One of my friends has autism and I want to try to understand one of his limits. My friend only eats Pizza, fries, Chicken nuggets, and burgers pretty much. And he says he can’t really eat anything outside what he’s used to. He says his condition makes him react to textures, tastes. And smells of food he’s not used differently. He didn’t really go into specifics but it’s some kind of food sensory issue. It’s hard for me to comprehend so I’m making this post so I can help better understand him so I can be more supportive. We took him to a Korean BBQ place once and he didn’t eat very much. But before we went we saw there was stuff on the menu such as breaded chicken and beef, so that was a good work around. I just want to be more supportive of my friend and more understanding so we can better accomidate for him, say if our group wants to go out and eat something a bit out of his comfort zone. He said he’s going to try to find some kind of help for it. In the mean time though I want to acomidate for him and be supportive. He doesn’t really seem to like talking about it unless there are people who want to eat at a certain place out of what he’s familiar with, which happens a lot.

I'm kind of losing my shit right now and I really, really need some solid advice, cause I'm on the edge of a meltdown. So, here's the deal:
4 months ago, I got crazy lucky on Chumba Casino and hit a jackpot of precisely $3,246,812. No, I'm not joking, that's the actual number. I nearly passed out when I saw it on the screen. Like, who expects to win THAT on a random night of online gambling? (Paid for with the money I was making off my OnlyFans, no less.)
Chumba was legit, they paid out and everything, and I suddenly found myself sitting on a stack of money that I couldn't even wrap my head around. Like, wtf do I even do with that much money?
With it being so close to the end of the year, and tax season coming up, I decided not to spend a dime because I had no idea how much I'd owe Uncle Sam. I didn't want to end up as one of those jackpot winner horror stories, y'know?
Now, here's where the shit gets really ugly. I didn't tell ANYONE about my win. Literally, the only two people who know are my boyfriend and my CPA, because duh, taxes.
Well, now my BF is turning into a total ass. He's demanding that I give him HALF of my jackpot. HALF! Like, what the actual fuck, right? And he's threatening that if I don't, he's going to spill my secret to everyone we know.
I'm scared, guys. I don't want everyone knowing about my sudden wealth, cause that just screams problems, but I also don't want to just give him such a huge amount of my money. It's MY money.
I really don't know what to do and I'm freaking out. If anyone has any advice or has been through something similar, please, I need to hear from you. What should I do? HELP!

New player? Please read the New and Returning Player Guide, Destiny 2 Guided Support & Gameplay Guide.

Want to buy the DLC? Check out the Lightfall Guide.

Returning and not sure what was vaulted? Destiny Content Vault: Year 6

Season of the Deep (Season 21) key dates:

• May 23 - Season 21 begins
• May 26 (Friday of Week 1) - Ghosts of the Deep dungeon launches
• May 30 (Week 2) - First Iron Banner
• Nightfalls:
  • May 23 (Week 1) - Devil's Lair
  • May 30 (Week 2) - The Corrupted
  • June 6 (Week 3) - The Disgraced
  • June 13 (Week 4) - The Lightblade (Grandmaster Nightfalls begin)
  • June 20 (Week 5) - Fallen S.A.B.E.R.
  • June 27 (Week 6) - PsiOps Battlegrounds: Moon
• Trials of Osiris:
  • Every weekend from Friday to Tuesday reset, except during Iron Banner weeks
• July 18 - Solstice

