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Louelle, Scout Specialist Technical Exterminator
Date [standardized human time]: August 31, 2136
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Limna was right where I left her. She was sitting hunched over the interface of our transportation vessel, and as we entered, she twitched her ear toward us.
- His sacrifice was in vain - she said in a somber tone, her slumped posture still facing the main holo. - They won’t even look at the evidence.
Within the corner of my vision, I saw Pilipin's face return to normal. Anger slowly washed away from his features, and instead confusion began to take its place. Perplexed, he signaled me with his tail to clarify. I took the hint and pointed my claw at the screens that displayed various camera feeds, and he quickly noticed that one with the feed from the meeting room camera was dark. He was also quick to add things up, and with this new realization, a spark of resentment flashed in his eye. With one hand, Pilipin slipped off the human-made colorful attire and considered its weight.
- Well then, why won’t you look at the evidence yourself! - He shouted and flung the dream catcher away, in the general direction of the female Venlil.
The moment she recognized Pilipin's voice, Limna quickly spun around in her chair to face us. Unfortunately, the offending rag caught her by surprise as it zipped past her and, with a muffled splat, landed right next to her.
- You’re alive! But we… what is this thing? - She started asking questions as her eyes flicked from Pilipin to the prismatic garment stuck to the bottom of the screen. - What happened? - Finally, Limna asked the question that actually mattered.
- First things first. Louelle, check if you can somewhat ‘burry’ our submission, preferably deep - Pilipin ordered and pointed the main terminal with his tail.
Without further ado, I went to the ship console to unceremoniously unseat the confused civilian. Limna, sensing what I was just about to do, scooted from her seat and observed as I reviewed the last snapshot of the message resync tool.
- And you! – Pilipin caught Limna's attention once more. - You will answer a very important question.
I got myself busy checking system registers but still overheard everything they were discussing.
- What translation method have you implemented for the conversation with the savage? - he asked with the utmost self-control.
- The t-text t-translation for both sides was managed by the built-in Dict-o-box. It-t was managed by your own holopad with an updated human language library - she responded after a moment of thought. - I found out the app defaults to that option when it detects latency spikes, or in our case, when I proxied your conversation, so…
- Defaults from what – Pilipin caught a detail, and I had to stop my work to listen to Limna's answer.
- You have to understand that the conversation through the app is not E2EE – she started going more into technical details while Pilipin went back to retrieve his holopad from the cabinet. - It goes through a third party monitor, in our case, me, and an online context broker for some fancy smart functionality.
- Stuff me and hand me over to the Grays – I groaned and covered my face in my claws, shocked by the information she omitted about such a crucial component in her ‘hack’.
- Excuse me? - she asked at a loss from my reaction.
- Dealing with languages without a translation model Dict-o-box communicates with its servers to provide information to update or create that model, in response, it receives a frame of reference data – I stated the obvious. - Pilipin, do you remember the screw ups with the first Yotul recruits, sir? - I asked Pilipin as he came back with his holopad in hand. He groaned and winced as probably memories of the fuck-ups those backwater primitives caused flooded his mind.
- Well, it looks like now I’m on the opposite end of the shit sitck – he commented about his situation and motioned with his tail for Limna to come with him.
- Alright. Louelle, you do you, and Limna, you’re coming with me. As I understand it, this context translation function works fine on verbal translation implants, right? - Pilipin asked her, and I didn’t hear a yes, but right after the question, he continued. - Great, we’ll have a quick voice-to-text experiment in the back, and then, considering the output, I’ll decide what to do next - the sound of closing sleeping cabin doors was what I heard next.
Right, let’s focus back on the report.
Logs cleared. Registers overridden. I left no trace of sending anything from this shuttle. Now to login with my credentials, and maybe I’ll even be able to revoke the predator attack report completely before it gets processed further down the pipeline.
Where in deep hell is it? Why is there no ID with the right time signature? It was automatically rejected? Why?
I reread the automatic reply in my mind, as this was the first time I saw this kind of flag attached to a report.
Now this is just treason.
The line was supposed to take into consideration all signs and reports of predatory behavior, but judging from the reply attached to it, that policy has recently changed.
"Due to the increasing amount of false positive sightings and reports of human ‘true nature’ all new submissions regarding human predatory behaviors have been temporarily suspended. We suggest rereading the ministerial pamphlet ‘Social predators and you’ on human conduct and practices or trying to consult the issue on your holopad with a dedicated human volunteer to resolve the problem."
Kicking back in the chair, I loosen up and let my mind wander.
That’s one problem out of mind, but damn. You can’t even file a formal complaint against them. This is it! The conquerors must be bribing the corrupt and tricking the single-minded, if not to eat them, then surely to slowly subjugate and enslave the Venlil population.
Lost in my musings, I faintly noticed the stifled laughs and shouting coming from the cabin until the door flung open to the side.
- NO! I don’t believe it! I don’t want to! - Pilipin was shouting as he exited the small cabin, gripping his holopad tightly in his hand, while Limna giggled, her laughter emanating from the inside.
Oooh, he’s really pissed.
The officer's short cut fur was standing up on its ends; you could see the gray, undyed undercoat poking from underneath. His tail was low and lashing, restlessly bouncing from end to end of the metal doorframe. Face orange with embarrassment and end rage, eyes frantically looking for something to set on down finally stopped on me.
- Just... tell... me – he stated, huffing with rage. - You somehow managed to 'unexist' the report completely.
- Ye-s. It was… it has been dealt with – I replayed, not bothering to explain and enrage him further.
- Great. That’s a good thing. One good thing – he repeated, slowly cooling his emotions. - The camera room footage? - Pilipin asked while walking to my station.
Flicking the security app back to life made the feed appear on the second screen beside me… the one that got slightly obstructed by the rainbow garment stuck to its surface.
NOPE! I’m not touching that. Not now, not ever.
In the room, there was a lone Sivkit in a janitor uniform, sitting in an office chair similar to the one I was in. Judging from his posture, it was evident he wasn’t cut for the job, as he was drifting into sleep from time to time, bobbing his head up and down as the urge to take a nap got the better of him.
- Competent as the pair we met before – I murmured, resisting the urge to check the clinic feed. - It seems the footage is stored locally and deletes itself after a few rotations.
Fiddling and scrolling past the system logs back by date and not finding anything older than two standard cycles confirmed my suspicions that the station had limited storage space for recordings.
- I think it’s best we leave it alone and let it remove itself. Our meddling would draw further unwanted attention – I continued my thoughts to Pilipin as he watched the substitute operator's ineptitude to do his job proficiently with visible relief.
- Alright. Let’s just hope this won’t come back and bite us in the rear - he concluded. - That leaves us with only one problem remaining – he added, leaning on the console and crossing his arms over his chest. - The one waiting for us outside.
- Oh, come on! - Limna suddenly materialized behind me, shouting her opinion. - You’re going to dump him after you get the best lick of your life only because he doesn’t fit your narrative?
Glancing at my colleague, I was certain to find him infuriated again by that statement, but instead he got lost in his reverie, brooding at her words and glancing in the direction of the bulkhead doors.
You can’t be serious?!
- Well, I do have to confess that, for me, he did pass the empathy test… orally. – Pilipin then took a deep breath, probably ready to surrender further to his temptations, but instead his features suddenly changed.
It was clear as daylight that the Venlil officer had figured something out, and soon he shared his idea with newfound confidence.
- Alright, Joe said he wants some good time? I’ll show him some good time – said the trapper exterminator as a mischievous smile crept on his face. - I’ll give him the best time of his life. In return, we’ll have the opportunity to see his true colors and maybe gain access to some of the restricted data on humans.
That was a solid argument to keep the predator close despite the dangers it would carry. When working with humans at the space port, the translator's notifications were often labeled not safe for life or restricted. Some of the information that crept up during their conversations that the translator software picked up was even fully censored, or access to it was strictly denied.
- Pilipin, after all of this, do you seriously still think they are some kind of evil conquerors? - Limna asked, her shoulders slumped and her tail slightly cocked in disbelief.
- In one way or another...– he replied, and started to tap something on his holo.
A moment passed in silence as we were waiting for him to further expand on his statement. Instead, we were startled by the sound of metal scraping against metal, which was immediately followed by a loud thumping on the shuttle doors.
- The handle won’t budge! – A muffled, low growl emanated from the outside.
- Leave the handle alone! It’s for emergency use only! - shouted Pilipin, who rushed to assist by opening the door from the inside.
The officer pushed the big red button next to the entrance and almost immediately jumped away from a brown mass that assaulted him the moment they opened. I was too surprised to move, but Limna scampered back to the cabin, tripping on the raised doorstep and tumbling inside. The other thing that soon tumbled through, although a different pair, was Joe. Having the unfortunate benefit of watching all of this unfold from the comfort of a seated position, I observed the meat eater flop on top of his enormous backpack face-first.
- I suggest we tie him up for the trip – I stated my concerns as the clumsy excuse of a predator regained his composure and started lifting himself off the floor. – For safety reasons – I quickly added as Joe's gaze settled on me with killing intent.
- Is rope bondage just a big friendship bracelet for your kind, or is this just you? – Joe humored my concerns and started checking his traveling duffle, probably for any rips and tears.
- Ha hah ha! Go ahead, officer, cuff him. You’ll just get him more horny – Limna added her own criticism, peaking her ears from the cabin.
- Enough! All of you! - Pilipin ended our dispute before it would even begin and motioned with his tail for his acquaintance to come out. - Joe, this is Limna. Limna, that’s Joe.
Although I dislike being the butt of someone's jokes, the female Venlil came out relaxed from this short exchange of humor. Still, she approached with her ears perked up and pointed to the dangerous predator in front of her.
- Hi. Joseph Savage, or Joe for short – he spoke and hunched over, stretching his hand forward.
- H-h-hello. Limna... – she introduced herself in return, unsure what to do with the human appendage practically shoved in her face.
- That’s a human greeting – I threw my experience in, probably saving her from any faux pas before she would come to any stupid conclusions... like maybe licking it. - You’re supposed to shake it.
She then proceeded to grip it with both of her hands and shake it in all directions.
Close enough.
- Great, now Limna here works in the PID. She will register you with the Magestratta. For the time being, your address of permanent residence will be assigned to my flat. She will handle the required paperwork on our way back – Pilipin reviled his plan. - Just follow Limna to the cabin and be a good predator. Don’t try anything stupid, you hear? - he added, pointing his finger to the predator's face.
- Sure thing, I remember orientations. Rule 8 includes ‘no petting without consent’ – Joe apologetically replied while Limna blushed orange on her face. - Although I thought it applied to different kinds of petting.
- The… WHAT? - Limna voiced her concerns, embarrassed by the lewd definitions the translation implant bombarded her vision with.
- That’s rule 73 for you – the predator quipped, quickly blinking with one eye at the female Venlil.
The human straightened himself, looked down upon the Venlil pair in front of him, and shook his head from side to side, letting out a small chuckle.
- Before I met my chew toy here in person, I thought you just didn’t like scritches. Now I think the guidelines have more to do with you keeping your dignity and not leaving an embarrassing snail trail on every pet person's lap you meet than…
- OUT! Git! - the officer yelled, his face orange with rage and embarrassment, not wanting to hear more about the depravity of his kind. - Go and fill out the bumfodder! - He shouted, probably not wanting to face more of the predator's lewd claims.
- Alright, alright! No need to go into super cheeto mode for this – Joe quickly came back on his comedy act – Ok, let's go fill them out.
We eyed the human being led to the cabin by Limna and felt relief as we soon heard the bureaucrat's first-line support interview questions.
Seething from the insult toward their kind, Pilipin walked back to the ship doors and closed them, pushing the button with a little more force than was normally required.
- Let’s go home, Louelle – he said with a sigh. - I need a cold shower.
I’m all for that, sir...
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INFO:

