First Issue!

• Author's Note: Hello! Yes I am not dead, yet! And so we march on with the series! I still have more college work to do until I'm done, but we're getting near that. Also I'd like to officially say that Issue #61 can be considered as an official end OF a BOOK 1 for Beast World. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!!! I SAID end of book 1 NOT the series! We shall continue on, soon enough. So, relax, enjoy the read and if you like what you see, you can support me on my ko-fi page! This is also where I post art drawn by me of various characters from Beast World or other series or one shots I write!

The night before Michael's departure was one of various mixed emotions, that melded into a concoction of both cheer and anxiousness. The human and his tribe of tuskir would share food as they aided their newest member in his preparations.
Woh and Oinna worked carefully together to prepare several vials of poison, diluted with water, as well as a few herbal medicines.
Zurra and Azhul would work the forge, daughter and mother stoking the fires of their smithy's hearth to finish up a steel knuckle duster that the older woman had been preparing to forge from before. After replacing the metal rods on his leather bracers with steel and studding the leather for extra reinforcement, the two put forward their creations for Michael to dawn, to which he was greatful.
Urla and Runhar would share more of what they know about the Rock Backs or what to expect of their leader, but the discussions from before already covered most of that information.
After all that could be done had been finished, a fresh leather backpack of supplies was provided to the human with a few extra tools, besides his own belongings, and then all that remained to do was for them to steel themselves.
Maybe not everyone realized the implications of this separating venture, but one knot that could build in their throats would be at the realization that their newest tribe member was about to leave and depending on how things would fare... he might come back unharmed and with stories plentiful in detail of what happened, he might not return to them at all or, at worst... he'd be befallen by a fate they'd not know of.
A final meal together was being held, most of the people of the tribe awake, decided to remain as such and hold out this white night with Michael, waiting with a discomfort that was palpable in the air. As the time of reckoning was slowly coming upon them, the relaxed attitudes of all involved began to stifle and die down.
Vodra and Nushii were situated closest by him, the latter curled up in a half asleep ball next to Michael, rather than sitting. Runhar, Ghura and Azhul, sat further to his sides, their sitting positions, curving around the fire they all encircled, with Oinna, Zurra and Urla being on the other side of the slowly dying flame. And of course, Woh, unlikely to leave herself out from this gathered vigil, was sat atop Michael's hair, camouflaged partially by his thickened curly locks. Nobody knew what to say, there was nothing easy to bring up, but doubt and uneasiness in one's heart might lead them to speak their mind, out of a compassionate worry.
Zurra was the one bearing a heavy seed of doubt and fear in her breast. As she held tightly onto a metal mug full of steaming broth, she took a brief sip of it as her gaze lifted to look at the grouping around the fire. "We certain this be the correct choice? We coulda 'bandon de Hay-yen group, the whol' allyin' with 'em plan... it is too risky to... well, to do this!" The elderly sow spoke, her voice not showing her usual furious anger derived from passion, but instead upset, born of frustration, fear and uncertainty.
"It might be, but I want to do it. I've been thinking why am I doing this to basically save a group of people with whom we were basically at war a month ago. Their upbringing by their leading shaman and elders is not an excuse for their actions, but wouldn't it be nice to get them a chance? A chance that they are also willing to take, even if they feel skeptical about our intentions and us about their?" Michael looked at Nushii who slept and then exchanged a glance with Vodra who gave a slow nod and blink back.
"Bah! These two's exceptions an' ya kno' that." Zurra said as she then sat her mug down on a crate forcefully, spilling a bit of the contents.
"There ain' no point in arguin'. The deal was struck an' backin' out now will jus' give us headaches with the Rock Backs." Gharna said with a snort which vocalized better than any words that she wasn't thrilled either about this.
"Aye, ma'. Ya kno' already when he makes up 'is mind ta do somethin' he sticks to it worse than blood stains on cloth. Heh... same type-a stubborness that got 'im stuck fer hours keepin' yer forge stoked." Azhul added with a chuckle as she looked at her mother than at Michael, who smiled and laughed with a tired tone.
"Even if we don' like it, we have already all agreed to help make this happen. Otherwise I don' think we'd have put the efforts we did towards preparin' Michael fer da trip." Runhar interjected as well as he sipped his own broth from a bowl.
As the consensus from before had been reaffirmed verbally, the group had fallen quiet once more, in a silence that showed the stewing emotions that bubbled below it. Michael felt it too, he knew what these situations were like from having to deal with them with his own family.
"Well, while I'm gone, hopefully not long, I thought it would be good to get some things done, even if not everything gets finished, I'm thinking that we should keep to a... hm... how to word this? A time line?" The human said uncertain on how to properly put his thoughts in words. Certainly would seem unlike him to struggle with this, but only when his guard was down. In this moment there was no immediate threat, so he was as true to the real him as he could be.
"Oh? Afraid things will stagnate while you are gone due to some of us being uncertain of the situation? Although I certainly appreciate yer concern, none shall remain still while I am here. What have you been thinking of?" Urla asked from her seated position, her inquisitive questioning being as cold as her usual tone.
"Well. I believe there's two things that are need to get done. Integrating the remaining Hay-yen and starting up with trading goods. We still have hos-... injured refugees that are being treated, due to their... shakey condition, right? We need to see that they can adapt to their situation like Nushii and Vodra did. Maintain aid and contact with the Hay-yen settlement, I think this would be best done by working together on things you and they need, maybe repairs and expanding a bit." Michael would say certain of his thoughts on the matter.
"I wasn't going to wait for you to ask, but we'll try to help with that as well. I believe it will be... emboldening to see us work along Tuskir for the others." Vodra said while looking at Nushii. Soon after she'd meet Michael's gaze, with a glint of important purpose in them. "And hence we know not what happened with the old shaman, we could also focus on geting a better grasp on that, as well, since we've been discussing about it."
Michael nodded in agreement, his expression showing that he was pleased with Vodra's additions to his points.
Urla would nod as she listened before clearing her throat. "I see the point. We'll be doing our best here, so make sure you return to us in one piece. That is an order from me to you, as your den mother, Michael." The old sow spoke with utmost seriousness in her tone.
"Understood, Elder Urla." He replied with a cheeky tone, a faint smirk creeping up on his lips.
Soon after the human's reply, the slow steps of Yenna approaching could be herd in the crisp silence of the night. The young Tuskir moved with stuttered and tired steps as he came about closer, holding Michael's phone in one hand and a carving of wood in the other.
"Got your fill of references?" Michael asked with a soft smile as Yenna handed him his phone, tucking it into his leather backpack.
"Aye, but tis ain't based on 'em... keepin' those in me workshop. Drew a few sketches in coal based on 'em, too." The young tuskir said with a tired huff. He then held up the tiny wooden statue that depicted an elderly scars covered tuskir, with a billowing cloak and two handaxes.
Michael looked at it as his heart knotted with a renewed sorrowful melancholy. He held up his hand as his expression asked wordlessly if he could hold it to which Yenna handed it. The human looked at it closely. The carved tuskir struck a pose of on guard and ready to attack, the expression although hard to read for Michael, the eyes were shown with a guardian's battle focus carved into them.
"It looks just like the old man... you have an amazing hand Yenna." Michael said while looking the statue of Spek from all angles possible. Unknown if by accident or if by unconcious choice, Michael ran his digits under the statue's base, feeling it to have been carved up.
Turning it upside down he glanced at carved letters in the Tuskir's written tongue, which to him looked akin to unreadable scratches. Before he could even ask about their meaning Yenna spoke, almost solemnly.
"Tough Hide Spek, The Forever Guardian." The young tuskir said as he sniffled while seating himself near Michael.
"Looks like a good piece, brother." Gharna said from the side with a soft proudness to her voice.
"Indeed. Where are you thinking of putting it?" Michael confirmed his own feelings of admiration towards the small sculpture.
"Thought ya could hold onto it, a reminder o' us fer while yer gone. I was useless in that fight, hidin' with the younger piglets an' guardin' 'em... actin' as if it got to it I could protect them... while you all were layin' yer lives down, fightin'. This is the only thing I'm good at... you were close to 'im so I thought it would be only natural that he look over ya for us." Yenna said with a pain of his own in his words as he verbally flagellated himself over his helplessness.
"Yenna. Don't be harsh on yourself, everyone's got their talents. Yours will be most important." Michael then stood up in a very official manner and he put a hand on the young tuskir's shoulder. "You'll actually make yourself invaluable. You'll be pretty much carving all the handles for the steel peelers we will be selling. And to make the sales go better I recommend making them with engraved designs in the wood or even carving random names into them, since some people love buying stuff like that."
At that point Yenna looked back at Michael, the previous glint of emotionally charged energy dissapearing from his gaze while the unhearable echo of a mute glass crack seemed to make the young tuskir wince. "I'll be what?!"
"Yes." Michael said with a small proud smile as he nodded and patted Yenna on the back.
Gharna couldn't help herself, so she let out snorts, chuckles and short squeals as she giggled. "W-well hah! Ahem... pft... blood brother, you always did say you liked to carve things daintier than plain handaxes..." she added in a teasing tone.
"By the Hunt Father, that sucks for ya Yen-yen." Azhul said trying and succeeding a bit better at masking her chuckles. Still, the large tuskir woman's giggles would be interrupted by a slap on her furred nape from her own mother who seemed to hear her. "AGH! What was that fer?!"
"Who do ya fink is gon' be makin' the blades?" The older buff sow asked while looking at her daughter with mild dissapointment.
Azhul took half a minute longer than she should have to spit out an answer. "Us?" She said while Zurra stared at her with mild dissapointment, giving a single solemn confirming nod. "Oh-... ohhh.... Uughhhhhh... us..." she said with a premptively exhausted tone, as she came to this realization, with a deflating snort and groan while facepalming.
Azhul's reaction managed to rip chuckles and hearty laughs from most of those around, Michael laughing hard enough to nearly keel over from it. As the human took a moment to calm down, the corner of his eye would be greeted by the first wisps of light presenting themselves on the horizon. The moment he saw them, his jovial laugh seemed to drop, his eyes looking at the slowly crawling rays of light as if they were telling him something.
"Well... it seems like my time has expired. I'll... uhm... check my shack once over and make sure I didn't forget anything." The human said as he took a glance into his leathet backpack and then slung it over his shoulders.
"Ah-... alright. We'll start cleaning up here and when we're all done, we'll see you at the gate." Runhar said as he finished his broth, his tone betraying his own insecurities despite supporting this final plan.
Michael nodded back to the captain before taking a few moments to grasp a half asleep Woh and untangle her from the curls at the top of his head. Although he tried not to wake her, the amphoran woke up blinking lazily one eye at a time before her gaze focused on Michael's face.
"Aaagh~... is the borin' talking done, yet?" She asked while stretching relaxed inbetween Michael's digits, then groaning and going limp much like a sibling would when carried by the older one.
"Yeah. And I'm also preparing to leave. Sun's about to come up so I need to get to the Rock Backs." The human replied with a chuckle at the display before leaning down to set Woh on the seat he previously occupied.
The little amphibian humanoid held onto his digits as if to protest the release. "You promise yer comin' back, ye? I've got years o' hugs and cuddle naps I gotta make up for and I'm needin' ya for that." She said while slowly letting go and curling up on the seat, her gullet inflating as she croaked with exhaustion.
"Mhm. Don't worry. I'll come back and that's a promise I intend to keep." Michael said giving Woh a few scritches onto her back, at which the amphoran let a few low and quick croaks akin to a cat's pur.
"Good... an-... don't take too long... otherwise I'm latchin' myself to your face and never letting go, kero..." Woh said while struggling to stay awake, her conciousness fading as she'd doze off.
Michael smile as he laughed silently responding with a nod before making his way to the shack he called a home for the past while. Inside the ex-storage hut, he'd give the place one final cursory glance, making sure to pack a few clothes he nearly forgot thrown about. Once that was done with, as he was about to turn and exit, the door would creak behind him.
Vodra, together with a half awake Nushii, waltzed in slowly. Michael, unsurprised, would turn and smile as he rubbed one of his eyes. "Eh? Going to sleep already? And here I thought you'd see me off at the gate."
"Nushii's about to keel over asleep again, so I thought it'd be good if she was at least in our beds. I for one am not a fan of things such as seeing someone off in a group." Vodra said while leaning against a creaky wooden wall.
Nushii would stumble a bit before flopping herself onto Michael, who, despite being startled, manages to hold himself and the half asleep Hay-yen up. "Why ya need to go? Who are we going to listen to music with as we sleep, eh? Screw the others... my cousin is a doo doo head anyways..." she mumbled and groaned while nuzzling her head into Michael's hair while closing her half open tired eyes.
"Ay... don't say that. Sigh... I know what it is like to have toxic family members... there's no excuse for the things they did, but that doesn't mean some of them can change, ya know? She was really fired up back at camp. She at least seems to want to have you around. Give it a go and see how you feel about it, then decide if YOU want her in your life, ok?" Michael would say while scratching one of Nushii's ears with a hand and petting her shoulder with the other. "Also... please get off... I feel like my bacl or my knees will give out... p-please." He groaned.
Nushii would let out an affirmative yawned yap like noise, although hard to tell what exactly she was agreeing to. She'd push herself off of Michael and then flop onto one of the beds, sniffing about and crawling her way into a curled up position, smack in the middle of Michael's bed.
The human giggled at the sight as he began making his way to the door, where Vodra stood leaned against the wall. "I uhm... wanted to thank you... for everything." He'd say looking at Vodra as he whispered his words.
"Thank me? I should be the one doing that." Vodra replied in the same low tone.
"Well... I wanted to thank you for all the help you've given around, for trusting me, for co-operating in the beginning... for not slitting my throat in my sleep once you two were out of holding, heh." Michael said with a clearly jesting tone towards the end.
Vodra listened silently as her ears would lower, her head turning to look at him. "I see. I feel like I am the one that owes you... thinking about it... it sounds foolish, but getting taken hostage was the best thing that happened to me. Before that I found myself not really caring about much... I just wanted to do what I had to do and sleep... because at least when I was asleep I didn't feel miserable. Now... I'm actually relatively eager to see what I'm doing when I'm awake."
The Hay-yen woman took a moment to glance at Nushii, who had settled in and appeared to be asleep, as she then gazed back at the human and with a rather stiff and awkward motion she's lean forward her massive and hunched frame, pressing her forehead against the side of his face and her snout into his neck. "When we talked about The Devourer... before that... I never even considered if it was not true or fake or at least... not my truth... not what I wanted to believe in. I just accepted it and resigned myself to the fate I was preached to end up with... if not for you... I'd still see each day as a bleak and empty moment of a pointless existence." Vodra said as small whines escaped at times between her words, a wetness taking to her eyes, that Michael felt against the side of his face.
The human would acknowledge Vodra's subtle burst of emotions by wrapping an around her neck, rubbing the top of her head between the ears. "I struggled with something like that to... the feeling of living for no reason only to know you'll die and that the end might be horrible. The faith of my specific tribe of people back home preached of their beliefs in a bleak and depressing manner, too. I hated it and 'cause of it... I still fear death now, but I've been getting better, you will too. No true Gods would want their mortal children to be miserable, instead they'd want them to learn to live satisfied and enlightened lives and... if there's no Gods that await us when it is all done... at least we know we lived in a good honest way, that we deemed fit and that made us happy."
Vodra didn't reply as she shook lightly against Michael, instead listening content. She'd pull her head back to look at the human, half his face covered in a mix of stray fur hairs mixed with a wetness produced by her tears. As if by instinct she'd give his mug a few licks to clean up the mess before pulling back. "Well... y-yeah. That's what I'm thankful for." She'd say as her usual collected self would start showing again. "Now, get going. Don't want those Rock Backs to go back on their deal 'cause you're arriving late. I need to catch a bit of rest anyways..." The Hay-yen would say as she went past Michael and then curled up on her own bed.
"Sleep well." The human replied as one last faint smile rested upon his lips as he exited the hut, the door creaking as he left.
His lonesome steps made the mix of grass and dirt bemeath his boots to crackle and slosh as he walked. Still, Michael didn't hear them as his mind thought of the situation that was awaiting him. Nobody he could trust would be by his side, he'd have to fake his true self for the purpose of apperances and maintaing their ruse.
'Heh... and here I thought I'd never be the type of person to pretend to be someone he isn't, for the sake of gaining something. Sigh... there's a first for everything, I guess. I said the same thing when I was younger about smoking, yet I fell into that myself. Eeeeh... I could go for a smoke... if I had any left.' Michael thought as he then bumped into something akin to a soft pillar.
Taking half a second to recover from his broken focus, Michael looked at the obstacle he bumped, quickly realizing it was actually Azhul. Confused, his mind quickly came to a possible conclusion to her sudden appearance near his old hut. "Oh- Sorry for taking a moment longer to linger! Was saying goodnight to Vodra and Nushii. Took a second longer than I thought."
"Heh. Aye, yer spot on an' no worries. I just wondered if yer reconsidering this whol' thing. Wouldn't blame ya if you just wanted us to fight it out wif the Rock Backs. It'd make things easier honestly." The large young sow said with a clearly jovial tone, albeit with a tinge of exhaustion to it.
"Heh. I couldn't ask that of you all. We barely made it through that ordeal and not without paying hefty prices... all of us." Michael said in a easy tone that tried and failed to hide a bitterness he still held in himself.
"... Michael. Spek wouldn't blame ya fer his death, truly... Ya kno' that, right?" Azhul said in a softened tone as her ears flopped slightly, a small huff leaving her flat snout.
"I know. I discussed this before. I just... it's not wether he blames me or not... it is wether I can stop blaming myself for it." Michael said with a strained face, his expression seeming to tense, his nostrils flared as he pressed his lips together tight, his eyes shining from the moon light with the glaze of tears that coated them, still and unshed. "So, I'll do my best to care for you all... like Spek would have."
Azhul looked Michael in the eye and after he took a moment to release the tension in his body, the large Tuskir woman, went on to wrap her arms around him and embrace him. He'd pull the human's head into her chest as a three fingered hand grasped his back, the other resting onto the crest of his head.
"Eh?! Azhul?! Didn't you say this is somethi-" Michael yelped muffled from the embrance, his previous sombre mood entirely changing, simply from how sudden the hug yhay enveloped him was.
"Aye. Somethin' ya don' just do with anyone, for tuskir that is. Ya hoomans do it for multiple reasons, ain't that about right? Consoling someone, sounds about right as one o' 'em." The built sow said while slightly tensing her arms around him, as if afraid he'll slip from her grasp. She rested her head on top of his, taking a second to sniff his hair lightly.
"Ah-... yeah... that'd be a reason. Heh... thank you... this... does help." Michael said as he wrapped his own arms around the tuskir woman, although unable to fully wrap them around her.
Azhul huffed repeatedly quick and short as her flat nose nuzzled into Michael's curls, before she looked up, staring at the starry sky while still holding him. "Oi. Ya make sure you come back in one piece, ya hear? And don' go dying, getting nabbed, fallin' fer some ditzy nobody's schemes or anythin' that'll keep ya from coming back to... to... to us, ye?"
"Heh. Don't worry. I'll make sure as soon as I'm done there, I'm coming back ASAP... ah... you'd not know what 'ASAP' means..." Michael said from the hug with an awkward laugh.
"Eh. Presume it's some word that's supposed to mean that you'll come quick or as soon as possible. So don' worry. I getcha." Azhul said as she seemed to take a few moments longer before letting go of Michael, the hand that wrapped to the human's back, now lagged behind a moment longer before letting go with a twitch in the tuskir woman's digits.
Michael realizing it wasn't the time to explain acronyms, nodded as she smiled with a relaxed exhale. "Yeah. Just about that. Well. Let's go then. Don' wanna make the others have second thoughts as well." He'd say while starting to walk in the direction of the gate. Still, Michael stopped immediately as he noticed Azhul was still turned back and unmoving. "Ah... you're not coming?"
The large sow seemed frozen for a few moments, her previous hand still semi outstretched forward, as if reaching for something in the air. After her digits twitched once more and a louder sligtly snotty sounding huff escaped her flat nose, Azhul stretched and let out a yawn. "Ah-... w-well... huff ...I already said my piece. Gonna go ahead an' get some sleep." She replied as she then began heading in the opposing direction at a slow pace.
"Oh, right. Rest well and take care! I'll miss ya and your mother! Hope we can forge more stuff together when I'm back!" Michael replied with his spirits properly uplifted.
Azhul staggered her steps at his words, as if from exhaustion. "... C-Can't wait. Come back already." She said as she waved with the back of her hand, still going her way to rest.
Michael nodded despite knowing she couldn't see him as he then headed to the gate. There more words, encouragements and goodbyes were exchanged by all members of the tribe to their departing pink member. After a last awkward moment of half muttered sentences, Runhar had the gates opened, Michael stepping out towards the darkened forest.
Before he got too far and the rest of his tribe closed up their little safe haven, the human turned to them and in the dim light of the few torches around, he said: "I'll miss you all! See you soon!"
From there his departure felt as quick as the wind, as his form faded into the black nothingness of the forest at night. All of a sudden, the time this stranger turned friend spent in this little settlement, in the middle of nowhere, felt a little shorter than before, but not any less important to all involved.

