Hello once again to Chapter 4
This is just a continuation of the previous chapter.
I do try to not have such large gaps between chapter releases, but I would prefer to take my time with these.
If there is any mistakes please let me know.
First/Previous/Next
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Memory Transcription Subject: Timil Minar-Bowman, Yotul high school student
Date [Standard Human Time]: June 3rd 2142
[CONTINUATION OF PREVIOUS TRANSCRIPTION]
As we all looked on in the same expression that I had in the shuttle, Karisa’s toothy smile disappeared as she spoke again. “Wow, I never seen such a cute reaction like that before.” Karisa giggled again; her hand placed over her mouth.
What does she mean, I didn’t think they even had that much.
“Now then kids, when you're done picking up your mouths, follow me and stay close, we don’t want any wanderers. Also, don’t be afraid to voice any of your questions as we tour around the exhibits. I'd love to answer them.”
We eventually found ourselves on the elevated platform in front of the same steam engine that we all saw when we first entered Station Hall, some of the group was still catching up as they took the smaller species-friendly stairs.
As we waited, I felt a hand be placed on top of my shoulder, stroking it gently, “How are you finding it so far. I know we’ve just arrived, but I know your surprised look when I see it.” Dad spoke softly to me. “I’m really enjoying it so far. I never realised how big your steam engines were, or you had that many.” I looked to see his confused face staring me back, then a light laugh escaped his mouth.
“To you, yes they are, but they are big to us as well, bigger than the early engines that’s for sure, but I can assure you Timil, they get much bigger later on. Anyway, its Karisa’s job to tell these things and to answer these questions, ok.” I nodded and turned back to our now collected herd.
“Are we all here…” Our guide looked to the adults. “They are… Excellent. Now we can begin. Ok children, can you all tell me what this locos name is, I want you all to shout together.” Our guide clasped her hands together, pushing her hands out to us. “Ready.”
“Gladstone!” We shouted.
“YES! You are all correct and so observant, this locos name is Gladstone, as you can see on its side. Well done.”
We all looked on, wanting more.
“Now then lets begin shall we... Gladstone here was built in 1882, designed by a man by the name of William Stroudley, these are an improved version of his previous Richmond class passenger train design."
She paused, looking to make sure we were still caught up and to see if we had any questions before she continued.
"It was built about 260 years ago for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, or LB&SCR for short. It was the first of thirty-six [36] to be built, each one having their own name, with the last being built in 1891, they were given the classification of B1 to designate them as a passenger locomotive. These big boys were used to haul the heaviest of passenger trains between the old city of London, to the coastal city of Brighton. It has been with us for so long I don’t even know when it came to us.”
I looked towards Grimir and Maxil, both were entranced. Maxil’s tall ears were pointed straight to Karisa, not even a hint of anxiety showing. Grimir was furiously typing away at his pad, trying to collect as much information I assume.
“Eventually, as with everything, the march of progress made them redundant, obsolete for the world they found themselves to be surrounded with. By 1910, ten of them were withdrawn from service, the rest serving to h-help…”
Karisa’s voiced faltered, looking towards Dad and Miss Hiten. I’m still learning about human faces, I’m still yet to pick up on some but I’m guessing it is a ‘can I say this?’ maybe. Her relived face answered that.
“T-to help with moving s-soldiers to the coastal cities during Earths F-First World War over 200 years ago. By 1926 withdrawals began again and by 1933 the last engine was scrapped after only 50 years of service, Gladstone here being the only one of its class left preserved.”