1. I found an engine, yay!
2. The series will continue somewhere in July under a different name. I heard there is a post for writers on this Discord app, so I'll have to check it out before committing more to it.
3. I'll like to thank Quill bot for grammar checks, KoboldAI for assistance in writing, TavernAI for a place where I could talk to Pilipin, Limna, Louelle, and all the other characters, and most importantly, this NSFW community for their patience and understanding. Without your comments, I would just keep their adventures on my drive, never to be seen by anyone.

Link(s) for previous post(s) -

• Prologue

Book 1: Pale

Epigraph 1 - (had to put up the whole thing really; won't be doing this for every epigraph; just the imp. ones)

In the eighth year the Free Cities of Genabackis established contracts with a number of mercenary armies to oppose the Imperium's advance; prominent among these were the Crimson Guard, under the command of Prince K'azz D'Avore (see Volumes III & V); and the Tiste Andii regiments of Moon's Spawn, under the command of Caladan Brood and others.
The forces of the Malazan Empire, commanded by High Fist Dujek Onearm, consisted in that year of the 2nd, 5th, and 6th Armies, as well as legions of Moranth.
In retrospect two observations can be made. The first is that the Moranth alliance of 1156 marked a fundamental change in the science of warfare for the Malazan Imperium, which would prove efficacious in the short term. The second observation worth noting is that the involvement of the sorcerous Tiste Andii of Moon's Spawn represented the beginning of the continent's Sorcery Enfilade, with devastating consequences.

All this seems intimidating to say the least!
Epigraph 2 - About a mother lamenting for her boy (it seems), who's now a young soldier, but who's not yet seen what war is about ("bright heart not yet cooled to hard iron"). Is this close to what it's depicting, or...?

Chapter 1

• 1161st year of Burn’s Sleep; 103rd year of the Malazan Empire; 7th year of Empress Laseen’s Rule.

QUICK RECAP

• 7 years since the events of the Prologue.
• Laseen is now the Empress, and the Empire is ever spreading under her rule.
• An old witch, Rigga [1st app.] is alongside a young fisher girl (unnamed) on Itko Kan, watching on as a Regiment of soldiers pass them by.
• The witch is speaking about some prophesies concerning the girl, but the latter is seemingly uninterested. Rigga seems like a cool charac… oh, never mind. She’s dead. (by a swinging gauntleted hand from one of the soldiers, hitting her in the head, and killing her). Well... anyways, moving on.
• With the soldiers now out of sight, and old Rigga lying dead at her feet, the girl encounters two men – Cotillion [1st app.] and Amanas [1st app.], along with a sudden appearance of 7 massive hounds out of nowhere, who then follow the path the soldiers had taken when the latter, shorter man gives the order to do so.
• After a while, screams can be heard. The girl, now a witness, is engulfed by shadows through Cotillion, who says that she’s now “a pawn of god.”
• Some time later, Adjunct Lorn [1st app.] arrives at the horrifying scene where the men, women, and horses of the 19th Regiment of the Itko Kanese Eight Cavalry have been brutally massacred. Along with the locals, over 400 have been killed. (Jeez!)
• Paran, who wanted something challenging, and was hungry for prestige, has now joined the Malazan Army. Now as a Lieutenant, he’s overseeing the investigation of the carnage.
• After discussing his opinions with the Adjunct to the Empress in his usual fearless, uncaring, and confident manner, Paran is hand-picked by Lorn into her staff, to become an aide to the Adjunct. Lorn is sure that the merciless murder of so many is a diversion from something much bigger, and that gods and sorcery are now involved.
• Lorn is no ordinary woman herself. She’s young, dangerous, and a mage killer. The one who hunts down and kills mages. The scorpion in the imperial pocket. And who arrived in Itko Kan thanks to “eerie magical Warrens”. (first mention of the magic being used)
• Meanwhile, Staff Seargant Aragan [1st app.] is faced by a very young, hardly 12/13 year old girl, named Sorry [1st app.], who is there to be recruited into the Malazan Army, specifically under the command of High Fist Dujek Onearm – Onearm’s Host, which is currently overlooking the Genebackan Campaign (which is apparently in a mess of its own).
• Paran is tasked to gather intel of the massacre from a nearby town named Gerrom. But when he reaches there, it’s completely deserted. Even worse, inside the Imperial Constabulary, everyone is dead, killed by magic.

Sweat and death clung to the air thick as gauze.
The dark bloom of sorcery was a stain few cared to examine too closely. It had a way of spreading.

OK, now that sounds like something, eh?

• A short while later, he’s met by Topper [1st app.], a Claw of unsurpassed skill who took the lives of Unta’s royal line. Also, loves the colour green, and wears a lot of colourful rings on both his hands. Oh, and also is apparently the Commander of the Claw itself. (although he persists that Laseen still commands it, and he just assists her)
• After a quick bite of food and a sip of wine, Topper guides Paran and his horse through the Imperial Warren.

Paran turned to see a curtain in the air tear open on the road, spilling dull yellow light. A Warren, the secret paths of sorcery. "Hood's Breath." He sighed, fighting off a sudden chill. Within he could see a grayish pathway, humped on either side by low mounded walls and vaulted overhead by impenetrable ocher-hued mist. The air swept past into the portal like a drawn breath, revealing the pathway to be of ash as invisible currents stirred and raised spinning dust-devils.

First look into the "Warrens".

A short while later they came to a stone archway. It had been recently constructed, and Paran recognized the basalt as Untan, from the Imperial quarries outside the capital. The walls of his family's estate were of the same gray-black glittering stone. At the center of the arch, high over their heads, was carved a taloned hand holding a crystal globe: the Malazan Imperial sigil.

First look at the Malazan Sigil.

• Passing through the archway, they land directly inside the the Hall of The Throne in Unta, where Laseen is sitting atop a throne of twister bone.
• After exchanging a few “pleasantries” with the Empress, Paran meets up with Lorn (who is casually dressing up while Paran enters, but when the latter turns in embarrassment, Lorn replies with “I’m not one for modesty.”). OK lass, fair enough.
• After discussing a few things, Lorn orders Paran to return to his home in the capital for now, and that there will be a reckoning/revenge for the carnage at Itko Kan. Paran answers straightforwardly (as usual) that he’ll be there when that time comes.
• Paran return to his family home, where he is met by Gamet [1st app.], the guard. Once inside, he’s greeted by Tavore [1st app.], his sister who’s a year younger. After very briefly discussing about their father and his business, she mentions that Felisin, the youngest sibling, is at her studies and that she would be happy to see Paran, but sad to know that he’ll be leaving soon. Before leaving, Tavore also mentions that Felisin is “too soft for this world, brother. For any world, I think.”

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BEST OF: QUOTES / DIALOGUES

The Empire's been grinding this land down for a hundred years. You was born in it. I wasn't. When I was your age Itko Kan was a country. We flew a banner and it was ours. We were free, lass.
Rigga to fisher girl.

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Across the sea the Empress has driven her knife into virgin soil. The blood now comes in a tide and it'll sweep you under, child, if you're not careful.
Rigga to fisher girl.

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You are now one with the body of Empire, Lieutenant. It commands you. You respond unquestioningly to its will. You are a small part of a muscle in that body. No more. No less.
Topper to Paran.

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The Claw smiled. "You have begun to learn, Paran. Never be too easy with the knowledge you possess. Words are like coin—it pays to hoard." Topper
"Until you die on a bed of gold," Paran said.

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BEST OF: SCENES / MOMENTS

• The Itko Kan Massacre. 'Nuff said! (honestly, something about those four words has a different feeling about them. There's more Gravitas surrounding them, I feel personally. Whenever I think about the whole thing, it just feels like the start to something dark and dangerous. Is it just me?)
• Rigga's prophecies were something to ponder upon for sure!

