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2023.05.30 19:48 wsdot Busy summer construction season coming up
 | Memorial Day weekend is behind us and we're now pushing into the busy summer construction season, and the next few summers are going to be. ...really busy. Even more than usual. There are 116 projects scheduled on or near state highways across the state this summer. This doesn't include day-to-day maintenance, emergencies and city and county work. While we do what we can to keep traffic moving, it's impossible to get all this work done and not be disruptive. So please be sure to know how to stay looped in and begin planning now. More info about what's happening, why now, and how to prepare is in our blog: The WSDOT Blog - Washington State Department of Transportation: Here comes the sun – and a LOT of summer construction submitted by wsdot to Renton [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/nct7tecbs13b1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39787a975e45fed4a661eff31fb73777b972222f |
2023.05.30 19:47 wsdot Busy summer construction season coming up
 | Memorial Day weekend is behind us and we're now pushing into the busy summer construction season, and the next few summers are going to be. ...really busy. Even more than usual. There are 116 projects scheduled on or near state highways across the state this summer. This doesn't include day-to-day maintenance, emergencies and city and county work. While we do what we can to keep traffic moving, it's impossible to get all this work done and not be disruptive. So please be sure to know how to stay looped in and begin planning now. More info about what's happening, why now, and how to prepare is in our blog: The WSDOT Blog - Washington State Department of Transportation: Here comes the sun – and a LOT of summer construction submitted by wsdot to KentWA [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/0j013625s13b1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bc5ba6faa4d62f033cc40b1488cf5d5a1ca9e8f3 |
2023.05.30 19:46 datasci1357 Review of my Sleep on Latex mattress
5'9" man in my early 30s... Roughly 170 pounds with a lot of weight in my hips. I've tried to take care of my body over the years, but running, skiing, and years of soccer have taken a toll.
Before ordering my Sleep on Latex mattress, I was having trouble with persistent hip pain. I'm a side sleeper, and I'd often wake up in the middle of the night due to hip soreness. I bought the Queen-sized medium firmness mattress from Sleep on Latex, and it's been great for relieving pressure points in my hips.
The mattress is pretty affordable (think I paid around $1100 for it), and I feel good about the fact that it's environmentally friendly & poses no health risks, since it uses natural latex instead of artificial foams.
Lastly, the customer service department at Sleep on Latex has been great to work with. It's super easy to get someone on the phone. Would definitely recommend this company and their products.
submitted by datasci1357 to Mattress [link] [comments]
Before ordering my Sleep on Latex mattress, I was having trouble with persistent hip pain. I'm a side sleeper, and I'd often wake up in the middle of the night due to hip soreness. I bought the Queen-sized medium firmness mattress from Sleep on Latex, and it's been great for relieving pressure points in my hips.
The mattress is pretty affordable (think I paid around $1100 for it), and I feel good about the fact that it's environmentally friendly & poses no health risks, since it uses natural latex instead of artificial foams.
Lastly, the customer service department at Sleep on Latex has been great to work with. It's super easy to get someone on the phone. Would definitely recommend this company and their products.
2023.05.30 19:45 Shoddy_Personality_5 Renunciation of Malaysian Citizenship in Johor Bahru
Hello! I recently renounced my Malaysian citizenship and I thought I could share my experience here because it was quite . I would like to disclaim that this is my personal experience and might be different from yours so do take it with a little pinch of salt :") All links and credits are given!
Background context: I was born Malaysian (in Singapore, 2002) and converted to PR and then Singaporean when I was a minor Hence, by the Article 124(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, I need to take the Oath of Renunciation, Allegiance and Loyalty within 1 year of my 21st [Article124_1,2]. Upon turning 21, ICA sent a registered mail to my house address [ORAL1-3]. You do not need to fill up anything as of yet. I went to the High Commission of Malaysia with all the documents required that I had (you can find it here).
What to do in JB:
submitted by Shoddy_Personality_5 to u/Shoddy_Personality_5 [link] [comments]
Background context: I was born Malaysian (in Singapore, 2002) and converted to PR and then Singaporean when I was a minor Hence, by the Article 124(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, I need to take the Oath of Renunciation, Allegiance and Loyalty within 1 year of my 21st [Article124_1,2]. Upon turning 21, ICA sent a registered mail to my house address [ORAL1-3]. You do not need to fill up anything as of yet. I went to the High Commission of Malaysia with all the documents required that I had (you can find it here).
- Letter of Approval from ICA Singapore [ORAL1,2] - Original and 2 photocopies
- Singapore Pink I.C - Original and 2 photocopies
- Singapore Birth Certificate - Original and 2 photocopies
- BORANG W - Original and 2 photocopies
- Singapore Citizenship Certificate - Original and 2 photocopies
- Singapore Passport - Original and 2 photocopies
- Recent Passport Photo (2 minimally)
- A black pen
What to do in JB:
- Things to note before going
- Wear covered attire (no sleeveless, shorts, slippers).
- Bring a black colored pen or go to counter 3 to pay RM1 for a black ballpoint pen.
- Bring RM20 cash and have a Debit/Credit Card (I think Revolut and Youtrip works) that has at least RM10 in it.
- The whole process was quite fast (could finish in an hour or two) but I struggled since I couldn't speak Malay.
- Grab from JB Customs to JPN should cost you around RM20+. I'm not sure how to go by bus. There are parking slots if you were to go by car too.
- Walk along the road and look for Block 2, JPN and stay on the ground floor. Enter the building and near the entrance, there should be a kiosk machine and click 'warganegaraan' (should be the second option from the top). You should be called from counter 1 to 4.
- When your number is called, they will check for all the documents and ask pass you the Borang-K form and ask you to fill it up, go to Pesuruhjaya Sumpah to commision your oath. The template is found in [BorangK_1,2] with some edits made. You could refer to the templates found around the counters (I went to the one at the round pillar).
- Exit the compound of The National Registration Department (past the gates) and cross the road and turn left (with respect to the direction you exit) to find Pesuruhjaya Sumpah [Persuruhjaya_Sumpah]. She will help you validate your document and sign it for you. Pay her RM20 in cash.
- Return back to JPN and get a new queue number and click 'warganergaraan' again. Hand all the documents over including the newly filled Borang K. You will have to pay RM10 in card (or you can try your luck and see if the officer would accept your RM10 in cash and pay for you in card) and they will process it for you and give you a document evidence to prove that you have renounced your malaysian citizenship.
- You are donesos!! :D
2023.05.30 19:45 wsdot Busy summer construction season coming up
 | Memorial Day weekend is behind us and we're now pushing into the busy summer construction season, and the next few summers are going to be. ...really busy. Even more than usual. There are 116 projects scheduled on or near state highways across the state this summer. This doesn't include day-to-day maintenance, emergencies and city and county work. While we do what we can to keep traffic moving, it's impossible to get all this work done and not be disruptive. So please be sure to know how to stay looped in and begin planning now. More info about what's happening, why now, and how to prepare is in our blog: The WSDOT Blog - Washington State Department of Transportation: Here comes the sun – and a LOT of summer construction submitted by wsdot to BellevueWA [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/mere9bnsr13b1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8ef5d760338c989ec25984b8ccd78cc3181105ad |
2023.05.30 19:44 Lazy-Personality4024 Orphan Chapter 14
First Previous
Chapter 14: A Pleasant Game of Skirmish
Due to the distance between Earth and Cradle, multiple jumps were required. As such, major worlds in between the two points were designated and added to the jump list. While it extended the time it would take to get there, it would be worth it to gather more information on humanity. When jumping into a system, the Into the Black would do a detailed scan on every major planet, circling them if need be. Each system would take hours to record, but the new potential discoveries more than made up for it.
Meanwhile, life on the ship continued. Vigil in particular found himself wandering the upper decks, as Glevar had forbidden him from “escorting” Irudo while he was at work. Hesitant at first, Vigil left, believing he was in capable hands. Now, with no purpose, he was left to his own devices.
Thoughts of the garden kept popping up in his mind. Wishing to sate his curiosity, he gradually made his way over to it. Passing through the checkpoint, he was greeted with a wall of greenery. Small paths meandered through the small forest, while larger paths ringed the exterior.
Picking one of the smaller paths at random, Vigil walked down it, surrounded by life and serenity. The vegetation was both alien and yet familiar at the same time. Large trees with rough brown bark stretched upwards, topped by green leaves. Some were not completely the same as Earth vegetation, however.
Some of the tree trunks had a much darker, reddish hue, and wicked looking spikes lining them. While others had red or even purple leaves. Those with spikes had signs with foreign words set in the ground beside them, adorned by artwork depicting a mouth eating the tree with a large X. Going by this, Vigil assumed they were not edible. Why anyone wanted to eat the trees, he could not fathom. Apparently, though, the signs did not pertain to the wildlife transplanted onto the ship. A small creature with eyes nearly as large as its head, a jet black body covered in fur, and a long bushy tail, sat munching on the leaves of the tree. All the while staring at Vigil, curious as to who was intruding on its lunch.
Another oddity was the “grass”, if one could call it that. The plant in question blanketed the forest floor. It was bluish green with razor thin blades, more filament than proper leaf. Though it was extremely thin, it grew so dense that fallen debris, such as leaves and twigs, seemed to float above it.
Possibly deadly tree’s and strange grass aside… it was… enjoyable. It was nice to be so far away from war, yet confusing at the same time. He had no purpose here, no reason. Was it truly fine for him to stop? To lie down his sword, so to speak?
A beautiful flower off the path caught his eye. It had yet to unfurl its white petals for the day. Wanting to observe the flower in greater detail, Vigil stepped off the path and walked over. He kneeled down before it, taking in every aspect of its design. He reached out and stroked a petal. He did so agonizingly slow and gentle, yet even that was not enough to prevent harm to the frail life before him.
His finger ripped away one of the pure white petals, revealing a crimson red interior. Liquid, whether nectar or something else, leaked from the injury. It too was red, blood red. Surprised, he stood quickly. He did not want to harm the small flower further. Turning away, he paused. He saw his tracks, deep and obtrusive to the natural scenery. Wherever he walked, he had brought death to the surrounding life. Crushing the small filament like vegetation that covered the ground, killing it with each step.
