I tried reading all the other articles mentioning her name to find more info. At first, I could only find her first and last name along with her middle initial and her age. One of the articles above, which was written in April of 2022, says she was 29 at the time. This means if she is still alive she is either 31 or 32. Another article mentioned she was from South Carolina so I used this info and I was able to find two addresses to add to my evidence. It seems she moved from South Carolina to Virginia around 2020-2022. Coincidentally the most recent house attached to her name was the same city she talked about in the lawsuit so I’m almost positive it’s a match.
There is one other name that is a possibility that is the same age and lived in Georgia. I also found out there was an alternate spelling of her name with two E’s, which can be done intentionally if you don’t want to sign paperwork under your name or if you’re trying to hide your real identity. (My great-grandfather on my dad’s side switched a letter in his last name before he immigrated to the States back in the early 1900’s. He had been to prison in Ireland and wouldn’t have gotten approved for his visa or whatever the equivalent was at the time.)
A lot of details could just be mistakes by these free Osint sites like the one below. Especially with free ones like the one I used, most of the information unless it can be verified should be taken with a grain of salt. https://inteltechniques.com/tools/index.html
The house she was living in during the trial is in Virginia and the one site said it was paid for up front in September of 2021. It cost 1.2 million dollars and is in a pretty wealthy area of Virginia. One source says her first connection to the house was around August 2020. Two sources say her last attachment to the house and P.O. box was around August of 2022, which would have been a few months after all the court business. She also had a PO Box address listed in both states. The one in Virginia wasn’t too far from her house, but the one in SC was over an hour away from the apartments she lived in before the move. Since the last recorded date attached to the house and PO Box are the same, I think it’s safe to say that she moved to Virginia some time in 2022.
I decided to look at both of the addresses and PO Boxes and the other names connected to them. To stay on track and for privacy, I’ll only mention the people who were associated with the house during the same time Mesha was. Unfortunately, her place in SC was an apartment complex so I couldn’t find much more than that. There were also no real significant attachments to the PO box.
The PO box in Virginia is also attached to a woman who was marked as 124 years. Aside from a phone number, which I’m guessing is a dead lady, there is no other info on her profile. The owner of the home in Virginia appears to be a man in his fifties who has been associated with 5 other homes in the same city in Virginia along with one condo and another home about 2 hours outside Houston, Texas. Looking at the places they are all very modest aside from the house attached to Mesha and one other nearby that also cost a little over a million dollars. He appears to have owned the home Mesha stayed at up until March of 2024 when he moved into a little family home in the same city.
Another one of the people marked as living in the house was a woman very similar to Mesha’s age who had 3 other addresses on file. Looking at the dates it appears she grew up in a tiny little house in the sticks of Virginia, then moved to a cheap apartment, then moved into the mansion with Misha, and got another separate apartment a month later. In March of 2024, her name was taken off the lease and a month later it was also taken off the apartment. A couple of weeks ago another address went on file for a hospital in Virginia. I thought this was strange so I looked at the rest of the people who were marked as living at the address while Mesha was there.
One of them was a woman in her seventies who lived in the same house that Mesha did from September of 2021 to December of 2022. Aside from that, her 5 other houses were in California. The one that goes until 2013 is a multiple-million dollar mansion near Palo Alto that appears to have been paid for upfront. The second one she left at the end of 2016 appears to be a store, possibly with an apartment on top in San Francisco. The third is a multimillion dollar mansion in wine country and it has her on the record up until March of this year. There were also two PO Boxes in the same area of wine country, one up until January 2015 that was linked to a flower business, and the other which was up until March of this year and is linked to a wine barrel production company. The current house she lives in is another million-dollar home in the same general area.
Another name attached to the house in Virginia belonged to a man also around the same age with the same last name as the lady above so I’ll assume it’s her husband. He had four homes attached to him along with two PO Boxes. One of the houses was in Pennsylvania, while the other three were in California. Two of the houses were the same ones that his wife had on her profile and the two PO boxes were the same as well. What I found very interesting was the fact that he left all those addresses in March of 2024 and the most recent one connected to him is the same one that Mesha lived in. It appears he moved in right around the time the other lady’s address switched to the hospital.
There were a few other names that popped up in the search that might have lived there at some point. One of them is most likely the son of the couple who lived there, the only one I could connect for sure though is a 31-year-old man from Durham, whose association with the house started around the same time in May and seems ongoing. While looking into all of the court cases connected to Drake I found another court case from 2019 in Virginia accusing Mesha of defrauding a hotel.
After that I looked everywhere I could only find a few mentions of Mesha Collins anywhere on the web, even on social media. The one name that kept popping up was an actor named Misha Collins. The most obvious connection to Drake is that both of their moms are Canadian and their dads are from the States. That doesn’t mean much, but I found his career arc kind of odd along with his back story. I also found a tweet he made that kinda connects him to the situation. Still, if there is any connection he probably just knows Drake from the industry. https://x.com/mishacollins/status/855135669890437120?lang=en
This is another one from one of Misha’s costars from Supernatural https://x.com/jarpad/status/855236923471708160?lang=en
A random Tumblr post isn’t a source and is most likely fanfiction, but I found this interesting. https://www.tumblr.com/go-diane-wincheste183189140191/misha-collins-is- like-a-pedophile
One thing I was wondering if he could be one of his political connections in the US since he started his career working at the White House during the Clinton presidency and was involved in the Monica Lewinsky stuff. Apparently, he isn’t of Russian descent, but his mom gave him a Russian-sounding name because her dream guy was Russian and he said she was a “pro-communist hippy”. I read somewhere that the furthest he could trace back his ancestry was six generations all from Canada and he was the first generation born in the States. This could mean he has some VERY deep roots, similar to Drake’s mom’s side of the family. On the other hand, he also says he was extremely poor as a child and his parents had a hard time keeping a roof over their heads. https://web.archive.org/web/20131230135930/
http://www.everyjoe.com/ 2008/09/24/entertainment/misha-collins-answers-our-top-3-qs/
Before I begin my schizo conspiracy theory I just want to make it clear, just because the majority of these conspiracies seem right leaning, it’s only because the majority of the entertainment industry lean left. This does not mean that either side is worse than the other, I’m sure they both do plenty of sketchy shit around election time. The only reason I’m bringing this up in the first place is because Misha Collins is very into politics and a huge supporter of the Democrat party. I could care less about politics if it’s not related to the entertainment industry. I try to make sure it’s somewhat connected to Drake, Kendrick, or the events leading up to or following their feud. Considering that before ’08, which is the year Obama was elected, there was very little mention of him on the internet and the fact that most of the articles I found were about his political views, I can’t help but feel he might be like the political version of an industry plant (some conspiracy folks refer to them as “crisis actors”).
I could easily see them hiring young aspiring actors and getting them started in the industry on the condition that they act as a mouthpiece for their political campaigns. Another possible example of this is Kal Penn, but he had a career before he went into politics so it’s a little different. I did find it interesting that Kal Penn came out not too long ago and apparently Misha Collins came out of the closet then took it back later and pissed off a lot of fans.
Aside from some bit roles in some obscure films and TV shows starting in ‘02, his biggest role was on the TV show Supernatural where he had a recurring role from 2008-2020. There was another post on his Instagram showing he had a direct connection to Michelle Obama who also was connected to the whole Jussie Smollett incident, which many would consider political interference and is still playing out in court to this day. I went into this topic more in another piece I wrote a few weeks ago as well.
The earliest source I could find on Wikipedia was in 2011, right before Obama won his second term. It seems he kind of popped up out of nowhere in ’08. The first thing I saw about him when I searched was a giant campaign he did with a bunch of comedians featuring random B through D list actors and actresses. They all did a video together in 2013 where they all took a big dump on Trump and supported Hillary in the presidential race. I couldn’t find the link again when searching, but I did include a similar example below. https://ew.com/article/2016/11/09/misha-collins-emotional-election-video/
Interestingly this was around the time the political propaganda ban was lifted making it legal again in the United States. This has been blamed for the rise of disinformation in the media and politics making their way into the entertainment industry. https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/07/14/u-s-repeals-propaganda-ban-spreads-government-made-news-to-americans/
After Supernatural ended in 2020, he pretty much went back to doing small parts until last year when he won the leading role on his own CW show. It’s one of the superhero shows with ties to the DC universe. In one interview he said that as a child his family struggled with housing stability, but he went to the University of Chicago and got a job a few years later working at the White House for a couple of months during Clinton’s presidency. He could have gotten a scholarship, but my buddy got his degree from there about ten years ago and it was NOT cheap. I also find it interesting that Obama is also from Chicago and so is Jussie Smollett.
One recent movie that’s a good example of government propoganda is the new movie Civil War and the one that came out on Netflix recently called When the World Ends, which is about an attack on the US power grid and another foreign country sowing the seeds to start a civil war in the US. It was also produced by the Obama’s who have also been accused of trying to censor Dave Chappelle while Obama was campaigning for the 2008 presidency.
Right around the time Misha got his first leading role in 2023, he was also heavily involved in the Russia/Ukraine war. Even though he’s Canadian, he went to Ukraine and made a bunch of videos supporting them. Considering the amount of anti-Russian rhetoric at the time, plus the fact it started around the same time as the propaganda ban being lifted, it seems kinda fishy to me. https://english.nv.ua/life/us-actor-misha-collins-arrives-in-kyiv-to-show-support- for-ukraine-50328295.html
Aside from that he’s also done a lot of philanthropy throughout his career and seems like a decent dude. Like I said there is a very good chance he has nothing to do with this whole situation. One theory I have is that when someone sues somebody famous for any reason and they want to cover it up, it would be a good idea to use a celebrity name or one that is one letter off so it will dominate Google search results. For example, I have the same name as a very well-known politician from the early 2000 and his name fills up the Google search results. If my theory of Misha working for the democratic party is true he might have been paid by Drake’s crisis management team to take the attention off their case.
I found his first post on TikTok to be a bizarre video where he talks about why he’s joining the site in the first place. The second comment asks if he’s being held hostage. Like I said I don’t know the guy, he might just be acting weird like a lot of celebs or he’s completely shitfaced. If my theory is correct though this could be some contributing evidence. https://www.tiktok.com/@mishacollins/video/7003144713696054534
This Reddit post also talks about his stance on the Israel Palestine situation. https://www.reddit.com/Supernatural/comments/17xfyu4/im_curious_what_are_your_thoughts_on_misha/
Aside from that, I couldn’t find anything else that stuck out to me on TikTok or any other social media sites for the Mesha Collins involved in the Drake stuff. This doesn’t mean there isn’t though I’m not on any social media so I’m not very good with that kind of stuff.
When I changed up the search settings to show only results from before or after the court case, the only articles that popped up were about a thirteen-year-old from Vancouver who went missing, but she was found not long after. I was able to find her on social media too and there was nothing that would connect to him in any way. Another article that popped up was about a woman from Houston nicknamed “Southpark Shawty.” She apparently also went by Mesha Collins and she apparently passed away in 2019 from undisclosed health issues. This is the only article I could find that says her name was Mesha Collins and it’s from 2024. https://inckredible.com/what-happened-to-southpark-shawty/
I also find it interesting she was a victim of a hit and run two years prior, not long after Mesha was arrested for allegedly breaking into Drake’s home. Interestingly in the article below it said her name was Shantel Nelson. The rest of the articles also had that name and when I looked it up the I did find a 53-year-old woman with the same name attached to a lot of different apartments and homes in Houston and a few spots in Louisiana. I thought the timing was odd considering a lot of stuff seems to be getting wiped from the internet and the fact it came out right around the time the feud started. I wonder if Drake is trying to distract people by sending them down the wrong path. https://www.fox26houston.com/news/internet-sensation-southpark-shawty-recovering-after-hit-and-run
I was wondering if she may have gone viral around the time of the original break in to distract from the case. This is also similar to my suspicions about the actor Misha Collins. I tried finding any connection between Shawty and J Prince since they both lived in Houston. I found that the South Park neighborhood in Houston is in the third ward while J Prince was born in the fifth ward. These two areas are some of the most crime-ridden areas in Houston.
Obviously the odds of her being connected to anything sketchy involving J Prince are pretty slim; however, I did find a video of Snoop Dogg visiting her in Houston back in 2016. In one of her posts she said they were cousins, but Snoop also says everyone is his cousin and it’s more just saying they’re family. It did seem like they were very close at one time though. I saw another article that said a lot of celebs reached out to her after she was the victim of a hit-and-run, but I couldn’t find ties to any other rappers. I thought it was interesting that she often sings in a lot of her videos and she has some pipes. It also seems like she may have been a rapper back in the day because she made a bunch of songs with a local producer over the past few years. I think it’s safe to assume she had some connection to the rap game or was a singer in the past. Considering Snoop and J. Prince have similar histories in the game, I imagine they must have some type of relationship. I go into this more in my actual post. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cfaGVreak4M
The big inconsistency here is the two women’s ages. The Mesha who sued Drake would have been young enough to be South Park Shawty’s daughter though. I couldn’t find any mention of her having a daughter, but I also couldn’t find much info on her in general. One thing I thought was sad was the fact that a lot of people made fun of her for being a crackhead. Although she appears to have a history of substance abuse, you never really know. Some people are just naturally high energy and have lots of quirks and big personalities without the need for drugs.
There are also a lot of long term alcoholics and addicts who despite being sober still show the same behaviors. In the case of alcoholics it’s called, “dry drunk syndrome.” This is also a big reason why I can write almost an entire book in a month without really trying. I saw one video where she said she’s been sober for a while and appears to only drink and smoke weed similar to myself. I’ve also met a few people similar to Shawty and they were all very sweet people and very intelligent, as are many recovering addicts. It doesn’t mean she should just be written off as crazy or unreliable. I’ve noticed that many famous black entertainers have been dismissed and called crackheads whenever they start speaking out against the industry or if they have a mental breakdown from all their bullshit.
While looking into the South Park neighborhood I found out that Travis Scott grew up in that area up until he was like eight or nine. I decided to look into more rappers from the area and found the bio of a rapper who went by South Park Mexican and was charged with abusing multiple minors s.ually, including a nine-year-old, and was sentenced to forty years in prison. I find it interesting that his label Dope House Records signed under UMG two years before he was convicted. Considering J. Prince’s history with UMG and a few people close to the case claiming it was an extortion attempt carried out by the husband of a woman he had an affair with, I wonder if J. Prince may have played a part in it. There is a 99 percent chance he’s guilty, but it could be another example of an organized takedown. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park_Mexican
I also discovered another rapper who went by Gansta Nip who was one of the founders of the sub-genre horrorcore. He was on J Prince’s label and was also from the South Park neighborhood. He used to write for J Prince’s first group The Geto Boys way back in the day so he has connections in South Park.
Another thing that I found interesting was that Jaguar Wr*ght is from Dallas, which is known to be another hotspot for Texas rappers similar to Houston, but rarely gets much recognition. Along with Austin, they are the big three music cities in Texas, yet it seems like Dallas has always been slept on. I remember during her early interview Jaguar said she moved to Dallas to help foster and promote young aspiring musicians and help them get their footing in the industry without being taken advantage of. Sadly it seems she ended up doing that exact thing when she got a deal with Roku to make a TV show that she said would follow some of these talented up-and-coming artists. It appears that she was charging a subscription fee, but never actually posted any new content that wasn’t already available for free on YouTube or social media. Now pretty much every artist she promoted will have their names connected to a scam artist just by being involved with her. https://www.change.org/p/stop-ban-dalladelphia-oppose-jaguar-wright
I’ve also discussed in the past that she has been airing out some of Diddy and Jay- Z’s dirty laundry since 2022 and seemingly has protection. She also had some wild shit go down about a week after she accused Jay-Z of trying to keep her from boarding her plane in Dallas and was arrested at Chicago Airport. https://ktt2.com/jaguar-wright-arrested-after-allegedly-throwing-her-sons-ashes-32541373
Similar to Shawty, Jaguar is often accused of being a crackhead, but again it appears she may have had a history, but currently only smokes weed and drinks and most likely is struggling with mental illness. Sometimes the weight of these subjects is enough to drive someone crazy on its own, yet alone constantly being paranoid someone wants to take you out. To her credit, Jaguar was also known for being one of Jay Z’s background singers and did come up around the time Diddy founded Bad Boy and the Philly music scene was starting to get recognition. She often talks about how Jay Z has been going after her for revealing some of his past sketchiness along with many other artists from that era.
While I trust her about as far as I can throw her, she did drop a lot of facts about Diddy in the same interview and has been dropping a lot of shit the last couple of months. She also said she used to be married to Katt Williams, who was also accused of being a crackhead after apparently getting death threats for speaking out against the industry. If Dave Chappelle had to go to Africa when he did almost the same thing, I think he probably had every right to be paranoid as fuck. I’m sure some of Jaguar’s info is coming from him and he may even be directly responsible for her blowing up on YouTube right after he did his famous interview in January. I’ve been saying for a while now I think she has motivations way beyond revenge or advocacy, but she still shouldn’t be written off completely.
I wonder if J. Prince has anything to do with this and the Bryshere Gray stuff, which was the main subject of one of my posts here about coordinated takedowns. Considering he has similar motivations and the mob ties to protect Jaguar, it could be why she constantly doxxes herself and doesn’t seem to be too worried despite revealing shit that could easily get her green-lit. It would also explain a lot of my theories on the rise of all these influencers dropping insider knowledge of the industry and the criminal underworld that resides beneath it.
I also wanted to include some links to some other attempted invasions of Drake’s embassy. Along with Misha’s multiple attempts and the three attempts right after the beef, there have been a decent number throughout the years. https://pagesix.com/2021/03/30/woman-armed-with-knife-tries-to-get-into- drakes-property/
This guy claimed Drake was his dad and talks about him selling his place in West Hollywood with a lot of details about him selling his “Yolo Estate” in LA. Weirdly it was published by Breitbart which is a far-right news organization. https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2022/07/19/intruder-claiming-to-be-drake-son-arrested-at-rappers-los-angeles-home/
I guess this is one more person who made it through the front door. I wonder if Ye knows who it was? https://ktla.com/news/local-news/drakes-los-angeles-home-reportedly-burglarized-suspect-arrested/
This one was right after Mesha broke in and has more details about her as well. https://www.vibe.com/music/music-news/drake-intruder-hidden-hills-break-in-526090/#!
The rest of the evidence below is just extra bullshit, it’s not super relevant, but it may have some connection to all of this. It’s mostly about human trafficking in Houston. One area in Houston is considered a red-light district. An old friend grew up in the area and used to sell lean heavy so he had a lot of connections to the Houston underworld. From what he told me, shit goes pretty deep like most border states where all forms of trafficking are extremely prevalent. https://www.click2houston.com/news/investigates/2021/09/16/hpd-using-new- law-to-crack-down-on-those-paying-for-sex/
Below are a few more examples of Houston rappers charged with trafficking minors. If anyone has time I didn’t look into any potential connections with J Prince. Houston is massive and there is a huge rap scene so there is a good chance they may not have any connections beyond the city they live in, but you never know, there could be some supporting evidence to my theories. https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-aspiring-rapper-sentenced-prison-child- sex-trafficking-reports
https://www.fox26houston.com/news/houston-rapper-big-face-tulu-accused-of- trafficking-and-assault-forcing-teens-to-work-for-food-and-shelter
https://www.khou.com/article/news/houston-rapper-jaimian-sims-found-guilty- of-sex-trafficking-of-a-mino285-9eebceb0-fce4-4244-84da-4fb2432c5479
https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/houston/news/press-releases/ houston-rapper-heads-to-prison-for-sex-trafficking-of-a-minor
Lastly, I can’t forget the infamous Houston rapper Viper, who was also possibly signed to SPM’s Dope House Records. He was also from the fifth ward in Houston, the same as J. Prince. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/crime/ article/lee-carter-houston-rapper-second-kidnapping- charge-18695638.php
That’s all I have on the case. I know it’s not super relevant, but it’s only a small section that I thought was a good example of how using OSINT techniques could help with finding connections. Also, it’s good to know how these things could be used against you if you’re not careful about managing your online footprint. If you’re just on this sub sharing links or information that is publicly available and couldn’t potentially be used as evidence in a R.I.C.O case, you shouldn’t worry too much. I’m probably gonna have to run the section I wrote about Drake and J. Prince’s mob ties by the mods before posting for this very reason.
To carry out many of these more advanced exploits you’d need teams of people working 24/7 and massive amounts of money to dedicate to each person who you want to keep track of. If they did have incriminating evidence and they planned to share more, they would probably have to kill the person or convince them in some way to stop posting. This usually involves cyber threats at first, and if you continue to post actual evidence they’ll probably get lawyers involved. If they do hire someone to make the threats in person I doubt it would escalate to anything physical or potentially life-threatening.
If they go as far as investing money in hiring a trustworthy goon who isn’t gonna flip on one of the richest and honestly douchiest celebrities in our current era, they most likely wouldn’t take such a major risk unless their freedom is genuinely on the line and your evidence was specifically related to their current case. Even if they do, because of how risky it is they’ll most likely just threaten you and they might get physical depending on the person who hired them’s feelings towards violence. I have another theory that all the dirt about Kendrick is true and Drake has been blackmailing him, possibly for the last 7 years. It seems like all of this insanity in the rap game has been brewing since at least 2016. This is the year all my favorite up-and-coming artists died one after another and the trend continued up until 2021. It’s also around the time Drake started getting in feuds with multiple rappers and was accused of threatening Ye with some type of blackmail. After years of being disappointed, I finally stepped away from discovering new artists in 2021 and started listening to more indie rock not too long ago.
I’m still kinda scared they are going to kill Gucci next, or Kodak, or my favorite newish rapper Lil Darkie. If any of them die suddenly it’s more likely than not someone in the industry wanted them dead because they all have spoken out and revealed shit about the industry. Hopefully, these types of things become less frequent if the alleged R.I.C.O case is legit and there is a movement behind the scenes of rappers trying to do away with the current status quo. It’s honestly sad how a couple of shitty rappers have hogged the spotlight for years, meanwhile, thousands of more talented artists are being slept on or flat-out ignored.
I hope that one thing that comes out of this whole ordeal is that these artists are given a chance to share their talents with the rest of the world without having to worry about possibly being killed if they don’t sign with the right label. If you made it this far you were able to find some of this information valuable. As I said this was just a long tangent I went off on while I was working on my original post. I’ll try to get the rest up soon.
One last thing I’ve noticed lately, it’s probably not related, but recently they changed the date filter feature on DuckDuckGo, forcing you to manually click back every month to get to the desired date. This makes it a pain in the ass to go back further than a couple years and when you try to click it really fast the arrow button moves around so you keep having to move your cursor or tap in a different spot. It’s strange because up until a week ago you were just able to type whatever date you wanted and it was so much easier to find articles from back in the day. This update is such a downgrade from the original it feels oddly intentional. I wonder if it has anything to do with the research currently being conducted along with removing articles that might be used as evidence. Has anyone noticed this as well?
Signing off for now,
The Randomest Moniker

