Parttime evening jobs

So I’ll start by saying that I live in Japan where the garbage disposal rules are strict, but full of loopholes. One of which I’ve exploited multiple times.
Futon disposal. Normally you would buy a sticker from the convenience store for a designated amount, call the city to tell them what you are disposing, and finally set it out neatly wrapped up for them to collect it on a designated date and time.
Or… you can do what I’ve done the many times I moved and cut the futon up into pieces which can fit in garbage bags and just throw them out like that. The bags themselves only cost a few hundred yen, so even if I used them all I would still save like 500¥ ($5ish).
The first time I did this it took quite some time because I had already packed away the best tools for the job (heavy-duty scissors). But the other times were quick and efficient, so it really was worth the time and effort to save that extra money.
So, fast forward to April this year when I got transferred (a natural and common occurrence in Japanese life. Side note, you haven’t really lived in Japan until you’ve gotten transferred or accidentally walked into the adult section of a Don Quixote) and I’m preparing to use my “life hack” to once again save a few bucks. I was giddy just thinking about what I could spend the extra cash on, possibly a few turns of the Chainsaw Man gatcha gatcha machine?
I was actually carving up TWO futons this day. You see, the apartment was listed as pre-furnished, which fit my transferee lifestyle well, but in my experience they don’t usually come with futons. So before moving in I had one set to be delivered that day. To my surprise, they already had one for me! It was nice for the time I was living there, but now I had twice the work. Oh well, I have my system all set in place, this won’t be any trouble, right?
Oh boy was I wrong. The first futon, the one I bought, went down fine. I cut the fabric, sliced through the seams, and finally the only thing left to do was rip up the foam. Same as I’ve done several times before. Broke a small sweat, but I had plenty of energy to do that again. So far, there have been zero fuck ups. So I crack my knuckles, grab my heavy-duty scissors, guide them to the edge of the futon and I make my first incision.
There was zero resistance. “Nice,” I ignorantly thought to myself. I make a second incision and now… I have massively fucked up. For anyone who has accidentally cut into a down futon, here’s some advice that I wish I had been told prior to this moment; Don’t Panic!
As feathers careened out of the futon I pushed down on the incision. More feathers flew out. I grabbed a handful of feathers and tried desperately to shove them back in. More feathers flew out. So I stopped and let go of everything. Feathers continued to pour out like a waterfall. My whole apartment, and by extension everything still unpacked, was now covered in feathers.
You know how in movies people might get shot and go flying? Or jump from a ten story building into the dumpster and come out unscathed? All of that is now waaaaay more believable to me than anyone having fun in a pillow fight with down pillows. I lost an entire day cleaning that up. I dot know how many feathers were required to make that futon, but if someone told me it was in the millions, I would believe them.
So now I have an amendment to my life hack; To avoid having to pay for your futon to be disposed of in Japan, you can cut it up into pieces which can fit in garbage bags and throw them away as usual… UNLESS it’s a down futon! Just follow the guidelines your municipality has.
TL;DR In an attempt to save money in disposal fees, I cut open down futon, which resulted in my entire apartment being covered in feathers.

I guess even the top Youtubers don't even play much retro games or any game in general, I'm not knocking people but one would think that having no real 9-5 job and have literally the entire day these folks would play more games. I myself am guilty of this btw, I have so many games I sometimes don't even know where to begin.
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https://youtu.be/NIEkQ_zKhos

