I need someone to give me HONEST feedback on my novel. I used AI to write this and it's my first time writing a book, so I'm not sure what I need to do better. Thanks in advance :)
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CHAPTER ONE: THE FRACTURING
Daestopia was one of the billions of worlds in the Multirealm, and it was a serene, flowing land. Lush green forests carpeted its rolling hills, while rolling blue rivers wound through the valleys, and a vast stretch of sky above was dotted with twinkling stars. The people here lived in harmony with nature and each other. And there he sat, Ares, perched on a weathered wooden chair, his gaze unwavering and intense. His midnight black hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, with not one strand out of place. His eyes were bright blue and sparkled like sapphires as he surveyed the room. He seemed untouchable, as if nothing could ever disturb him. But that was until the day everything changed. That was the day when The Fracturing descended upon Daestopia. Speaking the dreaded word out loud made people shudder as their hearts raced with fear, knowing that it marked the end of everything they had ever known. It was an apocalypse unlike any other, leaving behind only ruins in its wake. The sun shone brightly in the village of Earltree, where farmers tilled their fields and smoke rose from the workshops of the blacksmiths. People went about their day, blissfully unaware of what was to come. Ares was a popular young man- his copper hair and chiseled features attracted admiration, but it was his interactions with nature that truly inspired reverence. Many thought he had some kind of gift, which made sense considering his father's reputation as a great warrior. Little did they know that Ares possessed a gift far beyond what they could imagine. As he strolled through the fields, he felt a deep connection with nature, a bond that was unbreakable. He could feel the pulse of the plants and hear the whispers of the wind. It was as if he could communicate with the earth itself. And when The Fracturing hit, it was this gift that saved him. Ares stood up from his chair, feeling an inexplicable sense of unease. The air around him grew colder, and the trees began to rustle, leaves shaking off their branches as if trying to flee. A flock of birds flew overhead, their chirping turning into panicked cawing as they headed south. Ares knew something was wrong but couldn't quite put his finger on it. That was until he saw the crack in the sky. It started out small, just a hairline fracture that went unnoticed by most. But to Ares, it was like watching a wound slowly tear open. The crack grew wider and wider until it looked like a jagged scar cutting across the sky. A bright light shone through the crack, blinding in its intensity. The people of Daestopia were in a state of shock as they ran through the streets, trying to save what little they could carry. Ares couldn't help but feel sorry for them as he watched them stumble and fall amongst the debris. That was when the monsters appeared. They were hideous creatures, twisted forms of living flesh and steel. Their eyes burned with an inhuman hatred, and their claws glowed as they tore through anything that dared to stand in their way. Townships were destroyed as if by some fierce gale force wind or tidal wave- all in a single nightmarish instant! People screamed for help but no one answered them; only the sound of destruction remained. The people of Daestopia were in a state of shock as they ran through the streets, trying to save what little they could carry. Ares couldn't help but feel sorry for them as he watched them stumble and fall amongst the debris. And soon there was no trace left of Daestopia's serene beauty - not even a memory survived The Fracturing... Daestopia would never be the same. Desperate hope filled our hearts as we began to search for a savior. Someone who could be a hero, someone to free us from this tyranny, and grant us new life. If only we could find them, if only they existed...
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CHAPTER TWO: MEETING BJORN
Ares lay in the mud, his small body twisted and broken like a discarded toy. Tears streamed down his face as he cried for help, but his voice was lost in the deafening silence of destruction. All around him, debris from what was once his home littered the landscape like a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie. His heart sunk deeper as he looked around and realized that no one was coming to his aid. He was alone in a world gone mad, doomed to slowly fade away if left on his own. Just then, something made Ares jump from fear – the sound of footsteps! At first he thought it might be someone come to help him but when the figure became clearer in sight, Ares saw with shock that it wasn't a rescuer at all but an old man stepping out amongst ruins like some ancient sage crossed over into another realm by nefarious destiny. The stranger had white hair so long and flowing; only aided further by its brightness against the greyscale backdrop of ruin surrounding them both. His face spoke of untold wisdom and years spent among those who could truly understand life’s struggles yet possessed enough confidence never surrendering hope for better days ahead - even during times such as these. "Hello there young one," said the old man in calming tones "it looks as though you can use some comfort." His voice carried warmth, inviting happiness rather than despair or dread which could have been expected under such circumstances. Ares cautiously looked up at the old man and in a timid voice asked "Who- who are you?" The old man smiled warmly, his wrinkles deepening from joy as he replied. “Do not be frightened young man, I am here to help.” As soon as he spoke those words all of Ares' fear was gone and replaced by hope and faith that maybe this strange person could make something good out of such chaos after all? Just then before either of them had time to react further, terrifying roars echoed through their ears piercing the sky like lightning! Both stilled on instinct looking around wildly for its source – what they saw made their hearts race with terror - A giant monster was coming straight towards them! A fierce roar shook the air as menacing red eyes glared, glinting with predatory hunger. Fangs longer than swords shone in the moonlight, striking terror into the hearts of all who witnessed them. Before Ares could scream in terror, it fell to the ground with a thunderous crash. An arrow had pierced right through its heart. Ares spun around with a gasp and saw the old man standing there, bow drawn, an arrow ready to fire. The man had appeared out of nowhere and saved his life. Ares' voice cracked with emotion as he looked the old man in the eye. "Th- Thank you!" he screamed, his gratitude radiating from him with tears flowing down his eyes. "You- You saved my life! Just who are you?" he questioned in awe. "My identity is irrelevant. You will be enlightened soon enough. But now, follow m - there's no time to waste!" The old man offered Ares his hand, and Ares gladly accepted it. He kept his hand in the old man's as he walked beside him, not knowing where they were going. And finally after some time Ares asked "Where are we going?" The old man smiled and answered, “Home. We’re going home." Eventually, they reached a small hut in the middle of nowhere. The old man motioned for Ares to take a seat while he rummaged around in the hut, eventually pulling out some bread with his withered hands. He placed the food on a table and said, “Eating this will give you strength.” Ares began to wolf down the bread hungrily as he listened in curiosity to what the old man had to say next. The old man then pulled up a chair so that they were sitting face-to-face and said, “I have seen many sorrowful things throughout my life; but I never tire of seeing people come back from despair when all hope has been lost". He paused for a moment before continuing: "My name is Bjorn - an ancient sage charged with guiding men across times of distress; Ready always for adversity and prepared should fate put its faithless test against which none can ever stand guard." Ares gazed at him in awe filled silence too stunned by his words even though he understood them not completely. Bjorn smiled and continued speaking, "Many have lost their way in these dark times, but you have the strength to find your path again. You survived, young one, and that is something to be proud of. Your journey has only begun, and I am here to guide you." Ares listened intently as Bjorn spoke of courage, resilience, and never giving up despite the odds. He learned about ways to harness his internal strength and become a warrior both in mind and body. With each passing day, Ares looked forward to their lessons with Bjorn, eager to absorb as much as he could from the wise old sage. But one day, during a training session, Ares finally found the courage to ask what had been plaguing his mind for days: “Bjorn, why are you helping me? What makes me so special?” Bjorn chuckled gently before replying, “You have been chosen for a great task," Ares' eyes widened in astonishment. "What task?" he asked eagerly. Bjorn took a deep breath and replied, "There is a prophecy that foretells of a great war that will engulf the land. It is a war between good and evil. You, Ares, are the chosen one - the one who will lead the charge against evil and restore peace to this land." Ares looked at Bjorn with disbelief, but as he saw the sincerity in the old man's eyes he knew that there was truth to his words. He had always felt a sense of destiny calling out to him, and now he finally knew why. Bjorn stood up slowly, his eyes shining with purpose. "It is time to begin your training in earnest. The task ahead will not be easy, but I have faith that you will succeed. You must learn to harness the power within you and become a true warrior of light." Ares nodded eagerly, his heart pounding with excitement. He was ready for whatever lay ahead. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months and months turned into years as Ares trained relentlessly under Bjorn's tutelage. With each passing day, he grew stronger and more confident, his skills in combat improving vastly. But even as he honed his physical prowess, he also delved deeper into the mysteries of magic and spirituality under Bjorn's guidance. He learned how to channel the energy of the universe through his body and mind, gaining greater control over his abilities until he felt like a master of his own destiny. "Say," Bjorn said as the sat back down in his chair. "have you heard of the Xonin?"Ares furrowed his brow. The Xonin? It sounded vaguely familiar, like some half-remembered myth from the distant past. "No, I haven't," he admitted. Bjorn's eyes glinted as he spoke. "The Xonin is the legendary artifact that wields the power to cure what ails our planet. If you don't find it in time, the world is doomed." Ares shivered at the thought. "What does this have to do with me?" Bjorn leaned forward, his gaze intense. "The Barrier is broken. The Barrier that diverges our world from others has been fractured, and the Xonin is the only thing that can repair it." He paused for a moment before continuing: "You have been chosen for this task. The Xonin would not let you die, that's why you're alive right now." Ares felt a sense of dread wash over him. The fate of the entire world was now resting on his shoulders, and he was not sure if he was ready for such a responsibility. But he knew that he had come too far to give up now. He took a deep breath and asked, "Where can I find the Xonin?" Bjorn smiled knowingly. He got up from his heat and grabbed a thick, dusty book. It looked like it was decades old. "Take this." Bjorn handed him the book. "What's this?" Ares said as the held the book in his hands. It was extremely heavy. "This is my logbook. I have recorded all my adventures and journeys inside this very book." Bjorn replied. Ares opened the book, and his eyes widened as he saw pages upon pages filled with notes and sketches. "This is amazing," Ares said quietly. "I can't believe you've been to all these places." Bjorn chuckled. "Yes, I've seen many worlds in my time. But there's one in particular that you need to visit." He pointed to a map inside the book. "Here - this is the world of Ziraxia. It's a dangerous place, filled with ancient ruins and powerful magic, but the Xonin resides there." Ares studied the map carefully, his heart racing with excitement. "You're giving this to me?" Ares asked with a face of amazement. "I have no need for it anymore, and someone like you deserves it." Bjorn replied. Ares felt honored to be trusted with something so valuable. He knew that he would have to travel to Ziraxia alone, but he felt reassured knowing that he had Bjorn's logbook as a guide. Ares' face suddenly turned upside down. "Bjorn, I don't think I'm ready." Ares said while setting down the book slowly. "It's too much work. I'm only 9 years old after all." Bjorn smiled and held Ares' hand firmly. "You'll be ready in no time. I will train you, and teach you all you need to know." Ares' felt a little better now, and he decided to head to sleep. "I'm tired. Can I go sleep somewhere?" Bjorn showed him around. There was a nice, comfortable pile of hay in front of him, which looked very comfortable. "You can sleep here," Bjorn said "though it may not look comfortable, you'll get used to it soon." Ares didn't think twice before jumping onto the mound of hay and quickly falling into a peaceful sleep. Bjorn put out the torch and walked out of the room, with a huge grin on his face, knowing that he had found Daestopia's next savior.

