Let’s start from the beginning, I (21F), my two brothers, that we’ll call Lewis (24) and Ted (25) found out 7 years ago that our dad (61M) cheated on our mom (62F). Some background, my dad has been an alcoholic since he was 15, cheated on my mom multiples times before we knew it and has an addiction with medicine as well). We discovered it when she started yelling at him to leave the house one random night to go find his mistress. I already heard them talk about divorce at this point but as I’ve never been really close to my dad (always on business trip and never really interested in family life even when present + a horrible human being, racist, sexist, homophobic… everything that is against my values) it did not bother me that much.
So, some screams led to this discovery and a long discussion of how he was telling us that it was a love story and that it’s adults’ business and that our mom was trying to ruin his life by telling us to which I answered, “you’re doing it perfectly on your own”. He then proceeded to destroy our bathroom doors because why not? That was the first sign of physical violence he showed.
Anyway, he stays at home because my parents were trying to make it work somehow but he still leaves to see his mistress from time to time. One day his mistress told him he wanted to stop because he was drinking too much and was scared of him, to which he didn’t find anything better but to enter her house through the window on a random night because he anted to talk to her. She obviously called the police, and he ended up in custody. One day when my grandpa was eating at the house, my dad was bothering my mom asking her where his medicine was and being really condescending, but my mom didn’t know. He went upstairs and after some time we went to check on him and when calling him he wouldn’t wake up even after we shook him and saw many medicine tablets empty near the bed we called an ambulance. When they arrived, he woke up instantly and was taken to the hospital for nothing as we found just after that all the medicine he threw in the toilets and forgot to flush (clearly trying to scare us). Sadly, he was allowed back at the house at night the same day even after we begged he would be kept at the hospital for our own safety.
At some point he was becoming increasingly emotionally and physically violent (strangled me when I was putting my body in front of my mom so that he wouldn’t hurt her, punched my big brother in the face when he was doing the same, being extremely emotionally violent with Lewis, the middle child and so many other things) and we decided to leave the house when he was away to go leave in a hotel for a few days and then at some friends for a few weeks. With my brothers we didn’t go to school much and we were scarred every time we heard a doorbell or saw the same car brand as he got at the time. One day when going back to my friend’s place after buying her mom flowers to thank her, we saw his car behind us and he started following us and hitting us with his car to stop us. We managed to escape but we obviously pressed charges and he was forbidden to approach us or the house when we moved back into it and him into an apartment in our city. He still came several times, trying to enter through the windows, knocking repeatedly because he wanted to talk to us, told us it was because if us he started smoking again, told me when I was 14! That he was going to kill himself because of what was happening, came to our school, hoping to see us and I probably forget other traumatic experiences.
Anyway, so many other things happened but I’d need to write a book to explain everything. For the last 4/5 years we’ve been in touch for money reasons mainly, us, the kids, playing nice so that he would pay for our studies and keeps paying the child support, but it never really goes smoothly. We tried SO many times to engage discussions, ask him to go to rehab and stick to it always leads to emotional, and physical manipulation.
Today I want to cut ties with him, but I think I’m finding him excuses that he should be really sad and that he’s not responsible for his addictions, but it breaks me a bit more every time I see him. And now that I’m back in my city (after doing my studies in the UK), I’m afraid he’s gonna want to see me much more. So, am I an asshole that doesn’t understand the circumstances or should I protect myself?

How can it be that my blood tests always come back normal when I feel so inflamed 100% of the time? I have had chronic muscle and joint pain for years and they can’t find anything wrong with me. Why/how can this happen?

