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Nalah affixed the massive shield to her back, the rectangular form large enough for him to fit behind while only needing to crouch slightly. It was mostly ironwood, but the sides and front were metal-plated, so it still weighed a considerable amount. Despite that, the thing’s bulk hardly seemed to be noticed by the blonde-furred female, likely due to the constant construction work she involved herself in. It paired oddly with the long pike she insisted on using, but he couldn’t deny that poking at things while hiding behind a mobile wall sounded like a good idea.
Jax was wearing his new armour, the bulky chest-piece a mirror of his blond-furred pack mate’s. Though he forwent the protection a buckler or likewise would offer, he doubled up on gear. Gauntlets, vambraces, pauldrons, and anything else he could wear to compliment the massive axe he had taken a liking to.
Where Nalah was fitted to look like an apocalypse survivor—her protections limited to her torso, forearms, and shield—the black-furred male resembled a giant, if underfunded, paladin. All he needed now was some religious imagery and a penchant for exalting the qualities of their god. Joseph almost nudged the guy to suggest it for kicks.
On second thought, he decided that Jax absolutely did not need a reason to start yelling about the Human-turned-religious-figure, because there was no way in hell he wouldn’t. There was no telling what he would choose to say, and the Grand Hunter was perfectly happy never knowing.
Having been with the male as long as he had, it would probably involve ‘taming’ females or something else that would leave him groaning for weeks, if not just contemplating another high-dive from the cliff.
Joseph fixed his own equipment, the ‘Wraith armour’ worn over his own thin iron breastplate. He wasn’t thrilled to wear the extra weight, but it beat being mauled by the thing they were heading out to kill. The trips so far had been tolerable, fog and overcast skies keeping the temperature in check, but he didn’t want to go out in this on a hotter day as Summer really kicked back in. He was sweaty enough without baking inside all this crap.
He adjusted the wolf-skull mask, the rest of the hunting party having gotten over the worst of the unease it gave them. Though they’d needed to rotate people out for the sake of fairness, this would be their eighth consecutive scouting. Using the information that Raine and Faye provided, they narrowed down a likely stomping grounds for the creature and were systematically clearing sectors. It might have been discouraging to keep looking after so long, but the occasional marking on trees and the odd moss-wolf corpse tipped them off that they were getting close. There was still another week’s worth of searching left if today wasn’t the day, but somehow he doubted they wouldn’t need that long.
All in all, they numbered six; larger parties were attempted, but their efforts at stealth quickly became pointless between so many trudging through the forest and stopping for breaks. There was a bit of a scare where one of Mi’low’s pack went missing, but the guy had just stopped to relieve himself. Since the discovery was made by someone else knocking him over in the process by mistake, they decided that keeping the number smaller made communication easier. And lowered the amount of grumbling about needing a bath.
Jax, Nalah, two security members, one of the hunters, and him. Sure, grabbing Tel or the Wraiths would have been a bit more useful for cohesion, but they were all busy with things, and he didn’t want to grind everything in the settlement to a halt for nothing if the search turned up empty again. They were more suited to taking out their fellow Lilhun than some monster in the woods, as much as he disliked the thought.
Scarlet was spending a lot of time with Violet and the new Atmo, Faye was spending much of her recovery with the moss-wolves and moss-pup, and Tel was in the process of helping Harrow shore up the few security members that were slated to become snipers. Kaslin was still learning chemistry with Toril, and Raine was helping whoever needed a hand, so that marked off all of his usual accompaniment. He could have taken more of his direct pack, but they all had important things to take care of as well.
Sahari was managing the pack and putting people where people needed to be put, Pan was working with Idee and Heralt to make a line of armour for the whole pack, and Mi’low was...well, Mi’low. He was pretty sure she was unofficially the master of the hunter’s lodge and spent most of her time keeping track of what came in and out of it, while also making sure that everyone got their fair share. It needed to be done with the settlement growing as much as it had, and it kept Mi’low busy enough to stymie the flow of complaints, so he wasn’t about to complain.
They double checked that they had everything that was needed; food, water, arrows, bolts, and some bags to store anything that the snares had caught on the way back. Four ranged and two melee weapons meant that they would be mostly using Jax and Nalah to soak hits if it came down to it, the others peppering it with projectiles. Given that Harrow was insistent on the bear-thing being resistant to anything they could use at a distance, they also carried spare weapons for the ranged users, just in case. Nodding, Joseph gestured to the group finishing up their preparations for the day’s trip.
“A moment, sir?” Scarlet called to him as she approached the gate, the Wraith flanked by Rose and Cobalt. The two Atmo were decked-out in their own armour, which appeared to be almost entirely metal, save for the palm lining the inside for comfort. Each of their six legs were adorned with broad shields, their bases capped off with a flat storage carriage. They looked like someone had a little too much fun testing how much the insects could effortlessly carry and had ended up with sapient hexapedal tanks.
“Only if you explain why those two would look more at home if they had cannons installed on their backs,” he quipped, an expression somewhere between surprised, amused, and plain dumbfounded plastered on his face. The blackish red-furred female smirked for a split-second before resuming her usual servile presentation.
“The young mistress had extended her request for these two to accompany you.”
Joseph tilted his head incredulously. “Violet told you to send them?”
Scarlet nodded, gesturing to the outfitted Atmo. “They have been under her tutelage for some time now, and wish to be of assistance.”
The Grand Hunter snapped his mouth closed when he was about to ask why his daughter would teach them anything that might be useful for fighting a deadly beast. Of course she did; It was one of the first things he did for her. It would have been weirder for her not to pass on what she knew after all the hours she spent either seeing him coach the others, or being coached herself. With the time she had under her belt, she was the local Atmo Close Quarters Combat specialist, and no one else understood how the modified boxing she learned worked with their bodies like she did.
He wore a hesitant expression, shifting his weight to his other leg. “Well, they’ve certainly geared up.”
“It is a product our smith is rather proud of,” the Wraith affirmed confidently.
He exhaled slowly. “Seems a bit much.”
She seemed to be expecting the remark, barely pausing to register what he said before responding. “Your kit wishes you safe, yet understands you would not allow her to accompany you. These two wish to be of assistance.”
To punctuate her point, the two nodded in agreement, walking forward and slinging some of the backpacks onto their carriages. It seemed ‘no’ wasn’t something they were going to accept after Violet had said her piece. He sighed, conceding that they wouldn’t slow the party down with everyone carrying so much weight in equipment, regardless of the bags. They took breaks frequently enough to accommodate the Atmo, so that wouldn’t hinder anything either.
“Fine,” he relented with a wave of his hand. “We’ll take them. Not like they’d hurt anyway. But–” He put a warning into his tone. “–they’re not playing the hero and getting themselves killed. This isn’t going to work if they think any of us dying is still a net positive, got it?”
The two Atmo mimed their understanding, Scarlet replying with a victorious smile. Joseph couldn’t help but bemusedly roll his eyes. The female had taken rather well to baby-sitting, and that seems to have extended to humouring the young Queen’s schemes now. It wasn’t an unwelcome addition to their little sojourn. At least they could haul back any larger game without it tacking hours onto the return trip.
He thanked Scarlet for her trouble before dismissing her, confirming with the group that everything was accounted for, and set off before it grew too late. He wasn’t looking to get caught out in the woods during the night. The Lilhuns might be fine, but he was pretty well blind unless the moon felt generous.
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Jax watched the two Atmo quietly follow on the sides of the group, their heavily armoured forms posing no issues with their naturally soundless movements in the forest. In the den, they would make moderate clacks and clicks as their chitinous legs contacted the ground, but the soft dirt and foliage stifled all but the smallest report of their travel. With Scarlet supervising alongside Violet, he wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that the former Blade had influenced their movement with the goal in mind, though he had never paid much attention to how they walked before to compare.
He had to admit, having them carry the additional equipment was exceedingly useful. He had proposed having the group use the newly acquired platforms on their more arachnid-like abdomen to rest in shifts, but Joseph was quick to insist that the insects were of lesser stamina than even Lilhuns. The phrasing seemed like a comparative insult, but Jax had more than enough experience with the Human to know that he had simply spoken his mind. To him, everyone had sub-par stamina. Training had gone some way to remedy the discrepancy, but the Grand Hunter could still continue for longer than even the most well-conditioned of them.
The black-furred male rolled his shoulders, feeling the heft of his axe shift with the movement. It was an impressive size, the weight well-balanced and its edge sharp. He had once laid it to the ground out of curiosity and confirmed that it was about as tall as Pan from head to haft, though only if she stood to her full height. Regardless of its size, it was still lighter than the armour he chose to don.
Having only really worn leathers or a few sets of ironwood protections, the encumbering prominence of the iron equipment took getting used to. It wasn’t entirely restrictive, but did put a damper on any chances he had of sprinting from danger. That was fine, he supposed, since he was wearing it against a beast he had no experience with. It could very well outrun him regardless, and he would rather have the defences in either case.
Nalah seemed to be doing fine, the large barrier she kept on her back swaying slightly as she walked. She was unhindered by it, her movements barely affected by the bulk, which was reassuring. Joseph, however, seemed to be panting more than usual, the rolling cloud coverage easing as the sun progressively warmed the environment. The fog from earlier meant that it was rather humid, and that seemed to bore no well wishes for the male encased in dark leathers and thick plates. He had even flipped down his hood, the sweat beading on his skin adding a sheen to his visage.
“I liked this better when the sun didn’t exist,” the Human lamented quietly, just loud enough for Jax to hear. The black-furred male chuckled.
“It would be rather dark.”
Joseph glared at him for a moment before rolling his eyes. “I just don’t rank ‘heavily armoured hike through the woods’ high up on my list of things I want to do regularly.”
“I believe that list would be occupied by your mates, no?” he ribbed playfully, a smirk arising when the Grand Hunter shunted his eyes closed in a grimace.
“I hate you.”
“I can see your smile underneath your displeasure, Joseph,” Jax quipped, nudging the male with his elbow, then giving an apologetic smile when his friend almost fell. Joseph sighed, waving Cobalt over and fetching a water-skin from the luggage that the insect was ferrying without breaking stride—though he needed to be careful not to get stepped on.
The Atmo always amused Jax. Be it their passive demeanour hidden by their towering stature, or his interactions with the den-kit, they never failed to be curious people. Having the two that accompanied Volta with them was an unexpected development, but he couldn’t claim to disapprove. If they had been imparted the methods of combat that Violet had cultivated, then there was little worry of them being harmed by naught but perhaps their current target. At least not until there was a better reference of its strength than the single encounter the first-years had so long ago.
At the time, it had smashed pillars and pierced flesh effortlessly, claws proving to be little more than tempting ministrations of tender touch to the thick hide. Jax only had some of the pack’s recount to base the experience off of, but was content to take their word for it. He was, ashamedly, preoccupied taking care of baser needs when the event transpired, so he was woefully unprepared for the eventual encounter. Still, he was afforded the best the settlement had to offer so that he might serve his duty of protecting the Grand Hunter. Harrow would never forgive him if only he returned.
His thoughts were disturbed by Joseph calling for a rest, Jax’s legs thankful for the break from supporting the unusual weight for so long. The Human dispensed rations and water for the pack, the Atmo waiting until everyone else was supplied before accepting their portion. They rested on their base directly, instead of curling their legs beneath them like Jax had become accustomed. Perhaps the armour impeded such, or they wished to remain mobile in the event such was required. Regardless, they blocked what little breeze there was, forcing the Grand Hunter to walk beyond them to enjoy it in the shade. It was short-lived however, as Rose quickly repositioned to stay between the pack and whatever lay beyond their protections.
It was a futile effort, it seemed, because it repeated again twice before Joseph groaned loudly and threw himself atop the carriage to lay back, his legs dangling at the knee. He seemed perfectly content with the unorthodox arrangement, snorting his amusement along with a muttered comment about a ‘taxi.’
The entertaining sight was marred by a distant yelp, snapping the group to attention. Jax and Joseph traded looks, subtle nods and gestures given to move out while remaining quiet. Ignoring his earlier complaints, the Grand Hunter flicked his hood up and donned the mask, drawing his crossbow and readying a bolt. The hunter of the pack mimicked the preparation, the two security members loosely nocking their arrows while Rose, Cobalt, Jax, and Nalah took point.
They proceeded quietly for far longer than the proximity of the noise would have suggested, but marks and gashes upon the trees implied a moving conflict. Thoughts of it being a lost cause quickly became moot as a closer growl and bark shattered the careful silence they had been maintaining.
Motioning for the pack to stop, Joseph waved Jax forward, Nalah approaching the other side. Using the large shield as additional cover, they peered around a particularly thick tree. Locked in combat were two moss-wolves, both attacking a truly massive grey creature.
Twice the Human’s height, half that in width. Four pillars as legs—the muscular trunks sinewy and defined—supported the disturbing hunched figure, the wide base tapering slightly into a thick and extended torso. A singular eye-stalk replaced the head, the ocular organ atop it pitch black and free of any indication of its focus. Four arms with deadly claws parried and sliced the two yellow beasts as they attempted to drive off the predator, a sickeningly large maw gaping to catch any attempts at a lunge. The mouth of the creature almost occupied the entirety of the available surface area upon its front, the jagged bone tools of manduction undulating with the promise of sustenance.
Joseph pulled them back, cursing under his breath as he tried to fight off the tension. From Nalah’s worried expression, it seemed his caution was rather potent, the other members of the group smelling his reaction as well.
“So, what’s the plan, Jax?” the Human whispered, his grip on the crossbow alternating with his fingers stretching across the trigger lest his fidgeting cause a misfire.
“I thought that, with your record, you would wish to tame it for the settlement,” Jax replied while thinking through a plan of action. He was glad that his friend trusted him, but he wished he had known the true scale of the beast prior. Joseph grit his teeth, turning to glance past the tree again with sarcasm pouring out of his response.
“Can’t quite see Winnie-the-woodchipper there playing great with kids.”
“You say that after adopting an Atmo as kit, Grand Hunter,” he returned, nodding to himself when a plan formed. The Human smiled, the banter easing the tension somewhat. “Rose, Cobalt, you two are the most well defended of us. Circle around and drive the beast this way. You should be capable of such without noise, yes?”
The two insects nodded, emptying their luggage behind a tree so as not to lose any of it before disappearing into the trees. The slight glimmer of their iron armour was the only indication of their position through the dense forest. Jax hoped that the beast was not particularly curious about the dimly pulsing glare, nor finished with its current altercation in time to impede the pair.
Satisfied with their progress, he motioned for the two security members to scale a tree and gain a superior vantage point. Their weapons would be able to maintain a more rapid pace of sustained fire at longer ranges. Joseph and the hunter were instructed to hide behind trees nearby, though the Human would need to remain grounded as his lack of claws made scaling the large flora difficult with his equipment.
Finally, Nalah and he positioned themselves much closer, in order to flank the creature as it fled the Atmo and occupy it long enough for the others to bleed it out, if not outright dispose of it.
With the forms of the Atmo peeking through the brush opposite them, Jax raised his axe to signal the start.
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Joseph felt the hammering in his chest, his heart preparing him to fight for his life against the walking abomination that easily outclassed the only other predator that he had experience with. Sure, the moss-wolves were easy to take down once you had equipment and a plan, but that thing screamed danger.
He watched Jax and Nalah set up behind thick trees, their goal being for Jax to hopefully disable a leg or two with the war-axe while Nalah occupied it with the shield. As the two strongest members of his little family, he trusted both to do their job.
As a clusterfuck of animal and torture device, he had no faith in the creature playing along.
Swallowing his hesitation, he adjusted his grip on the crossbow again, mentally tallying his shots and cursing himself for not researching explosives. Sure, Toril didn’t want to be involved in that kind of weapon, but at the moment, the tailless white-furred male could suck it up and make one anyway. Joseph would give his left nut to see how quickly the chemist would make weapons of mass destruction just to annihilate whatever that thing called home.
Jax raised his axe, glinting the sunlight of it towards the Atmo. Receiving the start signal, the two clicked and loosed a deafening screech, the Human’s ears ringing even from this distance.
The beast seemed unperturbed by the noise, though the lack of visible ears may have had something to do with the lacklustre effect. Regardless, it did notice the two armour-clad insects charging at it, and smartly decided to extradite itself from the area. The moss-wolves, however, didn’t quite get the memo, mistaking the advancing assistance as yet another foe to defend themselves from.
He had to say, Violet taught the two well. They flashed their blades out in the same flicker jab that he had shown his daughter, and with an unceremonious squelch, the two bisected canines landed in four pieces, a vibrant green ichor now staining the weapon-like appendages of the Atmo. Undeterred by their first act of violence—as far as he was aware, anyway—they continued herding the beast.
It wasn’t as fast as they might have feared, its quadrupedal gait hindered by its proportions, but it was still quick enough to be damn intimidating. Its arms acted as a counter balance, constantly adjusting this way and that just to keep it stable. That thing was clearly never meant for sprinting, all its mobility being given to the overactive maw that pulsated with the exertion.
He readied his crossbow, the shaking in his hands not ruining his aim against such a large target. He eyeballed the distance between the creature and the ambush point, forcibly moving his finger off the trigger so that he didn’t fire early.
Closer. Come on. Almost.
Now.
Jax wound up like a particularly enthusiastic lumberjack, putting his full body into the rotation. The massive axe swung like a horizontal pendulum striking home with all the finality of a clock tolling midnight. It bit into the front leg of the beast, only sinking a few inches before momentum nearly wretched the weapon from the black-furred male. Luckily, the force and timing was enough to trip it, the creature crashing to the forest floor with a deafening roar of pain.
They could hurt it. That made him feel better.
His relief evaporated as the beast swiftly recovered, hauling itself from the ground faster than he thought possible, but his archers took it for an unspoken signal. Arrows and bolts peppered its thick hide, to no effect—it shrugged off the projectiles like they were nothing more than pine needles, none sinking far enough to gain notable purchase.
Jax hefted his axe for another strike, careful not to over-commit this time. Nalah prodded the beast wherever she could with her pike, the melee weapon sliced and skewered just past the surface of the hide, though not enough to do more than marr. It was, however, enough to gain the attention of the target, the creature swinging two of its four arms to rake across the shield that the blond-furred female held. The iron plating across the front let out an unearthly shriek as claws ripped and crumpled the metal.
Well, fuck.
Nalah was quick to react, treating the shield less as an immovable barrier and more like a slight distance buffer, dodging in and out of range to steal jabs with the polearm. The security members nocked another volley, picking different targets than before. An arrow bounced harmlessly off the black orb of an eye, another finding purchase in what passed for gums in its mouth.
The hint was received; aim for the mouth. Thankfully, that was a large target. Less thankfully, it realized that flashing its teeth was detrimental to its health, slamming the maw closed.
Jax managed another swing, this time into one of the rear legs. It wasn’t as effective as the first strike, but it did warrant a sweeping double back-fist from the creature, scoring Jax’s armour with shallow claw marks as he jumped backwards. Joseph let out a breath as he fired his second shot, only just narrowly missing the sliver of a gap between razor teeth that the enraged attack afforded. It couldn’t keep its mouth shut forever, each frenzied swipe pulling its form enough for glimpses of softer flesh within to appear. The hunter dropped from their tree, darting across to reposition for a wider angle to capitalize on. The creature noticed, lunging forward to eviscerate the easier target.
Joseph blinked as two armoured figures jumped in front of the Lilhun, raising their blades in a tight guard to block the four arms grabbing for a quick meal. The beast recoiled with a thunderous screech, two of its appendages sporting deep gashes that fountained blood, while the others managed to impact above the edged outside of the blades. Rose and Cobalt pressed forward, buying time and space for the hunter to collect themselves and scale up another perch. Taking advantage of its pain, two new arrows ripped through the air, smacking into exposed inner flesh. Two new protrusions joined the first in the mouth, one landing next to the existing projectile, while the other cleared the gateway of serration, driving deeply inside of it.
More flicker jabs and extended straights pushed and cut the beast as it tried to gain distance from the two that wounded it, every retaliatory strike earning it another gash in its grey hide.. Unencumbered by the constant barrage, Nalah thrust into its legs more vigorously, her body leaning into each attack to gain every inch of penetration she could into the muscle and thick hide.
Jax used the chance to score another chopping blow, doubling down on a previous wound to a back leg—striking bone this time, based on the unholy wail the beast uttered. Joseph raised his crossbow to land another shot into its mouth, but the beast flailed wildly to fend off the ambush.
Rose managed to block, Jax lunged backwards, Nalah deflected most of it with what remained of her shield, but Cobalt was caught by a strike, taking the hit to its torso. The Atmo flew backwards, rolling when it landed, the carriage and assorted armoured plates trailing behind it. Rose shifted instantly, covering the direction that their companion had been sent while Jax and Nalah focused on pulling the beast away from the downed combatant.
Joseph’s eyes flicked to the Atmo, waging an internal battle on whether helping the insect would be better or worse for the situation as a whole. He didn’t want to lighten up their assault if it would just mean more injuries, but Cobalt could be in dire need for a patch job. It was hard to tell from where he was.
Cursing, he bolted from his spot, firing off one last round into the gaping maw before clipping the crossbow onto his armour and sliding on his knees in front of Cobalt, healroot hastily retrieved from his pocket.
He paused, sighing in relief when none of the armour bore more than deep gashes, the carapace underneath unblemished by the attack. Cobalt clicked lightly, dazed, but otherwise seeming unhurt. Unlearned in the physiology relevant, he ushered the Atmo to remain out of the fight for fear of concussion or something similar. They could look at the insect back at the base to be sure later.
“Joseph!”
His head spun around at both Jax and Nalah screaming his name, a massive clawed hand sweeping at him—the monster's approach unnoticed while he focused on Cobalt. Lacking a better option, he lunged forward towards the underside of the beast to dodge the swipe, crashing to his shoulder on the dirt below.
The creature raised a leg above Joseph, pounding the earth scant inches from his head as he rolled sideways. Ignoring the kicked up dirt, he brought his fist to the underside of the beast, flicking the release on his bracer.
Blood spouted from the newly formed wound, the blade breaking at the mechanism as the massive animal lurched in pain, Joseph rolling out of the way of another attempted trampling. He scrambled to his feet, feeling the wind of another strike narrowly missing him.
Yeah, that would probably kill him.
Luckily, the injuries renewed the desire to flee in the monstrosity, the group of attackers proving too dangerous to continue challenging. It stumbled away from them, sparing Cobalt from its panicked trudging. Jax and Nalah started to run towards him, worry evident in their eyes, but he barked for them to finish it, redirecting the two to keep the pressure going. He didn’t want to mention the pain in the arm from where the bracer hitched. It didn’t feel broken, and thus was irrelevant.
Pressure applied, the grey beast picked a random direction free of opponents to escape, ignorant of the waiting security. When it was too close for them to shoot into its mouth at a decent angle, they slung the bows over their shoulders and drew the swords they had been afforded, patiently waiting with the blades turned down.
It passed below them, the two Lilhuns dropping from the branches to put their full weight into the plunging blades. Both landed on the large target, one sword sinking deep into a shoulder, while the other managed to pierce one of its hip joints. The beast spun haphazardly to dislodge the ‘new’ threats, both security members kicking off and finding new trees to set up in.
Whatever damage was actually done, it had lost the use of an arm, and its gait shifted awkwardly as the blade lodged in its hip worked more harm with each shambling step.. Emboldened, Jax picked up the pace, struggling to position himself with the amount of metal he wore. Ducking another swipe of its claws, he saw his chance and swung, pivoting with his axe as a counter weight. For the third time, his axe blade found the wound in its leg, adding a sickening crunch as the bone snapped from the impact.
The creature swung wildly, forced to favour its two remaining good legs, and the only other leg that could still support at least some of its weight. It was unstable now, the hunched figure swaying while unmoving. Unable to run, it decided to go down with as many of them as it could.
Rose caught up with the attack, drawing attention from the comparatively squishy Nalah as the blond-furred female deflected a wayward swing with her shield. The once iron-plated ironwood now sporting little more than jagged scraps of metal atop its silver wooden structure, a series of deep gouges marring the surface. Two lunging thrusts with the pike bit flesh, drawing new blood from the beast.
Joseph loaded his crossbow, getting off two bolts, but not managing to keep it steady enough to hit anything of use, his arm faltering under the weight of the weapon. Cursing, he decided to flank the beast and try his luck with the other bracer. If nothing else, the force in which the blade deployed was enough to pierce the thick hide, and the others were doing a good job of distracting it.
The red armoured Atmo let loose a series of directed swings, the fifth severing an arm in motion, the flying appendage forcing Nalah to raise her shield to block the unorthodox projectile. The female was sent sprawling from the weight of the impact, but the beast was too busy voicing its agony to take advantage of it. Jax worked another two chops into the broad legs, but neither managed to incapacitate it any more, and the prolonged exertion was slowing his reflexes.
As if cued into his waning energy, the beast flung Jax with another strike, the hunter of the group sinking a bolt deep into the cavernous flesh of its mouth to prevent an attempt at following up.
Joseph roared, desperate to finish it off before the creature could do the same to his downed pack. He sprinted at the monster's back and slid underneath it with as much speed as he could muster. Throwing his fist into the passing undercarriage, he let the deployed blade leave a long gash in its wake.
The grey monster lost its ability to stand, torn tendons, blood loss, and inflicted injuries taking their toll. The Grand Hunter kicked off his knees to fling himself out of the way of the collapsing figure, grimacing as the remaining bracer proved unable to support the abuse he had put it through. He looked back at the beast, the flailing body failing to right itself as teeth did little more than gouge dirt, its back exposed. Rose approached, raising their blades together and plunging it through the body over and over until it stopped moving.
Exhausted, the Atmo dropped where it was, breathing heavily. Joseph’s instinct to yell their victory was delayed as he hurried over to Jax and Nalah to confirm he didn't need to bring back bad news. Nalah seemed fine, if a bit sore from hitting the dirt and rolling, while Jax just asked to lay down when he heard that everything was over. Cobalt came over to the group, the armour that had come off collected atop the carriage it had managed to loosely affix to its base.
It was light, a chuckle originating from the Human as he slumped to the ground against a tree, but soon the entire group was roaring with laughter as victory settled in their minds. The two security members helped the hunter begin disassembling the beast, their contribution to the fight leaving them with more energy than the rest. They hadn’t been slacking off, that much was certain. The number of arrows jammed into the maw of the thing would have guaranteed a few extra seconds of survival and chances to escape if one of them had been forcibly tossed into there, and it had caused enough pause for the rest of them to get in a few hits up close.
Joseph rested across from Jax and Nalah, letting his heart rate slow from the rapid pace it had been pinned to since the start of the conflict. His arm continued its protests, but from the amount of movement he still had, he guessed that he had just strained the elbow. A few days taking it easy should straighten that right up.
Once the active members were about half way through processing the creature for hide and meat, Cobalt approached him, a mimed request for assistance putting their armour back on being redirected to Nalah since he doubted he could lift the damn pieces without hurting himself at the moment. She obliged, getting the blue Atmo back in full attire, though it took a while.
Rose stood first, stopping over to allow the hunter to place collected bits and pieces onto the carriage before securing it with whatever they could make due. A security member gathered the moss-wolf corpses for a similar treatment. Waste not, want not, he supposed.
Rose ended up carrying most of their spoils. When he was about to ask why, he, Jax, and Nalah were dragged to Cobalt and hefted onto the carriage. A series of confused questions revealed that the rest wanted to head back before it started getting dark, and it was pretty obvious who was the most exhausted of them. Lacking the will or energy to argue it, he flopped back on the Atmo as the trees passed them by, Nalah resting her legs across him as her head sat on Jax’s lap. The black-furred male didn’t so much as smirk, so it was clear he had pushed himself too far to quip about the arrangement as he laid down.
“The next time you wish to exhaust me this much, Joseph,” the Head of Security started after a long while of silence, tiredness in his voice, “I would prefer it to involve my mate and a bed.”
The Human snorted, closing his eyes and enjoying the lack of walking as the surprisingly stable Atmo carried the three of them. “Fuck off, Jax.”
“Of course, Grand Hunter.”
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A/N: Patreon is fixed!... aka new one cuz problems with the last. Check it out to support the story, get AI character art every now and then, or even preview sections of chapters as i write them! (aka, before kieve gets to fix them :D)