I'm a 25 year old guy. I started to have feelings for this 27 year old girl at work right around 1 year ago. Slowly after talking more and more and having feelings for each other, last December we went out and she told me her situation, she is from the Dominican Republic and came here in early 2021 on a visa which expired and shes now living here and working here illegally under a fake name. She told me that she likes me but she needs someone who would be interested in marriage. We went out last December 17 and she asked me to be her boyfriend and I agreed. She told me she wanted to have a child, she told me she wanted to marry me, I even bought the rings. Over the past few months I can feel shes been more distant and seems like shes been losing interest, I've asked her a few times but she just says no everythings fine and shes been busy. I stumbled upon her friends' Tiktok who also works at the same place as us, and learned that they are actually girlfriends. I confronted my girlfriend with the tiktoks on Sunday and she confirmed to me that yeah shes a lesbian and she can't give me the relationship that I want. I'm like WTF. She's trying to say sorry it got out of hand can you please forgive me. Over nearly 6 months, I've literally gave her close to $5,000. $2,400 in Facebook messenger payments, gave her $625 to fix her car one time, another time $600 for rent, Christmas and Valentine's day gifts, bought her flowers, probably bought her lunch at work 50 times. I'm completely fucked up and overwhelmed with anxiety and depression and feel like I can never trust anyone again, I want them to feel the same pain and sadness that I'm feeling. I know I can at least have her fired from work and potentially deported. What would you do?

Eurovision Song Contest is an international competition that has been running annually since 1956. It's a massive event as a total of 52 countries participated in Eurovision and it's a fun event. Everybody has their own reason for watching it from supporting their own country, celebrating different cultures, enjoying music to appreciating Dustin the Turkey.
You don't need to know details on how voting works or how Eurovision works as we are going to focus on something else. Specifically, the process of choosing the performer. Some countries have a committee that picks a willing performed and some host a competition.
The size and length of the competition differ in each country as every country has their own budget. You can either have Swedish Melodifestivalen or Polish Tu Bije Serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję!. Today, we are going to focus on Poland's history of pre-selections and the latest drama.
Important information.
The post is a bit unique due to the nature of the sources. It's recommended to listen to music videos from 2023 with headphones and without them to get the full experience. There will be mentions of gossip and conspiracies, so wearing a tin foil hat is recommended. Almost all sources are in Polish and they were translated by me. I'm not a professional translator and so I am prone to making mistakes. After a while, this post is going to be edited to include a link to a comment explaining the translation process. Some sources have comments sections and you may encounter triggering content.

Holding onto memories - The history of Poland in Eurovision

Poland debuted in 1994 with "To nie ja" by Edyta Górniak, who was sent by a Polish tv broadcaster known as TVP. The song almost got disqualified, but it wasn't and Górniak got 2nd place for Poland. It was the first time, when Poland was in the top 3 and also currently the last one.
Then there were 5 years of being outside the top 10, which resulted in Poland withdrawing from Eurovision 2000. Poland returned for the 2001 edition, but Piasek's bad performance resulted in Poland withdrawing again.
Then in 2003, Ich Troje with "Keine Grenzen - Żadnych Granic" finally breaks the unlucky strike as they manage to get 7th place. Unfortunately, the unlucky strike comes back. Blue Cafe only manages to get 17th place. Next years are similarly bad. 2 years of not qualifying for the final, 24th place and 3 years of not qualifying. One of the representatives that didn't qualify was Ich Troje, who came back with "Follow my heart".
Poland withdrew again for 2 years, partially due to hosting UEFA Euro with Ukraine. The return of Poland in 2014 was controversial as "My słowianie" by Donatan & Cleo was chosen. The song is basically about how Slavic girls are the best wives as they know how to use body language. It divided Polish viewers. Some treated it as a fun satire of Polish stereotypes (hypersexual girls, poor old-fashioned country, etc.), while others had issues with the song spreading these stereotypes and the sexual nature of the music video. According to one of the biggest Polish newspapers, Britain described the song as a typical weird Eurovision song and they thought it was about bread. Sweden threw sexism allegations, while Germany described the music video as softcore porn.
It also started a discussion about Eurovision and how it's viewed by others. The same newspaper described Polish viewers treating participation in Eurovision as a matter of national pride and how the scale of emotions is similar to a schizophrenic patient running from one end of the room to another. Even when the quality of competition can be questionable.
Donatan&Cleo got 14th place and Poland didn't withdraw. It was probably a good decision as Michał Szpak with his song "Colour of Life" got 8th place in 2016. There were two controversies surrounding Szpak. One of them was a difference between televotes and judges' votes, but the controversy was quickly forgotten. Another controversy is related to TVP, but I will cover it later.
Then Poland got 22nd place and it had 3 songs not qualifying for a final in the row, again. The third song that didn't qualify was "The Ride" by RAFAŁ, which became a meme due to a horrible live performance. It was so bad that many Polish viewers wanted RAFAŁ to not qualify for finals.
The unlucky strike got interrupted by "River" by Ochman, who managed to get 12th place. The live performance became meme due to cheap special effects.

I ain't done yet - Everything about TVP

TVP (Telewizja Polska S.A) is one of the oldest TV broadcasters in Poland and also a controversial one. If you say "politics" and "TVP" in one sentence, you are legally allowed to change your name to Pandora. But you can't escape from TVP, especially if you are interested in music competitions for newcomers. They are associated with one of the biggest music festivals in Poland (Opole Festival) and run three different editions of The Voice (Of Poland, Kids and Senior). Other TV broadcasters don't offer too much. Polsat keeps changing trying different formats and the last music competition was in 2020. TVN has only Got Talent.
Going back to Eurovision, TVP is responsible for anything related to Eurovision. Depending on the year, you may expect either an internal selection carried or a competition. Both of them have their own unique reputation due to many reasons.
The most controversial entry from an internal selection is The Ride from 2021. At that time, most people expected to see Alicja with her song "Empires". Alicja won Szansa na Sukces (a music competition, where singers get a chance to perform somewhere) and she was supposed to participate in Eurovision 2020, but it got cancelled due to covid. Most countries decided to send their 2020 representative, so expectations weren't unreasonable. Yet, TVP decided to do something else and Poland ended up getting multiple memes about RAFAŁ instead of the sweet victory.
However, this doesn't mean that music competitions are without flaws. Some people in TVP wanted to remove Michał Szpak from the competition due to being worried about him potentially winning, but the director Radek Kobiałko and other people organising the competition 2016 decided to stand up against it. The reason behind it is unclear, but Michał Szpak used to be controversial due to his androgynous looks and presentation.
Then there were some minor issues with the first edition Tu Bije Serce Europy!, which were brought up one year later due to the 2023 drama. Some viewers have noticed that one song "Paranoia" by Daria has been promoted by TVP. Daria performed her song before the show. She performed at New Year's Eve's Music Festival by TVP and somebody could say that was TVP's conspiracy to secure Daria's televotes victory. However, Ochman won and some say it was due to the voting consisting of two rounds.
This leads us to 26th February 2023 and the latest drama. Grab your popcorn as we are going back to the past and I am going to serve as your host.

Welcome to the party - The show

It's 17:30 and you are watching TVP 1. The show begins and so it's time to explain to you how the show works.
Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję! 2023 works similarly to the previous edition. Every performed could send one song and that song had to meet standard requirements for Eurovision. Specific requirements are under point 6 and other rules, can be read here. Around 300 songs were sent to TVP and only 10 of them could make it to the show.
Each judge has 100 points and they have to judge each contestant... That's how I would explain rules if they weren't changed 4 days before the competition. It was a fully legal move from TVP as rule 39 specifies that TVP has the power to change rules. The explanation was given by TVP and rules were changed to be closer to those in Eurovision.
Now each judge gives points (12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) to contestants. Points are then added together and the contestant with the highest total gets 12 points. The next person gets 10 points, etc. Viewers can still vote and they are still as important as judges. Voting works the same, except viewers don't give points.
Without further ado, let's meet the judges and the contestants.
The judges

• Edyta Górniak - She is our first judge and the chairwoman of judges. She is a singer active since 1990 and she has been at the centre of gossip magazines since her participation in Eurovision. She was a judge in some TVP music competitions such as The Voice of Poland and she performed in many events organised by TVP. She also performed in other shows hosted by other TV broadcasters. Like in the case of many stars, Górniak caused many controversies. One of the things that you should know is the fact that Górniak is spiritual and openly talks about her beliefs.
• Agustin Egurrola - If you are watching a music/dance competition or a music festival on TV, you will probably see him or his name. Egurolla is a famous dancer and choreographer. He worked in many different shows as either a dance choreographer or a judge. His dancers performed at NYE Music Festival 2022.
• Marek Sierocki - So there is a mixture here. He is well known for journalism, hosting some music competitions or being a commentator for those. This includes Eurovision Junior 2021.
• Aneta Woźniak - A new director in TVP. There isn't a lot of information about her and she was mostly involved with TVP ABC (a channel for children).
• Marcin Kusy - A director of Polish radio Jedynka.

The contestants

• Natasza "Lift U Up"- If you ever watched other Polish pre-selections or 365 days, you may know her. Her career is longer than my life and you would probably see her at least once on TVP.
• Kuba Szmajkowski "You Do Me"- A fresh blood in the Polish celebrity world. His career started after performing in The Voice Kids 2017 and he managed to perform in finals. He performed in TVP's New Year's Eve Music Festival 2021 and 2022
• Ahlena "Booty" - A new singer that never for the public. She started composing in 2020 and her first song was "Booty".
• Dominik Dudek "Be Good" - The winner of the latest edition of The Voice of Poland that had a final in November 2022. The show started his career.
• Alicja "New Home" - The winner of pre-selections for Eurovision 2020, which unfortunately didn't happen due to covid. She has won 3 music competitions broadcasted by TVP and her music career has been steady since 2019.
• Felivers "Never Back Down" - Another fresh blood in the music world that has been active for 3-4 years. They performed Uptown Funk at TVP's NYE music festival 2022.
• Maja Hyży "Never Hide" - An established star that has started her music career thanks to TVN's X Factor 2012. She performed with Kuba Szmajkowski in 2021 and 2022 at the same music festival.
• Jann "Gladiator" - His career started in 2020 and performed in an alternative music festival known as Off Festival. Tu Bije Serce Europy! is his TV debiut.
• Blanka "Solo" - 2021 can be considered as the start of her music career. Solo is her second song and she performed it for TVP's NYE Music Festival 2022. She also performed as a guest for You Can Dance - Nowa Generacja 2.
• Yan Majewski "Champion" - Yan is another contestant of The Voice of Poland, specifically the 2021 edition. He later performed at the Grand Prix Festival of young talents 2022, TVP's NYE music festival 2022 and You Can Dance - Nowa Generacja 2.

