Crystal river rentals with boat dock
6 bodies, including 1 child, recovered from St. Lawrence River The bodies of six people, including one child with a Canadian passport, were recovered from the St. Lawrence River near Akwesasne late Thursday afternoon, according to police in the community.
2023.03.31 23:16 autotldr 6 bodies, including 1 child, recovered from St. Lawrence River The bodies of six people, including one child with a Canadian passport, were recovered from the St. Lawrence River near Akwesasne late Thursday afternoon, according to police in the community.
This is the best tl;dr I could make,
original reduced by 47%. (I'm a bot)
The bodies of six people, including one child with a Canadian passport, were recovered from the St. Lawrence River near Akwesasne late Thursday afternoon, according to police in the community.
The first body was located at about 5 p.m. ET in a marsh area near the U.S. border, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service said in a release.
Akwesasne police Chief Shawn Dulude said he could not provide any information on the nationalities of the other five.
They also said they will seek help from Quebec provincial police and the Ontario Provincial Police air support units.
Akwesasne police, with the assistance of the Canadian Coast Guard, are leading the investigation, Dulude said.
The discovery of the bodies coincided with the search for a missing boater from Akwesasne that also began Thursday, Dulude said.
Summary Source FAQ Feedback Top keywords: police#1 Akwesasne#2 body#3 boat#4 search#5
Post found in /worldnews, /CanadianConservative and /canada.
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2023.03.31 22:47 Ea50Marduk [RE-UPLOAD] God concept, Enki Prince of the Abzû.
Good evening everyone !
With the recent changes on heals and experience's gain, I have choose to re-upload my concept about Enki by changing the EXP gain that he give in one aspect of his Passif and the heals he give to his allies with is second ability and the one over time with his third. I have also modified the damages mitigation of his third ability and the health of the shields that he gave during his ultimate. For make this, I based myself on the change make on Aphrodite in the Patch notes of the 10.3.
Enjoy! Any critics are welcome!
P.S. : I have notified that Enki may be the most strongest Support Guardian ever make, so, in a more or less distant future, I will modify this post accordingly.
FUNCTIONS AND MYTHS WHERE ENKI APPEARED OR HAVE A GREAT ROLE. Functions: God of Abzu (Sumerian)/Apsû* (Akkadian), the great pure water extent beneath the Earth, of craft and arts, of civilisation (civilization's god, who give to humanity, with the help to his servants, the Apkallu/Abgal, all the aspects of the civilizations to serve the gods), magic, exorcisms, of the world's organization and fertility, sometimes creator of the world alongside others divinities (An/Anu and/or Enlil), (co-)-creator of humankind and protector of humanity, Enki/Ea is the most wise of the gods, the most intelligent and cunning of them, who resolve all problem thanks to is genius spirit. His city was Eridu, where his main sanctuary was present. He was also the master of ME, a Sumerian's concept who design all there forces of the universe and/or all the aspects of the civilization.
*Apsû became a primordial being in the
Enuma elish, the husband of Tiamat and god of pure water.
Myths:
- in Enki and the World Order, he organized the World and it center, the country of Sumer and make of all countries lands of abundance. Also, he give to several divinity their roles and functions. At the end of the tale, Inanna come, crying, to him, because he give nothing to her. Enki response that she have already a function : the be the goddess of battles and war. SMITE© tell this myth, but in a short and reinterpreted way : Ishtar (Akkadian's name of Inanna) have receive nothing in terms of divines's functions,
- in Descent of Inanna in the Underworld and the Akkadian version, Descent of Ishtar in the Underworld, he is the one who ressuscite Inanna/Ishtar after that Ereshkigal kill her. The Akkadian version say that is because without Ishtar, nothing on Earth can copulate, animals like humans. So, he create with the dust under his nails two asexual beings (in the Sumerian version) or one transvestite being to ressuscite the goddess with the bread-of-life and the water-of-life,
- in Nergal and Ereshkigal he save the god Nergal to the fury of Ereshkigal (because the warrior's god don't show respect to the Ereshkigal's emissary and so to her), first, to shave his head, and after to send him in the Underworld to affront the goddess with seven pairs of guards for held the seven gates of the Infernal City open for allow to him to escape. Thanks to Enki, Nergal became the king of Underworld alongside Ereshkigal who was in reality in love of him. In Adapa in the Heavens, after that his servant, Adapa, broke the wings of the South Wind and provoke the wrath of Anu, he advise to Adapa to not eat and drink the water and food that Anu take to him after have make proof of mourn with two fertility divinities (the South Wind is necessary to the agriculture in the South of Sumer) because it was food and drink of death. But, in reality, this food and drink was of life, of immortality, so Adapa could be a god without the intervention of Enki. But, in is cunning, Enki make in sort to Adapa to bring to Earth, and so to humanity, all of the exorcists and magics rituals to conjured all of the evils that the South Wind bring that Anu give to him, make Adapa the ”ancestor” or the exorcists,
- in the Myth of Anzû, it is him that is propose Ninurta, son of Enlil and maybe the inspiration for Heracles/Hercules (see "Ninurta", World History Encyclopedia), to affront the monstrous bird with lion-head named Anzû who stolen the Tablets of Destiny. In another text, Ninurta and the Turtle, the Tablets fall to Apsû and Enki see that Ninurta want them for himself and not to restaure the order to Universe. So he create with clay a turtle that bit the feet and Ninurta, making him fall, and buried him in a big hole. Enki mocks of Ninurta, because he is the brave god who defeat Anzû and who was vanquish by a turtle,
- but the most know of the Enki's acts is the creation of mankind to serve the gods and the rescue of humanity during the Flood. In Atrahasis (pronounced Atra-rasis), he propose to create humankind for that all of the gods, Igigi (the servants's ones) and Anunnaki (the leaders), can be in peace and in rest. With the help of her wife, the Mother-Goddess (know as different names (Aruru, Ninhursag, Nintu, Ninmah, Belit-ili, etc...)) and others goddesses, he creates the humankind with clay and the blood of a sacrificed god (to give intelligence and spirit that survive after the death) to humans. In the myth Enki and Ninmah, after creating the humans with his wife Ninmah, others mothers-goddesses and his own mother Nammu (a primordial deity of water, similar to Tiamat in the Babylonians), he arrives to find a destiny (a role) at each deformed human that Ninmah create. And he created an human being so incapable of nothing that Ninmah cannot make him anything, so she curse Enki who seems to accept his curse because of his amoral act. But the humans have a very long lifetime; they multiplicand and annoyed the gods and particularly Enlil. The Flood is declared and Enki warms the king Aura-Hasis to built a great boat to protected his family, all of the animals and all of the peoples who knows the arts and crafts (the civilization) and himself. After the Flood, Enki (and the Mother-Goddess in The Epic of Gilgamesh (and not Ishtar like SMITE© said)) plaid the cause of humankind and arrived to calm and make Enlil forgive his act. The during of humans lifetime is scaled down. In Eridu Genesis, we don,'t know the reason fo the Flood but Enki have the same role and at the end Ziusudra, the survivor, obtain immortality to An and Enlil for have saved humankind and so the gods. This points, immortality and the miss of the reason behind the Flood, was retake to the tale for Utanapishtim, the survivor of the Flood in The Epic of Gilgamesh,
- in the Poem of Agushaya, he calm the warrior’s fury of Ishtar who threat the world order and the gods themselves by the creation of a warmonger double of the goddess named Saltu, ”Dispute”. He sen it against the goddess and at the end of the fight, Ishtar come to Enki, more wise, to told him to stop this being, and Enki revealed to her that it was him who created Saltu. The wise god show to her her own place among the gods and in the world. In Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Hell, he is the one god who answer to the supplication of Gilgamesh: bringing up the phantom of Enkidu, death in the Hells,
- finally, in the Enuma elish, he kill Apsû who planned to kill the younger gods for their annoying with a sleep conjuration and propose his son Marduk, the more powerful of the gods, to defeat Tiamat who want to avenge his husband after the fail of him and his own father, Anu. At the end, he create the humankind after that Marduk decide that humanity being created to serve the gods, his subjects.
But, despite of all his good acts, Enki/Ea have also dark part: he make incests in
Enki and Ninhursag; he finish drunk in
Enki and Inanna; and in
Enmerkar and the lord of Aratta, it is said that it was a jealous Enki who separated the languages and bring war on humans because they praised Enlil in one language.
HOW I SEE ENKI* IN SMITE© ? *I used the Sumerian name "Enki" because it was the one who was utilised in the story of Ishtar present in-game.
For me, Enki, in reason of his non-frontal fighter and of adviser of the gods, would be a ranged Guardian who provide heals and protection to his allies.
All of the kit presented below was in-progress, so the values and effects was not definitive.
Come to the battleground of the gods to calm the thirst of conquest and power of Ishtar that I see becoming the next reason of the restart of the war of the gods. Because Enki is frequently associated with Ishtar in the myths, I see him arrives before his son Marduk (my first favorite in the Babylonian pantheon; the second is Enki here).
ENKI, PRINCE OF THE ABZÛ
BABYLONIAN
GUARDIAN
RANGED, MAGICAL
DIFFICULTY: AVERAGE
HIGH SUSTAIN, PROTECTIONS
STATISTICS. Health: 690 (+85)
Mana: 200 (+50)
Speed: 360 (+0)
Range: 50 (+0)
Attack/sec: 1 (+1.5%)
Basic attack.
Damage: 20 (+1.5) + 50% of the magical power
Progression: None
Protections.
Physical: 28 (+3.1)
Magical: 40 (+1)
Regen.
HP5: 7 (+0,1)
MP5: 0 (+0)
LORE. «
Only the gods of Babylon know that without the wisdom, intelligence and cunning of one god, the world would have been very different. This god is Enki, Prince of Abzu, son of Anu, god of the sky. When Enlil, Anu and Ashur had created the world, it is Enki who, after having created the Abzu - the immense underground ocean from which come the whole of the rivers and the fresh water bodies and which he named in the honor of Apsû, their father to all - organized it, applying the divine laws on the world for the only needs of his own, the gods. It is still him who proposed that the humans are created to relieve the small gods Igigi of their agrarian servitude towards the Anunnaki so that the two groups are the sovereigns of the world and can nourish themselves without exploiting each other. With the help of his wife Ninhursag the Sublime and several mother-goddesses, he shaped in clay and thanks to the blood of a sacrificed god the very first men. Through the intermediary of the Apkallû, his faithful servants, he then transmitted to them all the civilizing knowledge of which he was the guarantor so that they fulfill their mission of servants of the gods. Enki is a complex god: god of the ocean of underground fresh water named Abzû, of civilization, of arts and crafts, of knowledge, of magic, of exorcism and of wisdom. He is as intelligent as he is wise and cunning, being matched in these qualities only by his eldest son, Marduk, one of his many children. It is thanks to his cunning, his wisdom and his unparalleled intelligence that he organized the world and assigned to the gods their tasks and functions, except for Ishtar, who was born a warrior. The latter, incensed, made him pay dearly for this affront. She went to his city of Eridu, intoxicated him and took away his knowledge in order to bring them back to his city of Uruk. Enki accepted defeat. It is him who advocated to lock up Apsu, enraged by the attitude of his children towards their creatures, the men, rather than to kill him and put him to sleep thanks to an incantation of which he alone has the secret; it is him who proposed to the gods his son Marduk as a champion to defend them against Tiamat when the latter sought to avenge her husband. He is the one who resurrected Ishtar when she was killed by her elder sister Ereshkigal for having wanted to rule over the Underworld, and thus ensure the procreation of beings. It is him who made Nergal king of the Underworld, appointed the brave Ninurta to recover the Tablets of Destiny that the monstrous Anzû had stolen from Enlil, then punished the latter for having had the pride to covet the divine objects. It is alas still him who divided the tongues of the men, jealous of the adoration that these last ones showed towards Enlil, and who was cursed and made sick by Ninhursag to have eaten sacred plants before being cured by this last one in front of Enlil's insistence. But his most famous act among the Babylonian pantheon is to have saved humanity, which the gods, and first of all Enlil, wanted to exterminate by the Flood, for the noise that their proliferation caused, and thus the gods. He warned his friend and devotee, the king Utanapishti of the imminence of the catastrophe, ordering him to build a ship to shelter his family, all the animals, the scientists who were the guarantors of civilization, and himself. After the cataclysm, Enki was the first to plead the cause of humanity to Enlil, followed by Ninhursag and Ishtar, succeeding in softening the god of the wind who realized his mistake and accepted that humanity be recreated for the good of the gods and the world. It is even said that in a final act of mercy, Enki was the only god to respond to the pleas of King Gilgamesh and momentarily brought up from the Underworld the ghost of his friend Enkidu so that he could see him one last time. But today, although the new era of the world is announced as being an era of peace, new threats seem to be looming and Ishtar does not stop conquering new territories in its unquenchable thirst for power. Enki does not intend to remain the arms crossed in the Abzû. He has the attention to remind the world of his past acts by realizing new ones thanks to his ingenious spirit for the good of the gods and the men. »
ABILITIES. PASSIVE.
"
WISDOM AND CUNNING OF ENKI". Enki is sows that his wisdom irrigated their allies who is at proximity. Also, each time that one or all of his allies was in difficulty, Enki find the solution. Enki can automatically send one Cunning at a time.
Wisdom of Enki. - Mana HP5: 10 (+5 per level)
- Units: 70
Cunning of Enki. -
Allie(s) who was some levels behind their opponents, Enki increase the EXP gain per second of the allies who needed.
EXP gain: +0,3 EXP per second (+0,15 per level),
-
Structures who was damaged, Enki send his Apkallû (fish-men) rebuilt the structure in question. The heal is reduced with each of the Apkallû who was kill.
Healing of the structure : 5 per seconde (5 per level, 5 per Apkallû alive around the structure)
Diminution of the healing per Apkallû killing : 5
Number of Apkallû : 7.
Health of Apkallû : 45 (+5 all two levels)
Duration of the Apkallû : 1 minute
-
Ennemy/ies who was kill the same allie three time or who kill three allie in one time, Enki create a double of the god(s) in question. The double taunt the ennemy/ennemies god(s) and deal damages to him/them.
Duration of the double(s): 15 seconds
Health of the double(s): 20% of the max. Health of the ennemy/ennemies god(s)
Range of the taunt: 75 units
Duration of the taunt: 1.5 second
Damage of the double(s): 25% of the magical or physical power of the ennemy/ennemies god(s)
-
When an ennemy god stole the Junge Bonus of an allie, Enki send a turtle to calm the pride of this gods! The turtle make magical damage with her bite and immobilize the ennemy god. After the end of the immobilization, the Jungle Bonus are restored and cannot be stolen again.
Duration of the turtle: 5 secondes.
Health: 100 (25 per level obtain).
Damage of the bite: 50 (5 per level and +20% of the magical power)
Duration of the immobilization: 1 second (0,5 second all the five levels).
-
When a lane was frequently gank, Enki summon and send one Giant of Eridu in the Jungle of the Lane in question. The Giant stop to the Jungle, the closest to the first tower and take the role of a Ward. When an enemy approached, he scream, deal damages and Fear, and repels and attacks them if they comes too close of him.
Health of the Giant of Eridu: 100 (25 by level)
Damages: 75 (+25% of the magical power).
Units: 55.
Damages of the scream: 125 (+10% of the magical power)
Fear's duration: 1 second (+0,5 second all the five levels)
Units of the repels: 20
-
When a lane was not protect by wards purchase by the allies, Enki warned them by a dream when one ennemy or more are in coming (the player(s) heard the voice of Enki with an echoing effect). This Cunning can be send by Enki all two minutes.
Also, at the level 10, Enki take to his teammates the
Food-of-Life and the
Water-of-Life, two consumables who cost 500 gold. It can be consumed only by their teammates, when their health was in 25% or below and when they consumed, they make revive the ally. Also, the Food-of-Life take +50 max. mana and the Water-of-Like +50 mana regeneration.
ACTIVE ABILITIES:
ABILITY 1: ”Conjuration of Sleep”. In a cone, Enki throw a sort of sleep, who deal damages, fall asleep all the enemy who are present in the area and make them more vulnerable to damage of Enki and his allies.
Ability type: Cone.
Range: 75 units.
Cone’s zone: 25 units
Affect: Ennemy, Minions, Jungle Monsters (the sleep don't apply to the Fire Giant and the Gold Fury
Damages: 40/45/50/55/60 (+35% of the magical power)
Duration of the sleep: 0.5/1/1.5/2/2.5 seconds
Damages vulnerability: 10/15/20/25/30%
Duration of the Damages vulnerability: 2 seconds
Cost: 35/45/55/65/75 of mana
Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11 seconds
ABILITY 2: ”Waters of the Tigris and Euphrates”. Enki concentrate is power on the two streams who are in each of his shoulders to heal his allies in a line. He can activate one stream at a time or two at a time. When he choose to activate one at a time, if he choose the stream on his right shoulder, the Tigris, he heal and increase the movement speed of his allies. If he choose the stream on his left shoulder, the Euphrates, he heal his allies and reduced their cooldowns. If he activate the two at a time, his healing was a healing during time on a more larger and ranged line and the ennemies gods who are present in the line are knockback.
Also, the fish who are presents on the Enki’s shoulders streams are thrown by the magic of Enki to the enemy who attack the allies that he heal, dealing damages and stun them.
Ability type: Line
Size (one stream): 20 units
Size (two streams): 40 units
Range (one stream): 80 units
Range (two streams) : 95 units
Affect: Allies, Minions, Ennemies
Healing (one stream): 20/25/30/35/40 (+30% of the magical power)
Healing (two streams): 30/35/40/45/50/55 (+45% of the magical power)
Tigris’s increase of movement speed: 5/10/15/20/25%
Duration of the increase of the movement speed: 2 seconds
Euphrates’s reduction cooldown: 1/2/2.5/3/3.5 seconds
Knockback’s range: 30 units
Damages of the fishes: 20/25/30/35/40 (+25% of the magical power)
Duration of the stun : 1,5 second
Cost: 40/60/90/120/140 of mana
Cooldown: 13/12.5/12/11.5/11 seconds
ABILITY 3: ”Exorcism of the Prince”. Enki use is all-knowledge in exorcism to remove all of the controls effects deals to his allies and those who are deals after and are healed over time. If the targeted allies have been healed before receiving immunity to control effects, they obtain damages mitigation when they are undergoing a control effect.
Ability type: ground target
Target’s size: 35 units
Range: 30 units
Affect: Allies, Allies Minions
Duration of the starter controls effect’s remove: 2 seconds
Duration of the control effect’s remove after the cast of the ability: 2 seconds
Healing over time: 5/10/15/20/25 (+10% of the magical power)
Duration of the healing over time: 3 seconds
Damages mitigation: 10/15/20/25/30%
Duration of the damages mitigation: 2 seconds
Cost: 75/80/85/90/96
Cooldown: 20/19.5/19/18.5/18 seconds
ULTIMATE: ”Protection of the Abzu”. By a powerful incantation, Enki make plunge ennemies and allies in his realms the Abzû. The allies gods receive shields and the cooldown of Enki are refresh by half except for his ultimate. The ennemies gods find themselves drowning, are slowed down and suffer heavy magical damage over time. The damage is increased if the health of one or more allied gods is equal to or less than 20%. The allied Minions located nearby becoming invulnerable for a very short period.
Ability type: Zone, ground target
Size: 70 units
Affect: Allies, Ennemies
Incantation’s time: 2 second
Shields’s health: 25/30/35/40/45% of the max. health (+15% of the magical power)
Shields’s duration: 2/2.5/3/3.5/4 seconds.
Damages over time: 90/95/100/105/110 (+100% of the magical power)
Duration of the damages over time : 3 seconds
Increased of the damages: 5/10/15/20/25% (+30% of the magical power)
Duration of the allied Minions’s invulnerability: 1 second
Cost: 100/150/200/250/300 of mana
Cooldown: 90/85/80/75/70 seconds
Quotes: Introduction: "
From Abzu I emerge once more to save men and gods and to ensure the continuity of this world I saw being created."
"
Ah, the fresh air of Enlil. I didn't remember it being so sweet."
Abilities : Conjuration of Sleep: "
I will not allow you to do as you please."
"
Did you seriously think to take the god and master of incantations and wisdom by surprise?"
Waters of the Tigris and Euphrates: "
Behold the mighty flood of the two rivers!"
"
Be healed and swept away!"
Exorcism of the Prince: "
I, Master of Incantations, heal men and gods!"
"
May the evil that affects you disappear!"
Protection of the Abzu: "
Come into my domain!"
"
I hope you are of divine essence and under my protection!"
Low health : "
This is the second time I have seen a being resist my incantations so well!"
"
Your resistance is nothing because I will get around it one way or another."
Death: "
Ninhursag..." (like Davy Jones at the moment of his death in
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End)
"
Gods, men, do not forget what I have done for you and act accordingly!"
Buy a consumable: "
Is this something new from Ninkasi or a new perfidy from Ishtar?"
"
It's not worth the Babylonian beer, but it would do!"
Buy an offensive item: "
What a beautiful piece of work! Could it be a creation of my little Apkallu?"
"
I know gods who would love to own such weapons."
Buy a defensive item: "
Looking at the situation, armor is welcome alongside wisdom, cunning and intelligence."
"
Although I am not a fan of frontal combat, I am willing to wear a little protection."
Put down a sentry/beacon: "
I inspect the world, just like in the good old days..."
"
I hope I don't infringe on Enlil and Marduk's roles..."
Make an Elimination: "
You will not trouble the world anymore.”
Makes a kill: "
Like Apsû and Mummu, I reduce you to eternal silence!"
Kill a Jungle Boss: "
A threat reduced to nothing!"
Destroys a Structure: "
My power is comparable to the Flood! How sadly ironic..."
Jokes: "
What animal can defeat a god? The Thor-tle."
"
How can you make your wife angry? Finish your plate of vegetables."
Provocations: "
Only a complete fool would dare to attack the god of wisdom."
"
Would you dare to attack the Master of ME, the very aspects of civilization? How barbaric you are!"
"
You touch me, I put you to sleep."
"
Even Enlil was never foolish enough to confront me. You, on the other hand, are."
"
I am fighting for the order of the world and the gods to be preserved. I invite you to surrender if you do not wish to see the world reduced to fire and blood."
Targeted provocations: Tiamat: "
I am sincerely sorry for Apsû and you. It was either you or the world. »
Gilgamesh: «
I know you have encounter my devoted Utanapishtim. He told him that you come to me, in search of immortality. And said that we agree to give it tom you. But now, I see you have gain in wisdom. I’m proud of you, wise king. »
Persephone: "
Helping humans against your own is pure madness. And it has been confirmed. Let me help you in your more than worthy quest."
Nu Wa: "
You too created humans from clay? What do you say that we associate?"
Ishtar: "
I come to calm your warlike fury and remind you of your place among our illustrious pantheon. »
Why I have a problem with the inclusion of Enki in SMITE©? My main problem with Enki is the fact that he solves all the problems faced by the gods in Mesopotamian mythologies with his brilliant mind. He can be deceived (Inanna intoxicates him in
Inanna and Enki), he can't foresee everything (he didn't see the Flood coming) and he can face a problem that is too powerful for him (Tiamat) while offering a solution (Marduk). In short, he always finds a way to solve a given problem.
What I fear about his introduction in
SMITE© is that for the needs of the scenario, the scriptwriters put Enki in one or more situations in which he can't find a solution at all, which would be a betrayal of the god. And therein lies the problem: if they add Enki, technically, he is supposed to solve all the problems and therefore the story of SMITE might become less exciting. And I say maybe because in the
Enuma elish, a cosmogonic war epic, he manages to find solutions without diminishing the epochal and violent side of the story. Therefore, I am divided. On the one hand, I will be happy if Enki is added to the game, but on the other hand I'm afraid that either his character will undergo drastic changes when adapting to the game universe for the needs of the story, or that he will be, literally, the Two-Ex-Machina of the story. What do you think?
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2023.03.31 22:03 goldenbokchoi I’m curious, what do GIANT deniers see when shown these pics? “Muh photoshop!” Right? Pics of Bones, Living, Petrified, Animal, Trees, every kind of giant fossil! So what do deniers see? What’s their “theory” for these? Please, tell me what I’m looking at if not GIANTIC COVERUPS AND REVELATIONS.
| Silicon age. Giants of the past The hypothesis about the possibility of that former life like giants were SILICON based not carbon was put forward back in the 60s of the last century. In short, that's the thing here. Protein chains that form the basis of the substance of all earth-inhabiting creatures - from single-celled bacteria to humans - are built on the basis of carbon. But it is assumed that silicon can create the same chains. This means that proteins based on it can also lead to the emergence of life under certain conditions in the process of long-term evolution. At the same time, "Silicon" organisms and their internal organs can have almost nothing to do with ours; life processes in them should proceed not only differently, but also many times slower, that is, time itself should move differently for them. The "silicon" creature is hardly able to notice us at all, as we do not notice, for example, the molecules fluttering in front of us. For the "Silicon" we are too fast. They only see and feel what is motionless or moving at the same speed as they do. According to Sharpe, such silicon-organic creatures have found a suitable habitat in the hot bowels of the planet, where they are gradually evolving. Individual "Silicon" individuals are occasionally brought to the surface as a result of volcanic activity, but at the top they do not seem to live long, freeze and becoming like ordinary stones. If you accept the Sharpe hypothesis, we can argue that silicon creatures do not live on the surface of the earth for long. Famous moving stones in California's Death Valley are known, for example. The boulders on it - from three-meter blocks to the size of a soccer ball - move like a Sharpe stone, leaving a trace on the ground. And this movement has been going on for hundreds of years. Signs of life are shown not only by stones from the valley of death. For several centuries, the legendary blue has been famous - a stone located near the village of the settlement near Pereslavl - behind - forested. In the Xvii century, this boulder, which was the object of worship of the Gentiles, was thrown into a deep pit and covered with earth, but a few decades later mysteriously looked out of the ground. The "Flamming" stone found by submariners near the coast of Paraguay is also known. In the 50s of the last century, the remains of the Spanish galleon were discovered there. It was not possible to examine it in detail at that time, but a detailed map of the seabed in this place was compiled. Among other features of the underwater relief, a five-meter boulder ingrown into the bottom was indicated on the map. When almost half a century later another expedition began to survey the galleon, its participants were very surprised to find a depression in place of the bounce. At the same time, a large stone not marked on the map was near the pit. After examining the stone and the depression, the submariners came to the conclusion that the stone was the same boulder from the old map. In fifty years, he somehow incomprehensible surfaced and moved several tens of meters. Moving stones were discovered by American astronauts on the moon. Behind the individual lunar boulders, as well as behind the stones in the valley of death, there were grooves, indicating that the boulders were moving. The most amazing thing is that some furrows were interrupted, and the stone that left them was not in place, as if he had soared into the air and flew away! "Larding" mind. All these and other Finds suggest that silicon life can exist not only in the specific conditions of the earth's subsoil, but also on the surface of the planet and even in the absolute cold of outer space. This means that silicon-based life is much more widespread in the universe than carbon. Both of these lives, so different from each other, evolved on earth in parallel, but at different speeds, which is why the results of their evolution vary greatly. Life on a carbon basis, which originated on our planet three and a half billion years ago, has now given a reasonable being - man. Silicon life, which originated here, seems to be even earlier, is only at the very beginning of its path to reason. And this is primarily due to the huge time difference in the course of life processes in silicon and carbon organisms. Long life expectancy and extreme slowness in the life of silicon significantly hinder their evolution. While hundreds, if not thousands of generations of carbon creatures, were replaced, only one generation of silicon creatures was replaced. As a result of such a turtle evolutionary movement, the most "advanced" silicon individuals in their "reasonableness" are now at best at the level of primitive worms. Silicon creatures are so unusual that in our perception they are indistinguishable from simple stones. Even scientific methods, as can be seen from Sharpe samples, cannot recognize their real nature. We can guess that we are not stones, but living beings in front of us only by their behavior, such as movement. Modern science denies the presence of life based on silicon on Earth. Howard Sharpe's report about the Finding of the "Living Stone" scientists prefer not to notice how much they do not notice many other phenomena that do not fit into the framework of traditional ideas about the world around them. But these phenomena still exist and are waiting for science to finally grow to their correct understanding. Silicon life form: agates, living stones There is a hypothesis that the crystalline mineral lattice is able to accumulate information and operate on it. That is, the theory of "thinking stones" is put forward. According to a number of researchers, all biological organisms, including humans, are only "incubators". Their meaning lies in the birth of "stones." It has been established that a diamond can be made from ash after human cremation. This service is quite popular in some countries. For example, from 500 g of ashes under pressure and high temperature in 2 months, you can grow a blue diamond with a diameter of 5 mm. On average, a person synthesizes about 100 kg of quartz and silicon in his life. It is believed that when they enter the body, they begin to grow, often causing discomfort. After death, these stones probably go through another cycle of development already in natural (natural) conditions. They turn into separate nuggets that resemble agates. The accumulation and development of grains of sand in the body has been known for a long time. This process is called pseudomorphosis. Thus, the bones of dinosaurs have been preserved to this day thanks to this phenomenon. At the same time, the chemical composition of the residues has nothing to do with bone tissue. In fact, their existence causes a silicon life form. This has been proven by a number of studies. In one case, the casts of bone remains are chalcedony, in the other - apatite. Unusual belemnites were discovered in Australia - cephalopods that widely inhabited the planet in the Mesozoic era. Their bone residues are replaced by opal. Zinc-shaped. This type of lizard is considered the most diverse. It also includes the so-called real lizards, which live in the middle zone of Russia. Most of the reptiles of this order are inhabitants of the tropics. They inhabit South America, Madagascar, Cuba and Africa. There are also some species of skins in the Sahara desert. Iguanoeous. This detachment consists of more than fourteen families. The most interesting representative of this species is the chameleon, which inhabits South America and Madagascar. Hecko-shaped. This type of lizard is not the most common. It is he who includes some legless lizards, which are easy to confuse with snakes. There are such reptiles in Australia and some southern islands. Spindle-shaped. This squad is mainly represented by barn and legless lizards. Worm-shaped lizards. Lizards of this species look like large earthworms. They inhabit tropical and subtropical moist forests of Mexico, Indonesia and Indochina. Varano-shaped. This species is represented by large reptiles. Most often these are monitor lizards weighing more than five kilograms. The only poisonous lizard poisonous tooth also belongs to this order. She bites her victim and at the same time injects poison under the skin. Video silicon life form 2 Carbon-based bodies and flint-based bodies. What's the difference? Carbon base of the body. Proteins, carbohydrates, gases, everything contains carbon. As a result, the bodies are heavy, a constant complex oxidative process is required. Water in the body does not contain carbon, but participates in all processes in the body. There is still silicon in the human physical body, although in a small amount necessary for the work of many organs. In this case, silicon is not river sand. This is a soluble element in the form of ions. The transition of the body to a silicon basis will give a change in many chemical reactions of the biological shell - to simplifying the metabolic system and facilitating the body. People will not be able to jump from the carbon base of the body to another one. A restructuring is required, which will take some time. The bodies of modern people are adapted to carbon, so it is difficult to "break" the physical plane. This can be done with young bodies, switching to a different diet, in principle different from the current one. These are not only prana, but also elements of the Earth. Water (crystal) - and silicon-based body. Clean water is a crystal, a receiving device is a transmitting device. Liquid media in the body, it's not quite clean water. The water there is about 30%. These liquids contain dense substances that create a substrate of life (formed blood elements, amino acid proteins, fats, salts, trace elements, etc.). All these components include carbon. When replacing C with Si, the environment will change radically. Water will only remain a solvent and informant. But the water itself is not transformed. In nature, water is combined into clusters. This connection, in terms of information content, is akin to computer disks. There are very few such compounds in the human body, and are more often received from outside. First of all, the bodies will not wear out as much as they are now. A stronger body base, a skeleton, will increase the conductivity of the body. The crystal lattice of the internal environment will allow you to receive-give thin energies very easily. So, the subtle material world will enter everyday life easily and become commonplace. The heavyness of the bodies will go away. But as a habitat, it will still be a dense world. The current crystal lattice is outdated functionally, so it will be replaced. But it's a long process, not one day... First, units will be converted to silicon bodies, rebuilt slowly and when ready. The suns will get it faster, it's easier for them to do it. But still, it's a rather slow process. 10 signs of silicon bodies: - On the thin plane, the skin has a coral color, not bright, but energetically luminous.
