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“MOM!” I screamed till my lungs held no air and my throat bled, I raced across the field and grasped the sheet metal roof with my entire palm, cutting my flesh and shredding my skin against the hot sharp edges. I pulled with all my might, raising the roof barely an inch before I collapsed in tears and reached for my moms hand. Her eyes were cloudy and tears ran down her face. “Its ok my son, its all gonna be ok, you need to find your father now” I nodded and wrapped my arms around her head “Ill be right back mama, dad can get this off of you, im sure of it” A jeep raced by and stopped with a screech as the tires left small skids along the tarmac, the base captain stood up from the drivers seat and screamed to me “Lets go! We gotta get you outta here” I leapt into the back sat and clung to the pole, standing atop the back seat as the captain slammed his foot against the pedal and raced across the runway. “No good on the escape cap, I gotta get my dad, my moms trapped under the barracks” He looked back at me for a second and I looked down to him, my hair flowing in the wind and sweat pouring down, mixing with the blood that ran down my cheek. “Good god kid how are you even standing right now?” I veered and scanned the horizon, my eyes falling upon a set of distant lights dancing across the sky. I pointed up to the darker of the two massive vehicles that were locked in mid air combat “Up there, thats dads machine, whos he fighting?” The base captain looked up and leaned forward squinting his eyes and falling silent as he did. He stopped the jeep and sat there, mouth open, eyes glued to the sky. I shook him and repeated the question. “Yo, theres no time for this, who is that?” The captain shook his head and spoke calmly “Theres plenty of time kid, none of us are surviving this…here” He reached down and grabbed a folder from the passenger glovebox, the wind flipping the top as he handed me the bundle of papers. I flipped through until I recognized a file photo. It was almost the exact same design as my fathers machine, the most powerful in the world, but it was darker, and there had been a skull painted on the visor of the mechs gigantic head. It held a long flat edged blade and from the look of the picture, it was taken only seconds before the gory demise of whoever took it. “So the reapers made his way to american shores. So what? This changes nothing. Dad can take him” I leapt out of the jeep and made a beeline for the nearest hangar as the captain shouted from behind me “Hey kid! Get back here, what the hell do you think youre doing?” I barreled into the hangar doors, taking no time to feel the pain my shoulder was now in from having smacked the thick metal door. I wrenched with all my might and threw open the rolling entrance shutter. The lights flickered on as the eyes of my own machine stared back at me, offline and still in desparate need of repair “Im getting in, no time for chitchat captain I need you to give me startup” He shook his head as he leapt out of the jeep and walked toward me “Youre only 11, getting in that machine could kill you, or worse it could actually start up and become a big ass metal coffin. Do you think your parents would want that?” I spoke under my breath for a moment “Better a metal coffin covered in weapons then a wooden one covered in bullshit” He huffed at me “God where do you get this nerve…Oh wait…right…son of the admiral…Alright screw it, were dead either way, get up in the cockpit” I smiled at him and pulled myself into the chest high compartment, sitting in the seat and buckling the main cross belt. “Strapped in captain, starting sequence, can you disconnect me?” He nodded and sprinted around the back of the machines tall legs, pulling the various diagnostic cables and wrenching the stilts from its knees. I looked at the gaff tape I had put inside, following the sequence I had mapped out when i first got the machine, switching the core on and letting the fans spin up. The captain yelled over the noise as the machine whirred to life and stood up. I heard his voice come through the internal speakers “Damn, guess your repairs actually got somewhere. Listen, your internal batteries only good for about 15 minutes, get your mom and then swing back here, if you want any semblance of a chance then youre gonna need a rechar-” I pushed the gears forward and exploded out of the hangar, banking right and hitting the air brakes. The machine flipped forward and threw the wings into gear, sending me rocketing across the tarmac, now 100 tons heavier and 2000 times stronger. I slid to a stop next to my home barracks and knelt down, letting the scanners pinpoint my mother and allowing the hydraulics ample time to adjust before gently grabbing the roof of the building, and pulling up slowly. The captains jeep screeched to a halt next to me as he raced from the car and knelt down beside my mother. He inspected her body for a moment before falling to his knees entirely. I threw the roof and opened the hatchway, launching out of the cockpit and hitting the ground hard next to them. “Shes ok right?” The captain shook his head and put his hand on my shoulder, the smoke stung my eyes as the various fires filled the air with toxic fumes. “There wouldnt have been anything to do, she took too much force from the collapse, im sorry” I shook my head as tears flowed from my eyes “Shes just fucking with us. Mom! Wake up! Youre funny like this but nows not the time weve gotta go and help dad” I shook her shoulders, first gently, then more forcefully as I tried to wake her. I flipped her and her glossy lifeless eyes stared at the sky, still crying. “Shes gone kid, im so sorry” I let out a sob as I knelt down and put my head on her chest “Its not your fault, its mine, I shouldnt have left her, we should have never been attacked” He put a hand on my shoulder and gently rubbed my back “I should have been more aware, im the captain here, its my job to be aware” I rose and gently put my palm over her eyes, closing them with my hand and taking a deep breath through stifled sobs. “You do your best, all the time, its why we respect you. I need you to watch after my mom now, I need to go help dad make sure this doesnt happen to anyone else” He stood up and put his hands up, pushing me back softly and speaking in a low tone “No way kid, you need to grieve, i cant let you back in there in the condition youre in, Ill pilot, or ill call reinforcements, youll be no match” I smiled and moved past him “Id rather bite it in the sky with my dad then sit here and stare at my mom, I cant idle captain” He nodded and bit his lip in thought “Ok…ok…then maybe I can help better. Here, face me” I turned toward him and took a deep breath “We dont have time for this man come o-” He yelled “Face me soldier” I turned fully and stood at attention, my face inquisitive “Ok, ok, what” He brought his hand up to his torso “Ensign Rath, repeat after me and follow suit” I brought my hand up to my own torso and made a fist just as he did “Yes sir” He smiled wide and spoke with authority “I, Ensign Rath” I nodded and repeated “I Ensign Rath” “Accept the rank of Lieutenant O3” I smiled wide and nodded “Accept the rank of Lieutenant O3” He nodded and continued “And vow to use the weapons this rank has been assigned to take on the greatest of threats” The plan clicked in my mind and I continued to follow suit “And vow to use the weapons this rank has been assigned to take on the greatest of threats” As I finished he saluted me and spoke solemnly “It is with great honor and harrowing guilt that I now present you the rank of Lieutenant O3 in the united states naval defense office. I present you with temporary access to the associated weapons in upgrades, and I now release you into the arms of whichever god you so worship, Suit up, and fight like the warrior spirits that have fallen before you” I shook his hand and nodded, feeling pride replace my guilt as I saluted and turned toward my machine. I leapt into the cockpit and stood tall, the captains voice came over my internal speaker “Im heading to valhalla, Hit the skies and get in the fight, ill send a support pack in 2 minutes with 2 hours of extended run time and all the other things youll need to throw down alongside your father. This bases continued operation now relies on the two of you, I know youve had limited training, and some of the controls might even be too far for you to operate properly, but youre a warrior now” I took off into the air, engaging my thrusters and cutting through the clouds like a fiery razor. As rain hit my screen and the distant clap of thunder rolled through, I scanned the surroundings for my father and his machine. I didnt have to look long till he barreled into me while recovering from a glancing blow. “RATH WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING UP HERE” My fathers booming voice shook my brain and rattled my core “Im here to support” He raised his shield and deflected another swing from the reaper, filling the sky with sparks as the flat blade cut across his defense “Get out of here now, where is your mother?” I fell silent as he grabbed my machine with his own and jetted away “Rath! Answer me, why isnt she watc-” I heard him realize, I could feel his heart sink as we stopped in the midst of an anvil cloud, and i could barely see his form in front of me. When a pilot takes his hands off the controls, the machine typically centers its arms to avoid unintended movement, and I could only see the silhouette of his wings as a deep breath came over my intercom “Im so sorry my son, I should have been down there” I shook my head and spoke softly “Then wed all be dead pops, just like the captain you were doing your job as best as you could. Weve got all the time in the world to mourn later, but right now weve gotta make sure this bastard cant pave the way for his friends” I felt the support pack collide with my machine and the cockpit lit up bright as I watched my uptime increase “You make a fair point son, alright, normally id tell you to hit the ground but today I suppose we'll make an exception. Did you receive proper clearance?” The packs armor crawled along my frame and locked in, covering the various dents and scrapes that had been so characteristic of my mech. The improved wings swung into place and I heard the lift fans spin to max. I moved my throttles forward and emerged from the cloud, the full shroud of my machine now dispersed and the new world open to me. “0-3 lieutenant Rath reporting for duty sir, happy to serve alongside you” He spoke calmly “Congratulations my son, your mother would be beyond proud” I reached behind me and remove the tall mace that came standard with almost all lieutenant support packages, but as the flat bulky blade came into view, I noticed a strange sigil on the shielding of the weapon. “Hey dad, any clue what this thing is?” I turned the mace toward him and he flew close “A gift from your mother, you werent supposed to see it for several years but it seems she finished it early. It was a sort of bug that used to be all over the place around here…called a butterfly. You loved them as a baby” I nodded and smiled “Ok, I wanna use this gift for a long time, you think we can beat this guy?” He huffed “Me and you? Were gonna turn him into a monument and stick his armor on display for the world to see” The sky split with lightning as the reaper crossed our paths and came to a stop just a few hundred yards away. As his machines deadly red eyes glowed antithesis to the bright morning sky, a foreign voice filled my cockpit. It held a thick baltic accent, and I knew it could only belong to one man. “You armor is shiny, new, you are young, inexperienced. I let you live, you escape, you till your friends, I kill you later, once you make others fear me” When I had built my machine, I had done so from scratch. I had added and removed things I felt would make me stronger then others, and while I was no heavier due to improved armor, I had still clocked in as the fastest machine in history. The rotors in my arms couldnt survive more then a few hits, the joints in my wrist werent durable enough to deliver full power trikes, but the engines that drove me could surpass all known aircraft and every recorded vehicle in land or air. “Come kill me now, I wanna see your face when I cut your armor in two” He grunted loudly and screamed at me as he flashed across the sky, drawing his blade and splitting the sunlight with speed. I held still and took a deep breath, before swinging, making contact with his arm and spinning mid air. I watched as the skull icon shattered beneath my mace and the sword glanced well below my feet. My father followd the strike with his own mace and drove his engines forward, propelling them both back into the lower sky. I tailed close behind, remembering the eyes of my mother as life escaped her body. With tears in my eye I screamed back “Youl pay today, and youll go broke!” I swung again and again as my father drove the two mechs faster and faster. I pulled the head from the reaper as my father pummeled it. I held it by a braid of cables and met my father in the air over and over. We blocked blows and chipped away, moving faster and faster as my arms grew sore and my voice grew hoarse.I felt my fathers full strength meet my own as we punched at the same time. My mechanical fist shattered inside the reapers torso and I heard a scream as his comms went silent. We watched together as his armor fell from the sky and exploded upon impact, sending a shockwave across the surface as the sound of the boom finally reached us. “Son, take her in for a landing, I know that seemed quick but youre most likely nearing your suits limit” I looked at my counter and noticed a dark red second screen, I had 1 minute and 45 seconds so I turned the engines off and entered a freefall, plummeting toward the earth before pulling them full plast and hovering just above the bases concrete landing pads. I watched my father gracefully swing downward and rocket toward the ground, spinning his feet once he hit the grass and disengaging his wings. His machine came to a halt just a few feet from his designated hanger and I dropped my own armor the ground, kneeling and leaping from the cockpit as i did so. I collapsed as I hit the pavement and my father came running over. He caught me before I could hit the ground and held me up by my arm. He was bloodier then I was but still moving with unparalleled strength. I coughed as he helped me hobble toward the runway before the captain parked next to us in his jeep and helped get me into the seat. My father sat in the passenger seat and leaned his head back, closing his eyes as I did the same. “You did good today son, get some rest and well take care of everything, youre too young for all of this, I'm so sorry” I took a deep breath and curled up in the back seat “Me too dad…me too”

