Praises again to u/TheManwithaNoPlan for helping edit!
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Memory transcript: Tarlim, Venlil civilian. Date: [Standardized human time] September 2nd, 2136
I awoke in darkness. Strange. Why haven’t my blinds opened yet? I shook my head and gave a yawn as my mind caught up with itself. I could barely see my finger in front of my eyes. I reach my foot out to turn off the fan proactively, but my paw only manages to swat the air. What? Wait… My mind, jarred by the odd circumstances, finally relayed my current whereabouts to me. I’m not in my room or on a train. I’m in Jacob’s room! Those blackout curtains work great! Though, they don’t have the option to automatically open.
“Hmgh,” I hear a mumble down by my tail, “muh huh?” A feminine mumble!
My memory rushes back in full. I helped Sharnet calm down yesterday. Jacob and I talked for about a quarter of a claw, or an “hour” in his time. By the end, I had found myself yawning. The train had basically come in during the end of Sharnet and I’s wake cycle, and our bodies were telling us it was time to sleep. I had wanted to stay awake and talk, but he noticed and basically demanded I get some sleep. “We will have plenty of time to visit on the ride over and at Dawn Creek,” he had justified. Then he offered both me and Sharnet his bed.
I tried to object, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Said there were plenty of places he could “crash for the night” as he closed the curtains. Kept saying it was the least he could do. I wish I would have argued more, but as soon as he showed me the light switch, the darkness of the room made me dead on my feet. Those instincts hit HARD. He then just wished me a good night and stepped out of the room.
I had to hurry to remove my braces before I completely passed out. If I remember correctly… I don’t. Oh well. “Sharnet?”
I felt her jolt against my legs. She had basically claimed my tail as a pillow when we crawled into the bed last night. I bet she’s momentarily forgotten our position as well. “Wha! Who, where…?” I heard the flap of her ears as she shook her head. “Right. Hey Tarlim.”
“Hey,” I responded. “Could you get the lights or curtains? I can’t find my braces.”
A grunt of agreement sounded, I felt weight disappear from my tail, and then I heard the sound of claws on wooden flooring. With a rustle, the curtains opened and light flooded into the room. I had to squint to let my eyes adjust, but soon I was finally able to see where I left my braces.
There they were, lain haphazardly in the middle of the room. Must have accidentally tossed them farther than I meant. Just… barely out of reach. Sharnet saw me reaching and stepped towards them? What is- she picked them up and handed them to me! I… I hadn’t even thought to ask!
“Th-thank you,” I stammered before moving to place them on my legs. Sharnet watched silently as they self-tightened against my legs. Once they were done, I stood up from the bed, not a bit of pain in my joints.
“So…” Sharnet said with a yawn, “what now?”
“Now,” I responded, striding to the corner that we had left our packs, “is first-claw grooming.” Opening my pack, I pulled out my trusty brush.
“Oh!” Sharnet exclaimed, before she began to fidget. “I, um… I don’t have one. I just used the brushes they provided on the train.”
“That’s-nngh-okay,” I responded, removing a particularly stubborn tangle in my head fur, “I can help you groom.”
“Really?” She raised her ears in surprise. “You… you would groom me?”
“Of course!” I responded, removing some lint from my chest. “Miss Paly taught me how to do a ‘Quick and Proper’ grooming, as she calls it. Get out the lint and tangles, three times over before moving, long smooth movements, and there we go!” I posed myself to show I had made my torso fur properly flow.
“Wow.” Sharnet looked at me impressed. “Are you… and are you okay with grooming me?”
“Why, yes!” I swung my tail over to more easily brush its tip poff. “It would be rude not to. Isn’t that like what your parents taught you?”
Sharnet said nothing for a while as I continued to brush my tail. “They taught me, but I never really had anyone to go through with it,” she finally said. “I had always been moving after I moved out. Always after information for an article. I… I only ever used salons or combed myself.”
“Well then, I suppose this will be new for the both of us.” I waved my tail, feeling the swish of my smooth fur. “Even when Madam Pala was teaching me, she still cared for her own fur.” I sat down so I was more on her level. “So please forgive me if I’m a bit awkward. I will try my best.”
I held out my brush as Sharnet stared at me. She gripped the fur against her legs. Anxious. Did I misread the situation? Am I overstepping? Sharnet soon shook her head with a huff and stepped forward, turning her back to face me. “Could you… start with the back?”
I felt my tail wag. “Certainly.”
I set the brush against her neck and drug it down til I reached her tail. I could see her muscles tense beneath her fur, but by my second pass she had begun to relax. By the time I had reached her snow-touched shoulders, I heard a purr. She even started turning so I could brush the rest of her. This… this was good. Like I was part of a herd. A small herd, but a herd nonetheless.
As I was getting the final tangle out of her tail, I heard the sound of someone tapping against wood. I flicked my ears to listen. What was that? The tapping came again, but this time I noticed it came from the door. Curiosity got to me, and since I was done with her back, I handed Sharnet my brush. “I think I’m done, but you can detail to your preference.”
“Oh!” She took my brush in her hand, seemingly disappointed that our grooming session was done. She gave a light bow. “Thank you for that.”
I signaled her “your welcome” with my tail and strode over to the door. The tapping began a third time as I reached down and swung it open. A blue spaceman stood with his arm stretched out, explaining the source of the sound.
“Ah, Howdy!” Jacob’s speaker sounded, “ Ah know y’all don’t need as much sleep as us, so ah hope ah didn’t keep y’all waiting!”
I flicked my ears in greeting. “no, actually, we only recently woke up. How long were we asleep?”
“Way-all,” he drawled, placing his glove against the chin of his helmet, “ah only just got myself so… about seven hours… a claw and three quarters?”
My ears flew up in surprise, and I heard Sharnet give a stutter of confusion. We slept that much?
“I guess y’all slept in,” Jacob commented, “well ah was just wanting to let y’all know that breakfas-ah, “first-meal” is being served in the cafeteria! Most people have already headed down. Some human recipes, but everything is Venlil-safe! And ah do mean everything! Y’all want to come?”
I wagged my tail delightedly. “Absolutely! One sec first.” I left the door open as I strode over to my pack and pulled out my pill bottles. Heart strengthener, hormone blocker, painkillers! Just toss in the mouth and swallow.
“Tarlim,” Sharnet whispered to me, “are you sure about that? I mean, I’m able to handle just being around a human, but…” She looked back towards the door and pulled my head down to her level, which I allowed. She spoke in barely a whisper. “This would be them eating! What if they can’t resist…you know?”
I thought about her words. This would be a dangerous situation according to what most believe. But those “most” were following the words of people that allowed the correctional facility to exist. They were wrong about me, so I had complete confidence they were wrong about the humans, too.
“Remember Kaeden?” I whispered, “I don’t know if you noticed, but when he came out of the room, he had his mouth uncovered. You saw, right?”
She was shaking, but she affirmed with a flick of her ears.
I returned the gesture. “And his companions showed no signs of fear. Even from someone who considered themselves a monster.”
Sharnet lowered her ears in slight shame, so I allowed my tail to rest against her back. I thought back to my first meeting with Jacob, and I suddenly realized something. A bit strange, but it just might work! I patted Sharnet’s back with my tail, prompting her to look up at me. “Here, let me show you something.”
I opened my mouth slack-jawed, letting it hang open in front of Sharnet. As expected, she looked at me confusedly. “Why are you opening your mouth at me?”
I attempted to speak mostly without the use of my teeth, which was harder than I had anticipated, so I just closed my mouth and pointed to my teeth. “My teeth are bigger than his! What can he do that I can’t?”
I watched her face. For a moment, I was afraid it wouldn’t work, or even backfire as she looked even more confused. After a moment, though, it seemed to click in her head. Her ears rose again in realization. “You…You’re right.” She sounded almost in awe at the revelation. “Kaeden’s teeth were pretty small, yeah! I doubt they could even break skin!”
I brushed my tail against her back in confidence, “And you heard his companions. They both fought him and held their own! You should be able to…” I trailed off as her expression fell again. Right, loaded topic. Dumb brain. I shook my head and restarted from the top.
“If anything happens,” I said, “I promise I will stop them. You have my word, Sharnet. You’re safe here with me around.”
I looked at her, and for a brief moment, I thought I saw a hint of orange appear in her ears. “Th-thank you. I… I think I can go.”
I wagged my tail at her enthusiastically. “I knew you would.” I stood up from the bed. “I think that we’ve kept Jacob waiting long enough.”
With a wave of her tail, Sharnet moved to grab her belt pack and holopad. Once it was secure, we ducked out of the room. Jacob clapped his hands together. “Right then! Ah’ll lead y’all to the cafe!”
Apparently, it was on the bottom floor. I was about to enter the stairwell, but Jacob put a damper in those plans as he guided me to the elevator. I was surprised to find that I could technically fit inside with only a crouch instead of the borderline acrobatics I usually have to do.
The cafeteria was to the side of the lobby. Jacob led us through the door and I stood to get a look. It was rather sizable. Humans and Venlil were sitting at tables together, there was a small line at a food counter and… and…
What in the name of the Tenants is that sun-blessed smell?
I took a scenting breath, and there it was again. Salty, earthy, some cut grass, and a slight burn that seemed only to enhance the whole profile. Jacob was saying something, but I didn’t hear him as I strode forward, following the wonderful smell. It came from the counter. The people in the line parted as I strode forward. Where was it coming from? This? This? No…
THIS…
Before me was a platter consisting of 6 large green leaves holding a mixture of brown cubes and small pieces of white grains inside them. The server was a human wearing a white apron pelt, and they looked up at me as I practically drooled over the food. “Uh… can I help you?”
“What,” I pointed to the food, “are those things?”
The server looked between me and the unknown meal, thinking on what to say. “It’s… i-it’s tofu and rice on a lettuce leaf. Do you… want one?”
I wagged my tail before remembering who I was speaking to. “Yes. Very much, please. As soon as possible.”
One of the others in the line passed over a plate, and the server slid one of the leaves onto it. He added a spoon and handed it to me apprehensively. “Is there, uh, anything else I can get you…sir?”
I didn’t answer as I grabbed the plate. I scooped up a spoonful of the sticky grains and one of the cubes and, after only a moment of hesitation, slid it into my mouth.
Salty. Savory. Toothsome. Firm enough against my teeth, but not so firm as to crunch. Something in this sung sweet songs to my tongue. Satisfying a craving I barely knew I had. Something beyond my craving for Stringfruit. Like part of me declared that I had never even eaten before now. I placed the plate onto the platter.
“Sir,” the server spoke, “if it’s not too your liking you-”
He cut himself off as I picked up the platter. I needed it. This was mine now. I felt everyone starting at me, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t care. There was an empty four-seat table nearby that had the chairs detached, so I pulled one out with my food and sat down to feast.
“Okay,” I heard Jacob speak before I could properly dig in, “so you were definitely hungry.”
I looked at him and Sharnet. His eyes were hidden, but Sharnet’s expression held enough surprise for the both of them. Sharnet. She must know this ecstasy. I slid the one I had already started off the plate and replaced it with a fresh leaf and held it out to her. “Eat,” I practically demanded. She was taken aback by the forcefulness of it, but gingerly took the delicacy from my hand. With a satisfied huff, I picked up a full leaf from the platter and began to imitate a vacuum.
Oh, Glory! What wonders the humans could make! If I were to be served such a meal every day, I would kiss them on the mouth, predator or not! I had just finished my third leaf when the world once more came into focus around me. Jacob had gotten some kind of whiteish slurry and sat across from me with his helmet removed, a visor mask obscuring his eyes. Sharnet was next to me mostly staring at me in awe, having only eaten about half of her own portion.
But what caught my attention the most was the crowd around our table. A herd of no less than thirty humans and Venlil combined stared at me from around our table. The voice in the back of my mind told me I should be scared or nervous, but it was promptly silenced by another bite of tofu.
“Excuse me,” I heard a human step forward. He was male, his skin as dark as Noah’s appeared in the images. “Are you some kind of… Venbig?”
I swallowed my mouthful. “I’m sensing a pattern with that joke. But I assure you all that I am pure Venlil.”
The Venlil in the crowd seemed to relax at that assurance. Even though they were obviously comfortable being near humans, my presence still seemed to make them nervous. Wait, did THEY think I wasn’t a Venlil?
Distracting me from the sobering thought, a human with multiple pigments on his face stepped forward. “How are you so big? I mean, you’re huge!”
“It’s a condition,” I explained as I took another bite of tofu. “Marklen-Jauntes Syndrome. It’s very rare, but basically I never stopped growing.”
“Ah’m curious,” Jacob spoke, swallowing some of his white paste. “Bout how rare? It’s got a name an’ everything, so there’s musta been more like you.”
I wagged my tail. “From what I remember, recorded history shows about 301 individuals. That’s including myself.”
“What about now?” The dark skinned human asked. “Are there any others like you alive?”
“Yes, actually.” I moved to grab my pad, but I felt nothing on my shoulder. I remembered I had left it upstairs in my pack. “Well, I was going to show you, but I guess you’ll have to look it up. There is this white and tan woman somewhere on the leeward side of the planet towards the night. I haven’t met her, but if I remember correctly, I think she’d come up to my chin.” I tapped my snout. “I think her name was…”
“Lylina” I heard Sharnet say next to me, looking at her holonote. “That’s her name, Lylina. Says here that she lives near a small fruit town.”
“That’s her,” I swayed my tail towards Sharnet. “I got a no-reply message from her a year or so back with a well-wish inside. She’s the only other one with my condition that I personally know of.”
“And she only comes up to your chin?” A light-skinned man spoke. “You must be the tallest Venlil to ever exist!”
“Third, actually.” I finished another leaf’s worth of rice and tofu. “The tallest lived about 50 years ago. I’m about… four centimeters shorter than him.”
“The largest alive still ain’t no small feat, Tarlim!” Jacob praised.
“Yeah,” a man with blood-colored hair agreed, walking forward with a human data pad in their hands, “you must be famous! Can I get a picture?”
Famous. The translator gave it a positive meaning. I saw several other humans pulling out their small data pads and beginning to ask if they could get a photo as well. Even… even a couple Venlil did the same! They… wanted to be around me! They wanted me to be in a herd!
I wagged my tail and stood while I flicked my ears in a gesture of acceptance. The Venlil in the crowd caught on and started forwards, followed closely behind by their human partners. I was soon inundated with camera flashes and the sounds of lively conversation around me. These people didn’t cower away in fear or keep their distance. They were pressed against my fur, taking pictures with me and their human partners. Talking to me and answering in return! One kind Venlil even complimented me on my fur! It felt completely unreal, a dream made real! If I am dreaming now, I don’t ever want to wake up!
It took time, but all too soon I was posing for the last group. The humans had discovered that I could lift them onto my shoulders, so two asked me to do so at the same time. It wasn’t hard, and the crowd cheered my strength. After their pictures were done, I looked around to find my companions. I saw Jacob talking to a few humans. My ears caught him saying that his suit was a great idea and easier to wear than those masks. A couple touched their own visors as he showed off his helmet. So glad he’s having fun.
After a short glance through the crowd, I spied Sharnet talking to a pair of gray Venlil with her holonote held out. Her body language screamed nervousness. What were they talking about? Once I said my last good biddings, I shuffled closer to them so as not to disturb them. As much as I can, anyways.
“Yeah,” a gray male commented, “I can honestly say that this program has been an overall success. Empathy tests passing, the humans happily eat plants, anyone who denies those facts would have to be as bad as that captain who tortured Marcel and Slanek!”
Torture? That caused my ears to perk. “Hey, sorry to interrupt,” I strode over to them, “but did you say someone was tortured?”
The gray Venlil turned their attention towards me, and immediately I saw the telltale signs of fear that I’ve grown accustomed to. It’s lesser, but still there nevertheless. Guess he’s not in the exchange program. Must be an employee. “O-Oh, uh, you didn’t hear?”
I signed a no with my tail. His ears fell as he continued. “Marcel and Slanek had disappeared after the Arxur raid. They were thought dead like so many others, but it turned out that they got captured by a Federation ship! They held Marcel and brutally tortured him! Clawing at his eyes, starving him, beating him, they even threw Slanek in the same room with the full intent of watching him being eaten! And when he obviously wasn’t, the Gojid captain tried to shoot Marcel! The only reason they survived was because a Kholshian stood up to their captain and helped the two escape!”
“And thank god for them!” I heard Jacob speak behind me. He must have seen us talking and decided to come over. “Ah hope more people in your Federation act like that Kholshian than the Gojid! He ought to be a hero to his race!”
“I know!” The Venlil was quick to agree. Definitely used to humans. Just not me. “Can you believe it? How could someone just hold someone in one place to torture for their own amusement?”
I felt my expression fall. I can believe it very easily.
“Y-yes.” Sharnet stammered, gripping the fur on his legs, “It is horrible what some people can do.” She shook herself and took a more professional stance. “Do you mind if I quote you on that?”
“Sure, that’s fine with me.” He turned to his grey female companion, “what about you?”
The woman hadn’t said anything in the portion of conversation I had been present for. She had been staring at Sharnet with a contemplative look on her ears. “Have we met before?”
Sharnet flicked her ears in confusion. “I don’t… think so?”
“I’m sure we have. Those white spots on your head. I’ve seen them before…” the woman’s eyes widened in realization, “I loaded you onto the outgoing shuttle! What are you doing here? You were kicked out and sent to resocialization!”
Sharnet visibly shrunk at the accusation. “I, uh, I just…”
“Did you ditch your officers?” The woman continued, “they were supposed to collect you at Wayward Prime!”
Sharnet continued to stutter as my mind went back to the spaceport. Some officers near the entrance were asking if I caused a stampede, and then Sharnet and I walked out the building in a herd. Those officers had gotten there faster than they should.
“That, uh,” I spoke up, “that might have been partially my fault.”
“That doesn’t matter!” The woman exclaimed, pointing at Sharnet, “You are supposed to be with resocialization!” She pulled out a holonote from her own belt pack, “I’m calling security! You shouldn’t have been allowed in here in the first place!”
I looked down at Sharnet. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were darting all over the room. Her focus began to shift to a window facing outside. Tail twitching. Legs tense. The gray woman was calling in security, and Sharnet was... She was going to try and run!
With barely a thought, I reached down and picked her up. She jolted around in my arms and cried in surprise, but fell silent as I pulled her to my chest in a hug. “It’s okay,” I whispered in her ears, “you don’t need to run. I’m here. Focus... Breathe... Calm…”
As the seconds passed, her breathing slowly settled into a steady rhythm alongside my mantra as I repeated it back to her. Thankfully, my comforts seemed to be enough to stun the gray-furred woman into not completing her dial. I didn’t feel like having Sharnet escorted out in cuffs. “You don’t need to call that, ma’am. I’ll escort her out myself. We were just about to leave anyway.”
Jacob leaned back in surprise. “We are?”
I swayed my tail stiffly at him. “Yes. Since we slept for seven hours, you and I will need to head out soon to catch the next train to transfer back to Dawn Creek.”
“Dah!” Jacob exclaimed, “What da hail we waitin’ fer? C’mon!” He dashed right past the female guard heading out of the cafeteria.
I set Sharnet back on the ground and made to follow him. Wait. One last thing. I turned back and waved to the crowd. “It was great meeting all of… Y’all! I hope your time here on our planet is a good one!” I received a few cheers from the crowd, several giving joyful cries of “see ya Venbig!” I wagged my tail at the widespread acceptance and ducked out the door behind Sharnet and Jacob.
“Thank you for that,” Sharnet whispered, “again.”
I swayed my tail to signal that it was no bother. “I meant what I said, Sharnet. ‘If anything happens, I would stop them.’” I scratched an itch under my fur to give her a chance to respond. She didn't. I sighed. No avoiding it, I suppose. “So, you were supposed to meet some officers when you landed?”
Her ears pressed against her head as we all huddled into the elevator again. “I never got charged, but they did ordain that I had to go through at least 40 paws of resocialization.”
Jacob seemed to count something on his fingers before he tensed with realization. “Why, that’s about a month! S’pose it’s better than gettin’ charged for aggravated assault, though. What does… ‘resocialization’ entail?”
“I have to spend a set amount of time each paw with a herd chosen for me by the government. I’ll have to report to them every paw. Normally I could register my own herd, but my job sent me wandering so often that I never really…joined one.”
“Way-ell,” Jacob drawled, “what about your parents?”
She gave a short laugh. “It was deemed that direct family might reinforce certain undesirable behaviors rather than correct them. The herds are supposed to have at least some initial level of separation so that everyone actually socializes.”
I noticed a slight bitterness in her words. Something was being left unsaid. Possibly directed towards her parents, but whatever it was, she wasn’t ready to say.
The elevator opened onto the fifth floor and we stepped out to head back to the room. Jacob took the lead again as I talked to Sharnet. “I know you will be able to pass,” I told her as we walked. “I am, and always will be, blessed to have met you.”
Her tail sagged at my words. “You have done so much for me, Tarlim,” she whispered.
We reached the room to see Jacob come out of the bathroom with a small box. He then pulled a large, roughly cylindrical bag out from under the bed and started going through it. He nodded in approval before placing the box inside the bag and hefting it onto his shoulder. “Well, I’m all ready to go! Never unpacked, so it’s all still in here!”
I wagged my tail as I strode over to my shoulder pack. I easily slung it onto my back and faced my companions. “We can drop Sharnet off with the officers and then walk to the station.” I pulled out my pad and opened the train schedule. As I ducked out of the room. “Our train doesn’t depart for a bit, so we should have time for the trip.”
I looked back to see Jacob slip his other arm into a second sling and pull the bag so it balanced completely against his back. “Sounds like a plan,” he grunted at his first step. “Let’s get moving!”
Closing the door one last time, we headed back to the elevator for our final trip back down. “Tarlim?” Sharnet brushed her tail against my leg to get my attention. “You really have done so much for me. I just want you to know, when we next meet, I hope to have done something for you.”
I flicked my tail in appreciation at those words. Before we split for good, I decided that I should send her off with a proper goodbye hug. I knelt down and pulled her close as we entered the elevator. She purred in my arms. Even if we never met again, I would never regret this time we three spent together.
“Wait a minute!” Jacob broke the moment as the doors closed, “did you say we’re walkin’!?”
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This happened a few days ago, I was biding my time pending a corporate complaint which never came. I don't lose my cool very often on the job but wow I couldn't contain myself.
This gregarious guy checks in, by gregarious I mean youtube host level annoying, and he was all praises. He and his partner would stop by the desk for minutes of chatting everytime they unloaded a bag from their car--every time. Meanwhile the phone was ringing my GM was popping her head out every once in a while HSK was running around as usual and I had to listen to this guy go on and on about nothing in particular. I really felt like telling him to go to his room and leave me alone, but were in service so thats a no go.
Anyway during their last lap he pulled out a $20 and I thought he was going to buy something from the sundry but to my surprise he handed it to me for being "personable". I thanked him and off they went. A few minutes the phone rings and its them, they said one of their beds was not made up properly. I apologized and said I'll send HSK up right away and after a pause he said "well don't you want to come up here and confirm it for yourself?" I said HSK is still here they will be more than happy to help you out. He scoffed and hung up. I called the head HSK on the radio and told her whats up and she went to the room but they didn't answer.
About an hour later he called again this time asking about our lawn maintenance and if we had any maintenance staff on duty. I said no, maint. and HSK are off for the day but I can help--how may I help you? He hung up again. OK? I was expecting another call from him which happened not long after that and he demanded to speak to a manager. I told him all staff left for the day I'm on shift now etc. and he flat out lied and said a manager checked him in and said if he had any concerns he can contact her directly. I know this to be BS so I said well if she gave you her contact info I suggest you call her directly. He didn't so after a few more empty words he hung up again.
He didn't call back for several hours so I assumed that was over. He called and said he's having trouble booking an Uber could i set one up for him. I said no, you need the app and your own CC the hotel doesn't provide that service. He then asked me if I knew anyone who could give him a ride. I said no, we don't provide that service and he cut me off and said "Oh come on you must know someone."
I lost it there and told him we appreciate his business but if can't satisfy his needs hes more than welcome to leave without a refund. He acted all aghast like I give a f***. I was expecting him to make a corporate complaint but I guess not, probably asking some stranger for the address.