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u/KieveKRS providing the Trash certification of quality! (with help from u/coldfireknight cuz this one needed it.)
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Nalah affixed the massive shield to her back, the rectangular form large enough for him to fit behind while only needing to crouch slightly. It was mostly ironwood, but the sides and front were metal-plated, so it still weighed a considerable amount. Despite that, the thing’s bulk hardly seemed to be noticed by the blonde-furred female, likely due to the constant construction work she involved herself in. It paired oddly with the long pike she insisted on using, but he couldn’t deny that poking at things while hiding behind a mobile wall sounded like a good idea.
Jax was wearing his new armour, the bulky chest-piece a mirror of his blond-furred pack mate’s. Though he forwent the protection a buckler or likewise would offer, he doubled up on gear. Gauntlets, vambraces, pauldrons, and anything else he could wear to compliment the massive axe he had taken a liking to.
Where Nalah was fitted to look like an apocalypse survivor—her protections limited to her torso, forearms, and shield—the black-furred male resembled a giant, if underfunded, paladin. All he needed now was some religious imagery and a penchant for exalting the qualities of their god. Joseph almost nudged the guy to suggest it for kicks.
On second thought, he decided that Jax absolutely did not need a reason to start yelling about the Human-turned-religious-figure, because there was no way in hell he wouldn’t. There was no telling what he would choose to say, and the Grand Hunter was perfectly happy never knowing.
Having been with the male as long as he had, it would probably involve ‘taming’ females or something else that would leave him groaning for weeks, if not just contemplating another high-dive from the cliff.
Joseph fixed his own equipment, the ‘Wraith armour’ worn over his own thin iron breastplate. He wasn’t thrilled to wear the extra weight, but it beat being mauled by the thing they were heading out to kill. The trips so far had been tolerable, fog and overcast skies keeping the temperature in check, but he didn’t want to go out in this on a hotter day as Summer really kicked back in. He was sweaty enough without baking inside all this crap.
He adjusted the wolf-skull mask, the rest of the hunting party having gotten over the worst of the unease it gave them. Though they’d needed to rotate people out for the sake of fairness, this would be their eighth consecutive scouting. Using the information that Raine and Faye provided, they narrowed down a likely stomping grounds for the creature and were systematically clearing sectors. It might have been discouraging to keep looking after so long, but the occasional marking on trees and the odd moss-wolf corpse tipped them off that they were getting close. There was still another week’s worth of searching left if today wasn’t the day, but somehow he doubted they wouldn’t need that long.
All in all, they numbered six; larger parties were attempted, but their efforts at stealth quickly became pointless between so many trudging through the forest and stopping for breaks. There was a bit of a scare where one of Mi’low’s pack went missing, but the guy had just stopped to relieve himself. Since the discovery was made by someone else knocking him over in the process by mistake, they decided that keeping the number smaller made communication easier. And lowered the amount of grumbling about needing a bath.
Jax, Nalah, two security members, one of the hunters, and him. Sure, grabbing Tel or the Wraiths would have been a bit more useful for cohesion, but they were all busy with things, and he didn’t want to grind everything in the settlement to a halt for nothing if the search turned up empty again. They were more suited to taking out their fellow Lilhun than some monster in the woods, as much as he disliked the thought.
Scarlet was spending a lot of time with Violet and the new Atmo, Faye was spending much of her recovery with the moss-wolves and moss-pup, and Tel was in the process of helping Harrow shore up the few security members that were slated to become snipers. Kaslin was still learning chemistry with Toril, and Raine was helping whoever needed a hand, so that marked off all of his usual accompaniment. He could have taken more of his direct pack, but they all had important things to take care of as well.
Sahari was managing the pack and putting people where people needed to be put, Pan was working with Idee and Heralt to make a line of armour for the whole pack, and Mi’low was...well, Mi’low. He was pretty sure she was unofficially the master of the hunter’s lodge and spent most of her time keeping track of what came in and out of it, while also making sure that everyone got their fair share. It needed to be done with the settlement growing as much as it had, and it kept Mi’low busy enough to stymie the flow of complaints, so he wasn’t about to complain.
They double checked that they had everything that was needed; food, water, arrows, bolts, and some bags to store anything that the snares had caught on the way back. Four ranged and two melee weapons meant that they would be mostly using Jax and Nalah to soak hits if it came down to it, the others peppering it with projectiles. Given that Harrow was insistent on the bear-thing being resistant to anything they could use at a distance, they also carried spare weapons for the ranged users, just in case. Nodding, Joseph gestured to the group finishing up their preparations for the day’s trip.
“A moment, sir?” Scarlet called to him as she approached the gate, the Wraith flanked by Rose and Cobalt. The two Atmo were decked-out in their own armour, which appeared to be almost entirely metal, save for the palm lining the inside for comfort. Each of their six legs were adorned with broad shields, their bases capped off with a flat storage carriage. They looked like someone had a little too much fun testing how much the insects could effortlessly carry and had ended up with sapient hexapedal tanks.
“Only if you explain why those two would look more at home if they had cannons installed on their backs,” he quipped, an expression somewhere between surprised, amused, and plain dumbfounded plastered on his face. The blackish red-furred female smirked for a split-second before resuming her usual servile presentation.
“The young mistress had extended her request for these two to accompany you.”
Joseph tilted his head incredulously. “Violet told you to send them?”
Scarlet nodded, gesturing to the outfitted Atmo. “They have been under her tutelage for some time now, and wish to be of assistance.”
The Grand Hunter snapped his mouth closed when he was about to ask why his daughter would teach them anything that might be useful for fighting a deadly beast. Of course she did; It was one of the first things he did for her. It would have been weirder for her not to pass on what she knew after all the hours she spent either seeing him coach the others, or being coached herself. With the time she had under her belt, she was the local Atmo Close Quarters Combat specialist, and no one else understood how the modified boxing she learned worked with their bodies like she did.
He wore a hesitant expression, shifting his weight to his other leg. “Well, they’ve certainly geared up.”
“It is a product our smith is rather proud of,” the Wraith affirmed confidently.
He exhaled slowly. “Seems a bit much.”
She seemed to be expecting the remark, barely pausing to register what he said before responding. “Your kit wishes you safe, yet understands you would not allow her to accompany you. These two wish to be of assistance.”
To punctuate her point, the two nodded in agreement, walking forward and slinging some of the backpacks onto their carriages. It seemed ‘no’ wasn’t something they were going to accept after Violet had said her piece. He sighed, conceding that they wouldn’t slow the party down with everyone carrying so much weight in equipment, regardless of the bags. They took breaks frequently enough to accommodate the Atmo, so that wouldn’t hinder anything either.
“Fine,” he relented with a wave of his hand. “We’ll take them. Not like they’d hurt anyway. But–” He put a warning into his tone. “–they’re not playing the hero and getting themselves killed. This isn’t going to work if they think any of us dying is still a net positive, got it?”
The two Atmo mimed their understanding, Scarlet replying with a victorious smile. Joseph couldn’t help but bemusedly roll his eyes. The female had taken rather well to baby-sitting, and that seems to have extended to humouring the young Queen’s schemes now. It wasn’t an unwelcome addition to their little sojourn. At least they could haul back any larger game without it tacking hours onto the return trip.
He thanked Scarlet for her trouble before dismissing her, confirming with the group that everything was accounted for, and set off before it grew too late. He wasn’t looking to get caught out in the woods during the night. The Lilhuns might be fine, but he was pretty well blind unless the moon felt generous.
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Jax watched the two Atmo quietly follow on the sides of the group, their heavily armoured forms posing no issues with their naturally soundless movements in the forest. In the den, they would make moderate clacks and clicks as their chitinous legs contacted the ground, but the soft dirt and foliage stifled all but the smallest report of their travel. With Scarlet supervising alongside Violet, he wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that the former Blade had influenced their movement with the goal in mind, though he had never paid much attention to how they walked before to compare.
He had to admit, having them carry the additional equipment was exceedingly useful. He had proposed having the group use the newly acquired platforms on their more arachnid-like abdomen to rest in shifts, but Joseph was quick to insist that the insects were of lesser stamina than even Lilhuns. The phrasing seemed like a comparative insult, but Jax had more than enough experience with the Human to know that he had simply spoken his mind. To him, everyone had sub-par stamina. Training had gone some way to remedy the discrepancy, but the Grand Hunter could still continue for longer than even the most well-conditioned of them.
The black-furred male rolled his shoulders, feeling the heft of his axe shift with the movement. It was an impressive size, the weight well-balanced and its edge sharp. He had once laid it to the ground out of curiosity and confirmed that it was about as tall as Pan from head to haft, though only if she stood to her full height. Regardless of its size, it was still lighter than the armour he chose to don.
Having only really worn leathers or a few sets of ironwood protections, the encumbering prominence of the iron equipment took getting used to. It wasn’t entirely restrictive, but did put a damper on any chances he had of sprinting from danger. That was fine, he supposed, since he was wearing it against a beast he had no experience with. It could very well outrun him regardless, and he would rather have the defences in either case.
Nalah seemed to be doing fine, the large barrier she kept on her back swaying slightly as she walked. She was unhindered by it, her movements barely affected by the bulk, which was reassuring. Joseph, however, seemed to be panting more than usual, the rolling cloud coverage easing as the sun progressively warmed the environment. The fog from earlier meant that it was rather humid, and that seemed to bore no well wishes for the male encased in dark leathers and thick plates. He had even flipped down his hood, the sweat beading on his skin adding a sheen to his visage.
“I liked this better when the sun didn’t exist,” the Human lamented quietly, just loud enough for Jax to hear. The black-furred male chuckled.
“It would be rather dark.”
Joseph glared at him for a moment before rolling his eyes. “I just don’t rank ‘heavily armoured hike through the woods’ high up on my list of things I want to do regularly.”
“I believe that list would be occupied by your mates, no?” he ribbed playfully, a smirk arising when the Grand Hunter shunted his eyes closed in a grimace.
“I hate you.”
“I can see your smile underneath your displeasure, Joseph,” Jax quipped, nudging the male with his elbow, then giving an apologetic smile when his friend almost fell. Joseph sighed, waving Cobalt over and fetching a water-skin from the luggage that the insect was ferrying without breaking stride—though he needed to be careful not to get stepped on.
The Atmo always amused Jax. Be it their passive demeanour hidden by their towering stature, or his interactions with the den-kit, they never failed to be curious people. Having the two that accompanied Volta with them was an unexpected development, but he couldn’t claim to disapprove. If they had been imparted the methods of combat that Violet had cultivated, then there was little worry of them being harmed by naught but perhaps their current target. At least not until there was a better reference of its strength than the single encounter the first-years had so long ago.
At the time, it had smashed pillars and pierced flesh effortlessly, claws proving to be little more than tempting ministrations of tender touch to the thick hide. Jax only had some of the pack’s recount to base the experience off of, but was content to take their word for it. He was, ashamedly, preoccupied taking care of baser needs when the event transpired, so he was woefully unprepared for the eventual encounter. Still, he was afforded the best the settlement had to offer so that he might serve his duty of protecting the Grand Hunter. Harrow would never forgive him if only he returned.
His thoughts were disturbed by Joseph calling for a rest, Jax’s legs thankful for the break from supporting the unusual weight for so long. The Human dispensed rations and water for the pack, the Atmo waiting until everyone else was supplied before accepting their portion. They rested on their base directly, instead of curling their legs beneath them like Jax had become accustomed. Perhaps the armour impeded such, or they wished to remain mobile in the event such was required. Regardless, they blocked what little breeze there was, forcing the Grand Hunter to walk beyond them to enjoy it in the shade. It was short-lived however, as Rose quickly repositioned to stay between the pack and whatever lay beyond their protections.
It was a futile effort, it seemed, because it repeated again twice before Joseph groaned loudly and threw himself atop the carriage to lay back, his legs dangling at the knee. He seemed perfectly content with the unorthodox arrangement, snorting his amusement along with a muttered comment about a ‘taxi.’
The entertaining sight was marred by a distant yelp, snapping the group to attention. Jax and Joseph traded looks, subtle nods and gestures given to move out while remaining quiet. Ignoring his earlier complaints, the Grand Hunter flicked his hood up and donned the mask, drawing his crossbow and readying a bolt. The hunter of the pack mimicked the preparation, the two security members loosely nocking their arrows while Rose, Cobalt, Jax, and Nalah took point.
They proceeded quietly for far longer than the proximity of the noise would have suggested, but marks and gashes upon the trees implied a moving conflict. Thoughts of it being a lost cause quickly became moot as a closer growl and bark shattered the careful silence they had been maintaining.
Motioning for the pack to stop, Joseph waved Jax forward, Nalah approaching the other side. Using the large shield as additional cover, they peered around a particularly thick tree. Locked in combat were two moss-wolves, both attacking a truly massive grey creature.
Twice the Human’s height, half that in width. Four pillars as legs—the muscular trunks sinewy and defined—supported the disturbing hunched figure, the wide base tapering slightly into a thick and extended torso. A singular eye-stalk replaced the head, the ocular organ atop it pitch black and free of any indication of its focus. Four arms with deadly claws parried and sliced the two yellow beasts as they attempted to drive off the predator, a sickeningly large maw gaping to catch any attempts at a lunge. The mouth of the creature almost occupied the entirety of the available surface area upon its front, the jagged bone tools of manduction undulating with the promise of sustenance.
Joseph pulled them back, cursing under his breath as he tried to fight off the tension. From Nalah’s worried expression, it seemed his caution was rather potent, the other members of the group smelling his reaction as well.
“So, what’s the plan, Jax?” the Human whispered, his grip on the crossbow alternating with his fingers stretching across the trigger lest his fidgeting cause a misfire.
“I thought that, with your record, you would wish to tame it for the settlement,” Jax replied while thinking through a plan of action. He was glad that his friend trusted him, but he wished he had known the true scale of the beast prior. Joseph grit his teeth, turning to glance past the tree again with sarcasm pouring out of his response.
“Can’t quite see Winnie-the-woodchipper there playing great with kids.”
“You say that after adopting an Atmo as kit, Grand Hunter,” he returned, nodding to himself when a plan formed. The Human smiled, the banter easing the tension somewhat. “Rose, Cobalt, you two are the most well defended of us. Circle around and drive the beast this way. You should be capable of such without noise, yes?”
The two insects nodded, emptying their luggage behind a tree so as not to lose any of it before disappearing into the trees. The slight glimmer of their iron armour was the only indication of their position through the dense forest. Jax hoped that the beast was not particularly curious about the dimly pulsing glare, nor finished with its current altercation in time to impede the pair.
Satisfied with their progress, he motioned for the two security members to scale a tree and gain a superior vantage point. Their weapons would be able to maintain a more rapid pace of sustained fire at longer ranges. Joseph and the hunter were instructed to hide behind trees nearby, though the Human would need to remain grounded as his lack of claws made scaling the large flora difficult with his equipment.
Finally, Nalah and he positioned themselves much closer, in order to flank the creature as it fled the Atmo and occupy it long enough for the others to bleed it out, if not outright dispose of it.
With the forms of the Atmo peeking through the brush opposite them, Jax raised his axe to signal the start.
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Joseph felt the hammering in his chest, his heart preparing him to fight for his life against the walking abomination that easily outclassed the only other predator that he had experience with. Sure, the moss-wolves were easy to take down once you had equipment and a plan, but that thing screamed danger.
He watched Jax and Nalah set up behind thick trees, their goal being for Jax to hopefully disable a leg or two with the war-axe while Nalah occupied it with the shield. As the two strongest members of his little family, he trusted both to do their job.
As a clusterfuck of animal and torture device, he had no faith in the creature playing along.
Swallowing his hesitation, he adjusted his grip on the crossbow again, mentally tallying his shots and cursing himself for not researching explosives. Sure, Toril didn’t want to be involved in that kind of weapon, but at the moment, the tailless white-furred male could suck it up and make one anyway. Joseph would give his left nut to see how quickly the chemist would make weapons of mass destruction just to annihilate whatever that thing called home.
Jax raised his axe, glinting the sunlight of it towards the Atmo. Receiving the start signal, the two clicked and loosed a deafening screech, the Human’s ears ringing even from this distance.
The beast seemed unperturbed by the noise, though the lack of visible ears may have had something to do with the lacklustre effect. Regardless, it did notice the two armour-clad insects charging at it, and smartly decided to extradite itself from the area. The moss-wolves, however, didn’t quite get the memo, mistaking the advancing assistance as yet another foe to defend themselves from.
He had to say, Violet taught the two well. They flashed their blades out in the same flicker jab that he had shown his daughter, and with an unceremonious squelch, the two bisected canines landed in four pieces, a vibrant green ichor now staining the weapon-like appendages of the Atmo. Undeterred by their first act of violence—as far as he was aware, anyway—they continued herding the beast.
It wasn’t as fast as they might have feared, its quadrupedal gait hindered by its proportions, but it was still quick enough to be damn intimidating. Its arms acted as a counter balance, constantly adjusting this way and that just to keep it stable. That thing was clearly never meant for sprinting, all its mobility being given to the overactive maw that pulsated with the exertion.
He readied his crossbow, the shaking in his hands not ruining his aim against such a large target. He eyeballed the distance between the creature and the ambush point, forcibly moving his finger off the trigger so that he didn’t fire early.
Closer. Come on. Almost.
Now.
Jax wound up like a particularly enthusiastic lumberjack, putting his full body into the rotation. The massive axe swung like a horizontal pendulum striking home with all the finality of a clock tolling midnight. It bit into the front leg of the beast, only sinking a few inches before momentum nearly wretched the weapon from the black-furred male. Luckily, the force and timing was enough to trip it, the creature crashing to the forest floor with a deafening roar of pain.
They could hurt it. That made him feel better.
His relief evaporated as the beast swiftly recovered, hauling itself from the ground faster than he thought possible, but his archers took it for an unspoken signal. Arrows and bolts peppered its thick hide, to no effect—it shrugged off the projectiles like they were nothing more than pine needles, none sinking far enough to gain notable purchase.
Jax hefted his axe for another strike, careful not to over-commit this time. Nalah prodded the beast wherever she could with her pike, the melee weapon sliced and skewered just past the surface of the hide, though not enough to do more than marr. It was, however, enough to gain the attention of the target, the creature swinging two of its four arms to rake across the shield that the blond-furred female held. The iron plating across the front let out an unearthly shriek as claws ripped and crumpled the metal.
Well, fuck.
Nalah was quick to react, treating the shield less as an immovable barrier and more like a slight distance buffer, dodging in and out of range to steal jabs with the polearm. The security members nocked another volley, picking different targets than before. An arrow bounced harmlessly off the black orb of an eye, another finding purchase in what passed for gums in its mouth.
The hint was received; aim for the mouth. Thankfully, that was a large target. Less thankfully, it realized that flashing its teeth was detrimental to its health, slamming the maw closed.
Jax managed another swing, this time into one of the rear legs. It wasn’t as effective as the first strike, but it did warrant a sweeping double back-fist from the creature, scoring Jax’s armour with shallow claw marks as he jumped backwards. Joseph let out a breath as he fired his second shot, only just narrowly missing the sliver of a gap between razor teeth that the enraged attack afforded. It couldn’t keep its mouth shut forever, each frenzied swipe pulling its form enough for glimpses of softer flesh within to appear. The hunter dropped from their tree, darting across to reposition for a wider angle to capitalize on. The creature noticed, lunging forward to eviscerate the easier target.
Joseph blinked as two armoured figures jumped in front of the Lilhun, raising their blades in a tight guard to block the four arms grabbing for a quick meal. The beast recoiled with a thunderous screech, two of its appendages sporting deep gashes that fountained blood, while the others managed to impact above the edged outside of the blades. Rose and Cobalt pressed forward, buying time and space for the hunter to collect themselves and scale up another perch. Taking advantage of its pain, two new arrows ripped through the air, smacking into exposed inner flesh. Two new protrusions joined the first in the mouth, one landing next to the existing projectile, while the other cleared the gateway of serration, driving deeply inside of it.
More flicker jabs and extended straights pushed and cut the beast as it tried to gain distance from the two that wounded it, every retaliatory strike earning it another gash in its grey hide.. Unencumbered by the constant barrage, Nalah thrust into its legs more vigorously, her body leaning into each attack to gain every inch of penetration she could into the muscle and thick hide.
Jax used the chance to score another chopping blow, doubling down on a previous wound to a back leg—striking bone this time, based on the unholy wail the beast uttered. Joseph raised his crossbow to land another shot into its mouth, but the beast flailed wildly to fend off the ambush.
Rose managed to block, Jax lunged backwards, Nalah deflected most of it with what remained of her shield, but Cobalt was caught by a strike, taking the hit to its torso. The Atmo flew backwards, rolling when it landed, the carriage and assorted armoured plates trailing behind it. Rose shifted instantly, covering the direction that their companion had been sent while Jax and Nalah focused on pulling the beast away from the downed combatant.
Joseph’s eyes flicked to the Atmo, waging an internal battle on whether helping the insect would be better or worse for the situation as a whole. He didn’t want to lighten up their assault if it would just mean more injuries, but Cobalt could be in dire need for a patch job. It was hard to tell from where he was.
Cursing, he bolted from his spot, firing off one last round into the gaping maw before clipping the crossbow onto his armour and sliding on his knees in front of Cobalt, healroot hastily retrieved from his pocket.
He paused, sighing in relief when none of the armour bore more than deep gashes, the carapace underneath unblemished by the attack. Cobalt clicked lightly, dazed, but otherwise seeming unhurt. Unlearned in the physiology relevant, he ushered the Atmo to remain out of the fight for fear of concussion or something similar. They could look at the insect back at the base to be sure later.
“Joseph!”
His head spun around at both Jax and Nalah screaming his name, a massive clawed hand sweeping at him—the monster's approach unnoticed while he focused on Cobalt. Lacking a better option, he lunged forward towards the underside of the beast to dodge the swipe, crashing to his shoulder on the dirt below.
The creature raised a leg above Joseph, pounding the earth scant inches from his head as he rolled sideways. Ignoring the kicked up dirt, he brought his fist to the underside of the beast, flicking the release on his bracer.
Blood spouted from the newly formed wound, the blade breaking at the mechanism as the massive animal lurched in pain, Joseph rolling out of the way of another attempted trampling. He scrambled to his feet, feeling the wind of another strike narrowly missing him.
Yeah, that would probably kill him.
Luckily, the injuries renewed the desire to flee in the monstrosity, the group of attackers proving too dangerous to continue challenging. It stumbled away from them, sparing Cobalt from its panicked trudging. Jax and Nalah started to run towards him, worry evident in their eyes, but he barked for them to finish it, redirecting the two to keep the pressure going. He didn’t want to mention the pain in the arm from where the bracer hitched. It didn’t feel broken, and thus was irrelevant.
Pressure applied, the grey beast picked a random direction free of opponents to escape, ignorant of the waiting security. When it was too close for them to shoot into its mouth at a decent angle, they slung the bows over their shoulders and drew the swords they had been afforded, patiently waiting with the blades turned down.
It passed below them, the two Lilhuns dropping from the branches to put their full weight into the plunging blades. Both landed on the large target, one sword sinking deep into a shoulder, while the other managed to pierce one of its hip joints. The beast spun haphazardly to dislodge the ‘new’ threats, both security members kicking off and finding new trees to set up in.
Whatever damage was actually done, it had lost the use of an arm, and its gait shifted awkwardly as the blade lodged in its hip worked more harm with each shambling step.. Emboldened, Jax picked up the pace, struggling to position himself with the amount of metal he wore. Ducking another swipe of its claws, he saw his chance and swung, pivoting with his axe as a counter weight. For the third time, his axe blade found the wound in its leg, adding a sickening crunch as the bone snapped from the impact.
The creature swung wildly, forced to favour its two remaining good legs, and the only other leg that could still support at least some of its weight. It was unstable now, the hunched figure swaying while unmoving. Unable to run, it decided to go down with as many of them as it could.
Rose caught up with the attack, drawing attention from the comparatively squishy Nalah as the blond-furred female deflected a wayward swing with her shield. The once iron-plated ironwood now sporting little more than jagged scraps of metal atop its silver wooden structure, a series of deep gouges marring the surface. Two lunging thrusts with the pike bit flesh, drawing new blood from the beast.
Joseph loaded his crossbow, getting off two bolts, but not managing to keep it steady enough to hit anything of use, his arm faltering under the weight of the weapon. Cursing, he decided to flank the beast and try his luck with the other bracer. If nothing else, the force in which the blade deployed was enough to pierce the thick hide, and the others were doing a good job of distracting it.
The red armoured Atmo let loose a series of directed swings, the fifth severing an arm in motion, the flying appendage forcing Nalah to raise her shield to block the unorthodox projectile. The female was sent sprawling from the weight of the impact, but the beast was too busy voicing its agony to take advantage of it. Jax worked another two chops into the broad legs, but neither managed to incapacitate it any more, and the prolonged exertion was slowing his reflexes.
As if cued into his waning energy, the beast flung Jax with another strike, the hunter of the group sinking a bolt deep into the cavernous flesh of its mouth to prevent an attempt at following up.
Joseph roared, desperate to finish it off before the creature could do the same to his downed pack. He sprinted at the monster's back and slid underneath it with as much speed as he could muster. Throwing his fist into the passing undercarriage, he let the deployed blade leave a long gash in its wake.
The grey monster lost its ability to stand, torn tendons, blood loss, and inflicted injuries taking their toll. The Grand Hunter kicked off his knees to fling himself out of the way of the collapsing figure, grimacing as the remaining bracer proved unable to support the abuse he had put it through. He looked back at the beast, the flailing body failing to right itself as teeth did little more than gouge dirt, its back exposed. Rose approached, raising their blades together and plunging it through the body over and over until it stopped moving.
Exhausted, the Atmo dropped where it was, breathing heavily. Joseph’s instinct to yell their victory was delayed as he hurried over to Jax and Nalah to confirm he didn't need to bring back bad news. Nalah seemed fine, if a bit sore from hitting the dirt and rolling, while Jax just asked to lay down when he heard that everything was over. Cobalt came over to the group, the armour that had come off collected atop the carriage it had managed to loosely affix to its base.
It was light, a chuckle originating from the Human as he slumped to the ground against a tree, but soon the entire group was roaring with laughter as victory settled in their minds. The two security members helped the hunter begin disassembling the beast, their contribution to the fight leaving them with more energy than the rest. They hadn’t been slacking off, that much was certain. The number of arrows jammed into the maw of the thing would have guaranteed a few extra seconds of survival and chances to escape if one of them had been forcibly tossed into there, and it had caused enough pause for the rest of them to get in a few hits up close.
Joseph rested across from Jax and Nalah, letting his heart rate slow from the rapid pace it had been pinned to since the start of the conflict. His arm continued its protests, but from the amount of movement he still had, he guessed that he had just strained the elbow. A few days taking it easy should straighten that right up.
Once the active members were about half way through processing the creature for hide and meat, Cobalt approached him, a mimed request for assistance putting their armour back on being redirected to Nalah since he doubted he could lift the damn pieces without hurting himself at the moment. She obliged, getting the blue Atmo back in full attire, though it took a while.
Rose stood first, stopping over to allow the hunter to place collected bits and pieces onto the carriage before securing it with whatever they could make due. A security member gathered the moss-wolf corpses for a similar treatment. Waste not, want not, he supposed.
Rose ended up carrying most of their spoils. When he was about to ask why, he, Jax, and Nalah were dragged to Cobalt and hefted onto the carriage. A series of confused questions revealed that the rest wanted to head back before it started getting dark, and it was pretty obvious who was the most exhausted of them. Lacking the will or energy to argue it, he flopped back on the Atmo as the trees passed them by, Nalah resting her legs across him as her head sat on Jax’s lap. The black-furred male didn’t so much as smirk, so it was clear he had pushed himself too far to quip about the arrangement as he laid down.
“The next time you wish to exhaust me this much, Joseph,” the Head of Security started after a long while of silence, tiredness in his voice, “I would prefer it to involve my mate and a bed.”
The Human snorted, closing his eyes and enjoying the lack of walking as the surprisingly stable Atmo carried the three of them. “Fuck off, Jax.”
“Of course, Grand Hunter.”
Next
A/N: Patreon is fixed!... aka new one cuz problems with the last. Check it out to support the story, get AI character art every now and then, or even preview sections of chapters as i write them! (aka, before kieve gets to fix them :D)