I see why her face was concerned; she was worried about how we would react. It was no secret anymore that humans have had a bloody past, at some point every species has had at least a war with themselves.
“Any questions?”
A sea of paws and trunks went up.
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//(TRANSCRIPTION FORWARDING [2 HOURS])//
It took us about two Earth hours by the time we were done with Station Hall, I could see the herd was ready for a break, myself included.
We saw luxury carriages used by old royalty, a much larger locomotive in red, even some goods vehicles from the many different railway companies that Karisa said used to operate, I could'nt believe the variety.
I could see a tired Quirral laying on top of Tamoy the Mazic, I swear that goes against something, but it’s funny to see. Thankfully we made it to the outside café where we can get something to eat, thankfully accommodating to herbivorous species.
A perfect Allotment Salad and apple juice is just what I need, apparently grown on site as well.
As I ate with Maxil and Grimir, we looked over the notes that Grimir wrote, we learned a few interesting things;
Station Hall gained its name because, well, it looked like a station, but apparently it was once a large goods shed that brought in products for the people that lived in the city.
Another thing we noticed is how short of a time period it was there was, between humanity gaining the power of steam to finding out they weren’t alone in the universe. Most notable was the time span between steam to electric operation.
I have to ask Dad more about that. They went from steam, to diesel, to electric, then to biofuel then to electric and maglev again. Amazing!
Though, thinking on it, it was kind of ironic that compared to Earth, I wondered if my species could have had something like this if it weren’t for the Federation.
Lastly, we all thought that it was a shame that the famous human engine Rocket wasn’t here, apparently, we were told it was taken to another museum not long before we visited, and that it was too far for us to go and visit. But we were told that we would learn more about it in the in the science classroom towards the end of the day.
“Ok children, can you all listen to me please.” Miss Hiten called for attention. Us three looked up from our notes. “I know you are all eating and enjoying your break, but me and Mr Bowman have come to an agreement we think you’d want to hear.”
I looked to both of my buddies, each confused. Usually whatever she has to say ends up being not okay.
“Because of the excellent behaviour you have all exhibited so far.” Both adults briefly looked at each other, “Me and Mr Bowman have agreed to allow all of you to explore the Great Hall on your own.”
It took a second before we all cheered, paws and all in the air. That was unnatural for her, I wonder what Dad did.
“However!” She shouted, one claw in the air. “You are all to be in groups of three or more, and I know that safety is in the herd but here on Earth you are all very safe. I speak from personal experience.” She sounded adamant about that last part.
“Mr Bowman, you may continue…”
Dad nodded to her. “Thank you, Miss Hiten. Now, and I say this like I’m a father to you all, do not take your name tags off and always keep your pads with you. Your name tags act as a location beacon so we know where you are at all times, so I say it again, DO NOT remove them for what ever reason. And remember what we told you about Stranger Danger. Do not follow someone you don’t know. Understood!”
“YES SIR!” We all shouted.
“Excellent, now when you are all finished get into your groups and you can head off, be back here in three Earth hours. If you need us, give me or Miss Hiten a call.”
I looked to my two besties; the apprehension was evident.
“Come on then, we haven’t got all day!” I shouted, hopping off to see more trains.
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First/Previous/Next
That brings the end to Chapter 4
I unfortunately (if I call it that) used Wikipedia for Gladstone as the area that the loco is in is closed for restoration.
If there are any mistakes, please put it down below.
Hopefully it wouldn't take to long for the next chapter. By only time will tell.

