I am planning on going to Austria during Christmas week. As a tourist, I am afraid that everything will be closed on the 24th/25th. Does anyone happen to know if there are still things to do and places to eat on these days? I don't want to stay in for these 2 days. I would love to keep exploring, especially with lesser crowds around this time. Any ideas?

Why are reddit owners such a bunch of greedy bastards?
Good question! I wish I knew.
Sup shitlords!
I bet you've heard, that reddit is trying to kill of 3rd party apps!
Why, is obvious to everyone. In case it isn't, here's a short documentary.
Seriously though, this article: The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok, just replace "tiktok" with "reddit" and you get the idea.
Why should you care? honestly, I don't know, but I know why I care. Because the new reddit website and app suck massive balls. No really, have you tried it? If you don't see nothing wrong, go download RiF or something and then use reddit for a bit and try to go back. It's fucking awful.
Maybe I'm just a boomer and I like my websites information dense with everything on display with intuitive UI elements AND NO FUCKING NATIVE ADVERTISING are you fucking kidding me? EVERY 2ND POST IS A FUCKING AD. Holy balls.
UBlock Origin and 3rd party mobile apps are the only thing keeping me from going insane when using this website, and in that way it's actually pretty enjoyable. Without that, it's fucking garbage.
But how are they supposed to make money then reeeeeeeeeee
First off, stop sucking corporate cock. I'm sure they'll be just fine, with us being the product and all. Second, I know everyone hates mods and We Do It FoR fReE but that's exactly it. The fact that I'm not massively inconvenienced while trying to write this is the reason why I'm writing it at all. And considering that the whole website runs on basically volunteer labour with admins seemingly existing only to hand out half-ass suspensions and to yell at us that the beatings will continue until morale improves, pissing off the power-users that make the whole place work seems like a really bad thing.
Not to mention, in the push to make the website increasingly "advertiser friendly" it's losing the "wild west internet" charm. Mark my words, once reddit IPOs half of the subreddits will fucking disappear. I call it The Addening. Censorship will increase under the ever growing threat of advertisers pulling out of reddit. I assume. I hope not, but cmon we've seen what happened before, they come for the porn first and then for the memes. All so you will be marketed to.
Why am I writing all of this? basically to yell at a void, the only relevant information is:

This subreddit will be set to private for 48(ish) hours on the 12th of june.

That's it. it's like a protest or something to get reddit to notice and to postpone their half-assed attempts at over-monetisation for a little bit more till a decent alternative works itself out and then reddit can go eat shit and die, after being milked for any and all revenue it can be.
FAQ:

• I don't care!

Good for you, literally. Also not a question

• What if I like the new website layout and the mobile app?

You are either very naive and ignorant, or have legitimate brain damage. seek further education/medical attention
I literally can't think of any more, sorry.
Class is over, everyone go home.

After leaving my weekly session today, I needed to Google my therapist’s name to find the clinic website for an administrative reason (I can never remember the name of the practice group). The fifth search result was a Caring Bridge site with her picture that was completely public. I didn’t even have to click the link to see the cancer type and diagnosis date (it was in the page description Google displayed for me). She has not disclosed this to her clients (of course, she doesn’t have to!). But I started seeing her for, among other things, cancer anxiety. And only weeks before she got her diagnosis. 😩 She’s helped me make lots of progress with this anxiety over the last 6 months. And I feel it’s completely necessary I tell her I know, so we can discuss how it impacts our work together. I also have no idea if she’s aware it pops up in the top five results by just Googling her name. I feel like anyone with integrity would give her a heads up…
Alas, I feel like telling her all of this will only lead to the disillusion of our therapeutic relationship. And this is sad because she’s sooo sooo good at what she does and I’ve never made such good progress in all my years of therapy than I have with her. 🥺
Edit: For clarification

My girlfriend and i have been dating for a few months and while at first i thought these behaviors were sort of endearing, now i am starting to get worried. She displays some odd behaviors that you would expect from a child
for example

• treating inanimate objects like they have feelings like a child would do (the other day she didn't want to eat a cookie that was next to her for two hours because "they are buddies now"

-not really being able to take care of herself, buy herself groceries make food for herself (she eats a lot of peanut butter)
-has very intense sudden angry reactions to things and will throw a tantrum in a way (like if i make fun of her in a joking light hearted manner she will cross her arms and sulk
I don't know if these behaviors are normal or should i be alarmed because i never seen an adult act like this.
I love her and i do want to help her because to me this seams like a consequence of a tantrumatic event in childhood (when people behave like the age they were when they suffered a trauma) but i don't even know how to approach the subject.
Am i completely off base?
Do you have other ideas of what it could be?

The Winter and Summer Games hold sway over ratings, culture, and the sports landscape while they are in progress, acting as a cornerstone for Peacock, NBCUniversal's streaming service. With the Paris 2024 Olympics just a little over a year away, the company is commencing its efforts to reach out to viewers and deliver a resounding message: Save the date.
NBCUniversal is embarking on a multi-platform marketing drive centered around the "Save the Date" theme, aiming to ignite enthusiasm among consumers for the upcoming Olympics, scheduled to commence on July 26 next year. To aid in this endeavor, the company is enlisting the help of some familiar faces. In the first commercial spot for the campaign, iconic country singer Dolly Parton (known for her appearances in NBC Christmas specials), WWE superstar Roman Reigns, and a minion all play a part.
This collaboration, as described by Jenny Storms, the CMO for entertainment and sports at NBCUniversal, creates an electric atmosphere. Storms stated, "Some of them are definitely affiliated with the organization, but in many cases, they are simply fans of the Olympics and the Olympic movement. We have previously worked with the minions, who are known for their love of the Olympics. We also know that WWE superstars are avid Olympic enthusiasts. So, it was about bringing forth the story, the idea, and the concept, and having these renowned superstars come together to launch the campaign in a grand way."
Regarding her involvement, Dolly Parton expressed her love for the Olympics in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, saying, "I adore the Olympics! I make every effort to organize my schedule and watch as much of it as I possibly can. In case I miss any live action on a particular day, I record it and watch it as soon as possible. I laugh, I cry, I cheer. In the Olympics, there are no losers, as all the participants have dedicated their lives to preparing. However, I celebrate alongside those who secure the gold, silver, and bronze medals."
The Save the Date campaign goes beyond the commercial spot. On Monday morning, NBC's Today show featured a segment bidding farewell to Savannah Guthrie, who will be reporting from Paris this week to provide a preview of the games. Guthrie conducted interviews with athletes such as Noah Lyles, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Jordan Chiles, Shilese Jones, and Konnor McClain.