I was five or six years old when I wore a suit for the first time. And I hated it. The collar felt too tight, and I kept running my finger around under it to try to loosen it up.
Just a clip-on tie. It would have been a simple matter to take it off and undo the top button of my shirt. But dad was in an unaccustomed suit of his own, and he didn’t, so I didn’t.
It was a formal occasion, you see. His mother had died, and the two of us were sitting up with her through the night.
An old tradition still practiced among us at that time. Heartening back to a much earlier time, when medical science wasn’t as advanced, and before embalming became a common practice. But still observed.
For three days and nights, someone would be in constant attendance upon the deceased.
This would take place in the parlor, or living room, of the home, rather than in a funeral parlor. It was a duty of close Family, or dear friends.
The person would be laid out in state, in the coffin they were to be buried in, with the lid open. And with them, someone or someone’s would sit and wait.
In the old days, this was done for good reason. A person, with the less exact medical knowledge of the time, would sometimes be mistakenly pronounced dead. Three days, before the advent of embalming, would be sufficient to ensure that they were, by advent of noticeable indications of the beginnings of decay. Also the origin of the tradition of strongly sweet-smelling flowers, as I understand it.
Of course, the person would sometimes revive, or sufficient time would have passed without indications of decay, and so would give notice that perhaps they weren’t gone, after all.
But when I was a youngster, a tradition that was still practiced, for tradition’s sake.
It was late at night, the house and all in it sleeping around us. Just the two of us, sitting in hard-backed wooden chairs. Not speaking. A small nightlight on to aid the pale moonlight coming through the window. Just enough to see by.
I’s stood and looked at her for a while earlier. Out of curiosity, mostly. Unlike Gram and Gramp, I’d had known her hardly at all. The one or two times I’d met her in the past, she’d been a cold, stern, unsmiling woman who hadn’t seemed to like us much. I would come to know in years yet to come that she’d never approved of Mother, though they were kin. Or at least, of her marriage to dad. And I guess that had applied to us children, as well. It had been the cause of a certain distance developing between her and dad, too, as time had passed.
My Grampa Wallace, her husband, had been dead for years before my time, so I knew him only from a couple of photographs. In them, he’d been as stern and unsmiling as she.
She didn’t look much different now, I thought, than on the rare occasion I’d seen her when she was still alive.
Death wasn’t really a mystery to even young children who had spent their early years as we had. We knew first-hand where the meat we ate came from, for instance. And we knew that all living things, including people, must someday die, as we eventually would ourselves. It was the natural order of things, and not a thing to be feared for itself, beyond the reticence of anything that lived to not continue to do so.
Granny Caroline had long lived out of state, had been brought back Home, upon her death, to be buried beside her husband.
The house she was laid out in was not the old family home, but that of Uncle Woodrow and Aunt Tate. It being not as distant, and easier to access for all those wishing to come pay their respects.
I loved that old house myself. We’d visited it many times when I was small, before we’d moved to the City. The thing I liked best about it was its location.
Uncle Woodrow had picked up the property itself for next to nothing years ago, and built the house for himself and Aunt Tate. It was just a small piece of ground, comparable in size to a City lot. A small fenced and gated front yard, and a back yard big enough for a little grass and a truck garden. On the edge of one of the small towns that were found here and there, off the state route.
Uncle Wood had been either a cheap or a broke bastard, or both. Or perhaps his part-Scotts heritage had made him literally unable to pass up such a deal.
The reason it had been so cheap was that no one else had wanted it. It sat at the very edge of the railroad right-of-way. You could fit three cars or trucks side-by-side between the front gate and the raised track bed, if you didn’t mind parking them close to each other; but no more.
And so, the problem was the coal trains. Those long caravans of heavily loaded hopper cars would rumble past with some frequency, so over-topped-off that chunks of coal would invariably fall off along their route.
And they would frequently pass at considerable speed. And so long that if you were caught at a crossing, you might as well shut your engine off and get comfortable. You were gonna be there for a little while.
And you didn’t want to get in the way of one. They didn’t stop for shit. They couldn’t. Not without half the width of the county to do it in.
The ground would shake as those things went by. And so would the house. As a sprat, I used to like to stand in the front room where Caroline now lay, listen to the glass in the windows rattle, and watch Aunt Tate’s curios and figurines dance on their shelves; waiting for one or two to fall off. But none ever did. They were wide shelves.
Wood and Tate never seemed to pay it any mind. You can get used to anything, I guess.
Caroline had been late getting Home, in the first place. Arrangements had been made for her to be flown Home. Lost luggage had long been an issue in the airline industry, of course. But this time they did one better - they lost Caroline.
She was located eventually, of course, and returned to where she was supposed to be. A woman who’d never been out of the Continental United States in her life had finally made it to Hawaii.
So dad and I sat in the quiet, dark room, in the silent, dark house, in our uncomfortable, stiff suits, and kept her company throughout the night.