Top Known Issues List by Bungie

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Babaganoush: The following contest is scheduled for one fall…
Crowd: One fall!
And is for… the WiR Television Championship! Already in the ring, the challenger, weighing in at 235 pounds, The Suuuuuuperstar!
Banaganoush: And Already in the ring, the champion, “Guaranteed, Gabe Garvin!”
Ding Ding Ding!
Mann: And the bell rings here, and we are back underway at Sound Off! Presented by Dexter Flux.
The Superstar does a little spin as he approaches Gabe Garvin and the two back off from each other. The two wrestlers stare down a moment, before launching at each other with a collar and elbow tie-up. The Superstar gains the upper hand and locks Garvin in a headlock. Garvin, in a headlock, however, gets pushed into the ropes, where he gets pushed away. Garvin looks for a back body drop as The Superstar bounces off the ropes, but eats a boot for his trouble. Garvin tries to regain control by lifting Superstar on his shoulders, Superstar shifts back to the ground, but gets lifted and dropped on his chest! The Superstar is forced to roll out of the ring to recover.
Crowd: [Apathetic Silence]
Garvin goes under the bottom rope and gets quickly caught with a kick to the stomach. The Superstar throws Garvin into the barricade and begins to hammer away.
Woodbridge: And The Superstar turning things around here!
Mann: And folks, we’ll be back after these messages from our sponsors!
Woodbridge: Why are we going to commercial, the match just st-
The following advertisement plays
We fade back into the action with a crowd shot, which stays longer than comfortable on a shot of 40 apathetic fans. As it cuts back to the ring, we see Gabe Garvin deliver a vertical suplex to The Superstar, before going to a pin that convinces nobody of its success.
Mann: And we are back here at Sound Off! Garvin has regained control here!
The Superstar rolls to the corner and forces a momentary break. As the ref tries to restore order, The Superstar throws an overhand shot at Garvin- who blocks it and responds in kind, backing the Superstar back into the corner, and whipping him across the ring. As Superstar bounces off with a thud, Garvin hits the ropes beside him and hits a bulldog. Garvin goes for a cover, which gets a…
ONE
TWO
Kickout!
The Superstar flops into the corner once more, and Garvin is halted from pulling him away by the official. As The Superstar exits the corner, Garvin is right back on top of him, whips him off the ropes, and delivers a back body drop! The Superstar rolls out of the ring once more, but Garvin follows in pursuit. Garvin charges in, but gets caught with a drop-toe hold, and crashes into the announce table.
Mann: Watch out!
Woodbridge: Garvin seeking to capitalize on his newfound momentum here…
Crowd: [Does not care]
The Superstar throws Garvin back into the squared circle, and delivers a club to the back of his head, Followed by stomps and a knee drop. Superstar waits for Garvin to try and get back up, before stomping again, followed by a punch. As Garvin powers back to his feet, The Superstar looks to grab him, but Garvin pulls him in for a belly-to-belly suplex! Superstar shuffles into the corner, followed by Garvin, who eats a boot for his trouble before The Superstar storms out with a lariat. The Superstar looks for a chin lock, but Garvin is too oily, and he slips free. Superstar retaliates for this oily transgression with a fist and applies a headlock to a cornered Garvin.
Mann: And The Superstar getting some offense here, Garvin is in trouble! Can our TV champion save the match?
The Superstar works the headlock in the corner until the ref forces a break, at which juncture The Superstar turns around and throws his fists at Garvin. Following this, The Superstar lifts Garvin to his feet and goes for a whip, but as Garvin hits the other turnbuckle, he lifts his left foot to kick an incoming Superstar! As Garvin looks to capitalize, The Superstar grabs the leg that kicked him and takes Garvin down to the mat. Superstar drops an elbow on Garvin’s knee, and a second elbow, before looking for a knee twist, which Garvin pushes away from.
Mann: And Garvin fends off the Superstar’s onslaught! What a heroic effort by our TV Champion!
Crowd: [awkward silence]
Garvin sells his injured knee for a moment, before using it to pull a charging Superstar down with a drop-toe hold, flip Superstar over, and try to apply a submission, but this time, The Superstar pushes Garvin away! The Superstar delivers an elbow to a staggered Garvin, before delivering a Russian leg sweep, and going for a cover.
ONE
TWO
Kickout!
The Superstar is in disbelief that his leg sweep failed to get the victory, and he pulls Superstar by the arm, before kicking his downed body in the rib. Garvin throws himself off the ground to throw a punch at Superstar’s gut, but as he gets up, he is once again cut off by a clothesline, and a pin attempt.
ONE
TWO
Kickout.
Crowd: [Apathetic, a smattering of boos, and a single portly fan in a Shooting Association shirt attempting to start a “boring” chant]
Woodbridge: The Superstar is unable to get the best of Garvin despite some strong offense here, and the longer this goes on, the more I like the TV Champion’s chances in this match.
Mann: And all the Garvinites in the crowd cheering for their hero to make a comeback!!
Crowd shot of bored audience quickly pans back to the ring, where The Superstar is applying an arm wringer
Mann: And this match of course is presented by our sponsors, over at Mann Corporation!
The Superstar transitions to a half camel clutch, still clutching the arm of Garvin
Mann: Mann Corporation is committed to providing high-quality products to all of our loyal customers! Use code “WiR” at checkout for 3.5% off select items at MannCoStore.com!
The Superstar has transitioned into a standing headlock
Mann: If you buy within the next 7 minutes, all Gabe Garvin merchandise is 10% off! Act fast! And now, back to the action!
Garvin powers out of the headlock and whips The Superstar into a corner. He charges in, and misses, as The Superstar moves out of the way, and attempts to lock in another arm wringer. Garvin tries to power out but fails, and the hold is applied.
Superstar: ASK HIM!
Garvin does not submit, and once again tries to lift himself upwards. Superstar sees this, and shifts so that he is lying down on the back of Garvin, still applying the arm wringer. Garvin winces in agony and reaches for the rope with his free hand. Unable to reach them, Garvin Begins to power himself upwards for the third time, and this one is successful, as he slowly works his way up to his feet, Superstar now trapped in the air in a fireman’s carry. The Superstar pushes himself off as Garvin gets to his feet, and tries to throw a punch. Trying to reclaim the momentum, The Superstar goes for an Irish whip, and looks for a dropkick as Garvin returns, but to no avail! Garvin holds onto the rope, and The Superstar crashes back to the ground.
Mann: And Garvin escaping the hold! Superstar is dazed!
Woodbridge: And this could be the opening the TV Champion needs to regain control of this match! The Superstar is in trouble, as Gabe is Garving up!
Mann: It’s Garvin’ time!
Garvin bounds off the ropes and leaps for a flying clothesline!
Mann: What a maneuver!
Garvin hits the ropes again, and nails a staggered Superstar with another flying clothesline! The Superstar writhes in agony as he tries to pull himself back to a standing base, where Garvin is waiting for him. Garvin bounces off the ropes, and nails a rising Superstar with a shoulder block.
Mann: Vintage Garvin! And he has the upper hand! The fans here on their feet!
Crowd: [Silent, sitting down]
Garvin ascends to the second rope, and as a wounded Superstar ascends once more, he leaps for a double ax handle, but nobody is home! The Superstar looks to capitalize with a DDT, but it gets blocked by Garvin, who fights out, throws Superstar against the ropes, and hits another shoulder block. With The Superstar down, Garvin looks at the crowd, backs against the ropes, and hits a fist drop!
One guy in the crowd Crowd: YEEEAAAH WE FUCKIN LOVE THE FIST DROP YEEEEAAHHH
Crowd: WOOO!! GAR-VIN! GAR-VIN!
Woodbridge: And the people exploding for Garvin’s fist drop! (?)
Garvin looks almost surprised at the suddenly raucous crowd, and motions for his finishing maneuver! As soon as he indicates he isn’t going for another fist drop, the crowd dies and goes back to their silence. Superstar stumbles to his feet, gets his arm trapped, and’s he’s lifted into the air, before being slammed down with a Pump Handle Slam! Garvin goes into the cover…
ONE
TWO
THREE!
DING DING DING!!
Mann: And Gabe Garvin retains!
Woodbridge: His victory was all but Garunteed
Babaganouh: And here is your winner, at a time of Seven minutes and Forty-Five seconds… Garunteed Gaaaaaabeeeeee Gaaaaarviiiin!!
Crowd [Scant Murmors]
Mann: And tonight we have seen a truly memorable title defense from our heroic TV Champion, Gabe Garvin. And to watch all of Garvin’s matches from the comfort of your home, go to WWW dot Wrestle Is Reddit dot com slash Garvin for all the latest updates! And a special thanks to our sponsor for this show, JDate!
The monitor shows Dexter Flux on screen, who immediately gets a crowd pop 10x louder than anything of the past 7:45
Crowd: FLUX! FLUX! FLUX! WE LOVE FLUX!
Flux: I'm not… I'm not Jewish, but that's really not what JDate is about. It's about like… dating. JDate is what JDate is. That's what it is. I'm Dexter Flux. I'm the President of the United States. Thank you for your service.
The monitor cuts back to the crowd going bananas for Flux. A guy is screaming and beating the shit out of the old woman sitting next to him because he loves Dexter Flux so much.
Mann: And you too can be just like these happy people if you buy a Gabe Garvin T-Shirt, now 4% off at select TJ Maxx stores near you!
Garvin holds up his title on the apron while the crowd cheer for Flux, and a photographer gets a photo of the victorious champion in front of a cheering crowd. As Garvin gets down from Bret’s rope, the camera cuts to…
Something else. It's shot differently, worse cameras that pan around instead of cut. No commentary. No acknowledgment. It's a documentary shoved in the middle of a wrestling show.
We're in a church basement, or a community gym, or something like that, with hardwood floors and dim, white light pouring in through windows near the top of the room. There's a table next to the door with a coffee machine and paper cups and a door to the outside propped open, so people can step out to smoke. A voice speaks up.
