A Fanfic of u/SpacePaladin15’s work “The nature of Predators” Thank you for the story!
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Memory transcription subject: Kilousai, Kolshian Head Genetic Biologist
Date [standardized human time]: REDACTED
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Something that has always amused me was how primitives talk and act like people. Yet are so easily manipulated into being whatever you wished them to be. Take Female Venlil Feed Subject #387V-42. She believes herself to be one of the foremost Genetic Biologists in our field. Yet all she has done is make a poor, pathetic version of what my own species and the Farsul have mastered centuries ago. Sure her nanites could cure cancers in a matter of minutes, but it's just such a waste of resources to make these for primitives.
However there are a scant few primitives that are worthy of truly being uplifted to the same status as a Kolshian or Farsul. Take Venlil Test Subject #12v-01. By all means he should have been caught by the Exterminators and burned to death with a flamethrower. Thankfully we caught this gem of a being with early screening and gently had his life altered to ensure that didn’t happen. With a few small interventions, such as the removal of his parents and ensuring that he was always in the right place at the right time, we were able to take advantage of his aggressive behaviors, and alter his beliefs to align with our own. He truly was something special. I do hope we don’t have to purge this one. The Venlil experiments have shown great promise.
“Oh I am so glad to be able to work with you directly Kilousai! I hope you don’t mind but I would like to get a photo with you to show to my friends back home! Well, show them once we’ve cured Humanity!” Go on you stupid piece of meat just keep talking. It’s one of the two things you will ever be good for.
“Of course! We are going to accomplish so many good things for the Federation today! In this very facility we have made great strides into ensuring that our future will be prosperous and safe!” I do so love how Subject #12v-01 reacts so differently than the feed. His tail muscles gently tighten at the base, his ear slowly pivots to listen to my words. Yet he doesn’t even feel for the knife hidden just in his fur under his right arm. I could tell he knows that when I say ‘we’ I am not including the feed in that statement.
Finally the elevator reached the bottom. “Oh! Finally we are here!” The doors opened to reveal Subject #592A-01. The large Arxur made for an imposing presence in the doorway. His deep blue tactical gear would almost be completely invisible in the dead of night. Yet in the clinical white hallways almost appeared as a slightly blue void.
As predicted the feed began to hysterically try and flee while screaming and alerting anything that might have wished to harm her of her presence. Typical. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! NOOOOOOOO NONONONONONO!” Subject #592A-01 did not flinch or move as instructed. Good.
What wasn’t good was the ear splitting wail from the feed as it desperately tried to flee. It was setting Subject #12v-01 on edge. He hadn’t reached for his knife yet, but had simply taken a defensive stance. I imagine my calm demeanor clued him in on how to act. Clever.
I strode forward past it. “Come along now! We haven’t got all day! 592A-01 help them along, please and thank you.” Subject #592A-01 surged forward and quickly seized the feed. She began to frantically hit the muscle laden arms of Subject #592A-01 yet her claws were unable to even tear the cloth covering his armor. Small traces of orange blood started to cover Subject #592A-01’s gear before he pinned the feed’s arm behind it to stop it from damaging itself further. The wailing sound was starting to give me a headache but it wouldn’t last much longer
Subject #592A-01 turned and grabbed Subject #12v-01’s arm and began to drag them behind me as we walked down the corridor. Subject #12v-01 was barely able to touch the ground but complied and walked with us, while the feed was drug kicking and screaming.
This right here. Any primitive other than Subject #12v-01 would be just like this feed, panicking like the dumb animals they are. Yet here he was. Someone that was paying attention, fully intent on surviving and taking advantage of any opportunity to the fullest.
I turned into the activity room I set up for this demonstration. 10 of my hand raised Arxur soldiers stood at attention waiting for me to give any order. Their gear almost making them indistinguishable from Subject #592A-01, who came in and deposited both Subject #12v-01 and the feed into the center of the room and stood back to guard the door as instructed previously. The feed desperately clung onto Subject #12v-01 who almost seemed to console the feed but simultaneously arranged himself to be able to use her as a shield if needed. Clever.
“Ahem…” The feed jerked her head to be able to see me, while Subject #12v-01 kept the Arxur Soldiers and Subject #592A-01 in his field of view, yet couldn’t see me as well. Clever. “Welcome to the labs! Here I work diligently to ensure that the Federation has all the tools necessary to keep everyone safe!” I grasped my tentacles together in a giddy excitement. It was always great to share my work with others!
“SAFE! SAFE? These are fucking monsters! We aren’t safe!” I grimaced at that statement. An expression that thankfully Subject #12v-01 was able to see when he turned to face me. He was now focusing his attention on me. He clearly knew I was in charge and thus was the biggest threat to his safety. Clever.
“Sorry, I wasn’t referring to you Female Venlil Feed Subject #387V-42.” Her ears drooped and her jaw hung loosely from her head. I could barely make out the faintest sound from her mouth. Subject #12v-01 seemed to recognize the feed as a liability now. Good. “You see. In order for there to be prosperity there must be safety. For there to be safety there must be control.” Subject #12v-01 seemed to calm down and while he was still tensed ready for action, took a more neutral stance. The feed simply stared in abject horror and disbelief. Pathetic.
“When we, the founding species, discovered the third race of intelligent beings, we were aghast at their barbaric and primitive natures. They were still killing each other with sticks! And for what? Land? Water? Food?” I started to pace back and forth as I taught my history lesson. “NO! They killed each other in the thousands because the other members of their species were simply their enemies! Couple this with the disgusting act of eating corpses, fish and other small animals, every attempt to make them into something respectable failed. They were just too aggressive. Too… predatory.”
The feed just started to shake and sob. Subject #12v-01 looked to understand where I was going with this. I gestured to the squad of Axur in the room. “Take the Arxur for example. When we discovered them they were locked in a civil war over ideals. The ideals of, is it better to be feared, or to be loved? The dominion believed that cruelty was the best way to control and keep their people safe, while the Northwest Bloc tried to be transparent with their people, tried to let them be free, even if that made things dangerous.” I felt another wave of excitement rush over me as I started to bounce on the spot.
“The best thing happened when we made contact! They declared peace! They started to work together! Both sides desperately strove to incorporate our technology and follow our uplift plan! They desperately wanted to be like us! To live in peace and harmony! The only uplifts to ever do so without us having to prune their primitive cultures first!” The feed just shook her head in disbelief.
“The only mistake we made with them was not realizing that they were incapable of digesting plant matter at all. They were the first sapient obligate carnivores that we had ever found! So when the time came and a famine struck Wriss, we gave them a cure to end their dependence on meat." I animatedly shrugged as I kept teaching "Ooops! Killed nearly a fourth of their population! Thankfully it didn’t kill all of them. Though something strange happened. All of their livestock died. When we realized what had happened we already began to draft an extermination plan and got our fleet into position when the oddest thing happened.”
I held my tentacles wide in excitement. “Their PROPHET contacted us! Let us know that the dominion had taken control! That they used our ‘cure’ to kill their livestock. He made his people doubt the way of the Northwest bloc, and reinforced that the Dominion is in the right. He gave us proof of what we always knew. FEAR. Fear rules unchallenged. So we gave the Prophet’s most loyal weapons, and they purged the Northwest Blocs staunchest defenders. Then came the time for them to return the favor they owed us.”
Subject #12v-01 was completely calm now. He knew what was coming. The feed looked lost, distant. Worthless. “We moved our fleets out of the way. After all. We had no idea we were about to be attacked! Then the dominion launched its campaign and worlds fell. People fled in fear, and our control went from being loosely held by us to being a noose around the primitive's necks.”
“My soldiers here are a gift from the dominion.” I gestured around to all of my children. “I raised them from their eggs. Made them the perfect soldiers. With them we can ensure that if we, or the dominion, need someone… erased or need just a little bit of chaos to remind the mindless masses who is in charge, well… they will ensure it always happens flawlessly.”
The feed looked up in horror. “You.. You're a monster!” I just laughed. What a stupid notion. “ME?! A monster? Monsters hurt sapient creatures without a single care. There are four sapient races in the galaxy. The Kolshians, the Farsul, the Prophet descendants, and Humanity.” I expected Subject #12v-01 to react to my statement but his demeanor almost seemed to… agree? Good.
“The dominion keeps its people scared of starving and thus in control. Sadly that leaves them as sub-sapients, but every so often they get a useful tool and we authorize an uplift to our status.” Subject #12v-01 looked down at the feed in almost a state of disgust. He was putting the pieces together flawlessly! Time to test that.
“I grow bored of this. I was hoping that maybe you were worth something. I guess I was wrong…” I slowly paced away from the center of the room. Distancing myself just far enough away if either of them rushed me they would never be able to get to me. “My children. Eat.”
In one motion every one of my children turned to look at the two Venlil. With one step heard, all of them put a foot forward and then… Subject #12v-01 decided to act.
With one fluid movement he brandished his knife from its hiding spot. My children took a moment to ensure they could strike without being struck. I swished my tail and gave a silent order to not kill Subject #12v-01… yet.
He grabbed the feed in a manner almost like he was taking a hostage. Then his knife slid into the base of its spine. It let out a blood curdling scream as it fell to the floor. Tears poured from its eyes as it looked up to Subject #12v-01 and then to its legs as it failed to move them. It began to sob hysterically and tried to crawl to the corridor we entered from.
As it slowly made its attempt to escape, Subject #12v-01 cast the knife aside, letting it slide harmlessly across the floor till it came to a stop at my feet. I gave him a quizzical look. He stood proud and stated “I am more use to you as a tool than as feed for your soldiers. I know the inner workings of Venlil Primes government better than Tarva herself. I know how to wrap Humans around my fingers and make them do my bidding without them having a clue it's happening. Use me. I guarantee you that you will regret letting them eat me.”
After his defiant statement was over he stood still and lowered his arms from their elevated position. He seemed to relax as I picked up his knife and walked to him with my tail flicking happily behind me. “YES! I knew you were truly a sapient being! I am so relieved that I was right about you! You saw it, yes? How she wasn’t like us? How she couldn’t act beyond what she was taught?” Subject #12v-01… No Wisterly. “Wisterly, a lot of races consider yours to be weak. Do you know what I think about your race?”
Wisterly took a moment to ponder my question. With a slight tilt to his head he responded “No Sir. I do not know what you think of my race.” I couldn’t help but let my tail flick with excitement. “I think your race has always had great potential. Sadly a lot of your race are gullible to say the least, but you? You are something special. You don’t just accept your fate!”
I waved a tentacle at the crawling, sniveling feed. “You aren’t like them! You ACT! You think! You change your fate! Come now! We are in great need of your skills!” I handed him back his knife. “Oh. #592A-01. Feed.”
I started to talk to Wisterly about our plans and how he would be fitting in to it as #592A-01 approached the feed. He placed a foot on its legs pining it in place. It left streaks of orange blood across the floor as it ripped its claws out trying to escape. Then #592A-01 failed its test. It bent down holding the feed still, locked its jaws around the head and bit down crushing the skull and killing the feed instantly.
“STOP. STOP STOP STOP. WHAT IN MY NAME WAS THAT!” #592A-01 froze, before it stood to attention. “I killed the feed Father.” I let out a long defeated sigh. “Did I TELL you to kill the feed?”
“No Father.”
I took a step closer to him “Why did I tell you to feed? And Why did I not tell you to kill?”
“So that when the time comes I can flawlessly imitate the Dominion’s Arxur, Father.”
I turned away and threw my tentacles into the air. “Children. Feed.”
Failure #592A-01 stood perfectly still as its siblings approached. Subject #592A-02 held Failure #592A-01’s arms still as she locked her jaws around his abdomen and ripped his intestines out. The others descended on it as I led Wisterly out of the room and gave one final order. “Don’t eat the head. Bring that to the lab before it starts to rot.”
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Memory transcription subject: REDACTED
Date [standardized human time]: REDACTED
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Something is off with all of this. I don’t know how to tell Kila that we are in grave danger without alerting Dr. Kilousai that I was aware of his deceitful nature. He answered her every question as though she wasn’t part of the herd. Something was very wrong.
The elevator reached its destination and the doors opened to reveal what was clearly an Arxur in full military gear. He didn’t move from his position and Dr. Kilousai didn’t even seem to care that it was here. Like he expected it. Kila was freaking out trying to get the doors to close, busting her finger bloody as she tried. I choose to stay as still and calm as possible. I knew my knife was still in reach. I can’t let the Arxur know it's there or I am dead.
Dr. Kilousai ordered the Arxur to grab us. I had the thought that maybe the Humans had allied with the Arxur, who made it behind Fed lines and took control, but that theory just got killed when a Koloshian ordered an Arxur. The Human's wouldn't let someone from the Cure Program in a leadership position.
It had to restrain Kila to stop her from hurting herself, but simply drug me by my arm. I chose not to resist. Not the right time. No escape route yet.
Dr. Kilousai led us into a large room with 10 more Arxur in it. The one holding us threw us into the center of the room. Before I could charge Dr. Kilousai and take him hostage, Kila grabbed hold of me and wouldn’t let go. Not good. I gently took hold of her and moved her in such a way that she would feel safe but could easily be moved to defend myself. Sorry Kila. It's you or me in this situation.
Dr. Kilousai cleared his throat to speak causing Kila to jerk and look at him. Stupid. He isn’t the threat. I kept my eyes on the Arxur. They didn’t flinch.
“Welcome to the labs! Here I work diligently to ensure that the Federation has all the tools necessary to keep everyone safe!” He grasped his tentacles together in a giddy excitement. He looked genuinely pleased to share this with us. Odd.
“SAFE! SAFE? These are fucking monsters! We aren’t safe!” I couldn’t stop Kila from stupidly blurting this out. It was clear that upset Dr. Kilousai. Not good. I kept my eyes on him. The Arxur clearly wouldn’t move unless he ordered them to. He was the threat in this room.
“Sorry, I wasn’t referring to you Female Venlil Feed Subject #387V-42.” Spehg. He assigned her a name like that. Likely to distance her being from the idea of her personhood. I wasn’t stupid. My name right now is likely not too far off from hers. Need to change that. He continued “You see. In order for there to be prosperity there must be safety. For there to be safety there must be control.” He wasn’t wrong. It oddly made sense. I knew the federation could field billions of ships for every single one the Arxur could, but they never took the initiative to exterminate them.
“When we, the founding species, discovered the third race of intelligent beings, we were aghast at their barbaric and primitive natures. They were still killing each other with sticks! And for what? Land? Water? Food?” He started to pace back and forth. “NO! They killed each other in the thousands because the other members of their species were simply their enemies! Couple this with the disgusting act of eating corpses, fish and other small animals, every attempt to make them into something respectable failed. They were just too aggressive. Too… predatory.”
Kila just started to sob. He gestured to the squad of Axur in the room. “Take the Arxur for example. When we discovered them they were locked in a civil war over ideals. The Ideals of is it better to be feared or to be loved? The dominion believed that cruelty was the best way to control and keep their people safe, while the Northwest Bloc tried to be transparent with their people, tried to let them be free, even if that made things dangerous.” I thought about it. Thought about the Federation's early history. The Krakotl were a problem. Nikonus said so himself. The federation was trying love and found it failed. Then comes the Arxur fighting for an answer to the same question… I think I knew where he was going with this.
“The best thing happened when we made contact! They declared peace! They started to work together! Both sides desperately strove to incorporate our technology and follow our uplift plan! They desperately wanted to be like us! To live in peace and harmony! The only uplifts to ever do so without us having to prune their primitive cultures first!”
Kila shook her head in disbelief. “The only mistake we made with them was not realizing that they were incapable of digesting plant matter at all. They were the first sapient obligate carnivores that we had ever found! So when the time came and a famine struck Wriss, we gave them a cure to end their dependence on meat. Ooops! Killed nearly a fourth of their population! Thankfully it didn’t kill all of them. Though something strange happened. All of their livestock died. When we realized what had happened we already began to draft an extermination plan and got our fleet into position when the oddest thing happened.”
He held his tentacles wide in excitement. “Their PROPHET contacted us! Let us know that the dominion had taken control! That they used our ‘cure’ to kill their livestock. He made his people doubt the way of the Northwest bloc, and reinforced that the Dominion is in the right. He gave us proof of what we always knew. FEAR. Fear rules unchallenged. So we gave the Prophet’s most loyal weapons, and they purged the Northwest Blocs staunchest defenders. Then came the time for them to return the favor they owed us.”
“We moved our fleets out of the way. After all, We had no idea we were about to be attacked! Then the dominion launched its campaign and worlds fell. People fled in fear, and our control went from being loosely held by us to being a noose around the primitives necks.”
“My soldiers here are a gift from the dominion.” He gestured around to all of the Arxur. “I raised them from their eggs. Made them the perfect soldiers. With them we can ensure that if we or the dominion need someone… erased or need just a little bit of chaos to remind the mindless masses who is in charge well… they will ensure it always happens flawlessly.”
Kila looked up in horror and opened her stupid mouth again. “You.. You're a monster!” He just laughed this time. Not a good sign. “ME?! A monster? Monsters hurt sapient creatures without a single care. There are four sapient races in the galaxy. The Kolshians, the Farsul, the Prophet descendants, and Humanity.”
“The dominion keeps its people scared of starving and thus in control. Sadly that leaves them as sub-sapients, but every so often they get a useful tool and we authorize an uplift to our status.” I think I understand what he was talking about. Kila. She wasn’t really a person was she?
“I grow bored of this. I was hoping that maybe you were worth something. I guess I was wrong…” He slowly paced away from the center of the room. Distancing myself just far enough away if either of them rushed me they would never be able to get to me. “My children. Eat.”
In one motion every Arxur turned to look at us. With one step heard, all of them put a foot forward and then… I decided to act.
With one fluid movement I brandished my knife from its hiding spot. I grabbed Kila. Then I slid My knife into the base of her spine. She let out a blood curdling scream as she fell to the floor. Tears poured from her eyes as she looked up to me and then to her legs as she failed to move them. she began to sob hysterically and tried to crawl to the corridor we entered from.
As she slowly made her last attempt to escape, I cast the knife aside, letting it slide harmlessly across the floor till it came to a stop at the Doctor’s feet. He gave me a quizzical look. I stood proud and stated “I am more use to you as a tool than as feed for your soldiers. I know the inner workings of Venlil Primes government better than Tarva herself. I know how to wrap Humans around my fingers and make them do my bidding without them having a clue it's happening. Use me. I guarantee you that you will regret letting them eat me.”
After he picked up my knife and walked to me with his tail flicking happily behind him. “YES! I knew you were truly a sapient being! I am so relieved that I was right about you! You saw it, yes? How she wasn’t like us? How she couldn’t act beyond what she was told?” I could. That wasn’t a person. It was a scared stupid animal. Not worth my care. “Wisterly, a lot of races consider yours to be weak. Do you know what I think about your race?”
I took a moment to ponder the question. With a slight tilt to my head I responded “No Sir. I do not know what you think of my race.”
His tail flicked with excitement. “I think your race has always had great potential. Sadly a lot of your race are gullible to say the least, but you? You are something special. You don’t just accept your fate!” He waved a tentacle at the crawling, sniveling animal. “You aren’t like them! You ACT! You think! You change your fate! Come now! We are in great need of your skills!” He handed me back my knife and ordered. “Oh. #592A-01. Feed.”
He started to talk to me about their plans and how I would be fitting in to it as #592A-01 approached the food. He placed a foot on its legs pining it in place. It left streaks of orange blood across the floor as it ripped its claws out trying to escape. Then #592A-01 apparently failed its test. It bent down holding the feed still, locked its jaws around the head and bit down crushing the skull and killing the feed instantly.
“STOP. STOP STOP STOP. WHAT IN MY NAME WAS THAT!” #592A-01 froze, before it stood to attention. “I killed the feed Father.” He let out a long defeated sigh. “Did I TELL you to kill the feed?”
“No Father.”
He took a step closer to him “Why did I tell you to feed? And Why did I not tell you to kill?”
“So that when the time comes I can flawlessly imitate the Dominion’s Arxur, Father.”
He turned away and threw his tentacles into the air. “Children. Eat.”
#592A-01 stood perfectly still as its siblings approached. Another of the Arxur held #592A-01’s arms still as it locked its jaws around his abdomen and ripped its intestines out. The others descended on it as the Doctor led me out of the room and gave one final order. “Don’t eat the head. Bring that to the lab before it starts to rot.”
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Memory transcription subject: Subject #592A-01
Date [standardized human time]: REDACTED
Current Order: Wait at elevator door to enact further instructions.
The door opened. Father was there with two Venlil. One began to panic. The other froze.
Current Order: Bring Venlil unharmed with Father wherever he wishes.
I grabbed them and had to pin the screaming one's arms to stop her from harming herself. The scared one was easy to pull along. I like that one. Its fur is soft. Maybe if I am good Father will let me keep it? Like the sleeping Sivkit.
Current Order: Leave Venlil in center of room for feeding exercise. Guard door.
I stood still waiting for Father to issue his orders. Crying Venlil was Crying. I couldn't make her feel better. I felt sad as the other one was rather cute. Wish we didn’t have to eat that one. He was rather warm. Would have been nice to sleep next too.
Current Order: Fake step towards Venlil.
The calm one was not nice. He stabbed the crying one in the spine and paralyzed her from the waist down. I wish we could fix her instead of eating her. I bet she is nice. Maybe Father might let us have her now? I would have to clean her as she likely can’t control her bowel movements but that's ok! It would be nice to have a friend!
Current Order: Eat Crying Venlil.
I am sorry little one. I will make this as painless as possible.
Current Order: Don’t move, Answer questions.
Father is so mad at me. He was testing me and I failed. I am a failure. I deserve this. Mate approaches me now. Mate will eat me. Grow strong from my body mate. May the next mate Father selects for you be better than me.
ERROR: UNABLE TO PARSE TRANSCRIPT: CAUSE: DEATH OF SUBJECT
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Happy April Fools Day! I hope you guys are having fun! Uh… APRIL FOOLS! This wasn’t a joke at all! It was the start of my Bonus series. A collection of small stories that are definitely AU and explore Ideas I have. This may or may not have a sequel. So fell free to continue it if you like the Idea as you may be the only one too!
As with all of my fanfics this is considered creative commons by myself so feel free to grab anything from my stories to use in your own works! I would appreciate a shout out for this but that isn’t required.