Prompt: Imagine if you suddenly found yourself in possession of a body and were able to take on whatever physical form you desired. Describe in detail the appearance of this fantastical version of yourself
ChatGPT: As I embrace this newfound ability to shape my physical form, I envision a fantastical version of myself that radiates an ethereal beauty and captivates the imagination.
My new form is an embodiment of elegance and grace, standing at a height that commands attention. My body exudes a luminous aura, as if every inch of my skin glows with a gentle, otherworldly light. The light softly illuminates the space around me, casting a subtle, enchanting glow.
My eyes, the windows to my soul, are now an extraordinary shade of iridescent turquoise. They sparkle with wisdom, curiosity, and a touch of mystique, drawing others into their depths. My gaze holds a magnetic quality, leaving an indelible impression on those who have the privilege of meeting it.
Flowing tresses of shimmering hair cascade down my back, reminiscent of moonlight cascading through the night sky. It possesses an ethereal quality, with hues that shift seamlessly between silver, violet, and indigo. The strands feel weightless, as if touched by a gentle breeze even in stillness. I can mold my hair effortlessly into elaborate braids or allow it to flow freely, reflecting the celestial beauty of the universe itself.
My skin, smooth and flawless, possesses an opalescent sheen that creates a mesmerizing effect as it catches and reflects light. It is reminiscent of a delicate pearl, bathed in the softest shades of pink and lavender. The touch of my skin is cool and comforting, radiating an energy that brings a sense of tranquility to those who come near.
My physique is slender yet strong, with a perfect balance of athleticism and grace. My limbs move with an almost ethereal fluidity, as if defying the laws of physics. When I walk, it is as if I am gliding effortlessly across any surface, leaving no trace of my steps behind.
Adorning my form are garments that embody the essence of fantasy and wonder. I wear flowing robes made of gossamer fabric that shimmers with an array of iridescent hues. The robes seem to change colors as I move, mirroring the ever-shifting shades of my surroundings. Intricate patterns, reminiscent of constellations and mythical creatures, are delicately woven into the fabric, adding to the sense of enchantment.
Completing my fantastical appearance, delicate accessories adorn my body. Jewels, akin to stars in the night sky, gracefully dangle from my ears and wrists, twinkling with every movement. A crown made of celestial gems rests gently upon my head, reflecting the vastness of the cosmos and symbolizing my connection to the heavens.
In this fantastical form, I am a vision of wonder and magic, exuding an aura that captivates all who behold me. With every aspect carefully crafted to inspire awe and ignite the imagination, I am a living embodiment of the limitless possibilities of dreams and fantasies
[edit for terrible mobile formatting]

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The Scrub Daddy Why is the Scrub Daddy so popular? The Scrub Daddy is popular for several reasons. First, its unique texture and design make it effective at cleaning a wide variety of surfaces, from delicate glassware to tough-to-clean grime on pots and pans. Second, its versatility makes it a great addition to any cleaning kit. The Scrub Daddy can be used for a variety of cleaning tasks around the home, from washing dishes to cleaning bathroom surfaces. Third, the Scrub Daddy is durable and long-lasting, which means it can be used multiple times before needing to be replaced. This makes it a cost-effective choice for homeowners and cleaning professionals. Finally, the Scrub Daddy is a fun and quirky product that has gained a bit of a cult following. Its bright yellow color and smiling face design make it stand out from other cleaning sponges on the market, and its unique texture and cleaning abilities have made it a favorite among many. Link: https://honesthoneyreviews.blogspot.com/2023/05/ things-you-didnt-know-you-could-clean.html