He was reminded then, what his purpose was. He was a weapon, nothing more, nothing less. His purpose was to stand ready, so when the Nemesis came, these new people could wield him. Until he met his end, his purpose was to fight and kill. Forgetting this only brought harm to the world around him, and those existing peacefully within it. He walked back to the path, retracing his steps so to no bring further harm to those undeserving of it. He went back down the path to where he had come and left the garden and all the life within. Lest he bring death to them as well.
-
Elsewhere on the ship, Hran was forbidden from strenuous activity, being injured as he was. Which meant that he was practically useless in the engineering department. Thus, he was given a few of the data banks to work on.
He normally wasn’t able to pick up anything heavy as is, but now he wasn’t even allowed to so much as think of lifting anything that weighed more than him. Since he usually tinkered on things, he had created a sort of nest in the back of the large engineering bay. So, secluded in his little hideaway, he rummaged around in the data banks. Hoping for something useful.
While technically every scrap of information was crucial, he was finding fairly basic things. Knowledge that even the average denizen of the GU knew. Skipping this data bank, he moved on to another, and struck gold. Well, gold to him anyway. The importance of his finding would be graded by his superiors at a later date.
When he had opened the data bank, he had found hundreds of thousands of hours of footage. Not like communicator footage someone would record when something exciting happened, but of combat footage! Combat footage with the Nemesis! If they wanted to learn about the Nemesis and their tactics, this was the best way, aside from Vigil.
Opening the first file, Hran was immediately met with the sounds of gunfire and explosions. He quickly turned down the volume, afraid someone had heard. When no one came snooping, he relaxed and resumed the video.
The gunfire resumed, and a human male barked out some strange words and the wearer of the camera looked to the side. Hran’s eyes widened. He saw only men, dozens of battle-hardened and experienced soldiers. They were in some kind of natural depression in the dirt. Lines of men were running hunched over, keeping their heads low. All around them was dust and smoke, obscuring their view of the battlefield, but they fought regardless. Peeking from above the clouds of dust, were burned and blasted out buildings.
Then, suddenly, a man in armor ravaged by battle pointed behind the soldier with the camera and raised his weapon. The camera whipped around to see several terrifying four armed creatures dashing out of the smoke. Though the human men were already taller than him by several centias, the Nemesis towered over them. They did not hesitate though. They did not run or shirk their duty; they met the charging aliens head on.
Soldiers before the cameraman fired and were cut down by both blade and gun. The Nemesis seemed to favor holding a firearm in their upper two arms and blades in their lower two. Given the close proximity, Hran could see the advantage.
But the humans did not back away, they held their ground. Every bullet or bolt of energy caused the Nemesis to shine at the impact site. Hran ogled the works of engineering. They had personal energy shields! A man directly in front of the cameraman ducked under the blades of one attacker, and shoved the barrel of his weapon into the Nemesis’ side, and pulled the trigger. Circumventing the shield.
The Nemesis roared in pain and outrage, and cut the man in half. Hran choked back vomit. The viscera and gore were not censored of course, giving him a front-row seat to the brutality of war.
The unknown soldier’s death would not be in vain. The cameraman and another soldier rushed the wounded alien and tackled it. The man with the helmet cam straddled the creature and pressed his weapon directly into the underside of the Nemesis’ four eyed helmet.
Hran looked away as brain matter and yellowish alien blood explode from the now dead Nemesis. He felt sick to his stomach watching the battle. This wasn’t some make believe fantasy, some fictional war movie. This was real footage from real people struggling to survive just one more day. Yet… he couldn’t stop watching.
The soldier was back up, and continued to fight, but his time did not last. Another Nemesis took the place of the first, and now it was the cameraman’s turn to be cut down. Hran watched as the world turned sideways, and crimson blood painted the soil. The soldier did not stir. And all the while, the Nemesis and human warriors continued to battle eachother, staining the sandy colored soil with their blood. The video ended soon after the soldier’s death.
Hran was stunned. He had never seen anyone die. And now he had just witnessed the death of dozens. He was lightheaded, and his stomach ached. He gulped down the bile which threatened to pour from his mouth. Humanity had given their lives in defense of an undeserving galaxy. It was because of them he and his people were alive today.
He would bear witness to their final moments and learn all he could. So that if the Nemesis came, they would be ready. Steeling himself, Hran clicked on the next file. Great cannons the size of skyscrapers fired, parting the clouds in waves. As the clouds split, an endless sea of ships were revealed descending from the skies. Hran prepared himself to witness even more death and carnage than before.
-
Kitern was fuming. She understood Tentzonta’s worries, because she herself was wary of Vigil when they first let him wander as he pleased. But after he had literally carried her to safety, that opinion had changed drastically. Vigil was a soldier, just like her. She had killed people in the line of duty, yet no one feared her. Well, maybe a little, but it wasn’t because she had spilled blood. More because of her charming personality.
To top it all off, her damn arm was aching from not being moved in so long. Some might say she was overreacting, but having her arm in a sling felt more like she was being caged, like she was being tied down. It was unnatural to have her body hindered like this.
Of course, it was for her own health. Klofaa had scanned her arm and made certain nothing was broken. The blow had simply dislocated her shoulder and pressed it against the main nerve in her arm, preventing her from being able to move it. Once her shoulder had been re-set, she was able to move it like normal. But that wasn’t enough for Klofaa. She wanted to make absolutely certain Kitern was in no danger, so forced this stupid sling on her.
The feeling in her chest, of being confined and restricted, kept increasing. It was irritating, to say the least. She wanted to blow off some steam, but there wasn’t much she could do with one hand. Kitern paused. She did like watching sports. She could try to start a game of bailok between the crew?
She shook her head and continued walking. No, that required too much work for her to only sit on the sidelines. Besides, most of the crew wouldn’t bother participating. She wondered if Vigil knew any sports? She was sure plenty of people would be interested in playing a human sport.
“Hmmm,” she hummed and scratched her jaw. She couldn’t imagine Vigil playing anything. Even if he did, he would have to play against other mega bipeds, otherwise, he would absolutely destroy the average biped like her. She laughed suddenly. ‘Imagine their faces when they realize the person who whooped their asses is a guy! They would never be able to live that down!’ she thought. The image of a bunch of whiney bailok players came to mind. They already fell over at the slightest touch. If Vigil ran into one of them, armor or not, he would pulverize them.
She stopped again, an idea coming to her. Forget sports like bailok, what about skirmish? It was a simple game, but a blast to play and watch. Easy to set up, too. All you needed was an energy rifle with a dampener on the end to lower its power and a sensor to ping whenever the laser hit. They had all the ingredients they just needed to put them together.
She knew Asteli would jump at the opportunity to play. The spunky Venanian absolutely loved the game. Gre’Namra would follow along with her, and she could always order Onsa and Dentala if they didn’t want to join. She could even play with one arm if she wanted, skirmish laser dampeners worked on nearly all energy weapons after all. The only hard part would be finding everyone.
Grinning, she got to work scouring the ship.
-
Vigil was peacefully watching the blackness of space, his mind set at ease by the void. Something that many found unsettling. The Into the Black was scanning another system, on its way to Cradle. He didn’t recognize it, which was a small blessing. He kept recalling the past and his purpose as of late. Looking at the dead husk of a world he and his brethren had spilled their blood over would do no good.
“FOUND HIM!” a familiar voice screamed, loud enough to scare some of the nearby crew. The observation deck had, well, observation windows to look out into space. In this case, Vigil was at the very end of the large main corridor which ran the length of the ship. As Deck One held numerous amenities for the crew, it was frequented by many. Thus, there were more than a few startled faces.
Vigil turned as Asteli came bounding up to him with Gre’Namra following close behind. “Hey big guy! Captain wants you!”
Vigil looked down at her, “I will report to the bridge immediately,” he replied.
“Not that captain. Commander Kitern,” Gre’Namra clarified, stepping in front of him.
Vigil tilted his head. “Understood. Where am I needed?”
“In the hangar bay! Come on, you’re going to love this!” Asteli practically sang, as she went behind him and attempted to push him along. Her efforts were futile. She simply walked in place, feet slipping on the deck plates. She grunted in excretion. “Come on!”
“Affirmative. I will report to commander Kitern at once.” He stepped forward, causing Asteli to lose her balance and almost fall. Gre’Namra reached out to help stabilize her, before they began following Vigil to the lift.
As soon as the lift doors opened, Asteli rushed out screaming, “I found him!” Before she and Gre’Namra ran into the locker room. Vigil marched orderly to the hanger bay, to find the rest of the marines idly standing around in their armor on the edge of a symmetrical field of crates and containors. Strange black devices decorated their armor. One side was flat to adhere to their armor, while the other had a slight bulge. They were stuck at intervals, correlating with vital areas.
Vigil walked up to Kitern. “Has there been an emergency?”
She shook her head. “If me being pissed as hell counts, then yes. Otherwise, no, there hasn’t been. We’re setting up for a game of skirmish. That’s what the sensors are for,” she said, pointing a claw at a device on Dentala’s helmet, nestled between her horns.
“What is skirmish?” Vigil asked.
“It’s a game you play to simulate a firefight. You put the sensors on your chest, back, head, arms, and legs.” She lifted a laser pistol with a bright blue block on the end of the barrel. “Then you put a dampener on an energy weapon of your choice and shoot eachother. The dampener lowers the power of the beam so that it can’t kill you, just trigger the sensors. It takes five shots to ‘kill’ someone, two if you shoot them in the head. Forgot how many you need if the species has more than one head, though.” She returned her sidearm to its holster and waved a hand dismissively. “Doesn’t matter. Point is, you want to play?”
He thought for a second. While labeled as a game, it would be an efficient tool to maintain combat readiness and test his new allies’ capabilities. They would need to be an efficient fighting force to have a chance against the Nemesis. “Affirmative,” he finally replied.
Kitern chuffed. “Good. Onsa, get this man a gun! Never thought I’d say those words.” She shrugged. “Oh well. If you need me, I’ll be with Shavan putting bets on the winners.”
“Hello down there!” the ship’s quartermaster said upon hearing her name. She waved down at them from a platform being held aloft by a crane which ran along the tracks embedded in the ceiling. She began lowering the platform via a linked data pad.