Hi, y'all. Looking for advice on how to move forward. My girlfriend and I were planning on moving in together this fall as our apartment leases were originally going to end within a month of each other. However, while looking over her lease it says that her end date is in July, 3 months before her usual term date. Her leasing office says that they can't do anything about it and that she has to either renew or move out by then (and if anyone has advice on that issue, please comment as well).
That puts us in a weird situation, as neither of us can afford a month to month or a 2 person apartment while also paying for my own place until fall. As far as I can tell, our options are to either (a) have her move in with me in the meantime, and put her stuff in a storage unit, or (b) break my lease and move in together in July. My own lease agreement is vague on the subject of early termination, stating that "In addition to your termination rights referred to in [paragraphs outlining special termination rights in TX], if this provision applies under Lease Details, you may terminate the Lease prior to the end of the Lease term if all of the following occur: [written notice, not in default, pay back discounts and credits]." I'm not sure if that can be interpreted as an Early Termination Clause, or if I have to qualify for Special Termination as well.
Regardless, I'm looking for the best solution to save both money and my credit score. I live in a studio with one dog and one cat, and if my girlfriend moved in with me she'd be bringing her dog and cat as well, adding another layer of risk. We both just pulled ourselves out of an unemployment stint so money is tight. Any and all advice is welcome. TIA!

Hi all,
The neighbors to my left just today shipped in a prebuilt shed that they are actually using a tiny home because they have about 7- 8 people living in a 3 bed 2 bath, and while I can understand families living together, I just don’t understand why they put this in the front yard right on our property line.
My biggest issue is that it is sitting on cinder blocks that are on top of some type of wooden stick? It looks very uneven and unsafe, and I am very worried about a storm knocking it over as we experience frequent tornadoes here (just had a tornado touch down this past weekend 5 miles away) so it is a rational fear. Additionally, they have a large back yard they could put it in and to be frank this is a huge eyesore.
I looked up the city laws and anything 10x10 or over requires a permit, I do not know if they have a permit, but surely this “foundation” can’t be legal? We have had issues with these neighbors previously as well, stealing food/packages and extremely loud music all day and night so I really am not pleased with this. I know it’s their property and they can do what they want but I am genuinely concerned this is going to affect my property if a slight breeze blows through. Any advice? I do plan on calling the city Monday to see if they do have a permit or if this is legal.
https://imgur.com/gallery/1JWbVoP
** An update: I called the city this morning and everything everyone has said on here has been correct. In our zoning you cannot have any storage buildings/tiny homes at ALL in the front yard, and she confirmed their address did not pull a permit. There are also setback laws they are breaking like everyone said, both by it being on my property line and it is also too close to the road and absolutely of course cannot be on the water main like it is. It is also more illegal for them to live in it. Because they did not get a permit or inspection all fines are doubled if they want to keep it and move it to the backyard. The enforcement officer will be here either this afternoon or first thing tomorrow.
Again, this is the first time I have reported these people for anything despite their constant nuisances and I wouldn’t have called at all if they had just put it in their expansive backyard to begin with. I appreciate the advice everyone has given me and hopefully this shed will not be there much longer.
Update 2: Another update - just got a call from the enforcement officer, turns out I wasn’t even the first to report it, almost the entire neighborhood did and he just left their house and they have 48 hours to get rid of it. They can’t even keep it at this point because they didn’t get any permits at all, unsurprisingly. He said if it’s not gone by Thursday morning to call him back immediately and it’ll be handled haha

I’m opening a coffee shop in a trailer and one of the problems I can’t figure out is milk storage, I’m planning on offering alternative milks which are shelf stable till opened but don’t want to alienate customers by only offering these. However shelf stable uht milk will compromise the quality off the coffee, it has a certain taste to it and I can tell when it’s been used and from experience it just doesn’t steam as well as fresh milk. but I’m not sure how else to get around the issue due to the limited space in the fridges we have.
If any one has ever worked in or owned a business like this and is able to shed some light on any solutions they may have used or seen it would be appreciated.

I have a strange property line where the retaining wall to grade between yards (4' difference) is 18" inside the line. I would like to build a shed as large as possible within the corner of the yard - this looks like about 70 sq ft in order to leave 4" around the fence sides and not run into an existing tree or hardscaping in the other direction. This leaves a 14" cantilever for the shed floor if I decide to place the footings (posts supporting a skid foundation) just inside of the wall. Or I could rest shed on the retaining wall. I intend to store normal shed things - hobbies I don't have time for, garden tools, christmas decorations, etc. but knowing how things accumulate lets say the shed will have a 1k capacity plus at times two people organizing plus the weight of its own framing, sheathing and siding. Call that 3,500 lbs very rough estimate. Assuming the project moves forward considerations are 1) does a cantilever from footings placed behind the wall really make a significant difference in moving the load on the retaining wall to the soil behind it, compared with just building the bottom of the floor framing to the top of the retaining wall? 2) does removing significant soil (i.e. 3,500 lbs of potentially wet clay which is about 36 cu ft or about 8" of soil underneath the planned structure) offset the load of the shed? 3) do you see any other glaring issues with this idea? To be clear this structure is not for habitation it's just for storage but regardless of the purpose I do not want to compromise the retaining wall.

Hello,
Several partners and I are looking to buy some land (maybe around 40 acres give or take) in Wisconsin. Our long-term goal is to form an ecovillage, but we know it may take a long time to make it happen due to zoning and local bureaucracy. But after we acquire the land, and as we are working on zoning, we really want to see it used to grow fruit and vegetable produce (preferably organic). We are planning to build one or more greenhouses, storage sheds, and other infrastructure. We are not farmers ourselves, but do plan to live there eventually (and do a lot of gardening, permaculture, etc.).
If you are a small farmer looking to start/expand your operation selling to farmer’s markets and/or CSA, we would love to talk about partnering with you. The terms would have to be attractive for you, i.e. rent would probably just be give us some extra produce. You can use the greenhouse and other sheds. If you are into our ecovillage idea, you would also have the opportunity to buy into the land.
There are a lot of details to be discussed, but if you think this might be something you would like to explore, please comment or (better yet) message me.

