own guess. The current CFR for Candida Auris (which is not curable by antibiotics) is between 30-60%.
More evidence is emerging that infected animals in Wuhan were the source of COVID-19. The data are not 100% conclusive, but they suggest an animal at the market, perhaps a raccoon dog, was the host animal that allowed the virus to jump from horseshoe bats to humans. China still maintains that the virus began outside its borders.
Mozambique is struggling with surging cholera cases in the aftermath of Cyclone Freddy. Hundreds of cases are benign treated after crowds of people filled storm shelters, and strong rains enabled the bacteria to move more freely. Malawi is also dealing with cholera, where toilets overflowed into rivers, which ordinarily sustained agriculture and human consumption. A bizarre evaluation of the system of incentives have led to only 36M doses of the cholera vaccine being produced in 2022—despite it costing only about $1.50 USD to produce each vaccine. Apparently, life is extremely cheap.
It will be impossible to clean up all the millions of fish which died from a heat wave in New South Wales last week.
Five people died in Tanzania from Marburg virus, the nation’s first confirmed cases. Three others are being treated, and over 150 contacts have been detected.
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Sri Lanka received its first bailout payment last week from the IMF. Overall, the IMF projects a global slowing of the economy, and the UN agrees. Meanwhile, anger grows in Kenya over inflation, debt, and drought.
Fallout over the Collapse of SVB (Silicon Valley Bank) is still shaking confidence in the global banking industry. The psychological contagion of market panic could spread organically—or intentionally—across other regions. Might economic fear be weaponized to crash future banks & states? Re-establishing market confidence is often the entire game itself.
More than a million protestors (perhaps as high as 3.5M) turned out in France over the continual resistance to Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age by two years. Both sides are digging in; prolonged friction inevitably generates heat. Protests turned to riots as some threw Molotov cocktails, launched fireworks, and hurled rocks; police responded with tear gas and arrests. These clashes may only be the beginning. Bordeaux city hall was set on fire; protests flared up in 200+ towns/cities across France.
The consulting firm McKinsey & Company released a 28-page report “Global Economics Intelligence” last week, and it’s made up entirely of graphs and charts. A very accessible report for understanding global economic analysis and risks in the past—and what lies ahead.
Things to watch next week include:
↠ Israel’s controversial overhaul of the judiciary is set to become law next week, although massive protests continue. This also comes amid a ban being lifted on Israelis returning to West Bank settlements—so Israelis will now move further into 1,000+ settlements in the West Bank, right at the start of Ramadan.
Select comments/threads from the subreddit last week suggest:
-A world without fossil fuels can only support one billion humans, says this post—but can one billion survivors really support themselves? The top comment in this thread points out that much of the world is truly helpless in comparison with past generations.
-A 1.5 °C temperature rise is going to be really bad, according to this mammoth thread and its accompanying sources & comments. Save this one for later if you don’t have 10 minutes to commit to it right now.
-Industrial civilization’s savage indifference to nature is expressed in this depressing weekly observation from British Columbia, Canada. Selfishness, and even a kind of deranged psychopathy, has slain countless birds on the roads.
-An interesting prep from preppers I had never considered: practicing using your non-dominant hand for everyday tasks.
-Fellow Substacker and long-time high-effort Collapse scholar u/Myth_of_Progress wrote a well-sourced response to a recent article by The Atlantic about overpopulation, Malthusianism, and climate activism. You’ll have to commit some time if you want to read this, and/or the Atlantic article it responds to. If you’re already entirely aware of the overpopulation discourse and its common arguments, merits, and controversies, you can spare yourself the stress.
-Overstimulation is making us mice much dumber, says this post and its comments. Did you make it this far in the newsletter, or have you already clicked away? What can be done about our decreasing attention span and deteriorating emotional stability? Or are we just helpless to the tides of history?
Got any feedback, questions, comments, articles, manifestos, navigation advice, political cartoons, pipeline schematics, news sources, etc.? Consider joining the Last Week in Collapse SubStack if you don’t want to check collapse every Sunday, you can get this newsletter sent to your email inbox every weekend. I always forget something, and I feel like I overlook more and more events each week. What did I miss this week?