The stock image for Battle #553 is... Frustrated Woman On Laptop

 
 
 

Previous Winner

This week's image was chosen by biciuz, the winner in Battle 55:
Stock image: Synchronized Swimmers
Winning entry: cake
 

Prizes

The winner of this weeks battle will:

• Receive 3 months of Reddit Gold, courtesy of the admins.
  
• Get to choose next week's stock image.
  
• Get a number added to their contributor flair.
  If this is your first win, your standard flair will be replaced by this winners' flair. On your second win, you'll get this winners' flair, etc.
  
• Get to keep the trophy for a week, after which it's handed on to the next winner.
  (more information on flair here)
  

 

The Rules

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The Schedule

• All entries will be hidden for the first 48 hours.
  
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  Contest mode will be enabled for another 24 hours. This will sort comments randomly, obscure vote counts, and automatically minimize child comments.
  
• Contest mode will be disabled on Wednesday.
  From there on out, each comment's vote total will be visible, and entries can be sorted by karma (just like any other Reddit thread).
  
• The Battle will end on Saturday, June 3^rd.
  Next week's battle will be posted early Sunday morning.
  

 
Best of luck, everyone; have fun!

Welcome to the /GoPro Weekly Questions thread!
This is the place where everyone, beginner or advanced, should ask your general GoPro related questions, or ask for help troubleshooting! We encourage you to post here rather than make your own thread, as this is a great place for us veteran users to answer your questions regularly, it minimizes basic question clutter on the main page, and allows users with discussion threads to stay on the front page longer before getting bumped off over time.
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Remember to check out the wiki in the sidebar for lots of useful info about all things GoPro! Below is list of resources for our most common questions.

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Here are the results of yesterday's matches. Nuts & Dolts defeated Frosen Steel, Ladybug defeated Sea Monkeys, Crosshares defeated Milk And Cereal, and Reading Rainbow defeated Viva La Revolution!. All of these matches were quite close, to the point where I'm actually writing this write-up after the descriptions of today's matches below. While the four higher seeds ended up winning, setting up a pretty ordinary-looking first two matches of the Sweet Sixteen, that sort of obscures how close these matches were. Reading Rainbow had the largest victory, and that was just by eight votes (as of when I'm writing this, still about 15 minutes before polls close). Ladybug was slightly closer, though I suppose Ladybug vs. Sea Monkeys being a close match isn't much of a shock seeing as they were only one seed apart. Nuts & Dolts narrowly avoided becoming the first top seed to exit in the second round, scoring a narrow win over Frosen Steel. However, the closest of them all was Crosshares vs. Milk And Cereal. For the second tournament in a row, neither the reigning champion nor the reigning runner-up has advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. Just as both Fair Game and Pollination fell in the second round of Ship Wars 6, now both Pfennig and Milk And Cereal are down before the end of Ship Wars 7's second round (Pfennig actually lost in the first round, though, so it's not exactly the same as last time). Of course, this result was by an extremely narrow margin, so it's not like Milk And Cereal went down without a fight. Congratulations to all the victors!
Here is the bracket, and now on to today's matches:
Match 1: Arkos (Jaune x Pyrrha) vs. Aurora Borealis (Weiss x Ilia)
We start out with 4th-seeded Arkos taking on 36th-seeded Aurora Borealis. The Ship Wars 4 Champion got more votes than any other ship in the first round, showing off its strength as a member of the Big Four. Now, it faces off against Aurora Borealis. Despite my personal feelings for this ship, I have to admit that Aurora Borealis is kind of a crack ship, since Weiss and Ilia have never interacted in canon. However, it is a crack ship with apparently a decent number of fans, besides just me, since it made it as far as the Elite Eight back in Ship Wars 4. While it's never beaten one of the Big Four, it did finish just five votes behind White Rose when they were up against each other in Ship Wars 5. Also, it didn't have much trouble beating fellow Ilia ship Kaleidoscope in the first round this year. So, while Arkos has the definite advantage here, it's not a match they can sleep on.
Match 2: Mint Chocolate (Emerald x Coco) vs. Tiamat (Summer x Taiyang)
For our second match, 52nd-seeded Mint Chocolate will face off against 20th-seeded Tiamat. Mint Chocolate defeated White Knight last round to become the lowest-seeded ship in this year's round of 32. However, now it must face off against a ship that doesn't have much controversy weighing it down. While Mint Chocolate might not be the crackiest ship to make it this far, since Emerald and Coco have interacted before and are now both in Vacuo where they could interact again in future volumes, it is at a steep disadvantage against the ship that made the show's main character and which got some actual on-screen fuel with Summer and Tai's interaction in Volume 9. Can Mint Chocolate overcome these overwhelming odds and actually build a Cinderella run, or will Tiamat utterly destroy it and prove that Mint Chocolate is only here because it was lucky enough to face off against White Knight, one of the tournament's most controversial ships, in the first round?
Match 3: Knightlight (Jaune x Jessica Cruz) vs. Gelato (Roman x Neo)
For our third match, 5th-seeded Knightlight takes on 28th-seeded Gelato. By solidly-winning its first-round match, Knightlight showed that it wasn't some joke ship that got memed into a high seed placement but would utterly crumple in a one-on-one match. However, now it must face a resurgent Gelato fueled by Roman's sort-of "return" in Volume 9. Both of these ships put up similarly-solid performances in the first round of the tournament, beating their opponents by decent margins but not utterly annihilating them. Perhaps this could be the closest match of the day. Will Knightlight continue its run deeper into the tournament, or will Gelato dispose of this crossover ship right here and now?
Match 4: White Rose (Ruby x Weiss) vs. Fair Game (Qrow x Clover)
We close out the day with a showdown between two former champions, it's 12th-seeded White Rose vs. 21st-seeded Fair Game. Despite being the lowest-seeded of the Big Four, White Rose still put up Big Four numbers in its match against Poly-Parents. After defeating three members of Team STRQ, it now faces the fourth. Can Ruby's love for Weiss triumph over her uncle's love for Clover? Fair Game will have to get back into its championship form from Ship Wars 5 if it wants to win this one. That performance that led to a narrow victory over Rose Garden is unlikely to cut it against a ship like White Rose. When these two ships met up in the second round of Ship Wars 6, the result was a narrow White Rose victory, and both ships have a lot to prove today. Will the first champion mlm ship shape up to score the upset here, or will White Rose continue to show that its mediocre regular season performance was a fluke with another massive victory?
Here is the poll for today's matches.
Here is the schedule for the remainder of the tournament:
May 28th: Round 2, Part 2

• Arkos vs. Aurora Borealis
• Mint Chocolate vs. Tiamat
• Knightlight vs. Gelato
• White Rose vs. Fair Game

May 29th: Round 2, Part 3

• Bumblebee vs. Jailbirds
• Faunus Pride vs. Fireball
• Land of Lesbos vs. Bee's Schnees
• Remnant Orgy Without Jaune vs. Remnant Orgy With Just Neo

May 30th: Round 2, Part 4

• Alcoholics Anonymous vs. Atlas Dropouts
• Rosebird vs. Entire Team
• Renora vs. Pollination
• Monochrome vs. Greek Fire

May 31st: Sweet Sixteen, Part 1

• Nuts & Dolts vs. Ladybug
• Crosshares vs. Reading Rainbow

June 1st: Sweet Sixteen, Part 2
June 2nd: Elite Eight
June 3rd: Final Four
June 4th: Grand Championship
June 5th: Final Results
And now, let the tournament continue!

Warning: This will be a long nerdy post with a lengthy explanation of Magic Find mechanics, including math and graphs. (18 graphs, 4280 words, 20342 characters).
If you don’t want to read this wall of text, you can Ctrl+F and search for TLDR
​

• This Post is meant as an Advanced Guide to Magic Find. You should already be familiar with the basics of Magic Finding before continuing with this post. Or if you like nerdy Diablo stuff, go right ahead.
• This Post delves into the mathematical formulas and code behind Magic Find. It’s NOT about “clear speed vs MF” or “best place to farm X item” or “full zones clearing vs elite sniping” or anything like that.
• Its purpose is to provide a comprehensive overview of Magic Find mechanics. This is a summary of Magic Find knowledge so you, the player, would have more understanding on how it all works.

Frequently, people inquire about the optimal amount of Magic Find. The typical response is that more Magic Find is generally better, but there are diminishing returns. Often, an EffectiveMF graph is referenced to illustrate this point. For example, one of such posts from a month ago.
However, relying solely on EffectiveMF graphs and diminishing returns can be highly misleading! Effective Magic Find is just one small component of the overall Magic Find formula! The Complete Magic Find formula takes several values from the game into the account when calculating your chances to get Unique / Set / Rare / Magic items. The final results are intricate and influenced by various factors. it is not as simple as this graph:
https://preview.redd.it/7uwnr9sa1n2b1.png?width=792&format=png&auto=webp&s=563dcea5172691d997c4c5c59f5e9905a009dae2
Why is this graph misleading? What does it actually tell us? Effective Magic Find grows Logarithmically, it has diminishing returns! Great! So, what does that mean? How does Magic Find and EffectiveMF actually affect our chances to get Unique, Set, Rare items? How many rare items do we get with 100 MF vs 500 MF? EffectiveMF for blue Magic Items grows linearly. Great, but what does that mean? How many more Magic items do we get?? Is there a limit to MF? This graph doesn’t tell us much unless you are very knowledgeable about the Magic Find process!
To answer all these questions, I have developed my own Drop Calculator with some advanced functions that showcase the actual distribution of items based on player Magic Find stat. My Drop Calculator takes into account all possible variables of the Magic Find function and displays the results in nice Graph form. Before showing the Item distribution graphs, I will first try to explain the complete MF Formula.