I can't forget what my dad told me that night...
When I was in high school my dad lived with my three aunts and grandfather that had dementia. My youngest aunt and I were very close, only two years apart in age. During this time in our lives, we were very obsessed with YouTube videos about the supernatural. This led into the rabbit hole of Ouija board stories, most of which were obviously fake looking back on it.
One night Dad was very drunk (he was an alcoholic) and my aunt and I were watching people play with Ouija boards. We had decided to ask my dad if he had ever had any experience with "spooky" stuff. Or if he believed Ouija boards were real. He first started off by stating that he did not believe them. He mentioned something along the lines of believing it had something to do with kinetic energy.
Before I get into everything that had transpired in his telling of the story I would like to give a little backstory. When my father was a child, he lived with only his mother. His father wasn't around most of his life and for the most part, wasn't in the picture. He wandered around and slept with many women instead of his wife. This caused my dad to live solely with his mom and was raised by her.
Now, about my grandmother... She was very peculiar, to say the least. She was somewhat clinically insane and would say a lot of odd things. I never got the chance to meet her as she died when I was very young, but I've heard many stories about her. My grandmother didn't work and drew a disability check due to being mentally unstable.
My father had told me accounts of her believing in the supernatural and how we had a family of traveling mediums and such. She also told stories about being a little girl and seeing red eyes at the end of her bed that would come into her room at night. Things such as that.
Continuing onto the story, since my dad was drunk when recalling the story, many details would get added on as he would retell them. I guess I should mention that he was belligerent during this retelling, but the details every time were always the same, only slightly different. One detail that always remained the same was that no matter what, he should never touch the Ouija board in their attic.
My dad said he had a friend over one night, they were very close friends at this point in time. They thought it would be fun to sneak out of the house and go to a shed a little way from the house. It was a small shed made only for handling small bits of storage. It was empty due to my grandmother previously buying a newer model. My dad had snuck into the attic before heading out grabbing the Ouija board and going to meet his friend at the shed. They waited until it was dark and carried a singular flashlight along with a blindfold.
Once, inside of the shed they had devised a plan where one would hold the flashlight while the other would look away while wearing the blindfold so that they would know if it was real or not. Also, so that the one playing the Ouija board could not cheat and move the piece. They played this game a few times with nothing happening. They did a few rounds of back and forth before it circled back around to my dad's turn. He took the piece and covered his eyes with a blindfold looking away. A click of a flashlight sounded, and he began by asking the board a question, "Can anyone hear me? Hello?".
Abruptly, the piece flew hitting the wall with a hard thud. Both my dad and his friend jumped scurrying over to the shed door startled by the events that occurred. My dad said that they had looked at each other bewildered with fear, asking each other if they had done that. He said there was too much fear in his friend's eyes for him to be lying and that he had only a singular finger on the moving piece, lightly placed onto it. He said that this had always stuck with them.
He still doesn't know if what transpired that day was real but can't easily rationally explain what happened that night. The next day they said they had told his mom, who was visibly upset... even angry with them. She took the board out, breaking and smashing it into tiny pieces, before tossing it to the ground and setting it into flames. They never spoke about that night again.
I never had the chance to ask him, since his sober years, if the story was real. But every now and then he mentions when on a video call with him that a figure watches him from his room. It's there when he leaves for work and there when he comes back. I've never seen the figure myself as I have moved states. For now- (I got a phone call at this moment)
As I was getting ready to finish this retelling, I received news from one of my aunts that my great-aunt had died. She was my paternal grandmother’s sister. I knew my dad was very close to her, so I decided that reaching out would be for the best. The call had lasted quite some time. It was a video call as usual, at one point he began showing me the corner of the room again questioning whether or not I saw the figure once again. I answered telling him that I couldn’t see the figure that he was telling me about.
This has begun to occur more often than I’d like to admit.
He peppered the same question throughout the phone call in which I began to wonder if had begun drinking again. At one point he began to act unconvinced that I could not see this figure that he did, asking multiple times if I was lying as he had his camera pointed towards a wall. I’m beginning to feel worried and not sure what to do about this.
I guess I should mention another concerning detail, during our call he said that his mother (my grandmother) used to see things like this as well. My grandmother had no history of drinking or abusing any sort of substances. My aunt and I have been speculating whether or not he is hallucinating due to recovery from alcohol. He also has been sober for well over a year going onto two now.
After the prolonged questioning, there was a moment of silence in which I broke it by asking what exactly Grandma would see. This is where my update comes in. He told me that when he was growing up his grandmother would talk about these red eyes that she would see at night. I mentioned this story in my last post but had never really gotten much detail as it was just a small mention as to why everyone thought my grandmother was mentally unstable.
He said she would say things such as, “I grew up in a very big house”, my grandmother was adopted by her aunt and uncle when she was a child, “at night I would get scared because I would wake up and there would be red eyes at the end of the bed”. Up until the new information I’m about to share this is as much as I had heard, which to me was asinine rambling of a mad woman. My dad continued telling me more of what she’d tell him, “Sometimes I would feel hands around my ankles, and they would squeeze leaving red marks and bruises”.
He didn’t elaborate much further after telling me about the bruises and marks, but I could tell in his voice that there was much more. I took advantage of this time to ask him if he ever had any bruises or marks. He answered promptly with a “no”.
I told him that was good and didn’t prod any further on that matter. I then asked if Grandma told him any more stories and if any of them happened to contain a figure. He remained silent momentarily and then replied, “There was once” he paused, “after the night with the Ouija board”. He took a deep breath as if recalling the events had made something inside of him recoil, “After mom burned the Ouija board and Tom (dad’s friend) had left, she sat me down. She told me that the reason she hadn’t wanted me to mess with the Ouija board was far more than just because she believed they were demonic.” He continued, “She said that when she was a little girl she played with one once, the same one that we owned. From what she said it makes me think that’s why she sees the eyes”.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hold my breath for a couple minutes as he told me that it had been getting late and I’m one of the biggest ‘scaredy cats’ I know. I asked why he thought that they were connected, and he said he was not sure, but sometimes he felt as if those same eyes watched him from time to time.
We didn’t get to talk much longer as my youngest son had woken up from his sleep. I was disappointed that the call had to end abruptly as I didn’t get to ask him what he meant by that.
I think I might make a trip to see my dad soon, maybe that would be good for him. I know I could use the company and maybe I can get more out of this. If anything, else I can check on my dad’s mental state, I hope that he is doing well and not going off the deep end like my grandmother. I will try to keep you guys updated, it might be a week or so by my next post.

I can't forget what my dad told me that night...
When I was in high school my dad lived with my three aunts and grandfather that had dementia. My youngest aunt and I were very close, only two years apart in age. During this time in our lives, we were very obsessed with YouTube videos about the supernatural. This led into the rabbit hole of Ouija board stories, most of which were obviously fake looking back on it.
One night Dad was very drunk (he was an alcoholic) and my aunt and I were watching people play with Ouija boards. We had decided to ask my dad if he had ever had any experience with "spooky" stuff. Or if he believed Ouija boards were real. He first started off by stating that he did not believe them. He mentioned something along the lines of believing it had something to do with kinetic energy.
Before I get into everything that had transpired in his telling of the story I would like to give a little backstory. When my father was a child, he lived with only his mother. His father wasn't around most of his life and for the most part, wasn't in the picture. He wandered around and slept with many women instead of his wife. This caused my dad to live solely with his mom and was raised by her.
Now, about my grandmother... She was very peculiar, to say the least. She was somewhat clinically insane and would say a lot of odd things. I never got the chance to meet her as she died when I was very young, but I've heard many stories about her. My grandmother didn't work and drew a disability check due to being mentally unstable.
My father had told me accounts of her believing in the supernatural and how we had a family of traveling mediums and such. She also told stories about being a little girl and seeing red eyes at the end of her bed that would come into her room at night. Things such as that.
Continuing onto the story, since my dad was drunk when recalling the story, many details would get added on as he would retell them. I guess I should mention that he was belligerent during this retelling, but the details every time were always the same, only slightly different. One detail that always remained the same was that no matter what, he should never touch the Ouija board in their attic.
My dad said he had a friend over one night, they were very close friends at this point in time. They thought it would be fun to sneak out of the house and go to a shed a little way from the house. It was a small shed made only for handling small bits of storage. It was empty due to my grandmother previously buying a newer model. My dad had snuck into the attic before heading out grabbing the Ouija board and going to meet his friend at the shed. They waited until it was dark and carried a singular flashlight along with a blindfold.
Once, inside of the shed they had devised a plan where one would hold the flashlight while the other would look away while wearing the blindfold so that they would know if it was real or not. Also, so that the one playing the Ouija board could not cheat and move the piece. They played this game a few times with nothing happening. They did a few rounds of back and forth before it circled back around to my dad's turn. He took the piece and covered his eyes with a blindfold looking away. A click of a flashlight sounded, and he began by asking the board a question, "Can anyone hear me? Hello?".
Abruptly, the piece flew hitting the wall with a hard thud. Both my dad and his friend jumped scurrying over to the shed door startled by the events that occurred. My dad said that they had looked at each other bewildered with fear, asking each other if they had done that. He said there was too much fear in his friend's eyes for him to be lying and that he had only a singular finger on the moving piece, lightly placed onto it. He said that this had always stuck with them.
He still doesn't know if what transpired that day was real but can't easily rationally explain what happened that night. The next day they said they had told his mom, who was visibly upset... even angry with them. She took the board out, breaking and smashing it into tiny pieces, before tossing it to the ground and setting it into flames. They never spoke about that night again.
I never had the chance to ask him, since his sober years, if the story was real. But every now and then he mentions when on a video call with him that a figure watches him from his room. It's there when he leaves for work and there when he comes back. I've never seen the figure myself as I have moved states. For now- (I got a phone call at this moment)
As I was getting ready to finish this retelling, I received news from one of my aunts that my great-aunt had died. She was my paternal grandmother’s sister. I knew my dad was very close to her, so I decided that reaching out would be for the best. The call had lasted quite some time. It was a video call as usual, at one point he began showing me the corner of the room again questioning whether or not I saw the figure once again. I answered telling him that I couldn’t see the figure that he was telling me about.
This has begun to occur more often than I’d like to admit.
He peppered the same question throughout the phone call in which I began to wonder if had begun drinking again. At one point he began to act unconvinced that I could not see this figure that he did, asking multiple times if I was lying as he had his camera pointed towards a wall. I’m beginning to feel worried and not sure what to do about this.
I guess I should mention another concerning detail, during our call he said that his mother (my grandmother) used to see things like this as well. My grandmother had no history of drinking or abusing any sort of substances. My aunt and I have been speculating whether or not he is hallucinating due to recovery from alcohol. He also has been sober for well over a year going onto two now.
After the prolonged questioning, there was a moment of silence in which I broke it by asking what exactly Grandma would see. This is where my update comes in. He told me that when he was growing up his grandmother would talk about these red eyes that she would see at night. I mentioned this story in my last post but had never really gotten much detail as it was just a small mention as to why everyone thought my grandmother was mentally unstable.
He said she would say things such as, “I grew up in a very big house”, my grandmother was adopted by her aunt and uncle when she was a child, “at night I would get scared because I would wake up and there would be red eyes at the end of the bed”. Up until the new information I’m about to share this is as much as I had heard, which to me was asinine rambling of a mad woman. My dad continued telling me more of what she’d tell him, “Sometimes I would feel hands around my ankles, and they would squeeze leaving red marks and bruises”.
He didn’t elaborate much further after telling me about the bruises and marks, but I could tell in his voice that there was much more. I took advantage of this time to ask him if he ever had any bruises or marks. He answered promptly with a “no”.
I told him that was good and didn’t prod any further on that matter. I then asked if Grandma told him any more stories and if any of them happened to contain a figure. He remained silent momentarily and then replied, “There was once” he paused, “after the night with the Ouija board”. He took a deep breath as if recalling the events had made something inside of him recoil, “After mom burned the Ouija board and Tom (dad’s friend) had left, she sat me down. She told me that the reason she hadn’t wanted me to mess with the Ouija board was far more than just because she believed they were demonic.” He continued, “She said that when she was a little girl she played with one once, the same one that we owned. From what she said it makes me think that’s why she sees the eyes”.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hold my breath for a couple minutes as he told me that it had been getting late and I’m one of the biggest ‘scaredy cats’ I know. I asked why he thought that they were connected, and he said he was not sure, but sometimes he felt as if those same eyes watched him from time to time.
We didn’t get to talk much longer as my youngest son had woken up from his sleep. I was disappointed that the call had to end abruptly as I didn’t get to ask him what he meant by that.
I think I might make a trip to see my dad soon, maybe that would be good for him. I know I could use the company and maybe I can get more out of this. If anything, else I can check on my dad’s mental state, I hope that he is doing well and not going off the deep end like my grandmother. I will try to keep you guys updated, it might be a week or so by my next post.