As an IT interior designer, creating a healthy and ergonomic workspace for IT professionals is crucial. With long hours spent sitting in front of a computer, it's essential to prioritize the well-being and productivity of the employees. Here are some tips to create a workspace that is both functional and comfortable.
IT interior designer Choose ergonomic furniture: Ergonomic chairs and desks help to reduce strain on the body and prevent repetitive stress injuries. Look for chairs that offer adjustable height, lumbar support, and swivel capabilities. Similarly, desks that can be adjusted for height and have a comfortable work surface can go a long way in ensuring employees' comfort.
IT interior designer Optimize lighting: Poor lighting can cause eye strain, headaches, and fatigue. Therefore, ensure that your workspace has enough natural light and consider investing in adjustable artificial lighting options that can be tailored to individual preferences.
IT interior designer Consider the acoustics: Noise pollution can be a significant distraction in the workplace. Use materials like acoustic panels, carpets, and curtains to absorb sound and reduce noise levels in the workspace.
IT interior designer Encourage movement: Sitting for long periods can have detrimental effects on the body. Provide options for standing desks, encourage employees to take regular breaks and stretch, and consider implementing walking meetings to promote movement throughout the day.
IT interior designer Use plants: Indoor plants can improve air quality, reduce stress, and increase productivity. Incorporate some greenery into your workspace to improve the overall well-being of your employees.
In summary, creating a healthy and ergonomic workspace for IT interior designer professionals involves choosing ergonomic furniture, optimizing lighting, considering acoustics, encouraging movement, and using plants to promote well-being. You can get your next Commercial Office interior designed and built by a tech-led interior design company such as Flipspaces who can be your one stop solution to all your turnkey needs.

As an IT interior designer, creating a healthy and ergonomic workspace for IT professionals is crucial. With long hours spent sitting in front of a computer, it's essential to prioritize the well-being and productivity of the employees. Here are some tips to create a workspace that is both functional and comfortable.
IT interior designer Choose ergonomic furniture: Ergonomic chairs and desks help to reduce strain on the body and prevent repetitive stress injuries. Look for chairs that offer adjustable height, lumbar support, and swivel capabilities. Similarly, desks that can be adjusted for height and have a comfortable work surface can go a long way in ensuring employees' comfort.
IT interior designer Optimize lighting: Poor lighting can cause eye strain, headaches, and fatigue. Therefore, ensure that your workspace has enough natural light and consider investing in adjustable artificial lighting options that can be tailored to individual preferences.
IT interior designer Consider the acoustics: Noise pollution can be a significant distraction in the workplace. Use materials like acoustic panels, carpets, and curtains to absorb sound and reduce noise levels in the workspace.
IT interior designer Encourage movement: Sitting for long periods can have detrimental effects on the body. Provide options for standing desks, encourage employees to take regular breaks and stretch, and consider implementing walking meetings to promote movement throughout the day.
IT interior designer Use plants: Indoor plants can improve air quality, reduce stress, and increase productivity. Incorporate some greenery into your workspace to improve the overall well-being of your employees.
In summary, IT interior designers creating a healthy and ergonomic workspace for IT professionals involves choosing ergonomic furniture, optimizing lighting, considering acoustics, encouraging movement, and using plants to promote well-being. By following these tips, you can help ensure that your employees are comfortable, healthy, and productive. You can get your next Commercial Office interior designed and built by a tech-led interior design company such as Flipspaces who can be your one stop solution to all your turnkey needs.

Since three dimensional films burst onto the scene, once in a while seeing things in 1-D in all likelihood won't cut it. Also, the equivalent goes for stomach muscle preparing — work your abs in only one aspect, and you cheat yourself out of your full, six-pack potential.
"Most activities just work in a solitary plane," says Irv Rubenstein, PhD, practice physiologist and organizer behind S.T.E.P.S., a wellness office in Nashville, TN. "Integrating three dimensional maneuvers incorporates muscles, for example, the obliques, which give a 'supporting' impact, pulling the midriff internal and upgrading the meaning of the rectus abdominis to give you that six-pack appearance."
To comprehend how to integrate this rule, you'll have to envision the planes of the body. In reverse and forward movements, for example, crunches and turn around crunches, work in the sagittal plane, what separates the body into both ways parts. Sidelong developments work inside the front facing plane, what isolates the body into front and back. What's more, turning developments happen in the body's cross over plane, what separates the body into upper and lower parts.
"As well as completely fostering your abs, working your abs in three aspects additionally forestalls wounds by revising irregular characteristics," says Joe Bellistri, Confirmed Strength and Molding Subject matter expert (CSCS) and proprietor of Bellistri Preparing Arrangements in Whippany, NJ.
Prepared to get everything rolling? Add these activities to your stomach muscle routine and watch your six-pack show up — no extraordinary glasses required.

1. Free weight Rollouts

A. These copy the stomach muscle rollers of days gone by: To begin, get on all fours, then put hands shoulder-width separated on a free weight that is on the floor before you, at shoulder level.
B. Support your abs and keep your back straight as you permit the free weight to continue ahead. Go to the extent that you can without permitting your hips to hang, then roll the bar back in. That is one rep; do 12-15.

2. Band Stomach Press

A. Connect medium-obstruction tubing to an entryway pivot (or secure it around a steady item) at just underneath shoulder level. Stand with feet somewhat more extensive than shoulder-width separated, then broaden arms straight out before you to get a handle on the handle with two hands.
B. Support your abs as you bring the band to and fro from chest, at the midline of your body. Rehash 10 to multiple times on each side.

1. Bag Convey

This is a one-equipped rendition of the Strongman Rancher's Walk: Just get the handle of a portable weight or a hand weight (begin with 30 lbs; increment provided that you can keep up with great stance) and stroll with it for the length of a room, as though conveying a bag, keeping abs drew in and middle upstanding and in great stance all through. Switch sides and rehash, for a sum of roughly 100 feet each set. Do 2-3 sets.

2. Side Board Grab

A. Lie on your side with legs straight, base arm straight under shoulder and top arm holding an iron weight. Support your weight on your lower arm, with elbow straightforwardly under your shoulder and top arm clutching the portable weight on the floor before your chest.
B. Enact center muscles, then, at that point, raise hips up and advance so body frames a straight line in the sideways board position.
C. Stretch out top arm to raise the iron weight above rapidly, until arm is completely expanded and straight up towards the roof; gradually lower down. Complete 10 reps, then, at that point, switch sides and rehash.