You won't believe what I just found out. Remember the moment just before luffy went G5 for the first time?
He got hit by Kaido and got unconcious. His heartbeat even stopped for a moment and he basically died. Yet, he managed to come back to live and awakened his devil fruit of sungod nika.
Now, who does this remind you guys of?
Let me help you. The infamous person I am talking about got crossed to death. Three days later he rised from the dead. This person was also known as the Son of God.
That's right I'm talking about Jesus! Luffy is JESUS!!!
Son of god => Son God => Sungod!
Coincidence? I don't think so.

I just finished it, and was absolutely blown away. This is one of the few 10/10 shows I've ever seen. There is no overarching plot, but the setting is consistent each episode. Each vignette was unique, wholesome, thought-provoking, and either funny or sad as all hell. I'd definitely suggest a watch, and if you don't want to be spoiled I'd stop now. I'm going to focus on my 2 favorite episodes, which just so happen to be the really sad emotional ones (go figure).
But before that, I want to talk about the setting and tone. Its located in the future in space, where aliens and FTL/warp are common sites. The setting is deceptively light, with an optimistic retro throwback japanese hooligan style papering over a world with some rather dark facets. Even though there's a diverse range of aliens, not all of them are friendly (and the government is not friendly to all of them), and sometimes it can be difficult to tell who. There is rampant use of AI which is shown later to be essentially robo-slavery. And there is an intergalactic war occurring in the background.
With this in mind, lets start with episode 5. What makes this episode so powerful is the soundtrack. Let me explain: Dandy is essentially a space bounty hunter. He looks for new and/or dangerous species and (in the case of the former) abducts them to be recorded or (in the case of the latter) detained by the government (they never discuss what happens after that). To be honest, the system is never explained that well, for example there are lots of places where they "know" there are undiscovered species, which doesn't really make any sense considering said species are undiscovered. But anyway, this episode, Dandy hunts an alien from the dangerous list that can put peoples consciousnesses in other peoples bodies. The catch is this one is a little girl who has lost her only parent to a disease. This species is famously insular because the government and people who want to use them hunt them down, so this little girl has literally no one to turn to. She doesn't exactly come quietly, but she doesn't resist too much, and offers to allow Dandy to arrest her if he'll take her to her grandpa's old place before taking her to jail.
Its your typical lone wolf and cub story, where they start to care about each other because of their close proximity while traveling. He takes her to restaurants, the carnival, the movies, etc. The scenes themselves all seem to be rather happy, but the music is not. The lyrics that play over the montage ask "Is this a sad thing? Is this a delightful thing? I'll go check it out and then I want to show you, so please wait for me." Because this represents the girls inner monologue. She never got the chance to do anything fun with her mother, so she doesn't know whether to be sad that she's gone or happy to have these experiences. It also displays her hookup on the mother "leaving her behind". The thing that it reminded me of immediately was JJK when Sukuna tells the Lava dude that "he doesn't know what emotions/tears are either", but this is so much more effective because of the contradiction between the music and the scene and its sincerity instead of making the character say something cool and edgy. It ends happily eventually but I don't want to spoil anymore.
Lastly, lets talk about episode 12. This episode revolves around Dandy's AI vacuum QT falling in love with a coffee making robot at a coffee shop. The episode starts with the Narrator telling us that for robots, keeping memory usage low is important. Immediately followed by QT saying "The universe is full of waste. Particularly wasteful are the emotions felt by living beings, such as 'love' and 'affection'" When the trio goes to get coffee, QT becomes infatuated with the coffee maker after hearing her laugh. He keeps coming in, buying things, and making himself useful to go see her even though no one on the crew drinks coffee, least of all him. As a robot, if his circuits get wet, its over. Eventually his room on the ship is full of coffee stuff.
She tells him that she's jealous that he can move around. As a coffee maker she's static and can't explore anywhere. Later that night, he steals her and takes her around the town exploring as a "date". Around this time she begins to malfunction, and is thrown away to a floating trash heap with all the other broken (read, emotional) AI appliances. QT learns about this and goes to save her, where he learns that she loved the cash register the whole time, and that most of the robots left in the trash heap, not her but including the register, plan to combine into a death robot and destroy the city . She asks QT to stop the register from joining the death robot so he'll be safe, and QT fights the giant robot and stops it from destroying the city, but takes major damage in the process. The episode ends with a busted up QT sitting in his now remarkably coffee-free room. Aside from a single cup. He recites the mantra from the last paragraph and downs the cup, killing himself.
I love this episode because it touches on the AI ethics, which always touches on the "What defines the human experience" question. Its clear that the AI are almost (if not just) as sentient as humans are. And that despite that they are treated as tools or slaves rather than people. Dandy is incapable of cleaning up after himself or refueling his own ship without QT. I mean just the concept of being literally chained to your job and unable to physically move from your employment location is thought provoking. The episode also touches on difficulties dating and finding love. But what really got me was that mantra and the ending. The repeated mantra is meant to be ironic after a fashion, after all, it was QTs "love and affection" for the coffee maker that compelled him to save the city. But it also reaffirms that his beliefs have not changed due to his experience, and that, having felt and been let down by these feelings, he doesn't want to live anymore. It reminds me of Fraudrin in the Seven Deadly Sins saying "I don't want to understand". The "I'm too stuck to change and I just want it to be over already".
All in all, either of these episodes could've been well respected OVA's in their own right, and I highly recommend that people check out Space Dandy. They wont regret it.

My lvl93 Javazon can run carefree through anywhere in the map, including through gloams, flayers, megademons, vipers and Oblivion mages... But she's never more than 1.5 seconds away from certain death if I don't figure out quickly enough which direction that terrifying hiss of a Stygian doll is coming from and feed those jerks some lightning. The only other area where she has any vulnerability is Nilathak if I've forgot my Nature's Peace, but that makes sense, we know CE is OP'd as hell.
So what spell or combat skill do dolls have natively that makes them so crazy lethal?