I can't forget what my dad told me that night...
When I was in high school my dad lived with my three aunts and grandfather that had dementia. My youngest aunt and I were very close, only two years apart in age. During this time in our lives, we were very obsessed with YouTube videos about the supernatural. This led into the rabbit hole of Ouija board stories, most of which were obviously fake looking back on it.
One night Dad was very drunk (he was an alcoholic) and my aunt and I were watching people play with Ouija boards. We had decided to ask my dad if he had ever had any experience with "spooky" stuff. Or if he believed Ouija boards were real. He first started off by stating that he did not believe them. He mentioned something along the lines of believing it had something to do with kinetic energy.
Before I get into everything that had transpired in his telling of the story I would like to give a little backstory. When my father was a child, he lived with only his mother. His father wasn't around most of his life and for the most part, wasn't in the picture. He wandered around and slept with many women instead of his wife. This caused my dad to live solely with his mom and was raised by her.
Now, about my grandmother... She was very peculiar, to say the least. She was somewhat clinically insane and would say a lot of odd things. I never got the chance to meet her as she died when I was very young, but I've heard many stories about her. My grandmother didn't work and drew a disability check due to being mentally unstable.
My father had told me accounts of her believing in the supernatural and how we had a family of traveling mediums and such. She also told stories about being a little girl and seeing red eyes at the end of her bed that would come into her room at night. Things such as that.
Continuing onto the story, since my dad was drunk when recalling the story, many details would get added on as he would retell them. I guess I should mention that he was belligerent during this retelling, but the details every time were always the same, only slightly different. One detail that always remained the same was that no matter what, he should never touch the Ouija board in their attic.
My dad said he had a friend over one night, they were very close friends at this point in time. They thought it would be fun to sneak out of the house and go to a shed a little way from the house. It was a small shed made only for handling small bits of storage. It was empty due to my grandmother previously buying a newer model. My dad had snuck into the attic before heading out grabbing the Ouija board and going to meet his friend at the shed. They waited until it was dark and carried a singular flashlight along with a blindfold.
Once, inside of the shed they had devised a plan where one would hold the flashlight while the other would look away while wearing the blindfold so that they would know if it was real or not. Also, so that the one playing the Ouija board could not cheat and move the piece. They played this game a few times with nothing happening. They did a few rounds of back and forth before it circled back around to my dad's turn. He took the piece and covered his eyes with a blindfold looking away. A click of a flashlight sounded, and he began by asking the board a question, "Can anyone hear me? Hello?".
Abruptly, the piece flew hitting the wall with a hard thud. Both my dad and his friend jumped scurrying over to the shed door startled by the events that occurred. My dad said that they had looked at each other bewildered with fear, asking each other if they had done that. He said there was too much fear in his friend's eyes for him to be lying and that he had only a singular finger on the moving piece, lightly placed onto it. He said that this had always stuck with them.
He still doesn't know if what transpired that day was real but can't easily rationally explain what happened that night. The next day they said they had told his mom, who was visibly upset... even angry with them. She took the board out, breaking and smashing it into tiny pieces, before tossing it to the ground and setting it into flames. They never spoke about that night again.
I never had the chance to ask him, since his sober years, if the story was real. But every now and then he mentions when on a video call with him that a figure watches him from his room. It's there when he leaves for work and there when he comes back. I've never seen the figure myself as I have moved states. For now- (I got a phone call at this moment)
As I was getting ready to finish this retelling, I received news from one of my aunts that my great-aunt had died. She was my paternal grandmother’s sister. I knew my dad was very close to her, so I decided that reaching out would be for the best. The call had lasted quite some time. It was a video call as usual, at one point he began showing me the corner of the room again questioning whether or not I saw the figure once again. I answered telling him that I couldn’t see the figure that he was telling me about.
This has begun to occur more often than I’d like to admit.
He peppered the same question throughout the phone call in which I began to wonder if had begun drinking again. At one point he began to act unconvinced that I could not see this figure that he did, asking multiple times if I was lying as he had his camera pointed towards a wall. I’m beginning to feel worried and not sure what to do about this.
I guess I should mention another concerning detail, during our call he said that his mother (my grandmother) used to see things like this as well. My grandmother had no history of drinking or abusing any sort of substances. My aunt and I have been speculating whether or not he is hallucinating due to recovery from alcohol. He also has been sober for well over a year going onto two now.
After the prolonged questioning, there was a moment of silence in which I broke it by asking what exactly Grandma would see. This is where my update comes in. He told me that when he was growing up his grandmother would talk about these red eyes that she would see at night. I mentioned this story in my last post but had never really gotten much detail as it was just a small mention as to why everyone thought my grandmother was mentally unstable.
He said she would say things such as, “I grew up in a very big house”, my grandmother was adopted by her aunt and uncle when she was a child, “at night I would get scared because I would wake up and there would be red eyes at the end of the bed”. Up until the new information I’m about to share this is as much as I had heard, which to me was asinine rambling of a mad woman. My dad continued telling me more of what she’d tell him, “Sometimes I would feel hands around my ankles, and they would squeeze leaving red marks and bruises”.
He didn’t elaborate much further after telling me about the bruises and marks, but I could tell in his voice that there was much more. I took advantage of this time to ask him if he ever had any bruises or marks. He answered promptly with a “no”.
I told him that was good and didn’t prod any further on that matter. I then asked if Grandma told him any more stories and if any of them happened to contain a figure. He remained silent momentarily and then replied, “There was once” he paused, “after the night with the Ouija board”. He took a deep breath as if recalling the events had made something inside of him recoil, “After mom burned the Ouija board and Tom (dad’s friend) had left, she sat me down. She told me that the reason she hadn’t wanted me to mess with the Ouija board was far more than just because she believed they were demonic.” He continued, “She said that when she was a little girl she played with one once, the same one that we owned. From what she said it makes me think that’s why she sees the eyes”.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hold my breath for a couple minutes as he told me that it had been getting late and I’m one of the biggest ‘scaredy cats’ I know. I asked why he thought that they were connected, and he said he was not sure, but sometimes he felt as if those same eyes watched him from time to time.
We didn’t get to talk much longer as my youngest son had woken up from his sleep. I was disappointed that the call had to end abruptly as I didn’t get to ask him what he meant by that.
I think I might make a trip to see my dad soon, maybe that would be good for him. I know I could use the company and maybe I can get more out of this. If anything, else I can check on my dad’s mental state, I hope that he is doing well and not going off the deep end like my grandmother. I will try to keep you guys updated, it might be a week or so by my next post.

I can't forget what my dad told me that night...
When I was in high school my dad lived with my three aunts and grandfather that had dementia. My youngest aunt and I were very close, only two years apart in age. During this time in our lives, we were very obsessed with YouTube videos about the supernatural. This led into the rabbit hole of Ouija board stories, most of which were obviously fake looking back on it.
One night Dad was very drunk (he was an alcoholic) and my aunt and I were watching people play with Ouija boards. We had decided to ask my dad if he had ever had any experience with "spooky" stuff. Or if he believed Ouija boards were real. He first started off by stating that he did not believe them. He mentioned something along the lines of believing it had something to do with kinetic energy.
Before I get into everything that had transpired in his telling of the story I would like to give a little backstory. When my father was a child, he lived with only his mother. His father wasn't around most of his life and for the most part, wasn't in the picture. He wandered around and slept with many women instead of his wife. This caused my dad to live solely with his mom and was raised by her.
Now, about my grandmother... She was very peculiar, to say the least. She was somewhat clinically insane and would say a lot of odd things. I never got the chance to meet her as she died when I was very young, but I've heard many stories about her. My grandmother didn't work and drew a disability check due to being mentally unstable.
My father had told me accounts of her believing in the supernatural and how we had a family of traveling mediums and such. She also told stories about being a little girl and seeing red eyes at the end of her bed that would come into her room at night. Things such as that.
Continuing onto the story, since my dad was drunk when recalling the story, many details would get added on as he would retell them. I guess I should mention that he was belligerent during this retelling, but the details every time were always the same, only slightly different. One detail that always remained the same was that no matter what, he should never touch the Ouija board in their attic.
My dad said he had a friend over one night, they were very close friends at this point in time. They thought it would be fun to sneak out of the house and go to a shed a little way from the house. It was a small shed made only for handling small bits of storage. It was empty due to my grandmother previously buying a newer model. My dad had snuck into the attic before heading out grabbing the Ouija board and going to meet his friend at the shed. They waited until it was dark and carried a singular flashlight along with a blindfold.
Once, inside of the shed they had devised a plan where one would hold the flashlight while the other would look away while wearing the blindfold so that they would know if it was real or not. Also, so that the one playing the Ouija board could not cheat and move the piece. They played this game a few times with nothing happening. They did a few rounds of back and forth before it circled back around to my dad's turn. He took the piece and covered his eyes with a blindfold looking away. A click of a flashlight sounded, and he began by asking the board a question, "Can anyone hear me? Hello?".
Abruptly, the piece flew hitting the wall with a hard thud. Both my dad and his friend jumped scurrying over to the shed door startled by the events that occurred. My dad said that they had looked at each other bewildered with fear, asking each other if they had done that. He said there was too much fear in his friend's eyes for him to be lying and that he had only a singular finger on the moving piece, lightly placed onto it. He said that this had always stuck with them.
He still doesn't know if what transpired that day was real but can't easily rationally explain what happened that night. The next day they said they had told his mom, who was visibly upset... even angry with them. She took the board out, breaking and smashing it into tiny pieces, before tossing it to the ground and setting it into flames. They never spoke about that night again.
I never had the chance to ask him, since his sober years, if the story was real. But every now and then he mentions when on a video call with him that a figure watches him from his room. It's there when he leaves for work and there when he comes back. I've never seen the figure myself as I have moved states. For now- (I got a phone call at this moment)
As I was getting ready to finish this retelling, I received news from one of my aunts that my great-aunt had died. She was my paternal grandmother’s sister. I knew my dad was very close to her, so I decided that reaching out would be for the best. The call had lasted quite some time. It was a video call as usual, at one point he began showing me the corner of the room again questioning whether or not I saw the figure once again. I answered telling him that I couldn’t see the figure that he was telling me about.
This has begun to occur more often than I’d like to admit.
He peppered the same question throughout the phone call in which I began to wonder if had begun drinking again. At one point he began to act unconvinced that I could not see this figure that he did, asking multiple times if I was lying as he had his camera pointed towards a wall. I’m beginning to feel worried and not sure what to do about this.
I guess I should mention another concerning detail, during our call he said that his mother (my grandmother) used to see things like this as well. My grandmother had no history of drinking or abusing any sort of substances. My aunt and I have been speculating whether or not he is hallucinating due to recovery from alcohol. He also has been sober for well over a year going onto two now.
After the prolonged questioning, there was a moment of silence in which I broke it by asking what exactly Grandma would see. This is where my update comes in. He told me that when he was growing up his grandmother would talk about these red eyes that she would see at night. I mentioned this story in my last post but had never really gotten much detail as it was just a small mention as to why everyone thought my grandmother was mentally unstable.
He said she would say things such as, “I grew up in a very big house”, my grandmother was adopted by her aunt and uncle when she was a child, “at night I would get scared because I would wake up and there would be red eyes at the end of the bed”. Up until the new information I’m about to share this is as much as I had heard, which to me was asinine rambling of a mad woman. My dad continued telling me more of what she’d tell him, “Sometimes I would feel hands around my ankles, and they would squeeze leaving red marks and bruises”.
He didn’t elaborate much further after telling me about the bruises and marks, but I could tell in his voice that there was much more. I took advantage of this time to ask him if he ever had any bruises or marks. He answered promptly with a “no”.
I told him that was good and didn’t prod any further on that matter. I then asked if Grandma told him any more stories and if any of them happened to contain a figure. He remained silent momentarily and then replied, “There was once” he paused, “after the night with the Ouija board”. He took a deep breath as if recalling the events had made something inside of him recoil, “After mom burned the Ouija board and Tom (dad’s friend) had left, she sat me down. She told me that the reason she hadn’t wanted me to mess with the Ouija board was far more than just because she believed they were demonic.” He continued, “She said that when she was a little girl she played with one once, the same one that we owned. From what she said it makes me think that’s why she sees the eyes”.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hold my breath for a couple minutes as he told me that it had been getting late and I’m one of the biggest ‘scaredy cats’ I know. I asked why he thought that they were connected, and he said he was not sure, but sometimes he felt as if those same eyes watched him from time to time.
We didn’t get to talk much longer as my youngest son had woken up from his sleep. I was disappointed that the call had to end abruptly as I didn’t get to ask him what he meant by that.
I think I might make a trip to see my dad soon, maybe that would be good for him. I know I could use the company and maybe I can get more out of this. If anything, else I can check on my dad’s mental state, I hope that he is doing well and not going off the deep end like my grandmother. I will try to keep you guys updated, it might be a week or so by my next post.

