For the VA: You are playing the role of "Rem", a living dream that exists within the listeners mind. You've been fine with your circumstances until you've been noticing signs that you and your dreamer might be separated forever.
Unsure of what's going to happen to yourself, you've been doing your best to just try and accept your fate, and cherish your remaining time with your dreamer.
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All sound effects are encouraged, but still optional.
Feel free to change the dialogue to your liking, or even completely improvise. Whatever you need to make the lines feel more natural. What matters is keeping the general story the same.
You may absolutely monetize this, but if you should place this product behind a paywall, I would appreciate a copy of the performance.
Feel free to ask any questions or bring up any concerns, should they come up.
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Context: While resting in bed, you feel a blissful pull on your mind into the darkness of sleep. To your surprise, you hear a voice calling out as clear as day, and you feel compelled to respond.
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​
Rem: (Softly) "Baby? Are you here?" (Relieved on finding the listener) There you are! It was pretty hard to see you this time."
[Listener: "Who are you? Where am I?"]
Rem: (Light chuckle) "You're dreaming again. Don't worry though. It normally takes you a little while to get your memory back. It's kind of my favorite part of the dream. I like seeing you react to things for the first time all over again.
Oh! But do I look familiar? Even if you don't remember me, I should look familiar at least.
(Smug chuckle while she gives the dreamer a moment) No? Don't worry. I can see your eyes light up when you look at me, even if you don't think you remember."
[Listener: "Why is it so dark then?"]
Rem: "Its always been this dark in the beginning. You always meet me here at the first stage of REM sleep. Actually, that's why we thought "Rem" would be a good name for me!
... (Bashful) I'm glad I'm the first thing you think of when you fall asleep."
[As if cutting off the dreamer]
Rem: "Shh! Hold that thought! Look! You're starting to dream! Well. Dream more.
(Curious) What is that anyway? A road?"
[Splashing sounds]
Rem: "Oof! Am asphalt road on water. What the heck? Hurry! Get on the road!"
[Dreamer talks]
Rem: "Why is there a road on the water? Like I said, it's a dream. This is far from the weirdest thing you've dreamed about. (Mischievous giggle)"
[Dreamer: "What else did I dream of?"]
Rem: "You wanna hear one? Hmm... There was this time that we were in a school together, but the classrooms were modified to be pig pens. And your old classmates, from elementary school, were still kids, and still bullying you. They tried to get you to go down a drain in the pens? I don't know. It was weird. You ended up flying away anyway. I guess you took the roof off the building, because I don't remember crashing through any ceiling!
(Laughing) What? You asked! I'm just a dream along for the ride! I have no control over the weird plot twists the other dreams take."
[Seeing something nearby]
Rem: "Oh! Look! A car! A Ford Model T, but still a car. We can probably get out of here if we take that. Don't worry. I'll drive."
[Dreamer talks while the two get into the car]
Rem: "Yup! That's another way you found out I'm real; I know some things you don't. I guess I just like vintage cars more than you?"
[Starts with any car engine sound and begins to drive]
Rem: "I don't remember anything before your dreams, but I know things about the world that you don't. We felt this confirmed that I'm alive. A "real dream". Just not a dream-come-true..."
[Dreamer talks]
Rem: "That's what I said, actually! You were the one who pointed out that, no matter how lucid the dream, you could never alter me in any major way. Go ahead!
(Proudly, playfully defiant) I am immune to your power!"
[Dreamer: "Do you call me dreamer?"]
Rem: (Softly) "Yeah. I do call you dreamer. See? You're remembering! Do you remember why?"
[Dreamer doesn't, so Rem begins humming the song 'Beautiful Dreamer' for a moment]
Rem: "The song, Beautiful Dreamer.
(Enamored) You... You sang it to me after you realized I was real."
[Dreamer: "On our first date."]
Rem: (Gasps in surprise) "You remembered! Yes! On our first date.
(In a monotone voice) That makes you my dream girl!
(Normal voice) Nice try, buster. You say that line each time.
(Giggling) But it always makes me smile."
[Stopping the car]
Rem: "After you sang to me I told you that I'm a dream, not a dreamer. You didn't like thinking about me like that though, so I started hammering it into your head over and over again by calling you the dreamer. And it stuck at some point. But with a fondness I feel for you."
[Dreamer asks why they stopped]
Rem: "What? We've driven far enough that I'm sure nothing new is going to happen, so we can just park it for now. And while you were busy marveling at your exceptionally beautiful girlfriend, I noticed the water started to act up around us. Rocks and waves are showing up out of the water."
[Dreamer: "How long have we been together?"]
Rem: "I was worried you'd ask how long we've been together. Ugh. I suck at math. How long have we been together in real time? About two years, four weeks, and five days."
[Sounds of crashing waves and seagulls in the background]
Rem: "How long have we been together in dream time? Over forty years, I think?"
[Dreamer says something causing Rem to burst out laughing]
Rem: "Wait! I just told you that we've been dating for over forty years and you just noticed I look like your ideal partner? That's what I was saying when I asked if I look familiar. Why did you realize it just now?"
[Dreamer: "I was imagining how lucky I am to spend forty years with you."]
Rem: (Hitched gasp, followed by light crying) "No! I'm sorry. That was really sweet of you to say. I-I'm lucky to have spent these past few decades with you too!...
(Sniffle) I-it's just... Um... I don't want it to end..."
[Dreamer talks]
Rem: "No. I'm not talking about you just waking up... When you wake up, I'm still here, somewhere in your daydreams... It's just... The dreams have been getting shorter. Really short... We think it means... Well..."
[Dreamer speaks]
Rem: "... Yeah. That we might never see each other one day. We don't know if I'm dying, or if a dream's fantasy is just coming to an end... We're not sure of much about it.
(Sniffles) You've been a dream come true to me. And I don't want it to end... But I don't think you'll remember me entirely before you wake up."
[Dreamers hugs Rem, causing her voice to tremble with sorrow]
Rem: "Th-thank you, Dreamer. Even with all of this, I still feel better in your arms."
[Deep sigh, and a slightly more cheery tone]
Rem: "No, really. I do feel better. It's just... I'm feeling a lot of emotions right now."
[Dreamer: "Maybe we can get someone to help?"]
Rem: "Dreamer, I love you, but you ask that every time. I know you can't help it, so I'll just keep it simple; Who could possibly help us? Whenever you wake up, you forget everything that happened. Sometimes you remember bits and pieces, and you get the cutest smile on your face, even when you can't remember why you're so happy.
(Sigh) We've spent years trying to think of a way out of this, so please, just let me... Let me enjoy the time I have left with you."
[Dreamer agrees]
Rem: "Thank you, baby."
[Deep breath to compose herself]
Rem: "So! What are you dreaming about now? No offense, but this kind of looks... Boring? Its a pretty night sky, a full moon, some rocks near the road- OH! I think I see mermaids!"
[Pointing out]
Rem: "There! See?...
(Confused) What?
(Playfully annoyed) Oh puh-lease! I literally look like your ideal woman. Between me and them? It's no contest. Just look! They're singing something, I think. I can't hear anything though... You can't hear them either? Huh. Not the weirdest thing you've dreamed of."
[Rem suddenly remembering]
Rem: "Oh! Do you wanna know what the weirdest thing you dreamed of was?"
[Dreamer replies]
Rem: "OK, so! Do you remember that little house you grew up in when you were little?
[Sound begins to fade away for a time skip]
Rem: "Right! Well, part of it was a castle in a swamp, and- Shush! I know it doesn't make sense, let me finish the story!"
[Sound fades back in as a unknown amount of time has passed]
Rem: "So you put me in your satchel, and jumped out of its mouth, but for some reason, my top half couldn't go all the way into the satchel this time.
(Laughing) Yes! So you do remember! Oh my God! I was so pissed off after my head bumped into its teeth. The teeth broke, but I had such a bad headache after that, I just couldn't keep my eyes from watering."
[Dreamer talks]
Rem: "No! I wasn't crying! Don't you think if I was crying I would've worked out as many pity points as I could get from you?
(Smug chuckle) Yeah, OK. Pity points got us into that mess, but I really wasn't crying! We'd have missed the dance if I wasted too much time."
[Dreamer talks]
Rem: "Right? That was so fun! I'm not even a fan of disco, but I had to see that through."
[Laughing before letting out a deep and happy sigh]"
[Dreamer: "Wow. Can I get tired in dreams?"]
Rem: (Sadly) "Yeah... You can get tired in dreams. It happens right before you wake up."
[Dreamer talks]
Rem: "No. Its not like when you're awake. You can't force yourself to stay awake. Eventually you'll fade back to reality."
[Dreamer replies]
Rem: "I don't want you to go either!... But I don't want our last moments to be desperate and scared.
[Dreamer kisses Rem, allowing her to let out a relaxed sigh]
Rem: "Thank you, baby. [Pleased giggle] Here. Why don't you lay your head on my lap?"
[Interrupting Dreamer]
Rem: "Shhh... Don't worry about that right now... Thank you."
[Giggling again as Dreamer rests their head on her lap]
Rem: "Yeah. You probably couldn't do this in a regular car, but this isn't a regular car. Comfy? Good!..."
[Deep breath]
Rem: "Even the sun in here is starting to rise... Yeah. It's OK. Just relax..."
[A moment goes by before Rem begins to sing Beautiful Dreamer, but gets interrupted partway through with a whoosh, as Dreamer vanishes]
Rem: (Urgently) "Dreamer? Dreamer!"
[Rem begins to cry, but tries to compose herself by singing again. She changes the first few words to 'Beautiful Dreamer, don't forget me', and the audio fades to an end as she continues to sing through her tears.]

I (28f) am a semi-professional singer (mostly for fun, not looking to progress further than what I do now) and sing at venues around the area.
I do a lot of covers, and I try to cycle through songs so things don’t get repetitive. When Olivia Newton-John passed, I decided to cycle “Hopelessly Devoted” back in to honor her since it was her signature song. I’ve sung this before plenty of times.
Well a friend (26M) (who I have never viewed romantically due to me being a homosexual) came and brought the girl he had just officially started dating the night before (22F). She had seen me once before a few months previously where I sang a largely different set.
I did my songs, including Hopelessly Devoted (including an intro as to why I was singing it) and finished. Hung out with my friends after for a round and I noticed she was being really stand offish with me but I didn’t know her very well so I wrote it off as anxiety.
The next day she messages me to tell me I made very uncomfortable to be singing a song “clearly pining” for her new boyfriend. When I informed her that that’s not true at all and I said in my intro exactly why I chose to readd it.
She pretty much told me that if I ever want to see her and her boyfriend again at my shows I’ll never sing a song that “puts her in an uncomfortable position again” and even asked me to give her my set list for the next show I did.
No I didn’t cave in, I just deleted her and let her dig her own grave in her relationship. They broke up not long after but she’ll tell anyone who’ll listen that I tried to steal her man right in front of her.

Happenings: an art of radical juxtaposition (1962)
and MEMOREX FOR THE KRAKENS: THE FALL'S PULP MODERNISM (2006) Part I, then Part II and finally Part III
This time, our two writers explore art that resists description. Sontag tells us about Happenings, a mix of painting exhibit and avant-garde theater. Fisher analyzes the lyrics of "pulp modernists" The Fall headed by Mark E. Smith. This is dreamlike, hostile art. Listen to the Fall's album Grotesque, inspired by Rabelais, in full on youtube.
What happens at a Happening?

Perhaps the most striking feature of the Happening is its treatment (this is the only word for it) of the audience. The event seems designed to tease and abuse the audience. The performers may sprinkle water on the audience, or fling pennies or sneeze-producing detergent powder at it. Someone may be making near-deafening noises on an oil drum, or waving an acetylene torch in the direction of the spectators.

Fisher on Mike E. Smith's lyrics and vocals:

It is also impossible to stop making sense of them – or at least to it is impossible to stop attempting to make sense of them. On the one hand, there is no possibility of dismissing the songs as Nonsense; they are not gibberish or disconnected strings of non sequiturs. On the other hand, any attempt to constitute the songs as settled carriers of meaning runs aground on their incompleteness and inconsistency.

Sontag says of Happenings "This is the alogic of dreams rather than the logic of most art." Some Happenings trailed off, while in others "the walls collapsed, and the spectators were driven out by someone operating a power lawnmower." Sontag categorizes them as a kind of surreal humor at the expense of the audience.
Fisher, for the third essay in a row, recalls Freud and dreamwork, this time to describe Smith's lyrical approach. As in dreams, the boundaries are blurred. Smith extends his impenetrability to his liner notes and interviews.
Our last reading in the the series will be on Sunday! If you haven't heard it, Red Scare did an episode with Fisher's music critic contemporary Simon Reynolds, who also compiled the K-Punk book anthology. The RS ep came out in late 2018, just after Meg left. Near the end, they discuss Exiting the Vampire's Castle, which we'll discuss on Sunday. From ~1hr16min:

Anna: How we get past the Vampire Castle?
Dasha: How we replace moralism with a more robust class politics?
A: And get a successful, impactful left?
D: It's almost a joke at this point, "successful left" -- that's a good one.

This one is tricky because in general I'm never a fan of those in authority telling others what they can and cannot do with what is their own private property but as it stands I feel this is an issue of those private property owners affecting others.
I love our city, I love to crack jokes about our city. What I don't love is the pang of guilt and embarrassment I feel when these shuttles/packs/herds of tourists are shuffling through downtown looking to spend their money and the area is littered with missed opportunities that end up bringing the overall experience down.
The little shop at the very nexus of the downtown core that's stood empty for far too long, right between NV and Milktease. What a fucking eyesore that is, with Dino Meneis face leering into the street from his election posters he couldn't be bothered to remove. Yeah Dino, you give a shit about Thunder Bay alright, dick. This location being left to rot by Azzolini is a crime.
The Lyceum, another problematic property with huge potential, allegedly going to be developed but that's been a song sung so many times now that the tune has gone flat.
ex-BMO, corner of Court and Red River, still siting empty and from what I've heard it's due to the price tag, another absolute waste of potential especially with the downtown revitalization That building looks like amazing potential. When your storefront could be angled to engage two intersecting corridors with very high travel, at a damned intersection no less you've got so much engagement that your advertising budget could be enough to buy a hotdog and you would still do well.
Apple Chipotles, something something dude may or may not be a woman beater so whatever makes things difficult makes me happy. Lot 66 and Tony & Adams pack the house with people and instead of having a little venue for people to pop over to for a little lowkey downtempo ambience with live entertainment they get to see a shuttered business. Shove a piano in there and play the blues, it would work.
77 Court Street, the solar powered derelict distillery that never happened, or whatever. This place and the lots around it being left to decay or worse really gets my ass in a tuba. The parking lot next to it is no-mans land where the asphalt is being replaced by our two native grass species, switchgrass and 3cc syringe. I don't know if the owner is the guy who owns the lot in the back but given that the parking lot has large scrap metal pieces that may at one point in time have been something useful makes me think so. That machinery has been sitting there rotting away since at least 2009 according to google streetview. what insanity is this? It's no wonder nobody wants to develop the lot next to it right next to those new apartment buildings. The same owner has a large greenspace in a back lot full of rotting vehicles. Various states of decay, lots fit for the crusher but some not out of the realm of restoring. Just sitting there smack fuck doing nothing but looking like shit. What's more is this shitheap of a property brings down the entire neighbourhood and that's really saying something when it's on fuckin Manitou.
17 Cumberland Street South, I don't even know anymore. Nothing on this stretch should be sitting empty because everything is booming on this street more or less thanks to Tomlin Sub, Lakehead, Water, Prospector, In Common, etc. Yet this old fashion store is dead weight doing nothing but holding up the apartments above it, or the law office I can't remember. Literally looks like the 1970's inside.
So the taxpayers and such want a return on the investment of their money being sunk into the downtown revamp, that's fully understandable and our city needs this. So if these and others are for whatever reasons just leaving properties as dead weight actively working against the best interests of the city and the taxpayers in it what pressure is being put on them, what pressure could be put on them. Wasn't it said here recently that residential taxpayers pay insane amounts because the CoC did some fuckoboingo thing that kept taxes dead dead low for commercial property owners?
That's something to be mad about, I love my city and I want it to prosper. I love when we get tourists on this subreddit coming to Thunder Bay and asking what to do, I love how so many people engage with those posts. So I feel that some of you may also feel a mutual sense of embarrassment at the presentation we are giving our guests, so there's another reason the city should be putting pressure on these dorks.
Sorry about the rant, I'm so sick of seeing Dino Meneis face, so very sick of it.
People might be upset about this focusing on downtown PA and ignoring downtown FW, I feel you but the problems are two very different degrees of difficulty. Compared to FW this PA problem is the lowest of the hanging fruits but if we can't even tackle this then there is no chance to remedy the FW area. FW could be many beautiful things but that undertaking is astronomical, valid? Completely and FW should be attended to instead of abandoned.
I support no action that displaces anybody. Housing is another big concern and that's where my goat gets got with things like 77 Court Street south. Corner of Manitou and Johnson is a very modern newly constructed MDU building, right behind it on the corner of Manitou and Court is a lot zoned for the same but completely untouched, I blame 77 Court.
​

