Hi all, want to see if anyone knows what happens to the parking lot, roads and fire pits this Saturday with bay to breakers happening on Sunday. I think the race is supposed to end right around where three beach chalet is. I’ve organized a bonfire around 6 for my kid’s kindergarten class on Saturday so not sure if I should move it to a different date. I saw that great highway between Jfk and slots is supposed to be closed at 9pm but we should be out of there by then.
Any information is appreciated!!

I was just about to order a radio master boxer, as it looks like the best fit for what I'm looking for (bigger gimbels than the zorro and tx12, and built in 4 in 1) but I noticed the switches are all top side vs front like all the others
Can any users comment to how easy it is to reach the switches while flying?
I bought an eachine 400mm spitfire a couple weeks ago and have been having a blast with it. It's my first plane and I got the hang of it pretty quick. beginner mode has started to feel to easy, but it's nice to be able to flip back to quickly when things start getting squirly.
The trims resetting every time I turn it off is kind of annoying, and I would like to be able to set end points an expo etc, and hopefully work my way from flying intermediate to full manual
I would consider the tx16, but most of my RC hobby time is taken up by racing and crawling. The plane was just something cool to mess with in the park across the road. I dont plan on any more planes in the near future.
The boxer seemed to fit the bill, and seemed reasonable price to fly a $100 plane. The switch placement is the only thing holding me back from pulling the trigger

Full Video Review: https://youtu.be/-o8CLdvcRsY
Words Review: (2 / 10) This is Chambers: The Outlaw, a free to play slice of an upcoming game called Chambers. It's a wild west / western FPS game with some RPG elements and it has amazing old school PS1 style graphics with an awesome western style soundtrack.
That's about it for the good stuff. Now on to the bad, also known as the rest. I played this for over an hour and really hated it by the end. I did not beat the game because I hated it so much.
So first up is the aiming in this. It's really bad and there is no aiming crosshair in the game, it's not even an option to add one - which is odd because the developer needed to use one and you can tell because it shows in the animated gifs on the Steam store page. Normally you could get used to having no crosshair but in this game your arms will also swing around every time you move the mouse and it seems to throw your aim off even further.
While you won't have any crosshairs at all, the enemies will have sporadic crosshairs appear on part of their body which for a while I thought was me getting an aim on them with the gun but apparently is not that at all, they seem to have no purpose at all other than being annoying.
The guns seem authentic to the wild west but they must have been built in Hyrule because they break every few shots and then you end up collecting a large bag of valuable guns that will weigh you down to the point of not being able to move. You can toss them on the ground I guess, but then you are throwing away big bucks because items are supposedly worth money in this game and the guns especially.
There is no run either, you will be walking a lot unless you ride your horse, but you can't even do a quick sprint. The shift button seems to cause your character to crouch and then put his chest on the ground and try to bulldoze forward a bit, it's really stupid and terrible. If you want to go faster than walking you need a horse - but the horse will spawn on the rooftop of buildings and be inaccessible. All you can do is put it out of your misery with a bullet to the face.
The enemies are intellectually disabled to the max and will forget they are in battle during battle, will walk and get stuck on walls, corners, they will mount walls and dead bodies as if they were walls and not care about consecutive shots to the head.
Fighting the enemies also sucks because they have very good aim when they aren't braindead and one thing that is a huge piss off is when you get shot the "bullet hit" effect is so large and in your face that it blinds and during this blinded effect the game even goes into a mini slow-mo. It's very frustrating and puts you in danger of further damage since you often won't even know who's shooting at you.
You get a map eventually and that's great, it's got a fast travel ability which helps a lot with travel. One thing that is very weird is that your character will walk over mountains as if they are flat surfaces while using the fast travel and if you close the map you will actually be standing on top of a mountain that would normally be impossible to get up.
There are so many things wrong with this game. I hope they improve the full version by a lot before it comes out. I really want to like this game, it looks amazing visually and sounds great for the most part but this is not tagged as Early Access so it makes me worried about the full version. If it's like this I definitely won't be playing it.

Do you ever have childhood nightmares or dreams? As for me, at a very young age, I always got nightmares whenever we watched something scary or even just a mention of ghosts. Where I grew up in the Philippines, there was this fantasy show that we watched as kids. Thinking about it now, it's kind of creepy. Whether it was about fairies or friendly ghosts, I still got creeped out and had nightmares about it. There was this nightmare of mine that traumatized me as a kid. You don't really remember your dreams until you're eating breakfast and it suddenly hits you that you had a nightmare before waking up. It's about this island. Imagine the town/island where the Teletubbies are. That one, but imagine it with brown grass instead of green, complete darkness instead of the baby sun, and instead of open space, it's filled with creepy trees. All I remember is running towards that forest and something chasing me. I couldn't look back and kept running. I could feel the trees snitching on my location until I stumbled over a big root of a massive tree.
There's a scratch on my knee and I can feel it sting. With my petite body and out-of-breath lungs, all I did was stare at my bleeding knees. I wasn't crying, but I know I was scared. *Dum...dum...dum.* I could hear it, not in my ears but in my heart. It seems like my heart is synchronizing to the vibration. I still don't know what's out there, but I know I should be running away from it. I saw a silhouette walking towards me slowly. It's big, but not giant big. I close my eyes and then suddenly I am awake, lying down straight like a person in a coffin.
I never talked to anyone about my nightmares. It's normal to have nightmares, but the people around me are saying that it's not normal for a kid to sleep straight like a dead body. I never really took it seriously. I kept having weird nightmares of running in a dark place again. I still don't know who's chasing me. When you are a kid, you have very vivid memories of what your childhood was like. Mine is filled with nightmares. I did still enjoy my childhood and yet still able to be a 'normal' kid. I had plenty of friends, played in the street, and did such fun things. I still feel like something is missing and I tend to mix up memories with dreams. When you are a kid, you have such wild imaginations that you think it is real, but once you turn into an adult, you think that it's impossible for that to happen in the real world. That is just one of the nightmares that stuck in my head and that something I still dream about.
I remember having this dream, or perhaps something happened? Until now, it still confuses me, but here's how it goes. I was playing with my cousins and some of our friends. It was in the middle of the night, maybe 8 or 9 PM? I know it was dark, with streetlights shining through the street. Living in the busiest city in the Philippines, you would still see a bunch of people outside. We were playing hide and seek. I was thankful that I was not 'it' this time. As the seeker counted to 10, we all spread around and found a place to hide.
I decided to hide behind a motorized tricycle, as we simply call them tricycles (just Google what it looks like). One of my friends came with me, but I told her to go away as I didn’t want to get found. She ran off and found another place to hide. I was chuckling, and I could still hear people around me talking and laughing, but in my mind, I just didn’t want to get caught.
I didn’t hide far away from where the seeker was; I could still hear him counting 'and… 10.' Suddenly, everything went quiet. I was quiet too, as I didn’t want him to find me first. I crouched back behind the motorized tricycle, and I could hear him walking far away from me. I sighed with relief. I heard that he found someone far away, as I heard one of my cousins scream in excitement because the seeker found her.
I chuckled.
I didn’t hear any footsteps, but I could see a shadow coming towards me as the tricycle was parked just below a lamppost. I slowly moved around to avoid being found, circling slowly and getting into the rhythm of the shadow. Now, there was a gap inside the motorcycle where I could see the other side. I slowly looked through the gap and, to my surprise, saw a figure looking at me. I got startled, but I didn’t scream. I stood up right away, and to my surprise, I was back there again, on that island.
The tricycle that was in front of me became a tree. Not just a tree, but a tree with massive roots that made me stumble in my previous dream. I was confused. Even now, as I think of it, I know it’s not a dream, but it's getting weirder. My first thought was 'Where are my friends?' The figure I saw earlier was gone. I got out from behind that tree and searched around the forest for an exit. As I was running, I could hear mumbling sounds. I was a kid, and my brain was controlling this stuff, so I went and followed the sounds. One sound seemed familiar—it was my friend's voice—but it seemed like something was stuck in her mouth; it was echoing through the forest.
As the sounds became clearer, my eyes couldn’t believe what I saw. My friends and cousins were tied to the trees, their mouths covered with tape. In my mind, I had to get out of there because I was scared as hell, but at the same time, I wanted to help them. I ran to my cousin first, and as I was going near her, a figure appeared behind her tree. It had eight hands like a spider, but it was brown and shaped like a cockroach. It had a face like a human—technically an image of a human in a cockroach-spider-looking costume. His or her face had makeup that blended with what it was wearing, and it was smiling towards me; I could see its yellow teeth.
"We've looked everywhere for you," it said while slowly coming towards me.
I couldn’t speak or move. I was so scared. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't.
"Now we can start the game," it said in the friendliest way possible. "I won't hurt you or your friends. I just want to play," it added.
Being raised to be nice to everyone, I nodded. I still wasn't speaking.
"Can I get a hug?" it requested.
I nodded again.
It hugged me, and I could feel all of its legs on my body. The thing I thought was its costume? It was actually connected to it. It was warm, and I just closed my eyes. I touched one of its legs, and it felt sticky. Suddenly, I woke up and saw my grandma's husband staring at me, telling me to wake up as it's time for school, and then he left. I saw my left palm was kind of sticky, sweat, I guess.
That's all I can remember from that time. I went to school and lived the rest of the day as a "normal" kid, still thinking about that nightmare. Some of my dreams are not all nightmares; they are happy dreams too. But what's stuck with me is that every time I have a nightmare, it's basically a continuation of the other, but it only happens once I completely forget about it.
Later that same year, I dreamt about it again, but differently. I had already made friends with this creature. It seems that I completely accepted it, and I was not scared of it anymore, but I was not happy either. There was something about it that still seemed odd to me, but I was just not reacting to any of it. We would play tag, hide and seek, and other games. As I noticed the place getting darker and darker, I also noticed that a few of my friends who were in my dreams were getting fewer and fewer until it was just us. It still kept its attitude, lively and happy to play with me. I asked it, "Aren't you sad?" It just kept smiling for a good 5 seconds and slowly frowned, answering, "Why would I? You are all I need as a friend." Then it started jumping around like those mascots you see in kids' TV shows. I remained the same, not happy, not sad, but I went with its flow.
I also noticed that before I woke up, it hugged me, like saying goodbye and at the same time inviting me to see each other again. There was something about its hug too. I could feel the warmth of its eight legs covering my whole body and its breath around my neck. In my dreams, I kept touching at least one of its legs. It seemed that it became a habit, and I could feel it sticky. I woke up again in a straight laying-down position, and my hands were drying, but I could feel the wetness. Then my grandma's new husband was ready to take me to school again.
When I was 9, my mom decided that my siblings, my dad, and I would move to my mom’s side for 3 years before leaving the Philippines. It was my dad's side where I kept having nightmares. I don’t get those nightmares anymore. Sometimes I miss them, and sometimes I wonder if they miss me too. I stopped looking for them. I feel like they went away when I started going to church with my strictly Catholic grandmother. We had to wake up at 6 am to prepare for church, and every day for those 3 years, we had to pray at 7 pm for an hour. We knelt in front of the saints' statues, and my belief in God strengthened. I forgot about the nightmares. I lived like a normal child, had a great childhood, had a bunch of friends, and grew up to be a decent girl. My mom announced that we were all leaving for Canada, and I just remember being so excited about it.
I was 11 years old when I and my friends were playing outside my house. I know I was still a kid then, even if my grandma keeps telling me to stop playing as I am already a grown woman (culture things). Our neighbour's are like aunts and uncles to us; I play with their kids sometimes who're the same age as me. We are all close to each other, even the adults. They treat us as their own since my mom grew up with them as well. One of my neighbors, whom I called “Tito” (uncle in Tagalog), called me and asked me when we were leaving for the Philippines. I told him soon, and he told me how I looked like my mom. I told him how much I miss my mom and how I cannot wait to see her again. He gave me a hug, and then my world stopped. This hug looks familiar. I can feel his breathing around my neck and the warmth of his hug. His hands are playing on my back, slowly stroking it. I swallowed and told him that I had to go since my grandma was probably looking for me. He let go and smiled at me. I just felt tears running through my eyes, and everything came back.
I was SA when I was a kid. I was SA by my step grandfather at my dad’s side. I feel like throwing up, and I can feel everything crawling toward me. I remember the first time he did it. When my mom left, he started touching me. As a kid, I treated him as a monster and just created these scenarios in my head. Even my childhood friends saw it, but since we were kids at the time, what would they know? It was inside the motorized trycicle where he was touching all over, but he said that we were just playing hide and seek and that he found me. It was then that I was so ashamed to play with my friends, as I remember one of my cousins stopping coming over because he started touching her too. The place is my dark place. Now I remember everything. I was so mad and angry. I remember that I would wake up in those positions after he touched me and felt my whole body. And remember the sticky thing in my hands? Yeah, it was his semen that he wiped away before I got to sleep, which is why whenever I am about to wake up, he is almost always there.
Now that I am in my 20s, I have tried to move on, yet the trauma still lingers within me. That monster died a few years ago, and his last words to me were, “Do you still remember me?”. I never had a chance to confront him. I opened up about my experience to a couple of my friends and gave advice to those who have experienced it too. I help those friends of mine who are still experiencing it and assist them in getting out of that situation. My only regret is that I was too afraid. I used to blame myself, but not anymore. None of it is my fault; I was just a child. I was not strong enough to keep my peace, still thinking that it is all a dream for the sake of my peace of mind. I wanted to apologize to the kid in me for not protecting her during those times, but I will never let that happen again to anyone that I know of. I now live in Canada, working in an office and happily thinking that my monster’s body is burning in hell. Thank you for reading. Please always watch out for whoever is watching your kids, your younger siblings, as you never know even the very person you trust can do massive damage to your loved ones.