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What were supposed to do? Be sent back to Telkan where the next attempt on our lives would surely succeed?
No.
We went with the Mad Lemur of Terra, part of Decken's Irregulars.
And we fought. Fought to the bitter end. Fought in the ashes. Fought in the emerging green of a new spring. Fought in the jungle of ignorance and barbarism.
We raised our voices and shouted "WE WILL NOT SUBMIT!"
And emerged both more and less than we had been on that fateful day we went to see the Cathedral. -Meditations on the Barrier War, Lancer First Class Imna, Free Telkan Press, 25 Post-Terran Emergence
Captain N'Skrek doublechecked his tunic before the lift doors opened onto the 'show bridge', which was at the 'rear' and 'top' of the massive siege engine ship.
While the primary bridge, the battlebridge, even the aux-con, were all in the middle of the ship and heavily armored, for some reason he felt as if it was only right for him to stand on the "show bridge" for what he was about to command to be done.
As he stepped out the crew on the show bridge did not turn away from their jobs. Contrary to popular media, nobody yelled out 'Captain on the Bridge" or "Attention on deck!" or anything close to that.
N'Skrek knew the drill. They had all done a mic-check to ensure they could hear each other over the show-bridge com-channel, then over suit links, then over general coms. Then their consoles had been checked for function and connection.
Now, they were all busy.
True, there was a half-dozen consoles open with greenies working on them, green mantids that had been found frozen in cryo-bays in a section of the ship that nobody had found for the thousands of years the ship had been in operation.
New corridors, passages, storage spaces, berthing areas, manufacturing facilities, were being found and mapped every day.
N'Skrek cleared his head as he pulled a self-light from where his antenna merged with his skull, putting it between his mandibles and puffing on it to get the self-light to work.
LT (Junior Grade) Scarlet Strontium Sunset-6371992, the shipboard master digital systems control digital sentience, appeared in the holotank off to the side as N'Skrek headed to the main holotank.
"Nav-Int has suggested placing message torpedoes, multi-stage ones, to go to the missing systems, then backtrack back into Confederate Space, with recordings of everything that happened here," Sunset stated.
N'Skrek nodded.
"Additionally, at Nav-Int's suggestion, the computer systems in the fruit flies, torpedoes, missile pods, all show that they were launched from Weber-VII class missile wagons as part of a Task Force that was over here," Sunset said. She tapped a box in the holotank eight light-hours up and to the 'left' of the rings. "Just in case the enemy manages to somehow salvage viable non-volatile computer memory and storage."
"Excellent idea," N'Skrek said. He sat down and folded his bladearms in front of him, resting his chin on the armored and spiked 'wrist' joint. "What are Nav-Int's projection of how the artificial singularity will perform?"
"Anything out to a light week will be pulled back in. Everything out to a light month will be slowed by a large factor. Nav-Int estimates that if the artificial singularity holds up for at least six months anything within two light weeks should be pulled back and into it," Sunset said. "It should slow the other constructs down far enough that starvation effects should reduce their size considerably."
N'Skrek nodded, still staring at the holotank.
"Additionally, it will pull in and destroy any clusters that warp out from the previous waypoints in the re-energizing ladder," Sunset said.
"Any idea what wavelengths they're using to recharge the clusters?" N'Skrek asked.
Sunset nodded. "Yes. They're emulating standard cosmic ray output of a G2V stellar classification mass."
"My compliments to Nav-Int," N'Skrek said. He looked it over. "Signal DEFCON to stage one. Wake up the fruit flies," he said. "We will execute the fire plan fifteen minutes after we get green on at least 80% of the elements."
Sunset nodded, able to feel the tension ratchet up on the show-bridge.
He was clad in a pressurized flight suit that held his body together. His visor was sealed and closed, liquid atmosphere moving through the tube implanted in his chest, so he technically didn't 'breathe'. He knew that his body was unfinished, mostly existing as a life support system for his brain, but he also knew that it didn't matter.
Clone War Lyfe, baby.
Rickytofen-773E6A, "Ricky" to his friends, closed his eyes as he went over his most recent memories.
Being launched as something called "Sucker Punch", he could remember heading toward the massive interdimensional wormhole that had been disgorging strange, almost 'grown' ships into the system.
I wonder if I made a difference in that war so long ago? he thought to himself. If I tagged at least two enemy ships, I made a difference. I wonder if I survived through the wormhole? I wonder if what I did mattered at all?
He shrugged, the atrophied muscles off of his neck not really connected to any support structure.
It didn't matter. That was the last mission, the last war.
This mission.
This war.
That was what mattered to a Clone War Trooper.
His ship was a high tech marvel. Coated with stealth materials, a millipede drive that used tiny rippling 'flows' of grav-energy spikes to travel silently and stealthily to the target. The ship was basically a cockpit, sensor package, drive, and energy plant wrapped around an artificial singularity C++ mass driver, with four 'wings' of missile pod launchers that launched twelve pods each. Those pods contained twenty-four missiles wrapped in a circle around a C++ cannon.
He knew that when he fired, the singularity cannon would compress all the mass down and add it to the payload. The artificial singularity would 'spin up' while the 'round' flickered in and out of hyperspace. He would be crushed down, his mass added to the singularity, his mass the leading tip of the 'lance' that would strike the target.
Around him were hundreds of his fellow 'fruit flies', all of them like Ricky.
All of them Clone War Troopers.
Not the vaguely feline faced 'cat-girls' or 'anime girls' of the Dead Hand Systems.
Actual Clone War Lyfe.
His ship was connected to the nearest four via a thin cable of superconductor, to keep all emissions at the bare minimum, so they could all talk to each other.
It was largely silent on the Clone Channel.
Like Ricky, the others were processing their last memories.
There was a beep and he checked it. Request for pre-mission initiation status check.
He thumbed the button for green.
Ricky knew there was a weird thing with the SUDS and Clone War Lyfe.
For a split second, maybe even as long as a tenth of a second, the SUDS would record the experience of his existence after death. When he was reloaded or when his brain was spun up in the Born Whole system, he would be able to remember that split second.
What it was to be pure mathematical packets rather than matter as most people knew it. The red-shift and streaking of the stars. The split second, too small to really understand, filled with sensations that couldn't be explained.
He felt his SUDS spin up and start recording live.
The DEFCON strip, using old incandescent bulbs and colored plastic, went from DEFCON TWO to DEFCON ONE.
He flipped up the cover on the firing stud and loaded the targeting data.
Ricky closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.
"ENGAGE" lit up.
He pressed the button, felt the missile packs unload the missile pods.
Then the strange sucking, pulling, stretching feeling as he was converted into the C++ singularity tipped shell.
The superluminal communications buoy went live, activating the superluminal sensor network.
The majority of the massive siege engine ship shut down, going to emergency zero-point reactors and metal over silicon integrated circuits with firmware level programming. Only the show-bridge and the deeply buried secondary aux-con stayed powered. Quantum computers shut down, molecular circuitry went dead and were 'pumped' to be in a neutral state.
Captain N'Skrek watched the results in the main holotank of the show bridge, slowly breathing through his leg spiracles.
Tens of thousands of Fruit Flies launched within 0.75 seconds of the order.
There were between twelve and twenty 'rings' per 'chute' that the Mar-gite clusters were moving through. Eight chutes. Just over nine thousand Mar-gite clusters waiting to 'refuel' by going through the rings over the course of an hour.
Each 'ring' took fifteen to twenty hits by the C++ cannons. Each 'strip' that connected the rings together to form the 'chute' took five to seven, usually two on the terminal attachment end and one in the middle.
Additional missiles and singularity tipped C++ rounds streaked out to strike at the Mar-gite constructs. Even if the singularity held for an entire five seconds, the Tera and Peta size constructs could, theoretically, survive even two to four hits.
Unlike other vessels and structures, a damaged Mar-gite Construct, even if ripped into multiple pieces, would just join back together into a smaller construct.
For a second, it looked like nothing had happened, even as flashes appeared on the structure of the rings and the 'straps' that held the vast megastructure together.
Then plain physics did its work on the megastructures. Rotation, sheer forces, and structural stresses started ripping the entire structure apart.
"Scanning and Science are getting good readings back from the radiation cascades from the hits," Sunset said.
N'Skrek just nodded, staring with his chin on his bladearm wrists. He tilted his head slightly so his captain's hat, festooned with gold braid, tipped down slightly, covering his large compound eyes slightly.
He could feel the show-bridge crew's confidence increase at his own blasé attitude.
A massive section of one of the rings tore free and scythed through the Peta-Cluster that was charging as well as the four Mega-Clusters and four Tera-Clusters orbiting around it, all them slowly rotating. Chunks, that Captain N'Skrek knew were billions, trillions of Mar-gite, flew off, shedding smaller pieces.
The singularity tipped C++ rounds and the singularity missiles hit the constructs less than a second after the ring was hit. Some, the smaller Clusters or Kilo-Clusters, vanished, pulled into itself. The larger ones tore into two, three, four pieces.
"Wait for it," N'Skrek said softly.
"CONTACT! NEW CONTACTS! ONE, THREE, FIVE, SEVEN! CONFIRMED SEVEN!" someone called out.
The new contacts flashed in the holotank, which was driven by micro-vac tubes rather than integrated chipsets.
"Here it comes," N'Skrek said.
He heard the whistle over the copper wire shipboard communication system to alert all hands to prepare for what N'Skrek knew was coming next. Sunset curled up in the fetal position, closing her eyes, and seemed to get sucked away into the vanishing point of an invisible horizon.
SAFE appeared in red letters in the holotank.
The bridge closed their visors on their armored vac-suits and went to passive only, atmosphere maintained by pressure systems rather than electronics.
There was a series of white flashes that permeated the show-bridge. Shadows vanished as everything disappeared in the equivalent of a flashbang the consumed the entire bridge. A few consoles imploded, sparks and arcs of electricity crackled around various metallic surfaces. The speakers gave a howl of static.
Then it was over.
N'Skrek blinked away the purple spots in his vision.
"Seven flashes, each separated by one tenth of a second," one of the sensor crew called out.
"Confirmation of high bursts of artificially generated phasic energy in pulse," another called out.
N'Skrek wished he could smile as he knew what was happening now.
'Submarines' had been positioned around the area, sunk deep into the subspace foam, their torpedo tubes hot and loaded. The 'flash' would knock out their 'periscope' and they'd be surfacing already, their instruments running hot.
For long moments the only thing N'Skrek could hear was the hissing in his suit. Then his HUD rebooted, crashed, rebooted again. The fans came on and N'Skrek took a deep breath. His visor cleared and he could see around the show-bridge.
The lights flashed three times.
Power came back to the bridge.
"Targets breaking up. Looks like the subs at Box-Tango were only six seconds torpedo time from the contacts," someone said.
N'Skrek just nodded.
"Wait for it," he said softly.
"SubTac-Tango diving," N'Skrek heard.
He just nodded.
Time went by slowly. The huge megaconstructs were breaking apart, the Mar-gite clusters were still shredding.
"Nav-Int has a probable vector for Mar-gite and Unknown Contact approach," someone else called out.
N'Skrek just nodded.
Time ticked by.
"CONTACT! Near Box-Echo!" was called out. "SubTac-Echo surfacing!"
"Contact is in the gigatons, unknown ship, no attendants," tactical operations relayed.
N'Skrek nodded. "Shut us down again."
Everything went dim, the incandescent bulbs taking a moment to warm up to light the bridge.
"You are about to see why one trick ponies lose to the most adaptable," N'Skrek said softly.
"Echo firing," was said softly but with firm authority. "Echo is diving."
There was another flash. This one made sparks jump off of almost every surface. N'Skrek saw his faceshield go completely white for a split second before it blanked out again. He could see hundreds of dead pixels scattered across the transparent display film.
Fans kicked back on, the lights flashed three times.
The bridge went live again.
"Target is drifting. Massive damage," someone called out.
N'Skrek unfolded his bladearms slightly, tapping the surface of the console in front of him with the needle points.
"Send the nearest boarding parties," he said softly. "Lets find out who these guys are."
Private First Class Jaskel felt the dropship he had been napping inside of go live. He opened one eye, looking around the bay at the rest of the company.
Everyone was in their Helreginn Mark VI Type IX Anti-Mar-gite Full Contact Powered Combat Personal Protective Equipment Systems, AKA Hell Suits, everyone tricked out for boarding action.
Wonder what we're heading for, he thought to himself.
He closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
We'll get there when we get there.
[First Contact] [Dark Ages] [First] [Prev] [Next] [wiki]

I've made one post here before. I could go on forever about the things that have happened over the cojrse of my life, but there's really only a few things you need to know here for context.
I'm trans, and my family didn't handle that the best when I came out. From my dad threatening physical violence, to my mom calling me to tell me no one in the family would ever accept this, to my sister telling me it was a personal attack to her that I changed my name, my oldest brother campaigning to convince everyone I was too immature to transition, my youngest brother writing me a letter telling me I was being too rash in wanting to transition (coming out st 15 and starting at 20), and my middle brother just a few weeks ago gaslighting me and saying I've made all of this up.
I've put up with it for years. I'm 25 now and I have a fiancé, who my parents also don't like. They claim to, but they'll regularly make backhanded comments about his job, weight, apperance, etc. My Dad also pouted for a solid ten minutes when we announced our engagement.
Recently, we bought a house. We haven't closed yet, so will be moving in about two months. My plan was to not tell anyone in my family, just block them all and move away and hope they couldn't find me. I stopped replying to texts and just started living my life with a newfound sense of freedom.
But then, my mom showed up to my place of work. She told me my father has cancer, and that he broke his back. She wondered why I'd been so dodgy, and she stayed to chat for over an hour. I started battling guilt, feeling selfish for wanting to leave them all. I knew that it would be better for my own health, but that I would be hurting them in the process and I had trouble continuing to justify that. And besides, we're hard wired to love our parents. It's a hard thing to break away from, even after years of abuse.
So, I told my mom we were moving. I said that not only we were moving, but we made so much money from our prior home sale that we could fully furnish and fix up the house and still have a sizeable chunk left over. I said thst the home inspection looked great and we were walked through everything and the repairs only added up to about 4k, which thanks to that sizeable profit, we could now easily afford.
I hoped that maybe she would share in the joy. That maybe I could invite her over and chat. That maybe I could keep low contact, even if it was just to appease her and to lift some guilt from my shoulders. I was wrong.
I only got negativity. How awful the house looked, how it clearly needed repairs that I wasn't prepared for. How I was mean for not using my sister for the process (she's a real estate agent, too. In my defense, I did try to use her. Months ago, I gave her our pre approval letters, told her we were looking for houses, sent her properties, and she basically ignored me and told me to just message her when I wanted to put an offer letter in somewhere. We found another agent who was not only willing to actually talk us through everything, but also got us some amazing insight into the market to ensure we got the house we wanted and sold ours for an exceptional profit.) My mom finished off the rant with saying that, despite what I think, my whole family loves and supports me, and to not be a stranger.
Well, that really sealed it for me. That's all I'm going to be.
I'm renting a storage shed right now for when it comes time to move. I plan on putting in all of the furniture my parents gifted to me, then mailing them the key along with a check for the money they gave me to put into my first home and a letter explaining that I no linger want anything from them and they're welcome to have all of their things back. That I'm completely done, and if they were ever honest in saying they loved me, to never contact me again, as I'm far happier when I'm not arround them.