At the start of Chapter 1 of MT is this interesting little passage:

HERE, THEN, IS the tale. Between the swish of the tides, when giants knelt down and became mountains. When they fell scattered on the land like the ballast stones of the sky, yet could not hold fast against the rising dawn. Between the swish of the tides, we will speak of one such giant. Because the tale hides with his own.\ And because it amuses. \ Thus. \ In darkness he closed his eyes. Only by day did he elect to open them, for he reasoned in this manner: night defies vision and so, if little can be seen, what value seeking to pierce the gloom? \ Witness as well, this. He came to the edge of the land and discovered the sea, and was fascinated by the mysterious fluid. A fascination that became a singular obsession through the course of that fated day. He could see how the waves moved, up and down along the entire shore, a ceaseless motion that ever threatened to engulf all the land, yet ever failed to do so. He watched the sea through the afternoon’s high winds, witness to its wild thrashing far up along the sloping strand, and sometimes it did indeed reach far, but always it would sullenly retreat once more. \ When night arrived, he closed his eyes and lay down to sleep. Tomorrow, he decided, he would look once more upon this sea. \ In darkness he closed his eyes. \ The tides came with the night, swirling up round the giant. The tides came and drowned him as he slept. And the water seeped minerals into his flesh, until he became as rock, a gnarled ridge on the strand. Then, each night for thousands of years, the tides came to wear away at his form. Stealing his shape. But not entirely. To see him true, even to this day, one must look in darkness. Or close one’s eyes to slits in brightest sunlight. Glance askance, or focus on all but the stone itself. \ Of all the gifts Father Shadow has given his children, this one talent stands tallest. Look away to see. Trust in it, and you will be led into Shadow. Where all truths hide. \ Look away to see. \ Now, look away.

So, this passage seems to be a framing by the Crippled God, as narrator of the series. Furthermore, could he be be pointing towards this fact in the passage, as indicated by the parts in bold?
Are we meant to read ‘the giant’ as the Crippled God? Is this him telling the story of the Fall in a metaphorical way?
Is the part about the giant drowning and then turning to stone about how the Crippled God’s heart falls near Kolanse and turns to stone?
Within the structure of the series it would make sense for this interlude to appear here, just prior to the books shifting to contemporary events on the Letherii continent.

This mainly started in Episode 5 during the water dueling challenge. First, he unleashes his robot Scuba Bear to attack the players. Then when Ella coaxes it with her singing, he tries to get it to eat her.
Later at the elimination, both Amy and Sammy are sitting there so I assume they voted . But he made both twins go home and didn’t even try to fix Sammy’s switcheroo cheating or Amy getting involved in the challenge.
He also makes this targeted rule towards Ella that she can’t sing anymore or she’s disqualified in Episode 6. And when Sugar exposed Ella’s singing, he promptly boots her despite Max being voted off normally. I don’t know why he has a problem with two people going in the cannon now, he just did it the last episode?
One of the more extreme examples is the Episode 7, when he makes both teams go to elimination because they didn’t “do the challenge properly” (aka get back to the finish line exactly the way he wanted). Yet he doesn’t even eliminate anyone. Then he breaks up the Max-Scarlett and Dave-Sky alliances and has them swap teams because it’s “unfair” to the other competitors…isn’t the point of the game to also form alliances strategically…
Episode 8 is also a more blatant example. He poses as a producer and actively tricks Topher into being distracted during the challenge, thus getting him eliminated. Yes, Topher was trying to steal his job, but he would’ve been eliminated soon with no allies anyway.
And Episode 10’s long-overdue, but still highly unfair elimination of Max right after Scarlett. Like yeah, he’s annoying and was ranting about evil, but he never was nor would he ever be taken seriously or an actual threat, and Chris just shoved him in the cannon because he didn’t like it. The fourth instance of Chris directly or indirectly getting a player eliminated because he didn’t like him or her (Ella, then Amy and Sammy, then Topher, now Max).
And the iconic, messy finale: Episode 13 of course. He likely rigs the helper wheel to get Sky and Shawn their respective love interests, then stirs a bunch of drama by exposing their confessionals and audition tapes…
He then makes it so that Dave and Jasmine can win the money by nigh-impossibly rigging the race to the finish line against Sky and Shawn (good thing for Sky’s tantrum).
Chris was so bored and drama-hungry during this season, he might as well have been a competitor with the way he was interfering ☠️
Are there any instances of this that I forgot?

Ashes shaped like the entire rave remained in the outline of a single soaring rook. I awaited their arrival. I had known to go no further than Man's Bane. I first had to sort out the Choir. I had no choice but to choose which of them would stay and live with the animals and which ones could come with me and my talking crow Cory, back to our own world.
They had a chorus of questions, most of them difficult to answer, for they were the inquisitions of the enchanted and the insane. The gibberings of the transformed ravens, now escaped medieval asylum patients, earned the attention of the inhabitants of Man's Bane. I glanced around nervously at the various animals attempting to walk upright, some of them wearing a single article of clothing or clutching an artifact of the old world.
"We are here to sort out a few of you." I told them plainly. Many of the Choir were compulsive murderers and worse. I simply couldn't unleash them back on the world. They'd have to live among the animals.
I first pointed to Serene Sinclair. "Do you want to stay here or come with me?"
She walked over to where Cory and I were.
"Well if she's your first choice, why not all of them?" Cory squawked.
"You'll remain under my supervision, right?" I asked her.
"I just want to be helpful." She promised.
"You do? Is that right?" I stared. Cory made a grinding noise in the back of his throat that meant he found her words amusing somehow. He was laughing and said in Corvin:
"She quotes you, my Lord. Remember when you met my Winters?"
"Uh, yes." I clicked to him in annoyance. "She has magics."
"Oh. Is that all?" Cory sassed me.
We continued to argue in Corvin as I selected a few more of the Choir. I was being careful. If I picked the wrong one or wasn't careful of the commotion, I could have a riot of lunatics and beastmen. I just wanted to make it home in one piece.
"Dini Ghanat, Jessica Darling, Clide Brown." I called on several more dangerous ones, yet they were the ones that were too dangerous to leave behind. Cory clicked rapidly at me in disapproval.
"Your bird. It does not like me." Dini Ghanat said with his heavy accent. I reached into my bag and took out the little leather case with his serum inside.
"You will not operate without my oversight." I told him.
"Of course not. You are our fearless leader." Dini Ghanat grinned obsequiously. I trusted him as far as I could reach. I knew better than to leave him behind in the fertile world of unguarded labs and shuffling beastmen. He'd experiment on them and make some kind of weird animal-man realm that I would have to worry about. I wanted to leave Man's Bane behind and forget the world or time period entirely.
"Christo?" I asked the man with a different Christo in his mind. He looked at me as the Christo I could trust.
"You can come too." I told him. Then I told him he was on fire and the other Christo stared at me. I told that Christo: "Sorry. You gotta stay here. You will never have another birthday if you come with us. Here though, it is always Saturday. Tomorrow is your birthday, and you know what that means."
"I can play with Polly?" The other Christo asked. His menacing grin spread, reminding me vaguely of the cartoon of the Grinch from my childhood.
"Well, goodnight Christo." I smiled. Christo turned around and then looked at me and asked:
"Where are we going?"
"I'm going home and I am taking you with me." I promised.
"I don't think this is how this works." Cory advised me with mock cynicism.
"It was your idea!" I hissed back.
"Oh yeah." Cory made a noise that was his most mischievous.
I picked a few more before we took that final flight as ravens. I got Samual Monica, Castini Ishbaal and Father Dublin the Exorcist. We flew the rest of the way, backwards through time, as ravens. The Choir was split, I'd say those I left there became the Choir and those I took were no longer really of the Choir anymore.
The world had changed in many ways and yet it had stayed the same. What I mean, is that the disasters of the time when we struggled to close the book of evil, or the time we were in Dellfriar and the world ended, all seemed to be gone.
The effect of such horrors pressed in from the sides of the familiar world I had once known. I asked Cory:
"Am I experiencing hallucinations from the medications we were taking in Dellfriar?"
"No, my Lord. We are escaped mental hospital patients in the same world we left long ago. How is this possible?" Cory sounded amazed and spoke in English.
I looked at the assembled ex-Choir members with me. They were all somehow out-of-place if we weren't facing the post apocalyptic horrors I had expected.
"You look confused." Dini Ghanat told me.
"I thought." I stammered. "I thought things would be different out here."
"How? We escaped." Father Dublin smiled. "What did you expect?"
"A world in ruins and desolation. A world ruled by rampant monsters and vengeful enemies like the Folk Of The Shaded Places." I tried to explain what my expectations were. "This changes things."
"This world is coming apart at the seems. It is about to collapse. The ends of all worlds push at its sides, like a dying universe, everything dies." Serene Sinclair announced in proclamation.
"Now wait." I told her. "You sense all of that too?"
"Indeed. You have chosen a tribe of the most dangerous, and some might be too dangerous. You chose most of them not." Serene Sinclair prophesized me. "And you would know death either way. At least this way you shall know its form."
"I'm starting to like her too." Cory chirped meanly.
"Your bird doesn't like any of us, does he, Mr. Briar?" Dini Ghanat was somehow behind me. I'd taken my eye off of him for one second.
"He doesn't trust you. He's seen how dangerous you all are. I'm taking you home to my family, showing a lot of trust in all of you, despite what I too have seen you all do. However, unlike those we left behind, none of you have ever threatened me or Cory or my family. To be fair, you've never given me a reason not to trust you."
"You're speaking to all of us, then?" Clide Brown asked.
"Dude, you're a werewolf." I gestured that I was making my point anyway. He nodded and muttered:
"Good point. I see your point. Yeah."
"I couldn't leave you people behind. Over these years, stealing artifacts and everything, you all have become like this depraved, lunatic family to me. Stop drooling." I said. I was looking at Christo on my last beat. "The point is, I have another family. Can I count on all of you as I already have? I have to ask."
"You can't count on me. We don't know if the moon is full. I could kill everyone." Clide Brown had changed his discord as he spoke. His confidence always went out of him whenever anyone mentioned his other half.
"Cory, is the moon full?" I asked my talking crow. Cory called out and his crow's call was answered by another.
"Of course it is." Cory said in English.
"See?" Clide Brown started swearing.
"Relax, I am only joking. We have a few nights to get ready for your monthly puberty." Cory teased the agitated werewolf.
Clide Brown frowned but was obviously still far from any sort of anger. He had the best anger management skills.
We all got onto the back of a hay wagon with nobody driving it and rode into town. In the street outside Dr. Leidenfrost's apartment we stood, a gaggle of straight jackets and a gleaming razor sharp hook on the end of Jessica Darling's prosthetic arm. There were no other visible weapons, but I knew all of them were armed.
It was early evening and I sensed something watching us. They were in the shadows, moving along in the darkness and avoiding the streetlights as they turned on one-by-one in the gloom.
"What is it?" Father Dublin asked, fear beaded on his forehead as he realized we were being stalked.
"Folk Of The Shaded Places." I thought I saw one as a dark rod, moving in jagged animation through a patch of shade and shifting light. Somehow the Cambrian elder was like a centipede, in its general shape. They were intricate and with a hundred different limbs and their faces somehow evoked an image of all-teeth, the kind that snack on trilobites. I knew their intelligence too, an angry and ancient species, waiting for their world to return to their endless hands. It was just my imagination, but it was also reality. Folk Of the Shaded Places could travel instantly from one dark corner, into a dream, through a wall and back into another shadow. To see them in any capacity, always occurs as a partial glimpse, easy to ignore.
"What to they want?" Dini Ghanat was perplexed. He used a simple charm to look and try to see them magically. "I'd like to know them better."
"No, you wouldn't. Trust me." I assured the mad alchemist and disgraced scientist that stared after the spy from the darkness.
The spies in the darkness were gone, I could sense that they had left us.
"Daddy!" Came the voices of Persephone Briar and Penelope Leidenfrost, my daughters. They came running out to greet me.
"I knew you were coming. I've watched all of your flights." Penelope told me. Her heterochromic eyes were the most beautiful in the whole world. She blinked as she spoke to me for the first time in her life.
"Daddy, you're back. Sister told me you were here." Persephone told me.
I stared at her, unbelieving how she had grown. My mind flashed to the rampage of the giant horse, death, gemstones, all of it to serve the cats so that she would live. I had always loved her, even when she was not alive, at the beginning.
I hugged them both.
"Such a sweet reunion." Samual Monica commented. There was always a strange hint in his voice. Part of me was not happy to let him near my family, but also, he was family now too.
Then I looked up and saw the love of my life, after being away for so long. She stood there, every aspect of her was dark, as she stood in the shaft of light from her home. A fairy flitted from her shoulder back to the sanctuary of indoors.
"Heidi?" I stared and stood and trembled. My legs forgot their strength when I tried to walk towards her. Clide and Christo were there to hold me up.
"I can walk." I said softly and I did. I walked to Dr. Leidenfrost.
"Welcome home, Lord." Dr. Leidenfrost stared at me. I wondered if she still loved me too. I noticed Isidore approaching me. She hugged me and then stepped back next to Dr. Leidenfrost.
"Who are all of these people?" Dr. Leidenfrost asked me.
"These people are my new family members." I told her.
"A gang of murderers that have escaped from Dellfriar with you?" Dr. Leidenfrost asked strangely.
"Well - I mean -when you put it in that way." I argued against her wording.
"I've missed you so much!" Dr. Leidenfrost nearly jumped me in the parking lot.
"You all have to stay out here." Isidore told the escaped insane asylum patients. "Girls, come inside, now."
And our daughters obeyed and I went inside with my family and Cory flew on in ahead of me and landed on the back of the couch.
"Right now." Dr. Leidenfrost wanted to rekindle our marriage immediately. I went with her and did so. When we were rekindled we found it was almost morning already.
"Your friends are keeping quiet out there." Isidore told me, over breakfast.
"What is going on? You're the only people we've seen." I ate.
"There's a massive evacuation going on." Dr. Leidenfrost explained. "But Agent Saint called and told us to stay right here. She said it would be safe until she gets here."
"Why?" I asked.
"Supposedly there is to be a tsunami. That was more than two days ago." Dr. Leidenfrost nodded sagely. "It was all a lie."
"I see." I gulped. "We gotta feed them. No low blood sugar for our crazy people."
"I already fed them. I didn't want to stay in the apartment while you two, you know." Isidore blushed.
"Did you want some of him? He's still yours too." Dr. Leidenfrost teased her.
"Stop, Heidi." Isidore looked at me and our eyes met briefly. I wondered if she had ever loved me. It didn't matter, she loved me as a friend, which was fair enough. I hadn't felt particularly crazy about her, after-all.
Dr. Leidenfrost watched our gazes repulse each other like opposing magnets and made a clicking sound with her tongue. Cory appreciated the word and translated, hopping up and down with excitement:
"My Matron calls you both cowards!" Cory exclaimed in English.
"You are both cowards." Dr. Leidenfrost confirmed. "That's why I am the head of this family."
"Fair enough." I muttered. Isidore said nothing.
"I don't agree." The soft and melodious voice of our resident fairy spoke up. "Lord has shown courage when he fears for another's sake. I've seen him stand against wrongdoing with no guarantee he could survive."
I looked over and spotted Silver Bell alight upon Dr. Leidenfrost's shoulder. I smiled and greeted her:
"Hello Sylvia." I recalled her earthbound name and used it instead of her Faerie name.
"I've waited a long time to go home." Silver Bell was glowing. "Penelope has drawn my key, but she is not strong enough to conjure. She needs her father for that."
"What?" I asked.
"You stole the way for such a key to be crafted. In Faerie, it was your theft that removed the one who would have touched the gold to craft it into what we needed. No new key can be made, without the hand of a smith. Do you remember?" Silver Bell explained. In her voice she sounded tired, there was no resentment.
"I rescued a child from your queen." I recalled. "Is that the consequence?"
"There is a horror upon your world. If we do not reverse the ways of magic, Man will fall. Nothing good will rise in your place. I have learned of all these things while trapped in your realm. I must report to my queen that Faerie cannot stand and do nothing or we will be obliterated next. What happens to one part of the body affects the whole." Silver Bell spoke slowly and we all listened.
"What horror?" Dr. Leidenfrost asked, her voice hushed.
"Lord knows of it. That is why I know he will help me. Your daughter has drawn my key. Now her father will forge it for me. It must be done." Silver Bell demanded.
Dr. Leidenfrost stood up and went to her desk. She opened a drawer that contained a stack of drawings made by the girls that hadn't made it to the gallery on the refrigerator.
After a silent shuffling she found a drawing of a key. She stared at it and then her eyes watered. She hadn't known what it was.
I got up and walked over to her and said quietly:
"She is like me. She is also like you."
"I know Lord, that's what scares me."