Teddy (O.S.): I don't think I've ever been a good person.
We move to the middle of the room. There's a circle of people sitting in chairs, looking at one whose face is obscured but whose voice most WiR diehards recognize. The circle's watching him carefully, skeptically. A couple of them glance at the camera as it moves by, which seems like an outsider - a perverse interloper. Some of them are recognizable, heels from all over the wrestling scene. Most of them seem miserable to be here, unrepentant. One figure, dressed up, seems more warm in his posture, but we don't see his face either.
Teddy (O.S.): I don't think I've ever really tried, I mean. I've been a good guy, for a little bit. Here and there. But I wasn't who I was. I was somebody trying to get cheered, trying to make sure they loved me. And when they didn't, I just… I snapped.
Finally, we see him, the object of their attentions. He is sitting in a chair, dressed down in a t-shirt, paper cup of coffee by his feet. Teddy Coronado. There's no charisma to the way he speaks. He was a preacher once, electrifying, manic, an embodiment of television airwaves. Now, he's mumbling. The camera zooms in on his face, as he tried to put together the next few words, shaking his head. The words seem ridiculous to say and maybe that's because they're wrestling words and this man - sitting here, in the basement - does not seem to be a wrestler.
Teddy: I'm Teddy Coronado and… Sorry. I'm Teddy and I'm a heel.
Others (all together): Hi, Teddy.
He cringes at them.
Teddy: I've been…
He stops, sucking on his tongue. It's the noise of a crowd, again.
Teddy: I'm sorry, I don't think I can do this.
Spence (O.S.): It's alright.
The camera pans over to a much more shocking face, Spence Cooper, dressed like a normal person, with a buttoned-up v-neck, instead of his usual attire as one half of the Golden State Stars, wearing mesh shirts and whatever nonsense is left. The rest of the group turns to him with a sort of reverence that seems wholly unfitting for him.
Spence: This is hard stuff, Teddy, alright - this is hard stuff, everybody. I mean, when I was a member of the Golden State Stars-
Chaz (O.S): GOLDEN! STATE! ST-
Spence: Chaz.
We whip pan to Chaz Levine, who is also there. He is dressed less like a normal person.
Chaz: Sorry, bro, still working on it.
Spence: We all have hiccups, is what I was saying. This is hard work. That's why not everybody does it. But it's good work. You've been here for a long time, right?
He's staring at the ground as he said it, as if ashamed.
Teddy: Six months.
Spence: Six months and it's still hard. That should show to everyone else here that even the best of us You can do it, Teddy. You can say it.
Teddy takes a breath, tries to put it together. After a few seconds, he looks back up. And it's almost there. That spark, that fire in his eyes.
Teddy: I've… been thinking about things, recently. I've been thinking about my time as a wrestler. I've done a lot of things in this business - and I'm not bragging about that, but I'm saying it because I need to say it. I was the best guy on the mic for a long time. I was good in the ring, too. I beat some of the best people in that company and sometimes I even did it clean.
There's a chuckle at that, in the room, and he gives a rueful smile, for a second, looking back on everything. Then it fades. So does the light in his eyes. Teddy looks at his feet, again, but the rest of them are listening, now. Most of them hate this place, but they listen
Teddy: I lied, I cheated, I stole. I used every dirty fucking trick in the book - you can look. My granddad wrote it. I used weapons. I hired my own ref. I made my own matches. I attacked people from behind the scenes. I once wrestled with a cardboard cut-out, so I could move its torn-off foot under the bottom rope to get a break.
He's looking up, now, and the fire isn't in his eyes, but it's in his words.
Teddy: I gave up everything for that title, for those accolades, for those year-end awards, for my hand raised up at the end of the night. I've got a claim to being the best champion in that company's history. I went into this business looking for all of that. I said to myself that I'd be different than my family, from my great-grandfather, from my grandfather, from my…
He stops. He leaves the final word unsaid.
Teddy: But that's not what I'm saying. I had the chance to change my name. I had a shitty start, but I had my own agency. What I did was my own. And by the end, I gave up that. I gave up my decency, my integrity, my dedication to this art, I gave up everything I have - and I don't have anything to show for it.
There's a crippling silence, for a few moments, the kind of silence you only notice when everything felt so loud before it.
Teddy: I don't talk to any of the roster I was a part of. My name doesn't get mentioned in promos. The fans - the fans that used to jeer my name, who serenaded me after I was forced out of that company - they don't think about me. I gave up everything I ever had and I don't…
He takes a shallow breath, emotional, seeming to hold back tears as he rubs his temples. A man offers him a tissue box but he waves it aside. For as much pride as he has managed to put aside, he can't allow himself to cry in front of the only people he's ever been genuine to.
Teddy: I got an offer, recently. You guys know about it.
Teddy half-heartedly gestures at the camera and a couple of them glance back at it. Chaz, on the edge of frame, flexes a little bit when reminded a camera is watching him.
Teddy: I got an offer to come back to WiR. They're coming back, apparently, again. They've offered me a couple times, over the years, and I almost took it. I even said I would, once, before. Back when I still had the bookstore. And then I started training and I became what I was, again, and I gave up the bookstore, and I was so fucked up I couldn't even make it to the show, because I realized, in that ring…
He pauses and they're all listening. He hates that, because he knows why they're listening and why he's talking. Because the fire, suddenly, is there. It's there in his eyes. It's there in his voice. It's there in the way he sits in that chair, the knotting his hands do as he talks, but most of all it's there in the crowd, listening with rapt attention.
Teddy: There's the Teddy Coronado with the money, with the television show, with the betrayal and the burials, even the Teddy who dressed up like a dentist and said he hated bullies. They say I've been a lot of people, had a lot of gimmicks, but the trick is they're all the same one. They're all somebody who needs to have the whole world know that they're the best. But they're all masks. Facades. And when I got into that ring, lit by halogen lights, no one in the audience, no one facing me in that ring, no one there but me, I realized the truth.
The fire in his voice has burned away and, now, he speaks in ashes: harsh, more serious than he's ever been, and more painful. He is being true.
Teddy: I don't know what's beneath those masks. I don't. A part of me is terrified that there isn't anything there. That the shit I've done, to other people, to the industry as a whole, that's who I am. I've tried to find out who it is, out here. I tried to open a bookstore, I tried to become a trainer, I tried to get as far away from that ring as possible.
He stops, again. The crowd is fully drawn in, now, and a furrowed brow of concern on Spence's face breaks through the mask of supportiveness.
Teddy: But, when I got that email, that offer… I think I realized that there's only one way for me to figure that out-
Spence: Teddy…
Teddy turns his eyes to Spence, but there's a weariness to his eyes. He's already made up his mind. He made it up before he even entered this room, before he even entered the cameras in, before Spence even says the thing he knows he's about to say.
Spence: Teddy, I know what you're about to say. And I want to tell you in front of the group, because I know you don't want there to be secrets here. I've been lured that way. We all have, but you have to know that there is a risk to what you're about to say. Some people can recover, can re-enter that ring, Teddy, but some people can't.
There is a warmth in Spence's eyes that make you realize that this is not the same man that was a Golden State Star. Not anymore. But he knows that he can't change his mind.
Spence: This is in your hands, Teddy. It always is.
Teddy sits there, genuinely considering the words and then he smiles. Knows how absurd what he's about to say is. And then he speaks, just as resolute as before. No. More so.
Teddy: I know. But I hear it in me. I hear the roar of the crowd, with me or against me. I hear my opponent's music hit. I hear the bending of the mat, the straining of the ropes, the fight. I know that who I was in there was a monster. But I know that, if there's something of me left, beneath all of this, it's in there.
He stands up.
Teddy: This is what I'm choosing to do, Spence. I'm sorry.
Teddy walks out of the circle, across the hardwood floor, and steps out the door. The camera doesn't follow.
Javier (O.S.): Ladies and gentlemen, the Independent Champion, Diiiiiiiiick Dover!
We cut back to Knott's Berry Farm, where the crowd reacts in a mixed fashion to the announcement of Dick Dover. Prisoner of Society hits, and Dick Dover walks through the curtain with the Independent Championship over his shoulder.
Mann: The Independent Champion enters the building, he says he has an announcement to make.
Woodbridge: That’s right, Shay. We don’t know what it’s going to be, but when Dover walked into the venue this afternoon, he insisted on addressing the crowd.
Dover grabs a mic from Maurice Chondon ringside, then walks up the stairs, wipes his feet on the apron, and enters the ring. He then turns to face the crowd.
Dover: I know you all have a lot of thoughts about me, but let’s get one thing clear right now. There’s been a lot of time gone by since you last saw me. But don’t get me wrong, one thing wouldn’t have changed no matter how long we’ve been apart. I am still your Independent Champion.
Crowd: mix of boos and applause
Dover: But there have been changes. Changes in the world and changes with myself, and it’s time for me to share with you all some changes I’ve made. When WiR went on hiatus i-
Nitroglycerin hits as Joey McCarty storms out from behind the curtain holding a mic.
Crowd: Boooooooooo
McCarty: No no no no no no fuck this shit. I know what this is. I’m not stupid.