Part 1
"When we Firmas were pushed north into the Pyrimian mountain valley after the death of their chain of command, they settled down and instead of focusing on expansion focused on necessities like food. With co-operation from the first goblins and other creative minds that joined the First Wave of the migration, they managed to grow food over the summer in first-iteration greenhouses. "My parents were part of the first wave. They were old for a couple, but joined the Firma clan in founding a government and keeping the area safe, as well as spreading word. The dragonic gods didn't like their behavior at all; cities burning is more entertainment for them, so they were the first to be Forsaken in this era, publicly, in the main square of the old Dragonic Capital. "However, that backfired, with more and more dragons tired of running around and fighting all the time, they decided to settle down in a place where nobody would bother them; now that they had this place given to them, and the Second Wave started. Basically the entirety of the dragonic clans and several other species amassed in this wave, and the Sapient Unification Government held. "My parents had an egg in one of the more northern caves, right on the coast. Then, the third wave arrived and everything went downhill from there. "The Unification Wars were fought between those who wanted one government to cover this region, and those who wanted governments segregated by species. This would have been fine if the secessionists didn't step in on people's behalves, without their consent; it took fifteen years of war for the war to end. Millions died and some species like the Snow Fox beastpeople almost went extinct. My parent were part of the death wave. "The war evolved so rapidly it was impossible for a commander to last more than two months. It started with sticks and stones and within a month there were arrow volleys. A year saw guns, two tanks, three battleships, four planes. Bombs, bigger bullets, bigger guns, bigger bombs. "In the last few months of the war, the first nuclear devices were used, creating miniature stars on the land with immense destructive potential unleashed. It ended with mutually assured destruction protocols being activated, and when all was said and done the land was a snow-fallen irradiated dustball. "It took years for the survivors to pick up the remnants of our short-lived civilization and restart it into the Terra Firma Sapience Union. All the time, my egg didn't hatch because I had no incubator, but didn't die thanks to my ice type. It was located close enough to a mana vein where I just... absorbed the entire vein. When the cave was found by explorers following maps for my parents den, all they found was my egg glowing brighter than Sunstones. "I was taken to an incubation facility in Cellyia, one of the bigger cities. There I hatched, and after more than one test I grew. My growth was still... affected by the time without an incubator, so my already slow growth stopped after fifty years instead of continuing to infinity. And then I took some magic courses, did my best to drain my mana reserves, and settled down here, well away from... the bustle of Cellyia. It never quite felt like a home, you know. It was a good place to grow up, don't get me wrong, but I like it here better. Remote, and in the same place my parents met for the first time. As much as I can tell, anyway; a number of records were destroyed in the Unification War. "When your heroes continued to come up here, I would be the one on first guard. Damming a river, I used water magic to break it. Trying to destroy some transit infrastructure, I would be the first one to either fake it, finish it off, or lure them away. When your latest one decided to head for Cellyia, it was out of my range for such activities. I shadowed the party on the way and let others take care of it. "I never thought that your 'heroes' would be heartless enough to burn what they were told and even acknowledged as a hospital with patients inside. A library and museum with most of our pre-unification works inside. An orphanage, a school... an entire neighborhood of ten thousand citizens' homes. What for? To try to kill just one of us. "We... couldn't take that kind of behavior. Cellyia might have not been the best place for someone with my personality to grow up, especially without parental figures, but that orphanage still had some good memories. An all-citizens vote was called, an all-citizens vote was passed, and we started a counter-offensive military campaign into your Civilization Nations. We've been waiting for you elves, leaders of the Civilized Nations, to advance your society; it's been seven hundred years, all the most you've done is grow your population and add an extra floor to your townhomes. "So we're going to do it for you. You ran our patience down, so we're going to change your society for you. Is it a repeat of the Unification War? I don't think so, given that you Civilized Nations never rescinded the declaration of war against us 'monsters' over two thousand years ago; one that you still follow through on to this day. "But that isn't the end of my story. "When the gods forsook us, they tried to pry away our magic, our land, and our lives. So we defended. Space radars monitor their movements on the mortal plane. There's so many more technical details I can go into. All I can tell you is, at one point, the old god of Dragonic Princess-kidnapping; yes, they were a god; they came and asked us to restart worshiping them. "That went over as well as you'd expect, and the next thing that happened... was that I absorbed her mana and powers. Technically, I am an undefined god, and... at this point, I'm afraid to get a definition. "What if it's something I don't like? Something evil, immoral... something my parents, the leaders of the Second Wave, wouldn't be proud of? What if... what if it kills me? Everyone hates me? I'd no longer be free... "So my solution was to hide. Here, in a mountain cave in the middle of nowhere. This is my life, all of it... and I don't know where to go from here." ----- "So... you're a god?" I asked. I couldn't think of another question to ask. "Yes and no." The cat replied. It did nothing to satisfy my fearful curiosity. How could one both be and not be a god? "Princess-kidnapping was a... niche god, rarely prayed to by still enough to be, you know, and actual deity. So her mana ran out first, and most of it dissipated back into the environment yada yada yada, but like the sponge my mana reserves are, I sucked more of it up than I should have; enough to had just a slight touch of divine control. On par with a low-level demigod. If I was omnipresent, I'd solve me problems with a snap of my claws, and then I wouldn't be hiding from my problems here." "If your powers came from a god, how are yours undefined?" My mind was seeking knowledge now. I was a mage, after all, and this was more than just the opportunity of a lifetime; it was the opportunity of a aeon. "Because I absorbed her essence from the environment before it had the chance to fully dissipate, but still late enough where it was no longer hers." Vixie shrugged "Or something like that, mana gets weird sometimes. All that matters now is my stockpile is slowly increasing its grow rate, which gets annoying pretty fast." "Annoying?" The cat laughed again. "Do you think this is all of my baseline reserve? Half of the reason I stay away from the rest of society is because the last time someone with multiple aura got involved with politics..." She trailed off, and then let another, this time impeccably cast illusion fall. The air around her was burnt crisp with the power of several mandatory auras in her current small size. Twelve tails flicked behind her back, eleven of them made of energy. Floating specs of light, some smaller while others the size of ice crystals surrounded the air around her. The six orbs on her back were joined by six more, and were attached to a ring. Her head had two halos, and her entire body was engraved with glowing lines. If she before radiated power, now she was made of it. The lights on the cave's ceiling flickered as more and more of the illusion fell away. Geometric shapes orbiting her body, a platform made of mana at her feet, lightning whizzing between all sorts of objects. Finally, it was gone, and the cat that stared at me with big, sad, glowing blue eyes had told me her deepest secret. As soon as it had started, the illusion repaired itself, and before me was one cat, a halo, six orbs, two crystals, and two mana tails. I did the second most instinctive thing when it came to seeing a cat. I pulled her in for a hug. There was a quickly quieted hiss as she squirmed a bit in my grip, trying to get more comfortable, before letting herself get stroked by me. Several images flashed before my eyes, and a tear came out of mine. We had gone to war against the less lucky sapients on our world, and were now paying the price. It felt like hours, but then my stomach growled, reminding me I hadn't eaten in literal days. Vixie shot out of my grip and led the way down into the cave. I followed, and soon enough I was eating some salted crackers with dried meat and cheese while Vixie moved around between other caves. "What are you doing?" I asked her between bites. "Packing," She replied. "Why?" "It's time I got out of here and, to follow the phrase, touched some grass." ----- It took three days for the elf, whose name was Nick, to recover enough to be able to make the journey to Cellyia. In those three days, I realized just how - and why - the Civilized Races looked at us the way they did. For starters, I'd forgotten just how many things ran on electricity, let alone other, more complicated mechanics. Pressurized water, instant hot water, even sinks, showers, and toilets were all completely unknown to the 'civilized races.' Ah, yes. Civilized without toilet paper. Bitter ramblings about the people who set off the chain reaction of events that killed my family aside, those were the second longest three days of my life; the first was my thirteenth birthday so I could get a personal HUD and social media. I was also a mess of thoughts. The elf had shown me, over the course of the three days - aside from the two-minute get-my-life-together moment - that I couldn't hide from my problems forever, or they would team up and try to hunt me. Hence my new, reluctant guest from the overflowing hospital they had oh-so-nicely delivered to my door. I had words for the medical staff. And I was also a mess of thoughts. Did I mention that one already. In all seriousness, Nick adapted to electronics pretty well. All I had to do was explain what it was, what it did, and file it under the name of science. It took an impressive four minutes of rambling about quantum mechanics before Vick realized that he was in way over his head asking how the 'magic rock that can half-think with bottled lightning' worked. He backed out when I yanked a textbook from my knowledge hoard and flipped through the pages to the start to explain how quantum superposition affected the set of particles it was entangled to. Fun. Finding out what toothbrushes were took some convincing, but soon the elf's teeth started to recover from lack of proper dental care. Food was easier than I expected, and Vick was pretty accepting of whatever I tossed on his plate. Except for artichokes, for some reason he hated those. Over the three days we bonded, and Nick got pretty used to life in my home. On the second day I moved him to the guest bedroom I had built but never maintained, but one wave of my paw and a splurge of magic later that was solved. "Why don't you use magic more often?" Nick asked. I explained that was much as I wanted to burn my reserves like they were a forest before a forest fire, the mental strain was tough without learning proper casting, which requires one to drain their reserves to practice wielding physical willpower. That meant that I was caught in an infinite loop of negativity, so I could only get away with a couple spells a day before the mental exhaustion metaphorically turned my brain to mush. On the morning of the fourth day, we left. Honestly, Nick could have left on the first day but I wanted him to be able to have the stamina to walk around for hours on end with me in Cellyia. Either way, as long as he kept by me it would be fine. There was a small population of elves, humans, and dwarves who had come up to the TFSU for one reason or another and never left, which meant that he wouldn't be too far out of place. My plan, instead of just flying into the Cellyia while steering clear of the airport, was to make it to the closest town, Lymian, and take a train from there north to Union Station. It would dump us a bit further downtown than I liked, but Cellyia was built in levels, and I could take the footpath level to wherever I needed. All said and done and one passenger seat clipped to my saddlebag harness on my dragon form, I opened the door to my cave. And was promptly blocked by a wall of snow. "Right," I half-grumbled. I enjoyed tunneling through snow, but spray would make the entrance cave wet and that wouldn't dry for another couple days, and until it did the sound of drips would echo throughout my home like nothing else. Either way, checking one last time that Nick was secure, I prepared my wings and powered forward. The snow and ice parted for me, and then melted and fixed itself back together behind me as I power-swam through the snow the same way I would through water. After ten seconds of this, I burst up from the snow-covered mountain the snowstorm had left behind and started to change my heading for Lymian. It would take thirty minutes of flying to get there, as I was flying lower and slower than usual to take care of my passenger, but we soon enough turned the next mountain and saw the town. The elf gasped as he took in the sights, while I kept my eye out for more activity. It had been fortified as a military base due to the war, but not by much; the town was useless from a defensive standpoint anyway. I spotted the next train arriving from its winding track around the next mountain, which also meant that I was a bit early. The citizens of Lymian were used to my presence, as I usually stopped by to pick up supplies and occasionally a bit of correspondence. So when I landed on top of a several story tall snow pile, nobody cared. I let Nick out, and then transformed into my cat form and slid down the snow pile to start to jogging towards the train station. That's when I remembered that unlike me, elves without snowshoes do not float on snow. Oops. ----- The sights were more than pretty, more than beautiful... If the gods had rejected these people, they might have just as well done it out of jealousy. After I'd been dropped off on top of a snow mound, I immediately flattened myself on my stomach to not fall through. I'd been in more than enough snowstorms and snow mounds to know how it would go if I didn't. The cat climbed the hill below me, reappearing as naturally as the snow fell. "Sorry," Vixie apologized. "Here, let me..." I felt the snow melt around me and we descended down to the ground. Vixie glowed brightly, literally; Even using as little magic as reshaping some snow was threatening to cascade out of her form. We moved to the train station without incident, where the massive 'train cars' were loaded full of passengers and cargo and then taken off towards the big city. Apparently this was the same one the hero burned, but the 'rebuilding and recovery efforts we going well; no critical infrastructure had been severely damaged.' Either way, the ride there was uneventful. Stepping out into Union Station was different. It was like I had entered a busy capital marketplace or square, with everyone rushing in another direction to another place. I trailed after Vixie, where even the oddity of an elf in these mountains was outshone by just how many different races there were; beastkin and kobolds and orcs and undead all filled the streets in, well, peace. "The city is built in layers," Vixie explained. "So while yes, residential and office towers here in the capital were set alight, underground public transit, personal transit, and cargo and fluid transit was all untouched, so we were able to circle around the hero and put out the fires to be replaced with smoke generators, and a couple holograms snatched from a nearby cargo transport." I had no idea what any of that meant, only that the city also had extensive underground bits. The towers soared over everything, and lights covered every spare centimeter of the city. Vixie led me down market stalls, across plazas, through parks and through building lobbies. Eventually, the babble increased, something I didn't think was possible. "Welcome to the commercial district," Vixie said after she had pulled me into a corner away from the masses of people and crowds moving around. "We're right near the harbor, and when we get there I'm going to show you the lighthouse and explain the city a bit better." I almost lost track of Vixie as we continued to move through the throngs of people going about their daily lives. I saw a couple boarded up shops, but most of them were either undamaged or didn't care about the scorch marks on their shops. Jewelry boutiques and grocery stores lived in tandem with furniture stores and a massive slab of too-smooth-to-be-natural stone of a rock type I had never seen before. It was covered in signs depicting some kind of diagram. Right around the corner was the waterfront, with a massive promenade running alongside it. Snow-covered trees lined the walkways, and soon enough Vixie and I came out of the crowd near a large, tall abandoned - though no unmaintained - building. "Right then," Vixie explained and started climbing. "Here's the old lighthouse, it's perfect for seeing the city. They never officially decommissioned it, so it's still legal to climb and properly maintained, but they never use it either." "What was the large thing they were building?" I asked, clambering onto the next ladder. "That? Oh, that was the space elevator." Vixie replied. "The ground part has been completed for three years now, we're just waiting for the rest of the nanotubes to make it into orbit and then run a kevlar cord up, follow it down with the space-grade heavy-duty nanotube cord, and then that's that." "Space?..." I was confused. "When the gods said that they were higher than mortals, you took that both figuratively and literally; they live above you and in a higher dimension. In this case, space is where they live in terms of height, but not number of dimensions. We're working on interdimensional travel, and interuniversal too, but those aren't replicatable on any sort of large scale yet." Vixie shrugged. "Either way, it's not like I care." "But you have it?" I pressed. "Dimensional travel." "Yes." She replied. "Well," I let out a short laughed. "The Civilized Nations are screwed over." "That's putting it lightly," She climbed on top of the last platform and showed me the city against the setting sun, lit up brighter than the night sky and more lively than the earth. It was beautiful. I sat there and watched the city glow with a power not even the gods had, side by side with not a dragon or monster, but a friend. END. A/N: Rushed this last bit of the arc, but school is ramping up at the end of the year so it was either fast story or incomplete story, and I chose fast story. Happy pride month, everyone, and I hope to see more of you when I have more time.
Original Prompt: [WP] For as long as all the races have known, Dragons have been seen as violent, destructive creatures. After an attack on your village, you black out and find yourself in the den of a dragon. It's rather annoyed that that is how they're seen, and wants to prove that isn't the case.
u/Lycan_Jedi thank you for the prompt!
Part 1

