Who are steve harvey's biological children

This may not be an MLM but I wanted to run this by the sub to see what you all think because I get scammy vibes. My sister (who is a Kangen and Young Living evangelist) is convinced that she has something called "Irlen Syndrome". Irlen Syndrome is supposedly a "light-based visual processing problem" which can cause headaches, light sensitivity, reading, and focus problems. This syndrome can only be treated by specially tinted eyeglasses that you can only have made and only purchase at Irlen centers (first red flag).
Irlen syndrome is considered a pseudomedical diagnosis and the research on this condition has yielded mixed results (second red flag).
According to my sister, the glasses are expensive, you have to wear them constantly and they need to be adjusted several times per year to make sure you have the right tint for your eyes. Today, she reached out to me asking where I get my contact lenses. She wants to buy "blanks" so the Irlen Center people can tint them for her (??) and she won't have to wear glasses all the time while she works out. I told her contacts are sterile medical devices, individually sealed and she probably shouldn't tamper with them or use them not as intended OBVIOUSLY. Keep in mind, she has 20/20 vision and doesn't need to wear glasses at all.
No disrespect to anyone with perception or sensory issues. I myself am dyslexic. I would just like a read on this from this sub because it screams scam to me. I notice that a lot of the content on the sites selling their glasses is aimed at mothers of children on the spectrum who would understandably stop at nothing to make their child more comfortable. even if it means trying something experimental.
The reason I'm posting it in this sub is because of my sister's history of spending large amounts of money on MLM products and she will not leave me or my other family members alone about these glasses. She REALLY thinks we all need to be evaluated and purchase them and she literally brings it up every time we see her. Any input would be appreciated!

I was watching a video which contained a clip of a man who was promoting the “militant church”. Inserted into the clip was a reference to Digitatis Humanae Institute (DHI). After some digging, I discovered that the man in the video was Steve Bannon, an M.B.A graduate of Georgetown University, and that DHI, which features the full video of Bannon on their media page, is a Catholic think tank. The first article on DHI’s home page is about Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, former apostolic nuncio to the United Nations and President of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace under John Paul II. DHI’s offices in Italy and Belgium are listed here on their contacts page.
In case there was any doubt, the gentleman in question is the same Steve Bannon who was the former head of Breitbart News Network and one-time CEO of Trump’s presidential campaign. He was eventually indicted for money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy; crimes he committed through the “We Build the Wall” scheme, here and here. Bannon also funded DHI, which was evicted from the Italian monastery, Certosa di Trisulti, after the head of the institute, Benjamin Harnwell, was cited for lease violations.
Trump’s involvement with Bannon makes sense, however. In 2016, just prior to his election to the presidency, Trump (along with Hillary Clinton) attended the Alfred E. Smith Dinner, an annual event thrown by the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation, which was founded in 1946 by Cardinal Francis Spellman and is hosted by the sitting Cardinal of New York, currently, Timothy Dolan. During his dinner speech, Trump admitted that he had been attending that event with his father since he was a young man.
The introductions, which begin at 43:30, are literally a who’s who in the pope’s NWO. One-by-one, special attendants are introduced according to their dignitary titles, names, and the high positions they hold in governments, foundations, organizations, corporations, etc. and Dolan is seated, front and center stage, flanked by Trump and Clinton.
What all of these connections, events, and organizations amount to is an invasion and takeover of the United States by a foreign entity, namely, the papacy, its Jesuits, and their agents. In his booklet, The Great Silence Conspiracy, Andrew Sinclair explains the process Rome uses to accomplish its goals. He makes a distinction between totalitarianism and authoritarianism—terms that many in the truth community tend to use interchangeably—as separate stages in the process. According to Sinclair, totalitarianism is the first stage. It is achieved by the total, (hence its name), infiltration and takeover of every key position within the institutions of a target nation. The second stage, authoritarianism, is Rome’s use of these key positions to wield absolute authority, manifested as fascism, over the people of that nation.
This is the reason we see the Militant Church Movement spreading throughout the United States and gaining momentum. All of our institutions have been infiltrated and taken over by Rome, thus, we have passed the totalitarian stage and are entering the stage of authoritarianism, in which Rome, unbridled by checks and balances and unhindered by opposition, will begin to exercise its power and authority to its fullest capability.
The purpose of the Militant Church Movement is to cement the union of Church and State by exciting in our people a false sense of righteousness, born not of the Holy Spirit working in us to repent of our sins, but based on exaggerated nationalist sentiments. This has been made possible because we have been removed from our biblical roots, degraded and demoralized, fractured into innumerable camps against false enemies, worn out by the injustices of Roman law, and incessantly beaten by the Jesuits’ rod of Social Justice.
Weary of being buffeted and of the chaos our nation is in, our people are ripe to embrace Rome’s solution of ridding us of the factions which Rome blames for causing our misery. This final stage, by which the enemies of the papacy are eliminated, is the very purpose for which modern Fascism was developed. The track record of Fascism over the last century has taught us this is so. But we have forgotten its most valuable lessons and are once again returning to that dark age in our world’s history in which we almost witnessed the complete resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire throughout Europe. And the same people, Jews and Protestants, which have been targeted by the Church of Rome throughout the long and bloody history of that organization, will be the targets of her wrath in our day.

(throwaway account - will probably delete)
I have been struggling with "my" heritage (quotations because I do not feel Assyrian at all) ever since I was a child. I grew up in a large Iraqi Chaldean diaspora center, but I have spent a considerate amount of time around Assyrians from all over. What I can say is that Assyrians and Chaldeans are practically identical in behavior. So, this isn't a sectarian post.
Even if it's taboo to say, I am anonymous and hopefully this will help another Assyrian girl. My family is incredibly physically, verbally, and emotionally abusive. There are many things I do not want to go into detail about. I basically had to raise myself after the age of 8; my mom did not see a point in taking care of me the same way she did for my brothers. I had to cook and clean for myself, and the emotional support and love any child would have had was out of the question for me. As a teenager, when you need your mom the most, mine was absent and neglected me to suffer alone. Even during high school, my parents did not care about my education, and my mom regulated me to her maid who did all of her cleaning, instead of having me focus on studying.
My parents were very strict and isolated me from my friends. I wasn't allowed to go out or invite people over unless they were Assyrian girls approved by my parents. I missed out on a lot of genuine friendships and normal development other teenage girls would have. The Assyrian girls I was allowed to be friends with were backstabbing and did whatever they could to take me down. As a result, I spent my entire teenage years isolated and rejected because I was only allowed to socialize with Assyrians. I went to elementary and high school with Chaldeans, and it was one of the most miserable times of my life. I had to hear all the time from my own kind how ugly I was, how weird, people would take pics of me to post online and mock. For those 4 years I was endlessly bullied by mostly Chaldean girls.
I was fortunate enough to move out two years ago, and it really hurt me realizing that all the awful things my family and others told me about my personality wasn't true. I know I am not "weird" or whatever horrible things they said that it hurts to repeat, because I have no problem making friends outside of the culture. I finally have a good social life, but with non-Assyrians. I tried chalking it up to bad experiences, but every. single. Assyrian/Chaldean. girl. I. know. is like horrible. If I go to church and I'm friendly, they will still find ways to be passively aggressive, isolate me and gossip. I do nothing wrong, I just don't understand.
Assyrian /Chaldean behavior is identical to the same mshlmaneh they trash 24/7. They have the same dishonesty, envy, backstabbing, jealousy, and misogyny that mshlmane do. I truly cannot emphasize how dishonest and jealous the culture is. It is absolutely disgusting to me and the main reason why I have never fit in. I am not "blunt" or harsh with people; their feelings matter a lot to me. However, I cannot be two faced and lie. That led to a lot of abuse from my mother and female cousins, who tried to (literally) beat it out of me or break me down for it. Every Assyrian/Chaldean I know talks shit about their own family, and closest of friends. I have seen too much fucked up, unChristian behavior from our kind. We are encouraged to be deceptive, and anyone who denies this is continuing the problem.
I had a friend who hates being Chaldean and married a white man, and acts white - while also exhibiting all of these issues. I don't want to be like her. I can't run away from it forever, and I truly want to accept my heritage, but how can I, after all of this? I cannot imagine passing down Sureth to my children, because it's a language of hatred. This subreddit is the longest I have spent around Assyrians, because in person, I get panic attacks. I am an immigrant, whose first language is Sureth, who looks very Assyrian, but struggle because I fit in nowhere.
I hope the mods keep this post up because it's a big issue not only for me but for a lot of other young Assyrians. I can't talk about it with my nakhraye friends, and no one understands.

