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2019.05.01 15:43 millerwoodcraft Joinery
Building with wood, without mechanical fasteners. Learn joinery methods, share your joints, uses, guides, videos and completed projects. For novices and experts alike. From furniture to timber framing, and anything between, this is the place to share in wooden joinery.
2024.06.07 21:12 Sweet-Count2557 Maldives Island Google Map
 | Maldives Island Google Map We've all heard about the amazing wonders of the Maldives, that dreamy destination with its crystal-clear waters and pristine beaches.And now, there's a tool that allows us to navigate this paradise with ease - the Maldives Island Google Map. But it's not just any ordinary map; it's a virtual guide that unveils the secrets of this enchanting archipelago.From hidden lagoons to bustling towns, this map holds the key to unlocking the treasures of the Maldives.So, if you're ready to embark on a journey of discovery, join us as we explore the wonders that await on the Maldives Island Google Map.Key TakeawaysThe Maldives is a chain of coral islands and atolls in the Indian Ocean, known for its stunning beaches and rich marine life.Google Maps can be used to explore the Maldives, locate different islands and atolls, and even experience virtual street view of local neighborhoods and attractions.Pros of using Google Maps for the Maldives include its user-friendly interface, satellite view for stunning visuals, and real-time traffic information.However, there are also limitations such as the need for an internet connection, limited street view coverage, and potential inaccuracies in directions.Overview of the Maldives IslandLet's take a closer look at the beautiful Maldives Island chain and discover its captivating charm and natural wonders.The Maldives is a chain of coral islands and atolls in the Indian Ocean, consisting of 1190 coral islands grouped into about 26 atolls. With its clear, green waters and stunning views, the Maldives is a paradise for nature lovers and adventure seekers.One of the main attractions of the Maldives is its rich marine life. The Indian Ocean surrounding the islands is teeming with a diverse range of marine species. Snorkeling and diving enthusiasts will be delighted to explore the vibrant coral reefs and encounter colorful fish, sea turtles, and even dolphins. The Maldives is home to over 2000 species of fish, making it a perfect destination for underwater exploration.The Maldives is also known for its stunning beaches and crystal-clear waters. The white sandy beaches stretch for miles, providing the perfect backdrop for relaxation and sunbathing. The warm tropical climate and gentle sea breeze create an idyllic setting for a beach vacation.In addition to its natural beauty, the Maldives offers a unique cultural experience. The local population of about 300,000 inhabitants adds to the charm of the islands. The Maldivian people are friendly and welcoming, and visitors have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the local culture through traditional music, dance, and cuisine.How to Access Google Maps for the Maldives IslandAfter exploring the captivating charm and natural wonders of the Maldives Island chain, it's time to discover how to access Google Maps for this stunning destination. Google Maps provides a convenient and user-friendly way to navigate the Maldives Islands, whether you're seeking the best spots for underwater photography, trying to find your way around the local neighborhoods, or planning to attend cultural festivals and events.To access Google Maps for the Maldives, simply open the Google Maps website or app. Once you're there, type 'Maldives' in the search bar to locate the country on the map. From there, you can zoom in and explore the different islands, atolls, and cities that make up the Maldives.One of the most fascinating features of Google Maps is the satellite view. By using this feature, you can see the stunning natural beauty of the Maldives Islands from above. The unique arrangement of the islands and the crystal-clear turquoise waters are truly a sight to behold.Another useful tool on Google Maps is the street view function. This allows you to virtually explore the local neighborhoods, resorts, and attractions on the islands. Whether you're looking for the best place to stay or want to get a sense of the local atmosphere, street view can provide valuable insights.In addition to navigation, Google Maps also offers real-time traffic information and directions. This can be particularly helpful when exploring the Maldives Islands and trying to find the best local transportation options.So, whether you're planning an underwater photography expedition, looking to immerse yourself in the local culture at festivals and events, or simply want to navigate the islands with ease, Google Maps is an invaluable tool for your Maldives adventure. Start exploring and let Google Maps be your guide to this paradise on Earth.ProsConsUser-friendly interfaceRequires internet connectionSatellite view for stunning visualsLimited street view coverageReal-time traffic informationPossible inaccuracies in directionsExploring the Main Attractions on the Maldives IslandAs we explore the main attractions on the Maldives Island, we're greeted with a breathtaking display of natural beauty and a myriad of exciting activities to indulge in. One of the main attractions that draw visitors to this paradise is its stunning beaches. The Maldives boasts picture-perfect stretches of white sand, fringed by crystal-clear turquoise waters. The beaches here are simply unparalleled, providing the perfect setting for relaxation and tranquility.But the beauty of the Maldives doesn't stop at its shores. The underwater world surrounding the islands is equally captivating. With its vibrant coral reefs and diverse marine life, the Maldives offers some of the best snorkeling and diving opportunities in the world. Exploring the underwater world is like entering a whole new realm, where colorful fish dance among the coral gardens and graceful manta rays glide effortlessly through the water. It truly is a sight to behold.Aside from the stunning beaches and the underwater world, the Maldives also offers a range of other main attractions to explore. Luxury resorts dot the islands, offering world-class amenities and the ultimate in relaxation. Indulge in spa treatments, savor delectable Indian cuisine, or simply lounge by the infinity pool, soaking up the sun and the breathtaking views.As we venture further into the Maldives Island, we discover hidden gems such as local markets, where we can immerse ourselves in the vibrant culture and pick up unique souvenirs. We can also embark on island-hopping adventures, visiting different atolls and experiencing the distinct charm and beauty of each.Navigating the Beaches and Lagoons on the Maldives IslandNavigating the beaches and lagoons on the Maldives Island is like embarking on a captivating journey through a chain of coral islands and atolls in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives' 26 atolls and 1190 coral islands are spread across a vast area, offering diverse beach and lagoon experiences. Here are some ways to explore these stunning landscapes:Beach Activities: The Maldives is a paradise for beach lovers. With its crystal-clear, turquoise waters and soft, white sands, you can enjoy a range of activities such as sunbathing, beach volleyball, and building sandcastles. Take a leisurely stroll along the shoreline and soak in the breathtaking views.Coral Reefs: Explore the vibrant coral reefs that surround the Maldives Islands. Go snorkeling or diving to discover an underwater world teeming with colorful fish, turtles, and other marine life. The coral reefs offer a unique opportunity to witness the beauty and diversity of the ocean firsthand.Boat Tours: Since most transportation in the Maldives is done by boat, taking a boat tour is a must-do activity. Hop on a traditional dhoni or a speedboat and cruise along the coastline, hopping from one island to another. Enjoy the cool ocean breeze and marvel at the picturesque scenery as you navigate the beaches and lagoons.Spotting Marine Life: The Maldives is renowned for its rich marine biodiversity. Keep an eye out for dolphins, manta rays, and even whale sharks. Embark on a dolphin-watching excursion or join a guided tour to witness these majestic creatures in their natural habitat.Exploring the beaches and lagoons on the Maldives Island is a truly unforgettable experience. Immerse yourself in the beauty of the coral islands, indulge in beach activities, and embark on boat tours to discover the wonders of this tropical paradise.Discovering the Underwater World of the Maldives IslandEmbarking on a journey beneath the surface, we venture into the captivating underwater world of the Maldives Island. With its 1,190 coral islands grouped into 26 atolls, the Maldives offers a diverse array of underwater landscapes waiting to be explored. The country's capital city, Male, serves as a convenient hub for underwater excursions, with its map showcasing the intricate layout of atolls, cities, and towns, aiding in planning our underwater adventures.As we delve into the turquoise waters of the Maldives, we're greeted by an abundance of marine biodiversity. The stunning coral reefs that surround the islands provide a habitat for a wide variety of fish, turtles, and other marine creatures. Snorkeling adventures here are truly unforgettable, as we immerse ourselves in a world teeming with vibrant colors and fascinating underwater life.For those looking to capture the beauty of the underwater world, the Maldives also offers excellent opportunities for underwater photography. As we explore the coral gardens and swim alongside schools of fish, we can use these underwater photography tips to capture stunning shots: make sure to use a waterproof camera or housing, get close to your subjects to capture their details, and take advantage of natural light for vibrant and clear images.In the Maldives, the underwater world is a treasure trove waiting to be discovered. With its breathtaking marine biodiversity and opportunities for snorkeling adventures and underwater photography, it's a paradise for those seeking to explore the mysteries beneath the surface. So, grab your snorkel gear and dive into the enchanting waters of the Maldives Island.Finding the Best Resorts and Accommodations on the Maldives IslandWhen it comes to finding the best resorts and accommodations on the Maldives Island, there are a few top-rated options that stand out. These resorts offer luxurious over-water villas with stunning ocean views and direct access to the water.If you're on a budget, don't worry, as there are also some great budget accommodations available that still provide a comfortable and enjoyable stay.Top-Rated Maldives ResortsTo find the best resorts and accommodations on the Maldives Island, we can explore the top-rated options that offer luxurious experiences and breathtaking views. Here are the top-rated Maldives resorts:Luxury accommodations: The Maldives is renowned for its opulent resorts that offer world-class amenities and services. From private pools to personal butlers, these resorts provide a truly indulgent experience.Beachfront villas: Imagine waking up to the sound of waves crashing on the shore and stepping out onto your own private beach. Many of the top-rated resorts in the Maldives offer beachfront villas, allowing guests to enjoy direct access to the pristine white sands and turquoise waters.All-inclusive packages: For a hassle-free vacation, consider opting for an all-inclusive package. These packages often include meals, drinks, activities, and even spa treatments, ensuring that guests can relax and enjoy their stay without worrying about additional expenses.Breathtaking views: Whether it's a panoramic view of the Indian Ocean or a stunning sunset over the horizon, the top-rated resorts in the Maldives offer unforgettable vistas. Guests can indulge in the natural beauty of the islands from the comfort of their own luxurious accommodations.Best Budget AccommodationsAs we delve into the search for the best budget accommodations on the Maldives Island, let's uncover the hidden gems that offer affordable stays amidst the breathtaking coral islands and atolls of the Indian Ocean.The Maldives may be known for its luxury resorts, but there are also budget accommodations that provide a unique and cost-effective experience. Some of these accommodations are located on man-made islands specifically designed for tourism, offering a range of island activities such as swimming, snorkeling, and spotting marine life.However, it's important to consider the cultural experiences that come with staying in budget accommodations. Islamic cultural rules, such as restrictions on alcohol and attire, may impact the experience.Nonetheless, budget accommodations in the Maldives offer a fantastic opportunity to explore the natural beauty of the islands without breaking the bank.Exploring Local Cuisine and Dining Options on the Maldives IslandLocal cuisine on the Maldives Island offers a tantalizing fusion of Indian, Sri Lankan, and Arabian flavors, reflecting a rich culinary heritage that's sure to delight food enthusiasts. From mouthwatering Maldivian delicacies to popular seafood dishes, exploring the local cuisine provides an authentic dining experience.Here are some highlights:Maldivian Delicacies: Immerse yourself in the local culture by trying traditional Maldivian dishes. Garudhiya, a fragrant fish soup made with fresh tuna, is a must-try. The flavors of the fish, combined with aromatic spices, create a comforting and flavorful broth. Another delicacy is mas huni, a refreshing tuna and coconut salad. This dish combines flaked tuna, grated coconut, onions, chili, and lime juice, resulting in a delicious and satisfying meal.Popular Seafood Dishes: Being surrounded by the Indian Ocean, it's no surprise that seafood plays a significant role in Maldivian cuisine. Indulge in mouthwatering grilled fish, prawns, and lobster, expertly prepared by local chefs. The seafood is often seasoned with a blend of spices, giving it a unique and flavorful taste.Authentic Dining Experience: To truly experience the local cuisine, venture beyond the resorts and hotels and visit local cafes and family-run restaurants. Here, you can savor traditional Maldivian meals cooked with love and passion, providing an authentic dining experience. Interacting with the locals and witnessing their culinary traditions adds an extra layer of authenticity to your dining experience.International Dining Options: If you prefer a wider variety of culinary options, upscale resorts and hotels on the Maldives Island offer a range of international dining options. From Asian fusion to Mediterranean cuisine, you can explore different flavors and satisfy your taste buds.Whether you choose to indulge in Maldivian delicacies or explore international cuisines, the diverse dining options on the Maldives Island are sure to satisfy every palate. So, go ahead and embark on a culinary adventure that will leave you craving for more.Shopping and Souvenir Hunting on the Maldives IslandShopping on the Maldives Island is a delightful experience, offering a wide variety of handcrafted treasures and unique souvenirs waiting to be discovered. The island is home to vibrant local markets where visitors can immerse themselves in the rich culture and find authentic items that reflect the Maldivian heritage.Exploring these markets allows travelers to appreciate the traditional crafts that have been passed down through generations. One can find intricately designed wooden carvings, showcasing the skill and artistry of local artisans. These carvings often depict marine life, such as dolphins, turtles, and coral reefs, capturing the essence of the Maldives' natural beauty.For those looking to bring home a piece of Maldivian fashion, colorful sarongs are a popular choice. These garments, known as 'feyli,' are made from lightweight fabrics and feature vibrant patterns inspired by the island's flora and fauna. They're perfect for lounging on the beach or adding a touch of tropical flair to any wardrobe.Handwoven baskets made from locally sourced materials are also sought-after souvenirs. These baskets come in various sizes and shapes, making them versatile and practical for everyday use. They're a testament to the island's commitment to sustainable craftsmanship.A visit to the local markets wouldn't be complete without exploring the exquisite jewelry made from seashells and coral. These pieces are intricately designed, showcasing the natural beauty of the ocean. From necklaces and earrings to bracelets and rings, each jewelry item tells a unique story and serves as a reminder of the Maldives' breathtaking underwater world.Shopping for souvenirs in the Maldives Island isn't just about acquiring material possessions; it's an opportunity to support local craftsmanship and take home a piece of the island's soul. These authentic souvenirs serve as cherished keepsakes, reminding us of the beauty and cultural significance of the Maldives.Uncovering the Cultural and Historical Sites on the Maldives IslandNestled among the crystal-clear waters of the Indian Ocean, the Maldives Island is a treasure trove of cultural and historical sites waiting to be uncovered. From ancient monuments to vibrant festivals, here are some of the highlights that showcase the rich cultural heritage of this island paradise:Cultural Preservation: The Maldives takes great pride in preserving its cultural traditions. Explore the local villages to witness traditional craftsmanship, such as intricate woodcarvings and exquisite lacquerwork. Visit the National Museum in Malé to delve into the country's history and discover artifacts that date back centuries.Historical Monuments: The Maldives is home to a number of historical monuments that offer a glimpse into its past. One such landmark is the Hukuru Miskiy, also known as the Old Friday Mosque, which is adorned with beautiful coral stone carvings. Another must-visit is the Malé Friday Mosque, an architectural marvel with its intricate coral patterns and ornate minaret.Traditional Festivals: Immerse yourself in the vibrant culture of the Maldives by attending traditional festivals. The most prominent celebration is Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan. Witness the joyous festivities, which include feasts, music, dance, and traditional performances. Don't miss out on the Bodu Beru, a lively drumming performance that's a hallmark of Maldivian culture.Island Excursions: While the Maldives is known for its stunning beaches and luxury resorts, the islands also offer a chance to explore the local way of life. Take a trip to a local island and experience the warmth and hospitality of the Maldivian people. Engage in activities like cooking classes, fishing trips, and cultural tours to gain a deeper understanding of the island's heritage.Uncovering the cultural and historical sites on the Maldives Island is a journey that will leave you enriched and inspired. Embark on this exploration and let the Maldives weave its captivating tales of the past.Planning a Dreamy Honeymoon on the Maldives IslandIf you're dreaming of a romantic and unforgettable honeymoon, the Maldives Island offers the perfect destination to create cherished memories that will last a lifetime. With its 1190 coral islands grouped into about 26 atolls, the Maldives provides diverse landscapes and experiences for couples seeking a dreamy getaway.When it comes to honeymoon accommodations, the Maldives boasts an array of luxury resorts and water villas that allow you to immerse yourself in the island's natural beauty. Imagine waking up to stunning views of clear green waters and experiencing the rich marine biodiversity right at your doorstep.To make your honeymoon even more special, the Maldives offers a range of romantic activities. From private beach dinners under the starlit sky to couples' spa treatments that will relax and rejuvenate you, there are plenty of options to ignite the spark of romance. Snorkeling and diving enthusiasts will be delighted by the opportunity to explore the Devata Coral Reef, known for its vibrant colors and abundant marine life.To make planning your dreamy honeymoon a breeze, many resorts in the Maldives offer honeymoon packages. These packages often include special perks such as candlelit dinners, couples' massages, and even sunset cruises. Whether you prefer a secluded and intimate experience or a more adventurous and active honeymoon, the Maldives has something for every couple.In addition to its breathtaking beauty and romantic offerings, the Maldives also provides a chance to immerse yourself in the local lifestyle. With most transportation done by boat, you'll have the opportunity to explore different islands and experience the authentic, non-touristy side of the Maldives.Tips for a Relaxing Spa and Wellness Experience on the Maldives IslandWhen it comes to finding the best spa treatments and serene wellness retreats on the Maldives Island, we've got you covered.From traditional Maldivian treatments to outdoor spa sessions with breathtaking ocean views, there are plenty of options to ensure a truly relaxing experience.Don't forget to take advantage of unique activities like underwater spa treatments or beachside massages for an extra dose of tranquility.Best Spa TreatmentsImmerse yourself in the ultimate relaxation and rejuvenation on the Maldives Island with the best spa treatments that will leave you feeling refreshed and revitalized. Here are some popular wellness activities and the benefits of holistic therapies to elevate your spa experience:Traditional Maldivian Massage: Experience a deeply relaxing treatment using coconut oil, known for its nourishing properties. This massage technique will help relieve tension and promote a sense of calm.Rejuvenating Seaweed Body Wrap: After a day of exploring the beautiful islands, indulge in a detoxifying and nourishing seaweed body wrap. This treatment will leave your skin feeling hydrated and revitalized.Luxurious Overwater Bungalow Spa: Treat yourself to a luxurious spa experience in an overwater bungalow, where you can enjoy stunning views and the soothing sounds of the ocean. Let the tranquil surroundings enhance your relaxation.Maldivian Sand Massage: Exfoliate and revitalize your skin with a Maldivian sand massage. This unique treatment promotes relaxation while leaving your skin smooth and radiant.Try these incredible spa treatments on the Maldives Island for a truly relaxing and rejuvenating experience.Serene Wellness RetreatsAre you looking for a truly relaxing and rejuvenating spa and wellness experience on the Maldives Island? Look no further than the serene wellness retreats scattered across the stunning coral islands and atolls of the Indian Ocean.These retreats offer a peaceful and tranquil environment, perfect for unwinding and finding inner peace. Immerse yourself in a range of spa treatments, from soothing massages to rejuvenating facials.Indulge in yoga retreats, where you can stretch and strengthen your body while surrounded by the beauty of nature. Practice meditation to calm your mind and find inner balance.These retreats also offer holistic healing practices, allowing you to connect with your mind, body, and spirit.Experience the ultimate relaxation and wellness getaway in the Maldives.Trying Exciting Water Sports and Activities on the Maldives IslandGet ready for an unforgettable adventure as we dive into the exhilarating world of water sports and activities on the beautiful Maldives Island. With its crystal-clear waters and stunning coral reefs, the Maldives offers a plethora of options for those seeking adrenaline pumping water sports and unforgettable experiences.Here are four exciting activities to try on the Maldives Island:Snorkeling Adventures: Immerse yourself in the vibrant underwater world of the Maldives through snorkeling. Swim alongside colorful fish, explore mesmerizing coral reefs, and witness the diverse marine life that calls these waters home. The Maldives offers numerous snorkeling spots where you can discover the beauty and tranquility of the underwater realm.Adrenaline Pumping Water Sports: If you crave excitement and thrill, the Maldives has you covered. Try your hand at jet skiing, where you can zoom across the clear blue waters, feeling the rush of the wind against your face. Or, take on the challenge of paddleboarding, parasailing, or kayaking, and experience the thrill of maneuvering through the picturesque island scenery.Romantic Sunset Cruises: For a more relaxed and romantic experience, embark on a sunset cruise. Sail into the golden hues of the setting sun, while sipping on a refreshing drink and enjoying the breathtaking views. Watch as the sky transforms into a canvas of vivid colors, creating a magical moment that will stay with you forever.Dolphin Watching and Fishing Trips: The Maldives is home to an abundance of marine life, including playful dolphins. Join a dolphin watching excursion and witness these majestic creatures in their natural habitat, leaping and gliding through the waves. Alternatively, go on a fishing trip and try your luck at catching some of the local fish, adding a thrilling element to your island adventure.Whether you're seeking adrenaline or romance, the Maldives offers an array of water sports and activities to suit every preference. Dive into the clear waters and create memories that will last a lifetime.Exploring the Local Wildlife and Nature Reserves on the Maldives IslandWhat hidden treasures of wildlife and nature can be discovered on the Maldives Island? The Maldives Islands aren't only known for their stunning beaches and crystal-clear waters but also for their rich biodiversity and commitment to wildlife conservation. With several nature reserves and a strong focus on eco-tourism, exploring the local wildlife on the Maldives Island is an experience like no other.One of the must-visit places for nature enthusiasts is the Baa Atoll Biosphere Reserve. This UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve is home to an incredible array of marine life, including manta rays, whale sharks, and vibrant coral reefs. Snorkeling or diving in these waters allows you to witness the beauty of the underwater world while contributing to its preservation.For those interested in birdwatching, the Maldives is a paradise. The islands are a vital stopover point for many migratory birds, offering a unique opportunity to observe rare species up close. The Hulhumale Wetland, located near the capital city of Male, is a popular spot for birdwatching, with over 70 bird species calling it home.To learn more about the local flora and fauna, a visit to the Maldives Wildlife Rescue Center is a must. This center focuses on rehabilitating and releasing injured or orphaned wildlife, such as sea turtles and birds. Visitors can participate in educational programs and gain a deeper understanding of the importance of wildlife conservation.Eco-tourism is a key focus on the Maldives Island, with many resorts implementing sustainable practices and offering guided nature walks and wildlife safaris. These activities allow visitors to explore the islands' unique ecosystems while minimizing their impact on the environment.Taking a Virtual Tour of the Maldives Island's Private Islands and RetreatsEmbark on a captivating virtual journey through the private islands and retreats of the Maldives, where breathtaking natural beauty and luxurious architecture await. With the advancement of technology, accessing virtual tours of these exclusive destinations has become easier than ever before. Let's dive in and explore the wonders that await you in the Maldives:Experience luxury resorts: Through virtual tours, you can step into the world of opulence and indulgence that the Maldives is known for. Immerse yourself in the stunning architecture of the private island resorts, where houses seem to float on the crystal-clear waters. Marvel at the elegant villas, complete with private pools, outdoor showers, and panoramic views of the Indian Ocean.Explore the vibrant marine life: The Maldives is renowned for its vibrant coral reefs and diverse marine life. Take a virtual dive and witness the wonders of the underwater world. Swim alongside colorful fish, graceful manta rays, and even spot a majestic whale shark. These virtual tours provide an up-close encounter with the incredible marine biodiversity that surrounds the Maldives.Understand local customs: As you explore the virtual tours, you'll also gain insights into the rich cultural experiences offered by the Maldives' resorts. Learn about the Islamic customs and traditions that are an integral part of the Maldivian way of life. Discover the influence of these customs on the resorts' offerings, from traditional Maldivian cuisine to unique activities and experiences.Plan your future visit: While virtual tours provide a glimpse into the wonders of the Maldives, they also serve as a guide for planning your future visit. Take note of the resorts and retreats that capture your interest and start envisioning your dream vacation in paradise.Through accessing virtual tours, you can now indulge in the luxury, natural beauty, and local customs of the Maldives from the comfort of your own home. Start your virtual journey today and get ready to be enchanted by the wonders of this tropical paradise.Capturing Insta-Worthy Moments on the Maldives IslandAs we explore the enchanting Maldives Island, we're captivated by the countless opportunities to capture insta-worthy moments amidst its stunning natural beauty and unique experiences. From the moment we arrived, we knew that this tropical paradise was a photographer's dream.The Maldives Island offers a plethora of picturesque settings that are perfect for capturing sunset photography. Imagine standing on the soft white sand, feeling the gentle breeze on your skin, as the sky transforms into a vibrant canvas of oranges, pinks, and purples. It's a sight that will leave you in awe and your followers longing to be there with you.But the beauty of the Maldives doesn't end with its mesmerizing sunsets. Underwater photography is another must-do activity here. The crystal-clear, green waters provide the perfect backdrop for capturing vibrant coral reefs, tropical fish, and even majestic manta rays and whale sharks. Whether you're a professional photographer or just a hobbyist, the underwater world of the Maldives will leave you breathless and your camera roll full of stunning shots.In addition to its natural beauty, the Maldives Island is also known for its vibrant local festivals and events. Throughout the year, the island comes alive with celebrations of Maldivian culture, music, and dance. From the Bodu Beru festival, where locals showcase their traditional drumming skills, to the Eid al-Fitr celebrations marking the end of Ramadan, there's always something happening that's worth capturing and sharing with the world.Frequently Asked QuestionsWhich Country Is Maldives Located In?Maldives is located in South Asia, in the Indian Ocean. It's a stunning country consisting of 1190 coral islands grouped into about 26 atolls.We, as travelers, are captivated by its natural beauty and isolation. The Maldives offers a unique living experience, with its beautiful coral reefs and luxury resorts.The official language spoken is Dhivehi (Mahl), and the capital city is Male. Maldives truly is a paradise on Earth.Where Is Maldives in Google Earth?When exploring the stunning beaches of Maldives, we were amazed by the crystal-clear waters and powdery white sand.Snorkeling and diving allowed us to uncover the underwater wonders of Maldives, with vibrant coral reefs teeming with colorful fish and other marine life.And let's not forget about the luxury resorts in Maldives, where we indulged in world-class amenities, breathtaking views, and impeccable service.It's no wonder that Maldives is a dream destination for travelers seeking a tropical paradise.Where Is the Maldives Close To?The Maldives is close to India and Sri Lanka, making it an ideal destination for travelers looking to explore the Indian Ocean. With its stunning coral reefs, luxury resorts, and abundant marine life, the Maldives offers popular tourist attractions like swimming, snorkeling, and spotting unique sea creatures.The best time to visit is during the dry season from November to April, when the weather is sunny and the waters are calm, perfect for enjoying activities and water sports.How Many Islands Are in the Maldives?There are approximately 1,190 islands in the Maldives, making it a paradise for anyone seeking a tropical getaway.These islands offer a diverse range of tourist attractions, from stunning coral reefs to luxurious resorts.In addition to the natural beauty, the Maldives is also rich in local culture, with a 100% Islamic population.Underwater activities like swimming and snorkeling are a must-do here, as the marine life is abundant and breathtaking.ConclusionAs we explore the stunning Maldives Island on Google Maps, we're reminded of the extraordinary beauty that exists in the world.The captivating beaches, vibrant coral reefs, and diverse wildlife create a paradise that's truly awe-inspiring.Whether you're a local or a tourist, this interactive map allows you to immerse yourself in the wonders of the Maldives and discover its hidden treasures.So, grab your virtual snorkel and get ready for a journey of exploration and wonder on the Maldives Island. submitted by Sweet-Count2557 to worldkidstravel [link] [comments] |
2024.06.07 21:07 LeeCloud27 The Life of Hakurei - False Madness on Brightest Night - Part 2
Five Minutes of Recovery Later…
“Okay…Let me understand this again.” Reimu began. “Each of you noticed something was off with the moon so you decided to go investigate. And it so happened we all followed the same trail to the bamboo forest, and noticing how the night had remained stagnant the moment we laid eyes on one another we assumed we were behind the incident. Am I right?”
“Correct” Sakuya said, standing alongside Remilia. To her left and right were Marisa and Youmu, who respectively stood by Alice and Yuyuko while Yukari was by Reimu.
“Okay good, and considering we came all the way here to the bamboo forest of the lost means we can clarify none of us here has anything to do with the moon’s replacement. So, does anyone know where we might find our true culprits?”
No one spoke up, save for Youmu who timidly raised her hand.
“Um…Yuyuko-sama and I, when we entered the forest we noticed some lights east of here, but we were too caught up fighting to go check it out. It’s possible that may be where the culprit is hiding.”
“Oh, I noticed something too while making my way here, but it was a building; a mansion more specifically. I think the lights you’re referring to might be the mansion.” Alice said.
“A mansion?” Yukari wondered. “Strange, I never heard of a mansion existing in this part of Gensokyo.”
“Don’t tell me it’s another foreign noble who came from the outside.” Reimu said, making a small glance over at Sakuya and Remilia. “But now I know where to look next, so if you excuse me...”
Reimu moved past the group over the direction Youmu stated earlier, but Marisa rushed over and halted her path.
“Woah, hold on! What makes you think you can go over there alone, huh?” Marisa asked.
Reimu looked at her friend for a moment before replying, “I never said you couldn’t come, did I?”
Her statement made Marisa pause for a second, showing an expression that was enough to make Reimu laugh a little.
“C’mon, let’s go beat up whoever stole the moon.” Reimu patted Marisa’s shoulder and walked past her, as did Yukari. Marisa turned around, not going to let the misconception get the best of her, so she wrapped her arm around Alice’s waist and pulled her over while hopping on her broom.
“Marisa? What are you doing?” Alice asked with confusion.
“Hey, Reimu!” Marisa got Reimu’s attention, along with everyone else’s, “Last one there’s a Nuppeppo!” She declared before blasting forward, with Alice clinging on tight so as to not fall. Reimu saw Marisa fly past her, and instantly she knew the proper response.
“It’s on.” She said, running and soon flying as fast as she could to catch up with the blazing magician. The others did the same, not wanting to be left behind.
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Somewhere in the Bamboo Forest, Rumia remained astray. She passed by the same boulder three times, and couldn’t tell which way was north. To make matters worse, she encountered a series of booby traps everywhere she tried to go. From constant pitfalls to makeshift ballistas that shot sharpened bamboo sticks; even coming across an anvil that hung high in the air above a plate of cheese for some reason. Nonetheless she managed to get through the traps, though much more fatigued.
“Ugh, I don’t know where I am, I nearly got punctured several times, and I can’t seem to find Reimu or the others.” Rumia complained as she continued flying across the stalks. “No wonder this place has the word ‘lost’ in its name. Hopefully I’ll find everyone soon.”
Despite her complaint, she kept moving forward, getting more lost as a result.
—
In an open area there laid a large old-fashioned mansion, surrounded by walls of bamboo at least ten feet tall. It looked like it was constructed the day before, despite its antique design. There was no wear or tear on the interior, no moss growing, no sign of decay anywhere. This mansion was known as Eientei, a home of rabbits and prominent figures, but mostly rabbits.
Standing by the mansion’s gate stood two figures in pink dresses with rabbit ears on their heads holding large wooden mallets. Though they looked human, they’re a species of youkai, commonly referred to as earth rabbits, or just rabbits. They lived in the mansion, spending their days relaxing and having fun, while also ensuring no one came to disturb their home. Their positions were that of gate guards, tasked to keep intruders out; however, unlike most guards they were inattentive. Their eyes drooped from the desire to sleep and thoughts of going in eating mochi with the rest of their peers further kept away their attention.
“When will we switch with the others?” The first rabbit guard said with a yawn.
“When when?” The second rabbit guard spoke. “I don’t like standing guard on night-shift, it’s boring.”
“Boring boring boring. Why can’t we have fun fun? I like to have fun fun with friends friends.” The first rabbit hopped a little.
“Friends. Friends.” The second rabbit tilted her head back and forth. “I want mochi. Mochi. Mochi.”
“I also want mochi mochi mochi. How how long must we wait wait? I don’t think any intruders will show up.” The first rabbit hopped and nodded her head.
“No no. No intruders, no intruders.” The second rabbit shook her head.
“Yes. No intruders-”
Suddenly zipping past the rabbit guards were a black-white and red-white, along with several figures donning different colored clothing of various degrees entering past the gate and breaking through the doors of the entrance hall into the mansion. Both rabbits gazed at the broken doors with stunned faces.
“Oh no.” The first rabbit said.
“No no no.” The second rabbit said.
The group consisting of humans, youkai, vampires and ghosts; whether partial or not, barged their way through the mansion. The rabbits who were casually roaming the place were caught off-guard by the speeding force of a three-quarter dozen. Many quickly fled out to safety, while those not as cowardly stood their guard with wooden mallets and bullets to spare. Yet despite their best defenses, they remained no match against what seemed to be an unstoppable force.
Further down the hallway, a couple rabbits, faster than others, ran to a particular rabbit that wore the same outfit as them, but had black wavy shoulder-length hair and wore a carrot-shaped necklace. Her name is Tewi Inaba, the White Hare.
“Tewi-sama! Tewi-sama! Bad bad news!” One of the rabbits hastily said.
“Very bad, very bad!” The other rabbit spoke as hastily as her peer. “Intruders intruders!”
“Intruders? Here?” The Earth Rabbit named Tewi looked at her subordinates with some disbelief.
“Yes yes yes! There are so many!”
“Very many very many!”
Based on their faces filled with anxiety and how often they looked back down the hall Tewi could tell they weren’t lying. Furthermore, her ears detected sounds of bullets being shot out, growing closer and louder. As was part of the deal she made long ago with the owner of the mansion, she knew there would come a time when she would have to defend the place, even if it meant giving herself so others would be safe.