At this point, you may probably see 3 things that were pointed out by fans and the media. The most obvious one is a lack of songs in Polish. Feliver's song only has one Polish segment and that's it. It has been a point of competition criticism, but it isn't anything abnormal. Poland has sent multiple entries in English and even English & Spanish before.
Another thing that can be noticed is the fact that only Ahlena and Jann don't have ties to TVP. Many contestants have performed for TVP at one point and many of them performed a couple of months before the competition. In the case of Yan Majewski and Blanka, you could see them on TVP a couple of days before the competition.
The third thing would be the quality of the show. While not all videos come directly from TVP, the quality doesn't differ that much from what you would see on TV. Journalists and fans openly talked about their ears bleeding thanks to some performances. There were even jokes about the quality of special effects and anything related to visuals. At this point, Poland's special effects are a meme and you can find videos depicting how the performance of (Insert Eurovision 2023 contestant) would look like if they represented Poland. What doesn't help is the fact that recordings from the audience and journalists tend to have better audio.
From things that you could only see by watching the full show, all contestants got at least one round of applause from the public. The craziest applause was for Jann before and after his performance. The beginning of his introduction could be barely heard and even hosts acknowledged the madness after his performance.
Now let's reveal results. During the show, Edyta Górniak was responsible for revealing results.

Name	Score
Blanka	12
Dominik Dudek	10
Felivers	8
Jann	7
Natasza	6
Alicja	5
Yan Majewski	4
Kuba Szmajkowski	3
Maja Hyży	2
Ahlena	1

This didn't sit well with the public. When Jann's score was revealed, many people started booing. It was so loud that Edyta Górniak had to ask whoever was giving her score to repeat themselves and you could hear it on TV.
There was also another moment of booing and screaming "EDYTA" after the results were revealed. Then it changed to screaming "USTAWKA" (set-up) and one of the hosts had to calm down the public again. Performances of the contestants were replayed and you can guess what happened when Jann's performance was shown. The crowd went for applause this time and became quiet during Blanka's performance.
This brings us to televoting. Rules changed again and now you can send up to 20 SMS from one SIM card. The cost of one SMS is 3.69 zł, which was the equivalent of $0.83 (US), £0.69 or €0.78. The total number of votes is unknown.
So now let's reveal the final score and the televote scores.
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Name	Total Score	Televote Score
Blanka	22	10
Jann	19	12
Dominik Dudek	18	8
Felivers	14	6
Yan Majewski	11	7
Alicja	10	5
Natasza	8	2
Kuba Szmajkowski	6	3
Maja Hyży	6	4
Ahlena	2	1

Originally, TVP didn't reveal televote scores and viewers only had the total score. The televote ranking has been released by TVP one day later. Number of televotes is still not confirmed. According to one source, TVP has received over 35000 votes. There is also gossip that Jann has received 18000 votes, while Blanka has received only 6000.
But even without specifics, the audience was lukewarm. When 2nd place and 1st place were about to be revealed, the audience was cheering for Jann. When Blanka was revealed, the audience lost its energy. There were some cheers instead of booing, but they weren't too loud.

They mad - Initial reactions

While Blanka's show didn't end with booing, celebrities and social media exploded.
The celebrities' side had reactions ranging from strongly negative to neutral. Ralph Kamiński was openly supporting Jann and even promoted him. He also criticised the format of the show and how only viewers should decide whom to send to Eurovision. He called the situation a "SCANDAL!" and "SHAME!!!".
Michał Szpak was supporting Jann. When the results were revealed, he supposedly end up laughing and swearing on Instagram. During one of his interviews, he openly states that he is in Team Jann but he will be still supporting Blanka. He also added there will be lots of work for Blanka, but he is still hopeful and the song itself is catchy. Maja Hyży, Kuba Szmajkowski, Doda and Roxie Węgiel (Eurovision Junior 2018 winner) share similar views. Their interviews can be reduced to how they were cheering for Jann or another contestant, but it doesn't mean that they will not support Blanka. Then there is a small talk about how she doesn't deserve hate or how her song is catchy.
When ask about songs and singing abilities, Agnieszka Hekiert end up praising Jann's vocal abilities and only said that Blanka's song is a well-produced pop piece. Similarly, Ochman avoided answering a more direct question "Does Blanka sing nicely?".
Another celebrity worth mentioning is Ramona Rey. She also preferred Jann and she was the first celebrity to call out the lack of clarity from TVP regarding how songs for the show were selected. She also called out the lack of Polish songs and mentioned how her rejected song predicted the future.
Even those supporting other contestants had a negative reaction to Blanka. Sandra Kubicka was supporting and promoting Dominik Dudek due to him "singing, playing the guitar, composing and writing his own songs". Her reaction to Blanka was calling her song "disco polo". Disco polo has a similar reputation to modern pop. Some love it and some consider it low-quality music.
Social media was less kind than celebrities. People were either attacking Blanka or TVP. Every tiny move of judges and contestants was analysed. Some even dug through the social media of contestants to make their point about how somebody deserves or doesn't deserve to represent Poland. At that time, you could easily encounter homophobia, racism and conspiracy theories.
Media obviously decided to produce multiple articles about this situation and every website presented something different. It's hard to say if they media the situation worse or better as multiple things have been happening at the same time.
People were divided. For some, Blanka was a twin sister of Ariana Grande that didn't show anything special. That's from one article and from there comments kept getting worse or better. Blanka was either considered a shallow rich girl with a generic song or a singer making others smile with her summer vibes. On another hand, Jann was a talented underdog who was too controversial for TVP or a copy of Måneskin that was singing out of tune.
TVP and others also got lots of comments. Some openly stated that they would be fine with Jann losing, if TVP decided to send either Dominik Dudek or Alicja. Others mentioned the political situation in Poland and how TVP perfectly shows corruption in Poland. One of the things that got pointed out was Blanka having a contract with Warner Music Poland and how TVP could earn money by having Blanka work for them.
Similar theories were slowly popping out and they were discussed by fans. So quickly fix your tin foil hats as we will be moving to the next sections.

Dance along with me - Egurrola's involvement

One of the most popular theories was how judges were voting for Blanka due to personal reasons. Agustin Egurolla and Edyta Górniak were the main focus of these theories.
To start with Egurrola, you can't run away with him as he is always doing something associated with dancing. He either sends his dancers or creates choreographies for multiple shows. Egurolla was supposedly working with Blanka for NYE 2022 music festival and his dancers performed with her for Tu Bije Serce Europy!. There were implications of potential bias and some people pushed this theory further. Supposedly, Egurrola didn't want Jann as Jann wouldn't agree to perform with his dancers and Egurolla wouldn't make money. The extra bit of this theory is based on the fact that Jann created his own choreography and performed without dancers.
Egurolla's controversy got worse thanks to his co-worker, Michał Piróg. Piróg published on his Instagram a picture of him with Egurrola and judges from You Can Dance - Nowa Generacja. In his description he wrote:

"I always sat behind the table and waited for something that would suprise me and enchant me, but there were those who asked beforehand "Who should be the best?"...."

This was later followed up by his comment, which appears to be deleted. Fortunately, the media saved it.

"The chairman, the second man on the picture, the man of the internal businness. Call it as you like"

The post was published a couple of days after the show and most people interpret it as a criticism of what happened in Tu Bije Serce Europy! and the implication that Egurrola had something to do with Blanka's victory.
In the end, the drama surrounding Egurrola died after a reveal that he will not work on Blanka's choreography for Eurovision.

Everybody has somebody - Involvement of Górniak's family

In the case of Górniak, there were multiple dramas surrounding her and her son. They lived for longer than Egurrola's drama due to Edyta's multiple responses and the fact that she was a chairwoman of judges.
Allan Krupa is Edyta's son and he is known as Enso. Most articles refer to him using his real name and so I am going to use it to be more or less consistent.
Going back to the main topic, it has been noticed that Allan was sitting next to Blanka during the competition and one picture was enough to start drama. People quickly started calling Blanka his friend or even lover. However, the first theory that Blanka is his friend became more popular due to Allan already dating somebody.
Allan quickly reacted to negative comments as some people were also attacking his girlfriends. He explained that he didn't even know there were pre-selections and he knew about them after his mother called him a day before. He didn't know other contestants, except for Felivers. He thought that Blanka was just a dancer and she asked him if she can sit next to him.
This wasn't the end as Allan went on some angry rants. Some phrases can't be directly translated without losing their original meaning, so I've tried my best to localise some bits. Check this comment for more information.

"People are writing to me - as if I had a f^^^ing connection to Eurovision - you are re^^^^ed or you are f^^^ing something else"

There was also another rant where he called people NPCs and how they make sh^t on the internet like animals for attention. He ends his rant saying that he understands that pre-selections are a situation of life or death and there is slaughter, when somebody doesn't win.
His story of not knowing Blanka was considered as weird. If it was true, then why Blanka had to search for a seat? Some questioned the legitimacy of this story as Allan has performed at NYE Music Festival 2022 like Blanka and he could theoreotically meet her there.
Allan was later defended by Edyta. He also posted some memes about how he manipulated pre-selections and Eurovision.

You do you and I do me - Edyta's involvement

Just after Blanka's victory, Górniak has been interviewed. She started her interviews by saying that Blanka was chosen by judges and also viewers, when she was expecting to see a change. She then went on a talk about how she thinks that viewers chose Blanka as they need something sunny and international. Also, how people lack something optimistic after all these dramas in their lives.
She then started describing Jann. She described him as demonic, but characteristic and full of charisma. The use of the word "demonic" became controversial and a meme due to being peculiar. What makes the situation worse is the reputation of Edyta when it comes to spirituality. As I've previously mentioned, Górniak is open about her beliefs and she even talked about bad energies, including how Halloween is bad. Funnily, Jann and somebody from his environment knew about this line and even made a joke about his salt necklace and potential exorcism.
To add salt to this situation, a recording from Dobry wieczór Europo! caught Górniak looking away and staring at the ceiling during the performance of Jann.
The day after the show, Edyta wrote a comment on her Instagram post saying that if anybody sees issues with the clarity, they should report them to the producer of the show.
There was also a small misunderstanding of rules from Edyta's side as she said that if people really wanted Jann to win, he would have won as televotes are responsible for 50% of the total score. But according to her, there were probably not enough votes sent to him.
To clarify, Jann got the maximum possible amount of points from viewers and it's unlikely that getting more votes would change anything. So either Górniak was confused by how scores work or she didn't know that Jann has won televote.
Small bits like that started accumulating and started creating a weird picture. During one of the interviews, Edyta stated that judges were questioning a bit if they should vote together or separately. At the end they shared each other's views while hiding their notes and voted separately.
The weirdest thing was the timeline of events presented by Edyta. According to her, votes were collected right away and judges didn't have time to further discuss them. Votes were counted while she was preparing for her guest performance during the ad break. However, later she stated that judges gave their voting cards when she was going to the stage to perform. What doesn't click here is the fact that Górniak was performing after the ad break.
This either means that votes were collected twice (before and after the ad break) or Górniak misremembered the timeline of events. This added fuel to the fire and people kept asking for voting cards. Górniak responded to that stating that she wouldn't have issues with her voting card being revealed. She also revealed that she was receiving results through her earpiece. It had a mixed reaction as TVP didn't reveal anything specific about voting cards and the bit about the earpiece fuelled the theory that somebody was manipulating behind the scenes.
The whole drama with Edyta Górniak was closed by her final comments. In one of the deleted comments she openly said that she is getting hatred for just reading results and some hatred is coming from people due to her being an easier target than the institution. Then there were two comments that you just have to read:

"Regarding the project Eurovision, I've lost my trust to everybody. Even if the rules were about to be change and fixed, I will never go back to this topic. I've seen what was happening last year, I have also seen what people were doing when Rafał was sent to Eurovision. And now the same thing is happening. I feel like a shield that was borrowed by somebody and put at the front of doors. This topic is closed for me."