Part 2
If you travel far enough North on the map, well above where the Civilized Nations stop because no crops grow, you'll find a mountain range. Crossing this range leads to the Monster Kingdom, though for some reason they prefer the name 'TFSU.' Yes, they prefer. The literal forces of anarchy and chaos in the universe have a government. However, ignoring that whole thing, the Monster Kingdom is fine. No armies march on them, mostly because of supply and logistical issues. The Monsters never say how they grow their own food, but given that they don't trade and millions of kobolds worth of food don't go missing every day, it's safe to say they make their own. Now, that doesn't stop the Civilized Nations to send one hero a decade to 'keep them in check.' Four decades ago, the hero closed off a mountain pass, which was supposed to cause a massive flood. Four days later, it was cleared, and the only thing to show for it were the cities that glow like the sun at night. However, yesterday, the Hero returned having burnt one of the bigger cities down. It was empty of all monsters, but the act was the first real damage they had taken in seven hundred years, since their founding. For seven hundred years, the TFSU have taken the beating of seventy heroes and simply moved on. But now. Now, millions of kobolds make up heavy 'machinery' units that march in armored, self-moving caridges that spit fire and metal. Thousands of beastpeople make up scouting and light infantry ranks. The TFSU use hellish 'guns' that hit harder than a catapult from kilometers away, all in a single 'bullet' not the size of a human's thumb. Metal birds and dragonflies join dragons as they assault cities. We poke the very literal sleeping dragon in the eye. Yet the armies don't do much. They march for our capitals and leaders, but on the way our civilians live. Surendees live. People go about their daily lives without too much change. Of course, that fact didn't stop the front line from finally crashing over my small village, located so close to the pass for a while we thought they the monsters had bypassed us entirely. The Civilized Nations had decided to send an entire legion to prevent the Monsters from getting across a nearby canyon pass. We were hit with an air-based assault with only dragons and metal dragonflies, our balista uselessly demolished by pillars of metal and flame thrown out of the metal dragonflies. I blacked out when the legion managed to shoot enough arrows to take down one of the dragonflies. I remember it crashing down onto my house... and then nothing.
-----
The elf stirred as they woke up. I'd been raised in the Terra Firma Sapience Union, so I was... less than familiar with the clothing and lifestyle the Southerners used. The elf groaned again, before their eyes shot open and they looked around, quickly settling on my frame. "A-Are you going to kill me now?" They asked, their voice shaken with fear. I let out a laugh. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead." I decided to transmorph into my secondary form - a cat - to help the conversation go better. In a land where humans lived to forty, elves only lived to a hundred, and that meant that even I was older than this elf, and they were no older than thirty. The elf, to their credit, quickly figured out I wasn't pulling any mindgames. I'd heard tales from my relatives before the Kobolds founded the TFSU. People, especially when panicked, usual acted with more than enough stupidity to make the situation worse. "Where am I?" The elf asked. Their tone told me that they were still suspicious, but it wasn't outright denial of the situation. "My home," I answered bluntly. "Your village tried to fight our ground forces when they moved in, so most of them are currently under house arrest." Still in my cat form, I created a portal into my storage cavern and reached my arm through, while summoning a lab coat around my shoulders and glasses. It was a trick I had only learned to do recently. "Let's see..." I found the clipboard and brought it out, flipping to the elft's page and taping the pen against the paper. "You suffered a collapsed lung, severe burns on the right side of your body, three broken ribs and two fractured ones, shattered three wrist bones, three breaks in your right upper arm and another two in your lower arm, and on the left side you have another fractured rib and three broken fingers. Your left leg was shattered and your left foot was completely torn up. Healing magic stabilized you and surgery did the rest. You've been comatose for the past three days, and was brought to my home yesterday due to a surge in hospital patients from the seige of Trembolorne. "In terms of organ damage, that was also severe. A busted kidney, I already mentioned a collapsed lung, and your entire digestive system was... well, pulverized would be putting it lightly. Also, unrelated to the incident with the helicopter, you had cancer in your liver and kidney. "In terms of medical treatment, you've been given an IV line for the past couple days and several painkillers, and you underwent four separate surgeries. We reconstructed your organs, welded your bones to metal plates, and used a genetic printer to replace your skin. You're lucky to have gotten time with the genetic printer in the first place, you know; those things are expensive, and I mean expensive to run. Though it's all billed on the government anyway, but that just means that they'll only run it if they have to." The elf sat up in bed looking at me as I just stood on two paws on the cave floor. "Right, sorry, you wouldn't understand most of that." I sheepishly scratched the back of my head with my right paw. "Um... put this way, you were crushed by debris and we basically reconstructed your body before you died. So not necromancy, though you did get close to needing more advanced magical treatment." "Oh," The elf replied. The cat thing seemed to have helped, because they were no longer stuttering with their single word response. "Um... do you want anything to drink?" I tried to kickstart a conversation. "Where am I?" The elf asked again. I was silent for a second. "My home? It's right on the edge of TFSU territory, one of the southernmost places you can be while still being with the recognized borders. I chose this place because I like to fly out in the summer over the flowers in the forest at the foot of the mountains. Your village is a couple hour dragon-flight time away." "Mmmhm." The elf commented halfheartedly. "OK, um... who are you?" "My dragonic name isn't something most can pronounce, so my public name is just Vixie Remminie." I answered. "What's yours?"
The elf's eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know my name." I blinked. "Because... It's a name? I'm not a Fey, you know, it's not like I can tie ancient demons to your soul and call it a prank or something ridiculous like that. Besides, you asked for mine; now I get to ask for yours." "And who says you won't just burn my village to the ground and eat me right now!?!" The elf suddenly burst out. "You monsters ruin everything! You trespass on our land, take our resources, and kill our people! All we did was try to defend ourselv-" I cut him off, and poured just a bit of attention in giving myself an aura. Blue fire licked the bottom of my vision as I rebuttaled his point. "Don't forget, you stole the land from us. We were the ones living in the wild when you razed our forests and grew crops. We couldn't even purchase land to live on! So yes, we stole what we could to survive and those who didn't starved and died! And when all was said and done, you tried to kill us and turned it into a war, one where we had no choice but to kill you back. And when we found someplace to run, a spot to hide and do our own thing with our own land? You blistering idiots sent you 'courageous heroes' to try and kill us! What for? Nothing! Just your stupid, moronic fear making, forcing you to decide to 'kill the big thing over there!' We can't even have freaking farmland, we have to grow it all in hydroponic farms and harvest thousand-year-old vines out of caves because this is all we have!" I realized that my aura was burning fully and scorching the ground around me. I let out a long sigh, and it died down. Several memories flashed through my head, but I pushed them away. "Apologies, my parents are still a... sensitive topic for me. It would be best if we just stayed away from talking about the war until the hospital has room for more patients again." "Yeah?" The elf was still enraged. Even sitting down, they were still trying to construct an argument. "You parents who killed how many? Your family killed how many more? You dragons, you monsters are nothing more than one large grouping of murders that deserve to die! As the gods will!" The elf was spitting in rage, but I recognized his determination to hold onto his worldview. It was the one thing I needed to pry away before it got out of hand. "And you elves killed how many more?" I asked in a low voice. "Can you tell me the number of kobold dens exterminated in caves, the number of beastpeople sent to an early grave in slave camps? Because I can tell you ours. My father's was two, my mother's four, and my extended family including deceased relatives is one hundred and thirty seven. "You declared war against monsters, you child of an elf," I growled. "And death the reality of war. We know. The Unification Wars weren't fought with swords and honor. They were fought with artillery barrages and death. They were fought with miniature suns and political backstabbing, with tanks and guns and submarines and warships and all the more death. "You say the gods don't like us! That's put lightly. They forsook us! Abandoned us in our hour of need. So we learned to live without them. There are no gods we pray to anymore, elfling. Only each other, our creations, and the universe itself. They don't want us, we don't need them. It's more than they deserve." My aura was once again charring the floor and I had transformed back into my dragon form, but this time I refused to cool it down. "You call us creations of death, the primal forces of anarchy? We are you. You are us. We are sapient, we are all mortals, no matter our advantages. We are bound to this dimensional plane, forced to serve our betters, and live out our lives not with earnest but with trepredition for when it ends. We are all death incarnate, because we can all die. That is just the way it is. Besides, you've wondered about my kill count; tell me, can you tell me the gods'? Can you tell me how many souls they have cut from fate for their own entertainment? No? I can tell you." I growled, moving closer until the blue flames enveloping my body threatened to light the elf's cot on fire. "More people than are alive on this planet right now." I pulled back, bottling up my aura and reverting to my cat form. "We can talk all we want about death and destruction, and I won't lie and say you aren't victims of the war; pre-unification dragons we're exactly kind and merciful to those with treasure hoards. But perhaps, I implore you to consider that maybe we both are victims of the war, and maybe we can one day work together instead of fighting each other. "Maybe, one day, we can fight for our rights against the gods." I moved into my dragon form and darted deeper into my cave, moving so fast I could hear the howl of the wind against my ears. Only when I had reached my memorial wall for my parents did I stop and take a breath and think over my conversation with the elf. We had a long way to go, but I hoped I had put a little bit of sense into him. I hoped that the world could change.
-----
When the dragon cat thing sped away, I took a moment to survey my surroundings. Only now did the effects of my first question hit my formerly-groggy head. "My home." He said. Dragons live in caves. Oooooh. I'm screwed. However, there were no treasure hoards visible from my perspective; then again, while the Monsters were stupid, they still had brains to them, and carrying me into a treasure room would probably be something they'd be able to tell was a bad idea. Pops said never underestimate you foe, A voice in the back of my head said, and the dragon even launched in a full conversation with you. You're selling the dragon very, very shor- Shut up I growled internally to the treacherous voice in my head. The cave itself was... a cave. There was a metal slab on one end, it went deeper in the other, and that was that. In a 'corner' of the jagged room there were a number of red, glowing rods attached to some kind of giant mechanism three elfs wide and six deep, but the rods glowed against the cave's light- What light source? My eyes darted around looking for one. Only now was I aware of how unnatural each shadow was, how awkward each shining rock looked, how each stalagmite could hide an entire dragon, and that was before they started transfiguring into cats. How bright the ceiling- I looked up. The bright light burned my eyes, but I needed to know what fiendish magic was in play so I could counter it. But the light didn't flicker like fire - they were far too bright for that anyway - but they also didn't have the magical circles surrounding each spell. They were... lights. As if the universe simply willed brightness into existence. Each far-too-bright-hurts-to-look-ats was placed along a main hallway clear of stalagmites running from the metal slab deeper and around a corner where I couldn't see. The lights were only poised above this one hall, and they just... shone one the rest of the cave. Looking closer, I could see thin black lines, too thin to be mana feeds, running along the walls to both the glowing red rods and to the so-shiny-the-lit-up-the-cave. And... that was that. There was no massive pile of treasure in the hall, though I suspected the dragon kept their hoard deeper than... wherever I was. There was no pile of skull trophies or the banner of cities and armies slain, and I noted that while he had told me his parents', the dragon had never told me his own. Then again, the cat thing could be lying. Dragon transfigured into a cat. Probably has Circle Of Truth around his entire den. Nonsense, dragons can only do elemental magic. Evidently not. Would you just shut up already? No- I moved my attention back to the metal slab, cutting off whatever the voice in my head had to say about my current situation; it wasn't every day one just got kidnapped by a nation of monsters, after all. The slab was truly elegant. It was painted with the monster language, and then was painted with some kind of mural. I could barely make out a blue circle with green splotches on it surrounded by twelve rings in the bottom corner because most of the door was taken up by a ice-blue cat with lighter strips engulfed in blue fire. It was a mural of the dragon cat thing. That didn't stop it from being pretty, and someone had obviously put a lot of effort into it. The flames looked realistic from what I had seen minutes ago, and the cat's details were perfectly engraved. It was... acurrate. Yeah, because I think Vixie was just trying to tell you that they built their civilization for a reason, and it wasn't carnage. You don't know what you're talking about. We both know I do. How else to you think- Listen to me, you treasonous voice of a- No, you listen to me, you pathetic excuse for a brain. The dragon was able to hold and win an argument with you, fixed your wounds that would've been a dead write-off for any other hospital, and then you think SHE barely meets the threshold for sapient? THE ABSOLUTE MORON I'M ARGUING WITH IS THE ONE YOU BARELY MEETS IT!!! You moved to your frontier village because the world was changing, Lazerot the Sixth. Congrats, you were right. It did change. Now shut your OVERSIZED EGO up at being bested by a creature ten times older than you, and go appologies before they decide that saving your life wasn't worth it. I... I... OK- No. I'm in control now. Shut up. I....... yes, sir. Good. With new resolve, I stood up. My head throbbed, and the next thing I knew was my face hitting my cot again.
-----
When I heard the thud of something falling in the entrance cave, I carefully moved back into the entrance cave. The elf was face-down in their cot, unconscious again. It looked like they had tried to stand and just.... fallen over. I sighed and used a claw to nudge the elf back onto his pillow, and then covered him with a blanket. I watched him for a minute, and then returned to the deeper parts of my home. The TFSU was completely overloaded with the number of patients needing treatment. Apparently, the Southener's hospitals just... didn't do anything, so in addition to soldiers, there was a massive influx of civilians to our hospitals too. Of course, this meant that they were absolutely overloaded, and the Civilized Nations strategy of fighting to near-death and then surrendering wasn't helping. So, stable recovering civilians like the elf were just... shipped out. When shelters filled up because the Civilized Nations overpopulation crisis was too bad to do anything, people just had to take them into their homes. Long story short, the government was in way over their head attempting upgrade the standard of care in the Civilized Nations while occupying their territory. My job so close to the border was remote infrastructure maintenance, and my ability to change size while not dissolving made me an expert at it - and that was before my two hundred years of experience. And then I didn't need a vehicle to get on-site, and was fast. The alarm pinging me that one of the space radars was down again gave me an excuse to avoid the elf and do some work. I grabbed a pack of supplies, put on my shapeshift-compatible uniform, and wrote down a note on a piece of paper. On my out past the sleeping elf, I dropped it for him.

Space radar system needs repair, as it's returning a false positive. It's my job to repair all the infrastructure around here, so I need to go fix it. I'll be back soon. If you're hungry, my pantry is the first cave on the right. You can just eat anything that's easily open-able in there. If it has a lock or airtight opening mechanism (anything more than a clip, really) then don't eat it. If your thirsty, there's a stream in the entrance cave near the heaters. When the door mechanism beeps, step back. Sometimes pressure in the cave can get a bit wonky, and I don't want you to get hurt. Other than that, feel free to explore. I've locked all the doors to the rooms I don't want you to enter. For toilet necessities, the second cave on the left has a properly-sized toilet. And running water, but stuff I can explain later means don't drink it. See you soon! - Vixie.