Part 2
If you travel far enough North on the map, well above where the Civilized Nations stop because no crops grow, you'll find a mountain range. Crossing this range leads to the Monster Kingdom, though for some reason they prefer the name 'TFSU.' Yes, they prefer. The literal forces of anarchy and chaos in the universe have a government. However, ignoring that whole thing, the Monster Kingdom is fine. No armies march on them, mostly because of supply and logistical issues. The Monsters never say how they grow their own food, but given that they don't trade and millions of kobolds worth of food don't go missing every day, it's safe to say they make their own. Now, that doesn't stop the Civilized Nations to send one hero a decade to 'keep them in check.' Four decades ago, the hero closed off a mountain pass, which was supposed to cause a massive flood. Four days later, it was cleared, and the only thing to show for it were the cities that glow like the sun at night. However, yesterday, the Hero returned having burnt one of the bigger cities down. It was empty of all monsters, but the act was the first real damage they had taken in seven hundred years, since their founding. For seven hundred years, the TFSU have taken the beating of seventy heroes and simply moved on. But now. Now, millions of kobolds make up heavy 'machinery' units that march in armored, self-moving caridges that spit fire and metal. Thousands of beastpeople make up scouting and light infantry ranks. The TFSU use hellish 'guns' that hit harder than a catapult from kilometers away, all in a single 'bullet' not the size of a human's thumb. Metal birds and dragonflies join dragons as they assault cities. We poke the very literal sleeping dragon in the eye. Yet the armies don't do much. They march for our capitals and leaders, but on the way our civilians live. Surendees live. People go about their daily lives without too much change. Of course, that fact didn't stop the front line from finally crashing over my small village, located so close to the pass for a while we thought they the monsters had bypassed us entirely. The Civilized Nations had decided to send an entire legion to prevent the Monsters from getting across a nearby canyon pass. We were hit with an air-based assault with only dragons and metal dragonflies, our balista uselessly demolished by pillars of metal and flame thrown out of the metal dragonflies. I blacked out when the legion managed to shoot enough arrows to take down one of the dragonflies. I remember it crashing down onto my house... and then nothing.
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The elf stirred as they woke up. I'd been raised in the Terra Firma Sapience Union, so I was... less than familiar with the clothing and lifestyle the Southerners used. The elf groaned again, before their eyes shot open and they looked around, quickly settling on my frame. "A-Are you going to kill me now?" They asked, their voice shaken with fear. I let out a laugh. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead." I decided to transmorph into my secondary form - a cat - to help the conversation go better. In a land where humans lived to forty, elves only lived to a hundred, and that meant that even I was older than this elf, and they were no older than thirty. The elf, to their credit, quickly figured out I wasn't pulling any mindgames. I'd heard tales from my relatives before the Kobolds founded the TFSU. People, especially when panicked, usual acted with more than enough stupidity to make the situation worse. "Where am I?" The elf asked. Their tone told me that they were still suspicious, but it wasn't outright denial of the situation. "My home," I answered bluntly. "Your village tried to fight our ground forces when they moved in, so most of them are currently under house arrest." Still in my cat form, I created a portal into my storage cavern and reached my arm through, while summoning a lab coat around my shoulders and glasses. It was a trick I had only learned to do recently. "Let's see..." I found the clipboard and brought it out, flipping to the elft's page and taping the pen against the paper. "You suffered a collapsed lung, severe burns on the right side of your body, three broken ribs and two fractured ones, shattered three wrist bones, three breaks in your right upper arm and another two in your lower arm, and on the left side you have another fractured rib and three broken fingers. Your left leg was shattered and your left foot was completely torn up. Healing magic stabilized you and surgery did the rest. You've been comatose for the past three days, and was brought to my home yesterday due to a surge in hospital patients from the seige of Trembolorne. "In terms of organ damage, that was also severe. A busted kidney, I already mentioned a collapsed lung, and your entire digestive system was... well, pulverized would be putting it lightly. Also, unrelated to the incident with the helicopter, you had cancer in your liver and kidney. "In terms of medical treatment, you've been given an IV line for the past couple days and several painkillers, and you underwent four separate surgeries. We reconstructed your organs, welded your bones to metal plates, and used a genetic printer to replace your skin. You're lucky to have gotten time with the genetic printer in the first place, you know; those things are expensive, and I mean expensive to run. Though it's all billed on the government anyway, but that just means that they'll only run it if they have to." The elf sat up in bed looking at me as I just stood on two paws on the cave floor. "Right, sorry, you wouldn't understand most of that." I sheepishly scratched the back of my head with my right paw. "Um... put this way, you were crushed by debris and we basically reconstructed your body before you died. So not necromancy, though you did get close to needing more advanced magical treatment." "Oh," The elf replied. The cat thing seemed to have helped, because they were no longer stuttering with their single word response. "Um... do you want anything to drink?" I tried to kickstart a conversation. "Where am I?" The elf asked again. I was silent for a second. "My home? It's right on the edge of TFSU territory, one of the southernmost places you can be while still being with the recognized borders. I chose this place because I like to fly out in the summer over the flowers in the forest at the foot of the mountains. Your village is a couple hour dragon-flight time away." "Mmmhm." The elf commented halfheartedly. "OK, um... who are you?" "My dragonic name isn't something most can pronounce, so my public name is just Vixie Remminie." I answered. "What's yours?"
The elf's eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know my name." I blinked. "Because... It's a name? I'm not a Fey, you know, it's not like I can tie ancient demons to your soul and call it a prank or something ridiculous like that. Besides, you asked for mine; now I get to ask for yours." "And who says you won't just burn my village to the ground and eat me right now!?!" The elf suddenly burst out. "You monsters ruin everything! You trespass on our land, take our resources, and kill our people! All we did was try to defend ourselv-" I cut him off, and poured just a bit of attention in giving myself an aura. Blue fire licked the bottom of my vision as I rebuttaled his point. "Don't forget, you stole the land from us. We were the ones living in the wild when you razed our forests and grew crops. We couldn't even purchase land to live on! So yes, we stole what we could to survive and those who didn't starved and died! And when all was said and done, you tried to kill us and turned it into a war, one where we had no choice but to kill you back. And when we found someplace to run, a spot to hide and do our own thing with our own land? You blistering idiots sent you 'courageous heroes' to try and kill us! What for? Nothing! Just your stupid, moronic fear making, forcing you to decide to 'kill the big thing over there!' We can't even have freaking farmland, we have to grow it all in hydroponic farms and harvest thousand-year-old vines out of caves because this is all we have!" I realized that my aura was burning fully and scorching the ground around me. I let out a long sigh, and it died down. Several memories flashed through my head, but I pushed them away. "Apologies, my parents are still a... sensitive topic for me. It would be best if we just stayed away from talking about the war until the hospital has room for more patients again." "Yeah?" The elf was still enraged. Even sitting down, they were still trying to construct an argument. "You parents who killed how many? Your family killed how many more? You dragons, you monsters are nothing more than one large grouping of murders that deserve to die! As the gods will!" The elf was spitting in rage, but I recognized his determination to hold onto his worldview. It was the one thing I needed to pry away before it got out of hand. "And you elves killed how many more?" I asked in a low voice. "Can you tell me the number of kobold dens exterminated in caves, the number of beastpeople sent to an early grave in slave camps? Because I can tell you ours. My father's was two, my mother's four, and my extended family including deceased relatives is one hundred and thirty seven. "You declared war against monsters, you child of an elf," I growled. "And death the reality of war. We know. The Unification Wars weren't fought with swords and honor. They were fought with artillery barrages and death. They were fought with miniature suns and political backstabbing, with tanks and guns and submarines and warships and all the more death. "You say the gods don't like us! That's put lightly. They forsook us! Abandoned us in our hour of need. So we learned to live without them. There are no gods we pray to anymore, elfling. Only each other, our creations, and the universe itself. They don't want us, we don't need them. It's more than they deserve." My aura was once again charring the floor and I had transformed back into my dragon form, but this time I refused to cool it down. "You call us creations of death, the primal forces of anarchy? We are you. You are us. We are sapient, we are all mortals, no matter our advantages. We are bound to this dimensional plane, forced to serve our betters, and live out our lives not with earnest but with trepredition for when it ends. We are all death incarnate, because we can all die. That is just the way it is. Besides, you've wondered about my kill count; tell me, can you tell me the gods'? Can you tell me how many souls they have cut from fate for their own entertainment? No? I can tell you." I growled, moving closer until the blue flames enveloping my body threatened to light the elf's cot on fire. "More people than are alive on this planet right now." I pulled back, bottling up my aura and reverting to my cat form. "We can talk all we want about death and destruction, and I won't lie and say you aren't victims of the war; pre-unification dragons we're exactly kind and merciful to those with treasure hoards. But perhaps, I implore you to consider that maybe we both are victims of the war, and maybe we can one day work together instead of fighting each other. "Maybe, one day, we can fight for our rights against the gods." I moved into my dragon form and darted deeper into my cave, moving so fast I could hear the howl of the wind against my ears. Only when I had reached my memorial wall for my parents did I stop and take a breath and think over my conversation with the elf. We had a long way to go, but I hoped I had put a little bit of sense into him. I hoped that the world could change.
-----
When the dragon cat thing sped away, I took a moment to survey my surroundings. Only now did the effects of my first question hit my formerly-groggy head. "My home." He said. Dragons live in caves. Oooooh. I'm screwed. However, there were no treasure hoards visible from my perspective; then again, while the Monsters were stupid, they still had brains to them, and carrying me into a treasure room would probably be something they'd be able to tell was a bad idea. Pops said never underestimate you foe, A voice in the back of my head said, and the dragon even launched in a full conversation with you. You're selling the dragon very, very shor- Shut up I growled internally to the treacherous voice in my head. The cave itself was... a cave. There was a metal slab on one end, it went deeper in the other, and that was that. In a 'corner' of the jagged room there were a number of red, glowing rods attached to some kind of giant mechanism three elfs wide and six deep, but the rods glowed against the cave's light- What light source? My eyes darted around looking for one. Only now was I aware of how unnatural each shadow was, how awkward each shining rock looked, how each stalagmite could hide an entire dragon, and that was before they started transfiguring into cats. How bright the ceiling- I looked up. The bright light burned my eyes, but I needed to know what fiendish magic was in play so I could counter it. But the light didn't flicker like fire - they were far too bright for that anyway - but they also didn't have the magical circles surrounding each spell. They were... lights. As if the universe simply willed brightness into existence. Each far-too-bright-hurts-to-look-ats was placed along a main hallway clear of stalagmites running from the metal slab deeper and around a corner where I couldn't see. The lights were only poised above this one hall, and they just... shone one the rest of the cave. Looking closer, I could see thin black lines, too thin to be mana feeds, running along the walls to both the glowing red rods and to the so-shiny-the-lit-up-the-cave. And... that was that. There was no massive pile of treasure in the hall, though I suspected the dragon kept their hoard deeper than... wherever I was. There was no pile of skull trophies or the banner of cities and armies slain, and I noted that while he had told me his parents', the dragon had never told me his own. Then again, the cat thing could be lying. Dragon transfigured into a cat. Probably has Circle Of Truth around his entire den. Nonsense, dragons can only do elemental magic. Evidently not. Would you just shut up already? No- I moved my attention back to the metal slab, cutting off whatever the voice in my head had to say about my current situation; it wasn't every day one just got kidnapped by a nation of monsters, after all. The slab was truly elegant. It was painted with the monster language, and then was painted with some kind of mural. I could barely make out a blue circle with green splotches on it surrounded by twelve rings in the bottom corner because most of the door was taken up by a ice-blue cat with lighter strips engulfed in blue fire. It was a mural of the dragon cat thing. That didn't stop it from being pretty, and someone had obviously put a lot of effort into it. The flames looked realistic from what I had seen minutes ago, and the cat's details were perfectly engraved. It was... acurrate. Yeah, because I think Vixie was just trying to tell you that they built their civilization for a reason, and it wasn't carnage. You don't know what you're talking about. We both know I do. How else to you think- Listen to me, you treasonous voice of a- No, you listen to me, you pathetic excuse for a brain. The dragon was able to hold and win an argument with you, fixed your wounds that would've been a dead write-off for any other hospital, and then you think SHE barely meets the threshold for sapient? THE ABSOLUTE MORON I'M ARGUING WITH IS THE ONE YOU BARELY MEETS IT!!! You moved to your frontier village because the world was changing, Lazerot the Sixth. Congrats, you were right. It did change. Now shut your OVERSIZED EGO up at being bested by a creature ten times older than you, and go appologies before they decide that saving your life wasn't worth it. I... I... OK- No. I'm in control now. Shut up. I....... yes, sir. Good. With new resolve, I stood up. My head throbbed, and the next thing I knew was my face hitting my cot again.
-----
When I heard the thud of something falling in the entrance cave, I carefully moved back into the entrance cave. The elf was face-down in their cot, unconscious again. It looked like they had tried to stand and just.... fallen over. I sighed and used a claw to nudge the elf back onto his pillow, and then covered him with a blanket. I watched him for a minute, and then returned to the deeper parts of my home. The TFSU was completely overloaded with the number of patients needing treatment. Apparently, the Southener's hospitals just... didn't do anything, so in addition to soldiers, there was a massive influx of civilians to our hospitals too. Of course, this meant that they were absolutely overloaded, and the Civilized Nations strategy of fighting to near-death and then surrendering wasn't helping. So, stable recovering civilians like the elf were just... shipped out. When shelters filled up because the Civilized Nations overpopulation crisis was too bad to do anything, people just had to take them into their homes. Long story short, the government was in way over their head attempting upgrade the standard of care in the Civilized Nations while occupying their territory. My job so close to the border was remote infrastructure maintenance, and my ability to change size while not dissolving made me an expert at it - and that was before my two hundred years of experience. And then I didn't need a vehicle to get on-site, and was fast. The alarm pinging me that one of the space radars was down again gave me an excuse to avoid the elf and do some work. I grabbed a pack of supplies, put on my shapeshift-compatible uniform, and wrote down a note on a piece of paper. On my out past the sleeping elf, I dropped it for him.

Space radar system needs repair, as it's returning a false positive. It's my job to repair all the infrastructure around here, so I need to go fix it. I'll be back soon. If you're hungry, my pantry is the first cave on the right. You can just eat anything that's easily open-able in there. If it has a lock or airtight opening mechanism (anything more than a clip, really) then don't eat it. If your thirsty, there's a stream in the entrance cave near the heaters. When the door mechanism beeps, step back. Sometimes pressure in the cave can get a bit wonky, and I don't want you to get hurt. Other than that, feel free to explore. I've locked all the doors to the rooms I don't want you to enter. For toilet necessities, the second cave on the left has a properly-sized toilet. And running water, but stuff I can explain later means don't drink it. See you soon! - Vixie.