Pretty much the title. I am a go kart racer who was ranked top 10 in the UK, so I’m not new to racing by any means.
I have a G920 at home, where I can’t really seem to get any faster than the mid pack and I’m horribly inconsistent.
I went to a track the other weekend and jumped into a £4000 racing sun with proper wheel + pedals (not even load cells)
I managed to consistently beat my best lap times that I get at home, on a rig that I found very uncomfortable, I wasn’t using the brake pedal properly either so definitely had more time in me, and now I got home I can’t replicate the lap times or get anywhere within half a second.
In my head this tells me I need to invest in some proper gear to get me up to the level I want to be, but all I see is people saying that new wheel or pedals won’t make you faster.
To me the better sim rig felt uncomfortable, but the wheel was so much more natural being able to control the car a lot more.
I’m assuming the low FfB on the G920 is to blame.
Any recommendations for a wheel around the £500 mark?
Is this just in my head or does my “evidence” make sense?
The setup was exactly the same on both rigs
My home rig is decent, 50inch TV, playseat cockpit, just a cheap G920
Thanks I’m advance

After an off-season of upheaval that was meant to propel Ferrari back to glory, the opening weeks of the 2023 Formula 1 season have cast doubt over whether the Italian team are moving in the right direction.
The sport's most famous team removed Mattia Binotto from his role as team principal at the end of a 2022 campaign that had promised much but ended in disappointment, before hiring Frederic Vasseur from Alfa Romeo to fill the position.
While Binotto's reign had led to the production of a very fast car that was a match - at least in terms of pure pace - for Red Bull for the first half of last season, a combination of poor reliability and strategic errors would see Charles Leclerc lose touch with Max Verstappen, who ultimately eased to his second successive title.
The hope was that Vasseur, an affable yet highly respected figure, would be able to implement the level of discipline required to mount a sustained challenge, and the Frenchman left no doubt over the winter that ending the team's 15-year drivers' championship drought was his immediate target.
However, two races into the new season, Ferrari appear as far away as ever from glory - so what has gone wrong?
Ferrari's biggest problem in 2022 was reliability, each driver twice retired from races during the first half of the season, which ultimately led the team to turn down their engines for the second half of the campaign, making them less competitive.
In addition to the crucial loss of points from the DNFs, there would also be the knock-on impact of grid penalties from exceeding the allotted number of engine parts allowed for the season.
Making sure their 2023 car was reliable was Ferrari's most important task over the winter, and one they appeared confident they had succeeded in as the new season approached.
However, that was proven not to be the case when Leclerc retired from the opening race of the season in Bahrain as a result of an issue with his control electronics unit, which had already been changed ahead of the race.
Not only did Leclerc retire but given he had used the two control electronics units that are allowed for the entire season, he had to take a 10-place grid penalty in Saudi Arabia - in just the second round of a 23-race campaign - for using a third.
The team's uncertainty over their reliability was further evidenced by both Leclerc and team-mate Carlos Sainz being fitted with entirely new power units for the Saudi Arabian GP.
Speaking after the race, Vasseur said Ferrari had taken a "step forward" as both Leclerc and Sainz made it to the end without engine issues.
"The issue we had in Bahrain was unexpected because it was the first time we had a control unit failure and it's why we changed the engine for today just to be sure that we are starting from a clean sheet," Vasseur said.
At this stage, it is hard to be convinced that Ferrari are completely on top of their reliability issues.
Despite Ferrari's 2022 reliability issues, there was little doubt that when the engine was turned up the F1-75 was very quick. There has so far been little to no evidence that the SF-23 is anywhere near as competitive.
Before his retirement in Bahrain, Leclerc was heading for third place but was no match for the Red Bulls in front of him, while Sainz was overtaken by Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, who ultimately took the final spot on the podium.
There were plenty of excuses made both by and for Ferrari after the season's opener, with many onlookers suggesting the Bahrain circuit didn't suit the car and that they would be far more competitive in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Vasseur claimed that they had got their set-up wrong in Bahrain and that adjusting it would lead to significant performance gains in Jeddah, with less severe tyre degradation a key expected consequence.
With that in mind, the result two weeks later in Saudi Arabia was verging on disastrous. The Ferrari duo finished behind both Mercedes cars as well as Alonso, who once more took third behind the Red Bulls.
There was a little bit of misfortune for Ferrari with the timing of the Safety Car in Jeddah, but it was clear they are currently in a battle for second with Aston Martin and Mercedes, rather than anywhere near challenging the reigning constructors' champions.
One theory was that Ferrari may still have been running their engines below full capacity after the opening-race scare, but the team insisted that was not the case.
While it was clear Ferrari particularly struggled on the hard tyre compound in Jeddah, Sainz hinted that their biggest issue is struggling to follow other cars.
"We're not where we want to be right now in terms of race pace, tyre [degradation], balance, dirty air when following, we just struggle a bit," the Spaniard said after the race.
"If we already overheat the tyres in clean air, imagine following. We just eat them alive and we need clean air to produce some kind of decent lap time."
This time around, Vasseur was also less optimistic in his outlook.
"The second stint we were in a position to push and the gap was huge," he said. "I think in 30 laps they gave us something like 25 seconds, so you can do the calculation."
After reliability, Ferrari's second biggest issue in 2022 was their strategy, as a series of mistakes cost Leclerc points.
Nothing went wrong strategy-wise in Bahrain, and Ferrari even looked to have got one over on Aston Martin in Jeddah as they appeared to dummy Lance Stroll into stopping before Sainz, which enabled the Spaniard to get past when he pitted a couple of laps later.
However, the good times wouldn't last long. When Stroll's retirement brought out a Safety Car, the team were late in informing Leclerc that he was able to push up until reaching a certain point of the track.
Leclerc was told by his engineer: "Try to push from Safety Car line one. Hamilton just pitted."
He then replied: "Xavi, you need to tell me that before!"
Leclerc lost a place to Lewis Hamilton and spent the rest of the race in seventh stuck behind Sainz, who was overtaken by the Mercedes just after the restart.
Vasseur attempted to play down the incident after the race but admitted there had been a "miscommunication".
"It was not a good call, but the situation is what it is," Vasseur said. "But it's not the main issue and I think it would be a mistake from our side to be focused on it.
"It was a miscommunication, and we'll have to speak, have to fix it, but it's not the main issue at all over the weekend."
It might not be the main issue, but it is another one on a growing list for Vasseur.
While it is undoubtedly far too early to judge Vasseur, it has not been the start he would have hoped for.
Sacking Binotto always had the potential to be problematic given the Italian's popularity within a team he had been with since 1995.
There has already been evidence that Binotto's departure has unsettled key figures, with head of vehicle concept David Sanchez's switch to McLaren having been confirmed on Thursday.
There has also been speculation over the future of Laurent Mekies, but speaking ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP, Vasseur insisted his racing director would not be leaving.
"I don't know what's happened in the past with Laurent, but I've known Laurent for 25 years or something like this," Vasseur said.
"I trust him. We have a very good collaboration together and he will be one of the pillars of the future of the company."
Vasseur's easy-going approach to the high-pressured sport has seen Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz nickname the Frenchman 'laughing Fred Vasseur', but the 54-year-old admitted in Jeddah that the task of restoring Ferrari to greatness may have been bigger than he'd imagined.
Asked if he now fully appreciated the size of his challenge, Vasseur said: "Yeah, but I'm not thinking about myself.
"In this situation we have to think about the team and how to improve the situation."
The good news for Ferrari fans is that this is Formula 1's longest ever season, with 23 scheduled races all being shown live on Sky Sports - so there is plenty of time to turn things around.
Looking at Ferrari's situation from a very positive perspective, the control electronics failure can be viewed as a somewhat freak issue that the team is on top of, while Vasseur says they now understand their general lack of performance and can start addressing it.
Ferrari will bring "small updates" to next weekend's Australian Grand Prix but will then have the rare phenomenon of a near-month long early-season break, as a result of the cancellation of the Chinese GP.
Theoretically, the break should give Ferrari - and the rest of the chasing pack - a good opportunity to make gains on Red Bull.
"We have to continue to push," Vasseur said in Jeddah. "It's not the right attitude to think about the gap and whether we can close it. We have to be focused on ourselves, but we know where we are weak and have to improve on it. We'll see what the outcome is when we take a decent step.
"The main issue we have today is to be at a maximum throughout the weekend. We're not able to extract 100 per cent of the car in every single session. We have to be focused on this before we can talk about updates."
Vasseur may get the benefit of the doubt over the coming weeks, but by the time the F1 season arrives in Imola for the Emilia-Romagna GP in mid-May, the Tifosi will be expecting to see evidence of his impact.
Source: https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12474/12841212/ferraris-tough-start-to-the-2023-formula-1-season-analysed-what-has-gone-wrong

Greetings! This chapter sets the stage, does a bit of worldbuilding, and expands on our absolute cinnamon roll of an alien deuteragonist.
Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoy. :)