Toxic Rats: DJ, Scott, Trent, Sammy, Sierra
Mutant Maggots: Anne Maria, Molly, Scarlett, Geoff
Episode 08: The Treasure Island of Dr. McLean
"Last time, on Total Drama Revenge of the Island!" The recap montage opened with several RCMP helicopters flying around before cutting to the Mutant Maggots entering the mining elevator. "The players went on an impromptu to environmental coveru-uh, clean-up challenge," Sammy, DJ, and Sierra were shown running down a mineshaft, then Scott and Trent tripped on a rail, "and tried not to get a toxic make-over like everything down there." Geoff was shown struggling with Molly, both looking sickly, and a few shots followed of various mutant gophers running and squealing.
"Max came back to the island," the host continued over clips of the super villain revealing herself to Scarlett, "and E-Clone wasn't far behind," the alien was shown tackling DJ, "and after overcoming his germ phobia," Chris said as Dave was shown hitting the gopher and saving his teammates, "he voluntarily took the old heave-ho," the normal guy was shown getting hurled.
"Makes you wanna reflect, don't it?" Chris asked as the last clips finished up. "Maybe...with a cup of Chris McLean Instant Coffee," he said as the scene cut to him standing on the docks holding a mug with his face on the side. He took a sip, his eyes went wide, and he spat it out. "Bitter...better!" he quickly corrected with a forced smile. "Better than the rest." He dumped the mug out into the lake, and a fish promptly surfaced where the drink had landed and vomited in disgust.
Chris held his awkward smile for a second before regaining his composure and walking to the side. "Who will survive? Who will wish they didn't? Find out right now, on Total! Drama! Revenge, of the Island!"
XXXXX
The episode opened to a shot of the sun rising over the lake, a few seagulls calling in the distance. The camera slowly cut from close-up to close-up of the sleeping campers – Sammy and DJ, Trent, Sierra, and Scott, Scarlett and Geoff, and Molly and Anne Maria. All nine of them were sleeping on wooden rafts in their usual clothes, until the shot cut to an alarm clock tied to a buoy with large acoustic horns next to the bell. The hands struck approximately 7 o'clock, and a loud ringing sang through the morning air.
DJ bolted awake with a gasping start, and so did the others a few seconds later.
"What? Where are we?" Anne Maria asked in confusion, the camera cutting outward to show the two rafts floating next to each other and the buoy-alarm amid a mass of debris mostly consisting of wood, furniture, and waste barrels. Each raft had a signpost with their respective team logo on it – the Rats on the left; the Maggots on the right.
"No!" DJ griped, the camera coming out even further. "Chris must've set us adrift after we went to sleep!"
"Yeah," Scott said as the camera moved behind him and Sammy, showing the island of Wawanakwa off in the distance. "Wait, I don't remember anything after dinner."
Scarlett's eyes widened in realization. "Dinner! Of course!"
\
The footage flashed to a close-up of a meal tray, held by Scarlett as she collected her dinner. The meal was a slimy pile of spaghetti, tomato sauce, butt-shaped meatballs, and feathers, plopped down onto the tray without ceremony.
The shot zoomed out to show her eyeing Chef with mild disgust.
"Turkey buttolini," Chef explained with a grin. "Enjoy your na~ap!" he said before realizing his slip-up. "Err, meal..."
Scarlett just pursed her lips at the man as he laughed darkly to himself.
\
The scene flashed back to the Maggots. "Turkey makes you woozy, so mutant turkey can easily knock us all out," Scarlett deduced.
The focus moved to Trent, still sleeping peacefully on the raft.
"He can't be sleeping forever," Scott said as the camera moved to show him looking down on his teammate. "Come on! Get up!" he said as he bent down and picked Trent up.
Trent opened his eyes. "How did we even get here?" he asked before smiling at Scott. "Hey Scott."
Confessional: Trent
"Scott's really cool. I think we made a great connection these past few days. Either way, it'll be hard for me to vote anyone off the team," Trent said.
Confessional: Scott
"Trent makes me feel weird, and it feels good. I like the feeling, but it's distracting. I have to get rid of it somehow," Scott said.
Confessionals End
The scene cut back to the Mutant Maggots on their raft.
"I'm never gonna eat turkey again!" Geoff said to Anne Maria. "That food can knock you out!"
"Not as much as I'm gonna knock Chef out for serving us this," Anne Maria replied back.
"Take it easy. We're still alive and all," Geoff calmed her down.
Anne Maria took in a deep breath. "Alright, but I'm avoiding breakfast until further notice."
The shot cut over to Scarlett, who was pulling Molly aside. The indie chick raised an eyebrow and the quiet brainiac leaned in close and whispered "Have you noticed how close Anne Maria is getting with Geoff ever since he switched to our team?"
"I'd have to be blind to not notice," Molly remarked.
"With that as the matter of hand, I'd suggest us joining forces if they'll be cooped up with one another," Scarlett said.
Molly raised her eyebrow. "Even so, we have four members on the team after Dave's elimination last episode."
"I know that, and we'd have to convince them to vote individually for both of us," Scarlett strategized. "That way, we can easily target one of them."
"I do work alone, but I also want to save my butt from being eliminated," Molly said back. "You've got a deal."
Confessional: Molly
"Scarlett's not exactly my go-to as an ally, but given we're both closed off, and I don't have Dave to talk to anymore, we might as well stick together," Molly accepted.
Confessional: Scarlett
"We're nearing the merge, and that means I must analyze the remaining contestants and see their strengths and weaknesses," Scarlett smiled in satisfaction.
"Trent and DJ are major physical and social threats. The sooner they are eliminated, the better. Sierra and Scott are wild cards, though I sense Scott has more intelligence."
"Sammy and Geoff are fit and in good shape, but I'll save them for later as they can't outscore me in intelligence. And as for Anne Maria and Molly, they're average in every single way. Going up against them in the finale will be beneficial to winning," the brainiac finished proudly.
Confessional Ends
The static cut away to a shot of the rafts from a perspective a little higher, a little further away, and at a right angle to where the camera had been before. The roar of engines and the honk of a horn heralded the arrival of Chris and Chef from the right, the two men riding jet skis and wearing life jackets.
"Morning, suckers!" Chris greeted with an exuberant grin. "How'd you enjoy your turkey buttolini?"
"I've eaten better," Sierra said, irritated. "It tasted good and didn't knock people out cold enough for you to kidnap them."
"I'm sure you have," Chris replied teasingly.
"And what's with all the kidnappings?" Sierra continued. "You can simply ask us to meet you someplace like a normal person, not lock us in extremely cold trucks or do this."
"Because," Chris answered, "that wouldn't be good for ratings. As Total Drama's biggest fan, I thought you'd already know that?"
Sierra narrowed her eyes at the host.
Confessional: Sierra
Sierra was shown to be feeling furious. "Okay, mom? I know how hard it is to end a crush, but he's a total jerkface! When I come home, the Chris McLean museum/guest room better be destroyed!" the uberfan hissed lowly.
Confessional Ends
Chris regained his usual demeanor, "First thing's first: If any of you are still trying to find that McLean Brand Invincibility Sculpture I hid at the beginning of the season," he announced, taking out a photograph of the head in question, "you can stop now. Somebody's already found it," he said, dropping the picture into the lake.
The contestants were all upset and angry about the news. "And speaking of digging things up, today's challenge is all about winning the ultimate reward: Life, itself!" His tone became deeper and more dramatic as he made his declaration. "Your first challenge is to race to the shore, by any means possible." The camera panned over to the island in the distance. "First team there wins a handy reward. Last team gets a heinous penalty, before you embark on a quest for buried treasure."
"You're using us to dig up buried treasure?" Trent asked. "That's just weak."
"There was treasure here once, but I found it years ago," Chris emphasized. "How do you think I bought the island?"
"It must've been a small treasure," DJ mumbled to himself.
"I thought it was through all your movies and songs you put out before becoming a host, and I own a hundred of them," Sierra smirked.
Chris' brow shot up in shock, and Chef snickered behind him. "Just get moving already!" the host demanded, backing up his jetski then speeding away with Chef.
"I thought Sierra liked Chris, but now she's insulting him?" Sammy asked DJ.
"She must've seen how rotten he is both on the inside and outside," DJ quipped.
Confessional: Sammy
"Mocking someone who's the host of the show is definitely a risky move," Sammy admitted. "Sierra will be lucky if she doesn't get disqualified."
Confessional Ends
"Are you all just gonna stand there or are you gonna come help me pry this off?" Anne Maria asked, the shot cutting to her trying to break the rigid signpost.
"What? Oh, yeah. Sorry, Anne Maria," Geoff said, quickly turning around and moving to help her with Scarlett and Molly following right behind. All of them grabbed on to the sign and pulled, and after a moment of effort, the post snapped at the bottom.
"I use poles for canoeing back home," Molly said as she held the broken sign, "but we can use this to paddle to shore."
"I'll do the paddling, girls," Geoff volunteered, taking the broken sign from her. "I can kick this raft into high gear!"
"Be sure to take caution while you do so," Scarlett said. "There are sharks in the water."
The focus shifted over to the Rats, who were watching their rivals. "We have to do what they're doing," Sammy suggested.
Sierra put one hand on the top of their sign, bending it slightly, then snapped it with a swift kick.
"That was excessive, but we can row now," DJ said as he took the sign.
Confessional: Trent
"Using that sign will be much better than using my guitar as a paddle," Trent said. "It wouldn't flow well in water."
Confessional Ends
The focus cut back to the Maggots and it heralded the start of challenge music, and Geoff began to row with his sign-paddle. "We need to put some distance between us and the Rats!" Scarlett ordered. "Stroke like you mean it!"
The camera cut outward, revealing that DJ's own paddling was keeping the Rats about neck-and-neck with the Maggots, and the shot focused in on them. "Not to be a downer, but we need more than just DJ on this," Trent said.
"If we want to catch up, we'll have to get in the water and kick," Sierra realized.
"No way!" Scott protested. "Remember the shark?" He got shoved into the water courtesy of Sierra.
"The faster we get to shore, the faster we won't be eaten," Trent said, walking to the back of the raft and jumping into the lake. Sammy and Sierra then dived in as well.
"Fine," Scott gave in and pushed the raft with the other three.
\
The scene cut to the Maggots, Anne Maria and Molly and Scarlett standing near the back of their raft as Geoff continued to paddle them forward. A whoop of excitement caught their attention, and the shot zoomed out to show the Rats' raft moving ahead quickly in the foreground.
"That's it," Molly said in an upset tone. "We need to paddle and push the raft at the same time."
"Into the water!" Scarlett immediately commanded and dived into the lake alongside Molly while Anne Maria lingered with Geoff. "You too, Anne Maria."
"You know," Anne Maria said, "Geoff should be in the back with you guys. His legs are better suited for kicking."
The shot cut to Geoff as he paused his paddling. "My calves are toned now that you mention it."
"I'll agree to this, but you have to be the one that paddles now," Scarlett told Anne Maria.
Geoff handed Anne Maria the sign post and dived in shortly after and the camera lingered on Anne Maria paddling the raft.
Confessional: Geoff
"I do a lot of leg exercises, and my legs never let down if I need them for a race or for swimming," Geoff summarized.
Confessional Ends
"Keep kicking your feet and we'll be on shore!" DJ told his team, but stopped abruptly along with his team's raft as it smacked into something that sounded pink and fleshy. He looked warily ahead, the camera panning on to his reflection in the massive yellow eye of a truly gigantic octopus that was resting just below the surface with only the top of its head in view.
It shuddered, then bellowed deeply and angrily and lifted its tentacles out of the water. DJ and his teammates screamed in terror.
The shot cut to the sky above, where Chris and Chef were watching the challenge unfold in their helicopter. "Awww, it's playing with them," the host laughed.
\
The focus moved back to the Rats, all five now on the raft with Sierra holding their sign post and DJ being held captive in one of the octopus's many tentacles. The shot cut to Sierra as she screamed "Let go of my teammate!" and swung at the tentacle several times, only to repeatedly hit DJ in the face.
The camera focused on the captive brickhouse, and his face looked more bruised with each whack. "You're hitting me!" DJ wailed with every whack.
"Giant squid dead ahead!" Anne Maria yelled as the focus cut over to the Maggots' raft floating a little ways away.
"Keep it down," Scarlett hissed, her eyes still locked forward. "We should be able to sneak by it if it's focused on the Rats."
"You might want to look behind you," Molly fearfully pointed at a circling shark fin.
The shark circled around to the front and jumped onto the raft, revealing itself as Fang. As the mutant grinned menacingly at Anne Maria, she held up her sign-paddle in front of her.
The camera briefly cut to Geoff frozen in fear, and when Fang jumped into the water, he screamed and swam around the raft in a circle screaming "Shark! Shark!"
"This is just going to get us killed!" Molly hissed.
As this went on, Anne Maria became frustrated. She held the sign above her head and slammed it down on Fang, causing the shark to be sent flying off-screen.
"Thanks for the save," Geoff said as he got back on the raft.
"Now you owe me twice for saving you twice," Anne Maria replied.
Confessional: Anne Maria
"Technically, I didn't make the gopher go away, but I prevented it from attacking Geoff, so I'd consider that a save," Anne Maria prided.
Confessional Ends
The shot cut to the Rats, all of them being held captive by the octopus. Then, to the shock of the team, Fang flew into the octopus's eye. It shuddered and bellowed in pain, then dropped its captives into the water as Fang sank down.
The camera panned right to show the Rats resurfacing away from the octopus.
"Let's get out of here while we still can!" Sammy shouted, diving into the water with Trent following shortly after.
"Hurry!" Trent shouted as he and Sammy hastily swam off towards the right, with Scott, Sierra, and DJ quickly joining them.
\
The scene flashed back to the Maggots, all of them now on the raft.
"Okay," Molly whispered back to her teammates, "I think we're clear now."
Their raft promptly rammed into something. She turned around, and yelped as the shot zoomed out to reveal the angered giant octopus surfacing in front of them.
"That doesn't look clear," Anne Maria told her fearfully as they scrambled to the back of the raft.
"Now how are we going to escape this?" Scarlett griped.
Geoff was lost in thought until an idea came to his head. "Wait a minute! I have an idea! Get as far back as you can!"
Geoff made his way to the squid and faced him. "I bet you can't even smash us with your jelly fins, Octo-Guy!" the party boy mocked and grinned at the octopus.
The octopus raised a tentacle high and curled it almost into a fist while Geoff's teammates gasped and spoke in fear at the same time.
The curled-up tentacle suddenly sprouted several large spikes, and the three Maggots at the back of the raft screamed...
And then the footage and music ground to a halt, a 'pause' symbol appearing over the slightly-faded scene. "Will Geoff's shouting outsmart the octopus's punching?" Chris asked, standing up in front of the paused screen wearing a hat shaped like an octopus head and tentacles. "And what's up with Sierra? Find out, after the break," he finished, crossing his arms coolly.
\
(Commercial Break)
\