"This was supposed to be our time," I groused as the concierge coordinator left our cabin. Inanna shook her head slowly and patted her lap. I sat on the bed next to her and leaned over, resting my head on her thighs. I always loved this, especially because she would inevitably- Oh god.... Oh yeah, that's it...
The fingers running through my hair, gently rubbing my scalp were hypnotic. The tension immediately drained out of me and my whole body went limp. It sounds kind of weird, doesn't it? I mean, I'm married to the former goddess of sex, a woman whose sexual appetite could not be described without the use of the words 'insatiable' and 'bizarre'. I mean, it would be a struggle to not use the term 'sexual body horror-esque' as well. When I say she's imaginative, I mean imaginative. And yet for all the times she's turned off gravity, induced orgasms in organs that have no business having orgasms (liver orgasms are a trip, but heart orgasms are mind-blowing), growing new organs in random places on her body or doing any or all of those things to me, this was the thing she did that melted me.
Every time. Man, I could fall asleep right now, regardless of the stress the coordinator had re-introduced to my life. I've fallen asleep like this many times before, in fact.
"It's not so bad," she purred. "All you have to do is give a talk. You've done that many times before."
I sighed. I wasn't able to work up any indignation like this, but as long as she kept her fingers from the spots behind my ears, I could still think.
"And sign a bunch of autographs and pose for pictures," I said. "And the talk will be to a bunch of fans, not academics and students. It's a totally different crowd."
"It's really not that different," she said as she found the spots behind my ears and melted my brain.
"The whole thing will take two hours," she said while I was completely helpless. It was totally unfair. I couldn't even protest that it would raise my profile and result in the whole cruise being peppered with people asking for more autographs and wanting to take pictures and buy us drinks.
I sighed again. God, this felt so good...
At some point, one hand wandered off my head and dug into my pants. The hand that continued to rub my head and the sheer familiarity of her fondling me kept me locked in my fugue state as she got me unbuttoned. By the time her scalp-massaging hand slipped away, I was ready to do anything she wanted.
So that's what we did.
----
I'd already agreed to do it, mind. I had just been griping about it when Inanna suckered me with her wily hands, and then her wily hoohah. Yes, I said 'wily hoohah', and if you knew Inanna as well as I did, you'd know that not only does it have a mind of its own, it's a devious and cunning creature that we should all pray remains on the side of good.
I can't really blame the coordinator, either. The cruise Inanna and I had booked just so happened to have a Legend of Jimmy fan convention of sorts happening, which we had somehow overlooked. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if her hoohah was aware, and simply kept quiet about it, knowing that I'd require a lot of 'comforting' after exposing myself to that much attention.
When the coordinator discovered that the couple on whose lives the show was based was on the cruise, we'd had our middle-grade accommodations bumped up to the top tier, and been given the gold-star concierge service, as well as a free pass to eat at any of the restaurants aboard ship and free admission to countless activities taking place. And then, once that was done, the coordinator oh-so-politely asked if I'd be willing to give a little talk, do a little autograph signing and otherwise schmooze the crowd.
Much to my chagrin, I agreed.
So here I was, sweating under a bunch of stage lights, behind a podium, having recited my hastily-prepared speech about the importance of understanding cultural context when dealing with supernatural entities and specific magics, answering questions that mostly pertained to the show, and often got incredibly personal.
"Is anal your wife's favorite?" a young man asked. I rolled my eyes. "Next question."
A respectable looking young lady in a sweater raised her hand and the usher with the mic held it up to her.
"If she's not into anal... I am," she said with a sly smile. I sighed deeply and prayed for the strength to continue.
"I have plenty of anal sex," I said. "Thank you for the offer, but my sex life is really something I'd rather keep a personal matter." I glanced over at Inanna, occupying one of the chairs on the stage. She was whispering to the host and pointing at the young lady. A naive person might assume she was asking to have her expelled after disrupting the Q&A by making what was obviously a joking offer.
But I knew she was making sure she got the young lady's number. Because Inanna.
The usher found a muscular young man with a serious burn scar on his neck. Probably a veteran, I thought, noting the way he moved as he stood.
"Did the CIA teach you how to fight, or are you a vet, or did you learn it elsewhere?"
I pointed at him. This was a much better question.
"Umm, the Agency doesn't really expect its field agents to do a lot of fighting. I did have a week-long training course on pistol shooting and light tactical stuff, but the biggest takeaway from that was that I should save any gun I was carrying for emergencies and always do what my protection agents' tell me to.
"One of my protective agents was, at the time, Inspector Johnson, currently one of our investigators at the DCM Group. That was how we met. He taught me a lot, actually.
"Most of what I know was acquired through magical means. My wife constructed a type of avatar known as a homoculus. It's an avatar that is a sort of messenger being. In this case, the message was all of the magically-collected knowledge in the world about combat. Martial arts, strategy, tactics, etc. Not a whole lot of specific military knowledge, mind, just the direct fighting stuff.
"Now, with all that being said, the single most important thing I know about combat, I learned from Inspector Johnson. And that was two things. The first is specific to combat, and that is that you can't win a fight if you're not an... An asshole."
The crowd laughed. I waited for it to die down.
"That sounds pretty wrong, I know, but it's true. Aggression is the single most important factor in a fight. All things being equal, the more aggressive fighter will always win. And aggression can make up for a lot of other failings, in a pinch. Size, strength, training... Aggression is the real key. And as we all know, the most aggressive people are inevitably assholes. So if you want to be able to defeat a dangerous enemy, you've got to be a bit of an asshole yourself.
"The second thing was probably the single most valuable lesson I ever learned in my entire life. And that is that courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to act in the face of fear. In fact, if you're not afraid, you can't be brave. Every act of bravery, throughout history, was performed by someone who was scared to death.
"I'm not going to lie to you; the first time I found myself in a fight, I peed my pants." The crowd tittered. "No joke, I literally peed my pants. More than once. I cried, too. I panicked. Inspector Johnson was there with me, and I was sooo jealous of how cool he was at the time. It was his actions that got us free of our bonds, and gave us the ability to summon help. After, I remember asking him how he kept from being scared, and I remember his exact words. 'I didn't,' he said.
"He told me that he was scared out of his mind, the same as me. The only difference was that he's been scared like that before. He got used to it. He knew that there were things he could do to mitigate the threat, so he did those things, even though he was still terrified. And as I found myself in more and more dangerous situations, I quickly realized what that meant. It's okay to be afraid. You just gotta be afraid and working."
The crowd erupted into applause as I finished. I blushed, because I hadn't planned on that becoming a rousing anecdote, but I'd take it. The host rose and walked to the podium, waiting for the cheering to stop before speaking.
"That's all the time we have for the Q&A, but Mister and Missus Williams will be available to sign autographs and take photos in the lounge in five minutes. Thank you all for coming out, and let's have a big round of applause for our guests!"
The crowd erupted again, this time even louder. Inanna and I waved to them as we walked off the stage, heading for the crew passageway between the backstage and the lounge. We were about halfway there when the ship lurched suddenly to one side and the sounds of screaming and crashing filled the air.
