This is even harder than I expected. TF journey really is something else.... I still stand by strong assertion that it is still the most fantastic blessing one could hope for. It's definitely very challenging, but the path to Heaven/enlightenment (for everyone) is through the flames. You can't go up without first going down (no rebirth without the death). Every soul will have to do this eventually. And TFs just massively, massively accelerate that process. Meaning, it's more difficult and hurts more initially, but you make it through the flames of suffering far quicker and reach much higher states of consciousness and vibration much sooner.
My own journey is evidence of that. I was broken many times by you and endured unbearable heartbreak and blah blah. I also had massive flare-ups of my shadow in the beginning. But because of that, instead of taking decades to progress a few steps, I shot up to this extremely high and rare state of consciousness/awakening at break-neck, unheard of speeds. Just 4 years into this journey and I can already say all the suffering and difficulties were totally worth it to have reached the state I'm at now. And because of that, I'm extremely grateful for every moment of it.
tldr; TF = Hard mode. Hard mode = 100x exp
​
I wasn't allowed to join your stream today. And it hurt. I first hesitated because of how you reacted to me in stream yesterday. It seemed like you wanted space from me, so I wanted to give you that. But I wanted HS to make the decision. And then a bunch of things started arising to heal. Fear of rejection. Rejection from literally anyone else in the world is so easy to brush off, so I wouldn't really fear anyone else. But with you, there's that otherwordly soul connection that brings the deepest and strangest connection I've ever felt with anyone. Rejection from you isn't something I can just brush off. I know it will hurt. Which is fine, because it's always just another opportunity to heal a samskara. But it's never fun and stings everytime I even get a hint of it from you. It makes me feel like such a baby, but again, this only happens with you. And the great news is each time this happens, I remove another layer of that negative emotion permanently from my system--though there will likely be many more layers to go lol.
Once much of that fear was transmuted, and I thought I might be ready to connect, the intense soul longing for you arose. And then frustration for this complicated situation that we're in and the inability to just connect with you normally and not just in this weird, superficial way through a public gaming streaming platform. And then hopelessness of feeling like this is pointless and I'm not gonna be able to form a deep/meaningful connection with you given the extreme limitations of our communication, and that this is probably just going to end up the same way, with me falling back into chasing you and you continuing to cling to Ethan, and then HS pulling the plug and forcing me to walk away for good.
But then I snapped out of it. While describing this sounds like I was in some debby downward emo spiral, these kinds of thoughts don't last very long before I recognize that I'm caught in ego consciousness and "wake up" again. Then the thoughts fall away, I go into higher consciousness and begin transmuting. The thoughts aren't ever able to drag me down to really low/negative states. It's just in this case, so many different things kept arising one after the other. While unpleasant, this was still pretty manageable. But then that intense soul longing and sorrow came up, and that was a tough one.
Normally when negative emotions arise, I am able to transmute them fairly quickly. But the soul longing/sorrow that arose today was a huge one. My soul was in such desperate, intense longing for your soul. Wave after wave after wave kept arising, and I had to go lie in my bed and go into deep meditation for hours transmuting. It's the first time since HS awakening that something like this has happened and that I haven't been able to fairly quickly heal samskaras.
The thought did arise, "God, this sucks. I don't wanna do this anymore. I just wanna go back (run away) to my peaceful non-TF journey where things are so much easier and simpler...." That thought almost immediately was recognized as bullshit. Because that would imply abandonding my beloved to her Hellish fate, which I would never do so long as there's a chance of helping. And even on a selfish note, this is the crap that needs to come up to be healed because this is the crap that's keeping me from my bliss and ascension. So I'm very blessed to have this opportunity through our connection.
​
I also reminded myself that I shouldn't get attached to you or the idea of Union. This again is becoming more difficult as the soul love grows. But I need to stay open so I don't obstruct HS from acting through this person for our highest good. So I won't say, "I miss you, I'm sorry I couldn't spend time with you during your stream today, and I wish we could connect more." But I will say that I love you always.

Ramifications of Plato's Cave

I think people have talked a lot about the nature of Plato's Cave and not enough about the ramifications of Plato's Cave.
If we are all stuck in a subjective view of the world, and we become illusioned by ourselves, and we rarely ever want to throw away this illusion (ie pursue enlightenment), what does that say about us?
We don't merely think in terms of narratives. We like narratives. We prefer the cave. We live our lives as though it were a narrative. We probably couldn't even stop this if we wanted to, to a certain extent.
What does it mean when we absorb this? What are we doing for ourselves at the point in time when we start thinking about these topics?
In short, we're unhappy with the narrative. It's literally like waking up from a nightmare. We're scared or upset about the nature of reality, so our goal is to recraft a new narrative that will put us back to sleep. That's the concept of "peace". That's the concept of "non-disturbance", which is something we've been chasing ever since we were born and wished to return to the womb, which was a period of forever sleep and forever peace.
All of the learning in the world starts with wanting to understand the world's parameters, so we can more effectively craft dreams for ourselves, so we can live out the narrative that will make us happy.
Neo in the Matrix is the "hacker" who wants to know deeply about the universe because he is someone who wants to craft the greatest dream of all, for himself and for his love (Trinity). Neo ends up sacrificing himself to save his love, which means he "dies" and so does the ever-present evidence of the Matrix existing (Agent Smith everywhere). This is again proof that he prefers the dream, although he also believes that he will one day overcome all of the ancient, deprecated "code" (memes, genes, traditions, culture, etc) inherent in human individuals and in human society.
This is representative of the mythology around christ consciousness. It is about sacrificing one's self for future reward, which comes in the form of a richer, more pleasurable, and more real story. Perhaps one in which we are all happier, healthier, and more prosperous. This is the summary of the entire mythos around Neo, Jesus, and many other individuals.
I think one of the main reasons old psychedelic aficionados will say "you didn't take enough" if you have a bad trip is that one of the main goals of trips is to remember why you went. Not just "what information are you trying to extract" from this trip, with altered consciousness, but why do you need this info? What are you really doing with your life?

Traumatic rituals

Another implication from this...
What is the purpose of traumatic rituals, perhaps some we might call satanic?
If we induce fear in someone, we can get them to keep waking up (not just in terms of sleep, but in terms of consciousness), and when they do that, they have a chance to advance themselves. It's totally abused though, and they aren't trying to create enlightened individuals so much as highly trained tools who can do things that ordinary sleepwalkers couldn't.

Sex Magick

This is related to operant conditioning. basically, the reward centers are so activated from sexual activity (or even masturbation) that it helps get you to agree and purify yourself before an idea.
Sexual activity puts you in a very suggestible and controllable state. If someone else is providing you with the sex and ideas at the same time, they can control you with this process. That being said, you can use sex to actually meditate and change your own mind as well, but this would not be broadly taught due to the inherent risk in doing so (only works as well as the individual makes good choices during it).
As I will get into later, the idea that thoughts and ideas are like lives, so the "lives" which learn to desire and crave sexuality find themselves to have complete and utter control over your body at times. The only way to cure such an addiction is to go around and exterminate these lives. It's not just about deciding to do it, nor is it about living in the vain belief you even do decide on a moment to moment basis what you do. You actually have to consciously do work to kill those devils. Also for this reason, sex magick is not widely taught.

Curiosity

There is this concept of simply "noticing the birds". Jesus was even quoted saying something along the lines of "make sure to smell the flowers".
Why though? We usually decipher this as just "enjoy your life" and don't think more about it. I have an alternative explanation.
Acts such as this are what keep you awake. They retain your consciousness. By continuing to be curious, your mind stays alive. And furthermore, it is the healthier alternative compared fear, which I said would keep you awake in a more nightmare-like state.

Waking up

As I said, we are all living out narratives. The question is, who is the narrator and the story planner? In a healthy, conscious adult, you are your own god. You are your own narrator and story planner. What does the entertainment/education/media complex attempt to do? It wishes to subvert your narrator and story planning, so that it is now in control, and you are merely observing something outside of yourself. This is mind control. Now, consciousness is always observing something, since it has a rather passive role in cognition, but the point is that it's no longer observing internal processes so much as an external "man behind the curtain", representative of all of entertainment/education/media available today. We do have a name for this complex. We call it "The Cathedral".
While it's certainly true that entertaining content has a market value, it's absolutely crucial for you to understand that The Cathedral is not an organic institution made up of profit seekers. The Cathedral is an ideological organization that is not concerned with making money. Why? The Cathedral is ran by the people who already own half the world. They run finance. They are the bankers. The purpose of the Cathedral is not to make profit, but to ensure their primary modes of business continue to profit them. It is disinformation. Yes, there are subcontractors who seek profit in the Cathedral complex, but these are not the people who run the system.
There are a ton of avenues for exploring this. We could talk about how old oil money was the primary means by which radio as a medium was researched in the early 1900s (The Radio Project, funded by Rockefellers). We could talk about how identity politics scarcely existed just 10-15 years ago, and when the Occupy Wall Street movement started gaining momentum, suddenly identity politics existed as a distraction from anything those nasty Wall St executives and their lackeys were doing. People seem to get angry because they think Disney is attempting to create a profit from selling the new Mermaid to a wider range of audiences than before, but they should be even more angry if they realize Disney ultimately doesn't care about making money from Mermaid. They simply are doing what they are told, to drum up conflict and loss of social cohesion, so that the real powerbrokers can operate unimpeded.
Yes, it is about money, but not necessary movie money. Not necessarily tech bro money either. Even Facebook showed up at the exact time that DARPA was shutting down an exploratory project called LifeLog that did the exact same thing. Did Zuckerberg "magically" pull himself up by his bootstraps, or was he connected like Bill Gates was connected, whose father was powerful in the intelligence community and who was a member of the early equivalent of the WEF dating back to the 1960s? Microsoft was a ploy for the government to have a backdoor into all computer systems. Facebook was a ploy for the government to have a backdoor into everyone's social lives. Google has become a ploy to control all searches (I have not found evidence to suggest it began this way though — not to say it doesn't exist).
You might ask yourself... Does it feel like something is missing in your life? Would you call it "meaning" or "spirit"? Is it possible you have lost communication with the center of yourself which has the answers for meaning and the feeling of spirit? And could this lost communication be due to the Cathedral's attacks on your mind?
The problem isn't necessarily waking up / not waking up. This is a false dichotomy. Simply change what you are dreaming about.
However, "waking up" could be considered an honorable task, since you are in effect becoming the lightbearer for everyone else. For that path, the most important thing to realize is that there are different reasons to wake up. It's really just like dreaming. You could wake up from a nightmare, or you could stay up all night out of curiosity for a thing that you just can't put down. "Waking up" out of fear isn't very productive (except insofar as you change your dreams, per my first point), but waking up out of curiosity and creativity is... simply world-changing.