John was bored one night and decided to get to work on something. He didn't know what exactly to do, so he decided to write a story since writing was one of his hobbies. However, John was so bored that he didn't even know what to write about, so that's when he gave up and went right back to bed staring at his vinyl record copy of The Best of Bread resting on his turntable. He was too lazy to at least make an attempt to drop the needle on the record and listen to some music. Instead, he just stared at the ceiling desperately wanting to do something great, but lacking the energy and motivation to do so; he needed some kind of incentive... John suddenly jolted not realizing that he had dosed off, so he decided to call it a night and close his eyes for good till morning. It was 12:37am...
Twisting, turning, and mumbling, John finally woke up not feeling too well, but it was only 2:00am. He stumbled to the bathroom like a blind drunk man to pee and wash his face. He was cold and shivering like a worried puppy trying to shake off the unpleasant dream that he woke from. After he washes his hands, he stares at himself in the mirror recalling the dream he just had...
A white middle aged man was mowing a lawn. The lawn looked like a small version of John's childhood home in Jonesborough Tennessee. The man was wearing a beige straw hat and had a smirk on his face while constantly wiping his sweat. There was no one else around, just the man mowing the lawn. There was something cold and unwelcoming about the lawn mowing man's presence. He never made eye contact with John, yet John felt as though he was looking at him. "But how?" John whispered to himself... The more John wondered that question to himself, the more hostile the presence of the lawnmowing man became. Still, the man never batted an eye at John, but gave the feeling as though he knew everything about John and was watching him like a Hawk... The lawn mowing man's smirk grew larger, more sweat began to pour from his face as he violently swatted his hands across his sunburnt forehead... Suddenly the ambience became louder and louder which resembled a chaotic orchestral crescendo and...
John suddenly snaps back to reality while still gazing at himself in the mirror; he smirks and tries to laugh the dream away, but there was just something so unsettling about the dream that words just couldn't describe. John desperately wanted to forget about the dream and was too scared to go back to bed fearing that the dream may reappear. He gets back in bed and stares at the ceiling once again but accidentally doses off...
John finally sleeps well until morning when he wakes up to briefly eat some cereal and then gets back in bed realizing he doesn't work on Saturdays... It was dark and raining, but no thunder or lighting, just rain. John hears the sound of a lawnmower revving. It comes in and out of audible range. He rolls out of bed like lazy lion and peeks out of the window only to see the lawnmowing man once again. This time however, the lawnmowing man waves with a normal looking smile on his face while politely hollering, "Hi John! How are ya?"
John suddenly springs upward on his bed like a petrified deer unable to move and process what's going on! "Oh crap, it's 2:00pm!" John says to himself feeling like the end of the world is at hand. John's mind slowly starts to wake up as he begins to relax remembering that he doesn't work on Saturdays. But nothing seemed to be able to ease him away from that dreadful dream. Nothing he did could shake that feeling off, it was almost as though the dream really did happen in some unearthly dimension or realm that the human spirit goes to while slumbering... But there it was again, the sound of the lawnmower slowly going in and out of audible range... John chuckles realizing that the active lawnmowing team outside was the reason he dreamed of a lawnmower in his dream... But what about the first dream? he thought to himself...
It was a beautiful sunny day and John wanted to take advantage of the day while also hoping to forget about the unpleasant dream he had. He ate a quick meal and dressed himself for an adventure to the grocery store. He had to pee before leaving, so he went to the bathroom to take care of business... While washing his hands, he stares at himself in the mirror and chuckles again trying to convince himself that it was just a normal dream. "It was literally just a dream about a man mowing the lawn, I mean how is that scary?" he said. "I mean, maybe I was feeling a little sick and that's why such a normal dream felt so terrifying. Oh well, it's normal. Let's go get some groceries and ice cream so that I can focus on that story I want to try to write this time tonight!"
John hits the road in his silver 2012 Mustang leaving nothing but dust and bad bad dreams behind. As he's driving through a suburban area, he notices a man in a beige straw hat mowing their lawn... John chuckles and says, "Haha, see? Totally normal!" John finally arrives at the local grocery store... John parks his Mustang when the sky suddenly turns grey as rush of pale clouds dim the skies. The grocery store looked rather ghostly and depressing. There were many old looking cars that resembled a 2002 Toyota Camry, some with rusting canopies and dirty hubcaps. Out in the distance of the lot, there was a lawnmowing team truck branded with a decal that read Straw Hat Lawncare...
John made his way into the the grocery store and felt a bitter welcome from everyone inside. Nobody glanced at John. Everyone in the store looked like depressed fish passing by each other. There was a Hispanic family talking Spanish. The father was wearing a green jersey and the mother was sporting a pink sweater with grey sweatpants. Their kids were following along while randomly touching items. John was Hispanic as well, but felt no connection around this family. That's when John started to notice that nobody made eye contact with him, even when he said "excuse me" to reach for something. Not the employees, not the local sheriff, not the old lady looking at flowers, nobody... Not that John wanted to be looked at or noticed, but there was something odd about this, almost as if everybody was purposefully told not to make any kind of contact with him. It was a feeling that was hard to explain.
John quickly grabs some groceries to rush over to checkout to test if the cashier would at least say hello or something. But to John's disappointment, the cashier did not even greet John when he set his items down on the checkout countertop. The conveyor belt squeaks every time it moves; it's movement seems so lifeless, just like the cashier... Still, no eye contact whatsoever, not even if he tried to make conversation. The cashier just looked down the whole time. John started to panic inside, something just didn't feel right. It's not all in my head! John thought to himself... John grabs his groceries and heads for the exit when he notices a dirty looking man wearing beige straw hat smoking a cigarette. This man happened to be the only person that glanced at John, but it wasn't a pleasant glance. The man had a grim look on his face... John started to get the feeling that everybody was on to him, and that even the people who were ignoring him were actually very aware of his presence.
John was a good guy, not a saint, but a good-hearted person. He's never caused any harm to anyone and has always been a respectful gentlemen. But why? Why does it feel like these people hate me for no reason? John thought to himself again. Although John was physically being ignored, he got the feeling that everybody was actually looking at him... John quickly paces towards his Mustang. His heart throbbing, muscles tightening, jaw clenching, head aching; John starts his car and glances around. He looks out his right window and sees the dull grocery store. He looks straight ahead and sees the lawnmowing team truck. He looks to his left and sees a man with a beige straw hat right next to the window. The man knocks looking like he was begging for money. John being good hearted lowers the window but the man speaks before John could do anything, "Your back tire is flat!" The man kept repeating the same phrase over and over as if having a flat tire was bad luck. The man reeked of whiskey and tabaco, he had no front teeth and looked like he was wired on methamphetamine or something. "Come on out here and look!" the man exclaimed. "That tire's lookin bad man, you gotta get that fixed. You got one of them spares?" "Yeah, I got a spare." John said. "I got this, don't worry about me." "OF COURSE I'm gon worry bout you brother, that's what we do round here!"
The man starts telling a story about his brother Phil who had a flat tire because he was being shot at by some thugs. The man's story seems to go on forever and John starts to tune out. John glances out in the distance over the man's shoulder; the man's voice begins to get muddled as John focuses on someone getting out of the lawnmowing team truck in the distance. His heart starts to race when he sees another man with a beige straw hat stepping out of the car, except this time, John felt a very hostile vibration. The man in the distance puffed a cloud of smoke when he quickly glanced towards John's way with an evil look on his face... John looks behind and sees another man with a beige straw hat just like the one from his dream. Oddly enough, this man waved and shouted, "Hello! Need some help?"
John's heart started to pound and he almost felt like fainting. Maybe it's just my anxiety. "I've got to go!" John told the whiskey breathed man and cranked on his Mustang. He peeled out of the parking lot like a rabbit fearing for it's life. He could still hear the whiskey breathed man crying, "Hey man! I just wanted to help!" The whiskey breathed man kept crying, "I just wanted to help man! I JUST WANTED TO HELP!!" Tears rolling down his face, down his now sad face, "I just wanted to help you DOOD!! Why? WHY this gotta happen to me man? WHY! Why man? Come on! I JUST WANTED TO HELP!! I just wanted to help! Ahh!! AHHH!!!"
John finally arrived back home and hurried out of his car into his house... Suddenly everything was quiet... Too quiet... Finally, peace. I just have to rest and forget about that dream I had. It's ok, that whiskey breathed man was just really high on meth, he didn't hurt me. I was just really freaked out, that's all. I hope that man will be alright. I feel kind of bad, I didn't want to leave him there all alone. He looked like he was a hurting man, could've used a little company. No, what am I thinking? He was just high. Why should I trust some random meth-head like that? Awe, he's alright. He's cool... I'm tired now, I'm just going to relax and see if I can start that story! Yeah, that'll cheer me up! It's just life, weird stuff happens! But what about... No, forget it... But why was I seeing men with beige straw hats all day like the man in my dream? Nah, I'm overthinking, it was just a hot sunny day today, duh... But what about all of those grim looking people at the store? I felt like they were on to me, like they were all in on it. Oh crap! Maybe they know about my dream! No way, that's not possible... But what if dreams really are connected to real-life? I mean, it's part of life after all... Nah, that's too weird, it's all in my head...
Suddenly, the sound of a 4-stroke engine starts revving... Grass? At this time? It's late evening. John crawls over to his window and sees a man in a beige straw hat cutting the neighbors lawn... "Ahh!!" John jolts upwards biting his nails. He crawls back to his bed and tries to once again justify what's happening... Suddenly, he smells cigarette smoke. "What's that smell?" he says... He slowly glances at a dirty light blue uniform and before he could make out what it is, a raspy voice 'declares, "WE"RE WATCHING YOU..." Another voice says, "WE'RE LOOKING AT YOU, HAPPY NOW?" Another voice answers that one, "LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO DALE JERK! AH HAHA!" "YEAH, YOU'RE SO MEAN FOR LEAVING HIM BEHIND!" "DALE ERA UN BUEN HOMBRE..." Said a Spanish voice...
John slowly looked up and saw an extremely pale faced version of the cashier from the grocery store and still not making eye contact, but three inches away from John saying, "Hi honey, how are ya?" and then repeats the phrase over again, "I SAID HOW ARE YA HONEY? WHAT, CAT GOTCHA TONGUE? WELL I'LL FEED IT TO MUH CATS WHEN I GET HOME THEN! BET CHU DON'T HAVE THE DECENCY TO HELP OUT DALE WITH A LITTLE BIT OF FOOD, DO YA?" She kept shouting at John three inches away while still not making eye contact. "SO? HOW YA DOING HONEY? FIND EVERYTHING YA NEED? HAHAHAHA! YOU SU................
John wakes up again... It's 2:00am. Everything is quiet. Desperately trying to forget the bad dreams and the strange day at the grocery store, he finally decides to drop the needle on the Best of Bread vinyl record. The music is soothing. He begins to drift into slumber once again.
John sleeps in and wakes up at 2:00pm on Sunday, he doesn't work on Sunday's either. John realizes he never got the groceries that he actually needed, so he makes his way to the grocery store once again. on another sunny day. He pulls into the parking lot, but this time they sky stays sunny and blue. The lawn mowing team truck is gone. John makes his way inside the grocery store. This time, a jolly old man greets him as he walks in. "How are you doing young man?" Says the old man. "Fine, thank you." John replies. Today, everybody was acknowledging John and making him feel welcome. Lots of smiles and hellos. There was even another Hispanic family who smiled at John while crossing paths. Even the children seemed happy. Hmm, too suspicious. It's almost like they're watching me and know what happened yesterday.
John grabbed all the items he needed and headed for checkout. He approached the counter and was greeted by the same cashier from last time. This time she actually speaks to John... "Hey honey, how are ya?" Says the cashier with a cute smile. "Great, how are you? John replies. "Oh honey, I had such a busy day yesterday! First I had to go see my doctor because of my back pain, then my car ran out of gas and I had to tell my hubby to help me out. Then he starts going off on me about how these lawn mowing guys woke him up at 5 in the mornin' and I told him, honey, they just doin' they job. Oh honey, today is much better, it's a beautiful day and my back feels better." Something about this doesn't seem right... She knows... She knows and she's playing around with me... Everybody is... No, I'm just being paranoid. Forget it, today is a great day!
John makes his way back to his mustang with a kart full of groceries... "HEY DOOD!!" suddenly screams the whiskey breathed man from behind. "Whoa man, you scared me!" Says John. "Oh I'm sorry man, didn't mean to startle ya.. Hey, I noticed you got a spare tire now. Good job buddy! Hey listen man, I'm feeling happy today a.. a.. and I just want to give you my hat!" John looks at the beige straw hat... "Are you sure?" John asks. "Yeah man, go on and take it, it's time I let go of somethings in life. I'm trying to start a new life man and stay away from theses drugs out here man. You go on an take it, it has good luck man!" John accepts and takes the hat. The man smiles. John smiles. "Hey I'll see ya later DOOD!"
It's 12:37am and John is staring at the beige straw hat that the whiskey breathed man gave him... John lugged out his vintage 1970's typewriter and was finally in the mood to write. He knew what he wanted to start with, but just right before he was about to type the letter L with his ring finger, the sound of a 4-stroke engine starts revving...
​
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WERE LOOKING AT YOU. WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE. HOW YA DOING HONEY?