"What the hell was that?" I gasped as I bounced off the wall -excuse me, bulkhead- and grabbed Inanna's arm to held steady her.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Ever since she'd been murdered literally hundreds of times by Sarisa in order to produce the energies she needed for her plan to save the Sixteenth World, Inanna had been having a lot of difficulty pulling magical energy. She had been steadily training herself ever since, slowly increasing the amount of power she had access to. But the process was a long one.
During that long process, she'd been forced to work with tiny amounts of magic to get stuff done, much like a human wizard would. The end result was that her sensitivity to magic had grown by leaps and bounds. She might not be able to hurl around earth-shattering energies willy nilly any more, but there was nobody I knew, human, god or otherwise, who was as magically perceptive as she was.
"Something big and ancient is here," she said. "A creature."
"Great, another monster crossed over," I grumbled.
"This one didn't cross over, Jerry," she said. "This one is native to this world," she was staring off into space, feeling the creature rather than seeing it.
"It's definitely a fully material being. I feel like it's been to the spirit world, but it's from the material world. I don't think it's from this specific material world, though."
"Crap," I muttered. This was arguably worse than a spirit creature. Those, at least, generally had some kind of weakness. Be it a certain emotion, some variety of magic or some substance or material, spirit creatures almost inevitably had some kind of kryptonite. And I only say 'almost' because I can't be a hundred percent sure. Every single variety that I knew about had such a weakness. But a material being from another of the material worlds would be a flesh and blood creature that had evolved to fill its niche. And evolution is a heartless trainer, accepting no weakness.
The ship jolted again and a fresh round of screaming ensued. There was a definite direction to the screaming, coming from the direction we were heading in, so we began to run.
We came out into the lounge to find people packing themselves in. I grabbed a random person by the shoulder. "What did you see?" I demanded.
"I don't know, man! The ship started jerking, and I saw this shadow and I just grabbed my wife and we ran inside!"
"Stay here," I told him. I moved on, pushing through the crowds to the door. It was hard going, with everyone trying to get inside. Eventually, I got completely stopped by the press of bodies, and I looked up, to see if I could fly above them. The ceiling was too low, of course. If I did that, I'd be flinging people around with the force of my magic, which would get someone hurt. Crap.
"MAKE A FUCKING HOLE!!" Inanna roared.
People jerked in surprise at the volume of the shout, carrying even above the crying and screaming all around us. They quickly moved further into the room, clearing a path for us to the doors.
"Thank you," I said as she took advantage of the extra room to walk beside me instead of behind me. She smiled sweetly and goosed my butt as we moved through the doors, out onto the deck.
Tentacles rose into the air around the ship. People were still about, mostly running for the doors to get inside. I realized, looking at the grandiose size of those tentacles, that it wouldn't do any good. This ship was huge, one of the largest cruise ships on the ocean. It was over a thousand feet long and a quarter of a million tons in volume. There were over four thousand guests on board, and until now, I'd never seen a dense crowd. Wait times for everything were reasonable.
Yet, judging by the size of those tentacles, I worried about the ship sinking.
Inanna pulled up short as she saw it.
"Motherfucker...." she said, then turned to me.
"Jerry, I hope your magical muscles are nice and swole, because we need to start teleporting people to safety right fucking now."
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's a kraken," she said.
"I figured as much, but there's no way we can evacuate this ship in time. I could maybe teleport them a hundred at a time, but even assuming it only takes three minutes to get a hundred people to link hands, that's two hours to get just the passengers. It'll be another forty five minutes for the crew. Whatever this thing is gonna do to the ship, it'll be over by then."
She shook her head. "You don't understand, Jerry. Krakens are mostly legendary in this world. They're not native here, and have only come over through the occasional rift that pops up way down at pressure depth. Most of what you know is complete BS. This is how they hunt. Wales and dolphins are their primary food, but they evolved on a world where humans had large ships full of people sailing the seas twenty thousand years ago, and they've adapted."
The ship jerked again as I watched a massive tentacle wrap completely around it and began to tighten down.
"It's going to break the ship, and then its going to come after the lifeboats. That's its strategy here."
"Crap," I muttered. "You have any ideas?"
"I've never even heard of a ship that survived a kraken attack, Jerry. Ninety percent of the people on board won't, either, and that's the best case. Worst case, everybody dies."
My mind raced. The first thing that occurred to me was the trick I'd used to kill the primordials. But honestly, the primordials were probably smaller than the kraken, and its body was underwater. If I hit the surface of the ocean at those speeds, it would be like a bomb going off. I'd likely just break the ship even quicker.
"I think it's too dangerous for you to do the human bullet thing," she said, her thoughts echoing mine.
"Right," I said. "So, we've got to figure out a way to drive it off. Make it think that it's not worth going after this ship, right?"
"I mean, if you can think of something that might do that, and not destroy the ship, yeah."
I wracked my brain for ideas. Fire was an obvious choice, but the beast's size ruled that out. If I made enough fire to hurt it, I'd damage the ship and probably kill a bunch of people. I watched another tentacle curl around and tighten onto the ship. With the two that had been in place when we got out, that made four. We were running out of time.
"Shit," I swore, using up one of my limited supply for the month. "Baby, I don't know what to do."
"Start teleporting," she said. "We'll save as many as we can."
I winced. Leaving people to die was something I wasn't willing to accept until the last second. Of course, the longer I waited to take that route, the more people I'd have to leave to die. This was the worst sort of calculus I'd ever done, and I always hated math.
I immediately pictured the panic that would happen when I started teleporting people and the rest realized I wouldn't be able to get everyone. It would be chaos.
A younger couple made their way from one of the edges of the ship, heading for the lounge. As they passed us, they stopped.
"You're Jerry and Ishtar Williams, right?" the woman asked.
"Inanna," I said. "Ishtar is the character," I said.
"Right, sorry. Do you know what this thing is?"
Inanna answered for me. "It's a kraken. A real one."
"Why is it attacking the ship?" the man asked.
"It's hunting," I said. Inanna nodded. "It's going to break the ship, then go after the people in the lifeboats," she added.
"Holy shit," the woman gasped. "Can you stop it?"
"Trying to figure out how, right now."
"Can we help?" the man asked. I turned to them. "I don't think so, no."
I kept trying to think as Inanna approached them, realizing I wouldn't get any planning done while answering their questions.
I needed something that would drive the best off, or kill it quickly. Honestly, even if I could blink my eyes and stop its heart, which I didn't think I could, but would try as a backup plan, I think the bulk of the creature might drag the ship under. We needed to get it to let go of the ship. Which went back to what I'd just been thinking, about driving it off.
We needed to hurt it. But I didn't know how to do that without killing people on the ship.
"Shit," I said again. "I don't know how to drive it off without killing people on the ship."
"What do you mean?" the woman asked.
"Everything I can do that would cause it significant enough pain to rethink attacking us would also damage the ship. And I don't dare kill it with its tentacles wrapped around the ship like this, it'll pull us under."
Inanna rounded on me, and I could see she'd had an idea. "What?!" I asked.
"Oh Jerry," she said with a malicious gleam in her eyes. "You're gonna hate this."