- There are weakly noticeable glitter on the physical body. During periods of "live waves" on Earth and the summer activity of the Sun, the shine on the skin can increase significantly. These glitter have a coral, solar and diamond shine. They can be lubricated from body to paper. These glitter are also present inside the skin and nails, in the hair and are visible as an unusual shine.
- Silicon body is isomorphic. In the movie "Tron. Heritage" was "The Last Isomorph." So, to think in this direction.
- The silicon body has the ability to change volume and weight, change facial features (resane, of course).
- In a short time, a change in the character and other characteristics of a person is achieved in the presence of a Silicon body.
- There is no need for physical activity, for example, in the gym, but they are not contraindicated. Muscles with the finished Silicon Body are toned in other ways. At the same time, there is much more physical strength than that of the same athlete.
- In the presence of Silicon Body, the Star Body and Budchic are very developed. Although, here, perhaps, they are causes, not a consequence.The processes of cleansing the body are going on their own. And you don't have to limit yourself to something. The body, that is, you yourself, feel that you want to eat, or, if desired, you may not eat at all. And there will be no problems in protein bodies.
- There is a strong adaptation of medicines and even poisons. The body seems to understand the mechanism of action of the drug and takes its qualities into itself. After that, it no longer has a therapeutic effect. However, this does not apply to all medicines, some are designed to cause huge damage to Silicon Body. Therefore, it is better to give up any medication at all if there are no local ailments manifested at the physical level.
- If the regulars of beauty salons, women, developed Silicon Bodies in themselves, they would admire how economical it is!)) Maybe such Benefit will encourage them to do it. Because the skin, face and body are the result of expensive hardware cosmetology.What you need to go through to buy a silicon body:These processes begin after an important stage of transformations has passed - the purification stage of thin bodies, followed by the purification of the DNA of the Soul, that is, the part of your DNA that was once incarnated on this planet, everything is cured. Before your body gets the opportunity to transform to the 4th density, before that you must be completely, totally, as called, "to the bottom" cleared before your first descent to this planet, and even if you had descents not only to this planet, but in this galaxy into other densities of the same level, then the DNA must also be purified, that is, all the experience of your Soul, which belongs to the third level of matter, all damage to DNA codes must be cleared, detected and fully restored according to the ideal pattern.
Another direction of alternative biochemistry is to study the possibility of the vital activity of "antisymmetric" organisms from D-amino acids and L-carbohydrates, and not vice versa. Silicon era. How long did the silicon era last? The Silicon era is the crust of the earth. The Earth's crust consists of rocks, the main element of which is silicon. The thickness of the crust is 5-30 kilometers. And silicon creatures developed these kilometers with their activities. Just as carbon creatures are now developing fertile soil. So far, 3 meters have been worked. Feel the difference. The famous geochemist academician Fersman hypothesized that a silicon form of life (non-carbon) is possible on our planet. Similar assumptions were made by different scientists at different times. In November this year, it was reported that biotechnologists at the California Institute had removed a bacterium that is capable of synthesizing compounds with SiO 2. Thus, they have made significant progress in research related to the creation of creatures whose metabolism is based on inorganic molecules. Silicon form of life: vitolitic theory In the course of research, scientists searched enzymes in the information base of protein sequences that have the ability to bind C and SiO 2. Hemoproteins were chosen for this reaction. They are proteins in which porphyrins are also present. The researchers chose cytochrome. This protein synthesizes bacteria present in Iceland's hot underwater sources. Scientists have identified and multiplied the gene that encodes the enzyme. After that, he was subjected to accidental mutations. The researchers introduced the created DNA sequences into E. coli. In the course of observations, it was found that some mutations in the active site led to the fact that the taken bacteria began to produce a protein capable of synthesizing organosilicon compounds. Its effectiveness, determined by the reaction speed and quantity of the product, exceeds the effectiveness of artificial catalysts. Scientists intend to continue their research. Their goal is to understand why, despite the wide spread of silicon compounds on Earth, it was the carbon form that was created and developed in the course of evolution. There are no organisms in nature that can use SiO 2 in metabolism. It is quite possible that in the future researchers will be able to create an organism from which the silicon form of life on Earth will begin. Literary performances Silicon life on Earth is invisible to the human eye. Metabolism in it is so stretched over time that people do not take into account the very possibility of its existence. Pratchett's books (English writer) about the Flat World describe the original race of silicon-organic creatures - trolls. Their thinking depends on the temperature of their habitat. The stupidity that is characteristic of trolls is due to the poor functioning of the organosilicon brain in the warmth. With significant cooling, these creatures show ultra-high intellectual abilities. Representatives of the silicon-calcium world can be transformed into the skeleton of animals and plants, as well as into corals. Natural phenomena French geologists Reşar and Escolier have been studying rock samples from different parts of the world for quite a long time. They found out that the stones have certain signs of life processes. Only they flow extremely slowly. Scientists have found out that the structure of stones may change. They can be old or young. In addition, the researchers have established their ability to "breathe." But one "inhale" stretches for 1-14 days, and "heartbeat" - for almost a day. Scientists photographed stones at different periods of time and established their ability to move. Meanwhile, there are "moving blocks" in many parts of the world. Silicon life form: agates, living stones There is a hypothesis that the crystalline mineral lattice is able to accumulate information and operate on it. That is, the theory of "thinking stones" is put forward. According to a number of researchers, all biological organisms, including humans, are only "incubators". Their meaning lies in the birth of "stones." It has been established that a diamond can be made of ash after. This service is quite popular in some countries. For example, from 500 g of ashes under pressure and high temperature in 2 months, you can grow a blue diamond with a diameter of 5 mm. On average, a person synthesizes about 100 kg of quartz and silicon in his life. It is believed that when they enter the body, they begin to grow, often causing discomfort. After death, these stones probably go through another cycle of development already in natural (natural) conditions. They turn into separate nuggets that resemble agates. The accumulation and development of grains of sand in the body has been known for a long time. This process is called pseudomorphosis. Thus, the bones of dinosaurs have been preserved to this day thanks to this phenomenon. At the same time, the chemical composition of the residues has nothing to do with bone tissue. In fact, their existence causes a silicon life form. This has been proven by a number of studies. In one case, the casts of bone remains are chalcedony, in another - apatite. Unusual belemnites were discovered in Australia - cephalopods that widely inhabited the planet in the Mesozoic era. Their bone residues are replaced by opal. Specifications Anatomical features are clearly identified in samples of different ages. In particular, during the research, the scientist and his team found a striped and crystalline body, a bottom-mirror (the meaning of this element was not determined accurately, it is assumed that it is a kind of visual analyzer). Agathas have skin that can shed and regenerate. Like many other organisms, they get sick and heal their wounds (cracks and chips). Silicon life forms involve nutrition, capturing certain spaces, preserving complex forms in dynamics. Reproduction In the course of the research, scientists revealed an interesting fact. It was found that the agates were bisexual. The crystalline body is female and the striped body is male. Genes are also present in them. They are represented by crystals of the female body. Reproduction can be carried out in several ways. For example, the silicon form of life is decoming from "seeds." In addition, on specific examples, Bokovikov showed that budding, cloning, division with the formation of separation centers are also possible. The researcher observed cryot reproduction in basalt. The scientist identified a number of processes. For example, the origin of cryotes, development, appearance of a baby, transformation into an organism, emergence of spherical structures around the embryos, death. Masonic performances In the course of numerous studies, a new doctrine has been formed - anthroposophy. Its founder was R. Steiner. He claimed to be the dominant of the planet. The birth, development and death of a person is necessary only for one purpose. It consists in serving the mineral world. Man and other organisms ensure the existence of compounds with the task of people Steiner saw in transforming the mineral world into a work of art. He said that electricity indicates the occult depths of matter. When people rebuild the mineral world, in accordance with their inner perception, the planet will cease to develop in the physical sense. It will move to another state in which the compacted form will reflect everything that the mineral Earth once was. Steiner quotes Goethe's words in support when he talked about the Spirit of the planet. At the same time, the scientist points out that there is a silime form of life on the moon. He says that there was also a development plan on this celestial body. In each case, relative to each planet, there is a different scheme. The atoms left after the cessation of physical development became the basis for the creation of the Earth. A plan is being developed for the planet. Reaching the end of development, its atoms move to another celestial body. As a result, a silicon form of life may occur on Venus, Mars, Jupiter. Cycle in nature Silicon life forms act as the initial and ultimate goal of the existence of organisms on the planet. A number of major scientists suggest seeing the meaning of human civilization solely in the participation of the cycle in the natural environment. While people were collectors and hunters, they acted as members of natural biocenoses. However, civilization has a number of specific features. According to V. B. Malakhov, a man extracts from the bowels what came out of the cycle. For example, it's oil, coal, gas. At the same time, a person returns carbon to the ground in the most accessible form for organisms. By extracting metals from the bowels, people saturate industrial wastewater with them, returning spent compounds to the oceans in a form acceptable to its inhabitants. This, in fact, is the biosphere task of mankind. "Dark Matter" According to some scientists, it can also act as a form of life. The term researchers refers to a hypothetical substance that fills about 27% of the universe. Physicists invented this concept to explain some contradictions. According to experts, this matter can be reasonable and interact with a person. However, this fabric is located at the quantum level. This explains the fact that many years of space exploration did not show scientists any satisfactory evidence of the existence of another life on planets. Conclusion In popular medical publications you can find research results indicating that the human body needs about 40-50 mg of silicon every day. Its key function is to maintain normal metabolism. It has been established that many diseases of the body could not exist if it had enough silicon. In this regard, it is believed that the health of human ancestors has been undermined by products that prevent its assimilation. Many of them are still included in the diet today. These are, in particular, meat, white flour, sugar, canned food. Mixed food is delayed in the digestive system for up to 8 hours. This means that during this time the body digests products using most of the enzymes. In such a situation, as I. P. Pavlov, the body cannot ensure sufficient energy supply to other organs - heart, kidneys, muscles, brain. From this, the researchers draw one important conclusion. They say that probably Steiner, who says that the meaning of human existence is to serve minerals, is right. Even official scientists recognize the possibility of silicon life. Silicon is the second most common element on Earth after oxygen. The most common compound of silicon is its SiO2-silica dioxide. In nature, it forms the mineral quartz and its varieties: rhinestone, amethyst, agate, opal, jasper, chalcedony, carnelian. Silicon dioxide is also sand. The second type of natural silicon compounds is silicates. These include granite, clay, mica. Why can silicon be the basis of life? Silicon forms branched compounds like hydrocarbons, that is, silicon is a source of diversity. Silicon powder burns in oxygen, that is, silicon is an energy source. Chips and, accordingly, computers have been created on the basis of the semiconductor properties of silicon - that is, silicon can be the basis of the mind. Could there have been a silicon life on our planet in the past? I could. The trunks and branches of stone trees were found. Some of them are precious. Finds are numerous all over the world. There are so many trees in some places that it's different than you can't call it a forest. The structure of wood is preserved in stone trees. There are fossil stone bones of animals, including precious stones. The finds have a bone structure preserved. Teeth and toothholes are structured in the opal jaw of the animal. Many mountains resemble stumps of huge stone trees. There are a large number of stone shells lying in the steppes - ammonites. In general, there are many examples of fossil silicon creatures. If someone is satisfied with the official explanation of the process of replacing carbon with silicon in fossil finds due to irrigation of wood or bone with mineral water with further transformation into a precious stone, do not read this article further. Suppose for ourselves that silicon life is a fact. And it preceded carbon life on our planet. Then the next question: what did she look like? Like the carbon form of life, the silicon form of life should be structured from the simplest unicellular forms to evolutionarily (or divinely, whoever likes) complex and mind-in-duponed forms. Complex life forms consist of organs and tissues. It's like now. The idea of silicon life as a monolithic piece of granite endowed with the spirit of God are quite naive. It's like a living puddle of oil or a living piece of coal. The organ set is universal for any creature, both carbon and silicon. These are control (nerve system), nutrition, toxin secretion, frame (bos, etc.), environmental protection (skin), reproduction, etc. Animal tissues consist of different cells and look different. Bone tissue, muscle, epidermis, etc. Fabrics consist of different substances: fats, proteins, carbohydrates. Tissues have different contents of various substances from carbon to metals. All this visible farm functions according to physical and chemical laws. Laws common to a living organism, computer, car. Let's go further: something happens and silicon life is dying. Carbon life is nolonging on its ruins. A logical question: where are the bodies of dead silicon animals, plants, fish, etc.? Stumps and stone trees have already been mentioned. Suitable, but there is little quantity and variety. I would like to see a complex life form consisting of different organs and tissues. For example, like an animal. With skin, muscles, liver, vessels and heart. So: the silicon ispoline died. Time has passed. What will we see? Let's draw an analogy: a mammoth died. What will we find in many, many years? Usually the frame (bos), less often the skin, less often muscles. The brain and parenchymal organs are extremely rare. And now let's look for silicon frames in the world around us. They are scattered all over the world. These are ancient and colonial buildings! I suggest taking a pause and calmly disassembling the difference between a certain building and a static organism such as coral or mushroom on a silicon basis. Bricks, beams, blocks, ceilings are structural units of frame fabric such as bones of modern animals or a turtle shell. They have been preserved well. Leather - walls with plaster. Sewerage is an excretory system. Heating pipes are a circulatory system. Fireplace system - food. A bell tower with a bell is an organ of speech or vestibular apparatus. Metal fittings or wiring are a nervous system. There was a brain under the roof. Let's remember the expression "the roof went." The brain rotted from time to time along with the internal organs located in the interior. And all this rubbble in the form of clay covers ancient and colonial buildings on the first floor. It is no longer possible to allocate the structural unit (cell) of soft tissues. Total: structurally, any building corresponds to the functions of a living being. There is a frame, food, selection, etc. This will be confirmed by plumbers and chairmen of housing and utility enterprises. Any materials and devices of the building can be synthesized by a living organism. Iron and stone pipes, cables, roofing iron, glass, all these construction details are many times easier than the devices of a living organism. Living organisms use any trace elements and their compounds available on the planet. And they synthesize devices for any purpose, complexity and composition. As long as it was necessary. Locks, lamps, electric shockers, aircraft, submarines. That is, stamen pistils, firefly, electric stingrays, birds, fish. It's all nature. Any man-made device is not an exclusive creation of the engineer's brain, but is a copy of a natural device. And vice versa. Accordingly, the composition of the roofing iron, the shape of a stable and roomy silicon structure in the form of a house are not a human monopoly. The solutions are universal for nature and for the engineer. Ancient buildings, aka silicon creatures, multiplied and then grew just like modern plants and animals. The cells were divided, differentiated into specialized fabrics in the form of walls, roofs, floors, reinforcement. And from ryos like dolmenders turned into St. Isaac's cathedrals. I will not dwell on physiology, including ways of reproduction of silicon creatures due to the complexity of the topic. There was a substance similar to water in carbon life. For example, sulfuric acid. There were silicon analogues of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. There was an oxidizing agent like oxygen. For example, chlorine. There was a Silicon Krebs cycle. An amusing picture is that looks like a mixture of Christian hell and the movie Alien. This whole life was bubbling at a certain, apparently high temperature. And it turned into monuments of ancient and colonial architecture. Can you say that ancient buildings meet human physiological needs? Of course not. Older (according to official history) such as pyramids or Greek temples do not correspond to people in terms of size or function at all. Why do ancient Greeks need them? For a religious cult? Funny. No, you can do it if you already have a ready-made building. But to build these giant mahinas with bare hands and in tunics? Buildings for a technological process unknown to modern science? It's also doubtful. Later buildings, such as colonial Peter, can be adapted for housing. But it wasn't very good with the size of windows, doors either. They say they built them under giants. In Paris, St. Petersburg and other cities, there are no clear traces of its builders and the construction process from the design stage to delivery to the contractor. All these colonial buildings came out of nowhere. All these colonial buildings are located around the world, including in places where there was no intelligible industry at all. The technology of working with granite is absolutely unclear. More or less intelligible explanations are: alien superlasers in LAistov or granite casting. Both are beyond the possibilities of modern civilization. The structure of monolithic granite products is heterogeneous. Something like plaster made of the same but denser granite falls off from monolithic columns. How the skin peels off. The Pillar of Alexandria looks prefabricated through the filters. Or maybe it's something like one-year rings in the course of growth? Ancient and colonial buildings are the skeletons of dead creatures of the silicon form of life. People settled in them. They studied the golden proportions of ancient creatures, engineering schemes. Later, the composition of the materials was dismantled. We learned how to make copies ourselves. That's how construction was born. Naturally, not all old buildings are silicon creatures. The border is quite clear - there should be no wood as load-bearing structures, floors. Well, wooden doors, window frames and floor were quite comfortable in the existing silicon skeleton. Houses in colonial cities like St. Petersburg are all different. Absolute sorting in terms of the size of the houses themselves, the height of the floors, the shape of the facade. At the same time, there is no gap between the houses on the streets, they stand wall to wall. There is a soft natural harmony in the overall layout of cities. All this resembles a colony of living creatures. Maybe like corals, or mushrooms. Cathedrals - well, just poured mushrooms. Statues in ancient buildings The skeletonies are a late human new business stuffed in prehistoric skeletons. The statues are structureless. This is a monolithic array of material with an external shape copied from humans and inhumans. And living beings are structural, as noted earlier. The fossil finds are also structural. That is, in petrified trees, rings are visible on the section. The found stone jaws with teeth and bones are inside the body. They are a structural element in themselves. Could silicon animals and silicon people be similar to modern ones? Of course. Findings of animal bones allegedly petrified to the state of precious stones (including jaws) and tree trunks confirm this probability. I will return to the religious cult in ancient and colonial temples. You have noticed that according to all data earlier, the effectiveness of all cults was much higher. Now, in my opinion, it has fallen to zero, except for self-zombusing. Most likely, it's about the following. After the death of a silicon creature, its etheric, astral, etc. shells do not leave the dead physical body immediately. As well as carbon creatures. The energy of these shells was used by the servants of the cult for their rituals, settling inside the corpse. Now, apparently, forty days have passed by the standards of silicon life. There's no more magic. I hope everyone went to heaven. When did the end of the silicon era happen? Probably according to the calendar. At night, 7525 from the creation of the world. Can silicon skeletons stand for 7,525 years? Why not? We didn't see them 7525 years ago. And accordingly, we do not represent the initial quality. Nothing bad has happened over the past 200 years. How long did the silicon era last? The Silicon era is the crust of the earth. The Earth's crust consists of rocks, the main element of which is silicon. The thickness of the crust is 5-30 kilometers. And silicon creatures developed these kilometers with their activities. Just as carbon creatures are now developing fertile soil. So far, 3 meters have been worked. Feel the difference. Sunset of the Silicon Age When immersed in the soil of the silicon world, that is, the Earth's crust, the temperature rises. They warm the bowels of the earth. At a depth of 10 kilometers, it's about 200 degrees. That's probably the climate in the silicon world. Accordingly, the materials had different physical and chemical properties than they are now. Over time, the bark thickened as a result of the accumulation of silicon biomass (soil). The surface moved away from the hot bowels of the earth and its temperature dropped. At the moment, the heat of the earth's bowels does not reach the surface. The only source of heat is the sun. The global cooling of the surface of the earth's crust has made the living conditions unacceptable for the silicon world. Silicon light is over. Everyone died from the cold. Where did the remains of the other creatures go? On the basis of silicon, nature synthesizes a bunch of precious and semi-precious stones. That's what Flint's what Flinted life was doing. Highly organized silicon creatures consisted of highly organized silicon in the form of precious stones. And common sand, granite and clay are a building material, the basis of life. After the end of silicon light, precious and semi-precious raw materials (i.e. corpses of highly organized silicon creatures) were barbarously looted. There are unnecessary sand, granite and clay. Traces of robbery are everywhere. See the topic "Earth is a big quarry." Silicon world and oriental philosophy Eastern religions describe the process of descent of spirit into matter. The incarnate spirit passes through reincarnation the world of stones, plants, animals, people and finally becomes a god. If you're lucky. There's something harmonious and fair about it. But I suspect that the world of stones is not modern cobblestones, but the world of silicon creatures. The planet was a large garden of living stones. And the task of the silicon world was to create the foundation of life - the Earth's crust with a mass of minerals. The next world that has emerged on the ladder of progress is carbon. And this is the world of plants. And it does not matter that according to the local classification of modern science, plants are the biological kingdom of multicellular organisms whose cells contain chlorophyll. And it doesn't matter that Vasya or John doesn't have a photosynthesis process. Carbon life is the second step from below on the path of development. In a global philosophical sense, we are all just plants. And the planet is a big plantation. The task of plantation is to create biomass, to be food for animals and humans. The fact that we actively eat elusive beings in every sense is an unpleasant but quite realistic conspiracy idea. Why are creatures elusive, invisible? Because we are static, slow on a universal scale. We are plants. We do not have time to see animals eating us coming from the following worlds in terms of development. The so-called man is the main useful plant on the planet. It should be cultivated in theory. But judging by the state of affairs in the world, our planet-plantation was left without human owners, and is actively robbed by wild animals from higher worlds. Barbarians are everywhere, even among the gods. The bark is gutted for many kilometers. The previous level of the Earth's crust is the top of the Himalayas. Normal people have been almost completely replaced by genetically modified ones, multiplied to seven billion and etheric energy (gavah) is downloaded from them. Under the guise of local and global wars, there is literally consumption of people. Precious stones and metals have magical properties. All the magic was seized with buckets of huge rotary excavators. Witchcraft and magic from everyday practice have become a fairy tale. And human society began to resemble a hornet colony. And eternal battle! We only dream of peace. submitted by goldenbokchoi to AlternativeHistory [link] [comments] |
2023.03.31 21:59 MotherOfRain Sheen Beard Saga - Part 7
"What Sheen can buy"
Hello, my little munchkins, my starry-eyed dearies, my cringe lovers. I just finished baking another batch of spine bending goodies, just for you. There was an attempt to hurry up with this part, so that ReddX could have enough material for a video a little bit sooner. (I hope things are a little better on your end there, man.) Well then, let’s snack through the…
CAST LIST
Sheen Beard: He is like a poorly made souffle. He might look good for about half a second, until you nudge him and the whole carefully conducted image turns out to be nothing but hot air.
Peach: A cute cupcake. Beautifully decorated, but also sweet on the inside.
Mora: A cake roll. Perfect for bashing dumb dumbs over the head with. Most effective when kept in her native, frigid temperatures.
The fresh cringe has cooled enough. Have at it!
In this part, we do a bit of a time skip once again. A couple of years passed with me keeping somewhat loosely in touch with Sheen Beard and Peach. He was often bored or lonely when his daughter was spending time at her mother’s and that’s when Sheen would go through his contact list, looking for someone to entertain him. During these times, I stonewalled him quite a bit and kept my responses short and to the point, as I had no energy to entertain such a lazy conversationalist. If you need to carry a conversation by yourself, like Sam carried Frodo up Mount Doom, it’s not a conversation worth having. There is no ring of power for you to worry about, so let the whiny sack of po-ta-toes roll right into the lava.
On a few occasions however, Sheen would fiddle around with his phone while Peach was staying with him. During these instances Peach, like most little children, wanted to be a part of all of her dad’s activities. So, they’d call me together and I chatted with Peach about things like daycare, her toys, and favorite shows. One evening, she wanted to call me during her water themed playtime. When I picked up Sheen’s surprise call, Peach was already splashing around with a bunch of toys and sang gleeful hellos to me. After recounting her latest news to me, she pleaded for me to play with her. I chuckled and relented. Her enthusiasm reminded me of my cousin, when she was still small and begged me to join her in playing with Barbies.
Peach too wanted to play with dolls, but hers were these three superhero kids from some animated TV-program. I know she was a fan of a show called Miraculous Ladybug, because I learned to sing the opening theme to surprise her, but I’m not sure if the toys were from that show or not. Anyway, Peach assigned a toy to each of us, Sheen Beard included, and began leading an expedition to explore the bathtub. I had Sheen take physical control of my Green colored doll, while I narrated the actions she took and gave her my best superhero voice. When Peach’s Red doll fell off our noble boat and got attacked by a shark, Green leaped after her and punched the shark out of the water with proper sound effects and all.
Peach seemed to be having fun. I was relieved that she appeared to be well and that Sheen let her take charge of her own play. Good sign. After a while, I let my now soaked playmates know that I had some duties to attend to, and left the pair of them to finish up their night. After this, Peach kept asking for “Green Girl” more often. My real name was a bit difficult for her to say, so she resorted to using the name of the doll most of the time. I thought this was sweet and did play with her a few more times. The time zone difference meant that such chances were rather few and far between, but I do cherish the memories that we made.
Why am I writing about playtime with Peach? Because I want you to get a glimpse of my relationship with her. I was never a prominent presence in Peach’s life, but I was fond of the little critter and I wanted to help make her life a little better in my own small ways. For some reason, I get on well with kids over all, and a few of my friends’ children straight up know me as their honorary Aunty Rain. This is not a title I am in any way unhappy with, and I carry it with pride.
I think we have let Sheen lurk on the backburner for too long at this point. Let us return to recounting his beardy endeavors. It was an early Saturday morning for me. I had been unable to sleep very well and woken up to some random noise from the apartment above mine. Sheen and Peach would sometimes call me at that hour and get me to participate in their evening playtime (remember, time zone difference), so when my computer started serenading the familiar tune of bleeps and bloops at me, I answered, expecting to hear Peach’s voice greet me. Instead, I was hit by a series of nasally baas from Sheen Beard. I was ready to come up with an excuse to cut the call short, but instead of his usual “I’m bored and lonely” shpiel, he told me he wanted to ask me for a favor. I was instantly suspicious.
Mora: What is it that you need?
Sheen: Well, Peach has been asking for something, so it’s actually for her too and not just for me.
My brow unfurrowed a little.
Mora: Go on.
Sheen: Peach is growing up and I miss it when she was a baby. I really want to have a second one. Peach has been asking for a sister too.
The creases on my forehead returned with vengeance.
Mora: Okay..? And what should I do about that? Please tell me you haven’t knocked up another crazy person.
Sheen: No. It’s not like that. See Mora, I was wondering if you’d be willing to carry that baby for me?
Mora: …Huh?
Sheen: Yeah, like I would pay you of course. I’d take care of all your expenses during the pregnancy and-
Mora: ‘Xcuse me? Hold on a moment. Are you asking me to be a surrogate for you and… who? Wha-?
Sheen: No, no. I am like asking you to donate your egg. You and Peach have the same hair color, so the baby would look like her too. You don’t need to be a mom, if you don’t want to. You can just sign off the parental rights to me. I don’t want a big custody fight like with Whiff. If you want, you can visit us and stuff of course. Or if you want, you can also-
I wasn’t listening anymore. My brain was frozen trying to understand what on Arda (Tolkien’s Earth, for the less geeky) the oiled orc was talking about. It was far too early in the morning for a discussion of such magnitude. So, I grasped for the smaller details of the matter. Logic. I needed logic.
Mora: So… Wait. You want me to have a baby for you? How exactly?
Sheen: Well, we could save money and do it the traditional wa-
Mora: Ugh, no. And besides, I am all the way in a different country anyway.
Sheen: I could fly you over, we could do the thing, and then you could fly back for a few months and then back here to give birth. Then you could sign off the baby to me and go back home.
Was this goon serious? The money needed for such a set of plain tickets could easily cost up to 4000€. Not to mention the visa hassle. Besides, if I were to have a child, I couldn’t just give them up. I noticed myself getting outraged by the idea.
Mora: And what the hell? I am not going to sell my baby. Even a hypothetical one. I couldn’t do something like that. There is no way I could leave my child to the other side of the planet and never see them again.
Sheen: You could always stay here?
Mora: I have been to your country. I didn’t like it there. Hard pass.
Sheen: Peach and I could move there.
Mora: And how could you possibly manage that? Whiff is definitely not going to let her child move out of country, let alone to another ass continent. And that’s not even the point! The whole idea is insane!
Sheen: What do you mean it’s insane? You’ve seen Peach. I make some really cute babies. I think you’d make cute babies. We could make a really cute sibling for Peach together. And she likes you. Plus, I told you; I’d pay for everything. And I could give you (Insert a very large sum of money here) for carrying my baby. You could choose to be a mom or just an aunty or something.
My brain was finally starting to catch up. Why was I even discussing something like this with Sheen of all people? It was clear from the get go that I would NOT be doing this for him.
Mora: No, I… No, Sheen Beard. 1. I don’t want to sleep with you. 2. I don’t want to have a baby right now. 3. I am so not ready to be a mom and 4. There is no conceivable way for me to sell my baby! The answer is no.
Sheen tried to argue the matter with me for almost half an hour. I’m not sure why I didn’t tell him to go stuff himself with lead pellets and jump into the closest river. Maybe I was so flabbergasted by such a ridiculous idea that I had to try and understand his logic. He had none. No sound solutions for even just the glaringly obvious logistical issues. He must have been banking on the idea of me sailing west and into his arms. I’d sooner burn all my books than get within 5 meters of Sheen’s miasma sphere. And I love my books. The idea of his bun in my oven… The thought alone makes me want to evacuate my today’s entire caloric intake in one huge wave of bile.
Finally, Sheen found himself without further arguments and relented. He said it was fine if I declined his generous offer, because he had a couple of other women in mind that he could ask this of as well. Besides, I was only no.2 on his list of preferences anyway. I told him to go talk it out with those women instead of trying to request me for something that I was absolutely not willing to give him. The topic was finally dropped and I went on a very long walk. Who the hell tries to BUY a freaking BABY!? Maybe in Sheen’s country this was something people did from time to time, but in mine such a transaction would be flat out illegal. Or maybe this was a fully homebrewed concept that Sheen came up with. I wasn’t sure. I still am not. The guy could’ve at least offered me a PlayStation before asking for such favors. No sense of proper courtship whatsoever.
Sheen didn’t directly try to request a baby from me again. Directly being the operative word. He did send me a truck load of photos of Peach, noting each time how cute his daughter was. I ignored all the pictures consistently. And after this little set of quotes from Sheen…
Peach: “daaaaddd remember the girl the Green girl?”
Sheen: Yeah, Mora.
Peach: I like Mora! She my best friend we play with her like mommy daddy and baby in my bath!
…I wouldn’t engage in playtime with Peach anymore. If Sheen was feeding her this idea of me being a potential new mommy, I couldn’t in clear conscience keep being around in such capacity. I refused to partake in breaking a little girl’s heart when I inevitably would have to draw an even harder line in the sand, this time with Sheen’s face. I was a little sad to sever my personal connection with Peach, but I figured it was the kinder thing to do in the long run.
After realizing that using Peach wasn’t going to change my mind, Sheen tried a different route. He asked me out. He told me how he had actually liked me for a long, looong time, but never acted on his feelings and blah blah blah. I told him that I sincerely doubted that and that he should get his head on straight and stop spewing nonsense. Sheen Beard insisted that his feelings were genuine and so I gave him the same answer I had given to a co-worker of mine a few months before. “Ask me again in 3 months.”
A little bit of context is needed, I think. At the time, I worked parttime at a small cafeteria. One of my co-workers was known to be a little bit of a ladies’ man and had tried to ask me out. In order to not be confrontational, I told him to ask me again in exactly 3 months, if he was serious. He actually did ask me, but sadly he missed his deadline by two weeks. So regrettably, I had to decline. We laughed about it together and stayed good friends while I still worked there. He was a good guy, but quite a bit older than I, and a little too outgoing for my introverted self. He did give me tons of great advice though and I remember him fondly.