Is that why they're banning books in Florida?

Which books are they banning? Those that serve curiosity, creativity, intelligence, and growth as a human being, or those that serve darker forces such as perverse sexuality?
People are equipped with limited options to fight the tyranny of the Cathedral. Book banning is a last ditch effort to stop the mind control put upon us.

Even if you don’t believe in conspiracy….. his words ring very very true

This is an interesting, albeit naive, place to be. You blame all bad things on the nature of people, rather than the actions of people.

Free Will

If we consider that language is composed of symbols, which indicate concepts, and that concepts seem to always be a compressed version of something that's beyond the logical mind's ordinary ability to work with, then it follows that free will is just such a symbol.
Further, our conceptual mind apparently gives all concepts their meaning by way of relating them to opposite symbols — e.g. free will has no conceptual usefulness in the absence of the concept of "fate" or "destiny", etc. I propose that neither free will nor destiny exist as anything other than concepts which aren't mapping the situation realistically.
Specifically they are symbols, and "we" exist within those symbols so long as there is an automatic assumption that if neither exists, something must take their place. If you tell someone they have free will, you automatically introduce the concept of destiny, and vice versa. If you tell someone who doesn't know themselves that they have free will, exactly who have you granted such "freedom" to?
All of these symbols are like "lives" themselves, and as long as they exist within us, they live and state their cases to be known. When you fully decide against something, you kill it within yourself. You kill the idea, which ends its life at least with you.
Consciousness isn't so much about "thinking" as it is deciding which lives to keep and which to kill. You're choosing which symbols to associate with. You're choosing which subconscious processes to follow.
That is perhaps the function of the thing we call free will. So in that sense, it's not so much that it is free will vs destiny, but it is this tiered concept of cognition. There are the "lives" existing within you, then there is the "god" who allows them to live or die.
This also frames the idea of destiny, which you might say is the assumption of a "life" within you existing forever. In other words, would it even be "your" destiny if parts of yourself could literally be created and destroyed? Perhaps we are like the ship of theseus in more ways than we realize. It's not even so much about destiny as it is the idea of object permanence or realism in the first place.
This description of symbols living within us is the concept of the noosphere, by the way. It's a "sphere" similar to a biosphere or ecosphere, which exists on top of conscious beings. There is our body (the hardware), then there is "the spirit" or whatever you want to call the "immaterial" (technically electrons are material but very hard to measure in large structures) resting on top of it, and the collection of all of these immaterial beings exist in the noosphere.

Ramifications of Plato's Cave

I think people have talked a lot about the nature of Plato's Cave and not enough about the ramifications of Plato's Cave.
If we are all stuck in a subjective view of the world, and we become illusioned by ourselves, and we rarely ever want to throw away this illusion (ie pursue enlightenment), what does that say about us?
We don't merely think in terms of narratives. We like narratives. We prefer the cave. We live our lives as though it were a narrative. We probably couldn't even stop this if we wanted to, to a certain extent.
What does it mean when we absorb this? What are we doing for ourselves at the point in time when we start thinking about these topics?
In short, we're unhappy with the narrative. It's literally like waking up from a nightmare. We're scared or upset about the nature of reality, so our goal is to recraft a new narrative that will put us back to sleep. That's the concept of "peace". That's the concept of "non-disturbance", which is something we've been chasing ever since we were born and wished to return to the womb, which was a period of forever sleep and forever peace.
All of the learning in the world starts with wanting to understand the world's parameters, so we can more effectively craft dreams for ourselves, so we can live out the narrative that will make us happy.
Neo in the Matrix is the "hacker" who wants to know deeply about the universe because he is someone who wants to craft the greatest dream of all, for himself and for his love (Trinity). Neo ends up sacrificing himself to save his love, which means he "dies" and so does the ever-present evidence of the Matrix existing (Agent Smith everywhere). This is again proof that he prefers the dream, although he also believes that he will one day overcome all of the ancient, deprecated "code" (memes, genes, traditions, culture, etc) inherent in human individuals and in human society.
This is representative of the mythology around christ consciousness. It is about sacrificing one's self for future reward, which comes in the form of a richer, more pleasurable, and more real story. Perhaps one in which we are all happier, healthier, and more prosperous. This is the summary of the entire mythos around Neo, Jesus, and many other individuals.
I think one of the main reasons old psychedelic aficionados will say "you didn't take enough" if you have a bad trip is that one of the main goals of trips is to remember why you went. Not just "what information are you trying to extract" from this trip, with altered consciousness, but why do you need this info? What are you really doing with your life?

Traumatic rituals

Another implication from this...
What is the purpose of traumatic rituals, perhaps some we might call satanic?
If we induce fear in someone, we can get them to keep waking up (not just in terms of sleep, but in terms of consciousness), and when they do that, they have a chance to advance themselves. It's totally abused though, and they aren't trying to create enlightened individuals so much as highly trained tools who can do things that ordinary sleepwalkers couldn't.

Sex Magick

This is related to operant conditioning. basically, the reward centers are so activated from sexual activity (or even masturbation) that it helps get you to agree and purify yourself before an idea.
Sexual activity puts you in a very suggestible and controllable state. If someone else is providing you with the sex and ideas at the same time, they can control you with this process. That being said, you can use sex to actually meditate and change your own mind as well, but this would not be broadly taught due to the inherent risk in doing so (only works as well as the individual makes good choices during it).
As I will get into later, the idea that thoughts and ideas are like lives, so the "lives" which learn to desire and crave sexuality find themselves to have complete and utter control over your body at times. The only way to cure such an addiction is to go around and exterminate these lives. It's not just about deciding to do it, nor is it about living in the vain belief you even do decide on a moment to moment basis what you do. You actually have to consciously do work to kill those devils. Also for this reason, sex magick is not widely taught.

Curiosity

There is this concept of simply "noticing the birds". Jesus was even quoted saying something along the lines of "make sure to smell the flowers".
Why though? We usually decipher this as just "enjoy your life" and don't think more about it. I have an alternative explanation.
Acts such as this are what keep you awake. They retain your consciousness. By continuing to be curious, your mind stays alive. And furthermore, it is the healthier alternative compared fear, which I said would keep you awake in a more nightmare-like state.

Waking up

As I said, we are all living out narratives. The question is, who is the narrator and the story planner? In a healthy, conscious adult, you are your own god. You are your own narrator and story planner. What does the entertainment/education/media complex attempt to do? It wishes to subvert your narrator and story planning, so that it is now in control, and you are merely observing something outside of yourself. This is mind control. Now, consciousness is always observing something, since it has a rather passive role in cognition, but the point is that it's no longer observing internal processes so much as an external "man behind the curtain", representative of all of entertainment/education/media available today. We do have a name for this complex. We call it "The Cathedral".
While it's certainly true that entertaining content has a market value, it's absolutely crucial for you to understand that The Cathedral is not an organic institution made up of profit seekers. The Cathedral is an ideological organization that is not concerned with making money. Why? The Cathedral is ran by the people who already own half the world. They run finance. They are the bankers. The purpose of the Cathedral is not to make profit, but to ensure their primary modes of business continue to profit them. It is disinformation. Yes, there are subcontractors who seek profit in the Cathedral complex, but these are not the people who run the system.
There are a ton of avenues for exploring this. We could talk about how old oil money was the primary means by which radio as a medium was researched in the early 1900s (The Radio Project, funded by Rockefellers). We could talk about how identity politics scarcely existed just 10-15 years ago, and when the Occupy Wall Street movement started gaining momentum, suddenly identity politics existed as a distraction from anything those nasty Wall St executives and their lackeys were doing. People seem to get angry because they think Disney is attempting to create a profit from selling the new Mermaid to a wider range of audiences than before, but they should be even more angry if they realize Disney ultimately doesn't care about making money from Mermaid. They simply are doing what they are told, to drum up conflict and loss of social cohesion, so that the real powerbrokers can operate unimpeded.
Yes, it is about money, but not necessary movie money. Not necessarily tech bro money either. Even Facebook showed up at the exact time that DARPA was shutting down an exploratory project called LifeLog that did the exact same thing. Did Zuckerberg "magically" pull himself up by his bootstraps, or was he connected like Bill Gates was connected, whose father was powerful in the intelligence community and who was a member of the early equivalent of the WEF dating back to the 1960s? Microsoft was a ploy for the government to have a backdoor into all computer systems. Facebook was a ploy for the government to have a backdoor into everyone's social lives. Google has become a ploy to control all searches (I have not found evidence to suggest it began this way though — not to say it doesn't exist).
You might ask yourself... Does it feel like something is missing in your life? Would you call it "meaning" or "spirit"? Is it possible you have lost communication with the center of yourself which has the answers for meaning and the feeling of spirit? And could this lost communication be due to the Cathedral's attacks on your mind?
The problem isn't necessarily waking up / not waking up. This is a false dichotomy. Simply change what you are dreaming about.
However, "waking up" could be considered an honorable task, since you are in effect becoming the lightbearer for everyone else. For that path, the most important thing to realize is that there are different reasons to wake up. It's really just like dreaming. You could wake up from a nightmare, or you could stay up all night out of curiosity for a thing that you just can't put down. "Waking up" out of fear isn't very productive (except insofar as you change your dreams, per my first point), but waking up out of curiosity and creativity is... simply world-changing.

Is that why they're banning books in Florida?

Which books are they banning? Those that serve curiosity, creativity, intelligence, and growth as a human being, or those that serve darker forces such as perverse sexuality?
People are equipped with limited options to fight the tyranny of the Cathedral. Book banning is a last ditch effort to stop the mind control put upon us.

Even if you don’t believe in conspiracy….. his words ring very very true

This is an interesting, albeit naive, place to be. You blame all bad things on the nature of people, rather than the actions of people.