Who do you think each persons best friend was? Just the main / OG crew.
Rule: Each person can only have ONE best friend.
Here are my picks
Brandon - Steve Brenda - Kelly Kelly - Donna Donna - Kelly Dylan - Brandon David - Steve Andrea - Brandon Steve - Brandon

So I (F35) and my partner (F35) already have 2 children together, and thinking of third. We both went through succesful IVF treatments and both gave birth to a biological child. We were left with 5 extra embryos from my partner's IVF, and none from mine. These embryos were freezed for possible future treatments.
It's always been clear that I'm the one who wants to get pregnant again, and that I wish to use my own egg cells. My partner knows this, and has always said, that she knows how important it is for me to have another biological child, and she's been cool with that - up until recently.
Now that we're actually moving on to the treatments, she's started to take her words back. She says (or strongly insists), that as we have embryos frozen (hers'), we should use them instead. Her main arguments are: A) That if I'd gave birth to another biological child to our family, we (as refereing to me, and then my two biological children) would "hold the power" in our family, and she and her biological child would be left "powerless" as we'd take the upper hand. B) That if I don't want to use her embryos, and want to use my own egg cells instead, that automatically means that I love the child from her egg cells less than than "my own".
And there's really nothing I can say that would prove that's not true at all and that it's not about the amount of love. As said, I've always had a strong wish to have another biological child. I can't explain it, it just has always been my dream. But she says it's not a valid argument, and that if don't want to use her frozen embryos, that just proves that I love less our mutual daughter from her egg cells, and more my bio daughter. Also, she said she doesn't know if she's okay with the idea of me using my egg cells, and may not want a third child at al if we're not using her embryos.
And to make this a question of power dynamics feels really weird to me.. like what? That thought honestly had never even passed my mind. I consider all our kids our kids, not mine or hers', and I never think of our relationship as a game of who's got more power, and also would never use "this power" against her. Idk, this is really hard for me to grasp how this can be such a big factor for her in this matter.
So help me out, dear Redditors! I'm really confused, feel strongly pressured and like I don't have a choice but to agree to use her embryos, or else there won't be a baby number 3 at all. And I'd love this child such as much, it's just that I feel I'm being forced into this, and that my views are belittled and invalidated.
So AITA in this scenario for wanting a bio child? Are her arguments just better?

So I moved to a new area and found a childfree group on Meetup.com. One of the members, who hosts a lot of the events, is actually trying very hard to get pregnant and has been for many years now. Why on earth would you even join a child-free group if you're so desperate to have a kid, yet alone be an event host? I wish childless people would really understand the difference between "childless" and "childfree". If this isn't infuriating enough, turns out she actually set up a GoFundMe page for people to contribute to her IVF fund so she and her husband's dreams of having children can come true. Are you kidding me?!?! There are so many worthwhile causes to donate to and you want people to donate to this? Tacky and entitled!

My dad told me he has cancer today. I missed so much time with him. Life is so short. I have big decisions coming up on the status of my very long term relationship where we differ on huge life choices like having children blah blah… he’s been around my whole adult life my whole personality and sense of self included him, and now I don’t think our futures and what we both want align anymore. I have to decide where I want to continue my bachelors at…I hate that I have to decide this at all. The college I was going to attend is one of the top biology colleges in the us. The facilities are beautiful and they have incredible professors I would be learning from and doing research with. The college near home is an engineering school that’s where all their money goes and their biology department sucks and the building is old and gross, no notable professors or staff. I now have to choose between my dream that I worked so hard for and a sick parent, which obviously I choose family. I will regret the rest of my life not being home. I hate that I don’t get to live my dreams. I hate I might lose my dad it’s not fucking fair. I hate that I see my relationship ending before my fucking eyes. I can’t handle it all at once my heart is just broken

Okay, so I (F35) and my partner (F35) already have 2 children together, and thinking of third. We both went through succesful IVF treatments and both gave birth to biological child. We were left with 5 extra embryos from my partner's IVF, and none from mine. These embryos were freezed for possible future treatments.
It's always been clear that I'm the one who wants to get pregnant again, and that I wish to use my own egg cells. My partner knows this, and has always said, that she knows how important it is for me to have another biological child, and she's been cool with that - up until recently.
Now that we're actually moving on to the treatments, she's started to take her words back. She says (or strongly insists), that as we have embryos frozen (hers'), we should use them instead. Her main arguments are: A) That if I'd gave birth to another biological child to our family, we (as refereing to me, and then my two biological children) would "hold the power" in our family, and she and her biological child would be left "powerless" as we'd take the upper hand. B) That if I don't want to use her embryos, and want to use my own egg cells instead, that automatically means that I love the child from her egg cells less than than "my own".
And there's really nothing I can say that would prove that's not true at all and that it's not about the amount of love. As said, I've always had a strong wish to have another biological child. I can't explain it, it just has always been my dream. But she says it's not a valid argument, and that if don't want to use her frozen embryos, that just proves that I love less our mutual daughter from her egg cells, and more my bio daughter. Also, she said she doesn't know if she's okay with the idea of me using my egg cells, and may not want a third child at al if we're not using her embryos.
And to make this a question of power dynamics feels really weird to me.. like what? That thought honestly had never even passed my mind. I consider all our kids our kids, not mine or hers', and I never think of our relationship as a game of who's got more power, and also would never use "this power" against her. Idk, this is really hard for me to grasp how this can be such a big factor for her in this matter.
So help me out, dear Redditors! I'm really confused, feel strongly pressured and like I don't have a choice but to agree to use her embryos, or else there won't be a baby number 3 at all. And I'd love this child such as much, it's just that I feel I'm being forced into this, and that my views are belittled and invalidated.
So AITA in this scenario for wanting a bio child? Are her arguments just better?

Is there anyone in Seattle that can help me figure out how to get my teenager screened for EDS? The backstory... Many, many dislocations and subluxations over the years. Various ER doctors have been concerned, wanted them seen by Ortho, mentioned their hypermobility etc. Nothing ever came of any of it. Dislocations continue. Kid is in and out of PT. No one mentions EDS being a thing.
In April they dislocated a shoulder. UW urgent care referred them to orthopedics because they were concerned about the hypermobility and history of dislocation. Specifically mention EDS . So I make teenager an appointment at Seattle Children's Ortho (because that's who has seen them for all the other dislocations ) tell them what the referral was for, and wait a month for my kid to be seen.
Appointment finally arrives, Children's says oh, we don't screen for hypermobility. Your pediatrician needs to refer them to Genetics. (Oh and by the way it looks like they might have scoliosis on this shoulder x-ray but I don't have time to screen for that so come back in June for that. 🤦‍♀️) Explain situation to pediatrician, who is awesome and refers to genetics.
2 weeks later, Child dislocates patella doing nothing. Mention to the ER doc that it's an ongoing situation (this is their FOURTH patellar dislocation in 4 years) and that no one has called me from genetics. She said she'll have a patient care coordinator call me.
Wait another week. Don't get a call from a coordinator and decide to call genetics. Call to find out what's going on, find out they didn't receive the referral. Email pediatrician who faxed a new referral.
A week later, that referral gets rejected by Childrens. Their genetics department is apparently overrun with patients. They want my pediatrician to order an echocardiogram first. I go look at children's genetics website and info for referring doctors, because that definitely wasn't there before, and the office didn't say they needed one when I called. It's been updated since I looked at in in mid April. Children's now says they're triaging referrals, and cardiovascular genetics is testing people with suspected vEDS and to try UW Medicine.
I don't know what to do. My mom has congenital heart issues closely associated with EDS. So vEDS definitely needs to be ruled out. Both my kids are hypermobile. I had degenerative joint disease in my knee by age ten and a lifetime of pain, so there's a definite genetic component here. My kid keeps getting booted out of physical therapy every time an injury gets stable. My kid is continually in pain. They have a beighton score that would've qualified them to be screened at children's under the old referral rules.
Do I: Wait for the echocardiogram and hope my kid can go to Children's genetics sometime in the next year?
Make them an Ortho appointment at UW for the knee (since ped wants them to go to Ortho) and mention the rest of the situation?
Call Children's genetics and ask them what the fuck is going on?
Or look elsewhere entirely? And where would I even take them?

Today I read of the guy that falsey reported sandy hook shooting never happened and how some think anyone should be able to report or say any falsehood they want. And to them I want to share my own experiences and show why we need some accountability and laws to prevent this from happening to other people. I will never be the same as I was because of someone's conspiracy theory.
In 2020 I was healthy of mind and body. I was active on Facebook, reddit, LinkedIn, and Twitter. I'm almost 50 and a mother of 7 and grandmother of 5. I've suffered from social anxiety and depression bit had that under control. I have a soft spot for helping abused children. My bank card rounded up to the nearest dollar and the change went to help prevent child abuse. I studied child development and child psychology in college. I am ex military and have some ptsd (the social anxiety and depression) but again under control. In 2020 there was false news coming on Facebook about children being abducted, abused in numerous ways and it broke my heart. I had to help. I was drawn in to a conspiracy theory due to my heart hurting for these children that were missing or abused. Around October I was told via comments to look up the fall of cabal videos on YouTube to get even more information about how children were being hurt. Like a dumbass that (even though I finished college) was still so gullible I went and watched all 10 videos. This conspiracy theory didn't just touch on children being hurt and abducted but my religious beliefs and my distrust of politicians. At video 10 I was so afraid but not the same way others were. You see the Bible says we won't know who Jesus or God is until Satan is revealed. So I saw this conspiracy theories idea of jfk Jr coming back not as Jesus or God but as Satan and Trump was him. Most people believed this and saw this as a godsend buy I saw it as the ultimate evil on earth. It frightened me so bad I had a nervous breakdown. I lived inside my own mind for over 8 months. To this day I still don't leave my home, don't know what's real or not, and have deleted nearly all but reddit of my social media. To remind what sanity I now have I can not watch the news, go to places where others might verbally attack me and my TV time insist of dvds I have that I know by heart. In my head still we are in end times. I can't undo that thinking. I'm trying to see a professional through the va but they are booked till October.
Last July I tried to go to a family reunion in another state. I went into psychosis because of the videos and thought the worst things about my own family. I saw my family of Trump supporters as racist and the entire reunion as a kkk hoedown. While my ex pastor uncle danced and sung while playing horseshoes I saw my uncle dancing around a fire chanting hate. While my aunts sat by the river watching their pups swim I saw them planning that nights witch orgy. While my brother bar b qued beef and chicken I saw a child's ribs and meat being cooked. I was in total psychotic break and it wasn't even a day since I was there. I was rushed home and tended to for the next two weeks while my spouse and children tried to bring my mind back to our home.
This is why we need only facts to be reported on news and if it's a fictional story then it needs disclaimers and it needs guidelines. If the word news is in the name it needs to be factual and unbiased even if it's news and entertainment. News needs to be factual and unbiased. There's no entertainment in news. It's suppose to bore the kids like it did me as a child.
Some of you will disagree and say I should know how to tell what's real and not but you might be forgetting that I am not you. No one is you. Some people are gullible and they need to be protected. The ones that normally tell me it's my fault are normally the ones saying we need to protect everything. We'll my mind should have been protected. There should have been disclaimers. There should have been rules so others like me didn't get drawn in and start believing these horror stories. I can no longer go to the park with my grandchildren out of fear. I'm too afraid to leave my home because of this conspiracy theory that took my faith, my love for children and corrupted them. I question the Bible and still feel the fear of end times all the time. I can't support anything that tries to help children afraid I'm supporting another conspiracy theorist. My entire life has been turned upside down because someone or a group decided to play with my gullibility.
I'm glad that family won their lawsuit. I hope laws begin to take place to protect families like mine ND theirs. And to those spreading the lies I hope this finds you so you can see just how much those lies have hurt this family. I hope you rot in hell and Satan has his way with you. I hope God does not forgive you for leading some of his children astray and for hurting those you have hurt. I hope his vengeance is as horrible for you as you have made my life. And normally I never wish harm on anyone because it's not very Christian.