Selecting the Base Item

Selecting the Base Item is the initial step before the game applies the Magic Find formula to determine the magic quality of the item (Unique, Set, Rare, Magic). Examples of Base Items are: Diadem, Shako, Short Sword, Long Staff, Mage Plate, Sacred Armor etc..
Magic Find has no effect on Base Item selection! The Base Item is decided through Treasure Class selection and random roll mechanism. It is a fairly complex topic and deserves a post on its own. I won't go to much into details since Treasure Class selection is not the main focus of this post, but in short:
Each monster in the game from Act Bosses through Elite Packs to white trash monsters is assigned a “Treasure Class”. A Treasure Class is essentially a group or collection of items that can drop from that particular monster. There are many different TCs in the game typically comprising combinations of Item Drops (Base Items), Gold Drops, Junk Drops, Rune/Jewelry/Charm Drops, and NoDrop (indicating that no item will drop).
With random rolls, the game determines the type of item that the monster will drop, be it equipment, potion, rune, gold, etc. Once the item type is established, the game then checks if the item can be upgraded to Unique, Set, or other rarities. For the purposes of further discussion about Magic Find formula, we will assume that the game has selected an equipable item (Base Item, be it a Weapon or Armor). So what happens next? How does the game decide which quality to drop?

Selecting the Item Quality

Now that the game has the Base Item (Diadem, Shako, Mage Plate, etc.), two functions are called one after another to give the Base Item a specific quality. (There is some other stuff in between these two functions but this is the gist of it). Functions are pseudonym named: RollMagicQuality and MakeItemUnique (or MakeItemSet, MakeItemRare etc. depending on the roll from RollMagicQuality function). RollMagicQuality function is the main function that determines if the items will be a Unique, Set, Rare, Magic item. But let's first talk about MakeItemUnique:
MakeItemUnique (or Set, or Rare, or Magic) function confirms the roll from RollMagicQuality and double checks if the selected Base Item can drop as a Unique item. This is where you get those “Failed Uniques” as triple durability Rare item drops.
The MakeItemUnique function also determines which Unique item will drop if there are more Unique items for the selected Base Item. It adds up the Rarity value from the UniqueItems.txt file and rolls a random number to pick a Unique item. Examples are Tyrael’s or Templars Armor for Sacred Armor, The Cranium Basher or Earth Shifter for Thunder Maul, Azurewrath or Lightsabre for Phase Blade, etc.. Selection is fully random and can not be influenced by the Player.
There are 3 ways that Unique Item can fail to pass the MakeItemUnique check:

1. A Unique item will fail to roll if the Quality Level (qlvl) is higher than Item Level (ilvl). Quality Level refers to Level value from UniqueItems.txt file and its fixed. Each Unique item has a predetermined fixed Quality Level. Item Level is a different stat, basically ilvl is a level of the monster that dropped the item. When ilvl is lower than qlvl, a Unique item will fail to drop! Example of this is: Arachnid Mesh can not drop from Pindleskin! Qlvl of Arachnid Mesh is 87, Pindleskin is a level 86 monster that drops items with ilvl 86. Since qlvl of Arachnid Mesh is 87 and always higher than ilvl of Pindle items, Base Item Spiderweb Sash will never be a Unique item.
2. A Unique item will fail to roll if Base Item has no Unique version. The Item can pass a Unique check of RollMagicQuality function, but MakeItemUnique is the one that actually makes the item Unique. If there is no Unique version of the selected Base Item, the Base Item will fail this roll. Examples of this would be the Unique Archon Plate. There is no Unique Archon Plate, so every time the Base Item AP drops and passes the RollMagicQuality check for Unique item, it will drop as a Rare item with triple durability.
3. A Unique item will fail to roll if the same Unique item has already dropped in the current game session. Everytime the MakeItemUnique function makes the Unique version for a selected Base Item, it logs the Unique drop in a special List of dropped Unique items. The function checks the List every time it tries to roll a Unique item. If the Unique item is already on the list, the selected Base Item will drop as a Rare item with triple durability.

Base Item needs to pass all 3 checks of this function for the item to successfully drop as a Unique Item! Same thing applies for MakeItemSet, only now the Failed Set Items drop as a Magic Items with double durability.
Before the MakeItemUnique function is called, the Base Item needs to pass the RollMagicQuality selection.

RollMagicQuality Function

RollMagicQuality is where the magic happens! (pun intended!). RollMagicQuality is the function that actually picks the quality of the Base Item, based on your "% Better Chance of Getting Magic Item" stat and other variables in the game. This function determines your Unique / Set / Rare / Magic / etc probability.
Based on your %MF and other variables, RollMagicQuality function will first try to roll for a Unique item. If that random roll is lower than a certain number, the Base Item will not be a Unique item and RollMagicQuality will try to roll for a Set item. If that fails, the function will try to roll for a Magic item and so on.
The order for selecting Item Quality is always: Unique > Set > Rare > Magic > Superior > Normal. This order will be very important later on. If the Base Item passes one of these checks, the RollMagicQuality function stops and the above-mentioned MakeItemUnique(or MakeItemSet, or MakeItemRare, etc) will be called.
Step by step walkthrough on how RollMagicQuality function actually works. After the explanation, I will use my Drop Calculator to showcase the drop rates of different quality items based on Player Magic Find.
Step 1) Chance = (BaseChance - floor((ilvl-qlvl)/Divisor))*128
This is the code of the Magic Find Formula. Game reads the required values from a few sources, the main one, and the most important is itemRatio.txt file. This file determines your drop rates of Unique, Set, Rare and Magic items more than your Magic Find stat!

• BaseChance = value from "Unique/Rare/Set" column from itemRatio.txt
• ilvl = "item level" is level of a monster that dropped the Base Item
• qlvl = “quality level” value from "level" column from Armor.txt and Weapons.txt
• Divisor = value from "Unique/Rare/Set Divisor" column from itemRatio.txt
• Floor = division of integers, result is rounded down. (that is how the game works)
• 128 = multiplier for better precision.

itemRatio.txt and values within it are extremely important. The game utilizes different values depending on the Type of the Base Item. In other words: Class Specific items, Exceptional/Elite and Normal items have different chances to become Unique items. If we look at itemRation.txt we can see 6 rows:

• 1st Row refers to Normal items from Classic Diablo.
• 2nd Row refers to Exceptional/Elite items from Classic Diablo (there are no such items so we can ignore this row)
• 3rd Row refers to Normal items from Expansion.
• 4th Row refers to Exceptional/Elite from Expansion (has same values as 3rd Row)
• 5th Row refers to Class Specific Normal items
• 6th Row refers to Class Specific Exceptional/Elite items. (has same values as 5th Row)

From this, we can conclude that there are 3 types of different Base items: Normal Base Items, Exceptional/Elite Base Items, Class Specific Items. When the Base Item drops, the game checks item version values from weapons.txt and armor.txt and class specific values from itemTypes.txt. Based on those values, the game loads required BaseChance and Divisor values needed for the Magic Find formula and calculates your Chance: Chance = (BaseChance - floor((ilvl-qlvl)/Divisor))*128
Step 2) Chance= floor(100*Chance/(100+EffectiveMF))
After the first step, the game adjusts your chances with EffectiveMF. EffectiveMF is calculated with the formula: EffectiveMF=floor(Factor*(MF-100)/(Factor+MF-100)) Where

• Factor is: 250 for Unique items, 500 for Set items and 600 for Rare items
• MF is: your Characters Magic Find that is your "% Better Chance of Getting Magic Item" from your items with added values of 100: Magic Find = Better Chance of Getting Magic Items + 100. You basically have a base MF value even with 0% BCoGMI stat on items. EffectiveMF is only calculated if you have more than 10% Better Chance of Getting Magic Item but that's not really that important.

This is where that intial Graph comes from. It shows the EffectiveMF with diminishing returns. Here is the Graph again in more detail:
https://preview.redd.it/y3t2x7pd1n2b1.png?width=1408&format=png&auto=webp&s=0f1e43f98d5de4c9ba6a4652cc1a793cfa5755d6
Here, we can see something interesting for the first time in this post. Graph is NOT continuous but has rather discrete jumps. This is the result of the game using integer division for its calculation. For example:

1. You have 697% Better Chance of Magic Items on your gear. To calculate the EffectiveMF for Unique drops, you first add 100 to get Character Magic Find and then use this formula: floor(250*(797-100)/(250+797-100)) = 184% EffectiveMF for Unique items
2. You get two more Small Charms with 7% mf and now you have 711% Better Chance of Magic Items on your gear. EffectiveMF for Unique items is now: floor(250*(811-100)/(250+811-100)) = 184% EffectiveMF for Unique items! Exactly the same!