Hello everyone!
I (22M) just graduated and landed a job making ~75k/year, and am looking to buy a first car in the coming August where my insurance will decrease by a significant amount. (7 years of having license, and a year older).
My work is a hybrid position, minimum 2 days in office. However, the office is 100km away one way, so that results in around 400km a week minimum, all highway.
I am looking for a fun, practical, and reliable car, with fuel economy as second. Currently, I'm borrowing my moms Nissan Kick, which she also needs. I am living at my parents home, but will still be paying rent.
I'm a fan of rally racing, and my dream car is a GR Corolla, but I don't want to afford it right now. But kept it in the calculations to see anyways. Also, keeping a dream car and $50k car clean would give me anxiety.
Currently I'm looking at a WRX base, Civic Si, Mazda 3 Hatch base (auto).
I have test driven the WRX, Civic Si (in a parking lot only, dealership didn't want to test drive a low inventory, new car on the streets). Mazda 3 hatch has no inventory, and was unable to test drive.
Not picky on sound, interior finish/materials, motorized driver seats, luxury items, etc.
Would also like no sunroof, heated seats at least, physical buttons. Plastic cladding is actually a plus for me in winter, and outdoors. I'm looking at Japanese cars because I'm scared of Germans for their repair costs.
I'm not into performance modding, and will be keeping my daily stock. I will be doing light maintenance myself.
I would like to take my car to camping, mountain biking, other outdoor activities.
I'm leaning towards a WRX, and my Subaru dealer gives a $750 new grad discount. However, I have time, and may be there are better options for me out there.
Pros and Cons
Pros and Cons of what I'm looking at. and fuel economy
cost breakdown
Some other options I've considered:
Golf GTI:
Reliability wise, the thermostat housing and water pump is a maintenance item that I don't want to deal with, sounds like it will be inevitable. New Mk8's no longer has manuals I heard.
Used Subaru:
I dont like the EJ's and used subaru's in general. Looking at the price of used cars, it's still much higher than normal.
Used normal cars:
Honestly, it would be the right decision, but I'm really tired of seeing a lightly used car for the price of new, and getting older cars inspected and higher repair intervals pulls me away from that option. I want to reward myself with something new.
Hondas:
I would like to stay away from Honda, their insurance is high in the GTA. Looking at you Si.
Do you guys have any other recommendations? Thank you for reading this long post.

Any idea what could be causing this odd smell in my cabin? It smells like horse stables or manueur. It's not foul but not a pleasant smell.

So I'm creating a Galactic Civilization, and in this world, the use of Ecumenopolises is frequent. Located in prime trading routes and in strategic locations, these massive worlds are the beating heart of a Galactic Empire.
Deeply inspired by Star Wars, I really liked the idea of having city worlds that were so dense, so populous that they had layers, or levels.
But, I can't help but wonder, how feasible is this odd layout of society? I'm especially concerned of the social aspect. The idea of having actual cities on top of each other is a concept that seems so odd, so foreign to me. If not outright absurd.
For example, wouldn't people feel trapped to live in an enclosed city level? Wouldn't they feel stuffy, or scared that there's a gargantuan roof over their city? Or in terms of perspective, many people already get dizzy and lost in big cities today, looking at all the networks and buildings that are overwhelming. What happens when you add cities both on top and below them, with all its interconnecting infrastructure?
I've already adopted a few features that may help out this odd urban setup, such as Simulated Sky Domes for under-city levels. Lower levels would have simulated skies - both day and night - to give a sense of reality and openness. The cities would also encompass grand plazas and large parks, to give 'open air' public spaces for the masses.
Though, even with such adjustments, do you feel like a human-like species would ever feel comfortable living in such layers? Do you think it would be too weird, or unsettling? Are there more things that can be done to make those levels feel more normal? Or, would it be better to simply stick to one urban level, the surface level?

Hey all,
It’s been years since I have run a half marathon and I am really trying to meet a certain time. I was wondering if there is any benefit to using manual lap on my Garmin 245?
When I do the smaller races in Central Park auto-lap is usually a little off.
What do people tend to do?

https://www.blockedandreported.org/p/premium-faker-news
This week on the Primo episode, Katie and Jesse discuss the latest in fake suicides and race-faking. Plus, a disturbing artifact is unearthed.

• https://twitter.com/GreatCheshire/status/1788282943611228440
• AFSC Diversity Leader Misrepresented Her Own Identity
• Open Letter
• Raquel Evita Saraswati pretended to be a woman of color. Her deception traumatized the communities she claimed to help.
• Former DEI Officer Speaks Out Against Racial Allegations and Misinformation
• Raquel Saraswati denies allegations that she lied about her race
• A Disgraced Philadelphia Activist Landed a Job at a Portland Therapy Clinic. The Therapists Quit.

https://todayscarryovers.blogspot.com/2024/05/todays-horse-racing-carryovers-for-may_15.html

A DE-based CT that's inspired by the Goosebumps book "One Day at HorrorLand", that allows the user to cast a DE that's reminiscent of the theme park from the book. This domain mirrors the eerie and dangerous aspects of Horrorland, complete with menacing attractions and terrifying monsters. The user can control and manipulate this park, using it to trap and frighten enemies. Upon activation, the user is automatically transported into a master control room of sorts that allows them to oversee the entirety of the park and opponents via cameras strewn about the park.
The user can also summon and control an innumerable amount of green-skinned, muscular horned shikigami dubbed "Horrors" to be used for offensive, defensive, or support purposes. These shikigami are not only physically strong, but also immensely durable, to the point where nothing can really hurt them. The only thing that can kill these shikigami is pinching them.
The main sure-hit effect of this domain, revolves around the gameshow-based aspects that this domain has to offer. Upon getting caught in this domain, the opponents are randomly placed in different sections of HorrorLand where they are then forced to participate in games involving the various attractions or rides. Everyone is then given 3 lives, that can't be brought or won back, and if all exhausted will result in the death of the opponent.
The unwilling participants and/or participant is able to freely pick which ride or attraction to compete in, with each one having the same win condition: SURVIVE. The how doesn't matter, as long as you survive. They must survive a total of 5 games in order to win, which will then transport them to the exit point of the theme park, or in other words, forcefully deactivate the users domain, which results in a heavy amount of backlash on the user. If there are multiple opponents caught in this domain, only one of them needs to win in order for the whole group to win.
Some of the notable rides and attractions (because it'd take forever to list EVERYTHING lol), as well as their effects are as follows:
Attractions:
Deadly Doom Slides: 10 monstrous slides, each with a different interior and effects. The slides themselves are way bigger on the inside than outside, being more like tunnels than actual slides, or even separate realms entirely. The slides are as follows:

1. Ear Wax Alley: Appears as a twisted tunnel filled with grotesque, towering sculptures made entirely of ear wax, that can attack whoever enters, with their main method of attack involving coating and immobilizing victims in earwax that slowly corrodes their skin.
   
2. Electric Banshee: Appears as a realm of perpetual thunderstorms, where lightning strikes indiscriminately and the air is filled with the haunting wails of spectral banshee-like shikigami that are capable of attacking opponents. The ground crackles with electrical energy, and those who enter risk being struck by lightning or driven mad by the banshees cries.
   
3. Worm Belly: Appears as the stomach of a massive, writhing worm. The walls are lined with pulsating organs, and the ground is covered in squirming, slimy worms. The air is thick with the stench of decay, and stomach acid that slowly eats away at those who dared choose this slide.
   
4. Dragonbreath Drive: This slide leads to a fiery landscape dominated by a colossal dragon-like shikigami. The sky is filled with smoke and ash, and rivers of molten lava flow through the terrain. The dragon's fiery breath scorches everything in its path, and those who enter must evade its wrath to survive.
   
5. Just-a-Drop: A normal slide in appearance at first glance. The effect of this slide however, takes the form of a massive bottomless pit that the victim must figure out how to escape from.
   
6. Hairy Luge: This slide is coated in a thick layer of writhing, sentient hair that grips and pulls at anyone who enters. The hair seems to have a mind of its own, forming into grotesque shapes such as hands or weapons, and faces that leer and taunt those trapped within.
   
7. Carpenter's Delight: This slide leads to a realm where everything is made of sharp, splintered wood, that unless your entire body is reinforced with CE, you'd easily get impaled. Trees twist and contort into nightmarish shapes, and the ground is littered with jagged wooden shards.
   
8. Sewer Slide: This slide descends into a maze-like network of dark, dank sewers filled with toxic waste and monstrous shikigami that can spew toxic waste that burns flesh. The walls are slimy with filth, and the air is thick with the stench of decay.
   
9. Infinity Dreadful: This slide leads to a dimension of infinite darkness, where the concept of time and space are warped. Those who enter find themselves trapped in an endless void, with no hope of escape. The darkness consumes everything, including the minds of those who enter.
   
10. So That's Where All the Axes Went!: This slide transports individuals to a realm where every surface is covered in sharp, spinning axes. Surviving in this realm requires constant vigilance and agility to avoid being struck by the deadly blades.
    

Rides:

1. Bumper Carnage: This bumper car ride is set in a twisted, nightmarish version of a carnival midway. The cars are equipped with spikes and blades, and riders must dodge not only other cars but also the deadly obstacles that litter the track.
   
2. Calamity Canyon: Victims board a seemingly normal log flume ride that quickly descends into darkness. The waters become murky and filled with unseen shikigami that pull riders under, only to spit them out onto a crumbling, narrow path along a cliff's edge. The ride culminates in a final drop into a pool of blood-red water.
   
3. Dead Ringer: Riders board a carousel where each horse is adorned with a skeletal rider. As the carousel spins faster and faster, the skeletal riders come to life, reaching out to grab and pull a riders soul out of their body, and then them into a another skeletal rider.
   
4. Wheel of Misfortune: This Ferris wheel takes riders to dizzying heights before suddenly stopping, leaving them suspended in mid-air. The cabins then begin to rotate rapidly at supersonic speeds, causing disorientation. Some cabins even detach randomly and plummet to the ground.
   
5. Monster Mash: This haunted house ride is filled with animatronic monsters that come to life, chasing and attacking riders as they make their way through dark, winding corridors.
   
6. HorrorLand Derby: Riders board decrepit bumper cars that take on a life of their own. The cars steer themselves, crashing into each other with bone-jarring force. The arena is shrouded in darkness, and eerie laughter echoes through the air as the cars relentlessly pursue their terrified opponents.
   

Howdy folks, got an interesting crossover here for you all to enjoy. I’ve created a mewithoutYou themed Magic: The Gathering deck. For those not in the know, MTG is a card game that’s been around for thirty + years. In this game you use mana to cast spells, summon creatures, and call upon the help of Planeswalkers to defeat your opponents. Within this hobby is the format Commander (or EDH for the oldheads) which is a singleton deck that consists of 100 unique cards led by a “legendary” creature.
With all this in mind, I’ve pulled inspiration from mewithoutYou’s 100ish tracks, from the beginning EP all the way to U//untitled (excluding some Pale Horse appendix and INSIWB demos/alts). What you have before you is a 100 card deck with each card (even lands!) attached to a song from their catalog; some based on lyrical content, some on thematic card design, some just on “feel.” There were definitely some hard decisions to make, as I wanted the deck to also be playable, and oddly enough, I felt that not many tracks felt blue or red.
Additionally, I have a “master list” connecting cards to songs, but I felt it would be a little more fun for those who participate in each hobby to take some guesses at what cards reference what songs. Or if you’d just like to know what card represents your favorite song just ask! Maybe there’s even some cards I missed that you feel should be included! Suggestions welcome before I commit to building the deck in paper. Either way, I hope you all have a great day and find other cool ways to connect your hobbies.
You'll find a link to the deck list here

I was talking about Jokic with a co worker who steadfastly believes that by the end of his career, Jokic will join Lebron in the 30k/10k/10k. While I don’t disagree that Jokic will hit those totals if he plays like 8-10 more years, it got me thinking - is Jokic going to play for that long? Dude seems like he’d retire while he’s still relatively young and healthy, in order to do more horse racing, spend time with his kids/family, etc…
His contract ends in 2028 - what is the likelihood he calls it quits after that? He’s accomplished pretty much everything, aside from a few minor accolades (scoring and assist champ, teammate award).

me and my boyfriend are 23-24 yrs old . we visited tulum for the first time ever may 10-15th. we ARE mexican american but we learned ALOTTT being there. while my boyfriend speaks perfect spanish, i am a little more on the proficient side. before coming to tulum, i did the mistake of checking reddit about tulum. i even asked my boyfriend if we could cancel our trip because of all the things i was seeing . i have only been to mexico once before this . i think a lot of people make it sound worse than it is. we felt safer in the centro than we did in the hotel zone!! there was people of all races and ethnicities riding their bikes and scooters in the nighttime we rented a car and didn’t deal with police stopping us. we did see them stop one person our entire time there and he was a local. we did see them take someone’s license plate but it’s bc they were parked in a no parking zone. yes we are hispanic but that does not keep the locals from taking advantage! we went to the artisanal market and walked into a shop. we spoke to him in spanish and we were honest and said we were from the USA. he immediately began saying that just bc we spoke spanish, he was going to give us good prices but if we were “white” he would charge us more. while we were flattered , i felt bad knowing this is how the tourists are trapped. he gave us a bunch of free stuff though lol . then, went to a shop in the centro to buy a shirt before i left. my boyfriend was speaking to the owner and told him we are from guanajuato mexico and i entered the store by myself. the vendor was trying to sell me 2 shirts for 1250 pesos (about 75 usd). when he was trying to sell my boyfriend immediately walked in and told me no we need to look elsewhere. the owner walked over to the vendor and told him to lower. he only lowered 100 pesos and we began to walk out. the vendor said i’ll give you the 2 shirts for 800 pesos (about 50usd) which is normal in the USA but expensive for mexico. we ended up getting them . they are trying to make a living so obviously be respectful when turning them away. is tulum expensive? yes. any touristy place is expensive. but what we really came for was the cenotes and beach. we didn’t do any fancy beach clubs or go to crazy restaurants because we want to experience the culture here and not the gentrified version of the city. overall we had a great time, lots of yummy local food and spent about 2k for our entire trip including , flight, stay, food, car etc.

