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Hi all, I made a throwaway so my bf or family won’t find this post. I’m struggling and have not opened up but to one person (who doesn’t know my bf personally) and I need external advice.
So to start, my (23F) boyfriend (23M) have officially been together since the later months of 2020 although we started talking and hooking up in the early months of 2020 (right before covid) At first (like literally from when we started seeing each other until about Feb 2021) it was perfect, no suspicions, it was all flowers and confetti for us (or so I thought) in Feb 2021 I found out he had been asking girls he had history with for nudes, had an onlyfans he was buying content on (he created this account WHILE together) and sending his noodle pics to sex workers on Twitter and OnlyFans. I went BALLISTIC and ransacked his phone (with his permission, although I know it still doesn’t make it right) Well, after finding everything (it took me from Feb 2021-October 2021 to access and cope with what I was finding) we decided to put it behind us with some new boundaries and continue to strengthen our relationship. The details of his cheating are too specific for him not to recognize this post. ANYWAY, we met at my first job (his 2nd or 3rd) and had a few friends in common. This is only important because I had a close male friend introduce us and when he was the only one who knew about us from the start. My bf (we’ll call him P) was close friends with G (close male friend) and had told me if I ever needed to vent about our relationship I was only allowed to tell G. So of course I told him everything. Some things happened with the job to where P and I quit and started a new job together. One night, G confesses feelings for me while drunk (he said he had always felt that way for our 2-3 year friendship) and I told him if he could forget it I would because I didn’t wanna mess up my relationship or my friendship. Well P went through my phone and found G’s messages and that’s when he started making me cut off everyone from my old job (G worked with us too) and anyone he didn’t like. Well, after blocking G and everyone, I was down to 2 friends from middle school. Besides that I thought I was happy, but now as we’re nearing our official 3 years (we hit our unofficial 3 years earlier this year) im starting to question all of his actions. He berates me for sleeping “so much” (and im actually on meds for depression, anxiety and a mental/hereditary disorder and theyre night time medications because they make me sleepy, hence the over sleeping) he also has tried to control what piercings and tattoos I want to get. Another big one is we wrestle a lot, I’ve always been a person to play wrestle, having grown up with boys only and having mainly male friends growing up. Well more constantly than I’m comfortable with he will “accidentally” use too much force in these “play fights”, for example, he once went in for a “playful” punch as I was moving my leg and he ended up nailing my shin so hard I started crying. He did console me and apologize profusely. He “playfully” slaps my face when I told him I don’t like it, I’ve just accepted him how he is. Not only do I have to hear it from him but while I was living with him (we lived together with his family for about 2.5 years) his grandma would always give me her 2 cents and then to top that off, apparently his parents were displeased with my behavior and told him and he told me. Now, where I’m asking for advice is, do I let this go or do I keep trying in this relationship? As of the past month, I’ve been living back at my mom’s and it gave me a clearer view on how his family and himself have treated me. My parents and brothers have all (each conversation with each parent and brother was separate but they all expressed the same concerns) spoken to me individually and voiced concerns that based on what they’ve seen and what I’ve told them, I deserve better or he needs to treat me better. After bringing this up to my best friend of 12 years told me she agrees with my family. I thought this was the man I was going to marry and build a life with, but now im not so sure… can anyone enlighten me with an unbiased opinion?
Also, our intimate life is more than excellent, our current emotions with each other have been nothing but pleasant, but with the past we’ve had, even though his cheating was in 2021 I still think about it sometimes. Do I save this or leave it where it lays?

I (23f) have been dating my current boyfriend(20m) for about a year now. We started dating last year in July. Long post. Before I met my current boyfriend, let’s call him Andy, I used to do only fans it was a way for me to make money during covid but eventually I stopped doing it, I deleted my OF account about a year before Andy & I met but was still selling content to one or two clients who I had formed a friendship with. When Andy & I started getting serious I decided that I would stop selling content & just find a normal job because I could tell he was the type of guy who wasn’t too keen on it from prior conversations we had, so I never actually told him that I sell content. I had told my clients that I would be finishing soon & would do it one more time as like a “ closing down sale “They all agreed & bought one last round of content, I planned to completely stop and then tell Andy about what I used it, that obviously didn’t happen .. after a night out drinking I had left my phone unlocked on my bed & Andy proceeded to go through it, he saw the chats between me & a client & he took it as I was cheating on him & I was still sleeping with other guys, I explained the whole thing to him but I could see he was really hurt by it & didn’t really understand, keep in mind at this point we had only been dating for about 2 weeks maybe 3. I kept trying to tell him that it was just a job & I never meant for him to find out this way I could see how much it was affecting him so I tried everything in my power to try & gain his trust back & to try to fix the situation. I do realise I was wrong in this situation and it was up to me to try fix it, and that's what I thought I did. I have never really liked how he acts on social media and that was always something at the beginning of our relationship .. in about September we were laying in bed and he kept getting messages on Snapchat, I left it for about an hour of Andy and this Snapchat person talking till eventually I asked him whos he's talking to so much. He then said it was just some random girl on Snapchat that thinks he's cute and wanted to talk to him, I had a problem with this and asked him what the fuck? and how does he think that's okay? he said he's not flirting back with her so what's the big deal.. this turned into a huge fight and for the first time he threw the fact that I used to do only fans in my face. I knew it was bound to happen to I accepted it but still explained to him that I'm not okay with him talking to girls who are actively flirting with him especially if he's not going to tell them he has a girlfriend once again I thought we had resolved this issue. I then started to notice that he would like a lot of girls' posts and would comment under a lot of their posts commenting on their bodies and how they look. I again spoke to him about this and again he blamed him for doing it on the fact that I used to do only fans and again I just took it and tried to understand. I thought he and I were good until Jan of this year when I found out that he was talking to a lot of other girls as well as flirting with them and letting them flirt with him and was sending them topless photos of himself all the time as well as asking other creators if he can buy nudes from them. I was devastated when I found out and when I confronted him about it he again blamed me and the fact that I used to do only fans, at this point I had enough and told him he needs to stop blaming me for all the shitty things he does, I know I did a messed up thing by not telling him but he can't keep blaming me. This broke a lot of my trust in him as I had thought we had worked through those issues and had moved past them but clearly, we hadn't. He had been doing all of this all from September to November but I only found out in Jan. I had told him that he had broken my trust and that I would need some time to process all of it, and he promised me he would change & he realised how immature he was being. Over the next couple of months after Jan things seemed to be getting better but I did struggle to trust him which was causing even more issues between us but we were both determined to stay & make it work, I had full access to his phone and his socials and he had full access to mine... I thought we were doing fine until about 2 months ago when he had gotten a girl's number & saved it under a guys name, I asked him about it and at first he lied to me & said it was the girl's boyfriend's number then eventually told me it's actually her number that she was an old school friend but he just didn't want to to find out that he had gotten a girls number ( he had deleted all the girls off his phone a few months prior as a way to prove to me that he's serious about us, I didn't ask him to do this, he did it then told me about it afterwards )I was pissed, to say the least, now yes I'm crazy but I'm not completely crazy where I don't want him to talk to other girls. I just want him to be respectful of our relationship while talking to them, i was pissed about the fact that he lied straight to my face about it & again it turned into a fight about the fact that he did it because I don't trust him so he thought it would be better to just hide it from me. At this point, I was pretty over our relationship & over always being on edge because of him... We were in such a bad space I honestly didn't think we were going to last but we did & we spoke about it & things started getting better...
I recently found another girl that he had asked to buy nudes from on Snapchat in October and again I was pretty hurt, I brought this up to him & he said he doesn't understand why I'm so upset about it if it happened last year & we've already fought about it a few times, I explained to him that yes it happened long ago & yes we have fought about it but every time I find a new person he tried to get nudes from or that he flirted with it still hurts just the same, it's a thing of while I thought we were happy & in love, he was flirting with other girls.
Now we have spoken about this & i asked him why he did it so much & so often and he said he's never been in a serious relationship and he's always used to be having a backup girl if the relationship he's in doesn't work out but with me he doesn't have one & doesn't want one and it used to scare him so that's why he did it but as our relationship has grown he's realised he doesn't want a back up and I'm all he wants & that for a long time he struggled with the fact that I did onlyfans but that now he truly is over it & that he really struggled with the lifestyle I used to live ,I used to go out every weekend & I had a lot of male friends who have absolutely no respect for my relationship so In the beginning of our relationship Andy would always see my guy friends as his competition & as a threat so he saw it as he needs to have all these girls just incase I leave him for one of my friends ( I cut all my guy friends off pretty early on in our relationship but would still see them whenever we went out which also stopped being as frequent as we started getting more serious )
After everything that has happened, I don’t see Andy the same way I did... I don’t feel the same love for him as I did.. don’t get me wrong I still love him with my whole heart it just feels different... it feels tainted now... I feel like I can’t be as open & happy with him as I once was after him hurting me so badly.. & now I do understand that I messed up in the beginning but I tried to fix it.. he just used it as cover to do whatever he wanted... I’m now at a point where I don’t know if I want to be with him or not anymore , I do love him but I just don’t feel the same... I get annoyed with him so easily now, I prefer it when he’s at work because then I don’t have to be around him much... I have thought maybe he & I should go To counselling to try to overcome all of this but is that even worth it? He seems fine with me & still wants this relationship & recently has been putting in a lot more effort than he ever has before but I just don’t know if it’s too late & my heart has already moved on from him...
Please give me advice! I am very much in two minds about what to do because in every other aspect he is amazing, he's caring & calm with me and is patient with me when it comes to my mental health, my family loves him and he's amazing to my animals.. So for the most part is great I just don't know if the bad outweighs the good anymore

