How did chicago pd end

How was your weekend? Were you up, down, flat? What did you learn? What did you drink? What are you going to do differently next weekend?
Post all of your thoughts here, in our weekly discussion post.

I've had my kittens for 3 months now (one for 2 months and one for 3 months). Both of them are from the same litter and are almost 6 months old now. I got them because I really like cats and I was depressed, so my family let me adopt them. I do all the work, cleaning their litter box and giving them food. While I'm at college, my grandma feeds them. She's the only person who remains home, everyone else is out for work/school.
There's this one particular room, which if left open, they pee on a fixed spot on the bed, no idea why. We always keep the door locked but if left open by mistake, they do not let the chance of peeing there go.
And sometimes they poop outside the litterbox, I do not know how to stop this, but my family members keep complaining about the smell, my dad doesn't really like them, but doesn't hate them either, he wont interact with them.
Since its going to be my last year of college, I may go abroad for higher studies, if I decide to go, I'm not sure who'll look after them. My mom and grandma both love them and we can't decide what to do, if there's some way to maybe train them where to and where not to take a dump that would help?
Also my mom says that it'll be very troublesome if they get sick so I should give them away.
I know I shouldn't have gotten them in the first place just because I was depressed. But I hadn't planned anything about my future at the time. I've found a decent adopter, but now that its getting real that I'll have to give them away, I feel horrible. I do not know what to do, I don't want to let them go but I don't know what would happen in the future also.
My grandma says that the only problem is their peeing and pooping everywhere, otherwise its all good. My mum keeps complaining about the small plants they destroy while playing in the garden.
Life without them will be so empty. They are the only happening thing in my life. I do for things for them that I wouldn't even do for myself. I get out of bed because of them.
I don't really have any friends, I feel like they are all I have. At the end of the day all I want is to go see them and have them purr when I touch them.
I feel horrible for thinking of giving them away, but I think they'll be happier without me, I don't do enough for them.
This is mostly just a rant I'm sorry, I cant really talk about this with anyone

Hyperbole is a funny thing.
Anyways I apologize for getting a little battleboard-y here but there seems to be a weird consensus that dinosaurs are lame now because they're more like animals. This has been going on a for awhile, I remember hearing a lot about it when the Spinosaurus reconstruction first occured 2014 and now it's happening to Rex post Prehistoric Planet Season 2 scene.
I believe most people are smart enough to figure out what's going on but to the vocal minority let me make something clear.
The T.Rex is not getting "nerfed" have you been asleep for the past decade? If anything it's been getting more buffs. Higher weight estimates, higher intelligence capabilities (allegedly), better durability/healing evidence, and amazing eyesight. If ANYTHING the T.Rex has been getting more buffs that any prehistoric animal that I can think of. The only nerf that I can think of was its speed but it didn't need to be fast to get what it needed.
It's just that every other prehistoric animal that lived long alongside T.Rex was also an impressive and dangerous creature and we are able to recognize that now.
Other dinosaurs that lived alongside T.Rex were mostly seen as fodder even as late as the 80s. Even in JP sauropods were seen as "harmless" for a while. It was just a mindset we kept around for convenience sake. Duckbill dinosaurs were seen as an afterthought that could never truly fight off a T.Rex and people just assumed Sauropods didn't fight. Really, the only animal that was presented as a threat to T.Rex at the time was a Triceratops and maaaaaybe an Anky post 1999. Other than that T.Rex got a lot of focus and was seen as the king of its ecosystem that hunted alone.
Nowadays there's an attempt to understand the workings and behaviors of other animals and it turns out many of them were pretty powerful from an objective standpoint. Even Hadrosaurus are now seen as animal that was more dangerous and massive than previously thought. The T.Rex had to live alongside some of the most dangerous animals of all time. Animals that would have killed any other apex predator from any other time period, dinosaur or not. Can you imagine a Lion surviving in Hell's Creek? Maybe if it hunted small ceratopsians but I don't see them thriving. That's what makes the T.Rex such an amazing animal to look back on. It not only survived the most competitive and dangerous ecosystem there was, it thrived. And we're sure it did given how much of their marks they left on other animals.
So no. T.Rexes are not "Pathetic" now because a pterosaur can steal their kill. Quetzalcoatlus is a peak massive pterosaur. Think of it is as the best of the best.
Nerd rant over.

