When I was in the darkest point of my life, I knew I had to make a change. A leap of faith. At 20 years old I abandoned my apartment in Florida and left all my belongings aside from what I was wearing and the money I had saved up. Booked a one way straight to Arizona where I went on FaceBook marketplace immediately upon landing and bought the first Kawasaki Ninja that popped up. Zero hesitation. I rode that bike from Phoenix up to Sedona in the middle of winter—32 degrees and for a rider with no proper gloves, no proper riding gear, and no idea where I was going to sleep that night, it was an adventure.
I took the side highways. The ones that cut through the mountains and keep you free from civilization aside from the occasional motel & gas station every 30 miles. Halfway to Sedona I decided to stop and warm up at a scenic lookout I came across in the mountains. Mistakenly, I decided to take my key out of the bike. It’s 4:30PM in the middle of winter, which means the sun is going to set in about an hour. I’m in the middle of the mountains with no cell service, and the nearest mountain town is a 30 minute drive away.
https://imgur.com/gOEMz9l
After warming up and bracing myself for the journey ahead, I’m ready to get back on the horse. Thing is, I’m twisting the key… but the ignition isn’t starting. I haven’t mentioned yet, but the Ninja is as old as me with more mileage than your college ex girlfriend. I keep trying it. Keep trying. I end up twisting the key so now it doesn’t even fit inside of the key slot. Genius. After 20 minutes of frustration and prayer…
a van pulls up. A hippie van. Out of the van comes two dogs, a cat, and a girl roughly my age. She had the same idea as me, to stop at the scenic spot and enjoy the view—although one of us had a very short-lived moment of peace. She can see I’m frustrated & asks if I need help. It felt like the sort of thing you’d expect to see in a movie, except it was happening right before my eyes. Turns out she travels across the country in her van and she’s headed towards Sedona anyways for a gathering with other van enthusiasts… perfect. Also just so happens my bike fits perfectly in the back of her van. I manage to summon herculean strength and lift the 500lb bike into the back of her hippie van—and with the company of two stray dogs and a cat—we’re off to Sedona.
https://imgur.com/bS4a360
I could go into more details…. but long story short I get to Sedona and for the next week I’m ripping through the mountains, exploring the land, and experiencing freedom. Didn’t tell anyone I was coming here. Didn’t tell anyone I left Florida. Didn’t tell anyone I bought the bike. All I knew was I had experienced the taste of freedom and I was never settling for anything less.
https://imgur.com/snV1fWw
It was from this adventure that I gained the inspiration to build my brand. The brand is a representation of my favorite quote: “It is not death a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” In this life, it’s up to you to decide how you want to live. Do you want to be a slave to your environment? To your job? To your problems? To your adversity? Or will you release yourself from the imaginary shackles they have on you and live a life free of regrets? This is what you need to ask yourself. You alone can make that decision.
For me, motorcycles were the key to unlocking this newfound freedom, and experiencing this new perspective of life. For others, it may be surfing, skiing, MMA, but whatever it is, we all do it for the same reason.
For the thrill of it.

Do not, under any circumstance link your steam account to the ED stand alone client until you read this.

If you link too early, you just lost $100 or more, seriously. More on this later.
TLDR: Buy the F18. Rent modules on stand alone. Buy the F18, then syria, then something cool. consider persian gulf.

Hello, my name is Kitchen and I have a problem and hate money. If you click my name, you'll see the modules I own. I fly them all, mostly proficiently, so I feel I'm qualified to talk about most of them. This is advice for a new player on 'what modules I should buy?' Or perhaps the 2nd module to buy. This is mostly an essay on purchase order, not for only planes but modules. And yes, this is an essay. If you don't want to read it, that's cool, I still think you're probably a neat person and will probably enjoy flying with this group. So first, DCS is a flight sim, so you'll need: a computer, a module, a map, and hardware to fly it with. Perhaps you need advice on hardware, so see my other essay on that. Let's also discuss the variety of eras and planes in this too. For people that know what generation things are, cool, I don't. I don't really know anything about real life planes but I do know DCS. Modern planes will get you the most play. Followed by the cold war (think F14, mig 21, f5, mirage). Korea is a smaller pool, ww2 is as small or even smaller. If you are a part of this group looking for module advice I'll only recommend modern planes first. If you want a korea war experience, you'll probably have to find that elsewhere or be the change you want to see and spark that fire and lead the group into an era/playstyle that you want. We have a personal server and can host any map/mission that is provided that has interest in playing. We of course will have themed missions from creators but generally, modern all the way. (edited)
Steam Vs Stand alone. There are huge benefits to both but I want to discuss the stand alone. For those on steam you already know how great steam is. On standalone: First, you can rent modules for 2 weeks (including maps) on the stand alone every 6 months. This is a huge deal and is awesome. So try out the module before purchase. Second, on stand alone, your first cart (the entire cart) is 50% off. You can save $100's if you dogpile your first purchase cart. Third, you can link your steam account purchases to stand alone and play on the standalone with all the modules, so you lose nothing. If you link your steam account before your purchase, you are boned for the 50%. So do not, do not, DO NOT, link your account before purchase. Lastly, standalone has "miles" you accumulate on purchase. Basically it is 10% of your purchase in savings for the next purchase, so a $50 modules will get you $5 off your next. I got the mig21 for free because I bought enough, neat. Also, the accounts are still linked, so you can always play on steam or buy more stuff on steam after the linking process and it will pass to stand alone just fine. I don't know much about you personally so I'm going to speak generally as possible but the best advice I can give is: Buy the F18 first, then buy something exciting next. Also, I'll be using words in here like you already know what it is, I can't include a dictionary for the post but if you have a question, ask. We are here to help and learn together. Ok let's go. (edited)
Free Module SU-25T This is not a bad plane, it is actually capable and it can deliver HARM based weaponry well. With a human trainer, you can be effective and useful without money. It is not as good at ground pounding as other modules but this is also free. The AI provided training is not as good as it should be. If you want to learn this and only this, ping someone that knows it and we can have you doing ground pounding in a few hours and be GOOD at it. Seriously, I'd almost recommend this over the harrier some days, more on that later. If this module had a ground locking 360 tpod like the NATO planes it would almost be too good. First Module, F18: This is the jack of all trades plane in this game that will be generally featured in every mission we host as a group. It can carry almost all the weapon types (except good cluster bombs… grrr rock eyes) like: dumb bombs, smart bombs (laser, GPS, and the walleye),mavericks, JSOWS, dumb rockets, fox 1,2,3s, HARMs, cruise missiles, and harpoons. It can land on the ground and on a carrier. It is full fidelity, has easy to learn systems, has robust and easy to find tutorials from all your favorite and least favorite youtubers. It has easy to learn air to air refueling when you are ready, easy to understand MFDs that are readable. Systems that make sense, INS aligns quickly, is easy to taxi, doesn't require a ton of buttons on a HOTAS, TPOD actually works… well-ish. If you learn this pretty well, other NATO jets will be easy to learn. There is a reason why the F18 is recommended, because it is very good. Now if you personally (or find someone that agrees) that it isn't "exciting" that's fine. But if you are clueless and willing to just jump in this is the plane to go for it. It's also easy to land on the ground, no flare required, you can literally slam it down > 2000 ft/min. This plane will hold your hand really well. (edited)
Ok so after the F18 and a map, it gets gritty. Let's talk about personality and full features. Minecraft (yes, I'm blaming minecraft) allows people to perpetually live in early access with a list of "coming soon, full release". So, anything you see promised is a lie, buy what the module has now and expect it to never go further, possibly get worse. Ignore what all these companies will tell you is coming. And yes if you haven't guessed, we're gonna talk about Super Carrier and then yes, the harrier.Super carrier is money pit but I think it is 100% based on personality for the player. Do you want to be restricted to just one carrier? Do you like being spawn limited? Want to wait your turn? Animated deck crew that has hand signals (only useful in the day time…). Then perhaps Super boat is for you. Super carrier has features that I find useful (like the FLOOS system or 'the ball') and the deck crew is kinda neat. Is it $30 neat though to you? It was to me and for us boat planes it is nice to never miss the wire because that boat wasn't available to us. You get the Su-33 with this purchase. If you think $30 is a lot then you should not buy super boat. If you think $30 is like a happy hour bar tab for yourself and it isn't, consider a purchase. If you hate exclusion and peasants, come to $uper boat and make fun of peasant boat with us. (edited)
2nd plane: So the big ones, in the modern era in my personal (by fly hours, guessing)order: A-10 F-16 JF-17 F-14 Mirage Harrier FC3 - worth it for the j-11a, f15, and the SU-25 (non T version) - appended on the bottom Viggen There's a lot to discuss in the above list and now it comes down to what you enjoy in DCS and what makes you excited. If you see the above list and one plane sticks out, like the F-14 because "it is awesome", trend that way.Comparisons, if this then that: A-10/Harrier - A-10 is the winner for me right now. Razbam keeps changing things and breaking the harrier and making it a bit less fun to fly. The a-10 is rock stable development wise and is a great experience. A-10 needs a ton of 4 way switches though. So if you are light on controls, trend towards the harrier. The harrier is faster and able to land on FARPS/crayon-boat. It can carry an impressive loadout also, around 8 bombs and 14 guided rockets. It is a considerable amount of ground pound for a small plane. You'll have to micromanage the fuel and asymmetric loadouts. It is a solid choice but very difficult to learn/master but it solid. (edited)
A-10 does have some drawbacks though, mostly dealing with speed/altitude. Some SAM sites literally can't shoot 20k up, so in the a-10 you will be generally very very low. Also you will be sub 250 knots in the a-10. So if a mig 29 is coming, you cant run away very quickly. Gun on the a-10 is obviously better and the harrier gun imo is only used for emergencies. In fact, you can only use it throttled up, which makes gun runs interesting because you are going speedy bois in a nose dive throttle up! F-16/JF-17. These planes are pretty comparable in capability and systems and weapons. I think the jeff gets ignored mostly because so few of us even know it exists before DCS. The Jeff has some really really quirky things going on with the systems/flight model/pylons that you will probably struggle with but if you are not excited about the f16, perhaps the jeff can fill that single engine void.
The 16 is more capable with a wider pylon weapon arrangement and it can carry more fuel because of a dedicated belly tank. You also don't lose a slot for a tpod but you will always be turning left/right due to drag and imbalanced trim. You can sacrifice fox 2's on your tips for fox 3 loadouts, which is worth it imo. The 16 is lacking development in a lot of systems, the TPOD makes you want to commit soduko in the parking lot of an Ikea, and it finally got JSOWs but it got the A model which is maybe better than urinating out the window at anything larger than a infantry unit. It does carry JDAMs and laser guided in all the good flavors plus the CBU 105s of doom, plus the 6 pack maverick loadout. It is a fast plane, able to actually catch up to someone, think mach 1.5 in a dive no problem, mach .99 in mil power at 30k. Air to air refueling though is very difficult to master, if you struggle in the 18 the 16 might kick you, and kick you, and kick you. It doesn't have short legs though if you stay in mil power, think 2 hour flight times no problem.
The jeff is an interesting plane. The displays look like a tesla and the tpod is seriously 4k. It has a limited ordnance selection but has the usual JDAM, GBU12, plus its own flavor of HARM, cruise missile, and harpoon. Doesn’t get an HMD and I'm not a huge fan of the fox 2s, rear aspect only most days but the fox 3 (sd-10) is a murder machine. While the jeff is multirole you don't get to do multi mission sortie since you lose a ton of flexibility by loading mixed. Expect some dirty dirty loadouts for fuel, bombs, fox 2's, and a tpod. Jeff has a datacartridge implemented, so you can do custom chaff/flare programs but you only carry 32 chaff and flare. It has also has restricted jettison requirements, below I think mach .8 for jettison which really sucks when you are going defensive against SAMs. Jeff is kinda slow, expect F18 performance, but if you are looking for full fidelity red, this is it and it honestly isn't bad, it just isn't what we expected. I find refueling it difficult due to input lag and engine spooling/cool down but maybe it is just me. And to clarify, I have refueled every plane in the game that is capable and am proficient in it 📷 Also the quirk: you can emergency jettison in both and the 16's doesn't drop your missiles. The jeff you have to be slow though, below mach .8, which makes dog fights hard because the jettison. Then you might want to switch your config switches (2 of them) and it's awkward. jeff's guns are pretty limited and the 16 carries more of them and i think its dogfight mode is better. Jeff also can't use tacan with datalink on... quirky. (edited)
F-14. So I'm torn about this plane for several reasons. First, from a mission design standpoint, the phoenix missiles it carries allow you to kill any red plane without even being shot at, so it is hard to balance against. That is a DCS thing, not a you enjoying the plane thing though. 2nd, the pilot role comes in two flavors: nothing to do and FLYING the plane. This is one of the few non fly by wire systems so you have to use rudder and gently pull into stuff. You have to trim when fuel is misbalanced, you have to make sure your wings are swept when performing certain actions. The F14 is probably the best module for look, feel, performance, and detail thanks to heatblur. The gold standard developer for this game by a long shot. Other torn reasons, the sparrow implementation is rough, you'll need to use boresight often to get a stt pal lock and that is sometimes rough. Fox 2's are old too so don’t expect some insane stuff from those. Lastly, the f14 is an old machine, so don't expect a lot of hud information, including a useful velocity vector. You are going to be looking at gauges around the cockpit and between your legs for the radar. If you don't have headtracking I feel this is 100% not the plane for you. So now let's go to RIO. Learning RIO is a whole other job. It requires the same amount of time as any other module because the F14 is like a ww2 radar simulator. You don't just tell the radar 'over there' you have to micromanage and tell the radar how to work. There's tutorials obviously but it isn't easy. The LANTIRN pod (anime cam) is also very hard to use, so don't expect a lot of joy in the backseat doing ground pound. (edited)
Oh… jester. I find jestor not too bad but sometimes I die because of him. Jester has an issue with locking onto planes I feel he should be able to. I have abandoned the AI so often just to burn towards the target, get a PAL lock and fox 3 on the guy. Or just maddog one out there because jester won't lock.But my most favorite couple of experiences in this game was with a human rio and me in the front. It was a great ride, and the stories and fond memories makes me want you to do the same. It is satisfying to murder bad guys with your friends, especially when you work together, even if it is poorly (him losing lock and me ripping the wings off in a dodge attempt….) F14 has lase bombs/dumb bombs but bombing isn't the main goal for it. Seems like an afterthought honestly and really only use for giggles and not for serious mission stuff. Difficult to air to air refuel too. Probe causes a lot of drag and is pretty far away from the nose, so getting locked in is difficult, keeping it trimmed is difficult, seeing the tanker is difficult. Jester also cyberbullies me when I do bad just like my dad did before he went away for cigs that one time.
F14 is fast though but not for long. Big plane, big engines, big fuel use. But for it's role, fleet defense, I feel if you really want to enjoy it, you will. There are some huge f14 fan bois and they are probably not wrong. Mirage - Razbam product but actually good. If you want to fly high, murder people from far away and see art, this isn't for you. Mirage needs to fight dirty with no datalink, an unusual RWR symbology, typically low altitude, and only 2 fox 1s and 2 fox 2s. If you get into a turn fight with guns, you're gonna get em. Big delta wing turns good, loses speed fast though. Air to air refueling is similar to the f18 in difficulty. Can carry snakeyes well and big 2000 lb runway baguette delivery. Fits really well into our cold war themed stuff because of the 'limitations' but I often see some EU and Zen coming back with 4 kills to their name with only 4 missiles. Maybe they were born with it, maybe it is just the make up they wear. Viggen I own this now: It is great dumb fun but planning is everything. Easy start up, good bomb loadout, has mavericks which are difficult to use. Has cool rockets, dumb bombs. You won't get a ton of use on general multiplayer servers. It is probably the best anti ship plane in the game. (edited)