Free Will

If we consider that language is composed of symbols, which indicate concepts, and that concepts seem to always be a compressed version of something that's beyond the logical mind's ordinary ability to work with, then it follows that free will is just such a symbol.
Further, our conceptual mind apparently gives all concepts their meaning by way of relating them to opposite symbols — e.g. free will has no conceptual usefulness in the absence of the concept of "fate" or "destiny", etc. I propose that neither free will nor destiny exist as anything other than concepts which aren't mapping the situation realistically.
Specifically they are symbols, and "we" exist within those symbols so long as there is an automatic assumption that if neither exists, something must take their place. If you tell someone they have free will, you automatically introduce the concept of destiny, and vice versa. If you tell someone who doesn't know themselves that they have free will, exactly who have you granted such "freedom" to?
All of these symbols are like "lives" themselves, and as long as they exist within us, they live and state their cases to be known. When you fully decide against something, you kill it within yourself. You kill the idea, which ends its life at least with you.
Consciousness isn't so much about "thinking" as it is deciding which lives to keep and which to kill. You're choosing which symbols to associate with. You're choosing which subconscious processes to follow.
That is perhaps the function of the thing we call free will. So in that sense, it's not so much that it is free will vs destiny, but it is this tiered concept of cognition. There are the "lives" existing within you, then there is the "god" who allows them to live or die.
This also frames the idea of destiny, which you might say is the assumption of a "life" within you existing forever. In other words, would it even be "your" destiny if parts of yourself could literally be created and destroyed? Perhaps we are like the ship of theseus in more ways than we realize. It's not even so much about destiny as it is the idea of object permanence or realism in the first place.
This description of symbols living within us is the concept of the noosphere, by the way. It's a "sphere" similar to a biosphere or ecosphere, which exists on top of conscious beings. There is our body (the hardware), then there is "the spirit" or whatever you want to call the "immaterial" (technically electrons are material but very hard to measure in large structures) resting on top of it, and the collection of all of these immaterial beings exist in the noosphere.

I love the game so far. My first playthrough is hardcore which hasn't been quite as fun as I was hoping. I'm very nitpicky on the handful of things that really bug me about the game, but the game is otherwise so fun, 9/10, wonderful, I'm going to put 1000 hours in and get my moneys worth with this one.

Hardcore:

LOWER THE DROP RATE OF THE DEATH EVASION ELIXIR. PLEASE. PLEEEASSE. It's honestly belittling and annoying as hell to see 4 or 5 drop at a time in a single group or during an event while going through the game. Honest? You can't even make it until Scosglen, so why the hell did I learn it at level 2? Why do so many drop? It's in my face all the time that I'm playing hardcore, but am I really? Here's two different methods of avoiding it, there you go.

Art:

Flawless. Act 2 is so, so beautiful. The bloodied wolf scene in tristram was my first real 'wow' moment in the beta and it still made me so happy in the real game. The druid intertwined with the tree was a gorgeous sight, however, a small explanation of such a stunning set area would have been nice. The blood vane, the crimson path? Breathtaking. I love the theme. I love the aesthetic of Lilith's corruption throughout the game. The environments are stunning.

Story:

First thing, In this game they do even worse with one thing than diablo 3 occassionally did; long dialogue where I'm standing around listening to long, dramatic voice acting. First? The dying soldier that warns you of lilith in the beginning of the game? 'Vigo, metal does not harm her, spells do not affect her' (I'm paragraphasing, but that guy) Is so obnoxiously annoying. But, the actor did a great job! But you have to set it correctly. If you want dramatic moments like that, force me into a mini cutscene or let me continue on in someway. It breaks the pacing. Same thing happens all the time where I'll stop and think, 'Wow, they really could've thrown a mob in right here to give me something to do and not hyperfocus on the weird sounds this actor is making'. The in-game models are doing next to nothing, so it starts to feel like the voice actor talking in my ear, not a full character. It's very immersion breaking. When you save Petr's son, I get the same feeling.
There are so, so many moments through the story where two people are talking and I couldn't give less of a fuck cause nothing is actually happening on my screen. Donan and Yorin when you first meet them? Bro I'm here and waiting. I'm just hearing voices, and they're usually unnecessarily dragging out their (dying breaths). No one gets that cool, long final words monologue until I care about them, like the>! tree-attaached druid.!< I didn't mind quite as much because the set was beautiful to look at, and>! I actually cared about his dog. Not him, but his dog!<.
Scenes like Donan in the keep taking his time to drag the bodies into a neat row, or the mini cutscene where you first met Neyrelle's mom and she attacks her actually work pretty well, and I just wish all of the dramatic voice acting could have mini cinematics like that or a few mobs for me to occupy myself. Let me follow the dog around a pretty area to look at. Let the characters talk and chat in my ear about their thoughts or whats happening as I walk through the mining shafts in the first act. Either talk as you walk, make me cinematic, or give me something to kill.
Second thing, is the plot of the first act. I don't enjoy the incentives I'm given. I am here to kill demons, yes, and Diablo has always been a battle of good and evil, yes, but I am not slaying demons to be a saint I am doing it for fun and coin. Why the hell am I signing up for a holy mission? When Lorath asks me 'What are you going to do about (your connection with Lilith)?' when you first meet him? I hated the response. 'Ah yes, I'm going to start a holy pilgrimage and dedicate a lot of blood and sweat into figuring out what she wants for the people, and then kill her and everything inbetween, including massive demons' just did not check out for me. I guess that's because we don't know anything about our characters, whereas in D3 we're said to be noteworthy adventurers seeking this kinda thing out, and in d2 we're repeatedly praised for our helpfulness as a random adventurer that doesn't need to be doing in this. But I really felt like killing all>! of the townsfolk that drugged us ! I was not sold in act one that Lilith was awful through my many playthroughs. Her corruption of the initial town was cool and super aesthetic. They killed a priest together that was super mean to them! We dislike Inarius cause he's an asshole! I think Act 1 just feels really weird compared to act 2. I'm here serving the church of light, basically. In act 2, we see direct consequences from Lilith's cruelty that I actually want to prevent, regularly. In act 1? Idk wtf Lilith even wants. Maybe she wants to hook up with Inarius again, idfk. Maybe she's vibing.
The conversation with Lorath didn't feel incentivizing, either. It was not until we killed Neyrelle's mother that I really felt against Lilith as the villain, otherwise, I really wished for an option to just join her side instead, it sounded like more fun of an option. Tbh, I'd still prefer that.
Act 2 does a way better job of selling that she's an antagonist. I think there were a lot of missed opportunities to better explain the nuance going on in her mind control/corruption throughout the entirety of the game, but, I'm hoping that it starts to feel cohesive in act 4. I wanted>! Airidah and Vhenard's logic during their corruption!< to be slightly sound in logic. I think this has been part of the fact that I still like Lilith, her words 'sin is their birthright' and the sentiment of 'freeing the people, cull the weak' obviously has horrible consequences, but has some logic there. I think they almost achieved a smarter theme of this through the game, but fell just short. You ask a lot of corrupted people 'Why?'
Airidah said 'My people have forgotten what it took to vanquish Astaroth. How are they going to fair against hell?' This... is so close, but not quite. I loved and ate up the lines where she implied she was trying to help her people, worried that they had become too soft and needed this hardship to prepare and survive. But... it kinda fell apart as she talked. She started to feel like a wasted mind. I wanted her to say 'I see them preparing. Uniting with the knights they hate, even. You're even here for them. If they can't remember what it took to survive Astaroth, if they don't adapt and survive me, how will they ever fare against Lilith? I don't want to see my people destroyed.' Not that that's perfect, but, if these people are corrupted to the levels of mind control where their sense is gone? I don't want my character to bother asking them why. Just let me put them down. Everytime someone asks anyone 'Why' in this game just feels like a waste.

Shop:

Not a huge fan of the microtransactions so far, even though I wasn't against the idea before seeing it in action.
I hate that the $20-30 sets also have a separate accessory set that's literally sold separately. I LIKE that my friend was able to purchase the raised by wolves accessory set that was much cheaper and now we match, I like that there are cheaper options, but I think that each set could've been a $18-25 version that included everything, then maybe a $5-10 mini version like 'Here's a cute weapon, a dog, and an emote' as it is. But include it in the big set! If you think about it, the pricing isn't $25 for their most expensive sets, but $35 which is sorta ridiculous. I saw this the most on the Druid heir of the sea set, like, why separate it? That's so stupid.
It just feels bad browsing the shop. I was even excited to make purchases if something caught my eye before I dug into it. I also hate having to buy entire, full sets when honestly I'm just upset at the lack of tattoo options and want those to put on other characters. I'm hoping that the battle pass has individual items in it I can unlock through it. I want to buy and find small cosmetic options. Especially since a lot of helmets in the shop you can almost find in game, just with a changed detail or two.

Character Creation/Shop pt 2.

I really, really hope in the future to see more makeup options, tattoos, hairstyles. Anything at all to make the character creation experience a liiiittle better since its pretty lackluster right now. I think being able to tweak my diablo characters is great, but my mind automatically wants way more options when given a character creator tool. I like writing and drawing so I have a few druid OCs which got me excited, but they visually just would never work as a diablo druid. My friend had a problem, too, of her rogue's likeness just... meh. Didn't quite hit.
I want more hairstyles. I'm glad to see I can buy tatttoos, but I probably won't just because I don't want to pay $25 for just the tattoos. I like the item sets., just not enough to pay for them. Maybe something cool will come out at some point, but, I was pretty underwhelmed. I think I maybe still have to see what endgame gear looks like. I was planning to buy at least one set, but, idk if I will.

Gameplay:

One complaint I keep hearing is 'So few skill slots'. Not that this makes sense we have as many as any other pc game other than a jrpg. I think the problem is actually that we're getting our ultimate abilities by level 30. We're unlocking the whole ability pool too fast and then going back to add in tweaks and buffs without actually getting new things between 30-50 while we wait for the paragon board. Overall, there's a slightly lacking sense of progression which honestly feels so tough on characters with slow, boring levelling like the druid.
Otherwise? Pretty good. I dig it. Please tweak the 1-50 damage numbers on druid so it isn't 'pulverize or nothing.' Especially levels 5-20, 25 holy god ew disgusting.
I think Rogue feels amazing, Sorc looks like it's going to be fun, Necro... is eh? I'm not having much fun and, another guy put it better, it does not feel like minions are your bread and butter. I enjoy the druid companions more than the necro ones. I'm most likely going to fully sacrifice them all if the bonus for doing so is better than keeping them. Druid feels so cool and so underwhelming. Like the rogue feels cool both in design and because you're actually killing shit. Druid feels so cool and nice, but has too high cooldowns, your damage sucks ass... it's eh. Barb? Doing barb things, having a good time. I really wanna play necro and druid, but, they just don't quite hit.