[First ever post on here so I hope I did the whole tagging/etc thing right. Not NSFW now but future chapters may be, not likely explicit but it will deal with adult topics. If that requires an NSFW tag here as well I will be happy to add it. If I did something wrong, I apologize, as I said, first time.]
I looked over the datapad, eyes glancing up at the human as he bent over my shoulder, leaning on the desk as he examined the datapad with me.
“Well,” I informed [Him? I believed it to be him], “for the Pilshan, you’re going to need the elevator buttons to have thermal-carved labels on the sides. NOT on the buttons themselves, you’ll risk a temperature cascade.”
“Got it,”
“The M’lekki need a room with 1.5e barometric pressure to avoid expansion beneath the membrane, one on every floor, and they have to spend two hours in for every one out.”
“Does it have to go at exactly an hour, or can we divide that up? Say, half an hour from fifteen, then three from one and a half?”
"Two from one is recommended, but it's intentionally under the limit. You can go as far as four from two, but after the first hour and a half you’re safest adding an additional fifteen for every ten. It’s not in the regulations, four from two should be safe in the short term, but-”
“On top?”
“Yes.”
“So 4:45 from two, got it... Let’s round that up to 5, makes scheduling easier.”
“Er.... Alright. And then the Proxx...”
“Yes?”
“Well,” I stood up straighter to align my vocal resonators, “Mobile Priiin-4 water tanks, it has to be imported, the necessary micro-organisms don't breed off-planet. Nitrogen air masks in every room, regular rubdowns with Priiin-4 mud, imported again, thermovision contacts with real-color markings, warnings on the door to any room with a temperature over CM 21-70, one ice tank per employee, blood meters to check nutrients once every half hour, and subdermal temperature implants in the head and torso, as well as one on each extremity.”
“Phew,” the human shook his head, “Not exactly cheap to have around, are they?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Well, that one’ll take a while to set up, I’ll have to look at my work schedule to make sure they’re not here before we’re ready.”
“You... Could just have them wear exosuits...?” I suggested timidly.
“‘Not a chance,” he answered, “They’re just gonna have to hold off on their first day. Bit tricky since I have to figure out how to pay them for work not done.”
“Yes... Exosuits are cheaper, though.”
“Nah, it’s not the money thing,” he answered, fingers scratching at his jaw, “Just need to figure out how I’ll calculate profit split on stuff they don’t work on. I guess I could figure out the median and give them that...”
“I’m...” I ran my pincers along the datapad, “I’m not sure profit splits are necessary, you should be able to give them base pay if they have profit splits in the contract.”
“Nah, nah,” the human answered, “Not their fault they’re not at work, not gonna give them any less than they woulda made anyway. That’d be unfair.”
I clacked my mandibles in agreement, even if it was a ridiculous comment. Given how little we actually needed to use money FOR between the free housing, food, and both legal and medical attention from the Interstellar Union Central Committees, I doubted anyone would even notice the money being short for a few months, much less object. Still, I knew better than to argue with a human about employment contracts. There had been a few centuries in their past collectively known as ‘The Labor Wars,’ and it had left a mark on the terran psyche. The upside was that everyone knew if you were lucky enough to work for a human, you’d be taken care of. The downside was this sort of obstinacy, dedication to regulations hardly used outside of human office buildings. Or, sometimes, as in this case, human archaeological projects with a business run off the top floor.
“Look, human, I understand concerns about comfort, but this is really excessive. I know your species are long lived, but there have been incredible advances in exosuit comfort and maneuverability just in the last three years. I can assure you, nobody will object to you simply providing them with suits. This is very generous of you, but it’s getting excessive, and we’re only halfway through the list. You have five Amkra on payroll, and each one of them is going to cost you 8,000 Credits for just the barebones requirements.”
“And if I want to get them something good?”
“You could be looking at 20,000 each, and an additional 50,000 to give them a retreat room.”
“Well, no shortage of rooms in this old girl are there?” The human laughed, knocking on the wall with a thud. It was true, whatever this ship was originally, it had needed a lot of rooms. Several hundred were already usable, and there was still excavation going on under our feet. Wall carvings which seemed to be ship schematics implied we might only be seeing the top 25% of the ship. It was hard to know how deep it went.
“Yes, ah, a girl, human?”
“Nah, I’m a boy. Er, a male, if the translator’s wonky. A boy with a name, by the way.”
“Acknowledged, unfortunately our translators tend not to differentiate between words and names...”
“That’s fine. Name’s Pete, but I’m just as good with Rocky if that’s what’s going to come out.”
“Ahhh, yes, thank you... Rocky. And I wasn’t asking for you. Why did you assign a gender to the ship?”
The human gave one of their characteristic mirthful barks, “Now, are you asking me for about two thousand years of linguistic history on that one? Or do you just want the short answer.”
“Short answer is acceptable.”
“Just a thing humans do.”
Right. That tended to be the answer to a lot of questions where humans were concerned. It was just a thing they did. They tended to just do a lot of things, and most of the time if you asked five humans to explain it you got seven answers. Their religions were the same. There were some where it was said the only way to truly learn about the stories was by overhearing believers arguing about the details.
“Well, anyway, we’re just getting started on this and my workday ends in ten minutes, so if you don't mind, I need to take a moment to delay my house's welcome s-"
“Absolutely not. I won’t hear of it.”
“It really isn’t a bother, I normally wouldn’t have mentioned, but with this many species on your list, it could easily take the rest of tomorrow and into the next day.”
“Hey, I ain’t going anywhere, long lived like you said. I should have another 45 years on me minimum.”
“Right. If you are certa-”
“Absolutely,” He gave a conspiratorial smile, “But... If you want, I can shuttle you back to your place. We won’t be able to cover the changes needed off-ship, but I won't mind if you put in for overtime anyway.”
“Ahhh, that would be kind, but I wouldn’t want to interrupt your work.”
“Nah, I’m still setting stuff up, I can take the time off. Where you live?” He asked, grabbing an overcoat and rebreather from a nearby hook.
“It’s quite a ride away, I don’t know how long it will take, so...”
Rocky turned slowly, and sat down on across the desk, “Now Miss Kalzi - Lovely name by the way, sounds Italian, beautiful part of my planet - I’m glad you’re not wanting to bother me. But this is my business and Rocky ain’t short for Rockefeller. If I stop seeing myself as part of the society and start seeing myself as, well, the sort of person who can’t be bothered to make life easier for someone... Well, there should be plenty of human history explaining what could happen. On the other hand, I know us humans are some of the more physically gifted species out here, and though I’m not in the best shape, I’m big even for one of us. And I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. So, let me just ask you this directly. Are you saying you don’t want to bother me because you are worried about me? Or do you not want a ride home and you’re trying to be polite? Because if that’s the case, I’m not offended if you would rather go home on your own.”
I considered the question for a moment, vestigial wings fluttering softly under the chitin on my back. It wasn’t... Entirely either one of those. The first seemed a little excessive, and the second...
“Do humans do that?”
“What?”
“The polite thing?”
“All the time,” he smiled, “But I’m guessing it wasn’t that?”
“I just...” I struggled with how to express the idea, our labor history was so different from theirs. There had never been the competition that characterized the Labor Wars on earth, that idea, like so much of their species, seemed nearly impossible to associate with a race that had ascended to the stars, “I don’t feel like it is... My place to... Impose?” I suggested.
“Nonsense!” The human barked again, and motioned with his hands, a snap followed by pointing at me with three fingers curled, one extended, and one raised, “Lady, I contracted you for the inspection, getting you here and home is on me anyway. You did factor transport into the contract cost, right?”
“Ahhh... Well, I only charge a flat rate, public transit is cheap...”
“Cheap ain’t free,” he answered, “Lemme know how much ya paid when ya get here tomorrow. In the meantime, I’m happy to get out of this old rustbucket anyway. Everyone needs to stretch their legs sometimes. Well, I suppose not the M’lekki, but you get my drift. It’s not an imposition, just gimme a spot near your house and I’ll take you right over.”
“...Should I not simply tell you where my home is?”
“Well, sure,” he smiled, “If you’re comfortable with that. But I can drop you off a while away if it makes you feel safer.”
“...I could tell you to drop me off at the transit station, you know,” I suggested, antenna raising slightly. I was satisfied to hear another mirthful sound, lower than the barks, a bit like a pair of near chokes in succession. It somehow felt more... Meaningful. My wings fluttered even more at the success of my joke.
“Well, you could do that, sure,” he acknowledged, “But then we’d be back where we started with me feeling like I pressured you into something.”
“Oh, I don’t want that!” I quickly corrected, “It was a humorous suggestion, really.”
“It sure was,” he bared his teeth pleasantly, and gave me another snap-and-point, “Tell you what, just send me whatever address you want, I’m happy to take you wherever you’re going.”
I clicked my mandibles and sent a message over to his datapad.
“Woo, all the way on the second moon, huh?”
“Yes...” I acknowledged, and then added quickly as my wings rapidly fluttered under the chitin, “You... You don’t need to take me. If that’s farther than you thought.”
“Nahhhh, just gonna need to pull out a bit extra for that overtime.”
“Oh!” I put the datapad away quickly, “Oh, please don’t. That’s far too much, really. I’m off the clock, you’re just... Driving me as a friend?” I suggested, my wings fluttering enough I was having to actually focus on the back plates to keep them covered.
“Alright, just no work talk on the way over. You start giving me safety advice and you’re gonna have to bill me.”
“No safety advice, got it.”
“That includes complaining about my driving.”
“Oh!” My antenna pushed forward curiously, “Um, is that something I’m likely to do?”
“Ever flown with a human before, Kalzi?”
“No.”
“Your species prone to motion sickness?”
“No... Were those questions related?”
He snap-pointed again, “No safety talk, remember?”

Just happened… Made it all the way to the final, 1 game a piece, up 3-1 in the rubber match, :30 seconds left. We had scratched and clawed our way through games and finally felt like it was in the bag. I’ve gotten 2nd a few times but I’ve never been able to get 1st. It was my greatest Rocket League moment.
Then my controller dies. My second controller, dead. Can’t find a cable to plug in. I’m scrambling. My car is somehow still moving on the screen in a straight line but I have no controller.
Meanwhile my teammate, who insisted on staying in goal basically the whole damn game, even when playing behind with the ball on offense - essentially leaving me on my own on offense - was giving up goals left and right.
From 3-1, :30 seconds left, now at 3-3 with :5 seconds left. I had my controller on the charger for maybe 10 seconds, pull it off, try turning it on, it’s on! But oh yeah - on Xbox, when you reconnect or connect a new controller, only half the buttons work and directions are reversed. I scramble to try logging out and back in (the only way I’ve found to get the new controller working right)… but it was too late.
4-3, zeros on the clock, and my teammate let in the 3rd goal in the final :30 seconds. 2nd place. From my greatest Rocket League moment, to my most crushing loss ever in a matter of seconds.
Now I’ll stand up and be the first to take blame, my controller died, it should have been charged. It’s just so frustrating that we didn’t lose because of bad play - I could handle that. But an equipment malfunction, brutal.
But… I also didn’t give up 3 goals in under :30 seconds. And remember, this teammate was so dead set on playing defense that they wouldn’t even leave the goal when the ball was immediately in front of the opposing goal.
I’m mad. But I’m not sure what, or who, to be mad at. It’s a maddening game and I feel like I get paired up with players like my teammate at least 60% of the time: goal sitters.
Now I’m not saying don’t play defense ever. When the ball is on the defensive side, absolutely get in that goal and defend. But when your teammate clears the ball into the offensive zone and is setting it up, come and get it! Especially if I’m chatting “Centering”, “Passing”, “Take the shot!” as I’m setting the ball up in front of the net over and over all game. Take the hint!
So… if you have this strategy of goal sitting in 2v2 (3v3 is different), please make yourself known in the comments and explain yourself. What makes you think this is a good strategy?
On the other hand, if you’re frustrated with goal sitters too, drop an F and let’s team up sometime.

Like the title says, the OP deleted their post, "My cat wakes up from her sleep and bites me constantly", from cats, which was only a short video showcasing the kitty's potentially malicious behavior, however, they left all their downvoted comments up for us to read and enjoy!
Let's start with a description of the video. The OP, while recording their tortie cat sleeping on their lap, nudges the cat with their arm somewhat forcefully, which causes kitty to grab OP's arm and nibble on it briefly.
First up is a redditor who thinks kitty is playing with OP: (commenters will be abbreviated with C1, C2, etc.)

C1: she’s playing and you’re evidently pushing your arm into her so are encouraging the behaviour. she doesn’t look annoyed at all, this is 100% play behaviour but if you want her to stop you need to move away and ignore her every time she does it until she understands it’s an unwanted behaviour. C2: also 12 isn't very old brained yet C1: yes i was also going to add this. a 12 year old cat isn’t going to wake up and forget their owner randomly, she’s literally just playing and/or being affectionate (love bites). OP: She does this almost every time she wakes up C1: doesn’t mean she’s confused, i’d say it’s a heck of a lot more likely that she’s either giving you love bites or she’s waking up and wanting to play. bites like in the video you’ve posted aren’t aggression, they’re play or affection based. if she was actually confused and biting you because she doesn’t know who you are, she would be growling/hissing and would break the skin. there just isn’t a scenario in cat behaviour where a cat would wake up confused and just gently nip whoever they’re with. if you’re actually concerned though, take her to the vet. C3: I mean the cat is literally hugging her arm, i assume its her first cat and she adopted it recently? Otherwise idk why normal cat behavior is so foreign to op

One redditor gives some simple advice:

C1: Take your arm away from her belly and she will miraculously stop.

Another adds they can relate to kitty:

C1: She wakes up and chooses violence. I can relate.

This user adds a little bit of sass to their reply:

C1: encourages behavior by pushing arm toward cat as it's playing omg why is this happening is my cat senile Lol OP: Everyone is misunderstanding this so much, I was just getting an example video. She does this the moment she wakes up when she never did before, not sure how it’s the same as just standard cat playing! Never realized people could be so damn toxic on a cat subreddit. C2: It's hard to completely explain a cats behavior, cats stay playful even when they grow older, to anyone this looks like normal behavior even in the scenario you mentioned it's not so weird and it really does sound like standard cat play but if you're worried about her talk to a veterinarian

We get to a longer comment from a redditor, who is confused OP has had a cat for 12 years but doesn't understand its behavior:

C1: You have a cat for 12 years I assume from the post body and you don't know the basic cat language? Bro, I give ny hand to my boy sometimes when he's energetic and hyperactive. He bites me but with love, there's no harsh feelings. At the same time he will lick my hand and keep it for himself but won't bite. If he wanted to bite me it would have been serious injuries and blood. He's 1.4 year old, talks a lot. You should know what your cat wants, if she's tired or annoyed leave her at her own till she gets normal. Your pet is just like your own child, don't be 24/7 around her spying or being always there. Imagine how your child would say "Mom, I need space". Giver her space, let her do whatever she wants inside the house. You explain with love coz humans are different, you can discipline your child but with animals you can't use your angry voice they'll get scared and instead become more aggressive and defensive. You can't make up with Animals after loud screaming 🤷‍♂️. This is just my piece of advice, I know you won't scream at her but give her space. Constant nagging will annoy them, you are being there always when she wakes up, give her toys instead OP: Like I’ve said in comments, she does this from a dead sleep even without me touching her and it started around 6 months ago so it’s strange people say it’s just play when she’s not a kitten idk she isn’t playful like that normally at all C2: Cats don't grow out of playing or wanting to play. Play ≠ kitten. It is generally encouraged as part of cats growing old, is to keep playing with them - however they like to play. Encourage them to run and jump with toys etc! C3: [to OP] Omg. You’re an idiot. OP: Everyone is misinterpreting what I’m saying.

A user comments that torties are unique kitties:

C1: Torties are an odd patchwork of emotions OP: Yeah she’s so aggressive she’s a princess C1: Can you explain what other ways she's aggressive? Maybe that will give a better picture of why she's acting like this after waking? OP: She generally hates all my other cats. Sometimes if she’s in a bad mood and you walk by her she’ll smack you. She has massive boundaries (which is fine) about how she is touched and how much or else she’ll growl/attack you. C1: Has that been behaviours she's had the entire time you've had her? Or is it new or becoming more common? Any changes in her personality or behaviours are definitely something to keep track of and discuss with your vet. If you are worried I would recommend to see your vet again soon and explain everything. There are ways to help her, maybe meds, maybe she's in pain and is angry about it (valid lol). OP: This isn’t new behavior besides the type like the video, she’s always had a mean side since we found her as a stray. I’m not sure but yeah I think she needs a vet too.

Lastly, we get the response that pushes OP towards post deletion:

C1: "Why does she keep constantly biting me?" shoves whole arm into her mouth Seems like you've trained her into playing like this, where playing means she bites you. OP: It’s just for the video. She’ll just be laying sleeping my lap and when she wakes up she’ll bite me never too roughly it doesn’t seem like playing, it seems like confusion to me? C1: In the video, it looks like she's playing, and it looks like you're enticing her to play, without any further examples to show that it's not normal behavior when you're both playing OP: Yes and I explained that that wasn’t what was happening? C2: your cat doesn't understand when is or isn't an appropriate time. she knows arm means play. OP: No, she only does this after she wakes up from a nap meowing. C3: Did you only recently adopt the cat? This is a very very normal cat behavior, after napping cats have energy and want to play OP: I’m deleting the damn post I clearly explained this all wrong, my cat dead asleep wakes up and starts this behavior while meowing.

Is there a better way to do this???
I have something like 69 different skill pools which you can use to spend points on almost 300 skills. I'm trying to rig the +1 and -1 buttons and I need the points being spent to log which skills have how many points from each pool, so that they can't be traded between pools.
Atm I'm searching the current skill and its pool,then checking by name if it matches the skill logs in order. If it matches, that pool is used by each button (I have separate query for each + and -).
The logs are their own variables within the PlayerCharacter Actor, but is there a better way to search for them to make these changes or is making each check each manually my best bet?
I'm worried it's going to cause hardware problems in the long run due to how many searches it's doing, but also it's just a ton of work to go through this 69 times for each of the buttons.
I have a picture of my current setup but it's not going through, gonna try to post it in comments.

DRS Megathread // WTF is happening with GameStop!? // PleasrDAO/Wu-Tang Megathread

Hello Superstonk!
What a week! And all signs point to the next few weeks being equally interesting. Between the rollercoaster price action, all the new people subscribing (Over 1 Million subs!!!), DFV returning, DFV posting here, DFV returning to his YouTube channel, shareholder's meeting next week... well it's just been a lot going on!
There are a couple of housekeeping items that we have to talk about, especially for some of the new people here.

Brigading

So, if you're new here, one of the things you're (unfortunately) going to get familiar with is brigading. Brigading is defined as: when a group of users, generally outsiders to the targeted subreddit, "invade" a specific subreddit and flood it with downvotes or upvotes in order to damage karma dynamics on the targeted sub; spam the sub with posts and comments to further their own agenda; or perform other disruptive behavior.
Put simply, Superstonk has been put in its own little isolation bubble. Here, we are unable to do certain things that other subs can, such as tagging users and crossposting to other subreddits. We're not able to talk about other communities freely. It's not our choice as a mod team or community, but it's a consequence of prior issues that this community has created for Reddit. As a result, it's NOT ok to post content here about other subs. You can't post screenshots of other subs. You can't celebrate your ban from another sub. You can't show images of other subs with you dunking on users who have a bear thesis towards GME. It is a systemic risk to Superstonk to post content like that here, and all you do is give the mod team more content that we have to remove (along with more ulcers). Brigading is a way to speedrun yourself to a ban from this community.
Similarly, there are some subs out there in the Reddit investing world that have publicly announced that they do not permit discussion of GME. That's their choice. There is to be no interfering with their sub on behalf of GME or Superstonk. It's not ok to go to other subs and encourage people to come to Superstonk, or to attack or berate other sub mods. That could get you banned in other subs, and if you have an extensive post history here, it can create the perception that Superstonk is a problem that Reddit needs to fix. Bottom line, whether you like it or not, we have to keep Superstonk talk on Superstonk, and sort of pretend that other subs simply don't exist.
We have been provided screenshots of comments from users that are being attributed to Superstonk that contain vitriol and threats, and those sorts of comments are simply not ok. Frankly, we don't think that true good-faith participants of Superstonk would make these sorts of comments on other subs.
We don't condone any nature of trolling or harassment, and if you observe ANY evidence that it is happening within our community, tag !mods! or report it and we will take immediate action. We appreciate your commitment to fostering positive and constructive spaces within our walls.
We know the specifics of brigading can be confusing. Just remember to follow the rules in whatever community(ies) you may participate in besides Superstonk, and make sure you don't discuss your adventures in the wider world of Reddit while you are here. We have to stay in our bubble.
https://i.redd.it/e3e5cy5jjm5d1.gif

New Mods

Welcoming Diznavis and welcoming back _Exordium to the mod team!
Here are a couple quotes from them:
Diz - "I've been watching GME since 1/27/21, bought my first shares on 2/1/21, which was also my first ever stock purchase. I became part of an advisory team of sorts at the Jungle a couple years ago, mostly by being in the right place at the right time, and was eventually added as a mod over there. When I saw the SCC being created, it seemed similar to the team I had been part of at the Jungle, so I joined it so I could help out with this sub as well. I never expected to be asked to join the mod team, it wasn't even on my radar when I joined the SCC, but when it happened, I accepted and here I am."
Exo - "No Luma, I'm too busy to talk to you right now. I'm helping my mom build a garden bed and a bunch of yard work right now, feel free to write what you please about me." Exo is an amazing person, and we're excited that after a long hiatus from the mod team he was interested in jumping back in for a little while.

DFV Doxxing Posts

We've seen an uptick in a new category of weird posts. It's unclear if they are intended to be sweet, or creepy or funny or what, but we've noticed a HUGE uptick in pictures of DFVs family, including his wife/sibling(s). We remove those on sight. They're totally unrelated to his activity as an investor and streamer, and his family and friends deserve their privacy. Posting their photos... honestly it's a little creepy and violates their privacy. Don't do it.
https://i.redd.it/cle19hwkjm5d1.gif

!Bet!

Announcing a new tag - !Bet!
In any comment, on any post, if you see a bet, make sure it is recorded.
Starting now, we have a new mod tag: !Bet! which will alert mods to any bet that somebody has made.
Maybe it's your bet, and you want to make it official. Maybe it's somebody else's bet and you want to make sure they... deliver.
Some bets are... how do I word this... some bets are best delivered on your own NSFW profile (and not on Superstonk). However, a bet is a bet. Make sure, if you make one, you're clear about the terms.
!Bet! will help us make them binding... and maybe make a "Bet Megathread" or something fun along the way.
(An unrelated gif.)
Be safe out there Superstonk. Next week should be spicy! Buckle Up!