“Don’t tell the captain about that. It breaks several safety regulations,” Onsa said from the side, handing him a pack of sensors and an energy rifle with a dampener already attached. Vigil looked at them curiously and began putting them on various parts of his body. Meanwhile, Asteli and Gre’Namra returned, now fully armored, and grabbed two more rifles and packets of sensors.
Now high above the “battlefield”, Kitern announced. “If the contestants are ready, you may take your positions!” she said in a haughty voice. She leaned over and elbowed Shavan in the side. “Make sure you record this.”
Shavan chuffed and drawled, “Already ahead of ya.” Then linked her data pad to the hangar’s cameras, pointing them so they covered every inch of the field.
Asteli ran off to one side of the makeshift arena while Onsa and Dentala went to the other. Gre’Namra walked up to Vigil and said, “You’re on our team to help balance things out.” He nodded and followed the two privates to their designated starting point.
Kitern leaned over the hastily assembled railing of her platform, observing the playing field. It was a simple rectangle marked by lines of crates. Each side’s base was ringed by a wall of boxes and containers with gaps to get in and out. Cover was scattered periodically, with head height walls spread around the arena to break line of sight.
Seeing that everyone was at their bases, she called down, “If everyone is ready!” She paused, looking between the two opposing sides. “Begin the slaughter!” There was no bell, shot, or buzzer. Just a simple shout and the two sides were off.
All except for Vigil, who was still standing there while Asteli and Gre’Namra split and ran in opposite directions around a wall that defended the front of their base. Vigil looked back and forth between the two before randomly choosing to go to the right.
Turning the corner, he saw Gre’Namra hunkered behind cover. She was pressing a hand to the deck, concentrating on something. She looked back and saw him and made a hand motion, telling him to get down. Distracted by Gre’Namra, he did not see the two quick flashes from between a stack of crates, which spelled his doom.
The sensor on Vigil’s helmet flashed blue twice in quick succession, and all the sensors lit up. Indicating he was out.
“You’re dead Vigil, go sit on the side,” Kitern called down from her perch. Confused, Vigil did as ordered and observed the brief firefight. Gre’Namra, now revealed, had a small shootout with Onsa who had taken out Vigil. Gre’Namra returned fire, attempting to suppress Onsa.
When Onsa stopped shooting, Gre’Namra attempted to pull back get behind taller cover. The moment she left her stack of boxes, Onsa resumed firing and tagged her back three times. Though she was hit, she was not out. Cursing and slapping her tail on the deck in agitation, she elected to pull back and meet up with Asteli on the opposite side of the battlefield from her, rather than continue fighting Onsa. Gre’Namra fired blindly over cover, causing Onsa to duck down and give her a chance to escape.
Meanwhile, Asteli had pushed far forward, quickly being pinned down by Dentala. Already hit twice, she was reluctant to return fire. Until Gre’Namra appeared, she kneeled and leaned around cover, hitting Dentala and forcing her back. Now relieved, Asteli advanced with Gre’Namra’s over watch.
However, in their haste, they failed to ensure their flank was secure. As out of nowhere, Asteli was gunned down by Onsa firing diagonally from across the field.
Asteli stomped her foot and cursed, before trudging over to the side. Gre’Namra, now alone, pulled back to her base. She wanted to use the tight confines to her advantage, forcing her enemies to come to her. However, Dentala had other plans for her. Using Asteli’s tactics, she pushed hard, going down the center of the field where Gre’Namra had no sightlines.
As Dentala was advancing, she lept over low cover, set in between two walls. Waiting on the other side of the walls, was Gre’Namra. Gre’Namra had stopped retreating, when she realized she would only be trapping herself. Guessing that her seniors would assume she was running with her tail between her legs, she decided to lay a trap of her own. Using her species’ advanced sensory organs to track Dentala, even without line of sight, and set up where she would least expect.
Dentala was mid jump, when Gre’Namra opened fire. She was ‘dead’, before she even landed. “Tsk. That was smart, too bad you’re dead,” Dentala said with a bitter undertone.
Gre’Namra scoffed. “What? Look who talking!” As soon as the words left her mouth, her sensors flashed and stayed lit, indication she was dead.
Someone tapped the barrel of an energy rifle on the back of her helmet. “Remember your opponents. Lioranians have excellent speed and agility. If you aren’t paying attention, we can run up on you before you have time to react,” Onsa bragged from behind her.
Gre’Namra thumped her tail on the ground. “I could have sensed you anyway if I wasn’t wearing this armor! It reduces my sight time too much!”
“True,” Onsa nodded. “But without that armor, you would have been dead already.”
Kitern suddenly began clapping a hand on a section of railing, drawing everyone’s attention. “You did good privates. Better than I had thought. Vigil, you did about what I expected for your first time,” she said, looking down at everyone. Asteli was busy punching Vigil in the arm, blaming him for their loss. Vigil barely even registered the blows, let alone was harmed by them.
“Everyone, go back to your bases and get ready for round two. I’m hoping to see some improvement,” she said merrily, enjoying the show.
Taking up the same position as last time, Kitern began counting down. Asteli punched Vigil’s arm again. “Use some of that ass kicking energy you showed us on that Nemesis ship this tim-”
Kitern had finished counting down. The moment she did, Vigil practically disappeared. Startling Asteli and Gre’Namra, even Kitern and Shavan were wide eyed when Vigil darted around the container walls, making up their base.
They grew even wider, and their jaws appeared to hit the floor as they watched Vigil dash across the battlefield. He was a blur, rushing over and around cover. Already nearing the enemy base. He jumped on top of a waist high stack of crates and used both of his powerful legs to jump straight up and over Dentala’s and Onsa’s front wall.
The two marines hadn’t even left the confines of their base, when the light was blocked out by Vigil sailing above them. In an instant, the sensors on their heads flashed twice, then remained on, signaling their demise.
Vigil landed on both feet and went into a squat to help transfer some of the energy from his impact. He cleared the entire base and ended up on the outside of the arena. The deck reverberated from the force of his body slamming into it and created a mini avalanche of poorly stacked boxes. As the various boxes and crates fell away, Onsa and Dentala were graced with a view of Vigil’s back, as he slowly rose to an upright position.
They stared at him, flabbergasted. “How?” Dentala whispered in disbelief.
Kitern watched, just as stunned. “Uhhh… the match is… over,” she said slowly.
“What?!” Asteli shouted from her side of the field. She stuck her head out from behind cover, making sure it wasn’t a trap, before approaching the other base. Seeing that Dentala and Onsa were really out, she walked up to them and chuckled. “Remember your opponents. Humans have excellent speed and agility,” she mimicked Onsa’s earlier statement mockingly.
Onsa scowled at her. She then rotated her rifle with one arm and shot Asteli. Asteli returned the gesture by blowing her species’ equivalent of a raspberry. “Alright, alright. Settle down children,” Kitern announced as her platform lowered. “Normally you would be tied one for one, but now that Vigil seems to be trying. I doubt you’ll be getting any more points.” She directed the tail end of her sentence to Onsa and Dentala.
Dentala protested and gestured to the large imposing man who was now gathered with the others. “We can take him. Now that we know what he can do, we can beat him.”
Kitern waved her off. “I love the enthusiasm, but we couldn’t take him when we had actual guns. And he was literally dying. You can’t take him on now. Not the two of you atleast.” She then did something not characteristic of her species. Kitern grinned, barring her teeth. To a Lioranian, showing one’s teeth was a declaration of war, that you wanted to fight, that blood would soon be spilled. They also did it subconsciously when faced with a foe or extreme challenge. And right now, Vigil was both.
Kitern reached over and took off her sling. She rolled her left arm, causing it to pop. “You aren’t supposed to move your arm!” Onsa nagged.
“Yeah, yeah. What the doc don’t know won’t hurt her.” She picked up a pack of sensors and began putting them on. The sensor for her head looked stupid sitting on top of her head, like a little hat. “I’m joining in now, kiddos.”
“Um, captain. You aren’t wearing armor,” Gre’Namra pointed out.
“And?” Kitern scoffed. “Unless you take that dampener off, I can be as naked as the day I was born and not get hurt. At most it’ll singe my fur.”
Asteli spoke up, a nervous undertone in her voice. “Even with Vigil, ma’am, we can’t beat you.”
“You two won’t, but Vigil could. So it’s a good thing you won’t be fighting me,” she replied cryptically. The other four marines looked at her confused. Seeing their reactions, she chuffed and laughed. “Watching you all go at it made me excited. And since we’re still O for one against big boy over there. I think it’s time we evened the score.”
“You mean…” Dentala said, catching on.
Kitern nodded. “Yep. It’s going to be a five versus one. We’re going to have a grudge match.”
All eyes turned to Vigil. He simply tilted his head, not sure why everyone was looking at him.
First Previous
Hello, I am back! For how long? I have no idea, but until I have to leave again, I'll be uploading as normal. Also, after this point, you may occasionally see stories called Orphan: Tales of the Past, where I give a bit more backstory or just write "bolter porn", (I hope I'm using that correctly) essentially just action packed wabattle scenes from the Human Nemesis war. To be honest, 99% of it is bolter porn. I have backstory chapters for several characters set up, but haven't actually written any yet.
submitted by Lazy-Personality4024 to HFY [link] [comments]
Due to the distance between Earth and Cradle, multiple jumps were required. As such, major worlds in between the two points were designated and added to the jump list. While it extended the time it would take to get there, it would be worth it to gather more information on humanity. When jumping into a system, the Into the Black would do a detailed scan on every major planet, circling them if need be. Each system would take hours to record, but the new potential discoveries more than made up for it.
Meanwhile, life on the ship continued. Vigil in particular found himself wandering the upper decks, as Glevar had forbidden him from “escorting” Irudo while he was at work. Hesitant at first, Vigil left, believing he was in capable hands. Now, with no purpose, he was left to his own devices.
Thoughts of the garden kept popping up in his mind. Wishing to sate his curiosity, he gradually made his way over to it. Passing through the checkpoint, he was greeted with a wall of greenery. Small paths meandered through the small forest, while larger paths ringed the exterior.