Back to Sheen. My intention was to reject Sheen’s advances without actually having to give him a straight up rejection, which I was sure would result in an argument. “Why not? I am XYZ and so great!” I didn’t want to have to bash him through the floor by explaining to him in great detail just why he was not as great as he thought. I was naïve to think that Sheen would give up that easily…
Three months later
Sheen: About that dating
Mora (hopefully): You have given it some thought and realized it is a bad idea?
Sheen: No. But since you live over there, I figured I need to get you to say yes first and then you know, in a perfect world we start like with a little online playing and once you’re madly in love with me, I bring you over here for a proper date. And then one of us decides to stay with the other and bada bing bada boom, happily ever after Hollywood dream, right?
I answered by sending him a sticker of a black cat that’s tossing sand with its hind legs. You know, the way cats do after relieving themselves.
Sheen: Is that subliminal flirting or is your cat shitting on me?
Mora: The cat is burying the turd that is Hollywood endings.
Sheen: But don’t they deserve a chance? I’d like a bit of hope to find a decent girl like you. Girls here suck, and not in a good way. I am sure between my wonderful parenting skills, my very mature responsibility, and my dashing good looks, and my boyish charm you had to find something a bit attractive about me.
Mora: I am not attracted to people very easily.
Sheen: Yeah, as an asexual neither am I, but I make cute babies? My daughter is the perfect little girl, and my dog is adorable.
Sheen Beard? An asexual? Really? I stepped over that conversational trap door and decided to carefully attempt addressing Sheen’s most glaring character flaw.
Mora: You are a bit on the delusional side though.
Sheen: How so?
Mora: Well, you have a tendency of dreaming a bit too much. You could stand to spend more time in the real world. I suppose as long as you’re happy and it doesn’t hurt anyone, it can be fine, but it’s not for me.
Sheen: But that’s not a no, right?
Mora: Honestly, I have feelings for someone else. It’s one sided, but I am not looking at other men as anything potential now. So, no.
Sheen: Ouch, so I would be a consolation prize.
Mora: I don’t do consolation relationships, Sheen. I am not like that.
Sheen: I’d be okay with that for you. Being a consolation prize lol If you had asked to date me before Whiff and I got together, or even a few weeks into our relationship, I would have dropped her in a heartbeat for you. Just saying.
Mora: Huh…?
Sheen: I’ve always had feelings for you.
Mora: Errr.. Yeah, no. That makes no sense to me. Nope.
Sheen: Why?
Yeah, I was done with this conversation. An important tip: If someone claims they'd drop someone else for you in a heartbeat, they are not a good partner to have. I closed my laptop and ignored Sheen and his messages for the next week. We had one more conversation later where I explained to Sheen how unrealistic his idea of him and I dating was and how I had no interest in him. He did apologize for being so pushy and wished me luck with the guy I was interested in. I thought everything was handled quite cleanly at that point. I was left with only a mild degree of irritation and no pulsing headache. Maybe Sheen could turn into a decent human-being yet.
What about Sheen’s second baby wishes? Well, he did find someone who was willing to give him one. Two someone’s as a matter of fact. Sheen however has no second baby to this day, so I have to assume that both promises fell through one way or another.
Thank you, guys, for reading this part of the Sheen Beard Saga. We are approaching the home stretch. The next part is particularly disgusting for me, prepare yourselves for it.
Until then, stay fed and warm.
- MotherOfRain
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2023.03.31 21:16 Dismal-Jellyfish Fed Report: "Despite generally strong conditions, Council members reported stark differences in economic impact between the “haves” and the “have nots.”" "Wealthier parts of their markets are not yet slowed by inflationary pressures, while lower-income households are feeling the squeeze."
| Source: https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/files/CDIAC-meeting-20221117.pdf Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council: The Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council (CDIAC) was established in 2010 by the Board of Governors to provide input to the Board on the economy, lending conditions, and other issues of interest to community depository institutions. Unlike the Federal Advisory Council, CDIAC is not a statutory body, but it performs a parallel function in providing first-hand input to the Board on the economy, lending conditions, and other issues. Members are selected from representatives of banks, thrift institutions, and credit unions serving on local advisory councils at the twelve Federal Reserve Banks. One member of each of the Reserve Bank councils is selected to serve on the CDIAC, which meets twice a year with the Board in Washington. Overall Economic Conditions: How do Council members assess overall economic conditions in their regions? - Council members reported strong economic conditions as measured by spending, though there are concerns that strong inflationary pressures may at some point undermine real spending.
- Council members, particularly in the Fourth District, reported that the return of production and manufacturing from offshore locations is helping the economy with significant investment in manufacturing and capital expenditure.
- Despite generally strong conditions, Council members reported stark differences in economic impact between the “haves” and the “have nots.”
- Wealthier parts of their markets are not yet slowed by inflationary pressures, while lower-income households are feeling the squeeze.
- The possibility of a recession remains a concern, but so far declines in overall spending are not evident.
- Despite being vocal about price increases, consumers are continuing to spend.
Inflation: Are the prices o for products and services rising (or declining) more or less quickly than in the recent past? Are the prices for the products and services Council members purchase rising more or less quickly?: - Council members generally reported that inflationary pressures remain strong, with prices rising rapidly.
- Some Council members reported early signs of inflation softening for some goods in certain sectors.
- Despite rising prices, customers and businesses have not yet pulled back on spending.
- Council members summarized sentiment as a lot of optimism about the economy coupled with much uncertainty about the future because there is an expectation that inflation will have a long tail that has yet to be fully absorbed.
- Drivers of inflation remain mixed.
- Wage inflation is one key driver, particularly in the services sector, with employees expecting higher wages to keep up with inflation. (this is not slowing down presently either! https://www.reddit.com/Superstonk/comments/127pdic/inflation_alert_the_feds_preferred_inflation/)
- Firms that want to retain talent in a tight labor market anticipate salary increases of 5-9% next year.
- Council members reported double-digit increases in insurance costs, with some insurers exiting markets along the Gulf Coast.
- Supply chain issues persist and are another significant contributor to inflation, particularly in the manufacturing and goods-producing sectors.
- The drought in the Midwest and the low Mississippi River levels also contributed to a supply chain backup of both agricultural commodities moving downstream to export markets and raw materials moving upstream for manufacturing and agricultural production. (we have talked about this previously: https://www.reddit.com/Superstonk/comments/zzh5jx/inflation_alert_from_the_transportation/)
- This had a strong effect in several Districts that are reliant on the upper parts of the river.
- Council members also highlighted lingering effects of supply chain issues— some of which were caused by labor shortages—from the pandemic on construction.
- Some areas are experiencing a shortage of concrete and electric transformers (with one-year wait times).
- The apparent randomness of these shortages is likely contributing to further uncertainty among households and businesses.
- In other cases, Council members noted that some firms have realized that they are able to maintain margins by raising prices.
- Council members reported that auto dealers still have strong pricing power with high prices and little negotiation.
- Most businesses are passing a high percentage of cost increases downstream to consumers, which generally was not the case last year.
- However, Council members have observed early signs of a potential shift in this dynamic. For example, market-dominant retailers such as Walmart and Target are now pushing back on vendors, seeking justification for further price increases.
- The most acute effects of inflation are being felt in rural and lower-income areas, with higher gas and diesel prices squeezing the wallets of consumers and businesses, particularly smaller farm operations and other industries that use diesel-fueled equipment.
- While prices for some commodities (such as aluminum and lumber) have fallen, that softening has often been offset by higher transportation costs.
- Prices for trucking and transportation have declined but remain high—and those higher prices are being passed on to consumers.
- The Council also reported that some consumers and businesses have become more focused on interest rates than inflation, which has resulted in real estate sales and development and capital expenditures being compressed by the higher interest rates.
Housing: How have home prices changed in recent months? Have there been any changes in overall housing activity in Council members’ Districts?: - Strong demand coupled with low inventory have kept home prices stable.
- However, price appreciation has slowed or even declined somewhat in parts of the country.
- Buyer activity has slowed down as mortgage rates have increased.
- Council members reported that the days of frenzied buying are over.
- Buyers are taking more time, and homes are sitting on the market longer.
- However, conditions have not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
- The shortage of available homes continues to constrain the market for buyers.
- Many homeowners sitting on sub-4% mortgage rates are essentially locked into their homes and will be unwilling to sell their home if it means that their next mortgage will be near 7%.
- This shortage has had cascading impacts across markets. Housing remains unaffordable for many low- to moderate income and first-time homebuyers who are now locked into the rental market.
- While multifamily construction has been strong, Council members reported that rental rate increases continue to exceed overall inflation in many markets.
- Housing shortages are also impacting the upper end of the income distribution in some markets. For example, Council members noted that some hospitals are having challenges filling vacancies because of a lack of housing suitable for higherincome health professionals.
- Multifamily construction has been so strong that some Council members reported that municipalities have had to tap the brakes on new developments because municipal infrastructure cannot keep up.
- Meanwhile, single-family construction is slowing as builders finish their existing projects without lining up new ones because profit margins are too narrow or unpredictable to justify new builds.
- Buyers are choosing to purchase larger homes instead of ordering premium finishes and features that in the past have increased profit margins for builders.
- There is some variability by region. In-migration from high-cost-of-living metro areas into rural areas has driven up costs in those rural areas while urban areas see softer prices.
- In a mixed bag, some Districts reported fewer institutional investors and house flippers buying up properties, while others continue to see an influx of investors for multifamily housing based on strong demand (and increases in rental rates.
Labor Markets: How have the labor markets in which Council members operate changed in recent months? In particular, please assess the degree o f job loss or gain (and, in which industries). Please comment on the changes to wages that Council members have observed over the pastyear.: - All Council members reported that increased labor costs and the labor shortage are affecting both their financial institutions and their business customers.
- The labor shortage is a primary concern of bankers and a major driver of inflation. Businesses that are not raising their wages fast enough to retain workers and attract new ones are losing their employees to other firms.
- There was broad consensus that several industries, such as the healthcare and daycare industries, are facing more severe shortages.
- Shortages in these sectors are having broader impacts.
- With fewer options for daycare or eldercare, more prime-age workers are being forced to remain on the sidelines.
- In some parts of the country, daycare now costs nearly $500 a week, which is typically much more than what many young employees with children make.
- The price and availability of daycare will remain a major barrier for labor force participation.
- Even manufacturers with capital and contracts in hand cannot find workers to fulfill the contracts.
- Council members noted that the labor shortage is not transitory and will be a reality for businesses into the longer term.
- The decline in labor force participation has been a long-term demographic trend exacerbated by the pandemic and the transmission path of inflation to wages.
- Council members also noted that employers are still digesting the (1) ability for workers to work remotely and (2) increased participation of younger generations in the workforce that have different views, compared to older generations, of their relationship with work.
- Several Council members noted an increased desire for immigration reform to offset the structural shortage of labor.
- The opioid crisis was also named as a key driver of labor shortages in some areas, and a major causal factor in many geographies with the lowest labor force participation rates.
- Most businesses remain hungry for labor.
- In reaction to these pressures, Council members reported increased investment in equipment to make up for labor shortages across sectors.
- However, Council members also reported the beginning of layoffs in some markets in their region, which is a harbinger of a slowing economy.
Consumer Confidence: Are Council members seeing any signs o fimproved (or declining) consumer confidence? What is the outlookfor consumer credit losses?: - Council members reported a disconnect between consumer behavior and reported confidence.
- While inflation has reduced confidence, consumers are still spending.
- However, increases in spending on services has been hampered by labor shortages in that sector.
- The consumer confidence divide is vast between the “haves” and “have nots”
- For those on the upper end of the income distribution, folks are complaining but still spending.
- There is greater confidence among consumers with higher levels of discretionary income, who, as a result, feel insulated from rising prices.
- Holiday spending, possibly driven by pent-up demand, is expected to remain strong for these consumers. Purchasing activity may not fully reflect consumer pessimism.
- For low- to moderate-income households, rising utility bills and food prices have eaten into both their savings and purchasing power.
- Energy prices are a major concern as we enter winter, and the cost of heating oil is a concern in the Northeast.
- It was estimated that for minimum wage workers, 70% of their money goes to essentials (e.g., food, energy, transportation). Lowerincome households are cutting back on discretionary spending, and in many cases, they are being forced to make difficult choices about which monthly essentials they can afford.
- Council members reported that consumer delinquencies remain minimal but are starting to slowly creep up.
- Most institutions expect losses to increase in 2023.
- Some Council members have observed significant deterioration in the mobile home portfolio and others have observed some weakness in auto loans.
- While delinquencies remain relatively low, lower used-car prices have resulted in losses for repossessed autos.
Deposits: What changes have Council members seen in local deposit markets? Describe these changes by segment (retail, small business, and corporate). What are Council members' expectations with respect to deposit levels?: - Some Council members reported an outflow of deposits on the commercial side, but most Council members have not yet seen a significant decline in their consumer deposit base.
- However, consumer deposits are expected to run off soon, following a strong growth during the pandemic.
- Deposits have been surprisingly sticky even as nonbanks offer higher interest rate CDs and money market accounts to attract deposits.
- Banks have not repriced deposit rates in parallel with the rapid rate hikes of the Federal Reserve, and Council members reported wide variability in the degree that banks have raised deposit rates.
- Marketing, social media, and consumer pressures are expected to contribute to an acceleration of deposit pricing pressures.
- Council members noted that differences in bank deposit rates stem from how institutions managed the excess liquidity gained during the pandemic.
- Banks that more aggressively deployed deposits into investments are now competing for deposits to maintain liquidity, while banks that invested less aggressively are now sitting comfortably at current deposit levels.
- Council members expect deposits to continue running off in the future, partly due to higher rate alternatives but also because of higher levels of spending as a result of inflation.
- Personal savings rates have fallen significantly and are currently below their pre-pandemic levels, though Council members did report an outflow of deposits into treasury bonds and brokerage accounts.
- Businesses are using their cash to pay down their lines of credit that have much higher rates now and are drawing down commercial deposit levels.
Potential FHLB borrowing limitations and Cryptocurrency: - Council members expressed concern about the ability of community institutions to continue to borrow from Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) over the short term.
- Council members discussed current balance sheet trends, where most institutions saw a significant inflow of deposits during the pandemic and invested the funds in safe assets, such as treasuries and agency securities.
- Council members are also concerned about the impact the rate hikes are having on their bond portfolios, and, by extension, the increase in unrealized losses that flow through to tangible capital. Under Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) regulations, banks whose tangible capital becomes negative must receive written permission from their primary federal regulators to roll over or utilize new advances.
- Council members noted that bank capital regulations were updated almost 10 years ago to ensure that bank capital is (1) robust, (2) reflects modern banking and markets, and (3) can withstand stress during adverse economic and financial market conditions.
- Council members discussed the downside of using tangible equity, rather than regulatory capital, as a proxy for a bank’s health because the latter is a much more robust measure of risk.
- The Council requested that the Federal Reserve engage in communications with the FHFA and other banking agencies to avoid the risk of an administrative reduction in the ability to borrow from FHLBs, triggered by an exclusive focus on tangible capital, when an analysis of regulatory capital does not indicate the need to reduce FHLB borrowing.
- Council members reiterated their concern that compliance regulations will adversely affect how banks are lending in their communities, both in terms of product variety and innovation and in lending volumes.
- Council members discussed the continued fight against cybercrime and other scams, noting that the types of fraud are changing as criminals are getting smarter and more strategic.
- Council members feel that these are national issues that are not just affecting community depository institutions and large depositories.
- Council members believe that in addition to the fraud prevention practices they are employing, more should be done at the federal level to educate consumers.
- Council members continued to recommend that efforts be made to help community institutions streamline their due diligence process for shared vendors.
- In addition, the Council recommended further development of federal outreach programs designed to increase customer awareness of fraud and cybercrime.
- Council members reported that there have been many recent news stories related to increases in fraud in Person-To-Person (P2P) payment networks.
- They stressed that the fraud is real, and efforts should be made to mitigate risk and reduce depository institution and consumer losses. Council members noted that changes to Regulation E have been proposed.
- Currently, Regulation E provides protections for consumers for unauthorized transactions. There have been proposals to have the CFPB reinterpret Regulation E to include “fraudulently induced but authorized transactions.”
- This would protect consumers who are tricked into paying fraudsters.
- The payments are then authorized by the consumer, who later has second thoughts and wants to retrieve their funds.
- Expanding Regulation E in this manner would affect all consumer payment platforms, but especially P2P services where a lot of this fraud occurs.
- Increases in Regulation E liability could have a stifling effect on bank and credit union adoption of faster payments, including FedNow, due to the increased expense and lack of provisions for offsetting revenue to cover the risks.
- Financial institutions may slow down implementation, stop adoption, or even abandon existing P2P services. Some proposals suggest shifting liability to the receiving bank in these types of transactions, but that would also have a chilling effect on faster payments adoption.
- Right now, joining one of the faster payments networks in “receive only” mode is considered a safe way to get involved in faster payments, without fear of fraud risk.
- Shifting the liability from consumers to the receiving financial institution makes it less likely that the institution would participate in a faster payments network.
- Council members discussed recent developments in the cryptocurrency markets.
- There is strong interest in making these markets subject to robust regulations equivalent to what exists in the United States for securities and derivatives.
- Council members were agnostic about which agency—the CFTC or SEC—is authorized by Congress to conduct oversight.
TLDRS: There is a TON to take in here but the bullets called out above: - Council members reported stark differences in economic impact between the “haves” and the “have nots.”
- Council members generally reported that inflationary pressures remain strong, with prices rising rapidly.
- Despite rising prices, customers and businesses have not yet pulled back on spending.
- Council members summarized sentiment as a lot of optimism about the economy coupled with much uncertainty about the future because there is an expectation that inflation will have a long tail that has yet to be fully absorbed.
- Wage inflation is one key driver, particularly in the services sector, with employees expecting higher wages to keep up with inflation. (this is not slowing down presently either! https://www.reddit.com/Superstonk/comments/127pdic/inflation_alert_the_feds_preferred_inflation/)
- Firms that want to retain talent in a tight labor market anticipate salary increases of 5-9% next year.
- The drought in the Midwest and the low Mississippi River levels also contributed to a supply chain backup of both agricultural commodities moving downstream to export markets and raw materials moving upstream for manufacturing and agricultural production. (we have talked about this previously: https://www.reddit.com/Superstonk/comments/zzh5jx/inflation_alert_from_the_transportation/)
- In other cases, Council members noted that some firms have realized that they are able to maintain margins by raising prices.
- Most businesses are passing a high percentage of cost increases downstream to consumers, which generally was not the case last year.
- The most acute effects of inflation are being felt in rural and lower-income areas, with higher gas and diesel prices squeezing the wallets of consumers and businesses, particularly smaller farm operations and other industries that use diesel-fueled equipment.
- Prices for trucking and transportation have declined but remain high—and those higher prices are being passed on to consumers.
- The Council also reported that some consumers and businesses have become more focused on interest rates than inflation, which has resulted in real estate sales and development and capital expenditures being compressed by the higher interest rates.
- Many homeowners sitting on sub-4% mortgage rates are essentially locked into their homes and will be unwilling to sell their home if it means that their next mortgage will be near 7%.
- This shortage has had cascading impacts across markets. Housing remains unaffordable for many low- to moderate income and first-time homebuyers who are now locked into the rental market.
- Multifamily construction has been so strong that some Council members reported that municipalities have had to tap the brakes on new developments because municipal infrastructure cannot keep up.
- Meanwhile, single-family construction is slowing as builders finish their existing projects without lining up new ones because profit margins are too narrow or unpredictable to justify new builds.
- The labor shortage is a primary concern of bankers and a major driver of inflation. Businesses that are not raising their wages fast enough to retain workers and attract new ones are losing their employees to other firms.
- In some parts of the country, daycare now costs nearly $500 a week, which is typically much more than what many young employees with children make.
- The price and availability of daycare will remain a major barrier for labor force participation.
- Even manufacturers with capital and contracts in hand cannot find workers to fulfill the contracts.
- Council members noted that the labor shortage is not transitory and will be a reality for businesses into the longer term.
- The decline in labor force participation has been a long-term demographic trend exacerbated by the pandemic and the transmission path of inflation to wages.
- It was estimated that for minimum wage workers, 70% of their money goes to essentials (e.g., food, energy, transportation). Lower income households are cutting back on discretionary spending, and in many cases, they are being forced to make difficult choices about which monthly essentials they can afford.
- Council members reported that consumer delinquencies remain minimal but are starting to slowly creep up.
- Most institutions expect losses to increase in 2023.
- Some Council members have observed significant deterioration in the mobile home portfolio and others have observed some weakness in auto loans.
- While delinquencies remain relatively low, lower used-car prices have resulted in losses for repossessed autos.
- Banks have not repriced deposit rates in parallel with the rapid rate hikes of the Federal Reserve, and Council members reported wide variability in the degree that banks have raised deposit rates.
- Marketing, social media, and consumer pressures are expected to contribute to an acceleration of deposit pricing pressures.
- Council members expressed concern about the ability of community institutions to continue to borrow from Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) over the short term.
- Council members discussed current balance sheet trends, where most institutions saw a significant inflow of deposits during the pandemic and invested the funds in safe assets, such as treasuries and agency securities.
- Council members are also concerned about the impact the rate hikes are having on their bond portfolios, and, by extension, the increase in unrealized losses that flow through to tangible capital. Under Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) regulations, banks whose tangible capital becomes negative must receive written permission from their primary federal regulators to roll over or utilize new advances.
https://preview.redd.it/wef9xbtdj4ra1.png?width=610&format=png&auto=webp&s=1efced1a9d0e5ddb4987edc9f8cce8e07ef6d6da submitted by Dismal-Jellyfish to Superstonk [link] [comments] |
2023.03.31 20:48 LUVSWIM AITA for refusing my dads help with setting up a T-Knot while out fishing?
I (36 M) and my dad (61M) and a couple of his friends were started to leave the dock on his friends boat. My dad starts getting everything set up while we’re riding on the boat as our final fishing destination was 30 minutes away. I saw one of “T-Knots” and was very interested in learning how to do it myself and told him that I’ll be attempting it without his help. He warned against it as he said it took him a while for him to get it and he doesn’t want me wasting my time frustrated trying this knot for the first time on a moving boat. So I told him, let me try for 15 minutes and if I cannot figure it out I’ll have him do it, he was visibly irritated but said fine.
During those 15 minutes my dad interrupted me 6 or 7 different times asking if I needed help and I think it might of been his anxiety that was causing it. I started to get frustrated but was keeping it to myself at least for now. As you might of guessed I failed in creating that knot and my dad did the knot for me.
I see my dad face and can see he’s super unhappy and ask what’s wrong and he goes on a little rant about “why don’t I trust my own father” and “why would I not take help when given to me.” At this point my frustration came out and I said to him if you’re offering help don’t have expectations on how they’ll receive that help. We completely disagreed with each others assessment and decided to end the discussion.
We went on to fishing and everything seem to be fine but the next day I got a call from my mom (60 F) saying how much it hurt him, and day later it was still bothering him.
Seeing how upset my dad is I must be the asshole right?
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2023.03.31 20:18 Mista9000 Perfectly Safe Demons -Ch 7- Lumpy Ribs and Tender Meat
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A/N- Sorry for the delay, I reworked a lot of my plot and worldbuilding, flows better now IMO. -In the woods a day south of Hillsbaro-
Stanisk watched the mage slump on the ground, his back against a wagon wheel, lost in despair. He understood how devastating it could be when the last thread of a plan breaks. He had agreed to help him, and the mage’s success was now his best path to the sort of comfortable life he’d left his village to find, all those years ago. Now in this clearing, by a cold river, in moonless darkness, it fell to him to move events forward.
“So these imps, you reckon I can give ‘em orders?” He asked, unsure what he thought of the idea.
“Huh? Yeah. Anyone can. Maybe I should fix that someday. Just address them and say what you want them to do. Be as clear as possible,” Grigory replied, still utterly dejected.
Stanisk wasn’t sure how he felt about demons, but his chest was aching like it was on fire and camp chores required a daunting amount of effort. He knew deals with demons weren't what good people did, and at his core he was hopefully still a good person. He’d come this far and was under the employ of an actual witch -he should be less squeamish about using the products of forbidden magic. It was confusing that the clearest definition of evil, a literal demonologist, was also the most genuinely good person he’d ever met.
“Imps, chop some firewood.”
“Merp!”
They grabbed knives and axes and hopped down from the wagon, running into the forest.
Stanisk stood open mouthed in terror. Did he just unleash a plague of demons on the world? Was he clear enough? Would they expect a payment from him, in blood or worse? Sounds of cutting and cracking came from the dark woods, but what was happening remained a mystery. For long seconds he strained his eyes to see anything other than some jerky movements of tree branches. He sagged with relief when they came back, each with a single piece of firewood over their heads like a line of ants. Some stayed in the woods felling and bucking trees, while most carried logs bigger than themselves to build a neat stack near Stanisk. In mere minutes their stack had grown tall, more than enough for a day or two of campfires.
“Uh, how do I get them to stop?”
In a clear voice Grigory said,“Imps, cease task!” then returned to staring at the mud between his feet.
All the imps paused mid task, gathered up their tools, straightened the wood pile and sat cross legged on the ground.
Although it was dark out, it wasn’t especially late. Fall days were getting shorter and the nights colder. Unconstrained by a lack of firewood, Stanisk built a roaring fire, much bigger than most nights. The fire in a dark night created an inviting bubble of light and warmth, making everything manageable.
“I can’t think of anything helpful to say about what happened,” Stanisk said gently. “Have a seat by the fire and we'll figure this out.”
Grigory nodded numbly but got off the ground and moved to sit on a log near the fire.
Pleased with how much got done while without raising a finger, Stanisk’s confidence grew. It was time to try something more ambitious!
“Imps, carve a comfortable bench out of the nearby trees!”
“Merp!”
Unsure if a concept like ‘comfort’ or ‘bench’ would mean anything, he nervously watched them work. They carved the wood with blades longer than their stubby torsos, working in harmony as if animated by a single mind. Seeing a literal demon carve into something with a knife, over and over again was off putting, even knowing Grigory said they were perfectly safe. With no nails or screws it was an absolute masterwork of joinery. In the dim light they darted back and forth into the woods for materials. Slivers of wood leapt from the tools and there were several satisfying clicks as the parts connected. In no time at all they had tidied the site, put away the tools and sat cross legged on the ground. Stanisk walked around the new bench, his earlier fears soothed by the imps sitting motionless. The bench’s back and seat were a series of flexible slats that were each angled to human proportions. The bench was slightly bigger than he expected. It was beautiful, even unadorned. Who knew he could make a great bench with no woodworking experience? He didn’t have to be a merchant to know the value of these imps was staggering.
He carefully sat on it and felt it flex under him a bit. It was flexible but sturdy. Not even a creak! Much more comfortable than he expected a wooden bench to be. Impressive! He noticed that Grigory had been watching everything with interest, displaying fatherly pride in his imps’ work.
“Imps, carve a comfortable bench out of the nearby trees!” Stanisk repeated.
A few minutes later a second but slightly different bench made out of a different wood was completed beside the first.
With a bit of a grunt, on account of his aching torso Stanisk dragged the new bench to the mage.
“I think I see the appeal of your lil pecker monsters!” he confided.
Grigory cracked a bit of a smile, “Yeah, they honestly will change everything. I’m so excited about their potential. But I worry I might be out of my depth?” He moved from his log to the new bench, doing a few little bounces to test its quality.
Stanisk went to the wagon, pulled out two bottles of whisky, and handed one to Grigory. He walked back to his own bench, pulled the stopper out with a plonk and took a long drink.
“Yeah, you clearly can’t do this by yourself. But I don’t reckon that was ever your plan?”
“No, It wasn’t. However, other than you, I kind of am by myself though? I mean, I have no team of experts waiting for me in Jagged Cove, and there are countless ways things can get out of control,” the exhausted demonologist explained.
“I know nothing about making money, nor merchant work, so tell me to fuck off if you need to, but what if you start small? Get a workshop and materials, that should be easy. These imps do amazing work. Then sell to other merchants. That might not land if they are craftsmen like in Hillsbaro, but maybe there are importers in the capital?”
“Literally hundreds,” Grigory confirmed.
“Perfect! Then we can do that loop a few times to pay my salary, then we can start hiring the right kind of experts. Maybe the first one can be the kind of expert that hires folk?” Stanisk offered. “There might be exporters too? I bet they’d pay for a boat full of fine benches!” Stanisk slapped the seat on his bench.
“A fine idea, I hadn’t thought about exporters!” Grigor sat up a bit straighter, feeling some hope return. He sipped some of the smoky whisky and re-evaluated his plans.
“To start we need to lighten the wagon though, this much fresh meat is just too heavy for this kind of wagon, and for just one horse.” Stanisk said, saying what had been clear to both men all afternoon.
Thinking of all the meat weighing down the wagon, Stanisk’s stomach rumbled. Had they even eaten since breakfast at the inn? So much had happened since then. He looked at the imps, covered in blood, wood shavings, tufts of bear fur and some bloody fabric from the corpses.
“Is there a way to clean an imp? They are way too filthy to make dinner for us.”
“I’m not sure if there is an answer. Nowhere in demonology has cleaning a demon ever come up.” An elegant solution occurred to him,“Imps, stand in the fire.”
“Merp!”
The imps stood in a tight group in the centre of the roaring campfire, entirely unaffected by the flames that engulfed them.
“Haha, fucking demons!” Stanisk said, laughing as he realised what was happening.
A half hour later the imps had prepared thick pan seared bear steaks and mashed potatoes with heavy cream and garlic butter. They served it on sturdy imp-made dinner plates from the wagon.
“Living like lords already!” Stanisk said as he raised his bottle of whiskey to Grigory.
The two men discussed details and plans for another hour, before falling asleep in their clothes, on their benches by the low fire. With a full belly and a bit of a buzz, neither had the energy or inclination to solve the blood caked bedding disaster.
Stanisk woke up in the morning and saw that Grigory was already hard at work. There were freshly built tables in the shallows of the river loaded with most of the bloodsoaked things from the wagon. Grigory and his imps were washing things in the fast cold water, and then hanging them to dry on some freshly made racks on the shore. An Imp got slightly too deep and was whisked along with the current, but even holding a mug in one hand he got back to shore and joined the group a few seconds later.
Stanisk stood up to help with the washing, but immediately regretted it. He fell back onto the bench heavily, sucking air between his teeth. Yesterday’s very sore torso had swollen to searing pain today. He carefully removed all his layers, one at a time, having to stop to let the pain subside every few seconds. Free from his shirt and armour he saw his chest was black and bruised, and the swelling made moving his arms painful. He took a deep breath and probed the bruises with his finger. Panting with pain, he confirmed his suspicion that the bear had cracked four of his ribs. None were broken at least. Moving or even breathing was distractingly painful. Whatever magic the demonologist used to protect him seems to have partially succeeded. The shallow cuts he had bandaged yesterday were fine, and should heal up in no time. He felt around him for a second until he found last night's mostly full bottle of whiskey and took a deep drink. The protection spell must have just spread the impact. He’d cracked ribs before and knew he was in for five to twelve weeks of pain. Judging by his swelling, likely the longer end of that. Nothing to do for it other than move as little as possible, but considering they had over a week of travel ahead of them, his healing might be longer yet. And the wagon ride might be pretty unpleasant.
“Hey! You're finally up!” Grigory shouted, as he came up from the river. His pants were rolled up past his knees and wearing just his undershirt. “Light above! That looks like a lumpy black leather apron! Does it hurt?”
“Not really, Only when I move, or breathe or sit still,” Stanisk said quietly. He leaned back and closed his eyes. “Three ribs on this side are cracked, and one on this side.”
Grigory nodded as he looked closely. “Looks like a huge contusion and that's a hematoma there and here,” he said, pointing to the darkest lumpy parts. “That’ll clear up on its own, but those fractured ribs look pretty bad! Imps, harvest a crate of willow bark then make a strong tea with some over the fire.”