“Okay, go warn Reisen and Eirin, and make sure the princess is safe too. I’ll try to hinder the threats.” Tewi said.The rabbits were concerned if their leader could handle so many people on her own, but at the same time they also saw her as commendable. They thanked her before making their way further down the hall.
“Okay Tewi…Stay calm and count on your luck.” She gave herself a little pep talk, taking a deep breath as she saw the figures coming over now. A few rabbits were trying to flee, but fell victim to their bullets. After a quick analysis of what she’s up against, she confirmed she was screwed.
Much further down the hall, another rabbit quickly and hurriedly went to every door she could find, placing seals left and right to ensure none could be opened. Though unlike most of the rabbits in Eientei, hers were longer and thinner, and she had long purple hair and red eyes. She also wore different clothes consisting of a black blazer, white buttoned shirt, a pinkish skirt and red shoes. Her name is Reisen Udongein Inaba, a Moon Rabbit.
“Okay, all the doors should be locked. Princess should now be safe.” She said with a hurried tone. “Master should have the preparations ready to send the intruders out. Just a little more time and-”
Her left ear twitched. She looked down the hall with further worry. Something drew near. She formed her hand into the shape of a gun, and her eyes glowed dimly. Then coming into her sight weren't the intruders, rather Tewi as she flew towards Reisen before falling face-first into the ground, sliding further till coming to a stop by her feet.
“Ow…” She let out a long cry of ache.
“Tewi! Are you okay!?” Reisen looked down at the other rabbit, her eyes wider than ever.
“I’m good, terrific. How about you, Reisen?” Tewi said with slight sarcasm. Reisen picked up her tone and got a bit angry.
“This is no time for jokes, what happened to the intruders? Are they coming this way?”
“Oh yeah, they’ll be here any second. Also, I think I broke a rib.”
“Eh? You broke a-”
She stopped speaking for a moment when she saw a butterfly-shaped bullet flying right at her. She quickly dodged and counterattacked by shooting a bullet out of her hand. The bullet flew right over where Yuyuko was, only to be cut in half by Youmu’s blade. Both Youmu and Reisen held their stances, staring at the other with an odd sense of respect for the other’s quick reaction. Soon after the rest of the incident resolving group arrived at the scene.
“Oh crap.” Tewi looked back and made an immediate decision. “I’ll leave the rest to you, Reisen!” She got back up and fled.
“T-Tewi!” Reisen called for her to come back, but it was no use.
“Is that the culprit, Yukari?” Reimu asked, to which Yukari shook her head no.
“No, she looks different from the other rabbits, but I don’t believe she’s who we’re looking for.” Yukari said.
“Maybe she’ll tell us if we incapacitate her.” Alice said, readying more dolls with strings.
“Let’s not knock her out then, we need her awake for interrogation.” Marisa stated.
“And if she doesn’t talk, we’ll make her by any means.” Sakuya said with a threatening voice.
“And when we’re finished, she’ll make for a wonderful stew later.” Remilia spoke.
“Mmmm, rabbit stew. Youmu, be sure to gather the necessary ingredients by the end of the week.” Yuyuko said with hunger. “Oh, and don’t forget to acquire some sparrows for tomorrow’s dinner.” Her request made Youmu look at her with bewilderment.
Reisen’s heart raced hearing what they had planned for her. She had to fight back now and give her master more time, so she did what only she could. She opened her eyes wide, causing a bright red glow which caught the group off-guard as they were blinded.
“Augh!!!” Some of them yelled, covering their eyes with their hands and arms. A few seconds later the light ceased, and when they uncovered their faces they were met with a dozen of the same person, all raising their hands as they let out bullets. The group, momentarily confused by the sudden number of copies, defended from the oncoming barrage, raising barriers while retaliating with bullets of their own. Soon it was like any other danmaku fight, with everyone zipping around trying to analyze the patterns of the bullets. A few of the Reisens were taken down, but most remained, still keeping the group on their toes.
While Remilia fought, she discerned something odd about her opponent. Her eyes, more keen than others, saw the differences in the copies, such as the length of the hair being a couple centimeters short, or the color of the skirt being less saturated. Making quick glances at the others, she pinpointed which was the real one, and immediately called her out.
“Sakuya! Attack that one!” She said, Sakuya looked over where Remilia pointed and saw the Reisen which Reimu and Yukari were up against. Reisen caught Remilia and Sakuya rushing at her with knives and bats. She knew she couldn’t hold her own against four people at once, so she had to retreat. She ran down the hall, as did her copies, all going separate directions. Reimu, Yukari, Sakuya and Remilia followed the original Reisen while Marisa, Alice, Youmu and Yuyuko followed a copy down a different part of the hallway, separating the group.
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“Okay…Let me understand this again.” Reimu began. “Each of you noticed something was off with the moon so you decided to go investigate. And it so happened we all followed the same trail to the bamboo forest, and noticing how the night had remained stagnant the moment we laid eyes on one another we assumed we were behind the incident. Am I right?”
“Correct” Sakuya said, standing alongside Remilia. To her left and right were Marisa and Youmu, who respectively stood by Alice and Yuyuko while Yukari was by Reimu.
“Okay good, and considering we came all the way here to the bamboo forest of the lost means we can clarify none of us here has anything to do with the moon’s replacement. So, does anyone know where we might find our true culprits?”
No one spoke up, save for Youmu who timidly raised her hand.
“Um…Yuyuko-sama and I, when we entered the forest we noticed some lights east of here, but we were too caught up fighting to go check it out. It’s possible that may be where the culprit is hiding.”
“Oh, I noticed something too while making my way here, but it was a building; a mansion more specifically. I think the lights you’re referring to might be the mansion.” Alice said.
“A mansion?” Yukari wondered. “Strange, I never heard of a mansion existing in this part of Gensokyo.”
“Don’t tell me it’s another foreign noble who came from the outside.” Reimu said, making a small glance over at Sakuya and Remilia. “But now I know where to look next, so if you excuse me...”
Reimu moved past the group over the direction Youmu stated earlier, but Marisa rushed over and halted her path.
“Woah, hold on! What makes you think you can go over there alone, huh?” Marisa asked.
Reimu looked at her friend for a moment before replying, “I never said you couldn’t come, did I?”
Her statement made Marisa pause for a second, showing an expression that was enough to make Reimu laugh a little.
“C’mon, let’s go beat up whoever stole the moon.” Reimu patted Marisa’s shoulder and walked past her, as did Yukari. Marisa turned around, not going to let the misconception get the best of her, so she wrapped her arm around Alice’s waist and pulled her over while hopping on her broom.
“Marisa? What are you doing?” Alice asked with confusion.
“Hey, Reimu!” Marisa got Reimu’s attention, along with everyone else’s, “Last one there’s a Nuppeppo!” She declared before blasting forward, with Alice clinging on tight so as to not fall. Reimu saw Marisa fly past her, and instantly she knew the proper response.
“It’s on.” She said, running and soon flying as fast as she could to catch up with the blazing magician. The others did the same, not wanting to be left behind.
—
Somewhere in the Bamboo Forest, Rumia remained astray. She passed by the same boulder three times, and couldn’t tell which way was north. To make matters worse, she encountered a series of booby traps everywhere she tried to go. From constant pitfalls to makeshift ballistas that shot sharpened bamboo sticks; even coming across an anvil that hung high in the air above a plate of cheese for some reason. Nonetheless she managed to get through the traps, though much more fatigued.
“Ugh, I don’t know where I am, I nearly got punctured several times, and I can’t seem to find Reimu or the others.” Rumia complained as she continued flying across the stalks. “No wonder this place has the word ‘lost’ in its name. Hopefully I’ll find everyone soon.”
Despite her complaint, she kept moving forward, getting more lost as a result.
—
In an open area there laid a large old-fashioned mansion, surrounded by walls of bamboo at least ten feet tall. It looked like it was constructed the day before, despite its antique design. There was no wear or tear on the interior, no moss growing, no sign of decay anywhere. This mansion was known as Eientei, a home of rabbits and prominent figures, but mostly rabbits.
Standing by the mansion’s gate stood two figures in pink dresses with rabbit ears on their heads holding large wooden mallets. Though they looked human, they’re a species of youkai, commonly referred to as earth rabbits, or just rabbits. They lived in the mansion, spending their days relaxing and having fun, while also ensuring no one came to disturb their home. Their positions were that of gate guards, tasked to keep intruders out; however, unlike most guards they were inattentive. Their eyes drooped from the desire to sleep and thoughts of going in eating mochi with the rest of their peers further kept away their attention.
“When will we switch with the others?” The first rabbit guard said with a yawn.
“When when?” The second rabbit guard spoke. “I don’t like standing guard on night-shift, it’s boring.”
“Boring boring boring. Why can’t we have fun fun? I like to have fun fun with friends friends.” The first rabbit hopped a little.
“Friends. Friends.” The second rabbit tilted her head back and forth. “I want mochi. Mochi. Mochi.”
“I also want mochi mochi mochi. How how long must we wait wait? I don’t think any intruders will show up.” The first rabbit hopped and nodded her head.
“No no. No intruders, no intruders.” The second rabbit shook her head.
“Yes. No intruders-”
Suddenly zipping past the rabbit guards were a black-white and red-white, along with several figures donning different colored clothing of various degrees entering past the gate and breaking through the doors of the entrance hall into the mansion. Both rabbits gazed at the broken doors with stunned faces.
“Oh no.” The first rabbit said.
“No no no.” The second rabbit said.
The group consisting of humans, youkai, vampires and ghosts; whether partial or not, barged their way through the mansion. The rabbits who were casually roaming the place were caught off-guard by the speeding force of a three-quarter dozen. Many quickly fled out to safety, while those not as cowardly stood their guard with wooden mallets and bullets to spare. Yet despite their best defenses, they remained no match against what seemed to be an unstoppable force.
Further down the hallway, a couple rabbits, faster than others, ran to a particular rabbit that wore the same outfit as them, but had black wavy shoulder-length hair and wore a carrot-shaped necklace. Her name is Tewi Inaba, the White Hare.
“Tewi-sama! Tewi-sama! Bad bad news!” One of the rabbits hastily said.
“Very bad, very bad!” The other rabbit spoke as hastily as her peer. “Intruders intruders!”
“Intruders? Here?” The Earth Rabbit named Tewi looked at her subordinates with some disbelief.
“Yes yes yes! There are so many!”
“Very many very many!”
Based on their faces filled with anxiety and how often they looked back down the hall Tewi could tell they weren’t lying. Furthermore, her ears detected sounds of bullets being shot out, growing closer and louder. As was part of the deal she made long ago with the owner of the mansion, she knew there would come a time when she would have to defend the place, even if it meant giving herself so others would be safe.
“Okay, go warn Reisen and Eirin, and make sure the princess is safe too. I’ll try to hinder the threats.” Tewi said.The rabbits were concerned if their leader could handle so many people on her own, but at the same time they also saw her as commendable. They thanked her before making their way further down the hall.
“Okay Tewi…Stay calm and count on your luck.” She gave herself a little pep talk, taking a deep breath as she saw the figures coming over now. A few rabbits were trying to flee, but fell victim to their bullets. After a quick analysis of what she’s up against, she confirmed she was screwed.
Much further down the hall, another rabbit quickly and hurriedly went to every door she could find, placing seals left and right to ensure none could be opened. Though unlike most of the rabbits in Eientei, hers were longer and thinner, and she had long purple hair and red eyes. She also wore different clothes consisting of a black blazer, white buttoned shirt, a pinkish skirt and red shoes. Her name is Reisen Udongein Inaba, a Moon Rabbit.
“Okay, all the doors should be locked. Princess should now be safe.” She said with a hurried tone. “Master should have the preparations ready to send the intruders out. Just a little more time and-”
Her left ear twitched. She looked down the hall with further worry. Something drew near. She formed her hand into the shape of a gun, and her eyes glowed dimly. Then coming into her sight weren't the intruders, rather Tewi as she flew towards Reisen before falling face-first into the ground, sliding further till coming to a stop by her feet.
“Ow…” She let out a long cry of ache.
“Tewi! Are you okay!?” Reisen looked down at the other rabbit, her eyes wider than ever.
“I’m good, terrific. How about you, Reisen?” Tewi said with slight sarcasm. Reisen picked up her tone and got a bit angry.
“This is no time for jokes, what happened to the intruders? Are they coming this way?”
“Oh yeah, they’ll be here any second. Also, I think I broke a rib.”
“Eh? You broke a-”
She stopped speaking for a moment when she saw a butterfly-shaped bullet flying right at her. She quickly dodged and counterattacked by shooting a bullet out of her hand. The bullet flew right over where Yuyuko was, only to be cut in half by Youmu’s blade. Both Youmu and Reisen held their stances, staring at the other with an odd sense of respect for the other’s quick reaction. Soon after the rest of the incident resolving group arrived at the scene.
“Oh crap.” Tewi looked back and made an immediate decision. “I’ll leave the rest to you, Reisen!” She got back up and fled.
“T-Tewi!” Reisen called for her to come back, but it was no use.
“Is that the culprit, Yukari?” Reimu asked, to which Yukari shook her head no.
“No, she looks different from the other rabbits, but I don’t believe she’s who we’re looking for.” Yukari said.
“Maybe she’ll tell us if we incapacitate her.” Alice said, readying more dolls with strings.
“Let’s not knock her out then, we need her awake for interrogation.” Marisa stated.
“And if she doesn’t talk, we’ll make her by any means.” Sakuya said with a threatening voice.
“And when we’re finished, she’ll make for a wonderful stew later.” Remilia spoke.
“Mmmm, rabbit stew. Youmu, be sure to gather the necessary ingredients by the end of the week.” Yuyuko said with hunger. “Oh, and don’t forget to acquire some sparrows for tomorrow’s dinner.” Her request made Youmu look at her with bewilderment.
Reisen’s heart raced hearing what they had planned for her. She had to fight back now and give her master more time, so she did what only she could. She opened her eyes wide, causing a bright red glow which caught the group off-guard as they were blinded.
“Augh!!!” Some of them yelled, covering their eyes with their hands and arms. A few seconds later the light ceased, and when they uncovered their faces they were met with a dozen of the same person, all raising their hands as they let out bullets. The group, momentarily confused by the sudden number of copies, defended from the oncoming barrage, raising barriers while retaliating with bullets of their own. Soon it was like any other danmaku fight, with everyone zipping around trying to analyze the patterns of the bullets. A few of the Reisens were taken down, but most remained, still keeping the group on their toes.
While Remilia fought, she discerned something odd about her opponent. Her eyes, more keen than others, saw the differences in the copies, such as the length of the hair being a couple centimeters short, or the color of the skirt being less saturated. Making quick glances at the others, she pinpointed which was the real one, and immediately called her out.
“Sakuya! Attack that one!” She said, Sakuya looked over where Remilia pointed and saw the Reisen which Reimu and Yukari were up against. Reisen caught Remilia and Sakuya rushing at her with knives and bats. She knew she couldn’t hold her own against four people at once, so she had to retreat. She ran down the hall, as did her copies, all going separate directions. Reimu, Yukari, Sakuya and Remilia followed the original Reisen while Marisa, Alice, Youmu and Yuyuko followed a copy down a different part of the hallway, separating the group.
2024.06.07 21:06 Littl3mata The Wild Side: Animal Symbolism in TLOU 2, part 2 [ SPOILERS ]
Let's now delve into Abby's perspective.
Abby's equivalent of the Wyoming Museum is her scenes in the aquarium. I find the choice of this particular ocean biome interesting. Throughout her journey in Seattle, Abby gradually distances herself from the WLF. The aquarium serves as a clandestine refuge where Abby and Owen seek solace away from their WLF responsibilities, a sanctuary amidst the chaos of the city. The ocean represents a hidden world, a sanctuary that other surface animals cannot penetrate, symbolizing a refuge from the conflicts and chaos above. Abby's character in Seattle is symbolized by a crab—outwardly strong yet internally vulnerable, much like herself as depicted by Owen's observation that she appears tough but is soft at heart. This symbolism extends to the imagery of a giant crab adorning the doors leading to the tragic fate of Owen and Mel. Upon her return from the island, blood stains beneath the doors. I think this is supposed to represent how by her actions she brought death to her friends, akin to bearing the weight of guilt or "dirty hands." Throughout her narrative, various other depictions of crabs persistently follows Abby.
Abby's Seattle setting is aquatic, but it wasn't always so. Prior to her father's death, her symbolic habitat was the jungle. In her initial flashback in Salt Lake, she stands at the zoo entrance, surrounded by banners portraying jungle and savanna creatures like tigers, elephants, apes, and antelopes. She can also find a flyer of the zoo ad with the tiger on it. In Santa Barbara, when visiting the Firefly outpost, Lev asks why the children's room depicts animals and a forest. Abby explains that it is a thing parents can do and that her father painted her a jungle in her room when she was little. I think deep within, Abby identifies with a tiger, and she actually re-finds herself with Lev's encounter. The tiger represents her true essence, her totem animal, while the crab represents what she turned into in Seattle. The crab, with its hard exterior and soft interior, also mirrors Abby's hardened exterior developed from her experiences with the WLF.
Yet, subtle hints throughout her narrative suggest a rediscovery of her true self as a tiger that coincide with what she's going throught. One instance that really striked me is the big cartoonish tiger she encounters in a cafe on the road to the hospital, sat in a position of meditation, coinciding with her growing bond with Lev. This moment signifies her gradual return to inner peace and authenticity. Another significant occurrence is the depiction of a tiger hidden behind a counter during her escape from the island with Yara and Lev, labeled with "mean streak." This moment precedes a pivotal confrontation with her former allies, symbolizing Abby's re-embrace of her tiger nature—a resurgence of strength and determination as she confronts her past and fights for her newfound family. The reappearance of the tiger symbolizes Abby's journey of self-discovery and resilience, marking her reclaiming of inner strength and ferocity in the face of adversity.
During the Salt Lake flashback, as Abby finds her father and they continue through the park, they enter the aquatic biome, greeted by a crab facing exactly towards the banner depicting a tiger, symbolizing Abby's future transformation in Seattle. She enters the mouth of a whale, symbolizing her immersion into the aquatic world. In the very next flashback, she will exit from the mouth of a shark, marking her transformation complete.
Owen is symbolized by a spotted seal. The first time they ever entered the aquarium, Owen get out of the water and place himself right in front of a seal depiction named "Oscar", saying some things to Abby. You can see a little crab right under. Hints in dialogues also point at Owen being a seal. During the scene in the aquatic dome underwater, Owen concludes their conversation by expressing his intention to spend some time with the seals. Another subtle clue to Owen's future role as a father is found within the aquarium's main room: a statue depicting a seal and its cub. This imagery hints at Owen's impending journey into parenthood.
I'm going to talk about Tommy in Abby's section because it mostly striked me while doing her parts, with the exception of this dinosaur looking like a horse head in the wyoming museeum as mentionned in my first post. Right after letting Yara at the "Big Fat Crab Shack" to get to the marina, she stumble upon Manny who's being targeted by Tommy. Interestingly, if you look behind Abby, you'll spot the "Big Fat Crab Shack" logo again with its giant crab, while directly in front of her, just a couple of meters away, is an advertising van for "Manke" beer. The logo on the van is a horse, accompanied by the tagline "made with the finest ingredients of southern America," which resonates with Tommy's Texan roots. This van appears again later not far, in the parking lot where Tommy shoots at Abby, instigating an attack from the infected.
However, what puzzles me is why Abby doesn't perceive Tommy as an aquatic animal like she does with others. My only lead on this is that the aquatic version of Tommy is a seahorse. This notion is reinforced by the presence of a seahorse symbol at the Serevena Hotel, where Ellie and Dina encounter men tortured by Tommy. Honestly not 100% convinced on this seahorse part.
Lev is seen as a shark by Abby. A whole section of the aquarium is dedicated to sharks and their importance in the ocean ecosystem ( you can also see a little crab under one of the shark depictions ) When Abby and Yara seek a gift for Lev, they deem a shark plushie as the perfect choice, emphasizing his connection to this creature.
A prominent shark exhibit features a large specimen seemingly poised to attack a diver's cage, adorned with scars on its mouth sides. The image of Lev braving the seas on his boat to rescue his mother on the island further reinforces this association, evoking the image of a shark cutting through the waves with determination.
In Abby's perception, Lev embodies the qualities of a shark, yet he identifies himself with a cat, ( or it's his totem animal ) First and foremost, we can clearly see Lev's agility and fearlessness, particularly evident in his comfort with heights, mirroring a cat's nimbleness and independence. Additionally, Lev expresses fears akin to those of a cat—water and dogs. During Ellie's parts, I found this board on the ancient communication agency swarmed by scars ( in front of the tramway ). There this little text on a board from a meeting to pitch a product, back in the days. It says :
"Client pitch meet ideas - emotional angle - comedy angle - personnification of cat ? "
Even though it might be a bit of a stretch, this corresponds perfectly to what happens between Abby and Lev. She feels pity for him upon learning his story and comes to love him, thus the emotional angle, and Lev also makes some jokes or blunders, like asking Abby what's going on between him and Owen at the worst possible moment, or when he doesn't know certain common words due to his life among the Seraphites.
The more obvious sign that Lev is really a cat can be found in the same cafe where we found the tiger in meditation pose, on the left walls. Just like Owen, we can witness Lev positionning himself right in front of this animal and get some dialogues. He say something like it's weird to represent humans as animals / humans from before were weird doing this. This particular artwork features two cartoonish cats adorned in rock-inspired attire, captured in a lively dancing pose. A male and female, holding hands. This really striked me as being a representaion of Lev's gender duality. Abby mentions Lev's "punk-rock" spirit not long before this, hence the outfits.
Yara is a sea otter, simply because she wears this shirt with a sea otter at the aquarium.
The WLF obviously are wolves but Abby actually sees them as Orcas. Upon awakening at the stadium, Abby is greeted by a rug adorned with an orca motif. Then she gets to the mess hall, there's one wolf banner on one wall but also depictions of orcas adorning pillars and inscriptions proclaiming "Home of the Orcas" on the walls. Orcas are kinda wolves of the seas, share several characteristics with wolves, such as being large predators that hunt in packs, exhibit complex social structures, and are territorial. By associating the WLF with Orcas, Abby's perception elevates them to a level of strength, cunning, and dominance akin to these apex predators of the ocean.
Scars are possibly herons. I found some herons in the wyoming museeum as mentionned in my first post, but also some depictions while Abby is crossing the chinese district to get to martyr's gate. They communicate throught whistling like birds including herons. They also go throught the city by the airs, basically. Theres not much hints, but I do feel like the herons correspond really well to Seraphites due to their way of life and behavior. Firstly, herons are often associated with aquatic areas such as marshes and rivers, where they patiently and strategically hunt their prey. Similarly, the Seraphites have established themselves on an isolated island, resembling a marsh, where they practice an ascetic and contemplative form of living in harmony with nature, living in wooden houses. Furthermore, herons are patient and methodical predators, silently observing their surroundings before taking action ( Remember that arrow in Ellie's shoulder ? ) The Seraphites also exhibit a deliberate approach in their lives and interactions, emphasizing discipline, reflection, and strategic planning.
During the visit to the Chinese district, theres a peculiar creature: the dragon. Numerous depictions of it adorn this area. There might be a connection to the Seraphites, evidenced by the presence of Martyr's Gate and the increased encounters with them following this section. However, it's challenging to pinpoint its exact representation; my guess is that it symbolizes a broader concept rather than a specific character or faction. Might also just be because it's the chinese district.
Abby seem to be also linked to whales and octopus, I think each representing one concept. Ellie's collection of cards includes one intriguing card featuring a whale named "Big Blue." The description of the card reads:
"Big Blue is an extra-dimensional entity who has taken on the appearance of a blue whale. First arriving on Earth over a billion years ago to keep watch over nascent life forms, they use their infinite well of knowledge to help guide the human race in times of great need and upheaval. Their unfathomable age has one major drawback: days appear to pass as microseconds. However, this time dilation effect is offset if they hold their breath—which they can do for several years at a time."
The whale, as an entity with ancient wisdom and knowledge, could be seen as a manifestation of destiny itself. Just as the whale has existed since the dawn of life on Earth, destiny is a force that has shaped Abby's life from the very beginning. It has guided her path, leading her to the pivotal moments and encounters that defined her journey. Despite the challenges she faces, destiny continues to steer her toward her ultimate purpose and fate.
In many cultures and mythologies, the octopus is often associated with aspects of mystery, danger, and conflict. Its tentacled appearance and ability to camouflage itself in its environment make it a powerful symbol of the struggle and complexity of human conflicts. In the game, the giant octopus present at the aquarium can be interpreted as a visual representation of the internal and external conflicts that the characters, especially Abby, must face. The octopus's tentacles seem to stretch out and envelop the environment, evoking how conflict can feel omnipresent and difficult to avoid. Furthermore, the octopus is a formidable predator in the marine world, using its tentacles to capture and subdue its prey. This imagery can be associated with how the characters in the game are ensnared in the conflicts surrounding them.
And finally, Abby sees Ellie as a Stingray. Ellie's journey to get to Abby in Seattle final moments is symbolic of her descent into the aquatic world : to get to the hidden crab in the secretive ocean, she must transform as an aquatic animal. As Ellie approaches the aquarium, the challenges intensify, marked by increasingly stormy weather and turbulent seas. Despite the obstacles, Ellie perseveres, ultimately reaching her destination, not before falling into the ocean. Few notes here, first of all there's this outdoor kids' play area, a crab faces towards a whale and a shark, while an orca wing and a seahorse stand behind them. Could be a representation of how Abby is leaving her past behind and her newfound responsibility towards Lev. Next, right before kneeling to get under the fence, a sign featuring a stingray lies on its side, urging one to "become a member today". Further symbolism unfolds as Ellie encounters a shark depiction just before her fall from a broken window, with a stingray positioned EXACTLY on the floor where she lands. On the same note there is a stingray positionned on the floor exactly where Ellie kills Mel & Owen. The cafe section of the aquarium, named "Stingray Bay Cafe," features murals depicting a beach with palm trees, foreshadowing the events to come in Santa Barbara. Abby's exploration of the aquarium with Yara while looking for Lev reveals a section named "Shipwreck Cove," dominated by a giant stingray overhead, further hinting at the impending encounters and sequences involving boats, serving as a metaphor for both characters feeling like shipwrecks by the end of their tumultuous journey.
Also, The use of animal symbolism during Ellie and Abby's confrontations adds a layer of complexity and depth to their dynamic. During their intense fight in the theater, the actions of Ellie and Abby mirror the characteristics of the animals associated with them. Abby's brute force and relentless attacks, smashing Ellie into the floor and causing them to fall to a lower level, hitting her with her fists or grabbing her, align with the symbolism of the crab and its claws. She also headbut Ellie ( bison ). In contrast, Ellie's actions, repeatedly tries spiking Abby with her knife like a stingray hitting its prey, reflect a more tactical and predatory approach. I invite you to re-check their fight at the theater with that in mind, it's really striking.
As we've discussed, these symbols are not merely decorative but serve as powerful storytelling devices, conveying concepts or themes of identity, transformation, and growth. Whether you've noticed these subtle details yourself or are discovering them for the first time, it's clear that the developers at Naughty Dog have crafted a meticulously designed world filled with rich symbolism and meaningful connections.
So, what are your thoughts? Have you spotted any other animal motifs or symbols ? Let me know your theories !
submitted by Littl3mata to thelastofus [link] [comments]
Abby's equivalent of the Wyoming Museum is her scenes in the aquarium. I find the choice of this particular ocean biome interesting. Throughout her journey in Seattle, Abby gradually distances herself from the WLF. The aquarium serves as a clandestine refuge where Abby and Owen seek solace away from their WLF responsibilities, a sanctuary amidst the chaos of the city. The ocean represents a hidden world, a sanctuary that other surface animals cannot penetrate, symbolizing a refuge from the conflicts and chaos above. Abby's character in Seattle is symbolized by a crab—outwardly strong yet internally vulnerable, much like herself as depicted by Owen's observation that she appears tough but is soft at heart. This symbolism extends to the imagery of a giant crab adorning the doors leading to the tragic fate of Owen and Mel. Upon her return from the island, blood stains beneath the doors. I think this is supposed to represent how by her actions she brought death to her friends, akin to bearing the weight of guilt or "dirty hands." Throughout her narrative, various other depictions of crabs persistently follows Abby.
Abby's Seattle setting is aquatic, but it wasn't always so. Prior to her father's death, her symbolic habitat was the jungle. In her initial flashback in Salt Lake, she stands at the zoo entrance, surrounded by banners portraying jungle and savanna creatures like tigers, elephants, apes, and antelopes. She can also find a flyer of the zoo ad with the tiger on it. In Santa Barbara, when visiting the Firefly outpost, Lev asks why the children's room depicts animals and a forest. Abby explains that it is a thing parents can do and that her father painted her a jungle in her room when she was little. I think deep within, Abby identifies with a tiger, and she actually re-finds herself with Lev's encounter. The tiger represents her true essence, her totem animal, while the crab represents what she turned into in Seattle. The crab, with its hard exterior and soft interior, also mirrors Abby's hardened exterior developed from her experiences with the WLF.
Yet, subtle hints throughout her narrative suggest a rediscovery of her true self as a tiger that coincide with what she's going throught. One instance that really striked me is the big cartoonish tiger she encounters in a cafe on the road to the hospital, sat in a position of meditation, coinciding with her growing bond with Lev. This moment signifies her gradual return to inner peace and authenticity. Another significant occurrence is the depiction of a tiger hidden behind a counter during her escape from the island with Yara and Lev, labeled with "mean streak." This moment precedes a pivotal confrontation with her former allies, symbolizing Abby's re-embrace of her tiger nature—a resurgence of strength and determination as she confronts her past and fights for her newfound family. The reappearance of the tiger symbolizes Abby's journey of self-discovery and resilience, marking her reclaiming of inner strength and ferocity in the face of adversity.
During the Salt Lake flashback, as Abby finds her father and they continue through the park, they enter the aquatic biome, greeted by a crab facing exactly towards the banner depicting a tiger, symbolizing Abby's future transformation in Seattle. She enters the mouth of a whale, symbolizing her immersion into the aquatic world. In the very next flashback, she will exit from the mouth of a shark, marking her transformation complete.
Owen is symbolized by a spotted seal. The first time they ever entered the aquarium, Owen get out of the water and place himself right in front of a seal depiction named "Oscar", saying some things to Abby. You can see a little crab right under. Hints in dialogues also point at Owen being a seal. During the scene in the aquatic dome underwater, Owen concludes their conversation by expressing his intention to spend some time with the seals. Another subtle clue to Owen's future role as a father is found within the aquarium's main room: a statue depicting a seal and its cub. This imagery hints at Owen's impending journey into parenthood.
I'm going to talk about Tommy in Abby's section because it mostly striked me while doing her parts, with the exception of this dinosaur looking like a horse head in the wyoming museeum as mentionned in my first post. Right after letting Yara at the "Big Fat Crab Shack" to get to the marina, she stumble upon Manny who's being targeted by Tommy. Interestingly, if you look behind Abby, you'll spot the "Big Fat Crab Shack" logo again with its giant crab, while directly in front of her, just a couple of meters away, is an advertising van for "Manke" beer. The logo on the van is a horse, accompanied by the tagline "made with the finest ingredients of southern America," which resonates with Tommy's Texan roots. This van appears again later not far, in the parking lot where Tommy shoots at Abby, instigating an attack from the infected.
However, what puzzles me is why Abby doesn't perceive Tommy as an aquatic animal like she does with others. My only lead on this is that the aquatic version of Tommy is a seahorse. This notion is reinforced by the presence of a seahorse symbol at the Serevena Hotel, where Ellie and Dina encounter men tortured by Tommy. Honestly not 100% convinced on this seahorse part.
Lev is seen as a shark by Abby. A whole section of the aquarium is dedicated to sharks and their importance in the ocean ecosystem ( you can also see a little crab under one of the shark depictions ) When Abby and Yara seek a gift for Lev, they deem a shark plushie as the perfect choice, emphasizing his connection to this creature.
A prominent shark exhibit features a large specimen seemingly poised to attack a diver's cage, adorned with scars on its mouth sides. The image of Lev braving the seas on his boat to rescue his mother on the island further reinforces this association, evoking the image of a shark cutting through the waves with determination.
In Abby's perception, Lev embodies the qualities of a shark, yet he identifies himself with a cat, ( or it's his totem animal ) First and foremost, we can clearly see Lev's agility and fearlessness, particularly evident in his comfort with heights, mirroring a cat's nimbleness and independence. Additionally, Lev expresses fears akin to those of a cat—water and dogs. During Ellie's parts, I found this board on the ancient communication agency swarmed by scars ( in front of the tramway ). There this little text on a board from a meeting to pitch a product, back in the days. It says :
"Client pitch meet ideas - emotional angle - comedy angle - personnification of cat ? "
Even though it might be a bit of a stretch, this corresponds perfectly to what happens between Abby and Lev. She feels pity for him upon learning his story and comes to love him, thus the emotional angle, and Lev also makes some jokes or blunders, like asking Abby what's going on between him and Owen at the worst possible moment, or when he doesn't know certain common words due to his life among the Seraphites.