The other comment:

"I am sure that time will tell and respond to all doubts. [...] I recommend to remember that despite of me being an influential person, I am not a boss of bosses and I can't do everything. [...] I will pray for justice"

You are about to know - Other dramas

So before we talk about Blanka herself, there are some small things worth mentioning. They are mostly based on gossip and they didn't live too long.
According to one of the theories, TVP was setting up MaRina as Poland's representative. She supposedly had to just send her song and everything would be set up. But after her performance at NYE Music Festival 2022, she supposedly withdrew.
From the same source, there is a gossip that one judge had issues with Jann's costume and choreography They supposedly found his costume as too inappropriate and too controversial. His choreography supposedly had some errors. These factors together supposedly created an impression on this judge that Jann would struggle to get points at Eurovision.
Another drama was caused by the release date of the article about Blanka's victory. The article was supposedly released around 2 hours before the competition and some people supposedly have seen it before Blanka's victory was revealed. However, there is no evidence of that and TVP explained the issue with the time of the article. The article supposedly saved the date of creation of the article instead of the release or final edit. The article was created early to publish results as fast as possible and it didn't contain names of contestants.
The final thing worth mentioning is an article talking about how pre-selections in Moldova and Serbia were better than Polish pre-selection. Moldova showed the individual votes of judges and amount of votes sent by viewers, while Serbia released voting cards. Even Lithuania and Latvia were praised.
The cherry on top is a depiction of how much Germany's ranking would change if they followed the rules of Polish pre-selections. Lord of the Lost would get a second, while Will Church (the winner of the judge's voting) would win instead.
This is similar to one theory that the previous representative of Poland, Ochman wouldn't win if the competition followed new rules. This cemented an impression that rules were changed to set up a winner.

It's kinda crazy - Blanka

Since results the reveal of the results, Blanka had to deal with multiple comments and memes. Depending on whom you ask, their perception of Blanka will vary. For some, she became "Bejba" due to her pronunciation of "Babe" and multiple memes. Bejba became viral and Ochman joined the trend. Even Blanka herself embraced the meme by wearing a dress with the text "Bejba". She explained her decision by stating that everybody now calls her bejba.
For some, she became a symbol of everything wrong with TVP and people started searching for evidence of corruption or Blanka being evil.
Somebody pointed out that Blanka's mother was working for TVP as a make-up artist for some shows. But it's possible that she was working for a company that happened to work for TVP and other tv broadcasters. For some, it was treated as evidence that Blanka has direct connections to TVP and there could be some bias.
Then there was another controversy regarding Blanka's social media. She supposedly liked comments that were saying that Jann is from the margin of society, which was interpreted as a classist remark or queerphobia. Just in case, Jann didn't say anything about being LGBTQ+ and only his appearance is relatively androgynous. Going back to the topic, some people defended Blanka stating that she could miss this bit as the comment starts as rather supportive. Some questioned the validity of it as Blanka's relationship with Jann appears to be positive. Blanka complimented Jann, while Jann was one of the first people to cheer her up after the competition and even defended her.
Another controversy was plagiarism. Specifically, there were allegations that Blanka either copied Clean Bandit's Solo or INNA's Up. These allegations remained allegations and that was their end.
The final controversy surrounding Blanka was a petition for Blanka's removal. There were two petitions and one of them has 91170 signatures. People wanted transparency from TVP and to see Jann perform in Eurovision. Blanka reacted to the petition and she was hurt by it.

Never back down - Eurovision

This year, Eurovision was divided into two parts. There were two semi-finals and one final. During the semi-finals, only viewers could vote.
Blanka performed in the second semi-final without massive issues and got 124 points. As a result, she got 3rd place in the second semi-final. It was a gigantic success and she beat the previous representative of Poland. Details can be found on Eurovision website.
Generally speaking, there was a positive reaction. People have praised Blanka for improving her performance, especially her vocals. Solo became one of the most popular Eurovision 2023 songs.
There were only two minor issues worth mentioning. Norway's newspaper Verdens Gang has openly criticised Blanka. Unfortunately, my Norwegian is non-existent and so this translation is straight from Google Translate. The original comment can be found here.

"Polish plastic pop reggae in the category that was once dominated by Swedes in the Stone Age (nineties). Blanka is probably not singing about Norwegian orange soda or a scruffy looking Star Wars hero, but about being completely alone in a relationship. The best thing that can be said about the "Solo" show is that she has the best glove of the finale. She falls out of tune, and loses her tone several times, That she actually thinks she can sing is hopelessly overwhelming. That, and that no adults have stopped this - regardless of the corruption charges."

Even Sweden talked about potential corruption and nepotism. They mentioned that Blanka's choreography was created by Egurolla. Funnily, even Edyta Górniak was mentioned, but she was called Blanka's mother-in-law.
Then there was a final performance, which had a similar reaction. The only difference was the lack of drama from the media and Polish fans even being proud of her. Blanka was placed 24th by judges and she was better than two performers. However, she got 8th place in televoting and it got her 19th place. A bit worse than the previous representative, who got 12th place.

The conclusion

Blanka managed to partially save her face and it's unclear what's going to happen in future. Blanka after Eurovision went on vacation and there hasn't been much news about her.
There was some discussion regarding her placement in televotes ranking and some people in the Eurovision subreddit have used her to make a point about how televoting is bad, while discussing the whole drama that happened due to Loreen's victory. For more information, I recommend checking this write-up.
Other contestants of pre-selections are doing fine and many of them released new songs. Especially Jann is doing well as his fanbase tripled in size and he is going to perform at OGAE Second Chance. Edyta Górniak and her son are still active, while Agustin Egurrola is focusing on his dance studio.
TVP is still controversial due to politics and it will probably remain controversial for a long time due to recent events. Years of bad reputation are hard to erase and most people are ready for another controversy Eurovision controversy.

Hey guys I'm in a pickle. I work as a therapy assistant at a school through a contract company. I got paid for a state recognized vacation week in April (april vaca). No one told me that I could or could not add the hours for that week, so I did, assuming that if they were not approved that week's pay would be denied. Well, it was approved so all was well. The reason why I added the hours in the first place was because my vacation pay was approved during February vacation as well, granted it was at another school, but it was from the same staffing company.. so I assumed it would be okay this time as well..Now, someone from the district apparently reached out to my staffing company is asking me about the contract hours for that week in April. They want verification from my supervisors that those hours were approved, they want names. I was already paid for it though, and it is now June. What do I do?! I don't find this very fair at this point. I'm worried they're going to take my pay away or expect me to pay it back. What do I do, what should I say, how can I go about this? I don't want anyone to get in trouble.
This sentence is included in my signed contract "If the client School District to which the employee is assigned is closed for a holiday, teacher planning day, etc., the minimum hours will be reduced by the number of hours regularly scheduled for that week."
In case I have to deal with this, how might I search for the local labor offices for my state?

Played Diablo 3 into the ground, loving the game so far. I hope the shoelaces that hold the servers together don’t snap.
I’m a level 28 she-necro (she’s a 69/10) and I think an incredible update/QOL change would be if you could apply cosmetics and/or name your sticks (skeletons). The current state of the in-game shop is grotesque but damn if I wouldn’t drop $20-40 to dress my sticks up and name them after various anime-thots.
I love the way all my sticks shamble after the last enemy to try to be the last one to kill it to appease their succubus. I would love it even more if I give fervor to an individually named stick who performed well.
What do y’all think? I think our stick entourage should get some sort of customization.