CHAPTER 2

15 minutes ago
——
Y’ggdrasog nervously whistled to himself as he remotely piloted an unmanned stealth drone from his cloaked ship in the upper atmosphere of the alien planet, yet every so often did a happy little wiggle in his seat at the terminal. Despite the danger in what he was doing, he was shaking with excitement and literally glowing with glee (which, if you were curious, happened to be a lovely shade of banana-yellow).
But my apologies, dear reader; I’m getting ahead of myself.
You see, Y’ggdrasog worked as a galactic interplanetary system scout, colloquially known as a “spacer” among the citizens of the Ul’dril Galactic Collective (a governmental alliance between a wide variety of different sapient species that also happened to be his employer). His main function was piloting his personal scout ship to uncharted star systems to summarily un-unchart them.
While in this line of employment, he had been witness to countless wondrous things. He had seen stars go supernova, witnessed space dust forming beautiful nebulas tens of lightyears wide, and caught the frosted trails of comets slinging close enough to a star to off-gas their icy payloads. But nothing even came close to this, to every spacer’s wildest, most fantastical dream discovery:
LIFE! And not just any life, SAPIENT LIFE!
As the drone flew through the sky, descending towards the surface of the planet below, he reminisced on that fateful day approximately six planetary months ago…
He had been scouting the ice and gas giants in this yet-uncharted solar system, scanning their composition with the unmanned probe-drone he used to sample geological deposits, take gas samples and so on to determine if they could be possible new sources of rare elements to harvest for the Collective. He had just finished probing the seventh planet out from the star when he suddenly picked up multiple abnormal readings originating from the ocean-planet of the system. He sighed, figuring it would just be the usual; some leftovers from a solar flare that affected its magnetosphere or some such.
As he listened in through his radiation wavelength analyzer, he expected to hear the meaningless, purposeless static he had heard hundreds of times before. Instead, he heard strange patterns. Hang on, was that… were those- They were! Voices, in a language he didn’t recognize.
He recorded a sample, then pulled up his auto-translator and had his ship’s analytical programs study it, in case it was a distress call from some poor sap who had crash-landed their spacecraft. …But not a single known language was a match.
He scratched his head, puzzled. Could it be a code of some sort? It wasn’t uncommon for smugglers, pirates, spies, and other “off-the-books” types to hole up on uncharted worlds and use coded verbage to prevent detection by Collective authorities. He had the ship analyze it to at least determine what Collective species the vocal cords that produced them were, but again, no matches, not even when he had it scan the audio samples for possible voice-altering.
He sat back in his pilot seat, stumped. Then, he started connecting the dots.
If the vocal cords producing these noises weren’t recognized as a species already included in the Collective, that meant these were the voices of a species unknown to the Collective. An unknown species, but one that was was nonetheless smart enough to use radio waves…
His eyes flew open, and his bioluminescence began to glow the pure white of sudden realization.
…BY THE SPIRITS, IT WAS A NEW SAPIENT SPECIES!
He leapt up from his chair, and would have nearly deafened anyone nearby with the joyfully excited noises he started to make.
…Luckily, however, he was in space. And after all, in space, no one can hear you squee.
It took him nearly an hour to calm down enough to call it in over his quantum communicator and provide the audio samples he had recorded, then another hour to reassure his liaison on the other end countless times that no, this was not a joke, this was not a lie, an elaborate prank or some such- yes, he would be more than willing to testify to the truth of his statements in a Collective court, and yes, this was in fact the once-in-multiple-millennia moment he and most every spacer in the entirety of the Collective always dreamed of:
THIS WAS A NEW FIRST CONTACT!!!
…As Y’ggdrasog left Memory Lane and turned back onto Present Day Boulevard, he let the controls go for a second and proceeded to spin around in his chair in sheer excitement whilst giggling like a madman, literally glowing with giddiness, before swiftly grabbing the control stick again before the drone drifted off course.
HE found a new sapient species! HE did! He’d be in the Collective history archives for the rest of time!
…Months of preparations had to be done beforehand, of course. He had to wait a few long, loooong days on the outskirts of the solar system with his ship in full stealth-mode (so as to avoid attracting attention from the new species until the time was right) before a truly staggering amount of Collective ships arrived, chock-full of top experts in all sorts of social and scientific fields to fill any conceivable role in the analysis of this new species.
While he wasn’t allowed to participate in the work himself or see most of what they were doing, he was nonetheless ecstatic with the knowledge that the work was being done all because of him. Plus, at least he could attend certain intelligence briefings on their main findings as well as look at heavily-redacted versions of some of the results of their endeavors.
Various scientists from the myriad Collective species and dozens more scientific disciplines had gathered together, set up shop within a day and gotten to work. They performed long-distance surface scans, mapped the planetary geography, and analyzed their atmosphere and planetary conditions to determine what Collective species might be compatible for potentially cohabitating with them.
Y’ggdrasog was delighted to learn that they utilized oxygen for respiration just as his species (lumigog) and tens of others in the Collective did, in contrast to Collective species who had to have, say, an atmosphere mostly composed of carbon dioxide, who were out of luck.
Additionally, they drank the same liquid water for fluid regulation in their bodies as his own people did. …Though admittedly, at a much narrower spectrum of salinity than his own species was capable of tolerating. He found that a bit tragic; there was so much water to be found in their homeworld’s oceans. Yet unlike his own people, who could drink from nearly any water on their homeworld, these “humans” could only drink what they called “freshwater.”
However, any sadness he felt about their situation faded when he learned that the gravity of their homeworld was only 1.04x that of his own species’ homeworld; this meant that at least in the case of lumigogs, the answer of cohabitation was a very solid “yes!”
Moving along, the scientists in charge of engineering and military endeavors surreptitiously analyzed the humans’ levels of technology to determine their capabilities, if they were a potential threat to the Collective, and so on; they were deemed, to quote the spokesman of the Collective military, “mostly harmless.”
Y’ggdrasog thought this might be a bit unfair. …That is, until he read the reports, and found yet another reason to pity them. From what little he was able to read of the heavily-redacted documents, the humans were very, VERY primitive. Spirits, they hadn’t even developed fusion yet!
…Still, that was all the more reason to help them; and to do so, they needed a proper line of communication. Countless diplomats, ambassadors, emissaries and representatives of every Collective race were attending seminars on all the sociological experts were learning about the species’ social norms across distinct cultures. And most importantly, the linguistic experts and etymologists got the ball rolling for the true-AI algorithms of the larger vessels (far more complex than his own ship’s operating systems, which only measured in at a few paltry yottabytes) to sort out the languages these “humans” used.
…Speaking of, just how many languages did they need?! With each additional language that was added to the auto-translator databases, he thought surely this one will be the last, but no! You couldn’t swing around a “noodle” of “spaghetti” (the humans always seemed to choose such silly names for their food) without hitting someone speaking a new language!
But all the pity, sadness and frustration he felt was outweighed by the jubilation he felt knowing that all these countless man-hours of hundreds of individuals per each and every Collective species were happening because of him. All these people were here because HE found them, and he was ecstatic at the impossibly exciting prospect of welcoming this new species into the Collective- or on the off chance they didn’t wish to join them, it was determined that it was safe to at least uplift them technologically so that they could be potential new allies, as well as potentially provide new avenues for trade and commerce of never-before-seen exotic goods. After all, there was hardly any risk in doing so, as they were quite literally outnumbered by over a million to one by the allied races of the Collective.
…And after all that, when they had quadruple-checked everything, then quadruple-checked it again to be absolutely sure, the day of first contact FINALLY came. Everyone brought out the celebratory drinks, snacks and party favors. The diplomats sent out their messages in hundreds of human languages declaring a desire for peaceful contact, promises to assist them in the technological uplifting of their species to a post-scarcity way of life and an offer to join the Collective for the benefit of all parties involved, and THEN…
…
……
…Nothing.
No response…
After a few nervous, awkward hours of sitting alongside the other low-ranking crewmates of the larger vessels, he and all those around him got orders of radio silence from high command and for all the “non-essential” personnel to return to their ships and wait for further orders.
As he remembered the sinking feeling he’d experienced at that moment, Y’ggdrasog unconsciously gripped the drone control stick much tighter than necessary.
…All that waiting, the agonizing waiting for them to greet this new species, the one HE found, and for what?
More. Thrice. Damned. WAITING.
…But this time, there wasn’t even a payoff to look forward to, and no one above would tell him what was going on. He didn’t know why there was suddenly so much smoke in the air of the planet, nor what all those bright flashes lighting up the atmosphere midway through the first day were- and there were certainly no answers coming from high command.
He had to sit there in his spacecraft, and just… wait.
One planetary day passed. Then another. Then another, and so on.
In the downtime, he read and reread the guidelines for first contact back to back over and over again, trying to find out what the possible reason for the wait could be. …Unfortunately, all that availed him was eye strain and an extreme amount of boredom from trudging through all the legalese.
After a week of sitting around, watching the planet slowly spin beneath him while in orbit, he couldn’t stand it any longer. He needed to know what was wrong. He NEEDED to act- if only to silence the creeping dread that had slowly but surely permeated his entire being. A dread born of the worry that something had gone horribly, catastrophically wrong…
And thus, an idea formed: His drone.
He knew the humans’ tech levels; there was a smaller chance they could detect him than the literally astronomically low odds of him finding this species to begin with. …Instead, he was far more worried about the potential ramifications if anyone from high command knew what he was up to.
Long before the radio silence commenced, he was told in no uncertain terms that no, he couldn’t scan the planet, no, he couldn’t act as an ambassador, YES, they really meant it, and NO, it didn’t matter that “he really really REALLY wanted to help somehow, please please pleasepleasePLEASE-” …and after that last bit, they shut down his outgoing comms to high command for a full planetary month.
^…Jerks.
Er- more importantly, he was told that while no, he couldn’t help in the preparation process, after first contact commenced his main function would be to do what he did best. Scouting and scanning to tease out any additional information he could on the planet’s natural resources in order to assist with the technological uplift process.
The thing is, they had given no specific time frame- …just “after first contact commenced.”
Technically, the current time frame satisfied that condition.
So technically, he wasn’t doing anything he wasn’t supposed to, he was just- ^…uh… …t-taking initiative!
They couldn’t court-martial him for just doing a little scanning here and there to get ahead of his own workload, surely.
…And it would just be an entirely coincidental, happy accident if while doing this he managed to find out what in the name of the spirits above was happening.
And so he had slowly, carefully moved his ship in such a way that he was currently orbiting in what he hoped was the blind spot of most of the ships of any higher-ups.
…Purely so as to, uh- better position his drone’s entry point into the atmosphere, yes! Rest assured, he was only motivated by- um… a-avoiding negative weather patterns. ^{…Or something like that.}
Once in position, he released and directed it towards the planetary surface.
If lumigogs had sweat glands, his would have been in nervous overdrive as the drone descended through the atmosphere.
Would he be detected? Would this all be for naught?
He waited, glancing between the ships around him and the drone’s interface on his monitor, but from his readings on the other vessels it seemed like all the command ships’ sensors were focused on the bigger population centers of the planet. He let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He was safe- if only for now.
…He’d have to focus on a rural area. Despite every loophole and excuse he could come up with, he’d still be much better off remaining undetected and not interfering in whatever might be going on in more concentrated pockets of the species. It would likely take much longer to gather information this way than heading towards the larger population centers in search of clues, but he could still poke around on the sly for any information he could tease out from the surroundings.
…And hopefully then he could finally get the answers he so desperately craved.
<“Alter descent velocity. Slow to 50% speed and activate autopilot mode.”>
Y’ggdrasog looked at the aerial scans, deciding that what seemed to be an area focused on harvesting crops with a long road running alongside it dotted with the occasional primitive ground vehicle would be as good a place to start as any.
He highlighted the road with a flick of a clawed finger.
<”Descend to 100 meters above planet surface, then follow highlighted path at 20% speed. Proceed.”>
As the drone dutifully obeyed his commands and traveled along the stretch of paved road for a time, he was surprised at the lack of humans to be found despite the vehicles present. Each and every one had seemingly been abandoned; they all sat still, unmoving. His curiosity piqued, he highlighted a few of them in the control interface.
<“Halt forward momentum. Descend to 50 meters from planetary surface. Scan and analyze condition of marked targets.”>
As he finished his verbal command, the familiar synthesized voice of his drone’s onboard computer blared to life from the speakers of his terminal.

He shook his head, puzzled.
<“What happened here…? …Alright, ascend, 300 meters from planetary surface. Continue forward movement following the highlighted path, 15% speed.”>
Farther and farther the road stretched, but he didn’t see a single human upon it, nor in the surrounding area. He sighed and absent-mindedly gazed around at the surrounding environment. He couldn’t help but marvel at how- well, alien it all looked. The taller plant life he saw appeared to be quite complex, their stems covered in thick fiber and their extremities full of- oh, what was the word, “leaves?”
…He hadn’t paid all that much attention during the portions of his schooling that covered exotic alien plant life found on feral worlds and the various homeworlds of the other races of the Collective. He figured he’d never really need to interact with much beyond the giant fungal pods, great lichen growths and so on of his homeworld. He was a spacer for spirits’ sake, not a xenobotanist, and-
…Wait, what was that?
<“Halt forward momentum. Reverse 50 meters. Pan visual sensors left, 30 degrees.”>
He squinted at the incoming visual feed. He was right, there was something laying in that ditch! Probably just a random piece of detritus, but better safe than sorry. He highlighted it.
<”Scan target. Assess.”>

<”...Descend toward target, 5% speed.. 2%... halt.”>
His eyes narrowed further as he zoomed the forward visual lens in. Whatever it was, it looked to be a biped, and-
…Wait a minute, he recognized that body structure! Spirits be praised, this had to be one of the members of the new species!
It- they, he corrected himself- had pale skin, long, dark brown fur atop their head, and were wearing clothing covering their torso and legs- though much of it was stained red, running all down the left side of their body.
What were they doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere? And why were they laying in a ditch, unmoving? …Were they ok?
<”Scan target, and establish connection to ship auto-doc subsystem. Assess physical condition and cross-reference with known anatomical data of species designation: human.”>

Y’ggdrasog nervously swallowed, trying to center himself and focus despite what he had just heard. Well, that certainly answered that; no, she very much was NOT ok. Whatever had happened to her, it really messed her up.
<”Analyze if damage sustained is life-threatening without intervention given circumstances and location.”>

He swore under his breath.
<”...Expand and clarify analysis.”>

<”C-certainty of analysis conclusion…?”>

He put his head in his hands, his bioluminescence flickering between several colors- none of them good. Spirits above... She was going to die unless someone helped her!
…
…But he was in no position to do so…
He knew deep down that he was deluding himself if he thought he could get away with this if he was caught. No amount of loophole abuse and“legitimate” excuses could save him from severe negative repercussions, not when it came to something as serious as first contact.

He was already risking enough as it was…

Maybe he could let someone in one of the other ships know- no, that would give away that he’d been poking around on the sly…

Maybe- maybe someone else would find her in time, and they could save her? Or maybe, despite the odds, she might just get better on her own? Even if it took her past the 1.3 cycle mark to do so, there was still a- his brow furrowed as he did the math- 0.0000028% chance that she could survive, and a chance was a chance! …Right…?

No one would know if he didn’t intervene. It would be so easy- no chance of getting caught, no risk, no danger, just pull the drone-prone back to the ship, return to his original position, scrub the flight logs, and-

…
……
…No.
No, she’s not.
He opened his eyes and spoke, voice full of grim certainty.
<”Descend to two meters above highlighted subject. Very, VERY carefully use stasis field to attach to subject, entangle her matter with an equivalent mass of carbon from the fabricator hold, then return to quantum anchor point with cargo and safely lower the subject prone beside the drone chassis. Proceed.”>

He got up from the terminal and took off for the drone bay as fast as his taloned feet could carry him, one thought repeating itself over and over in his head as he went, a mantra of sorts:

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What Is Arbitrum (ARB)?

Arbitrum is an Ethereum layer-two (L2) scaling solution. It uses optimistic rollups to achieve its goal of improving speed, scalability and cost-efficiency on Ethereum. Arbitrum benefits from the security and compatibility of Ethereum. Another benefit is the higher throughput and lower fees compared to Ethereum. That is made possible thanks to moving most of the computation and storage load off-chain.
Arbitrum’s native token is called ARB and is used for governance. Offchain Labs, the developers behind Arbitrum, announced the shift to a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) structure — the Arbitrum DAO. ARB holders can vote on proposals that affect the features, protocol upgrades, funds allocation and election of a Security Council.
Arbitrum has an ambitious roadmap for 2023, which includes: Launching its own layer-three solution called Orbit; Enabling developers to deploy programs written in popular programming languages like Rust, C++, and more using Stylus; Expanding its validator set to include more independent institutional validators; Moving its protocol to layer two with Arbitrum One.
On March 16, 2023, Arbitrum announced their highly anticipated airdrop of ARB. The token will be airdropped to early users and DAOs building on Arbitrum, with 12.75% of the total supply to be distributed. Recipients were rewarded on a point-based system depending on their interaction with the Arbitrum network until a cutoff date of March 1, 2023. The token generation event is on March 23, 2023.

Who Are the Founders of Arbitrum?

Arbitrum is developed by Offchain Labs, a New York-based development company. Its founders are Ed Felten, Steven Goldfeder and Harry Kalodner, former Princeton University researchers with years of experience in computer science, cryptography and blockchain.
Ed Felten is a computer science professor at Princeton and served as President Obama’s Deputy CTO. He is the co-founder and Chief Scientist of Offchain Labs.
Steven Goldfeder is a computer scientist and entrepreneur who received his Ph.D. from Princeton. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Offchain Labs.
Harry Kalodner is a computer scientist and Ph.D. candidate at Princeton. He is also the co-founder and CTO of Offchain Labs.
In 2021, Offchain Labs announced that it raised $120 million in its latest Series B funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, valuing it at $1.2 billion. Other prominent investors include Polychain Capital, Pantera Capital, Mark Cuban and more

What Makes Arbitrum Unique?