Main players are myself (R), my wife (M), my SIL (S), MIL (D), and FIL (W).
I (21M), and my wife (21F) will have been married 3 years as of July 6th. When I first met W (47M), he told M that she should leave me because I'm poor and live in a trailer park. Now while this was technically true, we lived in one of 2 actual houses in this trailer park, and I kept it in damn nice shape. Little did he know at that time, I had 4 jobs (lube tech, construction, maintenance for BNBs in town, and an on-call job rebuilding home appliances when I was needed) and grossed around $7k a month on a very bad and slow month.
This would have been fine, but I'm also a car guy so I had a lot of junk cars in front of my house and a race car in a storage unit on top of that. Roughly 4 vehicles in my parking area and the one on storage. The only ones that looked nice were my truck and my race car, truck was a 98' Tahoe 2 door sport, all black body, 4" lift (used to take it on trails and such at the recreational park nearby) on 44" tires. Race car at the time was a G-body Monte Carlo (I think 86 but can't remember) and it was modified for dirt track racing, all up cost me $12,000 to build as it started as a restoration turned race car project half way through. Full tube chassis, fully built 383 with a Garret 55mm turbo, on angry ass 700r4 trans, and a 3.73 rear gear still, on small tractor tires. Enough about the rides, getting off topic.
I eventually sold off all the cars but the truck and the Monte, as I later traded it for an 02' Z28 that was more of a drag car, which later got impounded. I also quit all of those jobs and just went to become an Arborist (tree worker) making maybe $3k a month. All of this was to please M as she told me she didn't feel like I spent enough time with her.
Shortly after that, my grandmother ended up on her last leg, so I planned a move to Arizona to be with her and my family. Quit my job, got packed up qnd ready to go, and was going to move in with my family. But then, the guy who they put a down payment on a house from bailed to NY with the money, turns out he was just a con man and never owned the property, was just really good at forgery. 3 days after that, grandma passed. I was mentally and emotionally broken, as she was a second mom who'd helped raise me for my entire childhood. And to top it off, I was now broke and homeless because I jumped the gun and quit my job and moved out.
By the time all of this had transpired, I had already met S and D, along with M's twin, who we'll call M2 (similar first names) and W had finally realized that I was capable of taking care of M, and gave up on telling her to leave. So when M told D what had happened, D and W agreed to let me stay with them until I could get back onto my feet. This is where the problems began.
See, W had a bad tendency to spend money he didn't have, and pull loans like crazy. W is a trucker and made roughly $5k a month then, owned a house but had a mortgage on it, had 2 BMW cars (428i and 328i both 2014s), a BMW S1000R bike, a Kawasaki Vulcan 9, a BMW 310R bike, and a plethora of credit cards, all of which he owed money on. I crunched the numbers and figured he'd, after bills and insurance, have maybe $200 left over each month on his pay. No problem though, he had D working a full time job and S as well, and now M and I were working and living there too. D (now 43F) mostly just bought groceries or payed bills that W had forgotten about before spending money at Pink or Williams-Sonoma every month in Vegas or Six Flags passes every month. S (now 23F) worked full time too and did some schooling in between work, and payed about $350 a month for rent to live there. M and I moved in, and quickly started working at a warehouse where we could make $2800 every month (very low paying compared to my Arborist work, was a total rip off) and we agreed to pay $745 a month in rent. The problem was he'd take that every paycheck, so we ended up spending $1490 a month in rent for one room and a bathroom, as our workplace was 45 minutes away and we worked long shifts, think 12-14 hours (absolutely a rip off I wasn't kidding), so we usually just made dinner in the break room at work then cleaned up and came home. Never even used the kitchen or living room at home.
On top of that, he had driven my car (at the time a 2007 Saturn Ion lvl 3) one day after he said he'd done the transmission fluid change. Turns out, he got the fluid drained, new filter on, drain plug torqued, and just started driving. Completely forgot to put more fluid in. Revved the engine until it moved, ended up frying the transmission and doing a lot of damage to the engine after holding it at 5k rpms for 30 minutes. Destroyed it.
So then we had to use his car. He took the 328d to work and had us use the 428i to get to and from work. Of course, nit without putting gas in it and paying insurance and registration. Which would have been fine had he not driven the trap out of the 428i every time he came home. He would come home on Tuesday, we would have the tank filled (took 91 octane and cost about $100 a tank at the time), drive it around all of Tuesday, emptying the tank so we'd fill it on Wednesday, and leave Thursday and it would be empty again. We were off these days as well, and didn't go much of anywhere. It would be empty again by Thursday. Every. Single. Time. And we would have to fill it to go to work on Thursday morning again. When we drove it, a tank would last a week or 2 easily. All up, he made it so we had to fill up that car 3 times a week, for 4 weeks a month. $1200 in fuel.
That plus the overcharged $1490 in rent meant we only had $110 a month for anything else, and I usually had to take on extra shifts so we could pay insurance and still have at least a bit of money to get lunch and dinner supplies for work.
Eventually we got the hell out of there and went to another warehouse, where we made less per hour, but got much better hours and didn't get ripped off on crappy insurance by the employers, which was the last place's excuse for how we'd work 12-14 hours a day and only get $2800 a month. This place gave us $4.50 less per hour but the hours were good, insurance wasn't hiked up, and we ended up making about $4k a month easily. We eventually saved up to buy ourselves a car so we could stop using his and paying so much in gas every week. We bought a 2003 745i. Ate gas like a pig but still cost less in gas than we were paying, maybe $150 a week to and from work, and insurance cost about the same.
W. Had. A. Fit. When he found out we bought the 745i and had started paying insurance on that and not his 428i anymore. This argument got so bad, M and I started rushing to find a new apartment even faster than we already were. We got onto a waiting list for a really nice set of apartments, that cost maybe $1300 a month counting utilities, but also had a pool, gym, beautiful front pad, balcony, amazing interior that was mostly soundproof so you couldn't hear the noisy neighbors as bad, and was just 3 minutes from work.
W found out that we had been bumped up the waiting list by accident, see, we had put M's number on the application, and she had dropped her phone at work and it got crushed by a load of freight that had been spilled. So when they couldn't reach her by phone or email, they mailed us the notification that we'd been moved up and could move into an apartment in 2 weeks.W saw that letter while we were at work and went ballistic. Throwing things around, shouting, he tried to fight me, but being 43 and having a combination of food baby and beer gut vs a (then) 18 year old who was an avid kickboxer and expanding into Jiu Jitsu, it didn't work out well. He was upset we were trying to move without telling him how much we were making so he could increase our rent. We had told him the pay was the same at the new place, so he wouldn't do exactly that.
It all came to a head the next day, W used a saw and cut the transmission return line to the transmission fluid cooler on the 745i, and my wife went to the store without realizing the issue until it was too late. Another transmission bites the dust thanks to W. D slapped him, which she'd never done before. W raised a hand to her like he was going to strike back, but S and I stepped between them and told him if he did it, not only would we whoop his ass, but we'd have him sent to prison for domestic assault for it.
Flash forward 3 days, he takes M and I to Wyoming and drops us off with my family. He doesn't want us to live there anymore and fuck that apartment and our job I guess. My folks were fine with it, they knew I'd get a job and be more than willing to help out with bills, because they wouldn't overcharge like W did.
Flash forward again like 2 years. I had a job at the local school district as a Supervisor over a maintenance crew. I made that same $2800 a month that M and I both made at the first warehouse before, by myself. M and I had also just had our baby, who we'll call BD. Then, another problem arose. See, when I started working for the district, it was through a temp agency. My boss Dan (won't abbreviate so as not to confuse him with our son or MIL) was actively talking with the Superintendent of the district trying to get my crew contracts to work for them directly and not the temp agency.
You see, recently Mark (also not abbreviated so we dont confuse him with M), who is Dan's direct subordinate but still senior to myself, had been in charge of giving us marching orders. The problem was that Mark was head of custodial, and had been working as a Custodian his entire life starting at age 18 for his high-school. He'd never worked any other job. But he was also incredibly stubborn and wanted things done his way, and if you didn't do it his way, you were fired. But again, he had never worked anything but custodial work, so directing a team of maintenance workers while having a hot head an 0 experience, and refusing to take input from any of us who actually did the maintenance, it didn't work out well. There were many complaints from my crew and others that Mark didn't know what he was doing and fired people who didn't do a job his way, even though his way was always wrong and not up to code. Just 12 days before the new contracts with the school district would go into effect, the temp agency ended the contract with the district and refused to honor the new contracts we as the employees had been offered.
See, the way that the new contracts had been set up, we would be transferred from the agency to full time with the district, since we were technically employed by the agency. So this cost us our contracts because Mark couldn't do his job and wouldn't take input, and apparently this wasn't the first time the agency had been through this rodeo with Mark. They were just fed up with him and wanted nothing to do with the district so long as Mark still worked there. Dan wanted to get rid of Mark for costing them such a good contract with the employment agency and a sum total of 4 great teams, totaling 28 great workers, because of Mark's stubborn hardheaded pride and refusal to admit any wrongdoing. But the school board refused, as Mark also did a great job keeping the Custodial side of the district in line and kept every school in top notch shape cleaning wise, and had improved the districts reputation as a clean and sanitary district, which helped them get a better budget each year.
So now here I was, jobless, with a wife and son. Yay. We ended up moving back in with W and D, S still lived there too. Then W suggested I get my CDL and become a trucker. I applied to get into the local CDL program several times from December to March. This brings us to now.
Now a bit of side information, the stress of everything really wore on my marriage with M, so currently, she lives with W and I stay with my Grandma while I go to school, occasionally I'll stay a night there and we share BD as equally as we can given the circumstances. M and I are actively trying to work out our marriage and recognize many of the issues we have and are trying to solve them so we can continue in a healthy manner and continue trying to be happy together.
Another piece of side information, W got 2 pay increases and now brings in $5600 a month.
Now here's where the title comes into effect. Since M and I got left with my family in Wyoming, W did a lot of stupid things. He traded in his 2014 328d for a 2015 Silverado 4.3L V6, traded the S1000R for a K 1600 GT with all the bells and whistles, sold the 428i, traded the Vulcan 9 for a Vulcan S, which he then traded for an Indian Springfield, and the 310R for a Triumph for S, then he cosigned for S to buy a 2022 Jeep Renegade. Then he refinanced the house for $72k, which nobody knows where that money went, and got dealership insurance for the Renegade on top of the insurance he already had put on it through Geico.
I don't live there anymore and M doesn't work as she has the baby most of the time, takes care of the house and cleaning, cooking, taking care of the dogs, and the cats, and making hand made meals for the pets as well, which also are quite expensive, costing about $240 per week as they have had cut vegetables, fish oil, and about 1.5lbs of meat per meal for the dogs and 3 eggs and 1 lbs of meat for the cats combined. W told M she must make these meals daily for the pets or he'll kick her out.
Now here's the issue. S pointed out several discrepancies in how much he's taking each month and how he wants M to work full time and pay for daycare for D ($900 a week) while I'm at school or work until I can get off and go get him.
So he had a meltdown, claiming he's broke and the whole family needs to pitch in, and wrote up a spreadsheet. I then took a good look at this spreadsheet.
According to him, S and M should be paying him $1700 and $515 a month respectively just to cover the bare minimum of bills. According to W, this will mean they're still broke as a whole, as this is causing him debt that they're not paying these sums, and they would all be broke together but still have a roof over their heads and food in their bellies.
The problem is S covers her car payment, then he takes $900 a month for insurance and a bunch of shit. S, myself, and M pay for groceries all the time and he never does. But my problem is that I've run all his expenses vs income, and there's a huge discrepancy. His monthly expenses, except the credit cards, cost $3,904.75 a month on the very top end. The very bottom end of his pay is $5600 a month. He should have an excess of $1,695.25 left over each month. This is counting every bill, payment, gas, every expense, including his food, in the last 18 months and taking the most expensive total of those 18 months and adding them together.
But he says that not only does he need that full $900 a month from S, but he should be taking $1700 from her and $515 from M, as taking $900 from S every month isn't enough and he's acquiring more debt.
Now let's assume he has $2k a month in credit card debt. No problem. D makes $2k a month and assists with bills. Should still have that $1,695.25 left over. He says he's not making enough and needs more money from them, but the numbers are not only saying he's making enough, but that he's making an excess of enough to buy a used car in 3 months that runs great. So why does he need a total of $2,215 from S and M? I get paying rent and such, but he's making these outlandish claims. The other problem is he won't let D spend any money on his card or see the account balance. D and M just had to sell off a game console and a PC to buy groceries as a result, because D spent all of her paycheck on bills that W didn't pay.
Where is all that other money he's making going? And why isn't the math mathing? I think either gambling or lot lizards. He had a severe gambling addiction years back, and that's the only logical explanation for why he would be making that much extra money but still need D and S to put in that much money and still ask M to get a job too and pay even more money to make up the slack.
I should also note that, even though I don't live there, I buy groceries 3 times a month for them and all of the baby supplies for BD. I also have paid bills for them on multiple occasions because D and S couldn't and W just didn't pay them.
So that's the story. I don't expect anyone to read this far, and if you did, don't worry if it didn't make much sense, there's so much going on and I tend to ramble about stupid shit. Thank you if you did read this far. I really just needed to vent and didn't know where else to do it without losing my everloving mind.
TL:DR FIL is a dipshit and lying about finances, crippling his family and nobody knows what he's doing with the money he's nor using to pay bills.

I am planning a move from NJ (07860) to VA (23832). However, we are not moving directly into a new home.
We are moving a 1,300-square-foot three-bedroom home (with a basement, one-car garage, and shed) into storage in VA near where we plan to purchase a home.
We will be taking a SMALL amount of things to North Carolina (I think we can just rent a uhaul) to stay with family until we buy a new home. This way we can make a cash offer and not carry two mortgages.
My question: what should we do with the moving from a financial/logistical perspective? What options are there in the moving community these days that will facilitate this type of move the 1) easiest way, and 2) hopefully lower cost?
Is there a POD or Uhaul service that will allow us to put everything into the POD and then they will store it somewhere (still packed and climate controlled) for a few months?
OR do I need to hire movers to pack up and move us to a rented 10x20 (big enough?) storage facility, and then get another mover to unpack the unit and move to our home when located?