Picking one of the smaller paths at random, Vigil walked down it, surrounded by life and serenity. The vegetation was both alien and yet familiar at the same time. Large trees with rough brown bark stretched upwards, topped by green leaves. Some were not completely the same as Earth vegetation, however.
Some of the tree trunks had a much darker, reddish hue, and wicked looking spikes lining them. While others had red or even purple leaves. Those with spikes had signs with foreign words set in the ground beside them, adorned by artwork depicting a mouth eating the tree with a large X. Going by this, Vigil assumed they were not edible. Why anyone wanted to eat the trees, he could not fathom. Apparently, though, the signs did not pertain to the wildlife transplanted onto the ship. A small creature with eyes nearly as large as its head, a jet black body covered in fur, and a long bushy tail, sat munching on the leaves of the tree. All the while staring at Vigil, curious as to who was intruding on its lunch.
Another oddity was the “grass”, if one could call it that. The plant in question blanketed the forest floor. It was bluish green with razor thin blades, more filament than proper leaf. Though it was extremely thin, it grew so dense that fallen debris, such as leaves and twigs, seemed to float above it.
Possibly deadly tree’s and strange grass aside… it was… enjoyable. It was nice to be so far away from war, yet confusing at the same time. He had no purpose here, no reason. Was it truly fine for him to stop? To lie down his sword, so to speak?
A beautiful flower off the path caught his eye. It had yet to unfurl its white petals for the day. Wanting to observe the flower in greater detail, Vigil stepped off the path and walked over. He kneeled down before it, taking in every aspect of its design. He reached out and stroked a petal. He did so agonizingly slow and gentle, yet even that was not enough to prevent harm to the frail life before him.
His finger ripped away one of the pure white petals, revealing a crimson red interior. Liquid, whether nectar or something else, leaked from the injury. It too was red, blood red. Surprised, he stood quickly. He did not want to harm the small flower further. Turning away, he paused. He saw his tracks, deep and obtrusive to the natural scenery. Wherever he walked, he had brought death to the surrounding life. Crushing the small filament like vegetation that covered the ground, killing it with each step.
He was reminded then, what his purpose was. He was a weapon, nothing more, nothing less. His purpose was to stand ready, so when the Nemesis came, these new people could wield him. Until he met his end, his purpose was to fight and kill. Forgetting this only brought harm to the world around him, and those existing peacefully within it. He walked back to the path, retracing his steps so to no bring further harm to those undeserving of it. He went back down the path to where he had come and left the garden and all the life within. Lest he bring death to them as well.
-
Elsewhere on the ship, Hran was forbidden from strenuous activity, being injured as he was. Which meant that he was practically useless in the engineering department. Thus, he was given a few of the data banks to work on.
He normally wasn’t able to pick up anything heavy as is, but now he wasn’t even allowed to so much as think of lifting anything that weighed more than him. Since he usually tinkered on things, he had created a sort of nest in the back of the large engineering bay. So, secluded in his little hideaway, he rummaged around in the data banks. Hoping for something useful.
While technically every scrap of information was crucial, he was finding fairly basic things. Knowledge that even the average denizen of the GU knew. Skipping this data bank, he moved on to another, and struck gold. Well, gold to him anyway. The importance of his finding would be graded by his superiors at a later date.
When he had opened the data bank, he had found hundreds of thousands of hours of footage. Not like communicator footage someone would record when something exciting happened, but of combat footage! Combat footage with the Nemesis! If they wanted to learn about the Nemesis and their tactics, this was the best way, aside from Vigil.
Opening the first file, Hran was immediately met with the sounds of gunfire and explosions. He quickly turned down the volume, afraid someone had heard. When no one came snooping, he relaxed and resumed the video.
The gunfire resumed, and a human male barked out some strange words and the wearer of the camera looked to the side. Hran’s eyes widened. He saw only men, dozens of battle-hardened and experienced soldiers. They were in some kind of natural depression in the dirt. Lines of men were running hunched over, keeping their heads low. All around them was dust and smoke, obscuring their view of the battlefield, but they fought regardless. Peeking from above the clouds of dust, were burned and blasted out buildings.
Then, suddenly, a man in armor ravaged by battle pointed behind the soldier with the camera and raised his weapon. The camera whipped around to see several terrifying four armed creatures dashing out of the smoke. Though the human men were already taller than him by several centias, the Nemesis towered over them. They did not hesitate though. They did not run or shirk their duty; they met the charging aliens head on.
Soldiers before the cameraman fired and were cut down by both blade and gun. The Nemesis seemed to favor holding a firearm in their upper two arms and blades in their lower two. Given the close proximity, Hran could see the advantage.
But the humans did not back away, they held their ground. Every bullet or bolt of energy caused the Nemesis to shine at the impact site. Hran ogled the works of engineering. They had personal energy shields! A man directly in front of the cameraman ducked under the blades of one attacker, and shoved the barrel of his weapon into the Nemesis’ side, and pulled the trigger. Circumventing the shield.
The Nemesis roared in pain and outrage, and cut the man in half. Hran choked back vomit. The viscera and gore were not censored of course, giving him a front-row seat to the brutality of war.
The unknown soldier’s death would not be in vain. The cameraman and another soldier rushed the wounded alien and tackled it. The man with the helmet cam straddled the creature and pressed his weapon directly into the underside of the Nemesis’ four eyed helmet.
Hran looked away as brain matter and yellowish alien blood explode from the now dead Nemesis. He felt sick to his stomach watching the battle. This wasn’t some make believe fantasy, some fictional war movie. This was real footage from real people struggling to survive just one more day. Yet… he couldn’t stop watching.
The soldier was back up, and continued to fight, but his time did not last. Another Nemesis took the place of the first, and now it was the cameraman’s turn to be cut down. Hran watched as the world turned sideways, and crimson blood painted the soil. The soldier did not stir. And all the while, the Nemesis and human warriors continued to battle eachother, staining the sandy colored soil with their blood. The video ended soon after the soldier’s death.
Hran was stunned. He had never seen anyone die. And now he had just witnessed the death of dozens. He was lightheaded, and his stomach ached. He gulped down the bile which threatened to pour from his mouth. Humanity had given their lives in defense of an undeserving galaxy. It was because of them he and his people were alive today.
He would bear witness to their final moments and learn all he could. So that if the Nemesis came, they would be ready. Steeling himself, Hran clicked on the next file. Great cannons the size of skyscrapers fired, parting the clouds in waves. As the clouds split, an endless sea of ships were revealed descending from the skies. Hran prepared himself to witness even more death and carnage than before.
-
Kitern was fuming. She understood Tentzonta’s worries, because she herself was wary of Vigil when they first let him wander as he pleased. But after he had literally carried her to safety, that opinion had changed drastically. Vigil was a soldier, just like her. She had killed people in the line of duty, yet no one feared her. Well, maybe a little, but it wasn’t because she had spilled blood. More because of her charming personality.
To top it all off, her damn arm was aching from not being moved in so long. Some might say she was overreacting, but having her arm in a sling felt more like she was being caged, like she was being tied down. It was unnatural to have her body hindered like this.
Of course, it was for her own health. Klofaa had scanned her arm and made certain nothing was broken. The blow had simply dislocated her shoulder and pressed it against the main nerve in her arm, preventing her from being able to move it. Once her shoulder had been re-set, she was able to move it like normal. But that wasn’t enough for Klofaa. She wanted to make absolutely certain Kitern was in no danger, so forced this stupid sling on her.
The feeling in her chest, of being confined and restricted, kept increasing. It was irritating, to say the least. She wanted to blow off some steam, but there wasn’t much she could do with one hand. Kitern paused. She did like watching sports. She could try to start a game of bailok between the crew?
She shook her head and continued walking. No, that required too much work for her to only sit on the sidelines. Besides, most of the crew wouldn’t bother participating. She wondered if Vigil knew any sports? She was sure plenty of people would be interested in playing a human sport.
“Hmmm,” she hummed and scratched her jaw. She couldn’t imagine Vigil playing anything. Even if he did, he would have to play against other mega bipeds, otherwise, he would absolutely destroy the average biped like her. She laughed suddenly. ‘Imagine their faces when they realize the person who whooped their asses is a guy! They would never be able to live that down!’ she thought. The image of a bunch of whiney bailok players came to mind. They already fell over at the slightest touch. If Vigil ran into one of them, armor or not, he would pulverize them.
She stopped again, an idea coming to her. Forget sports like bailok, what about skirmish? It was a simple game, but a blast to play and watch. Easy to set up, too. All you needed was an energy rifle with a dampener on the end to lower its power and a sensor to ping whenever the laser hit. They had all the ingredients they just needed to put them together.
She knew Asteli would jump at the opportunity to play. The spunky Venanian absolutely loved the game. Gre’Namra would follow along with her, and she could always order Onsa and Dentala if they didn’t want to join. She could even play with one arm if she wanted, skirmish laser dampeners worked on nearly all energy weapons after all. The only hard part would be finding everyone.
Grinning, she got to work scouring the ship.
-
Vigil was peacefully watching the blackness of space, his mind set at ease by the void. Something that many found unsettling. The Into the Black was scanning another system, on its way to Cradle. He didn’t recognize it, which was a small blessing. He kept recalling the past and his purpose as of late. Looking at the dead husk of a world he and his brethren had spilled their blood over would do no good.
“FOUND HIM!” a familiar voice screamed, loud enough to scare some of the nearby crew. The observation deck had, well, observation windows to look out into space. In this case, Vigil was at the very end of the large main corridor which ran the length of the ship. As Deck One held numerous amenities for the crew, it was frequented by many. Thus, there were more than a few startled faces.
Vigil turned as Asteli came bounding up to him with Gre’Namra following close behind. “Hey big guy! Captain wants you!”
Vigil looked down at her, “I will report to the bridge immediately,” he replied.
“Not that captain. Commander Kitern,” Gre’Namra clarified, stepping in front of him.
Vigil tilted his head. “Understood. Where am I needed?”
“In the hangar bay! Come on, you’re going to love this!” Asteli practically sang, as she went behind him and attempted to push him along. Her efforts were futile. She simply walked in place, feet slipping on the deck plates. She grunted in excretion. “Come on!”