Note:

• All keys are primarily from US/NA region
• My list maybe slightly outdated so I apologize in advance if some of the games mentioned are already traded/Sold.
• I accept XBOX keys as well.
• I accept paypal only via goods and services so all transactions will include fees.
• My Wishlist, I am just interested in these games and mentioned in wants below.

HAVE

• .hack//G.U. Last Recode
• 10 Second Ninja X
• 112 operator
• 198X x 2
• 8 doors
• 9 Years of Shadows
• 911 Operator x 2
• A Fisherman's Tale
• A Juggler's Tale
• A Little Golf Journey
• A Sceptic's Guide to Magic
• A Tale of Paper: Refolded Edition
• A.I.M. Clan Wars
• Aces and Adventures x 1
• Aegis Defenders x 3
• Ageless x 3
• Alekhine's Gun
• Alien Spidy
• Alwa's Awakening
• Amanda the Adventurer
• American Fugitive x 3
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent + Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
• Amnesia: Rebirth x 2
• Anna's Quest x 2
• Anuchard
• Arcade Paradise
• Arcade Paradise - Arcade Paradise EP x 2
• Arcade Spirits
• Arto
• As Far As The Eye
• Astalon: Tears of the Earth
• AtmaSphere
• Attack of the Earthlings
• Automachef x 3
• Automobilista
• Autonauts vs Piratebots x 3
• Axiom Verge
• Axiom Verge 2
• Back 4 Blood - STRICT NA REGION LOCK x 2
• Ballpoint Universe - Infinite
• Bartlow's Dread Machine
• Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition
• Batman: Arkham City GOTY
• Batman: Arkham Knight Premium Edition
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
• Bayonetta
• Beacon Pines x 2
• Before We leave
• Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery
• Beholder 2
• Bendy and the Dark Revival x 2
• Between the stars x 4
• Beyond the wire x 2
• Big Crown Showdown
• Bionic Commando x 2
• Blade Assault
• Blasphemous
• Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night x 3
• Book of Demons x 3
• Boomerang Fu
• Borderlands 2 Game of the Year x 2
• Boreal Blade x 3
• Boundless
• Bravery and Greed
• Broken Age
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
• Builder Simulator x 1
• Bunker Punks
• Butcher
• CAPITALISM 2
• CHESS ULTRA
• CODE VEIN
• CROSSBOW: Bloodnight x 2
• Call of Juarez Gunslinger
• Canyon Capers
• Capitalism 2
• Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
• Car Mechanic Simulator VR
• Cardaclysm
• Carnival Games VR
• Caveman World: Mountains of Unga Boonga
• Celeste
• Charlie's Adventure
• Chicken Assassin Reloaded
• Children of Silentown x 2
• Chivalry 2 x 2
• Chivalry: Medieval Warfare x 2
• Citizen Sleeper
• CivCity: Rome x 3
• Civilization III x 2
• Clutch
• Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues
• Conan Exiles
• Convoy
• Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3
• Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!
• Cook-Out
• Cookie Cutter
• Cosmic Star Heroine
• Crash Drive 3
• Crazy Machines 3
• Crown Trick
• Cultures - 8th Wonder of the world
• Cursed Castilla (Maldita Castilla Ex)
• Cyber Hook x 2
• DISTRAINT 2 x 2
• DOOM Eternal DELUXE EDITION
• DUCATI - 90th Anniversary
• Dagon: by H. P. Lovecraft - The Eldritch Box DLC x 2
• Danger Scavenger
• Dangerous Worlds x 2
• Dark Future: Blood Red States
• Darksburg x 2
• Darkwood
• Dead Age
• Dead In Vinland x 2
• Death's Gambit: Afterlife
• Deleveled x 2
• Demon Pit
• Deponia: The Complete Journey x 2
• Derange
• Desert Child
• Desolate x 2
• Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed x 2
• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - Digital Deluxe Edition
• DiRT Rally
• DiRT Rally 2.0 - H2 RWD Double Pack
• DiRT Rally 2.0 - Opel Manta 400
• Dirt Rally 2.0 - Porsche 911 RGT Rally Spec
• Dirt Rally x 2
• Disco Elysium - The Final Cut
• Disjunction - gog
• Do Not Feed the Monkeys
• Dracula: Love Kills
• Drake Hollow x 2
• Draw Slasher x 2
• Drawful 2 x 2
• Dreams in the Witch House x 2
• Dreamscaper x 2
• Driftland: The Magic Revival x 5
• Ducati - 90th Anniversary
• Due Process x 3
• Duke Nukem Forever collection x 4
• Dust to the End
• Dying Light Definitive Edition
• ELEX II x 4
• ETHERBORN
• Eador. Imperium
• Earth 2140
• Earth Defence Force 4.1 + all dlc
• Earth Defence Force: Iron Rain
• EarthX
• Edge Of Eternity x 3
• El Matador
• Elderand
• Eldest Souls
• Ember
• Enclave (Gold) x 2
• Encodya - GOG x 2
• Endless Space 2 x 2
• Endzone - A World apart
• Enslaved™: Odyssey To The West™ Premium Edition
• Eternal Threads x 4
• Eternity: The Last Unicorn
• Evergarden x 2
• Evoland Legendary Edition x 2
• Exiled Kingdoms x 2
• Expeditions: Rome x 2
• Expeditions: Viking
• F1 2017 1988 McLAREN MP4/4 Classic Car DLC
• FAR: Lone Sails x 2
• Family Man x 3
• Fantasy Blacksmith
• Fantasy Versus
• Farmer's dynasty x 2
• Fated Souls 3
• Fear Effect Sedna
• Fictorum
• Field of Glory II x 2
• Field of Glory: Empires
• Figement
• Final Fantasy III (3D Remake)
• Five Dates x 2
• Fling to the Finish
• Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel x 2
• For The King
• Foretales x 1
• Four Sided Fantasy
• Friends vs Friends x 4
• Frog Detective 2: The Case Of The Invisible Wizard x 3
• Frogun
• From Space x 3
• Fun With Ragdolls: The Game x 2
• Fun with Ragdolls: The Game
• Fury Unleashed x 5
• GOD EATER 3 x 2
• GRID Autosport - Premium Garage Pack DLC
• GRID Autosport - Road & Track Car Pack DLC
• GRIP: Combat Racing Artifex DLC x 3
• GameGuru x 2
• GameMaker Studio 2 Creator 12 Months x 2
• Garage: bad trip
• Garfield Kart
• Garfield Kart - Furious Racing
• Gauntlet
• GemCraft - Chasing Shadows
• Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition x 3
• Ghost Of A Tale
• Ghost Song
• Gift of Parthax
• Glitch Busters x 2
• Gloria Victis x 2
• Gnog
• Go Home Dinosaurs x 2
• Gold Rush! Classic
• Golden Light x 3
• Golf Club Wasteland
• Gotham Knights
• Gothic 3
• Grand Mountain Adventure
• Green Hell (Region locked)
• Guts and Glory
• Guts and glory
• Hardspace: Shipbreaker x 3
• Have a nice Death
• Headsnatchers x 2
• Heal
• Heavy Burger
• Heli Heroes
• Helion
• Hell Pie
• Hell let loose
• Hellpoint x 2
• Hero's Hour (NA Region) x 3
• Hexologic
• Hi-Fi RUSH
• Hidden & Dangerous 2: Courage Under Fire x 3
• Hidden & Dangerous: Action Pack x 2
• Hiveswap Friendsim x 2
• Hiveswap: Act 1
• Homefront
• Homestead Arcana x 2
• Honey, I Joined a Cult x 2
• Horizon Chase Turbo x 2
• Hot Brass x 2
• Hot Wheels Unleashed
• Hotshot Racing x 3
• Hue x 2
• Hyperdrive Massacre
• I Expect You To Die
• Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure
• Ikenfell x 3
• Imperator: Rome Deluxe Edition x 2
• In sound mind x 2
• Indivisible x 5
• Injustice 2 Legendary Edition
• Insurmountable
• Interplanetary: Enhanced Edition
• Interstellar Space: Genesis
• Introvert Quest
• Iratus: Lord of the Dead
• Iris And The Giant
• Iron Danger
• Iron Sky Invasion
• Jack Move
• Jack Orlando: Director's Cut
• Journey of Greed
• Journey of a Roach x 2
• JumpJet Rex
• Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection
• Just Cause 4 Complete Edition
• Karma City Police
• Kerbal Space Program
• King Of The Castle
• King's Bounty: Warriors of the North
• Kingdom: Classic
• Kingdom: New Lands x 2
• Kings of Kung Fu
• Kitaria Fables
• Knights and Merchants
• Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara
• Kraken Academy!!
• Kyle is Famous: Complete Edition
• LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
• LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
• LEGO® MARVEL's Avengers
• Last Inua
• Lawn Mowing Simulator x 2
• Layers of Fear + Soundtrack
• Leisure Suit Larry - Wet Dreams Don't Dry
• Leisure Suit Larry - Wet Dreams Dry Twice
• Levelhead
• Liberated
• Liberated GOG x 2
• Liberte
• Lichdom: Battlemage
• Life is Strange 2 Complete Season (incl. Mascot Bundle DLC)
• Life is Strange: True Colors x 2
• Little Orpheus
• Loddlenaut
• Lords and Villeins x 3
• Lostwinds
• Lovecraft's Untold Stories x 3
• Lust for Darkness
• MO:Astray
• Mad Max
• Magrunner: Dark Pulse
• Main Assembly
• Majesty 2 Collection x 2
• Making History: The Calm and the Storm Gold Edition
• Marvel's Midnight Suns Digital+ Edition + Doctor Strange Defenders Skin
• Mass Effect 2 Origin key
• Medieval Kingdom Wars
• Mediterranea Inferno
• Meeple Station x 2
• Mega Man Legacy Collection
• Memoria + Soundtrack
• Men of War
• Merchant of the Skies x 2
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition x 2
• Middle-earth: Shadow of War Definitive Edition x 2
• Midnight Fight Express
• Midnight Ghost Hunt
• Midnight protocol x 2
• Milky Way Prince - The Vampire Star x 2
• Monaco
• Monorail Stories
• Monster Crown x 3
• Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp x 2
• Monster Slayers
• Monster Slayers - Advanced Classes Unlocker
• Monster Slayers - Fire & Steel Expansion
• Morbid: The Seven Acolytes x 2
• Morkredd x 3
• Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate Edition x 2
• Mortal Kombat XL x 2
• Moving Out
• Mr. Prepper x 2
• Munin
• Murder by Numbers
• My Big Sister x 2
• My Time At Portia
• Mystery Castle: The Mirror's Secret
• Mytheon
• Mythforce
• Narita Boy
• Nebuchadnezzar
• NecroVisioN: Lost Company
• NecroWorm x 2
• Neoverse x 3
• Neverout x 2
• Neversong
• Nickelodeon all-star brawl x 2
• Niffelheim x 2
• Nigate Tale
• Nioh 2
• Nobody Saves the World
• Noosphere
• Northend Tower Defense
• Nowhere Prophet
• Nuclear DAWN
• OTXO
• Oaken x 2
• Oddworld: Soulstorm Enhanced Edition x 2
• Of Orcs and Men
• Oh My Gore! x 3
• Omensight Definitve Edition x 2
• Operation Tango x 2
• Orbital Racer x 2
• Othercide
• Out Of Space
• Out of Reach: Treasure Royale x 2
• Overcooked
• Overlord: Ultimate Evil Collection
• Ozymandias - NA region x 2
• PAC-MAN 256
• PAC-MAN MUSEUM+ x 2
• PC Building Simulator x 2
• PGA Tour 2K21 x 2
• PULSAR: Lost Colony x 2
• Partisans 1941 x 2
• Patch Quest x 3
• Path Of Giants
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Royal Ascension
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Wild Cards
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker Enhanced Plus Edition
• Paw paw paw x 4
• Peaky Blinders: Mastermind x 2
• Perfect x 2
• Pesterquest x 4
• Phantom Doctrine x 2
• Pikuniku
• Pine
• Pitiri 1977
• Pixel Puzzles: UndeadZ
• Pixplode x 2
• Planet Alcatraz
• Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville (ORIGIN KEY)
• PlataGO!
• Police stories
• Popup Dungeon
• Port Royale 3
• Prison Architect + Aficionado (Dlc)
• Prodeus
• Propnight
• Purrfect Date
• Quern: Undying thoughts
• RAD x 2
• REPLIKATOR
• RICO: London
• RIOT - Civil Unrest
• RPG Maker VX
• Rage in Peace
• Railroad Tycoon 2: Platinum x 3
• Railroad Tycoon 3 x 3
• Railway Empire
• Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan x 2
• Re-Legion
• Rebel Galaxy Outlaw
• Rebel Inc: Escalation x 3
• Red Wings: Aces of the Sky
• Redeemer: Enhanced Edition x 2
• Relicta x 3
• Remnants of Naezith x 2
• Remothered: Broken Porcelain
• Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood x 2
• Rescue Party: Live! x 2
• Resident Evil HD REMASTER
• Resident Evil Revelations 2 - Episode 1: Penal Colony x 2
• Resident Evil Revelations x 2
• Retimed x 3
• Reventure
• Revita
• Rig n Roll
• Ring of pain x 4
• Rise Of Industry x 3
• Rise of the Slime x 2
• Roadwarden
• Roarr! Jurassic Edition x 2
• Roboquest
• Rogue Lords x 2
• Roguebook
• RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic
• Rollerdrome NA region
• Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered
• Rover Mechanic Simulator x 3
• Rustler x 4
• SCP : Secret Files x 3
• SPACECOM
• SPRAWL x 2
• STONE x 2
• SUPERHOT VR
• SYSTEM SHOCK: ENHANCED EDITION
• Sairento VR
• Satellite Reign
• Saturday Morning RPG
• Save Room - Organization Puzzle
• Say No! More
• Scheming Through The Zombie Apocalypse: The Beginning x 2
• Scorn x 2
• ScourgeBringer
• Seed Hunter x 2
• Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice
• Shadowhand: RPG Card Game
• Shady Part of Me x 2
• Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
• Shark Attack Deathmatch 2
• Shing! x 2
• Shining Resonance Refrain x 2
• Ship Simulator Extremes x 2
• Shooting Stars! x 2
• Shooty Fruity
• Shoppe Keep 2
• Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate - NA region x 2
• Sid Meier's Railroads! x 3
• Sifu Deluxe Edition Upgrade Bundle x 2
• Silver Chains
• Simple Rockets 2
• Simplerockets 2 x 2
• Simulacra + Simulacra 2
• Sin Slayers
• Size Matters x 3
• Skullgirls 2nd Encore
• Slain: Back from Hell
• Slinger VR x 2
• Snake Pass
• Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts x 2
• Snowtopia x 2
• Songbird Symphony
• Songbringer
• Sonic Adventure 2: Battle Mode DLC x 2
• Sonic Adventure™ 2 x 2
• Sorry, James
• Soul Axiom Rebooted x 2
• Soulblight x 2
• Souldiers
• Space Cows
• Space Hulk Ascension
• Sparklite
• Speed Brawl x 2
• Spirit Of The Island x 3
• Splasher
• Star Wolves
• Star Wolves 3: Civil War
• Stars End
• Starsand x 2
• Staxel
• Stealth 2: A Game Of Clones
• Steel Rats x 2
• Steelrising
• Still There x 3
• Strange Brigade x 2
• Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
• Street Fighter V
• Strider x 2
• Struggling x 2
• Stubbs The Zombie In Rebel Without A Pulse
• Sunblaze
• Super Magbot
• Super Meat Boy x 2
• Super Panda Adventures
• Super Trench Attack!
• Supraland x 2
• Supreme Ruler 1936
• Supreme Ruler: Cold War
• SurrounDead x 2
• TEKKEN 7 x 2
• THE HEX
• THEM'S FIGHTIN' HERDS
• Tabletop Playground x 3
• Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
• Tango Fiesta
• Tannenberg
• Telefrag VR x 2
• Tesla vs Lovecraft
• The Amazing American Circus x 2
• The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines
• The Ascent
• The Assembly
• The Bard's Tale IV: Director's Cut x 3
• The Beast Inside x 3
• The Big Con x 2
• The Blackout Club
• The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters x 2
• The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets
• The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes
• The Darkness II x 2
• The Deed Dynasty
• The Deed II
• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind x 2
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion x 2
• The Elder Scrolls Online
• The Excavation of Hob's Barrow
• The Golf Club 2019 Featuring PGA TOUR x 3
• The Gunk x 2
• The Haunted Island, A Frog Detective Game x 3
• The Henry Stickmin Collection x 2
• The Hong Kong Massacre
• The Invisible Hand x 2
• The Knight Witch
• The LEGO Movie - Videogame
• The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game
• The Legend of Tianding x 2
• The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante
• The Long Reach
• The Mummy Demastered
• The Pale Beyond
• The Quarry - Deluxe Edition x 2
• The Red Lantern
• The Red Solstice x 2
• The Shapeshifting Detective
• The Surge
• The Survivalists
• The Swords Of Ditto: Mormo's Curse x 2
• The Textorcist: The story of Ray Bibbia x 3
• The Town of Light
• The USB Stick Found in the Grass x 2
• The Uncertain - The Last Quiet Day
• The Walking Dead
• The Walking Dead: 400 Days
• The Walking Dead: A New Frontier x 2
• The Walking Dead: Michonne x 2
• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - Chapter 2: Retribution
• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners x 4
• The Walking Dead: Season Two
• The Walking Dead: The Final Season x 2
• The Wild Eight
• The Wizards - Dark Times
• Them and Us
• Them's Fightin' Herds
• There Is No Light
• Thief of Thieves: Season One x 2
• This Strange Realm Of Mine
• This War of Mine: Stories - Season Pass DLC
• Throne Of Lies® The Online Game Of Deceit
• Through The Darkest Of Times x 3
• Tilt Brush x 2
• Timelie
• Tin Can x 2
• Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove x 2
• Tohu x 3
• Tools Up!
• Tools up x 2
• Tooth and Tail
• Torchlight
• Torchlight III
• Total Tank Simulator x 2
• Townscaper
• Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt x 2
• Toy tinker Simulator
• Toybox Turbos x 2
• Train Station Renovation x 2
• Treasure Hunter Simulator x 3
• Trek to Yomi
• Tropico 4
• Truberbrook / Trüberbrook
• Truck Racer
• Tumblestone
• Turbo Golf Racing x 4
• Two Point Campus
• Tyrant's Blessing
• UNDETECTED
• UnMetal
• Undungeon
• Unexplored
• Unto The End
• V-Rally 4
• Vagante
• Vagrant Hearts 2
• Valfaris: Mecha Therion
• Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows Of New York x 3
• Vane x 3
• Verdun
• Victoria 3
• Vikings - Wolves of Midgard
• WARSAW x 5
• WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS + Ultimate Brawlers Pass x 4
• WWE 2K23 x 5
• WWE 2k Battlegrounds
• Wanderlust: Travel Stories - GOG key x 2
• Wandersong x 2
• Wargroove x 2
• Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters x 2
• Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus
• Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach
• Warhammer: Chaosbane x 2
• Wayward Souls
• We Are Alright x 2
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse Heart Of The Forest
• West of Dead
• Where the Water Tastes Like Wine
• Whispering Willows
• White Day: A Labyrinth Named School x 2
• Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? x 3
• Wick
• Windjammers 2
• Windscape
• Wordle 1-5 Quintology Pack
• World's Dawn x 2
• Worms Clan Wars
• Worms rumble + legends pack dlc x 3
• WrestleQuest
• X-COM: Complete Pack x 3
• X-Morph: Defense + European Assault, Survival of the Fittest, and Last Bastion DLC x 2
• X-Morph Defense x 3
• Xcom® 2: Resistance Warrior Pack
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon
• Yet Another Zombie Defense HD x 2
• Yoku's Island Express
• Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair
• Youtubers Life 2
• Zanzarah: The Hidden Portal
• Zombie Army 4: Dead War
• Zombotron