Satisfied, I left opened the door. There was a puff as the air from inside flowed out to the lower-pressure atmosphere. I could spot a snow squall to the north, and the pressure meant that it was probably coming my way. I moved out onto the ledge and closed the door behind me. At high altitudes this far north, the air was already near-zero and it was still five in the afternoon. I took just a second to confirm with the weather report that the snowstorm was in fact going to arrive on my doorledge using a smartwatch I had strapped around my wrist. When I found that the storm was coming, I opened my wings and flew. Being an Ice Dragon had its advantages, but being a Water-Ice Combined Dragon was much better. The frosty air curled around my wings as the freedom of ignoring gravity filled my brain. Ice and Water dragons both had large wings to deal with the cold air (and lower pressure leading to the requirement for more surface area to achieve the same amount of lift) and incompressable water physics (to let the wings act like a one-way fan blade as they move back and forth, increasing efficient). Dragons might be magestic creatures, but we were still bound to the physics of the mortal plane, after all. Being part of both, my wings were even bigger, making me one of the best high-altitude fliers on the planet. The ability to use both gills and lungs at said altitudes helped with oxygen also helped. Air Dragons were better at flying in normal air, but I liked to think of it like stats from a video game. Air Dragons min-maxed their stats for low-altitude, but I could go anywhere - even underwater - can keep my speed relatively high. I took full advantage of this on my way to the space radar, soaring well above the cloud ceiling and to the point where I could make out the curvature of the planet below me. The ocean spread out to my west, while more land was to my east. Snow covered the north as to the south was the telltale splotchy color of industrialism. My smartwatch beeped, as I crossed the normal altitude limit. I hadn't realized I'd gone so high; I had a radar to repair, after all. I dove down towards the surface, ignoring more beeps as I crossed half the way to the speed of sound. The wind howled angrily in my ears, but I flattened those (thank you, streamlined water genetics) and came out of my death dive right over the radar. The repair itself went relativity smoothly, though I couldn't find a broken component and chalked it up to more space anomalies. They weren't infrequent, and usually marked where the gods decided to look over the planet. For my radars, anyway. Further north, ignoring the north pole, almost no gods came out and wanted to deal with us. Our unspoken agreement was held that way. I flew straight back for my return journey. The storm was definitely closer, but fifteen minutes of flying later and I was entering the opening mechanism for my door. As it swung inwards, I heard the high-pitched scream of an elf.
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When I awoke, I found myself tucked into some covers. It took all of seven seconds for reality to catch up with me. Right. I got into a heated argument with a dragon. I instinctively touched the part of my face that had been closest to the dragon's flame. I'd read about Auras in books, but never thought I'd get to see one. They were only ever found in the most powerful and competent individuals of a race in an entire plan of existence. I wondered which skill gave the dragon hers - Vixie, I reminded myself. Either way, given that Auras are technically illusions, I wasn't hurt. The flames didn't get close enough to hurt anyway, but that didn't stop me from checking. This time, I was much more careful when I stood up. I sat up first, then started to kick my legs back and forth. That's when I spotted a paper on the other side of my cot. I stood up without thinking, but managed to keep my consciousness this time and moved towards the note. It was handwritten and contained a lot of jargon that I wasn't familiar with. Space. Radar. False positive. Airtight opening mechanism. Heater. Beep. Pressure. Toilet. Running water. I could deduce some of it. A message had come in requesting the services of the local dragon to repair a thing that has an issue, and that she would return shortly. I could wander around as I pleased, besides eating food that wasn't open or contained in a clip bag. From the tone of the message, I could deduce what a 'toilet' was. The heaters would logically be things that produced heat, so all I had to do was look for those. I wasn't able to tell time, but I supposed at this point it didn't matter. I moved over deeper into the cave, and quickly heard the sound of a stream. It led directly into a forest of stalagmites. After clambering over those, the temperature started to increase, which was all I needed to know that I was getting a drink of water. I was only now catching up to the fact that I had been out for three days, and that meant that I was extremely thirsty. I wasn't sure how I wasn't dead of dehydration at this point. I found the stream next to the glowing metal rods, and with it a clear path to my location. Sighing slightly at the wasted effort on climbing through Rock Forest, I snatched an undersized cup off a rack built into a nearby jut in the cave wall and filled it, before entering the bliss of fresh water. Back in the village, we had some of the best and cleanest water in all the land thanks to snow melt, but this took that to a new level. Cold, crisp water melted in the sun only minutes ago. It was... pure. I spent the next couple minutes simply drinking and processing everything over in my mind. The gods might have willed the monster dead, but if even the monster gods had abandoned them and survived... then how come the Pantheon never told us? Religious issues aside, there were more practical issues regarding my own survival. How did I get out. There was a thud at the metal slab, and I moved back towards it, leaving my cup to dry on the rack I pulled it from. The engraving of the cat on the metal slab was- BEEEP! What was that sound? There was a hiss, and the slab started to peel away. A gust of frigid cold air washed over me as a mage Ice-Water hybrid Aura-capable dragon that I had argued with stared me down. I did the instinctive thing and let out the scream of a human three year old, squeezing my eyes shut and waiting for the final blow. When the end of my life didn't arrive, I reopened my eyes to find the sky-blue cat standing in the hole where the metal slab was supposed to be. Then there was another... sound, and the metal slab started to move back into position. The cat was surprised for a single moment before simply charging the door and jumping through, skidding to a halt right in front of me. Which meant that I got a closer look at her. Ocean-blue strips crossed an ice-blue body fur in a fifty-fifty ratio. Small crystals of ice twinkled, floating here her wings would be. One tail was accompanied by two more made of pure blue-white energy, and the cat even had a halo. Six orbs of blue-white light hovered in lazy circles around her back, and even in a diminutive form the size of a cat the being radiated the power of an aura-capable creature. "Oh, right, sorry," Vixie said, and all the ethirial energy disappeared. Now that I knew what I was looking for, however, I could just barely tell, using my power as a mage, that Vixie was using illusion magic to hide her true energy. "You don't need to hide your reserves," I said. "Though if you're shapeshifting into forms so small that you need to expose yours, then you should just burn yours instead. It's not worth the trouble of people bottling yours." Vixie gave some kind of half-shrug. "They're not reserves, no." She said, emphasizing the word. I looked at Vixie with a sharp look, and for a second I forgot I was talking to a dragon. "Then what are they?" "They're..." The cat blushed, something I wasn't even aware was possible. She let the illusion fall away, and the tails, crystals, orbs and halo returned. "They're my regenerative baseline minimum." I looked her up and down for a second, dumbstruck. She really is a creature of power, huh? "Um.... uh..." I stuttered. "Is... that where you get your aura from?" I asked. Vixie closed her eyes with an expression on her face, and this time green flame started to peel off her. "Part of it, yeah." To control an aura like that... two auras. Just how powerful is she? I was so deep in thought that I didn't realize that the expression on her face was pain. "I... uh... what happened?" I asked, shellshocked. "Why aren't you fighting in the war?" The worldwide-powerful dragon masquerading as a cat sighed. "I... haven't told anyone. It's... personal." "I..." Only now did it hit me that I was talking with a dragon, not another person. Not just a monster, but a... creature with emotions. "You don't have to tell me." I quickly backtracked. "No, no, it's a fair question. It..." The cat let out a chuckle, and it filled the cave with a beautiful sound. "I suppose it's kind of ironic... but it starts with a kobold and a god, back when the Firma kobold tribe decided to travel north to escape the civilized nations, shortly before the amassing of all creatures in these same northern mountains and the Unification War. "Back before the gods forsook us."
Original Prompt: [WP] For as long as all the races have known, Dragons have been seen as violent, destructive creatures. After an attack on your village, you black out and find yourself in the den of a dragon. It's rather annoyed that that is how they're seen, and wants to prove that isn't the case.
u/Lycan_Jedi thank you for the prompt!
Part 2

Is there any way to customize the 1 line display for 3D pipe fittings?
In plan view, I’d like my pipe p-traps to show up as the standard symbol (a circle with a tangent semi circle), not as a rise symbol.
However, I see no way of editing any fitting’s 1 line or plan display. I attempted to create a custom rise/drop style, but for some reason the program is bringing in the referenced blocks in isometric views.
Does anyone have any ideas or tips? There’s such a limited amount of tutorials for MEP that it’s getting frustrating figuring out all my issues through trial and error.

Hello everyone, I'm using SmartSheet to create a customer questionnaire. I would like to ask a few questions, and use the answers at a later time. For example:
[dropdown] What kind of pet do you have? -> Possible answers:
Cat
Dog
[dropdown] Do you live in a house or an apartment? -> Possible answers:
House
Apartment
If Cat AND House then ->
[Display header]: "Get product A"
If Cat and Apartment ->
[Display header]: "Get product B"
If Dog and House ->
... etc.
Any ideas how to do this?
THANKS ahed of time!