The more obvious sign that Lev is really a cat can be found in the same cafe where we found the tiger in meditation pose, on the left walls. Just like Owen, we can witness Lev positionning himself right in front of this animal and get some dialogues. He say something like it's weird to represent humans as animals / humans from before were weird doing this. This particular artwork features two cartoonish cats adorned in rock-inspired attire, captured in a lively dancing pose. A male and female, holding hands. This really striked me as being a representaion of Lev's gender duality. Abby mentions Lev's "punk-rock" spirit not long before this, hence the outfits.
Yara is a sea otter, simply because she wears this shirt with a sea otter at the aquarium.
The WLF obviously are wolves but Abby actually sees them as Orcas. Upon awakening at the stadium, Abby is greeted by a rug adorned with an orca motif. Then she gets to the mess hall, there's one wolf banner on one wall but also depictions of orcas adorning pillars and inscriptions proclaiming "Home of the Orcas" on the walls. Orcas are kinda wolves of the seas, share several characteristics with wolves, such as being large predators that hunt in packs, exhibit complex social structures, and are territorial. By associating the WLF with Orcas, Abby's perception elevates them to a level of strength, cunning, and dominance akin to these apex predators of the ocean.
Scars are possibly herons. I found some herons in the wyoming museeum as mentionned in my first post, but also some depictions while Abby is crossing the chinese district to get to martyr's gate. They communicate throught whistling like birds including herons. They also go throught the city by the airs, basically. Theres not much hints, but I do feel like the herons correspond really well to Seraphites due to their way of life and behavior. Firstly, herons are often associated with aquatic areas such as marshes and rivers, where they patiently and strategically hunt their prey. Similarly, the Seraphites have established themselves on an isolated island, resembling a marsh, where they practice an ascetic and contemplative form of living in harmony with nature, living in wooden houses. Furthermore, herons are patient and methodical predators, silently observing their surroundings before taking action ( Remember that arrow in Ellie's shoulder ? ) The Seraphites also exhibit a deliberate approach in their lives and interactions, emphasizing discipline, reflection, and strategic planning.
During the visit to the Chinese district, theres a peculiar creature: the dragon. Numerous depictions of it adorn this area. There might be a connection to the Seraphites, evidenced by the presence of Martyr's Gate and the increased encounters with them following this section. However, it's challenging to pinpoint its exact representation; my guess is that it symbolizes a broader concept rather than a specific character or faction. Might also just be because it's the chinese district.
Abby seem to be also linked to whales and octopus, I think each representing one concept. Ellie's collection of cards includes one intriguing card featuring a whale named "Big Blue." The description of the card reads:
"Big Blue is an extra-dimensional entity who has taken on the appearance of a blue whale. First arriving on Earth over a billion years ago to keep watch over nascent life forms, they use their infinite well of knowledge to help guide the human race in times of great need and upheaval. Their unfathomable age has one major drawback: days appear to pass as microseconds. However, this time dilation effect is offset if they hold their breath—which they can do for several years at a time."
The whale, as an entity with ancient wisdom and knowledge, could be seen as a manifestation of destiny itself. Just as the whale has existed since the dawn of life on Earth, destiny is a force that has shaped Abby's life from the very beginning. It has guided her path, leading her to the pivotal moments and encounters that defined her journey. Despite the challenges she faces, destiny continues to steer her toward her ultimate purpose and fate.
In many cultures and mythologies, the octopus is often associated with aspects of mystery, danger, and conflict. Its tentacled appearance and ability to camouflage itself in its environment make it a powerful symbol of the struggle and complexity of human conflicts. In the game, the giant octopus present at the aquarium can be interpreted as a visual representation of the internal and external conflicts that the characters, especially Abby, must face. The octopus's tentacles seem to stretch out and envelop the environment, evoking how conflict can feel omnipresent and difficult to avoid. Furthermore, the octopus is a formidable predator in the marine world, using its tentacles to capture and subdue its prey. This imagery can be associated with how the characters in the game are ensnared in the conflicts surrounding them.
And finally, Abby sees Ellie as a Stingray. Ellie's journey to get to Abby in Seattle final moments is symbolic of her descent into the aquatic world : to get to the hidden crab in the secretive ocean, she must transform as an aquatic animal. As Ellie approaches the aquarium, the challenges intensify, marked by increasingly stormy weather and turbulent seas. Despite the obstacles, Ellie perseveres, ultimately reaching her destination, not before falling into the ocean. Few notes here, first of all there's this outdoor kids' play area, a crab faces towards a whale and a shark, while an orca wing and a seahorse stand behind them. Could be a representation of how Abby is leaving her past behind and her newfound responsibility towards Lev. Next, right before kneeling to get under the fence, a sign featuring a stingray lies on its side, urging one to "become a member today". Further symbolism unfolds as Ellie encounters a shark depiction just before her fall from a broken window, with a stingray positioned EXACTLY on the floor where she lands. On the same note there is a stingray positionned on the floor exactly where Ellie kills Mel & Owen. The cafe section of the aquarium, named "Stingray Bay Cafe," features murals depicting a beach with palm trees, foreshadowing the events to come in Santa Barbara. Abby's exploration of the aquarium with Yara while looking for Lev reveals a section named "Shipwreck Cove," dominated by a giant stingray overhead, further hinting at the impending encounters and sequences involving boats, serving as a metaphor for both characters feeling like shipwrecks by the end of their tumultuous journey.
Also, The use of animal symbolism during Ellie and Abby's confrontations adds a layer of complexity and depth to their dynamic. During their intense fight in the theater, the actions of Ellie and Abby mirror the characteristics of the animals associated with them. Abby's brute force and relentless attacks, smashing Ellie into the floor and causing them to fall to a lower level, hitting her with her fists or grabbing her, align with the symbolism of the crab and its claws. She also headbut Ellie ( bison ). In contrast, Ellie's actions, repeatedly tries spiking Abby with her knife like a stingray hitting its prey, reflect a more tactical and predatory approach. I invite you to re-check their fight at the theater with that in mind, it's really striking.
As we've discussed, these symbols are not merely decorative but serve as powerful storytelling devices, conveying concepts or themes of identity, transformation, and growth. Whether you've noticed these subtle details yourself or are discovering them for the first time, it's clear that the developers at Naughty Dog have crafted a meticulously designed world filled with rich symbolism and meaningful connections.
So, what are your thoughts? Have you spotted any other animal motifs or symbols ? Let me know your theories !
2024.06.07 19:55 PlatonofGlaucon4 The Revolution on the Cylinder: Part 1
Nestor Makhno rolls his eyes. "No." He says firmly, trying to keep the exasperation from his voice. "Anarchy is not just about chaos." The volunteers assembled in front of Makhno look from one to another and shuffle their feet. There is an awkward silence. "Well, what is it about then?" Shouts a woman at the back, fairly confident she can't be seen from the podium. Makhno looks to his advisor Marchenko, who places a hand and his arm and squeezes gently. Makhno nods, turns back, and addresses the troops. "Anarchy is the idea that you have absolute personal liberty, up to the point that infringes on that of another." The crowd murmurs assent. Makhno relaxes a little and ramps up. "It is the belief that no one can call themselves master over another." The crowd cheers, he knows he has them. "It is freedom, and it is responsibility. We must preserve liberty for all by stopping those who seek to take it away. As such we will band together,make plans based on consensus, and bring freedom to the oppressed people of the cylinder! Will you stand united? Will you bring the true Anarchy to the cylinder!" Spear butts are thuding on the hay floor of the barn, people are whopping and cheering, drinking toasts to mother Anarchy. Tak! Tak! Tak! Ringing over all. "So Go! Fight! Together, with purpose, for mother Anarchy!" Commander Marchenko beams at his friend. "You have done well here today Bakto Makhno. Samara will soon be liberated." He says confidently. "They definitely got it, didn't they?" Makhno asks anxiously. "Of course, you heard that reaction." He hands Makhno a drink, and they share a toast before exiting the barn to watch their new black army march. "WOOOOOOOOOOO ANAAAAARCHY!" Screams a spearman, running naked past the door of the barn. Outside there are recruits scattering in all directions, kicking over carts, and painting rude words on every available surface. Three recruits in their underpants have turned their military caps backwards, and are using the company instruments to play songs about making prank phone calls, and smoking weed. A single tear forms on Nestors cheek, as he sees his prize mule Miffy trotting into view with a traffic cone strapped to her head. He snatches the bottle from Marchenko, and trudges crestfallen into the barn, slamming the door behind him.
submitted by PlatonofGlaucon4 to civbattleroyale [link] [comments]
2024.06.07 19:38 No-Basket-158 ADHD-proofing the kitchen
Fresh from ruining tonight’s dinner by mistaking 180 and 200°C on the oven dial, and not noticing we had gone 10 mins past the ideal cooking time, here is my question.
If you were to create a kitchen from scratch, what features would you want (or recommend against) to manage the splendour of your ADHDness?
I’m driving my poor mother so crazy with my mess and chaos that the only way for us to continue living together is for me to pay to build an entirely separate kitchen. It’s going to be a relatively modest kitchen, but I have the chance to plan from the very beginning.
Based on my last kitchen, I’m thinking no wooden worktops for a start! It sure is fun sanding out the weird stain where you left the bag of food waste on a hot day and forgot about it for a little while behind a stack of boxes…
submitted by No-Basket-158 to adhdwomen [link] [comments]
If you were to create a kitchen from scratch, what features would you want (or recommend against) to manage the splendour of your ADHDness?
I’m driving my poor mother so crazy with my mess and chaos that the only way for us to continue living together is for me to pay to build an entirely separate kitchen. It’s going to be a relatively modest kitchen, but I have the chance to plan from the very beginning.
Based on my last kitchen, I’m thinking no wooden worktops for a start! It sure is fun sanding out the weird stain where you left the bag of food waste on a hot day and forgot about it for a little while behind a stack of boxes…
2024.06.07 19:17 Emergency-Ad7248 remind me never to nap again
This is a full explanation as best as I can recall this dream that is slowly leaving my mind. The “-“ are added details i remember from thinking about it more. Anyway, my brain is evil and out to get me. Thanks for reading my fucked up dream.
it was halloween and i went to a haunted house puzzle escape room thing with friends
-i remember the first room was a white square room with square and rectangle pockets and secret press in doors in the walls, we pressed one in and saw a man with clown makeup smiling on the other side, also in a white room.-
and in one of the parts there were scare actors running around with knives getting up close and personal
-this room was after a passage in the white room turned into a hallway, up and down the hallway scare (men) actors with clown makeup were taunting us running up and around the left and right of us as soon as we got into the kind of yellow lit room with clear tarps and wooden tables and metallic trays thats when someone got cut-
it got way to personal the scare actors turned out to be actual psychopaths trying to kill me and my friends
-one of them had stabbed me with a knife in the side or at least cut me, i was fighting this man off with both arms holding his hand from stabbing me, i pushed him off but they had us cornered.-
and it escalated to them trying to transport us into a small plane to fucking kidnap us for whatever fucked up reason they had bigger plans
such a detailed dream
but i crashed the plane in a field and it exploded and i was the only survivor, and in my dream my legs got fucked up badly i didn’t want to lose them forever so i like grabbed my limbs in arm and crawled towards society i ended up making it to a store and was crying and begging someone to call 911 and help me but everyone thought i had a fucking good costume and thought i was trying to be scary
-i remember a boy and his mom were walking by and i was in between cars trying to make it to the building, the boy was like ohh shit cool costume!!”-
by the end of it i was literally propped up against the building with my fucking pieces of severed legs in my hands crying and begging
and also i forgot that towards the end of all that when i was propped up i was inside the store partially and people were just talking to me like normal one store associate lady even said please dont block the bathroom door and i was trying to make it inside so i could die privately, laying there with a literal bone sticking out my thigh and legs in hand and then some lady gave me a rememberable dirty look and went into the bathroom thats when i woke up
i had thoughts during the end of the dream, like actual thoughts that felt like i was in reality for a moment thinking ; “how long can my legs stay separated from me i don’t want to lose them” “god i hope someone helps me” “my legs are gone i will never be normal again” “why have i not bled out yet” “why is nobody helping me”
So yeah, remind me never to nap again.
submitted by Emergency-Ad7248 to Dreams [link] [comments]
it was halloween and i went to a haunted house puzzle escape room thing with friends
-i remember the first room was a white square room with square and rectangle pockets and secret press in doors in the walls, we pressed one in and saw a man with clown makeup smiling on the other side, also in a white room.-
and in one of the parts there were scare actors running around with knives getting up close and personal
-this room was after a passage in the white room turned into a hallway, up and down the hallway scare (men) actors with clown makeup were taunting us running up and around the left and right of us as soon as we got into the kind of yellow lit room with clear tarps and wooden tables and metallic trays thats when someone got cut-
it got way to personal the scare actors turned out to be actual psychopaths trying to kill me and my friends
-one of them had stabbed me with a knife in the side or at least cut me, i was fighting this man off with both arms holding his hand from stabbing me, i pushed him off but they had us cornered.-
and it escalated to them trying to transport us into a small plane to fucking kidnap us for whatever fucked up reason they had bigger plans
such a detailed dream
but i crashed the plane in a field and it exploded and i was the only survivor, and in my dream my legs got fucked up badly i didn’t want to lose them forever so i like grabbed my limbs in arm and crawled towards society i ended up making it to a store and was crying and begging someone to call 911 and help me but everyone thought i had a fucking good costume and thought i was trying to be scary
-i remember a boy and his mom were walking by and i was in between cars trying to make it to the building, the boy was like ohh shit cool costume!!”-
by the end of it i was literally propped up against the building with my fucking pieces of severed legs in my hands crying and begging
and also i forgot that towards the end of all that when i was propped up i was inside the store partially and people were just talking to me like normal one store associate lady even said please dont block the bathroom door and i was trying to make it inside so i could die privately, laying there with a literal bone sticking out my thigh and legs in hand and then some lady gave me a rememberable dirty look and went into the bathroom thats when i woke up
i had thoughts during the end of the dream, like actual thoughts that felt like i was in reality for a moment thinking ; “how long can my legs stay separated from me i don’t want to lose them” “god i hope someone helps me” “my legs are gone i will never be normal again” “why have i not bled out yet” “why is nobody helping me”
So yeah, remind me never to nap again.
2024.06.07 19:13 Revolutionary-Run-41 An Ode to the greatest hunter Caiaphas Smith
A lot of people don't know much about WoD (World of Darkness). I'm kind of one of them; most of my knowledge is from memory and probably lacks some expansion books. Still, I think of posting some stories I remember from WoD, and I hope anyone corrects me in the comment section if there's anything wrong.
With that aside:
Caiaphas Smith, or Caiaphas THE MOTHER FUCKING Smith,
is one of the best characters in WoD and probably the most powerful mortal alive. A fanatic and crazy lunatic, he started his fanatical hunting while he was still a child. After witnessing a vampire attack a woman, he ran away to his father's shack, grabbed a wooden stake, and drove it through the vampire's heart (he is not imbued).
"But hey, in the world of hunter, that's some really common shit. I made a character with the same backstory yesterday" - you might say.
He is the apex of a hunter, vowing not to die until the last vampire is killed. He knows all kinds of hedge magics and rituals to track and kill kindred, has a vast arsenal and contacts to do so, and possesses the will to see it through.
"But hey, that makes him a very good vampire hunter at most. I don't know why use such a big text on his name. A lot of vampire hunters also vowed to not die until they killed the last vampire," - my hallucination of you might say, reminding me to take my medication.
Yeah, but a lot of hunters aren't still saying that same thing at the age of 204. Yes, Caiaphas is just a normal man, but he has no moral compass. He will use every tool available to him, be it performing strange rituals or drinking the blood of his prey before killing it, and YES HE BECAME A GHOUL TO KILL VAMPIRES. The Camarilla (a major vampire group that adheres to the Masquerade) already thought this guy was trouble. He could cleave through groups of vampires, destroy their bases, and reduce their numbers at an alarming rate. It became even worse when they noted that he barely aged.
Right now, he is 204 (looking like he's in his 70s, with the strength of someone in his 50s, maybe younger), but the Camarilla are so afraid of him that they stopped sending assassins. Their new plan is to AVOID THAT MAN AT ALL COSTS AND KILL ALL VAMPIRES THAT DARE TO MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH HIM, in an attempt to starve him of vampire blood long enough for its effects to wear off, causing him to age normally and eventually die of old age. But, as far as I remember, that never worked, nor did he die, but they keep the plan of trying to starve him out of blood for long enough for him to die, because its the only plan with the marginal chance to work.
If there is a WoD character I would like to see in HTP, it would, without a doubt, be Caiaphas and his crazy old crackhead ass.
submitted by Revolutionary-Run-41 to huntertheparenting [link] [comments]
With that aside:
Caiaphas Smith, or Caiaphas THE MOTHER FUCKING Smith,
is one of the best characters in WoD and probably the most powerful mortal alive. A fanatic and crazy lunatic, he started his fanatical hunting while he was still a child. After witnessing a vampire attack a woman, he ran away to his father's shack, grabbed a wooden stake, and drove it through the vampire's heart (he is not imbued).
"But hey, in the world of hunter, that's some really common shit. I made a character with the same backstory yesterday" - you might say.
He is the apex of a hunter, vowing not to die until the last vampire is killed. He knows all kinds of hedge magics and rituals to track and kill kindred, has a vast arsenal and contacts to do so, and possesses the will to see it through.
"But hey, that makes him a very good vampire hunter at most. I don't know why use such a big text on his name. A lot of vampire hunters also vowed to not die until they killed the last vampire," - my hallucination of you might say, reminding me to take my medication.
Yeah, but a lot of hunters aren't still saying that same thing at the age of 204. Yes, Caiaphas is just a normal man, but he has no moral compass. He will use every tool available to him, be it performing strange rituals or drinking the blood of his prey before killing it, and YES HE BECAME A GHOUL TO KILL VAMPIRES. The Camarilla (a major vampire group that adheres to the Masquerade) already thought this guy was trouble. He could cleave through groups of vampires, destroy their bases, and reduce their numbers at an alarming rate. It became even worse when they noted that he barely aged.
Right now, he is 204 (looking like he's in his 70s, with the strength of someone in his 50s, maybe younger), but the Camarilla are so afraid of him that they stopped sending assassins. Their new plan is to AVOID THAT MAN AT ALL COSTS AND KILL ALL VAMPIRES THAT DARE TO MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH HIM, in an attempt to starve him of vampire blood long enough for its effects to wear off, causing him to age normally and eventually die of old age. But, as far as I remember, that never worked, nor did he die, but they keep the plan of trying to starve him out of blood for long enough for him to die, because its the only plan with the marginal chance to work.
If there is a WoD character I would like to see in HTP, it would, without a doubt, be Caiaphas and his crazy old crackhead ass.
2024.06.07 18:30 CulturalCicada2854 Can a Midea U-shaped air conditioner be left outside during the winter?
I just replaced our three old ACs, which were too noisy, with a Midea U-shaped 8000 BTU unit. I'm happy because they are unbelievably quiet and look better. My condo windows were not compatible with the bracket provided in the box, so I built a wooden base instead. I do not want to remove the ACs during winter since they are very well-insulated and cold air cannot enter the inside. I'm planning to put a protective cover on the machine unit when winter starts. My concern is whether Chicago's cold weather might cause any damage to the working equipment beyond cosmetic issues.
submitted by CulturalCicada2854 to AirConditioners [link] [comments]
2024.06.07 18:23 Frosty_Promotion7821 H: caps and meat week plans W: Q5050 Railway
 | submitted by Frosty_Promotion7821 to Market76 [link] [comments] |
2024.06.07 17:42 Voodoo_Clerk I'm Indebted to a Voodoo Shop (Part 7)
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
Home didn’t feel the same after I returned from the hotel. My dad knew that I knew how he’d gotten that high-paying job. And he knew what I had been doing to help us make ends meet before getting entangled with Creole. It got even worse when one day he walked in on me as I was applying the ointment to cover my scars. That broke him. He started crying uncontrollably upon seeing me with the deep scar on my neck and my missing eye surrounded by my skull. It was the first time I’d seen my dad cry like that. And I couldn’t do anything to console or help him. Because I knew if I did, I would start crying and wouldn’t be able to stop.
We were both at rock bottom, with my mom trying in vain to figure out why we were so upset. Creole must’ve known what I was going through and allowed it to continue. For an entire month, he didn’t call on me for anything. And that worried me more than if he did. Because there was always the looming and constant fear that he would get bored with me. And him being bored with me probably meant my immediate death.
It was a relief when I was home alone again that I received a knock at the door. I looked down at my phone to make sure that I still had plenty of time since my last ointment appointment. Satisfied that I had plenty of time I stood up and answered the door. Seeing that smiling face and red uniform instantly brightened my day a little.
“Hey Jacob, what’s he got for me this time?” I asked him as the forever smiling bellhop stared at me with his button eyes. He happily presented me with an envelope and gave me a little salute at completing his mission. I took the envelope and opened it up, sighing when I saw the all too familiar handwriting.
“Marvelous Ms. Mace! It would seem that I require your skills in another endeavor. Jacob shall escort you to the store, and do make sure to bring all your tools. K.C.” I heavily exhaled through my nose and invited Jacob into the house so I could gather my things.” I quickly ran upstairs and rounded up my lockpicking tools, pepper spray, and this time a pocket knife as well. I’d gotten myself one after the ordeal of the hotel. Just as I was applying more ointment and resetting my timer I heard the front door open and a bunch of grocery bags rustling.
My heart instantly dropped. My mom had gotten back earlier than expected. I quickly finished putting the ointment on and ran downstairs as quickly as I could. I nearly ran into my mom as she was hanging one of the bags on the stair railings.
“Jesus, Maria, Jose, Macedonia!” My mom shouted in surprise. I half expected it to be because of Jacob but a glance around the first floor revealed that he wasn’t anywhere in sight. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.” My mom sighed fanning herself dramatically.
“Sorry Mom,” I apologized, wrapping my arms around her and squeezing her. “I’m going out, ok?” I told her. She looked at me judgementally, mostly at what I was wearing before wishing me good luck and the usual million things to be careful of. I nodded at all of them and parted with a kiss on her cheek. As I exited the front door it was my turn to nearly have a heart attack as Jacob surprised me by poking his head out of the bush next to the front door.
“How’d you get in there?!” I silently shouted at him. He pointed at the open window just above the bush. And I couldn’t help but snort and giggle at the thought of him diving out of the window into the bush once my mom had arrived back at the house. I helped him to get out of the bush and brushed the leaves off of his uniform.
We started making our way towards the voodoo shop all the while my mind continued to wander in various scenarios in which my situation was going to end. Most of them with me and my entire family dead or turned into voodoo dolls.
“Jacob?!” An unknown voice broke my endless doom loop. I looked up and Jacob and I stared at a sketchy dude across the street from us who quickly ran over and grabbed Jacob by his gold-trimmed collar. “Where the fuck have you been man?! I’ve been trying to call you for months!” He shouted at Jacob who just stared at him with his permanent smile and tilted his head in confusion.
“Leave him alone, we’re trying to be somewhere asshole,” I told the guy, grabbing Jacob by the arm and starting to tug on it. The guy looked at me like I was literal shit on his shoe and stared back at Jacob.
“Who the fuck is she? More importantly, why the fuck are you dressed like this? It isn’t Halloween you freak,” he shouted at Jacob. He continued on about how he hadn’t made a single delivery in months and that some scary people were looking for him. Jacob continued to stare blankly at this guy before turning to me and taking his hat off.
“Hey, asshole! Don’t ignore me!” he shouted at Jacob as he placed the hat on me. I stared at him in confusion before he lifted his hands to cover his button eyes. He then lowered his hands and pointed at me. It took me a few seconds to figure out he wanted me to cover my eyes. So I hesitated for a moment before lifting my hands and covering my eyes.
As I covered my eyes I heard the guy let out a choked scream before a sickening crunch and tearing, overpowered the sounds of his muted screams. I shut my eyes as tightly as I could and suddenly wondered something. My glass eyes didn’t have an eyelid. So how exactly was it shut right at that moment? Did it turn off on command? I didn’t have long to wonder at the logistics as I felt Jacob’s hat being taken off of me.
I lowered my hands and was met by Jacob’s usual smiling face. And not a single stain on his uniform at all. I looked at him and then around us in confusion. There wasn’t a single sight of the asshole. Not a body part, not a drop of blood not even a scrap of clothing. Absolutely nothing. I knew better than to inquire about what had happened so I simply continued our walk towards the voodoo store.
“Mace! It’s been so long! How’s the eye treating you?” Creole asked me, giddy with excitement upon seeing me. I was instantly reminded how much I hated him. His stupid smile and his constant giddiness. It irked and annoyed me.
“It’s fine, sir,” I told him as dryly as I could. As usual that didn’t register at all to him and he simply nodded and looked over at Jacob.
“I see you two came upon some trouble. But Jacob handled it, so no harm done!” Creole said with a smile and walked over to the register. I followed after him and watched as he picked up the template doll from the register and started tossing it up and down in the air.
“What’s the problem this time?” I asked him, stuffing my hands into my jacket pocket. He stared at me for a moment with that toothy yellow grin for a few moments before letting some giggles rise up from his throat. I could already tell that this was going to suck.
“Seems, that while I was away. A rat got into some of my potions. Made quite the mess of the shop, you should’ve seen it! Now that lil ol’ rat has run off and made a nest in the high school. I’m gonna need you to deal with it for me.” He smiled as he caught the template doll in midair and gave it a hard squeeze in between his gloved fingers.
“No,” I told him. That got his attention. He raised a brow at me and tossed the doll onto the register table. “I can’t,” I said as I felt my heart beating out of control. Since I was a little girl I had an absolute phobia of rats. Everything about them disgusted me and freaked me out. And now I had to go and kill some probably giant monster rat.
“Oh Mace, we both know you ain’t in a position of refusing me.” Creole extended his hand out to me and the contract that I signed with him. He was right, I had no right to refuse him. But at the same time, I’d rather have him kill me than have to face a giant rat. Not to mention if it had gotten into his potions, there was no telling what that thing had turned into.
“Can’t you have the cops handle it?” I asked, still trying to find a way out of it. Creole slammed his fist down on the hard wooden table and I swear it felt like the entire shop would come crumbling down in top of us.
“You’ll be doing it. Understand? I don’t want to have to visit your parents any sooner than I have to, Macedonia.” He told me in a low and gravely voice. His yellow teeth sharpened into fangs and I quickly looked down at the floor and finally nodded after a few moments of trying to think of a way out of it.
“Yes sir…” I told him submissively.
“Splendid! Jacob will be coming with you, naturally. You two seem to make a good team.” His mood shifted instantly once I became cooperative. His usual bubbly and happy personality returned. I simply nodded and looked over at Jacob. He kept up his permanent smile and gave me a little wave. I returned it with a half-hearted smile of my own.
“Well off with the two of you then, the sooner you deal with that rat the sooner you can go home again,” Creole said with a smile as he dismissively waved the two of us away and without giving me any other way of protecting myself from whatever monster rat he’d accidentally created. I sighed as I followed after Jacob as he fished out the magic skeleton key and inserted it into the voodoo shop’s door.
I watched as the door contorted and warped into one of the high school’s main doors. I grabbed the metal handle before Jacob could and pushed it open. Being inside the darkened school was like having one of those nightmares where you’re back in school again, or when you come to school after hours and the entire building is eerily quiet.
“Let’s just get this over with,” I mumbled to Jacob as we started making our way towards the cafeteria. If a giant rat was going to be anywhere, it’d probably be there. We passed several photos of past classes and clubs and I came to a stop at the photo I had managed to get into. I’d snuck into cheer practice with Jess who had been a cheerleader and had gotten my picture taken with the whole squad. It brought me back to simpler times and was a cruel reminder of what had happened to my friends.
I looked over at Jacob and noticed that his button eyes were trained squarely on a photo. I walked over to him and noticed he was looking at a picture of the video game club. And staring straight at me with a happy and toothy grin was the old Jacob. Before dropping out and becoming a drug dealer, before becoming an undead bellhop. Jacob kept staring at the photo for a few more seconds before turning to look at me. There was no indication on his permanently closed and stitched smile that he felt any different but something felt off about him.
As I was about to ask him what the matter was, but a loud crash and rattling came from the direction of the cafeteria. I instantly shoved my face into Jacob’s chest in absolute terror. He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hard squeeze. I don’t know what it is about Jacob that gives me such a calming response whenever I’m near him. Whatever it is, it was powerful enough to give me my strength back as I quickly dug into my pockets and pulled out the can of pepper spray and my pocket knife.
“Okay…I can do this…right?” I looked back at Jacob for confirmation. He gave me two thumbs up and we continued on course toward the cafeteria. Finding the doors locked I quickly handed my items to Jacob and got on my knees to begin picking the lock. It was second nature to me at this point, there had been plenty of times during high school where I had broken into the cafeteria to steal some food or a snack. In just a few swift flicks of the pins and tumblers the door swung open.
Jacob went first before motioning for me to follow after him. It certainly seemed like the rat had been here. Judging by the simple fact that the tables and benches were strewn and thrown in every possible direction. In the direction of the kitchen, the whole metal screen separating the kitchen from the cafeteria was broken and bent in various directions. I was suddenly realizing that I was probably going to be fighting a bear-sized rat with only a knife and some pepper spray.
“I don’t hear it,” I whispered to Jacob as the two of us began approaching the kitchen. We poked our heads into the utter devastation that had happened to the kitchen. Appliances were ripped from the wall, the freezer door had been ripped from its hinges, and the remains of dozens of frozen lunches were strewn about in every possible direction.
I picked up a frozen round pizza and said a silent prayer for the only decent thing the school ever gave to me. Despite all the destruction, however, there was no sign of the rat. I suddenly became afraid that the thing could turn invisible. It was then that I noticed that Jacob was staring up at the ceiling. I quickly dropped the pizza and followed his gaze upward, terrified that the rat was hanging from the ceiling like the mirror version of me had done. But instead, I was greeted by a giant gaping hole in the ceiling.
“Well, it isn’t here. Where the hell else could it be?” I asked Jacob who looked back at me and shrugged. I groaned and started looking around at the floor trying to think of where it could be. I stared too long at the floor though as my new glass eye just popped out of my head and fell to the floor.
“Oh fuck off,” I hissed in anger as I quickly dropped to my knees and began scrambling after it. I managed to catch it just before it rolled under the stove and cleaned it as best as I could before inserting it back into my skull. As I was letting the magic item return vision to my left side I stared at the stove for a moment before a thought crossed my mind.
“What about the home econ room? They have a cooking class there.” I quickly stood up and Jacob quickly nodded. The only problem was that the home econ room was on the other side of the school from where we were. Plenty of chances for the rat to ambush us. So as we started walking down the halls towards the home econ room I made sure to hold on to Jacob’s hand. Our high school isn’t even that big and yet the walk from the cafeteria felt like it took sixty years, mostly because every single noise caused me to stop and wait to see what was going to pop out and attack me.
By the time we entered the area where the home econ room was, I was able to hear something rummaging around and destroying things in the classroom. It seemed that my hunch had paid off. The only problem was that I was too scared to move even a muscle. I looked back at Jacob and he gave me a thumbs up. I squeezed his hand tightly and nodded back at him, letting go of his hand and fishing my can of pepper spray out of my jacket pocket.
I glanced into the classroom through the window. Besides the absolute devastation of the classroom, I watched in horror as a giant rat’s tail was dragged along the floor like some enormous worm. I quickly shook my head and turned to Jacob.
“I can’t do it,” I whimpered at him, feeling the onset of a panic attack incoming. Jacob rubbed my arms and waited for me to slightly calm down. I did my best to get a hold of myself and again peeked into the window of the destroyed kitchen room. I got a good look at the giant rat as it broke into one of the stoves. Most of its fur had fallen off in giant patches, and giant spikes were piercing out of its back. As it turned its head to toss the stove away from the wall I could see that one of its eyes was missing. I breathed a sigh of relief, it was blind in that eye just like I was.
I took a deep breath and carefully tried to open the door, but the handle only jiggled a little, it was locked. That slight movement of the door triggered the rat, as it quickly whipped its head towards the door. My eye met its eyes, as it still had its right eye along with a giant cluster of eyes above and below it.
“Shit,” I mumbled as it let out a loud screech and proceeded to charge towards the door. I felt Jacob quickly grab me and shove me away just as the giant rat busted down the door on top of him. I landed on the floor on my ass and watched as Jacob struggled to keep the rat from bringing its full weight on top of him and squishing him into a puddle.
“Hey, shithead!” I screamed at the rat getting its attention. I aimed my pepper spray at it and pressed down, spraying it in its giant cluster of eyes. It let out a pained shriek and fell over as it tried in vain to get the stinging chemical spray out of its eyes. I quickly dropped the empty can and winced as the stinging began to form in my good eye. One good thing about having a magic glass eyeball is that it isn’t affected by pepper spray, so I at least had one advantage over the rat.
At least I thought I did, as a deep rumbling noise came from deep inside the rat, I took a step back as I held my knife out in front of me as if it was some kind of sword or spear. I watched in disgust as a new cluster of eyes spawned from the empty eye socket, and before I could process that, the rat pounced on me and pinned me to the floor. I thrashed and kicked trying to get it off of me, and even began stabbing it in the neck. It screamed and began rumbling again as long slender tentacles began to spawn from its back and began thrashing around like whips.
“Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding!” I screamed as I began stabbing it in the face and the eyes, any spot that could get it off of me, doing my best to avoid its mouth which was constantly snapping and gnashing at me. One of my stabs ended up landing underneath the rat’s snout and I was too careless. The knife became stuck inside him and I tried to use my left hand to give me more leverage to pull it out. In doing so I got too close to its mouth and it clamped down on my hand.
I screamed my fucking lungs out, and on instinct yanked my hands out of its mouth. And watched as my pinky, ring finger, and half of my middle finger remained in the rat's mouth. I let go of the knife and clutched my bloody hand with my other. The rat eagerly chewed on my fingers and was about to come back for more when Jacob slammed a metal desk chair against its head. It stumbled and looked over at him, just in time for Jacob to bring it down on the rat's head. It screeched and quickly began scurrying away. Instead of chasing after it, Jacob quickly dropped to his knees and began taking care of me.
“W-we gotta get outta here, before it comes back,” I whimpered, staring as a fountain of blood came pouring out of my damaged hand. Jacob quickly ripped off his sleeve and made a tourniquet and a bandage for me out of it. I couldn’t really stain it since it was the same color as my blood. Jacob quickly picked me up bridal style and ran towards the stairwell entrance just as I heard the rat coming back for another attack.
We entered the stairwell and Jacob quickly rushed us upstairs just as the rat crashed through the door. We made it upstairs and found ourselves in the science wing of the school. Jacob quickly ducked us into a classroom that happened to be open and quickly closed and locked the door, pushing a chair up against the door as well. We both ducked down as we heard the rat running past us on a wild goose chase to find us.
I whimpered and winced at the pain stinging from my hand. It was then that a terrifying thought entered my mind. I wouldn’t be able to pick locks with a hand like this. At least until I could get used to only having two and a half fingers. Would Creole get bored of me if I couldn’t pick locks anymore? I looked around the classroom and suddenly was struck with a familiar feeling. Like I’d been here before. I looked over toward the teacher’s desk and was flushed with memories of the only science class I’d ever enjoyed and passed with a grade higher than a C. Mr. Picot’s chemistry class.
“Jacob, I have an idea.” I winced as I stood up and quickly whispered to my smiling savior. He quickly came over and got on his knees as I wobbly sat up on mine. “In that cabinet,” I pointed towards a big metal cabinet. “Mr. Picot keeps some dry ice in a thermal cooler. We can make dry ice bombs to fight that thing.” I told him, Jacob quickly nodded as he agreed to my plan. He helped me stand up on my feet and the two of us walked over to the cabinet. I dug into my pocket and pulled out the tools.
Jacob helped me as he held the left hook pick steady for me as I used my good hand to fiddle around. I was lucky that Mr. Picot used a pretty cheap lock for the cabinet. After only two failed attempts we got the locker opened. Jacob quickly opened the cooler and pulled out the small block of dry ice from its container. I went under Mr. Picot’s desk and quickly grabbed a couple of mini water bottles that he always had on hand in case someone needed some water during a test.
Jacob carefully drained each bottle so only a little bit of water was left and cut the dry ice into little chunks, wrapping them up in a paper towel and adding them to the water bottle. I was impressed at how skillfully he was doing this. I’d always imagined Jacob as the typical school-hating wanna-be gangster. But here he was proving that he knew what he was doing. The water would stop an immediate release of the CO2 into the bottle and give us time to chuck it at the rat.
Our best bet was going to be getting it to swallow one, so with our arsenal of six bombs made and carefully being carried by Jacob in a lost and found backpack we’d found in the classroom, we exited the classroom and started making as much noise as possible. Banging our hands against the lockers and me screaming as loudly as I could. Soon enough we heard the loud scurrying running towards us again.
It had changed again, with its mouth having split open like a flower full of teeth and bleeding gums. If I didn’t walk away from this completely traumatized of rats I was going to be very surprised. Jacob reached into the back and pulled out a bomb, giving it a good shake before tossing it. Unfortunately for us, it blew up midair and sent a loud bang throughout the school. That didn’t seem to bother the rat as it kept charging towards us. I quickly took a bottle from Jacob and started rushing towards the rat.
It tackled me to the ground and screamed at me with its giant gaping mouth. I shook the bottle as well as I could and stuffed it into its mouth, acting quicker on this occasion to pull my hand back out. It swallowed the bomb and I winced in anticipation. As if on cue the bomb exploded in the rat’s throat and nearly decapitated it. It staggered over me for a few moments, as if trying to figure out why it had lost function of its whole body before it tumbled to the floor and let out a long death gurgle.
“Thank god,” I sighed as I crawled out from under it. Jacob was carefully opening the bottles to relieve their pressure. It turned out we only needed one after all. I walked over to him and shoved my face into his chest, letting a wave of emotions come over me as I began to cry uncontrollably into him. Everything bubbled to the surface at once, my fear of rats, my situation, my hopelessness, everything all came to the surface at once. I stood there crying into Jacob’s chest for a good five minutes before I finally got some bit of composure back.
The two of us made our way back down to the first floor and toward the main entrance. As we were about to leave I looked back to see Jacob staring at his old picture again. I wondered what he could be thinking about, but I figured it was better not to dwell on that, so I simply opened the door and stepped back into Creole’s shop.
“Mace! Goodness girl, what happened to ya?” Creole asked in shock which I couldn’t tell if it was genuine or fake. He walked over to me and quickly grabbed my hand, removing Jacob’s makeshift bandage to get a good look at it. “Oh dear me, quite the nasty bite it gave you, huh?” He asked me, that stupid smile replaced with a look of concern on his face.
“Can you fix me, sir?” I asked him as he looked at the hand and reached into his pocket. He wordlessly doused my hand in some potion and I half expected my lost fingers to start blooming like some flower or something. But instead, the bleeding ceased completely.
“There we are. That should deal with any infection as well, can’t have my new toy breaking so soon after I bought it,” he said with that stupid smile returning to his face. I stared back at him and felt my anger boiling over. I was his toy. No better than a frisbee he could throw around. And easily replaceable if he broke me too badly.
“What about my fingers?” I asked him, wanting to know if he could do anything with them. He stared at them for a moment before letting go of my hand and shrugging.
“If I had them I could sew them back on. Unfortunately, we don’t have them do we?” he said with a smile that quickly grew sinister as I was sure some other horrible idea had crossed his mind. “I could always chop it off and give you a new hand,” he said with a sinister snicker. I quickly held onto my hand and backed away from him.
“No thank you. I’ll manage with this.” I told him as I turned to leave, surprised to see that Jacob had replaced his damaged uniform in the time I had been talking to Creole.
“Oh, Mace my darling? You still can pick locks, can’t you? I would hate for your injuries to end that hobby for you,” Creole asked me as I kept my back to him. I looked down at my hand and bent my remaining fingers. It was doable, it would just take me a long time to get used to.
“Yes, sir,” I told him, opening the front door and listening to the sad bell jingle its tone as I left the shop. I was sure that he was just looking for any reason to break me further and get rid of me. Or he would finally get bored of me and get rid of me that way.
Either way, I was resolved with one simple goal. Free myself from King Creole by any means necessary.
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Home didn’t feel the same after I returned from the hotel. My dad knew that I knew how he’d gotten that high-paying job. And he knew what I had been doing to help us make ends meet before getting entangled with Creole. It got even worse when one day he walked in on me as I was applying the ointment to cover my scars. That broke him. He started crying uncontrollably upon seeing me with the deep scar on my neck and my missing eye surrounded by my skull. It was the first time I’d seen my dad cry like that. And I couldn’t do anything to console or help him. Because I knew if I did, I would start crying and wouldn’t be able to stop.
We were both at rock bottom, with my mom trying in vain to figure out why we were so upset. Creole must’ve known what I was going through and allowed it to continue. For an entire month, he didn’t call on me for anything. And that worried me more than if he did. Because there was always the looming and constant fear that he would get bored with me. And him being bored with me probably meant my immediate death.
It was a relief when I was home alone again that I received a knock at the door. I looked down at my phone to make sure that I still had plenty of time since my last ointment appointment. Satisfied that I had plenty of time I stood up and answered the door. Seeing that smiling face and red uniform instantly brightened my day a little.
“Hey Jacob, what’s he got for me this time?” I asked him as the forever smiling bellhop stared at me with his button eyes. He happily presented me with an envelope and gave me a little salute at completing his mission. I took the envelope and opened it up, sighing when I saw the all too familiar handwriting.
“Marvelous Ms. Mace! It would seem that I require your skills in another endeavor. Jacob shall escort you to the store, and do make sure to bring all your tools. K.C.” I heavily exhaled through my nose and invited Jacob into the house so I could gather my things.” I quickly ran upstairs and rounded up my lockpicking tools, pepper spray, and this time a pocket knife as well. I’d gotten myself one after the ordeal of the hotel. Just as I was applying more ointment and resetting my timer I heard the front door open and a bunch of grocery bags rustling.
My heart instantly dropped. My mom had gotten back earlier than expected. I quickly finished putting the ointment on and ran downstairs as quickly as I could. I nearly ran into my mom as she was hanging one of the bags on the stair railings.
“Jesus, Maria, Jose, Macedonia!” My mom shouted in surprise. I half expected it to be because of Jacob but a glance around the first floor revealed that he wasn’t anywhere in sight. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.” My mom sighed fanning herself dramatically.
“Sorry Mom,” I apologized, wrapping my arms around her and squeezing her. “I’m going out, ok?” I told her. She looked at me judgementally, mostly at what I was wearing before wishing me good luck and the usual million things to be careful of. I nodded at all of them and parted with a kiss on her cheek. As I exited the front door it was my turn to nearly have a heart attack as Jacob surprised me by poking his head out of the bush next to the front door.
“How’d you get in there?!” I silently shouted at him. He pointed at the open window just above the bush. And I couldn’t help but snort and giggle at the thought of him diving out of the window into the bush once my mom had arrived back at the house. I helped him to get out of the bush and brushed the leaves off of his uniform.
We started making our way towards the voodoo shop all the while my mind continued to wander in various scenarios in which my situation was going to end. Most of them with me and my entire family dead or turned into voodoo dolls.
“Jacob?!” An unknown voice broke my endless doom loop. I looked up and Jacob and I stared at a sketchy dude across the street from us who quickly ran over and grabbed Jacob by his gold-trimmed collar. “Where the fuck have you been man?! I’ve been trying to call you for months!” He shouted at Jacob who just stared at him with his permanent smile and tilted his head in confusion.
“Leave him alone, we’re trying to be somewhere asshole,” I told the guy, grabbing Jacob by the arm and starting to tug on it. The guy looked at me like I was literal shit on his shoe and stared back at Jacob.
“Who the fuck is she? More importantly, why the fuck are you dressed like this? It isn’t Halloween you freak,” he shouted at Jacob. He continued on about how he hadn’t made a single delivery in months and that some scary people were looking for him. Jacob continued to stare blankly at this guy before turning to me and taking his hat off.
“Hey, asshole! Don’t ignore me!” he shouted at Jacob as he placed the hat on me. I stared at him in confusion before he lifted his hands to cover his button eyes. He then lowered his hands and pointed at me. It took me a few seconds to figure out he wanted me to cover my eyes. So I hesitated for a moment before lifting my hands and covering my eyes.
As I covered my eyes I heard the guy let out a choked scream before a sickening crunch and tearing, overpowered the sounds of his muted screams. I shut my eyes as tightly as I could and suddenly wondered something. My glass eyes didn’t have an eyelid. So how exactly was it shut right at that moment? Did it turn off on command? I didn’t have long to wonder at the logistics as I felt Jacob’s hat being taken off of me.
I lowered my hands and was met by Jacob’s usual smiling face. And not a single stain on his uniform at all. I looked at him and then around us in confusion. There wasn’t a single sight of the asshole. Not a body part, not a drop of blood not even a scrap of clothing. Absolutely nothing. I knew better than to inquire about what had happened so I simply continued our walk towards the voodoo store.
“Mace! It’s been so long! How’s the eye treating you?” Creole asked me, giddy with excitement upon seeing me. I was instantly reminded how much I hated him. His stupid smile and his constant giddiness. It irked and annoyed me.
“It’s fine, sir,” I told him as dryly as I could. As usual that didn’t register at all to him and he simply nodded and looked over at Jacob.
“I see you two came upon some trouble. But Jacob handled it, so no harm done!” Creole said with a smile and walked over to the register. I followed after him and watched as he picked up the template doll from the register and started tossing it up and down in the air.
“What’s the problem this time?” I asked him, stuffing my hands into my jacket pocket. He stared at me for a moment with that toothy yellow grin for a few moments before letting some giggles rise up from his throat. I could already tell that this was going to suck.
“Seems, that while I was away. A rat got into some of my potions. Made quite the mess of the shop, you should’ve seen it! Now that lil ol’ rat has run off and made a nest in the high school. I’m gonna need you to deal with it for me.” He smiled as he caught the template doll in midair and gave it a hard squeeze in between his gloved fingers.
“No,” I told him. That got his attention. He raised a brow at me and tossed the doll onto the register table. “I can’t,” I said as I felt my heart beating out of control. Since I was a little girl I had an absolute phobia of rats. Everything about them disgusted me and freaked me out. And now I had to go and kill some probably giant monster rat.
“Oh Mace, we both know you ain’t in a position of refusing me.” Creole extended his hand out to me and the contract that I signed with him. He was right, I had no right to refuse him. But at the same time, I’d rather have him kill me than have to face a giant rat. Not to mention if it had gotten into his potions, there was no telling what that thing had turned into.
“Can’t you have the cops handle it?” I asked, still trying to find a way out of it. Creole slammed his fist down on the hard wooden table and I swear it felt like the entire shop would come crumbling down in top of us.
“You’ll be doing it. Understand? I don’t want to have to visit your parents any sooner than I have to, Macedonia.” He told me in a low and gravely voice. His yellow teeth sharpened into fangs and I quickly looked down at the floor and finally nodded after a few moments of trying to think of a way out of it.
“Yes sir…” I told him submissively.
“Splendid! Jacob will be coming with you, naturally. You two seem to make a good team.” His mood shifted instantly once I became cooperative. His usual bubbly and happy personality returned. I simply nodded and looked over at Jacob. He kept up his permanent smile and gave me a little wave. I returned it with a half-hearted smile of my own.
“Well off with the two of you then, the sooner you deal with that rat the sooner you can go home again,” Creole said with a smile as he dismissively waved the two of us away and without giving me any other way of protecting myself from whatever monster rat he’d accidentally created. I sighed as I followed after Jacob as he fished out the magic skeleton key and inserted it into the voodoo shop’s door.
I watched as the door contorted and warped into one of the high school’s main doors. I grabbed the metal handle before Jacob could and pushed it open. Being inside the darkened school was like having one of those nightmares where you’re back in school again, or when you come to school after hours and the entire building is eerily quiet.
“Let’s just get this over with,” I mumbled to Jacob as we started making our way towards the cafeteria. If a giant rat was going to be anywhere, it’d probably be there. We passed several photos of past classes and clubs and I came to a stop at the photo I had managed to get into. I’d snuck into cheer practice with Jess who had been a cheerleader and had gotten my picture taken with the whole squad. It brought me back to simpler times and was a cruel reminder of what had happened to my friends.
I looked over at Jacob and noticed that his button eyes were trained squarely on a photo. I walked over to him and noticed he was looking at a picture of the video game club. And staring straight at me with a happy and toothy grin was the old Jacob. Before dropping out and becoming a drug dealer, before becoming an undead bellhop. Jacob kept staring at the photo for a few more seconds before turning to look at me. There was no indication on his permanently closed and stitched smile that he felt any different but something felt off about him.
As I was about to ask him what the matter was, but a loud crash and rattling came from the direction of the cafeteria. I instantly shoved my face into Jacob’s chest in absolute terror. He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hard squeeze. I don’t know what it is about Jacob that gives me such a calming response whenever I’m near him. Whatever it is, it was powerful enough to give me my strength back as I quickly dug into my pockets and pulled out the can of pepper spray and my pocket knife.
“Okay…I can do this…right?” I looked back at Jacob for confirmation. He gave me two thumbs up and we continued on course toward the cafeteria. Finding the doors locked I quickly handed my items to Jacob and got on my knees to begin picking the lock. It was second nature to me at this point, there had been plenty of times during high school where I had broken into the cafeteria to steal some food or a snack. In just a few swift flicks of the pins and tumblers the door swung open.
Jacob went first before motioning for me to follow after him. It certainly seemed like the rat had been here. Judging by the simple fact that the tables and benches were strewn and thrown in every possible direction. In the direction of the kitchen, the whole metal screen separating the kitchen from the cafeteria was broken and bent in various directions. I was suddenly realizing that I was probably going to be fighting a bear-sized rat with only a knife and some pepper spray.
“I don’t hear it,” I whispered to Jacob as the two of us began approaching the kitchen. We poked our heads into the utter devastation that had happened to the kitchen. Appliances were ripped from the wall, the freezer door had been ripped from its hinges, and the remains of dozens of frozen lunches were strewn about in every possible direction.
I picked up a frozen round pizza and said a silent prayer for the only decent thing the school ever gave to me. Despite all the destruction, however, there was no sign of the rat. I suddenly became afraid that the thing could turn invisible. It was then that I noticed that Jacob was staring up at the ceiling. I quickly dropped the pizza and followed his gaze upward, terrified that the rat was hanging from the ceiling like the mirror version of me had done. But instead, I was greeted by a giant gaping hole in the ceiling.
“Well, it isn’t here. Where the hell else could it be?” I asked Jacob who looked back at me and shrugged. I groaned and started looking around at the floor trying to think of where it could be. I stared too long at the floor though as my new glass eye just popped out of my head and fell to the floor.
“Oh fuck off,” I hissed in anger as I quickly dropped to my knees and began scrambling after it. I managed to catch it just before it rolled under the stove and cleaned it as best as I could before inserting it back into my skull. As I was letting the magic item return vision to my left side I stared at the stove for a moment before a thought crossed my mind.
“What about the home econ room? They have a cooking class there.” I quickly stood up and Jacob quickly nodded. The only problem was that the home econ room was on the other side of the school from where we were. Plenty of chances for the rat to ambush us. So as we started walking down the halls towards the home econ room I made sure to hold on to Jacob’s hand. Our high school isn’t even that big and yet the walk from the cafeteria felt like it took sixty years, mostly because every single noise caused me to stop and wait to see what was going to pop out and attack me.
By the time we entered the area where the home econ room was, I was able to hear something rummaging around and destroying things in the classroom. It seemed that my hunch had paid off. The only problem was that I was too scared to move even a muscle. I looked back at Jacob and he gave me a thumbs up. I squeezed his hand tightly and nodded back at him, letting go of his hand and fishing my can of pepper spray out of my jacket pocket.
I glanced into the classroom through the window. Besides the absolute devastation of the classroom, I watched in horror as a giant rat’s tail was dragged along the floor like some enormous worm. I quickly shook my head and turned to Jacob.
“I can’t do it,” I whimpered at him, feeling the onset of a panic attack incoming. Jacob rubbed my arms and waited for me to slightly calm down. I did my best to get a hold of myself and again peeked into the window of the destroyed kitchen room. I got a good look at the giant rat as it broke into one of the stoves. Most of its fur had fallen off in giant patches, and giant spikes were piercing out of its back. As it turned its head to toss the stove away from the wall I could see that one of its eyes was missing. I breathed a sigh of relief, it was blind in that eye just like I was.
I took a deep breath and carefully tried to open the door, but the handle only jiggled a little, it was locked. That slight movement of the door triggered the rat, as it quickly whipped its head towards the door. My eye met its eyes, as it still had its right eye along with a giant cluster of eyes above and below it.
“Shit,” I mumbled as it let out a loud screech and proceeded to charge towards the door. I felt Jacob quickly grab me and shove me away just as the giant rat busted down the door on top of him. I landed on the floor on my ass and watched as Jacob struggled to keep the rat from bringing its full weight on top of him and squishing him into a puddle.
“Hey, shithead!” I screamed at the rat getting its attention. I aimed my pepper spray at it and pressed down, spraying it in its giant cluster of eyes. It let out a pained shriek and fell over as it tried in vain to get the stinging chemical spray out of its eyes. I quickly dropped the empty can and winced as the stinging began to form in my good eye. One good thing about having a magic glass eyeball is that it isn’t affected by pepper spray, so I at least had one advantage over the rat.
At least I thought I did, as a deep rumbling noise came from deep inside the rat, I took a step back as I held my knife out in front of me as if it was some kind of sword or spear. I watched in disgust as a new cluster of eyes spawned from the empty eye socket, and before I could process that, the rat pounced on me and pinned me to the floor. I thrashed and kicked trying to get it off of me, and even began stabbing it in the neck. It screamed and began rumbling again as long slender tentacles began to spawn from its back and began thrashing around like whips.
“Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding!” I screamed as I began stabbing it in the face and the eyes, any spot that could get it off of me, doing my best to avoid its mouth which was constantly snapping and gnashing at me. One of my stabs ended up landing underneath the rat’s snout and I was too careless. The knife became stuck inside him and I tried to use my left hand to give me more leverage to pull it out. In doing so I got too close to its mouth and it clamped down on my hand.
I screamed my fucking lungs out, and on instinct yanked my hands out of its mouth. And watched as my pinky, ring finger, and half of my middle finger remained in the rat's mouth. I let go of the knife and clutched my bloody hand with my other. The rat eagerly chewed on my fingers and was about to come back for more when Jacob slammed a metal desk chair against its head. It stumbled and looked over at him, just in time for Jacob to bring it down on the rat's head. It screeched and quickly began scurrying away. Instead of chasing after it, Jacob quickly dropped to his knees and began taking care of me.
“W-we gotta get outta here, before it comes back,” I whimpered, staring as a fountain of blood came pouring out of my damaged hand. Jacob quickly ripped off his sleeve and made a tourniquet and a bandage for me out of it. I couldn’t really stain it since it was the same color as my blood. Jacob quickly picked me up bridal style and ran towards the stairwell entrance just as I heard the rat coming back for another attack.
We entered the stairwell and Jacob quickly rushed us upstairs just as the rat crashed through the door. We made it upstairs and found ourselves in the science wing of the school. Jacob quickly ducked us into a classroom that happened to be open and quickly closed and locked the door, pushing a chair up against the door as well. We both ducked down as we heard the rat running past us on a wild goose chase to find us.
I whimpered and winced at the pain stinging from my hand. It was then that a terrifying thought entered my mind. I wouldn’t be able to pick locks with a hand like this. At least until I could get used to only having two and a half fingers. Would Creole get bored of me if I couldn’t pick locks anymore? I looked around the classroom and suddenly was struck with a familiar feeling. Like I’d been here before. I looked over toward the teacher’s desk and was flushed with memories of the only science class I’d ever enjoyed and passed with a grade higher than a C. Mr. Picot’s chemistry class.
“Jacob, I have an idea.” I winced as I stood up and quickly whispered to my smiling savior. He quickly came over and got on his knees as I wobbly sat up on mine. “In that cabinet,” I pointed towards a big metal cabinet. “Mr. Picot keeps some dry ice in a thermal cooler. We can make dry ice bombs to fight that thing.” I told him, Jacob quickly nodded as he agreed to my plan. He helped me stand up on my feet and the two of us walked over to the cabinet. I dug into my pocket and pulled out the tools.
Jacob helped me as he held the left hook pick steady for me as I used my good hand to fiddle around. I was lucky that Mr. Picot used a pretty cheap lock for the cabinet. After only two failed attempts we got the locker opened. Jacob quickly opened the cooler and pulled out the small block of dry ice from its container. I went under Mr. Picot’s desk and quickly grabbed a couple of mini water bottles that he always had on hand in case someone needed some water during a test.
Jacob carefully drained each bottle so only a little bit of water was left and cut the dry ice into little chunks, wrapping them up in a paper towel and adding them to the water bottle. I was impressed at how skillfully he was doing this. I’d always imagined Jacob as the typical school-hating wanna-be gangster. But here he was proving that he knew what he was doing. The water would stop an immediate release of the CO2 into the bottle and give us time to chuck it at the rat.
Our best bet was going to be getting it to swallow one, so with our arsenal of six bombs made and carefully being carried by Jacob in a lost and found backpack we’d found in the classroom, we exited the classroom and started making as much noise as possible. Banging our hands against the lockers and me screaming as loudly as I could. Soon enough we heard the loud scurrying running towards us again.
It had changed again, with its mouth having split open like a flower full of teeth and bleeding gums. If I didn’t walk away from this completely traumatized of rats I was going to be very surprised. Jacob reached into the back and pulled out a bomb, giving it a good shake before tossing it. Unfortunately for us, it blew up midair and sent a loud bang throughout the school. That didn’t seem to bother the rat as it kept charging towards us. I quickly took a bottle from Jacob and started rushing towards the rat.
It tackled me to the ground and screamed at me with its giant gaping mouth. I shook the bottle as well as I could and stuffed it into its mouth, acting quicker on this occasion to pull my hand back out. It swallowed the bomb and I winced in anticipation. As if on cue the bomb exploded in the rat’s throat and nearly decapitated it. It staggered over me for a few moments, as if trying to figure out why it had lost function of its whole body before it tumbled to the floor and let out a long death gurgle.
“Thank god,” I sighed as I crawled out from under it. Jacob was carefully opening the bottles to relieve their pressure. It turned out we only needed one after all. I walked over to him and shoved my face into his chest, letting a wave of emotions come over me as I began to cry uncontrollably into him. Everything bubbled to the surface at once, my fear of rats, my situation, my hopelessness, everything all came to the surface at once. I stood there crying into Jacob’s chest for a good five minutes before I finally got some bit of composure back.
The two of us made our way back down to the first floor and toward the main entrance. As we were about to leave I looked back to see Jacob staring at his old picture again. I wondered what he could be thinking about, but I figured it was better not to dwell on that, so I simply opened the door and stepped back into Creole’s shop.
“Mace! Goodness girl, what happened to ya?” Creole asked in shock which I couldn’t tell if it was genuine or fake. He walked over to me and quickly grabbed my hand, removing Jacob’s makeshift bandage to get a good look at it. “Oh dear me, quite the nasty bite it gave you, huh?” He asked me, that stupid smile replaced with a look of concern on his face.
“Can you fix me, sir?” I asked him as he looked at the hand and reached into his pocket. He wordlessly doused my hand in some potion and I half expected my lost fingers to start blooming like some flower or something. But instead, the bleeding ceased completely.
“There we are. That should deal with any infection as well, can’t have my new toy breaking so soon after I bought it,” he said with that stupid smile returning to his face. I stared back at him and felt my anger boiling over. I was his toy. No better than a frisbee he could throw around. And easily replaceable if he broke me too badly.
“What about my fingers?” I asked him, wanting to know if he could do anything with them. He stared at them for a moment before letting go of my hand and shrugging.
“If I had them I could sew them back on. Unfortunately, we don’t have them do we?” he said with a smile that quickly grew sinister as I was sure some other horrible idea had crossed his mind. “I could always chop it off and give you a new hand,” he said with a sinister snicker. I quickly held onto my hand and backed away from him.
“No thank you. I’ll manage with this.” I told him as I turned to leave, surprised to see that Jacob had replaced his damaged uniform in the time I had been talking to Creole.
“Oh, Mace my darling? You still can pick locks, can’t you? I would hate for your injuries to end that hobby for you,” Creole asked me as I kept my back to him. I looked down at my hand and bent my remaining fingers. It was doable, it would just take me a long time to get used to.
“Yes, sir,” I told him, opening the front door and listening to the sad bell jingle its tone as I left the shop. I was sure that he was just looking for any reason to break me further and get rid of me. Or he would finally get bored of me and get rid of me that way.
Either way, I was resolved with one simple goal. Free myself from King Creole by any means necessary.
2024.06.07 16:35 Sangenkai Dr. Yorio Wakatake in the Hawai'i Times
This article in the Hawai'i Times from July 7th, 1973 features Dr. Yorio Wakatake, one of the earliest students and teachers of Aikido in Hawai’i, and mentions the floating restaurant where Koichi Tohei would announce his break from the Aikikai when he crashed a party for Kisshomaru Ueshiba there a year later.
Dr. Yorio Wakatake in the Hawai'i Times
Nobody was actually aware that Tohei was in Hawai’i until he arrived at the party and grabbed the podium, giving a long speech announcing his break from the Aikikai and his various grievances. At the time, Kisshomaru Ueshiba still retained some hope that it would remain an internal disagreement (he and Tohei were married to sisters) and on the way home after the event asked the local Hawai'i folks to "please forgive Tohei".
Tohei, on the other hand, had been planning his break for a number of years, attempting to recruit many young instructors. As he left the restaurant he stopped in front of a friend of mine and said, "you're coming with me, right?".
Tohei's break was especially traumatic in Hawai’i, since he had spent so much time there building relationships, but in the end Sadao Yoshioka decided to remain with the Aikikai and the Ueshiba family, and the majority of Hawai'i practitioners stayed with the Aikikai. There remained, however, a sizeable contingent of Ki Society practitioners that continue to this day.
submitted by Sangenkai to aikido [link] [comments]
Dr. Yorio Wakatake in the Hawai'i Times
Nobody was actually aware that Tohei was in Hawai’i until he arrived at the party and grabbed the podium, giving a long speech announcing his break from the Aikikai and his various grievances. At the time, Kisshomaru Ueshiba still retained some hope that it would remain an internal disagreement (he and Tohei were married to sisters) and on the way home after the event asked the local Hawai'i folks to "please forgive Tohei".
Tohei, on the other hand, had been planning his break for a number of years, attempting to recruit many young instructors. As he left the restaurant he stopped in front of a friend of mine and said, "you're coming with me, right?".
Tohei's break was especially traumatic in Hawai’i, since he had spent so much time there building relationships, but in the end Sadao Yoshioka decided to remain with the Aikikai and the Ueshiba family, and the majority of Hawai'i practitioners stayed with the Aikikai. There remained, however, a sizeable contingent of Ki Society practitioners that continue to this day.
2024.06.07 16:33 Future_Ad_3485 Cold Case Inc. Part Four: The Annoyance of Time Worms and Their Masters!
Rolling onto Marcus’ bare chest, the sight of our clothes scattered everywhere had my cheeks burning a bright scarlet. Swinging my feet over the edge of the bed, the door swinging open had me tugging on one of my oversized t-shirts over my head. Tarot floated into the space, his boots touching the floor. A pocket watch shaped envelope fluttered in his palm, my shaking fingers curling around it. The time council had a task set for me and there was no way out of it. Ripping it open, the image of a time worm had me chewing on my lips. The odd thought of Tarot delivering this to me had alarm bells going off, his pensive expression far from his usual one. Fishing around his pocket, his quaking hand pressed a photo of a demon witch with wild neon waves and matching neon green eyes. Noting her tall but flawless hourglass figure, a matching smile had me putting two and two together. Packing a bag with supplies, the image of her neon green flaming motorcycle flashing in my head. A pale hand reached for me, her inky lips mouthing the word help.
“One can assume that is your daughter.” I pointed out simply, his eyes averting to the floor. “Consider your daughter found, Tarot. If my friend needs me, then my assistance will come swiftly.” Fighting tears in his eyes, my brow cocked in disbelief. An abrupt embrace had my eyes rounding with surprise, my fingers peeling my pendant off my neck. As snarky as I was, the desire to save people is what kept me going. Stepping back while scratching the back of his neck, a flurry of tarot cards whisked him away. Rolling my eyes, his lack of information wasn’t unusual. Creating a line with my pendant as I tugged my socks and boots, the underbelly of time hummed to life. Crossing into the swirling colors, the simple ivory path met the heel of my boots. Shutting the opening behind me, Marcus could exchange harsh words with me later. Besides, the rules strictly banned his presence. Dropping my pendant over my neck, the scent of the worm had to be somewhere. Draping my bag over my shoulder, the time thread weighed a ton. Walking along the path, the plan went through my mind. First thing first, find the worm and kill it. Second, the culprit had to be hunted down and executed. Thirdly, his daughter needed to be brought back home. A quiet voice had me spinning on my heels with a twitching smirk, Saby bouncing up to me with a big smile on her face. Stifling my initial frustration, the hole she fell through had the shimmering worm I was looking for. Ordering her to stay, my dagger expanded from its charm form. Floating over my head, my dagger flipped over my fingers. Aiming for its heart, violet energy built around my palm. Flicking it in the direction of a vital organ, another blast of magic had the dagger sinking into the heart. Shriveling while screaming out in pain, a sea of holes greeted my irritated grimace. Drying into a sparkling powder, problem number one was solved. Catching my fallen dagger, the damage had to be repaired. Putting Saby on my back, a quick warning had her arms hugging my neck. Building energy around my boot, a big ball hummed to life. Pushing off the ground, her real smile never left her face the whole ride back to where she fell. Setting her on her bed, I had work to do. Summoning my slumber powder, a quick blow had violet dust glistening around her face. Collapsing back onto her pillow, cool air lashed at my cheeks the moment I jumped back into my original destination. Whistling sharply, a clear bubble caught my feet. Shifting through my bag, my fingers curled around the glowing needle and thread. Threading it with ease, these attacks were becoming more common. Moving the five foot needle with ease, a secure knot granted me permission to move on to the next one. Cutting off the end with my dagger, the bubble carried me to the next one. Working for several hours, the mistakes had been corrected and the holes were sealed shut with the finest of thread. Lowering me to the pathway, my empty footfalls echoed in the big space of time bubbles. Coming into the city, one person would be able to help me out. Marble homes lined the street, a scarlet Victorian home sang out boisterous swing music. This guy had given me issues before, a low growl rumbling in my throat. Marching up to the door, a swift kick had the door flying across the room. His guests scurried out, my dagger spinning in my palm. A golden haired man with golden hourglass eyes approached me, his arms folded across his shimmering emerald suit. His waves floated around his shoulders, my own fingers running through my snarled waves. Fixing my bangs, his hourglass irises flipped several times. What an asshole!