TW: SA and Physical Ab*se Curse Words
I was 3. Tandang-tanda ko pa lahat ng nangyari kasi kahit kailan, hindi ko 'to malilimutan. Nasa second floor ako ng bahay namin (nakikitira kami sa Lolo and Lola) nandoon din nakatira ang mentally ill namin na Tito, ang kaniyang anak, at ang maunawain niyang asawa.
Nasa second floor ako no'n tapos ang lakas-lakas ng TV. I yelled at my younger cousin to lower the volume. He didn't listen. I yelled again. He still wasn't listening. I was a kid and got really mad. I went downstairs and plan to get the remote to lower down the volume of the TV.
'Yong uncle ko, nagpupunas ng lamesa (katabi lang nung mesa 'yong TV)
So ayon na nga, ayaw niya (nung cousin ko) na ibigay 'yong remote. Nag-aaway kami, to the point na nagkakasakitan na.
My uncle has a history of physical abuse. Alam ko 'yan. The way he would get checked up every 1-2 months. The way we would call the police and threaten him but we would never really put him to jail. The way we would lock the door and tie it with "pisi" which is a thick rope, the way my grandmother would curse him while he was locked in the room, the way I sent my mom (in another country with my dad) crying pictures of me and delete it afterward because my grandmother would guilt-trip me that our family is going to be broken because of me, when he starts to threaten them (his wife and his mom) and us (older sister, me, and cousin) would go upstairs and cry— it all made sense to me.
Back to the story, galit na 'yong pinsan ko. He "accidentally" fell from the sofa. I knew damn well that I NEVER pushed him. He cried out loud and screamed for his dad.
All I can remember was my uncle saying "Ano? Sinaktan ka ng pinsan mo?" then he eagerly grabbed my shoulder, put me to the edge of the sofa and gave me a hard punch on the stomach.
Crazy how naaalala ko pa rin 'yong sakit kahit na ang tagal-tagal na no'n. Pero di ako nag-sumbong. He threatened me in some way that manipulated me into thinking that I shouldn't say a word about it.
When I was in 2nd Grade, after coming home from school, I sat down on our sofa for my Lola to brush my hair. It was our routine for her to brush my hair every day. I can remember my uncle walking back and forth. He looked furious, bothered, and mad. He walked to my grandma and said "Bakit hindi ako nagta-trabaho?" (He couldn't because of his illness that makes him have seizure every time)
I knew it. It was the time for me to run upstairs. My older sister was already upstairs at that time and I ran to the same room where she was at and started to cry. I didn't know what was going to happen. My younger cousin also came from school and was immediately sent upstairs.
We were both shaking in fear. Wala kaming magawa. The next thing we knew, we were called downstairs to eat.
He was locked in his room, grabe 'yong pagkatali ng pisi sa doorknob. We were instructed to just eat normally.
My grandma was cursing him— "Puta, puta, puta!"
I remember asking "what's put- oh." That's when I realized cursing is a way of letting out your emotions.
Part 2, soon. I just wish my tears would stop forming so I can write properly.