Going from 697 MF on your gear to 711 MF on your gear did nothing to improve your chances of getting Unique items. There are “Break Points” for Magic Find!
So, the game calculates your EffectiveMF and uses that value to get your new Chance: Chance= floor(100*Chance/(100+EffectiveMF))
Step 3) Chance=max(Chance,minChance)
Where the minChance is the value from the "UniqueMin" column from itemRatio.txt. Game checks if you have reached the maximum Chance for selected rarity. There is an upper limit on how many Unique, Set, Rare, Magic items you can get even with millions and millions of Magic Find on Hero Edited items!
That limit is unreachable for Unique items with standard game gear. But it is easily accomplished for Set, Rare and Magic items. Effects of this upper limit will be seen later in the Graphs.
Step 4) FinalChance=Chance-floor(Chance*QualityFacto1024)
Game adjusts your chances once again based on the QualityFactor of the monster that dropped the Base Item. Higher the QualityFactor of the monster, the better chance you have of getting Unique, Set, Rare, Magic items from that monster. This QualityFactor has a huge influence on your overall chances.
QF of 1024 means that ALL dropped Base Items will roll that quality and QF of 600 means that 4.8% of dropped Base items will become the desired quality at best. Here is the table with all monsters that have specified QualityFactors:
https://preview.redd.it/3j1hx4te1n2b1.png?width=587&format=png&auto=webp&s=4089a11e6ae143aa850130e038109c0212740121
You can see that Andariel has the highest QF of them all. That is because of “Quest Bug” that now became a feature in D2R. Act Bosses also have high QualityFactor. QF of 1024 for Magic items means all these monsters will always drop at least a Magic item and won't drop standard White items.
Final Step 5) random(FinalChance)<128 than: item is Unique
Game randomly rolls a number between 0 and your FinalChance. If that number is lower than 128 then the selected Base Item will become an Unique item and the above-mentioned MakeItemUnique function is called to double check if the selected Base Item can become an Unique.
If the randomly rolled number is higher than 128, selected Base Item fails and the game goes back to Step 1 and redos the process all over again for Set Item check. If that fails, the game redos the process for Rare Item check and so on. Again, the order for selecting Item Quality is always: Unique > Set > Rare > Magic > Superior > Normal.
Now that we know the process, let's look at one example: Let’s say you have 500 Magic Find on your gear, you just killed Hell Baal and the game dropped you a Diadem as a Base Item. What is the chance for that Diadem to be a Unique Diadem (Griffon’s Eye)? Lets go step by step while looking at itemRatio.txt file:

1. Chance = (BaseChance - floor((ilvl-qlvl)/Divisor))*128. Diadem is an Elite Expansion item, so BaseChance will be 400 and Divisor will be 1. Qlvl of Diadem is 85 and ilvl is 99. Chance = (400 - floor((99-85)/1))*128 = 49408
2. Chance= floor(100*Chance/(100+EffectiveMF)). To calculate EffectiveMF we use =floor(250*(600-100)/(250+600-100)) = 166 Now we can calculate the Chance= floor(100*49408/(100+166)) = 18574
3. Chance=max(Chance,minChance) minChance for Elite Expansion items from itemRation.txt is 6400. Our number is higher so we use 18574
4. FinalChance=Chance-floor(Chance*QualityFacto1024). The QualityFactor of Hell Baal is 983. So we now have: FinalChance=18574-floor(18574*983/1024) = 744
5. random(FinalChance)<128. we randomly roll a number between 0 and 744 and compare it to 128. It's basically: 128/744 = 0.1720430108

Everytime you kill Hell Baal with 500 Magic Find on your gear and it drops a Diadem, you have a 17.204% chance for that Diadem to be a Griffon’s Eye. With 100 Magic Find on your gear you have 11.063% chance for that Diadem to be a Griffon’s Eye. Going from 100 MF to 500 MF will increase your Unique chance by 6.141%!

Graphs, Graphs, and more Graphs

Now that we know how to calculate our Unique chances, it's time for some Graph! Please keep in mind, these graphs do not show your chance to get a specific item. These graphs show your chance for the Base Item to become an Unique item based on your Magic Find on your gear!
Drop Calculator goes through the complete Treasure Class list for the selected monster, pulls all Base Items that can drop and their probabilities, goes through all necessaries files like treasureclassex.txt, itemRation.txt, weapons.txt, armor.txt, itemTypes.txt, uniqueItems.txt and gets all needed values we talked about and calculates the probabilities for each point of Magic Find and for more or less, each monster in the game… But let's start with something simple:
Chance for a Base Item to become an Unique item (Boss)
Above graph shows the chance for a Base Item to become an Unique item when killing the Act Boss (Duriel, Mephisto, Diablo, Baal). Nothing abnormal here. The more Magic Find you have on your gear the better chance you have for a Base Item to become an Unique item. With 300 MF you have a pretty high chance to get a Class Specific Unique item at 25%! Here are some key details:

• We still have Break Points. There are discrete jumps in the graph. The more MF we have, the more we need for the next jump.
• With 0 MF you still have 6.7% chance for a Normal/Exceptional/Elite Unique Item and 11.2% chance for a Class Specific Unique item.
• With 167 MF you have double (x2) the amount of Unique items then with 0 MF. You chance is now 13.4% for Normal/Exceptional/Elite Unique Item ans 22.4% for Class Specific Unique item
• With 1000 MF you have triple (x3) the amount of Unique items than with 0 MF. You chance is now 20.1% for Normal/Exceptional/Elite Unique Item ans 33.6% for Class Specific Unique item

​
Chance for a Base Item to become an Unique item (Unique monster)
Above graph shows the chance for a Base Item to become an Unique item when killing the Unique monster in Area level 85. (standard Pit run, CS run, AT run, WSK run), just for the reference point, Our chances are much lower than from killing an Act Boss. It is because the QualityFactor for Act Bosses is 983 while QF for Unique monsters is 800. (all other values are basically the same except qlvl-ilvl difference which does not affect drop rates that much).
​
Chance for a Base Item to become an Set item (Boss)
Above graph shows the chance for a Base Item to become a Set item when killing the Act Boss. Now things are starting to look interesting! Why does it look like this? Because you can reach the maximum chance for Set items easily with enough Magic Find! After reaching that limit, your chances won’t increase any further. In fact, your chances for Rare items start to drop off with more Magic Find! It is because the game always checks for Unique > Set > Rare etc in that order. So more Base Items will become Unique items before they can become Set items.
For Normal Items, it maxes out at 290 MF, for Class Specific items it maxes at 255 MF and for Exceptional/Elite items it maxes out at 520 MF. After those values, you will see less Set items.
​
Chance for a Base Item to become an Rare item (Boss)
Above graph shows the chance for a Base Item to become a Rare item when killing the Act Boss. Now things are starting to look really strange! You reach the maximum chance for Exceptional/Elite and Class Specific items early on; you never reach the maximum chance for Normal items. Your chances for Rare items start to drop off with more Magic Find! More Base Items can become Unique items and Set items (or Failed Set items) before they can become Rare items.
​
Chance for a Base Item to become an Rare item (Unique monster)
For reference, chances for the Base Item to become a Rare item from a Unique monster are more flat but they still have maximum values and very slowly drop off with more Magic Find.
Now that we know the chance distribution per Unique / Set / Rare, let's look at some graphs for Normal, Exceptional/Elite and Class Specific items per monster kill.
For this part, we can pick the Monster that we are interested in, we can pick an Item Type we are interested in and the quality level of the item (qlvl). If we look at the initial formula above, the quality level is used in the calculation for a Base Item upgrade. Qlvl only affects the drop chance a little, but I wanted to be accurate as much as I can:
​
https://preview.redd.it/vujwr8ft2n2b1.png?width=351&format=png&auto=webp&s=3214af2f3708fcaea6684bf86a714fd07e9fd8fd
​
Chance for a Exceptional and Elite items to upgrade to specified magic rarity (Boss)
Above graph shows the Chance distribution for all Exceptional/Elite Items that drop from Diablo. Something looks strange… After 420 Magic Find, NO Magic quality Exceptional/Elite Item will drop! But you are sure you saw some Magic items when you were farming Bosses, right? That is because the vast majority of Magic Exceptional/Elite items are Failed Set items! (when farming bosses). There are very few Set items compared to all Base Items. So when RollMagicQuality Function is successful for Set check and calls MakeItemSet, the MakeItemSet function can’t successfully make a Set item because there is no Set item for selected Base Item. Value of 71 for qlvl is used. It is a median level value of all Exceptional/Elite items that can drop from Diablo.
We can see chances for Unique Diadem (Griffon's Eye) is about 17.181% while chances for set Diadem is 46.292%. Ratio between the two is 2.69. If we go to any Online Drop Calculator, Maxroll Drop Calc for example, and we pick Baal (Baal because Diablo can't drop Diadems Base Items) and we compare the chances. We can see the chances for any Player count has same ratio as 2.69.
​
Chance for a Class Specific items to upgrade to specified magic rarity (Boss)
Above graph shows the Chance distribution for all Class Specific Items that drop from Diablo. Same thing is true for Class Specific drops. Vast majority of Magic quality Class Specific drops you see from Act Bosses are actually Failed Set items. Value of 43 for qlvl is used. It is a median level value of all Class Specific items that can drop from Diablo.
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Chance for a Normal items to upgrade to specified magic rarity (Boss)
Above graph shows the Chance distribution for all Normal Items that drop from Diablo. Things look a little better for Normal Items. Magic quality items slowly drop off but never reach the bottom. It is because of Divisor value for Magic quality in itemRatio.txt file. Value of 28 for qlvl is used. It is a median level value of all Class Specific items that can drop from Diablo
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Chance for a Exceptional and Elite items to upgrade to specified magic rarity (Unique monster)
Above graph shows the Chance distribution for all Exceptional/Elite Items that drop from standard Unique monsters from Level 85 Area. Just showcasing the upper limits of monsters that are farmed regularly. After 490 MF your chances for Unique items will continue to increase, but chances for every other quality will flatten out or start to decrease. Same goes for Class Specific items, while Normal items for Rare quality will continue to rise slowly.
Now, let's combine all Graphs per Item Type into one Graph that shows Base Item chance to upgrade for selected monster and its Treasure Class:
https://preview.redd.it/ssro5blt3n2b1.png?width=376&format=png&auto=webp&s=035e84edee488ea5daaeaf05f33254ee1c7514c9
Based on selected settings; (what monster are we looking at, Player and Party Settings and if the monster is Terrorized or not), the Drop Calculator picks the corresponding Treasure Class for that monster. It calculates the probabilities for each single Base Item drop for that selected Monster. it checks what Type each Base Item is (is it Normal, Exceptional/Elite or Class Specific item) and calculates the cumulative upgrade Chance for each Unique / Set / Rare / Magic version based on Normal, Exceptional/Elite or Class Specific distribution…
For Diablo kills (for Act 5 (H) Equip A Treasure Class) Item distribution is:

• Normal Items: 67.84870452%
• Exceptional/Elite Items: 20.29650961%
• Class Specific Items: 11.85478587%

If we apply what we have learned so far, we get a Final Graph that looks like this:
​
Final Chance Graph
Above graph shows the final Chance for Base Item upgrade. I would like to point out that the reason we are seeing Magic items here it’s because Normal Base Item drops make up 67.85% of all Diablo item drops. Normal Items like Clubs, Maces, Flails, Cap, Quilted Armor, Light Plate etc.
We know that not all Base Items have Unique and Set versions. If we apply that to our calculations and move every item that will always Fail the Unique check and Set check, we get the Final Item Distribution percentage per Magic Find with our gear:
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Item distribution
Let's look at Andariel's final Chance for Base Item upgrade and Item Distribution percentage:
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Final Chance Graph (Andariel)
Item distribution (Andariel)
Because Andariel is now “quest bugged” by default, her Quality Factor for Rare items is 1024. Which means, technically, no Magic item will drop from her. ALL Magic items from Andariel are Failed Set items.
Let's look at Unique Monsters final Chance for Base Item upgrade:
Final Chance Graph (Unique monster)
Chance for Unique upgrade flatlines rather quickly. It goes from 3.510% at 500 MF to 3.959% at 1000 MF. Chance for Set upgrade basically maxes out at 300 MF. Chance for Rare continues to rise slowly but it is because of Normal item types. Exceptional/Elite reaches max around 490 MF and Class Specific reaches max at 220 MF.

TLDR

More Magic Find is always better for Unique items. But for everything else (Set, Rare, Magic items), more Magic Find can mean less! No matter your clear speed or players in the game!
If you want to maximize your chances for that elusive item you are looking for you need to have the optimal amount of Magic Find for that specific item
Just considering EffectiveMF graph is misleading because it doesn't show the true extent of diminishing returns of your Magic Find Gear.
If you have any questions or remarks, please let me know.

Just saw this graffiti on the pavement close to where I live and was wondering what it meant. Is this in Russian, or perhaps a related language? Could anyone translate what the text says? I tried using machine translation (yea, I know it's unreliable), but I'm not familiar with the alphabet and I'm having a hard time interpreting the handwriting, so the results seemed to be more or less just nonsense.
Thanks in advance for the help. And if the content of the text is something inflammatory, I apologize in advance.
Link to image 1 of graffiti. Link to image 2 of graffiti.

As the title says, what locally available ATX B650 motherboard would the community recommend for a new build? So far, here are the models that I have seen available from known stores:
ASUS ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming Wifi
ASUS ROG Strix B650-E Gaming Wifi
ASUS ROG Strix B650-A Gaming Wifi
Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX
Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite
Gigabyte B650 Aorus Pro AX
Gigabyte B650 Aero G
Gigabyte B650 Aorus Master
MSI Pro B650-P Wifi
MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk
MSI MPG B650 Carbon Wifi
MSI MPG B650 Edge Wifi
NZXT B650E
I have also seen these in Shopee, but the seller is not that well-known:
Asrock B650 PRO RS
Asrock B650 Livemixer
I'm planning to set up the mobo with an R5 7600 and a 2x16gb GSKILL Trident Z5 Neo 6000mhz RAM kit. Any and all suggestions are welcome.
Thanks in advance!

MalaysiaHealthcare is one of the best hospitals in Malaysia, known for its excellent healthcare services and facilities. One of the hospital's specialty departments is neurology, which focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of conditions affecting the brain and nervous system.
The neurology department at MalaysiaHealthcare is staffed with highly skilled and experienced neurologists who are dedicated to providing the best care possible to their patients. The hospital uses state-of-the-art technology and equipment to diagnose and treat a wide range of neurological conditions, including epilepsy, stroke, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis, among others.
Check Types of Treatments
One of the strengths of the neurology department at MalaysiaHealthcare is its multidisciplinary approach to care. The team of neurologists works closely with other specialists, including neurosurgeons, radiologists, and rehabilitation therapists, to provide comprehensive and personalized care to each patient.
The hospital's diagnostic tools and equipment include advanced imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and electroencephalography (EEG). These technologies enable the neurology team to accurately diagnose and treat neurological conditions, providing patients with the best possible outcomes.
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Apart from its state-of-the-art technology, MalaysiaHealthcare is also known for its patient-centered approach to care. The hospital's staff is committed to providing personalized care to each patient, taking into account their unique needs and preferences. This approach helps to ensure that patients receive the best possible care throughout their treatment journey.
Another aspect that sets MalaysiaHealthcare apart is its commitment to research and innovation. The hospital's neurology team is actively involved in clinical trials and research studies, which help to advance the field of neurology and improve patient outcomes.
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In terms of facilities, MalaysiaHealthcare offers modern and comfortable accommodations for patients and their families. The hospital has spacious private rooms, state-of-the-art operating theaters, and a range of other amenities to ensure that patients feel comfortable and well-cared for.
Overall, MalaysiaHealthcare's neurology department is undoubtedly one of the best in the world. Its commitment to providing patient-centered care, use of cutting-edge technology, and dedication to research make it a top choice for patients seeking neurological treatment. If you or someone you know is in need of neurological care, MalaysiaHealthcare should definitely be on your list of hospitals to consider.
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I recently bought a new home and I'm seeking suggestions on what I can do with the unfinished basement to create a safe and enjoyable play area for my toddler. I want to ensure it remains clean and free from dust as well. Looking for economical options. My initial plan is to start with a power wash for the basement, but I would greatly appreciate guidance on what steps to take next.
Images: https://imgur.com/a/jQZ4rqK I kindly request your assistance in this matter. Thank you in advance.

Hello, as title suggests I have a problem with a loose wire that's hanging around in my front left wheel well. I don't know what it connects to, so I was hoping someone here with a bit more knowledge would be able to let me know. First image is the sideview: https://imgur.com/a/Kon7vrj And the second here is from beneath the car, the loose wire is the one hanging down on the left: https://imgur.com/a/VRHHjY5 The car still starts up fine, and the headlights, highbeams, and turnsignal all still work. Thanks in advance!

I recently bought a new home and I'm seeking suggestions on what I can do with the unfinished basement to create a safe and enjoyable play area for my toddler. I want to ensure it remains clean and free from dust as well. Looking for economical options. My initial plan is to start with a power wash for the basement, but I would greatly appreciate guidance on what steps to take next.
Images: https://imgur.com/a/jQZ4rqK I kindly request your assistance in this matter. Thank you in advance.

