Old bridge township raceway park photos
Bridgebuilder - Chapter 41
2023.05.29 23:36 icallshogun Bridgebuilder - Chapter 41
Poorly Hidden
First Prev
There were very few things to do in quarantine.
Alex had spent his last two days sleeping as much as he could. There were six movies available to watch and nothing else. His techs steadfastly refused to tell him anything about the outside world, which was standard procedure. Nothing that would get him riled up, as Shawn put it. That sort of riled him up.
Aside from sleeping, the only thing that broke the monotony was meal time. First he would get scanned and then one of the nurses would drop off clean scrubs and a steaming hot bowl of nutragel in the small airlock. In the morning it tasted sort of like a cinnamon roll. The lunch nutragel bore some resemblance to chicken soup and the dinner nutragel was similar to but distinct from beef stew.
Nutragel was easily more dissatisfying to eat than anything else a dispenser produced. It provided everything he needed to live and made things easier on the scanner, but lacked any other redeemable features. Freedom could not come soon enough.
So he thought.
Being released was nearly as strange as being brought in. Shawn gave him his marching orders - There’d be a representative from the Civilian Pilot Program waiting for Carbon and him once he was out of the secure portion of the station, and said his goodbye before turning the airlock on. It cycled automatically around him and he walked from the quarantine room down the hall to the patient elevator. Even before the doors opened, he could smell the cleaning chemicals. A minute later his eyes were stinging and his scrubs smelled like something that would denature a prion, but it did deposit him in front of the first human he’d seen since the day he arrived.
The nurse behind the counter was not operating under the same conditions, and seemed pretty bored by his arrival. He pushed a bag with Alex’s name on it across the stainless countertop, and pointed out where the changing rooms were before turning back to his terminal.
There was technically a shower in the quarantine room. One of those dry ones that used ultrasonic waves and a vacuum. It allegedly did the job. The changing room had a real shower, towels, and the most generic little bottles of soap and shampoo Alex had ever seen. Even if everything was a little threadbare, this still felt like luxury. It had been longer than he cared to think about since he’d gotten the chance to take an actual water shower, and he was not going to skip the opportunity to wash the stink of chemicals off his body.
Once again clean, though looking a bit scruffy from nine days of stubble growth, he donned the same clothing that he had been brought in with, now so thoroughly decontaminated it appeared a shade lighter than it had started, and immediately sat down in the waiting room.
Carbon arrived about fifteen minutes later, slightly damp and visibly exhausted. While she did perk up when she spotted him, a brief flash of a smile tamped down as she glanced over at the attendant operating the elevator to the rest of the station. Alex followed suit, keeping it professional as he requested access to leave quarantine.
Once alone in the elevator, a brief look of longing may have been exchanged.
“Oh. It’s real.” Alex murmured to himself as the doors opened to the main deck of the small station, the smell of cooked food wafting through the air as they stepped out. They had arrived just in time for breakfast. He inhaled deeply. “I think they have bacon. And pancakes? You’ll like both of those, I’m sure.”
“Pilot Alex Sorenson? Shipmaster Tshalen?” An older man wearing a button down shirt and nice slacks stepped forward before Alex could determine which way to go to get to the food. He smiled affably, extending his hand. “Dae Yeong, I’m with the CPP.”
Alex barely kept his shit together and shook his hand. “Oh yes. We were told you’d be here.” He didn’t manage to keep the disappointment out of his voice, though.
Dae gave Carbon a short bow, which she returned, and he handed them both new CPP access badges. They were clearly labeled PILOT and ENGINEER respectively, with photos. Alex grinning like he’d won the lotto, Carbon straight-faced and looking a bit like she was getting a mugshot taken. It wasn’t necessary on the quarantine station, but they’d be needing them for access in secure areas elsewhere. “If you both don’t mind, we should be departing for McFadden station immediately. Traffic is already bad and there’s a lot to do.”
Alex did mind, but he kept it to himself. It was a short walk to the hanger, and they quickly found themselves wedged into the back of a four seat transport. It was an inexpensive but serviceable civilian model with CPP branding all over the outside. Mr. Yeong kept his hands on the controls even though the short jaunt to McFadden station was likely to be entirely autopilot.
“I still cannot believe it is so large.” Carbon leaned over as far as her seat’s safety harness would allow, whispering to him as the station grew on the main screen, already lined up with one of the bays on the docking arc. Parking lot speeds were strictly enforced this close to a structure, they were still 30 minutes from actually coming aboard.
“Third largest in system, twelfth in all of human space.” Alex suppressed the urge to make that joke, keeping his voice down too. It was probably pointless, Mr. Yeong was just over an arms length away in the pilot’s seat and could easily hear them. It still felt sort of conspiratorial, almost fun.
“I am aware of that, but I do not know why.” She shifted back into her seat properly, ears twitching as they pressed into the headrest. Carbon had curled her antenna over her shoulder, preferring that to crushing them between her back and the seat that had not been made with that particular biological difference in mind.
He shrugged. “They had to make room for all the old spacecraft in the Exploration museum.”
Carbon straightened up and looked at him, perplexed. “A museum?”
“Uh huh.”
“You put a museum in space? In a station that some of your most advanced spacecraft are based from?” Carbon was starting to get that tone that said she may be offended by the very idea being discussed.
“Not me personally, no. But it does seem like a reasonable place for it.”
“I did not mean you specifically, Alex. I meant as a species. Space is not a reasonable place for a museum, no matter the subject.” She was adamant about that, a finger
“Space is the perfect place for a museum about space exploration. That was the jingle they used during construction.” He cleared his throat and sang, off key. “Space... is the per-fect place.”
Mr. Yeong chuckled quietly.
Carbon’s jaw set and she huffed with frustration. “Your species is so cavalier about so many things. Space is dangerous, it is no place to leave a collection of historical knowledge.”
Alex looked out of his window with a snort, watching a row of single-container cargo drones waiting for access queuing up as he dismissed her argument with a wave of his hand. “Oh yeah, nothing of value has ever been destroyed on a planet before, right?”
The back seat got very quiet.
When he looked back, Carbon was staring down at balled fists with deadly intensity, normally blue lips pressed so tight they were pale.
He figured out where he had fucked up a moment later. “I didn’t mean- Not like, I... Hell.”
Her words came slowly, precise. “I know you did not mean it that way.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for. The statement is true, disaster or not. A planet can still oversee untold destruction.” She closed her eyes and exhaled, her body relaxing. ”It has been a difficult week.”
He had forgotten that isolation is hard on the Tsla’o. It had been annoying for him, but being nearly completely cut off from interaction in what was ultimately an alien prison cell must have weighed heavily on her. “Is it alright if I feel bad?”
Carbon took a deep breath and exhaled slowly again, watching her hands uncurl and fingers stretch as she recentered herself. She straightened back up, ears unfolding from being pressed tight against her head before she glanced over at him with a brief nod. A thin, wry smile slowly working across her short muzzle. “That is acceptable as long as you are done by the time we arrive.”
Alex laughed just as Mr. Yeong looked back at them over his shoulder. The older man gave them a bemused smile. “Has anyone told you two that you sound like a married couple?”
That shut both of them up for the rest of the trip.
First Prev
*****
That's right, I wrote the P word.
They're really not good at keeping things under wraps.
submitted by icallshogun to HFY [link] [comments]
First Prev
There were very few things to do in quarantine.
Alex had spent his last two days sleeping as much as he could. There were six movies available to watch and nothing else. His techs steadfastly refused to tell him anything about the outside world, which was standard procedure. Nothing that would get him riled up, as Shawn put it. That sort of riled him up.
Aside from sleeping, the only thing that broke the monotony was meal time. First he would get scanned and then one of the nurses would drop off clean scrubs and a steaming hot bowl of nutragel in the small airlock. In the morning it tasted sort of like a cinnamon roll. The lunch nutragel bore some resemblance to chicken soup and the dinner nutragel was similar to but distinct from beef stew.
Nutragel was easily more dissatisfying to eat than anything else a dispenser produced. It provided everything he needed to live and made things easier on the scanner, but lacked any other redeemable features. Freedom could not come soon enough.
So he thought.
Being released was nearly as strange as being brought in. Shawn gave him his marching orders - There’d be a representative from the Civilian Pilot Program waiting for Carbon and him once he was out of the secure portion of the station, and said his goodbye before turning the airlock on. It cycled automatically around him and he walked from the quarantine room down the hall to the patient elevator. Even before the doors opened, he could smell the cleaning chemicals. A minute later his eyes were stinging and his scrubs smelled like something that would denature a prion, but it did deposit him in front of the first human he’d seen since the day he arrived.
The nurse behind the counter was not operating under the same conditions, and seemed pretty bored by his arrival. He pushed a bag with Alex’s name on it across the stainless countertop, and pointed out where the changing rooms were before turning back to his terminal.
There was technically a shower in the quarantine room. One of those dry ones that used ultrasonic waves and a vacuum. It allegedly did the job. The changing room had a real shower, towels, and the most generic little bottles of soap and shampoo Alex had ever seen. Even if everything was a little threadbare, this still felt like luxury. It had been longer than he cared to think about since he’d gotten the chance to take an actual water shower, and he was not going to skip the opportunity to wash the stink of chemicals off his body.
Once again clean, though looking a bit scruffy from nine days of stubble growth, he donned the same clothing that he had been brought in with, now so thoroughly decontaminated it appeared a shade lighter than it had started, and immediately sat down in the waiting room.
Carbon arrived about fifteen minutes later, slightly damp and visibly exhausted. While she did perk up when she spotted him, a brief flash of a smile tamped down as she glanced over at the attendant operating the elevator to the rest of the station. Alex followed suit, keeping it professional as he requested access to leave quarantine.
Once alone in the elevator, a brief look of longing may have been exchanged.
“Oh. It’s real.” Alex murmured to himself as the doors opened to the main deck of the small station, the smell of cooked food wafting through the air as they stepped out. They had arrived just in time for breakfast. He inhaled deeply. “I think they have bacon. And pancakes? You’ll like both of those, I’m sure.”
“Pilot Alex Sorenson? Shipmaster Tshalen?” An older man wearing a button down shirt and nice slacks stepped forward before Alex could determine which way to go to get to the food. He smiled affably, extending his hand. “Dae Yeong, I’m with the CPP.”
Alex barely kept his shit together and shook his hand. “Oh yes. We were told you’d be here.” He didn’t manage to keep the disappointment out of his voice, though.
Dae gave Carbon a short bow, which she returned, and he handed them both new CPP access badges. They were clearly labeled PILOT and ENGINEER respectively, with photos. Alex grinning like he’d won the lotto, Carbon straight-faced and looking a bit like she was getting a mugshot taken. It wasn’t necessary on the quarantine station, but they’d be needing them for access in secure areas elsewhere. “If you both don’t mind, we should be departing for McFadden station immediately. Traffic is already bad and there’s a lot to do.”
Alex did mind, but he kept it to himself. It was a short walk to the hanger, and they quickly found themselves wedged into the back of a four seat transport. It was an inexpensive but serviceable civilian model with CPP branding all over the outside. Mr. Yeong kept his hands on the controls even though the short jaunt to McFadden station was likely to be entirely autopilot.
“I still cannot believe it is so large.” Carbon leaned over as far as her seat’s safety harness would allow, whispering to him as the station grew on the main screen, already lined up with one of the bays on the docking arc. Parking lot speeds were strictly enforced this close to a structure, they were still 30 minutes from actually coming aboard.
“Third largest in system, twelfth in all of human space.” Alex suppressed the urge to make that joke, keeping his voice down too. It was probably pointless, Mr. Yeong was just over an arms length away in the pilot’s seat and could easily hear them. It still felt sort of conspiratorial, almost fun.
“I am aware of that, but I do not know why.” She shifted back into her seat properly, ears twitching as they pressed into the headrest. Carbon had curled her antenna over her shoulder, preferring that to crushing them between her back and the seat that had not been made with that particular biological difference in mind.
He shrugged. “They had to make room for all the old spacecraft in the Exploration museum.”
Carbon straightened up and looked at him, perplexed. “A museum?”
“Uh huh.”
“You put a museum in space? In a station that some of your most advanced spacecraft are based from?” Carbon was starting to get that tone that said she may be offended by the very idea being discussed.
“Not me personally, no. But it does seem like a reasonable place for it.”
“I did not mean you specifically, Alex. I meant as a species. Space is not a reasonable place for a museum, no matter the subject.” She was adamant about that, a finger
“Space is the perfect place for a museum about space exploration. That was the jingle they used during construction.” He cleared his throat and sang, off key. “Space... is the per-fect place.”
Mr. Yeong chuckled quietly.
Carbon’s jaw set and she huffed with frustration. “Your species is so cavalier about so many things. Space is dangerous, it is no place to leave a collection of historical knowledge.”
Alex looked out of his window with a snort, watching a row of single-container cargo drones waiting for access queuing up as he dismissed her argument with a wave of his hand. “Oh yeah, nothing of value has ever been destroyed on a planet before, right?”
The back seat got very quiet.
When he looked back, Carbon was staring down at balled fists with deadly intensity, normally blue lips pressed so tight they were pale.
He figured out where he had fucked up a moment later. “I didn’t mean- Not like, I... Hell.”
Her words came slowly, precise. “I know you did not mean it that way.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for. The statement is true, disaster or not. A planet can still oversee untold destruction.” She closed her eyes and exhaled, her body relaxing. ”It has been a difficult week.”
He had forgotten that isolation is hard on the Tsla’o. It had been annoying for him, but being nearly completely cut off from interaction in what was ultimately an alien prison cell must have weighed heavily on her. “Is it alright if I feel bad?”
Carbon took a deep breath and exhaled slowly again, watching her hands uncurl and fingers stretch as she recentered herself. She straightened back up, ears unfolding from being pressed tight against her head before she glanced over at him with a brief nod. A thin, wry smile slowly working across her short muzzle. “That is acceptable as long as you are done by the time we arrive.”
Alex laughed just as Mr. Yeong looked back at them over his shoulder. The older man gave them a bemused smile. “Has anyone told you two that you sound like a married couple?”
That shut both of them up for the rest of the trip.
First Prev
*****
That's right, I wrote the P word.
They're really not good at keeping things under wraps.
2023.05.29 22:39 Electrical-Text7131 3.5 walked off at the park
Took my two kiddos to a neighborhood playground (a different one than we typically go to). Kids had fun, I was pushing one year old on the swing. 3.5 was playing on the structure next to/quarter turn behind me. I was keeping an eye on both. Had already told him to stay in the bark chips. A little girl and her mom were playing on the structure with him. I look over and don’t see him. Look again, don’t see him. Panic ensues, he had wandered off.
He is 100% mister no fear. No stranger danger. Will talk to anyone, hardly looks back to check for me. He had been gone at least a minute or two before I found him.
I started looking and screaming his name, other parents started looking. Horrible scenes flashed into my mind. There’s a tiny trickle of a creek, and he had crossed the bridge and was in the wooded area.
Needless to say, won’t be going to this park again. But this was 100% on me, I know. How do I help teach him stranger danger without making him fearful of everyone. His father has major anxiety, and I want to teach my kids to be friendly. But now I have a whole new bucket of fears, and even though it’s been two hours, I still feel so sick to my stomach. This could have ended so differently.
submitted by Electrical-Text7131 to Preschoolers [link] [comments]
He is 100% mister no fear. No stranger danger. Will talk to anyone, hardly looks back to check for me. He had been gone at least a minute or two before I found him.
I started looking and screaming his name, other parents started looking. Horrible scenes flashed into my mind. There’s a tiny trickle of a creek, and he had crossed the bridge and was in the wooded area.
Needless to say, won’t be going to this park again. But this was 100% on me, I know. How do I help teach him stranger danger without making him fearful of everyone. His father has major anxiety, and I want to teach my kids to be friendly. But now I have a whole new bucket of fears, and even though it’s been two hours, I still feel so sick to my stomach. This could have ended so differently.
2023.05.29 22:02 IceQueenWeiss Selling epic games account + coupon 25% expire june 15
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submitted by IceQueenWeiss to GamingMarket [link] [comments]
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2023.05.29 21:00 architecturephotog Hike in Garachico exploring Viña Grande and the "lavaderos" in Genovés
I started walking this place some months ago after basically just having stumbled upon it on a longer walk. I had walked all the way down to the lowest house and could not find a sensible way to get all the way down to the ocean from there. To me it did not make sense that there was no obvious connection, and it started a rabbit hole where I would look for routes on the Grafcan aerial photography from 1951 to make sense of it. As I understand it parts of this enormous area including some of the houses were abandoned over 100 years ago, but on the aerial photos from 1951 there was clear paths going down from the estate towards the ocean. Turns out this is an area which is known for landslides and rockfall, and almost that entire old path had simply just slid off the mountain. It has also been covered up by a lot of vegetation, not being in use for god know how long. It is still possible to get up using the upper part of that route, but it is certainly very dangerous.
So after sort of giving up that at least as an easy access to get up to the zone by walking, I found another alternative which is the one I show in this video. It is certainly not for everyone, but much safer than the other original path. The path I use starts up some steps, up past some water infrastructure and leads up to a water tank that still lies quite a bit below the lower houses on the estate. From there I cross an ancient steep riverbed, keep to the left of that, climb some boulders through a lot of reeds and finally you get up to the lowest house that has the winery close to it.
From there there are all sorts of fun paths and routes across the property to explore it. I continue up to the other abandoned houses below the cliff, and then to "lavaderos" and follow the water channel from there to a little peak where I like to just sit and relax, meditate for a bit and let the views sink in. From there I go back on the same channel, but down a different route that luckily is well supported with metal wires and steps to go back down. This is a very steep route, and along it you can see some of the old vines that are still present on the property. If you want to explore the area but do not wish to do the path up, this is also possible. You would need to drive up to Genovés on the old main road, find somewhere suitable to park and then go from there. There are very accessible ways to get around most of the area.
The property is owned by the Cabildo and they have recently spent quite a bit of money in improving the access and safety. There is still some risk of rockfall, I have witnessed several while on the property and you dont want to be below where they happen for sure. Be careful!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-bziPW4Puc
submitted by architecturephotog to Tenerife [link] [comments]
So after sort of giving up that at least as an easy access to get up to the zone by walking, I found another alternative which is the one I show in this video. It is certainly not for everyone, but much safer than the other original path. The path I use starts up some steps, up past some water infrastructure and leads up to a water tank that still lies quite a bit below the lower houses on the estate. From there I cross an ancient steep riverbed, keep to the left of that, climb some boulders through a lot of reeds and finally you get up to the lowest house that has the winery close to it.
From there there are all sorts of fun paths and routes across the property to explore it. I continue up to the other abandoned houses below the cliff, and then to "lavaderos" and follow the water channel from there to a little peak where I like to just sit and relax, meditate for a bit and let the views sink in. From there I go back on the same channel, but down a different route that luckily is well supported with metal wires and steps to go back down. This is a very steep route, and along it you can see some of the old vines that are still present on the property. If you want to explore the area but do not wish to do the path up, this is also possible. You would need to drive up to Genovés on the old main road, find somewhere suitable to park and then go from there. There are very accessible ways to get around most of the area.
The property is owned by the Cabildo and they have recently spent quite a bit of money in improving the access and safety. There is still some risk of rockfall, I have witnessed several while on the property and you dont want to be below where they happen for sure. Be careful!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-bziPW4Puc
2023.05.29 19:06 Frostdraken The First True Voyagers: Chapter 26 (part 1)
Amid a galaxy of brutal chaos there are stories to be told, tales of valor and justice, of fear and despair. But amid these stories are the guttering flames of adventures untold, the potential for a universe of entertainment and savage joyous fun. The Oblivion Cycle embodies just this kind of crafted chaos, creating the potential for creative exploits and raucous tales. If you are new to the TOC setting feel free to join the community at TheOblivionCycle to check out some of the background lore or to discuss themes with other readers. I thank you all for your support and continued willingness to read, as always, Please Enjoy!
+ Chapter 1 + Previous + Part 2 of Chapter 26 +
__________________________________________________________
Chapter 26
One Small Step for a Man
The atmosphere in the hangar bay was tense. Leon looked around and observed the other members of the ground crew. Samuel and Chad were wearing standard void suits, the white strengthened polymers matching the rest of the hangar's clean look. The two men looked ready, if a little nervous. This would be the first time the SSV would be used for its intended role of space to surface and back transportation.
Despite the fact that the entire operation was relatively untested, Samuel and Chad had thousands of hours of practice flights in the simms to bolster their flagging confidence. Leon shrugged his shoulders, the heavy armoured environmental suit he was wearing weightless in the microgravity of the ship’s core. But that would change dramatically when they reached the planet’s surface. The suits had internal servo muscles to aid in movement, but despite the assistance they were still heavy cumbersome things. They were more designed for deep sea diving than exploring the surface of an alien planet, but Leon wasn’t complaining. He would suffer the discomfort for the protection they offered.
Casting his eyes on the others he saw that Oliver, Dr. Kimathi, Joice and Myung were also ready with their heavy suits on. Oliver and Dr. Kimathi were close together, the two of them holding a private conversion of some importance it looked like from the expressions on their faces.
Myung and Joice were also talking, but not to each other. Joice was deep in conversation with Terry and Taylor, probably giving the two last minute instructions on the ship’s operation as they would be in charge of the bridge while she was groundside. Myung was talking to Sabine, the young woman had been a bit upset when he had informed her she was going to be staying on the ship.
“But I want to go, it’s not fair.” she had pouted when he had told her privately. He had done his best to assure her that she would get a chance to visit the planet’s surface once they deemed it safe. If it was safe that was. But he was not going to risk her safety for a glorified walk in the park. As one of the ship's two engineers, she had the honor of keeping the ship’s systems in check while Chad was gone.
She had taken some convincing, but eventually he had managed to talk her down to a more rational state of mind. She was an emotional one to be fair, but he wouldn't let that get in the way of her safety, not under his watch.
Leon blinked, his mind once more on the present. He turned and looked at the two SSVs that were docked in the ship’s main hangar bay. One was chunky, its frame bloated like a grub or some deep sea predator. That was the cargo shuttle, the heavy lift SSV. He then looked at the
other, it was sleek like a shark. Covered in rounded protrusions engineered to break up shockwaves as it fell through a planet’s atmosphere at incredible speeds. Once they had slowed down enough, the SSV was designed to glide till it found a suitable landing spot at which time it could switch to VTOL mode and make a neat landing. That was the plan anyways.
As long as nothing went wrong then they should be down and back in under six hours.
He turned his head as something landed on his shoulder. It was a hand, looking over to see who it was attached to he smiled. Natalia stood beside him, her smiling face reassuring his mind that everything would be alright.
“So, my big strong captain finally gets to become a true space explorer today?” she teased.
Leon nodded and replied cheerfully “Yeah. But don’t worry. I know where my true home is.”
She drew closer and planted a kiss on his cheek before asking “Oh yeah? And where is that?”
Leon blinked, feigning shock as he said in his best fake surprised voice “Why, with you of course my love.”
She giggled and hugged him as best she could, her arms barely even managed to wrap around the front of the environmental suit and she sighed as she pushed back slightly. She was wearing a light duty uniform with velcro slippers for the hangar floor. He had no need of the slippers as he had magboots on.
Most of the crew had turned up to see them off. He pulled Natalia close again as he looked around the room, the only two missing were Aden and Chris. Chris had elected to watch their departure from the observation deck alone. Something about the need for solitude he had said, and Leon wasn't going to antagonize the old man over it. If he wanted to miss out on the shindig then that was all up to him.
Samuel slowly walked toward the passenger SSV’s open side door and stopped by the bottom of the ramp, Chad scurried by him into the ship after managing to tear himself from Sabine’s grasp. Smiling, he looked at Natalia from the top of the ramp and asked “Are you sure you are going to be okay without me here?”
She shook her head and smiled “Of course, my whole universe doesn't revolve around you, you know that.” she blushed a little as he raised an eyebrow and she said “Well, not all the time it doesn't.” he just chuckled and leaned in for a kiss.
She smiled prettily and obliged, their lips meeting in a sweet and somewhat delicate kiss. After what seemed like minutes, but was likely far shorter than that, they parted and she batted her lashes at him.
“You had better come back to me, or I will have to get very angry.” she whispered.
He placed his heavy covered hands on her shoulders and reassured her as best he could. “Natalia. It’s just a routine surface visit. Nothing can go wrong, I promise you.”
She nodded and said something under her breath that he didn't quite catch. He was about to ask her about it when Joice called to him from the shuttle’s boarding ramp.
“Come on Leon, we gotta go before the orbiter loses contact on the far side of the planet. Otherwise we will land and they wont know if we made it safely for half an hour or so. And I don’t think you want that.” she said.
Leon nodded to her and turned to Natalia once more. “I have to go Nat, I love you. And I will contact you as soon as we make it safely to the surface.”
She nodded silently, her eyes glistening as she held in tears. “I know you will, I promise I wont worry too much about you.” He smiled at her comment and started to walk away. He paused as he heard her say “I love you too Leon Muikman. He turned slightly and gave her one more smile before climbing the ramp into the SSV.
He walked carefully in the microgravity to an open seat and sat next to Oliver. Oliver smiled and slapped him on the shoulder before saying “Good to see you. We were worried you would miss the launch.” he laughed heartily.
Some additional chuckles sounded from the others when Samuel spoke over the ship’s internal comms. “Okay, listen up people. This is far from the first time I have flown this can, but this is a first for planetary reentry. What to expect? Turbulence, lots of it, so strap yourselves in and hold onto something. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
Leon nodded to himself and quickly did his restraint straps. The ships had been designed with the bulky environmental suits in mind and so an alternate set of much heavier duty straps were readily available to wrap up in. Leon glanced around, Oliver and Dr. Kimathi were strapped in, the couple checking on each other.
He looked across the small crew bay and saw that Myung and Joice were also fully secured and ready to go. Joice gave him a thumbs up which he reciprocated as he felt the ship move slightly. The magnetic landing clamps would be releasing them and a small jet of cold gas would propel them towards the main hangar doors.
The crew had already exited the hangar by now and the ships mighty atmosphere pumps would be dragging the hangar down to a near vacuum as they drifted towards the sealed steel doors.
He felt a slight shudder roll through the ship as its cold gas jets fired off. The doors must be open already, the yawning pit of cold dark oblivion being all that awaited them beyond. With a slight tug of acceleration they were free, the shuttle flying out of the hangar like a missile from a tube. Albeit a very large and populated missile.
Leon had only been in the SSVs a few times during the entire voyage, it hadn't really sat well with him. As a retired Navy man he was no stranger to the rolling and jostling motions that caused so many to become ill. But there was something entirely different about the experience of zero gravity flight that made his insides churn and his heart quicken.
He closed his eyes, several of the others were speaking but he tuned it all out. His mind flashed with half remembered horrors from his peacekeeping years. The South African revolutions and the hundred year Chaddian supremacy war had left their marks on his body and soul. He clenched his teeth as the all too familiar pain shot through him. The sounds of gunfire and the roaring of unchecked flames filled his mind and he felt like screaming, but then another sound reached his inner mind.
It was soft, almost sensual. The memory of his love with Natalia surfaced, the memory of the times they had spent impassioned nights in each other's arms driving away the pain and fear. He smiled, his eyes still closed as he found the pain waning. Peace filled him and he opened his eyes.
The shuttle was shaking quite alarmingly but he was unafraid. Instead he found himself smiling against all the odds and shouted to Oliver over the screaming din of reentry “Wow, this is certainly a rush isn't it?”
Oliver shouted back, the man’s face split by a grin at least as wide as his own. “Yeah it sure is, nothing like it!”
Leon looked across the small passenger bay and gave Joice a smile. The woman was tough as nails and seemed to be generally unaffected by the rough flight, Myung on the other hand seemed to be having a more stressful time of it. He gestured at her and Joice glanced at the woman seated next to her. Joice said something that Leon couldn't make out but it seemed to do the trick as Myung relaxed slightly. She was still uncomfortable looking but now no longer looked terrified.
A few more moments passed by and the shuddering eased. The roaring of wind and fire eased as well as the ship slowed, its steep descent leveling off as they entered glide mode.
Samuel’s voice rang over the internal speakers again “Thank you for flying air Samuel, we will be making our final descent momentarily as soon as Chad finds us a dry spot to put down. The ground looks real swampy here. Not too many places I can see are stable enough for me to land.” Samuel’s voice cut off.
Leon looked around the ship again but was reassured by the SSV making a sharp turn.
Chad’s voice spoke over the internal speakers this time as he gave them an update. “Okay, looks like we found a spot, hold on we are preparing for a landing.”
Leon grabbed onto the safety rails next to his seat as the ship made another sharper turn and then lurched to a halt as the VTOL system brought them to a halt mid air. He would have loved to see the landing process but there were no windows for him to look through in the passenger area. He settled himself by imagining how it would look based on his previous experience with similar aircraft of Earth.
The hot jets of exhaust would be scorching a twenty meter clearing under the ship as it touched down. Any loose debris or animals either blasted away or cooked. Stepping off the ship should be a relatively safe affair.
With a final thud the ship landed and the whine of the engines faded as they powered down. He set about unstrapping himself as the airlock to the cockpit opened. Chad strolled out and gave them a big smile asking “So, how was everybody's flight?”
Myung shot the man a poisonous glare and grabbed her suit’s helmet. Joice smiled and said “It was bumpy.”
Chad rubbed his neck and apologized “Yeah sorry about that. This planet has some pretty serious high altitude winds. Samuel is setting up the micro atmo-observatory to help us avoid the jetstreams on the way up.
Leon motioned to Chad to come closer and as the man approached he finished unstrapping and stood up. Chad asked him “Yeah, what’s up?”
Leon glanced around and said “I want you and Samuel to pull some weapons from the armory. This planet is potentially hostile and I have no Idea what we may encounter. Once we leave you will need to stay in the cockpit. There is the potential for contamination when we exit.” he told the man seriously.
Chad nodded and asked “But if we are going to be stuck in the cockpit anyways then why would we need rifles?”
Leon shook his head. “You won't, the rifles are for us.”
Chad’s eyes widened and he nodded “Oh, yeah. I see, that makes sense. I'll go get them right now.”
Joice walked over as Chad rushed off and asked “What was that about?”
Leon shrugged and said “I told him to grab us some rifles. Can’t be too cautious.”
Joice frowned and said a little cautiously “Leon…” but he cut her off.
“I know what you are going to say Joice, and part of me agrees. But be practical. We have no idea what’s out there. I will not risk the lives of others on the grounds of peaceful exploration. The universe doesn't give two shits about that kind of thing, if something wants to eat us I'm not going to let it. We have likely already contaminated the planet’s biosphere with Earth bacteria anyways. The reentry would have sterilized the hull, but no amount of fire could kill one hundred percent of them.” he said.
Joice frowned and said “Well we knew the risks of exploring any planet. Cross contamination was always going to be an issue. But the guns Leon? What if they cause hostility towards us instead of the other way around?” she asked him.
He just shook his head. “Not negotiable Joice. We are taking them. I will have one as will you”
“Me? I don't want one.” she tried to say but he waved a hand.
“You will take it, that's an order. You are going to be armed because I trust you completely not to do the wrong thing. Understood?” Leon said to the blond haired woman. She bowed her head for a moment before nodding.
“Yes. But I want to go on record as having protested this.” She told him.
Leon just cracked a small grin and said “Noted Joice. Now, let's get everyone ready, we have some exploring to do.”
Leon and Joice walked to the small huddle that had formed by the exit ramp’s door. The airlock was now closed and ready for them to depart. In their armoured suits only one of them could exit through the small airlock at a time. Leon was determined to be the first.
Chad exited the cockpit area carrying two G402-K service rifles. The general conversation quieted as Chad walked up to him and handed him one of the German manufactured rifles.
“Thank’s Chad, give the other one to Joice, you brought some spare mags? Thanks, here clip them to my toolbelt.” he told the man who complied.
“Here, careful.” was all the young man said as he did as instructed.
Leon shook his head a little sadly as the man walked to Joice to repeat the process. Safe or not, the planet would not take him without a fight. If the need for the weapons arose, the others would be glad he had brought them. He slung the weapon over his shoulder via its strap and grabbed his helmet. He placed it on his head and locked it into place.
Checking his seals were all good he activated the helmet’s eye tracking helmet-mounted-display. With a few glances he had it calibrated and then activated his comms link. He spoke through the ship’s antenna to the Leif Erikson in high orbit above the planet.
“Leon to Leif Erikson, come in please.” he said.
After a moment the slightly fuzzy voice of Taylor answered him “Oh it’s good to hear your voice captain. I assume that everything went smoothly?” he asked in a curious tone.
Leon nodded even though the action would not be visible to the man, force of habit was hard to break after all. “Yes, the ride was exceptionally bumpy, but we made it in one piece. I am just getting ready to advance onto the planet’s surface. Can you see my helmet feed?” he asked Taylor over the relay communication.
The delay from their incredible distance was slight but noticeable. Taylor responded “Yes we can, it's obviously a touch delayed and a mite fuzzy, but it's clear enough to follow along with. Leon, there is someone here that wants to say something.” the man told him.
Leon waited patiently as a few bumps and a quiet curse reached him. After another moment a familiar voice reached his ears making him smile. “Hello Leon, I am happy you made it safely.” Natalia spoke to him from thousands of kilometers overhead.
Leon replied quickly “Yes. I told you we would be fine. I love you Nat, you can watch our progress on the live feed if you want. We will be deploying signal boosters to help keep us in touch throughout the whole mission.”
Natalia’s voice spoke again “I love you too Leon, I’ll be watching from in here.”
There was some more rustling static and then Taylor’s voice returned. “Okay, now before you head out onto the planet’s surface are you sure you are ready for this Leon? There are an awful lot of things that can go wrong. Gas leaks, contaminated feeds, sharp rocks…” the man started to say worriedly but Leon cut him off.
“It’s going to be okay Taylor. I have been in dangerous situations before you know. And I’m still here.” Leon reassured the younger man. In reality he was a bit worried about it as well, especially for Myung, she seemed a little stressed. And stress lead to mistakes. He decided to go and give her a reassuring word before they got underway.
Continued in Chapter 26 Part 2
==End of Transmission==
submitted by Frostdraken to HFY [link] [comments]
+ Chapter 1 + Previous + Part 2 of Chapter 26 +
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Chapter 26
One Small Step for a Man
The atmosphere in the hangar bay was tense. Leon looked around and observed the other members of the ground crew. Samuel and Chad were wearing standard void suits, the white strengthened polymers matching the rest of the hangar's clean look. The two men looked ready, if a little nervous. This would be the first time the SSV would be used for its intended role of space to surface and back transportation.
Despite the fact that the entire operation was relatively untested, Samuel and Chad had thousands of hours of practice flights in the simms to bolster their flagging confidence. Leon shrugged his shoulders, the heavy armoured environmental suit he was wearing weightless in the microgravity of the ship’s core. But that would change dramatically when they reached the planet’s surface. The suits had internal servo muscles to aid in movement, but despite the assistance they were still heavy cumbersome things. They were more designed for deep sea diving than exploring the surface of an alien planet, but Leon wasn’t complaining. He would suffer the discomfort for the protection they offered.
Casting his eyes on the others he saw that Oliver, Dr. Kimathi, Joice and Myung were also ready with their heavy suits on. Oliver and Dr. Kimathi were close together, the two of them holding a private conversion of some importance it looked like from the expressions on their faces.
Myung and Joice were also talking, but not to each other. Joice was deep in conversation with Terry and Taylor, probably giving the two last minute instructions on the ship’s operation as they would be in charge of the bridge while she was groundside. Myung was talking to Sabine, the young woman had been a bit upset when he had informed her she was going to be staying on the ship.
“But I want to go, it’s not fair.” she had pouted when he had told her privately. He had done his best to assure her that she would get a chance to visit the planet’s surface once they deemed it safe. If it was safe that was. But he was not going to risk her safety for a glorified walk in the park. As one of the ship's two engineers, she had the honor of keeping the ship’s systems in check while Chad was gone.
She had taken some convincing, but eventually he had managed to talk her down to a more rational state of mind. She was an emotional one to be fair, but he wouldn't let that get in the way of her safety, not under his watch.
Leon blinked, his mind once more on the present. He turned and looked at the two SSVs that were docked in the ship’s main hangar bay. One was chunky, its frame bloated like a grub or some deep sea predator. That was the cargo shuttle, the heavy lift SSV. He then looked at the
other, it was sleek like a shark. Covered in rounded protrusions engineered to break up shockwaves as it fell through a planet’s atmosphere at incredible speeds. Once they had slowed down enough, the SSV was designed to glide till it found a suitable landing spot at which time it could switch to VTOL mode and make a neat landing. That was the plan anyways.
As long as nothing went wrong then they should be down and back in under six hours.
He turned his head as something landed on his shoulder. It was a hand, looking over to see who it was attached to he smiled. Natalia stood beside him, her smiling face reassuring his mind that everything would be alright.
“So, my big strong captain finally gets to become a true space explorer today?” she teased.
Leon nodded and replied cheerfully “Yeah. But don’t worry. I know where my true home is.”
She drew closer and planted a kiss on his cheek before asking “Oh yeah? And where is that?”
Leon blinked, feigning shock as he said in his best fake surprised voice “Why, with you of course my love.”
She giggled and hugged him as best she could, her arms barely even managed to wrap around the front of the environmental suit and she sighed as she pushed back slightly. She was wearing a light duty uniform with velcro slippers for the hangar floor. He had no need of the slippers as he had magboots on.
Most of the crew had turned up to see them off. He pulled Natalia close again as he looked around the room, the only two missing were Aden and Chris. Chris had elected to watch their departure from the observation deck alone. Something about the need for solitude he had said, and Leon wasn't going to antagonize the old man over it. If he wanted to miss out on the shindig then that was all up to him.
Samuel slowly walked toward the passenger SSV’s open side door and stopped by the bottom of the ramp, Chad scurried by him into the ship after managing to tear himself from Sabine’s grasp. Smiling, he looked at Natalia from the top of the ramp and asked “Are you sure you are going to be okay without me here?”
She shook her head and smiled “Of course, my whole universe doesn't revolve around you, you know that.” she blushed a little as he raised an eyebrow and she said “Well, not all the time it doesn't.” he just chuckled and leaned in for a kiss.
She smiled prettily and obliged, their lips meeting in a sweet and somewhat delicate kiss. After what seemed like minutes, but was likely far shorter than that, they parted and she batted her lashes at him.
“You had better come back to me, or I will have to get very angry.” she whispered.
He placed his heavy covered hands on her shoulders and reassured her as best he could. “Natalia. It’s just a routine surface visit. Nothing can go wrong, I promise you.”
She nodded and said something under her breath that he didn't quite catch. He was about to ask her about it when Joice called to him from the shuttle’s boarding ramp.
“Come on Leon, we gotta go before the orbiter loses contact on the far side of the planet. Otherwise we will land and they wont know if we made it safely for half an hour or so. And I don’t think you want that.” she said.
Leon nodded to her and turned to Natalia once more. “I have to go Nat, I love you. And I will contact you as soon as we make it safely to the surface.”
She nodded silently, her eyes glistening as she held in tears. “I know you will, I promise I wont worry too much about you.” He smiled at her comment and started to walk away. He paused as he heard her say “I love you too Leon Muikman. He turned slightly and gave her one more smile before climbing the ramp into the SSV.
He walked carefully in the microgravity to an open seat and sat next to Oliver. Oliver smiled and slapped him on the shoulder before saying “Good to see you. We were worried you would miss the launch.” he laughed heartily.
Some additional chuckles sounded from the others when Samuel spoke over the ship’s internal comms. “Okay, listen up people. This is far from the first time I have flown this can, but this is a first for planetary reentry. What to expect? Turbulence, lots of it, so strap yourselves in and hold onto something. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
Leon nodded to himself and quickly did his restraint straps. The ships had been designed with the bulky environmental suits in mind and so an alternate set of much heavier duty straps were readily available to wrap up in. Leon glanced around, Oliver and Dr. Kimathi were strapped in, the couple checking on each other.
He looked across the small crew bay and saw that Myung and Joice were also fully secured and ready to go. Joice gave him a thumbs up which he reciprocated as he felt the ship move slightly. The magnetic landing clamps would be releasing them and a small jet of cold gas would propel them towards the main hangar doors.
The crew had already exited the hangar by now and the ships mighty atmosphere pumps would be dragging the hangar down to a near vacuum as they drifted towards the sealed steel doors.
He felt a slight shudder roll through the ship as its cold gas jets fired off. The doors must be open already, the yawning pit of cold dark oblivion being all that awaited them beyond. With a slight tug of acceleration they were free, the shuttle flying out of the hangar like a missile from a tube. Albeit a very large and populated missile.
Leon had only been in the SSVs a few times during the entire voyage, it hadn't really sat well with him. As a retired Navy man he was no stranger to the rolling and jostling motions that caused so many to become ill. But there was something entirely different about the experience of zero gravity flight that made his insides churn and his heart quicken.
He closed his eyes, several of the others were speaking but he tuned it all out. His mind flashed with half remembered horrors from his peacekeeping years. The South African revolutions and the hundred year Chaddian supremacy war had left their marks on his body and soul. He clenched his teeth as the all too familiar pain shot through him. The sounds of gunfire and the roaring of unchecked flames filled his mind and he felt like screaming, but then another sound reached his inner mind.
It was soft, almost sensual. The memory of his love with Natalia surfaced, the memory of the times they had spent impassioned nights in each other's arms driving away the pain and fear. He smiled, his eyes still closed as he found the pain waning. Peace filled him and he opened his eyes.
The shuttle was shaking quite alarmingly but he was unafraid. Instead he found himself smiling against all the odds and shouted to Oliver over the screaming din of reentry “Wow, this is certainly a rush isn't it?”
Oliver shouted back, the man’s face split by a grin at least as wide as his own. “Yeah it sure is, nothing like it!”
Leon looked across the small passenger bay and gave Joice a smile. The woman was tough as nails and seemed to be generally unaffected by the rough flight, Myung on the other hand seemed to be having a more stressful time of it. He gestured at her and Joice glanced at the woman seated next to her. Joice said something that Leon couldn't make out but it seemed to do the trick as Myung relaxed slightly. She was still uncomfortable looking but now no longer looked terrified.
A few more moments passed by and the shuddering eased. The roaring of wind and fire eased as well as the ship slowed, its steep descent leveling off as they entered glide mode.
Samuel’s voice rang over the internal speakers again “Thank you for flying air Samuel, we will be making our final descent momentarily as soon as Chad finds us a dry spot to put down. The ground looks real swampy here. Not too many places I can see are stable enough for me to land.” Samuel’s voice cut off.
Leon looked around the ship again but was reassured by the SSV making a sharp turn.
Chad’s voice spoke over the internal speakers this time as he gave them an update. “Okay, looks like we found a spot, hold on we are preparing for a landing.”
Leon grabbed onto the safety rails next to his seat as the ship made another sharper turn and then lurched to a halt as the VTOL system brought them to a halt mid air. He would have loved to see the landing process but there were no windows for him to look through in the passenger area. He settled himself by imagining how it would look based on his previous experience with similar aircraft of Earth.
The hot jets of exhaust would be scorching a twenty meter clearing under the ship as it touched down. Any loose debris or animals either blasted away or cooked. Stepping off the ship should be a relatively safe affair.
With a final thud the ship landed and the whine of the engines faded as they powered down. He set about unstrapping himself as the airlock to the cockpit opened. Chad strolled out and gave them a big smile asking “So, how was everybody's flight?”
Myung shot the man a poisonous glare and grabbed her suit’s helmet. Joice smiled and said “It was bumpy.”
Chad rubbed his neck and apologized “Yeah sorry about that. This planet has some pretty serious high altitude winds. Samuel is setting up the micro atmo-observatory to help us avoid the jetstreams on the way up.
Leon motioned to Chad to come closer and as the man approached he finished unstrapping and stood up. Chad asked him “Yeah, what’s up?”
Leon glanced around and said “I want you and Samuel to pull some weapons from the armory. This planet is potentially hostile and I have no Idea what we may encounter. Once we leave you will need to stay in the cockpit. There is the potential for contamination when we exit.” he told the man seriously.
Chad nodded and asked “But if we are going to be stuck in the cockpit anyways then why would we need rifles?”
Leon shook his head. “You won't, the rifles are for us.”
Chad’s eyes widened and he nodded “Oh, yeah. I see, that makes sense. I'll go get them right now.”
Joice walked over as Chad rushed off and asked “What was that about?”
Leon shrugged and said “I told him to grab us some rifles. Can’t be too cautious.”
Joice frowned and said a little cautiously “Leon…” but he cut her off.
“I know what you are going to say Joice, and part of me agrees. But be practical. We have no idea what’s out there. I will not risk the lives of others on the grounds of peaceful exploration. The universe doesn't give two shits about that kind of thing, if something wants to eat us I'm not going to let it. We have likely already contaminated the planet’s biosphere with Earth bacteria anyways. The reentry would have sterilized the hull, but no amount of fire could kill one hundred percent of them.” he said.
Joice frowned and said “Well we knew the risks of exploring any planet. Cross contamination was always going to be an issue. But the guns Leon? What if they cause hostility towards us instead of the other way around?” she asked him.
He just shook his head. “Not negotiable Joice. We are taking them. I will have one as will you”
“Me? I don't want one.” she tried to say but he waved a hand.
“You will take it, that's an order. You are going to be armed because I trust you completely not to do the wrong thing. Understood?” Leon said to the blond haired woman. She bowed her head for a moment before nodding.
“Yes. But I want to go on record as having protested this.” She told him.
Leon just cracked a small grin and said “Noted Joice. Now, let's get everyone ready, we have some exploring to do.”
Leon and Joice walked to the small huddle that had formed by the exit ramp’s door. The airlock was now closed and ready for them to depart. In their armoured suits only one of them could exit through the small airlock at a time. Leon was determined to be the first.
Chad exited the cockpit area carrying two G402-K service rifles. The general conversation quieted as Chad walked up to him and handed him one of the German manufactured rifles.
“Thank’s Chad, give the other one to Joice, you brought some spare mags? Thanks, here clip them to my toolbelt.” he told the man who complied.
“Here, careful.” was all the young man said as he did as instructed.
Leon shook his head a little sadly as the man walked to Joice to repeat the process. Safe or not, the planet would not take him without a fight. If the need for the weapons arose, the others would be glad he had brought them. He slung the weapon over his shoulder via its strap and grabbed his helmet. He placed it on his head and locked it into place.
Checking his seals were all good he activated the helmet’s eye tracking helmet-mounted-display. With a few glances he had it calibrated and then activated his comms link. He spoke through the ship’s antenna to the Leif Erikson in high orbit above the planet.
“Leon to Leif Erikson, come in please.” he said.
After a moment the slightly fuzzy voice of Taylor answered him “Oh it’s good to hear your voice captain. I assume that everything went smoothly?” he asked in a curious tone.
Leon nodded even though the action would not be visible to the man, force of habit was hard to break after all. “Yes, the ride was exceptionally bumpy, but we made it in one piece. I am just getting ready to advance onto the planet’s surface. Can you see my helmet feed?” he asked Taylor over the relay communication.
The delay from their incredible distance was slight but noticeable. Taylor responded “Yes we can, it's obviously a touch delayed and a mite fuzzy, but it's clear enough to follow along with. Leon, there is someone here that wants to say something.” the man told him.
Leon waited patiently as a few bumps and a quiet curse reached him. After another moment a familiar voice reached his ears making him smile. “Hello Leon, I am happy you made it safely.” Natalia spoke to him from thousands of kilometers overhead.
Leon replied quickly “Yes. I told you we would be fine. I love you Nat, you can watch our progress on the live feed if you want. We will be deploying signal boosters to help keep us in touch throughout the whole mission.”
Natalia’s voice spoke again “I love you too Leon, I’ll be watching from in here.”
There was some more rustling static and then Taylor’s voice returned. “Okay, now before you head out onto the planet’s surface are you sure you are ready for this Leon? There are an awful lot of things that can go wrong. Gas leaks, contaminated feeds, sharp rocks…” the man started to say worriedly but Leon cut him off.