Long time lurker, first time poster. Also using a throwaway.
Background: I (32f) have been married to my husband (35m) for nearly nine years. We have 3 children (5, 3, 1) and were surprised with another pregnancy earlier this year (found out the day after his vasectomy). My MIL is intrusive and a classic narcissist, to me at least. She’s called me by my husband’s ex’s name (just a regular college girlfriend, they were broken up years before I came along), interrupted our first dance, guilt tripped my husband for everything under the sun, and announced the birth of our child. I’ll add that my parents were largely absent or addicted to some substance so my gauge for normalcy could be a bit off but … I don’t think those things are normal.
The issue: We had to make a trip to our home state (we live extremely far away now, like 12hour flight far) for a funeral. We hadn’t told anyone we were expecting and really hadn’t planned to do so. I’m well into my second trimester and hiding it isn’t really an option. The IL call my husband asking to meet up so they can see the grandchildren. When they arrive, my husband sits them down and tells them we’re expecting and we’re very excited but we also want to keep the news to ourselves for a while longer so to please not post it on SM. A huge argument ensues with my IL claiming he’s bringing up old news, she (MIL) can post whatever she likes and that she will not be controlled. Both parents get up and walk out.
Over the course of 4-5 days, they bicker almost incessantly. Fighting on the phone. Arguing over text. It was A LOT. They (IL) both said some pretty hurtful things about me and my family - I’m controlling, no wonder my parents are distant, etc. Just mean, inaccurate things about me.
On the 5th day of arguing (all with my husband, I hadn’t engaged beyond our initial meeting), my MIL shows up to where we’re staying. We’re not there so she comes to the home of my loved one who had died. She proceeds to make a huge scene - screaming, crying, literally throwing herself on the floor. She refuses to leave so we gather the children and leave instead. She follows us to the car and starts saying crazy stuff like, “Don’t you wanna hit me” and “Don’t you just wanna run me over right now”. Keep in mind, my mother is an addict, but I’ve never seen an adult act this way.
She really rattled me. Showing up like that and acting that way made me think she was pretty unstable. Then she showed back up to our “home” away from home. After that, I blocked her number, on SM, and removed her from our child photo app (we post highlights but not daily activities to SM). My husband fully supports my decision but his family seems to be kind of pissed. There are more details, of course and I’d be happy to provide more context if necessary.
AITA for possibly overreacting to my MIL?