Hey guys, me and this girl are both in our late 20s and have known each other for almost 3 years. We met on a dating app a long time ago and even though we hung out a few times, things didn’t really pan out. We kept in touch here and there, but it wasn’t until about 5 months ago that we reconnected and have been talking basically non-stop since then. 3 months ago we went on our real first date and have had a few more since then. We talk every day, our convos are usually text message. Don’t really call each other, but we will send voice messages sometimes. She is pretty busy with her job during the week and I run multiple businesses. She’s Asian, has only been in the US for 6 years, slightly on the conservative side, and a little nerdy as she works in tech. For whatever reason I think she’s beautiful on the outside and inside and am quite attracted to her. After our first date, our text convos became more detailed and exciting. We would share everything and ask questions to learn about each other, use hugs and kiss emojis, etc etc. We have a pet name for each other and say good morning and good night everyday without fail. Even if some days we are too busy to get back to each other, one of us always texts good night. You know how it goes. If you read our history of messages, you would think “they are definitely into each other”. Anyway, we just had our 4th date in the last 3 months. It’s been about a week and a half since then. The last two times we met up, we held hands during some portions of our time together. I wanted to kiss her on the third date since I saw all the signs, but I wussed out and instead gave her a kiss on the cheek, which she reciprocated back to me. After the 4th date, I dropped her off and we were sitting in my car just talking and laughing about stuff for 30 minutes. I grabbed some gum and started chewing it and she saw me and did the same. She started holding my hand and I said we should go home it’s late and went in for a hug. As I hugged her I slowly moved my lips to hers. She hesitated a bit so I pulled back and said “I’ve been wanting to kiss you for a while, is that okay?” She said yes. So I went back in for the kiss, our lips barely touched for 2 seconds when she pulls back and says “oh I almost forgot I got you something, let me grab it from upstairs, just wait in your car for 5 minutes.” so she leaves to grab the gift. I’m sitting there confused like did I do something wrong? It definitely wasn’t my breath cause I take care of my shit, not to mention I used mouthwash after dinner and chewed gum all day even up until I kissed her. So she comes back down to my drivers side door, I step outside, she hands me my gift. It wasn’t anything extravagant or wrapped up. Just a little kitchen gadget she bought two of and wanted to give me one. I thanked her and we hugged. Thought about maybe trying to kiss her again, but I still felt kind of awkward. Our hug lasted for almost 2 minutes though! We just didn’t let go of each other. It felt really nice. Once we pulled apart, she told me I smelled really good. After that, I get in my car to leave. My window was open so she starts holding my hand through the window and slowly lets go before saying bye almost like she didn’t want to. And that was that. The issue I’m having is that she’s being a bit more distant in our messages. Taking longer to respond, not bringing up as many topics. She will still share photos of food and send random videos and stuff, but it doesn’t feel as engaging as it was before the last date. This past week and a half I have noticed this behavior. She will still always text good morning and good night with the hearts and kiss emojis and use our pet names, but some days we only share a few texts back and forth in between. Sometimes I’ll bring up a topic and her response will be super short compared to mine. She also compliments me less. Mainly I’ve noticed that sometimes she won’t respond for 4-8 hours, though she always does. This started happening literally the next day after our date. It’s not like really bad since we still connect with each other every day, but there is definitely a difference or else I wouldn’t be asking for advice here. The first few days I pretended everything was fine and was still being my usual self. We didn’t talk about the kiss at all. Then I just started mirroring her because I didn’t want to come off as needy or desperate. Once I did that a few times, I’d get a double text from her. Or I would just get a goodnight text before she went to sleep. So what gives? I’m confused. Is she still interested? Is she playing hard to get? You think she’s just busy? Does she want me to chase her? Does she want me to ask her on another date again? I’d love to see her more than every 3 weeks, but I don’t wanna come off as needy or pushy since we are both busy people. Maybe since she’s foreign and a bit conservative, that was her first kiss and she feels confused herself about trusting me and wants to take it slow? Even if that’s the case, I don’t mind at all. I’m into her a lot and would be as patient as she wants. Maybe she didn’t want to kiss and felt I forced it? But she also gave me an affectionate and long hug afterwards and held my hand like it was a romance movie. What do y’all think? I know this is getting long, but I’m almost done. Some more context here. She never expects me or asks me to pay on dates. She tries to pay every time, even though I always say no and insist I will and would be happy to do so. On our last date, she paid the check while I was in the bathroom and I didn’t realize it until I came back. She’s a good woman for sure. And lastly, on Sunday after we texted good morning, she mentioned what she was doing that day and going shopping. I responded back and said that I need to buy a new shirt but maybe next week since I was busy that day. She didn’t respond back until midnight, but to her credit she did reply to each thing I had mentioned before she said goodnight. Referring to the shirt, she said “definitely show me the new shirt! Or we can go together if possible”. I got back to her in the morning and said that yeah I’d really like that. Didn’t ask her formally yet but planning to do so tomorrow. Here is what I had in mind: “Kimmy, how do you feel about Sunday? You can help me pick out a new shirt and maybe some new sunglasses. We can also go check out the Buddhist temple you mentioned last week. I’ve never seen one in person before. Something else that has been on my mind. I hope I didn’t make you feel weird or awkward when I kissed you that other night. I was quite nervous. And you looked so cute and pretty as you always do. I did it with good intentions and because I felt something special with you. I really like spending time with you, exploring new places together, and learning more about each other. I’m not the type of person to move fast with this kind of things, so if you ever feel weird, you can tell me “no” and I promise I won’t take it personally. I just wanted to communicate it to you since it has been on my mind. I feel it’s important to be open, especially since I care about you a lot.” If you read all that, you’re awesome and I could really use some advice. What should I do? Am I just worrying for no reason here? Should I talk about the kiss when asking her to get together on the weekend? Should I bring it up in person? Or even at all? TLDR: Talking with a girl every day for 5 months, started taking it more serious 3 months ago. We clearly like each other and have been on multiple dates. She’s foreign and a bit conservative. A bit nerdy too as she works in tech. I am a business owneentrepreneur. Every previous date has been great and fun and we had our 4th date recently and when I tried kissing her in the car after dropping her off, she pulled back a bit so then I asked if it was okay to kiss her? She said yes, so I kissed her, we barely touched lips for 2 seconds when she pulls back and says she has a gift for me and runs upstairs to get it. As I sit there awkwardly confused, she comes back, gives me a small gift, we hug. Hug is super tight and lasts for almost 2 minutes, just holding each other and not letting go. Didn’t try kissing her again. As I’m about to leave she holds my hand for a few seconds before letting go slowly and saying bye. Up until that night our conversations have always been very engaging and she’s pretty quick to reply. We always say good night and good morning every day without fail and use pet names and hearts and kiss emojis. Next day after date and for this past week and a half, she’s less engaging in convos. Doesn’t text back as quick - sometimes 4-8 hours, doesn’t reply as detailed, and won’t initiate as much as she used to. But she still mentioned a few days ago that we should hang out. It’s not all bad because we still talk every day and she says good night and good morning the same way every day with the hearts and kisses. But I feel it’s different. What do you think and what should I do?