“It’s going to be okay Taylor. I have been in dangerous situations before you know. And I’m still here.” Leon reassured the younger man. In reality he was a bit worried about it as well, especially for Myung, she seemed a little stressed. And stress lead to mistakes. He decided to go and give her a reassuring word before they got underway.
Continued in Chapter 26 Part 2
==End of Transmission==
2023.05.29 18:34 Frank_Leroux Molossus, Chapter Fourteen
First Chapter
Chapter Thirteen
Corporal McCoy had figured out the best reason for getting in good with an udhyr. They had four arms, therefore the hugs were twice as nice. They now lay in her room, with him lying on her bed and her lying on top of him, with her ensconced in the aforementioned hug-squared. She’d been able to get ahold of her Switch, and at the moment was in the midst of some happy early-morning gaming. Takh’s head rested upon hers with a gentle and welcome pressure while he watched her play. By now she was so used to him that even the little random clicks of his mandibles didn’t cause her any fear.
She was still trying to figure out if she and the alien XO were an ‘item’ or not. Zawahir had, with his usual enthusiasm, explained to her that both the udhyr and knuall-toua were pretty much like humans, with equal numbers of both males and females who reproduced sexually. He hadn’t gone into details on how exactly Tab A fit into Slot B, but the overall idea was clear. The auhn were a little more complicated; the ratio of females to males was more like seven or eight to one, plus there was the added wrinkle that the males were non-sapient and about as smart as the average pet dog. That had resulted in a very matriarchal society, of course, one based around clans of females protecting their stable of fertile males with appropriately auhn-like ferocity. The spider-like xyrax were…well, both. Completely hermaphroditic; there was quite a complicated social dance before they reproduced as to who was going to bear the resulting egg. McCoy was sure that, however it worked out, it would look adorable.
“So this Kirby can eat anything?” asked Takh, breaking into her ruminations.
McCoy tapped at her controls on autopilot, hoping that the damned thumbsticks wouldn’t break. Again. “Yep. Fun fact, waaay back in the 80s, Nintendo got sued by Universal Studios, who claimed that Donkey Kong was a ripoff of King Kong. John Kirby was the attorney who successfully defended them in court, and in gratitude they named this character Kirby.” She continued her tapping. “I think they gave him a sailboat as well.”
“Mmm, I must admit a sailboat sounds nice right about now. This place is very nice, but it’s a bit too cold.”
She wriggled against him. “You said it. You and me, off the coast near Nice? Floating in the warm azure waters of the Mediterranean? I can wear a nice little bikini I’ve got saved up for just such an occasion.”
“Oh! Uh, well, yes. That does indeed sound quite nice…”
She grinned. Takh was a dork, but a giant lovable dork and it was always great to get a reaction like this out of him. Even if it didn’t lead anywhere there. As far as she knew, the udhyr reproduced like frogs. Maybe she should discreetly quiz Zawahir on the whole Tab-A into Slot-B thing, just to make sure she wasn’t setting herself up for disappointment.
Of course, she’d just managed to get to the final boss of this particular level when the siren howl of the alarm went off. Haley McCoy blinked as she went from supine four-armed cuddling to standing in an instant, placed upon the floor by Takh’s upper arms.
“The unholy hell?” she muttered, but she was already in motion as she sprinted towards her gear, laid out so as to ensure maximum efficiency in getting it all put on. “Takh?” she called out as she started strapping her armored vest on.
“Yes? What do I do?”
“Simple. Anyone comes through that door who you don’t recognize, kill ‘em.”
“I…I don’t know, I’m still understanding how different humans look from each other, I don’t want to make a mistake.”
“You’ll know,” she said with finality as she picked up her carbine and racked the slide. “Okay. Follow me…”
The door to her room smashed in as a figure clad in black armor came through screaming “Earth belongs to HUMANS!...”
That was all he got out before Takh grabbed the man’s head and simply hurled the offending figure over McCoy and into the far wall. The window set in that wall shattered with the resulting impact, making the corporal duck.
“Fuck me, Takh.” She looked at the broken figure of the oh-so-very dead intruder, then back up to the worried-looking XO. “I mean, not literally. Okay, well you can if you want to, and I for sure would like you to…you know what? Let’s put that whole discussion off to the side for now until we can sit down and have ourselves a nice long chat, okay?”
“That sounds like a very wise strategy, Haley. What do you need from me?”
She finished putting on her headset and helmet. “Right now? You need to stick right behind me while I get you to the bunker.”
“You want me behind you?” Takh’s mandibles quirked in a grin. “That sounds like a very nice place to be.”
“Stop distracting me, you giant dork.” McCoy moved towards the door with a grim set to her shoulders, ignoring the lovely fact that her alien maybe-boyfriend was now checking out her ass. She swept the outside hallway….nothing visible. Then she heard some commotion from off towards the kitchen area.
__________
Martinez surged to his feet upon hearing the alarm, his half-eaten horizontal-cut pimento sandwich now forgotten. “What the fuck…?”
Matt was on his feet as well, with a strange look in his eyes that the corporal had never seen before. “You two. Corner. Now.” He pointed at the corner farthest from the two entrances to the kitchen.
The corporal was on the smaller side, even amongst his fellow humans, but something in the Marine’s tone made him turn and tackle the huge alien. Kexal, to his credit, somehow knew that Something Was Up and accepted the tackle, otherwise there was no way in hell that Martinez could have moved the giant creature.
Just as he did so, he caught a glimpse of a dark form, clad in full armor, holding a rifle, gliding around one of the entrances to the kitchen. In a panic, he fumbled for the pistol at his hip.
Martinez prized himself on his reflexes. But still, he had time for one blink of astonishment as Toke all but teleported himself across the ten feet of intervening space, pushing the intruder’s rifle up towards the ceiling and out of battery as his own arm flashed in a wicked arc. The corporal caught the merest glint of a small but cruelly-curved knife, like a predator’s claw, in the Marine’s fist.
There followed quite the epic spray of blood from underneath the attacker’s armpit, followed up by a few more cruel swipes which made sure that the tendons in that shoulder were destroyed and useless. Toke pulled the rifle away from the now-dangling limb.
Somehow, the black-armored attacker managed to speak in spite of what must be massive pain. “Earth will NEVER submit to…”
Toke’s voice was as hard as granite. “Tell your shit to someone who cares.”
Two more vicious swipes across the man’s throat resulted in a cascade of crimson down his black-armored front, and the would-be assassin toppled to the wooden floor.
“Martinez.” Toke’s robotic voice shocked him back into awareness.
“Y…yeah?”
“Got a pistol?”
“Of course.” He checked to make sure that he had it in his hand. Huh, that was strange. He didn’t remember drawing it, but there it was.
“Good.” The lean man tossed the purloined rifle towards Martinez, who caught it automatically in his off-hand. “Take this. Check this dead motherfucker for extra mags, and take ‘em. You’re on Kexal, understand? Get him safe to the bunker. Anyone you don’t know personally comes at you, you shoot ‘em.” His black, mechanical gaze shifted towards the alien. “Kexal? If Martinez goes down and someone attacks you, you have my permission to yank their arms off.”
The giant planetologist stared in horror at the bleeding and probably-dead sapient before him, then shook himself. “Of course. Yes. I’ll protect myself.”
“No need,” said Martinez as he looked back at his newly-christened charge. He racked the action on his just-acquired rifle, which looked to be a standard AR-platform civilian carbine. The corporal wished for something full-auto, but this was at least better than a pistol in terms of range and punch. “I’ll get you to safety, sir.”
He turned back to ask Matt just what the fuck was going on…but he only saw empty air.
__________
Cécile Savoie was not having a good day. She’d accepted the position of overall chief of security at Camp David with delight…at first. Dealing with the day-to-day of protecting one of the most targeted people on the planet, that she could deal with no problem. Because it was one person. It was an unspoken agreement between all of the agents that SAILOR was the priority. Even the First Husband could be sacrificed if need be.
But then she’d had a bunch of damn aliens dropped in her lap, along with an equally weird group of special-forces types. The latter were what really ground her gears; the aliens were genuinely nice and apologetic about being such a bother, but the human soldiers were the types who would crash on your couch, drink all your beer, and then steal your sweetheart when you weren’t looking.
She crouched behind a little berm to the west of Camp David, the other members of her patrol stretched out alongside her in a roughly north-to-south line.
“Moseby! Report!” she yelled.
She heard a few thumps, then a few cracks in her earpiece which were followed up by echoing reports from the building behind her. Thankfully she heard her agent’s voice in her earpiece. “Shit! Wow, um, you’re really good with that knife…”
She then heard a muffled phrase that sounded a bit like ‘give it to me, son’, and the next voice in her ear was one she was unfamiliar with.
“This is Captain Matthew Tocco, USMC, whom am I speaking with?” The voice sounded as if generated by an AI.
“I’m Agent Savoie,” she responded. “I’m in charge of the Camp David security detail, who are you?”
“I just told you who I am, Agent Savoie. And I just saved the life of one of your agents. Now. Let’s cut through any sort of jurisdictional bullshit. We have at least two confirmed active hostiles in the complex, two more are confirmed down. We’re sweeping the compound to make sure there are no others, plus making sure that our esteemed guests are safe inside the bunker. Where are you located? We need to coordinate our defenses.”
The information made her see literal red. The attackers had made it into the compound? How? There must be some angle, some safe passage made by somebody. She was going to find out who had made that safe passage, and those people would burn. Oh yes, they were all going to burn…
“West of the complex,” she snapped. “We’ve set up a perimeter along the ridge there.”
“Got it, Agent Savoie. Oh, and please don’t shoot me when I show up.”
She ran through various scenarios for the next few minutes, trying to figure out who on the team had betrayed them. And there must have been such a betrayal in order to get armed hostiles into the actual buildings. Her further musing upon vengeance was cut short as a tall, lean man seemed to all but materialize next to her. He held a small, curved blade in a reverse grip in his right hand; that blade dripped red blood. She almost pointed her gun at him, then relaxed. “Captain Tocco, I presume?”
“Call me Toke.” The guy sounded like he was out for a day on the beach.
“Who the hell are you…wait, you’re with the group in there, right?”
Matt nodded. “Yep. The rest of us are in there bundling up our guests and making sure they’re all safe and sound. Actually, by now Corporal McCoy should be…”
Agent Savoie flinched again as a small but very stacked woman seemed to suddenly appear like condensing smoke at her other side, out of the brush. “Speak of the Devil, and she shall appear.”
The tall man grinned at her. “You are pretty damn good, corporal.”
“Hell that means a lot coming from you, Toke. By the way, that’s a nice kerambit. Anyways, everybody on Team Alien is tucked in and unharmed. I got Takh in there fine. Martinez even tagged a couple more bad guys while he was escorting Grakosh to the bunker. Fair warning to everybody listening on this channel, he’s gonna be aaaall sorts of smug about that and it’s gonna turn into a story of taking out four dudes before this week is out. But, right now, it looks like only four of the OPFOR made into the complex…however they did that…so the rest must be out there.” She pointed towards the leafless woods beyond the little rise.
“Any word from Shaw?” asked Toke.
Savoie narrowed her eyes. “Something bad happened in DC. Sounds like an artillery or mortar attack.”
“Shit.” McCoy looked troubled. “This is serious business, then. State player?”
“Maybe,” said Toke. “But it could be some private group with some proper funding behind ‘em. Agent Savoie, do you have any word of a helicopter or plane going down nearby?”
“A Chinook,” she replied, “Went down about thirty minutes ago thataways.” She motioned to the west, out into the wintry forest. “Then we had one of our patrols out in that direction go silent. That’s what triggered the alarm.”
Matt grunted. “Yeah, that’s how I’d do it. Make it look like a crash and infiltrate that way. Right.” He touched his ear to make sure his earpiece was seated. “You just keep this channel open, right?”
“Where are you going?” asked McCoy.
“Out there. You need eyes on assholes, and I’m gonna give that to you.”
McCoy tossed him her carbine. “At least have a gun on you, dude.”
He caught it with his off-hand, since his main hand still held the dripping-red kerambit. He grinned at her. “All right. You got a pistol?”
“Of course.” She pulled it out and racked the slide.
He tossed the rifle back to her. “Give me that instead. We’re gonna need to concentrate some proper firepower here. This might be a proper light-infantry invasion in progress. We need to organize ourselves into a skirmish line running along this ridge, south-southwest to north-northeast. Get whoever you can on your team in there out here to bolster our firepower, understand? Dig in.”
“Got it.” The little corporal’s eyes blazed with purpose as she handed her pistol to Matt. “Now go get you some.”
“Believe me, I will.”
Savoie blinked in astonishment as the tall man vanished again.
“Yeah, he kinda does that,” said McCoy. “Dude could give sneaking-around lessons to fucking Batman.” She pulled a map out of one of the pockets on her cargo pants. “Now, Agent Savoie, how many people do we have available? Let’s get ourselves properly set up.”
__________
Wade stepped carefully over a fallen branch, his boots making almost no noise at they met the soft mulch covering the forest floor. From the curt statements in his headset, it sounded like the four heroes who’d been infiltrated into the devil’s nest had been cut down. There was no word yet if any of the alien menace had been eliminated. That was a shame, but hopefully it drew attention away from his own unit. He and his comrades made up the secondary and much more armored thrust, one which not even the vaunted Secret Service could counter. The latter were armored, yes, but only armored against pistols and they only wielded pistols themselves. He and his team had rifles, level-four body armor, helmets, and most importantly proper communications.
A voice crackled in his ear. “Hold position. The security detail is forming into a defensive line. It looks like they know we’re here.”
“Set timer?” Wade whispered into his headset. His team had a set time to accomplish their mission, before the entirety of the United States military-industrial complex landed upon their heads like the proverbial Wrath Of God.
“Yes, set timer. Twenty minutes.”
There was a soft chorus of “Twenty minutes, aye,” in Wade’s ear as he tapped his own smart-watch to start the timer. “Twenty minutes, aye,” he murmured. As he made to step over another downed branch, he paused.
Something was off. He couldn’t say why, but the air itself seemed a little more still than it should be. He turned to his left and saw a blur heading for him…he tried to raise his rifle, but it was too late…
__________
Cécile Savoie’s head snapped up as she heard a few cracks from the treeline which could only be the sound of firearms. “Anyone see anything?” she whispered into her earpiece.
There followed a myriad of “No, ma’ams” in her ear. “Keep a sharp eye,” she murmured. “Don’t fire on anyone not in black. We do have a friendly out there, he’s supposed to be giving us intel…”
Matt’s voice sounded in her ear. “Indeed. Bagged one of ‘em, on the outer edge of the advancing force. Looks like civvie gear, carbine is only semi-auto. This is a well-funded civilian effort, not a state actor.”
She checked her watch. “Got it. Fifteen minutes until we get backup in place, what do you need from us?”
“Hmm, that explains the ‘twenty minutes’ thing. Right, they know they’re on a timetable. You all need to be, and I hate to put it this way, the meat shield. It looks like they’re going for a solid push towards you, no stealth. Fourteen hostiles all told, and if this guy’s gear is any indication they’re all up-armored. Class Four. Center of mass is no good, go for head or limbs.”
Savoie’s mouth was now dry. “Understood.”
“Don’t worry, Agent. I’ll be behind them, and I’ll do what I can to sow some dissention in the ranks.”
__________
“Wade, report!” hissed Horace into his microphone.
No reply.
He took in a breath to issue another demand when a voice sounded in his ear. Horace had once gone swimming in the ocean off of Florida, and had by pure chance come across a great white shark. He still remembered the vacant gaze of the giant predator, who was probably idly wondering if Horace would make a good snack for today.
This voice brought up once again that dread; it was the voice of a pure predator. “Who is this?”
“Who the fuck are you?”
“The one who just took down…Wade, was it?”
“Sidney, get eyes on Wade!”
“Will do…” There followed a long, long silence before that shark-like voice spoke again.
“You just got Sidney killed too, asshole. Care to keep going? I got no problem with that. Or do you all want to call this a day? You can do that too, you know.”
“Everybody down!” Horace snapped before going prone himself. That taunting voice still sounded in his ear.
“Okay, now you’re all down and less of a target. What now, genius? You got…hmmm…about twelve more minutes before all of the backup in the world arrives. And they will find you. You know what? You’d better hope they find you instead of me. Because I give less than two shits about that whole ‘Geneva Convention’ crap.”
“Maintain radio silence,” said Horace, as he tried to wriggle his way forward.
“Oh, you’re still trying, Mister Leader? How cute. Let me put it this way to you fourteen…sorry, thirteen, assholes. You’re done. Nailed. The best you can hope for is to get some lawyers who want to make a name for themselves. Worst case? You get put in a room with me, and if you have any sense in what passes for your brains you will spill your guts. If I’m honest, I kinda hope you put up a brave front and don’t say anything. It’s been a very long time since I got to cut loose. Gotta keep up that certain set of skills, yanno what I mean?”
“Maintain radio silence,” grated Horace, as he continued to wriggle forward.
Then, all of a sudden, he realized he was looking at boots. A pair of boots, planted in front of him like a goddamn World War Two commando movie. He glanced upwards, hoping against hope that it would turn out to be a gag like that one comedy where it was just boots…
No.
It wasn’t just boots.
Horace looked up into a man with the eyes of a shark, as well as the quite threatening muzzle of a pistol.
“Hey there, my Little Buddy-O,” said Matt. “Whatcha doin out here?”
__________
Milton came to with a gasp. “Shaw…”
A gentle hand laid upon his shoulder. “Shh, dear. He’s fine, everyone’s fine.”
He gazed up at the white-tiled ceiling above him. “But…” He turned to look into the face of the one person he loved above all else…well, her and Johnny. “He’s okay?”
“He’ll live. Just like you. You big doofus.” Teresa leaned forward to kiss his forehead. “I saw the footage. You threw yourself at all of those senior citizens, which might just count as assault with a deadly weapon. Then you went and managed to get all the way across the stage towards Sadaf. You really don’t know when to give up, do you?”
“Guess I don’t”, he chuckled, then glanced down at his arm. His former arm. “Whoof. That medic was really quick with the tourniquet, I’ll give him that.”
“With you and with Sergeant Shaw,” said Teresa. By now she was pretty much clambered on top of him, tucking his big head into the nape of her neck; it was his favorite place to be. He inhaled her scent with relish, before suddenly realizing someone was missing.
“Johnny?” he asked.
“Oh, right,” she said, before making an imperious snap of her fingers to someone out of his line of sight…right before a little ball of energy burst its way into his room.
“DADDY!” yelled the little firebrand, before smacking into his side. Milton hugged them both to himself, realizing that, no matter what happened next, he was right now in the best place possible.
“Keep it all down to a dull roar, okay?” said a voice off to his left. A very recognizable voice.
He picked his head up to stare in that direction. “Shaw?”
The sergeant gave him a casual wave from his own hospital bed. “Hey, slick. Good ta see ya up and about.”
Milton grinned. “You too, you old fart.”
“Aw hell, I ain’t that old. So. Just out of curiosity. Did that torniquet on your arm hurt like hell?”
The agent cuddled his son closer. “You better believe it.”
“Okay, got it. Just for reference, if you get one on your leg it also hurts like a motherfu…uh, hurts like crazy.”
Milton winked at Shaw. “Don’t worry, my son has heard worse. Why are you here?”
“They put you both in one room,” said Teresa. “Something about it being easier to guard. There was an assault on Camp David too, from what I’ve heard.”
“What?” Milton tried to pry himself up off of the bed before getting a mutual shove-down from his wife and son.
“Relax, my man,” said Shaw. “Toke was there. He and my peeps took care of it.” The sergeant looked at the acoustic tiles above him. “Gonna have to promote McCoy and Martinez. They both really stepped up to the plate.”
__________
President Correa rubbed at her temple. “This ‘Toke’ is a menace.” She was seated behind the famed ‘Resolute’ desk while still trying to show the appropriate deference to the barrel-chested man in front of her, clad in a crisp dark-blue dress uniform.
“Let’s be fair, ma’am,” replied General De Vries, “He helped this situation become less complicated, not more. None of our alien…refugees? I suppose that’s a good a term as anything. None of them got killed, hell none of them even got injured. We collected the thirteen of those remaining while trying to assault Camp David. Overall we have ten dead, including the four who somehow made it into the complex and the Secret Service patrol. The attackers had top-of-the-line gear, civilian but first-rate.”
She slammed her fists into the desk-top, making a nearby mug filled with coffee jump. “I fucking VACATION there, General! Me and my family, understand?”
“I know, ma’am. Do you want me to do this questioning…properly?”
She somehow picked up what he was putting down. “No. You have my permission to go off the chain.”
“Then consider me and Toke off the chain, ma’am.”
“Wait…you’re going to use him?”
“He has had experience in similar matters, ma’am. If you prefer, I don’t need to use him.”
She shook her head. “No. We need intel, and fast, on how the fuck this happened. Plus not to mention we somehow had an artillery attack in the midst of goddam DC.”
“I cannot speak for the FBI,” said De Vries with deceptive calm. “But believe me, we will find out how this all happened. And it will never happen again, of that you have my solemn word.”
The president slumped in her seat. “What about those injured in the DC attack?”
“It was a precision single artillery strike, ma’am. Probably GPS or maybe laser-guided, we’re still trying to figure out which. If Sergeant Shaw hadn’t intervened as he did, Captain Sadaf would be nothing but pulverized meat right now.”
She looked up at him with a cynical quirk to her eyebrow. “Did his saving her get caught on film?”
“Oh hell yes. Footage from several phones, it’s all gone viral.”
“Good, make sure it continues to go viral. How is Shaw? And Agent…um…sorry, my brain is going twelve different ways…sorry, Agent Milton Vila, right?”
“You are right, ma’am. Both are still in the hospital, under guard of course, but both are stable. Milton lost an arm, and Shaw lost one of his legs below the knee.”
“Fuck.” It was one of the rare times that De Vries had heard the president swear. “Both can be helped with prosthetics, right?”
“Not my area of expertise, ma’am, but yes. They’ll both live, and we’ll make sure they have the very best technology available.”
President Correa suddenly grinned with an expression that the general somehow knew was going to lead to Complications in his near future.
“You mean the best human technology, don’t you?” she asked, with deceptive calm.
“Well…yes, of course. I mean, Zawahir Ibn Harith is still trying to make sense of how the aliens heal themselves. It’s true regeneration, if I understand it right. Damage to the central nervous system is still kind of hard for them to deal with, but otherwise they can pretty much heal anything.”
The president examined her fingernails. “So…growing back a limb or two should be the proverbial walk in the park, yes?”
“Um…” The general’s eyes widened. He now realized why this unassuming lady had won two terms to the highest executive office in his particular country. “Oh, yes! Of course!”
“The plans for repair efforts on the Rithro have costs which are already pretty much alongside the Manhattan Project,” said President Correa. “Why don’t you appoint Zawahir as the lead of this particular effort? We’ll call it Manhattan-Light.” She fixed General De Vries with her eyes. “Imagine it. Two people, grievously wounded in the line of duty while protecting one of our alien refugees, an effort which was caught on multiple cameras…imagine them then walking out onto a stage with intact limbs.”
“It will make quite the photo op, ma’am.”
“Indeed. I’m glad we understand each other, General.”
submitted by Frank_Leroux to HFY [link] [comments]
Chapter Thirteen
Corporal McCoy had figured out the best reason for getting in good with an udhyr. They had four arms, therefore the hugs were twice as nice. They now lay in her room, with him lying on her bed and her lying on top of him, with her ensconced in the aforementioned hug-squared. She’d been able to get ahold of her Switch, and at the moment was in the midst of some happy early-morning gaming. Takh’s head rested upon hers with a gentle and welcome pressure while he watched her play. By now she was so used to him that even the little random clicks of his mandibles didn’t cause her any fear.
She was still trying to figure out if she and the alien XO were an ‘item’ or not. Zawahir had, with his usual enthusiasm, explained to her that both the udhyr and knuall-toua were pretty much like humans, with equal numbers of both males and females who reproduced sexually. He hadn’t gone into details on how exactly Tab A fit into Slot B, but the overall idea was clear. The auhn were a little more complicated; the ratio of females to males was more like seven or eight to one, plus there was the added wrinkle that the males were non-sapient and about as smart as the average pet dog. That had resulted in a very matriarchal society, of course, one based around clans of females protecting their stable of fertile males with appropriately auhn-like ferocity. The spider-like xyrax were…well, both. Completely hermaphroditic; there was quite a complicated social dance before they reproduced as to who was going to bear the resulting egg. McCoy was sure that, however it worked out, it would look adorable.
“So this Kirby can eat anything?” asked Takh, breaking into her ruminations.
McCoy tapped at her controls on autopilot, hoping that the damned thumbsticks wouldn’t break. Again. “Yep. Fun fact, waaay back in the 80s, Nintendo got sued by Universal Studios, who claimed that Donkey Kong was a ripoff of King Kong. John Kirby was the attorney who successfully defended them in court, and in gratitude they named this character Kirby.” She continued her tapping. “I think they gave him a sailboat as well.”
“Mmm, I must admit a sailboat sounds nice right about now. This place is very nice, but it’s a bit too cold.”
She wriggled against him. “You said it. You and me, off the coast near Nice? Floating in the warm azure waters of the Mediterranean? I can wear a nice little bikini I’ve got saved up for just such an occasion.”
“Oh! Uh, well, yes. That does indeed sound quite nice…”
She grinned. Takh was a dork, but a giant lovable dork and it was always great to get a reaction like this out of him. Even if it didn’t lead anywhere there. As far as she knew, the udhyr reproduced like frogs. Maybe she should discreetly quiz Zawahir on the whole Tab-A into Slot-B thing, just to make sure she wasn’t setting herself up for disappointment.
Of course, she’d just managed to get to the final boss of this particular level when the siren howl of the alarm went off. Haley McCoy blinked as she went from supine four-armed cuddling to standing in an instant, placed upon the floor by Takh’s upper arms.
“The unholy hell?” she muttered, but she was already in motion as she sprinted towards her gear, laid out so as to ensure maximum efficiency in getting it all put on. “Takh?” she called out as she started strapping her armored vest on.
“Yes? What do I do?”
“Simple. Anyone comes through that door who you don’t recognize, kill ‘em.”
“I…I don’t know, I’m still understanding how different humans look from each other, I don’t want to make a mistake.”
“You’ll know,” she said with finality as she picked up her carbine and racked the slide. “Okay. Follow me…”
The door to her room smashed in as a figure clad in black armor came through screaming “Earth belongs to HUMANS!...”
That was all he got out before Takh grabbed the man’s head and simply hurled the offending figure over McCoy and into the far wall. The window set in that wall shattered with the resulting impact, making the corporal duck.
“Fuck me, Takh.” She looked at the broken figure of the oh-so-very dead intruder, then back up to the worried-looking XO. “I mean, not literally. Okay, well you can if you want to, and I for sure would like you to…you know what? Let’s put that whole discussion off to the side for now until we can sit down and have ourselves a nice long chat, okay?”
“That sounds like a very wise strategy, Haley. What do you need from me?”
She finished putting on her headset and helmet. “Right now? You need to stick right behind me while I get you to the bunker.”
“You want me behind you?” Takh’s mandibles quirked in a grin. “That sounds like a very nice place to be.”
“Stop distracting me, you giant dork.” McCoy moved towards the door with a grim set to her shoulders, ignoring the lovely fact that her alien maybe-boyfriend was now checking out her ass. She swept the outside hallway….nothing visible. Then she heard some commotion from off towards the kitchen area.
__________
Martinez surged to his feet upon hearing the alarm, his half-eaten horizontal-cut pimento sandwich now forgotten. “What the fuck…?”
Matt was on his feet as well, with a strange look in his eyes that the corporal had never seen before. “You two. Corner. Now.” He pointed at the corner farthest from the two entrances to the kitchen.
The corporal was on the smaller side, even amongst his fellow humans, but something in the Marine’s tone made him turn and tackle the huge alien. Kexal, to his credit, somehow knew that Something Was Up and accepted the tackle, otherwise there was no way in hell that Martinez could have moved the giant creature.
Just as he did so, he caught a glimpse of a dark form, clad in full armor, holding a rifle, gliding around one of the entrances to the kitchen. In a panic, he fumbled for the pistol at his hip.
Martinez prized himself on his reflexes. But still, he had time for one blink of astonishment as Toke all but teleported himself across the ten feet of intervening space, pushing the intruder’s rifle up towards the ceiling and out of battery as his own arm flashed in a wicked arc. The corporal caught the merest glint of a small but cruelly-curved knife, like a predator’s claw, in the Marine’s fist.
There followed quite the epic spray of blood from underneath the attacker’s armpit, followed up by a few more cruel swipes which made sure that the tendons in that shoulder were destroyed and useless. Toke pulled the rifle away from the now-dangling limb.
Somehow, the black-armored attacker managed to speak in spite of what must be massive pain. “Earth will NEVER submit to…”
Toke’s voice was as hard as granite. “Tell your shit to someone who cares.”
Two more vicious swipes across the man’s throat resulted in a cascade of crimson down his black-armored front, and the would-be assassin toppled to the wooden floor.
“Martinez.” Toke’s robotic voice shocked him back into awareness.
“Y…yeah?”
“Got a pistol?”
“Of course.” He checked to make sure that he had it in his hand. Huh, that was strange. He didn’t remember drawing it, but there it was.
“Good.” The lean man tossed the purloined rifle towards Martinez, who caught it automatically in his off-hand. “Take this. Check this dead motherfucker for extra mags, and take ‘em. You’re on Kexal, understand? Get him safe to the bunker. Anyone you don’t know personally comes at you, you shoot ‘em.” His black, mechanical gaze shifted towards the alien. “Kexal? If Martinez goes down and someone attacks you, you have my permission to yank their arms off.”
The giant planetologist stared in horror at the bleeding and probably-dead sapient before him, then shook himself. “Of course. Yes. I’ll protect myself.”
“No need,” said Martinez as he looked back at his newly-christened charge. He racked the action on his just-acquired rifle, which looked to be a standard AR-platform civilian carbine. The corporal wished for something full-auto, but this was at least better than a pistol in terms of range and punch. “I’ll get you to safety, sir.”
He turned back to ask Matt just what the fuck was going on…but he only saw empty air.
__________
Cécile Savoie was not having a good day. She’d accepted the position of overall chief of security at Camp David with delight…at first. Dealing with the day-to-day of protecting one of the most targeted people on the planet, that she could deal with no problem. Because it was one person. It was an unspoken agreement between all of the agents that SAILOR was the priority. Even the First Husband could be sacrificed if need be.
But then she’d had a bunch of damn aliens dropped in her lap, along with an equally weird group of special-forces types. The latter were what really ground her gears; the aliens were genuinely nice and apologetic about being such a bother, but the human soldiers were the types who would crash on your couch, drink all your beer, and then steal your sweetheart when you weren’t looking.
She crouched behind a little berm to the west of Camp David, the other members of her patrol stretched out alongside her in a roughly north-to-south line.
“Moseby! Report!” she yelled.
She heard a few thumps, then a few cracks in her earpiece which were followed up by echoing reports from the building behind her. Thankfully she heard her agent’s voice in her earpiece. “Shit! Wow, um, you’re really good with that knife…”
She then heard a muffled phrase that sounded a bit like ‘give it to me, son’, and the next voice in her ear was one she was unfamiliar with.
“This is Captain Matthew Tocco, USMC, whom am I speaking with?” The voice sounded as if generated by an AI.
“I’m Agent Savoie,” she responded. “I’m in charge of the Camp David security detail, who are you?”
“I just told you who I am, Agent Savoie. And I just saved the life of one of your agents. Now. Let’s cut through any sort of jurisdictional bullshit. We have at least two confirmed active hostiles in the complex, two more are confirmed down. We’re sweeping the compound to make sure there are no others, plus making sure that our esteemed guests are safe inside the bunker. Where are you located? We need to coordinate our defenses.”
The information made her see literal red. The attackers had made it into the compound? How? There must be some angle, some safe passage made by somebody. She was going to find out who had made that safe passage, and those people would burn. Oh yes, they were all going to burn…
“West of the complex,” she snapped. “We’ve set up a perimeter along the ridge there.”
“Got it, Agent Savoie. Oh, and please don’t shoot me when I show up.”
She ran through various scenarios for the next few minutes, trying to figure out who on the team had betrayed them. And there must have been such a betrayal in order to get armed hostiles into the actual buildings. Her further musing upon vengeance was cut short as a tall, lean man seemed to all but materialize next to her. He held a small, curved blade in a reverse grip in his right hand; that blade dripped red blood. She almost pointed her gun at him, then relaxed. “Captain Tocco, I presume?”
“Call me Toke.” The guy sounded like he was out for a day on the beach.
“Who the hell are you…wait, you’re with the group in there, right?”
Matt nodded. “Yep. The rest of us are in there bundling up our guests and making sure they’re all safe and sound. Actually, by now Corporal McCoy should be…”
Agent Savoie flinched again as a small but very stacked woman seemed to suddenly appear like condensing smoke at her other side, out of the brush. “Speak of the Devil, and she shall appear.”
The tall man grinned at her. “You are pretty damn good, corporal.”
“Hell that means a lot coming from you, Toke. By the way, that’s a nice kerambit. Anyways, everybody on Team Alien is tucked in and unharmed. I got Takh in there fine. Martinez even tagged a couple more bad guys while he was escorting Grakosh to the bunker. Fair warning to everybody listening on this channel, he’s gonna be aaaall sorts of smug about that and it’s gonna turn into a story of taking out four dudes before this week is out. But, right now, it looks like only four of the OPFOR made into the complex…however they did that…so the rest must be out there.” She pointed towards the leafless woods beyond the little rise.
“Any word from Shaw?” asked Toke.
Savoie narrowed her eyes. “Something bad happened in DC. Sounds like an artillery or mortar attack.”
“Shit.” McCoy looked troubled. “This is serious business, then. State player?”
“Maybe,” said Toke. “But it could be some private group with some proper funding behind ‘em. Agent Savoie, do you have any word of a helicopter or plane going down nearby?”
“A Chinook,” she replied, “Went down about thirty minutes ago thataways.” She motioned to the west, out into the wintry forest. “Then we had one of our patrols out in that direction go silent. That’s what triggered the alarm.”
Matt grunted. “Yeah, that’s how I’d do it. Make it look like a crash and infiltrate that way. Right.” He touched his ear to make sure his earpiece was seated. “You just keep this channel open, right?”
“Where are you going?” asked McCoy.
“Out there. You need eyes on assholes, and I’m gonna give that to you.”
McCoy tossed him her carbine. “At least have a gun on you, dude.”
He caught it with his off-hand, since his main hand still held the dripping-red kerambit. He grinned at her. “All right. You got a pistol?”
“Of course.” She pulled it out and racked the slide.
He tossed the rifle back to her. “Give me that instead. We’re gonna need to concentrate some proper firepower here. This might be a proper light-infantry invasion in progress. We need to organize ourselves into a skirmish line running along this ridge, south-southwest to north-northeast. Get whoever you can on your team in there out here to bolster our firepower, understand? Dig in.”
“Got it.” The little corporal’s eyes blazed with purpose as she handed her pistol to Matt. “Now go get you some.”
“Believe me, I will.”
Savoie blinked in astonishment as the tall man vanished again.
“Yeah, he kinda does that,” said McCoy. “Dude could give sneaking-around lessons to fucking Batman.” She pulled a map out of one of the pockets on her cargo pants. “Now, Agent Savoie, how many people do we have available? Let’s get ourselves properly set up.”
__________
Wade stepped carefully over a fallen branch, his boots making almost no noise at they met the soft mulch covering the forest floor. From the curt statements in his headset, it sounded like the four heroes who’d been infiltrated into the devil’s nest had been cut down. There was no word yet if any of the alien menace had been eliminated. That was a shame, but hopefully it drew attention away from his own unit. He and his comrades made up the secondary and much more armored thrust, one which not even the vaunted Secret Service could counter. The latter were armored, yes, but only armored against pistols and they only wielded pistols themselves. He and his team had rifles, level-four body armor, helmets, and most importantly proper communications.
A voice crackled in his ear. “Hold position. The security detail is forming into a defensive line. It looks like they know we’re here.”
“Set timer?” Wade whispered into his headset. His team had a set time to accomplish their mission, before the entirety of the United States military-industrial complex landed upon their heads like the proverbial Wrath Of God.
“Yes, set timer. Twenty minutes.”
There was a soft chorus of “Twenty minutes, aye,” in Wade’s ear as he tapped his own smart-watch to start the timer. “Twenty minutes, aye,” he murmured. As he made to step over another downed branch, he paused.
Something was off. He couldn’t say why, but the air itself seemed a little more still than it should be. He turned to his left and saw a blur heading for him…he tried to raise his rifle, but it was too late…
__________
Cécile Savoie’s head snapped up as she heard a few cracks from the treeline which could only be the sound of firearms. “Anyone see anything?” she whispered into her earpiece.
There followed a myriad of “No, ma’ams” in her ear. “Keep a sharp eye,” she murmured. “Don’t fire on anyone not in black. We do have a friendly out there, he’s supposed to be giving us intel…”
Matt’s voice sounded in her ear. “Indeed. Bagged one of ‘em, on the outer edge of the advancing force. Looks like civvie gear, carbine is only semi-auto. This is a well-funded civilian effort, not a state actor.”
She checked her watch. “Got it. Fifteen minutes until we get backup in place, what do you need from us?”
“Hmm, that explains the ‘twenty minutes’ thing. Right, they know they’re on a timetable. You all need to be, and I hate to put it this way, the meat shield. It looks like they’re going for a solid push towards you, no stealth. Fourteen hostiles all told, and if this guy’s gear is any indication they’re all up-armored. Class Four. Center of mass is no good, go for head or limbs.”
Savoie’s mouth was now dry. “Understood.”
“Don’t worry, Agent. I’ll be behind them, and I’ll do what I can to sow some dissention in the ranks.”
__________
“Wade, report!” hissed Horace into his microphone.
No reply.
He took in a breath to issue another demand when a voice sounded in his ear. Horace had once gone swimming in the ocean off of Florida, and had by pure chance come across a great white shark. He still remembered the vacant gaze of the giant predator, who was probably idly wondering if Horace would make a good snack for today.
This voice brought up once again that dread; it was the voice of a pure predator. “Who is this?”
“Who the fuck are you?”
“The one who just took down…Wade, was it?”
“Sidney, get eyes on Wade!”
“Will do…” There followed a long, long silence before that shark-like voice spoke again.
“You just got Sidney killed too, asshole. Care to keep going? I got no problem with that. Or do you all want to call this a day? You can do that too, you know.”
“Everybody down!” Horace snapped before going prone himself. That taunting voice still sounded in his ear.
“Okay, now you’re all down and less of a target. What now, genius? You got…hmmm…about twelve more minutes before all of the backup in the world arrives. And they will find you. You know what? You’d better hope they find you instead of me. Because I give less than two shits about that whole ‘Geneva Convention’ crap.”
“Maintain radio silence,” said Horace, as he tried to wriggle his way forward.
“Oh, you’re still trying, Mister Leader? How cute. Let me put it this way to you fourteen…sorry, thirteen, assholes. You’re done. Nailed. The best you can hope for is to get some lawyers who want to make a name for themselves. Worst case? You get put in a room with me, and if you have any sense in what passes for your brains you will spill your guts. If I’m honest, I kinda hope you put up a brave front and don’t say anything. It’s been a very long time since I got to cut loose. Gotta keep up that certain set of skills, yanno what I mean?”
“Maintain radio silence,” grated Horace, as he continued to wriggle forward.
Then, all of a sudden, he realized he was looking at boots. A pair of boots, planted in front of him like a goddamn World War Two commando movie. He glanced upwards, hoping against hope that it would turn out to be a gag like that one comedy where it was just boots…
No.
It wasn’t just boots.
Horace looked up into a man with the eyes of a shark, as well as the quite threatening muzzle of a pistol.
“Hey there, my Little Buddy-O,” said Matt. “Whatcha doin out here?”
__________
Milton came to with a gasp. “Shaw…”
A gentle hand laid upon his shoulder. “Shh, dear. He’s fine, everyone’s fine.”
He gazed up at the white-tiled ceiling above him. “But…” He turned to look into the face of the one person he loved above all else…well, her and Johnny. “He’s okay?”
“He’ll live. Just like you. You big doofus.” Teresa leaned forward to kiss his forehead. “I saw the footage. You threw yourself at all of those senior citizens, which might just count as assault with a deadly weapon. Then you went and managed to get all the way across the stage towards Sadaf. You really don’t know when to give up, do you?”
“Guess I don’t”, he chuckled, then glanced down at his arm. His former arm. “Whoof. That medic was really quick with the tourniquet, I’ll give him that.”
“With you and with Sergeant Shaw,” said Teresa. By now she was pretty much clambered on top of him, tucking his big head into the nape of her neck; it was his favorite place to be. He inhaled her scent with relish, before suddenly realizing someone was missing.
“Johnny?” he asked.
“Oh, right,” she said, before making an imperious snap of her fingers to someone out of his line of sight…right before a little ball of energy burst its way into his room.
“DADDY!” yelled the little firebrand, before smacking into his side. Milton hugged them both to himself, realizing that, no matter what happened next, he was right now in the best place possible.
“Keep it all down to a dull roar, okay?” said a voice off to his left. A very recognizable voice.
He picked his head up to stare in that direction. “Shaw?”
The sergeant gave him a casual wave from his own hospital bed. “Hey, slick. Good ta see ya up and about.”
Milton grinned. “You too, you old fart.”
“Aw hell, I ain’t that old. So. Just out of curiosity. Did that torniquet on your arm hurt like hell?”
The agent cuddled his son closer. “You better believe it.”
“Okay, got it. Just for reference, if you get one on your leg it also hurts like a motherfu…uh, hurts like crazy.”
Milton winked at Shaw. “Don’t worry, my son has heard worse. Why are you here?”
“They put you both in one room,” said Teresa. “Something about it being easier to guard. There was an assault on Camp David too, from what I’ve heard.”
“What?” Milton tried to pry himself up off of the bed before getting a mutual shove-down from his wife and son.
“Relax, my man,” said Shaw. “Toke was there. He and my peeps took care of it.” The sergeant looked at the acoustic tiles above him. “Gonna have to promote McCoy and Martinez. They both really stepped up to the plate.”
__________
President Correa rubbed at her temple. “This ‘Toke’ is a menace.” She was seated behind the famed ‘Resolute’ desk while still trying to show the appropriate deference to the barrel-chested man in front of her, clad in a crisp dark-blue dress uniform.
“Let’s be fair, ma’am,” replied General De Vries, “He helped this situation become less complicated, not more. None of our alien…refugees? I suppose that’s a good a term as anything. None of them got killed, hell none of them even got injured. We collected the thirteen of those remaining while trying to assault Camp David. Overall we have ten dead, including the four who somehow made it into the complex and the Secret Service patrol. The attackers had top-of-the-line gear, civilian but first-rate.”
She slammed her fists into the desk-top, making a nearby mug filled with coffee jump. “I fucking VACATION there, General! Me and my family, understand?”
“I know, ma’am. Do you want me to do this questioning…properly?”
She somehow picked up what he was putting down. “No. You have my permission to go off the chain.”
“Then consider me and Toke off the chain, ma’am.”
“Wait…you’re going to use him?”
“He has had experience in similar matters, ma’am. If you prefer, I don’t need to use him.”
She shook her head. “No. We need intel, and fast, on how the fuck this happened. Plus not to mention we somehow had an artillery attack in the midst of goddam DC.”
“I cannot speak for the FBI,” said De Vries with deceptive calm. “But believe me, we will find out how this all happened. And it will never happen again, of that you have my solemn word.”
The president slumped in her seat. “What about those injured in the DC attack?”
“It was a precision single artillery strike, ma’am. Probably GPS or maybe laser-guided, we’re still trying to figure out which. If Sergeant Shaw hadn’t intervened as he did, Captain Sadaf would be nothing but pulverized meat right now.”
She looked up at him with a cynical quirk to her eyebrow. “Did his saving her get caught on film?”
“Oh hell yes. Footage from several phones, it’s all gone viral.”
“Good, make sure it continues to go viral. How is Shaw? And Agent…um…sorry, my brain is going twelve different ways…sorry, Agent Milton Vila, right?”
“You are right, ma’am. Both are still in the hospital, under guard of course, but both are stable. Milton lost an arm, and Shaw lost one of his legs below the knee.”
“Fuck.” It was one of the rare times that De Vries had heard the president swear. “Both can be helped with prosthetics, right?”
“Not my area of expertise, ma’am, but yes. They’ll both live, and we’ll make sure they have the very best technology available.”
President Correa suddenly grinned with an expression that the general somehow knew was going to lead to Complications in his near future.
“You mean the best human technology, don’t you?” she asked, with deceptive calm.
“Well…yes, of course. I mean, Zawahir Ibn Harith is still trying to make sense of how the aliens heal themselves. It’s true regeneration, if I understand it right. Damage to the central nervous system is still kind of hard for them to deal with, but otherwise they can pretty much heal anything.”
The president examined her fingernails. “So…growing back a limb or two should be the proverbial walk in the park, yes?”
“Um…” The general’s eyes widened. He now realized why this unassuming lady had won two terms to the highest executive office in his particular country. “Oh, yes! Of course!”
“The plans for repair efforts on the Rithro have costs which are already pretty much alongside the Manhattan Project,” said President Correa. “Why don’t you appoint Zawahir as the lead of this particular effort? We’ll call it Manhattan-Light.” She fixed General De Vries with her eyes. “Imagine it. Two people, grievously wounded in the line of duty while protecting one of our alien refugees, an effort which was caught on multiple cameras…imagine them then walking out onto a stage with intact limbs.”
“It will make quite the photo op, ma’am.”
“Indeed. I’m glad we understand each other, General.”
2023.05.29 18:01 aureliaurora Unknown Bridge in Photos from Early 1900s
 | My great grandfather (I’ll call him GG from this point forward) and some other relatives worked in bridge construction in the late 1800s to early 1900s. I’d love some help identifying this bridge in particular. I’m in the bridge industry and it’s fascinating to have this connection with relatives I never met. It’s entirely possible this bridge no longer exists, but I’d like to know either way. submitted by aureliaurora to wherewasthistaken [link] [comments] Link to Imgur album. Some supporting info: I’ve found a WWI draft card that lists GG’s employer as Vincennes Bridge Co. when he was 20 years old. GG was born 02/26/1898. Assuming these photos were taken when he was around 20, it’s reasonable to estimate the bridge completed construction around 1918. GG lived most of his life in Harrison County, IN. Vincennes Bridge Co. did work in several states, but I find it most likely he worked in Indiana, Illinois, or Kentucky. As for the bridge, the span shown in the photos looks like some kind of modified Parker truss, spanning 250-300 feet. Looks like most tension members in the main span are eyebars. The adjacent span unfortunately isn’t shown in full, but it could be a Pratt truss of a shorter span (the truss isn’t as deep). I also see masonry piers. Like I said, I’m in the bridge industry, so I know these aren’t particularly unique identifiers for bridges of this period. But maybe someone will notice something I haven’t? Or have a source I don’t have access to? Any help is appreciated. |
2023.05.29 17:58 TallLab1036 An in depth profile of myself.
Hello hello. I hope you enjoy this short introduction of myself.
Some have asked why I've come here to seek this, and really, why are any of us here? We're searching for something that we can't find elsewhere so we've decided to give this a shot.
I've tried other sites without luck and dating is difficult in my area. By that I mean everyone is super country, as in enjoying fishing and listening to country music while complaining about liberals. Or, to phrase it another way - guns, God and Trump. That's a hard pass for me, so this seems like the next step.
A couple of things before I start:
Distance isn't an issue for me. I'm hoping to meet someone and chat to see where things lead, if there's a connection of any sort. If there is, we can move from there. Distance is a relatively small issue if you can find someone who is truly perfect for you, after all.
I should also mention that, for the most part, age isn't an issue. To some extent it will be of course, but I don't mind a bit of an age gap in either direction at all. If it's an issue for you, that's understandable; however, if you think it will be for me, well the only way to really find out is to message me, now isn't it?
I'm open to anyone who sees this and is interested (including those of any experience level) as I don't want to limit myself when I could possibly find chemistry with someone.
