How to knit the clam shell stitch
Cross Stitch
2010.04.28 02:48 transcendhate Cross Stitch
Cross Stitch - a home for stitchers, finished objects (FOs), works-in-progress (WIPs), patterns, and more!
2008.01.25 06:38 #!/bin/bash
Wake me up when September ends.
2011.11.11 05:04 Fraktul 「攻殻機動隊」Ghost in the Shell
「攻殻機動隊」Ghost in the Shell A futuristic, police/noir thriller, set around the mid-21st Century, dealing with the reality of corporate power structures, and cyber terrorism, against a backdrop of technological advancement, and transhumanist cyberisation, in a Neo-Japanese state.
2024.04.27 15:54 PlasmaShovel Needle in The Haystack 11
This is the aforementioned wholesome chapter. And it's even more wholesome because Reddit decided not to destroy the formatting this time. Yippie!
Anyway, it's been harder to get back into the swing of things writing wise than I thought, but it is happening. The next chapter after this one is a real treat, because it's a new POV that I really enjoy. Not gonna tell you who just yet, you'll have to wait until next week for that ;)
Many thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for the universe.
- Memory Transcription Subject: Meba, Venlil Computer Scientist
Date [Standardized Human Time]: October 19th, 2136
“It is.” Arlene smiled, close lipped, to spare me from fright.
I felt… better, sitting on the floor, with furniture strewn about like shredded documents, dust caught in my coat, talking with my friend. Yes, friend. I made a friend.
Are you sure?
And if it was an illusion, it was good enough to fall for.
Avoiding death is worth being alone.
Is it?
I hated that I still didn’t feel completely safe around her. My stupid instincts were still flaring up, and I was still having those thoughts. At least I was in control of myself for the moment.
I just need to look at it logically. If she didn’t have empathy, she wouldn’t be able to engage with me on this level. And if it was, improbable as it is, fake, then there would be nothing to gain from acting angry with me. There have been no cases of human on venlil violence. I’ve seen her eat vegetables, so why am I still scared?
“Meba, you there?” Her face was right in front of mine.
I flinched a little. “Sorry, I was thinking.”
“Well, I was thinking too. We should clean up this mess.”
I looked around at my trashed apartment. “Yes, we probably should.”
Arlene’s strength was impressive, and with her help, we got the heavy furniture righted in no time, and the dressers and drawers back into their spots, the reading chair turned back around, and the books back on the shelf. Underneath where the couch was sitting was the wool doll Arlene gave me. I was sure I left it on a shelf in the bedroom.
“Oh, you found Alexander.” Arlene picked it up off the ground. “You know, he was very grumpy when you left him on the shelf. He’s supposed to be good luck.” She pressed the doll into my paws. “You’re supposed to bring him along with you.”
“Why do you keep calling the doll a ‘he’? It’s not a real person.”
She shrugged. “It makes them cuter. Also humans can make emotional connections with pretty much anything, so that helps too I guess.”
“With inanimate objects?”
“Well, we go crazy pretty quickly if we don’t have company, so in a survival situation people usually draw faces on an object, or talk to an imaginary friend, or something like that.”
I tilted my head. “Humans are pretty lonely, aren’t they?”
She chuckled. “I guess you could say that. We’ve been looking for friends for a pretty long time. Anyway, I expect you to carry him with you from now on. In your bag or something.”
I wondered if she actually thought the doll would somehow protect me, or if it was just a gesture. Somewhere in her voice was glint of seriousness, like it was going to save my life or something. Maybe humans were superstitious? I’d have to ask about that later.
“If it makes you feel better.”
“It does. Now say sorry for leaving him on your shelf.”
I looked up at Arlene. “I’m not gonna do that.”
“Come on, you left him all on his lonesome.” She made some weird expression that was supposed to elicit pity, raising her eyebrows and lowering her lips.
I sighed. “I’m sorry for leaving you on my shelf…”
“Say his name.”
A bloom spread across my face. “Ugh… Alexander.”
“His full name.”
I glared at Arlene. “I’m gonna get you back for this.”
“Sure, sure.” She cooed.
“The brave and respectable Alexander of Sunbrook.” I could feel my brain shriveling up as the words left my mouth.
“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“What just happened does not leave this room.”
“Whatever you say, big man.” She shrugged, stifling a laugh.
I stuffed the doll into my bag, now discovering that my appetite was back, and that I still hadn’t eaten a single thing this paw. My stomach made a noise that was akin to a shadestalker growling at cornered prey. The fruit in my bag, though bruised, was looking very tasty.
Speaking of food.
“Arlene?” I grabbed the fruits out of my bag. “I was meaning to ask you something.”
“Oh yeah?” She was sitting on the couch now.
“I sort of agreed to have a meal with this guy and his exchange partner. I wanted to know if you could come along.”
“Hold on, you agreed to this before you realized I wasn’t trying to eat you?”
My face turned orange again. “W-well, yeah. I was sort of pressured into it.” I fidgeted with my claws. “I was sort of hoping that you would end up fighting each other if he tried anything.”
“Pffft!” She burst out laughing.
“I-I’m sorry… I know it’s stupid.”
She strained to stop. “Sorry, sorry, it’s just, that’s pretty ridiculous.”
“Yeah…”
“So, what’s this guy’s name?”
“The venlil’s is Gram, and the human’s is Tommy.”
“Sure, I’ll come along. Just give me a little more of a heads up this time so I can actually get ready.”
“Thank you! I was worried you wouldn’t want to go with me.”
“Of course I do. Who else will protect you from the vile predator?”
“It’s not like that anymore!”
“Meba, I’m just teasing you.”
“O-oh.”
“I’ll stop if you want.”
“No, it’s… I don’t know. I don’t want you to feel like you have to act differently around me.”
She smiled, eyes narrowing, in a full face scrunch. “I’m glad we met.”
Through the fear, I felt the same. “Me too.”
I sat down on the couch next to her, and started eating my food.
“You know, I’ve been wondering. Why are you so much fluffier than the other venlil?”
“Huh?”
“I’ve seen hundreds of different venlil by now, but none of them are really as woolly as you. Lots of them don’t really have wool at all, just normal fur. Also your coat is way darker than others.”
“Oh. It’s because my family was from the night.”
“The night? Oh, duh. I always forget those are places for you. So it’s like an environmental thing?”
“Sort of. My ancestors lived in the night, so we have thicker coats, and darker fur for camouflage. The living conditions while you’re growing up are also a factor, but it’s mostly genes. Day-side venlil usually have more sandy colored coats, and thinner, slicker fur. Those are just extremes though, there’s all sorts of variations in the green.”
“That’s awesome.”
I shrugged. “I guess. I’ve never given it much thought before. Is my wool really that noticeable?”
“I don’t know about venlil, but to me you stick out like a sore thumb. Your fluff is unmatched. To be honest, it’s hard not to touch it.”
“You have to stop yourself from touching me?”
Her face flushed a pinkish color. “Um, it’s complicated. Er, no it’s not, but I don’t know how to explain it.” She scratched at the back of her head. “When we see cute things, it activates our protective instincts.”
I almost spit out my food. “Protective instincts?”
“Yeah, it makes me want to baby you. Our brains release dopamine when we interact with things we find cute.”
“And this urge is so great that you have trouble keeping it in check?”
“I wouldn’t go that far. It’s not hard to ignore, but I do want to pet you.”
“Pet?” I finished my food.
“I did it on the ride back here, but you didn’t like it, so I won’t do it anymore.”
A thought crossed my mind. “If I let you pet me, would this urge be satisfied?”
She knitted her brow. “You don’t have to. I know it makes you uncomfortable.”
“You just startled me last time. I don’t mind. After all, I’ve ‘pet’ you, right?”
“Fair enough.” She smiled.
Arlene raised a hand towards my head, and I flinched, though I was trying not to. She paused, then retracted her hand.
“Meba, it’s not a big deal. I don’t have to pet you.”
I grabbed her wrist. I wasn’t going to let my instincts get the better of me. “Yes you do.” I pulled her hand back towards my head.
She sighed. “You’re pushing yourself too hard.”
“Nuh uh.” I replied.
Arlene rested her hand on the top of my head. “Yuh huh.” She started ruffling my fur, going back and forth, eventually moving her hand back behind my ears, and scratching me with her dull claws. She switched to the other ear, then moving slowly back up my scalp.
“W-whoa…” I stammered out, completely stunned by pleasant sensation.
“Feel good?” Arlene brought her other hand to my face, and grasped both my ears, gently massaging the areas around them, using just the right amount of force.
My brain drained itself of any latent fear chemicals, as I instinctually leaned into the contact. “Myeah.” The word came out almost slurred.
I closed my eyes, full of bliss. Arlene put a hand on my back, kneading around my shoulder blades, while the other found its way under my chin, scratching again with those dull nails that felt so nice. Stress that I didn’t even know I had was draining out of the myriad bottles it was stuffed in. Before I knew it, my bones were turning to slush, and my muscles were unraveling into piles of yarn. I started drooping, and soon splayed out on the couch.
Once I was laying down, she switched to long slow passes all the way from my crown of my head to my lower back, with fingers running through wool so gently you’d be forgiven for missing it.
This is to lower your guard, so she can eat you! Surely! Any second now… any second. Okay, maybe not. This is pretty nice actually.
In my chest, old gears strained to turn, fibers twitched, testing their give, and dusty muscles started rumbling, reverberating out from the trunk, to the ribs, bouncing off each bone, rattling the jelly that was now my skeleton, and escaping out of my chest, making a sound I hadn’t since before I moved to Sunbrook. I hadn’t felt this calm in so long.
She paused. “Oh my god, are you purring right now? Do venlil purr?”
I opened an eye, slightly annoyed that she stopped. “Some of us. It’s a genetic thing.”
Arlene’s jaw dropped, and for a second I thought it would continue falling all the way to the floor. “It is a good thing, right?”
“Yes.” My tail was betraying my impatience for more. “Can you continue?”
She continued with the same long strokes down my back. A lone tear rolled down her cheek. “I don’t deserve such bliss.”
“Mmm…” I wasn’t really listening.
“It’s like someone designed you to be the cutest living thing possible.”
I might have bloomed if I wasn’t basically unconscious by this point. I think my brain was next on the list of things to melt. Whatever I was thinking about before dissolved like salt stirred in warm water.
She continued for what felt like forever. Almost. Sadly, the experience wouldn’t last forever.
I looked up at her. “Why’d you stop?”
“My arms are tired.”
Dang.
“Dang.” I collected my resolve, and peeled myself off the couch, back to a sitting position. “Can all humans do that?”
“Yes.”
“Are humans magic?”
“Maybe a little.” She chuckled.
This isn’t so bad.
“So, you’re satisfied?”
“Yes, very.”
I kicked my legs against the couch, head empty.
What now?
“I’ve still got a bunch of time, since the bookstore is closed. Do you want to do something?”
“Oh, that reminds me. I was going to teach you how to crochet.” She stood up from the couch. “Let me pop over to my apartment real quick and grab some yarn.”
I grabbed her by the coat. “Wait, the exterminators might still be lurking.”
Her smile disappeared. “Really?”
“Maybe. Let me check the hallway.” I made my way to the door and, after undoing the locks, took a peak down both ends. The hallway was empty, with no signs of activity. “I think it’s safe.”
“Okay,” She slid past me. “be back in a jiffy.” She took one large step, and shoved her key into the lock, getting past the door just as fast.
And a few paws ago, I would have been the one calling the exterminators.
I shut the door, leaving it unlocked so she could get back in. A few moments later, the door opened with a soft click, followed by footsteps.
“Sorry that took so long. I didn’t remember where I put the hooks, so I had to dig through a bunch of drawers.” She held in her hands a ball of yarn, and a set of metal sticks.
“No worries. What are those for?”
“Crochet. It’s kinda like knitting.”
“What’s knitting?”
She smirked. “It’s kinda like crochet.”
“That’s not very helpful.”
“You’ll get it soon.” Arlene sat down on the couch, setting the yarn on the ground. “Do you know how to tie a slip knot?”
“What’s that?”
“I’ll show you.” She took the yarn in one hand, making a loop, giving it a half turn, then grabbing the standing end and pulling it through in another loop. “Like that. If you pull on the end,” Arlene pulled on the standing end, and the loop shrunk until it unraveled. “it comes undone. Give it a try.” She handed me the yarn.
“I’ll try.” I took the yarn in both hands, mimicking the loop, then grabbing the yarn and pulling it through, but the loop came undone as soon as I did so, a look of utter confusion growing on my face.
Arlene giggled. “You gotta grab the other line. It’s gotta cross over itself or there’s nothing to hold it in place.”
I bloomed a little, retrying and pulling the other side through so that it twisted up with itself, actually securing together. “I haven’t had to tie a knot in forever.”
She plucked the knot from my paws, slipping it out and undoing my work. “Good job. Do it again.”
I flicked my tail in annoyance. “But I just did it.”
“You need repetition so you’ll remember it.” She handed the yarn back.
I took it and tied the slip knot again, tightening it more than before. “There you go.”
“Thanks. Let me show you how this works. I’d tell you about the hook sizes, but I don’t think you guys use the metric system, so just know that different yarn thicknesses take different hook sizes, and the thickness of the hook determines the tightness of the stitch. This yarn is somewhere in the middle as far as weight goes.”
“You still haven’t told me what this actually is.”
“Have patience, young padawan.” Arlene grabbed one of the ‘crochet’ hooks, and stuck it through the knot, tightening it around the handle. “This is called a ‘yarn over hook’.” She twisted the hook around to grab the line, then twisting back and pulling it through the knot. There was another link in the yarn. “And this is called chaining. This is how wide your piece is going to be.”
Arlene repeated the movement, now much faster than before, chaining together 10ish loops. She had obviously done this many times before, if speed was any indication. I leaned in to get a better look.
“Now I’m gonna do what’s called a ‘singe crochet’.” She pushed the empty hook through the chain, grabbing more yarn and pulling it through. “Now you can see that there’s an extra loop here. We’re gonna yarn over hook again, and pull it through both.” She did exactly that, creating a little protrusion perpendicular to the chain. “And that is a single crochet. There’s a bunch of other stitches, but this is the most important one. To complete it, we just repeat the single crochet all the way down our foundation chain.” She repeated the motion, in a dizzying blur of twists and turns that I could barely follow. “At the end, we do another chain to turn around, and flip our work. Like so.” She did the little chain, and showed me the little rectangle of woven fabric. “Then you repeat, until it’s as long as you want.”
I wasn’t really following. “So this ‘crochet’ makes rectangles of fabric?”
“Well yes, but that’s a gross oversimplification. You can make anything: scarfs, blankets, hats, socks, sweaters, and even stuffed animals, but that requires more complicated hook work.”
“It looks hard.”
“Don’t worry, it gets easy once you know the stitch patterns. Plus, you have me to help you.” She puffed out her chest in an exaggerated gesture.
“If you say so.”
Arlene pulled on the end of the yarn, unraveling the whole sheet into nothing in a matter of seconds. “If you think it’s too difficult we could do finger knitting instead.”
“No, I think I can do this.”
“That’s the spirit.” She smiled, slapping me on the back a little too hard.
The hooks on the table were all different sizes. Unsure which to pick, I chose the one closest to the size Arlene was using.
“I’d recommend one a little thicker, at least if you plan to wear anything you make. It’ll make it more breathable.”
“We don’t really wear much.”
“I can see that.” She chuckled. “But think of how cute you’d look in a scarf, or a shawl.”
“I don’t know what either of those are.”
“Just grab a larger one.”
“Okay.” I chose another that looked to be 2 or 3 sizes larger. The metal felt cool against my paw pads.
“Go ahead and start. I’ll tell you if you’re messing anything up.”
I tied the slip knot, and tightened it around the hook. Then twisting to grab the yarn and pull it through. The hook felt awkward in my paws, like using a mouse in the wrong hand. Arlene was watching me closely, with a gaze almost as intense as when she was yelling. A shiver ran down my spine.
“Okay that’s probably long enough. Try a single crochet.”
I pushed the hook through, but before I could continue, Arlene stopped me.
“Stop real quick. I forgot to say that you need to skip the first hole when you start a row.” She pointed to the next one in the chain. “You should have gone through there.”
“Oh.” I pulled out the hook, and went through the next hole, doing a yarn over and creating a loop. “Is that good?”
“Yep. Now pull the yarn through both loops.”
I followed her instructions, and finished my first ever single crochet.
“Great job! Now you just need to do that all the way to the end of the chain.”
This is going to take forever if I want to make anything substantial.
“Do all your weaving techniques take this long?” I had to look closely at the weave to find the right holes, still putting conscious effort into the yarn overs.
“Pretty much. After you get good enough to do it without looking you can watch a movie while you do it. I used to crochet on the bus to school when I was little. I think it would be a good thing for you.”
“What do you mean?”
She blinked. “I don’t mean to me rude, but you seem like a really anxious person.”
“I-I thought you said I was brave?”
“You can be brave and anxious at the same time.” She paused. “What I mean to say, is that you could use something to help calm you down.”
“Why do you say that?”
She frowned. “The panic attack.”
Not again.
The desire to run bubbled up from my gut like bile. “I d-don’t know what you mean.”
Once again, drills in my skull, poking holes into my head. “Has this happened before?”
Why does it always come down to this?
I paused my work to look at her. “None of your business.”
She frowned. “I’m not trying to put you on the spot. I just want to help.”
“I’m fine.” I continued crocheting. “Don’t worry.”
“Whatever it is you’re going through, you don’t have to face it alone.”
“There’s nothing to face. Let’s talk about something else.” The words left a metallic taste in my mouth.
My crochet rectangle sheet thingy was about the size of my paw now. The hook was starting to move easier. The ceiling fan whirred above us, and the sun crept along the floor at imperceptible speeds, phantasmal shapes rotating through the same wobbles, over and over again.
Arlene laid back against the couch, stretching her legs. “Well, I’m gonna go see if I can get a datapad from the refugee center soon. I need to get in touch with my family, and I wouldn’t mind being able to use the internet either.”
“That’s nice. Then we can communicate from across town.”
“Yeah.” She yawned. “It’s been a while since I’ve talked to any humans. Not that you aren’t good company but… you know.”
“I wasn’t very talkative before this paw.”
“You aren’t much more talkative now.”
“That just means I’m a better listener.”
Arlene let out a bellowing laugh. “Fair enough. You know, I used to say that in middle school.”
“You weren’t always this… social?”
“No, I used to be a total wallflower. I didn’t have any friends. I would just sit in the back of class and doodle in my notebook.”
“What happened?”
“Well, it’s not a happy story, but I’ll tell you if you want.”
My curiosity was peaked. “Please.”
“Well, I was twelve years old, and it was the week before summer break. That’s the quarter of the year where there’s no school, by the way, and also the hottest time of the year.” She took a deep breath.
My single crochets were going faster now, and the hook was beginning to sit comfortably in my paw.
She exhaled. “I was super excited for the break, ‘cause my family was planning a trip to lake superior, which is the largest lake in the world. It’s really beautiful. There’s a bunch of nature trails, parks, stuff like that. Not to mention the swimming. The whole family was going to come along, including grandma.” Arlene swallowed. “It was one day before the break started when she died.”
I said nothing.
“It wasn’t painful. She died in her sleep, from natural causes. You know, old people stuff. I had never seen a corpse before.”
What?
“I was the one who found her. She was laying in bed. People often say the dead look peaceful. She didn’t. They don’t. They just stink.” She paused. “My grandma taught me everything I know about this sort of thing. We would sit by the window, knitting, crocheting, felting, whatever, for hours, just talking. She would ask me about school, I would say I didn’t like it, she would tell me to try talking to people, and then I would say she’s the only friend I need. Her eyes were always so full of pride when I said that. But it wasn’t just pride. I think she knew she didn’t have much time left. She had been pressuring me to interact with other kids more and more up until the break.” She chuckled “Sorry if I’m rambling.”
“I don’t mind.”
She half-smiled at me. “I had made a scarf for her. It was my magnum opus. I knitted it out of yarn that I spun myself, using a super pretty stitch, and I even went through the trouble of knitting a picture into it. I was so mad when she died. Not much sense in being angry at the dead, but yeah. I was angry that I wouldn’t get a chance to give her the scarf. The trip was canceled, and with the intended recipient gone, I didn’t have anyone to give the scarf to. My parents were taking it just as hard as me, maybe harder, but I made it even worse. I started skipping school, even ran away from home once.”
I glanced over to her face. Her eyes were watering.
“Sorry, this was over a decade ago, I should be over it by now.” She sniffled. “There’s this forest close to town, with a bunch of hills and stuff. It was late June, but it was a really cold summer, somewhere in the forties or fifties. Windy too. I took a sleeping bag and a bunch of supplies, and started hiking. I tried stay close to town, so I wouldn’t get lost. After four or so hours of walking, I heard crying. It was a miracle really. Like finding a needle in a haystack. There was a kid curled up against a tree, wailing like an air raid siren.”
The rectangle was almost as long as my forearm now.
“I recognized him from my history class. He was the class clown type, always getting up in your face, making jokes. I never saw him so sad before.” She rested her chin on her hands. “He was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Not enough insulation. I eventually approached him, and asked him why he was out in the forest.” She frowned. “His dad was a drunk, and he’d been beating him, so he ran away.”
I gasped. “Oh stars…”
“We talked for a while, with him shivering the whole time. I told him about my grandma, and he told me about his dad. We both ended up crying a bunch. I didn’t bring another pair of clothes, because I was a stupid twelve year old that didn’t know how to camp on my own, so I couldn’t give him anything to keep him warm. The only things I had were the sleeping bag and the scarf. I didn’t want to give him the scarf, but I did. I don’t know why, I just… he looked so small. I was out here going all scorched earth, and he was in hell everyday, still making jokes at school.” She paused.
“Anyway, I gave him the scarf, and my sleeping bag, so he wouldn’t freeze, and we shared some of the food I brought. I eventually had to go back home since I was now without a sleeping bag. Once school started again, he wore that scarf every single day, even when it was hot out, and he would go around telling people how awesome I was for making it.” She smiled. “He always acted happy around me, even though I could see the bruises his dad kept giving him. I couldn’t bring myself to be angry anymore when he was trying so hard to be happy for me.”
“One day, he came to school without the scarf. He wouldn’t even look at me. When I asked him what was wrong, he burst out into tears saying his dad burned the scarf, ans how sorry he was for losing it. It crushed me. I put days of work into that scarf, and it was gone just like that. Just like grandma. But instead of telling him that, I said it wasn’t a big deal, and that I’d make him another one.” She stopped.
“What happened then?”
“Well, I made another scarf, but I never got the chance to give it to him. His dad died, probably from alcohol poisoning or something, and he moved in with family down in Georgia. I never saw him again. For all I know, he’s dead from the bombings, or from something before that. So I was without someone to give the scarf to. Again.”
I gave her a worried look.
She laughed. “I don’t know why, but that brought me out of my shell. I started talking to people. I gave some other kid the scarf that was meant for him. Then everybody knew me as the scarf girl, so I started making more and more of them for everyone in my class.”
“What then?” The sheet was getting substantial now.
“Well, that’s the end of the story. I started joining clubs, bouncing around friend groups, that sort of thing. Just normal kid stuff. High school was the same. Everybody knew me as the person that gave out handmade scarfs for free, so I was well liked. I graduated, got a job, time passed, and all this crazy shit with first contact happened, and so here we are.” She yawned again. “Do you have any childhood stories?”
“Err, well… not really.” I lied.
“Nothing? No funny stories? No teenage mischief? It doesn’t have to be dramatic like mine.”
And here you are, reserved again. Were you lying when you called her your friend?
“Well, one time I led my class into an abandoned house.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, a test of courage type thing. I pressured eight of my classmates into joining me there at night.”
“Night?”
“I grew up on a colony world, so we had a day-night cycle.”
“Uh huh.”
I paused for a while to think of how to tell the story. Arlene was right when she said crochet was calming. It was very meditative. Through, hook, back, hook, back two, repeat. Through, hook, back, hook, back two, repeat.
“So there was this old building on a hill, out past the fields. It was all run down, with stains on the walls, and broken windows, sheet wood covering all the openings. Everybody at school thought it was haunted, or worse, infested by predators.”
Arlene rolled her eyes. “Very scary.” She picked up a crochet hook and started spinning it between her fingers.
I shrugged. “That’s just how it was.”
“I fail to see how an animal is scarier than a vengeful spirit, but I’ll humor you.”
“Well, I thought it was just a normal house, so I brought my classmates there, and we started exploring the thing. We had to squeeze past a panel of wood covering where the door would be to get in. I spearheaded the expedition, with the rest of them following behind me.”
“Sounds exciting.”
“It was scary, but I wanted to know what was inside the place. I broke us up into teams of two, and we split up to explore. I went with this gojid girl who’s name I forget, and we went straight up to the attic, while the rest of them checked the ground floor.”
“Ah, quite the lady’s man.” She nudged me in the shoulder, and I had to redo a crochet because of it.
Blood rushed to my face. “I-it wasn’t like that.”
“Sure, sure.” She smirked.
I huffed. “We climbed up this dusty old fold out ladder, which opened up into this crawlspace. I barely fit inside, and I had to exhale to move around.”
“That’s a weird ass attic.”
When the air doesn’t come, and the walls close in, will you be able to escape again?
“Y-yeah. I found a dusty old box of junk up there, but I got stuck. My classmate had to pull me out by my legs.” I shuddered at the thought.
“Jeez. What was in the box?”
“Nothing crazy. Just a bunch of rusty fasteners. It was probably left by the construction workers who built the house. But the next day, one of the people I brought told a teacher, and I got punished. My parents were super angry.”
“Wow. So you were a pretty crazy kid, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess. I was sort of the leader of my herd.”
For a while.
“Really?” She leaned forward.
“Yep.”
“Wow. So when did you move to Sunbrook?”
Don’t think about it.
“A while ago. Two or so of your years, I think.”
“Are your parents here too?”
I looked to my paws, focusing on the yarn. “They’re uh… not around.”
“Oh shit, I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright.”
Do you really mean that?
“Do you wanna talk about it?”
I don’t know.
“No.” I barely managed to squeak.
“Okay.”
I continued crocheting.
Arlene yawned for the third time. “Crap. Sorry Meba, I think we’re gonna have to cut this short. I need to get some sleep.” She scooped up the hooks from the table.
“Um, can we do this again next paw?”
“Sure. We can finish off that scarf of yours tomorrow.” She grinned.
Human teeth weren’t very pointy.
submitted by PlasmaShovel to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]
Anyway, it's been harder to get back into the swing of things writing wise than I thought, but it is happening. The next chapter after this one is a real treat, because it's a new POV that I really enjoy. Not gonna tell you who just yet, you'll have to wait until next week for that ;)
Many thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for the universe.
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Chapter 11: [insert witty chapter title here]- Memory Transcription Subject: Meba, Venlil Computer Scientist
Date [Standardized Human Time]: October 19th, 2136
“It is.” Arlene smiled, close lipped, to spare me from fright.
I felt… better, sitting on the floor, with furniture strewn about like shredded documents, dust caught in my coat, talking with my friend. Yes, friend. I made a friend.
Are you sure?
And if it was an illusion, it was good enough to fall for.
Avoiding death is worth being alone.
Is it?
I hated that I still didn’t feel completely safe around her. My stupid instincts were still flaring up, and I was still having those thoughts. At least I was in control of myself for the moment.
I just need to look at it logically. If she didn’t have empathy, she wouldn’t be able to engage with me on this level. And if it was, improbable as it is, fake, then there would be nothing to gain from acting angry with me. There have been no cases of human on venlil violence. I’ve seen her eat vegetables, so why am I still scared?
“Meba, you there?” Her face was right in front of mine.
I flinched a little. “Sorry, I was thinking.”
“Well, I was thinking too. We should clean up this mess.”
I looked around at my trashed apartment. “Yes, we probably should.”
Arlene’s strength was impressive, and with her help, we got the heavy furniture righted in no time, and the dressers and drawers back into their spots, the reading chair turned back around, and the books back on the shelf. Underneath where the couch was sitting was the wool doll Arlene gave me. I was sure I left it on a shelf in the bedroom.
“Oh, you found Alexander.” Arlene picked it up off the ground. “You know, he was very grumpy when you left him on the shelf. He’s supposed to be good luck.” She pressed the doll into my paws. “You’re supposed to bring him along with you.”
“Why do you keep calling the doll a ‘he’? It’s not a real person.”
She shrugged. “It makes them cuter. Also humans can make emotional connections with pretty much anything, so that helps too I guess.”
“With inanimate objects?”
“Well, we go crazy pretty quickly if we don’t have company, so in a survival situation people usually draw faces on an object, or talk to an imaginary friend, or something like that.”
I tilted my head. “Humans are pretty lonely, aren’t they?”
She chuckled. “I guess you could say that. We’ve been looking for friends for a pretty long time. Anyway, I expect you to carry him with you from now on. In your bag or something.”
I wondered if she actually thought the doll would somehow protect me, or if it was just a gesture. Somewhere in her voice was glint of seriousness, like it was going to save my life or something. Maybe humans were superstitious? I’d have to ask about that later.
“If it makes you feel better.”
“It does. Now say sorry for leaving him on your shelf.”
I looked up at Arlene. “I’m not gonna do that.”
“Come on, you left him all on his lonesome.” She made some weird expression that was supposed to elicit pity, raising her eyebrows and lowering her lips.
I sighed. “I’m sorry for leaving you on my shelf…”
“Say his name.”
A bloom spread across my face. “Ugh… Alexander.”
“His full name.”
I glared at Arlene. “I’m gonna get you back for this.”
“Sure, sure.” She cooed.
“The brave and respectable Alexander of Sunbrook.” I could feel my brain shriveling up as the words left my mouth.
“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“What just happened does not leave this room.”
“Whatever you say, big man.” She shrugged, stifling a laugh.
I stuffed the doll into my bag, now discovering that my appetite was back, and that I still hadn’t eaten a single thing this paw. My stomach made a noise that was akin to a shadestalker growling at cornered prey. The fruit in my bag, though bruised, was looking very tasty.
Speaking of food.
“Arlene?” I grabbed the fruits out of my bag. “I was meaning to ask you something.”
“Oh yeah?” She was sitting on the couch now.
“I sort of agreed to have a meal with this guy and his exchange partner. I wanted to know if you could come along.”
“Hold on, you agreed to this before you realized I wasn’t trying to eat you?”
My face turned orange again. “W-well, yeah. I was sort of pressured into it.” I fidgeted with my claws. “I was sort of hoping that you would end up fighting each other if he tried anything.”
“Pffft!” She burst out laughing.
“I-I’m sorry… I know it’s stupid.”
She strained to stop. “Sorry, sorry, it’s just, that’s pretty ridiculous.”
“Yeah…”
“So, what’s this guy’s name?”
“The venlil’s is Gram, and the human’s is Tommy.”
“Sure, I’ll come along. Just give me a little more of a heads up this time so I can actually get ready.”
“Thank you! I was worried you wouldn’t want to go with me.”
“Of course I do. Who else will protect you from the vile predator?”
“It’s not like that anymore!”
“Meba, I’m just teasing you.”
“O-oh.”
“I’ll stop if you want.”
“No, it’s… I don’t know. I don’t want you to feel like you have to act differently around me.”
She smiled, eyes narrowing, in a full face scrunch. “I’m glad we met.”
Through the fear, I felt the same. “Me too.”
I sat down on the couch next to her, and started eating my food.
“You know, I’ve been wondering. Why are you so much fluffier than the other venlil?”
“Huh?”
“I’ve seen hundreds of different venlil by now, but none of them are really as woolly as you. Lots of them don’t really have wool at all, just normal fur. Also your coat is way darker than others.”
“Oh. It’s because my family was from the night.”
“The night? Oh, duh. I always forget those are places for you. So it’s like an environmental thing?”
“Sort of. My ancestors lived in the night, so we have thicker coats, and darker fur for camouflage. The living conditions while you’re growing up are also a factor, but it’s mostly genes. Day-side venlil usually have more sandy colored coats, and thinner, slicker fur. Those are just extremes though, there’s all sorts of variations in the green.”
“That’s awesome.”
I shrugged. “I guess. I’ve never given it much thought before. Is my wool really that noticeable?”
“I don’t know about venlil, but to me you stick out like a sore thumb. Your fluff is unmatched. To be honest, it’s hard not to touch it.”
“You have to stop yourself from touching me?”
Her face flushed a pinkish color. “Um, it’s complicated. Er, no it’s not, but I don’t know how to explain it.” She scratched at the back of her head. “When we see cute things, it activates our protective instincts.”
I almost spit out my food. “Protective instincts?”
“Yeah, it makes me want to baby you. Our brains release dopamine when we interact with things we find cute.”
“And this urge is so great that you have trouble keeping it in check?”
“I wouldn’t go that far. It’s not hard to ignore, but I do want to pet you.”
“Pet?” I finished my food.
“I did it on the ride back here, but you didn’t like it, so I won’t do it anymore.”
A thought crossed my mind. “If I let you pet me, would this urge be satisfied?”
She knitted her brow. “You don’t have to. I know it makes you uncomfortable.”
“You just startled me last time. I don’t mind. After all, I’ve ‘pet’ you, right?”
“Fair enough.” She smiled.
Arlene raised a hand towards my head, and I flinched, though I was trying not to. She paused, then retracted her hand.
“Meba, it’s not a big deal. I don’t have to pet you.”
I grabbed her wrist. I wasn’t going to let my instincts get the better of me. “Yes you do.” I pulled her hand back towards my head.
She sighed. “You’re pushing yourself too hard.”
“Nuh uh.” I replied.
Arlene rested her hand on the top of my head. “Yuh huh.” She started ruffling my fur, going back and forth, eventually moving her hand back behind my ears, and scratching me with her dull claws. She switched to the other ear, then moving slowly back up my scalp.
“W-whoa…” I stammered out, completely stunned by pleasant sensation.
“Feel good?” Arlene brought her other hand to my face, and grasped both my ears, gently massaging the areas around them, using just the right amount of force.
My brain drained itself of any latent fear chemicals, as I instinctually leaned into the contact. “Myeah.” The word came out almost slurred.
I closed my eyes, full of bliss. Arlene put a hand on my back, kneading around my shoulder blades, while the other found its way under my chin, scratching again with those dull nails that felt so nice. Stress that I didn’t even know I had was draining out of the myriad bottles it was stuffed in. Before I knew it, my bones were turning to slush, and my muscles were unraveling into piles of yarn. I started drooping, and soon splayed out on the couch.
Once I was laying down, she switched to long slow passes all the way from my crown of my head to my lower back, with fingers running through wool so gently you’d be forgiven for missing it.
This is to lower your guard, so she can eat you! Surely! Any second now… any second. Okay, maybe not. This is pretty nice actually.
In my chest, old gears strained to turn, fibers twitched, testing their give, and dusty muscles started rumbling, reverberating out from the trunk, to the ribs, bouncing off each bone, rattling the jelly that was now my skeleton, and escaping out of my chest, making a sound I hadn’t since before I moved to Sunbrook. I hadn’t felt this calm in so long.
She paused. “Oh my god, are you purring right now? Do venlil purr?”
I opened an eye, slightly annoyed that she stopped. “Some of us. It’s a genetic thing.”
Arlene’s jaw dropped, and for a second I thought it would continue falling all the way to the floor. “It is a good thing, right?”
“Yes.” My tail was betraying my impatience for more. “Can you continue?”
She continued with the same long strokes down my back. A lone tear rolled down her cheek. “I don’t deserve such bliss.”
“Mmm…” I wasn’t really listening.
“It’s like someone designed you to be the cutest living thing possible.”
I might have bloomed if I wasn’t basically unconscious by this point. I think my brain was next on the list of things to melt. Whatever I was thinking about before dissolved like salt stirred in warm water.
She continued for what felt like forever. Almost. Sadly, the experience wouldn’t last forever.
I looked up at her. “Why’d you stop?”
“My arms are tired.”
Dang.
“Dang.” I collected my resolve, and peeled myself off the couch, back to a sitting position. “Can all humans do that?”
“Yes.”
“Are humans magic?”
“Maybe a little.” She chuckled.
This isn’t so bad.
“So, you’re satisfied?”
“Yes, very.”
I kicked my legs against the couch, head empty.
What now?
“I’ve still got a bunch of time, since the bookstore is closed. Do you want to do something?”
“Oh, that reminds me. I was going to teach you how to crochet.” She stood up from the couch. “Let me pop over to my apartment real quick and grab some yarn.”
I grabbed her by the coat. “Wait, the exterminators might still be lurking.”
Her smile disappeared. “Really?”
“Maybe. Let me check the hallway.” I made my way to the door and, after undoing the locks, took a peak down both ends. The hallway was empty, with no signs of activity. “I think it’s safe.”
“Okay,” She slid past me. “be back in a jiffy.” She took one large step, and shoved her key into the lock, getting past the door just as fast.
And a few paws ago, I would have been the one calling the exterminators.
I shut the door, leaving it unlocked so she could get back in. A few moments later, the door opened with a soft click, followed by footsteps.
“Sorry that took so long. I didn’t remember where I put the hooks, so I had to dig through a bunch of drawers.” She held in her hands a ball of yarn, and a set of metal sticks.
“No worries. What are those for?”
“Crochet. It’s kinda like knitting.”
“What’s knitting?”
She smirked. “It’s kinda like crochet.”
“That’s not very helpful.”
“You’ll get it soon.” Arlene sat down on the couch, setting the yarn on the ground. “Do you know how to tie a slip knot?”
“What’s that?”
“I’ll show you.” She took the yarn in one hand, making a loop, giving it a half turn, then grabbing the standing end and pulling it through in another loop. “Like that. If you pull on the end,” Arlene pulled on the standing end, and the loop shrunk until it unraveled. “it comes undone. Give it a try.” She handed me the yarn.
“I’ll try.” I took the yarn in both hands, mimicking the loop, then grabbing the yarn and pulling it through, but the loop came undone as soon as I did so, a look of utter confusion growing on my face.
Arlene giggled. “You gotta grab the other line. It’s gotta cross over itself or there’s nothing to hold it in place.”
I bloomed a little, retrying and pulling the other side through so that it twisted up with itself, actually securing together. “I haven’t had to tie a knot in forever.”
She plucked the knot from my paws, slipping it out and undoing my work. “Good job. Do it again.”
I flicked my tail in annoyance. “But I just did it.”
“You need repetition so you’ll remember it.” She handed the yarn back.
I took it and tied the slip knot again, tightening it more than before. “There you go.”
“Thanks. Let me show you how this works. I’d tell you about the hook sizes, but I don’t think you guys use the metric system, so just know that different yarn thicknesses take different hook sizes, and the thickness of the hook determines the tightness of the stitch. This yarn is somewhere in the middle as far as weight goes.”
“You still haven’t told me what this actually is.”
“Have patience, young padawan.” Arlene grabbed one of the ‘crochet’ hooks, and stuck it through the knot, tightening it around the handle. “This is called a ‘yarn over hook’.” She twisted the hook around to grab the line, then twisting back and pulling it through the knot. There was another link in the yarn. “And this is called chaining. This is how wide your piece is going to be.”
Arlene repeated the movement, now much faster than before, chaining together 10ish loops. She had obviously done this many times before, if speed was any indication. I leaned in to get a better look.
“Now I’m gonna do what’s called a ‘singe crochet’.” She pushed the empty hook through the chain, grabbing more yarn and pulling it through. “Now you can see that there’s an extra loop here. We’re gonna yarn over hook again, and pull it through both.” She did exactly that, creating a little protrusion perpendicular to the chain. “And that is a single crochet. There’s a bunch of other stitches, but this is the most important one. To complete it, we just repeat the single crochet all the way down our foundation chain.” She repeated the motion, in a dizzying blur of twists and turns that I could barely follow. “At the end, we do another chain to turn around, and flip our work. Like so.” She did the little chain, and showed me the little rectangle of woven fabric. “Then you repeat, until it’s as long as you want.”
I wasn’t really following. “So this ‘crochet’ makes rectangles of fabric?”
“Well yes, but that’s a gross oversimplification. You can make anything: scarfs, blankets, hats, socks, sweaters, and even stuffed animals, but that requires more complicated hook work.”
“It looks hard.”
“Don’t worry, it gets easy once you know the stitch patterns. Plus, you have me to help you.” She puffed out her chest in an exaggerated gesture.
“If you say so.”
Arlene pulled on the end of the yarn, unraveling the whole sheet into nothing in a matter of seconds. “If you think it’s too difficult we could do finger knitting instead.”
“No, I think I can do this.”
“That’s the spirit.” She smiled, slapping me on the back a little too hard.
The hooks on the table were all different sizes. Unsure which to pick, I chose the one closest to the size Arlene was using.
“I’d recommend one a little thicker, at least if you plan to wear anything you make. It’ll make it more breathable.”
“We don’t really wear much.”
“I can see that.” She chuckled. “But think of how cute you’d look in a scarf, or a shawl.”
“I don’t know what either of those are.”
“Just grab a larger one.”
“Okay.” I chose another that looked to be 2 or 3 sizes larger. The metal felt cool against my paw pads.
“Go ahead and start. I’ll tell you if you’re messing anything up.”
I tied the slip knot, and tightened it around the hook. Then twisting to grab the yarn and pull it through. The hook felt awkward in my paws, like using a mouse in the wrong hand. Arlene was watching me closely, with a gaze almost as intense as when she was yelling. A shiver ran down my spine.
“Okay that’s probably long enough. Try a single crochet.”
I pushed the hook through, but before I could continue, Arlene stopped me.
“Stop real quick. I forgot to say that you need to skip the first hole when you start a row.” She pointed to the next one in the chain. “You should have gone through there.”
“Oh.” I pulled out the hook, and went through the next hole, doing a yarn over and creating a loop. “Is that good?”
“Yep. Now pull the yarn through both loops.”
I followed her instructions, and finished my first ever single crochet.
“Great job! Now you just need to do that all the way to the end of the chain.”
This is going to take forever if I want to make anything substantial.
“Do all your weaving techniques take this long?” I had to look closely at the weave to find the right holes, still putting conscious effort into the yarn overs.
“Pretty much. After you get good enough to do it without looking you can watch a movie while you do it. I used to crochet on the bus to school when I was little. I think it would be a good thing for you.”
“What do you mean?”
She blinked. “I don’t mean to me rude, but you seem like a really anxious person.”
“I-I thought you said I was brave?”
“You can be brave and anxious at the same time.” She paused. “What I mean to say, is that you could use something to help calm you down.”
“Why do you say that?”
She frowned. “The panic attack.”
Not again.
The desire to run bubbled up from my gut like bile. “I d-don’t know what you mean.”
Once again, drills in my skull, poking holes into my head. “Has this happened before?”
Why does it always come down to this?
I paused my work to look at her. “None of your business.”
She frowned. “I’m not trying to put you on the spot. I just want to help.”
“I’m fine.” I continued crocheting. “Don’t worry.”
“Whatever it is you’re going through, you don’t have to face it alone.”
“There’s nothing to face. Let’s talk about something else.” The words left a metallic taste in my mouth.
My crochet rectangle sheet thingy was about the size of my paw now. The hook was starting to move easier. The ceiling fan whirred above us, and the sun crept along the floor at imperceptible speeds, phantasmal shapes rotating through the same wobbles, over and over again.
Arlene laid back against the couch, stretching her legs. “Well, I’m gonna go see if I can get a datapad from the refugee center soon. I need to get in touch with my family, and I wouldn’t mind being able to use the internet either.”
“That’s nice. Then we can communicate from across town.”
“Yeah.” She yawned. “It’s been a while since I’ve talked to any humans. Not that you aren’t good company but… you know.”
“I wasn’t very talkative before this paw.”
“You aren’t much more talkative now.”
“That just means I’m a better listener.”
Arlene let out a bellowing laugh. “Fair enough. You know, I used to say that in middle school.”
“You weren’t always this… social?”
“No, I used to be a total wallflower. I didn’t have any friends. I would just sit in the back of class and doodle in my notebook.”
“What happened?”
“Well, it’s not a happy story, but I’ll tell you if you want.”
My curiosity was peaked. “Please.”
“Well, I was twelve years old, and it was the week before summer break. That’s the quarter of the year where there’s no school, by the way, and also the hottest time of the year.” She took a deep breath.
My single crochets were going faster now, and the hook was beginning to sit comfortably in my paw.
She exhaled. “I was super excited for the break, ‘cause my family was planning a trip to lake superior, which is the largest lake in the world. It’s really beautiful. There’s a bunch of nature trails, parks, stuff like that. Not to mention the swimming. The whole family was going to come along, including grandma.” Arlene swallowed. “It was one day before the break started when she died.”
I said nothing.
“It wasn’t painful. She died in her sleep, from natural causes. You know, old people stuff. I had never seen a corpse before.”
What?
“I was the one who found her. She was laying in bed. People often say the dead look peaceful. She didn’t. They don’t. They just stink.” She paused. “My grandma taught me everything I know about this sort of thing. We would sit by the window, knitting, crocheting, felting, whatever, for hours, just talking. She would ask me about school, I would say I didn’t like it, she would tell me to try talking to people, and then I would say she’s the only friend I need. Her eyes were always so full of pride when I said that. But it wasn’t just pride. I think she knew she didn’t have much time left. She had been pressuring me to interact with other kids more and more up until the break.” She chuckled “Sorry if I’m rambling.”
“I don’t mind.”
She half-smiled at me. “I had made a scarf for her. It was my magnum opus. I knitted it out of yarn that I spun myself, using a super pretty stitch, and I even went through the trouble of knitting a picture into it. I was so mad when she died. Not much sense in being angry at the dead, but yeah. I was angry that I wouldn’t get a chance to give her the scarf. The trip was canceled, and with the intended recipient gone, I didn’t have anyone to give the scarf to. My parents were taking it just as hard as me, maybe harder, but I made it even worse. I started skipping school, even ran away from home once.”
I glanced over to her face. Her eyes were watering.
“Sorry, this was over a decade ago, I should be over it by now.” She sniffled. “There’s this forest close to town, with a bunch of hills and stuff. It was late June, but it was a really cold summer, somewhere in the forties or fifties. Windy too. I took a sleeping bag and a bunch of supplies, and started hiking. I tried stay close to town, so I wouldn’t get lost. After four or so hours of walking, I heard crying. It was a miracle really. Like finding a needle in a haystack. There was a kid curled up against a tree, wailing like an air raid siren.”
The rectangle was almost as long as my forearm now.
“I recognized him from my history class. He was the class clown type, always getting up in your face, making jokes. I never saw him so sad before.” She rested her chin on her hands. “He was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Not enough insulation. I eventually approached him, and asked him why he was out in the forest.” She frowned. “His dad was a drunk, and he’d been beating him, so he ran away.”
I gasped. “Oh stars…”
“We talked for a while, with him shivering the whole time. I told him about my grandma, and he told me about his dad. We both ended up crying a bunch. I didn’t bring another pair of clothes, because I was a stupid twelve year old that didn’t know how to camp on my own, so I couldn’t give him anything to keep him warm. The only things I had were the sleeping bag and the scarf. I didn’t want to give him the scarf, but I did. I don’t know why, I just… he looked so small. I was out here going all scorched earth, and he was in hell everyday, still making jokes at school.” She paused.
“Anyway, I gave him the scarf, and my sleeping bag, so he wouldn’t freeze, and we shared some of the food I brought. I eventually had to go back home since I was now without a sleeping bag. Once school started again, he wore that scarf every single day, even when it was hot out, and he would go around telling people how awesome I was for making it.” She smiled. “He always acted happy around me, even though I could see the bruises his dad kept giving him. I couldn’t bring myself to be angry anymore when he was trying so hard to be happy for me.”
“One day, he came to school without the scarf. He wouldn’t even look at me. When I asked him what was wrong, he burst out into tears saying his dad burned the scarf, ans how sorry he was for losing it. It crushed me. I put days of work into that scarf, and it was gone just like that. Just like grandma. But instead of telling him that, I said it wasn’t a big deal, and that I’d make him another one.” She stopped.
“What happened then?”
“Well, I made another scarf, but I never got the chance to give it to him. His dad died, probably from alcohol poisoning or something, and he moved in with family down in Georgia. I never saw him again. For all I know, he’s dead from the bombings, or from something before that. So I was without someone to give the scarf to. Again.”
I gave her a worried look.
She laughed. “I don’t know why, but that brought me out of my shell. I started talking to people. I gave some other kid the scarf that was meant for him. Then everybody knew me as the scarf girl, so I started making more and more of them for everyone in my class.”
“What then?” The sheet was getting substantial now.
“Well, that’s the end of the story. I started joining clubs, bouncing around friend groups, that sort of thing. Just normal kid stuff. High school was the same. Everybody knew me as the person that gave out handmade scarfs for free, so I was well liked. I graduated, got a job, time passed, and all this crazy shit with first contact happened, and so here we are.” She yawned again. “Do you have any childhood stories?”
“Err, well… not really.” I lied.
“Nothing? No funny stories? No teenage mischief? It doesn’t have to be dramatic like mine.”
And here you are, reserved again. Were you lying when you called her your friend?
“Well, one time I led my class into an abandoned house.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, a test of courage type thing. I pressured eight of my classmates into joining me there at night.”
“Night?”
“I grew up on a colony world, so we had a day-night cycle.”
“Uh huh.”
I paused for a while to think of how to tell the story. Arlene was right when she said crochet was calming. It was very meditative. Through, hook, back, hook, back two, repeat. Through, hook, back, hook, back two, repeat.
“So there was this old building on a hill, out past the fields. It was all run down, with stains on the walls, and broken windows, sheet wood covering all the openings. Everybody at school thought it was haunted, or worse, infested by predators.”
Arlene rolled her eyes. “Very scary.” She picked up a crochet hook and started spinning it between her fingers.
I shrugged. “That’s just how it was.”
“I fail to see how an animal is scarier than a vengeful spirit, but I’ll humor you.”
“Well, I thought it was just a normal house, so I brought my classmates there, and we started exploring the thing. We had to squeeze past a panel of wood covering where the door would be to get in. I spearheaded the expedition, with the rest of them following behind me.”
“Sounds exciting.”
“It was scary, but I wanted to know what was inside the place. I broke us up into teams of two, and we split up to explore. I went with this gojid girl who’s name I forget, and we went straight up to the attic, while the rest of them checked the ground floor.”
“Ah, quite the lady’s man.” She nudged me in the shoulder, and I had to redo a crochet because of it.
Blood rushed to my face. “I-it wasn’t like that.”
“Sure, sure.” She smirked.
I huffed. “We climbed up this dusty old fold out ladder, which opened up into this crawlspace. I barely fit inside, and I had to exhale to move around.”
“That’s a weird ass attic.”
When the air doesn’t come, and the walls close in, will you be able to escape again?
“Y-yeah. I found a dusty old box of junk up there, but I got stuck. My classmate had to pull me out by my legs.” I shuddered at the thought.
“Jeez. What was in the box?”
“Nothing crazy. Just a bunch of rusty fasteners. It was probably left by the construction workers who built the house. But the next day, one of the people I brought told a teacher, and I got punished. My parents were super angry.”
“Wow. So you were a pretty crazy kid, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess. I was sort of the leader of my herd.”
For a while.
“Really?” She leaned forward.
“Yep.”
“Wow. So when did you move to Sunbrook?”
Don’t think about it.
“A while ago. Two or so of your years, I think.”
“Are your parents here too?”
I looked to my paws, focusing on the yarn. “They’re uh… not around.”
“Oh shit, I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright.”
Do you really mean that?
“Do you wanna talk about it?”
I don’t know.
“No.” I barely managed to squeak.
“Okay.”
I continued crocheting.
Arlene yawned for the third time. “Crap. Sorry Meba, I think we’re gonna have to cut this short. I need to get some sleep.” She scooped up the hooks from the table.
“Um, can we do this again next paw?”
“Sure. We can finish off that scarf of yours tomorrow.” She grinned.
Human teeth weren’t very pointy.
2024.04.19 06:29 cynicalmind56 New to Cross Stitching and starting out with a bang (Making a present for my girlfriend)
Soooo I made a very wild decision (for me at least LOL) to do something handmade, something she'll reaaaally love and appreciate. For Christmas she knitted me a BIG scarf and gave it to me during our trip to Boston (We're from NYC). Anyway, I've long thought what I should give her and I got her a couple of things already but this may be the best one that I know she'll actually love. I'm gonna cross stitch her character in a game she loves and has been playing since she was in Middle school (We're 27). The problem is, I have NO experience in anything Embroidery and this will be my first time doing something like this. My specialty skills would include singing, cooking and flying a plane LOL but no embroidery. So I'm in dire need of help and advice especially since her birthday's about 2 weeks away. I'm quite reluctant about posting her Character since she's a very private person but it's definitely NOT a beginner's level thing (Will probably post it in the comments later). Anyway, I'm going back and forth on my research about how to cross stitch and what to do. I wanted to free hand it but I think I'm sticking with the hoops I have. I'll use the 8x8(?) since the design's not too big. My big roadblock is, I've been told that I should print out a grid guide to make things easier? But I'm currently on a budget and I don't know if I'll have enough time to pickup then finish. I based the colors off of the photo (basically determined the shades with just my eyes. Black, several shades from that to gray, white, silver, skintone/peace colors). If I got a grid, I was told I'd have to pick more colors up and have more work done. To me this is already overwhelming as it is. But it's worth it since it's for my special lady. I guess my question is, do I just start cross stitching without a grid? And just trace the pattern itself on the cloth before starting? I was thinking about using a pencil to trace the outlines and the areas that have solid colors and play with the shading myself. GAHHH help please! I'm sorry for the long message! I hope none of you get annoyed by this! LOL
submitted by cynicalmind56 to cross_stitch [link] [comments]
2024.04.12 04:03 ImprovementBig1434 A Screaming Good Time with James P. Sullivan (interview with info)
Welcome, everyone! Today, we have a special guest joining us. He’s the big, blue, and utterly lovable star of "Monsters, Inc." – James P. Sullivan, or as we all know him, Sulley! Thanks for being here, Sulley.
Sulley: Thanks for having me. It's great to be here.
Sulley, let’s dive right in. You’re known as one of the top scarers at Monsters, Inc. What’s the secret to being such a successful scarer?
Sulley: Well, it's all about confidence, I suppose. You gotta believe in yourself and what you're doing. But I also learned that scaring isn't the only way to make a difference.
Interviewer: Speaking of making a difference, you famously transitioned from scaring to making kids laugh. What prompted that change, and how has it impacted you?
Sulley: Ah, that was a journey. It all started when I met Boo. She showed me that there's more to life than just scaring. Seeing her laugh, that changed everything. It made me realize that laughter is more powerful than screams, and it's been incredibly rewarding to be a part of that change.
Interviewer: Boo definitely had a profound impact on you. Can you tell us more about your relationship with her?
Sulley: Boo is... well, she's special. She's like family to me. When she first came into my life, I never expected to care for a human child like I do for her. But she showed me what friendship really means, and I'll always be grateful for that.
Interviewer: That’s truly heartwarming. Moving on, you have a close bond with your best friend, Mike Wazowski. What makes your friendship with Mike so strong?
Sulley: Mike is like a brother to me. We've been through everything together – from scaring to making kids laugh to saving Monstropolis. We balance each other out, you know? Where I'm big and sometimes a bit too serious, Mike brings the humor and keeps things light. Plus, he's always got my back, no matter what.
Interviewer: It sounds like you two make quite the team. Now, let’s talk about your career at Monsters, Inc. What’s been the most rewarding part of your job?
Sulley: The most rewarding part... That's a tough one. I'd say it's seeing the impact we can have on kids’ lives. Whether it's making them laugh or overcoming their fears, knowing that we can make a difference in their world – it's incredibly fulfilling.
Interviewer: Absolutely. Finally, Sulley, what message would you like to share with our audience today?
Sulley: I guess I’d say this: Don't be afraid to embrace change. Sometimes the scariest journeys lead to the most beautiful destinations. And always remember, laughter is more powerful than fear.
Interviewer: Words of wisdom from Sulley, himself. Thank you so much for joining us today, Sulley. It’s been a delight speaking with you.
Sulley: Anytime. And remember, keep laughing!
Thank you so much again for letting us interview you. Remember everyone, Embrace change and keep on laughing.
Listed below are the furniture and clothing items that come with the Monsters, Inc. collection. There will also be some meals listed as well.