There was a nightclub near where I used to live where the general vibe was 'Jersey Shore but somehow worse', the music was exclusively Pitbull's entire discography, "Get Low" and various remixes of Petey Pablo's "Freek A Leek", all spun by a DJ who was clearly too high to function. The targeted clientele ranged from CEOs to Jersey Shore types to college kids to people who resembled the entire cast of Trailer Park Boys, all packed in like sardines. Most people hated it but to me it was paradise.
Is there anything like that around here? I remember going to a club with a similar vibe on Bourbon St in 2019 where the theme of the club was that everything was green, but I haven't been able to find that club since then.

Nalaman ko lately na dismayadong dismayado pala sila mama at papa sakin kasi hindi daw ako nagbibigay pera sa kanila galing sahod ko. Kesyo ang "malas" daw nila sa anak nila, minalas silang mag-asawa kasi ang selfish ko daw na anak.
Pareho pa sila may trabaho so in short sobrang stable naman ng family namin. Pero syempre alam ko naman yung gastusin sa bahay di rin biro, tapos yung kapatid ko graduating palang this year may iilan na bayarin pa. May sarili kaming bahay, comfortable naman pero hindi kami ganun kayaman sakto sakto lang. Ngayon naiinis pala sila kasi never daw ako nag bigay galing sahod ko, tapos akala pa nila malaki kinikita ko eh first job ko palang toh. Hindi daw ako magbibigay if hindi pa pipilitin tapos lahat naman daw ng hinihingi ko nung nag-aaral pa binibigay nila? Natawa nalang ako.
Nung sinabi nila sakin na ako na magbayad ng internet bill namin, sabi ko sure okay lang kasi ako naman madalas gumagamit dahil work from home. Hindi nila ako pinilit dun, pati pagbayad ng tuition ng kapatid ko willingly ko binigay at hindi sila nagpumilit. So ano yung kailangan pa daw pilitin para magbigay? Never din ako nanghingi sa kanila ng para sa sarili ko habang nag-aaral pa, kapag wala din kami pasok wala kami allowances syempre pero yung mga allowance na yun iniipon ko nalang palagi para if may need bayaran ako na nakakapag-bayad. Nanghihingi lang naman ako sa kanila tuwing may kailangan talaga na expenses dati tulad ng fee sa school, graduation fee, ojt fee, or if need magbayad ng halaga na hindi ko naman kaya pag-ipunan sa 200 a day allowance. Tapos banat pa na binibigay nila lahat ng hinihingi ko dati parang wala daw ako utang na loob? Hindi ba obligasyon niyo as magulang yung pag-aaral namin? Utang pala yon.
Kaya din naman hindi ako nagbibigay muna kasi hindi pa ako regular sa trabaho, malay ko ba if matatanggap ako kaya ginusto ko muna ipunin yung sahod ko before ako makapag bigay sa kanila ng maayos palagi. Gusto ko lang din mag-ipon muna para sa sarili ko kasi syempre ngayon lang ako nakapagtrabaho, ngayon lang ako nagka-pera na araw araw ko pa iniiyakan trabaho ko. Ako naman nagbabayad ng internet sa bahay at tuition ng kapatid ko, so akala ko okay na sa kanila yun pero hindi pala? Ni kausap nga sakin ng maayos wala, hindi sila nagsasabi na gusto pala nila magcontribute na agad ako sa bahay. Akala ko pa naman sila yung type na sige sayo sahod mo kasi ikaw naman naghirap diyan, ni "thank you" nga sa mga regalo ko sa kanila wala eh. Willing naman ako magbigay kung need nila, naisip ko din na doble doble naman sahod nila sa sinasahod ko kaya naisip ko kaya hindi nila ako kinakausap about sa house expenses kasi "sapat" naman or kaya pa nila.
Tapos ngayon sinasabihan ka ang selfish mo, malas sila sayo, kesyo wala ka utang na loob. Sana hindi nalang ako nagmamagandang loob na nireregaluhan sila o binibigyan ng kahit maliliit na bagay na gusto nila. Hirap na nga ako mag-ipon kasi panay hingi din sila kung ano ano binibili, tapos ako pa 'tong madamot? Ang baba na nga ng sahod ko, ginawa na akong wallet hindi parin pala sapat.

