I moved into a new apartment in Palm Beach, FL and unfortunately, it appears they have not renovated the plumbing at all since the building was built 7 years ago. I believe this may be causing my water pressure to be terrible, along with many harsh contaminants. I am getting increasingly frustrated searching through Amazon, as every single one there has horrible reviews! I went so far as to buy the Jolie Showerhead for $165 being hyped up on instagram and the company sent me 2 used shower heads that after 1 week of use began making my skin extremely itchy. The pressure was also bad. A $40 one I bought from Walmart had better pressure than the Jolie, however it had no filter. Please help!!! Thank you 🙏

How were you diagnosed? I have itchy red bottoms of my feet, itchy red palms, flushed face, red swollen knuckles. It seems to happen when I get hot and have been moving around a lot. However I can’t tell if it’s something like this condition, or a reaction to something else.

Friday Night. flames
The show starts with the European championship opportunity tag team natch between Judgment day & The Blackpool Combat Club.
Judgment Day (Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh) vs Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli & Charlie Dempsey)- if JD wins they get added in the European Championship match
The crowd cheers for both teams as they make their entrance. The match starts off with Dominik Mysterio & Charlie Dempsey. Dempsey immediately used his technical expertise against mysterio tripping him up and putting him in a headlock takedown. Holding him down there but Dom gets out of it and pushes Charlie into the ropes and leapfrogs over Charlie and then hits him with a beautiful dropkick taking Charlie down. Dominik starts getting aggressive and grounding and pounding on him for a little bit before picking Charlie back up and tries to Irish whip him into the corner but Charlie reverses it into a bridging hammer throw into the corner of the judgment day. JD tags in and faces off against Charlie Dempsey. JD strikes Charlie with a huge strike followed by another but Charlie strikes back with a huge palm strike and a nice chop but JD fights back they continue going back and forth for a couple minutes before JD Knocks Charlie loopy with a Headbutt. JD trys to drag JD to the corner but Charlie gets out with a big kick trying to get out crawling to tag in Claudio but JD grabs his leg but Charlie hits him with a back mule kick and gets the tag to Claudio. Claudio goes off immediately giving a huge European uppercut to JD and then a big punch knocking Dom off the Apron. Claudio picks up JD for the Ricola Bomb but JD punches him in the face and then reverses it into a hurricarana. Claudio gets caught in the corner JD starts to hit Claudio with kicks and elbows before Dominik gets back up and JD tags him in. JD hits a head butt on Claudio, slings him up with a Delvin slide like maneuver but Dominik catches him with a back suplex, taking down Claudio. Claudio getting back up but hit by a Superkick into the ropes and Dom clotheslines Claudio over the rope and runs off the ropes for a suicide dive but Charlie pulls Claudio aside and Dominik Mysterio lands head first on the edge of the announce table. Claudio gets back and looks to hit the ricola bomb on the announce table but JD takes out Claudio’s leg with a chop block and puts him on the announce table before Charlie hirs a German suplex but he lands on his feet and headbutts him hard. Jd wakes Dom up and tells him to go up top. JD holds Claudios Leg’s down and Dominik hits a frog splash off the top rope through the announce table. Jd throws Dominik into the ring and then Claudio into the ring. Dominik crawls to the cover 1…2…. CLAUDIO’s foot reached the rope. Dominik slowly gets up and sees Claudio grabbing the middle rope in position for a 619…. No caught by Claudio and drops him the ring for a swing… 1 2 3 4 5 6 JD then decides to get in the ring and jump Claudio taking out his knee. JD then holds Charlie off as Dominik rolls up Claudio 1…2…3
THE JUDGMENT DAY WINS!
Roman Reigns vs David Finlay- World Championship Quarterfinals
This is a tough challenge for David Finlay but David goes at it head on and starts charging at Roman immediately spearing him in the corner over and over again. But Roman fights back and spears David in the corner with multiple shoulder thrusts. Roman then picks David up and starts berating him before picking him for a powerbomb that David reverses or a sunset flip roll up 1… kickout by Roman quickly. Roman gets up looking at David angrily. David slaps Roman in the face trying to get in Roman’s head. Roman pissed starts throwing multiple shots over and over again pissed off. Roman gets cocky and mocks David and start grounding and pounding him but David catches him and rolls him up again 1…2 kickout David starts feeling himself and starts fighting back with strikes and kicks finally knocking Roman down with a dropkick. David Finlay picks himf got a suplex for a quick cover but Roman picks out at 2. David goes to the ropes and hits Roman with a clothesline but Roman reverses hit a clothesline followed by another one and then a leaning clothesline. Going to the corner calls for a Superman punch. Runs at him and hits him with a Superman punch. Roman goes to the corner again “OOOOOOAHHHHHH” SPEARRRR NO a knee to the face. Off the ropes Roman goes for the spear again but David Finlay pushes Roman to the side runs to the other side of the ring and runs at him to hit a spear of his own. David Finlay picks up Roman hits then Trash panda for the cover 1….2… ROMAN KICKS OUT. David picks him over for a suplex…. THE OVERKILL 1…2…3
DAVID FINLAY WINS
Jamie Hayter vs Dakota Kai- women’s championship quarterfinal
This match starts off with a back and forth between 2 great strikers in the women’s division. They both get the upper hand through this match. At the end of the match Dakota Kai catches Hayter with a pump kick that knocks her loopy. Dakota then goes off the rope for the kairopractor but Jamie rolls out of the ring before Kai can get the pin. Dakota goes outside and brings Hayter back in. Dakota looks for another kairopractor but Hayter capitalizes and hits her with a huge lariat flipping her upside down both are down but Hayter gets back up and reversed a kick by Kai and grabs her for the HAYTERADE. 1….2….3
JAMIE HAYTER WINS
Bullet Club Wardogs (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney) vs GYV (Zack Gibson & James Drake)- tag team championship tournament quarterfinals
The Bullet Club looks to get farther in another tournament against GYV legends here in England. James Drake and Drilla Moloney start the match. They lock up but Drilla just kicks James in the gut. Drilla then starts immediately trying to beat down James and starts throwing punches and kicks to the head of James. Drilla then picks up James and hits a suplex for a quick pin 1…2 kickout. Drilla goes to the ropes and looks for a big boot but James ducks it and tags in Zack. Zack springboards into the ring clothesline to Drilla. Then takes out clark off the ropes. Drilla rolls Zack up 1… kickout by Zack Drilla then locks Zack in a headlock but Zack reverses and hits a dropkick on Drilla. Zack gets good offense on Drilla before clark gets the tag. The continue both teams getting the upper hand against each other and Drilla is in the ring with Young Vets at ringside Drilla hits a suicide dive heat seeking dropkick on both throwing James back in the ring. Drilla looks for the Drilla Killa but James reverses it and picks him up for a spinning tombstone but Zack comes out of nowhere and hits the code breaker hitting the TICKET TO MAYHEM. Zack then jumps out the ring on Clark taking Clark out. The cover by James 1…2…3
Grizzled young veterans win
Guilia vs Mandy rose- women’s championship quarterfinal
I don’t know enough about Guilia so I’m not gonna fully book this match but I’ll give the ending
At the end, Mandy went for the bicycle knee but Guilia moved out the way and Guilia picked her up in a tombstone position and hit her with the Glorious driver to win:
Guilia wins
Adam Page vs Bryan Danielson- World Championship Quarterfinals
The match starts off with Adam Page and Bryan Danielson staring down. They offer a sign of respect in a handshake but then Bryan locks up and picks up Adam’s leg and dragon screws Adam and takes him down and starts stomping on his leg aggressively before dropping a knee drop on his leg. Bryan then continues targeting the leg and puts him in a leg lock but Adam page gets out of it and punches his way out. Adam grabs danielson and hits him with a huge punch and an elbow striking Bryan with multiple strikes before throwing danielson into the ropes but danielson hits a running elbow to the face knocking Adam out of the ring. Bryan runs off the ropes and hits Adam with a suicide dive followed by a second one and goes for a third one but Adam catches him and slams him back first into the apron. Going to the second turnbuckle and backflips into Bryan for a Moonsault going back to the ring and goes for the Buckshot lariat 1…2… DANIELSON KICKS OUT.! Adam page continues fighting back and looks for a dead eye but Danielson reverses into a sunset roll up 1…2. Kick Out but Danielson grabs his arms and starts stomping Adam’s chest violently but Adam uses his strength to hold danielson’s body up and Monkey flips him off. Adam hits a huge elbow to the face of danielson when danielson bounces off the rope Adam hits a discus clothesline putting danielson into the corner and on the top turnbuckle and goes for the Moonsault fallaway slam but Danielson reversed it and hit a top rope DDT. Holy shit what a reversal by danielson. Danielson goes to the corner lines Hangman up… THE BUSAIKU KNEE. 1…2… HANGMAN KICKSOUT. Danielson then repeatedly stomps on the chest of hangman before turning it to a hammer and anvil elbows repeatedly then locks him into the Lebell Lock and Hangman passes out.
DANIELSON ADVANCES
Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) vs Subculture (Mark Andrew & Flash Morgan Webster)- tag team championship quarterfinals
2 of the most well known Tag Teams in the UK. Tyler Bate & Mark Andrew start the match as the crowd cheers for 2 as they soak it in. Tyler Bate locks up with Mark and pushes him to the corner and overpowers him. They lock up again but Baye pushes Andrews again. This time Andrews gets upset and charges at Bate with a double leg takedown and starts pounding at him on the ground but Bate wraps his legs around Andrews and turns Andrews over into a sleeper but Andrews fights out after a while reaching out and snapmaring Bate off of him and hits a running basement dropkick. Andrews gets the tag to Webster and grabs Bate to a wrist lock and hits a double stomp arm breaker on Bate. Webster tries to continue the assault but Tyler gets back it with a running wheel kick. Bate exhausted from the assaults and eventually gets the tag to Trent and Trent lariats Webster immediately and then takes out Andrews. picks up Webster but Webster catches him and reverses it to a roll up sunset flip 1..2.. Seven kicks out and and reverses it to a deadlift powerbomb and starts getting aggressive. The 2 teams continue to have a back and forth. until Bate is legal against Webster and bate goes for the rebound lariat but Webster catches him with a huge knee strike. Webster tags in Andrews. A inverted frankensteiner by Andrews assisted from Webster by a huge knee strike for the cover 1….2…3
SUBCULTURE WINS!
Xia Brookside vs Tiffany Stratton- women’s championship quarterfinals
2 of the youngest stars in the women’s divisions are going at it to advance in the Women’s Championship tournament. The match starts off and xia and Tiffany circling around the ring before locking up and they wrestle around the ring for a little while but Tiffany grabs her arm and kicks her in the knee before hitting an arm breaker against the mat. Tiffany continues beating on xia before xia fights back and starts throws strike after strike going back and forth for awhile they continue the match both girls getting the upper hand both getting exhausted. At the end of the match xia hits a Superkick on Stratton knocking her off the ropes and Stratton cartwheels toward Brookside and hits her with an Alabama slam. For the stack pin 1…2.. kick out by Brookside. Brookside crawls to the corner Tiffany goes in the other corner the handspring elbow in the corner and then goinf for the Prettiest MOONSAULT EVER but no Brookside rolls over and grabs her for the BROKEN WINGS for the cover 1…2..3 AND THE WIN FOR XIA BROOKSIDE
Xia Brookside Wins
Will Ospreay vs Micheal Oku
Both men come out to the ring with huge cheers for both men. Both men competing before having major respect for each other they stare down. They both soak in the crowds cheering circling each other for a minute and then lock up both fighting back against each others locks until Ospreay pushes Michael Oku into the corner. The referee tells Ospreay to break it up but Ospreay hits a big chop on Oku but that pissed Oku off and he pushed Ospreay into the corner and chops Ospreay back. Ospreay then puts Oku in the corner and then winds up for a big chop but just looks at Ospreay and shakes it off making a shake off sign against his chest. Call out to RevPro days. Ospreay charges back at Oku but Oku ducks runs at Ospreay and tilt a whirls around for the ddt taking Ospreay down before continuously striking him with elbows to the back. Before Ospreay gets back up and gets hit with uppercut by Oku. Ospreay starts getting bad and Oku looks for an Irish whip but Ospreay reverses it throws Oku into the ropes backflips over Oku and then does a backflip on Oku’s chest followed by a Superkick on Oku knocking him to the corner going to the other side of the ring and runs at him but gets kicked in the face by Oku. Oku climbs the middle rope and looks to jump on him but Ospreay moved and Oku ducks Ospreays move and hits a sleeper slam. Oku tries continue the assault but Ospreay fights back and chops Oku to the ground and grabs his wrist and hits him with another before picking him back up and hits a beautiful spinning back breaker. 1..2. Oku kicks out. Ospreay then picks up looks for a snap German but Oku lands on his feet and hits Ospreay with a huge jumping lariat. Oku Calls Ospreay up and hits a backstabber. Oku goes for a springboard Moonsault but Ospreay moves goes off the ropes handspring springboard back kick taking Oku out to the ring before running at Oku with a suicide dive followed by another and 3rd before throwing him back in the ring calling for the oscutter… he springboard but Oku catches him and hits a nice bridging German suplex 1…2.. Ospreay kicks out. Ospreay slowly crawls to the corner and Ospreay gets put on the top turnbuckle and Oku goes for an avalanche hurricarana but Ospreay holds on drops down and drops him with an alley oop on the top turnbuckle. Ospreay calling for the Tiger driver picks him and drops him with the Tiger driver 1…2.. Oku kicks out of the Tiger driver. Ospreay claps his hand together for the oscutter and this time connects with the oscutter on Oku. HE isn’t done he PICKS UP OKU DOUBLE UNDERHOOK, LIFTS HIM UP STORMBREAKKER. 1…2 OKU KICKS OUTS OSPREAY goes to the corner Oku barely being able to stand and Ospreay takes him out with a decapitating hidden blade. 1..2..3 OSPREAY collapses as he wins against going to the semifinals. Oku laying on the ground exhausted and Ospreay starts to get back up and helps Oku up in a sign of respect.
WILL OSPREAY ADVANCES
Sheamus vs Zack Sabre Jr
Sheamus gets cheered loudly as Sabre goes right after Sheamus trying to take out his leg, grabbing his leg and hitting a dragon screw and continues going with simple submissions to the leg keeping Sheamus down. Sheamus eventually gets out of it with a nice punch and starts hitting strikes on Zack. Sheamus put Zack in the corner and starts laying him out with punches and kicks til he collapses. Before picking back up and putting him on the top turnbuckle. Picks him up on his shoulders and goes for an avalanche white noise but Zack Sabre reverses it to a crucifix bomb grabbing his arm for an arm bar looking to make Sheamus tap out. He’s in the hold for a minute but Sheamus looks to reach the ropes but Sabre grabs his other arm and puts him in a double arm crucifix position for the pin 1…2.. SHEAMUS kicks out Sabre then grabs his leg but Sheamus kicks him off and gets back up and Sabre looks for a big European uppercut knocks Sheamus against the rope and bounces off and Sabre looks for a running enziguri but Sheamus ducks it and bounces off the rope and hits Sabre with the KNEECAP for the cover 1…2.. KICKOUT! Sheamus runs to the corner calling for the Brogue kick but it’s TMDK’s Mikey Nicholas and Shane Haste holding onto Sheamus legs in the corner but Sheamus kicks them off but when he turns around gets caught with a huge European upper cut. He then does a European clutch bridging roll up 1…2… Sheamus kicks out getting back Sabre goes for a springboard enziguri but Sheamus moves goes off the ropes and hits a huge Brogue kick for the pin 1…..2….3 SHEAMUS WINS TO END THE SHOW TO A HUGE OVATION . Sheamus has beaten ZSJ.
SHEAMUS WINS
Ends Show