Permanent Furniture
Big Scream TV
Blue Pile of Binders
Blue Vending Machine
Brainy Bed
Brick Fireplace
Cardboard Boxes of Files
Classic Monstrous Windows
Clay Statue of Sulley
Comedic Meet and Greet Decor
Cute Staring Mug
Desk Chair
Desktop File Basket
Desktop File Holder
Door
Door Divider
Dorm Window
Dreamight Magic Arcade
Freak Lamp
Funky Storage
Funky Toilet
Gold Plaque
Golden-Eyed Coffee Table
Industrial Metal Cart
Industrial Tree Lamp
Laugh Canister
Laugh Canister Rack
Laugh Floor Chair
Leather Couch
Lemon Clock
Little Mikey Plush Toy
M.I. Corkboard
M.I. Electrical Panel
M.I. Filing Cabinet
M.I. Laugh Floor Bench
M.I. Logo Rug
M.I. Open Cabinet
M.I. Water Cooler
Messy Pile of Books
Mike’s Short Seat
Mike’s Snotty Tissues– what a… generous gift?
Monster Mug Rack
Monster Pop Art Poster
Monsters, Inc. Computer
Monsters, Inc. Phone
Old Bath
Old Funky Sink
Pile of Socks
Rectangles Mirror
Red Vending Machine
Scarer Wall Posters
Slithering Rug
Spooky Speaker
Student Desk
Studious Bookshelf
Sulley’s Comfy Chair
Two-Headed Desk Lamp
Venus Trap
Villager of the Month Award
Vintage Television
Winds of Change Poster
Premium
Boo’s Door
Cycloptic Monster door
Fuchsia Claw-Foot Tub
Green Spiky Monster Plushie
Laugh Canister Pallet
M.I. Coffee Machine
Monsters, Inc. Attraction
Monstrous Sushi Booth
Monstrous Sushi Counter
Monstrous Sushi Plate
Purple Stitched Monster Plushie
Short Side Table
Star Path Items
Blue Cyclops Monster Plushie
Green Vending Machine
Monstrous Grand Piano
Clothing
Permanent
“Scary Sulley” Slippers
Black and Yellow Rubber Gloves
Black Goggles
Black Mike-Inspired Crop Top
Black Rain Jacket
Black Sweats
Blue Faux-Fur Monster Boots
Blue Faux-Fur Monster Jacket
Blue Goggles
Blue Headphones
Blue Mike Bag
Blue Monsters University T-Shirt
Blue Rain Jacket
Blue Sweats
Chunky Sneakers With Blue Highlights
Chunky Sneakers With Green Highlights
Chunky Sneakers With Red Highlights
Decontamination Pack
Gray Jean Jacket With Patches
Green Headphones
Green Mike Bag
Green Tufted Horns
Hazmat Suit Pants
Knitted Mike Hat
Monsters, Inc. Hard Hat
Monstrous Mini Dress
Navy Blue Jean Jacket With Patches
Pale Blue Jean Jacket With Patches
Puffy Blue Jacket
Puffy Green Jacket
Puffy Red Jacket
Purple Monsters University T-Shirt
Purple Tufted Horns
Red and White Goggles
Red Headphones
Red Mike Bag
Red Sweats
Rozian Mask
Rubber Boots
Safety Goggles
White Goggles
White Mike-Inspired Crop Top
White Rain Jacket
Yellow Goggles
Yellow Rain Jacket
Premium
A-Door-able Jacket
A-Door-able Skirt
Boo Onesie
Celia’s Hair
Monsters, Inc. Door Ensemble
Scarer Overalls
Meals
Dream Fizz- Dreamlight Fruit, Sugarcane, Wheat, Slush Ice
French Fries- Canola, Potato
Pizza- Tomato, Cheese, Wheat
Spaghetti Arrabbiata- Tomato, Wheat, Chili Pepper
My Hero Cookie- Wheat, Butter, Any Sweet
Birthday Cake- Cocoa Bean, Wheat, Sugarcane, Egg, Butter
Plain Snow Cones- Any Ice
Sour Snow Cones- Slush Ice, Lemon, Sugarcane
Clam Juice- Clam, Tomato
Sand Worm Carpaccio Plate- Sand Worm, Melon
Burrito- Any Meat, Wheat, Beans, Cumin
Cheeseburger- Venison, Wheat, Any Vegetable, Cheese
Cinnamon Donut- Wheat, Egg, Cinnamon, Any Sweet
Spiky Berry Pie- Wheat, Butter, Cactoberries, Strawberry, Any Spice
Stellar Milkshake- Slush Ice, Milk, Cosmic Figs
submitted by ImprovementBig1434 to DreamlightvalleyPS [link] [comments]
Sulley: Thanks for having me. It's great to be here.
Sulley, let’s dive right in. You’re known as one of the top scarers at Monsters, Inc. What’s the secret to being such a successful scarer?
Sulley: Well, it's all about confidence, I suppose. You gotta believe in yourself and what you're doing. But I also learned that scaring isn't the only way to make a difference.
Interviewer: Speaking of making a difference, you famously transitioned from scaring to making kids laugh. What prompted that change, and how has it impacted you?
Sulley: Ah, that was a journey. It all started when I met Boo. She showed me that there's more to life than just scaring. Seeing her laugh, that changed everything. It made me realize that laughter is more powerful than screams, and it's been incredibly rewarding to be a part of that change.
Interviewer: Boo definitely had a profound impact on you. Can you tell us more about your relationship with her?
Sulley: Boo is... well, she's special. She's like family to me. When she first came into my life, I never expected to care for a human child like I do for her. But she showed me what friendship really means, and I'll always be grateful for that.
Interviewer: That’s truly heartwarming. Moving on, you have a close bond with your best friend, Mike Wazowski. What makes your friendship with Mike so strong?
Sulley: Mike is like a brother to me. We've been through everything together – from scaring to making kids laugh to saving Monstropolis. We balance each other out, you know? Where I'm big and sometimes a bit too serious, Mike brings the humor and keeps things light. Plus, he's always got my back, no matter what.
Interviewer: It sounds like you two make quite the team. Now, let’s talk about your career at Monsters, Inc. What’s been the most rewarding part of your job?
Sulley: The most rewarding part... That's a tough one. I'd say it's seeing the impact we can have on kids’ lives. Whether it's making them laugh or overcoming their fears, knowing that we can make a difference in their world – it's incredibly fulfilling.
Interviewer: Absolutely. Finally, Sulley, what message would you like to share with our audience today?
Sulley: I guess I’d say this: Don't be afraid to embrace change. Sometimes the scariest journeys lead to the most beautiful destinations. And always remember, laughter is more powerful than fear.
Interviewer: Words of wisdom from Sulley, himself. Thank you so much for joining us today, Sulley. It’s been a delight speaking with you.
Sulley: Anytime. And remember, keep laughing!
Thank you so much again for letting us interview you. Remember everyone, Embrace change and keep on laughing.
Listed below are the furniture and clothing items that come with the Monsters, Inc. collection. There will also be some meals listed as well.
Permanent Furniture
Big Scream TV
Blue Pile of Binders
Blue Vending Machine
Brainy Bed
Brick Fireplace
Cardboard Boxes of Files
Classic Monstrous Windows
Clay Statue of Sulley
Comedic Meet and Greet Decor
Cute Staring Mug
Desk Chair
Desktop File Basket
Desktop File Holder
Door
Door Divider
Dorm Window
Dreamight Magic Arcade
Freak Lamp
Funky Storage
Funky Toilet
Gold Plaque
Golden-Eyed Coffee Table
Industrial Metal Cart
Industrial Tree Lamp
Laugh Canister
Laugh Canister Rack
Laugh Floor Chair
Leather Couch
Lemon Clock
Little Mikey Plush Toy
M.I. Corkboard
M.I. Electrical Panel
M.I. Filing Cabinet
M.I. Laugh Floor Bench
M.I. Logo Rug
M.I. Open Cabinet
M.I. Water Cooler
Messy Pile of Books
Mike’s Short Seat
Mike’s Snotty Tissues– what a… generous gift?
Monster Mug Rack
Monster Pop Art Poster
Monsters, Inc. Computer
Monsters, Inc. Phone
Old Bath
Old Funky Sink
Pile of Socks
Rectangles Mirror
Red Vending Machine
Scarer Wall Posters
Slithering Rug
Spooky Speaker
Student Desk
Studious Bookshelf
Sulley’s Comfy Chair
Two-Headed Desk Lamp
Venus Trap
Villager of the Month Award
Vintage Television
Winds of Change Poster
Premium
Boo’s Door
Cycloptic Monster door
Fuchsia Claw-Foot Tub
Green Spiky Monster Plushie
Laugh Canister Pallet
M.I. Coffee Machine
Monsters, Inc. Attraction
Monstrous Sushi Booth
Monstrous Sushi Counter
Monstrous Sushi Plate
Purple Stitched Monster Plushie
Short Side Table
Star Path Items
Blue Cyclops Monster Plushie
Green Vending Machine
Monstrous Grand Piano
Clothing
Permanent
“Scary Sulley” Slippers
Black and Yellow Rubber Gloves
Black Goggles
Black Mike-Inspired Crop Top
Black Rain Jacket
Black Sweats
Blue Faux-Fur Monster Boots
Blue Faux-Fur Monster Jacket
Blue Goggles
Blue Headphones
Blue Mike Bag
Blue Monsters University T-Shirt
Blue Rain Jacket
Blue Sweats
Chunky Sneakers With Blue Highlights
Chunky Sneakers With Green Highlights
Chunky Sneakers With Red Highlights
Decontamination Pack
Gray Jean Jacket With Patches
Green Headphones
Green Mike Bag
Green Tufted Horns
Hazmat Suit Pants
Knitted Mike Hat
Monsters, Inc. Hard Hat
Monstrous Mini Dress
Navy Blue Jean Jacket With Patches
Pale Blue Jean Jacket With Patches
Puffy Blue Jacket
Puffy Green Jacket
Puffy Red Jacket
Purple Monsters University T-Shirt
Purple Tufted Horns
Red and White Goggles
Red Headphones
Red Mike Bag
Red Sweats
Rozian Mask
Rubber Boots
Safety Goggles
White Goggles
White Mike-Inspired Crop Top
White Rain Jacket
Yellow Goggles
Yellow Rain Jacket
Premium
A-Door-able Jacket
A-Door-able Skirt
Boo Onesie
Celia’s Hair
Monsters, Inc. Door Ensemble
Scarer Overalls
Meals
Dream Fizz- Dreamlight Fruit, Sugarcane, Wheat, Slush Ice
French Fries- Canola, Potato
Pizza- Tomato, Cheese, Wheat
Spaghetti Arrabbiata- Tomato, Wheat, Chili Pepper
My Hero Cookie- Wheat, Butter, Any Sweet
Birthday Cake- Cocoa Bean, Wheat, Sugarcane, Egg, Butter
Plain Snow Cones- Any Ice
Sour Snow Cones- Slush Ice, Lemon, Sugarcane
Clam Juice- Clam, Tomato
Sand Worm Carpaccio Plate- Sand Worm, Melon
Burrito- Any Meat, Wheat, Beans, Cumin
Cheeseburger- Venison, Wheat, Any Vegetable, Cheese
Cinnamon Donut- Wheat, Egg, Cinnamon, Any Sweet
Spiky Berry Pie- Wheat, Butter, Cactoberries, Strawberry, Any Spice
Stellar Milkshake- Slush Ice, Milk, Cosmic Figs
2024.04.07 10:34 ConsequenceSure3063 Best Bruen Gun Cases
 | submitted by ConsequenceSure3063 to u/ConsequenceSure3063 [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/4179ovfrq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=723e3c4be8472bd96ca578ff52ca6ab2c36859ab Bruen Gun Cases are must-have accessories for gun enthusiasts and safety-conscious individuals alike. Our comprehensive roundup showcases the latest and best Bruen Gun Cases available in the market today. Explore our top picks to enhance your gun storage experience and ensure the security of your valuable firearms. Stay informed and make the right choice with our guide to Bruen Gun Cases! The Top 13 Best Bruen Gun Cases
Reviews🔗Tough Vault Takedown Rifle & Shotgun Case by Pelicanhttps://preview.redd.it/76g0huyrq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82aa5679209c9c96cdaa23a35b55a836a6dadd3f I recently discovered the Pelican V700 Vault Takedown Rifle and Shotgun Case, and it's truly a game changer for transportation of your beloved firearms. As an avid hunter, I appreciate that this case provides a high level of security, offering crushproof, dustproof, and weather resistant protection. The sturdy handles ensure your rifles or shotguns can withstand even the toughest conditions on your hunting trips. One feature I particularly love is the presence of six push button latches that offer secure closure with easy-open access. This ensures your weapons are safe and secure while also making it convenient for you to access them when needed. The case also comes with specific foam designed to fit takedown firearms and related accessories, providing your gear with excellent protection during transportation. However, like any product, there are some cons as well. The case is quite bulky and heavy, making it less ideal for those looking for a lightweight solution. Additionally, cutting and shaping the foam to fit your specific equipment can be time-consuming. Overall, despite its drawbacks, I would highly recommend this gun case to anyone in need of a reliable and resilient transportation solution for their takedown firearms. 🔗Durable, Crushproof Double Rifle Casehttps://preview.redd.it/uixfrj9sq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bde823b15fc9098789ea836fa424b01a9b94808d I recently had the chance to use the Pelican V800 Vault Double Rifle Case in tan, and I must say it's been a game-changer in keeping my firearms safe and secure. The high-impact polymer exterior is not only incredibly durable but also has a sleek, modern look that I absolutely love. One of the standout features for me is the customizable protective foam lining the interior. Having a secure fit for my rifles is so important, and this case makes it easy to create that level of protection. Plus, the added benefit of being crushproof, dustproof, and weather-resistant gives me peace of mind when traveling with my gear. However, cutting the foam to fit my rifles exactly was a bit time-consuming and messy. It would have been nice if the case came with "pluck" foam, like some other brands offer, to make customization easier and less stressful. In terms of ease of use, the handles are ergonomic and sturdy, making it comfortable to carry even when the case is fully loaded with scoped rifles. The wheels are also a great addition for those times when you need to roll your gear instead of lifting it. Overall, the Pelican V800 Vault Double Rifle Case has been an excellent investment for keeping my firearms protected during transport. Its combination of durability, security features, and customizable foam make it a top choice for anyone in need of a high-quality rifle case. 🔗Stylish modern hide a bed chairhttps://preview.redd.it/os9dobpsq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=986b89f1c399a48b059d8ad815c3eef9960d97f5 Browning's BX18 gun safe is a sturdy ally to secure your valuable firearms. The safe's construction ensures up to 45 minutes of fire protection at temperatures as high as 1,200°F, while the elevated floor adds an extra layer of flood protection. The electronic keypad lock and black 3-spoked handle lend an air of modernity to this safe, complete with 4 locking bolts that ensure your weapons are kept secure. The spacious interior can accommodate up to 18 long guns, and the adjustable modular shelving system allows you to configure the space just as you like it. The six interior door pockets provide ample space to store handguns, making them accessible at a moment's notice. Additionally, the two zippered pockets are perfect for storing accessories and ammunition. One highlight of the BX18 is its thoughtfully designed interior fabric walls that provide exceptional protection against abrasions. Coupled with the three standard shelves and two gun racks, this safe ensures the ultimate in security and organization for your weapons collection. While the BX18 offers excellent storage and protection capabilities, there are a few minor drawbacks. Some users have reported the door feeling a bit loose, which may require adjustments to tighten the fit. Despite this, the overall craftsmanship of the Browning BX18 gun safe earns it a solid rating of 4 stars out of 5. In conclusion, the Browning BX18 gun safe is a reliable and innovative solution for safeguarding your valuable firearms. its sturdy construction, spacious interior, and useful organizational features make it a smart choice for gun enthusiasts looking for the ultimate in security and convenience. However, its minor shortcomings serve as a reminder that no product is perfect, making it crucial to weigh these factors when considering a purchase. 🔗18-Gun Tactical Conversion Cabinet with 3-Point Lockinghttps://preview.redd.it/wlaa234tq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee4007dfff3159ba0a80fd1e33a635b33fac23a5 Sure, I'd love to help with that. I've been using this Stack-on Convertible 18-Gun Cabinet, Black for the past few months and I have to say, it's been a game-changer for me. The first thing that grabbed my attention was the 3-point locking system. It's the perfect safety net for keeping my guns secure. The cabinet also comes with removable and adjustable shelves, making it really customizable to fit my storage needs. One of the best features, in my opinion, is the molded barrel rest with scope standoffs. It's a small detail that makes a big difference, especially when I'm storing scoped rifles. The cabinet is also equipped with foam-padded shelves and a partition, further enhancing its capacity and flexibility. However, there are a couple of things that could use some improvement. Firstly, the instructions on how to set it up were not very clear. It took me a lot more time than I expected to get it up and running. Secondly, the quality of the components could be better. There have been a few incidents where the shelves bent out of shape, which was a bit disconcerting. All in all, I've had a positive experience with the Stack-on Convertible 18-Gun Cabinet, Black. It's been a great addition to my home, offering ample storage space and a high level of security. It's not perfect, but it does the job well enough. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a storage solution for their guns. 🔗Top-Notch Tactical Short Barreled Rifle Case by Evolution Outdoorhttps://preview.redd.it/y3l130jtq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b6ed71272df051b04e1199393ae05beac5a1b191 I recently got my hands on the Evolution Outdoor Tactical Short Barreled Rifle Case and it's been a game-changer for me. This 28-inch black beauty is made from heavy-duty 1680 Denier polyester, ensuring it can withstand the toughest conditions. What really stood out to me was the premium padding that provides optimal protection to my firearm. It's like this sleeve has my back, keeping my rifle safe and secure during travel and storage. The case also comes with a variety of other useful features, including hook and loop tie down straps, ample space for patches, and three zippered pockets on the front for extra storage. It's clear that a lot of thought and attention went into designing this case. However, there is room for improvement. The straps securing the rifle could slightly more robust as they seem a bit thin for my liking. Despite this minor issue, I've been using the Evolution Outdoor Tactical Short Barreled Rifle Case extensively and it has definitely held up well. In conclusion, if you're looking for a high-quality, functional, and durable rifle case, the Evolution Outdoor Tactical Short Barreled Rifle Case is definitely worth considering. 🔗Drake Waterfowl Side-Opening Gun Casehttps://preview.redd.it/idk07j0uq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=71067cb78a8ee972a4e7565e5806747aa51d6b61 Experience the innovation of the Drake Waterfowl Side-Opening Gun Case! This ground-breaking design revolutionizes how we store and maintain our firearms. The patented side flap allows for seamless access to your gun, while its HD2 material and water-resistant nylon interior liner provide top-notch protection. The adjustable shoulder strap, outer pocket for choke tubes, and sturdy snap fastenings make it the perfect companion for keeping your firearms safe, dry, and ready for action. I've been using this case for some time now and I can't sing its praises enough. The side-flap feature is a game-changer; it made it incredibly easy to clean and dry my shotgun after a hunting trip. The interior is made of synthetic materials that don't absorb water or dirt, which is a lifesaver when your gear gets splashed with mud and water. A small drawback I've noticed is that the exterior pocket can be a bit challenging to close if you're storing choke tubes. However, I suppose this is a minor concern given the case's overall performance and quality. The durability has been impressive; I've taken this case out in all conditions and it's held up beautifully. In summary, the Drake Waterfowl Side-Opening Gun Case is a brilliant and practical solution for storing and maintaining your firearms. Its innovative design, durable construction, and water resistance make it a must-have for hunters and shooting enthusiasts alike. Despite the minor issue with the exterior pocket, I wholeheartedly recommend this case for its performance and value. 🔗Avery Floating Gun Case for Waterfowl Huntinghttps://preview.redd.it/3l519n9uq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=048c0968770f61240e2d9423a48b21b945c8fa25 As an avid waterfowl hunter, I can safely say that the Avery Floating 2.0 Gun Case in Max5 camo has completely changed my game. I remember one chilly morning when my shotgun took an unexpected dip in the water. Thanks to the water-resistant DuraMax material of this case, I didn't have to worry about my trusty companion being ruined by the moisture. What I especially love about this case is how it ensures protection in water with its floating design. It's like having a personal bodyguard for my precious shotgun! And let's not forget the adjustable shoulder strap which makes carrying this beast of a case incredibly comfortable. However, there are two downsides to this otherwise fantastic gun case. Firstly, it tends to run on the smaller side, causing some issues when it comes to fitting in larger shotguns with extended chokes. Secondly, even though the material is strong and reliable, it does lack a little in terms of water resistance. Overall, if you're looking for a solid and reliable gun case that will protect your shotgun from unexpected mishaps while you're out hunting, then the Avery Floating 2.0 Gun Case in Max5 camo is definitely worth considering. Just remember to check its compatibility with your specific shotgun first! 🔗Durable 48" Lockable Rifle Case with Flag Graphichttps://preview.redd.it/cvh0jtouq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=361ec4a7832537653848fdb9c36ce38c036de20d I recently got my hands on the Allen Company Deckers 48" Lockable Rifle Case in a sleek black finish, complete with a prominent American flag decal. As an avid hunter and gun enthusiast, I understand the importance of protecting my investment while also keeping it secure from unauthorized access. This rifle case exceeded my expectations in many ways, offering more than just secure transportation. One of the most appealing features of this lockable case is its rugged construction. It's made from endura fabric that boasts impressive durability, ensuring your rifle remains safe even during rough handling or bumpier rides. Additionally, the thick foam padding inside provides extra reassurance when storing your valuable firearms. Another highlight worth mentioning is the lockable feature. With a simple twist of the key, I can rest assured knowing my rifle is securely locked away, giving me peace of mind when traveling or storing it in shared spaces. Plus, the nose loop allows for easy hanging, which comes in handy when organizing my gear. However, one drawback I experienced was the limited storage space within the case. While it fits most rifles quite snugly, those with larger scopes or accessories may need to invest in additional protective cases or opt for a larger model like the 62" version available from Allen Company. Overall, the Allen Company Deckers 48" Lockable Rifle Case has proven to be a reliable companion for transporting and storing my AK 47, offering both protection and security. Its high-quality build and appealing design make it a standout choice among other rifle cases on the market. 🔗50 Inch Plata Rifle Casehttps://preview.redd.it/ataxmv3vq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=758fcc29f40ba89aa5751ebdcbca1466be1dc24d I recently started shooting more often and needed a reliable case to transport my 50-inch optic rifle safely. After some research, I decided to give the Allen Plata Rifle Case a try. This soft case has been a game-changer for me. Its thick foam padding and soft knit interior kept my rifle secure and scratch-free during transit. The flat zip accessory pocket was an added bonus, providing ample space for targets and other essential range accessories. One of my favorite features is the lockable zipper, which allows me to secure my case with a small lock easily. The hanging loop on the front is also quite convenient, enabling me to keep my case neatly stored when not in use. However, one downside to this case is that it can be a bit bulky when fully packed. Despite this, I continue using it because it offers excellent protection for my firearm. If you're in the market for a functional and protective rifle case, I highly recommend giving the Allen Plata Rifle Case a shot. 🔗Stylish Modern Sleeper Chair with Pillow and Pockethttps://preview.redd.it/aaccr3ivq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8b91f4becd2c2bb3e24c446a50ed07ace1151ecd I recently took the Allen Ranch Canvas 52 Shotgun Case out on a hunting trip, and I must say, it surpassed my expectations. The exterior zippered pocket provides quick access to essentials like ammunition and other accessories, while the plush padded interior ensures my dear shotgun is safe from dings and scratches. The weight of 363 grams felt comfortably light in my hands, thanks to its padded handles. Despite its compact size, there was ample storage space for both my shotgun and all its necessary gear. I particularly appreciated the attention to detail in the design - it's clear that this case was crafted with serious shooters in mind. However, one minor inconvenience was that the case was a bit too tight for some of my larger hunting knives. Though this was not a deal-breaker by any means, it did require a little extra effort to fit everything in securely. Overall, the Allen Ranch Canvas 52 Shotgun Case has proven to be an invaluable addition to my hunting gear. Its superior craftsmanship, plentiful storage, and comfortable handling make it worthy of the highest praise. 🔗Durable Cotton Duck Canvas Rifle Case with Abrasion Resistancehttps://preview.redd.it/28ju841wq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dbe468a9c14681bd4f649537a585c7f2e47ecaf4 I've been using the Allen Ranch Canvas Rifle Case for a few months now and it's been an absolute game-changer. Not only does it securely hold my hunting rifle, but the plush quilted interior provides extra protection. The cotton duck exterior fabric with abrasion resistant synthetic base is a real bonus too, especially when I'm hunting in rough terrain. It's also got a big exterior zippered pocket where I stash extra ammo, hearing protection, or whatever else I need on my hunting trips. Plus, the lockable zippers and metal D-ring ensure that my rifle stays safe and secure when not in use. Another great feature is the padded carrying handles, which make it easy and comfortable to carry. The only downside? The exterior fabric might attract more dirt and dust than other materials. But that's a small price to pay for such an otherwise fantastic rifle case. " In this review, I highlighted the safe and secure nature of the rifle case, the abundant storage, the plush quilted interior for added protection, and the convenient padded carrying handles. However, I also mentioned a minor downside to the cotton duck exterior fabric's tendency to attract more dirt and dust than other materials. Overall, I would recommend this rifle case to fellow hunters looking for a durable and protective option. 🔗Girls With Guns Compact Handgun Case - Shade Camohttps://preview.redd.it/g07l9lbwq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=64ee03fedd4ea2fb16cb6ef29fb00fb15cbf6164 I recently had the pleasure of using the Allen Girls with Guns 8" Lockable Handgun Case in Shade Camo. As an avid shooter, I found this case to be a game-changer. The Shade Camo fabric not only looks great on the range but also provides discreet carrying, making it the perfect companion for those who prioritize safety and discretion. The heavy-duty foam inside the case is a standout feature. It ensures my prized handgun is well protected during transport, giving me peace of mind that my investment is secure. Additionally, the case's compact size of 8.34" x 6.28" makes it easy to store and travel with, perfect for anyone on the go. One minor inconvenience was the lack of a built-in lock. However, this issue is easily remedied by using a separate lock for added security. Overall, I wholeheartedly recommend the Allen Girls with Guns 8" Lockable Handgun Case in Shade Camo for anyone looking for a high-quality, female-designed case for their handgun. 🔗Browning Waterfowl Floating Shotgun Case for 54" Shotgunhttps://preview.redd.it/1meuawmwq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=31a3f4072f7866bd55b283cdc00dc1f61104a5c8 I've had the pleasure of using the Browning Waterfowl Floater 54-inch Shotgun Case Major Brown 1419509852 over the past year and it's been a game-changer. The heavy-duty design gives me peace of mind knowing my shotgun is well protected. As someone who often finds themselves on a boat hunting for ducks, the ability to trust this case to keep my gun safe from water damage is truly comforting. One of the features that really stands out to me is the high-density closed cell foam padding. It ensures that my shotgun stays dry even if it does happen to fall into the water. The other day I accidentally dropped my case from my boat, and while my heart dropped along with it, I was relieved to see my beloved shotgun bobbing on the surface safely. Another detail I appreciate about this case is the excellent quality of workmanship. The fabric is rugged and durable, able to withstand years of use without showing signs of wear. The web handles and hanging loop make it easy to carry and store when not in use. However, there are some minor drawbacks. The detachable shoulder strap could use improvement; it tends to loosen over time and doesn't stay put as securely as I would like. Additionally, while the Browning Vintage Tan camo pattern is attractive, it might not be to everyone's taste. In conclusion, I highly recommend the Browning Waterfowl Floater 54-inch Shotgun Case Major Brown 1419509852. Its exceptional protection against water damage, high-quality construction, and stylish appearance make it an excellent choice for any serious waterfowl hunter. Despite its minor cons, this case has become an indispensable part of my hunting gear! Buyer's GuideWhen choosing the right Bruen gun case, several features are essential to consider. Durability, capacity, portability, and security are crucial factors that should inform your decision.Durabilityhttps://preview.redd.it/pky5ua8xq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04293944bee27522a28265b6eb85edc03957573a A gun case is an investment that needs to withstand years of use. Look for cases made with high-quality materials such as heavy-duty plastics, padded interiors, and reinforced stitching that can protect your firearms from scratches, dings, and other damage. Cases with water and moisture resistance are also important to prevent corrosion and maintain the integrity of your weapons. CapacityConsider how many firearms you need to transport and store. Cases come in various sizes, with some offering customizable internal compartments to accommodate different firearms. Ensure you choose a case that can hold all your guns comfortably while allowing for easy organization and access.PortabilityA lightweight, easy-to-carry gun case is essential for smooth transportation. Look for cases with built-in handles and wheels for added convenience, particularly if you frequently travel to shooting ranges or competitions. https://preview.redd.it/8jr1wilxq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=da4e4e21cfee4ec3eb7ac8d817d4fc4108a13fd8 SecurityA secure gun case is necessary to protect your firearms from unauthorized access. Choose a case with strong locking mechanisms and tamper-resistant features, such as built-in combination locks or high-quality padlocks.General AdviceBefore purchasing a Bruen gun case, do your research and read reviews from satisfied customers. Consider your specific needs and the environments you'll be using the case in, and choose a model that provides the best balance of durability, capacity, portability, and security. Investing in a high-quality gun case will ensure the protection and longevity of your valuable firearms.FAQhttps://preview.redd.it/m6057p3yq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6693e741cb0c1a6af1294bf7c839fd67415f0743 What types of Bruen gun cases are available?Bruen offers a range of gun cases including hard cases, soft cases, single cases, and multi-rifle cases. These cases are designed to carry and protect various types of firearms such as pistols, shotguns, and rifles.How do Bruen hard cases provide protection to firearms?Bruen hard cases are constructed with high-impact polypropylene and feature reinforced lock plates for added strength. Many models also include foam inserts that can be customized to fit and protect specific firearms. https://preview.redd.it/z671ykeyq0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10cecf714afb6351fc91895bfeebe77b83c908ca What is the difference between Bruen hard cases and soft cases?Bruen hard cases offer heavy-duty protection with their impact-resistant construction, and they usually come with foam inserts to cushion the firearms. Meanwhile, Bruen soft cases are lightweight and flexible, often featuring padded interiors and external pockets for accessories.Are Bruen gun cases waterproof?Some Bruen cases, like certain hard cases, are waterproof and provide protection against the elements. However, not all Bruen gun cases are waterproof. Be sure to check the specifications of the case you are interested in to confirm its level of protection against water.What is the price range for Bruen gun cases?The price range for Bruen gun cases varies depending on the type, size, and features of the case. Generally, soft cases tend to be more affordable, while hard cases can be more expensive due to their robust construction and additional features.Do Bruen gun cases come with a warranty?Yes, Bruen offers a limited lifetime warranty on their gun cases. This covers defects in materials and workmanship for the lifetime of the original purchaser. Some cases may also have additional specific warranties, so be sure to check the product description for more information.How do I choose the right Bruen gun case for my needs?Consider factors such as the type of firearms you want to transport, the level of protection you require, and your budget. Bruen offers a variety of hard and soft cases in different sizes and configurations to suit various firearm types. Additionally, consider any specific features you may need, such as waterproofing or customizable foam inserts.Can Bruen gun cases be customized to fit specific firearms?Many Bruen hard cases come with customizable foam inserts that can be trimmed and shaped to fit specific firearms. Soft cases may also have adjustable compartments or dividers to help secure and protect your firearms and accessories. Check the product description to see if customization options are available for the case you are interested in.How do I care for and maintain my Bruen gun case?To keep your Bruen gun case in good condition, it is important to clean it regularly and store it properly. Wipe down hard cases with a damp cloth to remove dirt, and periodically check the latches, hinges, and foam inserts for wear or damage. Soft cases should be cleaned with mild soap and water, and their padded interiors should be aired out to prevent mold and mildew growth. Store your gun case in a cool, dry place to protect it from damage due to moisture and extreme temperatures.As an Amazon™ Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. |
2024.04.07 10:11 Stage-Piercing727 Best Bucheimer Gun Cases
 | submitted by Stage-Piercing727 to u/Stage-Piercing727 [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/gst6w70mm0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c583bd929a82b4225e761e278fd4865757efab93 Looking for the perfect storage solution for your firearms? Look no further! In this article, we review the top Bucheimer Gun Cases that offer exceptional protection and convenience. Whether you're a hunter, a competitive shooter, or just a firearms enthusiast, there's a case for you in our comprehensive roundup. So sit back, relax, and let us show you the best gun cases the market has to offer. In this article, we'll provide a detailed overview of various models from Bucheimer's collection, highlighting their key features, pricing, and durability. So, without further ado, let's dive into the world of Bucheimer Gun Cases and help you find the perfect one for your needs. The Top 9 Best Bucheimer Gun Cases
Reviews🔗Durable, Crushproof Double Rifle Casehttps://preview.redd.it/t0g4n6qmm0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d2cb6ac16126a7a2831b0a7d5d51e28aa6a04058 I recently had the chance to use the Pelican V800 Vault Double Rifle Case in tan, and I must say it's been a game-changer in keeping my firearms safe and secure. The high-impact polymer exterior is not only incredibly durable but also has a sleek, modern look that I absolutely love. One of the standout features for me is the customizable protective foam lining the interior. Having a secure fit for my rifles is so important, and this case makes it easy to create that level of protection. Plus, the added benefit of being crushproof, dustproof, and weather-resistant gives me peace of mind when traveling with my gear. However, cutting the foam to fit my rifles exactly was a bit time-consuming and messy. It would have been nice if the case came with "pluck" foam, like some other brands offer, to make customization easier and less stressful. In terms of ease of use, the handles are ergonomic and sturdy, making it comfortable to carry even when the case is fully loaded with scoped rifles. The wheels are also a great addition for those times when you need to roll your gear instead of lifting it. Overall, the Pelican V800 Vault Double Rifle Case has been an excellent investment for keeping my firearms protected during transport. Its combination of durability, security features, and customizable foam make it a top choice for anyone in need of a high-quality rifle case. 🔗High-Impact 3-Gun Transport Casehttps://preview.redd.it/5fo3qq0nm0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4ed076312f6b943474a6c6396a0073a5b450a72d I recently had the chance to use the Pelican 1740 Transport Case with Foam in my work as a photojournalist, and I must say, it's been a game-changer. This sturdy case has allowed me to securely transport all my camera gear from one assignment to another, saving me a lot of time and effort - and my back! One of the features that really stood out for me was the easy-open double-throw latches. It's a simple mechanism that makes a world of difference when you're in a hurry to pack up and move to your next location. The crushproof, watertight, and dustproof design also provides excellent peace of mind knowing that my equipment is well-protected against any unexpected surprises. The top folding handle is also a convenient addition, making it easier to maneuver the case when it's loaded with gear. However, one downside I noticed is that it can get quite heavy when fully packed, so having a helper around would definitely be useful. Overall, I am thoroughly impressed with the quality and performance of the Pelican 1740 Transport Case with Foam. It's a reliable companion that I can trust to keep my gear safe and secure, enabling me to focus on capturing those precious moments as a professional photographer. 🔗Pelican Weapons Gun Case: Durable and Watertight Storagehttps://preview.redd.it/sr2tg4mnm0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74aa08ff068817deb7960c1a09d2250ca362c751 I recently decided to replace my old gun case with the Pelican 1700 Weapons Case in Tan. I've been extremely satisfied with its performance! The combination of being watertight, crushproof, and dustproof provides excellent protection for my firearms. Plus, its open cell core with a strong, lightweight design makes it easy to carry around. The double throw latches are very user-friendly too - they make accessing and storing my weapons a breeze. Another feature that I really appreciate is the automatic pressure equalization valve; it ensures that my firearms remain safe and secure no matter where I go. However, there are two minor issues. Firstly, the case is quite heavy when full. Secondly, cutting the foam to fit my weapons can be quite a task. Despite these minor downsides, I still think the Pelican 1700 is a great investment for any firearm owner looking for durability and reliability. 🔗Durable 48" Lockable Rifle Case with Flag Graphichttps://preview.redd.it/1yvavuznm0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cafca67d6f6430d86a436f1ad77369b463a35d66 I recently got my hands on the Allen Company Deckers 48" Lockable Rifle Case in a sleek black finish, complete with a prominent American flag decal. As an avid hunter and gun enthusiast, I understand the importance of protecting my investment while also keeping it secure from unauthorized access. This rifle case exceeded my expectations in many ways, offering more than just secure transportation. One of the most appealing features of this lockable case is its rugged construction. It's made from endura fabric that boasts impressive durability, ensuring your rifle remains safe even during rough handling or bumpier rides. Additionally, the thick foam padding inside provides extra reassurance when storing your valuable firearms. Another highlight worth mentioning is the lockable feature. With a simple twist of the key, I can rest assured knowing my rifle is securely locked away, giving me peace of mind when traveling or storing it in shared spaces. Plus, the nose loop allows for easy hanging, which comes in handy when organizing my gear. However, one drawback I experienced was the limited storage space within the case. While it fits most rifles quite snugly, those with larger scopes or accessories may need to invest in additional protective cases or opt for a larger model like the 62" version available from Allen Company. Overall, the Allen Company Deckers 48" Lockable Rifle Case has proven to be a reliable companion for transporting and storing my AK 47, offering both protection and security. Its high-quality build and appealing design make it a standout choice among other rifle cases on the market. 🔗Kryptek Pistol Rug Case with Multi-Level Concealment Technologyhttps://preview.redd.it/j0nm9ycom0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f5cd351c537cb38624125dbcb259164af266748 I recently got my hands on the Kryptek pistol rug case for my airsoft pistol, and I must say, it's truly a game-changer. The Kryptek Camo design is not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly effective in blending into various environments. This case isn't just about looks though; it's got some solid features that make it a must-have for any airsofter. First off, the 600D PVC shell provides excellent durability while the micro fleece lining and thick padding ensure your handgun stays safe and sound. I also appreciate the heavy-duty YKK zipper, which has been a real workhorse in terms of reliability. However, one downside to this case is the lack of color variations. While the Kryptek Camo design is striking, I wish there were more options to choose from. All in all, this pistol rug case has exceeded my expectations and has become an essential part of my airsoft gear. Its combination of style, durability, and practicality make it a top choice for any airsofter seeking a reliable handgun case. 🔗50 Inch Plata Rifle Casehttps://preview.redd.it/ceyrh51pm0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f84d10f35c2bc4fed4b309fd5133a48d43ad0013 I recently started shooting more often and needed a reliable case to transport my 50-inch optic rifle safely. After some research, I decided to give the Allen Plata Rifle Case a try. This soft case has been a game-changer for me. Its thick foam padding and soft knit interior kept my rifle secure and scratch-free during transit. The flat zip accessory pocket was an added bonus, providing ample space for targets and other essential range accessories. One of my favorite features is the lockable zipper, which allows me to secure my case with a small lock easily. The hanging loop on the front is also quite convenient, enabling me to keep my case neatly stored when not in use. However, one downside to this case is that it can be a bit bulky when fully packed. Despite this, I continue using it because it offers excellent protection for my firearm. If you're in the market for a functional and protective rifle case, I highly recommend giving the Allen Plata Rifle Case a shot. 🔗Durable Long Gun Case for Shotgun Transporthttps://preview.redd.it/ld3msnqpm0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97efa1f59b6fba67b2d5d2ce9204236795d07de3 I recently got the chance to try out the Uncle Mike's Shotgun Case, and I must say, it has been a game-changer for me. As someone who often transports their shotgun, the safety and security of my firearm are paramount. The first thing that strikes you about this case is its impressive size. The 48-inch dimensions comfortably accommodate most standard shotguns, providing ample room for the weapon and any accessories. The padding inside the case is thick and durable, giving me complete peace of mind that my gun is well protected during transport. A significant highlight of this product is its smooth, snag-resistant lining. This prevents any damage to the surface of my shotgun while it is stored, ensuring it stays in pristine condition. One aspect that I really appreciated was the use of full-length zippers, which allow the case to open entirely flat. This makes it incredibly easy to access and store my shotgun, significantly enhancing convenience. The handles on the sides are also incredibly robust and balanced, making it easy to carry whether it's empty or loaded with my shotgun. In terms of drawbacks, I would say that the case is quite large and might not be ideal for those looking for a smaller, more compact option. Additionally, its sleek black design, while eye-catching and sophisticated, may not be to everyone's taste. Overall, I've been thoroughly impressed with the Uncle Mike's Shotgun Case, especially in terms of its capacity, protection, and user friendliness. I feel confident that my shotgun is in safe hands with this case, and I would highly recommend it to any gun enthusiasts in search of a reliable and stylish storage solution. 🔗Stylish Modern Sleeper Chair with Pillow and Pockethttps://preview.redd.it/2musb7dqm0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=15d0a52c627e3fccf9ea66edad6db557165bff44 I recently took the Allen Ranch Canvas 52 Shotgun Case out on a hunting trip, and I must say, it surpassed my expectations. The exterior zippered pocket provides quick access to essentials like ammunition and other accessories, while the plush padded interior ensures my dear shotgun is safe from dings and scratches. The weight of 363 grams felt comfortably light in my hands, thanks to its padded handles. Despite its compact size, there was ample storage space for both my shotgun and all its necessary gear. I particularly appreciated the attention to detail in the design - it's clear that this case was crafted with serious shooters in mind. However, one minor inconvenience was that the case was a bit too tight for some of my larger hunting knives. Though this was not a deal-breaker by any means, it did require a little extra effort to fit everything in securely. Overall, the Allen Ranch Canvas 52 Shotgun Case has proven to be an invaluable addition to my hunting gear. Its superior craftsmanship, plentiful storage, and comfortable handling make it worthy of the highest praise. 🔗Secure Shotgun Case with Mechanical Lockhttps://preview.redd.it/qb00vuyqm0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd134200f2ef894debd172bc750c00a5d902d630 As a homeowner with a trusty shotgun for home defense, I was in search of a secure and reliable storage solution. That's when I discovered the V-Line 3842-SA Shotgun Case. This case has been a game-changer for me. Not only does it provide an extra layer of security with its high-grade lock, but it also allows me to mount it in various ways depending on my needs. One feature that really stands out is the pre-punched mounting holes, making it incredibly easy to set up and install. Another great thing about this case is its size - it's perfect for accommodating most home defense shotguns and can easily be hidden in a closet or behind a door for added concealment. However, one potential downside could be its width. If you have a shotgun with an extended magazine tube or a pistol grip, you might find it a bit tight in there. But overall, this case has exceeded my expectations in terms of quality, ease of use, and storage capabilities. In terms of setup, the V-Line Shotgun Case is a breeze. The all-welded assembly ensures durability and strength. Its mechanical combination lock is not only quick and easy to access, but it also offers a customizable code for added security. I also appreciate the two additional keyed locks for added peace of mind when quick access isn't required. Plus, the case is lined with foam and includes a touch fasteners strap to secure your weapon, ensuring your shotgun stays snug and protected. While this case is technically legal to use and purchase in California, it's worth noting that it doesn't qualify as a "safe" according to the state's Department of Justice. However, it still provides a secure and reliable solution for storing your shotgun at home. Overall, the V-Line 3842-SA Shotgun Case has been an excellent addition to my home security setup. Its combination of security features, ease of use, and versatile storage options make it a top choice for gun owners looking for a reliable way to store and protect their shotguns. Buyer's GuideChoosing the right Bucheimer gun case for your needs can make a significant difference in the security, protection, and convenience of your firearms. This buyer's guide offers an overview of key features, considerations, and general advice to help you select the ideal gun case for your weapons.Consider Materialhttps://preview.redd.it/iicyugmrm0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=395f3e282a1964edc46c5619e55ac66f45f4a0a9 The material of the case plays a crucial role in its rigidity and protection capacity. Options include heavy-duty materials like ballistic nylon, hard-sided cases made from polymer, and softer-sided cases made from padded fabric or leather. Assess your requirements and weigh the pros and cons of different materials for optimal protection and durability. Evaluate Size & CapacityIt's important to find a gun case with enough width, length, and depth to accommodate your entire collection of firearms safely, while also allowing for easy access. Consider the size and type of your firearms, including any accessories like scopes or lights that may need additional space for secure storage.Check Security FeaturesA quality gun case should offer secure protection for your firearms during storage and transport. Look for cases with locking mechanisms, high-impact-resistant materials, and sturdy seams or latches to ensure the utmost security. In addition, some cases include pressure equalization valves that help regulate internal pressure changes while traveling. https://preview.redd.it/di4qwg4sm0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4a63e8eea13500e7aaa2ce721d3f2fcb4b50819b Assess Portability & WeightDepending on the type and number of firearms you own, the weight and portability of the gun case can be critical factors. Lightweight materials and adjustable handles or straps can make it easier to move your case, but ensure it doesn't compromise on strength and protection for your weapons.Consider Additional StorageAmple storage capacity for ammunition, magazines, and other firearm accessories can be a valuable feature in a gun case. Look for cases with extra pockets, zippered compartments, and Velcro attachment points to keep your gear organized and easily accessible during transportation and storage.Think about Customizationhttps://preview.redd.it/my6q4lgsm0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e83c9b430ba9fd554df8d5135edec85059a197e Some gun cases allow for customization, such as adding extra foam inserts, organizing pouches, or even labeling for specific firearms. If you have unique storage needs, consider cases that offer these customizable options to make your case truly tailored to your collection. Research Warranty & Customer SupportPrior to making a purchase, research the company's warranty and customer support policies. Look for manufacturers that offer a strong guarantee on their products and provide exceptional service. This will help ensure your satisfaction with the gun case and provide peace of mind in case of any issues that may arise.Read User ReviewsBefore making a final decision, take some time to read reviews from other buyers who have used the specific model of Bucheimer gun case you are considering. This will give you valuable insights into the case's performance, quality, and durability under real-world conditions. https://preview.redd.it/cxbskhwsm0tc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=696f6f221a7069626d410a1db3d6419de024b2ac FAQWhat are the benefits of using Bucheimer Gun Cases?Bucheimer Gun Cases offer several benefits, including protection from dust, moisture, and scratches. These cases also provide organized storage for gun accessories and ammunition, ensuring quick and easy access when needed. The high-quality materials used in their construction contribute to their durability, ensuring they can withstand the rigors of frequent use and transportation.How do I know which Bucheimer Gun Case size to choose?When selecting a Bucheimer Gun Case, consider the size of your gun, as well as any additional accessories you plan to store within the case. Measure your firearm's length, width, and height, and then compare those dimensions to the available case options. Opt for a case that provides ample room for your gun and accessories, but not so much extra space that the weapon may shift during transportation.What materials are Bucheimer Gun Cases made from?Bucheimer Gun Cases are constructed using high-quality materials designed to protect your firearms from the elements and impact damage. These materials may include heavy-duty nylon, reinforced stitching, and plush interior linings for added protection and padding. Some cases also feature water-resistant or waterproof materials, ensuring your gun remains dry during outdoor use or inclement weather.How do I properly care for and maintain my Bucheimer Gun Case?To ensure your Bucheimer Gun Case continues to function properly and maintain its appearance, it is essential to clean and inspect it regularly. Wipe down the exterior with a damp cloth to remove dirt and debris, and vacuum or brush out any accumulated dust from the interior. Inspect the case for signs of wear or damage, and replace any worn or damaged parts promptly. Additionally, store your gun case in a cool, dry place when not in use to prolong its lifespan.How do I secure my firearms within a Bucheimer Gun Case?To secure your firearms within a Bucheimer Gun Case, utilize the case's built-in compartments and accessories, or invest in additional securing mechanisms such as locking straps or Velcro ties. These tools can help prevent your firearms from shifting during transportation, ensuring they remain safely stored and easy to access when needed.Do Bucheimer Gun Cases come with a warranty?The warranty coverage for Bucheimer Gun Cases may vary, so it is essential to review the specific product's warranty information before making a purchase. Generally, these cases are designed to withstand a significant amount of wear and tear, but they may be subject to certain limitations or exclusions related to damage resulting from misuse or negligence. In case of defects, contact the manufacturer or retailer for warranty support and potential repair or replacement options.As an Amazon™ Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. |
2024.04.05 07:39 GuiltlessMaple Best Cabela'S Waders
 | submitted by GuiltlessMaple to u/GuiltlessMaple [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/3kdficrlllsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b81027e9090dc5fd4c294f9124e8f1b3b0b771b Welcome to our roundup of the top Cabela's waders, designed to keep you comfortable and dry while exploring the great outdoors. In this article, we'll be highlighting our favorite waders from Cabela's, focusing on their features, quality, and style. Prepare to embark on your next fishing adventure with confidence, knowing you're well-equipped with the best waders Cabela's has to offer. The Top 18 Best Cabela'S Waders
Reviews🔗Cabela's SuperMag Rugged & Warm Hunting Chest Waders with Waterproof & Insulated Bootshttps://preview.redd.it/3olfz2cmllsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8bf697825a7d40053b7b8c5e3a31f8d3a87728a3 As a hunter, I'm always in search of the perfect wader that provides both warmth and durability. After trying out the Cabela's SuperMag Neoprene Chest Waders for Men, I have to say, I'm impressed! These waders are built to withstand the toughest conditions, all while keeping my feet nice and toasty. One of my favorite features is the rugged Armor-Flex exterior. It may seem a bit heavy, but it truly provides amazing abrasion resistance. No more worrying about snagging my waders on sharp rocks or thorns. The reinforced knees are a lifesaver too, especially when I'm kneeling down to unhook a fish or re-rig my line. The padding on the shoulder straps is especially comfortable, making it easy to wear these all day long. The waders are waterproof and naturally insulating, and I appreciate that they're made from 5mm neoprene. It makes a huge difference in keeping my feet warm, even in the coldest water. The 1,600-gram 3M Thinsulate Insulation in the boots is an added bonus, providing extra warmth when I need it most. However, there is one downside: the boots are a bit clunky. It might not be the most ideal choice for a long hike, but for a day of hunting, it's not a deal-breaker for me. The tread on the air bob outsoles is decent enough for navigating through muck, but I do wish they were a bit more responsive. Overall, the Cabela's SuperMag Neoprene Chest Waders for Men are a solid choice for any hunter looking for a rugged, warm, and waterproof wader. The combination of warmth, durability, and convenience makes it a worthwhile investment for those who spend their days outdoors. 🔗Comfortable Slate Men's 5XL Chest Wadershttps://preview.redd.it/w0sz9yumllsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c05004ebf83bbf4b6c6b5e9e4a79ec5cb3715084 As a product reviewer, I recently had the chance to test out the Frogg Toggs Canyon II Breathable Stockingfoot Chest Wader. While initially apprehensive, I found that this pair of waders quickly became a go-to for fishing trips and outdoor adventures due to a few standout features. Firstly, the splash-proof zippered chest pocket was a game-changer for quick access to essential tools like fishing pliers, line cutters or even a waterproof smartphone. It allowed for quick, easy access without having to remove the waders entirely. The adjustable wading belt with a quick-release locking buckle was a comfortable touch, giving a snug, secure fit with room to adjust as needed. Additionally, the attached gravel guards with integral lace hooks helped prevent dirt and debris from entering the lower part of the wader, keeping me worry-free when navigating rocky terrain. On the downside, the neoprene stocking foot seams and fabric bend did cause some mild discomfort and occasional friction. While it didn't affect the waterproofing or overall functionality of the waders, it's a minor inconvenience that could be improved upon in future designs. Overall, the Frogg Toggs Canyon II Breathable Stockingfoot Chest Wader won me over with its versatile features, durability, and affordability. Despite the small drawbacks, I'd highly recommend these waders to anyone seeking a reliable, comfortable, and budget-friendly option for their outdoor pursuits. 🔗Breathable, Comfortable, Lightweight Chest Waders for All Seasonshttps://preview.redd.it/wex13p7nllsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a20141ef171259fab84be710c809c2351d7e869 The Caddis Men's Deluxe Breathable Chest Waders have been a game-changer for me during my fishing trips. The lightweight design is ideal for those hot summer days when it's crucial to stay cool while wading in the water. The secret behind these waders lies in their CaddisDry fabric, which keeps you dry without allowing water molecules to pass through while still allowing vapor molecules to escape, maintaining your comfort. The waders are made to fit most body sizes, making it easy to find the perfect fit. One of the standout features of the chest waders is the double taped glued and stitched feet, which work wonders in keeping your feet warm and dry even after hours of wading. However, it's essential to note that the boots must be purchased separately. Another pro is the availability of various adult sizes, ensuring that men and women of different body types are well addressed. While the Caddis Men's Deluxe Breathable Chest Waders have many positive aspects, the lack of belt loops may not be appealing to some users. Additionally, some have expressed their desire for a zipper front for easier access to the "water trees. " Despite these minor issues, I have always found these waders to be reliable and efficient, helping me stay dry and comfortable during my fishing adventures. 🔗Versatile and Waterproof Chest Waders by Frogg Toggshttps://preview.redd.it/u4qn4wknllsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=66c93ea2ee0c36188016456e4e40aa2284fa6b55 I recently had the chance to put the Frogg Toggs Amphib Wader to the test while wading into some murky waters for a fishing trip. As I began to traverse through the water, I immediately noticed how well the 3.5mm neoprene upper did its job in keeping water out – I genuinely felt like I was on top of the situation. One of the most impressive features was the adjustable neoprene suspenders. They had an easy-to-use hook-and-loop attachment that allowed me to find the best fit for my body type. Plus, the handwarmer pockets on the chest and zippered pockets on the flit-out made for extra warmth and organization. However, I did encounter a couple of drawbacks during my time with the amphib. Upon my second day of wear, I experienced some leakage from the seams. It was quite disappointing to see after such a sturdy first day. Another minor concern was that the product is only hand-washable, which might be a bit of a hassle for those who prefer washing their gear in a washing machine. But, overall, the Frogg Toggs Amphib Wader was an impressive tool for my fishing adventure. It kept me comfortably insulated in the water and allowed me to tread deeper with confidence. With some adjustments to the manufacturing process and a slight modification to the washability, this product could easily be the perfect companion for those seeking the bigger catch. 🔗Insulated Neoprene Duck Hunting Waders with Breathable Comforthttps://preview.redd.it/p97a1n0ollsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=652db732f16e9c0b5ded8a0b7b0918110094f1ab I recently had the chance to try out the Buckshot Eqwader 1600 Neoprene Wader 3.0. First impressions? It was a sturdy, well-built wader that seemed to be able to withstand some serious wear and tear. The neoprene and Thinsulate Buckshot Mudder Boot ensured that my feet stayed warm and dry even in the coldest of conditions. As I stepped into the wader, I couldn't help but notice the HD2 Hydro-Flex knees. They truly felt like a game-changer, providing the extra protection I needed to navigate through tough terrain. The License/Key pocket with a waterproof zipper was a thoughtful addition as well - it kept my essentials safe and dry. However, there were a couple of things that didn't quite live up to my expectations. I found the sizing to be a bit off, with the wader feeling a bit too tight in certain areas. Although the neoprene was quite comfortable overall, the inseam length proved to be a bit of a challenge. Lastly, it's important to note that this product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer and reproductive harm. As someone who values my health and that of the environment, I'm always cautious when using products with such warnings. In summary, the Buckshot Eqwader 1600 Neoprene Wader 3.0 is a solid choice for those looking for a durable and warm wader that can stand up to harsh conditions. Just be prepared for a bit of a learning curve when it comes to sizing and any potential concerns related to the product's chemicals. 🔗Versatile Ducks Unlimited Waders for Comfortable Huntshttps://preview.redd.it/zh0f6idollsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d1723502b83528f6945a89b1ea19dedca9b9f5c8 Recently, I've been using the Drake Eqwader 1600 Breathable Wader with Tear-Away Liner, and the experience so far has been quite mixed. This wader definitely has its perks, such as the 125-gram LokDown insulation in the front and 200-gram LokDown insulation in the back, providing great warmth and comfort in various weather conditions. Additionally, the HD2 material over high-wear areas has proven to be quite durable and resistant to rough use and elements. However, one downside I've encountered is the "No Buckle" shoulder straps, which can sometimes feel a bit too loose, and I found myself constantly adjusting them for a more comfortable fit. The Buckshot Mudder Boots are quite a plus, as they provide the perfect amount of support and adjustability for a truly customized experience. Overall, the Drake Eqwader 1600 Breathable Wader with Tear-Away Liner has showcased some great features, such as the comfortable liner and insulation, along with a few areas that could still use some improvement, like the shoulder straps. As I continue to use this wader in my daily life, I'll keep you posted on any further developments. 🔗Proven Hunting Waders for Waterfowlhttps://preview.redd.it/3pwfy1qollsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b16017e945ed14860d9a3f8b216ed2dedb3315f4 I recently had the chance to try out Cabela's Northern Flight Front Zip Breathable Hunting Waders for Men, and let me tell you, they proved to be quite the hunting companion! . From the moment I slipped them on, the breathability of these waders was evident. The 4-layer waterproof/breathable upper, combined with the innovative Flex Knee design, made for an incredibly comfortable and easy-moving fit. The 1,600-gram Thinsulate Insulation in the seamless boots kept my feet warm even in the coldest of waters. The high-traction outsoles with an added hunting tread provided a sure footing on those slippery surfaces. I also appreciated the addition of the wader safety belt, which provided a more secure fit. Overall, these waders were a great choice for my waterfowling adventures. However, I did notice a minor seam failure, and the boots were quite heavy, potentially making them a bit challenging for long refuges walks. Despite these minor drawbacks, I would definitely recommend giving Cabela's Northern Flight Front Zip Breathable Hunting Waders for Men a try for your next hunting excursion. 🔗Ripstop Fabric Pilot River Guide HD Chest Wadershttps://preview.redd.it/gogp690pllsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c6caad07ddd07f6b10e4ae30d3847cd40122fea5 I recently gave the Frogg Toggs Pilot River Guide HD Stockingfoot Chest Waders a try during my weekend fishing trip. After a few hours in the cold water, I noticed a few issues that left me wanting more. Firstly, the waders felt heavy on my feet, which made it challenging to walk comfortably through the water. The material used in the booties wasn't very flexible, causing some discomfort. However, the Y-back mesh design with adjustable, elastic suspenders did a great job in fitting me snugly, allowing for a more comfortable fit overall. One of the highlights of these waders was the multiple pockets for storage. The zippered chest pockets and pass-through handwarmer pocket were perfect for carrying essential items. I found the Ripstop fabric with external seam tape to be durable and waterproof, which was reassuring while I was wading through the water. Despite the pros, there were some negatives I encountered. After my first use, I noticed some seam issues, causing the waders to leak in certain areas. The attached gravel guards and lace hooks were a nice feature but didn't seem to hold up well compared to other waders I've used. Overall, the Frogg Toggs Pilot River Guide HD Stockingfoot Chest Waders provide a comfortable fit and multiple storage options that I appreciated during my fishing trip. However, the seam issues and durability concerns made me hesitant to fully recommend them to fellow anglers. 🔗Simms Riffle Stockingfoot Waders for Men - Breathable, Waterproof Waderhttps://preview.redd.it/d0nuzwdpllsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5d081c587760397d7d09700b3d66f04cbfd765b2 Recently, I had the opportunity to test out the Simms Riffle Stockingfoot Waders for Men in X-Large size. Throughout my time using the waders, I must say they were a bittersweet experience. On the one hand, the waders provided exceptional breathability, all thanks to the 3-layer waterproof polyester construction in the upper portion and 4-layer waterproof polyester construction in the lower portion. However, they didn't perform exceptionally well when it came to water resistance. While I was in the water with these waders on, the material seemed to wet out and allowed water to seep through from the seams. This was particularly evident when I got out of the water, as the seams would fill with water. Despite the zippers working well, I found myself wet on multiple occasions. One aspect I found quite convenient was the reach-through, lined handwarmer pocket. This allowed me to keep my hands toasty even in colder months while on the water. Additionally, the zippered, top-entry chest pocket and flip-out tippet tender pocket provided great accessibility to my fishing tools. The built-in fabric gravel guards with boot hooks offered added protection while walking through gravel or rocky terrain, and the sure-fitting, anatomically correct stockingfeet ensured a comfortable fit. Although there were a few disappointments, such as issues with the water resistance and the potential difficulty in getting the waders on and off due to the lack of quick-release buckles, I still believe these Simms Riffle Stockingfoot Waders are a reliable, budget-friendly option for those looking for a decent pair of fishing waders. Just be prepared to handle a bit of water seepage and potentially awkward strap placement. 🔗Frogg Toggs Insulated Bootfoot Wader for Fishing with Felt Outsolehttps://preview.redd.it/4flxjcopllsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b94bcfeefd726bf3cb755749af6f069a9b3f1e17 The Frogg Toggs Steelheader Insulated Bootfoot Wader is a versatile solution for anglers who want to conquer any weather on their fishing adventures. I had the opportunity to use these waders for a week-long trip, and they proved quite comfortable despite their bulkiness. The 120-gram zip-in/zip-out removable insulated liner was surprisingly effective in keeping my feet warm and dry in the humid Tennessee hills, as well as the frigid waters of Wyoming. One of the standout features of the Steelheaders is their reinforced knee and seat, which helped protect my lower body from sharp rocks and sticks around the riverbanks. The pass-through pockets, zippered flip-out security chest pocket and storage pockets, and the fleece-lined handwarmer pockets provided ample storage and kept my hands toasty throughout the trip. However, there were several downsides to my experience with the Steelheaders. Firstly, the wader's size was truly massive, making it a struggle for me even though I'm not particularly tall or heavy. The sizing issue was further aggravated by the excessively long inseam, which made it challenging to wear these waders comfortably. Additionally, I encountered an issue with the boot's durability, as it started to leak from the inseam after just a few uses. In conclusion, the Frogg Toggs Steelheader Insulated Bootfoot Wader is a versatile and warm option for anglers seeking protection from varying weather conditions. However, it's essential to consider the sizing and durability challenges before purchasing, especially for those of us who are shorter or lighter-weight. Overall, it's a mixed bag of both pros and cons but could be a worthwhile investment for those seeking a rugged, waterproof solution for their fishing trips. 🔗Comfortable Insulated Hunting Waderhttps://preview.redd.it/n9746c3qllsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2747acf72a79e4500a3c52fd68c162e3de349044 Recently, I was on a hunting trip with my buddies, and they all had one of these Insulated Breathable Chest Waders from Drake. I was the only one who didn't have one, so I decided to give it a try. The first thing that stood out to me was the warmth and comfort it provided. The LokDown insulation did a great job of keeping me toasty even when the temperature dropped. Plus, the Guardian Elite 3 fabric was incredible at blocking out the wind and keeping me dry. But there were a couple of drawbacks too. One was the leakage issue a few people mentioned, but luckily, it didn't happen to me. Another problem was finding the right size as some users mentioned. It took me a bit of time to get the perfect fit, but once I did, it was great. Overall, I'd say the Drake Insulated Breathable Chest Wader is a fantastic choice for hunters who need both protection and comfort during their outdoor adventures. 🔗Cabela's Breathable Waders: Durable, Reinforced, and Comfortablehttps://preview.redd.it/4ajmvceqllsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=542e4316e962217f6a449318ea80fae504dc6228 Last summer, I went on a fishing trip with my buddies and we needed some reliable waders. I had heard about Frogg Toggs Pilot II wading gear, so I decided to give them a try. This wader is designed with four-ply polyester in the shell and offers four-ply reinforced areas around the seat, knees, and legs. I loved the custom quad chest storage pockets with both front and side entry, and the oversized pocket with a horizontal zip closure is also a great feature. The elastic wading belt with locking quick-release buckle is a nice touch, and the single-seam crotch design eliminates the common issue of crossed crotch seams. I appreciated the 4-ply nylon construction with nylon leg and knee protection. The attached, Dura-Span gravel guards with integral lace hooks worked perfectly, and the overall fit and comfort were great. However, one thing that did catch my attention was that some users had issues with leaking seams or problems with the right leg of the waders. Fortunately, for me, these issues did not occur. Overall, I had a positive experience and recommend the Frogg Togs Pilot II wading gear for anyone looking for a reliable and budget-friendly solution. Buyer's GuideWelcome to our buyer's guide for Cabela's waders. This comprehensive guide will help you understand the essential features, considerations, and general advice when it comes to choosing the right waders for your fishing adventures. We will not be mentioning any specific product picks or external resources to ensure a fair and unbiased guide.Materials and DurabilityThe materials used in Cabela's waders play a significant role in their durability, comfort, and performance. Most waders are made from waterproof and breathable materials like neoprene, rubberized nylon, or Gore-Tex. Make sure to check the wader's durability and resistance to tearing and puncturing, especially when fishing in rugged environments. https://preview.redd.it/0v60xqpsllsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=05515e941946454ab584809ae8c87fb45709f373 Fit and ComfortA proper fit is crucial for both comfort and functionality. You should consider the wader's sizing chart and choose the best fit for your body shape. Some waders also come with adjustable features like suspenders, thigh straps, and waist belts to ensure a snug fit. Remember to test the waders in a store or by ordering a size up or down to find the perfect fit before purchasing online.BreathabilityAs you spend an extended period in the water, it's essential to choose waders that provide sufficient breathability to prevent overheating and sweat buildup. Look for waders with breathable membranes, such as Gore-Tex, that allow moisture to escape without compromising waterproofing.Insulation and Thermal RatingWaders are designed to keep you warm and comfortable in different water temperatures. Insulation materials, like neoprene or fleece, will help retain body heat. Check the thermal rating of the waders to ensure they meet your expectations and can withstand the conditions you'll be fishing in. https://preview.redd.it/4q6cet3tllsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d74a71f0923d2a8c793641f20ca848eb1ca025ea Flexibility and MobilityA good-quality wader should allow for easy movement and flexibility. Look for waders with a 4-way stretch material that enables greater freedom of movement without compromising waterproofing or breathability.Additional FeaturesSome Cabela's waders come with extra features, such as pockets, wading boot integration, reinforced knees, and adjustable straps. Consider these features to determine if they meet your specific requirements and enhance your overall experience while fishing.Price and ValueCabela's waders come in a wide range of prices, so it's essential to find the right balance between price and value. Higher-priced waders usually come with additional features, better materials, and improved performance, but they may not be necessary if you're a casual angler. Always do your research and compare different models to ensure you're getting the best value for your money.With the variety of Cabela's waders available, our guide aims to help you make an informed decision when choosing the best pair for your needs. Consider the wader's materials, fit, breathability, insulation, flexibility, and additional features when making your selection. Always test the waders in a store or by ordering a size up or down to find the perfect fit before purchasing online. Happy fishing! https://preview.redd.it/y4osceltllsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=844d70addd3a86d385fb657b422e674bd1d68ac7 FAQWhat are Cabela's waders?Cabela's waders are high-quality, durable and comfortable wading garments designed for hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts. They are made to withstand tough conditions, such as cold water, harsh terrain, and abrasion.Which type of wader material is best for me?Cabela's offers a wide range of wader materials, including breathable, lightweight stockings, waterproof and breathable fabrics, and heavy-duty, reinforced materials for extra durability. Choosing the right material depends on the activities you will be engaging in and the environmental conditions you will face. https://preview.redd.it/5c0djxytllsc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=baaf6622a41b0dab941b9b361fdc429c15b7f6f9 What features should I look for in Cabela's waders?Some key features to look for in Cabela's waders include: waterproof and breathable fabrics, reinforced seams and knees for extra durability, and adjustable waist and cuff systems for a comfortable fit. Additional features like pockets, accessory loops, and weight distribution solutions may also be beneficial.How do I measure for the right size Cabela's wader?To ensure the best fit, measure the length and waist circumference of your body. Use these measurements to find the appropriate size for your wader. Additionally, consider the specific style and features of the wader and how they may fit your body type.What is the warranty on Cabela's waders?Cabela's waders typically come with a warranty period ranging from 1 to 3 years, depending on the specific product and manufacturer. Warranty details vary, but generally cover defects in materials and workmanship. Be sure to read the warranty documentation provided with your wader to understand the specific coverage and terms.How should I care for my Cabela's waders?To ensure the longevity and performance of your waders, properly clean and store them after each use. Rinse them with cold water to remove any dirt or debris, and let them air dry away from direct sunlight. When not in use, store them in a cool, dry place to prevent mildew and odor buildup. Regularly inspect the seams, zippers, and other components for damage or wear.What are some commonly available colors for Cabela's waders?Cabela's offers a variety of wader colors to choose from, including earth tone, moss, brown, green, and gray. The color you choose depends on your personal preference and the specific hunting or fishing environment you will be in.What accessories can I get for my Cabela's waders?Cabela's offers a range of wader accessories, including: storage bags, boot foot attachments, gloves, and wader belts. These accessories can enhance the functionality and comfort of your waders, providing additional features like added insulation, improved waterproofing, and improved storage options.As an Amazon™ Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. |
2024.04.03 01:04 Anything-Happy The Bad Number
I found one in the wild today, y'all! Join me as we journey into the land of the Evangelical Boomer Cashier...