I would like to apologize in advance, I’m a newer redditor and brand new to this incoming blackout and super anxious about it.
Many subreddits will be going dark in petition of the API pricing policy changes, and some apps have stated they will shut down altogether on June 30th. While I am in agreement with this protest since our voices need to be heard amongst this world of greedy corporations, I do have my concerns. This is my first time doing anything like this. What is the general protocol when something like this happens? Is there anyone who is more experienced with these blackouts able to reach out and guide me on what to prepare when these subreddits that I frequent go down? I am extremely worried and can hardly sleep at night. I’m only getting one, maybe two hours of sleep if I’m lucky. My performance at work is taking a drastic hit and because of the deficiency of sleep, I have constant mood swings. I don’t qualify for insurance for healthcare so I can’t exactly visit my local primary physician for help. All of my income goes to my increased rent and inflated food prices. The start of this month has already been rough for me. I’ve lost my hat, had to replace my worn-down shoes and my apple smart watch broke. This API blackout is just another issue added to my stress. Can any locals show me the ropes and help calm my nerves? Everywhere I go, I use reddit. My livelihood depends on it. I am shaking, getting light headed, and sweating myself as I’m typing this.
I’ve been hearing more and more reports of people leaving reddit altogether. They will be deleting all of their comments and posts before closing their accounts. Should I screenshot my favorite posts and put together a printed photo album when I want to go back to revisit some things?
I am mainly looking for information if anyone has advice on what to prep ahead of this blackout. We will not have any access to news, issues and events happening in our city when reddit goes dark. I imagine that traffic will be even worse than it already is because people will no longer be at home, on reddit. Combining that with speeders, slow people on the left lane, vehicles without their lights on in the rain and tailgaters.
Before you all brigade me for being a moron by asking what to prep and to “google it”, it was the first thing I did and I have some notes on hand. Just looking for the veterans to provide their wisdom and insight. Please stop the hate and be respectful. Reddit IS the front page of the internet.
I already have a few essentials such as a yearlong subscription to my local newspaper, bottled water that is not Zephyrhills or nestle, toilet paper, canned goods, portable AM/FM radio, an OLED Nintendo Switch™ with BOTW/TOTK including a battery recharge pack, candles, lenovo legion gaming pc for Diablo IV, lighters, tarp, sandbags, generator and most importantly, some pubsubs but there is no telling what will really happen until you actually experience it. Should I withdraw some cash on hand? How much? What will my reddit coins be worth? I made a regretful mistake recently of purchasing a very expensive reddit avatar nft as well and can’t refund it. I have some memes already printed out (majesty building mostly) and some printouts to simulate new posts like inadequate driving, traffic, i-4, what internet provider, BEST pizza/burgers/wings, epass or sunpass, hidden gems in Orlando, going to the theme parks will it rain, police/helicopter activity anyone know what is going on?
Discord is not an option for me. I’ve tried using discord and their pro nitro version but it isn’t the same as reddit. There are no orange upvote arrows, or karma and you have to jump through many loopholes to unlock different channels that I don’t have the mental capacity to learn. I joined the local gaming one and some user named rat mother personally banished me afterwards since they had a vendetta against me because I don’t understand reaction face emotes. So now I can’t even find friends to game with and play solo. I have not experienced this much toxicity since the days of ranked league of legends.
This is all just too sudden to go cold turkey from this subreddit with no warning. Will emergency services be open? What are the early signs of withdraw? Will Disney be open? Universal Studios Islands of Adventure? Does anyone realistically know where to specially get discounted tickets?
I do not have reddit gold/platinum at this time but will services restore to those who have those VIP features earlier than those who don’t have it? Or is it amount of reddit karma based? People who want to be ignorant and rude by saying “touch grass” need not comment. I have a medical condition that makes me severely allergic to organic wildlife matter. When you selected your starter Pokémon did you pick Bulbasaur? No, you did not touch grass. You went with Charmander or Squirtle. A lot of you might laugh and not take this seriously but I am a reddit pro power user. 93% of my phone’s battery app usage is for reddit and I upgraded my gaming pc to the 4090 for reddit. We all have our passions and hobbies and there is no need to shame others for theirs.
I’ve survived the hurricanes, the recession, pandemic and inflation. The death of vine, decline of digg, and the change from micro-usb. I don’t think I have the strength, the faith, nor the willpower strong enough to push through this blackout. Orlando is my home, my city. I was born and raised here. Even if we all leave this subreddit Orlando will still be with me, forever and always just like those who moved here from New York. They too, are Local and FLGrown. But it also begs the question on where Orlando Weekly will steal content posts next?
In the aftermath of all of this, will we all be the same person going in to this blackout as we are coming out? I have concerns that I won’t be “me” anymore. Who will take responsibility and be accountable for this emotional yet spiritual awakening traumatic event? The moderators?
[Edit] Thanks for the gold kind stranger! This is the way. The narwhal bacons at midnight (for those of you who are true redditors).

I've spent a lifetime SEEKING TRUTH, I was answered. Following another god LEADS TO DEATH. BEING IN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH IS LIFE. I'm only trying to help people PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM WHAT IS HEADING OUR WAY.
Amos 5:18-24 [18]Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. (the enemy is the master of deception, of course you'll believe you're saved & won't face the end).
[19]As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. (there is no escaping what is to take place, the enemy has you convinced you won't face it, you will)
[20]Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? (IT is the day EVILNESS is wiped from the earth: IT'S NOT GOING TO BE PRETTY, our Creator's wrath comes via man:war...Creation ANSWERS)
[21]I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. (organized religion was developed by the enemy to divide & eventually destroy. Leading people ONTO MANMADE WAYS and away from our Creator is EXACTLY WHY WE ARE WHERE WE ARE IN TODAY'S WORLD)
[22]Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. (blood is an abomination, our Creator DESPISES blood shed, the enemy NEEDS blood to survive (spirits of darkness)our Creator DOES NOT, blood sacrifice is made to the enemy, (1 Corinthians 10:20)
[23]Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. (songs that give praise & worship another god)
[24]But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. (We face judgment on earth, NOT AFTER DEATH, this is deception brought by the enemy, our judgment comes down through the choices we make, our FREEWILL).

I recently attended a Peter Gabriel concert with very limited knowledge of his discography. I know Sledgehammer, Don't Give Up and I'm sure a few others that make you go "oh yeah" whenever they're played on the radio, but that's about it. Considering how he's not released his new record yet and he'd play well over 10 new songs I wondered how this would go. I did give 4 singles a listen though, so the new material wouldn't be completely new for me. I was fully aware how he wouldn't sing any Genesis and nor do I think he needs to. He's left that band behind so many decades ago that it'd be odd for him to suddenly bring out some of the songs. That's not to say that some Genesis songs would've been a better pick but I reckon that's a whole other debate here...
​
The show began with a unique and funny intro, which I appreciated as a first-time experience. However, technical issues arose once the band started playing, particularly with the bass sound. Popping noises persisted throughout the performance, detracting from the overall experience on the first 2 songs. Furthermore, Gabriel's vocals were often difficult to understand, bordering on mumbling. Although his singing ability I'm sure is still exceptional, the live mix failed to balance the vocal lines of his new songs, overshadowed by the music. This issue persisted throughout the show, creating a muddy sound whenever Gabriel wasn't singing and a bit of a mess when he was.
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The first half of the concert was captivating, featuring a well-thought-out vision that explored themes of life, birth, and emotional attachment. The combination of stunning visuals and beautiful melodies got me emotional, thinking of my own life and the different stages it's been through so far. I think that, if I'd have understood a word of what he was singing, I'd have genuinely loved the first hour of the show. But the stunning visuals weren't enough to get his message and ideas across. I'm sure there was a deeper message going on, but I don't think anyone could fully understand it.
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Another thing that took me out of it was a notable point where it appeared as though he would hold a long note but didn't, making the use of backing tracks more apparent. This raised questions about the extent to which the sound was supplemented by backing tracks, even including Gabriel's own vocal lines. I don't imply that he mimed the entire show, but it became evident that not everything was 100% live as he makes it look like. It's worth mentioning that at 73 years old, it is understandable that artists change their arrangements a little bit, and not everything can be replicated in an arena. However, miming typically belongs to a different category, primarily associated with modern-day pop idols.
​
Despite the industry norm of catering to audiences seeking only the well-known songs, I was genuinely impressed by his artistic integrity while exploring new musical territories. His ability to engage and captivate his diverse fan base showcases both his artistry and their loyalty. As an attendee with limited knowledge of his fans, I was pleasantly surprised by their receptive and attentive nature as Dutch audiences are very well known for their constant need to chat through every little song they're unfamiliar with. The audience's willingness to embrace his new songs and support his artistic growth underscores their open-mindedness and appreciation for the evolution of his music. This experience serves as a reminder that assumptions based on an artist's popular hits can often overlook the depth and breadth of their audience's appreciation.
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The second half felt prolonged, with certain song choices, such as "Big Time," falling flat for me. I reckon it's a hit but it felt so out of place. Near the end, when Biko was played, it seemed catered towards Nostalgia as opposed to a genuine protest, making it somewhat inappropriate for the occasion and ending the show on a confusing and a little cringy note. On one hand he takes you on this moving journey but then ends it on a rather cliché. Yes, the message of Biko is still relevant, but it just didn't go over like I think he does. I also felt that, as the show went on, he seemed to be going through the motions more and more and near the end looked like he couldn't wait for it te be over. It became pretty obvious he's excited over the new songs and really, really doesn't care for the older songs.
​
I had high expectations for the show, and although some may disagree, I don't mean to offend anyone. Fans who know all the words may not mind the unclear vocals as they know what's being sung anyway. Overall, the performance had its ups and downs. His musical talent was evident, especially in the well-planned first half. However, the show's length, song selection, and vocals being drowned out took away from its impact. It left me thinking that it could have been much better, which was disappointing because it had the potential to be one of the best shows I've seen.

Co-Authored by me and u/Research-Apart, a big thanks to u/Acceptable_Egg5560 for letting us use Tarlim, and for helping write him
Well that took a while, hope it was worth the wait, the next chapter shouldn't take as long
CW: >! Gore and violence !<
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> Access File: Hybris (9)
[OPENING FILE]
Notice from Department of Extrasolar Records: These records were discovered in a floating black box data recording in the Gliese 832 system. These transcriptions contain the memories of prominent individuals who were directly involved with the events detailed below. The components of the transcription technology used are under review by the Department of Xenotechnology, and any transcriptions found within the data logs will be transferred directly to the Department of Extrasolar Records for further processing.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Memory transcription subject: Tarlim, Venlil Civilian
Date [standardized human time]: April 4, 2143
I don’t know how long I was in hiding for, I just remember hearing the screams of people outside before falling asleep when it all died down. I got up from the floor and peaked out of my closet to see if there was a break in before leaving it entirely. I checked my front door to see if the locks were still locked and, luckily enough, it was still intact. I set out a sigh of relief before walking back to my living room and slumping back down on my couch. I took my medication as I picked up my datapad from the floor, hoping everything that happened earlier was just a bad dream. The first thing I noticed was that my pad spat back an error message. That was strange, the infrastructure was too developed to not have net access in the middle of a city.
Glancing up towards the window, I noticed a strange red hue coming from behind the curtain. I set my pad down on the couch as I got up and walked to the window. I could feel my paws begin to shake as I grabbed the curtains. Anticipating the worst, I hesitantly opened the curtains and peaked outside. It was worse than anything I could have expected: The remains of dead Venlil littered the street below as more continued to pile on. Orange blood coated the surrounding building walls as mutated Venlil ripped apart anyone they got their paws on. One of them eventually came across a mother and child attempting to hide underneath the surrounding rubble. It didn’t hesitate to attack the woman before another mutant came by to try and steal its catch. They fought each other relentlessly, trying to keep her in their grasp. Their claws tore deeply into her skin and muscles as they fought, causing her to scream from the unimaginable amount of pain. She took one last look at her child and yelled at him to run before her throat was torn off.
The child ran for his life, dodging around rubble and mutants and for a brief moment, I thought he might make it! Then a mutant Krakotl swooped down over him, a barbed tendril emerged from its beak and stabbed the pup in the shoulder. Screaming in pain he was lifted into the air as the mutant flew off to Protector knows where. As I swept my gaze across the city, similar scenes played out: survivors ran through the streets, slipping on pools of blood as they were pursued by packs of mutants; doors and windows were smashed to pieces as people looted for supplies; buildings were engulfed in flames as malfunctioning fire traps and improvised weapons were set off; mutants of every conceivable species rampaged through the city, attacking everyone they could find.
I fell to my knees as I vomited from the sight of the massacre outside. The blood, the gore, it was too much! My consciousness was escaping me as my heart pounded in my chest. I was hyperventilating, I was going to die, everything swirled around I was, I couldn’t-
Focus.
Breathe.
Calm.
Forcing the tirade of emotion back I shakely I got back up and looked back outside, only to lock eyes with one of the mutant Venlil. Its head turned to stare at me, its eye solid black with streaks of red running through it. For a moment, we simply stared at each other, before it started to run towards my apartment complex in a strange loping gait. It was picking up speed with every step and soon ran on all fours, galloping over rubble and trappling eviscerated corpses. I stumbled away from the window and ran to my door. There was no spehing way that I was fighting that thing. Right when I unlocked it, I heard the shattering of glass behind me. In the corner of my eye I could see the monster clambering through the window, shards of broken glass tearing at its flesh. I went through the door as fast as I could as it regained its posture. The moment I closed it behind me, I heard a loud thud behind me, signifying the mutant had attempted to lunge at me, ‘How the speh did it reach my window!? I’m four stories up!’ I thought before running down the hallway.
As I ran down through the hallway, I could see the place was in ruin: the walls that lined the hallway were torn and covered in streaks of Venlil blood as the lights above flickered unrhythmically. I zigzagged from door to door, looking for somewhere to hide, but every apartment was locked. I soon heard the bang of a door being knocked off its hinges from down the corridor. I felt my heart pounding, threatening to burst out of my chest at the exertion, but I pushed on. I briefly considered the elevator upon reaching the end of the corridor, but realized power to it was most likely cut. I ran to the stairwell and raced down it as fast as I could, taking two or three steps at a time. I could hear the creature burst into the stairwell as soon as I reached the first floor. That thing was fast, too fast.
I ran through the hallways of the first floor and saw that most of the apartments had already been broken into. The people who used to live here are either dead, mutated, or in hiding. I could feel my legs starting to ache from running so fast for so long, but I couldn’t stop. I could feel my quads beginning to tear underneath my skin as my heart pounded vigorously. I could try to hide in one of the open apartments, but what difference would that make? I would just be waiting to die. I can’t keep running like this, I need something to defend myself with.
As the pain within my legs began to set in, I decided to run into one of the open apartments anyway to escape that thing. Upon entering, I ran through the ruined apartment and went straight into the bathroom to hide. I closed and locked the door as quietly as possible before taking stock of the room. Compared to the rest of the apartment, hell the rest of the complex, it looked disturbingly normal. I looked around for a few moments to see if there was anything I could use in case that thing does find me, but there was nothing. Then I noticed a window looking out onto an alleyway. I went to the window and fumbled at the latch and pushed it open. Quickly crawling my way through, I stumbled slightly as I hit the ground. Looking around, I spotted an abandoned shipping crate sitting against the wall. I shifted my weight and prepared to run when I heard the cracking of splintering wood behind me. I sprinted down the alleyway and slid behind the crate without bothering to look behind me. There was more cracking and splintering and the twisted pants of the mutant. Cautiously peeking around the crate, I saw it stepping out of the window frame. The shattered remains of the window sitting on the floor below it. It stalked down the alleyway towards me, its eyes scanning for any sign of its prey. Ducking back behind my crate, I frantically searched for anything I could use to fight. As I shuffled further behind the crate, I felt my paw brushed against a discarded wrench. someone had likely been performing maintenance on the exterior pipes and the wrench had been left behind. Gripping it tightly, I got myself into a crouching position and prepared to move at a moment's notice…
After a moment of silence, I heard a woman’s voice, “Tarlim, are you there? I heard a window break from around the corner,” she said
My ears peaked up at the voice, could that be…
“Barlen?” I said quietly.
“Barlen, keep your voice down!” I called out, I didn’t want her to get killed.
“Sorry” she replied, more quietly this time.
“There was a mutant crawling around here,” I told her.
“I saw it, it went the other way, it must have seen easier prey,” she responded.
I let out a sigh of relief and slowly got up to my feet, leaning against the crate, the wrench hanging loosely at my side.
“Thank the protector, it’s good to see a friendly face…”
I looked up, and sitting on the crate, was the creature.
“It’s good to see you too,” it said, perfectly mimicking Barlen’s voice.
Its three petaled mouth opened wide before pouncing at me. In a stroke of luck my body twisted and smacked it across the head with the wrench in my hands. It was hit so hard so quickly, I knocked out a couple teeth before it fell limp next to me. I took a few steps back before repeatedly hitting it in back of its head with the wrench in my paws. I don’t know how many times I did it, I just kept going until brain matter was exposed.
When I was sure it was dead, I fell back against the wall and sat down as I dropped the wrench next to me. I could feel my heart beginning to pound from exhaustion as I tried catching my breath.
Thoughts began to race through my mind as I stared at my paws in horror. This thing was not only incredibly fast and agile, but it was also capable of replicating voices. ‘How did it know Barlen’s voice, and how did it know it would work on me?’ I thought for a moment before remembering the press release prior to all of this. They showed a living planet, no bigger than a large moon, sitting motionless in the sky above as it formed an eye. I still remember the feeling it gave me: the horror was so great, I tried to convince myself before falling asleep that none of this was real; all of this was just a bad dream and I needed to wake up, but I knew that wasn’t true. I slowly turned my gaze up towards the sky and saw that thing looking down at us, looking down at me.
What if the reason why the mutant was able to figure out what voice to use to draw me out was because it wasn’t on its own? What if all those infected aren’t senseless monsters, but they were that thing’s puppets. They all bend to its will without question, and I have a reason to believe it can see through their eyes too.
The sound of distant roars quickly snapped me back to reality as I sat with my blood covered paws. Picking up my bloodied wrench, I slowly made my way down the alleyway and out into the street. I could feel my heart screaming in pain at the recent exertion, not once have I ever pushed my body so hard in my life. Carefully peering around the corner of the apartment complex, I scanned the street before me. It was completely deserted and any possible living thing that was here is either dead or in hiding. I took one last look around before leaving the backstreet. Creeping between overturned cars and mangled corpses, I kept my eyes peeled for any more of those mutants nearby. I was in such a fearful state, I could feel my body tense up at every unidentified noise and shadow. Twice I spotted mutants prowling the streets, but I was able to avoid them by staying hidden. Eventually, I circled back to my apartment building after making sure the coast was clear. I kept my eyes peeled and listened closely to my surroundings as I made my way upstairs. I can see all the damage that thing left behind as it chased me. I’m glad I was able to kill that thing when I did because if it had caught me I would be more than dead. I eventually reached my apartment four stories up and looked in from behind the door frame. The room was a mess: shattered glass and ripped curtains littered the floor as my window remained permanently open; my furniture was broken and torn into as everything else beyond the living room remained untouched. I looked in the dining room and saw my pack was still sitting on the table. After checking my bag to see if my pills were still there, I quickly searched for any food and water before making my way back outside. I needed to find somewhere safe.
As I crept through another back alley, I tried to remember the directions for the shelter. We were supposed to memorize their locations in the event of a raid, but I had for some reason not been included in the regular drills. Fortunately, they were not that hard to find, which seemed like a possible design flaw in retrospect. My musings were interrupted when I felt my pad vibrate in my pack. Confused, I reached in and pulled out my pad. I was honestly surprised it was getting a signal now. I looked at the alert and it says as follows:
“This is an emergency message sent to any and all remaining survivors of Dawn Creek and abroad: all emergency shelters within the surrounding cities have been compromised and any surviving Venlil are to find a place to hide and a weapon to defend yourselves with. These creatures are incredibly strong and agile and will do everything in their power to kill you no matter the cost. If you want to survive, you must follow these steps to the word:

1. When it is silent and a mutant nearby, stay still and hold your breath. These things have incredibly sensitive hearing and can hear your breathing from up to six tails (12 feet) away.
2. Stay out of sight and make sure they don’t see you. It is said that all of these creatures are somehow connected telepathically and function as a hive mind. If one of them sees you then they all know where you are.
3. Do not listen to them. If they fail to find you, they will mimic the voices of your close friends or loved ones in an attempt to draw you out. If you hear a familiar voice, do not respond.
4. When faced with a mutant, you must kill or maim them if you want a chance to escape. If you don’t then they will continue pursuing you. These things do not get tired and can chase you for miles without end.
5. If you survive an attack with an infected Venlil and they manage to breach skin or their bodily fluids enter your body in any way, it is recommended that you self terminate for the safety of the herd. It is estimated to take an eighth of a claw before whatever substance in said fluid enters the brain and converts you from the inside out.

May the protector save us all.”
I silently stared at the screen in mute horror after reading the last line. Every shelter in the area had been compromised and anyone taking refuge there was more than likely dead. Just how many died unable to escape as their friends and family were torn apart? The Arxur, on some level at least, killed for food, but these things didn’t do any of that: They don’t eat what they can and leave whoever left is alive to make more meat, they eviscerate any living thing they lay their eyes on in the most painful way possible. To say they’re as bad as the Arxur would be putting it lightly. These things are far worse than anything any species has come across. I looked up at the sky for a moment as I held my pad in my hands. Its eye staring down at us from above as it watches these creatures it has created mutilate my people.
‘If this thing is truly as powerful and dangerous as Tarva says, then just how old is this thing? How many species before us have been mercilessly slaughtered by it without a second thought?’ I thought to myself as I stared at the planet above.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps from down the road. I felt my heart skip a beat before running to hide behind a turned over car. I pinned back my ears and cautiously looked over the side of the car and saw a small group of exterminators in their suits scouting the area. Not once in my life have I felt so happy to see them. I got out of hiding with my paws up to show I wasn’t infected. Upon seeing me, they put up their flamethrowers on the ready until one of them recognized me.
“Tarlim!? You’re alive!?” One of the Venlil exterminators exclaimed as he took off his mask.
“Treven!?” I exclaimed in response.
‘Of all the exterminators I could have run into, why him?’ I despondently wondered.
“I honestly thought a freak like you would die first. Seems like I was wrong,” Treven said mockingly, “How did you survive anyway?”
My grip on the wrench tightened. Even after everything that had happened, they still couldn’t let go of their prejudices.
“I don’t know. I guess I was lucky,” I replied simply.
Treven scoffed, “Was it the same luck that almost cost me everything?”
I stood silent at his response. I couldn’t believe that after everything he was still acting like this… this… stupid, selfish PRICK!
“Everything we've ever cared about, is gone.” I said, struggling to control my voice.
I spread my paws out, gesturing to the destroyed city around us.
“We’re facing down hordes of biologically impossible creatures controlled and created by an entity unfathomably more powerful than anything we’ve ever seen before!”
I noticed just then that I had been slowly stalking towards him, the wrench trembling in my paw.
“And your main concern is your SPEHING CAREER!?” I shouted.
Even now, this asshole still blames me for something HE did to himself. It was infuriating that this selfish speh was mad at me for losing his job even though they were the ones who almost killed Malcos!
I was about to shout again until one of the other exterminators, a white Venlil, came by and slapped Treven in the back of the head; the blow was hard enough to send him stumbling. Before he was able to respond, his mouth was covered by their coworkers' paw to keep him from speaking. It felt somewhat good seeing Treven put in his place, but I was confused on why. It wasn’t until he moved away from Treven when he decided to stay quiet and marched towards me with an annoyed yet fearful expression in his swaying tail. I was grabbed by the wool around my neck and pulled down to his line of sight before he started loudly whispering.
“Are you trying to get us killed!? We are literally at the ground zero and your shouting might have given away our position!” He quietly exclaimed, “We already had to deal with a horde on our way into the city and lost almost everyone. The six you see used to be a group of over two hundred exterminators!”
My heart sank after realizing what I had done: Not only did I possibly make our presence known, but this small group before me used to be multiple station's worth of exterminators. I was at a loss for words at my cluelessness and kept my mouth shut after I was let go. The Venlil in white soon signaled everyone in the group to continue moving forward and to keep their eyes peeled.
As we continued moving through the streets of Dawn Creek, we eventually heard the crunching of bone and sound of flesh being torn off from around the corner. The noise sent a chill up my spine and was extremely discomforting. I glanced at the exterminators surrounding me and saw them show a more fearful expression than me. If it was true that this group used to consist of a hundred exterminators, then they likely bore witness to seeing their comrades be torn to shreds first hand. Seeing something like that would be hard to live down, especially when the people you love are the ones being mauled to death.
The thought of what these people went through to get here changed how I saw them for a moment. Knowing what he had to witness, I began to rethink how I saw them when we crossed paths. I felt bad for them for a moment until I heard that loud crunch again, but this time it was louder.
The leading exterminator looked around the corner before continuing down the street. It was strange how empty the town was considering it was crawling with infected just a claw prior. They might have found new hunting grounds since this place is absent from life, but considering one of them has already seen me and the group there should have been at least a pawful chasing after us by now. They know we’re all alive, yet refuse to take action. Something is going on and I have a feeling it might pop up soon.
The sound of crunching became progressively louder as we quietly walked. The leading exterminator raised a paw, then slowly peered around the corner where the sound had come from. He stiffened suddenly, his entire body froze up before desperately diving back behind cover. Another exterminator, the mute one I think, grabbed him by the arm before he could collapse. The leader walked up to them, careful to not make any sounds that could attract attention.
“What’s wrong? What did you see?” he whispered to the point man.
He simply pointed back towards the crunching sound as his arm shook with fear. The leader’s tail swished in annoyance as he moved to the corner. Curious for myself, I followed closely behind him to take a look at whatever was out of view. He shot me a look of annoyance when I brushed up against him, but he didn’t object to me seeing. We both peered around the building towards the street with my face almost sitting on top of his head. My breath hitched in my throat as I saw what was standing there: feasting on a Mazic in the middle of a trashed shop was a massive, grotesque, monstrosity of a Venlil. It stood over 5 tails [3 meters] tall with tendrils of red flesh that shot through its bare skin. The muscles on its body were so large it seemed like they were on the edge of bursting out of its skin, and its enormous paws looked like it could wrap around my head with ease; its legs looked like they were about to explode from the sheer mass held within them. Not only that, but what separated it from the other infected was its face: it was the only one I have seen so far that didn’t have a split face like the others. This one was different for some reason; regardless, I didn’t want to get this thing's attention.
Placing a paw on the leader's shoulder we made our way back to the rest of the group. One of the exterminators walked up to us.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“There is some kind of super mutant up ahead, we need to find a new route,” the leader whispered back.
“Well where are we going?” I interjected, “all the shelters have been taken out.”
“Before we found you, we sent out a distress signal in hopes anyone will come for us,” The leader responded, “We never got a response so we focused on trying to find a way out.”
“Do any of you have a map so you know where you’re going?” I Inquired
“No, unfortunately. Our pads ran out of power half a claw ago and we don’t have any physical copies, so we don’t know which streets to follow” The leader replied solemnly.
“I lived here for years, so I might be able to help you escape. Just follow me.”
I stepped out from around the corner only to see that the same monster from earlier was now towering over me. I slowly turned my gaze up from its bare stomach and looked at its blood covered face: it bared its large, razor sharp teeth as it stared at me with its circular pupils. I could tell one thing by just looking that it wanted only one thing, to feast.
My heart jumped upon locking eyes with it. I slowly backed away as my whole body trembled with fear. I tried to speak to tell the others, but I was too focused on the beast before me.
“Tarlim? What’s wr-” he cut off, most likely from seeing the creature now stepping out from behind the corner…
Everyone else began backing away after laying their eyes on this thing. Everyone was silent for a few moments until one of the exterminators began running and screaming. When the spell broke, the monster leaned forward and roared at us, causing nearby rocks and windows to tremble from its immense volume. Within a split second, it charged forward with its size hiding its speed; we dove out of the way as it rushed towards the running exterminator. The leader and Mute grabbed their weapons and tried to shoot at the monster, but it wasn’t enough to slow it down. Charging forward at an impossible speed, it soon reached the fleeing exterminator and grabbed the screaming Venlil with its massive paw. With a sickening crunch, it bit down and tore off a chunk of his head. The screams soon turned into senseless noises before it took another bite. His body soon went limp after his brain was completely destroyed. Once he was finally dead, the beast quickly chewed through the rest of the body until there was nothing left. The mutant stood still for a moment, its wet panting the only sound on the empty street. We all stood still ourselves, staring at the monster in horror. Then, swiveling around on its foot, it turned to look at us. Its red pupils glistened with overwhelming bloodlust as it stared from afar. It reared its head back and roared again before charging at us. The rest of our herd showered the creature in a hail of bullets as I frantically looked around for a way out. Spotting an industrial plant down the street, I quickly ran towards it and pried the doors open. The heavy machinery would make it harder for the beast to maneuver, I hoped.
“Quick in here!” I shouted towards the others.
As soon as I shouted, I inadvertently got the creature’s attention. Locking its red pupils on me, it charged towards me. I ran away for dear life into the facility only to feel its paws grab my leg with its vice-like grip. Before I could even attempt to free myself, it threw me across the street like I was nothing. I spun in the air for a few seconds until I landed on top of one of the turned over cars.
Upon impact, I felt some of my ribs break as both glass and torn metal stabbed into my skin. I lifted one of my bloodied arms and saw multiple pieces of glass sticking out of my wool with some of them big enough to go through the bone. I tried to scream out to the others for help, but the pain I felt from just breathing alone was already too much to bear. I looked over at them as they began running away from the scene. I saw the beast get down on all fours before pouncing towards the group with great speed. Despite their distance apart, it was able to close that gap in less than a second. One by one, it killed and tore them asunder with its large, powerful claws and razor sharp teeth until there were only the mute and leader left.
I managed to fight through the pain and get up from the wreckage with blood still dripping from my wounds and flowing down my body. I took a deep breath and shouted as loud as I could in their direction. It stopped what it was doing and looked towards me from afar. It stood on its hind legs and looked at me with a somewhat surprised expression.
“HEY! OVER-” I was quickly cut off from coughing up blood as I fell to my hands and knees, “over here!”
The internal damage done was too severe for me to push myself any further than I already have, but I needed to give the others time to leave. I got myself back up and locked eyes with the mutant.
Right when I did that, it did something strange: rather than run, pounce, or even roar, it quietly walked up to me with its blood covered claws at its side. I was confused about what was happening and I didn’t know how to react. Should I attack, should I run, what could I do that wouldn’t provoke it? Once it was within range, I reacted impulsively and hit it in the face with my wrench. Although I was able to cause a slight bruise, its head didn’t move an inch and the wrench was now destroyed.
‘Oh speh’ I thought for a moment before getting grabbed by my neck and lifted into the air.
I struggled to set myself free as I repeatedly bashed the deformed wrench into its arm. I could feel my windpipe get actively crushed as it slowly tightened its grip. I eventually dropped the wrench and started doing whatever else I could to set myself free: I kicked, clawed, and hit the beast as hard as I could, but to no avail. As I reached the edge of passing out, I heard a voice.
“Tarlim, look at me,” it said calmly with a deep, raspy voice.
I looked around for a moment before hearing it again, but this time it was in front of me.
“I want you to look at me, Tarlim,” it said once again.
I soon realized where it was coming from and who was saying it once I looked at the mutated Venlil. It was that creature who was speaking.
“You did everything you could to try and get out alive, but you failed,” he said serenely “Now you’ll die knowing everyone you ever knew and cared about is gone.”
My eyes widened when it spoke. I tried to respond, but I wasn’t able to say a single word.
“I had fun chasing you and those exterminators, Tarlim, but now it's time to move on.”
Its mouth opened wide, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth layered on top of eachother. My vision was fading rapidly, and my body went limp as I accepted my fate. Just before I completely lost consciousness, I heard the faint roar of a ship's cannon and the crushing force around my neck vanished. I felt like I was sinking through an ocean as I fell to the ground, dull spikes of pain ripping through my shattered body. I tried to look up to see what had happened, but everything was too heavy, too dark
I just
Wanted
To
S l e 3 ppe..4!u
[Subject consciousness lost Memory transcription ended]