My partner is 19FTM 5”5 160lbs no testosterone no ftm medicine currently. They went to the doctor two days ago. I was getting live updates of what the doctor said and I did confirming it with my partner. Currently he would be the one posting on here but he is not coherent enough to be texting currently and I got his permission to do this. While he tried to nap this off to smooth our fears. So I am texting on his behalf. my partner went in for a suspected hernia because I did notice a lump in their stomach. Before going in I was worried it maybe strangled because of the pain complaint so i softly massaged it back into the abdomen. As soon as I felt a little pop of it going back in pain seem to dissipate a little bit but still went to their primary physician. Doctor said it wasn’t a hernia that it was tissue sticking out of the weak part through the muscles which right there already made me baffled. I told my partner to ask more questions, and he didn’t get very far with that. Whatever we trust the doctor and that’s where I screwed up my partner mentioned having headaches so the doctor prescribed 25mg of topiramate. OK I know it’s an anticonvulsant usually used for seizures and offsetting migraines. That’s OK. The doctor said it was to help with his MDD with psychotic tendencies mood swings and their migraines. Odd never heard of it being prescribed that way, but I just assumed it was off script (but was never informed of that). Seeing as a doctor did not mention any major side effects or concerns when my partner asked about it we assumed that it was a relatively safe medicine although I did have my worries because I did vaguely remember hearing that it could cause memory loss and my partner already kind of suffers from memory loss, (I listen to doctor podcast and medical case studies for fun so I knew of it but not really) no diagnosis on it just random symptoms that they have including memory loss suspected PCOS but not confirmed just listing out these just in case it may help but that is not why the medication was prescribed. Well the doctor told him to take it when they felt a migraine coming on and then if it didn’t work take it two hours later again OK well I go and buy my partners medicine for them you know trying to be nice and it says take one tablet by mouth for two weeks, then increase to take one tablet by mouth twice a day Odd, but seeing as the doctor gave very precise instructions, they went based off the doctors instructions and took one waited 2 hours took another one and went to sleep easy Peezy no problem may be a bit of odd mood swings but not much. Until they took it today on my birthday I mention it’s my birthday so you understand that I’ve been with my partner since the beginning of this day he was awake all day and active in celebration which is till now 3:33 AM. And also let me warn you that the only warning on this bottle says may cause drowsiness, dizziness, alcohol and marijuana may intensify this effect. (They don’t smoke pot and drink alcohol rarely and never very drunk drinking more of a like the flavor so sip sip done drinking). Use care when operating a vehicle vessel, boat, or machinery, and the piece of paper that came with the medicine bag doesn’t give any information it says that we are suppose to get a pamphlet. We never got a pamphlet, nor was it offered and the Hyppa agreement was never signed either at the bottom of that paper. Real odd because I did a little bit of digging and knowing that this medicine has a lot more side effects and had a lot more warnings on the Internet if I had only known, there were so many more that I did not know my partner went from a sweet may be a little bit of an airhead reserved respectable man and into what seemed to be a drunken hysterical psychotic person, switching from high to low to numb back to high. Constantly sweating and sprinting everywhere. Grabbing onto me aggressively then suddenly dead panning away. They seem to want to end it all because they laughed at a fart joke and said that they shouldn’t have laughed at such a horrible joke, which, in my opinion it wasn’t and then started degrading themselves viciously. They then started to profusely, just sob, and then static then stop again and then hysterical, manic laughter. And my partner has only had two episodes ever that were like (which were Lows where they just quiet cried and once screamed at the sky ) this and they were brought on by high intensity stress. Now that the medicine has started to wear off, they admitted to me that they were not stressed about my birthday or anything, when this suddenly struck. They also had a almost impossible time differentiating between reality in their delusions, and they have never ever ever had a problem of disorienting between reality and delusions. They also seemed to suddenly have picked up OCD tendencies out of nowhere having this extreme, strong, intense urge to find exactly replica cans of some kind of drink that we were getting, and I don’t mean the same color in size I mean, no dents, facing forward in the same aisle within the same conformed group same brand, same name, same texture And I can tell you my partner is the least OCD person I have ever met and this is coming from someone with OCD. They will dump all their colors. They will sleep with Mitch matched blankets and they cannot understand why I lock the door three times over so it’s not like they had OCD and it just suddenly came out like peekaboo. They also suddenly had the hardest time peeing. We thought it was a UTI because recently they had taken a UTI test because they couldn’t P but nothing as we delve deeper into possible side effects all of these a line with side effects from this medicine, some common some rare, but just all of a sudden they were showing OCD tendencies they were sounding like they were drunk I made him do it stroke test the past fine besides the slurred speech they were stumbling around they were unable to stand upright even for a moment. They were having high low, numb, high low, numb cycles that even I cant keep up with in that were way beyond his usual. They became 20,000 times more degrading and suicidal. Their delusions were impossible to tell from reality. They’re eyes suddenly became incredibly dilated to where I could only see a sliver of the blue. I’m sorry if I’m missing some details I’ll edit them in but like I said it is 3:30 AM and I am just watching my husband sleep because I am so terrified he won’t go to the ER. He won’t go to the hospital and I will be assisting him in calling his doctor tomorrow when this medicine has worn off by then.
My question is what is this drug? What is it meant for mostly? What are the worst symptoms possible for it and if possibly allowed on the sub, Reddit do normal doctors prescribe this like a normal basis because it seems pretty dangerous to me? I will admit the doctor did not disclose any of the side effects even when I asked if this was a routine, drug and stuff like that. also, I looked through the rules but my brain is so scattered from the events of today that I may have overlooked one if I broke any rules I’m so sorry.