[Part 1]
My king. The sad memories faded into blurred flashbacks.
Olyvar cherished the sweet time as his grace’s squire. Though two years older, it made no matter. A warrior king was training Olyvar the way of knighthood, almost any boy’s dream. He remembered on slow days, Robb Stark would spend time with him, teaching the art of the long sword and shield. He can still remember the cloudy day at the Crag’s courtyard and his Northern accent as he swung his blade at the squire. “Keep your shield up Olyvar. Keep it up.”
“It’s too heavy.” Olyvar replied as Robb swung on.
“If it wasn’t heavy, it wouldn’t stop a sword. So get it up.”
They sparred and sparred in the courtyard. Robb Stark was dancing with him, hilts in hands. After he knocked Olyvar to the dirt for the twentieth time, he lifted him back up.
“Come, drive at me.” Robb then grabbed Olyvar gently by the back of his neck. “Look Olly, keep your shield up or I’ll ring your head like a bell.”
Olyvar never forgot that moment, his Grace’s right-hand touch, the way Robb looked into his eyes and called him ‘Olly’. No one has ever called him that and he liked it very much. They continued to dance. Rain began to fall, turning dirt into mud. Olyvar darted at him. Robb stepped aside, deflecting the stab off his shield and twirled around forward in a natural motion, his cloak spinning in the air. Before Olyvar knew it, Robb had his rear, his sword ready to thrust or slash any part of him. He glanced back and knew he was lost. The dance paused there and Olyvar turned around to meet Robb’s beautiful blue eyes. He could melt in them.
“You had me your Grace.”
“Come Olly, it’s your turn.” A winter wind came blowing in from across the sea. A breeze lingered there, brushed Robb’s auburn hair. “Now, dance with me!”
It almost felt like a sin to be as excited as Olly was at that moment.
“I’ll drive to you now. Try to do what I just did. In mud like this, don’t forget to plant your foot before each movement. And remember, you have to keep your shield up.”
As Olyvar and Robb got into their positions, his older half-nephew Ser Ryman Frey suddenly appeared and intervened. He grabbed Olyvar like a little green boy and pulled him towards the exit. NO! Olyvar’s word caught in his mouth.
Robb spoke up for him. “What are you doing? Olyvar is my squire and a grown man. He can do what he wants and speaks for himself.”
“My grandfather has declared a suspension of your alliance with House Frey,” Ryman said. “You have broken a sacred vow. If you would not have his daughter or granddaughter as your queen, you certainly cannot have his son as your squire.”
Robb was expecting Olyvar to say something, but the squire froze. More Frey guardsmen came in and dragged him away from the courtyard, his heels lifeless on the ground, leaving twin mud tracks on his departure. Robb stared at him sweet, sad, and silent. A bolt of lightning flashed across the rainy skies, its reflection off the King’s sword blinding Olyvar. That was the last time he saw Robb alive.
When news of his King returning to the Twins for the wedding between Lord Edmure Tully and his sister Roslin, Olyvar could not contain his excitement, to hear the voice of his call.
Since that rainy courtyard day, Olyvar had been on his own for long enough. He hoped maybe Robb could show him again that dance that he loved. Maybe. Olyvar had been going through withdrawals. Not seeing his Grace was just too much. He could turn me on with the slightest touch. But since the Red Wedding, Olyvar’s courtyard has been cold and empty. Fuck anyone who judges me. He couldn’t see clearly now that Robb was forever gone. Olyvar was still blinded by Robb’s last light. He couldn’t sleep, still yearning for his touch. In his heart, rain constantly fell, drowning him in the nights. I was his squire, Olyvar cried as his soul twisted. And I failed him. I was the only one that night he could trust.
After the slaughter, Merrett Frey, a kin of his, greeted him as he released Olyvar from the dungeons. “I’m sorry Olyvar that we had to lock you up, Perwyn and Alesander too. But you must do your duty for your family. You are a Frey, a man of an honorable house. This stain left by Robb Stark and his bitch mother Catelyn Tully should not go unpunished. Lady Catelyn also killed Jinglebells. She even japed ‘a son for a son‘ to our Lord father as she slit his throat.”
A son for a son. Olyvar Frey looked at Merrett sullenly, his voice choking up, “I must go for a walk.” Olyvar walked and walked … passing the burnt tents, passing the dead soldiers with Northern and Riverland sigils sewn on their garments, and passing Grey Wind’s headless body. He was far enough from home, but he could still hear the cheap cheers of the Frey and Bolton soldiers.
He fell to his knees and began to cry. My king. My sweet king. Olyvar swore vengeance. Though he will never consider kinslaying as it was a curse among the gods, it would not stop him from facilitating others who seek revenge against his own family, the ones who were directly involved.
Suddenly at the side of the river, a dying man was crawling towards him. Soaked in water, mud and blood, he cried out in a ghastly voice “Olyvar!”
“Who, who are you?” Olyvar sprinted to aid and for recognition. “Raynald?” Without hesitation Olyvar replied, “My brother!” He placed himself under Raynald’s shoulder and lifted him up. “We need to find a maester.”
On the way back to camp, Olyvar and Raynald encountered two sentries of his Frey household guards, far from any other eyes can see.
“So what do you have here my Lord Olyvar?” one asked.
“A dying lone wolf? Let us put him out of his misery,” the other replied as they stared at Ser Raynald Westerling’s dampened seashell surcoat.
Olyvar lowered himself and laid Ser Raynald on the ground, and arose in a tone cold as stone. “No. Not a lone wolf.”
Olyvar unsheathed his sword and killed both Frey guards before they could reach their weapons. He then swapped Raynald’s wet Westerling clothing for one of the dead men, and found a maester.
Ser Raynald Westerling stayed with Olyvar at the Twins under disguise. He even trimmed off his brushy moustache. Weeks later after Ray had fully healed, he asked Olyvar to go with him to look for Maege Mormont and Galbart Glover at their secret hideout, as per the original plan before the wedding.
One night, Olyvar Frey simply walked out of the Twins again, this time with Ray. No one would care where Olyvar was going. Truth be told, his Frey family would be more content if more spawnlings of their lord father would leave the castle to find their own destiny, especially if they were unlikely heirs deep behind the line of succession.
Aboard one of the Northern galleys floating outside of Seagard, the Seashell Knight had to explain how this son of Walder Frey earned his trust, as Lady Mormont held Olyvar by the throat with a dagger. The skin around her eyes had been raked and blackened with tears and nails, her teeth bit with furious anger. She had been like this for weeks. Olyvar stared at her face and he felt like he could die here and now, if that was what it meant for Lady Mormont to forgive him, as he knows no gold would ever substitute for her grief. “I am sorry about your daughter Dacey. I lost my brother too. Benfred was a good man, I swear to you by all the gods old and new, that he did not have a part in the slaughter. Benfred would have done everything he could to grab an innocent woman like Dacey, and bring her safe from harm.” Olyvar meant it.
Mormont sheathed her dagger, her hands still shaking. “I’ll kill them all! Anyone who was a part of this!”
“No.” Olyvar replied. “We have to get the girls back. And then you can kill them all.”
At the siege of Riverrun, Olyvar Frey freely roamed Ryman’s uncoordinated camp. No one cared. One night alone, he swam across the moat and climbed up the castle with spikes. Only thirty feet up, the Tully guards had heard him clanking and aimed their crossbows from above. “Identify yourself!”
He whispered, “I am Olyvar Frey, son of Walder Frey, former squire to his King, Robb Stark. I come unarmed and offer myself as a hostage. I know the Blackfish, please let him know I am here.”
“Stay where you are.”
Olyvar clung to the castle’s wall half way down to death and half way up to forgiveness. Finally Ser Brynden Tully appeared and told Olyvar to come up quietly. As Olyvar threw himself over the parapet and onto the floor, the Blackfish kicked away his spikes and immediately kneed his body to the ground, holding a dagger at his throat. Shit, not again! Damn this mayhaps, why was I unblessed to be born a Frey?
“What are you doing here, Olyvar Frey?” Ser Tully demanded.
Olyvar told them the truth and handed him Lady Maege’s letter from a waterproof compartment in his garment. The letter was coded with secret words that he and she only knew. The Blackfish cracked the seal, unrolled the parchment and read. Afterwards he released the grip from the bottom and the message curled up on its own, eager to protect the secrets.
“The paper curls, at least you didn’t try to deceive me with the age of the parchment.” He then asked Olyvar, “So, you killed some of your own men did you?”
“To save Ser Westerling, yes.” The Blackfish looked at his eyes and nodded in approval. “May I see her now?” Olyvar inquired.
The Tully guards led Olyvar to her room. Some left the area, but others stayed and watched, still suspicious of the unarmed Frey. She was in her solar, knitting her needle works. He fell down to one knee towards his niece-in-law (by Olyvar’s brother-in-law, Lord Edmure Tully), “My Queen.”
“Olyvar!” Without a hint of hesitation or mistrust, she dropped her needle, ran towards him, and wrapped her loose skinny arms strongly under his’. She poured her heart, soul and grief-filled life into a Rose By the name of Olyvar Frey. He reciprocated, placing his arms around her shoulders as Jeyne Westerling-Stark continued to hold tight. Her orange sized breasts pushed against his chest, as the Queen’s chestnut mop of brown hair sat below Olyvar’s clean-shaven chin.
“Robb.” It was all she needed to say as they shared a sob. Nothing hurt more than that moment when he shared the same pain with Jeyne. Olyvar dipped his head to hers, their salty tears finally uniting and slowly dancing together as their faces pressed cheek to cheek.
“He is in the heavens now, I believe, singing from above.” Olyvar prayed. “He will be waiting for us. No doubt we will see him again some day, but we must make him wait.”
“I miss him so much,” Jeyne cried. She was always cheerful with Olyvar since they first met. Though he was curious whether she truly loved Robb or just wanted to be a queen, she has repeatedly been kind to him, so sweet. She never intervened when Robb trained Olyvar at swordplay and he was grateful for that. When they wed, Olyvar knew Robb could never be his brother, but Jeyne did not seem to mind letting him continue to squire beside her much younger brother, Rollam Westerling. Robb had allowed Olyvar to protect the queen sometimes, along with the other household guards, though he was still training at arms. Olyvar and Jeyne would talk constantly, mostly about their King. Even when Jeyne rambles about him, she would always shy away from talking about Robb’s bed manners. But Olyvar insisted he did not mind hearing it. Jeyne felt like a sister to him, just as much or more as Roslin.
“I miss him too,” Olyvar replied. “Did you really love him?”
She cried a little bit louder and squeezed Olyvar even harder. “With all my heart.”
Olyvar wanted to confess too, but he could not do it here, not with everyone watching. He only hoped Jeyne would ask him the same, and she did. “Did you really love him, Olyvar?”
He tightened his grip on Jeyne’s shoulders. “More than you ever know.”
She gently reached for his hands and lowered them. “Olyvar, you were his squire. He is gone now. But you still have a duty to us. You must protect us. We must never separate again. Promise me Olyvar. Promise me.”
“No. I cannot. Not yet. I must leave you, just this one last time, for your safety and your family’s.”
“You are part of my family,” the Queen proclaimed. Tears rolled down again, their hands still held together at their hips.
“I need to leave Riverrun tonight. And I promise you, we will reunite again and I will keep you safe.”
They talked for hours about the good times, the horror, and what the future lies. They talked about Robb, crying to the sadness of him, exulting at his bravery and his glories, laughing at the silly juvenile things the teenager king did to entertain them, and about falling in love with him all over again. And then they cried some more.
Later on that night, Ser Brynden visited Jeyne and Olyvar, with Lady Eleyna and Lady Sybell watching. “Olyvar, you were the King’s squire and though he is no longer with us, you are still owed a knighthood. Let the gods curse me if I ever knighted a Frey, but you are no Frey I have ever known. What you are about to do would be considered treason to your family.”
“But my lord father was treasonous to my King. I do not get to choose my father or which family I was born into. But here right now, is the family I want to be with.”
“Will you honor your new family? Will you honor your duty to your late King, his Queen and his House, the Starks of Winterfell?”
“I do,” Olyvar replied with pride.
The Blackfish unsheathed his sword, the blade alive with moonlight gleaming from the window balcony. “Shit I think I’m doing this wrong. I was supposed to say that later. Anyways, kneel Olyvar Frey.”
Olyvar got to one knee as Queen Stark and all the others watched. Ser Brynden Tully, the legendary warrior Blackfish, placed the flat of his sword on Olyvar’s shoulder.
“I charge you to be brave and … aww shit the knighting words escape me. I’m embarrassing myself. Anyways um. Family! Honor! Duty!” He placed the blade on the other shoulder. “Shit, I forgot the rest of the speech. Forgive me. But Olyvar of House Frey, I name you a knight! Now rise!”
And arose the new knight stood, and proud he was. King Robb Stark could have never fulfilled his promise of a knighthood, but it was his father that took it away from him. But being knighted by the Blackfish was more than anything Olyvar wanted right now, besides keeping Queen Jeyne and his family safe. To him, it was forgiveness.
The Queen approached him with a longsword in scabbard, flat on both hands. “Our late King had a gift for you Ser Olyvar Frey, at least he would have wanted you to have it.”
Before Ser Olyvar received it, he already knew what it was. Robb’s sword. “No, I cannot. I am unworthy of this gift, his Grace’s sword.”
“This is King Robb Stark’s sword, and I am his Queen wife. I charge you to protect your family with his own sword.”
Queen Jeyne Stark made an offer that Ser Olyvar cannot refuse. He took the sword from her forgiving hands.
“What will you call it?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“A name. Robb never named his sword. But a good sword should have a good name.”
“I was told by my half-brothers that only cun–, I mean only women name their swords. I will let you name it, my Grace. How should we honor our late King Robb Stark?”
“It is honor,” Jeyne replied.
Confused, Olyvar asked, “What is honor?”
“A sword. This sword.”
Before the sun had dawned, Ser Olyvar Frey with Honor slung on his back, climbed down the castle walls with rope, swam under the moat again, and departed the birthplace of his King, Robb Stark, as a knight.
He returned to the Twins, keeping his knighthood a secret. When Riverrun had fallen to Ser Jaime Lannister, Edmure Tully had agreed to be a prisoner at Casterly Rock. Roslin Tully volunteered to join her husband, giving them a chance to raise a family together, even as hostages. Olyvar, their brother Perwyn and half-nephew Alesander all agreed to escort Lady Tully to the Westerlands. Although they told their half-family they would take the land-route for their journey; Olyvar, Perwyn, Alesander and Roslin had a different Frey destiny in mind. After the Kingslayer’s threat to Roslin’s unborn child, there was no day they would ever stay at Casterly Rock nor return to the Twins. They departed for the coast and reunited with Ser Brynden Tully, Lady Maege Mormont and Lord Galbart Glover aboard the Motherfunker.
Before Ser Brynden escaped Riverrun alone, he and Lord Tully reviewed all their options during Edmure’s short visit. An escape on land had many risks to be recaptured or killed, but at sea it was far fewer … and having a faster ship helped. They would allow Edmure and Jeyne to be peacefully escorted by their captors to Casterly Rock as hostages, only to be rescued from the shoreline. Lady Sybell Spicer swore her brother Ser Rolph would lead the way inside the caves. “Honor, not honors,” were House Westerling’s words. And Robb Stark showed more honor to Lady Sybell’s family than any of the other Westermen could. King Robb made her daughter a Queen, while King Tommen gifted Ser Rolph with the cursed ruins of Castamere from the notorious Lannister song. This honor was more of an insult than a reward.
One night aboard the Motherfunker, Olyvar took out a fresh new flat parchment to write a letter that was meant for his father. He held his feathered quill upright, but did not know how to start. He was fidgeting as he stared up around his cabin. He began to tap the pointy end of the quill and pricked his other hand by chance. Frey blood began to trickle from the wound along with a stinging pain. Cashing in on the moment, he then knew what to say. He dipped the blood smeared quill into the black inkpot, and began to pour his soul & anger onto the kin he no longer wanted.
Father, I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel. I focus on the pain, the only thing that is real. The needle tears a hole. This old familiar family sting. I try to forget it all the way. But I remember everything. I find myself asking … “What have I become? My sweetest King? Will everyone I love go away in the end?” And Father, you can have it all. My empire of dirt. I will let you down. I will make it hurt. If I could start again, many miles back at home that night. To save my King, I would sacrifice myself. I would find a way. Your son Olyvar.
He rolled the parchment and laid a tablespoon of wax from his tallow candle at the edge. Olyvar pressed the button with his bleeding thumb, filling the stamp in a marble of white, red and pink; sealing it with his own blood. He placed the rolled parchment in his breast pocket, hoping to leave it somewhere in Casterly Rock and eventually reaching his father’s hands.
On the deck of the Motherfunker a few nights before … crewmen, Riverlands and Northern loyalists sang, drank, and cheered to the music of the masterplan. Though most wanted to spill blood to avenge the Red Wedding, humiliating their enemies would be the sweeter revenge: the story that sings in songs. But not all were there for vengeance. Some were just there for the adventure.
The Captain of the Motherfunker was there for the honor of joining their song. He wanted to look into the eyes of the lion, be a part of the thrill of the fight, rising up against our rivals. He also owed Ser Rolph Spicer a favor from their long smuggling history together at sea. If he helped rescue his niece Jeyne from the rocky castle, he would consider the debt paid, and the Black Sparrow was happy to oblige.
“So we are here to rescue this princess? No?” Samullu spoke in the broken Common Tongue
“No, not a princess, she is a queen,” Olyvar chatted.
“In the Summer Isles, a princess and a widowed queen is the same person. My father was king, but he died when I was a babe. My princess mother was the one who raised me after my uncle took the throne. I loved my mother. I named my swanship for her after she died a few years ago.”
“Motherfunker?” Olyvar asked. “What is a funker?”
“Where I am from, fighting and dancing is called the same thing. We call it funk. We funk to fight, we funk to dance, and we also funk to love. And the skill of our funk we always inherit from our mother’s side. I got it from my mama.” The black single-eyed captain pleaded. “Yo got yo from yo mama too. ‘Motherfunker’ is just a homage to one’s mother for giving us this art of our body’s motions.”
Olyvar never knew his mother, but he was very intrigued to hear more about Samullu’s and their culture. They chatted for quite a while.
Olyvar thanked him for helping them. But Samullu insisted it was the right thing to do after hearing about the horrors of the Red Wedding. “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers! And yo will know I am the Captain when I lay my vengeance upon thee!”
Olyvar never knew the Black Sparrow was so pious to the gods of avengers.
Sharing rum together, Olyvar sung to him about his own story in depth. Captain Black Sparrow was impressed about his journey so far and he gave Olyvar a small jar of dirt. “This is soil from my empire back in the Summer Isle. I have a whole barrel of it to remind me of home. Here, take this other small gift as well.” He then took out a bird’s feather, long as a flute, bright and colorful. “We Summer Isle people have feathered cloaks, yo see it on all of us. But feathers like this one were meant for some of the bravest and baddest motherfunkers out there. I want yo to take it Ser Olyvar. Let it be yo warrior’s funk.”
Olyvar took it with his hand and gave it a warm stare. The feather was colored like a fading rainbow top to bottom, but the stem was yellow like a lemon. “Thank you.” The gifts were quite odd. By value it was not much, but it seemed like it meant a lot to the exiled prince, the type of gifts worth remembering.
“So what do yo need besides a miracle?” Samullu asked.
“Weapons. Bows and arrows. Lots of arrows.” Olyvar was serious.
“Aye, and I have a lot. Yo know, no one has ever done anything like what yo and the Blackfish’s men are about to do.”
“And that is why it will work.”
The plan was to allow Lord Edmure Tully and Queen Jeyne Stark to safely travel to Casterly Rock unmolested, under the command of Ser Forley Prester and his four hundred men. Lord Gawen Westerling and his son Rollam were to return to the Crag, but Lady Sybell was to stay with Jeyne, maintaining what deceptions she can conjure. Her bluff with Ser Jaime Lannister worked, earning the slightest trust from them before their escape at Casterly Rock. An attempt to rescue them on their path down the River Road would invite the Lannisters to execute the hostages on the spot, failing the objective’s purpose. To stealthily hunt down each soldier one by one would have proven even then, a mission of the impossible. Stirring fear in the hearts of the Lannister soldiers was the only solution, the effective psychological weapon. Ser Prester’s men have been haunted by the ghosts of the Brotherhood without Banners throughout the Riverlands, and the Blackfish would use that to his advantage. With the help of their fastest horse, Bubbles, mounted by Justin Smallister, a distant cousin to House Mallister of Seagard, he would tie empty nooses on trees ahead of Ser Forley’s route. The hope of the hoax would keep the Lannisters on edge, making it difficult to rest. Only when they reached the castle of Casterly Rock, they would drop their guards down, thinking the hard part was over. But on the exact evenfall on the day of their arrival, Lord Gawen Westerling and our small land forces, hidden in the eastern woods outside, would sound the trumpets and drums, drawing the weary soldiers to arms again. But the Blackfish was to infiltrate Casterly Rock from the western sea. Ser Rolph Spicer, our secret agent inside, will bond with Jeyne’s guards, drinking with them throughout their journey. Only on the hour of the escape, Ser Spicer would drug the guards’ ale, allowing them to fall asleep during the diversionary music. The Blackfish and his squad would provide armed escort, if needed. Ser Spicer would also help them navigate inside the caves, rescuing his niece Jeyne and their family back to the Motherfunker. By then, it would be too dark for the Lannisters to give chase into the ocean, if they even realized Queen Stark had flown off.
“I need twenty good men,” the Blackfish had demanded. A few hundreds of the remaining Stark loyalists and outlaws gathered at the docks, where the Motherfunker was anchored.
“And one more woman too!” the She-Bear crone proclaimed.
The men laughed in agreement as Ser Brynden continued. “I need volunteers only. Soldiers who want this fate to fuck them from behind in their arses! For the twenty one of us, we will be in harm’s way, make no mistake about it. I do not expect us to be discovered, but if we were, our escape will not be easy like our brothers working the diversion in the woods. I need men quick on their feet, proficient with the bow, and skilled at close-quarter hand-to-hand combat. Who are my brave men that will be knocking on the Lannister’s doors?”
Ser Olyvar Frey thundered in first and raised his hand. Jeyne’s words echoed in his thoughts, Promise me Olyvar, promise me.
Alesander Frey surprised him. “No you fool! You are not a skilled fighter. Put your hand down!” Olyvar told his nephew.
“I am a grown man, and I will not miss this adventure for nothing,” Alesander protested to his uncle.
“You are just a singer.”
“Then I want to be a witness to this great deed and be the first singer of our new song.”
Olyvar could not stop his brother & nephew from doing something so stupid.
Ser Raynald Westerling the Seashell Knight raised his hand too, eager to save his sisters Jeyne and Eleyna, and his mother Sybell.
Others began to join. Some had their reasons, some had their vengeance, some just wanted to try something new.
Fess stepped up. He was a long lost uncle to Ser Addam Marbrand after a lengthy voyage at sea. But Ser Addam refused to believe him, denying him a small chunk of land near Ashemark that Fess was entitled to own. He called his uncle an imposter and casted him out of the region. Fess swore he was a Marbrand, and swore he would unleash a storm on their household if they did not give his piece of land back. To the future of reclaiming his name by shaming theirs, Fess Marbrand was recruited into our efforts against the Lannisters and their bannermen.
The Summer Islander, Ben, and his Westerosi-born son, Benjen, were farmers from the Neck. Years ago, Lord Rickard Stark had welcomed the immigrant and his wife, granting them farm lands to flourish in. They grew rice in the marsh and exported it from White Harbor. They were so grateful to House Stark that they quite frankly named their son “Benjen” for Lord Stark’s youngest child of similar age. Since then, their hard earned work with their rough black hands in the cold had paid off in prosperity. After being widowed, Ben and his son ran the farm, just the two of them … until a few Ironborn men took Moat Cailin and all their harvest this past year. Their will and pride refused to let them take it again. So instead of growing new rice, they let it wither away and left the land … trapping the jaws of the Ironborn to hunger. Now Ben and Benjen were reborn into Ser Brynden’s band, for the honor of House Stark. “With great honor comes a great ass whooping!” Ben had declared.
Jess and Jory were two brothers that served House Westerling as guards at the Crag, personally protecting the Westerling sisters, Jeyne and Eleyna. They had watched them grow up since birth. Participating in their rescue was their duty, a duty they took without hesitation for the girls who were like nieces to them.
Phyl was a crewmate of royal blood on the Motherfunker. Back on another Summer Isle kingdom, his older king brother passed away as his young prince nephew took fresh rule. After Phyl forbade his nephew-king to order an attack on a rival neighboring island, he screamed at him, “You are not my father!” and flew out of the throne room, slamming its double doors. Soon after, the boy-king ordered for his uncle’s exile. Free like a bird, Phyl flew away himself to a ship with his friend, the Black Sparrow, looking for a new adventure.
Sam, June, and Rico were all hard loyal Tully soldiers that were ready to follow the Blackfish to the end of the world. Sam used to be a tall fat leviathan of a man, until one day June told Sam, “You never had the making of a first-class athlete like Rico here.” From then on, Sam, offended, lost several stones over the years as the three served patriotically together to House Tully. Now tall, lean and muscular, Sam was a force not to be reckoned with. They nicknamed him Sam the Shredder, but for shredding his fat as his body was now packed with muscular meat.
The hedge knight Ser Barnabus the Goose volunteered along with his new squire Leo, a boy of fourteen, whom he met that same day. Goose was a tall man, big shoulders, wide hips with greying blond hair. Though he grew up as an orphan, Ser Barnabus often boasted about being the grandson of some legendary tall hedge knight that he never chanced to meet. The other orphans used to laugh at him, calling him the Useless Goose. But ever since he suited up in his knightly armor decades ago, Ser Barnabus assured he was a useful Goose helping the small folks around the Riverlands. Olyvar wondered if Barnabus was his real name, or if he was even a knight.
Leo’s older brothers wanted to join the action as well … so Mikkal, Raff, and Donal stepped forward. Their uncle Scrooge, a man in his fifties, will chip in his services too. The four brothers and uncle were known as the Pissa family. They once owned a tavern serving their mother’s recipe of baked thin crispy bread, spun circular into a flat pie, served with tomato sauce and cheese above. Their uncle Scrooge improved his sister’s recipe by adding sliced duck sausages on top of the cheese, and charging customers extra for the option. Olyvar and the men on the Motherfunker had sampled and enjoyed the cuisine they baked aboard. Captain Samullu claimed that pissa was indeed a tasty dish, and suggested adding slices of pineapples on top of it too. The Pissa brothers gave Samullu Jaqenssen a cold stare as if the gesture was treason to the recipe. Back when they owned the tavern with their mother, the family often boasted about their food to the point where their competitors despised them. Their opponents would try to mimic cooking the same dish, but others would complain it tasted no different than bread. Afraid of losing their revenue, they insulted their mother’s crispy dish by calling it “pissa,” slandering it by saying it tasted like piss. But the brothers took the name their enemies gave them and wore it like armor, never allowing it to hurt them. Raff returned their insult by calling their adversary’s food being something that comes out of a cow’s bung hole. That humiliation stuck. For a while, men and women from all over the Riverlands continued to rallied in long lines to the Pissa tavern for a delicious slice of pissa. Sadly one day, the Mountain and his men came to destroy their tavern during the war, and took their mother. They never saw her again. Despite the sad drama, the Pissa family were a cheerful bunch, save for their pessimistic uncle. Olyvar could only hope they would find their mother safe and sound some day.
On the first day aboard the Motherfunker, Leo had never been on a ship his entire life. He bolted to the stern of the galley, stood on the middle rail with his arms spread out and screamed, “I’m the king of the world!”
Olyvar had to grab the blond teen down before he fell overboard. “Nice try Leo,” Olyvar said. “But you are too lowborn to be royalty. You are better off marrying a queen to be a king, or at least start with a princess.”
Ser Barnabus the Goose appeared and offered his help. He was in need of a squire for some reason, and Leo was quite eager. “Leo, I’m going to teach you how to live.” Goose swung his arm around the teenager’s neck and rested it there. “You want to be a king and win the ladies? Learn how to squire for a knight first. Unchain and fetch me my stallion from the docks, I’ll show you a trick. I’ll show you how to ride it on this rocking ship!” Leo did as he was ordered.
“And when will I ever need that skill?” Leo questioned as he brought the horse up to the deck from the ramp.
“What was it you were looking for again on this journey? Your destiny? Your death?” Goose mounted.
“Naked princesses,” Leo said.
“Well this move would make any maiden, royal or lowborn, shed their clothes off for you.” The knight pulled down the reins as the stallion stood tall on its two hind legs, looking like a work of art meant for eternal statues of the gods.
Samullu appeared and asked Leo, “Is that Goose on a horse? On my boat? Why is Goose on a horse on my boat?!” The stallion came down, hooves thundering the top of the deck.
“Aye Captain, Ser Goose was teaching me how to pick up women.”
“Shiitt Leo, that’s all you had to say.” Samullu wrapped his right arm around the neck of the youth and offered his counsel, his left hand danced in the air as he spoke to solidify his argument. “If yo want naked women, fuck land. Don’t be a knight. Be a captain of a galley. The best pick up line to catch any woman yo can, is ‘I own a ship’.” Samullu raised his bearded chin. “After this mission is over, come with me and we’ll sail the seas. Meet women from all over the world. And they love a captain. Do yo concur? Leo, each lady is just a flower, another rose by another name that smell just as sweet, waiting to be plucked.”
Goose winced at the word and protested. “The only maids you meet sailing seas are mermaids. Don’t be fooled by the Black Sparrow. Some of them may be pretty on the top half, but you won’t like what they got below. It probably stinks down there too. But the captain doesn’t mind, he seems to enjoy bedding mermaids!”
Whether sea, air or land … the Black Sparrow or Goose … Leo will probably have to fly with one of them after the mission, Olyvar thought.
The night before the rescue, the raiders and the crewmen drunkenly sang and cheered to music, rum, ale and pissa. Drowning in the glory of their task on the morrow, they reminisce about the harsh archery and lethal weapons training Lord Glover had given them over the past weeks back on land … while questioning how large Lady Mormont’s sacs truly were. Lady Roslin Tully, approached everyone and asked if they would write their names on the book she held. “It’s for the memories,” she said. They all did. A signature on each page for each man and Maege. Some drew their own personal coat of arms. When it was Olyvar’s turn, he hesitated about sketching the two towers. He wanted to separate himself from the murderous lore of House Frey. He decided to draw his towers, with a Stark wolf running on top of the bridge, and a Tully trout jumping below it. He signed his name, Ser Olyvar of House Frey, squire to the late King Robb Stark, knighted by Ser Brynden Tully.
He wondered if he will be written into history as a great knight some day. A knight that could not save his king, Olyvar thought sadly. He would not be the only one though. Word had travelled for Ser Loras Tyrell, the Knight of Flowers, and his gallant assault at Dragonstone. He was gravely wounded, but no word on this brave knight’s final fate. Like Olyvar, Ser Loras had failed to protect his first King, Renly Baratheon, a man that the Knight of Flower was rumored to have truly loved. Though his King was gone, he continued to be bathe in the glory of battle. Despite being on the opposing side of the war, Ser Olyvar would be gay if he had the chance to meet Ser Loras, if he still lives, chatting with him about the kings they loved and lost.
Later on that night, Captain Samullu Jaqenssen shared a drunken game of cvyasse with Ser Barnabus for a golden dragon. When Goose doubled down after his first loss, he fell again, owing the Black Sparrow a pair of golden dragons by the end of it. When Samullu demanded Goose to pay up his reward immediately, Goose pretended not to understand his loose Summer Isle accent, giving him a wild chase.
“Wat?”
“Yo loose Goose, yo owe me the gold,” the Captain demanded in his queer Common Tongue.
“Wat?”
“The gold yo fool. The gold! Yo pay me.”
“Wat?”
“Wat country yo from?”
“Wat?”
“Do they not speak the Common Tongue in Wat?”
“Wat?”
“Common Tongue mother Goose!”
“Wat?”
“Say wat again! I dare yo, I double dare yo! I’ll throw yo overboard off the Motherfunker!”
Goose paused for a moment, until his pride could not resist. “Wat? Wat? Wat? Wat? Wat?” Goose said ‘what‘ so many times, it sounded like he was quacking, each one louder than before. “Wat? Wat? Wat? Wat? Wat?”
In a nick of fury, Samullu Jaqenssen flipped over the cyvasse table, stood up and drew his short blade. His remaining good eye raged like a storm, as steam seeped through the black leather patch of the other. “Yo cold ass honking Goose! Yo son o’ a whore! Yo bandit! I will gut yo from balls to brains to see what gooses is made of. I better find yo sacs golden before I take yo skull to gild gold! Either way, I will have my gold from yo!”
Goose suddenly comprehended everything, stood up with all his height and threatened. “Goodness gracious, do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Go ahead and try, but you will only find below me great balls of fire!” He grabbed his own crotch and pumped it once into the air. “And after your failed attempt, I will claw out your last remaining eye, leaving you blind for the rest of your sorry life!”
The others flocked towards the scene, holding the two back as they inched towards each other.
Jess tried to stop them. “Gods, have mercy!”
Sam the Shredder intervened as well. “That is enough! I want you two to stop!”
Jory said, “Cut it out!”
“Will yo shut up!” screamed Phyl, who had hustled a wager on the game.
Mikkal grabbed the drunken Goose, threw him to the floor, and told him to just beat it.
At the end, they all just laugh it off like all drunk men do. Smiling, spilling ale out of their cups, retching out into the sea the rum they drank, before drinking some more again. They were having one last good time before the mission. But today they had a job to do.
The twenty men, Lady Maege, and Ser Rolph continued up the paths in the lightless caves of Casterly Rock, huffing and puffing, but still silent as much as they could hold. One loud word at the wrong place at the wrong time may be their doom. In single file, the group followed Ser Spicer’s point with one lit torch. The stench was terrible and the dampness made it worse. Guarding the rear, Olyvar’s eyes were clouded in darkness at times where the torchlight was too far ahead to shine back. He relied on Ser Goose in front of him to lead the way, as Goose relied on Leo for the same.
[Part 3]