Is it Normal to be able to force myself awake? Typically I don’t dream but sometimes I do like last night. The dream started out fine I was having dinner with my gf and her parents. We were all just talking when a piece of metal flew through a window and out through the glass back door. Immediately felt dread and scared so we all ran and I realized I was dreaming. So I stopped running closed my eyes and said WAKE UP and I awaken before whatever I was afraid of could get me. This is how all my dreams end and I don’t know if it’s normal but it’s weird.
Sorry if there are typos it’s 5am right now and I just suddenly forced myself awake.

Mother - Anna Gertrude Kunze - born 1 January 1837 Witzenhausen, Werra-Meißner-Kreis, Hesse, Germany
Son - Andreas Peter Christian Andresen - born 13 June 1872 Ensted, Slesvig, Denmark
Daughter - Anna Christina Andresen - born 18 Jun 1870 Aabenraa, Denmark
The 3 family members plus a younger sister Anna Gertrude Andresen (born 22 June 1873 Aabenraa, Denmark) emigrated to New York, USA, arriving on 2 June 1890 aboard the steamship Rhaetia.
https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/174748532?p=52969937
There were two siblings named Anna in the family. The youngest on the passenger list traveled under her middle Gertrude Andresen (first name Anna) and her whereabouts in the USA has been solved. She married and settled in Chicago, Cook, Illinois with her family. Also, It was through Ann Gertrude Andresen's naturalization application that confirmed the 4 family members' exact date of arrival in the USA (2 June 1890)
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GKKL-4FN
https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/173557099
In fact, the 2 parents and 6 of the 7 surviving children all emigrated to the USA, but not together or at the same time. A few settled around Chicago and Andreas Peter Christian Andresen died in New Jersey on 5 January 1949 according to his US Veterans Master Index Card.
https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/174787433?p=52970323
Although I wouldstill like to know what did happen to Andreas Peter Christian Andresen... Did he marry and where he may have lived up until his disease?
Plus, where did the mother live in the USA? I presume somewhere around Chicago but have yet to be able to find anything. (Note: the husband emigrated later in 1896). Note: It was common for women married in Denmark to keep their maiden name after marriage up until around the mid-to-late 1800s. She went by Anna Gertrude Kunze in Denmark, although she used Andresen on the passenger list when emigrating to the USA. Also, a few of the children's marriage and death certificates list the mother's last name as Kunze.
And finally, what happened to daughter Anna Christina Andresen in the USA? Did she marry and where did she settle?
Note: The family when in Denmark, lived near the border of Germany. The border between Denmark and Germany change a few times due to the Schleswig War. So some USA documents may list the areas Aabenraa or Schleswig in Germany and other's Denmark.

Hi all. I’ve been freelancing for the same small studio for 3 years.
Once a collegue (hired, mid to senior) Told me that as a freelance I should not bill every single hour i spend at the studio, more over if some of the stuff I do need to be reworked and fixed. So…
I’m not sure about my skill level but considering that I’m 32 don’t really have time to be a junior so I’m forcing myself to learn the job as fast I can. I started by animating 2D on Ae and ended up doing projection mapping on nuke lately helping on spiderweb comps. I’m not great I still make errors, but I’m a fast learner.
I’m a generalist. I switch easily between softwares.
Speaking about routine. I charge as a junior comp, and I usually go 10 to 19 (often 11 to 20) at a 25 coins per Hour. OT is not really considered as we have this really weird schedule which I’m partly digging. Everyone comes over whenever he/she feels. They surely help me learning some stuff but sometimes they make me feel like the elephant in the room.
Lunch time means eating at my desk. Supe Is really clever but sometimes disappears. He shows in critical moments acting as a savior. Everyone praise him while he could have been around earlier to avoid the problem completely (but thats my humble opinion)
Should I bill less or throw a little discount when I mess up things as my fellow mid said? I already scrap away some time lost that sums up to 40/50min per day
How would you behave in that situation?