“You have looked better.” He teased cruelly, a haughty fit of laughter exploding from his lips. “I can feel your mental health decaying. Did you have to see your filthy past? I could erase it for y-” Pressing the sharp edge of my dagger into his neck, my patience was wearing thin. Hissing a few curse words, he had no right to bring up such a thing.
“I may not be able to kill you but I can hurt you real well.” I promised with a sarcastic smirk, punching him in the gut with a ball of built up energy. Doubling over, golden blood painted my boots. The Warden wasn’t my nickname for no reason, the council sending me to clean up their messes all the time. Kicking him in the stomach, the sickening crack of his spine snapping in half had him crumbling to the floor into a heap. Crouching down to his level, his rounded eyes met my tired expression.
“Where is the culprit and where is this woman?” I demanded hotly, pulling out the picture of the green haired woman. Noting his body quivering in fear, something was off about the situation. Shaking his head, his fingers clawed at the worn wooden floor. Mumbling something about the slave trade, the hilt of my dagger creaked in protest at my increasing grip. Dropping a healing potion by his hand, the bastard would be okay by tomorrow. Sprinting onto the pathway, the doorway to the lower realm of time creaked open. Sprinting down the ancient stone stairs, screams and groans had me cursing under my breath. Darting around the cages of trapped monsters, a cloaked figure a few inches shorter than me floated by. Sniffing the air, I began to chew my lip out of a nervous habit. Sensing Glanda’s energy, the pieces all came together. That wicked witch had sent a worm into the realm of time. The poor monsters crying out for help, my heart shattering into pieces. Too tired to fight her, her death was on the chopping block anyway. Sneaking through the shadows, a crumbled up version of the woman in the picture had my heart breaking. Most of her hair had been cut off, no life remaining in her eyes. Hitting the walls of keys, Marcus sure would create a fantastic distraction right about now. The colors drained from my cheeks, Glanda snapping her head in my direction. Sucking in a deep breath, her neon green eyes followed me throwing all the keys into her rusty cage. Getting down inches from her face, her numb gaze frightened me. Sliding my hand through the bar, my hand cupped her cheek. Please don't be so broken that I can't get you out of here.
“I need you to let yourself out and then help the other monsters out. I have a problem to deal with.” I begged with my genuine smile, her shaking hands grabbing mine. Glanda snapped her fingers, several masked demons gathering behind her. Dropping her hands, my dagger spun in my palms. Violet flames flickered to life around me, Glanda commanding them to kill me. My hair floated up, hers doing the same. When was she going to go head to head with me?
“Quit being a bitch and fight me yourself.” I challenged her with a wicked bout of laughter, my eager dagger ready to cut her into pieces. “Oh, I forgot. You aren’t heathen.” Charging at me, flames devoured my dagger. Dodging their attacks, a swift cut had three them screaming in crackling flames. Placing my feet out, two of them met the floor. A flick of my wrists sending the sharp edge of my dagger through their necks. Heads decayed to ash before they could hit my boot, horror rounding my eyes at the monster of a demon picking me up by my hair. Summoning my dagger, the hilt met my slick palm. Cutting my hair, my body smashed onto the marble floor. Too shocked to move, the beast of a demon tossed my hair to the side. A motor revving had me turning my head slowly, his daughter grinning sadistically. Neon flames covered the motorcycle, her shouting move had me rolling out of the way. The monsters ran back into their own dimensions, Glanda joining them. Popping to my feet, she wasn’t going to get away without a bruise. Switching the plant part of my powers, a thick vine shot from my palm, the thinner tip whipping her back towards me. A triumphant grin lingered on my defiant expression, a fit of cruel laughter bursting from my lips. Tossing her about, it was her turn to feel the other side of what she did. Pausing for a moment, our jaws dropped at the bike flying into his head. Tapping her neon green pendant three times, a flaming ball of fire shoved its way down the demon’s throat. A cloud of smoke obscured her landing, her arm scooping me up. Driving up the stairs, the wheels squealed in protest as a jet of flames cut off my connection to Glanda. Hugging her waist, she had to have a couple of inches on me. Smiling back at me, the freedom in her eyes was infectious. Light returned to her neon green eyes, the glow reminding me of fireflies on a cool summer night.
“Get us out of here!” She shouted over the rumbling of her engine, a confident smile illuminating her features. “Glanda will retaliate at any moment.” She wasn’t wrong, an army of demons were heading our way. Plucking my pendant off of my neck, curiosity twinkled in her eyes at me spinning it around clockwise. The pendant spun around faster, a blast of energy knocking us back into the day my mother was murdered. Panicking at the light dying down in my pendant, my powers had been drained. Dragging into the alleyway near my home, a snap of her fingers had the bike going invisible. My three year old self watched out the window in her bright overalls and striped t-shirt with her hands pressed against the window, the color draining from my cheeks for the millionth time today. A clammy sweat drenched my skin, every breath growing shorter. My piggish father dragged my mother out by her dark brown hair, her face facing in the opposite direction of us. My younger self banged on the window, my father slamming her fist into her head until her desperate pleas quieted down. Ruby pooled around her body, my father snapping his furious gaze in her direction. Ripping the door open, his daughter buried me in a hug. Listening to her screams had me trembling in her arms, her chin resting on my head. The wet sound of blood splattering the window had her emotions soaking the top of my head.
“No wonder you are so strong.” She whispered in a deflated tone, her finger lifting into the air. “How about I treat you to a wonderful meal several states away from her. Snapping her fingers, both of us had bell bottoms and white flowing shirts on. Lifting up my chin with her finger, a pair of scissors glistened in her hands. Spinning me around, the scissors moved a mile a minute. Pieces of my hair floated to my feet, her other hand holding my head straight. Seconds from snapping at her, she moved onto her own. Pouting in a rebellious manner, her snarky words had me liking her instantly.
“Don’t kill me but you cut your hair like a blind person. So I gave you an inverted bob with layers.” She teased sarcastically, a stifled laugh tumbling from my lips as she shaved the left side of the head. “Nice to see you laugh. So I heard you have a coven. May I join? Witchcraft has always interested me. I know the basics but I am a bit stuck.” Hesitation had me stepping back as I played with the hem of my shirt, her puppy dog eyes winning me over. Cutting my palm with my dagger, she slid the sharp edge of her scissors along her palm. Cupsing our hands together, an inky pocket watch tattoo poked out of the collar of her shirt. Fishing around my bag, tears welled up in my eyes at my mother’s silky handkerchief grazing the tips of my fingers. Standing on my toes, her kind smile never left her face at me tying the blue and orange handkerchief around her head.
“Take good care of it. That is the last thing I have of my mother.” I spoke with a mixture of sincerity and sternness, her head nodding once. “Keep being funny. Your sense of humor is refreshing. Now take me away.” Climbing onto her bike with her, my arms snaked around her waist. Revving the engine, adventure glowed in my eyes at the bike standing on one wheel. Several states passed by us, the hands on the neares clock moving a mere five minutes. Parking in front of a worn restaurant in Maine, the ocean waves crashed nearby. Turning a couple of knobs, the flames died down to reveal a normal black motorcycle. A vacancy sign blinked at a colorful motel across the way. Fishing round my bag, a wad of seventies dollar bills felt heavy in my palms. The witch who helped me grabbed my wrist the moment I hopped off, fright haunting her eyes. Cupping her hand, she had nothing to worry about.
“Get us a seat while I get a room. I can’t travel for a few hours at the least.” I comforted her, her mind fighting between being tough or vulnerable, a silver necklace catching my eyes. Reading the name Lightz, it didn’t take much for me to put it all together. Lightz was her name and a beautiful one at that. Spinning her towards me, my hands cupped her face. Abrupt tears told me that I shouldn’t leave her alone.
“Bring your bike over while I get us a room.” I caved, a lovely smile met mine. The right corner of her lips hanging over the left slightly, dirt crunching underneath her wheels as we crossed the road. Waiting outside, the bell announced my presence. A young blonde haired woman looked up from her magazine, her hand sliding over a ledger while smacking gum in her mouth. Fishing out the amount of money plus a bit extra to ensure our rest, a key hitting the tip of my finger. Wonderful personality, I thought sarcastically to myself. Taking a second look at her, her ice blue eyes met mine in a chilling stare.
“Watch your mouth in my motel or a punishment will be served.” She spoke coldly, running her hands through her perfect waves. Leaning onto the desk, a souvenir box caught my eyes behind her. Pretending that it didn’t affect me, a case had fallen right on my lap. Guiding her to the room, the key slid in with ease as she parked her bike outside. Locking it behind us, my pensive expression had her asking if I was okay. What made that woman tick? Thinking back to her nametag, Loretta flashed in my head. Lorretta had to be caught, an idea coming to mind. Maybe the locals knew about any disappearances, my brow cocking at a bottle of water hitting my face.
“Maybe you could be Sherlock Holmes after we eat. I am starving.” She joked with a biting tone, her hand resting on her hip. A long sigh drew from my lips. Huffing out a quick fine, that would give me the opportunity I desired. Locking the door behind us, her cold gaze met my defiant grin on my determined features. Bars would soon keep her in her new home, the orange sure to look lovely on her. Crossing the street, another bell announced our presence. Taking a seat at the worn wooden bar, the walls were lined with pictures of missing persons. Asking for a napkin, the similar brown hair and brown eyes spoke of a type. Borrowing a pen from the friendly but rather hairy bartender, eyes tracked me walking up to the missing people. Scribbling away, certain jewelry underneath their names would help me identify who was who. Plopping down at the bar, Lightz had ordered for me. The bell rang once more, Loretta finding her way in. A lovely summer ivory summer dress floated over her hourglass figure, the stool groaning as she took a seat next to me. Refusing to look her in the eyes, her next word sent a shiver up my spine.
“Mice like you get devoured by the cat.” She chuckled heartily as if it was a normal thing to say. “The mouse doesn’t find her way out on her own. Such lovely hair and eyes.” Playing with my hair, Lightz slapped her hand away. Rising from her stool, she towered over Loretta. Leaning down by her ear, my ears didn’t pick what she said. Loretta rose with a huff, the door slamming behind her. What the hell did she say? Crashing down next to me, a couple of hot burgers got placed in front of us. We didn’t order anything, something feeling fishy. Bringing it to my nose, a rancid smell had me whacking it out of her hands. Slamming my money on the counter, a sedative had been blended with the meat. The cook had to be an associate of hers, my hand snatching her wrists. Dragging her out, two black bags were dropped over our heads. Tossing us into the back of a van. Leaning onto the side of the van, a darkness swallowed us. Turning my head towards her, we would need her magic.
“Pretend to be knocked out when they open the door. She should bring us to the bodies.” I whispered loud enough for her to hear and her alone. “Punch your way out and find a neighbor. Call the cops and bring them to me. Am I understood?” Shaking her head, she didn’t want to leave my side. Whatever would come my way could be dealt with by one of my many healing potions. Driving through the hours, my powers began to return slowly. The brakes squealed in protest, another scream giving hope of me not being found out. Pale moonlight flickered through the holes of the bag over my head, chaos erupting next to me as Lightz smashed her way out. Ordering them to let her go, her gloved hands ripped me out of the van. A trail of neon energy had me sighing in relief, grunts pouring from her lips as she hooked me up to a meat hook via chains. The years of execution trained me for this moment, no pain starting yet. Ripping the bag off of my head, a tarot card floated by her head. Floating upside down behind her head, a temporary time pass hung around his neck. Knocking her out with a kick, a dull thud announced her landing. Lowering me down, his steady hands went to work chaining her up in my former position. Helping the other woman down, cuts covered her face. Tearing at the hem of my shirt, my steady hands tied the material around the deep cut on her arm. Wet eyes met my gentle smile, her lips parting to speak several times.
“Who are you? I want to send you a thank you note.” She inquired in a hoarse voice, red and blue lights bathing the area. Too concerned with messing with time, forget me powder appeared in my palm. Blowing the iridescent powder into her face, her body collapsed into a heap. Snatching Tarot, his protests fell on deaf ears as I dragged him out the back door. Freezing at the sight of Lightz on her motorcycle, silent tears stained his cheeks. Yanking us onto her bike, I was more than happy to be on the very back. Riding away from the scene, enough power had been restored for us to go home. Pulling off my pendant, my pleas for them to hold on had me. Spinning my pendant counter clockwise, the energy built in the air.
“I call upon the sands of time to whisk me back home and to set this timeline in place. “ I chanted tiredly, the pendant spun faster. A blast of energy shot us into the grand hall of his castle. Flying off the back of the bike, a fuming Marcus caught me. Seconds from berating me, the motorcycle engine died down to reveal Tarot and Lightz hugging each other with uncontrollable sobs. Saby skidded downstairs, only to stop in awe at the witch taking off my mother’s handkerchief. A bond formed between them, inky tattoos of phoenix's appeared around their necks, her father noticing as well. Approaching each other cautiously, Saby’s ears pinned back with her rich blush. Lightz bowed in front of her, her genuine smile enchanting Saby. That smile could enchant anyone if I was being honest.
“I am your mate, Lightz. Let me make you a meal to steal your heart.” She flirted shamelessly, placing her on her back while passing me my scarf. Marcus let it go the moment Tarot bowed in my direction. Pressing his palms together, his fraying nerves had been eased. Thank goodness. Today may have been hard but it sure was worth it.
“Many thanks for your bravery. If it weren’t for you, my daughter would still be trapped.” He choked out oddly, his nature not leading to him having such an air. Waving around my hand to calm his down further, exhaustion weighed heavily on my eyelids. Bobbing my head up and down, sweet slumber stole me away.
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“One can assume that is your daughter.” I pointed out simply, his eyes averting to the floor. “Consider your daughter found, Tarot. If my friend needs me, then my assistance will come swiftly.” Fighting tears in his eyes, my brow cocked in disbelief. An abrupt embrace had my eyes rounding with surprise, my fingers peeling my pendant off my neck. As snarky as I was, the desire to save people is what kept me going. Stepping back while scratching the back of his neck, a flurry of tarot cards whisked him away. Rolling my eyes, his lack of information wasn’t unusual. Creating a line with my pendant as I tugged my socks and boots, the underbelly of time hummed to life. Crossing into the swirling colors, the simple ivory path met the heel of my boots. Shutting the opening behind me, Marcus could exchange harsh words with me later. Besides, the rules strictly banned his presence. Dropping my pendant over my neck, the scent of the worm had to be somewhere. Draping my bag over my shoulder, the time thread weighed a ton. Walking along the path, the plan went through my mind. First thing first, find the worm and kill it. Second, the culprit had to be hunted down and executed. Thirdly, his daughter needed to be brought back home. A quiet voice had me spinning on my heels with a twitching smirk, Saby bouncing up to me with a big smile on her face. Stifling my initial frustration, the hole she fell through had the shimmering worm I was looking for. Ordering her to stay, my dagger expanded from its charm form. Floating over my head, my dagger flipped over my fingers. Aiming for its heart, violet energy built around my palm. Flicking it in the direction of a vital organ, another blast of magic had the dagger sinking into the heart. Shriveling while screaming out in pain, a sea of holes greeted my irritated grimace. Drying into a sparkling powder, problem number one was solved. Catching my fallen dagger, the damage had to be repaired. Putting Saby on my back, a quick warning had her arms hugging my neck. Building energy around my boot, a big ball hummed to life. Pushing off the ground, her real smile never left her face the whole ride back to where she fell. Setting her on her bed, I had work to do. Summoning my slumber powder, a quick blow had violet dust glistening around her face. Collapsing back onto her pillow, cool air lashed at my cheeks the moment I jumped back into my original destination. Whistling sharply, a clear bubble caught my feet. Shifting through my bag, my fingers curled around the glowing needle and thread. Threading it with ease, these attacks were becoming more common. Moving the five foot needle with ease, a secure knot granted me permission to move on to the next one. Cutting off the end with my dagger, the bubble carried me to the next one. Working for several hours, the mistakes had been corrected and the holes were sealed shut with the finest of thread. Lowering me to the pathway, my empty footfalls echoed in the big space of time bubbles. Coming into the city, one person would be able to help me out. Marble homes lined the street, a scarlet Victorian home sang out boisterous swing music. This guy had given me issues before, a low growl rumbling in my throat. Marching up to the door, a swift kick had the door flying across the room. His guests scurried out, my dagger spinning in my palm. A golden haired man with golden hourglass eyes approached me, his arms folded across his shimmering emerald suit. His waves floated around his shoulders, my own fingers running through my snarled waves. Fixing my bangs, his hourglass irises flipped several times. What an asshole!
“You have looked better.” He teased cruelly, a haughty fit of laughter exploding from his lips. “I can feel your mental health decaying. Did you have to see your filthy past? I could erase it for y-” Pressing the sharp edge of my dagger into his neck, my patience was wearing thin. Hissing a few curse words, he had no right to bring up such a thing.
“I may not be able to kill you but I can hurt you real well.” I promised with a sarcastic smirk, punching him in the gut with a ball of built up energy. Doubling over, golden blood painted my boots. The Warden wasn’t my nickname for no reason, the council sending me to clean up their messes all the time. Kicking him in the stomach, the sickening crack of his spine snapping in half had him crumbling to the floor into a heap. Crouching down to his level, his rounded eyes met my tired expression.
“Where is the culprit and where is this woman?” I demanded hotly, pulling out the picture of the green haired woman. Noting his body quivering in fear, something was off about the situation. Shaking his head, his fingers clawed at the worn wooden floor. Mumbling something about the slave trade, the hilt of my dagger creaked in protest at my increasing grip. Dropping a healing potion by his hand, the bastard would be okay by tomorrow. Sprinting onto the pathway, the doorway to the lower realm of time creaked open. Sprinting down the ancient stone stairs, screams and groans had me cursing under my breath. Darting around the cages of trapped monsters, a cloaked figure a few inches shorter than me floated by. Sniffing the air, I began to chew my lip out of a nervous habit. Sensing Glanda’s energy, the pieces all came together. That wicked witch had sent a worm into the realm of time. The poor monsters crying out for help, my heart shattering into pieces. Too tired to fight her, her death was on the chopping block anyway. Sneaking through the shadows, a crumbled up version of the woman in the picture had my heart breaking. Most of her hair had been cut off, no life remaining in her eyes. Hitting the walls of keys, Marcus sure would create a fantastic distraction right about now. The colors drained from my cheeks, Glanda snapping her head in my direction. Sucking in a deep breath, her neon green eyes followed me throwing all the keys into her rusty cage. Getting down inches from her face, her numb gaze frightened me. Sliding my hand through the bar, my hand cupped her cheek. Please don't be so broken that I can't get you out of here.
“I need you to let yourself out and then help the other monsters out. I have a problem to deal with.” I begged with my genuine smile, her shaking hands grabbing mine. Glanda snapped her fingers, several masked demons gathering behind her. Dropping her hands, my dagger spun in my palms. Violet flames flickered to life around me, Glanda commanding them to kill me. My hair floated up, hers doing the same. When was she going to go head to head with me?
“Quit being a bitch and fight me yourself.” I challenged her with a wicked bout of laughter, my eager dagger ready to cut her into pieces. “Oh, I forgot. You aren’t heathen.” Charging at me, flames devoured my dagger. Dodging their attacks, a swift cut had three them screaming in crackling flames. Placing my feet out, two of them met the floor. A flick of my wrists sending the sharp edge of my dagger through their necks. Heads decayed to ash before they could hit my boot, horror rounding my eyes at the monster of a demon picking me up by my hair. Summoning my dagger, the hilt met my slick palm. Cutting my hair, my body smashed onto the marble floor. Too shocked to move, the beast of a demon tossed my hair to the side. A motor revving had me turning my head slowly, his daughter grinning sadistically. Neon flames covered the motorcycle, her shouting move had me rolling out of the way. The monsters ran back into their own dimensions, Glanda joining them. Popping to my feet, she wasn’t going to get away without a bruise. Switching the plant part of my powers, a thick vine shot from my palm, the thinner tip whipping her back towards me. A triumphant grin lingered on my defiant expression, a fit of cruel laughter bursting from my lips. Tossing her about, it was her turn to feel the other side of what she did. Pausing for a moment, our jaws dropped at the bike flying into his head. Tapping her neon green pendant three times, a flaming ball of fire shoved its way down the demon’s throat. A cloud of smoke obscured her landing, her arm scooping me up. Driving up the stairs, the wheels squealed in protest as a jet of flames cut off my connection to Glanda. Hugging her waist, she had to have a couple of inches on me. Smiling back at me, the freedom in her eyes was infectious. Light returned to her neon green eyes, the glow reminding me of fireflies on a cool summer night.
“Get us out of here!” She shouted over the rumbling of her engine, a confident smile illuminating her features. “Glanda will retaliate at any moment.” She wasn’t wrong, an army of demons were heading our way. Plucking my pendant off of my neck, curiosity twinkled in her eyes at me spinning it around clockwise. The pendant spun around faster, a blast of energy knocking us back into the day my mother was murdered. Panicking at the light dying down in my pendant, my powers had been drained. Dragging into the alleyway near my home, a snap of her fingers had the bike going invisible. My three year old self watched out the window in her bright overalls and striped t-shirt with her hands pressed against the window, the color draining from my cheeks for the millionth time today. A clammy sweat drenched my skin, every breath growing shorter. My piggish father dragged my mother out by her dark brown hair, her face facing in the opposite direction of us. My younger self banged on the window, my father slamming her fist into her head until her desperate pleas quieted down. Ruby pooled around her body, my father snapping his furious gaze in her direction. Ripping the door open, his daughter buried me in a hug. Listening to her screams had me trembling in her arms, her chin resting on my head. The wet sound of blood splattering the window had her emotions soaking the top of my head.
“No wonder you are so strong.” She whispered in a deflated tone, her finger lifting into the air. “How about I treat you to a wonderful meal several states away from her. Snapping her fingers, both of us had bell bottoms and white flowing shirts on. Lifting up my chin with her finger, a pair of scissors glistened in her hands. Spinning me around, the scissors moved a mile a minute. Pieces of my hair floated to my feet, her other hand holding my head straight. Seconds from snapping at her, she moved onto her own. Pouting in a rebellious manner, her snarky words had me liking her instantly.
“Don’t kill me but you cut your hair like a blind person. So I gave you an inverted bob with layers.” She teased sarcastically, a stifled laugh tumbling from my lips as she shaved the left side of the head. “Nice to see you laugh. So I heard you have a coven. May I join? Witchcraft has always interested me. I know the basics but I am a bit stuck.” Hesitation had me stepping back as I played with the hem of my shirt, her puppy dog eyes winning me over. Cutting my palm with my dagger, she slid the sharp edge of her scissors along her palm. Cupsing our hands together, an inky pocket watch tattoo poked out of the collar of her shirt. Fishing around my bag, tears welled up in my eyes at my mother’s silky handkerchief grazing the tips of my fingers. Standing on my toes, her kind smile never left her face at me tying the blue and orange handkerchief around her head.
“Take good care of it. That is the last thing I have of my mother.” I spoke with a mixture of sincerity and sternness, her head nodding once. “Keep being funny. Your sense of humor is refreshing. Now take me away.” Climbing onto her bike with her, my arms snaked around her waist. Revving the engine, adventure glowed in my eyes at the bike standing on one wheel. Several states passed by us, the hands on the neares clock moving a mere five minutes. Parking in front of a worn restaurant in Maine, the ocean waves crashed nearby. Turning a couple of knobs, the flames died down to reveal a normal black motorcycle. A vacancy sign blinked at a colorful motel across the way. Fishing round my bag, a wad of seventies dollar bills felt heavy in my palms. The witch who helped me grabbed my wrist the moment I hopped off, fright haunting her eyes. Cupping her hand, she had nothing to worry about.
“Get us a seat while I get a room. I can’t travel for a few hours at the least.” I comforted her, her mind fighting between being tough or vulnerable, a silver necklace catching my eyes. Reading the name Lightz, it didn’t take much for me to put it all together. Lightz was her name and a beautiful one at that. Spinning her towards me, my hands cupped her face. Abrupt tears told me that I shouldn’t leave her alone.
“Bring your bike over while I get us a room.” I caved, a lovely smile met mine. The right corner of her lips hanging over the left slightly, dirt crunching underneath her wheels as we crossed the road. Waiting outside, the bell announced my presence. A young blonde haired woman looked up from her magazine, her hand sliding over a ledger while smacking gum in her mouth. Fishing out the amount of money plus a bit extra to ensure our rest, a key hitting the tip of my finger. Wonderful personality, I thought sarcastically to myself. Taking a second look at her, her ice blue eyes met mine in a chilling stare.
“Watch your mouth in my motel or a punishment will be served.” She spoke coldly, running her hands through her perfect waves. Leaning onto the desk, a souvenir box caught my eyes behind her. Pretending that it didn’t affect me, a case had fallen right on my lap. Guiding her to the room, the key slid in with ease as she parked her bike outside. Locking it behind us, my pensive expression had her asking if I was okay. What made that woman tick? Thinking back to her nametag, Loretta flashed in my head. Lorretta had to be caught, an idea coming to mind. Maybe the locals knew about any disappearances, my brow cocking at a bottle of water hitting my face.
“Maybe you could be Sherlock Holmes after we eat. I am starving.” She joked with a biting tone, her hand resting on her hip. A long sigh drew from my lips. Huffing out a quick fine, that would give me the opportunity I desired. Locking the door behind us, her cold gaze met my defiant grin on my determined features. Bars would soon keep her in her new home, the orange sure to look lovely on her. Crossing the street, another bell announced our presence. Taking a seat at the worn wooden bar, the walls were lined with pictures of missing persons. Asking for a napkin, the similar brown hair and brown eyes spoke of a type. Borrowing a pen from the friendly but rather hairy bartender, eyes tracked me walking up to the missing people. Scribbling away, certain jewelry underneath their names would help me identify who was who. Plopping down at the bar, Lightz had ordered for me. The bell rang once more, Loretta finding her way in. A lovely summer ivory summer dress floated over her hourglass figure, the stool groaning as she took a seat next to me. Refusing to look her in the eyes, her next word sent a shiver up my spine.
“Mice like you get devoured by the cat.” She chuckled heartily as if it was a normal thing to say. “The mouse doesn’t find her way out on her own. Such lovely hair and eyes.” Playing with my hair, Lightz slapped her hand away. Rising from her stool, she towered over Loretta. Leaning down by her ear, my ears didn’t pick what she said. Loretta rose with a huff, the door slamming behind her. What the hell did she say? Crashing down next to me, a couple of hot burgers got placed in front of us. We didn’t order anything, something feeling fishy. Bringing it to my nose, a rancid smell had me whacking it out of her hands. Slamming my money on the counter, a sedative had been blended with the meat. The cook had to be an associate of hers, my hand snatching her wrists. Dragging her out, two black bags were dropped over our heads. Tossing us into the back of a van. Leaning onto the side of the van, a darkness swallowed us. Turning my head towards her, we would need her magic.
“Pretend to be knocked out when they open the door. She should bring us to the bodies.” I whispered loud enough for her to hear and her alone. “Punch your way out and find a neighbor. Call the cops and bring them to me. Am I understood?” Shaking her head, she didn’t want to leave my side. Whatever would come my way could be dealt with by one of my many healing potions. Driving through the hours, my powers began to return slowly. The brakes squealed in protest, another scream giving hope of me not being found out. Pale moonlight flickered through the holes of the bag over my head, chaos erupting next to me as Lightz smashed her way out. Ordering them to let her go, her gloved hands ripped me out of the van. A trail of neon energy had me sighing in relief, grunts pouring from her lips as she hooked me up to a meat hook via chains. The years of execution trained me for this moment, no pain starting yet. Ripping the bag off of my head, a tarot card floated by her head. Floating upside down behind her head, a temporary time pass hung around his neck. Knocking her out with a kick, a dull thud announced her landing. Lowering me down, his steady hands went to work chaining her up in my former position. Helping the other woman down, cuts covered her face. Tearing at the hem of my shirt, my steady hands tied the material around the deep cut on her arm. Wet eyes met my gentle smile, her lips parting to speak several times.
“Who are you? I want to send you a thank you note.” She inquired in a hoarse voice, red and blue lights bathing the area. Too concerned with messing with time, forget me powder appeared in my palm. Blowing the iridescent powder into her face, her body collapsed into a heap. Snatching Tarot, his protests fell on deaf ears as I dragged him out the back door. Freezing at the sight of Lightz on her motorcycle, silent tears stained his cheeks. Yanking us onto her bike, I was more than happy to be on the very back. Riding away from the scene, enough power had been restored for us to go home. Pulling off my pendant, my pleas for them to hold on had me. Spinning my pendant counter clockwise, the energy built in the air.
“I call upon the sands of time to whisk me back home and to set this timeline in place. “ I chanted tiredly, the pendant spun faster. A blast of energy shot us into the grand hall of his castle. Flying off the back of the bike, a fuming Marcus caught me. Seconds from berating me, the motorcycle engine died down to reveal Tarot and Lightz hugging each other with uncontrollable sobs. Saby skidded downstairs, only to stop in awe at the witch taking off my mother’s handkerchief. A bond formed between them, inky tattoos of phoenix's appeared around their necks, her father noticing as well. Approaching each other cautiously, Saby’s ears pinned back with her rich blush. Lightz bowed in front of her, her genuine smile enchanting Saby. That smile could enchant anyone if I was being honest.
“I am your mate, Lightz. Let me make you a meal to steal your heart.” She flirted shamelessly, placing her on her back while passing me my scarf. Marcus let it go the moment Tarot bowed in my direction. Pressing his palms together, his fraying nerves had been eased. Thank goodness. Today may have been hard but it sure was worth it.
“Many thanks for your bravery. If it weren’t for you, my daughter would still be trapped.” He choked out oddly, his nature not leading to him having such an air. Waving around my hand to calm his down further, exhaustion weighed heavily on my eyelids. Bobbing my head up and down, sweet slumber stole me away.
2024.06.07 15:53 snustysleasel The 8 best platform to sell online courses in 2024
Online courses are becoming increasingly important for building communities and growing your list. To create a profitable online course, it is essential to have a robust setup that helps you design course pages, build out a curriculum, and promote your course. This article has researched and tested over 60 apps for creating and selling online courses, and has identified the 8 best online course platforms.
Online course creation platforms can be divided into two categories: course marketplaces and course creation software. Marketplaces provide an existing student base, while online course creation software offers more customization options, including branded landing pages, multiple content formats, and marketing tools. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for creating a profitable course; your ideal platform should cater to your needs and goals.
The eight best online course creation platforms include Udemy (Web, Android, iOS), Skillsshare (Web, Android, iOS), Teachable (Teachable), Podium (selling digital products and memberships), Thinkific (customizable add-ons), Kajabi (marketing a course on autopilot), Mighty Networks (building a paid community), and Simplero (managing your business).
Udemy offers a guided, proscriptive course creation flow, built-in audience, and minimal editing/design needed. It also offers support for creating and marketing a course, such as submitting a sample for review, receiving feedback on video and audio, and accessing the Teaching Center for tutorials. Udemy’s tailor-made marketing programs help you select the perfect course topic and see how it stacks up against other courses on the platform.
In summary, the best online course creation platforms include Udemy, Skillsshare, Teachable, Podium, Thinkific, Kajabi, Mighty Networks, and Simplero. Each platform has its unique selling points, but the best choice depends on your specific needs and goals.
Skillshare is a popular platform for entrepreneurs, designers, writers, photographers, and bloggers looking to teach their craft online. It offers courses on various topics, including marketing, photography, cooking, hand painting, doodling, and wall hanging. The platform offers a membership plan and is free. To create a profitable online course, a robust setup is essential. The eight best online course creation platforms are Udemy, Skillshare, Teachable, Podium, Thinkific, Kajabi, Mighty Networks, and Simplero. Udemy offers guided course creation flow, minimal editing, and support for creating and marketing courses. Skillshare is ideal for teaching creative skills and offers courses on various topics. Teachable is popular for online schools with advanced marketing, Podium offers digital products and memberships, Thinkific is a customizable add-on, Kajabi is perfect for building a paid community, Mighty Networks is for business management, and Simplero is for business management. Skillshare offers free courses for creators, but premium classes require premium membership referrals and royalties.
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Online course creation platforms can be divided into two categories: course marketplaces and course creation software. Marketplaces provide an existing student base, while online course creation software offers more customization options, including branded landing pages, multiple content formats, and marketing tools. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for creating a profitable course; your ideal platform should cater to your needs and goals.
The eight best online course creation platforms include Udemy (Web, Android, iOS), Skillsshare (Web, Android, iOS), Teachable (Teachable), Podium (selling digital products and memberships), Thinkific (customizable add-ons), Kajabi (marketing a course on autopilot), Mighty Networks (building a paid community), and Simplero (managing your business).
Udemy offers a guided, proscriptive course creation flow, built-in audience, and minimal editing/design needed. It also offers support for creating and marketing a course, such as submitting a sample for review, receiving feedback on video and audio, and accessing the Teaching Center for tutorials. Udemy’s tailor-made marketing programs help you select the perfect course topic and see how it stacks up against other courses on the platform.