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Nalah affixed the massive shield to her back, the rectangular form large enough for him to fit behind while only needing to crouch slightly. It was mostly ironwood, but the sides and front were metal-plated, so it still weighed a considerable amount. Despite that, the thing’s bulk hardly seemed to be noticed by the blonde-furred female, likely due to the constant construction work she involved herself in. It paired oddly with the long pike she insisted on using, but he couldn’t deny that poking at things while hiding behind a mobile wall sounded like a good idea.
Jax was wearing his new armour, the bulky chest-piece a mirror of his blond-furred pack mate’s. Though he forwent the protection a buckler or likewise would offer, he doubled up on gear. Gauntlets, vambraces, pauldrons, and anything else he could wear to compliment the massive axe he had taken a liking to.
Where Nalah was fitted to look like an apocalypse survivor—her protections limited to her torso, forearms, and shield—the black-furred male resembled a giant, if underfunded, paladin. All he needed now was some religious imagery and a penchant for exalting the qualities of their god. Joseph almost nudged the guy to suggest it for kicks.
On second thought, he decided that Jax absolutely did not need a reason to start yelling about the Human-turned-religious-figure, because there was no way in hell he wouldn’t. There was no telling what he would choose to say, and the Grand Hunter was perfectly happy never knowing.
Having been with the male as long as he had, it would probably involve ‘taming’ females or something else that would leave him groaning for weeks, if not just contemplating another high-dive from the cliff.
Joseph fixed his own equipment, the ‘Wraith armour’ worn over his own thin iron breastplate. He wasn’t thrilled to wear the extra weight, but it beat being mauled by the thing they were heading out to kill. The trips so far had been tolerable, fog and overcast skies keeping the temperature in check, but he didn’t want to go out in this on a hotter day as Summer really kicked back in. He was sweaty enough without baking inside all this crap.
He adjusted the wolf-skull mask, the rest of the hunting party having gotten over the worst of the unease it gave them. Though they’d needed to rotate people out for the sake of fairness, this would be their eighth consecutive scouting. Using the information that Raine and Faye provided, they narrowed down a likely stomping grounds for the creature and were systematically clearing sectors. It might have been discouraging to keep looking after so long, but the occasional marking on trees and the odd moss-wolf corpse tipped them off that they were getting close. There was still another week’s worth of searching left if today wasn’t the day, but somehow he doubted they wouldn’t need that long.
All in all, they numbered six; larger parties were attempted, but their efforts at stealth quickly became pointless between so many trudging through the forest and stopping for breaks. There was a bit of a scare where one of Mi’low’s pack went missing, but the guy had just stopped to relieve himself. Since the discovery was made by someone else knocking him over in the process by mistake, they decided that keeping the number smaller made communication easier. And lowered the amount of grumbling about needing a bath.
Jax, Nalah, two security members, one of the hunters, and him. Sure, grabbing Tel or the Wraiths would have been a bit more useful for cohesion, but they were all busy with things, and he didn’t want to grind everything in the settlement to a halt for nothing if the search turned up empty again. They were more suited to taking out their fellow Lilhun than some monster in the woods, as much as he disliked the thought.
Scarlet was spending a lot of time with Violet and the new Atmo, Faye was spending much of her recovery with the moss-wolves and moss-pup, and Tel was in the process of helping Harrow shore up the few security members that were slated to become snipers. Kaslin was still learning chemistry with Toril, and Raine was helping whoever needed a hand, so that marked off all of his usual accompaniment. He could have taken more of his direct pack, but they all had important things to take care of as well.
Sahari was managing the pack and putting people where people needed to be put, Pan was working with Idee and Heralt to make a line of armour for the whole pack, and Mi’low was...well, Mi’low. He was pretty sure she was unofficially the master of the hunter’s lodge and spent most of her time keeping track of what came in and out of it, while also making sure that everyone got their fair share. It needed to be done with the settlement growing as much as it had, and it kept Mi’low busy enough to stymie the flow of complaints, so he wasn’t about to complain.
They double checked that they had everything that was needed; food, water, arrows, bolts, and some bags to store anything that the snares had caught on the way back. Four ranged and two melee weapons meant that they would be mostly using Jax and Nalah to soak hits if it came down to it, the others peppering it with projectiles. Given that Harrow was insistent on the bear-thing being resistant to anything they could use at a distance, they also carried spare weapons for the ranged users, just in case. Nodding, Joseph gestured to the group finishing up their preparations for the day’s trip.
“A moment, sir?” Scarlet called to him as she approached the gate, the Wraith flanked by Rose and Cobalt. The two Atmo were decked-out in their own armour, which appeared to be almost entirely metal, save for the palm lining the inside for comfort. Each of their six legs were adorned with broad shields, their bases capped off with a flat storage carriage. They looked like someone had a little too much fun testing how much the insects could effortlessly carry and had ended up with sapient hexapedal tanks.
“Only if you explain why those two would look more at home if they had cannons installed on their backs,” he quipped, an expression somewhere between surprised, amused, and plain dumbfounded plastered on his face. The blackish red-furred female smirked for a split-second before resuming her usual servile presentation.
“The young mistress had extended her request for these two to accompany you.”
Joseph tilted his head incredulously. “Violet told you to send them?”
Scarlet nodded, gesturing to the outfitted Atmo. “They have been under her tutelage for some time now, and wish to be of assistance.”
The Grand Hunter snapped his mouth closed when he was about to ask why his daughter would teach them anything that might be useful for fighting a deadly beast. Of course she did; It was one of the first things he did for her. It would have been weirder for her not to pass on what she knew after all the hours she spent either seeing him coach the others, or being coached herself. With the time she had under her belt, she was the local Atmo Close Quarters Combat specialist, and no one else understood how the modified boxing she learned worked with their bodies like she did.
He wore a hesitant expression, shifting his weight to his other leg. “Well, they’ve certainly geared up.”
“It is a product our smith is rather proud of,” the Wraith affirmed confidently.
He exhaled slowly. “Seems a bit much.”
She seemed to be expecting the remark, barely pausing to register what he said before responding. “Your kit wishes you safe, yet understands you would not allow her to accompany you. These two wish to be of assistance.”
To punctuate her point, the two nodded in agreement, walking forward and slinging some of the backpacks onto their carriages. It seemed ‘no’ wasn’t something they were going to accept after Violet had said her piece. He sighed, conceding that they wouldn’t slow the party down with everyone carrying so much weight in equipment, regardless of the bags. They took breaks frequently enough to accommodate the Atmo, so that wouldn’t hinder anything either.
“Fine,” he relented with a wave of his hand. “We’ll take them. Not like they’d hurt anyway. But–” He put a warning into his tone. “–they’re not playing the hero and getting themselves killed. This isn’t going to work if they think any of us dying is still a net positive, got it?”
The two Atmo mimed their understanding, Scarlet replying with a victorious smile. Joseph couldn’t help but bemusedly roll his eyes. The female had taken rather well to baby-sitting, and that seems to have extended to humouring the young Queen’s schemes now. It wasn’t an unwelcome addition to their little sojourn. At least they could haul back any larger game without it tacking hours onto the return trip.
He thanked Scarlet for her trouble before dismissing her, confirming with the group that everything was accounted for, and set off before it grew too late. He wasn’t looking to get caught out in the woods during the night. The Lilhuns might be fine, but he was pretty well blind unless the moon felt generous.
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Jax watched the two Atmo quietly follow on the sides of the group, their heavily armoured forms posing no issues with their naturally soundless movements in the forest. In the den, they would make moderate clacks and clicks as their chitinous legs contacted the ground, but the soft dirt and foliage stifled all but the smallest report of their travel. With Scarlet supervising alongside Violet, he wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that the former Blade had influenced their movement with the goal in mind, though he had never paid much attention to how they walked before to compare.
He had to admit, having them carry the additional equipment was exceedingly useful. He had proposed having the group use the newly acquired platforms on their more arachnid-like abdomen to rest in shifts, but Joseph was quick to insist that the insects were of lesser stamina than even Lilhuns. The phrasing seemed like a comparative insult, but Jax had more than enough experience with the Human to know that he had simply spoken his mind. To him, everyone had sub-par stamina. Training had gone some way to remedy the discrepancy, but the Grand Hunter could still continue for longer than even the most well-conditioned of them.
The black-furred male rolled his shoulders, feeling the heft of his axe shift with the movement. It was an impressive size, the weight well-balanced and its edge sharp. He had once laid it to the ground out of curiosity and confirmed that it was about as tall as Pan from head to haft, though only if she stood to her full height. Regardless of its size, it was still lighter than the armour he chose to don.
Having only really worn leathers or a few sets of ironwood protections, the encumbering prominence of the iron equipment took getting used to. It wasn’t entirely restrictive, but did put a damper on any chances he had of sprinting from danger. That was fine, he supposed, since he was wearing it against a beast he had no experience with. It could very well outrun him regardless, and he would rather have the defences in either case.
Nalah seemed to be doing fine, the large barrier she kept on her back swaying slightly as she walked. She was unhindered by it, her movements barely affected by the bulk, which was reassuring. Joseph, however, seemed to be panting more than usual, the rolling cloud coverage easing as the sun progressively warmed the environment. The fog from earlier meant that it was rather humid, and that seemed to bore no well wishes for the male encased in dark leathers and thick plates. He had even flipped down his hood, the sweat beading on his skin adding a sheen to his visage.
“I liked this better when the sun didn’t exist,” the Human lamented quietly, just loud enough for Jax to hear. The black-furred male chuckled.
“It would be rather dark.”
Joseph glared at him for a moment before rolling his eyes. “I just don’t rank ‘heavily armoured hike through the woods’ high up on my list of things I want to do regularly.”
“I believe that list would be occupied by your mates, no?” he ribbed playfully, a smirk arising when the Grand Hunter shunted his eyes closed in a grimace.
“I hate you.”
“I can see your smile underneath your displeasure, Joseph,” Jax quipped, nudging the male with his elbow, then giving an apologetic smile when his friend almost fell. Joseph sighed, waving Cobalt over and fetching a water-skin from the luggage that the insect was ferrying without breaking stride—though he needed to be careful not to get stepped on.
The Atmo always amused Jax. Be it their passive demeanour hidden by their towering stature, or his interactions with the den-kit, they never failed to be curious people. Having the two that accompanied Volta with them was an unexpected development, but he couldn’t claim to disapprove. If they had been imparted the methods of combat that Violet had cultivated, then there was little worry of them being harmed by naught but perhaps their current target. At least not until there was a better reference of its strength than the single encounter the first-years had so long ago.
At the time, it had smashed pillars and pierced flesh effortlessly, claws proving to be little more than tempting ministrations of tender touch to the thick hide. Jax only had some of the pack’s recount to base the experience off of, but was content to take their word for it. He was, ashamedly, preoccupied taking care of baser needs when the event transpired, so he was woefully unprepared for the eventual encounter. Still, he was afforded the best the settlement had to offer so that he might serve his duty of protecting the Grand Hunter. Harrow would never forgive him if only he returned.
His thoughts were disturbed by Joseph calling for a rest, Jax’s legs thankful for the break from supporting the unusual weight for so long. The Human dispensed rations and water for the pack, the Atmo waiting until everyone else was supplied before accepting their portion. They rested on their base directly, instead of curling their legs beneath them like Jax had become accustomed. Perhaps the armour impeded such, or they wished to remain mobile in the event such was required. Regardless, they blocked what little breeze there was, forcing the Grand Hunter to walk beyond them to enjoy it in the shade. It was short-lived however, as Rose quickly repositioned to stay between the pack and whatever lay beyond their protections.
It was a futile effort, it seemed, because it repeated again twice before Joseph groaned loudly and threw himself atop the carriage to lay back, his legs dangling at the knee. He seemed perfectly content with the unorthodox arrangement, snorting his amusement along with a muttered comment about a ‘taxi.’
The entertaining sight was marred by a distant yelp, snapping the group to attention. Jax and Joseph traded looks, subtle nods and gestures given to move out while remaining quiet. Ignoring his earlier complaints, the Grand Hunter flicked his hood up and donned the mask, drawing his crossbow and readying a bolt. The hunter of the pack mimicked the preparation, the two security members loosely nocking their arrows while Rose, Cobalt, Jax, and Nalah took point.
They proceeded quietly for far longer than the proximity of the noise would have suggested, but marks and gashes upon the trees implied a moving conflict. Thoughts of it being a lost cause quickly became moot as a closer growl and bark shattered the careful silence they had been maintaining.
Motioning for the pack to stop, Joseph waved Jax forward, Nalah approaching the other side. Using the large shield as additional cover, they peered around a particularly thick tree. Locked in combat were two moss-wolves, both attacking a truly massive grey creature.
Twice the Human’s height, half that in width. Four pillars as legs—the muscular trunks sinewy and defined—supported the disturbing hunched figure, the wide base tapering slightly into a thick and extended torso. A singular eye-stalk replaced the head, the ocular organ atop it pitch black and free of any indication of its focus. Four arms with deadly claws parried and sliced the two yellow beasts as they attempted to drive off the predator, a sickeningly large maw gaping to catch any attempts at a lunge. The mouth of the creature almost occupied the entirety of the available surface area upon its front, the jagged bone tools of manduction undulating with the promise of sustenance.
Joseph pulled them back, cursing under his breath as he tried to fight off the tension. From Nalah’s worried expression, it seemed his caution was rather potent, the other members of the group smelling his reaction as well.
“So, what’s the plan, Jax?” the Human whispered, his grip on the crossbow alternating with his fingers stretching across the trigger lest his fidgeting cause a misfire.
“I thought that, with your record, you would wish to tame it for the settlement,” Jax replied while thinking through a plan of action. He was glad that his friend trusted him, but he wished he had known the true scale of the beast prior. Joseph grit his teeth, turning to glance past the tree again with sarcasm pouring out of his response.
“Can’t quite see Winnie-the-woodchipper there playing great with kids.”
“You say that after adopting an Atmo as kit, Grand Hunter,” he returned, nodding to himself when a plan formed. The Human smiled, the banter easing the tension somewhat. “Rose, Cobalt, you two are the most well defended of us. Circle around and drive the beast this way. You should be capable of such without noise, yes?”