Also, while I am in general an emotionally intelligent, nurturing and supportive person, I'm also a massive sadist. To be more specific, I enjoy psychological sadism (although physical sadism is definitely fun too) and that is reflected in my kinks and, to some extent, my personality. While I believe boundaries and limits are to be respected at all times, and I don't enjoy anything if my partner doesn't, I absolutely love teasing, tormenting and torturing my partner in both play and everyday life.
Prepare for a mountain of text! It's a bit long, but I assure you it's worth the read. I decided that since I'm putting myself out there with a post, I want to truly and fully put myself out there and represent myself. I'm hoping that those reading this will recognize the effort that was put into this and get a good feel for who I am as a person. If you feel it's too much, save it for later, skim or even just message me if you would rather get to know me more naturally.
My post is cobbled together from thoughts, beliefs and realizations that I have come upon in my years in the lifestyle (which is why you might see slightly different styles of writing in different parts, this post is taken from my kink profiles and are the sum result of over ten years of experience that I find I still add to every now and then. I try to edit and organize it a bit from time to time, but it's difficult due to the fact that there's so much that I wish to include.)
Long story short, I can be a bit...rambly, sometimes. So apologies in advance for that, although I have recently made great strides in editing my post. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.
While it's certainly a lengthy read, it's not nearly as bad as it seems. I recommend reading the whole thing (obviously since I wrote it), especially if you're interested in getting to know a kinky, geeky and empathetic person.
Now that I've covered that, it's time to get to the part you've been waiting for.
I'm a lighthearted, playful and fairly laid back, yet somewhat serious minded, person who's rather upbeat and probably too curious for his own good. I'm also kind, caring, friendly, sometimes cynical and often sarcastic (although in a lighthearted manner, and never at the expense of others.) There's nothing I love to do more than laugh; I love most things involving humor, although I do believe there's a very fine line between hilarity and stupidity.
Now, for some little bits of trivia about me:
Some bands I enjoy include:
While I enjoy relaxing and watching television, I have trouble watching hour long shows as I can only focus on it for so long before my attention wavers, around that time I start looking at my phone and just waiting for it to be over. It's also why I don't watch too many movies; I need my entertainment bite sized. I'll watch movies every once in a while, but they generally need to be 100 minutes tops (unless it's something I'm super into.).
I have difficulty getting into things that are realistic; they usually need to be fantastical in nature and capture my imagination. My preferred genres are comedy, horror (mainly supernatural, no slashers) and most things involving special powers or abilities, however I can sometimes get into action or drama as well. I also have a love for the world of animation, possibly because they tend to be more creative and aren't limited by reality; it's part of why I'm so partial to anime.
Some shows that I'm fond of are:
Gaming is easily one of my biggest hobbies and has been for many, many years now. I see it as an art form, as a way to tell a story that you can deeply immerse yourself in and get pulled into, something that can captivate you and make you lose all track of time because it's simply so engrossing. It's also a damn good way to have fun and kill time, especially when you're playing with friends. It's a big part of my life and something I have spent quite a bit of time and money on. Some people may be put off by this, but it a part of me that I will not deny or hide; after all, if someone has an issue with that then how compatible could we possibly be?
Some video games that hold a special place in my heart are:
Some board games that I love are:
Bring up video/board/tabletop games, super powers, comics, cartoons, anime, manga, sci-fi, fantasy or technology and I'll happily chat your ear off. I'm quite social and love to talk, however I'm also an introvert so there are plenty of times where the pressure of constant social interactions with others gets to me and I need to take some time to myself to mentally recharge.
As I mentioned, I absolutely adore animals. Seriously, if you want to make me hate a bad guy, have him hurt an animal. Ironically, I'm practically a carnivore. I'm convinced that I would starve if I had to hunt for my own food just because I couldn't bring myself to hurt them.
Speaking of food, I'm a bit of a foodie (I dislike that word, but it's accurate.) I'm all about sauces, seasonings and spices, not to mention a love for anything deep fried. I love experiencing different tastes and textures while trying new things...as long as they're not vegetables. No veggies, except corn and potatoes; those two get a pass as they're amazing. I also enjoy onions and peppers in small quantities in dishes.
I've got a nice guy next door look in that I have no tattoos or piercings, have glasses, stay clean shaven and have a bit of a baby face (as in I look rather young, I often get mistaken for being in my mid 20's). I wouldn't say that with my look I would be called handsome, sexy or hot (however I am often called cute (I've also been called handsome a fair amount, it still feels weird though.) I'm also rather pale due to the fact that I stay indoors most of the time (if you can't tell from that, I'm white.) Because of my appearance, and my friendly and laid back nature, people tend to view me as rather innocent. I suppose that isn't entirely incorrect though, I'll admit that I can be a bit naive at times in regards to people and the world.
As for politics and religion, I tend to try to stay away from both.
While I believe I'm somewhat in the middle for the former, as I have views from both sides, if I had to choose I'd say I definitely lean way more towards the left. I believe in the greater good, the needs of the many over the needs of the few, in advancing science and finding alternative fuels and materials that don't pollute or destroy our environment in the process, in trying to create a brighter future, etc, etc. I'm definitely not on the far left however, and hate social justice and cancel culture. I'm empathetic and all, but people need to stop getting offended by every tiny thIng and creating problems that don't exist. That's definitely not exclusive to the left, the right is very guilty of it as well.
For the latter, I generally just consider myself not religious as I don't think or care about it too much. If I had to classify it though I'd say I'm agnostic. This means that, while I don't believe in any god or gods, I acknowledge that they might exist. While I'm 99.3̅3̅3̅% certain that there is no grand creator or afterlife, there's no real way we can know for certain. We're a very young and ignorant species, there's much about life and the universe that we are unaware of or don't understand yet.
I just try to focus on being a good person and doing right by others, not for some earthly or heavenly reward, or for a smug sense of self satisfaction, but because it's simply what I want to do. It's who I am and what makes me feel good about myself.
I try my best to live by The Golden Rule (also known as treat others you the way you wish to be treated or do unto others as you would have them do unto you), being guided by own moral compass that directs me in how I interact with others. I always do my very best to make others feel wanted, cared for, appreciated and understood, to give them validation; I never want anyone to feel left out or unwanted, for any reason at all. Perhaps it's from my own difficult childhood, since I felt that way when I was young and don't want others to go through the same things that I did. Whatever the reason, whenever I say or do anything I tend to, without even realizing it, think about how it will affect the other person and the different ways that it could be taken. I strive to treat others with the courtesy and respect that I believe that they deserve.
As I mentioned, I have a strong moral compass. The only problem is, this is true North for my compass; I feel that's the correct way to treat and interact with others, and I believe that's what everyone should do. So when other people don't act in the way that I believe they should, even though I know everyone is different and everyone has different thoughts, feelings and experiences that led them to those (we are the product of our environments after all), it can bother me. I've come to realize that this is due to holding myself to extremely high standards, and often holding other people to the same standards to which I hold myself.
Unfortunately, that can lead to conflicts with others, sometimes over things that they might feel to be insignificant. It doesn't happen very often though as I can recognize whether something is actually a big deal or not and put it to the back of my mind; I wouldn't be a very good friend or partner if I nitpicked over every little thing, now would I? Despite being very much driven by my moral compass, I'm also calm, collected, understanding and logical by nature.
I've realized that I used to put a lot of pressure on myself when interacting with others, trying to be funny and entertaining, overall trying to make sure that they were having a good time and enjoying themselves. If, for whatever reason, I felt that they were bored I ended up trying even harder to keep them engaged and joyful. It was somewhat of a bad habit of mine; I suppose I just felt like I had a personal stake in everyone that I interacted with, a responsibility almost, and didn't want to leave them wanting. I still do this to some extent, but not as much as I used to; as I've grown and matured, and my anxiety has lessened, I've learned to pull back a bit and that I don't need to carry everyone's burden on my shoulders. I still wish to keep people engaged and happy, and still take on more responsibility than I probably should, however I imagine that I'll always be that way; it's just in my nature.
I'm an emotionally intelligent and extremely empathetic person who's well aware of his inner workings due to my introspective nature. I'm easily able to see things from multiple perspectives, which I believe is because of how I process empathy. I don't necessarily feel the exact pain of others, but I mirror it; it's second nature for me to put myself in their position which allows me to understand the plethora of ways they can think and feel. This is something that is a core part of who I am and that I take great pride in.
I feel deeply, which can lead to me taking things to heart and sometimes reading too much into things or overanalyzing them. Thankfully, due to my great experience in emotional control and regulation (which I'm about to go into), I'm generally able to take a step back from my emotions and understand the intent and meaning behind words and actions so there's less of a chance of misunderstanding.
Because I feel so deeply, that caused problems for me when I was younger. My emotions were a swirling vortex, out of control and ready to burst out at any second. Puberty certainly didn't make this any easier either.
It's been said that our personal identity is 80% environmental and 20% genetic. While I might be genetically predispositioned to feeling so deeply, a lot of it likely comes from traumas experienced in childhood and my inability to process them properly. They left scars that I'm still dealing with today, and as a result of said scars, growing up I was diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety, depression and OCD, on top of the ADHD that I already had. However, I'm thankfully in a very good place thanks to a combination of past therapy, current medication and constant reflection.
I've done a lot of work to be able to get a handle on my emotions. Because I got used to having them under such control, I've been told that at times I can come across as kind of indifferent or hard to read. That's one of the reasons that I'm such an upfront, open, honest and expressive person; I want people to be able to understand me and I generally tell exactly what I'm thinking or how something makes me feel so that others can do that.
Honestly, one of my biggest fears is that no one will ever be able to understand me like I understand myself. It's right up there with a fear of the unknown (one is the reasons I don't do deep water, I don't want to fuck with any Cthulhu monsters that are down there) and losing my memories, as in the end we're just a sum of our memories and I don't want to lose who I am.
I never claimed to be perfect; I have my flaws as well, and try to work on them every day to improve myself as a person. Since I've already put so much of myself into my profile, I thought that it was only right to put the negative parts in as well.
While some of these things could certainly be considered negative traits, I believe that they help make me the Dom that I am. Because I AM so compassionate, because I AM so empathetic, because I HAVE been through so much and still keep going, I feel that I can give a sub or a slave what she truly needs to thrive in her environment. Feel free to read more about that below.
When you combine that with my nurturing and empathetic nature this type of relationship is the natural choice for me (more on that next). I believe that's also why I find myself naturally drawn to the weak, the helpless and the damaged. I have an overwhelming desire to heal them, to help and protect them while nurturing them and watching them grow into who I know they can be, which goes with what I was saying before.
A sub knows that her Dom loves her unconditionally and only wants what is best for her. While I do certainly enjoy doing this, I primarily do this to help my sub above all else. I'm a nurturing soul who wishes nothing more than to protect his partner. To take care of her and help her when she needs it. To be her support and her life line. To give her the guidance, structure and discipline she needs to feel fulfilled in life. To set rules and guidelines so that she can move freely within those set limits and be happy. To help her decide what is best for her when she herself doesn't know. To provide the security and comfort of knowing that she is being taken care of and that she has someone she can talk to about anything without any sort of judgment or prejudice. I want her to thrive and become the person that she was always meant to be. I enjoy pushing my sub to explore her boundaries and limits, within reason of course. I simply wish to see her flourish and blossom, to help her become what I know she can be and reach higher plateaus.
I realize the previous paragraphs could sound condescending in some ways, however that couldn't be further from the truth. I see my partner as an equal, someone who simply has different needs that I can fulfill so that they can live a fulfilling life themselves, and in turn by fulfilling those needs of theirs, I feel fulfilled as well. We ultimately form a symbiotic relationship of sorts.
Make no mistake, I have no desire to micromanage every tiny detail of my sub's life, nor form a codependent relationship where she's entirely reliant upon me for her mental and emotional needs. The level and extent of the D/s relationship is decided after long discussion and input from both parties.
Some believe that being a Dom is just telling people what to do and getting what you want while getting off, but it's so much more than that. It's not as easy or simple as it appears, you must always keep what is best for your sub in mind, even if it conflicts with your own immediate or future interests. You must constantly be aware of her needs and desires while providing checks and balances to help her live a life worth living. Anyone can simply give a sub what she wants, it takes a true Dom to say no because you feel that is what is best for her.
At least that's how it should be. There are so many "Doms" out there that don't care about their subs at all, only themselves. They don't care if they're suffering physically or emotionally, they simply use them as toys they can play with and then toss aside when they're bored; they abuse them and hurt them simply because they get a kick out of it. A real Dom/sub relationship is a very special and strong bond, much more so than a vanilla relationship in my opinion. So many people seem to have issues understanding that unfortunately, there's a certain stigma associated with this and preconceptions are formed before they even learn anything about it.
Truthfully, I believe the sub holds the power in the relationship in many ways. She is the one that is choosing to submit after all, to give up her power and control to the Dom. Despite that, she is the one that has control over the power of safe words, that can stop an activity with a single utterance. Her subservience is completely voluntary, something that many people don't seem to think about. It's not simply about someone bossing someone around because they can, it's about someone choosing a partner that they feel is worthy to give their all to.
While the following is my ideal, as I said at the beginning, I'm open to talking to anyone that reads this. However, I'm not particularly interested in "littles" or "brats".
Ideally my partner would be what is typically called an adult babygirl, and I'd like to elaborate on that term since some might not be familiar with it. Essentially it's someone who enjoys the nurturing, loving and structured aspect of a Daddy Dom or DD/lg relationship but isn't a little themselves; meaning that they don't have a mental age that they regress to, among other things. (I don't identify as a Daddy myself, however due to my protective and supportive/nurturing nature you could say I'm Daddy leaning.)
Some people have their entire lives revolve around the lifestyle, going to munches, conventions, parties and attempting to reach out to their community and find a place to belong. That might work for them, but it's of no interest to me. While I'm certainly not opposed to chatting and making friends and connections, I have no desire to be a part of a community. I'm simply seeking one whose ideas and beliefs line up with my own for a symbiotic relationship as I mentioned before
If I had to describe such a relationship, it would definitely be on the lighter side of the spectrum in regards to what daily life would be like. I'm seeking a 24/7 TPE, however I also enjoy being casual with my sub. Perhaps in some ways it's more similar to a vanilla relationship with strong Dom/sub undertones than a typical BDSM relationship.
In my perfect situation, we would still be able to joke around, have fun and be very close and romantic; however there is also the constant understanding that I am in charge, and what I say goes. No matter how much fun we may be having or what we might be doing, she should always know her place, even if it's only in the back of her mind. There are rules in place for her benefit, and if she breaks those rules she will be punished.
By what I say goes, I mean I have the final say in subjects because, as a submissive, she has given the reins of power over to me. She trusts me to make her decisions for her and to do what is best for her, to take care of and protect her. I'm never the type to say "this is how it's going to be, I don't care what you want, end of discussion" as discourse is the only way two people can truly understand one another. I always value my submissive's input and always want her to give her opinion and speak her mind if something is bothering her.
My ideal sub would be one that is loyal and devoted above all else, but also one who is looking for a Dom she can actually have a connection with. One that, not necessarily needs, but craves guidance, support, structure and discipline in their life; whose life does not feel complete without this, like there is a void deep inside her that cannot be filled unless she has a Dom to guide and take care of her, that she can in turn make happy and serve to the best of her ability.
Beyond anything else though, I want to like them as a person before I love them as a sub. My perfect partner would be someone who is intelligent, kind-hearted, earnest, funny and a has a fair touch of dorkiness in her. I want her to be someone that actually has personality, that I can laugh with and talk to for hours upon hours on end and still hate the thought of leaving. Someone that will either indulge my love of games and geekery or join me because she's just as much of a fan of those things as I am. Someone who loves how I tease and torment her, keeping her on the edge and revelling in the pleasure I get from watching her squirm.
One thing to note is that just because I am very friendly (sometimes people are surprised when I begin acting more Dominant, others aren't as they say they can "sense it in the way I present myself", even while being friendly and joking around) doesn't mean that I'm not strict when I have to be. I have no problem at all with enforcing rules and giving out punishments, although it's certainly not my favorite aspect of the relationship. I would prefer to reward, encourage and nurture my sub, however there are times when discipline is necessary; if one feels the need to act up, one must be ready accept the consequences after all.
If I had to describe my style of dominance, or what makes me dominant, I suppose that would be a little tricky. I don't feel the need to control everything, nor do I attempt to, and I have no problem with kicking back and letting others take the reigns in everyday situations if I feel they're more qualified or I just plain don't feel like it. Nor am I the type that "oozes" dominance, I don't care for confrontation and am a very easy going, go with the flow person. What I believe it boils down to is I simply feel comfortable with power and, quite frankly, enjoy it. I bear the burden of leadership well, it comes naturally to me and I thrive when I have the weight of another's life on my shoulders; I have little trouble making hard decisions when I need to. It also helps that my sexual inclinations line up with this nicely. If it doesn't last quite some time and doesn't end with both parties panting and soaked in sweat, I'm not particularly interested in it.
On that note, I have quite the kinky side despite my friendly and charming exterior. I suppose I should list it here because, while certainly not the primary focus of my interest in this, sexual compatibility does factor in to some extent.
My kinks are:
I also believe very strongly in aftercare and safe words as the mental and emotional well being of my partner is very important.
I realize there's no one way to live this lifestyle, but I feel like a lot of what I said should be obvious and general knowledge in regards to this; however from my experience it doesn't seem to be that way too often (not referring to the that are inexperienced in this, more those that do this for the wrong reason), which is why I wanted to share my views in such detail.
I feel like I've rambled on enough already and am dangerously close to having a TL;DR (yeah, I hit that ages ago), so I'll just say that if you're interested in learning more about me and getting to know me, you can give me a message and we'll see where things go. I like to get to know people naturally, just talk with them and see where things lead, whether that be a short chat, a simple friendship or something more. It seems silly to have expectations when you don't even know the person or how you'll get along.
Even if you're nervous or anxious, you think you might not be good enough, doubt my intentions or anything along those lines, still give me a message. After all, what do you have to lose?
Thanks for taking the time to read my little novella, I hope to hear from you soon. So long, and thanks for reading!
submitted by TallLab1036 to u/TallLab1036 [link] [comments]
Some have asked why I've come here to seek this, and really, why are any of us here? We're searching for something that we can't find elsewhere so we've decided to give this a shot.
I've tried other sites without luck and dating is difficult in my area. By that I mean everyone is super country, as in enjoying fishing and listening to country music while complaining about liberals. Or, to phrase it another way - guns, God and Trump. That's a hard pass for me, so this seems like the next step.
Distance isn't an issue for me. I'm hoping to meet someone and chat to see where things lead, if there's a connection of any sort. If there is, we can move from there. Distance is a relatively small issue if you can find someone who is truly perfect for you, after all.
I should also mention that, for the most part, age isn't an issue. To some extent it will be of course, but I don't mind a bit of an age gap in either direction at all. If it's an issue for you, that's understandable; however, if you think it will be for me, well the only way to really find out is to message me, now isn't it?
I'm open to anyone who sees this and is interested (including those of any experience level) as I don't want to limit myself when I could possibly find chemistry with someone.
Also, while I am in general an emotionally intelligent, nurturing and supportive person, I'm also a massive sadist. To be more specific, I enjoy psychological sadism (although physical sadism is definitely fun too) and that is reflected in my kinks and, to some extent, my personality. While I believe boundaries and limits are to be respected at all times, and I don't enjoy anything if my partner doesn't, I absolutely love teasing, tormenting and torturing my partner in both play and everyday life.
My post is cobbled together from thoughts, beliefs and realizations that I have come upon in my years in the lifestyle (which is why you might see slightly different styles of writing in different parts, this post is taken from my kink profiles and are the sum result of over ten years of experience that I find I still add to every now and then. I try to edit and organize it a bit from time to time, but it's difficult due to the fact that there's so much that I wish to include.)
Long story short, I can be a bit...rambly, sometimes. So apologies in advance for that, although I have recently made great strides in editing my post. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.
While it's certainly a lengthy read, it's not nearly as bad as it seems. I recommend reading the whole thing (obviously since I wrote it), especially if you're interested in getting to know a kinky, geeky and empathetic person.
Now that I've covered that, it's time to get to the part you've been waiting for.
About me:
I decided to put this part first because I believe that, above all else, the people involved should connect on a personal level and "click", if you will. This tells about who I am and my hobbies and such. If someone can't accept this part of me, how could we possibly get along?I'm a lighthearted, playful and fairly laid back, yet somewhat serious minded, person who's rather upbeat and probably too curious for his own good. I'm also kind, caring, friendly, sometimes cynical and often sarcastic (although in a lighthearted manner, and never at the expense of others.) There's nothing I love to do more than laugh; I love most things involving humor, although I do believe there's a very fine line between hilarity and stupidity.
Now, for some little bits of trivia about me:
- According to the Myers-Briggs system, I'm an INFP. Online tests can give you an idea of where to start, but they're not that reliable and the results can change depending on your mood that day. To truly discover your type requires self-reflection to learn about your cognitive functions, and while doing so I learned a lot about myself. I don't follow it religiously, but I believe there are some elements of truth to it.
- I'm definitely a Type B Personality.
- I'm a hopeless romantic, an old soul who's young at heart, a cynical optimist and a realistic dreamer.
- I'm definitely that type that believes in better safe than sorry, and one of my mottos is "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." I also tend to do copious amounts of research before any big decision.
- I consider myself to be a very grounded, down to earth and genuine person.
- I'm extremely friendly and believe in treating others with the same respect that you would like to receive and generally try to do what I feel is "right" by others (more on that in a bit.)
- I like to believe in the best of human nature, although I seem to be let down a fair bit. Even so, I don't want to let that stop me.
- I have very strong values and ideals, and an even stronger moral compass.
- I believe people are free to do and believe what they want, so long as they don't harm themselves, harm, cause trouble for or inconvenience others, or attempt to force those beliefs on others.
- I believe that a life lived for others is the only life worth living.
- I believe that there's no point in worrying about things that you can't change. If you let yourself get dragged down by it and obsess over it, you'll find yourself crushed under the weight of all the injustices in the world.
- I've been told (rather often actually) that I have a very nice voice, frequently being told that I should go into radio or be an announcer of some kind. I'm very expressive and my voice reflects that, having lots of highs and lows. Truthfully, I believe it's one of my better features.
- I much prefer talking to typing in general, especially when first getting to know someone as you get a much better idea of their personality. Also, I feel like I come across kind of...stiff in my writing style when that's very much not me, so voice allows me to showcase my truest self.
- I tend to be a confidant of sorts; due to my open and genuine nature and what I've been told is a welcoming...aura, I suppose, people tend to find me easy to talk to and trust, coming to me to confide things and seek out advice. This is something that brings me great happiness and pride as having the trust of others is important to me.
- Promises are very important to me; once I give my word in regards to something I'll keep it, even if I don't particularly want to. As cheesy as it might sound, to me my word is my bond.
- Admittedly, subtlety is not one of my strong points. I'm a very open, upfront and honest person. I'm terrible at lying (I hate doing it and I just give away that I am) and can't keep a straight face to save my life. If I were an actor, I would probably be Jimmy Fallon.
- I welcome people to give me constructive criticism and feedback as I'm constantly looking to improve myself. Yes, that even includes those that message me saying my post is far too long.
- I can't fake a smile to save my life, it has to be genuine for me. One of the many reasons I hate having photos taken of me.
- I find intelligence, humor and kindness to be the most desirable traits in a partner (although being easy on the eyes doesn't hurt.)
- My senses are all very sensitive, and can sometimes overwhelm me when I'm introduced to new stimuli.
- I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to too. Wait, I'm just kidding, just wanted to throw a little Mitch Hedberg in here. I don't drink, smoke or do drugs. While I have no issue with those who drink, I do tend to avoid smokers and hardcore drug users.
- Despite what the length of my post may say about me, I absolutely hate writing.
- I enjoy visiting places but hate the actual traveling (which is one of the reasons why if I could have one power it would be teleportation [actually if I could have one power it would be the ability to manipulate space and time, however for simplicity's sake I'm just going to say teleportation for now {not Star Trek teleportation though, fuck that.}])
- I hate waiting and I hate making others wait.
- I love the symbolism of trees and what they represent: strength, vitality, protection.
- If I had to rank the seven deadly sins in the order that I'm guilty of from most to least, it would go: Gluttony, Pride, Sloth, Lust, Envy, Greed and Wrath.
- If I were to list the Magic the Gathering colors that I most identify with from most to least, it would go: White, Blue, Green, Red and then Black.
- Growing up I was all about DBZ, Dinosaurs, Gargoyles, Ghostbusters, Ninja Turtles, Pokémon, Power Rangers, Spider-Man & X-Men.
- I absolutely love animals and have two cats of my own, Ivy and Jasmine (there are wonderful stories behind both names), that I love to death. I probably talk to them like people a bit too much.
- I spend far more time living in my head than I should.
- I firmly believe that breakfast offers the best food. I could eat waffles everyday.
- I call Gatorade by their flavors as opposed to their colors.
- I absolutely love when I'm thirsty and soda burns my throat.
- You won't catch me running unless something is chasing me. Partially because I have asthma, but mostly because running is awful.
Some bands I enjoy include:
Adelitas Way, Amaranthe, Breaking Benjamin, Disturbed, Evans Blue, Five Finger Death Punch, Gemini Syndrome, Otherwise, Pop Evil, Sevendust, Shinedown, Shaman's Harvest, State of Mine, Theory of a Deadman, Three Days Grace (before Adam Gontier left)I enjoy other types of music as well, for example another band I like is Bowling for Soup as I love their sense of humor; it's great to see people not taking music so seriously. I'm also a fan of big band music, which I actually have Fallout 3 to thank for. I enjoy classical musical as well and, despite having no real knowledge of it and most of it sounding the same, I find it incredibly relaxing and peaceful.
While I enjoy relaxing and watching television, I have trouble watching hour long shows as I can only focus on it for so long before my attention wavers, around that time I start looking at my phone and just waiting for it to be over. It's also why I don't watch too many movies; I need my entertainment bite sized. I'll watch movies every once in a while, but they generally need to be 100 minutes tops (unless it's something I'm super into.).
I have difficulty getting into things that are realistic; they usually need to be fantastical in nature and capture my imagination. My preferred genres are comedy, horror (mainly supernatural, no slashers) and most things involving special powers or abilities, however I can sometimes get into action or drama as well. I also have a love for the world of animation, possibly because they tend to be more creative and aren't limited by reality; it's part of why I'm so partial to anime.
Some shows that I'm fond of are:
Animation: Adventure Time, American Dad, Archer, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Bob's Burgers, Bojack Horseman, [China, IL], Disenchantment, Futurama, HarmonQuest, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, King of the Hill, Metalocalypse, Mike Tyson Mysteries, Mr. Pickles, Rick and Morty, Robot Chicken, South Park, Superjail, Ugly Americans, Venture Bros.I definitely binge my shows, I like to wait for a season (or preferably an entire series) to be done before I jump into it. I'm also the type that's fine watching something just once. If I ever feel the need to watch it again it will be many, many years later. This extends to games as well, I generally need things with replayability such as MOBA's or Rogue-likes.
Live-action: Arrested Development, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, Carnivàle, Dexter, Eureka, Friends, Game of Thrones, The Good Place, House, The Lost Room, Monk, The Muppets (2015 series), The Office, Parks and Rec, Psych, Stargate, Stranger Things, Walking Dead, Warehouse 13, Wilfred
Gaming is easily one of my biggest hobbies and has been for many, many years now. I see it as an art form, as a way to tell a story that you can deeply immerse yourself in and get pulled into, something that can captivate you and make you lose all track of time because it's simply so engrossing. It's also a damn good way to have fun and kill time, especially when you're playing with friends. It's a big part of my life and something I have spent quite a bit of time and money on. Some people may be put off by this, but it a part of me that I will not deny or hide; after all, if someone has an issue with that then how compatible could we possibly be?
Some video games that hold a special place in my heart are:
Action/Adventure: Alan Wake, Assassin's Creed, Bastion, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Bayonetta, Brütal Legend, Bully, Darksiders, Dark Souls (first one), Deadly Premonition, Dead Space, Devil May Cry (3 & 5), Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Heavy Rain, Hellblade, Infamous, Last of Us, Legend of Zelda (A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker), Luigi's Mansion, Metal Gear Solid (Twin Snakes, 3, 4 & 5), Ninja Gaiden (2004), Overlord, Phantom Crash, Resident Evil 2 remake, Saint's Row 2, The Saboteur, TMNT: Turtles in TimeNot only that, but I've also gotten into tabletop gaming, including both board and pen and paper games (such as Dungeons and Dragons.) I initially got into the latter as an exercise to strengthen my creative muscles but found it was a fun way to goof off with friends. For the former, it's almost gotten to the point that I enjoy them more than most video games as it provides an experience that you don't get anymore; friends gathered around and competing against one another or cooperating against a common foe, something that's disappeared with the advent of the internet.
Fighting: Anarchy Reigns, Blazblue (series), DBZ: Budokai, Dragon Ball Fighterz, Marvel vs Capcom (2 & 3), Mortal Kombat (9 & 11), Soul Calibur 3, Super Smash Bros. Melee
MOBA: Dota 2, Guardians of Middle Earth, Heroes of the Storm
Rogue-like: Binding of Isaac, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Darkest Dungeon, Dead Cells, Don't Starve, FTL, Monster Train, Slay the Spire
RPG: Bravely Default, Dragon Age (Origins and Inquisition), Dragon's Dogma, Elder Scrolls (Oblivion and Skyrim), Fable (1 & 2), Fallout (3 & New Vegas), Final Fantasy (IX, X & Tactics Advance), Grim Dawn, Mass Effect 2, Pillars of Eternity (series), Pokémon (Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver & Stadium), Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Suikoden 2, Tyranny, The Witcher (2 & 3)
Shooter: Bioshock (series), Battlefield Bad Company (1 & 2), The Darkness, Deep Rock Galactic, Gears of War (1 & 3), Left 4 Dead, Shadowrun (2007 FPS), Team Fortress 2 (when it first came out, it's a little much now), Vanquish
Simulation: Animal Crossing (first one), Doki Doki Literature Club, Harvest Moon, Life is Strange, Pokémon Snap, Tabletop Simulator
Strategy: Civilization (3 & 4), Endless Legend, Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers (2012 & 2013), Portal, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, Warcraft 3
Some board games that I love are:
BANG! The Dice Game, Dead of Winter, Dice Throne, Epic Spell Wars, King of New York, Lords of Waterdeep, Munchkin, Pandemic, Red Dragon InnI enjoy reading as well, although I find it difficult to find a book that can keep my focus and really draw me in like I crave. I'm constantly on the prowl for new material, and my favorite genres would probably be apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic, dystopian, horror and dark fantasy/grimdark, although I'm certainly in the market for something that has a good element of humor to it as well. If you have any recommendations, I'd absolutely love to hear them!
Bring up video/board/tabletop games, super powers, comics, cartoons, anime, manga, sci-fi, fantasy or technology and I'll happily chat your ear off. I'm quite social and love to talk, however I'm also an introvert so there are plenty of times where the pressure of constant social interactions with others gets to me and I need to take some time to myself to mentally recharge.
As I mentioned, I absolutely adore animals. Seriously, if you want to make me hate a bad guy, have him hurt an animal. Ironically, I'm practically a carnivore. I'm convinced that I would starve if I had to hunt for my own food just because I couldn't bring myself to hurt them.
Speaking of food, I'm a bit of a foodie (I dislike that word, but it's accurate.) I'm all about sauces, seasonings and spices, not to mention a love for anything deep fried. I love experiencing different tastes and textures while trying new things...as long as they're not vegetables. No veggies, except corn and potatoes; those two get a pass as they're amazing. I also enjoy onions and peppers in small quantities in dishes.
I've got a nice guy next door look in that I have no tattoos or piercings, have glasses, stay clean shaven and have a bit of a baby face (as in I look rather young, I often get mistaken for being in my mid 20's). I wouldn't say that with my look I would be called handsome, sexy or hot (however I am often called cute (I've also been called handsome a fair amount, it still feels weird though.) I'm also rather pale due to the fact that I stay indoors most of the time (if you can't tell from that, I'm white.) Because of my appearance, and my friendly and laid back nature, people tend to view me as rather innocent. I suppose that isn't entirely incorrect though, I'll admit that I can be a bit naive at times in regards to people and the world.
As for politics and religion, I tend to try to stay away from both.
While I believe I'm somewhat in the middle for the former, as I have views from both sides, if I had to choose I'd say I definitely lean way more towards the left. I believe in the greater good, the needs of the many over the needs of the few, in advancing science and finding alternative fuels and materials that don't pollute or destroy our environment in the process, in trying to create a brighter future, etc, etc. I'm definitely not on the far left however, and hate social justice and cancel culture. I'm empathetic and all, but people need to stop getting offended by every tiny thIng and creating problems that don't exist. That's definitely not exclusive to the left, the right is very guilty of it as well.
For the latter, I generally just consider myself not religious as I don't think or care about it too much. If I had to classify it though I'd say I'm agnostic. This means that, while I don't believe in any god or gods, I acknowledge that they might exist. While I'm 99.3̅3̅3̅% certain that there is no grand creator or afterlife, there's no real way we can know for certain. We're a very young and ignorant species, there's much about life and the universe that we are unaware of or don't understand yet.
I just try to focus on being a good person and doing right by others, not for some earthly or heavenly reward, or for a smug sense of self satisfaction, but because it's simply what I want to do. It's who I am and what makes me feel good about myself.
I try my best to live by The Golden Rule (also known as treat others you the way you wish to be treated or do unto others as you would have them do unto you), being guided by own moral compass that directs me in how I interact with others. I always do my very best to make others feel wanted, cared for, appreciated and understood, to give them validation; I never want anyone to feel left out or unwanted, for any reason at all. Perhaps it's from my own difficult childhood, since I felt that way when I was young and don't want others to go through the same things that I did. Whatever the reason, whenever I say or do anything I tend to, without even realizing it, think about how it will affect the other person and the different ways that it could be taken. I strive to treat others with the courtesy and respect that I believe that they deserve.
As I mentioned, I have a strong moral compass. The only problem is, this is true North for my compass; I feel that's the correct way to treat and interact with others, and I believe that's what everyone should do. So when other people don't act in the way that I believe they should, even though I know everyone is different and everyone has different thoughts, feelings and experiences that led them to those (we are the product of our environments after all), it can bother me. I've come to realize that this is due to holding myself to extremely high standards, and often holding other people to the same standards to which I hold myself.
Unfortunately, that can lead to conflicts with others, sometimes over things that they might feel to be insignificant. It doesn't happen very often though as I can recognize whether something is actually a big deal or not and put it to the back of my mind; I wouldn't be a very good friend or partner if I nitpicked over every little thing, now would I? Despite being very much driven by my moral compass, I'm also calm, collected, understanding and logical by nature.
I've realized that I used to put a lot of pressure on myself when interacting with others, trying to be funny and entertaining, overall trying to make sure that they were having a good time and enjoying themselves. If, for whatever reason, I felt that they were bored I ended up trying even harder to keep them engaged and joyful. It was somewhat of a bad habit of mine; I suppose I just felt like I had a personal stake in everyone that I interacted with, a responsibility almost, and didn't want to leave them wanting. I still do this to some extent, but not as much as I used to; as I've grown and matured, and my anxiety has lessened, I've learned to pull back a bit and that I don't need to carry everyone's burden on my shoulders. I still wish to keep people engaged and happy, and still take on more responsibility than I probably should, however I imagine that I'll always be that way; it's just in my nature.
I'm an emotionally intelligent and extremely empathetic person who's well aware of his inner workings due to my introspective nature. I'm easily able to see things from multiple perspectives, which I believe is because of how I process empathy. I don't necessarily feel the exact pain of others, but I mirror it; it's second nature for me to put myself in their position which allows me to understand the plethora of ways they can think and feel. This is something that is a core part of who I am and that I take great pride in.
I feel deeply, which can lead to me taking things to heart and sometimes reading too much into things or overanalyzing them. Thankfully, due to my great experience in emotional control and regulation (which I'm about to go into), I'm generally able to take a step back from my emotions and understand the intent and meaning behind words and actions so there's less of a chance of misunderstanding.
Because I feel so deeply, that caused problems for me when I was younger. My emotions were a swirling vortex, out of control and ready to burst out at any second. Puberty certainly didn't make this any easier either.
It's been said that our personal identity is 80% environmental and 20% genetic. While I might be genetically predispositioned to feeling so deeply, a lot of it likely comes from traumas experienced in childhood and my inability to process them properly. They left scars that I'm still dealing with today, and as a result of said scars, growing up I was diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety, depression and OCD, on top of the ADHD that I already had. However, I'm thankfully in a very good place thanks to a combination of past therapy, current medication and constant reflection.
I've done a lot of work to be able to get a handle on my emotions. Because I got used to having them under such control, I've been told that at times I can come across as kind of indifferent or hard to read. That's one of the reasons that I'm such an upfront, open, honest and expressive person; I want people to be able to understand me and I generally tell exactly what I'm thinking or how something makes me feel so that others can do that.
Honestly, one of my biggest fears is that no one will ever be able to understand me like I understand myself. It's right up there with a fear of the unknown (one is the reasons I don't do deep water, I don't want to fuck with any Cthulhu monsters that are down there) and losing my memories, as in the end we're just a sum of our memories and I don't want to lose who I am.
I never claimed to be perfect; I have my flaws as well, and try to work on them every day to improve myself as a person. Since I've already put so much of myself into my profile, I thought that it was only right to put the negative parts in as well.
While some of these things could certainly be considered negative traits, I believe that they help make me the Dom that I am. Because I AM so compassionate, because I AM so empathetic, because I HAVE been through so much and still keep going, I feel that I can give a sub or a slave what she truly needs to thrive in her environment. Feel free to read more about that below.
My Beliefs:
If I had to break down why this all appeals to me to one reason, to put it simply, I'd have to say that I'm the kind of person who wants to be needed. I find that, overall, I feel more driven and fulfilled if I know that I have someone that depends on me. If I have someone whose best interests I must keep in mind, who I need to protect and care for, I feel a greater sense of purpose than the humdrum rumblings of everyday life.When you combine that with my nurturing and empathetic nature this type of relationship is the natural choice for me (more on that next). I believe that's also why I find myself naturally drawn to the weak, the helpless and the damaged. I have an overwhelming desire to heal them, to help and protect them while nurturing them and watching them grow into who I know they can be, which goes with what I was saying before.
A sub knows that her Dom loves her unconditionally and only wants what is best for her. While I do certainly enjoy doing this, I primarily do this to help my sub above all else. I'm a nurturing soul who wishes nothing more than to protect his partner. To take care of her and help her when she needs it. To be her support and her life line. To give her the guidance, structure and discipline she needs to feel fulfilled in life. To set rules and guidelines so that she can move freely within those set limits and be happy. To help her decide what is best for her when she herself doesn't know. To provide the security and comfort of knowing that she is being taken care of and that she has someone she can talk to about anything without any sort of judgment or prejudice. I want her to thrive and become the person that she was always meant to be. I enjoy pushing my sub to explore her boundaries and limits, within reason of course. I simply wish to see her flourish and blossom, to help her become what I know she can be and reach higher plateaus.
I realize the previous paragraphs could sound condescending in some ways, however that couldn't be further from the truth. I see my partner as an equal, someone who simply has different needs that I can fulfill so that they can live a fulfilling life themselves, and in turn by fulfilling those needs of theirs, I feel fulfilled as well. We ultimately form a symbiotic relationship of sorts.
Make no mistake, I have no desire to micromanage every tiny detail of my sub's life, nor form a codependent relationship where she's entirely reliant upon me for her mental and emotional needs. The level and extent of the D/s relationship is decided after long discussion and input from both parties.
Some believe that being a Dom is just telling people what to do and getting what you want while getting off, but it's so much more than that. It's not as easy or simple as it appears, you must always keep what is best for your sub in mind, even if it conflicts with your own immediate or future interests. You must constantly be aware of her needs and desires while providing checks and balances to help her live a life worth living. Anyone can simply give a sub what she wants, it takes a true Dom to say no because you feel that is what is best for her.
At least that's how it should be. There are so many "Doms" out there that don't care about their subs at all, only themselves. They don't care if they're suffering physically or emotionally, they simply use them as toys they can play with and then toss aside when they're bored; they abuse them and hurt them simply because they get a kick out of it. A real Dom/sub relationship is a very special and strong bond, much more so than a vanilla relationship in my opinion. So many people seem to have issues understanding that unfortunately, there's a certain stigma associated with this and preconceptions are formed before they even learn anything about it.
Truthfully, I believe the sub holds the power in the relationship in many ways. She is the one that is choosing to submit after all, to give up her power and control to the Dom. Despite that, she is the one that has control over the power of safe words, that can stop an activity with a single utterance. Her subservience is completely voluntary, something that many people don't seem to think about. It's not simply about someone bossing someone around because they can, it's about someone choosing a partner that they feel is worthy to give their all to.
What I'm looking for:
I'm not here looking for a booty call or one night stand, but to find a potential partner in crime, possibly for life if a connection is made. More than anything, I simply wish to find someone who looks at me the way this girl looks at her prom date.While the following is my ideal, as I said at the beginning, I'm open to talking to anyone that reads this. However, I'm not particularly interested in "littles" or "brats".
Ideally my partner would be what is typically called an adult babygirl, and I'd like to elaborate on that term since some might not be familiar with it. Essentially it's someone who enjoys the nurturing, loving and structured aspect of a Daddy Dom or DD/lg relationship but isn't a little themselves; meaning that they don't have a mental age that they regress to, among other things. (I don't identify as a Daddy myself, however due to my protective and supportive/nurturing nature you could say I'm Daddy leaning.)
Some people have their entire lives revolve around the lifestyle, going to munches, conventions, parties and attempting to reach out to their community and find a place to belong. That might work for them, but it's of no interest to me. While I'm certainly not opposed to chatting and making friends and connections, I have no desire to be a part of a community. I'm simply seeking one whose ideas and beliefs line up with my own for a symbiotic relationship as I mentioned before
If I had to describe such a relationship, it would definitely be on the lighter side of the spectrum in regards to what daily life would be like. I'm seeking a 24/7 TPE, however I also enjoy being casual with my sub. Perhaps in some ways it's more similar to a vanilla relationship with strong Dom/sub undertones than a typical BDSM relationship.
In my perfect situation, we would still be able to joke around, have fun and be very close and romantic; however there is also the constant understanding that I am in charge, and what I say goes. No matter how much fun we may be having or what we might be doing, she should always know her place, even if it's only in the back of her mind. There are rules in place for her benefit, and if she breaks those rules she will be punished.
By what I say goes, I mean I have the final say in subjects because, as a submissive, she has given the reins of power over to me. She trusts me to make her decisions for her and to do what is best for her, to take care of and protect her. I'm never the type to say "this is how it's going to be, I don't care what you want, end of discussion" as discourse is the only way two people can truly understand one another. I always value my submissive's input and always want her to give her opinion and speak her mind if something is bothering her.
My ideal sub would be one that is loyal and devoted above all else, but also one who is looking for a Dom she can actually have a connection with. One that, not necessarily needs, but craves guidance, support, structure and discipline in their life; whose life does not feel complete without this, like there is a void deep inside her that cannot be filled unless she has a Dom to guide and take care of her, that she can in turn make happy and serve to the best of her ability.
Beyond anything else though, I want to like them as a person before I love them as a sub. My perfect partner would be someone who is intelligent, kind-hearted, earnest, funny and a has a fair touch of dorkiness in her. I want her to be someone that actually has personality, that I can laugh with and talk to for hours upon hours on end and still hate the thought of leaving. Someone that will either indulge my love of games and geekery or join me because she's just as much of a fan of those things as I am. Someone who loves how I tease and torment her, keeping her on the edge and revelling in the pleasure I get from watching her squirm.
One thing to note is that just because I am very friendly (sometimes people are surprised when I begin acting more Dominant, others aren't as they say they can "sense it in the way I present myself", even while being friendly and joking around) doesn't mean that I'm not strict when I have to be. I have no problem at all with enforcing rules and giving out punishments, although it's certainly not my favorite aspect of the relationship. I would prefer to reward, encourage and nurture my sub, however there are times when discipline is necessary; if one feels the need to act up, one must be ready accept the consequences after all.
If I had to describe my style of dominance, or what makes me dominant, I suppose that would be a little tricky. I don't feel the need to control everything, nor do I attempt to, and I have no problem with kicking back and letting others take the reigns in everyday situations if I feel they're more qualified or I just plain don't feel like it. Nor am I the type that "oozes" dominance, I don't care for confrontation and am a very easy going, go with the flow person. What I believe it boils down to is I simply feel comfortable with power and, quite frankly, enjoy it. I bear the burden of leadership well, it comes naturally to me and I thrive when I have the weight of another's life on my shoulders; I have little trouble making hard decisions when I need to. It also helps that my sexual inclinations line up with this nicely. If it doesn't last quite some time and doesn't end with both parties panting and soaked in sweat, I'm not particularly interested in it.
On that note, I have quite the kinky side despite my friendly and charming exterior. I suppose I should list it here because, while certainly not the primary focus of my interest in this, sexual compatibility does factor in to some extent.
My kinks are:
Anal, begging, biting, blowjobs, body worship, bondage, choking, cock worship, consensual non-consent, creampies, crying (the good kind), cumplay, deepthroating, degradation, desperation, dirty talking, face fucking, facials, free use, hair pulling, hole stretching (basically pushing my partner to her limits), humiliation, hypnosis, name calling, objectification, orgasm control (which includes edging, forced orgasms, orgasm denial and ruined orgasms), public play (in a discreet manner), slapping, spanking, spitting and teasing.One thing I feel I should mention is that the acts of degradation and humilation are limited to play time and only sexual in nature, never attacking my partner in any way.
I also believe very strongly in aftercare and safe words as the mental and emotional well being of my partner is very important.
I realize there's no one way to live this lifestyle, but I feel like a lot of what I said should be obvious and general knowledge in regards to this; however from my experience it doesn't seem to be that way too often (not referring to the that are inexperienced in this, more those that do this for the wrong reason), which is why I wanted to share my views in such detail.
Even if you're nervous or anxious, you think you might not be good enough, doubt my intentions or anything along those lines, still give me a message. After all, what do you have to lose?
Thanks for taking the time to read my little novella, I hope to hear from you soon. So long, and thanks for reading!
2023.05.29 17:00 _call-me-al_ [Mon, May 29 2023] TL;DR — This is what you missed in the last 24 hours on Reddit
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worldnews
Belarus official: West left us no choice but to deploy nuclear armsComments Link
Wagner boss attacks Russia's defense minister, says his daughter and son-in-law live in luxury while thousands are sent to die in Ukraine
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French medical bodies on Sunday called on authorities to punish researcher Didier Raoult for "the largest 'unauthorized' clinical trial ever seen" into the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19
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news
Illinois to Become First State to Ban Book BansComments Link
Man dies after going days in Duval County jail without medication, family says
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Cleveland 19 News receives bomb threat against 5 Targets as stores face LGBTQ+ controversy
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science
Stem cells from the human stomach can be converted into cells that secrete insulin in response to rising blood sugar levels, offering a promising approach to treating diabetes, according to a preclinical studyComments Link
For the first time, astronomers have detected a cyclone on the north pole of Uranus.
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The brain’s protein-destruction machine learns new tricks at synapses, revealing a potential target for treating neurological disorders
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space
I discovered this planetary nebula using a $500 camera lens, now it carries my nameComments Link
Milky Way framed by Delicate Arch in Arches National Park in Utah
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Almost 11 years ago precisely, my crewmates and I captured and docked the very first SpaceX Dragon capsule. Here are some photos I took during the approach. More details in comments.
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Futurology
Nvidia CEO Says Those Without AI Expertise Will Be Left BehindComments Link
Study: GPT-4 didn't really score 90th percentile on the bar exam. Implications for the future of the legal profession and AI are discussed.
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NVIDIA creates a Minecraft AI that codes and self-improves (using ChatGPT)
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AskReddit
What simple mistake has ended lives?Comments Link
What is something that young people love that you don’t understand?
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You can permanently change the price of one item to $1. What is it?