My pronouns: he/she/they His pronouns: he/him Hi all, this is my first post relating to relationship topics. I usually like to keep my private life, well, private. This all started 4 months ago. At the time, I (22) had just escaped a toxic family situation by moving 1,400 miles from my family to move in with my now ex(23). I had known him for 2 years before we started dating, and we had been long distance for the first month and a half of the relationship. For context, we had both agreed on 50/50 with everything, seeing as we both had similar financial situations and would be able to pay half on everything at the time. After I had moved with the help of my best friend, I started to brush off quite a lot of things that weren't disclosed to me before I moved. Examples of this is as follows: Quitting his job a day after I had moved in, while saying they had cut his hours drastically and he had been wanted to quit for weeks. (He had no backup plan and proceeded to not look for another job for 3 months) The apartment itself was filthy, when he had stated multiple times before that he was going to clean before I got there. (I ended up cleaning for the whole 4 months before the breakup) The roommate that was sharing the apartment at the time that I moved was supposed to move out in the next month, and they kept postponing it for another 3 months, and never gave either of us a reason. (not his fault, but the roommate was his cousin, and he made no effort to even ask why it took that long, just went with their excuses) After the first month of this, I was already conflicted with how I felt. I was also going through a lot of mental healing and bad habit breaking of my own, seeing as my family had made me a doormat most of my life, which is why I didn't stand my ground for the first few months. In the 4 months that I had been there, I had cycled through 3 jobs. (I was trying to find higher paying positions and was having shitty luck until very recently) And in that time I would bring up how tight money was, and how his mom had to help him with his half of rent the whole time because he just did odd jobs for his family or friends to get money for food and nothing else. The only response I got out of him was "I'm looking for jobs, I just need to be picky because I'm not tech savvy and every place has a system I need to learn" or "I applied to 5 today, they just aren't calling me" and many other excuses. After 4 long months, 2 mental breakdowns, and my best friend talking me through all of it, I broke up with him. He took it surprisingly well, and didn't even fight it. I broke down during the conversation because the mental stress of it all was exhausting and I couldn't hold it in any longer. He hugged me and said things like, "I know I've been shitty, it's not your fault that I didn't take care of you." and "It's your decision, I know you are trying to better yourself, it's not your fault." It was genuinely very sweet and the most peaceful break up I've ever had. After that we seemed to go back to being really good friends, even joking with each other a mere 30 mins after the break up. Since we were planning on moving to another apartment, he said that if I would like to keep the current apartment, he would move to the new one at the start of next month. (its the same rent, just in a neighboring town) So far he has been very helpful planning wise, and seems to be taking it far better than I am, even though I can see he is hurting. Did I break it off too soon? Am I cruel for not giving him another chance to improve? I'm very conflicted here, even though my friend group says I did the right thing. Please help.