Helicopters:

Generally, they are going to flat out try to kill you. They want to faceplant you into the ground and explode. I wouldn’t consider flying one without rudder pedals (not twist) except the KA-50. I would only recommend a heli if you understand that DCS does not natively support heli stuff at all really. You will have to push a lot of 'I believe in make believe' buttons. I personally own the HIP, huey, and Ka-50, and the apache is on the way.MI-8 (hip), and huey: The hip is better at killing and is stronger and faster. But it is like a semi truck with RUSSIA painted on the side. Fly it with purpose and not a sports car. Side gunners aren't the best but it gets dumb amount of rockets. Gun pods are like a light show but lags everyone out. Switches are russia: everywhere, all the time, not convenient. To switch to guns/rockets is literally two seats away. Makes sense for real life maybe but in dcs that is annoying.
Huey is a wobble fest sports car. Side gunners are murder machines, you can also get a free copy of Fortunate Son by CCR if you know where to look on ED's website. Ask in general, the link changes sometimes and is hard to find. With both the hip/huey expect to kill humvees/people only. Light APCs if you are lucky. Expect to die a lot. Hind: I think it is ok based on reports. The AI Petrovich is pretty 'god mode' kinda like jester. You can murder all sorts of tanks and stuff, plus with CTLD you can do everything the HIP can do but with more dakka. If I didn't have the HIP already, I probably would own the hind. If you go to fast, you can die easy, if you try to hover too heavy, you die. If you try to fly when the weather is hot, obviously straight to die. KA-50: imagine you are on a roller coaster but with machine guns and you will understand the ka-50. Try to get it off the rails and it will fight you and you might die. But keep it there and you will murder all of those innocent tank children you encounter. The ka-50 gun can kill t-55s, the vikkors can kill t-90s and you can carry 12 of them. It is not the Hind, so do not fight toe to toe, you want to hide behind buildings and hills and be sneaky. It is effective if you are but it is frustrating if you don't spend the time. Oh….. No night vision in it at all. So daytime or gain/contrast on high and squint. Apache: not out as of this essay. Gazelle: It exists but no one has sung its praises to me to determine its worth. Sorry

Flaming Cliffs 3:

Is it worth $50, no, and you should not buy it for that price. Is it worth $25 sort of. Is this particular module worth $7(on sale) or $15 not on sale? Probably notish. Ok, first I'm an elitist and I'm going to talk down to you. If you have only $7 for this game, it's gonna be a rough game for you to play. Just the hardware alone, stick, computer, etc is going to add up much faster than your modules. If a $7/15 module puts you off of purchasing a module because you don't want to waste your money then perhaps you're in the wrong game. It would almost be smarter to just rent in perpetuity in a round robin fashion all the high fidelity modules till you find one you like and can afford. Also I hate when people say "I want to start with something easier then transition to high fidelity". That is the wrong attitude. FC3 planes are usually low performance/capability . You will have less control of your plane and limited options with these aircraft and you will hate it when you learn the comparison. Something simple like radio management is non existent in these planes and that is just the surface. Some modules don't let push a button for gear down and another for gear up. It is just up/down on one control. Or the Su-25t, doesn't allow an axis for wheel brakes, it has to be a button. Annoying:
If I had to pick one module to buy in FC3, it'd be SU-33. Carrier ops, good fuel loadout, carries the most missiles, has datalink, has some air to ground capability, sneaky long range fox 2's. Also can air to air refuel with the basket which is easier to learn. It is in KM/h and metric but it is pretty good at what it does. Note: if you buy super carrier module you get the SU-33 included. Next choice would probably the the su-27/j-11a. J-11a is the better choice and it has fox 3's and a ton of weapons, datalink. Basically a non carrier Su-33. Next would be the F-15C. Air to air only. Can carry amraams or sparrows for the 1980s roleplay. Has an absolute insane amount of gas, can air to air refuel with boom. No 9x missiles so you can't do the spicy offbore shots. It does not have datalink and the tires pop easily. Air to air refueling is really difficult in this plane. You will have to learn radar on a system that is similar to NATO planes but lack finer controls as the 16/18 etc. It does murder people well because fox 3's though once you get them locked. (edited)
Su-25, A-10A, mig 29 - these are ok at best but for a first module it is a waste of your money imo. It is a much better deal to buy the entire FC3 pack and play with these modules but for most people, you won't touch these very often unless we have a themed mission around these airframes.There are a lot of people that think they are neat, cool, and capable and these airframes are. But this essay is written towards people buying their first couple of modules. Also gearing towards $/value which FC3 use to be good value till all the better full fidelity modules came out. If you are considering FC3, I'd either buy it first as a $30 taste test for DCS (but the hornet/viper cost $50 and they are superior and that is only two meals out at fast food) or like your third or fourth module because you want to pick some red planes. FC3 is also a possible better choice if you are on a super limited budget/don't have a full decent HOTAS setup since you'll need significantly less hardware to operate the plane well. (edited)

Buy the F18. Rent modules on stand alone. Buy the F18, then syria, then something cool. consider persian gulf.

Hi everyone, I know that $175 is the pre-authorization amount that gas stations charge but several of those charges actually posted to my Capital One CC. I had a charge from March 20 and March 23 that both posted for $174. Now I have a large truck that costs a fair amount to fill up but there is no way it cost $174. At most it cost $90 or so as I have a twenty four gallon tank and gas is around 3.90 per gallon here. Unfortunately I didn't keep any receipts but I know for a fact this is wrong. I also looked at my previous statements and it turns Conoco Phillips has done this before on March 09 and March 13. Is there a chance they will still downgrade it or will I need to call Capital One and dispute all 4 charges?

I don’t remember much, but I do remember that (((SPOILER))) the main character’s best friend dies at the end because they try to walk across an interstate to a different gas station because the gas station they stopped at was out of the drink the main character or best friend wanted.
I think they may have played guitar together or were in a band together in the book, and they were in high school.
I feel like the copy I had was a paperback that was small and blue, and possibly had a picture of the two friends on the front.

Im currently on a road trip from the East Coast to Mid West. Me and my friend decided to stop at a gas station to use the restroom, first one we stop at was closed. We find another one on the map, and it turns out to be a firework store, combined with a mini gas station which was very well lit.
There was only a car there, and we pulled up next to the firework/gas station place to see if it was open. It wasn’t. Its 11:30pm in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.
The cars windows were all down, and inside was a man staring directly straight ahead with both hands on the wheel, no music. He was just sitting there, looking straight at a flickering light on a random shed building. Obviously this is sketch so we decide to leave immediately. This guy looks at us and had the most like - i cant even describe it - creepy/suicidal/im going to hurt you look ever.
Is this dude ok? Do people hang out in their cars like that in the middle of nowhere? Felt like I was just in a horror movie lol

TL;DR: I mutilated the standard gas regulator for my new AUG and I need to know which Steyr department (support/service/sales/etc.) to reach out to for repair or replacement.