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Howdy Y’all, Voxel here with a cerakote sale and queue length update, plus new in-stock cables and dyed sleeve colors!

Commission any Cerakoted Cable and receive a free CNC Machined USB-C upgrade, complete with matching cerakote!

I’ve got great cerakoter news, and to celebrate how quickly my new vendor has been completing my cerakote needs, I'm offering free CNC-C upgrades for all cables ordered on the website AND through discussion/invoices! This is the first time I've been able to offer hardware upgrades as an incentive and this will probably be a mainstay in my sale rotation!
What is a CNC-C? A CNC USB port is one that's been machined from metal, typically brass, which adds a luxurious and sturdy way to spice up a cable! CNC-Cs are durable and repairable.
VoxelMods Website Store
Details of the Upgrade, a $50 savings: This applies to any kind of made-to-order commission, including Curated Colorway Commissions and my usual advanced commissions! Any style of cable with a cerakote cable is eligible, from straight cables to coiled cables, and even my braided IEM style! If you order through the website, simply order the Standard USB port option, mention this post in the Notes box, and I’ll add the CNC-C to your order! If you order multiple cables in the same order, the upgrade can be applied to all of their USB-C! If you’d like to work with me one on one, contact me on email, Discord, or Instagram, and mention this upgrade promotion! (The host cable will use a standard USB port, but you can still upgrade your cable more to include the matching host side USB CNC (Type C or A) for $50 more, which is still a savings of $50 on the full set!) Below are updates as of 6/6:

-NEW Website page for In-Stock Cables!

Each In-stock cable now gets it’s own dedicated product listing, which means you can browse them all visually on the main gallery page! No more sorting through the wordy menus to select a cable to see what it looks like.

-New Pastel Hand-Dyed Sleeve available for advanced commissions

I have a ton of hand dyed sleeve, including four new colors added today! I added a new Pastel Peach, Pink, Purple, and Blue MDPC-X and Techflex, plus matching USB-A inserts. Message me to use dyed sleeve on your cable!

-Keebfront Vanguard65 Group Buy with VoxelMods Themed Cable Collaboration! GB live as of May 24th!

Keebfront and I have partnered to offer 5 colorways of sleek matching cables themed after each of the aluminum case colors of the VG65! They will be priced at a special price of $125 through Keebfront's website alongside the keyboard extra parts in Keebfront's "Group Buy" page!

KneeDeep Patina’s Final Round

-3 KneeDeep Patina Copper themed connectors are in-stock, available as a Curated Colorway. DM or email me if you want to customize it further! Each one is unique, so you get to choose (while stock lasts) -There are 3 FINAL KneeDeep Patina Commissions remaining, and the batch will be started once they're all commissioned!. Round 6 will be my last collab with KneeDeep unfortunately, but we are going out in style! If you would like to customize a KneeDeep Commission, please DM me to set it up! The cables start at $250 and include a wide range of customization, including custom mixed cerakote, splattered cerakote, FX cerakote, and of course, patina. In addition, these cables now include the ability to use braided IEM cable or metal sleeve! Each of these commissions is thoroughly planned with your involvement, to ensure that we are making you your dream cable!
​
Production Queue length:
Right now, I'm nearly caught up on my queue, and I've gotten my fulfillment time down to 3 weeks or so, thanks to the speed at which my cerakoter can complete the hardware needed!
Special ordered hardware can extend the estimate, but CNC hardware is fully stocked in the US, so no more waiting for CNC in general unless its a specialty piece like an LED-CNC. Remember that you can commission any cable by contacting me directly, or you can use my website to customize! Love from Portland, Voxel