Chapter 22 - An Abuse of Trust
Previous Chapter
The meeting had been planned out the night before, between Kyshe’s aides and Par. Kyshe had initially requested to meet the captain alone, but Amanda had insisted upon coming along and after some back and forth, Kyshe relented.
The Presh Teff did not have a grand temple that reached into the heights of the sky. The citizens of her the Teff were largely agrarian, and so Kyshe lived not in a grand temple or skyscraper but instead in a relatively modest manor. It was still grand, FAR more than a single family needed, but in her defense a large majority of it was used for administrative purposes. Assistants, messengers, accountants, and others used the majority of the space. While Kyshe still lived better than most of her people, the difference wasn’t nearly as great as one would think seeing the outside. This fact was completely and totally lost on Alex who was simply following the guide to the arranged meeting room, but not on Amanda. As she walked through the hallways following along she noted everything she saw, mentally.
As they entered the meeting hall, Amanda immediately noted the armed guards. Not police forces, obviously, as none were male. Each of them had some form of firearm in a holster across their chest, and another strapped to each leg. They appeared to be wearing some form of body armor, though she couldn't tell at a glance what it might have been made of. In all, a sight that was likely meant to intimidate. Given the general height and build of Sovalin females, It worked.
Kyshe sat at a desk with two chairs arranged in front of her, and she gestured to each of them. “Please take a seat. I won’t insult your intelligence by pretending you don’t know why you’re here so I’d like to simply begin immediately.”
“Not exactly.” Alex tried to be as cautious as he could. “I mean, there’s the obvious, but… well, let me back up a bit. I assume that I can speak of certain sensitive subjects in present company?” He nodded his head towards the guards.
“You can.” Kyshe agreed.
“Alright. Yesterday was… not planned, I am assuming, by either of our people.” Alex began. “I think Matriarch Teeshya’s response was genuine and she didn’t know what was going to happen. And I would hope that what happened was obviously not something we instigated either.”
“No. In that we agree.”
“And the fact that our guide wasn’t there meant it was a secret. We realized as much and have not told her.” Kyshe relaxed a bit. If the worst came to pass, she had already been envisioning the distasteful task of either imprisoning or executing the Noarala. If their word was true, that much could be avoided. IF their word was true. “That is appreciated. I hope to assume this means you’ve told nobody else?”
“That’s accurate. Our entire crew knows, but we’ve been careful only to speak of it amongst ourselves.” Kyshe nodded and placed her hands on the table. “Then we can properly begin. We are at an impasse here. Your knowledge of the Matriarch Zelineth represents a threat to our people. To our interests and possibly even to our world itself. The Matriarchs have convened and have set forth a number of possible ways we can address this.”
“I’d assume the first way, and the one we wish to avoid the most, is to… remove us from the equation.” Alex cautiously prompted.
“It is. I won’t claim to like you or your crew, Captain, but aside from distrust I hold no particular ill will towards you. I hold a great deal of love of our people however and if your deaths are required to keep them safe I won’t hesitate in the slightest to call for it.”
“That most assuredly won’t be necessary, Matriarch. We have no desire to antagonize yourself nor your people. Exposing this secret would not benefit us.” Amanda spoke up before Alexander could. “We of course desire to seek out benefits for ourselves in relations with your people. That is only natural. What I am here to try to convince you of is that those benefits can extend to BOTH our peoples. That our gain does not have to happen with your loss.”
Kyshe folded her arms in front of her and regarded the Human female. She’d been briefed about them by the security teams, and knew that theirs was a species where both sexes held equal office in their society. As such she knew better than to assume that the female speaking out was meant to hold more authority than the male Captain.
“I would like to believe that. But I do not. We have learned a harsh lesson in trusting others, one that we refuse to be taught to us again.”
Alex looked over at Amanda, then back at the Matriarch. “Could you elaborate on that? I have heard that your people were cheated by the Bunters, but nothing beyond that. We were kind of hoping to have a bit more time to explore and learn about your people during this trip. Before, y’know, this all happened.”
Kyshe took a deep breath, and narrowed her eyes. “It was many, many years past. When my mother was Matriarch and I was her assistant. The Bunters found our world and reached out to us. They offered us technology and assistance to let us grow beyond this world. They told us of other races and how we could fly the stars alongside them. They offered much to us, yet held their true intentions at bay.”
Alex nodded at this. “Didn’t Zelinesh warn you about them? Or was she not around then?”
Kyshe shook her head. “Zelinesh was not here, but her predecessor was. Yet the sight only works on things and people, not on concepts. She could see the contract itself, see us signing it. We thought that meant it was acceptable, but the contents of the contract were very much not in our favor. Her sight could not warn us of that.” “At first, for a decade or so, we received the aid that was promised to us. We received ships and components. A communication relay. Computers that let us interface with it and reach out to see the other races. They shared as they said they would, but when the time came to pay them back they said our money was worth nothing. They asked for metals and minerals, and yet what we have on our world was insufficient. They took much, and still it was not enough. We had no idea the worth of the minerals in our system, and when they said it would cancel our debts, we gladly paid. Only to find that the minerals we granted them were worth far, far more than we had owed. Nobody stood up for us then. We had extended our trust, and now we have been robbed of our system’s riches and given a pittance in return.”
“Holy fuck.” Alexander muttered under his breath. When Amanda had said the Bunters took advantage of the Sovalin back on the station, he had thought they’d just made a bad deal. This was worse. This was highway robbery disguised as altruism. Crippling an entire planet’s economy and its people out of greed.
“So now you come here to us. A new species. And you profess friendship to us. You arrive with light, color, and sound and spoke reassuring words to us about how you wish to befriend us. And we have heard those words before.” Kyshe slammed her palm down on the table in front of her. “And we will NOT be fooled again. We will look out for our own interests this time. And if those interests mean we must be rid of you to be secure, then that is what we must do.” She relaxed and balled her fist up before them. “Yet, perhaps, your deaths are not required.”
“No?” Alex shared another glance at Amanda, and leaned forward. “As you can imagine, I’d like to avoid that as much as possible. I am responsible for my crew. I would very much like to find a solution where everyone can feel safe and there’s no loss of life.”
“That solution is simple. You stay here. We will have to have you watched, guarded, to ensure you speak of this to no one but if you do not leave the planet then we can make arrangements that require no violence.”
“Absolutely out of the question.” Alex shook his head. “Imprisonment is not something we can abide by. At all. Imprisonment would be death for us, just of a different sort.”
The soldiers shifted as he said this, but Kyshe held up a hand and they stilled. “Yet it is the only way. We cannot trust you not to speak of our secrets with others. We cannot risk Zelineth’s existence becoming widely known. If the Bunters came to take her, we cannot fight them off.” She made a gesture towards the sky. “They have fleets of ships. We have only a handful. They have dozens of worlds, we have but the one. They have technology we require as a species to prosper, and they use it as a weapon against us. She is our only defense, and as you now know she has her limits. How then are we to proceed?”
Alex sat there for a minute, mulling it over. The Matriarch brought up many valid points. Points which he could sit and argue, but would she believe him? COULD she? He put himself in her shoes and tried to think how he could be swayed, yet…
“You can’t.” Amanda was honest and blunt. She saw what had been done, and already knew how this tale would end. “You can’t proceed. You’re trapped.”
“Precisely so. We ARE trapped. And our only hope of salvation, meager though it may be, lies within Zelinesh and her ability to guide us.”
“That isn’t entirely true. Her ability alone won’t be enough.” Amanda shook her head. “You’re trapped in paper. In clauses, contracts, in money. She can’t foretell concepts, as you said. But those concepts are the prison that’s trapping you.”
Amanda stood up and began to pace behind Alex. She always felt like she thought better on her feet. “They’ve got your entire economy in a stranglehold. You’re reliant upon them for technology, and they sell it to you at an inflated price. You can’t afford to buy it so you have to give them something else. From what I have seen, that something else is labor. I assume that the Security Chief on Farscope, her entire detail, and most of the Sovalin we saw in the Pits were all ‘exchanged’ to perform duties in the place of payment for their goods?” Kyshe’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. That’s exactly how they phrased it.” She could feel her talons digging into the soft floor covering as she felt a familiar rage build up within her.
“I thought as much. We’ve seen this pattern throughout our own history. An impoverished society is found by a rich one, and they are exploited for their natural resources. The impoverished are offered aid, offered resources and goods. What they don't realize is how easy it is to become dependent upon those goods. They become reliant upon the larger society more and more until they can no longer continue without those goods. At that point the larger society is free to demand whatever they want, and the smaller one must pay.”
Amanda stopped pacing and glanced at the door they came through. “It’s not entirely hopeless of course. There ARE ways with which we can break this entire cycle. Free your economy and your people from the Bunters influence.”
Kyshe simply nodded, and gestured for her to continue. “The first thing that needs to be done to free yourselves is going to be technological independence. So long as you are buying what you need from the Bunters, you’ll never escape them. Until you can produce local equipment and components of sufficient quality and affordability you can’t even begin to separate yourselves from them. The second is physical security. Once you’ve achieved technological independence then you need to ensure that the Bunters cannot take by force what they used to take by bargaining.”
“I concur. I suppose now that you will say that Humanity will step in and aid us in both of those endeavors? At great cost to yourselves, that you offer freely without regard to the price?” Kyshe shook her head. “You understand our plight well enough, yes. Yet how are we to trust that by removing ourselves from the Bunters we are not replacing them with yourselves? That we won’t find ourselves once again trapped by an insurmountable debt?”
Amanda suddenly lost steam. “Well, I mean… we can definitely offer our aid and our assistance, yes. And it won't be cheap but there would be eventual gains we can work out." Her mind raced as she tried to make calculations based on the potential profits of an alliance. "I mean, yes, there may be some period where we operate at a loss but we can recoup that later."
"Recoup how?"
"Well, we'd have to go over the exact figures to determine that. It's not like I can tell right now just how much of a debt could be incurred, and and whether or not there's a local resource that can..." Kyshe interrupted her immediately. “There. You see? Even here as we speak you speak of debt and resources and losses.”
Alex stood up, and walked over to Amanda. “Wait outside for me, alright?”
“Al, hold on. Let’s go over this some more. We can find some kind of…”
“No. Wait outside. I’d like to speak with the Matriarch alone.”
Amanda glanced over to the Matriarch, who lifted a hand. One of the soldiers who had escorted them in walked up and gently guided the Human female out of the door.
“We are alone, Human. Say your piece.”
Alex took a deep breath, struggling to put the chaotic thoughts in his mind in place. “Amanda is a businesswoman. All those abstracts like money, contracts, agreements, those are her bread and butter.” The Matriarch gave him a blank look. “A human idiom. They’re her specialty I mean. When we were discussing how to proceed, we thought she might be the best one of us to try to explain how we could benefit your people. Which, I am now realizing, was a mistake. I should have just come here alone, like you wanted.”
Kyshe gestured to the door. "You are here alone now."
"Yes. Yes I am. I'm not a bureaucrat or an accountant or even particularly good at math. But that's not the issue right now. The issue isn't payment or resources or contracts. The issue is TRUST." Kyshe nodded at this. "Exactly so."
He walked back over to the table, and sat down in front of Kyshe. “Trust isn't something that can be bought or sold. We can't make a contract for you all to trust us, and that's why I asked Amanda to leave. Because what I'm about to say she'll find utterly ridiculous." He stared the Matriarch in the eyes. "It's my belief that there is a non-material means by which your people can repay us. One which doesn’t involve minerals, or labor, or technology transfers. No exchange of goods. No slavery, no contracts.”
“Pretty words. Empty ones.”
“No, not empty.” Alex took another deep breath. “But not easy to convey. I’ll do my best to try to explain. Amanda wasn't the right person here because she's a numbers girl. Josh or Min could probably say this better than me but they're my subordinates in the end, so that puts it on me to explain. And to understand why those words aren't empty, I need to explain something about Humans.”
“Humans are a social species. And not just with ourselves. On our home, on Terra, we have spent a millennia with other beings. Other creatures. We rode horses into battle and used them as labor, yes. But they were also companions and friends. To some people they were as close as family. We have pets we used for hunting and protection, but then invited them into our homes as family. There are people who would value their pets over other Humans' lives. But they are not intelligent as we are. They give and received affection, but they can't stand beside us as equals. That, I think, is why we created the AIs. You heard Par and Borala talk about it. The AIs are our children, our creations, and we made them so we wouldn’t be alone.”
He stood up and gestured above him, growing more animated as he spoke. “When we finally left our world and reached space, we spread out. We colonized another world in our home system, and created stations in the void we could work at and visit. We sent out scouts in every direction trying to find out what else is out here with us, but…” his voice fell.
“The last I checked, Humans have explored over two hundred other star systems. We’ve found planets teeming with life, but not intelligence. For the entirety of our existence, we thought we were an anomaly. We searched for other intelligent life and found none. We thought we were alone in crossing that line from sapient to sophont. And then, by sheer chance, we stumbled across a ship dead in space. Intelligent life. The Bunters, the Cetari, the Fwenth. And when we found them, I can’t tell you how excited I was! We finally, finally found others out here in the void!”
“And yet when we reached Farscope, the Bunters tried to cheat us just as they did you. They didn’t give a goddamn about us for anything other than resources. The Cetari? They avoided us. Didn’t even agree to meet with us. The Fwenth… I mean, I don’t even know where to start there. They were not rude or anything, but they’re just so… alien to us. Maybe we'll make headway there but I doubt it. When we were travelling to the station we thought the rescuees were just recalcitrant because of their near-death experience. The station showed us that was their nature.”
Kyshe sat impassively in front of him as he continued. “And then, we found something new on the station.” Alex sat back down, his hands folded on his lap. He leaned in as he spoke with the Matriarch. “The very first time I laid eyes on your people I felt drawn to them. You and your people are incredibly beautiful to me. At first I thought it was just because we’re physically similar - minus the wings and feathers of course. Then when we socialized with Sophie back on the station we realized there was more than just physical traits we shared. We shared our culture with her and she appreciated it. We asked for her time and her friendship and she gave it to us freely. Where others avoided us she approached us and made us feel welcome. Where others tried to cheat us, she treated us fairly. I wanted to find out just how much more our people share. And so we came here.”
He gestured behind him. “We haven’t been here long, but it was less than a day before we’d started making friends. My engineers are enraptured with our guide and her aircar. We went to your Grand Temple and we found appreciation for the same values we have. Our arts and music held little to no interest to the other races, yet you can appreciate them with us. I don’t know if you all cry, but I swear that Teeshya was in tears when we offered to play some songs in the temple. The other races didn’t give a damn about our culture and music but you guys actually love it like we do.”
He let his arms fall, and shook his head. “And I ain’t gonna sit here and lie and say every Human is some amazing trustworthy person. A lot of us are bad. A lot of us are greedy or selfish or cruel. But even THOSE people, the worst of us, are still the same deep down. Even they seek out companions. Even they surround themselves with other people like them so they aren’t alone.”
“Humans need friends. We need people we can walk beside. People we can talk to. People with can fight with or argue with. People we can fight beside. People we can bond with. It’s an integral part of our nature, one of the deepest parts of who we are as a species. We need you beside us. That’s what you can give us. That’s what you can be to us. In a way that no other species can, you can stand beside us out here in the galaxy. If you’ll let us, neither of us will be alone out here anymore.”
As he finished, the room descended into silence. Kyshe stared intently at Alex as he’d spoken, not saying a thing. Not moving a muscle. Just sitting, listening. The soldier that was still present shifted in her armor, but Alex didn’t spare a glance towards her. At that moment only two beings existed in the world. Himself, and the Matriarch who held his future in his hand.
Eventually, she too took a deep breath, and nodded. “Then tell me, Captain, if we were to let you live, how exactly would you proceed from here?”