Warning: very long post
I’m British and we love to complain, so it is a lot easier to point out the negatives than the positives when writing a review, but I will try my best to be balanced. To be clear, I like the game and think it is a great starting point. For a beta, I’m surprised how few bugs there are. There have been far more bugs and glitches on FIFA launch days, so this bodes well.
Some of the things I like most about this game are the animation fluidity and how much more difficult it is to do anything while sprinting. This is how it should be. Sprinting should only be beneficial when running in a straight line. It’s very hard to get out of FIFA habits when playing though. It’s very easy to make mistakes while sprinting. Also, the selection of skill moves is reasonable. Every year, FIFA add new outrageous and unrealistic skills that have never seen the light of day beyond the streets of a Brazilian favela, so well done for showing restraint and only including appropriate skill moves.
I also like the level of customisation. I was surprised you can even customise the time of day in your stadium.
The ranking ladder is good, too. It is good that you can be relegated. For some reason FIFA decided this was a bad thing a couple of years ago and got rid of it. Without relegation, everyone naturally shifts up the divisions and you don’t actually get a realistic ranking of ability.
Access to all players at a fixed price on the market is great to avoid any P2W nonsense and underage gambling nonsense with random packs.
The rest of this post will appear to be a large list of negatives, however please take this all as constructive criticism. I mean no harm from my comments. This is purely the opinion of a long term football video game player.
Agility - does not feel like there is much control over player movement. They feel very cumbersome. At first, I thought this was because I was using bad players. It’s very easy to say mechanics are broken or underperforming when using players with low attributes. However, even players with 80+ agility turn very slowly, especially out of possession.
Server stability - I experienced 2 server disconnects when the match just loaded in. One in my favour and one not. (On the plus side, I’m glad the other player gets the win when one player rage quits or disconnects. EA should still do this.)
Set piece tutorials/practice area would be helpful. I have had 2 penalties and 1 free kick but no idea how to take them properly. A practice area and tutorial would be lovely.
Short goal kicks not safe - opposition attackers can close down the short option during the goalkeeper’s long, slow run up. Opposition players can also repeatedly run into the 18 yard box on goal kicks. This needs to be prevented.
No cancel command - this is useful when you change your mind last second and want to change your pass/shot command. Also, the game remembers button inputs for far too long. I tried to tackle a player the moment he put in a cross so it auto-switched me to a player in the box who automatically kicked the ball away without me giving him a command. I believe it was my slightly late attempt to tackle against the guy crossing the ball.
I won a game 1-0 via a late penalty, but got given a loss on the results screen. My players also didn’t lose any fitness or gain any xp from the game. I think it was just a visual bug as afterwards I went to the Divisions screen and it showed a win and my losing streak had reset.
When purchasing player skills, it would be useful to see their current attribute values next to the +5 boosts to see what they are currently at.
High penalties attribute does very little. The circle is still massive with mediocre power.
High pace doesn’t feel fast. Even playing against Mbappé, it was easy to keep up with him with slow defenders.
Ball velocity is strange. Ground passes are really fast at first, then rapidly slow down as they reach their destination. The high speed of the ball also seems to make it hard to make short passes. The game will decide you wish to make a longer pass and smash the ball through the legs of the intended target even when you lightly tap the button. Velocity of shots is too high. The ball is like a bullet. You can’t see it between the player swinging their leg and the ball hitting the net.
Players struggle to lock on to the ball, instead running around it or ignoring it - most noticeable when receiving or intercepting long range passes.
Through balls feel quite bad. Possibly a combination of the ball velocity and player locking on issues mentioned above. The direction can also be wild.
When I saw players earned XP, I was hoping that meant you could turn 55 rated players into 85 rated players if you used then for hundreds of games like you can in eFootball, not just a few +5 boosts to certain attributes. My favourite part of eFootball was being able to buy my favourite mediocre players and future prospects and upgrade them until they are competitive. It makes teams far more varied and interesting. As it stands, I feel like long term, everyone will end up with near identical teams because these boosts are negligible. At some point, a meta will be discovered and everyone will have the players that fill it.
The other thing I really like about eFootball is being able to manually adjust your defensive line depth using left and right on the d-pad. This is a really cool feature I hope UFL can incorporate. Perhaps change the tactics cycling to up and down on the d-pad instead.
Players really struggle to control the ball and get it out from under their feet. Also noticeable when tackling. The player doesn’t win and lock onto the ball, just tries to hit it.
The menus frequently ignore your first directional input (XBOX SERIES X). There is also a visual error when trying to apply skins both from the Library and from the Squad screen. It can be hard to tell whether you have successfully applied the skin as sometimes they remain blank and the players remain grey until you back out and go back in.
There needs to be a reticle on the pitch showing where every air ball will land. It can be difficult to judge where the ball is going.
No explanation for what all the different currencies are for in the game. It is confusing to have CP, LP, RP and SP with no further information. Also no clear explanation for Team Pass or Premium. I don’t know what these things are for.
The “Born Leader” skill adds “Synergy” to players. I cannot find Synergy mentioned anywhere else in the game so I have no idea what that does.
In settings, I selected Player Info “in the bar” but there is no bar in the bottom corners and I still get player names above their heads even when I tried to turn off all the options for information above a player’s head. For me, that stuff just gets in the way visually. I want to have it all in bars at the bottom of the screen either side of the minimap.
Challenge to complete 10 tackles does not count most tackles. I seem to be stuck on 1 out of 10.
The game says there is a penalty if players are used out of position, but it does not seem to show you what the penalty actually is or whether it still counts if you have a LB playing LWB or RW playing RM etc.
Goalkeeper parrying can be very strange. Feels very random in terms of both velocity and direction. I can’t make up my mind whether I like keepers or not. I tried to buy a good one to see if he was any better but the weird parrying and lightning fast shots they have to face makes it hard to judge.
Some aspects of the game feel too much like a copy and paste of FIFA Ultimate Team. The cards, the positions, the formations, the tactics, the attributes, the attribute categories, fitness…
Speaking of formations, I was hoping to be able to make my own formations rather than selecting from a list of Ultimate Team formations.
Why is fitness a thing post-match? EA got rid of this from Ultimate Team and I think UFL should get rid of it, too. There is no calendar and days of rest so why have low fitness carry forward after the match?
I would recommend not giving everyone the same starter team. It’s a bit boring playing against the same players every game. Hopefully, that was just a beta thing.
I’m not a fan of every player only having 1 position and I don’t like that the alternative unlockable positions are based off proximity on the pitch to the main position. Instead, the alternative positions should be wherever that player plays in real life. FIFA has implemented this well recently.
Occasionally, when playing with “press after possession loss”, I noticed my midfielders run in a random direction out of position. Possibly a slight behaviour bug there.
Again, I don’t intend to rip your game to shreds. I am impressed where it is at for a first attempt and will definitely play this at full release. For a free game, it’s not that far behind premium priced FIFA so I’d rather save the money. Please take my opinions as constructive criticism. I have tried to be as fair, coherent and polite as possible. Well done so far! I eagerly await the full release of this game.

I AM NOT OOP. OOP IS u/ThrowRA-sad_mom123
Originally posted on relationship_advice
Content warning: mentions of stalking, domestic violence, homicide
2 updates - mediumish
Original post - June 7th, 2024
Update 2 - June 9th, 2024
Update 3 - June 9th, 2024
My (47F) pregnant daughter (22F) is going to marry an incarcerated man (29M). How can I go about this situation?
I’m concerned for my child. Yes she’s an adult but I feel like she’s making the worst decision for herself. I don’t approve AT ALL.
My daughter had good things going on for herself. She graduated high school, went to college and graduated with her associates, got accepted into dental school and all of its going down the drain because she’s chosen to invest her time and energy into her “soulmate”.
About a year ago, my daughter started writing letters to prisoners as a pen pal to keep them company. At first I was uncomfortable with the idea for many, many reasons (it never crossed my mind that she’d fallen for a criminal) but I still rented a P.O. Box for her so she wouldn’t give out her address.
My daughter was in a healthy relationship with her now ex-fiancé. They’ve been together since her senior year in high school. They just had their first child over a year ago, expecting another, and they got engaged 6 months ago. A month ago, my daughter told me that she and her fiancé were taking a break and two weeks ago she called off the engagement and left him. He’s a complete wreck. He told me it hurts that his family that he created with my daughter is now broken. He feels so blindsided as do I because I believed my daughter was truly in love but she wasn’t, she wasn’t happy.
I’ve been very supportive of my daughter during this whole situation, that is until she told me she was already in a new relationship. I was taken aback. I obviously started questioning her about it and she confessed that she had fallen for one of the prisoners she’s written to, in fact, they’ve been together for 3 months. It makes me sick to my stomach even typing this out right now because I just can’t believe it. She said they’ve been in contact for almost 8 months and since then they’ve fallen more and more in love with each other. She’s visited him multiple times, in fact she’s even taken my grandson to see this man. She’s shown me pictures of them embracing and him holding my grandchild. I’ve done some research and looked up his charges and I’m livid she even brought my grandson, even herself around someone who could do such horrible things. I’m terrified for my daughter and grandson.
I’ve tried expressing my concerns to her but she’s in a whole other world. She told me the last in person visit they had he popped the question and she said yes, that’s when I snapped. I was and am very pissed about this whole situation and she’s hurt that I’m not supportive of her decisions. She defended their relationship and her choices and we started arguing. It got so bad that now she’s not speaking to me or allowing me to see my grandbaby and it breaks my heart. I love my child but I will never approve of this relationship.
I understand that as an adult, she has the right to make her own choices, and l've always been proud of her independence. But as someone who truly loves her deeply, it's hard for me to watch her make a decision that I feel could be harmful to herself and my grandson. I'm scared for her because of what I've learned about this person's past, and I can't shake the fear of what could happen. I don't want to lose her or my grandchild to a situation that seems so risky. I don’t know what else I can do and I feel so hopeless. Please, what else can I do?
TLDR: I'm worried because my daughter, who's achieved so much, is throwing it all away for a prisoner she fell for while being a pen pal. She's left her fiancé for him, and it's hard for me to stomach or support this decision.
Relevant Comments
terayonjf
I would personally give all the information you have on the new guy to the ex and implore him to get to family court immediately and fight for full and sole custody of the kids. You can't stop your adult child from ruining her life and putting herself in danger BUT you can assist in getting your minor grandchild away from this situation and away from her poor decision making. She may hate you for doing this but the safety of the child is more important than her clouded feelings right now and maybe the courts threatening to remove her child might be the wake up call to stop the foolishness
cassowary32
Is the former fiancé fighting for custody? How does your daughter plan to support her two kids? Hopefully the ex will be able to make sure the kids are safe and get CPS involved if they are not. I have a feeling that the exhaustion from single parenting a newborn will have your daughter coming to her senses soon.
How much longer is her partner in jail for?
Her ex fiancé still doesn’t know about her new relationship. When my daughter ended their relationship, he felt completely blindsided because he didn’t see it coming, no one did. If he knew she was in another relationship, especially with a criminal, it would be a living nightmare. I mean he has the right to know because she’s bringing his children to see this man.
For privacy reasons, i will not give out any names. He’s currently serving a life sentence (I’ll let you guess) but he could get out early due to parole. He has a history of domestic abuse and breaking protective orders.
In later replies, OOP reveals that daughter's new beau is in prison for stalking, violation of protective orders, and murder. Mostly that last one.
KaleidoscopeRude4370
A LIFE SENTENCE?!?!?!??!
You need to explain to your daughter now before you take legal action to gain sole custody with the father. She needs it spelt out on paper how this person is literally dropping an atomic bomb on her life while literally being locked up.

• I would ask her questions like:
• how can you marry someone you have never seen interact or function in LEGIT REAL SOCIETY?!!?
• why is she so quick to not look into his past
• how can you marry someone you have never seen interact with another person?
• how can you bring your children around someone who is in for life? OP I know you aren't sharing but did this dude kill someone?

This is the craziest post I have ever read. Please update us and I am sorry this is happening.
Updates 1 & 2 - 2 days later
I wanted to start off with thanking everyone that took time to give me some advice. After receiving a lot of comments with suggestions on how i should handle this situation i went ahead and told the father of my grandchildren about what’s been going on. He was my soon to be son in law and I’ve grown to love him as if he was my own. I believe he has every right to know about the wellbeing of his children so I confessed everything to him. Thankfully, I have a family therapist who is a very close friend of mine. She’s been here with us since the divorce between me and my ex husband.
I called her, we spoke about the situation and she agreed to guide me to tell the kids father. I called him over to my home and we all had a very long talk. I let him know everything and he broke down, crying hysterically. It was horrible. He felt so violated not only as a partner to her but as a father to their kids. I made it very clear that I would support him no matter the circumstances, at this point it’s not only about my daughter but my grandkids. We discussed the charges against my daughters new fiancé, and he was beyond livid. He actually suggested himself taking my daughter to court and I agreed with him that it would be the best thing to do. We came to an agreement that he wouldn’t tell my daughter what he knew that way I could get more information to help him plead his case. But yesterday, shit hit the fan.
Yesterday, I received some angry texts from my daughter and it didn’t end well. I posted the texts here : https://www.reddit.com/texts/s/9dNmfkfBab
Text are transcribed below, feel free to skip to where this post resumes.
D = Daughter; M = Mom (OOP)
D: Mom
D: Why aren't you answering me ??
D: Dude Answer your phone *eyeroll* *facepalm*
D: HELLOO????
M: I'm sorry I couldn't answer the phone, I was driving and my phone wasn't connected to the Bluetooth.
M: What's wrong babe, is everything ok?
D: Why tf do you hate me so much
D: Like what the fuck is wrong with you ?? Why are you going out your way to tell my business to [redacted] for ?
M: [redacted] babe I love you but please don't speak to me like this.
M: Can you please try telling me what's going calmly.
D: The fuck do I need to be calm for all you do is stress me out. I'm 7 months pregnant and high risk and you want me stressed for what ?????
M: [redacted] honey I don't want you to be stressed and I don't want to be the reason to cause it.
D: SO why the fuck are you telling [redacted] my business?
M: What do you mean?
D: He's been blowing up my phone all night long.
D: He called me again on his break this morning and said you brought him to see Dr [redacted] and told him that I've been cheating on him throughout our relationship.
D: You told him about [redacted] and that ive been letting him around [redacted]
D: Wtf is wrong with you?
M: [redacted] honey there's nothing wrong with me. I understand why you're upset but baby this man is a very dangerous criminal.
M: He's doing life for a reason. He murdered his ex. He abused her and she went to get an order of protection against him and he violated all of it.
M: I love you and [redacted] with all my heart and I can't imagine a life without you both.
D: OH MY GOD
D: YOURE SO FUCKING NARCISSISTIC *facepalm**facepalm*
M: [redacted], I'm asking you to please be respectful. I don't deserve to be spoken to like this.
D: [in reply to M: [redacted] honey there's nothing wrong with me. I understand why you're upset but babe this man is a very dangerous criminal.] Dangerous?? You don't even fucking know him
M: Did you skip over the message right after that. He was abusing a poor girl. She didn't feel safe and went to get a protective orders against him and he violated them and ended up murdering her. [redacted] open your eyes.
M: He's guilty and serving time.
D: He's not guilty of a damn thing. You clearly don't understand how any of this shit works.
D: He wasn't found guilty he took a plea deal
D: He still got life but he can still get out on parole
D: He did this to avoid getting life without parole.
D: You don't understand any of this shit
M: He still killed someone. Why are we not addressing this? He's a murder
D: No he's not. He's a victim that needed to defend himself.
M: Defend himself? He was a grown ass man beating on a woman.
D: So men can't be victims of abuse?
D: The bitch would start fights, hit him and play victim in the end. It was a whole cycle
M: [redacted] can we not do this over text? Please answer your phone.
D: No I don't want to we can talk thru text or don't have to talk at all *grinning smily*
M: What is your issue?
D: My issue is you.
D: You're weird as fuck going behind your daughters back
D: I'm your kid. You should have my back
M: I do have your back, but I also care for the livelihood of my grandchildren. This situation is unhealthy and unsafe for children. You as an adult can whatever you please, but when children are being put in these toxic situations, action needs to be taken.
D: oh so you agree with [redacted] that I'm an unstable, unfit mother *crying-laughing**crying-laughing**crying-laughing*
D: You're such a narcissistic bitch
D: I can see why dad divorced you before he dies.. I wouldn't want to be buried next to you either
M: I've had enough of the disrespect [redacted] I've been nothing but calm and respectful and you've disrespected me over and over.
D: We've been past respect. You told my business to my baby daddy.
D: You disrespected me so I'm returning it *laughing-crying*
M: You've changed. You have become such a nasty individual and it's upsetting that as my only daughter you treat me this way after everything I've done for you.
D: yeah I have changed
D: I had a fucking baby
D: Went through postpartum by MYSELF
D: [redacted] would see me struggling and didn't do shit. I was working to provide for my family. I had no emotional support. I WAS BY MYSELF
D: just me and my son. When I found out I was having baby 2 i was by myself. Yeah [redacted] had a job and took care us but he wasn't there to help me
D: I WAS BY MYSELF.
D: I found a man who yes made some mistake in his past but he's making up for it. He finished school, is allowing god to lead him in life, and he's positive
D: He respects me and pushes me to be strong. He motivates me and he provides emotional support. I don't need a mans money because I make my own but I needed love and he provided that for me
D: I don't understand why you felt the need to go out of your way to disturb our peace but I'm happy and very much in love with him and I'm not leaving him.
M: Look at how you're acting [redacted]. You're spiraling. This man is no good.
D: Omg gtfo I'm tired of the back and forth *facepalm*
D: Like I told [redacted], good luck taking me to court *finger*
D: Until then, you won't be seeing me, [redacted], or the baby for the sake of our mental health.
D: You bring nothing but drama and negativity into our lives and we'd be much better off without you. Please don't contact me or your will be blocked
POST RESUMES HERE
I called the children’s father to ask him what the hell was he thinking and he explained that he wasn’t. He’s been apologizing nonstop but the damage has already been done. I’m at a loss for words. I’m devastated. I’m heartbroken. I’ve ofícially lost my daughter and grandkids and I don’t know what else to do. I can’t imagine not being a part of their lives and it hurts me deeply. What did I do wrong to deserve this? Is there any way I could fix this ?
Relevant Comments
trishsf
Time. Guarantee this guy has other women on the hook. Why not? He’s got nothing going for him and will never see the light of day again. Maybe it’s possible to hire a PI that can find out if there are others? At some point, she’s going to miss being touched. Dates. Hugs in the morning and at night. Just be there when she crashes because she will. That’s all that you can do. I’m so sorry.
TrifleMeNot
Keep supporting the father. He will get them eventually and you can still be Grandma. Your daughter was lost before you even posted. She may come back but keep in with the Dad. Good luck OP.
He feels really guilty for my daughters reaction but I believe it was only a matter of time before she was going to crash out. At this moment in time, I’m worried for my grandson. It makes me question if my daughter can get so angry with me with something like this, how angry can she get at my grandbaby 💔
SnooWords4839
Your grandchild's dad can still get custody.
Daughter is making horrible choices.
After rereading her messages, I think it’s possible my daughter was suffering from postpartum depression and by getting pregnant again so soon her body didn’t get enough time to heal. Her hormones are all over the place and her mental is declining.
She wasn’t like this a year ago, she was a happy, respectful, caring soul but all of that’s changed. and I feel horrible. I wish I could’ve seen her behavior myself. I could’ve gotten her the help she needed right then and there 😞
Marked ongoing.
If you have comments, keep them HERE. DO NOT brigade over to the original post to comment. DO NOT harass the OOP with dms or replies.
Stay safe and remember: at least 37% of your after 5 pm beverage sales must consist of mixed/blended call drinks.