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FINAL THOUGHTS + THEORIES AND SPECULATIONS

• There are a couple references present to the Prologue. Firstly, Paran pondering on the words "live quitely" by the Commander. Secondly, Laseen pointing out to Paran that he didn't take the Commander's advice of not joining the Army after all, and that the Commander himself didn't heed to hers (no detail about the latter is present though).
• From what I could gather, there's an unease, a kind of tension between Paran and Tavore it seems. On the other hand, Felisin seems to have a good bonding with Paran.
• Overall, a very good start imho. Of course, there's some names of people and places that you have no idea about, but I'm just enjoying the ride tbh!

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A huge shoutout to 'Malazan: Search of the Fallen'. It was a massive help, and I hope to continue using this amazing tool. Credit where it's due.
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Any feedback is always welcome. Hope you enjoyed.
Cheers!

A distant horizon promisingly worded; Attracting people who needs that answer.
Relations, companions, friends onboard; Set sail to sought the secret to have that.
A possible solution to mend their ships; Ships? you ask, it's that time-worn pun.
Reaching nowhere, turning back they see; A similar horizon with the exact words.
"Everything is alright and everything is fun"
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Hi I'm op friend the same friend who was in the meeting with Angel, op post the story on his main reddit account and that's why i am aware of his post. I hope that my side of the story will give you some clarifications. I will try to arrange the events to make things easier for you to understand what happened. I will call op Arun this is not his real name.
Before I begin, please do not blame religion. Religion has nothing to do with the actions of his parents. I am a Muslim,Angel and her dad are Christians, and we did not abandon him. They represent themselves, not their religion. Please be open minded.
Some background:
Arun and Angel's were raised together, Even after their parents stop being friends, Arun and Angel's friendship remained the same. Me and his ex became their friends later in life.
When Arun was nine years old, his parents left the house and left him and his sister in the care of a family member. That family member assaulted Aruns sister when Arun was a sleep. When Aruns parents saw the bruises on her body, the relative accused Arun and said that he was the one who did that to her, most of them did not believed her at that time. Unfortunately, his sister suffered alot she was a infant when the assault happened and she almost died, Arun blamed himself a lot for not being there for her. Angel told me although his parents did not say they blamed him but the implication was there, his parents became cold and distances to him.
Arun will tell you that this story has nothing to do with what happened later, because his parents did not tell him bluntly that they do doubt his innocence, even when the implication was there, Arun would continue to defend and give them excuses because he himself did not want to believe that his parents hated him for something he did not do.
for years Arun tried to be recognized by his parents, he managed to repair his relationship with them a little bit in the last 1-2 years before he was disowned.
Arun's ex knew all of this,and no one could convince me that he made the same accusation by mistake. he knew what he was doing, the 3 of us saw first hand how his parents act I would not surprised if he did this to take revenge on Arun for leaving him when his dad saw them.
When he was kick out in 2018 he was anything but stable, as you all read in his story he needed to be rushed to the hospital, I wasn't there when this happened but Angel told me when her dad told him about the rape allegations he started crying and tried to hurt himself, luckily they managed to stop him until the paramedics arrived. When he was discharged from the hospital,uncle introduced him to his friend, the lawyer who took Aruns case (don't get me wrong Arun still needed to pay him)
Unfortunately, Arun's mental health continued to decline and he made devastating decisions. He kept cutting himself. He cut off his friends/family who tried to help him. He tried to leave everything and run. But the decision that completely destroyed him was dropping the family name after his parents sent a letter telling him they disavowed him and dsinheritance...etc They ordered him to drop the family name, otherwise they will file a lawsuit against him to drop it. Now let me tell you, there is no law in India that gives the parents the right to disown their kid's that way we told Arun this, but he wasn't listening to us, he was convinced that they could do this. He told me that he would prefer to drop his name quietly rather than popularly and risk being outed more as a bisexual man. after he dropped his name he was a shadow of himself, he was in and out the hospital for 3 years, luckly he managed to pull himself together in the 4 year but he was still taking alot of medicines.
At the beginning of 2023, Arun began to see someone, we where co-workers and they met through me, they weren't official or anything, but he was a single father, in my opinion this is important information for what will come later.
Although Arun changed his phone number, his parents managed to reach him. Unfortunately, Arun did not inform us when they contacted him. I learned from reddit, when I saw his post in his main account, I tried to contact him, but he did not respond to me,fortunately he called me shortly, He was surprised that i know about this he told me he thought he was using his throwaway account. I was horrorfield when I learned that he was planning to go alone to his parents house but said that alot of people on reddit thought it was a bad idea.
Everyone was against this meeting. Us the lawyer, his psychiatrist, but he insisted on going. I know that many of you will blame us for not stopping the meeting, but you must understand that Arun was going to meet his parents, whether we went with him or not, we cannot stop him.
When we arrived at the lawyer's office, Arun was panicking. The lawyer told him, If he did not calm down he would never accepted supervising the meeting. After some medication Arun calmed down a bit, and we started the meeting.
The meeting was downright chaotic when his parents admit his sister is alive. The meeting turns into a screaming match between them. Arun's dad said that Arun should understand that it is hard for them to accept their son has been accused twice, and that they need to distance themselves from Arun in order to accept that the allegations were not true. We tried to calm Arun down and keep his parents away from him as much as possible, but his dad continued to say things that I cannot repeat here. The meeting ended with Arun collapsing on the ground. I do not know if it happened because of the medicine he took before the meeting or because he was shocked that his parents suspect that Arun had a hand in what happened to his sister.
Considering his self harm history he was hospital for a while, when he wake up he didn't remember much which wasn't uncommon for him. The person that Arun was seeing called me and told me that he tried to reach out to Arun, but he did not answer. When I told him that Arun was in the hospital, he panicked and told me that he had received harassing messages and ask me if Arun received them to me to. I know this is not in my place, and I know that I am a bad friend, but I told everything. He is father for a 3 year old he needs to know if his live is in danger. After I told him, he told me not to tell Arun about the messages he had received, and that he would continue to support Arun from afar, to give him credit he did stick with his word.
After Arun was discharged from the hospital, he finally understood the danger of his situation with his father, and he called the cops and told them the lie his parents told him, and that he felt his sister was in danger. Unfortunately, he was right. We don't know why the took her but, we do not live in America. The police will not take your child from you because you scream at them. You must be a very special person for the Indian cops to take your kid away from you. After they took his sister, Arun told the lawyer that he wanted to request a protection from his family. Some family members told him his grandma is sick but we found out it was a another lie.
After a month or so Arun lawyer received a letter from Arun sister, but due to the psychiatrist's strict instructions he didn't read to Arun, unfortunately the silence didn't last long because one of the family member got in a altercation with Arun, Arun isn't a violent person but for the first time he responds violently to anyone, it was out of character for him. We did not get a clear answer to why Arun parents contact him, but I bet all my money that this was supposed to be an honor killing. They abandoned him for five years and did not help him or ask about him, knowing that their son was suffering from mental health problems, they did not show up until after Arun showing signs of moving forward with his life, and he began to see another guy who had a child. If they wanted him to be part of his potential family, they would not lie about his sister's death, and they would not insisted that Arun meet at their home. I think that the only reason that made them agree to the lawyer meeting was to give Arun a false sense of security, and when they saw that Arun could not walk all over him like in the past they lost it on him.
It doesn't matter what their intentions anymore, they won they got what they wanted Arun took his life on the end of May.

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

Due to the complete lack of any reasonable response from the Admins and a fully failed AMA that acted like a joke rather than answering questions, we will be joining the protest
On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of /reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
   
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at /ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
   
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
   
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible. This includes not harassing moderators of subreddits who have chosen not to take part: no one likes a missionary, a used-car salesman, or a flame warrior.
   

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

Due to the complete lack of any reasonable response from the Admins and a fully failed AMA that acted like a joke rather than answering questions, we will be joining the protest
On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of /reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
   
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at /ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
   
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
   
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible. This includes not harassing moderators of subreddits who have chosen not to take part: no one likes a missionary, a used-car salesman, or a flame warrior.
   

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

Due to the complete lack of any reasonable response from the Admins and a fully failed AMA that acted like a joke rather than answering questions, we will be joining the protest
On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of /reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
   
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at /ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
   
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
   
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible. This includes not harassing moderators of subreddits who have chosen not to take part: no one likes a missionary, a used-car salesman, or a flame warrior.
   