Hey there, readers! Here's chapter five for your reading pleasure! Please consider leaving a comment or review as those really do just pick me right up!
I've Been Reincarnated as a Bunny Girl?! (Chapter 5)
by
ShadowDragon88
A fine drizzle was coming down on the town of Starlight Rose. A familiar wolf-kin beasta in red robes that appeared to be shimmering despite the cloudy gloom of the day was walking along the main road. In his right hand, he held a long polished oak staff, topped with a red glowing gemstone the size of his fist. In his left hand, held away from his body, was a tan leather satchel, the drawstring tied in a knot. It appeared full, and seemed to shudder and wriggle. Felixin smiled and nodded to passing villagers.
​
"Hey there, Felixin," came the rumbling voice of Earl Shatterknuckle. The blonde dwarf, presently wearing just simple brown leather trousers, fell in step beside his taller friend. Felixin looked down at the dwarf, whose smaller frame was bulging with muscles, with blue and gold glowing tattoos tracing intricate spider-web-like symbols across his chest and arms, smiling back.
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"Good day to you, Earl," the wolf said. There was a spitting-chittering sound coming from the bag, making Felixin pause and frown before giving the satchel a good whack with his magical staff. "Quiet, you!" he hissed at it.
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"Caught yourself another evil spirit, eh?" Earl said with a smirk.
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"Oh yes, and this one was quite the nasty piece of work. I'm on my way back to my lab to properly dispose of it. I think it's from some destroyed remnant of Eld technology, one of the ones that gained sentience, or at least some spiritual semblance to it," Felixin said as he gave the bag another whack when it started to make some electronic beeping sounds.
​
"Oh?" Earl asked, curious. "I remember more than once we had some nasty run-ins with Eld-tech back when we were adventurers."
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"I remember you and Melthi being the ones to turn the blasted machines on, both times when cautioned not to," Felixin said pointedly, making the dwarf chuckle.
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"What can I say? We're both curious by nature!"
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"Yes, that's one word for it," Felixin said with a smile, remembering his adventuring days and the party of friends he would regularly travel with. "Anyways. For some reason, about six years ago, they suddenly became much more prevalent. Thankfully, their numbers have been dropping back down over the years."
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"What makes you think this one is from Eld tech?"
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"It kept saying 'Does not compute!' over and over again, while also identifying some kind of rabbit threat." Felixin's mood seemed to shift and his ears laid back on his head, while his tail dipped, almost long enough to drag on the ground behind him. "And when it mentioned rabbits, it made me think of my little princess."
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Earl rolled his eyes as he reached up and clapped the town wizard on the back. "Ah, Kiana'll be back to visit before you know it."
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"I know... it's just, one minute she was this little delicate baby girl, and the next minute, she was this amazing young woman, all ready to up and go out."
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"Didn't Kiana kick down a couple of brick walls when she was a baby?" Earl asked, scratching his head. Felixin waved a dismissive paw at that.
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"Pure coincidences. Those walls were clearly unsound and improperly constructed, so much so that when she was having one of her tantrums just a little punch or kick was enough to send them tumbling down. We're lucky she wasn't hurt or scared, just confused and curious more than anything. Anyways, I just get so worried when I think of her, out there on the open road. Just so... vulnerable. Thankfully I made sure to instill in her a proper sense of caution." Earl snorted at that.
​
Meanwhile...
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Kiana let out a roar of fury as her trusted tetsubo connected with the raised steel shield of the bandit before her. The metal dented and warped just as the bandit, shield and all, became airborne. They traveled in an arc straight towards a stone tower connected to an old run-down fort the bandits had holed up in. The screaming man smashed into the top of the tower, crumbling it, his screams instantly going silent.
​
"Fire!" Kiana heard a deep voice shout. There were several blasts and, thanks to Kiana's speed, she watched as five cannonballs headed in her direction. To the ordinary person, the black metallic spheres were probably nearly impossible to follow. To Kiana, it looked as though they were moving incredibly slow. She simply stepped aside from four of them, letting them explode into the nearby hillside. As the fifth one hurtled her way, she crouched slightly, raising her tetsubo like a baseball bat. She swung and smacked the cannonball, her tetsubo making a loud DING, and sent it flying right back where it had come from. The two bandits manning the cannon were obliterated along with the weapon itself, as well as a good chunk of the fort wall.
​
"She's some kind of demon!" one of the bandits cried. The man, really more of a boy, no older than Kiana, leapt down from the fort wall onto a carriage they had recently stolen from some traveling aristocrats. He then leapt onto the ground and sprinted out into the forest, stripping off the black cloak with the red eye in the center.
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"DAMMIT!" the bandit leader cursed, pulling off his tricorn hat and dabbing his bald sweaty head with a handkerchief. While the remaining men were busy barring the windows or reloading and firing the cannons, he was gnashing his teeth. After a moment's hesitation, he pointed to a nearby subordinate. "You! Follow me. We'll unleash the troll on her."
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The other bandit paled, audibly gulping. "Th-the troll? Are you sure th-that's wise?" Just as he finished asking that, another cannonball destroyed another cannon, making the entire structure shudder.
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"We don't have any other options. Hopefully, after it kills her, it'll be injured enough for us to finish it off... or the other way around if she kills it." The other bandit grimaced at the options laid before them, but nodded solemnly. Outside, Kiana smacked another cannonball back at the cannon that fired it, being careful not to send it flying towards the base of the tower. According to one of the kidnapped merchants that had managed to escape and make it all the way to town, the cells where the bandits were holding their ransom victims were all on the ground floor. Kiana stopped when she heard a loud guttural roar, followed by a rapid series of loud BOOMs. Bandits ran by the windows and open holes of the fort, while the front gate slowly opened.
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Out stumbled a massive creature. Its flesh was a dark brown, and had a texture not unlike tree bark. Its long arms and legs were thicker than the old oak trees in the forest near Starlight Rose. Its gnarled hands, with thick thorn-like protrusions sticking from the knuckles, balled into fists, fists that were as big as Kiana was tall. Its barrel-chest heaved, with white criss-crossing scars in its bark-flesh. It didn't have much in the way of a neck, and its head looked just like a tree stump, complete with root-like tendrils wriggling back and forth. It's mouth was partially concealed by the tendrils, until it reared back and opened its gaping maw, revealing rows of broken yellow teeth, to let out a bellow that shook the ground. From the top of its head grew two slightly spiraling branch-like horns.
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"These idiots somehow managed to get a forest troll?" Kiana asked out loud, a smirk appearing on her face. "And this was only a gold-ranked quest? Something tells me I'm in for a sweet bonus."
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The beast stopped as its knot-like eyes, of which there were at least seven, caught sight of the bunny girl. Up above from the second story windows and holes and from on the roof, the remaining bandits, many of them injured, looked down. Most were smirking, some of the more foolish ones shouted out taunts. The bandit leader stood there, looking grim-faced, but taking some satisfaction in knowing that despite their losses today, the annoying source of their problems was about to end, one way or another.
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Kiana stuck the end of her tetsubo into the dirt, large and surprisingly quick thudding steps shaking the ground. The beast was lumbering towards Kiana, who didn't look the least bit afraid. While not intelligent enough to be truly sentient, the troll did have enough sense to know that its prey should be running. And the fact that it was just calmly standing there, staring at it, only angered it further. With a final roar, the forest troll charged forward. It balled up a massive fist, and swung straight for Kiana. Kiana swung her own fist, the two colliding.
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There was a very loud, sickening crunch and pop. The bandits looked down in shock and horror as where the now screaming troll's fist and forearm had been, there was a bloody and jagged stump that ended just above the right elbow. The troll screeched and lunged at Kiana, hoping to impale her on its horns. But the bunny girl simply kicked, knocking the head clean off the rest of its body. The head bounced off a tree and rolled for a bit, settling in the dirt, a look of surprise on the stump-like face. The rest of the body tumbled over three times before coming to a rest near the make-shift stables, where the carriages and horses of the abducted nobles were kept. Kiana looked back up at the fort, making the majority of the bandits shrink back and shudder. A few of them began to wave white tablecloths hastily tied to sticks and tree branches.
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A short time later the bandits, now in shackles, were being marched to the mechanical cart as the local sheriff and his deputies led them. Except for the severely injured ones, who were shackled to stretchers and loaded up into a seperate mechanical carriage. Kiana looked on as bodies were checked for possible survivors, there being very few to find, as the merchants and a few nobles were led by deputies out from the fort. Kiana smiled at them and nodded to their looks of awe, some of them having gotten a good look at the show of force the petite bunny girl had demonstrated. Ignoring the ones who shrank back away from her in fright, Kiana spotted the sheriff, a large older man in his mid-fifties with salt and pepper close-cropped hair and a matching mustache. He was wearing the classic green cloak, directing his deputies. He turned to face her as she approached.
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"I think that's all cleared up," Kiana said, her voice chipper, belaying the fact she had a smattering of blood and gore staining her fur.
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"I'd have to agree with you, young lady," Sheriff Tonsol said, his voice even. In truth, he had tried to avoid enlisting the aid of any adventurers until pressure from various merchants and nobility forced his hand. And even then he had expected it to involve a large party and, more than likely, some lives lost from the hostages. He was a little surprised when the girl reached into her satchel to produce a clipboard with a form on it, as well as an ink pen.
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"In that case, would you mind signing this form indicating that I completed the job satisfactorily?" Tonsol looked at the form for a minute, and then his mouth curved upwards. He let out a chuckle and signed his name on the indicated line, writing in the date as well.
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"Satisfactorily is putting it lightly, miss," he said, handing the clipboard and pen back to the bunny girl. "I had no idea that they had a forest troll in their possession. I went ahead and bumped up the reward."
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"Oh wow, thank you, sir!" Kiana said, looking excited.
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Tonsol smiled, something his deputies claimed to be a rare sight to behold. "Well, you earned it. I'm just glad you were able to get them to surrender without harming any hostages. Well, without them harming any more than the ones they did last time someone came out here to free them."
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"I'm glad I could help!" Kiana said, bowing a little. "Now, I'm going to head back into town." She spread her arms wide and indicated to herself. "I'm really in need of a bath at this point."
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"If you don't mind waiting a minute, you can ride back to town with us. It's faster than walking."
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"Oh, thanks for the offer, but I'm good." Kiana waved, before jogging back to where she'd left her tetsubo and pack, Mirabelle coiled around it protectively. She grabbed the items up, quickly looking through the travel pack to make sure she still had everything, and nodded to herself, satisfied. She slipped the pack onto her back, then scooped her pet snake into her arms, and started to jog down the road in the direction of the town of Hengecliffe. Picking up speed, she rapidly became a blur, and in just a few seconds she was coming to a sliding stop in front of the town gates, startling a couple of bored-looking guards.
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She greeted them and let Mirabelle down before they let her inside. They stared at the snake with the big pink ribbon around its neck slithering obediently behind the bunny girl. She stopped off at the local guild hall to drop off the signed paperwork and collect her now even heftier reward. She noticed a few stares in her general direction, and some unhappy grumbling from some fellow adventurers, but otherwise no one said anything.
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Kiana then headed to the town inn where she still had a room for another night. Thankful again that this world had indoor plumbing, with hot water to boot, Kiana wasted no time in stripping off her gore-coated clothes, which she would wash in the laundry room down the hall, and enjoyed a nice steamy shower. She didn't have to worry about possible intruders, as Mirabelle sat coiled on the bed, ever vigilant.
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"Today was a good day," Kiana said, stepping out of the shower and drying herself off, a feat that took several minutes with a towel. This left her gray and white fur all fluffed-out, which led to her brushing it out. Kiana had grown accustomed to the care and maintenance of her fur, taking pride in keeping it clean. She then donned her underwear and a cream-colored sundress from her pack, carefully putting her dirty clothes in the laundry sack in her pack. She smiled and stroked Mirabelle's head, the snake letting out a contented purr-like hiss.
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"I'm going to go out and enjoy the rest of the afternoon in town. You stay here and guard the pack, okay?" she asked, slipping her mithril knuckles into her dress pockets, along with a small money pouch. Mirabelle hissed, thumping her tail on the bed in response, curling up tighter around Kiana's belongings.
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"Good girl," she praised, before heading out, locking the door behind herself for good measure. Kiana smiled as she stepped out onto the paved sidewalk, carriages passing by on the street. Hengecliffe was much larger than Starlight Rose, with paved streets and even streetlights. Centrally located in a region of plains, it served as a trading hub. Kiana walked along, noticing a few men and women looking her over. Some seemed to do so with distaste, more than likely not enjoying the sight of a beasta. But most seemed to be pleasant people observing a new face.
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"Well now, if my eyes are not deceiving me, it seems that an angel from the heavens has decided to grace us mere mortals with her presence." Kiana's ears twitched at the sound of the male voice. She paused and turned, looking down an alley, where a man leaning up against the side of a building stood, looking her over. He was wearing brown leather trousers, a white linen shirt, and a belt with a large buckle which, matching the large buckles on his boots, made him look a bit like a pirate. The goatee and the cutlass sheathed at his side were also not helping.
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"Hello, beautiful," he said, giving Kiana a wink. Kiana rolled her eyes, and moved to keep walking, only to find a squat bald man standing in her way, grinning sinisterly. Kiana checked behind herself and saw another man, a larger one with a completely shaved head, arms crossed with a club under one arm. "Now, how about we all go somewhere more... private," the pirate-looking moron asked, giving Kiana a smug wink.
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"Wow, you idiots have no idea just how badly you messed up," Kiana said, walking into the alley, the two guys following right behind her. The men chuckled. Passersby stopped when they heard three loud thuds coming from the alley, all of which made the nearby buildings shudder. They saw a bunny beasta girl walking out, brushing some dust off her sundress. She smiled and waved and continued on her way, leaving behind three broken figures. Two were lying in craters in the pavement of the alley, while the third, this one with a cutlass laying at his booted feet, was standing... his head laying all the way back in a hole in the brick wall right behind him.
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Later that evening...
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Kiana was sitting just outside the town walls on a hill, watching the stars come out. After sixteen years, it still mystified her to look up at the night sky, and not see any of the old constellations. She smiled as a shooting star streaked its way across the sky. Suddenly, Kiana felt a surge of energy just course through her. Her eyes faintly started to glow with the blue light, and she felt a strange pulsing in her chest. Looking around, she felt a strange magnetic pull coming from the south.
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Starting as a jog, Kiana soon found herself sprinting outright across the countryside. She ran, as a blur, following the pull, her eyes gradually glowing brighter and brighter, shining with the crackling blue energy. Then, she came to a stop. She stood at the foot of a mountain, itself part of a larger range. Looking up at the mass of rock and ice, she could see broiling clouds up over it, flashes of lightning briefly illuminating the rocky and snowy peaks. With one such flash, Kiana saw something move. Something big. Kiana's glowing eyes went wide.
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"Oh wooooooooow," she said, her jaw hanging open. There were rumbles as the giant coiled mass shifted. Several avalanches were caused by the serpentine body, buried under tons and tons of snow. At the very peak of the mountain, a gargantuan head rose.
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"Is that a giant... cobra?" Kiana asked under her breath. Indeed, that was what the creature that seemed to dwarf the Spire appeared to be. In the light of the lightning, she saw that its scales were a deep blue, almost purple. There were stripes running down its back, but they were glowing a bright bioluminescent blue. That same glow radiated from the creature's reptilian eyes, and the inside of its hood. The same glowing blue as Kiana's eyes.