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Yisela Avendano Yumisin Yungfreckz Zahra Elise Zara Jordan Zoey Sinn Zoie Burgher boobs, ass, tits, tiktok, nudes, naked, sextape, porn, leak, leaked, leaks, nsfw, onlyfans, mega, discord, telegram, new, OF, latest, corina, corrina, megnutt02, megnutt, mackzjones, charli, dixie, damelio, d amelio, waifumia Abby Lynn Abrie Baby Addison Ivy Aery Tiefling Aestra Azure Alaska Clarke Alexandra Daddario Aidra Fox Alina Becker Alina Lopez Allie Cat Alyri Alyssa Alessio Alyx Star Ameliasocurvy Anissakate Annabgo Anna Louise Anne Moore Aria Banks Aria Lee Ariana Mumtaz Ari Kytsya Asha Miller Ashhxlynxx Ashley Alban Ashley Danielle Ashley got Ashley Matheson Ashley Rey Asianbarbietina Asian Candy Asianmochi Audrey and Sadie August Taylor Austin White Autumn Renae Autumnsbum Ava Nicks Azalyastar Babyjey Babymalaya Babyprincesskai Babyrayxxx Bailey Brooke Bambitwo Bapricorn Bar6ie6 Bbygurlmax Bbystar Beatrice Segreti Belinda Nohemy Bella Jameel Bellamay Bella Rayee Bella Rome Belle Barbie Belle 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So I just got placed on probation for #pc29800 in california... Felon in possession of a firearm... I know that sounds bad but honestly it was for my own protection due to the city I live in being one of the worst city's in the country. Now I'm on probation and during sentencing the judge specified that I cannot own or possess any firearms or any deadly or dangerous weapons... So does that mean I can't have a pocket knife or anything like that to protect myself with out possibly going back to jail? I'm just trying to do right and straighten up my life but at the same time I live in a pretty dangerous neighborhood please any advice would be greatly appreciated thank you also what about the swords and other medieval weapons I have on display in my living room do I have to get rid of those too????

After around 6 deaths on HC and restarts (only 1 of them was above level 30 though) I finally did it. Now the real game starts hah. I love the game and series, but some things just bother me when they are not taken seriously enough, especially when I like something. I am just dumping some thoughts and questions here, I wonder if anyone has input for that.

1. Inarius. Are you stupid? You don't have eyes? He recites the damn prophecy and believes he needs to stab hatred in the heart. Then he stabs in the stomach. Is that where Lilith's heart is, Inarius? Existing for countless years and you think it's alright to turn your back on an enemy? The hell? Hatred should make him cruel, not stupid.
   
2. How does death work for higher beings? We all know the prime and lesser evils regenerate, but Lilith and Inarius don't? Does ripping angel wings all it takes to kill them? How does hell lose to them in that case?
   
3. After seeing Inarius' fighting style, I can totally see him coming back in an expansion... as Cth'ulu. He fights and moves with his wings like tentacles. He also sank into the depths as he died (?). The ending also has something related to the sea, so maybe underwater expansion or just a different continent.
   
4. People want a paladin or crusader, but seeing the theme of the game (witches, werewolves, vampires), if it happens, it will be an inquisitor, no? That said, it won't fit the narrative, as they will believe in their angel no matter what...
   
5. That one quest chain with the witch girl. How do villagers run across half a continent that wants any living being dead? How do they arrive just on time multiple times? I guess it's for comic relief, but that's just lazy and stupid writing imo.
   