Alex bit his lip. This was the make or break moment. “I can make every assurance to you about how we’ll keep your secret, but I know that Humanity has to EARN your trust. We can’t do it instantly, but if you’ll give us some time we can prove ourselves. I'm offering our help right now. No contracts. No agreements. Nothing to tie your people to us. We will help you recover from what the Bunters did."
Kyshe tilted her head. "For no return? For no profit for you?"
"Well there's another saying we have. Money can't buy happiness. If our help manages to sway you over to our side, if we can become friends and stand together in the future? That would be a hell of a return for us."
“And Zelineth?”
“Will be a secret told to no one. We’ve found beings in this universe that actually seem to give a damn about us. That’s priceless to me.” Alex placed his hands palm down on the table. “There’s too much that both of us will lose if we expose your secret.”
Kyshe didn't respond to that. His words were tempting. Incredibly so. She'd often despaired that no one out there seemed to care about her people. Now the captain professed to care. He offered them friendship. But did she dare take him at his word?
She reached out to a console on the table, tapping a button and immediately the wall behind Alex glowed to life. Four familiar faces were present, each one staring intently at Alex. Now he could clearly see that yes, Sovalin did in fact cry. Teeshya was most definitely crying.
“As Matriarch of the Presh, I say now that the Captain and his crew will not be silenced. We will afford them trust in this matter.” She stared intently at Alex. “Please, please do not make us regret this.”
—--
“Okay folks. We’re gonna be changing up our stay here. Vacation’s over, it’s time to go to work.”
The last several hours had been rather intense. Amanda had spent her time going over the contracts between the Sovalin and the Bunters, looking for loopholes and oversights. Alex, on the other hand, had spent most of the time talking with Kyshe about himself and his motivations. The speech he’d given had struck a chord within her and she’d quickly gotten over her earlier trepidations.
“Vacation? Is that what we’re calling the two days we’ve spent here in total?” Ma’et had spent much of the day in her room within the Noarala Hab, miserably. Something in the local air had triggered an allergic reaction, and the antihistamine pills that Josh had given her weren’t quite up to the task of dealing with it. The shuttle had stronger chemicals available, but was currently with Alex and Amanda in the Presh Capitol, so until they returned she had to lie there, fighting the urge to rub itchy eyes while sniffling and sneezing.
“Yup. We’re officially back to work. We have a golden opportunity in front of us, courtesy of our new best friends the Sovalin. Amanda has assured us that Terrafault will be picking up the tab on this opportunity so we’re gonna make the best of it. Amanda’s gonna explain.”
“Golden Opportunity is quite accurate.” Amanda was still sorting through paperwork, but her attention was entirely on the call. “There’s bad news and good news. The bad news is that the Bunters appear to be well on their way to economically dominating these people into becoming more or less a servile class. They’re being fairly brazen about it too. The Bunters were a fully FTL civilization when they came across the Sovalin, and they didn’t hesitate to offer everything they could. And they overcharged the absolute hell out of it all. They deferred and delayed payments while flooding the local markets with state of the art tech to aid in nearly every aspect of their lives. Agriculture, Transit, Computers, Orbital infrastructure, you name it and the Bunters have ‘improved’ it. And when the avians became reliant on the tech, the debt became due. Now something like a tenth of their entire population is working to pay off the debts outside the system and that number is growing fast.”
“The good news is that the contracts that the Bunters have signed give us an opportunity that we absolutely cannot pass up. Alex’s big speech has convinced these people we’re on their side and trustworthy and thanks to that we can turn this situation around big time. The long and short of it is that the Bunters have given the Sovalin carte blanche when it comes to purchasing non-military tech. And since they knew that they were overcharging for it, they knew nobody else would want to buy it from the Sovalin. As a result they never put any restrictions on resale in any of their contracts. End result? If Humanity can aid the Sovalin in escaping from the Bunter’s influence and help them stand on their own, we have access to an absolutely immense amount of alien technology to study. And appropriate.”
Josh whistled at this. “That sounds… too good to be true. What kind of tech are we talking about anyway?”
“Just about anything you can think of. When the Bunters came by they gave out medical technology, transit, recycling, computer systems, power generation and storage, communication gear, various agricultural tools from automated weeders to powered harvesters, really you name it and they’ve put their fingers in it. Which means that while we will be getting access to an incredible amount of equipment ourselves, we have zero idea what will be useful and what won’t be. Doesn’t matter though. Even if it’s crap if nothing else the scientists back in Proxima will want to study it.”
“And the birds are OK with just giving us access to all of this?”
“Yup. We’ve been discussing it and none of it is really THEIRS to begin with. It’s all Bunter tech so it isn’t like they’re losing out on anything directly. They are a bit wary about buying our tech, but we’re working on that. The biggest hurdle is going to be the fact that the Bunters doing all of this has severely damaged their faith in others, so it’s on us to prove that we’re entirely above board on all of this. No secrets, no surprises.”
“Sounds easy enough. And by easy enough, I mean it sounds like the sort of thing only you’ll be handling. Not to try to dump that on you, but the rest of us aren’t exactly going to be useful with business negotiations.” Several dry chuckles echoed through the group chat at Josh’s observation.
Alex jumped back in at that. “Amanda’s gonna be handling the business shit, yeah. But in the mean time we’re gonna start finding ways to improve things here. For that, we’re going to be laying the groundwork for this whole damn project.”
“That sounds ominous. What groundwork needs to be done?” Ji was leaning against Trix’s aircar while they chatted. He’d been elbow deep in the drive systems when the group call had started.
“Each of you are going to be liaising with different groups over the next week. Our first goal is to prepare these people for being able to USE our tech in the first place. Swapping out shit like new harvesters or whatever is the easy part. Replacing planetary computer systems and the like will be much harder. The second goal is to provide a buffer for them so that if they need to make additional purchases to get by until we can step in, they can do so without selling more of their people into servitude.”
“For the first goal, I want Ji, Min, and Par to design an interface between the local computer systems and ours. Once we get a manufactory out here we’re going to want to put our own systems in place in tandem with theirs. That way we can work on replacing their systems slowly and not all at once with a minimum amount of disruption. If you need to return to the ship to use the fabber we’ll make arrangements.”
“So long as you let me fab a couple other things while we’re up there, that’s fine.” Min and Trix were going over some of the calculations on Min’s quickboard, debating and discussing adjustments to the aircar.
“Get the designs to Par. He can submit them to the fabber and you can pick them up when you’re back up there.” Alex didn’t even need to ask what they wanted fabbed. Those two had been laser-focused on the fun new toy since they arrived at the Noarala hab.
“Josh, while those three are getting an interface going there, medical tech is one of the bigger imports they get from the Bunters. But I distinctly remember you saying that the Sovalin can use chemical remedies instead. The Nof flock has the single largest training facility for doctors and medics on the planet. In fact every other training facility is under that one. You’re going to be coordinating with a team over there about everything you learned on the station.”
“Nearly everything I learned was just spat out of the onboard medical facilities. If you want more useful info, then we should take some samples up to the ship and load them into the autolab there.” Josh suggested. “I’m a medic and not a doctor but with the ship’s systems I can get a pretty decent base system for treatment going while we GET doctors and scientists out here to make more comprehensive adjustments and changes.”
“Let’s do that. In fact, Ji, when you or Min head up to the Fabber I want you to take Trix and Josh with you. Well, if she’s OK with it. If not find someone who’ll be OK with it and take them up. Get whatever scans or info you can while you’re up there then you’ll be joining us back on the ground.”
“Roger that.”
“Ma’et, once we bring the shuttle back and you’re feeling better we’re going to be having you ferry things around. Not the most glamorous job but an important one. When you’re not flying, feel free to offer up any suggestions you might have. I won’t pretend like I know how the hell you break into the systems you do, so I have no clue how your EW skills can be useful for this part of the plan but I know you’re resourceful as hell and will find some way to contribute.”
“Just get back here so I can breathe through my nose again. And so you can see me when I’m flipping you off.”
“After we finish all this prep, we’re going to be heading back to JR692. As a part of this whole deal we’re offering the Sovalin our mining rights to the system. Terrafault’s agreed through Amanda to reimburse us for it. The birds will need raw materials and since the Bunters have claim to everything not on Kiveyt or its orbit, we’re going to help them in that regard too.”
“As a gift?”
“Technically, no.” Amanda cut in. “The mining rights to the system are being used to purchase the Sovalin’s access to Bunter tech. But we are overpaying by such an extreme amount that it is essentially a gift. A necessary one. Once we get a manufactory out here they’re going to need raw resources after all.”
“Also it’s a good way for us to put our money where our mouth is.” Alex mentioned as well. “The end goal is to help them stand on their own without having to rely on anyone at all, Human or Bunter. But getting there won’t be easy and it won’t be cheap. They were adamantly against handouts or charity at first but the reality is that it can’t be avoided. So once we’ve done as much as we can here locally, we’re going back to JR692 to complete the original survey mission, but we’re also going to be bringing back as much as we can to help get them by for now. And while we’re out there, we’re going to be sending our emergency beacon back to Proxima. I’m a little uncomfortable being without it when we know there’s hostile FTL-capable species out here, but I don’t want to leave them out to dry while we navigate all the bureaucratic crap. If we’re here on Kiveyt at least they’ll know that we haven’t skipped out on them.”
Ma’et sniffed loudly, then asked “What’s the plan if the Tanjeeri are still in the system?”
“Come in further out than before, high above the ecliptic. Run a full scan of the system before we approach, and abort if they’re waiting around. If they’re gone, we pick up where we left off. If they’re around, we come back here and come up with a new plan.”
“And if they’re there but hiding in wait?”
“Then we get to find out first hand how much of a gap there is between our tech and theirs.”
—--
The past few days had been excruciatingly boring for Trksehn. After the big…. WHATEVER it was that happened at the Temple that nobody would explain, things had gotten busy as hell. The humans had been flying their shuttle nonstop around the planet, and nothing they’d been doing had needed a guide or an interpreter. She couldn’t indulge in working on her Soranet, since half the parts they needed still had yet to be ‘fabbed’ as the Humans kept saying. It really wasn’t a Soranet anymore, truth be told. The same basic shape and design, sure, but with some massive changes inside.
Working together with the humans on the car had been one of the best experiences of her life. Everything they did, every change they made, they made with her involvement. Every change no matter how minute was run past her. Every time they opened it up to make one adjustment or the other they had her do it and walked her through it step by step. It was perfectly clear and obvious to her that the two engineers didn’t need her around for any of it, but they were both quite clear about wanting her involvement in all of it and she loved every moment they’d spent together huddled around a schematic or wiping away grease and lubricant from her feathers.
Ji had also thrown a fit when he’d seen the control surfaces for the aircar. “You have this incredibly sleek streamlined gorgeous vehicle and you ruin it by putting all these ugly spikes and blades everywhere?” was his exact statement, and while Trksehn… ‘Trix’ as they loved to call her, didn’t mind at first she had to agree that the mockups on Min’s quickboard definitely looked better. She was still concerned that only having steering on the tail end of the car instead of on all four engine mounts would make the car more difficult to control, but Ji had reassured her that wouldn’t be the case.
With nothing else to do she had taken to chatting with friends, but she’d also found that to be lacking as well. For one, most had decided that her stories of the Humans taking an interest and actually helping out with tuning up her Aircar had been fictitious. “Why would they care about an aircar when they have interstellar ships and a shuttle that can fly beyond atmo?” “Stop trying to sound like you’re friends with them. They’re just staying in your Hab.” “It’s getting pretty pathetic the way you keep pretending.”
After an hour of trying to explain herself (And getting absolutely nowhere) she’d chucked the thing off the bed in disgust, and lay there feeling miserable. None of it was her fault, she’d been volunteered for the duty and tried to do it well. She was trying to start a conversation when she’d brought up the aircar. Why was it so difficult to imagine the Humans being interested?
A knock at the door brought her out of her self-pity and she heaved a sigh as she stood up to get it. Ji was waiting for her outside. “Hey Trix. Got a few?”
“A few of what?”
“Got some time? We have something we want to run past ya.”
“Oh, sure.” She closed the door and let Ji lead her to the gathering area where the rest of the Humans were at, while inwardly mocking those who didn’t believe her. The Humans were calling for her whether they believed it or not.
Alex raised a hand in greeting. “Good to see you girl. Sorry we haven’t been really involved in much right now, but things got hectic. We could use your help right now though.”
“Of course. What do you need?”
Alex glanced over and nodded at Josh. Josh cleared his throat and gestured outside the hab, to the square where the shuttle was parked at. “Several of us need to return to the ship for a bit. We have to pick up some gear and while we’re at it, we’d like your help in learning a bit more about your people.”
“Up on the ship?” Trix couldn’t help but grin at that. Those jealous losers wouldn’t believe her if she told them that she was going out to visit the Humans’ ship, but they didn’t matter at all. “I mean, yeah, absolutely!”
“Hold up. When I say learning a bit more about your people, I mean we want to run some medical tests.” Josh made a ‘lowering’ motion with his hands. “They won’t hurt, they aren’t invasive, but it’s not something we’re willing to do without your consent.”
“Oh. Uh…” Trix glanced down at herself, and looked up a bit more apprehensively. “What exactly do you mean by tests?”
“Well, we want to be able to offer your people medicinal technology and aid in the future.” It wasn’t a lie, and if he wasn’t mentioning the Bunters then there was no need to elaborate. “I’ve been going over some basic info with the Nof physicians, but we just need some samples and a couple scans so we can tell how much of medical techniques will be safe for you. The process is entirely painless and there’s zero risk involved.”
Trix bit the inside of her lip as she considered, but eventually nodded. “I mean… I suppose so?”
Josh reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. “It’s not as bad as whatever you’re imagining. If you’re nervous or uncomfortable about it we can find someone else…”
“NO! No I mean I’d like to go up. I just don’t know what you mean by scans and samples.” Trix wasn’t about to lose out on an opportunity to visit the ship, even if they were being cagey about what they needed exactly.
“Oh. We just need saliva and blood samples along with EKG, MRI, CT, and PET scans. Most of those you guys do already for diagnostics, but they’re just not as precise as our instrumentation allows for. The samples are so we can see the effects our pharmaceuticals would have on your people. We don’t want to test anything unknown and risk anyone’s health.”
Trix was still a bit uncertain, but took a deep breath and nodded. “That’s fine. If it’ll help people and I won’t be hurt, there’s no good reason for me to refuse. Plus I want to see your ship.”
“Atta girl!” Alex thumped her lightly on the back and nodded over to Ji. “Ma’et will be flying you, Josh, and Ji up there in an hour. Expect roughly 90 minutes transit to and from the ship, and probably…” Alex had to stop and do some math in his head.
With only 4 fingers per hand it wasn’t surprising that the locals had a base-8 math system. Their planet’s orbit was considerably closer to a circle and their axial tilt much less pronounced than on earth, so splitting the day into two 8-period segments (8 local ‘hours’ of daylight and 8 ‘hours’ of nighttime) was the norm. In Terran units, the days would have been about 28 and a half hours long though so trying to convert terran hours to Kiveyt time wasn’t always a quick process.
“I dunno. Let’s say 10 local hours total on the ship. Rough guess. Might be more or less but we have facilities onboard for food and rest if it goes long.”
Min was looking sulky, and Trix reached over to shake her a bit. “What’s the matter babe?” She still didn’t quite get that bit of lingo but she’d heard Josh use the phrase once and when Trix repeated it to Min, she’d thought it was hilarious.
“Ji won the RPS to take you up there. I was going to show you around but I’ve got to work on other things down here.” Ji walked over and set a hat down on his sister’s head, pushing the brim down to cover her eyes. Ignore her. She lost fair and square. She’s just mad I always know when she’s going to throw paper.”
Trix knew that RPS was some arcane decision making tool that Ji and Min often used to settle debates by shaking hands and making gestures, but she still didn’t entirely follow. Something about a rock breaking a blade but being broken by paper? How do you break a rock with paper?
Oh well, that was between the two of them and not her business. “Uhm, alright. Then when will we be leaving?” Ji grinned and waved at the entrance to the Hab. “Right now. We’ll have anything you need up there, so there’s zero reason to wait. Up, up and away.”
—--
Next Chapter

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