First and foremost, I apologize for mispelling or mistakes as english is not my first language. Also, it might seem very long and boring to you.. it’s me ranting anyway.
I don’t know how to move on from my ex. She was everything I didn’t know i needed in someone, she is basically my dream girl. She is kind but likes to tease. She has the prettiest smile even tho she is a bit insecure about her teeth. She is as gentle as a flower but doesn’t sugarcoat her words. She has dark silky hair and small eyes, her eyes disappeared when she laughs and it looks like crescent moons.
We were friends in the beginning as we shared common interest about something. We first talked under a post and made it smoothly into DMs. You guessed it, it was a long-distance relationship. We went from friends to lovers although I had no idea she liked girls, so she made the first move. We dated for about a month when she sent me a text about how guilty she felt dating while praying as she is muslim. This is the reason why I never thought she liked girls. It was not even an option for me to guess she liked me even tho I really hoped so.
I was really disappointed and hurt when she first broke up with me, knowing that we both loved each other and had a lot in common was really hard. I decided to distance myself a bit from her in order to respect her decision and not fall deeper. 2 or 3 months later, we talked as much as we did back when we were together, ngl covid helped a lot since we had quite a lot of free time. We were back to old habits, and promised each other a lot of things. If anything, we fell even deeper in love with each other, we were like a match made in heaven.
At the end of the year, she had very important exams so I didn’t want to be a burden for her so I decided to distance myself, it was an agreement we made together. She was glad that we set boundaries so she didn’t feel burdened. However, I notice a change of behaviour. She was connected to social medias when she was supposed to study. My first thoughts was that perhaps she needed a break from studying so I didn’t read too much into it. But it kept happening and my messages were being delivered for hours and even days. She didn’t answer from any of my ‘ily’. I knew something was off but I let her be. The day of her exam came and I sent her encouraging texts and surprisingly she was very happy about it and even excited.
But I didn’t hear from her for a few days after that. Then, she texted me saying we needed to talk. She said that she fell out of love with me and that the past few weeks she met a guy who was very nice and had feelings for him. She said how things weren’t how they used to be between us, and how she couldn’t control how she felt. I was devastated and couldn’t believe her because it made no sense how fast she fell out of love. I blocked her and lost about 8kg after that. I didn’t handle the breakup really well as you can tell. Then, only 10 days after our breakup, she dated a guy.
A bit more than a year later we reconnected. I don’t remember how tho. I still had so much anger towards her. I wasn’t very nice to her I admit. But I wasn’t harsh either, I still had this fondness only reserved for her. Then, she confessed. She confessed that she still loved me so much back then. How she didn’t want to break up with me. She told me how much tears she shed. She simply had no choice. One day, her mother went through her phone and found our texts. Her mom confronted her and told her to leave me and introduced a boy to her asap. They dated for a year from my understanding. I was heartbroken, but at the same time everything made sense. I was kind of relieved because I wasn’t crazy back then when I though everything went too fast from good to bad. She obviously couldn’t fall out of love this easily.
Once again, we talked a lot. But it wasn’t like before. She changed. She refused to talk about us before. This time, she is determined to not fall in love with girls, with me. She doesn’t want to sin anymore, she resigned herself to a pitiful life. She said she deserves to be miserable all her life for the hurt she caused me and for the empty promises. I don’t agree with her. Her happiness is my happiness. She just had to say the word and we would both be happy. But she doesn’t think the same. I decided to stay by her side either way. I needed her in my life. Most of the time I feel like she put distance between us. But there were still times when her fondness for me resurged. Old habits die hard. She was always there when I needed her. She always gave me comfort. She still gives me our old petnames, and she teased/flirted with me just like back then. But sometimes i believe she gets cold feet, the distance she would put after some comforting words was bigger, for instance she would take hours and even days to reply. It was really frustrating.

I'm so so worried. I took my T1D 13 year old son (T1D for 12 years) to his Endocrine appointment on Wednesday, he saw a different doctor than usual because we had to reschedule his appointment. She asked if I had got a call about his most recent labs, I said no. She then told me his urine albumin/ creatinine ratio was elevated (540) and he needed to be retested. My son left a sample before we left. She called with the results yesterday and he was at 718. He is being referred to a kidney clinic. I had look up his previous lab results and he was at 48 in Oct 2019, his doctor had called and wanted him retested, said if they remained elevated he would probably be put on ace inhibitors. I took him in the next morning and his levels were normal. In November 2020 he had his annual labs, he was at 478. I recieved no call, I got no follow up. In Dec. 2021 he had his labs again and it came back undetectable, which could point to normal or could point to diluted. The national kidney Institute has this really good visual on how to check for microalbiumia in diabetics. I attached a couple charts along with his labs. It is standard to retest a high value. If 48 was significant enough for a retest, why was 478 not?!?! I called the endo nurse line and politely spoke to her about my concerns. She was worried there may an issue and the nurse said she would page the endo on call. The endo I spoke to chose her words very carefully and I dont think she was giving me a straight answer. She said the kidneys look good in the blood BUN and creatine test, and everything is fine. She said they followed up, and I brought up the 2020 reading. She said she is looking at the labs for the first time and to call my doctor to ask questions. My gut is telling me she is covering the other doctors butt. It looks like my son may have not micro but MACROALBUMINURIA and from what I have read that can be pretty signicant. I want to talk to a kidney doctor. Everything online about his numbers is looking bad. Should I go to a different doctor, the ER? Or am I being unreasonable? My cousin just lost 10% of her kidney function last month so this is all freaking me out. Also want to note, the 2019 abnormal lab was updated into his visit summary, which can be accessed online. It talked about following up with another test. His summary from the abnormal nov. 2020 labs was NEVER update neither was were the FEB 2023 labs that were also abnormal. I am fearful that if we had seen his regular doctor this past visit, it would have been caught even much later. I don't think his doctor reviewed his yearly labs. I NEED to get my son the care he deserves. Please help! I don't trust his endo office right now and I don't know what to do! I'm scared. https://imgur.com/a/yr9NoIQ

Hi, going to try and keep this short and sweet. I (26M) have been talking to this girl (25F) for a while now. We’ve been on a few dates too, all of which have been great and we have that great natural chemistry. On our third date, which was to the movies, we kissed at the end of it. Everything was fine the following day. However, the day after that, things started to feel a bit off. The following day after this, she sent a message saying that the kiss was nice and felt good, but that it felt kind of soon for her, in the sense that she doesn’t know if she’s ready for a relationship or to open up (emotionally) just yet. This of course, is fair and something we did actually discuss when we first started talking. Now, I guess it’s a question of where to go next, we still get on well and talk. But I’m starting to think this is where I might be going wrong - over this time I’ve definitely developed some feelings for her. Not quite to the level of love, yet. But strong feelings. I do feel deep down that she might have developed some for me too, after all she had gone in for the kiss. We were meant to go out the other day but sadly she got sick. I’m hoping we can re-arrange something soon. The thing is we have some incredible chemistry when together, we spend time looking at each other smiling, chatting non stop and everything else. Neither of us feel the need to get our phones out and we just live in the moment. It would be sad to let this go to be honest. But, that’s the real question - do I let her go? Do I let everything leave or, do I continue to talk with her (and hopefully still go on dates with)? I’ll be honest I’m not 100% sure on how to get someone to “open up” as it may be. Of course I don’t want to force anything, but it would be something nice to work on. Is there anything I can do/say? I know actions speak louder than words so maybe something to do with that… There’s so much more I could write, but I don’t want this to be a big wall of text, so I will answer further questions in the comments

Hi! My sister is moving to Auckland for a year for an internship for her graduate program (she doesn’t have Reddit so I’m posting for her) and is kinda nervous. We are from the US, specifically Florida which we know has a shit reputation rn, she doesn’t want to be seen as the lazy American who can’t learn about other cultures or be seen as the wacko Floridian that our governor is trying to make us all look like😅 So we have a few questions if anyone could help answer. Please be respectful in replies xo
what are some of the biggest cultural differences she should be on the look out for? what are some words, phrases, terms, slang etc that she should know or be aware of? what is the fashion like? what should she avoid wearing out in public (like in the US it’s common to wear athletic wear out but i know it’s seen as rude in some European countries) are there areas she should avoid most when choosing an apartment? what is the nightlife like, as a 22yr old woman will she be relatively safe?
what are some of your favorite places to eat or visit during the week? what is a “must see/do” for someone? what is the best way to meet new people?
any tips or general advice about living alone as a foreigner living abroad in yalls country would be greatly appreciated

​
Ch. 1086 p1_2
The chapter starts with this color spread. Very colorful, very very clean. It's very readable. Every element, including water on the characters is easily understandable, the ground is beautiful and the puddles are even more beautiful. That's the good part.
I have three problems with the cover, though:

1. Mugiwara pirates again and again and again. We've had some similar color spreads in the past and it gets to a point where they feel repeated, even if they aren't. I'm convinced most readers would prefer more different characters making it to the color covers.
2. Franky's hairstyle. Because Franky wasn't horrible enough in last chapter's cover, Oda needed to find a new and even more silly hairstyle for Franky. I wonder if he's ever going to swallow his pride and go back to draw Franky either with his original hairstyle or the shaved style with which he came back after the time skip. Every single other hairstyle has been ridiculous and has only served to ridicule Franky.
3. The perspective is completely messed up. The flowers in the top right part of the cover show peprfectly where the vanishing point is (in the middle of the image very close to the top). The vanishing point is the point where the camera is "looking" to, even if Oda likes to put it outside the image sometimes for artistic reasons. The thing is, every character on the ground (not Luffy), and most notably Nami, is drawn with very short legs as though Oda was trying to do a very high angle shot. And that doesn't make any sense accounting for the perspective of the background, but also because he's really only shortened their legs and not the rest of their body and it's very very weird. Look at Nami's legs and the umbrella. The umbrella isn't distorted but the legs are. That defeats the purpose of distorting the legs and it simply feels like she's a dwarf now.

In any case, the work on the reflections of every character in the puddles are awesome.
Ch. 1086 p3
Last chapter ended with Wapol escaping from Pangaea castle with Vivi (and Kinderella?), and this one begins and they have already successfully left Mariejoise. Igaram, Pell and Chaka are searching for king Cobra and Vivi.
It isn't clear at all when is this happening:

• The same day as last chapter but later? Probably too soon since last chapter meetings were still held.
• Next day? Or the following?
• Many days since last chapter? Very unlikely that those three are still wandering at Mariejoise completely clueless. But later events will suggest this to be the case.

I find it very strange, regardless of time, that Igaram, Pell & Chaka haven't been dealt with by the nobles. It's not like they're hiding precisely. The way I see it, there are only 2 ways to proceed with them:

1. Tell them "the king is here, please come" and kill them.
2. Tell them about Cobra's death and frame Sabo as soon as possible in ortder to avoid suspicion.