“Affirmative. I will report to commander Kitern at once.” He stepped forward, causing Asteli to lose her balance and almost fall. Gre’Namra reached out to help stabilize her, before they began following Vigil to the lift.
As soon as the lift doors opened, Asteli rushed out screaming, “I found him!” Before she and Gre’Namra ran into the locker room. Vigil marched orderly to the hanger bay, to find the rest of the marines idly standing around in their armor on the edge of a symmetrical field of crates and containors. Strange black devices decorated their armor. One side was flat to adhere to their armor, while the other had a slight bulge. They were stuck at intervals, correlating with vital areas.
Vigil walked up to Kitern. “Has there been an emergency?”
She shook her head. “If me being pissed as hell counts, then yes. Otherwise, no, there hasn’t been. We’re setting up for a game of skirmish. That’s what the sensors are for,” she said, pointing a claw at a device on Dentala’s helmet, nestled between her horns.
“What is skirmish?” Vigil asked.
“It’s a game you play to simulate a firefight. You put the sensors on your chest, back, head, arms, and legs.” She lifted a laser pistol with a bright blue block on the end of the barrel. “Then you put a dampener on an energy weapon of your choice and shoot eachother. The dampener lowers the power of the beam so that it can’t kill you, just trigger the sensors. It takes five shots to ‘kill’ someone, two if you shoot them in the head. Forgot how many you need if the species has more than one head, though.” She returned her sidearm to its holster and waved a hand dismissively. “Doesn’t matter. Point is, you want to play?”
He thought for a second. While labeled as a game, it would be an efficient tool to maintain combat readiness and test his new allies’ capabilities. They would need to be an efficient fighting force to have a chance against the Nemesis. “Affirmative,” he finally replied.
Kitern chuffed. “Good. Onsa, get this man a gun! Never thought I’d say those words.” She shrugged. “Oh well. If you need me, I’ll be with Shavan putting bets on the winners.”
“Hello down there!” the ship’s quartermaster said upon hearing her name. She waved down at them from a platform being held aloft by a crane which ran along the tracks embedded in the ceiling. She began lowering the platform via a linked data pad.
“Don’t tell the captain about that. It breaks several safety regulations,” Onsa said from the side, handing him a pack of sensors and an energy rifle with a dampener already attached. Vigil looked at them curiously and began putting them on various parts of his body. Meanwhile, Asteli and Gre’Namra returned, now fully armored, and grabbed two more rifles and packets of sensors.
Now high above the “battlefield”, Kitern announced. “If the contestants are ready, you may take your positions!” she said in a haughty voice. She leaned over and elbowed Shavan in the side. “Make sure you record this.”
Shavan chuffed and drawled, “Already ahead of ya.” Then linked her data pad to the hangar’s cameras, pointing them so they covered every inch of the field.
Asteli ran off to one side of the makeshift arena while Onsa and Dentala went to the other. Gre’Namra walked up to Vigil and said, “You’re on our team to help balance things out.” He nodded and followed the two privates to their designated starting point.
Kitern leaned over the hastily assembled railing of her platform, observing the playing field. It was a simple rectangle marked by lines of crates. Each side’s base was ringed by a wall of boxes and containers with gaps to get in and out. Cover was scattered periodically, with head height walls spread around the arena to break line of sight.
Seeing that everyone was at their bases, she called down, “If everyone is ready!” She paused, looking between the two opposing sides. “Begin the slaughter!” There was no bell, shot, or buzzer. Just a simple shout and the two sides were off.
All except for Vigil, who was still standing there while Asteli and Gre’Namra split and ran in opposite directions around a wall that defended the front of their base. Vigil looked back and forth between the two before randomly choosing to go to the right.
Turning the corner, he saw Gre’Namra hunkered behind cover. She was pressing a hand to the deck, concentrating on something. She looked back and saw him and made a hand motion, telling him to get down. Distracted by Gre’Namra, he did not see the two quick flashes from between a stack of crates, which spelled his doom.
The sensor on Vigil’s helmet flashed blue twice in quick succession, and all the sensors lit up. Indicating he was out.
“You’re dead Vigil, go sit on the side,” Kitern called down from her perch. Confused, Vigil did as ordered and observed the brief firefight. Gre’Namra, now revealed, had a small shootout with Onsa who had taken out Vigil. Gre’Namra returned fire, attempting to suppress Onsa.
When Onsa stopped shooting, Gre’Namra attempted to pull back get behind taller cover. The moment she left her stack of boxes, Onsa resumed firing and tagged her back three times. Though she was hit, she was not out. Cursing and slapping her tail on the deck in agitation, she elected to pull back and meet up with Asteli on the opposite side of the battlefield from her, rather than continue fighting Onsa. Gre’Namra fired blindly over cover, causing Onsa to duck down and give her a chance to escape.
Meanwhile, Asteli had pushed far forward, quickly being pinned down by Dentala. Already hit twice, she was reluctant to return fire. Until Gre’Namra appeared, she kneeled and leaned around cover, hitting Dentala and forcing her back. Now relieved, Asteli advanced with Gre’Namra’s over watch.
However, in their haste, they failed to ensure their flank was secure. As out of nowhere, Asteli was gunned down by Onsa firing diagonally from across the field.
Asteli stomped her foot and cursed, before trudging over to the side. Gre’Namra, now alone, pulled back to her base. She wanted to use the tight confines to her advantage, forcing her enemies to come to her. However, Dentala had other plans for her. Using Asteli’s tactics, she pushed hard, going down the center of the field where Gre’Namra had no sightlines.
As Dentala was advancing, she lept over low cover, set in between two walls. Waiting on the other side of the walls, was Gre’Namra. Gre’Namra had stopped retreating, when she realized she would only be trapping herself. Guessing that her seniors would assume she was running with her tail between her legs, she decided to lay a trap of her own. Using her species’ advanced sensory organs to track Dentala, even without line of sight, and set up where she would least expect.
Dentala was mid jump, when Gre’Namra opened fire. She was ‘dead’, before she even landed. “Tsk. That was smart, too bad you’re dead,” Dentala said with a bitter undertone.
Gre’Namra scoffed. “What? Look who talking!” As soon as the words left her mouth, her sensors flashed and stayed lit, indication she was dead.
Someone tapped the barrel of an energy rifle on the back of her helmet. “Remember your opponents. Lioranians have excellent speed and agility. If you aren’t paying attention, we can run up on you before you have time to react,” Onsa bragged from behind her.
Gre’Namra thumped her tail on the ground. “I could have sensed you anyway if I wasn’t wearing this armor! It reduces my sight time too much!”
“True,” Onsa nodded. “But without that armor, you would have been dead already.”
Kitern suddenly began clapping a hand on a section of railing, drawing everyone’s attention. “You did good privates. Better than I had thought. Vigil, you did about what I expected for your first time,” she said, looking down at everyone. Asteli was busy punching Vigil in the arm, blaming him for their loss. Vigil barely even registered the blows, let alone was harmed by them.
“Everyone, go back to your bases and get ready for round two. I’m hoping to see some improvement,” she said merrily, enjoying the show.
Taking up the same position as last time, Kitern began counting down. Asteli punched Vigil’s arm again. “Use some of that ass kicking energy you showed us on that Nemesis ship this tim-”
Kitern had finished counting down. The moment she did, Vigil practically disappeared. Startling Asteli and Gre’Namra, even Kitern and Shavan were wide eyed when Vigil darted around the container walls, making up their base.
They grew even wider, and their jaws appeared to hit the floor as they watched Vigil dash across the battlefield. He was a blur, rushing over and around cover. Already nearing the enemy base. He jumped on top of a waist high stack of crates and used both of his powerful legs to jump straight up and over Dentala’s and Onsa’s front wall.
The two marines hadn’t even left the confines of their base, when the light was blocked out by Vigil sailing above them. In an instant, the sensors on their heads flashed twice, then remained on, signaling their demise.
Vigil landed on both feet and went into a squat to help transfer some of the energy from his impact. He cleared the entire base and ended up on the outside of the arena. The deck reverberated from the force of his body slamming into it and created a mini avalanche of poorly stacked boxes. As the various boxes and crates fell away, Onsa and Dentala were graced with a view of Vigil’s back, as he slowly rose to an upright position.
They stared at him, flabbergasted. “How?” Dentala whispered in disbelief.
Kitern watched, just as stunned. “Uhhh… the match is… over,” she said slowly.
“What?!” Asteli shouted from her side of the field. She stuck her head out from behind cover, making sure it wasn’t a trap, before approaching the other base. Seeing that Dentala and Onsa were really out, she walked up to them and chuckled. “Remember your opponents. Humans have excellent speed and agility,” she mimicked Onsa’s earlier statement mockingly.
Onsa scowled at her. She then rotated her rifle with one arm and shot Asteli. Asteli returned the gesture by blowing her species’ equivalent of a raspberry. “Alright, alright. Settle down children,” Kitern announced as her platform lowered. “Normally you would be tied one for one, but now that Vigil seems to be trying. I doubt you’ll be getting any more points.” She directed the tail end of her sentence to Onsa and Dentala.
Dentala protested and gestured to the large imposing man who was now gathered with the others. “We can take him. Now that we know what he can do, we can beat him.”
Kitern waved her off. “I love the enthusiasm, but we couldn’t take him when we had actual guns. And he was literally dying. You can’t take him on now. Not the two of you atleast.” She then did something not characteristic of her species. Kitern grinned, barring her teeth. To a Lioranian, showing one’s teeth was a declaration of war, that you wanted to fight, that blood would soon be spilled. They also did it subconsciously when faced with a foe or extreme challenge. And right now, Vigil was both.
Kitern reached over and took off her sling. She rolled her left arm, causing it to pop. “You aren’t supposed to move your arm!” Onsa nagged.
“Yeah, yeah. What the doc don’t know won’t hurt her.” She picked up a pack of sensors and began putting them on. The sensor for her head looked stupid sitting on top of her head, like a little hat. “I’m joining in now, kiddos.”
“Um, captain. You aren’t wearing armor,” Gre’Namra pointed out.
“And?” Kitern scoffed. “Unless you take that dampener off, I can be as naked as the day I was born and not get hurt. At most it’ll singe my fur.”