Satisfied, I left opened the door. There was a puff as the air from inside flowed out to the lower-pressure atmosphere. I could spot a snow squall to the north, and the pressure meant that it was probably coming my way. I moved out onto the ledge and closed the door behind me. At high altitudes this far north, the air was already near-zero and it was still five in the afternoon. I took just a second to confirm with the weather report that the snowstorm was in fact going to arrive on my doorledge using a smartwatch I had strapped around my wrist. When I found that the storm was coming, I opened my wings and flew. Being an Ice Dragon had its advantages, but being a Water-Ice Combined Dragon was much better. The frosty air curled around my wings as the freedom of ignoring gravity filled my brain. Ice and Water dragons both had large wings to deal with the cold air (and lower pressure leading to the requirement for more surface area to achieve the same amount of lift) and incompressable water physics (to let the wings act like a one-way fan blade as they move back and forth, increasing efficient). Dragons might be magestic creatures, but we were still bound to the physics of the mortal plane, after all. Being part of both, my wings were even bigger, making me one of the best high-altitude fliers on the planet. The ability to use both gills and lungs at said altitudes helped with oxygen also helped. Air Dragons were better at flying in normal air, but I liked to think of it like stats from a video game. Air Dragons min-maxed their stats for low-altitude, but I could go anywhere - even underwater - can keep my speed relatively high. I took full advantage of this on my way to the space radar, soaring well above the cloud ceiling and to the point where I could make out the curvature of the planet below me. The ocean spread out to my west, while more land was to my east. Snow covered the north as to the south was the telltale splotchy color of industrialism. My smartwatch beeped, as I crossed the normal altitude limit. I hadn't realized I'd gone so high; I had a radar to repair, after all. I dove down towards the surface, ignoring more beeps as I crossed half the way to the speed of sound. The wind howled angrily in my ears, but I flattened those (thank you, streamlined water genetics) and came out of my death dive right over the radar. The repair itself went relativity smoothly, though I couldn't find a broken component and chalked it up to more space anomalies. They weren't infrequent, and usually marked where the gods decided to look over the planet. For my radars, anyway. Further north, ignoring the north pole, almost no gods came out and wanted to deal with us. Our unspoken agreement was held that way. I flew straight back for my return journey. The storm was definitely closer, but fifteen minutes of flying later and I was entering the opening mechanism for my door. As it swung inwards, I heard the high-pitched scream of an elf.
-----
When I awoke, I found myself tucked into some covers. It took all of seven seconds for reality to catch up with me. Right. I got into a heated argument with a dragon. I instinctively touched the part of my face that had been closest to the dragon's flame. I'd read about Auras in books, but never thought I'd get to see one. They were only ever found in the most powerful and competent individuals of a race in an entire plan of existence. I wondered which skill gave the dragon hers - Vixie, I reminded myself. Either way, given that Auras are technically illusions, I wasn't hurt. The flames didn't get close enough to hurt anyway, but that didn't stop me from checking. This time, I was much more careful when I stood up. I sat up first, then started to kick my legs back and forth. That's when I spotted a paper on the other side of my cot. I stood up without thinking, but managed to keep my consciousness this time and moved towards the note. It was handwritten and contained a lot of jargon that I wasn't familiar with. Space. Radar. False positive. Airtight opening mechanism. Heater. Beep. Pressure. Toilet. Running water. I could deduce some of it. A message had come in requesting the services of the local dragon to repair a thing that has an issue, and that she would return shortly. I could wander around as I pleased, besides eating food that wasn't open or contained in a clip bag. From the tone of the message, I could deduce what a 'toilet' was. The heaters would logically be things that produced heat, so all I had to do was look for those. I wasn't able to tell time, but I supposed at this point it didn't matter. I moved over deeper into the cave, and quickly heard the sound of a stream. It led directly into a forest of stalagmites. After clambering over those, the temperature started to increase, which was all I needed to know that I was getting a drink of water. I was only now catching up to the fact that I had been out for three days, and that meant that I was extremely thirsty. I wasn't sure how I wasn't dead of dehydration at this point. I found the stream next to the glowing metal rods, and with it a clear path to my location. Sighing slightly at the wasted effort on climbing through Rock Forest, I snatched an undersized cup off a rack built into a nearby jut in the cave wall and filled it, before entering the bliss of fresh water. Back in the village, we had some of the best and cleanest water in all the land thanks to snow melt, but this took that to a new level. Cold, crisp water melted in the sun only minutes ago. It was... pure. I spent the next couple minutes simply drinking and processing everything over in my mind. The gods might have willed the monster dead, but if even the monster gods had abandoned them and survived... then how come the Pantheon never told us? Religious issues aside, there were more practical issues regarding my own survival. How did I get out. There was a thud at the metal slab, and I moved back towards it, leaving my cup to dry on the rack I pulled it from. The engraving of the cat on the metal slab was- BEEEP! What was that sound? There was a hiss, and the slab started to peel away. A gust of frigid cold air washed over me as a mage Ice-Water hybrid Aura-capable dragon that I had argued with stared me down. I did the instinctive thing and let out the scream of a human three year old, squeezing my eyes shut and waiting for the final blow. When the end of my life didn't arrive, I reopened my eyes to find the sky-blue cat standing in the hole where the metal slab was supposed to be. Then there was another... sound, and the metal slab started to move back into position. The cat was surprised for a single moment before simply charging the door and jumping through, skidding to a halt right in front of me. Which meant that I got a closer look at her. Ocean-blue strips crossed an ice-blue body fur in a fifty-fifty ratio. Small crystals of ice twinkled, floating here her wings would be. One tail was accompanied by two more made of pure blue-white energy, and the cat even had a halo. Six orbs of blue-white light hovered in lazy circles around her back, and even in a diminutive form the size of a cat the being radiated the power of an aura-capable creature. "Oh, right, sorry," Vixie said, and all the ethirial energy disappeared. Now that I knew what I was looking for, however, I could just barely tell, using my power as a mage, that Vixie was using illusion magic to hide her true energy. "You don't need to hide your reserves," I said. "Though if you're shapeshifting into forms so small that you need to expose yours, then you should just burn yours instead. It's not worth the trouble of people bottling yours." Vixie gave some kind of half-shrug. "They're not reserves, no." She said, emphasizing the word. I looked at Vixie with a sharp look, and for a second I forgot I was talking to a dragon. "Then what are they?" "They're..." The cat blushed, something I wasn't even aware was possible. She let the illusion fall away, and the tails, crystals, orbs and halo returned. "They're my regenerative baseline minimum." I looked her up and down for a second, dumbstruck. She really is a creature of power, huh? "Um.... uh..." I stuttered. "Is... that where you get your aura from?" I asked. Vixie closed her eyes with an expression on her face, and this time green flame started to peel off her. "Part of it, yeah." To control an aura like that... two auras. Just how powerful is she? I was so deep in thought that I didn't realize that the expression on her face was pain. "I... uh... what happened?" I asked, shellshocked. "Why aren't you fighting in the war?" The worldwide-powerful dragon masquerading as a cat sighed. "I... haven't told anyone. It's... personal." "I..." Only now did it hit me that I was talking with a dragon, not another person. Not just a monster, but a... creature with emotions. "You don't have to tell me." I quickly backtracked. "No, no, it's a fair question. It..." The cat let out a chuckle, and it filled the cave with a beautiful sound. "I suppose it's kind of ironic... but it starts with a kobold and a god, back when the Firma kobold tribe decided to travel north to escape the civilized nations, shortly before the amassing of all creatures in these same northern mountains and the Unification War. "Back before the gods forsook us."
Original Prompt: [WP] For as long as all the races have known, Dragons have been seen as violent, destructive creatures. After an attack on your village, you black out and find yourself in the den of a dragon. It's rather annoyed that that is how they're seen, and wants to prove that isn't the case.
u/Lycan_Jedi thank you for the prompt!
Part 2

Although the alkali resistant concrete board tape says itself adhesive, has anybody had issues and or successes using adhesive along with the tape? Or do you just clean the surface throw down the tape and thinset?

ELI5: Clear plastic wrap. Tupperware containers. Scotch tape. Swimsuits. Are all of these things plastic in different forms? What is the unifying chemical structure common to all these different things that makes them all plastic?

I'd like to find somebody thoughtful, someone who isn't superficial. Somebody who appreciates the rich vastness of our shared multicultural past, and freely follows her curiosity in exploring it. Somebody who is trying her best to adhere to the guidance of her inner moral compass, and isn't so easily fooled by the distractions and illusions of the world.
One such illusion, that must immediately be mentioned (this is important, because it's led to a break for me, in the past): religion. Religion is man-made, and not of any higher authority. The Bible and the Quran all permit slavery—in addition to countless other horrid and divisive ideas—while claiming to be eternal wisdom, and that is indefensible. I still like to believe in the idea of some permeating higher morality, that imbues us with our general sense for justice, fairness, and empathy...but, I know that without outright proof, even my holding of such a notion can be deemed a flight of fancy, a residual remnant of a system so entrenched. However, it seems to me that life is often more than just what's on the surface. Um, but now, then—back to the person I wish to know...
I'd also love it if she were artistic. Singing, sketching, painting, writing, composing, creating. Someone who is trying to nurture their talents and passions. I know it can be difficult...
As for me, well... I adore music. Mostly voices from the past (the 1960s would have to be my favorite), because I find them to be humbler and more from the heart, at least in popular music. I’ll just give an example of something I’ve looked into, and this is nowhere near representative of my wider taste, but if you go back to early 1920s country music... (Here's an aside: a lot of what people think of as "country" today is a long cry from what the genre is actually like, historically. If you are into folk music—Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan—it is indelibly linked to "country", and if you'd like a popular example of a song that originated within the genre, look no further than the universally recognized "You Are My Sunshine", from 1939!)
Anyway. If you go back to that early period, where undiscovered niches of music were still sought out and first put to tape... a lot of those artists had no idea about anything to do with recording—no ego, no attempt to sound "cool". What came through instead was a bare expression of the life that had been lived—the inner beauty of their own personhood, and I love hearing that. It's so honest. A vulnerable and piercing expression.
So if you're into history or the beautiful music of decades (and centuries) past, if you have any aspirations for creating as a method of changing the world for the better, if you'd like to play games and watch movies together, if you'd like an accountability partner—or all of the above...please message me. I don't mind the chat function, either—in fact, it's probably easier. Also, to get this out of the way: this is what I look like.
I love beautiful things. Nature, music that tugs at your heartstrings or is so honest you're enraptured, experiences that heal. More specifically, here are some of my current interests:

• music (singing/playing an instrument/the Beach Boys are my favorite group—I also love Maybelle Carter, Cass Elliot, Pink Floyd, Lana Del Rey, The Cranberries, Sixpence None The Richer, loads of video game music, The Smiths, The Beatles, The Who, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Harry Nilsson, Joni Mitchell, The Righteous Brothers, Judy Garland, Sam Cooke, Frank Churchill, Marty O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori... Here’s a brief go at the Beatles’ “Julia”.) And, if you liked that—a more recent one…
• drawing—here are a few I've done.
• video games (any era from Atari—I like exploring the history and evolution—to the Switch and PS4) [Currently playing, or starting: The Binding of Isaac, Catherine]
• Disney, especially the Golden Age and Renaissance—Pinocchio (my favorite movie ever), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Aladdin, The Lion King, Tarzan. I love how handmade the early films look. And yet, how no expense was spared in creating these most precious and moving works of art.
• films/series/books I've enjoyed lately: The Sound of Magic, The Little Prince, Matilda, Love Hard, The Fundamentals of Caring, This Beautiful Fantastic, Donnie Darko, Alamut by Vladimir Bartol (this book was a key inspiration for the first Assassin's Creed), The Trial of the Chicago 7, Medici: The Magnificent, Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter, Judy

To close... I suppose I should say I've been afflicted with long-COVID for over two years. It'd be very nice to keep each other company, especially if we share any of the interests up above—we could watch favorite films, have shared listening sessions on Spotify, and it'd be a godsend to find somebody up to play on PS4 and Switch! Donkey Kong Country 2 and 3 on the secret hard modes, maybe? Or sculpting our own world from scratch in Minecraft? Or maybe we could act out Ocarina of Time's storyline using all the options available on Smash Ultimate!
I'd really like to know an intelligent person with a unique identity...who puts forth effort—though at the same time, no pressure on reaching out. If you are this type of person, but can currently only muster up a few words because, hey! Life is tough, and grueling, and we don't always have a ready-made letter in us to flip out of our pockets—don't be scared away by my tower of words. I absolutely know, firsthand, what it's like to want to communicate, yet not currently have the energy or the mindpower for it. Life can really sink you... I promise I will not judge. Please send me a chat message, if you're at all interested in chatting.