Paradox, Viciate, and Lorenzo continued on their descent into the castle to the Well of Wisdom. A sacred place bestowed on the Alphaverse since its creation. A well that possess the most valuable wisdom from across the Megaverse. Paradox had his group stop in one of the chambers for he assumed his prisoners will be awaking from the poison soon. He then had his chains wrap around King Alexander, Venessa, Cross, Tray, Selena, Malissa, Lucrest, Leoped, and Phonix. Viciate deployed several drones that aimed their weapons at the chained prisoners with Paradox standing resolute holding the Matrix of Eternity in his hands. The prisoners eventually woke up one by one and were greeted by crude words and jeers directed towards them. The chains that bound them prevented them from utilizing their powers to break their bonds and even if they did, the bullets from the drones will prove extremely lethal to their weakened state. Paradox ordered the prisoners to be placed in a line on their knees as he snapped his fingers which summoned imps and more infernal warriors to act as guards. King Alexander, "You can't restore the Matrix in the Well of Wisdom, it will shred you to pieces." Paradox smugly, "Maybe, but that's why I'll have each of you go in for me and see who can withstand the Well." Malissa, "He's going to sacrifice us! Where is Joan? Did she escape?" Paradox, "Oh I believe Tray knows the answer to that." Everyone turned wondering where Tray could be until he finally spoke, the others were shock at his new appearance for he appeared otherworldly to them. Tray did not lift his eyes towards the group, but rather hung his head low. Paradox's eyes beamed with sadistic delight as he spoke, "I guess one can say your sister is now very OPEN MINDED!" It took a few seconds for this joke to register in the minds of the prisoners, but when it did, all of them violently shook the chains in order to be free. "Go ahead use all your powers to break those chains, it only transfers your power levels into my soul. Lockjaw was right, all of you are complete fools in underestimating these accursed chains!"
He grabbed Phonix as his victim but stopped when what seemed to be an earthquake began to shake the foundations of the castle. The earthquake only intensified the longer it went, Venessa, "Does anyone else hear bass boosted music?" In a spectacular explosion of dazzling lights and rifts across space and time, Diamond's glowing body appeared in a giant hole in one of the castle's walls while blaring Hit Me Baby One More Time. Everyone was left speechless when they saw Diamond, believing it to be a ghost. "PARADOX!!!!!" In terror Paradox began to back away, "Impossible, I scarred you for life! HOW ARE YOU EVEN STRONGER THAN BEFORE?!" "It is not for you to know the circumstances that brought me here before you today. Regardless I am back. AND THIS TIME THERE IS NO POWER IN THE MEGAVERSE OR THE NETHERWORLD THAT IS GOING TO STOP ME!" Paradox ordered Lorenzo, Viciate, and the rest of his minions to dispose of Diamond as he journeys deeper to the Well of Wisdom. Viciate used his powers to generate clones of his allies as he slowly approached Diamond. Observing this, Diamond began to smile, "How about I even those odds." After finishing his sentence, 20 identical clones of Diamond manifested themselves behind him. Unlike other clones or copies, these 20 were able to act independently as a collective hive mind. The original Diamond attacked Viciate head on while the duplicates attacked the other clones and others attempted to free the prisoners. Viciate attempted in drawing his sword to strike Diamond in an exposed position, but Diamond's intense senses was able to prevent Viciate from using his sword. In a matter of seconds, Diamond punched Viciate to a bloody mess before leaving him stuck on one of the walls.
His abilities alerted him of several imps closing on his position, and in a swift motion, Diamond created a new Sword of Light, which was far longer and sharper to simultaneously decapitate all of the imps that circled around him. While watching all of this unfold before her very eyes, Selena could not help but smile at seeing Diamond restored to his former self, "He's back." A clone of Diamond randomly appeared next to her, "Nice to know I'm no longer on house arrest." The clone was able to free Selena from her chains and started to free the rest of the prisoners. After freeing them, he gave the group a new set of orders, "I may not know all of you, but focus your abilities in taking down those devilish warriors over there. I'll handle Paradox." The clone soon vanished alongside the other copies leaving only the original Diamond left. Just when Diamond started to follow Paradox's trail, Lorenzo used his acidic whip to suspend Diamond in place. Lorenzo was successful in his attack and used this advantage to expel fatal toxins into Diamond's lungs. "Ugh. Dude, you got some serious oral hygiene problems. Here take a mint!" Lorenzo's mouth was open due to him being stunned seeing his foe unphased with his lethal toxin. The supposed mint landed on his tongue, which resulted in a strong electrical shock being sent all over his body causing him to black out. "Nice whip though, I'm for real going to take this for my collection." Diamond bent over and collected the whip before resuming on his mission to destroy Paradox. Paradox was nearly at the entrance of the Well, but felt his body frozen in place, no matter how hard he tried to move. He finally realized he was frozen by Diamond's soul manipulation, yet when he made this realization, Diamond was already floating horizontally whispering into Paradox's audio receptor, "I think I am going to show off my newfound abilities."
Paradox tried to slice Diamond with a chain along his back, but Diamond vanished before he could land a hit. He reappeared behind him and with a simple flick, Diamond sent Paradox crashing through the castle's walls and ceilings. Paradox regained his stance as he morphed into Astros as he stopped a punch from Diamond which sent shockwaves, shattering any neighboring glass. Paradox kicked Diamond at his shin before hitting him with brute force across his face. He summersaulted backwards a few yards as he morphed into the Ice King. He then summoned several frozen daggers and sharp projectiles as he sent them flying towards Diamond at light speed. Diamond noticed the projectiles flying towards him as he achieved speeds that made time around him slow down several seconds. It was if things were occurring to him at a quarter speed, so with a wave of his arm, he took control of the projectiles and had them float around him before resuming time and sending them back to Paradox. Paradox moaned loudly as the projectiles lodged themselves in tight crevasses of his body and interfering with some of the vital mechanisms. The two teleported away from the castle into the depths of the grand city where they continued their battle. Paradox changed into Shen the disgraced Shogun as he desperately tried to slice off Diamond's limbs and head. Diamond casually dodged each attack with ease he summoned the Sword of Light which has grown longer and sharper to reflect his reunion with the Light. The two blades collided with each other, but Paradox was no match for Diamond's swordsman skills.
Diamond noticed Paradox's right arm malfunctioning from one of the ice projectiles and taking advantage of this weakness, he punched Paradox repeatedly in the chest before kicking him to the floor. He then created a revolver from his nanites and fired four bullets consecutively into his weak spot. He knew his bullets succeeded in wounding his opponent, for the sound of loose air began to hiss from broken wires and Paradox's arm glitching by morphing into many different appearances before changing back to its default appearance. Diamond smiled smugly as he released that Paradox was truly terrified in that moment, "Where has your self-confidence gone? Are those appearances not making you comfortable in your mechanical body?" "SHUT UP!" Paradox then changed into Mecha-Diamond as he was able to grab Diamond by his throat and threw him into multiple buildings. The two eventually landed on top of a commuter train before Diamond could free himself. Diamond sliced his opponent's arm to free himself and used his thrusters to fly backwards as he observed Paradox's body shifting gears to re-forge the missing arm. While in the form of Mecha-Diamond, Paradox had four mechanical tentacles grow out of him, which resulted in Diamond activating his suit to grow tentacles of his own. The two opponents had their tentacles wrap around each other as they fired their blasters at each other. Diamond tried to create two clones of himself, but Paradox's tentacles grabbed him and tossed him into one of the train carts as the civilians screamed in terror. He gradually regained consciousness as he prepared to find Paradox, but for a long minute, he could not sense Paradox. It was not until a lady screamed of a large spider approaching them from the other end when Diamond released it is Paradox crawling on all fours with great speed. Paradox shifted back to full height in a most grotesque fashion as his body spun in different ways before his head shifted back to its normal size. Diamond yelled at the passengers to run to the other cart as he dealt with Paradox. While the passengers fled, two extra mechanical arms began to form on Paradox's appearance of Mecha-Diamond as all four of arms ignited red plasma blades. "Attack Diamond!" The four arms began to spin in opposite directions of his body in quick movements as he rapidly approached Diamond that it was impossible to strike him above or behind.
Confused on what his next move should be, Diamond noticed parts of Paradox's chest plate were loose as it was glitching in and out. Out of options, Diamond swung at Paradox which he swiftly blocked with the four blades, but Diamond was able to have his nanotech grow on Paradox's arms as he then had the nanites send an electric shock on the foreign host, which granted him an opening in tearing off the chest plate and firing two blasts from his repulsers into Paradox's chest. This stunned Paradox as Diamond charged at him and began to tear all the vital wires, buttons, and controls that operated Paradox's mechanical body. Paradox's voice box became affected as it began to shift into different tones and voices as he tried to speak, "No, I will.....not.....be bested a.....second......time." Paradox was able to gain control of his arms as he threw Diamond out of the train cart out into the city's skyline. Diamond was able to shoot a grapple around Paradox's legs as he pulled both of them out into the air as his body began to glow golden with pure Light. Paradox descended towards him with chains around his body as he prepared to strike fatal blows on Diamond's body. Diamond closed his eyes as he extended his right arm while having his fingers form a finger gun. He whispered silently with firm conviction, "Through the power of Heaven's Light all things are possible......grant me the power to send this foul demon of a man back to the infernal depths where he belongs." Diamond then fired a large blast of pure Light towards Paradox as his enemy screamed in anger, "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" The power caused from this blast was so strong and hot that it started to melt the metal on Paradox's body and causing any remaining circuits to fry.
Diamond floated towards the ground as he stared at a ball of fire fall towards the ground as it created a large crater. He stepped forward and saw Paradox's mangled body as his soul still held possession of it. Paradox was still able to manipulate his body to change into whoever he chooses, and as a last resort he changed to Diamond's mother. "Trevor.......how could you do this.....to me......your own mother.......after all your father and I have done for you this is how you repay us?" "Quit your bull you pathetic character of a soul. If I had the power to judge you in the afterlife, I would create a separate place for sadistic manipulators such as yourself so all you scoundrels can do nothing more than hurt yourselves for your sins!" Diamond then used his power to lift Paradox in the air and was about to crush his body and seal his soul permanently, but as he did so a blazing portal appeared as a pitch-black arm reached out and snatched Paradox before Diamond had time to react. Dumbfounded, Diamond de-activated his suit and left his Light form in order to process what happened. Realizing there was nothing else to do he traveled back to the castle. When he arrived, he saw how the group of heroes easily defeated all of the devilish creatures and were tossing all the dead bodies into a giant pile. Only one thing concerned him, the fact Lorenzo and Viciate's bodies were both missing from the battle. He reasoned they managed to escape, but with the injuries they sustained, it would be a long while before they would show themselves again. After making this assumption, Diamond's family greeted him with open arms and hugs, yet even Diamond did not recognize Tray's new body. Tray had to explain his entire story again to Diamond so he would understand why he looked like "A living glowstick." Hearing Tray's story about Joan made Diamond sorrowful and offered to help in making sure Joan's body receives a proper burial. King Alexander and Diamond hastily organized the funeral and gave Joan's family time to grieve and remember their youngest member that was stolen from them.
While the mourners were conversing with themselves, the king wanted to lead Diamond through the many rooms and wings of the enchanting castle. He wanted to show Diamond the inner secrets and history of this castle, so he very discretely led him down a flight of stairs into an older section of the castle where even most of the king's court were not allowed to enter. The two stepped through two enormous emerald doors and continued on through the darkness. The king ignited a turquoise flame from his hands and led Diamond to a large wall. King Alexander, "Stare at these murals Diamond. Notice the story they tell." Diamond stared at the murals and paintings on the wall trying to understand the history behind them. He saw what appeared to be angels directing two races. To the right were humans with their leader baring a resemblance to Alexander with folded hands in prayer as their eyes gazed at the Heavenly specters, in addition it appeared that swords and shields were descending towards them. To the left were the ancient race of Enders who also had their gaze towards Heaven, but descending towards their hands were scrolls with quills, signifying their role to write and document. At the front of the line of Enders stood none other than Ranfus, although significantly younger. Diamond continued down the wall as the next scene involved the leaders of the humans and enders being coronated with the two leaders' hands being locked in agreement. The next scene depicted what was either a battle or war where many humans and enders were dead, brough to their demise by rebellious humans. It depicted how after the battle Ranfus took the remaining enders away to a place that could supervise the entire Megaverse free from human interaction. The last scene showed the battle worn king of the humans siting on his throne with a tear in his left eye, while his right side remained stoic. His left arm pointed downwards to a decree while his right arm pointed upwards with a grand castle and city floating in the palm of his hand. "The Enders used to dwell with you?" "Indeed, for you see, the king in those murals is actually my great-grandfather. Time goes by very slowly for us here, not only that but we tend to live for thousands of years. Originally, after the first man and woman were created and fell into sin, we were created in the aftermath of that event. We bear the same weaknesses as other humans after the fall, but we were created to protect the Enders, who would document the shifting tide of Creation across the Megaverse. Our special duty connected us more in tune with the messengers of Heaven and we strived to live up to our mission of acting as the second example for the Megaverse, the Main Omniverse being the first. Yet, a few of the humans of my great-grandfather's time were seduced by the powers of evil for the many fallen angels, now turned demons, preyed upon their fallen status and sparked division between human and ender. Eventually a genocide broke out where rogue humans wanted the power of the Enders to themselves and would slaughter anyone who opposed them. My great-grandfather and Ranfus ultimately triumphed, but the damage had been done for the Enders no longer trusted us and collectively agreed humans everywhere were unpredictable and destructive. Ranfus left this Omniverse with the survivors of his race, thus leaving us as the sole inhabitants of this realm. From the ashes of the old kingdom, my great-grandfather led the creation of a new one as you can see here, but the reason why his left side is sad is the fact he did not kill the leaders of the rebellion. He did not want to take their lives, so instead he banished them to the wildness of the Megaverse. After casting them out of this Omniverse, he placed a ban where no one will be able to enter or leave. Using his divine gifts, he was able to practically make it seem like this Omniverse was erased and could not be discoverable unless him or another king wills its borders to open up once again."
"And what happened to the exiled ones?" "Most of them died across the Megaverse but their main leader, Mek'el continued following the path of evil and grew stronger in the powers of darkness. This granted him an unnatural talent of cheating death, but when an event in Omniverse 63,745 occurred when that Omniverse's Celestial had an offspring with that Omniverse's name for an angel, Mek'el sensed the potential of such an offspring." "Hold on, that's the Omniverse the Megaverse Council and I had named Evangelion. Yeah, those creatures they call angels are definitely not real angels, but you mean to tell me that this Mek'el influenced The Devourer?" "No, Mek'el BECAME The Devourer. He transferred his soul into the newborn soul of the deadly offspring, completely fusing with the new soul. In response to this, my great-grandfather on his deathbed, ordered my grandfather to create a device that could end Mek'el once and for all. That device was the Matrix of Eternity. It was hastily crafted before my grandfather sent it to Omniverse 63,745 hoping it could destroy Mek'el there. Unfortunately, it did not fulfill its original purpose due to Mek'el fully becoming The Devourer and traveled across the Megaverse eating the Core of whatever Omniverse he entered. His travels would take a long time to reach his next destination, but nothing could stop him. The Matrix continued to grow with wisdom in Omniverse 63,745 before an apparition of an Ender ordered a singular person to send the Matrix in the direction of the Main Omniverse. Eventually, the Matrix landed in your Omniverse, but was kept hidden for a long time with only glimpses and rumors of such a treasure of untold power being passed on from dimension to dimension. Finally at last, you found it in 2021 just as The Devourer arrived in your Omniverse. Little did you know, but upon his defeat when you unleashed the power of the Matrix, it sent shockwaves across the Megaverse. Myself along with my people celebrated when we felt the destruction of The Devourer, finally knowing a dark piece of our history has been put to rest." "When I traveled to Omniverse 63,745 last summer, it was promoted that they created the Matrix of Eternity." "Their leaders simply changed the story and wiped our part out of their history books, for the select few who told you it was their ancestors that created it are not at fault. For they too believe this error, this is simply a mistake on their ancestor's part and nothing more. Come along now, let's head back up a few stairs back to where there was an intersection, there is more I need to show you."
The king led Diamond to a room with many floating orbs that had different colors symbolizing a different Omniverse. "I am aware that you and the Megaverse Council have a broad idea to all the soldiers at the disposal of our enemy. But I want to show you some specific souls that are.......unique. The person known as The Ageless managed to recruit several corrupted versions of the strongest beings in your Omniverse's hierarchy. Among them consist of a fallen Omniversal Tribunal, Protectors, Insanity Trio, Bad Time Trio, many alternate timeline versions of you, and other powerful individuals from the Megaverse. The Ageless and Demonic Council calls this elite group the Bad End Friends. King Alexander brings forth an orb that displays the souls of those fallen humans. This reveals the true thoughts of their soul and what their soul really says." Diamond leaned forward to hear the cries of their souls and was surprised to hear their souls cry out in unison. "We just wanted to heal but now our nightmares are real, and we'll never wake up for we're torn apart! We want freedom! Freedom! Freedom!" Diamond could not believe what he heard, for it caused him to step back to avoid their cries. "Secondly, I want to briefly touch on the Ageless' story. Thousands of years ago lived a man born with unnatural gifts, he could enter into violent places and leave with minor bruises. He was able to kill the celestials in his world with his mere hands and crude weapons. Yet, he was not satisfied, he wanted more power and more entities to kill, for he enjoyed the bloodlust. This led to him being sought out by the fallen Seraphim now named Black Hat. He offered him more power and an entire place beyond his imagination to live the rest of his days as a butcher. The man agreed and henceforth became an unwavering servant directly to Black Hat. Eventually, he earned a reputation by parading himself as a savior wearing polished white and gold armor, in order to win the trust of many defenders who protected their native Omniverse. Once he won their complete trust and learned their secrets and fears, it would be too late for that Omniverse. For it would be a matter of time before complete carnage would be unleashed on all the helpless souls in that Omniverse. Thus, he was given the title Harbinger of the End.......a human who is an undisputed champion in gladiator battles with a mind to match his muscles.......a man always youthful, laughing at the hands of time........The Ageless."
"The last thing I want to reveal to you is the location of our enemy's base. The Megaverse Council has discovered it and that is Omniverse 6,666,666. That Omniverse had so many events that ran parallel with your Omniverse it was almost an exact copy. However, before your Omniverse was assaulted by Black Hat's forces in 2021, they won a resounding battle in that Omniverse. Everything that could have gone wrong in that final battle, did indeed go wrong." King Alexander used his powers to generate a vision of that fateful day. The scene pans to a bloodied and defeated Diamond with a shattered Sword of the Omniverse with Black Hat towering over him. The two listened intently when Black Hat spoke, "The Initiative has fallen. Its members......lost. You have been deceived......betrayed.........purged." The vision hovers over countless bodies of Initiative members that had died in the battle with some of their corpses disfigured and mutilated they were unidentifiable. "I can feel you are scared of judgement day. You led millions of souls to their grave. Your lukewarm faith shaken due to your pleas and petitions being ignored. So, I offer you a choice. Join us and postpone the judgement day, have all the pleasures of the world handed back to you, and avoid living the life as a failure!" The defeated Diamond raised his teary eyes and spoke, "I......accept!" The crowd around him chuckled as Black Hat stepped away with Alastor taking his place, "It's a deal!" The defeated Diamond shook his hand and became controlled and a vessel for Alastor until his original body could be restored. After this moment a large echo of thunder echoes across the battlefield with a bright light shining in the distance. The Ageless, "What is that?" Black Hat, "The veil of the Main Omniverse has been lifted. We are no longer kept out! We must seize this opportunity before it's too late." Ageless remain here with Alastor's vessel." "Why?" "If things go sour for me and my forces in the Main Omniverse, I want us to still have a strong foothold here in the Megaverse. This Omniverse will be perfect. I will be taking half of our forces with me." "What of the few people who survived this battle, should I find them and use them as prisoners and entertainment?" Black Hat had a sadistic smile, "There are no survivors!" The vision then played the sounds of screams with Diamond begging Alexander to end the vision. "That's enough! I cannot watch nor listen to this vision anymore! Please end this nightmare!"
Alexander ended the vision as the two were brought back to reality. Alexander spoke with sympathy to Diamond, "I did not show you that vision to torture you. I revealed it, because you need to understand exactly what to expect from our enemy and take deep root in your faith." "Why did the pleas and petitions of that Diamond go unanswered?" "Truthfully, that Diamond did not pray for deliverance, he instead wanted more glory and praise. When he was in public and prayed, it was for show, and he was not sincere in the words he said. Even at the last moment, he received a message from Heaven begging him to repent from his prideful ways and deliverance would come. Yet, in that last moment, he refused with his soul saying no it has to be my way and I do not want to change the life I am living and that's final. It was his fault no Heavenly aid came, now he has no one else to blame other than himself for his misdeeds and wickedness." Diamond's body had a series of goosebumps when King Alexander finished speaking. He always wondered what would have happened in the final battle for his Omniverse if there was no intervention, now he wished for this catastrophic example to leave his mind.
After this event, King Alexander led Diamond to a sacred place called the Veil of the Celestial Plane to speak with his angelic friends. Along the way, King Alexander explained to Diamond the difference between True Balance and Perfection. How True Balance is the perfect imperfect form of Perfection, because as mortal creatures that are finite with flaws no person alive can reach True Perfection. He explained how demons fear True Balance and how the demons only focus on temporal goals not eternal, for all that awaits them in eternity is eternal punishment. (This is a footnote, because at the end of this post in the comment section I will share the entire conversation in greater detail, for some reason the Sub-Reddit automatic rules count it as a rating post no matter how hard I rephrased the dialogue. Very weird that happened because it never happened before, but hopefully I will be able to share that conversation in full under this post, because it took a lot of effort in composing the dialogue.)
Filled with courage and zeal from their conversation, Diamond entered into the Veil and soon found himself in a vast empty white plain where numerous figures of light floated around him before manifesting themselves as angelic beings. He observed how each of the nine choirs of angels were present. "The Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. All present here at this very moment." A Seraphim spoke up, "Why do you wish to commune with us?" "I am here seeking advice from my Heavenly friends in these trying times. I'm sure all of you are very much aware and can sense in the Celestial Cosmic Plane that the forces of evil are growing ever so powerful. I can feel it within my being that soon a final confrontation may happen." Saint Michael the Archangel, "You already possess all that you need. You know the prayers for deliverance and aid. Furthermore, you know how your enemy thinks." "With all due respect, this time it is different. Different than the way it was for the fate of the Main Omnvierse. This....is the fate of the Megaverse....of everything that had exist, currently exists and will exist. Please there must be some advice all of you may be able to bestow upon me." A Virtue floated towards Diamond's soul to speak, "These particular demons feast on fear, chaos, and revenge. They want nothing more than to see the righteous fall, yet their common weakness is the sin of pride." Uriel intervened, "Pride, that ancient sin which was the sole root that led a third of our former brothers and sisters into disobedience. Fully rejecting the True Love of the Father and willingly following the arrogance of the fallen light bearer, who now brings darkness and death to everyone." Azrael quickly followed up with Uriel's statement, "When they fell from grace, they still retained their position and powers. Now with their leaders nearly having their bodies restored before their fall, through the power of The Seed, they are more of a threat to the Natural Order."
Diamond came to a sudden realization, "With Cloaked Shadow having control of the Dark and shadows in general, does that mean he was a Power before he fell?" The choirs nodded as Diamond responded with his hands near his mouth deep in thought. "I see, well if pride is their weakness than surely arrogance is a key factor in their personalities. Perhaps if the Matrix of Eternity is re-loaded with the knowledge accessible from the Alphaverse, it could overwhelm them." A Cherub, "Yes! The knowledge from the Alphaverse can restore the Matrix and used to harm the demons!" Saint Gabriel the Archangel, "Do not be afraid in this next step in your journey, Trevor. Since the fall of man, the Devil and his minions have actively been at war with mankind, searching for ways to snatch souls from Heaven. Yet, in the history of not only the Megaverse, but your own world, you know that God conquers all, even in the darkest times. From the persecution of the early Christians under the rule of the Mad Emperor Nero, deadly heresies, scandals, political and religious wars, the French Revolution, Napoleon Wars, Russian Revolution, Mexican Revolution, World Wars, down to the present. The demons worked through man to not only bring ruin to the face of the Earth, but to attack the Church. However, both the Earth and the Church have endured and will continue to endure until the end of time when God will come in all His splendor and glory and reward the just while punishing the wicked. For they will receive their reward." A Throne, "There is one more thing that will surely turn the tide of the war, but only as a last resort." Diamond, "What is it? Please share." A Seraphim, "The hypothesis of you being able to fuse with your friends Ben Tennyson and Xavier is true. If Xavier is fully in tune with his scarab and enter into his phase known as Sacred and Tennyson into Alien X, you three will become the singular most powerful entity in the entire Megaverse." Saint Michael the Archangel, "Be warned for this should only be used as a complete last resort. For there can be no going back when you three become a singular entity. There might be potential for you three to separate from this final form, but if there is, it will be certain death for no mortal can yield that much power. Arise young warrior, take courage, and have total faith on the Lord, He will hear your prayers. Remember we are at your side and every warrior in the final battle will have their guardian angel with them at all times."
The Heavenly beings once again became balls of bright light, which slowly blinded Diamond before he awoke from his vision back in his own body just before the Veil of the Celestial Plane. King Alexander stared at Diamond before helping him to his feet. Diamond, "I know what I must do. I must re-load the Matrix in the Well of the Megaverse." Alexander, "That's suicide. For you to be exposed to so much power and knowledge, it will vaporize you." "Believe me, it will work. Just help me recover the pieces of the Matrix and I will reforge it with the nanotech from my suit." Diamond sprinted with great haste through all the flights of stairs Alexander had them take, back to where the pieces of the Matrix laid. He had Alexander hold the pieces together in their proper position as the nanotech from his suit crawled around the broken pieces and fused the Matrix back together again. During this time the other heroes caught up to Diamond and Alexander and decided to watch as Diamond would enter the Well of the Megaverse. King Alexander led the group to the entrance of the Well where everyone wished him good luck. Diamond transformed into his Light form and entered the Well. This form allowed him to withstand the pressure around him as he opened the Matrix to collect wisdom from all corners of the Megaverse both the good and bad. When he did this, thousands of images and lifetimes flashed in his mind causing him to scream, in order to avoid his mind from overloading he constantly switched to different forms and phases every 30 seconds. Everyone waited anxiously outside after hearing Diamond's screams and began to fear for the worst, but just when their hope wavered, a silhouette started to walk towards them. From the depths of the Well emerged Diamond holding the restored Matrix of Eternity firmly in his right hand. King Alexander, "Welcome back Diamond!" "Thanks. With the Matrix restored and the new alliance your Omniverse has made with the Megaverse Council, hope for our victory has reached an all-time high." The heroes only stayed for a few more hours at the Alphaverse before returning back to the base of the Megaverse Council. Upon arrival, the Council members were stunned to see the return of their leader, and with swift orders, Diamond once again regained leadership of the Megaverse Council.
Epilogue
In a desolate place with abandoned buildings in Omniverse 3. "Volxi, can you head downstairs into our storage to bring some refreshment to our party?" "You got it sis!" Volxi entered into one of the chambers to find a spare stash of spiked beverages but was startled when she heard a voice echo in the darkness. "Time's running out Vol." She leaned over to view where the voice was coming from until her eyes landed on a glowing dark green warrior. She gasped as she recognized it was her old friend from Omniverse 8. "Cayden what happened to you?" "That name no longer has any meaning for me." "You look so different. Your skin is green and your eyes black. You look like......" "A ghost? Phantom? Condemned Soul?! Truly a miserable fate I have fallen into. Given a body constantly degenerating and repairing itself, allowing me to phase between matter but how painful it is feeling my cells destroy themselves before regenerating and repeating the process all over again." "Is this a dream?" "No." "I thought not, if it was there would be something to replenish my throat." Cayden hands Volxi a bottle. "Thanks mate. I still have a cup on me. Here it's on the house." Cayden took a long sip before speaking. "We haven't seen each other since the destruction of your people's original home. A lot has happened since then. Last year a terrible event plagued the Megaverse and I tried to stop it. I made my own device that enabled me to visit other Omniverses. I could sense something sinister causing many Omniverses to die. I took my weapons and went to who I thought was responsible. That man was so strong and talented, he mortally wounded me without taking our fight seriously. I thought at that moment when I laid dying that I would give anything to get a second chance at life. To see my friends and family again. My requests were answered by a figure in black business attire and a top hat."
Volxi groaned for she knew who he was referring to while Cayden continued on with his speech. "I accepted his offer and became what you see before you. The only part that was positive is in our contract, I managed to still own partial control of my soul. Perhaps it is through this partial ownership that causes me to experience great pains and desperately seek liberation." "And you came back to your friend for aid huh?" "No, I came as a messenger." Volxi stared at him with concern. "You struck a deal with him too, Volxi. A deal before your home, the ninth Omniverse was destroyed, causing you and all the survivors to wander throughout the Megaverse." "I forgot all about that deal. It can't happen this soon, he did not even stay true to his promise." "Is that really a surprise?" "DANG IT! Alright I'll wager my way out of it. I always do." "You can't talk to yourself out of this one!" "How long do I have Cayden?" Cayden stepped close to Volxi where he was only a few inches away from her face. "That name has no meaning for me, I'm The Shameful now. You have only a few hours. He will send his terrible leviathan to drag you, your sister, and this entire Omniverse along with you! Already his army sets their eyes on this world, drawn by ravenous hunger, by the one who bears the crimson scar." The Shameful laid his hand on a piece of Volxi's face that was not covered by cybernetics. "Make peace with your losses and may it only be a swift end and not a contract of servitude. Alas, he always comes to collect what is his." In that moment The Shameful vanished from her sight and without a moment to lose, she started running back upstairs into the settlement screaming for everyone to pack their things and prepare to leave. Her sister, Val stopped her, "Did you fall down the stairs giving you that slash across your face? What's coming after us?" Volxi stared deep into her sister's soul, "We need to run as far as we can and get our people to safety before it's too late." From a few hundred yards away The Ageless stood waiting for the perfect time to strike with Maestro Zorro summoning the nightmarish Leviathan.

I (F34) am absolutely sick to death of my rude mother (F54).
She's just so rude all the time and there's nothing you can say to make her understand what an absolute rude person she is being. I can't even escape it because we live together.
About 2 years ago now I was living with my partner (M32) in his family home with his entire family. Talking disabled mother, father, adult sister and her 2 kids. We lived there while saving for our wedding and then COVID ruined all our plans. I was drowning in that house surrounded by lazy dirty people who dont work and had no structure. To save my mental health I had to leave. My partner and I discussed it and we needed a place of our own. We decided to rent however the rental market is actually insane and we just couldn't afford what we needed on our own.
Queue my semi disabled mother who has been living on her own in a 2nd story unit for a few years now since her divorce went through. I relayed my complaints to her and she suggested we all move into a larger family home together and split the rent. It would get me out of that gross inlaw house, she could stop walking up 2 flights of stairs with a cane and it would be win win right?
So we move into this 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2 living room house on the Southside of Brisbane Australia and finally I have my own space again. We get the master with the ensuite and theres a spare room for people to stay. I have an office for the days I work from home and mum gets the wing of the house that has 2 bedrooms and a family bathroom all to herself so she can have her own space. Affectionately know as the senior wing.
Despite being in my mid 30s my mother treats us like we are where children living under her roof. We pay 2 3rds of the rent. It's unessecary.
She's exceptionally rude to my partner and has been since the beginning. She constantly belittles him and makes fun of him to his face. Then when I call her on it I'm a snowflake who can't take a joke or she's not allowed to say anything anymore.
Some of the absolute crap she's pulled included:

• my dog dragging a rubber spider info her room while cleaning out the Halloween decorations and her insisting it was my partner trying to frighten her. She then started into a 2 day period where she wouldn't speak to either of us, pay attention to the dogs or even eat
• my partner has a cheap cannon camera and loves to take photos of our dogs. He posts them to a FB messenger chat between the 3 of us because she's expressed she likes them before. Yesterday she replied to the photo saying it was shit and she didn't like it and not to post it. Then told ME to explain to my partner why she thought it was shit. Hes upset now. And I called her out this morning and she's now saying well don't send me anymore photos if I can't comment on them
• she frequently makes snide comments everytime my partner walks into the kitchen or lounge room. Especially when I'm not there. She knows he can hear them. My partner feels like he can't watch tv in our lounge room because she complains the tv is too loud but then has her tv up so loud no one can gesr themselves talk. He used to play Xbox on that tv with headphones on and she complained he clicked buttons too loudly.
• my partner getting sick and throwing up one day when we got home after eating something oily earlier in the day and then not wanting dinner. She insisted it was because he was anxious about having something she was making for dinner and that he was just trying to avoid trying something new.
• ignoring my requests not to feed my dogs specific human foods and doing it anyway when I'm not home. Then telling me about it and getting the shits when I tell her I previously asked her not to. I buy dog treats to give them and put them in her room but she insists on giving them her food. She's previously had a dog die from pancreatic cancer and has expressed how sad she was and didn't realise how she contributed to it and she's legitimately doing the same thing to my dogs.
• She will pick fights with my partner when I'm not home. She finishes work earlier than me. If he has no shift he will be home. There will be 3-5 hours where they are at home without me. Then avoid each other but he will go to the kitchen to make food or take the dogs out and you know she just HAS to make a damn comment. They will argue and then she will start bombarding me with messages while I'm still at work whinging about him and how he's such a child because he didn't want to stand there and be put down by her over something so tiny. So many messages I have to my my phone. Then when I get home the minute I walk in the door it's thrust upon me to sort it out and keep the peace.
• she contradicts my brothers parenting of his two children right in front of the children when they come to visit. No one asked for your opinion mum.