Recently purchased an AUG and field stripped it to clean it. New pews are usually shipped with corrosion inhibitors, so I thought I'd wipe everything down with a CLP. Never been fired, at least by me.
I didn't follow the user guide closely enough, I'm afraid. I used the tip of a round to push in the button pictured below:

Gas Regulator Assembly
I mistakenly thought this was necessary to adjust the gas or to remove the regulator for field stripping.
On the backside of the regulator, this pin ( circled in red) began to protrude. When I tried to put the cleaned regulator back on, the tab ( circled in green) wouldn't retract enough for the regulator to go back on. It was preventing the regulator from fitting through the notch (circled in blue.) (THESE ARE JUST STOCK PHOTOS FOR ILLUSTRATION.)

https://preview.redd.it/utund13yn0qa1.png?width=514&format=png&auto=webp&s=0469340b0e5395e30e35d111150b9d4468026a1a
I watched Brownell's video for fieldstripping the AUG and their regulator turned right back into place. Between this and the instructions in the owner's manual making it seem easy, I kind of panicked and tried tapping the pin back into place using a hex key (allen wrench) and a soft face hammer. (Dumb, I know.)
Now the backside of that pin (highlighted in red) is slightly mushroomed and I'm afraid that it's expanded like a rivet and ruined my gas regulator.
Which department of Steyr (support/service/sales/etc.) should I contact to get this fixed? Do you think this will require me to send the regulator to Steyr or will I have to buy a new standard regulator from them? How long does a service item like this usually take?
Responses from users who have experience with Steyr's customer service are greatly appreciated.

Lost my 12 wrx today. Engine knock driving home from the airport. Pulled into a gas station when it got safe to and it was done. Got it towed home to clear things out of the car while i decide what to do next. I've been looking for an upgrade over the last few months anyway, and now that prices are starting to settle back down it's.. overwhelming. Not sure what the point is in this post but i just wanted to say something to people who know mr knock knock.

(I know I’m posting it in multiple subs, I just want someone to give me some advice. Everyone I know is confused on the matter and none of them wanna tell me that I’m probably gonna get killed) So I (18m) have a cousin (19f) and she’s friends with Randy (19m) well in 2019 Randy convinced this 6ft2 18 year old named Joe that I needed to die, so Joe finds me and I came very very close to dying, Joe took off because he thought I was dead and they were all online posting about it making jokes and then they all got really pissed when they found out I survived. And last year my cousins boyfriend cheated on her so I helped her break into his apartment to get her stuff back, then move it all to a storage unit, then to her parents house and didn’t even accept gas money, and I even caught her cheating ex in a gas station and he took off before I could even get a word in so I’ve been nothing but good to my family especially that cousin. (This has no relevance, just shows my loyalty to family)
So my cousin is still hanging out with Randy which I didn’t say anything about but made it clear he can’t come to my house because last summer he was here and told a couple people he was gonna call Joe and that Joe was ready to kill me until my uncle on the other side of the family heard and lost his shit. But my cousin, my best friend, my other cousin (this cousin is dating my best friend) were all hanging out and according to my best friend Randy was bragging about his involvement with me almost dying, saying I deserve to die and admitting that he’s still gonna get me killed and my cousin said nothing and acted like it was normal, my friend couldn’t say anything because he didn’t want to cause issues with my other cousin (his girlfriend) but I’m mad now
I told my parents and they don’t seem to know what to say anymore, my dad just told me if anyone shows up trying to do anything to me he’ll handle it
I don’t know what to do or say though, I haven’t brought it up to my cousin because my best friend told me not to, but at this point I’m at a loss for words, I don’t wanna die and as of recently I’ve been sticking to myself but these guys can’t handle that they just want me dead

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Journal of Camille Lambert - April 14th

When the fires finally died, there was almost nothing left of Puriysk. Just about every building was scorched and blackened. Most of the tents had been destroyed too, with only a tattered handful remaining on the far side of town.

Driving through the ruins felt almost like driving through a corpse. Everything was so dead… and yet despite the recent fire, I could already see new life growing on the ashes. Small flowers with petals that seemed to shimmer like distant stars. They were both beautiful and unsettling at the same time, although I noticed Dr. Di Cesare… or Gretchen, I suppose… looking down at them with quiet apprehension as we passed.

“We should visit what remains of my lab first,” She said. “I had some equipment that should offer suitable protection against any airborne toxins. Atmospheric saturation should currently be low, but best practices recommend not to take any unnecessary risks!”
“Sister, we’re way past best practices right now,” Nina replied sardonically. “Exactly how often were you dealing with this shit if you’ve got ‘suitable protection’ just on hand?”
“Often enough,” Gretchen replied. “Not in some years though… decades, really. I keep it now as a precaution. When studying pocket realities, one can never be too prepared. The Rosen Prince exists in far more than you could possibly imagine.”

“And now you’ve gone and brought it here,” Nina replied.
“While I understand you disapprove of my course of action, I stand by that the choice I made last night was the one with the highest probability of a favorable outcome.”
“‘Favorable outcome.’” Nina repeated, before giving a sigh of exasperation. “Whatever you say. I figure that one way or the other, this is gonna end with one of us saying ‘I Told You So’ and I hope to God it’s you.”
“As do I…” Gretchen admitted.

We pulled up on what was left of Gretchen’s RV. The roof had been completely peeled off and the entire front end was smashed, but it seemed like the lab portion was still somewhat intact… somewhat.

Gretchen got out of the car, pausing to survey the state of her lab. For a moment I thought that she almost looked upset, but if she felt anything at all she buried it quickly and pushed ahead.
“We’ll be out here,” Nina said. “Don’t take too long.”
“I’ll help you look,” I said, getting out of the car as well and following Gretchen into the ruined RV. She was already going through some of the drawers when I joined her inside.

Despite everything, the lab part of the RV was almost in good condition. Almost. Papers had been strewn all over the floor and scattered everywhere among shards of broken glass. I heard something crack under my shoe and looked down to see a framed photograph on the floor. I reached down to pick it up. The photograph depicted a group of women, around 14 of them, I think. I recognized one in the corner as Gretchen. I wondered if this was her family.

I looked up at her, to see her pausing at one particular drawer, before taking out a series of respirator masks.
“Elastomeric respirators. Good for keeping out paint, dust, and spores. Small particles that can harm the lungs. I’ve found they reduce spore exposure by over 90%. Not foolproof, but helpful.”
She counted four out of the selection she had, before putting one on and handing the rest off to me. I set the photo down to take them and put one of the masks on myself. As I did, Gretchen took a bone handled knife out of her coat.

“I do have one further precaution that I use… where would you like to be scarred?”
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked, taking a step back. Gretchen tilted her head to the side slightly, before realizing that I didn’t understand whatever the hell she was talking about.

“As a precaution, I think it would be wise to mark a rune into your flesh. It won’t necessarily protect you against the Rosen Prince, but it will guarantee you die before it takes control of you… here, let me show you…”
She slid off her coat and gingerly hung it over a chair. I could see the revolver resting in a shoulder holster she wore underneath. She rolled up the sleeve of her shirt. Above the Aquarius tattoo on her wrist, I could see several runes scarred into her arm.

“Scarification is a deep form of magic. Not for the faint of heart, but deeply effective. This one here…” She pointed at one about halfway up her forearm. “It’s a curse. Were I ever to be infected by the Rosen Prince, it would drain my life away, killing me before I could be fully claimed by it. Personally, I think it’s the merciful alternative. Assimilation into the hive mind technically does not kill you, but it is not a fate I would wish on most. Everything you were, everything you are lost within an ocean of voices so that you no longer remain because you and It are now one and the same.”

“Are you going to do that to Nina and Dom too?” I asked warily.
“I already did Nina this morning. And I’ll offer it to Dominic before we depart. I can not force you to accept this… the spell does not work unless you do it yourself. However I do recommend it.”
I stared at the knife for a moment, before grimacing and rolling up my sleeve.
“Just show me what to do…” I said.

Gretchen nodded and beckoned me over to the chair. She knelt by my side and helped me guide the knife.
“It only needs to be a shallow wound. Enough to draw blood and leave a lasting mark,” She said. As the knife pierced my arm, I winced in pain.
“Very good! Now, let me guide you…” She placed a hand over mine. “Look at my rune. We’ll copy it exactly.”

I nodded before trying to do just that, gritting my teeth in pain and trying not to scream. Gretchen guided my hand, but I held the knife and I was the one who pushed it into my skin… it wasn’t the worst pain I’d ever felt. But it came very close and I didn’t last long before I had to stop, sucking in air as if that might numb the pain as I felt tears filling my eyes.
“How the hell do you do this to yourself?” I gasped.
“The rewards are worth the pain,” Gretchen replied. “See this?” She pointed to another rune on her arm, “It’s an elemental brand. It’s how I was able to control the fire, last night. And this…” She pointed to another one, “This one allows for limited spatial manipulation. It took me three tries to get it right. Each time I had to carve away the old skin and heal it to begin anew.”

I flinched at the thought of it and she cracked a small smile that I think was meant to be reassuring.
“Oh, I assure you that’s nothing,” She said brushing past her long stringy hair and leaning forward so I could see the back of her neck, exposing a far more complicated rune.

“This here? That’s an attribution spell. It’s one of the hardest to get right, but once you’ve done it, it keeps you safe.”
“Yeah… howso?” I asked.
“If someone were to pull a gun and shoot me now, I would feel no pain. The wound would manifest on their body instead. Given the fact that he was able to obtain the heart of an Old Fae, it’s possible that Calhoun bears a similar mark. Most powerful witches do. My sisters, for example. Long ago, we each learned this rune and one by one, we carved it into the backs of our necks as a means to ensure our survival. It’s useful… although not foolproof. Stab me, and I feel no pain. Throw me on to a knife and… well… ” She shrugged. “Of course, my little spell would do nothing to protect me from this…”

She took the revolver out of her holster and showed it to me.
“There’s no magic in existence that would save you from Malvian Ice. I modified this gun to amplify it’s properties. To ensure every shot was lethal. But the bullets?” She opened the cylinder and took one out. It looked almost like a regular bullet, although the tip seemed crystalline and had a pinkish shine to it.
“They don’t need the gun to be effective. Put this in the heart of Calhoun… and there is no magic, no God, nothing in existence that could offer him salvation. This bullet… this is Death herself. Absolute, inescapable, and final.”

She reached over and gently pressed the bullet into my hand.
“You should carry it. The other three bullets may be needed elsewhere. It would be wise to save one.”
“You’re the one with the gun, why don’t you take it?” I asked.
“At heart, I am a scientist not a fighter.” Gretchen said. “I can use this weapon, but as of right now I only carry it for safekeeping. I suspect Valentine may get more use out of it than I will. She would certainly be the better shot… although given her demeanor and what lies ahead of us, I do not want to risk the possibility that she might use all four of our remaining bullets before we reached Calhoun. Therefore… I entrust you with this.”

I looked down at the bullet in my hand, before giving a half nod,
“I’ll keep it close,” I promised.
“Excellent! Now… you’re halfway done. Shall we finish the rest?”
I looked down at the bleeding rune on my arm and nodded slowly. Gretchen showed me her rune again, and I pressed the knife back into my skin.

The cut was already throbbing with pain… and maybe that was why finishing the rune was easier than starting it was.
“Excellent work,” Gretchen said. “You may have a future as a witch someday… perhaps.” She stared down at the blood on my arm thoughtfully, before tearing her attention away.

“You’re a vampire, right?” I asked. “When’s the last time you…”
“Three hours prior to yesterdays incident,” She replied, standing up again. “Strictly speaking I only need to feed once every few days, once per week at minimum. Biting you will not be necessary… although I will admit, your blood does smell…nice. I personally prefer an older male specimen, maintained in reasonable health however just because one likes merlot doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy a good rosé. But I digress. You need your strength and I have other provisions to ensure I make do.”