Hi there! I apologize for any mistakes that stem from being inexperienced, this is my first post here. I have been thinking about posting Hungarian cases on the sub, but this is the first time I actually found the time to do it. I will attach a few sources - English ones seem to be impossible to come by, although there might be one or two related to a possible theory that was since dismissed, I will attach these. The following post is a loose translation of information coming from Hungarian Wikipedia and other Hungarian news articles.
Background
Nikolett Edit Szathmáry was born on July 8, 1990, in Gyula, Békés county, Hungary, to parents Sándor Szathmáry and Edit Szilágyi. Her hometown, Gyula has a population of ~28 000 people and lies in the southeastern corner of Hungary, 5 kilometres (3 miles) from the border with Romania. Most likely due to Nikolett's young age, there is very little information available regarding her upbringing, but it is known that her parents divorced and Nikolett lived with her mother, Edit and her two brothers. (Edit remarried in 2011, to one of the police officers that were involved in the case.) In 1998, at the time of the disappearance, Nikolett was a student in the local No. 5 Elementary School, and Edit supported the family by working as a cleaner in local exhibition halls. Nikolett was a happy, joyful child who was very attached to her mother, but she was also very confident for her age and she regularly walked home on her own from school. She liked to go out in nature with her uncle to watch wild ducks, often went to her friends' homes to hang out with them, and attended extracurricular activities like folk dance classes.
Disappearance
Wednesday, January 14, 1998 started as a regular day for the family. In a 2001 interview, Edit recalled the day of her disappearance: "It was a completely average morning. I woke her up, brought her a cup of cocoa, then we went to school together. We said goodbye to each other, she spent the day in school, then around 2 PM, she walked to her folk dance class. The class was over sometime before 4 PM, they let the kids go a little early that day. Shortly after 4 PM, I went to pick her up, although I previously told her I would not be able to pick her up that day. I wrapped up work and headed out [to Ferenc Erkel Cultural Centre, where her class was]. Maybe if I chose to head home instead, we would've met halfway."
Nikolett did not stay behind to wait for her mother. She began to walk home, as she did many times before without any issues. She left the Cultural Centre in downtown Gyula around 4 PM, and during the walk home, she encountered her pediatrician. They chatted for a little bit and walked together for a while. However, they parted at the neighborhood grocery store, and Nikolett continued on her way alone. Most articles say that this store was no further than 300 metres (about 1000 feet) from her home. According to the receipt the pediatrician showed to police, she paid at the grocery store check-out counter at 4:08. After this point, there were no eyewitnesses that ever saw Nikoletta alive again.
Edit was not particularly worried at first when Nikolett was not home in time, as she was known to visit friends after school on occasion. Until 8 PM, the family tried looking for her in places she could possibly have been, to no avail. At this point, they called the police. A warrant was issued for a blue-eyed girl, around 140 - 145 cm (4' 7" - 4' 9") tall, wearing a purple jacket, pink knitted hat, a green sweatshirt, and a yellow school backpack. The Békés County Police Department searched the town of Gyula and the adjacent woods and wetlands, with no results. Hundreds of police officers were deployed to the town to assist with the search. Special K9 units were also deployed, including Mancs ("Paw"), Hungary's most famous German Shepherd rescue dog who later saved a 3-year-old girl in the aftermath of the 1999 Izmit earthquake in Turkey, and participated in the search and rescue efforts during the 2001 earthquakes in El Salvador and India. 3 000 apartments were searched in the neighbourhood, and they even drained a canal that runs through the town of Gyula. Search helicopters were also used. However, despite the efforts, police was unable to locate Nikolett. Police processed hundreds of reports, none of which lead to any progress with the investigation.
The Békés County Police Department offered a 3 million HUF (around 14 000 USD at the time, a very large sum in 1998 Hungary) to anyone who could provide useful information regarding the circumstances of the disappearance. The mayor of Gyula offered another 500 000 HUF (~2 300 USD). Neither reward was ever claimed. Due to the events, fear spread through the town, and parents did not allow their children to go anywhere on their own. Baseless rumours started spreading, linking Nikolett's disappearance to organ harvesting, but there was no evidence to suggest this. Moreover, Gyula's closeness to the Romanian border and relative closeness to Serbia also led to speculations that Nikolett's disappearance could be the work of a local who escaped the country, or a foreigner who just arrived in town. An international warrant was also issued and Nikolett was added to Interpol's list of missing children worldwide.
Location of the body
For the next three years, there were absolutely no advancements in the case, until February 20, 2001. Thatching workers were collecting straw in the wetlands by Road 44 near the outskirts of Gyula, when they found a large plastic bag. They realized that the bag contained human remains, and the police were informed. Forensic experts determined that the body was likely submerged in water for an extended period of time. Police claimed that this may have been the reason why rescue dogs did not alert in 1998 when the same area was searched. The body found was in a completely skeletal state, with only a blouse and a pair of socks. The backpack, coat, pants, and underwear were never found. Due to these circumstances, it was theorized that she may have been sexually assaulted, although any concrete evidence of that would have been long gone. DNA samples were taken - actually, this was the first case ever in Hungary where DNA was extracted from bones. Getting the results took over six months, which confirmed that the located remains belonged to Nikolett Szathmáry. Finally, the family was able to have a proper burial for her.
Possible perpetrators
According to one article, an anonymous police officer claimed to media that "investigators had and still have suspicions about a possible perpetrator, but there was never enough evidence to support a criminal case". A man named Mihály Rostás, who was 39 years old at the time, was the main suspect. This man committed a few murders in the area; he had three confirmed victims. He committed his first murder in Sarkad, a town 14 kilometres (about 9 miles) north of Gyula. After an argument in a pub, he followed and stabbed his victim to death. He dragged the body to the nearby wetlands and hid it there. (This does show similarities to Nikolett's case.) The second case was the brutal double murder of an elderly couple that happened in Sándorhegy, a suburb of Gyula. After this murder, Rostás was still at large, living in Gyula at the time of Nikolett's disappearance. In early 1998, when she disappeared, he lived less than 2 kilometres from where Nikolett's remains were found. Later, Rostás was caught by police and was sentenced to life in prison for the three murders. Investigators regularly interrogated Rostás in prison. According to the anonymous officer's report, he said: "I know why you are here, I know what you want to hear. I want to live". The death penalty in Hungary was abolished in 1990 - Rostás likely referred to the fact that being known as a child-murderer could have resulted in his death by the hands of his fellow prisoners. He died in prison without ever confessing to any crimes other than the three murders.
Another lead, that is most likely false but still worth mentioning, was discovered on August 2, 2021. A man from Gyula named László Horváth was arrested by police on the suspicion of having produced child pornography. Horváth, a well-known local figure, was a karate instructor, and a report from the parents of a pupil of his resulted in his arrest: the 10-year-old claimed that Horváth touched him inappropriately. The case was heavily politicized due to Horváth having been a local candidate for the political party Jobbik. Jobbik, once characterized as a nationalistic, far-right party, took an unexpected turn in the late 2010s: the far-right radicals in the party leadership left to form another party, and the remaining leadership steered Jobbik in a more centre-right direction, even going as far as joining centre-left parties in a coalition to defeat Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's party, Fidesz, in the 2022 election. This move made Jobbik a newfound enemy of Hungarian media outlets owned by the government party or its associates. This was likely the reason that as soon as DNA was taken from László Horváth as part of standard police procedures, multiple news sources jumped to make connections between Nikolett's case and Horváth, a suspected pedophile living in the same town where she was murdered. One news source, Magyar Narancs, correctly concluded that it is unlikely that the fact DNA was taken had anything to do with Nikolett's case, as her remains had no DNA evidence that could be linked to the killer. However, this same source also erroneously reported that there was no DNA analysis available in Hungary in 2001 - this is incorrect. As of 2023, there were no other reports connecting Horváth to the case.
I was not able to find any other possible leads online that has any chance of credibility. I came across an article that details the claims of a so-called "spirit medium", but it only contains information already publicly known, or laughably vague details that cannot be corroborated in any way. Despite the death of Mihály Rostás, Nikolett's mother Edit claims she believes the real killer is still at large, but she admits this is only based on feelings. In the early 2000s, there were suspicions that the case of another missing child, Tamás Till, could be connected. Tamás disappeared May 28, 2000 in Baja, Bács-Kiskun county. However, Baja is about 220 km (~140 miles) from Gyula, and there is no evidence of a connection.
Some sources
Hungarian:
https://gyertyalang.hu/szemely/751
https://www.csaladinet.hu/hirek/gyerekneveles/gyermekbiztonsag/33164/quot_nem_tanitottuk_meg_hogy_felni_kell_quot_-_szathmary_nikolett_tragikus_esete
https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szathm%C3%A1ry_Nikolett-gyilkoss%C3%A1g
https://magyarnarancs.hu/bun/maig-megoldatlan-szathmary-nikolett-eltunese-es-halala-235116
https://magyarnarancs.hu/kismagyarorszag/szinte-kizart-hogy-a-gyulai-pedofilbotrany-a-szathmary-niki-ugy-megoldasa-lehet-240699
https://www.blikk.hu/aktualis/krimi/regi-bunugy-szathmary-niki-eltunes-gyilkossag-nyomozas-megoldatlan-rejtely/b0x8c49
https://www.blikk.hu/aktualis/krimi/szathmary-nikolett-gyilkossag-edesanya-jobbik-gyula/edgkqh7
I used other articles as well, but I honestly didn't keep very good track of it, as I assume most readers would not be able to read them anyway.
English:
https://v4na.com/nagyvilag/politician-could-face-investigation-for-paedophile-murder-case-48999/
https://hungarytoday.hu/former-local-jobbik-politician-arrested-suspicion-child-pornography/
These are connected to the lead that is most likely false.

Every other platform: - Install our app on your Shopify. - Create pixel. - Auto-link products. - Done.
Google: - Install our Google channel app. - Install our GA4 app. - Install our tags Manually. - Connect them all together Manually. - Still half my products have "missing GTIN" issue, that cannot be resolved via the Google apps, because all these Google apps don't like talking to each other
And don't even get me started on the attribution and audience mess ups.
Customer service? None existent, or gives ridiculous 'advice'.
What is this? Trillion dollar company, or a three man start up?

I am purchasing speakers and an amp to enhance the sound of my desktop set-up. I host Zoom meetings as part of my work and use the mic integrated within my usb webcam. I want to use the speakers for sound output for my Zoom meetings.
I will also be using the speakers to listen to music via my iPod and light gaming via my MacBook.
I have listed below items I have ready in my shopping basket. My question is, am I missing anything to achieve the above?
Thank you.

• Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 speakers
• Aiyima AO8 pro amp (the MacBook and iPod will connect here via RCA to 3.5mm cable)
• Speaker cable with banana tips
• Yoga block for speakers to stand on
• RCA to3.5mm cable

MacBook and webcam (with integrated mic) connect to a USB hub.

I know the world went to shit and a lot of people died and got sick or had their lives upended some other way. But I miss it. I miss being able to log on somewhere and actually have people to talk to. I grew up severely isolated due to paranoid family, so COVID lockdown weirdly made me feel more connected to people than most of my childhood. Maybe because they were experiencing a similar isolation and had more time to hang out. I know it's fucked up. But now people have gone back to their normal lives and it's like all those friends I made are gone. I thought I made real connections with people for once and now it feels like it was all circumstantial and they've gone and forgotten me. Some of them haven't spoken to me in over a year and it hurts. I have college now and am looking for a job on top of that to keep me occupied, but in what little free time I have I still just miss my friends and when they had time for me. I've met new people through college and job interviews and they're great, but it's difficult to make plans and always feels like I'm more willing to make time than they are. I miss when it didn't feel like I was the last priority on someone's mind.