McCarty stomps down to the ring.
McCarty: Dick, you’ve talked all this talk about being a fighting champion, but I know a retirement announcement when I see one.
McCarty slides into the ring and pops up to his feet, pacing around Dover.
McCarty: and you must be out of your mind to think you can walk out of here title held high, to a cheering crowd, and go out as champion. You’re out of your goddamn mind.
Dover walks towards McCarty.
Dover: You don’t even-
McCarty: Save it, honestly. I came into this business as an outsider, and I was given the crash course. I don’t know where you learned this, it might have been in dogwater Florida, but it certainly wasn’t in Toronto.
Dover: Joey, you’ll shut the hell up if you know what’s good for you.
McCarty: What I was taught is that you always go out on your back. If you won’t do that, then I’ll do that for you.
Dover goes to talk, but McCarty slaps him.
McCarty: So what you’re going to do right now, is lie down, stare at the lights, and you can end your career the way you’re supposed to, and watch me coronate myself as a triple crown champion.
Dover: Interesting point Joey, counterpoint:
Dover hits McCarty with a spinning back elbow, sending him to the mat!
Dover: You don’t tell me what to fucking do. So here’s what we’re actually going to do, I’m going to show these people I am a fighting champion, we’re going to get a ref out here, and I’m going to whoop your ass
Crowd: YAYYYYY
Mann: HOLD ON A SECOND, DOVER. YOU DON’T GET TO PROMISE PEOPLE MATCHES, I MAKE THE MATCHES but that is a good idea so lets get a ref out here BECAUSE I SAID SO.
Crowd (a little more confused): YAYYY
Jeff Boone sprints out from backstage at full speed and dives headfirst under the rope into the ring.
Boone: ALRIGHTWEGOTAREGULARCHAMPIONSHIPMATCHONEFALLLET’SKEEPITCLEANBOYSNOCLOSEDKNUCKLESONPUNCHESNOHAIRPULLINGIWON’THAVEANYNONSENSEINTHISRINGYOUHEREMEOKRINGTHEBELL
The bell rings, leaving both men a little stunned at how quickly this match has started. Joey moves into action first, lurching for Dover, arms outstretched in a clear indication that Joey wants to initiate a classic “Test of Strength.” Dick Dover knocks away the hands and shoots for a double-leg takedown, sending Joey sprawling to the mat.
Mann: Wow, an incredibly technical start for Dover. Sometimes I think we forget home in depth his wrestling knowhow is.
Dick Dover is slowly overpowering Joey from underneath, when a glint shines in the Canadian’s eyes. A brutal knee to the face erupts from McCarty, slamming into Dover’s nose. Dover steps back, covering his damaged face. Blood begins to drip onto the mat.
Woodbridge: Wow, Dover is absolutely busted up!
Paisner: That’s the opportunistic streak of McCarty showing. Give him an inch, he’ll take a mile and sell you back the inch for triple it’s market value.
Dover shakes his head, trying to clear up the fog inflicted from Joey’s move. Before he gets a chance to recover, Joey is behind him, snaking his arms up to lock Dover in a full nelson. Dover is in a precarious position, but he digs his fingers into Joey’s eyes, cause the hold to release.
Woodbridge: A savvy veteran move, but is it legal?
Mann: Absolutely not. It seems like this ref is going to let them play on, for some reason. Very hands off.
Woodbridge: When you’ve got two fighters who will do whatever it takes to win, sometimes it’s best to just let them go at it. Anything less than that could give the other an unfair advantage.
Dover throws a couple quick strikes to McCarty’s midsection. Joey winces and bends over, giving Dick the opportunity to hit him with a Leg Drop Bulldog that pounds Joey into the mat!
Crowd: WOOOOAH!
Dover capitalizes on McCarty’s grounded position, dropping some falling elbows into the fallen man. But the third elbow doesn’t land cleanly, given Joey the opportunity to flip over and nail another knee into Dover, this time right on the side of his head.
Mann: Hard to imagine these headshots won’t have an effect on Dover if this match goes long.
A quick leap to his feet, and Joey finally has the position he wanted in the beginning, locking up Dover in a contested full collar tie. He gains the upper hand, and begins controlling Dover towards the corner. A grasp of Dover’s wounded head, and then suddenly McCarty is rubbing Dover’s face all over the ringpost!
Crowd: OOOF
But Dover isn’t one to take something like this without fighting back. A wild leg flail nails McCarty right in the gonads, sending him backwards in pain. The ref looks to step in, but then decides not to as Dover runs towards his and lands an uppercut into lariat combo that sends Joey back down to the ground. Dover attempts a cover!
1!
No!
Joey kicks out with relative ease, prompting Dover to consider more violence towards the grounded wrestler.
Mann: What could this devilish man be considering next?
Dover sits on McCarty.
Woodbridge: A chair!
A quick pivot from Dover, and suddenly Joey is up in the air, face in anguish from the inverted surfboard stretch.
Woodbridge: A painful chair!
Suddenly, a voice rings out from the crowd.
Random Fan: DOVER IS STILL LAME!
Dover, mildly irritated by the fan, releases the hold on Joey, sending the stretched out man to the mat. He gets up and aggressively points to the crowd in the direction of the mysterious fan.
Dover: Hey Asshole! You wanna see lame? I’ll show you lame!
Dover grabs Joey’s hair and becomes slamming punches into the downed man’s face.
Crowd: LAME DOVER LAME DOVER LAME DOVER
A frustrated Dover now releases the hold and turns his back on Joey, heading over to the ringpost. He begins to remove the cover. At this point, blood has completely covered his chest. Joey stirs and stands, sneaking up to behind Dover. A quick snatch and Joey has surprise rolled up Dover for a pin!
1!
2!
No!
Dover kicks out and gets back to his feet, but Joey is quicker and grabs Dover’s arm for an irish whip, sending him into the exposed ring post!* The hard metal digs into the small of Dover’s back and he reels in pain, back into Joey who snags his wrist, twisting it into a hold. Dover is up in the air and slammed back onto his neck as Joey lands a modified Fisherman Driver on the champion!
Crowd: OOOOOHHHHH!!!!
It’s Joey’s turn to batter the grounded Dover, repeatedly sending soccer kicks into his skull. The dull sound of bone against flesh carries through the arena in a way that makes most attendees uncomfortable. Joey lifts Dover to his feet, intending to whip him into the exposed ring post again, but Dover has seen this before. He counters with a reversal, sending McCarty into the ropes, McCarty rebounds and Dover SLAMS him into the mat with a teeth-rattling spinebuster!
Crowd: YAYYYYY
Mann: I’m not sure if Dover’s winning the crowd over or if they just enjoy seeing Joey get hurt, either way, Dover is red-hot!
Dover grabs McCarty, and goes into the set up for his Doverleaf! But before he can, a small figure pops up onto the apron.
Woodbridge: WOAH, WHAT IS SHE DOING HERE?!
Gigi appears holding a spray bottle and she sprays a fine clear mist right into Dover’s eyes and cackles maniacally!
Mann: What’s this?! It's Gigi! And she’s just assaulted Dover with some sort of liquid!
Dover drops McCarty and grabs at his eyes. Kaitlyn Casey Jones appears from the crowd, holding a sign that says “GAMER GIRL BATHWATER $279.69”, she hops the barricade and grabs a mic, laughing with Gigi. Jones pulls a card out of her pocket and starts reading it.
KCJ: Hey faaaans, if you’re looking to order some of the water that our favorite e-girl actually bathes in, it’s up on the website right now! Guaranteed to have touched Gigi’s skin, go to www.gigigamergirlgush.pizza for more details. Fuck you, Dick!”
Gigi: I wrote that last part.
McCarty clambers to his feet, confused. He notices Dover staggering, and launches himself into the air, connecting with a superman punch to the back of Dover’s skull.
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOO
Mann: BERTUZZI! DOVER’S OUT COLD
Woodbridge: I can’t believe this, Dover’s had the title stolen from him!
McCarty scrambles to cover Dover.
1
2
3-NO
Crowd: WOAAAAAH YAYYY
Mann: Dover kicked out!
Woodbridge: How!?!?
McCarty stumbles to the corner in disbelief, and collapses into a seated position onto the bottom turnbuckle, the crowd swells, and McCarty’s confounded expression turns to disbelief and then to anger, he pops to his feet and stomps towards Dover.
Woodbridge: What do either of these men have left in the bag?!
McCarty lifts Dover to his feet, cussing him out as he does. McCarty attempts his Bus Driver Uppercut, but Dover springs to life and catches him, and PLANTS him with a kneeling jawbreaker!
Mann: Cliffs of Dover!
Woodbridge: From the last of his energy!
Mann: Cover!
1
2
3
DING DING DING
Crowd: YAYYYYY!
Mann: Dover is still Independent Champion!
Before Javier can make the announcement, Gigi and KCJ hit the ring and attack Dover, as McCarty rolls out of the ring, jumping him and punching and kicking Dover while he’s down.
Crowd: BOOOOOOOO
Woodbridge: What the hell is this?!
Mann: Gigi still thinks she’s owed a shot at the Independent Championship, she must have made some sort of deal with McCarty to get her match!
Woodbridge: And now that her plan is up in smoke, she’s taking it out on Dover!
Gigi and KCJ continue their assault, KCJ picks up the mic and is about to speak, but before she can, Adam Raised A Cain plays.
Crowd: YAYYYYYYYY
Woodbridge: Someone else with unfinished business, Mark Dutch!
Mark Dutch runs out, Joey McCarty is standing on the ramp, and Dutch shoulder checks him out of the way! Dutch then slides into the ring, and pulls KCJ off of Dover and out of the ring! Gigi scrambles out of the ring away from Dutch.
Mann: Last time we saw these two, they were at eachothers throats, but now Dutch comes to save Dover? What’s going on?
Woodbridge: Looks like there's still lots of unfinished business around these parts.
Mann: That’s enough of this.
Mann grabs a stick mic and attempts to stand on the commentary table, but it wobbles so he instead stands on his chair
Mann: When I brought this company back, it wasn’t for what it was, but what it can become, so I can’t have you three stinking up the joint with old beef, so let’s settle this at the next show. You three for the Independent Title. a brief pause to let that sink in
Crowd: WOOOOOOO
Mann sits back down with a grin on his face.
Mann: I like this “making matches live” thing
Woodbridge: Could stand to work on your crowd work though.
Mann: More WiR action, after this!
Dover, Dutch and Gigi staring eachother down as we fade out to commercial.