6. It also bothers me that it takes a few days of studying to master Horadric texts to stand close to the level of veterans. Makes them seem underwhelming.
   
7. The NPCs barely react to the death of two lesser evils. We spend an entire act to avoid the summoning of one, being told how horrible it would be if they come out... And you barely get a line of text when you beat one of them. So underwhelming.
   
8. There are a lot of small bugs and annoyances that could easily be fixed, but they aren't. Why? For instance, how NPC voices change (their tones, the volume) during conversations, bad animations, the delay between actions in inventory, the first act mine dungeon skipping an entire floor (you enter the dungeon and appear at the entrance to the next level, rather then at the start of the floor). That's super lazy, especially considering the ease of fixing those.
   

Good morning everyone
today is the day me and a close friend embark on a 24 hour live stream for the charity Help For Heroes
we will be playing from 10am today (Thursday) until 10am tomorrow, playing warzone, gta v, zombies, Fortnite, dead island and Minecraft all in 4 hour slots
twitch.tv/mrmelon312
i have modified my donation button so i will get ZERO donations and they will ALL be going to the amazing charity :)
if anyone wants to drop by at any point today or tonight and show some support it would be amazing
​
​

Before I dive into everything that has happened over the last couple of weeks I want to get a couple of things out of the way. I moved to this town four months ago because of a job offer: I was supposed to start working with a construction company. Second, I am not going to give you my last name. But I will tell you my first name, it's Tom. I am telling you all this, just in case. Ya know?
Anyway, I moved here four months ago. At first, the job offer seemed too good to be true. I was promised an apartment, full benefits, and grocery delivery twice a month. I was told the town was small, and honestly, it is! I am not used to living in a place like this. I mean, I saw the stars for the first time in my life the day I got to my new apartment.
The apartment itself is nice, I have two bedrooms and a good-sized bathroom. I have no complaints about any of the accommodations. Two weeks into moving here I was told that I would be starting at the end of the month. My boss told me that rent would be covered and gave me a list of things I needed for my first day.
As the end of the month came around I decided to go out and buy a new pair of work boots. I figured this would give me a good chance to get a look around town and maybe meet some people. I was mostly right.
The store was only a couple of blocks from my apartment building so instead of taking my truck I decided to walk. The town is cozy, ya know? Like everyone seems normal. Everything felt like it came out of a classic American novel though. So anyway, I went and got my boots and on the way home I decided to stop at a store and pick up the local newspaper.
When I got home and sat on my couch to crack open the newspaper, I could tell something was off right away. The story on the front page read “New Mayor Elected” and right below that, “Strange Lights in the Sky.” By itself, those two things would not raise red flags, but the pictures looked off. It’s hard for me to put into words but the photo of the new mayor looked both old and new. I scanned the page for a date and couldn’t find one. I figured that maybe something went wrong with the printing or something. After I gave the front page a good read I put the paper down and went to bed.
For two days I stayed home to make sure I was well rested. At this point, I had not purchased a tv yet and decided to jump on the opportunity and read more. On my way to pick up new boots, I noticed the town library and thought why not? I could get a couple of books and a new paper. The library itself is beautiful. The wood looks well maintained and the giant stone lions on either side of the staircase were extremely cool to look at the first time I saw them.
Heading into this library was just like walking into any other library. I don’t know what I was expecting. The outside was cool so I thought the inside would be more done up. As I walked through the aisle and scanned the books I could feel the hairs on my arms stand up. It was a weird feeling, something I had not experienced before this: It was almost like I was scared for no reason. As I pulled a book off of the shelf and read the cover I was extremely puzzled, for reference I was standing in the history section. The book read, “To Mars and Back. How America pioneered space travel.” It sounded more like a science fiction book to me, and there were a lot of other books like this. “They live among us, humanity's first contact with God.” or “The secret history of the Roman empire.” As I went through and examined more books I started to notice little scratches on the bookcase. They looked like tally marks. I followed them down the shelf until I found some writing. “Turn back” and “Go home” were scribbled on the shelf. I quickly stood up and clenched the book I was holding.