“Merp!”
“I haven’t done biomancy in years and years, but I think I have some texts on the topic in the pile,” gesturing to the pile from the wagon that still needed to be cleaned.
“Yep! Heal me up! Thems the perks I became a demonic thrall for!” Stanisk said with both enthusiasm and sarcasm.
Grigory returned with a tome lightly splattered in blood, but still legible, and started thumbing through pages.
“Alright, looks like I have the reagents for a minor bonemend ritual. Should speed up your healing, but your body will be powering it. Expect to be much hungrier and sleepier than normal for the next week or so,” Grigory said absently.
“No instant cures? Why consort with demons at all?” Stanisk lamented dramatically.
“Hmm. Yes, what a fine plan! We could try to power this healing with hellplane energies!'' Grigory replied mockingly. Although it's a semi plausible idea now that he thought about it. “Actually, that’s an intriguing idea! It’s never been done before to the best of my knowledge, but the principles from some of my imp rituals should carry over. Uhh, it would be MUCH faster, and the odds of your bones becoming demonically possessed should be minor. Maybe? Only one way to find out!”
“Hungry is fine.” Stanisk said, seeing his sortie defeated. He reached over and took the cup of willow bark tea an imp held out to him. After taking a long sip, he asked, “So what’s the plan?”
“I think I got it,” Grigory said as he snapped the book closed.
“Think?”
Stanisk watched Grigory grab a wide piece of willow bark, poke his finger into the blood in the bottom of the wagon, and draw some glyphs with his finger on the bark. Grigory chanted in a strange language for a few seconds, his eyes closed in intense focus. He crushed the bark to ashes in one hand and firmly pushed his other hand into the centre of Stanisk's chest. The whole clearing smelled like a bolt of electricity had just struck. A wave of dizziness washed over Stanisk as he took a deep breath. His arms and legs felt like they were replaced with warm sand and he could feel darkness press in from the edges of his vision.
“Oh my..” Stanisk slurred as he slumped over, spilling his tea.
Stanisk woke up with linen cloth piled over him, the fall air cool on his face. He sat up on his bench and felt along his ribs, still very sore, but much less painful than this morning. He gingerly looked down at his chest. It was still a giant bruise, but shades of purple now, and less lumpy. Shrugged on his ragged shirt and blinking to clear his vision, Stanisk realized his still couldn’t make out anything more than a few feet away. Everything smelled nice at least, so smoky and herby. He was unbelievably hungry. Hungrier than he ever remembered being.
“Grrrrrgrra!” he moaned, far less clearly than expected.
“Hey! You’re finally up again!” Grigory said as he alone came into focus.“Great news! Demi magical bear blood is amazing for biomancy! I kind of muddled through that spell, and even so; vastly more effective than normal! Me and the imps managed to bottle up most of the remaining blood, this stuff is great! Kinda regret how much we just left in the dirt now.”
“Ohrnnely?”
“Anyways you slept right through most of the smoking, we’ve got a LOT of bear jerky now! Here!” Grigory passed over a basket of still warm jerky.
Stanisk tore into it like a starving animal.
“Wow, thish ish good! So herby. An’ tender!” Stanisk said between bites. Some part of him also knew he was ravenous enough he would have eaten a raw squirrel, tail and all.
At Grigory’s request, imps brought Stanisk some cold water, then some hot tea. Feeling more like himself again, Stanisk took stock of what he’d missed. The campsite had expanded, and low smoky fire pits covered much of it. Their thick smoke obscuring vision, but not especially irritating. Racks were over the fires, each covered in slabs of thinly sliced, lightly salted, seasoned meat. Impervious to fire, the imps moved quickly between them to flip the meat or add wood.
The wagon was also improved, not only was it clean and empty, there were shelves and a canopy of oilcloth over the cargo bed. The front seats had new backrests and bear fur seat covers.
“Wow, You’ve been busy!” Stanisk said, genuinely impressed. “Also this might just be my eyes, but this looks like more imps than the dozen you had last night?” He estimated there were at least fifty racks, and he could see more imps putting finished jerky into woven baskets.
“Eleven, but you are quite right. I was bottlenecking for want of more imps so I had them make more of themselves, I’m up to thirty-five now.”
Stanisk paused for a second. On one hand he was intensely curious how pecker monsters reproduced with each other. On the other hand he was still pretty woozy from his nap. His contemplation was abruptly interrupted.
“I made some imps for you!” Grigory said, handing five small carved ebony rods to the confused soldier.
“I thought now that you are in on my conspiracy, you should have some of your own! Here, I’ll show you how to invoke and outvoke them, in case we have to travel separately at some point.”
The gestures were simple enough, and Stanisk got it on the first try.
“This seems like a huge gift? The command of actual demons? What do I need to do?”
“Not much! You already are pretty handy at commanding them, I guess just don’t get caught by the Trianglearians with them out! The totems themselves are fine, it’s a novel form of magic and even another demonologist would take a while to work out what they are.”
“Wow. Alright then, thank you!” He leaned back and marvelled at the tiny detailed carvings on the totems. So smooth and glossy and lightweight. He turned one over while he sipped some tea, a combination of herbal and willow tea. Such a potent gift. Enough to make him a rich man anywhere he went. He kind of didn’t need the little mage any more, but that would be poor repayment to his generosity. Besides, staying might be even more lucrative.
Grigory was already on the other side of the site, inspecting racks and commanding imps. Maybe he
is the guy to change the world. A force of nature once he has some direction. Hopefully they can make some money at least.
Slowly Stanisk got up to investigate two new wood frame tents near the edge of their now sizable clearing. They were tall and square, an orange one and a red one. The orange tent had its flap open. Stanisk could see an end table and a wood frame bed with a bear hide blanket on top.
“The orange one is yours!” Grigory shouted from where he was stacking baskets.
He’d only been awake for a few minutes, but now that he thought about it, he was still pretty sleepy. He closed the flap behind him and crawled into bed.
* * *
They left the site late the next morning with a much lighter wagon, even after loading new tents and beds. The cat had been feasting on various stages of bear jerky since the beginning, and continued to help himself. Thankfully their jerky supply outweighed the fluffy black cat more than a hundred fold. Travelling with imps and comfortable furniture was a whole different experience. They carried the beds and tents because fabric was in limited supply, but they had imps make new tables, chairs and anything else they wanted whenever they set up camp. In a few comfortable days they reached the main Imperial Coastal Highway.
The wheels became louder as they started moving a bit quicker on the smooth stone highway. The road was straighter than the coast, so it felt like they stayed in a forest but with glimpses of the Nereian Sea as some bays reached the road.
The highway was wide enough for two wagons in each direction, paved with great flat stones. Their edges were perfectly flush, leaving a straight smooth surface to the horizon. The highway linked several prosperous cities along the coast, so colourful merchant carts, heavy haulage wagons and groups of travellers were common. Once they passed a noble retinue with dozens of men at arms and rows of servants.
“Here we go! Now things are moving!” Stanisk said. “Have any ideas to deal with all the enemies you plan on making?”
“I think I mostly have. It’s like we were discussing the other night, it’s a matter of building a team and gathering support. I think my best asset will be money, with money I can buy a lot of political cover. There is a council of demonologists that acts as a semi official governing body for my profession, reaching out to them early on is going to be a big help. They will have trusted people with a lot of the skills I need, and potentially vast resources.”
“Not to sound like a witch hunter, but are a buncha criminals good allies? What's to stop them from just taking your imps and feeding you some steel? That’s what I’d do if a plan was gonna draw a ton of eyes to my crimes!”
“I had thought about that. I’ll offer them as many imps as they’d like for free, then even if I am sidelined on profits, that’s fine. My first and foremost mission is to help society in general. If this is the fastest way to improve civilization, I think that’s my moral obligation,” Grigory explained.
“That's a dumb plan. Build a force of your own first. Worst case, a few months won’t affect much, and it will give you more options if things go bloody. You read me your list, not getting killed was on the top, twice!”
“Kill me? For improving lives? Nah, they might be demonologists, they are also a community. They are men of learning, like me. They’ll see reason. Although I can’t be sure there aren’t rogue factions, or that they haven’t been infiltrated.” Grigory leaned back and thought for a minute. “Okay, we’ll give it a few weeks and see what we can do without them. Oh, how are your ribs? You look to be moving better.”
“Hah! I feel great! I am a whisker sore when I raise my arms too high, but that’s getting better all the time. For a few years now, my left knee clicked when I carried heavy stuff, and that’s stopped, and my back pain is also gone. Nah, you did real well, thanks!”
“If this imp plan doesn’t work out maybe I’ll start a biomancery! I guess I’d have to give most of my money to the College and the Church though. For entirely unselfish reasons, I disagree with a lot of current tax policy.”
“Oh, I super don’t give a shit about that!” Stanisk replied. It was an unsuccessful attempt to save himself from another all day talk on economic optimizations that seemed to be a favourite topic of his companion.
“If the goal of an economy is to maximise output, then there is a curve that…” Grigory gleefully explained.
They continued along the highway, making great progress and spending their nights relaxing and eating well in what became a very smooth routine. The miles flew by as they covered the distance to the centre of the empire. After ten days along the highway, they could finally see the spires of Jagged Cove.
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2023.03.31 20:05 bauul RTX4090, 16" laptop with a numpad - any recommendations?
I've decided to push the boat out and invest in a solid future-proof laptop. I came up with a small list of "ideal features" I'd like to include, but after lots of digging I'm starting to think what I want might not exist. Ideally I would like:
- 16" (or 17" at a push) laptop screen - the new 18"s I think would too big for me
- RTX4090 ideally with a top-end CPU for maximum future proofing
- A numpad (I really miss one when I use a laptop without)
- Compatible with my Thunderbolt 3 docking hub (so I guess needs to be an Intel CPU? I'm not sure what AMD compatibility is like these days)
I can find a bunch of laptops that do
nearly all of these, but none that do all of them. For example:
- The Acer Helios 16 only goes up to a RTX4080
- The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 is AMD, so (I think) wouldn't support my docking station
- Most other 16" laptops don't have a numpad
Are there any models that fit the above that I've missed, or am I likely needing to compromise on something?
Any help would be super appreciated!
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2023.03.31 20:02 Undercover500 Have you ever “stuffed” the bow, or come close to it?
After watching a lot of the Haulover inlet videos, it seems like stuffing the bow is almost common place!
Granted, I’m on freshwater inland lakes, so the giant waves seen out on the ocean are not something I regularly contend with.
I’ve boated on lake Winnebago and Lake Michigan, both of which can be quite nasty at times. I’ve been in some pretty sloppy stuff before in a 19 foot boat. 2-3 foot white caps and another time probably 4-5 foot rollers and a 6-8 second period.
I usually trim and adjust speed to the conditions pretty well. My “oh shit, this is rough” hull attitude is around 10-15mph with the bow trimmed as high as she’ll go, and just ride the back of a roller if I can. Otherwise, just let the waves hit the keel, keep the bow high and bring her back to the dock.
Never came close to stuffing the bow, except for one time when I was caught off guard by a wake boat wake, on a smaller inland lake. We slapped down pretty hard and got some good spray, but didn’t spear into the next wave.
Anyone ever actually stuff the bow? What happened after?
I imagine stuffing the bow in a jon boat would be a good way to end the day pretty quick, but I know some of the larger boats are self bailing and can handle some water on deck.
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2023.03.31 19:41 SystemSpark [USA] [H]Bomberman 64 2, Boktai 2, .Hack Quaratine, Kid Dracula, Wild Guns, River City Girls, Scarface, Valkyrie Profile, Power Stone, Shantae, Switch/Wii/WiiU/PSP/PS1/PS2/PS3/PS4/PS5/DS/3DS/GBA/GB/NES/SNES/N64/NGC/Genesis/Saturn Games, amiibo, Controllers, Joy-Con,Nintendo Swag [W] Lists, Listed
Photos upon request
amiibo | Condition |
Zelda Loftwing | New In Box |
Sanrio amiibo cards | Sealed Pack |
Inkling Boy - Neon Green | Loose/Mint |
Mario Cereal Box | Cereal Removed/Flattened |
Isabelle Summer Outfit | Open Box |
Cyrus/K.K./Reese | New In Box/Damaged box |
Tom Nook | New In Box |
Mabel | New In Box |
Digital Codes | Condition |
Mighty Switch Force | 3DS |
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse | WiiU |
Switch | Condition |
Azure Striker Gunvolt Striker Pack | Sealed |
Aggelos | Complete in Box |
Bendy and the Ink Machine | Complete in Box |
Cruel King and the Great Hero Storybook Edition | Complete in Box |
Disgaea 1 Rosen Edition | Complete in Box |
Ghostbusters The Video Game Remastered | Sealed |
Metroid Dread Collector's Edition | Sealed, a few dings associated with shipping |
Monster Hunter Stories 2 Collector's Edition | Sealed |
River City Girls | Sealed, Best Buy Variant |
Shantae Collector's Edition | Sealed |
Shantae Risky's Revenge Collector's Edition | Sealed |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cowabunga Collection | Sealed |
Unravel 2 | Sealed |
Yu-Gi-Oh Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution | Loose |
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap | Complete in Box |
Wii | Condition |
Batallion Wars 2 | Game and Case |
Castle of Shikigami III | Complete in Box |
Okami | Game and Case |
WiiU Games | Condition |
Batman Arkham City Armored Edition | Sealed |
Disney Infinity 2.0 | Sealed |
Mario Kart 8 | Complete in Box |
Nintendoland | Complete in Box |
Star Fox Guard | Complete in Box |
DS | Condition |
Super Scribblenauts | Loose |
Witch's Wish | Loose |
3DS | Condition |
Kid Icarus Uprising (Japanese) | Game, Manual, and Case (No Big Box) |
GBA | Condition |
Boktai 2 | Loose |
Game & Watch Gallery 4 | Loose, Torn Label |
Lady Sia | Loose, EU import |
Lady Sia | Loose. Label imperfections |
Super Puzzle Fighter 2 | Complete in Box |
Super Mario Advance | No label |
NES | Condition |
Kid Icarus | Game, Box, and Manual; Box shows wear; Protective case for box and manual included |
SNES | Condition |
Mortal Kombat II | Loose |
Super Mario World | Loose |
Super Scope 6 | Loose |
Wild Guns | Loose, Bad Label Damage |
N64 | Condition |
Bomber Man 64 The Second Attack! | Loose |
Pokemon Snap | Loose |
Gamecube | Condition |
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles | Disc and case. Artwork is a little dinged up. No Manual |
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Complete in Box, blockbuster stickers on case. |
Super Mario Sunshine | Game and Manual. Case included, but the artwork may be a reprint. |
Sega Genesis | Condition |
Jurrassic Park | Loose cartridge, Sharpie on Label |
Spider-Man | Loose cartridge, Label Damage |
Genesis 6-Pak | Loose cartridge |
Sega Saturn | Condition |
Vampire Savior (Import, Dark Stalkers 2) | Game and artwork, no spine slip. Some creases in the artwork. |
Sega Dreamcast | Condition |
Power Stone | CIB |
Power Stone 2 | CIB |
PSP | Condition |
Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories | Game and Case, Greatest Hits |
Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories | Loose, Greatest Hits, Cracked Casing |
Little Big Planet | Loose |
Loco Roco | Complete in Box |
Patapon | Loose |
Silent Hill Origins | Complete In Box |
Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron | Complete in Box |
PS1 | Condition |
Castlevania Chronicles | Loose |
Chocobo's Dungeon 2 | Complete in Box |
Crash Bash | Complete in Box |
Dark Stalkers | Loose |
Dark Stalkers 3 | Loose |
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver | Loose |
Silent Hill | Loose disc |
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo | Complete in Box |
Valkyrie Profile | Discs and Case, no manual |
World of Dragon Warrior Torneko The Last Hope | Loose disc |
PS2 | Condition |
Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance | |
Burnout | Complete in Box; Greatest Hits |
Burnout 2 | Loose Disc |
Burnout 3 Takedown | Complete, Water Damage on back cover art |
Burnout Dominator | Case and Disc, Disc has superficial scratches but still boots |
Burnout Revenge | Complete, Greatest Hits |
Castlevania Curse of Darkness | Loose, Disc has light scratching |
Crash Bandicoot The Wrath of Cortex | Greatest Hits, Used, Disc and Case |
Dragon Ball Z Budokai | Complete in Box |
Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi | Complete in Box; Greatest Hits |
Final Fantasy X | Greatest Hits, Used, Disc and Case |
Final Fantasy X-2 | Complete; Greatest Hits |
God of War II | Complete; Greatest Hits |
Grand Theft Auto Vice City | Disc, Case, Poster, No Manual |
.Hack Quaratine | Game, Anime Disc, and Case. Missing Manual |
Jak and Daxter | Greatest Hits, Used, Disc and Case |
Marvel vs Capcom 2 | Cracked Disc, won't boot for me. Comes with case, no manual |
Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty | Greatest Hits, Used, Disc and Case |
Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 | Disc and Case |
Need for Speed Underground | Greatest Hits, Used, Disc and Case |
Need for Speed Underground 2 | Greatest Hits, Used, Disc and Case |
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 | Greatest Hits, Used, Disc and Case |
Resident Evil Dead Aim | Game and Case, No manual |
Scarface | Complete; Greatest Hits |
Star Wars Battlefront II | Disc and Case |
Tekken Tag Tournament | Disc and Case; Greatest Hits |
PS3 | Condition |
Castlevania Lord of Shadow Collection | Loose |
PS4 | Condition |
APEX Construct | Sealed |
PS5 | Condition |
Battlefield 2042 | Complete in Box |
XBOX One | Condition |
Watchdogs | Sealed |
Consoles | Condition |
Monster Hunter Rise Edition Switch | New in Box (No game code) |
White OLED Nintendo Switch | New in Box |
OLED Switch Tablet | New/Unused Tablet Only |
Legend of Zelda Game & Watch (35th Anniversary) | New in Box |
SNES Jr. | Includes Deck, RF Coax Cable, Third Party AC Adapter, and Third Party Controller. Small crack on the corner. |
Controllers | Condition |
Fortnite Joy-Con Set | Comes from the Fortnite Edition Console, never used |
Joy-Con Grip | Bagged/Unused - Came with console |
Oculus Quest 1/Rift S Left Controller | Used but very good condition. Comes with silicon case |
Oculus Quest 1/Rift S Right Controller | Used but very good condition. Comes with silicon case |
Platinum Gamecube Controller | Third Party, no nintendo logo, wired, good condition |
Joy-Con (Left/Neon Blue) | Good, no drift |
Joy-Con (Left/Gray) | Good, no drift |
Joy-Con (Right/Neon Blue) | Good, no drift |
Joy-Con (Right/Neon Red) | Good, no drift, Factory refurbished |
SNES Controller | Third Party, no nintendo logo |
SPIN Z WiiU Pro Controller | Black, Near Mint |
SPIN Z WiiU Pro Controller | Black, Near Mint |
Gray Wavebird w/Receiver | All OEM, the receiver and controller have a discremepncy on channels, but everything works as intended. |
WiiU Pro Controller | Black, OEM, Good condition |
Misc. | Condition |
Switch Dock (Black) | Good |
Black MagicGate 8MB PS2 Memory Card | Has Free McBoot loaded onto the card |
Blue MagicGate 8MB PS2 Memory Card | Has Free McBoot loaded onto the card |
Yellow Nyko MagicGate 8MB PS2 Memory Card | Has Free McBoot loaded onto the card |
Super Smash Bros Ultimate Nintendo Switch ConsoleBox Only | Empty Box, good condition |
Animal Crossing Nintendo Switch Console Box Only | Empty Box, good condition |
Pokemon Dialga & Palkia Switch Lite Box Only | Empty Box, good condition |
Fortnite Nintendo Switch Console Box Only | Empty Box, good condition |
The Art of Splatoon 2 | Sealed |
Kid Icarus Uprising Players Guide (Imported, no AR cards) | Shows a little wear |
Nintendo Switch AC Adapter | Unused in original bag, Authentic Nintendo Adapter |
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Pre-Order Coin | Sealed |
Breath of the Wild Sheikah Coin | From BotW Special Edition, Good condition |
Pokken Art Cel Pre-Order Bonus | Sealed |
Blastoise New 3DS Plates | Plates are mint and unused |
Nintendo 3DS Stand | OEM, Came with Kid Icarus Uprising |
Kid Icarus AR Card Set (205/404) | Contains 205 different US cards, no duplicates. This is roughly half the entire set. An itemized list can be provided upon request. |
Shantae Risky's Revenge 2 LP Soundtrack Vinyl | Sealed |
Cases | Condition |
Dot Hack (.HACK) Infection | Case & Manual |
Dot Hack (.HACK) Mutation | Case only |
Dot Hack (.HACK) Outbreak | Case & Manual |
God of War Chains of Olympus | Case and Manual Only |
Freebies | Condition |
Gold Game & Watch Stand | Gold Game & Watch stand meant for the 35th Anniversary Edition Zelda G&W, but likely works with others. |
Playstation 2 IDE Connector | Upgraded my HD Adapter to SATA, these are the old/leftover connectors. |
Leapster Games | |
Wants | Console |
Kid Icarus Uprising AR Cards: AKDE-025 AKDE-039 (Will consider others) | None |
Asheron's Call Memorabilia | PC |
Game & Watch Devices (Excluding 35th Mario & Zelda editions) | None |
Sola to robo | DS |
Izuna Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (Case Only) | DS |
Little Red Ridinghood Zombie BBQ | DS |
Metal Gear Acid | PSP |
Classic NES Series: Ice Climbers | GBA |
Classic NES Series: Excitebike | GBA |
Classic NES Series: Dr. Mario | GBA |
Classic NES Series: Donkey Kong | GBA |
Classic NES Series: Pac-Man | GBA |
Classic NES Series: The Legend of Zelda | GBA |
Classic NES Series: Xevious | GBA |
Castlevania Legends | GBC |
Night Warriors Darkstalkers Revenge (Case & Manual Only) | Saturn |
R.O.B. Accessories | NES |
Wii Sports Club | Wii U |
Turbo | Wii U |
Blaster Master 2 | Genesis |
submitted by
SystemSpark to
gameswap [link] [comments]
2023.03.31 19:40 SystemSpark [USA] [H]Bomberman 64 2, Boktai 2, .Hack Quaratine, Kid Dracula, Wild Guns, River City Girls, Scarface, Valkyrie Profile, Power Stone, Shantae, Switch/Wii/WiiU/PSP/PS1/PS2/PS3/PS4/PS5/DS/3DS/GBA/GB/NES/SNES/N64/NGC/Genesis/Saturn Games, amiibo, Controllers, Joy-Con,Nintendo Swag [W] Paypal F&F
Prices are subjective, negotiable, and do not include shipping. Photos upon request
amiibo | Price | Condition |
Zelda Loftwing | 30 | New In Box |
Sanrio amiibo cards | 12 | Sealed Pack |
Inkling Boy - Neon Green | 39 | Loose/Mint |
Mario Cereal Box | 15 | Cereal Removed/Flattened |
Isabelle Summer Outfit | 40 | Open Box |
Cyrus/K.K./Reese | 18 | New In Box/Damaged box |
Tom Nook | 12 | New In Box |
Mabel | 9 | New In Box |
Digital Codes | Price | Console |
Mighty Switch Force | 20 | 3DS |
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse | 20 | WiiU |
Switch | Price | Condition |
Azure Striker Gunvolt Striker Pack | 40 | Sealed |
Aggelos | 40 | Complete in Box |
Bendy and the Ink Machine | 30 | Complete in Box |
Cruel King and the Great Hero Storybook Edition | 60 | Complete in Box |
Disgaea 1 Rosen Edition | 100 | Complete in Box |
Ghostbusters The Video Game Remastered | 30 | Sealed |
Metroid Dread Collector's Edition | 110 | Sealed, a few dings associated with shipping |
Monster Hunter Stories 2 Collector's Edition | 160 | Sealed |
River City Girls | 200 | Sealed, Best Buy Variant |
Shantae Collector's Edition | 150 | Sealed |
Shantae Risky's Revenge Collector's Edition | 150 | Sealed |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cowabunga Collection | 30 | Sealed |
Unravel 2 | 30 | Sealed |
Yu-Gi-Oh Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution | 18 | Loose |
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap | 40 | Complete in Box |
Wii | Price | Condition |
Batallion Wars 2 | 11 | Game and Case |
Castle of Shikigami III | 75 | Complete in Box |
Okami | 10 | Game and Case |
WiiU Games | Price | Condition |
Batman Arkham City Armored Edition | 40 | Sealed |
Disney Infinity 2.0 | 15 | Sealed |
Mario Kart 8 | 15 | Complete in Box |
Nintendoland | 10 | Complete in Box |
Star Fox Guard | 10 | Complete in Box |
DS | Price | Condition |
Super Scribblenauts | 5 | Loose |
Witch's Wish | 60 | Loose |
3DS | Price | Condition |
Kid Icarus Uprising (Japanese) | 40 | Game, Manual, and Case (No Big Box) |
GBA | Price | Condition |
Boktai 2 | 200 | Loose |
Game & Watch Gallery 4 | 16 | Loose, Torn Label |
Lady Sia | 30 | Loose, EU import |
Lady Sia | 50 | Loose. Label imperfections |
Super Puzzle Fighter 2 | 60 | Complete in Box |
Super Mario Advance | 13 | No label |
NES | Price | Condition |
Kid Icarus | 180 | Game, Box, and Manual; Box shows wear; Protective case for box and manual included |
SNES | Price | Condition |
Mortal Kombat II | 15 | Loose |
Super Mario World | 16 | Loose |
Super Scope 6 | 10 | Loose |
Wild Guns | 270 | Loose, Bad Label Damage |
N64 | Price | Condition |
Bomber Man 64 The Second Attack! | 250 | Loose |
Pokemon Snap | 15 | Loose |
Gamecube | Price | Condition |
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles | 14 | Disc and case. Artwork is a little dinged up. No Manual |
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | 16 | Complete in Box, blockbuster stickers on case. |
Super Mario Sunshine | 40 | Game and Manual. Case included, but the artwork may be a reprint. |
Sega Genesis | Price | Condition |
Jurrassic Park | 10 | Loose cartridge, Sharpie on Label |
Spider-Man | 12 | Loose cartridge, Label Damage |
Genesis 6-Pak | 18 | Loose cartridge |
Sega Saturn | Price | Condition |
Vampire Savior (Import, Dark Stalkers 2) | 40 | Game and artwork, no spine slip. Some creases in the artwork. |
Sega Dreamcast | Price | Condition |
Power Stone | 120 | CIB |
Power Stone 2 | 160 | CIB |
PSP | Price | Condition |
Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories | 19 | Game and Case, Greatest Hits |
Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories | 14 | Loose, Greatest Hits, Cracked Casing |
Little Big Planet | 9 | Loose |
Loco Roco | 7 | Complete in Box |
Patapon | 7 | Loose |
Silent Hill Origins | 50 | Complete In Box |
Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron | 13 | Complete in Box |
PS1 | Price | Condition |
Castlevania Chronicles | 120 | Loose |
Chocobo's Dungeon 2 | 100 | Complete in Box |
Crash Bash | 15 | Complete in Box |
Dark Stalkers | 47 | Loose |
Dark Stalkers 3 | 47 | Loose |
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver | 18 | Loose |
Silent Hill | 105 | Loose disc |
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo | 40 | Complete in Box |
Valkyrie Profile | 325 | Discs and Case, no manual |
World of Dragon Warrior Torneko The Last Hope | 80 | Loose disc |
PS2 | Price | Condition |
Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance | | |
Burnout | 8 | Complete in Box; Greatest Hits |
Burnout 2 | 8 | Loose Disc |
Burnout 3 Takedown | 11 | Complete, Water Damage on back cover art |
Burnout Dominator | 9 | Case and Disc, Disc has superficial scratches but still boots |
Burnout Revenge | 10 | Complete, Greatest Hits |
Castlevania Curse of Darkness | 60 | Loose, Disc has light scratching |
Crash Bandicoot The Wrath of Cortex | 10 | Greatest Hits, Used, Disc and Case |
Dragon Ball Z Budokai | 11 | Complete in Box |
Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi | 15 | Complete in Box; Greatest Hits |
Final Fantasy X | 6 | Greatest Hits, Used, Disc and Case |
Final Fantasy X-2 | 6 | Complete; Greatest Hits |
God of War II | 13 | Complete; Greatest Hits |
Grand Theft Auto Vice City | 10 | Disc, Case, Poster, No Manual |
.Hack Quaratine | 300 | Game, Anime Disc, and Case. Missing Manual |
Jak and Daxter | 10 | Greatest Hits, Used, Disc and Case |
Marvel vs Capcom 2 | 60 | Cracked Disc, won't boot for me. Comes with case, no manual |
Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty | 10 | Greatest Hits, Used, Disc and Case |
Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 | 10 | Disc and Case |
Need for Speed Underground | 10 | Greatest Hits, Used, Disc and Case |
Need for Speed Underground 2 | 17 | Greatest Hits, Used, Disc and Case |
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 | 10 | Greatest Hits, Used, Disc and Case |
Resident Evil Dead Aim | 50 | Game and Case, No manual |
Scarface | 40 | Complete; Greatest Hits |
Star Wars Battlefront II | 10 | Disc and Case |
Tekken Tag Tournament | 10 | Disc and Case; Greatest Hits |
PS3 | Price | Condition |
Castlevania Lord of Shadow Collection | 30 | Loose |
PS4 | Price | Condition |
APEX Construct | 15 | Sealed |
PS5 | Price | Condition |
Battlefield 2042 | 20 | Complete in Box |
XBOX One | Price | Condition |
Watchdogs | 15 | Sealed |
Consoles | Price | Condition |
Monster Hunter Rise Edition Switch | 420 | New in Box (No game code) |
White OLED Nintendo Switch | 400 | New in Box |
OLED Switch Tablet | 250 | New/Unused Tablet Only |
Legend of Zelda Game & Watch (35th Anniversary) | 50 | New in Box |
SNES Jr. | 120 | Includes Deck, RF Coax Cable, Third Party AC Adapter, and Third Party Controller. Small crack on the corner. |
Controllers | Price | Condition |
Fortnite Joy-Con Set | 120 | Comes from the Fortnite Edition Console, never used |
Joy-Con Grip | 8 | Bagged/Unused - Came with console |
Oculus Quest 1/Rift S Left Controller | 115 | Used but very good condition. Comes with silicon case |
Oculus Quest 1/Rift S Right Controller | 115 | Used but very good condition. Comes with silicon case |
Platinum Gamecube Controller | 20 | Third Party, no nintendo logo, wired, good condition |
Joy-Con (Left/Neon Blue) | 35 | Good, no drift |
Joy-Con (Left/Gray) | 35 | Good, no drift |
Joy-Con (Right/Neon Blue) | 35 | Good, no drift |
Joy-Con (Right/Neon Red) | 35 | Good, no drift, Factory refurbished |
SNES Controller | 10 | Third Party, no nintendo logo |
SPIN Z WiiU Pro Controller | 25 | Black, Near Mint |
SPIN Z WiiU Pro Controller | 25 | Black, Near Mint |
Gray Wavebird w/Receiver | 90 | All OEM, the receiver and controller have a discremepncy on channels, but everything works as intended. |
WiiU Pro Controller | 35 | Black, OEM, Good condition |
Misc. | Price | Condition |
Switch Dock (Black) | 40 | Good |
Black MagicGate 8MB PS2 Memory Card | 20 | Has Free McBoot loaded onto the card |
Blue MagicGate 8MB PS2 Memory Card | 20 | Has Free McBoot loaded onto the card |
Yellow Nyko MagicGate 8MB PS2 Memory Card | 20 | Has Free McBoot loaded onto the card |
Super Smash Bros Ultimate Nintendo Switch ConsoleBox Only | 90 | Empty Box, good condition |
Animal Crossing Nintendo Switch Console Box Only | 20 | Empty Box, good condition |
Pokemon Dialga & Palkia Switch Lite Box Only | 30 | Empty Box, good condition |
Fortnite Nintendo Switch Console Box Only | 20 | Empty Box, good condition |
The Art of Splatoon 2 | 300 | Sealed |
Kid Icarus Uprising Players Guide (Imported, no AR cards) | 30 | Shows a little wear |
Nintendo Switch AC Adapter | 20 | Unused in original bag, Authentic Nintendo Adapter |
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Pre-Order Coin | 15 | Sealed |
Breath of the Wild Sheikah Coin | 25 | From BotW Special Edition, Good condition |
Pokken Art Cel Pre-Order Bonus | 7 | Sealed |
Blastoise New 3DS Plates | 150 | Plates are mint and unused |
Nintendo 3DS Stand | 30 | OEM, Came with Kid Icarus Uprising |
Kid Icarus AR Card Set (205/404) | 600 | Contains 205 different US cards, no duplicates. This is roughly half the entire set. An itemized list can be provided upon request. |
Shantae Risky's Revenge 2 LP Soundtrack Vinyl | 55 | Sealed |
Cases | Price | Condition |
Dot Hack (.HACK) Infection | 20 | Case & Manual |
Dot Hack (.HACK) Mutation | 20 | Case only |
Dot Hack (.HACK) Outbreak | 30 | Case & Manual |
God of War Chains of Olympus | 15 | Case and Manual Only |
Freebies | Price | Condition |
Gold Game & Watch Stand | Free with purchase | Gold Game & Watch stand meant for the 35th Anniversary Edition Zelda G&W, but likely works with others. |
Playstation 2 IDE Connector | Free with purchase | Upgraded my HD Adapter to SATA, these are the old/leftover connectors. |
Leapster Games | Free with purchase | |
submitted by
SystemSpark to
GameSale [link] [comments]
2023.03.31 19:31 Floramal Cassander I - Oldtown, Old Habits
1st day, 7th moon, 200 AC Oldtown Late Morning Sun streamed through the open window in his cabin, an infuriating bother to be awakened by, of all things. Slowly sitting up in his bed, Cassander rubbed his temples soothingly, trying to gain his bearings. He felt
hot, and not just because of the sun berating him through the portside window, evidently, but because of the thick black velvet doublet he wore.