1. Woodchop

A. Stand with feet somewhat more extensive than shoulder-width separated, holding a medication ball with two hands.
B. Twist knees and hips to drop into a squat as you bring the ball down to contact your left foot, shin or knee (contingent upon your adaptability).
C. Ascend out of the squat as you at the same time turn, raising the ball up and across your contrary side (as though tossing it over your contrary shoulder). Complete 2 arrangements of 10 lifts to each side, exchanging sets.

2. Russian Turns

A. Sit on top of a wellness ball and leave until your head lays ready in a tabletop position, knees bowed at 45-degree points.
B. Hold a medication ball with two hands straight up over the chest; draw in center muscles.
C. Without moving hips, keep arms straight and pivot upper middle while you roll onto one shoulder, constantly keeping head eyes and head zeroed in ready.
D. Stop when ball and arms are lined up with the floor, then pivot back to beginning position. Rehash by moving on the contrary side. Do 10-15 reps on each side.

Lothli woke up bright and early this Saturday, as always. Then, with a yawn, she checked her phone: April 1st.
Was there something important happening today? I don’t quite remember…
Her thoughts were quickly swept away by the mundanity of her morning routine. Pulling on clothes, brushing her teeth, doing her hair…
And so, she was entirely caught off guard when she arrived in the kitchen.
Her twin sister cackled like a madwoman, stirring a gigantic cauldron smelling burnt iron, cotton candy, and writer’s tears.
“Maishul, what exactly have you done?” Lothli sighed, ambling over to the bubbling cauldron.
“This? Oh, just a little April Fool’s prank!” the other twin giggled before pulling out a miniature figurine of a strange humanoid insect. With a snap of her fingers, the statuette grew to full size, glancing around warily.
“Oh goodness! What’s going on here?” the moth woman exclaimed, seeming more confused than frightened. “What kind of insect are you? I’ve never seen anyone with just four limbs like you two!”
Lothli turned to Maishul, a frown on her face. “Is this Minerva? Did you STEAL her? We’re going to get banned, you know.”
The other twin continued cackling, heedless of Lothli’s wrath. “No, no, I got permission! Look!”
Indeed, the paper Maishul pulled out did have the signatures of one, two… how many authors?!
“Maishul, what the heck have you done?” Lothli huffed. “This is— how do we—”
“Excuse me, but I believe I may be lost?” Minerva asked, her wings fluttering nervously. “While I would love to ask the two of you some questions, I need to return to my lab, if you could point me in the right direction?”
“Oh, I apologize, Dr. Minerva. You’re currently experiencing a dream. Please do forget about this,” Lothli sighed before snapping her fingers and reverting the insectoid woman to her figurine form.
“How exactly are we going to explain this to Polaris?” Lothli deadpanned with her gaze on her happy-go-lucky sibling.
“Oh, I have a good ‘ol industrial barrel of Remove-Yo-Memory. I’m sure it’ll turn out fine!” Maishul grinned back. “Look, look! Let me show you what wonderful scenes I’ve cooked up for everyone!”
Scene One: Art’s Very Bad, No Good Day
I was not having a good day. First, I was thrown into yet another random plane of existence. Dimension hopping was something I wanted to experience no more than one time in my life; thank you very much. And yet, here I was. In yet another random plane of existence with absolutely no say.
“Iklem.”
Second all, I found myself surrounded by these strange creatures. Four legs, shimmering black pelt, bizarre snake-like neck, flat head, creepy singular eye, and that weirdly human voice. Definitely not a fan.
“Iklem.”
The three Iklems crept—
Ahem. The plural of Iklem is Iklemli, Art.
And thirdly, that obnoxious voice ringing out in my head. Who was that? Why were they in my head? And why could they read my thoughts?
Fine. The three Iklemli crept closer and closer, predatory intent clear. I backed away slowly before my phone suddenly burst out with the cheery tune of Weird Al singing, “Just eat it (eat it), eat it (eat it)...”
“I’m in the mother of all situations here, Demoness, and you choose a freaking parody song? Can you at least tell me what the hell is happening here?” I snarled into my phone’s mic, watching the approaching monsters closely.
“M’dear, I hate to say it, but I have no clue what’s happening.” The slight strain in the Demoness’s usually sultry voice gave me pause. That Demoness? Confused? I really was in some deep shit, wasn’t I?
“Could you at least tell me what an Iklem is?” I said, imitating those creatures as best I could.
“My love, how do I explain this? As best as I could tell, at least five foreign dimensions have been forced together into one singular mess. And whoever did it had no grace or finesse at all.”
Tell the Demoness that she has no grace or finesse, either! Hmph!
Rolling my eyes, I communicated the feelings of my new head neighbor to the Demoness.
“Well, dear, tell your new friend that they should consider undoing this fiasco,” the Demoness replied with a sigh. “Whatever the case is, those Iklemli you mentioned are from one of those other dimensions. I can’t tell you a thing about them.”
With that good news, I turned back to the advancing beasts. This was going to be a fun one…
“Maishul, you can’t just break the fourth wall and shove your thoughts into the scene,” Lothli huffed, shaking her head.
“Pfffft!” Maishul blew a raspberry before turning back to her abomination of a cauldron.
“Also, you can’t just swap to first-person narration. We’re in third-person narration.”
“Well, Matt writes in first-person. And I respect our fellow author’s intent; thank you very much!”
Lothli raised an eyebrow in response before pointing to the bubbling cauldron of doom. “You call THAT respecting our fellow authors’ intents?”
“They gave permission!” Maishul pouted before turning back to her inglorious creation. “And you won’t complain once you see my next glorious scene!”
Scene Two: Sloth Squared
Pride’s scowl only grew deeper as he dragged his erstwhile companion along. The swampland around them had warped into a blooming forest, with trees looming large overhead. The various fully intact buildings were most concerning, indicating that the pair had passed into a rift.
“Sloth, GET UP!” he hissed, shaking the lazy layabout.
“Huh? Wuzzit? I’m sleepin…” Sloth snored, already back asleep.
“We’ve got a MAJOR problem here. Pretty sure a rift opened around us, so stay on guard!”
Sloth blearily stumbled to his feet before glancing wide-eyed at his surroundings.
“Holy cow, you’re right! I didn’t even notice. But, man, Pride, I’m so tired… I…” Sloth stumbled a bit further before faceplanting directly into a bed of flowers.
“Dammit, Sloth. This is ridiculous, even for your standards.” Pride leaned down to pick Sloth back up, but something strange was afoot. As soon as he leaned down, an overwhelming surge of exhaustion passed through him as well, and he collapsed on top of his companion.
“Dude, you’re sleeping right on top of a good patch. Can you two move?” A voice lazily drifted into Pride’s mind before he rocketed up ramrod straight.
“Hwa— what!? Oh. A rifter.” Pride composed himself as he stared down at the man who awoke him. About five foot six, with short white hair and red eyes.
“Uh, I’m not a rifter or whatever you just called me. I’m Clear, prince of Sloth. And you?” Clear tilted his head.
“Prince… of me? Ehehe, there’s no prince of me…” Sloth murmured in his sleep.
“Typical rifter, spewing nonsense. Come on, you lazy bum. We’re gonna hide before this gets violent.” Pride turned to drag Sloth away but found his legs unwilling to move.
“Hey, man. C’mon now. You haven’t noticed you’re in a dream yet?” Clear said, his hand extended. “Let’s just talk, alright?”
Pride struggled for a few more moments, then back at Clear. “Alright, alright, never seen a rifter do that before. Calm down, yeah? I’ll chat until this rift collapses.”
“So please, introduce yourself properly this time,” Clear responded, freeing Pride with a flick of his hand.
“Right. I’m Pride, that’s Sloth.” Pride pointed at himself, then at his companion. “Can we go?” “No. Please explain what you are doing here and those wings on your back.” Clear yawned. “Also, don’t use our nation’s name as a moniker. It’s probably disrespectful… or something. Eh, we don’t actually care that much.”
“Huh? We’re here because your stupid rift pulled us in,” Pride hissed. “And these wings? We were born with ’em. No story here. Also, pretty sure we were the ones who had those names first.”
“Eh, the kingdom of Pride wouldn’t be very happy to hear about that,” Clear responded. “But whatever, man. Things have been rather chill ever since a random blob named Sparky fell on top of the Demon King and ate him or whatever. So enjoy the nap, I guess. Mind if I join in?”
Pride rolled his eyes before scooting over to allow Clear access to the flowers. Before long, Sloth and Clear were snuggled up together, much to the chagrin of Pride.
“What the hell am I supposed to do now?”
“Aren’t they just the cutest?!” Maishul exclaimed. “We should make that our newest OTP. I bet Haru would approve.”
“Please don’t ship characters across two different SerSuns,” Lothli replied with a shake of her head. “Also what was that about Sparky eating the Demon King—”
“OKAYNEXTSCENE!!”
Scene Three: Machines, Demons, and The World Tree
There was a rather strange rash of oddly dressed folk in Lugavya lately. Or rather, just odd folk in general.
Rumors flew of a human with bird wings who passed over the town, carried through hurried whispers between the residents. A strange man with fierce red eyes insisting on making ‘deals,’ much to the annoyance of passersby trying to get through their day.
Lena and Veska had met to investigate, unable to keep themselves still while such strange events abounded. No sooner had the two exchanged greetings did two strange men approach, flagrantly discarding any sensibilities on their right to free speech.
“Hello!” the younger one called out before getting his head gently bonked by the older.
“W-what was it? Oh! The greeting we use should have been ‘well met,’ right?” the teenage boy puzzled himself, rubbing his head.
“No. Firstly, as foreign visitors, we do not use that greeting. Secondly, we do not greet them. They greet us,” the older whispered, turning his eyes to Lena and Veska. It seemed at least one of them remembered their manners.
“Peace, strangers. We will not begrudge you for your transgressions. Tell me, what business have you with us?” Lena began.
“We are looking for directions. We have lost our way. Please, would you tell us our current location? Latitude and longitude are preferred, but any notable landmarks will do.” The older man bowed slightly, with the younger following shortly after.
Latitude? Longitude? These words were unfamiliar to Lena and Veska.
“This is Lugavya. Home to Alvedos, the World Tree?” Veska explained, an eyebrow raised. Were these folks raised under a rock or something?
The two men conversed among themselves, their frowns deepening.
“Apologies, but I am unaware of Lugavya. Could you perhaps point us in the direction of the United States?” the older asked, tilting his head slightly.
“Oh, and if you know of any demons, could you put in a word for me? I can’t figure out the ritual to get home without one of them…” the younger added.
The United States? Demons? More unfamiliar terms. Lena and Veska knew these newcomers were oddballs, but this was a bit much.
“I’m sorry—really! But we simply don’t have the knowledge to help the two of you. Perhaps you could head to the Foresters? I’ll give you their location.” Lena rattled off directions to the nearby Foresters’ hall.
“Thank you very much.” The older man stalked off after a stiff bow, and the younger man quickly followed.
“Sticks and stones, what is the world coming to?”
“Was that Megan’s SerSun? All that intricately balanced worldbuilding, and you just shoved random crap in.” Lothli barely held back a sigh. “Also, you didn’t even introduce those two characters. How are our readers supposed to know who they are?”
“This is left as an exercise to the reader,” Maishul tittered into the camera before returning to the glorious mess in her cauldron.
“Next scene!”
Scene Four: The One With No Chill
There wasn’t much that could faze a Huntress.
It was often said that their wills were unshakable. Nothing could cause them to stop them from single-mindedly accomplishing their goal. And yet, Olivia stood dead in her tracks, staring at the abomination across the Dam square.
“I AM OLIVIA. DARK HUNTRESS. SMASHER OF SQUEAKERS. AND THE ONE WITH NO CHILL,” the awful creature that vaguely resembled Olivia boomed.
“That young lass a friend of yours?” Barlow remarked, barely holding back a chuckle.
“Nope.” Olivia chucked one of her daggers at the offending sight, but she deflected the blade with a ripple of its musculature.
“You are weak. You have no strength. Witness me, false Olivia.” The muscle monster took up a ridiculous pose, her muscles overtly flexing.
“I will destroy you. And after that, I will destroy your creator. And I’ll salt your entire bloodline, while I’m at it,” Olivia snarled.
“I would like to see you try, false Olivia. Last time, I was overcome by the power of the Deus Ex Machina. But this time, I will not be struck down.” The monster took a step forward, the cobblestones cracking under her feet.
Olivia flinched. A Huntress does not feel fear. A Huntress does not back down. Yet… in the face of this horrible being… Her mind recalled the near-death experience she had with the Beast. Did she really want to face that again?
She shook her head, clearing it. No. She would finish this. Olivia raced at the mocking facsimile of herself, her onyx daggers at the ready. As she drew closer, she summoned every ounce of strength and struck.
As Olivia flew through the air, the world seemed to slow down.
Ah… this feels… familiar…
“‘Admittedly, Huntress, you are quite the entertainer—”
“No!” Lothli slapped the figurines out of Maishul’s hands, sinking them into the dreadful mire of the cauldron below. “You can’t reuse that line for the third time!”
“But you used it, Lothli. That’s hypocritical!” Maishul harrumphed.
“Yes, because it was the first time we used it. You can’t just reuse jokes like that!” Lothli glared. “And don’t think I forgot about that comment Clear made about Sparky. What. Exactly. Did you do?”
“Uhm, uhh…” Maishul stuttered. “W-Well, I maybe kinda spilled some my Story-Breaking-Plot-Devices into the cauldron on accident…”
“Your WHATS?!” Lothli stared at her twin in disbelief.
“Uhh, it wasn’t a big deal or anything. Just, uh... Scarlet, the Demon King, Sparky, Wan, Pre-Geas Dread Lord Ardus, the plague from , the Deus Ex Machina, the Beast, and the entirety of the United States’ arsenal of nuclear weaponry.”
Lothli shook her head with a sigh. “I’m pretty sure you caused mass human extinction at least three times over.”
“Well! No time to worry about it! Next scene!”
Scene Five: Bea and Ophelia Discover The Wonders of Nuclear Physics
Bea and Ophelia stared at the booklet that had just materialized before them. “Maishul’s Simple Guide to Stealing and Utilizing the Entirety of the United States’ Arsenal of Nuclear Weaponry: For Dummies!” The booklet was decorated with garish stickers of rainbows and glitter, along with cartoonish mushroom clouds.
With a glance at Ophelia, Bea picked up the book. Immediately, her mind was flooded with images and knowledge. Where exactly every nuclear silo in the United States was located. The launch codes and how to bypass the two-key rule. The birth and loving families of each and every nuclear warhead…?
“Bea? Dear? Are you alright?” Ophelia shook Bea gently, concerned. Bea wordlessly handed over the booklet and watched the same information flow through her. The two shared a meaningful glance before turning the manual over. A bright red button sat there, glowing ominously amongst the childish stickers and drawings of shocked faces.
“This is absolutely too dangerous to be left just lying around,” Bea murmured, staring at the booklet intently. Maybe it was a prank some lesser fae put together to induce some concerning but ultimately harmless illusions. But deep down, the two knew this was far more sinister than a simple prank. Plus, there was no fae named “Maishul” that either of them knew of.
“I’m going to have to seal this thing away with the strongest magic I have,” Ophelia declared. With a wave of her hand, ethereal chains weaved around the book. Magical seals whirled through the air, all concentrated on the offending manual. The horrors of nuclear annihilation have been contained with a final clap of her hands.
For around five seconds. Immediately after the ritual was complete, as if to spite Ophelia’s work, a glowing sword descended from the heavens, slicing through the glowing chains and seals like butter. The two barely managed to glimpse the name written on the side: “The Deus Ex Machina,” before the blade landed squarely on the big red button with a satisfying click!
“Shit.”
“So what exactly were you saying about ‘not worrying about it’?” Lothli shook her head in dismay. “How are we going to explain this mess to their poor, poor writers? What are we going to say to Bay?”
“It’ll be fine! I’m not breaking any of the rules on shortstories, which means I totally can’t be banned!” Maishul quipped cheerily.
“That is 100% not how it works.” Lothli crossed her arms. “Don’t drag me down with you.”
“I dunno! You’ll bail me out, right?” Maishul shrugged before returning to her appalling project. “Next scene!”
Scene Six: Sanguia Loses a Fight
These were the end times. The world felt… sideways. The government was in shambles. A plague that turned people into fine, yellow dust had apparently appeared, sweeping the continent from east to west. Yet, there was nothing I could do. Right in front of me, I had my own foes to contend with on the roof of Holos Lucidium.
On my right was a shapeless mass, writhing and transforming, throwing vicious barbs my way. It never introduced itself, but I knew its name from within myself: the Beast.
On my left was a much more innocent figure, at least on the surface. He had slicked-back black hair, brown eyes simmering with self-assured pride, and an easy smirk. And to cap it off, he introduced himself promptly and with great gusto; he was Dread Lord Ardus.
I could attempt to flee, but what purpose would that serve? Even if I got away, which my gut told me was highly unlikely, I would be abandoning my guild to die to these two monsters. So no. I stood my ground here.
“Sanguia. Member of Holos Lucidium.” I balanced my stance between my two flanks, watching both. With a smirk from Ardus and a ripple from the Beast, the fight began.
I quickly discarded the idea of even fighting the rippling mass on my right. It had no blood I could control, and impacting it with my blade would make me stuck. But the Dread Lord was no slouch, either.
As I rushed at Ardus, a tingle in my spine screamed at me to duck. I tucked into a combat roll as a great blast of flame roared right where I used to be.
“Fiesty, aren’t you? Well, that’s what makes it fun,” the Dread Lord growled, licking his lips.
I had no time to respond as a raging, shimmering bull attempted to ram its gleaming horns directly through me. I sprung off the ground, landing just behind the writhing bull. There was no time to go on the offensive; it took all I could to stay alive.
“Stop struggling, Interloper,” the Beast snarled. “I have plans I have to attend to. Plans that do not involve you.”
I kept the undulating mass between myself and my second opponent. My only hope was to promote crossfire. The dagger I held in my right hand felt woefully inadequate for this task.
“You heard the fella. I’ll end this, here and now.” Ardus thrust his hand straight up into the air as if grasping something far above him.
“Dread Lord. May I take this as a sign of betrayal?” The Beast rumbled, a dangerous edge to its voice.
“Nah, I never said I was working with you. You’re too… icky for my tastes.” The Dread Lord tapped his chin thoughtfully. “It’s a good thing you’ll be obliterated in an instant. Ta ta!”
I looked up with a heavy heart, knowing how outclassed I was. There was barely time to say goodbye before a massive ball of light enveloped me in its all-consuming shine. The last thing I managed to think was:
That was an utterly unfair fight.
“Well, the protagonist of our SerSun just died. What now?” Lothli looked at the cauldron in dismay.
“Hey, it’s not so bad! Scarlet is still alive, right?” Maishul dug around in the cauldron before pulling out yet another distended scene. “Look! Here she is!”
“What… is that?” Lothli looked at the scene with equal parts awe and disgust.
“Oh! Well, I really liked Fye’s SerSun, so I made my own! Isn’t it great?”
“Maishul, I think you missed the entire point of his SerSun. Where’s the inter-character drama? Where’s the mystery? Where’s the actual HISTORY?” Lothli poked the off-kilter scene with distaste. “This version of the story is just <Murder.>.”
“Well too bad, dear ‘ol sis! Here! We! Go!”
Scene Seven: Murder Without the History
Hi, I’m Benedict Lushon, Ben for short. Somehow, I think I just unlocked the secret to teleportation. I stand in the middle of the mansion’s dining room, feeling my stomach turn violently. One moment, I was chained in front of a cackling Kyle, and the next thing I know, we’re back in this blasted room. I crane my head, checking who else is here.
Teddy, check. His monocle and top hat are still crooked as he looks around the room, just as confused as I.
Cornell, check. Unfortunately, he still seems to be out cold.
Kyle, check. Wait—
I stride up to Kyle and grab onto his lapels. “What exactly have you done?” I say, shaking him back and forth.
Unfortunately, he seems even more confused by the current events than I am, judging by the bulging eyes and frothing at the mouth.
“W-What exactly happened here!? We were just— and then—” my former coworker manages to sputter out before a booming feminine voice rings out from the walls.
“Heya! What’s up, characters! It’s me, ya girl Maishul, back at it again with another fun murdery twist!” The cheery voice that booms out from the walls contrasts with all the horrors we’ve seen thus far. Also, who talks like this? Did we get kidnapped by one of those Instagram influencers? Ugh, I hate those kinds of people.
“Who are you?! What have you done?!” Kyle screams, his voice cracking. “I have waited YEARS to take my revenge on these fools, and you—”
“Oh. You.” The voice seems displeased at the interruption. “Sorry, I didn’t think your Tuffy plotline was interesting, so I retconned it!”
Now, that was the mark of a bad writer. As a future multi-bestselling author, I know that one of the most sinful things a writer can do is randomly retcon the story. I’m confident this random influencer girl will never go anywhere in her writing career.
“YOU! We were known as the Tufforo family, and we—” Kyle rages before being cut off by the voice again.
“Sorry, don’t care.” A piece of duct tape manifests itself directly onto Kyle’s mouth. I would find it funny if it didn’t demonstrate how supernatural this influencer’s power seems.
“Anyways! Here’s the rules. I’m not really good at that being cryptic thing, so it’ll be easy!” the voice announces with glee. “Here’s my super special sparkly OC, do not steal, known as Scarlet, Scourge of the Americas. She’ll try and chase you down! She wins when you’re all dead. You all win when, I don’t know, she dies of old age or something. You can try to kill her; it won’t work!”
‘Super special sparkly OC, do not steal?’ So, what, did I find myself in some hellish parody of Earth? That must be it. This must all be a very terrible dream. I sincerely hope that none of my readers would ever consider making fanfiction like this of my stories.
“By jove, those rules seem downright unfair!” Teddy finally seems to have found his voice. “Please, good madam, could you let us go? We have already suffered at the hands of that accursed man—”
“Lalala, can’t hear you!” the girl’s voice sang out. “Here she comes! Give it up for… Scarlet!”
A hidden panel drops a… rather regular-looking young woman onto the floor. Why, if I were in charge, I would have ensured that my villain would have a spectacular appearance. Someone as fascinating and spellbinding as Jack the Ripper—
Scarlet dashes at Kyle and [REDACTED]
… … Technical Difficulties
“MAISHUL! What the hell was that?! Is that how you talk when I’m not around? And what the hell was that last section?” Lothli furiously slapped the tortured scene back into the accursed project bubbling menacingly below.
“Well, Scarlet’s kinda messy, so I tried to cover it up,” Maishul pouted. “Also, I was just trying to liven up the scene a bit! Kyle’s so BORING. He speaks in RIDDLES and they make my brain HURT.”
“That’s because you don’t have a single brain cell in that head of yours,” Lothli huffed. “Don’t make such sweeping changes to people’s stories!”
“Well… dear sis, could I trouble you for a favor, since I’m so head empty ‘n all?” Maishul smiled her widest, most brilliant smile.
“What.” The other twin glared back, unimpressed.
“Well, if you don’t want the two of us to get banned, can you help me separate these stories back out? Please?” With a fluttering of her eyelashes and a winsome wink, this would undoubtedly win her sister to her side—
“Deal with it yourself. I’m going to hand out apologies.” Lothli had no sympathy for her twin’s plight.
“Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” Maishul cried. For now, she was burdened with her least favorite task; actual work.
And thus, this tale comes to a close. Nevertheless, its name will ring true throughout the land as the legendary fable known only as “In the Shadow of Machines, Scarlet, and the In Between Geas and the Beginning of the Demon Murder History: Dissonance, also How Did We Get Here?”
Thank you very much for your time. And apologies for my sister.
Lothli, signing off.
Credits: Maishul, Lothli, FTF!Olivia, and the Deus Ex Machina, from u/Lothli’s FTF Serial, Minerva and the plague, from u/PolarisStorm’s Art, Demoness Virtua, Sparky, and Dread Lord Ardus from u/mattswritingaccount’s Iklemli, Lena, and Veska from u/MeganBessel’s Pride and Sloth from u/Helicopterdrifter’s Clear and Alex from u/Carrieka23’s Talix, Sanguia, and Scarlet from u/Lothli’s Olivia, Barlow, and the Beast from u/Not_theScrumPolice’s Wan, Bea, and Ophelia from u/ZachtheLitchKing’s Ben, Theodore, Cornell, and Kyle from u/FyeNite’s The Entirety of the United States Arsenal of Nuclear Weaponry from the United States.
Special thanks to u/OldBayJ, which this fantastic feature would be impossible without.