I'm 35. I did not grow up with alcholic parents. My mom had a lot of mental illness growing up - primarily severe depression and anxiety - but she did not become an alcoholic until a few years ago. She drinks in secret. I don't know how much, but I'm guessing a lot. She drinks vodka to the point that she blacks out. She lives alone and has partial custody of my adult brother with severe autism. I think she's drinking every day now. Her excuse is that she can't sleep without it. She has sleep apnea, but won't go to the doctor for it and won't wear her CPAP.
Recently, I had surgery to remove my gallbladder and my mom stayed with me for the surgery. I talked with her beforehand about the fact that I didn't want her to drink when she was here because I am high risk for complications given other medical conditions. I hod the alcohol in my house befor she came. The surgery went fine and I was discharged same day, but I had intolerable pain later that evening and knew something was wrong and that I needed to go to the ER. My Mom was still up and midnight, and when I walked into the living room she was so drunk she couldn't stand up and was slurring her words. She brought vodka in a water bottle and had drunk the whole thing. I knew there was no way she could drive me. And I couldn't drive myself due to anesthesia and pain meds. I just went back to bed and hoped that whatever was going on wasn't life-threatening... I made it to 6am before I knew I had to go. By then my mom was sober enough to drive me to the ER - albeit very hungover. I had severe post-op ileus and urinary retention and had to be hospitalized. I can't help but think she put my life at risk to get drunk. All she had to do was stay sober 24hrs and she couldn't do it. I'm so heartbroken and disappointed. And worried that if she was willing to cross this line, where is the line? Does she drink when babysitting my niece? Around my brother? I feel like I don't even know her anymore. And that I can't trust her. When I was discharged, I started counting my pills just to make sure she wasn't stealing them.
I don't know what to do. She hasn't even acknowledged it. Hasn't apologized. I don't know what to do. Her calling and asking how I'm doing fills me with anger and resentment. I don't know how to talk about this with her. I'm worried if I do, she'll just spiral and drink more. She's always the victim. But not saying anything feels like I'm enabling her - showing tacit approval through silence. I have to do something, but I don't know what.
It is so hard to come to terms with the fact that she's not the mom I grew up with - that I can't rely on her anymore. I don't know what to do.

If you've heard anything about cryptocurrency, you've heard one or both of the following lines: "It has value because it's scarce!" and/or "It's just a bunch of bits, it has no real value." Both of these are both true and false, and both miss the bigger picture.
The blockchain, the inventive programming solution to a handful of key problems that allowed cryptocurrency to exist, is relatively new, but pseudo-scarcity in the economy is not - it is, in fact, the whole gist of major parts of the contemporary economy. The US dollar is artificially scarce - and always has been. Despite the arguments that the US dollar was truly scarce before the ending of the gold standard, the fact that we are no longer on the gold standard demonstrates that the dollar was always pseudo-scarce, because the government always had the ability to stop tethering the dollar to precious metals - ie, it was always just fancy paper, it just used to be fancy paper with guidelines on how and when to restrict its printing. Cryptocurrency works the same way now: it's at best pseudo-scarce, not scarce. Yes, there are formulas implemented in many cryptocurrencies to restrict the total supply - but we can always just hard-fork it to switch where the money is, to add more money, and so on - so long as enough people believe in that change to purchase the new currency. And that is where economic value actually comes from: belief.
Suppose you have a truly scarce resource, some material of which only a gram exists on Earth, which is extremely difficult to produce. Is this material inherently valuable? No. It might just be a specific sort of dust, or especially rare grains of sand of a certain specific shape. But if it is instead some panacea, or some extreme poison, it becomes quite valuable because it is useful. Belief matters precisely because a bottle of "special" sand can be sold as an exceedingly rare panacea for thousands of dollars, so long as the buyer believes it is a panacea, and an exceedingly rare panacea might never be able to be sold at all, if everyone believes it is simply "special" sand.
Both cryptocurrency and the US dollar get their economic value thanks to belief. In the former case, belief in the technology, belief that it is the future of the economy, belief that it is safer or more moral than government-issued currency. In the latter case, belief in the government, belief that it is more stable and secured than other available currencies, belief that it is safe or more moral than other available currencies. The media, of course, plays an enormous role in the formation of these beliefs - this is one reason that there are so many stories about cryptocurrency financing terrorism, and so few about it being used in charity. Running fearmongering stories about cryptocurrency helps to lower the price, creating an opportune moment for the financial entities that own the media to invest, and in the period of silence on the topic after, when the price recovers, it is a good time to sell, before using those funds to purchase again when the next fearmongering campaign is underway - rinse, repeat.
Beyond this semi-conspiratorial rambling, we see the use of belief in all digital markets. NFTs did not crash in price because they were an inherently stupid idea - rather, they crashed because they visualized the falsehood of the notion of digital scarcity. That is, there is no difference between an NFT and a unit of Bitcoin, save that an NFT can be copy-pasted and screenshotted to demonstrate the absurdity of digital scarcity, while a unit of Bitcoin is just a trail through different wallets originating ultimately from some miner, at which point it takes the form of complex mathematical operations and waste heat carried out over some period of time. That is: a unit of Bitcoin is as absurd as an NFT or a paper dollar (be it backed by gold or not), because a Bitcoin and an NFT are both just bits, and a paper dollar is just that, paper. All are backed entirely by faith. All digital goods are backed entirely by faith. Why should I pay for Netflix when I can download every show on every streaming platform for free? Well, because it is illegal to download any of them for free. So, we might suppose that digital assets are backed economically by threat of force from the state - but this is also entirely based in faith, of a fearful sort, since new technologies make it possible to entirely skirt around being caught pirating by various media corporations. And, thanks to our media laws, it is the job of the corporation to first detect pirates, not the government.
This is all to say: every digital asset, and many physical assets, have value entirely from the faith of the buyer. People still buy magic water, so it's not hard to imagine them buying magic products, products that vanish when the seller no longer has the right to them, products with artificial expiration dates that self-delete when "expired." Imagine if your milk could pour itself out once the best by date was up, consider how many times you probably drank or used milk that was theoretically expired but tasted completely normal, and you start to see the issue. If you milk a cow, and drink the milk it produces, you don't generally need to worry about Galliker's sending you letters to inform you that you are in violation of "milk-piracy." But if you download a copied file that you didn't buy, without using the proper precautions, you might find yourself with a letter from Fox informing you that you "stole" media from them, despite the fact that you don't own anything they produced - you own a copy of it, just as a homesteader drinking milk from their own cows is not stealing milk from other farmers by doing so.
So why is milk-piracy not a crime, but digital-piracy is? Precisely because digital assets are based on faith. You can always crack and copy any offline digital file, but if you could do without fear of punishment, media companies believe that no one would purchase digital goods at all, everyone would simply pirate. Unlike digital-piracy, milk-piracy requires owning a cow, and most people would rather buy milk than own a cow for milk, so Galliker's has little to worry about.
But, is it true that no one would purchase digital goods if they could simply pirate them legally? No. Fewer people would buy it, but not none - not even close. Prolific media pirates tend to not be just prolific in their media "theft," but also the biggest consumers of purchased media. Why? Because they can "try before they buy" through digital piracy. They are prolific purchasers of media because they are able to consume more media of high quality than other people, and purchase high-quality media when they find it. And, why should a person have to pay to play an hour of a game before deciding that it's trash and leaving it to sit on a shelf or in their list of digital purchases, untouched, forever? It makes more sense from a quality-assurance standpoint to allow people to play as much as they want before purchasing.
This is because, when a person provides something for free, but offers the option to pay, many choose to pay - because a new form of faith kicks in: the belief that it is morally good to compensate quality works with some reward, including money. Media pirates consume more media because all media is available to them, allowing them to select which are worthy of compensation, and which are overhyped garbage. That is, media piracy is a force within the economy that selects for quality works, while the more typical semi-blind-entry process of seeing a movie or show on TV or streaming or in a theater selects primarily for populist brain-worms - things you can numbly put on in the background while either paying for a subscription or seeing ads, either of which tells the company playing the media to make more of that. And, there are some things worth seeing that are not worth compensating - things that can blindly play in the background as pleasant noise, things that are famous and unintentionally funny for being of poor quality, and so on. When you watch a new episode of a show that might be good, or go to the movies to see a film that might be good, you are not paying for a good media experience, you are paying for the possibility of a good media experience.
In all cases of pseudo-scarcity, value is based on faith. For arbitrarily-produced currencies, faith is the only possible backing. (Even for truly scarce currencies, this is the case - gold, for example, is not particularly useful compared to other materials, so its value is based on the faith that it is more valuable than other materials.) In the case of digital goods that are pseudo-scarce, faith is still the only backing - but we don't need this faith to be enforced, we would do better to remove the artificial faith in favor of the natural one, and let quality determine compensation, rather than the possibility of quality and the threat of fines.