In summary, the best online course creation platforms include Udemy, Skillsshare, Teachable, Podium, Thinkific, Kajabi, Mighty Networks, and Simplero. Each platform has its unique selling points, but the best choice depends on your specific needs and goals.
Skillshare is a popular platform for entrepreneurs, designers, writers, photographers, and bloggers looking to teach their craft online. It offers courses on various topics, including marketing, photography, cooking, hand painting, doodling, and wall hanging. The platform offers a membership plan and is free. To create a profitable online course, a robust setup is essential. The eight best online course creation platforms are Udemy, Skillshare, Teachable, Podium, Thinkific, Kajabi, Mighty Networks, and Simplero. Udemy offers guided course creation flow, minimal editing, and support for creating and marketing courses. Skillshare is ideal for teaching creative skills and offers courses on various topics. Teachable is popular for online schools with advanced marketing, Podium offers digital products and memberships, Thinkific is a customizable add-on, Kajabi is perfect for building a paid community, Mighty Networks is for business management, and Simplero is for business management. Skillshare offers free courses for creators, but premium classes require premium membership referrals and royalties.
Online courses software
Best online courses platform for building an online school with advanced marketing
ChableTea(Web, iOS)
Teachable is a platform that offers course creators a wide range of marketing features, a custom-code course editor, and wide-ranging AI features. It allows course creators to customize the look and feel of their courses, including building a website, creating sales pages, and using the Power Editor. Teachable’s course builder accepts files from various content formats, including Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. The platform’s generative AI feature is still in beta, but it generates course outline, lesson content, and section summaries. Pricing for courses can be flexible, with options for one-time fees, payment plans, or subscriptions. The platform also has a built-in affiliate marketing option, allowing affiliates to earn a percentage of course sales. Teachable’s native email marketing tool allows course creators to filter and message students when they enroll, redeem coupons, or complete courses. The platform can be connected to other apps through Zapier’s automated workflows, allowing for more automation. The free plan includes 1 published course or product and 10 students, while paid plans start at $39/month for the Basic plan, which includes 5 products, unlimited students, a custom domain, email marketing, coupon codes, drip course content, and a 5% transaction fee.Best online course creation software for selling digital products and memberships
Podia(Web)
Podia is an affordable online store that allows you to create online courses, digital downloads, coaching sessions, and membership sites. It offers a simple course outline builder and supports multiple digital products. However, it requires additional email marketing costs and transaction fees. Podia’s storefronts have a similar template and separate landing pages for each store. You can publish or pre-launch courses, sell additional resources as digital downloads, or bundle them. Podia also allows you to create a private membership site with different plans, perks, and content for members. You can share updates, notify your community about new products, and watch your business grow. Podia can be connected to other apps through Zapier’s automated workflows, allowing you to automate tasks like adding students to marketing campaigns and enrolling new purchasers.Best online course creation software for customizable add-ons
Thinkific (Web)
Thinkific is an online course creation platform that offers an affordable pricing structure, extensive support for assessments, and course templates. It simplifies the process of creating an online course by providing pre-made templates for various types of courses, such as pre-sell, mini-course, flagship course, membership resource library, and webinar replay. The templates are pre-populated with quizzes, downloads, surveys, and instructor messages, allowing users to add or remove content as needed. Thinkific’s website builder is user-friendly, allowing users to choose pages, add copy, and choose a theme. It also allows users to collect testimonials by turning on student reviews for their course and adding them to the landing page. The platform also offers add-ons and integrations, such as AI chatbot quizzes, collaborative whiteboards, interactivity, gamification, and test prep simulations. The Basic plan starts at $36/month, offering unlimited courses and students, full eCommerce, and no transaction fees.Best online course creation software for marketing a course on autopilot
Kajabi (Web, iOS, Android)
Kajabi is a marketing tool that offers a range of features to course creators, including built-in marketing features, generative AI, and native email marketing. Its marketing blueprints, called funnels, allow for the creation of an entire marketing funnel, from landing pages to opt-ins to emails and course checkout. The freebie funnel consists of three touchpoints: a landing page for collecting emails in exchange for a free downloadable, a subscription sequence for subscribers, and a thank-you page for purchases. Kajabi also offers templates for various pages and if-then scenarios for automation. It also has a native email provider that helps track email open rates. Kajabi can be connected to other apps through Zapier’s automated workflows, allowing for automatic notifications for new purchases and access to products. The basic plan starts at $119/month for one site, three products, three funnels, 1,000 active customers, and unlimited marketing emails and landing pages.Best online course creation software for building a paid community
Mighty Networks(Web, Android, iOS)
Mighty Networks is an app that focuses on community-building, offering paid groups, events, and online courses. Users can sell individual courses, community memberships, or bundle a combination of the two. Pricing is 100% custom, and each course can be priced separately or offered for free to paying members. Each course has a built-in Activity Feed, fostering engagement and conversation. Instructors can set topics, build live events, add icebreaker questions, and create polls to engage their audience. The app also offers a generative AI feature called “Mighty Co-Host,” which generates an extensive course outline based on a provided topic. Users can connect their favorite apps using the Zapier integration to automate new member invitations and sync events to their calendar. Plans with online courses start at $99/month for cohort courses and Zapier integration.Best online course creator for managing your business
Simplero(Web, iOS, Android)
Simplero is an all-in-one CRM, marketing automation, and online course platform that offers customizable settings, native payments, and a quick course creation process. It also includes robust automation and list management features, allowing users to build, publish, market courses, track sales and financials, and maintain their customer list all in one app. The platform’s Zapier integrations allow for additional functionality, such as adding new students to an email list or creating subscribers from form submissions. The pricing structure is not scalable, with the Starter plan starting at $59/month and offering unlimited landing pages, while the Scale plan starts at $149/month for 1,000 contacts, unlimited courses, products, affiliate marketing features, and automations.Which online course platform is best for you?
Online course creation platforms can help individuals achieve their teaching goals, grow their audience, or earn income from their courses. To launch a course, consider factors like budget, time constraints, online following, and earning potential. Start with a course marketplace for testing and then launch your own course website after validating the topic and content. Most platforms support content migration, either free or an added fee. The goal is to focus on the content, not the process of delivering it to the audience.2024.06.07 15:49 Unable_Variation_918 The Symetry colors
The woman across history dash full of colors in the woods. The tribe cult gave rise the woman who would take over man. I am a man that has the mask. I can't love my cowgirl doll. I can't love teddy bears. The world has come to a closure. Last night, a large hareless dog stood over me 10 feet tall. He lunged at me and said "Woman take over man." He then vanished into the giant cave lake from up above. I get two for one. A long time ago, I used to scuba dive with my college buddies. It was my passion. It made me feel like an intrepid explorer, charting the unknown and discovering the unseen.
That was way before my daughter. Way before my ex-wife, too. Like so many things, I gave it up when the drive to start a family kicked in. After Penny was born, scuba was just a frivolity I had no right to focus on. And that was that.
Twelve years later, after the divorce, I started looking at the world like I had before it all went south. I could resume the activities and hobbies I’d abandoned. Scuba diving was at the top of the list.
Once everything was finalized, I bought a house two states away from the one I’d shared with my wife and daughter. It was nothing special. It wasn’t the house I cared about when I closed the deal on the property. It was what sat behind it: a lake.
The lake behind the house is huge; not exactly Loch Ness, but nonetheless impressive. When I told the realtor I was into diving, she told me if I looked hard enough, I’d probably find some old Indian artifacts. That was all well and good. I just wanted to be underwater again. I felt like it might bring me some peace after such an acrimonious split with my former soulmate.
The first time I went out, I was dismayed by the amount of silt impeding my vision. It was like I’d been trapped in a brown fog. I got discouraged and quit after only fifteen minutes, but I resolved to give it another try.
I was glad I persevered. The next dive was beautiful. I guess the heavy rain from the night before the initial dive had been the reason for all the silt, but it had since settled. The water was crystal clear and I could see for what felt like miles all around me.
I swam around and explored. The lake was exceedingly deep. When I bought the place, I asked the realtor if she knew how far down it went. She estimated it was 900 feet. I didn’t believe her until I saw it firsthand.
The steep drop-off after the first twenty feet reminded me of a video I saw of divers leaping off the edge of a continental shelf. The drop was staggering; I knew my equipment couldn’t handle the full depth of the lake, but I’d be god damned if I wouldn’t try to see as much of it as possible.
That was how I spent my summer. I’d work from home, like normal, until the market closed at four. As soon as the closing bell rang, I was out the door and into the water.
I’d been keeping track of the areas I’d explored on a rudimentary map I’d drawn up on my computer. On that fateful Wednesday in late June, the only area I’d yet to explore in the grid zone nearest the pier was the wall of the drop-off itself. To be honest, I’d been avoiding it.
This may sound a little weird coming from a man in his late 40s, but I’d held off on exploring that section because of dreams I had after my first dive.
In the dream, I am underwater. It’s not an unusual setting for one of my dreams. Normally, the sensation is freeing. I float and bob in the currents and enjoy weightless bliss. I should tell you this is not my normal dream.
This dream begins with me standing on the edge of my pier. The sky is black but everything else is bright enough for me to see without any problem. I look down to where I’d normally see water. The lake is empty; or, at least, it appears that way. Something causes me to lose my balance and I tumble off the pier. I scream, expecting to crash on the rocks below. Instead, I float. The water is invisible.
I bob on the surface for a moment, but then something unseeable wraps around my leg. I gasp in a lungful of air and am torn below the surface. I fight against whatever the force is, but it’s hopeless. I get carried down.
To my eyes, it looks like I’m floating through the air. I still feel water against my skin, though. I know I have to continue holding my breath. And hold it I do. Helpless to return to the surface, part of my mind says to just wait until I can wake up gasping.
My body is sucked down, over the edge of the shelf. A sheer wall of granite towers in front of me. After about fifty feet, the pulling stops. I float, motionless, in front of a massive hole in the rock.
In the perfect clearness of the water, I can see the hole is a cave. It goes far into the rock – farther than I can see. I notice multiple tunnels in the sides and know those, too, branch. A feeling of dread enshrouds me. My lungs burn. I feel the pressure of a hundred feet of water on top of me, squeezing my skull and threatening to perforate my ears. God, my ears hurt so badly.
“Wake up,” I whisper to myself in the dream. “Open your eyes.”
“SEE ME.”
A voice bursts from the mouth of the cave with a colossal surge of water pressure. The air explodes from my chest and my eyes bulge. I gasp. Invisible water fills my lungs.
“SEE ME LIKE I SEE YOU.”
My eyes open to the morning light flooding my bedroom.
I’ve had the same dream three times since I started diving in the lake. It’s stuck with me. I hated how it tainted my subsequent dives and caused me to dread exploring that one unseen zone. That would have to end. I’d see for myself it was all just residual stress from the divorce impeding on the one thing I love. How typical.
That Wednesday, I stood on the edge of the pier like I had in my dream. The water was not invisible. It was gray and calm and sloshed lazily against the pier’s wooden supports. The sky was cloudy. It looked like it might rain. I’ve always enjoyed diving in the rain. Something about the water in the sky meeting the water of a sea or ocean or lake gave me a feeling of connectedness, as if I could swim all the way to the clouds if the rain were heavy enough.
I checked the readout on my tank. It was full. I was planning on doing a two-tank exploration before retiring to the lonely house and drinking my night away.
Into the lake I went. A few feet below the surface, the visibility was low. Silt. I was instantly disappointed.
It wasn’t as bad as it had been that first time. I could still see maybe twenty feet in front of me. But it wasn’t what I’d hoped. Part of me wished for the invisible clarity of the water in the dream. This was anything but. It made the prickles of dread I’d tried to ignore force themselves into my consciousness.
I swam toward the edge of the underwater cliff. It was easy to locate. A stygian abyss loomed ahead. I floated to the edge, crossed myself, and lept off.
The silt cleared quickly once I was on the other side of the muddy drop. I descended slowly, my hand never leaving the sheer wall of rock at my side.
I checked the depth gauge. Forty feet. Fifty. At sixty-five, a fissure developed in the granite wall. It widened as I sank further. I did my best to avoid connecting it to the memory of the cave in my dreams.
Eighty-five feet down, the fissure was a chasm. Glancing lower, I saw it widened more. Everything in me said to start kicking my feet and swim back to the surface and forget about this part of the lake. I had miles upon miles of lake I could be exploring. There was no need to see this particular spot.
My body overrode the protestations of my mind. At ninety-six feet down, the mouth of a cave yawned before me.
There was nothing I could do but stare with disbelief at the gaping hole in the rock. I had no reason to know of its existence. Dreams aren’t prescience. They don’t convey new information. I had never been here before. “Never physically,” my mind reminded me.
I was helpless to ignore the message in that little reminder. No, I’d never been there physically. But I had been mentally. Somehow.
“Just go in,” I thought. “See what it’s all about.”
The hatred I felt for myself for betraying my better intentions was profound. And I knew I’d obey that betrayal. Curiosity always won out with me. I aimed my body at the center of the cave and kicked. I switched on my headlamp. The ghostly beam illuminated the dim, lifeless walls.
A hundred feet in, I thought back to all the warnings I’d heard from diving instructors. “Never explore an underwater cave on your own,” they’d say. “You WILL die.” They emphasized “will” as if it were a foregone conclusion. Like the first person to discover a cave always died. Like it was the law.
Two hundred feet in, I would have sworn the water was brighter.
Three hundred feet in, I realized it really was brighter.
Maybe “brighter” isn’t the right word. “Clearer,” maybe. “Becoming invisible,” my mind interjected.
Four hundred feet in, I couldn’t deny it. The water was invisible.
I looked back at the mouth of the cave. Its enormity was far less pronounced from that distance. I checked my air. I had a half hour left. If I left in ten minutes, I’d have to swim for twenty straight minutes. I’d be cutting it close. Maybe too close. I needed to leave right away.
“Don’t go yet. Just a little deeper.”
More betrayal. My flippers pushed me ahead. The walls of the granite were pockmarked here. It appeared as if each hole was a separate branch, disappearing deeper into the cave. I imagined myself getting stuck in the narrow walls, struggling and screaming until my air bled away and I’d drown, never to be found.
Five hundred feet into the porous confines of the cave, an expanse opened before me. I’d reached the top of a colossal chamber. Thanks to the invisibility of the water, even though it was dark, my light shone hundreds of feet down. It never reached the bottom.
“Maybe it’s time to turn around,” my mind suggested. It was the first hint of sense it had made since I leapt from the pier.
I obeyed. I began to turn. Then something in the water changed. I felt the pressure shift, as if something had pushed an enormous amount of water out of the way. I turned back toward the chamber.
“SEE ME LIKE I SEE YOU.”
Before I even saw what had made the sound, I screamed around my mouthpiece. The voice was so loud. It was a sound unlike anything I’d experienced. “Except for the dream,” my mind reminded me.
Except for the dream.
My headlamp illuminated a creature of massive bulk and impossible proportions.
“SEE ME.”
Paralyzed with primal, palpable horror, I tried to train my eyes on it. It shimmered and shifted, moving with erratic and stuttering jerks, but, at the same time, remaining in place like the infinite presence the universe itself.
“SEE ME.”
My head spun. The creature was the embodiment of expansion and collapse. Boulder-sized clusters of eyes would open, bulging outward and popping out of existence like soap bubbles. Mouths gaped and inverted in the same instance, pinching into geometries that caused pain to erupt behind my eyes when I tried focusing on them.
“SEE ME LIKE I SEE YOU.”
I reflexively checked how much air I had. Three minutes. My panic had exhausted all my remaining oxygen. I was dead.
“SEE ME LIKE I SEE YOU.”
The water pressure shifted again with a hideous jolt. I felt my sinuses and bladder and bowels contract and release. A coiled spiral of matter shot from the center of a fleshy bubble between a honeycombed mass of eyes. It tore through the water in my direction, and before I could move, it had split into multiple, thinner coils and penetrated my nostrils and eyes through my facemask.
I howled with agony. Everything went black. I felt the coils corkscrewing behind my eyes and packing my sinuses. I screamed again. My mouthpiece fell out. I scrambled in the darkness for it as my lungs burned. I located it and plunged it back in. I took a deep breath. Nothing came out. This was the end. My end.
“SEE ME LIKE I SEE YOU.”
The blackness evaporated. I gasped, expecting water to fill my lungs. No water. Air.
I looked around. I floated in the chamber. The water was still invisible. Now, though, the darkness was gone. Everything was bright. My panic, still near its peak, had again taken the backseat to fascination and curiosity. I could see the creature in front of me without experiencing pain or disorientation.
I had underestimated its enormity. What I had seen before was only its topmost portion; below, previously hidden by the darkness, was a thick, tube-shaped body reaching a thousand feet down to the cavern floor. At its base were webbed appendages like veined leaves or fleshy wings.
I tried to blink. My eyelids fluttered uselessly against the coils piercing my eyes. I felt them turning, drilling deeper and deeper into my head. Same with those in my nose – they coiled throughout my sinuses and chest. I assumed they were why I was able to breathe.
“SEE ME LIKE I SEE YOU.”
Impelled, I gazed at the creature. Its angles were foreign to me. It was as if it occupied physical dimensions I’d never before encountered; dimensions my brain wasn’t wired to process.
“SEE ME LIKE I SEE YOU.”
The coils in my eyes widened. I felt my pupils stretch.
The world dropped out beneath me. I stared at the creature against the backdrop of dense stars and glowing nebulae. Violet light illuminated us. It was even larger in this new setting – its bulk stretching beyond my line of sight.
“SEE WITH ME.”
I observed the cosmos stretching before me. In the distance, I saw a planet with a yellow atmosphere.
“WE TRAVEL.”
Before I could register the words, the view had changed. We hovered under a yellow sky. Geysers of mercury erupted below and showered us in a constellation of liquid metal.
“WE TRAVEL.”
Light beyond light bathed my vision. It was a star. Before my coiled eyes, it burst in a supernova. Hard radiation that would have vaporized me a billion times over struck my body like a gentle caress. I began to weep.
“Please. I want more.”
“WE TRAVEL.”
I could tell by the change in pressure we were back in the cavern. The water was black and impenetrable. I could not see the beast looming ahead of me, although I could still feel its coils.
“What happened there? What are you? I want to go back. Please, I want to explore. God, I want to see it all.”
“TWO FOR ONE.”
“What is two for one?”
“TWO OF YOU TO INCORPORATE INTO ME. THEN YOU MAY TRAVEL.”
“Two of me?”
A light burst from the direction of the creature. The coils pulled me toward it. Its flesh split and I peered inside. It was filled with bones and carapaces and chitinous matter I couldn’t recognize. They looked like parts from entirely disparate beings, all knit together by slabs of muscle and tendons to form the interior of the colossus before me.
“TWO FOR ONE.”
A dull sense of realization bloomed within me.
“If I give you two people, you will show me how to explore like you do?”
“YES. TWO FOR ONE.”
“Okay,” I whispered. “Two for one.”
I felt the coils straighten as I was moved backward though the cave. I reached the mouth and swam upward, assisted by the gentle water currents. At the surface, I felt the coils retract from my eyes and sinuses. There was no pain. Only a sense of emptiness.
I pulled myself to the shore and looked around. It was almost dark. I walked to the house and let myself in. I was exhausted.
Ignoring the confusion and hunger I felt, I hauled myself into bed and slept. My dreams were of the stars.
The next morning, I called Meg. I told her I wanted to reconcile. I said I wanted her and Penny and me to be a family again.
It’s been eight months. Meg and Penny moved into the lake house with me after Christmas. From all outward appearances, we’re a lucky family who triumphed over divorce and despair. Sometimes, I even believe it.
Every night, though, I’m granted visions of the sights I’ll see. The planets. The galaxies. I’m teased by glimpses of what lies outside the curvature of the universe – and everything beyond that, as well.
Penny and Meg had their first scuba lessons on our trip to Jamaica in January. They loved it. Once the water warms up in the lake behind the house, I’ll give them more lessons. We’ll go deeper and deeper every time. I know they’ll be amazed when they see the cave. As for what waits inside it, they’ll learn, too, what I did.
The difference is, I’ll get to leave that cave while they’ll become a very special part of it. What part, I can’t say. But I’ll be long gone by then. I’ll be exploring the stars. All I have to do is fulfill my part of the bargain: two for one. And I’m well on my way to doing just that.
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That was way before my daughter. Way before my ex-wife, too. Like so many things, I gave it up when the drive to start a family kicked in. After Penny was born, scuba was just a frivolity I had no right to focus on. And that was that.
Twelve years later, after the divorce, I started looking at the world like I had before it all went south. I could resume the activities and hobbies I’d abandoned. Scuba diving was at the top of the list.
Once everything was finalized, I bought a house two states away from the one I’d shared with my wife and daughter. It was nothing special. It wasn’t the house I cared about when I closed the deal on the property. It was what sat behind it: a lake.
The lake behind the house is huge; not exactly Loch Ness, but nonetheless impressive. When I told the realtor I was into diving, she told me if I looked hard enough, I’d probably find some old Indian artifacts. That was all well and good. I just wanted to be underwater again. I felt like it might bring me some peace after such an acrimonious split with my former soulmate.
The first time I went out, I was dismayed by the amount of silt impeding my vision. It was like I’d been trapped in a brown fog. I got discouraged and quit after only fifteen minutes, but I resolved to give it another try.
I was glad I persevered. The next dive was beautiful. I guess the heavy rain from the night before the initial dive had been the reason for all the silt, but it had since settled. The water was crystal clear and I could see for what felt like miles all around me.
I swam around and explored. The lake was exceedingly deep. When I bought the place, I asked the realtor if she knew how far down it went. She estimated it was 900 feet. I didn’t believe her until I saw it firsthand.
The steep drop-off after the first twenty feet reminded me of a video I saw of divers leaping off the edge of a continental shelf. The drop was staggering; I knew my equipment couldn’t handle the full depth of the lake, but I’d be god damned if I wouldn’t try to see as much of it as possible.
That was how I spent my summer. I’d work from home, like normal, until the market closed at four. As soon as the closing bell rang, I was out the door and into the water.
I’d been keeping track of the areas I’d explored on a rudimentary map I’d drawn up on my computer. On that fateful Wednesday in late June, the only area I’d yet to explore in the grid zone nearest the pier was the wall of the drop-off itself. To be honest, I’d been avoiding it.
This may sound a little weird coming from a man in his late 40s, but I’d held off on exploring that section because of dreams I had after my first dive.
In the dream, I am underwater. It’s not an unusual setting for one of my dreams. Normally, the sensation is freeing. I float and bob in the currents and enjoy weightless bliss. I should tell you this is not my normal dream.
This dream begins with me standing on the edge of my pier. The sky is black but everything else is bright enough for me to see without any problem. I look down to where I’d normally see water. The lake is empty; or, at least, it appears that way. Something causes me to lose my balance and I tumble off the pier. I scream, expecting to crash on the rocks below. Instead, I float. The water is invisible.
I bob on the surface for a moment, but then something unseeable wraps around my leg. I gasp in a lungful of air and am torn below the surface. I fight against whatever the force is, but it’s hopeless. I get carried down.
To my eyes, it looks like I’m floating through the air. I still feel water against my skin, though. I know I have to continue holding my breath. And hold it I do. Helpless to return to the surface, part of my mind says to just wait until I can wake up gasping.
My body is sucked down, over the edge of the shelf. A sheer wall of granite towers in front of me. After about fifty feet, the pulling stops. I float, motionless, in front of a massive hole in the rock.
In the perfect clearness of the water, I can see the hole is a cave. It goes far into the rock – farther than I can see. I notice multiple tunnels in the sides and know those, too, branch. A feeling of dread enshrouds me. My lungs burn. I feel the pressure of a hundred feet of water on top of me, squeezing my skull and threatening to perforate my ears. God, my ears hurt so badly.
“Wake up,” I whisper to myself in the dream. “Open your eyes.”
“SEE ME.”
A voice bursts from the mouth of the cave with a colossal surge of water pressure. The air explodes from my chest and my eyes bulge. I gasp. Invisible water fills my lungs.
“SEE ME LIKE I SEE YOU.”
My eyes open to the morning light flooding my bedroom.
I’ve had the same dream three times since I started diving in the lake. It’s stuck with me. I hated how it tainted my subsequent dives and caused me to dread exploring that one unseen zone. That would have to end. I’d see for myself it was all just residual stress from the divorce impeding on the one thing I love. How typical.
That Wednesday, I stood on the edge of the pier like I had in my dream. The water was not invisible. It was gray and calm and sloshed lazily against the pier’s wooden supports. The sky was cloudy. It looked like it might rain. I’ve always enjoyed diving in the rain. Something about the water in the sky meeting the water of a sea or ocean or lake gave me a feeling of connectedness, as if I could swim all the way to the clouds if the rain were heavy enough.
I checked the readout on my tank. It was full. I was planning on doing a two-tank exploration before retiring to the lonely house and drinking my night away.
Into the lake I went. A few feet below the surface, the visibility was low. Silt. I was instantly disappointed.
It wasn’t as bad as it had been that first time. I could still see maybe twenty feet in front of me. But it wasn’t what I’d hoped. Part of me wished for the invisible clarity of the water in the dream. This was anything but. It made the prickles of dread I’d tried to ignore force themselves into my consciousness.
I swam toward the edge of the underwater cliff. It was easy to locate. A stygian abyss loomed ahead. I floated to the edge, crossed myself, and lept off.
The silt cleared quickly once I was on the other side of the muddy drop. I descended slowly, my hand never leaving the sheer wall of rock at my side.
I checked the depth gauge. Forty feet. Fifty. At sixty-five, a fissure developed in the granite wall. It widened as I sank further. I did my best to avoid connecting it to the memory of the cave in my dreams.
Eighty-five feet down, the fissure was a chasm. Glancing lower, I saw it widened more. Everything in me said to start kicking my feet and swim back to the surface and forget about this part of the lake. I had miles upon miles of lake I could be exploring. There was no need to see this particular spot.
My body overrode the protestations of my mind. At ninety-six feet down, the mouth of a cave yawned before me.
There was nothing I could do but stare with disbelief at the gaping hole in the rock. I had no reason to know of its existence. Dreams aren’t prescience. They don’t convey new information. I had never been here before. “Never physically,” my mind reminded me.
I was helpless to ignore the message in that little reminder. No, I’d never been there physically. But I had been mentally. Somehow.
“Just go in,” I thought. “See what it’s all about.”
The hatred I felt for myself for betraying my better intentions was profound. And I knew I’d obey that betrayal. Curiosity always won out with me. I aimed my body at the center of the cave and kicked. I switched on my headlamp. The ghostly beam illuminated the dim, lifeless walls.
A hundred feet in, I thought back to all the warnings I’d heard from diving instructors. “Never explore an underwater cave on your own,” they’d say. “You WILL die.” They emphasized “will” as if it were a foregone conclusion. Like the first person to discover a cave always died. Like it was the law.
Two hundred feet in, I would have sworn the water was brighter.
Three hundred feet in, I realized it really was brighter.
Maybe “brighter” isn’t the right word. “Clearer,” maybe. “Becoming invisible,” my mind interjected.
Four hundred feet in, I couldn’t deny it. The water was invisible.
I looked back at the mouth of the cave. Its enormity was far less pronounced from that distance. I checked my air. I had a half hour left. If I left in ten minutes, I’d have to swim for twenty straight minutes. I’d be cutting it close. Maybe too close. I needed to leave right away.
“Don’t go yet. Just a little deeper.”
More betrayal. My flippers pushed me ahead. The walls of the granite were pockmarked here. It appeared as if each hole was a separate branch, disappearing deeper into the cave. I imagined myself getting stuck in the narrow walls, struggling and screaming until my air bled away and I’d drown, never to be found.
Five hundred feet into the porous confines of the cave, an expanse opened before me. I’d reached the top of a colossal chamber. Thanks to the invisibility of the water, even though it was dark, my light shone hundreds of feet down. It never reached the bottom.
“Maybe it’s time to turn around,” my mind suggested. It was the first hint of sense it had made since I leapt from the pier.
I obeyed. I began to turn. Then something in the water changed. I felt the pressure shift, as if something had pushed an enormous amount of water out of the way. I turned back toward the chamber.
“SEE ME LIKE I SEE YOU.”
Before I even saw what had made the sound, I screamed around my mouthpiece. The voice was so loud. It was a sound unlike anything I’d experienced. “Except for the dream,” my mind reminded me.
Except for the dream.
My headlamp illuminated a creature of massive bulk and impossible proportions.
“SEE ME.”
Paralyzed with primal, palpable horror, I tried to train my eyes on it. It shimmered and shifted, moving with erratic and stuttering jerks, but, at the same time, remaining in place like the infinite presence the universe itself.
“SEE ME.”
My head spun. The creature was the embodiment of expansion and collapse. Boulder-sized clusters of eyes would open, bulging outward and popping out of existence like soap bubbles. Mouths gaped and inverted in the same instance, pinching into geometries that caused pain to erupt behind my eyes when I tried focusing on them.
“SEE ME LIKE I SEE YOU.”
I reflexively checked how much air I had. Three minutes. My panic had exhausted all my remaining oxygen. I was dead.
“SEE ME LIKE I SEE YOU.”
The water pressure shifted again with a hideous jolt. I felt my sinuses and bladder and bowels contract and release. A coiled spiral of matter shot from the center of a fleshy bubble between a honeycombed mass of eyes. It tore through the water in my direction, and before I could move, it had split into multiple, thinner coils and penetrated my nostrils and eyes through my facemask.
I howled with agony. Everything went black. I felt the coils corkscrewing behind my eyes and packing my sinuses. I screamed again. My mouthpiece fell out. I scrambled in the darkness for it as my lungs burned. I located it and plunged it back in. I took a deep breath. Nothing came out. This was the end. My end.
“SEE ME LIKE I SEE YOU.”
The blackness evaporated. I gasped, expecting water to fill my lungs. No water. Air.
I looked around. I floated in the chamber. The water was still invisible. Now, though, the darkness was gone. Everything was bright. My panic, still near its peak, had again taken the backseat to fascination and curiosity. I could see the creature in front of me without experiencing pain or disorientation.
I had underestimated its enormity. What I had seen before was only its topmost portion; below, previously hidden by the darkness, was a thick, tube-shaped body reaching a thousand feet down to the cavern floor. At its base were webbed appendages like veined leaves or fleshy wings.
I tried to blink. My eyelids fluttered uselessly against the coils piercing my eyes. I felt them turning, drilling deeper and deeper into my head. Same with those in my nose – they coiled throughout my sinuses and chest. I assumed they were why I was able to breathe.
“SEE ME LIKE I SEE YOU.”
Impelled, I gazed at the creature. Its angles were foreign to me. It was as if it occupied physical dimensions I’d never before encountered; dimensions my brain wasn’t wired to process.
“SEE ME LIKE I SEE YOU.”
The coils in my eyes widened. I felt my pupils stretch.
The world dropped out beneath me. I stared at the creature against the backdrop of dense stars and glowing nebulae. Violet light illuminated us. It was even larger in this new setting – its bulk stretching beyond my line of sight.
“SEE WITH ME.”
I observed the cosmos stretching before me. In the distance, I saw a planet with a yellow atmosphere.
“WE TRAVEL.”
Before I could register the words, the view had changed. We hovered under a yellow sky. Geysers of mercury erupted below and showered us in a constellation of liquid metal.
“WE TRAVEL.”
Light beyond light bathed my vision. It was a star. Before my coiled eyes, it burst in a supernova. Hard radiation that would have vaporized me a billion times over struck my body like a gentle caress. I began to weep.
“Please. I want more.”
“WE TRAVEL.”
I could tell by the change in pressure we were back in the cavern. The water was black and impenetrable. I could not see the beast looming ahead of me, although I could still feel its coils.
“What happened there? What are you? I want to go back. Please, I want to explore. God, I want to see it all.”
“TWO FOR ONE.”
“What is two for one?”
“TWO OF YOU TO INCORPORATE INTO ME. THEN YOU MAY TRAVEL.”
“Two of me?”
A light burst from the direction of the creature. The coils pulled me toward it. Its flesh split and I peered inside. It was filled with bones and carapaces and chitinous matter I couldn’t recognize. They looked like parts from entirely disparate beings, all knit together by slabs of muscle and tendons to form the interior of the colossus before me.
“TWO FOR ONE.”
A dull sense of realization bloomed within me.
“If I give you two people, you will show me how to explore like you do?”
“YES. TWO FOR ONE.”
“Okay,” I whispered. “Two for one.”
I felt the coils straighten as I was moved backward though the cave. I reached the mouth and swam upward, assisted by the gentle water currents. At the surface, I felt the coils retract from my eyes and sinuses. There was no pain. Only a sense of emptiness.
I pulled myself to the shore and looked around. It was almost dark. I walked to the house and let myself in. I was exhausted.
Ignoring the confusion and hunger I felt, I hauled myself into bed and slept. My dreams were of the stars.
The next morning, I called Meg. I told her I wanted to reconcile. I said I wanted her and Penny and me to be a family again.
It’s been eight months. Meg and Penny moved into the lake house with me after Christmas. From all outward appearances, we’re a lucky family who triumphed over divorce and despair. Sometimes, I even believe it.