(Can travel and will consider relocation, looking for same)
Hey! Let's not waste each other's time, so I'll be comprehensive about what I'm looking for instead of messaging back and forth.
Firstly, I'm looking for great personality, mentally stable and drama-free.
I'm a somewhat successful entrepreneur, hard working, educated, and seems totally wholesome and respectable. If you're wondering why I'm single, it's my deviant side. Kink is a big part of my life, but I won't compromise on vanilla qualities just to get hitched with any kinky partner.
I'm a switch, so it depends on my partner's qualities which way I lean. You could say I'm versatile. Staying safe and healthy is my priority, so I won't engage in short term flings or play that might do permanent damage.
I want my partner to be my equal, so no tpe, 24/7, or high protocol types of dynamic. In day to day life I want her to be independent, capable, and makes intelligent decisions. I prefer her to be educated, smart, fit. Not that she has to have a PhD and an Olympian, but someone who values learning, growth, as well as physical health would be preferable.
Ultimately I want a partner in life, not just in bed. She should be old enough to considered mature, but young enough to have children in the not so distant future. We will design and build our dream home(s), travel the world in style or backpacking. When we have kids they can tag along like young Indiana Jones. They will have the best unconventional education that gives them the depth and breadth of human knowledge.
Our family will be religiously agnostic, politically center, and possesses good moral compass.
I don't care too much where you are. I care more about whether we are on the same wave length. If distance is great, then we work something out.
A little about me. I'm Asian, western educated, near-native level English, semi-banana, but not quite. Slim build but muscled. Looks like Song Mingi with stubbles and glasses. I won't send pics or video until after I'm satisfied I'm talking to a genuine person. Definitely no money will be involved, well, at least until you take my last name.
If I strike your fancy feel free to send a message now, before I grow older;)

I’m not a big feminist or anything… don’t get me wrong, I believe in equality, but, for example, I also believe gender roles are complimentary to our respective abilities not insulting. I just kinda float somewhere in the middle I guess. But my husband has started making these awful remarks about women. How all women are trash and only good for sex. How were all ignorant and he doesn’t know how any of us survive without a man present to make sure their decisions are truly in their favor. Then turns around the next second and is pro choice, told him some doctors still won’t give women hysterectomies without husband’s approval and he was astonished how bad our world still is for women. It’s like he believes we should have biological freedom but we’re still too dumb to use it correctly without them. I’m very confused because he wasn’t always like this. He was never a fan of the feminist movement but he was definitely a supporter of those who didn’t go to extremes (let’s be honest, some women took it a bit too far). He never showed and prejudices against women until the last few months. Now it’s like he can’t look at a woman, myself included, without seething a little. I’m fine with the “women are bad drivers” jokes and all but, some of things he’s saying lately make me straight up uncomfortable, and I don’t know what to do about it. I honestly don’t even want to have kids with this man anymore and that’s killing me.