Yesterday was rough. Between withdrawal nausea, allergy season hitting me hard, packing up the cars for the drive today, and a rough conversation with husband about him losing all trust with me I was wrecked.
Today has been much better. Day 4 of no alcohol, husband tells me he loves me and I can earn back his trust, and we completed the first of three 8 hour drives to our new home. June 1st feels a little bit magical for me right now. I no longer live where I feared running into my father, husband loves me and we had a great dinner of delivery pizza, salad, & Diet Pepsi. I did have some nausea but I sipped on ginger ale during the drive along with drinking 80 ounces of water (and several bio breaks). Day 4 in the bag! IWNDWYT!

On Wednesday night (31st May) I cooked some ground beef to go on a pizza.
The leftover ground beef was placed immediately in the fridge after it had cooled down slightly.
Last night (1st June) I placed the leftover ground beef on another fresh pizza base along with fresh vegetable toppings, and put half of that pizza in the fridge.
I reheated that leftover pizza for lunch today (heating the pizza in the microwave for approximately 6 minutes on high, which was actually a keying error in the microwave - I had meant to do 60 seconds but was on the phone to someone) - is this ok from a food safety perspective? I should add it tasted awful owing to being as dry as cardboard and was chewy like beef jerky from overcooking, but I was hungry and in a rush at that point.
I'm fairly fussy about food hygiene normally after having a horrendous case of food poisoning a few years back, so am a bit worried I've made a mistake here. I'm one of those people who gets it into their head that they've eaten something dodgy (I didn't really think about it until after as I forgot that the ground beef was cooked the day before I made the second pizza whereas everything else was fresh) and then I start feeling sick!

Only one more summer customer to unlock and it’s only the first 😂 feeling blessed! Also when I say at the same time, I mean it my god lmaoooo. Like I didn’t even have time to see the text bubbles in between hahaha

Hello!
As mentioned in the title, my credit card has an offer that gives me $120 back on a major purchase from Dell.com. I am in the market for a new GPU, so I went to look at their offerings. While everything they offer is extremely overpriced, I asked customer support if they price match, and they said yes. After making a much larger spreadsheet, I've narrowed the decision down to two GPUs:

Card	Current best price	After price match and $120 rebate
GeForce RTX™ 4080 16GB VENTUS 3X OC	$1189.00	$1,069.00
PNY GeForce RTX™ 4070 Ti 12GB	$799.99	$679.99

​
My current case and PSU should support both of these cards. I'm conflicted for a few reasons:

• While the 4080 is still probably too expensive, I expect that it will have better longevity owing to the VRAM and overall performance
• Getting the 4070 Ti would allow me enough left over to slap my current 5700XT in an eGPU for my laptop, which is something I've always wanted to do.

​
To be clear, there are no AMD GPUs for sale with Dell, and I plan to use this card both for gaming (I have a 1440p ultrawide) and AI workloads. While AMD has great value for gaming, its AI performance is not nearly as good (as of writing.)
So what advice would the seasoned pros have for me? Are either of these cards worth it at these prices?

First/Previous/Next
Happy Friday Everybody! Here's the second part of Chapter 3. As always comments and suggestions are more than welcome. Enjoy!
​
The Golden Citadel Chapter 3 Part 2
​
Sooner rather than later, to Mannad's almost inaudible relief, they had made it through the maze of tunnels and reached a hole to the surface. All she needed to do was climb yet again, except instead of a ladder it was a pile of rubble. Far easier in a way, at least this time she wouldn't have to exert herself going straight up. The incline and abundance of handholds was far more forgiving to her than she would have thought, not needing to climb far either as she merely needed to cover the single height of the tunnel before she was standing in the exposed chill of the open air.
Wind and dust blew gently around her whilst she stood and revelled in the exposure.
"Guess you haven't seen the sky in a while" said Shand as they walked up beside Alice.
"Even before I was frozen, my life was labs and orbital stations" she replied. "I’ve seen plenty of skies. Just rarely from the ground."
"I can’t imagine growing up without a sky. But we don’t have green anymore. Not like this planet. In our capital the only nature remaining are isolated to the parks. Instead, skyscrapers go as far as the eye can see with the occasional spacescraper reaching up like giant fingers of the Empress grasping the void. Hell, from my living hab alone you can see the dawn sun rise above the peaks of the spires, the way the light strikes and reflects off the glass…" Shand trailed off.
They stood there in silence, each lost in their respective memories.
Alice broke the shared silence between them “I tried asking earlier but you were cut off. So tell me, please, just how long was I asleep for?”
Shand seemed to shift awkwardly, as if she had been dreading the question. “I'm sorry, I don’t know for sure. Hundreds of orbits at least. Maybe a thousand. There’s something else as well”
Alice looked at her, wondering what more there could possibly be.
Shand continued “Since you woke up you seemed to have been under the impression we’re fellow survivors of… whatever happened. I’m sorry but we’re not. We’re not even from here”
Alice grabbed Shand by the arm in an attempt to get them to look at her “What do you mean you’re not from here?”
“My race are the Leasha. We came to colonise and strip mine the system before detecting your bunker’s faint signal. We barely picked it up, the only reason being we’re far removed from Sovereignty space” Shand informed her.
“Surely you must have picked up something else besides me when you approached? Anything at all” Alice begged.
“When we arrived in orbit we did very thorough scans. Beyond basic plants and lower food chain lifeforms… I’m afraid we didn’t find any signs of civilisation.” the Leasha officer revealed.
Alice let go of the arm she’d been holding like a vice. She turned to get away from the person before
her who wasn’t even human. They had looked human, but she should have known better. Surface appearances in a galaxy with multitudes of races inevitably overlapped.
Shand attempted to comfort her as she stepped back. “Don’t leave this place without a memory, this could be the last time you see the sky of your home”
"It doesn’t matter anymore anyway." Alice said curtly as she wandered away to find a secluded spot, not waiting for an answer or permission. “What good is the sky when everyone’s too dead to see it anymore”
She rushed away with long strides, around the corner of a rockslide that had formed a wall encircling where they had exited the bunker, almost like a guard keeping it safe.
Checking over her shoulder that none of the aliens had followed her, she reached out with her right hand and a holographic menu appeared before her, projected from the chest plate of her suit. She tapped an icon in the upper left and the seal around her helmet popped, releasing a small amount of pressure with a slight hiss. Dismissing the blue light with another wave of her hand, she reached up and lifted her helmet off her head, revelling at the feeling of fresh air on her unnaturally pale face. Her short coal black hair fluttered slightly with the breeze and dust blowing around her.
Alice closed her eyes and basked in the faint rays of the setting sun that had nurtured the Earth for so long. The warmth running across her body like the caress of all those she was leaving behind bidding her farewell.
She opened her red eyes again and looked at what had become of her world. The sight was almost too much to bear and tears threatened to well up.
The once grand city nestled below the mountain range was no longer even a ruin like she had thought she had seen on the camera. For a moment she could picture in her mind's eye how it was in its prime, with the packed walkways between spacescrapers that reached like the fingers of giants towards the edges of the atmosphere. Skies full of the majestic ships flitting about like worker bees tending to their queens. But as much as she could imagine, it was undeniable it was gone forever and the image faded.
Mangled wreckage rusting away to nothing marked the mass grave in front of her. Encroaching vines marred the souls staring back at her. Sightless eyes staring at her from between the shadows. All who had perished in the final moments, helpless before the inevitable fire that had consumed them.
She wished she could have stayed there forever, letting her bones form with the earth. What was one more corpse amongst the untold billions. She wished it hadn’t even happened. That the fathers and mothers and children before her had never suffered the fate that had been inevitable by the end. Mercilessly butchered by those who had sworn to protect them. The anger suffusing her being from earlier threatened to bubble back up again. A scream begged to be bellowed from the depths of her chest to the silent sky, one last howl to ward off the night. Balling her fists, she struggled to contain her primal rage. Instead, she swore a promise to the innumerable souls watching her. Begging her for vengeance so they could finally rest. An innumerable mass listening from beyond the veil for the promise they demanded.
I’ll make them pay. All of them
But just hurting them wasn’t enough. Not to satiate the shades before her.
I’ll make them hurt until the last of them begs for the mercy they never showed us. And then I’ll wipe them out from the face of existence.
Her helmet slammed back on her head, automatically sealing with a small hiss. Deep and long breaths helped to find her composure she needed to maintain in front of the strangers. Earth held nothing for her now. It was a memorial of the past and better left to the guardianship of the dead and damned. She'd miss the sun but at least now she wouldn't be trapped underground or alone.
She moved back towards the awaiting shuttle. The others had extricated themselves from the hole and were milling about while Yurisa appeared to be talking on her radio again with how her head was cocked. Shand was waiting nearby for her to return and walked with her to the strange shuttle. The lines put her in mind of a ray with two too many fins meeting at the tip. As she walked she could almost feel the heat from the burning questions Shand must have been desperate to ask but still managed to hold back.
"Take any seat you like that's free" said Yurisa as she walked past.
The rear of the shuttle was open and the rest of the squad had already boarded the troop compartment inside. Ten seats lined either side of the walls, two being taken up each side around the middle of the sections. Iftan and Mannad were on the right with Doane and Hedi on the left.
Alice was unsure where she should sit, nervous at sitting with beings she didn't know or how they would behave. Most of all she didn't want any pestering questions on the flight out of atmosphere. So she took a seat on the left just on the inside of the doorway, the furthest she could get from anybody else in the cramped vessel. Shand came on behind her and sat next to Doane with the commander taking up the rear and ending up opposite Shand, next to Mannad.
A voice came over a hidden speaker as the boarding ramp began to rise with dull motorised hums.
"Ladies and gentlemen, especially the ladies, we have a short flight back to home base with a slight chance of buffeting, please keep your seatbelts on and any in flight entertainment will be provided to you by our lovely steward"
"Can it Seash!" yelled Iftan.
If the pilot heard him or not over the whine of the engines spooling up Alice didn't know. Instead she turned and looked out of the long window which lined the wall behind her.
The ground gave away without a jolt as they took off into the sky, slowly building up speed as they climbed. The cityscape fell beneath them to slowly be replaced by a horizon of gold and green. She was happy to see green, at least her planet wasn't completely dead and maybe she could return one day.
The golden hues of the sunset sky slowly gave way to pale blues which thinned to the pitch black of space. She couldn't see their destination even if she craned her neck, the shuttle was approaching in a manner where the ship was hidden from view.
Instead, Alice watched the Earth slowly rotating below, the night side as dark as the space surrounding it. It was odd to see none of the city lights she had known so well when growing up in one of the orbital stations as a child. She remembered how she would watch the small glittering patterns like fireflies frozen in the dark. She could even name all the cities just from the patterns alone. But now there were no fireflies, no cities, no lights. The only glittering came from the stars in the void.
Her home was replaced by a large mass of purple metal of an outer hull as the shuttle must have been approaching a docking hanger. Certain enough, the purple hull was replaced just as quickly as it had appeared with dull grey utilitarian metal. As the shuttle turned she could see mighty doors beginning to close behind them, like a giant maw sealing them inside the belly of the beast. The tiny ship settled in position inside the wide empty space and engines whined back down. The boarding ramp opened again as the soldiers began to collect their equipment and disembark onto the far larger vessel.
Alice remained in position, remembering what the commander had said about quarantine. Shand disembarked with a small wave before Commander Yurisa motioned for Alice to follow her.
Disembarking behind the stern woman, Alice spotted two purple beings in long light blue fully sealed uniforms with clear plastic breathing masks affixed to their faces waiting for them.
The similarity to how human they appeared should have startled her, they even appeared to have been anticipating it with tensed stances. After the revelation given to her from Shand, she had been fully prepared for creatures ranging from the completely bizarre to those not so dissimilar to herself, like the wider galactic community she had seen in the education vids growing up. These people comfortably fell into the latter. Two eyes, two ears, mouth, nose and even hair.
If it weren’t for how they were bright purple she would have thought they were human. As she stared the more she noticed. As similar as they were, they were still distinctly alien. Their facial features were slightly too sharp, the eyes a fraction too large and the same colour as their skin, the mouths smiling wider than a human could. The effect was disconcerting, like they didn’t mean the expressions they were pulling. And their ears were pointed. Almost like elves of fantasy crossed with bats. A thin waxy sheen formed a layer on top of it all, like a second skin. As she studied the features of these people, she noticed how the sheen was attached to the masks they wore. Which meant that it wasn’t part of their anatomy after all, but rather a way to form a physical barrier not unlike a hazmat suit.
“These are the medical staff who will be performing the scan, please follow them to the quarantine room” said Yurisa.
The kindly smiling aliens waited patiently for Alice to overcome her initial shock at the sight of what her rescuers actually looked like beneath all the heavy armour. She looked at Yurisa. The commander must look similar to them beneath that helmet she realised. Shand too. And the others.
Perhaps it was the way they had seemed so unguarded around her and the full body coverings creating an illusion within her mind, but it only now hit her that her rescuers were truly alien.
Seeing that she still wasn’t moving, one of the kindly aliens took her gently by the arm and began directing her towards a door opposite the exit ramp of the shuttle. Her steps fumbled across the unfamiliar metal floor of the hanger.
As she was led off, Alice turned her head back in time to see the commander remove her helmet, revealing her own light purple skin. A small smile was also on her face, although not as large as the ones the medical personnel sported. Yurisa’s piercing and equally purple eyes gazed back at her, somehow looking into her own, past the glass faceplate.
A slight chime and smooth whoosh of the door admitted Alice into the quarantine room. The alien let go of her arm, allowing her to step inside. Another chime and whoosh of the door closing and the Commander’s gaze was cut off, replaced by a plate of glossy glass and metal. Looking at her new surroundings Alice saw the room was made from the same dull grey metal of the hanger. Perhaps the entire ship followed this pattern. It would be exciting to find out, not to mention meet the rest of the crew. A cushioned bench jutted from the wall to her right which Alice sat down on. There was nothing to do but wait for the scans and think.
Thoughts she had forced to the side in the moment began to catch up with her now she had time to pause. The first moment of peace after the completely overwhelming past few hours. Alice bent over, hiding her head in her arms from any cameras that would definitely be watching her. Rage and sadness battled for domination in her mind. Which would come out the victor only time would tell.