The two insects nodded, emptying their luggage behind a tree so as not to lose any of it before disappearing into the trees. The slight glimmer of their iron armour was the only indication of their position through the dense forest. Jax hoped that the beast was not particularly curious about the dimly pulsing glare, nor finished with its current altercation in time to impede the pair.
Satisfied with their progress, he motioned for the two security members to scale a tree and gain a superior vantage point. Their weapons would be able to maintain a more rapid pace of sustained fire at longer ranges. Joseph and the hunter were instructed to hide behind trees nearby, though the Human would need to remain grounded as his lack of claws made scaling the large flora difficult with his equipment.
Finally, Nalah and he positioned themselves much closer, in order to flank the creature as it fled the Atmo and occupy it long enough for the others to bleed it out, if not outright dispose of it.
With the forms of the Atmo peeking through the brush opposite them, Jax raised his axe to signal the start.
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Joseph felt the hammering in his chest, his heart preparing him to fight for his life against the walking abomination that easily outclassed the only other predator that he had experience with. Sure, the moss-wolves were easy to take down once you had equipment and a plan, but that thing screamed danger.
He watched Jax and Nalah set up behind thick trees, their goal being for Jax to hopefully disable a leg or two with the war-axe while Nalah occupied it with the shield. As the two strongest members of his little family, he trusted both to do their job.
As a clusterfuck of animal and torture device, he had no faith in the creature playing along.
Swallowing his hesitation, he adjusted his grip on the crossbow again, mentally tallying his shots and cursing himself for not researching explosives. Sure, Toril didn’t want to be involved in that kind of weapon, but at the moment, the tailless white-furred male could suck it up and make one anyway. Joseph would give his left nut to see how quickly the chemist would make weapons of mass destruction just to annihilate whatever that thing called home.
Jax raised his axe, glinting the sunlight of it towards the Atmo. Receiving the start signal, the two clicked and loosed a deafening screech, the Human’s ears ringing even from this distance.
The beast seemed unperturbed by the noise, though the lack of visible ears may have had something to do with the lacklustre effect. Regardless, it did notice the two armour-clad insects charging at it, and smartly decided to extradite itself from the area. The moss-wolves, however, didn’t quite get the memo, mistaking the advancing assistance as yet another foe to defend themselves from.
He had to say, Violet taught the two well. They flashed their blades out in the same flicker jab that he had shown his daughter, and with an unceremonious squelch, the two bisected canines landed in four pieces, a vibrant green ichor now staining the weapon-like appendages of the Atmo. Undeterred by their first act of violence—as far as he was aware, anyway—they continued herding the beast.
It wasn’t as fast as they might have feared, its quadrupedal gait hindered by its proportions, but it was still quick enough to be damn intimidating. Its arms acted as a counter balance, constantly adjusting this way and that just to keep it stable. That thing was clearly never meant for sprinting, all its mobility being given to the overactive maw that pulsated with the exertion.
He readied his crossbow, the shaking in his hands not ruining his aim against such a large target. He eyeballed the distance between the creature and the ambush point, forcibly moving his finger off the trigger so that he didn’t fire early.
Closer. Come on. Almost.
Now.
Jax wound up like a particularly enthusiastic lumberjack, putting his full body into the rotation. The massive axe swung like a horizontal pendulum striking home with all the finality of a clock tolling midnight. It bit into the front leg of the beast, only sinking a few inches before momentum nearly wretched the weapon from the black-furred male. Luckily, the force and timing was enough to trip it, the creature crashing to the forest floor with a deafening roar of pain.
They could hurt it. That made him feel better.
His relief evaporated as the beast swiftly recovered, hauling itself from the ground faster than he thought possible, but his archers took it for an unspoken signal. Arrows and bolts peppered its thick hide, to no effect—it shrugged off the projectiles like they were nothing more than pine needles, none sinking far enough to gain notable purchase.
Jax hefted his axe for another strike, careful not to over-commit this time. Nalah prodded the beast wherever she could with her pike, the melee weapon sliced and skewered just past the surface of the hide, though not enough to do more than marr. It was, however, enough to gain the attention of the target, the creature swinging two of its four arms to rake across the shield that the blond-furred female held. The iron plating across the front let out an unearthly shriek as claws ripped and crumpled the metal.
Well, fuck.
Nalah was quick to react, treating the shield less as an immovable barrier and more like a slight distance buffer, dodging in and out of range to steal jabs with the polearm. The security members nocked another volley, picking different targets than before. An arrow bounced harmlessly off the black orb of an eye, another finding purchase in what passed for gums in its mouth.
The hint was received; aim for the mouth. Thankfully, that was a large target. Less thankfully, it realized that flashing its teeth was detrimental to its health, slamming the maw closed.
Jax managed another swing, this time into one of the rear legs. It wasn’t as effective as the first strike, but it did warrant a sweeping double back-fist from the creature, scoring Jax’s armour with shallow claw marks as he jumped backwards. Joseph let out a breath as he fired his second shot, only just narrowly missing the sliver of a gap between razor teeth that the enraged attack afforded. It couldn’t keep its mouth shut forever, each frenzied swipe pulling its form enough for glimpses of softer flesh within to appear. The hunter dropped from their tree, darting across to reposition for a wider angle to capitalize on. The creature noticed, lunging forward to eviscerate the easier target.
Joseph blinked as two armoured figures jumped in front of the Lilhun, raising their blades in a tight guard to block the four arms grabbing for a quick meal. The beast recoiled with a thunderous screech, two of its appendages sporting deep gashes that fountained blood, while the others managed to impact above the edged outside of the blades. Rose and Cobalt pressed forward, buying time and space for the hunter to collect themselves and scale up another perch. Taking advantage of its pain, two new arrows ripped through the air, smacking into exposed inner flesh. Two new protrusions joined the first in the mouth, one landing next to the existing projectile, while the other cleared the gateway of serration, driving deeply inside of it.
More flicker jabs and extended straights pushed and cut the beast as it tried to gain distance from the two that wounded it, every retaliatory strike earning it another gash in its grey hide.. Unencumbered by the constant barrage, Nalah thrust into its legs more vigorously, her body leaning into each attack to gain every inch of penetration she could into the muscle and thick hide.
Jax used the chance to score another chopping blow, doubling down on a previous wound to a back leg—striking bone this time, based on the unholy wail the beast uttered. Joseph raised his crossbow to land another shot into its mouth, but the beast flailed wildly to fend off the ambush.
Rose managed to block, Jax lunged backwards, Nalah deflected most of it with what remained of her shield, but Cobalt was caught by a strike, taking the hit to its torso. The Atmo flew backwards, rolling when it landed, the carriage and assorted armoured plates trailing behind it. Rose shifted instantly, covering the direction that their companion had been sent while Jax and Nalah focused on pulling the beast away from the downed combatant.
Joseph’s eyes flicked to the Atmo, waging an internal battle on whether helping the insect would be better or worse for the situation as a whole. He didn’t want to lighten up their assault if it would just mean more injuries, but Cobalt could be in dire need for a patch job. It was hard to tell from where he was.
Cursing, he bolted from his spot, firing off one last round into the gaping maw before clipping the crossbow onto his armour and sliding on his knees in front of Cobalt, healroot hastily retrieved from his pocket.
He paused, sighing in relief when none of the armour bore more than deep gashes, the carapace underneath unblemished by the attack. Cobalt clicked lightly, dazed, but otherwise seeming unhurt. Unlearned in the physiology relevant, he ushered the Atmo to remain out of the fight for fear of concussion or something similar. They could look at the insect back at the base to be sure later.
“Joseph!”
His head spun around at both Jax and Nalah screaming his name, a massive clawed hand sweeping at him—the monster's approach unnoticed while he focused on Cobalt. Lacking a better option, he lunged forward towards the underside of the beast to dodge the swipe, crashing to his shoulder on the dirt below.
The creature raised a leg above Joseph, pounding the earth scant inches from his head as he rolled sideways. Ignoring the kicked up dirt, he brought his fist to the underside of the beast, flicking the release on his bracer.
Blood spouted from the newly formed wound, the blade breaking at the mechanism as the massive animal lurched in pain, Joseph rolling out of the way of another attempted trampling. He scrambled to his feet, feeling the wind of another strike narrowly missing him.
Yeah, that would probably kill him.
Luckily, the injuries renewed the desire to flee in the monstrosity, the group of attackers proving too dangerous to continue challenging. It stumbled away from them, sparing Cobalt from its panicked trudging. Jax and Nalah started to run towards him, worry evident in their eyes, but he barked for them to finish it, redirecting the two to keep the pressure going. He didn’t want to mention the pain in the arm from where the bracer hitched. It didn’t feel broken, and thus was irrelevant.
Pressure applied, the grey beast picked a random direction free of opponents to escape, ignorant of the waiting security. When it was too close for them to shoot into its mouth at a decent angle, they slung the bows over their shoulders and drew the swords they had been afforded, patiently waiting with the blades turned down.
It passed below them, the two Lilhuns dropping from the branches to put their full weight into the plunging blades. Both landed on the large target, one sword sinking deep into a shoulder, while the other managed to pierce one of its hip joints. The beast spun haphazardly to dislodge the ‘new’ threats, both security members kicking off and finding new trees to set up in.
Whatever damage was actually done, it had lost the use of an arm, and its gait shifted awkwardly as the blade lodged in its hip worked more harm with each shambling step.. Emboldened, Jax picked up the pace, struggling to position himself with the amount of metal he wore. Ducking another swipe of its claws, he saw his chance and swung, pivoting with his axe as a counter weight. For the third time, his axe blade found the wound in its leg, adding a sickening crunch as the bone snapped from the impact.
The creature swung wildly, forced to favour its two remaining good legs, and the only other leg that could still support at least some of its weight. It was unstable now, the hunched figure swaying while unmoving. Unable to run, it decided to go down with as many of them as it could.
Rose caught up with the attack, drawing attention from the comparatively squishy Nalah as the blond-furred female deflected a wayward swing with her shield. The once iron-plated ironwood now sporting little more than jagged scraps of metal atop its silver wooden structure, a series of deep gouges marring the surface. Two lunging thrusts with the pike bit flesh, drawing new blood from the beast.
Joseph loaded his crossbow, getting off two bolts, but not managing to keep it steady enough to hit anything of use, his arm faltering under the weight of the weapon. Cursing, he decided to flank the beast and try his luck with the other bracer. If nothing else, the force in which the blade deployed was enough to pierce the thick hide, and the others were doing a good job of distracting it.
The red armoured Atmo let loose a series of directed swings, the fifth severing an arm in motion, the flying appendage forcing Nalah to raise her shield to block the unorthodox projectile. The female was sent sprawling from the weight of the impact, but the beast was too busy voicing its agony to take advantage of it. Jax worked another two chops into the broad legs, but neither managed to incapacitate it any more, and the prolonged exertion was slowing his reflexes.
As if cued into his waning energy, the beast flung Jax with another strike, the hunter of the group sinking a bolt deep into the cavernous flesh of its mouth to prevent an attempt at following up.
Joseph roared, desperate to finish it off before the creature could do the same to his downed pack. He sprinted at the monster's back and slid underneath it with as much speed as he could muster. Throwing his fist into the passing undercarriage, he let the deployed blade leave a long gash in its wake.
The grey monster lost its ability to stand, torn tendons, blood loss, and inflicted injuries taking their toll. The Grand Hunter kicked off his knees to fling himself out of the way of the collapsing figure, grimacing as the remaining bracer proved unable to support the abuse he had put it through. He looked back at the beast, the flailing body failing to right itself as teeth did little more than gouge dirt, its back exposed. Rose approached, raising their blades together and plunging it through the body over and over until it stopped moving.
Exhausted, the Atmo dropped where it was, breathing heavily. Joseph’s instinct to yell their victory was delayed as he hurried over to Jax and Nalah to confirm he didn't need to bring back bad news. Nalah seemed fine, if a bit sore from hitting the dirt and rolling, while Jax just asked to lay down when he heard that everything was over. Cobalt came over to the group, the armour that had come off collected atop the carriage it had managed to loosely affix to its base.
It was light, a chuckle originating from the Human as he slumped to the ground against a tree, but soon the entire group was roaring with laughter as victory settled in their minds. The two security members helped the hunter begin disassembling the beast, their contribution to the fight leaving them with more energy than the rest. They hadn’t been slacking off, that much was certain. The number of arrows jammed into the maw of the thing would have guaranteed a few extra seconds of survival and chances to escape if one of them had been forcibly tossed into there, and it had caused enough pause for the rest of them to get in a few hits up close.
Joseph rested across from Jax and Nalah, letting his heart rate slow from the rapid pace it had been pinned to since the start of the conflict. His arm continued its protests, but from the amount of movement he still had, he guessed that he had just strained the elbow. A few days taking it easy should straighten that right up.
Once the active members were about half way through processing the creature for hide and meat, Cobalt approached him, a mimed request for assistance putting their armour back on being redirected to Nalah since he doubted he could lift the damn pieces without hurting himself at the moment. She obliged, getting the blue Atmo back in full attire, though it took a while.
Rose stood first, stopping over to allow the hunter to place collected bits and pieces onto the carriage before securing it with whatever they could make due. A security member gathered the moss-wolf corpses for a similar treatment. Waste not, want not, he supposed.
Rose ended up carrying most of their spoils. When he was about to ask why, he, Jax, and Nalah were dragged to Cobalt and hefted onto the carriage. A series of confused questions revealed that the rest wanted to head back before it started getting dark, and it was pretty obvious who was the most exhausted of them. Lacking the will or energy to argue it, he flopped back on the Atmo as the trees passed them by, Nalah resting her legs across him as her head sat on Jax’s lap. The black-furred male didn’t so much as smirk, so it was clear he had pushed himself too far to quip about the arrangement as he laid down.
“The next time you wish to exhaust me this much, Joseph,” the Head of Security started after a long while of silence, tiredness in his voice, “I would prefer it to involve my mate and a bed.”
The Human snorted, closing his eyes and enjoying the lack of walking as the surprisingly stable Atmo carried the three of them. “Fuck off, Jax.”
“Of course, Grand Hunter.”
Next
A/N: Patreon is fixed!... aka new one cuz problems with the last. Check it out to support the story, get AI character art every now and then, or even preview sections of chapters as i write them! (aka, before kieve gets to fix them :D)