Slightly longer one here, I think I like them this length. Anyway, as always, thanks for reading! :)
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“I am unsure Miss,” Ton'et's central body turned somewhat and look of deep thought came over them, “wait… we’ve established that these three are not party with these Tinsne. They are wearing habsuits and have died more recently. At this time we have two questions. One, Where did these three come from? And two, What was that disturbance?” They looked at Penelope.
“…I’m not sure I’m following.”
“I’m suggesting that these two questions may have the same answer. The sound and jostling correspond with an airlock alignment and clamping sequence. I believe we have been just boarded by whoever sent these three here.”
“… Shit.”
“An apt Terran expletive.”
Ton’et noticed the human’s eyes tarry on the weapons crates but was surprised when she instead stood and moved to the doorway.
“Can’t do anything from here. Follow behind me and we`ll see what we’re dealing with. If something happens just hide and stay down.” Penelope let out a hollow chuckle.
“An expression of amusement? Why?” Ton’et asked as they moved to the airlock.
“Well, you wanted firsthand data on human biology, right? It looks like you’re gonna get it.” she said, moving to the door.
“I see… not quite what I had in mind Miss…”
Penelope gave Ton’et a wry smile as she waited for them to take a position behind the lip of the door. Pressing the button, the doors slid opened quickly but no one waited for them in the airlock itself and the doors to the Blue Nebula wouldn’t unlock until the outer door was closed. As such, the two moved in and again took up positions. Penelope at the door and Ton’et behind cover.
This time Penelope waited. Moving the side of her head up against the door and pausing for a moment. She then repeated the odd action lower on the door.
“What are you doing Miss Penelope?” Ton’et asked.
Penelope tapped the fleshy protrusions on her head, “Listening. There’s something mechanical on the other side of the door.”
“How can you… questions for later. It’s most likely a frame. There’s nowhere near enough folks turning to piracy to fill a crew so its not uncommon to see them using mechanical assistants.”
“Great…”
Really? Robots?
A focus came over the human as she motioned for Ton’et to stay down. It almost scared them how her face changed expression. There was no smile anymore, and the eyes took on a deadly seriousness. They shuddered to think of themselves on the receiving end of this aura.
Having noted her companion’s hidden position Penelope took a deep breath and opened the door.
In an instant, it slid open and her target was in front of her. A machine about half her height with three leg-like appendages supporting a round body and atop that a cylindrical shaped head. A lens was looking down the hall to the cargo bay before it quickly refocused on the large creature surging forward from the airlock. A small laser weapon deployed from body but it had no time to fire as Penelope’s left hand gripped its head, lifted it into the air, and slammed it into the opposite wall.
Penelope had apparently used enough force to crush the thing’s head entirely as its body detached and fell to the floor. The shattered head only remained due to Penelope’s grip.
Oh… well then, that was…
“Huh… I honestly thought that it would be a bit more durable.” She said as she looked at the crushed cylinder in her hand and then let it drop to the ground.
After a brief moment of shock Ton’et produced their datapad and began taking notes. Penelope noted that the rest of the corridor was clear and began making her way to the bridge.
“Bridge first, hopefully we can get a good idea of what we’re up against… and where everyone is.”
Ton’et made a gesture mimicking a nod and followed at a distance.
Reaching the turn in the corridor, Penelope peeked around the corner and saw that the bridge doors were wide open. It wasn’t a great angle, but she could see one frame of similar design past the open doors. Holding out a hand she motioned for Ton’et to stay put.
Ton’et was again surprised and made note of the near silence with which Penelope dropped low to the ground and made her way to the open bridge door. What was one frame from the angle of the corner revealed itself to be two frames and an alien in a familiar style habsuit.
Penelope was used to perfectly controlling her movements in regular gravity and with the ship operating on half that norm it was almost nothing to move with speed and silence. She moved past the first frame she’d seen which was evaluating the security console. Making sure not to alert that frame she moved up behind the alien and the frame it stood next to. They were apparently attempting to slice the console attached to Captain Deag’s chair. This task seemingly so engrossing that neither noticed Penelope taking a position directly behind them.
In a flash of motion she grabbed the alien by its habsuit with her left hand and the frame by its head with her right. In one fell motion she crushed the frame and whipped its body across the bridge into the second frame destroying them both. She turned the aliens face towards the pile of frame parts and then back to her.
“Call for help and I promise you, that habsuit wont even slow me down. Understand?” she said with a deathly growl, staring into its eye.
It began to shake in the suit and uttered a single wilting, “…yes.”
“Good. Now, you’re gonna answer some questions for me.”
Ton’et barely watched where they were walking as they moved onto the bridge. Tapping away at the data pad and muttering to themselves.
“Inquire about limits of superb strength. Inquire about ability to move silently despite size. Inquire about ability to launch objects at speed and with accuracy.” They continued as they moved into a corner and sat down.
The alien in Penelope’s grip noticed Ton’et but did nothing but shake in fear and wait for the questions.
“First. How many of you are there?” Her tone was cool and controlled.
“Five total now, thing on other ship got Mol, Vardin, and Eiggia. More frames. Me here, three others should be in cargo bay with your people, frames too. One left on our ship. Please don’t kill me.”
“Cooperate and I won’t harm a hair on your…” she noticed it was seemingly hairless, “Look, talk and you’ll be fine. Deal?”
It made a gesture that Penelope assumed was equivalent to a nod.
“Excellent. How many frames? And is everyone using energy weapons?”
“Ehrm, seven frames and…” It seemed to be confused about the second question, “energy weapons… yes? I am the only one not armed.”
“Last question. You have a means of communicating with your friends?”
The alien’s eye tarried to a belt on its suit. Hooked on it was a small round device.
“This?” Penelope grabbed the thing and held it up.
“Yes. Touch screen, speak.” It offered.
“No need.” She responded as she crushed it in her grip and let the pieces fall to the ground.
The alien made a kind of buzzing noise as it looked down at the crushed commlink.
“Now,” Penelope continued as she moved to a corner of the bridge, “you’re going to sit in this corner and do absolutely nothing because you know that if you try anything there is nowhere you can run that I cannot get to you, yes?”
It enthusiastically made its equivalent of a nod once again. Satisfied, Penelope set them down and turned to her security console. She readjusted its height to suit her and pulled up the corridor cameras and the cargo bay camera. What the little alien had said was true. The corridors were clear. There were three individuals with laser rifles and four more frames in the cargo bay. They’d gathered the crew back by the large bay door and were looking over the cargo.
“Ton’et, stay here and keep an eye on this one…,” she evaluated the situation, “and come over here. I think I have an idea you’ll like.
“Of course Ma’am.”
After explaining her little plan Penelope left Ton’et with the alien who, true to their word, made absolutely no movements save a little shaking. She made her way down the other corridor from the one they’d come through and overrode the locking mechanism on its airlock, ensuring no one would be joining the party… or leaving too early. Next, she went not to the door that led to the cargo bay but the engine room and its many maintenance tunnels.
---
Gareth had just met up with Deag and had begun to explain the situation when the pirate ship sent a warning signal and began boarding them. Docked as they were, there wasn’t much to be done to stop the vessel. They were quickly corralled together with the rest of the crew at the back of the cargo bay.
“Now I’m not sure if this is your first time but we’re not barbarians. Well take what we want, and you’ll be on your way. No harm done. Simple as that.” The leader explained to them. He was a sort of bright yellow and red insectoid, though it was hard to tell under the habsuit. He was just a hair taller than Gareth and sported bug-like wings from his back that the suit accounted for.
Gareth wanted nothing more than to yell, “I told you so!” but he would never admonish the captain in front of the crew. Besides, he had more pressing matters to think about. Like how to handle the fact that Penelope was currently on board the derelict ship seemingly with no idea they’d been boarded by pirates. He wasn’t sure what to do and couldn’t exactly discuss it with the captain lest their captors hear them. The captain was no doubt in the same position as he looked to Gareth. Unfortunately, neither of them were telepathic.
He could attempt to scare the pirates by telling them about Penelope but then they might be able to disengage the airlock and trap her and Ton’et on the other ship. That would not do at all, and they’d probably think he was just bluffing until they sliced the ships’ computers and saw proof of her identity. That said he was fairly sure that none of these pirates were fond of violence. Most just used the threat of it to get valuables and leave. It was mostly a calm affair compared to what he knew of ancient human piracy. He decided the best thing to do was just talk but not mention Penelope. He was good at talking and a better sense of these pirates would serve well.
“So, what happened exactly. I’m curious. We found three wearing similar habsuits to yours on that ship.”
“A question for a question. I answer that one and then ask one of my own. Fair?” the leader’s wings buzzed.
Gareth looked to Deag who just nodded, “Fine.”
“We found that ship not long before you, knew it was just us in the system so we checked it out. Sent the three over and then… nothing. Dead coms, life signs gone. Weren’t about to just give up on it and it presented us with an opportunity. We wait for another to check it out and either they go the same way as ours did in there and we loot their ship, or they figure out whatever happened for us and we take everything.”
“Ahh, so a trap. Just not one set by you.”
“I suppose. But now my question. You are alive so you managed to survive whatever was on the ship. What was it? What killed my people?”
Before he could respond, though, a familiar voice came over the ship’s intercom.
Ton’et!?
“Hello pirates. This is… um well I suppose my name doesn’t really matter… well I’m here to give you a threat? Message? Kind of a request too to be honest. All three, yes… Anyway. Put down your weapons and surrender to the captain. That would be Captain Deag… The Corvul… oh gosh I’m really no good at this. Uhm, just surrender or else you’ll regret it cause our security officer Penelope is going to… do something that I’m of course not going to reveal to you. But its… bad, so you should really surrender. Ton’et out.” The intercom cut out abruptly.
“…What?” The pirate leader looked more confused than anything.
“They’re a scientist, not an orator. But you really should consider surrender because if Ton’et is on the bridge then Penelope must already be on her way here. You see what we found was an anti-personnel turret. A human weapons platform. We were able to deactivate it thanks to our new security officer. A human who, if I had to guess, is about to burst through one of those doors.”
The pirate leader wheeled around and aimed his rifle at one of the doors.
“Cover the doors!” he yelled.
The other two aliens and the four frames took aim at the two points of entry. The high pitched whine of charging laser weapons sounded from all of them.
“Keep aim. We know where its coming from and no personal shield could hold up under all our fire.”
They held but nothing happened. Gareth broke the silence.
“You know captain. There’s another human phrase I think you’d like. I think even a human would call you bat shit crazy sometimes. You know you really should look up some of those terms. Having Penelope hanging around.”
“I suppose I should?” Deag responded with a quizzical look.
“Silence you two!” the pirate said without averting his gaze from the doors.
“You really aught to LOOK them UP captain…” he repeated emphasizing the two words.
The captain suddenly understood what Gareth was trying to tell him and, as covertly as possible, glanced up to the ceiling of the cargo bay. Immediately his eyes shot back down as he witnessed perhaps the most terrifying sight of his life.
Even in the greys of his vision he could see, hanging from the crane attached to the tall ceiling of the cargo bay, their security officer. Penelope had apparently accessed one of the maintenance tunnels that Thwilll most often used and followed it to a hatch that let out in the ceiling. She had then, silently, swung her way across the support structure to the crane system that was used to move especially heavy cargo. Now, she hung from it with one arm as she gazed down at the unsuspecting pirates. All of whom were still solely focused on the doors.
“So that’s a no to the surrender?” Deag asked.
“Silence!” the bug yelled.
The final part of Penelope’s plan became apparent when everyone in the cargo bay was suddenly forced down into the floor. The bay’s gravity had just been jacked up to its maximum.
“AGH!” one of the pirates yelled as they were completely pinned to the ground.
A similar sound came from many as they all struggled against the force. The leader and the other alien managed to stay vertical but were clearly struggling to move. Even the frames struggled somewhat, clearly not built by a species that worked under such gravity.
Deag looked up with disbelief to see Penelope seemingly unaffected, still holding on to the crane with a single hand. She evaluated the situation for only a moment before simply letting go. Her massive form careened downward, taken quickly by gravity.
SLAM!
The resounding sound came as she landed on the floor. Her legs bent as they absorbed the impact. Rising to her full height she moved with incredible speed. Her hands shot out and grasped the two frames she’d landed between. With a twist of her torso and extension of her arms, she threw them into opposite walls. Still working off the shock, Penelope managed to surge forward and crush another frame under her foot. Its shell shattered as she put her full weight atop it.
Finally, the shock seemed to wear off and the pirates began to react. They moved sluggishly, though, their rifles more than doubling in weight. The leader attempted to take flight, but his wings did little more than buzz incessantly, not even lifting him from the ground. Penelope, however, moved with ease. Gareth could almost see relief in her eyes as she enjoyed the time under earth-like gravity. She dispatched the final frame without much of a show, simply reaching down and crushing its cylindrical head in her hand.
The leader gave up trying to take flight and the only other pirate not pinned to the ground managed to levy their rifle at Penelope who made no attempt to avoid it or take cover. The hot beam shot out and struck her center mass. Elation and then terror came over them as they celebrated striking the human only to see the sustained beam was having little effect. Penelope held its gaze as she calmly waltzed forward, ripped the rifle from the aliens’ hand, and snapped it in half over her knee. Tossing the two pieces to the ground she just palmed the alien’s face and sent them to join their broken toy.
With that she turned to the leader to see something that changed her demeanor entirely. The leader had aimed his rifle, but not at her. Instead, the emitter was pointed at Captain Deag. A storm came over her face.
“Stop, or he dies…” the leader warned.
“Now, now. We were playing by a certain set of rules, and I was happy to do so. You left them out of it, and I didn’t kill any of you. That was fine by me. But you’re about to change those rules,” her hand slowly lowered to the pistol that had remained unused at her side, “and I will play by them.”
“You’d risk his life to take mine?” the bug asked.
“Nope. Charge time on those rifles seems to be just over a second. That plus your piss poor reaction time and I’m fairly certain I could get off two, maybe three, shots before you fire. That’s one to disarm you, one to put you down, and one more just to be sure.”
The bug found only cold certainty in Penelope’s eyes as he tried to discern whether she was lying or not. He struggled to keep the weapon steady.
The rest of the bay was silent.
“You’re bluffing.” He said but wilted under her intense gaze.
“The question isn’t whether or not I’m bluffing. The real question is whether or not you’re willing to bet your life on that gamble. I wouldn’t.”
He felt so small under her gaze. His instincts screamed at him that this was no creature to trifle with. Those eyes burned into him and yet he felt nothing but a freezing sensation in his gut.
Don’t do it.
The rifle dropped to the ground with a thud.
Good choice.
---
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it'sa fucky thing homevists the outsidersss wannasneakpeak at that baby then, there's the twisty weird network and the grass it'sa coded network evergiven all the ships are sinking vain glory it's in the news of late gilgamesh, the gold did live gorgons pulverized by god's hand now, they be like clay there are brothers who rival, death has known them forever and a day they will uproot the grass, causing deserts to appear fallow lands move like water all the waters yield ships, corpses hulls, riven and, the web filaments of chartreuse, but darker symmetrical threads innocence appears but is unseen now a wayward drift of dust and the usurpers of the child's mind they are reaped by the winnowing Hand ladyliberty has such a large skull ssstrange so verdisgris coppery blood is a taste on the tongue bricks are badnews children have a desire of the heart they know what's going on with homevisits and want to run freely the children razed the timber to the ground no more fox hunts amenandamen