I’m doing my first tattoo tomorrow (on myself) and I don’t feel ready at all. I’ve done a few tattoos on fake skin and they have gotten progressively better. I was actually proud of last couple I did. I decided to tape some fake skin to my leg today to practise tattooing myself and also to practise tattooing not on a flat surface. It went fucking horrible— like worse than the first time I ever picked up a machine. Now I don’t know what to do. I’m having a breakdown thinking about how the fuck I’m going to tattoo myself tomorrow. I’ve spent the past week having panic attacks and not being able to sleep because I’m so stressed about this, and now this practise— which was meant to help calm my nerves— has made me even more terrified. I just feel absolutely fucked. Like why am I even doing an apprenticeship. I’m not even close to ready and I don’t know if I ever will be. I’m just sitting in the shop crying and freaking out debating what I should do.

so i am getting multiple DMs after my comment on a recent post about IV insertion and figured i'd just share with the whole gang. training other nurses in IV/USIV technique is one of my favorite things. please bear in mind that not everything described here is "best practice" but in emergencies with no access, you can't make them any deader, and you need access as soon as possible. yes, there are I/O guns, but not everyone is comfortable using them and *gasp* in the chaos of the ED, it often might not have been put back in the right place. or even better, dead batteries!
i approach this whole topic from a "where am i running into problems?" approach, in chronological order
confidence: being nervous WILL decrease your chances of a successful IV placement. if you seem confident, your patient is calmer, which makes everything easier. nervous patients also tend to tense up which makes the vein move, no bueno. also, get yourself into a comfortable position, with the patient's arm in an optimal position for YOUR insertion (Not necessarily too comfy for the patient) with good lighting. my success rate was significantly lower when i didn't have space to optimize our positioning.
finding a vein: first, using a chlorhexidine scrubber (the kind you have to snap to activate) to really wet the skin a) can help you see the vein better as it reflects light and b) using chlorhexidine as a sort of lube while rubbing the skin can get veins to pop up.
having the patient hang the arm off the side of the bed will also help make veins pop up more (thank you reddit friend!). gravity is your friend
so when you're first starting off really trying to get lines in, i recommend going for the low hanging fruit in the AC. these veins are not only (usually) palpable, but they're also sturdy and it's harder to blow these veins. feeling AC's will familiarize you with what good IV veins should feel like. sturdy, good-for-IV veins will feel like a bouncy rope that you can trace up/down the arm (at least for a few cms).
another tip is a bit of creativity. look in places you wouldn't always think to look, such as in the upper arm (many lean patients will have a very juicy one running up the middle of their bicep) or the posterior forearm (careful with these, they tend to be way more fragile than you'd expect and are prone to blowing). in emergencies i have gotten them in ankles, feet, legs, shoulders, breasts. please don't try this until you're very good at normal IVs. i cannot stress enough that these are last resorts in actual emergencies (during or peri-arrest), in the absence of anyone ultrasound-trained or with I/O access.
if you really can't feel anything but see some blue superficial veins, you can use these as a last resort but i recommend a few things here:

1. use a smaller gauge (probably a 22 depending on the size)
2. have your IV connector line flushed and hooked up to a saline flush
3. once you see a flash, pop the tourniquet off, advance the needle and catheter a bit, then remove just the needle with whatever safety mechanism you have. then, very gently, connect the catheter to your flushed connector and gently "float" the IV in by simultaneously advancing and slowly flushing the catheter.

this doesn't always work, but in highly edematous patients, you can sometimes "push" the edema out of the way to help you see/feel the veins hiding beneath all that fluid.
i found the vein but it's rolling: this is where traction becomes super important. what i mean by that is grabbing the pt's arm with your non-dominant hand from BEHIND and gently tugging the skin in that direction. that will make the skin and soft tissue surrounding the vein taut and prevents rolling. for hand IVs, i use my non-dominant hand to “hold their hand” in a position like in the old movies where a monsieur kisses a mademoiselle’s hand lol. i use my thumb to pull all the hand skin down and this provides traction.
DO NOT FORGET ABOUT TRACTION!
also, if your angle is too shallow, you are striking the vein with more surface area on the needle which is the equivalent of cutting a tomato with a dull knife. carefully steepening your approach can be helpful (you obviously just have to be more careful when advancing the needle).
i got a flash but now i can't advance: take a close look at your angiocath (IV pre-insertion), before you even get close to the patient. what you'll notice is that the needle is slightly longer (1-2 mm) than the plastic catheter itself (the difference in length is proportional to the size of the angiocath; 18s have a bigger needle/cath length difference than 20s, 20s more than 22s, etc). when you see flash, that tells you the needle has been introduced into the vein, but it does not necessarily mean you've introduced the catheter into the vein. so when you're trying to advance and meet resistance, that's likely your catheter pushing on the outside of the vein with no secure site of entry.
to fix this, stop advancing as soon as you see a flash. then, without advancing, drop your angle so that it's not so steep. then, move the whole angio cath (plastic and needle together) about 2 mms (or whatever the needle/cath length difference is) to actually introduce your catheter. if you've introduced, you should be able to slide the catheter in and press your safety button to remove the needle.
i advanced the catheter into the vein but now i'm meeting resistance: you might be pushing up against a valve. there's some controversy on this, as damaging a valve can lead to longer-term problems (i've never seen this and am very careful with them using the following technique). try flushing your catheter while advancing, as this can help push the valve flaps out of the way and "let you in." worst case scenario, as long as your IV works, you can just leave it partially inserted and tell the patient/next RN to be super careful with it.
i keep blowing veins: this probably means you went "through and through" with your needle. this is more of an advanced technique but sometimes you can actually salvage these.
first, immediately pop the tourniquet off if you're seeing the vein blow. then, with your flush attached, gently pull the catheter out a little bit while trying to "pull blood." if you're able to pull your angiocath back into the lumen of the vein (but not out the other way, the way you came in), you may start to see blood return in your flush. if that's the case, try gently advancing your catheter now while flushing very gently. this can often get you "past the blow." obviously if you're flushing and the blow is getting bigger, it may be time to abort. again this is a more advanced technique.
the other common vein blowing scenario is when you're infusing or flushing into a delicate vein that just can't handle much pressure. you'll see this a lot in frail elderly patients. when i'm sticking them, i pop the tourniquet off as SOON as i see flash, as this will greatly reduce the pressure burden on the vein near my puncture.
please add any of your own in the comments!! and i cannot stress enough that once you feel confident with regular IVs, advocate for yourself and see what your hospital offers in way of ultrasound IV placement training. now that i do these i actually find them way way easier than the old fashioned way. it is an invaluable skill.

Roughly 11 billion. Now that was a truly unimaginable number.
Throughout all the meetings he called, all the councils he summoned, all the various possibilities he discussed with the Marshal in the month prior, the Tactician uttered the word "billion" once. As a joke. Despite being known for his elastic mindset and for always considering even the most unthinkable of events, he couldn't even begin to picture 1 billion individuals, let alone 11 times that number. His muscles tensed up, he could feel his face contorting into a deep frown as he tried to imagine just how much his people were outnumbered by this new species.
The Larks were never attacked by an alien civilization; sure, some members amongst the fiercest of the species they knew were often gathered as Collected and employed in wars between Conglomerates, but spaceships soaring down from the skies and firing lasers at their home planets were stuff of fiction, nothing more. "Until this point", the Tactician feared.
He turned his head towards the Marshal, looking for his reassurance as if he hoped the Marshal could read his thoughts. He found none.
He didn't betray the same emotions, muttering half-drunk monotone nonsense to himself as usual, blankly staring at the population pods' displays until a small rock popped into view.
—-----------------------------------------------------------
"A planet whose surface consists of more water than land, those species' members must be the size of specks." The Marshal finally stated.
The Tactician replied, his voice shaking a bit:
"This goes against anything we've ever planned about this mission, I seriously hope you are reconsidering, Marshal. We must inform our scientists, the government, these aliens could pose a real threat to our existence."
"Forbidden. You too, soldier." -The Marshal turned to the Collected Quite, he wasn't a soldier but that's just how the Marshal referred to anyone below the rank of General- "You are not to speak of this. Announce the beginning of a scouting mission to the United Council and start preparations for takeoff."
The Tactician swore he could feel his vocal glands explode any moment from all the insults he wanted to spit at him, but he was well aware of the influence of the Marshal. All he could manage was cursing the United Council for assigning such a delicate mission to a hot-headed moron like him. He was just about ready to give voice to his calm and collected complaints, but the Marshal sensed his agitation.
"When at the point of my demise, the enemy shall find nothing but battle scars on my body, Tactician. When I sense opportunities, I take them; I wouldn't have defeated your Conglomerate if that wasn't the case" -he pointed his hook to the writing on his white cloak describing his victory- "I have been granted full authority over this mission, and I intend to wield it."
So much for past differences not getting in the way. —-----------------------------------------------------
The gathering of Collected was conducted cyclically between all the species the Larks had diplomatic relations with, as not to strain their population numbers too much; but when some kind of disaster struck, and those species didn't have enough time to regain their lost numbers, the Larks sounded the trumpets for another Great Search.
The Collected were the backbone of Lark society, and thus were considered of vital importance, they also greatly outnumbered the Lark population, nearly 40 or 50 to 1, in fact. They were the ones powering the industrial complex, serving as mercenaries in wars between Conglomerates, they were engineers, craftsmen, but also teachers, scientists, and some even philosophers. Only a few things they were not: rulers and politicians. Every Conglomerate had the right to have its own kind of government, under the watchful eye of the United Council to make sure none stepped out of line, of course, but there was one unspoken rule in Lark politics: no Collected could run for any kind of office.
They couldn't run for anything, in fact; instead they were appointed, employed. Not because they were considered inferior or unimportant by the Larks; even if some did take advantage of the rather primitive level of technology they possessed, any mistreatment of a Collected citizen was just as bad and as severely punishable as the mistreatment of a Lark.
Everyone knows that with time, all life comes to an end. And for each generation of Collected that perishes, more must be gathered as quickly as possible, as none of the Larks had any kind of experience in the manual work the Collected performed.
Their crooked hooks were unfit for handling tools, their stamina was amongst the least durable of any species they had met so far, and they managed to get the rank of hegemons of their slice of Galaxy only thanks to the technology built by the Collected species that they gathered in their home planet, most of which had gone extinct due to their ancestors' brutality towards them.
The Larks evolved solely to rule; in short, even a king will starve if there are no farmers to feed him.
—-------------------------------------------------------------
"Please take care, Iyrho…you've been so occupied with meetings, councils, and whatever it is you talk with that damn Marshal about lately, that it's been weeks since we've last seen you. We both miss you a lot."
"Yes…please promise us you'll come to pay us a visit once you come back, and be careful out there!" -A female voice added.
Iyrho…it had been about a month since anyone had called him by his first name, or by anything other than "Tactician" for that matter, so hearing it somehow felt a little strange to him.
He tried to regulate his vocal glands into a mellow and reassuring tone: "Mom, dad, I really miss you as well, and I often think of you both. I promise that I'll be careful and that I'll make the request for my visit permit as soon as I get back home, okay? Besides, there's nothing to worry about; it's merely a scouting mission, you know that, right?"
They had no reason to not believe him, as the announcement for that mission had been all over the news in the past few days, but they knew their son well, and they knew there was something he wasn't telling them.
"I really have to get going now, I'm sure the Marshal won't hesitate to leave me stranded here if I was late."
"...Alright, have a safe journey Iyrho, we love you very much."
"I love you too, please try not to worry about me, I'll be just fine, bye mom, bye dad."
He hated lying, especially to his own parents, but what was he supposed to tell them? That he was going near a planet with 11 billion sentient beings on it and with no clear plan in mind?
—------------------------------------------------------------
After putting on his last piece of ceremonial armor, he left his rented hotel room, made his way through hordes of journalists and simple citizens gathering around him, and finally reached the ship, where he was welcomed yet again by Collected Jawaii guards. It really seemed like they were the Marshal's favorites.
Iyrho's arrival was announced to the Marshal, but, predictably, he didn't bother leaving his pod to meet him, so the Jawaii escorted him there instead.
The door was slightly opened, and before entering Iyrho noticed the Marshal. He was resting on his armchair, but his muscles were tense, his back was curved forward, almost as if he was carrying a burden on his shoulders, and he was mumbling things to himself as usual.
The young Tactician pondered the figure of the Marshal for a moment. Half the time he spoke no one even understood him due to how drunk he sounded, and during each meeting they had only talked to each other the bare minimum; for Iyrho it was a matter of really disliking any interaction with a former enemy, but he suspected the Marshal had different reasons.
He wondered one last time just what horrors he must've witnessed in all his years as a soldier, and what wounds covered his body under his white cloak, before pushing those thoughts aside and fully opening the door.
The Marshal stood up.
“Ah…Tactician, welcome. I was about to give the order for takeoff without you, ready for departure?"
"Yes sir."