I enjoy gaming, anime, horror movies.. just trying to get out more and build some sort of social life since I don't have one.

[Part 1](https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/131t1q9/first_contacts_part_1/)
[Part 6](https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/13xe87q/first_contacts_part_6/)
“Welcome to the Endeavour 2.”
Nathan had already chosen to name the frigate after his experimental warp ship, I wondered if that meant he intended to keep hold of it but the limited number of Doradul crew was my largest concern.
“Only 20 Orvangians?”
Nathan’s smile dropped away and he rose from his seat, “I am sorry Jin, the Axarli shot and killed several on the planet’s surface, these were the only prisoners they recovered.”
Halor the Doradul’s Secondary Ops Officer made the Orvangian Gesture of Greif from loss before taking the pilot’s seat that Nathan slid out of.
“I am glad to see you and Doc got to the shuttle safely, but you should probably get some rest, that’s what I am going to do now.” Nathan gestured back to the elevator.
Once we were aboard the elevator, he thumbed the button for Deck 9 where the shuttle was stored.
“What course are we on?”
“Halor plotted a course to a Federation System called Polivor, we will be there in about a day.”
Once we reached the shuttle Nathan and I gathered our things and headed for Deck 4 officer’s quarters. Nathan claimed the Captains Quarters and offered me the First Officers, it was nowhere near as comfortable as the Doradul, in that respect it was much more like the Endeavour, it was a single chamber with a bed, chair, desk, and storage compartments, no more than 6 square metres of floor and barely 3 metres high.
All I had in the way of possessions was a Laser Rifle, a Space Suit, and the pack of seeds from the Doradul, Purple Valuri Seeds my mother had given me when I left for the Doradul. The Chamber didn’t have enough lighting for flowers to grow, the gloom better suited to the needs of the Sovereigns or Euterians.
I Stowed my things and extracted myself from the space suit, it looked ugly now, not the smooth bluish appearance it had once possessed, there were dozens of scratches on its hard segments and the Separatist sealant was brown leaving a couple of dozen irregular dirty-looking smudges where I had sealed it.
My uniform was no better, torn and tattered I had been wearing it for hours when I was sent to recover Nathan from the Endeavour 1, it smelled dirty and pink staining surrounded the tears.
Entirely disrobed I lay on the bed and dimmed the lights, the last sleep I had managed was back in the escape pod, it felt like that was days ago. Despite my exhaustion, it wasn’t easy to fall asleep, perhaps it was the stinging of wounds or the death of so many Orvangians that I knew, sleep took over an hour to reach.
I dreamt of the first year I served aboard the Doradul, we were surveying systems in the Tilbas Sector, looking for worlds that would be suitable for Orvangian settlement, they were peaceful days wandering the stars in search of beauty and quiet, I had built many friendships with members of the crew, among them was Wula, she served as a Geological specialist, surveying planetary crusts for stability. I had gathered her family seal from her body when I was on the Doradul, hers and two others, Palos wasn’t exactly my friend, a support Engineer, he was after my job but I did not wish to see him dead and Worgan, I didn’t know him well.
I woke after a few hours, my bedding stained with lymph from a wound on my side, it had opened again as I had slept. The only thing I had to wear was my torn and stained uniform so I donned it again and headed for the medical bay on deck 3.
Doctor Hule and the Tilik Nathan called Doc were here, treating plasma burns on Sub Officer Florn, she had been a ground officer during surface surveying for the Doradul.
Doc moved over to the second bed and patted it with a tentacle so I hopped up and gestured to my reopened would “It started weeping again”.
“Not to worry, I can go over them all with more care now that there are no enemies at the door.”
Doc began to treat my wounds taking time to seal and patch each one, it took over an hour of work for him to finish and I did feel considerably better.
“Thanks, Doc” I slid off the bed and turned to leave.
“I suggest you also visit the quartermasters on deck 7, they can sort you out something clean to wear.”
Clean clothes and a shower sounded great so I headed straight to Deck 7, the Doradul’s own Quartermaster was here and she soon had the ship fabricate two new uniforms for me, both now showing the embroidery pattern for the Doradul as a Memoriam pattern, though she had not included an Endeavour 2 pattern.
The deck where my quarters were had a shower block, suited to the use of four so that all the senior officers of the frigate could use it at once. I was the only one there though so I took my time cleaning, ensuring that the grime of recent events was gone.
Finally clean I donned a new uniform and stowed the other in my quarters before heading to the bridge.
Halor was still in command, using the Pilots chair as a sort of captain’s seat as he reviewed the ship’s systems and supplies, not that the information was necessary, we would be arriving at Polivor in less than 20 hours now and he would most certainly be disembarking, we all would. This ship was evidence of the Separatists’ rearming against the treaty they had signed when they lost the war.
“Jin! I thought you would be resting after all that excitement.”
“Sleep is difficult, I was hoping we had a crew roster.”
“We do” he indicated an auxiliary console “But I am sad to say that neither of the Doradul’s Therapeutic officers are with us.”
I sat on the padded bar that counted as an auxiliary station seat and brought up the roster, Nathan and Doc were both listed as well as the 21 survivors of the Doradul, 84 had died in the attack on the ship, those whose seals had been recovered were also listed, so I added the three I had collected and quietly wept for a few moments at the losses we had taken.
Less than 40 seals of dead crewmembers had been recovered and were currently being displayed in the galley on deck 3 so that was my next destination, the elevator was in use so I took the ramps.
The Galley was busy, 10 of my crewmates from the Doradul were here some at a wall where 35 seals hung in memoriam of the lost, and others were sitting at tables with the separatist equivalent of ration packs.
I approached the memorial wall and hung the three seals I had recovered, Jola and Nero gave me sympathetic hugs in response. Jola had worked with Wula as part of the survey teams so she offered to make the bond and share memories of our friend and colleague.
We sat and shared our memories through the Bond, the experiences we had each gathered of Wula being integrated, the social evenings I had shared with her, and the work humour Jola had experienced, each memory we shared built a greater picture of our lost friend in our minds and helped us to become closer friends as a result.
After the bond was over, we sat together and ate, the Separatist ration packs were simple, a grain and nut disc with a side of dried berries all held in a small plastic pouch. It wasn’t as good as the fake chicken that Nathan had shared but it was enough to sate my appetite.
Others in the Galley were sharing memories and meals, we may have lost the therapists but our shared experiences were helping us to cope with the losses.
I was about to depart the Galley when Nathan arrived with Doc, Nathan’s arms were loaded with ration packs of his own kind, far more than he could reasonably eat, and Doc was carrying a couple of bottles of medication.
Nathan selected a table next to mine and began laying out and snapping tabs on containers, a total of eight each with the same markings as the fried chicken I had tasted. Doc opened the bottles and dumped the pills into a bowl.
Once the circles turned red Nathan tore lids off packs and released the delicious smell of chicken “Ok everyone, feel free to try some Southern Fried Chicken, Be aware that the coating is a little toxic to Orvangians, so please take an Anti-Toxin pill from Doc here before you eat!” he spoke loud and clear so that everyone turned their attention to him and the smell.
I moved swiftly to the table and dry swallowed a pill before selecting a piece of chicken and biting down. My first taste of this had been without the coating so I had not been able to experience the full delights of its flavours, the coating was quite spicy though the anti-toxin was doing a good job of keeping it from being painful.
Soon others were trying the food for themselves and Nathan found himself explaining that it was not meat once again, though most were satisfied with no explanation. The atmosphere soon became more jovial and Nathan asked Buddy to play some music by another Buddy, this time a musician called Buddy Holly.
The Chicken was soon gone but the uplifted spirits would not fade so quickly, Nathan chatted with everyone, sharing jokes and stories from his people. For a few hours, the galley was a happy place.
Eventually, Nathan and I headed to the bridge to relieve Halor and monitor systems during our journey. I had never served aboard a ship built by another species before, the console layouts and bridge plan here were designed for a mixed species crew with effort made to offer interface and seating flexibility for all the races of the Separatist movement.
Someone had already modified screen layouts to better suit the Orvangian standard and seats were largely configured for our lean forms, the pilot’s chair being the only exception.
“Nathan, you understand that the Federation is likely to want this ship for study.”
“Halor told me. It’s fine though just leaves room for an Endeavour 3.” Nathan followed the statement with a Grin, something the other Orvangians on the bridge were still not used to, but I found myself grinning back causing a surprised reaction from the rest of the bridge crew.
There wasn’t much to do at warp so much of our time was just familiarising ourselves with the ship and its many systems, the Endeavour 2 was originally just referred to as the TX210-B, a combat support Frigate with an arsenal of ship-to-ship weaponry, it was designed to fight, having no other purpose.
After a few hours we were relieved of duty ourselves, Florn being the next most senior officer, he had no experience commanding a ship, but his rank was just below mine and he did command ground survey teams so he would manage for a few hours of Warp travel.
Nathan and I departed the Bridge together “You hungry?” Nathan nudged me as he spoke.
“I haven’t eaten much the last couple of days.”
“Let’s head to my quarters and grab some food then.” We used the ramps to reach deck 4, Nathan’s Fabricator was set up on the desk in his quarters and six ration packs were stacked inside it.
“Your fabricator can make food?”
“Yes, I fed it some of the separatist ration packs and it can make a half dozen different food options from them.” He took a pack from the machine and held it out to me.
He cleared the machine and started it on the next load, then he gathered the stack he had built beside it, almost two entire batches worth and headed back up to the Galley. Once we arrived, he deposited all but one of the packs onto a table at the end of the room and selected a seat at another table.
As I sat with the pack he had given me I noticed that the writing on the pack that had been in Nathan’s language when we had shared chicken on the shuttle, was now all in Orvangian, indicating the instructions to cook the meal and describing itself as a ‘Closed Spicy Meat Sandwich with vegetables and Fruit Sauce’ once the circle turned red I tore open the top to reveal a pair of shell-shaped things, they didn’t look like sandwiches really, they smelled of cooked meat and spices.
“I had Buddy modify the ingredients to eliminate toxic properties so enjoy.” Nathan bit into the crunchy exterior and juices dripped from his chin as he ate.
It was delicious, though I still preferred the chicken he had provided before. Several crew in the galley helped themselves to a pack and soon the whole galley smelled of the spices and meats of this Human food.
Two of these sandwiches were a little much for an Orvangian so most of the crew were sharing packs. After I finished one sandwich Nathan asked “You going to eat that?”
“No.” with that Nathan demolished his third and seemed sated.
“Captain Nathan. Could Buddy play some more music?” the query came from Asor a junior engineer by rank.
“Sure! Buddy, can we get some Dolly?”
“Playing Dolly Parton.” Buddy began with a song about working long hours and soon the galley was full of Orvangians badly singing along.
Eventually, the poor sleep I had gotten over the last couple of days was too much for me and I departed the music and joviality of the galley and returned to my chambers, the small size and lack of a garden hit me again as I entered the metal box military officers call spacious quarters.
Exhaustion made sleep much easier this time and I managed a good six hours of rest, my dreams largely of my childhood and memories I had gained from my bond with Jola. When I awoke it was to the voice of Nathan “All crew, we shall be arriving at the Polivor system in one hour, All crew to stations.”
I climbed out of bed and donned a fresh uniform, depositing both my dirty and tattered one into the laundry chute before heading for the bridge.
Nathan was in the Pilots chair and Halor was standing at an auxiliary station, I took a position at the first officer’s console and examined the navigation data, we were now just 35 minutes from our destination.
That time soon vanished as we prepared the ship for arrival, we would look like a separatist ship so Halor had modified our transponder data to indicate that we were the Endeavour 2 under the Galactic Federations Flag, still, we would need to prove we were not hostile so I set the weapons to safe mode and prepared a transmission of my security code and a message to indicate our allegiance. Nathan prepared to take control of the ship’s course moments before the Warp drive shut down.
We dropped out of warp at 2.2 million kilometres from the Military Outpost in the outer system.
Two Separatist Cruisers were waiting for us, barely a thousand kilometres from our arrival point they immediately opened fire, particle beams lancing out at us with their crimson fury.
Nathan’s reactions were on par as usual, jerking the controls to starboard and hitting full thrust the moment he saw the ships. He managed to evade the worst of it but a blast cut a streak across the port side of the ship, two turrets were hit and auxiliary communications were burned off the ship.
“Jin, Arm Weapons, focus fire on the sunward side ship! Halor, get me data on the state of the system.” Nathan yelled orders as he twisted the Endeavour 2 among the beams.
I had set the weapons to safety thinking we would need to look non-threatening, it was going to take two minutes to get weapons back “Captain, two minutes for weapons!”
Halor set secondary displays to show the devastated Outpost and the distant flashes of conflict over Polivor 3 “Captain, there are 5 Separatist Battleships in orbit of Polivor 3 and the Military Outpost has been destroyed.”
He paused for a moment as though he could barely believe his next statement, “We are at war.”
​
[Part 1](https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/131t1q9/first_contacts_part_1/)
[Part 6](https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/13xe87q/first_contacts_part_6/)
(I hope everyone is still enjoying this story, Let me know if you are. As you may have noticed there is no Species Data Drop in the comments this week they will resume once another species makes an appearance.)