I [33M] have been dating my girlfriend [29F] for 3 years and we have been living together for almost 1 year. When we met she was very overweight, but I didn't mind (I am pretty overweight too) and her self-esteem was pretty low.
A year and a half ago she lost a lot of weight and she is now at her ideal weight. Since then her self-esteem has improved a lot and she gets more attention from other men, although until now I didn't care because I had no reason to.
I trusted her.
Six months ago my girlfriend started a new job. A co-worker of hers (let's call him Jack) made a pass at her on occasion, but she talked to me about it so I didn't make a big deal about it. Since she got thinner it's more or less common for someone to make a pass at her from time to time, and since she was transparent about it, I knew I could trust her.But in the last few months I noticed that her friendship with this co-worker was getting closer.
They text each other on the phone regularly, and at work they text each other a lot too from what she tells me.Last week we went out for dinner with some of her coworkers, including Jack. And I was struck by the way my girlfriend was talking and looking at him. I had a feeling there was something more than friendship there, but I thought it might be my imagination.
Today I asked her directly, and she admitted that she likes Jack, but that she wants to distance herself from him because she loves me and wants to stay with me (I was planning to ask her to marry me this year, and she knows that).This has shaken the confidence I had in her. S
he cheated on her previous partner, although it is true that when she did it the relationship was already pretty much dead, but still. I don't think she cheated on me, but I do think they have been flirting.Now, I don't know if I have done the right thing here.
But I have checked her phone messages, and yes they have flirted a bit.She told him that she was grateful to have met him because he made work so much more entertaining. And on another occasion she mentioned to him why she hadn't told her how pretty she looked that day.
I know it may not be much, but when I asked her directly if she had flirted with Jack, she said no (repeatedly).I don't know what to do. I love her so much, but I don't know if I can trust her anymore. I need advice.
​
TLDR: My gf recognized she likes a coworker, but says she loves me. I wanna trust her, but I don't know if I can.

My boyfriends roommate adopted a bully mix dog from a shelter. Whenever I visit it freaks out but they've been slowly training it to behave mostly by having visitors give it a treat so that it associates visits with treats i guess. Once it calms down it just sleeps on a 2nd sofa but sometimes if I go to the bathroom or change my clothes it snarls and growls at me even if I've been there for hours and it was fine before. Like do these dogs think I'm someone else? I don't get it.
Things came to a head recently when I slept over. We were in his bed and the dog was sleeping on the floor. I had to get up to pee and the dog snarled at me but I made it to the bathroom. When I came out I could hear it snarling in the doorway of BFs room so I beelined to another bedroom and ended up sleeping there too scared to try and enter his room. In the morning he acted like it wasn't a big deal and there was no danger.
They have a crate and I said next time I sleep over the dog will have to go in the crate and he acted like he'd have to talk about it with the roommate who owns the dog. We used to go on more dates and do stuff but he ends up on dog sitting duty when the roommate isn't around so we can't just leave because the dog. Unsure what to do. I thought after a year the dog would settle down but it's not. I think it was abused and neglected because it has scars and it had heartworm they spent a bunch treating it for.
Anyone else deal with this? What did you do? I hate being confronted by that creature each time I visit and I feel like causing relationship issues were we go out less and I feel unsafe.

I've been programming for half of my life. Writing code is as natural to me as writing English. I've noticed that programming has vastly altered the ways in which I perceive reality. Because I spend so much time programming, my perceptions are shaped by that which is persistent: computer programming. I literally will stare at a screen for so long that I become one with the computer and it's hard to decouple myself. I swear to you, my computer is tied to my leg like a ball and chain. It is a deep obsession in my life.
But that brings me to my next point: Schizophrenia. Programming is incredibly mentally taxing. It is like going to the gym, but for your brain. And I spend a lot of time at that gym. But I also noticed that when I go through a period of intense programming, I eventually reach a point where I need to disconnect and stop programming for sometimes months at a time because my brain gets way too heady.
The way I perceive my Schizophrenia is that it is a negative side effect of my brain's very advanced intelligence. I have always had a mind that was obsessed with thinking, but not just any thinking, I was obsessed with thinking about things that are hard to think about. That led me down a path to my programming obsession, which led to my brain developing highly advanced structures for understanding code. But here's the problem: I'm operating at a mental capacity beyond which the average human is even capable of reaching, and I am maintaining that state of intense thought for sometimes days on end. So I think you may be picking up what I'm putting down here.
My brain is burning too much energy way too fast. My brain is literally on fire right now with how fast my thoughts are moving. Sometimes I will see screens flickering because my brain's refresh rate has surpassed the refresh rate of the screen. I'll see scan lines appear for a brief instant which should be imperceptible. And then after operating at high capacity for some period of time, eventually there comes a moment where my other mental faculties start breaking down because I am literally wearing out my brain by putting it through too much work at one time. I am worried that I may be causing irreversible damage to my cortical model that will make things much harder for me in the future. I remember meeting another Schizophrenic programmer that was in his 60s, and I could tell he had been programming for a long time, and programming had really fucked him up. You literally needed to feed instructions to him like he was a computer. If you told him to do something, he would follow your instructions to the T, which might be frustrating to you if you aren't familiar with how much of our language is implicit.
So my question is this: are there any older people on here that have been doing programming for a long time to a very intense degree? If so, how has that interacted with your Schizophrenia?