I was hesitant to post here due to relevance, but this post is made for budding psychics like me hitting a wall in their groundwork, so I think this does fit under development. If it's not relevant enough, then that's fair. There's a few resources, but not many for psychics who struggle with ptsd which inspired me to create this post.
Mentions of lucid dreaming, awakening, basic psychic groundwork, astral projecting, shadow work and mentions of metaphysical sources.
​
Cw: brief mentions of trauma and trauma related topics. Brief mention of a NDE without details of event.
I am not a mental health professional. Most of what is below are anecdotal with sources added. I am also not a professional spiritual practitioner. I’ve only practiced spiritually for over a year. I don’t do readings for others at the time of this post.
Below I will talk about my experiences with ptsd/c-ptsd and the struggle with basic mindfulness practices. Even looking for free resources online, I see articles claiming that mindfulness is a solution to dealing with trauma, but it’s not that simple. If you have ptsd and have found yourself struggling with basic mindfulness you are not a failure. This is common for those who have experienced severe and/or prolonged trauma. You just need to go about your practice in a different way. I will also talk about how visualization isn't universally accessible to everyone.
Let’s start out with visualization. As much as I love Psychic Witch by Matt Auryn, he relies heavily on visualization. One of the reasons I appreciate The Illusion of Method by Mark Gurrian is that he acknowledges some of us can’t visualize. Some may read my anecdotes and only get words on a page, versus seeing a man/woman dealing with the situations that I describe. In his book, Mark(technique originally created by Robert Bruce) describes an aphantasia/ low-vision- friendly way on how one would astral project by meditating on the sensation of climbing a rope out of their body.
Even though I don’t have aphantasia, this inspired me to utilize sensation over visualization for when my anxiety made visuals hard. The feeling of knowing I’m connected to the earth and the consciousness that runs through all things can get me grounded. The sensation of warmth in my chest concentrating as I call my energy to me can make me feel centered. The sensation of a click of energy around me can make me feel shielded.
I also have the privilege of insight in the low-vision and blind community as my partner is low-vision. Both she and her fully blind friend are advanced lucid dreamers. I will link the free MILD guide below along with other resources on lucid dreaming. I won’t speak personally on this because I’m not a good lucid dreamer and wouldn’t do it justice.
Mindfulness and trauma:
When I was a teen, I sought out a middle school counselor. She recommended meditation, breathwork, and yoga. I remember trying my best, but couldn’t. Terrifying imagery appeared when I shut my eyes. Focusing on my breath reminded me of a NDE I had and she did not teach me to reorient my focus onto something else that wasn’t triggering. She also wasn’t aware how different posture and poses were triggering for me (and I didn’t know better to tell her). One time, she did yoga with me, instructing me to focus on my breath. I started to panic and she told me to tell her what I was experiencing. She guided me straight into a panic attack. The whole day I was dissociative and shaky, having intrusive thoughts about my body suddenly dying.
Around the same time I sought massage therapy on my own for pain and the therapist told me she had never seen a kid who couldn’t relax or was as tense as me before. She recommended meditation, but I explained that for some reason I couldn’t do it. She was baffled because she never heard of meditation causing a panic attack before, either. Also not helpful were my parents' lack of an appropriate reaction to my NDE and their beliefs that my chronic problems weren't real.
These practices were too much for me and I didn’t find anyone who understood complex and severe trauma. What was going on was that these basic mindfulness practices were outside of my window of tolerance, which is described in David Trevealen's Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness. I knew the school counselor couldn't provide what I needed- a trauma informed therapist. I never got correct treatment for my issues until I was an adult because my parents were resistant to what I wanted. I was on my own, reading books of other people that lived tough lives to gain some sort of validation. Overall, this left me feeling like I was a failure. Then as I got older I would scoff at anyone who recommended meditation. My partner experienced similar issues and we both came to the conclusion meditation just wasn't a solution everyone made it out to be for anxiety. What I didn't know from teenage through young adult years was that I was going about mindfulness the wrong way for my specific issues.
In his book Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness, David Treleaven talks about how mindfulness can actually exasperate PTSD symptoms. For the survivor, the mind is no longer a safe place. We are locked in a fight, flight, or freeze state. Our brains are hypervigilant for cues that might indicate we're in danger again. When we close our eyes with nothing to distract ourselves, we see those triggering images again.
A lot of the time, we are flip-flopping between states of anxiety and reactivity to numbness and dissociation. David talks about the sweet spot between the two as the window of tolerance. An experience doesn't have to be pleasant, but tolerable. It's important for us to recognize when we're going too far in either direction. Cognitive behavior therapy can be helpful here if you lack the tools to self regulate (like me). David talks about the scale of arousal. My psychologist uses a SUDS scale. Basically, a way for you to determine where you are emotionally so you can be mindful of it.
Getting a little older and out on my own, I started to realize I had a problem. My plastic pitcher fell on me while I was cleaning one day. I swung uselessly in the air and then grabbed my pitcher before slamming it onto the floor and shattering it. I then burst into tears because that was my only measuring cup and I was broke. There were holes in the walls and doors from several one man fights.
I didn't like the person I was and felt like my outbursts were making things uncomfortable for my best friend despite her support.
I went to a nearby school for psychology where I got counsel for free.
This was the first person who recognized my PTSD and taught me a grounding exercise when I'd be confronted with imagery and felt I was in danger.
"What are three things that you see in this room?"
"What are three things you hear?"
"What are three things you smell?"
"What are three things you can feel?"
I found myself back in session, no longer face-to-face with family. I was back. The more I used this exercise, the easier it became to regulate myself. I eventually could watch the fight or flight surge through me like a wave as if an objective observer. I was in control.
I still use this technique for when I'm unwell. Currently, I pay attention to my bodily sensations like what is mentioned in the above paragraph, then to my environment, and where I am in space and time- that I’m safe. When I finish up astral projecting, I’ll hone in on what I’m experiencing with my senses to integrate with my body again.
In Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness, David talks about this grounding technique in his first chapter with a client that had outbursts like mine. He instructed him to focus on the sensation of the chair against his back and his feet firmly planted to keep himself grounded in present reality.
While I could ground myself back down, I struggled with more mindfulness- especially breath work. The student counselor at the time would try to ease me into it, but it reminded me too much of my NDE- even 7 years post. She also wanted me to do a Body Scan where I would focus on my body, relaxing different parts from head to toe. This sustained attention on my body was also too much for me. We kept hitting walls. Some of my issues with my body and pain were not relatable to most of those students. I was recommended to look into SSRIs, but at the time I didn’t have insurance or any way to afford it. It was a great service, but it was time to move on.
Eventually landing a solid career meant I could have normal healthcare. Finding the right SSRI was tricky, but once we found it, it was a whole new world.
My anxiety was 80 percent better. After over a decade of locked in fight or flight, I could finally relax. I think it was starting this SSRI all those years ago that made it possible for me to even begin mindfulness involving breathwork last year and I can still incorporate breath work today to elevate or decrease my state depending on where I was emotionally.
There are many forms of breathwork techniques- if they work for you. It's important to stay within what's tolerable and be honest with yourself, then be gentle with your answer.
In Matt Auryn's Psychic Witch there are numerous techniques like elemental, solar, and lunar breathing. Some do well with square breathing. I was recently advised to utilize breath work to bring me back to equilibrium. If I was dissociative and numb, to extend the inhale and then breathe out. To bring myself back down from anxiety to breathe, hold, and extend my exhale.
Another way I enjoyed breath work in the very beginning of my spiritual practices was to take advantage of the mammalian diving reflex. In the tub, river, or pool, I would dunk my head and slowly exhale through my nose. The roaring bubbles would also drown out the sound of my heartbeat, which I couldn't tolerate.
In Consorting With Spirits Jason Miller's description of becoming your breath in meditation made the trance state click with me when I first started.
With my window of tolerance even lower than before, right now I gravitate to forms of mindfulness that involve movement, which has proven to be helpful for those of us with ptsd. I like yoga, where I can look at and hear an instructor. I can also be extremely picky and choose the one who is most comfortable. I can’t do yoga in a studio, but I can do it in the safety of my home in front of a computer with no eyes on me. There’s many styles of yoga available for free online on youtube if this also speaks to you. You may also enjoy the free Tai Chi lessons there, too.
Sometimes mindfulness can be a challenge for well seasoned practitioners, too. A traumatic event could take place and cause an avid meditator to no longer tolerate their practice. If this is you, be kind with yourself. You might only tolerate short meditation sessions, or to meditate with your eyes open. Maybe you need to hear music, or a guide who will talk you through it. If you can’t tolerate it at all, put your practice aside or find a method that’s tolerable for you or take a break altogether.
Starting last year, my budding practice was what kept me here. I was experiencing an awakening during a stressful time. I stubbled a lot and still do, but my meditation game was starting to get a foothold. When I finally learned Ground, Center, and Shield I did it everyday. I started using meditation to work on my issues and got breakthroughs in how I was seeing myself and my emotions. Parts of me were coming back. I was finally able to feel my heartbeat in my chest (for short amounts of time) without terror for the first time in 16 years.
I was excited and passionate, but I’ll talk more about overdoing shadow work in another post. Just know that if you’re not mindful of where your tolerance is, you can re-traumatize yourself, which is why Shadow work is recommended to be done with a trauma-informed style of therapy.
Overall, mindfulness can be a great resource to those of us with trauma in order to heal, though it needs to be done in a way that’s sensitive to our triggers and catered to our individual needs or it can do more harm than good. You may recommend meditation to a friend, but they struggle with it. They may not tell you they have trauma, but use language like “I can’t focus”, “or “maybe it isn’t for me” because that’s easier to say. Maybe it isn’t trauma, but the majority of resources are visual and that isn’t accessible to them for whatever reason. There needs to be a sense of choice in how a survivor chooses to practice because we have already lost our autonomy through trauma. It may look a little different from how others practice. We need to feel safe in our practice and sometimes for us our body and minds are not safe. I think we should be sensitive to those who struggle with mindfulness, including ourselves.
Additional information:
What is ptsd -> https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disordesymptoms-causes/syc-20355967
What's the difference between c-ptsd and ptsd?-> https://cptsdfoundation.org/2022/12/14/the-difference-between-ptsd-and-c-ptsd-and-why-it-matters/
Trauma-informed mindfulness (ft David Treleaven)-> https://psychcentral.com/health/trauma-informed-mindfulness#can-mindfulness-cause-harm
What is a SUDS rating scale?-> https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-suds-rating-3024471
What is astral projecting? ->https://www.gaia.com/article/what-is-astral-projection
What is Anphantasia?-> https://www.webmd.com/brain/what-is-aphantasia
What is lucid dreaming? -> https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/lucid-dreams-overview
Skyfall Blind Dreamer MILD guide(lucid dreaming)-> https://skyfalldreams.net/guides/skyfalls-mild-guide/
Stephen LaBerge's article on MILD(creator of MILD)->https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J0EwChB45i3bLFKsc3JUMUy6iaMyRkYic2QMRGjIg_E/edit
Other techniques on lucid dreaming-> https://www.ldguides.com/techniques.php
Books mentioned:
Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness by David Treleaven
Illusion Of method by Mark Gurrian
Psychic Witch by Matt Aurnyn
Consorting with Spirits by Jason Miller
Additional Recommended reads:
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Traumaby Bessel van der Kolk
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson, PsyD
Soul Retrival by Sandra ingerman