Just a few examples.
In addition to her being an absolute witch. She's also partially disabled and miserable. And she drags me down so far with her.
She has sciatica and it's at the point where only surgery is the option but the surgeon insists it's got a very low chance so she won't proceed with it. Instead she takes quite alot of over the counter pain medication to manage it. She walks with a walker when at home and 2 canes when she is out and about. She still drives and still works full time. I manage the cleaning, all the washing for the 3 people in our house, I do the grocery shopping and meal planning online and then she picks it up via the grocery store placing the items in her car boot. I do all the cooking. She will cook maybe twice a month. All the household bills are in my name and she sends me her share and I keep everything paid. I constantly buy little things to help make her life easier. She's not entitled to any disability funding because she still works full time so all of this is paid out of pocket. So essentially her life while I acknowledge she is in pain is not particularly difficult. She's even said to me it's easier for her to explain something to me and then I go do it then she do it herself. Eg I have to go to the chemist and get her meds. She needs clothes? She explains what she wants and I go buy it. Easier for her maybe. She will come out with things that have to be done but words it like there is a team of people doing it when it's just gonna be me. Eg. We really need to get out there and do that garden. It's starting to look pretty poor. She means I need to go out and do the garden. If I comment I don't have time because I have 3 jobs and no free time she will say we can pay someone but what she means is I need to enquire and find someone for the house. I need to pay half of something she's suggesting. Then she will complain about how expensive it is even though it was her idea. Then she will complain about how poor of a job they did when we could only afford to pay them for an hour so they did what they could do in a hour
She belittles my mental illness telling me that taking antidepressants is the easy way out. She Is a functioning alcoholic drinking cask wine. 20L a week which she orders online and then I have to go pick up. Her mother was bipolar. She's 100% bipolar too but refuses to accept it.
I work 3 jobs. A full time 9-5. A delivery driver for a pizza shop with two to three shifts a week and I do uber eats as well casually. If I need to leave to do either of the second jobs she gilt trips me about leaving the dogs behind and how they bother her for attention.
Nothing is ever done to her standards in cleaning or cooking or anything really and you bet she will either make a comment on how it's not how she would have done it. Or how she prefers it to be done another way.
I am exhausted. I want her out but there is nowhere for her to go. This cost of living crisis is shocking and there no way on her pathetic wage she could afford to rent on her own again. I can't abandon her either to go live a better life with my partner. We can't afford to rent on our own either. Even with me working full time. My partner is a casual worker at two companies and she's always saying how little he contributes like he can control the fact that no shifts are coming in.
I'm done. I want her to just go to sleep and never wake up. It won't fix the crappy financial situation in this country but maybe I can just have one good day then. Sometimes I think it would be better if I just went to sleep and didn't wake up but I could never abandon my poor partner.
I'd love some commentary. Keep me sane and let me know im not alone