Tottenham Hotspur 0 - 2 Manchester City

Man City scorers: Erling Haaland (51', 90+2' pen.)
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, England
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
Tottenham Hotspur:

Starting XI	Notes	Subs	Notes
Guglielmo Vicario		Brandon Austin
Pedro Porro		Emerson Royal
Cristian Romero	62'	Oliver Skipp	85'
Radu Drăguşin		Dejan Kulusevski	55'
Micky van de Ven		Bryan Gil
Rodrigo Bentancur	36' 55'	Tyrese Hall
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg	85'	Giovani Lo Celso	85'
Pape Matar Sarr	57' 85'	Dane Scarlett
Brennan Johnson		Mikey Moore	90+2'
Heung-min Son
James Maddison	90+2'

Manager: Ange Postecoglou (Australia)
Manchester City:

Starting XI	Notes	Subs	Notes
Ederson	68'	Stefan Ortega	68'
Kyle Walker		John Stones
Manuel Akanji		Nathan Aké
Rúben Dias		Matheus Nunes
Joško Gvardiol		Rico Lewis
Mateo Kovačić	70'	Oscar Bobb
Rodri		Jack Grealish
Bernardo Silva	90+10'	Jérémy Doku	68'
Kevin De Bruyne	68'	Julián Álvarez	90+5'
Phil Foden	88'
Erling Haaland	51' 90+2' 90+5'

Manager: Pep Guardiola (Spain)
MATCH EVENTS
1': We're off!
6': SAVE!! Bentancur has a chance from a central location, Ederson palms the shot over the net!
8': De Bruyne's shot takes a hard block and deflects towards the far post but spins past it. Flag up anyway.
16': SAVE! Vicario comes up heroically to deny Foden after Drăguşin loses the ball!
33': Johnson fires from wide, Ederson blocks it but spills it backwards for a corner.
36': Rodrigo Bentancur carded for an ugly late challenge on Foden
38': Walker floats a long pass to the far post for Gvardiol who volleys it over the net.
45': Haaland denied with a good block by Van de Ven! Bernardo looks sure to score the rebound but Drăguşin heads it away!
HT Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Manchester City Man City looks a little off.
46': We're back!
49': Son breaks free of the defense and gets a cross at the near post but Ederson smothers his sidefooted shot!
51': GOAL MAN CITY!! De Bruyne crosses across the box and Erling Haaland is there for a tap-in!
55': Tottenham substitution: Dejan Kulusevski on for Rodrigo Bentancur. Bentancur is really upset, kicking the shit out of his chair before sitting down.
57': Pape Matar Sarr lands on the back of De Bruyne's leg. Really ugly, could have been a red. De Bruyne stays down for a few minutes to recover
62': Ederson has to scramble quickly to his opposite post to grab the ball and gets clattered by Cristian Romero for his trouble. Stretcher is out. /edit Okay, Ederson is playing on.
68': Man City double sub: Stefan Ortega and Jérémy Doku on for Ederson and Kevin De Bruyne. Ederson really upset at being taken off, kicking the chair.
70': Mateo Kovačić being cautioned after trying to prevent the restart
80': Ortega to the rescue after Dias slips and loses the ball. Man City get away with one.
85': Spurs double sub: Giovani Lo Celso and Oliver Skipp on for Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Pape Matar Sarr
86': SAAAAAAAVE! Lo Celso dispossesses Akanji in the back and springs Son, Son rushes forward and fires but Ortega makes himself big and beats it away!
88': Phil Foden sweeps out Maddison's legs.
90': PENALTY FOR MAN CITY! Doku taken out!
90+2': GOAL MAN CITY! Erling Haaland smacks the penalty kick into the top corner.
90+2': Tottenham substitution: Mikey Moore on for James Maddison
90+6': Man City substitution: Julián Álvarez on for Erling Haaland
90+8': Doku denied at the near post by Vicario.
90+10': Bernardo Silva with the tactical foul
FT Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Manchester City Was there ever any doubt

Tottenham Hotspur 0 - 2 Manchester City

Man City scorers: Erling Haaland (51', 90+2' pen.)
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, England
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
Tottenham Hotspur:

Starting XI	Notes	Subs	Notes
Guglielmo Vicario		Brandon Austin
Pedro Porro		Emerson Royal
Cristian Romero	62'	Oliver Skipp	85'
Radu Drăguşin		Dejan Kulusevski	55'
Micky van de Ven		Bryan Gil
Rodrigo Bentancur	36' 55'	Tyrese Hall
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg	85'	Giovani Lo Celso	85'
Pape Matar Sarr	57' 85'	Dane Scarlett
Brennan Johnson		Mikey Moore	90+2'
Heung-min Son
James Maddison	90+2'

Manager: Ange Postecoglou (Australia)
Manchester City:

Starting XI	Notes	Subs	Notes
Ederson	68'	Stefan Ortega	68'
Kyle Walker		John Stones
Manuel Akanji		Nathan Aké
Rúben Dias		Matheus Nunes
Joško Gvardiol		Rico Lewis
Mateo Kovačić	70'	Oscar Bobb
Rodri		Jack Grealish
Bernardo Silva	90+10'	Jérémy Doku	68'
Kevin De Bruyne	68'	Julián Álvarez	90+5'
Phil Foden	88'
Erling Haaland	51' 90+2' 90+5'

Manager: Pep Guardiola (Spain)
MATCH EVENTS
1': We're off!
6': SAVE!! Bentancur has a chance from a central location, Ederson palms the shot over the net!
8': De Bruyne's shot takes a hard block and deflects towards the far post but spins past it. Flag up anyway.
16': SAVE! Vicario comes up heroically to deny Foden after Drăguşin loses the ball!
33': Johnson fires from wide, Ederson blocks it but spills it backwards for a corner.
36': Rodrigo Bentancur carded for an ugly late challenge on Foden
38': Walker floats a long pass to the far post for Gvardiol who volleys it over the net.
45': Haaland denied with a good block by Van de Ven! Bernardo looks sure to score the rebound but Drăguşin heads it away!
HT Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Manchester City Man City looks a little off.
46': We're back!
49': Son breaks free of the defense and gets a cross at the near post but Ederson smothers his sidefooted shot!
51': GOAL MAN CITY!! De Bruyne crosses across the box and Erling Haaland is there for a tap-in!
55': Tottenham substitution: Dejan Kulusevski on for Rodrigo Bentancur. Bentancur is really upset, kicking the shit out of his chair before sitting down.
57': Pape Matar Sarr lands on the back of De Bruyne's leg. Really ugly, could have been a red. De Bruyne stays down for a few minutes to recover
62': Ederson has to scramble quickly to his opposite post to grab the ball and gets clattered by Cristian Romero for his trouble. Stretcher is out. /edit Okay, Ederson is playing on.
68': Man City double sub: Stefan Ortega and Jérémy Doku on for Ederson and Kevin De Bruyne. Ederson really upset at being taken off, kicking the chair.
70': Mateo Kovačić being cautioned after trying to prevent the restart
80': Ortega to the rescue after Dias slips and loses the ball. Man City get away with one.
85': Spurs double sub: Giovani Lo Celso and Oliver Skipp on for Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Pape Matar Sarr
86': SAAAAAAAVE! Lo Celso dispossesses Akanji in the back and springs Son, Son rushes forward and fires but Ortega makes himself big and beats it away!
88': Phil Foden sweeps out Maddison's legs.
90': PENALTY FOR MAN CITY! Doku taken out!
90+2': GOAL MAN CITY! Erling Haaland smacks the penalty kick into the top corner.
90+2': Tottenham substitution: Mikey Moore on for James Maddison
90+6': Man City substitution: Julián Álvarez on for Erling Haaland
90+8': Doku denied at the near post by Vicario.
90+10': Bernardo Silva with the tactical foul
FT Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Manchester City Was there ever any doubt

Hey all, I know the condition is much more common on the third trimester but last night my palms were so itchy I couldn’t sleep. Now trying to fall asleep and same thing happening again 😬🫠 Anyone aware if this could be cholestasis already?