As I turned around I took one last look at the book in my hands before heading off to speak with a librarian. As I approached the counter I swear to god the woman behind the counter took my breath away. She was so beautiful, but it didn’t seem natural. I could feel the hairs on the back of my head stand up as I got closer to the desk. I decided to put the book down and leave. There was something inside of me, screaming at me to not speak to the woman. As I headed out of the building and walked down the staircase I noticed my hands were shaking. I was confused because technically, nothing happened.
I never bought a paper that day. Instead, I went home and went to sleep. Technically it was midafternoon, I had no idea why I was tired in the first place.
When I woke up the next day and went to check the mail, I found a rolled-up newspaper at my front door. I shit you not I have been getting a newspaper every day since that day. At first, I was interested in reading them, but the more I read the more I didn’t want to read. At the end of the month, I was waiting for a call from my boss, but the call never came. I tried to call him but his phone was disconnected.
As the next month rolled around I kept getting the newspapers. I stopped receiving normal mail, and I stopped wanting to live in this damn apartment. Two weeks into the new month I decided to call it quits and move back. I was not getting this job and my time here had been nothing but uncomfortable. So I packed my bags and stormed outside to climb into my truck. I was planning on leaving that day however, my tiers had been slashed.
I did what anyone would do, right? I called the damn police. They came promptly and once again I was met with the same feelings as when I saw the librarian. These men did not look real. Every inch of their faces looked…fake. I mean yes they were people but there was not a hair out of place. They were perfectly symmetrical in every way. The whole time I was filling out the police report my hands were shaking. My body was so tense I thought I was going to fall over on the spot. Once the situation was handled I ran back to my apartment. I was skipping steps as I went back upstairs. I felt like I could not get upstairs fast enough.
A couple of hours later I heard pounding at my door. I can’t stress this enough, the pounding scared the shit out of me. “WHO IS IT?!” I screamed. “Please! I need help!” A woman called back to me. I went to my front door, I wish I could tell you I did not hesitate but I did. I eventually opened the door for the women. She was an absolute mess, her makeup was running down her face and she was wearing pajamas. It will sound fucked up but I was so happy to see this woman, her crying gave me comfort. She did not look like the others, she looked real and natural. I asked her what happened and she told me her daughter had gone missing. I asked her if she called the police and she told me no. She said she wouldn’t, she told me her daughter wouldn't go to them either. I asked her what her daughter's name is, she told me her name is Zoey. We talked for what felt like hours before I told her I would keep my eyes open. She thanked me and went back to her apartment in tears. As I closed and locked my door I went to the pile of newspapers and opened the most recent one. I wanted to see if there was any mention of Zoey in the paper. The front page read, “Local man found dead outside of his home. No suspects.” below that there was another heading, “Local girl missing.” I checked for a name but it wasn’t Zoey. They are the same age though. As I scanned the paper I heard a scream come from down the hallway. I stood up quickly and rushed to my door, this time without hesitation I ripped it open and looked down the hallway. And that’s where I saw…it. One of the cops except it wasn’t a man. He had tight skin, he almost looked like a walking skeleton. His eyes were bulging out of his head, and his arms were larger. “Sir…” The thing said to me. I quickly turned and slammed the door shut. I locked all four locks and put the kitchen table up against the door. I haven’t left this apartment since. I did call my ex, she said she would come and get me but I don’t know how long I will be waiting. If this is fear, I have had enough. I can’t sleep and I am too scared to eat. It feels like my heart might explode like my whole perception of reality has changed.

We spend so much time and money on being put into well constructed wooden boxes, just to remain taking up space for sometimes an indefinite period of time…
People who are alive could be using that space, and decomposers could naturally utilize my nutrients/calories. At best, members of my family would occasionally visit my grave, and get emotional about my death instead of focusing on those who are currently in their lives. Personally, I think not having a grave at all would help my family members get over me faster.
I mean, I’ll literally be dead. I don’t think I’ll be looking back from heaven etc and thinking “Oh, my bones will be staying within a box in XYZ for a hundred years, that’s great!” Honestly I’ll probably request cremation, too bad my body couldn’t nourish actual life, but it is better than taking up space for the living.