Asteli spoke up, a nervous undertone in her voice. “Even with Vigil, ma’am, we can’t beat you.”
“You two won’t, but Vigil could. So it’s a good thing you won’t be fighting me,” she replied cryptically. The other four marines looked at her confused. Seeing their reactions, she chuffed and laughed. “Watching you all go at it made me excited. And since we’re still O for one against big boy over there. I think it’s time we evened the score.”
“You mean…” Dentala said, catching on.
Kitern nodded. “Yep. It’s going to be a five versus one. We’re going to have a grudge match.”
All eyes turned to Vigil. He simply tilted his head, not sure why everyone was looking at him.
Hello, I am back! For how long? I have no idea, but until I have to leave again, I'll be uploading as normal. Also, after this point, you may occasionally see stories called Orphan: Tales of the Past, where I give a bit more backstory or just write "bolter porn", (I hope I'm using that correctly) essentially just action packed wabattle scenes from the Human Nemesis war. To be honest, 99% of it is bolter porn. I have backstory chapters for several characters set up, but haven't actually written any yet.
2023.05.30 19:44 autotldr Novel solar desalination system for remote areas developed
This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 72%. (I'm a bot)
Summary Source FAQ Feedback Top keywords: system#1 water#2 desalination#3 solar#4 energy#5
Post found in /technology and /realtech.
NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.
submitted by autotldr to autotldr [link] [comments]
As a possible solution to increase the availability of clean, potable water, researchers at the Indian Institute of Science have developed a novel thermal desalination system which can work using solar energy.
As an alternative to such solar stills, the IISc team has developed a novel design for a solar-powered desalination unit that is more energy-efficient, cost-effective and portable, making it convenient to set up in areas with limited access to continuous electricity, explains Susmita Dash, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and corresponding author of the study published in Desalination.
The condenser-often overlooked in a majority of desalination studies, according to the researchers-is another key element of the solar desalination system.
The researchers designed the system in such a way that this heat released during condensation is also trapped and utilized to heat up the imbibed saltwater in a different evaporator at the backside of the condenser, which reduces the amount of solar energy needed, and increases the efficiency of the system even more.
The team also successfully connected multiple evaporator-condenser combinations in a series, resulting in a multi-stage solar desalination system.
More information: Nabajit Deka et al, Multistage interfacial thermal desalination system with metallic evaporators, Desalination.
Post found in /technology and /realtech.
NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.
2023.05.30 19:43 wsdot Busy summer construction season coming up
 | Memorial Day weekend is behind us and we're now pushing into the busy summer construction season, and the next few summers are going to be. ...really busy. Even more than usual. There are 116 projects scheduled on or near state highways across the state this summer. This doesn't include day-to-day maintenance, emergencies and city and county work. While we do what we can to keep traffic moving, it's impossible to get all this work done and not be disruptive. So please be sure to know how to stay looped in and begin planning now. More info about what's happening, why now, and how to prepare is in our blog: The WSDOT Blog - Washington State Department of Transportation: Here comes the sun – and a LOT of summer construction submitted by wsdot to Spokane [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/3d7nyatkr13b1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f695237250b1690fa7a7080421556f3d8bdbc18e |
2023.05.30 19:42 wsdot Busy summer construction season coming up
 | Memorial Day weekend is behind us and we're now pushing into the busy summer construction season, and the next few summers are going to be. ...really busy. Even more than usual. There are 116 projects scheduled on or near state highways across the state this summer. This doesn't include day-to-day maintenance, emergencies and city and county work. While we do what we can to keep traffic moving, it's impossible to get all this work done and not be disruptive. So please be sure to know how to stay looped in and begin planning now. More info about what's happening, why now, and how to prepare is in our blog: The WSDOT Blog - Washington State Department of Transportation: Here comes the sun – and a LOT of summer construction submitted by wsdot to Yakima [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/cyqasgjdr13b1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e94ee2d762adc3c76f34ea6e195b4e6e43e064b7 |
2023.05.30 19:40 brokejae Asian girl in engineering somehow cops the only Ivy she applied to (+ takeaways)
Demographics
Academics
Catholic University of America (accepted)
CMU (accepted!!!)
Cornell (waitlisted -> accepted -> committed!!!!)
Duke (rejected rip)
Duke Kunshan (accepted somehow???)
Northwestern (rejected, lol this one kinda made me a bit sad)
Rice (waitlisted)
UD (accepted)
UIUC (accepted)
UMBC (accepted)
UMD (accepted)
UNC Chapel Hill (rejected ;-;)
UT Austin (accepted)
UVA (accepted)
Vandy (waitlisted)
Takeaways
submitted by brokejae to collegeresults [link] [comments]
- Gender: female
- Race/Ethnicity: Asian-American (Chinese)
- Residence: DMV area
- Income Bracket: ~100k?
- Type of School: public, mid overall in county but top quartile in state maybe?
- Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): none lol
Academics
- GPA (UW/W): 4.0/4.93
- Rank (or percentile): N/A (confirmed that I was part of the top 5% but didn't put it in my app since my school doesn't rank)
- # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 13 AP classes, 3 honors (French)
- Senior Year Course Load: Wind Ensemble (band), AP Eng Lit, Science Lab Assistant, AP Bio, AP Psych, Linear Algebra (online), AP Physics C: E&M
- SAT (took once): 1560 (790 RW, 770 M)
- ACT (took once): 35 (36E, 33M, 35R, 34S)
- AP scores:
- 10th grade: AP Gov (4), AP Chinese (5), AP Calc AB (4), AP Stats (5)
- 11th grade: AP Chem (4), AP Physics C: Mech (4), AP English Lang (5), AP World History: Modern (5), AP Calc BC (5; AB subscore 5)
- 12th grade (pending): AP Eng Lit, AP Bio, AP Psych, AP Physics C: E&M
- Science Olympiad (9th-12th, officer since 11th) - spent an insane number of hours a week even though I only put 5 hwk on the Common App; led meetings, made presentations on upcoming comps and how to prepare for them (i.e. how to take notes), chose comps to compete at, placed top 6 at regionals and states individually and as a team
- School Marching Band (9th-12th, section leader since 11th) - mentored new members, instructed on marching basics and led sectionals, also organized section bonding time (like we painted our nails and stuff hehe); played piccolo for the season
- Intern @ CUA (summer 2022) - fabricated polymer membranes on microfluidics device via flow-assembly, conducted membrane strength testing, analyzed data for strength enhancement
- Tutor for various honor societies and music (10th-12th) - tutored everything from high-school level math to AP Chem to flute, most of it was basically getting hours for different honor societies but I think it was pretty productive and meaningful
- Cross country (9th-11th) - quit before senior year to focus on college apps ;-; I wasn't that fast, just average, but I led a small running group and ran 300+ miles each summer to prepare for the season
- Various community service projects (10th-12th) - made face shields for healthcare workers (was reported by a local news network so I linked that in the Additional Info section of my Common App), crocheted/knitted rectangles to assemble into a blanket for the homeless
- Policy Review Committee Chair (12th) - basically 2 or 3 other high schoolers and I (along with other adults) reviewed some curriculum policy that needed to be updated in terms of language and terms, didn't really do much but it was cool seeing the process of how it actually worked
- Teen Leader for Christian youth fellowship (11th/12th) - kinda fell off of it senior year but I led meetings along with a couple other peers, I created slides and we facilitated intergenerational discussion
- First Chair in Wind Ensemble (11th/12th) - yeah that's basically it T_T I played solos and stuff
- Household Obligations (9th-12th) - cared for siblings, helped with their school assignments, did chores, translated for parents from English to Mandarin
- State Science Olympiad Competition (1st - Ornithology, 8th - Environmental Chemistry) - 11th grade
- Regional Science Olympiad Competition (2nd: Chemistry Lab, 2nd: Ornithology, 3rd: Environmental Chemistry) - 11th grade
- County STEM Award - 11th grade (idrk how significant this was tbh it seemed like a throwaway kinda thing; it was for my performance in Science Olympiad but they got the competition name wrong on my certificate T_T)
- Governor's Volunteer Service Award - 10th grade
- State Seal of Biliteracy Recipient in English and Chinese - 11th grade
- Common App essay - had 2 versions, one for EA and another for RD. I would rate my first version (basically I compared my identity to a sandwich and made it a love story it was kinda weird T_T) like a 7/10 if I'm being generous and a solid 9/10 for my second version (I talked about how my being officer of Science Olympiad challenged me and made me grow as a person; it sounds cliche but I used a unique format that I'm pretty proud of)
- Supplemental essays - my EA supps were probably on average like a 6 or 7 out of 10, and my RD supps were an 8 to a 9. I tried to make them more creative/unique since I knew my ECs were on the weaker side when it came to the higher ranked schools and I knew that I was going to get in, my essays would play a major role in my acceptance. I spent so much time and so many rounds of editing with my dad asdfkljasd;lfkj
- AP Chem teacheScience Olympiad coach (11/10) - She really liked me and she's honestly my mom atp... I'm also an aide for her this year so I help set up labs for her and the entire science dept. She also assigns me other labs to prepare just for funsies and bc she trusts me apparently ???? Hopefully she can speak to the diligence and time I put in as a Scioly officer and my performance in the AP Chem class. Might also be worth mentioning that I tutored one of her current AP Chem kids?
- Wind Ensemble/Marching Band director (7.5/10) - I didn't have other STEM teachers as strong as my AP Chem teacher but my logic was that I would ask teachers who knew what I was like outside of school past the academic/stats/grades kind of thing; hopefully they could give some insight into my personality (ig that logic worked? idk) Since I was a section leader in marching band for 2 years I had some leadership in terms of that but I would often come in a couple minutes late to class tired asf cause we had band first period... Overall I still think he has a decent impression of me
- Internship advisoprof (9/10) - He is a family friend of my parents and that's honestly how I got the internship T_T But he has a pretty good impression of me during the time I was there; I picked up things pretty quickly so I think that helped. Only submitted this to some schools I was applying to RD and some schools late in the EA cycle
- (only submitted after waitlist) Science Lab Assistant Manager (8.5/10) - Set up labs for the science department, had an overall good impression of me since I volunteered to complete other tasks and extra things outside of the labs I had to set up
- (only submitted after waitlist) School Principal (6.5/10) - Our class is ~650 people and he only became the principal my sophomore year so I doubt he knew me that well; I sent my resume to him so hopefully he did something with that T_T
Catholic University of America (accepted)
CMU (accepted!!!)