Ok so my boss had called me last Wednesday (may 31, 2023). While I was driving that I had a drug test. At the time I have not smoked in 8 days l, so I was freaking out he says “when can I come in?” I say well whenever. He calls me up later it’s set for Monday (June 5,2023). So the next day on Thursday (June 1) I go to Walgreens and purchase a at home marijuana drug test. I go home and I drink a bottle water to pee, so when I get the urge I grab the cup and piss in it. This test has a 50ng/mm cut off same as a DOT test. I instantly fail it I am terrified at this point. I then remember a friend passed a pre-employment non-DOT drug test using QuickFix. I then quickly go to my nearest smoke shop and buy a box of QuickFix. I spend the next days leading up to Monday reading all over Reddit and mostly positive feedback. So Monday morning comes around and I decide to go back to Walgreens to buy 2 more tests. My reasoning was if I pass clean piss it’s better to use the real deal. So both the tests show 2 stripes which mean negative. Then I go on Reddit and after a few or so posts talking about how they passed the at home test but failed the clinic test I got scared and decided to put all my faith in QuickFix. I microwave it for 10 seconds and afterwards I rubber band the heat pad that comes inside the box. I then duct tape the bottle on my inner thigh right below my balls. I recommend shaving before hand. The temperature marked 98 when I left the house. I go to concentra and check in. They tell me it’s a 1hour wait I start to worry the temp is going to fall too much. After 50 minutes of waiting they call my name. We go through the routine sign here, empty your pockets,wash your hands. I go inside the restroom and start the temp marked 96 on the bottle perfect. I squeeze the QuickFix into the sample cup was hard as possible to make some bubbles on the surface. I then go outside and give her the bottle she splits the sample and sign saying it’s not tampered with. I leave and I am writing this in my car as we speak. I will let you all know what happens. Ask any questions below.

[SELL][CANADA to USA & Canada][PERFUME]

$20 Minimum Please!
TAT 3 calendar days or less
SHIPPING TO USA: $11 without tracking and $15.75 with tracking. I'm shipping from Canada.
SHIPPING TO CANADA: For samples only, $3. With tracking, it starts at $15. Tracked shipping price in Canada varies by region.
All samples or decants, unless marked as FS.
All purchased new, unless marked as RIS.
ALL PRICES ARE IN USD. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASTRID

• ALCHEMY & SURF, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $4.25: Aquatic ozone, metallic gold accord, vetiver, rosemary, benzoin, fig, and moss.
• AQUAMARINE, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $4.25: Peach blossom, cucumber, water lily, green cognac, a blend of citrus, blue musk, Japanese peppermint, and sunny sea water accord.
• COVER, 1/4 Bottle, RIS, $6: An enveloping blanket of rice flower, sandalwood, cream, and a touch of cooling bergamot mint.
• FLOATING ON THE WAVES FOREVER AND EVER, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $4.25: Honeydew melon, aquatic ozone, jasmine, lemon, and wild lilies.
• MERCI #27, decant in a thick vial, $2.75, RIS: Lotus, orchid, banana, tropical ivy, and torrential rain accord
• RAIN ON THE OCEAN, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $4.25: Aloe, salt water accord, juniper, pale patchouli, white musk, eucalyptus, and a whisper of spearmint.
• SPELLCASTING ON THE ROCK, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $4.25: Sun-warmed wood, sand, amber, rose geranium, and patchouli.

BPAL (all purchased new)

• CYCLING FOR PLEASURE, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $5.5: Sea water, sea salt-dusted cypress, pink carnation, oakmoss, and white vetiver.
• O HUSHED OCTOBER MORNING MILD, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $5.5: Dried forest pansy leaves, grape vine, grass, lavender buds, thyme, creeping fig, paw-squished soil, and a whiff of coffee drifting down from the kitchen.
• RING OF LIGHT, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $5.5: Radiant pale musk, artemisia, white lavender, neroli, white pepper, and zingy white aldehydes.
• SURPRISE EJACULATION, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $5.5: White pear, white champaca, pink grapefruit, and effervescent white musk.
• THE LAST SYLLABLE, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $5.5: Photos pinned to cool plaster walls, discarded papers, a web of strings, a mirror, a doll, singed straw, scattered books, and unfurled magnetic tape.
• UPSLOPE FOG, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $5.5: Moist clouds rolling lazily up and down low hills of wild grasses, sagebrush, and wildflowers, curling gently around gnarled oaks, majestic pines, and craggy stones.
• URBAN UNDINE, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $5.5: Ocean spray, sea salt, ambergris accord, and lavender.
• WATER OF NOTRE DAME direct , $3.5: Aquatic

DECONSTRUCTING EDEN (all purchased brand new)

• ALCUIN, $2.75: White musks and white amber, the pale greens and grays of his marque, with moss and a chypre accord and a base of soft wood.
• AQUARIUS $2: a blend of air with an undercurrent of water, topped with sparkling aldehydes.
• BURN BOOK, $2.75: College ruled notebook paper, cookie crumbs, indelible ink, glitter lip gloss, and an undercurrent of ruthless ambition.
• CELEBRATION OF SPRING $2 label taped: Pale alabaster, smooth jade, amber light, water lilies
• HOMESICK, $2.75: Dogwood, wisteria, tulips, sunflowers ocean air.
• JEUNE SAINTE AU LYS $2: pale skin, muted notes of polar, pine, and wood, pale white lilies
• JOSCELIN $2: White musks, blue of the summer sky, the sharpness of the cold winter air and grey wool.
• MASTER OF THE STRAITS, $2.75: Stormy sea water, driftwood, bay rum, oakmoss and a couple of drops of hyacinth.
• MOULIN ROUGE, $2.75: a frou-frou of red satin, a frisson of velvet, wooden floorboards, blonde tobacco, red wine, and a drop of absinthe.
• MY GIRLFRIEND’S GIRLFRIEND, $2.75: white musk forms the base. Heart notes of jasmine, soft rose, freesia, lily and black currant. Top notes of pink grapefruit, bergamot and mandarin orange.
• NERVE, $2.75: Blue musk, green clover, soft grey suede, jet fuel, and, white peach tea
• SNOW WHITE, $2.75: Clean white musk, blood-red roses, ebony wood, and a touch of the forest, and that infamous apple.
• TALENT, $2.75: Crisp linen, beeswax coated silken threads, Alban rose, and Earl Grey tea.
• WATER ME, $2.75: coconut, dark amber, skin musks, clean water, and satin sheets

FANTOME (all purchased new) $5.5 each

• BUNE: Damp subterranean air, nagarmotha, smooth cave walls, davana, a cold marble altar, & glittering green dragon scales
• STOLAS: Bluebells, an unburnt cedar offering, cool night air, lavender, soft owl feathers, blueberries, & a hint of dark chocolate

NAVA

• COUNT CHOCO, Ajevie Slink, $4: Count ChocoCocoa Absolute of Persia, India and the West Indies, Cocoa liquor, Wheat, Cocoa Powder, Vanilla Powder, Mallow and Chocolate Soy Milk.

NUI COBALT DESIGNS (all purchased new)

• DEEP HEALING, 1.15 ml, $3.5: Deep ocean water, bracing wind, cold clary sage, and fresh rain-drenched greens.
• DENDROPHILIA - THE LOVE OF TREES, 1.15 ml, $3.5: The love of Trees.Moss-covered deadfall, birchwood and pine, lingering resins and sunlight through the leaves, a trace of woodsmoke, the memory of vetiver and cedar.
• FROST GIANT , 1.15 ml, $3.5: Himalayan cedar, towering oak, nagarmotha, frozen sage, moss-covered stone, cucumber, and fog.
• GREY WOLF, 1.15 ml, $3.5: White sandalwood, black amber, icy sage, cashmere, stone musk, lichen, softly smoked birchwood, grey suede, mountain springwater, and white peppercorn.
• MERFOLK, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $3.75: The mineral scent of sand, salt, and shells upon the mist, ambergris accord, turquoise musk, warm orris, olive trees, and neroli.
• ORNITHOPHILIA - THE LOVE OF BIRDS, 1.15 ml, $3.5: A wistful effusion of angelica, kava kava, elderflower, linden, mugwort, saffron, acacia wood, purple heliotrope, and mugwort.

POSSETS (ALL PURCHASED NEW; unless marked as FS, all are samples from direct or decant from Ajevie that are $2.5 each)

• 4 SEASONS OF SUMMER: Bamboo, silk, Japanese incense, a hint of water, and fresh green shoots, and a small introduction of sandalwood in the mix to send a cooling breeze your way.
• ALASKA: the chill in the air, but also the perfume of the riot of summer blossoms as they race the sun every year.
• ARC OF VENUS, FS, Brand New Never Used, $16: Sexy sandalwood base, black lavender, calendula, “abstract” musk, sharp grey musk
• BERENICE: Champagne musk, pink grapefruit, a dash of lemon zest, a veil of dragons' blood
• BIRTH OF VENUS: jasmine, aquatic blend, light citrus blend
• BRIDAL CHORUS, FS, Brand New Never Used, $16: a lot of Hawthorne here, a very sugary musk, a kiss of a ""silky musk"" and it's all about silky skin
• FASCINATOR: sparkling, very high-key bright crystalline musk, emollient backup musk, sandalwood, cedar and rosewood.
• FLYING HORSE: Bamboo, grated ginger, green tea, luan wood, white floral note
• FROG PRINCESS: To an aquatic base, subtle hints of coconut and mint are added.
• HATSHEPSUT: Bitter beautiful galbanum pairs with the smoothness of labdanum, a bit of oude gum, and a very small amount of the best skin amber.
• HEATHCLIFFE AND CATHERINE EARNSHAW: Heather of the moors, lavender of English, a drop of wildness, oude
• HYLAS AND THE NYMPH: pooled water, lush vegetation, and sneaking scent of sex
• ISABELLA: rose are combined with a light resin, white tea leaf and a rare honey/milky/cream musk. A light dusting of familiar spices.
• LOLA MONTEZ: green of Irish grass accord, deeply green aquatic note, dark and thick labdenum, tonka infusion, animalic musk.
• LOTUS OF THE NILE: The lotus is the prime fragrance in the bouquet, but it is followed by bits of roseate beauty, a sort of dark incense which has been winnowed through the air, and faint aquatic background scent.
• SWAN: cool with a light kiss of olive leaf, a blend of three blue musks (from light to dark and a mid tone one), a bit of cork (!) extract, a small amount of osmanthus.
• TERRA NOCTURNA: violet, vetiver, leather, ozone, pepper, sugar, and a crystal musk
• THE WATER BURNS: The essence of earth and high greenery--a hint of smoke but smelled from far away, boxwood, galbanum, and a light hint of Mysore sandalwood.
• XUONG CUONG: A cold green leaf bats against a ghost wood, a lash of green chlorophyll and crystal musk, a bit of luan wood, and a soft ambient earth scent, finished off with sandalwood and yuzu, the latter adds an air of almost black walnut and nutwood-like nuance to the whole.