WANT

• Trepang2
• The Pedestrian
• OPUS: Echo of Starsong - Full Bloom Edition

Mainly looking for PayPal (accepting most of the currencies, fees may slightly differ)
MY REP Wishlist
Gems
TF2 keys/ CS2 Cases

Note:

• All keys are primarily from US/NA region
• My list maybe slightly outdated so I apologize in advance if some of the games mentioned are already traded/Sold.
• I accept XBOX keys as well.
• I accept paypal only via goods and services so all transactions will include fees.
• My Wishlist, I am just interested in these games and mentioned in wants below.

HAVE

• .hack//G.U. Last Recode
• 10 Second Ninja X
• 112 operator
• 198X x 2
• 8 doors
• 9 Years of Shadows
• 911 Operator x 2
• A Fisherman's Tale
• A Juggler's Tale
• A Little Golf Journey
• A Sceptic's Guide to Magic
• A Tale of Paper: Refolded Edition
• A.I.M. Clan Wars
• Aces and Adventures x 1
• Aegis Defenders x 3
• Ageless x 3
• Alekhine's Gun
• Alien Spidy
• Alwa's Awakening
• Amanda the Adventurer
• American Fugitive x 3
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent + Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
• Amnesia: Rebirth x 2
• Anna's Quest x 2
• Anuchard
• Arcade Paradise
• Arcade Paradise - Arcade Paradise EP x 2
• Arcade Spirits
• Arto
• As Far As The Eye
• Astalon: Tears of the Earth
• AtmaSphere
• Attack of the Earthlings
• Automachef x 3
• Automobilista
• Autonauts vs Piratebots x 3
• Axiom Verge
• Axiom Verge 2
• Back 4 Blood - STRICT NA REGION LOCK x 2
• Ballpoint Universe - Infinite
• Bartlow's Dread Machine
• Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition
• Batman: Arkham City GOTY
• Batman: Arkham Knight Premium Edition
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
• Bayonetta
• Beacon Pines x 2
• Before We leave
• Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery
• Beholder 2
• Bendy and the Dark Revival x 2
• Between the stars x 4
• Beyond the wire x 2
• Big Crown Showdown
• Bionic Commando x 2
• Blade Assault
• Blasphemous
• Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night x 3
• Book of Demons x 3
• Boomerang Fu
• Borderlands 2 Game of the Year x 2
• Boreal Blade x 3
• Boundless
• Bravery and Greed
• Broken Age
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
• Builder Simulator x 1
• Bunker Punks
• Butcher
• CAPITALISM 2
• CHESS ULTRA
• CODE VEIN
• CROSSBOW: Bloodnight x 2
• Call of Juarez Gunslinger
• Canyon Capers
• Capitalism 2
• Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
• Car Mechanic Simulator VR
• Cardaclysm
• Carnival Games VR
• Caveman World: Mountains of Unga Boonga
• Celeste
• Charlie's Adventure
• Chicken Assassin Reloaded
• Children of Silentown x 2
• Chivalry 2 x 2
• Chivalry: Medieval Warfare x 2
• Citizen Sleeper
• CivCity: Rome x 3
• Civilization III x 2
• Clutch
• Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues
• Conan Exiles
• Convoy
• Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3
• Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!
• Cook-Out
• Cookie Cutter
• Cosmic Star Heroine
• Crash Drive 3
• Crazy Machines 3
• Crown Trick
• Cultures - 8th Wonder of the world
• Cursed Castilla (Maldita Castilla Ex)
• Cyber Hook x 2
• DISTRAINT 2 x 2
• DOOM Eternal DELUXE EDITION
• DUCATI - 90th Anniversary
• Dagon: by H. P. Lovecraft - The Eldritch Box DLC x 2
• Danger Scavenger
• Dangerous Worlds x 2
• Dark Future: Blood Red States
• Darksburg x 2
• Darkwood
• Dead Age
• Dead In Vinland x 2
• Death's Gambit: Afterlife
• Deleveled x 2
• Demon Pit
• Deponia: The Complete Journey x 2
• Derange
• Desert Child
• Desolate x 2
• Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed x 2
• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - Digital Deluxe Edition
• DiRT Rally
• DiRT Rally 2.0 - H2 RWD Double Pack
• DiRT Rally 2.0 - Opel Manta 400
• Dirt Rally 2.0 - Porsche 911 RGT Rally Spec
• Dirt Rally x 2
• Disco Elysium - The Final Cut
• Disjunction - gog
• Do Not Feed the Monkeys
• Dracula: Love Kills
• Drake Hollow x 2
• Draw Slasher x 2
• Drawful 2 x 2
• Dreams in the Witch House x 2
• Dreamscaper x 2
• Driftland: The Magic Revival x 5
• Ducati - 90th Anniversary
• Due Process x 3
• Duke Nukem Forever collection x 4
• Dust to the End
• Dying Light Definitive Edition
• ELEX II x 4
• ETHERBORN
• Eador. Imperium
• Earth 2140
• Earth Defence Force 4.1 + all dlc
• Earth Defence Force: Iron Rain
• EarthX
• Edge Of Eternity x 3
• El Matador
• Elderand
• Eldest Souls
• Ember
• Enclave (Gold) x 2
• Encodya - GOG x 2
• Endless Space 2 x 2
• Endzone - A World apart
• Enslaved™: Odyssey To The West™ Premium Edition
• Eternal Threads x 4
• Eternity: The Last Unicorn
• Evergarden x 2
• Evoland Legendary Edition x 2
• Exiled Kingdoms x 2
• Expeditions: Rome x 2
• Expeditions: Viking
• F1 2017 1988 McLAREN MP4/4 Classic Car DLC
• FAR: Lone Sails x 2
• Family Man x 3
• Fantasy Blacksmith
• Fantasy Versus
• Farmer's dynasty x 2
• Fated Souls 3
• Fear Effect Sedna
• Fictorum
• Field of Glory II x 2
• Field of Glory: Empires
• Figement
• Final Fantasy III (3D Remake)
• Five Dates x 2
• Fling to the Finish
• Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel x 2
• For The King
• Foretales x 1
• Four Sided Fantasy
• Friends vs Friends x 4
• Frog Detective 2: The Case Of The Invisible Wizard x 3
• Frogun
• From Space x 3
• Fun With Ragdolls: The Game x 2
• Fun with Ragdolls: The Game
• Fury Unleashed x 5
• GOD EATER 3 x 2
• GRID Autosport - Premium Garage Pack DLC
• GRID Autosport - Road & Track Car Pack DLC
• GRIP: Combat Racing Artifex DLC x 3
• GameGuru x 2
• GameMaker Studio 2 Creator 12 Months x 2
• Garage: bad trip
• Garfield Kart
• Garfield Kart - Furious Racing
• Gauntlet
• GemCraft - Chasing Shadows
• Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition x 3
• Ghost Of A Tale
• Ghost Song
• Gift of Parthax
• Glitch Busters x 2
• Gloria Victis x 2
• Gnog
• Go Home Dinosaurs x 2
• Gold Rush! Classic
• Golden Light x 3
• Golf Club Wasteland
• Gotham Knights
• Gothic 3
• Grand Mountain Adventure
• Green Hell (Region locked)
• Guts and Glory
• Guts and glory
• Hardspace: Shipbreaker x 3
• Have a nice Death
• Headsnatchers x 2
• Heal
• Heavy Burger
• Heli Heroes
• Helion
• Hell Pie
• Hell let loose
• Hellpoint x 2
• Hero's Hour (NA Region) x 3
• Hexologic
• Hi-Fi RUSH
• Hidden & Dangerous 2: Courage Under Fire x 3
• Hidden & Dangerous: Action Pack x 2
• Hiveswap Friendsim x 2
• Hiveswap: Act 1
• Homefront
• Homestead Arcana x 2
• Honey, I Joined a Cult x 2
• Horizon Chase Turbo x 2
• Hot Brass x 2
• Hot Wheels Unleashed
• Hotshot Racing x 3
• Hue x 2
• Hyperdrive Massacre
• I Expect You To Die
• Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure
• Ikenfell x 3
• Imperator: Rome Deluxe Edition x 2
• In sound mind x 2
• Indivisible x 5
• Injustice 2 Legendary Edition
• Insurmountable
• Interplanetary: Enhanced Edition
• Interstellar Space: Genesis
• Introvert Quest
• Iratus: Lord of the Dead
• Iris And The Giant
• Iron Danger
• Iron Sky Invasion
• Jack Move
• Jack Orlando: Director's Cut
• Journey of Greed
• Journey of a Roach x 2
• JumpJet Rex
• Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection
• Just Cause 4 Complete Edition
• Karma City Police
• Kerbal Space Program
• King Of The Castle
• King's Bounty: Warriors of the North
• Kingdom: Classic
• Kingdom: New Lands x 2
• Kings of Kung Fu
• Kitaria Fables
• Knights and Merchants
• Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara
• Kraken Academy!!
• Kyle is Famous: Complete Edition
• LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
• LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
• LEGO® MARVEL's Avengers
• Last Inua
• Lawn Mowing Simulator x 2
• Layers of Fear + Soundtrack
• Leisure Suit Larry - Wet Dreams Don't Dry
• Leisure Suit Larry - Wet Dreams Dry Twice
• Levelhead
• Liberated
• Liberated GOG x 2
• Liberte
• Lichdom: Battlemage
• Life is Strange 2 Complete Season (incl. Mascot Bundle DLC)
• Life is Strange: True Colors x 2
• Little Orpheus
• Loddlenaut
• Lords and Villeins x 3
• Lostwinds
• Lovecraft's Untold Stories x 3
• Lust for Darkness
• MO:Astray
• Mad Max
• Magrunner: Dark Pulse
• Main Assembly
• Majesty 2 Collection x 2
• Making History: The Calm and the Storm Gold Edition
• Marvel's Midnight Suns Digital+ Edition + Doctor Strange Defenders Skin
• Mass Effect 2 Origin key
• Medieval Kingdom Wars
• Mediterranea Inferno
• Meeple Station x 2
• Mega Man Legacy Collection
• Memoria + Soundtrack
• Men of War
• Merchant of the Skies x 2
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition x 2
• Middle-earth: Shadow of War Definitive Edition x 2
• Midnight Fight Express
• Midnight Ghost Hunt
• Midnight protocol x 2
• Milky Way Prince - The Vampire Star x 2
• Monaco
• Monorail Stories
• Monster Crown x 3
• Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp x 2
• Monster Slayers
• Monster Slayers - Advanced Classes Unlocker
• Monster Slayers - Fire & Steel Expansion
• Morbid: The Seven Acolytes x 2
• Morkredd x 3
• Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate Edition x 2
• Mortal Kombat XL x 2
• Moving Out
• Mr. Prepper x 2
• Munin
• Murder by Numbers
• My Big Sister x 2
• My Time At Portia
• Mystery Castle: The Mirror's Secret
• Mytheon
• Mythforce
• Narita Boy
• Nebuchadnezzar
• NecroVisioN: Lost Company
• NecroWorm x 2
• Neoverse x 3
• Neverout x 2
• Neversong
• Nickelodeon all-star brawl x 2
• Niffelheim x 2
• Nigate Tale
• Nioh 2
• Nobody Saves the World
• Noosphere
• Northend Tower Defense
• Nowhere Prophet
• Nuclear DAWN
• OTXO
• Oaken x 2
• Oddworld: Soulstorm Enhanced Edition x 2
• Of Orcs and Men
• Oh My Gore! x 3
• Omensight Definitve Edition x 2
• Operation Tango x 2
• Orbital Racer x 2
• Othercide
• Out Of Space
• Out of Reach: Treasure Royale x 2
• Overcooked
• Overlord: Ultimate Evil Collection