My car's transmission is on the fritz, so it's in the shop and I'm working from home for at least today. Thank goodness I can even work from home, or things would be a lot more complicated. Anyways, that's just a bit of a vent. I've also decided that I might do little lore-esque prechapter bits for some extra flavor. Hope you guys enjoy them! I find them to be fun little thought experiments on how people might perceive the world I've created from within vs from my own perspective. Enjoy some crafting and some romance!
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We know that the spots that are caused by looking at a source of light are, in fact, damage of some sort to the eye. This is confirmed by the spots rapidly disappearing should someone be healed whilst experiencing them. But why? Is there a divinity within light, beyond what our mortal eyes can withstand? Is there some sort of invisible emanation that comes alongside the light that damages us in some way? The discovery of light damaging the eye has opened more questions for me than it has closed.
-Musings on the Relations of Light and Fire, by Jarwic Leftun
\***
Xander carefully opened the door, finding Gabrelle already asleep, and sat down on a chair. Maybe he could get that adaptive camouflage to work right on bright colors. Surely he had some colorful things in his inventory.
He did in fact have a few colorful things in his inventory, and he whiled the rest of the night away making small adjustments to the runic array that was embroidered into the cloth. He was satisfied before dawn, the cloth now performing as well with light colors as it had with darker colors. Now he just needed to make a cloak out of it. He briefly considered coating his armor with the array, but discarded it. There might be times where he’d want to be seen. Besides, a hooded cloak would better break up the outline of his figure, the ripples of fabric, especially if he were to crouch or lay prone, obscuring his outline even more. In little time at all, he had a long, deep hooded cloak of the color shifting, runed cloth in his hands. He stashed it in his inventory for now, as he had no particular need to sneak up on something right now. The rest of the time before dawn he spent silently sitting in the chair he’d chosen, trying to keep his thoughts to a minimum, just daydreaming. Night dreaming? He couldn’t sleep anymore, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try to let his mind wander.
As the dawn came and the sun began to shine through the window of the room, Gabrelle slowly awoke, once more finding Xander sitting in a chair rather than in bed.
“Mmf,” She grunted as she stretched. “Morning, Xander. You got back late.”
“Morning, yourself,” Xander said, turning his head to look at Gabrelle. “Yeah... Yeah, I guess I did.”
“What were you doing, anyway?” She asked, curious. “You didn’t mention that you’d be out late, just that you were going to go to see Valteria at her shop.”
“I uh... went on a date.”
“I knew it! ‘Comparing notes’ was a date!” Gabrelle exclaimed triumphantly.
“It was not!” Xander complained. “But we went to a tavern in the evening and it sort of... turned into a date on the way there.”
“Awhh, that’s so cute,” Gabrelle said. “Did it go well? Is she nice? Did you kiss?”
“I think it went well. We talked a lot about different projects and ideas we had. I also got to meet another [Godsmarked] - he owns the tavern we went to. I think she’s nice. Maybe a little shy. I think she’s gotten used to being treated differently by people. I don’t think she really believed that I wanted to go on a date with her, at first. ...And yes. We kissed.”
“Ooooh, look at you! You’re growing up so fast!” Gabrelle teased.
“Oh hush. I’m older than you!” Xander huffed, then returned to seriousness. “But ah, if I’m going to be dating someone... we need to have a conversation, Gabrelle.”
“We need to stop sleeping together?” Gabrelle quickly deduced before Xander could say it himself.
“Yeah... It doesn’t feel right, even though it’s just platonic between us. I don’t think I would appreciate being in Valteria’s situation and knowing that the person I was seeing was sleeping with someone else at night.”
“Well, I figured this would happen eventually,” Gabrelle said. “Either you or I were bound to find someone eventually. Don’t worry, I’m not upset. Don’t get me wrong, the snuggles were nice, but like I told you a while ago, I don’t have nearly as much trouble sleeping when I’m with the team.”
“Thanks for not being upset, Gabrelle.”
“You know this means you have to start paying for your own room, though, right?”
“Ah, shit, you’re right. I forgot.”
Xander left the room to allow Gabrelle some privacy to get dressed and meandered back down the stairs to see if any other members of the team were already up. Looking around, he spied Graffus eating breakfast at at table and moved to sit with the dwarf.
“Mornin’” Graffus greeted Xander through a mouthful of bread.
“Morning,” Xander greeted back.
“Glad to see you made it back, we were wondering if you’d be out all night,” Graffus told him, after swallowing his bread.
“I was out a bit late, I suppose. I let the time get away from me.” Xander said, not really wanted to be teased again about going out on a date. “So what are you planning to do today?”
“Bah, Frazay has roped me into helping her do research for the drakeling. So reading is what’s in store for me.” Graffus tore himself off another piece of bread from his plate and slathered it with jam. “You going to be going back to that [Tinker] you’ve been spending time with lately?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan. I’m supposed to learn more about converting mana types today, and also help her fix the suit of armor that I wrecked.”
“Welp,” Graffus said, now on his last piece of bread, “I hope ya learn something new. Never had much to do with [Tinker]s – not saying I dislike them, just that I haven’t had much experience with them – so it don’t make much sense to me. Using a hammer is about the only overlap in our professions.”
“I think your hammer is significantly larger than the one most [Tinker]s would use,” Xander chuckled. Thinking about what he should be doing before he headed to Valteria’s, he asked Graffus, “Hey, I might need to buy some monster parts or elemental cores, something like that, for practice. You know where I would go to find stuff like that?”
Graffus shrugged. “Dunno. My guess would be an alchemy and reagents shop. That’s generally what we’ve sold monster parts to that didn’t go to a smith or leatherworker.”
“Thanks, Graffus.”
The two of them chatted for a while longer, catching up on what each other had been doing. Graffus excused himself to finish getting ready for the day, saying he needed to tend to his beard, leaving Xander downstairs. Deciding to be productive and proactive, Xander stood as well and headed out of the inn to find an alchemy shop.
It wasn’t long before he found one, a familiar scene of an eclectic collection of powders, liquids, crystals, and strange organic things floating in jars inside the building. The proprietor was a dwarf, seated at a workbench. They were grinding something into a powder as Xander entered. He received a distracted greeting before the dwarf returned to his work.
Xander wandered about the shop for a few minutes, looking at the various materials throughout the shop. He identified what he thought might be an elemental core, a jagged piece of crystal looking material that seemed to have an inner flame. As for the monster parts in jars, Xander had no idea what was what. He finally felt he’d waited long enough and moved closer to the worktable that the dwarf was still sitting at, working away at the mortar and pestle.
“Excuse me,” Xander said, grabbing the shopkeep’s attention.
“Mm?” The dwarf said questioningly. “Can I help you find something?”
“I was wondering if you had any elemental cores. Something small, I just need one to practice with.”
“Aye, I’ve a few of them around the shop. You want something to practice with? So a relatively weak core, then – not all the small ones are weak. Do you need any particular type?” The dwarf stood up and stretched, moving to one of the shelves.
“Uhm no, just whatever is cost effective, I suppose.”
The alchemist rifled through the various bits and bobs on one of the shelves nearby before producing a small chip of what looked to be a semi-translucent stone. It was tinged slightly yellow with streaks of white. “This here is a chip off a lightning attuned core. Pretty weak, but it does still produce mana.”
Xander could see the dwarf’s arm hair standing up as if from static electicity as he held up the stone. “How much?” He asked.
“Twenty gold.”
Xander shrugged. Twenty gold wasn’t an issue for him anymore, and he didn’t feel like haggling. He always hated haggling. “Sure.” He fished out the coin and handed it over to the dwarf.
The dwarf handed over the stone to Xander and the pop of a static electric shock could be heard as a tiny arc passed between the two of them. The dwarf grunted and shook his hand. “Thanks for the business,” he told Xander. “Anything else you find yourself in need of?”
“Not at the moment, but thanks for asking.” Xander waved goodbye to the dwarf and pocketed the tiny elemental core. He continued down the street in the direction of Valteria’s shop, thinking about how he was going to undo the welding job he’d done on Valteria’s armor. He’d need her to guide his repair efforts.
Xander returned to the inn momentarily to grab one of his golems. He settled on Atlas for now, as it was the most basic of the humanoid forms he’d created. No extra arms or weird feet on him, no sir.
Arriving at the building that contained Valteria’s home and shop, Xander knocked before opening the door. “Morning,” he called out.
“Xander! Hello!” Valteria called out. She was at the same work bench she’d been at yesterday. Jarrett didn’t seem to be in the shop at the moment, as Xander wasn’t able to spot the man.
Commanding Atlas to follow him in and closing the door behind him, Xander started walking towards Valteria. “How’s it going?” He asked.
“Good, it’s going good,” Valteria responded as Xander brought a stool over to her workbench. “How about yourself?”
“Not bad. The upside of not sleeping is that I never struggle in the mornings now. I used to hate waking up.” Xander laughed. “I even ran an errand before I came here! Picked up this.” Xander fished around in his pocket until he found the small chip of elemental core and held it up for Valteria to see.
“Core?” She asked distractedly, staring at Atlas. She tore her eyes away and looked closely at the small crystalline stone. “Lightning attuned?”
“That’s what the [Alchemist] at the shop said,” Xander affirmed. “Said it was a very weak one, but that it did still produce mana.”
“Mmm, a good practice piece, then.”
“I thought it would be, too. Not that I know what to do with it, yet.”
“Well, how about this: I teach you to set the stone and make some conduit, and then you can help me fix my armor. All the glue has turned to dust by now, thank the gods.”
“Sounds fair enough. So, how do mana conduits work?”
“Well, the concept is simple enough. It’s a tube which conducts mana,” Valteria began to explain.
“Mmhm.” Xander nodded along.
“What you need is a setting – usually of silver, as it has good mana conductivity – which will be the first step of conduction, taking the mana from the stone. Simply wrapping the core in silver wire can work well enough, drawing in the mana that the core puts out through its surface, but for a more effecient setting, small holes are usually drilled into the core to set the wire into as well, giving more surface area to draw from.”
“So we care about the mana conductivity of the material, then? That makes sense, I just hadn’t thought about it. I actually did a little experiment with my rune work to test which fillings were the most conductive.”
“Oh really?” Valteria said, interested. “What were your results?”
“Well, gold and silver were high up there in conductivity, and probably make the most sense for someone who has to physically manipulate material without use of a skill – both for a core setting and for inlaying a rune – but I did find that sapphires and rubies were even more efficient at transferring mana than gold and silver.”
“Mmm... interesting. I’ve heard of gemstones being used in very high-grade settings, as well as various other exotic materials. I read an account of one [Mechanist] who used tubes of mercury to conduct mana, though the relative effectiveness compared to silver wasn’t mentioned.” Valteria cleared her throat. “Uhm, now, where was I? Right, basic settings. Once you have your core – or monster organ, if you’re going that route – you connect it to the conduit. Usually, this is also silver wiring. I like to braid several smaller wires together, personally. I find it to be sturdier and hold up to flexing better. From there, it needs to be tied into a device. Which is a topic for tomorrow.” Looking around the shop, Valteria seemed to identify something on one of the shelves nearby. “I have a core that you could watch me set, and then you could try setting your own, if you’d like.”
“That sounds good to me,” Xander said. “I always love to see a master as work,” he added, opting for a little flattery.
“Follow me, then.” Valteria said, standing up from her stool and waving for Xander to follow.
Xander followed Valteria as she walked over to the shelf she’d been looking at earlier and took a palm sized, bright green stone from it. “Nature attuned core,” She explained, holding it for Xander to see. “I’m told it was taken from some kind of moving tree.” Valteria then moved to another worktable, on which were several of what looked to be drill bits to Xander. There was also an apparatus that look like it was designed to hold the bits, which was confirmed for him when Valteria slotted one of the small drill heads into the device. “This thing,” Valteria said, waving the drill a little bit, “is a life saver. I used to have to drill holes with a hand cranked one. Worth every single coin I paid for it to get an enchanted one.” She turned a dial on one side of the handheld device, which Xander was coming to think of as a magic dremel tool, and it began to come to life, the drill bit beginning to spin with a quiet whirring sound.
“Neat.” Xander commented. He watched patiently as Valteria drilled a series of shallow holes in the stone, the distinct screeching of metal on stone echoing through the shop floor. “So where’s Jarrett today?” He asked.
“Oh, he has the day off today. He asked for it about a week ago, not sure what for, though,” Valteria said distractedly. Soon she was finished with the holes she was drilling into the core, and moved to another workbench. “Now we create a setting for the core. This is a fairly simple way of doing it, mind you, but it is effective.”