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"What... are you?" Kiana asked, quietly.
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I can ask the same of you, little one, a deep female voice hissed in Kiana's head. She winced and looked around. She then looked back up at the creature, her veins flooded with adrenaline. There was another flash of lightning, and in that very instant, the creature's head was bent down low, right in front of her. Kiana almost jumped back, but stopped herself. As the snake-entity looked her over with an eye that was twice as tall as she was, Kiana felt a sense of calm overtake her.
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"Are you... a storm dragon? A real storm dragon?" Kiana asked, reaching out and touching the creature's cheek with her hand. It flicked out a blood red tongue, its mouth curling up a little at the corners.
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That is something that little ones like to call my kind, she said. Kiana figured right then and there that this was a female.
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"A monk said that... my spirit is like one of yours," Kiana said, breathlessly.
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Your soulsong feels similar to one of our kind, little one, she said, turning her head and gently nuzzling the top of Kiana's head, making her ears lay flat. The storm dragon's head was almost as large as the entirety of her hometown.
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"My... soulsong?" Kiana asked. The monk she had met hadn't said anything about them.
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The song of your innermost being. It stands out from the loud and noisy cacophony that happens when most little ones gather together in large groups. Yours is beautiful, and a little... fluttery. The dragon gave her a wink. She reared up and opened her mouth. Electricity danced between the dragon's fangs, before she shot out a sonic boom. The raging storm above abated, the clouds dispersing, leaving only a crystal clear night sky for miles and miles around. She then turned and looked down at Kiana. The bunny girl felt the storm dragon's gaze. She felt a radiating warmth coming from her. It reminded Kiana of her mother.
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It was so nice to meet you, little one. It was quite the pleasant surprise to awaken to. She let out a proud roar, and her body began to undulate. Sections of the mountain range began to crumble as large sections of mountain were crushed and smashed by the body slamming into them. The body of the dragon rose into the air, beginning to gracefully slither about. Levitating there, partially coiled, the sheer size of the storm dragon just boggled the bunny girl's mind.
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"Will I see you again?" Kiana asked, feeling a little sad. She had just met this beautiful and amazing being, and already they were leaving.
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Of course, little one, the mental voice in her mind chuckled warmly. I have listened to your beautiful soulsong, and I have shared my soulsong with you.
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"I... I don't understand what that means," Kiana said, confused.
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You will, little one, she said, you are still young, but my soulsong has resonated within you. When you stop and listen, it will become easier and easier to hear it. And thus, the bond has begun to form. In time, you shall understand. With a flick of the creature's tail, there was a flash of lightning that radiated from within the hood, and she was gone. Kiana stood there, her eyes readjusting to the dark.
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"This world is so awesome," she said, a smile on her face, as she began to job back towards town. She figured that if the town gates were closed and locked, she could just jump over the wall.
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Meanwhile...
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The lone figure stood in the dark, staring at where the great serpent had been levitating. They were sitting on a log in a small clearing, where they had set up camp. The individual in question was polishing their armor when a gray blur had shot right past them. And then, where it had been heading, the giant serpent, an actual storm dragon, arose. They sat there in stunned silence. They knew right then and there, that it had been a sign from the gods. As they unsheathed their katana, it began to thrum with magical energy, the blade becoming engulfed in bright purple flames.
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The light of the purple flames illuminated his green face, glinting off his polished tusks. "Soon, the war shall begin," said the orc, sheathing the blade and cutting off its purple light. The same purple light shone from his eyes.
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Name: Kiana
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Species: Beasta (Rabbit-Kin)
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Age: 16
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Skills: Sibling Wrangler, Babysitter, Puppy-Dog Eyes, Master Martial Arts, Brawling, Heavy Weapon Proficiency, Sarcasm Mastery, Eyerolling Mastery, Beast Taming Level 3
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Class: (Official) Master-Level Dragon Monk: Storm Dragon School, Storm Dragon Hatchling.
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Str: 141
Int: 12
Dex: 140
Cha: 12
Wis: 10
Con: 172
Languages: Common, Draconic
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Equipment: Adventurer's Pack, Steelwood Tetsubo, Mastercraft Mithril Knuckles (x2), Rope (25 Ft.), Canteen (Full), Road Rations, Spare Clothes, Bedroll, Health Potion (x2), Books (x3)
I really hope that you enjoyed the new chapter! Thank you for reading so far!
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I'm not even sure where to begin, I'm deeply hurt by my mom's actions and words. She's spiraled into someone I cannot even recognize and I feel like I've lost her-even though she's still alive. I'm sorry for this being such a long rant. Our situation has not been the best in the last 3-4 years. We've been financially struggling, yet every time we're close to getting caught up, my mom decides to take a trip or impulsively spends her money. I won't lie, my family isn't the most financially literate, but they're all hard workers.
To start, in 2020, when lockdown happened, my mother reconnected with one of her old friends in another country. Eventually, she broke the news to my little sister, (we'll call her B) and I that she was in a new relationship, (V). This was a shocker for both of us, but we were happy for her because her previous relationship was rather toxic for my mother and was consistently on and off for years. The first time she left B and I, was later in 2020 when COVID was still at peak, we were both 13 and 16. At first it was supposed to be two weeks, then she extended her stay to a month, then to two months.
When my mom had left, my grandma was in charge of B and I. My grandma blocked my mother the moment she landed, she was convinced my mother was lying to her because grandma was getting notifications that the account password was trying to be changed in 3 places within the country my mother was going to. At this point, things were already tense, because B was already feeling like mom was invalidating her and still treating her like a child, even though she was turning into a teen. My mom made excuses to her staying longer by saying how there were storms and that, "she couldn't know him in just 2 weeks".
Mom and Grandma have never had a very stable relationship. They've both done hurt to each other that I hope they can get therapy. One thing my mom said to grandma is "Oh you're so hard to deal with even your husband finds you impossible". My grandpa hasn't talked to my mom since and can't stand the way she talks to grandma. Plus, mom has a tendency to lie, or as she puts it "keep people out her business", will say something completely off about the situation or leave out extremely important details. My mom would have me log in to some of her accounts while she was away and would have me submit a form almost every week for her relief or something of the sorts. Turns out, she was using it for her trip and asked me for her certificates and important papers to send to her friend who was going to send it to my mother. My mother was planning on marrying the guy without saying anything to B and I.
She even told my dad we needed groceries and would have him send 200 a week. I spoke to my dad and told him we don't go every week and that mom was out the country. Obviously, dad wasn't aware and was rightfully upset with her. He was sending money for B and I, while my mom was out probably using it for her trip. B and I had no idea he was sending money to her. Mom was outraged and told me she wasn't lying and just with holding information. My dad confronted mom over the phone, telling her how she should've told him. How concerned he was for our safety, which is valid. My mom calls me back and claimed my grandma was brainwashing me and how I was ruining her friendship with dad. She told me to call my dad and tell him we were okay. She told me how she deserved a vacation and to not get frustrated with her.
Like I mentioned before, my mom refused to treat my sister like a teenager, refused to let her watch age appropriate shows and just treated her like she was 6. My grandma, B, and I, all like watching crime. Mom hated when B would watch and told her, "I don't want you to be what OP is and I don't want you to be lost like her and how she is". I was 5 months into therapy around this time, I wanted to get help and get better. I cried when I saw the messages. Not even two weeks later mom came back. B and I didn't greet her, to which she said, "You girls are so ungrateful", slammed her door and didn't talk to us.
I love my mom, I wanted to have a good relationship with her and took it upon myself to do damage control. We "cleared" things up through our talk. Except she talked to where it would be in her favor and play her as the victim. Things were good for the next two months until she decided to go back again. This time she would be marrying V, her new man. Before my mom left, she was adamant on refusing to tell my dad she was leaving. She practically threatened B and I to not. My dad was upset we didn't tell him she went out the country again, and me being a dumb 16 year old, told him I didn't think it was my responsibility to inform him.
By the time mom came back, it was almost a week before B's birthday. Mom broke the news that she was pregnant. Neither of us were happy. B and I cried and mom wasn't happy with our reactions. She was upset for a couple of days and I turned around and offered my support to her. B was heart broken since she's always been the baby in the family. Mom having another was the straw that broke the camel's back. Their relationship was just torn from that moment. She did go with her out of the country just for vacation. As my sister puts it, it wasn't a great experience and mom was upset with her for not speaking much.
Mom was also slowly getting disowned by the family by the time she came back. When she was due in late 2021, I offered to stay in the hospital with her, but because I wasn't 18 and COVID was still an issue, they wouldn't allow me. My grandma instead stayed with her and eventually left after the baby was born. Rather than picking up my mom from the hospital, she offered to drop the seat and told my mom she could UBER home. I don't agree with how grandma handled it, my mom did just have a baby.
All was well, baby was fine. School was okay, I did struggle a bit because of other factors. However, by the time I had graduated, I decided to take a gap year. I didn't know what I wanted to major in. If I did go, I didn't want to drop out, continuously change majors, or worry about how it would get paid. At the time, my family was still struggling financially. I picked up hours at my job, and mom stayed with her friend who was also her boss. Her boss was not paying her at the time because she was in the process of a divorce after her husband put her business in jeopardy.
I became financially responsible in the meantime and had to pick up some of the bills, with the very little I received from my pay. Mom would get paid time to time, but it was so inconsistent that I was the one who was head of household. Sometime she would pay me back and other times, she refused to and would apply the amount to a bill she believed I needed to pay. She financed a new car that was well beyond what we could pay, same for the insurance for me. We split the car note and I split the insurance with my dad. Every month I was paying 450, including half the insurance, for a car I do not use a quarter of the time. Only time I would have it frequently was when mom was out on a trip to see her husband, since I don't have a car of my own.
Mom eventually invited her boss and kid to come live with us, told her to not pay the first months rent and let her stay until earlier this year. Her boss was late on payments and overall it was an uncomfortable experience living there because I felt like they were leeching off of us. The bills were doubled or tripled and I was expected to pay some of them. Before they moved in, I expressed to my mom how I didn't think it was a good idea since she was already behind paying her and was inconsistent with her payments and owed her so much. Mom refused to listen and just let it happen. B was uncomfortable and ended up staying with our grandma more often and rarely came over.
Around this time, mom became very pushy about me babysitting. She would ask when I was off and if I could watch baby. Not ask, more of demand. Sometimes I would offer, but it became a problem to which I barely had time to myself. One incident happened near the holidays. It was around Black Friday time, the car was in the shop because I accidently hit a deer that ran in front of me. We were using a rental at the time. I told my mom a week before that I needed the day I had off, because I would be working 5 days, only have one day off, and then work 6 days in a row. Mom didn't listen and the day before, asked me to babysit because the babysitter couldn't. I told her no and she guilt tripped me and told me she would be home at 3. She left at 11, came back at 3ish with hand tattoos. Showed me them and then left. I was in disbelief that my mom would do that. It was a punch to the face, she knew we were already struggling, and she knew I needed that day off. My grandma was the one who picked her up from the rental. Mom wasn't home until 6. Mom left for thanksgiving with her aunt. She came back and left again for a month for Christmas with baby to go out of the country to see her husband.
Before she came back, her boss packed her stuff and left without a word to my mom. By the time she came back, it was tense, she was let go and had to look for a new job. I was fed up with the constant babysitting and had either my grandma take me to work or my boyfriend, K. I rarely offered and mom would ask but I would rarely say yes or made an excuse. More as of recently, it's come to the point where I feel as though I'm living with a roommate and not my mom. B isn't at home and I don't blame her. Luckily I've reconnected with my family after being isolated and taking my mom's side for a few months. My family is supporting me and I'm going back to school next semester.
I made plans one weekend with K and my mom called me the next morning and asked me to watch baby. I offered to buy the things she needed and said "No, I have things to return". I offered to return them, she refused. She said "These are things I need to buy on my own". I asked her why she couldn't take baby, her only excuse was that baby and her had a long day yesterday and that, "it would be tedious and time consuming getting baby ready". I told her, "Yes, that's YOUR child." Mom sarcastically said, "Wow, you're right. Thanks for reminding me like I didn't know," and hung up.
My mom has a tendency to give silent treatment. Why? I don't know. I had gotten off of work late one night, mom picked me up and I asked if we could stop by somewhere that was still open. After receiving my food, we're pulling out, there's a car coming by and I told her to not go. She's on her phone texting, stops, and says "I know, I've been driving for years. When have you seen me turn and drive?" Without thinking, I respond, "When have I not." She blows up at me saying how she's tired of my stupid annoying comments and refuses to talk to me the rest of the way home. I tell her "goodnight, I love you," when we get home. I say it 5-6 times before she responds back saying goodnight.
The next day, she was silent with me when I came home. While I'm leaving with some of my stuff since I was staying the night at K's, I say "bye mom. I'm leaving, I love you." She only responds with a bye in a serious tone. I cried in K's car, even the next night when I stopped by for a few more things, she was cold. I decided to test to see if she was purposely refusing to say it back. When I told her bye and I love you, she just said bye. I repeated it one more time and it was the same response. She later texted me saying "I love you, don't ever doubt it." I didn't respond. She said it the next few days, but remained cold with me. Just recently, she texted me while at work and asked me about the move situation. I hadn't responded just yet and she sends a long paragraph about how I owe her the respect of answering her important messages and that I should find the time to. By the time I see the message, I tell her I'm at work, that she knows I do not look at my messages and that I have B's and I's situation under control.
Last night, as I was leaving to stay at K's again, I ask mom if she had already taken the day off for orientation. She's quiet and in a monotone voice replies, "yes, why?" I tell her my aunt offered to go since she's experienced school and would like to help. Plus, mom was already tense and I do not want to be stressed when we go. She goes off about how I'm an adult and I make my own decisions and how I should do whatever my heart desires. I stare at her for a second. I really wanted mom to go with me, but with the way things are, I decided it was best not to. I finally tell her that I think my aunt should go with me. When I tell her I'm leaving and to have a goodnight and that I love her. She only responds with a goodnight. I'm sobbing when I close the door and in my boyfriend's car. On our way to his house, mom calls, says my cats and I need to be out before the beginning of next month, and tells me she will be looking into handing over custody of B to me. I try not to cry while I say, okay, I love you. She hangs up without a word.
I'm extremely heartbroken and overwhelmed. I'm so mentally and physically drained from work and mom. I feel like I've given her all my support, all my time and money only to receive very little back. I miss my mom. I miss when we would talk and not just for 5 minutes a day. I miss when B, her and I would hang out, not just her on her phone calling her husband 24/7. I miss when mom didn't drag me into her issues and expect me to put her fires out with dad and the family. I miss making jokes with my mom and having conversations without her turning our talks against me. I miss mom.
The thing is, my mom's made her decisions and expected B and I to be okay with it. She's basically given up on B and just doesn't text her unless she needs something or to borrow money. I know B and I will be okay eventually, but I'm so distraught over the idea of cutting off mom. I know it's for the best, and hopefully she realizes her mistakes.
Mom has never been a bad mom. She's been a good mom. She's worked hard to provide for B and I. To make sure we lived comfortably. I know my mom has a lot of baggage and trauma I hope she can get help for. I love my mom and I want her to get the help she needs, but she's made it extremely apparent, she does not want it. I've tried my best to stick by her side, but I needed her to stick by mine too. I really do love my mom, but this is not my mom. I'm stuck on how mom used to be that I refuse to realize that this is how she is. I love mom, but I know that I have to let her go and be better than how she is now. Not just for me, but for B too.