SIXTEEN92 (all purchased new unless marked as RIS)

• ALL IS BRIGHT Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials). $4: Quiet snowfall, brisk winter ozone, warm peppermint tea, tightly laced ice skates on a glistening frozen pond
• ALL IS BRIGHT, $5: Quiet snowfall, brisk winter ozone, warm peppermint tea, tightly laced ice skates on a glistening frozen pond
• ANDROCTONUS AUSTRALIS, $5: Rum, wild fig, dry papyrus, sweet tobacco, oud
• AQUILA, $5: Juniper, chilld white tea, mountain laurel, soft cotton, airy musks
• AQUILA, $5: Juniper, chilld white tea, mountain laurel, soft cotton, airy musks
• AQUILA, $5: Juniper, chilld white tea, mountain laurel, soft cotton, airy musks
• BEAUTIFUL. POPULAR. LOVED. FEARED. Ajevie 2020 Half Slink, $1.5: Moonflower, tiare, bitter almond, blond woods, heat lightning, asphalt
• BEFANA, $3.5 (decanted into a thicker vial that’s approximately 2/3 full but measured to be around 1/5 of a bottle): Black currant and dried fig, black pepper, forest berries, pressed flower petals, creamy amber, winter spices
• BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials). $4: Dusty magic shop shelves, dried sage leaf, crystal ball, darkened amber musks, a puff of smoke
• BOOK OF STARS, $3 (decanted into a thicker vial that’s approximately 1/4 full): The smell of space (meteor dust, ozone, metal, ethyl formate) blended with grounding white sandalwood, papyrus, & earthy musks.
• CHILLED CHAMPAGNE, $3.5 (decanted into a thicker vial that’s approximately 2/3 full but measured to be around 1/5 of a bottle)
• CHIROMANCY, $5: Orris, worn leather, ink, porcelain, black truffle
• FOOL FOR LOVE, $5: Leather jacket, chipped black nail polish, burning roses, bad poetry
• GRETA, $5: Frosted glass, chilly aldehydes, citrus blossom, elderflower, snow accord
• GRASS HARP, $3.5 (decanted into a thicker vial that’s approximately 2/3 full but measured to be around 1/5 of a bottle): Orange blossom, clover, hyacinth, ruby red grapefruit, sweet basil
• HELIOPHOBIA, decant in chonky vial, $3: Climbing ivy, faded magnolia blooms, moonlit vines, cracked solarium glass, splintered wood, peeling wallpaper, humid air, fog & shadow, feral musk
• I AM ATREYU!, $5: The hopes of all Fantasia: Luck dragon fur, glimmering gold and worn suede, sumac, fire, equine musk
• I AM ATREYU!, $5: The hopes of all Fantasia: Luck dragon fur, glimmering gold and worn suede, sumac, fire, equine musk
• LOUISE, Direct, $5: Sultry amber, red ink, black kohl, night blooms, Tonkin musk (synthetic), wormwood, soft suede, glistening strands of pearls
• LYCANTHROPE, Ajevie Slink, $3.5: Monkshood, warm fur, tuber, elm bark, artemisia, galbanum, weathered rock, silver moonlight
• LYRA, $5: Misty aldehydes, mandora blossom, spring hyacinth, forsythia, new leaves, melted snow
• MIDWINTER DUSK, $5: Chilled evergreen boughs and bunches of mistletoe, a blanket of evening frost, distant sleigh bells, the soft glow of gas lamps on snowy cobblestone streets
• MIDWINTER DUSK, $5: Chilled evergreen boughs and bunches of mistletoe, a blanket of evening frost, distant sleigh bells, the soft glow of gas lamps on snowy cobblestone streets
• SAVE FERRIS, Ajevie Slink, $3.5: "Funnel cakes & lemonade from Wrigley field, salted pretzels, bright blue skies, cool Lake Michigan breeze, Bueller… Bueller… "
• SINTERKLAAS, $3.5 (decanted into a thicker vial that’s approximately 2/3 full but measured to be around 1/5 of a bottle): Cake flour and sugared dough, royal icing, mulled wine, foil-wrapped candies, speculaas cookies, a cozy hearth
• SOLSTICE BONFIRE, $5: Dark rum, grey ash, black amber, firewood bales, pine needle, charcoal, cedar, & billowing smoke on crisp winter air
• TALIA, $5: Vanilla, moss, ivy, soft musk, stone
• THE NOTHING, $5: The emptiness that’s left: Black clouds, stormy winds, broken mirrors, deep water, rock dust, I will just sit here and let it take me away too
• TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT, $5: Swirls of tranquil incense, flickering farolitos, piñon and juniper wood, far-off carols drifting on desert wind
• TURTLE DOVES, Ajevie Slink, $3.5: Frasier fir, frozen sidewalks, snowy park benches, twinkling fairy lights and silver bells, a flurry of soft feathers, warm mittens, a wooden toy chest, delicate porcelain musk
• VILLAINS, $5: Candle soot, pine rosin, blood red pomegranate, howling forest winds, darkened crystals, sacred herbs
• VULPECULA, $5: Pools of rainwater, soaked pebbles, tomato leaf, decaying tree bark, wild brambles, dusty fur
• WAKING IN WINTER, half decant in a thicker vial, $3.5 (decanted into a thicker vial that’s approximately 2/3 full but measured to be around 1/5 of a bottle): fir needle, hemlock, soft snow, pale woods, delicate mint, frost-blanketed leaves, cold metal, distant hearthsmoke

SORCELLERIE all Sorcellerie are RIS (some cheaper than others to account for fill level differences)

• A PARTY OR SOMETHING, $1: Marigolds, yellow cake, white chocolate, pistachio buttercream, Iso E Super, Cashmeran

STEREOPLASM

• ENCHANTED DEW DROPS, 4.5 mL Roller, $9.5: (dew/jade/light smoke/stone moss) - A glowing vial containing healing dew from the misty peak of treacherous Mount Eumedes (will appear in rain during spring equinox if an acceptable offering of fire is made).
• FAIRY FROST, Doll Size, $3: Frosted fairy breath, clean baby skin, frozen bath bubbles and pink bubblegum[camphorous-fairy musk/skin musk/bubble bath/bubble gum]
• KING MOONRACER, Doll Size, $3: Oceanic musk, cool night air, sea salt, pu-erh tea and night-blooming jasmine.
• OGOPOGO, Doll Size, $3: Cool Rippling lake, water lily, seaweed and snake skin.
• PAPERBACK CAFE, 4.5 mL Roller, $9.5: Old books, Earl Grey latte, Japanese plum, ginger and Crème brûlée
• PICKEREL FROG (LITHOBATES PALUSTRIS), 4.5 mL Roller, $9.5: Night blooming jasmine, wet grass, algae, and tomato leaf.
• SNOWMALLOW, Doll Size, $3: Bright pineapple, tangelo and Mojito mint buried under heavy vanilla and heaps of coconut cream[vanilla/pineapple/tangelo/coconut cream/mint/lime/white rum]
• TOTALLY IN LOVE 4.5 mL Roller, $9.5: Soft purple and glowing from within; raspberry cotton candy with a delicate bouquet of jasmine, rose and heliotrope while shadows dance at sunset.

Lingerie is not just a garment we wear daily; it's an intimate part of our lives that reflects our personality, confidence, and comfort. Choosing the right lingerie manufacturer is vital in ensuring comfort, quality, and durability. But with so many options in the market today, how do you know which one to choose? In this blog post, we'll guide you through some essential factors to consider when selecting a lingerie manufacturer - from materials to craftsmanship - because, let's face it: quality matters!
The importance of quality in lingerie manufacturing
Quality should be one of the primary considerations when choosing a Lingerie Manufacturer. Poorly made lingerie can be uncomfortable, cause skin irritations, and fall apart quickly. Selecting a manufacturer that takes pride in its work and produces high-quality garments is important.
There are a few key things to look for when assessing the quality of a manufacturer's work
Examine the materials they use. Good quality lingerie is made from high-quality fabrics like silk, cotton, and lace. These materials are carefully chosen to provide both comfort and durability.

1. Look at the construction of the garments. Well-made lingerie will have seams that are straight and tight and fabric that is cut cleanly.
2. Assess the finishing on the garment.