If they aren't killed, and the nobles are not answering to their questions about the king either, anyone would connect the dots and imagine Cobra was murdered by the nobles.
Also, it's good that Igaram cares for Vivi, but what about caring a chapter or two earlier? What was more important for Igaram than protecting Vivi? What was he actually doing??
In fact, why was Vivi waiting for a Gondola to leave the Red Line when his father was just getting to a meeting with the Gorōsei??
Ch. 1086 p4
Wapol and Vivi are hiding in the Aegis' kingdom ship and arrange a way to go with Morgans. Good. That takes partial care of explaining how they ended up with Morgans. But the real question is how did left the Red Line? Did really no one go looking for them? It's ridiculous.
First the Revolutionaries show how anyone can infiltrate at Mariejoise and now multiple people show how anyone can escape as well. The humiliation is scandalous.
Wapol doesn't want to tell Vivi about Imu or his dead father because he's sure CP0 are trying to kill him. That doesn't make sense. If you're sure they're going to kill you you don't act in your future assassin's favor. If anything, trying to get as much attention as possible from the world is the way to go. It might fail, but there's a chance the attention could make Imu want to discredit Wapol rather than kill him and fuel the conspiracy theorists.
Ch. 1086 p5
With the recent announcement about Oda having eye surgery and him saying he couldn't see properly, it would be reasonable to consider how that could have affected his ability to draw.
Let me tell you the truth about two things:

1. People with astigmatism don't become functionally blind until they have surgery correct their vision. They wear glasses and that's the end of it. Surgery will make Oda not need glasses, but that's all. The astigmatism wasn't preventing him from drawing at all.
2. Look at the cover again. Oda can draw really well when he wants. Look now at this page. It's difficult to know whether it's king Stelly in the first panel or not because he's as much of a scribble as Sabo's picture, that might be a legit scribble.

Spandam, Gismonda ans some other agents are lookinig for Vivi and Sabo, but not the former CP9 members, who had Vivi in their custody and lost her. Also, where's Rob Lucci and what's he doing? Is he completely ignoring his duty as well?
Ch. 956 p9
So... Stelly was staring so hard at Vivi's poster that he didn't see Sabo's poster and couldn't listen to anything regarding the terrorist attack lead by his brother despite the whole Mariejoise was being searched for him. Interesting.
Ch. 1086 p6
The gorōsei pick up the ringing den den mushi. This is the only relevant thing happening in this whole page.
The narrator puts emphasis on Cobra's death and Vivi's disappearance but not on the clash between the Revolutionaries and the admirals. Why is that? It's to bolster the retcon'd timeline.
Ch. 925 p9 & 10_11
Remember that back in chapter 925, the highlight about the Reverie was the clash between the Revolutionary Army and the admirals. And it was said to happen during the 4th day of the Reverie. However, in this and the immediately previous chapters, events are happening during the 7th day (the last).
Another detail is that then the silhouettes indicated that the news included Sabo fighting the admirals, but during this recent flashback, Sabo didn't even met them.
Ch.. 956 p4
Then, in ch. 956 Garp explains that the incident with Cobra happens after the Reverie ended. That clearly separates the operation of the Revolutionary army (4th day) and Cobra's death (+7th day).
At the same time, Garp says that happened after they left, and that it was reported to him even later. And asks Neptune and his family not to fear humans because of it.
This and Shirahoshi's reaction make sense only if they had no better reasons to fear humans, like Shirahoshi being assaulted a second time by Charloss, and if Shirahoshi bid farewell to Vivi while everything was fine and now she's surprised to hear that.
But that's not what the recent flashback tells us.
Ch. 1086 p7
Contrary to last page, this one has mane things to consider.
Imu wants to "test" the "Mother Flame", a Vegapunk's invention, and the Saturn says they haven't had the chance to try it yet. Another gorōsei suggests a forest for the test but Imu wants "Lulucia" kingdom. The gorōsei show concern for the choice but at no point they question it.
We will see in the next page that they're talking about the weapon that destroyed Lulucia kingdom. And the first thing that calls for my attention is that the gorōsei look like complete amateurs here.
They've had a mass destruction weapon for "some" time, but haven't tested it yet. Can you imagine how many things could go wrong when trying new technology for the very first time? But don't be fooled, Imu doesn't want to "test" it. She wants to use it.
The gorōsei have been waiting with such a weapon in their power without testing it because...?? It's obvious that there must be a lot of places in the world were Imu, the gorōsei and the World Government in general should be perfectly fine with testing the Mother Flame, from certain uninhabited areas of the Red Line, to unaffiliated countries and from the top of my head, if anything else, Punk Hazard comes to mind. A government island they think is closed off because Akainu and Aokiji made it useless. It's the perfect place to test these kind of things. But they think they've had "no chance to try it yet". Sure.
In an attempt to defend Vegapunk from the undeniable increasing evidence of his evilness, I read some say the weapon is not "he Mother Flame" but "Uranus" and that the Mother Flame is only a power source.
That makes even less sense. First, because Imu clearly instructs to use the Mother Flame and not Uranus. And second because there's no way they can actually think they haven't had the chance to try a power source
Ch. 1086 p8_9
Imu answers about the reason to choose Lulucia and the five gorōsei are formally introduced. And three things stand out to me:

1. They're named after planets of the solar system (other than the ones already used lol) and at the same time, they're not. There's Saturn and Mars, but there's also Ju Peter and V. Nasjūrō, who read like Jupiter and Venus + japanese traditional name ending. And lastly there's Valcury, who by elimination and obvious similarity should reference Mercury, but this one is clearly different. And I wonder if this is Oda wanting to name the gorōsei after planets and at the same time being obsessed with being unpredictable.
2. With this names two middle names are introduced: "Ju" and "V.". So far, only "D." has been a thing. It was odd enough if you think about it, but the fact that now two more exist and that they do so in order to not write the name exactly like the planet feels quite odd to me as well.
3. What is this "warrior god" thing? What does that even mean for them? I mean, I understand what "warrior god" means, but what's an "agriculture warrior god" or a "finance warrior god"??

Has Jupiter ever waged war in the name of agriculture or something like that? I get it, it's something meant to assign specific roles to each of them despite they have acted like a council for 1086 chapters, but wouldn't it make more sense to be "finance god" and "justice god" instead without the "warrior" part?
Also, do they really have any authority over their "department"? Last page showed they are nothing but the butlers of Imu. It's difficult to imagine they have agency.
To me, this looks like the upteenth attempt at hyping us for nothing. First, people living in Mariejoise were titled "World Nobles". Then they were rebranded as "Celestial Dragons". And recently they've been rebranded again as "Gods". And for no reason and without explanation. Just the narrator coming up with new ways to extol them. But at the end of the day, words are just that and so far, even the gorōsei have only prooved (this chapter too) to be very incompetent.
Now that I think about it...

• Is V. Nasjūrō going to have problems because some countries are increasingly refusing to pay tribute? He's in charge of finances, right?
• Is Ju Peter going to be held responsible for the lack of food they're currently facing?
• Shouldn't Valcury have been the one to... Oh wait, we haven't gotten to that part, yet.

​
Imu says Lulucia has been chosen for proximity alone. So, officially, both the fact that Sabo had gone there and that the country had rebelled aren't the reason. I wonder whether Imu's answer is just a way of saying the gorōsei to not even ask for explanations and just obey or actually a whimsical and very plot convenient occurrence.
The gorōsei note the convenience of being able to use the Mother Flame "freely" and I'm sure they're not talking about authorization, because Imu rules the world, but about the cost. Certainly the Mother Flame must consume a lot of energy. If only they had some scientist trying to develop a troll-science self´-sustaining power source, right?
Well, they got one but they're very heeadstrong in killing him, for some reason.
Ch. 1086 p10
We get to see the seraphim we hadn't yet seen. I don't think there's anything relevant in this page, but I've read some people arguing S-Croc could be a girl, you know, the old theory about Crocodile being originally a woman since Ivankov said he made Croc a huge favor, even though it could actually be anything else.
Personally I don't think S-Croc has particularly female traits in this image, but it's true that he has the same starry eyes as S-Snake, while S-Shark and S-Hawk do not (the others haven't shown their eyes). But if I had to guess, I'd put my money in Oda has decided to always have at least one gender-ambiguous character to troll the readers with left and right.
Ch. 1086 p11
Sabo telling more of what we already knew and saw.
Ch. 1086 p12
And this page is again, dedicated to justify the retcon'd timeline as though it was not.
Back in chapter 1060 (that's the beginning of this very arc, do you still remember what this is arc was about?), Sabo was at Lulucia when the annihilation happened.
Ch. 1060 p13, 14_15 & 16
We saw him as we were only seeing Lulucia and its citizens being shot by the Mother Flame and also the call ending abruptly immediately after the shot.
Now, Sabo says he was near, but not exactly there. And tries to explain the ending call saying it was an indirect call that was "rerouted" through another den den mushi on Lulucia.
First I wonder how do you do that from a ship? It's true that the specifics about how den den mushi are operated have never been told, but regardless, if this "rerouting" were a thing, surely it would have come in handy to many characters through the story before.
Also, since when can Marines (or any third party) locate den den mushi? They have been able to intercept communications and listen to them, but not guess where was any of the snails making the call. And even if they could, given he himself says it was not an encrypted den den mushi, hence being vulnerable to interception, why wouldn't they locate the original signal from Sabo just like the one at Lulucia?
Ch. 1086 p13
I don't remember Lulucia's name being romanized before, but it can be read in the ship's sail. It's written with a C (until another assistant thinks otherwise at least).
Sabo rules out living thing and natural disaster as the cause for Lulucia's annihilation and Ivankov pretty much implies Imu is someone from the void century who has lived this long because she's immortal thanks to the Ope Ope no mi.
Regarding Sabo's claim, I think we've seen all sorts of surreal things in One Piece to agree his assumption is very bold. A shadow in the sky is no indicator of no living thing or natural disaster. In fact we've seen shadows in the sky caused no more and no less by living beings and natural phenomena.
Ch. 299 p12_13
On his part, Ivankov's assumption is also quite bold. Does a name really reference one single instance of a living being? There can only have ever been one Imu? What about one Oars?
There's also plenty of people known for their outstanding longevity like Kureha. (Interesting that this made me think of her...)
It's true that Ivankov accounts for the name being not truly a reason next page, but the fact that he implies it with this force under an argument he knows is very weak... This is just Oda telling us "this is this way because a character is saying it" or trolling us for fun.
Ch. 1086 p14
Also, as I said last chapter, anyone can know of Imu and it was completely unreasonable of Imu not to tell Cobra about her, considering they were going to kill him no matter what and she said she was going to address his questions.
Could anyone else than Imu from 800 years ago be the one commanding the gorōsei? Why not? What kind of reasoning is that?
Next Ivankov makes his best guess of the day and claims Vegapunk must have created the Mother Flame (confirmed some pages ago by Imu). And it's now of all assumptions that Dragon intervenes to stop jumping to conclusions. Really??
"Vegapunk would never intentionally design a dedicated killing machine". What kind of joke is this?