I don't even know where to start. I'm just looking for someone who might be in the same boat as me and can talk me through the process. I(25f) am in the best relationship of my life ever with my bf(30m). He's mature, emotionally intelligent, extremely caring and loving, and I love how we have been growing together. I've never experienced this kind of love before. And on top of everything we were sexually very compatible. I say were, because I started experiencing some infections in and around the vagina, and I'm waiting on getting the medical help now. It's been painful physically and emotionally. He's being nothing but supportive, never triggers the pain and is now even holding back from initiating anything sexual(like making out too aggressively) so that the thought of "oh shit but we can't have sex" doesn't upset me. But the fact is that I've always had a high sex drive and he says he hasn't. He's been through months of no sex just fine. I haven't. I won't say it's an addiction but the kind of attraction and connection I feel with him I can't not be upset about abstaining from sex with him. I've talked to him about it and again he just tries to cheer me up because that's all he can do. I'm afraid I'm missing out on all the rest of goodness from this relationship and focussing too much on the missing sex. I haven't always been like that. It's like a kid doesn't get the candy he likes and suddenly that is all he can think about. So I guess I'm trying to understand the perspective of people who consciously and successfully fought their sexual urges to live a more focussed life. My life doesn't suck and I hate to believe that just sex can control so much of how I feel on a daily basis.
Long story short: I'm in a perfectly healthy relationship but need to abstain from sex due to medical reasons. Everything else is still great but I'm unable to enjoy it because I can't shift my focus from the missing sex. Can you help me direct towards that?

I've got a couple of Ubuntu boxes on 2m network cables connected to a TP-Link gigabit ethernet cable.
The NICs are both Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (Lewisville) (rev 04) &
The switch looks like a TP-Link TL-SG1008D (looks like it, haven't got physical access to it currently).
I am only getting 30 MB/s which seems very slow. I tested the disks and they are both over 100 MB/s.
This seems rather slow. The box is not doing anything else significant. I used iotop.
My guess is it's the cables can remember where they came from but it may have been eBay or Amazon.
Does this sound likely or is there something I have missed? I'm thinking of getting replacements from somewhere repeatable in the UK like eBuyer or https://cpc.farnell.com.
What do people think?

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Hey all, I have a Qanba Q4 lying around and I was wondering if there is any way I can use it to play Sf6 on my ps4? I can’t seem to get it to connect, and I’m not seeing an option for legacy mode. Just wondering if there’s something I’m missing so I can avoid playing on the Dualshock haha

For the past 2 hours, I have been anxiously pacing through the house, questioning my own sanity. I decided to put thoughts to rest with a bottle of Soju and type away all the mess that is clouding my brain: I think my partner has cheated on me on his work trip.
A little back story, Me (F23) met my boyfriend (M24) through Tinder about 2 years ago. He got this silly meme “Studio Ghibli and Chill” as one of his photos on Tinder and that’s how I swiped right right away (Ghibli movies are my comfort food). When we first started dating, he was so nervous to be himself around me as I was his first relationship ever. However through time, he opened up more to me and has proven to be the best boyfriend I’ve ever had. We went through what every couple goes through: the sweet honeymoon phrase, the rough patches, the ups and downs. But it was so worth it, he was my soulmate.
Back to the story, recently he has to go on a work trip in another big city for a week. I have been missing him (we have been living together for nearly a year now and this is the first time he has to go for this long) but I have also been enjoying all the apartment to myself. Anyway, a couple of days ago, he told me he wanted to go to the Casinos and since I knew about his ‘tradition’ with the boys before meeting me was that after a big win at the CAS, you go see some strippers. I told him I’m not comfortable for him to go see a stripper when he is in a committed relationship. He took it really well and told me he wouldn’t do anything that would jeopardise our relationship and I believed him wholeheartedly. Fast forward to today’s afternoon, my phone went out of battery so I logged onto his PC, which was already connected to our TV in the living room because I wanted to play Mario Kart while he’s gone and we don’t own a Switch at the moment. I was searching for different cafes for tomorrow brunch with the girls. I made sure to go through each cafe’s location to find one in between us so that we don’t have to travel so far to meet each other. Anyway since the map was under his Google Account, I could see his recent searches and Low and Behold: He has searched for the strip club he has been to multiple times before meeting me. I couldn’t help but jump straight to the conclusion that he has cheated on me. I could feel all the blood pulsing through every vessel. Maybe you guys must think what the hell is she thinking jumping straight to conclusions like that, I have been cheated on before in my past relationship so I feel like my restored trust issues are now out the window. I called him crying, honestly maybe this was a bad move, but I didn’t know what to do but called and questioned him immediately. Of course he denied and said that he searched for the strip club’s name to take a screenshot of the place and sent it through his group chat with the boys. When I told him to show me receipts or proofs, he said that he couldn’t since everything was on SnapChat, and that he had deleted the screenshot immediately after, even in his ‘Recently Deleted’ file. I was so livid at that point and I didn’t know what to think, I just kept crying. I think that made him upset so he told me I just have to trust him and asked if I’m gonna be like that during the next time we’re apart. He said I have no proof that he has cheated and just because he searched for the strip club doesn’t mean that he’s cheated. We ended the call both extremely upset and angry.
Now what I learned from the past relationship was to be wary and investigate everything. So I logged into his Facebook to see if he has messaged the Boys about the visit at all. Now, I know some of you might think I have absolutely no right to go through his stuff. You’re right, but I didn’t care at this point. I was desperate to see something that would deny the fact that he has broken my trust. I went through his chat with his brother and found out that he has been bragging to him about his wins at the Casino last night. So his brother replied with “Strip Club’s name_?” He replied with “OATH”. At this point, I just wanted to bang my head against the wall, pass out and wait for this nightmare to pass. Again, maybe I should not have called him straightaway with this newly found information but I couldn’t wait. I confronted him. This time he sounded more calm, but sad, very very sad. He said he had been thinking about the call earlier and thought he didn’t treat me with any respect, and that he shouldn’t get upset. He told me the messages between his brother and him were a joke that he didn’t actually go. He apologised for hurting me regardless whether that was a joke or not. He insisted that he had not cheated on me and everything was a joke between him and the boys and that he couldn’t imagine things escalated this far. He then told me he understood if I wanted to leave him because he did hurt me, but that he loved me a lot and he would do anything to help me rebuild trust again. I said I needed to think and hung up.
Now I’m typing all this out on Reddit and asking strangers on the internet to help me shed light on this situation. Should I trust him just based on his words?? Did he actually cheat on me and try to cover this up?
TLDR: I think my boyfriend has cheated on me with a stripper on his work trip.

This will be my first time flying with a baby &I’m extremely anxious. We fly into LAX with only a 55min layover &then boarding an international flight to HND (Japan). Checking older posts it seems like gate checking our stroller is the popular option, but I’m afraid that I won’t have enough time to retrieve the stroller from the jetway then gate check it again on the connecting flight. Should I just check my stroller in &get it at baggage claim at my destination? I’m trying to avoid check-in because I’m afraid they’ll bang up/break the stroller. But I also don’t want to miss my flight because I’m waiting for the stroller to be brought up. We’ll be seated in Comfort + if that even makes a difference in how fast we’ll deplane.

First time poster on this subreddit. So if I make any mistakes or needs clarification, please let me know. I could use the support as I'm currently going through cognitive dissonance. I feel mentally drained and weak as I'm also recovering from a serious work injury on my left hand.
Also little did I know that such a beautiful woman like herself with sweetness could eventually turn into a completely different person. I suppose this is where she would be the reason why I give up on online relationships overall.
If you want to find out the real problems, **skip all the boring messages to paragraph 6.
To start off where I met this woman, I met her from a dating site last year on April 11th. I initiated the conversation with her as she had a friend here who helped with the translation. "Yayyy me," I thought thinking I was the lucky guy. Despite the huge language barrier, we managed to hit it off by using a legit site that translates our words privately by real professionals. And yes it gets expensive when it's $1.04 per 100 characters. But that didn't matter to me. Her happiness and positive emotions was what mattered to me. I admired the pictures of her even if she wasn't smiling. But her half-smile in these pictures lit her inner glow. We've tried using AI translator and it has caused confusion due to the wordings and grammar. Her intention was to come to the United States and settle in Chicago before be together and for our meeting in real life to be special. Alright that was a huge plus.
Her not being a social media person, we did not video chat or phone call to each other because we both agreed that the first meeting in real life would then not be the same. However we did record videos of ourselves, shared cool collection of gifs, and wished happy holidays. As I was learning her language I offered her to call me if she wanted emotional support because of the current issues she's experiencing in real situation. But of course she said she'd let me know. First few months I began to struggle to refill the money in the website as I got to take care of bills. I told her I needed one week to refill and my messages would be short. She said she understood my situation and said no matter how short sized the letters are as long as there is deep emotional connections.
**Fast forward to where I noticed the bad apples arise. It all started after arriving in the hospital due to a serious work injury on my left hand. I told her what happened to me. I told her the day I was going for my surgery and she sent me sad emojis on the site. The next day after my hand surgery and high on Anesthesia, I log into the site and she sends me this seemingly superficial message

Her: Of course, I'm glad we met a year ago, although to tell you the truth, I think our relationship is going through bad times at the moment, but I believe things will change for much better when we meet.
Me: I'm glad that we met a year ago too. I hope I understand what you're saying about our relationship. Although it would be nice if I knew why you think it's going through bad times at this moment.

I ended up bawling alone in the hospital bed as my self-confidence dwindled. Also not once did she call me. My family members that visited me asked if she called me. I replied "no" to that and they all were wondering what she is doing. Then I questioned myself if this is normal. And I gave the benefit of the doubt. Next day she replies:

I'm certainly aware of your financial problems, and I'm well aware of that. But I still attribute these problems not only to the size of the letters, but to depth and understanding in general.