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todayilearned
TIL of the Jim twins, separated at birth and reunited at 39: both had married and divorced someone named Linda, were currently married to a Betty, had sons named James Allan, had dogs named Toy, drove the same car, had jobs in security, and regularly vacationed at the same beach in FloridaComments Link
TIL that in 67 C.E, Emperor Nero found a Boy named Sporus Who looked Like his deceased Wife, so he had him Castrated, Put in female attire, and made his entire Court play along with the act
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TIL Stanford engineers made a folding origami microscope that costs less than $1 to make. 50,000 microscopes were shipped to 130 countries in 2014 to see what people will do with it
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dataisbeautiful
Indy 500 Advertisements vs Racing [OC]Comments Link
[OC] Premier League 22/23 table by matchday.
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[OC] Some of the top revenue sources for big tech firms
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Cooking
Is cooking your Love Language?Comments Link
Rant: I always mess up the food when I’m cooking for larger groups.
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What accidental purchase have you made that in now a regular purchase?
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food
[homemade] Esquites sweet corn salad (Elote derivative)Comments Link
[homemade] Lasagna
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[I ate] Canadian Poutine
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movies
A rare 1914 silent film called "The Oath of the Sword" was considered lost forever. A professor rescued it from a vault.Comments Link
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross Scoring 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’
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What’s a movie that you absolutely love but know will never ever get a sequel or reboot?
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Art
How May I Help You?, Jon Silent, Ink and Acrylic, 2023Comments Link
Eat your water, Alai Ganuza, oil painting, 2023
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Vineyard, Olga Rodina, Oils, 2023
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television
Phil Hartman: 25 years after the actor's tragic death, his work still resonatesComments Link
George Maharis Dies: ‘Route 66’ & ‘Fantasy Island’ Actor Was 94
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A bittersweet goodbye to ‘Barry’: The cast on the dramatic turns of the hit man comedy
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pics
Somebody went full math at a casino stairwellComments Link
Sandra Bullock wore “the dress” before JLo did.
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Just some finishing touches before we close in the void
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gifs
Good kid spots neighbor's dropped wallet in driveway, returns it.Comments Link
King Cobra vs. Mongoose
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Ship Is Destroyed By Huge Wave During Coastguard Rescue
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educationalgifs
Geological evolution of North America in the last 550 millon yearsComments Link
mildlyinteresting
The core of this rope is made of diapersComments Link
This green stop sign
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This vehicle had an extra set of wheels that weren’t touching the ground
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interestingasfuck
A full 360 swingComments Link
*Fruit and Vegetable Decomposition Timelapse *
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Dry Squirrel Asks Human for a Drink of Water.
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funny
Well that mall doesn’t have to mop. The floor is getting done.Comments Link
An old Cricket Wireless was turned into a chicken restaurant in possibly the most lazy/ingenious way possible…
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Jesus Christ!
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aww
What’s this?Comments Link
Family of racoons in my yard.
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I forgot to lock my dorm room and this cat casually opened the door, climbed into my bed and made herself at home
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2023.05.29 16:56 bimbo_wannabe_ [I Accidentally Joined The Mafia In South Brooklyn] Chapter 6: On The Organizational Habits of Unrested Spirits and The Taste of Demon's Blood, Part 1.
![[I Accidentally Joined The Mafia In South Brooklyn] Chapter 6: On The Organizational Habits of Unrested Spirits and The Taste of Demon's Blood, Part 1.](https://preview.redd.it/8u7ykhosst2b1.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=5b744f64a6da09632ac427471bc1cbaa47eb9911 "[I Accidentally Joined The Mafia In South Brooklyn] Chapter 6: On The Organizational Habits of Unrested Spirits and The Taste of Demon's Blood, Part 1.") | Previous Part: https://www.reddit.com/redditserials/comments/13trg6g/i_accidentally_joined_the_mafia_in_south_brooklyn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button submitted by bimbo_wannabe_ to redditserials [link] [comments] Becca invited me to her apartment when we made it back, sent me through the alley behind the building to keep the prying eyes at the minimum. That was fine with me as I was a lot more noticeable than I liked to be, at the moment. I had already lit a cigarette by the time she opened the back door of the stairwell to let me in. It was the last in the pack, and I'd only opened it this morning. The temperature on my phone screen had finally hit zero. "You're gonna have to give me a second, B, I don't wanna smoke around you in your condition but I really need one." She gave me another watery grin. "Little too much blood in the nicotine system, huh?" "Exactly, my young friend, exactly that." She propped the door open and sat herself down on the ground. I could tell the high heels were starting to hurt her because she kicked them off and set them neatly to the side, though I knew the concrete had to be freezing her feet off. She tucked her skirt between her legs and sat with her back against the wall, her elbow propped on her bent knee, the other leg stretched out straight before her. It was exactly how what was left of Antoni had been sitting beside me less than two hours ago. I was getting a little tired of all the patterns appearing in my life these days. I flipped to my news app, as was my habit. There was an article at the top of page about the preparations the SDNY were making to get ready for the coming storm, but frankly I didn't really give a fuck so I just kept scrolling. "Your old neighborhood is in the news, B." "You ain't had enough bad news?" Beccs asked with a rueful laugh. "Eh, I like to stay abreast of current events. I mean, you got me pegged, B. I'm a nosy fuck. But, uh, fifteen years on the inside, you learn that it pays to pay attention to the shit other people don't notice, cause you never know when the information you pick up is going to end up being the information you need." She gave me a look that said she had to yield to my point. "So what's the news from Koreatown?". "Somebody shot a wedding up, apparently. Says seven were killed, including the bride and groom and the bride's father, as they was leaving the reception. You know, most of these names are Rhees. Ain't nobody you know, is it? Kinda feel like you've had enough death for the day, kid." There was another look on her face, one I couldn't quite read even with all my people-watching prowess. "Lemme take a wild stab at it. Two of those names are Rhee Seong-Min and Rhee Bong-Cha." "Yeah," I nodded. "You do know 'em. I'm sorry, B." She gave a low, almost rumbling, chuckle. It gave me a little shiver, not from the cold, and not one of enjoyment, either. She flashed a sign, one I'd seen her flash before, but it wasn't from any gang I knew personally, and lacking any official affiliation of my own, I'd dealt with my fair share of different gang members in the Upstate Correctional Facility. Double E's, one backwards, one forwards, three quick shakes of each hand. "God bless old K-town. But you ain't got to worry about it. I'll not shed a tear over any of them. They's family, but they ain't exactly family, you know. I might tell you about it one day." The last sentence had a note of finality to it, so I didn't ask any further questions in that regard, but I was still as curious as always. "If all your family has Korean names, how the hell did you end up as Rebecca and your Dad as Sam?" "My Dad's name is Park Kyung-Sam. Just Sam was easier to tell people and he, uh, he wanted me to have the same benefit of blending in in American society, and he liked the name Rebecca. So, Rhee Rebecca Hyo-Jin. My Mom's name was Rhee Chung-Cha, but everybody just called her ChaCha, like from Grease." "So your Mom was the Rhee?" She made an affirmative noise and nodded. "She didn't exactly wanna give up her family name, and… my Dad didn't exactly give a fuck cause he was in love with her crazy ass. You know, that's where I get this from. Except my Moms, if she was still around she'd make me look like I grew up to be a calm, quiet girl." I'd hate to see what was worse than Beccs. "You done?" Becca asked. I nodded, tossed my cigarette into the sand-filled bucket we kept here for just that purpose. I followed B inside and we climbed the stairs to the third floor. I leaned against the wall as she pulled a ring of keys from her coat pocket and waited while she unlocked the knob and the three deadbolts on her door. "Pretty serious about your home security, B?" She shot me a look but didn't say anything as she opened the door. A steady beeping greeted us, and Becca stopped just inside and punched in a code on a security panel. As I stepped around her and entered the apartment, I understood why. Do you know that part in Coming To America where Akeem comes home to his dilapidated Queens apartment and realizes Semmi has filled it with expensive furniture? Well, it was exactly like that. Becca locked the door back behind her, threw her stilettos onto the shoe rack, and hung her coat on the brass tree beside it. I did the same, removed my boots to place them on the rack as well. "Jesus Christ, B, this place looks amazing." There was a gray suede sectional in the center of the living room, a 152 inch Panasonic plasma bolted to the wall. The coffee table, the wool Oriental rug beneath it, and the end tables looked antique, as well as the green velvet chaise set near one window. There were three ornately-carved bookcases set against the far wall between the two windows facing the street, one filled with DVDs, and on the other two almost all the books were old and leather bound. The kitchen was open to the room, separated by a butcher block bar from the living room, all matching stainless steel appliances and black marble countertops. All along the walls were family pictures dotted between massive paintings held in golden Baroque style frames. They were… stunning was the only word I could think to describe them. Most of them were portraits done in a slightly impressionist style, impasto if my memory served me, seemingly random strokes of thick paint that somehow managed to form the perfect images of faces and a few nudes. "Jesus Christ, these paintings must have cost a fortune alone." Becca stepped beside me, her arms crossed over her chest as she surveyed the painting I was looking at. It was done in mostly black and red, the image of a sleeping nude man, one arm tucked behind his head, his other draped across his stomach, his hips and legs covered with a sheet. If I touched it, I could have felt the wrinkles in the bunched fabric. There was something oddly familiar about it. "They didn't cost shit," she answered. That made me look away from the painting and back to Beccs. "What the hell? Did you rob a gallery?" "No, you mook, I painted them. They didn't cost anything but the price of the canvas and the paint, which, you know, I stole most of that from school." "You painted them," I repeated, looking back. As I looked closer at the canvas, I realized why it was familiar. The sleeping man was our dear friend Antoni Zabrowska. I had mistaken his tattoos for shadows, though I had to admit I had never seen him look quite so relaxed. As I glanced around the room, I realized I recognized many of the paintings. I was able to pick out her father's face, Rossi's, and I realized the model for the two female nudes was none other than Nia Bianchi. There was one of a woman in white with bloody skeletal wings that bore a strong resemblance to Becca and I imagined that was the infamous ChaCha. "That's what I go to Columbia for. Visual Arts." "You're a goddamn genius, B." She scoffed. "No, I'm fucking serious, kid. My sister collects art, and she refuses to go for the big names. Shit like this, she pays 10 to 20 grand for a painting half this size, more if it's one of the artists she likes." Now she snorted. "What? Your sister got a money tree?" "No, my older sister Aurie's a writer. She wrote her first book when she was ten. She's published 20 so far, but she's got 30 or 40 more in backlog that she's still tweaking. She's kind of a perfectionist when it comes to writing, but I guess it pays off. Her books sell like fucking hotcakes everytime she puts one out, two of her series got picked up by Netflix, and Lion's Gate turned her seventh book into a movie. She even got to be involved in the productions. "She's got a penthouse on the Upper East Side that she bought about six years ago. That's where I lived when I got out of the Upstate. Aurora, she's a fucking Saint, you know. I mean, I had a shitty PO that was up my ass every five minutes but Aurie never said a word about it. She just… always told me she was glad I was home, which, you know, was nice to hear considering that according to my grandparents I died 19 years ago. She was the one that helped me get this place down here, paid in full for a two year lease." Becca raised an eyebrow at me. "No offense, Tony, I can tell you're crazy about her, but she couldn't have picked a better place for you than this hell hole?" I laughed as softly as I could, to save the muscles in my stomach. "I picked this place myself, B. Cheapest apartment I could find in any of the boroughs, and it even had three bedrooms. I was thinking about having space for a library and a home gym." Becca snorted. "Yeah, it's cheap cause the fucking place is about 90 years old. Nobody's been able to get a hold of the slumlord who owns it for repairs in 8 months, but I bet you the motherfucker still collects the rent checks we deposit in his fucking bank account every month." "Yeah, I figured that out just about as soon as I moved in, but beggars can't be choosers. Besides, Antoni always used to help me out whenever something broke." Becca gave a small smile. "They did that for everybody. I used to call them the apartment elves, cause instead of making shoes they were skittering around fixing fucking toilets and sinks, and rewiring burned up outlets and bringing in new refrigerators and stoves when shit broke in everybody else's places. And they bought it all with their own money. Everybody tried to pay them, but they never took a dime for any of it. Ironically enough, Pops used to talk about Antoni all the time because of all the money he'd spend over there every week. Said he had a good heart, just no good sense when it came to what was his responsibility and wasn't. You know, I had my own opinions about Antoni's heart, but I kept them to myself." "I really wish I had paid more attention when Antoni was working on the boiler, though. Instead of just passing him tools and running my mouth." "Yeah, you're good at that," she replied with a smirk. "And fuck you, too, Miss Rebecca. You might be the strong type, but you're not exactly silent yourself." She laughed. "Make yourself comfortable. I'll be right back." I nodded and obeyed as she exited into what I saw was the bathroom as she opened the door and closed it behind her. The sectional was goddamned heaven, and she'd said make myself comfortable so I kicked out the recliner and leaned back. I closed my eyes for a moment and sighed, and when I opened them I nearly jumped out of my skin. I barely managed to stop myself from letting out a yell as I jerked back up to sitting. Antoni's corpse was standing by the picture wall, looking intently at a photo of a child Becca wearing a ruffled, cream colored dress with a ribbon in her long black hair. It was the picture of her first Communion. "Goddamn, you can't give somebody a warning before you do that?" He neither answered me nor turned to look at me because he was using the stumps of his wrists to adjust several of the frames back straight again. "Fucking neat freak," I laughed. "She wasn't lying." He finally turned toward me. You ever seen a corpse try to look annoyed when he's missing about a quarter of his face? I mean, what am I saying, you probably haven't, but suffice to say, it's pretty fucking funny. He raised his left wrist, and if he had hands, he'dve been shooting the bird. Almost hysterical laughter burst out of me as Becca exited the bathroom. "Least the pipes ain't frozen yet," she muttered. She gave me a strange look. "Who are you talking to out here? And what's so funny?" I glanced back to Antoni, but he was gone again. "Don't mind me, B, I'm pretty sure I got a concussion. I'm pretty much seeing pink elephants at this point." Or, you know, the mutilated corpse of my best friend, but it's probably best I leave it at elephants. "Yeah," she answered, and crossed the room to hand me something. "Speaking of." It was a mouth guard. "What is this for?" She didn't answer me, but headed to the kitchen and opened a cabinet, withdrawing a cut crystal scotch glass and then opening the refrigerator and withdrawing… two bags of blood. Nia's blood, to be exact. She unscrewed the cap at the bottom of one, punctured the seal with a fresh insulin needle, and to my supreme discomfort squeezed some into the glass. The mouth guard suddenly made sense. It was so I wouldn't break my teeth or bite my tongue off when the convulsions started and my jaw locked down from consuming demon blood. "Oh no, B, I don't want that." "Yeah. That's why I didn't tell you why I wanted you over here, cause I knew you was gonna be a pussy about it." I tried one more last-ditch effort. "You need that more than me, B." "I can just take my next dose early, but you, you can't go down and see Ma looking like that. She's gonna ask too many questions." That one stopped me. "I've had enough of interrogations for one day, B." "There ain't no interrogation when it comes to Ma. She just puts it in your head that you ain't got no choice but to tell her the truth, and you do. She's made state witnesses get up on the stand and confess their own crimes, pleading the fifth be damned." She screwed the cap back onto the bag and carried them and the glass over to the coffee table and set them down. She walked over and opened a closet door, pulling out an IV pole with a little box attached to it, and grabbed a small cardboard box from off a shelf and what looked like a tackle box. She set it on the coffee table after she pulled the pole over to the sectional and plugged it into the wall, opened the cardboard box and removed a cassette from inside and inserted it into the box on the pole. "What's that?" "It's a blood warmer for rapid transfusions, so I don't go into hypothermia or hemolysis. Little bastard cost 137 thousand, but at least you can buy them online. You put a fresh cassette in every time, the blood runs through it, by the time it gets to my arm it's body temp." She opened the tackle box and removed two fresh lines, attaching one to the bottom of the warmer and one to the top, hanging the bags of blood but not connecting the first of them yet. The top had a drip chamber with a filter, and the bottom held the flow regulator and the hypodermic needle with the cannula inside. "You know, it's not fucking fair, B, you shouldn't have dealt with half the shit in your life that you have." She snorted and her lips pursed with anger as she sat down beside me. "You sound like Rossi with that shit. That's why he wouldn't let me die, said it wasn't fair. I was ready to go into hospice, fuck it, I was ready to see my Mom again. But I'll tell you the same thing I told his stupid old ass. Life ain't fair. Cause if it was I'd have my mother and my baby's father and Jimmy's ass would be the one laying in the morgue. You think it's fair you almost lost a finger because of what he ordered?" I laughed. "No, I actually think that's pretty fair. That's karma, B. I was usually the one doing the beating. How do you think I ended up in prison?" She looked hard at me for a moment. "I mean, you never told me. You were pretty open about having gone to prison, but you never said why." "Well, I learned to be open about it. Some people get real upset when they find out they're dealing with someone who's been through the system, so I didn't really wanna go through that again. So now I just tell people up front, let them decide for themselves if they wanna deal with me or not. That way they can't throw it back in my face, say I lied to them." Becca let out a bitter chuckle. "So what's your story?" "Well, we still ain't finished your story, yet, but we'll take a detour. The whole thing started my Senior year of high school. First game of the year, I blew my knee out, big as a bitch, tore everything there was to tear, shit was basically hanging on by the skin alone. Orthopedics said I had two choices, keep playing football or, retain the ability to walk on that leg, so… there went all my big dreams of college ball and making it onto the Giants." "Linebacker?" I nodded. "Middle linebacker. I was good at it. 6'7, 265 pounds but light on my feet, all muscle. Back then I was running 7 percent body fat, and wasn't even trying. Shit just… all came natural to me. It all blew up in my face. Shitloads of surgery and physical therapy, and then one day the pain pills stopped but the pain didn't. Everyday, every night, I was still hurting." She nodded. "I know about bone pain. I could always tell when I needed to up the dose when my bones started hurting. When I started out all it took was an insulin needle. Now I take so much, I'm not even sure I qualify as human. But I guess I won't be much longer. That's always been the plan. Just keep me alive till 30 and Ma's gonna make me like her. That's the preferred age for the Entrance, something to do with the Trinity." I nodded. "I started asking around school if anyone knew where to get some Percs but pain management keeps that shit so tight I could only get a few at a time. Not only was they expensive, it wasn't enough. I got hooked up with this kid named Alessandro, he told me if I really wanted to control the pain, he could get me something better and cheaper. He took me to meet his uncle, Colombian guy named Marco. First shot is free and it was… it was beautiful. Everybody always gets sick the first time, but I didn't. And then after that, all my free money from my after school job started going to horse, and uh, I got my last six months off school. I already had all the credits I needed from AP classes, started working full time. They didn't piss test. But, my tolerance was rising faster than my income was." I took a deep breath. "I'd been buying enough that Marco was offering me fronts but I never took it. So next time I went, I asked him for my usual and I asked how much it would be for two O's on the front, cause I knew a lot of other users and I was thinking of starting to sell myself. So, he told me he'd give me a pound, and we could settle up at the end of the month." "Jesus Christ, if you were selling a pound a month you must have been making bank." I shook my head. "I wasn't in it for the money. I was in it to keep myself supplied. If I kept my prices right, I could use for free, and I had enough left over to pay my portion of the rent and help pay for the groceries. I got good at it, I'd take a shot, and nod out for a few minutes, then get up and start walking the streets." Becca snorted. "You wasn't standing on a street corner?" "Fuck no. Too visible. I did all my business by phone. I had a burner and gave everyone the number, and when they needed some they'd give me a call and I'd meet them or they'd meet me. I had ethics. I used to have people offering me fucking blowjobs for a bag, but I always said no, shit felt wrong. All they had to do was pay me by the end of the month but, sometimes…" She gave a grin. "But sometimes, 'Bitch, where's my money?'" "Yeah, sometimes people would try to skip out, so I had to apply a little pressure to persuade them to pay. I never killed nobody, it's hard as hell to get money out of a dead man. But, black a few eyes and break a few bones and suddenly they had money they didn't before. Being my size, there wasn't many of them that could fight back. But, I fucked up the wrong lowlife. "There was this prick, he'd been dodging me for weeks. He owed me like two grand, I'd given him that much because I knew he had money, so when I finally caught up to him, I was pretty mad and, the bitch, he told me he wasn't going to pay me. Thought he was better than me, thought he could fuck me and get away with it. So I beat the mortal hell out of him, took his wallet. He had five grand in there but I figured, 3K surcharge for wasting my time." I shook my head. "But I should have done some better research on who I was going after. Turned out the little prick had a socialite for a mother and his Daddy was a hedge fund manager and… I'd hurt him pretty bad. First three months, not only was I dealing with DTs, I was waiting to see if they were going to add Murder to my charges. He was in a coma for that long, and when he woke up, he had to learn to walk again, how to feed himself. I beat him so bad I gave him brain damage." "Goddamn, Tony." "Apparently his parents knew their son's habits and knew exactly who I was, cause they went straight to the police, and two days later SWAT showed up, turned the house upside down. I smashed my phone into pieces, flushed it so they couldn't get my contacts, but I didn't think about the fact I still had the wallet with his driver's license in it. My grandparents disowned me, right then and there. I had just reupped so they caught me with 14 ounces, all it takes is 8 for Class A felony possession. I spent 13 months in Rikers, but my sister got me a good lawyer, he knew the judge and the prosecutor personally, golfed with them, so he got me a plea deal. I was looking at life in prison, but he argued that I was a good student that had made a bad mistake because of a chronic pain issue, and they were both first offenses, so if I pled guilty, agreed to go through a substance abuse program and anger management, then they'd give me the minimum sentence. "15 years, Class A Felony Drug Possession, 3 years, Class B felony First Degree Assault, intentionally causing grievous bodily harm while in the commission of another felony. But, at my sentencing, the judge said I was a big guy, with a big anger problem. I hadn't killed anyone, but it wasn't for lack of trying. Said I was a danger to society, so when I got to the UCF, they put me in dark red." "Supermax?" I nodded. "23 hours a day in a box by myself, no visitors, barely saw the guards. But, I stayed quiet, made no problems. Prison was overcrowded so I ended up with a cellmate, and I was glad to see him. It could have been Hannibal Lecter and I would have gave him a hug. He might have been a murderer but he was actually a decent guy. Him and his crew had knocked over some jewelry stores in Manhattan, last job went bad. He'd killed three cops, so he wasn't never getting out. Neither was his wife. Life in Bedford Hills." "That's where they was gonna send me if Ma hadn't got the jury to give me a Not Guilty verdict." I knew Becca had a tendency to get in trouble because beside the cheerleading pictures in the bodega, there was also a mugshot. "What did you do?" She gave a bitter chuckle again. "Unlike you, I killed someone. 2021, this fucking crackhead tried to rob the store. He shot the customer that was in there, old guy named Mickey, killed him. He used to live in your apartment. Tried to shoot me, too, but the gun jammed and I had the aluminum baseball bat under the counter. I just started swinging. He went down, but I jumped the counter, and hit him again. Blood lust is a real thing. Once I saw he was bleeding, I wanted to see more. I beat his brains out, literally, he was dead long before the cops ever got there. Bat looked like a toothpick when I was done. "They arrested me, and the DA himself showed up at my arraignment. Said self defense didn't apply, sent me straight up to Murder 2, requested I be denied bail because I had a passport and plenty of money so I was a flight risk. But we all knew the truth. He was still pissed that he hadn't been able to send Rossi away for longer, and I was the next best thing. Ma had to pull a lot of strings to make sure I still got my transfusions when I was in lockup. I was in Rikers for four months, had my eighteenth birthday sitting in the Singer Unit." "Goddamned patterns," I muttered, then raised my voice again. "You, me, and Antoni all got that in common, except he wasn't like us. He was already in prison. That's what the rose meant, turned eighteen in prison. Life sentence, triple murder." "He told you that?" She looked betrayed, so I was quick to answer. "No, the tattoos told me that. Google is my best friend, B. That's what the skull and crossbones, and the coffins on his arm meant." She swallowed, and nodded again. "But, I moved down," I continued. "Went to orange when they moved me to Gen Pop, and I had friends waiting for me. Marco was very appreciative of me keeping quiet about my source at trial, so outside Abuela Bogota's was where I hung out the most. But I had friends all over. My sister was smart. She always put way more in my account than I could spend, so whenever I heard that somebody needed something, I'd go to the canteen and buy it myself and pass it to 'em. Nobody had to owe me shit. All I wanted was to be left alone, so I had people watching my back from all sides. I ended up in blue, got moved to the dormitory, started working in the kitchen, ended up running it, cause I was a 'model prisoner.'" "You ever fool around with any of your cellmates?" Becca asked with a grin. "Cause I did." I gave an uncomfortable laugh. "I mean, yeah. 15 years is a long time to be alone. I don't consider myself bisexual even, but if somebody offers, you know…" I shrugged. "I think the word you're looking for is heteroflexible. That's how Antoni referred to himself. He had a thing for you, you know." That stopped me dead. "You're fucking with me, B." "Nope. He asked me once if I'd mind if he ever got the chance to hook up with you, and I told him no, as long as he didn't mind I still hooked up with my old girlfriends from high school. But he never asked you, said he loved you too much, was afraid of ruining your friendship." "Jesus Christ," I shook my head, finally decided I needed time to process that, and moved on. "But, my last year there, Covid hit, and, I volunteered to work in the infirmary, but pretty soon the infirmary was filled, they started keeping people in the hallway, and finally they just ended up leaving them in their beds, I was all over the place. People dropping like flies. Everytime someone coughed or sneezed, everbody'd get nervous. I been smoking since I was 16, so I cough my lungs out every morning. "People was looking at me like I was Death Incarnate. But I never caught it, not even once. And I was all around the sick, I was taking the bodies out to the truck outside the gate. Could've run but I didn't. Only had a few years left. It worked in my favor. They cut the last three years off my sentence, put me on supervised release and now, here I am, 36 years old, and just starting my adult life." "Rossi got let out of lockup right before lockdown, poor bastard. Me, him, and my Dad all quarantined at Ma's, but of course, you know, me and Dad was essential workers so at least I got to get out of the house everyday. I graduated early, at 16, been working seven days a week since." I glanced at the glass on the table. "So let's get back to your story." She shook her head, lips pursed again. "Uh-uh, you're not wasting anymore time. Take the blood, but first," she reached out, quicker than I could even register, and used her thumbs to set my broken nose back straight. I let out a yell, momentarily unable to see as my eyes filled with tears. "Jesus wept, Becca, fucking hell, goddamn." "Sorry. It would've hurt more if you'd known it was coming. Besides, you're a good looking guy, Tony, you don't wanna ruin your face." "Thanks, B," I muttered as I pressed the toilet paper back to my freshly bleeding nose, tears streaming down my cheeks. "Need a haircut though." "Nah, you oughta keep it. It's very The Dark Knight Joker, just black, not blonde and green." I laughed quietly. "Not sure that's the best association, B. A little too psychotic and violent." She raised an eyebrow at me. "Alright, alright. It's probably an accurate association, just a little less arson and murder." I sighed and looked at the scotch glass. "So how do I do this, B?" "Think about it like a tequila shot. Take the shot and then slip the guard in quick. Then sit back, try to relax." I nodded and grabbed the glass before I lost my nerve. I raised it in her direction. "Saluti." "Geonbae." She responded. |
2023.05.29 16:50 Panasit My Students Tried to Eat My Liver
I taught at a strict vocational college that forced students to wear uniforms and bow to elders. As someone who let students call him by his first name and played Valo with them, I was not surprised when my boss called me into his office. I was ready to defend myself, but I was hit with: “Are you aware that your students are descendants of a cannibal?”
Truthfully? Sort of. I knew that in 1600, colonists invaded the island and enslaved the natives. A pirate named Sur-Linyao slaughtered the colonists and became the island’s folk hero.
Murals and statues of Sur-Linyao were all over the island. His signature look was his very long tongue sticking out of his mouth. The symbol on his pirate flag was a six-dot triangle. Technically, Sur-Linyao didn't eat ALL of the colonists, just one organ. First, he tied each colonist to a tree. Sur-Linyao then cut out each man’s liver and ate it raw with chili paste while staring into the person’s eyes. Sur-Linyao then threw that bleeding and squirming colonist into a dirty shallow pond, where Komodo dragons, attracted to the blood, devoured the victim alive.
The school rector handed me a photograph. It showed a male Westerner smiling while kicking a statue of Sur-Linyao while two women cheered him on. The three in the photo were humanitarian workers. Traces of candle wax at the base of Sur-Linyao’s statue showed that the islanders worshipped the liver-eating pirate, and for some reason, the workers felt they needed to do something about that. The three thought that their 6 months long relationship-building with natives on the island earned them enough goodwill for them to get away with that kind of stunt. Just a few hours after the photo was taken, the hacked body parts of all three were found scattered all over the beach. Their livers were missing.
The rector then stared right at me, preparing me for his next sentence. “Before you think that I’m a racist who is prejudging the modern-day natives as liver-eating savages based on what their ancestors did hundreds of years ago, you should know that the killings happened in 2017. To put things in perspective, the Nintendo Switch was already out.”
The rector then revealed that he called me into his office to ask me about an incident a day before.
There was a report that a White man with a goatee whistled at a native girl inside a convenience store on the south side of the island. He asked if that was me.
I was shocked. That was the reason he called me in here? I told him no. Apparently, there were only about 30 Caucasians on this island of 20,000 people, and only a few had a goatee. The rector then told me that a cop and the girl’s father and an older brother went to my dorm to look for me but I wasn’t there.
After seeing the look of horror on my face, wondering what would have happened if I was at the dorm, the rector told me not to panic and that he will talk to the cop and the girl’s family on my behalf. The rector ended our meeting with, “Just be careful AJ. We are the minority here. I hope to god you know what that means.”
For the past few classes, I started letting my students analyze Western media and culture. Thanks to globalization, these island kids watched and played the same media content as others their age around the world: Stranger Things, MCU, Fortnite, etc. As their teacher, I was often asked to comment on controversial topics like: “AJ, what do you think about a Neo-Nazi being punched before he does anything?” “AJ, what do you think about Black Lives Matter?” “AJ, what do you think about Go Woke Go Broke?” “AJ, what do you think about Don’t-Say-Gay-Bill?”
My answer was always to not ask me what I think, but for them to gather information from various sources and come to their own conclusion. Since more than ⅔ of the class were teenage males, their views were… not very much aligned with mine. But even though I disagreed with them, I felt like we had a healthy discussion.
I then noticed a student, Stephanie, seemed very unhappy as she shoved her notebook into her bag at the end of class. “You know I used to love your class. But I think these past few classes were shits.”
I was confused. Stephanie was one of my best students. She always sat in front and answered all questions correctly last semester. I asked her right away what was wrong.
“Is it going to kill you to just outright say that racism is wrong, misogyny is wrong, homophobia is wrong, and Naziism is wrong? Why does it have to always have to be a healthy debate?” I was shocked by her response. I told her that I don’t think a teacher should just outright tell students what to think, especially when it comes to social issues.
I mean, of course, I think racism, misogyny, Naziism, and homophobia are wrong. But I guess I would feel like I was brainwashing the students if I just tell them: this is what you must believe.
Stephanie scoffed. “Well, now Benny and his gang think that you approved of their homophobia and misogyny. You didn’t want to correct them not because you are this free-thinker, but in reality you just want them to think that you are a “too cool to care” edge lord just like them, right? Do you think the disenfranchised people enjoy watching others debate whether or not they should have the right to exist and feel safe? How would you feel if one day the island natives have a healthy debate about whether you should live or die?” Stephanie then stormed out.
Needless to say, I was not in a good mood that evening. I took it out on the students playing survivors while I was playing as a killer on Dead by Daylight. After getting slaughtered the students were not happy. “AJ, why were you tunneling me?”
A student named Benny asked after I sacrificed him within fifteen minutes. I thought that was rich coming from Benny, who, as a killer, only played Leatherface and Facecamp-ed all his victims the entire match. My response was snarky. “Benny, why don’t you try hiding like the other survivors instead of running around the map like a decapitated chicken?” The other students laughed. Benny didn’t respond right away, which made me feel kind of bad. Benny eventually responded after about two minutes. “I can’t wait to eat your liver, AJ.” My heart dropped to the floor. Did Benny just threaten me? I was waiting for the other students to call him out on that comment, but they were silent. After about thirty seconds, Benny continued, “I bet your liver tastes delicious, AJ. I bet it is so sweet and juicy I won’t even need a chili sauce.” The day after, I tried to spin that whole experience as a teachable moment. I decided the next class lecture was going to be about influential people and why people are so divided over them.
I listed some controversial ‘a hero to some, a villain to others’ figures for them.
Che Guevara Napoleon Edward Snowden
Hoping to have some more healthy debates. But the students do not have strong enough opinions about the figures that were so distant in relevance to them.
So, I did something that was probably the biggest mistake of my life. I asked them about the island's liver-eating hero, Sur-Linyao. Benny said that there’s nothing controversial about Sur-Linyao unless some douchebag wants to sympathize with the genocidal colonists he slaughtered.
I reminded Benny that if someone were to hear his comments in the previous class, they could accuse him of sympathizing with sexist racist homophobic Nazis too. Like an arrogant idiot, instead of leaving it at that, I decided it was healthy to hit them with some truth about Sur-Linyao.
Sur-Linyao was a horrifying villain to the islanders before the colonists arrived. He was a pirate after all. Sur-Linyao would regularly pillage several villages on the island, killing several innocent people in the process. Seeing the six-dots triangle jolly-roger from the distance must have been a nightmare for the islanders at the time.
And Sur-Linyao didn’t kill the colonists out of the goodness of his heart. There were pieces of evidence that showed Sur-Linyao worked with the colonists for years, and in the end, betrayed the colonists just because he wanted to rob them. Benny shook his head. He told me that several people in this class were direct descendants of Sur-Linyao, including him. I chuckled, thinking that he just WISHED he was a descendant of Sur-Linyao. But Benny said he could prove it.
More than half of the male students in the class stood up. They slightly tilted their head down but their eyes kept on looking forward, staring at me. Suddenly, their tongue started to slither out of their mouth. The tongues were too long, longer than a foot, but it was not the length that unsettled me, but the way it wiggled out of each of their mouth as if they were separate creatures. I was horrified looking at the dozen students standing in front of me, staring at me with their long tongues dangling out.
Benny then said, “Do you know what the six-dots triangle means, AJ? It means that the man seeing it was about to lose his liver.” I always parked my car a bit further away from the school because I didn’t want to fight with other faculty members over the parking space underneath the building. Besides, I didn’t mind walking a bit since there was a nice view of the ocean. As I was getting out of the car, I saw that someone painted the six-dots triangle on an abandoned water tank in the middle of the field. It was new, I didn’t see it the day before. And I was more than certain it was meant for me to see. No one parked where I parked and the surrounding area was abandoned.
I went and told the school administrator about this. They said that the six-dot triangle symbol was a symbol of Sur-Linyao who has pictures all over the island, including that symbol on his forehead.
It was not an intimidation symbol like a swastika and that I should relax.
Frustrated, I went back to my dorm. The view from my balcony was almost great, but there was a weird Ferris wheel-like structure blocking part of it. I didn’t even know what the circular structure was, but there seemed to be a bunch of neon light bulbs attached to it. I hoped it never got turned on or else I wouldn’t be able to sleep.
As I went into my closet, I found a T-shirt that was not mine. On it was a phrase, ‘I’m the Other White Meat’ on it. Why was this in my closet? Did the dry cleaner mix in someone else’s clothes with mine? Who would dry clean a T-shirt? I realized then that my room may have been broken into.
I was nervous and scared out of my mind. Am I being targeted or am I just overreacting? Is the entire island gaslighting me, or was it just Benny and his friends? Heck, it could have been Stephanie doing this, trying to teach me a lesson.
I opened Discord to see if some of my students want to play some games, but none of them were online, at least not in the group chat I set up. Some of them changed their profile picture to a six-dot triangle, including Benny.
That evening, I went to a gas station to fill up my car. As I was just about finished, I saw a truck coming down a steep hill, heading straight into the station. It was an old truck, but an intimidatingly large one, and loud. Then, I saw the six-dot triangle symbol painted on the side of the truck.
Logically, I shouldn’t have panicked. The symbol was a symbol of the island’s folk hero and the gas station is brightly lit and full of people. But out of nowhere, this feeling of dread overwhelmed me. The hair on my arm just rose straight up. I felt chills as if something was telling me to get out of the gas station now. I trusted my instinct and quickly started my bike and bolted out of there.
The next day, I walked past a hallway where a colleague named Beth was putting up a poster made by her students. The poster was showcasing English words that came from French. For some reason, there were also photos of faculty members floating alongside words like “Garage”, “à la carte”, and “Cache”.
I stopped in my track when I saw my photo with the word, ‘Foie Gras’ underneath it.
That word and my picture seemed so out of place being in its own little corner on the poster. I almost had a panic attack right there. Another threat? Are you kidding me? I thought. Beth asked me what was wrong. I decided to tell her.
That evening, I went to have dinner with Beth and her husband Jan on the beach. Just three White expats talking. I told them about what I had been experiencing in the past few days. The three dotted symbols painted where I parked, the comment from the student made on the game chat, the mysterious T-shirt, the racial profiling, all of it. “You are being very racist,” Beth said right at the very second I had just realized that I never really liked her.
She continued, “Don’t you get it, AJ? The students are threatening to eat your liver because they know you are a racist white man who thinks they were going to eat your liver. Kids will always try to exploit what they think the adults are afraid of. It’s your fault for showing them your cards.
Have you ever been outside of the States before? Do you not know how to be a minority? You came to an island paradise with so much special privilege but you suddenly have a male Karen racist nervous breakdown moment because you think that your teenage students are going to eat your liver? Quite frankly, I am very disappointed in you."
Her husband Jan tried to save the mood of the dinner. “So AJ, what are your plans for when the island shut off the power on July 7th?”
For one day every year, the island shut off all electricity for maintenance. Nothing electronic will work on that day, most importantly the ATM and the Internet. People, even the island natives, would go to the mainland for one day. There’s a problem with that idea. The ferry itself takes 3 hours to reach the mainland. And, with so many people thinking of doing the same thing, the line at the dock will be extremely long, both to the mainland in the morning, and back from the mainland in the evening.
For the last two years, I rode out the annual power outage by just chillaxing on the island. But this year, a Facebook post by Benny made me reconsider.
On the day of the power outage, I waited almost five hours in line to get my car onto the ferry. The ticket machine no longer works so everything was written on a notecard with pen and paper, which I found amusing. When the ticket man came to my car. He said to me that I have to wait for the next one. I looked at the ferry and it was not even half full. I asked him why and he pretended to suddenly not understand English.
I looked in my rearview mirror and then saw it, the truck with the six-dot triangle painted on its side only three cars behind me. How did it get there? I didn’t see it behind me before. I realized then that the truck wanted to get on the next ferry with me. I told the ticket holder that I will leave my car there and I will get on the leaving ferry with just me. Before he could say anything, I quickly maneuvered out of the line and parked in front of a cafe. The ticket boy said I couldn’t park there. I asked him if he owned the cafe, then quickly ran and jumped onto the suddenly departing Ferry.
After riding the ferry many times, I figured out that the top deck gave me the least motion sickness. I climbed up there and found a surprising person. Stephanie. She smiled at me, which made me so glad. I didn’t think what I did was something so bad that she would be holding a long grudge anyway. We made small talk, I asked her about what she was planning on doing for the day, etc. After a bit, I couldn’t help myself and showed her Benny’s Facebook post. I always thought she didn’t like Benny. I told her I was disappointed in him and was so shocked that he would threaten me like that.
I looked up at Stephanie and was shocked to see her eyes bulged out and her foot-long tongue dangling from her mouth. “Just like Voltaire, I may disagree with what Benny says, but I will defend to the death his right to say it." I was so scared, I backed away automatically. But, the teacher in me still corrected her and said that Voltaire didn’t say that. She laughed, “Good. Voltaire was a smart person. Only an idiot would say something like that.”
I moved down to the lowest level where the cars and the smoking passengers were. I tried not to fall asleep as I could feel the eyes of the other passengers staring at me.
The sound of people barfing almost made me want to barf myself. I went and sat on the edge of the front of the ferry. The wind blowing into my face did calm me a little. I was scared and frustrated. I wondered if I should just never go back to the island after reaching the mainland.
After looking at my watch and realizing that it had been three hours, I looked out the window and saw what made my soul leave my body. We were heading to the island? I didn’t even realize we had turned around.
I asked the ferry driver what was going on. He said there was a storm coming and he has to head back. Besides, it was already close to 5 PM, and the power should be coming back on soon.
I was extremely angry that I was about to be back on the island. Stephanie was nowhere to be found on the ferry also. Since I was farsighted, I could see the tires of my car were slashed.
There were also a couple of men standing there doing nothing, blocking my path toward my car. There was no longer any doubt in my mind that the natives were planning to do something to me. I was targeted and was about to be beaten or killed for whatever reason.
I surprised them all by jumping from the ferry before it was properly docked and sprinting in the opposite direction of where my car was. I climbed up the steep hills next to the road leading to the dock and disappeared into the woods The light was not coming back on and it was getting dark.
I was shaking in fear but I had to calm myself so I could think of the next move with a clear head. I wondered if Beth and Jan came back from the mainland yet. I could ask them to use their boat or at least hide me, and if they say no, at this point, I was at a level of desperation where I was willing to just cause chaos until they let me. On my way to their house, I had to pass my dorm. I considered going to gather some of my things until I saw something moving in the dark.
I almost peed my pants from fright when I saw a floating pair of eyeballs approaching my dorm. Despite everything else being in complete darkness, the eyes of a person and his dangling red tongue were glowing in the dark. I had never seen anything like this. Several more pairs of eyeballs and long red tongues emerged from the dark woods.
I couldn’t tell if the floating eyeballs and tongue belonged to Benny or any of my students, but they were right outside my dorm. As my eyes started to get used to the darkness and started to see shapes, I could see that they were each holding a machete. I quietly made my way to Beth and Jan’s house. When I got to their boathouse, there were flies everywhere. I tried to brush them away, but I could feel the thickness of the swarm. I felt like I was touching a bunch of floating chunks of meat.
I saw their boat at the dock. So did they come back? But why wouldn’t they turn on their boat’s light? I finally decided to use my phone flashlight to help me search for the boat key inside the boat house. I didn’t use my phone earlier because I was trying to conserve battery and also I didn’t want to draw attention to where I was. As soon as I shined the phone’s flashlight inside the boathouse, I was shocked to find the hacked-up heads of Beth, Jan, and the school’s rector covered in flies. Suddenly, I heard a wood creaking sound coming from outside. I quickly grabbed the boat key and jumped into the couple’s speed boat.
I hurriedly start the boat and just drove off, not caring about anything else. I used my phone’s compass to find the direction towards the mainland and I just kept going.
Suddenly, lights came back on the island. It shined brightly behind me as a nuclear bomb had just been detonated. I couldn’t help but look back, and then I saw it: a giant face formed by the neon lights, making the entire island look like it had a demonic face. The circular Ferris-wheel-like structure that was outside my dorm’s balcony was part of one of the giant face’s eyes.
I told myself to just ignore it and kept on driving. It was their world and they didn’t want me in it. I could do nothing but kept on going into the darkness.
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Truthfully? Sort of. I knew that in 1600, colonists invaded the island and enslaved the natives. A pirate named Sur-Linyao slaughtered the colonists and became the island’s folk hero.
Murals and statues of Sur-Linyao were all over the island. His signature look was his very long tongue sticking out of his mouth. The symbol on his pirate flag was a six-dot triangle. Technically, Sur-Linyao didn't eat ALL of the colonists, just one organ. First, he tied each colonist to a tree. Sur-Linyao then cut out each man’s liver and ate it raw with chili paste while staring into the person’s eyes. Sur-Linyao then threw that bleeding and squirming colonist into a dirty shallow pond, where Komodo dragons, attracted to the blood, devoured the victim alive.
The school rector handed me a photograph. It showed a male Westerner smiling while kicking a statue of Sur-Linyao while two women cheered him on. The three in the photo were humanitarian workers. Traces of candle wax at the base of Sur-Linyao’s statue showed that the islanders worshipped the liver-eating pirate, and for some reason, the workers felt they needed to do something about that. The three thought that their 6 months long relationship-building with natives on the island earned them enough goodwill for them to get away with that kind of stunt. Just a few hours after the photo was taken, the hacked body parts of all three were found scattered all over the beach. Their livers were missing.
The rector then stared right at me, preparing me for his next sentence. “Before you think that I’m a racist who is prejudging the modern-day natives as liver-eating savages based on what their ancestors did hundreds of years ago, you should know that the killings happened in 2017. To put things in perspective, the Nintendo Switch was already out.”
The rector then revealed that he called me into his office to ask me about an incident a day before.
There was a report that a White man with a goatee whistled at a native girl inside a convenience store on the south side of the island. He asked if that was me.
I was shocked. That was the reason he called me in here? I told him no. Apparently, there were only about 30 Caucasians on this island of 20,000 people, and only a few had a goatee. The rector then told me that a cop and the girl’s father and an older brother went to my dorm to look for me but I wasn’t there.
After seeing the look of horror on my face, wondering what would have happened if I was at the dorm, the rector told me not to panic and that he will talk to the cop and the girl’s family on my behalf. The rector ended our meeting with, “Just be careful AJ. We are the minority here. I hope to god you know what that means.”
For the past few classes, I started letting my students analyze Western media and culture. Thanks to globalization, these island kids watched and played the same media content as others their age around the world: Stranger Things, MCU, Fortnite, etc. As their teacher, I was often asked to comment on controversial topics like: “AJ, what do you think about a Neo-Nazi being punched before he does anything?” “AJ, what do you think about Black Lives Matter?” “AJ, what do you think about Go Woke Go Broke?” “AJ, what do you think about Don’t-Say-Gay-Bill?”
My answer was always to not ask me what I think, but for them to gather information from various sources and come to their own conclusion. Since more than ⅔ of the class were teenage males, their views were… not very much aligned with mine. But even though I disagreed with them, I felt like we had a healthy discussion.
I then noticed a student, Stephanie, seemed very unhappy as she shoved her notebook into her bag at the end of class. “You know I used to love your class. But I think these past few classes were shits.”
I was confused. Stephanie was one of my best students. She always sat in front and answered all questions correctly last semester. I asked her right away what was wrong.
“Is it going to kill you to just outright say that racism is wrong, misogyny is wrong, homophobia is wrong, and Naziism is wrong? Why does it have to always have to be a healthy debate?” I was shocked by her response. I told her that I don’t think a teacher should just outright tell students what to think, especially when it comes to social issues.
I mean, of course, I think racism, misogyny, Naziism, and homophobia are wrong. But I guess I would feel like I was brainwashing the students if I just tell them: this is what you must believe.
Stephanie scoffed. “Well, now Benny and his gang think that you approved of their homophobia and misogyny. You didn’t want to correct them not because you are this free-thinker, but in reality you just want them to think that you are a “too cool to care” edge lord just like them, right? Do you think the disenfranchised people enjoy watching others debate whether or not they should have the right to exist and feel safe? How would you feel if one day the island natives have a healthy debate about whether you should live or die?” Stephanie then stormed out.
Needless to say, I was not in a good mood that evening. I took it out on the students playing survivors while I was playing as a killer on Dead by Daylight. After getting slaughtered the students were not happy. “AJ, why were you tunneling me?”
A student named Benny asked after I sacrificed him within fifteen minutes. I thought that was rich coming from Benny, who, as a killer, only played Leatherface and Facecamp-ed all his victims the entire match. My response was snarky. “Benny, why don’t you try hiding like the other survivors instead of running around the map like a decapitated chicken?” The other students laughed. Benny didn’t respond right away, which made me feel kind of bad. Benny eventually responded after about two minutes. “I can’t wait to eat your liver, AJ.” My heart dropped to the floor. Did Benny just threaten me? I was waiting for the other students to call him out on that comment, but they were silent. After about thirty seconds, Benny continued, “I bet your liver tastes delicious, AJ. I bet it is so sweet and juicy I won’t even need a chili sauce.” The day after, I tried to spin that whole experience as a teachable moment. I decided the next class lecture was going to be about influential people and why people are so divided over them.