Arbitrum uses optimistic rollups to stand out from other scaling solutions for Ethereum. It claims to offer several advantages over other optimistic rollup solutions, such as:
Compatibility: Arbitrum supports unmodified EVM contracts and transactions, meaning that any existing Ethereum DApp can run on Arbitrum without any code changes.
Scalability: Arbitrum can handle thousands of transactions per second with low fees and fast finality, while maintaining the security guarantees of Ethereum.
Flexibility: Arbitrum allows developers to deploy programs written in popular programming languages like Rust, C++, and more using Stylus, its upcoming EVM+ equivalence feature.
Decentralization: Arbitrum does not rely on any centralized operator or sequencer to order transactions. Instead, it uses a decentralized network of validators who stake ARB tokens and earn fees for securing the network.
Arbitrum also has a vibrant ecosystem of DApps, wallets, tools and partners that make it one of the leading scaling solutions for Ethereum.
Some of the protocols that are available on the network include: GMX (GMX), Treasure (MAGIC), Camelot (GRAIL), Radiant Capital (RDNT), Vela Exchange (VELA), ZyberSwap (ZYB), Dopex (DPX), PlutusDAO (PLS), TridentDAO (PSI), Jones DAO (JONES) and more.
The growth of the Arbitrum ecosystem can be seen from its total value locked (TVL) metric. According to DeFiLlama, Arbitrum's TVL reached a peak of $3.2 billion in November 2021 and currently stands at around $1.85 billion as of this writing. This makes it the highest TVL among all other Layer 2 ecosystems.

Related Pages:

Find out more about Optimism (OP) — another optimistic rollup on Ethereum
Learn how to add Arbitrum to Metamask.
Read our Ultimate Guide to the Arbitrum Ecosystem.
Read our Ultimate Guide to the Top Protocols by TVL on Arbitrum.
Get the latest crypto news and latest trading insights with CoinMarketCap Alexandria.

How Many Arbitrum (ARB) Coins Are There in Circulation?

ARB is the native governance token of Arbitrum. It will launch on March 23rd 2023, distributing 12.75% of the total supply of ARB tokens to eligible recipients and DAOs.
The utility of the ARB token is to enable decentralized governance of the Arbitrum ecosystem. ARB holders govern the Arbitrum network by voting on governance proposals for the Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova chains. They can also influence how funds of the DAO treasury will be used. Governance proposals can include upgrades to the chain, changes to network parameters, allocation of grants and bounties, integration of new features and more.
ARB does not work as a gas fee token like ETH does on the Ethereum network. Instead, the fees on Arbitrum are paid in ETH or any other ERC-20 token supported by DApps. This means that ARB holders do not need to spend their tokens to use Arbitrum services, but rather can stake them and earn fees for securing the network.
The total supply of ARB tokens is fixed at 10 billion. The token allocation is as follows: Arbitrum DAO treasury: 42.78% (4.278 billion), Offchain Labs teams and advisors: 26.94% (2.694 billion), Investors: 17.53% (1.753 billion), airdrop to users: 11.62% (1.162 billion), airdrop to DAOs: 1.13% (113 million).

How Is Arbitrum Secured?

Arbitrum derives its security from the Ethereum network, which provides consensus and finality for Arbitrum transactions. In other words, Ethereum guarantees the validity of the rollup’s off-chain computation and data availability behind the computation.
The use of optimistic rollups means Arbitrum executes transactions on the rollup outside of Ethereum, and bundle multiple transactions in a batch before submitting it to mainnet. As the term “optimistic” suggests, the off-chain transactions are assumed to be valid and no proof-of-validity is submitted. In case of a dispute, there is a time period after the rollup is submitted where anyone can challenge the transaction by submitting a fraud proof.

Where Can You Buy Arbitrum (ARB)?

Centralized exchanges Binance, Bybit, BitMEX, Poloniex, OKX, KuCoin and more have announced that they will be listing ARB.
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Sorry I know this is for learners but I feel like one again after today, passed in feb but have basically just been doing my commute and driving around my city. Today was my first longer journey on my own, only an hour and a half but the longest I've done and also my first real dual carriageway alone as the local one stays 50mph and I've only joined and left via the roundabouts so far.
Was going okay to start with but then started pouring down out of the blue which I think I dealt with fine but was stressful. Then got to the town I wanted and took a wrong turn despite following the satnav which meant going way out of my way, then the most terrifying hill start (somehow did it but thank god no one was behind because I rolled way more than I should have) and to top it off I just drove through a no entry bus lane to get into a supermarket because I wasn't focusing and by the time I saw the sign there was a bus behind me and I couldn't reverse (guessing I can expect a fine for that but dreading the risk of points).
Was gaining confidence but feel like I'm back to square one now. Questioning how I passed my test tbh, and the worst part is I still have to drive home.