Backstory: So lately, I've been thinking about learning how to knit - I have a hard time keeping my hands still, and who doesn't need a few wonky dishcloths for the extra-goopy pans? Today I took the plunge and stopped at Hobby Lobby to pick out needles (so shiny! so long! so delightfully stabby!) and some nice yarn.
When I got to the checkout, I assumed the standard boomer "pleasantries" would be offered by the ancient cashier, but I was not prepared for the following gem of an interaction.
Boomer Cashier: Your total is gasp! oh no! That's THE BAD NUMBER!
Me: Huh?
BC: Your total is... that number! (points to total, which is $6.66)
Me: Uh, okay. Here's seven dollars.
BC: No, don't you see? That's the bad number! Don't you want to buy something else?!
Me: Um, no, I think it's fine, thanks. Here's my money.
BC: But it's that number! I would buy something else just to be safe.
Me: Money. (basically have to shove it toward her so she'll take it)
BC: I guess you're right, we've got the power, don't we? We're safe in the blood, aren't we? Here's your change. We gottatrust in the blood!
Me: I don't need a receipt, thanks. (turn to exit)
BC: TRUST IN THE BLOOD! And goodbye!!
Okay, I get it; it's a "Christian" company. I get that Christians love their evangelism. I even get that some people are superstitious about certain symbols. But seriously, how will me paying more money into a Chinese-slave-labor-funded company redeem my blackened soul? Does Jesus really mark it against me if the taxes Caesar levies against my knitting needles comes to a certain total? If your faith is so unshakable and firm, why are you scared of how many singles I'm counting out?! I mean, of all the ways Satan could fuck me over today, I'm sure this ain't his pick; he's supposed to be a little more calculated than that, right?
I just wanted to dump less than ten bucks into a "maybe I'll like it" project. Get my feet wet, you know? Now I gotta remember to lose sleep over the fact that I'm going to burn in hell because I bought the Devil's Yarn today...
And, for those who care, I did figure out how to do my first two rows of stitches; they're hideously crooked, and I'm so proud of them!
submitted by Anything-Happy to BoomersBeingFools [link] [comments]
Backstory: So lately, I've been thinking about learning how to knit - I have a hard time keeping my hands still, and who doesn't need a few wonky dishcloths for the extra-goopy pans? Today I took the plunge and stopped at Hobby Lobby to pick out needles (so shiny! so long! so delightfully stabby!) and some nice yarn.
When I got to the checkout, I assumed the standard boomer "pleasantries" would be offered by the ancient cashier, but I was not prepared for the following gem of an interaction.
Boomer Cashier: Your total is gasp! oh no! That's THE BAD NUMBER!
Me: Huh?
BC: Your total is... that number! (points to total, which is $6.66)
Me: Uh, okay. Here's seven dollars.
BC: No, don't you see? That's the bad number! Don't you want to buy something else?!
Me: Um, no, I think it's fine, thanks. Here's my money.
BC: But it's that number! I would buy something else just to be safe.
Me: Money. (basically have to shove it toward her so she'll take it)
BC: I guess you're right, we've got the power, don't we? We're safe in the blood, aren't we? Here's your change. We gottatrust in the blood!
Me: I don't need a receipt, thanks. (turn to exit)
BC: TRUST IN THE BLOOD! And goodbye!!
Okay, I get it; it's a "Christian" company. I get that Christians love their evangelism. I even get that some people are superstitious about certain symbols. But seriously, how will me paying more money into a Chinese-slave-labor-funded company redeem my blackened soul? Does Jesus really mark it against me if the taxes Caesar levies against my knitting needles comes to a certain total? If your faith is so unshakable and firm, why are you scared of how many singles I'm counting out?! I mean, of all the ways Satan could fuck me over today, I'm sure this ain't his pick; he's supposed to be a little more calculated than that, right?
I just wanted to dump less than ten bucks into a "maybe I'll like it" project. Get my feet wet, you know? Now I gotta remember to lose sleep over the fact that I'm going to burn in hell because I bought the Devil's Yarn today...
And, for those who care, I did figure out how to do my first two rows of stitches; they're hideously crooked, and I'm so proud of them!
2024.03.28 17:20 ya-boi-benny Respect Bonesaw (Worm/Ward)
Her mother’s final words rang through Riley’s head, the last words she’d before she had become a machine that had stopped working.
Be a good girl.
She’d be good. She’d be polite and cheerful and she’d do her chores and she would mind her manners and she’d eat all of her dinner and she’d keep her hair nice and she wouldn’t swear and…
Feats come from Worm and the sequel series, Ward. Chapter names and numbers can be found in the quotes themselves.
There are also two Word of God statements from the author, linked from his comments on Reddit or the chapter.
Power
Bonesaw is a tinker, but instead of her specialty focusing on a kind of machine, she's innately knowledgeable on human anatomy. This gives her incredible surgical and bioengineering abilities.Knowledge
- She’s extremely knowledgeable on the parahuman brain, both the biological parts like the Corona Pollentia and Radiata, as well as the non-tangible things like passengers
- She can calculate body weight and health to determine ideal tranquilizer doses on the fly
- She can predict how long Nilbog’s spawn will live
- Riley acts as a medical consultant over a video call, analyzing risks of internal and nerve damage after getting a quick look at wounds
- On the fly, she codes a protein sequence and gives it to a mechanical spider, who injects it into a Riley clone. This alters the clone's behavior into a more convincing facsimile of the original Riley.
- Performs surgery on her own thigh in the backseat of a car without getting blood on the car seat
- “Blueprints” for body modification appear in her mind’s eye in moments; when someone says that they're being "tongue-in-cheek", she daydreams about how to extend someone’s tongue through their face in a five-minute surgery.
- Her power helps her remember biology-related information, like “growth record, cellular detail, energy consumption” recorded on Lookout’s scanners
- After liberating cloning tech and brainscan data from other tinkers, Bonesaw begins crafting the Slaughterhouse 9000, a project where clones of members of the team’s past rosters are released onto the world. This process involves cloning the individuals from small samples of DNA, then implanting memories into their brains while they’re young to have fully conditioned killers by the time they reach maturity. The end result is around 281 killers, nine clones of all members aside from Bonesaw, Jack Slash and Gray Boy, then five of Bonesaw’s hybrids.
- In a collaborative project with the homunculi creator Nilbog and the soul keeper Valkyrie, Bonesaw helped to bring the dead back to life. These formerly deceased parahumans are part of Valkyrie’s group, the Flock.
- Victoria Dallon’s plan to defeat the Titan Fortuna was to create a plague that effected only parahumans, giving them bizarre, unpleasant dreams before killing them. Riley is able to construct such a plague in a matter of hours. The plague is contagious and is spread by physical contact. After Titan Fortuna relents, the plague is cured somehow and many parahumans are woken up before they die.
Physicals
GeneralDurability
- Imp slashes Bonesaw’s throat, then stabs her in the eye. The attacks hurt, but cause no real damage.
- One of Parian’s stuffed animals punches through glass and knocks Bonesaw across a room, but she gets up right after. It then wails on her repeatedly, although Bonesaw walks away with a nosebleed.
- Parian sends around thirty needles into Bonesaw’s throat, then pulls the villain closer and slashes at her throat with a scalpel to little effect
- Jack Slash takes three swings of a meat cleaver to sever Bonesaw’s hands
- She’s unphased when Skitter’s capsaicin-dipped bug swarms attack her eyes and skin with bites and stings
- Not bothered when Jack Slash accidentally cuts her face and collarbone with a knife
- Defiant impales Bonesaw through the heart with his spear, then smashes her into walls and shelves repeatedly
- She’s cut in half at the waist by Defiant, although the protective mail wrapped around her spine prevents serious damage
- Her body can keep moving with only thirty percent of her blood remaining
Body Modifications
On herselfHidden Weapons
- She bites into a false tooth, then spits acid a few seconds later
- She’s jury-rigged her own body so that, if she were killed in battle, thousands of plagues and epidemics would be released in a cloud that would effect a space the size of a neighborhood
- After being cut in half at the waist, she crawls up a man’s body before forcing her prehensile spine down his throat. Needles come out of her spine and enter the man’s own spine, and Bonesaw is then able to pilot his body and completely override his own physical autonomy.
- Has projectile poison needles built into a fingertip
- If anyone were to try and control her mind, she’s built countermeasures inside her brain that would trigger a berserker-style rage in herself
- She has a number of other miscellaneous traps in her body, like a venom venting system, a poison spit, and a telescoping humerus that activates poison capsules under her fingernails
- She’s laced her incisors with sharp material for greater cutting power
- Riley scratches a woman's arm and, using tiny tools hidden under her nails, Riley manipulates the nerves and muscles within. This leads to permanent loss of mobility in the limb and chronic pain.
- She’s implanted three eggs within her thigh that, if her body was grievously damaged, can hatch into full-grown monsters in seconds. She believes that they’re strong enough to kill any individual that she knows of, with the exception of fourteen people.
- She has protective sheaths around vital organs and keeps spare organs in case one is destroyed
- When enhancing herself and the other physically human members of the Nine, Bonesaw surgically implanted protective sheaths over their major organs and arteries, reinforced their skeletons with wire and strengthened their teeth. In response to injury, there are systems that pump their bodies with painkillers and antibiotics.
- Has a protective sheath around her femoral artery
- Cherish planned on using her emotion manipulation to destroy the Slaughterhouse Nine from the inside, killing all of the other members once her powers allowed her the right opportunity. However, Bonesaw had herself and the other members outfitted with contingencies that shield certain emotions from being sensed by Cherish, as well as safeguards that would protect from offensive uses of Cherish’s power.
- She’s rendered herself immune to Skitter’s venoms and allergens
- She performs surgery on herself without her usual pain-dampening chemicals, including bone shaving, plastic surgery, mastectomy and limb shortening
- After nearly two years of being away from the Slaughterhouse Nine, her behavior and body language has altered drastically. She programs her nervous system to replicate her original, Slaughterhouse Nine body language and behavioral tics so as not to bring unwanted attention from Jack Slash.
- Implanted chitin that can release L-ascorbic acid, for aiding in regeneration
- She can walk around on broken legs thanks to the manipulations made to her own muscular structure. Her broken bones also recover faster than normal.
- Has a hidden key that interacts with her femur, liquefying the bone marrow within. The resulting fluid can congeal into solid structures and grow into a temporary workshop, for use when she’s imprisoned or isolated for long periods.
- Implanted "scrambler cysts" within herself, which interfere with a metal detecting wand, making it appear as if her body has no modifications
- Systems to provide her with extra energy wake her up immediately
- Has redundant sensory organs that spot Lookout while she’s cloaked
On others
Helpful
- When enhancing herself and the other physically human members of the Nine, Bonesaw surgically implanted protective sheaths over their major organs and arteries, reinforced their skeletons with wire and strengthened their teeth. In response to injury, there are systems that pump their bodies with painkillers and antibiotics.
- Cherish planned on using her emotion manipulation to destroy the Slaughterhouse Nine from the inside, killing all of the other members once her powers allowed her the right opportunity. However, Bonesaw had herself and the other members outfitted with contingencies that shield certain emotions from being sensed by Cherish, as well as safeguards that would protect from offensive uses of Cherish’s power.
- The subdermal mesh provided to the human members of the Nine provides more protection for the organs and spine. When Jack is shot near the spine, it hurts, but he’s able to run and fight unimpeded.
- She heals a traumatic head wound that Doormaker sustained long ago
- She operates on Damsel of Distress, giving her prosthetic arms to help control her extremely volatile Blaster power. She builds sharpened tubes within the arms so that, if her powers were ever disabled somehow, she’d still have weapons at her disposal.
- She implanted Cherish with a parasite that disabled her emotion-manipulating powers for forty-eight hours. The effects of the parasite would be permanent if Cherish did not drink large quantities of blood.
- She implants something inside a man which causes his body to swell and explode viscerally in a matter of seconds. Other people who are hit by the man’s blood or shards of bone suffer the same demise. She explains that this process only has around four or five cycles before the human immune system can fight it off.
- In a collaboration with Mannequin, Bonesaw restrains Grue in a walk-in freezer and opens up his body. His limbs are flayed, his ribcage is opened, and his organs are brought outside of his body while remaining attached and functional. Bonesaw also grows many feet of living nerves and attaches them to Grue’s own nervous system, then covers the floors and walls with these nerves, which causes him great pain when Skitter unknowingly steps on them.
- Disguises seven civilians as the living members of the Slaughterhouse Nine. Most are unmoving due to paralysis, while one is made to pace around the room.
- Cherish is trapped at the bottom of Brockton Bay in one of Mannequin’s life-preserving pods. Bonesaw manipulates her powers, making it so that she can feel every negative emotion from every inhabitant in Brockton Bay.
- After taking Blasto as prisoner, she puts locks on his ability to breath and speak
- She attaches a spider to Blasto’s spine, limbs and mouth and makes him sing a children’s song for 131 days. When he dies of a stroke, her mechanics can still make his corpse walk.
- When cloning Damsel of Distress, Bonesaw builds her clawed hands as a means of controlling or disabling Damsel’s powers
Spiders
Mechanical fighters and surgery assistants. Small and physically weak but extremely numerous and full of Bonesaw's horrible toxins.General
- Description of their appearance
- Can be remote controlled
- Spiders respond to finger snaps
- One spider tackles Skitter, then three more restrain her
- They can tear metal off of a car and convert the material into more mechanical spiders
- They run faster than Skitter can
- A spider can attach itself to Bonesaw’s back and supply her with an array of surgical tools like needles, saws and scalpels
- The spiders can tend to Bonesaw’s wounds, like when one sutured her slashed throat
- Equipped with a miniature circular saw, used to cut into Skitter’s mask
- One puts a scope in a man's nose to tell Bonesaw if he has a corona pollentia
- One holds a syringe full of acid that, when injected into the brain through a nostril, could lead to paralysis or death
- At least ten spiders split up while dispersing bug spray to distract Skitter and cover Bonesaw’s escape from the city
- Battery is injected with a slow-acting poison that eventually kills her
- She performs plastic surgery on a group of hostages, making them look like various members of the Slaughterhouse Nine. When these decoys are released, the real members of the Nine escape the building in the confusion. She later states that these plastic surgeries were carried out by her spiders in around five minutes. Despite how easy it was for her, she claims that it would take at least a dozen visits to plastic surgeons to get the victims to look like they did originally.
- Bonesaw can weld the spiders to a human body, allowing her to control their bodies like puppets. These victims are aware of their surroundings and are kept in horrible pain.
Other Equipment
Weapons- She uses a blow dart gun to hit four heroes in quick succession, paralyzing them but leaving their Corona Pollentias intact, which would allow for Bonesaw to manipulate their powers during surgery
- She blows a handful of powder in Skitter’s face which quickly paralyzes her body but leaves her Corona Pollentia intact, which would allow for Bonesaw to manipulate her powers during surgery
- She throws together a caustic acid and uses it to destroy one of Parian’s stuffed animals
- Carries vials of chemicals that expand into clouds of vapor when opened, then solidify into sticky strands seconds later. Defiant isn’t capable of quickly breaking these strands despite wearing power armor.
- She’s built a parasite gun, a miniaturized laboratory that connects directly to her nervous system. With this tool, she can generate any kind of chemical or tinker-tech smaller than a fist, then fire it out of the gun. Within a few seconds, she catalyzes and loads it with “extinction-level” ammo.
- The Peel Darter is a blowgun designed to make a victim shed their skin. The body rejects any skin, scales or exterior hide, leaving the victim “swimming” inside the material.
- Uses an aerosol can to kill a cloud of Skitter’s bugs. Later on, she sprays herself with the poison, making it so that bugs that touch her skin are incapacitated or killed on contact.
- She uses a chemical to produce a lingering gas cloud that kills Skitter’s bugs on contact
- The bug-killing chemicals are nonflammable
- The bug-killing smoke also kills off an airborne plague crafted by Panacea
- In the middle of a massacre, Bonesaw begins collecting body parts and forming a humanoid lifeform
- Creates a fleshy fabric-producing lifeform to make her clothes and furniture
- She’s grown a small pod creature that acts as her security system. “Podrick” receives supersonic impulses from other living things around Riley’s headquarters and alerts her with gurgling noises. For example, if friendly visitors pet a toad, then Podrick will emit a positive noise to let Riley know that they aren’t intruders.
- She’s grown a number of clones of herself that respond to verbal commands. From the outside, they look just like Riley, but they're actually built more like big insects on the inside. They’re capable of copying the original Riley’s vocal patterns, phrasing and movement quirks.
- Bonesaw releases a bioweapon in Brockton Bay that effects any open bodies of water. The bioweapon turns water a deep red, can alter hundreds of feet of water in seconds, and any effected water releases a red mist that moves upwards. This mist, called a miasma by Tattletale, quickly forms a cloud that reaches higher than skyscrapers.
- The miasma weapon cannot effect saltwater, and areas on high ground are less effected by the clouds of miasma vapors
- It effects anyone who comes in contact with the gas and warps their perceptions, making them see friends as foes
- Breathing in the vapors specifically attacks the parts of the brain that allow for facial recognition, going as far as making Skitter incapable of remembering what her mother looked like. The vapors also effect things like Skitter’s memories of her teammates and her knowledge of the Slaughterhouse Nine’s powers.
- Bonesaw (posing as Tattletale) explains that the miasma is based around prions, which are so small that they can permeate water filtration systems and gas masks. The result is an incurable and terminal disease that only a biology manipulator like Panacea could cure. The disease is similar to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease but it works on a scale of hours rather than weeks.
- Under the miasma, Skitter is unable to discern faces and identities, allowing Bonesaw and Jack Slash to pose as Tattletale and Grue to make Skitter trust them
- Short-term memory is left intact
- Memories of other’s names will slip from the mind
- [Limit] Panacea is able to cure the lesions in Skitter’s brain and fix the damage done by Bonesaw’s miasma. Additionally, the healer leaves parasites in Skitter’s body that replace those left by Bonesaw’s miasma. These helpful parasites can reproduce, are found in Skitter’s bodily fluids and can spread through Brockton Bay’s water supply to cure most afflicted people in a matter of months
- Carries several telescoping tools that can fit in a small case, including dilators, scalpel/forceps, drills and a suction hose
- Protein knit sutures quickly close a thigh incision
Hybrids
Bonesaw has made a hobby of taking two parahumans, mashing them together into one body and mind-controlling them for use as bodyguards and enforcers.General
- To create Hack Job, Bonesaw had to perform the surgery through robotic proxy to avoid Hatchet Face’s power-nullifying area of effect. She lobotomized Hatchet Face and added a control panel in his brain for greater obedience, then stitched the injured Oni Lee to his back and connected both mens’ nervous systems together. The process took four hours altogether.
- Bonesaw meshes together many pieces from both individuals, including the bones and marrow, the modification of their DNA, and the cooperation of multiple brains in one body. The hybrids are also rigged to die if Bonesaw’s control panels are disrupted.
- When making the regenerating hybrid Pagoda, Bonesaw installed a failsafe device inside his heart. When his control panel is damaged or separated from his body, a chemical reaction occurs that reverses his healing and kills him, starting from his heart and moving outwards.
The combination of Hatchet Face, a tanky power-nullifier, and Oni Lee, a teleporter that creates short-lived duplicates of himself.
- Description of his appearance
- Pins Panacea with one hand while nullifying her powers
- Sneaks up behind Panacea. When she tries to flee, Hack Job appears on the other side of the front door.
- Flashbang throws an energy projectile at Bonesaw, but Hack Job teleports between them to intercept it
- He teleports over and cuts down a gunman to protect Bonesaw
The combination of Mouse Protector, a quick teleporter with enhanced agility and coordination, and her archrival Ravager, who could inflict wounds that fester and bleed much faster than normal injuries.
Click here to see Murder Rat's full respect thread
Pagoda
The combination of Carnal, a healer that heals quicker when in contact with other people's blood, and Prophet, a Jesus-themed regenerator.
- Description of his appearance
- Immediately heals through Panacea separating his ligaments, instilling pain directly into his brain, and the atrophying of his muscles
The combination of Winter, a cape that can lower inertia, temperature and motivation in an area, and Mannequin, a tinker who wears ceramic, airtight armor that splits his body into segments.
- Picks up a Hatchet Face clone in both hands, spins its upper body 360 degrees and flings the Hatchet Face at a group of heroes
- They pick a man up in one hand and punches him into the street
- Can produce large, axe-like blades from its arms, using one to break Cuff’s shoulder
- Uses a chain as a grappling hook to quickly scale a building
- When it's struck, it’s exoskeleton ruptures and produces large spires of ice, capable of trapping nearby enemies
- Projectiles lose momentum and enemies gradually lose energy and motivation in a radius around Snowmann
- Wanton forms a telekinetic whirlwind around Snowmann, but Snowmann responds by killing the momentum of the whirlwind
- They modify an apartment building so that any damage, whether it’s done to the interior or exterior of the building, produces large amounts of ice. This prevents those outside from getting in and those inside from getting out, as well as encasing anyone that physically damages the walls in masses of ice.
The combination of Night Hag, a cape that can turn her surroundings into dark matter that she can reform from if killed, and Nyx, who could emit poisonous gas that she could shape and control.
Tyrant
The combination of the aforementioned Hatchet Face and King, who could transmit damage done to himself onto anyone he’s touched in the last twenty four hours.
- Description of his appearance
- He weakens the abilities of Weaver and Grue when they’re in the same room as him, shrinking Weaver’s area of control as he steps closer to her
- He starts to stand after Foil shoots a crossbow bolt through his brain, but two more in his spine and heart put him down for keeps
The combination of Crawler, who gets more resistant to types of damage after he sustains those kinds of damage, and Breed, a man who could produce cockroach-like monsters who hide inside living victims’ bodies.
Click here to see Spawner's full respect thread
Laughjob
Presumably a combination of Hatchet Face and Chuckles the clown, although Laughjob does not appear in any capacity in either story. They're only mentioned along with the other hybrids during Bonesaw's preparation for the Slaughterhouse 9000 event.
Miscellaneous
- She leaves a decoy surgically altered to look like herself in a room, then hides inside a corpse to ambush a group of heroes
- Her trigger event involved the Slaughterhouse Nine grievously injuring her entire family and forcing her to exhaust herself trying to treat their wounds
“My brother,” Imp growled the word.
“Oh,” Bonesaw said. She glanced to her left, then down to the floor, a frown crossing her face. “Right. I’m remembering now. Shit. That was one of the bad ones. Not one of the bad bad ones, but bad.”
“Kind of, yeah,” Imp said, not easing up in the slightest.
“I’m sorry,” Bonesaw said, still looking at the floor. “I won’t say I’ll make amends, because there’s no way I can even come close. I don’t know what to say, except that I’m sorry. No excuses. But I’m going to do what I can to make things better, and maybe I get a hundredth of the way, in the end.”
2024.03.25 02:38 windkirby Animal Crossing Pocket Camp v5.5.1c Update
 | https://preview.redd.it/id87jyrtudqc1.png?width=128&format=png&auto=webp&s=f2be5f8fa47b4244eedaa2c51205d0008a71e5c6 submitted by windkirby to ACPocketCamp [link] [comments] Good evening, stargazers, and welcome to another installment of datamine summarizing well after the fact. If you are thinking, “BLARGH! Where’s my April items?!”, rest-assured I’ll post that datamine as soon as it’s available on the 26th GMT (barely a day away)!—this is just the long-overdue editorial on March’s content (for which I apologize—was knee-deep in another time-sensitive project this month). As the sun sets on the winter months (at least in the Pocket Camplands), an unexpected Japanese spring blows in like the east wind, confusing players and animals far and wide with the unmistakable sense we just had a zen month in January. However exhausted we may be from pretending to be knowledgeable about Japanese traditions, clearly the developers have chosen the year of 2024 to answer the important existential question, “what if harmonious but too much?” and for help answering this question, I thank Miranda for help with the banners and tip screens, Bassieeee with help with the text mine, and Ray and danc for other useful info as we dug into the month of March’s contents. Please note that with the unseasonably chilly February and traditional celebrations moved up before sakura season in April, many have reported feelings of disorientation and a loss in sense of what month it is; it is recommended that users keep a calendar nearby when reading this thread. Twitter preview for March 2024 in Pocket Camp
Event preview image for Isabelle's Azalea Garden; tip screen for the azalea garden terrain; auto-designer images using the azalea garden terrain and items from March's main three events
Tip screens for Norma's floral cookie and the Spring Kimono Collection
Event preview image for the Senbei Fishing Tourney; tip screen for Robin's lantern cookie
https://preview.redd.it/igvumn32wdqc1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=7eb918b00bf81e072f21a7de35cca19060f3d10d
Tip screen for the Wabi-sabi Wall & Floor Collection; craft appeal image for the Lucky-Cat Daruma Scavenger Hunt
And that’s a wrap on the mystic March madness. As for April, we’re due for a new springtime creature season to begin likely when the update drops for new day 26th GMT. There will likely be the following changes in requested creatures. Keep in mind these are unconfirmed and only based on recent spring seasons:
—Woodsy |
2024.03.14 08:51 GuiltlessMaple Best Nylon Gun Holsters
 | Welcome to our roundup of the best Nylon Gun Holsters available in the market today! In this article, we take a closer look at the features and benefits of these durable and comfortable holsters, perfect for gun enthusiasts who prioritize both security and comfort. Whether you're a professional shooter or a firearms collector, read on to find the best Nylon Gun Holster to suit your needs. submitted by GuiltlessMaple to u/GuiltlessMaple [link] [comments] In this comprehensive guide, we'll cover the top options in terms of design, fit, and material quality. So, buckle up as we delve into the world of Nylon Gun Holsters to help you make an informed decision about your next purchase. This article is designed to be both engaging and informative, ensuring you find what you're looking for in your search for the perfect holster. The Top 10 Best Nylon Gun Holsters
ReviewsByrna Nylon Ambidextrous Waistband Holsterhttps://preview.redd.it/jp69bcc899oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f108625519dfb911a616446485fb1cee76a94ee5 My experience with the Byrna Nylon Waistband Holster has been quite remarkable. This minimalistic design offers comfort and convenience for carrying my launcher in either an inside or outside waistband option. One of the best features of this holster is its sleek profile and open-muzzle bottom, which provides ample space for a quick and secure draw. However, there are a few cons to consider. Some users have reported that the magazine release button on their launcher might get pushed when the strap release on the holster is pressed, potentially causing the magazine to eject. Additionally, others have struggled with fitting the holster over their pants and belt, as the clips can be quite tight. Overall, I would highly recommend this holster for those looking for a comfortable and adaptable carry option for their launcher. Its lightweight design and easy concealment make it a great choice for various occasions, whether you're going for a run or walking around the neighborhood. Just remember to practice your draw and ensure proper concealment, as the launcher can be quite bulky in comparison to a traditional firearm. Tactical Belly Band Holster for 9mm Handgunhttps://preview.redd.it/ceb90cl899oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=984ccc5615b9f056019aa1ba7fd0ca8c81bf76ce I recently got my hands on the Tactical Belly Band from Mission First Tactical, and I must say, it's a game-changer when it comes to concealed carry. As someone who enjoys outdoor activities like walking, jogging, and hiking, this belly band holster is an absolute must-have. I was initially skeptical about its functionality without a belt, but it proved me wrong. The 3D Spacer Mesh Fabric ensured maximum comfort, allowing airflow and preventing any unpleasant odors. The Open-Air Weave Construction design was a pleasant surprise, promoting maximum breathability. I found it particularly useful during intense workout sessions and long hikes, where keeping cool was essential. The medical-grade Hook & Loop construction prevented chafing, and the self-laminated fastening end could be cut to fit my waist size without any fraying. One of the standout features of this holster is the Hard Laminate Trigger Shield. It provides an extra layer of safety by protecting the firearm's trigger from accidental discharges. Additionally, the two elastic pockets can hold spare magazines, knives, flashlights, and pepper spray, while the two secure YKK zippered storage pockets are perfect for storing credentials, cash, keys, and even doubling as a phone holder. The Tactical Belly Band is compatible with a wide range of firearms, making it an excellent choice for both left and right-handed individuals. Its adjustability ensures it can fit waist sizes ranging from 26" to 52", so it's suitable for most body types. So whether I'm going for a walk or preparing for a day in the great outdoors, the Mission First Tactical Tactical Belly Band has become my go-to choice for concealed carry. However, I did encounter a minor issue with the holster. It may not fit if you have a pistol with a Red Dot or a Flashlight attached. Aside from this, the Tactical Belly Band has been a reliable and comfortable companion in my daily life. Its versatility, ease of use, and superior features make it a strong contender among other concealed carry options in the market. RangeMaxx Right-Hand Black 4.5' and Glock 17 Shoulder Holsterhttps://preview.redd.it/ottzeoy899oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d2b9303094c127f334c577b615ab15ef46b61b51 I recently got my hands on this RangeMaxx Shoulder Gun Holster for my trusty Glock 17. As a first-time shoulder holster user, I couldn't help but feel excited - it just looked so cool! The first thing that struck me was how adjustable everything was. From the harness to the tie-downs, I could customize it to fit my body perfectly. And, of course, the heavy padding meant my Glock was well-protected from any potential damage. Made in the USA and available in a sleek black color, this holster definitely stands out from the crowd. However, what really sets this holster apart is its ability to double as a hip holster. Yup, you read that right! It's like getting two holsters for the price of one – one can never have too many options, right? Plus, I had no issues with the sizing or the overall fit, and the straps didn't cause any unnecessary discomfort. On the downside, the thumb break can be a bit fiddly to use. If you're planning a fast draw, you might find yourself getting frustrated with it. But hey, nobody's perfect, right? And speaking of perfection, although I didn't experience any issues with the holster's quality, some users have reported cracks and problems with the straps right out of the box. All in all, if you're looking for a comfortable and versatile shoulder gun holster that doesn't break the bank, the RangeMaxx Shoulder Gun Holster might just be the one for you. Just keep an eye out for any potential defects and you'll be good to go! Ambidextrous Hip Holster for S&W Body Guardhttps://preview.redd.it/uoy0djg999oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a8e603adec721246ec07b9ca02dd79a27acfbc5c Using this Cabela's Ambidextrous Hip Holster has been a game-changer in my daily carry. The comfort and versatility it provides are unmatched. I wear it both on my left and right side depending on the situation, and it securely holds my handgun with ease. This holster is made from 600-denier nylon, which is incredibly lightweight yet tough enough to withstand daily wear and tear. The brushed nylon tricot lining adds an extra layer of protection for my gun, while the breathable open-cell foam and closed cell foam keep it snug and secure. The belt loop attachment ensures that it stays in place throughout the day. One thing I really appreciated about this holster is how adjustable it is. The straps can be easily adjusted using a butter knife, making it perfect for different body types and drawing preferences. However, some users may find the adjustment process a bit challenging due to the velcro design. Another advantage of this holster is its affordability compared to other high-quality options on the market. It's an excellent choice for those who want a reliable and comfortable holster without breaking the bank. Despite its many positives, there are a few downsides to consider. Some users have reported issues with the durability of the stitching, which could potentially lead to damaging their firearms if not addressed promptly. Additionally, the bulkiness of the holster might make it less suitable for concealed carry under light clothing. In conclusion, the Cabela's Ambidextrous Hip Holster is a solid choice for anyone looking for a lightweight, durable, and versatile holster. Its adjustability and affordability make it stand out from the competition. While there are some minor drawbacks, they are outweighed by the overall quality and performance this holster offers. Bulldog Max Multi-Fit Polymer Holster for Right Handhttps://preview.redd.it/tp0eztt999oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5ceefcbefb52e3511d553855aaba7f87d13f481e I recently got the chance to try out the Bulldog Max Multi-Fit Polymer Holster in my daily life, and I must say, I'm impressed. The holster is made from high-tech polymer materials, making it both lightweight and durable. One thing that really stood out to me was the 5-point multi-fit design, which allows for optimal adjustments to fit a variety of firearms. The specially designed locking mechanism provides secure Level II retention while still granting quick access when needed, making it perfect for concealed carry. However, one reviewer had mentioned that the locking mechanism does add an extra step during drawing, which could potential be an issue for some users. Another reviewer pointed out that the holster tends to stick out further than they would prefer, making it difficult for concealed carry. Despite these minor drawbacks, I still found the Bulldog Max holster to be a great addition to my collection. It held my Smith & Wesson 411 securely, and after some adjustments, it was very comfortable to wear. If you're looking for a durable and multipurpose holster, I would definitely recommend giving this one a try. Versatile Concealed Carry Holsterhttps://preview.redd.it/uwch91ba99oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc4faed8b55a7008abcb3cc84f6c632805c7506d I've been using Uncle Mike's Off-Duty and Concealment Kodra Nylon Super Belt Slide Holster, and I must say, it's a game-changer for those looking for a secure, comfortable, and reliable way to conceal their weapon. The design is quite distinctive, with a unique flattened profile that excels at concealment. The medium-high ride design ensures a smooth draw, and the ambidextrous design makes it really versatile for both left and right-hand users who simply need to reverse the thumb break. However, there is room for improvement. The plastic gun retaining straps that snap together are a little awkward to use. The longer strap has an inward curve that makes the quick release a bit difficult. Despite this, it's a minor inconvenience and doesn't take away from the overall functionality of the holster. The super belt slide holster's compatibility with different firearms is outstanding. With a size 1 and black color, it's an unassuming yet efficient tool. I've found it to be perfect for concealed carry, ensuring both comfort and quick access when needed. It's very durable and light, making it the perfect companion for long periods of time. In terms of the packaging, nothing remarkable to mention. It comes in a simple box, protecting the product during shipping. Setup is straightforward, and it fits onto your belt seamlessly. To recap, Uncle Mike's Off-Duty and Concealment Kodra Nylon Super Belt Slide Holster stands out with its flattened design for maximum concealment and medium-high ride for easy draw. It's also versatile, fitting both left and right-hand users. However, the straps could be more user-friendly. Overall, it's a fantastic tool for those looking for a reliable concealed carry solution. Pro-Pack Nylon Horizontal Shoulder Holsterhttps://preview.redd.it/08pexwma99oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=392d37e7bc60621ed7e17c9c92f0b63ad624d7b3 I've been using Uncle Mike's Off-Duty and Concealment Pro-Pak Nylon Horizontal Shoulder Holster for a while now, and I must say, it's been quite an experience. The first thing that struck me about this holster is its simplicity and lightweight design. I appreciate how it lies flat against my body, making it perfect for use under jackets. One of the highlights of this product is definitely its comfortable and retention features. The use of an extra-thin laminate with a Kodra Nylon outer shell provides both durability and flexibility. Additionally, the smooth nylon lining not only protects my gun's finish but also aids in quick drawing and reholstering. However, there are some cons to consider. Some users have reported that the holster doesn't conceal as well as they would like, especially under heavier coats. Furthermore, drawing and re-holstering can sometimes be a bit cumbersome with this design. Overall, I've found Uncle Mike's Off-Duty and Concealment Pro-Pak Nylon Horizontal Shoulder Holster to be a decent choice for those looking for a lightweight, comfortable, and versatile option. While it may not be perfect, it does offer some unique features that make it worth considering for your off-duty concealed carry needs. Rothco Neoprene Belly Band Holster for Concealed Carryhttps://preview.redd.it/zlf8290b99oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29da79e62c6cfa90e37c2a70885b19f96e60783a I recently purchased the Rothco Concealed Carry Neoprene Belly Band Holster to up my personal security game. I was initially skeptical about the idea of a belly band holster, but after using it for a few weeks, I must say I am pleasantly surprised. The first thing that struck me was how comfortable it was. The neoprene backing really does make a difference, especially during long days when you're on your feet. It's like wearing a comfortable waistband - nothing too intrusive or bulky. I was able to go about my daily tasks without any discomfort or distraction. Customization is a big plus with this holster. The adjustable mag pouch and removable ambidextrous pistol holster allowed me to set it up exactly how I wanted. It's also versatile enough to be worn in various ways - IWB, OWB, cross draw, appendix (AIWB), and at 5 O'clock. This flexibility is a godsend for those who prefer different carrying methods depending on the situation. Another fantastic feature is the metal snap closure. It ensures that my CCW stays securely in place, giving me peace of mind knowing it won't accidentally fall out during movement. However, there's one downside - the size. As someone with a waist smaller than 39.5 inches, I found the S/M size a bit too loose. It still worked fine for me, but those with smaller waists might want to consider this before purchasing. All in all, I am very satisfied with my Rothco Concealed Carry Neoprene Belly Band Holster. It provides comfort, customization, and security, making it a great addition to my EDC gear. If you're looking for a reliable and versatile holster, this might be the one for you. Just remember to check the sizing if you're on the smaller side! Black Right-Handed IWB Nylon Gun Holsterhttps://preview.redd.it/9lxykvnb99oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dad457dc5c0cd0582227125d4be43bf44602bb0a I recently got my hands on the 1791 Gunleather Premium Nylon IWB holster and it's been a reliable companion in my daily life. This lightweight inside-the-waistband holster boasts an integrated sight channel and a beveled steel clip that ensures comfort and secure retention. It's designed with versatility in mind, fitting various pistols like the Beretta Pico 380, Kahr CM/MP40, Kahr CM/MP9, Ruger EC9S, Sig Sauer P239, Sig Sauer P365, and Smith & Wesson CSX. Its nylon construction has exceeded my expectations. It's durable, resistant to wear and tear, and maintains its shape despite regular use. The matte finish gives it a sleek appearance, making it an ideal choice for concealed carry. However, I must admit that the adjustable cant is a bit tricky to handle initially. Another aspect that stood out is the compatibility of this holster with different firearms. However, some users might need to perform minor adjustments or modifications to achieve a snug fit. The quality of the holster is top-notch, reflecting the craftsmanship 1791 is renowned for. In summary, the 1791 Gunleather Premium Nylon IWB holster is a high-quality choice for anyone looking for a reliable and secure inside-the-waistband concealed carry holster. While it may require some adjustments for specific models, its overall durability and performance make it a worthwhile investment. Adjustable Ankle Gun Holster for Right Hand Drawhttps://preview.redd.it/b1xakywb99oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3fc53ba1a8bd3759c3aa15f8afacfe167096d4d5 I've been using Uncle Mike's Off-Duty and Concealment Kodra Nylon Ankle Holster for quite some time now, and let me tell you, it's a game-changer. This bad boy fits snuggly around my ankle, hiding small and medium guns even compact large frame autos inside my pant leg. I appreciate its wraparound design with a soft knit fabric lying next to my skin, making it incredibly comfortable to wear all day long. The adjustable straps are also a great feature, allowing me to secure my weapon firmly yet comfortably. The right hand model is perfect for the inside of my left leg draw, making this holster a go-to choice for concealed carry. However, one downside I noticed was that the straps could be slightly more adjustable to cater to different leg sizes. Overall, I highly recommend Uncle Mike's Off-Duty and Concealment Kodra Nylon Ankle Holster. Its concealment capabilities, comfortable design, and durability make it an excellent choice for anyone looking for a reliable holster. Buyer's GuideImportant Features of Nylon Gun Holstershttps://preview.redd.it/k0zsfwbc99oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a9b3884ebf7f05c95c5cdeea6805bdf4e24d3288 Nylon gun holsters offer several important features that make them a popular choice among gun owners. Some key features to look for when purchasing a nylon gun holster include:
Considerations for Choosing Nylon Gun HolstersWhen selecting a nylon gun holster, consider the following factors:
General Advice for Using Nylon Gun HolstersTo maximize the effectiveness and safety of your nylon gun holster, follow these general guidelines:
https://preview.redd.it/t69zzrsc99oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eac48f557a10d5b41d70fcac9e3bb84e5df761dd FAQWhat are the benefits of nylon gun holsters?Nylon gun holsters are lightweight, durable, and often more affordable than leather holsters. They are also water-resistant, making them suitable for various weather conditions. Some models also feature non-slip materials and adjustable retention systems, ensuring secure and easy access to your firearm.How do you clean a nylon gun holster?https://preview.redd.it/29ppjy5d99oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=44ecee8d0eeeb23ae02206034ffba35bddf985b8 Cleaning your nylon holster can be done by wiping it down with a damp cloth and mild soap. Avoid using harsh chemicals, as they may degrade the nylon material. For stubborn stains or odors, consider using a mixture of water and baking soda, or a spot cleaner specifically designed for cleaning nylon materials. Can you wash a nylon holster in the washing machine?It is generally not recommended to wash a nylon holster in the washing machine. The agitation and harsh detergents can potentially damage the holster's structure and decrease its longevity. Instead, hand wash the holster with mild soap and a damp cloth, followed by air drying.How do you adjust the retention of a nylon gun holster?Many nylon holsters feature adjustable retention systems that allow you to tighten or loosen the fit around your firearm. This is typically done by securing a nut or screw on the inside of the holster, which adjusts the tension of a strap or tab that wraps around the trigger guard or slide of the gun. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions for proper adjustments. https://preview.redd.it/rotaq3ld99oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ebbc0dc2c4fcf2e3f5e4539d69aa6871819c6a5 Which type of firearms are compatible with nylon gun holsters?
How do you choose the right size and fit for a nylon gun holster?When selecting a nylon gun holster, consider the specifications provided by the manufacturer, including the intended firearm model, size, and shape. It is essential to ensure the holster provides proper coverage and retention for your specific firearm to prevent unintended movement or dislodging. It is also crucial to test the fit and draw by placing the firearm into the holster several times before use to ensure it meets your individual needs.What are the different carry positions for nylon gun holsters?https://preview.redd.it/61xeyw1e99oc1.jpg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2c34009de11dac118e853a62e24eac268805716a
Are nylon gun holsters suitable for concealed carry?Yes, nylon gun holsters can be suitable for concealed carry, depending on the specific design and fit of the holster, as well as the clothing items worn by the user. Some models may provide better concealment and retention than others, so it is essential to research and select an appropriate design for your intended use and carry method.What is the difference between soft and hard nylon gun holsters?Soft nylon gun holsters are primarily composed of flexible nylon material, offering a comfortable and lightweight fit. They may provide a quicker draw and more concealment options due to their pliability. However, they generally provide less retention and protection for the firearm than hard nylon or Kydex holsters.Hard nylon gun holsters may contain additional reinforcement materials, such as polymer or other rigid materials, providing enhanced retention and protection for the firearm. They may take longer to draw from due to their more rigid structure, but they offer a better overall fit for the firearm, potentially improving accuracy and speed during deployment. How can I secure a nylon gun holster to my belt or waistband?Many nylon gun holsters feature built-in belt loops or clips designed to easily attach to your belt or waistband. Some models may include additional attachment options, such as hooks and loops or paddle systems, which can provide a more secure and comfortable fit for different body types and clothing choices.As an Amazon™ Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. |
2024.03.10 04:02 Trash_Tia "Have you ever wanted to be a superhero? Well, now you can become one! I can give you any superpower you want. 250 bucks each."
"Have you ever wanted to be a superhero? Well, now you can become one! I can give you any superpower you want. 250 bucks each. 100 extra for anything ending in kinesis!"
That's what the ad said.
I found it in a library book.
Sandwiched inside a dog-eared copy of Percy Jackson, there it was.
Have you ever wanted to be a superhero?
Well, now you can become one! I can give you any superpower you want. 250 bucks each. 100 extra for anything ending in kinesis. I'm open 9am-midnight every day. Find me between the old pizza hut and the library. Don't look for me. I'll find you.
Please note: These abilities are non-refundable, and MAY cause side effects.
I had so many questions.
Keeping hold of the scrap of paper, I pulled it out during class to show my friend. “It's a dud,” Tai said with an eye roll. I mentioned it to him once, and the guy had not stopped talking about it all day.
This thing was clearly on his mind. The guy couldn't sit still for most of class, his gaze flicking to the scrap poking from my notebook. At lunch, Tai ripped the paper out of my hand when we were trashing our leftovers. I was still considering it. I did have 250 bucks in my savings and superpowers sounded fun. Tai, however, didn't share my excitement.
“I can guarantee someone out there is not giving people super powers for two hundred bucks.” he screwed the paper up in his fist and threw it in the trash. Tai was a sceptical person anyway, though his reaction was unlike him. His eyes were dark, a hollowness to them like I was staring into nothing.
It took me a moment to snap him out of it.
“Hey.” I nudged him and he blinked, his expression souring.
Tai rarely scowled, so this was a first.