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Memory transcription subject: Kila, Venlil Engineering Student (First Year) White Hill University
Date [standardized human time]: September 8, 2136
Finally.
Professor Gretty’s calculations had been spot on. He'd even accounted for any potential difference in temperature although it should be possible to manage that element from the tuning slide near the bell.
The apparatus I’d designed was a little different than I'd originally envisioned. At the base of the device, near the mouthpiece, there was a small part that would vibrate the air via a small oscillating ‘gate’. As the air passed through, it would emulate the human lips, causing the air column to resonate properly.
To determine the necessary frequency at which the gate would operate, I had attached a thin, spooled wire to the outside of the slide. As the slide extended, the spring-loaded spool would act as a tool for measurement, determining the length the slide had been moved by how much it had been unwound. As the slide retracted, the spool would rewind. That had taken some tricky design to make consistent. Even the small inconsistencies in how the wire rewound was both breaking the mechanism and causing inaccurate measurements.
Luckily, the slide moved on a mostly fixed path so I could make due.
I had initially planned to use a wireless controller. But, early testing was proving it to be more trouble than it was worth.
The data read from the spool was fed to the gate mechanism where it adjusted the frequency in real time. The entire device used a tiny amount of electricity and while a standard battery would suffice, I'd gotten a little creative against my better judgment. The spool also acted as a tiny generator, charging the on-board battery as the slide was moved.
If this was a school project, I think I'd get perfect marks.
That thought wasn't completely born from ego. I'd gone to great lengths to make it consistent. While the device was mostly simple, I had to make sure it would stand up under rigorous action. As such, I'd been moving the slide in and out the whole time I was tweaking it.
Something my arm was pretty damn tired of.
The harmonic was controlled by a small set of four buttons placed where the player’s paw would grip the slide. Each button represented a certain harmonic level. Between the spool and the buttons, the frequency control was very much usable.
The opening at the end of the gate mechanism was fitted for a specifically designed Venlil-friendly mouthpiece. I'd been considerate of the condensation (spit) that Brad had warned me about. The inside of the gate mechanism was lined with a flexible, waterproof material, allowing the moisture to seep downward and be drained from the ‘spit valve’ at the bottom.
Why did I choose an instrument that you have to blow into?
The whole apparatus would need maintenance and repair every now and again which made for more hassle than the baseline instrument could make. But, it did work for a Venlil player, something that couldn't be said for the original design. I’d actually tested the tone myself, proving that I'd also managed to knock down one of the primary barriers for entry. According to Brad, a Human player had to train their embouchure to be able to get the right frequency for each slide position. In the case of my mechanism, the player just had to be familiar with the harmonic buttons.
It almost felt sacrilegious to make the instrument easier to play. Seemed almost like we, as Venlil, were balking at the musical challenge. But, we were physically incapable of operating the instrument otherwise.
As I held the newly manufactured trombone in my paws, I felt some pride in its creation. I'd crafted it meticulously, sacrificing lots of my time and focus to design it. I'd molded the material, carefully constructed the pitch controller, wired the tiny circuit board, and RIGOROUSLY stress-tested the whole thing to make sure it was up to snuff.
It was completely and totally finished.
Yep.
All done.
Nothing left to work on.
Tested and approved.
…
I sighed as I took the trombone apart and placed the parts in the case. Oddly enough, the relentless rush to get it designed and built was not the part I was worried about. No, the real struggle was the true end goal, the reason I'd made the whole thing in the first place.
Why am I so nervous?
I'd spent my whole life tailing Saesh, trying to emulate her outgoing and fearless nature. Even when everyone around me seemed to take it as a warning sign, I couldn't help but respect her capability. To not be debilitated with fear was a boon to accompany her kind-hearted nature. So, I'd always made it my goal to be like her. Though, I'd often found myself in the same position as my pitch controller. I could emulate the original thing well but it was never quite the same.
For that reason, the prospect of asking Mezil out had me feeling pretty hesitant. The last thing I wanted was to make things weird between us. But, I wanted to get closer to him. He was such a good soul…and it was cute watching him stumble through things.
I just…wasn't used to romance. I'd never felt this way before. And, if things didn't work out, would it ruin our friendship? I didn't know what I’d do if things somehow ended on bad terms.
“You shouldn’t be so worried about what might happen that you let inaction turn into regret.”
I thought back to Brad’s words. He'd been pretty adamant that I should go for it and he also seemed to think I had a good chance.
Maybe Mezil’s disposition was rubbing off on me and I was worrying about nothing.
I turned my pad in my paws for quite some time. Was I really going to do this? I suppose I didn't have to commit to it right away. I could just call him over to my room and give him the trombone. Then, if things went well, I could continue on with the real request.
Yeah. That works. Keep it open. Like Brad said, less serious. Just take it one step at a time.
I hovered a claw over Mezil’s contact…
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Memory transcription subject: Mezil, Venlil Music Student (First Year) White Hill University
Date [standardized human time]: September 8, 2136
After the last few paws, I’d been satisfied to take a considerably long rest. Having blazed through my homework, I took the opportunity to unwind and process everything. It was easy to feel restless with the information I’d recently gleaned but I’d be useless if I ran myself ragged anymore.
As I soaked in the blissful nothingness, I was jarred back to reality by the ringing emanating from my pad. Rolling off of my bed, I hobbled over to my desk where the device laid. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I brought the screen up to where I could read it. The call was from Kila. Odd. She usually just used text messages.
I tapped to accept and gave a groggy greeting as her visage filled the screen.
“Hey, Kila. What’s up?”
“Mezil, are you busy?”
She looked a little more serious than usual. Did something happen?
“Busy doing nothing maybe. No, I'm not really doing anything right now. Why?”
“Can you come to my dorm? I have something you might be interested in.”
That was intriguing but, to be honest, I'd have looked for just about any excuse to hang out with her again. It had only been a few paws but it felt like an eternity. I wasn't always as sociable as the average Venlil but confiding in her had helped me tremendously when it came to dealing with my academic predicament.
“Yeah, no problem. I'll clean up and head over.”
Her face lit up in response.
“Awesome! I'll see you in a bit!”
I stretched myself out and stole a glance at the mirror.
Yeesh. I really am a wreck. I'd better do a deep clean.
-
After bathing and getting the knots out of my fur, I found myself standing in front of Kila’s door. I reached my paw out and tapped out some light knocks. After a few moments, the door opened wide with Kila standing behind it. She wagged her tail in a greeting and motioned me in.
“Wow, you did clean up huh?” she asked while inspecting my newly brushed coat. I'd put some extra effort into it, wanting to make up for my recent disheveled look.
But, looking at her, it seemed she'd done about the same thing. I'd never seen her so well-groomed. Was there a special event coming up?
“Yeah,” I responded. “I've been a hygiene disaster the last few paws so I figured I should change that. You seem pretty done up too. It's a really good look. What's the occasion?”
“Oh, uh, I just wanted to clean up well. I've been kind of a wreck the last few paws too. End of the term, you know?”
I flicked my ears in affirmation. If her last few paws were as eventful as mine, I wouldn't blame her one bit.
“So, you had something you thought I’d want to see?”
“Right! But…maybe we should save that for later. I haven't talked to you lately. How’s schoolwork been treating you? Making headway?”
I sighed as I took a seat on her bed.
“It's going well enough, I guess. Busy. But, I've been completing everything so hopefully I'll pull through. That's not really what's been taking all my time though.”
“Oh? Give me the details.”
Part of me felt hesitant to disclose my findings at the library. But, ultimately I decided that Kila was plenty trustworthy. Besides, I'd already told Brad. Granted, he wasn’t living on a Federation planet.
Kila would keep it a secret. If anyone would do it for me, it'd be her.
So, I filled her in on my plight, explaining the Federation censorship and my meetings with Aebl. I showed her the music piece and told her about how Brad had played over it during our call. I briefly described to her my first experience with rock ‘n roll and how the intensity had made me view my struggles in a different light. Through it all, she sat and listened, occasionally asking questions but mostly staying enamored with the tale.
When I finished my recap, she leaned back in her desk chair and closed her eyes. After a moment of silence, she delivered her conclusion.
“Holy shit.”
An understandable response to my ramblings, I figured. I felt the same way.
“Yeah, that's been my recent experience. What about you? What have you been up to?”
She stiffened at the question, a response that made me stiffen as well. It was unlike Kila to be so jumpy around a subject. I wondered if I'd hit a sensitive spot.
“That…is a good question.”, she responded with hesitation in her voice. “Well…first of all I spoke with Brad alone. He showed me his guitar as well. We talked about some…things…”
Her vagueness was noticeable. It felt like she was dancing around the subject.
“There weren't any problems, were there?” I interjected. “I'm sure we could work out any conflicts.”
“What? No! I just…shit, I’m bad at this.”
Bad at what?
“I’m…not sure I follow.”
“You can’t follow because I’m not saying anything that makes sense! Just…hold on.”
Kila stood from her chair and opened the closet in the corner. From it, she retrieved a long black box, cradling in her arms. She sat it down lengthways on the floor and flipped open the latches. Before opening it, she looked up to me again.
“I've been working on this with Brad. I guess my physics professor helped too. It's a gift for you, actually. I've been busy with it for the last few paws.”
A gift? I hardly deserved one.
“You shouldn't have gone through the trouble,” I blurted. “Shit, it's the end of the term. You shouldn't be worried about me.”
“I'm not worried about you, doofus! Well…I am but that's not why I put this together. Besides, it's already done so don't reject it now.”
She lifted up the top half of the box and inside was a long, curved piece of metal tubing. It ended with a bell shape. Attached were a few strange devices I didn't recognize. It shone brightly, reflecting the light in the room.
…
“Uh…what is it?” I asked.
“BRAD, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!”
Her sudden outburst caught me off-guard and I straightened up in response as she continued.
“I swear…Why wouldn't he show you after he showed me? Then again, he only showed me because I asked. But then, why didn't you ask about it? You're a music student! Damn it, this isn't going how I planned. Mezil, this is a trombone. It's a Human instrument.”
A human…instrument?
A HUMAN INSTRUMENT?
“How did you get a human instrument?!” I asked, nearly jumping onto the thing in my excitement.
“I made it! All in all, the instrument wasn't that complex to build with university machinery. The hard part was making it playable for Venlil. See, Humans do this thing with their lips and facial muscles…anyway, I had to emulate the whole thing mechanically.”
“You…did all of this for me?” I felt the tears forming in my eyes.
“Well…yeah.”
“How does it work? I've never seen anything like it. Holy shit, Kila, this is AWESOME!”
“Ok, so, first we need to put it together. See, the slide and the bell screw together here.”
She took the two pieces from the case and joined them at a threaded section, screwing a nut into place to secure them together.
“Then, you attach the mouthpiece here and place your mouth up to it to blow air through it. But, this is the weird part. Usually, Humans have to use their lips to make vibrations but we can't exactly do that. So, I built this here to serve the same purpose.”
Kila walked me through the functionality of the mechanism, showing me the buttons for changing the harmonic and also the less than glamorous spit valve at the bottom of the slide.
After getting her rundown, I tried it myself, placing my mouth up to the mouthpiece and pushing air through the vibrating gate.
Kila explained that I could use my tongue to cut the air flow and that it could create different effects on the tone. Pushing the air through was harder than expected as the gate restricted the air flow. Apparently, this was by design. It allowed for longer sustain since it didn't immediately require all the air in my body.
Despite the minimal air throughput, just enough to maintain a steady air column, the trombone was actually rather loud. Even the quietest tones I could produce had a significant amount of volume backing them. But, what was perhaps the most intriguing thing was the variety of sound it produced. The softer tones were melodic while the more forceful tones were almost disconcerting.
“You'll need to keep both the main slide and tuning slide greased well. You can detach the wire for the slide detection right here. The whole apparatus can be detached by removing these screws in case you need to clean the instrument. Just make sure to dry it well if you use water so it doesn't rust. And, make sure to keep dents out of the slides.”
As Kila finished her walkthrough, I placed the trombone down gently on top of its case and wrapped Kila in the best hug I could manage.
“Thank you, Kila,” I choked out. “It's amazing. You’re amazing! How did you manage this in two paws?”
“It was three paws, actually.”
“Three paws?”
“Yeah. I spoke to Brad about it that paw when you were at the library. Then, the next paw I spent playing with the design and running simulations. The next paw I built this one.”
“If it's been three paws…wait…”
Relinquishing my hug, I started rifling through my bag for my pad. I brought up the calendar, searching for assignment due dates.
My heart dropped into my stomach when I found what I was looking for.
“Oh no.”
“Mezil?”
“Oh no no no no no fuck fuck fuck FUCK!”
“Mezil, what's wrong?”
“I missed turning in like four assignments! I thought I had one more paw!”
The worry on her face only worsened as she realized the weight of what I was saying. I'd been scraping by, trying to maintain a GPA that would allow me to retain my scholarship.
I just threw that effort away.
I couldn't handle any missing assignments. My grades would still be passing but below the scholarship cutoff.
“Mezil,” she started. “Listen to me. We’ll figure it ou-”
“I'm such a fucking moron, Kila! Fuck! Everything I've done up until now…I just ruined all of it!”
“Look, maybe you can get some extra credit!”
“That's not even the point!” The tears of joy that had been in my eyes were being replaced with tears of anger as I nearly shouted in frustration. “I'm not closing the gap on my schoolwork! It's just getting worse!”
I sat back down on her bed, burying my face in my paws. Kila sat down beside me and wrapped me in a hug of her own. I felt her tail intertwine with mine like I had done when she had her first call with Brad.
“It's alright,” she spoke soothingly. “We’ll figure something out.”
“Why do you keep helping me?” I choked out. “I just keep fucking everything up.”
“No you don't. You're brave and strong. You're kind.”
“All I do is fail. Why even make this trombone for me?”
“Because…Well, actually, I wanted to ask you out for a date…So, do you wanna go out some time?”
…
What?
“I-I'm sorry?” I stammered. “Did I hear you right?”
I saw her face turn a bright orange. I felt my own face follow suit.
“Yeah. But, uh, this isn't how I expected it to go. I'm sorry. It's probably a bad time to mention it now.”
Kila’s sudden confession had snapped me out of my downward spiral completely. If anything, it was the best timing.
“Why me, though?”
“Why not you? You're a great friend. You're passionate about music, smart, and…kinda cute?”
“I'm cute, huh?” I asked, trying to add an air of teasing while I wiped tears from my eyes.
She flicked her ears in annoyance. Then, took a scenting breath a little close for comfort.
“Well, it helps when you clean up like you did. What shampoo is this? I like the smell.”
I chuckled at her response, feeling the tension leave my muscles.
“Mistfruit, I think.”
“So, uh,” Kila continued. “What's the answer then?”
“Answer?”
“Do you wanna go out with me?”
“Sure. But, I think I'm just happy to spend time with you anywhere.”
I didn't know where my words were coming from. There was something that I'd never consciously realized until that point: Kila was easy to talk to. With her, I could speak my mind and, despite all my social shortcomings, it was just natural. Everything felt simple with her. I didn’t mind opening up if she was around.
But I still had a problem.
I sighed and leaned into her embrace, nuzzling into her fur.
“I'm sorry, I shouldn't mention it again but what am I gonna do about my grades, Kila? School just isn’t going well at all.”
“Just do what you can. Talk to the professors. Maybe they'll give you a helping paw. Maybe some extra credit like the music assignment.”
“I don't know. Some of them are real hardasses.”
She chuckled at my response.
“Well, maybe you’ll lose that scholarship. There could still be other financial options. Maybe you can find another way to afford it.”
At this point, I was content to listen to her suggestions regardless of whether or not they were realistic. I just found myself lost in her embrace, kept calm by her steady arms.
Then, as if to spite that serenity, my pad rang once again.
“Shit, now is not the time,” I grumbled as Kila released her grip. I picked my pad up and checked the number. “A university number? Who would call me from the school?”
“It could be important,” Kila said, leaning over my shoulder. “You should answer.”
I flicked my tail in agreement and tapped to accept. The screen changed and I was met with Professor Haeli’s face.
“Hello, Mezil.”
“Professor Haeli?”
“I'm sorry to use your personal number but the university had it on record and I felt like I needed to run this by you over a call rather than a message through the school portal. Do you have a moment?”
I turned my ears inquisitively towards Kila who flicked her own ears in a ‘go ahead’ motion.
“Uh, yeah, I've got time.”
“Good. See, I spoke with Headmaster Blyne and I was able to negotiate for a bit of an opportunity.”
An opportunity?
What kind of opportunity could Haeli have for me? The extra credit assignment was already for full marks in her class. She spoke with the headmaster…How big of a deal was this?
I didn’t need to wait long for her to answer my question as she continued her spiel.
“We’ve decided that the best way to determine the merit in Human-Venlil cooperation would be to attempt something more tangible than a report. The headmaster is looking for something more practical and I suggested that we could have an in-person musical performance here at the university. That is, one that includes both Human and Venlil performers.”
A live performance? Here at White Hill?
As far as I knew, there hadn’t been any Human presence at White Hill. It would likely be the very first time. The in-person avenues for the exchange program had been restricted to military personnel. But, perhaps the university had enough leverage to get a civilian onto Venlil Prime.
I found myself wondering what the concert had to do with me. I was only a first-term student. I’d only partaken in a couple of recitals. Certainly, they didn’t want me as a performer.
“What exactly do you need from me?” I asked, unsure of what to make of the situation
“I’d like you to perform, Mezil. I know you haven’t had much of a chance to prove your musical capabilities. No first-term student has. But, you have shown a progressive mindset towards Humans and the ability to adapt to challenges. As far as I know, there’s no one more qualified for this particular event.”
I let her words sink in. She really wasn’t concerned with my lack of experience? In that case, I suppose I was the most qualified.
“Moreover,” she continued. “You’d need to determine the setlist yourself. We’re looking for both Human and Venlil musical representation. The instruments you choose to use are up to you. It really depends on how you choose to arrange your pieces. I’m willing to offer assistance in that regard. The concert would be shortly after the end of the term; five paws after the finalized grades.
You may be wondering what you’d receive in exchange. The headmaster and I went back and forth and decided that, should the performance go well, the university will place you in a program for Human integration going forward. And, you’ll be provided free tuition and board so long as you succeed in that position.”
A full ride scholarship…A FULL RIDE SCHOLARSHIP!
“I’ll do it!” I sputtered. “Whatever it takes, I’ll make sure the performance goes well!”
“Now, hold on a moment, Mezil,” Haeli spoke with a warning tone. “Certainly, you must know how high the expectations are for this. Don’t agree to it so lightly. This is a very delicate situation that will influence the perception of Humans by the student body and staff. It needs to be near-perfect. I’ll help, of course. But, don’t think this is going to be easy. Headmaster Blyne still needs to work with the UN to get permission to bring a Human civilian here. We’re tentatively assuming that it will be approved since the UN has been very accommodating regarding personnel thus far.
As of now, we don’t have any set Human performers. That will partly be your responsibility unless you cannot find anyone on your own. The civilian comm line to Earth is set to be complete in two paws. You should have free reign to go looking for prospective musicians. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. You may want to mull things over for a paw before committing. It won't be a walk in the park. And, I still expect the report from you as well. If you want perfect marks this term that is.”
I flicked my ears in acknowledgement.
“Thank you, professor!” I nearly shouted. “I’m glad that you chose to involve me. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
Haeli wagged her tail, seemingly pleased with my response.
“Well then, Mezil, I hope to hear from you again soon. For now, I’ll leave you to it. Have a good rest of your paw.”
“You too, professor.”
The call ended and I slumped on the bed, melting into the soft mattress.
“You are so damn lucky,” Kila said as she laid down next to me.
“I have so much work to do,” I responded.
“So…I assume you’re going to get Brad involved?”
“Of course. If I can bring him here to White Hill, that would be awesome.”
“I'm sure he'd be happy to join. It does sound like a ton of work though. Integrating Human and Venlil music with each other sounds tough.”
“Well, luckily I just so happen to have a Human instrument to work with. Someone very special to me made it as a gift.”
Kila nuzzled into me and I returned the favor.
I’ve already worn myself out. So much for a break. That's alright. No one said college would be easy.
And, I wouldn't mind staying in this moment forever.
-
Memory transcription subject: Brad Silmore, Human Field Hand
Date [standardized human time]: September 8, 2136
Watching the sun creep up and over the top of its arc, I found myself a little puzzled. I'd thought for sure that Mezil would have been itching to call. It was, after all, the weekend which was the best time for me to help him with his report.
Then again, he seemed pretty tunnel-visioned on the music hidden in the ceiling of that library. Maybe he was still focused on that. Hell, maybe he forgot what day it was.
I wonder what kind of progress Kila was making on her attempt to make a trombone. She seemed smart. Probably wouldn't take her very long.
Snapping me out of my thoughts, the exchange program app on my computer sounded an alert, luckily still audible to me on the front porch. Looked like Mezil decided to call after all.
I meandered inside, closing the door behind me and seating myself at my desk. My hand moved the mouse to click the accept button. As I pressed down, I realized I might want to turn to the side but it was too late. Mezil and Kila’s faces populated the monitor. Luckily, neither of them seemed phased by my staring into the webcam.
“Well, well, well,” I started. “I guess you didn't forget about me after all.”
“Sorry, I forgot that you were off work,” came Mezil’s sheepish response.
Heh. Sheepish.
“More like he forgot what paw it was,” Kila corrected. “He almost screwed up big time.”
Wow, I didn't actually expect to be right about that.
“I did screw up big time. But, I had a lucky break.”
On the bed behind where the two sat, I saw a trombone with a strange set of accessories tacked onto it. Did Kila already finish the construction? Then, that means…
“I see you've been acquainted with a trombone,” I noted. “So, did everything go exactly as you'd planned, Kila?”
Both their faces turned orange which answered my question for me.
“N-not exactly,” Kila stammered. “But, it worked out I think.”
Mezil supplemented his agreeing ear flicks with a head nod.
“Good stuff, I knew you had it in you. So, what's this monumental error that Mezil supposedly made?”
Mezil’s orange shade turned even more orange.
“Well, since I didn't realize what paw it was, I forgot to turn in a number of assignments.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. I knew how precarious his situation was academically.
“You're not failing any classes now are you?” I questioned.
“I'm not failing any of them, but I don't think I can keep my scholarship. Luckily, my music professor contacted me with an opportunity. She wants to do a concert with Venlil and Humans performing. And, the university is offering a position in an integration program if it goes well. If I succeed, I could get a full ride scholarship.”
Kila wagged her tail, looking almost more excited than Mezil himself. It was for good reason. What excellent news!
“That's awesome, Mezil! I know you'll knock it out of the park!”
They both turned their heads in confusion.
Oh yeah. That probably doesn't translate right.
“Er…it means you'll do a great job. It's a sports analogy.”
The pair flicked their ears in understanding. I was beginning to impress myself with how well I could read the Venlil body language.
“I plan to do my best,” Mezil confirmed. “And, if it's not too much trouble, I'd like your help.”
“Sure thing,” I responded. “Need some song suggestions?”
“Actually, I was hoping you could be a part of the performance, coming to Venlil Prime to play.”
Me? Performing on Venlil Prime.
“Mezil,” I started. “I'm not a professional musician. There have to be tons of people more qualified.”
“It doesn't matter,” he insisted. “I’m only a first-term student myself. It's not as much about musical ability. It's more about how well we can cooperate. And, you're a plenty good musician. I've heard you play. It doesn't need to be anything fancy. Just something to show that we can make good things together.”
The explanation made sense. If it was about showing the potential for Human integration, having two exchange partners would be a good plan.
“Can I even get to Venlil Prime?” I asked. “I thought it was only for military personnel.”
“My professor seems confident that they can get the UN to work it out. The request would come from the university so it would have some professional leverage.”
If I can really go to another planet…
“Alright, Mezil. I'm in. It's been a while since I practiced for something serious. But, I'll put my best foot forward.”
Mezil wagged his tail with happiness.
“Great! We’ll need to get a set list together first.”
“Well, I've got time. How would you two like to explore some music with me?”
Both of them leaned forward in anticipation.
Shoot, I didn't actually prepare anything. What haven't they heard yet?
I stopped and considered my options for a moment before a grin spread across my face.
“I do believe you've yet to be acquainted with disco.”
-
First / Prev / Next

https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/game/for-honohero-skins/conquistador-vela-warmonger-skin

Background

A bloodthirsty Warmonger of Spanish descent, Vela quickly rose through the ranks of the Order of Horkos thanks to her ruthlessness, her cunning mindset and her bombastic flair. Through sheer determination, Vela proved herself a pack leader – a wolf among wolves. This won her the attention of Astrea. When the esteemed Horkos leader heard outlandish tales of an empire of gold on the other side of the world, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to fill her war chests. It mattered little that the veracity of this legend was uncertain. Astrea asked Vela to lead a convoy of ships across the sea, and the latter didn’t hesitate to accept. This was her chance to prove herself, to earn Astrea’s favor – maybe even become second-in-command.