• Ozymandias - NA region x 2
• PAC-MAN 256
• PAC-MAN MUSEUM+ x 2
• PC Building Simulator x 2
• PGA Tour 2K21 x 2
• PULSAR: Lost Colony x 2
• Partisans 1941 x 2
• Patch Quest x 3
• Path Of Giants
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Royal Ascension
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Wild Cards
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker Enhanced Plus Edition
• Paw paw paw x 4
• Peaky Blinders: Mastermind x 2
• Perfect x 2
• Pesterquest x 4
• Phantom Doctrine x 2
• Pikuniku
• Pine
• Pitiri 1977
• Pixel Puzzles: UndeadZ
• Pixplode x 2
• Planet Alcatraz
• Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville (ORIGIN KEY)
• PlataGO!
• Police stories
• Popup Dungeon
• Port Royale 3
• Prison Architect + Aficionado (Dlc)
• Prodeus
• Propnight
• Purrfect Date
• Quern: Undying thoughts
• RAD x 2
• REPLIKATOR
• RICO: London
• RIOT - Civil Unrest
• RPG Maker VX
• Rage in Peace
• Railroad Tycoon 2: Platinum x 3
• Railroad Tycoon 3 x 3
• Railway Empire
• Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan x 2
• Re-Legion
• Rebel Galaxy Outlaw
• Rebel Inc: Escalation x 3
• Red Wings: Aces of the Sky
• Redeemer: Enhanced Edition x 2
• Relicta x 3
• Remnants of Naezith x 2
• Remothered: Broken Porcelain
• Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood x 2
• Rescue Party: Live! x 2
• Resident Evil HD REMASTER
• Resident Evil Revelations 2 - Episode 1: Penal Colony x 2
• Resident Evil Revelations x 2
• Retimed x 3
• Reventure
• Revita
• Rig n Roll
• Ring of pain x 4
• Rise Of Industry x 3
• Rise of the Slime x 2
• Roadwarden
• Roarr! Jurassic Edition x 2
• Roboquest
• Rogue Lords x 2
• Roguebook
• RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic
• Rollerdrome NA region
• Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered
• Rover Mechanic Simulator x 3
• Rustler x 4
• SCP : Secret Files x 3
• SPACECOM
• SPRAWL x 2
• STONE x 2
• SUPERHOT VR
• SYSTEM SHOCK: ENHANCED EDITION
• Sairento VR
• Satellite Reign
• Saturday Morning RPG
• Save Room - Organization Puzzle
• Say No! More
• Scheming Through The Zombie Apocalypse: The Beginning x 2
• Scorn x 2
• ScourgeBringer
• Seed Hunter x 2
• Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice
• Shadowhand: RPG Card Game
• Shady Part of Me x 2
• Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
• Shark Attack Deathmatch 2
• Shing! x 2
• Shining Resonance Refrain x 2
• Ship Simulator Extremes x 2
• Shooting Stars! x 2
• Shooty Fruity
• Shoppe Keep 2
• Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate - NA region x 2
• Sid Meier's Railroads! x 3
• Sifu Deluxe Edition Upgrade Bundle x 2
• Silver Chains
• Simple Rockets 2
• Simplerockets 2 x 2
• Simulacra + Simulacra 2
• Sin Slayers
• Size Matters x 3
• Skullgirls 2nd Encore
• Slain: Back from Hell
• Slinger VR x 2
• Snake Pass
• Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts x 2
• Snowtopia x 2
• Songbird Symphony
• Songbringer
• Sonic Adventure 2: Battle Mode DLC x 2
• Sonic Adventure™ 2 x 2
• Sorry, James
• Soul Axiom Rebooted x 2
• Soulblight x 2
• Souldiers
• Space Cows
• Space Hulk Ascension
• Sparklite
• Speed Brawl x 2
• Spirit Of The Island x 3
• Splasher
• Star Wolves
• Star Wolves 3: Civil War
• Stars End
• Starsand x 2
• Staxel
• Stealth 2: A Game Of Clones
• Steel Rats x 2
• Steelrising
• Still There x 3
• Strange Brigade x 2
• Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
• Street Fighter V
• Strider x 2
• Struggling x 2
• Stubbs The Zombie In Rebel Without A Pulse
• Sunblaze
• Super Magbot
• Super Meat Boy x 2
• Super Panda Adventures
• Super Trench Attack!
• Supraland x 2
• Supreme Ruler 1936
• Supreme Ruler: Cold War
• SurrounDead x 2
• TEKKEN 7 x 2
• THE HEX
• THEM'S FIGHTIN' HERDS
• Tabletop Playground x 3
• Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
• Tango Fiesta
• Tannenberg
• Telefrag VR x 2
• Tesla vs Lovecraft
• The Amazing American Circus x 2
• The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines
• The Ascent
• The Assembly
• The Bard's Tale IV: Director's Cut x 3
• The Beast Inside x 3
• The Big Con x 2
• The Blackout Club
• The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters x 2
• The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets
• The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes
• The Darkness II x 2
• The Deed Dynasty
• The Deed II
• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind x 2
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion x 2
• The Elder Scrolls Online
• The Excavation of Hob's Barrow
• The Golf Club 2019 Featuring PGA TOUR x 3
• The Gunk x 2
• The Haunted Island, A Frog Detective Game x 3
• The Henry Stickmin Collection x 2
• The Hong Kong Massacre
• The Invisible Hand x 2
• The Knight Witch
• The LEGO Movie - Videogame
• The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game
• The Legend of Tianding x 2
• The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante
• The Long Reach
• The Mummy Demastered
• The Pale Beyond
• The Quarry - Deluxe Edition x 2
• The Red Lantern
• The Red Solstice x 2
• The Shapeshifting Detective
• The Surge
• The Survivalists
• The Swords Of Ditto: Mormo's Curse x 2
• The Textorcist: The story of Ray Bibbia x 3
• The Town of Light
• The USB Stick Found in the Grass x 2
• The Uncertain - The Last Quiet Day
• The Walking Dead
• The Walking Dead: 400 Days
• The Walking Dead: A New Frontier x 2
• The Walking Dead: Michonne x 2
• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - Chapter 2: Retribution
• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners x 4
• The Walking Dead: Season Two
• The Walking Dead: The Final Season x 2
• The Wild Eight
• The Wizards - Dark Times
• Them and Us
• Them's Fightin' Herds
• There Is No Light
• Thief of Thieves: Season One x 2
• This Strange Realm Of Mine
• This War of Mine: Stories - Season Pass DLC
• Throne Of Lies® The Online Game Of Deceit
• Through The Darkest Of Times x 3
• Tilt Brush x 2
• Timelie
• Tin Can x 2
• Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove x 2
• Tohu x 3
• Tools Up!
• Tools up x 2
• Tooth and Tail
• Torchlight
• Torchlight III
• Total Tank Simulator x 2
• Townscaper
• Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt x 2
• Toy tinker Simulator
• Toybox Turbos x 2
• Train Station Renovation x 2
• Treasure Hunter Simulator x 3
• Trek to Yomi
• Tropico 4
• Truberbrook / Trüberbrook
• Truck Racer
• Tumblestone
• Turbo Golf Racing x 4
• Two Point Campus
• Tyrant's Blessing
• UNDETECTED
• UnMetal
• Undungeon
• Unexplored
• Unto The End
• V-Rally 4
• Vagante
• Vagrant Hearts 2
• Valfaris: Mecha Therion
• Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows Of New York x 3
• Vane x 3
• Verdun
• Victoria 3
• Vikings - Wolves of Midgard
• WARSAW x 5
• WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS + Ultimate Brawlers Pass x 4
• WWE 2K23 x 5
• WWE 2k Battlegrounds
• Wanderlust: Travel Stories - GOG key x 2
• Wandersong x 2
• Wargroove x 2
• Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters x 2
• Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus
• Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach
• Warhammer: Chaosbane x 2
• Wayward Souls
• We Are Alright x 2
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse Heart Of The Forest
• West of Dead
• Where the Water Tastes Like Wine
• Whispering Willows
• White Day: A Labyrinth Named School x 2
• Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? x 3
• Wick
• Windjammers 2
• Windscape
• Wordle 1-5 Quintology Pack
• World's Dawn x 2
• Worms Clan Wars
• Worms rumble + legends pack dlc x 3
• WrestleQuest
• X-COM: Complete Pack x 3
• X-Morph: Defense + European Assault, Survival of the Fittest, and Last Bastion DLC x 2
• X-Morph Defense x 3
• Xcom® 2: Resistance Warrior Pack
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon
• Yet Another Zombie Defense HD x 2
• Yoku's Island Express
• Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair
• Youtubers Life 2
• Zanzarah: The Hidden Portal
• Zombie Army 4: Dead War
• Zombotron

WANT

• Trepang2
• The Pedestrian
• OPUS: Echo of Starsong - Full Bloom Edition

Mainly looking for PayPal (accepting most of the currencies, fees may slightly differ)
MY REP Wishlist MY IGS REP
Gems
TF2 keys/ CS2 Cases

tl;dr: If you enjoy the game, let's support the devs by paying them for their hard work.
I'm sure most of us at this point have seen the Nexon report on the performance of The Finals. From what I've read, it doesn't appear that they're giving up on the game, yet. But when language such as "lower-than-expected performance" is used, it just doesn't bode well for a title.
I mostly play with randos, and whenever we have our mics on, 9/10 times we're all raving about how awesome this game truly is. Even as we're getting clubbed to death by dashing lights, or cooked alive while trapped in goo. I'm sure most of us share the sentiment, and love that this game brought back the soul that Call of Duties and Battlefields lost long ago, along with novel gameplay mechanics to back it up.
Just as another player who loves the game, I wanted to ask to "vote with your wallet." If you're enjoying the game and hoping that it'll improve even further over time, that's all we can do to show our interest to publishers. I'm not saying we should pity the game, just suggesting that if we enjoy it, there's a very clear way to show our support of the devs. Even if it's just a gun skin for a buck. To be clear, I have no horse in this race and the only benefit I will receive if the game is financially successful, is the joy of playing it for longer.
Hopefully, as a community, we can keep this platform moving until it steals the spotlight it deserves. (Sometimes when I make stupid jokes like this I wonder if I'm a dad and just don't know it yet.)