I don't think I had ever seen that look on his face, clearly panicked, but trying to hide it. He feigned a smile, though I could see the whites in his fingers where he was squeezing his tray a little too hard. “Come on,” his mouth was still filled with mashed potatoes from lunch. “I thought you were smart. Do you seriously believe in superpowers?” Tai laughed, “In this world?”
“No.” I couldn't take my eyes off of the paper, now covered in someone's potato salad. I found myself reaching toward it, before Tai gently slapped my hand away.
“Well, don't believe in an obvious scam,” he dumped his tray, his tone hardening. There was a girl behind me trying to get past, but I was paralysed, staring at the advert. Tai’s fingers wrapped around my arm. I felt the weight of each one cinching into my skin, pressing pressure. “Fee, I am being completely serious when I say you will get your organs harvested.”
Fee, I am being completely serious when I say you will get your organs harvested.” Tai’s voice bounced around my skull. I nodded, though my actions weren't mine, a dreamy smile splitting across my lips I couldn't control.
“Yeah,” I said, my words tangled. The sound of the cafeteria faded into white noise, and for a moment I felt like I was floating. I kept nodding, all of my senses starting to seep into one. Tai’s touch was gentle and firm around my elbow. I could still hear the sound of chatter, but I could taste it too, smell gossip and small-talk. It tasted like ice-cream cake and lemon frosting on my tongue, chocolate lava and tomato ketchup tickling the back of my throat.
The guy in front of me had hair the color of fire, a deep orange glow igniting each strand alight. I shook my head of entangled smells and taste.
“Don't bother,” Tai’s voice was louder in my head. I had the sudden overwhelming urge to slam my hands over my ears, except my hands wouldn't move. I was frozen, my fingers still clutching my tray. “It’s a scam, Fee.”
Explosions of colour expanded in my vision trailing the sound of a girl’s scream.
Pink.
Someone dropped their tray.
Purple.
Laughter looked like yellow paint being spread across the floor, and tasted like cherries.
“You're… probably right.” I heard myself say in a daze. “It's a scam.”
“Good,” he hummed. “Let's go.”
Tai’s grip slipped from my arm, and reality slammed back into me. The loud laughter and chatter from students bustling around me. I was still holding my tray. I shook my head of mind fog, my thoughts seeping back to fruition.
My earlier words already felt foreign and wrong.
This wasn't a new thing. I had been suffering from brain blanks for a while.
Before I could stop myself, I pulled the scrap of paper from the trash, scraped away pieces of pasta, and followed Tai out of the cafeteria. Tai and I had been friends since junior year. I didn't think I'd befriend a guy twice the size of me, but here we were, a year later, practically glued to the hip. Tai was marginally attractive, dark brown hair and built like a brick wall. If I didn't swing the other way, I would definitely be swayed by Asian American features and dimpled smiles.
Catching up to him, I waved the paper in his face. “For someone who doesn't really care about this so-called dud, you seem to care a lot.”
Tai’s lip curled. I noticed his grip tighten around his phone. “You seriously dug it out of the trash?”
“Why wouldn't I?” I shot him a grin. “Don't you want superpowers?”
His lip twitched. “I'm good.”
His response confused me. “Seriously? You don't want any superpower?”
“No.” Tai’s voice was startlingly cold, his tone holding weight. The light fixture above us flickered erratically, the bulbs exploding, popping one by one. For a moment, I was entranced by shattered glass raining from the ceiling. I held out my hand, catching shards on my palm. Tai kept walking, unfazed. His gaze didn't leave his phone. “Don't go looking for fantasy,” he grumbled. “You won't find it.”
I stuffed the ad into my pocket, following his figure down the hallway.
“And how can you be sure?” I was teasing him at this point, but Tai wasn't getting the memo. As usual, he was taking things a little too seriously.
Tai shrugged, bowing his head. “It's basic common sense. Don't be stupid.”
“Okay,” I said, half joking. “I'll drop it.”
Tai was unusually quiet for the rest of the day. I told him I was going to the convenience store after class, which wasn't exactly a lie. I needed to grab food. But I wasn't going to tell him about my pit stop. Per what the ad said, I ventured down the alleyway between the library and the old Pizza Hut. There was a dead end, and a rat with its innards spilling onto a piece of cardboard.
I'm not an avid believer of bad luck, but it looked like the stars were aligning to personally tell me I was going to die.
According to the ad, I was supposed to wait for them to find me. Twenty minutes passed. Then half an hour. The sky was starting to darken, streaks of red and orange illuminating the horizon indicating twilight. An hour passed, and I was sitting on the wall, my legs dangling, my butt already half asleep. I checked my phone. 8% and zero service. I had five missed calls from an hour ago. Tai.
He was onto me.
I hated convenience store food.
UberEats was my go-to. I really thought I could fool the guy with some half assed text:
Hey, I'll be back late tonight! I'm grabbing sushi from the C store.
I would rather die than eat convenience store sushi, and my friend knew that.
Another twenty minutes passed, and street lights were flickering to life illuminating the dark in an orange glow.
I could see the streak of red which had been the rat in perfect detail. The head was gone while the torso had been ripped open, lumps of pulpy red spilling onto the ground. Something sour filled the back of my mouth. I jumped off of the wall, my stomach twisting into knots. I could have sworn that thing had been splattered across a piece of cardboard.
It was pitch black. With the help of my phone flashlight, I found the cardboard exactly where I saw it before.
So…
How did the rat move?
Taking a step back, my hand moved in jerking movements, my flashlight illuminating the hollow oblivion of the alleyway which felt like it was closing in on me, a slowly collapsing pinprick in my vision. Fuck. I could already feel my body catapulting into fight or flight. I couldn't resist looking at the ground and following the beam of my flashlight, searching for mutant rats.
I took another slow step back, phantom bugs filling my mouth and skittering across the bare flesh of my arms.
Run.
My body was telling me to run.
The air around me, thick and sour smelling, was telling me to run.
But I couldn't. I was paralysed, my gaze glued to the streaks of scarlet that had been the rat. The blood was still there, thick and congealing into the concrete. But the pulpy mass of flesh which were its grim remains were gone.
Following the splatters of blood with my flashlight, I was right.
It was… moving.
I expected an attack, furry masses diving onto me, razor sharp teeth tearing into my flesh.
What I got instead, was a clammy hand slamming over my mouth.
My body reacted, a scream erupting from my throat, muffling into the stranger's palm. I could sense their breath tickling the back of my neck.
“Caaaaaash, please.”
The voice was younger than I expected, a kid maybe a few years younger than me.
His voice was a low murmur, almost a sing-song. Blinking stars out of my eyes, it took me a disorienting second to understand what he meant, and I remembered why I was there in the first place. “I don't have it,” I muffled into the pressure over my mouth and nose.
His hand smelled of disinfectant mixed with something metallic, a pungent taste that stuck to the back of my throat and lips. I was lying. I did have 250 bucks in my pocket. However, I wasn't expecting my seller to be a fucking kid. I said the first thing that came to my mind. “I… I can pay you in instalments!” I tried to pull his hand away, but he tightened his grip.
“Instalments?” the kid surprised me with a giggle. “For fucking superpowers, dude?”
I did my best to nod, tears stinging my eyes.
He let me go with a sigh, and I stumbled back, swiping my mouth.
“Fiiiiiine!"
I scrambled for my flashlight, and the shadow in front of me grew a face. I found myself staring into bright eyes, twisted and wrong, a smile with too many teeth. I was right. It was a kid, maybe two years younger than me.
Rich, judging from his private school blazer. Thick sandy hair poking from a knitted beanie. The kid shot me a grin.
“I'll let you pay in instalments, but if you miss one, I'm adding interest! I may be a kid, but that doesn't mean you can take advantage.” he twisted around with a chuckle, jumping over a puddle. “I'm only doing this because I like the look of you! I was expecting a college kid, and yeah, you hit the nail on the head!"
His head jerked almost inhumanly, a predator tracking its prey.
"You're... interesting." he inclined his head. "I didn't think my ad would work, and yet here you are!"
I forced a smile. "Here I am," I said through gritted teeth.
He was standing on the remnants of the rat, and when I looked closer, I realised he was barefoot. This kid went to a prestegious school and was wearing no shoes, the slithering remains of the rat squashed between his toes. I swore I caught the shadows enveloping his face, like he belonged in the dark, his lips curling into that of a monster, narrowed eyes drinking me in.
This kid was scarier than mutant rats.
He reminded me of an unhinged Percy Jackson.
Which was irònic.
“Well?” he cocked his head, mocking a frown. “Are you coming?”
I was already mentally mapping a getaway if this kid tried anything.
“You're the one selling...?”
I drifted off, and he nodded with a grin. “Yep! Why? Did you expect someone else?”
Before I could speak, he sighed. “Follow me. I have several left. I have some new ones, though I haven't advertised them yet. Pyrokinesis is a popular one, but I won't have another Pyro until at least January. My supplier is running short, which is soooo annoying.” He turned back to me when I didn't move.
The kid ushered me towards him, and something compelled me forward. Maybe I really did want to believe in this fantasy. Continuing to talk, he didn't seem fazed by my hesitance.
I took my place behind him.
“I expect instalments to pay me back if you can't pay now. You can give me your payment details after."
“Payment details?” I whispered.
The kid snorted, his expression darkening. “I'm not giving you superpowers for free,” he raised a brow. His eyes were darker, more hollow in the flashlight beam, ageing this kid way beyond a teenager. “I know some people who do, but you don't want to fuck around with them. I can give you high quality abilities without the, you know, super soldier programming.”
I swallowed. “The what?”
The kid didn't reply, only waving his hand with a sigh. “You wouldn't understand. But trust me, they're bad news.”
The patronising little shit.
Stumbling over my feet, I struggled through the dark. “Are you being serious?” I managed to choke out.
He surprised me with a laugh. “You thought I was lying? What were you expecting?”
I ignored his question. “I'm sorry, how old are you?”
“Uh, sixteen!” he shouted back. “And a half.”
I nodded dizzily, jumping over a puddle. The alleyway felt like it was going on forever. “You're a sixteen year old that sells superpowers to people?”
His shadow was getting further away, and I struggled to keep up.
“Yep!” the kid’s voice bounced off of the walls, while his figure weaved in and out of existence, creeping further and further away from my flashlight. “Hey, it's better than getting a job, and I’m earning my tuition. So, it's a win-win.”
“Uh-huh.” I cleared my throat. I was fully expecting drugs. This kid was talking like a drug dealer, so maybe high schooler’s had code names for drugs. Superpower names were less likely to cause alarm bells. Pyrokinesis was ice, and Telekinesis was cocaine. Maybe the anything ending in kinesis line meant Class A drugs. The ones in high demand. It made sense. This kid thought he was selling me cocaine, and I had taken his code names literally.
Oh god, I was being led into a sixteen year old’s drug den.
Tai was never going to let me live this down.
When we reached the end of the alleyway, the kid turned to me, pulling a piece of cloth from his pocket.
Immediately, I stumbled back, and he rolled his eyes. “Relax.” the boy held up the cloth. “It's just a blindfold. To protect my business, I don't want my customers to know where we’re going.”
I didn't move, my mind going into panic mode.
The kid sighed. “Dude, it's fine,” he said, tying the cloth around my eyes. My fingers moved to tear it away, but he stopped me. “I'll even tell you my name.” I could sense his face inches from mine. “I'm Wen! Nice to meet you! Now, I'm going to lead you inside, all right?” I felt his hands press down on my shoulders. “Do you mind?”
I nodded, swallowing hard. “Ophelia,” I whispered, letting him guide me forwards.
“Hm?”
“My name,” I said. “It's Ophelia.”
Wen chuckled. “Ophelia. I don't think I've ever known anyone with that name.” I tripped over something, and he pulled me further into the void. I had no idea where I was going, dragging my hands across brick to stabilise myself. When I was sure he was leading me to my doom, Wen pulled off the blindfold.
Blinking rapidly, I drank in eerie yellow light sparking from a dying bulb. I was in a small apartment kitchen. There was a faucet, a dining table, and a refrigerator. I opened it up, jumping back when a critter crept across the handle. For a rich private school kid, Wen’s living conditions were interesting.
I was frowning at peeled paint on the walls and used coffee mugs, bug infested flooring under my feet, when the kid filled up a glass of water and handed it to me. I noticed smears of dirt on the rim and politely declined.
Wen must have seen my expression.
He sighed, placing the glass down. “This is all I could get at short notice,” he gestured around and I took notice of the windows being blacked out. “I'm planning on upgrading next year, especially if I'm going to have competition.” He stood on his tiptoes to grab a pack of cookies from a cupboard.
“Want one?” Wen’s smile caught the light, and something rancid filled my mouth.
He was waiting for me to try and run.
When I made my way toward the door, he casually stepped in front of me, arms folded. Wen knew he was in control, and I think that exhilarated him. My flashlight and phone had died, and I was alone inside his drug den. He was practically bouncing up and down. “Are you sure you don't want a cookie?”
I managed a nod. “I'm okay.”
Wen shrugged, demolishing the cookies himself. “Suit yourself!”
I thought he was going to continue playing mind games, but he just sent me a smile. “You should eat. All of my customers eat before a sale.”
“I said I'm okay,” I gritted out.
With a shrug, Wen led me down a set of concrete steps, jumping down each one like he was playing a game.
Every time I turned back, something forced me further down the steps, like I wasn't in control of my legs. Wen talked casually, knowing just opening his mouth was terrifying me. His movements, the way he spoke, everything was manufactured to unnerve me. “It's Telekinesis you're looking for, right?” We reached the bottom, and he led us through a door of plastic sheets, straight into darkness.
I could smell it already. Disinfectant mixed with mould.
“Telekinesis is a great ability,” Wen laughed. “It took me a while to catch him, but I managed it in the end!”
Wen’s words played with my mind, phantom bugs creeping down my spine.
Him?
Light slammed into me, almost knocking me off of my feet.
Shading my eyes, I blinked rapidly. I expected a drug lab.
I expected mountains of powdered white and old science equipment. What I saw instead was… plastic. A room full of plastic hanging from the ceiling. I couldn't see anything else. I started to back away, but Wen was already grabbing me and pulling me with him.
In the flickering glow from the light fixture above us, I could see old and new red streaks staining the floor and each plastic door we stumbled through.
Blood.
It was everywhere, covering every surface.
It was dried into the floor, caked into the clear sheets being whipped in my face, shining brighter the further I was pulled through a labyrinth of plastic, a whole different world hidden inside.
I glimpsed shadows at first, metal beds lining the walls, body sized lumps lying on each one. The place reminded me of an emergency room. We passed a girl with halo hair lying face down on bloodstained blankets. I couldn't see her torso, the lower part of her body covered with soaked blankets stained revealing crimson. There were dozens of plastic tubes forced into her pale limp arms hanging off of the edge.
“Ignore the Siren,” Wen groaned, tightening his grip. There was something pooling on the floor, thick and red seeping across pristine marble.
“She's a drama queen. Ariosa plays dead all the time. She's not for sale, by the way. Ariosa is just for display.”
I kept walking, as if in a trance.
Even when behind me, the girl let out a deafening shriek that clawed its way into my skull.
"Follow meeeeee!"
Wen commanded me closer with his voice, and I moved like I was in a dream, my gaze glued to bloodstained steel and body parts without heads cruelly chained down to each gurney.
I saw them at their most vulnerable, people, with the majority of them being in their twenties, college kids and older, put on a horrific display.
These kids were malnourished, anorexic, their haunted eyes piercing right through me. Some of them screamed at me, straining in cruel chains pinning them down. One guy was brutally restrained, his arms had been chopped off. His agonising wail followed me, begging Wen to kill him.
“Pyro.” Wen said. “He's my only one, and he's already been bought. I'm just waiting for the seller to come buy him.”
A ponytailed brunette looked to be in deep sleep, a plastic mask pressed over her mouth and nose. The girl looked drained, sickly pale skin and bruises covering her arms, no doubt from needles and tubes being forced into her veins. Looking closer, her face started to morph into a younger girl, and then a guy, their features changing sporadically, while their body, slightly delayed, followed. This person did not have one singular face. They had multiple.
“Jordan. Zero Nine, if we're talking about their ability. Anything starting with Zero is the shit people really want. Like, mind control, and anything with kinesis,” Wen muttered in my ear. “They're my first shifter. I’m selling them for 150. But nobody's interested.”
Somehow, I found my voice.
“I've changed my mind,” I managed to choke out.
Wen cocked his head, a smirk curling on his lips. The bastard was waiting for this. His eyes were alive, glittering with insanity. He was subtle in the way he positioned himself. “You can't take back agreement for a superpower,” he murmured. “I use your voice as a form of consent. You followed me in here expecting superpowers and wasted precious time I could have had with a paying customer, so you're buying.”
A cry clawed its way up my throat, and I pried his fingers from my arm, but he grabbed it again, this time squeezing hard enough to incite a screech. Wen pulled me close to him, his breath in my ear. His words were like poison, and I could sense his satisfied grin. “Like I said, we can talk about the legalities and payment details when you're all done, all right?” he shoved me forward.
At first, I didn't move.
“Walk, Ophelia!” His voice was whimsical at first.
Hearing Ariosa's whimpering behind me, I couldn't.
“Fucking walk, dude! Is it that hard? Jeez, you're acting like I've asked you to climb a mountain!” Wen’s tone hardened, his playful attitude souring.
I obeyed, forcing my legs into motion.
Something smooth and metallic prodded into my spine. A gun.
I should have known a teenage drug lord who dealt in supernatural abilities would have a gun. Wen prodded me again. “I don't fuck with people who refuse to buy, lady. I feed ‘em to 102.”
I was still registering his words when he stopped in front of a particularly filthy sheet and swept it aside. “Here we are! Telekinesis. He was originally 250, but since you've been a great customer, I can give you him for half.”
I don't know what I expected.
After already witnessing multiple people tied down and forcefully drugged, wires and tubes sticking from them, I thought it would be the same. But this was a whole other level of brutality, one that sent me staggering back. Wen easily caught me, stabbing the barrel of his gun into my back.
I barely felt it.
I sunk to my knees, my mind already trying and failing to drink in what I was seeing.
Wen wasn't just selling super powers.
I vomited all over myself, and the boy scoffed.
“Oh, come on, that's disgusting!”
Swiping barf from my lips, I struggled to breathe. He was farming them.
“Get up, drama queen. Honestly, you're as bad as Ariosa."
Wen dragged me to my feet, but my legs weren't working. My head felt thick, my thoughts dizzy and distant.
I wanted to lie to myself, tell myself I wasn't seeing this. But the blood on the floor was real, the splatters of scarlet staining skin and steel. In front of me was a man, my age, strapped to a chair, closed eyes flickering, lips parted in a silent scream. It looked like he used to be a college student, splinters of who he was still lingering. I could see where his hair used to be, tufts of dark blonde still attached to what was left of his scalp.
His skin was paper thin, malnourished, like it would splinter apart at any given moment. I think he used to be handsome, used to have laugh lines, and lips that smiled. Now, I was looking at a shell. The man’s body had been forced upright, trembling hands pinned to metal armrests. I looked for hair, for facial features that made sense and were human– but all of that had been stripped away. There was just agony.
It was agony I didn't know or understand, that twisted his body, contorting him back and forth like a puppet on strings. The back of his head was gone, the startling white bone of his skull and pinkish mush of brain exposed, needles and wires stuck into the meat. The man’s eyes flickered open, suddenly, wide and frantic.
Terrified.
Staring directly at me, the whites of his eyes were blood red.
He jolted on the chair, his arms moving, fingers twisting around the arm rest.
“Tah-dah!” Wen danced over to the man, playfully prodding the bare meat of the guy’s brain. The man screamed, contorting in his chair, the lights above flickering. The ground shook under my feet, stray instruments flying into the air. I watched, baffled, as swirling silver danced around my head, needles and scalpels in a manic dance, before faltering, like he was losing control.
The guy’s head dropped, and so did the whirlwind of metal, hitting the ground.
“Behave.” Wen rolled his eyes. “Stop showing off.”
Slowly, the man’s head snapped up. His lips moved, a thin line of red oozing from his nose. His gaze stuck to me, and with every jerk of his wrist, every blink of his eye, I knew he was trying to rip me apart from the inside. My skin prickled. I could feel his presence brushing over me, prodding at my skull.
Wen flung out his arms like he was introducing a friend.
“This is Telekinesis! Well, I call him Zero two. Also Ryan. He's my most powerful. I can drug this guy into a fucking coma, and he still manages to rip a customer's head off,” Wen chuckled. “The trick was finding the right mix. Horse tranquiliser works miracles with telekinetics. It knocks em’ straight out with no mess.”
The kid’s smile widened. “Which is why your brains aren't splattering the walls right now!” he said in a sing-song.
“You're welcome, by the way!”
Zero Two let out an animalistic howl, struggling in the chair, and he laughed.
“You can shut up. Don't give me that look.”
Wen turned his attention to me. “All right, let's get you set up for the procedure.”
Zero Two’s gaze snapped to me, his lips moving.
Once.
Twice.
Run. He mouthed, and I glimpsed lingering humanity.
Wen jumped in front of me, dark eyes twisted with insanity.
“Well? Do you like him? You like him, right? Isn't he, like, fucking insane?!"
Another step, and he was closing the distance between us. “Your assimilation should take maybe an hour. Two, if your body rejects it. Which is a pain, but I've got the time! My Netflix subscription expired, so I have all night to work." Wen's lips curled. "I want to make you perfect."
“You're sick,” I managed to get out.
Wen shrugged. “It's business. You have empathy, and I don't. Ouch. Do you want Telekinesis or not?”
“No!"
Panic erupted inside of me, but I couldn't move. There was no way to run, and a psychotic kid held me at gunpoint. I didn't have a choice.
My freedom to choose had dissipated the second I made the decision to follow him inside his superpower farm.
Wen was surprisingly strong, his arms wrapping around my neck in a chokehold. Something cold pricked the back of my neck, and my body went limp. I hit the ground, half aware of Wen’s shadow looming over me.
My vision was blurring, but I could just make out the curl of his cruel smile.
“After all,” Wen’s voice swam in and out of reality, while my body plunged.
My eyes flickered, finding intense splatters of red staining the ceiling.
“I don't think I told you about my ability, did I? Oh man, it's the best part!"
He picked me up, and I was light as a feather, my head hanging.
Wen’s laugh sounded like thunder claps, and there it was again.
Just like in the cafeteria with Tai, my senses were twisting. The blood in my mouth was shaped like diamonds. I could see every bead, every cutting corner slipping from my lips.
Through tunnel vision, the boy's laughter had colour, pitch black darkness bleeding around him, like he was engulfed in ink. “Oh, dude, wait until I tell you about my father…”
His voice faded, and I stopped thinking for a while. I don't know how long.
Time seemed to flow in a separate singularity. Consciousness hit me slowly. Wen’s voice grazed the back of my mind, pulling me back to a reality I didn't want to be in.
I could already sense my numb body, my wrists pinned to metal armrests.
There are certain things your mind chooses to block out in favour of panicking your body. I was already aware that the back of my head had been ripped open, and my mind was raw and naked to the rest of the world.
It hit me in tiny electroshocks, not prominent enough to be pain. I don't think pain existed in that disorienting moment between half consciousness and awake. It was something else entirely, an uncomfortable agony that wasn't quite agony, because I couldn't feel it.
“Once upon a time,” the kid’s voice was mocking, and I could feel his fingers.
I could feel the tips of his fingernails digging into me, skittering right across the bare flesh of my brain. There was no scream in my throat, no panic in my chest. I think my body was in a state of paralysis. I remember opening my eyes to brutal light blinding me, rivulets of thick red beading down my arms, tiny rivers seeping down my skin. I closed my eyes again, sharp, heavy pants escaping my lips. “There was a boy with a father who was very intelligent.”
I was pushing out words, my mouth filled with blood.
Why are you doing this?
My lips moved, but the words failed to hit the sound barrier.
“Shhhh,” Wen hummed. “Listen to the story.” he cleared his throat, and his fingers continued to dig down, deep into the meat of my brain, pulverising tissue.
I felt nothing, and yet my body still reacted, jerking side to side. My eyes rolled back, darkness momentarily swallowing me up, only to spit me back out. “Anyway,” Wen continued. Through flickering eyes, I could glimpse steel protruding into my wrist.
“So, the boy had a super smart father who was obsessed with the supernatural,” Wen hummed. “Caaan you guess what the boy's father did?”
I didn't respond, my gaze lazily skating over ceiling tiles.
“He experimented.” Wen dug his fingernails in, and this time I screamed.
No pain, but my body was sure there was. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck and face, bile gathering in my mouth. “The boy's father was obsessed with unlocking a certain part of the mind. The boy didn't know this. One day, he was just exploring. His mother had been gone for a few days. But hey, his dad said it was cool. His Mom was just visiting family, and she'd be back.”
Another prod.
“Nope! The kid found his mother– or more appropriately, what was left of his mother. Daddy carved her brain out! Mommy was right there on the bed, her blood was still warm. He hugged her, and still remembers the blood on his face. He tried to wake her up, but Mommy was long dead. Dad had already cut up her brain for testing.”
He giggled, another explosion of colour seeping into my vision. “When his mother failed, his father used him!"
Deeper and deeper his fingers were going.
“It hurt him, Ophelia," Wen mocked a childish sob. "Oh, God, It fucking hurt enough for the boy to want to die over and over again. He spent a long time on a table made of stone, while his father cut him apart and stitched him back together. He stopped feeling pain. Fuck, he stopped feeling completely! Because the bastard had cut all of it away, all the bad emotions, and all the good, to make way for his greatest gift.”
No wonder Wen was a psychopath, his childhood was a never ending experiment.
“I think you know where I'm going with this story,” Wen chuckled. “My father wanted to turn me into a superhero. Just like the other kids he played around with. But he did the exact opposite.”
I held my breath when his fingers stopped moving, straying in cerebral tissue. “Dad didn't give me the powers I wanted,” his tone twisted and his fingers curled. That time I did feel pain, my lips parting in a silent scream.
“He gave me this.” Wen twisted his fingers again, and my white hot pain filled me, bleeding into my blood and bones. I screamed that time, my raw screech reminding my body I was still real. “The power to extract abilities that I can't take for myself,” Wen continued in a spiteful hiss. “And give them to others.” It was like being filled with electricity, my brain being boiled alive.
My eyes clouded, the lights above flickering.
I screamed again, my head lolling to the side.
“Sorry,” Wen muttered. “I'm trying to reach your cerebral cortex-- I think that's what it's called--but it's hard…” his voice faded in and out. “I should be better at this by now, but there's so much I have to dig through, and that's on top of keeping the customer alive with Zero Five’s ability. Urgh. I’ve got brain juices all over me.”
I counted ceiling tiles to distract myself.
“Almost…”
I lost count around the 400 mark, my body unsure whether to shut down or stay awake.
“There…”
Colours and stars spotted my eyes. I remember curling my fingers, and feeling a pull from somewhere, like a magnet repelling. Darkness found me once more, but even asleep, I could still sense that pull entangling around me.
“Wakey, wakey!”
Drifting back to fruition, I was sitting, my legs dangling off of a bed. When my hand instantly went to the back of my head, my fingers only grazed my own thick brown hair. I delved two fingers into my scalp, and there it was, thick rugged stitches sewing me back together. My first thought was Zero Two.
I tried to move my body to get up, but my limbs weren't working.
Dropping onto my hands and knees, I barely felt the impact.
Zero Two was gone. The chair where he'd been restrained was empty.
“Here! Let me help you.”
Wen was standing over me. He ducked to my height. I thought he was going to hit me, but he just pulled a stray needle out of my arm. “All right. Try now.”
I did, jumping to unsteady feet. Already, I was looking for a way out– and that strange magnetic-like pull was still there.
It moved with me, attaching itself to everything in my vicinity. I was sure with a simple jerk of my hand or finger, I could cause damage. Already, my mouth was moving, my heightened senses overwhelming me. Ariosa, the siren in the bed a few metres away, was easy to latch onto. “Where is he?” I demanded, already scanning for Zero Two.
Wen folded his arms. “Zero Two? Oh, I incinerate the original host after extraction,” he said. “Think of your ability like a virus. In rare cases, the power itself tries to find the original host, which can result in…problems.” he tutted. “Luckily, it was just one person. But I've been told to be careful.”
He shook his head. “Anyway! Enough about the shell. I want payment by Monday. If you can't pay, you can come work for me! You're telekinetic, and I need some extra weight to play catch.”
“Boss!”
A girl’s voice made me jump.
“We’ve got another one!”
Wen’s eyes lit up. “Watch this,” he grabbed my arm and pulled me back through the room, passing beds filled with supernaturals. I was lighter on my feet, already clumsy with my ability. I was knocking things onto the floor and sending beds crashing into the wall.
Wen was ahead of me, so I had one chance to do it.
I found Zero Two on a pile of bodies, each marked for incineration. His hands were tied, so Wen was lying about him being braindead. The man wasn't moving, his head clumsily stitched back on. But I still pulled apart his restraints. If he was strong enough, he would rip Wen apart.
Superpowers or no fucking superpowers.
Wen was greeted by two figures at the door. When I got closer, the shadows were even younger than him. The girl, twelve or thirteen, with blonde pigtails, and a boy, a little older than her. They looked like twins, the two of them wearing the same private school uniform as Wen. I was so busy staring at the little girl’s red slicked hands, I didn't see their catch.
There was a man curled up on the ground, bound and gagged, a bag over his head.
“Psychokinetic,” Pigtails shot Wen a grin. “The stupid-head came right to us.” She was hesitant to go near him, dancing back and forth, like she was playing a game. “Careful. I had to gag him with three layers of duct tape to stop him fucking with my mind. He connects through touch and speech. And he's strong. Like soooo strong!"
“Seriously?” Wen whistled. “Damn.” he knelt next to the fresh catch. “I have pre-orders for a psychokinetic, but I don't think I've ever met one since dad’s collection.” the boy straightened up and kicked the lump, forcefully rolling the man onto his side. I caught a flash of familiar dark brown curls slipping from the bag over his head. Tai. I could see the beaded bracelet I got him for Christmas, and his engagement ring.
He had just gotten engaged, his girlfriend proposing to him two weeks earlier.
But Tai didn't have an ability.
He couldn't have. I would have known!
Wen’s smile made me feel sick, a triumphant grin. “I can harvest him tonight and greenlight those orders!”.
"Yay!" Pigtails jumped up and down, while her brother's smile wavered.
I had an ability, and I had no idea how to use it.
It felt like a magnet, like I could pull things apart and rip into solid objects.
But I had no idea how.
For example, I tried to tear into Wen’s mind. But he was already nodding at his child soldiers to take me down. I hit the ground, and the last thing I saw was the little bastard scooping Tai into his arms.
I woke up inside my apartment, lying on my bedroom floor.
But I couldn't move.
I blinked, and I was standing in front of the subway, my feet teetering on the edge.
Jumping back, I had no memory of getting there.
I blinked again, and this time I was standing in the middle of traffic.
Die.
There was a voice in my head, a snarl creeping into the back of my skull.
It was persistent, trying to shove me into the path of a truck. I could sense the voice trying to use the ability now inside me. This time he could use it. I managed to wrangle back control before he sent the Subway derailing.
Die!
I've only known this world for a few days. I've lost my best friend, and I've been illegally fucked with by a teenage psychopath and his army of children.
I don't know about the origin of these powers, and I don't know how Tai is a psychokinetic. I don't know how to get him back, and even if he's alive.
But there is something I am 100% sure of.
Zero-Two is inside my fucking head.
submitted by Trash_Tia to TheCrypticCompendium [link] [comments]
That's what the ad said.
I found it in a library book.
Sandwiched inside a dog-eared copy of Percy Jackson, there it was.
Have you ever wanted to be a superhero?
Well, now you can become one! I can give you any superpower you want. 250 bucks each. 100 extra for anything ending in kinesis. I'm open 9am-midnight every day. Find me between the old pizza hut and the library. Don't look for me. I'll find you.
Please note: These abilities are non-refundable, and MAY cause side effects.
I had so many questions.
Keeping hold of the scrap of paper, I pulled it out during class to show my friend. “It's a dud,” Tai said with an eye roll. I mentioned it to him once, and the guy had not stopped talking about it all day.
This thing was clearly on his mind. The guy couldn't sit still for most of class, his gaze flicking to the scrap poking from my notebook. At lunch, Tai ripped the paper out of my hand when we were trashing our leftovers. I was still considering it. I did have 250 bucks in my savings and superpowers sounded fun. Tai, however, didn't share my excitement.
“I can guarantee someone out there is not giving people super powers for two hundred bucks.” he screwed the paper up in his fist and threw it in the trash. Tai was a sceptical person anyway, though his reaction was unlike him. His eyes were dark, a hollowness to them like I was staring into nothing.
It took me a moment to snap him out of it.
“Hey.” I nudged him and he blinked, his expression souring.
Tai rarely scowled, so this was a first.
I don't think I had ever seen that look on his face, clearly panicked, but trying to hide it. He feigned a smile, though I could see the whites in his fingers where he was squeezing his tray a little too hard. “Come on,” his mouth was still filled with mashed potatoes from lunch. “I thought you were smart. Do you seriously believe in superpowers?” Tai laughed, “In this world?”
“No.” I couldn't take my eyes off of the paper, now covered in someone's potato salad. I found myself reaching toward it, before Tai gently slapped my hand away.
“Well, don't believe in an obvious scam,” he dumped his tray, his tone hardening. There was a girl behind me trying to get past, but I was paralysed, staring at the advert. Tai’s fingers wrapped around my arm. I felt the weight of each one cinching into my skin, pressing pressure. “Fee, I am being completely serious when I say you will get your organs harvested.”
Fee, I am being completely serious when I say you will get your organs harvested.” Tai’s voice bounced around my skull. I nodded, though my actions weren't mine, a dreamy smile splitting across my lips I couldn't control.
“Yeah,” I said, my words tangled. The sound of the cafeteria faded into white noise, and for a moment I felt like I was floating. I kept nodding, all of my senses starting to seep into one. Tai’s touch was gentle and firm around my elbow. I could still hear the sound of chatter, but I could taste it too, smell gossip and small-talk. It tasted like ice-cream cake and lemon frosting on my tongue, chocolate lava and tomato ketchup tickling the back of my throat.
The guy in front of me had hair the color of fire, a deep orange glow igniting each strand alight. I shook my head of entangled smells and taste.
“Don't bother,” Tai’s voice was louder in my head. I had the sudden overwhelming urge to slam my hands over my ears, except my hands wouldn't move. I was frozen, my fingers still clutching my tray. “It’s a scam, Fee.”
Explosions of colour expanded in my vision trailing the sound of a girl’s scream.
Pink.
Someone dropped their tray.
Purple.
Laughter looked like yellow paint being spread across the floor, and tasted like cherries.
“You're… probably right.” I heard myself say in a daze. “It's a scam.”
“Good,” he hummed. “Let's go.”
Tai’s grip slipped from my arm, and reality slammed back into me. The loud laughter and chatter from students bustling around me. I was still holding my tray. I shook my head of mind fog, my thoughts seeping back to fruition.
My earlier words already felt foreign and wrong.
This wasn't a new thing. I had been suffering from brain blanks for a while.
Before I could stop myself, I pulled the scrap of paper from the trash, scraped away pieces of pasta, and followed Tai out of the cafeteria. Tai and I had been friends since junior year. I didn't think I'd befriend a guy twice the size of me, but here we were, a year later, practically glued to the hip. Tai was marginally attractive, dark brown hair and built like a brick wall. If I didn't swing the other way, I would definitely be swayed by Asian American features and dimpled smiles.
Catching up to him, I waved the paper in his face. “For someone who doesn't really care about this so-called dud, you seem to care a lot.”
Tai’s lip curled. I noticed his grip tighten around his phone. “You seriously dug it out of the trash?”
“Why wouldn't I?” I shot him a grin. “Don't you want superpowers?”
His lip twitched. “I'm good.”
His response confused me. “Seriously? You don't want any superpower?”
“No.” Tai’s voice was startlingly cold, his tone holding weight. The light fixture above us flickered erratically, the bulbs exploding, popping one by one. For a moment, I was entranced by shattered glass raining from the ceiling. I held out my hand, catching shards on my palm. Tai kept walking, unfazed. His gaze didn't leave his phone. “Don't go looking for fantasy,” he grumbled. “You won't find it.”
I stuffed the ad into my pocket, following his figure down the hallway.
“And how can you be sure?” I was teasing him at this point, but Tai wasn't getting the memo. As usual, he was taking things a little too seriously.
Tai shrugged, bowing his head. “It's basic common sense. Don't be stupid.”
“Okay,” I said, half joking. “I'll drop it.”
Tai was unusually quiet for the rest of the day. I told him I was going to the convenience store after class, which wasn't exactly a lie. I needed to grab food. But I wasn't going to tell him about my pit stop. Per what the ad said, I ventured down the alleyway between the library and the old Pizza Hut. There was a dead end, and a rat with its innards spilling onto a piece of cardboard.
I'm not an avid believer of bad luck, but it looked like the stars were aligning to personally tell me I was going to die.
According to the ad, I was supposed to wait for them to find me. Twenty minutes passed. Then half an hour. The sky was starting to darken, streaks of red and orange illuminating the horizon indicating twilight. An hour passed, and I was sitting on the wall, my legs dangling, my butt already half asleep. I checked my phone. 8% and zero service. I had five missed calls from an hour ago. Tai.
He was onto me.
I hated convenience store food.
UberEats was my go-to. I really thought I could fool the guy with some half assed text:
Hey, I'll be back late tonight! I'm grabbing sushi from the C store.
I would rather die than eat convenience store sushi, and my friend knew that.
Another twenty minutes passed, and street lights were flickering to life illuminating the dark in an orange glow.
I could see the streak of red which had been the rat in perfect detail. The head was gone while the torso had been ripped open, lumps of pulpy red spilling onto the ground. Something sour filled the back of my mouth. I jumped off of the wall, my stomach twisting into knots. I could have sworn that thing had been splattered across a piece of cardboard.
It was pitch black. With the help of my phone flashlight, I found the cardboard exactly where I saw it before.
So…
How did the rat move?
Taking a step back, my hand moved in jerking movements, my flashlight illuminating the hollow oblivion of the alleyway which felt like it was closing in on me, a slowly collapsing pinprick in my vision. Fuck. I could already feel my body catapulting into fight or flight. I couldn't resist looking at the ground and following the beam of my flashlight, searching for mutant rats.
I took another slow step back, phantom bugs filling my mouth and skittering across the bare flesh of my arms.
Run.
My body was telling me to run.
The air around me, thick and sour smelling, was telling me to run.
But I couldn't. I was paralysed, my gaze glued to the streaks of scarlet that had been the rat. The blood was still there, thick and congealing into the concrete. But the pulpy mass of flesh which were its grim remains were gone.
Following the splatters of blood with my flashlight, I was right.
It was… moving.
I expected an attack, furry masses diving onto me, razor sharp teeth tearing into my flesh.
What I got instead, was a clammy hand slamming over my mouth.
My body reacted, a scream erupting from my throat, muffling into the stranger's palm. I could sense their breath tickling the back of my neck.
“Caaaaaash, please.”
The voice was younger than I expected, a kid maybe a few years younger than me.
His voice was a low murmur, almost a sing-song. Blinking stars out of my eyes, it took me a disorienting second to understand what he meant, and I remembered why I was there in the first place. “I don't have it,” I muffled into the pressure over my mouth and nose.
His hand smelled of disinfectant mixed with something metallic, a pungent taste that stuck to the back of my throat and lips. I was lying. I did have 250 bucks in my pocket. However, I wasn't expecting my seller to be a fucking kid. I said the first thing that came to my mind. “I… I can pay you in instalments!” I tried to pull his hand away, but he tightened his grip.
“Instalments?” the kid surprised me with a giggle. “For fucking superpowers, dude?”
I did my best to nod, tears stinging my eyes.
He let me go with a sigh, and I stumbled back, swiping my mouth.
“Fiiiiiine!"
I scrambled for my flashlight, and the shadow in front of me grew a face. I found myself staring into bright eyes, twisted and wrong, a smile with too many teeth. I was right. It was a kid, maybe two years younger than me.
Rich, judging from his private school blazer. Thick sandy hair poking from a knitted beanie. The kid shot me a grin.
“I'll let you pay in instalments, but if you miss one, I'm adding interest! I may be a kid, but that doesn't mean you can take advantage.” he twisted around with a chuckle, jumping over a puddle. “I'm only doing this because I like the look of you! I was expecting a college kid, and yeah, you hit the nail on the head!"
His head jerked almost inhumanly, a predator tracking its prey.
"You're... interesting." he inclined his head. "I didn't think my ad would work, and yet here you are!"
I forced a smile. "Here I am," I said through gritted teeth.
He was standing on the remnants of the rat, and when I looked closer, I realised he was barefoot. This kid went to a prestegious school and was wearing no shoes, the slithering remains of the rat squashed between his toes. I swore I caught the shadows enveloping his face, like he belonged in the dark, his lips curling into that of a monster, narrowed eyes drinking me in.
This kid was scarier than mutant rats.
He reminded me of an unhinged Percy Jackson.
Which was irònic.
“Well?” he cocked his head, mocking a frown. “Are you coming?”
I was already mentally mapping a getaway if this kid tried anything.
“You're the one selling...?”
I drifted off, and he nodded with a grin. “Yep! Why? Did you expect someone else?”
Before I could speak, he sighed. “Follow me. I have several left. I have some new ones, though I haven't advertised them yet. Pyrokinesis is a popular one, but I won't have another Pyro until at least January. My supplier is running short, which is soooo annoying.” He turned back to me when I didn't move.
The kid ushered me towards him, and something compelled me forward. Maybe I really did want to believe in this fantasy. Continuing to talk, he didn't seem fazed by my hesitance.
I took my place behind him.
“I expect instalments to pay me back if you can't pay now. You can give me your payment details after."
“Payment details?” I whispered.
The kid snorted, his expression darkening. “I'm not giving you superpowers for free,” he raised a brow. His eyes were darker, more hollow in the flashlight beam, ageing this kid way beyond a teenager. “I know some people who do, but you don't want to fuck around with them. I can give you high quality abilities without the, you know, super soldier programming.”
I swallowed. “The what?”
The kid didn't reply, only waving his hand with a sigh. “You wouldn't understand. But trust me, they're bad news.”
The patronising little shit.
Stumbling over my feet, I struggled through the dark. “Are you being serious?” I managed to choke out.
He surprised me with a laugh. “You thought I was lying? What were you expecting?”
I ignored his question. “I'm sorry, how old are you?”
“Uh, sixteen!” he shouted back. “And a half.”
I nodded dizzily, jumping over a puddle. The alleyway felt like it was going on forever. “You're a sixteen year old that sells superpowers to people?”
His shadow was getting further away, and I struggled to keep up.
“Yep!” the kid’s voice bounced off of the walls, while his figure weaved in and out of existence, creeping further and further away from my flashlight. “Hey, it's better than getting a job, and I’m earning my tuition. So, it's a win-win.”
“Uh-huh.” I cleared my throat. I was fully expecting drugs. This kid was talking like a drug dealer, so maybe high schooler’s had code names for drugs. Superpower names were less likely to cause alarm bells. Pyrokinesis was ice, and Telekinesis was cocaine. Maybe the anything ending in kinesis line meant Class A drugs. The ones in high demand. It made sense. This kid thought he was selling me cocaine, and I had taken his code names literally.
Oh god, I was being led into a sixteen year old’s drug den.
Tai was never going to let me live this down.
When we reached the end of the alleyway, the kid turned to me, pulling a piece of cloth from his pocket.
Immediately, I stumbled back, and he rolled his eyes. “Relax.” the boy held up the cloth. “It's just a blindfold. To protect my business, I don't want my customers to know where we’re going.”
I didn't move, my mind going into panic mode.
The kid sighed. “Dude, it's fine,” he said, tying the cloth around my eyes. My fingers moved to tear it away, but he stopped me. “I'll even tell you my name.” I could sense his face inches from mine. “I'm Wen! Nice to meet you! Now, I'm going to lead you inside, all right?” I felt his hands press down on my shoulders. “Do you mind?”
I nodded, swallowing hard. “Ophelia,” I whispered, letting him guide me forwards.
“Hm?”
“My name,” I said. “It's Ophelia.”
Wen chuckled. “Ophelia. I don't think I've ever known anyone with that name.” I tripped over something, and he pulled me further into the void. I had no idea where I was going, dragging my hands across brick to stabilise myself. When I was sure he was leading me to my doom, Wen pulled off the blindfold.
Blinking rapidly, I drank in eerie yellow light sparking from a dying bulb. I was in a small apartment kitchen. There was a faucet, a dining table, and a refrigerator. I opened it up, jumping back when a critter crept across the handle. For a rich private school kid, Wen’s living conditions were interesting.
I was frowning at peeled paint on the walls and used coffee mugs, bug infested flooring under my feet, when the kid filled up a glass of water and handed it to me. I noticed smears of dirt on the rim and politely declined.
Wen must have seen my expression.
He sighed, placing the glass down. “This is all I could get at short notice,” he gestured around and I took notice of the windows being blacked out. “I'm planning on upgrading next year, especially if I'm going to have competition.” He stood on his tiptoes to grab a pack of cookies from a cupboard.
“Want one?” Wen’s smile caught the light, and something rancid filled my mouth.
He was waiting for me to try and run.
When I made my way toward the door, he casually stepped in front of me, arms folded. Wen knew he was in control, and I think that exhilarated him. My flashlight and phone had died, and I was alone inside his drug den. He was practically bouncing up and down. “Are you sure you don't want a cookie?”
I managed a nod. “I'm okay.”
Wen shrugged, demolishing the cookies himself. “Suit yourself!”
I thought he was going to continue playing mind games, but he just sent me a smile. “You should eat. All of my customers eat before a sale.”
“I said I'm okay,” I gritted out.
With a shrug, Wen led me down a set of concrete steps, jumping down each one like he was playing a game.
Every time I turned back, something forced me further down the steps, like I wasn't in control of my legs. Wen talked casually, knowing just opening his mouth was terrifying me. His movements, the way he spoke, everything was manufactured to unnerve me. “It's Telekinesis you're looking for, right?” We reached the bottom, and he led us through a door of plastic sheets, straight into darkness.
I could smell it already. Disinfectant mixed with mould.
“Telekinesis is a great ability,” Wen laughed. “It took me a while to catch him, but I managed it in the end!”
Wen’s words played with my mind, phantom bugs creeping down my spine.
Him?
Light slammed into me, almost knocking me off of my feet.
Shading my eyes, I blinked rapidly. I expected a drug lab.
I expected mountains of powdered white and old science equipment. What I saw instead was… plastic. A room full of plastic hanging from the ceiling. I couldn't see anything else. I started to back away, but Wen was already grabbing me and pulling me with him.
In the flickering glow from the light fixture above us, I could see old and new red streaks staining the floor and each plastic door we stumbled through.
Blood.
It was everywhere, covering every surface.
It was dried into the floor, caked into the clear sheets being whipped in my face, shining brighter the further I was pulled through a labyrinth of plastic, a whole different world hidden inside.
I glimpsed shadows at first, metal beds lining the walls, body sized lumps lying on each one. The place reminded me of an emergency room. We passed a girl with halo hair lying face down on bloodstained blankets. I couldn't see her torso, the lower part of her body covered with soaked blankets stained revealing crimson. There were dozens of plastic tubes forced into her pale limp arms hanging off of the edge.
“Ignore the Siren,” Wen groaned, tightening his grip. There was something pooling on the floor, thick and red seeping across pristine marble.
“She's a drama queen. Ariosa plays dead all the time. She's not for sale, by the way. Ariosa is just for display.”
I kept walking, as if in a trance.
Even when behind me, the girl let out a deafening shriek that clawed its way into my skull.
"Follow meeeeee!"
Wen commanded me closer with his voice, and I moved like I was in a dream, my gaze glued to bloodstained steel and body parts without heads cruelly chained down to each gurney.
I saw them at their most vulnerable, people, with the majority of them being in their twenties, college kids and older, put on a horrific display.
These kids were malnourished, anorexic, their haunted eyes piercing right through me. Some of them screamed at me, straining in cruel chains pinning them down. One guy was brutally restrained, his arms had been chopped off. His agonising wail followed me, begging Wen to kill him.
“Pyro.” Wen said. “He's my only one, and he's already been bought. I'm just waiting for the seller to come buy him.”
A ponytailed brunette looked to be in deep sleep, a plastic mask pressed over her mouth and nose. The girl looked drained, sickly pale skin and bruises covering her arms, no doubt from needles and tubes being forced into her veins. Looking closer, her face started to morph into a younger girl, and then a guy, their features changing sporadically, while their body, slightly delayed, followed. This person did not have one singular face. They had multiple.
“Jordan. Zero Nine, if we're talking about their ability. Anything starting with Zero is the shit people really want. Like, mind control, and anything with kinesis,” Wen muttered in my ear. “They're my first shifter. I’m selling them for 150. But nobody's interested.”
Somehow, I found my voice.
“I've changed my mind,” I managed to choke out.
Wen cocked his head, a smirk curling on his lips. The bastard was waiting for this. His eyes were alive, glittering with insanity. He was subtle in the way he positioned himself. “You can't take back agreement for a superpower,” he murmured. “I use your voice as a form of consent. You followed me in here expecting superpowers and wasted precious time I could have had with a paying customer, so you're buying.”
A cry clawed its way up my throat, and I pried his fingers from my arm, but he grabbed it again, this time squeezing hard enough to incite a screech. Wen pulled me close to him, his breath in my ear. His words were like poison, and I could sense his satisfied grin. “Like I said, we can talk about the legalities and payment details when you're all done, all right?” he shoved me forward.
At first, I didn't move.
“Walk, Ophelia!” His voice was whimsical at first.
Hearing Ariosa's whimpering behind me, I couldn't.
“Fucking walk, dude! Is it that hard? Jeez, you're acting like I've asked you to climb a mountain!” Wen’s tone hardened, his playful attitude souring.
I obeyed, forcing my legs into motion.
Something smooth and metallic prodded into my spine. A gun.
I should have known a teenage drug lord who dealt in supernatural abilities would have a gun. Wen prodded me again. “I don't fuck with people who refuse to buy, lady. I feed ‘em to 102.”
I was still registering his words when he stopped in front of a particularly filthy sheet and swept it aside. “Here we are! Telekinesis. He was originally 250, but since you've been a great customer, I can give you him for half.”
I don't know what I expected.
After already witnessing multiple people tied down and forcefully drugged, wires and tubes sticking from them, I thought it would be the same. But this was a whole other level of brutality, one that sent me staggering back. Wen easily caught me, stabbing the barrel of his gun into my back.
I barely felt it.
I sunk to my knees, my mind already trying and failing to drink in what I was seeing.
Wen wasn't just selling super powers.
I vomited all over myself, and the boy scoffed.
“Oh, come on, that's disgusting!”
Swiping barf from my lips, I struggled to breathe. He was farming them.
“Get up, drama queen. Honestly, you're as bad as Ariosa."
Wen dragged me to my feet, but my legs weren't working. My head felt thick, my thoughts dizzy and distant.
I wanted to lie to myself, tell myself I wasn't seeing this. But the blood on the floor was real, the splatters of scarlet staining skin and steel. In front of me was a man, my age, strapped to a chair, closed eyes flickering, lips parted in a silent scream. It looked like he used to be a college student, splinters of who he was still lingering. I could see where his hair used to be, tufts of dark blonde still attached to what was left of his scalp.
His skin was paper thin, malnourished, like it would splinter apart at any given moment. I think he used to be handsome, used to have laugh lines, and lips that smiled. Now, I was looking at a shell. The man’s body had been forced upright, trembling hands pinned to metal armrests. I looked for hair, for facial features that made sense and were human– but all of that had been stripped away. There was just agony.
It was agony I didn't know or understand, that twisted his body, contorting him back and forth like a puppet on strings. The back of his head was gone, the startling white bone of his skull and pinkish mush of brain exposed, needles and wires stuck into the meat. The man’s eyes flickered open, suddenly, wide and frantic.
Terrified.
Staring directly at me, the whites of his eyes were blood red.
He jolted on the chair, his arms moving, fingers twisting around the arm rest.
“Tah-dah!” Wen danced over to the man, playfully prodding the bare meat of the guy’s brain. The man screamed, contorting in his chair, the lights above flickering. The ground shook under my feet, stray instruments flying into the air. I watched, baffled, as swirling silver danced around my head, needles and scalpels in a manic dance, before faltering, like he was losing control.
The guy’s head dropped, and so did the whirlwind of metal, hitting the ground.
“Behave.” Wen rolled his eyes. “Stop showing off.”
Slowly, the man’s head snapped up. His lips moved, a thin line of red oozing from his nose. His gaze stuck to me, and with every jerk of his wrist, every blink of his eye, I knew he was trying to rip me apart from the inside. My skin prickled. I could feel his presence brushing over me, prodding at my skull.
Wen flung out his arms like he was introducing a friend.
“This is Telekinesis! Well, I call him Zero two. Also Ryan. He's my most powerful. I can drug this guy into a fucking coma, and he still manages to rip a customer's head off,” Wen chuckled. “The trick was finding the right mix. Horse tranquiliser works miracles with telekinetics. It knocks em’ straight out with no mess.”
The kid’s smile widened. “Which is why your brains aren't splattering the walls right now!” he said in a sing-song.
“You're welcome, by the way!”
Zero Two let out an animalistic howl, struggling in the chair, and he laughed.
“You can shut up. Don't give me that look.”
Wen turned his attention to me. “All right, let's get you set up for the procedure.”
Zero Two’s gaze snapped to me, his lips moving.
Once.
Twice.
Run. He mouthed, and I glimpsed lingering humanity.
Wen jumped in front of me, dark eyes twisted with insanity.
“Well? Do you like him? You like him, right? Isn't he, like, fucking insane?!"
Another step, and he was closing the distance between us. “Your assimilation should take maybe an hour. Two, if your body rejects it. Which is a pain, but I've got the time! My Netflix subscription expired, so I have all night to work." Wen's lips curled. "I want to make you perfect."
“You're sick,” I managed to get out.
Wen shrugged. “It's business. You have empathy, and I don't. Ouch. Do you want Telekinesis or not?”
“No!"
Panic erupted inside of me, but I couldn't move. There was no way to run, and a psychotic kid held me at gunpoint. I didn't have a choice.
My freedom to choose had dissipated the second I made the decision to follow him inside his superpower farm.
Wen was surprisingly strong, his arms wrapping around my neck in a chokehold. Something cold pricked the back of my neck, and my body went limp. I hit the ground, half aware of Wen’s shadow looming over me.
My vision was blurring, but I could just make out the curl of his cruel smile.
“After all,” Wen’s voice swam in and out of reality, while my body plunged.
My eyes flickered, finding intense splatters of red staining the ceiling.
“I don't think I told you about my ability, did I? Oh man, it's the best part!"
He picked me up, and I was light as a feather, my head hanging.
Wen’s laugh sounded like thunder claps, and there it was again.
Just like in the cafeteria with Tai, my senses were twisting. The blood in my mouth was shaped like diamonds. I could see every bead, every cutting corner slipping from my lips.
Through tunnel vision, the boy's laughter had colour, pitch black darkness bleeding around him, like he was engulfed in ink. “Oh, dude, wait until I tell you about my father…”
His voice faded, and I stopped thinking for a while. I don't know how long.
Time seemed to flow in a separate singularity. Consciousness hit me slowly. Wen’s voice grazed the back of my mind, pulling me back to a reality I didn't want to be in.
I could already sense my numb body, my wrists pinned to metal armrests.
There are certain things your mind chooses to block out in favour of panicking your body. I was already aware that the back of my head had been ripped open, and my mind was raw and naked to the rest of the world.
It hit me in tiny electroshocks, not prominent enough to be pain. I don't think pain existed in that disorienting moment between half consciousness and awake. It was something else entirely, an uncomfortable agony that wasn't quite agony, because I couldn't feel it.
“Once upon a time,” the kid’s voice was mocking, and I could feel his fingers.
I could feel the tips of his fingernails digging into me, skittering right across the bare flesh of my brain. There was no scream in my throat, no panic in my chest. I think my body was in a state of paralysis. I remember opening my eyes to brutal light blinding me, rivulets of thick red beading down my arms, tiny rivers seeping down my skin. I closed my eyes again, sharp, heavy pants escaping my lips. “There was a boy with a father who was very intelligent.”