Intro
Hello. My name is Jeremy, and I’m just an average guy looking for love (please don’t tell my wife). I enjoy long dogs on the beach, good food and music, and independent game development, so for the last 3 years (jesus has it really been that long) I’ve been directing a little indie organization called All Fights Reserved to help organize a new game concept called "Outside". We are currently looking to bring on some new developers to help build our website portal.
About the project
Outside is a “serious game” that solves real world problems while being breathtakingly fun (often literally). Outside creates a videogame-like experience in the real world that encourages ‘indoorsy’ folks to venture out into the real world and meet people IRL, make new friends and become part of a great community while also exploring their interests and becoming more physically fit. In doing so, we chip away at the problems of technology isolation and the degradation of third places in our society that leave people feeling disconnected and unfulfilled. Our goal is to create a fun game that fills these voids for people who love fantasy, games, and quiet, cozy hobbies.
Outside offers many ways to play, ranging from shooting Nerf blasters to reading to cooking to birdwatching. Players of all skill levels and physical abilities can participate by engaging in close quarters combat, magic, healing, spying and more. Whether it’s origami, photography or juggling, we find a way to make you an Athlete at it in our competitive sport. Outside also tells a fantastic alternate reality story in which a 24/7 interactive campaign allows players to collaborate in the biggest choose-your-own-adventure game the world has ever seen. We’re not just playing against each other--in the grand scheme of things, we’re all on the same time. Our core game system has been playtested and received extremely well and people are overwhelmingly supportive of what we're doing. You can learn more about our game on our draft Announcement Website and Wiki:
Announcement Website
Wiki
Player Linktree
Questions and confusion are normal – these are drafts and we’re still developing media that effectively shows the game! I’m happy to answer your questions.
About Us
We are a diverse group of nerds who love all sorts of fun and games. We want to create opportunities for people to step away from the screen once in a while and have fun with people in real life. Our skills range from development, design, planning and art. We come from areas all over…We all have full time jobs and lives outside of this, so currently we are looking for about 3-15 hours of labor a week. We meet once a week for 30-60 minutes to touch base with the team, share updates and ask questions. Our dev team consists of talented engineers who have worked for Google, NASA, Disney and more.
Development Roadmap
We are currently in pre-alpha with plans for a limited alpha in the Pacific Northwest of the US. Our immediate goals are to develop an MVP of the web application, conduct localized alpha testing and begin building an audience, and develop media that showcases the game in all its glory. Once these markers are met, we will move to a nationwide beta (US, with eventual international releases). This is a big project but you can expect to see steady progress towards the complete launch. Unlike most indie games, we do not need or expect every contributor to stay with the project from beginning to end. Doing so is not necessary to receive full credit as a contributor, or our gratitude.
Compensation
Please note that this is a rev-share/hobby project for fun/learning/community service, meaning there is no upfront payment. Most of our contributors are volunteers who just believe in the mission and want to see this game come to life. Our mission is to make the world a better place, not make money, and money we do raise is for the purpose of improving the game, not to buy yachts (well, maybe just one couldn’t hurt…). We are looking for people who are willing to volunteer their time and talents because they believe in our mission. This sort of unique venture can only succeed because people like you volunteer.
In terms of compensation, our ultimate goal is to fairly compensate our contributors and maintain the staffing to ensure that the game continues to be an amazing experience for our players for years to come; however, what we can promise is slim. Contributors get their name in the credits, free subscription/perks, and may be eligible for a robust deferred compensation plan (basically stocks for LLCs--where accepted contributions are awarded with a % of the company’s future valuation) and most importantly, to feel good about their work. Despite the charitable aim, our financial prospects look pretty good—even if we managed only two players at every college in the US, we would have revenue of more than a million dollars annually. Nonetheless, we understand that revenue sharing is off-putting to some folks and we ask you to consider your contributions as hobby/volunteering to a worthy cause with a possible upside.
How you can help
At the moment we are looking for volunteers with all types of talents—especially web developers for our website and player portal (contributors must be 18+ in order to sign our Intellectual Property Agreement). We are especially seeking additional frontend, backend and fullstack developers. We are building our backend with Rails/PostgreSQL. For our frontend, we are especially looking for devs with an eye for UI/UX and the basic ability in HTML/CSS/JS to build a functional frontend to feature in our media and help orient our players to the game. I am happy to provide additional details about our stack and access to our repo if you would like to learn more!
Talk to us!
Thank you for taking the time to learn about our project! If you are interested, or have questions and want to know more, or if you just want to wish us luck, please feel free to message us at [email protected] (where we can all see and respond). If you are interested in joining us, it’s helpful if you can provide a little information about your background, availability (including time zone) and what interests you about our game. Hope to hear from you soon!
-Jeremy [email protected] Discord: JeremyWinn#0539

Recently, I created a post delving into the topic of male child sexual abuse in India which garnered a positive response from the readers on India, some of whom shared their own experiences through the comments on the original post. I'd like to provide some additional insights into the topic of sexual harassment against men in this country.
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Although women are often the focus of discussions on this topic, men also face sexual harassment in significant numbers in India as highlighted by the The Economic Times-Synovate Survey:
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In an interesting new trend, a substantial 38% of the respondents agreed that in today’s workplaces, even men are as vulnerable to sexual harassment as women. In Hyderabad and Mumbai, 55% of the respondents agreed to this point. Many of the corporates and PSUs ET spoke to agree to this new trend and point out that many male employees do not come out in the open and file complaints because they feel they will not be believed, considering India’s social beliefs. They usually seek a transfer to get out of the situation or find a new job.

And, in contradiction to prevailing notions, it's not just men who sexually harass; the survey found that female perpetrators of workplace sexual harassment were as prevalent as male ones.
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Some more indications:
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During Ungender’s brainchild ‘Project Jagruk’, a sensitization and awareness drive regarding the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 conducted in Police Stations of South Delhi, many Police personnel wished to know if the act to applied to men as well. Many male victims of sexual harassment had approached them with complaints. When these police personnel were told that the act specifically applied only to women, they wished to know when men would also be protected from sexual harassment.

(https://www.ungender.in/why-india-inc-needs-to-protect-men-against-sexual-harassment-at-workplaces-in-india-case-for-gender-neutral-policies)
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This article on The Hindu depicts several instances of sexual harassment faced by men including stalking, sexual harassment at workplace and sexual assault.
An account of a cyberstalking incident faced by Vijay Nair.
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In India, the issue of sexual harassment against men is customarily overlooked, with a lack of public awareness and recognition of male vulnerability. Moreover, the absence of comprehensive legal frameworks contributes to the culture of silence surrounding male victimhood:
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The issue is so entirely neglected in men that even our legal system is obsolete of laws protecting men from sexual harassment. The sexual assault laws of our country have been devised such as that they clearly state their existence exclusively for women. The sections 354, 509, and 376 of the Indian Penal Code which deal with sexual assault, namely, outraging the modesty of a woman, eve teasing and committing rape of a woman, all assume that men cannot be subjected to these crimes. The Vishakha guidelines which aims to prevent sexual harassment in work places are also just limited to women.
“According to the Indian law, modesty, if at all, exists only in women,” says ex-IPS officer Uday Sahai on the issue of male sexual harassment. “The only form in which a wrong sexual advancement on a man is recognized as an offence is as sodomy under the 377 section of the IPC. Apart from that there is no law to punish a person for molesting a man,” he further explains.