Art of Simone's upgraded power armor and crystal sword!
Chapter Sixty Five: Allies and Scritches.
Looking around, the redhead finds herself standing in the middle of a dark and damp forest. But despite the gentle waves of the breeze moving the flora, there’s no sound. To the Terran’s recognizing eye as well, the plant life appears to be a blending mingle of those on the Gratt homeworld and the fateful operation on the Whista owned world.
Moving forward, her surprisingly lucid mind comes to the conclusion that she is once again ‘dreaming’, no doubt being brought on by the growth in her braincase.
She finds a loose path reminiscent of an overgrown hunter's trail that snakes her deeper into the silent landscape. Although something instinctual in her demands to be fearful of the situation, Simone can’t help to be more curious than anything due to the fact this hasn’t happened in a little while.
After some time of traversing the blending path she catches something glinting off past nearby foliage. Freezing for a moment she stares it down in an attempt to make out what it is. When it proves to not be a barrel of a weapon, she approaches it and reaches out. Her bare hand touches the glint, causing it to fully take form before resting in her palm. In a light dug she draws the dangling object free from a thin branch and brings it up close to her face.
On a thin necklace chain is a bent dog tag and a small grimy triangular device. Manipulating the tag, Simone is not at all surprised to find her own name on it. But as for the device, she surmises that it’s very similar to the thing implanted to her forehead after being kidnapped by the children of Gaia, though clearly a differing model with possibly a very different purpose.
For a moment Simone is almost compelled to put the triangle to her head, but knowing better than to trust the bits of a Manarian mad scientist in her brain she resists and decides to continue down the path. But to her concern the path is no longer there when she turns around. Instead before her is a cliffside overlooking a wide field of absolute chaos.
Down in the valley she overlooks is an expanse of a visceral battle playing out. No longer silent, the explosions and cries of vocals are significantly muffled as if her own hearing was going out.
Still, she steps closer to the drop to get a fuller view. Far down below, yet in perfect clarity to her dream eyes are various sized armies of every known species defending incoming forces from the dark encircling treeline. From the trees themselves are lines of armored Manarians consistently pressing more and more into the valley. From all sides the defenders are overwhelmed from their foes. Few Manarian’s drop in their compressing march. Simone witnesses that as they approach individuals of other species, the defenders throw down their arms before kneeling in surrender. Like an aura of instant submission, those who don’t fall in battle give in to the invaders in an instant. More and more the Manarians gain ground, only seeming to slow as Deathworlders put up the most fight.
Finding the location of the Terrans, Simone’s heart sinks. A small but effective population is fighting against the bulk within their own lines. Disarray ensues as the Terrans divide their bewildered attention from within and what approaches, unable to give support to others or eventually themselves.
Suddenly the majority of the Cali forces turn to their neighboring species and join in on the Manarian’s side. In the midst of this they release a devastating additional army of Malchite that help carve the Manarians an easy path towards the most united and powerful section of the defenders.
In mere moments, ‘Central’ falls, sending a cascading wave of despair to all the remaining defenders. Before the Manarian’s even get close now, swaths of species begin to surrender seeing their best chance at maintaining a defense is obliterated.
Thankfully the Terrans have seemed to have taken care of the internal conflict, but unfortunately it's far too late for it to matter as they practically stand alone in this fight.
Some species flee to bolster and hide behind the Terran’s lines. To their credit, if not for a moment, they fight back hard enough to pause the Manarian advance. There’s moments of grim yet heroic sacrifices, ground freely given in order to lure the enemy into effective traps, and some Terrans manage to not give into the aura of submission long enough for others to run. It’s damn inspiring to see the unstoppable force stall.
But of course, it’s not enough.
Lines break, encampments burn, leaders fall.
Eventually Terrans are reduced to a single circular formation as they stand shoulder to shoulder in defense of the little they have left.
They hold until their ammunition and other supplies run dry. Expecting surrender the Manarains extend the option to stop the fighting then and there.
In a moment of consideration, the Terrans under the flag of their last standing leader charge outwards in a hopeless defiant melee. The fighting is visceral and brutal, but eventually only one Terran stands against an entire universe.
The individual has no energy left to strike out. In their grasp is a tattered and burned flag that can no longer be made out. But the Terran stands, using it as a brace.
A Manarian leader comes up and hammers the final Terran to the ground demanding submission. A few now utterly silent moments pass by before the Terran drags themself up the flagpole into a standing position.
With another blow the Manarian strikes them down again.
But the Terran refuses, and gets up once more.
Having run out of patience the Manarian shoots a leg cleanly free from the Terran.
Yet with a scream, they remain standing, utilizing the pole even more.
Deciding that it’s no longer worth trying, the aggressor levels their weapon to the Terran’s face.
Just before being vanquished for good, Simone realizes that through the cracked open helmet of the Terran that they were looking straight up at her. Despite the distance, the two sets of eyes lock together. There is not pleading in the wounded Terran’s eyes, no fear, no judgment, nothing Simone would ever expect.
What the redhead sees in them can only be expressed in one simple word;
Hope.
As the final shot sings out the valley is encompassed in shadow, resembling more of an massive endless pit.
“I know what’s at stake. Why am I being shown this? You of all people should be elated that this is coming.” Simone thinks for Sharra to possibly pick up.
But instead of an expected occurrence, she feels a warmth from behind her.
Turning her back from the void she immediately sees a small campsite. There’s a tent, a stack of scavenged firewood and a strange cliché knight sitting on a log by a roaring fire.
Feeling her heart skip a beat Simone practically runs to him, expecting it to be an aspect of her father. But she soon realizes that the person’s frame is far too small to be an avatar of him.
Noticing her, the armored individual raises a hand in greeting before staring at the fire. The area behind their visor still pitch dark.
“What is this?” Simone skeptically says in her mind, not trusting this in the slightest.
The knight then speaks up.
“A fire.” they say.
“I mean… all of this… What’s going on?” the Terran presses.
You’re dreaming, and thus your mind is molding things in the manner minds do when slumbering.’ the knight states.
“Okay… so what are you supposed to be? Because with what’s going on with my head a lot of things I ‘dream’ are actually literal things affecting me, like you actually answering my question so directly is pretty suspicious. This a Sharra thing? Usually it’s my dad in the knight get-up, so what are you?” Simone responds in questioning.
“Nothing of substance at all. Or… something vitally important. That’s really up for you to decide really. This is your mind after all, I’m simply here because your mind thought it necessary to conjure me.” the Knight replies.
“But this isn’t how dreams are normally supposed to work, even more lucid ones… right? This is getting real fucking weird.” the redhead argues.
“Then perhaps your mind’s ailment is affecting your mind quite a bit.” the Knight shrugs.
“No fucking kidding…” Simone agrees as she steps up closer, “So… you wouldn’t know where I can talk with whatever’s left of Sharra?”
To answer this, the knight bends to the side and digs their hand into loose soil. Sitting back up they begin to massage it back out to the forest floor.
“Bits and pieces everywhere. Constantly trying to pull together, but is simply unable to be whole. Destined to eventually drive you mad.” they explain.
“Wait, what? How?” Simone asks.
“You have been affected by her unconsciously, have you not? Wanting to viscously bite your lover? Speaking in her tongue? Symptoms of her gradually melding into you. Although she’s not complete, you will eventually start to forget who you really are. Two minds sharing one consciousness… it spells disaster for ‘Simone Thatch’. I suggest you find a way to avoid this.”
“But… but Vermis told me that she’s too far gone to be a problem.” the redhead points out.
“She can’t take your body from you, but she’ll still seep. Regardless if she can even intend to or not. Your mind will survive, but your identity will slip to some degree.”
“Shit…” Simone responds as she plants her face to her hands, “So… your part of my subconscious that is telling me something is wrong?”
“Possibly. Makes sense if that’s the case.” the knight grants as Simone can hear the helmet be removed from the individual.
She attempts to pull her hands away, only to realize she was stuck in this realm of pitch black.
-
Simone’s eyes open from what was meant to just be a brief nap. Her brain was foggy, and the details of her dream was loose enough to question her actual lucidity during or if her dream simply tricked her into thinking she was in fact lucid.
Rubbing her face she sits up to see Chak having a conversation with Sonla across the hotel room.
“Hey hun, how long was I out?” she asks as she swings her legs off the side of the bed.
The princess stands up and begins moving over to the Terran.
“Just a few hours, I was planning on waking you in another hour anyway so don’t fret. You really needed it after everything.” Chak replies with a giggle as she reaches out to address her lover’s bedhead fur.
Allowing the Cali to fix what she can, Simone sighs out of soreness.
“Yeah, I did.” she agrees in a chuckle, “Our new infiltrator caught up to speed?”
“I haven’t shared certain details, but she knows that we are perhaps going to have a less than legal encounter with the Terran President. That won’t harm the president, hopefully.” Chak reports before finishing up with the Terran’s fur, “Oh, and I have purchased some new clothes for you to wear on our trip back. They were delivered not a standard half hour ago. Simple pants and shirt. Your dress has been cleaned and repaired as well.” she notified as she pointed to the closet area.
SImone leans out and kisses the Cali in a tender peck.
“You’re the best hun.” she whispers before standing up and stretching out the ache before striding over to the neatly folded pile of clothes.