I was pushing out words, my mouth filled with blood.
Why are you doing this?
My lips moved, but the words failed to hit the sound barrier.
“Shhhh,” Wen hummed. “Listen to the story.” he cleared his throat, and his fingers continued to dig down, deep into the meat of my brain, pulverising tissue.
I felt nothing, and yet my body still reacted, jerking side to side. My eyes rolled back, darkness momentarily swallowing me up, only to spit me back out. “Anyway,” Wen continued. Through flickering eyes, I could glimpse steel protruding into my wrist.
“So, the boy had a super smart father who was obsessed with the supernatural,” Wen hummed. “Caaan you guess what the boy's father did?”
I didn't respond, my gaze lazily skating over ceiling tiles.
“He experimented.” Wen dug his fingernails in, and this time I screamed.
No pain, but my body was sure there was. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck and face, bile gathering in my mouth. “The boy's father was obsessed with unlocking a certain part of the mind. The boy didn't know this. One day, he was just exploring. His mother had been gone for a few days. But hey, his dad said it was cool. His Mom was just visiting family, and she'd be back.”
Another prod.
“Nope! The kid found his mother– or more appropriately, what was left of his mother. Daddy carved her brain out! Mommy was right there on the bed, her blood was still warm. He hugged her, and still remembers the blood on his face. He tried to wake her up, but Mommy was long dead. Dad had already cut up her brain for testing.”
He giggled, another explosion of colour seeping into my vision. “When his mother failed, his father used him!"
Deeper and deeper his fingers were going.
“It hurt him, Ophelia," Wen mocked a childish sob. "Oh, God, It fucking hurt enough for the boy to want to die over and over again. He spent a long time on a table made of stone, while his father cut him apart and stitched him back together. He stopped feeling pain. Fuck, he stopped feeling completely! Because the bastard had cut all of it away, all the bad emotions, and all the good, to make way for his greatest gift.”
No wonder Wen was a psychopath, his childhood was a never ending experiment.
“I think you know where I'm going with this story,” Wen chuckled. “My father wanted to turn me into a superhero. Just like the other kids he played around with. But he did the exact opposite.”
I held my breath when his fingers stopped moving, straying in cerebral tissue. “Dad didn't give me the powers I wanted,” his tone twisted and his fingers curled. That time I did feel pain, my lips parting in a silent scream.
“He gave me this.” Wen twisted his fingers again, and my white hot pain filled me, bleeding into my blood and bones. I screamed that time, my raw screech reminding my body I was still real. “The power to extract abilities that I can't take for myself,” Wen continued in a spiteful hiss. “And give them to others.” It was like being filled with electricity, my brain being boiled alive.
My eyes clouded, the lights above flickering.
I screamed again, my head lolling to the side.
“Sorry,” Wen muttered. “I'm trying to reach your cerebral cortex-- I think that's what it's called--but it's hard…” his voice faded in and out. “I should be better at this by now, but there's so much I have to dig through, and that's on top of keeping the customer alive with Zero Five’s ability. Urgh. I’ve got brain juices all over me.”
I counted ceiling tiles to distract myself.
“Almost…”
I lost count around the 400 mark, my body unsure whether to shut down or stay awake.
“There…”
Colours and stars spotted my eyes. I remember curling my fingers, and feeling a pull from somewhere, like a magnet repelling. Darkness found me once more, but even asleep, I could still sense that pull entangling around me.
“Wakey, wakey!”
Drifting back to fruition, I was sitting, my legs dangling off of a bed. When my hand instantly went to the back of my head, my fingers only grazed my own thick brown hair. I delved two fingers into my scalp, and there it was, thick rugged stitches sewing me back together. My first thought was Zero Two.
I tried to move my body to get up, but my limbs weren't working.
Dropping onto my hands and knees, I barely felt the impact.
Zero Two was gone. The chair where he'd been restrained was empty.
“Here! Let me help you.”
Wen was standing over me. He ducked to my height. I thought he was going to hit me, but he just pulled a stray needle out of my arm. “All right. Try now.”
I did, jumping to unsteady feet. Already, I was looking for a way out– and that strange magnetic-like pull was still there.
It moved with me, attaching itself to everything in my vicinity. I was sure with a simple jerk of my hand or finger, I could cause damage. Already, my mouth was moving, my heightened senses overwhelming me. Ariosa, the siren in the bed a few metres away, was easy to latch onto. “Where is he?” I demanded, already scanning for Zero Two.
Wen folded his arms. “Zero Two? Oh, I incinerate the original host after extraction,” he said. “Think of your ability like a virus. In rare cases, the power itself tries to find the original host, which can result in…problems.” he tutted. “Luckily, it was just one person. But I've been told to be careful.”
He shook his head. “Anyway! Enough about the shell. I want payment by Monday. If you can't pay, you can come work for me! You're telekinetic, and I need some extra weight to play catch.”
“Boss!”
A girl’s voice made me jump.
“We’ve got another one!”
Wen’s eyes lit up. “Watch this,” he grabbed my arm and pulled me back through the room, passing beds filled with supernaturals. I was lighter on my feet, already clumsy with my ability. I was knocking things onto the floor and sending beds crashing into the wall.
Wen was ahead of me, so I had one chance to do it.
I found Zero Two on a pile of bodies, each marked for incineration. His hands were tied, so Wen was lying about him being braindead. The man wasn't moving, his head clumsily stitched back on. But I still pulled apart his restraints. If he was strong enough, he would rip Wen apart.
Superpowers or no fucking superpowers.
Wen was greeted by two figures at the door. When I got closer, the shadows were even younger than him. The girl, twelve or thirteen, with blonde pigtails, and a boy, a little older than her. They looked like twins, the two of them wearing the same private school uniform as Wen. I was so busy staring at the little girl’s red slicked hands, I didn't see their catch.
There was a man curled up on the ground, bound and gagged, a bag over his head.
“Psychokinetic,” Pigtails shot Wen a grin. “The stupid-head came right to us.” She was hesitant to go near him, dancing back and forth, like she was playing a game. “Careful. I had to gag him with three layers of duct tape to stop him fucking with my mind. He connects through touch and speech. And he's strong. Like soooo strong!"
“Seriously?” Wen whistled. “Damn.” he knelt next to the fresh catch. “I have pre-orders for a psychokinetic, but I don't think I've ever met one since dad’s collection.” the boy straightened up and kicked the lump, forcefully rolling the man onto his side. I caught a flash of familiar dark brown curls slipping from the bag over his head. Tai. I could see the beaded bracelet I got him for Christmas, and his engagement ring.
He had just gotten engaged, his girlfriend proposing to him two weeks earlier.
But Tai didn't have an ability.
He couldn't have. I would have known!
Wen’s smile made me feel sick, a triumphant grin. “I can harvest him tonight and greenlight those orders!”.
"Yay!" Pigtails jumped up and down, while her brother's smile wavered.
I had an ability, and I had no idea how to use it.
It felt like a magnet, like I could pull things apart and rip into solid objects.
But I had no idea how.
For example, I tried to tear into Wen’s mind. But he was already nodding at his child soldiers to take me down. I hit the ground, and the last thing I saw was the little bastard scooping Tai into his arms.
I woke up inside my apartment, lying on my bedroom floor.
But I couldn't move.
I blinked, and I was standing in front of the subway, my feet teetering on the edge.
Jumping back, I had no memory of getting there.
I blinked again, and this time I was standing in the middle of traffic.
Die.
There was a voice in my head, a snarl creeping into the back of my skull.
It was persistent, trying to shove me into the path of a truck. I could sense the voice trying to use the ability now inside me. This time he could use it. I managed to wrangle back control before he sent the Subway derailing.
Die!
I've only known this world for a few days. I've lost my best friend, and I've been illegally fucked with by a teenage psychopath and his army of children.
I don't know about the origin of these powers, and I don't know how Tai is a psychokinetic. I don't know how to get him back, and even if he's alive.
But there is something I am 100% sure of.
Zero-Two is inside my fucking head.
2024.03.08 17:00 WaveOfWire Blacklisted - Chapter 17
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“You look worse than before, cat.”
Sunundra slowed in her lopsided stride, tinny speakers pulling her consciousness from the veil of training and instincts it had been under as she inspected the dim confines with a neutral expression, wondering just how far she had wandered while trapped in blank introspection.
Sparse light fixtures shone softly over long stretches of bare steel framing, their wires and pipes left exposed for easy access and repairs. There were no bloodied paw prints here, unlike the maintenance corridors she remembered traversing, the dusty yet pristine surfaces sowing a sense of muted unease. The map might tell her where she was specifically, but the urge to continue downwards was enough of a bearing. There was a location somewhat nearby where she could safely bore through the floor with an explosive, and thankfully, it wouldn't involve falling down a gap that encompassed an entire level this time. Her legs had taken the landing better than expected, though there was no telling if they could do so again—her limp was already worse than before. Regardless, a few more charges would get her where she needed to be.
Where that was, exactly, she couldn’t be sure, but she likely checked at some point and had since forgotten, choosing to follow the shadows of decisions made by some deep part of herself that wasn’t occupied cherishing what little was left behind.
And that was fine. It was fine not to remember things that didn’t matter anymore.
The irritated cadence of the alien, however, was well within memory, even as she ignored it and kept walking.
“You are going in the wrong direction,” the security officer continued, the deepness of its voice straining the address system. A moment of expectation went unmet by her indifference. “There is only more security awaiting you this way. The disturbance your actions have caused has not gone unnoticed.”
They were active? Perhaps it might mean that her kin have begun moving as well, and maybe there was someone who also smuggled contraband or weapons inside. She doubted that she was the only military personnel to have been brought here, and of those, at least one would have kept a secret or two during the onboarding process. Few were as blindly trusting as she had been, and her materials were taken in an effort to maintain her sense of usefulness more than anything else.
Ironic, considering that which was previously a fidget to ease her nerves had since become anathema to everything she once practised. She used to utilize her supplies to save lives and complete objectives bloodlessly. Now, she painted the walls with her enemy's viscera, enveloping entire areas with relentless fire and caustic fumes, regardless of if any would surrender or assist. The contrast felt sickening, persisting as she assured herself that it was necessary.
“What are you doing here? You were supposed to escape with him.”
Yes, she was. Yet she was here, a failure wandering the halls of her attempts, hoping to make a final wrong right.
“Is this all that remains of your determination to see him safe?”
It was all that remained of her, let alone something that had been vaporized by the explosion—that disappeared along with what it had been dedicated to. The once colourful shades of self-imposed delusions and newly found joys had desaturated to cracked, grey panes of unfeeling dullness, distorting any emotions that didn’t tear and wretch at her insides. It was a gap that would forever be left unfilled, placing monochromatic apathy where eager tones once lay.
No amount of wilful thinking would bring him back. Nothing would fill the emptiness surrounding the single fragment of a soul that was left behind in his wake. She couldn’t even keep herself together, nor offer her own life in exchange for his. No, she survived, losing what made her feel alive. Defective, abandoned, hated, and broken, she headed towards her captive kin with a condition that would only solidify their rejection. But the determination that moved her feet through the suffering? That was his. That was what was left in her grasp after everything she had endured, and she would hold it above all else. She would protect it at all costs, for she was nothing without it.
Just as she should be.
Two halves of a heavy door slid closed from recesses in the walls, blocking the path forward just before she could react, her retreat receiving a similar treatment. An unperturbed blink preceded her backpack slipping from her shoulders unceremoniously, the pale-furred female setting it on the ground and shakily crouching through the pain of reopened wounds. Her efforts to treat her bond fared poorly for the cauterized wounds, and the activity after that didn’t help.
Miscellaneous components, a needle, and some thread she had taken from the clinic were retrieved, the latter two tucked into her pocket for a moment. She favoured one arm and pushed against her knee with a paw, standing to place several bare, putty-like patches on the barrier, then connected them in a loop with a length of metallic wire. A loose battery completed the circuit, starting the reaction before getting tossed back into the bag, an implement locked away until circumstances demanded it.
Her eyes lingered on the discarded item, unable to shake the feeling that it was just like herself—needed, used, then stored for later utility. Separated, for intermingling might result in unwanted reactions. Unmonitored, for it would wait dutifully, then perform when called upon. When all was done, she hadn’t the privilege of truly knowing if her efforts were appreciated, only that she would be summoned again and again. Only when she had been drained to lifelessness would she be disposed of, replaced by another who could do what she no longer could. Just like the battery.
Her claws manipulated the needle and thread with a steadier touch than before, the numbness stilling her form as she sized up which of her wounds were still bleeding—most of them, it seemed. At least the need for anaesthetics had been rendered moot by painkillers and her now broken condition. She only felt the slightest echo of a sting in her leg while crudely stitching the torn flesh.
“Your antics have disabled multiple elevators,” the alien informed dryly, a wariness entering his tone. “If possible, I would recommend going back the way you came.”
She didn’t deign to look for where the video transmission devices were, pulling the thread taut then clipping it between her clawtips before moving to the next injury that needed treatment. The charges on the door would take a while; they were quick to make and material-efficient, but at the cost of potency. It bought time for her to mend herself, however, and wasting the opportunity would be unwise.
“Have you rendered yourself deaf? You have destroyed your escape route from here. You cannot leave this way.”
“I have not come to escape,” she replied airily, pulling the edges of a sewn wound. It will hold for now. Her stomach was briefly considered, but the utility of the macabre pocket outweighed the danger to her health.
Utility…
Her nonplussed expression crinkled the smallest amount, the shadow of a frown attempting to knit her brows. It was all simply utility, wasn’t it? This was useful, that was not—simple, painless, pragmatic… Empty. There was no expectation, isolation, or hurt. Just tools. Just applications.
Smiles made others less hostile, a proper posture assured none thought her disrespectful, and suitable distances meant that the most agreeable of her ship-packs would find her tact appropriate. It might even earn a dismissive nod or subtle act of tolerance, were she to be diligent in her considerations.
She had always been vacant beneath the mask of amiability—always categorizing what would be used when to achieve the optimal result. She had been obsessive about it, keeping notebooks and datasheets to track her findings, the tables and results hidden amongst the more esoteric of her experiments in chemical demolitions. She used her very flesh as a tool, exactly as her superiors had. Apply this stratagem, don that expression, polish and shine her appearance until it resembles what others preferred… Until the fateful sun where she would be appreciated and accepted for her ceaseless struggles…
Now, there was no one who would accept her, and there was value in having this new utility, no matter how unseemly. There was value in having more. Whereas she thought only her body was commanded by those of higher station and the orders that came through clipped tones, she had learned it was her entirety that had been the tool—from claw to mind. The difference was that she now followed the will of a singular desire that none could contest.
And if none could contest it, that would make it divine, no? An edict of the Mother?
The thought seeped into the gaping fissures of her psyche like a bitter poison, pulling from the already numbed senses. She was naught but an opportune existence to her kin, beholden to the whims of those who detested her. Bill never thought of her like that. He only saw what others were too disgusted to see: a hurt, pitiful female that wished for a smile in her presence more than witnessing another sunrise of solitude. Yet when that wish was granted, it was taken away just as quickly by those who set out to ensure she would never be given it again. There would be no more warmth and comfort, his sunrises forcefully ripped from his grasp and left to the one who wanted nothing more than to share them with him. She had received a distorted version of what she desired, never having communicated how much the brief period of being complete meant to her until the one who showed her was no longer there to hear it.
It was taken from her as soon as she realized how much she would give to keep it.
She had relished the bond stitching the torn seams of a soul that could hold no more suffering, then was subsequently destroyed for it, left as a hollow shell to witness time pass in some ironic punishment for sins unknown. After everything, all she could do was clutch the lingering mote of his essence, allowing a primal part of herself to act on instinct and training as something called to her from the abyss dwelling in her thoughts.
Silent, she rejected the world, convincing herself that she might succeed in a task which towered over her. Blind, she ignored the passages and let her legs trudge forward, only a thread of consciousness guiding the way. Empty, she sheltered within the idea that she would be able to abandon that which made her his Sunshine, suppressing the worry that it would leave a permanent darkness in its wake.
And again, she was a tool—a solitary implement, its owner unable to direct or wield it…
But she was directed; she was trusted with the wish that escaped the maw of the ever-hungering Void. There existed nothing of higher authority than the singular glow amidst the blackness, giving light to the ravenous stagnation that lingered, waiting to consume her whole.
“You said that you wanted to save him—save your people,” the alien continued, a bitter hatred seeping into his words. “I thought you wouldn’t waste the chance my human died to give you.”
Her slow blink coincided with the last of her major injuries being stitched shut, the thread snipped before all the involved materials were stored away, her bag donned once more. The mild pressure of the oddly-shaped terminal in her stomach confirmed it was still there, reminding her that she failed to repay more than one person’s kindness.
“If you care for your kind who are trapped down below—or the humans they’re with—then you should turn around now and find another—”
“—I do not,” she replied vacantly, her mouth moving before her thoughts could process what left it. Strangely enough, she didn’t disagree with the conclusion. Only one thing mattered now.
“…You…don’t?” it asked warily, apparently not expecting such a frigid candor. The pale-furred female adjusted the charges affixed to her backpack and waited in front of the barrier preventing her progress. “What of your vengeance? You made it quite clear that I would die by your actions.”
“You will.”
“…Yet you claim not to care about them?”
“Correct.”
An eerie silence stretched on. “…Then, why? Why regress?”
A soft sizzle signified the end of the placed charges’ reaction, a wisp of blue smoke listing off the metal. She lifted a foot and lightly pushed against the sectioned-off portion of the door, forcing it free from the rest. It thumped against the ground, kicking up dust. Her blank expression remained, even when she spotted the glimmer of a video transmission instalment, her placid gaze boring into the hidden lens. She could almost picture the bovine-like alien watching the monitor with confusion and hostility—and strangely enough, the thought was morbidly amusing.
It was such a foolish question, asked by one who could never understand the suffering that was held at bay by the light of a promise. Compared to its luminance, all of her previous wants felt shallow and meaningless, her prayers for affection never able to include the unfathomable purity and fullness she was always missing.
Why did she strive to please her kin, when the dullest ember he provided willingly could consume the largest inferno they could offer? Why did she sacrifice year after year to follow orders of those who despised her, when simply smiling at him returned joy in infinite volumes? Why did she suffer for them at all? True, one of appropriate background might venture numerous speculations, yet to her, only a single answer mattered. She had been moulded by the Mother’s claws for one not of her own, then shown the darkest depths so she might see how bright it could truly be.
Now, she was plunged back into those depths by another…but she had seen the light. She had learned there was more awaiting the Mother’s faithful. It awaited all kits—no matter their condition—with an offer of perfect pieces to match those jagged holes that others left within them. It waited…so, so patiently…
And she had been shown where it lay…
Her muzzle tugged into a distorted, wry grin marred and clouded by sorrow. Twisted revelation brightened her eyes. A tittering breath let slip her madness, yet it felt right. The security officer had not felt the embrace of the Void as it ripped his soul apart piece by piece, nor experienced what it was to be naught but a means to an end, and so it queried about that which it could not know. It never discovered how caliginous existence was, ignorant to the illumination that could be experienced. This naive being had yet to be enlightened, so it was doubtful of unblemished truth.
And it was truth. It was a pure, clear, immutable fact engraved into the bones of the Goddess’ offspring, yet hidden by layers of lies, deception, and life, only to be glimpsed when the granules of glass could refract the endless agony. She had been stripped of those blindfolds, cracked and shattered and ground to fine particulates until the infinite reflections formed a perfect image…
Sunundra had been given clarity through her torment. She had been given unvarnished knowledge through her destruction. Through breaking, she had learned of the Mother’s will, and through Bill’s small, flickering glow…
“Because I have been given a command, unlearned one, and this faithful will obey.”
…She had received a purpose.
= = = = =
Heroon frowned, unsure how to take the sudden change in tone. From her initial despondency, he assumed the defect would have detailed how she crawled her way to however she managed to occupy the shuttle she crashed in, yet she had instead come upon some delusion of divine purpose? Was such a thing unheard of? No. Was it rare? Still, no, not really; some who closely adhered to their specific branch of the teachings are said to be granted glimpses of what lies beyond. It was common enough that the church was quick to exalt the experience as proof that the Mother watched over them all, no matter how scattered her attentions or divisive her Aspects. He chose to remain skeptical on the exact level of the deity's involvement in the past, but this was a bit much. First a bond, now a vision?
Fine. Even if he were to humour the thought, placing which Aspect such an…interesting depiction belonged to was troublesome.
It was told that the Hunt Mother was far too great for her progeny to fully comprehend, and so she allowed pieces of herself to exist amongst the mortal young as they propagated—from the smallest of emulations to the manifestation of those traits. All was done to prepare them for the eventual return to her embrace, the souls carrying new lessons in her stead. She gathered her influence into concentrated Essences, then divided them further into Aspects that her young might learn from, tasking them with resisting the erosion of the Void and proving themselves worthy once more.
Sadly, that breadth of scope also welcomed a wide array of Aspects to be studied; the nature of Lilhun kind categorized and compartmentalized. Most in his field were required to know them to a degree—especially since quite a bit could be deduced by which one a particular individual placed faith in—but it was a challenge to remember every significant verse or tale, and some were more noteworthy than others. Though he refrained from judging others for which they aspired to embody, following the minutia of all of them was a task best left to the Grand Priests of The Hunt. He could only speculate and vaguely recall the scripture beyond his own belief in the Astral Mirrors, the Aspect that emphasized purity of mind.
‘Be he who gazes upon his form as he gazes upon his antithesis, and be he who sees beyond the veil of self.’
It was a strange verse to be memorized from the tomes, but one he found profoundly resonating, if an ideal that he would never perfectly emulate. The exact interpretations were left to the individual’s own discovery, but he believed it to be one of the more forward Aspects. For him, it was a lesson in rumination and to hold oneself to the standard they place upon others. It was that teaching that led him to becoming a Quesitar for the United Military, and now a male of high station. That faith was why he humoured the pale-furred female’s tale at all, and why he allowed that feeling of reciprocity to form while listening to her plights. Alas, one cannot merely ignore the absolute, and his begrudging willingness to look past her condition was met with the revelation that she was merely sick, maddened, or Void-touched, deluded into thinking she had achieved the impossible.
Yet…it itched at him. He felt something niggling at the back of his mind, a verse long forgotten over the years of his profession.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts, ignoring the impatiently raised brow of his assistant. At least Illia was chastened enough by his earlier rebuke to remain quiet in the face of the outlandish claims they were hearing. Still, the defect’s speech had slowed again, the troubled expression telling of difficulty organizing her memories rather than the emotional overload of before. Occasionally, her muzzle would open, only for her voice to falter and her mouth to close, a question only known to herself pouring doubt into the wandering gaze that looked so lost. It was starting to grate on his nerves, honestly.
Heroon tried to maintain at least the appearance of professionalism, but he had grown weary over the course of the interrogation, and simply wanted it to be over. He felt the need for rest pulling at his eyes, the monotonous cadence coming through the speakers becoming a signal of yet another line that must be analyzed and weighed despite his fatigue. Were it not for his orders, he likely would have closed the discussion as soon as she confirmed that her bond was false, but due to the other details, he was required to listen and respond.
His extended exhalation brought a touch of focus back to his mind, the silence while waiting for the contained one to arrange her recollections stretching for too long. He depressed the intercom. “And after your interaction with the alien?”
“I…” The defect’s words fizzled out, her concern visible. “I do not remember.”
His surprise showed involuntarily. “You cannot remember how you returned?”
“N-not to that extent, but it is…fragmented. Where the charge to descend was placed, how far I traversed within the halls…” Her eyes rose from the table, a perfectly formed smile spread across her face, the regret turning it somewhat bitter. It was…mechanical—an emulation of expression that had been executed countless times until it was burned into muscle memory. “I can recall that there was a firefight, yet not how many were involved, nor how long It had been going for. The explosives used during my time on the level had apparently damaged more than just the structural integrity of the passages, and some of the traps which had yet to trigger then did so during my absence.”
The rueful smile faded, her paws folding atop one another on her lap. “It inadvertently freed some of my kind, as well as their human counterparts. It is difficult to say if they were acting to protect themselves, or if they had felt something was amiss before, but they chose a small, locally networked server room to convene, and their meddling with the terminals therein alerted security. I arrived at a junction near the confrontation…and…”
He watched the carefully machined composure fade from her eyes. “And?”
= = = = =
Oh, how quickly her grip on success had slipped.
Instead of snapping from her melancholy to survey wherever she had ended up, she instead found herself pressed to the corner of a three-way junction, the blur of instinct that piloted her form determining she was required to deal with the circumstances. Weapons fire was the first indication that her plan to quietly break the others from their den-like cages was doomed before it began.
She knew not how long the engagement had been underway, nor how many of the security were firing rounds down a claustrophobic offshoot of the main corridors, but she knew it was an issue, and that it was one she was in a poor position to resolve.
The pale-furred female cautiously peered around the corner, trying to gauge her options. Unfortunately, the attempt was cut short as soon as she confirmed it was a fair distance away, the defect ducking back to stifle the curse that tried to escape. She could only make out the mouth of the assaulted passageway from her cover, which didn't offer much information. Without an angle to view what her kin were working with, she couldn't carelessly approach the siege, nor communicate covertly. The glimpse of numerous armoured aliens holding equally unknown firearms was enough to discard any inclination of charging in, and the slight radius of the curving corridor ended her line of sight prematurely, so there might be an even greater force present than she could see.
She glanced down at her bloodstained fur with disdain. No, running in blindly would only result in the enemy adding one more kill to their metrics—her ankle was too damaged to support that reckless inclination. She peered again, feeling ashamed of a new willingness to abandon them, but she would rather save the others than fail with this single group, and the chances of success here seemed bleak.
Return fire snapped and sizzled from the tight passage, forcing security to continue the stalemate as plasma threatened to gore any who were careless enough to advance. A male of her kind barked orders and insults from within, pauses of aggression earning more suppression fire from the enemy, likely forcing those he was with to hunker behind whatever cover was keeping them alive. Based on the sounds and number of shots, the defenders had one, maybe two weapons—nothing military-issued, but certainly Lilhun in origin. Unexpected, but not outside of her initial assumptions.
Another salvo from the offshoot was swiftly met with a counterattack by a particularly stupid alien, its head taking the brunt of a superheated projectile, but not before firing its own weapon.
The shriek was far from Lilhun.
Sunundra grew wide-eyed, frozen as she rapidly compared the agonized screech to every utterance from every alien she could remember thus far, only to return with the voice of Bill's past mate over and over—different, but close enough to be distinctly female. Distinctly human.
The delay was enough for the scent to reach her.
Fear. Love. Anger. Reluctance. Spite. Concern. Anxiety.
More humans, their maelstrom of emotions thickening the air into unpalatable syrup, bile rising in her throat as her broken form recoiled from what was reminiscent of her bond. Each came as jagged shards that didn’t fit her missing pieces, scraping, scratching, and gouging the surface of her far too damaged soul. They assaulted her olfactory, yet they were not the ones she welcomed so wholly. They did not pull at her own. They did not fill what was left behind. They were wrong. They were warped. They were not his.
The ire wasn’t his. He would never be so single-mindedly enraged.
The panic wasn’t his. He would never lose sight of his convictions so easily.
The love wasn’t his. He would never give it so shallowly.
The fear…
His eyes. His eyes strained to maintain clarity, pleading for her safety, and petrified at the thought that the pale-furred female would be yet one more thing he would lose.
T-the fear wasn’t…
A gasp for oxygen forced its way into lungs that were far too weak to process it, his hypoxic lips struggling to form his terrified words.
The fear…
‘It’s not the food, is it? Are you okay?’
The…
‘I’ll be here. You’re not alone.’
It wasn’t…
‘I'll be right alongside you the whole time to make sure. You don't need to be scared.’
He wouldn’t…
‘I miss you…so, so much…’
He would.
‘I promised her I would… I promised…’
Her claw twitched, the blood draining from her face. Her vision darkened as hyperventilation stole her consciousness piece by piece.
‘It’s nice to meet you, miss.’
‘You’re hurt…’
He was.
‘You have me. I'll be your friend.’
‘Well, you’re my Sunshine.’
Static deafened her, yet she still heard his words, each memory more vivid and painful than the last. She clamped her paws against her head, desperately pushing back the blackest pit that tore and consumed her insides. Something screamed, her own voice blaring from countless places at unbearable volume, but it couldn't drown out that final beat of his heart that echoed in her ears, never to beat again.
‘I'm sorry…’
He is.
And then it stopped. All of it. Everything snapped out of existence in an instant, leaving only a cold, vacant black that steadily crept in. The screaming…the memories… The Void swallowed her weakened core whole as she clutched the tiny glow which gave her purpose.
She wanted to cherish his desire and complete it as best she could, yet that too would slip from her grasp. There were too many foes, too many weapons, and too many injuries slowing her down, making her thoughts slur as they went untreated. Even if she would give anything to make it so, her form was all she had, and it had been rendered pitifully worthless, just as she always was.
Yet something disagreed.
Intangible, ephemeral, and playfully innocent, the something in the Void reached out, stroking her fur as she curled around the precious wish which kept her alive. Her nerves lit up like the fireworks her bond held such fond memories off, pain and comfort delivered in equal measure. The something pressed against her skin, interested in the hopeless proposal that wandered her mind.
The voices returned—multiple in origin, yet unison in tone. It spoke with kit-like curiosity, the small presence trying its best to understand.
Why do you not try?
Sunundra shook her head and clutched the ember tighter. She was weakened and hurt; her limbs would falter in the attempt. The something drifted around her, as if looking for the truth in her words. Confidence entered its prideful inflection.
Then release them to me. I will be your strength.
But her sight betrayed her. How could she fight if mere shadows seemed primed to attack?
Then surrender your eyes. I will find the enemy without fail.
Yet her ears were unreliable; she couldn’t trust what she heard anymore. What if she missed something in the height of conflict?
Then let them go. Nothing will escape my notice.
No, her mind was too sluggish. What if she was unable to make a critical decision? What if she chose poorly?
Then give it to me as well. I will not err.
Still, she was tired…oh, so tired. The drugs only went so far, and still she pressed them further and further, wearing herself down without respite. How much longer could she persist before collapsing when others needed her most?
Then rest. I will act where you cannot.
It was a soothing thought. However, there was more she needed to do…
It will not be long. I will make short work of it.
The empty expanse was peaceful, swirls of nothing gently swaying her while she hugged her purpose to her breast. It would be nice to take a brief nap and allow another to act in her stead until she was fit to resume. Even so…it was her responsibility—her duty.
You are a tool, no? That is what you always were. Is it not expected that a tool would be used? Will you not allow me to use you?
Its mirthful perplexion drew a snarl upon her muzzle. There is only one other she would truly submit to, and his will is why she persisted despite the pain of his absence.
The something giggled in youthful amusement as tendrils pierced and crept through her flesh, fully deadening sensation fraction by fraction. Her ears told her nothing, her eyes became vacant, and her thoughts slowed to a crawl, remnants of consciousness stuttering away. Just as she panicked, her form clicked back into place, the voice cooing its promises.
Then trust in me, and I will ensure you persist still. I do not need your permission, but I ask for it out of sympathy. You will still be free to pursue the others—free to save those he deemed worthy.
Fear kept her unmoving. She couldn’t accept. No matter how tempted she was, no matter how terrifying the consequence, she wouldn’t entrust his wish with another. It was hers and hers alone. She would breathe her last with it in her possession.
The image of a silent form flickered in her mind, a pale-furred kit looking up at her with a twisted, bloodlusting grin, violence playing in the gaze burrowing through her skull. Its expression softened to one of tender affection as its claw reached out to caress the fringes of light projected by her tiny beacon.
The change in demeanour did nothing to detract from the shadow of malice that remained on a tripwire thin enough to sever flesh from bone, sharpened by years and years of stretching beyond its limits, refusing again and again to snap by naught but hope that it never would. The strand vibrated as it was pulled by an unseen force, the piercing wail of over-tensioned wire growing louder and louder. The kit continued its address, unperturbed by the overwhelming screeches of metal, the sing-song cadence sobering Sunundra’s confusion.
The lies. The rejection. The isolation. The hatred. Why? Because you were different? Because you were never enough? You were quiet. You were obedient. You were loyal. You were everything they demanded of you and more, and *still** they despised you, locking you away in hopes that the next time they were reminded of your existence, they would only find a body to be disposed of, their problem ‘solved.’*
Small, half-lidded eyes raised to observe her with a serene expression, a storm of rending, shattered glass rolling in the infinite depth and bottomless agony of its pupils.
Yet you suffered willingly. Longingly. Endlessly. You begged the Mother for scraps of what others feasted upon, left to starve amongst her holy clergy, giving gratitude for their crumbs while watching them be nourished by the masses of those who would spare nothing for you to subsist on. You discovered death and destruction, yet refused to use it for anything but saving those who detested their saviour. Do you remember their sneers? How they showered the others in appreciation while you were dismissed, despite it being your work which liberated them from demise? How you were the one who treated the injuries littering your form after those acts of valour, smiling through the pain because you thought that maybe this was the time someone would show kindness? How you were critiqued and berated for performing flawlessly, your superiors cursing the fact you returned instead of exchanging your life for another’s?
A sullen sadness overcame its budding rage, its stare returning to the dim orange glow.
But him… You felt it, did you not? The fear of seclusion resonating with your own, the worry of if his growing affection for you would devalue what he held before… He did not lie to you, for he was tired of hearing falsehoods. He did not reject you, for he had become familiar with being unwanted. He did not isolate you, for he delighted in the company, your presence easing a weight he had forgotten could be lifted…
He did not hate you… No, he loved far too readily, seeing a reflection of himself that had even less than he was afforded. He hurt for you, he shed tears for your sorrow, and he was willing to sacrifice himself if that is what it took for you to be happy, just because you shared his pain. He sought to redeem himself, true, but he wanted little more than to give you your own redemption, making you a hero of your people that others would adore despite your condition. He planned to share his happiness with you as well.
It closed its eyes, opening them to reveal absolute stillness where flurries of sharpened crystals once flew. Cracks and fractures marred the gemstone-like orbs, refracting light into millions of distinct colours that formed incomprehensibly muddled images, yet it was in the kaleidoscopic regard that sincerity rang perfectly clear.
He surrendered everything in the vain hope that you would experience the love of others. That you would no longer pray for acceptance through choking sobs every moon your best was met by the worst of results. Still you refuse to surrender yourself to see his deepest want granted? This single heartfelt desire… How pure it is. How bestial its origin. How unquestionable its intention…
Do you refuse because you will never experience the circumstances which created it? Do you balk at never compensating for what is missing? No. You fear the cost of success. You fear that what awaits you at the end of it is but more torturous moons where the fantasy of love and fondness is unobtainable, leaving you with naught but a memory to ease your self-inflicted passing, countless prayers gone unanswered in spite of how dedicated and forgiving you tried to be. You fear losing that which gained a taste of the thing you pined for, condemning you to never having it again.
She couldn’t deny the words, her mind lost within the captivating spectrums seeing through her every doubt, effortlessly piercing layer after layer of carefully crafted filter she constructed to muffle the ceaseless call of the Void. Flecks and shards started moving within the blackened portals that stared at her, screams and shouting from beyond the vacant expanse leaking through the air, gunshots and alien tongues ordering the death of both human and Lilhun. Time paused with a blink of the kit, its glare severe.
You cling to that which has only brought suffering, unwilling to meet the needs that have arisen. Like him, you must make sacrifices. You were altered—*broken—and now it is time to* break those who oppose you.
It smiled, devoid of ire or judgment. Its comforting regard returned to the mote held against her chest.
This is not something you need to do alone, for he would offer the world to see his desire come to fruition. It is foolish and selfish, but it is untainted. It is him in the truest sense, and if you wish to achieve what he no longer can, then you too must be ready to let go. Not now, and not permanently, but soon, and for as long as it takes. For him.
The facsimile of her youth waited for her answer, despondency and regret staining the maelstrom of death in its eyes. They held every instance of bitter hatred that had tried to arise, suppressed by the delusion of seeing affection if she was just a little better. Every painful rejection and scathing remark chipping her soul sent fragments of suffering into the expanse, herself unwilling to acknowledge how much less she became. The gaze contained all of her wrath and anguish that she let erode her to naught but dust as she yearned for another to soothe the pain she endured. And now, it offered to protect those fragile remains, burning itself to the ground so that she might rise from the ashes.
For him.
Hesitantly, she nodded, the motions growing more firm. Anything for him. Anything for his wish. Anything for the one who gave up everything to see a sad, pathetic defect be loved. The something returned the gesture, raising a paw to block her vision, a blank slate of nothing left behind.
I will shield you from much, but some will remain. See what will be your anchor.
It touched her arm, her limbs ceasing sensation.
I will wield what I have been given with care. An efficient tool is one used properly, and you will allow none to do otherwise.
It tapped her ear. Silence, save for the voices which knew no volume.
Hear all, but heed few. You are to be beyond the whims of the ungrateful.
Its claw hovered above her head.
Rest now, and when you awaken, know that you have shed that which chains you. You need only use this freedom. Claim what is yours, demand what you desire, reign over your lesser as you would be reigned upon, and if any dare try to steal from you again, remember…
Consciousness dissipated in an instant, leaving behind only the something’s wistful call. Its dampened voices conformed to that of a single kit, unloved and abandoned, watching the possibility of ever having more slip through its claws from the corner of a cold, dark, and forgotten room.
…‘Hope’ died with him. Just as it should have.
= = = = =
“Special Tactics Officer, Demo,” Heroon barked, the defective snapping out of her rumination, her gaze clearing from the distracted wandering it had taken to. At least she had the decency to look ashamed for losing focus.
“Apologies. Might I request a reminder of what I was saying?”
He released a nasal sigh, urging her along impatiently. “You arrived at the junction, and…”
She stopped to think for a moment before sadly shaking her head. “I cannot recall, High Quesitar. I remember the corridors, the junction, and then…”
Her rueful smile returned.
“…I remember the corpses left in my wake, and the blood I had bathed in.”
Next
submitted by WaveOfWire to HFY [link] [comments]
PRs: u/anakist & u/BroDogIsMyName
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“You look worse than before, cat.”
Sunundra slowed in her lopsided stride, tinny speakers pulling her consciousness from the veil of training and instincts it had been under as she inspected the dim confines with a neutral expression, wondering just how far she had wandered while trapped in blank introspection.
Sparse light fixtures shone softly over long stretches of bare steel framing, their wires and pipes left exposed for easy access and repairs. There were no bloodied paw prints here, unlike the maintenance corridors she remembered traversing, the dusty yet pristine surfaces sowing a sense of muted unease. The map might tell her where she was specifically, but the urge to continue downwards was enough of a bearing. There was a location somewhat nearby where she could safely bore through the floor with an explosive, and thankfully, it wouldn't involve falling down a gap that encompassed an entire level this time. Her legs had taken the landing better than expected, though there was no telling if they could do so again—her limp was already worse than before. Regardless, a few more charges would get her where she needed to be.
Where that was, exactly, she couldn’t be sure, but she likely checked at some point and had since forgotten, choosing to follow the shadows of decisions made by some deep part of herself that wasn’t occupied cherishing what little was left behind.
And that was fine. It was fine not to remember things that didn’t matter anymore.
The irritated cadence of the alien, however, was well within memory, even as she ignored it and kept walking.
“You are going in the wrong direction,” the security officer continued, the deepness of its voice straining the address system. A moment of expectation went unmet by her indifference. “There is only more security awaiting you this way. The disturbance your actions have caused has not gone unnoticed.”
They were active? Perhaps it might mean that her kin have begun moving as well, and maybe there was someone who also smuggled contraband or weapons inside. She doubted that she was the only military personnel to have been brought here, and of those, at least one would have kept a secret or two during the onboarding process. Few were as blindly trusting as she had been, and her materials were taken in an effort to maintain her sense of usefulness more than anything else.
Ironic, considering that which was previously a fidget to ease her nerves had since become anathema to everything she once practised. She used to utilize her supplies to save lives and complete objectives bloodlessly. Now, she painted the walls with her enemy's viscera, enveloping entire areas with relentless fire and caustic fumes, regardless of if any would surrender or assist. The contrast felt sickening, persisting as she assured herself that it was necessary.
“What are you doing here? You were supposed to escape with him.”
Yes, she was. Yet she was here, a failure wandering the halls of her attempts, hoping to make a final wrong right.
“Is this all that remains of your determination to see him safe?”
It was all that remained of her, let alone something that had been vaporized by the explosion—that disappeared along with what it had been dedicated to. The once colourful shades of self-imposed delusions and newly found joys had desaturated to cracked, grey panes of unfeeling dullness, distorting any emotions that didn’t tear and wretch at her insides. It was a gap that would forever be left unfilled, placing monochromatic apathy where eager tones once lay.
No amount of wilful thinking would bring him back. Nothing would fill the emptiness surrounding the single fragment of a soul that was left behind in his wake. She couldn’t even keep herself together, nor offer her own life in exchange for his. No, she survived, losing what made her feel alive. Defective, abandoned, hated, and broken, she headed towards her captive kin with a condition that would only solidify their rejection. But the determination that moved her feet through the suffering? That was his. That was what was left in her grasp after everything she had endured, and she would hold it above all else. She would protect it at all costs, for she was nothing without it.
Just as she should be.
Two halves of a heavy door slid closed from recesses in the walls, blocking the path forward just before she could react, her retreat receiving a similar treatment. An unperturbed blink preceded her backpack slipping from her shoulders unceremoniously, the pale-furred female setting it on the ground and shakily crouching through the pain of reopened wounds. Her efforts to treat her bond fared poorly for the cauterized wounds, and the activity after that didn’t help.
Miscellaneous components, a needle, and some thread she had taken from the clinic were retrieved, the latter two tucked into her pocket for a moment. She favoured one arm and pushed against her knee with a paw, standing to place several bare, putty-like patches on the barrier, then connected them in a loop with a length of metallic wire. A loose battery completed the circuit, starting the reaction before getting tossed back into the bag, an implement locked away until circumstances demanded it.
Her eyes lingered on the discarded item, unable to shake the feeling that it was just like herself—needed, used, then stored for later utility. Separated, for intermingling might result in unwanted reactions. Unmonitored, for it would wait dutifully, then perform when called upon. When all was done, she hadn’t the privilege of truly knowing if her efforts were appreciated, only that she would be summoned again and again. Only when she had been drained to lifelessness would she be disposed of, replaced by another who could do what she no longer could. Just like the battery.
Her claws manipulated the needle and thread with a steadier touch than before, the numbness stilling her form as she sized up which of her wounds were still bleeding—most of them, it seemed. At least the need for anaesthetics had been rendered moot by painkillers and her now broken condition. She only felt the slightest echo of a sting in her leg while crudely stitching the torn flesh.
“Your antics have disabled multiple elevators,” the alien informed dryly, a wariness entering his tone. “If possible, I would recommend going back the way you came.”
She didn’t deign to look for where the video transmission devices were, pulling the thread taut then clipping it between her clawtips before moving to the next injury that needed treatment. The charges on the door would take a while; they were quick to make and material-efficient, but at the cost of potency. It bought time for her to mend herself, however, and wasting the opportunity would be unwise.
“Have you rendered yourself deaf? You have destroyed your escape route from here. You cannot leave this way.”
“I have not come to escape,” she replied airily, pulling the edges of a sewn wound. It will hold for now. Her stomach was briefly considered, but the utility of the macabre pocket outweighed the danger to her health.
Utility…
Her nonplussed expression crinkled the smallest amount, the shadow of a frown attempting to knit her brows. It was all simply utility, wasn’t it? This was useful, that was not—simple, painless, pragmatic… Empty. There was no expectation, isolation, or hurt. Just tools. Just applications.
Smiles made others less hostile, a proper posture assured none thought her disrespectful, and suitable distances meant that the most agreeable of her ship-packs would find her tact appropriate. It might even earn a dismissive nod or subtle act of tolerance, were she to be diligent in her considerations.
She had always been vacant beneath the mask of amiability—always categorizing what would be used when to achieve the optimal result. She had been obsessive about it, keeping notebooks and datasheets to track her findings, the tables and results hidden amongst the more esoteric of her experiments in chemical demolitions. She used her very flesh as a tool, exactly as her superiors had. Apply this stratagem, don that expression, polish and shine her appearance until it resembles what others preferred… Until the fateful sun where she would be appreciated and accepted for her ceaseless struggles…
Now, there was no one who would accept her, and there was value in having this new utility, no matter how unseemly. There was value in having more. Whereas she thought only her body was commanded by those of higher station and the orders that came through clipped tones, she had learned it was her entirety that had been the tool—from claw to mind. The difference was that she now followed the will of a singular desire that none could contest.
And if none could contest it, that would make it divine, no? An edict of the Mother?
The thought seeped into the gaping fissures of her psyche like a bitter poison, pulling from the already numbed senses. She was naught but an opportune existence to her kin, beholden to the whims of those who detested her. Bill never thought of her like that. He only saw what others were too disgusted to see: a hurt, pitiful female that wished for a smile in her presence more than witnessing another sunrise of solitude. Yet when that wish was granted, it was taken away just as quickly by those who set out to ensure she would never be given it again. There would be no more warmth and comfort, his sunrises forcefully ripped from his grasp and left to the one who wanted nothing more than to share them with him. She had received a distorted version of what she desired, never having communicated how much the brief period of being complete meant to her until the one who showed her was no longer there to hear it.
It was taken from her as soon as she realized how much she would give to keep it.
She had relished the bond stitching the torn seams of a soul that could hold no more suffering, then was subsequently destroyed for it, left as a hollow shell to witness time pass in some ironic punishment for sins unknown. After everything, all she could do was clutch the lingering mote of his essence, allowing a primal part of herself to act on instinct and training as something called to her from the abyss dwelling in her thoughts.
Silent, she rejected the world, convincing herself that she might succeed in a task which towered over her. Blind, she ignored the passages and let her legs trudge forward, only a thread of consciousness guiding the way. Empty, she sheltered within the idea that she would be able to abandon that which made her his Sunshine, suppressing the worry that it would leave a permanent darkness in its wake.
And again, she was a tool—a solitary implement, its owner unable to direct or wield it…
But she was directed; she was trusted with the wish that escaped the maw of the ever-hungering Void. There existed nothing of higher authority than the singular glow amidst the blackness, giving light to the ravenous stagnation that lingered, waiting to consume her whole.
“You said that you wanted to save him—save your people,” the alien continued, a bitter hatred seeping into his words. “I thought you wouldn’t waste the chance my human died to give you.”
Her slow blink coincided with the last of her major injuries being stitched shut, the thread snipped before all the involved materials were stored away, her bag donned once more. The mild pressure of the oddly-shaped terminal in her stomach confirmed it was still there, reminding her that she failed to repay more than one person’s kindness.
“If you care for your kind who are trapped down below—or the humans they’re with—then you should turn around now and find another—”
“—I do not,” she replied vacantly, her mouth moving before her thoughts could process what left it. Strangely enough, she didn’t disagree with the conclusion. Only one thing mattered now.
“…You…don’t?” it asked warily, apparently not expecting such a frigid candor. The pale-furred female adjusted the charges affixed to her backpack and waited in front of the barrier preventing her progress. “What of your vengeance? You made it quite clear that I would die by your actions.”
“You will.”
“…Yet you claim not to care about them?”
“Correct.”
An eerie silence stretched on. “…Then, why? Why regress?”
A soft sizzle signified the end of the placed charges’ reaction, a wisp of blue smoke listing off the metal. She lifted a foot and lightly pushed against the sectioned-off portion of the door, forcing it free from the rest. It thumped against the ground, kicking up dust. Her blank expression remained, even when she spotted the glimmer of a video transmission instalment, her placid gaze boring into the hidden lens. She could almost picture the bovine-like alien watching the monitor with confusion and hostility—and strangely enough, the thought was morbidly amusing.
It was such a foolish question, asked by one who could never understand the suffering that was held at bay by the light of a promise. Compared to its luminance, all of her previous wants felt shallow and meaningless, her prayers for affection never able to include the unfathomable purity and fullness she was always missing.
Why did she strive to please her kin, when the dullest ember he provided willingly could consume the largest inferno they could offer? Why did she sacrifice year after year to follow orders of those who despised her, when simply smiling at him returned joy in infinite volumes? Why did she suffer for them at all? True, one of appropriate background might venture numerous speculations, yet to her, only a single answer mattered. She had been moulded by the Mother’s claws for one not of her own, then shown the darkest depths so she might see how bright it could truly be.
Now, she was plunged back into those depths by another…but she had seen the light. She had learned there was more awaiting the Mother’s faithful. It awaited all kits—no matter their condition—with an offer of perfect pieces to match those jagged holes that others left within them. It waited…so, so patiently…
And she had been shown where it lay…
Her muzzle tugged into a distorted, wry grin marred and clouded by sorrow. Twisted revelation brightened her eyes. A tittering breath let slip her madness, yet it felt right. The security officer had not felt the embrace of the Void as it ripped his soul apart piece by piece, nor experienced what it was to be naught but a means to an end, and so it queried about that which it could not know. It never discovered how caliginous existence was, ignorant to the illumination that could be experienced. This naive being had yet to be enlightened, so it was doubtful of unblemished truth.
And it was truth. It was a pure, clear, immutable fact engraved into the bones of the Goddess’ offspring, yet hidden by layers of lies, deception, and life, only to be glimpsed when the granules of glass could refract the endless agony. She had been stripped of those blindfolds, cracked and shattered and ground to fine particulates until the infinite reflections formed a perfect image…
Sunundra had been given clarity through her torment. She had been given unvarnished knowledge through her destruction. Through breaking, she had learned of the Mother’s will, and through Bill’s small, flickering glow…
“Because I have been given a command, unlearned one, and this faithful will obey.”
…She had received a purpose.
= = = = =
Heroon frowned, unsure how to take the sudden change in tone. From her initial despondency, he assumed the defect would have detailed how she crawled her way to however she managed to occupy the shuttle she crashed in, yet she had instead come upon some delusion of divine purpose? Was such a thing unheard of? No. Was it rare? Still, no, not really; some who closely adhered to their specific branch of the teachings are said to be granted glimpses of what lies beyond. It was common enough that the church was quick to exalt the experience as proof that the Mother watched over them all, no matter how scattered her attentions or divisive her Aspects. He chose to remain skeptical on the exact level of the deity's involvement in the past, but this was a bit much. First a bond, now a vision?
Fine. Even if he were to humour the thought, placing which Aspect such an…interesting depiction belonged to was troublesome.
It was told that the Hunt Mother was far too great for her progeny to fully comprehend, and so she allowed pieces of herself to exist amongst the mortal young as they propagated—from the smallest of emulations to the manifestation of those traits. All was done to prepare them for the eventual return to her embrace, the souls carrying new lessons in her stead. She gathered her influence into concentrated Essences, then divided them further into Aspects that her young might learn from, tasking them with resisting the erosion of the Void and proving themselves worthy once more.
Sadly, that breadth of scope also welcomed a wide array of Aspects to be studied; the nature of Lilhun kind categorized and compartmentalized. Most in his field were required to know them to a degree—especially since quite a bit could be deduced by which one a particular individual placed faith in—but it was a challenge to remember every significant verse or tale, and some were more noteworthy than others. Though he refrained from judging others for which they aspired to embody, following the minutia of all of them was a task best left to the Grand Priests of The Hunt. He could only speculate and vaguely recall the scripture beyond his own belief in the Astral Mirrors, the Aspect that emphasized purity of mind.
‘Be he who gazes upon his form as he gazes upon his antithesis, and be he who sees beyond the veil of self.’
It was a strange verse to be memorized from the tomes, but one he found profoundly resonating, if an ideal that he would never perfectly emulate. The exact interpretations were left to the individual’s own discovery, but he believed it to be one of the more forward Aspects. For him, it was a lesson in rumination and to hold oneself to the standard they place upon others. It was that teaching that led him to becoming a Quesitar for the United Military, and now a male of high station. That faith was why he humoured the pale-furred female’s tale at all, and why he allowed that feeling of reciprocity to form while listening to her plights. Alas, one cannot merely ignore the absolute, and his begrudging willingness to look past her condition was met with the revelation that she was merely sick, maddened, or Void-touched, deluded into thinking she had achieved the impossible.
Yet…it itched at him. He felt something niggling at the back of his mind, a verse long forgotten over the years of his profession.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts, ignoring the impatiently raised brow of his assistant. At least Illia was chastened enough by his earlier rebuke to remain quiet in the face of the outlandish claims they were hearing. Still, the defect’s speech had slowed again, the troubled expression telling of difficulty organizing her memories rather than the emotional overload of before. Occasionally, her muzzle would open, only for her voice to falter and her mouth to close, a question only known to herself pouring doubt into the wandering gaze that looked so lost. It was starting to grate on his nerves, honestly.
Heroon tried to maintain at least the appearance of professionalism, but he had grown weary over the course of the interrogation, and simply wanted it to be over. He felt the need for rest pulling at his eyes, the monotonous cadence coming through the speakers becoming a signal of yet another line that must be analyzed and weighed despite his fatigue. Were it not for his orders, he likely would have closed the discussion as soon as she confirmed that her bond was false, but due to the other details, he was required to listen and respond.
His extended exhalation brought a touch of focus back to his mind, the silence while waiting for the contained one to arrange her recollections stretching for too long. He depressed the intercom. “And after your interaction with the alien?”
“I…” The defect’s words fizzled out, her concern visible. “I do not remember.”
His surprise showed involuntarily. “You cannot remember how you returned?”
“N-not to that extent, but it is…fragmented. Where the charge to descend was placed, how far I traversed within the halls…” Her eyes rose from the table, a perfectly formed smile spread across her face, the regret turning it somewhat bitter. It was…mechanical—an emulation of expression that had been executed countless times until it was burned into muscle memory. “I can recall that there was a firefight, yet not how many were involved, nor how long It had been going for. The explosives used during my time on the level had apparently damaged more than just the structural integrity of the passages, and some of the traps which had yet to trigger then did so during my absence.”
The rueful smile faded, her paws folding atop one another on her lap. “It inadvertently freed some of my kind, as well as their human counterparts. It is difficult to say if they were acting to protect themselves, or if they had felt something was amiss before, but they chose a small, locally networked server room to convene, and their meddling with the terminals therein alerted security. I arrived at a junction near the confrontation…and…”
He watched the carefully machined composure fade from her eyes. “And?”
= = = = =
Oh, how quickly her grip on success had slipped.
Instead of snapping from her melancholy to survey wherever she had ended up, she instead found herself pressed to the corner of a three-way junction, the blur of instinct that piloted her form determining she was required to deal with the circumstances. Weapons fire was the first indication that her plan to quietly break the others from their den-like cages was doomed before it began.
She knew not how long the engagement had been underway, nor how many of the security were firing rounds down a claustrophobic offshoot of the main corridors, but she knew it was an issue, and that it was one she was in a poor position to resolve.
The pale-furred female cautiously peered around the corner, trying to gauge her options. Unfortunately, the attempt was cut short as soon as she confirmed it was a fair distance away, the defect ducking back to stifle the curse that tried to escape. She could only make out the mouth of the assaulted passageway from her cover, which didn't offer much information. Without an angle to view what her kin were working with, she couldn't carelessly approach the siege, nor communicate covertly. The glimpse of numerous armoured aliens holding equally unknown firearms was enough to discard any inclination of charging in, and the slight radius of the curving corridor ended her line of sight prematurely, so there might be an even greater force present than she could see.
She glanced down at her bloodstained fur with disdain. No, running in blindly would only result in the enemy adding one more kill to their metrics—her ankle was too damaged to support that reckless inclination. She peered again, feeling ashamed of a new willingness to abandon them, but she would rather save the others than fail with this single group, and the chances of success here seemed bleak.
Return fire snapped and sizzled from the tight passage, forcing security to continue the stalemate as plasma threatened to gore any who were careless enough to advance. A male of her kind barked orders and insults from within, pauses of aggression earning more suppression fire from the enemy, likely forcing those he was with to hunker behind whatever cover was keeping them alive. Based on the sounds and number of shots, the defenders had one, maybe two weapons—nothing military-issued, but certainly Lilhun in origin. Unexpected, but not outside of her initial assumptions.
Another salvo from the offshoot was swiftly met with a counterattack by a particularly stupid alien, its head taking the brunt of a superheated projectile, but not before firing its own weapon.
The shriek was far from Lilhun.
Sunundra grew wide-eyed, frozen as she rapidly compared the agonized screech to every utterance from every alien she could remember thus far, only to return with the voice of Bill's past mate over and over—different, but close enough to be distinctly female. Distinctly human.