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New Terran Refugee (Pt - 20) : An NOP fanfic
Thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for letting people write fanfics.
This is just a fanfic of course.
This chapter went through several iterations, I might have let myself think I could release it 1 week late (and failed). Also, I might have gotten sidetracked with other non-writing thing, oops.
TL;DR:
“OOPS! All Rewrites! And side projects!” – Me
In any case, here’s the chapter:
Memory transcription subject: Tayla, Venlil Widow
Date [standardized human time]: October 18, 2136
The first thing I became aware of was that I had awoken enveloping a richly warm pillow with a soft surface from above, and that not only was it hot but that it was also soft and squishy but without too much give, in fact it was somehow firmer below the surface, I snuggled closer to the material that was emanating heat below me and drove off my mind’s attempts at waking me up, this was too blissful an experience to stop suddenly.
The second thing I became aware of was that I didn’t remember replacing my heated pillow as the cold wind season was still expected to be a good deal of time away and that I had much more important things to spend my limited budget on.
The third thing I became aware of was that I wasn’t hugging a pillow, this only happened when I noticed that it wasn’t moving because I was snuggling into it, but rather moving in a steady motion against me, like when someone breathes while asleep.
The fourth thing I became aware of, were the memories of what led me into this situation ‘Just gonna close my eyes for a moment’; Why did I lie to myself like that?
The final thing I became aware of snapped me out of my musings, it was the reason I woke up, and the reason I had crashed so hard into sleepiness.
The consequence of drinking copious amounts of [shade root] tea to keep watch over Jorge until I could call the number in the email during the schedule it had included beneath itself, this was made worse by the cans of ‘Twilight Energy’ I had drank at the end when more drastic measures had to be taken.
I couldn’t ignore it I couldn’t help but feel the pressure mounting inside my bladder as I peeled myself off from on top of Jorge. Why did I move so much while asleep?
Oh Protector, I missed his warmth already…
I made a mental note to look into repairing my heated pillow for cheap due to a sudden urge to sleep with something warm more frequently, the abrupt thought jogging loose some memories about contact information of some local repairvenlil I’d called before for one reason or another, along with the memory of the number I called before… napping with Jorge…
A great feeling of chagrin manifested along with my bloom while closing Jorge’s bathroom door behind me as I remembered the text beneath the schedule, ‘Extended working hours during emergency situations’, the aftermath of antimatter bombing definitely applied… especially since that Mrs. Bennet sounded so exhausted so soon after the supposed start of her work claw.
I decided to chalk up my lapse in judgement to have been due to how Jorge’s expression before he sealed himself in had left my thoughts racing and heart pounding in worry over him.
With my thoughts somewhat settled, I examined the strange toilet that had been installed, before throwing caution to the winds when the urgency I felt reasserted itself with force.
…
After closing the lid and washing my paws, I finally found what had to be the equivalent of the pulley and chain, a small, recessed button parted into 2 asymmetric parts on the top middle part behind the seat.
I pressed both parts at the same time just in case.
FWOOOSH
A small eep escaped me but was drowned out by the noises that were still coming from the strange toilet!
Finally, the ruckus ended, letting me calm down from the unexpected loudness. Wait, did that noise wak-
THUNK THUNK THUNK
A bigger eep escaped me as I jumped a little into the air; However this time it wasn’t drowned out by another noise.
“¿you ok in there?” I could barely make out Jorge’s voice through the door, like he was putting in the barest effort needed to speak.
“Y-yeah, j-just startled…” I opened the door as I trailed off, a sudden realization had me asking him a question, “I guess I know how It felt w-when I s-startled you h-huh?”
His normally expressive face remained still, the only reaction to my attempt at lightening the mood a brief exhale from his nose; He simply slipped past me as I left the bathroom and muttered something I didn’t quite hear just before shutting the door softly.
I went back to the bed and turned on his pad, after a few seconds of waiting for it to turn on, and a few more waiting for my translator to parse the strange [date and time] format the humans used (Honestly, who separated the [hours] and the [days/months] like that?) I felt a bit of relief as I sank a bit into the still warm bed.
According to the pad, I’d just taken a short nap, I still had plenty of time until my children came back home, hopefully I had enough time to actually have some kind of talk with Jorge.
I’d have to somehow get him to talk about last Paw’s… reaction of his, and find a way to convince him to talk about his family, It’d be good for him to recognize that pain, maybe he’d even hold onto it like me…
^FWOOOSH
That thing that the humans called a toilet interrupted my train of thought before I could do more than think of the barest of ways I could breeze into such heavy topics, the small delay between the toilet’s sound, the groaning of water travelling to the faucet, and the door opening wasn’t even enough to get back on my mind’s [zephyr].
A quick focus on Jorge’s face made my determination start to breeze away a bit, it was much easier to think of how to talk to him when I couldn’t see just how heavily everything [to wear down like a long strong gale would] on him.
Jorge deflated slightly but visibly at how I apparently froze up at the sight of him.
“well, thanks, i… feel better, you can just… leave me be for now”
Jorge stood still, averting his eyes from me until he shrugged strangely after turning to look at the barricade, he then shuffled over and started to shift it to the side a bit, evidently wishing to put it back in place after I left.
“ah” he cleared his throat, “sorry, you can leave now” he returned to averting his eyes from looking at me and awkwardly motioned towards the wide opening he had made after dragging the barricade as he stepped away morosely.
“Jorge.” I paused to breathe; I’d managed to huff out his name just as I needed to exhale.
Jorge stood still for a moment before tentatively focusing on me, a strangely vulnerable expression sat on his face.
I patted the bed (an appropriate and proper distance away from me) with my tail before curling it away from the spot, he seemed to get the message and soon he had sat down beside me, brief moment of hesitation notwithstanding.
I turned my head towards him as I’d seen him do when talking, he flinched a little when his eyes met mine, closing them and averting his face, I reached out for his nearby claw with my tail and put it down gently on top.
I waited patiently for him to start talking; Thankfully the wait was short.
“this… ¿is this about… my reaction yesterday?”
“Yes,” I squeezed down on his claw softly with my tail in a comforting gesture, “I wanted to speak with you about that sooner, but for now…” another gentle squeeze, “I’m just glad you seem to be doing a little bit better.”
Silence enveloped us as Jorge seemed to mull over what I’d just said.
A small hint of a hunch had me examining him more closely, it seemed he was anxiously waiting for me to talk some more.
I chastised myself internally, ‘Of course he wasn’t going to be feeling very talkative…’, how could someone jump straight into talking about such a topic? It’d probably be better to start with other stuff and gauge things from there; With that my mind sifted through possible topics until one stood out.
“S-so, I kind of… used up a lot of your powdered ingredients… heh…” I took in his features, he seemed halfway here and halfway far away.
Maybe… Maybe if I somehow mentioned the call to remind him that there were more humans he could try talking to? Just in case he was getting tired of my clumsy attempts at talking with him…
“I, uh, didn’t think of asking Mrs. Bennet about their availability when I called her this Paw, s-sorry about that… b-but I’m sure they’ll get some more that you can use soon, right?”
That got a reaction, a small one, out of him; His eyes widened. It… felt wrong.
“o-oh, well, i’d better get started packing then…”
An impossibly heavy weight settled deep inside my stomach as he moved his claw out from under my frozen tail tip, my throat clenched up as Jorge got up and limply started wading to his bag.
I stared in mute horror as he dumped his clean body coverings into it, trying to communicate anything to him, and failing miserably as the sheer disbelief of just how horribly I had miscommunicated kept me frozen, while the pain and betrayal I could imagine him feeling kept my mind reeling.
He stopped just as he reached his bag, his claws clenched for a moment before he unclenched them slowly and turned around to look directly at me.
He’d shed more tears, his eyes were an ugly and fresher shade of red.
“y-you were waiting down here for me to wake up again just to have this conversation as soon as possible. ¿am i right?”
Th-this wasn’t supposed to go like this!
“I… I was-”
“I!” interrupted Jorge with an elevated tone of voice, “…Earlier, I woke up and went back to sleep a few times, I could see you sitting on the stairs, sometimes you and your pad would be missing, I kept thinking that maybe you were worried about me ¿you know?”
“I-” An intense look from him kept the rest of my response in my head; ‘I was!’ I wanted to plead.
“I guess you didn’t plan for me falling asleep after crying…” He trailed off and seemed to go into deep thought for a moment, before his eyes narrowed dangerously. “¿Did you just bring me that Atole to soften the blow?” He held up one of his claws towards me while making a stabbing motion with it, his voice came out as a much lower growl than normal from him. “¿Or was putting me to sleep part of the plan?”
My face felt as if I’d been hit by an icy gale. ‘Did he just insinua-?’
“You’re fucking heartless.” That last sentence from him was punctuated by a fresh set of tears from his eyes, though no sobbing came from him as he let himself fall backwards down onto the floor, like a puppet with its strings suddenly cut.
My heart was beating wildly, and my eyes stung from the horrible accusations that he was making, and from how I’d probably be doing just what he had said if this had happened a few days ago…
I gave myself a moment to recollect myself, I’d thought similar enough things when I was alone in the hospital after losing my family, not nearly as extreme but… my circumstances back then and his right now weren’t comparable.
I shuddered internally at how much worse I’d have fared if it had been Venlil Prime that had been attacked; I’d probably… I’d have tried to do what he tried last night…
With a sigh I focused consciously on Jorge, who was breathing a bit more steadily now, as I picked up the bottle and moved steadily towards his alert gaze.
I sat down in front of him and opened the bottle, he narrowed his eyes even further in response, making the redness and glistening more pronounced, the patches of fur above his eyes changed position as well; I didn’t quite know what it meant, but it couldn’t possibly have been from him feeling happy or at peace.
I pushed through the sense of fear that was starting to form from being under his stare and took in the rest of his body language… I readjusted my position and observed as he flinched away from me…
I slowly raised the bottle and drank; The patches of fur over his eyes returned to their normal position, overshot and stayed raised while the intensity of his stare diminished. Finally, he tilted his head ever so slightly.
After a few gulps more I stopped drinking and offered him the bottle, he still wasn’t accepting it; I wiped my lips and prepared to speak.
“…I wouldn’t do that to you…” A small quiver at the end made me trail off until I was certain my voice wouldn’t fail me. I wouldn’t do that now. “None of those things, I mean… Even after all I did… You gave me a chance…”
“When you put it like that…” Jorge wiped his eyes. “I mean, I don’t know what came over me…” He looked to the side and deflated a little.
“I understand… I was like this too…” A small shiver traveled through my spine, thinking about it always did… I ignored the shiver by standing up and offering him the bottle again, this time he grabbed it and drank deeply.
He trailed behind me, we sat down on opposite sides of the bed, him hugging his legs as he sat against the wall, and me with one leg over the edge of the bed with the other one crossed over it.
Dozens of starting points were flurrying in my head, I couldn’t decide on one, so I cleared my throat and let myself say whatever came out first.
“I’m married.” Jorge became extremely visibly confused. “I-I’m a Widow, I meant to say…” The familiar sting of pain grounded me as his expression changed into one I could recognize even from him, pity.