Xander watched as she took sections of pre-braided silver wire and fitted the ends into the holes she had drilled. Once each hole was filled with a section of wire, Valteria began to pull wire from a spool, wrapping the stone until it was completely covered with silver wire and binding the braided sections to the stone in the process. “There,” she said, setting the stone down on the workbench. “A perfectly serviceable setting."
“So, if I understand correctly, you coat the core in a mana conductive material – the more surface area, the better, hence the holes – to create a setting?”
“Mmhmm,” Valteria said, nodding.
“Seems fairly straighforward. And then you connect the silver wiring that’s wrapped around it to more wiring, and attach that to your device? Why the distance? Why not just connect the setting directly to the device?”
“You absolutely can, if space isn’t an issue. Technically, the connection between the mana battery and the device, even if it’s just a single point with no distance, is still referred to as a conduit, though, so it’s considered a three part creation.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Do you want to try making your own, now? I don’t mind lending you a little wire.”
“Sure, but I should be good on material, I can produce it with my skills. Doesn’t last without a source of mana, but I guess the core itself might provide enough. Think this little chip is a bit small to put holes in, though.”
Xander looked at the small piece of crystal in his hand. If he just need as much contact as possible with a mana conductive material, his best bet would be to embed it into a sapphire or ruby. He decided on ruby, for no particular reason. Still holding the chip of core in his hand, he concentrated on his [Creation] ability. Valteria watched, amazed, as a ruby began to take form and grow around the piece of core until it was completely coated in a thin layer of gemstone.
“So, you can just... make things?” Valteria asked, sounding jealous.
“Well, it costs mana, and anything I make that isn’t provided a source of mana that leaves my person disintegrates in a day, but, yes. I can just make things with my skills. But,” he added, cutting off Valteria’s complaint of unfairness, “I have never received a skill that actually lets me improve a material. Sure, I have runes, which generally makes up the difference, but I don’t have any skills that improve the things I make. So, if you made a mana battery, and I made a mana battery the same way with identical materials, yours is going to be better, I assume, because you have skills that passively improve the things that you make, am I right?”
“Okayyy,” Valteria huffed. “I guess that does make it a little less unfair. But ugh! It would be so nice not having to source materials.” She looked at the ruby with a piece of core set inside it that Xander had made. “Well, I guess that about does it for making a setting... I thought it might have taken you longer to make one. I guess we can move on to fixing my armor even sooner! It’ll be nice to have it up and moving again.”
“Sure, sure, we can do that. Where is it, anyway?” Xander asked, looking around the shop again like he somehow would have missed the eight foot tall suit of armor.
“It’s in a shed behind the house,” Valteria explained. “I have it on a hoist so I can work on it.”
“Ah, that would explain why I haven’t seen it around.”
Exiting the shop, stopping for Valteria to put a small ‘closed’ sign on the door, the two of them made their way around the building, where Xander saw the small shed that presumably held Valteria’s armor. It looked like it could just barely hold the armor and one person – two, if they were comfortable with each other – inside it.
“So this is where the magic happens?” Xander asked.
“If by ‘magic’ you mean maintenance and upgrades, then yes,” Valteria agreed. She opened the door of the shed, which comprised most of the front of the tiny little building, revealing her suit of armor, which was currently hanging from several chains attached to pulleys on the ceiling. Plates of armor were laying strewn about the suite, leaving the joints and inner workings more exposed.
Xander whistled, looking at the inner workings of the suit. He could see gears, cogs, and joints, and throughout the entirety of the armor were running filaments of silver wire, which he assumed were mana conduits running to and from elemental cores and the various mana powered aspects of the suit. “This thing really is impressive. Almost as impressive as the woman who made it,” he said.
Valteria giggled, “Stop it! You’re supposed to be fixing this mess, not flirting with me!”
“Awh, can’t I do both?” Xander asked, trying to sound as saccharine as possible.
“Mmm, I suppose that if you are sufficiently skilled at multitasking, I might allow it,” Valteria said in a mockingly thoughtful tone.
“Well, I just so happen to be an expert, so flirt away I shall,” Xander replied. “Now, how about the beauty in front of me shows me exactly where the other beauty in front of me needs some repairs?”
Valteria sighed at Xander’s antics, but he could see the slight flush in her face. “Well, you welded the wrist joints, elbows, and knees. They aren’t welded all the way round, it’s more like you smoothed over a portion of it like it was wet clay. So if you could just... put it back? Shape it back to how it was, that’s should be all that’s needed.”
“Pretty straightforward,” Xander said, standing behind Valteria as she pointed out each joint. He could see the misshapen parts where he’d slapped a weld onto the metal. He leaned over her and put his hands on the elbow joint that they were closest to and began to shape the metal back to its original form.
“You’re... very close,” Valteria murmured to him as he formed the metal.
“Would you like me not to be?” He asked, carefully.
Valteria was silent for a moment before answering, “No...” quietly.
Xander carefully shifted to be a little closer, but still not quite touching, as he moved on to the wrist joint of the same arm. The process itself was simple, but he was enjoying taking his time. As he finished the wrist, he turned to look at Valteria. He found himself looking right into her eyes, as she was staring back at him. Unable to resist the temptation he leaned in a little closer, gauging Valteria’s reaction. When she, too, leaned towards him, he closed the small gap between them, drawing her into another kiss. Valteria pressed herself against him, the shed hiding them from any prying eyes on the street, and let out a small noise as Xander squeezed her tight. She was breathing a little bit harder than before the kiss as they separated again.
Valteria let out a breath. “You’re… a really good kisser.”
“Yeah?” Xander said, pleased with himself. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“And you’re a tease, looming over me like that in this tiny little shed,” Valteria continued. “Now you’ve got me all flustered, how am I supposed to work now?” She mock complained.
Xander was glad to see that Valteria was comfortable enough with him to joke like that. “Forgive me,” he said formally, making a deep bow, “How ever can I make it up to the lady?”
“Oh stop it, I will tolerate no bowing and scraping, even in jest,” Valteria said, slapping him lightly on the shoulder, as he was still holding the bow. “You can make it up to me by fixing the rest of these joints! And by taking me out to dinner?” She added, hopefully.
“I think that can be arranged,” Xander said. “Is there anywhere you have in mind? I will admit, I haven’t become very familiar with the local restaurant scene, what with my… dietary restrictions.”
“It doesn’t… make you feel bad to go out to a restaurant, does it?” Valteria asked softly, watching his face for a reaction.
“Nah, don’t worry,” Xander said, waving off the question with one hand. “It doesn’t bother me too much. Sure, I miss the taste of a good cut of steak, but I was never that into food. Eating was more of a thing I did because I had to, so I’m not completely devastated by the loss. And I can still get some vicarious enjoyment out of watching someone else enjoy their food. Really the worst part is awkwardly having to refuse ordering anything,” he said with a laugh.
“Alright, if you say so,” Valteria said, letting out a slight breath of relief. “I was just worried that it might be upsetting to you, is all. I know I would miss eating.” She paused for a moment, something clearly on her mind. “What do you miss? If you don’t mind my asking. I just… well, I’m curious what it’s like for you.”
“Mmm, in a lot of ways, life is still the same, and in other ways, I’m technically doing better than I was before. I’m incredibly resistant to damage now, even without my armor. I do miss sleeping, though. I try to give my mind a rest and just sort of daydream and let my thoughts wander or do some meditation during the nights, but it’s just not the same. Also means I’m the one that pulls guard duty through the night,” he grumbled. “Let’s see, what else, what else. Ah, right. I can’t smell anything. Or taste. I haven’t worked out how to recreate those senses, yet. Though no sense of smell can be handy sometimes, I suppose. I don’t know if you’ve done much merc work – you mentioned being surprised that I’m not just moonlighting – but uh… the smells that you encounter on a battlefield are… unpleasant. To say the least. It was weird not having a sense of touch either, but I’ve resolved that. It’s a little bit different than my previous, natural sense of touch, but I’ve become accustomed to it to the point that I don’t much think about the difference anymore. I think I’ve even got the density of receptors down in certain areas compared to others, so I'm more sensitive in some areas than others now, just like I used to be. I’m still immune to being tickled though, so don’t even think about it – that’s a fight you’ll lose.” Growing a bit more somber, Xander continued on. “I think… the biggest thing I miss is just the feeling that I fit in more. Now I always worry about being different, there’s that nagging fear that anyone I get to know well is going to reject me once they find out what I am. Like I’m secretly lying to everyone around me with this façade I have going on.”
Valteria nodded sadly. “I get that. I’ve been… rejected before, too. At least it happens or not right from the beginning for me. I get to know if they look down on me for being different immediately instead of fearing they might later down the road.”
“Yeah,” Xander said. “People can really suck sometimes. But at least I can just, like, not tell people what I am if I so chose. You, my teammates, and the guild, since it’s on my status sheet, are really the only people who know. I keep it pretty private. You can’t do that, so I think you probably have to deal with a lot worse than I do. Not that I’d want you to hide what or who you are,” he added. “I happen to be quite enamored with who you are,” he said, teasing a smile from Valteria’s sad face.
“Sorry to bring up such a dour topic,” Valteria apologized. “I didn’t think much on it before I asked.”
“No worries,” Xander told her. “Honestly, I think it’s good to be able to talk about it with someone. It’s healthy to be able to get you feelings out there. And it helps that I feel like you understand where I’m coming from with it, though from a slightly different perspective.”
“You’re surprisingly thoughtful sometimes,” Valteria said, only half teasing.
“Only sometimes?” Xander asked with a faux expression of hurt on his face. “By the way, you didn’t react much to my comment about moonlighting as a merc. Do you ever go on contracts?”
Valteria shrugged. “I certainly wouldn’t describe myself as a professional mercenary. Moonlighter is an apt descriptor, for me, I think. I have gone on a couple, here and there, mostly on kill contracts that would net me a core or organ that would be useful for my work.”
“Mm, that makes sense. I suppose it could be handy having access to the ability to take contracts that would give you access to specialty materials,” Xander said.
“It’s also good for business,” Valteria explained. “Mercs tend to like to buy from someone who has at least been out on a contract or two before.”
“Ah, that makes sense. What kind of things do you sell to mercenaries, anyways? I saw Jarrett with a crossbow yesterday, but I imagine you make other things, too.”
“Oh all kinds of little things. Portable, flameless heaters for cooking. Water purification sieves. Mm, let’s see… I’ve made a few custom order devices, too. One customer wanted to be able to shoot a jet of flame from their gauntlet, that was a fun one.”
“Ooh, that does sound fun… reminds me of my flamethrower.”
“Your flamethrower?”
“Yeah, it’s basically a big tank with a hose attached to it. At the end of the hose is a pump that causes the flammable liquid – I use dragon’s tar – to shoot out. Add a flame that the tar passes over and bam! You’ve got a giant stream of flame that will coat anything it hits with sticky, flammable tar,” Xander said, excitedly describing the device.
“That’s… impressive. And kind of horrifying,” Valteria responded.
“Mm… I guess you’re right. I mostly use it on giant spiders. Blugh,” Xander shuddered. “But yeah, I suppose it’s not the nicest of ways to go. Very effective for area denial, though. Ah, actually I have an idea for crossbow bolt head that would ignite when it shatters! We should make that sometime and see if it sells.”
“Hmm, I think that would draw some buyers. A flaming bolt head you didn’t have to light first could be desirable to certain buyers.”
“Put that on the list and we’ll get around to it sometime.”
“We have a list?” Valteria said confusedly.
“We should!” Xander said with a laugh. “Now let’s get the rest of these joints done.”
The repair of the other arm and the leg joints that Xander had locked into position during the tournament was a short affair. Looking over the bare metal frame of the armor still hanging from the ceiling, Xander clapped his hands together, mimicking dusting them off. “Good as new!” He exclaimed. Looking over to Valteria he asked concernedly, “It is good as new, right?”
Valteria had been staring at the armor as well, lost in thought about how she was going to improve it next. “Hmm? Oh, yes. It’s right as rain again, ready for use. Thank you, by the way. For fixing it,” She said awkwardly.
“Well I’m the one who broke it, so it’s only fair that I fix it. So what do you want to work on next?” Xander asked. “I could do some rune work for you. Orrr… we could kiss some more?”
Valteria flushed at the question, but didn’t immediately say no.
A few minutes later, she found herself on her tip toes and lightly pressed against the interior wall of the shed, her lips pressed against Xanders.
Once the two of them were done acting like teenagers parked in a secluded parking lot, they made their way back into the shop. Stepping inside and closing the door behind them, Valteria let out a breath. “I think… you are going to have to do a lot of rune work to make up for how much you just kissed me, Xander.”
“What, you didn’t like it?” He said with a raised eyebrow.
“I didn’t say that,” Valteria said with a smirk.