She walked over to the far side of the lab and opened a cabinet, rifling around in it for a few minutes before taking out what looked like a wine bottle.
“A little side project some of my sisters entertain. Hardly a full meal… but the wine masks the taste of stale blood. I was saving it for a special occasion. But, it will suffice for now.” She pulled the cork and took a drink from the bottle, before going through the cabinet again and coming back with a white first aid kid.
“Let me wrap that wound for you, at least until the bleeding stops,” She said. I gingerly held out my arm and let her work. It didn’t take long.

Outside, I could hear the car horn honking impatiently. Gretchen ignored it, gently cleaning my wound.
“There we go…” She said gently, “All set. Bring the masks outside, I’ll join you momentarily.”

I nodded and got up to leave. Looking back, I noticed her standing over the photograph I’d picked up earlier. She stared down at it, before taking the picture out of the broken frame and slipping it into her pocket before finally taking her wine bottle and following me out.

***

The tents on the far side of town were still mostly intact, although seeing them abandoned still felt a little surreal. The shimmering flowers grew along the ground, and among them I could see creeping red weeds sprawling across the ground. Those weeds had even started to grow over some of the tents.

Nina regarded them with unease, before checking to ensure her mask was on right and going in to investigate. She held her rifle at the ready the whole while.
“Fuck… how the hell do you do this to yourself?” I heard Dom seethe from behind me and looked back to see Gretchen helping him scar himself.
“In time, you learn to accept the pain,” She said. “Now breathe. We’re nearly done.”

Dom looked up at me as Gretchen guided his hand. I went over to put a hand on his shoulder and stay with him through the pain.
“There… there… now we’re done,” Gretchen crooned. “Let me wrap that for you. You did well.”
“Christ…” Dom panted, “All this over some fucking flowers?”
“Those flowers have ended Universes and brought entire civilizations to their knees,” Gretchen warned. “There is no caution you cannot take with them.”

Dom looked over toward some of the glowing flowers. I noticed Nina was giving them a wide berth.
“If they’re that dangerous, why even summon them?” He asked.
“I had four bullets, and more than four approaching targets. Even the more offensive spells at my disposal would not have offered sufficient protection. We were in a dire situation. I needed something that would serve as both a formidable distraction and that could reverse our fortunes. I made a judgment call. The Pocket Reality I opened has been claimed by the Rosen Prince for some time. I’ve done some research there before and I imagine he’s been waiting for my return ever since. I suspected that the moment I gave him a door, he would come scampering… and he did not disappoint. His infection will spread rapidly, but so long as we use the correct precautions, we should be fine. I can not say the same for Calhoun’s local militia and his Nightwalkers, on the other hand. I doubt they are equipped to deal with him.”

“No shit, they aren’t…” Dom murmured, “I gotta ask, what exactly happens if this thing reaches Calhoun before we do?”
Gretchen frowned.
“Hard to say,” She admitted as she finished bandaging Dom’s scar. “I don’t have enough data to be certain. But…”

“But?” I asked.
“Last night, McClellan said something I found… interesting. He mentioned that there were other towns ‘ripe for the picking’ out there and then said something about Calhoun getting the rest of the 5000 souls he needed. I’ve been trying to figure out what he meant by that.”
“Did you come up with anything?” Dom asked.
“Unfortunately, I did,” She admitted. “I don’t suppose Nina has told you two where your Nightwalkers come from, did she?”
“Something about another pocket. She called it The Midnight Grove,” I said. Gretchen nodded.

“Correct. Now… the entity that controls the Midnight Grove, The Lugal. It is known for making deals. Offer it souls and it can be bargained with. And with 5000 souls… well, in theory, the rewards would be great.”
“In theory?” Dom asked.
“There’s a very good reason the wise don’t deal with the Lugal. Whatever he offers you shall inevitably corrupt you, until you are little more than just another of the shambling, mindless beasts who wander his domain. Personally, I’ve found that you can get a better deal elsewhere. But that’s neither here nor there. The future state of Calhoun’s soul is really not important to us. If he completes his deal, then killing him becomes significantly harder… and I have little doubt that he has the means to complete his deal.”

“How?” I asked.
“When Mr. Durand first reached out to me about joining this operation, there was some discussion on how Ben Calhoun was able to enter and leave this pocket reality. At the time, I’d theorized that he had established a permanent means of doing so. It would not be that difficult… the correct runes on certain doors would likely suffice and would permit him to come and go as he pleased. We theorized that he had set up such doors in other towns he may have been interested in. I had hoped we may be able to find one such door. I even went so far as to look for small towns in the United States that had similarities with the ones we already knew existed in this pocket, that just so happened to have a resident there by the name of Ben Calhoun.”

“And what did you find?” I asked.
“Hundreds in the United States alone,” She said. “Enough so that exploring my theory further was not an option… however considering what McClellan said about ‘other towns ripe for the picking’ however I can not help but wonder if my theory is correct. McClellan said that Calhoun needed 5000 souls. To that end, I’ve put together a rough estimate of how many more he might need based on the estimated body count from his… actions… in the other towns.”

I felt my stomach sink a little bit.
“Between Rankin Mills, Bakersfield, and Thompson Falls, I estimate casualties of 1500, 2000, and 500 respectively for a sum of 4000 give or take. Puriysk had approximately a thousand people living in it… had we not intervened, Calhoun would have had his 5000 souls. And if I’m right about him having doorways to other towns, then I think I know how he might try and make up the deficit.”
“So he’s going to try and bring another town into the pocket…” I said quietly, before the rest of the realization hit me. “And if the Rosen Prince takes Calhoun, it could use any of those doors to get out of here!”

Gretchen nodded.
“It may not even need to take Calhoun,” She said. “All it would need to do is make it to Parsons and fine a door. Those outside would have no means of identifying where it would show up, delaying their ability to form an effective response and at minimum, resulting in further loss of life.”
“Jesus Christ…” Dom said under his breath, “You knew this and you still let that thing out?”

“As I said, I made a judgment call,” Gretchen said. “If we get to Parsons first, we can eliminate Calhoun and render all of this null and void. Kill Calhoun, and there is no pocket reality. No pocket reality means no Rosen Prince and if I am correct about those doorways…”
“That’s how we get out,” I said. Again, she nodded.

“You can be upset with me for what I did last night… I agree, it was a reckless move and not one that I made lightly. But I traded certain death for a ticking clock and an effective distraction. I stand by that decision, whatever the consequences.”
Dom just sighed and shook his head.
“Well… like Nina said, I guess. This is gonna end with somebody saying ‘I told you so’ and we better fucking hope that it’s you.”
With that, he went off to follow Nina toward the tents.

We spent the better part of an hour going through what was left from the FRB’s supplies and even some of the things we did find weren’t exactly useable. One tent which had been used as something of a mess hall was completely overgrown with those glowing flowers, leaving any food in there practically inedible. Most of what we found that we could use was guns and ammo.

“Trust me, we’re gonna need this shit,” Nina said as she opened the combination padlocks to the gun lockers. She tossed them aside and pulled the locker open, sorting through the contents before finding something and handing it to me. It had the body of a pistol, but with a stock and a sight.
“Kel-Tec CP33. Should be good for you,” She said before reaching for something else. She admired it for a moment, before setting her current rifle aside.
“Holy shit… I knew they were bringing in some heavy shit, but God Damn!”

“What is it?” Dom asked, watching as she took out something that looked like a bigger, smoother version of the rifle she already had
“It’s an AA-12… I’ve never actually gotten to fire one of these before. Should be fun! Hey Dom, you want one too? They’ve got a few in here!”
“What’s it do?” He asked.
“It’s a full auto shotgun with 20 shell drum mag. Basically - it turns anyone you don’t like into ground beef. Should be useful against the Rosen Prince…” She got down, checking a lower shelf and taking out boxes of ammo.

“Let’s see… I heard Milo mention something about Dragons Breath rounds. He thought they’d be effective against the Nightwalkers. Lemme just… oh fuck yes!”
She held up a box of shotgun shells, grinning from ear to ear.

“Thank you, Milo! Gretchen, think you can help us curse these?”
“I should be able to,” She said, going over to take the box from Nina. She sorted through a few other boxes of bullets on the lower shelf, before sliding one over to me.

“Try these out,” She said. “Lemme know if you want something different. We’ve still got a lot out here.”
I nodded before picking up the box. I set it down on a table, took the magazine out of the gun Nina had given me, and loaded it up just the way she’d shown me before. Then I went outside to give it a test run.

As I stepped out, I looked over toward the ruins of Puriysk. I could see one charred building that had once been an apartment, now overgrown with red vines and glowing flowers that made the ruins twinkle in the most surreal way. In a sense, the building almost looked infected. The vines seemed more like cancerous growths than real plant life. Looking at it, I was reminded of the state that Bakersfield had been in… and I was reminded of the corpse of my mother, her eyes half open in death. The memory made my stomach turn.

I raised the gun up toward the distant building, knowing that if I shot at it I couldn’t kill what was ahead of me, but hoping it might make me feel better. I pulled the trigger, firing into the void.

“Hello?” A distant voice called, making me pause. “Hello, is someone there?”
“Hello?” I called back, lowering the gun and trying to follow the voice.
“Hello?!”
Up ahead, I could see a man stumbling past a few of the tents. Judging by his uniform, he’d been part of the FRB.

“Oh thank God…” He said, “Thank God I thought I was the only one left!”
“So did we!” I said. I noticed that the name on his uniform read - ‘Gideon’. I looked back toward the tent that Nina and the others were in.
“Are you hurt?” I asked, “We’ve got Dr. Di Cesare with us, I think I saw some spare masks in her lab too. We can get you one!”
“Masks?” Gideon asked, “Why? What’s going on here?”
“I’ll let Dr. Di Cesare explain, come on.”

I gestured for him to follow me into the tent. As I turned to go in, I saw Nina coming out.
“I’m hearing voices out here…” She said, before noticing Gideon. Gretchen came out behind her, eyes narrowing slightly.
“We’ve got another survivor,” I said and Nina looked over at Gideon with a raised eyebrow.
“Shit, really?” She asked, although didn’t sound particularly enthusiastic about it. She glanced over at Gretchen who was on top of Gideon almost immediately.

“Fascinating, how did you survive the night?” She asked, already poking and prodding at him. From the corner of my eye, I could see Dom coming out of the tent, holding the shotgun Nina had given him.
“I… I just stayed out of the fire!” Gideon said, “I let the monsters fight each other! I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t get to the trucks before they left and then the radio went silent… what are you doing?”

Gretchen held him by the chin and leaned in to sniff at his neck.
“Did you know a vampire's sense of smell is over ten thousand times more accurate than a regular human's?” She asked, her voice as calm as ever. “It enables us to detect imperfections in the blood and avoid drinking anything that might be adverse to our health… and right now, I can smell the spores in yours.”

Gideon locked eyes with her, looking panicked for a moment before his lips slowly began to curl into a knowing rictus grin.
“You were always so astute, Gretchen…”

I saw his skull split apart suddenly, revealing rows upon rows of teeth inside. He tried to bite down on her head, but Gretchen seemed to be expecting that. I saw the ground beneath her shift, pulling her back a few feet.

Nina raised her shotgun and fired at Gideon before he could make another move. A column of sparks flashed out of her gun, setting Gideon’s body alight. He howled in pain and as he did I saw his body changing. The skin and flesh on his hands peeled back turning his fingers into claws. An inhuman screech escaped him as he lunged for Nina, only to be blown back by another flaming blast from her shotgun and sent crashing to the ground in a twitching, screaming pile of burning flesh.
Nina let out a shuddering, almost orgasmic sigh.
“I love you,” She said to the gun.

Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, a chorus of inhuman screams echoed through the air around us, seeming to come from everywhere at once.
“That doesn't sound good…” Dom said.
“Oh, it’s not. He makes that sound when he’s hungry,” Gretchen ‘assured’ us. “We should leave.”