The delay was enough for the scent to reach her.
Fear. Love. Anger. Reluctance. Spite. Concern. Anxiety.
More humans, their maelstrom of emotions thickening the air into unpalatable syrup, bile rising in her throat as her broken form recoiled from what was reminiscent of her bond. Each came as jagged shards that didn’t fit her missing pieces, scraping, scratching, and gouging the surface of her far too damaged soul. They assaulted her olfactory, yet they were not the ones she welcomed so wholly. They did not pull at her own. They did not fill what was left behind. They were wrong. They were warped. They were not his.
The ire wasn’t his. He would never be so single-mindedly enraged.
The panic wasn’t his. He would never lose sight of his convictions so easily.
The love wasn’t his. He would never give it so shallowly.
The fear…
His eyes. His eyes strained to maintain clarity, pleading for her safety, and petrified at the thought that the pale-furred female would be yet one more thing he would lose.
T-the fear wasn’t…
A gasp for oxygen forced its way into lungs that were far too weak to process it, his hypoxic lips struggling to form his terrified words.
The fear…
‘It’s not the food, is it? Are you okay?’
The…
‘I’ll be here. You’re not alone.’
It wasn’t…
‘I'll be right alongside you the whole time to make sure. You don't need to be scared.’
He wouldn’t…
‘I miss you…so, so much…’
He would.
‘I promised her I would… I promised…’
Her claw twitched, the blood draining from her face. Her vision darkened as hyperventilation stole her consciousness piece by piece.
‘It’s nice to meet you, miss.’
‘You’re hurt…’
He was.
‘You have me. I'll be your friend.’
‘Well, you’re my Sunshine.’
Static deafened her, yet she still heard his words, each memory more vivid and painful than the last. She clamped her paws against her head, desperately pushing back the blackest pit that tore and consumed her insides. Something screamed, her own voice blaring from countless places at unbearable volume, but it couldn't drown out that final beat of his heart that echoed in her ears, never to beat again.
‘I'm sorry…’
He is.
And then it stopped. All of it. Everything snapped out of existence in an instant, leaving only a cold, vacant black that steadily crept in. The screaming…the memories… The Void swallowed her weakened core whole as she clutched the tiny glow which gave her purpose.
She wanted to cherish his desire and complete it as best she could, yet that too would slip from her grasp. There were too many foes, too many weapons, and too many injuries slowing her down, making her thoughts slur as they went untreated. Even if she would give anything to make it so, her form was all she had, and it had been rendered pitifully worthless, just as she always was.
Yet something disagreed.
Intangible, ephemeral, and playfully innocent, the something in the Void reached out, stroking her fur as she curled around the precious wish which kept her alive. Her nerves lit up like the fireworks her bond held such fond memories off, pain and comfort delivered in equal measure. The something pressed against her skin, interested in the hopeless proposal that wandered her mind.
The voices returned—multiple in origin, yet unison in tone. It spoke with kit-like curiosity, the small presence trying its best to understand.
Why do you not try?
Sunundra shook her head and clutched the ember tighter. She was weakened and hurt; her limbs would falter in the attempt. The something drifted around her, as if looking for the truth in her words. Confidence entered its prideful inflection.
Then release them to me. I will be your strength.
But her sight betrayed her. How could she fight if mere shadows seemed primed to attack?
Then surrender your eyes. I will find the enemy without fail.
Yet her ears were unreliable; she couldn’t trust what she heard anymore. What if she missed something in the height of conflict?
Then let them go. Nothing will escape my notice.
No, her mind was too sluggish. What if she was unable to make a critical decision? What if she chose poorly?
Then give it to me as well. I will not err.
Still, she was tired…oh, so tired. The drugs only went so far, and still she pressed them further and further, wearing herself down without respite. How much longer could she persist before collapsing when others needed her most?
Then rest. I will act where you cannot.
It was a soothing thought. However, there was more she needed to do…
It will not be long. I will make short work of it.
The empty expanse was peaceful, swirls of nothing gently swaying her while she hugged her purpose to her breast. It would be nice to take a brief nap and allow another to act in her stead until she was fit to resume. Even so…it was her responsibility—her duty.
You are a tool, no? That is what you always were. Is it not expected that a tool would be used? Will you not allow me to use you?
Its mirthful perplexion drew a snarl upon her muzzle. There is only one other she would truly submit to, and his will is why she persisted despite the pain of his absence.
The something giggled in youthful amusement as tendrils pierced and crept through her flesh, fully deadening sensation fraction by fraction. Her ears told her nothing, her eyes became vacant, and her thoughts slowed to a crawl, remnants of consciousness stuttering away. Just as she panicked, her form clicked back into place, the voice cooing its promises.
Then trust in me, and I will ensure you persist still. I do not need your permission, but I ask for it out of sympathy. You will still be free to pursue the others—free to save those he deemed worthy.
Fear kept her unmoving. She couldn’t accept. No matter how tempted she was, no matter how terrifying the consequence, she wouldn’t entrust his wish with another. It was hers and hers alone. She would breathe her last with it in her possession.
The image of a silent form flickered in her mind, a pale-furred kit looking up at her with a twisted, bloodlusting grin, violence playing in the gaze burrowing through her skull. Its expression softened to one of tender affection as its claw reached out to caress the fringes of light projected by her tiny beacon.
The change in demeanour did nothing to detract from the shadow of malice that remained on a tripwire thin enough to sever flesh from bone, sharpened by years and years of stretching beyond its limits, refusing again and again to snap by naught but hope that it never would. The strand vibrated as it was pulled by an unseen force, the piercing wail of over-tensioned wire growing louder and louder. The kit continued its address, unperturbed by the overwhelming screeches of metal, the sing-song cadence sobering Sunundra’s confusion.
The lies. The rejection. The isolation. The hatred. Why? Because you were different? Because you were never enough? You were quiet. You were obedient. You were loyal. You were everything they demanded of you and more, and *still** they despised you, locking you away in hopes that the next time they were reminded of your existence, they would only find a body to be disposed of, their problem ‘solved.’*
Small, half-lidded eyes raised to observe her with a serene expression, a storm of rending, shattered glass rolling in the infinite depth and bottomless agony of its pupils.
Yet you suffered willingly. Longingly. Endlessly. You begged the Mother for scraps of what others feasted upon, left to starve amongst her holy clergy, giving gratitude for their crumbs while watching them be nourished by the masses of those who would spare nothing for you to subsist on. You discovered death and destruction, yet refused to use it for anything but saving those who detested their saviour. Do you remember their sneers? How they showered the others in appreciation while you were dismissed, despite it being your work which liberated them from demise? How you were the one who treated the injuries littering your form after those acts of valour, smiling through the pain because you thought that maybe this was the time someone would show kindness? How you were critiqued and berated for performing flawlessly, your superiors cursing the fact you returned instead of exchanging your life for another’s?
A sullen sadness overcame its budding rage, its stare returning to the dim orange glow.
But him… You felt it, did you not? The fear of seclusion resonating with your own, the worry of if his growing affection for you would devalue what he held before… He did not lie to you, for he was tired of hearing falsehoods. He did not reject you, for he had become familiar with being unwanted. He did not isolate you, for he delighted in the company, your presence easing a weight he had forgotten could be lifted…
He did not hate you… No, he loved far too readily, seeing a reflection of himself that had even less than he was afforded. He hurt for you, he shed tears for your sorrow, and he was willing to sacrifice himself if that is what it took for you to be happy, just because you shared his pain. He sought to redeem himself, true, but he wanted little more than to give you your own redemption, making you a hero of your people that others would adore despite your condition. He planned to share his happiness with you as well.
It closed its eyes, opening them to reveal absolute stillness where flurries of sharpened crystals once flew. Cracks and fractures marred the gemstone-like orbs, refracting light into millions of distinct colours that formed incomprehensibly muddled images, yet it was in the kaleidoscopic regard that sincerity rang perfectly clear.
He surrendered everything in the vain hope that you would experience the love of others. That you would no longer pray for acceptance through choking sobs every moon your best was met by the worst of results. Still you refuse to surrender yourself to see his deepest want granted? This single heartfelt desire… How pure it is. How bestial its origin. How unquestionable its intention…
Do you refuse because you will never experience the circumstances which created it? Do you balk at never compensating for what is missing? No. You fear the cost of success. You fear that what awaits you at the end of it is but more torturous moons where the fantasy of love and fondness is unobtainable, leaving you with naught but a memory to ease your self-inflicted passing, countless prayers gone unanswered in spite of how dedicated and forgiving you tried to be. You fear losing that which gained a taste of the thing you pined for, condemning you to never having it again.
She couldn’t deny the words, her mind lost within the captivating spectrums seeing through her every doubt, effortlessly piercing layer after layer of carefully crafted filter she constructed to muffle the ceaseless call of the Void. Flecks and shards started moving within the blackened portals that stared at her, screams and shouting from beyond the vacant expanse leaking through the air, gunshots and alien tongues ordering the death of both human and Lilhun. Time paused with a blink of the kit, its glare severe.
You cling to that which has only brought suffering, unwilling to meet the needs that have arisen. Like him, you must make sacrifices. You were altered—*broken—and now it is time to* break those who oppose you.
It smiled, devoid of ire or judgment. Its comforting regard returned to the mote held against her chest.
This is not something you need to do alone, for he would offer the world to see his desire come to fruition. It is foolish and selfish, but it is untainted. It is him in the truest sense, and if you wish to achieve what he no longer can, then you too must be ready to let go. Not now, and not permanently, but soon, and for as long as it takes. For him.
The facsimile of her youth waited for her answer, despondency and regret staining the maelstrom of death in its eyes. They held every instance of bitter hatred that had tried to arise, suppressed by the delusion of seeing affection if she was just a little better. Every painful rejection and scathing remark chipping her soul sent fragments of suffering into the expanse, herself unwilling to acknowledge how much less she became. The gaze contained all of her wrath and anguish that she let erode her to naught but dust as she yearned for another to soothe the pain she endured. And now, it offered to protect those fragile remains, burning itself to the ground so that she might rise from the ashes.
For him.
Hesitantly, she nodded, the motions growing more firm. Anything for him. Anything for his wish. Anything for the one who gave up everything to see a sad, pathetic defect be loved. The something returned the gesture, raising a paw to block her vision, a blank slate of nothing left behind.
I will shield you from much, but some will remain. See what will be your anchor.
It touched her arm, her limbs ceasing sensation.
I will wield what I have been given with care. An efficient tool is one used properly, and you will allow none to do otherwise.
It tapped her ear. Silence, save for the voices which knew no volume.
Hear all, but heed few. You are to be beyond the whims of the ungrateful.
Its claw hovered above her head.
Rest now, and when you awaken, know that you have shed that which chains you. You need only use this freedom. Claim what is yours, demand what you desire, reign over your lesser as you would be reigned upon, and if any dare try to steal from you again, remember…
Consciousness dissipated in an instant, leaving behind only the something’s wistful call. Its dampened voices conformed to that of a single kit, unloved and abandoned, watching the possibility of ever having more slip through its claws from the corner of a cold, dark, and forgotten room.
…‘Hope’ died with him. Just as it should have.
= = = = =
“Special Tactics Officer, Demo,” Heroon barked, the defective snapping out of her rumination, her gaze clearing from the distracted wandering it had taken to. At least she had the decency to look ashamed for losing focus.
“Apologies. Might I request a reminder of what I was saying?”
He released a nasal sigh, urging her along impatiently. “You arrived at the junction, and…”
She stopped to think for a moment before sadly shaking her head. “I cannot recall, High Quesitar. I remember the corridors, the junction, and then…”
Her rueful smile returned.
“…I remember the corpses left in my wake, and the blood I had bathed in.”
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2024.02.18 02:10 No_Explanation_5978 Meet Veronica, my diy form!
 | I really have gotten into making skirts for myself and really wanted a dress form, however my measurements are pretty off from the “standard” dress form, so I made my own! (Pics of the process). She is fully pin-able, height adjustable, and turns on her stand. submitted by No_Explanation_5978 to sewing [link] [comments] My husband was so sweet to help me with this project! The process went like this: -Put on a one piece bathing suit. (Although afterwards, I regretted not wearing a bra 🤣) -Wrapped myself in seran wrap. -husband wrapped me in duct tape. -paper mache-ed over the duct tape (I opted for this route because I really wanted a hard “shell” so it wouldn’t lose my exact shape. I watched a lot of videos where only duct tape was used, and the end result was usually very misshaped or looked overstuffed). -used a hair dryer to speed up the drying process (and to keep warms since it made me SO cold!) -Husband cut the form off from the back. -put the form on a hanger and taped it back together. (The paper mache also made it super easy to tape back together since all I had to do was align the strips of paper). -Paper mache-Ed over the cut I just taped and anywhere that needed a touchup or that had gaps. -Let dry overnight. -The next day I cut out pieces of coroplast that were leftover from another project to close off the arm holes, neck hole, and bottom. Then I closed off the arm holes and neck hole with the cutouts and duct tape. -I lightly stuffed her with poly fill (just enough to help her hold her shape better while still maintaining the correct measurements), and was careful to not overstuff. Then I put the bottom on her that had 3 holes (one in the middle for her stand, and 1 on each side to finish filling her. -then I wrapped her in duct tape once more to create a smoother finish. -since my breasts got majorly squished with the initial wrapping of duct tape, I put my bra on her to figure out how much I needed to recreate how I look with my bra on. Then I removed the bra and just used duct tape and polyfill to create the breasts. (They aren’t perfect, but good enough for me). -I soldered a small hole in the top of the closed off neck to insert the hook. Since I used coroplast, it was strong enough to support the hook and weight of the form until my stand arrived. -I then finished stuffing her with polyfill and crumpled newspaper to make her more firm. I used a curtain rod to help stuff her since the bottom was closed off, and kept stuffing until she reached the desired firmness. -I used a jersey knit fabric to make her cover. I made a large rectangle (like a pillow case), and put it on the mannequin inside out. Then I used clips to gather the fabric to fit smoothly and snugly to the form, and used tailors chalk to mark the fabric. -then I used a straight stitch along the marks I made, and put the fabric back over the dress form to double check the fit. I altered as needed, then used my serger to finalize the seams. -I hemmed the bottom and left a small space to slide ribbon through it so I could close the bottom nicely. -Then I added her to the stand, and closed off the bottom and that completed her! I’m really happy with how she turned out and I’m so excited to use her! |
2024.02.12 23:27 Slow-Ad2584 Do not mess with the Baconator
The flowery and colorful dryads and nymphs were lounging around the couches of their deluxe restaurant booth, joyfully, lazilly sipping at nector, capsasin, and cinnamon cocktails, when suddenly the deluxe bar and lounge patrons as a whole twitched, and all slumped in a general measure. This was bad. Someone had activated a gravimetric restraint field. That was never done with good intentions.
The orange flowerpoof pixie pushed her head off of the couch pillow with her delicate thorn branches, struggling weakly under the high gravity, and croaked out a strange word; "...larry..."
Goblin Raider-hackers of the goblinoid enforcers stomped into the Lounge, their power harnesses allowing them to walk around in the punishing gravity they were generating- a brutal 16ft/s/s. Their shoulder AI slave drones scanned around, franticly obedient flailing around on their leash chains,scanning the room.
[Scanning. Confirmed. Trace residue of Bacon. Warlord prime reserved Bacon was consumed here. Scanning for thief perpetrator]
The beady, wicked eyes of the lead goblin scowled as he yanked the chain of his slave drone in disgust "well, 'ow can that be? Lookit this lot! Nuffin but weak pansy Fey in 'ere! Are you'ze certain?" As he fingered his autostaple gun trigger, clearly itching for some long overdue cruelty. His long pointed ears twitched when he heard a thin, flowery pixy hiss-whisper a strange word.
"..larry!..." she had tried to say in a whisper-shout. They really were rather poor at subtlety. One of her arm branches eblowed a large couch cushion, clearly trying to signal something, to someone.
"Youze!! 'old it roit there! Seems you know somewot dat maybe you shouldn't!!" The Goblin leered wickedly as he turned a knob on his belt, cranking the gravity up even more. Now 20 ft/s, and stomped excitedly up to the booth to glower over the fey pinned to the couch and the table under the crushing gravity.
"What uh, seems to be the problem, lordship?" A beautiful Elf Royal Consort in scant silks asked with practiced contained panic. Arms braced on the edge of the table in a sort of bipod for support. "ah... ach-Larry! Ooh! Excuse me. How may we be of assistance?"
The goblin eyes darted around the fey and the table, inspecting its contents with an experienced looting eye. "I fink you know blazin well wot Im ere for. Dat over dere! Dats a plate wif grease onnit! Onna youze been stealin and eatin the BOSS's bacon! 'eads are gunna roll little ones, tho I admit I didnt think ya had it in any ov ya!"
"What- steal? Admittedly while we are quite so very good at it, we would never eat animal protein. I mean-EW!" She kicked something as hard as she could under the table. And if you say the bacon was taken, then it must have been claimed by someone with the stones by right to have done so, how else could it ever have come about?" Her face was trembling under the strain with the gravity, and some other clear anxiety inducing frustration. She slammed a hand on a pillow, and oddly proclaimed forcefully "LARRY!" for no good reason.
The Goblin twitched in alarm, having noticed all of the Fey beauties had pulled their arms and legs to themselves, away from the lounge table area. "why you lot keep sayin dat word? Wots a larry?" He ducked under the table with his gun levelled, but nothing was underneath, just spilled cushions. As his power harness strained to bring him back to a standing position, he leered as he slowly cranked the gravity up to a horrible 32ft/s "now I don know wot you flowery gits are up to, but all bacon is hereby cut off from the common use cache. When I get back to tell da Boss that you lot of flowery gits had somefing to do wif- "
He was cutoff when all of the fey beauties slapped the pillows and shouted bizzarly "LARRY! WAKE UP!"
The slave drone brrt'ed in alarm [Alert! possible contextual match for definition of 'larry' - Potential great threat! Advise alert caution!]
The goblin crew snapped to alert, waving their staple guns around, trying to locate the threat. It was then that the lounge booth cushions shifted. In practiced panicked alarm the Goblins fired, stitching lines of stainless steel staples, each sunk deeply into the table enough to stick, knitting a line up the cushions. They twitched.
"Ow, hey!" a low, deep voice rumbled from the back of the booth. and a huge, thick hand of pale skin rose and slammed to the table, forcefully enough to rattle the table and crystal ware arrayed across it.
The drone Brrt-ed in alarm again [Confirmation! Hand of Larry! Immense Danger! Recommend expeditious retreat!]
The lead Goblin tripped backwards as a massive form tilted up from what was assumed to be the cushions and pillows of the lounge booth, towering over everyone in the place, even while still sitting, right behind the greasy plate. "Oi! wut even iz dat fing!?" The leader exclaimed in unfamiliar panic.
"Whats going on, ladies? hey, what the-" the giant said while pulling a staple out from his elbow.
[Re advise. Highest metric. Run. NOW ]
A greedy glint shone in the Goblins eyes, noting that the giant was pinned behind the table, at the back of the U shaped lounge. "Naw. I think I got this" he leered as he slapped a fresh stick of staples in his gun, and switched it to full auto and opened fire.
As the staples whistled all around, the Human simply surged directly to his feet, despite the crushing gravity, with so much force and speed that it broke the table free and sent it flying forward, crystal ware and walnut shells showering across the bar, and plunging to the ground rapidly in the strange heavy gravity. "Hey! cut it out! thats getting annoying!" he rumbled from his chest as he stomped into the continuous hail of fire, rattling the floorboards under his gravity induced substantial mass.
"wot is dat zoggin fing?!" the goblin screeched, cranking the gravity knob up to 64 ft/s.. then redlined it at 96. The Larry kept coming, looking only more pissed the higher the gravity got. He was nearly half a foot measure over 6 feet tall. The goblin had never seen something quite so big move quite so fast.
[Human. Male. Over-Weight. Terrestrial grav-well evolved biomorphism. An EARTH-LING!!]
"I thought those woz just legend! Why wont it stop? What can we do?" he demanded and began to power harness sprint away in the tortuous gravity "How can we ever stop such a fing?"
The AI shook its spheroid form in sarcasm [Recommendation: A pound of Bacon may be the only viable option]
submitted by Slow-Ad2584 to HFY [link] [comments]
The orange flowerpoof pixie pushed her head off of the couch pillow with her delicate thorn branches, struggling weakly under the high gravity, and croaked out a strange word; "...larry..."
Goblin Raider-hackers of the goblinoid enforcers stomped into the Lounge, their power harnesses allowing them to walk around in the punishing gravity they were generating- a brutal 16ft/s/s. Their shoulder AI slave drones scanned around, franticly obedient flailing around on their leash chains,scanning the room.
[Scanning. Confirmed. Trace residue of Bacon. Warlord prime reserved Bacon was consumed here. Scanning for thief perpetrator]
The beady, wicked eyes of the lead goblin scowled as he yanked the chain of his slave drone in disgust "well, 'ow can that be? Lookit this lot! Nuffin but weak pansy Fey in 'ere! Are you'ze certain?" As he fingered his autostaple gun trigger, clearly itching for some long overdue cruelty. His long pointed ears twitched when he heard a thin, flowery pixy hiss-whisper a strange word.
"..larry!..." she had tried to say in a whisper-shout. They really were rather poor at subtlety. One of her arm branches eblowed a large couch cushion, clearly trying to signal something, to someone.
"Youze!! 'old it roit there! Seems you know somewot dat maybe you shouldn't!!" The Goblin leered wickedly as he turned a knob on his belt, cranking the gravity up even more. Now 20 ft/s, and stomped excitedly up to the booth to glower over the fey pinned to the couch and the table under the crushing gravity.
"What uh, seems to be the problem, lordship?" A beautiful Elf Royal Consort in scant silks asked with practiced contained panic. Arms braced on the edge of the table in a sort of bipod for support. "ah... ach-Larry! Ooh! Excuse me. How may we be of assistance?"
The goblin eyes darted around the fey and the table, inspecting its contents with an experienced looting eye. "I fink you know blazin well wot Im ere for. Dat over dere! Dats a plate wif grease onnit! Onna youze been stealin and eatin the BOSS's bacon! 'eads are gunna roll little ones, tho I admit I didnt think ya had it in any ov ya!"
"What- steal? Admittedly while we are quite so very good at it, we would never eat animal protein. I mean-EW!" She kicked something as hard as she could under the table. And if you say the bacon was taken, then it must have been claimed by someone with the stones by right to have done so, how else could it ever have come about?" Her face was trembling under the strain with the gravity, and some other clear anxiety inducing frustration. She slammed a hand on a pillow, and oddly proclaimed forcefully "LARRY!" for no good reason.
The Goblin twitched in alarm, having noticed all of the Fey beauties had pulled their arms and legs to themselves, away from the lounge table area. "why you lot keep sayin dat word? Wots a larry?" He ducked under the table with his gun levelled, but nothing was underneath, just spilled cushions. As his power harness strained to bring him back to a standing position, he leered as he slowly cranked the gravity up to a horrible 32ft/s "now I don know wot you flowery gits are up to, but all bacon is hereby cut off from the common use cache. When I get back to tell da Boss that you lot of flowery gits had somefing to do wif- "
He was cutoff when all of the fey beauties slapped the pillows and shouted bizzarly "LARRY! WAKE UP!"
The slave drone brrt'ed in alarm [Alert! possible contextual match for definition of 'larry' - Potential great threat! Advise alert caution!]
The goblin crew snapped to alert, waving their staple guns around, trying to locate the threat. It was then that the lounge booth cushions shifted. In practiced panicked alarm the Goblins fired, stitching lines of stainless steel staples, each sunk deeply into the table enough to stick, knitting a line up the cushions. They twitched.
"Ow, hey!" a low, deep voice rumbled from the back of the booth. and a huge, thick hand of pale skin rose and slammed to the table, forcefully enough to rattle the table and crystal ware arrayed across it.
The drone Brrt-ed in alarm again [Confirmation! Hand of Larry! Immense Danger! Recommend expeditious retreat!]
The lead Goblin tripped backwards as a massive form tilted up from what was assumed to be the cushions and pillows of the lounge booth, towering over everyone in the place, even while still sitting, right behind the greasy plate. "Oi! wut even iz dat fing!?" The leader exclaimed in unfamiliar panic.
"Whats going on, ladies? hey, what the-" the giant said while pulling a staple out from his elbow.
[Re advise. Highest metric. Run. NOW ]
A greedy glint shone in the Goblins eyes, noting that the giant was pinned behind the table, at the back of the U shaped lounge. "Naw. I think I got this" he leered as he slapped a fresh stick of staples in his gun, and switched it to full auto and opened fire.
As the staples whistled all around, the Human simply surged directly to his feet, despite the crushing gravity, with so much force and speed that it broke the table free and sent it flying forward, crystal ware and walnut shells showering across the bar, and plunging to the ground rapidly in the strange heavy gravity. "Hey! cut it out! thats getting annoying!" he rumbled from his chest as he stomped into the continuous hail of fire, rattling the floorboards under his gravity induced substantial mass.
"wot is dat zoggin fing?!" the goblin screeched, cranking the gravity knob up to 64 ft/s.. then redlined it at 96. The Larry kept coming, looking only more pissed the higher the gravity got. He was nearly half a foot measure over 6 feet tall. The goblin had never seen something quite so big move quite so fast.
[Human. Male. Over-Weight. Terrestrial grav-well evolved biomorphism. An EARTH-LING!!]
"I thought those woz just legend! Why wont it stop? What can we do?" he demanded and began to power harness sprint away in the tortuous gravity "How can we ever stop such a fing?"
The AI shook its spheroid form in sarcasm [Recommendation: A pound of Bacon may be the only viable option]
2024.02.07 02:40 100T_Jasmine Things to know: 100 Thieves x Pokemon
 | We’re excited to announce our newest collaboration with Pokémon. This collection celebrates the beloved franchise as well as our premium lifestyle apparel. submitted by 100T_Jasmine to 100thieves [link] [comments] Pokémon and 100 Thieves invite fans to a curated collection that captures the essence of the Pokémon brand in contemporary fashion. The collection features a range of cut-and-sew pieces. This lineup includes a 3-Layer Waterproof Nylon Jacket featuring Blastoise, Knit Cardigan featuring Charmander, Charizard Corduroy Pants, Pikachu Sherpa Pullover, Bulbasaur Technical Vest, and a Pikachu Varsity Jacket made by San Francisco legends Golden Bear Sportswear. Each piece evokes the adventurous spirit of a Pokémon journey. Complementing these are four core t-shirts, one for each of the Kanto region’s first partner Pokémon in addition to Pikachu, as well as five hoodies featuring either Pikachu, Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, or Gengar. These garments provide all-day comfort and a bold statement of fandom and fashion. The Pokémon + 100 Thieves apparel collection will be available on February 10, 2024 at 12pm PST on 100thieves.com You can view the lookbook here. For 15 minute early access on launch day, text "POKEMON' to 85628 After signing up for early access, keep an eye out for a confirmation text from 100 Thieves letting you know you're in. If you haven't received this message please double check and ensure that you've entered the keyword in correctly. #100thievesapparel Here’s some additional information I wanted to share with you prior to the drop: Pop-up: https://preview.redd.it/fyrsw8i7e2hc1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=22c01234b0626048e8eda6075c335efede13f047 Products: https://preview.redd.it/8zxsrk8oc2hc1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6c96a8d68faa78dedccd3dd59e9906d02ee68ee5 Pikachu Golden Bear Varsity Jacket - Black Pikachu Varsity Jacket, handmade in San Francisco by Golden Bear Sportswear. Black Melton Wool & Black Cowhide Leather. Classic set-in sleeve with snap front, besom pockets in leather and non-pill knit collar, cuff & waistband, with a leather cuff protector on the cuff knit for reinforcement. Charmander Cardigan - Black Crafted from a hairy acrylic-nylon blend, this cardigan exudes warmth and style. The unique 2-hole cat-eye button closure adds a vintage touch, while the embroidered felt Charmander patch and jacquard knit 100 Thieves logo showcase the attention to detail.
Pikachu Sherpa Fleece Jacket - Grey This oversized synthetic sherpa fleece half-zip pullover ensures maximum comfort during colder days. The branded coil zipper and binding tape at the collar and cuffs add a touch of branded style. Adorned with embroidered Pikachu details, the jacket encapsulates the spirit of this beloved Pokemon.
Blastoise Shell Jacket - Blue 100 Thieves Blastoise Shell Jacket in Blue – a tribute to the iconic Pokemon. This jacket, crafted from bonded 3-layer lightweight waterproof fabric, shields you from the elements in Pokemon-inspired style. The aquatic camo print mirrors Blastoise's water prowess, while the waterproof zipper and branded seam tape provide ultimate protection.
Bulbasaur & Ivysaur Vest - Black Crafted from matte Nylon fabric, this vest showcases the unique characteristics of these beloved creatures. The ribbed collar, micro mesh lining, and 2-way asymmetrical center front zipper provide both comfort and versatility. Featuring patch chest and hand pockets, Velcro shoulder patches, and a reflective heat transfer logo, this vest holds everything you need for your journey.
Gengar Hoodie - Washed Black This custom-cut and sewn hoodie, crafted from 450gsm cotton/polyester brushed-back fleece, wraps you in comfort as you venture into the tall grass. The screen-printed graphics showcase Gengar, known to be hidden in plain sight. Like the pokemon this hoodie is rarely found in the wild.
Venusaur Hoodie - Light Grey This custom-cut and sewn hoodie, crafted from 450gsm cotton/polyester brushed-back fleece, wraps you in comfort as you venture into the tall grass. The screen-printed graphics showcase Venasaur, the always loveable grass -type Pokemon.
Blastoise Hoodie - Medium Blue This custom-cut and sewn hoodie, crafted from 450gsm cotton/polyester brushed-back fleece, wraps you in comfort as you venture into the tall grass. The screen-printed graphics showcase the legendary Blastoise, capturing the spirit of everyone’s favorite water-type Pokemon.
Charizard Hoodie - Orange This custom-cut and sewn hoodie, crafted from 450gsm cotton/polyester brushed-back fleece, wraps you in comfort as you venture into the tall grass. The screen-printed graphics showcase the infamous Charizard, capturing the spirit of everyone’s favorite fire-type Pokemon.
Pikachu Core Hoodie - Medium Blue This custom-cut and sewn hoodie, crafted from 450gsm cotton/polyester brushed-back fleece, wraps you in comfort as you venture into the tall grass. The screen-printed graphics showcase Pikachu, bringing a playful charm to your style.
Pikachu Core Hoodie - Washed Black This custom-cut and sewn hoodie, crafted from 450gsm cotton/polyester brushed-back fleece, wraps you in comfort as you venture into the tall grass. The screen-printed graphics showcase Pikachu, bringing a playful charm to your style.
Pikachu Core T-Shirt - Washed Black The Pikachu Core T-Shirt in Washed Black is a classic tee crafted from 6oz. 100% cotton, providing a comfortable fit. With double needle stitching for durability, screen print graphics on the front, and a regular fit, this garment-dyed crewneck tee is both stylish and versatile.
Charmander Core T-Shirt - Light Grey The Charmander Core T-Shirt in Light Grey is a classic tee crafted from 6oz. 100% cotton, providing a comfortable fit. With double needle stitching for durability, screen print graphics on the front, and a regular fit, this garment-dyed crewneck tee is both stylish and versatile.
Squirtle Core T-Shirt - Medium Blue The Squirtle Core T-Shirt in Medium Blue is a classic tee crafted from 6oz. 100% cotton, providing a comfortable fit. With double needle stitching for durability, screen print graphics on the front, and a regular fit, this garment-dyed crewneck tee is both stylish and versatile.
Bulbasaur Core T-Shirt - White The Bulbasaur Core T-Shirt in White is a classic tee crafted from 6oz. 100% cotton, providing a comfortable fit. With double needle stitching for durability, screen print graphics on the front, and a regular fit, this garment-dyed crewneck tee is both stylish and versatile.
Charizard Corduroy Pants - Brown The miday corduroy fabric features an all-over repeating Charizard embroidery, adding a playful touch to this classic piece. With a metal zipper fly, branded metal shank closure, and 100 Thieves rivets, these pants offer both style and durability. The five-pocket design, including a branded back pocket flag label, complements the straight leg fit for a versatile and comfortable look.
https://preview.redd.it/io7ncf6sz1hc1.png?width=1406&format=png&auto=webp&s=fead5669ecfe028046342af5f605ff41791609ab https://preview.redd.it/d7o6p0krz1hc1.png?width=1152&format=png&auto=webp&s=f91261de32856592c77418fbb35abaf517b7eb82 https://preview.redd.it/2nxwuyjrz1hc1.png?width=988&format=png&auto=webp&s=851188416b4a9cc71dd76bcae4036071210ea6c2 https://preview.redd.it/pa7284krz1hc1.png?width=1002&format=png&auto=webp&s=9ed3c318cebbacd5eeaab1627b32b3dc5be5752a https://preview.redd.it/j956d0krz1hc1.png?width=1266&format=png&auto=webp&s=2fc93a1577ed4675832c64d2c1e1f1178841a49e https://preview.redd.it/d873ue6sz1hc1.png?width=1204&format=png&auto=webp&s=b539272e1ecf522b458854c6572280569ebd3c55 https://preview.redd.it/71bfp4krz1hc1.png?width=1426&format=png&auto=webp&s=a5c3f795f6fde5f8c6dbaf7c945f8c541889a292 https://preview.redd.it/qnzc4xjrz1hc1.png?width=1328&format=png&auto=webp&s=b19d53d824187704d8122c7fd959e6303ea1b829 Shipping: Please allow up to 7 business days for your order to ship out of our warehouse. Once a package has been shipped out of our warehouse, it may take up to 24 hours for the tracking information to update via the carrier. If you have not received a tracking update after 15 (U.S. Domestic) or 20 (International) days, please contact us through our portal here. False Fraud: Make sure your payment details are correct at checkout. We have an automated system that will cancel your order if it shows inconsistencies between your billing and shipping details with your card (typos, address or zip code do not match, etc) Wash Care: All garments will have an inside label with the wash instructions. For other issues, please review these links before reaching out:
Thanks all, and enjoy the drop! Jasmine Sr. Manager, Apparel Operations/Product |
2024.01.04 21:58 obnoxious_wren [Hobby diary] I make 60K USD (HHI ~123K) and in 2023 I spent almost 400 USD in fiber arts craft supplies
I saw a couple of hobby diaries and thought I could share my expenses with my multiple fiber arts hobbies in the past year. Sorry, this is long!
Bio:
I’m 37 y.o. and immigrated to the US about 6 years ago. My husband (37) and I are university professors, we live in a small university town in the South, in a rural area. Our HHI is ~$123K (60K mine, ~63K his), we own our house, have one cat and no kids. Our debt is the rest of the mortgage (less than 100K) and my husband’s student debt (~20K). We have been slowly improving our home, and don’t spend much, except for food lol. I posted a money diary in May last year and it’s still in my profile, if anybody wants more detail.
Hobby story:
My mom has always been an avid knitter. I learned to knit with her when I was a teenager because I wanted a Harry Potter scarf, and the merch hadn’t arrived in my country yet or was too expensive. Soon after my grandma taught me to crochet. I knitted a few scarves and half of a sweater, then dropped it for years. I picked knitting back up at the end of my PhD, to unwind, then I joined a friend in her crochet club. I focused mostly on crochet until mid-2022 when I slowly started knitting again. Joining craft subreddits has made me much more invested in all of them.
I usually knit/crochet in the evenings, when my husband and I sit down to watch TV, one or two hours per day. On weekends I try to dedicate more time. Some weeks I don’t craft at all, especially when I feel a bit down. I participate in a fiber arts group (mostly knitters) in my town that meets once a month and try to go to small festivals that happen around my area.
Besides knitting and crocheting, I dye yarn, do a little bit of cross-stitch, and collect thrifted craft books ands magazines (and the eventual craft supply I find). I try to avoid buying yarn without a project in mind but have accumulated a stash in the past 3 or 4 years (two 20-gallon storage totes), mostly cotton yarn that I use for small projects, enough yarn for two lap blankets that will eventually get made and yarn scraps from past projects. I also have a box of thrifted embroidery and needlepoint supplies.
January
I’m not sure what project I was working on in this period. I was a bit burned from finishing a baby blanket really fast and then it falling apart and unravelling because of a mistake I made when weaving in yarn ends.
I dyed some merino yarn with hickory nut shells I had soaked in alcohol for a couple of months (gives a beautiful warm brown color) and eastern red cedar wood shavings. The cedar was an experiment because I couldn’t find information about it anywhere. It gave a pale brownish pink color that I really like, so I’ll keep experimenting. I started dying with natural dyes in 2022, after my husband gave me a starter kit for my birthday and my mother-in-law gifted me a gift card for yarn. I’m still using this yarn and some materials from the kit, but I have foraged and gathered a good amount of dyestuffs from the woods, mostly mushrooms, as my husband and I are avid edible mushroom foragers. I also acquired a small book collection, because that’s where all my hobbies eventually go.
Total: $0
February
I mess around with some knitting, but it doesn’t go anywhere. I realize I’m twisting my knit stitches and start trying to correct it.
A couple of friends get married, and I decide I’ll make them something in addition to the gift card we give them. I start working in a very textured, mandala-like doily pattern that I plan to hang on a hoop for wall décor. I use a cotton-acrylic gradient yarn that I bought in 2022 from Hobbii for $16.30 and a pattern I bought last year.
Total: $0
March
Still working in the mandala.
I decide to finally start knitting socks, which takes me on a long journey of youtube videos, types of heels, and tutorials. I end up following the Very Pink Knits Toe-up German short rows pattern. Toe-up means they are knitted from the toe up. German short row is a technique to add shaping to fabric, by stopping rows before the end of the piece in both directions, so it can be used to knit the sock toes and heel. I already have the yarn (a very nice yak-merino blend I bought in a small shop last year) and the tiny circular needles and double-pointed needles I will need. I have to redo the toes three times before I’m satisfied.
I start working on a crochet blouse based on a free pattern I see online. I use another cotton-acrylic gradient cake from Hobbii (also paid $16.30 in 2022).
Total: $0
April
I finish the mandala, and then decide to make a small cross-stitch with the couple’s name and date to put on the back. I never cross-stitched in my life, but have a few thrifted supplies and a needlework book that I got from Goodwill (the Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlework, which I strongly recommend for any type of yarn and thread crafts). It turns out better than I expected!
I start thinking about how I’ll hang this mandala. I buy a set of floral hoops at Walmart ($3.82), thinking that I could attach the 14 in hoop on the back of the mandala. It doesn’t work because the mandala sags once attached to the hoop.
My husband has to drive to the neighboring town, so I ask him to get me a 19 in floral hoop and some floral wire at Michael’s (about $9). The 19 in hoop works, but then I have to crochet all around the hoop to hide the metal and the attachments, which is very, very boring.
Lion Brand has a very good sale on some yarns I like, so I put in a large order: 6 skeins of Wool-ease for a crochet sweater I’m planning, 6 balls of a linen-cotton-bamboo blend for a summer blouse, and 6 skeins of a recycled polyester yarn I like, either for a sweater or an emergency blanket for gifting. The order comes out at $98.61, but they’re out of one of the wool-ease colors I ordered.
I order the missing skein on ebay: $8.56.
I’m still working on that one sock, and after semi-successfully turning the heel, I notice it’s too short for my foot. I undo the heel and put it away for a while.
Total: $119.99
May
I gift the mandala as a house-warming gift to the couple (they just moved into their first house!), and it’s an absolute success! I finish my crochet blouse and wear it a few times. It’s very cute, but I would do some things differently if I ever make another one.
I get the itch to cross-stitch more, so I decide to work on a cheeky embroidery for a friend (I embroider Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss), with some art-deco decorations around. I get the pattern for the decorations for free on the DMC website, and I have a thrifted frame that will work with it. A trip to Walmart to get Aida cloth, floss, and a fabric pencil, and it comes at about $10. I work the lettering pretty quickly but end up stopping after completing 1/3 of the decorations.
When planning for the things I will knit with the Lion Brand yarn I bought last month, I realize it will be cheaper in the long run to get an interchangeable circular needle set instead of buying individual needles. I do a lot of research and decide to go with Knitter’s Pride Zing, because I already have a few of those. Amazon has the best deal, and the kit plus a set of five cords come out at $58.97
I’m travelling back to my home country next month, and I want to teach my mom to knit socks, but I want to make sure I have the right needles and yarn. I wanted to order from Hobbii, but it might not arrive in time (they’re based in Denmark), so I go to Amazon again. Two skeins of sock yarn (Patons Kroy) and one Addi Rocket 10 in circulars, plus shipping, costs $34.36. I also buy the Sock pattern so I can leave a copy with my mom ($8).
I eventually go back to the sock, adding more length and redoing the sock heel.
I learn mosaic knitting in the fiber arts group meeting, so I work on a 2-color potholder with a frog drawing. I also make a crochet potholder (using thermal stitch, so it’s super thick) and gift both to one of my sisters-in-law when we visit. I use cotton yarn from my stash for both.
Total: $111.33
June - July
My husband and I spend most of this period back on my home country, visiting my family, travelling, and doing some academic work. Before travelling I buy a shawl pattern (Rainforest Retreat by Lisa Cook, about $5), so I can have an easy project for the plane and road trips. I use another cotton-acrylic gradient cake from Hobbii (paid $16.30 in 2022).
I visit a local yarn store with my mom and buy 2 large cones of T-shirt yarn, as it is much cheaper there than in the US (about $10 total). I plan to make a crochet rug with it. My mom buys some yarn for a sweater for her, and I gift her needle caps. I fail to teach sock knitting to my mom. I knit continental (holding yarn on the left hand) and my mom knits Portuguese style (with the yarn around the neck) and the short row technique I’m using doesn’t translate too well between the two methods. We look at other tutorials on youtube using Portuguese knitting so she can try it at another time.
I find a used book store, and buy several old crochet magazines: about $15
I end up not working too much on my crafts these months, for some reason I have trouble fitting it in my routine when I’m travelling.
Total: $30
August
Back in the US, and wrapping my research, because I’ll start my new job in September!
A very cute flower hot pad pattern becomes an absolute fever on the crochet subreddit, so I jump on the bandwagon and make one, using cotton yarn from my stash.
I start working in a classic doily pattern for a friend I stayed with last month. Her house décor is based on traditional crafts and a doily would go well. I use a doily diagram from a random Instagram account and use natural color mercerized cotton from my stash.
I also cast on a new knitting project: a cute blouse (free pattern from Hobbii, the Madeleine blouse, plus another cotton-acrylic yarn cake from 2022, $16.30).
Total: $0
September:
The circular needle I’m using for the knitted blouse is getting too small for the circumference, and unfortunately my interchangeable kit doesn’t come with that size (3 mm). After a lot of search, I find a Knitter’s Pride interchangeable pair that will fit my cables on Amazon: $17.62, with shipping.
I get a bunch of old knitting and embroidery magazines at the Goodwill outlet bins when we go visit family: probably around $5.
I keep working on that doily.
Total: $22.62
October:
I finish the doily! I improvise a blocking board on the guest bed (blocking means getting the finished piece wet and stretching and pinning it to show the lace motif) and my cat try to eat the pins I’m using to block. I spray the doily with a watecorn starch mix to stretch it.
In the end of the month, I travel for a conference where I’ll meet my friend, so I take the doily to her. She loves it and sends photos of it in her house when she gets back.
I keep working on that knitted blouse. I hear a couple of friends are expecting a baby girl, so I start planning a blanket.
Total: $0
November
I decide on a Hobbii knitting pattern for the blanket (Akande blanket). I take advantage of Black Friday to order the yarn, plus 2 skeins of sock yarn, one pair of 9 in circular needles and a few small notions. I redeem some points for a 25 g skein of alpaca yarn. The order ends up in $67.54.
During Thanksgiving, we visit family and the infamous Goodwill bins. I find an amazing crochet table cover, buy it for about $2, and give it to one of my sis in law.
Still working on the blouse, but I’m getting tired of the thin yarn, so I decide to start on that crochet sweater using Wool-ease. It’s a geometric pattern that has several cats, based on an old afghan pattern. I do the first few rows and realize I don’t like the look of the fabric. I decide I’ll knit it instead. That leads me to learn how to knit intarsia (a technique to knit large blocks of color by picking and dropping the different strands of yarn) and adapt the graph for a knitted pattern. Crochet stitches are taller than knitted stitches, so I have to adapt the number of rows for the pattern to avoid distorting the cats. I cast on and work on the ribbing.
Total: $67.54
December
As soon as I get to the colorwork part of the cats pattern, I realize I need yarn bobbins to make mini balls to work on the color blocks. It is very messy with 6 colors! Instead of buying them online, I find a free 3D print pattern and print a set of 20 bobbins in the university’s 3D printer ($10). It makes my knitting much easier!
I start knitting the baby blanket and the pattern is very enjoyable. The yarn has a great texture.
Visiting family for Christmas. We go to a bargain store to get a few last-minute supplies and I buy 2 heavily discounted knitting books, $7.
I go to Michael’s to get a fabric shaver and grab another set of stitch markers ($21 total).
Total: $38
Summary:
Total spent: $389.48
Finished projects: for me - one crochet blouse, one hot pad; gifted - two pot-holders, one mandala (with a small cross-stitch), one doily.
Unfinished projects (still ongoing): one sock (still…), one knitted blouse, one sweater, one knitted baby blanket.
Reflection: This year I spent less than in 2022 on craft supplies, just by looking on my orders on Hobbii, but I was also less productive, which is fine! Hobbies should be enjoyable and it's ok to ebb and flow. I had never put together all my hobby expenses before, so it’s nice to have this overview. I’m sure I forgot a few things, especially thrifted books and magazines and small supplies from Walmart, for example.
submitted by obnoxious_wren to MoneyDiariesACTIVE [link] [comments]
Bio:
I’m 37 y.o. and immigrated to the US about 6 years ago. My husband (37) and I are university professors, we live in a small university town in the South, in a rural area. Our HHI is ~$123K (60K mine, ~63K his), we own our house, have one cat and no kids. Our debt is the rest of the mortgage (less than 100K) and my husband’s student debt (~20K). We have been slowly improving our home, and don’t spend much, except for food lol. I posted a money diary in May last year and it’s still in my profile, if anybody wants more detail.
Hobby story:
My mom has always been an avid knitter. I learned to knit with her when I was a teenager because I wanted a Harry Potter scarf, and the merch hadn’t arrived in my country yet or was too expensive. Soon after my grandma taught me to crochet. I knitted a few scarves and half of a sweater, then dropped it for years. I picked knitting back up at the end of my PhD, to unwind, then I joined a friend in her crochet club. I focused mostly on crochet until mid-2022 when I slowly started knitting again. Joining craft subreddits has made me much more invested in all of them.
I usually knit/crochet in the evenings, when my husband and I sit down to watch TV, one or two hours per day. On weekends I try to dedicate more time. Some weeks I don’t craft at all, especially when I feel a bit down. I participate in a fiber arts group (mostly knitters) in my town that meets once a month and try to go to small festivals that happen around my area.
Besides knitting and crocheting, I dye yarn, do a little bit of cross-stitch, and collect thrifted craft books ands magazines (and the eventual craft supply I find). I try to avoid buying yarn without a project in mind but have accumulated a stash in the past 3 or 4 years (two 20-gallon storage totes), mostly cotton yarn that I use for small projects, enough yarn for two lap blankets that will eventually get made and yarn scraps from past projects. I also have a box of thrifted embroidery and needlepoint supplies.
January
I’m not sure what project I was working on in this period. I was a bit burned from finishing a baby blanket really fast and then it falling apart and unravelling because of a mistake I made when weaving in yarn ends.
I dyed some merino yarn with hickory nut shells I had soaked in alcohol for a couple of months (gives a beautiful warm brown color) and eastern red cedar wood shavings. The cedar was an experiment because I couldn’t find information about it anywhere. It gave a pale brownish pink color that I really like, so I’ll keep experimenting. I started dying with natural dyes in 2022, after my husband gave me a starter kit for my birthday and my mother-in-law gifted me a gift card for yarn. I’m still using this yarn and some materials from the kit, but I have foraged and gathered a good amount of dyestuffs from the woods, mostly mushrooms, as my husband and I are avid edible mushroom foragers. I also acquired a small book collection, because that’s where all my hobbies eventually go.
Total: $0
February
I mess around with some knitting, but it doesn’t go anywhere. I realize I’m twisting my knit stitches and start trying to correct it.
A couple of friends get married, and I decide I’ll make them something in addition to the gift card we give them. I start working in a very textured, mandala-like doily pattern that I plan to hang on a hoop for wall décor. I use a cotton-acrylic gradient yarn that I bought in 2022 from Hobbii for $16.30 and a pattern I bought last year.
Total: $0
March
Still working in the mandala.
I decide to finally start knitting socks, which takes me on a long journey of youtube videos, types of heels, and tutorials. I end up following the Very Pink Knits Toe-up German short rows pattern. Toe-up means they are knitted from the toe up. German short row is a technique to add shaping to fabric, by stopping rows before the end of the piece in both directions, so it can be used to knit the sock toes and heel. I already have the yarn (a very nice yak-merino blend I bought in a small shop last year) and the tiny circular needles and double-pointed needles I will need. I have to redo the toes three times before I’m satisfied.
I start working on a crochet blouse based on a free pattern I see online. I use another cotton-acrylic gradient cake from Hobbii (also paid $16.30 in 2022).
Total: $0
April
I finish the mandala, and then decide to make a small cross-stitch with the couple’s name and date to put on the back. I never cross-stitched in my life, but have a few thrifted supplies and a needlework book that I got from Goodwill (the Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlework, which I strongly recommend for any type of yarn and thread crafts). It turns out better than I expected!
I start thinking about how I’ll hang this mandala. I buy a set of floral hoops at Walmart ($3.82), thinking that I could attach the 14 in hoop on the back of the mandala. It doesn’t work because the mandala sags once attached to the hoop.
My husband has to drive to the neighboring town, so I ask him to get me a 19 in floral hoop and some floral wire at Michael’s (about $9). The 19 in hoop works, but then I have to crochet all around the hoop to hide the metal and the attachments, which is very, very boring.
Lion Brand has a very good sale on some yarns I like, so I put in a large order: 6 skeins of Wool-ease for a crochet sweater I’m planning, 6 balls of a linen-cotton-bamboo blend for a summer blouse, and 6 skeins of a recycled polyester yarn I like, either for a sweater or an emergency blanket for gifting. The order comes out at $98.61, but they’re out of one of the wool-ease colors I ordered.
I order the missing skein on ebay: $8.56.
I’m still working on that one sock, and after semi-successfully turning the heel, I notice it’s too short for my foot. I undo the heel and put it away for a while.
Total: $119.99
May
I gift the mandala as a house-warming gift to the couple (they just moved into their first house!), and it’s an absolute success! I finish my crochet blouse and wear it a few times. It’s very cute, but I would do some things differently if I ever make another one.
I get the itch to cross-stitch more, so I decide to work on a cheeky embroidery for a friend (I embroider Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss), with some art-deco decorations around. I get the pattern for the decorations for free on the DMC website, and I have a thrifted frame that will work with it. A trip to Walmart to get Aida cloth, floss, and a fabric pencil, and it comes at about $10. I work the lettering pretty quickly but end up stopping after completing 1/3 of the decorations.
When planning for the things I will knit with the Lion Brand yarn I bought last month, I realize it will be cheaper in the long run to get an interchangeable circular needle set instead of buying individual needles. I do a lot of research and decide to go with Knitter’s Pride Zing, because I already have a few of those. Amazon has the best deal, and the kit plus a set of five cords come out at $58.97
I’m travelling back to my home country next month, and I want to teach my mom to knit socks, but I want to make sure I have the right needles and yarn. I wanted to order from Hobbii, but it might not arrive in time (they’re based in Denmark), so I go to Amazon again. Two skeins of sock yarn (Patons Kroy) and one Addi Rocket 10 in circulars, plus shipping, costs $34.36. I also buy the Sock pattern so I can leave a copy with my mom ($8).
I eventually go back to the sock, adding more length and redoing the sock heel.
I learn mosaic knitting in the fiber arts group meeting, so I work on a 2-color potholder with a frog drawing. I also make a crochet potholder (using thermal stitch, so it’s super thick) and gift both to one of my sisters-in-law when we visit. I use cotton yarn from my stash for both.
Total: $111.33
June - July
My husband and I spend most of this period back on my home country, visiting my family, travelling, and doing some academic work. Before travelling I buy a shawl pattern (Rainforest Retreat by Lisa Cook, about $5), so I can have an easy project for the plane and road trips. I use another cotton-acrylic gradient cake from Hobbii (paid $16.30 in 2022).
I visit a local yarn store with my mom and buy 2 large cones of T-shirt yarn, as it is much cheaper there than in the US (about $10 total). I plan to make a crochet rug with it. My mom buys some yarn for a sweater for her, and I gift her needle caps. I fail to teach sock knitting to my mom. I knit continental (holding yarn on the left hand) and my mom knits Portuguese style (with the yarn around the neck) and the short row technique I’m using doesn’t translate too well between the two methods. We look at other tutorials on youtube using Portuguese knitting so she can try it at another time.
I find a used book store, and buy several old crochet magazines: about $15
I end up not working too much on my crafts these months, for some reason I have trouble fitting it in my routine when I’m travelling.
Total: $30
August
Back in the US, and wrapping my research, because I’ll start my new job in September!
A very cute flower hot pad pattern becomes an absolute fever on the crochet subreddit, so I jump on the bandwagon and make one, using cotton yarn from my stash.
I start working in a classic doily pattern for a friend I stayed with last month. Her house décor is based on traditional crafts and a doily would go well. I use a doily diagram from a random Instagram account and use natural color mercerized cotton from my stash.
I also cast on a new knitting project: a cute blouse (free pattern from Hobbii, the Madeleine blouse, plus another cotton-acrylic yarn cake from 2022, $16.30).
Total: $0
September:
The circular needle I’m using for the knitted blouse is getting too small for the circumference, and unfortunately my interchangeable kit doesn’t come with that size (3 mm). After a lot of search, I find a Knitter’s Pride interchangeable pair that will fit my cables on Amazon: $17.62, with shipping.
I get a bunch of old knitting and embroidery magazines at the Goodwill outlet bins when we go visit family: probably around $5.
I keep working on that doily.
Total: $22.62
October:
I finish the doily! I improvise a blocking board on the guest bed (blocking means getting the finished piece wet and stretching and pinning it to show the lace motif) and my cat try to eat the pins I’m using to block. I spray the doily with a watecorn starch mix to stretch it.
In the end of the month, I travel for a conference where I’ll meet my friend, so I take the doily to her. She loves it and sends photos of it in her house when she gets back.
I keep working on that knitted blouse. I hear a couple of friends are expecting a baby girl, so I start planning a blanket.
Total: $0
November
I decide on a Hobbii knitting pattern for the blanket (Akande blanket). I take advantage of Black Friday to order the yarn, plus 2 skeins of sock yarn, one pair of 9 in circular needles and a few small notions. I redeem some points for a 25 g skein of alpaca yarn. The order ends up in $67.54.
During Thanksgiving, we visit family and the infamous Goodwill bins. I find an amazing crochet table cover, buy it for about $2, and give it to one of my sis in law.
Still working on the blouse, but I’m getting tired of the thin yarn, so I decide to start on that crochet sweater using Wool-ease. It’s a geometric pattern that has several cats, based on an old afghan pattern. I do the first few rows and realize I don’t like the look of the fabric. I decide I’ll knit it instead. That leads me to learn how to knit intarsia (a technique to knit large blocks of color by picking and dropping the different strands of yarn) and adapt the graph for a knitted pattern. Crochet stitches are taller than knitted stitches, so I have to adapt the number of rows for the pattern to avoid distorting the cats. I cast on and work on the ribbing.
Total: $67.54
December
As soon as I get to the colorwork part of the cats pattern, I realize I need yarn bobbins to make mini balls to work on the color blocks. It is very messy with 6 colors! Instead of buying them online, I find a free 3D print pattern and print a set of 20 bobbins in the university’s 3D printer ($10). It makes my knitting much easier!
I start knitting the baby blanket and the pattern is very enjoyable. The yarn has a great texture.
Visiting family for Christmas. We go to a bargain store to get a few last-minute supplies and I buy 2 heavily discounted knitting books, $7.
I go to Michael’s to get a fabric shaver and grab another set of stitch markers ($21 total).