Previous attempt
Hey everyone! I've been working on my query. Manuscript-wise I'm essentially ready to go, but the query package is continually a struggle for me. Hopefully this version is clearer than other iterations.
Also for reference, this is an adult novel. Pretty much every beta I've had told advised against toning violence/themes down for YA, saying it works better as an Adult novel even with it starting in high school. So for that reason, I'd love feedback as to whether the query sounds too YA, as past queries where I didn't specify lead to that assumption.
Dear (Agent),
(Personalization). I am seeking representation for my queer supernatural thriller, HARVEY, complete at 98,000 words. With its emphasis on the Midwestern setting, it will appeal to fans of Gothic fiction and those with Y2K nostalgia.
In the fall of 1999, someone begins terrorizing the small, remote town of Harvey, Missouri. Some residents vanish without a trace, while others are found brutally murdered, their bodies lacerated and completely drained of blood.
There’s no clear pattern linking the victims, nor any viable suspects, but eighteen-year-old Oliver Whitman isn’t frightened about his own safety. After all, with his terminal genetic heart condition, death has loomed over him since birth, and he views his life as disposable—a mindset that his clandestine boyfriend, Jace, can’t seem to understand. Plus, no one but Oliver knows from wandering into the woods one evening that the culprits are beyond anything humanly imaginable. It’s an easy decision for him to sacrifice his life to protect his love from them.
Four years later, the last thing Jace—now a college senior—wants is to return to Missouri, especially Harvey, as he’s still grieving the loss of Oliver. However, when a former classmate’s body is found on the anniversary of Oliver's disappearance, Jace finds himself unwillingly pulled back in. While he has no idea who—or what—it is that has a personal vendetta against Harvey and its residents, a string of threatening messages written in blood make one thing certain: Jace is the next target.
Following dual POVs, HARVEY is a character-driven story that explores the lengths to which individuals will go to protect those they care about. My novel will appeal to fans of vampire novels such as CERTAIN DARK THINGS by Silvia Moreno-Garcia or THE SOUTHERN BOOK CLUB’S GUIDE TO SLAYING VAMPIRES by Grady Hendrix, and fans of queer, supernatural romances such as the GREEN CREEK series by T.J. Klune or THE DEAD AND THE DARK by Courtney Gould.
(Bio)
First 300
“Bob, it seems we’re hearing no new developments on the recent missing person case coming out of Harvey, Missouri this morning. Nineteen-year-old Tyler O’Sullivan is the ninth person in Adams County to turn up missing or dead this year.”
“Truly awful, Janice. And such a terrible situation for what we hear is such a small, close-knit community. I think I speak for everyone when I say we all hope they find him safe and sound.”
“Well, the O’Sullivan family and the Adams County Police Department are asking for anyone with any information to please call the number—”
“Did you know him?” Jace’s mother asked as he wandered into the kitchen that Monday morning. She was setting the crockpot for dinner, but her tired eyes seemed unable to break from the small box TV on the linoleum counter.
Jace Silva pulled the milk carton from the fridge and stared at the image on the TV. On it was a list of Tyler’s physical attributes and clothes he last wore alongside his senior yearbook photo. His gray eyes were partially obscured by his black bangs, yet seemed to pierce into Jace’s soul.
“Not really.”
Of course, he knew of Tyler. He frequently saw him in the school halls until his graduation last year. Living in a small, rural town in fuckall nowhere, Missouri it was hard not to know everyone at least by face, especially someone one grade above. With shaggy hair and edgy black clothing in the middle of the rural bible belt, he stood out like a sore thumb.
Tyler and his family went to church every Sunday, yet people always looked at him and his equally black-clad friend, Evangeline Lark, like they were demon possessed. Not that anyone dared to say anything to Tyler’s face, given his cop father. Though after Columbine a few months ago, pressure did make him trim his hair and switch to normal blue jeans. Jace himself thought little of it.

First Prev Next Royal Road Patreon
u/KieveKRS providing the Trash certification of quality! (with help from u/coldfireknight cuz this one needed it.)
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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.”
Next
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.

I am a 74 y/0 female, 5'5", weigh 138, always been in good health and energetic, worked until I was 73. In December 2021, I almost died of sepsis and infective endocarditis and in January 2022 I had open heart surgery to replace av, I have not physically recovered, I am weak, nauseous all the time, vomiting frequently. I have lost 65 poundsI still can't drive, I can barely walk. My known diagnoses are copd, never smoked, heart disease, hypertension, hyperthyroidism I was anemic and received 6 iron infusions last summer. I exercise frequently as tolerated but just can't get my strength, my doctor and family want me to go into assisted living, but I really don't want to. I want to stay home so I can eat and drink what and when I want. My bloody work looks ok, except my platelets counts have been low, under 150 for at least a year.my doctors have no idea and I'm looking for suggestions on what to do or what specialty doctor to see.I've also been diagnosed with stage 3a kidney disease