She motioned with her hand, beckoning some of the fire off the burning remains of ‘Gideon’ and allowing them to form into a ball in her hand.
“But we’ve got supplies here!” Nina said, “We’re not getting through Parsons without them!”
“And he’s got the bodies from last night.”

Almost on cue, several shapes rounded one of the tents a few feet away. Gretchen casually let loose the ball of fire she’d taken, sending it flying toward one of the creatures racing toward us.
“Then we’ll just bring the car here, load up and leave!” Nina said. “Dom, keep them out of the tent, Cam, grab everything you can carry!”
“I have to state for the record that this is an ill advised-”
“Just shut up and help me get to the goddamn car!” Nina snapped, cutting Gretchen off before raising her gun to unleash hell upon the creatures that came for us.

I wasted no time running straight for the tent. Nina had opened a few of the lockers and had been going through the contents. She’d set aside the dragon's breath rounds, and I figured those were probably the ones she was looking to bring. She’d opened up a metal ammo box and had already been setting the shells inside. I didn’t really have the time to set them up in order the way she’d been doing, but I did have time to carelessly dump them in there like an idiot.

I could see the flashes from outside as Dom fired at some of the Rosen and judging by the sounds he made, I couldn’t tell if he was having fun, terrified for his life, or both.

I grabbed a second ammo box, hastily dumping the remaining shells in there. I didn’t count them and hoped to God that it would be enough, then I grabbed another box of the .22 ammo that my gun used, stuffed that in my pocket, and closed up the boxes. I figured it was as good enough.
“Let’s go!” I yelled to Dom, grabbing both boxes by the handles. They were heavier than they looked, but I did what I could to tough it out.

He fired a few more rounds at some of the passing Rosen, bathing them in sparks that caught their bodies alight and sent the ones near them scurrying away. From what I could see, no two were exactly the same. Some of the smaller ones, who looked as if they’d once been human either wore tattered FRB uniforms or the loose ensemble of the Sheriff’s Boys. Although most had discarded their clothes entirely, embracing the monster that now puppeteered them. Their heads opened like flowers, and some even had the same shimmering petals as the glowing flowers that dotted the ruins. Many had those same flowers blooming on their skin, only in their center were sickly yellow eyes. They loped about on all fours like wild dogs, howling and shrieking all the while, trying to escape the flames that bathed them but never quite giving up their single minded pursuit.

A few of them ran for me, although Dom dealt with those quickly, washing them in columns of fire with every pull of his trigger. Together we retreated back toward the car. In the chaos, it was hard to keep track of events. There were just so many… too many to count. I left the shooting to Dominic, my only focus was on staying out of his way and reaching the car.

I could see flames rising up into the sky a few feet away and knew that Gretchen and Nina were still fighting. We were getting closer to them. A fresh column of fire tore through one of the nearby tents, burning it away almost completely along with the Rosen who were unlucky enough to be caught in its path.

As we rounded that tent, I saw Nina hastily backing toward the SUV, unloading her last few rounds into the advancing crowd of Rosen and buying herself enough time to get inside.

Gretchen was doing the same, pulling the fire from the burning corpses and forming burning walls between her and the living. Behind the horde, I could see one twisted figure standing atop one of the tents, watching her with a single yellow eye.

“A RIPE NEW WORLD TO USHER IN TO SPRING EVERLASTING!” A voice howled through the chaos. I think it came from the thing that watched Gretchen. “How kind of you, Gretchen Di Cesare… an apology for your many insults? Or a failure. The newest of many?”

She didn’t humor the Rosen Prince with a response, or at least not a verbal one. A tendril of flames shot out of the wall she’d summoned, to engulf the thing that had spoken to her. Killing it, did nothing to stop the voice, which seemed to come from everywhere at once now.

“Shall you outrun me again, Child? Or do I at last claim you as my own?”
Gretchen just turned, and pulled open the car door, getting in as Nina keyed the engine. The wall of flames pivoted, cutting violently across the path before the car and burning anything there before quickly parting. Nina hit the gas and sped toward us, while Gretchen’s trail of fire followed.

I saw the Rosen shrink back as the car and the fire drew near. We took the opportunity while it was there. Dom pulled one of the doors open for me and I hefted the ammo boxes inside, looking back to watch him dive in behind me. We didn’t even get a chance to close the door before Nina was driving again. Gretchen rolled down the window and pulled the fires from behind us forward, launching them in front of the car to burn away the Rosen in our path. As she did, I could hear the demonic laughter of the Rosen Prince in the distance.
“RUN IF YOU MUST, DEAR CHILD! FOR I ALREADY AWAIT YOU!”

I looked out the back window to see that the Rosen had already given up chasing us. I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not. Judging by the look on Gretchen’s face, it wasn’t.
“We need to move, quickly,” She said. “Dominic, you can get us to Parsons, correct?”
“I think I should,” He said. “I’m sorry, did that thing just say it was already waiting for us, did it already get to Parsons?”

“I suppose we’ll find out shortly…” Gretchen admitted. “If so… we should still have time. The Rosen Prince shouldn’t have the biomass to launch a particularly large assault right now. He’ll need more bodies… but I still suggest we move, the clock is ticking.”

Nina pulled the car onto the road leading out of Puriysk, watching the rearview mirror anxiously as she did. The mists of the forest swallowed us up as we left Puriysk behind. All that remained now was ahead of us, at the end of the road.

So I (18m) have a cousin (19f) and she’s friends with Randy (19m) well in 2019 Randy convinced this 6ft2 18 year old named Joe that I needed to die, so Joe finds me and I came very very close to dying, Joe took off because he thought I was dead and they were all online posting about it making jokes and then they all got really pissed when they found out I survived. And last year my cousins boyfriend cheated on her so I helped her break into his apartment to get her stuff back, then move it all to a storage unit, then to her parents house and didn’t even accept gas money, and I even caught her cheating ex in a gas station and he took off before I could even get a word in so I’ve been nothing but good to my family especially that cousin. (This has no relevance, just shows my loyalty to family)
So my cousin is still hanging out with Randy which I didn’t say anything about but made it clear he can’t come to my house because last summer he was here and told a couple people he was gonna call Joe and that Joe was ready to kill me until my uncle on the other side of the family heard and lost his shit. But my cousin, my best friend, my other cousin (this cousin is dating my best friend) were all hanging out and according to my best friend Randy was bragging about his involvement with me almost dying, saying I deserve to die and admitting that he’s still gonna get me killed and my cousin said nothing and acted like it was normal, my friend couldn’t say anything because he didn’t want to cause issues with my other cousin (his girlfriend) but I’m mad now
I told my parents and they don’t seem to know what to say anymore, my dad just told me if anyone shows up trying to do anything to me he’ll handle it
I don’t know what to do or say though, I haven’t brought it up to my cousin because my best friend told me not to, but at this point I’m at a loss for words, I don’t wanna die and as of recently I’ve been sticking to myself but these guys can’t handle that they just want me dead

I was diagnosed a week ago after ending up in the ER to get a blood transfusion due to being critically anemic (hg 6.5).
Just started Lialda because I noped out of biologics due to increased risk of various cancers including lymphoma (which recently got my dad). 3 days in and not feeling any change yet. Been having horrific gut pain for a month though and it has caused me to occasionally take THC to baffle the pain a bit. Right now I am on 10mg and was trying to sleep when this interesting train of thought ran though me. In a period of more lucidity I am posting it here now in case it might tickle anyone else's mind.
I present this here now in an unedited form. Have a good laugh at it. But also maybe ponder...
Good night
2023-03-26 00:50:34
almost certain it is caused by a bacterium.

what do we know about bacteria?
they cause localized inflammation
they are typically not systemic
they can cause mouth ulcers?

what do we know about the ielum:
it's the last portion of the small intestine
after it is the ilececal valve, which connects to the colon and has the purpose of keeping bacteria from flowing freely from the small to large intestine
the valve is controlled by hormones and ???
"terminal ileitis" is the most common crohn's marker
fecal matter will necessarily build up against the ileoceal valve for a time before being released to the colon, therefore bacteria in the fecal matter would have the most time to combine forces and resources and multiply, potentially spreading to the walls of the small intestine

what do we know about the small intestine at large:
it is covered with villi
the villi produce mucous? which has one function of preventing bacterial access to the gut wall
this is because the gut thinks its main job is peristalsis, it just wants to move things along and be left along, hence evolving the defense mechanism of antibacterial mucus over a large surface area (via villi) to defeat bacteria in its contents and thus protect itself

what do we know about the large intestine:
it wants to remove water from shit soup and expects not to be torn apart by bacteria

so the causes and symptoms of crohn's could be manifold, but all ultimately caused by a bacterium
soreses caused by bacteria making it through the mucous membrane of the gut and damaging tissue in the surrounding are causes bleeding / and potentially red blood cells being spent somehow to fight bacteria? (cells at work would know)
or the cause could be due to a hormone imbalance the reduces the efficiency of the ileocecal valve, allowing fecal matter to sit there for longer than it should
this could cause bloating because the bacteria building up in the terminal ileum are breaking down the food and producing gas, which can leak in either direction depending on many circumstances
and also heartburn because fecal matter has built up all the way back through the small intestine (which is very narrow) such that, during peristalsis, the stomach's contraction does not move as much of its contents down through the duodenum as it expected
and yet the stomach is gradually shrinking as it has been told it has done its job, thus continually squeezing its acidified contents until some of it backs up into the esophagus (this would be postprandial heartburn)