[ [FIRST] [NEXT>]
Season 4 “Burned Minds”
Episode 2 “Old Scars”
“You don’t need to go back yet, you’re still recovering”
“I know, but… I want to. I don’t want to keep lying down all day like this”
“Who knew you’d say that one day?”
“I…”
“It’s a good thing. You wouldn’t say that if it was the same place that… He worked at. We’re lucky you wound up here”
“That’s… That’s why I’m going back right now. I know they wouldn’t-”
“But you’re afraid, I know. I would be, too”
Lunek was back in the office, far earlier than he should have. His shoulders were still aching and the strength of his hands wasn’t quite returned yet, he was almost incapable of opening the door of his own house, it’d still take a small while before his arms’ nerves started firing normally again.
But the conversation with his wife before he left was still hanging in him. She wouldn’t be afraid, she never was, that’s half of why all of that happened. She wasn’t afraid of trying to make things better, and here he was sitting at his desk re-reading for the thousandth time procedure manuals because he was afraid, afraid he’d get shunted to another precinct, or be out of a job, if he wasn’t working hard enough.
He flexes his fingers for a while, then stands up. He wasn’t getting anything done today, mostly on account of there being nothing to do. One of the few things he learned in the academy he agreed with, for an exterminator a boring day is a good day. He needed an outlet for this anxious energy, he knew he was working hard enough, the state of his shoulders was proof of it, but his brain wasn’t letting him relax. He decided to- “What do you mean- Alright, i’ll get someone” the voice comes from the front desk.
It was a bit out of protocol, at least as far as he knew, but the front desk also served as dispatch in this understaffed precinct. Seems like a call had arrived and, by stopping to look at the voice he committed the mistake of volunteering himself “You, Lunek!” he takes a deep breath “There’s a call-”
He raises his arms “I’m not quite physically capable yet” he wasn’t lying, he wouldn’t be able to be much help
“It’s an emergency!” that caused his ears to shoot up “You don’t need gear, just grab the car and head over to Leva’s house. I’ll call Santos, you grab him on the way”
An ungeared emergency? That was certainly unexpected. But an emergency is an emergency and if the human is involved he figures it’s going to be fine. He runs over to the garage, barely taking notice it’s not Marik in the armory right now, and heads over to the car. The keys are hanging from the wall and are quickly snatched, and he’s thankful the car is modern enough to use proximity for the keys as his fingers barely have the strength to hold them in place. Thankfully his legs are fine and he doesn’t need too much grip strength to control the car.
It’s a fast drive down the street towards Leva’s house, he’s unfortunately acquainted with the seemingly cursed place. About halfway down the drive he stops, Santos’ visage is far too unique to be missed, despite the fact the man isn’t wearing his uniform. As the human gets on the back seat, he starts the car going again and spares a glance to the rear view mirror. A bandage over the human’s head makes the sight a little concerning “I was hoping it’d be a boring paw today” he opens up
An unexpected sigh comes from his partner “I wish, I really, really wish. But seems like it’s mental health paw right now”
He responds with a light tilt of his head “I wasn’t told what the emergency was”
“Ah, right, they probably had you in the car and rolling quick” the human takes a deep breath “We’re reinforcing the psych unit. We’re not going to do anything, just sit around and look competent, help people be calm. Let Nila and Kessa solve it” he sees the reflection raise a hand to his forehead “Stop a bit away from the house and we walk the rest. Showing up in the car can get people stressed and from what I heard Nila was panicking so we don’t want to startle anyone”
He stops just about a house away and the two of them step out of the car. Fitted just with his usual satchel belt and with Santos in his civilian outfit they’d be impossible to identify as exterminators, if not for the fact that in a town this small everyone knew who they were. Sadly, it seemed like Santos’ prediction of the situation was incorrect.
The first thing they heard was Kessa’s frantic shouts “You’re not going anywhere you don’t want to!”, followed by some more distant shouting. He twitches his tail at Santos, who stares at him, and the two start running. When they finally arrive they see a dreadful scene, in front of the house are Nila and Kessa looking up, and tracing their eyes Lunek sees a little girl, not even an adolescent yet, at the edge of the roof.
“Don’t lie to me!” the girl shouts, her tail puffed up as far as it will go, twitching erratically and ears pinned to her head “I know what you do!” the girl steps ever closer to the edge, her toes hanging in the air “You took mom to a facility and… And what came back… It wasn’t her!” her body dangerously teeters at the edge “I just wanted to be left alone!”
Lunek feels a tension in his chest “I won’t let you take me!” the little girl shouts. “I won’t let you take me” echoes in his ears. His arms are tingling and his heart is racing. Not again. He can’t hear anything else, and his body is moving before his brain is. Two steps, just take two steps and you save her. One, two, three bounds with all the strength of his legs he crosses the front yard, the front door, and towards the stairs. Don’t freeze, she’s right there, you can do it. One, two bounds with all the strength nature had given him up the stairs, he skids and slams his shoulder on the wall to turn a hard ninety degree angle. Move legs, move, please. One bound, he grabs the railing of the next set of stairs. One, two bounds and he’s at the top, someone’s trying to frantically open the locked door to the roof. Stupid body, please, do something, anything. He lowers his head, digs his claws into the flooring and continues through the door like it didn’t even exist. He sees her. She’s right there, two steps, just five meters and you can save her, so why won’t you move. He sees her turn at the noise, she’s across the entire length of the house and the world seems to slow down. One step, he’s so very close halfway there, two steps and he’s crossed the distance, he sees her body angling backwards towards the fall.
His mind catches up with his body, he didn’t freeze this time. He grabs her arm, plants his feet firmly on the ground and spins, pulling her away from the edge. The severe movementum sends both down to the ground, but Lunek grips down on the ground with more strength than his arms and legs should have, pinning the young girl under him as he closes his eyes “It’s alright, you’re safe” he says “Nobody will hurt you now” it wasn’t for her, but she listens.
For many moments they stay like that, the beating of their hearts echoing against eachother, their breathing slowly falling in sync. The young one’s panic and fear slowly changing shape as the pinning grasp shifts slowly into an embrace. When someone else finally arrives, Santos running through the splintered remains of the door quickly followed by Nila and Kessa, Lunek is holding a young, crying girl in his arms.
“I know what you’re like…” he says with eyes closed, in a soft voice “You can’t handle having people around you, talking to you, wanting your attention” he gently rocks the little girl “Not for long. That’s why every moment that you can do it, is precious to you.” he tilts his head up at Santos “But everyone demands so much out of you, it starts to hurt. It’s so hard to find a herd that doesn’t ask more than you can give…”
He sees Leva approach “So all you have is your grandma, and your brothers. They know, they don’t ask too much but…”
“It’s not enough…” the little girl says “I love them but…”
He wraps his tail around the little girl “But some things aren’t for family, you want friends too. Friends that won’t hurt you”
At this point Nila finally walks close, kneeling beside the hugging duo “You know, we’re here to help you find those, alright?” the little girl turns her head slightly, to get Nila closer to her center of sight “It might be our responsibility to help the herd” she stops for a small moment “But it’s also the herd’s responsibility to keep us safe, and they haven’t done that to you”. Nila sits down “So it’s time we do that, okay? We’ll help you find friends that won’t hurt you. That’s everything we’ll do”
It took a while until the little girl calmed down enough, and now Leva, the little girl, her brothers and Nila were in the living room, just talking. Nila was being incredibly reassuring, the woman seemed to have a thousand stories about people, people who needed just a little different kind of attention than normal to find happiness. All of them fellow exterminators, in precincts across half the planet. Were they so common?
Lunek’s pulled out of his thoughts by Santos, who’s also watching the scene from a distance “Man, new guy, I knew venlil were pretty fast in short bursts but you were sprinting like a damn cheetah over there.” he tilts his sight to have the human in his focus “Crossing fifteen meters in one step? What kind of crazy training do you go through in that academy of yours?”
With a bit of mixed emotions, he forces himself to make a dismissive tilt of his ears combined with a bit of a joyful wag of his tail “I just couldn’t let it happen” he takes a deep breath “My sister was like her…”