Girls with BPD who have been sexually exploited are targeted and re-exploited every day. There seems to be almost nothing that can be done to stop this. It is an issue that has affected my whole life. I watch it affect others everyday. This physically hurts, in my chest, watching this happen over and over.
Instead of posting a link to my blog, I am just going to copy the full post here.
MONDAY, JUNE 5, 2023
There will be more victims
In the middle of these past 9 months, since a millennial moment sent me down this Maron rabbit hole, the biggest part that has hurt my heart is watching how easily a sexual predator has slid into a new market for himself, a market of the most vulnerable humans on earth. A market where this man has children, little girls, drawing pictures of Mr. Snake, to send to a man who will misuse and exploit some of these same little girls sexually the moment they turn 18, and who will receive some illegal pictures from some of these girls while they are still underage, pictures that he will not turn in to the FBI or to the parents/guardians of these girls. And nobody is going to protect these children. In many of my emails to Mr. Maron, I mention these children he is only just within the past few years starting to target. They are the most vulnerable sector of the human population, and this man is being given more and more access to them, being actively marketed to them.
Since April 26, I have been trying to bring this predator into a public light, and my biggest reason for doing this is to try my best to protect the little girls this man will one day sexually exploit and leave suicidal, like the girl with a gun who was pleading Mr. Maron to take her back, in public replies on his posts that would disappear as soon as she posted them, words telling him she loved him, begging him not to ignore and ghost her anymore, now that he was done with her. This girl was 12 when Mr. Maron filmed his Thanksgiving book-reading for children, which gets played in schools across our country. This girl was shown Mr. Maron was safe, at twelve, by having him publicly marketed to her as a child. A few years later, this girl, a girl diagnosed with BPD, a sexualized child, a suicidal girl with a gun in her possession and on display in her Instagram photos, was in a very real crisis, because Mr. Maron was done using her, and he did not give a shit about her anymore. I was hoping my public words might, at the very least, make Mr. Maron decide to back off his playing more and more for a child market.
In his WTF podcast today, Marc Maron makes it clear he is hoping for more appearances by Mr. Snake in the future, and is publicly enjoying how he is reaching children. It hurt my heart so much to hear his words today. He knows exactly what he is doing, and he knows nobody cares enough about sexualized little girls to ever stop him. He will be marketed to more children. He is happy about that.
Victims of sexual exploitation do not need public exposure. That is a fundamental truth for me. But right now, it is taking everything in me to not insert a picture of this suicidal little girl right here in this blog post, along with pictures of her posts full of suicidal ideation, and a photo of the gun in her possession. I know such pictures might have an actual impact on those reading this. That is probably the one thing I could do right now that might actually protect future children from being sexually exploited by this predator. How in the hell do I weigh the damage that would do, me putting that broken girl's photos here, against the damage Mr. Maron is going to do to those victims he will be exploiting and throwing aside in the future?
The pain of this is horrible for me.
There will be no pictures in this post.
There are children, this second, who will be future victims of Mr. Maron's. Nobody is protecting them.
https://sighlentz.blogspot.com/2023/06/there-will-be-more-victims.html

I met this girl and I was about to make her my girlfriend. I got into a car accident and that put everything on hold temporarily however my feelings never changed. I did not get to meet her family because we only talked for about a year in a half and I think she was trying to wait. She died in a car accident at 18 how can I find out what happened ?? I have her full name I cannot find anything online and I don’t think her friends like me cause I didn’t go to the funeral.