Every night, though, I’m granted visions of the sights I’ll see. The planets. The galaxies. I’m teased by glimpses of what lies outside the curvature of the universe – and everything beyond that, as well.
Penny and Meg had their first scuba lessons on our trip to Jamaica in January. They loved it. Once the water warms up in the lake behind the house, I’ll give them more lessons. We’ll go deeper and deeper every time. I know they’ll be amazed when they see the cave. As for what waits inside it, they’ll learn, too, what I did.
The difference is, I’ll get to leave that cave while they’ll become a very special part of it. What part, I can’t say. But I’ll be long gone by then. I’ll be exploring the stars. All I have to do is fulfill my part of the bargain: two for one. And I’m well on my way to doing just that.
Categories
2024.06.07 15:04 Evil-Emps The Endless Forest: Chapter 59
Oh would you look at that... Its time for a new chapter!
[Previous] [First] [Next] [RoyalRoad] [Discord] —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aluin collapsed into the chair that was offered. A bead of sweat rolled down his brow before he wiped it away. The sound of crowing roosters could be heard from outside, alerting the world to the new day sun.
“Are you sure you want to do this today?” a voice asked as a plate of food was set down in front of him. “I’m sure we can postpone the meet–”
He waved the concern away. “I’ll be fine… Thank you for the food.”
The figure let out a grunt and took their seat adjacent to him. “If you say so… However, can you at least fill me in? You’ve been bringing in the other tribal leaders for the last two weeks.”
Aluin looked up to the figure, to Chief Yorlen. “I suppose I do owe you a bit of an explanation, and a bit of a forewarning.”
The chief cocked an eyebrow at that, taking a sip from his wooden cup. “Forewarning? What are you planning?”
Taking a moment to consider just how much he should say, Aluin took a few measured bites from his plate. Chief Yorlen has been quite cooperative and accommodating to me… I’ll need his help too.
“I plan on recommending we select a new queen," he said, deciding to go all in.
The Chief, in the middle of setting his cup down, froze. “You…want to select a new queen? Why– How? There isn’t anyone who has any noble blood that I’m aware of.”
He nodded. “There isn’t. However, we don’t need anyone of noble blood. If we can get the tribes to agree, we can…elect a new one.”
“I see… I think I do anyway. That’s a bit of a surprise, but I can sort of understand. Is it because of the dragon queen’s passing?”
“Partially,” Aluin admitted. “But that isn’t the only reason. I’ve been planning this long before her passing. Since we came to this island, in fact.”
Chief Yorlen leaned back in his chair. “You know, I sometimes forget just how old you are. Still, I’m glad we have you. I fear what would’ve happened to us if you never made it…”
Wincing, the Sage looked away. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think much would have changed. I haven’t exactly been the most active in rebuilding our society…”
“But you are now. With how long I’ve known you for, you were probably looking for the right individual and the right time. And now? You have both, don’t you?”
Aluin couldn’t help but let a smile slip. “Indeed.”
Looking satisfied, Chief Yorlen crossed his arms and asked the next question. “Who is it?”
“Eri.”
The Chief’s eyes went wide. “Your apprentice? Can’t say I saw that coming, but… Actually, no, I take that back. It somehow makes sense.” He leaned forward and gave Aluin a serious look.
“However, I don’t know if the others would agree. They will definitely want to throw their own proteges into the running, and I can’t say I blame them. Especially if you are wanting to ‘elect’ a new queen.”
“Truth be told, I’m expecting it,” Aluin said. “It isn’t going to be easy, but I’m prepared and I have a plan.”
“Oh? What is your plan, if you don’t mind me asking?”
He took a few more bites of food before answering. “Felix.”
“Felix? But he’s courting Eri, that’s pretty much an open secret. I fail to see how he will be the key to deciding who we should elect. He would be a biased judge…”
Aluin shook his head. “I mean no offense, but it’s you who is biased. While it’s true that Felix is courting Eri, that’s because they get along rather well. You’ve met him, and it’s obvious what your opinion is of him.”
“But…?” Chief Yorlen asked.
“But, what of the others? The ones who haven’t met him? Do you think they would get along with him, knowing he would be the final decider? Whoever becomes the next queen will have to work with him.”
“I think… I think I get where you are coming from. Most of us have grown up listening to how evil and vile humans are. Those biases aren’t going to go away very easily. And good luck pretending to be friendly with him, he’s not that easily fooled.”
Aluin agreed with Yorlen’s last statement. “No, no he is not. Felix has many faults, but judgment of character isn’t one. Not to mention, Zira can definitely tell.”
Their conversation died down for a few minutes while they finished their food. Meanwhile, the sun was starting to peek through the shuttered windows.
“I would still be a little worried, if you truly want Eri to become queen,” Chief Yorlen said, breaking the silence. “There are two potential suitors for the throne that I can think of. They will definitely be nominated.”
Aluin let out a sigh. He was aware of the two the Chief was referring to. “If one of them turns out to be a better option, then I wouldn’t object. But I don’t think that will happen.”
“You don’t?” The Chief asked, genuinely interested.
“No, because Eri has something that those two don’t.”
“What’s that?”
“A fire burning within her– Actually, make it two things.”
“What’s the second?”
Aluin leaned forward and grinned.
“Kyrith.”
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Felix and Zira looked down upon the crater as they gained height over it. The realization that there was only one who could have been responsible for it, left them both relieved and concerned.
What could have made Ithea do…that? Felix asked, still shocked by its size.
I don’t know, but the fact she never said anything about it has me concerned… Perhaps we will have to speak with her about it? Zira didn’t sound too thrilled at the idea, especially because she was the one who offered it.
He patted the side of her neck sympathetically, and turned his focus to the sky ahead of them.
How long do you think it will take us? he asked, changing the subject.
A few hours, at this speed. We could make it there quicker, but… She didn’t need to finish her sentence, they both knew that they didn’t want to go any faster.
Yeah, but… Are you sure we are at least heading in the right direction? he asked, it wasn’t the first time either.
Yes, how many times do I have to tell you? I know where I am going, I can tell.
Felix sent her a mental apology before adding, It’s still strange to me. I don’t know how you just know. You’ve never flown to the village from the manor.
He felt a rumble underneath him that was almost certainly a grumble.
I don’t know what to tell you, she said. You can see into my mind or we can combine them, then maybe you will understand. The only thing I can tell you, is that mana messes with it. I’m not sure where the Sanctuary is…
For a moment, he considered her offer but decided against it. He wanted to just enjoy the flight for what it was. Perhaps on our way back though, I would like to also practice some aerial maneuvers too.
Same, she said.
With that agreed upon, the two of them fell silent for a few minutes…
Hey Felix? Zira suddenly asked.
Yeah? He had his eyes closed, feeling the brisk wind buffeting him. It was strangely calming.
She took a moment before responding. A hint of embarrassment escaped from her side of the bond.
I’ve been thinking, I… I would like to explore the island more. Just the two of us, she added quickly.
He cracked an eye and stared over her neck to see her glancing back to him. Of course– Actually, with what you mentioned earlier about the Sanctuary, maybe we can start with that? When I took Eri and Kyrith, Kyrith barely fit in the halls leading from the portal. Both you and him have grown since then, I’m afraid you wont fit anymore…
She let out a frustrated snort before turning her head forward. I’m aware of my…size, you don’t need to comment on it. But yes, I think finding the location of the Sanctuary would be helpful.
Felix couldn’t help but let a smile show at her defensiveness. For the record, I don’t think there is anything wrong with your size–
Stop, she warned.
He listened and decided to get back to the actual topic. Anyway, I sense that’s not all you meant by exploring. Mind telling me your idea?
Zira took a moment to answer, letting her annoyance fade. This is nice, just the two of us. I feel… I finally feel complete, she admitted. It’s like I’ve found the exact thing I’ve been missing in my life.
The truth is, I don’t want this to end. I want to keep flying, I want to forget about everything else and just…fly.
Felix tightened his arms around her neck in an attempt to give her a hug. I know exactly how you feel… Unfortunately, you and I both know we can’t leave everything behind. We have people counting on us, who need us. And that isn’t considering the eggs…
There was another rumble, a groan he realized, as she answered.
I know…
\***
The sight of Bernel Village gave Felix and Zira a bittersweet feeling. It meant that their flight was coming to an end. Who knew how long it would be before they could take to the skies again?
Though, I guess there’s nothing stopping us from going out for a quick flight in the morning is there? Oh, or possibly an evening one…or midday? Felix thought a little desperately.
Zira sent him an empathetic nudge over their bond. Wishful thinking, but doubtful. I suspect we will be trapped in meetings.
We? he asked, unsure what she meant by that. He would most likely be in meetings, but she didn’t necessarily have to be.
A memory of hers flashed into his mind. In it were several children surrounding her, asking her hundreds of questions…
Snorting, Felix reached down and patted her side. Ah, best of luck then.
Zira chuffed, the wind making it barely audible. I think it’s you who will need luck. From what I’ve seen, the elves can get rather stuffy.
Before he could respond, a faint ringing sounded out. Looking down, he could just make out specks running around the village.
_Looks like we’ve been– _He was cut off by Zira.
Aluin?!
What?! Where? I can’t tell from here! He shouted back in surprise. Peering down, he squinted in the vain hope of seeing the Sage.
She didn’t respond, instead she began to bank and angle downwards. Meanwhile, Felix tightened his grip around her neck.
They began their descent, circling over the village until they got low enough to skim the rooftops of the buildings below. Zira adjusted her direction and aimed for just outside the village.
They landed with a soft thump.
A few moments later, the Sage made his appearance. Alongside him was another familiar elf, Chief Yorlen.
“Aluin!” Felix called out in excitement and waved his arm over his head. “It’s been…what? A month? More? Anyways, it's good to see you again!”
Aluin smiled and returned the wave. “It’s good to see the two of you as well, and…flying.”
“This is our first flight– Well, our first real flight… Actually, there’s a lot I need to get you caught up on," he answered after sliding off of Zira.
“Oh? How was it?” Chief Yorlen interjected.
“I managed to keep him from falling off,” Zira answered with sarcasm before Felix could respond.
That got a round of chuckles from everyone. However, both Felix and Zira noticed a growing crowd just inside the village perimeter.
The onlookers held a mixture of curiosity and intrigue, but there were a few frowning as they stared back…
“I’m glad it went well, but…” Aluin trailed off and glanced behind. A few of the individuals came out to join them.
One of them stepped up and looked Felix up and down. “So, this is the human?” he asked with contempt.
Zira instantly let out a rumbling growl.
The elf immediately backed away, while Chief Yorlen whipped around and confronted them.
“Chief Calsen! This is my village, and I will not tolerate any disrespect to my guests. Both Felix and Zira are welcome here.”
The sudden ire from Yorlen made Felix flinch, despite being in his defense…
Aluin cleared his throat and spoke before anyone else could do anything. “Perhaps we should take our discussion elsewhere? I’m sure both of you are tired from your flight. A bit of rest while we discuss things properly, and in private,” the Sage added the last part in a whisper.
“O-oh… Right, yeah. We could do with a bit of rest,” Felix stammered out, barely catching the hint that Aluin left him.
“In that case, you are welcome to stay at my home. As an honored guest,” the Chief said, stressing the last part, as he turned back to face them.
Nodding, Felix forced a smile. What is going on?
I don’t know, but I get the feeling we’re about to find out. She answered.
“Thank you,” he said out loud. “We will take you up on your offer.” He bowed.
“Very well, if you will follow me…” Yorlen began to lead the way. The other elves immediately parted, watching with curiosity and whispers.
As they passed, Felix could feel hostility emanating from a couple. In particular was the one named Calsen, it appeared he had not been pacified. Zira gave him another warning growl.
Suddenly, the elf looked disinterested…
Doing his best to ignore them, Felix decided to focus on the village itself. Its inhabitants were slowly coming out of their buildings, peeking out from doors and shuttered windows.
A few waved to them.
As life returned to normal, their group was almost to Yorlen’s home.
“Ah, I almost forgot…” The Chief said. “Zira, I have a surprise for you.”
“Oh? What is it?” she asked with interest.
“You’ll see in just a moment, but I’ll just say… It’s a new addition to my home.”
She tossed Felix a confused look.
Don’t look at me, I have no idea either, Felix said defensively.
Zira just let out an agitated snort.
They continued on, until they finally reached the house. At first glance, nothing seemed all that different. However, it was only when he looked over next to it, that Felix realized what the Chief meant.
A barn, about two stories tall, stood proud next to the house. It was constructed out of unpainted wood, however it had a stained look that suggested that it had been treated. Just from the doors alone, it looked like two dragons of Zira’s size could comfortably fit.
“Is that…” Zira trailed off, seeing the barn.
“For you?” Yorlen finished for her. Rather than immediately answer, he guided them to its front and threw open the two large doors.
“Yes. Yes it is.”
—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Previous] [First] [Next] [RoyalRoad] [Discord]
Well, well, well... Look who makes a return. It's Aluin and he hasn't been idle. As for the crater, it was Ithea. And for those who've been paying attention, you know when and why she caused it. Anyway, Felix and Zira make it to the village and now, we shall see what happens.
submitted by Evil-Emps to HFY [link] [comments]
[Previous] [First] [Next] [RoyalRoad] [Discord] —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aluin collapsed into the chair that was offered. A bead of sweat rolled down his brow before he wiped it away. The sound of crowing roosters could be heard from outside, alerting the world to the new day sun.
“Are you sure you want to do this today?” a voice asked as a plate of food was set down in front of him. “I’m sure we can postpone the meet–”
He waved the concern away. “I’ll be fine… Thank you for the food.”
The figure let out a grunt and took their seat adjacent to him. “If you say so… However, can you at least fill me in? You’ve been bringing in the other tribal leaders for the last two weeks.”
Aluin looked up to the figure, to Chief Yorlen. “I suppose I do owe you a bit of an explanation, and a bit of a forewarning.”
The chief cocked an eyebrow at that, taking a sip from his wooden cup. “Forewarning? What are you planning?”
Taking a moment to consider just how much he should say, Aluin took a few measured bites from his plate. Chief Yorlen has been quite cooperative and accommodating to me… I’ll need his help too.
“I plan on recommending we select a new queen," he said, deciding to go all in.
The Chief, in the middle of setting his cup down, froze. “You…want to select a new queen? Why– How? There isn’t anyone who has any noble blood that I’m aware of.”
He nodded. “There isn’t. However, we don’t need anyone of noble blood. If we can get the tribes to agree, we can…elect a new one.”
“I see… I think I do anyway. That’s a bit of a surprise, but I can sort of understand. Is it because of the dragon queen’s passing?”
“Partially,” Aluin admitted. “But that isn’t the only reason. I’ve been planning this long before her passing. Since we came to this island, in fact.”
Chief Yorlen leaned back in his chair. “You know, I sometimes forget just how old you are. Still, I’m glad we have you. I fear what would’ve happened to us if you never made it…”
Wincing, the Sage looked away. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think much would have changed. I haven’t exactly been the most active in rebuilding our society…”
“But you are now. With how long I’ve known you for, you were probably looking for the right individual and the right time. And now? You have both, don’t you?”
Aluin couldn’t help but let a smile slip. “Indeed.”
Looking satisfied, Chief Yorlen crossed his arms and asked the next question. “Who is it?”
“Eri.”
The Chief’s eyes went wide. “Your apprentice? Can’t say I saw that coming, but… Actually, no, I take that back. It somehow makes sense.” He leaned forward and gave Aluin a serious look.
“However, I don’t know if the others would agree. They will definitely want to throw their own proteges into the running, and I can’t say I blame them. Especially if you are wanting to ‘elect’ a new queen.”
“Truth be told, I’m expecting it,” Aluin said. “It isn’t going to be easy, but I’m prepared and I have a plan.”
“Oh? What is your plan, if you don’t mind me asking?”
He took a few more bites of food before answering. “Felix.”
“Felix? But he’s courting Eri, that’s pretty much an open secret. I fail to see how he will be the key to deciding who we should elect. He would be a biased judge…”
Aluin shook his head. “I mean no offense, but it’s you who is biased. While it’s true that Felix is courting Eri, that’s because they get along rather well. You’ve met him, and it’s obvious what your opinion is of him.”
“But…?” Chief Yorlen asked.
“But, what of the others? The ones who haven’t met him? Do you think they would get along with him, knowing he would be the final decider? Whoever becomes the next queen will have to work with him.”
“I think… I think I get where you are coming from. Most of us have grown up listening to how evil and vile humans are. Those biases aren’t going to go away very easily. And good luck pretending to be friendly with him, he’s not that easily fooled.”
Aluin agreed with Yorlen’s last statement. “No, no he is not. Felix has many faults, but judgment of character isn’t one. Not to mention, Zira can definitely tell.”
Their conversation died down for a few minutes while they finished their food. Meanwhile, the sun was starting to peek through the shuttered windows.
“I would still be a little worried, if you truly want Eri to become queen,” Chief Yorlen said, breaking the silence. “There are two potential suitors for the throne that I can think of. They will definitely be nominated.”
Aluin let out a sigh. He was aware of the two the Chief was referring to. “If one of them turns out to be a better option, then I wouldn’t object. But I don’t think that will happen.”
“You don’t?” The Chief asked, genuinely interested.
“No, because Eri has something that those two don’t.”
“What’s that?”
“A fire burning within her– Actually, make it two things.”
“What’s the second?”
Aluin leaned forward and grinned.
“Kyrith.”
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Felix and Zira looked down upon the crater as they gained height over it. The realization that there was only one who could have been responsible for it, left them both relieved and concerned.
What could have made Ithea do…that? Felix asked, still shocked by its size.
I don’t know, but the fact she never said anything about it has me concerned… Perhaps we will have to speak with her about it? Zira didn’t sound too thrilled at the idea, especially because she was the one who offered it.
He patted the side of her neck sympathetically, and turned his focus to the sky ahead of them.
How long do you think it will take us? he asked, changing the subject.
A few hours, at this speed. We could make it there quicker, but… She didn’t need to finish her sentence, they both knew that they didn’t want to go any faster.
Yeah, but… Are you sure we are at least heading in the right direction? he asked, it wasn’t the first time either.
Yes, how many times do I have to tell you? I know where I am going, I can tell.
Felix sent her a mental apology before adding, It’s still strange to me. I don’t know how you just know. You’ve never flown to the village from the manor.
He felt a rumble underneath him that was almost certainly a grumble.
I don’t know what to tell you, she said. You can see into my mind or we can combine them, then maybe you will understand. The only thing I can tell you, is that mana messes with it. I’m not sure where the Sanctuary is…
For a moment, he considered her offer but decided against it. He wanted to just enjoy the flight for what it was. Perhaps on our way back though, I would like to also practice some aerial maneuvers too.
Same, she said.
With that agreed upon, the two of them fell silent for a few minutes…
Hey Felix? Zira suddenly asked.
Yeah? He had his eyes closed, feeling the brisk wind buffeting him. It was strangely calming.
She took a moment before responding. A hint of embarrassment escaped from her side of the bond.
I’ve been thinking, I… I would like to explore the island more. Just the two of us, she added quickly.
He cracked an eye and stared over her neck to see her glancing back to him. Of course– Actually, with what you mentioned earlier about the Sanctuary, maybe we can start with that? When I took Eri and Kyrith, Kyrith barely fit in the halls leading from the portal. Both you and him have grown since then, I’m afraid you wont fit anymore…
She let out a frustrated snort before turning her head forward. I’m aware of my…size, you don’t need to comment on it. But yes, I think finding the location of the Sanctuary would be helpful.
Felix couldn’t help but let a smile show at her defensiveness. For the record, I don’t think there is anything wrong with your size–
Stop, she warned.
He listened and decided to get back to the actual topic. Anyway, I sense that’s not all you meant by exploring. Mind telling me your idea?
Zira took a moment to answer, letting her annoyance fade. This is nice, just the two of us. I feel… I finally feel complete, she admitted. It’s like I’ve found the exact thing I’ve been missing in my life.
The truth is, I don’t want this to end. I want to keep flying, I want to forget about everything else and just…fly.
Felix tightened his arms around her neck in an attempt to give her a hug. I know exactly how you feel… Unfortunately, you and I both know we can’t leave everything behind. We have people counting on us, who need us. And that isn’t considering the eggs…
There was another rumble, a groan he realized, as she answered.
I know…
\***
The sight of Bernel Village gave Felix and Zira a bittersweet feeling. It meant that their flight was coming to an end. Who knew how long it would be before they could take to the skies again?
Though, I guess there’s nothing stopping us from going out for a quick flight in the morning is there? Oh, or possibly an evening one…or midday? Felix thought a little desperately.
Zira sent him an empathetic nudge over their bond. Wishful thinking, but doubtful. I suspect we will be trapped in meetings.
We? he asked, unsure what she meant by that. He would most likely be in meetings, but she didn’t necessarily have to be.
A memory of hers flashed into his mind. In it were several children surrounding her, asking her hundreds of questions…
Snorting, Felix reached down and patted her side. Ah, best of luck then.
Zira chuffed, the wind making it barely audible. I think it’s you who will need luck. From what I’ve seen, the elves can get rather stuffy.
Before he could respond, a faint ringing sounded out. Looking down, he could just make out specks running around the village.
_Looks like we’ve been– _He was cut off by Zira.
Aluin?!
What?! Where? I can’t tell from here! He shouted back in surprise. Peering down, he squinted in the vain hope of seeing the Sage.
She didn’t respond, instead she began to bank and angle downwards. Meanwhile, Felix tightened his grip around her neck.
They began their descent, circling over the village until they got low enough to skim the rooftops of the buildings below. Zira adjusted her direction and aimed for just outside the village.
They landed with a soft thump.
A few moments later, the Sage made his appearance. Alongside him was another familiar elf, Chief Yorlen.
“Aluin!” Felix called out in excitement and waved his arm over his head. “It’s been…what? A month? More? Anyways, it's good to see you again!”
Aluin smiled and returned the wave. “It’s good to see the two of you as well, and…flying.”
“This is our first flight– Well, our first real flight… Actually, there’s a lot I need to get you caught up on," he answered after sliding off of Zira.
“Oh? How was it?” Chief Yorlen interjected.
“I managed to keep him from falling off,” Zira answered with sarcasm before Felix could respond.
That got a round of chuckles from everyone. However, both Felix and Zira noticed a growing crowd just inside the village perimeter.
The onlookers held a mixture of curiosity and intrigue, but there were a few frowning as they stared back…
“I’m glad it went well, but…” Aluin trailed off and glanced behind. A few of the individuals came out to join them.
One of them stepped up and looked Felix up and down. “So, this is the human?” he asked with contempt.
Zira instantly let out a rumbling growl.
The elf immediately backed away, while Chief Yorlen whipped around and confronted them.
“Chief Calsen! This is my village, and I will not tolerate any disrespect to my guests. Both Felix and Zira are welcome here.”
The sudden ire from Yorlen made Felix flinch, despite being in his defense…
Aluin cleared his throat and spoke before anyone else could do anything. “Perhaps we should take our discussion elsewhere? I’m sure both of you are tired from your flight. A bit of rest while we discuss things properly, and in private,” the Sage added the last part in a whisper.
“O-oh… Right, yeah. We could do with a bit of rest,” Felix stammered out, barely catching the hint that Aluin left him.
“In that case, you are welcome to stay at my home. As an honored guest,” the Chief said, stressing the last part, as he turned back to face them.
Nodding, Felix forced a smile. What is going on?
I don’t know, but I get the feeling we’re about to find out. She answered.
“Thank you,” he said out loud. “We will take you up on your offer.” He bowed.
“Very well, if you will follow me…” Yorlen began to lead the way. The other elves immediately parted, watching with curiosity and whispers.
As they passed, Felix could feel hostility emanating from a couple. In particular was the one named Calsen, it appeared he had not been pacified. Zira gave him another warning growl.
Suddenly, the elf looked disinterested…
Doing his best to ignore them, Felix decided to focus on the village itself. Its inhabitants were slowly coming out of their buildings, peeking out from doors and shuttered windows.
A few waved to them.
As life returned to normal, their group was almost to Yorlen’s home.
“Ah, I almost forgot…” The Chief said. “Zira, I have a surprise for you.”
“Oh? What is it?” she asked with interest.
“You’ll see in just a moment, but I’ll just say… It’s a new addition to my home.”
She tossed Felix a confused look.
Don’t look at me, I have no idea either, Felix said defensively.
Zira just let out an agitated snort.
They continued on, until they finally reached the house. At first glance, nothing seemed all that different. However, it was only when he looked over next to it, that Felix realized what the Chief meant.
A barn, about two stories tall, stood proud next to the house. It was constructed out of unpainted wood, however it had a stained look that suggested that it had been treated. Just from the doors alone, it looked like two dragons of Zira’s size could comfortably fit.
“Is that…” Zira trailed off, seeing the barn.
“For you?” Yorlen finished for her. Rather than immediately answer, he guided them to its front and threw open the two large doors.
“Yes. Yes it is.”
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Well, well, well... Look who makes a return. It's Aluin and he hasn't been idle. As for the crater, it was Ithea. And for those who've been paying attention, you know when and why she caused it. Anyway, Felix and Zira make it to the village and now, we shall see what happens.
2024.06.07 13:06 elishalil Top 5 Most Beautiful Beaches in Portugal
 | https://preview.redd.it/3h6exanht45d1.jpg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e9f42f90bea1760797ec209a01101da4898c8bc6 submitted by elishalil to u/elishalil [link] [comments] Portugal, with its shocking shoreline, is home to the absolute most gorgeous sea shores in Europe. From the brilliant sands of the Algarve to the unexpected, yet invaluable treasures concealed from the groups, Portugal offers an ocean side encounter like no other. Whether you're hoping to loosen up in the sun, investigate stowed away bays, or appreciate water sports, the sea shores of Portugal have something for everybody. Here are the main five most lovely sea shores in Portugal that you should visit. 1. Praia da Marinha, Algarve Situated in the Algarve, Praia da Marinha is many times hailed as perhaps of the best ocean side in Europe. Known for its reasonable turquoise waters and noteworthy limestone bluffs, this ocean side offers a beautiful setting ideal for photography and unwinding. The dazzling stone developments and secret caverns make it a #1 among sightseers and local people the same. While arranging your visit, consider utilizing Portugal Express Visa Administrations to guarantee a smooth and bother free outing. 2. Praia do Camilo, Lagos Praia do Camilo is one more pearl in the Algarve locale, renowned for its stunning magnificence and peaceful climate. The ocean side is open by means of a long wooden flight of stairs that offers dazzling perspectives on the shore. When you arrive at the ocean side, you'll be welcomed by completely clear waters and delicate, brilliant sand. Praia do Camilo is an incredible spot for swimming, because of its plentiful marine life. For those requiring speedy travel plans, Portugal Visa Express Arrangement administrations can be unbelievably useful. 3. Praia da Adraga, Sintra Settled between sensational precipices, Praia da Adraga is one of Portugal's secret sea shores. Situated close to Sintra, this ocean side offers a more segregated and quiet insight. The rough scene and strong waves make it a number one among surfers and nature sweethearts. The ocean side's pristine magnificence and peaceful climate give an ideal departure from the buzzing about of city life. While visiting Portugal's secret sea shores, having dependable Portugal Express Visa Administrations can make your movement arrangements significantly more helpful. 4. Praia de Benagil, Algarve Praia de Benagil isn't simply an ocean side; it's an experience. This ocean side is well known for the Benagil Ocean Cavern, a grand normal miracle that draws in guests from everywhere the world. The cavern is just open by boat or swimming, making it an exhilarating objective for brave voyagers. The brilliant sands and clear waters of Praia de Benagil are ideally suited for sunbathing and swimming. To take full advantage of your visit, guarantee you have your Portugal Visa Express Arrangement booked well ahead of time. 5. Praia da Falesia, Albufeira Praia da Falesia is known for broad stretch of red and orange precipices make a shocking setting against the blue Atlantic Sea. This ocean side in Albufeira is great for long strolls, sunbathing, and water sports. The quiet and clear waters make it a family-accommodating objective. The exceptional scene and dynamic tones make Praia da Falesia quite possibly of the most captured ocean side in Portugal. While arranging your outing, Portugal Express Visa Administrations can assist with smoothing out your movement plans, permitting you to zero in on partaking in the excellence of this surprising ocean side. End Portugal's sea shores are really probably the most gorgeous in Europe, offering a different scope of scenes and encounters. Whether you're investigating the notable sea shores of the Algarve or finding unlikely treasures, each ocean side has its own remarkable appeal. To guarantee a smooth and pleasant outing, consider utilizing Portugal Express Visa Administrations and planning your Portugal Visa Express Appointment ahead of time. Along these lines, you can zero in on making remarkable recollections on Portugal's dazzling shores |
2024.06.07 12:46 khushitravelsoul Heartful Review of my recent Thailand Adventure Trip with Thrillophilia
 | Thailand has always been on my bucket list, with its stunning beaches, vibrant culture, and mouth-watering cuisine. When I finally decided to make the trip, I knew I wanted a hassle-free experience. That's when I came across Thrillophilia, a travel company that promised an unforgettable journey. Here's a detailed account of my amazing trip to Thailand with Thrillophilia. submitted by khushitravelsoul to u/khushitravelsoul [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/ek57b6acn45d1.jpg?width=422&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6177ef559324be46575b8f4c098c034c84ade90 Booking the TripBooking my Thailand adventure with Thrillophilia was straightforward and convenient. Their website offered a variety of packages, each tailored to different interests and budgets. I chose a 7-day package that included Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phuket, along with guided tours, accommodation, and some meals.The booking process was smooth. I simply selected my preferred dates, reviewed the itinerary, and made the payment online. Within minutes, I received a confirmation email with all the details, including flight information, hotel bookings, and a comprehensive itinerary. The ItineraryDay 1: Arrival in BangkokI arrived in Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport in the afternoon. The Thrillophilia representative greeted me at the airport, and I was whisked away to my hotel in a comfortable, air-conditioned car. After checking in, I had some free time to relax and explore the local area. Day 2: Exploring Bangkok The second day started with a visit to the Grand Palace, a stunning complex of buildings that served as the home of Thai kings. The intricate architecture and beautiful gardens were breathtaking. We then visited Wat Pho, home to the famous Reclining Buddha. The day ended with a relaxing boat ride along the Chao Phraya River, offering a unique perspective of the city. Day 3: Pattaya - The Beach Paradise On day three, we headed to Pattaya, a two-hour drive from Bangkok. Our first stop was the Sanctuary of Truth, an all-wooden temple by the sea. The craftsmanship was truly impressive. In the afternoon, we visited the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden, where we enjoyed a traditional Thai cultural show. The day concluded with some free time to relax on Pattaya Beach. Day 4: Coral Island Tour The highlight of my trip was the Coral Island tour. We took a speedboat to Koh Larn, where we spent the day snorkeling, swimming, and lounging on the beach. The crystal-clear waters and vibrant marine life made for an unforgettable experience. Lunch was a delicious spread of Thai cuisine, enjoyed right on the beach. Day 5: Fly to Phuket We flew to Phuket on the fifth day. After checking into our hotel, we had the afternoon to explore Patong Beach. The bustling nightlife, street food, and shopping were fantastic. I even tried some local delicacies like grilled squid and mango sticky rice. Day 6: Phi Phi Islands A trip to Phuket wouldn't be complete without visiting the Phi Phi Islands. The boat ride was exhilarating, and the islands were even more beautiful than I had imagined. We spent the day snorkeling, exploring the beaches, and enjoying a buffet lunch on the island. Maya Bay, famous from the movie "The Beach," was a particular highlight. Day 7: Departure On the last day, I had some free time in the morning to do some last-minute shopping and sightseeing. I then headed to the airport for my flight back home, with my heart full of memories and my camera full of pictures. https://preview.redd.it/bzho9i2en45d1.jpg?width=999&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e6d4531325a971414e99a7f8d2a9e5f31ec84029 My Experience with the Local CultureThailand's culture is a delightful blend of traditional and modern influences. The people were incredibly friendly and hospitable, always ready with a smile. I enjoyed learning about Buddhist customs and visiting the temples, each offering a serene and spiritual atmosphere.The street markets were vibrant and full of life, offering everything from exotic fruits to handcrafted souvenirs. Bargaining was a fun experience, and I managed to pick up some great deals. The food was another highlight – from spicy street food to elegant Thai restaurants, every meal was a culinary adventure. One of the most memorable cultural experiences was participating in a traditional Thai cooking class in Bangkok. I learned to make dishes like Pad Thai and Tom Yum soup, which I can now recreate at home to relive my Thai adventure. Final ThoughtsMy trip to Thailand with Thrillophilia was everything I had hoped for and more. The seamless planning, knowledgeable guides, and carefully curated itinerary made for an unforgettable experience. Thailand's rich culture, stunning landscapes, and warm hospitality left a lasting impression on me.If you're considering a trip to Thailand, I highly recommend booking with Thrillophilia. Their attention to detail and commitment to creating memorable travel experiences will ensure you have a trip of a lifetime, just like I did. |
2024.06.07 12:00 AutoModerator Daily r/LawnCare No Stupid Questions Thread
Please use this thread to ask any lawn care questions that you may have. There are no stupid questions. This includes weed, fungus, insect, and grass identification. For help on asking a question, please refer to the "How to Get the Most out of Your Post" section at the top of the sidebar.
Check out the sidebar if you're interested in more information on plant hardiness zones, identifying problems, weed control, fertilizer, establishing grass, and organic methods. Also, you may contact your local Cooperative Extension Service for local info.