“Only second to you.” Chak coyly replies as she enjoys the view for a few moments before snapping to it, “I’ll have our transport summoned.”
…
Before the three can even depart out the front door, as the elevator door opens there’s a crowd of people waiting for them in the lobby. Simone opens her mouth to ask what was going on, but Chak swiftly presses the indicator to re-close the door.
“Chakalata’motaas! One moment of your time!”
“Princess there’s some questions regarding public property damage!”
“When was the last correspondence you had with your father!”
“Is the Terran really your fiance or a roleplay consort?”
Among other raising voices upon seeing the Cali the reporters swarmed towards the elevator just before the door closed and started to go up a level.
“Wow…” Simone utters, “I thought we’d be a bit more shielded from them?”
“If they reserved rooms at the hotel after learning we were here… then there’s not much that can be done.” Chak replies a bit troubled, “We just need to find another way-”
As the door opens again, even more people stand in wait.
“Oh princess! Was your appearance on Thorba the truthful’s podcast really you or did he use A.I to replicate your voice?”
“Was it you present on Kamoi roughly a standard year ago where a restaurant was destroyed in a terrorist attack? Were you the target?”
“What business do you have in Central? Are you going to appeal to have your father’s authority be unrecognized?”
“Have you spoken at all to the Cali Ambassador?
“Care to share any details over the events that transpired with Ambassador Zrreak’s son last night?”
“Is the Vorook also a lover of yours?”
“Is your chitin really deep-dyed?”
“Are you still in fear for your life?”
“Are Terrans-”
The elevator door sealed again, this time needing Simone to hold back people from potentially creeping into the elevator.
“I guess we’re going back down to make a run for it?” Simone huffs in immense annoyance.
“Unfortunately that appears to be our only option.” Chak nods, her patience being tested as well.
“Want me to make big explosion as a distraction?” Sonla offers.
“No need for that.” Chak replies quickly.
“Here. I’ll march us out. Sonla, get on my back.” Simone says before she kneels down and scoops up the Cali in her arms, “Still as light as a feather.” she winks.
Chak’s eyes flash.
“They’ll be given quite the show.” she chuckles.
As told, Sonla clambers up the back of the Terran and gets a firm hold around her neck.
“If an explosion is needed, I’m ready!” she declares just before the doors open for the final time.
Using her cradling arm under the Cali’s back, Simone uses her curled up hand to protect Chak’s head as she marches straight into the crowd.
None wanting to test to see if the bulky Terran considers trampling a valid option, a path is cleared. However the barrage of questions does not let up in the slightest as they followed the trio towards the front doors.
“What was the intention of your stay here?”
“When and where will your wedding to the Terran occur?”
“Is it true that Simone Thatch is a war criminal?”
“Have you suffered any injury while being intimate with a Terran?”
“How many Terrans have you mated with? Are all the ones you brought with you your harem?”
“Are you certain that you are the last survivor of your family?
“Are the Gratt to be trusted?”
“Have you encountered any bouncy hunters in Central?”
“Is the famed Admiral Chucknuq still in your service?”
“Have you been hiding out this whole time on Vapor’perna?”
“Are you planning on commencing a civil war?”
“How much are you paying the Terran to be your mate?”
To the dismay of Chak and Simone, the crowd only grew upon leaving the hotel’s premises. And even contributed around where their shuttle was landing.
Although not completely serious about it, SImone started to humor the idea of Sonla causing a distraction before sharp roaring barks erupts from nearby.
The questions all stop and even a few calls of distress ring out as everyone catches sight of a dozen uniformed Z’ah’tucks approach. In a wide line formation they release warning -though no doubt perceived as outright ‘threatening’- vocalizations. More cries ring out as they unleash fur covered mammalian quadrupeds that run ahead to the trio and begin guiding the reporters away through fear alone.
Simone couldn’t help but laugh aloud at the sight of the Terran shepherd dogs doing what their breed did best.
A Tromple recoils in pale terror as they worm away from one of the canines, who did nothing but exist with an authoritative attitude.
Very effectively parting the crowd away from the three, the lead Z’ah’tuck waved Simone to come to her.
Seeing little reason not to, considering the rescue, the Terran nods and hurries the two other women on her to the line of dinos.
“Thanks, but… what’s this about?” she asks.
The pack of a dozen dinos encircle the three and start walking them away to another shuttle landing zone. The dogs loyally come back to their owners as they make sufficient distance.
“As an apology for you having to get involved with last night’s events, Ambassador Zrreak wishes to personally escort you back to your designated apartment.” she answers as three shuttles await them in the zone. The biggest and most armored of which opens up for the three to enter.
“Oh…” Chak utters in thought before Simone lets her down to enter the vessel.
As the princess steps on in, it’s clear this vessel is meant to fit many guests within on a regular basis considering the scuffing and scratch marks. But at this moment there is only one individual within.
Looking much like his son, Zrreak is of the larger variant of his species. Covered in various deep scars across his scales and adorned in high quality drapery he pets a smaller breed of dog in his lap.
“Thank you for accepting my invitation, Princess.” he greets with a respectful bow of his head.
“Of course, we very much appreciate your assistance with the media swarm.” Chak replies before she finds herself a seat.
“You can get off now…” Simone informs Sonla before following the Cali in.
The Vorook slowly slides down the Terran and does her best to position herself to hide behind the redhead as much as possible, eventually sitting down in a seat that has the larger frame of the Terran between her and the ambassador.
Simone looks the ambassador in the eyes with a hint of weariness. Although she isn’t necessarily suspicious, with the still very significant bounty on her fiance’s head… one can never be too careful. She waits until the seal of the shuttle door clicks shut before speaking up herself.
“Cute corgi, does it have a name?” she inquires.
“Hmmhmm” the Z’ah’tuck hums in amusement as he lightly scratches the canine on it’s rump, causing it to lift its head and perk its ears, “His name is Zioakaa, a play on the Z’ah’tuck title meaning ‘One who has seen the Abyss, and made it weep’. Such a title is usually reserved for artists or passionate leaders. People who can invoke a great shift of public morale, whether it be for sorrow, fear or hope. This dog? Although he is no small part of my public image, he has shifted my morale extraordinarily.” he answers in a relatively reminiscing voice.
Seeing his genuine soft appreciation for the animal is clear as day to Simone, she allows herself to relax as the shuttle takes off with two additional escorts.
“Dogs are pretty great, huh?” Simone chuckles.
“Possibly the best of everything your people have brought to the stars.” the man agrees, “Despite losing a long war with Terrans, Z’ah’tuck certainly gained from it in some aspects.”
“Crazy how that hashes out. And hey, more dogs in the universe? I’ll take it.” the redhead replies before peeking over to Sonla, who was tucking her legs up to make her silhouette smaller.
“Oh, how is your son fairing Ambassador Zrreak? And the others in his and his wife’s company?” Chak asks pleasantly.
“He has been advised to be in bed for a few days, but will make a full recovery. The others will recover as well, but those more substantially injured will of course need a fair bit more recovery.”
“That’s very good to hear. Be sure to pass along our best wishes.” the Princess replies with a nod of her head.
“I will. Though I must apologize for your involvement in his incident. Such business should have been avoided in the first place.” Zrreak says as he extends one of his hands out to Chak, which she accepts sooner than he would have expected from a Cali.
“Thank you for the gesture, the involvement was voluntary, I assure you. Believe it or not Ambassador, I have conducted myself in more perilous situations as you can no doubt imagine.” Chak says pleasantly, “Though I have a feeling you’ve brought us aboard your own personal shuttle with other motives in mind, yes?”
Simone tenses up again as the Ambassador’s raptor eyes focus on the Princess for a moment.
Tilting his horned head, Zrreak then lets out a ‘caught me red handed’ snicker before pulling his hand away.
“Yes, yes you’re right indeed. Though I assure you it has little to do with the price on your head. As much as I still enjoy a good hunt, I’m not one to prey upon my own allies. No, what I hope to discuss is ensuring you are reinstated as the prime monarch of the Cali people.” he reveals.
“Oh… pardon Zrreak… what exactly do you mean by that?” Chak asks as she recovers from such a bold notion.
“I’ve decided to place my bets on you, Chakalata’motaas. I bring you an offer already officiated over by my people’s leaders for you to respond. May I officially present it to you in this rather unofficial setting?” he inquires.
“Very well, but I cannot make a promise that I’ll be receptive to what you offer.” Chak grants as she crosses her lower limbs in her lap.
Zrreak presses an indication in a side datapad, activating a hardlight screen to appear along the middle open area of the shuttle. The text on the screen outlines the terms of the proposal to which the ambassador presents it aloud.
“This proposed bargain has been rattling around the Z’ah’tuck trade leaders since the coup of your father. Though it hinged on whether or not you or any of your siblings survived. Seeing you are indeed alive and making concerted efforts towards freeing your people from his tyrannical rule one way or another you fit the criteria. And so here it is; The Z’ah’tuck Conglomerate will publicly support your right to the Cali throne, and it is prepared to dedicate one-sixth of its war fleets and the Third-fang battalion to aid in the likely event of military conflict.” he pauses to let that settle before continuing, “In return, the Conglomerate requests that the Cali government agree to contribute Ten percent more Natural-grade product and twenty five percent more Clone-grade product to the Z’ah’tuck meat market trade for the next fifty standard year period. Secondly it is also requested that Cali shipyards produce Twenty five hundred trade-ships by Conglomerate provided specifications in the next five standard years. Thirdly, permit Z’ah’tuck trade businesses to set up shop on Cali colonies. Fourth and finally, vote and publicly advocate for the Z’ah’Tuck people to be officiated out of ‘Associate Species’ into ‘Member Species’ status in Central.” he finishes.