I listed some controversial ‘a hero to some, a villain to others’ figures for them.
Che Guevara Napoleon Edward Snowden
Hoping to have some more healthy debates. But the students do not have strong enough opinions about the figures that were so distant in relevance to them.
So, I did something that was probably the biggest mistake of my life. I asked them about the island's liver-eating hero, Sur-Linyao. Benny said that there’s nothing controversial about Sur-Linyao unless some douchebag wants to sympathize with the genocidal colonists he slaughtered.
I reminded Benny that if someone were to hear his comments in the previous class, they could accuse him of sympathizing with sexist racist homophobic Nazis too. Like an arrogant idiot, instead of leaving it at that, I decided it was healthy to hit them with some truth about Sur-Linyao.
Sur-Linyao was a horrifying villain to the islanders before the colonists arrived. He was a pirate after all. Sur-Linyao would regularly pillage several villages on the island, killing several innocent people in the process. Seeing the six-dots triangle jolly-roger from the distance must have been a nightmare for the islanders at the time.
And Sur-Linyao didn’t kill the colonists out of the goodness of his heart. There were pieces of evidence that showed Sur-Linyao worked with the colonists for years, and in the end, betrayed the colonists just because he wanted to rob them. Benny shook his head. He told me that several people in this class were direct descendants of Sur-Linyao, including him. I chuckled, thinking that he just WISHED he was a descendant of Sur-Linyao. But Benny said he could prove it.
More than half of the male students in the class stood up. They slightly tilted their head down but their eyes kept on looking forward, staring at me. Suddenly, their tongue started to slither out of their mouth. The tongues were too long, longer than a foot, but it was not the length that unsettled me, but the way it wiggled out of each of their mouth as if they were separate creatures. I was horrified looking at the dozen students standing in front of me, staring at me with their long tongues dangling out.
Benny then said, “Do you know what the six-dots triangle means, AJ? It means that the man seeing it was about to lose his liver.” I always parked my car a bit further away from the school because I didn’t want to fight with other faculty members over the parking space underneath the building. Besides, I didn’t mind walking a bit since there was a nice view of the ocean. As I was getting out of the car, I saw that someone painted the six-dots triangle on an abandoned water tank in the middle of the field. It was new, I didn’t see it the day before. And I was more than certain it was meant for me to see. No one parked where I parked and the surrounding area was abandoned.
I went and told the school administrator about this. They said that the six-dot triangle symbol was a symbol of Sur-Linyao who has pictures all over the island, including that symbol on his forehead.
It was not an intimidation symbol like a swastika and that I should relax.
Frustrated, I went back to my dorm. The view from my balcony was almost great, but there was a weird Ferris wheel-like structure blocking part of it. I didn’t even know what the circular structure was, but there seemed to be a bunch of neon light bulbs attached to it. I hoped it never got turned on or else I wouldn’t be able to sleep.
As I went into my closet, I found a T-shirt that was not mine. On it was a phrase, ‘I’m the Other White Meat’ on it. Why was this in my closet? Did the dry cleaner mix in someone else’s clothes with mine? Who would dry clean a T-shirt? I realized then that my room may have been broken into.
I was nervous and scared out of my mind. Am I being targeted or am I just overreacting? Is the entire island gaslighting me, or was it just Benny and his friends? Heck, it could have been Stephanie doing this, trying to teach me a lesson.
I opened Discord to see if some of my students want to play some games, but none of them were online, at least not in the group chat I set up. Some of them changed their profile picture to a six-dot triangle, including Benny.
That evening, I went to a gas station to fill up my car. As I was just about finished, I saw a truck coming down a steep hill, heading straight into the station. It was an old truck, but an intimidatingly large one, and loud. Then, I saw the six-dot triangle symbol painted on the side of the truck.
Logically, I shouldn’t have panicked. The symbol was a symbol of the island’s folk hero and the gas station is brightly lit and full of people. But out of nowhere, this feeling of dread overwhelmed me. The hair on my arm just rose straight up. I felt chills as if something was telling me to get out of the gas station now. I trusted my instinct and quickly started my bike and bolted out of there.
The next day, I walked past a hallway where a colleague named Beth was putting up a poster made by her students. The poster was showcasing English words that came from French. For some reason, there were also photos of faculty members floating alongside words like “Garage”, “à la carte”, and “Cache”.
I stopped in my track when I saw my photo with the word, ‘Foie Gras’ underneath it.
That word and my picture seemed so out of place being in its own little corner on the poster. I almost had a panic attack right there. Another threat? Are you kidding me? I thought. Beth asked me what was wrong. I decided to tell her.
That evening, I went to have dinner with Beth and her husband Jan on the beach. Just three White expats talking. I told them about what I had been experiencing in the past few days. The three dotted symbols painted where I parked, the comment from the student made on the game chat, the mysterious T-shirt, the racial profiling, all of it. “You are being very racist,” Beth said right at the very second I had just realized that I never really liked her.
She continued, “Don’t you get it, AJ? The students are threatening to eat your liver because they know you are a racist white man who thinks they were going to eat your liver. Kids will always try to exploit what they think the adults are afraid of. It’s your fault for showing them your cards.
Have you ever been outside of the States before? Do you not know how to be a minority? You came to an island paradise with so much special privilege but you suddenly have a male Karen racist nervous breakdown moment because you think that your teenage students are going to eat your liver? Quite frankly, I am very disappointed in you."
Her husband Jan tried to save the mood of the dinner. “So AJ, what are your plans for when the island shut off the power on July 7th?”
For one day every year, the island shut off all electricity for maintenance. Nothing electronic will work on that day, most importantly the ATM and the Internet. People, even the island natives, would go to the mainland for one day. There’s a problem with that idea. The ferry itself takes 3 hours to reach the mainland. And, with so many people thinking of doing the same thing, the line at the dock will be extremely long, both to the mainland in the morning, and back from the mainland in the evening.
For the last two years, I rode out the annual power outage by just chillaxing on the island. But this year, a Facebook post by Benny made me reconsider.
“I just want to say, my favorite teacher is AJ. He surely delivered. And soon I will de-liver him.”Jan said that he and Beth will drive their speedboat to the mainland, which is 5 times faster than the ferry. They are also taking the rector with them. Judging from the way Beth glared at me, I don’t think she will say yes if I asked her if I could come too.
On the day of the power outage, I waited almost five hours in line to get my car onto the ferry. The ticket machine no longer works so everything was written on a notecard with pen and paper, which I found amusing. When the ticket man came to my car. He said to me that I have to wait for the next one. I looked at the ferry and it was not even half full. I asked him why and he pretended to suddenly not understand English.
I looked in my rearview mirror and then saw it, the truck with the six-dot triangle painted on its side only three cars behind me. How did it get there? I didn’t see it behind me before. I realized then that the truck wanted to get on the next ferry with me. I told the ticket holder that I will leave my car there and I will get on the leaving ferry with just me. Before he could say anything, I quickly maneuvered out of the line and parked in front of a cafe. The ticket boy said I couldn’t park there. I asked him if he owned the cafe, then quickly ran and jumped onto the suddenly departing Ferry.
After riding the ferry many times, I figured out that the top deck gave me the least motion sickness. I climbed up there and found a surprising person. Stephanie. She smiled at me, which made me so glad. I didn’t think what I did was something so bad that she would be holding a long grudge anyway. We made small talk, I asked her about what she was planning on doing for the day, etc. After a bit, I couldn’t help myself and showed her Benny’s Facebook post. I always thought she didn’t like Benny. I told her I was disappointed in him and was so shocked that he would threaten me like that.
I looked up at Stephanie and was shocked to see her eyes bulged out and her foot-long tongue dangling from her mouth. “Just like Voltaire, I may disagree with what Benny says, but I will defend to the death his right to say it." I was so scared, I backed away automatically. But, the teacher in me still corrected her and said that Voltaire didn’t say that. She laughed, “Good. Voltaire was a smart person. Only an idiot would say something like that.”
I moved down to the lowest level where the cars and the smoking passengers were. I tried not to fall asleep as I could feel the eyes of the other passengers staring at me.
The sound of people barfing almost made me want to barf myself. I went and sat on the edge of the front of the ferry. The wind blowing into my face did calm me a little. I was scared and frustrated. I wondered if I should just never go back to the island after reaching the mainland.
After looking at my watch and realizing that it had been three hours, I looked out the window and saw what made my soul leave my body. We were heading to the island? I didn’t even realize we had turned around.
I asked the ferry driver what was going on. He said there was a storm coming and he has to head back. Besides, it was already close to 5 PM, and the power should be coming back on soon.
I was extremely angry that I was about to be back on the island. Stephanie was nowhere to be found on the ferry also. Since I was farsighted, I could see the tires of my car were slashed.
There were also a couple of men standing there doing nothing, blocking my path toward my car. There was no longer any doubt in my mind that the natives were planning to do something to me. I was targeted and was about to be beaten or killed for whatever reason.
I surprised them all by jumping from the ferry before it was properly docked and sprinting in the opposite direction of where my car was. I climbed up the steep hills next to the road leading to the dock and disappeared into the woods The light was not coming back on and it was getting dark.
I was shaking in fear but I had to calm myself so I could think of the next move with a clear head. I wondered if Beth and Jan came back from the mainland yet. I could ask them to use their boat or at least hide me, and if they say no, at this point, I was at a level of desperation where I was willing to just cause chaos until they let me. On my way to their house, I had to pass my dorm. I considered going to gather some of my things until I saw something moving in the dark.
I almost peed my pants from fright when I saw a floating pair of eyeballs approaching my dorm. Despite everything else being in complete darkness, the eyes of a person and his dangling red tongue were glowing in the dark. I had never seen anything like this. Several more pairs of eyeballs and long red tongues emerged from the dark woods.
I couldn’t tell if the floating eyeballs and tongue belonged to Benny or any of my students, but they were right outside my dorm. As my eyes started to get used to the darkness and started to see shapes, I could see that they were each holding a machete. I quietly made my way to Beth and Jan’s house. When I got to their boathouse, there were flies everywhere. I tried to brush them away, but I could feel the thickness of the swarm. I felt like I was touching a bunch of floating chunks of meat.
I saw their boat at the dock. So did they come back? But why wouldn’t they turn on their boat’s light? I finally decided to use my phone flashlight to help me search for the boat key inside the boat house. I didn’t use my phone earlier because I was trying to conserve battery and also I didn’t want to draw attention to where I was. As soon as I shined the phone’s flashlight inside the boathouse, I was shocked to find the hacked-up heads of Beth, Jan, and the school’s rector covered in flies. Suddenly, I heard a wood creaking sound coming from outside. I quickly grabbed the boat key and jumped into the couple’s speed boat.
I hurriedly start the boat and just drove off, not caring about anything else. I used my phone’s compass to find the direction towards the mainland and I just kept going.
Suddenly, lights came back on the island. It shined brightly behind me as a nuclear bomb had just been detonated. I couldn’t help but look back, and then I saw it: a giant face formed by the neon lights, making the entire island look like it had a demonic face. The circular Ferris-wheel-like structure that was outside my dorm’s balcony was part of one of the giant face’s eyes.
I told myself to just ignore it and kept on driving. It was their world and they didn’t want me in it. I could do nothing but kept on going into the darkness.
2023.05.29 16:31 SleeplessFromSundown The Séance Club - The End of Windhaven Manor [Final]
This post is the final part of this story. Sorry it has taken so long to get through. And I'm not sure I even understand all of it yet. If you're new, this all started here. The previous part (Part 7) is here. Thank you to everyone who followed along.
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“Do you see her?” I asked in a meek voice.
“You mean that girl in black?” Harvey answered.
It was her, in the flesh. Her lips parted and formed a malevolent smile. Her dark eyes fixed on mine. My legs turned to solid lead. My feet refused to move. The anxiousness to reach Parker and Juliet and Beth in the cellar crumbled like the wood turning to ash behind us. She demanded my attention.
A hand rocked my shoulder. Harvey. I pushed him away.
“You have to go. Help them. I’ll take care of her.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
A mirage of Harvey flitted past Ally and disappeared into the kitchen. Everything blurred, everything but her.
She tilted her head to one side and bridged the gap between us with four slow and deliberate steps. She pushed her right hand out from a long sleeve and ran the black painted nail of her index finger across my cheek, the smooth lacquer cold against my skin. I shuddered as the chill spread like ice creeping up a window.
“It is such a shame to be losing you so soon. We’ve only just met, and yet I feel like we’ve known each other our whole lives. Do you feel it too?”
I shook my head. “Let me go.”
“We’re past that now Sam. I considered if we could coexist, you and I. It gave me a thrill knowing there is another one out there like me. But you insist on meddling with my work.”
“You mean locking all those girls in that filthy dungeon where they met their end? And Jane here.”
“The work is sometimes unpleasant.”
“But the pay is good?”
“This isn’t about money Sam. You and I are the same. The pain you felt from not fitting in. The lonely nights lying awake, wishing you could be like everyone else. The stares and the whispers. The rejection from those who are supposed to love us the most. I too know. But where you hid, I searched out a path where my talents were appreciated and rewarded. You don’t hate me Sam. You hate yourself for not thriving like I have.”
“Thriving? Is that what you call it?”
“By all measures yes. I am good at what I do. The best. The only. Or so I thought. And then there is you. A naïve, sheltered little boy who can barely put on his own pants in the morning. It is such a shame. And these so-called friends of yours, that was always doomed to failure. Oh and if you harbour any thoughts of them escaping, know that we blocked the little secret entrance the stable boy showed you. There’s no escape except through the fire. When they pick through the ashes of this building they will find their bones, and yours. Is this how you imagined it turning out?”
I flexed the muscles in my legs, but they refused to move. Ally smiled.
“It’s useless now Sam.”
I heard the faint whisper of Juliet’s voice in my head. She pleaded with me. Come on Sam, you can do this. I remembered the last encounter with Ally, outside the wall separating Windhaven Manor from the world. Ally had put me in the white room. I had broken free. I had overcome her power once. I had to do it again.
I took a deep breath in through my nose and cried out and willed my feet to move. Electricity coursed through my body and I directed it down to the floor. My left heel separated from the floor and that set the whole thing in motion. The dam burst. I lurched forwards and overbalanced and sprawled to the floor.
Ally crouched beside me and chuckled. “Some would call it a tragedy for a child to die so soon after learning to walk.”
I looked back towards the front of the house. The fire burned hot. Thick black smoke circled up the huge open space of the gallery. Portraits hanging on the wall bubbled and curled as flames consumed them.
A figure appeared at the foot of the staircase. The spectre of Crown. The goons had dragged his lifeless corpse out of the house, but stood before me was the spirit with unfinished business. The ugliness of his actions showed through now in death. His skin was sallow and wrinkled. His head too big for his body and his teeth yellowed. A grotesque monster made worse by his mortal demise.
Ally whispered in my ear. “He knows it was your meddling that brought about his end. I’ll leave you two alone.”
She brushed my cheek with the back of her hand and stood. As she walked away leather straps materialised out of thin air and pinned my body to the floor.
The spectre of Crown grew before me, swelling in size until he had to crouch to stay below the chandelier. He clenched his fists and with burning red eyes let out a guttural growl that skipped my ears and penetrated directly into my skull.
I tried to pull my hands to my ears but they would not come. It made no difference. The roar coming from Crown stabbed the inside of my head like a thousand daggers. I lifted my head and the growl grew to a scream that ricocheted around the inside of my skull. I couldn’t take much more. It felt as though my head would explode.
Guilt bubbled up and mingled with the fear and I shrank into the floor and wished for it to swallow me. They were down there, the only friends I had known, banging against a locked door denying their escape. I sobbed. I sobbed like I had the night my parents turned from me.
In the pit of my stomach something else grew. A seed of frustration born of a lifetime existing in a world that didn’t make sense. A world where I had no idea who I was and what I could or should do. A world in which I hid. I couldn’t do that now.
Juliet’s voice as clear as day, cutting through the racket of Crown’s scream. Do it Sam. I gritted my teeth and electricity buzzed somewhere deep inside, at first dull and imperceptible, and then amplified and resonating until it peaked into a deafening roar.
Above Crown the bulbs in the chandelier glowed white. He swivelled his head and watched them dumbly.
I concentrated, felt the energy forming an extra limb. Like the arms and legs of a newborn it flailed spasmodically. I fought to control it, to turn it to my will. I focussed on the straps pinning me to the floor. The electricity fed into the straps and turned them hot. For a moment I feared they would scold my skin, and then in a moment of release they split and flung upwards.
I picked myself up off the floor and faced the spectre of Crown. Like a spent boxer throwing one final punch I threw out my hands and screamed, willing Crown to be quiet and be still. Demanding he be so.
The floor shook. The dozens of bulbs in the chandelier shattered. The giant spectre of Crown diminished and the screaming inside my head softened until it was no more. Crown’s eyes opened wide as his mouth stitched together and his arms wrenched behind his back. I flicked my hand like I was swatting a fly and Crown flew into the corner of the room and slumped to the floor.
I bent over and rested my hands on my knees. My muscles ached, like I had run a marathon. Shadows played on the floor. I sucked in air and smoke and spluttered and coughed.
In the hallway the silhouette of Ally. She turned and shook her head. The heat of the fire intensified and crackled at my skin. If we were to make our escape, she could not be here to block us. I straightened and strode towards her.
I cycled furiously through the events of the last few days, searching for something to defeat Ally. I had to do to her what she had done to me. The time for running and breaking her spells was through.
I closed my eyes and concentrated. I stripped away everything except for the two of us. The crackle of the fire replaced with silence. The smell of the smoke disappeared. The heat washed away. One by one I shut down all my senses. When I opened my eyes a monotone room of white. Sterile calm had replaced the burning insides of Windhaven Manor.
Her eyes scanned the room and she giggled. “Cheap tricks won’t get you far,” she said. “And you learned this one from me.”
The white rippled as if the walls were made of water. She was fighting it. I concentrated, focussing all my energy, all my will. The ripples slowed and then stopped.
“You’re a fast learner,” she said. “But I have been doing this for more than a weekend.”
Strips of colour permeated the white. A rectangle of tile appeared on the floor. And then some blue from the curtain. Enough of a smouldering wall to let in some smoke. The acrid smell reached my nose and I spluttered. As each wedge of colour appeared, I filled it back in white. But it was a sinking ship and the pail I held to bail out the water would not be enough.
Ally grunted under her breath. A grunt of frustration. The white room shook and made a sound like a train bearing down.
I had to bind her. I raised my palm and coils of rope rose from the ground and oscillated like snakes around her. She swatted them away and wrenched them from the ground and flung them at my feet, limp and unmoving.
“It won’t be that easy,” she sneered.
My arms jerked behind my back. She bound my wrists and then my ankles. She pursed her lips and blew as if extinguishing a single candle on a birthday cake, and it was enough to send me to the floor. I couldn’t do this on my own. I needed help.
I shut my eyes and concentrated my energy not on my bindings, but on the woods at the back of Windhaven Manor. On the girls who escaped the dungeon and now roamed the forest, watching the house burn from behind the barrier Ally constructed.
I fed the energy coursing through my body into the giant snowdome structure until it burned hot and then like the globes in the chandelier, it cracked and exploded into the night sky. The spirits of the girls watched the shards disappear and then strode towards the Manor.
I turned my attention to the tiny room beside the pantry, where Jane Laughlin lay bound to the bed. I stood beside her and lay my hand on the shackles binding her to the bed. She shuddered as the mask came free from her mouth and then stood as the shackles broke.
I opened my eyes and the white of the room flickered off and then back on again like bad reception on a television. I had to keep the white walls up long enough for them to draw near. For them to be ready when the façade fell. Ally strode towards me, exuding confidence.
“You can’t beat me Sam.”
Ally squeezed her hands into fists and screamed. In a burst of energy she wiped the white room clear and we were back in the burning house. The air was thick with smoke. Behind me a timber beam tumbled from the ceiling and crashed to the floor. The heat and smoke sucked the moisture from my insides and I heaved out a series of coughs.
Ally opened her eyes and smiled. She had bested me. But then they came. The girls from the dungeon and Jane Laughlin surrounded her. The sum total off all the pain and hurt inflicted in this place. Everything Ally had worked to keep hidden from the world.
They lurched at Ally. She raised her hands and pushed them back one by one as they went for her. She spun on the spot, trying to keep them at bay. She could not hold them all back. The sheer weight of numbers overwhelmed. They leaned in and pushed their heads into hers and showed her what those men had done. Made her feel it. The fear and despair and anger of each individual stacked together and Ally crumpled to the floor holding her head.
“Make it stop,” she said.
They kept at her.
Jane Laughlin sidled over to the base of the stairs where Crown sat, bound and with his mouth stitched. She considered him, restrained and helpless on the floor as she had been. He fought with his restraints, and then whimpered, as she had. As I ran for the pantry and the wine cellar, the corridor filled with the muffled sound of his screams.
The door to the cellar stood open and I made the descent of the stairs in three leaps. The enclosed space already full with smoke. At the end of the long corridor leading outside, Parker and Harvey shouldered the door. Juliet and Beth screamed encouragement. The door would not budge.
“We can’t go that way,” I yelled.
They raced back up the long corridor. A sudden rush of emotion bubbled up to the surface. I was so happy to see them all still alive. My lower jaw rattled and my hands shook. I fought to hide it.
Beth reached me first. “Sam, you’re ok.”
I blubbered a response and took in a lung full of smoke. We had to get out.
The fire raged outside the kitchen door. A wave of flame climbed up and spread across the ceiling. A subtle cracking sound from above intensified and a chunk of the upstairs floor came crashing down through the ceiling, blocking the rear door. We couldn’t get out the back. The only way now was back through the house. A ball of flame whooshed through the doorway and I put my arm up too late, my eyebrows wilting in the heat.
We crouched together in the middle of the kitchen, lowering our heads to get the last of the remaining oxygen. Malicious red flames and choking black smoke surrounded us on all sides.
“Where do we go now?” Parker’s words came out between coughs. Tears streaked down his cheeks. Soot covered his brow. I wished I had an answer.
Then he was there, standing over Parker’s shoulder. Leon. With the protective bubble gone, he too was free to come in the Manor.
“The fire has not yet consumed the dining room. But you don’t have long.”
I looked vaguely in the direction of the kitchen door and blinked back the stinging from the smoke. “I don’t think we can find it in this.”
“Follow me.”
I pulled my shirt up over my head. “We have to go. The dining room, we can make it. All together on three.”
I shouted out the numbers, the sound drowned out by the roar of the fire. I grabbed Beth’s hand and yanked her into action. Leon led the way and I kept my eyes on his heels. Together we were a flurry of arms and legs bounding for the dining room. I gritted my teeth against the heat. We burst through the doorway and everything turned orange.
From below the sweater pulled tight down over my hair, I shot a glance over to the floor of the grand gallery where I had left Ally writhing on the floor. She was not there now. Nor were the spectres of the girls.
I followed Leon’s heels into the dining room. The great wooden table smouldered in the centre of the room. Brilliant orange flames consumed the thick curtains. Parker spotted his camera still atop the tripod and set to pulling the camera free before Harvey grabbed his arm and yelled something that sounded like ‘leave it’.
Harvey grabbed one of the heavy chairs with their high backs and velvet cushions and heaved it at the window in the back corner of the room. The chair disappeared into the darkness of the night and Harvey kicked at the glass shards left behind. Parker joined. We piled out the opening.
I drank in the fresh cool air of night, staggering over the narrow path beside the house and to the small strip of grass beyond. Parker collapsed beside me and pulled the laptop out from under his shirt. He tapped at the casing and for a moment a brief smile flashed across his face, but it did not last long. He wiped soot and sweat from his face with shaking hands.
Harvey checked us all in turn, like a parent fussing over their children. We had scrapes and bruises and our skin was red and raw, but we were alright. We had survived. He ran to the front of the house and came back with palms held out by his sides. The man in the black suit, the goons Ponytail and Beanie, and Ally were all gone, along with the black van and the BMW.
Huddled together, we watched the fire consume Windhaven Manor, bright reds and oranges lighting up the windows and thick black smoke tumbling into the purple haze of sky. It was almost morning, the horizon signalling the coming of the sun.
Leon stood apart on the grass. I went to him.
“Thank you for coming back for us.”
He shrugged. “It’s something. It isn’t enough to make up for the rest.”
“You saved our lives. And those girls, they had their chance to meet their tormentors. That’s something too.”
He nodded. “What happens now?”
I turned my head sideways. “I’m still learning how all this works.”
The red of the fire reflected in his eyes. “Me too. I might go for a walk in the woods. I always liked it out there.”
He glided across the lawn and entered the trees and was gone.
The sound of sirens fought with the crackle of the fire. The fire brigade and the police. I got to my feet and shuffled to the front of the Manor. The burnt out carcasses of our cars stood by the low height wall. Black soot smudged the stone façade above the windows and the doors.
By the oak tree on the ocean side of the house stood Jane Laughlin. She peered down into a hole dug at the base of the tree. A pale and withered hand poked up out of the dirt. Her hand. They had meant to remove the body, but had aborted the task and fled.
A fire truck appeared at the head of the driveway and then another. They sped down the gravel and came to a sliding stop. A lone police car followed. Harvey sidled over.
Jane looked to the horizon. Out on the cliff edge stood a figure in a red dress. She recognised her sister Kylie immediately and ran down the slope. The two sisters embraced in the first light of the sun. I turned to the whoosh of water through a hose from the fire trucks and when I turned back, the Laughlin sisters were gone.
The members of The Séance Club, which I now consider myself a part, sat together on the low-height stone wall as the firefighters extinguished the flames consuming Windhaven Manor. The house was quiet now. The nausea and vibration I had felt that first night replaced with calm.
The police stripped the compound clean for the best part of a week. They identified Kyle the sketch artist and Hugo from the teeth that survived the fire of the hovel built over the dungeon. Hugo’s wife lay on the back lawn where Beanie and Ponytail had left her. But as to specific evidence of the crimes that occurred, they could not find enough to put a case together.
The two fires and the disappearance of Crown made some headlines, but there wasn’t enough to hang anyone else. The police claimed publicly that there was no link between the fire at Windhaven Manor and the fire at the squalid residence over the back fence. At Harvey’s behest they searched the area with cadaver dogs for the remains of the girls, but they found nothing.
Parker turned his laptop over to the police. They identified the two goons, Ponytail and Beanie, low level thugs who had disappeared from the streets years earlier. Those in the know presumed them dead. It made tracing them almost impossible. Tracing their vehicles lead to a dead end.
The man in black the suit on the other hand might as well be a ghost. On him they found nothing. They have a face, but nothing else.
As for Ally, the girl somehow managed to always turn her face away from the cameras, as if she knew where they were.
I sat in a small room at the police station for three days with Harvey putting the pieces together. He showed me a photograph of an old and gaunt man with a bent back, the last owner of Windhaven Manor before it was sold after his death. He had to be the man with the bent back from the ceremony in the dungeon, but I could not be certain. I never saw his face. Of the faces I did see, we knew Crown and Kyle and Hugo, but the others were harder to pinpoint.
At the end of it all Harvey sighed. There was nothing more we could do. But we could rest on the knowledge that the key players in the ceremony were all now dead.
Questions nagged at me. Where was Ally and what was she doing? Would she try to find me? Who was she working for?
That was the biggest question of all. Who was at the top and pulling the strings? Harvey wasn’t giving up. He was a dog with a bone at the best of times, and now he had a taste of blood. He refused to go back to the police even after Crown’s departure, which he described as the removal of a cancerous limb.
Harvey called me after the dust settled on everything. I told him that the trail had gone cold and I had no idea where Ally was. For all I knew she had evaporated into thin air. Harvey thought it unlikely, and I agreed. He told me it was time for some old-fashioned detective work. The names of the goons would be a start.
And there was something else Harvey mentioned, something that I had almost forgotten. He had always believed that his investigation into the disappearance of the girls was the reason one of his colleagues was murdered. Crown confirmed as much in the bedroom right before he was shot. Harvey thinks there is something to it. Another thread to pull, and he has a hunch. For now he’s keeping his cards close to his chest until he has some proof. I almost pressed him on the issue but decided I’d rather put it all behind me.
The story made headlines in the local press for a while, but ultimately it fizzled into a non-story, quickly forgotten by a public with a short attention spans. We all waited for a reckoning from within the police ranks, but it never came. Harvey predicted that’s the way it would go, and he was proven right.
The one item they did recover was a gold necklace with a heart pendant. The necklace Jane Laughlin wore the night of her death. The police found it where the black van had parked. After a few days in the possession of the police, Harvey arranged to have the necklace released to the family of its former owner.
The following day Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin appeared on the local news, thanking the efforts of those who recovered the remains of their daughter. It was closure, though not the kind they had hoped for. Both their girls were dead.
A week later The Séance Club convened in Beth’s apartment. Parker and Juliet were already there when I arrived. It was cathartic to talk about the events at Windhaven Manor, to compare stories and scars. I guess that’s why they have the saying about a problem shared.
After a brief silence, Beth asked, “Are you going to talk to the parents of Jane and Kylie?”
I shook my head. “What will I tell them?”
“That their daughters found each other out by the cliff edge.”
“And what about the agony of their deaths? Should I tell them that too? Besides, it doesn’t feel right. None of this feels right to me yet. And what weight do my words hold over those of some Priest talking about how he knows their souls are at rest.”
“Because you really do know.”
I shrugged. “I can’t prove any of it.”
Truth was I had no idea how to integrate the things I could see and do into my life. From childhood all I had wanted was to be like everyone else. For people not to stare or whisper as I walked by. To find acceptance. Sitting with my three new friends at Beth’s tiny kitchen table, with our shared experience behind us, I finally had it. This could be the start of something.
Parker was already planning the next Séance Club trip. An abandoned farm up north with mysterious sightings going back centuries. Juliet was already on board. I told them to wait. I couldn’t jump back in right away.
I was the last to leave, Beth and I sipping mug after mug of coffee and sharing comfortable silence. When I sighed and told her I should go, she grabbed my arm.
“I’ve never had a real family, and then I found Juliet and Parker. The Séance Club became my family. Whatever happens we are there for each other. And we mean it when we say we want you to join.”
I thought about that all night, unable to sleep.
The next morning I called Parker.
An abandoned farm up north you say?
* * * *
I navigated to the narrow alley and checked the time. The Exchange should be open. It looked out of context in the Saturday morning light. No bright light spilling from the window. No surge of Friday night after work traffic.
I slipped in the front door. A lone man lifted upturned stools down from the bar. He had his back to me and I crept across the hardwood floor in the direction of the stairs down and the bathrooms.
The vibration swelled in my chest, but I did not fear it. A dull pain rose in the base of my skull, but I gritted my teeth. A man wearing a pair of rough leather shoes came from the other end of the corridor and stopped before me.
“Are you here to help?”
I nodded.
X
submitted by SleeplessFromSundown to nosleep [link] [comments]
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“Do you see her?” I asked in a meek voice.
“You mean that girl in black?” Harvey answered.
It was her, in the flesh. Her lips parted and formed a malevolent smile. Her dark eyes fixed on mine. My legs turned to solid lead. My feet refused to move. The anxiousness to reach Parker and Juliet and Beth in the cellar crumbled like the wood turning to ash behind us. She demanded my attention.
A hand rocked my shoulder. Harvey. I pushed him away.
“You have to go. Help them. I’ll take care of her.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
A mirage of Harvey flitted past Ally and disappeared into the kitchen. Everything blurred, everything but her.
She tilted her head to one side and bridged the gap between us with four slow and deliberate steps. She pushed her right hand out from a long sleeve and ran the black painted nail of her index finger across my cheek, the smooth lacquer cold against my skin. I shuddered as the chill spread like ice creeping up a window.
“It is such a shame to be losing you so soon. We’ve only just met, and yet I feel like we’ve known each other our whole lives. Do you feel it too?”
I shook my head. “Let me go.”
“We’re past that now Sam. I considered if we could coexist, you and I. It gave me a thrill knowing there is another one out there like me. But you insist on meddling with my work.”
“You mean locking all those girls in that filthy dungeon where they met their end? And Jane here.”
“The work is sometimes unpleasant.”
“But the pay is good?”
“This isn’t about money Sam. You and I are the same. The pain you felt from not fitting in. The lonely nights lying awake, wishing you could be like everyone else. The stares and the whispers. The rejection from those who are supposed to love us the most. I too know. But where you hid, I searched out a path where my talents were appreciated and rewarded. You don’t hate me Sam. You hate yourself for not thriving like I have.”
“Thriving? Is that what you call it?”
“By all measures yes. I am good at what I do. The best. The only. Or so I thought. And then there is you. A naïve, sheltered little boy who can barely put on his own pants in the morning. It is such a shame. And these so-called friends of yours, that was always doomed to failure. Oh and if you harbour any thoughts of them escaping, know that we blocked the little secret entrance the stable boy showed you. There’s no escape except through the fire. When they pick through the ashes of this building they will find their bones, and yours. Is this how you imagined it turning out?”
I flexed the muscles in my legs, but they refused to move. Ally smiled.
“It’s useless now Sam.”
I heard the faint whisper of Juliet’s voice in my head. She pleaded with me. Come on Sam, you can do this. I remembered the last encounter with Ally, outside the wall separating Windhaven Manor from the world. Ally had put me in the white room. I had broken free. I had overcome her power once. I had to do it again.
I took a deep breath in through my nose and cried out and willed my feet to move. Electricity coursed through my body and I directed it down to the floor. My left heel separated from the floor and that set the whole thing in motion. The dam burst. I lurched forwards and overbalanced and sprawled to the floor.
Ally crouched beside me and chuckled. “Some would call it a tragedy for a child to die so soon after learning to walk.”
I looked back towards the front of the house. The fire burned hot. Thick black smoke circled up the huge open space of the gallery. Portraits hanging on the wall bubbled and curled as flames consumed them.
A figure appeared at the foot of the staircase. The spectre of Crown. The goons had dragged his lifeless corpse out of the house, but stood before me was the spirit with unfinished business. The ugliness of his actions showed through now in death. His skin was sallow and wrinkled. His head too big for his body and his teeth yellowed. A grotesque monster made worse by his mortal demise.
Ally whispered in my ear. “He knows it was your meddling that brought about his end. I’ll leave you two alone.”
She brushed my cheek with the back of her hand and stood. As she walked away leather straps materialised out of thin air and pinned my body to the floor.
The spectre of Crown grew before me, swelling in size until he had to crouch to stay below the chandelier. He clenched his fists and with burning red eyes let out a guttural growl that skipped my ears and penetrated directly into my skull.
I tried to pull my hands to my ears but they would not come. It made no difference. The roar coming from Crown stabbed the inside of my head like a thousand daggers. I lifted my head and the growl grew to a scream that ricocheted around the inside of my skull. I couldn’t take much more. It felt as though my head would explode.
Guilt bubbled up and mingled with the fear and I shrank into the floor and wished for it to swallow me. They were down there, the only friends I had known, banging against a locked door denying their escape. I sobbed. I sobbed like I had the night my parents turned from me.
In the pit of my stomach something else grew. A seed of frustration born of a lifetime existing in a world that didn’t make sense. A world where I had no idea who I was and what I could or should do. A world in which I hid. I couldn’t do that now.
Juliet’s voice as clear as day, cutting through the racket of Crown’s scream. Do it Sam. I gritted my teeth and electricity buzzed somewhere deep inside, at first dull and imperceptible, and then amplified and resonating until it peaked into a deafening roar.
Above Crown the bulbs in the chandelier glowed white. He swivelled his head and watched them dumbly.
I concentrated, felt the energy forming an extra limb. Like the arms and legs of a newborn it flailed spasmodically. I fought to control it, to turn it to my will. I focussed on the straps pinning me to the floor. The electricity fed into the straps and turned them hot. For a moment I feared they would scold my skin, and then in a moment of release they split and flung upwards.
I picked myself up off the floor and faced the spectre of Crown. Like a spent boxer throwing one final punch I threw out my hands and screamed, willing Crown to be quiet and be still. Demanding he be so.
The floor shook. The dozens of bulbs in the chandelier shattered. The giant spectre of Crown diminished and the screaming inside my head softened until it was no more. Crown’s eyes opened wide as his mouth stitched together and his arms wrenched behind his back. I flicked my hand like I was swatting a fly and Crown flew into the corner of the room and slumped to the floor.
I bent over and rested my hands on my knees. My muscles ached, like I had run a marathon. Shadows played on the floor. I sucked in air and smoke and spluttered and coughed.
In the hallway the silhouette of Ally. She turned and shook her head. The heat of the fire intensified and crackled at my skin. If we were to make our escape, she could not be here to block us. I straightened and strode towards her.
I cycled furiously through the events of the last few days, searching for something to defeat Ally. I had to do to her what she had done to me. The time for running and breaking her spells was through.
I closed my eyes and concentrated. I stripped away everything except for the two of us. The crackle of the fire replaced with silence. The smell of the smoke disappeared. The heat washed away. One by one I shut down all my senses. When I opened my eyes a monotone room of white. Sterile calm had replaced the burning insides of Windhaven Manor.
Her eyes scanned the room and she giggled. “Cheap tricks won’t get you far,” she said. “And you learned this one from me.”
The white rippled as if the walls were made of water. She was fighting it. I concentrated, focussing all my energy, all my will. The ripples slowed and then stopped.
“You’re a fast learner,” she said. “But I have been doing this for more than a weekend.”
Strips of colour permeated the white. A rectangle of tile appeared on the floor. And then some blue from the curtain. Enough of a smouldering wall to let in some smoke. The acrid smell reached my nose and I spluttered. As each wedge of colour appeared, I filled it back in white. But it was a sinking ship and the pail I held to bail out the water would not be enough.
Ally grunted under her breath. A grunt of frustration. The white room shook and made a sound like a train bearing down.
I had to bind her. I raised my palm and coils of rope rose from the ground and oscillated like snakes around her. She swatted them away and wrenched them from the ground and flung them at my feet, limp and unmoving.
“It won’t be that easy,” she sneered.
My arms jerked behind my back. She bound my wrists and then my ankles. She pursed her lips and blew as if extinguishing a single candle on a birthday cake, and it was enough to send me to the floor. I couldn’t do this on my own. I needed help.
I shut my eyes and concentrated my energy not on my bindings, but on the woods at the back of Windhaven Manor. On the girls who escaped the dungeon and now roamed the forest, watching the house burn from behind the barrier Ally constructed.
I fed the energy coursing through my body into the giant snowdome structure until it burned hot and then like the globes in the chandelier, it cracked and exploded into the night sky. The spirits of the girls watched the shards disappear and then strode towards the Manor.
I turned my attention to the tiny room beside the pantry, where Jane Laughlin lay bound to the bed. I stood beside her and lay my hand on the shackles binding her to the bed. She shuddered as the mask came free from her mouth and then stood as the shackles broke.
I opened my eyes and the white of the room flickered off and then back on again like bad reception on a television. I had to keep the white walls up long enough for them to draw near. For them to be ready when the façade fell. Ally strode towards me, exuding confidence.
“You can’t beat me Sam.”
Ally squeezed her hands into fists and screamed. In a burst of energy she wiped the white room clear and we were back in the burning house. The air was thick with smoke. Behind me a timber beam tumbled from the ceiling and crashed to the floor. The heat and smoke sucked the moisture from my insides and I heaved out a series of coughs.
Ally opened her eyes and smiled. She had bested me. But then they came. The girls from the dungeon and Jane Laughlin surrounded her. The sum total off all the pain and hurt inflicted in this place. Everything Ally had worked to keep hidden from the world.
They lurched at Ally. She raised her hands and pushed them back one by one as they went for her. She spun on the spot, trying to keep them at bay. She could not hold them all back. The sheer weight of numbers overwhelmed. They leaned in and pushed their heads into hers and showed her what those men had done. Made her feel it. The fear and despair and anger of each individual stacked together and Ally crumpled to the floor holding her head.
“Make it stop,” she said.
They kept at her.
Jane Laughlin sidled over to the base of the stairs where Crown sat, bound and with his mouth stitched. She considered him, restrained and helpless on the floor as she had been. He fought with his restraints, and then whimpered, as she had. As I ran for the pantry and the wine cellar, the corridor filled with the muffled sound of his screams.
The door to the cellar stood open and I made the descent of the stairs in three leaps. The enclosed space already full with smoke. At the end of the long corridor leading outside, Parker and Harvey shouldered the door. Juliet and Beth screamed encouragement. The door would not budge.
“We can’t go that way,” I yelled.
They raced back up the long corridor. A sudden rush of emotion bubbled up to the surface. I was so happy to see them all still alive. My lower jaw rattled and my hands shook. I fought to hide it.
Beth reached me first. “Sam, you’re ok.”
I blubbered a response and took in a lung full of smoke. We had to get out.
The fire raged outside the kitchen door. A wave of flame climbed up and spread across the ceiling. A subtle cracking sound from above intensified and a chunk of the upstairs floor came crashing down through the ceiling, blocking the rear door. We couldn’t get out the back. The only way now was back through the house. A ball of flame whooshed through the doorway and I put my arm up too late, my eyebrows wilting in the heat.
We crouched together in the middle of the kitchen, lowering our heads to get the last of the remaining oxygen. Malicious red flames and choking black smoke surrounded us on all sides.
“Where do we go now?” Parker’s words came out between coughs. Tears streaked down his cheeks. Soot covered his brow. I wished I had an answer.
Then he was there, standing over Parker’s shoulder. Leon. With the protective bubble gone, he too was free to come in the Manor.
“The fire has not yet consumed the dining room. But you don’t have long.”
I looked vaguely in the direction of the kitchen door and blinked back the stinging from the smoke. “I don’t think we can find it in this.”
“Follow me.”
I pulled my shirt up over my head. “We have to go. The dining room, we can make it. All together on three.”
I shouted out the numbers, the sound drowned out by the roar of the fire. I grabbed Beth’s hand and yanked her into action. Leon led the way and I kept my eyes on his heels. Together we were a flurry of arms and legs bounding for the dining room. I gritted my teeth against the heat. We burst through the doorway and everything turned orange.
From below the sweater pulled tight down over my hair, I shot a glance over to the floor of the grand gallery where I had left Ally writhing on the floor. She was not there now. Nor were the spectres of the girls.
I followed Leon’s heels into the dining room. The great wooden table smouldered in the centre of the room. Brilliant orange flames consumed the thick curtains. Parker spotted his camera still atop the tripod and set to pulling the camera free before Harvey grabbed his arm and yelled something that sounded like ‘leave it’.
Harvey grabbed one of the heavy chairs with their high backs and velvet cushions and heaved it at the window in the back corner of the room. The chair disappeared into the darkness of the night and Harvey kicked at the glass shards left behind. Parker joined. We piled out the opening.
I drank in the fresh cool air of night, staggering over the narrow path beside the house and to the small strip of grass beyond. Parker collapsed beside me and pulled the laptop out from under his shirt. He tapped at the casing and for a moment a brief smile flashed across his face, but it did not last long. He wiped soot and sweat from his face with shaking hands.
Harvey checked us all in turn, like a parent fussing over their children. We had scrapes and bruises and our skin was red and raw, but we were alright. We had survived. He ran to the front of the house and came back with palms held out by his sides. The man in the black suit, the goons Ponytail and Beanie, and Ally were all gone, along with the black van and the BMW.
Huddled together, we watched the fire consume Windhaven Manor, bright reds and oranges lighting up the windows and thick black smoke tumbling into the purple haze of sky. It was almost morning, the horizon signalling the coming of the sun.
Leon stood apart on the grass. I went to him.
“Thank you for coming back for us.”
He shrugged. “It’s something. It isn’t enough to make up for the rest.”
“You saved our lives. And those girls, they had their chance to meet their tormentors. That’s something too.”
He nodded. “What happens now?”
I turned my head sideways. “I’m still learning how all this works.”
The red of the fire reflected in his eyes. “Me too. I might go for a walk in the woods. I always liked it out there.”
He glided across the lawn and entered the trees and was gone.
The sound of sirens fought with the crackle of the fire. The fire brigade and the police. I got to my feet and shuffled to the front of the Manor. The burnt out carcasses of our cars stood by the low height wall. Black soot smudged the stone façade above the windows and the doors.
By the oak tree on the ocean side of the house stood Jane Laughlin. She peered down into a hole dug at the base of the tree. A pale and withered hand poked up out of the dirt. Her hand. They had meant to remove the body, but had aborted the task and fled.
A fire truck appeared at the head of the driveway and then another. They sped down the gravel and came to a sliding stop. A lone police car followed. Harvey sidled over.
Jane looked to the horizon. Out on the cliff edge stood a figure in a red dress. She recognised her sister Kylie immediately and ran down the slope. The two sisters embraced in the first light of the sun. I turned to the whoosh of water through a hose from the fire trucks and when I turned back, the Laughlin sisters were gone.
The members of The Séance Club, which I now consider myself a part, sat together on the low-height stone wall as the firefighters extinguished the flames consuming Windhaven Manor. The house was quiet now. The nausea and vibration I had felt that first night replaced with calm.
The police stripped the compound clean for the best part of a week. They identified Kyle the sketch artist and Hugo from the teeth that survived the fire of the hovel built over the dungeon. Hugo’s wife lay on the back lawn where Beanie and Ponytail had left her. But as to specific evidence of the crimes that occurred, they could not find enough to put a case together.
The two fires and the disappearance of Crown made some headlines, but there wasn’t enough to hang anyone else. The police claimed publicly that there was no link between the fire at Windhaven Manor and the fire at the squalid residence over the back fence. At Harvey’s behest they searched the area with cadaver dogs for the remains of the girls, but they found nothing.
Parker turned his laptop over to the police. They identified the two goons, Ponytail and Beanie, low level thugs who had disappeared from the streets years earlier. Those in the know presumed them dead. It made tracing them almost impossible. Tracing their vehicles lead to a dead end.
The man in black the suit on the other hand might as well be a ghost. On him they found nothing. They have a face, but nothing else.
As for Ally, the girl somehow managed to always turn her face away from the cameras, as if she knew where they were.
I sat in a small room at the police station for three days with Harvey putting the pieces together. He showed me a photograph of an old and gaunt man with a bent back, the last owner of Windhaven Manor before it was sold after his death. He had to be the man with the bent back from the ceremony in the dungeon, but I could not be certain. I never saw his face. Of the faces I did see, we knew Crown and Kyle and Hugo, but the others were harder to pinpoint.
At the end of it all Harvey sighed. There was nothing more we could do. But we could rest on the knowledge that the key players in the ceremony were all now dead.
Questions nagged at me. Where was Ally and what was she doing? Would she try to find me? Who was she working for?
That was the biggest question of all. Who was at the top and pulling the strings? Harvey wasn’t giving up. He was a dog with a bone at the best of times, and now he had a taste of blood. He refused to go back to the police even after Crown’s departure, which he described as the removal of a cancerous limb.
Harvey called me after the dust settled on everything. I told him that the trail had gone cold and I had no idea where Ally was. For all I knew she had evaporated into thin air. Harvey thought it unlikely, and I agreed. He told me it was time for some old-fashioned detective work. The names of the goons would be a start.
And there was something else Harvey mentioned, something that I had almost forgotten. He had always believed that his investigation into the disappearance of the girls was the reason one of his colleagues was murdered. Crown confirmed as much in the bedroom right before he was shot. Harvey thinks there is something to it. Another thread to pull, and he has a hunch. For now he’s keeping his cards close to his chest until he has some proof. I almost pressed him on the issue but decided I’d rather put it all behind me.
The story made headlines in the local press for a while, but ultimately it fizzled into a non-story, quickly forgotten by a public with a short attention spans. We all waited for a reckoning from within the police ranks, but it never came. Harvey predicted that’s the way it would go, and he was proven right.
The one item they did recover was a gold necklace with a heart pendant. The necklace Jane Laughlin wore the night of her death. The police found it where the black van had parked. After a few days in the possession of the police, Harvey arranged to have the necklace released to the family of its former owner.
The following day Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin appeared on the local news, thanking the efforts of those who recovered the remains of their daughter. It was closure, though not the kind they had hoped for. Both their girls were dead.
A week later The Séance Club convened in Beth’s apartment. Parker and Juliet were already there when I arrived. It was cathartic to talk about the events at Windhaven Manor, to compare stories and scars. I guess that’s why they have the saying about a problem shared.