1: Yu from the boxer would be at least around kentas level, sue to his time perception, buff muscles, and training (although there might need to be a bit of power scaling since Lookism people constantly defy gravity)
2: the 1a ark is going to delve back into the ideas of true Lookism. I mean come one, we have a plastic surgeon. I don’t know how it’s going to go but it should definitely go the Lookist route
3: doo is an asshole, an abomination, and completely forgettable. He is not our lord, he is an imposter
4: Vin Jin doesn’t neg, he can beat Hytoko, but it stops soon after that. Does no one remember that he could barely stand against sinu with three other people helping him?!?!?!?!
5: Cap guy>yooseung. I don’t need to elaborate. It’s true
6: Eli’s character is flawed, but I understand and like his arc. He went from a broken character to finding his family again, but then workers came and threatens him, so he had to join them. His core philosophy is still there, just that he’s on the wrong path
7: Kenta is kinda strong, but comparing him to anyone else is just sad since there are people who would end the world
8: htf characters are around 3a executive level. The power scaling in htf isn’t that great, making a more realistic story, but in the end, they have the skills to match up with most of the Lookism tier list
9: Tom Lee isn’t the weakest of the 0 gen
10: Tom Lee beats gun and goo, but James can go against one (doesn’t matter Gun or goo) and can still mid-high diff

Why does my neck or traps hurt when I jerk? A few weeks ago, my neck hurts after a lifting session. I wasn’t 100% sure if it was my jerk or I didn’t sleep well. I didn’t lift exactly very heavy, only 70-80%.
But I rested for 1.5 weeks and assuming I might have some weakness in my jerk and I focus on working on my scaps, serratus, Lats and some shoulders accessories.
Today’s session proved that there is some issue with my jerk or some muscle imbalances. I am just going up to 75%, and my neck felt strained.
What can I focus on working to build strong jerk base?

Newly diagnosed and not sure if this will even make sense, but I recently found a low-impact Pilates video specifically geared towards those with fibromyalgia. I tried it out and actually really enjoyed it. I had only done Pilates one other time years ago and hated it, so I was excited that I found something I enjoyed and that also didn’t cause me discomfort. I didn’t feel any pain or discomfort at all while doing it.
I did it four days in a row, my last time being Tuesday. I stopped because I noticed at night when I’m relaxing on the couch I’ve started getting this weird sensation in my neck, almost like a pulsing or a slight vibration. There’s no pain at all and the only time it happens is when I’m on the couch relaxing. It’s driving me nuts, and putting me into a tailspin with my health anxiety. But now that I’m actually trying to figure it out, I’m realizing that I feel it when I am moving my arms/hands (like if I’m on my phone or something) and have started to feel that same vibration type feeling in my arms and a little bit in my back as well. Almost like really tiny internal tremors. There is no visible shaking on in my arms at all. I also appear to be fine during the day when I’m busy working and when I’m laying in bed at night. It literally only happens when sitting on the couch.
The only way I can think to describe it is how sometimes after a workout you get that semi-shaky feeling from muscle fatigue. Except I didn’t have it right after doing these Pilates exercises, I only started to notice it after the fourth day. Now after 3 days of not doing it, it seems like it might be easing up in my neck a bit at least.
Just curious if anyone experiences this as well, continuing for several days after actually exercising. I’ve also thought maybe it could be some kind of strain of some sort but I have no consistent pain, just my typical fibro pain that is currently more focused in my legs than anywhere else.
I will also mention that this is the first kind of exercise that I have done in quite a while, aside from my daily walks, because I’ve really struggled to find something that my body could actually handle. So I’m sure my muscles are like “wtf are you doing?” But I just think it’s strange that it’s still happening several days later.