(https://indianexpress.com/article/india/sexual-harassment-of-male-a-reality-but-remains-a-taboo)
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Some factors that discourage men from speaking up about their encounters:
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The fear of not being taken seriously is not the only reason which prevents men from reporting sexual harassment cases. The fear that a female perpetrator may, in fact, use sexual harassment laws to wrongly implicate the male victim (by alleging that it was the man who sexually harassed her) has led many male victims of sexual harassment to not formally complain.
. . .
The idea that a woman can sexually harass a man is still considered inconceivable in the Indian society. What makes it even more difficult for men to speak about such incidents openly is the tendency of others to perceive male victims of sexual harassment as "feminine" or "weak". The disbelief surrounding sexual harassment of men by women in India can also be attributed to the absence of data/statistics on this issue. This, in turn, becomes a vicious cycle where the fear of being disbelieved may cause a male victim of sexual harassment to not report such incidents, leading to further lack of statistics in such matters.

(https://www.firstpost.com/india/vijay-nair-sexual-harassment-case-rising-incidents-against-men-emphasise-need-for-gender-neutral-laws-in-india-3452286.html)
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In 2016, the University Grants Commission issued regulations stating that sexual harassment is a gender-neutral issue, recognizing that male students are equally susceptible to various forms of sexual harassment, just like their female and transgender counterparts. Although this is only applicable to institutions of higher education, it's still a positive development. Additionally, Wipro Technologies and Infosys in Bangalore have gender-neutral complaint committees. It's also worth noting that around 77 countries have already embraced gender-neutral laws. Given the international progress, it's long overdue for India to follow suit.

I want to join the Army. But it's always somebody pointing me to join a different branch and a different branch and a different branch. Or don't join and live a civilian life. But my civilian life is already ass. "It's gonna suck more in the Army." I mean yeah I have the chance to go to school but I've already wasted 2 years working a job and not doing shit for myself. No credit, $4K in my savings, no hobbies, no goals, no ambition or motivation but sleep work rinse repeat. I can already see a shitty future if I stay here in my mom's basement. She wants me to go to school I was originally gonna go for welding but even money, good stability, good health, and family will not help to fill this void I've tried my best. My heart is set on the Army. Studying for Intelligence MOS's, 15T, or fuck it whatever I can get. Sure life will suck ass or be really great for me in the Army but at least I will be doing something instead of jerking off smoking weed every night with no future in sight.

Source
I will just put this one and back to read the story
Lemuen: But the Sarkaz inside are just some hunters, farmers... the only mercenary, has died in front of us. Lemuen: Your so-called quelling will be a massacre. Lemuen: When thinking about how to maintain the holiness of Laterano in the future, you have already defiled it, don't you think it's ridiculous? Oren: The joke is on you, Lemuen Oren: As far as I know, "Lemuen the Silence" wouldn’t even bat an eye when dealing with such matters. Oren: Did the five years of deep sleep in the hospital bed change your personality, or..... Oren: That guy called "The Martyr" influenced you—
Oren failed to say the name.
The wheelchair rushed in front of him, and the barrel of the sniper rifle stabbed him hard in the waist. He leaned against the wall so that he didn't fall, and he gritted his teeth so that his voice of pain would not change its tone.
Oren: Hiss-- Lemuen: You go on. Oren: ..... Spuria: ..."Lemuen the Silence". Spuria: ...I said that senpai is not easy to mess with. -----------------
>Holy shit this is hilarious, Lemuen used to be a cold-blooded person? >Oren's comment about Andoain has influenced her, pissed her off. >Oren is jobbed by girl in wheelchair LMAO pathetic
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https://preview.redd.it/74jtybmp3r4b1.jpg?width=980&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f16116e3c871f9f8bef9191f48b0b1e5ee013215