After a brief silence, Beth asked, “Are you going to talk to the parents of Jane and Kylie?”
I shook my head. “What will I tell them?”
“That their daughters found each other out by the cliff edge.”
“And what about the agony of their deaths? Should I tell them that too? Besides, it doesn’t feel right. None of this feels right to me yet. And what weight do my words hold over those of some Priest talking about how he knows their souls are at rest.”
“Because you really do know.”
I shrugged. “I can’t prove any of it.”
Truth was I had no idea how to integrate the things I could see and do into my life. From childhood all I had wanted was to be like everyone else. For people not to stare or whisper as I walked by. To find acceptance. Sitting with my three new friends at Beth’s tiny kitchen table, with our shared experience behind us, I finally had it. This could be the start of something.
Parker was already planning the next Séance Club trip. An abandoned farm up north with mysterious sightings going back centuries. Juliet was already on board. I told them to wait. I couldn’t jump back in right away.
I was the last to leave, Beth and I sipping mug after mug of coffee and sharing comfortable silence. When I sighed and told her I should go, she grabbed my arm.
“I’ve never had a real family, and then I found Juliet and Parker. The Séance Club became my family. Whatever happens we are there for each other. And we mean it when we say we want you to join.”
I thought about that all night, unable to sleep.
The next morning I called Parker.
An abandoned farm up north you say?
* * * *
I navigated to the narrow alley and checked the time. The Exchange should be open. It looked out of context in the Saturday morning light. No bright light spilling from the window. No surge of Friday night after work traffic.
I slipped in the front door. A lone man lifted upturned stools down from the bar. He had his back to me and I crept across the hardwood floor in the direction of the stairs down and the bathrooms.
The vibration swelled in my chest, but I did not fear it. A dull pain rose in the base of my skull, but I gritted my teeth. A man wearing a pair of rough leather shoes came from the other end of the corridor and stopped before me.
“Are you here to help?”
I nodded.
X
2023.05.29 16:20 aftershockre How can I add a driveway and what type of driveway should I add here?
I have an existing driveway on my property that accommodates 2-3 cars in one column. I would like to add an additional, adjacent parking spot to the left for 1 car.
There is a spot where I think I could do it, it's currently grass (about a 15'x19' section), and it's adjacent to a concrete paver walkway (which itself is adjacent to the existing driveway).
LINK to Google Drive Album.
submitted by aftershockre to HomeImprovement [link] [comments]
There is a spot where I think I could do it, it's currently grass (about a 15'x19' section), and it's adjacent to a concrete paver walkway (which itself is adjacent to the existing driveway).
- Do I need a "curb cut" for this? As you can see from the photos, the existing sidewalk is really cracked, and slopes down so that there isn't really a "curb" lip or anything. This is a quiet, low traffic street, so I think the curb is super old. My existing driveway doesn't look like it has a curb cut either. Do I need a permit for this in general? My worry is if I don't do a permit, and they eventually do re-do the curb, they'll get all screwed up that I added a driveway and someone has to pay for a curb cut or something.
- Is it possible for me to cut out the grass and dig down a little and do asphalt? Or should I do brick/concrete pavers? What is cheapest/easiest? I want it to look nice but it doesn't need to look that nice where the cost outweighs everything. If it cuts costs, I could use the existing walkway as one half of the parking spot.
LINK to Google Drive Album.
2023.05.29 15:52 sprungy Things to do: May 29 - June 4
May 29
Rosedale history walk
https://www.meetup.com/the-history-of-parkdale/events/293125799/
City Architecture: The Annex and Casa Loma walk
https://www.meetup.com/the-history-of-parkdale/events/293736802/
How To Become A Volunteer @ BlooGladstone Library
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/how-to-become-a-volunteer-tickets-611170305837
🎱Play Pool, Make Friends, Have Fun in Downtown Toronto!🎱
https://www.meetup.com/torontobilliardsclub/events/293433630
Practice English w/Woodgreen
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/woodgreen-woodgreen-english-conversation-circles-online-via-microsoft-teams-next-one-may-26-2487256/
$18.88 unlimited evening bowling @ Splitsville
https://splitsville.ca/richmond-hill-bowling/
lululemon: Monday Night QSW RunCrew
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/lululemon-monday-night-qsw-runcrew-tickets-619812855937
ULTIMATE FRISBEE All Genders Welcome! No Experience Necessary!
https://www.meetup.com/mracx-multisport/events/293763144/
Yoga in the Park + optional walk
https://www.meetup.com/mracx-multisport/events/293396441/
$9.99 True Romance @ Cineplex
https://www.cineplex.com/movie/true-romance-30th-anniversary-event
Drylongso @ Revue Cinema
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/drylongso-new-4k-restoration-toronto-theatrical-premiere-tickets-617658301607
The Swimmer @ Paradise Theatre
https://paradiseonbloor.com/calendar
Casino bus to NIagara Falls
https://safewaytours.net/en/casino-tours/
SiriusXM free preview. Until June 5
https://www.siriusxm.com/offers/free-listen
Free Tafelmusik concert. Rush line only
https://tafelmusik.org/concerts-events/concerts/tbsf/
Hot Chip @ History
https://www.historytoronto.com/
Eagle Owl @ Monarch Tavern
https://www.themonarchtavern.com/calendar
Marcus Murray and the Incantations @ Dakota Tavern
https://www.dakotatavern.ca/
Battle of the Bars @ Horseshoe Tavern
https://www.horseshoetavern.com/events
Emo night @ Bovine Sex Club
https://www.bovinesexclub.com/
Violin: The Soul of Jewish Music, by the Rebekah-Jurecka Duo
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/violin-the-soul-of-jewish-music-by-the-rebekah-jurecka-duo-tickets-627871168567
SING! in Concert: SING! Celebrates the Musical @ The Concert Hall
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/sing-in-concert-sing-celebrates-the-musical-tickets-519262677647
Queer cocktail night @ Drake Hotel
https://www.thedrake.ca/thedrakehotel/whatson/
Inside Out Festival. Until June 4
https://insideout.ca/festival/
Karaoke @ Toby's
https://www.instagram.com/jasonrolland/
Turn it Up Music Bingo at Left Field Brewery. Dog friendly venue
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/turn-it-up-music-bingo-at-left-field-brewery-tickets-633035605537
Movie trivia @ Hemingway's
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/movie-trivia-11-first-night-tickets-632122905627
(Twice) Monthly Monday Trivia at Goose Island
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/twice-monthly-monday-trivia-at-goose-island-tickets-608787889967
Trivia at Tammy's Wine Bar
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/trivia-at-tammys-wine-bar-tickets-642973790917
Trivia Mondays at Film Cafe
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/trivia-mondays-at-film-cafe-tickets-594746220957
Trivia @ Stout Irish
https://www.headscratcherstrivia.com/
Weekly trivia roundup
https://www.reddit.com/toronto/comments/ukk8dm/roundup_of_trivia_nights_in_toronto/
Open Life Drawing Toronto @ St Matthew's United Church
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/open-life-drawing-toronto-registration-565727224357
Mirvish lottery for $19 discounted Harry Potter tickets
https://lottery.mirvish.com/
Cirque du Soleil Kooza. Until June 18
https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/kooza
Disney Animation: Immersive Experience Toronto
https://tickets.lighthouseimmersive.com/toronto/?#/
Stranger Things : The Experience
https://strangerthings-experience.com/toronto/
The Office Experience @ Yorkdale Mall
https://theofficeexperience.com/toronto/
Jurassic World The Exhibition @ Square One
https://jurassicworldexhibition.com/mississauga/
Registration continues for JAM sports leagues
https://toronto.jamsports.com/index.php
YMCA free 7-day trial pass
https://trythey.ymcagta.org
GoodLife Fitness free 7-day trial pass
https://try.goodlifefitness.com/raptors?utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=MSLE-Partnership&utm_source=Partner
Presto card discounts. Various attractions, shows , restaurants
https://www.prestocard.ca/en/about/presto-perks
Free admission to various attractions via TPL Map Pass Program
https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/museum-arts-passes/
Toronto History Museums free admission
https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/history-art-culture/museums/
Spring Flower Show @ Centennial Park Conservatory. Free admission
https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/parks-gardens-beaches/gardens-and-horticulture/conservatories/centennial-park-conservatory/
Self guided Discovery Tours
https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/streets-parking-transportation/sidewalk-tours-wayfinding/self-guided-tours/discovery-tours/
Seeing the Invisible An Outdoor Augmented Reality Exhibition
https://moca.ca/exhibitions/seeing-the-invisible/
Volunteer w/Bike Brigade
https://www.bikebrigade.ca/
Volunteer w/Nature Stewards to remove invasive plants
https://torontonaturestewards.org/
Garters and Glam @ Oasis
https://members.oasisaqualounge.com/sessions/new
MILF Monday @ M4
http://clubm4.com/event-calenda
Free community dinner @ 1470 Gerrard St E
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/neighborhood-food-hub-toronto-may-29-free-community-dinner-1470-gerrard-street-east-2620631/
$4.99 Big Mary chicken sandwich @ Mary Brown's
https://marybrowns.com/offers/
$18.99 AYCE endless wings @ Hooters. Drink purchase required
https://www.hooters.to/downtown-toronto
$10 OG chicken sandwich @ Union Chicken
https://www.unionchicken.com/menu-daily-specials
$10 unlimited toppings @ Pi . Co
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/pi-co-10-unlimited-topping-craft-pizza-2592458/
Summer drink days @ McDonald's. Until Sept 4
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/mcdonalds-summer-drink-days-may-23-september-4-2617674/
Birthday freebies. Marble Slab, and more
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/birthday-freebies-version-2017-2022-1719925/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 30
Group bike ride w/TBN
https://tbn.ca/event-5253299
Blue Jays vs Brewers @ SkyDome. $1 hot dog night
https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/schedule/2023-05
Lovejoy @ Danforth Music Hall
https://thedanforth.com/
Wunderhorse @ Velvet Underground
http://thevelvet.ca/events/
TIFA: Max Porter Presents Shy @ TD Music Hall
https://tdmusichall.mhrth.com/
$9.99 True Romance @ Cineplex
https://www.cineplex.com/movie/true-romance-30th-anniversary-event
The Machine w/Meetup
https://www.meetup.com/toronto-movies-and-social-group/events/292975708/
Trivia @ Stout Irish
https://www.headscratcherstrivia.com/
Old Dada @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
$5 comedy @ Yuk Yuks
https://www.yukyuks.com/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 31
Blue Jays vs Brewers @ SkyDome
https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/schedule/2023-05
Ella Mai @ History
https://www.historytoronto.com/
Embrace Presents: Elder @ Lee's Palace
https://www.leespalace.com/events
$9.99 True Romance @ Cineplex
https://www.cineplex.com/movie/true-romance-30th-anniversary-event
Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno. Free screening @ Alliance Francaise
https://www.alliance-francaise.ca/en/art/2022-2023-season/movie-thursdays/74-mektoub-my-love-canto-uno-2017
Horse racing @ Woodbine. Free admission and parking
https://woodbine.com/upcoming-races/
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Kitchener Panthers. Free baseball @ Christie Pits
https://www.mapleleafsbaseball.com/stats#/team-schedule?team_id=238204
Brass Facts trivia w/Meetup
https://www.meetup.com/toronto-movies-and-social-group/events/293735883/
Karaoke @ Penny's
https://www.instagram.com/jasonrolland/?hl=en
Bingo @ Flash On Church
http://flashonchurch.com/
Old Dada @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
comedy @ Yuk Yuks
https://www.yukyuks.com/toronto
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 1
Horse racing @ Woodbine. Free admission and parking
https://woodbine.com/upcoming-races/
Bingo @ Flash On Church
http://flashonchurch.com/
$9.99 True Romance @ Cineplex
https://www.cineplex.com/movie/true-romance-30th-anniversary-event
Karaoke @ Penny's
https://www.instagram.com/jasonrolland/
comedy @ Yuk Yuks
https://www.yukyuks.com/toronto
Old Dada @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 2
Horse racing @ Woodbine. Free admission and parking
https://woodbine.com/upcoming-races/
Bus to Casino Rama
https://www.casinorama.com/vip-coach/
MOCA. Free admission after 5PM
https://moca.ca/visit/
Good Kid @ Opera House
https://theoperahousetoronto.com/
Death Cab for Cutie @ Massey Hall
https://masseyhall.mhrth.com/
Saddle Up. Classic country party @ Owls Club
https://www.instagram.com/saddleupto/?hl=en
Saddle Up w/Meetup
https://www.meetup.com/toronto-movies-and-social-group/events/293736269/
Bingo @ Flash On Church
http://flashonchurch.com/
Karaoke Fridays Scruffy Murphy’s Irish Pub Hosted by KJ Sharon
https://www.meetup.com/toronto-karaoke-meetup-group/events/293375484/
Karaoke @ Hermie's
https://www.hermies.ca/
Karaoke @ Mimico Pub and Grill
https://www.facebook.com/mimicopubandgrill/
Karaoke @ On the Rocks
https://myontherocks.com/
Karaoke @ Royal Canadian Legion 614
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=701918525274532&set=pcb.701918778607840
Karaoke @ Zak's Bar and Grill
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2501861116658243&set=gm.10167678788975445&idorvanity=28317670444
Karaoke @ Fox and Fiddle Wellesley
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10159534696221917&set=a.338175466916
Karaoke @ Alice's Place
https://www.instagram.com/alicesplace_554parliament/
Mike Lynch @ Yuk Yuks
https://www.yukyuks.com/toronto
Old Dada @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 3
$10/$15 unlimited GO Transit
https://www.gotransit.com/en/travelling-with-us/promotions-and-events/weekend-passes-with-go
Bus to Casino Rama
https://www.casinorama.com/vip-coach/
Horse racing @ Woodbine. Free admission and parking
https://woodbine.com/upcoming-races/
$2.99 Tom & Jerry @ Cineplex
https://www.cineplex.com/events/family
An Evening of Musical Mantras
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/an-evening-of-musical-mantras-registration-633078724507
Death Cab for Cutie @ Massey Hall
https://masseyhall.mhrth.com/
Bingo @ Flash On Church
http://flashonchurch.com/
Mike Lynch @ Yuk Yuks
https://www.yukyuks.com/toronto
Old Dada @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 4
$10/$15 unlimited GO Transit
https://www.gotransit.com/en/travelling-with-us/promotions-and-events/weekend-passes-with-go
Bus to Casino Rama
https://www.casinorama.com/vip-coach/
Bata Shoe Museum free admission
https://batashoemuseum.ca/visit-us/
Horse racing @ Woodbine. Free admission and parking
https://woodbine.com/upcoming-races/
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Hamilton Cardinals. Free baseball @ Christie Pits
https://www.mapleleafsbaseball.com/stats#/team-schedule?team_id=238204
Bingo @ Flash On Church
http://flashonchurch.com/
Karaoke @ Toby's
https://www.instagram.com/jasonrolland/
Free drop-in kickball @ Alexandra Park. Beginners welcome
https://www.facebook.com/TorontoKickball/
$18.88 unlimited evening bowling @ Splitsville
https://splitsville.ca/richmond-hill-bowling/
Old Dada @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
submitted by sprungy to toronto [link] [comments]
Rosedale history walk
https://www.meetup.com/the-history-of-parkdale/events/293125799/
City Architecture: The Annex and Casa Loma walk
https://www.meetup.com/the-history-of-parkdale/events/293736802/
How To Become A Volunteer @ BlooGladstone Library
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/how-to-become-a-volunteer-tickets-611170305837
🎱Play Pool, Make Friends, Have Fun in Downtown Toronto!🎱
https://www.meetup.com/torontobilliardsclub/events/293433630
Practice English w/Woodgreen
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/woodgreen-woodgreen-english-conversation-circles-online-via-microsoft-teams-next-one-may-26-2487256/
$18.88 unlimited evening bowling @ Splitsville
https://splitsville.ca/richmond-hill-bowling/
lululemon: Monday Night QSW RunCrew
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/lululemon-monday-night-qsw-runcrew-tickets-619812855937
ULTIMATE FRISBEE All Genders Welcome! No Experience Necessary!
https://www.meetup.com/mracx-multisport/events/293763144/
Yoga in the Park + optional walk
https://www.meetup.com/mracx-multisport/events/293396441/
$9.99 True Romance @ Cineplex
https://www.cineplex.com/movie/true-romance-30th-anniversary-event
Drylongso @ Revue Cinema
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/drylongso-new-4k-restoration-toronto-theatrical-premiere-tickets-617658301607
The Swimmer @ Paradise Theatre
https://paradiseonbloor.com/calendar
Casino bus to NIagara Falls
https://safewaytours.net/en/casino-tours/
SiriusXM free preview. Until June 5
https://www.siriusxm.com/offers/free-listen
Free Tafelmusik concert. Rush line only
https://tafelmusik.org/concerts-events/concerts/tbsf/
Hot Chip @ History
https://www.historytoronto.com/
Eagle Owl @ Monarch Tavern
https://www.themonarchtavern.com/calendar
Marcus Murray and the Incantations @ Dakota Tavern
https://www.dakotatavern.ca/
Battle of the Bars @ Horseshoe Tavern
https://www.horseshoetavern.com/events
Emo night @ Bovine Sex Club
https://www.bovinesexclub.com/
Violin: The Soul of Jewish Music, by the Rebekah-Jurecka Duo
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/violin-the-soul-of-jewish-music-by-the-rebekah-jurecka-duo-tickets-627871168567
SING! in Concert: SING! Celebrates the Musical @ The Concert Hall
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/sing-in-concert-sing-celebrates-the-musical-tickets-519262677647
Queer cocktail night @ Drake Hotel
https://www.thedrake.ca/thedrakehotel/whatson/
Inside Out Festival. Until June 4
https://insideout.ca/festival/
Karaoke @ Toby's
https://www.instagram.com/jasonrolland/
Turn it Up Music Bingo at Left Field Brewery. Dog friendly venue
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/turn-it-up-music-bingo-at-left-field-brewery-tickets-633035605537
Movie trivia @ Hemingway's
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/movie-trivia-11-first-night-tickets-632122905627
(Twice) Monthly Monday Trivia at Goose Island
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/twice-monthly-monday-trivia-at-goose-island-tickets-608787889967
Trivia at Tammy's Wine Bar
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/trivia-at-tammys-wine-bar-tickets-642973790917
Trivia Mondays at Film Cafe
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/trivia-mondays-at-film-cafe-tickets-594746220957
Trivia @ Stout Irish
https://www.headscratcherstrivia.com/
Weekly trivia roundup
https://www.reddit.com/toronto/comments/ukk8dm/roundup_of_trivia_nights_in_toronto/
Open Life Drawing Toronto @ St Matthew's United Church
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/open-life-drawing-toronto-registration-565727224357
Mirvish lottery for $19 discounted Harry Potter tickets
https://lottery.mirvish.com/
Cirque du Soleil Kooza. Until June 18
https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/kooza
Disney Animation: Immersive Experience Toronto
https://tickets.lighthouseimmersive.com/toronto/?#/
Stranger Things : The Experience
https://strangerthings-experience.com/toronto/
The Office Experience @ Yorkdale Mall
https://theofficeexperience.com/toronto/
Jurassic World The Exhibition @ Square One
https://jurassicworldexhibition.com/mississauga/
Registration continues for JAM sports leagues
https://toronto.jamsports.com/index.php
YMCA free 7-day trial pass
https://trythey.ymcagta.org
GoodLife Fitness free 7-day trial pass
https://try.goodlifefitness.com/raptors?utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=MSLE-Partnership&utm_source=Partner
Presto card discounts. Various attractions, shows , restaurants
https://www.prestocard.ca/en/about/presto-perks
Free admission to various attractions via TPL Map Pass Program
https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/museum-arts-passes/
Toronto History Museums free admission
https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/history-art-culture/museums/
Spring Flower Show @ Centennial Park Conservatory. Free admission
https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/parks-gardens-beaches/gardens-and-horticulture/conservatories/centennial-park-conservatory/
Self guided Discovery Tours
https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/streets-parking-transportation/sidewalk-tours-wayfinding/self-guided-tours/discovery-tours/
Seeing the Invisible An Outdoor Augmented Reality Exhibition
https://moca.ca/exhibitions/seeing-the-invisible/
Volunteer w/Bike Brigade
https://www.bikebrigade.ca/
Volunteer w/Nature Stewards to remove invasive plants
https://torontonaturestewards.org/
Garters and Glam @ Oasis
https://members.oasisaqualounge.com/sessions/new
MILF Monday @ M4
http://clubm4.com/event-calenda
Free community dinner @ 1470 Gerrard St E
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/neighborhood-food-hub-toronto-may-29-free-community-dinner-1470-gerrard-street-east-2620631/
$4.99 Big Mary chicken sandwich @ Mary Brown's
https://marybrowns.com/offers/
$18.99 AYCE endless wings @ Hooters. Drink purchase required
https://www.hooters.to/downtown-toronto
$10 OG chicken sandwich @ Union Chicken
https://www.unionchicken.com/menu-daily-specials
$10 unlimited toppings @ Pi . Co
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/pi-co-10-unlimited-topping-craft-pizza-2592458/
Summer drink days @ McDonald's. Until Sept 4
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/mcdonalds-summer-drink-days-may-23-september-4-2617674/
Birthday freebies. Marble Slab, and more
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/birthday-freebies-version-2017-2022-1719925/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 30
Group bike ride w/TBN
https://tbn.ca/event-5253299
Blue Jays vs Brewers @ SkyDome. $1 hot dog night
https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/schedule/2023-05
Lovejoy @ Danforth Music Hall
https://thedanforth.com/
Wunderhorse @ Velvet Underground
http://thevelvet.ca/events/
TIFA: Max Porter Presents Shy @ TD Music Hall
https://tdmusichall.mhrth.com/
$9.99 True Romance @ Cineplex
https://www.cineplex.com/movie/true-romance-30th-anniversary-event
The Machine w/Meetup
https://www.meetup.com/toronto-movies-and-social-group/events/292975708/
Trivia @ Stout Irish
https://www.headscratcherstrivia.com/
Old Dada @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
$5 comedy @ Yuk Yuks
https://www.yukyuks.com/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 31
Blue Jays vs Brewers @ SkyDome
https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/schedule/2023-05
Ella Mai @ History
https://www.historytoronto.com/
Embrace Presents: Elder @ Lee's Palace
https://www.leespalace.com/events
$9.99 True Romance @ Cineplex
https://www.cineplex.com/movie/true-romance-30th-anniversary-event
Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno. Free screening @ Alliance Francaise
https://www.alliance-francaise.ca/en/art/2022-2023-season/movie-thursdays/74-mektoub-my-love-canto-uno-2017
Horse racing @ Woodbine. Free admission and parking
https://woodbine.com/upcoming-races/
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Kitchener Panthers. Free baseball @ Christie Pits
https://www.mapleleafsbaseball.com/stats#/team-schedule?team_id=238204
Brass Facts trivia w/Meetup
https://www.meetup.com/toronto-movies-and-social-group/events/293735883/
Karaoke @ Penny's
https://www.instagram.com/jasonrolland/?hl=en
Bingo @ Flash On Church
http://flashonchurch.com/
Old Dada @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
comedy @ Yuk Yuks
https://www.yukyuks.com/toronto
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June 1
Horse racing @ Woodbine. Free admission and parking
https://woodbine.com/upcoming-races/
Bingo @ Flash On Church
http://flashonchurch.com/
$9.99 True Romance @ Cineplex
https://www.cineplex.com/movie/true-romance-30th-anniversary-event
Karaoke @ Penny's
https://www.instagram.com/jasonrolland/
comedy @ Yuk Yuks
https://www.yukyuks.com/toronto
Old Dada @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
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June 2
Horse racing @ Woodbine. Free admission and parking
https://woodbine.com/upcoming-races/
Bus to Casino Rama
https://www.casinorama.com/vip-coach/
MOCA. Free admission after 5PM
https://moca.ca/visit/
Good Kid @ Opera House
https://theoperahousetoronto.com/
Death Cab for Cutie @ Massey Hall
https://masseyhall.mhrth.com/
Saddle Up. Classic country party @ Owls Club
https://www.instagram.com/saddleupto/?hl=en
Saddle Up w/Meetup
https://www.meetup.com/toronto-movies-and-social-group/events/293736269/
Bingo @ Flash On Church
http://flashonchurch.com/
Karaoke Fridays Scruffy Murphy’s Irish Pub Hosted by KJ Sharon
https://www.meetup.com/toronto-karaoke-meetup-group/events/293375484/
Karaoke @ Hermie's
https://www.hermies.ca/
Karaoke @ Mimico Pub and Grill
https://www.facebook.com/mimicopubandgrill/
Karaoke @ On the Rocks
https://myontherocks.com/
Karaoke @ Royal Canadian Legion 614
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=701918525274532&set=pcb.701918778607840
Karaoke @ Zak's Bar and Grill
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2501861116658243&set=gm.10167678788975445&idorvanity=28317670444
Karaoke @ Fox and Fiddle Wellesley
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10159534696221917&set=a.338175466916
Karaoke @ Alice's Place
https://www.instagram.com/alicesplace_554parliament/
Mike Lynch @ Yuk Yuks
https://www.yukyuks.com/toronto
Old Dada @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
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June 3
$10/$15 unlimited GO Transit
https://www.gotransit.com/en/travelling-with-us/promotions-and-events/weekend-passes-with-go
Bus to Casino Rama
https://www.casinorama.com/vip-coach/
Horse racing @ Woodbine. Free admission and parking
https://woodbine.com/upcoming-races/
$2.99 Tom & Jerry @ Cineplex
https://www.cineplex.com/events/family
An Evening of Musical Mantras
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/an-evening-of-musical-mantras-registration-633078724507
Death Cab for Cutie @ Massey Hall
https://masseyhall.mhrth.com/
Bingo @ Flash On Church
http://flashonchurch.com/
Mike Lynch @ Yuk Yuks
https://www.yukyuks.com/toronto
Old Dada @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 4
$10/$15 unlimited GO Transit
https://www.gotransit.com/en/travelling-with-us/promotions-and-events/weekend-passes-with-go
Bus to Casino Rama
https://www.casinorama.com/vip-coach/
Bata Shoe Museum free admission
https://batashoemuseum.ca/visit-us/
Horse racing @ Woodbine. Free admission and parking
https://woodbine.com/upcoming-races/
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Hamilton Cardinals. Free baseball @ Christie Pits
https://www.mapleleafsbaseball.com/stats#/team-schedule?team_id=238204
Bingo @ Flash On Church
http://flashonchurch.com/
Karaoke @ Toby's
https://www.instagram.com/jasonrolland/
Free drop-in kickball @ Alexandra Park. Beginners welcome
https://www.facebook.com/TorontoKickball/
$18.88 unlimited evening bowling @ Splitsville
https://splitsville.ca/richmond-hill-bowling/
Old Dada @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
2023.05.29 15:31 Gumbybum Lore Discovery Part 3/3: Fishbones, Flatwoods, and Colonel's Burning Secret
Disclaimer: This post is long, so you may want to save it and read it later. Also, I put a lot of time into both researching this and writing it up. So if all you have is negative feedback, kindly keep it to yourself. Finally, there’s a lot more that I’ve been looking into beyond the scope of this write-up. If you’d like to join my exp-LORE-ation efforts, please let me know.
Recap: Part 1 establishes that Colonel is the same kid who was playing with his “baer frends” at the Palace of the Winding Path. Part 2 establishes that Darius Angler was the author of the 4 Untitled Poems.
Edit: Hyperlinks don't seem to be working so I'm manually pasting my references to parts 1 and 2.
https://www.reddit.com/fo76/comments/1327e9a/lore_discovery_responder_colonel_flatwoods_was/
https://www.reddit.com/fo76/comments/135xf3y/lore_discovery_part_2_responder_colonels_postwa
TLDR (mad spoilers up in here): Fishbones led the raid that killed Colonel and all the Responders in Flatwoods, and he could very well be Darius Angler’s brother. Colonel may have been up to something nefarious with the children of Flatwoods (but not in that way). Ra Ra might be Ward’s granddaughter. And it looks like mole rat teeth are used to craft Day Tripper.
We Begin at the End: November 2096. 13 Bridge Street, Flatwoods, WV. Responder Colonel died in the raider attack on Flatwoods, along with just about every other Responder that resided there. The raiders attacked because a Chem Addict stole all their food and chems and fled to Flatwoods. You can find her body and holotape just West of the river. But before we get to that, we need to look at what Colonel was up to before he died. Most people probably overlooked this detail because they haven’t explored Flatwoods since they were level 3, and at that point they didn’t have a jetpack or the Marsupial mutation. But Colonel’s front AND back porches are completely railed off. If you make it over the front railing, you’ll find the corpses of Colonel and (likely) the raider that killed him, Colonel’s second “Survivor Story,” and a stroller with an intact doll in it. Colonel was the “caregiver for children” in Flatwoods, so the stroller may have once been for an actual baby.
But on the back porch, Colonel was burning books, files, documents, and the contents of a mysterious duffel back on his grill. Colonel definitely had a secret and he was literally trying to burn the evidence. And that secret was his past with the Diehards and Darius Angler. If you follow the road West out of Flatwoods, you’ll eventually arrive at Hillfolk Hotdogs, which is the site of Untitled Poem #3 and the former home of Colonel when he lived with Angler as a child (you can find one of his “baer frends” on the kid-sized bunk bed). But inside the bus(?) at Hillfolk’s, you’ll also find similar documents and a duffel bag, just like the kind Colonel was burning in Flatwoods when he died. As a matter of fact, there are other similarly suspicious duffel bags and file caches along the Ohio River. And this takes us to Ohio River Adventures.
Fishbones is a Dirty Rat Bastard: In the exact same way that the Diehards returned to Crater, a former territory of theirs (and site of Untitled Poem #2), the Diehards also returned to Ohio River Adventures. Now, O.R.A. gets overlooked because there is no main quest line that keeps you returning to this area (maybe the grind for Raider Rep), but this place is former Diehard territory too. Now, it is critically important to know that both Fishbones (Bones) and Blackeye are O.G. Diehards. Blackeye was almost certainly Colonel’s 1st grade teacher back at the Palace of the Winding Path. But what about Bones? Well, my friends, I bet I’m about to tell you something you didn’t already know:
When Margie McClintock died in 2096 (as inferred what Rose tells us during the main quest), Meg Groberg took over and soon thereafter led the Diehards out of Appalachia before returning years later (that, you already knew). You probably also already knew that before Margie died, Meg and the other Diehards went against protocol and “shot first” when robbing people. Meg was a true raider in all the ways that Margie was not. But what you probably didn’t put together is that Margie died around the time that Flatwoods was attacked. According to the Chem Addict from Flatwoods:
“Chems Addict: Well, this is it I guess. Rock bottom I think they call it. I still miss him. Billy. I knew he was too young for me, but he made me feel good. Though it's the old Billy I really miss. The one who used to do nothing all day with me but listen to the radio and drink. I shoulda got out sooner when Billy and his buddies started torturing little cats and dogs. His friends... were no good. But that didn't stop me anyway. I can't believe my wake up call was watching people's heads... get stuck on spikes. So... what is an old gal like me to do? Steal all the food. Steal all the chems. And get the hell out of there. *laughs* I'd trade my last bite of food just to see the look on their faces. Oh, I know it's going to piss off Billy's friends, but I don't give a damn. I tell myself I should feel sorry for the little town across the river. But if I'm being honest, and that's what this tape is for, I don't really care. I call myself an addict, but it ain't the chems that finally got me. It was always Billy.”
I want to emphasize the “heads on spikes” part, because that’s something Margie would never tolerate. But Meg on the other hand let raiders be raiders. The other thing that I want to point out is “Billy.” I’m not saying for certain that this Billy is the same as Darius Angler’s brother, but I am saying that technically no body was ever recovered from the molten steel, and Angler didn’t see the accident happen because he didn’t work at Grafton Steel anymore. It’s possible that “Billy Angler,” who didn’t quit because “he needs the money,” could have taken out some kind of insurance policy, named his chem addict girlfriend as the beneficiary, faked his own death, and skipped town. Do I know for certain that this happened? Of course not. But what I do know is this: FISHBONES’S REAL NAME IS BILLY!!! The reason he’s obsessed with the letter B is because that’s his first initial. You see, at first I thought the raiders that wrecked Flatwoods were Cutthroats because of their whole feud with the Responders. But then I learned that the Flatwoods attack was caused by a bunch of chems that the Addict stole, and the Diehards were Appalachia’s great chems supplier (thanks to Angler). Furthermore, Fishbones’s current operation is spiking Mirelurk meat with an addictive substance (chems). And since Bones is an OG Diehard, it means he was the piece-of-shit raider that attacked Flatwoods and killed Colonel.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fishbones
A Bit About Bruiser: I found a few interesting details about Bruiser at Ohio River Adventures, but nothing too profound. We know that he used to play football, his mascot was a “battle bear,” and that he spent some time in a vault. The likeliest conclusion from this information is that he’s from Grafton, given that’s the only high school in the region with a football field and it’s next to the makeshift vault that formerly housed a few raiders before the BOS took over. If you look up the IRL Grafton High School, you’ll find that it’s on Yates Ave (likely the namesake of Sofie Yates, a Responder turned Raider in Flatwoods) and their mascot is the “Bearcat.” Also, all the varsity jackets in FO76 have the letter B on them, but that’s more Fishbones’s thing. But none of this has anything to do with Colonel or Angler, so let’s move on.
The Charleston Cartel (2079-2082): From the Charleston Capitol Building terminal entries, we know there was a massive chem trade happening in Charleston at this time:
“Name: Matoukas, George
Date of Crime: 10.09.81
Description:
300 Block of Oak. Based on anonymous tip, Responder Atkins found subject peddling vast amounts of illegal chems out of his home. Over 300lbs of illegal chems found in the subject's basement.
Resolution:
Matoukas sentenced to 5 years hard labor under close supervision, with possibility of parole for good behavior. Chems were seized and destroyed.”
Since the Diehards’ operation at the Palace of the Winding Path effectively ended with the great rapture of ‘79, it only makes sense that the Diehards would have to adapt their drug trade elsewhere. If you actually look for raider activity in Charleston (outside of the courthouse), you won’t find a lot, but what you will find is very telling of their operations. You’ll find a dead raider at the chemistry workbench inside Hornwright Industrial Headquarters. You’ll find a few dead raiders in/above the pharmacy on the south side of town. And you’ll find a dead raider lurking outside the doctors’ offices (which is NOT the hospital) to the north. And this takes us to Dr. Joseph.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Joseph_(Fallout_76))
Dr. Joseph was a psychiatrist in Charleston who practiced both before AND after the Great War. He had the authority to refer patients to Allegheny Asylum and write prescriptions; Prescriptions that would be filled at the pharmacy on the south side of Charleston. To one patient, P. Davis, he prescribed Day Tripper. This insightful detail is why the Diehards were operating in Charleston in the first place. As many seasoned players have observed, Day Tripper is not craftable in this game; You can only find it out in the wild. Consider the following terminal entry from the Palace of the Winding Path:
“Log: 12.29.77 Since the war, incense ingredients have been hard to come by. We started rationing weeks ago, in anticipation of this, and doses are much lower. The sedative effects of the incense are a priority, to keep people from freaking out.
I've begun to improvise with some other ingredients and found some creative ways of stretching the supply, at least until things return to relative normal. Other chem supplies are plentiful.”
So here’s what I think happened. If the Diehards were in dire need of Day Tripper to make their custom chems (see: Making Incense), and the Responders had a healthy supply of Day Tripper locked inside a pharmacy in Charleston, and there was also a doctor who wrote prescriptions for Day Tripper, then all the Diehards needed to do was register a new patient with Dr. Joseph. Enter: Darius Angler.
Darius Angler was batshit crazy (if in doubt, refer to his manifesto). Angler, who now resided at Hillfolk Hotdogs, was also just a short trip up the New River from Charleston. He would periodically visit Dr. Joseph, get his prescription filled like a meth-head scoring Sudafed, and used the trip as a cover to smuggle the refined chems into the city. Essentially, I think he just made a loop around the southwest “island” of the Forest (area surrounded on all sides by 3 rivers, referred to as “Zone D”). The loop around Zone D functioned as a supply chain/assembly line for producing the chems that were being smuggled into Charleston. There’s a lot of suspicious stuff happening around here: Raider activity, duffel bags/files, bridge control, coffin conspiracies, etc. that I had to edit out for length, but I’ll try to summarize it here.
Hillfolk Hotdogs is where Angler and Colonel raised mole rats for reasons I’ll explain later. Follow the Ohio River south and you’ll soon come to a boat that’s not far away from a crashed truck loaded up with industrial chemical barrels (useful for producing industrial quantities of chems). South of that is a tent with a duffel bag. Further south you’ll find a 3-story house with suspicious files and a duffle bag hidden in the attic (just like at Hillfolk’s). South of that are some dry-docked boats with a chem box and a duffel bag. Even further south is Ohio River Adventure (a current Raider base of operation that served a similar purpose back then). Southeast of there, by Lewis & Sons, is a little “boat” with 2 stuffed bears, which I think was left behind by Colonel as he reenacted his river adventures with Angler using his bears. Southeast of there is a floating Nuka-Cola structure with a submerged safe guarded by 2 more bears, one of which has a liquor bottle. I think this is a dead drop and the bears are another work of Colonel’s. Heading East up the River you’ll find a raider-operated “store” at the end of a questionable bridge. Further east is Charleston, where George Matoukas was distributing the chems. And on the return trip down the New River is another dead drop directly beneath the Bridge on the west side. It’s a safe by a couch with a bear and Jangles (I think Jangles is supposed to represent George). Again, I think that this big loop is a supply chain/assembly line for moving chems and the components needed to make chems.
The smuggling operation also deviously involved Colonel and his “Baer Frends.” If you jetpack up to the very top of AVR Medical Center, you’ll find two people who OD’ed on chems, each with a stuffed bear next to them. So I think that either the Diehards were sewing chems inside Colonel’s stuffed bears and using them as drug mules to smuggle chems into Charleston, or that Colonel just climbed to the highest point on the hospital (as he did at the Palace and later in Flatwoods) and left two bears as a memorial. But I’m leaning toward the former because of an unmarked location in the Savage Divide that I found. It’s southeast of Bastion Park right at the bend of the monorail line. It’s essentially a fire pit with a bunch of stuffed bears thrown in it with a few dead party-goers around the area. I think this is the location where the Responders destroyed all of the Chems, bears and all, that they confiscated from George Matoukas. Speaking of George Matoukas….
Curious George and the Rocket: According to the above-mentioned terminal entry, George Matoukas was apparently the only criminal who the Responders sentenced to hard labor rather than exile. If you go to Rollins Labor Camp (formerly Rollins Work Camp), you won’t find a whole lot there other than Blood Eagles. But what you WILL find at the very top of the crane structure are two stuffed bears and a Jangles. Colonel, as a child, had a thing for playing with “baer frends in high places.” I can’t say with any certainty what happened here, but maybe Angler was the one who gave the responders that “anonymous tip” because Matoukas was starting to rub off on Colonel, and Angler didn’t want him growing up to be a Raider. Matoukas gets sentenced to hard labor rather than exile, with a change of parole pending “good behavior,” which means “snitching.” So maybe Angler took Colonel to visit his “friend” at the labor camp (visiting hours are a thing), Angler introduced George to a “rocket,” and Colonel used his toys to recreate the scene. Or not. Who knows? But what I do know is that the shitty poet (Angler) moved on from Hillfolk Hotdogs to go to the Cranberry Bog, and I think the Christmas Flood gave him the perfect reason to leave.
Untitled Poem #3: I’m intentionally skipping Untitled Poem #2, partly because I haven’t found much deeper meaning to it, but mostly because what I think it means is little more than conjecture. #3, on the other hand, I feel like I can make sense of it:
“white cedar leaning against the shadow of our river
peeling like asylum walls
hobbled together around dignity that died long ago
simple things to jumpstart fogged memories
holed as teeth hidden in tin
we leave our things pinned
winning only the stuck wings”
I think the phrase “white cedar leaning against the shadow of our river” is the title of the painting in Dr. Joseph’s office. Or at least that’s how Darius Angler would describe it as if it was some kind of Rorschach test. “Peeling like asylum walls, hobbled together around dignity that died long ago” is a reference to the office wallpaper, and perhaps another one of Dr. Joseph’s clients, Daniel Boone.
“Patient: "Boone, D"
Observations:
Interesting case.
Patient responds only to "Daniel Boone" and indeed seems to believe himself to be the historical figure by the same name. I'd heard that some of the hillfolk can end up a bit off after lack of socialization, but I'd not expected to see such a case.
Advised that he be sent to Allegheny rather than the Penitentiary for further observation.”
There’s only a VERY narrow window of plausibility to suggest that Angler is Daniel Boone, so I won’t. But this entry seems to refer back to Untitled Poem #3, with worlds like “hillfolk” (as in Hillfolk Hotdogs), “Allegheny” (as in asylum), and “the historical figure” (as in dignity that died long ago). I think the line “simple things to jumpstart fogged memories'' refers to the Souvenir Magnet on the fridge at Hillfolk Hotdogs, and I think it came from Lady Janet’s Soft Serve (not Cow Spot Creamery). “Holed as teeth hidden in tin” refers to the mole rats that he was raising with Colonel at Hillfolk’s (the cat bowl on the floor is for the mole rat that walks around the trailer like Fry’s dog from Futurama, just waiting for Colonel to come home). And “we leave our things pinned, winning only the stuck wings,” refers to Angler’s (and Colonel’s) escape from the Diehards. I’m assuming this event took place just after the Christmas flood, once the chem operation in Charleston was destroyed with the rest of the city. But if you remember those dead raiders I mentioned earlier, there are a few more. Outside of Dr. Joseph’s office is a dead raider next to an ammo box. Well, next to him is a makeshift bridge that goes over the highway. And if you keep going in the same direction once you step off the bridge you’ll hit the southwest corner of Wade Airport. Immediately in that corner past the fence is a locked truck-trailer (watch out for the mine) with 2 more dead raiders and a power armor chassis (sometimes). I think the last line of the poem refers to this exact event, leaving his power armor (and compatriots) pinned in the back of the trailer so he can steal yet another Vertibird. Angler flew the automated aircraft to Watoga. Why? I don’t know. But it explains how he got to the Cranberry Bog and why his body can be found just a short distance south of the city.
Untitled Poem #4: Just like #2, I don’t have any deep insight into the specifics so all I can do is speculate. I’ll spare you the details. But what I think it’s about is the very end of his relationship with Colonel. I think the time Angler and Colonel spent together in the unmarked cabin southeast of Sunrise Field was just Angler teaching Colonel to be self-sufficient (hunting, trapping, maintaining weapons and whatnot). I think that when the scorched attacked Harper’s Ferry in 2086 that there was also generally increased scorched activity in the eastern half of Appalachia. The poem describes Angler providing cover fire to, or perhaps just drawing fire away from Colonel as escaped through Big Bend Tunnel, later to be found by the Responders. But again, like with #2, all I can do with this poem is speculate.
The Mysterious Mole Rats: This is a question I’ve had for almost 2 years now, and I think I finally figured it out. Back at the Palace of the Winding Path, there’s a lonely mole rat that lives in the computer room by the garden. There’s also a dead mole rat next to a dead raider pilot by a downed plane that was headed to the Palace from the north. I didn’t know what the Diehards needed mole rats for because I was only looking at the Palace itself. But the answer to this question is found at Lady Janet’s. Everyone thinks that the two bears in gas masks by the chemistry is just a Breaking Bad easter egg. But I think it’s yet another “baer frend” reenactment left behind by Colonel. Do you remember how the cultists at the Palace ran out of ingredients to make the “spiritual incense” and had to improvise? Well, one of the substitute ingredients they used, and the reason they were importing mole rats, and the reason the Diehards took care of the children like they did, is found in the baby carriage at Lady Janet’s.
A basket full of human jaw bones? Yeah…. Teeth. Or more precisely, “baby teeth.” I suppose mole rat teeth would do in a pinch, but as messed up as it sounds human baby teeth were preferred. This is why the Diehards at the Palace were taking care of those first-graders; because six-year-olds shed baby teeth like it’s raining molars! This also answers a question you didn’t even know you had, and it takes us back to Flatwoods. Here’s a note written by Jeremiah Ward who lived in trailer in the town (and the Ransacked Bunker before that):
“I, Jeremiah Ward, resident in the town of Flatwoods, county of... not sure.
Being of sound mind, and not acting under... duress. Mostly.
Hereby declare this letter to be my last will and testament.
Mia gets the house, and everything in it.
It ain't much but that's all I got to give and... she's all I got.
I know she's still alive.
The Responders say the dogs got her, but I know it ain't true.
They been real good to us. Teaching an old geezer like me how to really cook is something. I'll give em that.
But I know they lyin about those dogs. I seen em in the hills. There's some bad folks scoping us out. They took my granddaughter, I just know it.
I'll get you back, Mia. I promise.”
Mia, a baby who slept in the crib in that trailer, was abducted by raiders. And the only raider gang that ever had any interest in kids was the Diehards. And when you remember that the Responders had a foster care program that would later be run by Colonel once he was older, you’ll remember that a shit load of children went “missing” when Billy (Fishbones) attacked Flatwoods. And if teeth (baby, mole rat, or otherwise) was the secret ingredient in Angler’s chem recipe… and Colonel was Angler’s apprentice for a number of years before he joined the Responders… and Colonel was the caretaker of all of the children of Flatwoods… then exactly what was in those documents that Colonel was burning on his back porch?
Full Circle: So after everything, the Diehards lost their crop of children at the Palace of the Winding Path in 2079, but took the children of Flatwoods and left Appalachia. When they came back, they put Fishbones (Billy) in charge of the Ohio River Adventures operation, who is now spiking the mirelurk meat with a potent chem. It’s totally possible that Ra Ra is actually Mia Ward (Jeremiah Ward’s granddaughter). Hell, it’s even possible that Jeremiah Ward is somehow Ward from Foundation. Since Colonel was obviously keeping, and subsequently burning, secrets, I’d say he was also inclined to keep his raider past a secret as well as the truth about his adoptive father. Like he said in his Survivor’s Story, “he was bad.” Perhaps the reason he kept his Diehard history a secret from the Dassa and the other Responders was because he knew that the Responders were the ones punishing and exiling people back in Charleston. But this whole story began the day Darius Angler decided to get revenge on Grafton Steel. And if his brother hadn’t actually died after all, then it would explain why Angler stayed with the Diehards for as long as he did rather than returning to the Free states. Regardless, this entire story began and ended with Billy. “It was always Billy.”
submitted by Gumbybum to fo76 [link] [comments]
Recap: Part 1 establishes that Colonel is the same kid who was playing with his “baer frends” at the Palace of the Winding Path. Part 2 establishes that Darius Angler was the author of the 4 Untitled Poems.
Edit: Hyperlinks don't seem to be working so I'm manually pasting my references to parts 1 and 2.
https://www.reddit.com/fo76/comments/1327e9a/lore_discovery_responder_colonel_flatwoods_was/
https://www.reddit.com/fo76/comments/135xf3y/lore_discovery_part_2_responder_colonels_postwa
TLDR (mad spoilers up in here): Fishbones led the raid that killed Colonel and all the Responders in Flatwoods, and he could very well be Darius Angler’s brother. Colonel may have been up to something nefarious with the children of Flatwoods (but not in that way). Ra Ra might be Ward’s granddaughter. And it looks like mole rat teeth are used to craft Day Tripper.
We Begin at the End: November 2096. 13 Bridge Street, Flatwoods, WV. Responder Colonel died in the raider attack on Flatwoods, along with just about every other Responder that resided there. The raiders attacked because a Chem Addict stole all their food and chems and fled to Flatwoods. You can find her body and holotape just West of the river. But before we get to that, we need to look at what Colonel was up to before he died. Most people probably overlooked this detail because they haven’t explored Flatwoods since they were level 3, and at that point they didn’t have a jetpack or the Marsupial mutation. But Colonel’s front AND back porches are completely railed off. If you make it over the front railing, you’ll find the corpses of Colonel and (likely) the raider that killed him, Colonel’s second “Survivor Story,” and a stroller with an intact doll in it. Colonel was the “caregiver for children” in Flatwoods, so the stroller may have once been for an actual baby.