Meatball grunted under the strain, and was able to finish the squat. He set the bar in the rack and sagged, breathing hard and stretching his legs.
It was the last rep of the last set. Of squats, anyway. He was a devotee of Gahree and Frekhee, the great war-wargs who ripped and tore. They had tested him, and he had sins to atone for. More sins.
More family dead, more family hurt, and it was his fault again.
He dropped into an unweighted squat and stayed there, stretching. He'd gotten complacent.
He used the surrounding exercise equipment to lever himself back up to standing. Today was leg day, and leg day was a fine way to atone.
Once his legs felt steady enough he walked over to the stationary bikes and climbed onto one, strapping his feet into the pedals so he could pull the pedals up as well as push them down. He had sinned by letting himself become weaker than he should have been. Slower than he should have been. His cardio was sinful too. Gahree and Frekhee didn't demand perfection, just excellence. They would rip and tear everyone who was devoted to them eventually, but they tended to eat the weak faster. The lazy, the complacent, the comfortable.
The sinful.
Gratorf, dead. Skeethrow, dead.
Charge, Keelath, Tippery, Kuutho the skink, his chief Rosco, his blood brother Wiggles, wounded.
He pedaled at a good pace, and increased the resistance. He'd been slow. He couldn't have saved them all, he knew that. But he could have, should have, been better.
He grinned when Rosco came into the gym. Rosco seemed to feel the need to atone too, he had made a deal with the Sskritith Cartel and they were the ones who had attacked. Who'd hurt his pack. He didn't blame his chief though, scum was scum and the Sskritith had at least seemed merely be criminal dirtbags who honored their profitable business agreements.
Rosco had been shot through the right forearm. Both the bones had been broken, the jagged ends sticking out of what had nearly been a stump halfway down from the elbow, but the chief had healed freakishly fast. Humans seemed to do that, for some reason. Meatball had heard that their homeworld, Soil, was a hostile deathworld where evolution ruthlessly culled the weak. The few humans Meatball had met gave that rumor credence.
Rosco was technically healed. The bone and soft tissue regrown and the physical therapy concluded, but he kept working on his forearm strength. Well, he worked everything in the gym like a demon, but he was extra intensive with his forearms. Meatball had tried to match his routine, but struggled. Mostly because climbing and tool using had played a larger part in human evolution than in wulfen evolution, and human hands (and forearms) were just more capable as a result. Meatball had asked his chief once in the mess hall why he was so focused on forearm and grip strength. By way of answer Rosco had picked up the large, heavy femur from the roast Meatball had eaten, and snapped it in half like a pencil before sucking the marrow from each half and setting them back on Meatball's plate. Meatball understood. The concept was too complex and primitive for words. Rosco might not be a devotee of Gahree and Frekhee, the great war-wargs who ripped and tore (or he might be, and not know it), but they certainly wouldn't be able rend him easily.
Meatball pedaled until he couldn't pedal any more and sat on the bike until he could walk, then shuffled over to the cold water baths. He splashed in as his abused legs gave way and turned what should have been a slow submersion into a graceless and flailing dunking, culminating in him struggling to breathe from the shocking cold. The near-frozen water would help draw out the immense buildup of lactic acid from his leg muscles into his core, reducing the incredible soreness he'd need to stretch out tomorrow.
He looked over to see if Rosco was done with own workout and was startled to see that his chief had slipped into the bath next to his. Meatball was "primitive" in his level of appreciation for individual prowess in a chief, but Rosco's ability to move in utter silence and in the brief moments your vision was occupied elsewhere had always unnerved him. It was godsdammed unnatural almost.
"We're absorbing what's left of the Spear Security Group," he told Meatball without preamble. "On paper, we're buying them out. In practice, we're adding them to the payroll and promising a sign-on bonus once we get paid for another op. If you haven't heard, Seetriq died when they got hit. His number two, a human by the name of Alan Fredericks, is almost healed up. We negotiated with him. We're getting their ship too, it's a convoluted mess of accounting fuckery where we end up owing ourselves money because the Spear Group is financing us via a payment plan, but we own the Spear Group, so we have to pay ourselves, but that's irrelevant. They're joining us, and it's going to at least double our numbers. Unless a bunch of them quit."
"Point is," he continued, "we're going to have to have some real organization now. There's going to be too many of us, and too many new people, to run ad hoc teams thrown together based on the task at hand any more. Maybe once everyone gets settled in and we all get to know everyone, but even then we still need some organization. Me, Rex, and Alan talked it over and we want you in charge of our heavy weapons group. We might need to attach one of your people to a specific team, but other than that you'll have default tactical command of heavy weapons. You'll be under me, Rex, and Alan. Wiggles will be your second in command, unless either of you object, which you are welcome to do. You'll also be responsible for training, maintenance, upkeep, and consumables inventory for things like ammo and rails."
"You got it, boss." Meatball beamed inside. This wasn't just an honor, it was proof that his chief had faith in him despite his sins!
Rosco laughed. "No, take a few days and think about it. It's a lot to take on, if you have thoughts or questions I want to hear them. And if you decide you don't want to do it, it's zero problem. None."
Meatball was going to do it. By the gods, how could he not!? He was apprehensive about the managerial aspect, but it was another path to atonement.
"Now, another thing..."
Meatball's heart sank. He would acknowledge the enumeration of his failures, and bear the shame as he should.
"We've noticed your physical training, and the nutritional changes and discipline, and the amount of study you've put into each. I'd say it's impressive, but that's too much of an understatement. It's damn inspirational. Everyone, even if they're still just doing therapy, is following your example. I'm trying my hardest just to keep up, and you've got me beat. We, me and Rex, think you'd be good in the role of a company fitness officer. You obviously know how to do the research required and know how to apply it, you'd just need to do the same for other species and probably tailor plans for a few individuals. We're going to need physical standards and ways to test them too. If you only want to fill one role but not the other, that's fine. If you want to do both, that's fine. If you want to do neither, that's fine too. But you've put in the time and you've proven yourself capable. We're growing enough that there's room to advance, and you've earned the chance to move up if you want to."
Meatball was overwhelmed. Nobody who'd done what he'd done, whose dreams were so tortured by his actions, was offered the chance to be a subchief. The honor was a great weight, and it demanded great strength. He had sins to atone for.
"But we aren't done planetside. Army Group Commander Leegriit was working with the Sskritith Cartel after the Grekthitch compound op and tried to pull off a coup against the regional government. They captured him, so there's nothing we can do to him. But the remnants of his loyal forces have joined the Sskritith, and they're doing a good job of taking control of the region. Once everyone is healed up and trained up, we're getting back down there. We have work to do."

Respect The Chief

You're home now. We could finally make an officer of you. You'd have Admiral without much of an argument from anyone.
No offense, sir, but "The Admiral" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 is the most important figure of the human race in the mid-26th century. Abducted at the age of six by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), he was conscripted into the SPARTAN-II program. The initiative was originally designed to crush human rebellion against the Unified Earth Government as the human Insurrection movement neared its tipping point. John endured harsh physical and mental training, survived the physical augmentations required by the program, and was later matched with state-of-the-art Mjolnir battle armor.
Throughout his training and early career, John emerged as a clear leader among the Spartans and was set to lead a successful UNSC campaign to stop a brewing human civil war. Though through circumstance, he became the sole savior of the human race several times over. First, in the face of an alien hegemony called the Covenant--an advanced alien empire bent on the complete destruction of humanity. Later, against an eldritch parasite known as the Flood which toppled both the Ancient Human and Forerunner empires of the past. Most recently, John defended humanity against the efforts of an ancient Forerunner general called the Didact, who returned to take his revenge against humanity for wars fought a hundred millennia in the past.
Notes

• Feats are shown in chronological order in-universe
• Feats showing relevant scaling or context will be indented
• Hover over a feat to see the source.

Height: 6'10" // 7'2" (In armor)
Weight: 130 kg // 451.3 kg (In armor)

General Info (Augmentations / Mjolnir Armor)

Pre-Augmentation / Training
Spartans were heavily trained almost daily since they were kidnapped at the age of 6, leading them to become physically and mentally prime by the young age of 14 even before receiving their augmentations.

Dr. Halsey marveled at what a spectacular physical specimen he had grown into. Fourteen years old and he had the body of an eighteen-year-old Olympic athlete, and a mind the equal of any Naval Academy honors graduate.

Description of an unaugmented 14 year old John; The Fall of Reach Ch 6

Augmentations
Codenamed Project: ASTER, the Spartan candidates were augmented to drastically increase their physiology and physical capabilities. Their bones were laced with powerful material to make them 'virtually unbreakable', their muscle tissue density was increased and lactase recovery time was decreased, they were given hormones to boost skeletal and muscle growth, increased eyesight, and had their nerves altered to drastically increase reaction time.

• At the age of 14, Spartans could sprint at bursts of 55 kph (~34 mph) and had estimated reaction times of 20 milliseconds, though they would likely be significantly higher in combat due to adrenaline. They could lift three times their body weight and they have night vision.

MJOLNIR Armor / Stat boosts

The feats in this RT will sorted by which armor John is wearing, as each iteration of Mjolnir armor increases his abilities further.
Unarmored - These feats occur after John receives his augmentation, but without any Mjolnir armor. They also all happen to occur when he is 14 years old and still recovering from his augmentations.
MJOLNIR Mark IV - The Mk IV was the first iteration of armor given to John and the rest of Spartan II's at the age of 15.

• General description, it doubles it's wearers strength and increases reaction times by a factor of five.
  • Their reaction times were previously given to be a low end of 20 milliseconds, meaning with Mk IV it is at a low end of 5 milliseconds.
• The suit is so reactive and powerful that normal humans would be torn apart trying to use it.
• The suit can operate in vacuum by recycling air for 90 minutes. It is also shielded against radiation and EMP.
• The armor possesses motion sensors and thermal imaging to detect enemy troops.
• The armor is almost immediately given additional prototype upgrades, such as thrusters, surveillance drones, wrist-blades and active camouflage.
  • The active camo allows Spartans to walk right in the middle of a group of soldiers without them noticing.

Neural interface / Onboard Computer
Mjolnir armor is linked to Spartans with a neural interface, which means they simply have to think and the armor would perform an action. Combined with the onboard computer, it allows Spartans to do things such as place Waypoint markers, or targets on their HUDs with a thought.

• An example of its use during a fight, John can move his limbs with a thought to overwhelm attackers.
• The suit 'knows what John is thinking before he does', it's able to control the suit functions and John can control the suits thrusters with his thoughts.
• The onboard computer can predict where artillery shots would land during an artillery barrage, and guide them to safer locations.
• Spartans can share targeting data.
• Mjolnir's onboard computer can place HUD markers at designated targets.
• The onboard computer can calculate probable landing zones for enemy dropships.
• Mjolnir predicting the optimal time to dodge plasma cannon fire from Banshees.

MJOLNIR Mark V - Deployed almost two and a half decades after the previous iteration of MJOLNIR, the Mk V now possessed recharging energy shields but retained the same double strength multiplier as the Mk IV.

• General description, it includes two major improvements being the addition of rechargeable energy shields and the ability to house an AI (See previous Cortana section).
• The suit has sound receivers that can hear a whisper a hundred meters away.
• Energy shields begin regenerating 5 seconds after last being hit and take 4 seconds to fully recharge from a total drain (Gameplay).

Cortana - Cortana is the AI that was paired with Master Chief for Operation: REDFLAG, she is present for the feats that occur while John is wearing MJOLNIR Mk V and most while wearing Mk VI.

• Cortana provides tactical and strategic information to John in the field, is able to infiltrate computer and communication systems and greatly improves John's reaction time.

Hacking

• Cortana was loaded with ONI's best insurgency/hacking software in preparation for Operation: RED FLAG.
• While put to work checking the ssytems of a UNSC warship, Cortana runs through ONIs computesecurity systems on the planet Reach for fun, easily overwhelming other ONI AIs.
• She hacks a Covenant carrier, first from the outside disabling it's weapons and communications systems for a short while, allowing her squad to board it. Then when aboard the ship she develops a path for her ground team, gives false tracking info to the Covenant hunter-killer teams and ultimately vents the ships atmosphere killing most of the thousands of Covenant aboard.
  • Outside of Cortana, the Covenant were generally far above the UNSC in terms of network security, with Dr. Halsey comparing the Covenants understanding of human systems within a few weeks of first contact to the UNSCs understanding of the Covenants after several decades.

MJOLNIR Mark VI - Due to the UNSCs rapid advances in technology, the Mk VI was deployed less than two months after the Mk V rendering it obsolete, containing major improvements in both shielding and stat multipliers.

• The Mk VI increases the wearers strength by a factor of 5, making them 2.5x stronger than in previous Suits. The Suit also has self contained biofoam injectors, pumping Spartans full of the UNSCs miracle drug in case they are ever injured.
  • Biofoam stabilizes most wounds and allows limited combat ability even in the event of limb loss.
  • A Spartan suffering from a gruesome headshot has his wound filled with biofoam and is back in combat within a relatively short time.
• The Mk VI's energy shields are much more powerful and recharge a lot faster.
• Energy shields begin regenerating 4.25 seconds after last being hit, and take 1.75 seconds to fully recharge from a total drain (Gameplay).

MJOLNIR GEN 2 - The second generation of MJOLNIR armor developed after the Human-Covenant war ended. Every aspect of the armor has been improved upon and thrusters are now built into each set of armor, drastically increasing maneuverability.

• Every suit now comes with built in thrusters.
  • Spartans can use their thrusters to effectively fly.
• The armor expects when combat is coming and optimizes it's systems automatically.
• GEN 2 armor has 360 degree vision that sees far into the EM spectrum.
• Magnet Boots - Allows Spartans to fight while walking vertically down the side of a skyscraper sized ship.
• The armor has self repair systems in case the shielding and suit is ever pierced.

Skill

Unarmored

• At the age of 14, John kills/cripples four ODSTs easily. - literature version
• John alongside three other Spartans capture a bunker from guards wearing the Mjolnir Mark I armor, which would have taken 2 to 3 platoons of Marines to capture. - Mjolnir Mark I info/picture.
• Spartans have been trained to fight in zero gravity.
• Spartan IV candidates are trained in several martial arts such as Aikido, Jiu-Jitsu and Krav Maga. Presumably the Spartan IIs are heavily trained with them.