Previous
​
So, if you’re just joining us, I work at a haunted zoo now. Since I’ve gotten some rest, it feels like I’ve got my head on straight, at least, so I’d like to continue where I left off.
I sat on the floor in the office after meeting the ghost until I’d settled my rattled mind (and realized I’d forgotten to ask her name, how rude is that?). I took a deep breath and got up off the floor. Walking over and falling into the rolling chair in front of the large screen of camera views, when I brought up the camera that covered the area in which I’d spotted her, she was still there, and it seemed she hadn’t moved an inch.
Sitting there, at a loss, I continued to watch her. The ghost hung around for another five minutes or so, appearing to look at a few things off-screen, though I’m not sure what. Then she walked off into the forest and left the view of the cameras. I wasn’t sure if she vanished into the ether or if she’d gone looking into the trees to look for something.
But that wasn’t the end of the job interview, so let me jump back there. It continued into what kind of animals the zoo had, with Andrew asking me how much experience I had with dangerous animals.
I took a moment to consider the question. “So, ah…I’ve been going hunting and fishing with a neighbor since I was sixteen,” I told him. “We always have to keep an eye out for gators, bears, and hogs. Then there’s snakes, of course…snapping turtles… Since I’ve lived here my whole life and been aiming for a job with wildlife for a long time, I know a lot about the animals in Arkansas in general. But good advice for all of the above is avoid them, so I’ve had encounters, but I don’t know if you’d say I have experience with them.”
“That’s fine,” Andrew said, nodding. “That’s an answer I’m satisfied with. Now, the ghost was the appetizer, Ripley; here’s the main course. To start with, the pay isn’t twenty-five an hour. It’s fifty.”
Staring in shock for a moment, I asked, “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. But that’d be weird to post online considering what applicants think we need, so I halved it.”
“That’s… Okay, why?”
“The animals are already here. You just can’t see them.”
I stared at him for a long moment, some disbelief worming its way into my expression, before saying, “Sorry, what?”
“There’s a chance you’d naturally never see them, or at least some of them,” he continued casually. “It depends on both your genetics and how long you stay on the job. I can naturally see six of them, but that’s it. Suzanne can see all of them, and more. Some are what people would label demons or ghosts. Or magic. Mostly you’d call them cryptids. The ghost was just a warm-up; I mentioned her first because it never takes more than a week to see her if you work the night shift. If you manage to handle her okay, soon you’ll be able to see the animals too. The more time you spend on the grounds, for weird reasons,” he said, wiggling his fingers in the direction of the back door, “the more you’ll be able to see.”
“So, this…this is a zoo for cryptids,” I echoed slowly. He nodded once, waiting to find out what kind of reaction I would have. I gestured vaguely around the room. “If this is a hidden camera show, will you cut me a check for showing up and participating?”
Andrew coughed out a chuckle and shook his head. “No joke. There are a ton of stories out there that have been written to death, pulverized until they’re not the Grimm stories of old and instead they’re Disney films. A lot of those stories come from what some humans have seen. There are dozens of other worlds pressed up against ours, and occasionally things come through by accident. If they’re smart, they’ll lay low and then make their way back when they can. If not, they become local folklore until someone helps them back. I’m just from London, but Suzanne is from somewhere else. She hires people like us for this zoo. Humans.”
Sighing, I shook my head. “That makes no sense. Why would she hire a muggle for a magic zoo?”
Andrew burst out laughing at that, and then waited to gather himself before he continued. “Fair point, but this is less about magic and more about animals, and you’re missing some information that will explain it. First of all, if I misjudge an employee, and they think they can make bank by outing the endangered and valuable animals we have, it’s easy to relocate the zoo.”
“Because magic?” I asked.
“Exactly,” he replied, ignoring the thread of skepticism in my tone. “That means it isn’t the end of the world if that happened, though it is a pain in the arse. But second…let me ask you a question. Speaking of reality shows, say the Discovery Channel put out a call to replace Steve Irwin when he passed. Imagine they had a line out the door,” he said with a gesture, “of people who thought they had the skill and natural talent to replace him, to take on everything he’d been doing his whole life. How many do you reckon would lose an arm, a leg, or their life, by the end of the day?”
My lips parted in surprise and I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re saying people from…wherever…they’re just as dumb as humans, but they’re worse, because they actually think they can handle these things.”
Andrew pointed the pen at me. “Things. Exactly. You called them things. Suzanne and her friends grew up with them and would call them animals. These animals have dispositions and temperaments that we’ve studied for as long as there have been scientists. Where Suzanne’s from, they know the weaknesses of these animals, and also they’re in enclosures here, even if you and I can’t see the walls because they’re invisible things called ‘wards’. If I hire someone who’s got magic on top of all that, they’ll have almost no instinctive fear.
“Everything here is nocturnal, and every one of them is a hunter. Some of these things? Humans see them and they pass out. Not that I want you passing out, but I need someone who is scared of these things, who knows to stay out of the enclosures no matter what. Not someone who thinks they can train them to do tricks, who gets close enough for them to grab a mouthful of hair and drown them. Once, we had a night shift manager injured, and once killed, because they didn’t take these animals seriously enough.”
Thinking back to the Sea World orca incident I knew he’d been referencing, I remembered wondering how someone at that level of her profession could be so careless as I watched the video on YouTube. It made sense when he explained it like that. I hesitated before mentally throwing my hands up and going all in. “So, why put this place here, then? If they’re endangered and also dangerous, why have a zoo at all instead of just a small reserve?”
He pursed his lips, looking disappointed in me. “Ripley. You know that already. You already said as much.”
Thinking back through our conversation, I said, “The rich humans who pay top dollar to see supernatural animals.”
“Not humans,” he told me. “But people, yes, and they are rich, and they’re making donations and spending their money on a ticket here because everything we have is endangered.”
“So…”
I just let my voice trail off and my mind started to drift. Andrew remained silent, letting me do so. There’s that thing people say, ‘I believe that you believe it,’ which is just a kinder way of saying, ‘Bullshit.’ Parents say it about closet monsters. Psychologists say it to people who say they’ve been abducted and probed by aliens. I wanted to say it to Andrew.
But I also wanted a job. If it meant working overnight at an empty zoo, that was fine. When it came down to it, especially when I took the tone of our conversation into account, this was a zoo specifically focused on preserving endangered ‘animals’, and it was allegedly doing important work. Also, if this turned out to be the real deal and I started seeing the animals, I would deal with it, just like I would deal with an enclosure that had a lion or tiger or gorilla. If it came with a ghost and invisible creatures, I really didn’t see what the difference was, if I couldn’t go in the enclosures either way.
On that note, I’d like you to imagine a kid who looks at a roller coaster, watching everyone screaming and grinning as they go up and down and all around and they’re like, ‘Heck, I could do that! That looks like a blast!’
Then they get on, the first drop hits, and they realize they’ve made a terrible mistake.
“All right,” I sighed. “I can’t say I’m going to turn down a job just because it’s going to be scary. Especially not one with this paycheck.”
Andrew smiled. “Awesome. There’s an adjustment process for anyone working here, similar to a dog that gets adopted, actually. I know the general guidelines of, ‘three days, three weeks, three months’ in terms of milestones, until they finally feel they’re where they’re supposed to be,” he told me, “and you can think of your time here along those lines. I really think you’re a great fit, and once you reach the milestone of working here for three months, I’ll officially consider you our new night shift guard. And I hope you’ll stay with us for many years.”
I nodded and smiled at the flattery of an employer wanting me to work a great job for them for a long time. I’d never had a dog, but those milestones were well-known among anyone who knew animals, especially dogs. The first three days, the dog is getting to know its new digs, exploring, and decompressing. At three weeks, they’ve gotten used to their environment and are starting to get comfortable with their surroundings and the routines of the humans they live with. By three months, they know the rules and follow them, they trust you, and they feel they are where they’re meant to be. I could only hope to be so lucky.
I saw the ghost two days ago and she has yet to make another appearance (for those who are curious, I asked, and her name is Leila), and I still hadn’t seen any animals. I did hear one, though, I feel compelled to note. A growling roar sounded from the lake on occasion, echoing across the vast zoo, sending a shiver down my spine. Whatever that animal was, it sounded gigantic.
Andrew said there was apparently a group that wanted to visit for a birthday and they were offering a huge donation, so he let me know they were making an exception and that this group would be walking through the park that night. That meant I’d be watching people watching animals that, as far as I could tell, weren’t there.
It was anticlimactic. Even the three people who came for the tour just looked like people, not like aliens or something eldritch from another dimension, and I stayed in the security office the whole time. Andrew was the one giving the tour. I watched them spend about five minutes at each enclosure, the hour or so that they were there passing without incident. It was clear that they were able to see all the animals, though, since they motioned excitedly at each enclosure and spoke to Andrew, who presumably answered any questions they had.
If they could see the animals, that was that. There was still that niggle in the back of my head, from my twenty-three years of life never encountering anything like ghosts or cryptids, telling me that this was ridiculous. Waiting for someone to knock on the door, a camera mounted on their shoulder, to tell me that it was a big joke and they wanted to see how long I’d play along. But from all I saw, this was a real place with real, invisible animals.
I do carry a taser and pepper spray in my capacity as a security guard. Though it isn’t for the animals, since they’re in the enclosures; they’re actually for the rare instance of a break-in. Andrew mentioned that it had happened several times it the past, someone trying to steal an animal in the hopes of selling it on the black market. They’d been successful before, but apparently my predecessor Roger was good at his job, and mostly they left in handcuffs.
I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of confrontation, but my job was to call Andrew and then confront the person, not kick their ass. That’s what the police were for, or rather, the people Andrew would call in lieu of police in certain situations.
Fifty bucks an hour. That’s the key here.
Andrew hadn’t set up direct deposit, since he was sticking with a strategy of waiting to see if I’d continue to work there once I found out myself dealing with the animals (I’ve decided I am going to just call them animals). Instead, I got an old-fashioned check after my shift every Friday. The number on the first check was delightful. I went out that evening and had a big dinner at the local diner, order my most expensive favorites on the menu and a big slice of pie for dessert.
When it came to the paychecks in general, though, I had this weird feeling of not wanting to tell my dad and brother about the fact that it was actually $50/hr. I previously mentioned that my dad, his name’s Nathan if you’re curious, works at a local grocery store. Our town has a couple food franchises, but I think its size is just short of whatever threshold Walmart uses to decide where to open. He earns $14/hr. and that’s after the tiny raises he’s gotten over the past thirteen years.
That’s not to say he’d feel bad about not making as much as me. On the contrary, he would be ecstatic for me and really proud. But, like me, he’d be suspicious. That hourly rate was the biggest hint that this was more than just a private zoo for cryptids. And as soon as that fat check cleared without problems, my dad wouldn’t be satisfied with reassurances; he’d want to come visit the zoo and look around.
I’d told him it’s a private preservation with scheduled (expensive) visits only and that it had only eleven animals, so he’d been appeased by me brushing off the idea of a visit. Also, I took a few photos of my workplace; one of the security room, one of me sitting in my chair, one photo of the many screens I watched, and a selfie where I was feigning sleep out of boredom, slouched in my chair with my mouth open in a faux snore. That let him feel like he knew where I was and what I was doing, and that I was safe.