Cornell (waitlisted -> accepted -> committed!!!!)
Duke (rejected rip)
Duke Kunshan (accepted somehow???)
Northwestern (rejected, lol this one kinda made me a bit sad)
Rice (waitlisted)
UD (accepted)
UIUC (accepted)
UMBC (accepted)
UMD (accepted)
UNC Chapel Hill (rejected ;-;)
UT Austin (accepted)
UVA (accepted)
Vandy (waitlisted)
Takeaways
- Start your essays early (preferably before senior year!) It helps to get ahead of the game and brainstorm, plus I find that I am dissatisfied with some part of an essay that i think needs editing a week or two after I finish
- Familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of the Common App layout, like what each section entails (you might be surprised to find that it's a lot of info to fill out)
- Look at examples of everything related to your application, whether it be the Common App, supplemental essays, and how to word your activities list
- Don't downplay your achievements, but don't overly embellish them, either!
- Think about your application as a whole. I cannot stress this enough! Is there an activity that is overly mentioned in your application? Try to balance your application out. Is there an aspect of yourself that you want to include but haven't yet? Try to touch on it in your supplemental essays. I go more in depth in this post here
2023.05.30 19:40 No_Competition4897 [HIRING] 25 Jobs in UT Hiring Now!
2023.05.30 19:40 wsdot Busy summer construction season coming up
Memorial Day weekend is behind us and we're now pushing into the busy summer construction season, and the next few summers are going to be. ...really busy. Even more than usual. There are 116 projects scheduled on or near state highways across the state this summer. This doesn't include day-to-day maintenance, emergencies and city and county work. While we do what we can to keep traffic moving, it's impossible to get all this work done and not be disruptive. So please be sure to know how to stay looped in and begin planning now. More info about what's happening, why now, and how to prepare is in our blog: The WSDOT Blog - Washington State Department of Transportation: Here comes the sun – and a LOT of summer construction
https://preview.redd.it/0rv1ca7xq13b1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4829ca92d3d1b2ddc5bda9d290e25a9e58786b17
submitted by wsdot to Wenatchee [link] [comments]
https://preview.redd.it/0rv1ca7xq13b1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4829ca92d3d1b2ddc5bda9d290e25a9e58786b17
2023.05.30 19:39 schottslc Breaking: Rep. Chris Stewart plans to resign from Congress. The Utah Republican congressman is expected to announce his departure from the House of Representatives soon, several sources told The Salt Lake Tribune.
 | submitted by schottslc to Utah [link] [comments] |
2023.05.30 19:39 schottslc Breaking: Rep. Chris Stewart plans to resign from Congress. The Utah Republican congressman is expected to announce his departure from the House of Representatives soon, several sources told The Salt Lake Tribune.
| | submitted by schottslc to u/schottslc [link] [comments] |
2023.05.30 19:39 wsdot Busy summer construction season coming up
 | Memorial Day weekend is behind us and we're now pushing into the busy summer construction season, and the next few summers are going to be. ...really busy. Even more than usual. There are 116 projects scheduled on or near state highways across the state this summer. This doesn't include day-to-day maintenance, emergencies and city and county work. While we do what we can to keep traffic moving, it's impossible to get all this work done and not be disruptive. So please be sure to know how to stay looped in and begin planning now. More info about what's happening, why now, and how to prepare is in our blog: The WSDOT Blog - Washington State Department of Transportation: Here comes the sun – and a LOT of summer construction submitted by wsdot to Bellingham [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/4c7x90bqq13b1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cbaf6423d4924ac343bc4ee1232bb0050c316a14 |
2023.05.30 19:38 tpies Paternity Leave Request Denied
My OH is due to give birth to our first born in 3 weeks time; exciting times. I found out today however that my Paternity Leave has been rejected because I didn’t inform my employer that I was planning on taking Pat Leave 15 weeks before my OHs due date.
I did however tell my manager and Head of Department (in writing) that my OH was pregnant months ago (way way before the 15 week deadline). My employer’s argument is that I didn’t submit the forms in time. My argument is that I told them in writing in time and they didn’t assist me and tell me what I had to do.
Can anyone advise? Anything is appreciated. Thank you.
submitted by tpies to HumanResourcesUK [link] [comments]
I did however tell my manager and Head of Department (in writing) that my OH was pregnant months ago (way way before the 15 week deadline). My employer’s argument is that I didn’t submit the forms in time. My argument is that I told them in writing in time and they didn’t assist me and tell me what I had to do.
Can anyone advise? Anything is appreciated. Thank you.
2023.05.30 19:38 wsdot Busy summer construction season coming up
 | Memorial Day weekend is behind us and we're now pushing into the busy summer construction season, and the next few summers are going to be. ...really busy. Even more than usual. There are 116 projects scheduled on or near state highways across the state this summer. This doesn't include day-to-day maintenance, emergencies and city and county work. While we do what we can to keep traffic moving, it's impossible to get all this work done and not be disruptive. So please be sure to know how to stay looped in and begin planning now. More info about what's happening, why now, and how to prepare is in our blog: The WSDOT Blog - Washington State Department of Transportation: Here comes the sun – and a LOT of summer construction submitted by wsdot to everett [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/h4b2omsjq13b1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60a16c0931f9fa9b35c8790541a4b49f98fa7820 |
2023.05.30 19:37 Inorai [Remnants of Magic] Legion - 54.1
![[Remnants of Magic] Legion - 54.1](https://external-preview.redd.it/pMRD9FzGJPhn6CjkBicULAeQSceQ_q9a2XSezYsU-rU.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=923f855cd43995e5d99592bd259e9040d447025a "[Remnants of Magic] Legion - 54.1") | Cover Art First Chapter Patreon Playlist The Story: After a confusing encounter at a McDonald’s register turns violent, Jon is pulled into a magical bloodbath - and his only chance for survival lies with the pissed-off, perpetually-broke immortal working behind the counter. --------------------------------- I yawned as we trudged down the sidewalk. Amber elbowed me. “Don’t start that,” she said. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “How far are we going, anyway?” “It should be right up here,” Cailyn said. She strode out a few steps ahead of me, Echo’s note clutched tight before her. “Really?” Mason mumbled. He trudged a few steps behind, glancing around at the townhouses and shops lining the street. “Here?” “Probably.” Cailyn shrugged. “It is possible he left.” “I’ll find him,” Aedan muttered, stalking out ahead. “What’s the number?” “1247,” Cailyn said. “Should be somewhere around here.” I nodded to myself, turning my eyes to the plates mounted to the doors. We were passing 1233 right then, so… “It’s not here,” Aedan said, coming to a stop up the street. “What?” I said. “What do you mean, it’s not here?” “Just what I fuckin’ said,” he muttered, gesturing wildly at the buildings. “It’s not here.” Cailyn and I strode up alongside him, eyeing the doors. And… “Shit,” I mumbled, pressing a hand to my face. He was right. The numbers went straight from a pizza place labeled 1243 to a row of upstairs apartments starting at 1249. “The number doesn’t exist,” Mason said. “Did the bastard lie to us?” Aedan said. He kicked at a pop can abandoned on the sidewalk, cursing under his breath. “Should’ve known.” “I don’t think Echo would’ve knowingly lied to us,” I said, though, shaking my head as I trudged forward again. “They’re one of Anke’s friends, right?” “And a colleague,” Cailyn said, nodding along. “Lying to her people could impact their business relationship. I really doubt they’d do it lightly.” “Right,” I said. “It’s more likely this Recluse guy just left, isn’t it?” “And took his place with him?” Aedan said, shooting an irritated look my way. “Use your brain, Jonny.” “Shut the hell up, Aedan,” Amber said, flipping him off. She shook her head, turning back to the street. “We must just be missing something.” Her brow furrowed. “Like…that. What’s that?” “What?” I glanced over, following her hand as she pointed to a narrow alcove between the store and the townhouse. There was a door there, I saw, nondescript enough my eye wanted to slide right off it. “It just looks like a service access. Fire department or whatever.” “Nah,” Cailyn said. She shook her head. “Brickwork is different.” “Okay,” Aedan said. “There’s still no number.” “But it’s in the right spot,” Cailyn insisted. Slowly, begrudgingly, Aedan nodded. “I’ll…give you that much.” “We gonna give it a go?” Amber said. “Cause if not I’m gonna go sleep in the car. It’s too fuckin’ early for this shit.” “We might as well,” I said, when Aedan glanced to me. “We’re already here. If it’s just a storage room no one will answer, right?” Seemingly satisfied, he nodded—and advanced on the door. We followed. As we closed on it, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. It was…different, now that we were closer. It looked different. The wood was old, greyed with age and pockmarked with deep scratches. The edges of it looked almost handmade, too, the slightest bit uneven where the tools had dug in. Now that I was standing there right in front of it, it looked almost nothing like the mass-produced doors surrounding us. For the first time, I started to suspect we’d found the right place after all. Aedan came to a stop in front of it. With one last deep breath and a glance back to us, he raised a hand. The thunk of his knuckles against the wood echoed dully through the tight alcove. We all froze. He stood there waiting, hand still upraised. Nothing. The street was quiet, as was the space behind the door. I sighed, making a face. “Well, shit. Looks like-” “No way,” Aedan muttered, eyes narrowing. His hand balled into a fist—and he pounded it against the door, turning the thunk into a booming rattle. “Come on, you bastard. Open up.” “Aedan,” Cailyn hissed, going pale. “What the hell are you-” She froze, eyes widening. I’d heard it too—a call from within. A man’s voice. And he hadn’t sounded happy. Amber skittered back a step, shaking her head. “You’ve done it now.” I eyed him sidelong, scowling. “I swear to god, Aedan, you-” “Quiet,” he said. He dropped his fist, though, brushing his hair hastily out of his face as he took a step back from the door. Not a moment too soon. Even as he straightened, dropping his hands to his sides, the door pulled open. A man peered out, with mahogany skin and a scowl on his face. “What d’you want?” he snapped, glaring at Aedan—then turning the baleful look on us. “I don’t want any.” His eyes darted up to the still-grey sky, and his scowl