point being it's the bacteria in your shit that you gotta worry about, maybe

I went in and saw a dead body then I heard the door locking behind me

First Previous Next
“The gorgeous pageant has passed — the roar of battle has ceased — the multitude has sunk in the dust — the empire is extinct."
– Thomas Cole
Catalogue Description: Diary of Princess Elita sif Panya of the Lamfu Protectorate, Log 4 - English Translation
Date: 0-Pacpuf-436 (Panyan Royal Calendar) November 20th, 2162 (Gregorian Calendar)
Held by: The UK National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Apparently, there were thousands of frozen primate embryos aboard Erebus 2.
The disease, famine, and conquest which the Senghavi had inflicted upon the Terran civilization—whether intentional or not—had been devastating. Their “United Nations” had worried that humanity might fall below a minimum viable population. In equipping Erebus 2 with frozen embryos and Senghavi habitat fabrication technology, they had hoped to restart their civilization away from the prying eyes of the Crown.
It was true that, like the carnivores, the Senghavi were a species for whom the Gods had modelled an exponentially-increasing evolution of resources and energy. But even they would have trouble spotting a single, cloaked spacecraft amid the infinitude of space. Erebus 2 was meant to deliver humanity out of the darkness by ferrying its frozen offspring into the vast black of the cosmos—hence the mission name, an ancient Terran deity which personified darkness itself.
“This ‘Wormhole Empire Theory’ is… consistent with the theories of the secularists and sapientists within our scientific community,” my father replied. “You would call us an ‘Isolate,’ and the carnivores, an ‘Empire.’ I assume you did not want to… offend our religious sensibilities, so publicly over the video feed.”
“Well, you people seem to really like ‘the order of nature.’ But the moment that a species becomes advanced enough to punch through the fabric of space-time, then seize resources and planets at an exponential rate, seems a lot more like an unstable ‘equilibrium’ than a natural, stable one. I’m not sure if it’s compatible with what you… think of your Gods.”
“Do you have an understanding of how these wormholes are created?” my father asked. “You went through one to get here. Did you create it with stolen technology, or did you use one that had already been made?”
“The latter, Your Majesty. We believe a species becomes an Empire when it is able to use quantum entanglement and negative energy to puncture vast distances of space with wormholes. That sort of thing is… far beyond the capabilities of mankind, even before we were colonised.
“The physical details behind it aren’t really my area of study. I can tell you it involves fields of negative energy density, and I think they somehow use threads of quantum information stretched between quarks and antiquarks. There’s something in there about an electric field and a fourth dimension… You’ll have to ask Doctor Kuznetsov when we all meet up at the Red Citadel. He’s one of the most brilliant physicists our species has to offer.”
The semi-arid plains seemed to flow like a river as our police-escorted motorcade sped along the expressway. Electric aircraft crawled lazily through the opaque atmosphere, while colossal harvesters extracted aluminium and gallium-rich minerals near the Denfalli surface. Apparently, relative to Denfall, Earth had a less-dense planetary crust and a more heterogeneous distribution of metals. In order to access their own resources, the native Terrans had needed to resort to bombs and drills, forcing deep pits and shafts into their planet.
That was, if one believed that they had once had a complex society at all, as I did.
“Half of our thirty-one year journey was spent verifying the existence of, and searching for, a wormhole we theorised was orbiting Neptune—the eighth planet from our sun. We’d detected its gravitational effects and its distortion of light, and we thought that an error in the Senghavi’s cloaking technology must have exposed the structure’s throat. We had no idea where it led, but… we went through anyway. Thought had to be life on the other side. Maybe someone that could help us.”
The realisation hit me like a sudden noise, making me jump in my seat, and my heart flared in my chest. “You found a real-life wormhole in your solar system, and you went through without any idea of what was on the other side? That must have been terrifying! You could have ended up… in another galaxy, or at the edge of the universe, or something!”
Through his visor, I could see Doctor Moore’s face become sorrowful. Doctor Usman had the best grasp of Circpi, being the crew’s linguistic expert, but the other primates’ clumsier, more thickly-accented hold on our language was more interesting to listen to.
“That was not the hardest part,” said the dark-skinned biologist. “We were desperate. What made us more afraid... it was the situation of our species; the extinction of our culture and our sovereignty. And the distance away from our families... of my daughter. I want her to live in a better world, but it's not... easy, to be so far from my daughter, on a planet thousands of light-years away from Earth. It's not easy, being far away in space, when my daughter lives without her father for thirty-one years.
“When... We hear your conversations for the first time... Your communication that you have by neutrinos ... It was a sensation, an emotion, like no other. Finally, we had found extraterrestrial life! If I have to, I would travel a hundred times, again, through mysterious tunnels in space, just for this discovery. You are the greatest scientific discovery in the entire history of mankind.”
“Thirty-one years!” I exclaimed. “How long is your lifespan in the first place?”
“Most humans live to about seventy-two years on average,” Doctor Usman replied, suddenly seeming just as sullen as Doctor Moore. “Most of us left Earth in our early thirties. We’re over sixty now. Before our comms system failed, I kept in touch with the love of my life. Watched him age, as I did. My last message from him… I hold it close to my heart.”
The sheer isolation and loneliness of the Erebus 2 mission was difficult to wrap my mind around. Doctor Moore’s small, binocular eyes were moist and red. It seemed that crying was an emotional response in the primates, just like us!
I huddled next to Doctor Moore, putting my plastic-bound paw on his glove. I didn’t know what else I should do to comfort an extraterrestrial, so I resorted to physical affection, as is the habit of us Lamfu. To my surprise, the primate rubbed me behind the ears. Despite the barrier of polypropylene against synthetic fibres, his firm touch sent a tingly sensation down my skull and spine, and I leaned into it.
Through natural selection, us Lamfu evolved tall, sensitive ears to detect predators lurking in the wilderness, so that we might be more likely to survive and pass on our genes. Thus, we had a lot of nerve endings in those regions. Perhaps human fingers could stimulate them in a way our paws could not? It was all the more reason to sway our desperate extraterrestrial friends away from the far more impressive Imperium!
“We’d never be able to take on such a task,” the King said solemnly. “I can’t imagine many would. The carnivores and mantids must not be entirely right about you. We thought that, due to being palaeolithic hunter-gatherers, your species would have been barbaric and violent. But your lack of technology and connection with your primal nature has clearly made you more humble and honourable than us supposedly ‘civilised’ folk! You are, in a sense, noble savages!”
I knew he meant it as a complement, but it only seemed to anger Doctor Usman.
“We’re not… nevermind!” she snapped, blinking tears from her eyes. “We’ll talk about that part later. Now, the Senghavi have been mentioning this ‘Imperium of Orion’ since their boots first touched Terran soil. We theorised that this civilisation was another instance of an Empire—one potentially competing with the Senghavi. They take tribute from your planet, an Isolate, without sharing any of their science or technology with you.
“When we heard about the Prey-for-Protection system, we thought it was cruel… but your species doesn’t seem to have a problem with it, and we figured we couldn’t assume that human morality applied to extraterrestrials. Do you think the carnivores could help us?”
My father froze. Even our driver looked uncomfortable.
“N-No, no. It’s best to avoid them. Well—they help us, yes. They are vessels of the Gods. But… Well, you do not fit nicely into the faith of Krucuv Mishan. You violate the order of nature merely by attempting to resist being civilised by the Senghavi. Orion is no more likely to aid you than Parimth.”
I almost wanted to say “you are much safer with us,” but I stopped myself. If the primates caught onto our selfishness, they might forsake us. We all feared they would, in the unlikely but nerve-wracking event that, come the day of tribute, the Imperium would want these newcomers to join their interstellar empire.
“The way that Empires brainwash Isolates,” Doctor Usman sighed, shaking her head. “It’s disgusting. You’re probably half-right, Your Majesty. I bet the Imperium wouldn’t want anything to do with a puny Isolate like humankind—and we are under the control of their rival, anyway. But you’re wrong if you think resisting an imperialist is against the ‘order of nature.’ You’re letting your own inferiority complex cloud your view of us. Don’t tell anyone I said this…. but the Imperium of Orion and the Parimthian Empire can go fuck themselves.”
Such vulgarity in the presence of the King! But I could feel the tension in the air relax. We’d swayed at least part of the crew of Erebus 2, at least for now.
Still, the other five primates were still aboard their spacecraft, zipping around in Denfall’s orbit at [27,000 kilometres per hour]. How we were to prevent them from falling into the fold of our carnivorous protectors, it was far less certain.
At last, we neared our destination. The Red Citadel is where my father crafts his royal decrees, consults with his justices and knights to enforce them, and holds royal courts to settle the disputes and pleas of nobles.
The lords of Parliament meet in Denfall Castle, which isn't far from the Red Citadel. Though they are vassals of the King, they've carefully manoeuvred over the years to force this “King’s Code” on my family. Nowadays, my father needs their consent to levy extraordinary taxes, and they can compel him to redress the grievances of other nobles.
The Red Citadel loomed in the distance as we approached in our luxury groundcar. Doctor Moore gave my paw a gentle squeeze in the glove of his environment suit. Through his visor, I could see his mouth falling open at the sight of the mighty Citadel. As of the time that I am writing this, I cannot think of a more memorable structure. It is protected on all sides with mighty walls of clay-red sandstone, ivy creeping along their sides, battlements lining their tops. And today, behind those battlements, snipers were posted to ensure the safety of our new diplomats.
Natural selection and evolution had pushed us herbivore Lamfu to run and hop away in fright from predatory threats, so that we might be more likely to survive and pass on our genes. That trait has forced us to become excellent at the art of the defensive fortification, from which we can snipe our enemies from afar! A rebellious noble attempting to lay siege to the Red Citadel wouldn't last a day.
Peeking above the walls are the spires and buttresses of the royal manor. Overlooking the manor is the abbey, its pinnacles reaching much further beyond the crenellated walls and towers. The abbey is decorated with stained glass windows and minarets, which overlook the glittering lakes and fruit orchards.
Like the surrounding walls, the abbey, manor, and other buildings are also built of red sandstone. In contrast, Denfall Castle, where the lords of Parliament invariably congress with one another, is beige like its namesake: this planet of ours itself, arid or semi-arid all over. Smaller than the Red Citadel, Denfall Castle is more of a singular fortification than a protected complex.
My tail and ears lifted with gentle happiness as I thought of the old Abbot Eli. He administers the affairs of the abbey—a monastery centred on the faith of Krucuv Mishan. One of the fondest memories from my childhood was Abbot Eli showing me the huge tapestry of Fenya the Brave, which hung in the great south hall of the abbey.
The legendary Lamfu woven into the tapestry was depicted with a sniper rifle slung over her shoulder, unfurling a scroll in her hands in order to reveal divine scripture. Before her was a horde of ignorant canids, serpents, and vulpines, not realising that a meagre herbivore was going to enlighten them as to the order of nature.
I could still feel Abbot Eli’s comforting paw on my shoulder as he described the legend, his aged voice echoing in my mind. In the face of certain death, Fenya the Brave wasn’t fearless—but in her passion to solve our overpopulation and the suffering it entailed, she had stood up against her fear.
The great iron portcullis of the Red Citadel was raised to permit entry of our luxury motorcade. My father was already talking excitedly about grand feasts and festivities. As my family and I disembarked, we escorted four Terrans through the courtyard: Doctor Usman, Doctor Moore, Doctor Kuznetsov, and Miss Malone.
“We’ve got plenty of plants and meats for you to enjoy!” my father declared. Sprinklers washed over the manicured grass, a subtle reminder of our semi-arid homeworld’s limited vegetation and water supply. “You are an omnivorous species, correct?”
For a moment, it didn’t look like anyone was going to reply, as every Terran was struggling to process my father’s offer. Finally, Doctor Moore broke the silence.
“That is correct. We can eat many things, but… I'm going to have to examine some food you bring to determine what we can eat.”
“You sure, Moore?” Doctor Usman asked, raising an eyebrow. It must have been a courtesy to us that she spoke in Circpi to her fellow Terran. “Shouldn’t we wait a lot longer? I mean, this is the first truly alien ecosystem known to mankind. We’ve only been here a day.”
“We were in orbit for many months. I am done having fear. And they are not kind towards us? I am confident with the science and examination I can do to determine what we can eat. At a minimum, one person has to… examine what happens when they eat the food, correct?”
I was certain Brother Mopsi—the old, plump chef of the Cavern Hallow below the great red abbey—had outdone himself. During the moon-periods since we’d learned it was likely that the primates could ingest our food, he and his Kitchen fellows had toiled relentlessly. In preparation for the feast my father had wanted, they had undoubtedly prepared enough wines, seafood, and pastries to feed the entire Red Citadel for [~1 week].
“Forgive me,” Princess Ilyafi chimed in as we approached the abbey’s sculpted bronze doors. “You all seem… dazed? Or is it just the grandeur of the Red Citadel? Are you in shock?”
“Yes, I think,” Miss Malone said, rubbing her comparatively dainty shoulders. (Apparently, she was a skilled pilot and aerospace engineer). “All this is very… fast.”
“You are omnivores, so I’m guessing you evolved as both prey and predator. We evolved as just prey, and we’re quite familiar with the cardiovascular effects of fright and anxiety. Sustained stress can lead to hypovolemic shock and heart failure. Are you sure you are okay?”
“We are very, of course okay,” Doctor Kuznetsov assured us. The pale-faced physicist chuckled faintly, brushing a bit of dust from his visor. “Us humans are stronger than that. But Erebus 2 went through space for thirty-one years. Half of that was a voyage to the entrance of a wormhole near the edge of our solar system. We searched for the life that the Senghavi do not reveal to us. I had a… mate, and a… litter of children. I leave and they are alone, without me.
“And then… we heard patterns in the neutrino detectors. Something that must be man-made. Alien-made. After, the months in orbit go fast. And now we are here. We did not yet remove our suits. Yet, we are walking into a big castle, and you already offer this big feast. It is just like a dream. I almost think I simply hallucinate in Erebus 2, in some far place in the Milky Way, light-years far from any alien life.”