He was fully dressed. Why was he fully dressed? Oh, right. He grabbed a pitcher of water from the bedside and downed the whole cup he poured it into in one go. Early that morning, still drunk on milk-of-the-poppy from the night prior, he had dressed himself in the half dark, and dragged himself into the river barge. It was then that the pounding in his head began once more, with fury, the kind of fury he had seldom experienced in his entire life. He sprang into action, frantically opening drawers in the various cupboards and chests of drawers throughout the luxurious cabin, hoping against hope to hear the gentle chime of glass vials rubbing against one another, to no avail.
He had forgotten to bring some with him. The headache crescendoed, flying his nerves, as he flopped back onto the bed, groaning in agony.
Evidently the sudden flurry of motion had alerted others to his sentience, as no sooner had he laid back down, did a knock erupt from the far corner of the room, the entrance to the cabin. Cassander said naught, answering the door with a loud, pathetic groaning noise in the affirmative. At that, the door swung open, a loud haze of blonde and blue immediately bursting into speech that he had not the slightest ability to comprehend at the moment. After a beat, he noticed the chirruping paused, and he finally shot its source a glance, through heavily squinted eyes; it was his niece. He felt even worse just knowing she was seeing him in such a state. Realizing she was waiting expectantly for a response, he leaned forward, poured another glass of water, and began sipping on it. His eyes fluttered open and closed, struggling to remain one or the other.
"Repeat that, please, I didn't quite catch that." He said, or rather, croaked. Coryanne shot him a weary, concerned look, before continuing, much slower this time.
"Oh hells. I
said we are in the bloody harbor, uncle. We arrived at Oldtown nearly an hour ago."
"You don't say." Cassander said, suddenly cognizant of the fact that he no longer felt the motion of the ship along the waters of the Whispering Sound.
Welp, that explains that. "Gods, you're besotted again, aren't you?" Coryanne flopped onto the bed herself, clutching her temples soothingly in a manner vaguely similar to how Cassander had not a moment before. The irony was not lost on him, and it sent yet another pang of guilt deep into his core.
What a good example I am, truly. Mustering the last of his strength, or what felt like it, anyway, Cassander sat up, and slid across the bed over to her, wrapping one around her back, and pulling her up against him. He placed a palm between her shoulderblades, rubbing out circles soothingly.
"No, no. I haven't had a proper drink in a moon, at least."
"Ah. Even worse, then."
"I'm sorry."
"I need some air. And some space, if it please." She paused, sliding off the bed to her feet, taking a few steps back towards the door. "I only came to wake you up from your stupor. It seems I've done that. I'll be off now, to find Casella."
With that, she closed the door behind her, her platinum blonde tresses forming a sort of halo around her waist as she turned on her heel.
Pouring some more water to splash on his face, Cassander sighed, sullenly. Though now felt like just the right time to wallow in self pity, he, unfortunately, had not the time to do so. Standing to his feet himself, he crossed the room to the crystal mirror, legs shaking terribly. Flattening some of the wrinkles in his doublet and pants, he avoided his own gaze as he shaved his face. Though he had done so the day before, he could already feel hints of stubble growing, a fact that somehow distressed him even more than Cory seeing him in such a state.
After washing his face again, more thoroughly, still avoiding his own gaze, Cassander made for the door. He donned a light silk cloak that covered his left shoulder, and his belts and scabbard, and was off.
He didn't know what the day held in store for him, but he was already sorely regretting being awake for it.
submitted by
Floramal to
IronThroneRP [link] [comments]
2023.03.31 19:08 MaxDamage1 How to run a Mega-Funnel.
A question that gets asked a lot is “How do I run a game/funnel/module for 9+ players” and almost universally the answer is “Don’t!” with additional advice to cut the group down. Sometimes, cutting a group down or limiting the number of players isn’t a real option at that point. An example of that, and the impetus for this post, is a school gaming group. I run an after school gaming club and while trying to get it up and running, I don’t want to turn anyone away and I have to be ready for drop-in’s at any time. Having done this a good handful of times, I’ve typed up a guide for how to run a funnel for a 9 to 12 player table and then how to transition into regular smaller groups. I’ve covered Set up, character sheets, other materials, initiative order and taking actions, combat, and then ending the funnel.
Disclaimer: This is one Judges experience and may not work for everyone. Also, I will be bending and maybe breaking a few rules and editing the chosen module a little.
Obligatory request for forgiveness. If the formatting is wierd it's because I typed this on a computer, emailed it to myself, and then posted it on mobile.
Getting set up:
The first thing you have to do is pick your funnel. I’m going to use Sailors on the Starless Sea as my example here for a few reasons. First, it’s incredibly popular and one of the most frequently suggested. Second, the nature of the narrative and enemy population makes it perfect for a large funnel party. I’ve also run this style of game using Hole in the Sky.
WARNING: THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD. I’m going to use specific situations for sailors as examples, so enemies, hooks, and other stuff will be referenced.
Character Sheets:
Once you’ve chosen your funnel, you need to generate player characters. Having a large group roll characters will take forever and if most of your players are new to DCC or RPGs in general, they may struggle with the tables and conversions required. Purple Sorcerer has a 0-level character generator that creates a page with 4 random PCs. I run off 25 pages of each non-human race and 50 pages of human characters. Cut them down into individual character sheets and make piles.
We aren’t going to have each player run 4 characters at a time. There in lies madness. Each player will play 2 at a time. I go over each race and class during the session zero and explain how they will choose at the end of the funnel. Each player will randomly select two 0-lvl pc’s at the beginning and draw a new one to refill their hand as they inevitably perish. This way they have a chance to keep a favored PC alive and they can try a few races/potential class options.
Other materials:
Get two sets of dice and a rolling tray. I’d also advise getting a labeled dice tray to help your players identify which die they need. You can buy them from Goodman or just buy a 14-day pill organizer and write D-whatever on the side and drop the dice into that.
BIC sells cheap mechanical pencils in packs of like 24. The fine point is great for these character sheets as they are only a quarter of a piece of printer paper. Also, no one ever remembers their own pencils.
Playing the game:
-Setting the stage
Narratively, I use battle lines to explain how the multiple PC’s thing works. The PCs are the front lines of a mob of villagers who are storming the keep. As one dies, a new face from the crowd moves up to fill their spot. Players will choose one of their PC’s each turn to make their action. This streamlines things considerably.
-Initiative order and taking actions.
Initiative order is an unnecessary hassle in a group this size. Players go in order starting with the player to my left and working clockwise around the table. When out of combat, each player gets one action per round. If it’s really specific or requires some kind of check, they need to declare which of their PC’s is doing it. If it’s general like “I look around the courtyard, what do I see?” just tell them.
Normally, leaders will appear in your party who will want to split off and/or do something specific. Unless it’s stealthy, I’ll ask what they want to do and once they explain I’ll ask if anyone wants to join them. Some players will follow and some will stay and form their own little group. I’ll let the moving group work through their side-quest until they reach a point everyone needs to be involved, like entering the tower from the courtyard. Once they get there, I’ll have them pause and have the other group work out their plan. Once they’ve reached a conclusion, they can join the other group. There’s relatively little in Sailors to keep the group apart for more than a few minutes and if one group finds or does something cool, others will want to join them anyways.
If they end up at different advancement points, like the tower vs the passage under the collapsed wall, and neither side wants to abandon their path, you may choose to railroad them a little merely to keep the group together. Initiate the tower fight, but lock the door to the lower levels and send them back to the hidden entrance under the rubble. Once they get on the stairs, they can move up and unlock that door and complete their map. You can have both groups go their own ways and meet back up on the stairs, but it means that half the group will just be sitting there waiting at different points and with that many players, they may become slightly unruly.
As you advance, some players will be more passive and just follow along. Players can always pass their turn by saying “I follow X” or “I go with them.” If they say they don’t know what to do, make a suggestion along those lines.
When moving forward, there may be places where PC’s can’t move freely or in a wide line, like down stairs or across narrow paths. Set the stage for your PC’s and ask for a volunteer to lead the party by going first. Start the open initiative order with them and then continue moving forward as before.
In some cases, like the room with the pool of skulls or the well of souls, checks will need to be made by everyone in the party or within proximity. Just as before, have the players all roll a check going clockwise and then narrate the results to the group instead of one at a time. This saves time and creates tension and thus drives engagement. Everyone rolls one at a time, waits to learn if they succeeded, and then finds out when they see three of their friends walk forward and jump down a well to their doom. It’s the perfect pregnant pause.
And now, combat.
When confronting enemies, there are three adjustments to make when judging a large group. As before, players need to specify which character is making the action when their turn comes up.
1: Adding enemies. Clone the enemies provided in the module and add enough that they will outnumber your party by 3. This ensures that your enemies are challenging, your players are in danger, and that each player should get an opportunity to slay something. The only exception I can think of to this is the Vine horrors on the approach to the keep. I added 3, bringing it up to 5. It’s the first encounter and many players don’t know what's happening yet, so a measure of mercy is acceptable.
2: The monsters may know what they’re doing, but the PC’s probably don’t. I always run these as theater of the mind and use a battle line system. The PC’s are standing in a line facing the enemies with the peasant mob to their backs and the enemies are closing in on their front. If experienced players want to flank or do something fancy, they can and If/when they die, their next PC pops back into their place in the line from the mob. Just as before, they have to declare which of their PC’s is performing the movement and action that turn.
The battle line also limits PC to NPC interaction for learning purposes. Each PC only has to worry about the enemy to their 11, 12, and 1 o’clock positions for the first bit of combat. This will change later.
3: Initiative order ping-pong. Starting with the player to your left, use a PC-NPC-PC-NPC turn order. Once the PC moves and/or takes their action an enemy takes a turn and then on to the next PC and so on. This creates a fluidity that keeps the game moving and keeps players engaged. You don’t end up with initiative clumps.
In sailors specifically, there comes a point in the first major battle where a mini-boss (The Minotaur) is introduced. He jumps down from a ledge above the battle and joins the beast men. I’ll wait until the turn order has circled the table a few times and there’s a gap in the enemy line. I’ll grab dice so I can roll the number of players I have. 12 players, roll a d12. I roll and then count that number of players in order starting with lefty as 1. Whoever’s number comes up gets landed on, dies, and then the Minotaur enters the enemy line. Also bears mentioning, I’ve never had a player get mad that their PC got pancaked by the Minotaur. Most wear it as a badge of honor.
There is one point in sailors where rules 1, 2, and 3 will be blended into a glorious 80’s action montage. In my last play through, the sheer chaos of this section made it my player’s favorite part of the funnel. In the last portion of sailors, players will end up on a ziggurat with a metric ton of enemies plus the BBEG. Players will likely not be in a line, but be spread out through the mob of enemies. Some may be free, some may be captured attempting to escape, and some failing to do that and being hurled to their deaths.
This section is where I make a Judge Decision for story purposes, I create unlimited enemies. I know the module states that there are like 22 beastmen on the ziggurat, but as long as the boss lives, there will be beastmen to fight. It keeps the players from mobbing the boss and killing him in a single round. It also provides a dynamic, chaotic, 300-esq battle where the players get to battle uphill odds and makes them feel more like main characters.
As before, go in clockwise turn order, 1v1ing your PCs with random beast men or having them perform their actions. If they die, have them draw a new pc and drop them into the madness when the time comes. Some players will run up and fight the BBEG. Have them take their turn, then have the BBEG take a turn against them. If they figure out how to use the skulls after some players have begun attacking the boss, losses will be taken, but that’s the name of the game. Eventually, the Chaos lord falls and the remaining beastmen can be handled narratively unless the players actively choose to keep fighting them.
Ending the funnel and dividing the group.
Before I get to this actual part of my tutorial, I’m going to answer the burning question of “Wait, you said that splitting the party isn’t a possibility? Why can we do it now?” A couple of reasons. The first is that it’s so much easier to teach people how to play as a group where they can learn from each other’s actions and mistakes. The second is that if it’s a public table game, your group numbers will have probably stabilized and you know who will consistently show up. You can more easily divide them and not end up with a group of 3 one week and a group of 11 the next. Also, your players will have probably divided themselves into smaller cliques who gel well. This makes for better play anyways.
Now, back to the tutorial.
The BBEG has been killed and now comes the great culling. Once the players have beaten the chaos lord, I have the beast men disengage and begin to panic and howl as the world begins to crumble around them all. This allows the PC’s to move more freely. Some may want to keep slaying, some want to flee, and inevitably, someone will take up the flail and revive the chaos lord. Once that happens, players may fight or flee by their own discretion. The module gives a rule for determining how many actions they get before the ziggurat collapses and they get swept away. I use that as my way of eliminating the peasant mob and the beastmen. The PC’s that make it to the boat, and every player gets at least one on their through their own actions or a little Deus Ex Machina on my part, become their level one characters. The rest are washed away. I also narrate that the cavern collapsing destroys their village above, so they have nowhere to call home but the open road.
Once the boat exits the cavern, I take some more liberties with the module as written. I explain that the time they spent exposed to the powers and vapors that mutated the beastmen awoke in them the spark of the adventurer. Time ebbs and flows strangely as they sail away through the cavern as we work as a group to move to level one character sheets. With their improved adventurer senses, they find a hatch in the floor of the boat with a stash of leather armor for everyone. Everything else, they gotta quest for.
Once they’ve all gotten their level one PC’s written up, it’s time to split the party. I use the narrative device that the ship begins to scrape the bottom of the river and they realize that some of them need to jump out and lighten the load before the thing breaks up. There are just enough vines on the side of the cavern for half to jump out and grab. That group climbs out of the ravine and sees a small village in the distance where they are lightly attacked upon approach by villagers who fear The People of the Pit! The other group who stayed in the ship get battered around a bit and end up flying down a fork in the river where they get washed out of a cave into sunlight and run aground about a mile from a small village named Hirot.
From that point on the groups will meet separately under whatever schedule works for everyone. I keep my piles of lvl-0 characters around for future drop-ins and new players. They get to play as hirelings and villagers lured in by the charm and excitement offered by the PC’s until they level up. If you’re lucky, you will gain enough players and have to split one of your groups again.
I hope this was clear and helpful. These are all the things that work well for my table and I wanted to share them. If you find yourself running a mega-funnel, I hope you can use them too. If you have any questions or if anything is confusing, Let me know! If anyone is interested, I can also type up a shorter guide for running games for players with learning disabilities and other special needs from my experiences leading school groups.
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2023.03.31 18:38 Narrow_Muscle9572 The Lawn Killer - The Island
By the time I was sixteen Linda got my dad to send me off to what they thought was boarding school. In reality it was a compound where the Order of the Wren would begin training me so I could be a full-fledged member.
During this time D and I would talk on the phone a few times a week. Since the Order had me move around so often I had to be the one doing the calling. These conversations didn't last as long as I would have liked because there was no privacy in the hotel rooms we would frequently stay at.
By we, I mean the two experienced hunters I would have to learn from. Their names were Williams and King. Neither did much talking and I could tell they didn't like having me around. Not that I could blame them. I was inexperienced and they had better things to do than to hold my hand and explain things to me. That meant that when we had to go somewhere to slay some monstrosity, I would have to wait in the hotel we were staying at.
I was bored out of my mind most of the time when we were traveling the country but I would learn to love those dull moments soon enough.
Williams was alright even though he smelt like a chimney, but at least he was patient with me and kind. However, King was crazy, cynical and had an unhealthy obsession with explosives. I asked him about it once and he told me “In this line of work, some things are vulnerable to fire, monk root, silver and stuff, right? But in my experience nothing can survive when twenty pounds of homemade explosives go boom.”
The days passed slowly so I would kill time by sharpening rune covered blades that would hurt all sorts of monsters, making specialized ammo, documenting everything I thought was noteworthy so future generations of members could learn from us, reading, playing cards and waiting for Farsight to call.
I asked Williams about Farsight on a few occasions and he told me that they were high ranking members of the Order who essentially ran everything. Since they were a secretive bunch, who they were and how they knew where to send all the teams was a mystery.
Most people I spoke to said they thought the biggest clue on how Farsight operated was the history of the Order itself.
Learning about the Order was a top priority during my studies at the compound. The long and the short is: back in the day there were some nerds that saved a bunch of books and scrolls from a fire that was about to consume a library named after some guy named Alexander. Lots of these people died as a result of saving what they could and because of their sacrifice the Order knows how to dispose and kill monsters.
My studies were not limited to history either. Most of the time was spent doing military drills, however on a few occasions I got to try my hand at magic. That being said, magic welders are rare and I was not one of them.
The first time I ever saw any action we were waiting somewhere in Ohio when the phone rang.
King answered the phone, waited and responded with ‘yes’, ‘no’ and finally ‘understood’ before hanging up.
“What did they say?” asked Williams.
King sighed and shook his head. “We got a plane to catch,” King answered as he slapped his knees and stood up.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Alaska.”
“What's in Alaska?” Williams asked before I could.
“Farsight got wind of some town that went missing.”
“A town went missing?” I asked, pinching my eyebrows together in confusion.
“It happens,” King shrugged. “Roanoke, Waterway… Etcetera.”
“Waterway?” I asked. “Never heard of it.”
“That's because it disappeared,” Williams answered before turning to King. “Did Farsight tell you what was there?”
King gave him a look before returning to pack up his things. “Do they ever?”
Getting to our destination meant getting in three different single engine planes that all took off and landed on someone's field instead of an airport. Each of the planes were held together by duct tape and prayers. After that, we rode in a boat for an hour.
The island we were assigned to go to was small and covered with equal parts trees, brush and rocks. There weren't many houses and the nicest one of them was a doublewide trailer in poor condition.
“Where is everyone?” I asked as we made our way off the dock and onto land.
“I don't like this,” Williams added as he took out the HSD (Handheld Supernatural Detector. It sort of looked like half of a bike handle covered in copper wire, black electricians tape and at the end there are two antennas). “Nothing” Williams said after waving it around a little while.
“Keep it activated” King said, his shotgun at the ready as he led us through what passed as a town on this island.
“Maybe the signal is too weak” I suggested.
“Might be,” King responded. “Might not even be supernatural?”
“What else could it be?” I asked.
“Disease? Jobs disappearing” King answered.
“Doesn't look like there were lots of jobs here anyways” Williams pointed out, waving the HSD in different directions but not picking up anything. “Besides, Farsight isn't wrong about these things” he added as King led us to the first house and walked in.
“How many people lived here?” I asked.
“No more than thirty,” King answered.
We kept checking the houses, but time after time there were no clues to tell us what happened to the island's occupants. There were no signs of struggle, the clothes were still on the hangers and there was even food that sat around for so long that whatever it once was became mostly mold.
“So what's the plan?” I asked after reaching the last house before the forest started. I was hoping that they would say something that involved a hot shower. After the trip out here I felt that I could have used one.
Or two.
“It's going to get dark soon,” King answered, looking at the sunset. “And since we don't know what we are dealing with, we should find a place to stay for the night.”
“Where?” I asked.
“Churches are safer than most places” Williams suggested, pointing to a squat, square building.
The door was unlocked so we let ourselves in. The first thing King and Williams did was to see if we were alone. They checked the confessionals, the back office, the bathroom, under every pew and kept their eyes on the rafters.
King figured the safest part of the building was the back office, so we all went there. With the three of us it was cramped. I would have suggested staying in one of the houses, but it wouldn't have felt right sleeping in a strangers house when they were missing, besides, places of worship would provide safety. At least from some things.
On the desk that belonged to the priest was a newspaper and Williams picked it up to check the date. Something I would never have thought of doing, and saw that it was two months old.
“In a place like this, I wouldn't think they would get their news fresh off the press” King responded when Williams pointed this out.
“Still” Williams said. “That's a long time, even for way out here.”
When it came to claiming sleeping areas it was nearly impossible for all of us to be satisfied with the results. Not only was it crammed with all of us in the back office, but both men also suffered from night terrors.
By the time we all had our designated sleeping spots, Williams grumbled about being low on cigarettes and ordered me to run to the island's convenience store and “grab an armful.”
At first I protested, but they told me that since the island was abandoned it wasn't stealing.
It was my turn to grumble, but I did as I was told.
As I walked to the convenience store, I wondered how Farsight would react if they knew King and Williams sent me off by myself like this.
Pulling the door open to go inside, I was surprised to find that the store looked nearly the same as the one in Gray Hill. They had stuffed animals on the walls, pickled pig parts in glass jars, they even had the same off brand food items that I could never find anywhere other than home.
Excited, I raced to the cooler and found the same brand of ginger ale I loved so much. I sucked down one, feeling the carbonation reach up into my nose and burn like hell.
Once I loaded the rest of the bottles in my bag I went over to the counter and hopped over it to grab Williams his cigarettes.
After leaving the store I saw a truck parked out front of the church that wasn't there when I left. Feeling something was wrong I ducked behind a fence. Just in time too because a second later the door swung open and a group of people were dragging King and Williams to the truck.
The people seemed to be wearing the furs of all sorts of animals. From skunk to deer to bear and whatever else that lived on the island. At first I thought their faces were covered in dirt, however thanks to D’s alterations I could see that it was actually black rocks glistening in the dying light. Not only that but they were growing out of these people. One had a large piece coming straight up from behind his left collarbone, another had her face peppered with small rocks but the man who appeared to be their leader had one coming out of his eye socket.
King and Williams were shouting at the group, what they were saying I can’t repeat and if I cleaned it up it wouldn't be much of a sentence.
I stayed still and out of sight until the truck pulled away. Since I was only armed with the buck knife I kept on my belt at all times I wouldn’t be much help. Even less so if I was caught by whoever took the more experienced monster hunters.
As soon as the truck was out of sight I ran into the church to grab the weapons we brought with us. Both shotguns that were filled with special shells we made ourselves and our rune covered machetes.
Just as I was about to leave I remembered the backpack filled with explosives. When I scooped that up I took off in the direction I last saw the truck going.
I ran for about two miles before finally finding the truck which was parked in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road. Most of the journey was uphill, however thanks to what D did to me I had plenty of energy to spare.
It didn't take long for me to see that there were tracks that led into the woods and without thinking about it, I followed them. King and Williams needed my help.
The tracks were easy to follow considering there were six people plus King and Williams who were struggling with their abductors.
I had been tracking these people for fifteen or twenty minutes by the time I came across a rocky hill, and since rocks don't leave tracks, I thought I lost them. However, just then I saw a small cave entrance. Figuring that was where King and Williams were taken, I hustled up the hill to investigate, making sure I kept low and quiet.
When I got in the cave I thought my eyes would adjust, however it didn't. Inside was completely dark and there was no sound other than my own breathing and footfalls. I would come to learn later than caves are like that. Completely dark so even my eyes couldn't adjust and they muffle sounds.
After a short time of navigating down a narrow passageway by dragging my hand on the wall I saw a faint orange glow and slowly walked towards it, careful not to make any sound. As I drew closer, I heard a group of people chanting in a strange language that almost sounded like angry small dogs.
A few stalagmites and stalactites separated the passageway I was on from a large open area with small bonfires scattered around. The people who took King and Williams were circling a large black monolith that sat in the middle of the room and they seemed to be praying to it. To me the monolith resembled the rocks that grew out of the people.
“I’mma kill you” shouted a familiar voice about ten feet below where I stood. It was King. Both he and Williams had their hands tied behind them, around a rock. “Stem to stern, you hear that? You hear that?!”
As King was shouting, I figured I would have less of a chance at getting caught if I climbed down the steep cave wall instead of following the path. Thankfully I managed to get to them without making a sound that Kings yelling didn't muffle.
D made me a borderline superhero, and superheroes save people. So even though my heart was jumping out of my chest, that didn't stop me from doing what I had to do.
“Shh” I whispered to Williams as I put the handle of my knife in his still bound hand. “I’m leaving the bag of explosives behind you. The shotguns and your machete too.”
Williams didn't make a sound, but he nodded and started to cut the ropes.
King was still shouting to his abductors, masking my voice as I told Williams that I was going to buy them time by serving as a distraction.
Without waiting for a nod, I went back the way I came and started climbing. I was sure I was going to get caught when I caused a few rocks to fall, but then Williams started to yell, joining King to mask the sound.
After reaching the passageway I came from, I turned around to see Williams give me a slight nod. Then I shouted for everyone to hear.
“Your mom shaves her chest and you—”
I didn't get any further than that because the people hissed and ran towards me. Some climbed the wall I just did while others ran down the path I chose not to take in order to reach the two more experienced hunters.
Seeing how fast they were moving made me regret not thinking past this part of the plan.
I ran as fast as I could down the dark and narrow path I entered from. The entire time I could hear them behind me and I imagined that they were getting closer.
As soon as I got outside, it was dark and I made a split second decision to run to the coast. This would make it look like I was trying to get to a boat instead of buying the more experienced monster hunters some time. However every time I tried to head towards the beach a few of my pursuers would be in my way, forcing me to change course.
After what D did to me I was fast, not Olympic speed but it was safe to say I was faster than everyone I knew. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw that these people were keeping pace with me. If it was just one of them, I wouldn't have given it much thought, but all of them were. Even the fat and the old ones.
I tried coming up with answers that might help my chances if I had to fight these people, or should I say what these people became? The rocks gave them enhanced strength and speed, but other than that the clues I had were minimal. The rocks could have been anything from viral, extraterrestrial, interdimensional or even parasitic.
However it was safe to say that even if it was parasitic it was not demonic. If it was, the HSD would’ve picked it up.
If I knew what language these people were speaking, that would narrow the possibilities that much further.
I must have been running for about ten minutes before I realized three things at once. The first thing was these people were much faster than they were letting on and were just toying with me. The second was that I was being herded back to the cave and the third was that I was going to have to stop running and fight.
As soon as I stopped running, I pulled the machete out from its sheath and turned to face those who meant me harm.
They surrounded me like a pack of wolves, and like a pack of wolves they snapped their jaws and made sounds that reminded me of a group of angry tiny dogs barking. These people also attacked like wolves too because the ones behind me would be doing the attacking.
The first one tried to jump onto my shoulders but before she could wrap her arms and legs around me I quickly turned around and used her momentum to throw her into the others. Immediately another lept towards me and was met with a front kick, connecting right below the belly button.
That was when the third one, the one with the rock growing out of his eye, bit my hand.
I don't know who was more surprised, me because I was bit, or him because it cracked his teeth.
I recovered from the shock before he did and raised the machete up to cut off his head.
As I swung he lifted up his hand to block it. Even though I didn't take his head, I still managed to take his hand and half of his forearm.
If he felt pain he sure hid it well.
He swiped at me with his other hand and I leaned back to dodge it. He was fast though and managed to rake my cheek with his nails.
Before I could swing my weapon again, another jumped on my back and put me in a choke hold. The grip was tight and as I tried to free myself the others tackled me. Thankfully this loosened the grip around my neck. However I was on my back and the others were closing in.
I kicked one of my attackers in the knee so it broke and went backwards. This person didn't make a sound and I doubt they felt it.
One of them kicked me in the face and even though it didn't knock me out, it hurt like hell and made me see stars.
I swung my machete in a wide half circle, managing to open the belly of another.
That bought me some room but as I tried to stand up two more jumped on my back and took me to the ground. The rest all piled on top of me, snapping at me while growling and nipping at each other to get out of the way so they could get to me.
I really thought this was going to be how I was going to die, however just then all of them went limp and fell.
A fraction of a second later I heard an explosion coming from the cave.
As I layed there, in the bottom of the pile of bodies, it felt like my heart was going to explode. I was so close to dying, but I prevailed.
I won.
I let out a warcry that Otis would have been proud of and pushed the bodies off of me.
Standing up, I gave one of my attackers a kick for good measure. However it was like kicking a dried up hornets nest and the toe of my boot went right through. The only part that wasn’t brittle was the rocks that grew out of them.
Wiping my boots off in the grass, I heard shouting on the other side of the hill. As soon as I heard this I knew it was Williams and King and ran towards them, a large grin on my face.
“Hey” I yelled out happily when I saw them, but they didn’t seem to hear me and were yelling at each other. Not because they were angry, but because the explosion made them momentarily deaf.
“What?” King asked as he rubbed his ears.
“You’re an idiot,” Williams shouted.
“I can’t hear you,” King complained, pointing at his ears.
“Are you two okay?” I asked as I jogged closer to them.
Williams saw me in the corner of his eye and jumped. When he saw it was me a grin spread on his face. “Hey, you’re alive.”
“Of course I am.”
“What?” King shouted before turning around and seeing me.
“You saved us” Williams answered as he used his pinkie finger to rub deep in his ear.
“Damn,” King said as he took my chin in hand and turned my head to get a look at my face.
“It was nothing,” I answered.
With a closer inspection of my nose, King sucked air through his teeth. “Could've been worse, I guess.”
“It’s true what they said about you,” Williams yelled. “The Order is going to hear of this.”
“Hear of—-“ I started, nervously. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Wrong?” Williams asked loudly, his ears were still ringing.
“What are you saying?” King shouted.
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked, louder than before.
Williams and King looked at each other for a moment and there was a fleeting mischievous expression that came over their faces.
“Where's my cigarettes?” Williams asked sternly.
I didn't know what to say to this and stammered.
A smile grew on William's face and he walked past me. “Just playing with you, kid. Just playing with you.”
“You did good,” King said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “I think Farsight was right about you.”
“Right about me?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
King smiled. “You remember the first day of training?”
I nodded because dozens of kids jogged in formation for miles at five in the morning, sparring with blunt weapons, performing military drills, eating in the mess hall during mealtimes and sleeping in one of the bunkhouses that were hidden in the woods wasn't something I was likely to forget. “Why?”
“You remember that little test they gave you?”
I nodded. All of the questions involved how to dispose of one monster or another. Most of the monsters I never heard of, but as I filled the questionnaire out I remembered Otis’ wise words during my time mowing the lawn at Miss Luther's house: Gotta hit them with your bullets.