deepened. “The sun isn’t even up yet. The hell’s wrong with you people?” “Are you the Recluse?” Aedan said, holding a hand up to stop him. “We, uh. We just-” “Oh, hell no,” the man muttered. His grip on the door turned steely. “I don’t know why you lot think you can bother me, but go cause your trouble somewhere else. Your kind aren’t welcome here.” “Wait,” Aedan said. “We’re just-” “Fuck off,” Recluse said. The door swung shut. Aedan surged forward, jamming his foot in the frame before the wood could slam home. I heard him let out a little grunt as it crashed into his shoe instead. Recluse’s lip curled back. “Step back, else I’ll-” “I just want to talk,” Aedan gasped. “J-Just for a minute. My name is Aedan.” Recluse snarled, giving the door another whack against Aedan’s sneaker. “I don’t give a shit what your-” “Wanderer.” Aedan shook his head, licking his lips. “I’m- the Wanderer. I just want to talk.” Recluse stopped. My eyes widened. “Really?” I whispered. I…well, to be honest, I’d entirely expected him to just keep slamming that door until he either broke Aedan’s foot or hurt him bad enough he’d give up. Instead, Recluse glared at him through the crack, dark eyes unreadable. His grip on the door stayed tight. “You’re the Wanderer.” “I mean I kind of wish I wasn’t,” Aedan wheezed, eyes watering. “Horrible name. No creativity. So lame. Didn’t pick it.” “Prove it.” “Look, he’s-” I began, but Recluse’s eyes snapped over to me. I stopped. “Sure,” Aedan mumbled. “Yeah. Sure. I can do that.” One foot still trapped in the jam, he scrabbled at his jacket, slipping one hand beneath the edge. He glanced up, though, hesitating. “Don’t shoot me or anything.” At Recluse’s tiny nod, he slid his knife out into view, carefully slow. “There. S-See?” I watched the man’s gaze settle to the blade—then flick to Aedan’s face. “Huh,” he said. “Is this enough?” Aedan said, his voice rough. “Because I’d really kind of like my foot to stay attached.” For a long moment, the world stood frozen, all of us arrayed in front of that cracked-open door. And then Recluse nodded, ever so slightly. The door eased open far enough for Aedan to wriggle free, leaning against the wall for support. “Christ,” I heard him mumble. “You need to chill out a little with that.” “You can come in,” Recluse said, taking a step back. The door swung farther open. When we all moved forward, though, his face twisted. “Not you lot,” he said. “None of you bloody bastards. This is a civilized house.” “What?” I said. “We’re not-” “They’re with me,” Aedan said. “Can’t they just-” He grimaced, waving his hands out the street. “It’ll be super weird if they stay out here.” Recluse stood in the doorway, wordless. A muscle in his jaw tic’ed. “You trust them?” he said, looking back to Aedan. “Yeah,” Aedan said. “You’ll vouch for them?” Aedan hesitated, glancing over to me—and Amber. “Uh,” he said. “They’ll be good. Right?” Amber let out a long, low sigh. “I’ll be good,” she mumbled. “Y-Yeah,” Mason said. “No trouble.” “If you make trouble, I’ll kill you,” Recluse said, staring out at us. A shiver ran down my spine. I nodded. “We’ll be good,” I whispered. Recluse only sniffed, ducking his head low. “Fine,” he said. “You can come in too. Follow my rules or you will regret it.” “Yes,” Aedan said, nodding. “Yeah. Thank you.” With one last, long-wearied glance at us, Recluse stepped away—and left the door hanging open. Aedan shook his head, hesitating, but hobbled over the threshold. The others inched in a little closer. “We doing this?” Mason said. “He did not look friendly.” “He’s the Recluse,” Cailyn said. “One of the Olds.” “Yeah,” Mason said. “And I’ve met the other Olds. Some of them. That’s why I’m asking.” “He should be pretty chill,” Cailyn said. “Not really seeing that much so far,” Amber said. “I don’t think we have much of a choice,” I said. “We need to learn what was going on with Madis and that strange demi. He’s the only one who can tell us.” “If we wind up dead, it won’t matter what information he has,” Amber said, watching me sidelong. I was forced to nod at that, grimacing. “I…yeah. It’s a risk. And if any of you want to hang out in the car, I do not blame you.” I shrugged. “We don’t all have to go in.” “But you’re going to go,” Amber said. “Aren’t you?” “Someone has to go and make sure Aedan doesn’t make an ass of himself,” I mumbled. “He’s already in there.” “You lot coming?” I heard the Recluse snap from inside the doorway. “Don’t leave my door hanging open. You’re letting out the air.” “We’ll be fine,” Cailyn said, sidling closer. “Anke wouldn’t send us here if he was the murdering type. Let’s just…be polite. Okay?” “O-Okay,” Mason said. “I mean, I don’t want to be out here alone, either.” “Okay,” I said. “Then…let’s go.” Everyone nodded. I turned for the doorway, my heart in my throat. And with a quick step forward, we crossed over the threshold. |
2023.05.30 19:36 wsdot Busy summer construction season coming up
 | Memorial Day weekend is behind us and we're now pushing into the busy summer construction season, and the next few summers are going to be. ...really busy. Even more than usual. There are 116 projects scheduled on or near state highways across the state this summer. This doesn't include day-to-day maintenance, emergencies and city and county work. While we do what we can to keep traffic moving, it's impossible to get all this work done and not be disruptive. So please be sure to know how to stay looped in and begin planning now. More info about what's happening, why now, and how to prepare is in our blog: The WSDOT Blog - Washington State Department of Transportation: Here comes the sun – and a LOT of summer construction submitted by wsdot to sequim [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/mgkr1tzbq13b1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3126ac7108caea739b53e2d9ef25f0ea3b8cbeee |
2023.05.30 19:35 fencekey1 Could use some help.
Hello, so I have been put in charge of an embroidery department for work. At this point, I have figured most all the basics out (been like a year and a half). But we are trying to expand what we can do, and that comes to me figuring a lot of things out online.
I am using an ikonix SK810 for my manual patch attachment to hats, and I am doing some round patches on said hats.
I am having big problems with the patches bunches up because the guide wheel keeps grabbing and pulling it around.
So my main questions are just any advice on avoiding that if you have any, and does the ikonix sk810 have a walking foot attachment instead of a guide wheel? I feel like that might help a lot, but I'm stuck with the machine, so any advice relating to that, please?
submitted by fencekey1 to Embroidery [link] [comments]
I am using an ikonix SK810 for my manual patch attachment to hats, and I am doing some round patches on said hats.
I am having big problems with the patches bunches up because the guide wheel keeps grabbing and pulling it around.
So my main questions are just any advice on avoiding that if you have any, and does the ikonix sk810 have a walking foot attachment instead of a guide wheel? I feel like that might help a lot, but I'm stuck with the machine, so any advice relating to that, please?
2023.05.30 19:35 wsdot Busy summer construction season coming up
 | Memorial Day weekend is behind us and we're now pushing into the busy summer construction season, and the next few summers are going to be. ...really busy. Even more than usual. There are 116 projects scheduled on or near state highways across the state this summer. This doesn't include day-to-day maintenance, emergencies and city and county work. While we do what we can to keep traffic moving, it's impossible to get all this work done and not be disruptive. So please be sure to know how to stay looped in and begin planning now. More info about what's happening, why now, and how to prepare is in our blog: The WSDOT Blog - Washington State Department of Transportation: Here comes the sun – and a LOT of summer construction submitted by wsdot to Kitsap [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/cunbmbm1q13b1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a18b98999fe991c192a563ac6ee8ec5a78ee0a5b |
2023.05.30 19:34 isanomad Update: I was told I can't get a shingles vaccine as a transplant patient.
Here is a link to my post from two days ago.
First of all, I appreciate the advice I received in my other post. I even got a few messages which meant a lot as I know many of you are busy. So, thanks.
After I messaged my old liver team, they had someone from the ID department reach out to schedule an appointment for my shingles vaccine. I had that appointment this morning and told the nurse administering it that I had been through it to get this thing. She asked me to elaborate and when I did, she said it happens a lot... which is depressing. She said a lot of NPs just flat out refuse to do things like order a vaccine.
I figured I was done but a doctor came in the room after the nurse and started talking to me. We had a great conversation and she took the time to go over my vaccine history so we could make a plan to fill in some of the gaps my pre transplant workup didn't cover. I got those taken care of and before she left the room, she asked if I had any other questions whatsoever.
I asked her about switching from the GI NP to an MD. She hopped on the computer and had a conversation with a doc from the liver team + a recommendation for new MD for me to see within two minutes. So, yay! I will schedule that appointment ASAP.
She also gave me advice for leaving the NP. She said she would personally want to know why a patient decided to switch so she could understand and learn. I said I will do that but I'm not optimistic it will be well received, heh.
So that's that. Thank you again for your input and advice!
submitted by isanomad to Noctor [link] [comments]
First of all, I appreciate the advice I received in my other post. I even got a few messages which meant a lot as I know many of you are busy. So, thanks.
After I messaged my old liver team, they had someone from the ID department reach out to schedule an appointment for my shingles vaccine. I had that appointment this morning and told the nurse administering it that I had been through it to get this thing. She asked me to elaborate and when I did, she said it happens a lot... which is depressing. She said a lot of NPs just flat out refuse to do things like order a vaccine.
I figured I was done but a doctor came in the room after the nurse and started talking to me. We had a great conversation and she took the time to go over my vaccine history so we could make a plan to fill in some of the gaps my pre transplant workup didn't cover. I got those taken care of and before she left the room, she asked if I had any other questions whatsoever.
I asked her about switching from the GI NP to an MD. She hopped on the computer and had a conversation with a doc from the liver team + a recommendation for new MD for me to see within two minutes. So, yay! I will schedule that appointment ASAP.
She also gave me advice for leaving the NP. She said she would personally want to know why a patient decided to switch so she could understand and learn. I said I will do that but I'm not optimistic it will be well received, heh.
So that's that. Thank you again for your input and advice!