“He-” died “…It happened 11 years ago, I… I lost my family at the same time…”
Jorge’s expression softened even more, no longer out of pity, but out of understanding… of the pain we shared…
“It was my dad’s idea, he’s always wanted to have a big family homestead… when the latest batch of colonies were finally cleared for habitation he bought a plot immediately, my sister and her husband went with them first, then my brother and his wife, and finally me and…”
This whole talking thing was much harder than I thought… I cleared my throat; I couldn’t go on just omitting any names in my retelling…
“Krayla, that’s my mother’s name.” I paused, waiting for his reaction, he ‘nodded’ slowly, solemnly. “Tavk’io, my dad; Talnum, my b-brother; Tahyiya, m-my sister; …a-and Glim, m-my husband…”
I buried my head in my paws, this was too much…
A moment passed, I felt something brush against my tail; Opening my eyes I saw that it was Jorge’s claw, he patted the tip gently until his eyes met mine.
“Emiliano José Cauich Ayala, t-that’s my father’s name.” He paused to breathe and wiped his eyes. “Ixchel Paola Rojas Canul, that’s my mother’s name.”
We stayed in silence for a while longer, at least in my case recovering from the emotional toll that I had just gone through.
“S-shortly after we arrived at the colony,” I began. “I l-learned I was p-pregnant, G-Glim and I celebrated it with my family, we were going to name our baby after my brother and his wife, Kiyomi. It… It was something we had all come up with [years] before, everything was going just like we had dreamed and talked so much about…”
I squeezed my tail against myself, all those nights at the colony laughing and joking with each other about increasingly outlandish names (ones that we’d never use of course), gone just like that…
“G-Glim and Talnum were busy helping the colony expand by clearing new plots for development and as buffer zones, I helped around with Taylee and Talim when needed but I helped dad with the house most of the time; There were always things that needed to be taken care of after all. Th-then one day in the colony, I f-fainted while picking up Taylee and Talim from school, a f-few [weeks] after that… I had to be sent back here since the colony’s hospital had lost their last equipment shipment to an Arxur raid.” I paused and lowered my voice. “G-Glim stayed behind to take extra assignments, t-to cover expenses, h-he… he was… he was on his last pawful of shifts b-before leave wh-when…”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“…D-dad was at home looking after the kids, he’d sprained his leg while doing some maintenance, he called me early in the morning there, Talnum and Glim were in some kind of assignment together, and my mother had taken everyone else to get stuff from the market to prepare a farewell meal f-for Glim…” And after that… “The call disconnected abruptly, it had happened before so I… I j-joked to m-myself a-and the nurse that it was p-probably j-just the signal failing because I wasn’t there to maintain things p-properly…”
Tears started forming in my eyes again, Jorge shuffled closer, put his soft claw on my shoulder and gave a light squeeze, his warmth spread throughout me.
“…A few claws later I learnt the truth, that the colony had been raided and that the shelter had been breached, shortly after that, I… I lost my…” I did my best to look him directly in his eyes. “After that… I started planning how to get to the hospital’s roof…” There, a glint of recognition and pain in his eyes. “I was just waiting for the rescue fleet to finish up there, just in case, thankfully… my dad hid Taylee and Talim in one of the [Kitchen] cabinets after taking down the family pictures, since he couldn’t take them to the shelter, he… Taylee told me that he… he begged her to keep quiet before closing the cabinet. She stayed in there with Talim for I don’t even know how long… She… She hasn’t talked about it ever again.”
Another squeeze, then silence and cold as he retracted his claw back towards him, his face turning to another side while taking on some kind of thoughtful intensity.
“S-So… What I’ve been trying to say was… I kind of understand what you’re going through… A-and if you want to talk… I-I’m here?”
A small ‘nod’, and more silence. My eyes were beginning to feel heavy again, that nap hadn’t been enough it seemed.
Jorge harrumphed, causing a bolt of wakefulness to course through me as he began speaking, filling in the silence that had fallen on the room.
“…I don’t think I’m ready yet…” His face turned towards me once more. “But… thank you, for sharing, and for worrying about me, I… If you hadn’t been there when I drifted into and out of sleep…” His eyes widened in a flash. “Wait. ¿You haven’t slept right? ¿Are you feeling OK?”
“I-I t-took a nap after you f-fell asleep…” B-beneath him… “Y-you left a lot of space…” He did, but I couldn’t get to it from under his legs…
“Good, good…” His eyes flicked between me and the door. “Well… I suppose you’ve got stuff to do now. ¿Am I right?” Somehow, the expression that sat now on his face felt forced in a way. I kept quiet as I rummaged through my memories of The Aftermath.
Of course, he was trying to get me out to wallow in peace, just as I did…
That was the last thing he needed right now.
I needed to find a way to get him out of this room…
“Actually… I’m free until my kids get back, I’m used to taking care of chores quickly.”
“Right…” Jorge seemed to slowly steel himself, if I didn’t interrupt me, he’d just ask me to leave directly…
I tried to think faster, but the drowsiness was returning in force, it was no use… Unless…
“H-Hey!” My exclamation startled him, I pressed on to keep the momentum strong. “I uh, I kind of went through my whole supply of [shade root] tea to stay awake…” I didn’t. “And… I don’t really want to drink more energy drinks this Paw, I don’t suppose you have something to stay awake with you?”
Jorge blinked, again, once more, and again one last time before responding.
“¿I… think I have some coffee I could make?” He tilted his head adorably to one side as he scratched his head with one claw.
“Sounds perfect! Would you please make me some?” I stood up before he could even answer, reached for his idle claw and tugged at it towards me; He stood up in what seemed like a daze out of reflex.
We spent the next few [minutes] browsing the intact shelf, whatever this coffee was, it wasn’t there, the tentatively positive mood that had formed cracked a little as Jorge looked at the shelf barricade before he trudged over to it, stopping beside it where he gestured at vaguely with his claw.
We stepped past the barricade, tried not to look at each other, failed, shuffled in place for a moment and began sifting through the items strewn about the floor in an unspoken agreement.
It wasn’t long until I found myself holding a container that my translator insisted was labeled ‘Instant Coffee’. “Hey,” I started while turning, “is this the ri-” Jorge was looking intensely at something on the floor, I followed his gaze and saw it, the broken remains of the flame projector.
“J-Jorge?” I extended my tail cautiously towards his arm, his claws ceased to strain against themselves following the subtle flinch he had when the tip of my tail made contact with him.
I gave him the ‘Instant Coffee’ I was holding and scooped up the remains to dispose of them properly this time; Jorge held up the container and murmured an affirmation at me, I gestured for him to lead the way and proceeded to follow him to the [kitchen].
I raced my way directly to the trash container, separated the single-use fuel cannister from the remains I was holding, and dumped the inert bits inside; I’d have to take this last part to a proper disposal collection point in town some other time. For now, I glanced at Jorge and tucked it into a discreet spot in the cabinets when he wasn’t looking. Only after that did I notice what a mess I’d made up here despite my best efforts at cleaning up…
Jorge’s eyes were scanning all over the [kitchen], taking in every splotch, every spill and every crusted over utensil I’d used, he lingered noticeably longer on the open and haphazardly arranged containers of his that I had used, finally he stared at the Vanilla Extract bottle with a soft expression, it was the only container that had remained completely spotless and didn’t have a significant amount of its contents drained.
Yet another unreadable expression had settled on his face as he took a big pot and barely put any water in it, the other more reasonably sized ones just too dirty to deal with quickly, before putting it to boil on the [stove top].
“Uh…” He shifted his weight from one leg to the other a few times. “I… never did thank you for the drink earlier ¿Didn’t I?”
“N-no but there’s no ne-”
The patches of fur above his eyes furrowed together.
“You… mentioned before that you entered the program for money…” He looked confused. “¿Why didn’t you just… ask for me to be picked up? You’d have gotten someone else in no time… Hell, I’d still understand if you did it now. You don’t have to go through all this trouble for me.” The confused expression deepened as he gestured at the messy remains around us.
“…”
He was waiting for an answer.
“I… w-well I d-did enter for the money… b-but… I don’t want to just replace you… I like being around you. I d-don’t know if we’re there yet… But I’d like to be… f-friends! W-with you someday…” Oh Protector, I couldn’t be more obvious unless I just came out and said it…
“Well for what it’s worth… Thank you Tayla, you don’t know what that means to me right now.” He was looking directly at me, with raw emotion and palpable aliveness, my face started to feel as if I was standing under sunlight…
“I-It was the l-least I could d-do…” It was worth it even though he didn’t seem to understand quite what I accidentally meant before…
I was spared from further embarrassment by the pot of water sizzling violently behind Jorge who turned around in a blur to turn the heat off, while he did that I grabbed two (clean) mugs and set them down near him, though I didn’t move my paws quite fast enough as his claw brushed against me while he moved the mugs closer to him to pour the water on them.
He let the water cool down a little as he put his sugar and ‘Instant Coffee’ containers close to the mugs; He poured the less-than-boiling water into the mugs, stirred in a measure of ‘Instant Coffee’ and a measure of sugar as well.
He passed me a mug with a cryptic warning. “If it’s not to your taste, let me know.” Then he grabbed the other one, sipped a little and waited.
The mischievous glint in his eyes left me no choice, I’d have to play along for now; I raised the mug and sipped…
SPEH
WHY WAS EVERYTHING THESE HUMANS HAD SO BITTER?
I futilely attempted to remove the grimace from my face; Strangely, the roar of laughter I expected was nowhere to be heard, I found myself looking at Jorge with some amount of concern, though the clear, if understated, smile he sported calmed me down somewhat.
Wordlessly, Jorge reached for my mug and the can of powdered coconut milk, he then proceeded to mix in a little of it in both mugs, turning the liquid from a dark oily brown to a much lighter tone. Finally he mixed in a single drop of his Vanilla Extract in each mug and gave me back mine.
I gave him the best glare I could manage as I pouted at him, he took a deep drink from his own mug and held it up for me to examine.
With a sigh I tried mine again.
Warm. Flowery. Smooth. Bitter but not too much, like a perfectly harvested root. But most importantly of all, I could feel myself waking slightly more already, whether it was just self-suggestion or the drink having an effect so soon I couldn’t tell.
Once more, the reaction I expected from Jorge was missing, this time he seemed to be lost in thought, staring at a distant point in the air.
I took a moment to examine him, whatever he was thinking, it was starting to fester. It’d be better to get him talking “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“It’s no-” He shook his head. “It’s just… I… my dad… he liked to drink his without adding anything, no sugar, no… coconut milk…, and… me and mom used to tease him about it…” He was retreating into himself once more.
I kept drinking my coffee; There had to be something else I could talk with him about…
Jorge straightened up, something about his posture, about the way he held himself had changed.
“Say… Tayla… ¿Can I ask you for a favor?” Despite the confidence he exuded he was running one of his claws over the back of his mug repeatedly.
“W-what kind of favor?”
“There’s something I want, no, something I need to make for the end of the [month], and… I’m going to need your help getting the stuff, I’d just ask you to get it all for me, but honestly that wouldn’t be right.”
“O-ok, but you still haven’t told me what the favor is?”
“I need to buy flowers, candles, a good tablecloth, and see what dishes I can actually make here that’d be good enough.”
“W-What for?” W-Was he? My heart was beating wildly in a peculiar mix of elation, nervousness and apprehension.
“I’m going to make an Altar for Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos), it’s the least I can do for my family all the way over here.”
W-
Wh-
WHAT?