Total: $38
Summary:
Total spent: $389.48
Finished projects: for me - one crochet blouse, one hot pad; gifted - two pot-holders, one mandala (with a small cross-stitch), one doily.
Unfinished projects (still ongoing): one sock (still…), one knitted blouse, one sweater, one knitted baby blanket.
Reflection: This year I spent less than in 2022 on craft supplies, just by looking on my orders on Hobbii, but I was also less productive, which is fine! Hobbies should be enjoyable and it's ok to ebb and flow. I had never put together all my hobby expenses before, so it’s nice to have this overview. I’m sure I forgot a few things, especially thrifted books and magazines and small supplies from Walmart, for example.
2023.12.30 02:26 Trash_Tia "Have you ever wanted to be a superhero?Well, now you can become one! I can give you any superpower you want. 250 bucks each. 100 extra for anything ending in kinesis!"
That's what the ad said.
I found it in a library book.
Sandwiched inside a dog-eared copy of Percy Jackson, there it was.
Have you ever wanted to be a superhero?
Well, now you can become one! I can give you any superpower you want. 250 bucks each. 100 extra for anything ending in kinesis. I'm open 9am-midnight every day. Find me between the old pizza hut and the library. Don't look for me. I'll find you.
Please note: These abilities are non-refundable, and MAY cause side effects.
I had so many questions.
Keeping hold of the scrap of paper, I pulled it out during class to show my friend. “It's a dud,” Tai said with an eye roll. I mentioned it to him once, and the guy had not stopped talking about it all day.
This thing was clearly on his mind. The guy couldn't sit still for most of class, his gaze flicking to the scrap poking from my notebook. At lunch, Tai ripped the paper out of my hand when we were trashing our leftovers. I was still considering it. I did have 250 bucks in my savings and superpowers sounded fun. Tai, however, didn't share my excitement.
“I can guarantee someone out there is not giving people super powers for two hundred bucks.” he screwed the paper up in his fist and threw it in the trash. Tai was a sceptical person anyway, though his reaction was unlike him. His eyes were dark, a hollowness to them like I was staring into nothing.
It took me a moment to snap him out of it.
“Hey.” I nudged him and he blinked, his expression souring.
Tai rarely scowled, so this was a first.
I don't think I had ever seen that look on his face, clearly panicked, but trying to hide it. He feigned a smile, though I could see the whites in his fingers where he was squeezing his tray a little too hard. “Come on,” his mouth was still filled with mashed potatoes from lunch. “I thought you were smart. Do you seriously believe in superpowers?” Tai laughed, “In this world?”
“No.” I couldn't take my eyes off of the paper, now covered in someone's potato salad. I found myself reaching toward it, before Tai gently slapped my hand away.
“Well, don't believe in an obvious scam,” he dumped his tray, his tone hardening. There was a girl behind me trying to get past, but I was paralysed, staring at the advert. Tai’s fingers wrapped around my arm. I felt the weight of each one cinching into my skin, pressing pressure. “Fee, I am being completely serious when I say you will get your organs harvested.”
Fee, I am being completely serious when I say you will get your organs harvested.” Tai’s voice bounced around my skull. I nodded, though my actions weren't mine, a dreamy smile splitting across my lips I couldn't control.
“Yeah,” I said, my words tangled. The sound of the cafeteria faded into white noise, and for a moment I felt like I was floating. I kept nodding, all of my senses starting to seep into one. Tai’s touch was gentle and firm around my elbow. I could still hear the sound of chatter, but I could taste it too, smell gossip and small-talk. It tasted like ice-cream cake and lemon frosting on my tongue, chocolate lava and tomato ketchup tickling the back of my throat.
The guy in front of me had hair the color of fire, a deep orange glow igniting each strand alight. I shook my head of entangled smells and taste.
“Don't bother,” Tai’s voice was louder in my head. I had the sudden overwhelming urge to slam my hands over my ears, except my hands wouldn't move. I was frozen, my fingers still clutching my tray. “It’s a scam, Fee.”
Explosions of colour expanded in my vision trailing the sound of a girl’s scream.
Pink.
Someone dropped their tray.
Purple.
Laughter looked like yellow paint being spread across the floor, and tasted like cherries.
“You're… probably right.” I heard myself say in a daze. “It's a scam.”
“Good,” he hummed. “Let's go.”
Tai’s grip slipped from my arm, and reality slammed back into me. The loud laughter and chatter from students bustling around me. I was still holding my tray. I shook my head of mind fog, my thoughts seeping back to fruition.
My earlier words already felt foreign and wrong.
This wasn't a new thing. I had been suffering from brain blanks for a while.
Before I could stop myself, I pulled the scrap of paper from the trash, scraped away pieces of pasta, and followed Tai out of the cafeteria. Tai and I had been friends since junior year. I didn't think I'd befriend a guy twice the size of me, but here we were, a year later, practically glued to the hip. Tai was marginally attractive, dark brown hair and built like a brick wall. If I didn't swing the other way, I would definitely be swayed by Asian American features and dimpled smiles.
Catching up to him, I waved the paper in his face. “For someone who doesn't really care about this so-called dud, you seem to care a lot.”
Tai’s lip curled. I noticed his grip tighten around his phone. “You seriously dug it out of the trash?”
“Why wouldn't I?” I shot him a grin. “Don't you want superpowers?”
His lip twitched. “I'm good.”
His response confused me. “Seriously? You don't want any superpower?”
“No.” Tai’s voice was startlingly cold, his tone holding weight. The light fixture above us flickered erratically, the bulbs exploding, popping one by one. For a moment, I was entranced by shattered glass raining from the ceiling. I held out my hand, catching shards on my palm. Tai kept walking, unfazed. His gaze didn't leave his phone. “Don't go looking for fantasy,” he grumbled. “You won't find it.”
I stuffed the ad into my pocket, following his figure down the hallway.
“And how can you be sure?” I was teasing him at this point, but Tai wasn't getting the memo. As usual, he was taking things a little too seriously.
Tai shrugged, bowing his head. “It's basic common sense. Don't be stupid.”
“Okay,” I said, half joking. “I'll drop it.”
Tai was unusually quiet for the rest of the day. I told him I was going to the convenience store after class, which wasn't exactly a lie. I needed to grab food. But I wasn't going to tell him about my pit stop. Per what the ad said, I ventured down the alleyway between the library and the old Pizza Hut. There was a dead end, and a rat with its innards spilling onto a piece of cardboard.
I'm not an avid believer of bad luck, but it looked like the stars were aligning to personally tell me I was going to die.
According to the ad, I was supposed to wait for them to find me. Twenty minutes passed. Then half an hour. The sky was starting to darken, streaks of red and orange illuminating the horizon indicating twilight. An hour passed, and I was sitting on the wall, my legs dangling, my butt already half asleep. I checked my phone. 8% and zero service. I had five missed calls from an hour ago. Tai.
He was onto me.
I hated convenience store food.
UberEats was my go-to. I really thought I could fool the guy with some half assed text:
Hey, I'll be back late tonight! I'm grabbing sushi from the C store.
I would rather die than eat convenience store sushi, and my friend knew that.
Another twenty minutes passed, and street lights were flickering to life illuminating the dark in an orange glow.
I could see the streak of red which had been the rat in perfect detail. The head was gone while the torso had been ripped open, lumps of pulpy red spilling onto the ground. Something sour filled the back of my mouth. I jumped off of the wall, my stomach twisting into knots. I could have sworn that thing had been splattered across a piece of cardboard.
It was pitch black. With the help of my phone flashlight, I found the cardboard exactly where I saw it before.
So…
How did the rat move?
Taking a step back, my hand moved in jerking movements, my flashlight illuminating the hollow oblivion of the alleyway which felt like it was closing in on me, a slowly collapsing pinprick in my vision. Fuck. I could already feel my body catapulting into fight or flight. I couldn't resist looking at the ground and following the beam of my flashlight, searching for mutant rats.
I took another slow step back, phantom bugs filling my mouth and skittering across the bare flesh of my arms.
Run.
My body was telling me to run.
The air around me, thick and sour smelling, was telling me to run.
But I couldn't. I was paralysed, my gaze glued to the streaks of scarlet that had been the rat. The blood was still there, thick and congealing into the concrete. But the pulpy mass of flesh which were its grim remains were gone.
Following the splatters of blood with my flashlight, I was right.
It was… moving.
I expected an attack, furry masses diving onto me, razor sharp teeth tearing into my flesh.
What I got instead, was a clammy hand slamming over my mouth.
My body reacted, a scream erupting from my throat, muffling into the stranger's palm. I could sense their breath tickling the back of my neck.
“Caaaaaash, please.”
The voice was younger than I expected, a kid maybe a few years younger than me.
His voice was a low murmur, almost a sing-song. Blinking stars out of my eyes, it took me a disorienting second to understand what he meant, and I remembered why I was there in the first place. “I don't have it,” I muffled into the pressure over my mouth and nose.
His hand smelled of disinfectant mixed with something metallic, a pungent taste that stuck to the back of my throat and lips. I was lying. I did have 250 bucks in my pocket. However, I wasn't expecting my seller to be a fucking kid. I said the first thing that came to my mind. “I… I can pay you in instalments!” I tried to pull his hand away, but he tightened his grip.
“Instalments?” the kid surprised me with a giggle. “For fucking superpowers, dude?”
I did my best to nod, tears stinging my eyes.
He let me go with a sigh, and I stumbled back, swiping my mouth.
“Fiiiiiine!"
I scrambled for my flashlight, and the shadow in front of me grew a face. I found myself staring into bright eyes, twisted and wrong, a smile with too many teeth. I was right. It was a kid, maybe two years younger than me.
Rich, judging from his private school blazer. Thick sandy hair poking from a knitted beanie. The kid shot me a grin.
“I'll let you pay in instalments, but if you miss one, I'm adding interest! I may be a kid, but that doesn't mean you can take advantage.” he twisted around with a chuckle, jumping over a puddle. “I'm only doing this because I like the look of you! I was expecting a college kid, and yeah, you hit the nail on the head!"
His head jerked almost inhumanly, a predator tracking its prey.
"You're... interesting." he inclined his head. "I didn't think my ad would work, and yet here you are!"
I forced a smile. "Here I am," I said through gritted teeth.
He was standing on the remnants of the rat, and when I looked closer, I realised he was barefoot. This kid went to a prestegious school and was wearing no shoes, the slithering remains of the rat squashed between his toes. I swore I caught the shadows enveloping his face, like he belonged in the dark, his lips curling into that of a monster, narrowed eyes drinking me in.
This kid was scarier than mutant rats.
He reminded me of an unhinged Percy Jackson.
Which was irònic.
“Well?” he cocked his head, mocking a frown. “Are you coming?”
I was already mentally mapping a getaway if this kid tried anything.
“You're the one selling...?”
I drifted off, and he nodded with a grin. “Yep! Why? Did you expect someone else?”
Before I could speak, he sighed. “Follow me. I have several left. I have some new ones, though I haven't advertised them yet. Pyrokinesis is a popular one, but I won't have another Pyro until at least January. My supplier is running short, which is soooo annoying.” He turned back to me when I didn't move.
The kid ushered me towards him, and something compelled me forward. Maybe I really did want to believe in this fantasy. Continuing to talk, he didn't seem fazed by my hesitance.
I took my place behind him.
“I expect instalments to pay me back if you can't pay now. You can give me your payment details after."
“Payment details?” I whispered.
The kid snorted, his expression darkening. “I'm not giving you superpowers for free,” he raised a brow. His eyes were darker, more hollow in the flashlight beam, ageing this kid way beyond a teenager. “I know some people who do, but you don't want to fuck around with them. I can give you high quality abilities without the, you know, super soldier programming.”
I swallowed. “The what?”
The kid didn't reply, only waving his hand with a sigh. “You wouldn't understand. But trust me, they're bad news.”
The patronising little shit.
Stumbling over my feet, I struggled through the dark. “Are you being serious?” I managed to choke out.
He surprised me with a laugh. “You thought I was lying? What were you expecting?”
I ignored his question. “I'm sorry, how old are you?”
“Uh, sixteen!” he shouted back. “And a half.”
I nodded dizzily, jumping over a puddle. The alleyway felt like it was going on forever. “You're a sixteen year old that sells superpowers to people?”
His shadow was getting further away, and I struggled to keep up.
“Yep!” the kid’s voice bounced off of the walls, while his figure weaved in and out of existence, creeping further and further away from my flashlight. “Hey, it's better than getting a job, and I’m earning my tuition. So, it's a win-win.”
“Uh-huh.” I cleared my throat. I was fully expecting drugs. This kid was talking like a drug dealer, so maybe high schooler’s had code names for drugs. Superpower names were less likely to cause alarm bells. Pyrokinesis was ice, and Telekinesis was cocaine. Maybe the anything ending in kinesis line meant Class A drugs. The ones in high demand. It made sense. This kid thought he was selling me cocaine, and I had taken his code names literally.
Oh god, I was being led into a sixteen year old’s drug den.
Tai was never going to let me live this down.
When we reached the end of the alleyway, the kid turned to me, pulling a piece of cloth from his pocket.
Immediately, I stumbled back, and he rolled his eyes. “Relax.” the boy held up the cloth. “It's just a blindfold. To protect my business, I don't want my customers to know where we’re going.”
I didn't move, my mind going into panic mode.
The kid sighed. “Dude, it's fine,” he said, tying the cloth around my eyes. My fingers moved to tear it away, but he stopped me. “I'll even tell you my name.” I could sense his face inches from mine. “I'm Wen! Nice to meet you! Now, I'm going to lead you inside, all right?” I felt his hands press down on my shoulders. “Do you mind?”
I nodded, swallowing hard. “Ophelia,” I whispered, letting him guide me forwards.
“Hm?”
“My name,” I said. “It's Ophelia.”
Wen chuckled. “Ophelia. I don't think I've ever known anyone with that name.” I tripped over something, and he pulled me further into the void. I had no idea where I was going, dragging my hands across brick to stabilise myself. When I was sure he was leading me to my doom, Wen pulled off the blindfold.
Blinking rapidly, I drank in eerie yellow light sparking from a dying bulb. I was in a small apartment kitchen. There was a faucet, a dining table, and a refrigerator. I opened it up, jumping back when a critter crept across the handle. For a rich private school kid, Wen’s living conditions were interesting.
I was frowning at peeled paint on the walls and used coffee mugs, bug infested flooring under my feet, when the kid filled up a glass of water and handed it to me. I noticed smears of dirt on the rim and politely declined.
Wen must have seen my expression.
He sighed, placing the glass down. “This is all I could get at short notice,” he gestured around and I took notice of the windows being blacked out. “I'm planning on upgrading next year, especially if I'm going to have competition.” He stood on his tiptoes to grab a pack of cookies from a cupboard.
“Want one?” Wen’s smile caught the light, and something rancid filled my mouth.
He was waiting for me to try and run.
When I made my way toward the door, he casually stepped in front of me, arms folded. Wen knew he was in control, and I think that exhilarated him. My flashlight and phone had died, and I was alone inside his drug den. He was practically bouncing up and down. “Are you sure you don't want a cookie?”
I managed a nod. “I'm okay.”
Wen shrugged, demolishing the cookies himself. “Suit yourself!”
I thought he was going to continue playing mind games, but he just sent me a smile. “You should eat. All of my customers eat before a sale.”
“I said I'm okay,” I gritted out.
With a shrug, Wen led me down a set of concrete steps, jumping down each one like he was playing a game.
Every time I turned back, something forced me further down the steps, like I wasn't in control of my legs. Wen talked casually, knowing just opening his mouth was terrifying me. His movements, the way he spoke, everything was manufactured to unnerve me. “It's Telekinesis you're looking for, right?” We reached the bottom, and he led us through a door of plastic sheets, straight into darkness.
I could smell it already. Disinfectant mixed with mould.
“Telekinesis is a great ability,” Wen laughed. “It took me a while to catch him, but I managed it in the end!”
Wen’s words played with my mind, phantom bugs creeping down my spine.
Him?
Light slammed into me, almost knocking me off of my feet.
Shading my eyes, I blinked rapidly. I expected a drug lab.
I expected mountains of powdered white and old science equipment. What I saw instead was… plastic. A room full of plastic hanging from the ceiling. I couldn't see anything else. I started to back away, but Wen was already grabbing me and pulling me with him.
In the flickering glow from the light fixture above us, I could see old and new red streaks staining the floor and each plastic door we stumbled through.
Blood.
It was everywhere, covering every surface.
It was dried into the floor, caked into the clear sheets being whipped in my face, shining brighter the further I was pulled through a labyrinth of plastic, a whole different world hidden inside.
I glimpsed shadows at first, metal beds lining the walls, body sized lumps lying on each one. The place reminded me of an emergency room. We passed a girl with halo hair lying face down on bloodstained blankets. I couldn't see her torso, the lower part of her body covered with soaked blankets stained revealing crimson. There were dozens of plastic tubes forced into her pale limp arms hanging off of the edge.
“Ignore the Siren,” Wen groaned, tightening his grip. There was something pooling on the floor, thick and red seeping across pristine marble.
“She's a drama queen. Ariosa plays dead all the time. She's not for sale, by the way. Ariosa is just for display.”
I kept walking, as if in a trance.
Even when behind me, the girl let out a deafening shriek that clawed its way into my skull.
"Follow meeeeee!"
Wen commanded me closer with his voice, and I moved like I was in a dream, my gaze glued to bloodstained steel and body parts without heads cruelly chained down to each gurney.
I saw them at their most vulnerable, people, with the majority of them being in their twenties, college kids and older, put on a horrific display.
These kids were malnourished, anorexic, their haunted eyes piercing right through me. Some of them screamed at me, straining in cruel chains pinning them down. One guy was brutally restrained, his arms had been chopped off. His agonising wail followed me, begging Wen to kill him.
“Pyro.” Wen said. “He's my only one, and he's already been bought. I'm just waiting for the seller to come buy him.”
A ponytailed brunette looked to be in deep sleep, a plastic mask pressed over her mouth and nose. The girl looked drained, sickly pale skin and bruises covering her arms, no doubt from needles and tubes being forced into her veins. Looking closer, her face started to morph into a younger girl, and then a guy, their features changing sporadically, while their body, slightly delayed, followed. This person did not have one singular face. They had multiple.
“Jordan. Zero Nine, if we're talking about their ability. Anything starting with Zero is the shit people really want. Like, mind control, and anything with kinesis,” Wen muttered in my ear. “They're my first shifter. I’m selling them for 150. But nobody's interested.”
Somehow, I found my voice.
“I've changed my mind,” I managed to choke out.
Wen cocked his head, a smirk curling on his lips. The bastard was waiting for this. His eyes were alive, glittering with insanity. He was subtle in the way he positioned himself. “You can't take back agreement for a superpower,” he murmured. “I use your voice as a form of consent. You followed me in here expecting superpowers and wasted precious time I could have had with a paying customer, so you're buying.”
A cry clawed its way up my throat, and I pried his fingers from my arm, but he grabbed it again, this time squeezing hard enough to incite a screech. Wen pulled me close to him, his breath in my ear. His words were like poison, and I could sense his satisfied grin. “Like I said, we can talk about the legalities and payment details when you're all done, all right?” he shoved me forward.
At first, I didn't move.
“Walk, Ophelia!” His voice was whimsical at first.
Hearing Ariosa's whimpering behind me, I couldn't.
“Fucking walk, dude! Is it that hard? Jeez, you're acting like I've asked you to climb a mountain!” Wen’s tone hardened, his playful attitude souring.
I obeyed, forcing my legs into motion.
Something smooth and metallic prodded into my spine. A gun.
I should have known a teenage drug lord who dealt in supernatural abilities would have a gun. Wen prodded me again. “I don't fuck with people who refuse to buy, lady. I feed ‘em to 102.”
I was still registering his words when he stopped in front of a particularly filthy sheet and swept it aside. “Here we are! Telekinesis. He was originally 250, but since you've been a great customer, I can give you him for half.”
I don't know what I expected.
After already witnessing multiple people tied down and forcefully drugged, wires and tubes sticking from them, I thought it would be the same. But this was a whole other level of brutality, one that sent me staggering back. Wen easily caught me, stabbing the barrel of his gun into my back.
I barely felt it.
I sunk to my knees, my mind already trying and failing to drink in what I was seeing.
Wen wasn't just selling super powers.
I vomited all over myself, and the boy scoffed.
“Oh, come on, that's disgusting!”
Swiping barf from my lips, I struggled to breathe. He was farming them.
“Get up, drama queen. Honestly, you're as bad as Ariosa."
Wen dragged me to my feet, but my legs weren't working. My head felt thick, my thoughts dizzy and distant.
I wanted to lie to myself, tell myself I wasn't seeing this. But the blood on the floor was real, the splatters of scarlet staining skin and steel. In front of me was a man, my age, strapped to a chair, closed eyes flickering, lips parted in a silent scream. It looked like he used to be a college student, splinters of who he was still lingering. I could see where his hair used to be, tufts of dark blonde still attached to what was left of his scalp.
His skin was paper thin, malnourished, like it would splinter apart at any given moment. I think he used to be handsome, used to have laugh lines, and lips that smiled. Now, I was looking at a shell. The man’s body had been forced upright, trembling hands pinned to metal armrests. I looked for hair, for facial features that made sense and were human– but all of that had been stripped away. There was just agony.
It was agony I didn't know or understand, that twisted his body, contorting him back and forth like a puppet on strings. The back of his head was gone, the startling white bone of his skull and pinkish mush of brain exposed, needles and wires stuck into the meat. The man’s eyes flickered open, suddenly, wide and frantic.
Terrified.
Staring directly at me, the whites of his eyes were blood red.
He jolted on the chair, his arms moving, fingers twisting around the arm rest.
“Tah-dah!” Wen danced over to the man, playfully prodding the bare meat of the guy’s brain. The man screamed, contorting in his chair, the lights above flickering. The ground shook under my feet, stray instruments flying into the air. I watched, baffled, as swirling silver danced around my head, needles and scalpels in a manic dance, before faltering, like he was losing control.
The guy’s head dropped, and so did the whirlwind of metal, hitting the ground.
“Behave.” Wen rolled his eyes. “Stop showing off.”
Slowly, the man’s head snapped up. His lips moved, a thin line of red oozing from his nose. His gaze stuck to me, and with every jerk of his wrist, every blink of his eye, I knew he was trying to rip me apart from the inside. My skin prickled. I could feel his presence brushing over me, prodding at my skull.
Wen flung out his arms like he was introducing a friend.
“This is Telekinesis! Well, I call him Zero two. Also Ryan. He's my most powerful. I can drug this guy into a fucking coma, and he still manages to rip a customer's head off,” Wen chuckled. “The trick was finding the right mix. Horse tranquiliser works miracles with telekinetics. It knocks em’ straight out with no mess.”
The kid’s smile widened. “Which is why your brains aren't splattering the walls right now!” he said in a sing-song.
“You're welcome, by the way!”
Zero Two let out an animalistic howl, struggling in the chair, and he laughed.
“You can shut up. Don't give me that look.”
Wen turned his attention to me. “All right, let's get you set up for the procedure.”
Zero Two’s gaze snapped to me, his lips moving.
Once.
Twice.
Run. He mouthed, and I glimpsed lingering humanity.
Wen jumped in front of me, dark eyes twisted with insanity.
“Well? Do you like him? You like him, right? Isn't he, like, fucking insane?!"
Another step, and he was closing the distance between us. “Your assimilation should take maybe an hour. Two, if your body rejects it. Which is a pain, but I've got the time! My Netflix subscription expired, so I have all night to work." Wen's lips curled. "I want to make you perfect."
“You're sick,” I managed to get out.
Wen shrugged. “It's business. You have empathy, and I don't. Ouch. Do you want Telekinesis or not?”
“No!"
Panic erupted inside of me, but I couldn't move. There was no way to run, and a psychotic kid held me at gunpoint. I didn't have a choice.
My freedom to choose had dissipated the second I made the decision to follow him inside his superpower farm.
Wen was surprisingly strong, his arms wrapping around my neck in a chokehold. Something cold pricked the back of my neck, and my body went limp. I hit the ground, half aware of Wen’s shadow looming over me.
My vision was blurring, but I could just make out the curl of his cruel smile.
“After all,” Wen’s voice swam in and out of reality, while my body plunged.
My eyes flickered, finding intense splatters of red staining the ceiling.
“I don't think I told you about my ability, did I? Oh man, it's the best part!"
He picked me up, and I was light as a feather, my head hanging.
Wen’s laugh sounded like thunder claps, and there it was again.
Just like in the cafeteria with Tai, my senses were twisting. The blood in my mouth was shaped like diamonds. I could see every bead, every cutting corner slipping from my lips.
Through tunnel vision, the boy's laughter had colour, pitch black darkness bleeding around him, like he was engulfed in ink. “Oh, dude, wait until I tell you about my father…”
His voice faded, and I stopped thinking for a while. I don't know how long.
Time seemed to flow in a separate singularity. Consciousness hit me slowly. Wen’s voice grazed the back of my mind, pulling me back to a reality I didn't want to be in.
I could already sense my numb body, my wrists pinned to metal armrests.
There are certain things your mind chooses to block out in favour of panicking your body. I was already aware that the back of my head had been ripped open, and my mind was raw and naked to the rest of the world.
It hit me in tiny electroshocks, not prominent enough to be pain. I don't think pain existed in that disorienting moment between half consciousness and awake. It was something else entirely, an uncomfortable agony that wasn't quite agony, because I couldn't feel it.
“Once upon a time,” the kid’s voice was mocking, and I could feel his fingers.
I could feel the tips of his fingernails digging into me, skittering right across the bare flesh of my brain. There was no scream in my throat, no panic in my chest. I think my body was in a state of paralysis. I remember opening my eyes to brutal light blinding me, rivulets of thick red beading down my arms, tiny rivers seeping down my skin. I closed my eyes again, sharp, heavy pants escaping my lips. “There was a boy with a father who was very intelligent.”
I was pushing out words, my mouth filled with blood.
Why are you doing this?
My lips moved, but the words failed to hit the sound barrier.
“Shhhh,” Wen hummed. “Listen to the story.” he cleared his throat, and his fingers continued to dig down, deep into the meat of my brain, pulverising tissue.
I felt nothing, and yet my body still reacted, jerking side to side. My eyes rolled back, darkness momentarily swallowing me up, only to spit me back out. “Anyway,” Wen continued. Through flickering eyes, I could glimpse steel protruding into my wrist.
“So, the boy had a super smart father who was obsessed with the supernatural,” Wen hummed. “Caaan you guess what the boy's father did?”
I didn't respond, my gaze lazily skating over ceiling tiles.
“He experimented.” Wen dug his fingernails in, and this time I screamed.
No pain, but my body was sure there was. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck and face, bile gathering in my mouth. “The boy's father was obsessed with unlocking a certain part of the mind. The boy didn't know this. One day, he was just exploring. His mother had been gone for a few days. But hey, his dad said it was cool. His Mom was just visiting family, and she'd be back.”
Another prod.
“Nope! The kid found his mother– or more appropriately, what was left of his mother. Daddy carved her brain out! Mommy was right there on the bed, her blood was still warm. He hugged her, and still remembers the blood on his face. He tried to wake her up, but Mommy was long dead. Dad had already cut up her brain for testing.”
He giggled, another explosion of colour seeping into my vision. “When his mother failed, his father used him!"
Deeper and deeper his fingers were going.
“It hurt him, Ophelia," Wen mocked a childish sob. "Oh, God, It fucking hurt enough for the boy to want to die over and over again. He spent a long time on a table made of stone, while his father cut him apart and stitched him back together. He stopped feeling pain. Fuck, he stopped feeling completely! Because the bastard had cut all of it away, all the bad emotions, and all the good, to make way for his greatest gift.”
No wonder Wen was a psychopath, his childhood was a never ending experiment.
“I think you know where I'm going with this story,” Wen chuckled. “My father wanted to turn me into a superhero. Just like the other kids he played around with. But he did the exact opposite.”
I held my breath when his fingers stopped moving, straying in cerebral tissue. “Dad didn't give me the powers I wanted,” his tone twisted and his fingers curled. That time I did feel pain, my lips parting in a silent scream.
“He gave me this.” Wen twisted his fingers again, and my white hot pain filled me, bleeding into my blood and bones. I screamed that time, my raw screech reminding my body I was still real. “The power to extract abilities that I can't take for myself,” Wen continued in a spiteful hiss. “And give them to others.” It was like being filled with electricity, my brain being boiled alive.
My eyes clouded, the lights above flickering.
I screamed again, my head lolling to the side.
“Sorry,” Wen muttered. “I'm trying to reach your cerebral cortex-- I think that's what it's called--but it's hard…” his voice faded in and out. “I should be better at this by now, but there's so much I have to dig through, and that's on top of keeping the customer alive with Zero Five’s ability. Urgh. I’ve got brain juices all over me.”
I counted ceiling tiles to distract myself.
“Almost…”
I lost count around the 400 mark, my body unsure whether to shut down or stay awake.
“There…”
Colours and stars spotted my eyes. I remember curling my fingers, and feeling a pull from somewhere, like a magnet repelling. Darkness found me once more, but even asleep, I could still sense that pull entangling around me.
“Wakey, wakey!”
Drifting back to fruition, I was sitting, my legs dangling off of a bed. When my hand instantly went to the back of my head, my fingers only grazed my own thick brown hair. I delved two fingers into my scalp, and there it was, thick rugged stitches sewing me back together. My first thought was Zero Two.
I tried to move my body to get up, but my limbs weren't working.
Dropping onto my hands and knees, I barely felt the impact.
Zero Two was gone. The chair where he'd been restrained was empty.
“Here! Let me help you.”
Wen was standing over me. He ducked to my height. I thought he was going to hit me, but he just pulled a stray needle out of my arm. “All right. Try now.”
I did, jumping to unsteady feet. Already, I was looking for a way out– and that strange magnetic-like pull was still there.
It moved with me, attaching itself to everything in my vicinity. I was sure with a simple jerk of my hand or finger, I could cause damage. Already, my mouth was moving, my heightened senses overwhelming me. Ariosa, the siren in the bed a few metres away, was easy to latch onto. “Where is he?” I demanded, already scanning for Zero Two.
Wen folded his arms. “Zero Two? Oh, I incinerate the original host after extraction,” he said. “Think of your ability like a virus. In rare cases, the power itself tries to find the original host, which can result in…problems.” he tutted. “Luckily, it was just one person. But I've been told to be careful.”
He shook his head. “Anyway! Enough about the shell. I want payment by Monday. If you can't pay, you can come work for me! You're telekinetic, and I need some extra weight to play catch.”
“Boss!”
A girl’s voice made me jump.
“We’ve got another one!”
Wen’s eyes lit up. “Watch this,” he grabbed my arm and pulled me back through the room, passing beds filled with supernaturals. I was lighter on my feet, already clumsy with my ability. I was knocking things onto the floor and sending beds crashing into the wall.
Wen was ahead of me, so I had one chance to do it.
I found Zero Two on a pile of bodies, each marked for incineration. His hands were tied, so Wen was lying about him being braindead. The man wasn't moving, his head clumsily stitched back on. But I still pulled apart his restraints. If he was strong enough, he would rip Wen apart.
Superpowers or no fucking superpowers.
Wen was greeted by two figures at the door. When I got closer, the shadows were even younger than him. The girl, twelve or thirteen, with blonde pigtails, and a boy, a little older than her. They looked like twins, the two of them wearing the same private school uniform as Wen. I was so busy staring at the little girl’s red slicked hands, I didn't see their catch.
There was a man curled up on the ground, bound and gagged, a bag over his head.
“Psychokinetic,” Pigtails shot Wen a grin. “The stupid-head came right to us.” She was hesitant to go near him, dancing back and forth, like she was playing a game. “Careful. I had to gag him with three layers of duct tape to stop him fucking with my mind. He connects through touch and speech. And he's strong. Like soooo strong!"
“Seriously?” Wen whistled. “Damn.” he knelt next to the fresh catch. “I have pre-orders for a psychokinetic, but I don't think I've ever met one since dad’s collection.” the boy straightened up and kicked the lump, forcefully rolling the man onto his side. I caught a flash of familiar dark brown curls slipping from the bag over his head. Tai. I could see the beaded bracelet I got him for Christmas, and his engagement ring.
He had just gotten engaged, his girlfriend proposing to him two weeks earlier.
But Tai didn't have an ability.
He couldn't have. I would have known!
Wen’s smile made me feel sick, a triumphant grin. “I can harvest him tonight and greenlight those orders!”.
"Yay!" Pigtails jumped up and down, while her brother's smile wavered.
I had an ability, and I had no idea how to use it.
It felt like a magnet, like I could pull things apart and rip into solid objects.
But I had no idea how.
For example, I tried to tear into Wen’s mind. But he was already nodding at his child soldiers to take me down. I hit the ground, and the last thing I saw was the little bastard scooping Tai into his arms.
I woke up inside my apartment, lying on my bedroom floor.
But I couldn't move.
I blinked, and I was standing in front of the subway, my feet teetering on the edge.
Jumping back, I had no memory of getting there.
I blinked again, and this time I was standing in the middle of traffic.
Die.
There was a voice in my head, a snarl creeping into the back of my skull.
It was persistent, trying to shove me into the path of a truck. I could sense the voice trying to use the ability now inside me. This time he could use it. I managed to wrangle back control before he sent the Subway derailing.
Die!
I've only known this world for a few days. I've lost my best friend, and I've been illegally fucked with by a teenage psychopath and his army of children.
I don't know about the origin of these powers, and I don't know how Tai is a psychokinetic. I don't know how to get him back, and even if he's alive.
But there is something I am 100% sure of.
Zero-Two is inside my fucking head.
submitted by Trash_Tia to nosleep [link] [comments]
I found it in a library book.
Sandwiched inside a dog-eared copy of Percy Jackson, there it was.
Have you ever wanted to be a superhero?
Well, now you can become one! I can give you any superpower you want. 250 bucks each. 100 extra for anything ending in kinesis. I'm open 9am-midnight every day. Find me between the old pizza hut and the library. Don't look for me. I'll find you.
Please note: These abilities are non-refundable, and MAY cause side effects.
I had so many questions.
Keeping hold of the scrap of paper, I pulled it out during class to show my friend. “It's a dud,” Tai said with an eye roll. I mentioned it to him once, and the guy had not stopped talking about it all day.
This thing was clearly on his mind. The guy couldn't sit still for most of class, his gaze flicking to the scrap poking from my notebook. At lunch, Tai ripped the paper out of my hand when we were trashing our leftovers. I was still considering it. I did have 250 bucks in my savings and superpowers sounded fun. Tai, however, didn't share my excitement.
“I can guarantee someone out there is not giving people super powers for two hundred bucks.” he screwed the paper up in his fist and threw it in the trash. Tai was a sceptical person anyway, though his reaction was unlike him. His eyes were dark, a hollowness to them like I was staring into nothing.
It took me a moment to snap him out of it.
“Hey.” I nudged him and he blinked, his expression souring.
Tai rarely scowled, so this was a first.
I don't think I had ever seen that look on his face, clearly panicked, but trying to hide it. He feigned a smile, though I could see the whites in his fingers where he was squeezing his tray a little too hard. “Come on,” his mouth was still filled with mashed potatoes from lunch. “I thought you were smart. Do you seriously believe in superpowers?” Tai laughed, “In this world?”
“No.” I couldn't take my eyes off of the paper, now covered in someone's potato salad. I found myself reaching toward it, before Tai gently slapped my hand away.
“Well, don't believe in an obvious scam,” he dumped his tray, his tone hardening. There was a girl behind me trying to get past, but I was paralysed, staring at the advert. Tai’s fingers wrapped around my arm. I felt the weight of each one cinching into my skin, pressing pressure. “Fee, I am being completely serious when I say you will get your organs harvested.”
Fee, I am being completely serious when I say you will get your organs harvested.” Tai’s voice bounced around my skull. I nodded, though my actions weren't mine, a dreamy smile splitting across my lips I couldn't control.
“Yeah,” I said, my words tangled. The sound of the cafeteria faded into white noise, and for a moment I felt like I was floating. I kept nodding, all of my senses starting to seep into one. Tai’s touch was gentle and firm around my elbow. I could still hear the sound of chatter, but I could taste it too, smell gossip and small-talk. It tasted like ice-cream cake and lemon frosting on my tongue, chocolate lava and tomato ketchup tickling the back of my throat.
The guy in front of me had hair the color of fire, a deep orange glow igniting each strand alight. I shook my head of entangled smells and taste.
“Don't bother,” Tai’s voice was louder in my head. I had the sudden overwhelming urge to slam my hands over my ears, except my hands wouldn't move. I was frozen, my fingers still clutching my tray. “It’s a scam, Fee.”
Explosions of colour expanded in my vision trailing the sound of a girl’s scream.
Pink.
Someone dropped their tray.
Purple.
Laughter looked like yellow paint being spread across the floor, and tasted like cherries.
“You're… probably right.” I heard myself say in a daze. “It's a scam.”
“Good,” he hummed. “Let's go.”
Tai’s grip slipped from my arm, and reality slammed back into me. The loud laughter and chatter from students bustling around me. I was still holding my tray. I shook my head of mind fog, my thoughts seeping back to fruition.
My earlier words already felt foreign and wrong.
This wasn't a new thing. I had been suffering from brain blanks for a while.
Before I could stop myself, I pulled the scrap of paper from the trash, scraped away pieces of pasta, and followed Tai out of the cafeteria. Tai and I had been friends since junior year. I didn't think I'd befriend a guy twice the size of me, but here we were, a year later, practically glued to the hip. Tai was marginally attractive, dark brown hair and built like a brick wall. If I didn't swing the other way, I would definitely be swayed by Asian American features and dimpled smiles.
Catching up to him, I waved the paper in his face. “For someone who doesn't really care about this so-called dud, you seem to care a lot.”
Tai’s lip curled. I noticed his grip tighten around his phone. “You seriously dug it out of the trash?”
“Why wouldn't I?” I shot him a grin. “Don't you want superpowers?”
His lip twitched. “I'm good.”
His response confused me. “Seriously? You don't want any superpower?”
“No.” Tai’s voice was startlingly cold, his tone holding weight. The light fixture above us flickered erratically, the bulbs exploding, popping one by one. For a moment, I was entranced by shattered glass raining from the ceiling. I held out my hand, catching shards on my palm. Tai kept walking, unfazed. His gaze didn't leave his phone. “Don't go looking for fantasy,” he grumbled. “You won't find it.”
I stuffed the ad into my pocket, following his figure down the hallway.
“And how can you be sure?” I was teasing him at this point, but Tai wasn't getting the memo. As usual, he was taking things a little too seriously.
Tai shrugged, bowing his head. “It's basic common sense. Don't be stupid.”
“Okay,” I said, half joking. “I'll drop it.”
Tai was unusually quiet for the rest of the day. I told him I was going to the convenience store after class, which wasn't exactly a lie. I needed to grab food. But I wasn't going to tell him about my pit stop. Per what the ad said, I ventured down the alleyway between the library and the old Pizza Hut. There was a dead end, and a rat with its innards spilling onto a piece of cardboard.
I'm not an avid believer of bad luck, but it looked like the stars were aligning to personally tell me I was going to die.
According to the ad, I was supposed to wait for them to find me. Twenty minutes passed. Then half an hour. The sky was starting to darken, streaks of red and orange illuminating the horizon indicating twilight. An hour passed, and I was sitting on the wall, my legs dangling, my butt already half asleep. I checked my phone. 8% and zero service. I had five missed calls from an hour ago. Tai.
He was onto me.
I hated convenience store food.
UberEats was my go-to. I really thought I could fool the guy with some half assed text:
Hey, I'll be back late tonight! I'm grabbing sushi from the C store.
I would rather die than eat convenience store sushi, and my friend knew that.
Another twenty minutes passed, and street lights were flickering to life illuminating the dark in an orange glow.
I could see the streak of red which had been the rat in perfect detail. The head was gone while the torso had been ripped open, lumps of pulpy red spilling onto the ground. Something sour filled the back of my mouth. I jumped off of the wall, my stomach twisting into knots. I could have sworn that thing had been splattered across a piece of cardboard.
It was pitch black. With the help of my phone flashlight, I found the cardboard exactly where I saw it before.
So…
How did the rat move?
Taking a step back, my hand moved in jerking movements, my flashlight illuminating the hollow oblivion of the alleyway which felt like it was closing in on me, a slowly collapsing pinprick in my vision. Fuck. I could already feel my body catapulting into fight or flight. I couldn't resist looking at the ground and following the beam of my flashlight, searching for mutant rats.
I took another slow step back, phantom bugs filling my mouth and skittering across the bare flesh of my arms.
Run.
My body was telling me to run.
The air around me, thick and sour smelling, was telling me to run.
But I couldn't. I was paralysed, my gaze glued to the streaks of scarlet that had been the rat. The blood was still there, thick and congealing into the concrete. But the pulpy mass of flesh which were its grim remains were gone.
Following the splatters of blood with my flashlight, I was right.
It was… moving.
I expected an attack, furry masses diving onto me, razor sharp teeth tearing into my flesh.
What I got instead, was a clammy hand slamming over my mouth.
My body reacted, a scream erupting from my throat, muffling into the stranger's palm. I could sense their breath tickling the back of my neck.
“Caaaaaash, please.”
The voice was younger than I expected, a kid maybe a few years younger than me.
His voice was a low murmur, almost a sing-song. Blinking stars out of my eyes, it took me a disorienting second to understand what he meant, and I remembered why I was there in the first place. “I don't have it,” I muffled into the pressure over my mouth and nose.
His hand smelled of disinfectant mixed with something metallic, a pungent taste that stuck to the back of my throat and lips. I was lying. I did have 250 bucks in my pocket. However, I wasn't expecting my seller to be a fucking kid. I said the first thing that came to my mind. “I… I can pay you in instalments!” I tried to pull his hand away, but he tightened his grip.
“Instalments?” the kid surprised me with a giggle. “For fucking superpowers, dude?”
I did my best to nod, tears stinging my eyes.
He let me go with a sigh, and I stumbled back, swiping my mouth.
“Fiiiiiine!"
I scrambled for my flashlight, and the shadow in front of me grew a face. I found myself staring into bright eyes, twisted and wrong, a smile with too many teeth. I was right. It was a kid, maybe two years younger than me.
Rich, judging from his private school blazer. Thick sandy hair poking from a knitted beanie. The kid shot me a grin.
“I'll let you pay in instalments, but if you miss one, I'm adding interest! I may be a kid, but that doesn't mean you can take advantage.” he twisted around with a chuckle, jumping over a puddle. “I'm only doing this because I like the look of you! I was expecting a college kid, and yeah, you hit the nail on the head!"
His head jerked almost inhumanly, a predator tracking its prey.
"You're... interesting." he inclined his head. "I didn't think my ad would work, and yet here you are!"
I forced a smile. "Here I am," I said through gritted teeth.
He was standing on the remnants of the rat, and when I looked closer, I realised he was barefoot. This kid went to a prestegious school and was wearing no shoes, the slithering remains of the rat squashed between his toes. I swore I caught the shadows enveloping his face, like he belonged in the dark, his lips curling into that of a monster, narrowed eyes drinking me in.
This kid was scarier than mutant rats.
He reminded me of an unhinged Percy Jackson.
Which was irònic.
“Well?” he cocked his head, mocking a frown. “Are you coming?”
I was already mentally mapping a getaway if this kid tried anything.
“You're the one selling...?”
I drifted off, and he nodded with a grin. “Yep! Why? Did you expect someone else?”
Before I could speak, he sighed. “Follow me. I have several left. I have some new ones, though I haven't advertised them yet. Pyrokinesis is a popular one, but I won't have another Pyro until at least January. My supplier is running short, which is soooo annoying.” He turned back to me when I didn't move.
The kid ushered me towards him, and something compelled me forward. Maybe I really did want to believe in this fantasy. Continuing to talk, he didn't seem fazed by my hesitance.
I took my place behind him.
“I expect instalments to pay me back if you can't pay now. You can give me your payment details after."
“Payment details?” I whispered.
The kid snorted, his expression darkening. “I'm not giving you superpowers for free,” he raised a brow. His eyes were darker, more hollow in the flashlight beam, ageing this kid way beyond a teenager. “I know some people who do, but you don't want to fuck around with them. I can give you high quality abilities without the, you know, super soldier programming.”
I swallowed. “The what?”
The kid didn't reply, only waving his hand with a sigh. “You wouldn't understand. But trust me, they're bad news.”
The patronising little shit.
Stumbling over my feet, I struggled through the dark. “Are you being serious?” I managed to choke out.
He surprised me with a laugh. “You thought I was lying? What were you expecting?”
I ignored his question. “I'm sorry, how old are you?”
“Uh, sixteen!” he shouted back. “And a half.”
I nodded dizzily, jumping over a puddle. The alleyway felt like it was going on forever. “You're a sixteen year old that sells superpowers to people?”
His shadow was getting further away, and I struggled to keep up.
“Yep!” the kid’s voice bounced off of the walls, while his figure weaved in and out of existence, creeping further and further away from my flashlight. “Hey, it's better than getting a job, and I’m earning my tuition. So, it's a win-win.”
“Uh-huh.” I cleared my throat. I was fully expecting drugs. This kid was talking like a drug dealer, so maybe high schooler’s had code names for drugs. Superpower names were less likely to cause alarm bells. Pyrokinesis was ice, and Telekinesis was cocaine. Maybe the anything ending in kinesis line meant Class A drugs. The ones in high demand. It made sense. This kid thought he was selling me cocaine, and I had taken his code names literally.
Oh god, I was being led into a sixteen year old’s drug den.
Tai was never going to let me live this down.
When we reached the end of the alleyway, the kid turned to me, pulling a piece of cloth from his pocket.
Immediately, I stumbled back, and he rolled his eyes. “Relax.” the boy held up the cloth. “It's just a blindfold. To protect my business, I don't want my customers to know where we’re going.”
I didn't move, my mind going into panic mode.
The kid sighed. “Dude, it's fine,” he said, tying the cloth around my eyes. My fingers moved to tear it away, but he stopped me. “I'll even tell you my name.” I could sense his face inches from mine. “I'm Wen! Nice to meet you! Now, I'm going to lead you inside, all right?” I felt his hands press down on my shoulders. “Do you mind?”
I nodded, swallowing hard. “Ophelia,” I whispered, letting him guide me forwards.
“Hm?”
“My name,” I said. “It's Ophelia.”
Wen chuckled. “Ophelia. I don't think I've ever known anyone with that name.” I tripped over something, and he pulled me further into the void. I had no idea where I was going, dragging my hands across brick to stabilise myself. When I was sure he was leading me to my doom, Wen pulled off the blindfold.
Blinking rapidly, I drank in eerie yellow light sparking from a dying bulb. I was in a small apartment kitchen. There was a faucet, a dining table, and a refrigerator. I opened it up, jumping back when a critter crept across the handle. For a rich private school kid, Wen’s living conditions were interesting.
I was frowning at peeled paint on the walls and used coffee mugs, bug infested flooring under my feet, when the kid filled up a glass of water and handed it to me. I noticed smears of dirt on the rim and politely declined.
Wen must have seen my expression.
He sighed, placing the glass down. “This is all I could get at short notice,” he gestured around and I took notice of the windows being blacked out. “I'm planning on upgrading next year, especially if I'm going to have competition.” He stood on his tiptoes to grab a pack of cookies from a cupboard.
“Want one?” Wen’s smile caught the light, and something rancid filled my mouth.
He was waiting for me to try and run.
When I made my way toward the door, he casually stepped in front of me, arms folded. Wen knew he was in control, and I think that exhilarated him. My flashlight and phone had died, and I was alone inside his drug den. He was practically bouncing up and down. “Are you sure you don't want a cookie?”
I managed a nod. “I'm okay.”
Wen shrugged, demolishing the cookies himself. “Suit yourself!”
I thought he was going to continue playing mind games, but he just sent me a smile. “You should eat. All of my customers eat before a sale.”
“I said I'm okay,” I gritted out.
With a shrug, Wen led me down a set of concrete steps, jumping down each one like he was playing a game.
Every time I turned back, something forced me further down the steps, like I wasn't in control of my legs. Wen talked casually, knowing just opening his mouth was terrifying me. His movements, the way he spoke, everything was manufactured to unnerve me. “It's Telekinesis you're looking for, right?” We reached the bottom, and he led us through a door of plastic sheets, straight into darkness.
I could smell it already. Disinfectant mixed with mould.
“Telekinesis is a great ability,” Wen laughed. “It took me a while to catch him, but I managed it in the end!”
Wen’s words played with my mind, phantom bugs creeping down my spine.
Him?
Light slammed into me, almost knocking me off of my feet.
Shading my eyes, I blinked rapidly. I expected a drug lab.
I expected mountains of powdered white and old science equipment. What I saw instead was… plastic. A room full of plastic hanging from the ceiling. I couldn't see anything else. I started to back away, but Wen was already grabbing me and pulling me with him.
In the flickering glow from the light fixture above us, I could see old and new red streaks staining the floor and each plastic door we stumbled through.
Blood.
It was everywhere, covering every surface.
It was dried into the floor, caked into the clear sheets being whipped in my face, shining brighter the further I was pulled through a labyrinth of plastic, a whole different world hidden inside.
I glimpsed shadows at first, metal beds lining the walls, body sized lumps lying on each one. The place reminded me of an emergency room. We passed a girl with halo hair lying face down on bloodstained blankets. I couldn't see her torso, the lower part of her body covered with soaked blankets stained revealing crimson. There were dozens of plastic tubes forced into her pale limp arms hanging off of the edge.
“Ignore the Siren,” Wen groaned, tightening his grip. There was something pooling on the floor, thick and red seeping across pristine marble.
“She's a drama queen. Ariosa plays dead all the time. She's not for sale, by the way. Ariosa is just for display.”
I kept walking, as if in a trance.
Even when behind me, the girl let out a deafening shriek that clawed its way into my skull.
"Follow meeeeee!"
Wen commanded me closer with his voice, and I moved like I was in a dream, my gaze glued to bloodstained steel and body parts without heads cruelly chained down to each gurney.
I saw them at their most vulnerable, people, with the majority of them being in their twenties, college kids and older, put on a horrific display.
These kids were malnourished, anorexic, their haunted eyes piercing right through me. Some of them screamed at me, straining in cruel chains pinning them down. One guy was brutally restrained, his arms had been chopped off. His agonising wail followed me, begging Wen to kill him.
“Pyro.” Wen said. “He's my only one, and he's already been bought. I'm just waiting for the seller to come buy him.”
A ponytailed brunette looked to be in deep sleep, a plastic mask pressed over her mouth and nose. The girl looked drained, sickly pale skin and bruises covering her arms, no doubt from needles and tubes being forced into her veins. Looking closer, her face started to morph into a younger girl, and then a guy, their features changing sporadically, while their body, slightly delayed, followed. This person did not have one singular face. They had multiple.
“Jordan. Zero Nine, if we're talking about their ability. Anything starting with Zero is the shit people really want. Like, mind control, and anything with kinesis,” Wen muttered in my ear. “They're my first shifter. I’m selling them for 150. But nobody's interested.”
Somehow, I found my voice.
“I've changed my mind,” I managed to choke out.
Wen cocked his head, a smirk curling on his lips. The bastard was waiting for this. His eyes were alive, glittering with insanity. He was subtle in the way he positioned himself. “You can't take back agreement for a superpower,” he murmured. “I use your voice as a form of consent. You followed me in here expecting superpowers and wasted precious time I could have had with a paying customer, so you're buying.”
A cry clawed its way up my throat, and I pried his fingers from my arm, but he grabbed it again, this time squeezing hard enough to incite a screech. Wen pulled me close to him, his breath in my ear. His words were like poison, and I could sense his satisfied grin. “Like I said, we can talk about the legalities and payment details when you're all done, all right?” he shoved me forward.
At first, I didn't move.
“Walk, Ophelia!” His voice was whimsical at first.
Hearing Ariosa's whimpering behind me, I couldn't.
“Fucking walk, dude! Is it that hard? Jeez, you're acting like I've asked you to climb a mountain!” Wen’s tone hardened, his playful attitude souring.
I obeyed, forcing my legs into motion.
Something smooth and metallic prodded into my spine. A gun.
I should have known a teenage drug lord who dealt in supernatural abilities would have a gun. Wen prodded me again. “I don't fuck with people who refuse to buy, lady. I feed ‘em to 102.”
I was still registering his words when he stopped in front of a particularly filthy sheet and swept it aside. “Here we are! Telekinesis. He was originally 250, but since you've been a great customer, I can give you him for half.”
I don't know what I expected.
After already witnessing multiple people tied down and forcefully drugged, wires and tubes sticking from them, I thought it would be the same. But this was a whole other level of brutality, one that sent me staggering back. Wen easily caught me, stabbing the barrel of his gun into my back.
I barely felt it.
I sunk to my knees, my mind already trying and failing to drink in what I was seeing.
Wen wasn't just selling super powers.
I vomited all over myself, and the boy scoffed.
“Oh, come on, that's disgusting!”
Swiping barf from my lips, I struggled to breathe. He was farming them.
“Get up, drama queen. Honestly, you're as bad as Ariosa."
Wen dragged me to my feet, but my legs weren't working. My head felt thick, my thoughts dizzy and distant.
I wanted to lie to myself, tell myself I wasn't seeing this. But the blood on the floor was real, the splatters of scarlet staining skin and steel. In front of me was a man, my age, strapped to a chair, closed eyes flickering, lips parted in a silent scream. It looked like he used to be a college student, splinters of who he was still lingering. I could see where his hair used to be, tufts of dark blonde still attached to what was left of his scalp.
His skin was paper thin, malnourished, like it would splinter apart at any given moment. I think he used to be handsome, used to have laugh lines, and lips that smiled. Now, I was looking at a shell. The man’s body had been forced upright, trembling hands pinned to metal armrests. I looked for hair, for facial features that made sense and were human– but all of that had been stripped away. There was just agony.
It was agony I didn't know or understand, that twisted his body, contorting him back and forth like a puppet on strings. The back of his head was gone, the startling white bone of his skull and pinkish mush of brain exposed, needles and wires stuck into the meat. The man’s eyes flickered open, suddenly, wide and frantic.
Terrified.
Staring directly at me, the whites of his eyes were blood red.
He jolted on the chair, his arms moving, fingers twisting around the arm rest.
“Tah-dah!” Wen danced over to the man, playfully prodding the bare meat of the guy’s brain. The man screamed, contorting in his chair, the lights above flickering. The ground shook under my feet, stray instruments flying into the air. I watched, baffled, as swirling silver danced around my head, needles and scalpels in a manic dance, before faltering, like he was losing control.
The guy’s head dropped, and so did the whirlwind of metal, hitting the ground.
“Behave.” Wen rolled his eyes. “Stop showing off.”
Slowly, the man’s head snapped up. His lips moved, a thin line of red oozing from his nose. His gaze stuck to me, and with every jerk of his wrist, every blink of his eye, I knew he was trying to rip me apart from the inside. My skin prickled. I could feel his presence brushing over me, prodding at my skull.
Wen flung out his arms like he was introducing a friend.
“This is Telekinesis! Well, I call him Zero two. Also Ryan. He's my most powerful. I can drug this guy into a fucking coma, and he still manages to rip a customer's head off,” Wen chuckled. “The trick was finding the right mix. Horse tranquiliser works miracles with telekinetics. It knocks em’ straight out with no mess.”
The kid’s smile widened. “Which is why your brains aren't splattering the walls right now!” he said in a sing-song.
“You're welcome, by the way!”
Zero Two let out an animalistic howl, struggling in the chair, and he laughed.
“You can shut up. Don't give me that look.”
Wen turned his attention to me. “All right, let's get you set up for the procedure.”
Zero Two’s gaze snapped to me, his lips moving.
Once.
Twice.
Run. He mouthed, and I glimpsed lingering humanity.
Wen jumped in front of me, dark eyes twisted with insanity.
“Well? Do you like him? You like him, right? Isn't he, like, fucking insane?!"
Another step, and he was closing the distance between us. “Your assimilation should take maybe an hour. Two, if your body rejects it. Which is a pain, but I've got the time! My Netflix subscription expired, so I have all night to work." Wen's lips curled. "I want to make you perfect."
“You're sick,” I managed to get out.
Wen shrugged. “It's business. You have empathy, and I don't. Ouch. Do you want Telekinesis or not?”
“No!"
Panic erupted inside of me, but I couldn't move. There was no way to run, and a psychotic kid held me at gunpoint. I didn't have a choice.