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-----Damian-----
Damian kneeled off to the side, trying his best to blend into the rubble around him as Ree was scolded like never before by his mother. He cradled the toddler closer to his chest through the harness it was placed in when it started to fuss. At the attention, it settled back down. As Violet basically breathed fire at her chick, the angry image being ruined by the mother-henning she was doing checking his injuries, Damian kept an eye on the armored aliens standing around watching them.
Damian didn't like the way they semi-circled to trap him, his kids and his birds between themselves and the broken tree-tower. The only things keeping him from placing himself between them and his family was the child who refused to be separated from him and Sky. Said bird was perched on one of his thighs to better reach some of his wounds. Despite that, he still had to lean down a bit to let him reach the wounds on his head and the big one on his bicep.
His eyes constantly scanned the area in an uneasy search for Squeaks, who had jumped down and scampered off once he left the tree. He was not happy with her sudden disspearance, since the same thing was what started this mess. Then again, it was what led him to the toddler who would definitely have been killed, had he not been here. He could confidently say the voices didn't like it either. They were a constant mind-numbing buzz in the base of his skull but at least they didn't do so farther up. He could actually think past their annoyed chatter for once.
As he watched his surroundings and let Sky look at his wounds, he talked with some of the calmer voices. They discussed ways to compromise his head space. Clearly they didn't like being locked in the back of his mind, if the violent attacks were anything to go by, but he can't focus on anything if they are free to wander without any restrictions. His conversation was interrupted by a voice that is mostly quiet, one of a very few number that is more....not physical but just felt more than heard. Them mostly being known by non-verbal contributions to the conversation. Anyways, it butted in with a hand on his metaphorical shoulder. His attention shifted to it, making it easier to.....notice? read? it. It sent the feeling of pointing to the outside world, like pointing out a window.
It takes a few seconds to extract himself from the web of conversations he was keeping an eye on while he brainstormed. Once he did and zoned back into the real world his attention was drawn back to the armored aliens by movement at the very edge of his vision, just this side of his blindspot. He tenced and whipped his head around to stare down the movement. The alien that has walked closer immediately stopped walking and retracted the leg halfway through it's next step.
The build of the alien was vaguely familiar, like he's seen one of it's species before. He just can't quite place where. Its not any of his flock, or one their species anyways, since its bigger than Untruthful. That much he's sure about. It also can't be one of the fish-aliens from when he was in that reverse-aquarium since it didn't have a tank or anything that looked like it would help it breathe water. And the fact it has legs, too. The fish-people only had hand-fins and tails. So maybe he just saw one when they all went to that market-place? Where he found Squeaks. Its a possibility, there were a lot of aliens packed together.
It stands silently in its spot a few steps closer than the semi-circle of other armored aliens. It's legs were bent ever so slightly, posture slouched, and head lowered like it was trying to look as small and submissive as possible while still being considered standing. He couldn't tell for sure where it was looking because of the helmet covering it's face but from the angle of it's head, he guesses it's staring at the ground just before his folded legs.
He was confused at the position it froze in. It doesn't look at all comfortable for it. It's legs constantly shifted slightly to move around it's weight like the pose wasn't something it naturally did but was taught to do. Why was it doing that? He would understand if it was it's species' way of showing peacefulness or a lack of aggression but it was clearly uncomfortable. Though a good portion of that was probably the fact that he was staring it down with a death glare.
It had six limbs: two arms, two legs, and a small pair between them that was half bent in the air. From what he saw as it walked, the two tiny limbs extend and are used as legs when it moves. It seems like when it stands still it leans back on its thick tail. Its overall body shape is like a long noodle. Like a ferret or particularly wide snake. Its head, from the shape of it's helmet anyways, looks like someone took a sphere and cut off the bottom quarter before sticking it to the creature's neck.
The only thing showing which side of it's head is the front is the two flat wedges on either side of it's head. From the way they were covered they looked like a mix between fins and ears, with the front being flat and the back angling out and into the head like a ramp. Said ear-fin-wedges were currently flattened against the side of it's head and drooping down like someone tied weights to the ends of them.
He stared for a few long minutes, only shifting to give Sky more access to whatever wound he moved to look over. It didn't move closer or try to speak the entire time but it didn't move away either. It just stood there in an uncomfortable pose like it was waiting for something. He didn't have a single guess as to what and he didn't like how still it was being. Slowly his lips lifted into a mockery of a smile, more of a snarl than anything. When it only flinched but still refused to move, he unconsciously made a low unhappy humm from his chest.
With the snarl still on his face and the way he was awkwardly slouched and twisted for Sky, it came out much more guttural and growl-like than he expected it to. The alien flinched again and shifted it's weight backwards ever so slightly like it wanted to step back but it's feet were glued to the ground. Before he could try again to make it back off Sky spoke up from his lap as he nudged the hands holding the toddler, wanting to check on the kid's side. His voice was perfectly neutral, none of he emotions usually plastered all over his words to be found.
"If you are just going to stand there and work up my Dark-crest, you might as well leave." Damian's head whipped down at that tone so fast that he felt his neck crack. That tone was so strange coming from Sky that he worried something was wrong. The small bird's expression was perfectly neutral but he did see a spark of mirth and amusement in his eye when the armored alien winced and stuttered a few failed starts. He moved his head ever so slightly to look up at the stuttering alien out of the corner of his eye as he lifted the toddler out of it's harness and onto his lap, letting Sky loosen the make-shift bandages to check it's wound.
The alien paused its stuttering to take a breath, at least he thinks so. He couldn't quite tell since he didn't hear it breathe through it's helmet but it did pause its arm movements like it did. Either way it paused to probably collect it's thoughts and calm itself, well, as much as possible with Damian glaring it down and ready to lunge if it so much as twitched wrong.
At this point the voices seemed to notice the nervous alien and were split between ignoring them and turning their attention to the situation. Of those that did switch, half were making fun of the armoured alien and the other half were cooing over how cute it's nervousness was. Damian was confused and distracted by the ones cooing over it. Sure, objectively it could be considered cute, what with it being under half his size, but that wasn't what confused him. It was that they kept calling it 'baby', 'child', and a few said something about a student. Was.....wasn't it an adult?
Who in their right mind would ever think it was a good idea to toss a kid into armour and let them play soldier with actual trained adults? That gained the attention of more voices them either snickering at the mental image and passing their own back and forth with each other, berating whoever it's guardian was, or cooing sympathetically at the child. He let the conversations wash over his thoughts and blank his mind as he just watched the alien. Almost all his previous aggression was absent from his expression and posture, replaced by intrigue and curiosity.
Apparently the alien had gotten it's thoughts together enough to swap a few sentences back and forth with Sky since he snapped back into the present at the sound of his name.
"-Damian." Unfortunately Sky said his name at the end of the sentence so he didn't know any context. The reply the alien made gave enough, though. It tilted its head, at least he guessed so, as it took a few slow creeping steps towards them.
"Really? I-" It caught itself at Sky's sharp glare, "He is.....forgive me for not using the right word but, 'tame'?" It seemed like either it wasn't very fluent in common or it didn't know the right term to use for this specific situation. Either way he cut in sharply before Sky could reply.
"No, I'm not 'tame'. I am not some mindless animal to be trained-" He interrupted himself with an agressive snarl to his voice as the alien continued to creep closer. "And I will gladly rip your head off if you take one step closer to my flock!" The alien immediately stopped and scuttled multiple steps backwards with a fearful yelp, stuttering out a nervous stream of apologies. They ended up a bit closer than they originally were but seemed to understand the correct distance to keep.
Damian felt Sky pause their checking of the toddler to lean their head into his chest in attempt to stifle his giggling, shuttering with the force of the attempt. Damian felt his glare and scowl lessen with a barely withheld smile at the quiet stuttered breath-laughs escaping his bird. Eventually he couldn't hold a straight face and let a lop-sided smile spread onto his face with an amused exhale as he relaxed his shoulders and looked down at the small bird.
"Could you not? Its kinda hard to keep an angry face with you giggling away into my chest." Sky held his breath for a second at the teasing comment, just barely holding in his laughter. Sky lifted a wing-claw-hand and hit his chest in reprimand, glancing up at him with a horrible attempt at a stern glare, laughter clear behind his voice.
"Don't you dare make me laugh! I'm supposed to be working." Damian relaxed a bit at the voice, happy he was able to make his bird break the emotionless mask. He leaned back on a hand, the other cradling the toddler, as his smile grew to flash his teeth.
"Your own fault. I was just stating facts. Hard to act all big and bad with a chicken-sized being giggling away like a child into you." Sky squawked much like Violet does before her and Ruby bat their wings at each other. Sure enough Sky spread his wings and flapped them to continously bap him in the head. Damian let himself laugh as he ducked his head and raised his free arm in a fruitless attempt to sheild him from the harmless attack of feathers.
Once Sky got it all out of his system he folded his wings back up and floofed his already puffy feathers to make him even rounder. Damian laughed at him again and playfully ruffled his crest, not noticing how much more relaxed he is after that. Sky finally let out a small chuckle and shook himself off to resettle his feathers.
Damian moving his free arm to cradle the toddler again he glanced up at the maybe-child alien once he remembered it and huffed out an amused snort at it's completely baffled body language. Hearing something halfway between an oink and a squeak, Damian glanced down. The toddler was staring up at him with big suprised eyes.
"What?" He asked the kid, not expecting an answer. The reply he got was the child snorting a nearly identical sound he made but with a slight change to it. It then looked at him expectantly. Damian glanced up at Sky but the bird was occupied with talking with the armoured alien and hadn't noticed. Looking back at the child he hesitated for a second before repeating the snort he made before.
The child squealed, in what he assumed was happiness, and headbutted Damian's ribs hard enough that he was sure they would bruise, it's tail wagging so violently the fluffy end was hitting it's sides. Damian laughed and held the child as it made happy snorts and grunts.
-----Runt-----
Runt was confused and scared. He didn't know what was happening. Brute, Scavenger, and soft-BruteSoundermate left the not-den-path after they exchanged not-instinct-speak with the weird voice. Once they left to the out they paused at the sight of the weird-things. Two more soft-maybe-BruteSoundermate walked over and talked with them. The bigger of the two taking the first soft-BruteSoundermate and making annoyed-shoat-angry sounds. The smaller of the new soft-maybe-BruteSoundermate chattered to Brute until he lowered to the ground and let it check it over.
Runt watched as Scavenger ran off, making Brute call out to it in protest. It was ignored and grumbled unhappily for a while until the weird-things moved to enclose everyone else. Runt didn't like the lack of escape and whimpered a bit as he cuddled into Brute. Brute held him closer and Runt felt reassured. Runt dosed off for a bit, trusting Brute would protect him from the weird-things. Plus, his side was really hurting.
He was brought out of his not-really-sleep when he heard soft-maybe-BruteSoundermate make weird short high-pitched squeals. Brute took him out of the strap-holder-things keeping him to it's chest. He watched as the small-soft-maybe-BruteSoundermate started to unwrap the wound-cover. He couldn't help but shy away once it started to hurt, peeling off his side. Soft-maybe-BruteSoundermate exchanged a few weird sounds with the weird-thing. The weird-thing started to slowly creep closer to them. Runt was scared. He hid in Brute's middle. Eventually Brute seemed to have enough with the weird-thing since it spoke up and ended on anger-warning-backoff.
The weird-thing immediately scrambled back and soft-maybe-BruteSoundermate leaned against Brute while making quiet-amused sounds. Why was it amused? It hit Brute and Runt shied away from it, expecting Brute to punish it for the weak attack. It never happened though. Brute just made teasing-amused sounds and even relaxed a bit. Soft-maybe-BruteSoundermate then made a weird noise, probably taking the lack of response as Brute not acting like he should as Protector.
Then it......made its arms longer? The extra flaps on its arms extended and it continuously hit them against Brute's head. Runt watched in tence silence as Brute just lifted its arm to try and shield it from the useless attack. Runt waited for Brute to grow tired of soft-maybe-BruteSoundermate disrespecting it's position and move to put it in it's place. Again, it never happened. Runt was confused when it eventually stopped it's useless attack and make itself bigger. Brute just made an amused-happy sound and rubbed it's head. Brute then glared up at the weird-thing, moved to hold Runt a bit more protectively and-
"Mine." Runt whipped his head up at Brute in suprise at the clear Neath word.
"Maybe-sire?" Brute looked down at him and grunted something he didn't understand. Runt didn't want to get his hopes up, maybe he just didn't hear Brute right so he asked it what it said.
"Yours?" Brute glanced at soft-maybe-BruteSoundermate then glared at the weird-thing before looking back down to him and replying.
"Mine." Runt couldn't help the happy squeal as he felt the bond click into place. Instinct made happy rumbling noises in the back of his head as he happily headbutted his Sire. A Sire picked him. A Sire picked him! His Sire picked him! He has a sounder! He was so happy he couldn't do anything but vocalize his happiness and excitement. He felt his Sire hold him closer and that only made him happier.

basically the title. I'm an international applicant and although I entered my institute's name, degree etc way back, it never showed me a GPA. I was worried about it but I decided to wait until my finals were done and the grades were out so I could have a final GPA.
I was just now registering for LSAT and on the final page where they ask you to confirm all the details, it says under the bachelor's degree granting institution that my cumulative GPA is "3.50 to 3.74/mostly As"
I'm half panicking and half confused since I was expecting it to be higher but also because it otherwise says "transcript not processed".
Should I just ignore that range for now and register for LSAT or call them up and ask for an explanation?

When i met my BF, he has been in therapy for 3 years (and still do) mainly for dissociation. He also have been a weed addict, but told me he stoped (i am a non smoker myself and i have a bad relationship with weed/alcohol/drugs using, i stay away and i wish to be with someone who intends to do the same).
Few weeks in, i saw he was sometimes buying weed. I can tolerate it few times but when i see there was an habit, i named it. He said i was right and throw away what he bought. Then one night i went at a girlfriend appartement, when i came back my BF was completely high! I reacted badly. Like wow i just go outside once and the first thing you do is getting high!i threw a tantrum saying i dont want to be with a drug addict, i felt like he lied to me. I apologized afterward but said that it is important to me to feel like that is still his vision, to stop. We had an honnest conversation, he told me it was always HIS goal to stop, not related to me being in his life. I told him that hopefully my tantrum would not prevent him from talking to me if he is struggling with it again.
And there we are. I could feel some kind of weird taste/smell sometimes when kissing (even if he is chewing candies obviously). I asked a few time « have you been smoking?) he would tell me not. I even asked « would you tell me? » which he said yes. There has been other time, i noticed red eyes, etc, but he would tell me like « i had a really long day at work, im just tired » but also making me feel guilty bout it « what are you saying? » with a strange tone. I began to feel like i was in a paranoic state, imaginating smells, not tolerating that he is just tired.
But then this time was different. Again he said « no!! What are you saying? Dont act like that » and i said « i am not stupid. I can smell it. Now tell me!!! » he said « ok, i smoked, bit it is CBD, there is not even THC, i didnt want to tell you because i dont want to lose you.
I have been in manipulative relationship before. He lying to me and making me doubt my perception for a while really hitted me hard!!i was crying, feeling like he was a complete liar. I was moody and really critical, doubting himself for the rest of the day.
He apologized but also kind of begin to reflect and put some fault of behaviour on me (maybe i can accept that part…) that i am so judgmental about drug use, it made him hide to keep harmony. He should just made it clear from the beginning that is he feels the need to, he would regardless of what i want him to do. But he would agree with him lying and having been manipulative in this particular aspect.
I would like to have an external POV about the matter. Is there some hopes are of any gaslighting behaviour should be a matter of ending the relationship? Considering he is in a therapy process and really serious about it?
(Sorry for the long message, thanks for reading me!)