But if I told him I was making double what he thought, my father would practically order me to quit. No job was worth my safety, he’d tell me. I was quite of the opposite opinion, however, considering how crucial any and all conservation efforts were these days. Especially with the steep extinction levels due to humans competing with other animals for space, not to mention climate change. Working in any job that helped preserve species and keep ecosystems in balance, or put them back in balance, was so important.
Then again, my father would also point out something I had realized right away: the fact was that I was working with endangered species that were not from Earth. I wasn’t helping my planet. To be honest, though…that didn’t matter to me. Especially after that talk with Andrew about why he hired a human for this job, I figured whichever dimension these animals came from had the equivalent of us, razing forests to the ground, clouding the planet with pollution, and leaving the animals with no avenue of recourse when yet more land was taken from them.
I really do hope to keep working here for a long time, though, and not just because of the money. I can’t help it; I want to know what these things were, and I want to work with them, to do the job of a zookeeper. The same way you go up to the chain-link fence to get close to a carnivore on the other side who thinks you’d make a nice afternoon snack. You just want to be closer to them, to experience that incredible, daunting feeling of being in their presence.
Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t long before I got what I wanted.
The day after we had the tour go through, I was doing my sweep when I saw the ghost again. She was sitting on a small boulder in the same area I’d seen her the first time, looking identical, blood covering the front of her slashed shirt, the wounds visible underneath. I stopped and stood there for a moment before I decided to raise my hand in a small wave.
The young woman cocked her head at me and raised a hand in the air in an imitation of my gesture, her expression showing a bit of curiosity.
She was low-key, seemingly not concerned with my presence, looking at me as a novel phenomenon in her world. I wondered what that world consisted of. Was she always here, sometimes visible and sometimes not? Or did she have another world next to ours, in the ether, where she left everything in this world behind and floated in her disembodied form? Did she still feel emotions? Was that really curiosity on her face, or was I projecting? Did she feel happiness? Fear? Did she have the option of moving on, or was she stuck here?
Many questions that I might never get the answers to. And that was assuming Andrew knew the answers, since I’d never met Suzanne Cooper and he hadn’t even mentioned that possibility. This place was clearly her baby, but I’m sure running it was a lot of work. Plus, if she was rich enough to own it, she was rich enough to have other businesses and charities to run.
When it comes to the enclosures, they’re all wrapped by a barrier of some kind, though never one that seems adequate. There was not a single place with the ugly metal weavings of a chain-link fence, and no stretches of circular razor wire. Instead, there are nice fences. Black iron, or wrought steel fencing in a similar style to the one circling the perimeter of the zoo, just shorter and with different patterns. Or a spaced picket fence, the wood stained in some tone of brown, or a split two-rail fence. As if to say, ‘This is the border of your enclosure, but we’re just letting you know out of courtesy.’
When I started to pass enclosure number seven last night, a young woman’s voice spoke, “Hello.”
I startled, unaware that I hadn’t been alone. “Oh. Hi,” I said, staring at her standing a few yards in.
She had been next to a large tree and I hadn’t seen her. This enclosure was behind a picket fence, and she walked through the large area of wild grasses and flowers that stretched across the other side of the fence. There were fewer tall grasses closer to the fence, which I guessed was because it had been tromped down by her regular pacing along it when there were visitors, or if she wanted to see the various enclosures of the zoo. Her sudden appearance was a bit weird, considering I had been expecting to see a cryptid and instead I was looking at, it seemed, an attractive Asian woman.
She wore a black kimono, the soft silk robe draped gently over her body, with beautiful patterns of cherry blossoms, more so over her left side, and red and blue birds with their wings spread. A sash wrapped around her abdomen, she wore socks and sandals on her feet, and her hair was up in those rolls that gave volume to the style.
I was no expert on any fashion, much less that of another country, so I just assumed it was all traditional Japanese clothing. Most likely, the visitors who came liked to see a certain time-honored style and that’s what she stuck with. Or maybe she played on stereotypes. That would be amusing.
“I’m Yui. It’s nice to meet you,” she spoke, arriving at the border of the fence and holding out a hand for me to shake.
I’d been standing about three yards away from her, and I’ll be honest, muscle memory tried to kick in. But I only made it two steps, my hand starting to rise, before I froze, the hand falling limply at my side. “Nice to meet you, too,” I answered, my voice quiet.
Damn. I wonder how many times that honey trap works back where she comes from.
The pleasant look on her face faded, and she lowered her hand. “You won’t shake hands with me? Isn’t that rude?”
“I mean, I kind of like my hand where it is. You know, attached to me.”
Her demure smile widened into something more amused. “I would never do something so revolting.”
Looking her up and down, as if more visual information would give me more knowledge of what she was, I asked her, “What would you do?”
“I would be less wasteful,” she said softly.
A finger of ice trailed down my spine, and I had the sudden image in my head of her grabbing my outstretched hand in an iron grip and yanking me over the fence, leaving me to sprawl on the ground. Then killing and consuming me efficiently, without a single careless step, the same way humans slaughtered pigs, using everything from the hog but the squeal. I was struck with a shiver at the idea of her consuming everything from me but my screams.
Slowly, I took one step further down the path, then another. Just as I got to a walking pace, though, I realized the woman had started walking too, in the same direction. I’d have eventually gotten to the end of her enclosure and keep going, leaving her behind, but she spoke up. “Are you leaving?”
I came to a stop, meeting her gaze again. “My job is to walk the zoo every hour. Then I’ll get back to the security room and stay there until my next walk.”
“Have you met the others yet?”
I hesitated before saying, “Just Leila.”
She blinked languidly. “That means nobody welcomed you here.”
“Andrew did.”
She didn’t reply to that. Instead, she slowly started to lean forward, and I flinched backward a few steps further as I saw insect legs start curling out from her back.
No. Not insect. Arachnid.
The eight legs ended in small ‘paws’ with tiny claws, a layer of hairs covering the leg from top to bottom, like any typical tarantula. I took two more slow steps back and my mouth went dry as the jointed legs just kept lengthening, until they were large enough to lever her off the ground.
My gaze had been on the spider legs, but my heart skipped a beat as I realized her human legs had melded together and turned into a bulging abdomen. Her skin was shifting to a carapace, eventually all the way up to her shoulders and down her arms, her fingers elongating and her nails stretching to claws. From there down, her body was that of a pale tarantula with pedipalps the size of my arms and piercing fangs in her jaws that looked like they could take my head off.
There was a moment, my vision blurring, where I was worried that I might piss myself. The part of my brain that still had its humor intact in that moment told me that I should keep an emergency set of clothes in my car, or at the very least, start wearing Depends to work.
“I show you my true form,” she said softly, her voice now raspy like an eighty-year-old after a lifelong smoking habit. “Welcome to Suzanne Cooper’s zoo. The night shift guard for many years was Roger, before he retired and the zoo moved, and I miss him dearly. What should I call you?”
I choked on my words. There was no way my throat was going to cooperate enough for me to clearly get a sentence out. Instead, I realized my legs had taken control of the situation themselves, unsatisfied with my conscious brain’s decision to stand and stare, taking steps backward. I backed up a yard, then five yards, then ten.
My mind focused on the fact that spiders don’t waste anything, and pictured my demise. I’d be wrapped in a cocoon, killed, and made nice and mushy before she had me for dinner.
The whole time, my brain was a frenzied mess, my pupils were probably the size of dimes, and I was staring at that tiny, pathetic fence between her and me. There was so much adrenaline pumping through my body that I felt like my bones were vibrating. The fence was, to my eyes, the only thing between us. The only thing keeping her from tackling and killing me. My only hope was that she’d do it quickly.
But she didn’t move. As I absorbed her innocent, polite words, the look on her face was calm, and I wondered if this was typically the way a conversation went before she devoured her prey. I wondered how many people she’d eaten. Not humans, not people from Earth, but the ones from where she came from. The fact that she doesn’t scare the shit out of those people means they’re staggeringly dumber than humans.
Finally, I rounded a corner, both relieved at having her out of my sight and worried that she would take that moment to come find me. When she’d been within eyeshot, I had at least known where she was and could run in the other direction. But I didn’t hear the sound of faint footsteps moving rapidly toward me. All was quiet, in that deep, smothering way that only an empty business in the middle of the night in small town America could be.
My hands trembling, I barely paid attention to anything but the confirmation that my surroundings were free of the colossal spider as I finally got back to the door. Grabbing the handle and letting my eyes dart around for about ten seconds and my ears prick for the slightest sound, I finally swiped my key card across the pad and went inside, shutting the door behind me and engaging the backup deadbolt.
Maybe that was why they had decided on keycards. If I was running from something and panicking, using an actual key or inserting the card like at a hotel would keep me from getting to safety considering my hands were shaking enough to mix a margarita.
Walking over to my chair, I fell into it, letting my body flush itself of terror as I looked up at the cameras. There she was, still in arachnid form, exactly where I’d left her behind that rinky-dink fence, casually looking around and slowly pacing back and forth. I stared at her as my racing heart gradually slowed, and a minute or so later she turned on her eight legs and walked back into the trees.
Whatever invisible fences the enclosures have apparently work, which is nice, because I wasn’t keen on getting killed by one of the creatures here. And that’s what brings me here, spilling out everything that’s happened so far. Because nearly passing out from terror isn’t something I wanted to deal with at work, obviously, but I keep going over what she did in my head again and again, and I feel like I reacted like a child who spotted a wolf spider on their bed. I started to worry for my overactive sense of self-preservation, at least in my capacity as an employee here.
The spider didn’t even try to hurt me, and so I was feeling a bit foolish. Even annoyed, actually, at the fact that I’d freaked out so hard and took off instead of trying to engage in at least basic conversation. I got the sense that she wasn’t at human-level intelligence, but I was never going to be able to hold any level of conversation with an alligator.
Sure, she did mention that she wouldn’t be so crass as to yank off my hand because she’d rather just have my entire corpse, but wouldn’t a wolf do the same if it was hungry? Wouldn’t any carnivore? Actually, they probably would’ve been satisfied with one of my hands. The fear here was from the fact that she turned into a giant spider. If she’d turned into Clifford, I would’ve reacted the same way, if not better than, meeting Leila.
With that, I decided I’m staying on the job. Considering how frustrated I can get with foolish people, it’s a bit hypocritical, and I’m being a bit of an idiot. But…there are definitely wards keeping them in their enclosures. Also, I signed up for creatures for another dimension, whether or not I believed in them at the time, and I will not let encountering my first one in an objectively boring way be the reason I quit.
The money is a factor, I’ll grant you. Of course it is. And I can’t spend it if I’m dead, but all signs point to surviving as long as I don’t do anything dumb. Also, yes, I’ll admit there’s a not-so-little voice in the back of my head that’s desperate to know what else is here. I never thought I’d do something like this, but finding out these things are real, I honestly do want to learn more about them.
Still, though, I decided to call Andrew at the end of my shift to ask if the pepper spray and taser I carried worked on a certain spider, as well as the other animals I’d yet to meet.
​
Previous
***
/storiesbykaren