How to Get the Most out of Your Post:
submitted by AutoModerator to lawncare [link] [comments]
Check out the sidebar if you're interested in more information on plant hardiness zones, identifying problems, weed control, fertilizer, establishing grass, and organic methods. Also, you may contact your local Cooperative Extension Service for local info.
How to Get the Most out of Your Post:
Include a photo of the problem. You can upload to imgur.com for free and it's easy to do. One photo should contain enough information for people to understand the immediate area around the problem (dense shade, extremely sloped, etc.). Other photos should include close-ups of the grass or weed in question: such as this, this, or this. The more photos or context to the situation will help us identify the problem and propose some solutions.Useful Links:
Guides & Calculators: Measure Your Lawn • Make a Property Map • Herbicide Application Calculators • Fertilizing Lawns • Grow From Seed • Grow From Sod • Organic Lawn Care • Other Lawn CalculatorsRecurring Threads:
Lawn Pest Control: Weeds & What To Use • Common Weeds • What's Wrong Here? • How To Spray Weeds • MSU Weed ID Tool • Is This a Weed? • Herbicide Types • ID Turf Diseases • Fungi & Control Options • Insects & Control Options
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Canadian Cooperative Extension Services: Ontario - University of Guelph
Daily No Stupid Questions Thread • Mowsday Monday • Treatment Tuesday • Weed ID Wednesday • That Didn't Go Well Thursday • Finally Friday: Weekend Lawn Plans • Soil Saturday • Lawn of the Month • Monthly Mower Megathread • Monthly Professionals Podium • Tri-Annual Thatch Thread • Quarterly Seed & Sod Megathread
2024.06.07 11:38 Historical-Tip-4309 Cage check for my 2 first babies coming tomorrow
 | I did my best, I chose to get a birdcage because I wanted something not too expensive but still large (it is 93x56x153cm) submitted by Historical-Tip-4309 to RATS [link] [comments] Do you think there are enough fall breakers ? I plan to add more ropes, another water bottle and enrichment toys (I already have quite a few for their gigantic playpen but there are never enough) And I will replace the wooden platforms as soon as they are too full of pee to clean them (I didn't know it wasn't great before buying them) Ps: don't pay attention to the mess it was horrible to setup with these doors |
2024.06.07 11:19 NarratorHub How a murder saved my life
I was done. This time I meant it. There were several times in my life where I found myself considering it, contemplating taking my trip to the other side. Last time I had called the suicide hotline and eventually decided to give life one more try. Not this time.
I felt completely at peace about it. This time, I was truly ready to die. I felt the scratchy fiber around my neck after slipping the rope over my head. “The forever necklace,” I thought in a dark little joke just for myself. The rope was tied to a metal loop that was drilled into the ceiling truss to be sure that I would not fail. I had never been so determined to accomplish anything in my life the way I was today.
The old wooden chair I stood on creaked and groaned a mournful protest as I lifted my foot, ready to step off the chair. One deep breath, and I could let it all go.
Then, someone knocked on the door.
I froze in exactly that position, one foot on the chair and one foot off, wondering with a sudden twinge of anger who the hell could be knocking on the door. I spent every last dollar I had to rent this remote cabin where I could spend my last weekend in beauty and peace. The intrusive sound boomed again through the empty house, obliterating my illusion of peace.
I slipped the rope back off my neck with irritation and watched it swing back and forth. “Don’t go anywhere now, we’re not done,” I told the rope, before stepping off the chair and heading down the stairs ready to berate the inconsiderate person who ruined my nearly perfect moment.
After squinting through the peephole of the solid wood door, I could see a gangly man wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled up tightly over his head. A sharp black beard with speckled gray poked through the hood, and I could see a pointed pale nose, but otherwise, his features were largely hidden. The man was looking down but swayed side to side on his feet impatiently, sending another spark of irritation through my clenched jaw. He knocked again, louder this time.
I pulled the squeaky cabin door open against my better judgment, but he didn’t seem to be leaving on his own and my sudden anger took control of my arm, which reached forward and pulled the door open. “What do you want?” I asked rudely, not even considering the normal pleasantries.
“Good evening, sir,” The stranger said, a little too nicely. As he lifted his head I could see that he had black combed hair matching his fairly well-groomed beard, a bit of gray mixing in with the dark black. A little dash of salt in the pepper, if you will. “My car broke down about a mile down that dirt road and I was wondering if I could use your phone?” The man felt like a used car salesman with his fake, almost painted-on smile and voice that sounded rehearsed.
“I don’t have a phone,” I told him coldly. It was a lie, of course. While my cell had no service, there was a functioning wall-mounted phone in the kitchen. The older type, with a coiled cord connecting it to the wall mount.
“Oh I’m sure you have a phone, all the cabins up here do.” He told me with his wide, aggravating smile.
“Not this one,” I told him shortly, ending the conversation and wanting him gone. I started shutting the door when he stuck his foot in the doorway, preventing me from shutting the door all of the way.
“It’ll only take me 30 seconds then I’ll be gone.”
Anger spiked in me when he blocked my door with his foot, and I thought about slamming his foot with the door. Instead, and without even giving him a response, I pushed him away from the door and slammed it shut. I heard the click of the deadbolt before I even knew I was locking it.
I stood there for a minute, bewildered by the event. A twinge of guilt struck my gut, I felt maybe I should have helped him. The timing was poor, sure, but how was he supposed to know my “grand plans”? But at the same time, why should I help the guy anyway? Nobody had ever lent me a helping hand when I needed it. That’s just how this cruel world works, nobody gives a shit. And who puts their foot in someone's door?
After staring at the door for some time, maybe a minute, maybe 15, I walked back upstairs and peered out through the window to make sure I was alone. He was gone, but I hadn’t seen him leave. A strange uneasiness crept over me. Things weren't going how they were supposed to.
I checked all the windows, looking for the weirdo. Nothing. So I made some quick tea, one last cup of tea sounded nice, and pushed the strange encounter out of my mind. It was time to find my peace again. I realized that the sun was now starting to set over the nearby mountain peaks. Why not watch it? This would be my last sunset, and It sure was a stunning one.
I pulled a cozy recliner chair to the large upstairs window. Brilliant colors of orange and pink now filled the sky. The clouds were broken up, creating the appearance of a large beautiful pathway over the horizon.
It struck me that, there it was, my beautiful pathway to the afterlife had presented itself, and it was time. It was time to take the path laid before me. I thought that maybe this was a sign, a sign that this was exactly where I was supposed to be. I realized I was standing back on the chair but didn't remember deciding to get back up there. I once again placed the rope over my neck, already positioned so that I was facing the sunset. At that moment, I was completely at peace with my death. I started to take that step, and then….
There was knocking at the door.
This wasn’t the customary 3 or 4 knocks followed by waiting that had invaded my peace before, this was loud panicked knocking that startled me so badly that I almost fell off the chair. It seems ironic, that I was about to willingly step off the chair but the next moment I was fighting for balance to not fall.
The loud knocking continued. Once again, my beautiful peaceful moment had been shattered. I removed the rope and went over to the opposite window to see who the hell had screwed everything up. This time, it was not the hooded weirdo standing at the door, It was a girl. She had long dark hair and appeared to be about my age, maybe a little younger, and she was terrified, crying, and panicked, knocking repeatedly and taking constant looks back over her shoulder.
This time I wasn’t overcome with anger, but a deep concern as I ran down the stairs to the door. As I approached the door, I could hear her pleading for help, still pounding on the door. The second I opened the door she pushed herself in, slamming the door behind her and locking it.
“Wh-“ I started asking, but before I could finish my question she slammed into me so unexpectedly I let out an “oof,” but to my surprise, she pulled me into a tight embrace. Never in my life had I felt anybody hug me as tightly as this crying girl was squeezing me right now. I hugged her back, squeezing her just as tight.
“Wha- what’s wrong?” I asked her with genuine concern as I blew her hair out of my face. She pulled back and looked me in the eye. I couldn’t help but notice that, even through her tears and fear-stricken face, she was absolutely beautiful. Her long dark hair complemented those beautiful green eyes in a perfect sort of way that reminded me of the sunset. They were a shade of green that I had never before seen, almost as if it was a new color that had not been discovered until this girl was born. For a moment, I lost myself in her eyes before the exasperating reality slapped me back to the situation at hand.
“He killed her, he killed Jess.”
Confusion quickly turned to a pit deep in my stomach at what she said. “What? Who? Who’s Jess?” I asked her, still holding her tightly.
He- he came to the door,” She started, barely getting the words out through her sobs and deep breaths. “He asked to use the phone so I let him in. But he had a knife and…. and…” The girl burst into uncontrollable sobs and buried her face in my shoulder. She didn’t finish, but she didn’t need to, the truth of the situation crashed down on me. The same guy who knocked on my door earlier had visited another cabin, and this woman had watched her friend to stabbed to death.
I wanted to panic the same way she was, but knew with certainty that she needed me to stay calm, or at least seem calm. I quickly walked her into the kitchen, grabbed the phone with hands so shaky I nearly dropped it and dialed 911.
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
“Yeah uh…. My name is Dean Johansen, there’s been a Murder.” It felt weird to say, and a weird fear struck me that maybe the voice on the phone wouldn’t believe me.
“What’s your address, sir?” The quick, professional voice responded.
I gave her the address of the cabin I was staying at, thankfully it was on a card by the landline phone. I asked the girl for the address where the murder happened. She didn’t know, but she managed to tell the operator that her name was Sarah and the victim's name as well as a description of the killer.
“Okay Sir, please lock the doors and stay inside, emergency responders will be there in about 30 minutes.” The phone lady told me in a matter-of-fact tone as if this was a normal Tuesday call to IT.
“30 minutes? What do you mean 30 minutes?” I asked with deep exasperation. “There’s a MURDERER on the loose!”
“I’m sorry sir, that’s the closest law enforcement to you, you’re in a remote area.” In those last words, I could finally hear a tone of emotion, a sadness that she couldn’t help.
Before I could respond, there was a loud knock on the door making us both jump. Sarah cried out loudly and I dropped the phone. I signaled to her with a single finger placed over my lips knowing full well that whoever was at the door would have already heard her cry out, and quietly, I walked to the door and nervously looked through the peephole. My heart slammed into my gut at the sight of the man who stood on the porch. It was him, the hooded car salesman asshole, but now his face and beard were splattered with blood.
“I need to borrow your PHONE!” The man yelled in an unhinged sing-song tone, his fake nice had been replaced with a manic and insane tone matching the crazed look In his eye. BOOM! He kicked the door hard, shaking the door but it held strong. I ran to the kitchen to grab my own knife. Sarah was already holding one. BOOM! There was another kick. We stood there, terrified, and not knowing what to do. I braced for another boom, but there wasn’t one. It was silent.
“You go upstairs,” I told Sarah decisively, “I’ll stay down here just in case.” I had come out here willing and prepared to meet death, Sarah didn’t deserve that though. I had only just met her, but I felt a genuine desire to protect her, and if this is how I went, at least my death had meaning now. I was fine with death, but if he came in I could at least try to take him with me.
Sarah nodded, her eyes wide and shocked, and she headed up the stairs. Just as she crossed the final step, the window of the sliding glass back door exploded as a large rock blasted through. I ducked instinctively as shards of glass rained down on me and looked back up to see the man climbing in through the large broken window, smiling with an expression of adrenalized mania. I grabbed an ugly vase off the nearby end table and threw it at him, grunting with every ounce of strength I could summon. It missed terribly to his left, shattering on the cabinet to his right.
With the knife still in my hand, I picked up a wooden chair and charged at him with bravery and confidence I had never felt before. The chair legs hit him square in the chest and face catching him off guard, but it felt like hitting a brick wall. The recoil of the collision pushed the chair back into my chin and we both were knocked to the ground.
I looked over to see him already getting up, but within distance so I slashed at him with my knife, aiming for the neck. I missed again, but still slashed through his face sending a splatter of blood, but he barely flinched. He immediately slashed right back at me, putting a deep cut into my upper chest. I rolled backward, struggling in a panicked frenzy trying to get to my feet.
Before I was up to my feet, the chair hit me hard in my face and knocked me back to the ground. I staggered back up to my feet despite the black spots from the hit to my head, noting the taste of blood in my mouth while the knife slashed past my throat, narrowly missing me. I started punching and slashing wildly in a frenzy, overcome with an unfamiliar rage that perhaps had been waiting for years to be freed. I admit that I don’t know how to fight, I’d honestly never needed to before, but something was working. I connected at least once more with the knife slicing a fresh wound on his shoulder. He was backing up and then, naturally, I tripped.
My knife clattered on the hardwood floor, I rose to my knees reaching for the knife but was knocked down from a hard kick to my side. Every last molecule of oxygen in my lungs was expelled from my body with a disgusting grunt. I tried to breathe and regain myself but only found an excruciating sharp pain in my ribs from where I was kicked. The man stood over me, a triumphant sneer on his face, ready to bring the knife down on me. Suddenly, I didn’t want to die anymore.
As the man started to bring the knife down, a chair crashed into his upper back and his head splintering with impact. He cried out in fury as the knife fell from his hand and he fell to his knees while I rolled away to lengthen the distance. I saw Sarah’s wide-eyed face looking down from over the loft banister, she had thrown the chair that had kept me from getting stabbed right there on the floor. It was the chair I had been standing on when Sarah arrived.
“YOU FUCKING BITCH!” The man yelled out, already back on his feet and armed. He started running to the stairs with his knife hand. Sarah was screaming as he seemed to forget about me and set his predatory sight on her. Her screams sparked a new sense of urgent adrenaline and I found myself picking up my knife and running after him despite the pain.
Sarah was backed into a corner holding her large kitchen knife in front of her in both fear and bold defiance, while the intruder looked for his opportunity to make his move. He slashed at her, missing short but causing her to flinch badly. Before he could take a follow-up shot, I slammed the knife square into his upper back. The blade penetrated the right of his spine with a dull sound accompanied by a horrific crack that must have been a rib giving way.
The man collapsed to his knees while I pushed into the handle of the knife trying to drive it deeper. He let out a roar of pure rage and pushed back against me. I tried to drive him to the ground but he was stronger than I, even with the knife in his back, and was able to struggle to his feet.
While this was happening, I saw Sarah running through the door with my rope. Instantly, I understood her plan. I wrapped my arms around his waist and arms, clasping my hands in front to trap his arms at his sides. I squeezed as tight as I possibly could as Sarah slipped the noose over his head. He was fighting violently now, and I struggled to restrain him. I held on as tight as I could, but the grip of my hands was starting to slip. Sarah was hurriedly tying the other end of the rope to the banister with shaky hands.
With a sudden burst of strength, my grip failed and the killer broke his arms free and lunged at Sarah. I charged at him, putting my shoulder into his side like a regular rugby player, pushing him toward the banister. Sarah jumped into the fight as well, throwing her weight into him. Together, we put all the remaining energy we had into one final push, knocking the killer over the banister and off the loft.
The rope caught. With an audible CRACK, his fall was broken, as was his neck. Both of our knots had held. The body swayed gently over the living room suspended by a noose tied to the banister. My noose.
Sarah and I sat outside, waiting for the police to arrive. We’d walked out there, or rather she awkwardly helped me. After the moment was done, all of the physical pain came crashing into me at once. She was holding a bathroom towel over the deep cut in my chest, which was bleeding profusely and soaking my once white shirt in crimson.
As the cool mountainous air started bringing my body temperature to a reasonable level, she broke the awkward silence addressing the elephant in the room. The elephant being the noose that had been hanging in the bedroom. “Were you going to…?”.
“Yes,” I admitted, looking down at my knees. I didn’t need her to finish the question, I knew what she meant.
Sarah gently grasped my chin and pulled it up. “Please don’t,” she told me, looking into my eyes. I once again saw in her teary eyes just how beautiful she was. The most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.
“I won’t,” I promised, surprised to hear the words from my lips with tears now finding their way down my face, and I meant it.
That was just over 18 months ago now, and I’m happy to tell you that I’m still here, but this story isn’t just the story of how I didn’t kill myself, but also the story of how I met the love of my life, how we were bonded through mutually assured survival. We saved each other, but she saved me in more ways than one
We are celebrating our honeymoon now, at a beautiful beach house overlooking the ocean. We chose a location as far from the woods as possible. We are still healing, but we are healing together. Sarah is healing from the trauma of her best friend, Jessica, being murdered. I am healing from years of personal neglect and self-destructive behavior. I didn’t realize how broken I truly was until I met Sarah, and you can’t fix what you don't acknowledge to be broken.
As I sit here now, under the most beautiful sunset I have seen since that fateful day, I finally realize what was missing in my life. What was missing was not just the feeling of being loved, but having somebody to love.
submitted by NarratorHub to NarratorHub [link] [comments]
I felt completely at peace about it. This time, I was truly ready to die. I felt the scratchy fiber around my neck after slipping the rope over my head. “The forever necklace,” I thought in a dark little joke just for myself. The rope was tied to a metal loop that was drilled into the ceiling truss to be sure that I would not fail. I had never been so determined to accomplish anything in my life the way I was today.
The old wooden chair I stood on creaked and groaned a mournful protest as I lifted my foot, ready to step off the chair. One deep breath, and I could let it all go.
Then, someone knocked on the door.
I froze in exactly that position, one foot on the chair and one foot off, wondering with a sudden twinge of anger who the hell could be knocking on the door. I spent every last dollar I had to rent this remote cabin where I could spend my last weekend in beauty and peace. The intrusive sound boomed again through the empty house, obliterating my illusion of peace.
I slipped the rope back off my neck with irritation and watched it swing back and forth. “Don’t go anywhere now, we’re not done,” I told the rope, before stepping off the chair and heading down the stairs ready to berate the inconsiderate person who ruined my nearly perfect moment.
After squinting through the peephole of the solid wood door, I could see a gangly man wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled up tightly over his head. A sharp black beard with speckled gray poked through the hood, and I could see a pointed pale nose, but otherwise, his features were largely hidden. The man was looking down but swayed side to side on his feet impatiently, sending another spark of irritation through my clenched jaw. He knocked again, louder this time.
I pulled the squeaky cabin door open against my better judgment, but he didn’t seem to be leaving on his own and my sudden anger took control of my arm, which reached forward and pulled the door open. “What do you want?” I asked rudely, not even considering the normal pleasantries.
“Good evening, sir,” The stranger said, a little too nicely. As he lifted his head I could see that he had black combed hair matching his fairly well-groomed beard, a bit of gray mixing in with the dark black. A little dash of salt in the pepper, if you will. “My car broke down about a mile down that dirt road and I was wondering if I could use your phone?” The man felt like a used car salesman with his fake, almost painted-on smile and voice that sounded rehearsed.
“I don’t have a phone,” I told him coldly. It was a lie, of course. While my cell had no service, there was a functioning wall-mounted phone in the kitchen. The older type, with a coiled cord connecting it to the wall mount.
“Oh I’m sure you have a phone, all the cabins up here do.” He told me with his wide, aggravating smile.
“Not this one,” I told him shortly, ending the conversation and wanting him gone. I started shutting the door when he stuck his foot in the doorway, preventing me from shutting the door all of the way.
“It’ll only take me 30 seconds then I’ll be gone.”
Anger spiked in me when he blocked my door with his foot, and I thought about slamming his foot with the door. Instead, and without even giving him a response, I pushed him away from the door and slammed it shut. I heard the click of the deadbolt before I even knew I was locking it.
I stood there for a minute, bewildered by the event. A twinge of guilt struck my gut, I felt maybe I should have helped him. The timing was poor, sure, but how was he supposed to know my “grand plans”? But at the same time, why should I help the guy anyway? Nobody had ever lent me a helping hand when I needed it. That’s just how this cruel world works, nobody gives a shit. And who puts their foot in someone's door?
After staring at the door for some time, maybe a minute, maybe 15, I walked back upstairs and peered out through the window to make sure I was alone. He was gone, but I hadn’t seen him leave. A strange uneasiness crept over me. Things weren't going how they were supposed to.
I checked all the windows, looking for the weirdo. Nothing. So I made some quick tea, one last cup of tea sounded nice, and pushed the strange encounter out of my mind. It was time to find my peace again. I realized that the sun was now starting to set over the nearby mountain peaks. Why not watch it? This would be my last sunset, and It sure was a stunning one.
I pulled a cozy recliner chair to the large upstairs window. Brilliant colors of orange and pink now filled the sky. The clouds were broken up, creating the appearance of a large beautiful pathway over the horizon.
It struck me that, there it was, my beautiful pathway to the afterlife had presented itself, and it was time. It was time to take the path laid before me. I thought that maybe this was a sign, a sign that this was exactly where I was supposed to be. I realized I was standing back on the chair but didn't remember deciding to get back up there. I once again placed the rope over my neck, already positioned so that I was facing the sunset. At that moment, I was completely at peace with my death. I started to take that step, and then….
There was knocking at the door.
This wasn’t the customary 3 or 4 knocks followed by waiting that had invaded my peace before, this was loud panicked knocking that startled me so badly that I almost fell off the chair. It seems ironic, that I was about to willingly step off the chair but the next moment I was fighting for balance to not fall.
The loud knocking continued. Once again, my beautiful peaceful moment had been shattered. I removed the rope and went over to the opposite window to see who the hell had screwed everything up. This time, it was not the hooded weirdo standing at the door, It was a girl. She had long dark hair and appeared to be about my age, maybe a little younger, and she was terrified, crying, and panicked, knocking repeatedly and taking constant looks back over her shoulder.
This time I wasn’t overcome with anger, but a deep concern as I ran down the stairs to the door. As I approached the door, I could hear her pleading for help, still pounding on the door. The second I opened the door she pushed herself in, slamming the door behind her and locking it.
“Wh-“ I started asking, but before I could finish my question she slammed into me so unexpectedly I let out an “oof,” but to my surprise, she pulled me into a tight embrace. Never in my life had I felt anybody hug me as tightly as this crying girl was squeezing me right now. I hugged her back, squeezing her just as tight.
“Wha- what’s wrong?” I asked her with genuine concern as I blew her hair out of my face. She pulled back and looked me in the eye. I couldn’t help but notice that, even through her tears and fear-stricken face, she was absolutely beautiful. Her long dark hair complemented those beautiful green eyes in a perfect sort of way that reminded me of the sunset. They were a shade of green that I had never before seen, almost as if it was a new color that had not been discovered until this girl was born. For a moment, I lost myself in her eyes before the exasperating reality slapped me back to the situation at hand.
“He killed her, he killed Jess.”
Confusion quickly turned to a pit deep in my stomach at what she said. “What? Who? Who’s Jess?” I asked her, still holding her tightly.
He- he came to the door,” She started, barely getting the words out through her sobs and deep breaths. “He asked to use the phone so I let him in. But he had a knife and…. and…” The girl burst into uncontrollable sobs and buried her face in my shoulder. She didn’t finish, but she didn’t need to, the truth of the situation crashed down on me. The same guy who knocked on my door earlier had visited another cabin, and this woman had watched her friend to stabbed to death.
I wanted to panic the same way she was, but knew with certainty that she needed me to stay calm, or at least seem calm. I quickly walked her into the kitchen, grabbed the phone with hands so shaky I nearly dropped it and dialed 911.
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
“Yeah uh…. My name is Dean Johansen, there’s been a Murder.” It felt weird to say, and a weird fear struck me that maybe the voice on the phone wouldn’t believe me.
“What’s your address, sir?” The quick, professional voice responded.
I gave her the address of the cabin I was staying at, thankfully it was on a card by the landline phone. I asked the girl for the address where the murder happened. She didn’t know, but she managed to tell the operator that her name was Sarah and the victim's name as well as a description of the killer.
“Okay Sir, please lock the doors and stay inside, emergency responders will be there in about 30 minutes.” The phone lady told me in a matter-of-fact tone as if this was a normal Tuesday call to IT.
“30 minutes? What do you mean 30 minutes?” I asked with deep exasperation. “There’s a MURDERER on the loose!”
“I’m sorry sir, that’s the closest law enforcement to you, you’re in a remote area.” In those last words, I could finally hear a tone of emotion, a sadness that she couldn’t help.
Before I could respond, there was a loud knock on the door making us both jump. Sarah cried out loudly and I dropped the phone. I signaled to her with a single finger placed over my lips knowing full well that whoever was at the door would have already heard her cry out, and quietly, I walked to the door and nervously looked through the peephole. My heart slammed into my gut at the sight of the man who stood on the porch. It was him, the hooded car salesman asshole, but now his face and beard were splattered with blood.
“I need to borrow your PHONE!” The man yelled in an unhinged sing-song tone, his fake nice had been replaced with a manic and insane tone matching the crazed look In his eye. BOOM! He kicked the door hard, shaking the door but it held strong. I ran to the kitchen to grab my own knife. Sarah was already holding one. BOOM! There was another kick. We stood there, terrified, and not knowing what to do. I braced for another boom, but there wasn’t one. It was silent.
“You go upstairs,” I told Sarah decisively, “I’ll stay down here just in case.” I had come out here willing and prepared to meet death, Sarah didn’t deserve that though. I had only just met her, but I felt a genuine desire to protect her, and if this is how I went, at least my death had meaning now. I was fine with death, but if he came in I could at least try to take him with me.
Sarah nodded, her eyes wide and shocked, and she headed up the stairs. Just as she crossed the final step, the window of the sliding glass back door exploded as a large rock blasted through. I ducked instinctively as shards of glass rained down on me and looked back up to see the man climbing in through the large broken window, smiling with an expression of adrenalized mania. I grabbed an ugly vase off the nearby end table and threw it at him, grunting with every ounce of strength I could summon. It missed terribly to his left, shattering on the cabinet to his right.
With the knife still in my hand, I picked up a wooden chair and charged at him with bravery and confidence I had never felt before. The chair legs hit him square in the chest and face catching him off guard, but it felt like hitting a brick wall. The recoil of the collision pushed the chair back into my chin and we both were knocked to the ground.
I looked over to see him already getting up, but within distance so I slashed at him with my knife, aiming for the neck. I missed again, but still slashed through his face sending a splatter of blood, but he barely flinched. He immediately slashed right back at me, putting a deep cut into my upper chest. I rolled backward, struggling in a panicked frenzy trying to get to my feet.
Before I was up to my feet, the chair hit me hard in my face and knocked me back to the ground. I staggered back up to my feet despite the black spots from the hit to my head, noting the taste of blood in my mouth while the knife slashed past my throat, narrowly missing me. I started punching and slashing wildly in a frenzy, overcome with an unfamiliar rage that perhaps had been waiting for years to be freed. I admit that I don’t know how to fight, I’d honestly never needed to before, but something was working. I connected at least once more with the knife slicing a fresh wound on his shoulder. He was backing up and then, naturally, I tripped.
My knife clattered on the hardwood floor, I rose to my knees reaching for the knife but was knocked down from a hard kick to my side. Every last molecule of oxygen in my lungs was expelled from my body with a disgusting grunt. I tried to breathe and regain myself but only found an excruciating sharp pain in my ribs from where I was kicked. The man stood over me, a triumphant sneer on his face, ready to bring the knife down on me. Suddenly, I didn’t want to die anymore.
As the man started to bring the knife down, a chair crashed into his upper back and his head splintering with impact. He cried out in fury as the knife fell from his hand and he fell to his knees while I rolled away to lengthen the distance. I saw Sarah’s wide-eyed face looking down from over the loft banister, she had thrown the chair that had kept me from getting stabbed right there on the floor. It was the chair I had been standing on when Sarah arrived.
“YOU FUCKING BITCH!” The man yelled out, already back on his feet and armed. He started running to the stairs with his knife hand. Sarah was screaming as he seemed to forget about me and set his predatory sight on her. Her screams sparked a new sense of urgent adrenaline and I found myself picking up my knife and running after him despite the pain.
Sarah was backed into a corner holding her large kitchen knife in front of her in both fear and bold defiance, while the intruder looked for his opportunity to make his move. He slashed at her, missing short but causing her to flinch badly. Before he could take a follow-up shot, I slammed the knife square into his upper back. The blade penetrated the right of his spine with a dull sound accompanied by a horrific crack that must have been a rib giving way.
The man collapsed to his knees while I pushed into the handle of the knife trying to drive it deeper. He let out a roar of pure rage and pushed back against me. I tried to drive him to the ground but he was stronger than I, even with the knife in his back, and was able to struggle to his feet.
While this was happening, I saw Sarah running through the door with my rope. Instantly, I understood her plan. I wrapped my arms around his waist and arms, clasping my hands in front to trap his arms at his sides. I squeezed as tight as I possibly could as Sarah slipped the noose over his head. He was fighting violently now, and I struggled to restrain him. I held on as tight as I could, but the grip of my hands was starting to slip. Sarah was hurriedly tying the other end of the rope to the banister with shaky hands.
With a sudden burst of strength, my grip failed and the killer broke his arms free and lunged at Sarah. I charged at him, putting my shoulder into his side like a regular rugby player, pushing him toward the banister. Sarah jumped into the fight as well, throwing her weight into him. Together, we put all the remaining energy we had into one final push, knocking the killer over the banister and off the loft.
The rope caught. With an audible CRACK, his fall was broken, as was his neck. Both of our knots had held. The body swayed gently over the living room suspended by a noose tied to the banister. My noose.
Sarah and I sat outside, waiting for the police to arrive. We’d walked out there, or rather she awkwardly helped me. After the moment was done, all of the physical pain came crashing into me at once. She was holding a bathroom towel over the deep cut in my chest, which was bleeding profusely and soaking my once white shirt in crimson.
As the cool mountainous air started bringing my body temperature to a reasonable level, she broke the awkward silence addressing the elephant in the room. The elephant being the noose that had been hanging in the bedroom. “Were you going to…?”.
“Yes,” I admitted, looking down at my knees. I didn’t need her to finish the question, I knew what she meant.
Sarah gently grasped my chin and pulled it up. “Please don’t,” she told me, looking into my eyes. I once again saw in her teary eyes just how beautiful she was. The most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.
“I won’t,” I promised, surprised to hear the words from my lips with tears now finding their way down my face, and I meant it.
That was just over 18 months ago now, and I’m happy to tell you that I’m still here, but this story isn’t just the story of how I didn’t kill myself, but also the story of how I met the love of my life, how we were bonded through mutually assured survival. We saved each other, but she saved me in more ways than one
We are celebrating our honeymoon now, at a beautiful beach house overlooking the ocean. We chose a location as far from the woods as possible. We are still healing, but we are healing together. Sarah is healing from the trauma of her best friend, Jessica, being murdered. I am healing from years of personal neglect and self-destructive behavior. I didn’t realize how broken I truly was until I met Sarah, and you can’t fix what you don't acknowledge to be broken.
As I sit here now, under the most beautiful sunset I have seen since that fateful day, I finally realize what was missing in my life. What was missing was not just the feeling of being loved, but having somebody to love.
2024.06.07 10:52 Aggressive-Ad6060 Question about board
Hello !
I've recently started playing bolt action, after a ten year dry spell of tabletop wargaming, and I have realized my kitchen table is A/ too small and B/ round, so i cant really play on it above like 200, 250 pts without it becoming ridiculous. And since i dont plan to play on the ground ( Ah my knees ! Ah my back ! Getting in age suck ) well i planned to buy myself a wooden board of 124 by 124 cm for some 500 to 750 games.
I'll see about making another, bigger board when i get or want to play beyond that points limits so the smallish size is really not much of a concern. Also a bigger board will require me to buy another kitchen table or build in feet in the board and i really dont want to deal with that just yet.
I'm not looking to make something complicated, its a desert board after all. A flat sandy surface is enough, the terrain features and building will come on their own later as i make them.
I am simply wondering what kind of wood to use for the board itself... i have heard that mdf and plywood are good but have a tendency to warp if you put too much pva on it...
Or should i grab some random cheap wood and slap a mat on top of it and call it a day.
submitted by Aggressive-Ad6060 to boltaction [link] [comments]
I've recently started playing bolt action, after a ten year dry spell of tabletop wargaming, and I have realized my kitchen table is A/ too small and B/ round, so i cant really play on it above like 200, 250 pts without it becoming ridiculous. And since i dont plan to play on the ground ( Ah my knees ! Ah my back ! Getting in age suck ) well i planned to buy myself a wooden board of 124 by 124 cm for some 500 to 750 games.
I'll see about making another, bigger board when i get or want to play beyond that points limits so the smallish size is really not much of a concern. Also a bigger board will require me to buy another kitchen table or build in feet in the board and i really dont want to deal with that just yet.
I'm not looking to make something complicated, its a desert board after all. A flat sandy surface is enough, the terrain features and building will come on their own later as i make them.
I am simply wondering what kind of wood to use for the board itself... i have heard that mdf and plywood are good but have a tendency to warp if you put too much pva on it...
Or should i grab some random cheap wood and slap a mat on top of it and call it a day.
2024.06.07 09:00 ItsTomorrowNow Does anyone have a plan or itemised sheet of materials for a wooden sim rig.
Hi all, I've been looking at aluminium rigs but I feel it may be too expensive especially if I'm looking at a direct drive wheel plus seat. Problem is that most wooden rigs don't seem to have any dimensions. I'm mainly looking for dimensions and a bill of materials for the wood and ply material, I think I can make a triple monitor stand by making a normal stand with a triple monitor bracket from Amazon. Anyone else have any experience with building a wooden rig?
submitted by ItsTomorrowNow to simracing [link] [comments]