Company Name	Title	City
United States Secret Service	Criminal Investigator	El Paso
HCSC	VP of Pharmacy	Richardson
HCSC	ARIS Modeler	Richardson
HCSC	IT Policy Manager	Richardson
Southwest Research Institute	Associate Specialist - Specialist - Accountant	San Antonio
West Fraser	Wireman	Alto
Northwest Texas Healthcare System	Surgery Aide	AMARILLO
BSA Hospital	Occupational Therapist (OT)	Amarillo
RPM Expedite USA	CDL Class A Truck Drivers - Over the Road	Arlington
Mountain Laurel Dental Care	Dental Hygienist	Austin
Aveanna Healthcare	Bilingual Speech Language Pathologist SLP- $5000 Sign on Bonus	Beaumont
Aveanna Healthcare	Occupational Therapist (OT)- $5,000 Sign on bonus!	Beaumont
Corralito Steak House	Urgently Hiring Bartender	Canutillo
Avis Budget Group	Calling all Sales Professionals!!	Canutillo
Aveanna Healthcare	Physical Therapist (PT) - Home Health-$5000 Sign on Bonus	Channelview
Aveanna Healthcare	Pediatric Speech Language Pathologist	Corpus Christi
UMD Energy Solutions	Construction Manager - Dallas	Dallas
Houston Methodist Hospital	Registered Nurse (RN) - Relocate to Houston	Dallas
Medical City Denton	RN Staff Endoscopy	Denton
Aveanna Healthcare	$5000 SIGN ON BONUS! Occupational Therapist (OT) - Home Health(Bilingual)	Eagle Pass
Aveanna Healthcare	Occupational Therapist (OT)	Eagle Pass
Aveanna Healthcare	Occupational Therapy Specialist	Eagle Pass
Aveanna Healthcare	$5000 SIGN ON BONUS! Occupational Therapist (OT) - Home Health(Bilingual)	El Indio
Corralito Steak House	Barman	El Paso
Corralito Steak House	Bartender	El Paso

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings , feel free to comment here if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

Good morning or afternoon depending on what coast you’re from here in the states! How are you doing today, good?
My name is Myles, what’s yours?
I’m hoping to find a woman between the ages of 23 and 25 with a profound sense of self and witty humor, confident and emotionally intelligent/empathetic. Extroverted and sociable. Preferably we have a good deal in common and can carry on deep, meaningful and intimate conversations.
Some things I’m interested in are poetry and song lyrics with a deeper, more subtle meaning, the sciences of genetics and evolutionary biology as well as psychology, world religions/folklore and mythology. I’m also a fan of movies such as Twilight and The Fast and The Furious. I grew up on Disney and loved watching 00’s shows of a wide variety. Some of my favorites are Wizards of Waverly Place, Cory in The House, That’s So Raven, Hannah Montana, Girl Meets World and Shake It Up.
Once we’ve talked for a couple days I’d be open to talks of moving to Discord or Snapchat!
Can’t wait to hear from you ;-)

You're crying on a reddit divorce sub after getting blindsided, you're probably on the spectrum, embrace it, this is for you. If you're neurotypical then this will seem idiotic and too much work.

• Your jurisdiction/state/circuit/county has an online court database. Every case, every judge, lawyer, plaintiff, petitioner, defendant. You might have to register for access, but it should be free, and searchable.
  
• Sort/search/filter by your jurisdiction and family law or divorce cases. There will be lots. The case will be called "NameX v NameY." The ones at the top are likely to be the most recently filed and thus still open.
  
• Scroll to when they start being labeled "closed." If the man's name is first then these lawyers filed first on behalf of their male clients. If the man's name is second then he was filed on. If there are two men's names then yay equality!
  
• Start opening cases (dozens? hundreds?) and reading the complaints and judgements until you find several with similar scenarios to yours and settlements and/or judgements that seem fair and livable. Ideally, you'll see the same lawyer or firm's name pop up several times. This is a potential lawyer. Note, a fair settlement is just as good, if not better than getting a fair result at a hearing. If a lawyer can get it done without going "all the way" then awesome.
  
• Return to the search and filter by their name, your jurisdiction, and family law/divorce. Ideally they have several recently closed cases. Read through them and confirm they regularly get the results you can live with. If that is the case then give them a call and schedule a consultation. If a case seems super similar and the result was fair then feel free to print it out and reference it, i.e. "hey boss, can I get one of these too?" They'll know you're autistic at that point but at least you've warned them lol.
  
• If your stbx has filed first and you've been served then you have an advantage they didn't. You will have been assigned a judge. You can now add that layer to your initial filter up above and find a lawyer that has been in front of your judge multiple times recently. If you're really neurodivergent, your stbx will also have a lawyer...you can search their cases to see if they recently didn't get what their client was asking for in front of your judge when opposed by somebody. A better option might to be to see if there is a lawyer that they have recently settled amicably and fairly with in short order. Lawyers have personalities too, and one that works well with your stbx's could be a lifesaver.
  
• In big metros and such this might be overwhelming. Instead use the above method to confirm someone you've got a good feeling about from google or whatever. If they don't have multiple recently closed divorce cases in your jurisdiction with fair outcomes then plug in another name until you find one that does.
  
• Potential concerns: Tons of recent open cases indicating a potential lawyer might not be able to devote as much effort to your case. Cases where a potential lawyer was replaced or asks to be let go at some point during the process. Not necessarily a disqualification, if someone doesn't pay then the lawyer is gonna ask to be let go. You also occasionally can tell that the client is the problem. If they have multiple open cases that have been going on for years then that might be a concern unless your case has dragged on too for some reason.
  

This is work, this is mental labor. But you might need some busy work right now. You've probably spent hours reading reviews and dealing with selection anxiety and decision paralysis. At least this way every link you click, every case you read, will get you one click closer to someone that you can feel good about, someone who wrote a settlement that you like and can understand, someone who has ideally been in front of your judge multiple times this year and gotten fair and just results in a similar scenario, or someone who frequently settles fairly and quickly, or even better, someone who has settled fairly and quickly with your stbx's lawyer recently.
Notice I didn't use words like "win," "beat," "destroy" etc... I said fair and just. If someone asks for joint, their spouse asks for full, and the result is joint, that is fair and just. Notice I didn't use gendered terms, anybody can use this method.
Be well folks.