This was what I used to answer all the questions.
“Yeah, what about it?”
King squeezed my shoulder and his smile grew. “The Order was impressed and I don't know if I should tell you this or not, but… they think you're going to save the world.”
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2023.03.31 18:38 Narrow_Muscle9572 The Lawn Killer - The Island
By the time I was sixteen Linda got my dad to send me off to what they thought was boarding school. In reality it was a compound where the Order of the Wren would begin training me so I could be a full-fledged member.
During this time D and I would talk on the phone a few times a week. Since the Order had me move around so often I had to be the one doing the calling. These conversations didn't last as long as I would have liked because there was no privacy in the hotel rooms we would frequently stay at.
By we, I mean the two experienced hunters I would have to learn from. Their names were Williams and King. Neither did much talking and I could tell they didn't like having me around. Not that I could blame them. I was inexperienced and they had better things to do than to hold my hand and explain things to me. That meant that when we had to go somewhere to slay some monstrosity, I would have to wait in the hotel we were staying at.
I was bored out of my mind most of the time when we were traveling the country but I would learn to love those dull moments soon enough.
Williams was alright even though he smelt like a chimney, but at least he was patient with me and kind. However, King was crazy, cynical and had an unhealthy obsession with explosives. I asked him about it once and he told me “In this line of work, some things are vulnerable to fire, monk root, silver and stuff, right? But in my experience nothing can survive when twenty pounds of homemade explosives go boom.”
The days passed slowly so I would kill time by sharpening rune covered blades that would hurt all sorts of monsters, making specialized ammo, documenting everything I thought was noteworthy so future generations of members could learn from us, reading, playing cards and waiting for Farsight to call.
I asked Williams about Farsight on a few occasions and he told me that they were high ranking members of the Order who essentially ran everything. Since they were a secretive bunch, who they were and how they knew where to send all the teams was a mystery.
Most people I spoke to said they thought the biggest clue on how Farsight operated was the history of the Order itself.
Learning about the Order was a top priority during my studies at the compound. The long and the short is: back in the day there were some nerds that saved a bunch of books and scrolls from a fire that was about to consume a library named after some guy named Alexander. Lots of these people died as a result of saving what they could and because of their sacrifice the Order knows how to dispose and kill monsters.
My studies were not limited to history either. Most of the time was spent doing military drills, however on a few occasions I got to try my hand at magic. That being said, magic welders are rare and I was not one of them.
The first time I ever saw any action we were waiting somewhere in Ohio when the phone rang.
King answered the phone, waited and responded with ‘yes’, ‘no’ and finally ‘understood’ before hanging up.
“What did they say?” asked Williams.
King sighed and shook his head. “We got a plane to catch,” King answered as he slapped his knees and stood up.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Alaska.”
“What's in Alaska?” Williams asked before I could.
“Farsight got wind of some town that went missing.”
“A town went missing?” I asked, pinching my eyebrows together in confusion.
“It happens,” King shrugged. “Roanoke, Waterway… Etcetera.”
“Waterway?” I asked. “Never heard of it.”
“That's because it disappeared,” Williams answered before turning to King. “Did Farsight tell you what was there?”
King gave him a look before returning to pack up his things. “Do they ever?”
Getting to our destination meant getting in three different single engine planes that all took off and landed on someone's field instead of an airport. Each of the planes were held together by duct tape and prayers. After that, we rode in a boat for an hour.
The island we were assigned to go to was small and covered with equal parts trees, brush and rocks. There weren't many houses and the nicest one of them was a doublewide trailer in poor condition.
“Where is everyone?” I asked as we made our way off the dock and onto land.
“I don't like this,” Williams added as he took out the HSD (Handheld Supernatural Detector. It sort of looked like half of a bike handle covered in copper wire, black electricians tape and at the end there are two antennas). “Nothing” Williams said after waving it around a little while.
“Keep it activated” King said, his shotgun at the ready as he led us through what passed as a town on this island.
“Maybe the signal is too weak” I suggested.
“Might be,” King responded. “Might not even be supernatural?”
“What else could it be?” I asked.
“Disease? Jobs disappearing” King answered.
“Doesn't look like there were lots of jobs here anyways” Williams pointed out, waving the HSD in different directions but not picking up anything. “Besides, Farsight isn't wrong about these things” he added as King led us to the first house and walked in.
“How many people lived here?” I asked.
“No more than thirty,” King answered.
We kept checking the houses, but time after time there were no clues to tell us what happened to the island's occupants. There were no signs of struggle, the clothes were still on the hangers and there was even food that sat around for so long that whatever it once was became mostly mold.
“So what's the plan?” I asked after reaching the last house before the forest started. I was hoping that they would say something that involved a hot shower. After the trip out here I felt that I could have used one.
Or two.
“It's going to get dark soon,” King answered, looking at the sunset. “And since we don't know what we are dealing with, we should find a place to stay for the night.”
“Where?” I asked.
“Churches are safer than most places” Williams suggested, pointing to a squat, square building.
The door was unlocked so we let ourselves in. The first thing King and Williams did was to see if we were alone. They checked the confessionals, the back office, the bathroom, under every pew and kept their eyes on the rafters.
King figured the safest part of the building was the back office, so we all went there. With the three of us it was cramped. I would have suggested staying in one of the houses, but it wouldn't have felt right sleeping in a strangers house when they were missing, besides, places of worship would provide safety. At least from some things.
On the desk that belonged to the priest was a newspaper and Williams picked it up to check the date. Something I would never have thought of doing, and saw that it was two months old.
“In a place like this, I wouldn't think they would get their news fresh off the press” King responded when Williams pointed this out.
“Still” Williams said. “That's a long time, even for way out here.”
When it came to claiming sleeping areas it was nearly impossible for all of us to be satisfied with the results. Not only was it crammed with all of us in the back office, but both men also suffered from night terrors.
By the time we all had our designated sleeping spots, Williams grumbled about being low on cigarettes and ordered me to run to the island's convenience store and “grab an armful.”
At first I protested, but they told me that since the island was abandoned it wasn't stealing.
It was my turn to grumble, but I did as I was told.
As I walked to the convenience store, I wondered how Farsight would react if they knew King and Williams sent me off by myself like this.
Pulling the door open to go inside, I was surprised to find that the store looked nearly the same as the one in Gray Hill. They had stuffed animals on the walls, pickled pig parts in glass jars, they even had the same off brand food items that I could never find anywhere other than home.
Excited, I raced to the cooler and found the same brand of ginger ale I loved so much. I sucked down one, feeling the carbonation reach up into my nose and burn like hell.
Once I loaded the rest of the bottles in my bag I went over to the counter and hopped over it to grab Williams his cigarettes.
After leaving the store I saw a truck parked out front of the church that wasn't there when I left. Feeling something was wrong I ducked behind a fence. Just in time too because a second later the door swung open and a group of people were dragging King and Williams to the truck.
The people seemed to be wearing the furs of all sorts of animals. From skunk to deer to bear and whatever else that lived on the island. At first I thought their faces were covered in dirt, however thanks to D’s alterations I could see that it was actually black rocks glistening in the dying light. Not only that but they were growing out of these people. One had a large piece coming straight up from behind his left collarbone, another had her face peppered with small rocks but the man who appeared to be their leader had one coming out of his eye socket.
King and Williams were shouting at the group, what they were saying I can’t repeat and if I cleaned it up it wouldn't be much of a sentence.
I stayed still and out of sight until the truck pulled away. Since I was only armed with the buck knife I kept on my belt at all times I wouldn’t be much help. Even less so if I was caught by whoever took the more experienced monster hunters.
As soon as the truck was out of sight I ran into the church to grab the weapons we brought with us. Both shotguns that were filled with special shells we made ourselves and our rune covered machetes.
Just as I was about to leave I remembered the backpack filled with explosives. When I scooped that up I took off in the direction I last saw the truck going.
I ran for about two miles before finally finding the truck which was parked in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road. Most of the journey was uphill, however thanks to what D did to me I had plenty of energy to spare.
It didn't take long for me to see that there were tracks that led into the woods and without thinking about it, I followed them. King and Williams needed my help.
The tracks were easy to follow considering there were six people plus King and Williams who were struggling with their abductors.
I had been tracking these people for fifteen or twenty minutes by the time I came across a rocky hill, and since rocks don't leave tracks, I thought I lost them. However, just then I saw a small cave entrance. Figuring that was where King and Williams were taken, I hustled up the hill to investigate, making sure I kept low and quiet.
When I got in the cave I thought my eyes would adjust, however it didn't. Inside was completely dark and there was no sound other than my own breathing and footfalls. I would come to learn later than caves are like that. Completely dark so even my eyes couldn't adjust and they muffle sounds.
After a short time of navigating down a narrow passageway by dragging my hand on the wall I saw a faint orange glow and slowly walked towards it, careful not to make any sound. As I drew closer, I heard a group of people chanting in a strange language that almost sounded like angry small dogs.
A few stalagmites and stalactites separated the passageway I was on from a large open area with small bonfires scattered around. The people who took King and Williams were circling a large black monolith that sat in the middle of the room and they seemed to be praying to it. To me the monolith resembled the rocks that grew out of the people.
“I’mma kill you” shouted a familiar voice about ten feet below where I stood. It was King. Both he and Williams had their hands tied behind them, around a rock. “Stem to stern, you hear that? You hear that?!”
As King was shouting, I figured I would have less of a chance at getting caught if I climbed down the steep cave wall instead of following the path. Thankfully I managed to get to them without making a sound that Kings yelling didn't muffle.
D made me a borderline superhero, and superheroes save people. So even though my heart was jumping out of my chest, that didn't stop me from doing what I had to do.
“Shh” I whispered to Williams as I put the handle of my knife in his still bound hand. “I’m leaving the bag of explosives behind you. The shotguns and your machete too.”
Williams didn't make a sound, but he nodded and started to cut the ropes.
King was still shouting to his abductors, masking my voice as I told Williams that I was going to buy them time by serving as a distraction.
Without waiting for a nod, I went back the way I came and started climbing. I was sure I was going to get caught when I caused a few rocks to fall, but then Williams started to yell, joining King to mask the sound.
After reaching the passageway I came from, I turned around to see Williams give me a slight nod. Then I shouted for everyone to hear.
“Your mom shaves her chest and you—”
I didn't get any further than that because the people hissed and ran towards me. Some climbed the wall I just did while others ran down the path I chose not to take in order to reach the two more experienced hunters.
Seeing how fast they were moving made me regret not thinking past this part of the plan.
I ran as fast as I could down the dark and narrow path I entered from. The entire time I could hear them behind me and I imagined that they were getting closer.
As soon as I got outside, it was dark and I made a split second decision to run to the coast. This would make it look like I was trying to get to a boat instead of buying the more experienced monster hunters some time. However every time I tried to head towards the beach a few of my pursuers would be in my way, forcing me to change course.
After what D did to me I was fast, not Olympic speed but it was safe to say I was faster than everyone I knew. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw that these people were keeping pace with me. If it was just one of them, I wouldn't have given it much thought, but all of them were. Even the fat and the old ones.
I tried coming up with answers that might help my chances if I had to fight these people, or should I say what these people became? The rocks gave them enhanced strength and speed, but other than that the clues I had were minimal. The rocks could have been anything from viral, extraterrestrial, interdimensional or even parasitic.
However it was safe to say that even if it was parasitic it was not demonic. If it was, the HSD would’ve picked it up.
If I knew what language these people were speaking, that would narrow the possibilities that much further.
I must have been running for about ten minutes before I realized three things at once. The first thing was these people were much faster than they were letting on and were just toying with me. The second was that I was being herded back to the cave and the third was that I was going to have to stop running and fight.
As soon as I stopped running, I pulled the machete out from its sheath and turned to face those who meant me harm.
They surrounded me like a pack of wolves, and like a pack of wolves they snapped their jaws and made sounds that reminded me of a group of angry tiny dogs barking. These people also attacked like wolves too because the ones behind me would be doing the attacking.
The first one tried to jump onto my shoulders but before she could wrap her arms and legs around me I quickly turned around and used her momentum to throw her into the others. Immediately another lept towards me and was met with a front kick, connecting right below the belly button.
That was when the third one, the one with the rock growing out of his eye, bit my hand.
I don't know who was more surprised, me because I was bit, or him because it cracked his teeth.
I recovered from the shock before he did and raised the machete up to cut off his head.
As I swung he lifted up his hand to block it. Even though I didn't take his head, I still managed to take his hand and half of his forearm.
If he felt pain he sure hid it well.
He swiped at me with his other hand and I leaned back to dodge it. He was fast though and managed to rake my cheek with his nails.
Before I could swing my weapon again, another jumped on my back and put me in a choke hold. The grip was tight and as I tried to free myself the others tackled me. Thankfully this loosened the grip around my neck. However I was on my back and the others were closing in.
I kicked one of my attackers in the knee so it broke and went backwards. This person didn't make a sound and I doubt they felt it.
One of them kicked me in the face and even though it didn't knock me out, it hurt like hell and made me see stars.
I swung my machete in a wide half circle, managing to open the belly of another.
That bought me some room but as I tried to stand up two more jumped on my back and took me to the ground. The rest all piled on top of me, snapping at me while growling and nipping at each other to get out of the way so they could get to me.
I really thought this was going to be how I was going to die, however just then all of them went limp and fell.
A fraction of a second later I heard an explosion coming from the cave.
As I layed there, in the bottom of the pile of bodies, it felt like my heart was going to explode. I was so close to dying, but I prevailed.
I won.
I let out a warcry that Otis would have been proud of and pushed the bodies off of me.
Standing up, I gave one of my attackers a kick for good measure. However it was like kicking a dried up hornets nest and the toe of my boot went right through. The only part that wasn’t brittle was the rocks that grew out of them.
Wiping my boots off in the grass, I heard shouting on the other side of the hill. As soon as I heard this I knew it was Williams and King and ran towards them, a large grin on my face.
“Hey” I yelled out happily when I saw them, but they didn’t seem to hear me and were yelling at each other. Not because they were angry, but because the explosion made them momentarily deaf.
“What?” King asked as he rubbed his ears.
“You’re an idiot,” Williams shouted.
“I can’t hear you,” King complained, pointing at his ears.
“Are you two okay?” I asked as I jogged closer to them.
Williams saw me in the corner of his eye and jumped. When he saw it was me a grin spread on his face. “Hey, you’re alive.”
“Of course I am.”
“What?” King shouted before turning around and seeing me.
“You saved us” Williams answered as he used his pinkie finger to rub deep in his ear.
“Damn,” King said as he took my chin in hand and turned my head to get a look at my face.
“It was nothing,” I answered.
With a closer inspection of my nose, King sucked air through his teeth. “Could've been worse, I guess.”
“It’s true what they said about you,” Williams yelled. “The Order is going to hear of this.”
“Hear of—-“ I started, nervously. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Wrong?” Williams asked loudly, his ears were still ringing.
“What are you saying?” King shouted.
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked, louder than before.
Williams and King looked at each other for a moment and there was a fleeting mischievous expression that came over their faces.
“Where's my cigarettes?” Williams asked sternly.
I didn't know what to say to this and stammered.
A smile grew on William's face and he walked past me. “Just playing with you, kid. Just playing with you.”
“You did good,” King said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “I think Farsight was right about you.”
“Right about me?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
King smiled. “You remember the first day of training?”
I nodded because dozens of kids jogged in formation for miles at five in the morning, sparring with blunt weapons, performing military drills, eating in the mess hall during mealtimes and sleeping in one of the bunkhouses that were hidden in the woods wasn't something I was likely to forget. “Why?”
“You remember that little test they gave you?”
I nodded. All of the questions involved how to dispose of one monster or another. Most of the monsters I never heard of, but as I filled the questionnaire out I remembered Otis’ wise words during my time mowing the lawn at Miss Luther's house: Gotta hit them with your bullets.
This was what I used to answer all the questions.
“Yeah, what about it?”
King squeezed my shoulder and his smile grew. “The Order was impressed and I don't know if I should tell you this or not, but… they think you're going to save the world.”
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2023.03.31 18:37 Narrow_Muscle9572 The Lawn Killer - The Island
By the time I was sixteen Linda got my dad to send me off to what they thought was boarding school. In reality it was a compound where the Order of the Wren would begin training me so I could be a full-fledged member.
During this time D and I would talk on the phone a few times a week. Since the Order had me move around so often I had to be the one doing the calling. These conversations didn't last as long as I would have liked because there was no privacy in the hotel rooms we would frequently stay at.
By we, I mean the two experienced hunters I would have to learn from. Their names were Williams and King. Neither did much talking and I could tell they didn't like having me around. Not that I could blame them. I was inexperienced and they had better things to do than to hold my hand and explain things to me. That meant that when we had to go somewhere to slay some monstrosity, I would have to wait in the hotel we were staying at.
I was bored out of my mind most of the time when we were traveling the country but I would learn to love those dull moments soon enough.
Williams was alright even though he smelt like a chimney, but at least he was patient with me and kind. However, King was crazy, cynical and had an unhealthy obsession with explosives. I asked him about it once and he told me “In this line of work, some things are vulnerable to fire, monk root, silver and stuff, right? But in my experience nothing can survive when twenty pounds of homemade explosives go boom.”
The days passed slowly so I would kill time by sharpening rune covered blades that would hurt all sorts of monsters, making specialized ammo, documenting everything I thought was noteworthy so future generations of members could learn from us, reading, playing cards and waiting for Farsight to call.
I asked Williams about Farsight on a few occasions and he told me that they were high ranking members of the Order who essentially ran everything. Since they were a secretive bunch, who they were and how they knew where to send all the teams was a mystery.
Most people I spoke to said they thought the biggest clue on how Farsight operated was the history of the Order itself.
Learning about the Order was a top priority during my studies at the compound. The long and the short is: back in the day there were some nerds that saved a bunch of books and scrolls from a fire that was about to consume a library named after some guy named Alexander. Lots of these people died as a result of saving what they could and because of their sacrifice the Order knows how to dispose and kill monsters.
My studies were not limited to history either. Most of the time was spent doing military drills, however on a few occasions I got to try my hand at magic. That being said, magic welders are rare and I was not one of them.
The first time I ever saw any action we were waiting somewhere in Ohio when the phone rang.
King answered the phone, waited and responded with ‘yes’, ‘no’ and finally ‘understood’ before hanging up.
“What did they say?” asked Williams.
King sighed and shook his head. “We got a plane to catch,” King answered as he slapped his knees and stood up.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Alaska.”
“What's in Alaska?” Williams asked before I could.
“Farsight got wind of some town that went missing.”
“A town went missing?” I asked, pinching my eyebrows together in confusion.
“It happens,” King shrugged. “Roanoke, Waterway… Etcetera.”
“Waterway?” I asked. “Never heard of it.”
“That's because it disappeared,” Williams answered before turning to King. “Did Farsight tell you what was there?”
King gave him a look before returning to pack up his things. “Do they ever?”
Getting to our destination meant getting in three different single engine planes that all took off and landed on someone's field instead of an airport. Each of the planes were held together by duct tape and prayers. After that, we rode in a boat for an hour.
The island we were assigned to go to was small and covered with equal parts trees, brush and rocks. There weren't many houses and the nicest one of them was a doublewide trailer in poor condition.
“Where is everyone?” I asked as we made our way off the dock and onto land.
“I don't like this,” Williams added as he took out the HSD (Handheld Supernatural Detector. It sort of looked like half of a bike handle covered in copper wire, black electricians tape and at the end there are two antennas). “Nothing” Williams said after waving it around a little while.
“Keep it activated” King said, his shotgun at the ready as he led us through what passed as a town on this island.
“Maybe the signal is too weak” I suggested.
“Might be,” King responded. “Might not even be supernatural?”
“What else could it be?” I asked.
“Disease? Jobs disappearing” King answered.
“Doesn't look like there were lots of jobs here anyways” Williams pointed out, waving the HSD in different directions but not picking up anything. “Besides, Farsight isn't wrong about these things” he added as King led us to the first house and walked in.
“How many people lived here?” I asked.
“No more than thirty,” King answered.
We kept checking the houses, but time after time there were no clues to tell us what happened to the island's occupants. There were no signs of struggle, the clothes were still on the hangers and there was even food that sat around for so long that whatever it once was became mostly mold.
“So what's the plan?” I asked after reaching the last house before the forest started. I was hoping that they would say something that involved a hot shower. After the trip out here I felt that I could have used one.
Or two.
“It's going to get dark soon,” King answered, looking at the sunset. “And since we don't know what we are dealing with, we should find a place to stay for the night.”
“Where?” I asked.
“Churches are safer than most places” Williams suggested, pointing to a squat, square building.
The door was unlocked so we let ourselves in. The first thing King and Williams did was to see if we were alone. They checked the confessionals, the back office, the bathroom, under every pew and kept their eyes on the rafters.
King figured the safest part of the building was the back office, so we all went there. With the three of us it was cramped. I would have suggested staying in one of the houses, but it wouldn't have felt right sleeping in a strangers house when they were missing, besides, places of worship would provide safety. At least from some things.
On the desk that belonged to the priest was a newspaper and Williams picked it up to check the date. Something I would never have thought of doing, and saw that it was two months old.
“In a place like this, I wouldn't think they would get their news fresh off the press” King responded when Williams pointed this out.
“Still” Williams said. “That's a long time, even for way out here.”
When it came to claiming sleeping areas it was nearly impossible for all of us to be satisfied with the results. Not only was it crammed with all of us in the back office, but both men also suffered from night terrors.
By the time we all had our designated sleeping spots, Williams grumbled about being low on cigarettes and ordered me to run to the island's convenience store and “grab an armful.”
At first I protested, but they told me that since the island was abandoned it wasn't stealing.
It was my turn to grumble, but I did as I was told.
As I walked to the convenience store, I wondered how Farsight would react if they knew King and Williams sent me off by myself like this.
Pulling the door open to go inside, I was surprised to find that the store looked nearly the same as the one in Gray Hill. They had stuffed animals on the walls, pickled pig parts in glass jars, they even had the same off brand food items that I could never find anywhere other than home.
Excited, I raced to the cooler and found the same brand of ginger ale I loved so much. I sucked down one, feeling the carbonation reach up into my nose and burn like hell.
Once I loaded the rest of the bottles in my bag I went over to the counter and hopped over it to grab Williams his cigarettes.
After leaving the store I saw a truck parked out front of the church that wasn't there when I left. Feeling something was wrong I ducked behind a fence. Just in time too because a second later the door swung open and a group of people were dragging King and Williams to the truck.
The people seemed to be wearing the furs of all sorts of animals. From skunk to deer to bear and whatever else that lived on the island. At first I thought their faces were covered in dirt, however thanks to D’s alterations I could see that it was actually black rocks glistening in the dying light. Not only that but they were growing out of these people. One had a large piece coming straight up from behind his left collarbone, another had her face peppered with small rocks but the man who appeared to be their leader had one coming out of his eye socket.
King and Williams were shouting at the group, what they were saying I can’t repeat and if I cleaned it up it wouldn't be much of a sentence.
I stayed still and out of sight until the truck pulled away. Since I was only armed with the buck knife I kept on my belt at all times I wouldn’t be much help. Even less so if I was caught by whoever took the more experienced monster hunters.
As soon as the truck was out of sight I ran into the church to grab the weapons we brought with us. Both shotguns that were filled with special shells we made ourselves and our rune covered machetes.
Just as I was about to leave I remembered the backpack filled with explosives. When I scooped that up I took off in the direction I last saw the truck going.
I ran for about two miles before finally finding the truck which was parked in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road. Most of the journey was uphill, however thanks to what D did to me I had plenty of energy to spare.
It didn't take long for me to see that there were tracks that led into the woods and without thinking about it, I followed them. King and Williams needed my help.
The tracks were easy to follow considering there were six people plus King and Williams who were struggling with their abductors.
I had been tracking these people for fifteen or twenty minutes by the time I came across a rocky hill, and since rocks don't leave tracks, I thought I lost them. However, just then I saw a small cave entrance. Figuring that was where King and Williams were taken, I hustled up the hill to investigate, making sure I kept low and quiet.
When I got in the cave I thought my eyes would adjust, however it didn't. Inside was completely dark and there was no sound other than my own breathing and footfalls. I would come to learn later than caves are like that. Completely dark so even my eyes couldn't adjust and they muffle sounds.
After a short time of navigating down a narrow passageway by dragging my hand on the wall I saw a faint orange glow and slowly walked towards it, careful not to make any sound. As I drew closer, I heard a group of people chanting in a strange language that almost sounded like angry small dogs.
A few stalagmites and stalactites separated the passageway I was on from a large open area with small bonfires scattered around. The people who took King and Williams were circling a large black monolith that sat in the middle of the room and they seemed to be praying to it. To me the monolith resembled the rocks that grew out of the people.
“I’mma kill you” shouted a familiar voice about ten feet below where I stood. It was King. Both he and Williams had their hands tied behind them, around a rock. “Stem to stern, you hear that? You hear that?!”
As King was shouting, I figured I would have less of a chance at getting caught if I climbed down the steep cave wall instead of following the path. Thankfully I managed to get to them without making a sound that Kings yelling didn't muffle.
D made me a borderline superhero, and superheroes save people. So even though my heart was jumping out of my chest, that didn't stop me from doing what I had to do.
“Shh” I whispered to Williams as I put the handle of my knife in his still bound hand. “I’m leaving the bag of explosives behind you. The shotguns and your machete too.”
Williams didn't make a sound, but he nodded and started to cut the ropes.
King was still shouting to his abductors, masking my voice as I told Williams that I was going to buy them time by serving as a distraction.
Without waiting for a nod, I went back the way I came and started climbing. I was sure I was going to get caught when I caused a few rocks to fall, but then Williams started to yell, joining King to mask the sound.
After reaching the passageway I came from, I turned around to see Williams give me a slight nod. Then I shouted for everyone to hear.
“Your mom shaves her chest and you—”
I didn't get any further than that because the people hissed and ran towards me. Some climbed the wall I just did while others ran down the path I chose not to take in order to reach the two more experienced hunters.
Seeing how fast they were moving made me regret not thinking past this part of the plan.
I ran as fast as I could down the dark and narrow path I entered from. The entire time I could hear them behind me and I imagined that they were getting closer.
As soon as I got outside, it was dark and I made a split second decision to run to the coast. This would make it look like I was trying to get to a boat instead of buying the more experienced monster hunters some time. However every time I tried to head towards the beach a few of my pursuers would be in my way, forcing me to change course.
After what D did to me I was fast, not Olympic speed but it was safe to say I was faster than everyone I knew. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw that these people were keeping pace with me. If it was just one of them, I wouldn't have given it much thought, but all of them were. Even the fat and the old ones.
I tried coming up with answers that might help my chances if I had to fight these people, or should I say what these people became? The rocks gave them enhanced strength and speed, but other than that the clues I had were minimal. The rocks could have been anything from viral, extraterrestrial, interdimensional or even parasitic.
However it was safe to say that even if it was parasitic it was not demonic. If it was, the HSD would’ve picked it up.
If I knew what language these people were speaking, that would narrow the possibilities that much further.
I must have been running for about ten minutes before I realized three things at once. The first thing was these people were much faster than they were letting on and were just toying with me. The second was that I was being herded back to the cave and the third was that I was going to have to stop running and fight.
As soon as I stopped running, I pulled the machete out from its sheath and turned to face those who meant me harm.
They surrounded me like a pack of wolves, and like a pack of wolves they snapped their jaws and made sounds that reminded me of a group of angry tiny dogs barking. These people also attacked like wolves too because the ones behind me would be doing the attacking.
The first one tried to jump onto my shoulders but before she could wrap her arms and legs around me I quickly turned around and used her momentum to throw her into the others. Immediately another lept towards me and was met with a front kick, connecting right below the belly button.
That was when the third one, the one with the rock growing out of his eye, bit my hand.
I don't know who was more surprised, me because I was bit, or him because it cracked his teeth.
I recovered from the shock before he did and raised the machete up to cut off his head.
As I swung he lifted up his hand to block it. Even though I didn't take his head, I still managed to take his hand and half of his forearm.
If he felt pain he sure hid it well.
He swiped at me with his other hand and I leaned back to dodge it. He was fast though and managed to rake my cheek with his nails.
Before I could swing my weapon again, another jumped on my back and put me in a choke hold. The grip was tight and as I tried to free myself the others tackled me. Thankfully this loosened the grip around my neck. However I was on my back and the others were closing in.
I kicked one of my attackers in the knee so it broke and went backwards. This person didn't make a sound and I doubt they felt it.
One of them kicked me in the face and even though it didn't knock me out, it hurt like hell and made me see stars.
I swung my machete in a wide half circle, managing to open the belly of another.
That bought me some room but as I tried to stand up two more jumped on my back and took me to the ground. The rest all piled on top of me, snapping at me while growling and nipping at each other to get out of the way so they could get to me.
I really thought this was going to be how I was going to die, however just then all of them went limp and fell.
A fraction of a second later I heard an explosion coming from the cave.
As I layed there, in the bottom of the pile of bodies, it felt like my heart was going to explode. I was so close to dying, but I prevailed.
I won.
I let out a warcry that Otis would have been proud of and pushed the bodies off of me.
Standing up, I gave one of my attackers a kick for good measure. However it was like kicking a dried up hornets nest and the toe of my boot went right through. The only part that wasn’t brittle was the rocks that grew out of them.
Wiping my boots off in the grass, I heard shouting on the other side of the hill. As soon as I heard this I knew it was Williams and King and ran towards them, a large grin on my face.
“Hey” I yelled out happily when I saw them, but they didn’t seem to hear me and were yelling at each other. Not because they were angry, but because the explosion made them momentarily deaf.
“What?” King asked as he rubbed his ears.
“You’re an idiot,” Williams shouted.
“I can’t hear you,” King complained, pointing at his ears.
“Are you two okay?” I asked as I jogged closer to them.
Williams saw me in the corner of his eye and jumped. When he saw it was me a grin spread on his face. “Hey, you’re alive.”
“Of course I am.”
“What?” King shouted before turning around and seeing me.
“You saved us” Williams answered as he used his pinkie finger to rub deep in his ear.
“Damn,” King said as he took my chin in hand and turned my head to get a look at my face.
“It was nothing,” I answered.
With a closer inspection of my nose, King sucked air through his teeth. “Could've been worse, I guess.”
“It’s true what they said about you,” Williams yelled. “The Order is going to hear of this.”
“Hear of—-“ I started, nervously. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Wrong?” Williams asked loudly, his ears were still ringing.
“What are you saying?” King shouted.
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked, louder than before.
Williams and King looked at each other for a moment and there was a fleeting mischievous expression that came over their faces.
“Where's my cigarettes?” Williams asked sternly.
I didn't know what to say to this and stammered.
A smile grew on William's face and he walked past me. “Just playing with you, kid. Just playing with you.”
“You did good,” King said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “I think Farsight was right about you.”
“Right about me?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
King smiled. “You remember the first day of training?”
I nodded because dozens of kids jogged in formation for miles at five in the morning, sparring with blunt weapons, performing military drills, eating in the mess hall during mealtimes and sleeping in one of the bunkhouses that were hidden in the woods wasn't something I was likely to forget. “Why?”
“You remember that little test they gave you?”
I nodded. All of the questions involved how to dispose of one monster or another. Most of the monsters I never heard of, but as I filled the questionnaire out I remembered Otis’ wise words during my time mowing the lawn at Miss Luther's house: Gotta hit them with your bullets.
This was what I used to answer all the questions.
“Yeah, what about it?”
King squeezed my shoulder and his smile grew. “The Order was impressed and I don't know if I should tell you this or not, but… they think you're going to save the world.”
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2023.03.31 18:37 Narrow_Muscle9572 The Lawn Killer - The Island
By the time I was sixteen Linda got my dad to send me off to what they thought was boarding school. In reality it was a compound where the Order of the Wren would begin training me so I could be a full-fledged member.