1. Kuma
2. Mass-produced Pacifista model 1
3. Mass-produced Pacifista model 2
4. Mass-produced Pacifista model 3
5. Seraphim

And after this and out of absolutely nowhere, they speak of ancient weapons. This page and the previous one is some of the most forced text I've seen in One Piece.
Ch. 1086 p15
For the final page of the chapter (yes, 15 pages only again, 2 of them cover), a new character makes his debut by sentencing to death Saint Donquixote Mjosgard.
He's named Saint Figarland Garling and is said to have been king of God Valley. Unlike everyone else, apparently, I'm not going to theorize about his relationship with Shanks, I want to talk to you about two other characters.
First, Dr. Kureha.
Ch. 154 p8
She looks just like she was Garling's twin sister. It's interesting, because a couple of pages back the matter of longevity was brought up and now we see a world noble said to have been king of a land outside Mariejoise and outside the Red Line. As we've been told in a number of occasions (last one being last chapter), only the Nefertari family were founders of the World Government who stayed at their homeland. This means if Garling was actually king of God Valley and not just a descendant of the last king, he's from the void century. Not as an hypothesis like with Imu, but confirmed. Thus, the simmilarities with Dr. Kureha aren't just physical. Both have incredible longevity and I think it was worth noting.
Last, I want to talk about Garling's predecessor: Crescent moon Gally.
https://preview.redd.it/pst3taqyc85b1.png?width=548&format=png&auto=webp&s=cd252883d36d4c0c3ae546f045bb46fead21c52e
He's the villain in the first version of the Romance Dawn oneshot that would later become One Piece. As you can see, The crescent moon motive in the hair is there just like with Garling (and the nose too). If you take the crescent moon out of the hat and apply it to the hair together with the beard, and change the mustache stretching to the sides for more hair to make it more exaggerated, you get Garling. Even the pose and facial expression is pretty much the one in this image.
Also, in his original name written in japanese, there's no indication of whether his name is "GaRling" or just "Galling".
And that would be... Oh! I almost forgot! Yeah... given Garling sentenced Mjosgard, where does this leave Saint Topman Valcury? Wasn't he the "Justice warrior god"? Why isn't he the one handing out justice? What other affairs regarding justice does he manage if not judging disputes among celestial dragons?

Can offer conversations in Dutch/English and I can answer general questions about Dutch/English. I’m still learning Japanese, so generally I will ask questions about certain words/sentences. Eventually want to talk in Japanese.

Well, I am 17 and my dad gives me work 24/7 and this work by the way isn't something like child labour more like normal tasks like search this thing in internet and say the answer.
Thing is he gives me so much work it takes away 5-6 hrs of my time and my studies are getting affected after the 5-6 hrs of work I feel drained and irritated at everything so I try to cool off and when I relax my mom comes in and says to me that I am lazy and not studying and just using my dad as an excuse.
Now I feel guilty I am not studying and also irritated and tired to the point I feel like quitting studies, I am from India and JEE is a big deal of an exam here like the SAT you guys have except much more harder and competitive (12 million students and 10000 seats, acceptance rate is extremely low)
I've said to my dad that stop giving me work and he sure isn't stopping and my mom will obviously blame me well I am not giving the results so just blame me, just dump everything on me.
I can't even say no, the word no has like no use here, i have an elder sister and she doesn't get anywork, she got below average marks and she did get scoldings for that but even when she is lazing around with no work because her studies are over as of now she still doesn't get any work and I have to help her too.
No one understands my situation, i feel too tired my eyes are heavy and the guilt of not studying doesn't let me sleep and when I say this to my mom she is like well your dad giving you work will teach you lots of things, yes i did learn some share market basics due to me helping him and i did learn something about economy and finance but it's no use I need that jee rank to get a damn college in this country.
Well I am looking for advice on how to study when you are drained and don't feel like it?
I am sure most of you might not read this long rant by a teenager, ik i am complaining and its disgusting to complain and some of you might get annoyed by that but it is what it is, I need to rant because If i didn't i might just hurt someone with razor sharp words that would pierce me as well as them.

I woke up in the morning to the smell of something cooking.
That was definitely off. I stretched out in my bed, “I’m finally going to be done with all that bothersome ‘work’.” I told myself with a smile on my face as I eased myself out of bed and rose to my feet.
A quick burning hot shower, and I was content, all was right with the world again.
I threw on my ‘outside clothes’ and emerged to find the cause of the odorous disturbance in my domicile…Celia was standing at an oven I’d never touched in my entire life.
“G’morning.” She said. She was still in her child sized shape, and dressed in something akin to pajamas… no, they ‘were’ pajamas. Ones covered in little animal patterns.
“Uh… yeah… it is, I guess, considering that I’m awake instead of asleep, I guess it’s fine but…” I yawned and rubbed the back of my head, “Why are you up so early, and what’s with…?” I looked her up and down.
“What’s with what?” She looked over her shoulder at me with a little smug expression on her face.
“This?!” I said and waved my other hand up and down in front of her.
“Oh.” Celia’s expression never wavered.
“Well, I did a little research on Earth after my last visit, not much, but I figured I should know how to dress at least.” She pinched the soft cloth of the yellow pajamas and gave them a little tug, “These really are comfortable, by the way, you were not wrong about humans being good at comfort.”
“And your… tiny self?” I asked, and she chuckled.
“Oh, well you are the one who said I was your niece, after all. So now I suppose I should play the part. Besides, you are a lot older than I am, by what, a few hundred years?” She asked. She spun around with spatula in hand and held it up at her side like a soldier’s sabre and struck a stiff pose. “As my senpai, I think that is the word, I must look to you for guidance and instruction, and rely on you to take care of me while I am unfamiliar with everything…”
She was not sounding like a normal swapper. Then it hit me, she was much younger than I am. Young swappers are often prone to adopting the characteristics of what they imitate, we all are, really, but the younger they are the more true this is.
Another sneaky suspicion struck me, “How long have you been awake for?” I asked.
“About six hours.” She said, “I’ve been binge watching a lot!” A giant grin came over her face. “I was watching this one thing about a boy who lived with two girls, one of whom was his sister and he didn’t know which one… all the shenanigans!”
“Oh.” I dragged my hand down over my face, “Celia, how long do you usually take on the forms of other races for?” I asked.
She tapped the tip of the spatula against her cheek, “Um, I don’t know, a few hours, just long enough to do a job, I don’t do my own scouting, I’m too new for that so… maybe a tenth of this time, why?”
“Oh my… um… can you… do something for me?” I asked.
“Like make breakfast? I’m already on it, aunt Kayobi!” She laughed and spun back around and began stirring something up in whatever pan was on the stovetop over the oven. “I saw this thing where a dragon girl kept making omletts and they were too big, so I decided to try my hand at making them. Thankfully you had some stuff I could sort of improvise… I don’t know much about taste but-” She was rambling, I had to cut her off.
“That’s fine.” I interjected, “But… hasn’t anyone ever told you that you shouldn’t ‘swap’ for this long without going back or at least going to something else?”
“Yes, but it’s no problem, this is a human body after all and humans are super easy. It’ll barely be an inconvenience to shift to anything else. After all, they’re sort of shaped like us, who knows, maybe they’ll evolve into swappers too one day, if that healing factor of theirs keeps improving at least.” Celia said, she didn’t see the concerned expression on my face.
‘This is not good. No, this is definitely not good. She took on the characteristics of a child, a human child, and those are reckless, negligent, have horrible survival instincts, and routinely dismiss danger or problems to an absurd degree. It would be exactly like a human child to neglect the obvious in favor of just doing nothing…plus she’s young so she’s even more vulnerable to these things…’ I had to suppress my groan.
If she couldn’t swap back, she couldn’t go back. Not in the ‘oh no she’ll die’ sense. Not in the ‘she’s violated a law sense and will be harshly punished’ sense either.
No… no. If word of this got back to the others, she would be absolutely disgraced and shamed beyond all reason. It’s not as embarrassing as say, waving back at someone who wasn’t waving at you. It’s a thousand times worst.
It’s more like… if a human lost control of their bowels at their job where friends and family worked. At that point you might as well quit, change your name, and start your life over in a whole new place in the world.
Celia would never be able to look at the rest of her coworkers again without a sense of disgrace… and I know Celia. She’s a nice one, sort of sensitive about even asking for help, kind of insecure, really. She wouldn’t be able to handle it, she’d have to quit.
I sat down at the table. “Celia, I want you to do something for me, and I don’t want you to panic.”
“I know, I know, you want some red peppers added on top of your omlett, don’t worry, I saw you didn’t have any, but I saved some from the pizza last night, they included a couple of packets. I didn’t throw them out, so I’ll just add those real quick to your omlet and…”
I cleared my throat. “No, no, that’s fine.” I said.
“Oh, then here you go.” She said and slid the omlet onto a paper plate and handed it to me along with one of my many plastic forks.
“I want…” I started to say, and she leaned forward, her dark hair tumbled down behind her, she was waiting for me to try her food.
I stopped. I looked down at the dish. It actually smelled really good. I usually cooked bacon in the microwave, it seemed she’d chosen to use the oven, and that paid off. I could smell the bacon inside, and my mouth began to water.
I cut into the yellow goodness and then raised a bite to my mouth, the cheese within stretched into tiny strings and I put the morsel onto my tongue.
Flavor exploded. “This is amazing!” I shouted.
She grinned ear to ear and waited for me to take a second bite. I stopped myself, I set the fork down and set my palms flat on the table. “No, no Kayobi, don’t get distracted.”
“What?” Celia asked, “You said it was good, right?” She asked.
“Yes… and it is. But I need you to do something else… something not food related.” I said, and her mouth closed before she could ask whatever was on her mind.
“Try to swap back to your natural form.” I said.
“But that’s-” She started to object.
“Just do it.” I said.
She shrugged. “Fine.” She breathed out the annoyed sigh of every teenager in the history of humanity.
I waited.
She looked down at her hand. Her feet. She looked at her reflection in the glass window on the wall. She gritted her teeth and clenched her jaw and began to grunt and groan.
“I…what…” Celia’s eyes went very wide, she kept trying.
But she also kept failing.
“I’m… stuck.” She whispered.
“Yup. Looks like.” I said, and she looked at me with an expression of horrified shame as if she’d shat herself in front of me.
I held up a hand to stop the horrified apologies or bawling or whatever.
“Relax, nobody else knows, I won’t tell anyone, and I’ll help you get back to normal.” I promised.
A few minutes later, I knew what tears of relief on a human looked like when she was asking…
“You’re really not going to tell anyone… you’re going to help me get back to normal and never say a thing, you promise?” She asked.
“Yes.” I answered.
“Thank you…” Celia whispered and began to wipe her nose, I shrugged off her thanks and took another bite of the omlet.
“Don’t worry about it but… can I have another one of these before we get to work?” I asked, and a smile slowly came back to her face as she got up to make another.
“Do you know how to fix this?” She asked.
“Nope. But I have a clue.” I said as she opened the fridge to get out more eggs, cheese, and bacon.
“How?” She asked tentatively, looking over her shoulder at me while she rummaged.
“We wing it.” I said, and for good measure, brought wings out of my back in the hopes of making her laugh.
It got a little one, and that was a start, at least.