You don't need to go deep to be "valid". It's really not worth it, these past couple of days i wanted to go deeper so i did and i got a cut that wouldn't stop bleeding.
Had to tell my mum and she was in tears, the shame i felt was awful i didn't know what to say. I've had to get stitches for 4 different wounds this morning and honestly the pain getting stitches is so much worse than the pain from cutting it ain't even worth it.
If you don't want to upset your family please don't go through this route of coping it's not nice and never ends well.
(Idk what flair to put this under)

It started as a very realistic feeling of me texting my ex for a while and then just turned into someone breaking into my house and stealing everything while the rest of my family was asleep. I hate having to call people so I literally had to ask him in my dream if I should call the cops. I called them and tried whispering because the person was in the next room and everyone was asleep but the operator lady couldn’t hear me. I started telling her how I was scared and they stole my computer and wanted to hold my cat for support but he was being mean. I thought I heard something downstairs so I start getting out of bed and noticed my computer back where it always is. I walked downstairs and I realised it wasn’t real and I was dreaming the entire thing and essentially called the cops for no reason. Then I remembered fake calls are illegal so I had to make up some story to tell them so I didn’t get arrested. Then my mother woke up and I told her my story and a fire truck showed up outside. The end.

Lol just when I got home today, my soul had me check your PSN (Spotify). Just at that moment, you were playing "Softly" by Clairo. And that was the last song you played. You were listening to "Wishful Thinking" (Benee) Spotify made radio. Sometimes it tells you on PSN when it's from a radio and sometimes it doesn't, idk y. Anyway, this meant you literally stopped playing music when I checked. This was exactly the kind of thing you did a lot in the early days of our "song communication." "How tf did she know I just checked?!" You did start listening to some random stuff a bit later.
It doesn't seem like you (the person) intended this as a message. (I mean you were listening to a radio, after all. And you left some random song later as your last played song.) Even still, given the timing, it seems at least likely to be a message from your soul. If I had checked just a little earlier, I would've just seen you listening to a radio and not taken it to be a message. And if I checked a little later, you would've been listening to random stuff--again no message.
I checked out the lyrics for both "Wishful Thinking" and "Softly." Then my soul had me play "Un-Stoppable" by Alicia Keys in response. It's funny how "I" (the person) write about not knowing what the plan for our connection is now. And then my soul is just like, "IT'S 100% UNION--NOW, OBVIOUSLY!!" I mean that's definitely my preference as well. I've certainly been patient enough and put in a crap ton of work towards this already lmfao XD. And then my soul would be like, "Omggggg finallyyyyy!!! I've waited eons and eons for this!!!"
And it does seem pretty obviously to be the plan, but I still need to stay open w/o attachments to that idea for now, as again, I have no idea how you feel and/or what choice you will make. And if you don't choose Union, I have to be open to allow HS to adjust as is in highest good (whether that be friendship or w/e).