Later as time progresses and discharged from the hospital on May 11th. I'm able to go home while still in recovery. 1 in a half weeks passes by. I login to send her a message and I ask her for clarification on what she meant by the message I quoted above. She flat out denied it by saying

In fact, I wasn't saying at the time that our relationship was going through hard times. I was saying it wasn't the best of times

I gave into what she said by thinking that there was an occasional translation problem on the site. Another week passes by where she sends me a selfie with no smile. I complimented her beauty and wished she smiled. Admittedly It was not the best choice of words I made because of how offended she was. So I apologized and made up to her and poured my heart out to her. This is what I said:

Honey, listen. There's something I need to say because realized I made a mistake. I wish to take everything back I said. I'm terribly sorry for the negativity I made about your picture as it was never meant to bring you down. I'll take the fall on that. I reread my letter and didn't add what I wanted to say. I wished that you smiled because when you do, it adds more glow to your face and it makes my heart flutter. Your smile also serves as a reminder in why I find you the best woman in my life. Like coffee, when I get up in the morning, I always look forward to starting my morning with you. And when the cup is empty, I miss you just like when we've exchanged messages telling each other how we truly felt as a distraction from your bad days. I understand and know that you are trying to look better with permanent crowns in which I'm really excited for you. I hope that the procedure all goes well. But know this, you don't need to have teeth when you smile. You can smile with cheek. But when you smile I hope that it's out of pure affection and that it's because you feel loved by this man. I know that you are upset with me and it's okay to vent it out with me if it helps you. I accept that things won't get better quick. However my desire for you to know that the only woman I've ever been in love with is with you since the beginning.

But then when she responded, the messages became superficial and not genuine. She said

I understand you about this situation, it's not an issue for me anymore and I'm just trying to move on. All I meant was that if I sent a picture without a smile, that doesn't mean I have to smile and you have to accept such a picture as it is. And it's the same if you send something or say something. Although you can, again, not accept it, that's your right. And there is no need to change my mind to start thinking otherwise. I thank you for your kind words anyway and it brings me joy. And your compliments are important to me

At this point, it really made me upset because I felt this whole time that she just didn't love me for who I am. It took me 1 day before gathering my thoughts before breaking it off. On May 31st, I send her a very lengthy message about how all I felt as mentioned in this post especially when she never called me in the hospital. I asked where she had been all this time, called out on her lie, etc.
After confronting her, I could tell she was very upset and there was some sincerity. But then she denied everything she did and victimizing herself and also acted like she had no clue. Not only that but after confronting again and telling her that I would no longer refill the money for the translation services, she went psycho on me and said that I declared war on her messages. She mocked me by saying "Oh, poor you" after telling her for the past 2 months that I felt no sense of love. Then labeled me a narcissist, a man who shows love, kindness, simplicity behind a mask in disguise. I felt this whole time she never knew who I was. In past abusive relationships, I've always questioned my own sanity. But she cut communication completely from me making me unable to write to her.
TL;DR The long distance relationship lasted for a full year. On May 31st I broke up with my Ukrainian gf and lost faith in the relationship because I felt she downplayed the situation after finding out I was in the hospital and lack of empathy and love. Need support

Hi,
In January of this year, while on a family vacation, my 2 year old fell while climbing into a dining chair and smacked the back of his head on the tile floor at breakfast. He threw up one time, which is not an abnormal pain response for him, but calmed down in a reasonable amount of time. No blood or loss of consciousness or altered disposition or crater in his head. It didnt seem to bother him after the initial impact so we went about our day as normal and he seemed fine. The next morning, he didn't really want to wake up and I could tell he had a fever. He was not un-rousable, just whiny and wanted to sleep like toddlers with fevers do and was hot to the touch. I didn't have a thermometer, obviously, so I don't know how high but I went to the gift shop and got him some tylenol. He slept for an hour or two while we packed up as we were leaving that day anyway. We thought he was coming down with something and went home. He perked up after the tylenol and extra sleep, ate breakfast and was his normal self all the way home and when we got home. The fever never returned and he didn't end up getting sick.
A few weeks later, my husband took him to get his hair cut and he had it shaved down pretty short. My baby had a pretty large bruise on his head that was the color of healing bruises, you know, yellow brownish. He must've hit his head harder than I thought.
A couple months ago, I woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat having drawn the connection from head injury to fever and now the anxiety and guilt of this injury is keeping me up nights. I can't believe I didn't immediately take him the the ER to have him checked out. I just didn't draw the connection and neither did the 2 other adults with me on the trip. I feel so bad and guilty and anxiety ridden about this.
So, doctors, is there any point in having this 6 month old head injury addressed now with his pediatrician? Like, he's fine and normally developing so far, but also i feel like a POS mom because I missed that. Im scared that there may be some latent complication of some kind because i didnt have in a addressed right away. I should've taken him in. The pediatrician is either going to look at me like I'm a crazy person because it was so long ago orr berate me for not making the connection, or both. But if there's something that needs to be done about it now I'll take him to be seen. I don't know what to do, I feel awful.