Hi everyone.
To Kill a Predator is a work of fan fiction set in the Nature of Predators universe originally created by SpacePaladin15 whose Patreon you should subscribe to.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Depiction does not equal endorsement.
Hope you enjoy it!
[First] [Previous]
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Memory transcription subject: Thiva, Venlil Civilian
Date [standardized human time]: December 6th, 2136
​
Thank the Protector for Vilek.
She had stepped up in every possible way. She coached me on the right answers to give to the assessors. She worked with a Krakotl named Jarkim to keep the Exterminator’s office at bay. And she took care of answering questions from a reporter named Sharnet that reached out to me since both the humans who contacted her, mister Sinclair and Martin, had fallen prey to the Liberators.
This was the paw where I got to leave the hospital. My injuries were actually quite minor (or so they claimed), but they had kept me under observation for several paws to see if I’d display Predator Disease after everything that happened. There was a real risk that after all that, after what Martin sacrificed for me, I’d just end up in a Facility.
At first I thought I probably should be. I was happy that Renak was dead, and I wanted Vansi to die too. For the first couple of paws just thinking about being tied in that chair with Renak whistling and leaning over me with his knife and claws and teeth… it made me shake and scream, once even until I soiled myself.
Thinking about what Vansi had done to Martin made me shriek with anger and throw things and tear curtains. Vilek had stayed by my side though, and helped cover up the incidents each time. Without her I’d be in a Facility for sure.
Then she got me in contact with a human assessor over video calls, a man named doctor Johan Eriksson with ice-blue eyes and a lot of yellow fur all over his face. And just as Martin had promised, Johan was aghast at hearing about the Federation’s treatment of Predator Disease. Johan promised me that my feelings were entirely normal, and that he’d help me work through everything.
​
I’ve had three calls with him since then, and while every one of them ended with me in tears I always felt better afterwards. He was teaching me a system called ‘Mindfulness’. By examining my own emotions and surroundings in a neutral way, it was possible for me to significantly reduce the symptoms! And it was working, it really was. I was more able to manage my emotions. I could recognize when the world was fading into a furious orange or horrid gray, and pull myself back from the brink.
And he said there were other coping strategies to use too, that he’d be providing me with all the tools I needed to grow myself like a garden: Pruning the bad parts, watering the good, and planting the seeds of the sort of person I wanted to grow into.
The humans love their metaphors! But this one was rather beautiful, so I didn’t mind. I quite liked to imagine myself as a garden! But not the ones on Venlil Prime. One of the ones on Earth. Johan had showed me pictures. So full of different colors, dozens of types of insects, so many birds… an explosion of life and color and joy!
That’s the kind of garden I wanted to be. Someday.
​
Coming back home was tough. Not just because I had to pick between being woozy from painkillers or aching with all the little motions of daily life (I had settled on being woozy), but also because of all the little reminders.
Vilek had pressured the landlord into replacing the front door, but the new color reminded me of the break-in. The door to Martin’s room was entirely absent. Martin was entirely absent.
I didn’t feel safe sleeping in my bed. Vilek let me share hers. I woke up crying and feeling her claws stroking through my fur to comfort me.
I was grateful, truly grateful, for my friend. But she wasn’t the one I wanted to hold me.
A claw later I screamed when the pad rang for a phone call, and had to sit and do my mindfulness exercises while Vilek answered it.
She hung up in a hurry and rushed over to me and grasped my paw. “Thiva, we have to get to the hospital! Right now!”
​
---
​
Memory transcription subject: Martin Russo, Human Refugee
Date [standardized human time]: December 11th, 2136
​
I am in more pain than at any other point in my entire life.
Every single part of my being hurts on a level so deep I can feel it in my soul, and I don’t even believe those exist.
My tears are flowing freely and shamelessly. My mouth is open and my drool tastes alkaline, my throat trying to shield itself from the vomit that’s threatening to flow forth.
Taking a single step requires more willpower than I can even wrap my head around. Every single muscle has to be tensed manually, my brain simply refuses to pass the ‘walk’ signal to the body. My shaking limbs move in slow motion, like wading through thick non-Newtonian fluid. Like an arthritic, decrepit old man.
And always that voice. That fucking voice. That fucking voice I need to shut it up I hate you I hate you so much I hate you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you
​
“Good job, Martin! One more step, c’mon, you can do it! Gold star!”
“fuck you… fuck you… fuck you… fuck you…” The mantra helps me manage the last step, before I collapse. First to my knees, then down to my hands. Then onto my face, on the soft and spongy floor.
Chasa, my Zurulian arch-nemesis, pads over to me fearlessly and sits down. She licks a paw before stroking it through my hair, giving me a cowlick. “Great job! I can tell you’ve been doing your exercises! Good boy!”
I can’t move my limbs right now. “hate you. hate you so much.”
She pads over to a small teddy bear-sized table and holds up my medical file. She’s had it printed out on actual paper with an actual manila folder, just for this purpose. “That’s fine! You don’t hate the gold star, though, do you?”
“…that’s for children…”
“Oh, so you don’t want it?”
I growl as menacingly as I can. It’s not particularly impressive. She holds up the little gold star sticker and wags it at me, before placing it on my file. She doesn’t seem particularly afraid of me. Though to be fair, even though she weighs maybe 20 kilos soaking wet she could probably take me in a fight.
Chasa looked up human physical therapy before taking on my case, and apparently learned about this incentive system… someplace. Each session she gives me a gold star if I manage to go above and beyond. I hate it. It’s infantilizing, condescending, and juvenile. And it works. I want the gold star. This is my fifth fucking physical therapy session and I want my fifth fucking gold star. It’s the least she can do after she makes me torture myself.
“Fantastic work! Alright, so after third-meal I want you to try and walk around your bed. Back and forth, as many times as you can. And remember to rotate your arm!”
“ah, i see. you hate me too.”
Chasa looks immensely happy and pleased as a couple of Venlil nurses get me onto a too-small gurney. She takes a little sugar and salt treat from a bowl for cubs or pups or whatever, and walks over to place it in my lap. “See you next paw, Martin!”
I will find a way to pay her back for this.
​
I woke up around five or six paws ago with tubes in every orifice on my body, and was very surprised to find myself alive.
The full story only came later. Slavik and Jarkim had taken out one of the Liberators, but Jarkim had gotten badly wounded as a result. As soon as they had dumped Jarkim back at the truck, Slavik double-timed it to the house. They passed Thiva and Mosun on the way, and managed to arrive in time to stop Vansi from setting me on fire. By shooting her.
Not that that would’ve mattered, considering my massive blood loss and organ damage and being stuck out in the middle of Fuckoff Nowheresota.
The fact that there was a UN army base about two dozen miles away saved me, as their helicopters showed up to take over the scene and haul all the injured to the hospital. The medics were able to get to me within the Golden Hour. Though considering the extent of my injuries it was apparently closer to the Golden Ten Minutes.
Since then I had been in a medically induced coma while the hospital grew replacements for just about every single one of my organs. To hear tell of it, I’d have had no chance long-term without the Zurulians’ almost unfathomably advanced technology. The alien teddy bears were able to salvage my broken body, even though it’s likely that my left leg, left arm, and right hand will never be the same again.
And now I get to torture myself back to health. Oh joy.
​
My lambchops have been showing up every day or paw or whatever for visiting hours, and staying each time until they’re chased out by the nurses.
Each time I see them enter my room it feels better than a shot of whatever the aliens use instead of morphine; the sight of them together and safe lifts my spirits and puts a smile on my face.
We spend most of our time watching movies or TV shows on the pad, while they take turns holding my hand or stroking my head. I pet them back as much as I can, but for now both that and talking for any length of time are too draining.
They’ve been showing me some of the classic works of the Venlil. I’ve been showing them classics of humanity.
“Hey Blondie! You know what you are?! Just a dirty sonofa-” Aaa-aa-aaaaa!
The lambchops whistle with joyful laughter, releasing the tension of the long finale of the finest Western of all time.
Thiva sighs with relief. “Oh Protector, I really thought he was going to kill Tuco!”
“No way, he’s ‘The good’ of the title! And it was a call-back to the first part of the film where he kept shooting him down, there’s no way they wouldn’t take the opportunity to tie it all together!”
“Yeah, I guess… Is that seriously what humans considered ‘good’ back then?”
I interject. “You could argue that Blondie is supposed to be ‘the good’, but he’s really more like the ‘least bad’. The people making the movie were living under a dictatorship, so a lot of films from the nation of Spain around that time were made from a very cynical point of view.”
Thiva leans against me and runs her claws through my hair, making me shiver. “You haven’t been showing us a lot of movies with war in them, but they’re apparently pretty common for humans?”
I give a nod. “Yes. We’ve always had a complex relationship with war and violence. You might’ve noticed that this movie took a very somber perspective, largely viewing the war as pointless. While it was a controversial conflict in the past, nowadays the common view of the US civil war is that it was a necessary conflict to end the evils of chattel slavery.”
Vilek is silent for a short bit. “So like Blondie, violence isn’t necessarily good, but sometimes it’s the least bad.”
“Oh, I like that. That’s clever.”
She wags her tail. “Alright, what’s next on the list?”
“Next… I do my exercises, before I get too tired. Can you girls help me get into the leg brace? Can’t walk at all without the damn thing.”
​
They help manhandle me into a standing position and latch the leg brace, and I can start my agonizingly slow and agonizingly agonizing journey around the bed and back again.
To keep my mind off of the pain, and because I can’t loudly curse my beloved lambchops out like I can my arch-nemesis Chasa, I try to talk instead. “S-So… I’ve been looking into… human universities… that’ll take both of you… and ideally… transfer your… credits…”
Vilek wags encouragingly, and helps support me on my slow journey. “That’s great! We can all head to Earth instead and I can become a human assess-no, therapist!”
Thiva sighs. “Honestly, I like the sound of that. I feel safer around humans than around Venlil at this point.”
“Great… I’ll let you know… once I hear back…” Shit that topic didn’t last long. Okay what else what else “How’s that… trial thing… coming along…?”
Thiva grumbles. “The Liberators plead guilty today… including Vansi, who was being tried as a member of the group.” She had survived, but Slavik’s plasma rifle had seared her arm off at the shoulder.
“No media’s being allowed in the courtroom, to ensure they don’t get an audience for their views. The sentence hasn’t come down yet but it looks like none of them are going to feel the free breeze again for as long as they live.”
“Can’t say… I feel bad…”
“It’s too good for them!”
“The state… shouldn’t get… to do worse… than imprison… fuck, I’m done, please help.” My leg gives out and I’m left to cling to the bed frame until the girls intervene.
They help me back onto the bed before Vilek speaks. “…Even someone like Kalsim?”
​
I nod, sweat covering my body in a thin sheen. I take a deep drink of water and wait a few moments before answering. “Yeah… Kalsim’s not a threat in a jail cell. The state has a monopoly on violence, and shouldn’t get to use it to kill people just because we’re upset at them.”
Thiva frowns. “What about justice, though? Don’t people deserve to see those that have hurt them get punished?”
I shake my head. “That’s not justice. See it like this… Why not eat him?”
The girls look disgusted. I press on. “See… If killing him as punishment is fine, then just beating him up has to be fine too. Right? That’s less bad than killing him. And torture, that’s still less bad than killing. And if killing is fine, how about killing him extra painfully like by setting him on fire? And at that point we might as well eat him. I mean, why not?”
Thiva protests. “Because… Because that’s barbaric! You humans don’t eat sapients, you all say so!”
I nod firmly. “Yeah, exactly. Because it is barbaric. State punishment is just barbarism, just sadism to make the worst part of us feel better. Once we agree that it’s acceptable to do that to anyone, all we’re doing is haggling over price. There was a human philosopher named Nietzsche. He said ‘Beware of those in whom the urge to punish is strong’, and I think that’s the sort of thing he meant. Not just to beware of people in power who seek out punishment for people they have power over, but… to beware that part of ourselves.”
The girls are silent for a moment. I take a slow drink of water and speak more, even though it’s really tiring by now. But this is important.
“Listen, Vilek… When you study to become a therapist, please keep something in mind. Predator Disease doesn’t exist. Not even Renak had Predator Disease.”
Vilek frowns confusedly and bursts out. “What?! But you said he was a ‘textbook psychopath’! You said he was a monster who didn’t feel empathy! You said so yourself!”
“Yes, I did. But in human society… the majority of people with that condition are not actually more dangerous than anyone else. Because they can be taught coping mechanisms, by therapists, to fit into society. Renak was a monster because Venlil society, and Vansi, failed him.”
Thiva protests. “But…”
I shake my head. “Nobody is born a monster. And even in cases where people are truly unsalvageable for whatever reason… what’s the point in punishing them for it? Thiva, I didn’t shoot your brother because he was a psychopath. I shot him to keep you safe. Slavik didn’t shoot your mother because she was an abuser, they shot her because she was about to set me on fire. If someone shot Kalsim at this point… how would that make anyone safer?”
I sigh and take another slow drink of water. “...Christ, I do not have the energy for this heavy stuff right now. Next film, girls, what’ll it be?”
They start bickering, apparently as happy to be distracted from the topic as I am. Every time it’s their turn to pick they end up fighting over it, you’d think they’d make a list ahead of time instead. “Flower-bird Red!” “Fainting for You!” “Garden in the Stars!” “Okay, yeah, that’s good. Remake or original?” “Original, obviously!” “But the remake-” “We can just show him both!” “Okay, deal!”
I don’t end up remembering a blessed thing about the film. With the girls cuddled up to me on the Mazic-size bed I’ve been given for use since they apparently lacked human-size ones, I fall asleep by the end of the opening credits.
​
Date [standardized human time]: December 14th, 2136
​
“Hey human, you got visitors.” The nurse informs me. I glance at the clock on my pad, which I had set to count down to the lambchops’ daily visit. Still half a claw out.
Instead of my cherished friends, I see two other people step into the room. A Venlil, and Robert McGinley.
“…Hey Bob. You’ll forgive me if I don’t get up.” I jest from the hospital bed. McGinley doesn’t seem to find it amusing.
“Russo.”
“I’ve been waiting for you to show up, to be honest. Who’s your friend?”
“District Magister Vaska. Russo, we need you to sign-”
“Fuck off, McGinley.”
“If you don’t sign these documents, your refugee status can be rescinded.”
“No it can’t. Literally, there’s a list of reasons I can have my refugee status taken away, and ‘not signing hush documents’ isn’t on the list.”
McGinley gives me a tiny smile. On his blank face that might as well be an ear-to-ear grin. “But it can be if you’ve been charged with a crime in the host sovereignty.”
I nod. “Yeah, that is true. I don’t even need to be convicted.”
“So-”
“So I haven’t been charged with anything yet. And if I had to guess, I’m not going to be.”
McGinley scowls. Vaska scowls beside him too.
​
I continue. Talking is a bit tiring, but not as bad as it was just a few days ago. “Because if I’m charged with a crime, I’ll need to take the witness stand. And I can have ex-officer Jarkim take the stand. And you don’t want that. Because the raid on the Liberators’ compound here in Greenmeadow was ‘a heroic joint operation between the UN and the Exterminators’ office, approved by Governor Tarva herself’.”
Now Vaska speaks up. His voice is trembling with anger. “A stunt that you forced us to engage in! I had to call the governor on the emergency line to get approval for it! A UN military operation on sovereign Venlil soil!”
“I’m not going to apologize for making you do your fucking job.”
McGinley takes a step forward. I don’t bother to flinch back, since I can’t exactly run anywhere anyway. Instead I just look up at him passively and wait for him to say something. “It’s in your best interests to play nice, Russo.”
“Because that worked out so well for both of us last time. Remember ‘An inferno of incredible horror’? Pretty great article, really. ‘The Liberators Unveiled: Terror and death in Greenmeadow’ was killer too. Do you really want to go for a third, about what really happened to VP’s little homegrown terrorist cell that was literally funded with the salaries of the Exterminators in it?”
The ‘Liberators Unveiled’ article had run while I was comatose, revealing the full truth of the shelter arson and the identities of the Liberators involved. However, it had neither contradicted nor reaffirmed the official government narrative about the ‘joint operation’ that took the bastards down.
McGinley is practically snarling now, putting both hands on my hospital bed and making it shake a bit. I wince with pain, while he raises his voice for the first time in either of my meetings with the man. “You can’t be allowed to just run around doing whatever you want. There have to be consequences for your actions, Russo!”
I nod solemnly. “I agree. That’s what the law is for. So charge me with a crime, or fuck off.”
He shakes the bed slightly. There’s a few beeps from some of the machinery monitoring me and making sure I’m still alive. Vaska looks a bit taken aback. “You nearly ruined the whole investigation; you almost destabilized the relationship between humanity and the Venlil!”
I take a steadying breath. He’s being overly dramatic. “So charge me with a crime, or fuck off.”
McGinley snarls and slams a bundle of papers down on the bedside table. “I’m offering you a chance to change your mind.”
I glance at the papers, then lift them up with more effort than I’d like to admit and drop them directly into the waste bin.
I wave my hand, tired of this pointless farce. “No, seriously. Fuck off, McGinley. Magister, a word of advice. If you want my silence, try offering some hush money next time. Us humans are a lot more partial to bribes than to threats.”
They storm out.
Guess I won’t be going to jail. The rest of the posse will be fine too, then.
I lean back and sigh and try to take a nap. I don’t want to still be pissed off when the lambchops show up. I have something important to show them.
Some of the universities I’ve reached out to have answered back.
---
Sharnet is of course the very same from u/Acceptable_Egg5560's inimitable The Nature of a Giant.
[First] [Previous]