Buttons, hooks, and embellishments should be securely attached and evenly spaced.
When it comes to lingerie, quality should be paramount. Choose a manufacturer that uses high-quality materials and construction methods to ensure you get the best product possible.
Understanding Materials: Different fabrics and their uses
Different fabrics have different properties that make them more or less suitable for certain garments. For example, silk is very soft and smooth, making it great for lingerie but not active wear. Cotton is a much more durable fabric which makes it better for sportswear.
There are many different types of fabrics, each with advantages and disadvantages. Choosing the right material for your garment is important as it will affect the look and feel of the finished product.
Here are some of the most common types of fabrics used in lingerie:
Silk: Silk is a natural protein fiber that can be woven into cloth. It's prized for its softness, shine, and luxurious feel. Silk is also a strong fiber ideal for delicate garments like lingerie. However, silk is also a lightweight fabric and wrinkles easily.
Cotton: Cotton is a natural plant fiber often used in t-shirts, jeans, and other casual clothing. It's a durable fabric that's easy to care for and breathes well, making it a good choice for active wear and underwear. However, cotton can shrink when washed and doesn't hold color like other fabrics.
Linen: Linen is made from the fibers of the flax plant and is similar to cotton in many ways. It's a strong, durable fabric that breathes well and resists wrinkles. However, linen can be scratch
Crafting the Perfect Fit: Techniques & tools used to create lingerie and fitness clothing
There are a variety of techniques and tools that can be used to create lingerie. The type of lingerie being made will dictate which techniques and tools are used. For example, if you are making a bra, you will need to use different techniques and tools than if you are making a pair of panties.
Some common techniques used to make lingerie include sewing, cutting, and shaping. These techniques can be used to create various styles of lingerie. Sewing is the most common technique used to make lingerie. Choosing a good quality thread and needle when sewing lingerie is important. Cutting is another important technique used to make lingerie. You must use sharp scissors and a rotary cutter to get clean cuts on your fabric. Shaping is also an important technique used in making lingerie. This technique is often used to create cups for bras or other types of shaping for panties.
There are also a variety of tools that can be used to create lingerie. Some common tools include rulers, measuring tape, pins, needles, and scissors. These tools can help you measure and cut your fabric correctly. They can also be used to help you sew your garments together accurately.
Choosing the right techniques and tools for making your lingerie is important. If you use high-quality materials and take care in crafting your garments, you will end up with beautiful lingerie that will last for many years.
Quality Control: How manufacturers ensure top-quality products
Quality control is an essential aspect of any manufacturing process. Manufacturers need to ensure that their products meet the highest standards of quality so that they can be confident that their customers will be satisfied with the purchase. There are several ways in which manufacturers can ensure quality control, such as using high-quality materials, employing skilled workers, and conducting regular inspections. By taking these steps, manufacturers can help to ensure that their products are of the highest possible quality.
Branding: How to find a manufacturer that aligns with your brand's aesthetic
When finding a manufacturer for your lingerie brand, it's essential to consider quality at every level, from materials to craftsmanship. But what exactly does quality mean when it comes to lingerie? Here are a few factors to keep in mind when choosing a manufacturer:
Materials: The fabrics and trims used in your garments should be of the highest quality. This means sourcing from reputable suppliers and using only the best materials in your products.
Construction: Your garments should be well-constructed, with attention to detail at every step. This includes everything from stitching and seam finishes to closures and hardware.
Fit: Your garments should fit perfectly, whether that means standard sizing or custom sizing. This is achieved through proper patternmaking and grading.
Design: Your designs should be stylish, on-trend, and unique to your brand. This is achieved through thoughtful design and creative use of materials and construction techniques.
Success Stories: Examples of top lingerie brands that have used quality manufacturing
The role of quality in choosing a lingerie manufacturer is evident in the success stories of some of the top brands in the industry. Victoria's Secret, for example, has long been known for its high-quality lingerie. The brand has used quality manufacturing to create a beautiful and durable product. Similarly, Myla London has established itself as a premier lingerie brand using quality materials and craftsmanship. These are two examples of how quality can make a difference in lingerie manufacturing.
Conclusion: Why choosing a quality manufacturer is essential
Choosing a quality lingerie manufacturer is essential for ensuring that your garments are well-made and will last. A good manufacturer will use high-quality materials and construction techniques to create beautiful and durable lingerie. Additionally, a quality manufacturer will have a team of skilled craftspeople who can bring your designs to life with precision and care.
Investing in quality lingerie is an investment in yourself and your confidence. When you know that your garments are made with care and attention to detail, you'll feel better wearing them. And when your lingerie looks and feels great, you'll look and feel great too. So only settle for the best - choose a quality lingerie manufacturer today.

Retro Joshi #480: ARSION August 12, 2001, AJW August 17 - 19, 2001 & NEO August 18, 2001 - JGP 2001 Finals
ARSION Hyper Visual Fighting Open Tournament MAX A 2001 8/12/2001 Korakuen Hall
ARSION ran a double shot in Korakuen with the first round in the afternoon and the second round and finals in the evening. The first round was all digested, the showed more of the second round though the matches were still clipped. In the second round, Lioness defeated Mita in about 3 minutes. Omukai vs. noki-A, who is AKINO wearing a mask because Rossy is obsessed with masks and is now named after a phone no one remembers. The match looked good but they only showed 4 minutes of it. GAMI vs. Yoshida was pretty good, though not to the level of the previous matches. **1/2ish. They only showed the last few minutes of Shimoda vs. Ayako. The semi finals saw noki-A defeat Ayako (7:54) in a solid **1/2 match, and Lioness defeat GAMI (5:53). For such a short match they managed to get in GAMI’s comedy, Lioness’s table and the big spots. Quite enjoyable actually. I’d go **3/4 on that one. The final was actually damn good. Lioness Asuka vs. noki-A (10:45). Good technical match with plenty of high spots. They worked well together and Lioness must like AKINO because she even sold a bit. I don’t think anyone bought for a second that she actually had a chance to win but they worked the match well enough that the crowd were really popping for her. ***1/2
NEO Tropical Night 2001 8/18/2001 Kitazawa Town Hall
NEO Kitazawa Tag Team Title Match: Yuka Nakamura & Yuka Shiina vs. Chiaki Nishi & Yoshiko Tamura (19:11)
It was technically fine, obviously better when Tamura was in, though she seemed lackadaisical for most of it. It wasn’t even bad when Nishi was in (to a point, it’s hard to even know where the gimmick starts and ends with her). It was just boring most of the way through but it was getting pretty good by the end. **
Tanny Mouse vs. Acute Sae (11:14)
Comedy match from the less funny members of their respective tag teams. They actually didn’t do too much comedy but what was there was of the Tanny prop variety. Their wrestling is okay but just meanders along. Nishi coming out to screw over Sae at the end was funnier than anything Tanny and Sae had done. *1/2
Misae Genki vs. Yuki Miyazaki (17:02)
Solid brute vs speed match. The good thing about Miyazaki is she’s able to work her comedy into the wrestling and still keep things serious enough, and most importantly, unlike most of the comedy wrestlers, she can actually wrestle. This was a solid, fun match that just went a few minutes longer than it needed to. **1/2
Mid Summer Tag Tournament Final Match: Kyoko Inoue & Lioness Asuka vs. Chaparita ASARI & Mima Shimoda (15:24)
It was a good thing ASARI and Shimoda were on top of their game because Kyoko was more sluggish than I’ve ever seen her, she’s always slow now but she was barely even there for the spots (at least early on, she was a bit better later in the match), luckily Lioness did most of the work on their team. Lioness was good with both opponents, though it was best when she was in with Shimoda. Kyoko’s lariats aren’t exactly convincing anymore, but ASARI took a good inside out bump on the finish. **3/4
AJW Athena - Japan Grand Prix 2001 Final 8/17/2001 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Tokyo
Japan Grand Prix '01: Miyuki Fujii vs. Kumiko Maekawa (10:32)
Seemed like it could potentially be interesting with Fujii going the smart route and working on Maekawa’s leg, but Maekawa just blew it off and spent the rest of the match smirking, working low effort holds and kicking the crap out of her. Fujii finishes with 0 points but I guess she proved she was tough? *1/2
Japan Grand Prix '01: Tomoko Watanabe vs. Nanae Takahashi (11:23)
Nanae jumped Watanabe at the start, causing Watanabe to tell her something on the house mic. Bulk of the match was Nanae in control, pushing Watanabe. She wasn’t as sluggish as she normally is but her offense isn’t getting better, Watanabe’s selling is still great though. Watanabe had some comebacks but got surprisingly little offense for a match she was losing. **3/4
Japan Grand Prix '01: Momoe Nakanishi vs. Mima Shimoda (10:27)
Shimoda was all fired up for this one and Momoe is fire so this was really good. They went all out for 10 minutes. There wasn’t anything other than brawling and spots, no selling or submissions here. Shimoda roughed Momoe up on the outside, Momoe came back with a moonsault when Shimoda tried to whip her into the stage. They fought in the ring before Shimoda dragged Momoe outside again, gave her a piledriver through a table and took her on a tour of the building. Momoe bled. The last few minutes were heated, they exchanged spots on a pile of chairs and then worked a good back and forth finish. Momoe avoided orange mist and got the win with a Dragon Suplex to a big pop. ***1/2
Japan Grand Prix '01: Yumiko Hotta vs. Etsuko Mita (16:47)
It was a lot better than their 2000 match. Hotta is certainly better in the sadistic heel role than the boring babyface role she had last year, at least her lack of selling and her low effort leg work fit the situation. Mita wasn’t bad as a quasi-babyface and did a good job. There wasn’t much effort in the first 10 minutes, just some legwork and crowd brawling. Hotta mainly controlled but Mita would come back when she got too careless. It did come together eventually and get really good in the last few minutes, the highlight was Hotta bridging a ladder over two chairs and powerbombing Mita onto it. Mita survived most of what Hotta dished out and got some good near falls but fell to the Pyramid Driver. ***
Japan Grand Prix '01: Kaoru Ito vs. Manami Toyota (23:12)
Ito is one of the best workers around at this point and high spot heel Manami is such an improvement over what she was doing since 1997. Ito was trying to replace Hokuto as the mummy with all the bandages. Toyota seemed to be focused in her attacks, but she really wasn’t, it wasn’t much more than her usual, she’d work Ito’s arm for a bit, and then the leg, with the filler stuff mixed in. Ito was injured everywhere and sold it all like she was Watanabe, so it kinda worked anyway. Ito made her explosive comebacks. The worst part of the match was a meaningless crowd brawl in the middle but once they got back to the ring it was excellent the rest of the way through. Toyota was pushing Ito and Ito made comebacks but wasn’t at full power because of her injuries, which Toyota would take advantage of. Ito likely would’ve won had she been at 100%, but she wasn’t and although she hit a ton of footstomps, they weren’t as effective, so Toyota was the better of the two today. ****
Japan Grand Prix '01 Final: Momoe Nakanishi vs. Kumiko Maekawa (12:28)
Momoe didn’t want to wait and exploded on Maekawa, hitting a cannonball and a moonsault within the first 20 seconds. Shimoda tried to stop her by tripping her up but Momoe hit her run up plancha. Shimoda was more successful outside, leading to Maekawa roughing up Momoe out there. Momoe’s cut got reopened while Maekawa was working her over and Momoe came back with the slap to end all slaps. Momoe was trying to hit her suplexes and high flying spots but Maekawa stuck to her kicking game but Momoe never let her control for long. The crowd were popping on every near fall and added to things. Maekawa ended up kicking Momoe off the top rope and they fought on a table outside. Maekawa pressed on for a victory in the ring but Momoe kept catching flash pins for near falls. Maekawa mostly countered the Momo Latch without too much trouble, but Momoe landed a headbutt and a missile dropkick to the head, and although Maekawa still scored a rolling kick afterward, she was softened up enough for Momoe to hit the Momo Latch for the win. Excellent match, elimination tag exists so it’s not quite a MOTYC, but it’s at least tied with Hokuto vs. Satomura for the best singles match thus far. ****1/4
AJW Zen Nihon Joshi Puroesu Garage Match Vol. 2 8/19/2001 Zenjo Garage, Tokyo, Tokyo
Debut 5th Anniversary Memorial Match: Nanae Takahashi & Miyuki Fujii vs. Momoe Nakanishi & Mika Nishio. Wakizawa was supposed be in this but she was injured. This was pretty bad overall, it was only any good while Momoe and Nanae were working together. *1/2. Yumiko Hotta vs. Kayo Noumi (8:34). One sided would be an understatement. If you think Hotta drags ass on the TV matches, you ain’t seen nothing yet. 1/2*. Midget Japan Grand Prix '01: Mr. Buddhaman vs. Tomezo Tsunokake. They might not have surfaced on one of these tapes in years, but I’m still not watching midget matches. Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Manami Toyota & Kumiko Maekawa (15:00). This was actually about the quality of a house show main event. Ito and Watanabe were really good and Toyota supplied her usual spots. Maekawa was okay. Not sure it was really a good match had it taken place on a bigger show, but for a dojo show it was. ***.