Before anything else can be said, a voice calls out behind them “Santos, can you… Do me a, well… A nasty favor?” Lunek turns around with the human to see Kessa at the door of the house. As Santos goes over to see what that is about he starts to follow- But at this point standing up causes his knees to fail, he tries to catch on to Santos’ arm only for his left hand to stop responding to his will.
Thankfully, the human catches him before the fall. Lunek takes a few deep breaths and after a while being held, manages to stand up “S-sorry I guess…”
“My man you looked like you were straight out of a ninja movie, I can understand your body not being very happy right now” Santos tries to start moving him back to the seat, but he shakes his head “You sure?”
Kessa comes closer “It’s okay- Maybe I shouldn’t ask this”
Santos looks back at her “What was that favor, anyway?”
“Well…” Kessa sounds embarrassed “I… I want you to look threatening for a bit?”
He watches as the human’s right eyebrow shoots up “Don’t think you can pay up for that kinda favor like Keya does.” a mysterious phrase for him “Why, though?”
Kessa makes a dismissive gesture with her tail “It’s alright… I just wanted to talk to the neighbor who put in the call. I… I don’t think I can be as angry as I should be about this”
That causes the human to laugh, and Lunek starts whistling as well, entirely unable to use his will to remain standing anymore as he falls on his knees “And that’s why you do your job and not me. It’s alright, girl, whatever you say is going to be better than I could do” Santos gently pats Kessa on the shoulder “And I really need to get this guy home, he’s way over exerted”
For the second time in a way too short a time, Lunek finds himself being carried to the car. This time, however, when they get close he puts up a bit of a struggle “I can still drive” which earns a bit of an uncomfortable look from Santos “The accelerator pads are pressure sensitive not mechanical. I can do it”
Perhaps just to humor him, Santos helps him to the driver’s seat while he takes the back seat. It is, admittedly, a bit of a slow process to start up the car because his arms are still recovering, he’s not very certain how the hell he managed to grab that girl when right now his hands are having a problem closing, but true to his word he’s still able to operate it. “See? No need to get a fine for driving without a license”
“Alright, i’ll humor you” he catches the human’s eye on the rear view mirror “But we’re going to drop you off at your house, I can get Maurice to come pick up the car later”
And thus he starts a very slow drive towards his house. Not like he’s planning on taking his time, but due to the exertion of his legs he can barely put enough pressure on the speed pedal to make the car go any faster. The silence coupled with the slow electrical hum of the car’s capacitors slowly start chipping at his consciousness, so he takes a deep breath and looks at the rear mirror, taking in Santos looking out.
After the stunt he pulled, he feels he owes the man an explanation… “Maybe it’d be good to let someone else know it…” he thinks. That thought, however, was voiced.
“Know what?” the human says, a little too worried.
A needle of pain hits his heart. Of course, he must have interpreted that one way, one very dreadful way. It made him suspicious, but… That was fine. Now he was forced to share what was in his mind. Shameful as it was, he hardly could do things if he wasn’t forced to “About my sister”
Santos twists his body around so that he can stretch his legs over the back seat “There’s no need to say something you don’t want to”
He takes another deep breath, the drive will be long either way “She… Just needed to be alone a little bit. She didn’t dislike friendship, she just… Needed more time without others than most do. All she needed was time” he was going slow enough he could let go one of his hands from the wheel and extend the other, which he slowly tries to flex his fingers “She always said she needed time to study”
He continues to fruitlessly try to flex the fingers of his right paw “She had friends, they’d meet behind the house for about a fifth a claw every other paw, they’d talk about old shows. That was all she needed, and all she could stand. She had found a little herd that was just right for her”
He starts putting a little more energy in his fingers “But that wasn’t enough. My parents knew she was smart, the excuse to study wasn’t working anymore. ‘A predator trying to hide in our ranks, trying to hide others of her kind’, that’s what they called her, because she was studying as an assessor”
He puts his hand back in the wheel “Eventually a pair showed up at home to bring her in”
“It… It was your parents who turned her in, weren’t they?”
“It was my father” he looks out the wind “My father and the chief showed up. My sister didn’t want to go, she knew what would happen to her” he takes a deep breath again “She started fighting, she’d do anything not to go”
He can see Santos wince in the rear window “She’s… Gone now. I was visiting home on a break from the academy. I could have saved her, I could have pushed her out of the way, if I just hadn’t freezed.” his tail starts to uncomfortably hit things behind him “It… Was my father who did it”
“I dropped out of the academy, bought a ticket to another city… I left everything I had behind, didn’t bother to bring anything other than my satchel” a chuckle out of him “Can you imagine how that went?”
“You did say you were in a bad state at the time” there’s something he can’t place in Santos’ voice.
“Takes a lot for a venlil to get blackout drunk in a ditch” he tries to put some humor in his voice “I figured out how, though” he takes a deep breath again, buying time for his mind “I don’t know how Keina could look at me then and say ‘I need to help this man’. But she did. Helped me clean up, got some word in the office she worked out, I worked as janitor there for a while”
“Couple cycles later, we had our ceremony, we got together. It was happy, but not that happy. The office we were working in went under, as companies do” he sighs “We were together but… We had nothing. For a long time. Our home was rented, we couldn’t pay. When she found me I was out in the streets, now we were together out in the streets” Lunek brings up a hand to dry his face “With little Tiss on the way I had to do something… Anything. We tried finding jobs in another city, but nothing. She has a lot of skills, you know” he can feel his tail strike the clutter under the back seat as it wags “She can improvise anything, she’s very smart.” and then it stops “Me, though? I had nothing”
“Is that… Is that why you’re here?”
He stares at the human’s reflection, and nods his head, making sure his companion understands his meaning “We’d started missing meals… So… Even a cadet’s pay would help. I trained for this my entire life, I knew nothing else so… I went back to the academy. I had a responsibility and only one skillset. She was too important to me” he sighs “But that was not the worst part”
He can see Santos wince “I thought i’d have to start all over again but… When I got there? I was told I could pick up where I left” he takes a slow breath “I learned later that… My father had talked them into it, when he learned I had joined again”
Santos’ face scrunches in a way he can’t quite make out the meaning “We’re from a long family of exterminators, he had influence. He was the kind that… If he took his gear home, if he made it his, nobody asked” he notices the car had stopped for a bit now, so he remembers to order his paw to press on the accelerator again “When I graduated, Keina wasn’t there. I didn’t want her there, I was ashamed. But my father showed up, with a gift” he tries putting as much tension as he can on his left fingers “It was his flamethrower… The one he used that day… He said grandmother had given it to him, so he was giving it me”
Seems like Santos is about to speak, but he interrupts “It’s… Locked in a box, at home… I was… I was too cowardly to throw it away” the car finally stops
“Say… Would you like to trade places with Kessa?” the human says, before they can step out of the car
“No… No, she knows what she’s doing, I don’t” his hands are stuck to the wheel, strength not returned yet he’s using it for support “But… If they ever put up a course or something… I… I think i’ll take it”
He can hear Santos step out of the car, and at this point between the sudden emotional outburst and the physical exertion, he’s not sure he can actually move anymore. He can feel the human’s hands against his shoulder and behind his knees as he gets lifted. It’s somewhat shameful, to be carried like this, but he’s weak either way, he’s given up on shame long ago.
“What happened to him?” her voice was deeply worried, at least he wasn’t bleeding this time.
“Remind me not to get in the way of a charging venlil. Didn’t know you could break eighty per hour in a dead sprint uphill. He’s just tired, don’t worry. Pulled a little girl from the brink, took everything his body had” he wasn’t that good, he was just desperate
“He’ll do that. C’mon in, I’ll show you where to put him down” He really wouldn’t, he didn’t know why he did. But right now he was too tired to think more. His legs were aching, his arms felt like static, and his consciousness was losing its grip in his body.
The last thought to cross his mind was… That maybe he should keep doing this job. Maybe he could do this right.
---
I know i'm doing third person and not using hte memory transcript format, but i'm still putting in effort to make things from specific points of view, so here it is Lunek's point of view for once!
Seems like the kid was saved from a bad choice, on the strength of, as always, it being personal for an exterminator.
The next season will be "Exotic Pets"! Sometimes, beasts are where they don't belong not out of bad intentions, just a surfeit of love.