During this time D and I would talk on the phone a few times a week. Since the Order had me move around so often I had to be the one doing the calling. These conversations didn't last as long as I would have liked because there was no privacy in the hotel rooms we would frequently stay at.
By we, I mean the two experienced hunters I would have to learn from. Their names were Williams and King. Neither did much talking and I could tell they didn't like having me around. Not that I could blame them. I was inexperienced and they had better things to do than to hold my hand and explain things to me. That meant that when we had to go somewhere to slay some monstrosity, I would have to wait in the hotel we were staying at.
I was bored out of my mind most of the time when we were traveling the country but I would learn to love those dull moments soon enough.
Williams was alright even though he smelt like a chimney, but at least he was patient with me and kind. However, King was crazy, cynical and had an unhealthy obsession with explosives. I asked him about it once and he told me “In this line of work, some things are vulnerable to fire, monk root, silver and stuff, right? But in my experience nothing can survive when twenty pounds of homemade explosives go boom.”
The days passed slowly so I would kill time by sharpening rune covered blades that would hurt all sorts of monsters, making specialized ammo, documenting everything I thought was noteworthy so future generations of members could learn from us, reading, playing cards and waiting for Farsight to call.
I asked Williams about Farsight on a few occasions and he told me that they were high ranking members of the Order who essentially ran everything. Since they were a secretive bunch, who they were and how they knew where to send all the teams was a mystery.
Most people I spoke to said they thought the biggest clue on how Farsight operated was the history of the Order itself.
Learning about the Order was a top priority during my studies at the compound. The long and the short is: back in the day there were some nerds that saved a bunch of books and scrolls from a fire that was about to consume a library named after some guy named Alexander. Lots of these people died as a result of saving what they could and because of their sacrifice the Order knows how to dispose and kill monsters.
My studies were not limited to history either. Most of the time was spent doing military drills, however on a few occasions I got to try my hand at magic. That being said, magic welders are rare and I was not one of them.
The first time I ever saw any action we were waiting somewhere in Ohio when the phone rang.
King answered the phone, waited and responded with ‘yes’, ‘no’ and finally ‘understood’ before hanging up.
“What did they say?” asked Williams.
King sighed and shook his head. “We got a plane to catch,” King answered as he slapped his knees and stood up.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Alaska.”
“What's in Alaska?” Williams asked before I could.
“Farsight got wind of some town that went missing.”
“A town went missing?” I asked, pinching my eyebrows together in confusion.
“It happens,” King shrugged. “Roanoke, Waterway… Etcetera.”
“Waterway?” I asked. “Never heard of it.”
“That's because it disappeared,” Williams answered before turning to King. “Did Farsight tell you what was there?”
King gave him a look before returning to pack up his things. “Do they ever?”
Getting to our destination meant getting in three different single engine planes that all took off and landed on someone's field instead of an airport. Each of the planes were held together by duct tape and prayers. After that, we rode in a boat for an hour.
The island we were assigned to go to was small and covered with equal parts trees, brush and rocks. There weren't many houses and the nicest one of them was a doublewide trailer in poor condition.
“Where is everyone?” I asked as we made our way off the dock and onto land.
“I don't like this,” Williams added as he took out the HSD (Handheld Supernatural Detector. It sort of looked like half of a bike handle covered in copper wire, black electricians tape and at the end there are two antennas). “Nothing” Williams said after waving it around a little while.
“Keep it activated” King said, his shotgun at the ready as he led us through what passed as a town on this island.
“Maybe the signal is too weak” I suggested.
“Might be,” King responded. “Might not even be supernatural?”
“What else could it be?” I asked.
“Disease? Jobs disappearing” King answered.
“Doesn't look like there were lots of jobs here anyways” Williams pointed out, waving the HSD in different directions but not picking up anything. “Besides, Farsight isn't wrong about these things” he added as King led us to the first house and walked in.
“How many people lived here?” I asked.
“No more than thirty,” King answered.
We kept checking the houses, but time after time there were no clues to tell us what happened to the island's occupants. There were no signs of struggle, the clothes were still on the hangers and there was even food that sat around for so long that whatever it once was became mostly mold.
“So what's the plan?” I asked after reaching the last house before the forest started. I was hoping that they would say something that involved a hot shower. After the trip out here I felt that I could have used one.
Or two.
“It's going to get dark soon,” King answered, looking at the sunset. “And since we don't know what we are dealing with, we should find a place to stay for the night.”
“Where?” I asked.
“Churches are safer than most places” Williams suggested, pointing to a squat, square building.
The door was unlocked so we let ourselves in. The first thing King and Williams did was to see if we were alone. They checked the confessionals, the back office, the bathroom, under every pew and kept their eyes on the rafters.
King figured the safest part of the building was the back office, so we all went there. With the three of us it was cramped. I would have suggested staying in one of the houses, but it wouldn't have felt right sleeping in a strangers house when they were missing, besides, places of worship would provide safety. At least from some things.
On the desk that belonged to the priest was a newspaper and Williams picked it up to check the date. Something I would never have thought of doing, and saw that it was two months old.
“In a place like this, I wouldn't think they would get their news fresh off the press” King responded when Williams pointed this out.
“Still” Williams said. “That's a long time, even for way out here.”
When it came to claiming sleeping areas it was nearly impossible for all of us to be satisfied with the results. Not only was it crammed with all of us in the back office, but both men also suffered from night terrors.
By the time we all had our designated sleeping spots, Williams grumbled about being low on cigarettes and ordered me to run to the island's convenience store and “grab an armful.”
At first I protested, but they told me that since the island was abandoned it wasn't stealing.
It was my turn to grumble, but I did as I was told.
As I walked to the convenience store, I wondered how Farsight would react if they knew King and Williams sent me off by myself like this.
Pulling the door open to go inside, I was surprised to find that the store looked nearly the same as the one in Gray Hill. They had stuffed animals on the walls, pickled pig parts in glass jars, they even had the same off brand food items that I could never find anywhere other than home.
Excited, I raced to the cooler and found the same brand of ginger ale I loved so much. I sucked down one, feeling the carbonation reach up into my nose and burn like hell.
Once I loaded the rest of the bottles in my bag I went over to the counter and hopped over it to grab Williams his cigarettes.
After leaving the store I saw a truck parked out front of the church that wasn't there when I left. Feeling something was wrong I ducked behind a fence. Just in time too because a second later the door swung open and a group of people were dragging King and Williams to the truck.
The people seemed to be wearing the furs of all sorts of animals. From skunk to deer to bear and whatever else that lived on the island. At first I thought their faces were covered in dirt, however thanks to D’s alterations I could see that it was actually black rocks glistening in the dying light. Not only that but they were growing out of these people. One had a large piece coming straight up from behind his left collarbone, another had her face peppered with small rocks but the man who appeared to be their leader had one coming out of his eye socket.
King and Williams were shouting at the group, what they were saying I can’t repeat and if I cleaned it up it wouldn't be much of a sentence.
I stayed still and out of sight until the truck pulled away. Since I was only armed with the buck knife I kept on my belt at all times I wouldn’t be much help. Even less so if I was caught by whoever took the more experienced monster hunters.
As soon as the truck was out of sight I ran into the church to grab the weapons we brought with us. Both shotguns that were filled with special shells we made ourselves and our rune covered machetes.
Just as I was about to leave I remembered the backpack filled with explosives. When I scooped that up I took off in the direction I last saw the truck going.
I ran for about two miles before finally finding the truck which was parked in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road. Most of the journey was uphill, however thanks to what D did to me I had plenty of energy to spare.
It didn't take long for me to see that there were tracks that led into the woods and without thinking about it, I followed them. King and Williams needed my help.
The tracks were easy to follow considering there were six people plus King and Williams who were struggling with their abductors.
I had been tracking these people for fifteen or twenty minutes by the time I came across a rocky hill, and since rocks don't leave tracks, I thought I lost them. However, just then I saw a small cave entrance. Figuring that was where King and Williams were taken, I hustled up the hill to investigate, making sure I kept low and quiet.
When I got in the cave I thought my eyes would adjust, however it didn't. Inside was completely dark and there was no sound other than my own breathing and footfalls. I would come to learn later than caves are like that. Completely dark so even my eyes couldn't adjust and they muffle sounds.
After a short time of navigating down a narrow passageway by dragging my hand on the wall I saw a faint orange glow and slowly walked towards it, careful not to make any sound. As I drew closer, I heard a group of people chanting in a strange language that almost sounded like angry small dogs.
A few stalagmites and stalactites separated the passageway I was on from a large open area with small bonfires scattered around. The people who took King and Williams were circling a large black monolith that sat in the middle of the room and they seemed to be praying to it. To me the monolith resembled the rocks that grew out of the people.
“I’mma kill you” shouted a familiar voice about ten feet below where I stood. It was King. Both he and Williams had their hands tied behind them, around a rock. “Stem to stern, you hear that? You hear that?!”
As King was shouting, I figured I would have less of a chance at getting caught if I climbed down the steep cave wall instead of following the path. Thankfully I managed to get to them without making a sound that Kings yelling didn't muffle.
D made me a borderline superhero, and superheroes save people. So even though my heart was jumping out of my chest, that didn't stop me from doing what I had to do.
“Shh” I whispered to Williams as I put the handle of my knife in his still bound hand. “I’m leaving the bag of explosives behind you. The shotguns and your machete too.”
Williams didn't make a sound, but he nodded and started to cut the ropes.
King was still shouting to his abductors, masking my voice as I told Williams that I was going to buy them time by serving as a distraction.
Without waiting for a nod, I went back the way I came and started climbing. I was sure I was going to get caught when I caused a few rocks to fall, but then Williams started to yell, joining King to mask the sound.
After reaching the passageway I came from, I turned around to see Williams give me a slight nod. Then I shouted for everyone to hear.
“Your mom shaves her chest and you—”
I didn't get any further than that because the people hissed and ran towards me. Some climbed the wall I just did while others ran down the path I chose not to take in order to reach the two more experienced hunters.
Seeing how fast they were moving made me regret not thinking past this part of the plan.
I ran as fast as I could down the dark and narrow path I entered from. The entire time I could hear them behind me and I imagined that they were getting closer.
As soon as I got outside, it was dark and I made a split second decision to run to the coast. This would make it look like I was trying to get to a boat instead of buying the more experienced monster hunters some time. However every time I tried to head towards the beach a few of my pursuers would be in my way, forcing me to change course.
After what D did to me I was fast, not Olympic speed but it was safe to say I was faster than everyone I knew. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw that these people were keeping pace with me. If it was just one of them, I wouldn't have given it much thought, but all of them were. Even the fat and the old ones.
I tried coming up with answers that might help my chances if I had to fight these people, or should I say what these people became? The rocks gave them enhanced strength and speed, but other than that the clues I had were minimal. The rocks could have been anything from viral, extraterrestrial, interdimensional or even parasitic.
However it was safe to say that even if it was parasitic it was not demonic. If it was, the HSD would’ve picked it up.
If I knew what language these people were speaking, that would narrow the possibilities that much further.
I must have been running for about ten minutes before I realized three things at once. The first thing was these people were much faster than they were letting on and were just toying with me. The second was that I was being herded back to the cave and the third was that I was going to have to stop running and fight.
As soon as I stopped running, I pulled the machete out from its sheath and turned to face those who meant me harm.
They surrounded me like a pack of wolves, and like a pack of wolves they snapped their jaws and made sounds that reminded me of a group of angry tiny dogs barking. These people also attacked like wolves too because the ones behind me would be doing the attacking.
The first one tried to jump onto my shoulders but before she could wrap her arms and legs around me I quickly turned around and used her momentum to throw her into the others. Immediately another lept towards me and was met with a front kick, connecting right below the belly button.
That was when the third one, the one with the rock growing out of his eye, bit my hand.
I don't know who was more surprised, me because I was bit, or him because it cracked his teeth.
I recovered from the shock before he did and raised the machete up to cut off his head.
As I swung he lifted up his hand to block it. Even though I didn't take his head, I still managed to take his hand and half of his forearm.
If he felt pain he sure hid it well.
He swiped at me with his other hand and I leaned back to dodge it. He was fast though and managed to rake my cheek with his nails.
Before I could swing my weapon again, another jumped on my back and put me in a choke hold. The grip was tight and as I tried to free myself the others tackled me. Thankfully this loosened the grip around my neck. However I was on my back and the others were closing in.
I kicked one of my attackers in the knee so it broke and went backwards. This person didn't make a sound and I doubt they felt it.
One of them kicked me in the face and even though it didn't knock me out, it hurt like hell and made me see stars.
I swung my machete in a wide half circle, managing to open the belly of another.
That bought me some room but as I tried to stand up two more jumped on my back and took me to the ground. The rest all piled on top of me, snapping at me while growling and nipping at each other to get out of the way so they could get to me.
I really thought this was going to be how I was going to die, however just then all of them went limp and fell.
A fraction of a second later I heard an explosion coming from the cave.
As I layed there, in the bottom of the pile of bodies, it felt like my heart was going to explode. I was so close to dying, but I prevailed.
I won.
I let out a warcry that Otis would have been proud of and pushed the bodies off of me.
Standing up, I gave one of my attackers a kick for good measure. However it was like kicking a dried up hornets nest and the toe of my boot went right through. The only part that wasn’t brittle was the rocks that grew out of them.
Wiping my boots off in the grass, I heard shouting on the other side of the hill. As soon as I heard this I knew it was Williams and King and ran towards them, a large grin on my face.
“Hey” I yelled out happily when I saw them, but they didn’t seem to hear me and were yelling at each other. Not because they were angry, but because the explosion made them momentarily deaf.
“What?” King asked as he rubbed his ears.
“You’re an idiot,” Williams shouted.
“I can’t hear you,” King complained, pointing at his ears.
“Are you two okay?” I asked as I jogged closer to them.
Williams saw me in the corner of his eye and jumped. When he saw it was me a grin spread on his face. “Hey, you’re alive.”
“Of course I am.”
“What?” King shouted before turning around and seeing me.
“You saved us” Williams answered as he used his pinkie finger to rub deep in his ear.
“Damn,” King said as he took my chin in hand and turned my head to get a look at my face.
“It was nothing,” I answered.
With a closer inspection of my nose, King sucked air through his teeth. “Could've been worse, I guess.”
“It’s true what they said about you,” Williams yelled. “The Order is going to hear of this.”
“Hear of—-“ I started, nervously. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Wrong?” Williams asked loudly, his ears were still ringing.
“What are you saying?” King shouted.
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked, louder than before.
Williams and King looked at each other for a moment and there was a fleeting mischievous expression that came over their faces.
“Where's my cigarettes?” Williams asked sternly.
I didn't know what to say to this and stammered.
A smile grew on William's face and he walked past me. “Just playing with you, kid. Just playing with you.”
“You did good,” King said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “I think Farsight was right about you.”
“Right about me?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
King smiled. “You remember the first day of training?”
I nodded because dozens of kids jogged in formation for miles at five in the morning, sparring with blunt weapons, performing military drills, eating in the mess hall during mealtimes and sleeping in one of the bunkhouses that were hidden in the woods wasn't something I was likely to forget. “Why?”
“You remember that little test they gave you?”
I nodded. All of the questions involved how to dispose of one monster or another. Most of the monsters I never heard of, but as I filled the questionnaire out I remembered Otis’ wise words during my time mowing the lawn at Miss Luther's house: Gotta hit them with your bullets.
This was what I used to answer all the questions.
“Yeah, what about it?”
King squeezed my shoulder and his smile grew. “The Order was impressed and I don't know if I should tell you this or not, but… they think you're going to save the world.”
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2023.03.31 18:36 Narrow_Muscle9572 The Lawn Killer - The Island
By the time I was sixteen Linda got my dad to send me off to what they thought was boarding school. In reality it was a compound where the Order of the Wren would begin training me so I could be a full-fledged member.
During this time D and I would talk on the phone a few times a week. Since the Order had me move around so often I had to be the one doing the calling. These conversations didn't last as long as I would have liked because there was no privacy in the hotel rooms we would frequently stay at.
By we, I mean the two experienced hunters I would have to learn from. Their names were Williams and King. Neither did much talking and I could tell they didn't like having me around. Not that I could blame them. I was inexperienced and they had better things to do than to hold my hand and explain things to me. That meant that when we had to go somewhere to slay some monstrosity, I would have to wait in the hotel we were staying at.
I was bored out of my mind most of the time when we were traveling the country but I would learn to love those dull moments soon enough.
Williams was alright even though he smelt like a chimney, but at least he was patient with me and kind. However, King was crazy, cynical and had an unhealthy obsession with explosives. I asked him about it once and he told me “In this line of work, some things are vulnerable to fire, monk root, silver and stuff, right? But in my experience nothing can survive when twenty pounds of homemade explosives go boom.”
The days passed slowly so I would kill time by sharpening rune covered blades that would hurt all sorts of monsters, making specialized ammo, documenting everything I thought was noteworthy so future generations of members could learn from us, reading, playing cards and waiting for Farsight to call.
I asked Williams about Farsight on a few occasions and he told me that they were high ranking members of the Order who essentially ran everything. Since they were a secretive bunch, who they were and how they knew where to send all the teams was a mystery.
Most people I spoke to said they thought the biggest clue on how Farsight operated was the history of the Order itself.
Learning about the Order was a top priority during my studies at the compound. The long and the short is: back in the day there were some nerds that saved a bunch of books and scrolls from a fire that was about to consume a library named after some guy named Alexander. Lots of these people died as a result of saving what they could and because of their sacrifice the Order knows how to dispose and kill monsters.
My studies were not limited to history either. Most of the time was spent doing military drills, however on a few occasions I got to try my hand at magic. That being said, magic welders are rare and I was not one of them.
The first time I ever saw any action we were waiting somewhere in Ohio when the phone rang.
King answered the phone, waited and responded with ‘yes’, ‘no’ and finally ‘understood’ before hanging up.
“What did they say?” asked Williams.
King sighed and shook his head. “We got a plane to catch,” King answered as he slapped his knees and stood up.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Alaska.”
“What's in Alaska?” Williams asked before I could.
“Farsight got wind of some town that went missing.”
“A town went missing?” I asked, pinching my eyebrows together in confusion.
“It happens,” King shrugged. “Roanoke, Waterway… Etcetera.”
“Waterway?” I asked. “Never heard of it.”
“That's because it disappeared,” Williams answered before turning to King. “Did Farsight tell you what was there?”
King gave him a look before returning to pack up his things. “Do they ever?”
Getting to our destination meant getting in three different single engine planes that all took off and landed on someone's field instead of an airport. Each of the planes were held together by duct tape and prayers. After that, we rode in a boat for an hour.
The island we were assigned to go to was small and covered with equal parts trees, brush and rocks. There weren't many houses and the nicest one of them was a doublewide trailer in poor condition.
“Where is everyone?” I asked as we made our way off the dock and onto land.
“I don't like this,” Williams added as he took out the HSD (Handheld Supernatural Detector. It sort of looked like half of a bike handle covered in copper wire, black electricians tape and at the end there are two antennas). “Nothing” Williams said after waving it around a little while.
“Keep it activated” King said, his shotgun at the ready as he led us through what passed as a town on this island.
“Maybe the signal is too weak” I suggested.
“Might be,” King responded. “Might not even be supernatural?”
“What else could it be?” I asked.
“Disease? Jobs disappearing” King answered.
“Doesn't look like there were lots of jobs here anyways” Williams pointed out, waving the HSD in different directions but not picking up anything. “Besides, Farsight isn't wrong about these things” he added as King led us to the first house and walked in.
“How many people lived here?” I asked.
“No more than thirty,” King answered.
We kept checking the houses, but time after time there were no clues to tell us what happened to the island's occupants. There were no signs of struggle, the clothes were still on the hangers and there was even food that sat around for so long that whatever it once was became mostly mold.
“So what's the plan?” I asked after reaching the last house before the forest started. I was hoping that they would say something that involved a hot shower. After the trip out here I felt that I could have used one.
Or two.
“It's going to get dark soon,” King answered, looking at the sunset. “And since we don't know what we are dealing with, we should find a place to stay for the night.”
“Where?” I asked.
“Churches are safer than most places” Williams suggested, pointing to a squat, square building.
The door was unlocked so we let ourselves in. The first thing King and Williams did was to see if we were alone. They checked the confessionals, the back office, the bathroom, under every pew and kept their eyes on the rafters.
King figured the safest part of the building was the back office, so we all went there. With the three of us it was cramped. I would have suggested staying in one of the houses, but it wouldn't have felt right sleeping in a strangers house when they were missing, besides, places of worship would provide safety. At least from some things.
On the desk that belonged to the priest was a newspaper and Williams picked it up to check the date. Something I would never have thought of doing, and saw that it was two months old.
“In a place like this, I wouldn't think they would get their news fresh off the press” King responded when Williams pointed this out.
“Still” Williams said. “That's a long time, even for way out here.”
When it came to claiming sleeping areas it was nearly impossible for all of us to be satisfied with the results. Not only was it crammed with all of us in the back office, but both men also suffered from night terrors.
By the time we all had our designated sleeping spots, Williams grumbled about being low on cigarettes and ordered me to run to the island's convenience store and “grab an armful.”
At first I protested, but they told me that since the island was abandoned it wasn't stealing.
It was my turn to grumble, but I did as I was told.
As I walked to the convenience store, I wondered how Farsight would react if they knew King and Williams sent me off by myself like this.
Pulling the door open to go inside, I was surprised to find that the store looked nearly the same as the one in Gray Hill. They had stuffed animals on the walls, pickled pig parts in glass jars, they even had the same off brand food items that I could never find anywhere other than home.
Excited, I raced to the cooler and found the same brand of ginger ale I loved so much. I sucked down one, feeling the carbonation reach up into my nose and burn like hell.
Once I loaded the rest of the bottles in my bag I went over to the counter and hopped over it to grab Williams his cigarettes.
After leaving the store I saw a truck parked out front of the church that wasn't there when I left. Feeling something was wrong I ducked behind a fence. Just in time too because a second later the door swung open and a group of people were dragging King and Williams to the truck.
The people seemed to be wearing the furs of all sorts of animals. From skunk to deer to bear and whatever else that lived on the island. At first I thought their faces were covered in dirt, however thanks to D’s alterations I could see that it was actually black rocks glistening in the dying light. Not only that but they were growing out of these people. One had a large piece coming straight up from behind his left collarbone, another had her face peppered with small rocks but the man who appeared to be their leader had one coming out of his eye socket.
King and Williams were shouting at the group, what they were saying I can’t repeat and if I cleaned it up it wouldn't be much of a sentence.
I stayed still and out of sight until the truck pulled away. Since I was only armed with the buck knife I kept on my belt at all times I wouldn’t be much help. Even less so if I was caught by whoever took the more experienced monster hunters.
As soon as the truck was out of sight I ran into the church to grab the weapons we brought with us. Both shotguns that were filled with special shells we made ourselves and our rune covered machetes.
Just as I was about to leave I remembered the backpack filled with explosives. When I scooped that up I took off in the direction I last saw the truck going.
I ran for about two miles before finally finding the truck which was parked in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road. Most of the journey was uphill, however thanks to what D did to me I had plenty of energy to spare.
It didn't take long for me to see that there were tracks that led into the woods and without thinking about it, I followed them. King and Williams needed my help.
The tracks were easy to follow considering there were six people plus King and Williams who were struggling with their abductors.
I had been tracking these people for fifteen or twenty minutes by the time I came across a rocky hill, and since rocks don't leave tracks, I thought I lost them. However, just then I saw a small cave entrance. Figuring that was where King and Williams were taken, I hustled up the hill to investigate, making sure I kept low and quiet.
When I got in the cave I thought my eyes would adjust, however it didn't. Inside was completely dark and there was no sound other than my own breathing and footfalls. I would come to learn later than caves are like that. Completely dark so even my eyes couldn't adjust and they muffle sounds.
After a short time of navigating down a narrow passageway by dragging my hand on the wall I saw a faint orange glow and slowly walked towards it, careful not to make any sound. As I drew closer, I heard a group of people chanting in a strange language that almost sounded like angry small dogs.
A few stalagmites and stalactites separated the passageway I was on from a large open area with small bonfires scattered around. The people who took King and Williams were circling a large black monolith that sat in the middle of the room and they seemed to be praying to it. To me the monolith resembled the rocks that grew out of the people.
“I’mma kill you” shouted a familiar voice about ten feet below where I stood. It was King. Both he and Williams had their hands tied behind them, around a rock. “Stem to stern, you hear that? You hear that?!”
As King was shouting, I figured I would have less of a chance at getting caught if I climbed down the steep cave wall instead of following the path. Thankfully I managed to get to them without making a sound that Kings yelling didn't muffle.
D made me a borderline superhero, and superheroes save people. So even though my heart was jumping out of my chest, that didn't stop me from doing what I had to do.
“Shh” I whispered to Williams as I put the handle of my knife in his still bound hand. “I’m leaving the bag of explosives behind you. The shotguns and your machete too.”
Williams didn't make a sound, but he nodded and started to cut the ropes.
King was still shouting to his abductors, masking my voice as I told Williams that I was going to buy them time by serving as a distraction.
Without waiting for a nod, I went back the way I came and started climbing. I was sure I was going to get caught when I caused a few rocks to fall, but then Williams started to yell, joining King to mask the sound.
After reaching the passageway I came from, I turned around to see Williams give me a slight nod. Then I shouted for everyone to hear.
“Your mom shaves her chest and you—”
I didn't get any further than that because the people hissed and ran towards me. Some climbed the wall I just did while others ran down the path I chose not to take in order to reach the two more experienced hunters.
Seeing how fast they were moving made me regret not thinking past this part of the plan.
I ran as fast as I could down the dark and narrow path I entered from. The entire time I could hear them behind me and I imagined that they were getting closer.
As soon as I got outside, it was dark and I made a split second decision to run to the coast. This would make it look like I was trying to get to a boat instead of buying the more experienced monster hunters some time. However every time I tried to head towards the beach a few of my pursuers would be in my way, forcing me to change course.
After what D did to me I was fast, not Olympic speed but it was safe to say I was faster than everyone I knew. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw that these people were keeping pace with me. If it was just one of them, I wouldn't have given it much thought, but all of them were. Even the fat and the old ones.
I tried coming up with answers that might help my chances if I had to fight these people, or should I say what these people became? The rocks gave them enhanced strength and speed, but other than that the clues I had were minimal. The rocks could have been anything from viral, extraterrestrial, interdimensional or even parasitic.
However it was safe to say that even if it was parasitic it was not demonic. If it was, the HSD would’ve picked it up.
If I knew what language these people were speaking, that would narrow the possibilities that much further.
I must have been running for about ten minutes before I realized three things at once. The first thing was these people were much faster than they were letting on and were just toying with me. The second was that I was being herded back to the cave and the third was that I was going to have to stop running and fight.
As soon as I stopped running, I pulled the machete out from its sheath and turned to face those who meant me harm.
They surrounded me like a pack of wolves, and like a pack of wolves they snapped their jaws and made sounds that reminded me of a group of angry tiny dogs barking. These people also attacked like wolves too because the ones behind me would be doing the attacking.
The first one tried to jump onto my shoulders but before she could wrap her arms and legs around me I quickly turned around and used her momentum to throw her into the others. Immediately another lept towards me and was met with a front kick, connecting right below the belly button.
That was when the third one, the one with the rock growing out of his eye, bit my hand.
I don't know who was more surprised, me because I was bit, or him because it cracked his teeth.
I recovered from the shock before he did and raised the machete up to cut off his head.
As I swung he lifted up his hand to block it. Even though I didn't take his head, I still managed to take his hand and half of his forearm.
If he felt pain he sure hid it well.
He swiped at me with his other hand and I leaned back to dodge it. He was fast though and managed to rake my cheek with his nails.
Before I could swing my weapon again, another jumped on my back and put me in a choke hold. The grip was tight and as I tried to free myself the others tackled me. Thankfully this loosened the grip around my neck. However I was on my back and the others were closing in.
I kicked one of my attackers in the knee so it broke and went backwards. This person didn't make a sound and I doubt they felt it.
One of them kicked me in the face and even though it didn't knock me out, it hurt like hell and made me see stars.
I swung my machete in a wide half circle, managing to open the belly of another.
That bought me some room but as I tried to stand up two more jumped on my back and took me to the ground. The rest all piled on top of me, snapping at me while growling and nipping at each other to get out of the way so they could get to me.
I really thought this was going to be how I was going to die, however just then all of them went limp and fell.
A fraction of a second later I heard an explosion coming from the cave.
As I layed there, in the bottom of the pile of bodies, it felt like my heart was going to explode. I was so close to dying, but I prevailed.
I won.
I let out a warcry that Otis would have been proud of and pushed the bodies off of me.
Standing up, I gave one of my attackers a kick for good measure. However it was like kicking a dried up hornets nest and the toe of my boot went right through. The only part that wasn’t brittle was the rocks that grew out of them.
Wiping my boots off in the grass, I heard shouting on the other side of the hill. As soon as I heard this I knew it was Williams and King and ran towards them, a large grin on my face.
“Hey” I yelled out happily when I saw them, but they didn’t seem to hear me and were yelling at each other. Not because they were angry, but because the explosion made them momentarily deaf.
“What?” King asked as he rubbed his ears.
“You’re an idiot,” Williams shouted.
“I can’t hear you,” King complained, pointing at his ears.
“Are you two okay?” I asked as I jogged closer to them.
Williams saw me in the corner of his eye and jumped. When he saw it was me a grin spread on his face. “Hey, you’re alive.”
“Of course I am.”
“What?” King shouted before turning around and seeing me.
“You saved us” Williams answered as he used his pinkie finger to rub deep in his ear.
“Damn,” King said as he took my chin in hand and turned my head to get a look at my face.
“It was nothing,” I answered.
With a closer inspection of my nose, King sucked air through his teeth. “Could've been worse, I guess.”
“It’s true what they said about you,” Williams yelled. “The Order is going to hear of this.”
“Hear of—-“ I started, nervously. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Wrong?” Williams asked loudly, his ears were still ringing.
“What are you saying?” King shouted.
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked, louder than before.
Williams and King looked at each other for a moment and there was a fleeting mischievous expression that came over their faces.
“Where's my cigarettes?” Williams asked sternly.
I didn't know what to say to this and stammered.
A smile grew on William's face and he walked past me. “Just playing with you, kid. Just playing with you.”
“You did good,” King said, placing his hand on my shoulder. “I think Farsight was right about you.”
“Right about me?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
King smiled. “You remember the first day of training?”
I nodded because dozens of kids jogged in formation for miles at five in the morning, sparring with blunt weapons, performing military drills, eating in the mess hall during mealtimes and sleeping in one of the bunkhouses that were hidden in the woods wasn't something I was likely to forget. “Why?”
“You remember that little test they gave you?”
I nodded. All of the questions involved how to dispose of one monster or another. Most of the monsters I never heard of, but as I filled the questionnaire out I remembered Otis’ wise words during my time mowing the lawn at Miss Luther's house: Gotta hit them with your bullets.
This was what I used to answer all the questions.
“Yeah, what about it?”
King squeezed my shoulder and his smile grew. “The Order was impressed and I don't know if I should tell you this or not, but… they think you're going to save the world.”
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2023.03.31 17:56 HUM469 Have you lost a boat?
I was exploring around the river yesterday in the evening and I found a couple of boats. With all the storms and everything, it's not terribly surprising that one would slip its moorings, but I've been a little surprised to find 2 caught up amongst the trees and what not. I've got free time this weekend and was debating about recovering them after finishing my research on modern salvage regulations, but I know loosing something thanks to the storms sucks and thought I should reach out first. Therefor, if you lost a boat or know someone who did, hit me up here or via DM with the description or registration numbers and I'll show you where it is. Regardless, lost boats pose a problem for tbe river, so I'd like to see them recovered one way or another.