FYI, this is a story COLLECTION. Lots of standalones technically. So, you can basically start to read at any chapter, no pre-read of the other chapters needed technically (other than maybe getting better descriptions of characters than: Adam Vir=human, Krill=antlike alien, Sunny=tall alien, Conn=telepathic alien). The numbers are (mostly) only for organization of posts and continuity.
OC Written by Charlie Stastarrfallknightrise,
Typed up and then posted here by me.
Proofreading and language check for some chapters by u/Finbar9800
Future Lore and fact check done by me.
Keep in mind: never skip leg day!
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
The human pulled to a stop, huffing and puffing, hands on his knees as he took in great big breaths. Krill could see ribs through his skin as the great bellows expanded and then contracted. Sweat slicked the skin as the body desperately tried to cool itself.
"Heart rate 165."
The human straightened himself out, coughing once or twice to clear his throat, reaching out and wiping his face with a towel.
He threw the towel over one shoulder and stretched the large muscle groups in his chest, stomach and back, pulling tight.
Sunny leaned against the wall just to their right, both sets of arms crossed over her chest,
"So, what is this supposed to be for? Is this like a dominance thing or something?”
The human wiped his face again and raised an eyebrow,
"It's exercises, Sunny. You know? So I can be fit enough to pass the UNSC PT exam, or perhaps so that I can do my job better, or maybe because I look better when I'm more fit.”
Sunny turned her head to look at him, her eyes scrunching down a little, as Krill went to take notes on a clipboard.
"You mean... You didn't just grow to being that size?”
The human glanced down at Krill incredulous,
"IS she serious? Do the Drev like, not have to work out?"
Krill shook his head,
"Drev do not have subcutaneous fat deposits like humans do. Any acquired deposits are stored below the carapace between the connective tissue, padding them down and giving them more protection."
Sunny looked between them in confusion,
"Wait, hold on... I'm confused."
The human toweled off his hair,
"I have to work out to look like this Sunny. If I don't use it, I lose it."
She turned to look at Krill.
He tucked the holo-pad under one arm,
"You see, Sunny. Humans are meant to adapt. They can adapt mentally, and they can adapt physically. The body changes to match the requirements of its environment. Sometimes this takes years to do, for instance if you take a light skinned population of humans and put them somewhere with a lot of sun, and keep that population in complete isolation, after a few generations, the skin will darken to compensate for the increased UV light. However, these things happen on a smaller level. The body fluctuates to adapt to the amount of physical work which is required."
The human nodded,
"Exactly. Running strengthens the heart, and it increases the hemoglobin in my blood, so that I can run for a longer time with more oxygen. If I were to stop running, I would lose all of that and have to work back up."
Sunny stared at him incredulous,
"So, you have to force your body to be able to perform correctly. Like, it can't just DO what it needs to do, but you have to convince it over years of training to be able to do what you want?”
The man shrugged,
"Well anything sucks when you phrase it like that."
He turned and motioned them to follow,
"Historically, humanity was evolved in an environment with little food. We ate a diet heavy in proteins, fiber, and natural carbs from fruit. Fat is an essential part of a human's diet, but it is relatively difficult to find in nature. Because of this, the body adapted to make humans love and crave fatty and sugary foods for energy. Well since well into the twentieth eighteenth century, fatty foods were becoming commonplace, and easy to get our hands on, but the body wasn't aware of that, so it continued to treat these new fatty foods the way our bodies would have treated them back when we were huntegatherers storing every last bit up for use later."
Sunny followed after in fascination,
"I see, so now you have... Too much of a food that your body craves."
The human looked over his shoulder,
"You got it, and the body doesn't know when to stop storing fat. It'll just keep going. So, if I were to sit on my ass all day eating chips, I would lose the muscle and I would get bigger as fat deposits were stored up for energy."
Sunny shrugged,
"What is the problem with that?"
The human tapped his chin lightly,
"A few things, I guess. For me, at least, if I were to just stop working out, I wouldn't be able to do my job as well, I wouldn't be able to run as far, or to jump as high, or to lift as much. And lifting myself up in a pullup would be impossible, and considering the amount of times we have all almost fallen off a cliff, or had to haul ourselves up rope, you would think that would be a bad idea. Not to mention that the larger you are, the harder your heart has to work as the blood supply is forced to expand, and since you aren't working out your heart it gets weaker but has to do more work, which –in turn– increased the risk of heart issues. Compounding all that I wouldn't be able to sit in a cockpit or pilot a jet properly."
Sunny shook her head,
"That seems like a very... annoying model. You can never just relax. You always have to work to keep your body where it should be. And the amount of self-control you have to have..."
The human laughed,
"You have no idea how much self-control I need when a box of doughnuts gets in my way."
He sighed,
"Keeping my abs has been a real struggle, but luckily the UNSC drilled some self-discipline into me when I was still young."
"So, you weren't always this big?”
The human snorted,
"No not in the slightest. In fact, I was so skinny, you could see my heart beating through my rib cage.”
Sunny grimaced.
"Yeah I know, kinda gross. Those are your two directions. If you don't work out your either super scary skinny, or you get a bit big. If you're working out right, you get muscles."
He turned around, flexing proudly for them to outline the lines of his biceps, chest and stomach.
Sunny would have rolled her eyes back into her head, but she supposed, now that she knew he had to work for it, she was at least somewhat proud of him.
"Ok, I have a question then."
"Shoot."
"Can you get bigger?"
More laughter,
"Oh yeah, totally, but I'm not THAT dedicated."
They were just coming around a corner when the commander skidded to a halt, eye to chest with an absolutely massive human.
Even Sunny stepped back in surprise.
This human was large enough to look Sunny in the eye, with shoulders about as wide as her, and a chest that looked like it could have benched a small car.
It was almost comical, a moment ago Sunny had assumed that the commander was a large human.
"Wow there, big man. I'd rather not get steamrolled today, thanks."
The large human glanced down at the commander.
"Sorry sir."
He grunted, before stepping around and walking up the hall.
Sunny watched him go,
"What do you have to do to get that big!?”
"You practically have to live at the gym."
They turned the corner, walking into a large room, with strange machines of unknown use.
And in here there were humans of all sizes and shapes, but most of them absolutely massive. Those who lacked height, did not lack muscle.
Male humans, female humans, all of the above.
A tiny female human stood at one of these machines, carrying a bar on her shoulders with enough weight that sunny assumed it might crush her. Instead, she squatted down to the floor and stood back up.
The captain blinked and motioned towards her
"Holy shit."
"She squats more than me by the way. You see these guys are insane. I work out to maintain, these guys do it because it’s their hobby."
Krill floated upwards to whisper in Sunny's ear,
"For the muscle to enlarge, the fibers must tear open, and then the body comes back and repairs the tear to withstand the pressures that tore it in the first place.”
Sunny stared at Krill incredulously,
"So you're telling me, they just... Tear themselves apart to get like that?”
The commander left them standing in place, walking over to the wall and jumping upwards, catching his hands around a black bar welded to the wall, the muscles in his back, just below the shoulder blades flexed as he pulled himself upwards, the muscles in his shoulder blades rolling under the skin.
They continued to watch as the commander did his set, a little bit of everything for demonstration purposes. Getting off one of the leg machines, one of these large female humans walked past, sitting where he had just sat, reaching out, pulling out the peg and bringing the weight almost to the bottom of the plates.
The commander leaned in,
"See her, she could probably crush your skull using just her legs."
He sighed,
"Man, I only WISH I could be that badass."
”Yeah, I am sure THAT’S whats you are wishing when you see those thighs…”
He looked up at Sunny,
"Sometimes I come here just to knock myself down a peg."
Across the room, one of these massive humans was hauling a huge bar, lined with weight on either side up over his head like it was nothing.
"You see that, that would probably invert my spine if I tried to do it."
"Must you be so graphic?"
"Yeah, because that's how much of a wuss I am."
Looking around, Sunny wasn't convinced entirely of his status as a wuss.
He had all the requisite muscle groups of even the largest humans, and more than some. There were great swatches of the human population who, even here, were missing some things.
A few of the humans had large arms, but small legs, big legs, but small arms, no chest, or chest and no abdominal muscles.
Yes sure, he may have been smaller than their largest, but he WAS well rounded…Arms, chest, stomach, legs, back and shoulders.
She found herself surprised at the smug satisfaction in comparing her human to the other humans.
Sure, her human couldn't bench THAT much, but he also had better legs, so there.
"You ok, Sunny?"
She turned her head to look at him.
"Just thinking."
She said and he shrugged at her and returned to do his workout.
It's hard to be a human.
They have to work for everything they have, especially when it comes to their body.
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Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author
Thanks for reading! As you saw in the title, this is a cross posted story written by starrfallknightrise and I'll just upload some of it here for you guys, if you are interested and want to read ahead, the original story-collection can be found on tumblr or wattpad to read for free. (link above this text under "OC:..." ) It is the Empyrean Iris story collection by starfallknightrise. Also, if you want to know more about the story collection i made an intro post about it, so feel free to check that out to see what other great characters to look forward to! (Link also above this text). I have no affiliations to the author; just thought I’d share some of the great stories you might enjoy a lot!
Obviously, I have Charlie’s permission to post this and for the people already knowing the stories, or starting to read them: If you follow the link and check out the story you will see some differences. I made some small (non-artistic) changes, mainly correcting writing mistakes, pronoun correction and some small additional info here and there of things which were not thought of/forgotten or even were added/changed in later stories (like the “USS->UNSC” prefix of Stabby, Chalar=/->Sunny etc). As well as some "biggemajor" changes in descriptions and info’s for the same stringency/continuity reason. That can be explained by the story collection being, well a story collection at the start with many standalone-stories just starring the same people, but later on it gets more to a stringent storyline with backstories and throwbacks. (For example Adam Vir has some HEAVY scars over his body, following his bones, which were not really talked about up till half the collection, where it says it covers his whole body and you find out via backflash that he had them the whole time and how he got them, they just weren't mentioned before. However, I would think a doctor would at least see these scars before that, especially since he gets analyzed, treated and goes shirtless/in T-shirts in some stories). So TLDR: Writing and some descriptions are slightly changed, with full OK from the author, since he himself did not bother to correct these things before.