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Previous.
Captain Vohr’Doe walked along the hall of the crew quarters, hoping that Kyle wasn’t in his ‘living’ room; there was something he'd had delivered to his equipment room that she really wanted to see, but didn’t think it would be prudent to simply ask to see it. As Captain, she had - of course - been given an inventory of the items he had delivered, and while a lot of it seemed to be a bit much - like the meat smoking pit, along with the filters to keep his room safe - there was one thing that she couldn’t quite put in that same category, regardless of how much upkeep it would need.
She very well could have put in a call to security to find his location, but she knew he would be either in his ‘room’, or in his ‘equipment room’, and it was good to take a walk among your crew from time to time; let them know that you don’t think of yourself as better than them. So it was that she greeted the members of her crew that she passed, taking the time to speak to them, and make sure they were doing well. And so it was that she finally made it to his room, and pushed the call button. After waiting a few moments, she pressed it again. Finally, she decided he wasn’t in his room, and turned to head towards the elevator to take her down. However, she had barely taken three steps when he turned the corner, prompting the slightest twinge of disappointment.
He was dressed in a black silk shirt, with a pair of pants that were made to have lots of room in the legs. The waist obviously fit him, and yet, the legs themselves seemed to be made for someone much larger than himself, as his legs had plenty of space to move around inside the pants. They also had a peculiar color scheme, as the left half was all black, and the right half was a deep, vibrant red. There were pockets about halfway down the legs, with metal chains hanging on them. She could also see that he was barefoot, and while there was no rule saying he had to, she was aware that his people usually wore shoes when out in public. But, he wasn’t hurting anyone - namely himself, in this instance - so she didn’t bother about it. He was also still wearing the sun-shades that he had on before, and she had to wonder as to why seeing as she had read that Sol was just as bright on Earth as the lights on the ship. Perhaps the mahn’ewe operate under dimmer lighting? Two years would be time enough to shift someone’s vision.
He had in his left hand his tablet, his face pointed entirely at the screen, and in his right was a plastic container, that was square-shaped, with rounded corners, the base of which was the size of his whole palm, and which flared out about an inch along its length upwards. It was mostly full with what appeared to be tiny, tan-gray seeds, and even as she watched, Kyle lifted it to his mouth and simply stuck his tongue out, using his saliva to adhere the seeds to his tongue. He was just lowering his hand - having retracted his tseed-covered tongue back into his mouth - when he stopped, and she got the feeling that he’d finally looked up, and saw her; which was solidified when he said,
“Hey, Cap’n; fancy seeing you down here.” She didn’t miss the note of trepidation in his voice.
“Well,” she began, “I actually came down to see you. Do you have a minute to talk?”
“Of course,” he replied, “Here, or…?”
She smiled, and said,
“Your room should do fine, unless you wish to go somewhere else?”
“Oh,” he replied, somewhat flustered, “No, my room’s fine; just a second…” and he made his way over to his door, opening it for her.
And upon the door opening, she was at first confused, as she was confronted by a wood-paneled wall about six feet from the door. Then she realized that these were the crates his things had been shipped in. He must have had more things in them than she’d originally thought, as he had yet to unpack it all even after three Standard days aboard this ship. However, when she stepped in, and walked around the corner around ten feet to her left, she saw an entirely different sight.
To her right was a 7’-tall entertainment center, about 5’-wide, and a monitor inside that took up the entire space from left to right, though it was only about 4’-tall. The top of the monitor was about level with the top of her chest, with a shelf above it that was filled with various personal effects. Most all of these were variations of a winged lizard that looked remarkably like the reptile aspects of the drahk’mihn, not least of all because they were all different colors.
There were what looked like egg-shaped geodes, the upper ‘faces’ missing about a quarter of the ‘shell’ the insides each dyed one of the six primary and secondary colors, with a miniature lizard curled protectively around its corresponding color. There was a timer-glass - the bottom bulb containing red sand - with the side ‘pillars’ that connected the ‘cage’ holding the glass center steady being one of these creatures on each side, mirrored by identical creatures on the ‘bottom’, relative to whichever was on the top at any given turning. There was a large figurine that was of a multi headed example of these creatures, one red body, with multiple other colored heads, one being red, but the others being blue, green, black, and white. Everywhere she looked, there were figurines, pictures, and posters - held to the wall with magnets, it looked like - all of them containing these creatures in some setting or another. Just as she was about to comment on them, a light turned on on a nearby table, and she looked in over to see a white orb made of plastic. In certain parts, there was obviously more plastic layered than in others, creating ‘shadows’ across its surface. As she studied it, the ‘shadows’ seemed to look almost like craters.
“Earth’s moon?” she asked, turning to look at Kyle, who - she just noticed - wasn’t looking at her. In fact, he seemed to be looking for something. As she watched, he scanned his room, looking over every surface, and even under chairs, and in the space under his desk in the corner where his legs would go. He didn’t seem to notice she said anything, taking several seconds before he turned, looking at her with a slightly surprised look on his face, saying,
“Hmm?” distractedly, until his mind seemed to catch up to what she’d said, as he followed that up with, “Oh, right; yeah, that’s Luna. It was only ‘illustrated’ to show the light side, so the other side isn’t ‘stenciled’ to show the cities on the dark side.”
“Oh,” she replied, “I didn’t realize that Earth’s moon was tidally locked... Well, I can certainly understand the sentiment: no matter how much I enjoy being out among the stars, surveying new plants, my home planet will always hold a special place in my heart.”
“Pur’Rosse?” he asked politely.
She gave a small laugh, and replied,
“No, I was born on one of our colony planets: Clash’Rept. It’s not very large, or particularly important, but it’s home… If I’m interrupting your search for something…?” she finished, gesturing for him to continue. She saw him go a little red, as he sheepishly chuckled, and it was at that moment that she noticed something else: while he was still wearing his glasses, the lenses were now completely clear, with no tint at all. It seemed that he noticed what she was looking at, as he went slightly cross-eyed, then gave another small laugh.
“Just a second.” he replied with a slight smile, as he finished giving his room a quick sweep, then entered his connected bathroom. After about a minute in there, he stepped out, took off the glasses, and set them down on his bedside table. “A week was more than enough time for the A.I. studying the things I sent back to be able to reverse-engineer their cloaking devices, and then upgrade it. With that, comes the tech to detect them, if they happen to try sneaking up on me again.”
The fact that the mahn’ewe had access to invisibility technology wasn’t lost on her, however, she chose a more… intelligent question to ask.
“And you expect them to come here?” she asked with a slight smile.
He looked a bit ‘on-the-spot’, and gave a smile of his own.
“Well,” he replied, “Not exactly ‘expect’, but let’s just say I’m acutely aware of the possibility.”
She nodded, conceding the point, and decided that was a good enough explanation, so she changed the topic.
“And what are these?” she asked with a slight smile, “They look vaguely familiar.”
Kyle smiled at this, and he replied in a genuinely happy tone,
“Dragons; they can be found in the mythos of just about every human culture in history. They can range from benevolence, to malicious, and everything in between. They usually have control over some element, from fire, to ice, to lightning. Some legends have them controlling every element, or just being all-powerful… Plus, they just look cool.” he finished excitedly.
“Well,” she replied in a slightly amused voice, “I have to agree with you, there.” finishing with a light chuckle.
The conversation seemed to stall there, and Kyle was the one to broach the subject.
“So, you wanted to talk to me?” he inquired, with a note of trepidation creeping back into his voice.
“I did.” she replied, with a gentle firmness; she didn’t want him to feel more threatened than he already - obviously - was, “It’s come to my attention that you haven’t been interacting with the ship beyond your two rooms, and that you give the most minimalist of replies when addressed by your fellow crew members. And while there’s no rule that you have to interact with the crew, I’ve been informed that you haven’t even been to the cafeteria to eat. Obviously, I have no problem with you having your own food and cookware,” here she gestured to the air filter hanging over a stovetop/oven in the corner, “But it’s starting to unnerve the crew a bit. You must understand how it looks to someone on the outside: all anyone is aware of is that you’re a Class 12 aggressor. No one knows why you’re classified as such, and I know you don’t want to tell the story to anyone else; hells, I doubt you would want me telling the story on your behalf.
“So the only thing they have to judge you off of is the official Federal rating on you, and your behavior you exhibit in front of them. Now, I’m not asking you to spend all of your free time fraternizing with everyone you see. However, if you could just start by going to eat with everyone else - perhaps go down to the gun range? - I’m sure that you can meet new people, who simply want to know you… I read your psych report: I know what you went through as a child. And while I can’t guarantee that no one on this ship will bring back memories of the tormentors of your childhood, I can guarantee that the majority will leave you pleasantly surprised,”
If what she’d learned from her interactions with the suun’mahs, and the kanfi’doe - not to mention Kah’Ri - was anything to judge by, then he was very clearly expressing guilt, with his head dropped, and him seeming to be unable to make eye contact. Finally he broke the silence, looking at her sheepishly, saying,
“How far d'you think I can push the ‘unpacking my massive amount of personal items’?” with a shy smile on his face.
That drew out a genuine laugh from her, and she smilingly replied with,
“I think you’ve pretty much used up that time. I’m sure we could pass it off as the only reason you’ve been so reclusive, but it won’t work for very much longer.”
Kyle gave a resigned sigh, and in a matching voice said,
“Alright, I’ll go out more besides, you’re right about the gun range: I’ve only ever shot any guns once, when a… an acquaintance brought his pistol and rifle on a camping trip. I was invited to go to this National Park by some people at work, and I didn’t have a really good reason to refuse… Anyway, I really do have a few more things to do in my equipment room, though; so, would tomorrow be okay?”
She smiled at this, and said,
“That would be acceptable, thank you.” she didn’t want to end on this note, however, so she cast her mind around for anything to talk about, and her mind latched onto something,
“What was that that you were eating when you were in the hallway?” she asked, gesturing to the plastic container he’d set down on his desk.
He smiled at this, and brightly replied,
“Oh, those’re sunflower seeds; well, sunflower kernels seeing as they’ve already been shelled.” and here, he walked over to a cabinet that was used for storing utility items, which did have a few cleaning supplies in the bottom, but the shelves were filled with snack foods. From one shelf at about his shoulder, he pulled an unopened, identical container, and tossed it to her. Having removed the plastic film around the edge of the lid, she opened it, and - mimicking Kyle - she stuck her tongue into the mass of kernels.
The kernels - themselves - had a light, almost bland taste to them, but in a good way. There was a definite taste to them, and not so little that she actually needed so many at a time, but also not so strong as to be overpowering. It was very much something that she could eat if she was feeling ill, and having trouble keeping down more rich flavored food. Plus, the salt was applied in such amount as to enhance the flavor, and not to overpower it. She couldn’t find anything wrong with it. However, one thing occurred to her, somewhat belatedly.
“Are you sure this is safe for me?” she asked with a small smile.
“Yeah,” he answered, smiling, “Kay’Eighty’s already gone through the medical records of the different species, at least, what’s available to the wider public. There’s not really much that we can eat that other species can’t, and there’s not really much that you couldn’t eat, anyways.”
“Well,” she began with a slight laugh, “That’s good to know… Speaking of Kay’Eighty, may I meet her?”
“Of course.” he replied, and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small blue box, that soon morphed into a foot-tall, human-shaped ‘robot’; though, ‘android’ would probably be a more fitting descriptor, at this point.
“Hello Captain Vohr’Doe,” she said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Captain Vohr’Doe smiled down at the tiny person, and replied,
“And you, as well. How are you enjoying your stay here; is there anything I can do to make your time here more…” She wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to say here: ‘inclusive’? ‘Enjoyable’? Whatever she wanted to say, it seemed that Kay’Eighty understood, as she responded with a polite smile, and to say,
“Thank you, Captain, but I have everything I need, supplied to me by the humans. All I need - really - is material to feed my nano-forge in the off chance that I were to lose any bots, for whatever reason, and - again - I have more than enough in storage.”
Not wanting to overstay her welcome, she decided to leave them to whatever they needed to do. So with farewells all around, she took her leave, carrying the container of sunflower kernels that Kyle gave her.
================
Ah’Sheen hated being so small, at times. At only a foot tall - or two feet long on all fours, and counting their tails - the miu’alfar were the smallest sapient species in the known galaxy. Though, it wasn’t the Federation - in and of itself - that made it a problem, as there were all sorts of workarounds that the Federation went out of its way to implement that were to the benefit of the smaller species. But in every civilization, there were always the extremists. People who thought themselves superior to others for whatever reason, and thought that gave them the right to bully others. And that led to ‘trickle-down’ bullying, which led to her current situation.
The three rahv’oyeck that had been harassing her had been content to hurl insults at her, mocking her for being so small, even though the rahv’oyeck didn’t grow taller than two feet, themselves. But when she’d turned the corner into the connecting path - on a street it would be referred to as an ‘alley’, and in this case, wasn’t covered by the security cameras - her vision went completely dark, as one - or all - of them manipulated the light from her eyes. Unfortunately for her, she had been close to the edge when this happened, and her momentum couldn’t be stopped so suddenly, as she’d sped up to try to get away from them. This led to her falling the ten feet to the floor below. Luckily, her people could survive greater falls with minimal injury; it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, though, as she rolled into a sitting position, a bit winded from the impact.
Of course, this led to a cacophony of laughter above her, which quickly came down to her level, accompanied by the flapping of their wings. She heard the female of the group talking, first.
“Wow” she said in amused awe, “You made her eyes into mirrors! How’d you do that?”
The one to her left - a male - replied in a smug voice,
“Yeah, my dad taught me about that: basically, you just have to reflect all the light from a surface, and it makes a mirror; takes a lot of focus, though.”
“So,” said the one in front of her, a male, “Where were you heading, rodent?”
“Please,” she replied, “Leave me alone; I won’t tell anyone, just let me go.”
“I don’t know,” the one who was apparently blocking her vision said with vindictive pleasure, “We were on our way to lunch, and I’m thinking you might just make a tasty meal.”
There was laughter, then the female said,
“She may be small, but I don’t think you could finish her by yourself.”
“Oh, didn’t you know?” he asked, “Rodents have collapsible spines; I bet I could swallow her whol-rgck!”
His voice cut off into a choking sound, as at the same time, her vision came back. The first thing she saw was the two rahv’oyeck who were directly in front of her, and to her right; both of whom were staring - with their beaks wide open - at something above them all, and to her left. Looking in that direction, she saw Kyle, and an instinct to run and hide flashed up inside of her at the sight of him.
The first thing she noticed was his face, which was twisted into a pained-looking rictus, a bastardization of the smile he gave to Kah’Ri at lunch the other day. Firstly, there were too many teeth visible; as well as his gums. And though she couldn’t see his eyes, she was instinctively sure that there was zero amusement behind that ‘smile’. Backing this up was his right arm extended all the way out to his side, who’s hand was currently wrapped around the throat of the rahv’oyeck who had used his Gift on her. The fingers on the end of his wings were scrabbling at Kyle’s hand, trying to free himself, but Kyle’s fingers might as well have been made of steel, for all the good it was doing him; he finally settled on hanging on to Kyle’s hand to relieve the pressure on his throat, which Kyle didn’t seem to be squeezing enough to entirely cut off his air, though his hand was visibly shaking from the obvious restraint. His voice reflected that almost-painful restraint of rage as he - in the icy voice of a psychotic murderer trying to sound innocent - said,
“You know, I thought I heard the squawking of a bunch of seagulls, but turns out it was actually laughter. And so I thought to myself, ‘Hey, I like to laugh; maybe these seagulls’ve got some jokes.' So I decided to come and find out: What’s so funny?”