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2023.03.31 17:55 slytherindoctor Lord of Chaos, 986 pages, Epilogue
Huh. Well that definitely was a pretty explosive and exciting finale wasn't it? And earth shattering finale I should think, considering. It seems to be a turning point, too. But we'll talk about that in a moment.
First, we go back to the Ebou Dar party for one last hurrah before the book ends. I'm surprised that we jumped back to them at all, to be honest, considering we were in the middle of a FUCKING KIDNAPPING, but what do I know. I suppose we're easing the tension a bit before addressing it.
Briefly we go back to Mat who is told that Elayne and Nynaeve snuck out of the palace. Again. They seem to be really good at that. So he goes to prepare to find them and defend them. More importantly, Olver, the kid that Mat adopted, has been doing horse races as a jockey, which is pretty cute. And funny that Mat didn't know he was doing it. Also funny how he starts flirting with a woman who's been babysitting him and Mat wonders where he got it. Um hello? Mat? No self-awareness? Alright alright.
There's a lot of descriptions of Rahad as the bad side of town as Elayne, Birgitte, Nynaeve, and Aviendha go through it. It really just could be the poor side of town in any city ravaged by capitalism now, but in this setting it would be ravaged by feudalism. This is one thing about these fantasy epics that often gets unaddressed, how the main characters won't actually try to fix the systemic issues that lead to poor people being poor, they'll just address the giant world ending threat. It's the classic Marvel problem: thanks Captain America for stopping the world from ending or whatever, but you want to push for universal healthcare? In reality, I could see Rand trying to fix it, considering he came from a non-noble place as a Two Rivers person. But I don't know if the books ever will. Considering we're pretty directly bringing it up here and throwing it in the reader's face, maybe we will?
They witness a brawl followed by a woman, Asra, coming forwards to heal the person who lost and got stabbed. She tries to use the power to heal, but it doesn't work. And she tells the person who won the brawl to go tell the dead man's wife that he killed him. However, they're after the bowl, not a random wilder woman, so Birgitte tells Elayne not to talk to her since Elayne will probably get herself into trouble doing it. All this to set up the next book, so we'll see how all this Ebou Dar stuff goes next time. Considering we introduced Asra as a powerful wilder, I assume she'll come into play here at some point.
Egwene goes to see Logain where he's being shielded. There's some nice foreshadowing here where she suggests tying off the weave for the shielding, but it's seen as taboo to do that. By tradition six Aes Sedai shield a man at all times and never leave the shield unattended.
Egwene weirdly asks Logain what he thinks about Rand's amnesty, which is a weird thing to ask. Like obviously he's not going to be a fan of where he is now compared to going to someone who will let him continue to channel. Understandably, Logain is pissed that there's still any question of whether they will gentle him after everything he's done for them. He's cooperated at every turn. There was also that debate earlier that I found interesting: that gentling a man actually looks incredibly bad if you want to get Rand on side.
The Salidar party is indeed on the move and Gareth Bryne's forces have been growing while Mat's forces have been following. Egwene has been using the tension of two armies following each other who clearly are at odds with each other to trick nobles into pledging fealty to them. Which means that they're going to have to be in it until they can topple Elaida or those nobles will also get executed in addition to all the Salidar Aes Sedai.
Egwene then goes to Tel'aran'rhiod and reports to Elayne and Nynaeve what's going on and they report back to her. This conversation isn't super interesting, it's just stuff we already know. Just that they can't find something with "need" again, which is how they found the bowl in the first place. Finally, when Egwene awakens, Siuan is there to report that the plan to free Logain has been started. It's the correct thing to do, since the Hall will gentle him if they don't free him and send him off to Rand. I like the conversation here. Siuan, as the former Amyrlin, tells her that she's often found the stole to be heavier than ten men and doesn't leave a lot of easy decisions.
Finally, we see Myrelle and Lan finally has made it to her. Moiraine passed Lan's bond on to her when she died/disappeared. Interestingly, this has political connotations because Myrelle is in Sheriam's inner circle and she's accepting Moiraine's former warder.
Finally we get back to the kidnapping. The next two chapters, especially Chapter 54, that lead up to the final battle aren't very exciting to be honest. Mostly because they're with Perrin. Perrin not only sucks, he's also just really boring as a character. The most boring of the main three that's for sure. But we're stuck with him. Again, there's a reason why he was exiled from the previous book and the majority of this one. And there's a reason why I started to actually like these books with the previous one. I'm not gonna say it's just because Perrin was gone, but it definitely was a factor, I think.
So we're in the middle of the Feast of Lights where everyone's partying in the streets shirtless, even the women, and Perrin is shocked out of his mind. I loved the little statement that the Tairen men took one look and joined in and the Tairen women took one look and said NOPE, went back inside and put armed guards on the door.
There's a nice little meeting with all the people in Rand's inner circle including Perrin, Faile, Loial, Dobraine, Berelain, Sulin, Rhuarc, and Sorilea. Quite a rogue's list of characters. We find out that Colavaere has been taking advantage of the chaos of the partying in the streets for the Feast of Lights to assassinate some of her political rivals, to make her way to the throne. And now that Rand is gone, she possibly could take it. Berelain comes in and Perrin, being Perrin, immediately assumes she's there to flirt with him. Instead of, you know, showing the things that Rand left behind after he's been gone for so long. Sulin immediately recognizes that Rand has been kidnapped because they're things that Rand wouldn't have left behind and she decides she's done enough time as a servant, thank goodness.
Berelain apparently also got pressured by the Aes Sedai to go home because they're trying to make the city and country more friendly to the Tower and Rand's inner circle is not likely to be, particularly after they KIDNAPPED HIM. Obviously. Dobraine was also pressured into leaving. This political pressure is what convinces Perrin that Rand was kidnapped and so he takes off with an army at his back to fight the Tower Aes Sedai. What's even more wild here is that the Wise Ones agree to take part in the battle since they can channel. It's cute how Sorilea lights a fire here to show that she can channel, but she's not very powerful in the power as we've made clear. She's powerful politically, so she can convince a lot of the Wise Ones to fight.
Back with the kidnapping Aes Sedai, we learn that they've also kidnapped Min. That's apparently where she was when the Aes Sedai kidnapped him. When Rand found out that Min was also kidnapped, he managed to kill a Warder with his bare hands and injure another who died from the Healing. And both Warders belonged to an Aes Sedai named Erian, so she's insanely pissed at Rand and wants to punish him. Which she gets to do. She gets to whip him over and over again.
Interestingly, Rand actually works with Lews Therin. If they tie off the shield, then Lews Therin can break through. One thing that made me think Lews Therin was really there was when he asks who are you or some such to Rand. It made me wonder if there actually is a real connection there, through time, to Lews Therin. What if the two are actually hearing each other in their heads talking to each other? Perhaps after the tainting of saidin. Because if that's the case, that's huge. They can communicate what's happening to each other and literally work together to solve what's happening in their own time periods.
Sevanna, the Wise One of the Shaido that they allied with, just wanted to see Rand as part of the deal. The other part of the deal is that the Shaido kill Gawyn and the Younglings. Presumably they're too much of a bother or unwieldy to deal with or some such. I'm not sure why. I do think I remember earlier in the book the Aes Sedai in this party complaining about them. But again I'm not sure why. Seems like a bad idea to have your only defensive force offed, but then I'm not a Tower Aes Sedai. Sevanna intends to turn on the Aes Sedai, though, and take Rand for herself to marry him. The real Car'a'carn instead of her fake Car'a'carn that she supported, Couladin. Rather abruptly she has Desaine murdered because, according to the app, she opposed Sevanna being made a Wise One. She also tosses away a little cube she had been given at the beginning of the book that she was supposed to use when Rand was taken captive. Not sure of the significance of that.
And then the Perrin chapter where they're tracking him. This is the least interesting part. It's kind of funny how they have to push through all the festivities of the Feast of Lights to get a boat to cross the river, though, and it's a struggle to get the people on the boat to do anything. Understandably so.
Perrin slowly builds up his force here as more and more troops join: Dobraine's men, Mayeneres from Berelain, Rhuarc's Aiel and Maidens, ninety four Wise Ones ready to break with tradition and actually get involved in a battle, the wolves that Perrin talks to, his Two Rivers men, and finally the rebel Aes Sedai using Alanna's Warder bond to track him down.
We open up the final chapter with Gawyn getting warning that thousands of Aiel are about to attack. He tells Galina that they should actually be cautious for once and prepare for the defense. She, amazingly, relents her arrogance and agrees. Inside the trunk, Rand can tell that Alanna is getting closer, but obviously doesn't trust her since he doesn't trust any Aes Sedai at all anymore.
When Perrin's forces arrive they see a battle already in place, the Shaido are besieging the Aes Sedai and Younglings, trying to take Rand for themselves. The Shaido also have a few channeler Wise Ones, most of whom probably killed Desaine in the other chapter. There's all kinds of magic being cast on both sides: lightning, fireballs, earthquakes. The usual battle magic. Perrin realizes that the Shaido will probably eventually overwhelming the Aes Sedai position and take Rand, so Perrin leads the charge. They don't have a plan other than to get Rand out. There is a plan, though, the Two Rivers men and Mayeners are supposed to go in two squads with the Wise Ones with one group and the Aes Sedai in another group. They're supposed to be pincers to attack from both sides. Except they don't actually follow this plan and Aes Sedai do whatever the fuck they want because of their arrogance, I guess. Perrin sends wolves out to be the initial charge, attacking and surprising the backs of the Shaido ranks. It's also shocking that the Aes Sedai are fighting offensively in this battle at all. According to the three oaths, they're not supposed to take part in battle except in self-defense. All of a sudden, a bunch of gateways start appearing all over the battlefield as Asha'man from Rand's Black Tower appear and start fighting.
In the meantime, Rand manages to break free from the chest. He feels the shields tied off because the Aes Sedai holding him have to go take part in the battle. With Lews Therin's help, Rand is able to exploit that, pushing through the ties, like untying a shoe, and weakens the barrier enough to break through and burst out of the chest in an explosion of wood and splinters. Very dramatic and cinematic, I love it. He also might have accidentally stilled and killed some of the Aes Sedai holding him.
Rand finds Min and Min wants him to create a portal and get the fuck out of there, but Rand doesn't want to abandon the people who came to save him. Plus he can't because he doesn't know the place well enough. Presumably he could use the other method, the one where you have to know the place you're going, but you don't have to know the place you're at and then you have to sit in blackness for hours. But he doesn't use that. Instead, he starts knocking out Aes Sedai and shielding them from behind cover. The Aes Sedai don't know who's doing it, because they can't feel Saidin like Rand can feel both sources.
Gawyn rides up briefly but leaves because Elayne loves Rand and Egwene doesn't want anything bad to happen to him. Plus Gawyn couldn't kill Rand if he tried. Instead, he simply runs out of the battle with the few remaining Younglings that are still alive.
Mazrim Taim appears and offers to heal Rand, but he doesn't accept it. Rand doesn't want anything to do with anyone wielding the Power at all anymore except himself. Understandably so. There's an Asha'man who tries to attack Rand and Taim stops him. AGAIN, this seems to be a consistent problem: the Asha'man not knowing who Rand is. I can very easily see this being a long running problem throughout the books, actually, to the point of a big political crisis or something. Rand is not around them often enough for them to know who he is. They don't recognize him.
Taim and the Asha'man secure the campsite with a dome of air. They manage to secure the Aes Sedai as well, shielding them and binding them. That, in itself, is fucking wild. The Black Tower is holding prisoners from the White Tower. That has huge political implications. The White Tower is not as powerful as it once was and is being brought low by MEN who can channel for the first time in a long time.
Perrin begs Rand to open the dome of air because most of their force is still out there fighting the Shaido. Taim doesn't want to open the dome, he'd rather learn the place well enough to escape. Loial's idea to slip out and let the rest of the force know that Rand is alright reminds me of the tactics Perrin used in the fourth book when Loial slipped out and closed the Waygate during the battles in the Two Rivers. Instead, Rand just orders Taim to open the dome of air and unleashes the full might of the Asha'man in what can only be described as absolutely fucking insane and horrifying.
"Asha'man, KILL!" shouts Taim and the line of Asha'man start doing just that. Shaido bodies literally just explode. Lines of bodies just explode in guts and gore. The first line, then the second, everyone dies in an instant and the Shaido can't escape fast enough. It's absolutely horrifying. Everyone retches, understandably. The Asha'man are so insanely powerful that they can decimate an entire army. They are very much the superior fighting force. Not only did they make an entire army explode into mists of blood and guts and gore, they have captured and are holding prisoner Aes Sedai from the Tower. Again, this all has massive political implications. With an army of Black Tower Asha'man behind Rand, it's going to be damn near impossible NOT to conquer the rest of the world.
The Salidar Aes Sedai come to Rand and, he is understandably spooked by Aes Sedai. He doesn't recognize any difference anymore between Tar Valon and Salidar. They are all Aes Sedai to him and absolutely all not to be trusted. Especially when the Salidar Aes Sedai were told they could bring six and they brought nine, breaking the little trust Rand had left for them. He's been distrusting Moiraine this whole time, he distrusts anyone who can channel including Wise Ones, and then he was understandably spooked by Alanna forcibly making him a Warder. Then the Salidar Aes Sedai tried to intimidate him, there were suddenly thirteen and he left, only to be kidnapped by the Tower Aes Sedai. He's been fucked around with by Aes Sedai for the last time. He demands fealty so that he can finally feel safe around Aes Sedai. He demands that they bow to him and Taim backs him up. "Kneel to the Lord Dragon, or you will be knelt."
"As stories do, the tale spread, across Cairhien and north and south, by merchant train and peddler and simple traveler gossiping at an inn. As stories do, the tale changed with every telling. The Aiel had turned on the Dragon Reborn and killed him, at Dumai's Wells or elsewhere. No, the Aes Sedai had saved Rand al'Thor. It was Aes Sedai who had killed him- no, gentled him- no, carried him to Tar Valon where he languished in a dungeon beneath the White Tower. Or else where the Amyrlin Seat herself knelt to him. Unusually for stories, it was something very close to truth that was most often believed.
On a day of fire and blood, a tattered banner waved above Dumai's Wells, bearing the ancient symbol of Aes Sedai.
On a day of fire and blood and the One Power, as prophecy suggested, the unstained tower, broken, bent knee to the forgotten sign.
The first nine Aes Sedai swore fealty to the Dragon Reborn and the world was changed forever."
The politics of the world are forever changed. The Aes Sedai, who never kneel to anyone, EVER, at least nine of them, have been forced to kneel to the Dragon Reborn. What will happen in the series going forward now that that has happened, that the Aes Sedai have been humbled so? Time will tell I'm sure. I'm also realizing, now, that the cover of the book is this scene: Rand standing with the Aes Sedai kneeling to him. And with that, the story comes to a close in what I can only describe as an epic and exciting and fantastic ending. What a great ending to one of the best books in the series so far. This series really does get better with each book, that is for sure. I'm so glad I wasn't completely turned off by Eye of the World and kept reading. There will be one more post for the final thoughts for the book as a whole, so look out for that!
Only we do have a brief Epilogue to consider with some disparate scenes. Falion, a Black Ajah Aes Sedai from the last book, had been given a secret task by Moghedien and we find out that it is to go to Ebou Dar to find a cache of angreal. Only, Moghedien hasn't talked to her in awhile on account of being captured so Falion is enjoying her time without being harassed by a Chosen. If she can capture Nynaeve and Elayen, though, Moghedien might be very grateful.
The scholar who hardly ever noticed that Rand was there, Herid Fel, gets killed by something called a gholam, something we've never seen before.
We see a rider leaving Ebou Dar saying something about it being ripe for looting. And he thinks that the Return is coming soon. Which, I have to assume, means the Seanchan. Again, it's that Seanchan activity that we saw in Pedron Nial's chapters. The Seanchan have taken over Tanchico, I'm almost certain of it, and are going to start spreading across the continent, possibly in the next book, but at some point in the future.
Moghedien gets rescued by Aran'gar, the resurrected Forsaken that had been hiding out in Salidar. Aran'gar is using saidin to channel as Moghedien never felt saidar being channeled. Which confirms my suspicions, that Aran'gar is one of the male Forsaken that died being resurrected. That had to have been the case, because none of the female Forsaken died before this book. So Moghedien finally escapes after having spent the whole book as a prisoner.
Egwene felt the necklace come off. Somehow she's able to know that a man did it, something about a particular stab of pain. I'm not sure why she's able to recognize that. She has already let Logain go free and so naturally wonders whether Logain let Moghedien free as well, though it's doubtful he would do that.
And finally, we see Demandred in the pit of doom, where this whole story started, kneeling to his Dark Lord.
"'Have I not done well, Great Lord?'
The Great Lord's laughter filled Demandred's head."
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2023.03.31 17:47 rivercanyon WTS: CWC SBS DIVER ISSUE (QS120-DD) with CWC CASE GUARD COVER DIVER BLACK $730 USD [USA] Will ship to Dubai
I am in USA and will ship to Dubai. OBO Offers welcome to give you a good Worldwide price. Please do your research and Direct message me with your best offer.
WTS: CWC SBS DIVER ISSUE (QS120-DD) with CWC CASE GUARD COVER DIVER BLACK $700 USD [USA] Will ship to Dubai
The value of this watch to me is that it is still wrapped up in bubble wrap and tape sealed as received new from UK CWC for a gift.
https://i.imgur.com/UlF0nSC.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NJXOUbC.jpg
I have only lifted the lid on the cardboard box to give you a view of the inside contents. I will not be able to open the bubble wrap, since the watch seal will have to be broken, taking away from the value that cannot then be restored. Thank you for your understanding.
As listed below, set comes with CWC watch and a case guard, will not separate:
CWC SBS DIVER ISSUE (QS120-DD) × 1
CWC CASE GUARD COVER DIVER / BLACK × 1
I need $700 USD NET + shipping , your choice PP or Zelle shipped from USA with tracking. Please PM me your complete shipping address with first contact if you want this watch. Offers also welcome to get you a fair price.
Any fee's are responsibility of buyer. I do not wish for any trades.
I have also included a third stock photo from the manufacturer for those not familiar with this watch to aid their research along with the factory description below:.
https://i.imgur.com/YbQR4Im.jpg
CWC SBS DIVER ISSUE - Currently issued to specialist units
NSN: 0555 / 6645-99 7995443
Built for elite units of the British Forces, the Royal Marines & Special Boat Service, currently also issued to Royal Navy Divers, Commanders and other specialist roles.
Capable of submersing to 300 metres / 1000ft and made for the toughest conditions. Real history and true provenance associated with this watch which has been issued now for 30+ years. The original MOD specification dates back to 1987 signed by the Officer Commanding Royal Marines for CWC to produce this watch and has been issued since then.
Cabot Watch Company SBS divers' watch has been made to exacting MOD specs
Made and Assembled in Switzerland
Water-resistant to 300m
Screw down crown
Screw down caseback
Used by Royal Marines SBS and other specialist diving units.
Sapphire glass, diameter 31mm
120-click bezel diameter 40mm
Black PVD casing
45mm diameter including crown (41mm excluding crown), 47mm lug to lug, 20mm lug width, Bezel diameter 40mm, Crystal diameter 31mm
Super Luminova markings
Ronda Swiss made 517 Quartz movement
Day/date
Fixed bars, 20mm black strap supplied as standard.
Cabot Watch Company have supplied this watch to the Special Boat Service of the Royal Navy since 1987 and is currently issued to certain units
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2023.03.31 17:01 normancrane The Rattle & The Hum
[Begin translation source I]
There was be one magic trick I used to pull. Good one trick it was too, ha, yeah. Made em all clap mighty. This trick could be done only at the golden hour. Do you rember that boy? Ha, yeah, I was be lifting my hands into the air and touching be the sun with tips of my fingurtips, ha, yeah, and pulling out a coin from behind, and all em clapping and laughing, rember that boy? Rember you be clapping and laughing too?
He lay there on the hospital bed, emaciated, words rolling slowly off his heavy tongue, punctuated intermittently by the harshness of cleared throats and swallowed phlegm, as I held one of his rough, bony workingman's hands, a hand much like my own, like holding my own hand in that sterile odorless room, observing him for what the past numberless days had felt each time like the last, observing him as a man and as my father and as my fellow countryman, with tears rolling down my cheeks, thinking, when was the last time I cried? Thinking, don't leave me you bastardfuck. Not fucking yet.
Was be a good trick, wasn't it?
Yeah, I said, recalling all the times he'd reached toward the sun and through sleight of hand extracted a single gold coin from behind it, recalling laughing, recalling his smile and his embrace, true and powerful, as if he were hugging me with the force of two, his own and of the mother I never knew, recalling the texture, smell and weight of those perfect coins which as a boy I never could wait to go into the city to spend. On some trifle. Some semblance of luxury. Yes, it was a good trick, I said, mindful of the clock on the wall and the relentless, silent movement of its hands. In one direction always.
Midnight had come and gone and I had to be at the docks by dawn. A shiver ran through me and I felt a longing for my wife, who at this late hour is mending clothes for our daughters, who are asleep in a single bed because we've no space for another, and in the flickering candlelight, sole illumination for the needle piercing threadbare cloth, I feel the regret of a life amounting to but a child's handful of failed dreams slipping insignificantly, like grains of sand, like grains of salt, between my thick fingers, burying the ruins of the once great illusion that I am destined, that any of us are destined, even as perfumed in silken robes my boss sluices warm brandy down his throat, which is like my throat, but whose soft hands are unlike my hands, unlike the hands of my father, which twitch, and I am imagining the taste of brandy when my father said, What if, ha, yeah. What if it wasn't be a trick, huh boy?
[Several lines here temporarily omitted. Reason: Transcription failure. Note: Attempt with updated identification model once completed.]
The Thames flows golden.
Flows forever.
Loading.
Unloading we. Dying embers of the yester- become kindling for the new day, as the ships come and ships go, into the illuminous space formed by the sky and the sky-reflected, timeless and deep, upon the canvas of whose pale brilliance we all are rendered featureless and black, silhouetted, man, woman and ship alike.
Gulls cut across the brightening sky.
Having shut my eyes, I rub my swollen face and spit blood into the river.
[Note: Provisional placement of marked lines. Reason: Chronological dilemma. Does one prefer faithfulness to original writing or to events described? Note: Consultation may be advised.]
What do you mean, I asked.
But if I expected some reaction from him, some change from the pallid staticity of his dying, none came. His dull eyes kept their blank upward vigil. He merely cleared his throat and said, Wasn't be any trick about it, ha, yeah. The pull be real. I wasn't be having no coin in hiding ken? The pull be real boy. Ha, yeah. The coins be existing there always behind the sun. So many coins. I shouldn't be touching, but the way em clapped, the way you laughed boy. The way you laughed.
He swallowed phlegm. Letting go of his hand, I rose. What are you saying?
I wasn't be knowing any trick but I could be doing this one thing, ha, yeah. I could pull ken? I was be lifting my hands into the air—
I grabbed him by the collar and shook him. The coins, you mean they're really there?
Behind the sun, he said. The pull be real, he said, as I shook him and shook him and he offered no resistance. There wasn't any strength left in him at all. He was light as non-existence. How many? I demanded, still crying, Tell me! How many coins are there behind the sun!
More than all, he said. Ha, yeah.
Why didn't you—Why did we live like we did? If you could've pulled money from the fucking sky, why did you—We were so goddamn poor! We didn't have anything. I don't have anything, I sobbed, and thinking of my wife and daughters lifted his fragile body and drove him back into the hospital bed, trying to push him through it. Blank-eyed he cleared his throat, gargled and sucked down phlegm.
Rattle, he said. Rattle boy. Rattle and hum, and for a moment I thought I saw something fill his eyes. Something golden. something flowing forever. and reflected in the Thames I saw a long ago memory of the two of us on the banks watching the merchant ships. it was, i remembered, the day after i’d been caught spraying graffiti on the school walls. the city skyline shadowlike. there be two sounds only in the world boy, i heard him say in the memory or in the hospital room or in my own pulsing head, the rattle and the hum, highlit by the pink setting sun, this be your education boy. this be wisdom ken? that, he said, pointing at the shadow buildings, be not your world. hollowed rattlescum. hear boy? hear the rattle? but i didn't, and every night i dreamed about living in the city with all its luxuries, with everything modern and easy, and do you hear that? he asked, listening. listen be under the rattle. listen be to the sun. the hum, ha, yeah, that be the real life, the hard life. the sun, the hum, ahem, I let him go, backed away, terrified I might have killed him.
[End translation source I]
[Begin translation source II]
But no, he still clung to life, coughing and wheezing even when I left the room, the hospital, too furious to go home, too awake to sleep. I looked for another kind of familiar instead, down by the dockyards where I knew I could find the pain I needed. To give and to receive. I went into a bar, downed drinks and insulted some out of town scabbie just to get into it with him, and that felt good. The anger. The scabbie didn’t have a chance, not because I was good at brawling but because what I wanted was for him to hit me. Hurt me. Heads I win, tails me too. Punch after punch. He beat the snot out of me, broke my nose. I beat what was left of my father’s life out of him, cracked a few ribs, all while telling myself my father was out of his mind with dying man's delirium to be talking about coins behind the sun. But that wasn’t even what had pissed me off. It wasn’t that I believed him. It was that he believed himself, and still thought he’d done right by keeping us poor when all he had to do was pull fucking coins from the fucking sun until we had everything we’d ever dreamed of!
What finally put the scabbie down was a chair to the face.
I slinked out of the bar sore to moonlight uncomfortably louder than it had any right to be, then swung at the moon too. I missed. It wasn’t until the next day, after a shift on the docks on no sleep and too much Adderall, that I found out my father had died.
Crawling home I was sure my wife was going to kill me, but she didn’t. Bless her heart and curse mine. Instead she wrapped her arms around me, kissed my cheeks and offered her condolences. Then she pulled me to the bathroom before the girls noticed I was home, and I washed the blood and sweat and stink off myself so that I'd be more presentable when they inevitably decided to snuggle with me. As presentable as anyone could be with a cracked nose and puffed out face turning all the bruised colours of the rainbow. Predictable as clockwork, I broke down.
[End translation source II]
[Note: Inferring existence here of unlocated paragraphs presumed lost.]
[Begin translation source III]
[Note: Uncertain temporal relationship between preceding and following paragraphs. Estimation: 2-4 years. Note: Estimate open to revision.]
I haven’t been writing much lately. I’ve spent more of my free time reading my old notebooks and journals. Truthfully I’m ashamed of much of what I wrote before, yet there’s something that prevents me from destroying it: it’s a reflection of who I was at the time, what I was. I want to remember that. I don’t want to forget myself. Reading, I feel again the stress I was under, the drugs I was taking, the thoughts I started and never finished.
I miss my father.
I took the girls to a movie tonight. It wasn’t very good, but we had a lot of fun. They’re getting older. They’re starting to lie to us.
I injured my arm on the docks. Two days off, then pain meds and back to work.
My wife and I celebrated our tenth anniversary by going out to dinner. We walked past the hospital where my father died. It was early evening and I couldn’t help glancing up at the sun in the sky. (In the air, as my father would have said.)
My boss died yesterday. It was unexpected. He was 61. Unmarried, no kids. For five minutes the entire docks stopped and stood in silence, then the whistle blew and we went back to work. There are articles about him in all the newspapers, some of which he owned. His funeral is scheduled for Saturday and they say it’s going to be one of the largest ever. There was almost no one at my father’s funeral, just the few living people who knew him.
I’ve been feeling increasingly indifferent to things I used to care about.
Midlife crisis: check.
I keep listening to music from my youth. I do it on headphones because it's fucking shameful. Sometimes I feel so much nostalgia it hurts. What exactly am I trying to find? I grew up poor. I'm still poor. I'll die poor. My life is stillborn. It never really started.
I stayed out all night again doing nothing. Haunting the city, I guess. I take the bus in then walk. I told my wife I was drinking, looking for drugs. She believed me but didn't have the decency to get fucking mad. She's just concerned. Not just saying the words but actually meaning them. I was looking for a fight and all I got was empathy. How much of a loser am I, right? My kids tell me they love me every day and I spend my days feeling like absolute shit. Maybe it's because I pretend all the time that I don't believe in the sincerity of others.
I bought some spray paint today. Recapturing lost youth, but at least it's artistic!
There's so much noise in the world.
One of my daughters is sick. Not caught-a-cold sick. Running tests to figure out the damage sick, and: planning to buy meds we can't afford on my salary sick, and: being on a waitlist for a procedure for seven fucking years (!) sick.
Walking tonight I kept thinking about my old boss' funeral. So many interviews and TV specials and it's like no one rembers (*) him anymore. At the same time, his daughter wouldn't be dying because her dad was too much of a terrified fuckup to get anywhere in life.
[Note: Link to Soho Stone? Plan: Attempt precision dating. Outcome: Plausibility passed. Note: Begin formal write-up of hypothesis to present at Symposium. Note: Inform Norq and query opinion .]
Went out to the city tonight and did my first spray job in twenty years. Felt good despite the hands being rusty. Nothing major, just a quick poem I'd written a few weeks ago, but then I crossed it out anyway and wrote something else. Something true. Something sincere. You know what was good about the whole thing? (Other than not getting caught, because how embarrassing would that be.) It's not me anymore. I'm no graffiti artist. After I was done and the adrenaline had gone down, all I wanted was to be home again.
The Universal Archivist Pix disconnected from the central mainframe and telecommunicated to the Universal Archivist Norq. The two Universal Archivists were good colleagues, despite that Norq had achieved greater scholarship-fame than Pix because his research activities concerned a planet exponentially more interesting and universally significant than Earth.
"Good eon, Norq" said Pix.
"Good eon, Pix," replied Norq. "Do you possess useful information to submit?"
"I possess it," said Pix.
"Please make submission," said Norq.
"I submit I have developed a plausible hypothesis about the identity of the creator of the Soho Stone," said Pix.
"The Soho Stone," said Norq, referencing briefly the central mainframe. "One of the few surviving physical artifacts from the obscure planet you have determined to study. Who do you hypothesize is the creator?"
"He is unnamed," said Pix, for the digital files he was studying never identified their writer.
"The currently stated creator of the Soho Stone is Unknown," said Norq. "Is it your intention to appear before the Symposium to make rational argument in favour of amending the creator to Unnamed?"
"That is my intention," said Pix.
"Do you not believe such a change is quite minor?" asked Norq.
"Not all archival revision must be radical," said Pix. "In addition, I believe that names are not always of primary significance. The information I have gathered, collated and transcribed provides great insight into an individual Earthling and by linking such insight to the Soho Stone I believe I will add much scholarship-value to the Archive's exhibit."
"I support your submissions. They are well founded," said Norq.
"Thank you," said Pix.
"Goodbye, Pix" said Norq.
"Goodbye, Norq," said Pix and ended the telecommunication. After reconnecting to the central mainframe, he navigated to the entry on the Soho Stone. It read:
Origin: Earth (dead), c. 17th-22nd century A.D. (local time). Description: Fragment of presumed larger structure composed of limestone and clay being overlayed with the following symbols:
the only gold is the setting sun
all else amounts to none
coins clatter in a purse
as the rich man with distinction passes by
decomposing in the rattling hearse
[The above is obscured by a large X and several irregular lines, below which the symbols continue:]
i fucking love my wife and daughters
[The above is underlined.]
Significance: One of three surviving physical artifacts from its planet of origin. Creator: Unknown.
Although Pix had long ago memorized the entire central mainframe entry about the Soho Stone, he still enjoyed viewing its submissions. It kept his scholarly spirits up. He turned now to the only remaining information in his research he was sure succeeded the entry which he hypothesized described the creation of the Soho Stone.
I got home so late last night it was early. I thought everyone would be asleep, but my wife and daughters were all up. They were sitting in the living room together and hadn't noticed me come in. The sun was just beginning to rise, filling the room with a gorgeous light, and they were talking, all three of them, whispering: about what I don't know and it didn't matter. The words didn't matter. These words don't matter. Because what I heard then, I'll never forget. It was a sound. Pure, simple, and beautiful. It was the hum.
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