Little background on my bartending experience before going into the conundrum at hand — picking between 2 bartending gigs.
I used to work at this local Japanese spot in a smaller city, and hosts there also needed to bartend for server’s tickets, or the servers would come behind the bar and make their own drinks. It was never just, like, a solo bartender behind the bar. It was always a host who bartends or server who bartends, and, well, I was both a host and server. I was always quick on my feet since this place was always understaffed, and yeah, I’d make drinks. But also, just to be upfront, it was a real rundown place so a lot of it was just simple 2-ingredient cocktails, literally liquor and mixer. That’s it. Then I continued to serve in a bigger city. I’ve served at high-volume restaurants with a pretty mid bar program that’s made for high-volume. I’ve served as a cocktail server at a craft bar with more of a high-end bar program. You get the gist. The background base knowledge is there, but nowhere near in-depth.
Anyhow, now I am fully bartending at a casual hotel bar. Not a huge or even a stellar bar program — but it does the job. I’ve been practicing my free pours, and pouring with jiggers. I’ve gotten fairly accurate. I am not really happy with the bar program here, or the management. To exemplify… I’ve had to do runs to the liquor store because management forgets to order liquors and mixers and cordials, pretty much every week. They also had me make up my own menus because they never have the liquors required for the corporate menu. They would supply me with 10 glasses at a time. I told them we’ve been out of flute glasses since March, & up to now we still don’t have any.
Sooo, with all the lack of support from management, I decided to shoot my shot and I applied to tons of other hotel bars and craft bars in my area. Long story short, I landed it in two different hotel bars.
First, is a hotel bar AND full-fledged restaurant. Amazing bar program. Top of the top. Nebbiolo, blabla, you get the gist. $75 entrees. Huuuuge space for a hotel restaurant. They also told me they marketed towards locals and tourists that may not even be staying at the hotel — and I could tell. Felt like a stand-alone restaurant, really. Their offer is 7.50 per hour in a 2.15 state, and I asked for part-time, which they said they can work out 3-4 breakfast/lunch shifts at either their lounge bar downstairs, or pool bar upstairs. If I wanted to do full-time, they said they can work that out as well.
Listing my concerns here: intimidating bar program (it’s a biiiig huuuge selection of bourbons, some wines I’ve never tried nor heard of, everything is done with jiggers and I’m working on that but still scary, I feel like I’m too slow but I know that jiggers are better, I just gotta get used to it), less hourly compensation (super important for a hotel bar, since sometimes the volume is pretty low compared to a restaurant, however like I said this place looks promising in terms of guest volume)
Listing my pros here: intimidating material but it would push me, definitely know that even if I make less hourly, I’d make more in tips, there’s table service from actual servers so they tip out the bar
Second, is another hotel, with a very intimate lounge bar downstairs, and an open rooftop bar on their top floor. It’s a much smaller hotel room count — about 50 suites compared to the 300 rooms at the first hotel — but the price point of each suite is similar to the first hotel. So… ranges of 300-400 slow season, 700-800 busy season. Same type of higher-end clientele. Their bar program is pretty solid for a very new hotel too. Their offer is 12.00 per hour, and I asked for part-time/full-time, they said part time would be about 2-3 nights, full time would be 4-5 nights, either rooftop or lounge.
Listing my concerns here: lower guest volume (director mentioned that they’re not focused on marketing to locals or other tourists, they’re definitely focusing on the hotel’s clientele), smaller food menu so less chance of a big check
Listing my pros here: lower guest volume may enable me to master accuracy over speed first, which I think is much more important to learn before going fast, smaller food menu would encourage a focus on alcohol with guests, it’d also enable me to learn more about wines and spirits (their wine selection is pretty good too, lots of old world wines there), seems like from what the director mentioned, all their new bartender hires (they just opened their bars) are entry-level, and I have more experience than most of them, which is a little bit less intimidating than the first hotel.
Sorry for the word vomit. But from experienced bartenders, I would really love some guidance as a newbie. Heeeeelp. Which one should I take?

Been making pizza at home from scratch, ive got the dough and sauce on lock, but something about it isnt quite as savory as pizza i get at a restaurant...
Garlic? Seasoning salt?