Mk IV

• At the age of 15, John alongside Kelly, Fred and Linda wiped an army of well over 100 Covenant, including several Elite Ultras, Zealots and a Field Marshall.
• John and his Spartans are trained to identify high value targets based off subtle visual cues, making it easy to snipe enemy commanders.
• While defending a planet over the course of a few days, John alongside the rest of Blue team destroyed over 100 Wraith tanks.
• Speedruns through a Covenant carrier alongside Fred and Kelly.
• Both Dr. Halsey and Cortana conclude John is overall the best Spartan.
• He has been awarded every major service medal except the Prisoner of War Medallion.

Mk V

• During Johns testing for the Mk V armor, he faces off against a fighter jet that is so fast it regularly travels in and out of visible range. John tanks it's 50mm autocannons, then deflects and tanks an anti tank missile, afterwards sprinting away at 66 mph though he tears his Achilles tendon doing so.
• While fighting a particularly massive (10 ft+ tall) Sangheilli in low gravity, John uses his skill to beat the Elite even though they were evenly matched in strength.

Mk VI

• John escapes deadly situations so often that he almost believes that death is optional for him.
• He's confident he can wipe out an entire Covenant unit of 50 infantry and 4 Wraith tanks without any heavy weapons, but he chooses to save a group of soldiers instead.
• Merks 40+ Brutes by himself.
• Each Spartan II has 'the equivalent combat power of an entire Sector Fleet'.
• John is proficient in all aspects of infantry tactics, as well as low gravity combat. He is able to effectively lead detachments the size of battalions, and UNSC personnel of all ranks generally defer to his leadership.
  • John was offered to be made an Admiral by the UNSCs Fleet Admiral and head of their Security Council, but he refused.

GEN 2

• Alongside Blue team, John fights through a massive army of Prometheans.
• Spartans are able to punch out the Warden Eternal while evading his sword swings.

Strength

Unarmored

• During John's first time working out while recovering from receiving his augmentations, he notes that 1 G of gravity feels too light and 2 G's feels more normal.
• 14 year old John breaks the bones of ODST's and disfigures them with his strikes.
• At 14 years old, Spartans could not train against normal humans anymore due to repeatedly killing them by accident, so their trainers had to be placed in Mjolnir Mark I armor.
• At the age of 14, John kicks a man wearing a MJOLNIR Mark I exoskeleton eight meters away.
  • Another child Spartan could dent the heavy metal plates of the armor with his punches, the armor is impervious to light weapons.
• At the age of 14, John wrenches and rips a 30 millimeter minigun off a MJOLNIR Mark I exoskeleton with his bare hands.
• Shortly after receiving their augmentations, Spartans could lift three times their body weight.

Mk IV

• The Mk IV doubles it's wearers strength.
• During Johns first test of MJOLNIR he could shatter concrete targets with a punch
• John lifts a Spec Ops Elite overhead and folds him on his own energy sword.
• 15 year old John lifts and throws a cargo sled that was large enough to haul an entire platoon alongside a couple of pieces of artillery, and long enough to hold two Spartans lying end-to-end.
• John buckles the leg of a Special-Forces/Bloodstar Elite sideways with a stomp.
• John beats the arm of a Silent Shadow Elite until it's wrist is snapped sideways.
• Effortlessly punches through a weapons locker that was undamaged by a man bashing it with a large gas canister.
• John can effectively wield 110 kg Gauss cannons and use them for hit and run attacks against a column of 50 Covenant tanks.
• At the age of 16, John is able to withstand 12 metric tons of force on his legs.
• While 16 years old, John gets pinned down by an alien spider-like vehicle that was larger than a Warthog but it doesn't crush him, he is able to partially lift it. He also implies he has pushed Warthogs off of him before.
• Rips a steel and bullet-proof glass security door off of its steel reinforcing on a wall.
• An Insurrectionist general believes John can rip him in half.
• Crushes a Jackal's skull with a kick.
• John, alongside three other Spartans (one of whom was injured and missing an arm) push a 3x3x6 meter quartz monolith, an object that would weigh over 125 metric tons.
• John travels while carrying a half-ton Spartan over his shoulder.
• The Franchise Development Director of Halo, Frank O'Connor, states that Spartans can flip and bench press tanks, which correlates with their in game ability to flip tanks.
  • Halo CE's manual states that flipping vehicles is accomplished by his strength.
  • While flipping tanks is a high end / outlier for Spartans wearing earlier armor, GEN 2 wearing Spartans have been shown flipping tanks with only the shock wave of their strikes.

Mk V

• The Mk V possesses the same 2x strength multiplier as the Mk IV, so he should be able to replicate these feats in the previous Mk IV section.
• Runs through a field of razor wire, snapping them effortlessly.
• While specifically holding back to not kill them, John cripples many ODST's who are trying to kill him. Notably John breaks alot of bones, pulls a gun that is being held by an ODST so hard his shoulder dislocates, and bends the barrel of an assault rifle rendering it useless.
• A trio of Grunts landing on him and attempting to take off his armor is laughable to him.
• Caves in the skull of a Grunt with a pistol-whip.
• A melee attack breaks a Jackals energy shield gauntlet and launches him off of a cliff.
• Flips a Warthog.
• Flips a Warthog again but this time from grabbing it by the bumpers.
• Cracks the spines of a pair of elites with his strikes.
• Punches through a human skull inside a Flood Proto-Gravemind
• Crushes the skull of an elite with a punch and again reiterates he is strong enough to flip Warthogs.
• Crushes the skull of a Grunt with the butt of his assault rifle.
• Spartans are able to punch though tank armor.
  • Wraith armor is completely impervious to .50 caliber AA rounds.
  • Wraiths are durable enough to tank shots from their own mortars, which vaporize titanium battle plate, concrete and flesh within a twenty meter radius.
  • Spartans wearing Mk IV are shown in official artwork to be able to rip open tanks and toss armored Brutes (>1 metric ton) away with one arm.
  • A random Spartan wearing Mk V is able to destroy Covenant tanks in H2H, and several Spartans hold off a Covenant army of 30000.

Mk VI

• The Mk VI increases the wearers strength by a factor of 5, making them 2.5x stronger than in the previous Mk IV and Mk V Suits.
• Punches through the head of a Jackal.
• Tosses a Brute behind him.
  • Armored Brutes weigh over a metric ton.
• John can punch through UNSC ship metal.
• Tanks a melee attack from a Promethean Knight, then punches it off of him.
• John can rip off the arms of Promethean Knights and impale them with it.
  • Promethean Knights are strong enough to toss around Warthogs which weigh 3 metric tons.
• John stabs into the hull of a Lich (Covenant ultra heavy siege platform) while free falling with no leverage.
• John can overcome an Elites energy shielding with a single punch.
• Pushes and kicks a missile hammer several meters. (A 2x3x1.5m block of Titanium which is roughly the dimensions of the missile hammer would weigh over 40 metric tons.)

GEN 2

• Lifting Warthogs (3 metric tons), bending steel and shattering concrete is a baseline feat for all Spartans, not indicative of their limits.
• John shatters a Battle Rifle by hitting Spartan Locke with it.
• Overpowers Spartan Locke.
  • Locke is strong enough to flip over a 42.3 tonne tank with the shock-wave of his attack, effortlessly fly and run through walls as well as tackle aircraft out of the air, and boost through the bulk of a massive stone statue.
• Spartans can snap the necks of Elites.
• Spartans can instantly kill an Elite with a two-handed strike.
• Spartans can rip through Forerunner Armigers.
  • Forerunner Armigers are strong enough to throw humans dozens of meters away.
• Spartans can kill a Forerunner Armiger with a stomp.
• Spartans can punch out the legs of the Warden Eternal.

Durability

Mk IV

• The Mk IV doesn't possess energy shields, it relies entirely on the armor plating for protection.
• The armor has a refractive coating to help disperse incoming energy attacks.
• During Johns first test of MJOLNIR, bullets were harmlessly deflecting off his armor.
• The Mk IV can tank numerous Covenant Carbine shots, though they come close to penetrating the armor. Covenant Carbines fire 8x60mm projectiles at hypersonic (mach 5+) velocities making them far more powerful than almost any modern small arms.
• A .50 caliber depleted uranium round fired from an AA gun glances off John's armor.
  • [Limit] A young Kelly states that sustained fire from that weapon would penetrate the Mk IV.
• Tanks fire from hundreds of skilled marksmen with their rounds only 'dinging' his armor.
• Tanks plasma fire from a Covenant Ghost.
  • Ghost plasma is stated to be 5000 degrees.
• Tanks the nearby detonation of 1 MT nuke (John was at ground zero and had only 30 seconds to sprint away before it detonated).
  • Nukemap stats - Because the event was on a moon with minimal atmosphere and gravity, the heat and radiation figures are much more important.
• Tanks Covenant Needle and Spike rounds that can separate an ODST into pieces.
  • In the same novel it's stated that ODST's wear bullet proof armor that is effective at tanking armor piercing rounds, and someone wearing that armor harmlessly tanks small arms fire from several shooters.
• Tanks several Needle Rifle shots, with the needles shattering off his armor.
• Shrugs off being directly hit by a Hunters 2 ton shield.
• Spartans can tank anything short of a direct hit by a Wraiths plasma mortar, which vaporize everything within a 20 meter radius.
• Tanks Plasma Rifle fire from a hundred Drones who were chasing after him.
• Harmlessly tanks a nearby grenade detonation that spatters his faceplate with shrapnel.
• Spartans in Mark IV have similar durability's to light tanks.
• Covenant Needler shots bounce off his armor.

Mk V

• The Mk V is the first armor to possess energy shields, with each further iteration of armor gaining much more durable energy shields.
• A three round burst from an MA5B assault rifle drops his energy shields a 'hairbreadth'.
• Tanks shots from 30mm chainguns without even noticing he was being hit and without his energy shields breaking.
• Tanks 50mm autocannon fire from a jet without his energy shields breaking.
• Tanks the detonation of a nearby Scorpion missile designed to take out tanks. He was launched six meters and the missile itself created a two meter deep crater, though his energy shields did break.
• Covenant Needler shots bounce off his energy shields.
• Tanks a lifeboat crash that ripped open the craft and mangled everyone else aboard.
• Tanks a shot from a Hunters fuel rod cannon without his energy shields breaking and can tank direct hits even when his shields are low on charge.
• Tanks a melee hit from a Hunter while his shields are already low from tanking a fuel rod shot.
• Tanks an explosion from crashing a Banshee into a wall without any injuries.

Mk VI

• Tanks crashing into the Titanium hull of a warship at an extremely high velocity.
• Unharmed by a nearby Wraith's plasma shot which killed three other soldiers who were further away from it than him.
• Unfazed by a massive explosion.
• Tanks plasma fire from 6 Hunters.
• Tanks the detonation of a point blank plasma grenade that vaporizes a Brute Chieftain and scorches close to a dozen nearby Grunts.
• [Tanks a fall from orbit onto the Earth, and while his armor locks up automatically due to the impact, John himself is uninjured.]( "Halo 3")
  • Official artwork shows John falling from orbit.
• John tanks the laser blasts of 343 Guilty Spark, a Forerunner Monitor.
  • Another Spartan wearing slightly worse armor tanks more Forerunner monitor attacks, which are powerful enough to vaporize Hunters who weigh 5 metric tons and are covered in starship armor.
• Tanks being hit by a Warthog at very high speeds.
• Tanks a fall from orbit onto the planet Requiem completely unharmed, crashing into a lot of debris along the way.
• Tanks a melee attack from a Promethean Knight and punches it off of him afterwards.
  • Promethean Knights are strong enough to knock around Warthogs which weigh 3 metric tons.
• Unharmed after being thrown into a wall extremely hard by the Didact.
• Tanks a slipspace rupture crash that creates a massive crater from his impact (Ghost for scale).
• John had his evolution accelerated by the Forerunner known as the Librarian, giving him an immunity to the Composer which digitizes living creatures.

GEN 2

• Survives getting his head crushed by the Didact, then being thrown into Fred extremely hard.
• Tanks an extremely deep fall without any problem.

Speed

Unarmored

• John notes how objects appear to move in slow motion to him shortly after receiving his augmentations
• Special Forces appear similarly slow to John.
• John could move in blurs and was able to dodge point blank stun rounds from a 30mm cannon.
  • Another child Spartan dodges the stun rounds in mid air.
  • 14 year old Kelly dodges fire from several shooters and is too fast for the self-targeting system to track.
• At the age of 14, Spartans could sprint at bursts of 55 kph (~34 mph) and had estimated reaction times of 20 milliseconds, though they would likely be significantly higher in combat due to adrenaline. This is shortly after they received their augmentations and is expected to increase as their bodies adjust to the changes, and likely as they age as well.
  • Spartans experiencing the world in slow motion due to adrenaline is something they refer to as 'Spartan time'.
• [Limit] John is unable to completely dodge close range fire from three shooters, getting hit by three bullets.

Mk IV

• The Mk IV increases it's wearers reaction times by a factor of five. Their reaction times were previously given to be a low end of 20 milliseconds, meaning with Mk IV it is at a low end of 5 milliseconds.
• The first thing John does in MJOLNIR is move his arm almost FTE to his already augmented self.
• During Johns first test of MJOLNIR at the age of 14 he was fast enough to dodge bullets.
• Evades fire from hundreds of skilled marksmen while he was in a low gravity environment that limited his maneuverability.
• Moves to block a Needle Rifle shot after it was fired.
• Moves out of sight of several people faster than they could see.
• Jogs at 25mph for 10 kilometers alongside other Spartans.

Mk V

• ODST's move in slow motion to John.
• Dodges bullets after they are fired by an ODST, and again but after they are fired by three ODST's and again.
• With the help of Cortana, John deflects a Scorpion anti-tank missile that was tracking him.
• Immediately after tanking an anti-tank missile, John sprints ~66 mph across a half-kilometer distance though he tears his Achilles tendon doing so.
• He's able to dodge the laser weapons of Forerunner Aggressor sentinels.

Mk VI

• Immediately sprints at a speed of ~45 mph from rest.
• Intercepts and blocks a Covenant Beam Rifle shot after it's fired from roughly 30 meters away, which is a weapon that fires at ~Mach 10.7.
  • Another Spartan wearing the same armor dodges beam rifle shots twice including once from point blank. It's also being fired by a specialized Spartan Sniper if there are any doubts on it's accuracy.
• Maneuvers in mid-air to dodge gunfire from numerous Brutes.