Another pang of sympathy sank into my heart. To witness the fall of their species, and then to be separated from their kits and their mates by thousands of light-years, must have pained the primates beyond my imagination.
Right as we reached the abbey’s entrance, a distant rush of air and the tapering purr of anti-grav generators resonated through the atmosphere.
My heart dropped with the weight of an anvil. Us Lamfu rose to crouch on our hind legs with upright posture, our ears high in the air for alertness, while the Terrans just looked blankly at the sky. A dark and massive shape swept down through Denfall’s opaque cloud cover.
The Imperium of Orion is here.
As we watched dumbly from the courtyard, their ship dropped [100 kilometres] in a mere [60 seconds]. In contrast, the landing shuttle of Erebus 2 had taken [~25 minutes] to go from the boundary of the atmosphere all the way to its landing strip.
We soon could not see the ship beyond the battlements of the Red Citadel, but my father ordered the portcullis open in order to let our carnivorous protectors in. Doctor Moore’s eyebrows were pressed together, the Terran’s lipped mouth having gone somewhat limp.
The fright which this arrival inflicted upon me nearly put me into hypovolemic shock. I say such a thing for two reasons.
For one thing, it was unprecedented that the carnivores entered Denfall directly like this. They only took such an action on very special occasions. Usually, we sent the tribute to them by flying the victims of Prey-for-Protection out to their space stations ourselves.
And for the other, even when they did enter Denfall, I’d never actually seen one in person. Well, except for my glimpse of the Kursef diplomat, that frightful night as a child.
Yet here I was, watching a delegation of two more extraterrestrial species and one Denfalli species march into the courtyard. They had disregarded personal protection gear entirely. With such great exposure to the universe and such advanced technology, they were confident enough not to care about alien diseases.
Beyond the opened portcullis, the ship perched upon the sands outside the Red Citadel was a fortress of black stone, fringed with defensive bastions, its gun turrets peering through battlements. A dark bird of prey, into whose predatory talons I would soon be swept into.
“Jesus Christ,” Doctor Moore murmured, so quiet as to verge on inaudible. He absently dropped his bag of scientific instruments, seeming completely awestruck. “Usman, what are we looking at?”
“Empire,” Doctor Usman replied, her voice glassy.
“And three more confirmed extraterrestrial species,” Doctor Kuznetsov added. “And… our crew!”
Among the delegation of soldiers and dignitaries were two species I had previously not seen more than once: the serpentine Kursef and five more primate Terrans. There were also two species I’d never seen in person at all: the hulking, canid Warcs and the delicate, vulpine Pondwir.
“Hawthorne!” Doctor Usman yelled, her voice carrying across the courtyard. “What… What is this?”
One of the five primates within the delegation broke away from them, jogging towards our primates. He cut a curious figure in the grass, a slender biped in a moss-green EVA suit. He, too, was crying behind his visor. His eyes were red with tears. My gut felt a madness in those eyes.
The UN logo that was supposed to be on his shoulder looked like it had been painted over with the fang-on-star insignia of the Imperium of Orion.
“It is the culmination of these thirty-one years,” Hawthorne said to Doctor Usman, his voice breaking with emotion. He, too, spoke Circpi instead of English, but it was likely out of pressure from the carnivores, and not as a courtesy to us. “God has given it to us. We have braved the trials of space, and He has rewarded us. There really is another Empire, and it has taken our side!”
“What?” Doctor Usman asked. She glanced at my father, who shuffled uneasily. “What you’ve encountered is incredible, Hawthorne. What are these species?”
Hawthorne gestured at the delegation of soldier-protected dignitaries. “The Warcs are intelligent canid-like mammals. They evolved on this planet, adapting to hunt these Lamfu as their staple food source. It was by coevolution of predator and prey adaptations that both Warcs and Lamfu developed sapient intelligence.
“Then, there are the Kursef. They are serpent-like reptiles who swallow their prey whole—just like Earth snakes. It’s a remarkable example of convergent evolution! They are the ones who founded this Imperium.”
Imperium. The word seemed to stab Doctor Usman in the stomach. She looked at my father again, her eyes as hard as rock.
“I thought… you said they wouldn’t aid us?” she asked.
But my father, the King of us Lamfu, was silent in his shame.
“Then, the Pondwir,” Doctor Hawthorne went on. I assumed he should bear the title Doctor; the humans considered such a word to be a title, and he seemed to know as much about biology as Doctor Moore. “They are vulpine-like mammals who were nearly hunted to extinction by the colonisers. By the Senghavi. Their hides were coveted for the softness of their fur.”
“Hunting sapient beings?” Doctor Usman huffed. ”The Senghavi just keep getting better and better.”
As the rest of the delegation caught up, my ears perked up with that sort of stress and anxiety which is amplified through millions of years of coevolution at the near-bottom of the food web.
I did not mind the Pondwir, and might in fact have felt fascinated by them. They were far shorter and daintier than primates, despite their ecological role as carnivores.
The limbless, emotionless Kursef gave me chills, though that fright was more likely rooted in my childhood sighting of a Kursef than anything else. Indeed, they were animals who fed on prey, but they were too different from mammalian life to have imbued an innate fear within me. That my fear of them was somewhat of a learned, paranormal one, rather than a rational one, was comforting, in a way.
But the Warcs… Just as my anxiety was one swollen through millions of years’ worth of drawing adaptations from random mutations in a nightmarish evolutionary arms race, so, too, were their hunting adaptations. In muscle and body mass, the canid Warcs surpassed the primates threefold. The fright they caused me was neither learned nor fantastical. It was primal, an unshakeable decree by the state of nature; a feeling as natural as hunger, thirst, mating, or self-preservation.
The Warcs and us Lamfu are what we are because of each other.
The blind watchmaker selected for us our sensitive ears and wide eyesight to detect the Warcs. The Warcs evolved razor-sharp smell and keen vision to track us down. We passed on genes for powerful, digitigrade hind legs to flee them. They evolved an athletic, durable body to pursue us. Those of us with camouflage to hide for our lives were then the ones to survive and reproduce. Yet the Warcs, too, evolved camouflage to hunt so they would not starve. We rose above our animalism into a sense of reason in order to better protect ourselves. They evolved their own sense of reason, so that they might create tools to hunt and live.
In that sense, we and the Warcs owe our lives to one another. It is basic primary-school knowledge that both species attempted coexistence for millennia. Both sides did their best, truly. And both sides screwed up. The Red Citadel is built in the very metropolis that once shone as the crowning jewel of coexistence, partnership, and peace between predator and prey.
Yet, in the end, we proved we were all merely animals. The Warcs’ exodus from Denfall, into the dark infinity of space, is among the most significant and complex chapters in Denfalli history.
Perhaps the primates were lucky, in that they did not share a homeworld with the Senghavi. Their civilization had suffered a fatal devastation, indeed, but they had the privilege of a black-and-white world.
After all, I could only imagine the confused moral state in which the humans would find themselves, had they suddenly needed to grapple with the idea that the Senghavi had originated from Earth.
I huddled closer to Doctor Moore, instinctively reaching to grab his tail for support—only to remember the primates had lost their tails millions of years ago. In an action I construed as protectiveness, he positioned himself in front of me.
“A single Pondwir hide was worth the equivalent of trillions of euros,” Doctor Hawthorne said solemnly. “When the Pondwir tried to resist their slaughter at the hands of the colonisers, their homeworld was glassed by the Parimthian Crown. But the Kursef and Warcs lifted them from the ashes. Together, they are the Imperium of Orion—and we can join, too!”
Doctor Usman looked uneasily at the towering Warc ambassador, shaking in her environment suit. She lifted a hand to gesture to the opaque sky. “S-slow down! If you’re all here, then who the hell is operating Erebus 2?”
“Erebus 2 is meaningless now. Don’t you see? We are talking about a civilisation that produces [400 trillion terawatt-hours] of energy in one hour. Their ships number in the hundreds of thousands, just like the Senghavi. Their reach spans thousands of light-years. We’re saved, Usman. All of us.”
Flanked by soldiers, the colossal Warc ambassador took a menacing step forward. My father might have perished of heart failure right then and there. The Warc’s dark fur accentuated his gleaming yellow eyes. “My Princess is as beautiful as always, Your… Majesty. Indeed, her devourment will so glorify the order of nature, she alone will earn Paradise for thousands of your people!”
“My” Princess? As always? I shouldn’t have been surprised that the Warcs knew so much more about us than we knew about them, but the focus on me by a creature I’d never seen made me squirm in my personal protection suit.
“Yes, yes; it seems as such,” the Kursef diplomat hissed, its side-facing eyes like orbs of cold-blooded glass. “What a glorious day it has been! We are not only treated to royal flesh and bone, but we have finally seen a proper introduction to these fascinating primates.”
My father struggled to find his voice. “Y-You were not… Supposed to arrive, until… W-Why are you here so soon?”
“The human tribes of Earth may be snivelling, pagan things so far,” the Warc announced heartily, “but the Senghavi missed out on something big. Something big indeed! This species is full of fire, Your Majesty. We didn’t realise how brightly they burned with potential.”
At this point, all members of the Royal Security Service had scampered away. In my tense nerves, I had forgotten that they were even here. My siblings remained, however, and Ilyafi spoke up. She had always been the bravest of us.
“We will remember my sister as more than a sacrifice,” she said defiantly. “We will celebrate her devourment as the holy will of Nisma and Unatl, but we will celebrate her life and her memory in kind.”
“Hawthorne,” Doctor Usman said steadily. “These creatures constitute an Empire. They don’t care for Isolates. We are Astronaut-Ambassadors who represent the UN. They practise expansionism, conquest, and murder on a galactic scale. The values of the Charter of the United Nations are incompatible with such a civilisation.”
Doctor Hawthorne’s gaze hardened. “We travelled for thirty-one years for the salvation of all mankind. I watched my children grow up from light-years away—and for what, if not this? This is a gift from God, Usman. The Senghavi were merely His wrath upon a godless, decadent humanity. This is His forgiveness. This is His Grace.”
“If you want to bring faith into this, Hawthorne… Doctor Moore considers himself ‘saved,’ just like you. But he will back me.”
The remaining crew members of Erebus 2 stood securely among the delegation of carnivores. As Doctor Usman and Doctor Hawthorne stared each other down, I found myself hugging the leg of Doctor Moore’s environment suit.
Now, I truly understood my species’ galacto-political selfishness. Doctor Moore wouldn’t leave me for the Imperium… Would he?
“And what of the embryos, Hawthorne? We can’t take any risks, and we know next to nothing about extraterrestrial society and psychology. I am the commander of Erebus 2, and I won’t allow their seizure at the hands of these… these imperialists!”
“We cannot make a… rash choice,” Doctor Moore added, his emotions only highlighting his poor proficiency in Circpi. “Seeing the… way, the character of the Imperium is easy, just through seeing their actions and their manners. We cannot… insult their evils, if we do those evils to… other Isolates. And Usman is right. We are still the UN.”
“Half, then,” Doctor Hawthorne breathed. “You might still fancy yourselves as UN employees, but we don’t. The number of embryos is intentionally redundant. You take 10,000. We’ll take the other half. Just—please—don’t try to stop us.”
Then, to everyone’s shock, Doctor Hawthorne drew steady, confident hands towards the neckline of his helmet. He manipulated its various clips and devices with those dexterous primate fingers the humans had. His grey-irised eyes were closed as he undid the final latches, and the helmet jerked upward slightly, jets of oxygen puffing out from the neckline.
At that moment, those grey-irised eyes snapped open, their gaze suddenly bleeding with fear. His legs and gloved fingers were trembling, devoid of the bravery that seemed to have once been coursing through his veins just seconds ago. He looked uneasily at his crewmates while lifting the helmet, its various lights and indicators blinking out as the wires were disconnected from the suit.
He took a deep, sighing breath, letting our planet’s warm, dry air pour into his respiratory system. His eyes never left his crewmates, who still seemed on-edge, despite the ease with which he breathed.
“Okay, Hawthorne,” Doctor Usman replied softly. “Half. Let’s start there. And let’s talk about this in the abbey.”
“If it is your wish to bless the unblessed sands of this simpering pit that is Denfall with 10,000 more of you,” the Kursef ambassador purred, “that is your call. But as our vulpine companions can attest, the galaxy is an undulating, unruly tide. It can be hard to predict the steady future into which the Gods have offered for you to settle.
“Your rightful place, humanity, is at the top. But don’t consider it a fate unto which you will tend regardless of where you start. Only our Imperium can provide you with the proper conditions such that you can endure your hardship with faith in your deliverance. Such is the order of nature.”
“Krucuv Mishan,” Doctor Kuznetsov murmured. As he was a physicist, I wasn’t surprised he could recognize the maths-infused patterns of our religious faith within the Kursef’s spiel. “You used it to have dominance over the Lamfu. Now, you want to have dominance over us, too.”
“Don’t shirk this opportunity, primates,” the Pondwir ambassador said softly. “My people understand your quiet rage.”
Everyone looked at the Pondwir, even my family and I. He seemed full of sympathy. Only a little taller than us, it was the first time the short little creature had spoken since the delegation entered the courtyard of the Red Citadel.
The Warc diplomat froze me in his gaze. Hunger—both as the physiological adaptation of an apex predator, and as the lust for dominance over others that exists in all sapient beings—burned with the heat of molten gold in his yellow eyes. “We have someone to take before you go through those doors… Doctor Moore. The beauteous and maidenly Princess Elita is mine, not yours!”
Defiant, my primate companion stood between the Warc and I, while my father whimpered.
“Look towards this, Hawthorne,” Doctor Moore cried. “We are part of the UN. We promote rights of humans. This is not rights of humans! This is not life or liberty, or the idea that God creates all equal! This is a second-class citizen and murder that the law allows!”
“‘Equality,’ ‘liberty,’ ‘sapient rights,’ and ‘sapientism’ are mere colonialist ideals imposed upon your species by the decadent Senghavi colonists,” the Kursef ambassador hissed. “You already know they manipulated and perverted your history. Don’t bend your knee to your oppressors.”
The manicured grass left my polyethylene boots as Doctor Moore lifted me from the ground, backing away from the massive Warc. The Warc snarled, hackles raising.
A hairless mammal with hardly any natural weapons at all was stealing the prey—me—of a carnivore that had evolved specifically to kill and feast upon organisms like us. The tears in my eyes blurred my surroundings.
Doctor Moore didn’t stand a chance—and given the chilling words of these diplomats from the Imperium of Orion, neither, I thought, did Doctor Usman’s side of Erebus 2.