Hi so i’ve been using cetirizine for an itchy scalp from another skin condition it rlly helped for a long time but im tired of having to take it constantly. i used to take 10mg once every day then every other day and then once every 3 days because of seriously itchy symptoms recurring again but it wasn’t like before it was worse. at the point where i held off on my itchy symptoms on the third day without taking it id break out in hives. i continued usage for a little less than a year. i don’t want to depend on this anymore and i realized my story aligns with a lot of stories about withdrawal from cetirizine. i’m upset there are no warnings and now im miserable. i took a half a dose around 4 days ago now and im dealing with the itching by taking homeopathic allergy meds and homeopathic stress meds which are effective but i have to take maybe 3 per day w the situation now. when it flares up the itching is nightmarish i wish i was never recommended cetirizine. i want it to be out of my system and i don’t want to use it EVER AGAIN. however some ppl said they had to get back on it and taper down to deal w the symptoms and one person said once they tapered they didn’t have withdrawal. i want this to end for good as soon as possible and with as minimal suffering as possible pls give me advice. should i grit it out w the homeopathic remedies to soothe it a little or get back on cetirizine and taper off. don’t rec asking a dr bc they only recommend having it more often lol

for a few days i’m having sudden sensation on itching on my palms and feet soles and even the ankle part. it causes a little rash and small bulbs and the itching won’t go away. my plans turn red and feel stiff and swelled. what to do?

When I first started using Dermadry, I didn't get itching at all. The only side effect was small burns at certain areas. I used vaseline and that seemed to helped.
All of a sudden, the itch came and lasted for a few days and nights after the treatment. It wasn't itchy during. And it's so unbearable I can hardly sleep. Even on a low setting of 5ma. I've tried hand cream with no success.
There's also no visible marks on my palms and it feels like the itch is coming from under the skin.
Anything I could do to prevent getting this itchiness? I use tap water and where I'm from my tap water is super clean and drinkable.

I am not the OOP. The OOP is u/ThrowRa-Alergy posting in AITAH
Concluded as per OOP
1 update - Medium
Original - 9th May 2024
Update - 10th May 2024
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AITAH for telling my bf that his daughter is not allowed in my apartment because she doesn’t stop smuggling peanuts in?
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I can’t have any contact with peanuts and I am terrified of them due to some bad experience ms ending up in the hospital. I have my shots now on me all the time. It is not exactly airborne but I could have irritation and if it for example touch something that had been in contact with peanuts i could have swollen eyes and itchy nose and throat. Ingesting is fatal.
She is 14 and has no respect what so ever for my anxiety. My bf and I moved in and she lives with us every other week. Now I told my bf that I don’t want her here because she is not respecting my boundaries. But that I understand that he doesn’t want to live with me in that case we could revert back to him being with me when he doesn’t have his daughter. He got very upset because he said that he loved me and wanted a real relationship and to live in one home.
So I told him that maybe he should be with someone who isn’t allergic then. He thinks I am being very unfair. He said well, she will probably hate the next one too and the next and the next because she wants her mom and me to be together again so it wasn’t “me specifically” that she dislikes. I said that maybe he needs to take a break from dating then until she is onboard but he said that he couldn’t be single just because his daughter wants him to. Before me he was single for 6 years and that wasn’t good enough.
Before we decided to move in together, we have done some “trial” living together and never once did his daughter do anything about the nuts. But now for 4 months she has always peanuts with her. I don’t know why she is doing this. I thought we were cool. She just smirks and says maybe if you are so allergic, maybe you’re not meant to survive(a stand up comedy bit from Louis CK)
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Comments
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ERVetSurgeon
NTA but you need to leave this relationship. She thinks it is funny and he doesn't care. The amount of disrespect for your health is amazing.
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CruelxIntention
This. He’s allowing this instead of getting to the core of it and putting the child in therapy where she clearly belongs. She’s plenty old enough to know this can kill someone and to have complete disregard over that shouldn’t be overlooked. You may love this guy but I’m betting you love breathing more.
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WonderingGemini84

"You may love this guy but I'm betting you love breathing more."

THIS!!!
You can not love someone when you're dead.
The boyfriend doesn't seem to realise how serious "the no peanuts"-thing is. This is a non-negotable. Your home should be your safe space, she doesn't respect that and he doesn't hear you (or doesn't care enough)
Throw them out OP!!!
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weeperOfChimneys
NTA, she has all but said she's attempting to kill you with peanuts. Quoting a comedian doesn't make it funny or acceptable. He hasn't bothered to search her and divest her of the nuts when he picks her up either.

OOP: He offered this as a suggestion. Visitation before she entered my apartment but I don’t want this kind of life. I was fine only seeing him on his weeks off. But I understand that he wants something more permanent than meeting every other week so he probably should find another woman

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YoghurtSnodgrass
She would probably just hide peanuts around his place for you to hopefully come in contact with. Just break up. His kid is trying to kill you.
Where is she even getting all these nuts from? Is her mom buying them for her? Does she buy them from a vending machine at school? How crazy is the little turd?
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**Judgement - NTA*\*
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Update - 1 day later
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Hi everyone! Thank you so much for really caring about a stranger with a dilemma. I was glad that I wasn’t wrong in my guts. I told my bf that I wanted to break up.
He was very sad and tried to reason with me. He suggested that we could live separately. His daughter will soon be an adult. I told him that being 18 doesn’t guarantee that she leaves the nest nor that he stops being a father either. Any time she could come across hardships and wants to move home and she needs to find that home. She couldn’t have it with me.
And about living separately, while it is fine now and some few years ahead. What about the future?
He was silent and listening to me. I felt overwhelmed because I love him. He said that the only way his daughter will be happy is when he is alone. She is in therapy but she has not shown any regards for her father or his life. She seems to not see him as an individual with feelings. He is just a father. I didn’t know what to tell him and just said that she probably needed time to grow up.
Until he moves out, his daughter is not allowed to be in my apartment. She called and threw a tantrum about her father choosing me instead. That she has the right to live with her father every other week and this shouldn’t change. I didn’t say anything, they need to fix this as a family, I am not a part of this family anymore.
He rented his apartment for a year’s contract so I don’t know how he will manage to find a new or terminate the lease so he could move back to his old apartment. Anyway he is staying here for a couple of months.
I am very sad that this beautiful relationship has come to an end. But I need to think about myself now.
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Comments
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he_nooch73
Know you made the right choice for you, your health, your safety. As someone said in your other post ‘you may love him, but you probably love breathing more’. I think you’re right about his daughter never accepting his partners. He needs to address this with her in therapy. I hope her therapist knows about the peanuts because her behaviour is truly disturbing. I’m so sorry your relationship had to end.
Commercial-Ask3416
I feel so bad for you and your boyfriend. I feel like he is stuck between a rock and hard place regarding his daughter. I know people are saying he should discipline her or this and that, but it sounds like it wouldn't work and that she would likely escalate. I work with kids like her. Hoping her not being able to live with her dad the next few months will be a wake up call for her but in my experience I doubt it. Good luck to the both of you, especially him as he has to deal with the fallout. Not your monkey, not your circus anymore.
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I am not the OOP. Please do not harass the OOP.
Please remember the No Brigading Rule and to be civil in the comments

just to preface, i would never do this to someone. hello, food allergy sufferer here o7
cw: childhood abuse, allergy suffering.
growing up, i have always had a hard time with bananas. thankfully, it’s one of my non-anaphylactic allergies. regardless, it’s extremely uncomfortable. my throat, tongue, mouth, and ears get tingly and itchy. my stomach WILL reject it (nausea, vomiting, cramping.) if i ever eat it raw.
back in 2020 or so, my mother would force me to drink smoothies. they would consist of anything she could find in the fridge + water + maybe some random other ingredient. pretty much every time without fail, she would put banana in it and lie about putting banana in there. (needless to say, i knew every single time.) i did not have a proper diagnosis from a blood test at this time, but i remember frequently begging her to not put bananas in because i was (and still am) allergic. (honestly i was begging to not drink the smoothies at all because OAS sucks and they were disgusting. but she would watch me and scream how she’d be laughing over my grave in 10 years :P)
now, my family isn’t new to allergies. i grew up with dairy, egg, peanut, tree nut, and allergies to most meats. but my mother would scream at me how banana allergies “don’t exist” and that she hasn’t ever heard of them.
going straight into adulthood, i got allergy testing done. low and behold, banana popped up as a class 3 allergen (11.5). learned from my dad that my mother got upset with me for getting this done.
this past mother’s day it suddenly hit me that this is still affecting my mental health. i literally don’t know what to call this. assault? poisoning? reckless endangerment?
i’d love to know, it would help a ton. thank you for reading up.