-I tore my rotator cuff and have been rehabbing it for a lil over a month now and I have some charity events planned in the near future.
-I was accepted off the waitlist as an out of state applicant. Long story short, they want me to pay far too much money. My dad is getting an office in Arlington very soon. If we were to buy an apartment and live there for 180 days, would I be paying in-state tuition by next year?

Contact me to get Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator by chatting me on +44 759 388 2116 on Telegram/Whatsapp.
I have Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator.
Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator course is one of the best products on how to start a marketing agency.
Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator includes over 50 hours of step-by-step training covering EVERY aspect of building an agency from scratch. This is almost a plug & play system with enough success stories to back it up! Signing clients, running Facebook ads, building out your team, on-boarding clients, invoicing, sales... this course has everything covered for you.
The topics inside Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator course include:

1. Agency Navigator course Core Curriculum
   
2. Custom E-Learning Platform For Agency Owners
   
3. Financial Planner, Revenue Calculator, Outreach Tracker & More Tools
   
4. Websites Templates, Funnels, Ads & More
   
5. Template Contracts, Sales Scripts, Agreements & More
   

The lessons in Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator will teach you how to:
- Starting Your Agency
- Finding Leads
- Signing Clients
- Getting Paid
- Onboarding Clients
- Managing Client Communication...
...and much, much more!
To get Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator contact me on:
Whatsapp/Telegram: +44 759 388 2116
Reddit DM to u/RequestCourseAccess
Email: silverlakestore[@]yandex.com (remove the brackets)

I don't see many people talking about this, but it's kinda worrying to me. I live in Europe, and for reference I bought God of War 2018 in November 2018 (it had launched in April) for 35€. God of War Rägnarok as well as the TLOU Remake still sit at 60€ despite being on sale and also 8-9 months old. That's an almost 50% increase.
When these two games launched at 80, some people said "just wait a few months, they'll cost half of that". Well, that might've been true for the PS4 days, but that's no longer the case it seems. It seems to be more in line with the Nintendo model, still asking full price for Zelda BOTW which is 6 years old.
Is that where we're heading with PS5 as well? Because I've always thought of consoles as a pocket friendly approach to gaming. I played a lot of games in the PS4 era and I didn't really spend much because the games really dropped in price when on sale. That approach is no longer considered.

Hello everyone.
I was rear ended last sunday. Shoved into an intersection the person was going so fast. Thankfully I was the first car in line, so nobody else got hit. 17yo kid who wasnt paying attention to the road. Got the license and insurance. Progressive is going to be "paying for everything."
My issue is that I still owe on my car. I had a really nice sedan that I intended to keep driving another 10 years. When I got it it was top of the line, and now its on-par with the standard vehicles in terms of bells and whistles. It was an amazing car.
KBB valued it at 12.5k a week ago, which is a bit MORE than I bought it for. I still owe 5.5k on it. Will progressive pay off the loan and still pay me enough to get a car of equal value? Id assume not but if the kid hadnt hit me I'd still be paying for the car for the next three years. (12k loan 2.3% interest)
I'm losing the best car I've ever had and I doubt I'll be able to get one remotely as nice.
Any help with navigating this would be appreciated

Contact me to get Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator by chatting me on +44 759 388 2116 on Telegram/Whatsapp.
I have Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator.
Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator course is one of the best products on how to start a marketing agency.
Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator includes over 50 hours of step-by-step training covering EVERY aspect of building an agency from scratch. This is almost a plug & play system with enough success stories to back it up! Signing clients, running Facebook ads, building out your team, on-boarding clients, invoicing, sales... this course has everything covered for you.
The topics inside Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator course include:

1. Agency Navigator course Core Curriculum
   
2. Custom E-Learning Platform For Agency Owners
   
3. Financial Planner, Revenue Calculator, Outreach Tracker & More Tools
   
4. Websites Templates, Funnels, Ads & More
   
5. Template Contracts, Sales Scripts, Agreements & More
   

The lessons in Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator will teach you how to:
- Starting Your Agency
- Finding Leads
- Signing Clients
- Getting Paid
- Onboarding Clients
- Managing Client Communication...
...and much, much more!
To get Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator contact me on:
Whatsapp/Telegram: +44 759 388 2116
Reddit DM to u/RequestCourseAccess
Email: silverlakestore[@]yandex.com (remove the brackets)