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Part Twenty-Two
Trains and Tails... In Space!
>>> Outer Colony - Yn Gyntaf Ymhlith y Ser <<<
>>> Starport - Diwrnod heulog, Bob dydd <<<
>>> Frontier Standard Date: 21-03-104 <<<
Shore leave for the group finally rolled around and so the little gathering rode a shuttle down planetside. Seren, Eira, Scanner, Zana and the seven Bridge Bunny brothers. Claiomh fada, Sciath bhabhta, Casur cogaidh. Saighead direach, Miodog gearr, Dhorn tapaidh, and Blath dearg. Most just referred to them as the Bridge Bunnies as a running gag with the crew and because they tended to do everything together. They were one of the few survivors of a raid and had been forced to fend for themselves for a month before aid would arrive. Ever since they had been practically inseparable. For Conin they were unusually quiet and reserved, except when on the bridge or playing games. When they had learned that Seren was a raid survivor as well they had opened up to him greatly. Of all the crew it was the Bridge Bunnies that empathized the most with the Dynol's struggles to cope with the aftermath of surviving.
Seren had packed some sunscreen and a complete survival kit, much to Eira's chagrin and amusement. "I keep forgetting you Dynol burn so easy." She herself had packed a few things but was keeping them secret. "Five bottles though?"
"Right. Yn Gyntaf Ymhlith y Ser is a hotter world due to a slightly closer orbit to its star. Higher UV index than even my skin can likely handle. So does not hurt to be prepared." he explained as they prepared to disembark.
"The forests provide alot of shade though so you should be fine. Now get ready!" Eira churred in anticipation.
The disembarkation ramp lowered and the shore leave team stepped down into a very bright world.
Seren got to the bottom and nearly got run over by the others as he stood there gawking. "...the screw?" The port itself was enough to cause him to pause. The style was reminiscent of Ancient Earth and the American Wild West with a heavy dose of Victorian England. A mixture of stone, brick and wooden structures. The usually angular straight Llygoden Fawr font adorning shops and signs was more curly, almost like question marks rather than straight or angled lines.
"...the screw?" The mode of dress though was more like the styles of Sixteen-Hundred era Age of Sail. Elaborate dresses and vests, broad collars and adorned hats. Sweeping gowns, snug bodices, and even boots which were a rarity amongst any of the starfaring species other than the Dynol and Rana/Salamandra.
But the real "... the screw?" were the people. At first glance they were your average Llygoden Fawr. That is until it settled in that something was wrong with this picture. The most striking was the tail. It was a fluffy bush to put any Vulpes-Vulpes to shame in its luxurious fullness. The faces were not as long and the eyes were a bit larger than average. The ears too were different, standing up and pointed. "Giant space squirrels... the screw???"
Eira was enjoying Seren's reaction and the others were getting a chuckle from it as well. "ahhhhh! Worth keeping it a secret just to see you phased by something."
"That is an understatement." he admitted as he continued to gawk.
Eira led her companion out of the way of the other visitors and explained. "Mutation. Similar to the splits in the Vulpes. Happened about a hundred years ago and with each generation instances increased ten percent. Some radiation from the sun was the cause, again much like with the Vulpes. There were some other less pleasant birth defects, some lethal, that we had to do extensive genetic screening to cull from the populace. The people now are a stable mutation and have been designated Wiwer Fawr."
"Do not stand outside unprotected long. Got it." He took in the sight and then a huge grin spread as he saw something pulling into a station off in the distance. A train. Or more to the point. A Llygoden Fawr style mono-wheel steam train. And after a bit he saw some of the squirrel folk ride past mounted on what looked nothing so much as a four-legged sparrow head... "Ok. That is something you do not see every day either." A carriage pulled by one of these beasts passed as well not long after that.
"Coesau plu? Yeah. They are native to the homeden and we exported the hardier ones here. We used to ride them in our early civilization stages. The electromagnetic field of the planet during stormy season messes with electronics to the point it was more cost efficient to just transplant the coesau plu and use them as mounts and drays like in olden times." She pointed at the mono-wheel train pulling to the distant station. "And same for the trains. It's like stepping back in time a thousand years."
"I take it the archaic mode of dress is protective?"
"Got it in one. All of a sudden the hat business saw a boom."
Seren glanced around thoughtfully. "If the planet is that troublesome then why colonize it?"
"It is one of the few we have come across with a breathable atmosphere, tolerable environment, and isn't bathed in lethal radiation. And the asteroid belt is big and mineral rich. The land itself does wonders for plant life as you can see." Eira pointed at the tremendous looking forest off to the east from the starport. "Colonists have adapted to an arboreal city structure away from the starport. The giant trees afford extensive protection from the sun." Here the white furred rat woman gave a little shudder. "Wouldn't catch me living way up there!"
"Says the rat girl who lives in a home that is hanging from the ceiling of a cave." So teased the Dynol.
"Hey now. Stone is very safe!"