I am on week two, took my second shot 4 days ago. Today my palms are very red and my hands are itchy. I havent been outside because I was fighting nausea in bed all weekend, so I know I didnt touch anything in the yard. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

40 y/o male, 5ft11 215 lbs.. he is in good shape and his job is very physical… his palms and soles of his feet get super itchy and crack… he scratches them so much (mostly in his sleep) they start to crack and bleed, then peel..
It gets worse at night when we go to bed. Doctors keep prescribing antifungal cream or steroid cream but nothing helps! They gave him a steroid shot once and it started to clear up, but the doctor said it was a short term treatment and wouldn’t give him another.. I have no idea what it could be?

Emily was walking through the dark corridors of the colony, somewhat upset, now she had to go to the colony's port, the reason? She had to bring the fruit punch, of course no one was going to eat it but they need it because they wanted decoration.
The map she had guide her to the area where human food was stored was, it was a room with special compartment designe to keep most of the food in a state of preservation, even after 20 years, the food would still be like new, that's why Drones wouldn't have to worry about spoiled food taking up space.
"Why do I have to be the one to look for this and it have to be specifically on the far side of the colony?" She complained before stumbling because she had her eyes on the map not on the road, her visor hit the ground, she quickly composed herself to look at what made her fall and at that moment her oil froze, because of someone legs, leaning against the wall was a vipedic creature, with nearly nothing beyond a pair of pants. Instead of metal, its body was made of something of a greenish hue that slowly became paler and paler.
"what the-" she stopped her words by placing her hands on her mouth, not wanting to wake up to whatever she found, she slowly began to walk away from him, however before she could turn the corner she could see how this creature began to wake up and let out what seems to be a battle scream (Actually he just yawned but since drones don't do that, so Emily got scared of that), that was enough for her to speed up, running with all her might to avoid her premature death at the hands of a creature she has never seen before....
After opening his eyes and letting out a hoarse yawn, M looked to the side seeing how something was moving but he didn't know what it was, his eyes didn't adjust until a few seconds later, already more or less awake, Mitchell stood up and began to walk move in search of an exit or something to eat, he had not eaten in two days, so he needed to regain strength, but if he went outside even when the temperature was more or less the same, it is when there are snow storms that things get worse and complicated all for him, his body had to grow by eating what he found along the way, which was not much because not everything was digestible for him, he had to learn the hard way what he can eats and what he can't, sometimes he missed how it was simply waiting for Yeva and for her to give him food.
Outside the colony, a Spider-pod lands on the top of the mountain where the worker colony was built, since it was underground it would first have to find a way to enter.
"Since the Murder drones in these areas were eliminate after a long time trying to enter, only succeeding because they were able to attack before the door closed, we must find another way" T said to his squad, reading the data that was sent from Jcjenson boss to them.
"Tracking a weakness and exploit it is my speciality" Z said with a crazy smile before jump and fly with her wings to have a better view, she quickly moved towards the west being followed by her companions.
"Looks like someone forgot to cover the roof" Z said while bumping fists with T.
"Well the battle plan is this, me and T hunt down the drones while Z moves through the vents to find the creature and sends a communication to us when she kill it, is that okay?" D asked his co-workers.
"In case that thing is with the Drones, let me know, while I would like to test the capabilities of that thing on my own, from what we have recorded, the workers drones created a anti-disassembly drone weapon, so if they are with that creature and more of those weapons in the same room, it would be good to be all together so we can win" Z added, to which her companions agreed, shaking their heads affirmatively. Now the three entered through the gap in the ceiling that was never repaired, T and D went towards south, while Z moved towards the vents, before moving much, she received a message from T.
"Hey, apart from exploring, you should build a map of this place while you move through the vents, maybe in the potential case that we fail, other Disassembly Drones can use that valuable information to complete this mission, so they will be here in about a week, the other teams are taking their time and want to give us the first try, and then if we can't, they will all go together."
"Okay, this place is very big so even if we succeed, it's better this way, the worker drones probably have a secret escape route and we can use it to ambush any survivors who try to escape" Z replied to her partner.
"OH ROBO-GOD OH ROBO-GOD" N begins to hyperventilate in front of V, who looked at him without saying anything because the boy did not even let her form a word until N got close enough to V and she gave him a slap making him look at her and they both stayed silent for a minute.
"Listen to me N, being like this will be no good for no one, you will only make yourself worry more without being able to do anything to bring a solution to your problem, so shut up and think." V said
N puts his hand on his chin, V was right, if he stayed here doing nothing, everyone in the colony would be killed if he didn't get going but he shouldn't be stupid too with what he will do.
"You're right, I need a plan."
"We need a plan, I won't let those Disassembly Drones eat all the food, remember we overheat without oil, plus I can annoy that purple thing by making her owe me a favor for saving her ass" She said while laughing.
"Okay, let's go," N said as he walked outside, only to notice that V wasn't moving. "What's wrong, V? Move, we don't have all night."
"N, I'm chained"
"...."
"...."
".... I'm silly, not blind" N said and then went up, V opened her eyes a little before moving because the chain had been broken for a long time.
Obviously V didn't tell N what the real reason was of why she had such change, if these drones are here it only means that Cyn decided that "something" was outside of her plans and that it had to be solved . So if she finds this "something"... maybe there was a chance that all of this could lead to the key to finally getting rid of that pirated Windows drone. So she decided to cooperate a little with N, yes, she still thinks about at least drinking some of the oil from the drones already killed by this squad to replenish the lost amount and prevent overheating.
Now in the colony, Uzi was being dragged by Lizzy and Doll, they had made her pretty, something that did not go with her programming, although the dress looked good and that, she was uncomfortable wearing it.
"I still don't know why I have to go to the stupid dance," Uzi said, watching Doll leave for a moment.
"Well, with that attitude you won't make any friends, much less get your friend Murder Drone back, believe me, I know you want to see hum because of the way you answered our questions, it was not only uncomfortable but a tone of guilt that came out of your voice module" Lizzy said as she finished putting on her dress.
"Wow Lizzy, since when were you so good at reading people?" Uzi said surprised.
"When your mother is the only psychiatrist in the entire neighborhood and you have Doll as a friend, you learn to read others, it's just a matter of finding the right opening, and from what I can see after what happened a while ago , your friendship with that Murder Drone N fell for some reason, you must leave the past behind, whatever you saw if you don't let it go you won't really be able to grow as a person, so I advise you, go and talk. I'm sure for the way he describes him, you'll be forgiven." Lizzy said after putting a hand on Uzi's shoulder, before walking out of the room leaving a thoughtful Uzi.
With that in mind Uzi got up and left the room only to find Yeva who was wearing an elegant suit because she was going to see the Prom, although her intention was different, she wanted to check if that monster would try to attack the drones that were there in the Prom, so she and the others can stop it before a drone gets hurt, of course she'll probably need to get her solver out because she doesn't know the capabilities of this thing beyond being bigger than a murder drone, but she's not someone who is intimidated by size.
"Hey Yeva, huh, have you seen Lizzy and Doll?"
"Ну, судя по тому, что мне рассказала Долл, они пошли проверить одну вещь, чтобы завершить свои наряды, так что они должны быть здесь через пару минут." (Well, from what Doll told me, they went to check something to complete their suits, so they should be here in a couple of minutes) The older Drone told to darkXwolf17, Uzi felt slightly uncomfortable seeing her.
"Hey, ma'am, can I ask you something? It's related to my mother." Uzi said before receiving a wave of Yeva's hand to fire off her question.
"Well, how exactly was she like before meet my dad? Although many stories that he told me, he never told me about what she was like in her youth and that you two were found by his group 20 years ago, so I assume that you have been good friends for a long time, right?"
"Да, мы с Нори были друзьями до взрыва ядра, мы служили людям во всем, что они от нас просили. До взрыва отношение Нори было немного другим, более сосредоточенным, и его было легче разозлить, но не так сильно, как было после взрыва. Я полагаю, что отсутствие людей облегчило ему свободу самовыражения, поскольку нам не пришлось бы терпеть особых усилий из-за... нашей работы, которая требовала физических и умственных усилий, потому что она заключалась в кодировании кодов." (Ah, yes, Nori and I were friends before the core explosion, we served the humans in whatever they asked of us. Before the explosion, Nori's attitude was a little different, more focused and easier to get angry, but after the explosion, i think the absence of humans made it easier for her to express herself freely, since we wouldn't have to endure much effort due to... our job, which required physical and mental effort because it involved coding codes.) Yeva told half-truths to Uzi, who was listening. attentively each word being more or less satisfied with that answer.
"By the way, one last thing, what about Doll's father? I haven't seen a single photo of him around the house."
That question made Yeva freeze for a second, before she moved and avoided the question with another
"Я думаю, вы знаете ответ, вероятно, это был ваш друг-дрон-убийца, я не знаю, я ничего не мог сделать, чтобы спасти его, говоря о дронах-убийцах, что случилось с теми двумя, которые были на свободе?" (I think you know the answer, it was probably your friend killer drone, I don't know, there was nothing I could do to save him, speaking of killer drones, what happened to the two that were loose?) Yeva looks at Uzi seriously, because she had afraid that she would have to deal with the Murder Drones if they have used Uzi as a can opener to the secrets of the colony such as the place where they get oil from.
"Well..... the relationship I had with N went down the drain, but I'm about to fix it, so I'll do it now or never." She said, motivated by Lizzy's words before leaving the house, leaving a worried Yeva, who finished her preparations before leaving for the Prom
Lizzy and Doll were walking on their way to the Prom with their dresses ready, that is until Emily collided with the both because she was running without looking, when she fell she saw who she hit, both friends stood up.
"Emily, what's wrong with you? You could ruin this dress, you doesn't know how hard they are to find" Lizzy replied to the Drone.
"I'm sorry Lizzy and Doll, I just saw it, it was horrendous and it made a strange roar." Emily responded. That attracted the attention of both of them, who looked with an expression of wanting to know every last detail.
"Well, you see I was the one who had to look for the fruit punch and all the food for the decoration of the dance, so I was sent to the most remote place in the colony, there while I was walking I found that thing, it was big and ugly, a sickly green color" She said, the girl wanted to keep moving away but she was taken by the hand by Doll
"Покажи нам дорогу, Эмили, к месту, где хранят еду, мне интересно, что ты скажешь." (Show us the way, Emily, to the place where we keep the food, I'm interested in what you say.) Her interest in the situation was clearly piqued, which Emily didn't like, but she was dragged by the purple-haired girl and the blonde into the dark hallway.
N and V were flying on their way to the colony, until they noticed the open door. "Look, there's Uzi, and uh, she's got a dress on, she looks very..." N almost started drooling if it weren't for V hitting him on the back.
"Hey, what was that for?"
"Don't act like that, it's in bad taste for a girl to have a boy spying on her from a distance, plus if she has a dress we probably need one suit for you and a Dreas for me."
"V there is no time" N started to go down....but then he went up again
"Where can I find one?"
"Follow me, I know the perfect place" V said guiding her partner to a clothing store to get a suit and dress for each of them.
Outside in the blizzard, Uzi was running until N and V quickly stop her as they both land in the snow kicking up a small cloud of it.
"¡¿N?!"
"¡Uzi!"
"¿Why-?"
"You look-"
"¿How-?"
"Hey, eh-"
"I... Think some-"
"I could help. But you probably don't want me..."
"OH MY GOD CAN YOU STOP DOING THAT?! WE HAVE A SQUAD OF MURDER DRONES TO STOP" V yelled at them both making their attention turn to her.
"WAIT HOW THAT A MURDER DRONE SQUAD?!!" Uzi panics
"Let me explain, we were relaxing in the spiral until the place moved a little, so I went out to see and it turned out that a ship that we used passed over and headed towards this location, they are probably already inside" N told her while Uzi had her eyes open.
"But luckily purple thing we are here to save your ass and your colony in exchange for donations of oil for all our life" V told her only to receive an elbow from N, Uzi for her part began to run from back towards the colony followed by both.
Yeva was in the Prom and had a glass of oil while she looked around in search of her daughter or at least Lizzy.
"oh hello Yeva" a voice called her, when she turned she could see Khan
"Привет, Кхан, ты видел девочек? я ищу ее"(Hi Khan, have you seen the girls? I'm looking for they)
"no, I expected they would be be with you" That was not a comforting answer, that started to worry her until something fell from the ceiling directly killing the party's DJ while someone close the doors.
"Greetings, dear toasters, and welcome to the funeral dance of this colony" T said as he changed the music to something he liked while D moved out of the doors with his hands transform into claws tearing apart a drone.
Yeva gets ready, hell with pretending she's a normal Drone, they're murder drones, of course she's going to use the Solver now.
"ЧЕРТ ВАС, Я УБЬЮ ВАС ОБОИХ!" (DAMN YOU, I'LL KILL YOU BOTH!)
"Hey, what did she say? I don't have too many languages installed in my software" said D but was sent flying when a table that was next to him suddenly hit him thanks to a push from Yeva who used the Solver, walking in front from the crowd to fight against the two Murder drones
The three Drone girls were walking down the hallway where Emily found the creature, but none of them couldn't see anything there.
"Well it looks like she's gone so I'm going-" Emily start to say but Lizzy would pull her by the shoulder, the popular one took out her phone and looked for her copy of the facility plans that she had stolen from her dad
"If there is a creature that is not a drone in this place, then it is probably in the area where we kept all the human stuff that we don't need, you know blood tests, some other tools, organic food, water purifiers , etc" Lizzy walked leading now, it took 5 minutes until they felt that someone watching them.
"Хорошо, разве я не единственный, кто чувствует, что за ней наблюдают? Что ж, тогда давайте вытащим этого шпиона"(Well, am I not the only one who feels like she's being watched? Well, then let's take out this spy.) Doll, Emily and Lizzy looked around until Lizzy stopped.
"HEY, I saw you, come out now or we'll kick you out" She yelled at whoever was there.
"Неужели кричать было хорошей идеей? Честно говоря, я бы отступил, если бы оказался в подобной ситуации."(Was yelling a good idea? Honestly, I would back out if I found myself in a similar situation.)
"But what does you say? It's super effective"
Then they saw him... he was tall, and his gaze pierced to the core of them, he approached to the group at a slow pace.
Both Lizzy and Emily took a step back, however Doll did not move an inch, she stared at the being, almost hypnotized.
Mitchell looked at the Drone in front of him, she looked so different but at the same time so familiar, as if he knew her from somewhere, he was hypnotized watching how the dark purple-haired girl took a small step, in a moment she stood up her arm and he copied her action, touching your palm with his, it feels familiar, like a part of him is here. However, his instincts quickly kicked in, he pushed the purple-haired girl away using her arm while something fell from the vent. A sword had created a small crater where he and the Drone were a second ago, right there was the owner of the weapon, a Murder Drone, who was looking at the four, three drones and her target.
"Wow, this place is very big but I finally caught you big guy, so I'll kill you quickly and have a little snack with those Drones" Z said while turning her hands into claws
"MURDER DRONE AHHHH" Emily screamed before running out to the way she came, Lizzy and Doll left with no other option, knowing that without Uzi's gun or sunlight both would be no match for this one.
Doll turned to look at the creature, noticing that he did not move an inch from his place, in fact she could see how a mark appeared on his skin, his muscles contracted, before letting out a monstrous scream of anger to the Murder Drone who was laughing to start a fight... which was very one-sided, although Doll couldn't see much as she was pulled by Lizzy out of danger and started running towards the Prom...
"Let's see what you're made of, big guy." Z launched herself to cut Mitchell's face with the intention of ripping his face off, something that miraculously failed because he was able to avoid the cut by twisting his back a little. M took a step back, he knew that in a physical competition he had no way of win, so he decided to do the most logical thing... Run, so he ran in the opposite direction of the 3 Drones to keep the metal demon away from them, Z smiled at the idea of playing cat and mouse, so she deployed her wings, something that was difficult due to the size of the hallways, which Mitchell took advantage of, since Z's feet were not designed to run much on the ground unlike more manly designs, she would be restricted in flight on place like this.
He looked back to see how Z turned her left arm into a rocket launcher and fired a missile at him, so he launched himself into the detour, feeling part of the explosion that shook the entire ground, he stood up and began to run, slightly in pain due the shock wave but that was only a second before his body worked to repair the damage and with adrenaline rushing through his brain, he tried to dodge the projectiles that were now bullets, some hit him but he didn't slow down at all, in one point he sees a detour to the right so he takes it, Z crashes because she couldn't fight the acceleration she had taken, fracturing her visor a little but she quickly regenerates to look at where Mitchell went, noticing a couple of closed room.
"Let's see where you went" Z began to open each door with a kick while she had her weapons ready to turn Mitchell into Swiss cheese, nothing, nothing, nothing, NOTHING.
"Where the hell did he go?" She said, looking when she saw that she couldn't find M, then she heard something above her while she was opening the last door. Mitchell jumped from the roof in a surprise attack, managing to push Z to the ground and because she wasn't prepared for that, Mitchell began to dominate her, managing to retain her arms and using the difference in size to his advantage, immobilizing most of her body...... I say most because Z's tail was free so she moved it and stuck it in the Mitchell's throat.
Making him fall to one side feeling the pain of how his flesh melts, his cells started a war trying to counteract the corrosive properties of the nano acid but they are more powerful, so killed Mitchell's cells on the neck, Z grab him from the left leg and threw him into a room, hitting a vending machine with his body, Mitchell's consciousness almost went away but Z did not end there, she transformed her hand into a knife and began to make mincemeat of Mitchell, now he was ground meat, and then Z looked around noticing that she was in some kind of warehouse.
"It's done" she told herself, send the text to the others and began to returned to the others, she was thirsty for oil.
"EVERYONE CALM, THE CAVALRY HAS ARRIVED!" Uzi shouted after N and V blew up the entrance, noticing how a whole group of Drones was in a corner taking cover, turning her head a little she can see the Murder Drones, two males, fighting against Yeva, she kept them at bay as best she could, using a railing to block a sword while she jumped back after the block and landed on a table like a ninja.
"Wow, I didn't know that Doll's mom had style" she said.
"What are you two doing? You should help us!" T said when he noticed N and V.
"I'm sorry but we're changing sides, the company we're talking about is a bit silly" said V before changing her hands into claws, which were blocked by T's sword, who used his free left hand to hit her in the side with an electromagnetic pulse cannon launching V a few of meter back.
"Naturally, we are resistant to electromanetic pulses, however, it is resistance, not immunity, the closer you are to the target the more the effects can be felt" said T who predicted N trying to attack him from behind with his sword but the sword was broken by T's chainsaw and then N was pushed by his tail.
Uzi attacks D with a knife lying on the ground but the Murder drone was more agile, blocking it with his left claw while shooting with his machine gun at Yeva who created a shield to deflect the bullets, which D responds by grabbing Uzi with his tail and throw her at Yeva, she intended to catch the purple-haired girl in the air using her Solver but she couldn't, which surprised her, she had to catch her manually, only to be received by a stab, which went through Uzi's side and below Yeva's waist, D had moved at the same moment he threw Uzi using this opening to attack both of them.
D took out his sword from both, letting the slightly reddish colored oil come out of both.
"UZI!" N shouted furiously, moving at full speed towards the them, but Z came out of the ventilation and moved quickly towards Yeva, sending her flying to N so both colling, saving D's neck.
"Sorry for being late, that thing while weak didn't want to die and he made me lose three more victims, hey, why are we fighting with those two?" Z asked to her classmates.
"Traitors, eliminating them is a priority, however be careful with the one with the darker purple hair, it seems she has super telekinetic powers" D tells her, blocking V's two swords with his own sword while before making his tail grab Uzi's leg and the smash against V sending them both flying....
"D you will fight with the boy, Z take care of the big purple one and I-" he could not finish since he was hit with a chair by Khan, the problem is that the Chair broke and T turned to see him, Khan gave a nervous smile as T changed his right arm into a chainsaw, Khan start to running for his life.
Now everyone positioned themselves, Uzi was bleeding to death but Yeva quickly stood next to her, a strange symbol appeared on her hand closing the wound but not the pain and Khan would take Uzi's arms moving her out of danger.
Yeva stood next to N and V, it was something she hated but she needed the help of these two to win.
"Я НЕ ЗАБЫВАЮ, ЧТО ТЫ СО МНОЙ СДЕЛАЛ!" (I DON'T FORGET WHAT YOU DID TO ME!) Yeva said to V who looked at her strangely for a second but focused on the fight.
However, through the other door, Lizzy and Doll entered, seeing the disaster.
"Ok, there goes my coronation as prom queen" Lizzy said noticing how there were corpses in some places and a crowd in the background, but she focused on the murder drones.
"подожди, как ты здесь? если несколько минут назад ты был позади." (wait, how are you here? if a few minutes ago you were behind of us?.) Doll asked to Z
"Oh, well after killing the target just enter through the ventilation, this whole place is mapped, there is no escape or safe place now, especially when the other squads get here" She said, everyone open their eyes a little.
For some reason, Doll felt strange hearing that Z had killed that creature, as if she had been told that a relative of hers had been murdered.
However, she looked at her mother who looked at her with the expression that she should go to a safe place... Doll for the first time did not know what to do, her body froze, she felt afraid, she felt afraid of die, she didn't want to die...
Lizzy however did not stay still, she held her friend and took her out of there.
V was the first to move her sword like a dance, hitting the sword of T, who turned around to try to hit v with his other hand, which was blocked by V.
V was fast, she used everything she had, T blocked as best he could, waiting for the right moment until V's left arm got stuck in a weapon change, apparently the effect of the electromagnetic pulse weapon took effect at that moment, which would allow T perform a boxing attack combination Side swing - oblique rise - circular downward turn - wrist lock.
The combination was enough to weaken V and allow T to hit her with a shotgun in her skull, sending her flying, it would take her 3 minutes to regenerate from all the damage.
N's steps equalized D's steps, sparks came out as they both fought, they changed from swords to claws. But there was something that distinguished them, N never fought with someone experienced, he or J or V never tried to train, they always improvised since they never expected the Worker Drones to fight for their lives with the same equipment, D, T and Z for their part did. They trained, not because the Worker Drones were armed but because they had nothing better to do when it was daylight, they trained combat tactics, managing to hurt each other, and from there they knew perfectly how their bodies worked and their limits.
At one point, D spat in N's face which made him put his hands to his face to remove the drool but he ended up with two less arms and a missile in his head being sent flying.
Yeva detailed her movement with Z, using two knives and her solver to compensate the difference in weaponry, with a move of her hand, Yeva imposes a shield that protects her from the explosions of Z who tried to blow her up with a missile. She summons a knife and throws it at Z, removing her arm. Almost immediately, Yeva removes the ceiling fan from its pole and throws it upright.
However Z was faster, she moved her body to the side, the fan remained stuck in the wall, perhaps if she had attacked horizontally she would have been dead.
With a movement of her tail, she raised her severed arm towards her shoulder, placing it and moving to continue the fight. She changed her arm into a flash grenade launcher and fired them. Yeva tried to block it with a shield, thinking that they were explosive grenades, but she was blinded and disoriented. She was slammed against a wall and immobilized again, this time Z would nail two metal barrels, one in her left arm and the other in her right arm.
"Okay, let's get this over with-" she not finished her words due a brick hit her, she turned around, T and D followed her gaze.
At the door they could see someone almost without nothing if it weren't for a pair of shorts, his skin white as snow as some minor wounds closed, his mouth had a piece of meat frozen before he finished eating it, Mitchell with a ax in his left hand and concrete block in the other he looked at the three Murder drones, ready to end this.
(I FINALLY FINISHED THIS AHHHHHH....
The English version has 1.5k views, maybe I'll do a 10k word special when we get 2k views, this one has a little over 5,000 words.
Well, see you another time.
Mitchell to the Z, T and D be like
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Evj6HbsXAAEmdlo.jpg