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
We pulled off I-51 a little after midnight, stopping at a truck stop which was couched between the highway and a large forest.
We waited in the van for ten minutes or so. Trent had increased the sonar radius to its maximum of 30 miles a little over an hour ago. Somehow the red pings had kept up with us, holding a steady distance of around 20 miles. Considering we were averaging around 80 mph, and a coyote's top speed is only around 40 mph, we figured they had been enhanced in some way. Either that, or they shape-shifted into something faster. Regardless, now that we had stopped, we waited to see if the demon spawn would try and close the distance. Luckily, or unluckily, they didn't. They kept their 20 mile buffer, but we noticed they were beginning to spread out along the circumference of that boundary.
"We're close. They know that, so they're trying to trap us in." Trent said.
"Trying to?—more like they have."
We considered whether we should stay in the van and keep watch, but we figured that would do us little good. At their speed, they could be on us in ten minutes, which means we would need to stay up all night and keep tabs on their positions. Trent offered to stay up, of course, but I shut him down.
"The demon doesn't want to kill us now. You said it yourself. Plus, we need our rest. If they come, they come."
Trent didn't like it, but he acquiesced.
The truck stop had all the essentials: a gas station and mini mart with showers and an attached McDonald's, a large parking lot for truckers to idle and sleep, and even a section with lodging for those who wanted a more comfortable night's rest. I told Trent that he should take advantage of the showers, and after a little convincing, he agreed. While he was cleaning himself up, I patrolled the dingy, half-stocked aisles of "Daisy's Quick Mart". I probably would have been appalled at the quality of the store had I actually been paying any attention to it whatsoever. But I wasn't. I was thinking hard about what awaited me tomorrow.
During the drive, I had asked Trent why the demon would want us to return to the crash site. What did he mean that I would be 'confronting a dark entity in a place he couldn't help me'? He seemed hesitant to answer, but my little stunt outside the storage facility seemed to have sufficiently motivated him.
"When I said I've never done this before, I meant it." Trent started. "I've never done this exact thing before—meaning I've never projected someone into the past."
"So, I'm time traveling?" I asked.
"No—don't think of it like that." Trent paused, trying to come up with a good explanation. "It's more like I'm opening a window for you to look through: not a door. You're going to see the past, but you can't interact with the physicalities there. But that doesn't mean you can't interact with anything."
There was a space of silence as Trent tried to let me work out his meaning for myself. "I don't get it. Are you saying there's something I can interact with? Like what?" And then it hit me. "The demon. The demon can interact with me? Meaning what? It can kill me?"
"Meaning… I'm not exactly sure. You're going to be in a kind of psychic space. If it does damage, it won't be to your body. It'll be to your mind—or spirit. But I don't know what the limits of that damage could be. I just don't have those answers."
"If you've never done this, how do you know any of it will work?"
"That's an easy one." Trent answered. "Because it's been done to me."
There was silence.
"Look, if I know anything, I know my tech. Don't doubt that this will work. It's my job to make sure it does. I just need you to be in the right mental for this. Just because it knows your coming doesn't mean it automatically has the upper hand. It won't be able to see you unless you make contact with it first. In other words, you have to initiate contact. As long as you remain a spectator, you should be okay. Trust me. Just don't make contact."
I started pacing faster—fast enough to catch the attention of the overnight shift worker, a young man whose name I can't quite remember. I know it started with a "J". Jake, maybe? Anyway, he asked if I was alright, to which I responded in the affirmative. He left me alone for another couple passes, but when I almost ran into one of the shelves, he stood up and said, "Uh—I'm going to have to ask you to stop running around. I don't want you to hurt yourself."
I must have stared daggers at him, because he recoiled from my gaze. What's gotten into me? I thought. Then, steadying myself, I apologized. I looked around and grabbed the nearest edible looking piece of merchandise: a bag of Swedish Fish, and placed it down on the counter. "Just this, please."
The cashier rang me up. It was surprisingly cheap.
"Are you sure you're alright?" the young man asked. He was tall with brown hair. He seemed tired—maybe even more tired than me. But he also seemed kind.
I smiled as best I could and said, "No, I'm not. But there's not really anything you can do. Hell, there might not be anything I can do." I furrowed my eyebrows at my own response, realizing that imminent death may have broken my verbal filter.
On the other hand, the cashier did not seem surprised at all. "Ah, I see. It's one of those problems." He responded. "Well, hey, for what it's worth, you seem like one of the resilient ones. I think you'll be alright."
I only smiled and nodded at his mildly cryptic comment. Looking back, the whole interaction was a bit strange, but I had way too much mental clutter to recognize that in the moment. I took my Swedish Fish and walked through the anteroom which led to McDonald's. I found an open yellow booth that wasn't littered with crumpled straw sleeves and sat down, chomping mindlessly on my little red fish until Trent returned. When he arrived, he took my place, and I went to shower. After we were both clean and fed, we returned to the van. The pings were still pushed safely out of harm's way. But that didn't mean we were out of harm's way. Trent asked me if I wanted to sleep in the van, saying that "it'd be the safest place."
I thought it over. He was right, obviously. The van was not only outfitted with weapons I couldn't even begin to understand, but it was also our escape, and it would be just as difficult, if not more difficult to break into than the studio-style motel rooms with their wood doors and big windows. Still, if this was going to be my last night on earth, I wanted to sleep in a bed. A real bed. Trent understood and said he'd stay parked right outside my room for the night.
After purchasing a key from the night attendant, I moseyed over to the cement walkways which connected the twenty or so rooms. Mine was room #56, which I thought was odd since, like I said, there were only 20 rooms. I lugged in my tomato plushie and dad's old book and placed them on the queen mattress.
"I'll be right outside." Trent said after I collapsed onto the bed.
"Trent," I called out, stopping him half-way through the door.
"Yeah?"
All the blood in my body rushed up to my face as I realized my unfiltered mouth almost reflexively said the word "stay". I stared at Trent, my heart beating, my face hot. I considered asking him to sleep on the floor like my dad, but that would be childish and impolite. The alternative was to share my bed… Or I could take the floor.
"I'll just be right outside." Trent said before my mind processed a solution. "Come by if you need anything. I'll be up most of the night anyway."
"Okay," I replied in a faint voice.
Trent shut the door.
I sat atop the bedsheets and acquainted myself with my new living space. A feeling of regret closed over me as I considered that even sleeping on a carseat would have been better if it meant I didn't have to be alone. With a sigh, I turned on the bedside lamp and grabbed the book and stuffed tomato, using the tomato as a backrest as I slipped my legs under the covers and situated the book upright on my thighs. I cracked it open and was immediately blasted with a puff of dusty, old book scent. It was ripe at first, and I turned my head away to sneeze, but as I perused through the pages, the scent grew on me. It reminded me of the days growing up when I'd step into dad's study and read through one of the many volumes on cryptic topics which were at least two college degrees above my Lexile range.
I was only a couple minutes into browsing the collection of different scientific and philosophical works when I came across a page which contained highlighted text. This was unusual, as my dad would never mark up his books. He was a purist on that point. I rubbed my thumb over the yellow lines, and sure enough, it was highlighter.
The highlighted text was part of a small book by Carl Jung called "Synchronicity". There were a total of three pages that were marked, and they advanced like this:
Page 5:
The philosophical principle that underlies our conception of natural law is causality*. But if the connection between cause and effect turns out to be only statistically valid and relatively true, then the causal principle is only of relative use for explaining natural processes… That is as much to say that the connection of events may in certain circumstances be other than causal, and require another principle of explanation.*
Page 19:
…there are events which are related to one another experimentally, and in this case meaningfully*, without there being any possibility of proving that this relation is a causal one, since the "transmission" exhibits none of the known properties of energy…a situation which does not yet exist and will only occur in the future could transmit itself as a phenomenon of energy to a receiver in the present…Therefore, it cannot be a question of cause and effect, but of a falling together in time, a kind of simultaneity... "synchronicity"*
Page 22:
A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the window pane from outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab that one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose-chafer… which contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt an urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment.
I flipped through the rest of the pages of the book. There was no more highlighted text, but there was a message on the last page which read:
Matthew 7:7-8
I'll meet you in the darkest place.
He also included his typical smiley face which had an ovular shape and three sprouts of hair which I now realized kind of resembled my tomato plushie. It was my dad's writing, of course. But why? And how? What did this mean?
The motel had a Bible stashed away in the nighstand drawer. I got it out and looked up the verses which read the following:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
I spent maybe an hour ruminating on all of this. The whole discourse on energy and causality and a "falling together in time" just seemed so right. It was clear that my dad definitely did know what I was going through, but for whatever reason, he made it seem like he was oblivious. Why had he hidden that from me? I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. On the one hand, my dad loved me enough to leave this note, maybe even knowing the exact moment I'd need it. But on the other hand, he had neglected my struggles throughout my entire childhood. He even lied at times. Was this really enough to make up for all of that?
And then there was the section about the future transmitting energy to the past. I read back through the whole paragraph and the original writer had meant it to say this as something that wasn't possible, but my dad's highlighting made it seem like he wanted to flip the meaning. The future does affect the past. I thought about where I was headed and wondered if I would soon discover that for myself.
Lastly, dad's message. The Bible verse reminded me of the first time I prayed; how I reached out to God and received peace as an answer to my prayer. Now I feel like I'm actively seeking… something, but I don't know yet what I'll find. And then there's knocking. At first that reminded me of the story with the beetle tapping on the window, but then I went back even deeper in my memory and dug out the monster tapping at my window, and the words my dad spoke to me in order to set my mind at ease: "you're a superhero. And you know what your greatest superpower is? Your greatest power is you get to tell the monsters what to do. Because the monsters are only as strong as the stories you tell about them…so if you're ever scared, honey, just dream up a better story."
I was crying into my stuffed tomato now. I felt like all the blinking pieces of my life had finally been pulled together into a completed puzzle. This was all by design. My entire life, filled with so much chaos and confusion, was actually preparing me for this moment. And my dad thought I had the tools and strength enough to get through it. I flipped through the book one more time, thinking maybe he had left some other hidden comment—some formula to defeat this demon and return home. But there was nothing. Only that one comment: "I'll meet you in the darkest place."
What's the darkest place, dad? Is that where I'm going? Are you saying you'll be there, too?
With those thoughts in mind, my eyes became heavy shutters which, with a slight pressure on the pulley, winded shut. My swimming thoughts and firework-like fears dissipated, and I returned to a precious childhood memory. It was after an evening soccer practice. Summer. Dad was driving me to Dairy Queen. I got a cherry-dipped twist cone. I was happy.
So, so happy.
***
I woke up to sunlight blaring through my windows. Shit, I overslept, was my immediate thought. I threw off my covers and opened the front door. A glance at the clock showed 1:13 PM. I shouldn't have even been allowed to stay checked in this long. Damn, am I gonna get double-billed for this?
I heard a rummaging sound around the corner of my motel room. It sounded like a squirrel was trying to find an afternoon snack in one of the garbage bins. I stepped outside. The sun was extremely bright, to the point where I had to squint and put my hand over my eyes to even see the ground in front of me. I was trying to walk toward the van, but somehow I ended up in front of the trash bins where the animal's tail was sticking out from a turned-over, silver garbage can. Its tail was wagging excitedly, and I remember thinking that it was much too large to be a squirrel.
The animal bent down as if biting onto something, and I heard the sound of its growl as it struggled to tug whatever it was free from the barrel. Inch by inch, the creature backed out of the canister, and more of its sharp, sticky hair was revealed. I heard something snap, then the creature leapt back and I saw what it was chomping on. My eyes widened in horror as the pink tube of a human intestine was pulled taut like the end of a tangled hose. Blood and entrails were spilling out of the human's opened gut. And then, behind the canine, I saw the person's face. His face was pale white, his eyes closed, and his hair was slicked back… It was Trent.
Before I could react, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. I whirled around and saw my dad. But—no, it wasn't him. It was someone wearing a paper-mache face mask that was painted to look like my dad. The forehead of the mask was already beginning to crack, white specks breaking off like sawdust. Through the cracks, I could see the figure's true form. I didn't know darkness had its own type of light, but that's the only way to describe it. It was as if malevolence itself was reified into a skin which was actually an amalgamation of millions of little, oozing parasites that leached into the nearby light. When it finally spoke, the demon's voice was a full octave lower than the old man's at the deli. And it had an earth-stilling gravitas.
"Today's the day!" He sang and reached into his pocket. His lips curled upward into a foxy smirk. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this day." He said and held up a razor blade. Half his facade had already fallen apart, and now I could see the bugs up close, writhing in what was either horror or ecstasy. And his scent… it was somehow more rank than the rabid coyote rummaging through the trash can with Trent's cut open body inside. The demon closed in on my position, and in one, decisive motion, he brought the blade close to his chin, then sliced it across my throat. "Wake up!" He screamed.
I jumped out of my bed and grabbed my throat, feeling the cold sting of its quick slice. Hyperventilating, I patted the area down, trying to hold the blood in, but when I removed my hands, I saw they were dry. It was only a dream, I thought. Gray light was only beginning to filter in through the drapes. I'm in my hotel room. I'm safe. I tried consoling, but the pragmatic mental massages weren't enough to hold the force of my knees buckling. I dropped onto the carpet and cried for a long while.
Outside, rain was beginning to fall.
***
By the time I met up with Trent, I had already composed myself and decided to keep my dad's message and the nightmare to myself. None of it seemed particularly productive from a logistical standpoint, anyway. And I wanted to focus on the mission.
We stopped by McDonald's and bought a couple cups of coffee. Trent asked if I wanted any food, and I declined. Black coffee seemed like the only thing my stomach could take at the present moment. I could tell Trent was hungry, but he tried playing it off (I guess to be respectful of me?) I told him to knock it off and get something to eat. I didn't need my Charon getting lightheaded and dropping the paddle before he finished rowing me to Hell. He didn't care much for my joke, but he ordered a couple Chicken McGriddles at the kiosk anyway.
There were maybe ten patrons spread throughout the restaurant. We sat down at the same booth from the prior night, this time across from one another. Trent spent the first ten minutes or so babbling about our fuel supply and the logistics of the trip from here on in. Practical stuff. I've come to realize that's how he deals with his stress. He talks it out in short, durable sentences. I mostly nodded and watched as what looked like a storm front closed in on the truck stop. The sky was overcast, and there were darker clouds in the distance. The rain was still only a patter, but a middle-aged man wearing a yellow bow tie on the wall-mounted TV confirmed that there would be heavier rain and thunderstorms very soon.
After the worker delivered Trent's food and he ate it in record time, I posed the one question that was still on my mind.
"How do I fight him?" I asked.
Trent finished a large gulp of his coffee, then looked at me. It was the first substantial thing I'd said all morning; Trent could tell something was off with me, but he figured there was no point in asking what it was. "By 'him', I assume you mean the demon?"
I nodded.
Trent licked his teeth clean. "You could try praying again."
"I'm serious," I responded.
"I'm serious, too. It worked before, didn't it?"
"You mean at my house?"
Trent nodded.
"I thought you weren't a religious man?"
"I'm not. Just a practical one. If praying worked before, maybe it'll work again."
"That's the best you've got? A maybe?"
"No, I've got a lot of shit better than a maybe." He answered. "It's just not accessible where you're going. Which is why I recommend not making contact on the first run."
"First run? So we're going to do this more than once?"
"At least," Trent answered. Then, seeing my expression, he continued. "What? You thought this was going to be a one-and-done? We have to conduct some research first. I did tell you this was new for me, right?"
Somehow Trent's response had set my mind at ease a little. I was going to have more than one chance. Of course, why wouldn't I be able to go back more than once?
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? It would have gone a long way in easing my mind."
Trent lifted his hands in defense. "Sorry, I just thought that was a given. I mean, what we're doing is dangerous, just like I said, but it doesn't mean we aren't going to approach this as safely and scientifically as possible. However, there is a different problem with running multiple trials."
"The Organization?"
"That's right," Trent said like a proud parent. "Our little experiment will be like a giant spotlight, and the longer we wait around after it's on us, the greater the chance we'll have unwelcome company."
"So, safe but speedy."
"Safe but speedy. Exactly."
***
We fueled up and were back on the road a little after 8:00. From that point on, Trent and I were absolutely silent. I had the distinct feeling of being in the eye of a storm. The pings moved closer commensurate with our progress toward the crash site. The cloudfront continued its advance. And I noticed a haze beginning to descend onto the road ahead of us. It was fog.
We meandered further inland, the forest thickening around us until the rain almost stopped entirely—the leaves drinking it up before it fell onto our windshield. I kept my eyes on the radar. We were approaching the large yellow circle which indicated we had arrived. As we pulled closer, I began to feel things. Fear. Eeriness. Doubt. Then happiness. Hope. Love. Normally feelings like these had a clear source to picture, but these sensations came on in waves without any discernible reason. It was almost as if they were blinking into existence inside me.
"Here we go," Trent said like an airline pilot readying his crew for turbulence.
I still recall the exact moment we crossed the boundary into the area of higher energy. It was like something just "clicked" in my brain, and all of a sudden everything felt so much closer. The sound of the rain against the trees was almost right next to my ear. The trees in the distance would oscillate between their position a half-mile out, then suddenly seem five meters away. If I focused on something long enough, it began to radiate those same ethereal particles as when Trent released Ava's "phase lock". I checked to make sure the shifter wasn't set to "TD". Sure enough, it was still in drive.
"Can you see them?" Trent asked. "The shifts?"
"Yeah," I said in a dreamy voice. I felt like I was driving through a wonderland.
"It's the energy. I barely notice a difference. A bit of movement in the trees, but not much else. But I'm sure for you, it's a whole experience."
"What is this?" I raised my hand and caught some of the pixel dust dripping off the sun visor. It disappeared when it made contact with my hand.
"It's a kind of radiation. Everything emits it, just in different quantities. I'm still not exactly sure how it relates to the other realms, but I'm guessing it's a kind of primordial matter that helps connect our worlds."
"It's beautiful," I exclaimed. "I wish I could see the world like this all the time."
"Maybe you will," Trent whispered.
As we arrived at the crash site, I began to get glimpses of the past. My childhood dreams and memories were pushing their way out from my subconscious. I noticed an increased number of blinks, which were validated by Ava who reported the following: "Currently detecting 14,350 novel emergences and 2,777 controlled agents. Net anomalies: 2,777."
"That's a lot of blinks." I remarked. "Why doesn't Ava include them in the net anomalies?"
Trent turned his head so I could see his smirk. "Because blinks aren't anomalies."
I thought about it for a second. Blinks aren't anomalies. "I never thought about it that way."
"It's hard to think about it that way when 'normal' for most people means not picking up on a fundamental aspect of reality. But that doesn't make it any less real."
We continued past the epicenter of the yellow circle. "Are we not stopping?" I asked. "I think we already passed the crash site."
"It doesn't have to be exactly at the site," Trent said. "Plus, we don't want to stop on the side of the road and risk getting some civilian involved. There's a field about half a mile up ahead. I'm going to pull off the road and set up camp there.
The "field" that Trent was referring to was actually a large clearing that dipped down into several trench-like troughs which were filled to the brim with fog like witches cauldrons. Further on in the distance, I saw open fields, probably used for farming, and then a large hill where the trees once again reasserted themselves. We had pulled off the road and up a small incline where the trees had already been broken down, leaving a trail for us to drive through. When we surfaced at the edge of the clearing, Trent pulled us onto a flat bed of dried mud which was maybe thirty yards long.
"Here," he said with a sigh.
We both sat for a minute, looking around at the field. We had finally arrived. The rain was beginning to pick up, and the dark sky made it almost impossible to discern the time of day.
"You ready?" Trent asked.
I looked at him. Really looked at him. In his blue eyes. Was I ready? Did it even matter?
"Let's do this," I said.
***
This was the first time I was really able to inspect the back of Trent's van. He had talked up his gear a lot, and honestly, I was impressed. Not in the way that a scientist is impressed by another scientist's lab—I wasn't any kind of expert—but it still seemed remarkably well managed. Now that I was in a state where my vision had been enhanced, I could actually see the enigmatic particles circulating through the pneumatic tubes which were coiled like the pipes and valves of an elaborate wind instrument. The walls of the van, itself, were glistening white, making it easier to make out everything else inside. Along the floor were five overturned columns. Each column was dark and had a vibrating quality, as if they were charged with energy. Then atop the center three columns was a small altar which supported an apparatus with two skinny, metal arms holding a silver halo. At present, the arms were folded and the halo was suspended a few inches above the altar, faced-down. I thought maybe I'd see particles exuding from it, but instead it was emitting visible waves which bent and warped everything they touched.
"That thing is emitting a lot of energy." I remarked, gesturing toward the halo.
Trent stepped in between the columns and started pulling out the packages he had stuffed in there yesterday. "Just wait till' it's on."
Most of the packages contained only a single piece of equipment, and were otherwise packed with foam peanuts. We carefully removed each box and set them on the ground outside. I asked if the rain would damage any of the stuff inside, to which Trent only laughed and continued lugging out the boxes. When they were all out, Trent removed a box cutter from his pocket and went one-by-one opening them. There were eight pieces in total.
"What is it?" I asked as we fished the first item out.
"It's another apparatus, like the one inside. Except it'll mount on the ground out here."
I pulled out what looked like a metal tripod.
"Good, that'll go on the bottom."
"Where are we setting it up?"
"Over here," Trent said and stepped five paces away from the van. He coordinated himself up so he was centrally aligned with the inner ring, then stomped a few times. "This is the spot."
As we continued to work, I asked Trent about how the whole contraption works.
"Do you remember the first time we were in the van? When we had to escape from the semi-truck?" Trent asked and connected a secondary mounting apparatus on top of the tripod. It had four spider-like legs that made right angles and stuck into the ground.
"Of course," I said. "The 'phase lock'."
"Yeah," Trent said and gestured toward the metal stick that was in my hand. I handed it to him. "The phase lock is a seal on the level of energy that the van is allowed to release. It also controls its dispersion pattern so that it releases its energy in a steady wave. This allows Ava to scan for anomalies without causing us to become an anomaly." Trent stuck the plank into the neck of the tripod.
"So when you released the phase lock, we started emitting more energy."
"That's right." Trent confirmed. "Enough to create an alternate route through a different realm."
"So we blinked into a different realm, then back, just to avoid that truck?"
"That's right."
"But why couldn't we just move out of the way?"
"Because it had locked onto us. It was tracking our motion and adjusting its course based on the amount of energy we were emitting. So in order to escape, we had to radically skew our potential energy and then use it to shift."
"Couldn't he have just followed us?"
Trent connected four more pieces to the device which now looked like an elaborate teepee. He was fishing in the last box when he spoke again. "Yeah, he could have. But it was highly improbable that he would have found us." Trent returned from the bottom of the box with another silver ring in hand. "Think of it like this. Let's say you're trying to escape from some bad guy who's coming after you, and you enter a new room you've never seen before. Would you prefer this room to have three doors to go through, or ten?"
I thought about his riddle for a second, then responded, "It depends where they go."
Trent fastened the ring atop the teepee. "Let's say they all lead to random places, or let's say they're all closets that lead nowhere. The key is that more is better, because the more doors he has to check, the less likely he is to pick the correct one. Make sense?"
"So we opened up a bunch of doors and escaped through one at random?"
"Hence the gear 'TD', for 'Trap Door'."
I marveled at the insights, but not for long. Trent hopped back in the van and pulled a lever that I hadn't seen until now. The two metal arms raised the inner ring until it was perpendicular with the altar. Then Trent clicked one of three red buttons along the back wall, and I saw what looked like a large, glass eye suspended in a magnifying glass protruding from the wall, aligned with the center of both rings. A couple seconds later, the glass eye began to focus the energy which was being fed to it from the pneumatic tubes, and a blue pyramid of light projected from it into the first ring, then from the first ring into the second ring. All three pieces were aligned at slightly diminishing heights, so the cylinder of light beamed through the second ring, into the ground.
"Alright, time for the first trial."
I felt the nerves starting up in my stomach. Trent sensed this and hopped out of the truck. It was raining quite hard now, though it was still warm. Both Trent and I were soaked, but that hardly concerned us. He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder. "I know you're feeling scared." He said. "But trust me on this. You're going to do fine. Just keep in mind what we talked about. Stay a spectator. Okay?"
I looked into his blue eyes, which seemed especially gray in the dark. Still, Trent's voice was reassuring. All I had to do was trust him. Trust myself. Trust my dad. And it was all going to turn out right.
"I'm ready," I said.
Trent was still for a second, holding my eyes in his. Then he guided me behind the outer ring and into the cylinder of light.
"I should step into it now?" I asked, afraid I'd be called away immediately.
"It's not on yet, so don't worry. I still have to press another button."
I followed Trent's instructions and stood in the blue light which was centered on my chest. Then I watched as Trent ran into the back of the van and posted up next to the glass eye. "Ready?" He yelled out. It was hard to hear him over the rain, but I yelled back. "Ready!"
The next thing I saw was a blinding blue light beam from the van. I heard what sounded like a laser, then saw the cylinder oscillate, expanding and compressing. When the energy reached the second ring, I saw everything around me light up—it looked brighter than noon on a cloudless day. Then the oscillations made their way to me, and I was swallowed up whole.
***
When I came to, I was in the backseat of a car. I felt my butt rumbling. Everything was dim and quiet. And then I heard a woman's voice from in front of me.
"Mark, please, not with Lauren in the back."
The man, who I now identified as my father, pulled the cigarette away from his lips and blew the smoke at my mom. He eyed the back seat where I was sitting, using one of five markers that hadn't rolled off my lap to color a rabbit in my animal color book.
"The kid's fine." he said and took another drag.
"Mark," my mom repeated.
I saw my dad raise his hand in a rapid motion. "I said she's fine, Cheryl. Now check the map and make sure we're going the right away. I can't see shit with all this fog."
I took a moment to make sure I was really in the back seat. I patted myself. I clearly had weight. Then I tried touching the car. At first, my fingertips met a solid surface, but when I tried to press through, my hand slipped into the car. I quickly pulled my hand away as if I had reached into a fire.
That's when I heard the little three year old next to me start crying. I turned and saw that little-me had dropped another couple markers onto the ground and was struggling to reach them.
"Hey!" my dad shouted. "What did I say about crying?"
"Quit it, Mark. She just dropped her markers." said my mom; she turned to help me pick them up.
"What did you say to me?" Mark spat with a voice full of guile. He reached out and pushed her back into her seat. "Don't," he commanded. "She has to learn how to deal with life."
"Deal…" My mom started in disbelief. "Deal with life? Do you hear yourself? What's gotten into you?"
"Sometimes shit happens. It doesn't give her the right to cry. You helping her is just going to reinforce her behavior."
"Her behavior? What about your behavior? You're acting like a total dick."
I didn't even have a moment to react before my dad's hand was across my mom's face. I felt the slap more than I heard it, my own face seeming to swell with the force of the blow. I saw my mom cover her mouth and lean away. Then little-me began to cry even louder, which only challenged my dad to step up his own volume.
"Everyone needs to get a fucking grip before I crash this car." My dad shouted and took another drag. The scariest part was I couldn't tell if he was warning us or threatening us. I felt the sudden urge to do something. There was no way this was real. I was definitely in some fantasy concocted by the demon. He wanted to turn me against my dad. That was the only explanation for something like this. My dad was a good man, not… this.
As I contemplated what to do, I saw a small, golden light appear behind little-me's window. Apparently she saw it, too, because her cries hushed as she traced the wisp with her eyes. After a second, the wisp transformed into a bunny rabbit, reminiscent of the one she was coloring. The rabbit hopped alongside the window, then did a couple circles in place. I watched little me let out a playful laugh and reach toward the window.
"What's going on back there?" my dad asked with a scowl. Apparently the only sound more disturbing than cries were laughs.
I looked back to the front and saw my mom wiping blood from her lip. Her expression was miserable. "Leave her alone, Mark."
"I'll do whatever I damn well want to do, Cheryl. It's my kid back there."
My mom was quiet.
When I looked back toward the rabbit, it was no longer a rabbit but a person. Or at least it looked like a person. The figure radiated pure gold, and atop his head was what appeared to be a King's crown. I recalled Allison's experience of seeing the sun-like figure in her moment of distress. Was that what was happening here? Was this really all true?
"Hey!" My dad shouted, eyeing little-me from the rear-view mirror. "What are you reaching at?"
I looked and saw the golden figure extending his hand toward the window, and little me's hand was reaching back. "Mom, dad, it bright." little-me said.
"What's bright, honey?" my mom asked.
"Don't encourage her, Cheryl."
"Someone there!" little me shouted happily and dropped the rest of the markers and the coloring book onto the ground.
"Who's there?" asked my mom.
"Cheryl, I swear to God. Sit the fuck down."
Everything from that moment on happened so quickly I barely had any time to process it. My mom lifted out of her seat to either get little me's attention or help me pick up my coloring book. My dad responded by grabbing onto her throat, letting go of the steering wheel entirely. He threw her back against the car door, and her head hit the window so hard, the glass cracked. My dad had dropped his cigarette, and I could smell smoke coming from under his seat, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. He turned toward little-me at the same moment my three-year-old hand reached out and grabbed onto the golden figure, whose hand diffused through the window. When my dad turned, I got a whiff of the most awful smell that I wouldn't have been able to place had I not had that nightmare last night. He grabbed onto little-me's shoulder and tugged her away from the golden figure that was trying to pull her the other way. My dad's facade began to crack, and I could see those dark bugs crawling out from the pores in his arms, marching down toward little-me.
I reacted.
I grabbed onto my dad's arm and pulled him off little-me. I heard the sound of my shirt ripping as she was torn from his grip and pulled out of the car, diffusing through it like a ghost. My brief victory was immediately overturned as I saw what was now clearly the demon smiling at me, his wretched fingers curled around my forearm.
"Caught you," He sneered.
Then the whole world once again diffused into countless numbers of particles, only this time, instead of riding through it, I felt like I was falling through an elevator shaft with each floor darker than the last. The further I fell, the less I became aware of my surroundings, and the more I felt a deep sense of loneliness. It was as if I was the only person in the whole world: and the whole world was a prison designed entirely for me. This went on for so long, I began to forget who I was. Where I was. What was.
And then I landed.
***
Source Used:
Jung, Carl. Synchronicity. Translated by Sonu Shamdasani, Princeton University Press, 2010.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Content Warning: Domestic Abuse
***
We pulled off I-51 a little after midnight, stopping at a truck stop which was couched between the highway and a large forest.
We waited in the van for ten minutes or so. Trent had increased the sonar radius to its maximum of 30 miles a little over an hour ago. Somehow the red pings had kept up with us, holding a steady distance of around 20 miles. Considering we were averaging around 80 mph, and a coyote's top speed is only around 40 mph, we figured they had been enhanced in some way. Either that, or they shape-shifted into something faster. Regardless, now that we had stopped, we waited to see if the demon spawn would try and close the distance. Luckily, or unluckily, they didn't. They kept their 20 mile buffer, but we noticed they were beginning to spread out along the circumference of that boundary.
"We're close. They know that, so they're trying to trap us in." Trent said.
"Trying to?—more like they have."
We considered whether we should stay in the van and keep watch, but we figured that would do us little good. At their speed, they could be on us in ten minutes, which means we would need to stay up all night and keep tabs on their positions. Trent offered to stay up, of course, but I shut him down.
"The demon doesn't want to kill us now. You said it yourself. Plus, we need our rest. If they come, they come."
Trent didn't like it, but he acquiesced.
The truck stop had all the essentials: a gas station and mini mart with showers and an attached McDonald's, a large parking lot for truckers to idle and sleep, and even a section with lodging for those who wanted a more comfortable night's rest. I told Trent that he should take advantage of the showers, and after a little convincing, he agreed. While he was cleaning himself up, I patrolled the dingy, half-stocked aisles of "Daisy's Quick Mart". I probably would have been appalled at the quality of the store had I actually been paying any attention to it whatsoever. But I wasn't. I was thinking hard about what awaited me tomorrow.
During the drive, I had asked Trent why the demon would want us to return to the crash site. What did he mean that I would be 'confronting a dark entity in a place he couldn't help me'? He seemed hesitant to answer, but my little stunt outside the storage facility seemed to have sufficiently motivated him.
"When I said I've never done this before, I meant it." Trent started. "I've never done this exact thing before—meaning I've never projected someone into the past."
"So, I'm time traveling?" I asked.
"No—don't think of it like that." Trent paused, trying to come up with a good explanation. "It's more like I'm opening a window for you to look through: not a door. You're going to see the past, but you can't interact with the physicalities there. But that doesn't mean you can't interact with anything."
There was a space of silence as Trent tried to let me work out his meaning for myself. "I don't get it. Are you saying there's something I can interact with? Like what?" And then it hit me. "The demon. The demon can interact with me? Meaning what? It can kill me?"
"Meaning… I'm not exactly sure. You're going to be in a kind of psychic space. If it does damage, it won't be to your body. It'll be to your mind—or spirit. But I don't know what the limits of that damage could be. I just don't have those answers."
"If you've never done this, how do you know any of it will work?"
"That's an easy one." Trent answered. "Because it's been done to me."
There was silence.
"Look, if I know anything, I know my tech. Don't doubt that this will work. It's my job to make sure it does. I just need you to be in the right mental for this. Just because it knows your coming doesn't mean it automatically has the upper hand. It won't be able to see you unless you make contact with it first. In other words, you have to initiate contact. As long as you remain a spectator, you should be okay. Trust me. Just don't make contact."
I started pacing faster—fast enough to catch the attention of the overnight shift worker, a young man whose name I can't quite remember. I know it started with a "J". Jake, maybe? Anyway, he asked if I was alright, to which I responded in the affirmative. He left me alone for another couple passes, but when I almost ran into one of the shelves, he stood up and said, "Uh—I'm going to have to ask you to stop running around. I don't want you to hurt yourself."
I must have stared daggers at him, because he recoiled from my gaze. What's gotten into me? I thought. Then, steadying myself, I apologized. I looked around and grabbed the nearest edible looking piece of merchandise: a bag of Swedish Fish, and placed it down on the counter. "Just this, please."
The cashier rang me up. It was surprisingly cheap.
"Are you sure you're alright?" the young man asked. He was tall with brown hair. He seemed tired—maybe even more tired than me. But he also seemed kind.
I smiled as best I could and said, "No, I'm not. But there's not really anything you can do. Hell, there might not be anything I can do." I furrowed my eyebrows at my own response, realizing that imminent death may have broken my verbal filter.
On the other hand, the cashier did not seem surprised at all. "Ah, I see. It's one of those problems." He responded. "Well, hey, for what it's worth, you seem like one of the resilient ones. I think you'll be alright."
I only smiled and nodded at his mildly cryptic comment. Looking back, the whole interaction was a bit strange, but I had way too much mental clutter to recognize that in the moment. I took my Swedish Fish and walked through the anteroom which led to McDonald's. I found an open yellow booth that wasn't littered with crumpled straw sleeves and sat down, chomping mindlessly on my little red fish until Trent returned. When he arrived, he took my place, and I went to shower. After we were both clean and fed, we returned to the van. The pings were still pushed safely out of harm's way. But that didn't mean we were out of harm's way. Trent asked me if I wanted to sleep in the van, saying that "it'd be the safest place."
I thought it over. He was right, obviously. The van was not only outfitted with weapons I couldn't even begin to understand, but it was also our escape, and it would be just as difficult, if not more difficult to break into than the studio-style motel rooms with their wood doors and big windows. Still, if this was going to be my last night on earth, I wanted to sleep in a bed. A real bed. Trent understood and said he'd stay parked right outside my room for the night.
After purchasing a key from the night attendant, I moseyed over to the cement walkways which connected the twenty or so rooms. Mine was room #56, which I thought was odd since, like I said, there were only 20 rooms. I lugged in my tomato plushie and dad's old book and placed them on the queen mattress.
"I'll be right outside." Trent said after I collapsed onto the bed.
"Trent," I called out, stopping him half-way through the door.
"Yeah?"
All the blood in my body rushed up to my face as I realized my unfiltered mouth almost reflexively said the word "stay". I stared at Trent, my heart beating, my face hot. I considered asking him to sleep on the floor like my dad, but that would be childish and impolite. The alternative was to share my bed… Or I could take the floor.
"I'll just be right outside." Trent said before my mind processed a solution. "Come by if you need anything. I'll be up most of the night anyway."
"Okay," I replied in a faint voice.
Trent shut the door.
I sat atop the bedsheets and acquainted myself with my new living space. A feeling of regret closed over me as I considered that even sleeping on a carseat would have been better if it meant I didn't have to be alone. With a sigh, I turned on the bedside lamp and grabbed the book and stuffed tomato, using the tomato as a backrest as I slipped my legs under the covers and situated the book upright on my thighs. I cracked it open and was immediately blasted with a puff of dusty, old book scent. It was ripe at first, and I turned my head away to sneeze, but as I perused through the pages, the scent grew on me. It reminded me of the days growing up when I'd step into dad's study and read through one of the many volumes on cryptic topics which were at least two college degrees above my Lexile range.
I was only a couple minutes into browsing the collection of different scientific and philosophical works when I came across a page which contained highlighted text. This was unusual, as my dad would never mark up his books. He was a purist on that point. I rubbed my thumb over the yellow lines, and sure enough, it was highlighter.
The highlighted text was part of a small book by Carl Jung called "Synchronicity". There were a total of three pages that were marked, and they advanced like this:
Page 5:
The philosophical principle that underlies our conception of natural law is causality*. But if the connection between cause and effect turns out to be only statistically valid and relatively true, then the causal principle is only of relative use for explaining natural processes… That is as much to say that the connection of events may in certain circumstances be other than causal, and require another principle of explanation.*
Page 19:
…there are events which are related to one another experimentally, and in this case meaningfully*, without there being any possibility of proving that this relation is a causal one, since the "transmission" exhibits none of the known properties of energy…a situation which does not yet exist and will only occur in the future could transmit itself as a phenomenon of energy to a receiver in the present…Therefore, it cannot be a question of cause and effect, but of a falling together in time, a kind of simultaneity... "synchronicity"*
Page 22:
A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the window pane from outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab that one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose-chafer… which contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt an urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment.
I flipped through the rest of the pages of the book. There was no more highlighted text, but there was a message on the last page which read:
Matthew 7:7-8
I'll meet you in the darkest place.
He also included his typical smiley face which had an ovular shape and three sprouts of hair which I now realized kind of resembled my tomato plushie. It was my dad's writing, of course. But why? And how? What did this mean?
The motel had a Bible stashed away in the nighstand drawer. I got it out and looked up the verses which read the following:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
I spent maybe an hour ruminating on all of this. The whole discourse on energy and causality and a "falling together in time" just seemed so right. It was clear that my dad definitely did know what I was going through, but for whatever reason, he made it seem like he was oblivious. Why had he hidden that from me? I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. On the one hand, my dad loved me enough to leave this note, maybe even knowing the exact moment I'd need it. But on the other hand, he had neglected my struggles throughout my entire childhood. He even lied at times. Was this really enough to make up for all of that?
And then there was the section about the future transmitting energy to the past. I read back through the whole paragraph and the original writer had meant it to say this as something that wasn't possible, but my dad's highlighting made it seem like he wanted to flip the meaning. The future does affect the past. I thought about where I was headed and wondered if I would soon discover that for myself.
Lastly, dad's message. The Bible verse reminded me of the first time I prayed; how I reached out to God and received peace as an answer to my prayer. Now I feel like I'm actively seeking… something, but I don't know yet what I'll find. And then there's knocking. At first that reminded me of the story with the beetle tapping on the window, but then I went back even deeper in my memory and dug out the monster tapping at my window, and the words my dad spoke to me in order to set my mind at ease: "you're a superhero. And you know what your greatest superpower is? Your greatest power is you get to tell the monsters what to do. Because the monsters are only as strong as the stories you tell about them…so if you're ever scared, honey, just dream up a better story."
I was crying into my stuffed tomato now. I felt like all the blinking pieces of my life had finally been pulled together into a completed puzzle. This was all by design. My entire life, filled with so much chaos and confusion, was actually preparing me for this moment. And my dad thought I had the tools and strength enough to get through it. I flipped through the book one more time, thinking maybe he had left some other hidden comment—some formula to defeat this demon and return home. But there was nothing. Only that one comment: "I'll meet you in the darkest place."
What's the darkest place, dad? Is that where I'm going? Are you saying you'll be there, too?
With those thoughts in mind, my eyes became heavy shutters which, with a slight pressure on the pulley, winded shut. My swimming thoughts and firework-like fears dissipated, and I returned to a precious childhood memory. It was after an evening soccer practice. Summer. Dad was driving me to Dairy Queen. I got a cherry-dipped twist cone. I was happy.
So, so happy.
***
I woke up to sunlight blaring through my windows. Shit, I overslept, was my immediate thought. I threw off my covers and opened the front door. A glance at the clock showed 1:13 PM. I shouldn't have even been allowed to stay checked in this long. Damn, am I gonna get double-billed for this?
I heard a rummaging sound around the corner of my motel room. It sounded like a squirrel was trying to find an afternoon snack in one of the garbage bins. I stepped outside. The sun was extremely bright, to the point where I had to squint and put my hand over my eyes to even see the ground in front of me. I was trying to walk toward the van, but somehow I ended up in front of the trash bins where the animal's tail was sticking out from a turned-over, silver garbage can. Its tail was wagging excitedly, and I remember thinking that it was much too large to be a squirrel.
The animal bent down as if biting onto something, and I heard the sound of its growl as it struggled to tug whatever it was free from the barrel. Inch by inch, the creature backed out of the canister, and more of its sharp, sticky hair was revealed. I heard something snap, then the creature leapt back and I saw what it was chomping on. My eyes widened in horror as the pink tube of a human intestine was pulled taut like the end of a tangled hose. Blood and entrails were spilling out of the human's opened gut. And then, behind the canine, I saw the person's face. His face was pale white, his eyes closed, and his hair was slicked back… It was Trent.
Before I could react, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. I whirled around and saw my dad. But—no, it wasn't him. It was someone wearing a paper-mache face mask that was painted to look like my dad. The forehead of the mask was already beginning to crack, white specks breaking off like sawdust. Through the cracks, I could see the figure's true form. I didn't know darkness had its own type of light, but that's the only way to describe it. It was as if malevolence itself was reified into a skin which was actually an amalgamation of millions of little, oozing parasites that leached into the nearby light. When it finally spoke, the demon's voice was a full octave lower than the old man's at the deli. And it had an earth-stilling gravitas.
"Today's the day!" He sang and reached into his pocket. His lips curled upward into a foxy smirk. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this day." He said and held up a razor blade. Half his facade had already fallen apart, and now I could see the bugs up close, writhing in what was either horror or ecstasy. And his scent… it was somehow more rank than the rabid coyote rummaging through the trash can with Trent's cut open body inside. The demon closed in on my position, and in one, decisive motion, he brought the blade close to his chin, then sliced it across my throat. "Wake up!" He screamed.
I jumped out of my bed and grabbed my throat, feeling the cold sting of its quick slice. Hyperventilating, I patted the area down, trying to hold the blood in, but when I removed my hands, I saw they were dry. It was only a dream, I thought. Gray light was only beginning to filter in through the drapes. I'm in my hotel room. I'm safe. I tried consoling, but the pragmatic mental massages weren't enough to hold the force of my knees buckling. I dropped onto the carpet and cried for a long while.
Outside, rain was beginning to fall.
***
By the time I met up with Trent, I had already composed myself and decided to keep my dad's message and the nightmare to myself. None of it seemed particularly productive from a logistical standpoint, anyway. And I wanted to focus on the mission.
We stopped by McDonald's and bought a couple cups of coffee. Trent asked if I wanted any food, and I declined. Black coffee seemed like the only thing my stomach could take at the present moment. I could tell Trent was hungry, but he tried playing it off (I guess to be respectful of me?) I told him to knock it off and get something to eat. I didn't need my Charon getting lightheaded and dropping the paddle before he finished rowing me to Hell. He didn't care much for my joke, but he ordered a couple Chicken McGriddles at the kiosk anyway.
There were maybe ten patrons spread throughout the restaurant. We sat down at the same booth from the prior night, this time across from one another. Trent spent the first ten minutes or so babbling about our fuel supply and the logistics of the trip from here on in. Practical stuff. I've come to realize that's how he deals with his stress. He talks it out in short, durable sentences. I mostly nodded and watched as what looked like a storm front closed in on the truck stop. The sky was overcast, and there were darker clouds in the distance. The rain was still only a patter, but a middle-aged man wearing a yellow bow tie on the wall-mounted TV confirmed that there would be heavier rain and thunderstorms very soon.
After the worker delivered Trent's food and he ate it in record time, I posed the one question that was still on my mind.
"How do I fight him?" I asked.
Trent finished a large gulp of his coffee, then looked at me. It was the first substantial thing I'd said all morning; Trent could tell something was off with me, but he figured there was no point in asking what it was. "By 'him', I assume you mean the demon?"
I nodded.
Trent licked his teeth clean. "You could try praying again."
"I'm serious," I responded.
"I'm serious, too. It worked before, didn't it?"
"You mean at my house?"
Trent nodded.
"I thought you weren't a religious man?"
"I'm not. Just a practical one. If praying worked before, maybe it'll work again."
"That's the best you've got? A maybe?"
"No, I've got a lot of shit better than a maybe." He answered. "It's just not accessible where you're going. Which is why I recommend not making contact on the first run."
"First run? So we're going to do this more than once?"
"At least," Trent answered. Then, seeing my expression, he continued. "What? You thought this was going to be a one-and-done? We have to conduct some research first. I did tell you this was new for me, right?"
Somehow Trent's response had set my mind at ease a little. I was going to have more than one chance. Of course, why wouldn't I be able to go back more than once?
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? It would have gone a long way in easing my mind."
Trent lifted his hands in defense. "Sorry, I just thought that was a given. I mean, what we're doing is dangerous, just like I said, but it doesn't mean we aren't going to approach this as safely and scientifically as possible. However, there is a different problem with running multiple trials."
"The Organization?"
"That's right," Trent said like a proud parent. "Our little experiment will be like a giant spotlight, and the longer we wait around after it's on us, the greater the chance we'll have unwelcome company."
"So, safe but speedy."
"Safe but speedy. Exactly."
***
We fueled up and were back on the road a little after 8:00. From that point on, Trent and I were absolutely silent. I had the distinct feeling of being in the eye of a storm. The pings moved closer commensurate with our progress toward the crash site. The cloudfront continued its advance. And I noticed a haze beginning to descend onto the road ahead of us. It was fog.
We meandered further inland, the forest thickening around us until the rain almost stopped entirely—the leaves drinking it up before it fell onto our windshield. I kept my eyes on the radar. We were approaching the large yellow circle which indicated we had arrived. As we pulled closer, I began to feel things. Fear. Eeriness. Doubt. Then happiness. Hope. Love. Normally feelings like these had a clear source to picture, but these sensations came on in waves without any discernible reason. It was almost as if they were blinking into existence inside me.
"Here we go," Trent said like an airline pilot readying his crew for turbulence.
I still recall the exact moment we crossed the boundary into the area of higher energy. It was like something just "clicked" in my brain, and all of a sudden everything felt so much closer. The sound of the rain against the trees was almost right next to my ear. The trees in the distance would oscillate between their position a half-mile out, then suddenly seem five meters away. If I focused on something long enough, it began to radiate those same ethereal particles as when Trent released Ava's "phase lock". I checked to make sure the shifter wasn't set to "TD". Sure enough, it was still in drive.
"Can you see them?" Trent asked. "The shifts?"
"Yeah," I said in a dreamy voice. I felt like I was driving through a wonderland.
"It's the energy. I barely notice a difference. A bit of movement in the trees, but not much else. But I'm sure for you, it's a whole experience."
"What is this?" I raised my hand and caught some of the pixel dust dripping off the sun visor. It disappeared when it made contact with my hand.
"It's a kind of radiation. Everything emits it, just in different quantities. I'm still not exactly sure how it relates to the other realms, but I'm guessing it's a kind of primordial matter that helps connect our worlds."
"It's beautiful," I exclaimed. "I wish I could see the world like this all the time."
"Maybe you will," Trent whispered.
As we arrived at the crash site, I began to get glimpses of the past. My childhood dreams and memories were pushing their way out from my subconscious. I noticed an increased number of blinks, which were validated by Ava who reported the following: "Currently detecting 14,350 novel emergences and 2,777 controlled agents. Net anomalies: 2,777."
"That's a lot of blinks." I remarked. "Why doesn't Ava include them in the net anomalies?"
Trent turned his head so I could see his smirk. "Because blinks aren't anomalies."
I thought about it for a second. Blinks aren't anomalies. "I never thought about it that way."
"It's hard to think about it that way when 'normal' for most people means not picking up on a fundamental aspect of reality. But that doesn't make it any less real."
We continued past the epicenter of the yellow circle. "Are we not stopping?" I asked. "I think we already passed the crash site."
"It doesn't have to be exactly at the site," Trent said. "Plus, we don't want to stop on the side of the road and risk getting some civilian involved. There's a field about half a mile up ahead. I'm going to pull off the road and set up camp there.
The "field" that Trent was referring to was actually a large clearing that dipped down into several trench-like troughs which were filled to the brim with fog like witches cauldrons. Further on in the distance, I saw open fields, probably used for farming, and then a large hill where the trees once again reasserted themselves. We had pulled off the road and up a small incline where the trees had already been broken down, leaving a trail for us to drive through. When we surfaced at the edge of the clearing, Trent pulled us onto a flat bed of dried mud which was maybe thirty yards long.
"Here," he said with a sigh.
We both sat for a minute, looking around at the field. We had finally arrived. The rain was beginning to pick up, and the dark sky made it almost impossible to discern the time of day.
"You ready?" Trent asked.
I looked at him. Really looked at him. In his blue eyes. Was I ready? Did it even matter?
"Let's do this," I said.
***
This was the first time I was really able to inspect the back of Trent's van. He had talked up his gear a lot, and honestly, I was impressed. Not in the way that a scientist is impressed by another scientist's lab—I wasn't any kind of expert—but it still seemed remarkably well managed. Now that I was in a state where my vision had been enhanced, I could actually see the enigmatic particles circulating through the pneumatic tubes which were coiled like the pipes and valves of an elaborate wind instrument. The walls of the van, itself, were glistening white, making it easier to make out everything else inside. Along the floor were five overturned columns. Each column was dark and had a vibrating quality, as if they were charged with energy. Then atop the center three columns was a small altar which supported an apparatus with two skinny, metal arms holding a silver halo. At present, the arms were folded and the halo was suspended a few inches above the altar, faced-down. I thought maybe I'd see particles exuding from it, but instead it was emitting visible waves which bent and warped everything they touched.
"That thing is emitting a lot of energy." I remarked, gesturing toward the halo.
Trent stepped in between the columns and started pulling out the packages he had stuffed in there yesterday. "Just wait till' it's on."
Most of the packages contained only a single piece of equipment, and were otherwise packed with foam peanuts. We carefully removed each box and set them on the ground outside. I asked if the rain would damage any of the stuff inside, to which Trent only laughed and continued lugging out the boxes. When they were all out, Trent removed a box cutter from his pocket and went one-by-one opening them. There were eight pieces in total.
"What is it?" I asked as we fished the first item out.
"It's another apparatus, like the one inside. Except it'll mount on the ground out here."
I pulled out what looked like a metal tripod.
"Good, that'll go on the bottom."
"Where are we setting it up?"
"Over here," Trent said and stepped five paces away from the van. He coordinated himself up so he was centrally aligned with the inner ring, then stomped a few times. "This is the spot."
As we continued to work, I asked Trent about how the whole contraption works.
"Do you remember the first time we were in the van? When we had to escape from the semi-truck?" Trent asked and connected a secondary mounting apparatus on top of the tripod. It had four spider-like legs that made right angles and stuck into the ground.
"Of course," I said. "The 'phase lock'."
"Yeah," Trent said and gestured toward the metal stick that was in my hand. I handed it to him. "The phase lock is a seal on the level of energy that the van is allowed to release. It also controls its dispersion pattern so that it releases its energy in a steady wave. This allows Ava to scan for anomalies without causing us to become an anomaly." Trent stuck the plank into the neck of the tripod.
"So when you released the phase lock, we started emitting more energy."
"That's right." Trent confirmed. "Enough to create an alternate route through a different realm."
"So we blinked into a different realm, then back, just to avoid that truck?"
"That's right."
"But why couldn't we just move out of the way?"
"Because it had locked onto us. It was tracking our motion and adjusting its course based on the amount of energy we were emitting. So in order to escape, we had to radically skew our potential energy and then use it to shift."
"Couldn't he have just followed us?"
Trent connected four more pieces to the device which now looked like an elaborate teepee. He was fishing in the last box when he spoke again. "Yeah, he could have. But it was highly improbable that he would have found us." Trent returned from the bottom of the box with another silver ring in hand. "Think of it like this. Let's say you're trying to escape from some bad guy who's coming after you, and you enter a new room you've never seen before. Would you prefer this room to have three doors to go through, or ten?"
I thought about his riddle for a second, then responded, "It depends where they go."
Trent fastened the ring atop the teepee. "Let's say they all lead to random places, or let's say they're all closets that lead nowhere. The key is that more is better, because the more doors he has to check, the less likely he is to pick the correct one. Make sense?"
"So we opened up a bunch of doors and escaped through one at random?"
"Hence the gear 'TD', for 'Trap Door'."
I marveled at the insights, but not for long. Trent hopped back in the van and pulled a lever that I hadn't seen until now. The two metal arms raised the inner ring until it was perpendicular with the altar. Then Trent clicked one of three red buttons along the back wall, and I saw what looked like a large, glass eye suspended in a magnifying glass protruding from the wall, aligned with the center of both rings. A couple seconds later, the glass eye began to focus the energy which was being fed to it from the pneumatic tubes, and a blue pyramid of light projected from it into the first ring, then from the first ring into the second ring. All three pieces were aligned at slightly diminishing heights, so the cylinder of light beamed through the second ring, into the ground.
"Alright, time for the first trial."
I felt the nerves starting up in my stomach. Trent sensed this and hopped out of the truck. It was raining quite hard now, though it was still warm. Both Trent and I were soaked, but that hardly concerned us. He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder. "I know you're feeling scared." He said. "But trust me on this. You're going to do fine. Just keep in mind what we talked about. Stay a spectator. Okay?"
I looked into his blue eyes, which seemed especially gray in the dark. Still, Trent's voice was reassuring. All I had to do was trust him. Trust myself. Trust my dad. And it was all going to turn out right.
"I'm ready," I said.
Trent was still for a second, holding my eyes in his. Then he guided me behind the outer ring and into the cylinder of light.
"I should step into it now?" I asked, afraid I'd be called away immediately.
"It's not on yet, so don't worry. I still have to press another button."
I followed Trent's instructions and stood in the blue light which was centered on my chest. Then I watched as Trent ran into the back of the van and posted up next to the glass eye. "Ready?" He yelled out. It was hard to hear him over the rain, but I yelled back. "Ready!"
The next thing I saw was a blinding blue light beam from the van. I heard what sounded like a laser, then saw the cylinder oscillate, expanding and compressing. When the energy reached the second ring, I saw everything around me light up—it looked brighter than noon on a cloudless day. Then the oscillations made their way to me, and I was swallowed up whole.
***
When I came to, I was in the backseat of a car. I felt my butt rumbling. Everything was dim and quiet. And then I heard a woman's voice from in front of me.
"Mark, please, not with Lauren in the back."
The man, who I now identified as my father, pulled the cigarette away from his lips and blew the smoke at my mom. He eyed the back seat where I was sitting, using one of five markers that hadn't rolled off my lap to color a rabbit in my animal color book.
"The kid's fine." he said and took another drag.
"Mark," my mom repeated.
I saw my dad raise his hand in a rapid motion. "I said she's fine, Cheryl. Now check the map and make sure we're going the right away. I can't see shit with all this fog."
I took a moment to make sure I was really in the back seat. I patted myself. I clearly had weight. Then I tried touching the car. At first, my fingertips met a solid surface, but when I tried to press through, my hand slipped into the car. I quickly pulled my hand away as if I had reached into a fire.
That's when I heard the little three year old next to me start crying. I turned and saw that little-me had dropped another couple markers onto the ground and was struggling to reach them.
"Hey!" my dad shouted. "What did I say about crying?"
"Quit it, Mark. She just dropped her markers." said my mom; she turned to help me pick them up.
"What did you say to me?" Mark spat with a voice full of guile. He reached out and pushed her back into her seat. "Don't," he commanded. "She has to learn how to deal with life."
"Deal…" My mom started in disbelief. "Deal with life? Do you hear yourself? What's gotten into you?"
"Sometimes shit happens. It doesn't give her the right to cry. You helping her is just going to reinforce her behavior."
"Her behavior? What about your behavior? You're acting like a total dick."
I didn't even have a moment to react before my dad's hand was across my mom's face. I felt the slap more than I heard it, my own face seeming to swell with the force of the blow. I saw my mom cover her mouth and lean away. Then little-me began to cry even louder, which only challenged my dad to step up his own volume.
"Everyone needs to get a fucking grip before I crash this car." My dad shouted and took another drag. The scariest part was I couldn't tell if he was warning us or threatening us. I felt the sudden urge to do something. There was no way this was real. I was definitely in some fantasy concocted by the demon. He wanted to turn me against my dad. That was the only explanation for something like this. My dad was a good man, not… this.
As I contemplated what to do, I saw a small, golden light appear behind little-me's window. Apparently she saw it, too, because her cries hushed as she traced the wisp with her eyes. After a second, the wisp transformed into a bunny rabbit, reminiscent of the one she was coloring. The rabbit hopped alongside the window, then did a couple circles in place. I watched little me let out a playful laugh and reach toward the window.
"What's going on back there?" my dad asked with a scowl. Apparently the only sound more disturbing than cries were laughs.
I looked back to the front and saw my mom wiping blood from her lip. Her expression was miserable. "Leave her alone, Mark."
"I'll do whatever I damn well want to do, Cheryl. It's my kid back there."
My mom was quiet.
When I looked back toward the rabbit, it was no longer a rabbit but a person. Or at least it looked like a person. The figure radiated pure gold, and atop his head was what appeared to be a King's crown. I recalled Allison's experience of seeing the sun-like figure in her moment of distress. Was that what was happening here? Was this really all true?
"Hey!" My dad shouted, eyeing little-me from the rear-view mirror. "What are you reaching at?"
I looked and saw the golden figure extending his hand toward the window, and little me's hand was reaching back. "Mom, dad, it bright." little-me said.
"What's bright, honey?" my mom asked.
"Don't encourage her, Cheryl."
"Someone there!" little me shouted happily and dropped the rest of the markers and the coloring book onto the ground.
"Who's there?" asked my mom.
"Cheryl, I swear to God. Sit the fuck down."
Everything from that moment on happened so quickly I barely had any time to process it. My mom lifted out of her seat to either get little me's attention or help me pick up my coloring book. My dad responded by grabbing onto her throat, letting go of the steering wheel entirely. He threw her back against the car door, and her head hit the window so hard, the glass cracked. My dad had dropped his cigarette, and I could smell smoke coming from under his seat, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. He turned toward little-me at the same moment my three-year-old hand reached out and grabbed onto the golden figure, whose hand diffused through the window. When my dad turned, I got a whiff of the most awful smell that I wouldn't have been able to place had I not had that nightmare last night. He grabbed onto little-me's shoulder and tugged her away from the golden figure that was trying to pull her the other way. My dad's facade began to crack, and I could see those dark bugs crawling out from the pores in his arms, marching down toward little-me.
I reacted.
I grabbed onto my dad's arm and pulled him off little-me. I heard the sound of my shirt ripping as she was torn from his grip and pulled out of the car, diffusing through it like a ghost. My brief victory was immediately overturned as I saw what was now clearly the demon smiling at me, his wretched fingers curled around my forearm.
"Caught you," He sneered.
Then the whole world once again diffused into countless numbers of particles, only this time, instead of riding through it, I felt like I was falling through an elevator shaft with each floor darker than the last. The further I fell, the less I became aware of my surroundings, and the more I felt a deep sense of loneliness. It was as if I was the only person in the whole world: and the whole world was a prison designed entirely for me. This went on for so long, I began to forget who I was. Where I was. What was.
And then I landed.
***
Source Used:
Jung, Carl. Synchronicity. Translated by Sonu Shamdasani, Princeton University Press, 2010.