TLDR: Be liberal but pick a progressive running mate lmao to get exactly 306-232.
VP: Karen Bass (worst option at start, but that does mean it makes it extremely hard to get good RNG on states you don't want to win like OH, FL, but still leaves you with good room on the states you must win like PA, AZ, and NV)
Visits: Split between WI, PA & GA, you should try to get Georgia +2 at end, PA by like +5 or 6, and WI by +10
Difficulty: Normal
Q1: We're going to build back better than ever before. I'm going to work for every American, repairing our critical infrastructure at home and our standing in the world.
Q2: We're going to defeat COVID and get America working again. I'm going to push for this day and night from the moment I step into the White House.
Q3: I should be out there talking to the American people. That doesn't mean we do rallies with 10 thousand people, but we can't afford to just sit around in our basement for the next five months.
Q4: Who authorized this meeting? Did I authorize this meeting? We're telling Bernie Sanders that he'd better fall in line. We have an election to win.
Q5: I'm not going to spend the 2020 campaign focusing on 2019 issues. We need to talk about our plans to fight this COVID-19 epidemic and rebuild the economy.
Q6: I talked with a lot of people before I made my decision, and Karen Bass stood out as someone with the judgment and experience to work with me in the White House.
Q7: I'm proud of my son. He's overcome a lot to find success in life. This campaign is about the American people and their struggles and opportunities. I'm not going to spend my time talking about Trump and Ukraine.
Q8: Being a police officer is one of the hardest jobs there is, but they got it very wrong here. I have every confidence that Hennepin County will take the appropriate action against the officers involved in this case.
Q9: We need to put $2000 in the hands of every American, and we need to put forward a truly substantial relief package for our struggling small businesses and job creators.
Q10: Two of my old friends, Jimmy Carter and James Baker, came out with a great study on election integrity a few years ago, and it's time we put their recommendations into action. I think this would represent a reasonable compromise between making it easy to vote, while ensuring our elections are secure from fraud.
Q11: I'm proposing a pretty big bill, you might have noticed, around $2 trillion to rebuild our roads, develop mass transit and green energy, and repair critical human infrastructure needs as well. We must move forward as a country.
Q12: We're not going to have a national lockdown. That's just fear-mongering from the Republicans to distract from how they've mishandled the pandemic. This is something each locality can decide for themselves, based on local conditions.
Q13: The Court has had nine justices since 1869, and any attempt to change that is sure to destroy the Court's legitimacy even further. We must look at other kinds of reform.
Q14: We can sit around all day worrying about tactics, but the fact of the matter is, we need to win elections. If Democrats did a better job of appealing to all Americans, we wouldn't be in this predicament right now.
Q15: It's the debate, I don't care enough to look for best RNG lmao.
Q16: Jill and I are praying for a full and speedy recovery for President Trump. As someone who has dealt with tragedy, you never want to see this kind of thing happen to anyone.
Q17: We're going to be fair, but we're going to be tough. I've always supported the rule of law in my career, for decades now, regardless of what some right-wing websites try to say about me.
Q18: People know all about Donald Trump and the dozens of scandals that have unfolded around him. I think we're better off talking about solutions to the COVID-19 crisis and the economy.
Q19: The right-wing media wants to present me as some kind of a gun-grabber, when that couldn't be further from the truth. My only crime is not parroting the NRA's every last word on this issue.
Q20: These attacks are wrong and they should prosecuted to the full extent of the law. At the same time, we need more answers from China. Millions of lives and trillions of dollars have been lost, yet they continue to block any serious investigation into the origins of this virus.
Q21: We've got a small troop presence in Afghanistan right now, and we should probably keep it that way. I'm confident that country will continue to gradually stabilize over time, with a consistent but minimal investment from the United States.
Q22: Our relationship with China, depends on China. If they show a greater willingness to cooperate, then we can rebuild our relationship from the damage that Trump inflicted. If they continue to act in a hostile manner, we'll have to react accordingly.
Q23: If Trump thought he was going to win this election, he wouldn't be saying these kinds of things. I'm confident that we're going to win, and that the American people will have full faith in the outcome this year.
Q24: This is a fake laptop. End of story. I don't know how it got passed around, but you have to strongly suspect Russian intelligence or other nefarious actors here.
Q25: I want us to focus on Pennsylvania, with maybe a quick stop over the border in Ohio.

Prestige Serenity Shores Apartments in Bangalore is an exceptional residential project that offers a luxurious and serene living experience. Situated in the heart of Bangalore, this development by Prestige Group is known for its impeccable design, top-notch amenities, and excellent location. In this article, we will explore the various aspects that make Prestige Serenity Shores Apartments the best choice for luxury living in Bangalore.
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I'll try to keep this fairly short, but this is something that has been weighing on me pretty heavily the past few days. A little backstory: I didn't grow up in an evangelical household by any means. My parents were more culturally Christian, and I would even put my dad as being somewhat skeptical. I went to Sunday school at the local Methodist church with my parents until I was around 6 or 7 and then I didn't start going to church again (other than occasional hardcore shows at churches) until the end of my senior year in high school, when I was invited by a girl I liked to come to a local youth group and made the decision to become a Christian. Being a musician, I almost immediately got involved playing guitar at various churches over the years. Despite this, I definitely had points I disagreed with the mainstream Evangelical church with; specifically regarding LGBTQ issues and the right to abortion. As I'm sure is the case with many in here, the 2016 election was a big catalyst for my own deconstruction.
Fast forward to the past year or so. I had still been serving and playing guitar at a local church most Sundays out of the year, in addition to working full time and running a home studio on the side. Around a year ago, I joined another hardcore band which has started playing shows fairly regularly and going on small weekend runs every few months or so. For the first time in years, I had to greatly scale back my availability at church. This started coming to a head a few weeks ago in regards to a Men's conference members of our church were attending. One night at rehearsal the worship leader at my church asked me if I was going to which I told him no since it was the one weekend in May that I didn't already have a show or a client in the studio. He started getting aggressive with me about how he told me about this event months in advance and I needed to be there because it was going to be life-changing for me. I'm by no means the most masculine man and I don't like being surrounded by people I don't really know, so spending a few days surrounded by hundreds of macho men sounded like an absolutely miserable experience. He brought it up again and, to his frustration, I again told him no. Fast forward a few weeks and I was telling another musician at rehearsal about the run of shows my band had booked for this summer. The worship leader pulled me aside and asked me if I had anyone in my life could tell me I was doing too much, to which I told him yes. He then proceeded to tell me that, in his words, I was "focusing on the wrong priorities in life" by playing shows with this band. His demeanor and aggression definitely struck me as off-putting.
The Monday before last, my entire friend group was left in a state of shock after our bassist had been found dead in his apartment. This was somebody who my wife and I had been close friends with for over a decade now, especially after performing with hin over the past year. I even took this past week off from serving just to have a chance to deal with the grief and attend funeral services. Despite sharing about his passing on various social media platforms and notating in Planning Center that I needed this past weekend off to deal with grief, not a single member of leadership at a church that my wife and I have been serving at almost every weekend for just under 7 years now reached out to talk to us or even to check up on is. Honestly, I'm at a loss currently. I'm back on the schedule this Sunday; but I just have no desire to serve.
Sorry for the long post. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Would it be best for me to take some time away from church?
Thank you!

Hi. I was born and raised in New Jersey. I have a degree in education. I was a high school mathematics teacher and also a part time college professor. Since then I have moved to Florida and became a home owner that transition into aviation as a career. Currently working from home as an air traffic controller. This shift started when I had free time to study during the pandemic.
I like going to the beach. But unfortunately as a teacher you often stumble upon students and it is very weird and inappropriate to be seen in non professional clothing. I’ve been trying to stop drinking beer. I have a problem with drinking it as a beverage all the time. But now I limit myself to 1-2 cans a day. Now it’s just a nice refresher for when I’m at the beach. Also make sure you clean after yourself and keep the beach clean.
Im married. I don’t have any kids. I can’t actually have kids due to some issues on my end. We are trying though through other methods. Been married for 9 years. I nerd and geek out over mathematics and anything with numbers. Not so much a literature person but considering im trying to make friends, hopefully if I get messages they will be addressing everything that I shared in this post. Let’s have an actual conversation.

I’ll post the MRI report in the comments. Which is about all the information we have….
My daughter who just turned 8 was complaining of extreme motion sickness in the car and feeling vertigo like symptoms when lying in bed. Approximately 4 months ago…. This brought us to her paediatrician who gave us a nasal spray to clear her sinuses in the short term and ordered a battery of tests. One of which was an MRI. Her symptoms cleared almost entirely with in a week of using nasal spray. In hind sight the lingering symptoms which sounded benign at the time as kids can be kids were actually continuing symptoms of this encephelocele.
We live in Canada and unfortunately our medical system comes with a waiting period. The MRI took 4 months to happen. We got the results 3 weeks ago and have been trying to understand whats happening since. We have spoken to a neurologist (but shes never seen a patient with this) who has explained what it is and how we need to proceed and look for seizures and such. Until tonight we had not had anything that raised concern.
On Saturday night my daughter had food poisoning and was vomiting a few times through the night. Super lethargic on Sunday (putting it to lack of sleep on Friday because she had a sleep over and Saturday from the vomiting). Monday was at home (PA day) better spirits but still feeling queazy and not much appetite. Tuesday came home from school not feeling well halfway through the day. Good spirits but still queazy. It was their school fair Tuesday night so she wanted to go. She ran around with friends for an hour and then didn’t feel well again and wanted to go home. Lays down with Mom and eventually feels better. Now she has noticed that when shes vertical she feels queazy but when lying down its goes away.
Today went to school. No issues and had a good day. Said she still felt a bit off but it wasn’t bad. When she was reading to me tonight she stopped and told me that shes been having these episodes where she “steps out” and then feels dizzy. I questioned her on this and was told that its a second or two long and she just stares at her page. I didn’t even notice that it happened as I assumed she was sounding out a word. She said this has been happening for a couple days now.
We will be taking her back in to the doctor in the morning to seek seizure medication to prevent anything else from progressing hopefully.
We have been given a date to meet with the neurosurgeon in September. Yay Canada. Exploring other avenues of getting this addressed faster.
What we cant find is more information. We have found very few case studies and all of them are just recognizing how rare it is and how to diagnose it from MRI. Nowhere can we find what the surgery is or even what it looks like, How this will affect her for her life, what risks the surgery poses, NOTHING. Incredibly frustrating to be in the dark on this and having to wait months to get answers.
This is incredibly rare from what we can see but I’m hoping someone here can shed some light.