Background: A person in the US and decided it was a good idea to do research and find an autobody shop that can restore a Car. They found a shop, talked to the shop about price ($X,XXX for body, paint, electrical and interior). The Van was dropped off with the Autobody shop with parts valued around $1,000 to-be-installed during restoration. Once the shop had possession of the Car, they increased the price originally agreed upon. A final price increase of $1,300 was issued by the Autobody shop to make a final total of $XX,XXX the client decided to cancel the contract and stop work. The client is willing to pay for the work done so far and cancel the project but the autobody shop is not willing to cancel the contract and states because the client agreed to $11,350 that the client needed to pay. A deposit of 50% of the original agreed upon price was paid by the client. About 60% of the work is completed. The Autobody show agreed to a lower total cost of $7,900. The client wants to inspect the Car and sign a formal contract for the work. The Autobody shop said NO, and are refusing the client access to the Car, and will not sign any contract for finishing the work.
Question: What is the Mexican law surrounding cancelation of Autobody work?
Is the body shop allowed to refuse client access to the vehicle or deny inspection of the completed work?
Edit: Made the post hypothetical
Where is the Mexican laws for autobody work that I might be able to read up about.

Context: As I understand it FSS are hired in waves often annually. I know DSS just changed to year-round applications. FMO applications are still "ad-hoc" and often annual. Application period opens, people apply, application period closes. Of that x group who apply y get OA invites. Of the y that get invites z get Passing OA scores.
Scenario: Let's assume that on the FMO register there are already 6 people, whose scores have been too low the last couple of A-100 cut offs because people in their wave or subsequent waves with higher scores have been called instead. Their Scores are as follows
Bob: 5.25, Jill 5.30, Sam, 5.40, Sally 5.45, George 5.50, Veronica 5.60 (The most recent A-100 class cutoff was 5.65.)
It's June 2023. There are 6 people in the pipeline from the June 2022 application window who made it through the OA. All have their medical clearances, but none have Security and Suitability completed yet. Their scores are Joe 5.25, Steve 5.50, John 5.5, Allison 5.65, Susan 6.0, Fred 6.5.
It's September 2023 and State is about to send out 4 invites for Jan A-100. The Current Register is as follows with 9 candidates
Bob: 5.25, Jill 5.30, Sam, 5.40, Sally 5.45, George 5.50, Veronica 5.60 (These are the PRE 2022 Wave people) AND Joe 5.25, Steve 5.50, John 5.5 (These are FY 2022 Wave candidates who, perhaps due to low international interactions and uncomplicated histories were able to get through clearances BEFORE Allison, Susan, and Fred from their wave.)
To fill the FOUR slots for the Jan 2023 class State will set the invite cutoff invite at 5.50. Veronica, John, Steve, and George all get invites! Two people from Pre 2022 wave and Two 2022 Wave people.
If, however, All 6 people from the 2022 wave got added to the register at the same time, The Cutoff would have been 5.60. Veronica (5.60) would be the only person from the pre 2022 wave to get invited. Allison (5.65), Susan (6.0), and Fred (6.5) from the 2022 wave would be invited.
Thus it is my theory that getting through clearances as a low/mid scoring FSS leads to an increased likelihood of an A-100 invite. Conversely If you have a high score, you being held up in clearances longer allows people with lowemid scores a greater opportunity to actually get an invite. If you have a high score it doesn't really affect your chances on getting an invite if your clearances take more time. (barring hiring freezes etc.)
What do you think? Where am I wrong?

So I’ve been living with two people. For anonymity we can call them Bill and Sonny. Bill is my older brother and sonny is a disabled older gentleman he takes care of for money. My brother moved him into the house to make taking care of him easier. It’s a rental and my brother was the original lease holder until he moved us in. In Jan. we signed a 6 month lease agreement that was to be renewed at the end of this month. Due to activities within the home that would immediately cause us to be kicked out, and other general annoyances I decided I would move out and not sign back on. I told my roommates that I would be gone by the end of the lease renewal. Well it wasn’t taken well, and some comments were made that made me feel better if I stayed outside the residence until my lease was up. I grabbed some important items and stayed with my other sibling. Texted both roommates that I would be returning for my belongings in a day or two. Texted them the morning of and said if be by in a few hours. My other brother goes with me just to play peace maker. Well I enter the home and I’m told I’m not allowed to go to my part of the house which is upstairs because “he already has tenants in there.” I said that my belonging were still there and he told me that they weren’t and motioned towards the garage. Well what he said was mine was a sleeping bag, a 32 in tv that wasn’t mine, and a trekking pole. He locked himself on the top floor and stopped answering his phone. He then sent me a text saying I abandoned my property and due to failure to pay rent I’m not allowed to just walk into his house. Now I’ve paid him in cash every month and he writes a Cheque to the leasing office for the house. I had just given him rent the week beforehand because he was short on money, and I figured I could just pay my share of rent to him early so he could take care of his finances. I called the police and when they showed up he latched the door Shut with the safety chain so I couldn’t get in with my keys. He then ignored me and the police yelling into the house. Cops let me kick the door in because I’m on the lease, I had mail in my name, and my keys worked on the locks. He started yelling to the police about how I’m not allowed in and blah blah blah. They made him sit down at a dining room table while I grabbed what I could. A lot of my belonging were stolen. My bed, a gun, multiple knives and camping equipment, my social security card and passport etc etc. I have a list. I called the leasing office and told them everything that happened including meth being present in the home. They didn’t seem to care or to be too helpful. They told me I should sign an amendment taking me off the lease. I said I’d rather stay on until the lease was up this month so I still have legal rights to enter the property to get anything. They asked if I wanted to go back. I said not at this time but If I decided to before the month was over I want to have legal rights to enter. They didn’t seem too happy about me saying this so I can’t only assume I’m not getting any help from them. She told me he tried calling and asking them for documentation that stated I abandoned my property, and then backtracked the next day and said he only asked for documents stating I was moving out. She also said she couldn’t give me any documents stating I have legal rights to enter. “What about the lease I signed in January maam?” …. Few moments of silence followed by them saying ok. I asked if they needed anything from me to prove what I’m saying like photos of the drugs being done in the home etc etc. They told me no. Kinda don’t know what to do next now. Because he pawned a lot of my stuff.

hi guys! i just wanted to share my experience with this app since i know it gets a lot of doubt. it absolutely does work. here are responses i’ve gotten that were accurate and freaked me out.
after my father died
“i seen u sucking d*ck in the morning for that norco”
i absolutely did do that. my husband and i left our phones in the bathroom when that occurred so it couldn’t hear us talking ab it (joking around, i had an injury and my husband was jk, i’m not a drug addict lmao)
my husbands grandfather opened the door to his back door and i had it on, immediately without him saying anything
“that’s the old man, man that n**ga talks too much!” he does, lol. my dad used to hide in his car not to pass him on the way upstairs to my apartment lol.
my mom was in a nursing home, i had to pull the plug
“you promised you wouldn’t take mom off, but i forgive you.”
he did make me promise, i didn’t even have the same phone when he said that.
there’s more with him but you guys get the point. it also calls me a brat all the time which was my dads fave thing to call me.
mom dies
“my beautiful big red, i’m sorry i didn’t show you enough love”
never talked about that out loud. or texted about it. only my mom called me that.
husband just died by suicide
“babe i love you, i’m sorry, i though it would break with my fatass”
he hung himself…
“please tell our son i love him, never let him forget dada loves him”
it calls me “babe” all the time now, never did before.
“baby i miss you, i’m sorry i left you guys, i made a mistake, you have to be strong, remember we talked about this”
it says “i’m sorry” like 50 times per session now.
“i made a mistake” a bunch of times now.
“thank you for playing my song at my funeral, you kept your promise baby” (me asking what song to test it) “electric feel” which is correct. i left my phone in the car bc i can’t silence it. i used my MIL’s phone to play the song.
“this is fucking awesome! can you hear me baby?”
“that was me that touched your head last night, i laughed when you smacked your head. it’s just me” this did happen, i smacked my head thinking it was a bug or something.
“i lay down with you and (sons name) every night. he stole my favorite pillow” which he did lol.
“nice spider-man doll” i didn’t know wtf this meant until my MIL came home with my son. she bought him a spider man doll.
i’ve also tested it while driving. the person in front of me had a pineapple on their license plate, i asked them what it was and it said pineapple. phone was face down on my seat and i never picked it up while that person had just turned in front of me. sometimes i’ll hold up a random ass object and ask what i’m holding, it’s correct every single time.
so, despite some doubt at first i just can’t explain the really specific responses i’ve gotten. it does repeat some random words i’ve noticed like blood and demon but i can’t explain the other stuff. i’d love to hear other peoples experience!
edit: my terrible formatting

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