But on the back porch, Colonel was burning books, files, documents, and the contents of a mysterious duffel back on his grill. Colonel definitely had a secret and he was literally trying to burn the evidence. And that secret was his past with the Diehards and Darius Angler. If you follow the road West out of Flatwoods, you’ll eventually arrive at Hillfolk Hotdogs, which is the site of Untitled Poem #3 and the former home of Colonel when he lived with Angler as a child (you can find one of his “baer frends” on the kid-sized bunk bed). But inside the bus(?) at Hillfolk’s, you’ll also find similar documents and a duffel bag, just like the kind Colonel was burning in Flatwoods when he died. As a matter of fact, there are other similarly suspicious duffel bags and file caches along the Ohio River. And this takes us to Ohio River Adventures.
Fishbones is a Dirty Rat Bastard: In the exact same way that the Diehards returned to Crater, a former territory of theirs (and site of Untitled Poem #2), the Diehards also returned to Ohio River Adventures. Now, O.R.A. gets overlooked because there is no main quest line that keeps you returning to this area (maybe the grind for Raider Rep), but this place is former Diehard territory too. Now, it is critically important to know that both Fishbones (Bones) and Blackeye are O.G. Diehards. Blackeye was almost certainly Colonel’s 1st grade teacher back at the Palace of the Winding Path. But what about Bones? Well, my friends, I bet I’m about to tell you something you didn’t already know:
When Margie McClintock died in 2096 (as inferred what Rose tells us during the main quest), Meg Groberg took over and soon thereafter led the Diehards out of Appalachia before returning years later (that, you already knew). You probably also already knew that before Margie died, Meg and the other Diehards went against protocol and “shot first” when robbing people. Meg was a true raider in all the ways that Margie was not. But what you probably didn’t put together is that Margie died around the time that Flatwoods was attacked. According to the Chem Addict from Flatwoods:
“Chems Addict: Well, this is it I guess. Rock bottom I think they call it. I still miss him. Billy. I knew he was too young for me, but he made me feel good. Though it's the old Billy I really miss. The one who used to do nothing all day with me but listen to the radio and drink. I shoulda got out sooner when Billy and his buddies started torturing little cats and dogs. His friends... were no good. But that didn't stop me anyway. I can't believe my wake up call was watching people's heads... get stuck on spikes. So... what is an old gal like me to do? Steal all the food. Steal all the chems. And get the hell out of there. *laughs* I'd trade my last bite of food just to see the look on their faces. Oh, I know it's going to piss off Billy's friends, but I don't give a damn. I tell myself I should feel sorry for the little town across the river. But if I'm being honest, and that's what this tape is for, I don't really care. I call myself an addict, but it ain't the chems that finally got me. It was always Billy.”
I want to emphasize the “heads on spikes” part, because that’s something Margie would never tolerate. But Meg on the other hand let raiders be raiders. The other thing that I want to point out is “Billy.” I’m not saying for certain that this Billy is the same as Darius Angler’s brother, but I am saying that technically no body was ever recovered from the molten steel, and Angler didn’t see the accident happen because he didn’t work at Grafton Steel anymore. It’s possible that “Billy Angler,” who didn’t quit because “he needs the money,” could have taken out some kind of insurance policy, named his chem addict girlfriend as the beneficiary, faked his own death, and skipped town. Do I know for certain that this happened? Of course not. But what I do know is this: FISHBONES’S REAL NAME IS BILLY!!! The reason he’s obsessed with the letter B is because that’s his first initial. You see, at first I thought the raiders that wrecked Flatwoods were Cutthroats because of their whole feud with the Responders. But then I learned that the Flatwoods attack was caused by a bunch of chems that the Addict stole, and the Diehards were Appalachia’s great chems supplier (thanks to Angler). Furthermore, Fishbones’s current operation is spiking Mirelurk meat with an addictive substance (chems). And since Bones is an OG Diehard, it means he was the piece-of-shit raider that attacked Flatwoods and killed Colonel.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fishbones
A Bit About Bruiser: I found a few interesting details about Bruiser at Ohio River Adventures, but nothing too profound. We know that he used to play football, his mascot was a “battle bear,” and that he spent some time in a vault. The likeliest conclusion from this information is that he’s from Grafton, given that’s the only high school in the region with a football field and it’s next to the makeshift vault that formerly housed a few raiders before the BOS took over. If you look up the IRL Grafton High School, you’ll find that it’s on Yates Ave (likely the namesake of Sofie Yates, a Responder turned Raider in Flatwoods) and their mascot is the “Bearcat.” Also, all the varsity jackets in FO76 have the letter B on them, but that’s more Fishbones’s thing. But none of this has anything to do with Colonel or Angler, so let’s move on.
The Charleston Cartel (2079-2082): From the Charleston Capitol Building terminal entries, we know there was a massive chem trade happening in Charleston at this time:
“Name: Matoukas, George
Date of Crime: 10.09.81
Description:
300 Block of Oak. Based on anonymous tip, Responder Atkins found subject peddling vast amounts of illegal chems out of his home. Over 300lbs of illegal chems found in the subject's basement.
Resolution:
Matoukas sentenced to 5 years hard labor under close supervision, with possibility of parole for good behavior. Chems were seized and destroyed.”
Since the Diehards’ operation at the Palace of the Winding Path effectively ended with the great rapture of ‘79, it only makes sense that the Diehards would have to adapt their drug trade elsewhere. If you actually look for raider activity in Charleston (outside of the courthouse), you won’t find a lot, but what you will find is very telling of their operations. You’ll find a dead raider at the chemistry workbench inside Hornwright Industrial Headquarters. You’ll find a few dead raiders in/above the pharmacy on the south side of town. And you’ll find a dead raider lurking outside the doctors’ offices (which is NOT the hospital) to the north. And this takes us to Dr. Joseph.
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Joseph_(Fallout_76))
Dr. Joseph was a psychiatrist in Charleston who practiced both before AND after the Great War. He had the authority to refer patients to Allegheny Asylum and write prescriptions; Prescriptions that would be filled at the pharmacy on the south side of Charleston. To one patient, P. Davis, he prescribed Day Tripper. This insightful detail is why the Diehards were operating in Charleston in the first place. As many seasoned players have observed, Day Tripper is not craftable in this game; You can only find it out in the wild. Consider the following terminal entry from the Palace of the Winding Path:
“Log: 12.29.77 Since the war, incense ingredients have been hard to come by. We started rationing weeks ago, in anticipation of this, and doses are much lower. The sedative effects of the incense are a priority, to keep people from freaking out.
I've begun to improvise with some other ingredients and found some creative ways of stretching the supply, at least until things return to relative normal. Other chem supplies are plentiful.”
So here’s what I think happened. If the Diehards were in dire need of Day Tripper to make their custom chems (see: Making Incense), and the Responders had a healthy supply of Day Tripper locked inside a pharmacy in Charleston, and there was also a doctor who wrote prescriptions for Day Tripper, then all the Diehards needed to do was register a new patient with Dr. Joseph. Enter: Darius Angler.
Darius Angler was batshit crazy (if in doubt, refer to his manifesto). Angler, who now resided at Hillfolk Hotdogs, was also just a short trip up the New River from Charleston. He would periodically visit Dr. Joseph, get his prescription filled like a meth-head scoring Sudafed, and used the trip as a cover to smuggle the refined chems into the city. Essentially, I think he just made a loop around the southwest “island” of the Forest (area surrounded on all sides by 3 rivers, referred to as “Zone D”). The loop around Zone D functioned as a supply chain/assembly line for producing the chems that were being smuggled into Charleston. There’s a lot of suspicious stuff happening around here: Raider activity, duffel bags/files, bridge control, coffin conspiracies, etc. that I had to edit out for length, but I’ll try to summarize it here.
Hillfolk Hotdogs is where Angler and Colonel raised mole rats for reasons I’ll explain later. Follow the Ohio River south and you’ll soon come to a boat that’s not far away from a crashed truck loaded up with industrial chemical barrels (useful for producing industrial quantities of chems). South of that is a tent with a duffel bag. Further south you’ll find a 3-story house with suspicious files and a duffle bag hidden in the attic (just like at Hillfolk’s). South of that are some dry-docked boats with a chem box and a duffel bag. Even further south is Ohio River Adventure (a current Raider base of operation that served a similar purpose back then). Southeast of there, by Lewis & Sons, is a little “boat” with 2 stuffed bears, which I think was left behind by Colonel as he reenacted his river adventures with Angler using his bears. Southeast of there is a floating Nuka-Cola structure with a submerged safe guarded by 2 more bears, one of which has a liquor bottle. I think this is a dead drop and the bears are another work of Colonel’s. Heading East up the River you’ll find a raider-operated “store” at the end of a questionable bridge. Further east is Charleston, where George Matoukas was distributing the chems. And on the return trip down the New River is another dead drop directly beneath the Bridge on the west side. It’s a safe by a couch with a bear and Jangles (I think Jangles is supposed to represent George). Again, I think that this big loop is a supply chain/assembly line for moving chems and the components needed to make chems.
The smuggling operation also deviously involved Colonel and his “Baer Frends.” If you jetpack up to the very top of AVR Medical Center, you’ll find two people who OD’ed on chems, each with a stuffed bear next to them. So I think that either the Diehards were sewing chems inside Colonel’s stuffed bears and using them as drug mules to smuggle chems into Charleston, or that Colonel just climbed to the highest point on the hospital (as he did at the Palace and later in Flatwoods) and left two bears as a memorial. But I’m leaning toward the former because of an unmarked location in the Savage Divide that I found. It’s southeast of Bastion Park right at the bend of the monorail line. It’s essentially a fire pit with a bunch of stuffed bears thrown in it with a few dead party-goers around the area. I think this is the location where the Responders destroyed all of the Chems, bears and all, that they confiscated from George Matoukas. Speaking of George Matoukas….
Curious George and the Rocket: According to the above-mentioned terminal entry, George Matoukas was apparently the only criminal who the Responders sentenced to hard labor rather than exile. If you go to Rollins Labor Camp (formerly Rollins Work Camp), you won’t find a whole lot there other than Blood Eagles. But what you WILL find at the very top of the crane structure are two stuffed bears and a Jangles. Colonel, as a child, had a thing for playing with “baer frends in high places.” I can’t say with any certainty what happened here, but maybe Angler was the one who gave the responders that “anonymous tip” because Matoukas was starting to rub off on Colonel, and Angler didn’t want him growing up to be a Raider. Matoukas gets sentenced to hard labor rather than exile, with a change of parole pending “good behavior,” which means “snitching.” So maybe Angler took Colonel to visit his “friend” at the labor camp (visiting hours are a thing), Angler introduced George to a “rocket,” and Colonel used his toys to recreate the scene. Or not. Who knows? But what I do know is that the shitty poet (Angler) moved on from Hillfolk Hotdogs to go to the Cranberry Bog, and I think the Christmas Flood gave him the perfect reason to leave.
Untitled Poem #3: I’m intentionally skipping Untitled Poem #2, partly because I haven’t found much deeper meaning to it, but mostly because what I think it means is little more than conjecture. #3, on the other hand, I feel like I can make sense of it:
“white cedar leaning against the shadow of our river
peeling like asylum walls
hobbled together around dignity that died long ago
simple things to jumpstart fogged memories
holed as teeth hidden in tin
we leave our things pinned
winning only the stuck wings”
I think the phrase “white cedar leaning against the shadow of our river” is the title of the painting in Dr. Joseph’s office. Or at least that’s how Darius Angler would describe it as if it was some kind of Rorschach test. “Peeling like asylum walls, hobbled together around dignity that died long ago” is a reference to the office wallpaper, and perhaps another one of Dr. Joseph’s clients, Daniel Boone.
“Patient: "Boone, D"
Observations:
Interesting case.
Patient responds only to "Daniel Boone" and indeed seems to believe himself to be the historical figure by the same name. I'd heard that some of the hillfolk can end up a bit off after lack of socialization, but I'd not expected to see such a case.
Advised that he be sent to Allegheny rather than the Penitentiary for further observation.”
There’s only a VERY narrow window of plausibility to suggest that Angler is Daniel Boone, so I won’t. But this entry seems to refer back to Untitled Poem #3, with worlds like “hillfolk” (as in Hillfolk Hotdogs), “Allegheny” (as in asylum), and “the historical figure” (as in dignity that died long ago). I think the line “simple things to jumpstart fogged memories'' refers to the Souvenir Magnet on the fridge at Hillfolk Hotdogs, and I think it came from Lady Janet’s Soft Serve (not Cow Spot Creamery). “Holed as teeth hidden in tin” refers to the mole rats that he was raising with Colonel at Hillfolk’s (the cat bowl on the floor is for the mole rat that walks around the trailer like Fry’s dog from Futurama, just waiting for Colonel to come home). And “we leave our things pinned, winning only the stuck wings,” refers to Angler’s (and Colonel’s) escape from the Diehards. I’m assuming this event took place just after the Christmas flood, once the chem operation in Charleston was destroyed with the rest of the city. But if you remember those dead raiders I mentioned earlier, there are a few more. Outside of Dr. Joseph’s office is a dead raider next to an ammo box. Well, next to him is a makeshift bridge that goes over the highway. And if you keep going in the same direction once you step off the bridge you’ll hit the southwest corner of Wade Airport. Immediately in that corner past the fence is a locked truck-trailer (watch out for the mine) with 2 more dead raiders and a power armor chassis (sometimes). I think the last line of the poem refers to this exact event, leaving his power armor (and compatriots) pinned in the back of the trailer so he can steal yet another Vertibird. Angler flew the automated aircraft to Watoga. Why? I don’t know. But it explains how he got to the Cranberry Bog and why his body can be found just a short distance south of the city.
Untitled Poem #4: Just like #2, I don’t have any deep insight into the specifics so all I can do is speculate. I’ll spare you the details. But what I think it’s about is the very end of his relationship with Colonel. I think the time Angler and Colonel spent together in the unmarked cabin southeast of Sunrise Field was just Angler teaching Colonel to be self-sufficient (hunting, trapping, maintaining weapons and whatnot). I think that when the scorched attacked Harper’s Ferry in 2086 that there was also generally increased scorched activity in the eastern half of Appalachia. The poem describes Angler providing cover fire to, or perhaps just drawing fire away from Colonel as escaped through Big Bend Tunnel, later to be found by the Responders. But again, like with #2, all I can do with this poem is speculate.
The Mysterious Mole Rats: This is a question I’ve had for almost 2 years now, and I think I finally figured it out. Back at the Palace of the Winding Path, there’s a lonely mole rat that lives in the computer room by the garden. There’s also a dead mole rat next to a dead raider pilot by a downed plane that was headed to the Palace from the north. I didn’t know what the Diehards needed mole rats for because I was only looking at the Palace itself. But the answer to this question is found at Lady Janet’s. Everyone thinks that the two bears in gas masks by the chemistry is just a Breaking Bad easter egg. But I think it’s yet another “baer frend” reenactment left behind by Colonel. Do you remember how the cultists at the Palace ran out of ingredients to make the “spiritual incense” and had to improvise? Well, one of the substitute ingredients they used, and the reason they were importing mole rats, and the reason the Diehards took care of the children like they did, is found in the baby carriage at Lady Janet’s.
A basket full of human jaw bones? Yeah…. Teeth. Or more precisely, “baby teeth.” I suppose mole rat teeth would do in a pinch, but as messed up as it sounds human baby teeth were preferred. This is why the Diehards at the Palace were taking care of those first-graders; because six-year-olds shed baby teeth like it’s raining molars! This also answers a question you didn’t even know you had, and it takes us back to Flatwoods. Here’s a note written by Jeremiah Ward who lived in trailer in the town (and the Ransacked Bunker before that):
“I, Jeremiah Ward, resident in the town of Flatwoods, county of... not sure.
Being of sound mind, and not acting under... duress. Mostly.
Hereby declare this letter to be my last will and testament.
Mia gets the house, and everything in it.
It ain't much but that's all I got to give and... she's all I got.
I know she's still alive.
The Responders say the dogs got her, but I know it ain't true.
They been real good to us. Teaching an old geezer like me how to really cook is something. I'll give em that.
But I know they lyin about those dogs. I seen em in the hills. There's some bad folks scoping us out. They took my granddaughter, I just know it.
I'll get you back, Mia. I promise.”
Mia, a baby who slept in the crib in that trailer, was abducted by raiders. And the only raider gang that ever had any interest in kids was the Diehards. And when you remember that the Responders had a foster care program that would later be run by Colonel once he was older, you’ll remember that a shit load of children went “missing” when Billy (Fishbones) attacked Flatwoods. And if teeth (baby, mole rat, or otherwise) was the secret ingredient in Angler’s chem recipe… and Colonel was Angler’s apprentice for a number of years before he joined the Responders… and Colonel was the caretaker of all of the children of Flatwoods… then exactly what was in those documents that Colonel was burning on his back porch?
Full Circle: So after everything, the Diehards lost their crop of children at the Palace of the Winding Path in 2079, but took the children of Flatwoods and left Appalachia. When they came back, they put Fishbones (Billy) in charge of the Ohio River Adventures operation, who is now spiking the mirelurk meat with a potent chem. It’s totally possible that Ra Ra is actually Mia Ward (Jeremiah Ward’s granddaughter). Hell, it’s even possible that Jeremiah Ward is somehow Ward from Foundation. Since Colonel was obviously keeping, and subsequently burning, secrets, I’d say he was also inclined to keep his raider past a secret as well as the truth about his adoptive father. Like he said in his Survivor’s Story, “he was bad.” Perhaps the reason he kept his Diehard history a secret from the Dassa and the other Responders was because he knew that the Responders were the ones punishing and exiling people back in Charleston. But this whole story began the day Darius Angler decided to get revenge on Grafton Steel. And if his brother hadn’t actually died after all, then it would explain why Angler stayed with the Diehards for as long as he did rather than returning to the Free states. Regardless, this entire story began and ended with Billy. “It was always Billy.”
2023.05.29 14:57 noiseartwork Something was watching me on the road.
Let's see? It all started when I was working for something like 7 months in the city of Coquimbo in Chile. Specifically, I was working as a journalist for a local newspaper and a small news channel, it was not the best job in the world but it was not so terrible if we consider that my dream was to be a writer. One day I was being required travel outside the city, particularly to Salamanca and do a report of those that you find at the very end of the newspaper or when you can't sleep and you're lying down watching TV in the middle of the night just to give visibility to small towns and communities, filled with some random ads and stuff, again, it was not the best job in the world, but I guess everyone else started with something like this.
I needed to be there in the morning so I mentally prepared myself with a good cup of coffee and some cigarettes, threw only what was necessary for the luggage rack and managed to say goodbye to my relatives, may sound like a dumb tradition but you never know ... on the road shit happens and for me, that isn't something new, I lived day by day in the office writing columns and sending reports where the number of deaths, the causes of the crashes and the photos, makes you wonder it could have been you or someone you know. But, despite that I preferred to go in my own car, I have never been able to fall asleep inside a bus on the road and moreover, it seems that almost all accidents occurred on these buses, in a certain way, my job was making me go all paranoid.
the car's engine started at 9:00 p.m. and there was a little drizzle but nothing serious, folk music on the radio was a good accompaniment while the city nightlife looked at me with his blinding lights in my attempt to escape the "fish smell" of Coquimbo. I drove for a while until I was entering the sister city of La Serena, and I stopped to eat some fast food, I tried to get in fast to avoid getting wet, I ordered another coffee and french fries to eat.
-Hey young man, where are you going at this hour with this rain, everyone else is at their homes sleeping and resting, do you want to catch a cold? I haven't noticed that an elderly woman was attending me. -I'm going to Salamanca. -And what do you intend to do in Salamanca? that's no place for nosy people or city dwellers The lady left me intrigued and I didn't even have to ask her to answer me. -some people there don't like to be disturbed you know, you can get an evil glance there, some "evil eye" stuff you know. - No, ma'am, I'm going to report a news story, I'm a journalist and besides that, I'm a little skeptical about that kind of thing.
The old-lady ended the conversation with a crooked smile and continued with his own things but deep down myself, the answer he gave me left me with chills, I was not a superstitious person but the seriousness of his face unsettled me. I took the last sips of coffee to wake up and said goodbye to my french fries trying to awkwardly get into the car. The conversation haunted me for a couple more miles, for some reason I was left with a feeling of latent nervousness and with the last lights of the city fading in the rear-view mirror, I began to remember the stories that my grandparents told me as a child... The witches of Salamanca, the cave of Manquehua, and other stories that were part of the folklore began to settle in my head. It was interesting to me to imagine these characters, covered in their black cloaks, walking hidden paths through the forests to celebrate within their covens in Manquehua in the middle of the night. Occasionally I was assaulted by the idea of running into a "Tue Tue *" bird of bad omen on the way to Salamanca, or that a "chupacabra" jumped from the bushes onto the road, it is curious how "ghastly" this can be yet so interesting at the same time despite causing us fear.
The electrifying sound of white noise coming from the radio interrupted my thoughts, I was reaching the famous dead zones of the road. From time to time I noticed that there were abandoned houses, fenced lands, among other things but nothing out of the ordinary; It is very common for people to live in these rural areas for a while and then leave to look for jobs in the big cities, especially considering that the urbanization and modernization of our country had only happened a couple of decades ago, more precisely in the year 1970.
I look at the time and it is already 11:30 p.m. This trip is getting too slow for me, to make things worse the rain got stronger, the hours go by and I pass through a couple of towns, so I decided to park my car to smoke a cigarette before reporting to my family by phone, it's funny how people automatically have an infinite amount of topics for conversation when you're away, but they hardly even speak when you are close, later than ever I cut the call and the lights where extinguishing behind the vehicle again and disappeared in the middle of the dark, again it's just me and the road. The headlights of my car were fighting to illuminate against the darkness. The clock arrives at 02:42 A.M and The yawns start to escape from my mouth, there is no radio or telephone signal anymore, at this time you only occasionally see buses passing by on the road, a couple of cars if you are lucky enough but most of the time the road is abandoned. The rain gives me an unpleasant sensation now that there is so little light. Again I picked up the wrongest moment to remember the conversation I had with that old lady...
-you can get an evil glance there, some "evil eye" stuff you know.
A shriek on the side of the road scared the shit out of me, I saw a shadow rushing against my car and I stepped on the brake with all my strength next thing I know was the sound of the car window crashing and everything went black... pitch black.
It felt like time has stopped and I could only hear the rain, I don't know how much time passed by but it felt like a dream or perhaps, maybe a nightmare? I woke up with a terrible headache but apparently my body was intact, the glass was shattered all around the car and the clock said that it was 03:00 A.M. drops are falling inside the car, I try to sit up still scared to look outside but I notice that the lights were destroyed, I see nothing but shadows. I feel a stabbing pain in my face and it seems that I cut part of my face in the accident. I get out of the car nervous and listen as the glass chips on the pavement creak, maybe I could have driven over a horse or maybe some farmer. I try to illuminate a little with the cell phone flashlight and I notice part of the front glass scattered on the asphalt, a slight dent but there are no traces of blood, I try to calm down and take a couple of steps through the rain to see further and between the rain and the nothingness I could see with my eyes a body in the middle of the road.
I thought I must help, maybe I broke one of his legs or worse. walking a little bit faster I managed to get close enough, I was shouting at the body expecting some reply or at least some whining but no one answered and I feared the worst. My heart stopped for a second, I took a step forward to see the face of this body and everything seemed so surreal, it was a mannequin with hollow eyes.
I didn't know what where happening, a mannequin dressed in an old poncho in the middle of the road away from everything, a fucking mannequin. Fear seized me, I looked in all directions searching and searching but I couldn't see anything, what the hell was a mannequin doing in the middle of the nowhere? My head was spinning, and the sound of the rain wasn't helping. until I realized something. The question was not, what was the mannequin doing on the road? But who brought it? For a moment I gazed at the mannequin's empty sockets and then I heard a breath close to me, I wasn't alone.
My heart was racing, maybe they wanted to rob me or some crazy shit, I tried to take a glass from the floor and use the phone light to see around me to get back into the car, the seconds seemed like hours as I slowly walked, I thought about running but I felt that it could be worse, I felt stalked and when my legs began to tremble It was not very helpful either. A little before I got to the car I noticed several footsteps moving around me, they were watching me closely. I heard a sound behind me and the mannequin had disappeared, I was definitely not understanding a shit and I couldn't overcome the anguish anymore so I ran desperately towards the car but someone pushed me. I hit my face with the cold ground and tried to get up as I could throwing punches into the air trying to hit whoever was there, but it was in vain. The radio of the car started emitting white noise again with some random mumbling, I was not seeing damn shit and while I was trying to place the cell phone shining directly in front of me something had gripped me by my hand. I felt another blow and this time my cell phone hit the wet asphalt, lighting someone's shoes, with one stomp they broke the phone. I could only notice my car thanks to the taillights and I was completely blind now.
The rain seemed to be falling in slow motion and every second seemed eternal to me. My hands trembled trying to prepare a decent punch, a decent cut, or anything to whatever it was out here to defend myself. My head was spinning and my heart was racing and then someone took me by the shoulder, I could not see anything but I threw punches and kicks that got everywhere, they tried to grab my feet and I tried to get free the fastest I could until I finally managed to nail that fucking piece of glass and I was released, I fell my back to the floor. A murmur began to sound louder and I could feel someone breathing and gasping around me; I ran as I could towards the car again with my heart beating a thousand times per hour. I almost plunged into the vehicle and without thinking I start the car. A groan of pain was heard along with a loud buzzing and I closed all the doors and I shit you not the damned car didn't want to start, the rain only became even worse and my nerves were about to explode when a hand smashed against the car windows, then two hands and seconds later all the windows were covered, they were trying to break into the vehicle, I could no longer bear the fear, I started screaming like a crazy, I jumped on the seat and I screamed until my mouth hurts; With a kind of tantrum I started to force the car to start with kicks and blows, the vehicle roared and I hit the accelerator. When I looked straight ahead I saw a figure that shouldn't have been there and my throat felt tight; wrapped in a black cloak, just where the damn mannequin was, someone was holding his shoulder where perhaps I had nailed the piece of broken glass. The lack of front light and the rain did not allow me to distinguish his face.
I accelerated as fast as I could, flailing inside the car from side to side, I didn't care about anything anymore, I rolled everything that was ahead. I heard a couple of crunches, a gasp, and the car started to jump until a dead silence was present, I turned to look back and all sense of logic disappeared while a death-cold chill was traveling my spine. The yellowish taillights dimly illuminated a highway full of motionless bodies that shouldn't be there, couldn't be there; They were a bunch of mannequins totally still, lined up in my direction. I put my head down and hid it between my shoulders so I couldn't look anywhere, I felt like a little boy, I felt tiny inside the car in the middle of the blackness of the road knowing that the mannequins were behind me, I kept like this several minutes trying to focus on anything else while the car kept accelerating, my back felt cold, the truth is that I was sweating cold, I did not understand anything and the stabbing pain in my forehead returned to me; It was a superficial but fairly long cut, it was a miracle I didn't pass out and was able to drive straight with all this shit happening.
The rain insisted on reminding me of the conversation with the old woman at the fast food place, maybe she was right. -Why the hell did I have to come to Salamanca, maybe the witches had something to do with it !? Lots of ideas pounded my head as the car lost into the blackness, now I was alone again. I thought about reviewing what had happened and recovering my composure, I tried to play dumb and ignore everything until I noticed little orange lights on the black horizon; I had arrived into Salamanca and I went straight to the 1st town police station to report what had happened. I Poorly parked the car and launched myself into the station to seek some help.
It was already 07:00 A.M and the sun was about to rise, I lost track of time completely, I don't know how long I was on the road or how much time I spent at the police station. I nervously told the officers everything that had happened, they looked at each other and took me to the local hospital to verify injuries; Throughout the process, I noticed that they were looking at me strangely but there was a certain secret look in them, those kinds of looks that as a journalist you can notice. The day was cloudy and the sun did not appear, the rain was losing strength and I tried to assert my right to report until they ended opening an investigation by sending a patrol. With 3 points on my eyebrow and bruised face I tried to find somewhere to rest and eat something to close my trip, there was a middle-aged gentleman who, while eating, took the opportunity to ask me what had happened to me, I told him almost everything, at least I could Let me vent more openly without looking like a drunk or crazy inside a police station.
After a while where the man listened attentively to me, he sighed and took out a pack of cigarettes, finished lighting him and said: -Maybe they wanted to rob you. Maybe he was right, but his face changed completely when I insisted on the mannequin again. He took a glance over my shoulder and then fixed his eyes with mines. -Son, look. These things are not discussed here, do what you have to do and leave later, lest you end up traveling in a box to Manquehua. Again a chill settled on the back of my neck, and I decided not to ask any more questions. I didn't want to make my situation even worse. –Hey, and don't you know where I can rest? He finished smoking my cigar and this time he offered one to me.
Standing still in a town in the middle of nowhere smoking a cigarette a fucked up car? at least things can't get worse, I could watch the smoke and forget everything for a moment.
I arrived at the hostel that the man with the cigarettes recommended to me and slept for a while but I was still nervous so I took advantage and realized that there was a mechanic nearby, got a deal with him and I left my car for a few weeks under repair, took everything I was carrying in the luggage rack and I went straight to the earliest bus back to Coquimbo, I was no longer interested in the news or the job, I just wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible and whatever the fuck the Salamanca people hides, I don't care if they were witches or someone wanting to assault me, I know what I saw.
The local police called me later that day because the investigation did not show anything more than the possibility of an attempted assault on the road, they dismissed everything for lack of imputable candidates, but the truth is that at this point I don't give a damn; I am cornered to the window of this bus trying to forget and the orange light that glimpses within the clouds that remain, reassures me a little and helps me not to think about what my bosses would tell me for not attending the report and arriving empty-handed. I lost myself looking at the landscape while it stops raining and I found a moment of peace but, for some reason, among all the things that can be seen on the road, my eyes fell directly on a small scruffy cabin in the middle of this vast nothingness and in its windows I got to see a lot of mannequins looking towards the highway, right to where I was now. There were a lot of hollow eyes waiting for me somewhere on the road of Salamanca.
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I needed to be there in the morning so I mentally prepared myself with a good cup of coffee and some cigarettes, threw only what was necessary for the luggage rack and managed to say goodbye to my relatives, may sound like a dumb tradition but you never know ... on the road shit happens and for me, that isn't something new, I lived day by day in the office writing columns and sending reports where the number of deaths, the causes of the crashes and the photos, makes you wonder it could have been you or someone you know. But, despite that I preferred to go in my own car, I have never been able to fall asleep inside a bus on the road and moreover, it seems that almost all accidents occurred on these buses, in a certain way, my job was making me go all paranoid.
the car's engine started at 9:00 p.m. and there was a little drizzle but nothing serious, folk music on the radio was a good accompaniment while the city nightlife looked at me with his blinding lights in my attempt to escape the "fish smell" of Coquimbo. I drove for a while until I was entering the sister city of La Serena, and I stopped to eat some fast food, I tried to get in fast to avoid getting wet, I ordered another coffee and french fries to eat.
-Hey young man, where are you going at this hour with this rain, everyone else is at their homes sleeping and resting, do you want to catch a cold? I haven't noticed that an elderly woman was attending me. -I'm going to Salamanca. -And what do you intend to do in Salamanca? that's no place for nosy people or city dwellers The lady left me intrigued and I didn't even have to ask her to answer me. -some people there don't like to be disturbed you know, you can get an evil glance there, some "evil eye" stuff you know. - No, ma'am, I'm going to report a news story, I'm a journalist and besides that, I'm a little skeptical about that kind of thing.
The old-lady ended the conversation with a crooked smile and continued with his own things but deep down myself, the answer he gave me left me with chills, I was not a superstitious person but the seriousness of his face unsettled me. I took the last sips of coffee to wake up and said goodbye to my french fries trying to awkwardly get into the car. The conversation haunted me for a couple more miles, for some reason I was left with a feeling of latent nervousness and with the last lights of the city fading in the rear-view mirror, I began to remember the stories that my grandparents told me as a child... The witches of Salamanca, the cave of Manquehua, and other stories that were part of the folklore began to settle in my head. It was interesting to me to imagine these characters, covered in their black cloaks, walking hidden paths through the forests to celebrate within their covens in Manquehua in the middle of the night. Occasionally I was assaulted by the idea of running into a "Tue Tue *" bird of bad omen on the way to Salamanca, or that a "chupacabra" jumped from the bushes onto the road, it is curious how "ghastly" this can be yet so interesting at the same time despite causing us fear.
The electrifying sound of white noise coming from the radio interrupted my thoughts, I was reaching the famous dead zones of the road. From time to time I noticed that there were abandoned houses, fenced lands, among other things but nothing out of the ordinary; It is very common for people to live in these rural areas for a while and then leave to look for jobs in the big cities, especially considering that the urbanization and modernization of our country had only happened a couple of decades ago, more precisely in the year 1970.
I look at the time and it is already 11:30 p.m. This trip is getting too slow for me, to make things worse the rain got stronger, the hours go by and I pass through a couple of towns, so I decided to park my car to smoke a cigarette before reporting to my family by phone, it's funny how people automatically have an infinite amount of topics for conversation when you're away, but they hardly even speak when you are close, later than ever I cut the call and the lights where extinguishing behind the vehicle again and disappeared in the middle of the dark, again it's just me and the road. The headlights of my car were fighting to illuminate against the darkness. The clock arrives at 02:42 A.M and The yawns start to escape from my mouth, there is no radio or telephone signal anymore, at this time you only occasionally see buses passing by on the road, a couple of cars if you are lucky enough but most of the time the road is abandoned. The rain gives me an unpleasant sensation now that there is so little light. Again I picked up the wrongest moment to remember the conversation I had with that old lady...
-you can get an evil glance there, some "evil eye" stuff you know.
A shriek on the side of the road scared the shit out of me, I saw a shadow rushing against my car and I stepped on the brake with all my strength next thing I know was the sound of the car window crashing and everything went black... pitch black.
It felt like time has stopped and I could only hear the rain, I don't know how much time passed by but it felt like a dream or perhaps, maybe a nightmare? I woke up with a terrible headache but apparently my body was intact, the glass was shattered all around the car and the clock said that it was 03:00 A.M. drops are falling inside the car, I try to sit up still scared to look outside but I notice that the lights were destroyed, I see nothing but shadows. I feel a stabbing pain in my face and it seems that I cut part of my face in the accident. I get out of the car nervous and listen as the glass chips on the pavement creak, maybe I could have driven over a horse or maybe some farmer. I try to illuminate a little with the cell phone flashlight and I notice part of the front glass scattered on the asphalt, a slight dent but there are no traces of blood, I try to calm down and take a couple of steps through the rain to see further and between the rain and the nothingness I could see with my eyes a body in the middle of the road.
I thought I must help, maybe I broke one of his legs or worse. walking a little bit faster I managed to get close enough, I was shouting at the body expecting some reply or at least some whining but no one answered and I feared the worst. My heart stopped for a second, I took a step forward to see the face of this body and everything seemed so surreal, it was a mannequin with hollow eyes.
I didn't know what where happening, a mannequin dressed in an old poncho in the middle of the road away from everything, a fucking mannequin. Fear seized me, I looked in all directions searching and searching but I couldn't see anything, what the hell was a mannequin doing in the middle of the nowhere? My head was spinning, and the sound of the rain wasn't helping. until I realized something. The question was not, what was the mannequin doing on the road? But who brought it? For a moment I gazed at the mannequin's empty sockets and then I heard a breath close to me, I wasn't alone.
My heart was racing, maybe they wanted to rob me or some crazy shit, I tried to take a glass from the floor and use the phone light to see around me to get back into the car, the seconds seemed like hours as I slowly walked, I thought about running but I felt that it could be worse, I felt stalked and when my legs began to tremble It was not very helpful either. A little before I got to the car I noticed several footsteps moving around me, they were watching me closely. I heard a sound behind me and the mannequin had disappeared, I was definitely not understanding a shit and I couldn't overcome the anguish anymore so I ran desperately towards the car but someone pushed me. I hit my face with the cold ground and tried to get up as I could throwing punches into the air trying to hit whoever was there, but it was in vain. The radio of the car started emitting white noise again with some random mumbling, I was not seeing damn shit and while I was trying to place the cell phone shining directly in front of me something had gripped me by my hand. I felt another blow and this time my cell phone hit the wet asphalt, lighting someone's shoes, with one stomp they broke the phone. I could only notice my car thanks to the taillights and I was completely blind now.
The rain seemed to be falling in slow motion and every second seemed eternal to me. My hands trembled trying to prepare a decent punch, a decent cut, or anything to whatever it was out here to defend myself. My head was spinning and my heart was racing and then someone took me by the shoulder, I could not see anything but I threw punches and kicks that got everywhere, they tried to grab my feet and I tried to get free the fastest I could until I finally managed to nail that fucking piece of glass and I was released, I fell my back to the floor. A murmur began to sound louder and I could feel someone breathing and gasping around me; I ran as I could towards the car again with my heart beating a thousand times per hour. I almost plunged into the vehicle and without thinking I start the car. A groan of pain was heard along with a loud buzzing and I closed all the doors and I shit you not the damned car didn't want to start, the rain only became even worse and my nerves were about to explode when a hand smashed against the car windows, then two hands and seconds later all the windows were covered, they were trying to break into the vehicle, I could no longer bear the fear, I started screaming like a crazy, I jumped on the seat and I screamed until my mouth hurts; With a kind of tantrum I started to force the car to start with kicks and blows, the vehicle roared and I hit the accelerator. When I looked straight ahead I saw a figure that shouldn't have been there and my throat felt tight; wrapped in a black cloak, just where the damn mannequin was, someone was holding his shoulder where perhaps I had nailed the piece of broken glass. The lack of front light and the rain did not allow me to distinguish his face.
I accelerated as fast as I could, flailing inside the car from side to side, I didn't care about anything anymore, I rolled everything that was ahead. I heard a couple of crunches, a gasp, and the car started to jump until a dead silence was present, I turned to look back and all sense of logic disappeared while a death-cold chill was traveling my spine. The yellowish taillights dimly illuminated a highway full of motionless bodies that shouldn't be there, couldn't be there; They were a bunch of mannequins totally still, lined up in my direction. I put my head down and hid it between my shoulders so I couldn't look anywhere, I felt like a little boy, I felt tiny inside the car in the middle of the blackness of the road knowing that the mannequins were behind me, I kept like this several minutes trying to focus on anything else while the car kept accelerating, my back felt cold, the truth is that I was sweating cold, I did not understand anything and the stabbing pain in my forehead returned to me; It was a superficial but fairly long cut, it was a miracle I didn't pass out and was able to drive straight with all this shit happening.
The rain insisted on reminding me of the conversation with the old woman at the fast food place, maybe she was right. -Why the hell did I have to come to Salamanca, maybe the witches had something to do with it !? Lots of ideas pounded my head as the car lost into the blackness, now I was alone again. I thought about reviewing what had happened and recovering my composure, I tried to play dumb and ignore everything until I noticed little orange lights on the black horizon; I had arrived into Salamanca and I went straight to the 1st town police station to report what had happened. I Poorly parked the car and launched myself into the station to seek some help.
It was already 07:00 A.M and the sun was about to rise, I lost track of time completely, I don't know how long I was on the road or how much time I spent at the police station. I nervously told the officers everything that had happened, they looked at each other and took me to the local hospital to verify injuries; Throughout the process, I noticed that they were looking at me strangely but there was a certain secret look in them, those kinds of looks that as a journalist you can notice. The day was cloudy and the sun did not appear, the rain was losing strength and I tried to assert my right to report until they ended opening an investigation by sending a patrol. With 3 points on my eyebrow and bruised face I tried to find somewhere to rest and eat something to close my trip, there was a middle-aged gentleman who, while eating, took the opportunity to ask me what had happened to me, I told him almost everything, at least I could Let me vent more openly without looking like a drunk or crazy inside a police station.
After a while where the man listened attentively to me, he sighed and took out a pack of cigarettes, finished lighting him and said: -Maybe they wanted to rob you. Maybe he was right, but his face changed completely when I insisted on the mannequin again. He took a glance over my shoulder and then fixed his eyes with mines. -Son, look. These things are not discussed here, do what you have to do and leave later, lest you end up traveling in a box to Manquehua. Again a chill settled on the back of my neck, and I decided not to ask any more questions. I didn't want to make my situation even worse. –Hey, and don't you know where I can rest? He finished smoking my cigar and this time he offered one to me.
Standing still in a town in the middle of nowhere smoking a cigarette a fucked up car? at least things can't get worse, I could watch the smoke and forget everything for a moment.
I arrived at the hostel that the man with the cigarettes recommended to me and slept for a while but I was still nervous so I took advantage and realized that there was a mechanic nearby, got a deal with him and I left my car for a few weeks under repair, took everything I was carrying in the luggage rack and I went straight to the earliest bus back to Coquimbo, I was no longer interested in the news or the job, I just wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible and whatever the fuck the Salamanca people hides, I don't care if they were witches or someone wanting to assault me, I know what I saw.
The local police called me later that day because the investigation did not show anything more than the possibility of an attempted assault on the road, they dismissed everything for lack of imputable candidates, but the truth is that at this point I don't give a damn; I am cornered to the window of this bus trying to forget and the orange light that glimpses within the clouds that remain, reassures me a little and helps me not to think about what my bosses would tell me for not attending the report and arriving empty-handed. I lost myself looking at the landscape while it stops raining and I found a moment of peace but, for some reason, among all the things that can be seen on the road, my eyes fell directly on a small scruffy cabin in the middle of this vast nothingness and in its windows I got to see a lot of mannequins looking towards the highway, right to where I was now. There were a lot of hollow eyes waiting for me somewhere on the road of Salamanca.
2023.05.29 14:09 ambikadas Rahul Gandhi USA 🇺🇸 rvent -just read names of contact persons
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2023.05.29 13:57 Odpea Primitive fun oneshot(probably)
Thank you to u/Far_masterpiece_7739 for proofreading and suggesting edits
this is my first story on NoP and hopefully my first good one, excuse the dates, i just put the date i went to the fair i describe in the story and put it in the year the main story takes place, for reference this is meant to be before the bombs dropped.
Memory transcription subject:Talik, Venlil exchange program participant
Date[Standardised human time]:13.05.2136
As My exchange partner and I stepped out of his house and into his car I was quite unenthused about where we were going. We were headed to a steam fair, yes an actual real life steam fair, this is something a yotul would enjoy, and I was no mere uplift.
[2 hours later]
It took half a spheking paw to get here, ugh, at least it was a chance to listen to more of that wonderful, though oddly named, human music, of the metal genre, my current favourite song being full circle by Five finger death punch, an odd and very predatory name, but it seems the same is true for a lot of human music. As we pulled into the seemingly random field there was an old man, in what my human had told me was a hi vis jacket, making strange hand gestures at us that my human somehow understood, we drove into another field, this one full of semi orderly rows of many different types of cars, we then got out and walked through the long grass towards a green booth of some kind in front of a small also green bridge, there were two middle aged human women in the booth, after my human paid £10 we were allowed in, at first it was less than impressive to our left was a man in an oddly coloured suit and purple top hat on a large stage, in front of us was a large empty area fenced off with rope, and many older vehicles were off to our left along with some “bouncy castles'' as my human had explained to me before and several stalls selling various items.
We went over to the left, past the stage and several food stands that smelled absolutely incredible, we made our way to a large horizontal wheel that suspended five other horizontal wheels that each had three sets of seats suspended from them, my human decided this would be a good way to “break me into it”, I decided against pointing out the very predatory language, and agreed to go on, my human gave the ride operator £3 and we both got on, my human being the bigger of the two of us had to sit next to the padded wall likely to reduce the effects of inertia, after a short wait for it to fill up, the ride started to play some music and slowly spin each the top one spinning the opposite direction to the others, the ride slowly got faster and after about a minute the operator announced, over the PA of the ride,that it was “time for turbo mode” and to “squish your partner”, and so I did, I allowed myself to slide across and bump into him at speed, I hit him harder than I intended, and apologised, he said nothing and simply pushed against the centrifugal force pushing us into the padded wall and moved us both to the opposite side of the cart, and laughed saying that he barely felt my impact “of course you didn’t, you have the most messed up physiology I have ever seen” I laughed out smiling in spite of myself.
After the ride stopped we moved past a giant vertical wheel, that my human called a Ferris wheel, and a large tower with a slide running around the outside, called a helter skelter my human said, and on to what my human said was one of his favorite rides ever, the swinging boats, from where we stood they looked quite tame, something was wrong, my human was an “Adrenaline junkie” as he and several of his friends had called him, meaning two rectangular boxes with seats in them just hanging there was clearly not all there was to the first steam powered ride I had seen at this steam fair, as we ascended the stairs to get on I saw an old man in amongst many valves, levers and gauges, my human paid the man £3 and one other person was on the ride with us, we were at one end and she was at the other, she smiled at us and laughed at my concerned face after my human gave some obscure hand sign, I should really learn the human hand, face and head language, just then I noticed a sign that read “all riders do so at their own risk” I was now very worried, I didn’t say anything though as I knew that my human would never intentionally endanger me, just then an ear peircing screeching sound started, causing me to Jump in fright, we were then told to hold onto the netting behind us and put our feet on the bench in front of us, then the box we were in started to swing, and I realised what they would do, after about [20 seconds] we were swinging so far that the box, or boat as my human had corrected me several times now, went from horizontal to vertical, with every swing, my human and the other one on the ride were smiling and laughing with each other while i firmly closed my eyes, my human noticed my discomfort and spoke, as softly as he could to be heard over the sound of the rushing air, comforting me and making sure i was ok, and trying to lighten the mood with a small joke here and there, eventually I felt brave enough to open my eyes and see the open sky on the other side of the netting, then we swung back and i was looking down at the human female smiling comfortingly at me, then i felt the air rushing in my face as we swung back and i couldn't help but bleat in surprise, this caused both humans to “awww” simultaneously quickly followed by the human female saying “jinx” and them both laughing, this time i joined in too.
About a minute later we were off of the ride and i felt like the ground was moving under me for a few seconds after i got off, right next to the boats was a small booth with several confectionaries on the rear wall and several very old looking weapons on the counter, there was a human mother helping their child to aim one of them at the confectionaries and then a small pop was heard as a cork flew from the end of the weapon and i saw a small pink cuboid with a green being called a dragon(that looked like if someone recoloured an Arxur and made it more square) on it, labelled “CHEWITS” fall backwards off its shelf, the woman running the stall then collected the tube from the trough at the bottom and passed it to the child who ran off happily, with his mother in tow. My human decided to challenge me at this game, I foolishly accepted and quickly wasted £15 of my human's money to only glance at a very large tin of biscuits, my human on the other hand had hit all bar 1 shot and we now had several boxes of confectionery.
The next ride we went on was called “THE SUPER SKID CARS” according to the sign above the ride entrance. My visual translator had a hard time with that one due to the very odd font. My human said he used to love riding these with his mum when he was a child, and that he was somewhat surprised such an old machine was still in service, (frankly I was surprised any of these machines were still in service at all). My human told me that these were a precursor to “waltzers” and said that based on my reaction to the boats it may be for the best if i watched first, i agreed, as my human was about to get on, he saw one of his friends, she was called Summer and she was a very lovely person, once you got past her shell of self loathing depression and their exchange partner, Janak was her name, after the two of them had hugged, we collectively decided that the humans should go on and we would watch to decide if we wanted to join them the second time, so my human and Summer went on together, the ride worked by a large central wheel spinning with several carts facing inward being pulled around by it, with a break pedal that would slow the cart enough that it would rotate about its hinge to the point that it was facing the direction it was traveling, when you then let go of the break it would fling the cart around at high speed to face the other way and repeat, all the while a human song was being played quite loudly, the one playing while our humans were on was dancing in the moonlight, our humans were singing along, and quite loudly, until the ride sped up causing summer to scream slightly and then laugh with me,Janak and my human , as they were flung so hard that they bounced back and forth several times, this continued for a little while more with Summer squealing in delight at every swing, my human singing and laughing along all the while.