The other two just stood there, beaks still open, and a tremble now running through their bodies as they stared on in obvious terror; here was the Class 12 ‘beast’ Kor’Rah was referencing the other day. After a few seconds of silence, Kyle gave a casual flick of his wrist, sending the bird in his hand fluttering behind him, and showing a supreme lack of concern for the life he was literally holding in his hand just moments before. At the same time, he bent forward, reaching out towards them. The other two obviously - along with her, she had to admit - thought that he was reaching for one of them, as they both fell over themselves trying to scramble away from his outstretched hand. However, he surprised them all by grabbing Ah’Sheen around her waist in an unexpectedly gentle - while expectedly firm - grip, and lifting her up, placing her on his left shoulder as he straightened up. Looking down at the two in front of them, he said in soft growl,
“You know, humans have two rules -” here, he looked to the side, and his voice momentarily took on a bit of a distracted tone, “Actually, humans have a lot of rules - but two main ones that you’re dangerously close to breaking unforgivably. First and foremost being: don’t mess with my friends.” and here, he walked past them, leaving them staring up at him. She didn’t want to seem like she was making fun of him, but she felt he was leaving himself open to it from the other three there, so she sent a tendril of thought to his mind, which he accepted, and through it she said,
‘You said there were two, but you only told them one.’
She felt the smirk he was suppressing, and he said back,
‘I know, but there’s always one who has to be Billy Badass.’
Almost as if on cue, they heard a rather hoarse voice behind them say,
“Yeah, and what’s number two?”
Kyle stopped dead, and slowly turned, as she felt him let the rage bubble back up to the surface. She felt vindictive smile crack his face, and he practically growled through clenched teeth,
“Fuck around, and find out.” and with that, he took a quick, hard step forward, causing all three of them to scramble around, and take to the air, flying in the complete opposite direction. Kyle gave a snort of laughter, and continued on the way he was going, which turned out to be to the elevator. He was about to push one of the buttons, when he froze, seeming to think of something.
“Um,” he began, “Where were you going, by the way?”
She gave a slight laugh, and said,
“Well, I was going to lunch; why, where are you going.”
“Oh,” he replied, “I was heading to my equipment room, but I can drop you off on my way.”
“Oh,” she said, “Well, if you’re not going, then I can wait for a while: they mentioned that they were heading to lunch, as well, and I don’t want to deal with that. You can set me down here: I’m sure they won’t try anything, again.”
But Kyle was still for a few seconds, before he pushed the button to take them to the equipment rooms.
“I got something that can hold you over till dinner.” he said as the doors began to close.
She wanted to decline - not because she was afraid of him, but because she didn’t want him to go through any undue effort on her part - but she thought better of it; if for no other reason, than to ‘force’ him to put her down would be to take another fall similar to the one she just took earlier, and she didn’t want to go through that again. Soon enough, they were in front of his equipment room, and he motioned for it to open, and she was confronted with a wall of wooden crates. Kyle didn’t seem to be bothered by it, as he turned to his left, and walked around the corner, revealing a mostly clear room. He had obviously put his stuff away, seeing as the room was mostly clear, with the only thing out of the ordinary was a big rectangular metal box in the far corner, and a bunch of large canvases on the walls. The canvases were all of various things, from a dark forest, to nebulae, to a ‘cartoon’ tree, with a large gray trunk, and purple leaves, with golden light shining through the cracks.
Kyle walked over to the box, setting her - along with his sunglasses - down on the desk that came with the room beside the box, he opened said box, pulling out two cylindrical plants with long, green leaves. Each was individually wrapped in plastic, and were quite obviously frozen. As he walked over to one of the closets that lined the walls, he opened it to reveal a large cooking pit. He walked a bit further in, and picked up a smaller pit, one that was just barely taller than herself. He set this one beside the larger one, filled it with lumps of what appeared to be coal, and set it alight. He reached up, and turned on what she took to be an air filter, judging by the sound of an air-intake. As he stepped back, her eyes moved past him, to the spot that was hidden from her view before, as this was on the other side of the box ‘wall’ he seemed to have purposely constructed, and she couldn’t help but gasp when she saw it.
There, to the right of his door - though you wouldn’t know that walking in, obviously - was a 10’-tall tree, and as unexpected as a tree on a ship would be, it was what the tree bore that was the real shocker. For all over it, from the highest branches, growing from vines that wrapped their ways around the trunk, to other, thicker vines that grew around the base, sprouting large green fruits, some of them even bigger than she was, as well as a yellow-tan plant that had almost sharp-looking leaves sprouting out of the top. Kyle followed her gaze, and in a smiling voice, said,
“Oh, yeah; that’s my fruit tree.” he said, as he walked over and picked her up, taking her over to the tree, “Those are apples: ‘red crisp’, there, and those are called ‘granny smith’. The red ones are sweeter, while the green ones have a more tangy bite to ‘em. Those’re ‘oranges’, and the larger ones are called ‘grapefruits’; ‘mangoes’, ‘pomegranates’, ‘peaches’, and ‘bananas’. On the trunk are red and green ‘grapes’, ‘strawberries’, ‘blackberries’, ‘raspberries’, ‘blueberries’, ‘passionfruit’, and ‘dragonfruit’. Down there are ‘watermelons’, and ‘pineapples’. Just a small sample of the fruits from Earth, but the ones I’m most familiar with.”
She was stuck staring in awe, and finally found her voice enough to ask,
“How are there so many different fruits on one tree?”
“Well, before the scientists moved on to manipulating the human genome, they started with plants. Besides making actual hybrids - like, mixing the qualities of multiple fruits together - they made hybrid plants wherein they grow multiple different instances of fruits, or vegetables, like this one.” and with this, he reached out, and pulled a large bunch of the ‘strawberries’ from the vines, using his shirt as a makeshift ‘basket’.
He then took her back to the desk, and set her down, then returned to the opened closet and retrieved a machine that looked like some kind of food processor: it was a large pitcher that sat in a smaller machine-base, with four small blades at the bottom of the pitcher. After he set that down on the desk, and plugged it in, he took the remaining leaves off of the strawberries, and dumped them - one by one as he finished with them - into the processor. Reopening the freezer, he scooped out some ice with a metal scoop, and filled the pitcher almost to the top. He then went over to another closet, and this one was more shallow - mostly a closet to hold coats - that had been converted into a liquor cabinet, stocked floor to ceiling with many different spirits of many different colors. He selected a clear bottle, and closed the closet, returning to the desk.
After he poured a measured amount into the pitcher, he put the lid on the top and - while holding it down, one finger hovering over one of the buttons, he looked over at her and said,
“This’s gonna be kinda loud.”
She covered her ears, and he pushed the button, activating the blades to begin pulverizing the contents of the pitcher. After almost a minute, the harsh crushing, grinding sound fell away, replaced by the loud wiring of mechanical parts. Kyle shut the machine off, and reached into a cabinet over the desk, pulling out two glasses, one several inches taller than the other. After he poured the delicious-smelling drink into the glasses, he handed her the smaller one, and she took an experimental sip: it was delicious., and she told him so.
After he had taken his own drink of the mix - and nodded his thanks to her - he reopened the box, this time reaching into the furthest-most left side, on the other side of the partition, where items that needed to be kept cold - but obviously not frozen - were kept, and pulled out a bowl with a lid on it. Looking over at her, he asked,
“How are you with… ‘jhode’yuus’, the drahk’mihn would call it; we call it ‘butter’ - at least, in English, we do.”
“That’s not a problem,” she replied, “Being a mammal, milk - and milk by-products - are easily digestible by herbivores; it’s the actual meat that we can’t process.”
“Cool.” was all he said, and proceeded to open the bowl, taking a plastic seal off the top. Out of the cabinet to the right of the one containing his glasses, he pulled a small rectangular box, from which he extracted two long sheets of some thin metallic material. He folded them in half long-ways, and cinched the ends together, the metal being extremely pliable. Taking a spoon out of one of the desk drawers, he then scooped a large dollop of the ‘butter’ into each ‘trough’ that he’d made, and opened the two containers, pulling out the vegetables inside, stripping the outer leaves from the seemingly now-thawed vegetables, revealing the yellow-white kernels that were hidden beneath.
“This’s called ‘corn’,” he stated, “More specifically, ‘corn-on-the-cob’. There are several ways to prepare corn, but by far the best way to do it is like this. You can boil it in a pot - sure - but I prefer to boil it in butter, on the grill.” and with that, he set each ‘cob’ of ‘corn’ on the bed of butter, closing the metal over the tops of each. He then took the metal-wrapped vegetables over to the pit, and set them on it, placing the lid back on the pit.
He came back, and sat down at the desk, taking a large - for her, anyway - drink from his glass, and she was suddenly struck by the silence. It occurred to her that asking ‘how have you been’ would be both hollow, and a bit invasive, seeing as they’d only met once. She looked up at him, wanting to say something, but still not knowing what to say, her mouth left slightly open. However, when she looked at him, she saw a strange smirk on his face, and before she could think of anything to say, he took the initiative, answering as if she’d asked a question.
“I’ve been good - well,” he said in a slightly distracted voice, “As good as can be expected, anyways. I’ve been mostly just unpacking; been doing that for the past three days. I haven’t encountered anyone tryin’ to mess with me, but I’m guessing that’s ‘cause they don’t wanna be killed - or eaten - by the ‘Class 12 monster’.” he finished with a smirk.
“Well,” she began in an almost flustered voice, “I’m sure that’s not…” she then thought better of her response, “Yeah, that’s probably it. There’s never been a Class 12 sapient species make it very long before driving themselves to extinction. People fear what they don’t know.”
“Yeah,” he replied easily, “I’m used to that. But we’re not really a ‘Class 12’ under most circumstances. I mean I’m sure you - as an expeditionist - know that a species isn’t rated on their everyday behavior, so much as their most extremes. And actually - for the most part - you’ll have to worry about humans trying to pet the various sapient races, as they’ll see them as just ‘too cute’.” he finished in an amused voice.
She hesitated for a moment, and found the courage to ask - albeit, in a timid voice -
“What… What made them classify you as a ‘12’, then?”
The look he gave her, it wasn’t anger; actually, it wasn’t anything. If she had to name the expression on his face, it would be ‘neutral’. However, there was a deepness to his eyes when he looked into hers, a dark pit of emotions that she felt could swallow her whole if she gazed too long into the abyss of his pupils. Then he blinked slowly, and that was replaced by a gentle sadness as he replied,
“Trust me, you don’t wanna know.” and though his voice had a note of that gentle sadness his eyes held, there was no anger, or offense; something happened on that ship that he knew would damage her. A notion crossed her mind then, of a temporarily insane example of the creature who wanted so badly to crush the life from the rahv’oyeck he held in his hand, with no filter, no control. A slight shiver went down her spine, and she gave a small nod of agreement. He gave her a gentle smile, and changed the subject.
For the next six Standard minutes, or so, they talked about their homes. He had given her his native language, stating it would be easier for them to speak in their own languages; he already had her’s, of course.
He told her about going camping back on Earth, the animals he saw, the wild apple tree he found, and even showed her photos on his personal communication device from Earth. And she was in awe at the beautiful landscapes he showed her, from green clearings in the middle of a vibrant forest, to a lake with a horizon of hills behind it, and even some animals, a lot of which looked unfamiliar, though she did see a black animal version of a galan’zhee. It was about as tall as the grass around it, and she was amazed when he told her that the grass was level with his own head. She wondered how he could take that picture with such a large apex predator looking at him - as it was in the picture - and she was shocked when he told her that all you have to do with 'black bears' is to make a lot of noise, and make yourself look big; that for all the damage they could do, they’re really just big balls of fear.
From there, he inquired about her home life, and so she told him about the colony planet she was born on. It was not really much different than the pictures on his device, with the notable exception that there were no predators larger than an adolescent miu’alfar, and those are very skittish as it is, avoiding any life forms bigger than themselves. There was also the notable difference - from Moor’Ess - of there being a definite day/night cycle, and how they didn’t need sunglasses to operate in brighter lights. He informed her that he wore them to protect his eyes, and that at home, he would block all windows from allowing natural light in.
It was during this that something from before occurred to her.
“Say, Kyle: did you really mean what you said to them, back there?” she asked a bit timidly.
Kyle scowled at the walled-off door, as if they were waiting outside.
“Damn straight.” he practically growled, then his expression cleared into one of slight confusion, and he looked over at her, saying, “Wh- um… Just so we’re like, on the same page here: what-uhh, what part did you mean?”
She laughed a little at this, and with a bit more confidence said,
“The part where you called me your friend.”
Kyle’s eyes opened a bit wider at that, and she got the distinct impression that he’d been caught off guard with that, but instead of trying to backtrack on it, he simply asked,
“Well, shouldn’t I?” with a funny little smile on his face.
“Well, no-” she replied, slightly flustered, “I mean, yes, I just… I mean, we just met; I didn’t want to assume… I mean…” she trailed off, not really knowing what to say. But to her relief, Kyle’s laugh that followed was one of polite amusement.
“It’s okay, I understand… Nah, humans are a social species, even introverts like myself. If there’s no reason *not* to be friends with someone, we can usually ‘buddy up’ fairly quickly. Add in the fact that we’ve been dreaming of ‘aliens’ since before we had radio waves, and most people out here’ll be hard pressed to find an enemy in humans. Not to mention that you all look like some kind of animal from back home, and yall’ll be havin’ to beat humans off with a stick; metaphorically speaking, of course…. Mostly, anyways…” to which they both had a good laugh.
Finally - though she barely noticed the time go by - he went to the pit and took the corn from the heat, and put the lid back on, closing the door behind him.
“I’ll deal with it all later,” he said with a small laugh, the metal-wrapped corn being held in his shirt, like the strawberries had been.
She chuckled, herself, as he pulled plates from one of the cabinets over the desk. After setting each ‘cob’ of corn down, he took the handle of the spoon, and used it to tear open the metal wrapping, spilling out the corn ,as well as the ‘butter’ it was cooked in; and the smell was absolutely divine. After he had poured out the contents of each wrap, and they had allowed it a couple minutes to cool, they dug in, with Kyle providing another large dollop of butter on each plate, instructing her that the best way to eat it is to slather it with butter, which was easiest done by simple rolling the corn in the butter.
It was delicious; better than the smell, even. For several minutes, they were both silent, each enjoying the crisp, rich taste of the Earth food. Finally, they had cleared the cobs of all the edible kernels, and had also each taken a bit of time to gnaw on the film that surrounded said kernels, that had stayed stuck to the cob. Kyle then went over to the tree and collected a large bunch of fruit, consisting of a couple peaches, a bunch of red grapes, a bunch of blackberries, and a few strawberries. He took them over to the desk, collected a bowl from another cabinet, and after retrieving a knife from the desk, began cutting up the bigger fruits into smaller pieces, depositing them in the bowl. After he was done, he shook the bowl around, effectively stirring the fruit without any utensils. He then set the bowl down, and retrieved two forks from the desk. He set one down in front of her and - with a slight smile -asked,
“You okay with sharin’ a bowl with me, or would you prefer your own?”
She picked up the fork and - without a word - began spearing pieces of fruit. He gave a small smile at that, and she could have sworn she saw a bit of relief in that smile, but she was focused on eating her dessert. And it was delicious, as well.
Not that any of the fruit she was eating was necessarily better than any she’d eaten before, but it was all entirely new, and all delicious. She particularly liked the peaches, though calling them the ‘best’ was only possible by a small margin.
They wound up spending all day in his room, talking about their lives back home, their likes and dislikes, and generally just becoming friends. She was a bit surprised at how easy it was to talk to him, and the more she got to know him, the more she believed that she didn’t want to know why his race was a Class 12.
She also met the A.I. that had volunteered to work with him - she was not assigned to him, as the humans accepted their A.I. as equals, and didn’t treat them as simple computer programs. And she had to admit, Kay’Eighty was a very personable being, being just as emotive as any biological person she’d ever met.
They had a nice dinner in his equipment room, him grilling a steak on the smaller pit in his closet, along with some of the salad he’d made for her, consisting of what he called ‘lettuce’, ‘tomatoes’, ‘cucumbers’, slivers of ‘carrots’, and ‘croutons’, which were little squares of re-baked bread, which left them more crunchy than if it had simply been toasted. Once again, everything was delicious.
Finally, she began to feel the effects of having been drinking and talking all day, and began to feel drowsy. Upon noticing this, Kyle began cleaning up, then - more gently than before - lifted her to his shoulder, again, and as such, they left his equipment room. From there, he escorted her directly to her ‘living’ room, where he bid her goodnight, waiting to leave until the door closed behind her.
[Next]