To the mods: Apologies in advance if the flair is incorrect, this is the first time posting on this sub.
I have a 21F mutual friend who's looking at being independent, get a job, save money, etc, but her parents are hellbent on not letting her get a job, learn to drive, have her own bank account, all the adult stuff that comes with it
They wont let her be by herself in public as

• "she's not able to handle social situations"
• "too innocent to handle the pure evil in the world".
• "women shouldn't go outside by themselves because they'll be raped"
• "women in the workforce is why men cheat"
• They actively look for communities with the least amount of diversity
• Her brother is actively trying to initiate incestual acts towards her and sexual acts towards underage friends of hers
• Her parents are looking at moving to Russia amidst being an active warzone
• Invasion (or lack thereof) of privacy (family members both male and female barging into the room as they see fit, entering the bathroom while she was nude, utilizing it, etc)

They claim that they're "waiting til the world gets better" until shes able to do anything, like driving or learning how to shoot a gun, even getting a job is a big no-no. They neglected her wants of socializing and making friends because "if we socialized you, you would have got a gender reassignment surgery." She is straight. She does not want one. They wont even let her go outside to check the mail/take out the trash by herself because "she could be kidnapped by an oncoming driver" or something like that.
After hearing about this we got a small group together to get her out of her parents control and into another friends house where she can get a job, get on her feet and become a participating human in society. However, the current problems in question are as follows:

• If she leaves of her own will, can the parents still claim kidnap? And if so, would it be possible for her to let the police know ahead of time so they know not to peruse as she's leaving of her own will? (State of TN)
• Upon letting the police know, would this avoid her leaving turning into a missing persons case?
• If there's no real physical evidence (assuming they try to take her back), could she use what evidence she DOES have as valid reasons to be on her own?*

*evidence here would be moreso word of mouth, talking to neighbors about this girl that was never alone outside, her doctors/church knowing she hasn't accomplished much (getting a job, going to college after graduating high school, etc).

• Would she be able to get her birth certificate with her ID and diploma alone as she cant get her SSN (it's locked in a firesafe)

​
These are all the questions/concerns we as a collective currently have. Any and all assistance/advice will be greatly appreciated.

I want to meet people that I could talk very casually talk about film with, and a movie watching crew I could hit up every weekend. Right now I'm looking forward to Oppenheimer but I never have anyone to go with and I want to talk about the movie afterwards. I dont mind age, just somewhere in the 20 - 30 range