I’ve posted a few times about my recovery (most recently here: https://www.reddit.com/covidlonghaulers/comments/136cljg/significant_progress_two_year_long_haul_update/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1)
I don’t yet consider myself fully recovered as I’m not currently working and I still get affected by high histamine foods. But as of today, I would say I am around the 85-90% mark.
It was at the 2 year mark that I was diagnosed with MCAS and started treatment. So I just wanted to say that even after being sick for such a long time things can get better. I am unrecognizable today compared to 6 months ago. At my worst, I would be completely exhausted from walking a few hundred meters…literally. I could only do one thing per day at most, and spent most of my time sitting or lying down.
But today, and after a few months of continued MCAS treatment, I decided to rent an e-bike and go out for a few hours. I stopped a bunch of times to have a little break and enjoy the scenery and have a snack. But otherwise I just sped along the roads and hills near where I live. A few months ago, doing something like this was completely unthinkable for me, even though I had been pretty fit pre Covid.
So my message is, please don’t give up hope and don’t stop trying. Things can get better!

This is mostly just a rant so apologies if I sound like a crybaby.
All my life I’ve wanted to prove to some people they’re wrong about me, about me being too sensitive and too weak. But the truth is, right now, I am. I can’t hold a job for more than a month without breaking down in the bathroom multiple times a day. My physical health is declining recently (surgeries, weight, etc) I feel like a weak minded and unwilling burnout. I feel like I constantly disappoint people around me because no matter how hard I try, my poor mental health gets the better of me and manifests into physical symptoms. I don’t know what to do, where to go. I’m scared of losing people near and dear to me because I’m not strong enough to prove myself better.
I feel lost, and at this moment, I can’t see a way out.

https://imgur.com/a/7t3OQ4I
I literally had just left my house and was at a stop sign, completely stopped behind the white line. I have to inch forward after I had stopped because you can't see if anyone's coming or not. As I was inching forward I got hit by an old lady taking a left onto the street, where as I was taking a right. She took the turn too soon and sharp. My driver side and center bumper is damaged as well as my hood, and I had washer fluid leaking so I had to get towed. The cop explicitly said that her car does not belong there, and the tow truck man told me not to worry at all, it's clearly her fault.
I thought I had this in the bag, I wasn't worried at all. The accident report was published and it is HEAVILY in my favor. I would post it but because the case is still ongoing I don't want to fuck anything up. The lady who hit me has the same insurance as me. The auto body shop said they would send the report to my insurance - they never did. However they had the pictures. The lady I was talking to said that with the pictures, it looks as though it's my fault, even though the old woman is literally in my lane. They're saying it's my fault because I'm above the white line - I had already stopped and was proceeding to turn so that makes no sense, she hit me after I had stopped. Even if I didn't stop at the stop sign it shouldn't matter because she was in my lane when she should have taken the turn more wide.
Well, I send the police report and the insurance lady is telling me that the old woman said a completely different story. So she fucking lied and now I might be out of a car because of it. I don't know what this woman is telling the insurance, but she's trying EXTREMELY hard to make sure I'm marked at fault. The insurance lady said she would fight for me, the accident report is in my favor and says that I stopped at the stop sign. I am beyond nervous that I'm still going to be marked at fault. I had a witness as well that said it wasn't my fault, but she dashed as soon as she saw the cops and I never got her number. I do have her license plate but idk if that helps.
I guess my question is, even if the police report clearly states that this lady took far too sharp of a turn, if the lady continues to press that it's my fault, will they end up going by her word instead of the police report? Will I also be marked at fault since the pictures show I'm above the white line, even though in my statement I said I stopped behind it and then started inching forward? Will I still be 100% not at fault even if she doesn't own up to it? She is making this incredibly difficult and basically committing fraud. Pretty sure she tried to use my age as an excuse too, im 21. How long does it take the insurance to determine who is at fault? They received the accident report yesterday, but have had the pictures since last week. The pictures aren't helping my case apparently, even though in one of them it shows a car where the lady SHOULD have turned into. Please DM me if you want to read the accident report. I included a couple pictures, one with the car where her lane is and a picture of the street. Also, the cop didn't include any pictures in the report but he got a lot more angles than I did. Anyway I could get ahold of those?

Hi,
Got hit by a deer on my 2013 Ford Escape Titanium SE (140,000 miles). The most expensive damage seems to be from the cost of the headlight and some recycled parts. Geico offered 7700 payout for them to keep the car or 6500 for me to keep.
My car is older than 8 years, so in my state I don't need to claim it a salvage title (equally confused on this part, could I still insure my car with Geico, would it go up astronomically since they know they called it a total loss?) Confused on what to do and have come up with the following options. Which route would you take in this case?
- take the full payout and look for a new car (lease or finance)- take the 6500, keep the car and either try to sell it for more, or honestly just fix it for less since it's really just the headlight boosting costs and drive it (can i still insure my car with Geico/another company?)- perhaps there is another option that would be better?
Thanks!

Contact me if you are interested in Iman Gadzhi Courses by chatting me on +44 759 388 2116 on Telegram/Whatsapp.
I have all Iman Gadzhi courses (Agency Navigator, Agency Incubator, Copy Paste Agency).
Iman Gadzhi’s courses are one of the best products on how to start a marketing agency and how to grow it.
Iman Gadzhi - Agency Navigator includes over 50 hours of step-by-step training covering EVERY aspect of building an agency from scratch. This is almost a plug & play system with enough success stories to back it up! Signing clients, running Facebook ads, building out your team, on-boarding clients, invoicing, sales... this course has everything covered for you.
The courses of Iman Gadzhi include the following:

1. Agency Navigator course Core Curriculum
   
2. Financial Planner, Revenue Calculator, Outreach Tracker & More Tools
   
3. Websites Templates, Funnels, Ads & More
   
4. Template Contracts, Sales Scripts, Agreements, Live calls & More
   

The core concepts in Iman Gadzhi’c courses include:
- Starting Your Agency
- Finding Leads
- Signing Clients
- Getting Paid
- Onboarding Clients
- Managing Client Communication...
...and much, much more!
If you are interested in Iman Gadzhi’s courses, contact us on:
Whatsapp/Telegram: +44 759 388 2116 (Telegram: multistorecourses)
Reddit DM to u/RequestCourseAccess
Email: silverlakestore[@]yandex.com (remove the brackets)