John was bored one night and decided to get to work on something. He didn't know what exactly to do, so he decided to write a story since writing was one of his hobbies. However, John was so bored that he didn't even know what to write about, so that's when he gave up and went right back to bed staring at his vinyl record copy of The Best of Bread resting on his turntable. He was too lazy to at least make an attempt to drop the needle on the record and listen to some music. Instead, he just stared at the ceiling desperately wanting to do something great, but lacking the energy and motivation to do so; he needed some kind of incentive... John suddenly jolted not realizing that he had dosed off, so he decided to call it a night and close his eyes for good till morning. It was 12:37am...
Twisting, turning, and mumbling, John finally woke up not feeling too well, but it was only 2:00am. He stumbled to the bathroom like a blind drunk man to pee and wash his face. He was cold and shivering like a worried puppy trying to shake off the unpleasant dream that he woke from. After he washes his hands, he stares at himself in the mirror recalling the dream he just had...
A white middle aged man was mowing a lawn. The lawn looked like a small version of John's childhood home in Jonesborough Tennessee. The man was wearing a beige straw hat and had a smirk on his face while constantly wiping his sweat. There was no one else around, just the man mowing the lawn. There was something cold and unwelcoming about the lawn mowing man's presence. He never made eye contact with John, yet John felt as though he was looking at him. "But how?" John whispered to himself... The more John wondered that question to himself, the more hostile the presence of the lawnmowing man became. Still, the man never batted an eye at John, but gave the feeling as though he knew everything about John and was watching him like a Hawk... The lawn mowing man's smirk grew larger, more sweat began to pour from his face as he violently swatted his hands across his sunburnt forehead... Suddenly the ambience became louder and louder which resembled a chaotic orchestral crescendo and...
John suddenly snaps back to reality while still gazing at himself in the mirror; he smirks and tries to laugh the dream away, but there was just something so unsettling about the dream that words just couldn't describe. John desperately wanted to forget about the dream and was too scared to go back to bed fearing that the dream may reappear. He gets back in bed and stares at the ceiling once again but accidentally doses off...
John finally sleeps well until morning when he wakes up to briefly eat some cereal and then gets back in bed realizing he doesn't work on Saturdays... It was dark and raining, but no thunder or lighting, just rain. John hears the sound of a lawnmower revving. It comes in and out of audible range. He rolls out of bed like lazy lion and peeks out of the window only to see the lawnmowing man once again. This time however, the lawnmowing man waves with a normal looking smile on his face while politely hollering, "Hi John! How are ya?"
John suddenly springs upward on his bed like a petrified deer unable to move and process what's going on! "Oh crap, it's 2:00pm!" John says to himself feeling like the end of the world is at hand. John's mind slowly starts to wake up as he begins to relax remembering that he doesn't work on Saturdays. But nothing seemed to be able to ease him away from that dreadful dream. Nothing he did could shake that feeling off, it was almost as though the dream really did happen in some unearthly dimension or realm that the human spirit goes to while slumbering... But there it was again, the sound of the lawnmower slowly going in and out of audible range... John chuckles realizing that the active lawnmowing team outside was the reason he dreamed of a lawnmower in his dream... But what about the first dream? he thought to himself...
It was a beautiful sunny day and John wanted to take advantage of the day while also hoping to forget about the unpleasant dream he had. He ate a quick meal and dressed himself for an adventure to the grocery store. He had to pee before leaving, so he went to the bathroom to take care of business... While washing his hands, he stares at himself in the mirror and chuckles again trying to convince himself that it was just a normal dream. "It was literally just a dream about a man mowing the lawn, I mean how is that scary?" he said. "I mean, maybe I was feeling a little sick and that's why such a normal dream felt so terrifying. Oh well, it's normal. Let's go get some groceries and ice cream so that I can focus on that story I want to try to write this time tonight!"
John hits the road in his silver 2012 Mustang leaving nothing but dust and bad bad dreams behind. As he's driving through a suburban area, he notices a man in a beige straw hat mowing their lawn... John chuckles and says, "Haha, see? Totally normal!" John finally arrives at the local grocery store... John parks his Mustang when the sky suddenly turns grey as rush of pale clouds dim the skies. The grocery store looked rather ghostly and depressing. There were many old looking cars that resembled a 2002 Toyota Camry, some with rusting canopies and dirty hubcaps. Out in the distance of the lot, there was a lawnmowing team truck branded with a decal that read Straw Hat Lawncare...
John made his way into the the grocery store and felt a bitter welcome from everyone inside. Nobody glanced at John. Everyone in the store looked like depressed fish passing by each other. There was a Hispanic family talking Spanish. The father was wearing a green jersey and the mother was sporting a pink sweater with grey sweatpants. Their kids were following along while randomly touching items. John was Hispanic as well, but felt no connection around this family. That's when John started to notice that nobody made eye contact with him, even when he said "excuse me" to reach for something. Not the employees, not the local sheriff, not the old lady looking at flowers, nobody... Not that John wanted to be looked at or noticed, but there was something odd about this, almost as if everybody was purposefully told not to make any kind of contact with him. It was a feeling that was hard to explain.
John quickly grabs some groceries to rush over to checkout to test if the cashier would at least say hello or something. But to John's disappointment, the cashier did not even greet John when he set his items down on the checkout countertop. The conveyor belt squeaks every time it moves; it's movement seems so lifeless, just like the cashier... Still, no eye contact whatsoever, not even if he tried to make conversation. The cashier just looked down the whole time. John started to panic inside, something just didn't feel right. It's not all in my head! John thought to himself... John grabs his groceries and heads for the exit when he notices a dirty looking man wearing beige straw hat smoking a cigarette. This man happened to be the only person that glanced at John, but it wasn't a pleasant glance. The man had a grim look on his face... John started to get the feeling that everybody was on to him, and that even the people who were ignoring him were actually very aware of his presence.
John was a good guy, not a saint, but a good-hearted person. He's never caused any harm to anyone and has always been a respectful gentlemen. But why? Why does it feel like these people hate me for no reason? John thought to himself again. Although John was physically being ignored, he got the feeling that everybody was actually looking at him... John quickly paces towards his Mustang. His heart throbbing, muscles tightening, jaw clenching, head aching; John starts his car and glances around. He looks out his right window and sees the dull grocery store. He looks straight ahead and sees the lawnmowing team truck. He looks to his left and sees a man with a beige straw hat right next to the window. The man knocks looking like he was begging for money. John being good hearted lowers the window but the man speaks before John could do anything, "Your back tire is flat!" The man kept repeating the same phrase over and over as if having a flat tire was bad luck. The man reeked of whiskey and tabaco, he had no front teeth and looked like he was wired on methamphetamine or something. "Come on out here and look!" the man exclaimed. "That tire's lookin bad man, you gotta get that fixed. You got one of them spares?" "Yeah, I got a spare." John said. "I got this, don't worry about me." "OF COURSE I'm gon worry bout you brother, that's what we do round here!"
The man starts telling a story about his brother Phil who had a flat tire because he was being shot at by some thugs. The man's story seems to go on forever and John starts to tune out. John glances out in the distance over the man's shoulder; the man's voice begins to get muddled as John focuses on someone getting out of the lawnmowing team truck in the distance. His heart starts to race when he sees another man with a beige straw hat stepping out of the car, except this time, John felt a very hostile vibration. The man in the distance puffed a cloud of smoke when he quickly glanced towards John's way with an evil look on his face... John looks behind and sees another man with a beige straw hat just like the one from his dream. Oddly enough, this man waved and shouted, "Hello! Need some help?"
John's heart started to pound and he almost felt like fainting. Maybe it's just my anxiety. "I've got to go!" John told the whiskey breathed man and cranked on his Mustang. He peeled out of the parking lot like a rabbit fearing for it's life. He could still hear the whiskey breathed man crying, "Hey man! I just wanted to help!" The whiskey breathed man kept crying, "I just wanted to help man! I JUST WANTED TO HELP!!" Tears rolling down his face, down his now sad face, "I just wanted to help you DOOD!! Why? WHY this gotta happen to me man? WHY! Why man? Come on! I JUST WANTED TO HELP!! I just wanted to help! Ahh!! AHHH!!!"
John finally arrived back home and hurried out of his car into his house... Suddenly everything was quiet... Too quiet... Finally, peace. I just have to rest and forget about that dream I had. It's ok, that whiskey breathed man was just really high on meth, he didn't hurt me. I was just really freaked out, that's all. I hope that man will be alright. I feel kind of bad, I didn't want to leave him there all alone. He looked like he was a hurting man, could've used a little company. No, what am I thinking? He was just high. Why should I trust some random meth-head like that? Awe, he's alright. He's cool... I'm tired now, I'm just going to relax and see if I can start that story! Yeah, that'll cheer me up! It's just life, weird stuff happens! But what about... No, forget it... But why was I seeing men with beige straw hats all day like the man in my dream? Nah, I'm overthinking, it was just a hot sunny day today, duh... But what about all of those grim looking people at the store? I felt like they were on to me, like they were all in on it. Oh crap! Maybe they know about my dream! No way, that's not possible... But what if dreams really are connected to real-life? I mean, it's part of life after all... Nah, that's too weird, it's all in my head...
Suddenly, the sound of a 4-stroke engine starts revving... Grass? At this time? It's late evening. John crawls over to his window and sees a man in a beige straw hat cutting the neighbors lawn... "Ahh!!" John jolts upwards biting his nails. He crawls back to his bed and tries to once again justify what's happening... Suddenly, he smells cigarette smoke. "What's that smell?" he says... He slowly glances at a dirty light blue uniform and before he could make out what it is, a raspy voice 'declares, "WE"RE WATCHING YOU..." Another voice says, "WE'RE LOOKING AT YOU, HAPPY NOW?" Another voice answers that one, "LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO DALE JERK! AH HAHA!" "YEAH, YOU'RE SO MEAN FOR LEAVING HIM BEHIND!" "DALE ERA UN BUEN HOMBRE..." Said a Spanish voice...
John slowly looked up and saw an extremely pale faced version of the cashier from the grocery store and still not making eye contact, but three inches away from John saying, "Hi honey, how are ya?" and then repeats the phrase over again, "I SAID HOW ARE YA HONEY? WHAT, CAT GOTCHA TONGUE? WELL I'LL FEED IT TO MUH CATS WHEN I GET HOME THEN! BET CHU DON'T HAVE THE DECENCY TO HELP OUT DALE WITH A LITTLE BIT OF FOOD, DO YA?" She kept shouting at John three inches away while still not making eye contact. "SO? HOW YA DOING HONEY? FIND EVERYTHING YA NEED? HAHAHAHA! YOU SU................
John wakes up again... It's 2:00am. Everything is quiet. Desperately trying to forget the bad dreams and the strange day at the grocery store, he finally decides to drop the needle on the Best of Bread vinyl record. The music is soothing. He begins to drift into slumber once again.
John sleeps in and wakes up at 2:00pm on Sunday, he doesn't work on Sunday's either. John realizes he never got the groceries that he actually needed, so he makes his way to the grocery store once again. on another sunny day. He pulls into the parking lot, but this time they sky stays sunny and blue. The lawn mowing team truck is gone. John makes his way inside the grocery store. This time, a jolly old man greets him as he walks in. "How are you doing young man?" Says the old man. "Fine, thank you." John replies. Today, everybody was acknowledging John and making him feel welcome. Lots of smiles and hellos. There was even another Hispanic family who smiled at John while crossing paths. Even the children seemed happy. Hmm, too suspicious. It's almost like they're watching me and know what happened yesterday.
John grabbed all the items he needed and headed for checkout. He approached the counter and was greeted by the same cashier from last time. This time she actually speaks to John... "Hey honey, how are ya?" Says the cashier with a cute smile. "Great, how are you? John replies. "Oh honey, I had such a busy day yesterday! First I had to go see my doctor because of my back pain, then my car ran out of gas and I had to tell my hubby to help me out. Then he starts going off on me about how these lawn mowing guys woke him up at 5 in the mornin' and I told him, honey, they just doin' they job. Oh honey, today is much better, it's a beautiful day and my back feels better." Something about this doesn't seem right... She knows... She knows and she's playing around with me... Everybody is... No, I'm just being paranoid. Forget it, today is a great day!
John makes his way back to his mustang with a kart full of groceries... "HEY DOOD!!" suddenly screams the whiskey breathed man from behind. "Whoa man, you scared me!" Says John. "Oh I'm sorry man, didn't mean to startle ya.. Hey, I noticed you got a spare tire now. Good job buddy! Hey listen man, I'm feeling happy today a.. a.. and I just want to give you my hat!" John looks at the beige straw hat... "Are you sure?" John asks. "Yeah man, go on and take it, it's time I let go of somethings in life. I'm trying to start a new life man and stay away from theses drugs out here man. You go on an take it, it has good luck man!" John accepts and takes the hat. The man smiles. John smiles. "Hey I'll see ya later DOOD!"
It's 12:37am and John is staring at the beige straw hat that the whiskey breathed man gave him... John lugged out his vintage 1970's typewriter and was finally in the mood to write. He knew what he wanted to start with, but just right before he was about to type the letter L with his ring finger, the sound of a 4-stroke engine starts revving...
​
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WERE LOOKING AT YOU. WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE. HOW YA DOING HONEY?

Sorry this is a bit of a rant.
So my MIL is a bit of a financial mess. She was made redundant 2 years ago and won't go back to work. She has a small (£400pm) pension and that is her only source of income until she gets the state pension in 5 years time.
My wife got her a job but she only wanted to work Fridays and they got fed up with her declining work so stopped giving her it all together. I even gave her a job working in my business 1 day a week for £1000 p/m but she recently refused that too.
She lives in an old 2 up 2 down terraced house worth about 80k when all done up but it's a shithole, no carpets , no hot water, leaky roof, kitchen falling apart. She doesn't look after it and if there's an issue she just ignores it.
She has recently come asking for money to pay her mortgage for this will be the third time in 3 years we have paid her mortgage, it's only a few hundred a month and not a big deal financially but I resent giving it to her.
I have an idea that we offer to buy her house for £40k. We would pay her mortgage off now (about 15k) and give her a monthly payment of 400pm till she gets her state pension.
She would be able to live there till she dies or goes in a care home and pays £1PM, "rent". we would write up a 30 year lease to that effect. I'd want any maintenance during that time would be her responsibility ( or just ignored like now) we would obviously make sure it was secure enough not to affect the neighbors houses causing us legal issues.
I understand we would be paying more stamp duty on it.
I wondered if anyone else had done something similar and what's everyone's thoughts. I'm at my wit's end with my wife's money sucking family they are always asking for handouts and she won't let them be homeless (understandably).

Recently, I created a post delving into the topic of male child sexual abuse in India which garnered a positive response from the readers on India, some of whom shared their own experiences through the comments on the original post. I'd like to provide some additional insights into the topic of sexual harassment against men in this country.
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Although women are often the focus of discussions on this topic, men also face sexual harassment in significant numbers in India as highlighted by the The Economic Times-Synovate Survey:
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In an interesting new trend, a substantial 38% of the respondents agreed that in today’s workplaces, even men are as vulnerable to sexual harassment as women. In Hyderabad and Mumbai, 55% of the respondents agreed to this point. Many of the corporates and PSUs ET spoke to agree to this new trend and point out that many male employees do not come out in the open and file complaints because they feel they will not be believed, considering India’s social beliefs. They usually seek a transfer to get out of the situation or find a new job.

And, in contradiction to prevailing notions, it's not just men who sexually harass; the survey found that female perpetrators of workplace sexual harassment were as prevalent as male ones.
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Some more indications:
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During Ungender’s brainchild ‘Project Jagruk’, a sensitization and awareness drive regarding the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 conducted in Police Stations of South Delhi, many Police personnel wished to know if the act to applied to men as well. Many male victims of sexual harassment had approached them with complaints. When these police personnel were told that the act specifically applied only to women, they wished to know when men would also be protected from sexual harassment.