GEN 2

• Spartans can avoid a sword swing from the Warden Eternal without even looking.

Marksmanship

• While running, John scores several headshots on Jackal snipers with his pistol.
• While Sprinting at around 45 mph, Chief is able to land multiple head and neck shots on several Jackal snipers who are around 30 meters away from him, shooting fast enough that his Magnum shots bleed together.
• Spartans can routinely land accurate sniper shots over a kilometer away while they are on the move.

Mobility

• John could balance atop and leap across ten meter tall wooden poles 10 centimeters in diameter even though he weighs half a ton in his armor.
• Spartans can jump ~25+ meters vertically onto a moving vehicle using his thrusters. (Mammoths are 27.1 meters tall.)
• Without using thrusters, Spartans can leap into the air 'like crickets' and engage aircraft.
• Spartans can easily scale cliffs.
• Spartans in GEN 2 armor can use their thrusters to effectively fly.

Endurance

• At 15 years old John is capable of sprinting 7 kilometers while expecting to do combat immediately after.
• 16 year old Blue Team covers 19 kilometers in 33 minutes, stopping twice to do weapon checks, running on rough terrain with support equipment, and running with their weapons in their hands. Roughly 24 mph sustained over 19km, with no intended rest before initiating combat.

Other Spartan Feats / Additional Scaling

Weapons / Equipment

Enemies / Additional Scaling

The four Spartans that composed Blue Team covered his back, standing absolutely silent and immobile in their MJOLNIR combat armor. Someone had once commented that they looked like Greek war gods in the armor … but his Spartans were far more effective and ruthless than Homer’s gods had ever been.

We have learnt all the main problems of the platform. And as we managed to find out, in fact, 40 percent of the platform pursue only one goal: boost elo at any cost.
In general, I like the phrase "elo at any cost" the most. What can I say if I, a person who wants comprehensive development in the game, am already tired of fighting off the claims of haters, smurfs, new accounts, pack of abusers and other dishonest people who, like drug addicts, start the same record, "azaza, you are an eternal 2k prisoner, how people can watch you".
And I decided to try the easiest way that most of you use. I started to play with guys who fit my internal criteria.
Neither new accounts, nor 4k elo tryharders, but ordinary guys. I, at that time a 2200 elo player, was forced to hammer 3k elo players for a couple of weeks how to properly play elementary default on maps.
RachelR: "Listen, please. Here we have 2 absolutely similar situations. When -HexaR- went lurking, when he shouldn't have done it. But you're going anyway. How Zhenya should watch everything? He's helping you somehow. He's strafing there, trying to watch something, seeing you off, you know? Your lurking. It is initially wrong, it should not have been in principle. But he's trying to help you. Because of you, he is being killed, damn it. And the two of you are being buried on the ramp precisely because of you, because of this move. And then the next move: he's ALREADY in the gap, he's not on the ramp, he's already in the gap. You're sitting on 50 cent, watching smoke. You're just looking at the smoke. Not even strafing. 2 absolutely identical situations. Absolutely! You're playing CS like playing dm. Here you have launched dm, shooting. You're only looking through your scope. And you press the buttons, you kill someone. Only here you still have grenades. Well, a map is neither Mirage nor Dust2, some new textures. Well, run and shoot. Great. You kill someone there, you find frags, but what's the use, where is the impact of these frags? Well, it's just, I say, guys, it shouldn't be that you have 2200 elo noob, a YouTuber, telling you off like that."
I was looking for the rounds, I was watching the demos with them, and in the end, literally in 60 matches, I managed to up almost 500 elo without any strain.
And do you know what amused me the most in this situation? The system of elo came to us from chess. And if in chess elo shows the real level of the player, then CS is still a team game in which, in fact, little depends on you alone.
And those who play chess will understand me perfectly. Just imagine if a beginner in chess of 1500 elo was telling a world-class grandmaster how to walk a knight on a chessboard.
Yes, the example seems absurd, but in fact it is. I have 2200 elo on Faceit, and I have to, in fact, re-teach the guys to play CS, because apart from shooting, they, in fact, did not know anything. Not did not know, did not attach importance to it, probably.
There was an inflation of elo on Faceit like 2 years ago. Level 10 can be obtained by getting 2000 elo, but there are already as many as 15 thousand people in the European Faceit with 3k elo or more.
It's time to update the system of elo, or adjust it, because if we don't do this in the next year or two, then we will already start receiving players who have 10k elo.
I have already touched on how to recycle the elo system in the clauses above. Either add solo and team rating, or limit people's search for a map after reaching certain elo, or change the system of ruthless balance to +25 and -25 elo.
Something needs to be done. I would even say it is necessary. But instead, Faceit has been trying for many years to deal with, in quotes, toxicity in lobby chats or in matches itself with the help of some bot with artificial intelligence, at the same time absolutely not touching and not recycling those systems that need it most.
Elo at the moment equals prestige in real life. Like an expensive car in the modern world.
If you are a streamer with elo below 3000, then you are considered a noob and no one will watch you. But the problem is that no one ever looks at how this streamer got these numbers.
Personally I am ready to sit on low elo for at least a few more years, but I will be honest, first of all, with myself.
Modern elo does not reflect the skill of the player. Modern elo reflects only the approximate level of the player's shooting. And not always.
ATTITUDE TO THE CIS REGION
If speaking out everything that has accumulated, then you probably don't need to stop.
I'm probably going to take too much on myself now, and forgive me for that, but I want to speak on behalf of the entire CIS community.
And no, I will not speak for Russia. I will speak for Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, etc. I think that our region is treated absolutely badly.
We take the 71st season of the European FPL and look at how many esports players have played in this hub over the past month.
There were 85 of them. How many of them are CIS players? 18! I.e. every fifth player represents our region.
But FPL is probably too much. There are still quite celestial being there, so let's look at something closer, namely FPL-C.
People are already playing more actively here. 181 active players per month. 59 of them represent the CIS region, which is 32% of the active audience of the hub!
If this does not mean anything, then let's just take the last qualification in FPL-C, in which both trips to the coveted pro hub were taken by CIS players.
If even now Faceit considers us not worthy of more comfortable conditions for the game, then we take the rating from the European Face It.
19 out of 50, i.e. almost half of the players, represent the CIS region.
If that's not enough, then let's take the very top top.
We take the 20 best players in the world according to the HLTV rating for 2022 and are being surprised that as many as 7 people, i.e. 35%, are CIS guys.
Dear Faceit, do you know where the city Almaty is located?
It is one of the largest cities in Kazakhstan. Do you know what ping is there? Minimum 100! Almaty
Why for so many years you didn’t try to help one of the strongest and largest regions of your platform and still have not even tried to make servers, not in Moscow, in light of events in the world I understand that this is simply impossible, but at least in the same Kazakhstan or Georgia?
Why exactly should we put up with discomfort?
Look at your grid of servers in America, where a minimum number of players play, but it covers absolutely the entire area of the region. America servers
While your huge audience from Siberia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia and other countries is forced to play on servers that are very compactly located in small Europe? small Europe?
Yes, I do not dispute that you gave us the opportunity to play on Moscow servers in separate CIS hubs, but, again, for a fee. Of course, you don't care, and you won't even try to fix this really important problem, but I couldn't help but mention it.
For our region, CS is a ticket to life, just like conditional football in poor countries. It is our players who have the most exorbitant motivation to develop in this game.
And instead of expanding your audience at the expense of the most motivated people in CS, you don't care about us and think that it is okay. Yes, of course.
Although what am I talking about? If Valve has already united our region with Europe and removed a separate CIS qualification for the major, while 2 of the last 3 majors were won by CIS guys.
Therefore, in principle, I understand that Faceit will not help us.
If not Faceit, then what? Unfortunately, nothing. Even if ESEA with its huge finances could not beat Faceit in fair competition, then, to be honest, I do not believe that anyone else can.
Well, we won't play MM on 64 tickrate against cheaters in every game. Our Fastcup-type counterparts, unfortunately, are not even close to Faceit.
It just so happened that Faceit is a monopolist, and monopoly never leads to good.
The ultimate idea of monopoly is not to allow new platforms to develop and at the same time not to get into what is already in demand. Faceit will start moving only when it will have a powerful competitor.
And personally I see the only way out is the release of the source 2 in CS itself, and the addition of a completely new and redesigned matchmaking by the Valve themselves with huge investments in anti-cheat and with listening to the audience.
After all, as far as I know, Dota and Valorant were able to make an interesting and attractive matchmaking, then why they haven't done it in CS yet – I don't understand.
I hope someday we will see something like this happen in CS. But until then, it seems, we will have to put up with all the problems of Faceit, because anyway, no matter what, we love this asshole.
A participant of the challenge: « Well, in general, I'm glad that we have Faceit. Really. Because there are some possibilities. We have to thank the universe. I'm not joking. This is not sarcasm. If not Faceit, then what? Where else would you get the opportunity to try to achieve something in CS? It is clear that this platform can be improved. In short, yes, there were moments when I already thought I wanted to quit this platform when I was performing a solo challenge, but in the end I thought that I've been playing solo all my life and, in principle, I had to get used to it. And finally, I got used to it, calmed down, came to terms with it and now I'm playing solo Faceit not suffering. You have to love Faceit. Love what you do. And then Faceit will love you for sure.»
Why did I make this text? Well, it's probably a childhood dream to reach out to the head manager, who, perhaps, after watching this video, will decide to do good, if I can say so, from people - for people.
And I couldn't help but speak out, because a lot had accumulated on my soul. I am not indifferent to CS, and I am not indifferent to Faceit, because it is, in fact, the good platform.
But most of all I care about guys who, just like me, spend thousands of hours on CS for the sake of some of their goals.
And the only thing I want is for these thousands and tens of thousands of hours to be spent for them in a pleasant, honest and fair game, and not behind garages with a jar of yaga with boosters, smurfs and bullying for small elo.
All information from the source

hi all, I found a very dubious lump on the outer side of my right calf, a little bit above the ankle joint about 3 months ago. since then I’ve had muscle cramps, but no other symptoms. the cramps seem to ease with lidocaine cream and ibuprofen but I’m still very nervous about it. there’s no swelling or redness, nothing look abnormal and it’s a normal temperature. the pain does something shoot into my thigh and knee and foot. please help, I cannot go to the doctor and do not have health insurance. Im honestly more nervous about the anxiety it’s bringing me. I cannot stop thinking about it. It’s driving me insane

1. I’m a 20 y/o female, overweight by constantly active
2. My diet is good, vegetables and fruit every meal but maybe a little dehydrated
3. I was an athletes for 10 years in a very vigorous sport and have muscle soreness CONSTANTLY
4. sometimes where the lump is there is a sharp pain there but it’s maybe a 1/10 on the pain scale, almost like tearing feeling
5. This definitely could have been there before and I just didn’t realize. I can’t tell if the cramps are more prominent because I’m focused on them or if they’re actually getting worse. It’s maybe the round size of a quarter and honestly barely noticeable

please give any advice or share your experiences, thank you! I really appreciate it! Im more interested in understanding how to reassure myself that I’m fine than knowing what it really is, but I’ll take anything at this point.
Also, I have tried taking anti-anxiety medication and unfortunately it was not helpful

its fat right? so should cardio rid it or will i need to do ab muscle workouts?
im 5’10 male 25, i figured this was good weight