Seren noted though that the common tricorn-like hats many males wore made sense from a protective design standpoint. The forward point shaded the snout and the back points shaded the ears. He got an explanation from Eira that the clothes also served to bleed off excess heat and had a passive cooling system built into every garment. "So why the archaic dress style?" he questioned.
Eira grinned. "A chunk of the early colonists turned out to be historical re-enactment buffs and since the buildings were less high tech why not have fun with it? The idea caught on and now it's their cultural thing. There is even a recreation of a thousand year old town and surrounding farmsteads further north in the cooler zone."
The Dynol took all this in and smiled more and more. "So what is the plan then?" he asked wile pulling out his silver reflective rat mask and donning it. The mask was treated against UV so was a better choice than his usual blister goggles. "I think we are all going to need at least hats pronto, yes?" Said with a worried glance at Scanner, Zana and the Bridge Bunnies who were all shielding their eyes with a paw as the looked around. "I doubt any of us wants to be holed up in a hotel all week right?"
"Right. There's a hat shop nearby for exactly that and right next door a visor shop. Both accommodate large folk." the Security Tech informed them. But I have something for you first." Here she pulled out a hat that was like a tall sloping hill with the long point in front and just a single short back facing point. Set in it was a white feather. "One of my distant cousins gave me this last visit. Never quite suited my style. But the blue happens to match your usual taste in off duty colors."
Seren accepted the gift and tried it on. "How do I look?"
Eira churrred with pleasure. "mmmmm! With the mask on you look like the Phantom Rider!" We need to get you fully dressed up now!"
"uh-oh!"
Scanner and the others of the party were still busy gawking as they had never actually made planetfall in all the years of being on Patrol. "Well this is different." the grey Backeneko drawled in amusement at the sight of the fluffy tailed Wiwer Fawr and the peculiar architecture.
Zana was looking wide eyed in delight at everything and her fluffy tail was practically vibrating with excitement. "They are so adorable!"
"Miss Zana. Please refrain from terrorizing the countryside hugging everything." Seren deadpanned. Vulpes-Canis were a very touchy-feely people and the large curly haired dog girl was like the poster pup for her species. She liked to just pick up the Dynol and hug him to death, or on coinciding lunch breaks she would sit him in her lap and idly pet him. The other Vulpes-Canis on the Patrol Carrier would do the same. Just not as grabby as the Wraith Pilot. She at least did not handle him while he was working. But she would sit and just raptly watch him work. The big dog folk's fascination with Dynol was well documented.
"Oh come on! I let you go... eventually." was accompanied by Zana's merry barking laughter and wagging tail.
Seren had to admit that the starfighter pilot had the reflexes to back up her rampant people pouncing. She could also beat him eight times out of ten at go-cart racing. "So what's the plan then Eira? You -did- have a plan? Riiiiight?" he nudged the rat alien.
"Sure do. I pre-ordered some steam train tickets to the great northern city of Gaer Garreg Werdd yn y Goedwig. It is a recreation of a fortress city from the homeden that was a major steam hub back in the day. It's now a sort of historical re-enactment with people acting out living the way folk used to." She displayed for all a paper map and traced a claw from the starport to their intended destination. "Big tourist attraction and there's a regular re-enactment of a raid by the Crwydriaid y Mor yn Dwyn Gwaywffyn, sea going aboriginals who raided inland every few years well into our early steam age. Quite a nuisance."
"Australia gets invaded by Hawaii." quipped the Dynol.
"I have no idea what you are referencing. But I know it is something embarrassing!"
They all made haste to the hat shop and it was Seren's turn to be embarrassed at being complimented for his Phantom Rider cosplay. Eira had her own hat as well. A white tricorn with a badge pinned to one side and several short square-ish red feathers sticking out back of it. "This is my dad's hat. He used to live here for a few years before getting his hauler gig."
"What is the badge for?" Asked one of the Bridge Bunnies.
"Ah that was for rescuing some folk who got lost in the deep forests. Dad was a pretty good tracker." Eira explained while tracing a finger round the brass badge. "The feathers represent how many people he saved. Six total."
The Bridge Bunnies each purchased high topped broad rimmed black hats with a green band around the base. They looked a bit like triangular witch hats with the point removed. Zana selected bonnet and Scanner donned her own green wild west style hat with one side pinned up. All the head-ware had built in heat dissipation materials to help disperse built up UV warming.
Next they ambled over to the clothes shop and here Eira helped Seren pick out a long coat in blue that went with his hat. "Yeah! Very Phantom Rider now! Just need to get you a silver steam pistol and a white coesau plu."
"Eira... Is this a vacation? Or dress up doll?"
"Why not both?"
Scanner picked out a woman's riding outfit in green while the seven lapine brothers all selected elegant coats and pants with buckled shoes. They looked reminiscent of Spanish aristocrats dressed so. Especially with the frilly lace. Zana dressed in a gown that spread out in all directions. She blushed so much it was visible through her cheek fur when Seren teased that she could hide all of the Bridge Bunnies under her petticoats.