5 years had past since the formation of the New Republic and the SkywalkeKenobi Academy, a new Squadron had been formed with the veteran General Hera Syndulla leading the very vessel they had become a part of. This group was known as the New Republic Rangers. This force had composed of ground troops, pilots, and others with exceptional skills. Leading this group in Syndylla's absence were Carson Teva, and Cara Dune. Hera trusted this team not only because of their reputations, but also due to her personal accounts of their advisor, Zeb Orrelios.
When the Jedi had arrived, the new Republic soldiers stood at attention in respect for the Grandmaster who saved the galaxy from the Imperial regime. Luke reunited with his old friend Wedge Antilles, X2 reunited with Grey Squadron and his wife Shara, Ezra reunited with Zeb and met the new team as well as Hera, who embraced him along with the still-so-devious astromech droid Chopper. The 3 Ghost crew members almost teared up when they found out Ezra and Sabine married.
Hera: [Through tears of joy] Ezra, Sabine, I'm... I'm... so proud of you both. I had a feeling this would happen.
Zeb: I'm proud of you too, kid. You two have grown up so much. Bet you didn't miss this bucket of bolts.
Chopper gave his version of a nudge to the Lasat and the old friends and Bridger couple said their goodbyes as they moved to their military posts.
Back at the Temple, Rex and Ahsoka had been teaching their son, Anakin Tano many aspects of their expertise, but this particular lesson was from his father who had realized that his age caught up with him.
Rex: Son, Your mother and I served with your namesake for years, and You have been made aware of my aging. This won't happen to you, but I have things I wish to leave behind. The shrine has been entrusted to Luke's apprentice, but my armor, when you get old enough, as well as my blasters will be yours. Add my helmet to the shrine, give it to Grey. Learn the ways of the Force, like your mother, and her master before you. My mission is over. Continue with yours, and protect all that you love.
With those words, the mother and son embraced in grief. With a heavy heart, Anakin tried to bring himself to give his father's helmet to the Grandmaster's padawan.
Grey: Hello, little guy. What's your name?
Anakin: My name is Anakin Tano. My father told me to give you this.
X2 had then realized who his father and mother were. He then took the helmet and remembered what to do with it. He then asked the child if he wanted to accompany him.
Grey: Do you want to see what your father had referred to?
Anakin: Sure. What is it he wanted to put his helmet for?
Grey: Your father told you of the adventures he had with your mother?
Anakin: Yes.
Grey: After the Clone Wars ended, Your father started collecting helmets of fallen brothers, essentially your millions of uncles, who he was close with. He wanted his helmet on this shrine so he could continue being with them, in spirit.
Anakin: So my father has now joined my uncles in the Force?
Grey: Yes. Like your mother and many Jedi like her believe. When we see the shrine, you can ask anyone who knew your uncles about them, any time you like.
Anakin: Thank you. For everything.
Back at the Temple, Cal Kestis had been teaching the younglings Luke's 3 forms of combat. Form 8 included the use of a primary lightsaber and shoto secondary as needed much like Niman. Luke had been training in this style after making his red shoto from Ahsoka. Form 9 included the use of saber staves, crossguard sabers, and heavy strikes. Ben Solo had been training in this form as his base for when he would create a suitable saber in the future. Form 10 included using the lightsaber as a offensive shield in tandem with a blaster. Kata Akuna, Jacen Syndulla, and Ezra Bridger were the beat students with this form, since Kata saw her father use this form, and Ezra's first blade merged the two types of weapons. As the younglings and older students continued practicing, Kestis had begun having a vision.
Figure: Your family is unprotected. Only your hatred can keep them safe. The Dark Side that you have tasted before has been your savior time and time again. There is much to learn. All you need to do is embrace it! Remember those you've lost, your masters, your best friend, the Jedi Order. Give yourself to it!!
As Cal jolted out of the vision, Merrin came rushing over to comfort the Jedi Battlemaster.
When Luke and the other Jedi returned, he began to organize a meeting of the most powerful and wisest Jedi. Ahsoka, Starkiller, Luke, Cal, and Quinlan Vos had met in a round holotable that was reminiscent of the rebel base. X2, Merrin, and Jacen Syndulla kept watch over the rest of the youngling's training.
Luke: Thank you all for attending this inaugural meeting of the Jedi Council.
Quinlan: I never sat on the council of old before, feels a little weird sitting on one now.
Ahsoka: This is a first for me as well. I remember my master and Master Kenobi being on the council, but I never got the chance.
Luke: We are the wisest that remain of the Jedi, hence why I had chosen you all to serve on the council. Those from the order of old for advisory roles, some who are powerful in many aspects, and those who are willing to provide insight to how the Jedi can be reformed?
Cal: Reformed how exactly?
Luke: Master Kestis, what was the rule on attachment in the order of old?
Cal: That it was forbidden. When I was on Jeddha, I realized that I couldn't let it hold me back. I allowed myself to love unconditionally and now I have not only the child I adopted, but my own with my wife.
Ahsoka: I also had a husband after the battle of Endor, my son and I recently lost him to his accelerated aging.
Quinlan: You had a kid with a clone?
Ahsoka: Remember Captain Rex?
Quinlan: Skywalker's clone leader? Yes. Oh, oh, ooooohhhh.
Starkiller: I also married a pilot. She has been by my side, and we have two children.
Cal: How many of us are there supposed to be, if you don't mind me asking?
Luke: We would start with 6.
Starkiller: There's 5 of us here.
Luke: I understand. We were hoping to put allowing Ezra Bridger to the council.
Ahsoka: I believe that he would make an excellent addition to the council. He has a great tie to our Mandalorian Allies, being married to one.
Starkiller: His combat prowess has not changed since he was lost for years.
Quinlan: Alright. We survived the Empire due to our bending of the rules of the old Jedi Code. This can be more my speed.
Luke: Let's bring the decision to a vote. Those in favor of appointing Ezra Bridger to this council?
Ahsoka: Aye.
Starkiller: Aye.
Luke: Aye. Opposed?
Cal: Nay.
Quinlan: Nay.
Luke: Very well. Majority has decided to welcome Ezra Bridger to the council. Motion passed.
Quinlan: Alright. Guess we can throw away the old code.
Luke: All part of reformation, Master Vos.
Cal: I understand that my family and I have been away from the galaxy for quite some time. We can learn from him as well he learns from us.
Luke: Excellent, everyone. Council adjourned.
As Ezra arrived to the council chambers in his beskar armor, he had seen 3 familiar faces which only comforted him slightly.
Ezra: Council, you have requested my presence here.
Luke: Yes, Bridger. You know Ahsoka Tano, Galen Marek, but allow me to introduce Master Quinlan Vos, and Battlemaster Cal Kestis.
Ezra: A pleasure to meet you both.
Quinlan: Likewise.
Ahsoka: You have been brought before us due to your wisdom and ties to Mandalore, as well as your ability to maintain your dedication to the light.
Starkiller: Your confidence under pressure is commendable and your composure is inspiring for the other students.
Ezra: I understand.
Luke: We invite you to join this council and we grant you the rank of Master.
Ezra was shocked to hear this news from Luke, especially when he knew he had yet to train someone to use the Force.
Ezra: Thank you for this invitation, but I have yet to be a teacher.
Ahsoka: Kanan taught you really well. You have a great ability to bond with others.
Ezra: I see. I accept the seat on the Jedi Council.
As Ezra took his seat, the remaining Jedi had begun thinking of who to train out of the students they have.
Luke: Out of our oldest students here, it seems that even though most of them are our own children, they may need to learn to have different teachers other than parents.
Cal: What about allowing attachment in the Order?
Luke: Attachment can be good, if the attachments are healthy. Some separation can be good for some of the students.
Quinlan: Like how the Jedi of old used to do?
Luke: No, Master Vos. Most of the attachments already formed have been between some Jedi and their children.
Ahsoka: We can discuss this in another meeting.
Starkiller: She's right. Let's move on.
Luke: Thank you, Master Marek. Since I already have a padawan, we have 5 students that need a teacher.
Cal: 4. Kata Akuna is well trained enough by my wife in basic combat tactics, but since her father was a Jedi, I feel it's my duty to train her in the Force and lightsaber techniques. We have been Way from the galaxy for quite some time, and I don't want to overwhelm her with so much at once.
Luke: I see. We can remove her from the list. First, we must discuss who is to train Satine Kenobi Kryze.
Ezra: I will train her.
Luke: What case do you make for the daughter of my Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Ezra: She is also the daughter of Bo-Katan Kryze, leader of Mandalore. With my ties to Mandalore and wisdom previously mentioned by Master Tano, she can learn to marry the ways of the Jedi and the ways of Mandalore in a healthy and coherent way.
Luke: Master Tano, any opposing statements?
Ahsoka: No, Grandmaster. Ezra's connections to Mandalore run deeper than mine.
Luke: It's settled then. Satine Kryze will be trained by Master Ezra Bridger. Next, we have Jacen Syndulla-Dume.
Ahsoka: I will train him.
Luke: What case do you make for young Syndulla-Dume?
Ahsoka: He is the grandson of a famous freedom fighter named Cham Syndulla. Like his grandfather and mother before him, he will be one of the greatest heroes in the galaxy.
Luke: Any opposing statements?
The room had looked around for any opposition to the scenario at hand, with nothing but silence.
Luke: Very well. Master Ahsoka Tano will take Jacen Syndulla-Dume as her apprentice. Master Marek, Master Vos, would you like to teach a student?
Quinlan: I've had enough adventure for a lifetime. I'll keep the records and preserve what Jocasta Nu had attempted to maintain. She had sent many pieces of information through The Path, hopefully most of it was preserved.
Cal: I actually have some left from a holdout on Jeddha that Vader burnt to the ground a few years back.
Starkiller: I believe that in order for me to be a teacher, my personal demons must be conquered first.
Luke: We respect your decision.
As the council adjourned on Yavin 4, another Force-sensitive being has been imprisoned by a group of pirates on Nevarro. As he used his cradle pod to hide from the danger, he had heard blaster fire in the distance. A bounty hunter clad in Mandalorian style armor, by the name of Din Djarin, and a long forgotten IG assassin droid, IG-11, had eliminated the pirates guarding their bounty. The droid had orders to execute the child, but the Mandalorian had orders to bring it to a client who would pay rather handsomely for the job. After the droid fell to a blaster shot to the chest, The beskar clad hunter brought the pod to the Empire. When the hunter got there, he was paid in beskar stamped with the Imperial seal. When the hunter took his payment, he began to feel a weight slowly growing heavier on his shoulders.
After the mandalorian got paid in beskar, he returned to the undercity lair of the Armourer to Forge the pieces he needed.
Armourer: How much do you have for me?
Djarin: How much will this do?
Armorer: Whatever work you found paid you handsomely. I'll send for you when it is ready.
Djarin: Thank you.
Armourer: This is the way.
Djarin: This is the way.
As the two separated, Djarin had collected his single shot disintegrator rifle and IB-94 pistol and began to plan on rescuing the child. When he got a message from his contractor, it was to meet him at the cantina, but he made another stop to the Armourer to inspect his new armor. When he arrived there was a new complete set of armor from the shoulders down.
Armourer: You have brought a great amount to work with. What do you plan to do?
Djarin: Correct a mistake. One that if left as is, will besmirch my honor.
Armourer: This is The Way.
Djarin: This is The Way.
When Djarin arrived at the cantina, the room began to quiet down in astonishment and intimidation. The baskar clad hunter then met with the contractor, Greef Karga. To discuss the job that had gone down.
Greef: Wow, Mando. I take it the client paid you well. All that armor definitely doesn't come cheap.
Djarin: The payout was a handsome one, but I've made a mistake, one I must correct before my honor is worthless.
Greef: Why? Who was your client?
Djarin: The beskar that the client paid me with had Imperial symbols on it.
Greef: Isn't the Empire gone? What would they need- We shouldn't even ask those questions, cause that's not our job.
Djarin: I'm getting him back. This is The Way.
Karga thought that Djarin had gone crazy taking on the Empire. He then kept his head down and put away the bounty puck, saving it for another hunter who wasn't as susceptible to any hokey religions and ancient weapons, as a smuggler turned Alliance hero once said, but only susceptible to credits.
In the New Republic, Generals Solo and Syndulla had sat down discussing some military tactics for defending the new territories and liberating others, and even giving her a piece of information that he could no longer bear his portion of.
Hera: I heard that you joined us moments before Yavin and rescued the Princess of Alderaan. Your kid is studying alongside mine at Skywalker's temple.
Han: Yeah. As much as I tried with her, eventually I succeeded, little did I know that the family drama would be mine to carry along with the Skywalker twins.
Hera: The princess isn't a Skywalker.
Han: She is. Luke is her brother. I'm the only one besides Chewie, Ahsoka, and those ghosts he sometimes talks to.
Hera: Her position in the senate will be up for grabs if that information gets out.
Han: Then you will keep that secret just as I have, that Chewie and Ahsoka have, before she loses potential power in the Senate. Anyways, have we found any more Imperials?
As the conversation continued, Sabine had begun talking to Zeb about joining the team of New Republic Rangers.
Sabine: Hey, Zeb! You got an extra spot on the team?
Zeb: Sabine! Glad to see ya. Well, it ain't me you gotta talk to Marshal Dune over there. From the looks of it, we're fixing to load up. Talk to her when we get back. I'll put in a good word for ya.
Sabine: Thanks Zeb! Tell her I'm great with explosives!
She told the Lasat the last part as the ships roared to life and then as the Lasat gave her a thumbs up, a quick goodbye before they left for the mission.
On the ship, Colonel Kallus had begun talking with Hera about the plan involving the Rangers encountering an Imperial presence on Kashyyyk.
Kallus: General. What are these reports of a couple Jedi joining our group to our mission?
Hera: Since the Jedi have agreed to serve the New Republic on occasional missions, they can decide to help us or not. 2 of them have decided to help us.
Kallus: Can they be trusted? Last time the Jedi helped the Republic of old, they were massacred by the clones who were the first troops of the Empire.
Hera: I have complete faith in these Jedi. My son is one of them. Has your trip to reinvigorate the Lasat population been for naught?
Kallus: No, General. I am just airing on the side of caution. While continuing to do so, I request that I join the ground assault so I can see for myself that these Jedi can be trusted and serve as servants of the Galaxy, not just us.
Hera: Granted, Colonel. These Jedi know the planet a d will be your best bet in navigating the environment and the wookiees.
Kallus: What makes them such experts?
Hera: They were born on the planet.
As Kallus continued to don his armor, blaster, and join Dune and her forces, he began imagining two wookiee jedi, something he thought was both absurd and frightening. When he got to the hangar bay, he was met by half of his expectations.
Kallus: You two must be the Jedi accompanying us I heard so much about.
Starkiller: We are, Colonel. I am Master Marek, and this is Jedi Knight Gungi.
Gungi roared a greeting to the Former Imperial agent turned Rebel Colonel.
Kallus: You two were born on Kashyyyk?
Starkiller: Yes. Gungi you expected since he was a youngling during the Clone Wars, but my parents hid on the world and had me, until they were killed by Vader. Vader took me as his own, trained me to be his weapon, and when the Rebel Alliance was formed, they used my family crest.
Kallus was shocked to hear this information and immediately cast whatever doubt he had aside and introduced the Jedi to the rest of the team of Rangers.
In orbit above Kashyyyk, Lord Cain had been discussing a battle plan with Thrawn, hoping to keep the wookiees in chains for his cloning experiments.
Thrawn: My Emperor, We have detected a rebel fleet that has just exited hyperspace. I suggest that we send the Imperial Army troopers, with the stormtroopers in reserve.
Cain: We have enough power with the garrisons of stormtroopers coming in to relieve the last one. The army troopers are ineffective with maintaining their loyalty to the Empire.
Thrawn: With all due respect, my lord, The wookiees would believe that they would be calmer if they see human faces help them, or they would see any human face as an enemy and attack any other humans on sight.
Cain: So that's your play? Excellent idea. Send the Army troops to maintain the security of the labs and have the stormtroopers guard everywhere else.
Thrawn: At once, my lord.
Cain: My apprentice, once all the necessary vessels are left to join the battle, you must board another destroyer, so the New Republic dogs think they destroyed a command vessel. If Skywalker is not with them, You will engage the less powerful if there are more. If Maul's forces arrive, deal with the silver skinned slimo.
Lumiya: Yes, my master.
Back on Dathomir, Maul and his apprentice have been meditating on Sith teachings until Maul sensed something stirring within his apprentice.
Maul: You have slowed down your rate of study. What is troubling you?
Relicta: It's that Jedi. The one who looked like the one we killed when he tried to hunt us. When I fought him on Mandalore, he said that he and the one we fought were clones of him.
Maul: Since the one you executed wielded red blades, and the one you've encountered on Mandalore had blue blades, what he has told you is true. Vader and my late former master killed him above Naboo, when their first superweapon was under construction.
Relicta: He still has to die. I will not gain certain closure for as long as he lives.
Maul: Then the decision to hunt him down will be solely placed in your hands. Take a ship and find him, if you must. We have an army to maintain and no assured method of recruitment.
Relicta: Yes, Master.
After meditating on her decision to find Starkiller, she finally made the choice and began planning on turning many Imperial troops into her own.
As the Rangers touched down along with the Rogue Shadow, they were greeted by the hiding wookiee chieftain flanked by 3 of his guards. As Gungi communicated with them about the situation, Marek translated for the group.
In the labs, the Imperial army troopers had been watching the wookiees get poked and prodded when a couple had seen a robed figure just vanish. As the soldiers pursued the figure, Relicta knew her plan was working, she was going to lure each soldier away from their posts to defect to her side. As every Army soldier continued to maintain their post, they knew their loyalties were no longer with the Empire.
Back on Nevarro, Djarin had returned to the client with intent to kill. When the 4 stormtroopers guarding him raised their blasters, he drew his pistol and aimed his free arm at another.
Stormtrooper: There's 4 of us. No way you walk put of here alive.
Djarin: I like those odds.
As the client was frozen in fear, he saw 2 blasts bounce off the armor as the hunter fired his pistol into one trooper, and the whistle rockets from his gauntlet fired in multiple directions killing the rest, sending the client running until Djarin fired a shot into the back of his head.
As the child cooed after opening the pram canopy, the beskar clad warrior tried to assure the infant that they were safe.
Djarin: Don't worry. I'll bring you back to your kind. You can trust me.
When the beskar clad warrior returned to his ship, he made sure that the pram was protected and prepared for more Imperial Forces.
As the Rangers, Kallus, Starkiller, and Gungi arrived at the Imperial base, the former ISB Agent saw a long highway leading up to the labs, much like the Imperial checkpoint on Lothal.
In the labs, Relicta finished her work moving the army troopers to position themselves ready to attack the stormtroopers. As she evacuated the labs, she contacted her master and began hunting the Jedi that were going to rescue the wookiees.
Relicta: Master, I have increased our odds against the Empire and I'm about to destroy the Jedi.
Maul: Excellent. Happy Hunting. When you destroy the Jedi, meet me on Oba Diah. We have an old alliance to rekindle.
As the female Zabrak ordered the Imperial army troops to fight against the stormtroopers, the New Republic squad and wookiee liberators joined in the battle and fought both sides. Kallus had ordered the troops and the chieftain to surround the lab entrance while the Jedi attempted to hunt whoever made the confusing move of turning the army against the stormtroopers.
Kallus: Where are you going, Marek?
Starkiller: Gungi and I are hunting whoever forced these army troops against the stormtroopers. Call Juno if you need any air support.
Kallus: Thank you, Master Jedi! Rogue Shadow, this is Colonel Kallus, we need you to lead an airstrike against any Imperial support that my come to reinforce the labs!
Juno: On my way, Colonel! I'll evacuate the prisoners if I have no other orders.
Kallus: Duly noted, Captain!
As Gungi and Starkiller found a cloaked figure, Gungi leapt in for a strike, but as the figure teleported away, Gungi was severely wounded with a stab to his ribcage, incapacitating the wookiee.
Relicta: I know who you are, Jedi. You don't fool me for a second.
Starkiller: A clone of the one you seek, yes.
Relicta: No! You are the one who took my masters away from me!!
Starkiller: You claimed to have fought and killed me, until you saw me on Mandalore.
Relicta: You will still die for Felucia!!
Starkiller then remembered what Kota told him about his vision of this woman was. As he steeled himself for a fight against the girl that his progenitor go and activated his two sapphire blades.
Gungi was crawling away to heal his wounds and as he saw the other Jedi Master fight with such raw potential compared to the Lady of the Sith. As Relicta threw her sabers after cloaking, Starkiller then balled himself up for a lightning infused Force repulse. As the energy blasted out of the Clone, Relicta had felt her robes be singed while she was thrown back against a tree. Starkiller then saw the figure disappear again and activated his unleashed state, sending Force lightning to his sabers. As Maris attempted to block each strike that looked like a blurr to anyone unable to touch the Force, but as Maris's arms continued to be singed, her defenses fell and Starkiller delivered a saber slam infused with Force lightning, further crimping her silver skin.
As Relicta used the last of her anger, what brushed it away was the last words that she may have heard from the Jedi.
Starkiller: You should've listened to me on Felucia years ago, Maris.
Relicta: That name is dead!
Starkiller: Your misery will end, Brood.
Relicta: I have a son! You can't make him an orphan!
Starkiller realized that since she was a mother, he had to reassure her that he won't come for her family.
Starkiller: I know what it is like to care for others like a family. They will be spared if they mean that much to you.
As Starkiller stepped closer to the fear-stricken zabrak, Relicta realized that she would join her former masters soon. Starkiller spun his right blade and stabbed her heart with a reverse grip, and stabbed her trachea with the left blade. The Marek clone then tended to Gungi and made their way back to the victorious alliance.
Aboard the Razor Crest, Djarin had begun searching for answers as to where the child he had in his care belonged. When he landed on Tatooine, he landed in a city where another job was about to take place that required multiple members. One member was a former Imperial Marksman by the name of Migs Mayfeld, and the others were a rather legendary pair; one was a Gand bounty hunter with a very keen talent for psychometry named Zuckuss, and a protocol droid like partner in crime by the designation 4-LOM.
Their job entailed taking some highly classified Imperial information that was about to be declassified aboard a star destroyer above Kuat. The veteran pair were very eager to get the job done efficiently and quickly. The other two, who had less experience were very dubious about what the intel was and who should possess it.
Mayfeld: So, Mando. You ever met those two?
Djarin: No. I haven't heard if them.
Mayfeld: My former CO told me that they wre tasked by Darth Vader to find a Corellian Freighter containing rebel officers and leadership. I never liked bounty hunters, but it's better than The Empire I can say that much.
Djarin: What do you plan to do once we get the information?
Mayfeld: From what I understood from those two, they're the kind to kill any partners to grow their share. How about we turn the tables on them, you and me? Huh?
Djarin: If those two are as legendary and skilled as you say they are, killing them would serve a tactical advantage and a good monetary step up in this line of work.
Mayfeld: Good. Thanks. We'll be rich and famous, well, infamous, for taking down those two.
When Mayfeld entered an Imperial encryption that checked out the crew entered the decommissioned destroyer and extracted the information needed from two different sections of computers. 4-LOM and Zuckuss had one half of the intel and Djarin held onto the other. As their clocks ran down, Mayfeld saw information about Operation Cinder and found that his CO was a field officer in the near destruction of his post on Burnin Konn.
As the bounty hunter crew split into two pairs and eventually spread themselves out, they were on the hunt to eliminate those they believed to be loose ends. Throughout the vacant destroyer, Djarin had used his cycler rifle to move from cover to cover as he searched for the droid. Mayfeld drew his DT-12 pistols and SE-14r pistol on the hunt for the gas breathing insectoid hunter.
Aboard the Razor Crest, The child had grown worried that he was left on his own, but remembered everything he had experienced during the purge almost 30 years ago.
As Zuckuss had turned a corner near the reactor room, Mayfeld had found the perfect shot with his trio of pistols, but a slip of one of his legs let out a screech causing Mayfeld to fire on the hunter, landing 3 precise shots to his right eye, heart, and his left thigh. A stray blast from Zuckuss's blaster left a hile through the rafters of the room as Mayfeld let himself fall to the walkways and make his way to take Zuckuss's information.
As 4-LOM continued to hunt one of the lesser hunters, he slowly began turning his head to see Beskar through a corner slot before seeing the cycler round fire through the corners of the halls, missing the droid's head, causing the droid to slowly approach approach him, blasting with the DLT-19 he had stolen from an Imperial outpost on Mimban.
Djarin knew that he had time to load another shot, and as he flanked the slow moving droid, he snuck around behind him and used another cycler round to the back of the hunter's head. As the brain-like head flew off the body, the protocol droid body collapsed forward, and Djarin switched to his pistol as he thought he had to fight his way back to his ship. When he saw his ship in the hangar, he tried contacting Mayfeld about his location.
Djarin: Mayfeld? Where are you?
Mayfeld: I'm not going with you. I'm taking a TIE to the rendezvous point. Meet me back at Mos Pelgo so we can get our credits.
Djarin: Fine. I'll meet you there.
As the two landed in different ports on Tatooine, they returned to their contractor, Ranzar Malk, they were each paid 32,570 credits, due to 4-LOM and Zuckuss perishing on the job.
When the Mandalorian and Former Imperial parted ways, Djarin had continued his quest to find the child's kind.
On Dathomir, Maul had recently learned that his apprentice perished on Kashyyyk, but her passing had a massive effect on his ability to maintain his own Sith Triumvirate. He had recently taken another apprentice in case Relicta decided that the way of the Sith was no longer important to her.
Maul: As you can feel, my new apprentice, Lady Relicta has been destroyed by the Jedi. Even though both of us had agreed to train you, it seems that you will learn the traditional ways of the Sith. This begins another chapter, Lady... Talon.
Talon: Yes, my master. We will conquer our enemies and usurp galactic power on a massive scale.
End of Part 13