I already made a 2-part analysis about Mukuro Ikusaba as a character and my opinion on her once ; I think it's time that I analyzed another beloved character of mine : Mikan Tsumiki, the Ultimate Nurse. Yes, there's probably many analysis about her, but I'll still share my views on her, because I find her complex and fascinating. First of all, let's recapitulate some things about this character. Yeah, I know, it's boring, but still necessary.
I) Who is Mikan ?
Mikan Tsumiki is one of the cast members of SDR2. Like the others, she is actually a Remnant of Despair, that was plunged in a virtual world by Makoto Naegi, who wanted to free them from the brainwashing they all received at the end of the DR3 anime and since the very beginning, she's depicted as a...strange person.
Case in point : During her introduction, she seems to want to interact with Hajime, but she's so nervous that she ends up creeping him a bit, because she's just staring at him without a word. Then, she reveals that she memorized 5,000 different topics to discuss. A bit later, she says this before sobbing :
Mikan : I'll do anything you say...Just...please don't hate me !
Mikan is initially considered a meek, weak-willed individual, who burst in tears at any moment. This is why she is often picked on by the other characters, like Fuyuhiko who threatens her, or, of course, her greatest bully : Hiyoko Saionji.
During the Chapter 3, however, Mikan reveals another side to her : Having been infected by the Despair Disease, she murders Ibuki Mioda, takind advantage of her gullibility, and kills Hiyoko too. She elaborates a very clever plan, and when she is finally exposed, she goes batshit crazy, alternating between giggling like a mentally disturbed little girl and shouting in fury, hoping her classmates will forgive her. Everyone is understandably disturbed by this sudden change in her attitude, including Hajime who literally refuses (at first) to believe she's the culprit. Mikan then accuses everyone of being bullies, and she dies in what can only be called a hyper-sexualized execution that makes no sense.
II) Understanding Mikan Tsumiki's mentality :
However, as it is often the case in Danganronpa, there's more to the character than meets the eye. In the Island Mode, we can discuss with her. And the things she reveals are, objectively speaking, horrifying :
Mikan : I would get beaten up at school and at home a lot...Since nobody wanted to treat me when I was hurt, I just did it myself and eventually, I got good at it.
She also says that "for fun, I tried eating strange bugs, and I let them [her bullies] use my body when there wasn't anything else to write on. Also, I had to be responsible for debts, and be the target for dart games, so...Hmhmhm, I'm pretty useful, you know".
She tries to rationalize her abuse this way : "Obviously, I don't want to do that stuff at all. But...if it makes everyone not hate me and smile at me, then it's much better...".
Mikan Tsumiki was abused in horrific ways during her childhood. The other kids drew at her, mocked her, made her responsible for their own actions (in that case, their debts), and even made her eat bugs. It is interesting that she says "I tried eating strange bugs", and not "my bullies made me eat bugs". It's like she's instinctively taking the responsibility for the bullies' acts. In order to keep her sanity, she made herself believe that she could be useful by letting people hurt her in every way possible.
As a coping mechanism, her brain forces her to believe that the abuse she suffered is, somewhere, a proof of twisted "respect". If people mock her and use her, that means that, in a sense, they acknowledge her status as a human being : People accept to talk to her, to interact with her, like she is worthy of being talked to. You don't speak with an insect, right ? Well, it's the same logic for Mikan : In her mind, if people bully her, they acknowledge that she exists, that she is more than an insect that we can forget. That is why she always trips and falls, to get this attention.
The one thing Mikan's abuse taught her to hate is people not caring about her. During her FTEs, she has this exchange with Hajime :
Mikan : Just please don't look at me like that ! (For context, Hajime was creeped out by her words and her behavior)
Hajime : Ah...S-sorry...F-for now...let's talk again later. You need to calm down...
Mikan : I-I'm sorry...I'm terribly sorry...I'll make sure to get it right...I'll make sure I get it right next time...So please talk to me again ! Eeek ! I beg of you !
These quotes show how much Mikan is afraid of not "being enough". She constantly thinks that she's not enough and that she must "prove her worth" to people by degrading herself, in any way possible. And I mean in ANY way possible.
At one point in her FTEs, she worries about making Hajime upset somehow. Her reaction ? Telling the boy if he wants to see her naked :
Mikan : Wh-what should I do ? Um...would it make you happier if I took my clothes off ?"
When Hajime answers that no, she shouldn't do this, Mikan says : "you're right...you don't want to see me naked, right ?". We could interpret this as her saying : "Of course you don't want me to be naked...I'm too ugly, right ?". Then, she asks if Hajime wants her money.
This interaction implies that Mikan is a survivor of sexual assault. It is not natural to ask people if you should get naked because they want to. If she had to strip to satisfy her abusers...well, you know what ? I don't even want to finish this phrase.
Anyways, she was either assaulted at school or at home. But either way, her parents probably didn't care ; she says that nobody wanted to treat her, which implies that, at first, she must have asked for an adult's help, right ? But said adult (probably her parents) told her to fuck off (I wouldn't be surprised if Mikan's parents literally told her, when she was younger : "Fuck off, nobody cares about your problems"). Like some abuse victims do sometimes, Mikan tries to deny the abuser's fault, saying it is her fault instead : "Did I do something wrong again ?".
However, she seems to realize on some level that what she suffered was wrong. She says in the FTEs :
"There are areas that aren't fatal but still very painful, such as the shoulder and back...You can punch and kick those areas, or even put a cigarette out on them. Repeatedly...over and over...But right now, at this very moment...nobody is trying to do that to me. Because of that...this place is like heaven to me".
The mention of cigarettes is what makes me believe that her parents actively mistreated her. I mean, the bullies at her school were probably too young to have cigarettes on them - and even if they did, it would have been because they stole one or something. But she mentions cigarettes (among other things) being put on her back repeatedly. Mikan's parents used her as an ashtray.
Also, Mikan mentions this in Island Mode, when you go to the movie theater : "Horror...is nice (...). A-And the really mean characters always die first...". She probably is angry, on a subconscious level, at everyone who ever mistreated her, and whishes to take revenge on them. However, she can't, because of years of conditionment and abuse.
However, she shows more clearly her hatred when she contracts the Despair Disease. During her case, she murdered Hiyoko, who happened to walk on her after Mikan killed Ibuki. Mikan murdered Hiyoko not because she was a mean bully to her, but because she saw everything and because Mikan was under the Despair Disease, so she would have done the same thing to anybody. But there is something else : She specifically tied Hiyoko's obi on backwards, which, in Japanese culture, is how prostitutes dressed. This has nothing to do with killing someone because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time : Mikan deliberately called Hiyoko a slut post-mortem, as a way to get revenge for all her insults.
Finally, during the 3rd trial, Mikan accuses the rest of the case of being bullies, who let her being mistreated and verbally abused without ever doing anything to defend her. Even though she's not in her normal state then, it makes sense for her to act like this, because all her life, nobody ever came to her rescue (that's even why she became a nurse in the first place).
Conclusion : She could have been one of the best characters of Danganronpa, but Kodaka visibly doesn't know how to write sexual trauma (Kotoko and Akane, for example). However, Mikan still has some realistic aspects : She harbors a somewhat sexualized attitude because she was sexually abused, like some victims do in real life (well, the true reason is fanservice, but let's pretend it's not the case, shall we ?). Despite her genuine niceness and timid personality, she has a darker, more unstable side to her. Mikan Tsumiki is an example of what happens when bullying goes too far : You end up with a mentally broken person, incapable of living healthily, depending on how others view her. Personally, I always found tragic that the Ultimate Nurse had such an unhealthy mindset.