So, of course, each group has their little quirks that make them special to any particular person and I want to know that crazy or funny story you just got in the core of your memory that just makes you smile to this day!!
One of my favourite funny memories is when BTS played this version of mafia in Run BTS (the show) called ‘Blue Village’ and everyone was blaming Namjoon as being the culprit IT WAS HILARIOUS, and I was in shock when i found out jimin was actually a culprit like I had no idea !!

So, I just came up with an idea involving the new block display entities, where I would detect if the player is looking at a block of bedrock, and if so, summon a block display of bedrock “riding” an invisible silent shulker, and if they are holding a pickaxe, then they can attack and ultimately kill the shulker with that, and when the shulker dies, the bedrock is destroyed via fill command, and a bedrock item is spawned as a pseudo drop. But the first step to making this is detecting when the player is looking at a block of bedrock. But I’m not sure how to do that. I’ve tried “/execute as @p run if block ^ ^ ¹ minecraft: bedrock run” and then the command to spawn the block display-shulker combo, but this does not seem to work. Can someone tell me how to detect what block the player is looking at, and if it is a certian type of block, run a command? (I’ve tried looking it up, but the few good results I’ve found all involve a separate command or pack to setup raycasting, but I would hope there is a simpler, more direct way). Thanks in advance.

I posted this years ago and hated it so I deleted it.. I have since revised it several times and now I think it's ready. I finally have time to continue writing so please let me know what you think, especially if you don't like it and what you didn't like about it

Boab'shek sighed as he opened his eyes, taking a moment to wake before he swam lazily out of his resting tunnel. Not particularly excited for another grueling [day] slogging through anomaly reports, he slowly closed his eyes and steeled himself as he had done every morning for the last [13 years]. He had 35 mouths to feed, and the bills weren’t going to pay themselves. After a quick breakfast at the grub farm, and feeling much better for it, he began swimming towards the work module.
The station, of which he was the sole occupant, hung motionless in empty space. Positioned near the top of the Galactic disc, it had a direct line of sight to each of the many observation outposts which it serviced. Tight-beam receivers dotted the "bottom" of the gangly-looking station, pointed in seemingly random directions forming a tangled mess of structural supports and antennae, though they were all precisely oriented to receive the incoming data streams.
Some of the more densely populated sectors of the Galaxy had entangled communicators at each of the observation outposts, providing near real-time updates of the goings-on to the Trade Coalition, but so many communicators were obscenely expensive to operate. Out here, near the rim of the Galaxy, there was simply not enough revenue from hyperspace tolls to support real-time obstacle charting. On the other hand, there were not enough hyperspace travelers to necessitate it either. Infrastructure was upgraded as needed, and tolls were adjusted to cover the cost.
And so it was Boab'shek's job to monitor the findings of the outposts as they were beamed to his station, albeit after a substantial light-speed delay, and report to the Coalition anything worth reporting through his station's entangled communicator. A soul-crushingly boring job, as far as he was concerned, but well-paid and not too physically demanding; which he appreciated. He swam his way through the long corridor into the work module, nesting comfortably into the saddle and engaging his dexterous prehensile whiskers with the computer controls. The two screens lit up simultaneously, one for either eye, and he began scrolling through the anomaly reports that had come in while he was asleep.
An odd glint was reported from outpost HX-253. The optical feed showed an empty patch of space flash once, nothing spectacular but unexpected nonetheless. He instructed the computer to calculate and overlay the position of other observation outposts over the video. Unsurprisingly, it showed a different outpost located right where the flashing originated from. A reflection from the waste-heat radiator panels, he surmised. He added a rule to the filter to ignore anomalies originating from outpost locations. No need to waste time on one of these anomalies in the future, should it occur again.
Outpost HT-628 reported a celestial collision. A rare occurrence in his sector, he excitedly pulled up the video feed and observed as a neutron star orbited a dark swallower closer and closer, spiraling inwards as its energy was sapped out of the system by ever-increasing gravitational disturbance. It circled faster and faster as it approached and finally was pulled apart, becoming a bright streak and then a ring around the swallower, shining brightly as it was accreted. The sinusoidal readout from the interferometer of the outpost showed the gravitational waves increase exponentially in intensity and then drop off as if nothing had happened. More and more of the star was pulled in and suddenly the system went dark again, as the last of the star was unceremoniously slurped up by the swallower. Beautiful, he thought. Such a privilege it was to observe the natural cycle of the universe. He lived for these moments.
He approved the automatic suggested update to the star charts and scrolled onto the next report. HU-808 reported an unknown disturbance. An unusual gravimetric reading as well as unidentified fast-moving object. Boab’shek stared at the report listing. An odd designation, he couldn’t recall if he had ever seen this class of anomaly in all his [years] working for the Coalition. He pulled up the video feed and gravity readings, flaring his fins in surprise at the length of the video report; the reflexive motion causing him to lurch backwards. The duration of the video was just over [1.7 years]. Why had the outpost taken so long to report such a disturbance?
He started at the beginning and watched as the time-compressed video showed a light appearing from nowhere, approximately [8.3 light-minutes] from a single ordinary, stable star. With his other eye he looked at the star map of the area. The light was hundreds of light years from the nearest hyperspace waypoint. Nobody would be crazy enough to travel that far from a waypoint, he thought, being forced to travel at a ridiculously unsafe speed while in cold-sleep, quite possibly exceeding the safe duration for hibernation even then.
It must be natural in origin, then, though he had never heard of such an object. Puzzled, he watched as the light gradually increased in intensity and started moving, traveling in a straight line towards a nearby trinary star system at an ever-increasing rate of speed. The light, becoming ever-brighter, shone a brilliant white as its velocity continued to increase. His jaws hung open in disbelief as a bright cone appeared to the sides and around the light, resembling a bow shock wave like the ones that trailed behind the high speed transports that sailed above the oceans on his home planet. He checked the spectrometer, unbelieving as the range displayed full-spectrum emission with increasing UV, X-ray, even gamma emissions!
The conical bow-shock became more and more acute in angle as the light shone brighter and gained momentum. It closed the distance between the star systems impossibly quickly, and when it had almost reached the nearest red dwarf in the trinary system almost all at once it slowed as the luminosity peaked and it appeared to explode. A beam of plasma erupted from the source of the light, apparently traveling near light speed, and expanded as it left the source where it had stopped, a short distance from the red dwarf. The gravimetric reading reported an error. He managed to peel his eye away from the video feed and defecated in shock as he observed the chart. It was flat and steady as it should be, up until it immediately spiked straight up and off the chart.
Glad for the filtration intake below his saddle, Boab'shek observed as the reading abruptly ended reporting calibration error, and possible damage to the interferometer. The outpost had apparently not thought much of the disturbance up until the gravimetric reading was observed, at which point it had flagged the anomaly for reporting. Never had he heard of anything like this. He contemplated for a moment on what this object could possibly be, until he had a sudden idea. Frantically mashing the controls with his whiskers, he instructed the computer to calculate the distance the light had traveled. The computer overlaid the measured distance on the video feed. Approximately [4.25 light years]. Whiskers shaking, he looked again at the length of the recording. [1.7 years]. Whatever in the deep depths this thing was, it had traveled through real space at over twice the speed of light. Impossible, he thought.
Surely another outpost would refute these readings. He instructed the computer to show the live feed from HU-807, an outpost which was more distant to the anomaly. It would receive readings from the same anomaly, but with a calculated [8 month] delay compared to HU-808. On screen, there was the light shining proudly, already traveling faster than lightspeed. Boab'shek, still in denial, examined the spectrograph readings from this outpost more closely. It was then that he noticed the emission lines in the light signature. It showed prominent signatures for hydrogen, helium, beryllium, and oxygen. Undeniably the signature of an unshielded fusion reactor.
Frantically, he began writing an incident report. Under the subject field, he selected UNIDENTIFIABLE TECHNOSIGNATURE. This was going straight to the top.
Excitement hung in the air aboard the UNES Hermes. After many years of preparation, the time for departure had finally arrived. In a matter of minutes, the colossal ship would engage its prototype ICEFIRE engine and leave its comfortable rectilinear halo orbit of the moon, where it had circled since the keel was laid so many years ago. The ship consisted of a massive cylindrical habitation drum, over a kilometer in diameter and five kilometers long, with an equally large spherical water tank forward tipped with the powerful thermal laser shield, and the behemoth of a drive cone bringing up the rear. The drum spun slowly, providing comfortable spin gravity to the civilian colonists, most of whom were sporting massive hangovers from the completion celebration the night before. Many of the passengers had been involved in the engineering, assembly, and calibration of various parts and components of the ship. Some had celebrated a job completed, others out of excitement, and some feared that it would be their last night. No expense had been spared in building or testing during the ships’ construction, and all assurances had been made that everything would go well, but nobody could deny that this ship was experimental.
The crew of the Hermes had long since gotten all of the festivious urges out of their systems, opting to celebrate the completion of the preparations before the colonists had arrived. Every system had been checked, double checked, and triple checked. Mission Commander Huxton stood in the center of the bridge and observed the buzzing commotion of the crew surrounding him, eyes fixed on their station monitors while calling out checkpoints into their headsets and to the surrounding operators.
One by one the operators fell silent as they completed their checklists and lifted their eyes to Commander Huxton, awaiting further orders. As the last operator reported "All systems go" into his headset, silence fell upon the bridge. Rehearsals had been performed. Speeches had been given. Goodbye messages had been sent. Diagnostics and checklists had been run through. Living wills written. It was finally time. Huxton stood silently for a moment, slowly scanning his eyes around the room. His face beamed with pride at the exceptional performance of his crew, tinged only by the apprehension for the coming danger.
Huxton broke the silence. "Comms! Open a channel to STC, mirror to the PA" he barked. A soft chime indicated that the microphones were listening. "Space Traffic Control, this is UNES Hermes. Requesting clearance for departure." His voice boomed throughout the ship, where every colonist and crew member was listening intently. Seconds later, his voice was heard by the crew of the STC, where silence reigned as every soul was glued to their monitors. A few moments later, their response was heard throughout the Hermes. A tinny voice crackled through the PA system, "UNES Hermes, this is Space Traffic Control. You are cleared for departure. Go bravely. Godspeed."
Huxton closed his eyes for a brief moment, savoring what could be his last breath. He opened his eyes. "Engineering, light it up!”

Summary: Bandits attack and raid the orc tribe's supplies. To get revenge, orc tribe gathers its strongest warriors and starts the assault to bandit camp. One of the warriors sneak inside the camp and find the listener in a bad and helpless condition
Usage: You are free to use this script wherever you like as long as you credit me. I would love to listen the finished audio, please don't forget to send a link
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Orc warrior smashes open the cell door with a strong kick. She sees the listener chained to the wall from his wrists. She comes closer and realizes he is knocked out. She tries to wake him up)
Hey! Human... Can you hear me? You have to get up!
(Listener opens his eyes and starts trembling when he sees the Orc Warrior)
No, no, no... Don't be scared. I am not here to hurt you. I am sure seeing a muscular warrior with a giant hammer on her back must be scary but you can trust me. I saw you through the door and came in to help. Unfortunately, I didn't see a key that might unlock the cuffs on your wrists. Do you know which bandit holds the key? Can you describe him to me?
(Pause)
You have no idea, huh? Well, don't worry. I have an idea. I just want you to hold your arms forward and stay still, okay?
(Orc Warrior grabs her hammer)
I am going to hit the cuffs with just enough strength to crack them. After cracking them, I can tear them from your wrist with my hands. Don't worry, I won't use my full force otherwise I might break your wrists. Are you ready?
(Pause)
Okay! On three. One... Two... Three!
(Orc warrior hits the cuffs and cracks them)
Good job! You didn't even flinch. You must be very brave. Now, hold still while I tear the cracked cuffs from your wrists.
(Pause)
There you go! You are free now. You look pretty bad though, can you even walk out of here?
(Pause)
You can? Are you sure?
(Listener gets up and tries to move but falls to the ground)
Hey, are you okay?
(Pause)
Told you, you are not in a condition to move. I think we should...
(Drum voices come from outside)
Hear those drums, it means that we won. Those filthy bandits won't disturb or kill anyone again. Now, I want you to lean on to me.
(Pause)
Are you leaning? I know you are smaller than me but I didn't expect you to be this light. Okay, let's walk slowly now.
(Pause)
You know, this isn't going to work. You really need to rest before moving. I am going to grab you. We can move faster that way.
(Orc Warrior grabs human by his back and legs)
Put your arms around my neck. There we go. Small and lightweight! You are really easy to carry around. I can even go to battle while you are on my back.
[Laugh]
Hold on now little one! I am going to take you to my camp. You'll be safe there until you recover.
(Time passes and listener wakes up at night in the Orc Warrior's tent)
Look who's finally up! You have been sleeping for hours now. I was starting to get worried.
(Pause)
Hey! Easy now. Don't make sudden moves. You are in my tent by the way if you are wondering. While on our journey back home you passed out. It is pretty normal considering the wounds and scars on your body. How did you end up in there anyway?
(Pause)
Really? Oh, that's too bad.
(Orc Warrior sits next to listener and starts caressing his face)
Let's not think about the past anymore. Right now, you are here... safe with me. You don't need to leave until you feel ready, okay? As you can see there's plenty of room for the two of us. Rest as much as you want. We have food, water, shelter... everything you need, you can find in our camp.
(Pause)
Why am I so kind to you? Why wouldn't I be? You didn't do anything wrong to me. Let me guess, you think that every orc is a mindless killing machine?
(Pause)
Yes, I knew it. Not every orc is bad, okay? There are lots of bloodthirsty orc tribes out there. As soon as they see someone who is not an orc, they rush in for the kill. The only thing they think about is how many people they can kill in a day. Our tribe is not like that. We are peaceful as long as we are not attacked or disturbed. There are several other tribes like ours too. You just need to know them. I can teach you if you want.
(Pause)
You are planning to leave tomorrow? No, no no... In your current condition, I can't let you go. You are definitely going to stay here for a few days. I know I rescued you from chains but if you try to leave I chain you to my tent.
[Laugh]
Is that clear?
(Pause)
Good. Be good and do what I say.
(Pause)
Oh, your eyes are closing. You must be still tired. Let's lay in our beds. I know it is not a human bed. I have seen some while I was in human villages and taverns. Technically we are going to sleep on the ground but we have soft fur under our back. Go ahead, lay down and feel how soft it is.
(Orc Warrior lays down next to listener)
Isn't this great? I love this feeling. Especially after coming home from a challenging hunt. As soon as my back touches the soft fur, all the exhaustion leaves my body. I don't like human beds. I actually broke one in a tavern years ago.
[Laugh]
I was on a trip to visit my elders. I stopped at a tavern to get a drink and decided to stay there for the night. As soon as I put my body onto the bed it collapsed. I had to pay extra for the damage. It was embarrassing. Hey! Don't laught at me. It's not funny.
[Laugh]
Okay, I admit. It is kind of funny.
(Pause)
How are you holding up by the way? Are you comfy? Do you need anything?
(Pause)
You are a bit cold. Here, come closer to me. Don't be shy now. Come closer, so I can transfer my body heat to you. You need to come a little... You know what, let's try this.
(Orc Warrior grabs human and puts him on her chest)
How's this?
(Pause)
Well, you weren't coming closer, so I had to grab you. It seems that you are a shy one. I rescued a shy human, how are you now shy human? Does my body heat help you warm up?
(Pause)
Good... good. Now relax and just rest. What?
(Pause)
Don't worry, I don't feel anything. You are like a feather. I am going to put my arms around your back and rub it, okay? It will help you relax more and sleep easily.
(Orc Warrior puts her arms around the back of the listener and starts rubbing his back)
My small and fragile human... It migt suprise you but I sometimes think that being this big and muscular is not a good thing. Yeah, you are small for me but compared to other humans you are average. I would love to be a little smaller I guess. I always have to be careful not to break small things, being near fragile stuff is a nightmare. Due to my height getting in and getting out of some places is a problem. Don't get me wrong I love being an orc but I sometimes wonder... How would my life be, if I was a human. Guess, I'll never know. Did you ever imagine yourself as an orc, or anything other than human?
(Pause)
No... Well it was a waird question afterall. I sometimes think about different things. I think a lot actually. Like I said, your kind may see me as a mindless beast but I am far from it.
(Pause)
Human... Are you listening? He fell asleep. Look how cute he is. Rest easy my little human. As long as you are with me, I won't let any harm come to you.
THE END