Hi! I'm at the hospital right now, got admitted last night. I've had multiple trips to emergency over the past month to be treated for a migraine, but this time they got someone from neurology to see me. After a whole bunch of questions, they explained CSF leaks and decided to admit me so they'd be able to test for it. Today I had an MRI that showed that my brain is indeed sagging, quite clearly, but they're not sure what they should do about it. Apparently it's very rare for people under 18 to have leaks, unless they have some kind of connective tissue disorder, and I'm not diagnosed with any. Like, the dr I saw, who was a so-called world renowned headache specialist, had never seen a CSF leak in anyone even close to my age. The children's hospital I'm at doesn't even do the thing where they put dye in the spine to find the location of the leak, because they've probably never needed to do it. So, right now the drs are trying to decide what they should do, because there isn't much information on pediatric csf leaks. I'm quite scared to get a blood patch, but the almost a month of mostly bed rest hasn't helped. They're deciding if they should try a blood patch or wait longer, continuing the "conservative" treatment, AKA lay down all the time and drink lots of water. Also they're giving me syringes of just like, straight caffeine twice a day lol, it tastes so bad.. But it does help the headache, so I suppose it's worth the horrible vomit aftertaste.
Anyways, do you guys have any resources or suggestions? Maybe even just things to do while laying down? I'm very bored.. And worried that I'll never feel better, and also I miss my cat. I feel lost, honestly. Also, my IV hurts my arm and I can't sleep because the machine is too loud.. And I'm hungry but can't eat just in case they decide to do the blood patch tomorrow. Overall feeling miserable.
Advice..? Thanks!