Had a dream about red dead redemption 2. Saw some videos but never played the game tho 🤣 but the dream was so fascinating I didn't want to wake up. So I'm sharing before forgetting it.
So imagine it started like i would just put the disc in and launch a game "Red Dead Redemption 2" it said. "He" is the main character from the game. "It" is the beast.
It started with a boss fight. It was a dark evening. A lot of clouds, sun ain't no shining no more. He was walking a dirt road, not a lot of trees around, only some dead ones. He walked with a smirk of confidence on his face but you could also notice some fear kicking in. It started to be a little misty but he could see it. The beast waiting for him by the small bridge by the lake in a pretty large open area. Beast noticed him too. It looked like a bear, a big black bear with a lot of scars. They almost met and the name was shown "Vengeance". That's the name of it, this beast. The bear started running towards him with a big roar. He immediately pulled out his two guns, one looked like an old british gun made from tree, it was very beautiful. The other one looked similar but bigger. He dodged his paw rolling to the left side and pulled some shot's immediately. Bear's hp was running down. Man could say it was a pretty one sided fight. Bu then... When the hp bar went below 30%... It wasn't a bear no more... It turned into a terrifying monster, it looked like an animal but also not, it's even hard to describe it's face. But it was bigger, and a pair of black big ugly wings grew from his upper back. It crawled on 4 limbs, and a black mist wrapped around it.
It shocked him, how ugly and terrifying is this monster? Ugh... It got much much faster. First hit on the torso. He tries to dodge, to do something. He's way too slow from the confusion. No... This thing is too fast, second hit and his hp was below 20%. It looked at him with a smirk. Like it felt joy before killing his prey. He noticed a dead tree beside him and started climbing it. It run towards him in an instant climbing after him and after jumping on the other dead tree beside. They were climbing beside and trading some shots, but only the beast suffered. And then it spoke... It was a deep and terrifying voice giving chills down the spine. Sadly i don't remember what but then it flied into the sky and was sean no more. He fell down the top of the tree. Looking at it and clenching teeth from frustration.
He fell and lost consciousness.
The backstory kicks in and it's a pretty wild one.
When i have more time later and you guys want, i can share it before it fades away. Btw i were scared watching this in my dream 🤣