i feel like every single day the military has ruined something for me this year. i’ll try to leave out all the petty little details and small stuff but at the start of the year, we moved to a new area and my husband was supposed to be gone for two weeks and it turned into months. they finally came home and it turns out for some reason we had been sent to a base two hours from the one he is actually working at, so now he is never home, is miserable from his long commute, and i just feel like there is no room for our marriage with how much time the military is taking from him. even when he is home he is so burnt out and tired. i had to take a huge step back in my career when we moved and i’ve been unemployed for half the year just losing my mind bored and wanting to work on our financial goals. we’re waiting to start our family for a few years until he goes on shore duty and i’m pretty bitter that we have to either sacrifice his chance to be around for his only child’s early moments and my chance to have help or put our lives on hold for years.
i’ve been feeling so useless and depressed this year just being lonely with the move, lonely without my husband, unfulfilled with no job. it feels like my life is just an accessory to my husbands life since i have nothing going on besides supporting him, and his life is just his military career! he doesn’t try to make me feel that way and he’s going through his own hard time emotionally but it just makes it so much harder because im doing nothing so i feel like my own stress is less valid and i feel like i can’t burden him with my feelings when he honestly is going through so much worse. i have an appt with a counselor coming up but i just feel SO much more angst than that.
today he had a concerning injury at work but he’s two hours away and on duty so there was nothing i can do but say good night and stress about it until tomorrow evening when i hear from him again. there’s just no other job where your spouse couldn’t immediately come pick you up with an injury like that.
with how badly we are both feeling lately it just feels like the military is taking our entire fucking lives. i don’t get how they can ask so much of him and give him so little in return. and me, too. i feel like i suffer so much because of his job and the benefits we’re given to cope with that are a weak consolation prize.
i guess i don’t have a point to this post but i’ve just been keeping so many bad feelings inside and feel especially done tonight since i’m worried sick about this injury. thanks for listening.

The "Great Covid Work At Home Experiment" has developed an epidemic of"Corporate Credo" that takes skilled labor and spreads it out in a "Janitor On The Broom" Outsourcing model... The level of inefficiency that is created by this model dwarfs the Mickey Mouse Math calculations that are provided by the powers that be...
This is happening in extremely large numbers as I write this diatribe and I think that we need to start the conversation... If we outsource all remaining "on shore" technical jobs, what do "we" have left to power the service industry?
My apologies in advance for all the quotes...
Update: If you do not want to post publicly, please DM me with your situation...
AMERICAN COMPANIES are going overboard to avoid reporting the numbers but they are staggering... Please anonymously report your company or industry and your figures....
Concerned Citizen...

Today's additions are:

• KNOWER - LIFE (Tags: pop, rock, best album ever, dubstep, electronic, funk, future, horse, house, jazz, maximum funk, next level groove, searing, Los Angeles) [Independent]
  
• KNOWER - KNOWER FOREVER (Tags: pop, dubstep, electronic, funk, house, jazz, Los Angeles) [Independent]
  
• Changing Tides - Convergence (Tags: deathcore, metal, metalcore, Tilburg) [Independent]
  
• Einar Solberg - 16 (Tags: Pop, Rock) [InsideOutMusic]
  
• Mary Ancheta Quartet - Level Up EP - Digital (Tags: jazz, blues, electrofunk, fusion jazz, instrumentals, soul-jazz, Vancouver) [Independent]
  
• Joshua Jaswon Octet - Polar Waters (Tags: aarón castrillo, andrej ugoljew, anna serierse, jan kaiser, jazz, johannes mann, joshua jaswon, joshua jaswon octet, marc doffey, polar waters, Berlin) [Independent]
  
• Meteors - Message To Outer Space (CD, 2023) (Tags: jazz, avantguard, contemporary, experimental, groove, improvisation, instrumental, message, meteors, modern, newmusic, sextet, space, synth, vocal, Germany) [States Of Play]
  
• Aline's étoile magique - éclipse // elastic recordings (Tags: jazz, chamber jazz, chamber music, folk, jazz, jazz violin, Toronto) [Aline Homzy]
  
• Massen - Gentle Brutality (Tags: blackened metal, death metal, metal, atmospheric, avant-garde, Minsk) [Apostasy]
  
• Depuis l'Abîme - L'Incendie (Tags: metal, rock, emo, folk, post-hardcore, post-rock, screamo, France) [Independent]
  
• Max Enix - FAR FROM HOME (Tags: metal, progressive rock, alternative metal, filmscore, opera rock, progressive metal, France) [MAX ENIX]
  
• Surema - Surema (Tags: metal, post-metal, sludge metal, Oulu) [Independent]
  
• Mass Hysteria - Tenace Part 1 (Tags: metal, alternative metal, industrial metal, nu-metal, rap metal, Paris) [Out Of Line Music]
  
• A Fool's Errand - The Art of Leaving Things Behind (Tags: alternative, rock, alternative rock, dutch, experimental rock, indie rock, instrumental, post-rock, "S Hertogenbosch") [Independent]
  
• Quiet Sonia - QS (Tags: rock, american primitivism, chamber rock, modern classical, post-punk, post-rock, slowcore, Copenhagen) [PinkCottonCandy]
  
• Ephilexia - To Hell We Fly (Tags: experimental, metal, rock, ambient, experimental rock, instrumental, instrumental guitar, instrumental rock, math rock, midwest emo, post rock instrumental, post-rock, postrock, progressive, Veszprém) [Independent]
  
• Rainer Landfermann - Mehr Licht (Tags: metal, avant-garde, avant-garde metal, avantgarde, extreme, extreme metal, extreme vocal, Bonn) [Independent]
  
• Aeffect - Theory of Mind (Tags: death metal, extreme metal, metal, progressive metal, technical metal, avant-garde, death, djent, prog, progressive, technical, United Kingdom) [Independent]
  
• Ángel Ontalva - Black Pyramid (Tags: alternative, avant, cinematic, jazz and improvised music, progressive, world music, Spain) [October X Art]
  
• Vulfmon - Vulfnik (Tags: Los Angeles) [Vulf]
  
• REVERORUM IB MALACHT - Kyrie Eleison (Tags: metal, religious, Uppsala) [:AJNA:]
  
• Ixias - Compulsive Trance (Tags: metal, ambient, experimental, grindcore, powerviolence, Baltimore) [Independent]
  
• Organ Dealer - The Weight Of Being (Tags: brescia, death metal, italy, metal, grindcore, Brescia) [Everlasting Spew]
  
• Matt Pollock - Four Melodies (Tags: electronic, experimental, ambient, drone, microtonal, United States) [Independent]
  
• Void ov Nihility - Above The Stars of God (Tags: atmospheric black metal, black metal, blackened death metal, death metal, metal, brutal death metal, New Jersey) [Independent]
  
• Fabian Kallerdahl - Oversized vol. 2 (Tags: jazz, hard bop, improvisation, modern jazz, nordic jazz, swedish jazz, Gothenburg) [Independent]
  
• This Week in the Universe - everything is what we thought it was (Tags: 80s, electronic, electronic music, soundtrack, synthwave, vaporwave, Sydney) [Independent]
  
• ALTARAGE - Cataract EP (Tags: death metal, doom, drone, grindcore, heavy metal, metal, Bilbao) [Independent]
  
• Euclid - Revilement (Tags: deathcore, metal, djent, progressive metal, United States) [Independent]
  
• Giuseppe Bottiglieri - Lucóre (Tags: avant-jazz, experimental electronic music, improvisation, jazz, contemporary, creative music, double bass solo, free-jazz, Berlin) [Aut]
  
• Dripping Decay - Festering Grotesqueries (Tags: death metal, grindcore, metal, osdm, goregrind, Portland) [Satanik Royalty]
  
• MSRBLFLR - тоска́ (Tags: death metal, metal, black metal, death metal, grind, grind core, grindcore, sociopaths, terror, France) [Standalone Complex]
  
• Claret Ash - Worldtorn: Anemoia (Tags: black metal, dsbm, metal, atmospheric black metal, atmospheric doom metal, blackened doom metal, death-doom, doom metal, post-rock, Amadora) [Hypnotic Dirge]
  
• CLT DRP - Nothing Clever, Just Feelings (Tags: alternative, electronic, alternative, dance punk, electro punk, electronic, feminist, indie rock, noise rock, post-punk, punk, queer, Brighton) [Venn]
  
• The Astral Serpent - Mirages in Izar (Tags: metal, raw black metal, black metal) [Independent]
  
• i.o - when the dandelions no longer grow (Tags: experimental, free jazz, math rock, noise, noise rock, post-hardcore, Victoria) [Independent]