I (25M) dated a girl (23F) who was coming out of a 10 year relationship, due to long distance and moving countries. Their plan was to move here together and continue their life together, but his VISA was denied. They spent the next 6 years waiting in long distance for him to move back here, but it was complicated because his country was taken over by the Taliban (I am not joking).
She told me she lost feelings through distance, and she was over him, but he wasn’t over her. So me and her had a great relationship (5 months). I was the first guy she tried in 6 years. But he was still calling her, the whole time. She kept secret from him that she was in a new relationship. She wanted to gradually ignore his contact till he faded off. But it wasn’t working - he pushed harder and it would be obvious in her body language that something is going on. She would be more prone to arguing with me, in random spurt sessions. She lied to me about when he was contacting her. She lied to me about him not having a social media.
I eventually found his social media and in the bio, it said “Betterhalf 💍546.” 546 is an angel number expressing hope that a relationship’s situation is temporary. This made me raise my eyebrows. I wondered, are they actually still in a relationship?
I showed her the profile and asked if this is him? She immediately got so angry at me and said she is done with me. She said she hated that I went into her profile to find him. She said I moved too fast, and that if I was just confident in myself, she would have handled all of these things in her own while we dated. But it was 5 months… and he was still calling her every week.
Later, we had a talk where she confessed every lie she told me. It’s true that they weren’t dating, but he was in denial, and kept reminding her that the love will come back when they are near each other again. She also admitted to me that if he were to move here, it would mean he is giving up his family to be here, so she would try him one more time because she waited 6 years after all. She said she wasn’t convinced that I loved her enough (which is frustrating because she used to tell me I am putting in too much effort for her too soon in month 5), and she wasn’t sure if I was worth leaving something that’s already lasted 10 years. And during the whole 6 years, he spent everyday working hard to reunite with her again, rejecting every girl that came his way.
She felt really bad for letting me down. She didn’t know what to do. So she asked her sister what she should do. And her sister told him tell us both the truth. So after she told me these truths, she told him these truths.
He is clearly devastated. He took the thing out of his bio. He is being more cold to her. It seems that it’s truly over, finally. But, she is extremely upset. She feels like an awful human. I keep telling her to forgive herself and that I’ve forgiven her. I do not make her feel bad for this, during this vulnerable time for everyone.
She tells me she wants to be single for a long time to learn why she did everything she did. She feels that she does not deserve a relationship with anyone. I asked, if she ever felt ready again, would she date me? She said yes, why not, but to please not wait on her because she does not want me to give up potential loves with people that would have “treated you much better than I did.”
What do you think? Was it my fault? Should I have not questioned those things in her life and ignored it every time he called? Should I have been more confident?

I got my license at 18 years old. I lived in an area where passing the exam on the first try was generally not the norm-and it took me a few attempts, not going to lie, but when I passed, I made zero errors. I just drove a very predictable route-first just a few miles out, then started driving to university which was 40 minutes away. I felt relatively comfortable driving (no anxiety) but driving to new places was always slightly nerve wracking, but I'd do it just fine.
However, there were times where I just didn't want to drive and I didn't drive for a whole 5 years. During the pandemic, I realized not driving is hindering my life, as in that situation I couldn't rely on public transportation. I drove with a family member, conquered local roads and even started driving on busy city freeways. I can drive 6+ hour drives relatively well. But unfortunately, not long ago, I scraped my car badly at a gas station that completely shattered my confidence. I started driving again after a 5 month hiatus and feel like while I got 75% of it right, there's still something dumb I will do that makes me lose confidence in myself. For example, yesterday, I accidentally turned too much into a lane I was going to turn right in from a parkling lot and the cars had to slow down and inch around me. I knew what I did wrong and told myself I'm going to be more mindful when turning next time. Then right at the end of the drive, pulling into the driveway, I accidentally had my foot too heavy on the gas and instantly braked, not sure what the hell caused me to do that. I'd always hear situations where people do something like confuse the gas and brake and always thought to myself that sounds like the most horrifying mistake and for a second I wondered if I did the same thing.
For most people my age, driving is second nature and if you're somebody who doesn't drive or has driving anxiety, you're seen as an idiot of some sort, so having to deal with this and admit my shortcomings has felt embarassing. I just want to drive freely and feel confident that I'm a good driver and deserve to be on the road like everybody else. Any advice would be appreciated.

Not exactly unpopular opinions, but just something about kpop you'd normally not say out loud.
I'll go first; I find the idea of everybody getting sky rocketing album sales very suspicious. I know we live in the modern kpop era where the fans are infinite and the possibilities are vast. But what are the chances that everyone is making massive sales, with some of them not reflecting positively on any charts or any other material marker of such popularity or success???? This is not aimed at any specific group, just a hunch. We've heard of kpop companies buying places on charts or even just stealing songs to make a hit. Inflating or faking sales is not above them.
I miss noise music now that it's gone. 🫠😭
I am a sucker for Jacket Films for videos and shoots. It stems from an addiction of photoshoot behind the scenes.
I think kpop is turning into a platform to launch influencers. I an curious as to how it will end for idols who are launched specifically for that purpose. I mean there was once a time when idols used kpop as launching pad into the acting industry and it worked well for a good number of them. I think influencing helps them reach a larger audience, but at the cost of the music and essence of kpop. I am not complaining, just an observation.
I can not tolerate non-singing at all (constant pictures correct, lip syncing). It kills the vibe of the performance completely and gives me a really bad impression of the idol and their abilities.
There some groups that I sorta hate followed that now have been added to my Playlist or gained some respect for. Don't worry I wasn't leaving hate or anything, just kept up to see what next, like maybe another terrible release. E.g I do not hate NMIXX, never have, but their debut was so out of this world that I sorta kept up with them afterwards. Tbh they are great performers and vocalists, I respect and love that.