The world of Animal Crossing features a unique blend of anthropomorphic and normal animals, creating a sense of duality. While the gameplay is relatively simple, there isn't much lore surrounding these animals.
The villager animals are representatives of these species:
Mammals:

• Anteaters
• Apes
• Bears
• Beavers
• Cattle
• Camels
• Cats (domestic)
• Dogs (domestic)
• Deer
• Elephants
• Foxes
• Goats
• Giraffes
• Horses
• Hippos
• Hedgehog
• Hamsters
• Llamas
• Leopards
• Lions
• Moles
• Mice
• Monkeys
• Otters
• Pigs
• Rodents
• Rhinos
• Reindeer
• Rabbits
• Skunks
• Squirrels
• Sloths
• Seals
• Tapir
• Tigers
• Tanukis
• Walruses
• Wolves

Reptiles:

• Alligators
• Turtles
• Lizards

Amphibians:

• Frogs
• Axolotls

Birds:

• Sparrow
• Owls
• Pigeons
• Dodos
• Ducks
• Chickens
• Ostriches
• Eagles
• Pelicans
• Peafowl
• Penguins
• Seagulls
• Cranes
• Flamingos
• Pheasants
• Emus
• Ibises
• Geese
• Turkeys

Cephalopods:

• Octopus

Interestingly, these anthropomorphic animals share the same size and level of intelligence. However, alongside them, there are normal animals of the same species on the islands. For instance, there are regular owls, birds, octopuses, turtles, and frogs. This coexistence of anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic animals raises questions about how it all works. Animals such as fish, insects, and many ocean invertebrates don’t appear to be sapient. This being said, many of the ocean invertebrates don’t have brains, but still. And they are just treated as normal animals by everyone else. How does all of this work? I might have an idea:
One possible explanation for this duality draws inspiration from the 'High Evolutionary,' a supervillain from Marvel Comics. This character is known for creating evolved animals trying to make the perfect species. His experiments, the “New Men” or “Humanimals”, live on a world called Counter Earth, which is a copy of our planet. In the MCU, where the character is also depicted as the creator of Rocket Raccoon, is shown using advanced capsule technology to evolve lifeforms. The animals placed in these capsules quickly and grotesquely evolve into humanoid beings.
In a similar vein, we can theorize that extraterrestrial scientists on an Earth-like planet conducted experiments and created a special society with the anthropomorphic villager-animals. These scientists might have used advanced technology to evolve animals into humanoid beings. Additionally, they placed many "less-evolved" animals on the planet to study the interactions between species. Humans could have been part of this experiment, possibly in a subordinate role. It's intriguing to note that while the animal villagers can come and go, freely moving away from the island, the humans cannot leave and lack any connection to the outside world. The letters from "Mom" don't seem to reach anyone, and there's no response to the messages sent. This leads to the possibility that humans are the real experiments in this vast realm of experiments. To maintain secrecy, the extraterrestrial scientists create an illusion of a normal society, ensuring that no suspicions arise.
Tom Nook could be the only one who knows about their origins, and could very well be one of the masterminds behind all of this. I mean, look at his taxation and item prices. That’s already evil enough.

Hello, this is one of my first posts here and I am mostly a lurker on this subreddit but today I found out some things about something that happened with my extended family and I am still sort of shaken about it and wanted to ask for some advice on what to think.
This post includes mentions of conversion therapy so please don't read this if that upsets you!!!
For some background and context to this post; my extended family on my dad's side is not supportive and is very anti-queer and very Evangelical Christian. Most of them have cut ties with my parents and I since I came out to them as transgender, except for a select few of them, those being my cousins who are youngish adults and aren't conforming to the ideas and actions of the rest of the family. The ones in the family who are very against me are my one aunt, her husband, and my grandmother.
My mom and dad and I, especially my mom and I, are really close and will have conversations about my family and their acts of cruelness and cutting off ties with us and such. Today my mom and I were talking about the family and how things have been recently, things like how my grandmother treats my dad terribly now and hadn't even wished him a happy birthday this year and for the past years that I have been out, and how my dad had gotten a phone call from my one aunt's husband where he yelled at my dad and quoted a bunch of misinterpreted bible verses and spouted transphobic bullshit at him. At some point in the conversation, my mom got quiet for a minute and then told me that there was something that happened that she didn't tell me about because she didn't want to upset me.
She then told me about how apparently a few weeks after I had come out to my grandmother and she told the rest of the family, a package arrived at our house addressed to my birthname. My mom was the one who found it before I did, and she looked at the address and it was sent by my one aunt. My aunt is a very devout Evangelical Christian and very out of her mind and delusional, and on top of being highly steeped in a religion that controls her every thought and action, she is severely bipolar and unmedicated as well as many other mental illnesses and such. She has always been really weird to me and my mom specifically; when she would still talk to my parents and I, she would always buy me bibles for my birthday (and Christmas of course) every year and would give me lots of books about being a Christian woman, and various other things that were just really weird and inappropriate for an aunt to give to her nephew, at least with the way our relationship was. Anyways, when my mom had seen the package on our doorstep and saw that it was from my aunt, she immediately knew that something bad would be inside. And she was right. Inside the package was tons of DVDs and CDs. They were all videos and audios made for conversion therapy. They were all about converting queer people back to "normal" and about repenting for your life of sin and such, and all sorts of other similar things that would be preached and taught at a conversion camp or in conversion therapy. My mom told me she was so scared and knew that she wouldn't let me even see the box, let alone just get rid of the CDs and DVDs when someone else may stumble upon them, so she took each CD and DVD and put it in the microwave to blow them up, and burned the packaging and box.
To be honest, at first I wasn't too shocked that this happened. I knew my aunt was delusional enough to do something like this and I knew that it would happen at some point. But as the day went on today it kept setting in that it happened, and what if's kept coming into my mind. What if I was the one who found the package before my mom? What if I had watched and listened to those CDs and DVDs? The questions kept coming and I even questioned what life would be like if I was my aunt's son and not my mom and dad's. It's just shaking me a lot. I can't believe that anyone would do that sort of thing. I never thought it would happen to me. Maybe I am just being very anxious and scared for no reason. I just feel so many more negative emotions towards my aunt even more than before. I am so scared of her. I worry about the fact that I am also bipolar, which I got hereditarily from her, and that makes me feel like I am like her and I hate that because I would never do any of the things she does. I am angry because of what she has done to my mom and dad and I. There's just a lot of emotions that I am feeling and I don't know how to sort them out.
Thank you for reading if you made it this far. Hopefully someone may have some advice on what to do now but if not that's okay, it feels nice just to write it out and be able to get this off my chest a bit.

Greetings, community!
As part of our commitment to transparency and fostering a collaborative developer community, we wanted to share a part of our codebase. Today, we're offering a look at app.py - the beating heart of our subreddit analysis tool.
This Python script, built using Flask, PRAW (Python Reddit API Wrapper), and a suite of other libraries, drives the process of fetching and analyzing data from any given subreddit.
Here's what it does:

1. Fetches top posts from a subreddit for a specified period.
2. Analyzes and stores data about the posts' authors, title words, posting times, and flair info.
3. Displays analyzed data in an organized and consumable manner on our platform.

​

from flask import Flask, render_template, request import datetime import praw from operator import itemgetter import re import pytz import nltk import calendar from collections import Counter # import base64 # import io # from wordcloud import WordCloud import time client_id = "" client_secret = "" password = "" user_agent = "" username = '' reddit = praw.Reddit(client_id=client_id, client_secret=client_secret, user_agent=user_agent, password = password, username = username) app = Flask(__name__) word_regex = re.compile(r'\b\w+\b') @app.route('/') def index(): return render_template('index.html') @app.route('/karma_ranking', methods=['POST']) def karma_ranking(): start_time = time.time() subreddit_name = request.form['subreddit_name'] num_posts = 50 user_karma_dict = {} words = [] posts_per_hour = {i: 0 for i in range(24)} posts_per_day = {day: 0 for day in list(calendar.day_name)} flairs_count = Counter() reddit_start = time.time() posts = reddit.subreddit(subreddit_name).top('week', limit=num_posts) reddit_end = time.time() print(f'Time taken to fetch posts: {reddit_end - reddit_start}') processing_start = time.time() for post in posts: author_start = time.time() if post.author is not None: username = post.author.name karma = post.author.link_karma + post.author.comment_karma user_karma_dict[username] = karma author_end = time.time() print(f'Time taken to process author info: {author_end - author_start}') title_start = time.time() title_words = word_regex.findall(post.title.lower()) words.extend(title_words) title_end = time.time() print(f'Time taken to process title words: {title_end - title_start}') time_start = time.time() time_utc = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(post.created_utc, tz=pytz.UTC) posts_per_hour[time_utc.hour] += 1 day_of_week = time_utc.strftime('%A') posts_per_day[day_of_week] += 1 time_end = time.time() print(f'Time taken to process time info: {time_end - time_start}') flair_start = time.time() if post.link_flair_text: flairs_count[post.link_flair_text] += 1 flair_end = time.time() print(f'Time taken to process flair info: {flair_end - flair_start}') processing_end = time.time() print(f'Total time taken to process posts: {processing_end - processing_start}') # wordcloud_start = time.time() sorted_user_karma_list = sorted(user_karma_dict.items(), key=lambda item: item[1], reverse=True) posts_per_hour = sorted(posts_per_hour.items()) word_freq = Counter(w for w in words if nltk.pos_tag([w])[0][1] not in ['PRP', 'IN'] and not w.isdigit() and len(w) > 1 and w not in ['your', 'are', '+', 'the', 'to', 'and', 'is','my','can','their','an',]) # wordcloud = WordCloud(width=800, height=400).generate_from_frequencies(word_freq) # img = io.BytesIO() # wordcloud.to_image().save(img, 'PNG') # img.seek(0) # wordcloud_img = base64.b64encode(img.getvalue()).decode() # wordcloud_end = time.time() # print(f'Time taken to generate word cloud: {wordcloud_end - wordcloud_start}') end_time = time.time() print(f'Total execution time: {end_time - start_time}') return render_template( 'karma_ranking.html', subreddit_name=subreddit_name, user_karma_list=sorted_user_karma_list, # wordcloud_img=wordcloud_img, word_freq=word_freq.most_common(), posts_per_hour=posts_per_hour, posts_per_day=posts_per_day, flairs_count=flairs_count.most_common() ) if __name__ == "__main__": app.run(debug=True) 

My hope in sharing this is not just to showcase our work, but to invite you all to collaborate. I am keen on hearing your thoughts, insights, and suggestions. This is a community effort, and every idea counts!
Whether you're an experienced developer or just getting started, we believe everyone has something to contribute. If you're interested in joining our team or helping out, feel free to reach out!