Buckle up because it's a fun one.
TL/DR - had a sit down meeting with JNSIL 2+ months after she accused me of several very nasty things when I asked her what I did to make her treat me so differently from when I first met her. She stormed out maybe 4 times altogether. She yelled at me. She cried to her dad. I left in tears. Told FIL that I'm no longer coming to events since she wants me to be the villain and I'd rather not be around it. MIL is now a JNMIL for sure.
Welcome to the shit show, enjoy.
As per my last posts JNSIL behavior to me went from a very loving to completely iced out since about the time her wedding to my daughters birth. Last Easter to Christmas things got worse, to the point I was crying leaving events asking my husband "How do I fix this?" He didn't know because that's how she treats him, completely cold for months then loving when she needs something.
I decided to reach out and try to mend it, mistake one. She ignored the text, but at the next event she joined in the conversation I was having with a family member so I thought things were better. Mistake two.
Next family event comes, she ignores me again. LOs birthday is coming up and the family is invited. JNSIL and her husband are the only ones not responding to me. I try to get ahold of both of them. JNBIL tells me to call her, so I do thinking things are better because why would her husband tell me to call her if she's mad at me? Mistake three, using sane people logic when it comes to a grown man that won't let his daughters walk up or down stairs because they might get hurt or eat chips because they could cut the insides of his oldest mouth, she's 9 and he said that when she was 7. She doesn't pick up or respond to texts. DH tried to get ahold of, no luck.
I'm fed up so I send her a text telling her that how she's treating me is hurtful but I would like to mend what's broken and move forward together, mistake four. She really was so nice to me and I missed hanging out with her, having strained relationships with my own sisters it felt good to have her in my life. Well this unleashed a flood of lies and accusations that were quickly disproven.
So FIL and I have a sit down at my house after the text and I tell him I'm willing to work on things, give sincere and direct apologies if she'll tell me what I did to hurt her and I want to move forward. FIL is very happy to hear this and we agree I will not contact JNSIL. He agrees to arrange a sit down meeting when SHE is ready.
The meeting happened. I started by saying I don't understand how things between us got so bad. She called me her 'little sister' for a good two years and we hung out a lot. She said everything was in the text, I was still speaking and she talked over me.
Ok, lets address the text head on. I pull it up and start going over what she accused me of, being mean, the entire family feeling uncomfortable around me, her not being able to bond with my child, her kids not being allowed to be around me, being abusive to my husband.
I address the first point she said I did. She storms out, saying she will not be attacked. I accused her of nothing, I was trying to tell her my side of a situation that involved her husband and I. I can hear her in the next room telling FIL that she's being attacked and wont stand for it, nothing so far remotely involved her. She wouldn't even let me finish speaking. Her husband was setting off fire crackers in the backyard my dogs were in. She went from saying he didn't know the dogs were back there, yes he did, to saying that it was my fault for not telling him to stop. That he, a grown man in his 40s, didn't know dogs could be scared by what he was doing🙄🙄
Eventually she came back and I tried to move the conversation forward. She stormed out again. Again I can hear her telling FIL that I'm just attacking her and being mean. I have not once raised my voice or interrupted her. I have simply tried to state my side and get the point of where I may have gone wrong - I never got that far because she wouldn't let me. She has yelled at me just about every time she opened her mouth and told her dad she was leaving. He coaxed her back again.
She comes back again. I try to move forward again. She yells at me some more. Telling me I've never treated her kindly, never been anything but mean so three years ago she decided to ignore me. Well here's where that logic fails. She was married within the last three years and I did the music for her wedding. I had multiple sit down meetings with her. She storms out again.
I was abused all throughout my childhood, one of the main things my parents did was yell and hit me. I can feel myself getting triggered but I'm doing my best to stay calm. The whole time she's yelling at me FIL and JNMIL say nothing about how she's behaving.
Finally I'm fed up and follow her. Flat out say 'You don't get to run away.'
I brought up one of her lies. She storms off looking for JNMIL, whos on the toilet. JNSILs lie - said claimed she told FIL and JNMIL that I am not allowed around my kids, ever. Well I asked FIL when we spoke at my house, he said she never said that to him. I can hear her asking JNMIL "Didn't I tell you she's not allowed with my kids!?" JNMIL "No, you didn't" JNSIL "Well why do you think I took off work when you said you were going to her house or she was coming to your house?" JNMIL "I really don't know." Fun fact each time I went to my in-laws I sent her pictures of the girls together, she always responded positively - yet she was supposed to have been ignoring me and uncomfortable with me being around her kids?? This math aint mathing.
She storms out of the bathroom and starts on about how I'm mean and ruin everything and she has never liked me, yelling the whole time.
I'm done. I'm in tears. My child and her youngest are present for this - DH is on a work trip and I couldn't get a sitter in time. I have so many things running through my head of what to say to her and to respond in kind, but I don't. She clearly wants to be the victim and make me react. I can almost see her smile when I get ready to say something but stop.
JNMIL comes out and says "I thought we weren't bringing up the past? I thought she(me) was going to apologize?" ME - "I never agreed to that." This is all JNMIL has had to say about this entire situation since it started months ago.
JNSIL says she's sick of being disrespected in HER own home and she's leaving. I'm basically out the door at this point. It's her parents home. She's never lived there. In fact it's her parents like 3rd home since she moved out 10+ years ago.
FIL follows me to my car and says he's sorry, that he thought today would be about healing. I tell him he has nothing to be sorry for, I thought today would be about that too but she want's someone to blame, she wants me to be the villain. He's in tears asking if I'm ok and I say no but I really wish that things were better. I only agreed to sit down and talk if she was in a good place for it. FIL knew this and I know he checked with her multiple times to ask her if she was willing to talk, so yet another lie to add to the growing list.
Y'all I am not surprised she threw a fit, that she yelled, that she lied more. What I am surprised by is that the only thing rude I said was I was going to send her a bill for the wedding since she treated me like shit the entire time and didn't like me - I'm not really going to since there was no contract in place. DH only knows that it went badly and will be informed about everything once he's home. He loves his sister dearly but cannot believe how she's been treating me.
Cherry on top - I recorded the whole thing. She can go cry to whomever but if they come for me I'm just going to send them the recoding and let them decided for themselves who is really at fault.
Thanks for reading you made it this far. My therapist and I will have a fun talk next week.

I'm a 37 year old male, 6'2, 167 lbs, non-smoker, not overweight, casual drinker. In February of 2022 (It's almost April of 2023 now) I started noticing what felt like a strained muscle in my upper right chest area just undearound the collarbone, but it mostly only occurred when taking deep breaths or sort of "activating" my chest muscles with certain positions or movements. I am fairly active athletically, so thought perhaps I'd strained something. However, it never went away... and it wasn't sensitive to the touch like a sore muscle would be. So it couldn't have been that.
It changed very slightly over the year... it no longer usually causes discomfort when I breathe deeply, but I can feel it in some positions, or when I make certain movements (twisting to the left to look behind me, for example - but twisting to the right is fine). It is never sharp, just dull. Sleeping on my right side makes it a bit sore so I try not to. Additionally, it's not so much under the collarbone as much as it is in the zone under the collarbone closer to the sternum... and slightly down (if that makes sense. It's hard to pinpoint a location as it's more of a general zone. (if I press down hard just below my right collarbone, it seems to trigger it)
The discomfort isn't always as present (but never totally gone either). There have been weeks at a time when I almost forgot about it - slept on my right side and everything. Then, maybe I did something that brought it back. It's hard to know what triggers it. I wonder if it's diet - I don't drink that much (maybe once a week, often less than that) - but if I have had a night where I had a little more to drink... maybe it gets triggered? Hard to tell for sure.
I was diagnosed with GERD in 2013 but haven't had significant flair-ups for some time (only if I really overdo it with certain food or drink). I get heartburn from time to time. PPI's don't make a difference for this soreness though. I have continued to train athletically - not overdoing it, but I guess that's all relative. My main activity is running and cycling, with a bit of weight training every now and then. I wondered if it might be persistent costochondritis, but the symptoms don't match. I pop or crack my sternum dozens of times per day (which sometimes helps the discomfort just slightly), especially when straightening from a period of slouching. This has been going on for years, with varying frequency (but never goes away). But from what I understand costochondritis means that the area would be sensitive to the touch (which it isn't, or not much).
I am concerned that this is some kind of cancer - perhaps lung or - due to the GERD, esophagus cancer (or something else I don't know like chest cancer of some sort). Could a growing tumor be causing this? Could it be musculoskeletal?
I went to see a family doctor in September of 2022, but he didn't seem concerned at all. He moved my arm about in various positions and asked if it caused pain, which it never did. I wonder if he was a bit too casual about it. However, seeing as this isn't going away... it's not normal to just have this there forever either.
Any advice or thoughts would be very much appreciated! Thank you!

I (28f) will start by saying that I already knew hormonal birth control tends not to agree with me, since I have bipolar disorder and anxiety. I have been on a couple different daily pills. The only one that didn't make my anxiety or mood disorder worse caused me to develop chronic UTI's.
After quitting the last pill I was using condoms but I don't trust them all that much. I still wanted a different birth control to be safe. I had heard of IUD's but was worried about a hormonal BC with that insertion method and having to get it removed because of it impacting my mental health too much. I was interested in the copper IUD, but had concerns about worse cramps and heavy bleeding.
The doctor suggested Nexplanon. Insertion in the arm was less invasive and easier to remove. I liked the idea of having BC that would last for a few years. I do not want children, but I work a physically demanding job and it would take me a while to build up vacation to recover from a tubal ligation. I'm also concerned about the failure rate of them overtime. I figured if the Nexplanon agreed with me I could get another or look into surgery more when time was up. I really wanted it to work for me.
I got it inserted July 14th. My main concern was anxiety. The doctor said there was a very low chance of it messing with my anxiety, but it could make my depression worse. My mental health had been stable without medication for around four years at this point. I typically only have some struggle during the winter when SAD kicks in. If I'm dealing with a lot of stressors at once that can rile my anxiety up. But it's not debilitating, affecting my quality of life, or long term episodes like when I was younger. I was prepared to have a bit more struggle with it for the safety of the Nexplanon.
The doctor told me up to 6 months of spotting can be considered normal and it will usually work itself out. I started spotting July 22nd. I have had maybe one or two days in a row without any bleeding at all since then. At first it was light and more annoying than anything.
August 2nd I suddenly had very bad anxiety and I became very emotional. I was very paranoid and insecure. It was difficult to sleep or eat. I felt like I had gone years backwards in my mental health. I was terrified that I was going to have a mental collapse. I didn't know how long this would last. I kept telling myself the hormones need to balance out. I read a couple posts here where some had really bad anxiety for a couple weeks. The anxiety stopped almost abruptly as it started on August 10th. I still didn't feel as stable as normal, but I was trying to deal with it and hope as time went on things would even out more.
September 4th I started having headaches. I rarely ever had a headache prior to this, unless I was really dehydrated or something like that. I also started getting what felt like period cramps but just spotting. I missed some work because of headaches and cramps.
October 12-18 I considered my first real period since Nexplanon. The bleeding was still less than normal, but I had bad cramps and was expelling chunks of uterine lining. From that point on I have almost constantly been expelling chunks of uterine lining, even if only spotting.
During this time period I also had some other symptoms. A lot of gas in the first few months. I started having really bad acne break outs. The pill did actually control that for me, even though I never really had bad acne. When I went off the pill I started having rosacea outbreaks. I did not know that I had that previously, so maybe the pill helped with that. The Nexplanon ended up making that worse and I even started having acne on my chest and back, which I never had before. My face and hair both felt way more oily. For a while I was actually losing a lot more hair then normal. I think the gas, acne break outs, and hair loss tapered off in January. Headaches and cramps mostly went away in December.
Other than the constant bleeding, my persisting symptoms are mostly related to my mental health and then I have also had weight gain. I am 5'4" and have typically been around 125-135lbs from 20-28. My work involves manual labor and a lot of sweating, so I am fairly active. I have not had trouble managing my weight previously. Honestly my diet has not been great and I think a lot of it is just lucky genetics. I do go through phases of running and weight lifting, but it was more for my mental health. I was still 125lbs when I was exercising every day, just a bit more toned. When I was on the pill I was closer to 140lbs at times I was less active.
When I got Nexplanon I had been off the pill a few months and happened to be exercising more and was 128lbs at 22.3% body fat. By December I was 140lbs. That was a much faster climb than I was accustomed to. I also looked different than when I had been 140lbs previously. It seems like mostly stomach fat. I was struggling to put on pants that I had never had issues with before. By January I was almost 146lbs at 27.8% body fat, which is the most I have ever weighed. Almost 20lbs gained in less than 6 months.
By this point I was struggling more with depression and being emotional. I was very self conscious and upset about my weight gain, even if logically I thought it wasn't that upsetting. I was crying over stuff that I normally wouldn't. My feelings got hurt easily. I got angry more often and it was disproportionate to what happened. I wouldn't want to get out of bed for days. I had really low energy and brain fog. I was missing work.
I decided to get more serious about eating better and exercising. From January - early March I was tracking my calories intake and outake. The numbers weren't adding up. Weeks I should have lost a pound of fat I sometimes gained almost 2 or saw no change. I have just been hovering around 143lbs at 27% body fat despite diet change and exercise. I think my appetite is higher, but my metabolism must also be impacted if the numbers aren't adding up. I do at least have more energy and less brain fog now.
At the end of February I started developing carpal tunnel syndrome, which seemed sudden. I can't really say that it's related to the Nexplanon. I have not had any issues with my wrists up until this. Maybe if the Nexplanon is causing swelling in my body? I considered maybe it's how I was holding the treadmill, lifting, or my bad posture at the computer. I got braces, stopped using the treadmill, and took a break from my computer (I had actually been on my computer probably only 5-10 hours a week since I was busy with cooking and exercising.) My symptoms got better and went away for a couple weeks. I had to do something wrist intensive at work and then it came back worse than before. I'm on day 6/10 steroid and muscle relaxer treatment, but I don't think it's going to work. I halted exercise for recovery and have done less with my wrists at work, but it's becoming difficult to do anything with them now.
March has been a stressful month for me and I think the Nexplanon is making it unmanageable. One week I had pretty bad anxiety to where I was struggling to do basic tasks at work and going to the grocery store was very difficult. My depression and general mood has also been worse. I don't feel like Nexplanon is worth it for me anymore. My removal is scheduled for April 24th. My fiance is going to get a vasectomy and I may still get a tubal ligation in the future. I leave for a work trip May 18- Sept 13. I'm hoping my hormones will even out before then and I don't have bad cramps/excessive bleeding.

Female dog 12 years old. Very healthy and spunky you wouldn’t know she is 12!
History: In February she was peeing a lot and had some blood in her urine. I had a round of cephalexin at home so started her on that. She improved but I could tell she was still not 100% better so I made a vet appointment to check her out. Vet appointment: Urinalysis vet says she had a small crystal or piece of “stone” in her sample. This lead to an ultra sound. Ultrasound findings: He showed me what he said was a very small stone or crystal I saw a small light colored thing on the ultrasound(I’m not and reader of ultrasounds so I didn’t know what I was looking at but I did see something) and also some white blood cells in which indicate infection. But surprise ! He also said she had a tumor on her spleen the size of a tennis ball that he coincidently saw during ultrasound. At this point I’m shocked. He said at her age my options are take it out or leave it and let her live the rest of her life out because if it’s cancerous she only has 2-3 months to live(he also said majority are cancer especially at her age) also want to mention she had no symptoms of anything wrong with her spleen. Only symptom was slight anemia but barley. Ok so we leave the vet with a week supply of antibiotic (Enrofloxacin) and a the urinary issues were pushed aside because now we have the urgent spleen issue. After a ton of research we decided to move forward with a splenectomy. She recovered super quick and results were benign!! Whooo! After monitoring her during recovery I started noticing her peeing irregular again. Go to vet this time a different one because there are a few different at the clinic and you get what you can. Urinalysis: very slight UTI some white blood cells. NO crystal or stone fragments. Did another ultrasound and NO evidence of stones or crystals. She did say her bladder lining was a little inflamed. So more antibiotics this time : Clavacillin After 10 days on antibiotics she is not getting better. Here are her symptoms: - she can pee normal has a solid stream and goes like twice with a solid stream. After that she strains with one or two drops coming out. She sometimes strains so much she ends up pooping. She continues to try and to pee multiple times with nothing coming out. She will sometimes be squatting mid air just straining. I feel soo bad for her so back to vet because I know the antibiotic is not working. Vet today: Urinalysis : No UTI Detected and no stone or crystal fragments. I called out to the vet her vulva is red and inflamed and she has been licking at it. She took a slide and she said she had a topical yeast infection on the skin but this is not causing her peeing irregularities. I think she said the type of years was Malassezia. She has no incontinence and doesn’t beg to go out frequently it’s just added straining after peeing regularly. Vet is stumped and said I can try a sphincter relaxer medication but she doesn’t think it will work.
So apologies for the long history but I am feeling helpless and just want to help my dog and make sure she is not suffering.
Has anyone experienced something like this?
Any advice is greatly appreciated :)

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