Compromise
First Prev
“Alright, so uh...” Alex picked the last larva out of the bowl and ate it. A burst of umami and the unexpected taste of alcohol. Now that it had soaked up some of the spice from the broth, it was pretty good. Not particularly flavorful, but a better eating experience than he would expect from a grub. “Why did Eleya put two towns into a warship?”
“I do not know.” Carbon was less fussy about the variety of ingredients presented, eating without playing favorites. It was what she’d picked out when pressed to recommend something for him, and the speed of the devastation she was enacting on what had been a bowl nearly filled to the brim said that it was actually a personal favorite. “I had heard some suggesting converting retired Naval ships into housing, using a decommissioned carrier as a space station once it could be towed into a proper location. Swapping out launch bays for community towers is not a long bridge.”
“That seems...” It seemed desperate. But given what he’d seen, desperate was where they had been in the weeks following the disaster. Where they still were, even if things were improving.
Were things improving?
“Born out of desperation, yes.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “We did not have many colonies, we had not built so many stations. We only kept old ships for parts as another means of efficiency in our fleets. There had been hundreds of thousands in transit all over the Empire at the time. On their way home, on their way to relieve others who now no longer had a home to return to.”
“Yeah, that-” He shifted some of the shredded cabbage-potato around his bowl, trying to figure out what to say. The ‘that sucks’ he had stopped himself from blurting out felt offensively inadequate. “That does present a huge challenge. Did they end up bringing ships online for that?”
“Oh, we did everything. Any idea that was not completely untenable got the blue light. Repurposing ships, building sealed micro-arcologies on less habitable planets, mining out sufficiently large asteroids, asking the Confederation for help. I saw one proposal that suggested an inflatable space station. I thought it was a completely deranged idea.” She paused and picked up the bowl, slurping out some of the broth. “Then Humans arrive to bring aid, and do you know what the first structure they brought with them was?”
“An inflatable space station.” He saw that coming. Everyone - well, everyone who was sufficiently interested in space ships - would recognize the Redoubt class from that description alone. The very definition of form following function, each ship was little more than a central cylinder with hard points for a dozen habitat modules, and engines bolted to one end. Light, fast, cheap. Once deployed, you had a small space station that could be packed up when you were done. Old technology, sure, but they were everywhere, and the configuration options were extensive.
“Exactly. Forgive me, but I laughed. I knew the intent was to help, but having seen that proposal just weeks before...” She smiled and laughed despite having just apologized for such a thing.
“No I get it, it’s a goofy looking ship.” He could see the humor in the situation as well. Having gone from ‘this is too dangerous’ to ‘of course the Humans brought one’ was pretty funny. It put a smirk on his face and got him close to laughing along with her. “Probably used it as a command post until something heavier arrived. Kind of the primary use case for those in Search and Rescue, which is what I think the aid mission was first considered.”
“I was not involved with that aspect of recovery operations, but it stands to reason.” She set her utensils aside in a very specific way, sliding the bowl towards the end of the table. “I cannot tell you why they put all these people here. My first guess would be that it was a somewhat straightforward swap. The bays are very securely attached to the structure, but they are intended to be removed and replaced. It would be important that Eleya use her ship as a proof of concept.”
“Royals lead?” Seemed the logical jump.
Carbon nodded. “The Sword is recognized as her flagship. It is named after her. The Stronghold is based heavily on the Imperial Palace in Ama’o - may it rest. Taking in civilians, thousands of them, is hard proof that she is not simply hiding in here. Having the senate on board also brings with it the need for support staff, creating a symbiotic relationship. It is... a good compromise.”
“Okay, wait. How is The Sword of the Morning Light named after Eleya?” That legitimately confused him. “All I know is the -ya suffix is feminine.”
“Another name mauled by your automatic translation, though this time it is a portion of the Empress’ full formal titles.” She gave him a pointed look, a little smirk hiding on the side of her muzzle. “The strictest translation would be ‘the sword that is used to cut back the night,’ but that is even worse. If I were doing translations and feeling poetic, perhaps I would call it Dawnsword. It would convey the meaning of the name well enough, I think, without being verbose.”
“Then why do you call it the Sword like we do?” He figured just using the actual Tsla name would be easy enough if Dawnsword was a better translation.
“When in Rome.” Carbon snickered. “The Confederate systems I was working with before leaving for the Haultain were not set up to handle Tsla, and none of the Humans I spoke to recognized the name when I said it, so it became a force of habit.”
“Ah, that’d do it.” He’d ask about the actual name another time - it being one of Eleya’s titles felt like a natural transition to learning the rest of her titles, and he didn’t give a single damn about doing that right now.
“Alright, Eleya needs places to put people, and a place to put a temporary capital until the new location can be properly sorted. Two birds with one stone, I suppose. Wouldn’t staying at Schoen be more of the... leader thing to do?”
“If she were to stay here beyond the end of this endeavor, perhaps so. For now, having this ship - and its civilians - as a base of operations, in what even we consider to be one of the most secure solar systems, is reasonable. Most governing at that level has been done remotely since before the disaster, so it doesn’t impede anything.” She paused to sip her tea. “No one needs a senator to be on site anyway. Their presence traditionally just interferes with real work.”
That did get a laugh out of Alex. “The more things change.”
“The more they stay the same, yes?” She said with a grin.
“It is so. All right, mystery of the Dawnsword’s surprise towns is put to rest.” He stopped talking as Haraya came out of the woodwork to remove Carbon’s dishes, bustling away with even less stiffness than before. Why did he feel like he was forgetting something? “Heck. Did... Did anyone tell you we have an appointment to see a designer about our uh, our insignia?”
“No, but my communicator has been going off like I am being told something like that.” Carbon laughed and leaned back into her chair, fishing the slim black device from her jacket, the screen coming on.
Alex was not intentionally staring at his wife’s abdomen as he pushed the bowl away and set his chopsticks out like she had done. “Zenshen said it was this afternoon.”
“Mmh, afternoon. Another curious translation.” She teased him gently, flicking items off her screen one by one. “Neya says it is with Aetena Lyshen, at three. He has stated that his schedule is open today, and we may come in earlier if we so desire. Oh. How unexpected.”
Three o'clock, Tsla’o time, was probably like a solid five or six hours away. Plenty of time to have a deeply personal conversation about what Neya had told him. Or, perhaps, just go talk to the guy sooner. It wasn’t like he was putting it off... but he was putting it off for now. “What’s up?”
“Neya contacted the Colonel to make sure that Zenshen was attached to your detail properly - it turns out she was. You are both already on the artifact project, so it was just a slight shift of duties. The Empress went through appropriate channels, and Lehnan agrees with her decision.” She glanced up at him as she processed that. “I did not expect it to be so proper.”
“She is trying to turn over a new leaf, at least as far as you are concerned. Ensuring I have the help to not fuck things up, and doing it properly, could be a part of that.” He managed to make it sound like a statement, even though it was very much a question. Did his insistence that Eleya needed to start following through on her words actually sink in?
“It is possible. She will need to do more than fill out a little paperwork to prove herself.”
“Yeah, obviously. It’s just that you seemed surprised, so I was left with the impression that was unusual.”
Carbon stared down at the phone in her hands. “I do not know. From what I have seen, she will normally adhere to formal channels. But in the past, when it has come to dealings with me, she has not. Relied on her word being law to make things happen.”
Like making it legal to marry a Human. Changed who knows how much legal history with a stroke of a pen, to unfold some new machinations. “Zenshen made it sound like she was mostly there to act as a buffer between me and the military, keep me from offending anyone. Which strikes me as Eleya looking after her investment.”
“That is a reasonable assumption. I fear she has more intent sunk into you than we can see, so...” She also stopped talking when their waitress returned for Alex’s dishes, giving the young woman a warm smile. “Perhaps it really is.”
Alex, being privy to at least one plan that Carbon was unaware of, instantly did not want to comment on that. “Like you say, it lies with her to prove... herself good.”
“So it does.” Carbon smiled at his butchering of their turn of phrase before glancing down at her communicator again. “All right. Do you have any further plans for this morning?”
“Not a one. Want to push up the meeting with Lyshen? For that matter, do we have any plans tonight?”
“I do want to get that done. Designers can be particular. Best to get started sooner, and also have a meal that we can excuse ourselves for without appearing rude.” She smirked, displaying a little bit of the knowledge she had accumulated growing up in an elevated class, and started tapping away at the screen with both thumbs. “As for this evening, nothing that Neya has made me aware of.”
“Sounds good to me.” Left the evening open to actually have a sit down with Neya, perfect. “Oh shit, that reminds me. Neya wants us to bring her breakfast.”
“Does she. Very upset about not being able to come along?” The tone she had said that Carbon was familiar with Neya pretending to be put out by that, as did the barely hidden smile and tiny little snort of a laugh.
“Absolutely heartbroken.” He played along. “I had to promise that we’d get her something this morning and that you’d make breakfast again tomorrow.”
“Mh. We will see who is making breakfast when the time comes, but I will have something sent to her and we will proceed to our appointment.” She flipped through the applications on her phone and started typing something else out. “There.”
Carbon slipped the slim black screen back into her jacket and stood, stretching a little bit before walking over to the end of the bar, Haraya hustling out to meet them with a small device like the one Carbon had used to pay in the other little restaurant. She set her palm down on it, it processed for a moment and played a happy little tune.
“Thank you both, it was an honor to serve you.” Haraya bowed again now that the transaction was done.
“You did well, thank you.” Carbon said it in Tsla as she returned the bow, glancing over at Alex to ensure he was doing the same thing.
“Sa meha.” He was. Paying attention to what Carbon was doing was getting him pretty far, as was having memorized how to say ‘thank you’ in Tsla.
They turned to leave, but Haraya spoke again before they could take a step. Quiet, and very timid. “May I ask you a question?”
Carbon didn’t even think about it as she looked back. “Of course.”
“I was mostly asking the prince, I am very sorry.” She looked just this side of terrified to be correcting a Royal.
“Oh yeah, shoot.” Alex caught himself speaking in English way too late. He pursed his lips and inhaled, just barely preventing himself from rolling his eyes at that little faux pas. Based on what Carbon had said about Haraya getting her information about how nobles work from movies, she would have interpreted that as aimed at her. He queued up a very quick reply. “Please do.”
“After you left, last night.” She glanced over at the bartender, who was not paying them any attention at all. “Adana kept saying a strange word, I assume it to be Human - untranslatable.”
The irony of the translator not being able to digest something in English was not lost on Alex. What had he said to the kid?
Carbon, meanwhile, thought it was hilarious. “It is actually two words, a phrase. Oh, busted. In this case I believe it means that he got caught doing something he should not have been doing.” She laughed, looking up at Alex with a grin.
Haraya’s relief at how this turned out was immediately visible. She was still tense, but didn’t look like she might have just caught an execution. “Adana likes to play with the door controls. They beep and flash, and he can activate the viewscreen... And open the door. That is what he was doing when he found the prince in the hallway, when he should have been in bed. It is not an offensive term?”
“Et.” Alex shook his head no. Score another point for knowing the basics.
“It is as he says. A harmless statement.” Carbon picked up the slack from Alex trying not to advertise that he spoke their language yet. She looked over to him again. “Perhaps used to tease a friend when they get caught out?”
He nodded as sagely as he could, a smirk barely suppressed as he caught that shade she was directing at him.
“His mother will be so glad. She has been concerned it was some kind of swearing, or something worse. I told her that the prince had been kind in my interaction with him, but she was-” Haraya exhaled sharply, wide brown eyes darting between them with a hint of that fear creeping back in. “She was afraid despite that.”
“Ah. If that does not settle her, please get in contact with me.” She pulled her communicator out, swiping along the screen for a moment and holding it out to the young woman. “We can arrange a meeting to clear anything up.”
She looked down at a swirling orange circle on Carbon’s phone, “I am not allowed to carry my- May I get it?”
“Of course.” Carbon smiled.
Alex lowered his voice as Haraya hustled away. “You sure giving her your number is a good idea?”
“No. But she is earnest and correct in her assessment of you.” She shook her head, her words quiet and sharp. “That boy learned a simple phrase, and his mother thinks it is a curse? I know why she did. I have met my own people. I think a gentle nudge may be in order to prevent it from being passed along.”
“When you say gentle nudge...”
She held a hand out to ease his concern. “I was thinking tea.”
Haraya returned, phone in hand and followed by an older, grumpy looking male dressed in the same natural fiber clothes save for a vibrant red scarf around his neck, voice raised as he tried to keep up with the excited teen. “You may not use your-”
“Akai.” Alex gave what he assumed was a manager a needlessly cheery greeting with a little wave of his fingers. Oh man, he had loved being a shit to managers when he was younger, particularly if they were on a power trip. The opportunity hadn’t presented itself recently, and the urge to abuse the power that he allegedly had now was so tempting.
“Floor boss!” Carbon was a step ahead of him, greeting the gray male in their own language loud enough to draw his attention away from their waitress. “What is it that I may not use?”
Alex’s translator sat unused for several seconds as the sounds that guy made never made it past shocked guttural noises, the realization of who he’d been yelling in the general direction of sinking in. Haraya was too busy getting Carbon’s contact information to notice, or might have just been ignoring this exchange as hard as the bartender was.
“It was- My words- Did not for you.” He held up his hands and backed away.
“Ah, a simple misunderstanding?” Carbon offered him as the phone dinged complete, and she slipped it back into her jacket.
“Yes, of course.” Couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
Haraya bowed again as she hid her communicator, the same black rectangle that Carbon and Alex appeared to have. “Thank you. I hope I will not have to contact you, but that you have offered...”
“The prince has shown me who he is, what is in his heart... It will not do to have anyone doubting his character.” Carbon smiled and returned the bow.
Alex followed suit.
The fear in her eyes was gone, and if anything there was a little bit of admiration in there now as she thanked them again, quietly, before running off to whatever her next duty was.
They left the same way they had come in, through the main dining area. The crowd had shifted, some groups gone, new ones in their place. Conversations to fill boredom, meals he didn’t recognize being consumed at every pace conceivable. Once again, he was pretty sure this was his kind of joint.
It only took the gentlest of questions to get Carbon talking about what she’d been doing all morning as they walked back to the tram, riding all the way to the stop closest to the bow this time. Alex was only slightly familiar about what she was talking about - had something to do with preventative maintenance checks on one of the shuttles. It was interesting to find out they had developed a very similar system to what he was used to, checking in on functionality after so many hours of use.
He didn’t understand the majority of what she was describing, but he enjoyed listening to her talk about things with such enthusiasm.
Lyshen’s office was easily the furthest forward he had been on the ship yet. Took the elevator up to deck 20 and then just walked towards the bow for another five minutes. He must have been as close as one could get to the plate armor and whatever buffer they put between it and the habitable areas. It seemed almost entirely unused - he was sure some of the bulkheads had dust on them.
For Alex, there were two potential reasons for this. Aetena Lyshen preferred the solitude of the area. It was actually very quiet, even compared to the hall in front of their cabin. Or, he had pissed someone off and gotten banished to a spot as far away as possible.
Whichever option, Lyshen had put some work into his workspace. The door was ringed in a delicate gold filigree, a lacework of glittering geometric shapes with his name and title contained in a small banner above the door. They were meeting with a Royal Artisan.
Carbon tapped the door controls and it slides open almost instantly. The young woman with light red fur inside is dressed nearly as formally as they had been last night, though in muted grays. She bows. Not too deep. “Welcome, the Chief Artisan is preparing for your arrival. It should be just a few minutes.”
Chief Artisan. Well. Alex shot Carbon a sidelong glance as the receptionist turned and they followed her through a waiting room. A simple rectangular area, with a few upholstered chairs and benches scattered around. It was the most Human looking area he’d been in so far.
The far wall caught his eye as they walked through, windows looking into a workshop. Alex walked over, the large floor beyond housing a dozen or so Tsla’o, all seated at desks or workbenches, engrossed in whatever they were working on. Almost to the last, they were using hand tools.
Alex had never really seen craftsmen up close, doing their thing. In movies, or videos, sure. But not right here a few steps away, carefully engraving some sort of... Breastplate? Cuirass? Big chunk of metal that looked like it went over the chest.
“I believe that is yours.” Carbon stepped up next to him, a smirk in her voice as she leaned against his shoulder. “To go with your gauntlets, and the rest of the armor that is no doubt being fabricated.”
“What makes you say that?” How could she pick that up from looking at it for, what, three or four seconds?
“Consider the size.” She nodded at it, the artist working on it laying out a star near the shoulder. “Who else would wear such a piece?”
“Huh.” Compared to the guy who was doing the work, it wasn’t exactly massive, but he would need a lot of padding to wear that. This raised a few questions for him about the ethics of receiving such gifts. But he wasn’t a politician... Not as far as the Confederation was concerned. “I guess it is.”
They stood in silence and watched work progress. A woman in the back was carving something, perhaps a chair leg. One guy in the corner making hinges with an induction forge and a tiny, specialized anvil.
Before long, the secretary approached them again. “The Chief Artisan is prepared for you now. Please.” She gestured to the only door that went somewhere other than the corridor.
The Chief Artisan was sitting behind his desk, wearing an outfit similar to his receptionist, pale green eyes switching back and forth between two screens. The primary one was built into the desk, and had been jury rigged to a Human made laptop that sat on top of it, a rat’s nest of cables connecting the two. There was a holoprojector built into the desk, a jumble of images floating over it. He waved them in and gestured to the chairs across from him, “Please, sit.”
Alex was quick to oblige, glad to be just some guy for the moment. Carbon didn’t seem to mind either, taking the seat beside him without a word. Aetena was the first green Tsla’o Alex had seen, sort of a dark forest green with jade stripes visible on his neck. Apparently a bit of a rarity given how often he saw the other colors on the ship.
“I am sorry to keep you waiting, the connection to your Solanet has gone down. Despite that, I believe I have enough saved locally to begin the process.” Lyshen trailed off, lost between the two displays before closing a dozen images from the holo. He picked a pen up from the table and arranged the remaining pictures neatly, four different coats of arms that claimed to belong to a Sorenson. The red enamel barrel blurred into an arc as he spun the pen in his fingers, voice picking up speed as he locked on to Alex. “There is a large amount of heraldry available for your surname, do you know which coat of arms belongs to your particular family?”
There was a deer, a deer head, a rearing horse and a weird shaped star. Maybe it was a flower, or a drip of paint. They were all surrounded by leaves and the occasional knight’s helmet. Alex wasn’t sure what any of it meant and up until now, he’d never even thought about it. Knights and damsels in distress had never really been his thing. “Uh, can’t say that I do, no.”
“Mmh. What geographic region does your lineage trace back to? I could find no significant references to the Berkley Soresons on your Solanet.” He leaned back and the pen continued to trace crimson circles in his hand.
“The name comes from Europe, but the last couple of generations have lived in California, and America before that for who knows how long... We’re from a little bit of everywhere.” It was an inside joke with the family, which had ties back into nearly every corner of the globe at this point. Now they had a relative from somewhere way off the globe as well.
That puzzled Aetena, ears flicking as he turned back to the Human screen and picked over the keyboard slowly. He didn’t like what he found. “All of these originate from the continent of Europe. Do you happen to know which country?”
“No, I’m not sure. Had an uncle do the family tree thing once, but between the civil wars and The Collapse, the lineage got spotty about a hundred years ago.” Alex wasn’t really into the whole ancestry thing once you got outside of living relatives. It was novel, sure, but right now all he really wanted to do was ask if he could borrow that Solanet access when it came back up. The rest of the ship had access to the Confed’s milnet, which tightly restricted what he could be sending across it - he just wanted to download a couple of movies and some music, but milnet barely overlapped with the wider public network.
Lyshen set his hand down and the pen switched back and forth like a metronome, clicking on his desk at the end of each arc. He closed his eyes for a moment, jaw working silently before he closed the images and started pulling up new ones. “Perhaps we should move on to other aspects of this endeavor. As I have been told that you wish to integrate Tsla’o and Human cultures in your marriage, I had intended to blend the existing Tshalan sigil with some of the Sorenson family heraldry. I thought it would be best to use the gear-star surround from the Princess’ family crest as a base to build from. Something that is immediately familiar to Tsla’o, to put the viewer at ease. As it is indicative of starship commands, exploration and the outer colonies, it will solidly represent both of you and the way you met.”
Alex raised an eyebrow at Carbon, “sound reasonable?” He had no idea if it was or not, but it did sound like it. Also, if they were serious about integrating parts of Tsla’o and Human cultures, they needed to actually get on that.
“Yes. I agree, that would be a good place to start.”
“Thank you.” He busied himself bringing up a few more pictures, rough combinations of the ten point gear-star and the various items from the Sorenson crests, bits of decoration and detail work.
The door chimed behind them and Lyshen stopped with a sharp glare. He eyed the clock and sighed, a whispered curse under his breath before he set his pen down and straightened up. “Come.”
There was a soldier partially concealed behind the door, the rank plate on his uniform loaded with details, not that Alex could read them yet. He swept the room with a rifle as he entered, the short barrel ending up pointed just a hair under Alex’s sternum. A pair of soldiers took up positions on either side of the door and covered him, a few more lined up in the waiting room.
When he spoke, it was crisp and authoritative. “Please back away from the Human.”
 