(https://www.ungender.in/why-india-inc-needs-to-protect-men-against-sexual-harassment-at-workplaces-in-india-case-for-gender-neutral-policies)
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This article on The Hindu depicts several instances of sexual harassment faced by men including stalking, sexual harassment at workplace and sexual assault.
An account of a cyberstalking incident faced by Vijay Nair.
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In India, the issue of sexual harassment against men is customarily overlooked, with a lack of public awareness and recognition of male vulnerability. Moreover, the absence of comprehensive legal frameworks contributes to the culture of silence surrounding male victimhood:
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The issue is so entirely neglected in men that even our legal system is obsolete of laws protecting men from sexual harassment. The sexual assault laws of our country have been devised such as that they clearly state their existence exclusively for women. The sections 354, 509, and 376 of the Indian Penal Code which deal with sexual assault, namely, outraging the modesty of a woman, eve teasing and committing rape of a woman, all assume that men cannot be subjected to these crimes. The Vishakha guidelines which aims to prevent sexual harassment in work places are also just limited to women.
“According to the Indian law, modesty, if at all, exists only in women,” says ex-IPS officer Uday Sahai on the issue of male sexual harassment. “The only form in which a wrong sexual advancement on a man is recognized as an offence is as sodomy under the 377 section of the IPC. Apart from that there is no law to punish a person for molesting a man,” he further explains.

(https://indianexpress.com/article/india/sexual-harassment-of-male-a-reality-but-remains-a-taboo)
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Some factors that discourage men from speaking up about their encounters:
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The fear of not being taken seriously is not the only reason which prevents men from reporting sexual harassment cases. The fear that a female perpetrator may, in fact, use sexual harassment laws to wrongly implicate the male victim (by alleging that it was the man who sexually harassed her) has led many male victims of sexual harassment to not formally complain.
. . .
The idea that a woman can sexually harass a man is still considered inconceivable in the Indian society. What makes it even more difficult for men to speak about such incidents openly is the tendency of others to perceive male victims of sexual harassment as "feminine" or "weak". The disbelief surrounding sexual harassment of men by women in India can also be attributed to the absence of data/statistics on this issue. This, in turn, becomes a vicious cycle where the fear of being disbelieved may cause a male victim of sexual harassment to not report such incidents, leading to further lack of statistics in such matters.

(https://www.firstpost.com/india/vijay-nair-sexual-harassment-case-rising-incidents-against-men-emphasise-need-for-gender-neutral-laws-in-india-3452286.html)
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In 2016, the University Grants Commission issued regulations stating that sexual harassment is a gender-neutral issue, recognizing that male students are equally susceptible to various forms of sexual harassment, just like their female and transgender counterparts. Although this is only applicable to institutions of higher education, it's still a positive development. Additionally, Wipro Technologies and Infosys in Bangalore have gender-neutral complaint committees. It's also worth noting that around 77 countries have already embraced gender-neutral laws. Given the international progress, it's long overdue for India to follow suit.

So i've seen a lot of predictions about Elemental's box office performance, and it seems very likely that the movie will flop, if not straight up bomb.
And the reason for that is not because of the marketing, because the movie has actually been marketed very well. Lots of promotion, trailers, ads, clips, posters, banners, billboards, and even a premiere at the Cannes festival. So the general audience is aware of the movie's existence.
But the reason why it won't do well is simply because people aren't interested in it. Because (at least in my opinion) the movie looks like if an AI was asked to make a Pixar movie. It looks like something that people would jokingly mention when talking about the kinds of movies Pixar would make ("what if [X] had feelings" and stuff like that). Everything about it that we've seen has done a poor job at selling people on this movie.
Not saying the movie itself is bad, i haven't seen it yet. But if people aren't going to see it, it won't be a surprise because it just looks like a generic Pixar film, like another variation of Inside Out.
The $200 million budget doesn't help either

I am level 2 engineer and I will be promoted to level 3 soon. The levels for individual contributors are 1 - 2 - 3 (senior) - 4 principal - 5 staff.
I joined 6 months ago and I accepted level 2 even though at my previous job I was at least level 3, if not more, but it was a flat startup structure, so no official levels.
Do you expect a raise when reaching a new level? How much in percentage?

I recently quit, I really liked my job as rescue and my fellow coworkers but recently my company is no longer guaranteeing us full shift hrs and lots of people were either (mostly) quitting or no longer cared and worked slow, not caring if they were however many stops behind. They are compensating by giving us bonuses which doesn’t even qualify for me because I’m a rescue (main one was finishing before 7:30 and I obviously have to finish last to make sure everyone is done before me). I also had anxiety every shift wondering if they were going to be in a good or bad mood and it just tired me out emotionally and physically. Final straw was I got an injury before my shift and called out and later heard dispatch clearly told everyone and their fucking grandmothers my business because I had my peers asking how I was when I ONLY told dispatch. Sent out my resignation and all I get is “Alright OP, good luck and I’ll send your final check in the mail.”

So apparently, Ive had T2N all my life but it just only recently finally blew up (“officially awakened”, according to the diagnosis) this past January when I got the results from my doc after I noticed something very wrong since three months before in October 2022, when I started falling asleep too much during my job as an uber eats driver (eventually had to quit).
Im 40. All my life since before that and even up until February of this year I was very physically active. I did cardio for about 1-2 hours a day 5 days a week. I then started going back to lifting weights.
But with weights, no matter how much I lifted, I would never see any progress.
My whole life I’ve been a massive mercilessy accursed HARD-GAINER. Wether I was at the gym half an hour 5 days a week, 1 hour M-F, 2hrs M-F, 2hrs every other day, 1hr every other day, sticking to a routine, changing up the routine so as to confuse the muscles and therefore build more mass quicker as a result, doing single excercises, doing compound excercises, doing resistance training, doing negatives, doing supersets, focusing on certain parts on different days, doing full-body every other day, wether I ate six times a day mostly meats and eggs and proteins galore with fruits and veggies and nuts and shakes, wether I added supplements to them, wether I took a gallon of creatine daily or just two scoops into my shake after every workout (before post-workout atrophy starts to happen), wether I took pre-workout shakes/drinks or not, wether I withheld from fapping before the gym, wether I slept 7,8,9,10 hours that night or the night before, wether I went during the morning, afternoon or night- on my BEST DAY I would just barely make a difference that barely nobody would ever notice anyway, and it would go away in a heartbeat if I ever stopped lifting for five minutes. Its BAZONKERS people- all that work, and NOTHING to show for it to this day.
Except now the opposite has happened. I have no energy at all to do anything (hell I can barely stay awake as I type this). Cant focus, cant think straight. Even seemingly mundane things like drivig to the grocery store ten minutes away is a daunting task now that worries everyone in my fam to death if I ever would try to do it.
I sleep most of the day. In a 24-hr span, Im awake for about six-seven. I only eat once a day bc of my shitty for life now Keto diet I have to strictly follow so I cant eat 90% of everything so I barely eat and its once/twice a day and its small meals so I dont pass out shortly after. Therefore, I dont eat 6 times a day- nowhere near that. I also had to completely stop working out.
Today, I see myself in the mirror and notice that now that the nightmares and sleep paralysis have progressed, Ive become rail thin. Like, my arms are scary-looking with how thin and bony they are now- they look like those of a 9-year-old boy. Im embarassed to be seen in public. Im paler now, and the Dark Circles under my eyes have grown inmensely darker. I feel like I can charge cars to park in those giant suckers but thats for another story.
So I look like a sickly malnourished skeleton now. Its scary-looking how bad Ive gotten, but gym is the LAST thing I can do nowadays- believe me! I havent gone since Feb when I just had to stop bc I couldnt take it anymore.
So, is rail-thin, bony, extraterrestrial-looking “body” normal for people with Severe T2N to get? I look like a sickly shivering starving animal from one of those Sarah McLaughlin commercials with the song playing and everything.
So is this (“fairly new”?) appearance normal for people with N to display? Remember that mine’s severe t2. Severe.
Thanks!

Been feeling kind of annoyed and uncomfortable with the narrative around conservative figures (Tate, JP, Ben Shapiro etc) in left leaning groups online in general.
I feel like the focus is always on exposing them as failures by their own or the world's standards, "X doesn't have as much money/as big a business as he claims", "X doesn't really get laid as much as he claims", "X wasn't as successful a pro fighter as he claims" "X has daddy issues" etc
And it's always...young people who claim to be left wing but really take glee in exposing their failures and... like mocking them for things I wouldn't want someone "good" to be mocked for - like Andrew Tate being abandoned by his father as a kid, or Jordan P's myriad mental health and pill problems, for example.
And of course huge focus on any body flaw like Shaprio being short or Tate's small chin.
And when I've confronted them they always say "of course I don't care about that stuff - but HE would! HE claims to be perfect and alpha so we should mock HIM for failing his own standards!" But to me the focus always seems to be, making the figure look pitiful and pathetic in the eyes of the public.
And it seems like the current priority is, because the bad figure is bigoted, trans/homophobic, sexist etc, we need to just make them look stupid and pitiful in the eyes of young people so they won't listen to them, even if it means exaggerating their flaws, or ... inspiring mocking of them based on "bad" standards (them not being successful or macho enough etc)
And it seems to me like this "grifter" thing is pushed hard because young men aren't "supposed" to care about vulnerable minorities. Like if you say to a young man "JP's rhetoric harms LGBT people" they're not traditionally supposed to listen to stuff like that. But they are supposed to be embarrassed about being ripped off or conned. So it's quick way to get them on what they care about as opposed to the harder job of changing their "traditional priorities" or making them more empathetic.
and on a factual level I do genuinely think a lot of these figures believe what they're saying and would still be blogging/posting it if they weren't making any money. For example JP has years of old internet postings on places like Quora and Reddit from before he was selling anything or had fans.
I feel like I want someone to say... if they're wrong, they're wrong, whether they're "grifting" or not.
I dunno this is something that's been bothering me and I suppose it's a bit muddled, and if you feel like it's irrelevant or doesn't matter I understand.
I also feel like on places like Facebook and Reddit there's like, a minority of "informed" people who know why they don't like right wing figures - know what their own political position is etc, and a majority who've just got some vague idea that Ben Shapiro and Tate are uncool and unsexy - and the "informed" ones like it that way - they like having an "army" of persuaded people I suppose? Even if the "army" doesn't have strong convictions.
I dunno this is all just my frustrations with the last couple years of browsing facebook