After summer got off we all walked back around to the food stalls, where Janak and I had the leaves of a lovely vegetable called a lettuce, according to Summer, slices of a purple vegetable with white stripes in rings through it, called a red onion, according to summer, this prompted me to ask why it was called a red onion if it was purple and white, both humans looked at me and laughed at that, before my human said “sometimes human names are very on the nose, and other times, not so much, don’t worry about it.”, all while laughing, our meal was then wrapped in a thin-ish flat disk of strayu, I asked how humans had strayu in large enough quantities to sell like this, so soon after meeting us, this caused summer and Janak to laugh and my human to look confused, Janak explained that the humans had many different types of strayu, called bread apparently, and that they developed it independently and much, much earlier on in their cultural evolution than us, he also said that it tasted, different, not necessarily bad, but definitely not the same. The humans had chosen a bratwurst hot dog each from a german food stall, run by the british catering company, whilst mine and Janak’s was from a greek stall, also run by the british catering company.
After eating we went up to the stalls to the right of the entrance, where, my human bought a new wallet, and I bought several human confectionaries, at the end, there were several very primitive cloth tents, with people walking around in clothes that were very clearly not of this century, and they all carried weapons, such as knives, swords and axes. My human got quite excited at this and went over to speak with a group wearing helmets, chainmail and animal skins with jewellery woven into it, they had a table full of axes and swords with shields around it and spears poking out of the ground nearby, one of them holding a Dane axe!, after a lengthy conversation with a few of them we walked away with a card containing contact information, so that my human could join their re-enactment group. The central area was now host to two humans on motorbikes performing stunts and various tricks, while an announcer spoke to the crowd, as we walked down the backside of the central ring and towards the boats again we saw several small and quite slow steam engines making their way in our general direction, after we passed them I saw a dog, a truly fearsome beast tied to the front of a colossal steam engine, with, what i assumed to be the engine’s owner nearby talking to a woman with another dog, after we passed them we decided to have a go at the plate smash stand, Janak, summer and myself did terribly but my human hit every shot bar one, then we kept on moving, Janak and I had decided to go on the “THE SUPER SKID CARS'' with our respective humans. IT WAS A HUGE SPECKING MISTAKE!!!! A few seconds in, I was clinging to my human’s arm crying, he was holding me, softly stroking my head and speaking soothingly to me. About a minute in, i was able to open my eyes and sit there, still clinging to my human, as he continued to hold me, i noticed that he too seemed to be on the verge of tears, although i suspected for a different reason, after a while i got used to the speed, and asked my human to start swinging us, he did and i screamed in delight, it was so much fun, we sung along to a song i don't know the name of and moved so fast, i could feel my stomachs shift and shake around inside my body, after the ride finished i was so high on adrenaline that i felt like i could do anything, the same could not be said for Jamak, he looked utterly petrified and on the verge of throwing up. We returned to the shooting area and this time we only spent £5 each and i missed every shot, but it was fun, my human only got a tube of CHEWITS this time, but we still had fun, we then made our way back to the ferris wheel, we all went on and once we reached the top we stopped and i thought that something was wrong, until i looked down, now i'm braver than most venlil but this height was insane, however i now knew why we had stopped, a man and his son were getting on, however as i leaned back it caused our seating pod to rock back and forth, this made me freeze in terror as i pictured us falling and going splat on the ground below, and then we were moving again, and then we were on the ground, but we were still moving and then we were high in the air again, after this cycle of up and down had repeated another three times we finally got off, my whole body quivering with the after effects of terror, Jamak was clinging onto Summer’s arm and refused to let go as she lugged him around.
We made our way back to the boats and we all decided to go on, all except Jamak of course, at least he had let go of summer by now, this time i kept my eyes open the whole time and several of the other humans on board were screaming in delight, it was hilarious, my human, summer and i were all laughing, and as the boat slowed down, my human let go of the netting and put his feet back down, then the operator told him to put them back up and to keep holding on, so he put his hands up to hold on again and as he went to put his feet back up, the boat sped up again leading to my human hanging vertically and as we came back down, summer an i tried to hold him in place and check to see if he was ok, but he just wouldn't stop laughing, after the ride had stopped and we had gotten off, he finally stopped, and loudly exclaimed “DID YOU SEE THAT, IT WAS FUCKING AWESOME, HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!” this prompted summer to loudly exclaim “suicidal cunt, your going to give me a heart attack one of these days!”, this caused him to chuckle again and say “you’re one to talk aren’t you? And I'm way more likely to have a heart attack than you, genetic disorders, remember?”This went on until we reached the car parking field, where we went our separate ways, i was buzzing the whole way home as we listened to even more music and chatted, once we arrived home my tiredness hit me like a stampeding mazic and i fell face first onto the sofa.
When I woke up my human had bought me a glass of apple juice and was sitting next to me with one of his dogs on his lap, the large German shepherd Labrador cross breed, named Leela. She was huffing happily as my human rubbed her stomach. It had taken quite a while to warm up to the large and loud beast, but now she was a brilliant addition to my little herd and I can't imagine living without her here.
“Thank you, for the day out, it was wonderful, and I’m sorry for the way I acted about it this morning.”
“That’s fine, I had fun, and it seems you did too, that’s all that matters, that we both had fun.”
“You're the best friend a venlil could ask for, you know that right? I love spending time with you Oscar, even if you don’t love me, just know that I love you…. sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Hey, hey” Oscar said, softly, as I started to cry. “Just because I’m aromantic, doesn’t mean I can’t feel love, just not romance, I still love you, just platonically, now come and give me a hug, you silly sheep!” He said happily.
“I'm not a sheep, you stupid ape!” I responded jokingly, feigning indignation.
“I love you oscar”
“I love you too, Talik, now let’s get some dinner, we have to go back to work tomorrow.” and with that he stood up, finished his apple juice and walked into the kitchen.
submitted by Odpea to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]
this is my first story on NoP and hopefully my first good one, excuse the dates, i just put the date i went to the fair i describe in the story and put it in the year the main story takes place, for reference this is meant to be before the bombs dropped.
Memory transcription subject:Talik, Venlil exchange program participant
Date[Standardised human time]:13.05.2136
As My exchange partner and I stepped out of his house and into his car I was quite unenthused about where we were going. We were headed to a steam fair, yes an actual real life steam fair, this is something a yotul would enjoy, and I was no mere uplift.
[2 hours later]
It took half a spheking paw to get here, ugh, at least it was a chance to listen to more of that wonderful, though oddly named, human music, of the metal genre, my current favourite song being full circle by Five finger death punch, an odd and very predatory name, but it seems the same is true for a lot of human music. As we pulled into the seemingly random field there was an old man, in what my human had told me was a hi vis jacket, making strange hand gestures at us that my human somehow understood, we drove into another field, this one full of semi orderly rows of many different types of cars, we then got out and walked through the long grass towards a green booth of some kind in front of a small also green bridge, there were two middle aged human women in the booth, after my human paid £10 we were allowed in, at first it was less than impressive to our left was a man in an oddly coloured suit and purple top hat on a large stage, in front of us was a large empty area fenced off with rope, and many older vehicles were off to our left along with some “bouncy castles'' as my human had explained to me before and several stalls selling various items.
We went over to the left, past the stage and several food stands that smelled absolutely incredible, we made our way to a large horizontal wheel that suspended five other horizontal wheels that each had three sets of seats suspended from them, my human decided this would be a good way to “break me into it”, I decided against pointing out the very predatory language, and agreed to go on, my human gave the ride operator £3 and we both got on, my human being the bigger of the two of us had to sit next to the padded wall likely to reduce the effects of inertia, after a short wait for it to fill up, the ride started to play some music and slowly spin each the top one spinning the opposite direction to the others, the ride slowly got faster and after about a minute the operator announced, over the PA of the ride,that it was “time for turbo mode” and to “squish your partner”, and so I did, I allowed myself to slide across and bump into him at speed, I hit him harder than I intended, and apologised, he said nothing and simply pushed against the centrifugal force pushing us into the padded wall and moved us both to the opposite side of the cart, and laughed saying that he barely felt my impact “of course you didn’t, you have the most messed up physiology I have ever seen” I laughed out smiling in spite of myself.
After the ride stopped we moved past a giant vertical wheel, that my human called a Ferris wheel, and a large tower with a slide running around the outside, called a helter skelter my human said, and on to what my human said was one of his favorite rides ever, the swinging boats, from where we stood they looked quite tame, something was wrong, my human was an “Adrenaline junkie” as he and several of his friends had called him, meaning two rectangular boxes with seats in them just hanging there was clearly not all there was to the first steam powered ride I had seen at this steam fair, as we ascended the stairs to get on I saw an old man in amongst many valves, levers and gauges, my human paid the man £3 and one other person was on the ride with us, we were at one end and she was at the other, she smiled at us and laughed at my concerned face after my human gave some obscure hand sign, I should really learn the human hand, face and head language, just then I noticed a sign that read “all riders do so at their own risk” I was now very worried, I didn’t say anything though as I knew that my human would never intentionally endanger me, just then an ear peircing screeching sound started, causing me to Jump in fright, we were then told to hold onto the netting behind us and put our feet on the bench in front of us, then the box we were in started to swing, and I realised what they would do, after about [20 seconds] we were swinging so far that the box, or boat as my human had corrected me several times now, went from horizontal to vertical, with every swing, my human and the other one on the ride were smiling and laughing with each other while i firmly closed my eyes, my human noticed my discomfort and spoke, as softly as he could to be heard over the sound of the rushing air, comforting me and making sure i was ok, and trying to lighten the mood with a small joke here and there, eventually I felt brave enough to open my eyes and see the open sky on the other side of the netting, then we swung back and i was looking down at the human female smiling comfortingly at me, then i felt the air rushing in my face as we swung back and i couldn't help but bleat in surprise, this caused both humans to “awww” simultaneously quickly followed by the human female saying “jinx” and them both laughing, this time i joined in too.
About a minute later we were off of the ride and i felt like the ground was moving under me for a few seconds after i got off, right next to the boats was a small booth with several confectionaries on the rear wall and several very old looking weapons on the counter, there was a human mother helping their child to aim one of them at the confectionaries and then a small pop was heard as a cork flew from the end of the weapon and i saw a small pink cuboid with a green being called a dragon(that looked like if someone recoloured an Arxur and made it more square) on it, labelled “CHEWITS” fall backwards off its shelf, the woman running the stall then collected the tube from the trough at the bottom and passed it to the child who ran off happily, with his mother in tow. My human decided to challenge me at this game, I foolishly accepted and quickly wasted £15 of my human's money to only glance at a very large tin of biscuits, my human on the other hand had hit all bar 1 shot and we now had several boxes of confectionery.
The next ride we went on was called “THE SUPER SKID CARS” according to the sign above the ride entrance. My visual translator had a hard time with that one due to the very odd font. My human said he used to love riding these with his mum when he was a child, and that he was somewhat surprised such an old machine was still in service, (frankly I was surprised any of these machines were still in service at all). My human told me that these were a precursor to “waltzers” and said that based on my reaction to the boats it may be for the best if i watched first, i agreed, as my human was about to get on, he saw one of his friends, she was called Summer and she was a very lovely person, once you got past her shell of self loathing depression and their exchange partner, Janak was her name, after the two of them had hugged, we collectively decided that the humans should go on and we would watch to decide if we wanted to join them the second time, so my human and Summer went on together, the ride worked by a large central wheel spinning with several carts facing inward being pulled around by it, with a break pedal that would slow the cart enough that it would rotate about its hinge to the point that it was facing the direction it was traveling, when you then let go of the break it would fling the cart around at high speed to face the other way and repeat, all the while a human song was being played quite loudly, the one playing while our humans were on was dancing in the moonlight, our humans were singing along, and quite loudly, until the ride sped up causing summer to scream slightly and then laugh with me,Janak and my human , as they were flung so hard that they bounced back and forth several times, this continued for a little while more with Summer squealing in delight at every swing, my human singing and laughing along all the while.
After summer got off we all walked back around to the food stalls, where Janak and I had the leaves of a lovely vegetable called a lettuce, according to Summer, slices of a purple vegetable with white stripes in rings through it, called a red onion, according to summer, this prompted me to ask why it was called a red onion if it was purple and white, both humans looked at me and laughed at that, before my human said “sometimes human names are very on the nose, and other times, not so much, don’t worry about it.”, all while laughing, our meal was then wrapped in a thin-ish flat disk of strayu, I asked how humans had strayu in large enough quantities to sell like this, so soon after meeting us, this caused summer and Janak to laugh and my human to look confused, Janak explained that the humans had many different types of strayu, called bread apparently, and that they developed it independently and much, much earlier on in their cultural evolution than us, he also said that it tasted, different, not necessarily bad, but definitely not the same. The humans had chosen a bratwurst hot dog each from a german food stall, run by the british catering company, whilst mine and Janak’s was from a greek stall, also run by the british catering company.
After eating we went up to the stalls to the right of the entrance, where, my human bought a new wallet, and I bought several human confectionaries, at the end, there were several very primitive cloth tents, with people walking around in clothes that were very clearly not of this century, and they all carried weapons, such as knives, swords and axes. My human got quite excited at this and went over to speak with a group wearing helmets, chainmail and animal skins with jewellery woven into it, they had a table full of axes and swords with shields around it and spears poking out of the ground nearby, one of them holding a Dane axe!, after a lengthy conversation with a few of them we walked away with a card containing contact information, so that my human could join their re-enactment group. The central area was now host to two humans on motorbikes performing stunts and various tricks, while an announcer spoke to the crowd, as we walked down the backside of the central ring and towards the boats again we saw several small and quite slow steam engines making their way in our general direction, after we passed them I saw a dog, a truly fearsome beast tied to the front of a colossal steam engine, with, what i assumed to be the engine’s owner nearby talking to a woman with another dog, after we passed them we decided to have a go at the plate smash stand, Janak, summer and myself did terribly but my human hit every shot bar one, then we kept on moving, Janak and I had decided to go on the “THE SUPER SKID CARS'' with our respective humans. IT WAS A HUGE SPECKING MISTAKE!!!! A few seconds in, I was clinging to my human’s arm crying, he was holding me, softly stroking my head and speaking soothingly to me. About a minute in, i was able to open my eyes and sit there, still clinging to my human, as he continued to hold me, i noticed that he too seemed to be on the verge of tears, although i suspected for a different reason, after a while i got used to the speed, and asked my human to start swinging us, he did and i screamed in delight, it was so much fun, we sung along to a song i don't know the name of and moved so fast, i could feel my stomachs shift and shake around inside my body, after the ride finished i was so high on adrenaline that i felt like i could do anything, the same could not be said for Jamak, he looked utterly petrified and on the verge of throwing up. We returned to the shooting area and this time we only spent £5 each and i missed every shot, but it was fun, my human only got a tube of CHEWITS this time, but we still had fun, we then made our way back to the ferris wheel, we all went on and once we reached the top we stopped and i thought that something was wrong, until i looked down, now i'm braver than most venlil but this height was insane, however i now knew why we had stopped, a man and his son were getting on, however as i leaned back it caused our seating pod to rock back and forth, this made me freeze in terror as i pictured us falling and going splat on the ground below, and then we were moving again, and then we were on the ground, but we were still moving and then we were high in the air again, after this cycle of up and down had repeated another three times we finally got off, my whole body quivering with the after effects of terror, Jamak was clinging onto Summer’s arm and refused to let go as she lugged him around.
We made our way back to the boats and we all decided to go on, all except Jamak of course, at least he had let go of summer by now, this time i kept my eyes open the whole time and several of the other humans on board were screaming in delight, it was hilarious, my human, summer and i were all laughing, and as the boat slowed down, my human let go of the netting and put his feet back down, then the operator told him to put them back up and to keep holding on, so he put his hands up to hold on again and as he went to put his feet back up, the boat sped up again leading to my human hanging vertically and as we came back down, summer an i tried to hold him in place and check to see if he was ok, but he just wouldn't stop laughing, after the ride had stopped and we had gotten off, he finally stopped, and loudly exclaimed “DID YOU SEE THAT, IT WAS FUCKING AWESOME, HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!” this prompted summer to loudly exclaim “suicidal cunt, your going to give me a heart attack one of these days!”, this caused him to chuckle again and say “you’re one to talk aren’t you? And I'm way more likely to have a heart attack than you, genetic disorders, remember?”This went on until we reached the car parking field, where we went our separate ways, i was buzzing the whole way home as we listened to even more music and chatted, once we arrived home my tiredness hit me like a stampeding mazic and i fell face first onto the sofa.
When I woke up my human had bought me a glass of apple juice and was sitting next to me with one of his dogs on his lap, the large German shepherd Labrador cross breed, named Leela. She was huffing happily as my human rubbed her stomach. It had taken quite a while to warm up to the large and loud beast, but now she was a brilliant addition to my little herd and I can't imagine living without her here.
“Thank you, for the day out, it was wonderful, and I’m sorry for the way I acted about it this morning.”
“That’s fine, I had fun, and it seems you did too, that’s all that matters, that we both had fun.”
“You're the best friend a venlil could ask for, you know that right? I love spending time with you Oscar, even if you don’t love me, just know that I love you…. sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Hey, hey” Oscar said, softly, as I started to cry. “Just because I’m aromantic, doesn’t mean I can’t feel love, just not romance, I still love you, just platonically, now come and give me a hug, you silly sheep!” He said happily.
“I'm not a sheep, you stupid ape!” I responded jokingly, feigning indignation.
“I love you oscar”
“I love you too, Talik, now let’s get some dinner, we have to go back to work tomorrow.” and with that he stood up, finished his apple juice and walked into the kitchen.
2023.05.29 10:27 moshpitrocker Green Waste Disposal Updates; GSWA Update; GPA Update; GWA Update; Do Not Wait to Clean
 | Joint Information Center - JIC Recovery Release No. 19 May 29, 2023, 4:25 p.m. (ChST) JRR0529#19 submitted by moshpitrocker to guam [link] [comments] Green Waste Disposal Updates; GSWA Update; GPA Update; GWA Update; Do Not Wait to Clean Green Waste Disposal Updates: The Government of Guam’s green waste transition sites are open for residential green waste disposal. Each site is operational 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., 7 days a week. These sites will accept only green waste, vegetative waste, and yard trimmings. All other disaster debris including, but not limited to metallic waste, white goods, bulky household waste, household hazardous waste, and household trash will be REJECTED. For Residents of: Sponsor Site Location Hagåtña GPA Agana Pool Area Agana Heights Mayor Old Skate Park Hågat Mayor Mayor's Office Assan-Ma’ina Mayor Old Baseball field Barrigada Mayor Mayor’s Office Dededo Mayor West Santa Monica Ponding Basin & Astumbo Park Humåtak Mayor Mayor’s Office Inalåhan Mayor Baseball Field New Malesso’ DPW GWA Water Tank Area by Baseball Field Mangilao Mayor BIll Muna Baseball field parking lot Mongmong-Toto-Maite Mayor Next to Toto Baseball Field Chalan Pago-Ordot Mayor Public Easement across Mayor’s Office Piti DPW/Mayor Across Church Sinajana Mayor Baseball field Talo'fo'fo Mayor DYA Cottage Home on Vicente Castro Street Tamuning-Tumon-Harmon Mayor Ypao Point – Right side behind Archbishop Circle Yigo Mayor U.O.G. Northern Farm, Wusstig Road Yigo Yona Mayor Baseball field on Jose B. Sudo Street GSWA Service Update: The Guam Solid Waste Authority (GSWA) will be providing free trash collection services to all residents, including those who are not registered customers of GSWA. GSWA urges the community to take not of the following important information regarding trash collection services and other updates related to GSWA operations and typhoon recovery efforts which will be in effect for the next two weeks: Curbside Trash Collection for All Residents: Curbside collections will run from 3 a.m. to 7 p.m. GSWA will collect trash from all residents, including homes not registered with GSWA for free and for the next two weeks Residents who do not have GSWA issued trash carts must ensure that all trash is bagged and/or placed in a personal trash container and placed curbside for collection Customers who have GSWA issued recycle carts may use them for excess trash Unfinished collection routes will continue to the next day to ensure all scheduled areas are serviced Construction debris and green waste, including leaves, branches, trees, and plants will not be collected Temporary Suspension of Curbside Recycle and Bulky Waste Collection: Curbside recycle collection and bulky waste collection services are suspended until further notice Customers who have current bulky waste appointments will be contacted for rescheduling once bulky waste collections resume Bulky waste items such as appliances and furniture will be accepted free of charge at the residential transfer stations located in Harmon, Hågat, and Malojloj Residential Transfer Stations (Harmon, Hågat, and Malojloj): Free of charge for residential use for disposal of trash and bulky waste. Household appliances and furniture will be accepted. Open 7 days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Replacement Trash Carts: Customers may obtain a replacement cart by visiting the GSWA Customer Service office A replacement fee of $74.75 must be paid prior to the reissuance of a cart. Cash or check payments accepted at the GSWA main office Due to the increase in waste volume and several roads still blocked by typhoon debris, some delays may occur. Collection routes will also be coordinated with the Department of Public Works and the Guam Power Authority as those agencies are conducting work along roads and to avoid any conflicts or disruptions during the recovery process. Please visit the GSWA website for further updates and announcements or contact GSWA Customer Service by phone at 671-646-3111 or email [email protected]. GPA Update: The Guam Power Authority (GPA) continues its restoration and post-typhoon recovery efforts. As of 4 p.m., GPA reports: 21% of the System Load (Customer Demand) has been restored. 76.9% of GPA’s Substation Energization has been restored. 47.6% of GPA’s feeders/ circuits have been energized/restored. GPA notes that feeders and circuits may be energized only if GPA’s substation is energized and that system load will increase once feeders and circuits are energized. Customers can contact GPA’s 24-Hour Trouble Dispatch at 671-475-1472/3/4 or via direct message on GPA’s Facebook page at Guam Power Authority. GWA Update: As of 2 p.m., the Guam Waterworks Authority (GWA) provided the following update on water restoration progress: Northern Region: Currently 50% of operable wells are on-line GWA continues to operate all available wells to increase reservoir levels throughout the northern system Tumon and Tamuning have water, but low pressures persist causing outages in some areas until reservoir levels can be increased Central Region: Connection to Navy-supplied sources at Santa Rita-Sumai and Nimitz Hill has been restored With the exception of Finile and Santa Ana areas, service was restored to Santa Rita-Sumai and Hågat The Navy has increased flows in Santa Rita-Sumai and in Piti to assist with recovery Talo’fo’fo main village has been restored, with minor outages being reported as crews are assessing for any line breaks Service on Cross-island road area restored up to Our Lady of Peace Southern Region: Southern water system will operate at reduced capacity until damaged control equipment at the Ugum Surface Water Treatment Plant is resolved Water services were restored from Ipan to Malesso’ Main break repairs completed in Inalåhan Restoration of Humåtak is ongoing GWA has deployed nine (9) 6,000 gallon Flexible Potable Water Tanks in: Santa Teresita, Mangilao Mongmong-Toto-Maite Mayor’s Office Dededo Mayor’s Office St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Inalåhan Malesso’ Pier Hågat Mayor's Office Chalan Palauan, Dededo Sinifa, Santa Rita Mount Santa Rosa, Yigo Additional tank deployments pending for other sites once additional containers and chassis are made available. Once the tanks are depleted, they will be refilled and returned to service at locations still without water. The water tanks listed above are accessible 24 hours a day/7 days a week at this time. Once the tanks are depleted, it will be refilled and returned to service at locations still without water. Residents island-wide who have water service are advised to conserve and limit use for cleaning, bathing, and cooking in order to conserve water to allow reservoir levels to increase. A precautionary boil-water notice remains in effect. Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice. Residents island-wide who have water service are being asked to limit use for cleaning, bathing and cooking in order to conserve water to allow reservoir levels to increase. For information, contact GWA’s 24/7 phone line at (671) 646-4211 or Guam Waterworks Authority. Do Not Wait to Clean: The Joint Information Center reminds the community it is always a good preparedness practice to document any photos and videos of your property before and after a disaster strikes. After photos are taken, immediately begin cleaning and making repairs to their homes to make them safe and livable again. Do not wait for public officials to come to your home. Visit the following links for the latest advisory information: GHS/OCD Website: https://ghs.guam.gov/ GHS/OCD Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GHSOCD/ JRM Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jrmguam For more information, contact the Joint Information Center at (671) 478-0208/09/10. -###- |
2023.05.29 09:12 Biggybuggy98124 I need advice. Is it wrong for me to cut my daughters dad out of her life?
I tried posting this on AITA five times and it has been taken down every time.
For context. My daughter (5months) lives with me (22f) full time. Her father(25m) has not been an active part of her life since conception. We were together 2 years in a very very toxic (and sometimes abusive) relationship. We had 2 miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy in the span of a year. When I got pregnant a fourth time I was understandably worried. So was her father. He refused to tell any of his family other than one of his sisters. I understood and we ended up having a huge argument when I was 8 weeks pregnant and we split up. I moved back in with my parents and we didn’t speak for months. I invited him to my gender reveal, sent photos of ultrasounds, updates on our very very healthy baby girl, and invited him to my baby shower (which ended up being canceled because I went into pre term labor which was stopped). He never responded to anything. The day she was born my sister called him to tell him that I was in labor and he said “cool good for her” and hung up on her. No one heard from him for 3 days. He messaged me wanting to see her and basically told me if I didn’t say yes he would call dss on me. As a first time mother I was terrified of having my child taken so I agreed. He saw her for about an hour (that’s all my parents would agree to because it’s their house) and then he left. Didn’t see her, ask about her, or contact me at all until a month later. He saw her twice between one month and 2 months old. Didn’t contact me again until she was 3 1/2 months old. He has been back in her life for about 2 months now and sees her regularly. He went with us on her first trip to the aquarium, went to the park with her for the first time, bought her clothes and toys, etc.
Two weeks ago on Mother’s Day we spent the day together as a family and then I didn’t hear from him for 3 days. He told me he was starting a new job so I figured he was busy. He called and asked to see her last Wednesday and never showed up. He called again Friday. Never showed up. Claimed he got called into work. He called 5 days ago and asked to see her and I told him I had to work and that she would be at the babysitter until I got off late at night so he could see her the next day when I was off. He agreed. I didn’t hear from him for 5 days. I was contacted by a friend of his ex (who is a meth and coke addict and has child abuse and child neglect charges) and told that he had been at her house for 5 days and was drugged out of his mind. She sent photos and videos of him doing drugs and telling everyone he was going to come to my house and take his daughter. His ex was heard in the videos saying she would unalive me and my family for it to work and they would skip town right after.
I texted him and told him he was no longer allowed to see our daughter and that I would be calling our caseworker and telling her the same and I would be happy to take it to court if he wanted to. He texted back 8 hours later telling me I couldn’t stop him from seeing her and he would “take me down” if I tried to keep him from her. He called me all kinds of nasty names and made me feel like a horrible human being. So far his mom(who has never even wanted to meet her granddaughter) his sisters and his brother have all texted me and threatened me or told me to unalive myself or called my daughter horrible names and said she was ugly and she was going to end up being a “retard” (I hate that word) with a mother like me.
Am I wrong for cutting him out of her life..? What do I do..? Please help…
EDIT
We do have a custody agreement stating that he can see her twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday) for 2 hours. But it must be supervised. He has not upheld that agreement in over 2 months now. He is also supposed to pay child support and we agreed that as long as his child support is paid he can see her but if he doesn’t pay it he isn’t allowed to see her. He hasn’t paid it in over a month and I continued to allow him to see her outside of his scheduled visitation days. I do have proof that he has been abusive, police reports I’ve made against him in the past, he has been arrested several times just for things he’s done to me not including his numerous arrests for drugs and violence against others. I also have videos of him on drugs, videos of him admitting to criminal acts, screenshots of everything, etc. all of that can be found listed in the comments section below. I have contacted our caseworker with everything that has happened and she is going to inform me Tuesday if he contacts her and she’s going to help me get an attorney and keep him from getting any kind of custody of her. He is currently living with 3 people who are all highschool (and in one case a middle school) drop outs and all have felonies. One is a registered sex offender, another has felony convictions for rape, possession of class A narcotics, assault with a deadly weapon, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill (different occasion than the first assault charge) and the third has felony convictions for Child Abuse, Negligence of a child that ended in the child’s untimely and very sad death, rape, domestic abuse, 5 counts of assault with a deadly weapon. He himself has 13 misdemeanor drug charges as well as a felony charge for possession of class A narcotics over the legal limit and possession of stolen goods. He also has 3 counts of misdemeanor B&E and 6 counts of misdemeanor animal abuse and is legally not allowed to own animals in the state of Florida. As well as all the charges he got for what he did to me which were all misdemeanor charges. His girlfriend had all 3 of her kids taken because she was prostituting her oldest out to men on the internet, she physically and sexually abused both of her youngest kids, and she was charged with what my caseworker called “fatal negligence” after her 4th child died in a house fire last summer when the meth lab in her attic blew up and she didn’t even try to save the baby. Luckily the other 3 children had already been taken from her at the time.
I have no criminal charges, I’ve never done drugs (not even smoked pot), I quit smoking cigarettes and quit drinking 6 months before my daughter was born, I graduated highschool and have a business degree and I’m in school currently for a degree in psychology, I work 39 hours a week and my daughter has never gone without anything she needed and has been to every single doctors appointment and never had to have them rescheduled. My parents are both retired and have never had a single charge their entire lives. They have raised 3 kids and 5 grandkids and they watch my daughter when I am at work or school except for the one day a week she goes to a daycare for a few hours to be around other babies her age. She is clean, well fed, has brand new clean clothes. He has only ever bought her ripped or worn out clothing, the 3 nights he stayed with us I was extremely sick and my parents were out of town and he refused to give her a bath, make her bottles, or feed her baby food because he said he couldn’t stand the smell. He refused to change her diaper because he said he didn’t want her to pee on him.
This is not me trying to make myself look good. Just giving more info now that I know there isn’t a character limit.
submitted by Biggybuggy98124 to Parenting [link] [comments]
For context. My daughter (5months) lives with me (22f) full time. Her father(25m) has not been an active part of her life since conception. We were together 2 years in a very very toxic (and sometimes abusive) relationship. We had 2 miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy in the span of a year. When I got pregnant a fourth time I was understandably worried. So was her father. He refused to tell any of his family other than one of his sisters. I understood and we ended up having a huge argument when I was 8 weeks pregnant and we split up. I moved back in with my parents and we didn’t speak for months. I invited him to my gender reveal, sent photos of ultrasounds, updates on our very very healthy baby girl, and invited him to my baby shower (which ended up being canceled because I went into pre term labor which was stopped). He never responded to anything. The day she was born my sister called him to tell him that I was in labor and he said “cool good for her” and hung up on her. No one heard from him for 3 days. He messaged me wanting to see her and basically told me if I didn’t say yes he would call dss on me. As a first time mother I was terrified of having my child taken so I agreed. He saw her for about an hour (that’s all my parents would agree to because it’s their house) and then he left. Didn’t see her, ask about her, or contact me at all until a month later. He saw her twice between one month and 2 months old. Didn’t contact me again until she was 3 1/2 months old. He has been back in her life for about 2 months now and sees her regularly. He went with us on her first trip to the aquarium, went to the park with her for the first time, bought her clothes and toys, etc.
Two weeks ago on Mother’s Day we spent the day together as a family and then I didn’t hear from him for 3 days. He told me he was starting a new job so I figured he was busy. He called and asked to see her last Wednesday and never showed up. He called again Friday. Never showed up. Claimed he got called into work. He called 5 days ago and asked to see her and I told him I had to work and that she would be at the babysitter until I got off late at night so he could see her the next day when I was off. He agreed. I didn’t hear from him for 5 days. I was contacted by a friend of his ex (who is a meth and coke addict and has child abuse and child neglect charges) and told that he had been at her house for 5 days and was drugged out of his mind. She sent photos and videos of him doing drugs and telling everyone he was going to come to my house and take his daughter. His ex was heard in the videos saying she would unalive me and my family for it to work and they would skip town right after.
I texted him and told him he was no longer allowed to see our daughter and that I would be calling our caseworker and telling her the same and I would be happy to take it to court if he wanted to. He texted back 8 hours later telling me I couldn’t stop him from seeing her and he would “take me down” if I tried to keep him from her. He called me all kinds of nasty names and made me feel like a horrible human being. So far his mom(who has never even wanted to meet her granddaughter) his sisters and his brother have all texted me and threatened me or told me to unalive myself or called my daughter horrible names and said she was ugly and she was going to end up being a “retard” (I hate that word) with a mother like me.
Am I wrong for cutting him out of her life..? What do I do..? Please help…
EDIT
We do have a custody agreement stating that he can see her twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday) for 2 hours. But it must be supervised. He has not upheld that agreement in over 2 months now. He is also supposed to pay child support and we agreed that as long as his child support is paid he can see her but if he doesn’t pay it he isn’t allowed to see her. He hasn’t paid it in over a month and I continued to allow him to see her outside of his scheduled visitation days. I do have proof that he has been abusive, police reports I’ve made against him in the past, he has been arrested several times just for things he’s done to me not including his numerous arrests for drugs and violence against others. I also have videos of him on drugs, videos of him admitting to criminal acts, screenshots of everything, etc. all of that can be found listed in the comments section below. I have contacted our caseworker with everything that has happened and she is going to inform me Tuesday if he contacts her and she’s going to help me get an attorney and keep him from getting any kind of custody of her. He is currently living with 3 people who are all highschool (and in one case a middle school) drop outs and all have felonies. One is a registered sex offender, another has felony convictions for rape, possession of class A narcotics, assault with a deadly weapon, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill (different occasion than the first assault charge) and the third has felony convictions for Child Abuse, Negligence of a child that ended in the child’s untimely and very sad death, rape, domestic abuse, 5 counts of assault with a deadly weapon. He himself has 13 misdemeanor drug charges as well as a felony charge for possession of class A narcotics over the legal limit and possession of stolen goods. He also has 3 counts of misdemeanor B&E and 6 counts of misdemeanor animal abuse and is legally not allowed to own animals in the state of Florida. As well as all the charges he got for what he did to me which were all misdemeanor charges. His girlfriend had all 3 of her kids taken because she was prostituting her oldest out to men on the internet, she physically and sexually abused both of her youngest kids, and she was charged with what my caseworker called “fatal negligence” after her 4th child died in a house fire last summer when the meth lab in her attic blew up and she didn’t even try to save the baby. Luckily the other 3 children had already been taken from her at the time.
I have no criminal charges, I’ve never done drugs (not even smoked pot), I quit smoking cigarettes and quit drinking 6 months before my daughter was born, I graduated highschool and have a business degree and I’m in school currently for a degree in psychology, I work 39 hours a week and my daughter has never gone without anything she needed and has been to every single doctors appointment and never had to have them rescheduled. My parents are both retired and have never had a single charge their entire lives. They have raised 3 kids and 5 grandkids and they watch my daughter when I am at work or school except for the one day a week she goes to a daycare for a few hours to be around other babies her age. She is clean, well fed, has brand new clean clothes. He has only ever bought her ripped or worn out clothing, the 3 nights he stayed with us I was extremely sick and my parents were out of town and he refused to give her a bath, make her bottles, or feed her baby food because he said he couldn’t stand the smell. He refused to change her diaper because he said he didn’t want her to pee on him.
This is not me trying to make myself look good. Just giving more info now that I know there isn’t a character limit.
2023.05.29 09:09 Disastrous_Message52 Selling handcycle
https://share.icloud.com/photos/040AgVEjXu6l_OMu2R7l9VlTw
Invacare Top End Excelerator XLT Handcycle
6061 T-6 oval tube aluminum frame with a 4031 chrome-moly steel fork for strength and stiffness, powder coat paint Adjustable crank height assembly, adjustable fore and aft seat position, multi-position, adjustable footrest system with safety straps Adjustable tension seat upholstery, narrow tall back with adjustable height seat Quick-release axles, high performance or cruiseknobby spoked wheels, reflectors, parking brake and Vertical ergonomic handles, Shimano(TM) 7-speed internal hub with reversing drum brake, high pressure, knobby or clincher tires Multi-adjustable fore/aft with safety straps
It's it great shape.. I had it inspected last year before I put it in storage. They said everything is in great working order
It does need a new seat cushion. I have cleaned and lubed the gears and chain and adjusted the brakes.
It is 4 years old, less than 10 hours of riding time.
submitted by Disastrous_Message52 to handcycling [link] [comments]
Invacare Top End Excelerator XLT Handcycle
6061 T-6 oval tube aluminum frame with a 4031 chrome-moly steel fork for strength and stiffness, powder coat paint Adjustable crank height assembly, adjustable fore and aft seat position, multi-position, adjustable footrest system with safety straps Adjustable tension seat upholstery, narrow tall back with adjustable height seat Quick-release axles, high performance or cruiseknobby spoked wheels, reflectors, parking brake and Vertical ergonomic handles, Shimano(TM) 7-speed internal hub with reversing drum brake, high pressure, knobby or clincher tires Multi-adjustable fore/aft with safety straps
It's it great shape.. I had it inspected last year before I put it in storage. They said everything is in great working order
It does need a new seat cushion. I have cleaned and lubed the gears and chain and adjusted the brakes.
It is 4 years old, less than 10 hours of riding time.
2023.05.29 09:06 Biggybuggy98124 I need advice. Is it wrong for me to cut my daughters dad out of her life?
I tried posting this on AITA five times and it has been taken down every time.
For context. My daughter (5months) lives with me (22f) full time. Her father(25m) has not been an active part of her life since conception. We were together 2 years in a very very toxic (and sometimes abusive) relationship. We had 2 miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy in the span of a year. When I got pregnant a fourth time I was understandably worried. So was her father. He refused to tell any of his family other than one of his sisters. I understood and we ended up having a huge argument when I was 8 weeks pregnant and we split up. I moved back in with my parents and we didn’t speak for months. I invited him to my gender reveal, sent photos of ultrasounds, updates on our very very healthy baby girl, and invited him to my baby shower (which ended up being canceled because I went into pre term labor which was stopped). He never responded to anything. The day she was born my sister called him to tell him that I was in labor and he said “cool good for her” and hung up on her. No one heard from him for 3 days. He messaged me wanting to see her and basically told me if I didn’t say yes he would call dss on me. As a first time mother I was terrified of having my child taken so I agreed. He saw her for about an hour (that’s all my parents would agree to because it’s their house) and then he left. Didn’t see her, ask about her, or contact me at all until a month later. He saw her twice between one month and 2 months old. Didn’t contact me again until she was 3 1/2 months old. He has been back in her life for about 2 months now and sees her regularly. He went with us on her first trip to the aquarium, went to the park with her for the first time, bought her clothes and toys, etc.
Two weeks ago on Mother’s Day we spent the day together as a family and then I didn’t hear from him for 3 days. He told me he was starting a new job so I figured he was busy. He called and asked to see her last Wednesday and never showed up. He called again Friday. Never showed up. Claimed he got called into work. He called 5 days ago and asked to see her and I told him I had to work and that she would be at the babysitter until I got off late at night so he could see her the next day when I was off. He agreed. I didn’t hear from him for 5 days. I was contacted by a friend of his ex (who is a meth and coke addict and has child abuse and child neglect charges) and told that he had been at her house for 5 days and was drugged out of his mind. She sent photos and videos of him doing drugs and telling everyone he was going to come to my house and take his daughter. His ex was heard in the videos saying she would unalive me and my family for it to work and they would skip town right after.
I texted him and told him he was no longer allowed to see our daughter and that I would be calling our caseworker and telling her the same and I would be happy to take it to court if he wanted to. He texted back 8 hours later telling me I couldn’t stop him from seeing her and he would “take me down” if I tried to keep him from her. He called me all kinds of nasty names and made me feel like a horrible human being. So far his mom(who has never even wanted to meet her granddaughter) his sisters and his brother have all texted me and threatened me or told me to unalive myself or called my daughter horrible names and said she was ugly and she was going to end up being a “retard” (I hate that word) with a mother like me.
Am I wrong for cutting him out of her life..? What do I do..? Please help…
EDIT
We do have a custody agreement stating that he can see her twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday) for 2 hours. But it must be supervised. He has not upheld that agreement in over 2 months now. He is also supposed to pay child support and we agreed that as long as his child support is paid he can see her but if he doesn’t pay it he isn’t allowed to see her. He hasn’t paid it in over a month and I continued to allow him to see her outside of his scheduled visitation days. I do have proof that he has been abusive, police reports I’ve made against him in the past, he has been arrested several times just for things he’s done to me not including his numerous arrests for drugs and violence against others. I also have videos of him on drugs, videos of him admitting to criminal acts, screenshots of everything, etc. all of that can be found listed in the comments section below. I have contacted our caseworker with everything that has happened and she is going to inform me Tuesday if he contacts her and she’s going to help me get an attorney and keep him from getting any kind of custody of her. He is currently living with 3 people who are all highschool (and in one case a middle school) drop outs and all have felonies. One is a registered sex offender, another has felony convictions for rape, possession of class A narcotics, assault with a deadly weapon, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill (different occasion than the first assault charge) and the third has felony convictions for Child Abuse, Negligence of a child that ended in the child’s untimely and very sad death, rape, domestic abuse, 5 counts of assault with a deadly weapon. He himself has 13 misdemeanor drug charges as well as a felony charge for possession of class A narcotics over the legal limit and possession of stolen goods. He also has 3 counts of misdemeanor B&E and 6 counts of misdemeanor animal abuse and is legally not allowed to own animals in the state of Florida. As well as all the charges he got for what he did to me which were all misdemeanor charges. His girlfriend had all 3 of her kids taken because she was prostituting her oldest out to men on the internet, she physically and sexually abused both of her youngest kids, and she was charged with what my caseworker called “fatal negligence” after her 4th child died in a house fire last summer when the meth lab in her attic blew up and she didn’t even try to save the baby. Luckily the other 3 children had already been taken from her at the time.
I have no criminal charges, I’ve never done drugs (not even smoked pot), I quit smoking cigarettes and quit drinking 6 months before my daughter was born, I graduated highschool and have a business degree and I’m in school currently for a degree in psychology, I work 39 hours a week and my daughter has never gone without anything she needed and has been to every single doctors appointment and never had to have them rescheduled. My parents are both retired and have never had a single charge their entire lives. They have raised 3 kids and 5 grandkids and they watch my daughter when I am at work or school except for the one day a week she goes to a daycare for a few hours to be around other babies her age. She is clean, well fed, has brand new clean clothes. He has only ever bought her ripped or worn out clothing, the 3 nights he stayed with us I was extremely sick and my parents were out of town and he refused to give her a bath, make her bottles, or feed her baby food because he said he couldn’t stand the smell. He refused to change her diaper because he said he didn’t want her to pee on him.
This is not me trying to make myself look good. Just giving more info now that I know there isn’t a character limit.
submitted by Biggybuggy98124 to SingleParents [link] [comments]
For context. My daughter (5months) lives with me (22f) full time. Her father(25m) has not been an active part of her life since conception. We were together 2 years in a very very toxic (and sometimes abusive) relationship. We had 2 miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy in the span of a year. When I got pregnant a fourth time I was understandably worried. So was her father. He refused to tell any of his family other than one of his sisters. I understood and we ended up having a huge argument when I was 8 weeks pregnant and we split up. I moved back in with my parents and we didn’t speak for months. I invited him to my gender reveal, sent photos of ultrasounds, updates on our very very healthy baby girl, and invited him to my baby shower (which ended up being canceled because I went into pre term labor which was stopped). He never responded to anything. The day she was born my sister called him to tell him that I was in labor and he said “cool good for her” and hung up on her. No one heard from him for 3 days. He messaged me wanting to see her and basically told me if I didn’t say yes he would call dss on me. As a first time mother I was terrified of having my child taken so I agreed. He saw her for about an hour (that’s all my parents would agree to because it’s their house) and then he left. Didn’t see her, ask about her, or contact me at all until a month later. He saw her twice between one month and 2 months old. Didn’t contact me again until she was 3 1/2 months old. He has been back in her life for about 2 months now and sees her regularly. He went with us on her first trip to the aquarium, went to the park with her for the first time, bought her clothes and toys, etc.
Two weeks ago on Mother’s Day we spent the day together as a family and then I didn’t hear from him for 3 days. He told me he was starting a new job so I figured he was busy. He called and asked to see her last Wednesday and never showed up. He called again Friday. Never showed up. Claimed he got called into work. He called 5 days ago and asked to see her and I told him I had to work and that she would be at the babysitter until I got off late at night so he could see her the next day when I was off. He agreed. I didn’t hear from him for 5 days. I was contacted by a friend of his ex (who is a meth and coke addict and has child abuse and child neglect charges) and told that he had been at her house for 5 days and was drugged out of his mind. She sent photos and videos of him doing drugs and telling everyone he was going to come to my house and take his daughter. His ex was heard in the videos saying she would unalive me and my family for it to work and they would skip town right after.
I texted him and told him he was no longer allowed to see our daughter and that I would be calling our caseworker and telling her the same and I would be happy to take it to court if he wanted to. He texted back 8 hours later telling me I couldn’t stop him from seeing her and he would “take me down” if I tried to keep him from her. He called me all kinds of nasty names and made me feel like a horrible human being. So far his mom(who has never even wanted to meet her granddaughter) his sisters and his brother have all texted me and threatened me or told me to unalive myself or called my daughter horrible names and said she was ugly and she was going to end up being a “retard” (I hate that word) with a mother like me.
Am I wrong for cutting him out of her life..? What do I do..? Please help…
EDIT
We do have a custody agreement stating that he can see her twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday) for 2 hours. But it must be supervised. He has not upheld that agreement in over 2 months now. He is also supposed to pay child support and we agreed that as long as his child support is paid he can see her but if he doesn’t pay it he isn’t allowed to see her. He hasn’t paid it in over a month and I continued to allow him to see her outside of his scheduled visitation days. I do have proof that he has been abusive, police reports I’ve made against him in the past, he has been arrested several times just for things he’s done to me not including his numerous arrests for drugs and violence against others. I also have videos of him on drugs, videos of him admitting to criminal acts, screenshots of everything, etc. all of that can be found listed in the comments section below. I have contacted our caseworker with everything that has happened and she is going to inform me Tuesday if he contacts her and she’s going to help me get an attorney and keep him from getting any kind of custody of her. He is currently living with 3 people who are all highschool (and in one case a middle school) drop outs and all have felonies. One is a registered sex offender, another has felony convictions for rape, possession of class A narcotics, assault with a deadly weapon, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill (different occasion than the first assault charge) and the third has felony convictions for Child Abuse, Negligence of a child that ended in the child’s untimely and very sad death, rape, domestic abuse, 5 counts of assault with a deadly weapon. He himself has 13 misdemeanor drug charges as well as a felony charge for possession of class A narcotics over the legal limit and possession of stolen goods. He also has 3 counts of misdemeanor B&E and 6 counts of misdemeanor animal abuse and is legally not allowed to own animals in the state of Florida. As well as all the charges he got for what he did to me which were all misdemeanor charges. His girlfriend had all 3 of her kids taken because she was prostituting her oldest out to men on the internet, she physically and sexually abused both of her youngest kids, and she was charged with what my caseworker called “fatal negligence” after her 4th child died in a house fire last summer when the meth lab in her attic blew up and she didn’t even try to save the baby. Luckily the other 3 children had already been taken from her at the time.
I have no criminal charges, I’ve never done drugs (not even smoked pot), I quit smoking cigarettes and quit drinking 6 months before my daughter was born, I graduated highschool and have a business degree and I’m in school currently for a degree in psychology, I work 39 hours a week and my daughter has never gone without anything she needed and has been to every single doctors appointment and never had to have them rescheduled. My parents are both retired and have never had a single charge their entire lives. They have raised 3 kids and 5 grandkids and they watch my daughter when I am at work or school except for the one day a week she goes to a daycare for a few hours to be around other babies her age. She is clean, well fed, has brand new clean clothes. He has only ever bought her ripped or worn out clothing, the 3 nights he stayed with us I was extremely sick and my parents were out of town and he refused to give her a bath, make her bottles, or feed her baby food because he said he couldn’t stand the smell. He refused to change her diaper because he said he didn’t want her to pee on him.
This is not me trying to make myself look good. Just giving more info now that I know there isn’t a character limit.