Is there such a thing as finding too much treasure?
The Jonsie Burrows: Help Wanted 2: Tables of contents
Previous part: 8.9.
​
The new room could only be described as unfinished, you thought to yourself. You were passing under an arch of a building on your way through here and saw that hanging from it were supposed to be two drooping ropes with flags(or whatever this is supposed to be), but instead, you saw a purple digital polygonal imitation of it.
Other purple digital polygonal objects took the appearance of other real things in the area, but they lacked the what?-factor of the digital floating purple particles or what was going on with the ceiling of the room as it was a just purple grid. (Welcome to the AR world Jeremy. Glitchtrap's twisted wonderland.)
But this was all a distraction from the newly introduced threat in the form of Moon, as now you sought targets that prevent his deadly approach to your ride, all while you heard his chuckles.
In the next room, the situation was the same, except you saw different varieties of purple digital things pouring into the area. (Nice! it's the Princess Quest 3 purple pattern from Vanny's room and the purple arching energy from the wrecking ball in Roxy Raceway! I didn't notice them on the first watchthrough of the game, so it's nice to see and know what that connection is. Though now that I'm thinking about it, it's so weird that Princess Quest 4 shows no connection to anything, unlike its prequel.
Is it because the FNAF6's Pizzeria is so digitally distorted by Glitchtrap in the network that it doesn't show the tell-tale signs of the AR world or is it because the Pizzeria's sub-network isn't as connected to the greater network. Hmm... Something to look into later.)
As you continued to move through the area you saw more and more purple things just crawling throughout as you kept alert for specific targets to stall Moon. (Where in the world is this place? There's no such location we visit in Ruin that has this much wrecking ball energy flowing through it.)
But as you gazed about, you immediately spotted a blue blast-shaped button ahead and above on an arch. It's just like what the "message" depicted! Quickly you pointed your hand cannon at it and shot a couple times until you hit it. You were definitely on the right track now.
Passing under it, you were getting close to the double doors that lead to the next area, though curiously you saw purple digital particles that unlike before, were dripping from the ceiling like the floor above you was flooded.
(Okay, the only place that had to drip purple particles like this was the Upper East Server. That in addition to the purple grid on the ceiling above us, tells me we're directly under it, or really near to it. That sorta makes sense, because Foxy Log Ride is in/next to Glamrock Salon which is right next to the Upper East Server. It's so cool to be able to piece that together!)
But surprisingly, after going through those double doors, you were right back on the track heading towards a familiar area you had been to the first time you did this. Did the alternate paths weave in and out of the standard path? That must be it, you thought as you got all of the targets and headed to the next area where the train robbery scene takes place.
Immediately, after the lights flickered back on from the transitional darkness but before you enter the train robbery. You spotted another Helpy cutout and quickly shot it before you passed it.
Passed the train robbery scene is where you expected the path to diverge to the glitched route as you had taken to calling them, and lo and behold, as soon as you had gone through the train and through the double door at the end of it, you found yourself in a new area.
You heard Captain Foxy's voice once again as you entered the new route. "We be not responsible for any maimings that might happen on this here path." If you haven't already had a trip through an alternate path before, you're sure you'll be questioning how you would be maimed during the ride.
Your ride strolled ahead and entered chambers where you now had to shoot the targets to closed doors and block the Moon, rather than to earn points. However, as you did this, you heard people's laughter replacing the general ambiance of the ride. (I wonder if there's something with this.)
In these chambers, you shot another blue blast-shape button that you saw above near the ceiling, while you defended yourself from Moon's relentless drive to get to you on the ride.
But you eventually persevered through it all and made it back to the normal track again where you collected yourself by shooting at targets without worrying about the threat of Moon. But too soon to you, you found another Helpy cutout, which you shot of course, and was once again heading towards the dangerous alternate path. (Oh, I forgot to mention that these specific Helpy cutouts can be found in the original Pirate Ride in Help Wanted. And in Monty Golf and Superstar Daycare in Ruin. I wonder if Vanny had moved them there after the Help Wanted 2?)
This time noted by Captain Foxt with a simple "Overboard!"
The alternate path this time had no laughing ambiance and had you getting up close and personal with a dancing Moon unless you shot all the targets to make him go away from the platforms near where your ride gets the closest to them by turning on the lights. (Hmm... could this be a point against 1983 Moon? Why would 83 Moon be affected by light still? Also, is the laughing important? A hint to something?)
Another blue blast-shaped button was found and shot while on this path of constant danger, but with skill, awareness, and luck, you managed to get through it all. (Yeah I know there are gravestones in this specific area, but I'm not sure if it's referencing the missing 5 plus Charlie gravestone or if it's just props.)
Now you were back on the normal track, and as went through the next two areas you knew that the ride was coming to an end as you came upon the familiar comforting scene of Foxy and Chica along with other animals surrounding a cake and celebrating as you heard Captain Foxy say, "And the real treasure was friendship along."
(Both the scene and Captain Foxy's exact words are a call back to the original Pirate Ride in the first Help Wanted)
But as you stared at the scene, you finally realized that the cake itself had a blue blast-shaped button on it and proceeded to shoot it. To think that you were looking at it and didn't even realize it the first time you came through here. But now it's all over and you can finally see your improved score and get back to the restaurant.
Yet, as the lights flickered off and you moved forward in the darkness, you noticed something was wrong. The western-theme ambiance that was always there on the normal path came to an abrupt halt and left only silence and the everpresent noise of shifting water in its departure.
Suddenly the three spotlights lit up the path ahead of you, revealing to you a treasure chest on a miniscule island under the third one. As your ride got close to it, you noticed a couple of broken wooden boards on the side of the island, next to a crumple Pirate Foxy Flag.
As your ride came to a stop right next to the wooden box, it unexpectedly opened. (waaaaaaaait a minute! ITS THE CORN MAZE BOX!!! It's redesigned, but it's definitely it! Coincidently or is it Intentional? It has to be, they could have used an actual treasure chest for this, so it has to be intentional. Why? Memory Dolls... memories... William's Mask! It's the key to Glitchtrap!)
Gently, softly, the box's lid came open and a green costumed hand came out from the darkness within. The hand smoothly snaked out of the box until it was outstretched to you, revealing to you the treasure that it held in its palm. It was a doll, an unusual one at that, as it looked to be made by crocheting some wool into a human figure plushie. But stranger than that was the fact that it was wearing a Foxy mask.
You didn't know why, but you reached out to the hand, and hesitantly, grabbed the doll and watched as it poofed into purple smoke. The hand, with no doll in its grasp, sleeked backed into the box as the lid closed itself and your surroundings plunged into darkness.
Next thing you knew, the sound of celebrating cries filled your ears as you were back into the GAME WON! void. Stunned by the sudden change in your surroundings, you automatically hit the button for the crane machine to receive your prize with no thought. Your prize this time was a poster for Ballora titled DANCE!
Yet even though it was something new and interesting, your mind refused to be distracted from the bizarre event that just happened seconds ago. But no matter how much you tried to wrap your head around it, no matter how many times you tried to make sense of it, all you could blankly think is, what?
You felt strange, but you knew you had to keep moving forward. So you pressed the RETURN TO HUB button and returned to darkness to go back to the restaurant. Still, the sight of the Foxy doll never once left your mind.
Remember Jeremy? (the achievement for collecting the memory doll)
​
The achievement has twisted this Help Wanted phrase into a question. And finally, an answer was given to another. Everything is starting to make sense, but joy am I finding too much stuff! I reached my limit a couple Parts ago and now I'm beyond that!
But thankfully. Thankfully! we reached the end of Foxy Log Ride and now I can talk about Vanny, Vanessa, Jeremy, the Memory dolls, and even Glitchtrap now, because why not. What other discoveries while mentally exhausted from this stuff!
Don't worry, I know not to burn myself and take breaks. But still, I eventually have to come back to finish this, and that in itself creates mental fatigue. So let's finish this by starting with the long overdue conclusion of Double-V!
The last time we talked about this, I ended it by saying we'll go through the contradictions of Vanny's and Vanessa's character hinted in Ruin and Help Wanted 2. However, I want to go back a bit to when we were first introduced to Vanny as a character in Help Wanted the Curse of Dreabear.
It's only a few lines of dialogue, so it won't be long. Besides, Vanny apparently being a different person than Vanessa, means we can't exactly apply one's characteristics to the other. With Vanny only having so few lines and cameos in Security Breach, she is basically, completely unknown to us.
So what dialogue we know comes from her, needs to be under even heavy scrutiny for any hints of the personality and characteristics of our new villain.
Before we even start with her dialogue, something interesting has already happened in the preceding events. By finding and resembling the secret tapes and doing exactly what Tape Girl says in the final tape we attain the glitchy Glitchtrap plushie
"There is a way to kill it. It wants to escape. To escape through someone. Someone plugged into this game. That's you now. You have to let it begin the process of leaving through you, then use the disconnect switch that I've embedded by the main stage. Let it approach you. Let it begin to merge with you. Play the music and flip the switch*.* That will cause a hard restart of the game and flush the memory, effectively killing it, I hope. I don't know when it will come for you." -Tape 16
Now, we already know that this does not work at all in the slightest, as this method instead has Glitchtrap trapping and locking you up as he is let out of the game through the player's body that he now has control of. Digital Consciousness Transfer.
Next with the installment of the DLC, we acquire William Afton's old mask from the Corn Maze minigame after finding all four keys and the secret glitchy fifth key and head to the cellar where we discover the mask on a table on a candle.
With both of the items together worn and held respectively, we can hear the secret dialogue and the voice of Vanny for the very first time.
“Yes, I hear you. I know... No. There's no miscommunication... I understand... Yes, I have it. I made it myself. I think you would like it... No, no one suspects anything... Don't worry, I'll be ready, and I won't let you down. It will be fun.”
This means that the event that Vanny met Glitchtrap was, in fact, the ending of Help Wanted where you follow through on Tape Girl's deceptive instructions on digital transferring with Glitchtrap!
But right here, is where a slight problem occurs in the narrative of Vanny's story in the games. Vanny still has control of her body, she's still capable of defying Glitchtrap. Something that's been made clear to me through both Ruin and Help Wanted 2, is that Glitchtrap doesn't control Vanny at all.
Does he influence her? Yes. We see that in the way her costume is directly referencing him and the way she moves and dances.
Does he control her, however, that is where things get shaky. Because at this point in time, there hasn't been a single instance where Vanny is seen as someone being controlled.
Remember, we can't use anything that has to do with Vanessa to show that Vanny is being manipulated or controlled. So where in the new era games can you find Glitchtrap controlling Vanny?
You can't.
Does this mean she's doing this out of her own will? That is something that might've been more nuanced than what we all had perceived. Because I did it again, I've found more stuff! This time it's something important that everyone has missed in Help Wanted and it might well be the true origins of Vanny.
You see the base game of Help Wanted actually has a third ending to it. Or at least something that should be an ending. Besides, just completing all the minigames to get stuffed inside Freddy and following Tape Girl's 16th tape instruction, there's something else you can do that involves Glitchtrap.
That is let Glitchtrap complete the process of leaving through you.
I'm sure some of you are confused by what I'm talking about, but it's the sequence where you press the button and flip the switch, leading to the ending where Glitchtrap locks you up. I'm saying instead of doing that, do nothing and watch what happens next.
A blaring noise could be heard asGlitchtrap stretched his hand out to you. He spoke distortedly and unintelligible, while green cones of energy flowed out from him and toward you. In seconds, Glitchtrap's eyes turned red, the blaring noise increased its volume, and the energy cones became purple while your view became clouded in a purple haze. Soon purple spots began to appear on Glitchtrap's body, as the noise became too loud to your ears, and the energy cones became red as your vision was almost nothing but purple. Soon even Glitchtrap started to disappear into the purple as his body became pixelated by the purple, leaving only his general outline until even that became purple.
Finally, after your purple vision grew flickering bright and the blaring noise ceased, your vision slowly returned to you, accompanied by music and the sound of static from a monitor. (That's the same music that plays if you press the button on the side of the monitor and the static sound you're hearing is specifically from FNAF's 2 game over static.)
At first, your purple view distorted itself with pixels before the purple started to fade slightly as you could see the hub world. But your perspective was wrong, you were staring from the opposite side of where you were sitting, while the place you once stood at was empty.
Your vision, still overlayed with purple while distorted and pixelated, looked down as you brought your hands up. Your hands which were always outlined and seethrough, now looked solid and were covered by gloves of a familiar costume that you were just staring at a couple seconds ago.
As the purple started to overwhelm your distorted and pixelated vision again as you stared at your— Glitchtrap's hands, your mind was finally able to recognize the words that were being spoken to you by him.
"Can you hear me?"
If you want to see this for yourself, then I have two Youtubers that I managed to find, that did this. 99TH VR and 8-bitRyan.
After this, you're taken to the GAME OVER void. But what's unique about this void is that the monitor here never displays any quotes, no matter how many times you do this.
This ending that should've been, along with what "Tape Girl" said before finally reveal what exactly Vanny is.
"—Let it approach you. Let it begin to merge with you. —." -Tape 16
A merger, a fusion of two different beings, that's what Vanny is! This is why I was having so much trouble trying to figure out how Vanny came to be from the two "endings" we get from Help Wanted. The answer is neither of the two. She mostly came from the failed Tape Girl instructions scenario where Glitchtrap completes his merger with someone to get out of the game.
It also explains why we see gigantic Vanny in Help Wanted 2's consequences ending and adds even more reason why an altered EnemyBasic appears on her wall in the AR world! Vanny herself is not infected as we first believed, but rather a fused entity between Glitchtrap and someone else.
With this origin, she would still be able to traverse and interact with things connected to the network if she's plunged into it.
And considering what she's wearing in Security Breach and that the Security Mask and the occipital transponder are a technology that exists now in the current FNAF lore. She has every way she needs to stay connected to the Pizzaplex's network. But let's get back to her dialogue and dissect it.
"Yes, I hear you. I know... No. There's no miscommunication... I understand... Yes, I have it. I made it myself. I think you would like it... No, no one suspects anything... Don't worry, I'll be ready, and I won't let you down. It will be fun.”
We can immediately pinpoint a characteristic of Vanny with the entirety of this dialogue, willing and eager to please. I would also put young in that description, but I don't if it's because she's actually young here or that the voice actress has a bit of a youth tone to their voice.
Anyway, the "Yes, I have it. I made it myself. I think you would like it" part of her dialogue was already analyzed by me before, but let me elaborate on something I've been thinking about.
William's Mask has to be in the current Fazbear Entertainment's possession because the pizzaplex hasn't been built yet or is in the middle of being constructed by the time of Help Wanted's development or release since Cassie herself refers to it as an "old headset game", so the Security Mask isn't around just yet.
What I'm thinking here is that Vanny had come across it sometime to use as a reference for her costume. And make no mistake, Vanny's mask is making a callback to it as it's only a slight redesign and recolor to make it her own. Even Cassie makes notes of Vanny's mask being similar to the Security Mask by how she mistakes them for being the same.
But that doesn't sound right. Vanny wasn't working with Fazbear Entertainment when she met Glitchtrap, just under them through the second development team. Plus, most of the game was developed under a different team until it was in its beta version while Vanny's team had just come in to finish it to release it.
We have already seen what an object created solely by Glitchtrap looks like in Help Wanted in the form of his plushies, so we already know that he didn't recreate the mask in the game.
So maybe I'm thinking about this the wrong way. Both the mask and Grimm Foxy show up in Princess Quest, and we have already established how both important relate to William and Glitchtrap. And both are what are needed to destroy Glitchtrap.
Where did we first see that Mask? Not in the Help Wanted base game but in the Halloween DLC. That means the game was still being worked on even after its release, so Vanny would've had time to model this mask into the game. But why? I think these game-over quotes that show up only in Dreadbear are a clue.

• Report glitches before they spread.
• Don't look behind you.
• It's only a dream.
• Where am I?
• Purging system...

The report glitches quote, easily fits with what Vanny is talking about in with the "No, no one suspects anything." The "Where am I" part is intriguing, but I don't think I can pin that to Vanny. Hmm... I wonder if this is where our Golden Princess comes to be. It's something to look into later.
It's the "Purging system" part that is what I want to focus on here. This provides the needed explanation for things being the way they are now. Glitchtrap, the one that's not merged into Vanny, might've started running rampant during the DLC development, causing either Fazbear Entertainment or Vanny's development team to focus entirely on shutting him down.
The purging of the system might've been their solution for him. This might've worked too if Vanny wasn't already created by the time of the purging. And since Vanny is working under Glitchtrap here, she would've been in the perfect position to take Glitchtrap and everything he contains out of Help Wanted and into a developing game called Princess Quest(Working Title). Though, Vanny might've rushed the job under such circumstances, taking part of The Curse of Dreadbear's code along with Glitchtraps into the new game.
But that's all for now, I'll talk about that more when we get Princess Quest 4.
"I'll be ready, and I won't let you down. It will be fun.” This right here, more than anything, tells us that Vanny is not so much reluctant but more following in the Glitchtrap's order than we all first believed. But we shouldn't be so surprised about it.
Vanny's previous alias, "Reluctant Follwer", didn't come from any of the games, books, or even Scott's website but instead came from voices.com, a website Scott uses to find voice actors. The name is used as a guide for the actor and a descriptor for how the voice should be toned and acted.
The name is an oversimplification of a character for how they're going to sound in the one game they appear in, not all. So the name "Reluctant Follwer" would've only applied to Vanny in this game.
And as we see from Security Breach, Vanny is anything but reluctant to follow Glitchtrap's order. Yet after that game and as of Ruin and HW2, that name might been more appropriate now than it was back then as there appears to be a rift now between the two. But more on that at a later.
One last thing. With this origin in place, we now have another explanation for why we only hear Vanny's side of the conversation and not Glitchtrap's. We are hearing Glitchtrap's side of that conversation, he is her. It's the reason why her voice becomes echoey in her final word, fun.
Now let's finally get into the ties between Vanessa and the villains. Though...
​
Shoot! I made it too big again! Continue on here Part 8.999

Group Cover Photo w/ Screen name
[FS][US/CANADA] Hermès 2424 Mini in Beige de Weimer Evercolor and Etoupe Swift PHW
Selling Price: $755 CAD / $550 USD
Original purchase price: 4200 CNY = $813 CAD / $580 USD
Shipping cost: FREE Shipping Included, shipped via CANADA POST
Payment method: Interac E-Transfer for Canadians (PayPal FF for USA)
SelleSource: DDmode
Factory: DDmode
Condition of item: Purchased directly from DDmode in March 2023. Gently used but in excellent condition - leather has some minor creasing no scratches. Hardware has moderate scratching from opening and closing flap. Strap is in perfect condition and has not been used (I only ever used a different thick strap from my Evelyne PM) Please do your own QC. Includes Dustbags, Box, Protective Felt and Tissue Paper
Reason for selling: Closet Clearout - Stunning but reaching for larger bags these days
Photos:
Cover Photo w/ Screen name
Photos
POP
My Feedback:
Feedback
Feedback
DISCLAIMER: ALL SALES FINAL. I will package securely and ship within 48 hours and provide tracking. Once it is shipped, I will not be held responsible for lost/stolen/confiscated packages. Please also do your own QC.
[FS][US/CANADA] Hermès Mini Jypsiere in Gris Meyer SWIFT PHW
Selling Price: $590 CAD / $429 USD
Original purchase price: 3400 CNY = $657 CAD / $469 USD
Shipping cost: FREE Shipping Included, shipped via CANADA POST
Payment method: Interac E-Transfer for Canadians (PayPal FF for USA)
SelleSource: DDmode
Factory: DDmode
Condition of item: Purchased directly from DDmode April 2023. Gently used and in excellent condition - leather has some minor creasing no scratches. Hardware in excellent condition (very faint scratches but hardly visible). Please do your own QC. Includes Dustbags, Box (Damaged from sticker DDmode put on) and Tissue Paper
Reason for selling: Closet Clearout - Stunning but reaching for larger bags these days
Photos:
Cover Photo w/ Screen name
Photos
POP
My Feedback:
Feedback
Feedback
DISCLAIMER: ALL SALES FINAL. I will package securely and ship within 48 hours and provide tracking. Once it is shipped, I will not be held responsible for lost/stolen/confiscated packages. Please also do your own QC.