Chak scratches the sides of her head with her lower graspers as she seriously considers the alliance deal. It’s an incredible opportunity. With the Z’ah’tucks big economic pull among the carnivorous species of Central -despite them currently being of ‘Associate’ status- this could be very advantageous. But the cost for the support was fairly high, yet not totally unreasonable.
“Your offer is rather tempting, Ambassador. Though I cannot see myself agreeing to it as it stands. You see if open civil war does break out, then I fear my people will need a period of time to stabilize, especially economically. People will need to be fed, buildings rebuilt, and damage to our world repaired. So here’s my counter offer for your consideration;” she says as she reaches out in request for the datapad, of which is candidly handed to her for her to revise the terms for consideration, “Lower the twenty five percent for cloned product to twenty. Provide charitable relief shelter camps where displaced Cali can be warm and well fed during the war campaign, which may prove to be a great source of building up positive relations with not only my people but many others sitting in Member Central seats. And finally agree to grant Cali trade ships official access to Conglomerate trade routes with reduced fines by thirty percent. The rest of your terms are acceptable.” she responds.
“Hmmm…” Zrreak mumbles as he stares at the screen. He brings a claw to his armored muzzle, dragging it along a deep old scarring, “I have the authority to negotiate the terms within reason, and although I know a few trade managers will be disgruntled I believe your counter terms are acceptable.” he nods before transferring the developed agreement to the datapad for both parties to sign.
The Z’ah’Tuck signs first before handing the pad over.
Suppressing her eyes from blasting light to not give away how she honestly felt about this deal, Chak re-reads the entire agreement twice to make absolutely certain that there are no possible term manipulations. The Z’ah’tuck are known to be honerable in terms of business, but one can never be too careful in this realm of dealing.
Once she is certain of all the terms, Chak signs as well and hands it back.
“Your gamble on me is appreciated, Ambassador. I will do everything in my power to ensure that my father is deposed. With your aid, I see the path towards that even more clearer.” she assures.
“Time will tell. And to be honest, we stand to lose little until conflict is certain. The biggest risk we run is a prolonged open war with the Cali. Central history is not kind to Deathworlders declaring war on non-deathworlders, even under these circumstances we may risk being ousted completely from Central. Though I’m doubtful considering our stranglehold on the meat markets. Who else would they turn to? The Truba? With their reputation and recent enormous debacle? I don’t think so.” Zrreak chuckles as he returns to petting his lap dog.
“Such a travesty…” Chak agrees, “Is there more you can share regarding that situation?”
“Just that these Squilla understandably don’t have much of a government. They dwelled in deeper waters and complex cave systems in their comparative ‘iron age’. They are incredibly fast learners, however. Which gives most of the Central council the impression that the Truba have been suppressing the Squilla’s growth as a people for literal ages. I don’t think anything like this has ever happened in known galactic history. It’s still all a mess unfortunately, but important first steps have been taken. I’ve spoken to the representative of the Squilla only a few times, and seeing him come to terms with reality is bittersweet.” the ambassador explained.
“I see. Perhaps I may have a chance to meet him while I’m in central.” Chak says with a shrug.
“It’s a long line to privately meet in an official manner, which is to no surprise I assume?” Zrreak informs.
“Of course, perhaps not then.” Chak concedes.
Wide eyed, Simone looks back and forth between the two.
“Sorry, uhm… I feel like what just happened earlier is a pretty big fucking deal… Military support? Not that I’m complaining, but I’d imagine something like that having a bit more bureaucracy? A quick back and forth and it’s a done deal?” she questioned, utterly bewildered.
“This is how backroom deals tend to go, Simone, you know that.” Chak replies as she reaches a hand to take hold of one of the redhead’s.
She then squeezes in trembling excitement to show that she was putting up a polite professional act.
“Right. Yeah.” Simone corrects herself as she huffs a pant of jubilated air.
The ambassador turns to look at the Terran directly.
“Simone Thatch. If you're at liberty to confirm, through some dealings we have received interesting intel regarding a Terran group that calls itself the ‘Children of Gaia’. Have you encountered them previously?” he inquires.
“Ah, uhm… I know about them. But that’s all I’m really willing to share at this time. What sort of dealings are you referring to exactly?” the Terran responds.
“Nothing nefarious, at least at the surface. We have traded for strange breeds of dogs, tracing their origins to that group. We suspect that they are these ‘pirates’ that invaded the Gratt homeworld. Would that be correct?” Zrreak presses, now looking back and forth between the Terran and Cali.
Chak sighs but nods.
“That would be correct.” she admits.
“Why hide that fact?” the ambassador asks.
“Well, there's a reason to. And I’m afraid we can’t share why, but rest assured their identity will be broadly revealed in due time. Soon, if we can help it, but we have to secure a few things first.” Chak explains, “Apologies for withholding information from you, but I ask that the Conglomerate not share intel of the group for the time being.” Chak requests.
“I can’t promise such, but if it’s in your interest to wait, then it is likely ours as well.” Zrreak grants, “But if we found what we have, others are likely to as well. So I hope whatever you are planning comes around soon, Princess.” he adds.
“As do I, and trust me I understand.” Chak says as she squeezes Simone’s hand once more, “They are our enemies and what we intend to do is to dismantle them.” she assures.
“Ah, I hope you don’t mind a single stop before arriving at your apartment. I have a gift that I wish to present to you.” Zrreak announces after he seems to have received a notification on his Lens.
“Oh, how kind of you. What manner of gift?” Chak inquires.
“One that in some small way may bolster your personal security.” the ambassador vaguely answered a bit coyly.
“Oh joy…” Simone says, unsure if they’d be able to comfortably take on another staff member on the Kwip-chap.
…
Soaring down into a tight one way entrance tunnel, the shuttle eventually comes to a latching stop before being lifted up into an unloading room.
“Come, step out. It’s being brought to us.” Zrreak instructs as he stands and strides out.
Preparing themselves to politely turn his offer down, Simone and Chak step out after him. Sonla on the other hand decided then would be a perfect time to raid the fancy meat snacks she’d been eyeing for most of the trip.
As the three stand just outside the shuttle in wait, it takes only a few minutes for a Z’ah’tuck to turn a corner and enter the room.
“Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll have room to properly accommodate-” Chak begins to say before feeling her legs freeze up in sudden numbness as a beast comes trailing behind the Z’ah’tuck.
Simone’s eye tufts lift in surprise as she looks upon what she initially mistakes as a damn hyena as it shares the rusty red-brown color, stripes and even a shallow mohawk of longer fur going down its back. Though its pitbull-esk face and body structure clues her in that it is indeed a dog.
The thickly muscled domestic canine assertively pats its clawed paws across the floor towards them, passing up the handler it stopped and politely sat ten feet away.
Bending down, Zrreak sets down his corgi which without hesitation stamps quickly over to the comparatively titanous brethren. Sniffing up and around his new friend the loaf of a dog ran a circle around the other unbothered canine before splaying forward in a ‘play’ pose in front of it. Before then running off as if to invite a chase.
“Her name is Zrume, meaning ‘Wall of fangs and talons’. She is only two years of age, but understands commands in Galactic standard and is perfectly trained to guard her charge with her life.” Zrreak introduced before notifying the uncertain fright in the Princess, “She is also trained to assist as an emotional support companion. She can provide more Service-oriented work, but that hasn’t been a primary focus of her training. I thought that may suit someone of your nature, Princess.” he added before addressing the dog directly. “Zrume, at ease.”
The dog’s ice-blue eyes spark with hyper excitement as she breaks her statue pose to spaz out before engaging in play with the corgi, sniffing him in return greeting after easily catching up.
“She isn’t the best I can offer, but I believe she’d be perfect for you. May she approach to meet you?” the ambassador inquires.
“Uhm…” Chak utters before looking up to Simone for an opinion.
Biting her cheek, the redhead gave a tentative nod back.
“Oh, alright.” the princess agrees.
“Zrume, come.” Zrreak instructs.
Turning away and all but ignoring the corgi again, Zrume approaches much closer to the three. Her circular blue eyes look up at the ambassador loyally, only taking side glances of the two women.
“Transfer.” the Z’ah’tuck commands as he points to Chak first and then to Simone.
The head of the dog looked up at Chak, its head pretty much as large as hers.
“D-do I pet her?” Chak inquires.
“Of course, though I strongly recommend that you limit her social interaction to a minimum when she’s on the job. When she’s off, tell her ‘at ease’ so she knows.” Zrreak answers with an amused but serious tone.
“O-okay… Hello… Zrume… uhm… at ease? At ease.” Chak says directly to the animal.
Zrume sinks her head slightly forward to gently press against between the Cali’s lower arms. Looking up with her crisp blues she starts to wag her tail and lightly stamps her front paws.
Chak’s racing hearts start to relax as a familiar admiration feeling rises up within her. Glancing up at Simone, she caught her inwardly biting her lips to resist the broad smile from breaking out.
Looking back at the dog, Chak lifts all of her limbs and begins scritching at the places that she saw these animals enjoy in the media. Behind the ears, under the chin and the sides of the thick neck.
Zrume closes her eyes as her tail aggressively pats against the floor like a happy baton. And Chak swears the dog’s closed mouth smiled, though that could have been a trick to the angle she is viewing her.
“What do you think?” the ambassador asks, seeming to already know the answer.
“She’s so sweet…” Chak replies in giggle, “I don’t think I can say no…”
“Then in that case, I’ll have her supplies loaded up for you.”