I'm going to keep it vauge because, knowing my luck, someone from my company will be on here.
I've been in my current managerial position now for two years. It's a non-profit, one of the largest in the country and is the second most profitable store by a large margin. In other words, it's absolutely manic. I was head hunted for the position two years ago and brought on to sort out an absolute shambles of a messily run store. Think zero care for rules and regulations, zero incident reports despite the store being an entire health hazard, regular theft and some of the worst, rudest and shoddy customer sales attitudes I've seen in a decade. (And I've had some seriously crappy jobs!)
Anyway, within a year, (with the core teams help) we all managed to get the store to a much better place. I slowly got rid of incompetent staff, let go of volunteers that were stealing and pushed for more staffing to help take the stress off the main core workers. (Who are awesome btw!)
Now as a non profit, each store is designed to be run by volunteers purely. Which, in theory, works if you have a small store that is easy to manage. Not with our store. It's huge, we do deliveries and collections so a lot of heavy lifting and manual labour is involved. Not unusual to hit 24k steps in a single day on the shop floor.
However, I came in after COVID restrictions, which meant we had lost 80% of our volunteer base ( elderly, immuno compromised, etc) as handling second hand items ran a far higher risk of contracting COVID 19. The store was struggling big time, it was five times the size of a normal store. Staff were unhappy, overworked and the previous manager had already left due to mental health reasons. (This is important to remember later!..)
I worked hard. I mean extraordinary hard, to get that store to a much better place. I held volunteer rally's, open days, coffee mornings, and went round local colleges giving talks about volunteering and the circular economy and encouraging work placement positions with us. I found local government grants to hire people on 20hr contracts in exchange for extra social welfare payments. I pushed for monthly and annual reports, budget plans, allowances and made interior improvements and exterior housing repairs that had needed to be done years ago.
I held staff meetings to find out what they wanted or needed (turns out training wasn't something the company offered AT ALL.) Then pushed for, and GOT additional annual training courses, better canteen facilities, even daily tools and equipment! Everything there was broken, tired or a donation.
It paid off, and I'm happy to say that in addition to having a really amazing core team, better working conditions and more qualified team members, the store is up 58% in PURE PROFIT ALONE. I mean, that in itself is pure insanity.
People are actually taking lunch breaks, using thier holidays and sick days and are generally happier. (I hope! ...at least, they could be lying to my face. There's always that fear. 🤦🏼‍♀️)
The only part thats getting worse...well... is me.
I'll admit, I'm not the best on mental health. I take care of all my staff FAR better than I ever take care of myself. (Not feeling well? Then straight home and bed rest, and take lots of fluids. If I'm sick...well then, I'm a piece of trash that deserves to die. lol)
I have a tendancy to go 100 miles an hour and not stop unless I'm dying. Which in fact, almost happened last year when I stupidly attempted to work through a bout of sickness that landed me in hospital for a week.
I love the job, but have realised that even if I give it 110%, it will never be enough. I've had zero support from my regional manager. All my results for additional support were ignored or refused. I'm the only paid member of staff there, so when we started opening back up on weekends, there was just this assumption that I'd do a 6 day week. (Which I did, stupidly, for 4 weeks straight, which led me to becoming severely burnt out.)
After that, I started going to therapy. Both to deal with my own anxiety and to cope with the stress of work. I've recently took a week's holiday from work to rest and honestly, just couldn't. Staff didn't show up, my manager rang me several times (no, I didn't answer.) And I found I just slept the entire week as I just wanted to rest.
After confiding in both my GP and my therapist, ice decided to take a months leave for Mental Health. The idea of going back into the chaos on Monday has my in tears all weekend and my heart just sinks.
I know it's time to move on but I have this overwhelming sense of guilt for leaving my team in the lurch. I know that if it was anyone else, I would fully understand and support it but because it's me, I feel like I'm somehow not entitled to it?
Like I don't want to inconvenience anyone or be a bother but I hit every number on the burnout assesment by my therapist apart from no.11 "are you participating in any dangerous new activities?" And that's purely because I'm so goddam tired and exhausted all the time!
I sleep from 7.30 till 8am some days and still feel like a dead weights on my chest. I can't switch off my brain and I'm constantly worried about work, if they're struggling, if there's enough staff, are we hitting targets.... It just won't stop.
I've a plan....to use the month to seriously job hunt, take care of myself and really, really take care of my mental state but....I can't help but feel like I'm failing somehow? That I'm letting work down? I know it'll go on without me, as any company would, but I feel like a child about to be told off for taking leave.
I don't know what to do anymore..

As I swung open the door to the emergency room, with panic in my eyes. My mind went back to work just half an hour ago. … It had started off as a normal day. Me getting up at 6am to get ready for work. My wife hadn’t been feeling all too well the last couple of days but it wasn’t too bad, she was still able to go to work. This morning however as I kissed her goodbye, she just let out a groan and. Kept her eyes closed, just telling me to leave her alone.
I had thought nothing of it as I left the house and went off to work. As usual, it was a boring drive to work, surprisingly the traffic was light and I had hit all green lights. So I made it to work a little earlier than usual. It put me in good spirits.
I grabbed somebody bland office coffee and went to my desk and sat down. I was IT help desk for a large corporation that will stay anonymous. As I put the head set on my head I heard the phone start to ring, my day officially starting. …. I breathed in lungfuls of air as my eyes scanned around the emergency room, my mind im suddenly a blank. I briefly wasn’t sure what to do until my eyes landed on the emergency room front desk.
I hurried over to the desk, my eyes filled with panic. Today had been going so good, why oh why had this been happening. When I reached the desk I placed my hands on top of it and looked at the brunet nurse behind the counter.
I asked for my my wife, trying to keep the panic out of my voice but failing. A sad look came over the nurses face, telling me she had been brought in 2 hours ago.
She picked up the phone and paged the emergency room doctor to come to the front desk … I pressed the end button on the computer, ending the phone call. I took off my headset and placed it on the table. 4 hours had passed since the start of my shift, the morning had just flown by. One call had come in after another, keeping me busy.
Finally it was time for lunch! Management didn’t allow us to use our personal phone while we were working so I had stashed it in my pocket and hadn’t looked at it since I started my work day.
As I stretched and got up out of my seat, I took out my phone and headed to the lunch room to grab some lunch…
You have 20 missed calls.
I froze in place, Lucy behind me nearly walking right into me. She complained, but I barely heard her. I looked and looked at my messages
7:30am Christina: I am having sever cramps. I can’t go into work today.
8:30am Christina: I am vomiting something might be wrong…
930am there is blood everywhere! Where are you Mike!
Several calls and messages had been left on my phone, after going through them the last one was from the hospital saying Christina had been admitted and was currently in surgery and that he needed to come immediately.
This was an half an hour ago … I sat down in the waiting room chair, nearly hyperventilating at this point. It seemed like hours had passed since the nurse had called for the doctor.
Finally I saw a doctor come into the waiting room, him asking for Mike.
I sprang up to my feet and hurried over to him. Eagerly waiting to find out what was happening to Christina.
When I finally approached him he looked at me sadly and my heart dropped, I knew what he was going to say.
I am sorry, he said. But your wife had a miscarriage.
I was not one to get emotional, but when I had heard those words, my heart dropped, I nearly fell to the floor. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. We had tried to have a baby for years and when Christina announced she was pregnant we were both ecstatic.
We had names already picked out for our baby girl. She was going to be name Abigail. The nursery had already been painted and decorated. Everything was set up, only 3 months left to go in the pregnancy. … I quickly told my boos that I had an emergency and that I needed to leave. I didn’t really hear his answer, and I really didn’t care. I ran out of the office and got to my car in record time. I started to car and sped out of the parking lot.
I sped all the way to the hospital, calling my wife’s phone over and over again. Only getting her voicemail each and everytime, I am pretty sure I went through a couple of red lights and am surprised I wasn’t stopped for speeding. I just had the worst feeling in the pit of my stomach knowing that when I got to the hospital that the news was not going to be good.
My tires screeched as I pulled up to the emergency room waiting area, turned off the engine and ran up to the doors of the hospital. … After i had finally calmed down enough, the doctor told me that she had just come out of the recovery room and was now resting in a regular room and that I was able to see her.
The walk to the room was not very long, but with each step, time seemed to stretch, seconds seemed to take minutes, minutes seemed to take hours. When I finally reached the door, my hand hovered over the door handle. I could hear the sounds of weeping on the other side.
I finally worked up the courage and opened the door. Christina’s back was towards me, and as I entered the room, she didn’t even turn to look at me. I approached the bed my hands hovering in the air above her body, unsure what to do next.

I was talking to a Colombian girl a few years ago and asked "Que lo que"
I figured since Venezuelans also use the phrase and the country borders Colombia and Caribbean music is the most popular music in hispano America that she would have immediately understood me. Not no mention that since she is living in the US she would have been able to hear many other dialects of Spanish and with her native level of Spanish her comprehension she could just fill in the rest through context.
Instead I got a a disgusted face like I'd just ate a booger in front of her and she said "Why would you-that doesn't even make-- why would you even say that?"
If I take "Que lo que" literally I guess I can interpret it as " that that it is" or "what is it that it is"
I told her it just means "what's up"
She wasn't enthused about me expanding her Spanish vocabulary and still looked like she was mad at me for tricking her into eating a clove XD
What about you guys? Any phrases or words used differently that just didn't make any sense to you? Brazilians that have learned or are learning Spanish feel free to answer too.