First / Previous
Back on the job, my eyes kept going to the camera that was on enclosure one. Andrew told me its real name, but I think that’d be a step too far, putting that out on the internet. I’d just stick with ‘Steve the bear’. Whatever it was, I just knew I’d have a nightmare about it eventually. Last night I slept fitfully but okay. But I know my brain, and I’d already had a nightmare about Yui stabbing me with one of her legs (they are not needle-sharp in real life, this was dream logic) and walking around, having not noticed I was a Ripley-kebab on her leg. I kept trying to get her attention but for some reason I’d been worried about sounding rude.
On my third walk around the zoo, at about 12 a.m. I saw Leila again, who I’d been noticing more and more often. She never looked interested in talking, only walking through the enclosures, and by that I meant any and all of them. She didn’t seem to have a favorite. I assume that however much of her mind that was left over from being alive still gravitated toward looking at the animals, since getting too close was what killed her in the first place.
Then, in enclosure eight, I saw a new creature and stopped abruptly. This one looked chill, but I wasn’t about to make any assumptions. It looked unique in a strange way, shaped like a giant lizard but built like a big cat of some sort. It had an uncanny valley human face, green hair for a mane, and also a horn like a unicorn. It felt like something drawn by an imaginative five-year-old brought to life, but was still somehow oddly endearing.
“Hello,” she spoke, noticing me noticing her. Her voice was distinctly female and oddly deep.
“Hello,” I responded with false cheer.
She pushed herself to her feet and I took an instinctive step back, but she seem to notice, much less take offense. “You’re the guard here?”
“Yup. That’s me.”
“Thank you.”
I blinked, taken aback. “Ah…you’re welcome. For what?”
She cocked her head. “For guarding me.”
That was different. Most of the impressions I had gotten from the animals so far were that they wanted to eat me. And the idea that this one was thankful for me doing my job was refreshing, don’t get me wrong, but made me wary. Call me a cynic, I guess.
“My name is tàiyang. You can call me Sun,” she told me.
“Hi, Sun. I’m Ripley.”
Then she looked toward the sky. “It’s going to rain tonight.”
After a thoughtful moment, I asked, “Does that make you sad?”
“Why would it make you sad?”
I smiled. “Because your name is Sun.”
She paused and then said, “I don’t understand.”
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, telling a pun to one of the animals. “Never mind.” I glanced up at the sky. “I thought the rain is supposed to stay away from here. Are the ones who told me that wrong?”
“Yes.”
“Well that’s good to know,” I murmured to myself, thinking of my raincoat hanging in the security office closet. It wasn’t that surprising, honestly. Sometimes I felt like the meteorologists in Arkansas try to read the entrails of goats to figure out the weather. It’s all a mess and it’s all made up.
At that, the animal looked to the sky and fell silent. She appeared to be the most uneventful introduction I’d had so far, and I was incredibly grateful for it. Except then the animal kept talking. “He’s under a spell.”
I blinked. “What?”
She looked back to me. “Andrew. He’s under a spell. He’s very unhappy.”
I had no idea how to react to that. For a second I just stared. The sudden jolt of being told my boss was currently being afflicted by magic left me floundering. “He… What?” I finally asked. “Where is he?”
“In his office.”
Oh shit. My eyes instinctively darted in the direction of the main office. I always just entered through the door on the west side of the building, of course, since it led to the security room. It was unnecessary for me to go through the door that first led into the lobby-slash-office Andrew worked out of. Sometimes he even left early, so it was locked anyway. I had the key, but again, it was unnecessary.
Whatever had happened, assuming this animal wasn’t joking around (she seemed completely serious), I needed to establish whether she was right. Leaving the enclosure of the animal I’d just met, I quickly walked back to the small building.
Taking a deep breath, I knocked loudly. “Andrew, are you in there?”
The only reply was silence. I stood there until enough time had passed that it was obvious that no one was coming to answer the door. Taking out my phone, I dialed his cell number and wait as it rang. Then I grimaced when I heard it ringing inside.
Hanging up and shoving the phone back in my pocket, I stared at the closed door.
Trying the doorknob, I found that it was unlocked, and my heart skipped a beat. Andrew always locked his office before leaving. Opening the door slowly, the lights were off in the room, leaving only the faint red glow of the lights outside peeking around his curtains, so I turned on a light. Then my heart plummeted into my stomach, because there was Andrew, splayed limply on the ground, his eyes only half open.
I bolted to him and dropped to his side as he let out a whimper.
“Andrew,” I said, putting two fingers to the side of his neck. He remained silent, and despite his relaxed, wilted appearance, his heart was racing, and I wondered if he was in pain. The room smelled, and it was clear to me that he’d lost control of his bowels. I couldn’t believe I’d been working here for hours without knowing he was in the next room like this.
“Fucking hell. I’m so sorry it took me so long to find you. Can you hear me? What happened?” He made a small sound, unfocused eyes attempting to meet mine, but it was as if he were severely deprived of sleep or something, unable to focus. His mouth opened and he tried to say something, but he couldn’t speak. All I got was halting words mushed into each other. I felt for him; he must’ve been mortified by his condition. I would’ve been, at least.
The obvious solution would be to get Suzanne’s number from Andrew’s phone, so I searched him for it and found it in his right jacket pocket. I pressed the button the iPhone, swiped, and let out a sigh of frustration. He was security conscious enough to lock his phone with a code, of course.
“Can you… You can’t tell me the code,” I said knowing. He grunted quietly.
“What happened?”
I shrieked and jumped to my feet. Leila stood in the doorway, staring in shock at Andrew’s body. “You scared the bejesus out of me,” I exclaimed. I stopped myself before asking if she could make some noise when she moved or if I could put a bell on her. “What does it look like happened? Someone put a spell on him.” Abruptly, my stance changed, standing up straight. “Wait. Do you know how to get in touch with…anyone?” I asked desperately.
“I know Ms. Cooper’s phone number,” she said frankly.
My eyes widened. “Seriously? How?”
“Andrew gave it to me after I worked here for three months.”
That stopped my brain dead in its tracks. “You…used to work here?” I whispered. I remembered Andrew telling me that one of the night shift managers had been killed, but he hadn’t told me it was Leila. Whether it was for her own privacy or her dignity or some other reason, it didn’t really matter. What mattered was that I could call Suzanne.
“I worked here for three months,” Leila confirmed as I took out my own phone.
“Okay…what’s her number?” I asked, ready to dial. She rattled off the number and dialed it.
The phone rang twice times before someone answered. “Hello?”
“Hi, is this Suzanne?”
“Yes, who’s this?”
She had a British accent like Andrew did. I took a deep breath and said, “It’s Ripley Mason. I got your number from Leila. I’m here in Andrew’s office and he’s in really bad shape. Someone cast a spell on him and it’s like he’s lost control of the part of his brain that lets him move around and speak.”
“What?” she snapped. “What happened?”
“I-I don’t know,” I said, glancing back to Andrew. He actually looked calmer now, and I hoped that was because he knew Suzanne could fix this. “I was doing my rounds and I met Sun; she’s the one that told me and that’s why I came into his office. I don’t- Who would do this? What do I do?”
“It’s okay, Ripley. I’ll leaving now and will be there soon,” she told me. I heard rustling in the background, the sounds of getting out of a chair and footsteps. “Did you check the security cameras?”
My eyes shut in irritation against my stupidity. It hadn’t even occurred to me. “I’m sorry. Of course, I’ll do that right away.” Proof positive that I was completely out of it. Some security guard I was, not even able to keep my head in an emergency.
“Don’t apologize, Ripley, you’re quite within your rights to be discombobulated at the moment,” she said. “And I’d like you stay with Andrew, but I would prefer to know what happened. Leave his side just for a second to check the footage.
“Okay.” I crouched down to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll be right back.” His eyes flicked to me, but he didn’t make a sound. Getting back to my feet and walking over to the security room door, I went in and sat at my desk, putting the phone on speaker so I could more easily navigate the footage.
After fidgeting around with the unfamiliar aspect of the program, since I’d never needed to look back before and Andrew only showed me how to do it once, I finally went back to the point where the spell had been cast. “Okay, he walked into his office with two men at…4:08 p.m. and it looks like he was fine with it. He wasn’t under duress, from what I can see.”
“That’s likely Michael Wise and Eric Henry,” Suzanne told me. “They were allegedly making a donation, a herd of Bagot goats.”
“Allegedly?”
“Well, I’m operating under the assumption that they lied if Andrew is spelled.”
I grimaced. That was a good point. Watching them have a conversation, I saw Andrew tense, and then turn to dart toward his desk, but he only made it two steps before one of the men raised what looked like a wand, snapping it in my late boss’s direction, speaking something. As I saw Andrew’s body seize like he’d been hit with a taser and collapse, I hissed in a sharp breath. “Cripes.”
“What is it?”
“One of them had a wand,” I managed. “He-He did something with it.”
“I’m here, Ripley. Come back to the office.”
My eyes widened and I did as I was told, stunned to see her opening the front door. “How did you get here so fast?” I asked.
The woman gave me a small smile, rendered grim by the situation. “Call it a trick of the trade.”
“Oh. Gotcha.”
Suzanne was all hard edges, her pin-straight blond hair cut at an angle just below her ears, and she wore a smart blue pants suit with matching pumps. But then she looked to Andrew and her face softened, despair and fury flashing across it as she quickly walked to him and knelt at his side, taking his weak hand in hers.
“Oh, Andrew,” she whispered. “I’m so, so sorry. You’ll be okay. I already texted a healer and asked her to come by. A friend of mine named Janine.”
I looked back to Andrew’s face, his eyes open and his expression one of exhaustion, but then quickly looked to Suzanne. “Why would someone do this?” I asked.
“I have a feeling at least one of our animals is missing,” she told me, her voice low and hard.
Anger flared up in me. “What?” I asked tersely. I glanced back in the direction of the cameras. “Should we check the cameras to see which enclosure they went to? Do we- Are there cops you can call for this? What do we do?”
Suzanne’s face slowly faded to sadness. “I’ll take care of it,” she said. “You’re accurate in that I do have a different police I’ll call about this. But there’s a good chance we won’t get the animal back.”
“Wait, why? Come on, there’s got to be magic you could do, right?” I asked anxiously.
“The animal will have been warded and sold to someone immediately,” she explained. “They would’ve had a buyer set up, and gone straight there to reduce the risk of being caught with it. Anyone who is buying an animal like this is extremely powerful, which means that even if we catch the men who stole it, they’d go to prison, but they wouldn’t risk angering the buyer. They won’t tell the authorities who it was, even for a lesser sentence. Losing an animal to robbery has only happened twice in the zoo’s history, this is the third time, but that’s how it played out both times. Actually, in the first instance, the police didn’t even catch the people who took it, since they were wearing masks.”
Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Suzanne pushed herself to her feet, walking over and opening it without hesitation. “He’s in here.” I took the opportunity to open the windows and turned down the thermostat so it would start displacing the smelly air.
A woman walked in, Janine presumably. “Oh, goodness,” she breathed, going quickly to Andrew. She took his pulse with one hand as she pulled a wand out from her purse with the other. “It’s good he’s staying calm. Redire orior can be terrifying to be subjected to.”
“He wasn’t calm when I got here,” I told her quietly. “I’ve been here for hours and didn’t know he was here until just a few minutes ago.”
Janine swore softly. “All right. Let me get started.”
I didn’t know what that meant, so I turned to Suzanne. “What did she call this?”
“The spell is ‘redire orior’. It’s a regression of part of the mind, basically all the way back to when we were first born,” she said tightly, anger flickering across her face. “He has no more control over his body than he did when he was a newborn baby.”
I grimaced, looking back to him. “Oh my god,” I whispered. It meant exactly what it had looked like when I’d walked in: Andrew had been rendered completely helpless. Rage welled up inside me, despising the men who’d done this and wishing desperately that Suzanne had been more confident in finding them.
Suzanne took the opportunity to walk into the security office and I heard her sit in my chair. Janine put down her wand to have both hands free and told Andrew, “Just relax, concentrate on breathing slowly,” she said, carefully pulling both of his legs out and rolling him onto his back. She then put his arms at his sides and, picking up her wand, pointed it at his forehead.
I took in a sharp breath of surprise as I saw a faint glow coming from the wand, through the top of it and then to Andrew’s forehead. She held that position for a while, muttering under her breath.
A few minutes later, Suzanne came out and took her phone from her pocket, saying, “I don’t recognize either of the men in the footage. But they seemed distressed, particularly the one that didn’t hurt Andrew. I don’t think that’s what was meant to happen.”
“Meant to or not, it happened,” I muttered through clenched teeth. I’d already decided that my new to-do list every day included first checking the office cameras.
“Andrew,” Janine said, letting the glow fade. “Can you speak?”
“I…yeah,” he whispered.
Suzanne came over to my side. “Thank goodness. How are you feeling? How’s the vertigo?”
“Pretty much gone,” he said, closing his eyes for a long moment, though he didn’t try to stand up.
“Andrew, I pulled up the cameras in the office and listened to the audio,” she told him. “I know what happened.”
My eyebrows furrowed. “The cameras have audio?”
“It’s under admin privileges, but yes. Andrew, you should have known better,” she said softly, looking back to him. “The gun in one of the desk drawers? I presume that’s what you were lunging for, because those two men had just made it clear they were here for an animal.”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “I just…” He looked distraught.
“They told you to just let them get what they came for,” Suzanne said. “Why didn’t you?” My lips parted in shock.
“The last time this happened, I cooperated, but…I regretted it,” he growled. “We never saw Harriet again. I couldn’t just stand here and let them do whatever they wanted. Not again.” I assumed Harriet was one of their animals, but I didn’t ask.
“Don’t ever do something so foolish again,” she told him, on the verge of being upset, her emotions likely tempered by his condition. “I want to make it clear to you that this job, these animals, they’re immensely important, but they are not worth your life. He could have killed you. If someone gains access to the zoo again to steal an animal I want you to cooperate fully. Understood?”
“Yeah,” Andrew muttered.
The idea that Andrew had tried to bring a gun to a wand fight was staggering. Something heavy curled in my stomach at the thought. It was clear he cared about the wellbeing of the animals to a degree I hadn’t comprehended.
Janine took one of the small pillows from the couch and tucked it under Andrew’s head as Suzanne continued. “All right,” she said with a sigh. “I’ll go through the footage to determine what they stole and then call the authorities to report the theft. Janine, can you continue to treat him?”
I wasn’t sure what that entailed, but Janine apparently did, since she nodded and knelt back down as Suzanne went back into the security office. Janine did the same thing that she’d done before, that soft glow channeling light into Andrew’s head. Obviously, I wanted to ask what she was doing, but I knew better than to think I’d get an answer. Instead, I sat in one of the loveseats in front of Andrew’s desk, turning it to face them.
I heard Suzanne’s voice faintly speaking to someone on the phone and the minutes ticked by. Eventually, Suzanne came back out again and she stood next to me for a long moment, watching the healing process before turning to me.
“Andrew told me you were attempting to create some enrichment activities for the animals?” asked my boss.
“Oh, uh…yeah, I am,” I answered. I assumed she was trying to make small talk to distract me from the current situation, and I appreciated it. “The first one went well. Spike loves artichokes, pecans, and hazelnuts. I went with things that made it a challenge to eat, like it’s a challenge to pull out fingernails of its prey.”
Suzanne’s expression brightened just enough for me to notice. “Ripley, that’s wonderful. Very clever.” She let out a breath. “It’s becoming more and more obvious to me that Andrew chose well in hiring you.” I gave her a small smile. “Listen, I’m going to hire someone else to be here with you on duty,” Suzanne told me, “and by that, I mean someone from my neck of the woods. Andrew explained that to you, correct?”
“Not much. Just that you’re not from Earth.”
Suzanne smiled. “That makes me sound like an alien, but yes, I’m not from this dimension. I can hire someone who has similar abilities to mine, who can check in every few hours, make sure everything’s all right, but generally make themselves scarce unless there’s an emergency. He wouldn’t have been able to do much if he’d already been here, but he’d have known what was going on. Andrew would have received assistance immediately.”
I was curious of what those abilities were, aside from being able to see the animals, but I wasn’t bold enough to ask. Also, I was curious about who this new ‘employee’ would be, but presumably I’d find out sooner or later. “That would make me feel a little better,” I said, nodding. “Knowing there was someone else here.”
She nodded once. “It’s as good as done, then. As for Andrew, he’ll need to take a few days off to recover. Would you be willing to give the tours until he’s back in ship-shape?”
My eyes bugged out of my skull. “Wait, what? I can’t even see all the animals!”
Suzanne chuckled at my expression and shook her head. “I can enchant a pair of specs for you to wear,” she told me. “It’ll give you a bit of a headache, but you’ll be able to see all of the animals. Also, I’ll give you the background for each of them, because you’ll be speaking about them to the tourists.”
I blinked, thinking of how awesome it would be to finally know all about them all. And it was flattering, the fact that she had such confidence in me that, without hesitation, she asked if I could take over for Andrew. The best thing for me to do, of course, was to be confident and assure her that I could take any temporary promotion in stride. “I’m…I’m not great with people,” I managed.
Yup. Nailed it.
“You can be a little harsh with them if you need to,” she said with a small, knowing smile. “I assumed that signing up for a job where you interact with a screen of cameras the whole time means you aren’t great with people. And Andrew did brief me on you when he hired you. How good are you at couching your insults in polite talk? The British are quite skilled, but I know Americans aren’t too bad at it.”
I smirked, remembering how a coworker friend of mine once told a customer, “Oh, bless your heart,” in her thick southern accent and it sounded like the worst insult. “I can manage that, I think.”
A buzz from the gate that went to the panel on the wall drew our attention and Suzanne walked over to let the visitors in. It was three people, a man and two women, with a gurney.
Walking over to Andrew, I folded my arms with a small smile as Janine released his head from the glow the wand was emitting. “Hey. Sorry you had to lay on the floor for so long knowing I was cluelessly reading a book in the next room.”
“Eh, not the end of the world,” he whispered. “I’ll be back on my feet soon. So, no parties while I’m gone.”
I snorted and my smile widened, and he returned it.
Going back into the security room, I pulled the system back to the multi-camera exterior view, and I sat there and listened to Suzanne talk to one of the medics, explaining everything that had happened in detail. Once she’d done that and they brought Andrew outside on the gurney, presumably to a waiting ambulance, I gave my statement, and then…it was back to work.
Obviously going back to work like nothing had changed felt weird, but Suzanne stayed, letting me know that she would get some work done at Andrew’s desk until my shift was over. It was likely the opposite of necessary, the robbers were gone, but it did make me feel a tiny bit better knowing that she was in the next room with her wand.
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