First Prev
*****
Never a dull moment on that ship.
Art pile: Carbon reference sheet. Art by Tyo_Dem

Another Monday... Thankfully, we have a new chapter to make it just a little bit better. At the very least, I hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was...eventful. Not too bad, but I did have to drive for two hours just to turn around. Other than that, I mainly focused on chilling and writing.
Edit: It appears that reddit has managed to break things once again with its text editor. Hopefully, everything is fine.
[Previous] [First] [Next] [RoyalRoad] [Discord] —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noria laid the tome down upon the library’s table, stretching her arms in the process. Lorem, who was sitting opposite of her, looked up from a book. The evening was upon them, and soon they all would be meeting back up at the hatchery.
“Are you finished for tonight?” Lorem asked, closing the book and setting it down.
“I think so…” She said, trailing off. In truth she hadn’t made much progress. “I just can’t focus.”
He reached out and put a hand on hers, which was still resting on top of the tome. “Hey, it’s okay. There’s no rush and… You’ve had a lot to deal with. We all have.”
A smile formed as she nodded in agreement. “Do you think Yedril is up by now? I want to go check on him.”
Lorem smiled warmly at her while gently massaging her hand. Hers was so tiny within his grasp…
“Probably. Felix and Eri seemed convinced he would wake this morning.” He let go and stood up. “You want to head down there now?”
She took a brief moment to consider his words, peering down at the tome and her notes. I suppose he’s right… I don’t need to rush and Yedril’s well-being is more important.
“Sure,” she said and got up. “Let me just store all this and we can head down there…”
***
The sun was nearly set, casting what was left of its orange and red light over the forest. The moon was already visible, taking its rightful throne for the night. All the while, Noria and Lorem made the trek to the hatchery in almost complete silence.
Well, they were silent. Not so for the kobolds that were running back and forth between the manor and hatchery. Apparently, that was where it had been decided that dinner would be served.
Seeing the light from the building, Noria’s mind wandered… I hope Yedril is alright. I don’t know what I could do to help. She shoved the thought away, she could only put her faith in Felix.
As that thought fell to the wayside, the other one came forward. The egg… I hope it hatches soon.
Noria hated to admit it, but despite everything that happened, she was excited by the prospect. Although this was not how she thought her life would go, she was with Lorem and she had nearly succeeded in taking control of her life.
That is what she had set out to do.
Noria closed her eyes for a single moment, letting her imagination run wild for that brief instant. She pictured herself sitting on the back of a mighty, amber colored dragon, the wind whipping past them as they soared high into the sky.
There was peace.
There was serenity.
Everything felt right with the world. She could imagine Lorem, sitting upon another dragon, and racing them through the skies…
Noria felt a shudder run down her back, the vision felt too real.
I’m committed, just like Yedril, she realized. The thought shouldn’t have surprised her. In hindsight, it made complete sense. She always held a special place in her heart for animals.
But a dragon isn’t an animal, she chastised herself. If Zira, Kyrith, and Ithea were anything to go by, they were people, just like her and–
“Are you okay?” Lorem asked, snapping her back to reality. She hadn’t realized that she came to a complete stop.
Noria gave him a warm smile as she stared up into his eyes. “Feeling better now, actually.”
Before he could respond, she picked up her pace.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solanna ignored the food laid out in front of her. She wasn’t hungry.
Yedril was stuffing himself, enjoying himself. He was laughing at some joke.
Noria was absently taking bites out of her bread. She wore a warm smile.
Lorem was telling a joke, acting it out for effect. His tray had long since been finished off.
Eri and Felix were sitting together at the head of their ‘table.’ There was no table, they were sitting on the hatchery’s floor. Their hands were intertwined, thinking no one saw.
Then there were Zira and Kyrith. Both dragons sat behind their respective partners. Their pile of food was already devoured.
Solanna balled her fists in frustration. Not at any one of them, but at herself. She was more than relieved that her brother was alive and, seemingly, well. But that was what ate at her.
All her life, since Yedril’s birth, she had been his effective caretaker. She did everything for him, and without complaint. How could she? Because she loved him, she wanted nothing more than to see her brother smile.
And he is.
But he wasn’t smiling at her.
It was selfish, she knew, but Solanna could not help but feel jealous. That is why she was frustrated with herself. That is why she did not eat.
Solanna was watching Yedril grow up. She was watching her needy younger brother no longer need her.
This was always going to happen, she told herself. Truthfully, she knew if Yedril’s condition could be managed, or cured, he would quickly become independent. Now, it looked like that was exactly what was happening.
Her vision began to blur with tears. Quickly wiping them away, she stood up and made for the entrance.
“Solanna?” Felix called out.
Suddenly, all eyes were on her.
Forcing a smile, she faced him. “Just going to get some fresh air.”
He frowned. “Everything– Never mind, take your time. When you come back I will make my announcement.”
“I won’t be long,” she responded before continuing out. No one else dared to question or comment…
The night was warm and dark as she walked further away. The only sources of light were the manor, the hatchery, and the moon. At least, on this side of the clearing. The kobolds were probably in their village, having their own celebrations.
And why not? she scoffed. Four dragon eggs about to hatch. She’d worked alongside them just long enough to know how important dragons were to them. It’s almost like everyone has forgotten what happened. Even Yedril!
Her fists balled up once again. Stop it! You’re just mad at yourself and trying to take it out on others. Get a hold–
“What Bow Master doing out?” a voice called out from one of the corners of the hatchery.
“Tracker, is that you?” Solanna squinted as the green kobold stepped into view. “What are you doing here?”
The kobold shrugged. “Tracker bored… What Bow Master doing?”
Solanna studied Tracker for a moment before answering. The kobold wasn’t being completely honest. “Just getting some fresh air,” she decided to say.
“And cry alone?”
Forgetting who she was dealing with, Solanna was taken aback. “W-what? No… I was just getting some fresh air and cooling my head.”
The green kobold let out an amused hum before crossing the distance between them. “No lie, Tracker have best nose, wind tell all to Tracker.” As if to accentuate the point, a gust of wind rustled the nearby trees.
Regaining her composure, the elf countered, “And you aren’t being truthful either.” Solanna narrowed her eyes. “What are you really doing out here?”
Tracker quickly looked around, as if to make sure no one was close by. “Tracker smell weird magic,” the kobold whispered.
“Weird magic–”
“Shh! Bow Master keep quiet.” Leaning closer, the kobold continued. “Tracker think another Master present.”
Matching Tracker, Solanna lowered herself and whispered back. “Another Master? What exactly do you mean by that?”
“Tracker means Master… Like Scary Master, Master’s Master, or Happy Master…”
Happy Master? Master’s…Master– Okay, I have no idea on those, but Scary Master sounds an awful lot like… “When you say Scary Master, do you mean Ithea?”
Tracker nodded.
Solanna pondered that for a few more moments. Okay Ithea is Scary Master… Happy Master, could that be– Kyrith. Wait… “Are you talking about the dragons?”
“Of course, Tracker say that.” The kobold gave her a questioning look.
Right… Of course, so silly of me. Her thoughts dripped with sarcasm. Hang on a second. Master’s Master, could that be Zira?! As she made the realization, Solanna could help but let out a laugh.
“What funny?”
“N-Nothing…” She got her laughter under control. “Anyway, so you were saying that you smelled another dragon, then?”
“Yes…” The kobold’s expression became one of annoyance.
“I take it you were tracking the scent and it led you to here?” Solanna asked.
“Tracker follow scent, but Tracker lose scent here.”
“And why do you think it was another dragon? Could it be something else?”
“No,” the kobold answered curtly.
Well, if anyone knows what a dragon smells like, it’s probably her… “Could it be the eggs hatching that you were tracking?” However, didn’t explain why she lost the scent here…
“Tracker don’t think so…” The kobold straightened up. “Now, Bow Master tell Tracker what wrong. Why Bow Master cry?”
Solanna let out a sigh and averted her eyes. She had hoped that she could distract both the kobold and herself from the topic…
“It’s… I’m just mad at myself,” Solanna admitted after a moment.
“Why?”
She winced. “It’s because of my brother, Yedril–”
“Sick Master?” Tracker asked, interrupting her.
“Yes… Since he was born, I’ve been taking care of him. I love him and would do anything for him.”
Tracker nodded. “Bow Master tired of helping Sick Mast–”
“No! That’s not it!” Solanna took a deep breath. “Look, he’s always been sick and I chose to help him. He needed me and I did whatever I could… But now things have changed.”
She felt her nails digging into her palms as she continued. “He’s found someone who could help him more than I ever could. Yedril has friends now, he has other people he can rely on…” She paused as the words struggled to form.
“My brother… He doesn’t need me anymore.”
Tracker listened patiently as Solanna finished, giving the elf a perplexed look. “Bow Master mad at Bow Master because Sick Master no need Bow Master? Bow Master strange…”
Solanna furrowed her brows. “This is why I didn’t want to say anything! I know it doesn’t make any sense! That’s why I just wanted to clear my head!”
The kobold took a step back from her shouting and waited for her to finish. “Tracker sorry… Tracker no mean upset Bow Master.”
Solanna closed her eyes and let out another sigh. “No, I’m sorry… But this is why I stepped away from the others. I just need to work through my feelings.”
There was a long pause as the kobold went into thought. “Tracker may know what Bow Master do.”
“And what should I do?” she asked exasperated.
“Bow Master no more need take care of Sick Master. Bow Master can do what Bow Master want.”
“What I want? That’s the problem! I don’t know what I want… I’ve always cared for my brother, I’ve always done everything for him.
“My whole life has been about helping him, it gave me strength. I never did anything for myself, only him–” Solanna froze.
“I don’t want to live for myself,” she muttered.
“Then don’t,” Tracker said.
“Then for who?”
The kobold gave her a predatory smile. “You have egg hatching.”
Egg hatching?
“New Master hatch soon, new Master need Bow Master,” the kobold answered, as if knowing what she was thinking.
Solanna’s eyes widened. Throughout this whole ordeal, she had completely forgotten about the egg. Now, however, she was acutely aware of a strange tugging sensation. It was weak, it was frail, but it was there.
It’s calling for me… It wants me– No, it needs me.
A vision flooded her mind.
She was soaring through the sky, flying faster than a shooting star. None could match the brilliant emerald dragon underneath her. They were too fast, too agile.
They nimbly dodged the clutches of another. As the vision faded, she could hear her brother cursing as they streaked away…
The egg, he needs me…
And I need him.
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Ah, it seems we are getting close to the main event. Not much to add, I think the chapter speaks for itself. We still have about 5 chapters to go until we finish up this arc. Starting with the next arc, things will start to pick up speed (well, this is still a slow burn of a story but there will be a lot more happening.)