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Treasure Nr. & Year	Rare & Retro Sets	Hero	Price	Stock
Diretide 1. 2022	Dark Behemoth	Primal Beast	50💲	7
Diretide 2. 2022	Sublime Equilibrium	Void Spirit	45💲	1
Diretide 1. 2022	Blue Horizons	Marci	20💲	15
Diretide 2. 2022	Brands of the Reaper	AntiMage	35💲	2
Aghanim's. 2021	Wrath of the Celestial Sentinel	Chaos Knight	50💲	1
Aghanim's. 2021	Pyrexae Polymorph Perfected	Ogre Magi	45💲	1
Cache 1. 2019	Gothic Whisper	Phantom Assassin	125💲	1
Cache 2. 2019	Cinder Sensei	Ember Spirit	185💲	4
Cache 1. 2019	Defender of Ruin	Disruptor	35💲	3
Cache 2. 2019	Fowl Omen	Necrophos	20💲	5
Cache 2. 2018	Cruelties of the Spiral Bore	Magnus	60💲	2
Cache 2. 2018	The Rat King	Chen	10💲	2
Collection 2022	Charms of the Firefiend	Batrider	5💲	1

Diretide Cache 2. 2022	Hero	Price	Stock
Darkbrews Transgression	Alchemist	10💲	2
The Wilding Tiger	Brewmaster	10💲	1
Withering Pain	Clinkz	10💲	2
Dawn of Darkness Foretold	Doom	10💲	3
Sacred Chamber Guardian	Huskar	10💲	2
Bird of Prey	Legion Commander	10💲	2
Feasts of Forever	Night Stalker	10💲	2
Freebot Fortunes	Ogre Magi	10💲	2
Transcendent Path	Oracle	10💲	1
Darkfeather Factioneer	Phantom Assassin	10💲	2
Cursed Cryptbreaker	Pudge	25💲	1
Grand Suppressor	Silencer	10💲	3
War Rig Eradicators	Techie	15💲	1
Acrimonies of Obsession	Vengeful Spirit	10💲	3

Diretide Cache 1. 2022	Hero	Price	Stock	Reserved
Hounds of Obsession	Chen	10💲	14
Seadog's stash	Clockwerk	10💲	12
Starlorn Adjudicator	Dawnbreaker	10💲	13	1
Chines of the Inquisitor	Faceless Void	10💲	13
Shadowleaf Insurgent	Hoodwink	10💲	12	1
Champion of the Fire Lotus	Monkey King	10💲	13
Crimson Dawn	Phoenix	10💲	14
Scarlet Subversion	Riki	10💲	13
Whippersnapper	Snapfire	10💲	13	1
Spoils of the shadow veil	Spectre	10💲	13
Forgotten Station	Terrorblade	10💲	12
Dirge Amplifier	Undying	10💲	13
Trophies of the Hallowed Hunt	Ursa	10💲	14
Deathstitch Shaman	Witch Doctor	10💲	13

Aghanim's Cache 2021	Hero	Price	Stock	Reserved
Blightfall	Abaddon	15💲	3
Cosmic Concoctioneers	Alchemist	20💲	1
Secrets of the Frost Singularity	Ancient Apparition	15💲	2
Days of the Demon	Axe	15💲	1
Widow of the Undermount Gloom	Broodmother	10💲	2
Perils of the Red Banks	Chen	15💲	4
Apex Automated	Clockwerk	35💲	1
Perception of the First Light	Dawnbreaker	25💲	3	1
Silverwurm Sacrifice	Dragon Knight	20💲	2
The Chained Scribe	Grimstroke	10💲	2
Forgotten Fate	Mars	15💲	2
Scales of the Shadow Walker	Phantom Lancer	10💲	3
Test of the Basilisk Lord	Razor	15💲	1
March of the Crackerjack Mage	Rubick	15💲	1

Cache 2. 2019	Hero	Price	Stock
Endless Night	Abbadon	15💲	1
Prized Acquisitions	Batrider	10💲	2
Fury of the Bloodforge	BloodSeeker	10💲	4
Automaton Antiquity	BroodMother	15💲	3
Directive of the Sunbound	Clockwerk	15💲	2
Sight of the Kha-Ren Faithful	Drow Ranger	20💲	3
Souls Tyrant	Shadow Fiend	25💲	4
Distinguished Expeditionary	Tusk	15💲	1
Verdant Predator	Venomancer	15💲	2
Tribal Pathways⠀	Warlock	15💲	4

Cache 1. 2019	Hero	Price	Stock	Reserved
Echoes of the Everblack	Abaddon	15💲	2
Priest of the Proudsilver Clan	Chen	15💲	2
Allure of the Fadeshade Flower	Dark Willow	25💲	2
Forbidden Medicines	Dazzle	15💲	2
Soul of the Brightshroud	Death Prophet	25💲	1
Scorched Amber	Dragon Knight	25💲	1
Glimmer of Sacred Hunt	Drow Ranger	85💲	1
Adornments of the Jade Emissary	Earth Spirit	9💲	Unbundled	1
The Arts of Mortal Deception	Enigma	15💲	2
Pursuit of the Ember Demons	Huskar	25💲	2
Riddle of the Hierophant	Oracle	10💲	1
Appetites of the Lizard King	Slark	25💲	1
Poacher's Bane	Tidehunter	25💲	2
Curse of the Creeping Vine	Undying	15💲	3

Genuine Weather balls can be traded for items without delay

Genuine Weather	Price	Stock
Ash	8💲	1
Snow	5💲	2
Rain	5💲	2
Moonbeam	5💲	0
Harvest	3💲	7
Spring	3💲	2
Pestilence	3💲	3
Aurora	3💲	22
Sirocco	3💲	2

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I have had my license for over a decade now. It took me a few times to pass my licensing exam. That in itself made me feel embarrassed to drive as everybody else I know passes their drive test pretty quickly. I drove fine for a few years, zero issues, but suddenly started getting anxiety for no reason. One day I drove and reversed and slightly bumped into somebody’s car. No damage but it was so embarrassing that I didn’t drive ever again for nearly 5 years afterwards. I slowly started driving again during the pandemic-went from being too scared to drive on local roads to being able to drive even in NYC traffic. I finally got my own car and drove 6 hours all alone from the car dealer. I felt like my confidence was all coming back, but then one day I stopped at a gas station and drove straight and scraped my car against a bollard that was kind of sticking out. Even my dad who was with me was shocked that happened because he didn’t see the bollard either it damaged my brand new car to an extent. I’m in the process of getting it fixed but I can’t stop crying every time I think about it. I haven’t driven since that incident and don’t want to give up but it’s sucks that driving is so hard for me when it’s second nature to everybody else. Just looking for support.

Trigger warning: Rainbow bridge.
Okay Reddit, buckle up. This one comes to you from beyond the rainbow bridge. I am Scamp. I would be 14 now, crossed the bridge last May. Grandma is already been here for a couple of years. We do play a lot! She still feeds me by hand, gives me lots of pets. But she still keeps calling me cloaca for ratting her out to mom when I was three.
The Incident:
Mom was out of home to pick up big sis from school. Me, I'm on guard duty as always. This guy shows up. He brings large red things that go in the kitchen. [Grandma: He means a cylinder of cooking gas. We don't have piped gas here and we hook up a cylinder to a stove.] I issue a standard warning bark and growl. He gets out his phone and calls Grandma cause she lives one street away and has the key. Grandma comes.
She tries to hold me. I don't pull because she is old. But, eye contact with guy and warning growl. He respects my turf and refuses to come in. So Grandma takes me inside and ties me to bedroom door. She gets out red thingy from kitchen and places at door. The guy takes it and leaves another one. Hey, he's welcome to deliver stuff but he cant take mom's stuff. [Grandma: That's the way it works. you have to return the empty cylinder to get a full one.]
Mom comes back 10 mins later. I complain to mom. I go into kitchen and bark at place the red object was it. The place is empty. I bark at new red thingy. Then I bark at grandma. She's the one giving away moms stuff. Mom laughs and gives me a kiss. Grandma calls me cloaca. She still calls me cloaca each time I ask her for food. She feeds me and calls me cloaca for ratting her out.
So Reddit: I ask you -- Am I the Cloaca for being good guard dog for mom?
ETA: Scamp's dad posting this. I can still imagine the two of them going at it out there. I miss them both, and this was a bit cathartic.

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