I've told this story so many times that my larynx hurts. I've dictated it so many times and then had to go back and correct the mistakes I'm working on carpal tunnel as well. Anyway as you can tell I'm at that point of the day where I felt I should share but what's the point? I work in an industry where I'm a painter of sets and such for corporate events and plays and things like that. So out of the blue they decided when you get day to use isisyanite-based primers and paints and we did it over the weekend and I was exposed for close to 16 hours with only a 3M gas mask with a regular filter in it. The sprayed product was called chassis saver. If you want to look up the MSDS you're going to have to type in chassis saver MSDS. It's got a whole smorgasbord of fun like methyl diisocyanate mixed with aluminum flake? That was shot out of an HVLP gun under pressure in a closed Warehouse because it was seemed outside so there was no ventilation for 2 days. I had ... okay let's just quit trying to give anybody to benefit it out here and say I had no protection whatsoever. Cuz if I'm going to mention the 3M mask but not the fact that I need a full body suit gloves full face mask with supplied oxygen and I'm supposed to leave all of my clothes at work including my shoes and not get it on my skin along with proper ventilation? Well none of that was done. First off because we weren't worried about the danger secondly none of that stuff is available to us at work and thirdly I wasn't even the one using the stuff. Didn't matter I still became concerned when the room was a silvery cloud of toxins so after a couple weeks when I realized I was asthmatic and having reactions every time I went to work? My GM had me apply for workers comp and sent me home for 4 days. Then I was asked to come back to work to help and the symptoms started again. It took me a while to figure out what was going on by doing some reading on OSHA and the CDC. Plus all the other articles and case studies. It all lined up it was obvious that I didn't kind of get exposed... I was immersed in it. That includes breathing it having it in my eyes eating after using it no ventilation and wearing the same clothes home along with getting some on my skin when I was helping him clean up afterwards. Poured it on the side of my abdomen because it was in a mixing cup. It felt really good. Anyway, as soon as this hit corporate everything went s*** house crazy. I continue to go to work for 4 weeks and see the doctor that they had sent me to and since I've been self-employed my whole life as a portrait artist? That's my college degree it's a BFA and fine arts. Probably kiss my oil painting career goodbye. So they got rid of the job I had and any other talents I could fall back on. Anyway yeah this is going to be kind of a sarcastic post so enjoy it. What doctor was I send to that was an expert on chemical exposure with isocyanates and occupational acquired asthma? What was the name of that place it's famous like the Mayo Clinic but instead it's everywhere and oh yeah Concentra. You know the place you go to and the doctor runs a stethoscope all over you and says he doesn't hear anything to indicate asthma even though it sounds like there's a kitten stuck in your throat? Then he tricks your blood pressure and says it's normal even though it's rising quickly? He asks you why you're there and nods his head and you can tell in his mind he's going "well that's like a total s*** show. If I do what the insurance adjusters are telling me to do I'm basically sending this guy back to work to die. So let me get on that" I would come in and he would look at me and say so what do you want to do today and I would say I don't know maybe doctor stuff like check me see if I have asthma I don't know what the tests are for us to cyanide exposure? You're the doctor what do you want to do? Oh you want to go okay well be sure and sign that box telling me to return to work because he can't find any injury or evidence of exposure. Thanks. Oh this week you want to do blood work. But you only want to test for the most extreme exposure the kind that would cause neurological damage and okay. So he sends off the blood test tells me it'll be a week. And remind you I'm going back to work every day and getting re-exposed to all the stuff that I'm now allergic to and it's damaging my lungs and I'm coughing so hard my lungs are starting to separate from the wall my back. It's funny it's hilarious you know but at least they're saving money. They get to watch it and hear it but you know... buck up cowboy. You shouldn't smoke. Yeah y'all managed to do more damage to my lungs in 18 hours than I did in 47 years of light smoking. Seriously five cigarettes a day maybe. No history of asthma no history of allergies other than penicillin. I always watched other people just go through miserable seasons I mean just I swollen shut it's not running down their face and I thought how lucky I am. So my job decided that wasn't fair and locked me in the building with a chemical that destroyed a town in India. And they only used it that one time and decided they didn't like the properties of it. Probably cuz it's not meant to be put on wood but that's what the chassis saver was for was to give it sort of a metallic quality so they can roll the what yeah that's right bed truck liner on it that was day two and early the next day. When everybody was at work. When we were applying this stuff they were only two people there me and my supervisor. So if you look at the time clock it tells you when and who was there. If you look at when this stuff was purchased and under what project the stuff was charged to? what client? While we were doing a huge project for caterpillar that they were having out in Las Vegas. Don't know why one of our designers figured that bed liner would be a good idea for some of the staging when you can achieve that with paint and clear coat. But that's what he wanted. So so much for avoiding it just because it's not necessary. In the state of Texas you can't sue your employer for personal injury unless you can prove gross negligence. I would say that kind of falls where we're at. Unfortunately the other thing in Texas is that there aren't many workers comp attorneys because in 1993 they passed some laws that made being a workers comp attorney a tricky thing and you can lose your license really easy. In other words it was a very business friendly law to get companies to move here. Especially when you couldn't get sued for you know sending someone on fire or destroying their lungs and life. So a lot of people can get a worker's comp attorney even if they're a crappy one. But most of them that claim to be workers comp attorneys? They're actually just want to hear your stories so they can see if there's a personal injury lawsuit in there due to gross negligence cuz that's the only way they're going to make any money in this state and if it's a chemical exposure? I've been told by several attorneys who had extreme sympathy for my situation that they couldn't even refer me to an attorney that would take my case hey there's no attorney that's going to touch a chemical exposure case in Texas because it's already tough enough. Well I've been put the ringer lied to followed by a private investigator in the whole time I've been on represented and doing all the paperwork myself which they throw at me everyday usually it's fake stuff or stuff with the wrong date or deadline on it they mess with any attempts I get to find another diagnosis when they know damn well what happened on what day and with what products and who was there and when you know there's just no disputing the fact of what happened and when it happened and that we weren't protected because they don't have that kind of stuff there for PPE. we don't use that stuff so why would we need supplied oxygen masks. If I'm spraying something with metal paint mixed with silo I put on a 3M mask and use it organic filter and keep an eye on when it's starting to wear out even then? I'm not going to get leukemia or brain cancer for another 30 years well after I'm not working for them anymore so they've got that going for them and as do I. And this happened back in February 25th and I was sent home immediately because they were extremely concerned but they be suddenly became unconcerned about 4 days later I guess cuz corporate got involved and told me to come back into work and I spent another four weeks getting worse and worse and worse having the weekends to try and recover but not completely so I would start off at a level of irritation and asthma that was already underway when I returned on Monday. This was fun. Because even though they can see it they would just blame it on my smoking which is hilarious because you know life and for that weekend I wasn't allergic to anything in that building for two and a half years and I'm one of two people in the paint department so it's not a huge crew I'd say there's about 30 people that work there and probably too many people in the front office getting paid too much just sitting air conditioning. I mean they do work but you know if they had the chance they'd probably urinate on your face. That's not fair. They would wait till you run conscious from toxic exposure to gases anyway. Or they would but the workers comp adjusters do that for them. I mean they pay them for a reason and it's not help the employee so? Why am I talking to them again without an attorney oh yeah see above. So yeah they're just having a good old time they're beating me like a pinata making me run around like an idiot and freaking me out with letters and false deadlines that after a while I began to realize it being seriously gas lit I stopped playing nice guy and started recording phone calls and screenshotting text messages to make sure they got saved and save me everything in files and whenever they screwed up and intentionally put the wrong deadline on a Federal form like a FL la form from the Department of Labor anything like that? I would call him about that and record the response. One of my favorites was well that was just a suggested date because you know if you got it done sooner then you would get the paperwork done sooner and everything you get done sooner and you know just faster. Well yeah I understand how that works Einstein thanks I understand the whole concept and time and speed Mass velocity whatever. I swear to God they treat me like Chaka from Land of the Lost. They're all like 30 years younger than me and about to lose their jobs to AI but hey it'll be funny to watch. Won't need all those people running CAD machines and designing stuff after a few years. But let them enjoy it while they can anyway back to my career being ruined so they've just been having a good old time calling me and then they sent out a private investigator to harass me and want to talk to me until finally I just exploded and said what is it exactly you want to talk to me about.? I've been advised by everybody I know who is an attorney who may not be working in workers comp but they are an attorney? That I should never ever meet with a private investigator especially one that's a third party. You know one that's hired and not actually from the company. Cuz then he's not bound by the laws of an attorney or a police officer or an investigator he can do what he wants. Especially since he wanted to just talk to me and fill in the details of what happened that day. You know what caused the accident. I asked him what kind of forum is this going to occur in he said we could meet anywhere you want we can meet at McDonald's but I'm sure you don't want people here in your private information and I told him I don't like McDonald's anyway so I don't know I guess maybe after I get done with this doctor and have a solid diagnosis of asthma and something to stand on I'll be ready to comment. But until then I'm not meeting with you without an attorney in the room and probably even after I'm not going to meet with you without attorney in the room. So now it's come to this thing where I do have a doctor that's helping that was accidentally in their Network because I guess it slipped to the radar that they had an actual doctor that would do spirometry and asthma testing. of course they're messing with her a lot. I get your phone calls I get weird texts everybody has assured me that I'm obviously being observed surveilled. I don't see anything but I don't care either because nothing to see. I'm not at work. Why would I have asthma at home? I'm sure there's some triggers out there but I haven't discovered yet but that'll be fun and something to do in my free time. Anyway they seem to be kind of stuck in this rut where they won't go forward or approve anything unless I meet with the private investigator. Finally I blew my stack and said that I have no obligation to me the private investigator I've made my statement they were two people in the room y'all know what happened y'all know what I'm saying was the result you're not allowing me to explore that so I would think the best way for y'all to fill in the gaps and figure out what happened and what the situation this is letting me go to a f****** doctor that treats me and actually trust me for the things that I claim I have. That way instead of treating me like I'm lying you can prove that I'm lying which won't happen because I'm not lying which is obviously what you know so what is it he wants to ask me about again oh yeah he wants me to fill in the details is he a doctor? No okay well how about you get a doctor to do it instead of somebody who follows people husbands and wives around looking for infidelity. So I still don't have an attorney and I called OSHA reported the exposure and all they did was call my workplace and say "hey, did you have an exposure there?" and they said "yeah, but we got rid of that stuff" and they said "okay great" slow clap into a face palm. Which you know, kind of blew my mind. Because I thought calling OSHA was starting a nuclear war. That they would be in there with clip boards and chemical detectors and wanting to know just what the hell happened here. Because they've been really hard on this chemical and they've been trying to educate the public but evidently calling and just asking if it happened and them saying "well we got rid of that stuff" . That's enough for them. never mind the fact it was an "exposure to isocyanates in the workplace that I was reporting" which is what they told me they were going to check on. I wasn't calling them to tell them that they had harmful materials in a building, so evidently the guy I'm dealing with doesn't understand exactly what the law is or what law I was trying to get them to acknowledge. Cuz that would help my case if there were questions posed by government officials and they had to tell the truth. Either way, if they reported the exposure?great. They followed the law and I would have that an admission that an exposure occurred .....or they didn't report it and it would look really bad and probably cost them some money. But to my dismay, OSHA is obviously a joke. At least here in Dallas. So it's been real fun, yeah it's been one disappointment after the other of people just saying "I know this is my job, but I'm sorry. looking at your situation I'm just not good enough talented or educated enough to take it on. I'm just one of those people takes the easy cases and if something looks difficult? Even if it's a matter of you possibly dying or living on the streets and your whole family getting kicked out and never having a proper diagnosis to have on your medical records to show other employers or people in the situations that you can't be in in the future? I'm going to go over here and handle this easy money case." I'm sure there are some attorneys out there that if they knew about me and my situation it'll be all over it because they like a challenge and realize that there's not much left to do. All the information that I have and phone recordings, some documentation of b******* that has accumulated over the past months. Because normally you know you'd call a lawyer at the beginning of the case and there wouldn't be anything there. But since they figured I was never going to get an attorney? It was just "hey let's whack the pinata guy" . If an attorney were to walk in at this point? We've got enough acts of malfeasance and fraud and deliberate dishonesty, misleading statements and instructions, recordings and plenty of Doom and gloom documents meant to make me quit give up or go away out of fear or exhaustion.....and all I have to do is just hand you this stack and explain to you what's going on and we could probably even find a case that had nothing to do with workers compensation and had more to do with fraud and gross negligence and just have fun doing that. I mean they've had their fun why not? I didn't go into this looking for a cash settlement I just wanted to be taken care of and as the law states it should be. But I'm really just kind of f****** done with the whole f****** thing because everyone I talk to everyone I talk to doesn't want to touch it. When you have workers comp insurance that doesn't have ANY (ZERO) doctors in their Network to handle workplace asthma? which is one of the most common workers comp claims it pretty much leads the pack with all the saw dust and gas fumes out there to breathe in. But no we didn't have any doctors that would treat that or even know how to treat that at all. in fact the ONE that I did find? had retired about 5 years ago. That was funny. it was always a interesting thing to find out that when you finally had an aha moment leading to a hopeful situation? That turned out it was actually just a straw man. Even dealing with the Texas agencies help with people who are going through workers compensation or having difficulties? It depends on how you get on the line there's nothing more extremely helpful to the point where they'll even call the adjuster to make them call you back and help you fill out your forms whereas there were others that are just generally irritated by the fact that you're even calling and don't know what you're talking about. Well believe it or not there are some people in this world that don't do workers comp for living and don't spend their whole time having to deal with it. Especially people that are self-employed portrait artists for most of their lives. I guess this long-winded rambling stream of consciousness is just what's going on in my head and I can tell you right now it ain't a lot of good things and nothing really positive to say about working for anybody under any circumstances and I wouldn't take anything that anybody said they were going to do for you as a fact. It's all good on paper and everything but when it comes down to it it's all about saving money and if it involves an injury that doesn't look good on their records they got to get rid of that and they really don't f****** care what happens to you. You could be dissolving with sulfuric acid on your body and they would tell you to get out of the Sun and quit smoking. And they just watch it happen until you were just a pile of just steaming you know white powder on the ground or whatever happens. Do I sound frustrated? Flippant "whatever. Didn't see that coming". So I guess if you're in Texas and you're an attorney that this work is compensation and you want your entire case handed to you and you can say that you want a chemical exposure case in Texas I've got it right here for you if not fine. If you're from out of state that's fine too if you'd like to file a lawsuit that they beat me with clowns I don't give a carrot to a donkey whether you do that or not. As long as we win the case and they suffer for their behavior. It's not all vengeance. I want but is owed to me by law. And I didn't get that instead I got financial destitution cuz they have not paid me a dime and I'm the runaround which is basically we won't honor your claim until you prove that you were injured on the job. Okay I can't do that unless I prove that I have asthma. So they send me to a doctor that doesn't treat me for asthma now he's my pcp. Finally I find somebody that can treat me what do they do they immediately start pulling the plug on everything saying that my time's up sorry this show's over quick turn off the lights but hold up a minute they were too slow and I was able to get in there and she's doing spirometry tests and everything but you know I know it's not going to be enough because that's why I need to do the super serious testing the kind that definitively says whether you have asthma or not and there's no doubt there's no doubt that these people can try and split hairs and make excuses. Then I get to try and type for the workplace which wouldn't be hard if I had an attorney because this in front of a judge and argue it this is the guy before this is the guy after he's got occupational asthma he worked here for two and a half years and then after that weekend where was the only two days out of the year that that chemical was present and being sprayed? After that he developed severe occupational asthma and an insensitivity to isocyanide due to acute exposure with absolutely no PPE or guidance instruction and now no help no financial help and the guys that I work with here in town that run the show don't talk to me anymore it's all corporate people that were states away and have no idea and don't care what the facts are they just want the positive outcome which is the one that benefits them. But we all know that. We wouldn't be in this form if we didn't know that. Ask for all of y'all that have had better luck congratulations. I am truly happy for you. I don't know where I'm going to be I know obviously you can tell where I am mentally right now and that if another person involved with the adjuster or my employers handed me a form fill out to get the thing that I need that ain't going to happen that they say would happen that won't? I'd wad it up and throw it back in their face without reading it and not worrying about what they say will happen if I don't fill it out. Because they know if I fill it out and sign it or if I don't fill it out and sign it? It wouldn't do a f****** thing. Unless it was an attorney wanting to get with me and get a retainer and all that stuff set up .....and get going. Because nothing.....everything else is just a f****** waste of time, gas and mental energy. It's just that's what it's designed to do... wear you down. You know the truth and you can't prove it and you start feeling like you're living in bad movie like invasion of the body snatchers or something. like I said, it's the ultimate definition of gaslighting. So if you're going through the same thing with workers comp? I feel your pain. I definitely have sympathies if your injuries are more severe or debilitating than mine and you're being treated like this, but something needs to be done about the system because I'm quite aware of what it is now. I've had plenty of time to sit down and parse out what happened and watch videos listen to other attorneys talk read articles on the chemical and how not only companies and workers comp are reacting to it, but also the manufacturers themselves. For instance the CEO that wiped out that city in India? he showed up one day for court in India and then claimed he had to return to the states to take care of some business and never went back. India tried to extradite him for several decades. But instead? he was able to retire with a nice fat paycheck Savage whatever you want to call it and live out the rest of his days in Florida. And I guess he slept well at night knowing what he did. Union carbide. Bought by now Dow? Pretty sure they have never done anything wrong..... I'll have to double check that but I'm pretty sure on they are on up and up right? If they have the good attorney defend the behavior. I mean chemical companies they don't f*** around.... do they? anyway. whatever. I'm not too jaded to where I don't want to accept help or nail these f***. Or just get what I deserve. So take my post as a bit of Comedy or just a rant..... some venting. Maybe you feel the same way. Maybe it helps, maybe it doesn't. Just don't let it scare you cuz your case might be totally different than mine. I have an invisible injury and that's a s** place to be. Just like growing up in Texas. Well I guess it's time to lay down on the couch and play video games. How much is something like that pay?
My apologies if the punctuation spelling of what I've written up there (or actually dictated) has weird words that are completely out of contact in there somewhere. I dictated this because I'm so f****** tired of typing and I'm really tired of going back over what I wrote and fixing the grammar and trying to make it not look insane? It's just fatigue and I just thought I should get this out there in the Reddit forum. I'm a member of some other groups, but you know... first time listener first time caller