All done with basic shopping they stopped by to say hello to Eira's distant cousin. This fellow was a Wiwer Fawr of a light brown fur pattern and blue eyes. "Eira ar y Blodau! Been three years since saw you last! Welcome Welcome!" He looked over the masked Dynol curiously. "Why are you so cute with that mask on? I am Gwynt Drwy'r Canghennau. You must be Llygaid Llawn o Ser my cousin has written about?"
"Probably unless she has more than one Dynol wrapped up in her tail." grinned the Systems Tech.
Gwynt grinned at that. "If the rumors are true then just one of you is more than enough." The squirrel-like alien and the human exchanged the double paw clasp greeting and then everyone padded over to an shaded eatery sized for small and large folk. "You hit a good time to visit. This is the cool season. Temperature will spike for three months during the hot storm season. Warm rain and high winds. Great for the plant life. But whooo! Don't plan on traveling!"
They got to try out the local quinine including bara haen fewnol, which was akin to a calzone stuffed with cheeses, a white cream sauce, ground nuts, lettuce and carrot equivalents, and strips of coesau plu meat for the omnivores in the group. Scanner and Zana had roast coesau plu with a selection of greens the two carnivores could ingest. From the store owner Seren learned that the Cozi Mari was picking up a shipment of meat to supplement the more carnivore sided crew's diets.
Gwynt would be joining the group as their guide while planet-side. Mostly just an excuse to catch up with Eira and socialize with aliens. "Not many offworlders stay long for obvious reasons. Too bad you Dynol can not improve the conditions here like are on the other colony."
"I am no terraforming expert, but the problem here is a bit more involved. Fixing it would require moving the planet's orbit or thickening the atmosphere to increase UV shielding. Any of which might disrupt the ecology established here." suggested Seren. "That is even assuming we could alter the orbit without wrecking the planet."
"Tis what I heard last time it was discussed. The trees here are dependent on the increased solar intake and adding more cloud cover might well cause them to weaken or outright die. There's also worry that thickening the atmosphere could increase the intensity and duration of the storms we get." A flick of the squirrel's bushy tail fore-back-fore showing his reluctant acceptance of that.
"It is a planet we Dynol would have passed on during survey simply because it would be more likely to make things worse trying to make it more agreeable for habitation. As is you need alot of tech solutions to stay here right?"
"Correct. But it is not bad once you get used to it and we have adapted to the environment slowly."
"At a cost." Seren pointed out.
Gwynt nodded. "At a cost yeah."
Seren shrugged. "Maybe in time a better solution can be had. Right now the tech just has not caught up to being able to handle a situation like this. So you are to be commended for sticking it out and finding solutions outside the box."
That perked up the tan furred squirrel and after everyone had eaten and gotten a drink they set about picking up another local to join on the trip. That being Gwynt's fiance Erlid Awyr y Nos. Erlid was a solid pitch black of fur and had bright red eyes. She was a shipping clerk for the starport. She also complimented Seren on his Phantom Rider cosplay. Much to Eira's continued entertainment at the Dynol's expense.
Finally it came time to board the train and Seren got to see first hand a functional and fully restored mono-wheel steam train. The engine and tender were were Thirty meters long and the main engine consisted of four interlinked mono-wheels. The series engine was surprisingly powerful and the train could pull eight-hundred unit-tons. Eira explained a little of the history as everyone boarded. "Very early on we developed parallel wheel designs. But one experimental company pushed for the mono-wheel design and it gained popularity and quickly muscled out other designs."
Gwynt added to this. Mono-wheels have always been a design aspect of transportation and no one is exactly sure when it supplanted other styles of wheels. Part of the success was very early gear and stabilizing breakthroughs."
"Due to the stopping problems when not used in series?" guessed Seren.
"Exactly. Early mono-bikes were more than a little harrowing to stop at speed." Gwynt grinned. "But were too fun to drop for safer designs. The basis worked fine. It was the sudden stops that kept leading to accidents. Speed laws were for a good while very strict. But people were always pushing it when out away from the dencities. Eventually someone hit on a pivoting gyro system to counter the rotation problem. The trains did not suffer that problem and just needed stationary bracing legs when at a stop."
The passenger cars were luxurious with padded seats and even a dining and lounge car. The sleeping cars were just as finely crafted of metal and wood. Each car of the mono-train was accessible via two doors, one on either side of each car's center-line wheel. Some luggage and cargo was packed into the lower parts of each sphere that comprised a car. The ride was scheduled to take a twenty-two hour day to cover some one-thousand kilo-units distance.
And so plans were made as to what to do during the shore leave at the re-enactment site and surrounding tree-city.
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