I don't see why her being a descendant of Spain would be so relevant in the modern day of Heathmoor considering how long it would be since Spain was active, unless it is still a big part of the Empire beyond Ashfeld. I wonder if the rumor has any ties to Ravier's vision, it sounded to me more like something random that got her attention because she does need the money to fund her projects that we will see in the next seasons.

Vela and her company were gone for months. But one stormy day, they returned, clad in new golden armors and draped in capes of red – the colors of their triumph. The traveling warriors disembarked their ships and stepped foot on the shores of Heathmoor as something else: Conquistadors. Vela had succeeded in her task. She had found the empire of gold, and she had decimated it, bringing back its treasures along with her. She and her fellow Conquistadors told grand tales of their heroic conquest, casting themselves as valiant, conquering heroes. But the real story of what had happened in the New World was a much darker affair…

Part 1

The wind pressed hard against her. But she pushed back, a force of nature of her own. The ship rose and fell with every motion of the waves, each bigger and taller than the last, but she kept her balance, her feet guided by years of expertise. A long-haired marauder rushed towards her, a rusted sword in one hand and a knife in the other. What her opponent lacked in finesse, they made up in sheer strength and intensity. This was someone used to striking fear into the hearts of ordinary men. A man, she wasn’t. And certainly not ordinary. She was a Warmonger. She was Vela. And now, she was known as something else. Conquistador.
So why did she feel such a rushing sensation?
Something that was, in her heart, almost crippling. Thankfully, she brushed it off just in time and avoided the oncoming attack. She didn’t even turn back to see the backwards thrust of her sword stab right through the marauder’s chest. Then, she lopped his head off with a mighty swing, and it was on to the next.
A battle was raging on across the deck of the Domitor, the ship she had called home ever since she left Heathmoor six months ago. Her fellow Conquistadors, men and women she had come to depend on as her crew, all locked in battle against dozens of sea marauders. Their boat was just as massive as hers, and it was nearly at arm’s length. These marauders were perhaps not organized, but they had a system. They were used to this sort of attack, and had used the storm as an advantage to get close. But already, the Domitor’s canon fire was plastering the enemy ship with damage it would never recover from. Wood splintered and caught fire, burning a vivid red against the charcoal-colored clouds. Flames the rain wouldn’t put out. Soon their attackers would all be dead, and they could resume their course back to Heathmoor.

A ship at sea map sounds so damn good. I just checked to see how long it would take to travel from Europe to the Americas back in 15th century and the timeline checks out, taking at least around 1.5 months for a one-way trip. If she spent around 3 months at sea, she could have had at most 3 months to steal the gold for Astrea.

But while she was already looking forward to her glorious return home, Conquistador Vela had to focus on the here and now. A horrendous scream came from the left – from one of her own. She turned to see two blades sticking out of a body that had been raised overhead by a hulking brute. The dead Conquistador was thrown overboard. Vela’s only concern was for the loss of their armor. The gold it had been forged with was priceless. Irreplaceable. What a waste.

I forget where I learned this, but apparently a really large portion of gold and other resources taken from the Americas were lost from attacks while at sea. Anyways, it seems that the armor we see Vela wear was made in Empire of Gold she was sent to rather than having it before she left.

Without even skipping a beat, the massive marauder let out a vicious roar that silenced the lightning’s thunder before kicking a door down – the door that led directly to the ship’s bowels. And the prize that lay below.
It appeared word had traveled fast. This was no random attack. These marauders knew what the Conquistadors had done. What they had destroyed. And what they had taken.
Vela yelled out, once again pushing back a strange sensation of fear. She had been through too much to lose it now. After all the lives she had killed, all the atrocities she had committed, she couldn’t risk losing what meant the most to her. The crown jewel of her victory. Her golden key. With it, there would be no denying her resolve, her commitment, her grandeur. With it, she would be hailed as the greatest warrior in the ranks of Horkos. A savior, a provider, and a conqueror. With it, she would be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Astrea herself.
But for that to happen, the prize needed to stay alive.

I guess the thing in the cage we saw in the trailer is going to hold the upcoming hero.

With haste, she ran towards the brute, her golden armor heavy on her shoulders. Her sword stabbed the marauder right through the shoulder, but her opponent’s strength didn’t waver in the slightest. Using all her weight, she pulled back and down. The enemy swung a heavy punch that she avoided at the last possible moment. This gave her the opening she needed: with a hard kick, she broke the brute’s knee. Then, with a swift motion, Vela removed her sword from his shoulder, planted it upright into the wooden deck and grabbed the marauder’s head, grating their face down the blade until it was nothing but an unrecognizable, bloodied mess.
Wiping the blood away from the blade with her cape, Conquistador Vela walked to the edge of the Domitor just in time to see the enemy ship collapse into the water. Her ship had, once again, lived up to its name. And she had lived up to hers.
And soon, all of Heathmoor would know it.

For additional information, the Warrior's Den Recap gives some more details

Y7S2 Vengeance

Whispers of a New World recently reached the Horkos. The brutal explorer Conquistador Vela set sail with a fleet to investigate. What she found exceeded all rumors: vast cities of gold, the precious metal plentiful as mud. But this civilization would not suffer invasion so easily. They challenged the Conquistadors to fight at a set time and a place - an odd custom Vela pretended to agree to, before she ambushed them.
Now the Horkos return in triumph. Obscene amounts of gold and treasure fill Vela's Castle. But her greatest prize of all is the enemy combatant she's captured: the strongest warrior from the New World. Many Horkos lives were lost in taking the prisoner. Kept caged and hidden, this spectacular fighter will soon be unveiled before Astrea for a public execution.
Until then, the Horkos celebrate.

Launch Event: Stolen Empire

The Conquistadors have returned from their journey to the New World with vast hoards of gold. The Horkos war machine now funded beyond belief, warriors gather inside Conquistador Vela's castle to celebrate the boundless might of their order. Revelries, feasts and festivities await, where all will marvel at a most prized trophy: a caged warrior from the stolen empire.

Well, this one wasn’t meant to be this long or have so much stuff going on. enjoy.
Thanks, u/SpacePaladin15 for the universe And u/VeryUnluckyDice for implanting a tumour into my brain.
And thanks to u/A_Tank_With_Internet for proofreading this chapter.
[First]-[Prev]-[Next]
—--
Memory transcription subject: Colton Anderson,
Date [standardised human time]: October 24, 2136
“Why not get another guitar? If you’re gonna teach me I’ll need one of my own anyway.”
Anaw was right. I might not be able to prove that a guitar is an instrument without getting deep-fried, but Anaw could, he wasn't a predator. All I had to do was help him get a guitar and then teach him an exterminator-friendly song to play and boom, I get my guitar back! I smiled under my mask, things were finally looking up for once.
It sure beats coming up with a dramatic plan to murder a venlil exterminator which will almost certainly lead to my death.
I stood up from the table, Confidence renewed, “Alright Dude. let's get you a guitar!”
“What, Right now?” Anaw asked me, surprised by the sudden decision.
“Why not? The trouble is, We’re on Venlil Prime, the only guitars here would be the ones taken by refugees from Earth. Not many people would be willing to part with theirs, but still going to the shelter might be worth a shot.”
“How long will that take?”
I have to check my pad for this one. As I figured out the fastest route I noticed some more venlil come in. They must be the next shift's workers.
Shouldn't they have been here earlier? Ah fuck it I don't care I gotta get Anaw his guitar
After a little bit of mental math produced an answer, “A bit more than a claw? Maybe? If you have commitments I can go on my own.”
“I think I can manage that.” Anaw was enthusiastic and I hated putting a damper on that optimism but I had to take this seriously.
“There will be a lot of humans there, without masks on… are you sure you wanna go?”
“Yeah I really do, but I’ve never even a human without their mask, not even you, what if I panic?”
There is a very good chance he might panic. But I gotta be supportive right?
“You won't panic, you've gotten this far. If you do I’ll be there.”
“Okay, But I have to wash this frone juice out of my wool first.”
After Anaw mentioned it I did notice the sweet smell and slightly damp look of his wool.
“Frone juice?”
“It’s a juice made from a really sweet purple fruit called a frone, it has a hard shell and a soft fleshy inside.”
I shrug and stare blankly at Anaw.
“you didn’t notice me being a tasty snack?”
If I had a drink I would have spat it out.
Thankfully since the next shift’s workers have already come in, I could order one while I waited for Anaw to misuse the emergency shower. Apparently, venlil kitchens all have Showers in case someone catches on fire.
So venlil are flammable. Good to know. Dark, but good to know.
—--
Anaw and I walked to the Train station. Venlil got exhausted much faster than humans so the nearest public transport was never far off. Usually, cities would have a ‘tube network’ which wasn't dissimilar to a city metro. I had to give it to the venlil, they had great public transport. Even in the agricultural areas where I worked, there would still be autonomous taxis that could take you where you needed to go.
It didn't take long to reach the station and get on a train to Greenmedow
“Anaw do you want me to transfer some more music to your tablet for the ride, it's gonna be a pretty long one so we have time.”
Anaw brought up his pad and accepted the file transfer. He pressed play.
——-
“Hey Colton, why did the exterminators take your guitar anyway?”
Because he’s a dick.
“I don’t know why, he just took it, he only claimed it was a weapon after.”
Mcflammable probably knows it’s not a weapon.
I suppose it’s wrong to assume that this exterminator is doing this out of malice rather than misunderstanding since I don’t actually have hard evidence.
Then again Firelord Flufflefuck has given me little reason to believe he doesn't genuinely love to see me suffer. At least I know I'm making someone happy.
“I think it's unfair that people are so afraid of you Colton.”
“It's just how it is Anaw, people will get used to humans eventually, for now, I just have to be careful not to scare anyone.”“But I'm afraid, and I know I shouldn't be because you're nice.”
I sighed, Anaw is probably the only person outside of the shelter that I can really talk to.
Not sure what was up with vemly though, maybe she got scared off, that's unfortunate.
“I want to see your face.”
“What? You just said you were afraid!”
“Maybe it's just like the music, all I have to do is see it and I’ll be okay?”
“Come on Anaw we’re not doing this here.”
To my surprise Anaw actually tried climbing on me “No one else is here, come on please!”
I didn't really want to remove my mask. I find it quite comfortable. What was less so was Anaw now on my lap trying to pull it off. I decided to relent lest Anaw accidentally claw me in the face or something.
Anaw has really unusual behaviour for a venlil, has metal corrupted his mind or something?
I began to pull off my mask slowly, revealing my face to Anaw, I look out the window of the train, seeing the scenery fly by.Out of my peripheral vision, I could tell Anaw is just staring at me. He was still sitting on my lap, paws clenched around my arms.
Honestly, this is a very compromising po- NO THOUGHTS HEAD EMPTY NOW!
“I'm so sorry Colton but I’m Very scared right now”
I'm not surprised, Deep Lake doesn't have any humans in it, I’m probably the first human he's ever met.
I’m so sorry Anaw but your claws are digging into me.
THUD
My head snaps to the entrance of the train carriage. The sudden movement also caused Anaw to flinch back, accidentally cutting my arm with his claws in the process. He continued to fall down onto the opposite bench. I didn’t see anyone at the entrance. Curious I donned my mask and walked over to the source of the noise. Anaw scrambled back into a standing position and followed me, staying a bit further away than he previously would.
Its a venlil, lying face down.
Anaw then spoke, “H-he must have seen your p-predator eyes and passed out.”
What the fuck is everyone's problem with my eyes. I'm sick and tired of this shit.
No, not the time to be like this. Anaw is afraid but he is trying at least.
“I’ll go grab some water for him”
Anaw dug through his carry pouch. “I have a bottle, you just have to fill it up”
I took Anaws water bottle and headed to the train's toilet room.
I’m sorry strange venlil, but the bathroom water it is today
I began to fill the water bottle from the sink. The straps of my mask were digging into my skin, so I pulled it off to re-adjust it. I saw my face in the mirror.
After everything. It's still me.
My brain tried reading the expression of the person before me, but their face remained enigmatic as ever.
The water bottle was completely filled and I took it back to Anaw. The venlil who passed out had already come to and was yammering on about seeing a predator, while Anaw comforted him.
Anaw gestured for me to pass the bottle. The venlil saw me and beeped in alarm
It would be cute if it wasn't so sad
“I think ill just sit to the side” I assured the pair.
I plopped myself down onto one of the seats on the opposite corner of the wagon that faced away from them. Staring through the window, the scenery rushed by, moving on without a care.
I put my headphones on and turned the volume up high.
—--
A/N: Yeah. At least Greenmedow sounds like a nice place.
[First]-[Prev]-[Next]

When I read the Silmarilion I was confused by how seriously everyone took the Silmarils, after all, they were just jewelry, made by one guy, how special could they really be?
Of course, eventually I told myself "they contain the only remnants of the light of the sacred trees, Laurelin and Telperion!", and for a long time that seemed to justify their importance, but eventually I thought "so what if they are relics of the beauty that was lost? The life of any person, or elf or dwarf or ent or whatever, should be more important than any relic, no matter how unique it is"
Look at it this way. Trees, mountains, water, air, people, all those things were part of the Song of Creation, they are truly beautiful, and special, but the Silmarils are just objects, they are not part of the song. The beauty of the silmarils pales in comparison with the beauty of a single tree
And I guess that was Tolkien's point. All the characters in the story are surrounded all the time by things far more beautiful than three measly jewels, but many don't see it
You can see this in the story of Beren and Luthien. When Beren saw Luthien dancing for him in the forest that was far more beautiful than any of the Silmarils. In that moment both of them experienced more joy than any of the sons of Feanor ever did. In fact, Beren and Luthien kinda don't gave a crap about the Silmarils, they just wanted to get it because it was important for the other characters in the story... Or if they cared about the Silmarils, in loosing it they found something more valuable, their love for each other

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• kittytime

My corgi had the cutest reaction when she finally noticed me watching her getting groomed. Wait for the smile...
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• Dusty5paw

*Lovely goblin *
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• KARUMBIBI

My jumping spider goby [OC]
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