Age:22 Weight:70 Height:175
Hi, I was prescribed “title” by a doctor, I could not find any dosage related to the one my doctor prescribed online, most of them were 6 months. My acne went from severe to mild in the last 2 months, ever since my doxycycline course, I have been using adapalene everyday and moisturizing often, so it was prescribed mainly for my extremely oily face. No blood test were done.
My questions: 1) is this dose off label or is it very unusual and might not be effective? 2) according to my dose, can I stay in the sun for about an hour once a week as I have weekly activities that requires me to stay in the sun around 12pm. Assuming I use sunscreen. 3) I’m currently using mometasone furoate for my fingertips as it is peeling, can I continue?

https://www.indeleiderstrui.nl/wielrennen/interview-het-wonder-girmay-een-jaar-later-kasseien-daar-ben-ik-mee-geconfronteerd-toen-ik-in-europa-kwam

The miracle of Girmay, one year later: 'Cobblestones? That's what I faced when I came to Europe'

March 27, 2022: the day that changed Biniam Girmay's life forever. The Eritrean caused a shock wave of amazement in the cycling world by taking an immediate win at his first participation in Gent-Wevelgem. One year later, In de Leiderstrui spoke at length with the barely 22-year-old rider ahead of Wevelgem.
Girmay had just finished a reconnaissance when he made time for the press. As it turned out, that lap of the course was the first in a long time. ''To be honest, it's the first time I really do my training in Flanders and get to know the courses. Last season I started without any reconnaissance, but this year is different,'' the African stated. 'I have the time to get to know the courses with some good riders around me. This is also important for the future because it is still only my second year in these races,' he points out.
All the more special is the fact that on his first Flemish passage last year, Girmay finished fifth in the E3 Saxo Classic and won Gent-Wevelgem. 'If you just start riding without knowing the course, that might be a disadvantage, but we are working on that with the team. I don't know the names of the climbs yet, but I'm starting to remember them. The Koppenberg for example; they told me they use it for cyclocross too,' laughs the man from Asmara, Eritrea.
Girmay: 'I didn't grow up with cobblestones, I was confronted with them here'
Girmay points out that he hasn't reached his limit yet. 'Last year I suddenly achieved good results, but I still have a lot to improve,' he keeps both feet on the ground. 'The expectations are sometimes very high, but then people perhaps forget my age and experience. I didn't grow up with cobblestones, I was confronted with them when I came to Europe. It was something totally different for me.'
So whether expectations are too high for a barely 22-year-old guest from another continent? 'Not for myself, because I just do my best. So it doesn't change anything for me, also because I have a nice team behind me. I'm not pushed or forced over my limits, they give me good advice and understand me.' He gets that advice from Mike Teunissen, among others, about whom he spoke respectfully.
So again, Girmay doesn't want to go too fast. 'I still have many years to improve, I have yet to ride my first Tour de France, for example. The most important thing is that I really enjoy racing. I really liked the cobblestones last year, I felt very good on them. That's important, because I hear a lot of other guys that they don't like it at all,' he laughed. 'You feel that the Tour of Flanders, for example, is something different to participate in. The other riders from Eritrea, for example, didn't even participate,' he refers to Daniel Teklehaimot, among others.
While last year it was nice weather on the weekend of E3 and Wevelgem, this year the predicted conditions point completely the other way: rain and wind. For Girmay, it's not an immediate advantage. ''I think I am better in bad weather than last year, because I already did some races in the rain at the beginning of this season. Now I feel more used to be, but I have to be. After all, we are in Belgium. So I'm ready for it, but whether I like it? No, I just have to get used to it.'
Girmay is still often reminded of Gent-Wevelgem 2022
All in all, he still often thinks back - whether forced or not - to that one day in March last year. 'It maybe just gives a little more confidence, because now I feel even more eager to return.' Gent-Wevelgem was the big moment in my life, so I'll be reminded of that. For the team it will also be special, also because of the story of Antoine (Demoitié, who died in the race in 2016, ed.) . So again, I'm really looking forward to it.
'The story of Gent-Wevelgem is always in my head,' Girmay said. 'People tell it to me, whether I'm going home, riding in the peloton or standing on a starting podium somewhere. As a result, I often get nice feelings about it. People look at me differently now, but for myself almost nothing has changed.'
The Intermarché-Circus-Wanty leader is a highly regarded man at the start of the classic this year, but has not yet been able to compete for the win in races such as Milan-Sanremo. 'The legs on the Poggio hurt, like everyone else's. It's always like that, it just hurts after 290 kilometers. I was happy with it. I wasn't in top form yet, but after Sanremo it will always be better," said the man who finished 18th in La Primavera.
'We haven't had races in Belgium where they were all competing, so it's hard to say who the real top favorites are,' Girmay shrouds himself in the mist when it comes to the competition. 'We don't know who is good, we will see that next weekend in E3 and Wevelgem. I am also mainly concerned with myself, then in the races we will see who is good. Right now everyone is in good shape, so it will be interesting to see how things go in the Flemish races. It's different than Milan-Sanremo," he said.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Aegis Security is a PMC ARMA unit focused on player choice, group decisions and community cooperation.
Main Language: English only
Timezone: EST
Operation Times: Starting at 5-7pm, day dependent. Thurs, Sat, Sun
Required Mods: ACE, TFAR, RHS, KAT, various maps and equipment mods
Please note, we are strictly 18+!
Discord: https://discord.gg/ar8yAF7Vvk
Aegis Security is a unit designed entirely around the idea of player control and choice. You pick the missions you run, in what order, and how. No more showing up to an operation just to get saddled with something you have no interest in - It's up to you and the group to strategize, cooperate and succeed.
Featuring a multi-tiered tech tree and research system, you earn the gear you use piece by piece. If you want that shiny new AK or M4, you'd better find a way to get one and bring it back to be reproduced.
Each mission you do will feature opportunities for rewards and advancement based off the success (or failure) of the group. Earn money, find blueprints and gear, and exploit every asset you have to gain an edge over enemies that will fight you just as hard as you fight them.
If you want an ARMA unit where your time and input is immediately rewarded and where dedication is king, Aegis is the place for you.
We're looking for invested, driven players to help make this project a longterm success.
We feature multiple branches so you can do what you do best, with a full rank system for even more to strive for.
Now accepting contractors! Sign a contract with Aegis Security today!

Multi Week 1, Penta Legend Omni Tank looking for a group for 6.4 Week 1 and re-clears to close out the expansion and possibly onward should the environment be right.
I'm a dedicated, mechanically consistent and group focused player with very strong drive for self improvement. Capable of critical discussion on optimization around mitigation and strategy to ensure group success.
My team cleared DSR and TOP within 5 weeks. I have wide history week 1 raiding under my belt, starting in Eden's Gate up until Abyssos. I also have a more extensive history of raiding from Stormblood onward and have actively partaken in level 90 and Ilvl matching of older Alexander raids to replicate the week 1 experience as best as possible during my time within other statics.
As for Parse and Speed-kills, this has not been a focus for me in the past, but something I will be doing for the right group.
I have an alt available for splits and max level crafters / gathers to help arrange crafted gear / food / pots for myself and team.
My logs: Savage: https://www.fflogs.com/characteid/2829958 Ultimate: https://www.fflogs.com/characteid/2829958#zone=53
Availability: Week 1 - Full availability - PTO will be taken. Week 2 onward Sun - Thurs - 7pm PST till late. Fri & Sat - 1pm PST till late
Contact me on discord (Hiso#0064) for further discussion and trial setup.

Hi everyone,
I’ll be in London for 6 days (staying in a central location) and am hoping for some advice on my itinerary.
I’ve included times as a rough indicator when planning but am mostly hoping for advice on whether these places are in a logical order, and if there are any other suggestions (in particular food, and any tips on obtaining West End tickets such as via a lottery).
Thanks in advance and for this sub in general - it has been a lifesaver so far!
Fri

1. Arrive airport 13:15
2. Check in hotel
3. Relaxed afternoon after long flight

Sat

1. 10:00AM - British Museum (self-guided & Eye-opener tour)
2. 1:00PM - Churchill War Rooms
3. ~6:00PM - West End Show

Sun

1. 10:00AM - Brick Lane Markets
2. 12:00PM - National Gallery
3. 2:00PM - Liquid History Drink London Tour
4. 7:30PM - Top Secret Comedy Club Show

Mon

1. 9:00AM - Tower of London
2. 12:00PM - Thames Clipper from Tower Wharf to Greenwich
3. 1:00PM - Greenwich Market
4. 2:30PM - Royal Observatory via Greenwich Park
5. 4:00PM - Thames Clipper from Greenwich to London Bridge Wharf
6. 5:00PM - London Bridge, Borough Market

Tue

1. Bath, Avebury & Lacock Village Tour
2. ~6:00PM - West End Show

Wed

1. 9:00AM - Big Ben
2. 9:30AM - Westminster Abbey (Verger-guided tour)
3. 11:30AM - Walk to 10 Downing St (10 Adam Street), through St. James Park, arrive Buckingham Palace
4. 12:00PM - Buckingham Palace
5. 1:00PM - Walk through Hyde Park, Diana Fountain, Harrods
6. 3:00PM - Natural History Museum
7. 7:00PM - Jack The Ripper Walking Tour

Thu

1. Free morning and check out hotel
2. Train to Paris 1:00PM

[A fair TW before I start explaining what happened: mentions of suspected pedophelia, potential kidnappepedophile, mentions of genitalia]
Hello fellow redditers!
After listening to a podcast that talked about this forum I decided to share my story on here aswell. Before I actually start I also want to apologize for my grammar, I’m a fellow Scandinavian lol.
Keep in mind that me and my friend that I’m mentioning in this story were only twelve years old when this event occurred and this was our first time something like this had ever happened to us, we were terrified. Without further view let’s dive into the story, stay safe everyone!
So this whole story begins when I was around 12 (fyi I’m 18 now) and it takes place at a two story shopping center that is walls-to-walls with our local IKEA. Me and my friend had been walking around for a couple of hours, buying a few things and looked around in stores. We were tired and decided to take a break and sit down for a bit. We sat down by the entrance on these two soft chairs, with my friend sitting to my right. Behind me to my left was a bench, on this bench there was an old man just sitting there. He looked like to be in his later 50’s/early 60’s and at first I didn’t think much of it, just thinking that he had to rest his legs just like me and my friend had to, so I gave him a smile to be polite and didn’t think much of it. I continued talking to my friend who like I mentioned before sat to my right. Suddenly I get this feeling like someone is watching me, I then turned around to see that the old man was starring at me with a large smile on his face. I get uncomfortable, and just as I am about to turn to my friend and tell them that I want to leave my stomach drops as the older man pointed at me, then slapped his lap trying to symbolize that he wants me to sit in his lap. I observed his movements and looked up to meet his face. He was now doing a certain movement with his tongue (this part is kind of hard to explain but imagine he was like strolling his tongue up and down fast like most people show when explaining how to pleas someone with a vaginal genitalia). I froze and my survival instincts kicked in and told me to run and find a security guard, I turned to my friend and said that there was a pedophile and that we had to run. My friend turned to the old man and saw him do that movement with his tongue towards me again, I saw how panic struck my friend and we stood up and started to run through the crowd of other shoppers deeper into the shopping center. I turned my head back to see that the man was still observing us and were still doing the movement with his tongue. I shouted at my friend to run into a jewelry-store in front of us, we tried to calm ourselves down and by doing so I told the female cashier that her hair was really pretty. We continued to run to the upper floor to look for a security guard that could help us, but we couldn’t find anyone. So we decided to walk over back to the entrance (we were still on the upper floor so we could have high ground on the older man if he was still sitting on the bench) and run to my grandparents apartment that is relatively close to the shopping center. We looked over the railing to see if the man was still sitting on the bench, but he was gone. We had lost him, I was still standing in fear that we no longer knew where he was. My friend had then turned around and seen him walking towards us further upstairs. She told me and we ran down the stairs and out the entrance. We didn't stop until we arrived at my grandparents place. When inside we told my grandparents what happened and til this day I still fear what could've happened to us if the older man caught up to us.
I apologize profusely if there was something that was poorly explained, I'm happy to answer questions down in the comments. Also some background information is that on this day the mall was crowded and when this particular thing happened the only thought in my head was to find a security guard, and what happened inside the jewelry store when I said the cashier had nice hair was just to calm myself down.
Thanks anyway if you’ve read this far, please take care of each other and stay safe out there!