Hi! Super sudden na lay off ng company, just need a few money to get by since next week may new job na ko. Pls help me out. I can write essays, thesis, research, and etc even rush. Kahit pang food ko lang for this week 🫶

Hello.
I don’t want to make this post too long but I was hoping for some advice on calf problems. Back story is, I used to be a pharmacy technician, so I was on my feet a lot. Approximately 2016-2017ish. I didn’t work there extremely long, maybe just a year. Anyways, one day I was reaching up to grab a bottle of pills from the shelf and had to stand up on my toes. I would say I did this a lot as I am a short female (27 now). I noticed not long after that that I had a pain in my right calf. I assumed I pulled it and waited for the pain to go away. The pain never went away. I stopped working at that job, had a sit-down job not too long after for about two years. I’m not active whatsoever so no running or extreme sports for me. I am what you would consider over weight but I was at least 30 pounds lighter when this started. I did see several different docs before I saw a podiatrist who told me immediately it was Achilles tendinitis. I did physical therapy for some time after and did stretches and massages at home. The pain persisted. Eventually I was so fed up with the pain and nothing that the doctors said to do helped so I just stopped caring. Eventually I noticed the same pain in my left calf. It’s not AS bad as the right leg, but it’s definitely there.
The pain is not there if I am laying down or sitting but if I get up and walk around or stand, even for like a normal grocery store trip, it will hurt AFTER I have sat down. Sometimes the pain is like sharp shooting pains that come and go. They are sharp enough to stop me from whatever I am doing to just hold my calf in pain and then it will stop until the next sharp pain comes. (Cramps?) Other times it will remain sore and achy. I don’t have any pain in my heel or feet. It’s literally just from the back of my calf that hurts and I feel the pain does radiate down the ankle.
When massaged it hurts a lot. Doctors and friends who have felt my calves have agreed that my tendon is VERY tight. I don’t have much flexibility to my foot when it comes to pulling your toes toward you.
It doesn’t happen every time I am active but enough to certainly make an impact. I’m not looking for medical advice. I am hoping for possible suggestions on stretches or even relatable experiences. So far, upon googling, I am only finding people who are super active and get injuries from running long distances. I am neither of those things.
Any insight would be helpful!

Memory transcription subject: Orllive , Sandshifter farmhand
Date [standardized human time]: February 25, 2137
"Ok, one, two, THREE!!!" I gave one final swish of my tail and finally the bolder went over the edge and fell down the hill. I took a few moments to regain my barrings. I just spent the whole day clearing this pasture of debris from a landslide that happened a few days ago.It was a pain in the cheek, but I managed to get it done.
We could have done this with maintenance drones. We could all just sit around all day while our machines did everything. But the lack of stimulation and feeling of uselessness was a recipe for poor mental health. Besides, the feeling of being needed and marveling at a job well done always filled me with pride. After wiping my brow on the recently cleared sand I swam back to Cers.
"Hey I finished clearing the east pasture."
" Good, we can begin to redig the channels and sow some puffwheat"
Cers was a rather old man. His sandy skin was wrinkled and starting to become paler. His horns were beginning to show there age. Becoming a deeper shade of yellow seemingly everyday. He should be taking it easy, but he never did. He'd rather work then rest most days. An idle mind is like a channel left to the tides. Becoming smooth and pointless. Was a saying he lived by, to an excessive extent.
"But that can wait till tomorrow"
Slightly jolting from the unexpected response I quickly asked "what? but you never cut a workday short!" In response he just began to rub his upper and lower teeth together to produce our version of laughter. A grinding rhythmic sound that the other sapient of the ship found to be rather grading and even painful. comparing it to something like claws on Sheetrock.
"Young lady, we have been on overtime for the past 3 hours!". What? that cant be right!!! He must have the time wrong. A quick glance to the clock tower proved that he was not mistaken, It was nearly 8 o' clock. Was I really that focused on the rocks?
I looked down at the sand and began to rub my flippers on my sides from the feelings of embarrassment I felt at so massively mistaking what time it was. The sunlamps were being to shift red for crying out loud!!! how can I be so dense? "Sorry, I guess I kinda lost my sense of time clearing the pastures "
At this admission Cers simply began to laugh again. " My my I must be rubbing off on you for that kind of tunnel vision."
I could feel my underside flush, It was probably a bright pink by now. I instinctively folded my flippers down to try and hide it. Cers noticing my embarrassment began to soften his features.
"I'm sorry, I should have reminded you it was the end of the day. Rather then let you continue on without saying anything and assuming you hadn't lost track of time. especially considering my own tendency to do so."
With that I began to look back up at him.
"So we're done for the day?"
He then put on a more cherry expression and lightly chuckled.
"Yes we are, you can be off then to enjoy what remains of it. Maybe talk with your friends about the aliens we met today."
What little embarrassment I was feeling quickly evaporated as I remembered that it was the day our first contact was scheduled!!!
"Oh!!! I need to go see how Nechu and Loav did!!!
Cers then quickly turned around and the face he put on was quiet amusing. Displaying a high level of confusion and shock at my admission.
"you know the representatives we sent!?!? and you choose to work today!!"
" Well yeah, it wasn't like I could talk to them during it and I dont like laying on my stomach watching something live. All the interesting stuff would be talking about it with them without knowing anything!"
"I guess that makes sense, you should be off then. I'll see you tomorrow"
"... your not going to do anything more tonight are you?"
"No , I'm going home."
I tilted my head and gave him ann accusing look. We both know how many times hes said that but worked into the late hours of the night.
"... I promise I'm going home now, see you tomorrow."
He then turned around and swam off. I knew he would likely come back after I left. But I learned it was pointless to try and babysit the old man. He was as stubborn as he was soft spoken ironically enough. I swam away from the field.
It was a rather long trek to the end of the ship. I live in hab 5 of a 6 habitat generation ship, each 400 miles long from end to end, and each had a 200 miles long diameter. Plenty of space for a permanent population to love for a thousands of years trip across the void of interstellar space. we had many natural environments in order to seed the planets we were going to terraform with a healthy biosphere.
As I was swimming to the tram I caught the sight of many creatures. From snarks to whelicans . In the tram . I saw fields of puffwheat and other aquatic crops, cultivated by young and old alike. We passed a playground where many pups were swimming through hoops and passing a ball around with their red striped calacarna pets.
Before I knew it I arrived at my stop. Quickly departing the tram I swam to the swimway. A pressurized tube that connected the lower waters of the sea to the waterways on land. Thanks to differences in ours and the aliens time zones the first contact was scheduled for rather late in our day. So I shouldn't of missed Nechu and Loav coming back.
But what I saw when I finally made my way to the port was not what i was expecting. Rather then a crowed of reporters and bystanders that I thought it would be. It was them and an ambulance. I could see a Riner with a Carmors sitting on top of him, he was being hauled in a stretcher... was that Nechu!!!
I swam as close as the waterway would allow and poked my head above water to try and speak to Nechu.
"WHAT HAPPENED!!! Nechu!!!"
A paramedic Carmors quickly ran over.
"ma'am please stay calm we need to move them to a hospital."
"WHAT HAPPENED??? did the tunnel collapse on them?!?!?"
The paramedic shook her head.
"They were attacked by the Aliens solders."
That didn't make any sense, we had talked to the aliens before this and they seemed friendly. If they wanted us dead they would have simply shot at us before or after the meeting. but we were still alive.
"Why did they attack us!!
The paramedic opened here beak to speak but was interrupted by Nechu.
"They tried... to kill Loav... Because she's.... a carnivore....."
"He's entering shock we need to move him NOW!!!"
Loav looked like she was somewhere else. simple staring at Nechu as they were hauled into the car.The paramedics finally got him into the ambulance and quickly speed off to the hospital. Leaving me confused and worried beyond belief.
I tried to enter Nechus room at the hospital but they said only imminent family was allowed to see him. He had gone into shock due to blood loss. He was currently in a medically induced coma but otherwise was set to wake up tomorrow morning. Giving me plenty of time to view the first contact on my phone.
How could they do this to us... for the crime of Loavs diet?

So before I start this, it's important to know that I just got hired at a very nice job and will be moving out to get my own place before my birthday at the end of October. I'm going to be saving most of my income between now and them in order to build up an emergency fund prior to moving out on my own. Right now, we all live in the same house.
Anyway, I have absolutely no idea how to handle this situation involving my sister. In a nutshell, my sister is extraordinarily demanding of everybody, and every time she wants anything from me, she immediately involves my dad to try and act as her enforcer. I'm going to put in a good-faith effort to be objective about the situation, but as with anything like this, I might not be perfect.
To lay the groundwork, my father has always handled her problem behavior with a pacifist mentality, believing it to be the way to avoid conflict with her, where I've always been the subject of discipline (as a child) and almost constant verbal arguments as I've gotten older to "teach me" things when deemed necessary (this very post is coming on the heels of a "discussion" that was demanded by my sister as punishment for moving her two loads of laundry in the washer and dryer down the chain so I could wash a load of mine, apparently before the load in the dryer was dry, despite it being hot and feeling pretty damn dry to me?). Because of this, she seems to have gotten it into her head that all that's needed to get her way is to either just take and do what she wants, and if you don't like it, tough shit, or cause enough of a problem that someone just decides it's less effort to just give her what she wants to make it stop. She's also immediately, acutely aggressive if you don't roll over for her-verbal insults, profanity, condescension, talking over you every chance she gets. Because of that, I often find myself on the receiving end of these problems, and so I've basically adopted a policy of limiting my interaction with her as much as possible so that, frankly, I don't have to listen to it.
However, this does not stop her from trying to involve me in drama when she wants something. I'll provide 3 examples here:

1. This January, at my previous job, we found a cat in a box on our doorstep. We called around, took him to the vet to check for tags, nothing. So I volunteered to take him in after bringing it up with everyone in the house and getting their OK on the condition that looking after him was my sole responsibility, and I took the lunch break to stop by Petco for some basic supplies and bring him home. My sister was home, and upon seeing him, asked me what I'd named him, and when I told her, she said, "We're not calling my cat that name." I was definitely taken aback by this, but I had to get back to work, and she volunteered to take care of him while I finished the work day, so I left the supplies with her and went back. For the next 3 or 4 days, she kept this cat locked in her room with her small dog, saying she was "acclimating" him because "she knew best" since "I'd never had a cat" (I should explain that my job was at a pet-based nonprofit, and she'd never had a cat either). Long story short, I didn't much like this, which led to massive argument in which she basically browbeat me over "dumping" this cat on her and then leaving for work again, buying "shit" supplies, not having the "ability" or "knowledge" to take care of a cat, that her dog had gotten attached and what kind of monster would I be if I separated them when I moved out, on and on, ergo my parents supposedly agreed that he was her cat, and if I didn't agree with that assessment, she'd be taking him to the pound because she "didn't really want" this cat in the first place. I guess I'm too empathetic towards animals because I couldn't let that happen just to "win" an argument. My dad and I had a "discussion" after that.
2. About 2 months ago, I got a random text from her saying that she would be taking my dirt bike and its stuff to her storage unit so that she could use the space in the garage to hold furniture (I should mention, she quit her job a while ago and is now making money buying and selling furniture on Facebook and whatnot, and has filled up the back patio, most of the backyard, most of the garage, and about a third of the driveway with sofas and whatever, all with EZ-Ups and tarps over them). I basically told her to pound sand because she would not be moving a vehicle registered to me without my consent. She purportedly went to my dad over this and told me that "he said she could". I correctly called bullshit on that, but that didn't stop him pulling me aside for a "discussion" later about how I should've handled the dispute differently.
3. Over the past month, she has gotten it into her head that I owe her cash for cleaning and other supplies for our bathroom, despite the fact that my parents pay a cleaning service to come once a week and clean the whole house including our bathroom. She says she's totaled up the receipts for "my share", and over the past month it's gone up from $40 I apparently "owe", to $125 I "owe", and apparently I'll "owe" her $25 a month for however long I'm here. Now, she does typically buy the toilet paper, but that's literally the only thing I use that I don't buy myself, and I've explicitly said before that the only reason I don't buy it is because I never know when it's almost gone before she buys it again. Admittedly, I had intended to give her the $40 she wanted a while ago, but between my brand-new day job of at least 50 hours every week and my freelance job and other things I've been insanely busy and it just kept slipping my mind. Anyway, a few days ago I get a random text telling me the whole "you owe me $125 plus $25 a month" thing, to which I basically responded "fuck off, I'll give you the $40 you said you wanted, and then from now on when we need anything for the bathroom, you're going to tell me and I'm going to buy it, because I'm not just going to give you money to buy shit you say we need but have no way of verifying that's what you're buying" (she has severely broken my trust more than once, but that's a separate issue). She tells me that's not good enough and that "dad's going to talk to you when you get home". I get home to find them talking, at which point I try to give her $40 in cash, which she refuses, and so to avoid giving her the ability to a) accuse me of not giving her the money and b) start a new argument, I drop it on the floor and walk off. I've heard her basically berating my dad more than once since then about "talking to your son, unless you want to be a little fucking puss about it".

The aftermath of 3 has basically led to my dad trying to "both-sides" this issue. I tried to make it perfectly clear to him that I don't voluntarily interact with her or my parents (very much) because I just straight-up don't want to get myself involved. I come home from work, head to my room, and keep to myself. And now, my dad is basically trying to guilt-trip me into doing it. I asked him how many times it takes of getting bitten by a dog in the neighborhood before you just stop trying to be its friend, and he basically pulled the "Well, if that's your choice to cut off family, there's nothing I can say to you to change your mind", because he himself is the black sheep of the family and hasn't even spoken to his mom in decades at this point.
What the fuck do I even do? I'm not even actively hostile to anybody in this situation. The best comparison would be that episode of Drake and Josh where Josh is just "done" with Drake. I don't much care what she's up to or what's going on in her life. I just want her to leave me the fuck alone because I honestly can't even remember the last time she was nice or even not-mean towards me, but that apparently makes me as much of a bad guy as her.
TL;DR: sister uses dad as her enforcer when she creates drama and wants her way, as a result I basically want nothing to do with her. Dad seems to be trying to guilt-trip me into engaging with what I see as an incredibly toxic relationship. What do?

GF and I both idolize minimalist living. I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job of not buying ‘things’ the last 5 years or so. We’ve talked about getting a tiny home and putting it on a piece of land in the country, but realize it’s gotta come incrementally from where we are now. Her daughter just graduated and moving off to college, so she’s selling her home (goes on the market next week) and moving into my smaller house with my son and I. For the last few months she’s been selling stuff and sorting, and I’ve been trying to keep pace to make room here… but I’m having a hell of a time letting go. How do you guys keep motivated? What lines do you draw? marie kondo doesn’t help me. I’m looking at my guitars that I have barely touched in 5 years. They sure as hell won’t make it to a tiny home, but I just can’t let go now. Even have a buddy who teaches music and said he’d find them good homes… that’s just one example of my struggle. Oh yeah, and she’s got everything narrowed down to two car loads in her Subaru. I’m feeling so materialistic right now.
I realize there are tons of posts like this. I just needed to post to vent as I’m laying here stressed out.

I AM SO SORRY FOR WRITING SO MUCH
I am a 21 F and my boyfriend is 20 M. We have been together for seven months (technically 10) and yesterday was our anniversary. i asked if we can go out to eat, and he said he was tired from working his blue collared job, which is completely understandable.
However, I have had issues with this kind of topic before. he stays at my apartment most of the time, so he mainly drinks my drinks, eats my groceries way more than i do, and he uses my toiletries like my deodorant and shower stuff. I never minded it at all because we are so close with eachother and i love spending time with him, but it starts to bother me when i feel like he does not return to gesture back to me. He also makes way more money than me.
there would be times were he would ask me to split the bill or pay for him and i would. but i just feel like he never plans any dates or plans to take me out and he will be the one only paying. i expressed my concern before, that its a two way street, and he listens but also says he does a lot of other things for me.
Hes not wrong, he practically drives me everywhere and does things i ask him to. it just bothers me when i have to ask for it.
we were going to go out for our anniversary which was yesterday but we flaked on going because he was tired. yesterday he felt bad and wanted to go out when he saw my mood change but the moment passed for me and i didnt want to go anymore.
we tried again tonight only because i talked to him about how i wanted him to plan more things for us to do especially for anniversarys because he doesnt normally plan stuff. so he took me out to dinner tonight and we were perfectly normal, everything went fine tn but when it was time to go to our dinner date he wanted to get some shooters
hes still twenty so we both would rather me go in and when i was abt to go in he asks if i want his card and i take a pause to think and i go yeah then he gives me it and for a second i was like hehe kk THEN he says in a joking but also passive way that if he didnt offer i would get mad so i was like um i wasnt expecting it but ill just pay etc and i felt weird but i was giving him the benefit of the doubt like hes paying for dinner whatever
and when i come back he asks if i used his card and i say no i used mine and hes like thank u and i just forgot about it until after we ate dinner and when he got the check bc when he got the check he was writing down how much to tip then asks me if i can venmo him for the tip... then i got upset and we both were tearing up talking about it and i feel bad bc i said it was kinda ghetto of him asking 💀 and i mentioned how my friends bfs pay for their ish and they pay them back in diff ways but he thought i meant they pay them back through sex and that just pissed me off more n now we are at a weird place
i just dont know how to feel and if im in the wrong and if im not properly expressing my feelings.

Is anyone else till completely obsessed with their s/o? (this is a long one!)
So this guy and I were coworkers. He was/is pretty shy, quiet type. I’m somewhat the opposite, I’m also a mixed bag of social, antisocial and I tend to be the outgoing person. Anyways, I had just started this position at this job. I was stressed and trying to quit smoking but was itching for a smoke(gross, I know!) No one on my manufacturing line had a cig I could have on break. One person told me to ask our “Runner” who is the person to stocks our lines with components. So as he went to walk by to check my area, I said hey (J)! He looks at me and completely shocked that I even know his name, I proceed politely asking him for a cig on break. He nods yes and then quietly walked away and goes back to his job. Fast forward to break, I met him outside and we had our little smoke break. He was super quiet the whole time, and I thanked him and we went about our shift.
Another day or two went but by, didn’t say anything to each-other. Then one evening before the end of the shift I seen him jamming out with his air pods in. Whatever he was listening to I was curious. So awkwardly I looked him in fb, did a little creeping, making sure he didn’t have a s/o (didn’t wanna cross boundaries) and proceeded to push the “message” button. I asked him, so what kind of music do you listen to at work to help time go by?
An hour later he responded. Didn’t question me about how I found his fb, didn’t act weird about it. We started talking about music. And video games, and from then on we kinda opened up a little. We started hanging out after work, a few times turned into almost every night. He seemed interested but still shy and kinda awkward about it. We talked and it kinda turned into a fwb thing. It was fun, and interesting. But a apart of me knew I was starting to get feelings, fast.
After a while I started to bring it up. He kept telling me, I just wanna be fwb. Which to me seemed like a red flag. But I couldn’t help myself. At this point we had been talking for a little over a month, and decided to go on a little road trip. It was super fun and freeing, but something was missing. He wasn’t super big on pda which is nbd but I felt like I wanted something more. Fast forward to a few months, we took another road trip, this time a week long one. It was epic, I loved it! I didn’t want it to end. He seemed really happy and seemed to have a great time as well. We get back to his place and finally looked him in the eyes and said…”I don’t think I can just be fwb, I’m way too attached and if this is going to be a thing where it’s continuous, we might as well just date!” He thought about it for a minute and agreed. He had feelings, he just didn’t want to admit it. Time went on and he ended up starting a new job, as a truck driver, which was stressful. One night he was acting kind of distant. I figured it was stress wearing down on him. We sat there and I asked him what was up. He said “I don’t think we should do this anymore.” I was crushed, not understanding why after things were going so good that he would do this to me. I sucked it up and said okay, I understand. Even though my heart was breaking I stayed strong. We continued to talk, I called him everyday when he was on the road, talked for hours. Then he asked if I wanted to go for a ride along in the truck.
So here I go on my first ride along, to another state, another adventure with this guy whom I had hard feelings for. That night as we stopped for his 10 hour break, we did our usually little physical intimate thing. He seemed content afterwards. Then I broke, realizing that after we go back home, it could be the last time of possibly not of seeing him, spending time with him. I cried, and I broke open to him. He felt bad, he knew he had hurt me. A couple weeks went by and we didn’t talk much. I needed some time to think and some space. Wondering what did I do wrong? One morning I wake up and see he’s online, so I message him. He reads it, takes a second and responds. We started chatting like normal. He tells me he’s home and wants me to come over. Thinking this is just a hookup session and I’d leave heartbroken, but I wanted to see him, I needed to see him.
I arrive and I realize from the look on his face that he’s not doing so well. I ask him what’s wrong? He says”I made a mistake.” Confused I ask him what he means. He tells me that he missed me and was pushing me away because he didn’t want the space to ruin things down the road and didn’t think I’d stick around. But, I did. I stuck around, even after he broke my heart, even through every stressful day of his new job, I didn’t go anywhere. I didn’t pursue anyone else. I stuck by him. Fast forward again, two years in and we have had a few bumps along the way, and stressful situations. I’m now a truck driver with the same company and I get to see him more than I did before. Our relationship has grown so strong and from the quiet shy person he was when I met him to the most loving, sweetest, funniest guy. I wouldn’t give him up for anything! I lay next to him tonight typing this and thinking back to this guy who was an onion, peeling each and every layer over time and I have discovered what’s underneath. I’m so thankful I stuck it out, I’m thankful I waited because this love he has shown me is the most amazing feeling in the world! I cherish him, and still everyday, I’m obsessed with him. I never would have through this guy would be able to love me like this. Like no one ever has!
If you find yourself reading this, I’m sorry for the story. I felt it was worth sharing. 😊