I waited until I was 32 years old to get my first pet. I had no idea how challenging and rewarding raising a puppy into a dog would be. I know that a pet dog is not equivalent to a human child- but as a woman who isn't having children, he is the closest I will probably ever get.
I used to be such a miserable morning person... but ever since he came into my life, I wake up every single morning smiling and saying "Good Morning" as he licks my face. I have trained him almost everything he knows, but he has taught me more than I ever could have imagined - about patience, empathy, love, and connection.
I am fortunate to be able to bring him to work with me, so I am literally almost always with him. We go on so many fun adventures together ... we commute together.. we work together....we are very bonded, and he is really like my little shadow. I have truly never had a better friend. Maybe that speaks to my bad luck with friends, or maybe it is reminiscent of man's relationship to dog.
I have nursed him back to health twice after illnesses - I have happily cleaned up poop, puke, and blood. Almost everything I do is with him in mind - what is best for him, what would make him happy and fulfilled.
I have struggled with depression and addiction in my life....somedays, he is my sole reason...my reason for staying here...my reason for being the best version of myself that I can be. I am digging myself out of almost 30k in debt just so that I can buy a house with a big fenced in back yard ...for him.
He is only 1 year old. I try so hard to just live in the present and enjoy the time we have together but another part of me is sometimes angry at myself....because I have already experienced so much loss and have so much trauma around abandonment that the idea that he won't be here forever just breaks me. Most days, I just enjoy what we have....but every once in a while, this little voice inside says, "This is really going to hurt." He is just always here... and to imagine him not here one day kills me.
I truly fear the day he's not here anymore. I had a lot of pets growing up and love animals, but I truly feel there will never be another him. It scares the shit out of me and breaks my heart. He really is my everything.
One of my favorite family dogs passed away 5 years ago and every once in a while I still get teary eyed about it....It is hard to fathom what I am going to feel when it is my boy. My best friend.
Is it normal to be so attached to a dog? To think about the end when he is still so young? How do you get over these intrusive thoughts?

So i’m not super into the van clan and all I follow Zoe on insta and TikTok (started on youtube in the early days) but so I watch as she shows up. I see how this situation can seem interesting because of the drama but we need to see it as is. We have to remember they met when they were teenagers people change an awful lot from teenagers to grown adults with a fairly larger family. Also I know Zoe has been accused of cheating yes that’s a huge disrespectful act in a relationship and yes Zoe has done many horrible acts in their relationship but when you have been dating since being a teenager and growing into adulthood things are going to get nasty and horrible fights or anything will happen. We also need to keep in mind their kids are getting to the age that they can recognize what’s going on so don’t give either party the recognition because it will fuel their anger and who knows how that will affect the kids. Also let’s keep in mind that just a few months ago Garrick had attempted and or had been having the problems for a while before. This also could cause problems we truly shouldn’t fuel either side let them naturally figure out what is correct for their family and their children. Also we need to keep in mind they will post about it because it will fuel their views so not engaging can also help as they will realize the media stuff is going no where.
Like i’ve stated I don’t completely know everything about this drama but I do know they have had arguments before or disagreements that are heavily fueled by what sort of views and engagement it leads to online

(Edited to add: I absolutely did not watch from their YouTube channel. I watched through a third-party link)
I almost counted the number of duck faces Morgan pulls during this video, but I think my brain would explode, but I did count hair touches! Let’s get into it.
0:15 – OMG this video is UnIqUe and SpEciAL, guys
0:25 – prayer for Sky Daddy to use their words in the white – I mean, RIGHT way, ft. Morgan’s SUPER weird “Ay-MAYn” at the end
0:57 – Youtube influencer is not an EASY profession; this “heat” we’re taking is affecting our BRAND DEALS (Morgan hair touch #1)
1:17 – shameless Patreon plug
1:30 – Morgan has prepared a monologue which Paul interrupts before she even begins. Sterilized statement about how they definitely believe people were hurt by the IBLP and that those people deserve to heal. “We believe that anyone who tries to use the word of God to manipulate and control people will be held accountable, maybe in this lifetime, but most certainly in the next lifetime.” “These documentaries serve a purpose” but they aren’t made by Christians (how can they even TELL that?), so they are Bad. “They don’t allow the gospel to be shared.” These kinds of documentaries push the deconstruction of Christianity as the only option, obviously. (Total hair touches during this section: 8.)
4:53 – “Look at my wife, she can read! Isn’t she cute?” – Paul, probably (Morgan looks so thrilled to have been allowed to speak for that long) (2 hair touches during his praise)
5:10 – Our patrons (all eleven of them!) wanted all the deets so that’s why we’re doing this! Not for the attention, you see!
5:30 – Morgan: “You may not care at all, which makes me wonder why are you even on this video.” For science, Morgan! For science! I need to know how many times one human can touch their hair in 45 minutes!
5:45 – Paul’s like, “these documentaries aren’t factual! These people are in it for the money! They’re trying to make entertaining content, so you’ll watch and give them more money!” Me: super side eye emoji (Hair touch count up to now: 12)
Guys guess what! Integrity wasn’t a leading goal for the film makers! They’re not like US!!! WE definitely wouldn’t do something just for money because we’re GOOD CHRISTIANS.
6:50 – They were super cautious going into this, just so that we all know. There were back and forths! “We knew someone who went on the Bachelorette! But don’t watch it or anything, for sure.” “We’ve seen how they twist situations to villanize ppl on these shows – especially Christians for SURE – and we told them we don’t WANT that mess.” “They told us they wouldn’t do that and we believed them, guys.” (Morgan hair touches during this section: only 1!)
8:20 – AgEnDa-DriVeN DoCuMeNtArY
9:00 – Fucking finally they’re getting to the story. They say they were reached out to about a year ago and ignored it, then were kind of hounded into it. It was pitched to them as a docuseries about how reality TV has affected online Christian influencers. They were cautious but thought it could be “cool” and “neat.” The production team said it was going to be like the “LuLaRich” docuseries, which Morgan really enjoyed. (Morgan touched her hair TWELVE times in two and a half minutes. Total now: 25)
11:30 – Side note: I’ve never watched a full video of theirs before. Does Paul always constantly correct Morgan or is this a special case for their special video? Every time he does it, she looks away from him and I can literally SEE her resetting and shoving any irritation down to deal with later (or never, ya know).
Also, they’re pissed bc in LuLaRich, there were all sides to the story, whereas in SHP there were not, but guess what Porgan – if you watch to the end of the final episode, it says the production team reached out to other parties and they declined to appear on the series. They were given an opportunity and turned it down, so…
12:00 – WE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE IBLP WAS, YOU GUYS! WAAAH
(I think I missed a hair touch but I WILL NOT rewind this shit AGAIN)
12:45 – Paul’s family “touched the surface” of IBLP, but it was “very very little.” His parents thought most of it was “too extreme.” (2 hair touches)
13:00 – They made sure there wasn’t an NDA “PrAiSe GoD.” (1 hair touch)
13:45 – Paul demonstrates he has no idea how long pregnancy lasts – “You were what, 12 months pregnant at the time?” “12 WEEKS, idiot” (she didn’t say idiot but I WISH she had)
14:15 – But they TREATED us so WELL when they interviewed us!?!?!? They were SO NICE!?!?
14:34 – “It’s not like we’re idiots!” Au contraire, my Polio
15:00 – Evidently they talked about “heavy, cultural topics” during the interview but it was all cut. Paul confesses there’s “some overlap” between what they believe and what the IBLP teaches. The production team told them if they had merch or a book, to release it alongside the docuseries bc “you guys are about to blow up.” (total hair touches: 29 so far)
16:43 – Watching the docuseries: We may have made an oopsie. (Porgan, basically) Also, Morgan didn’t know what the phrase “bad actors should be exposed” meant. Wtf.
17:15 – Bad ppl should get in trouble, victims should be heard. “Where do we fit in this docuseries? Oh wait…” (3 more hair touches)
18:00 – We made a video condemning Josh Duggar! Doesn’t anybody remember that??? (2 hair touches)
19:15 – I will not say that Morgan is self-medicating in any way, but if she HAD been, it would have kicked in about now. She slurs her way through “differentiation” and it’s truly painful to watch. Also neither of them has heard of the Joshua Generation, but I’m assuming it’s only bc Luca isn’t old enough for them to start receiving emails and pamphlets about it yet. I got several when my kids were about eight and nine-ish. (There was a BIG hair touch here, so I’m counting it as two; sue me)
20:15 – “It was NOT a 360 view! It was a 180 view – which Paul accidentally wrote – “ “Ha, yeah. Right.” Did NOT look pleased about that comment from Morgan and he steamrolled through it. Morgan says the ppl who have deconstructed HATE faith, God, anyone who believes, religion – Paul says that’s sure what it felt like to him. Also guys, did you know that we are out to DESTROY people like them? I didn’t even know bc I’m having too much fun watching them destroy themselves.
21:15 – “Experts” in BIG finger quotations that were interviewed who are no longer Christians are STRUGGLING in life – I’m sure it’s not because they were abused or anything; it’s definitely the WORLD, Paul. For sure. (1 hair touch – total so far: 35)
22:02 – Jen gets a shoutout!
22:25 – We are the “fringe on the other side,” guys! Thinking about making that my new flair fr.
22:45 – More slurring from Morgan – don’t worry, she’s not mad! She stands by everything she said in all the clips they played. She’s only mad bc they LIED to them about what they were using their soundbites for. (4 hair touches)
23:32 – I’m going to die before this video ends. Someone send help.
23:50 – The other people interviewed for the series seem hurt, confused, struggling in their lives. (Not the vibe I got, but go off I guess)
24:00 – OMG you guys, there's a reddit hate group of TROLLS that hate Christians! We should definitely stay away from THAT place omg!!!
The documentary had an AgEnDa. Paul pauses here for a DEEP SIGH.
24:45 – Morgan says the documentary is saying that anyone who thinks homeschooling, order of leadership, going to church is a good thing is an extremist, terrible, fringe, awful. IBLP took a little piece of the Bible and ran with it (sound familiar? Bueller? Anyone?). (4 hair touches)
25:35 – They aren’t like that, so don’t worry! Figure it out on your own, using your own Bible! They aren’t perfect at all and don’t pretend to be! (if I roll my eyes any harder, they will get stuck in the back of my head)
26:23 – Pissed bc in the series, they are presented as the Joshua Generation, they spend a moment comparing the Joshua Generation to the left – liberal colleges, LGBTQ movement, pro- choice movement, etc. Reiterate they don’t know what the Joshua Generation is, tho. Leftists are trying to take over the world, apparently. “Gaslighting” and “hogwash” were said in this rant. (only one hair touch! Total so far – 44)
29:ish – Morgan promotes Jinger’s book, Paul corrects her word choice (AGAIN, Jesus). The GOSPEL is in that book, but not in this docuseries! Spoiler: Jinger did it right bc she “disentangled” not “deconstructed,” and got right with the word of GAWD. (1 hair touch)
30:45 – “If you haven’t deconstructed, you’re part of the problem,” Paul thinks the docuseries is saying. Morgan wonders if Jill was roped into this without knowing fully what she was going to be part of bc in case you guys haven’t picked up on it yet, THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED TO PAUL AND MORGAN. Paul thinks she knew what she was getting into. Morgan thinks Jill looks like she’s still working through things with her family. Morgan says Jim Bob did some “messed up things to his children…Disgusting…money hungry…needs to be held accountable.” Morgan then mentions that she hasn’t finished Jinger’s book yet, so she’s definitely an expert. (2 hair touches)
33:00 – Morgan thinks it’s “interesting” that Jinger and Jill view their upbringing differently. Weird how people aren’t all the same! (2 bonus hair touches!)
33:30 – Paul said the docuseries made him start to look at the way he was raised to see if maybe there was anything fishy about it, so that’s positive, right?
34:00 – Oh, wait. Should have known better. He comes out of that experience with, welllllll Christians SHOULD be seen as extreme in some ways – the Bible talks about Christians being hated by the world, stench in the nostrils of unbelievers – so it’s totally fine, you guys. He’s embracing extremism now. “Wear it proudly! Pride month, baby!” Brb. Gotta go vomit.
34:45 – Paul begins talking about how he was just casually reading today in Acts – he's definitely not a Pharisee or anything. Side note: if he says “SoUrCeS” one more time with BIG air quotes, I will hit something. Paul’s takeaway from the story he just read today in the book of Acts (where the apostle Paul says he counts his life as forfeit) is that the sources in the docuseries (whom he doesn’t respect, SHOCKER) would tell him he should just be happy and stop being an extremist! Stop being an IDIOT, apostle Paul!
35:29 – Morgan says that Christianity in itself is extreme to the world. I’m loving where this is going. /s
She says the world is “self first” and Jesus is “serve first.” I definitely don’t think she understands that they very much put themselves first in everything they do; when was the last time you or Paul actually SERVED anyone else something besides cringey videos, Morgy?
35:50 – Paul says they could come into any strong, good church and make them look like a cult. Huh. Shouldn’t be that easy, my guy. Maybe try making it seem like less of a cult? For PR.
36:12 – Morgan – “Put intense music behind anything and it sounds crazy. Make a girl be like, ‘And then, I had to pee!’” fake crying, big hair touch
Paul – “And THIS church believes THIS about the LGBTQ – I mean, that’s what the Bible says” SHOW me where it says that, Paul. I’ll wait.
“And they believe THIS about women’s rights! Well, we believe that children are valuable in the womb” – just not once they’re out of it, right?
36:35 – They stand behind everything they said in the documentary!
37:00 – They’re going to homeschool poor Luca – shocker
37:12 – big hair touch, weird high-five-amen about not letting anyone else influence their child
37:25 – Paul rejects all that “evolution stuff” and then does this weird bit where he pretends to be meek and mild and say that if he actually cared what ppl think of him, he would act this way and say he believes in evolution to “save face”
38:00 – Morgan’s giggle makes me want to unalive myself
38:19 – Paul reads statement from his phone about how they don’t like being lumped in with super fundamentalists and how IBLP isn’t based on scripture, but man-made laws and wasn’t Gospel-focused. I feel like they’re about to do an altar call
39:05 – oh shit I was almost right – “It’s not works-based, there’s nothing you can do. Christ already did it for you.” “Amen. Amen. AY. Men.” Weird prayer hands by Morgan, who seems more out of it by the second.
39:16 – “Guys, give this video a thumbs up!” Yay, two Duggar-affiliated people followed them on Insta! Morgan does heart-hands about that
40:ish – Morgan encouraging ppl who think they might be in a church that twists the word to go to the BIBLEH for the TROOFS – Paul amen’s like four times. It IS a sermon, complete with scripture! My favorite!
41:ish (I’m tired, don’t judge) – weirdly sped-up talk about how they don’t get many brand deals bc they only put out Christian content (suuuuure THAT'S why, Jan), and Patreon is important! SUPER weird handshake and at the end they say “GO TEAM” and it’s just so cringe I can’t anymore thank goodness it’s over omgggggg
The total hair touch count was FIFTY (50!). You’re welcome.