My freedom to choose had dissipated the second I made the decision to follow him inside his superpower farm.
Wen was surprisingly strong, his arms wrapping around my neck in a chokehold. Something cold pricked the back of my neck, and my body went limp. I hit the ground, half aware of Wen’s shadow looming over me.
My vision was blurring, but I could just make out the curl of his cruel smile.
“After all,” Wen’s voice swam in and out of reality, while my body plunged.
My eyes flickered, finding intense splatters of red staining the ceiling.
“I don't think I told you about my ability, did I? Oh man, it's the best part!"
He picked me up, and I was light as a feather, my head hanging.
Wen’s laugh sounded like thunder claps, and there it was again.
Just like in the cafeteria with Tai, my senses were twisting. The blood in my mouth was shaped like diamonds. I could see every bead, every cutting corner slipping from my lips.
Through tunnel vision, the boy's laughter had colour, pitch black darkness bleeding around him, like he was engulfed in ink. “Oh, dude, wait until I tell you about my father…”
His voice faded, and I stopped thinking for a while. I don't know how long.
Time seemed to flow in a separate singularity. Consciousness hit me slowly. Wen’s voice grazed the back of my mind, pulling me back to a reality I didn't want to be in.
I could already sense my numb body, my wrists pinned to metal armrests.
There are certain things your mind chooses to block out in favour of panicking your body. I was already aware that the back of my head had been ripped open, and my mind was raw and naked to the rest of the world.
It hit me in tiny electroshocks, not prominent enough to be pain. I don't think pain existed in that disorienting moment between half consciousness and awake. It was something else entirely, an uncomfortable agony that wasn't quite agony, because I couldn't feel it.
“Once upon a time,” the kid’s voice was mocking, and I could feel his fingers.
I could feel the tips of his fingernails digging into me, skittering right across the bare flesh of my brain. There was no scream in my throat, no panic in my chest. I think my body was in a state of paralysis. I remember opening my eyes to brutal light blinding me, rivulets of thick red beading down my arms, tiny rivers seeping down my skin. I closed my eyes again, sharp, heavy pants escaping my lips. “There was a boy with a father who was very intelligent.”
I was pushing out words, my mouth filled with blood.
Why are you doing this?
My lips moved, but the words failed to hit the sound barrier.
“Shhhh,” Wen hummed. “Listen to the story.” he cleared his throat, and his fingers continued to dig down, deep into the meat of my brain, pulverising tissue.
I felt nothing, and yet my body still reacted, jerking side to side. My eyes rolled back, darkness momentarily swallowing me up, only to spit me back out. “Anyway,” Wen continued. Through flickering eyes, I could glimpse steel protruding into my wrist.
“So, the boy had a super smart father who was obsessed with the supernatural,” Wen hummed. “Caaan you guess what the boy's father did?”
I didn't respond, my gaze lazily skating over ceiling tiles.
“He experimented.” Wen dug his fingernails in, and this time I screamed.
No pain, but my body was sure there was. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck and face, bile gathering in my mouth. “The boy's father was obsessed with unlocking a certain part of the mind. The boy didn't know this. One day, he was just exploring. His mother had been gone for a few days. But hey, his dad said it was cool. His Mom was just visiting family, and she'd be back.”
Another prod.
“Nope! The kid found his mother– or more appropriately, what was left of his mother. Daddy carved her brain out! Mommy was right there on the bed, her blood was still warm. He hugged her, and still remembers the blood on his face. He tried to wake her up, but Mommy was long dead. Dad had already cut up her brain for testing.”
He giggled, another explosion of colour seeping into my vision. “When his mother failed, his father used him!"
Deeper and deeper his fingers were going.
“It hurt him, Ophelia," Wen mocked a childish sob. "Oh, God, It fucking hurt enough for the boy to want to die over and over again. He spent a long time on a table made of stone, while his father cut him apart and stitched him back together. He stopped feeling pain. Fuck, he stopped feeling completely! Because the bastard had cut all of it away, all the bad emotions, and all the good, to make way for his greatest gift.”
No wonder Wen was a psychopath, his childhood was a never ending experiment.
“I think you know where I'm going with this story,” Wen chuckled. “My father wanted to turn me into a superhero. Just like the other kids he played around with. But he did the exact opposite.”
I held my breath when his fingers stopped moving, straying in cerebral tissue. “Dad didn't give me the powers I wanted,” his tone twisted and his fingers curled. That time I did feel pain, my lips parting in a silent scream.
“He gave me this.” Wen twisted his fingers again, and my white hot pain filled me, bleeding into my blood and bones. I screamed that time, my raw screech reminding my body I was still real. “The power to extract abilities that I can't take for myself,” Wen continued in a spiteful hiss. “And give them to others.” It was like being filled with electricity, my brain being boiled alive.
My eyes clouded, the lights above flickering.
I screamed again, my head lolling to the side.
“Sorry,” Wen muttered. “I'm trying to reach your cerebral cortex-- I think that's what it's called--but it's hard…” his voice faded in and out. “I should be better at this by now, but there's so much I have to dig through, and that's on top of keeping the customer alive with Zero Five’s ability. Urgh. I’ve got brain juices all over me.”
I counted ceiling tiles to distract myself.
“Almost…”
I lost count around the 400 mark, my body unsure whether to shut down or stay awake.
“There…”
Colours and stars spotted my eyes. I remember curling my fingers, and feeling a pull from somewhere, like a magnet repelling. Darkness found me once more, but even asleep, I could still sense that pull entangling around me.
“Wakey, wakey!”
Drifting back to fruition, I was sitting, my legs dangling off of a bed. When my hand instantly went to the back of my head, my fingers only grazed my own thick brown hair. I delved two fingers into my scalp, and there it was, thick rugged stitches sewing me back together. My first thought was Zero Two.
I tried to move my body to get up, but my limbs weren't working.
Dropping onto my hands and knees, I barely felt the impact.
Zero Two was gone. The chair where he'd been restrained was empty.
“Here! Let me help you.”
Wen was standing over me. He ducked to my height. I thought he was going to hit me, but he just pulled a stray needle out of my arm. “All right. Try now.”
I did, jumping to unsteady feet. Already, I was looking for a way out– and that strange magnetic-like pull was still there.
It moved with me, attaching itself to everything in my vicinity. I was sure with a simple jerk of my hand or finger, I could cause damage. Already, my mouth was moving, my heightened senses overwhelming me. Ariosa, the siren in the bed a few metres away, was easy to latch onto. “Where is he?” I demanded, already scanning for Zero Two.
Wen folded his arms. “Zero Two? Oh, I incinerate the original host after extraction,” he said. “Think of your ability like a virus. In rare cases, the power itself tries to find the original host, which can result in…problems.” he tutted. “Luckily, it was just one person. But I've been told to be careful.”
He shook his head. “Anyway! Enough about the shell. I want payment by Monday. If you can't pay, you can come work for me! You're telekinetic, and I need some extra weight to play catch.”
“Boss!”
A girl’s voice made me jump.
“We’ve got another one!”
Wen’s eyes lit up. “Watch this,” he grabbed my arm and pulled me back through the room, passing beds filled with supernaturals. I was lighter on my feet, already clumsy with my ability. I was knocking things onto the floor and sending beds crashing into the wall.
Wen was ahead of me, so I had one chance to do it.
I found Zero Two on a pile of bodies, each marked for incineration. His hands were tied, so Wen was lying about him being braindead. The man wasn't moving, his head clumsily stitched back on. But I still pulled apart his restraints. If he was strong enough, he would rip Wen apart.
Superpowers or no fucking superpowers.
Wen was greeted by two figures at the door. When I got closer, the shadows were even younger than him. The girl, twelve or thirteen, with blonde pigtails, and a boy, a little older than her. They looked like twins, the two of them wearing the same private school uniform as Wen. I was so busy staring at the little girl’s red slicked hands, I didn't see their catch.
There was a man curled up on the ground, bound and gagged, a bag over his head.
“Psychokinetic,” Pigtails shot Wen a grin. “The stupid-head came right to us.” She was hesitant to go near him, dancing back and forth, like she was playing a game. “Careful. I had to gag him with three layers of duct tape to stop him fucking with my mind. He connects through touch and speech. And he's strong. Like soooo strong!"
“Seriously?” Wen whistled. “Damn.” he knelt next to the fresh catch. “I have pre-orders for a psychokinetic, but I don't think I've ever met one since dad’s collection.” the boy straightened up and kicked the lump, forcefully rolling the man onto his side. I caught a flash of familiar dark brown curls slipping from the bag over his head. Tai. I could see the beaded bracelet I got him for Christmas, and his engagement ring.
He had just gotten engaged, his girlfriend proposing to him two weeks earlier.
But Tai didn't have an ability.
He couldn't have. I would have known!
Wen’s smile made me feel sick, a triumphant grin. “I can harvest him tonight and greenlight those orders!”.
"Yay!" Pigtails jumped up and down, while her brother's smile wavered.
I had an ability, and I had no idea how to use it.
It felt like a magnet, like I could pull things apart and rip into solid objects.
But I had no idea how.
For example, I tried to tear into Wen’s mind. But he was already nodding at his child soldiers to take me down. I hit the ground, and the last thing I saw was the little bastard scooping Tai into his arms.
I woke up inside my apartment, lying on my bedroom floor.
But I couldn't move.
I blinked, and I was standing in front of the subway, my feet teetering on the edge.
Jumping back, I had no memory of getting there.
I blinked again, and this time I was standing in the middle of traffic.
Die.
There was a voice in my head, a snarl creeping into the back of my skull.
It was persistent, trying to shove me into the path of a truck. I could sense the voice trying to use the ability now inside me. This time he could use it. I managed to wrangle back control before he sent the Subway derailing.
Die!
I've only known this world for a few days. I've lost my best friend, and I've been illegally fucked with by a teenage psychopath and his army of children.
I don't know about the origin of these powers, and I don't know how Tai is a psychokinetic. I don't know how to get him back, and even if he's alive.
But there is something I am 100% sure of.
Zero-Two is inside my fucking head.
2023.11.23 02:20 StephJanson Peak Aeldari Dominions vs the Infinite Empire Part VII
Population Replenishment
Population replenishment grades each side’s ability to sustain conflict over long timescales, by recovering and returning to battle, time and again.Eldar: Level 1 Drukhari use amniotic tubes or vats to artificially grow and replenish their population. The Haemonculi can reanimate their dead using pain (which would probably be impractical to produce en mass in a war against the Necrons).
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Probably the most straightforward population replenishment mechanism came from Level 3 Eldar who simply reincarnated upon death.
Before the Fall, when the aeldari had been consumed by the deity birthed out of their own decadence, their spirits had been gathered in the Eternal Matrix. A soul could return to a new life. Resurrection. Reincarnation. Rebirth.
- Wild Rider, pg 8
Even when an Aeldari died, after a millennia long-life, their spirit dissolved calmly back into the aether for them later to be reborn, thanks to the care of their gods. The warp did not thirst for their souls then, as it does today.
- Codex: Eldar 9th ed, pg 10
None can claim to be the equal of their ancient forebears, the Aeldari - they who married physical excellence, with prodigious psychic ability, safe in the knowledge that upon their death they would rejoin the endless cycle and be reborn.The Eldar are also able to bestow reincarnation on others. The Autarch Slau Dha does this for John Grammaticus (after first bringing him back from the dead), turning him into a Perpetual (Legion, pg. 141)
- Fracture of Biel-Tan, pg 4
---
Yvraine via Ynnead can simply resurrect the dead outright. In Blood of the Phoenix she resurrects a Banshee from across the galaxy, while she is in another dimension, and in the penultimate chapter of Ghost Warrior, it’s shown that if she dies Ynnead can just resurrect her too. She can even return to life those affected by The Rubric of Ahriman (Appendix, VII-a). Situationally she also seems to be capable of mass resurrection.
Iyanna shrugged and searched the chaos for her sister-of-the-dead. She spied Yvraine moving through her people, the silver light of her presence falling upon the living and dead alike. Those close to the embrace of Ynnead were saved, spirits returned to their bodies before the link was severed.---
- Ghost Warrior, Ch33
Upon death, Fabius Bile can transfer his consciousness into living creatures implanted with crude replicas that he built of a Drukhari pattern transference devices after studying in Commorragh. He also has some of his living allies implanted with these devices, allowing him to escape death by transferring his mind into their bodies if needed (Manflayer, Ch11). He has hundreds of clones (Clonelord, Ch 24) scattered throughout the galaxy, ready to be awakened at a moment's notice (Primogenator Ch3). Eventually Bile learns to create a hive-mind of sorts between a handful of his of his clones, allowing them to act on his behalf simultaneously (Manflayer, Epilogue).
Flavius Alkenex, the former Prefector of the Emperor's Children Legion's Phoenix Guard has this to say of Bile:
Kill one Fabius, another sprouted half a system away, the Clonelord was named so for a good reason, he had been dispatched almost as often as cursed Lucius, only to return more spiteful than everAlkenex concludes that permanently destroying Fabius means waging wars on multiple fronts.
- Clonelord, Ch13
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Level 1 Eldar can make use of their dead in wraith constructs if they need bodies quickly. They can grow wraith constructs in as little as a few hours (Valedor, Ch10).
With Ynnead’s birth, the Eldar discover a way to salvage souls, by transferring them into other living Eldar, allowing two souls to share a single body (Ghost Warrior, Ch11). Other Eldar can do this without Ynnead, but this process is unstable, slowly killing the body over the years (Wild Rider).
In a quirkier version of soul transfer, the former seer Estrathain split his soul between dozens of semi-synthetic, semi-organic puppet-like bodies called Kamis that could also use psychic powers (Path of the Outcast, Part 2: Beginnings). Like Bile's Drukhari derived clone network, Kamis don't need to maintain proximity - Estrathain sends a Kami to hunt for Spirit Stones in to the heart of the Eye of Terror.
The Haemonculus Bellathonis uses a homing psychic beacon to escape his body and swap souls with someone else (Path of the Incubus, Ch22). This is called transmigration.
Craftworld Eldar with special training can Transmigrate into each other’s waystones and back (in the book Farseer Auric shows he can even do this with a human so long as they have a Waystone) - they can even take control of each others’ senses and movements in this way - in Sky Hunter a Spiritseer goes on a suicide mission in a Hemlock Wraithfighter to Destroy one of Anrakyr the Traveller’s Necron Lords. By transmigrating out of her body she avoids the destruction of the Wraithfighter.
The Hemlock’s weapons flared, and though there was no sign of a discharge, Elarique heard a discordant wail and the Necrons fell, like puppets with cut strings. They did not repair, and their bodies did not phase out. Had they been mortal, their spirits would have been hurled into the warp, doomed to spend eternity as the playthings of daemons. What such infernal devices would do to the souldark, Elarique could not guess… The Hemlock swooped low and sent what passed for souls in those creatures of the damned to oblivion… They circled above the Hemlock squadron and watched as the terror-craft fired their distortion scythes. A swathe of the enemy fell, never to rise again, amongst them a golden-skinned lord of their kind… Keladry watched, and Maireth watched through him, as an arc of electricity from the weapons on the necron war machine annihilated the Hemlock wraithfighter that sat motionless in the sky, and the spiritseer’s body was consumed by fire. Keladry’s waystone flared a bright crimson and warmed. With a cry of rage, he pulled hard on the throttle, avoiding impact with the monolithic necron construct by mere metres. ‘Maireth?’The ancient Eldar were not restricted to transmigrating into other bodies with souls. They could basically tansmigrate into anything, including inanimate objects and other dimensions.
‘I… am here, Keladry. Your waystone saved me. It is my spirit stone now.’
- Sky Hunter
The most extreme transmigrated themselves into animals, ships, structures or even entire sub-realms.Animals: We get flashbacks to Asurmen’s life before the fall where he transmigrates himself into a tree, and notes that he had transmigrated into animals before (he calls this “mind-shifting”, which may or may not transfer the soul like transmigration does). Similarly, the 9th ed Eldar Codex says that murdered Eldar would sometimes come back as hawks that would fly over their murderer, suggesting the Eldar could transmigrate into other life forms as a sort of ejection seat for their souls upon death.
- Path of the Archon, Ch11
Ships: We see some examples of this in Asurmen. Asurmen’s ship Stormlance contains a piece of Asurmen’s soul - combining transmigration, with splitting one’s soul - as in the case of a Kami.
Sub realms: Some Eldar seem to have actually merged with the web-weave.
And those that went further, merged with the web-weave to become something else again.’---
- The Storm of Silence, Ch 11
In its (botched) half-awake state Ynnead, has freed Ynnari souls from being eaten by Slaanesh on death. Instead, upon death their souls are instantly absorbed into the Whisper, a sort of gestalt consciousness that the Ynnari share with each other and Ynnead, like an Infinity Circuit that exists in the Eternal Matrix (see above). This is a long forgotten Eldar ability that predates Slaanesh.
For each aeldari that fell, their spirit bolstered the others, their death-cry scattering across the Whisper to fuel the blows of Yvraine and the Visarch, steeling the courage of their followers…This describes an instant population replenishment mechanism of sorts. While it doesn’t instantly replenish power in the forms of new bodies, it’s a way of recycling soul power upon death into other Eldar, or directly into a God. This beautifully ties together the lore of various Aeldari sub factions (Appendix, VII-b).
The Asuryani, the drukhari, the Exodites and the others are but fragments of the completeness of our people. When we are Reborn, we become aeldari once more, and in doing so can use the lifeforce of the departed. We have no need of crude infinity circuits and spirit stones of the craftworlds, nor the tortures and depravities of Commorragh. We are united by the Whisper…
‘What you believe is psychic communion is simply the natural language of the dead. Since the Fall it has been impossible to listen to directly, the birth-shriek of She Who Thirsts echoes still through the soul-matter of our people. The craftworlds use runes and crystal to filter out the noise, and my kin in Commorragh blanket it with the screams of their victims. The Whisper is pure thought, the essence of being aeldari. It is untouched by the corruption suffered by our bodies’...
This was the greatest gift of Ynnead, to tap into the long-forgotten aeldari power to absorb each other’s spirits – and to a lesser extent those of other creatures. This was the power of shared-thought unrestrained by the psychic teachings and circuitry of the Asuryani, not weakened by the soulthirst of the drukhari.
- Ghost Warrior, Ch1, Ch9, Ch15 & Ch24
Necrons: When Necrons lose a battle, they simply phase out to the nearest Tombworld where they are stitched back together. Sometimes as quickly as hours later (Spirit War).
Large Necron ships also have 'rebuilding crypts' to which Necrons can phase out.
It's important to note that there is a level of damage from which Necrons cannot recover. At this point they will try to self-destruct to prevent their tech from falling into enemy hands (Codex: Necrons, 9e, pg 11). In a battle with modern 40K Orks, it’s estimated that about 3% of Necrons will be damaged too badly to translate (teleport) back to the Tombworlds for repair.
‘Translation recall failure rates, milord’, it clarified sunnily. ‘You know – for the warriors’. Then it offered to list more statistics, and Oltyx declined...3% per battle compounds fairly quickly. After 25 battles a force would be down to below half strength.
They meant that for every hundred warriors destroyed, anywhere up to three would never return, their patterns uncaptured by the reconstruction vaults. And that didn’t count those that would suffer permanent physical or mental impairment due to faulty reassembly.
- Ruin, Ch2
I bring these up to highlight limitations to population replenishment on the strategic level (i.e. over the course of a war), but it seems Necron doctrine also starts to break down insofar as they face true death on the tactical level (i.e. over the course of a battle).
As he took in the casualty figures, Oltyx realised just how much the protocol of recall had obscured the insane wastefulness of necron doctrine, over the years. Without the ability to teleport broken warriors away for reconstruction, the standard patterns of assault were exposed in all their devastating inefficiency.As we’ve also already discussed, warp based weapons such as Eldar distort weapons can prevent a Necron from resurrecting.
- Reign, Ch18
Weapons descendant from the War in Heaven similarly prevented repair and translation. Note this is not describing a cannon - the Eldar simply 'break' reality and use that as a weapon.
Beams of blackness sliced into being in the void. Magenta and cyan haloed them as reality broke along their edges. They struck the necron ships. Matter and darkness unmade each other. The necron ships turned, shivering through reality as they moved. Their hulls were made of material that could exist across dimensions, could slide in and out of being to protect itself. To the weapons of most races in the galaxy that would have made them near invulnerable. The weapons cutting them now were the descendants of those made in the First War. They had been made to kill the undying. And kill they did. The beams of darkness annihilated what they touched, leaving nothing to remake, nothing to phase into unreality.Like the Eldar, Necrons are not limited in building certain constructs (i.e. non-Necrons). Canoptek Spyders can create Scarabs for example (at least they could when I played the tabletop).
- Ahriman Undying
Similarly, before the great sleep The Necrons also built 'false Necrons' - these are Necrodermis bodies created outside of bio-transference, and populated by AIs that simulate long dead Necrontyr, though this seems to be reserved for historically important figures (Deveourer). These Necrons are competent fighters, but for whatever reason the Necrons don't seem to do this on scale. In fact they seem pretty sure that their numbers are doomed to decline.
When the last of the tombs underwent their reawakening, the armies of the necrons would number beyond reckoning. But they would only ever dwindle… Warrior by fallen warrior, the holes in the ranks would add up, until one day, only holes would remain. And so it would be for all the dynasties, eventually. The necrontyr might have been born to die, but the necrons were no less doomed.Summary:
- Ruin, Ch3
Top feat (theoretical): Theoretically, the Eldar could turn themselves into self-resurrecting pseudo perpetuals, as the Autarch Slau Dha did for John Grammaticus. Even if they don't do this, the Eldar naturally reincarnated, and they don’t have an upper limit on the number of times they can return to battle. Unlike reincarnation, Necron translation and repair has an error rate which compounds with time. Translation can also be disabled by high levels of damage or the use of certain weapons.
Conclusion: ELDAR WIN - Without long term limitations on population replenishment, and a huge advantage in diversity of population replenishment mechanisms, the Eldar eventually take this one.
Speculation on population replenishment
Top feat (applied): In practice, I kind of doubt that the Eldar could actually turn themselves into perpetuals on mass. There's just no evidence of widespread use of this ability - though granted, this might be because their natural ability to be reborn made it redundant. But whatever the mass-use mechanism, their various options seem far more resilient to a mutually assured destruction scenario. The Eldar can produce clones, reanimate, resurrect, transfer their dead into wraith constructs and re-incarnate anywhere there are other Eldar – that could be on their home worlds, but it could also be on remote colonies, in the Webway, or on Craftworlds roaming the void of space. In some cases it could even be on front-lines. Meanwhile, when Necrons phase out, they phase out to Tombwolrds and large ships, so if the Tombworlds/ships are destroyed (or even overwhelmed by casualties), their population replenishment mechanism could plateau and then fail. We see this when the Ultramarines return to Damnos:Damnos’ Necrons are laid low, their leaders slain and their resurrection made impossible through the destruction of their stasis-crypts.It’s important to mention that even when Tombworld are destroyed, the Necrons can theoretically simply phase out to another Tombworld (they do this in SoB II), but in a conflict where destroying worlds is relatively easy, they will eventually run out of Tombworlds.
- Codex: Necrons, 7e pg. 31
This means the Necrons have critical infrastructure that they must defend, whereas the Eldar can afford to lose their planets and continue to be effective as a decentralized, distributed fighting force. A single surviving Eldar can start summoning various population replenishment tools. If they have (or can summon) a Fireheart they can also begin replenishing lost planets, replace destroyed stars etc. Even bereft of all planets and ships, Eldar infantry can still pose a serious threat, crossing the galaxy using the webway and deploying hand-held planet busting weapons. It’s hard to overstate how important this is. The Eldar have a clear objective they need to achieve to win the war, but it's almost impossible for the Necrons to deliver a true knockout punch, or even scatter the Eldar to a point where they are no longer dangerous. Leave one Eldar alive for long enough and the Dominions will rebuild themselves in some obscure spur of the webway.
—
We don't really know what Aeldari reincarnation looked like. The lore suggests this might have happened in a variety of ways. The Wild Rider quote mentions resurrection, reincarnation, and rebirth. Let's examine all three, starting with rebirth, and working backwards. Just keep in mind as we go that these are nebulous terms and every author uses them slightly differently, and sometimes interchangeably.
Rebirth is probably the most strait forward. As previously mentioned, the 9th Ed Eldar Codex says Aeldari souls migrated to the warp, which pre-Slaanesh was not dangerous (yet further evidence of the power of their gods), and was then reborn "later". We don't know whether later is "a few days, years etc. The word 'rebirthed' suggests souls from departed Eldar entering newborn babies.
Unlike Necron translation errors, the Aeldari could be infinitely reborn. In Asurmen’s flashbacks we learn the pre-fall Aeldari planned to be reborn until the end of the universe.
There were some eldar that sought to outlive even the stars, being rebirthed again and again and again down the ages. Illiathin had no time for a universe without stars. What a cold, empty place that would be. The Immortal Intellects, as they were sometimes known, argued that thought and will existed in isolation to the physical. They alone would know how the universe would end, and were willing to endure eternity to see it.But how would such Aeldari remember their intent to see the end of the universe from their previous lives?
- Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan
Let's return to the following excerpt in which Yvraine shows some Aeldari their past lives - perhaps this was standard practice across Aeldari society.
He remembered - recalled as though he had been there - vast cities in space larger than any craftworld. Giant figures that reminded him of the avatars of Khaine stalked alongside them, taller than Phantom Titans, bearing weapons that devastated strange cities and incinerated armies of unkempt alien beasts. He witnessed flights of starships that dwarfed the Ynnead's Dream [an Eldar Battleship] laying waste to whole star systems. Endless legions of skeletal warriors and terrifying engines of destruction fell upon him, razing worlds. With them flew the sun-eaters, feeding upon the suns of their foes, the galaxy swathed with shadow by their passing.Note that the above quote suggests the Aeldari are still rebirthed (i.e. how can they be shown a previous life unless they had already lived it).
'What...? How....?' He regained a modicum of focus to find Yvraine standing directly in front of him, her stare no less penetrating than before.
'Your aeldari soul remembers', she told him. ‘It has survived as long as the constructs buried beneath the surface of this world [talking about a vault from the War in Heaven]. In fact, it has thrived and lived, not dwelt in stasis. It has learnt and grown and become more powerful than ever. But trapped within the shell of your body it cannot express.’
‘Express what?’ Nuadhu pushed himself upright and looked at the planet again, only to avoid the unsettling stare of Yvraine.
‘Everything.’ He dragged his eyes back to her, angered at what seemed a thoughtless violation of his mind.
‘Why did you show me that?’
‘So that you no longer have to imagine it.’ Yvraine’s expression softened almost imperceptibly. ‘And to think perhaps of what we seek, and to know the feats of which your spirit is capable if allowed free.’
- Wild Rider, pg 230-231
Perhaps reincarnation also overlaps with this definition. But perhaps it's literal - the act of coming back to life in a new incarnation, i.e. a new body.
In the Cripple and the Dragon, Vaul takes the souls of dead Eldar and puts them into ‘Iron Knights’.
'[Vaul] was able to forge the souls of the departed into the things he made. In this manner he defeated the Necrons who were preying on his people... Vaul took the souls of the departed, and forged them into new bodies. He placed their essences into the chests of an army of iron knights, animated by the souls of the Eldar dead. He intended to fight the Necrons on their own terms. In this form they marched to war once more... the Iron Knights towered over their Necron foes, and the lightning blasts that would have ravaged an Eldar warrior had no deadlier effect upon them than a light breeze. They were led by wraith-giants, inhabited by the souls of the greatest of Eldar heroes, fully three times taller than a Necron and virtually indestructible. The Knights they led carried arcane weaponry that could channel and project soulfire, ripping their foes apart in a split second. Wave upon wave of Necrons, each deadlier than the last, was sent from the tomb-forges against the indefatigable warriors Vaul had created. None could defeat them.'He and Khaine create similar 'spirit warriors' during the Aeldari's War in Heaven (not to be confused with the War in Heaven against the Necrons).
- The Cripple and the Dragon
When the War in Heaven was at its height, the followers of Khaine numbered many. They were dire foes to the Children of Eldanesh and Ulthanesh, for they had given in wholly to their bloodlust. Yet, one-by-one the Champions of Khaine fell. Khaine would not relinquish his servants so easily, and kept their spirits, armouring and arming them to continue the war. Though they were as bloody-handed as their master, these warriors also were defeated and fell. Still Khaine would not release them. Despite Khaine’s threats and tortures the Smith-God, Vaul, would forge no more armour and arms for the Bloody-Handed God to rebuild his armies. Khaine would not release his grip on those that had sworn themselves to his cause, and he crushed them together in his iron fist, so that several would fight as one, sharing such weapons as Khaine could spare. Filled with the wrath of Khaine, the spirit-warriors slew many of Eldanesh and Ulthanesh’s children.Unlike a soul returning into a newborn that must grow to adulthood, the above seems to describing souls returning into crafted suits of armor, allowing them to return combat ready. This is how modern Eldar use wraith constructs.
- Path of the Warrior, Rebirth
As mentioned, The Eldar Autarch Slau Dha bestows reincarnation on the human John Grammaticus.
'Technically, I was. A reincarnating immortal. Fun times. I was one of your lot by default.Grammaticus' reincarnation is written differently in different books. In some instances, his reincarnation might bleed into what we might call resurrection - specifically, the self-healing, self-resurrecting powers of human Perpetuals.
'By the manipulation of the xenos aeldari,’ said Erda. ‘Not one of us. You merely rhymed with us.’
- Saturnine, P2Ch1
A burst of incandescent light from its weapon array was pre-empted by a hot flare of pain and the searing white magnesium flash that accompanied being shot. Grammaticus knew he was hit even before he felt the blood seeping through his clothes, and the chill as his frail human body was torn open... almost cut in half by that deflected shell...If this is what the Aeldari meant by 'reincarnation', this opens the door to the terrifying possibility that whole swathes of Aeldari society were given this gift, which would certainly make sense for combat. I mentioned I thought this is unlikely, but let's explore this a little further.
[Later]
When he blinked, a thin crust of dried blood parted and flaked away off his eyelid. His back hurt from an hour spent lying in the cold and on this slab. Vaguely aware of remembered pain down his side, he reached over to explore the injury but found only reknit skin and bone.
‘Not again...’ groaned Grammaticus, and heaved himself up... He found no stitches, but he was still badly bruised despite his new sleeve of flesh. Slau Dha, you wretched alien bastard...
‘You could not have lived,’ Shen’ra accused. ‘Your wounds... I saw you die on that slab in there. You could not have lived.’
‘And yet, here I am.’
- Vulkan Lives, Ch9, Ch17 & Ch20
In support this theory, every Aeldari does seem to have an accelerated hidden process hidden deep in their core. The Spiritseer Iyanna is able to trigger it. The excerpt even uses similar wording, describing Aeldari healing as the tissue reknitting itself, much like Grammaticus' body.
...she laid a hand on his leg. Spirit energy slipped through her fingers, igniting the accelerated healing processes hidden deep inside the core of every aeldari. Coaxing his nervous system into a burst of life, blood flowing from his quickening heart, she guided his body to begin knitting broken bone, replenishing lost cells.Yvraine actually speculates that Iyanna has a shard of Asuryan in her - the "lord of the reborn Phoenix"(Wild Rider, Ch16).
- Ghost Warrior, Ch34
So powerful are the healing properties in the Eldar that they might have spawned a god. I recently heard an interview with Gav Thorpe, in which he says that one of the things he hinted at in the Path of the Eldar series was the idea of the godess Isha as the embodiment of the healing properties of the Eldar genetics (Appendix, VII-c). Interestingly, the Perpetual Erda, the geneticist responsible for the Astartes, theorizes that Perpetualism is a genetic mutation (Saturnine).
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I'd speculate that being trapped in a Tesseract Labyrinth would counter Eldar reincarnation in the same way it prevents demons from reforming in the warp, but I don't see this as a scalable counter.
The Nightbringer would likely also offer a blanket counter to Eldar population replenishment:
Then came Kaelis Ra, the Death-bringer... Populations fell before its scythe, its very gaze slew even the greatest of Eldar heroes. Those that died lost everything, even their souls.But this too hits a scaling issue. The Nightbringer isn't going to solo the whole Aeldari Empire.
- The Birth of Fear, White Dwarf 273 (UK)
Another options the Necrons might have is to somehow stun the Eldar and then try to place them in stasis fields. On Solemnace, Trazyn has a War in Heaven era (level 3) Aeldari trapped in a stasis field - most of Trazyn's stasis field displays are still alive, which would suggest that Eldar was unable to reincarnate. But this too might not work. There is a story in Prometheus Requiem (Fear the Alien Anthology) in which an Eldar in a stasis field can in fact use their psychic powers.
Similarly, psychically imbued items continue to function in a stasis field e.g. the Bell of Saint Gerstahl psychically tolls in Trazen's stasis field, doing continent-wide damage to Solemnace (The Bleeding Stars), and it’s said the power of the Spear of Twilight can’t be contained by an Eldar stasis field (Valedor). So maybe the Eldar in Trazyn's stasis field is in fact dead - or did transfer their consciousness out.
A more scalable solution is likely found in blackstone pylons - which emit a null field that binds the soul to the body and blocks the Whisper:
Her kin were dying, their spirits trapped within the prison of cooling flesh that had been their bodies, the pressure of the necrontyr anti-psychic wards enough to chain a soul to its physical incarnation.So long as the Necrons could fight in a null field (e.g. bringing them to the Eldar, using Gloom Prisms for example), perhaps they could foil reincarnation so long as they can hold ground (though I’d imagine that if the Eldar are able to destroy the world, the destroyed null field would release the souls). But perhaps this would not be an obstacle - Eldrad at one point successfully pierces the null field (see the section on Pylons) in Wild Rider (just as Greyfax pierces the Cadian Blackstone Pylon null field - though it had not reached full effect yet), and so perhaps Level 4 Eldar, able to draw on their power without fear of Slaanesh, could do this too.
- Wild Rider, pg 330
Soul transmigration might also allow Eldar to escape their bodies while under the effect of pylons. While we’ve discussed one example of a transmigration using a psychic homing device, there are others that are probably not mediated by psychic technology. In the final chapter of Path of the Archon, Belthonis uses a transmigration device to rip an Archon’s soul out of his body, and imprison it in another body. He does this in front of Vect, who’s only rule is ‘no psychic stuff lest it cause a Dysjunction’, and he does this in the aftermath of a Dysjunction that almost destroyed the entire Webway. Based on this, I could imagine a soul ‘ejection seat’ that could transmigrate an Eldar’s soul, non-psychically, out of a pylon’s effect, and into a sub-dimension.
The Necrons have an artifact called the Ymga Monolith, which was both a powerful Pylon, and duplicated Necron ships that come into contact with it. While not strictly speaking a tool for replenishment of population, it is a tool for the replenishment of the tools of war (more on the Monolith under Pylons).
The simplest way for the Eldar to get around the Necrons' main population replenishment mechanisms would probably just be to deal massive damage. We've talked about the Eldar's ability to create black holes, and we know from the lore that even a transcendent C'tan (Appendix, VII-d) will flee for fear of being trapped:
"You’re forgetting the small matter of the singularity!" Cawl shouted. "If that portal closes, you will have no escape... Not even you can flee a black hole. No power in this universe can!" Cawl cackled in triumph. "So you either fly out of that hole and eat that delicious star I’ve found for you, or you can stay here and die with me."The Eldar seem to have all the ingredients for a rapid reincarnation mechanism. Upon death, the Eldar soul would be instantly extracted from the body into an Eldar god via something like the aforementioned ancient version of the Whisper, or simply naturally enter the Eternal Matrix (or the warp) as they would have done before the birth of Slaanesh. Eldar psykers would then extract these souls from the Eternal Matrix and deposit them into constructs and clones or into other living Eldar. As we'll discuss later, the Eternal Matrix reaches every populated world via the webway, and connects every Aeldari, so it's possible these souls could be accessed from just about anywhere. How quickly these souls could be deposited is not known. That said, I’d imagine the process is quite rapid, the process of extracting an Eldar spirit from an Infinity Circuit and into a spirit stone takes a few seconds (Path of the Seer), and wraith constructs activate near instantly once a spirit stone is placed in them. In Deathwatch: The Last Guardian we see an Eldar die and instantly transfer her soul into a nearby Wraithlord with an empty spirit stone.
Zarhulash stopped. The orb of its being pulsed angrily. Then, with a frustrated roar, it pulled in its limbs. "Know this, slave", roared the C’tan, "that you have earned the undying wrath of Zarhulash. We will meet again, and you shall know the true cost of defying a living god".
"I still won though, didn’t I?" said Cawl.
The C’tan bellowed, swelled to twice its previous size, then shrank into a small, bright dot that flew up and out of the portal.
- The Great Work
Similarly, Vaul could insert Eldar souls directly into Iron Knights (or other wraith constructs) as he did in the Cripple in the Dragon and as he did for Khaine's Spirit Warriors. We don't have a clear example of how fast this process is, but I doubt a God would be much slower than an Eldar.
The Eldar's ability to reincarnate in this way could also enable them to be a lot more liberal with the use of weapons of mass destruction on the front-line. They would destroy many of their own warriors, but they would reincarnate.
The Necrons meanwhile would be unlikely to recover from this. As we've discussed, there are levels of damage they can't recover from - anything above planetary destruction seems to qualify. In extremis, the Eldar could use something like Shadowlight to destroy half the galaxy, and then replace the suns and planets after the war.
Bile's consciousness transfer tech (derived from an Eldar infinity circuit) bypasses the need to extract/place the soul altogether. Upon death, it transfers consciousness from the body to pre-prepared clone - a near instant replenishment mechanism. Imagine a base of operations hidden in the Webway, full of biovats pre-growing fresh Eldar bodies for ongoing consciousness transfer, and then spewing them through portals onto countless battlefields across the galaxy. An Eldar warrior is atomized on the battlefield, only to snap their eyes open in a vat a few moments later, their neural pattern transfer device has sent their consciousness into another clone. They focus their psychic powers, and the warp responds, cladding their body with psychoactive wraith-bone armor and the tools needed for the new mission. The vat is flushed into a portal and the warrior drops back into battle - a little wiser and angrier this time.
But perhaps the Eldar would not have to expose their true bodies to combat at all (Appendix, VII-e). Eldar mobilization for war might involve first inflating their numbers by splitting their souls into dozens of Kamis, each of which could use its psychic powers to control a hive mind of many cloned host bodies implanted with Wraithbone Neural Receivers. These clones would be the ones sent into battle, making their loss near irrelevant.
Also, how quickly could psychomatons and spirit-drones be replenished? A few hours like Wraithguard? Less once we remove the limits Slaanesh places on psychic powers? Would a level 4 Eldar invasion consist of never-ending waves of psychomatons being conjured on loop on the other side of the galaxy, and then being teleported into battle?
Doing true damage to a level 4 Eldar might require first defeating her robots, then her network forward deployed clones, then hunting down her psychic Kamis dispersed through real space, the Webway, and the Warp, and finally preventing her from using a pattern transference device, or transmigrating her soul to escape death. Finally measures would be needed to prevent the Eldar from being resurrected, reanimated, or reincarnated.
Next section
Table of contents
2023.11.22 15:59 _BlueLord Personal take on AoT ending
EDIT : I am getting a lot of backlash and blatant downvotes here probably due my harsh personal tone and bitching about western audiences for being a snowflake. As of yet, I have probably received only one response where someone provided some counter arguments to justify the ending and I respect that. What I find amusing is these pussies coming up with their: "you write long paragraphs, you arrogant angry kid,how dare you challenge our predetermined perception of the finale so rudely" without actually being open to an healthy discussion when challenged logically. I might have been wrong about the western audiences while I was writing this post but damn the comment section just proves me right that, the majority of the western audiences are absolute snowflakes. I expected a healthy open discussion about the finale here but I guess Copium is a more fundamental attribute in this sub. Keep yourselves cozy inside your shells. My apologies, goodbye and good riddance 👋
Note: I am an anime-only fan and I am not an radical ending-hater. It is my personal take on this subject. Constructive criticism shall be highly appreciated.
Aot was the anime which made me fall in love with Anime. Aot really ripped me inside-out and with this ending, it left a lot of open stitches. I won't say I absolutely hate the ending but damn it could have so much better. There are prominent plot holes, plot armor, loosely knitted characters and unanswered questions. You can justify and cope all day but it would be better if a fellow Aot fan can have the guts to suck it up and admit that this marvelous series had a haywire ending.
The Founding titan's actual whereabouts, Eren's entire character development, scout regiment members dying in the first 3 seasons and suddenly being invincible in the last season, armin with his talk no jutsu convincing Zeke ( an age old nihilist ) in a few minutes, convenient "luck" for allies, old titan shifters resurfacing for a limited time, erehhh's rebellious phase and idiocy being his justification for rumbling, genocide-hater armin only being angry only because eren didn't reciprocate his feelings for mikasa ? Eren pretending to be absolute chad for all 4 seasons to push his friends and mikasa away so that they don't get hurt emotionally and in the end reigniting the bond once again by spending time with each one of them personally via the paths ? That is supposed to emotionally hurt eren's friends even more. Also, Aot basically being a teenage love story , after all this time ? Ymir had to wait 2000 years for an average abuse-worshipper teenage girl like Mikasa ? There are so many canonical questions which are left unanswered and so many missed opportunities and failed character development arcs in the ending which makes it plain dumb.
I still believe Isayama had an alternative ending in mind but chickened out in the last minute due to majority of Aot audiences belonging from the west. Western audiences being a bunch of snowflakes and pussies who could potentially get triggered by the radical ideologies and outcomes of an anime ( a mere source of entertainment ), successfully discouraged Isayama from pursuing the actual ending. It could also be that Isayama was over-worked, burnt out and allowed very little time to develop a fitting conclusion for a complicated story like Aot. Only if Aot remained unpopular for a few more years....
I am not saying Aot ending with complete genocide would have been good and happy ending is bad. All I am saying is that, I fell in love with Aot because it didn't give a flying fuck about the audience's feelings. It shouldn't have ended conveniently for a bunch of pussies in the audience who couldn't accept realities of life and patronise fairytale endings.
Isayama did a humongous job by creating this phenomenal journey and he will always have my respect for his hard work and dedication. Perhaps, Aot not ending on the right note is the reality of life which we fans need to suck up and accept it for what it is and not what it could have been.
This is one of the most comprehensive videos I found on youtube on this subject and agree with most of the points discussed there. This video confirms some of the issues I had with the finale and much more. Have a look if you're interested: https://youtu.be/KqyFK0-nq3w?si=ZdcgD3_LMdAyIBD4
I would also love to hear all your opinions on this subject.
submitted by _BlueLord to attackontitan [link] [comments]
Aot was the anime which made me fall in love with Anime. Aot really ripped me inside-out and with this ending, it left a lot of open stitches. I won't say I absolutely hate the ending but damn it could have so much better. There are prominent plot holes, plot armor, loosely knitted characters and unanswered questions. You can justify and cope all day but it would be better if a fellow Aot fan can have the guts to suck it up and admit that this marvelous series had a haywire ending.
The Founding titan's actual whereabouts, Eren's entire character development, scout regiment members dying in the first 3 seasons and suddenly being invincible in the last season, armin with his talk no jutsu convincing Zeke ( an age old nihilist ) in a few minutes, convenient "luck" for allies, old titan shifters resurfacing for a limited time, erehhh's rebellious phase and idiocy being his justification for rumbling, genocide-hater armin only being angry only because eren didn't reciprocate his feelings for mikasa ? Eren pretending to be absolute chad for all 4 seasons to push his friends and mikasa away so that they don't get hurt emotionally and in the end reigniting the bond once again by spending time with each one of them personally via the paths ? That is supposed to emotionally hurt eren's friends even more. Also, Aot basically being a teenage love story , after all this time ? Ymir had to wait 2000 years for an average abuse-worshipper teenage girl like Mikasa ? There are so many canonical questions which are left unanswered and so many missed opportunities and failed character development arcs in the ending which makes it plain dumb.
I still believe Isayama had an alternative ending in mind but chickened out in the last minute due to majority of Aot audiences belonging from the west. Western audiences being a bunch of snowflakes and pussies who could potentially get triggered by the radical ideologies and outcomes of an anime ( a mere source of entertainment ), successfully discouraged Isayama from pursuing the actual ending. It could also be that Isayama was over-worked, burnt out and allowed very little time to develop a fitting conclusion for a complicated story like Aot. Only if Aot remained unpopular for a few more years....
I am not saying Aot ending with complete genocide would have been good and happy ending is bad. All I am saying is that, I fell in love with Aot because it didn't give a flying fuck about the audience's feelings. It shouldn't have ended conveniently for a bunch of pussies in the audience who couldn't accept realities of life and patronise fairytale endings.
Isayama did a humongous job by creating this phenomenal journey and he will always have my respect for his hard work and dedication. Perhaps, Aot not ending on the right note is the reality of life which we fans need to suck up and accept it for what it is and not what it could have been.
This is one of the most comprehensive videos I found on youtube on this subject and agree with most of the points discussed there. This video confirms some of the issues I had with the finale and much more. Have a look if you're interested: https://youtu.be/KqyFK0-nq3w?si=ZdcgD3_LMdAyIBD4
I would also love to hear all your opinions on this subject.
2023.11.19 03:13 iwfan53 (Fanfiction) Slay the Princess, I mean Spire: Chapter Two.
Slay the Princess Spire.
Chapter Two: I know you, you've been there from the start, so baby, chop, chop, chop, chop away at my heart!
The Princess and the Knight made their way upwards, finding the experience quite unsettling; mainly because the Spire wasted no time in revealing yet more of its unnatural nature.
Each stride was accompanied by the sound of grinding stone; no sooner was a step taken forward then where they’d previously been was consumed by the Spire. The architectural abomination left them ever facing a blank featureless wall only a few feet behind them.
Yet even more unnerving was the way such changes seemed completely content to match the Knight and Princess’ pace. There was no sense of them being hunted or threatened by the Spire’s rearrangement, only that they were being endlessly surrounded by them. It almost would have been better if there had been some element of threat, it would have meant that the Spire viewed them as dangerous. Instead, it evidently saw no reason not to bide its time.
“Do you think that he’s watching us right now?” The Princess couldn’t help but wonder.
From her tone of voice it was all too obvious who she meant, granted the somewhat short list of people they’d ever encountered helped.
“He better not be.”
Luckily the Knight and Princess were able to continue the process of climbing up the staircase, steadily placing one foot in front in front of the other, their determination never wavering even as the Spire reshaped itself around them, without needing to worry about an external being narrating their each and every action.
Finally they came to an archway and emerged into another room, slightly smaller than the one where they’d met the whale. Much like that room this one was completely empty save for a single entrance to a staircase leading up on the other side of the room, and a single figure who stood in front of it.
Rather than being a gigantic aquatic monster, this figure was… well if anything he in some way resembled the Knight.
The figure was a symmetrical bipedal being, and what was either its head or a seamless mask was crafted in the shape of a light blue avian. Its body was covered by a cloak of dark blue feathers and in either hand they grasped a sharpened wood stick crafted into an odd design.
“Relative of yours?” The Princess couldn’t help but ask.
“It’d be nice if they’re friendly.”
“My power is unmatched!” Bellowed the figure before striking the twin sticks against each other in an undeniably martial manner.
“I don’t think they’re friendly.” The Knight amended his previous statement.
/This foul fowl is surely no relative of ours, for how else could such a blackguard find it within their empty heart to bar the way of those in the blissful enrapture of true love?\
The figure in blue charged swinging their sticks with wild abandon.
With reflexes born of countless battles the Knight brought up his pristine blade to defend the Princess.
The wooden sticks to their credit proved to be strong enough not to break on impact with the blade, but all they managed to achieve was sending some slight tremors up the Knight’s arm as he deflected the figure’s strikes.
“Huh, this is a lot easier when I’m not fighting you.” He chuckled before his counter stroke filled the air with a small cloud of blue feathers, only failing to remove one of the figure’s limbs due to a lucky wild spasm on the figure’s part.
Heedless of the danger, the figure simply attacked again… but this time had been a slight tremor was now fierce enough to make the Knight’s fingers vibrate.
“Me and my big beak.” He groaned, fearing that if his foe’s strength did indeed just kept right on increasing….
Sure enough the figure’s next attack so jarred his arm that it took all of the effort he could muster not to drop the pristine blade.
“You said you had some of your other versions’ powers, is there anything you can do to help?” He begged the Princess while wishing he could find a proper chance exploit his foe’s utterly slapdash fighting style.
The only good news was that while the figure seemed to grow stronger with every strike, they weren’t growing any faster.
Rather than try to block or parry the figure’s next attack the Knight dodged to the side and the figure’s own momentum lead to them slamming one of their sticks into the floor.
“CRACK.”
By this point the figure was striking with such force that their wooden weapons somehow managed to sunder a section of stone floor revealing crudely packed dirt beneath.
“You know, I think I can.”
/See how our darling strives to aid us on the field of battle? Such boundless devotion!\
The Knight was too busy watching the figure then ducking, dodging and weaving out of the way of their attacks to pay any attention to the Princess at the moment, but if he had been watching her, he would have seen a remarkable change starting to overtake her body.
It was a good thing that the Princess was already barefoot since the process started with her feet practically doubling in size. Or was “feet” even really the right word to describe the appendages in question now? Given the layer of fur, and the collection of claws growing from them, surely “paws” was more apt?
Still more fur spread across the Princess’ body as her face warped into something that was as feline in nature as the Knight’s was avian, while a leonine tufted tail slid out from the back of her dress.
Petite fingernails became sharpened claws… yet the Princess had no intention of using them for the sake of battle. Instead she simply waved them about as if she was conducting an invisible inaudible orchestra. Soon the section of the Spire’s floor that the figure had heedlessly broken began to writhe about, as if something was moving underneath it....
The Witch (Princess):
Card Type: Power.
Energy Cost: 1.
Effect, Active Princess: At the end of your turn select one enemy at random, inflict two constrict or constrict equal to the number of times you attacked said enemy, whichever is greater.Effect, Empty Shell Princess: At the end of the turn inflict one constrict on a random enemy.
Upgraded Version:
Effect, Active Princess: At the end of your turn select one enemy at random, inflict three constrict or constrict equal to the number of times you damaged said enemy, whichever is greater.Effect, Empty Shell Princess: At the end of the turn inflict one constrict on a random enemy.
(Rule Clarification: You can only have access to the “ Active Princess” power of one card at any time. Whenever you play a new “ Princess” power card you will gain access to that card’s “ Active Princess” ability, and the “Empty Shell” ability of all previously played Princess cards).
Roots as thick as an arm broke free from unearthed dirt and lashed out wrapping themselves around the figure’s torso.
With utterly inhuman strength the figure still continued their attacks, their movements somehow not slowed in the slightest by being entangled by first one root, then two, then three….
The figure could still fight, and yet with every passing moment it became more and more obvious that the figure’s ribcage was waging a war it couldn’t possibly win.
“If you hadn’t insisted on attacking us, those roots wouldn’t be squeezing the breath from your lungs and choking the life out of you!” The Princess mocked the figure.
Given the ever increasing strength behind its blows, the figure should have been able to pry free the roots… but they had been so caught up in their endless assault that they never even made an attempt. Instead they opted to launch one final faltering attack on the Knight, before two sticks fell from limp hands.
“My power… was matched...” Croaked the blue clad figure as they perished.
No sooner had the figure collapsed than the vines that had ended their life retreated back into the floor. Not only that, but the floor itself seemed to shift, with stones merging back together so as to prevent the roots from being able to return. It seemed that the Spire wasn’t especially fond of anyone else altering its designs.
“You know when you said a little power, I thought, well a lot more little.” The Knight admitted as he paused to catch his breath, wishing he had a sheath to go with his pristine blade.
“The power is easier to channel when I’m angry. Like when no sooner have I laid eyes on someone then they attack me. What kind of a cold blooded killer would do something so cruel?” The Princess pondered with a taunting twitch of her tail.
/Only a dastard of the highest order!\
“Smitten, you and her are having two very different conversations.”
/How could such a thing be possible when our very essences are bound together by the crimson tether of true love? With such a connection how could mere words truly ever lead us astray?\
Honestly, the Knight wasn’t sure why he was even bothering.
Even as he spoke, he couldn’t help but notice that the Princess’ tail seemed to be retracting itself back into her body, her hair was busily unmussing itself and her tiara was transmuting from wood back to metal.
“Guess we’ve got no choice but to take those stairs next?” The Princess pondered.
“Think so. Especially since I don’t remember the walls always being quite that close...” The Knight noted while fixing a wary eye on the side of the room that they’d entered through.
Not only was it now a blank wall with no trace of a downward leading staircase, but it seemed to already be slowly edging its way closer. Clearly this was a none too subtle hint from the Spire that having secured a path forward they had best take it.
Since the force that was railroading them lacked a convenient disembodied voice to argue with, there didn’t seem to be much point in spending excessive time protesting how blatantly unfair this all was.
Instead the Knight and Princess just made their way to the next staircase and started heading upwards once more.
XXX XXX XXX
When the eventually managed to complete their journey up that staircase they emerged into a room whose design were a perfect match for those in which they’d done battle with the figure in blue.
Just like in that one, this room also only had one singular occupant awaiting them… sadly it looked even more unwelcoming.
The creature’s legs were relatively short and stubby… but only in comparison to the rest of it, and there was plenty of “rest of it” to go around. A massively muscled bare torso that was at least twice the length of the creature’s legs extended upwards past the Knight and Princess’ heads, from which a pair ape like drooping arms emerged. Its skin was a uniformly the red of a cooked lobster, while its eye sclera and horns were an unseemly yellow.
Clutched in one hand was, judging by its: ivory color, vaguely skull shaped adornment at one end and rib like protrusions, what had once been a significant portion of the skeleton of a former foe, now repurposed into a club that was equal parts crude and macabre.
Thin oblong red eyes glared down at the two new arrivals with disgust, as if their very existence was an affront to the beast’s senses.
“Seems like the whale was at least telling the truth about how the Heart makes everything in here want to murder us.” The Knight lamented.
/Indeed, only a beast without even the smallest scrap of a soul could be so utterly unmoved by the sight of two lovers whose only wish is to defend one another against a harsh and cruel world!\
“If he wants to hurt us that badly… then I’ll just have to be the one who hurts him instead!” Insisted the Princess as she pushed past the Knight to face the monster.
Without hesitation it brought down its weapon upon her and there was an ugly sound. A sound of something heavy and firm striking something wet and squishy. The Princess’ skull was caved inward by the attack, and a blizzard of skin and fabric was let loose upon the room.
Yet even as as the Princess was deprived of clothing, skin, muscle, and bone, some part of her still remained.
Some part of her that glistened.
The Princess’ body began to unfold like a clockwork toy, but the “clicks” that echoed off the walls were not generated by some internal mechanism, but rather a multitude of blades planting themselves against the floor.
Blades here, blades there, blades, well blades everywhere honestly. The only portion of the Princess’ anatomy that was still biological in nature was a heart that somehow hung suspended in midair, protected by a faux rib cage of blades. Her heart mysteriously beat on, despite all logic suggesting not only the impossibility but also the futility of such an action.
The Razor (Princess):
Card Type: Power.
Energy Cost: 2.
Effect, Active Princess: Whenever you deal damage from an attack gain half that amount of damage as block.
Effect, Empty Shell Princess: Whenever you play an attack card gain one block.
Upgraded Version:
Effect, Active Princess: Whenever you deal damage from an attack gain half that amount of damage+1 as block.
Effect, Empty Shell Princess: Whenever you play an attack card gain two block.
Where once the monster had towered over her, now the Princess could look the beast in the eye… not that she had any eyes of her own to look with at the moment.
For that matter she didn’t have any lips, teeth, jaw, gums, tongue, lungs, mouth or any other organs that might prove useful for the shaping of words, and yet she managed to speak all the same.
“Are you ready for what comes next?” The Princess taunted the monster.
The beast raised its club high into the air as it let loose with a bellow of rage.
The Princess responded by impaling the monster with a quite literal handful of blades.
The beast’s skin was tough as beaten leather though, and it didn’t help that the monster seemed too stupid to realize what manner of horrific injury had just been inflicted upon it. Rather than recoiling in pain, it brought its club down and smashed it into the Princess a second time.
The impact knocked her clear across the room, which also meant that the Princess’ blades inflicted a fresh round of lacerations as they were unceremoniously torn free from the beast’s body.
Indeed one might argue that the monster’s attack had inflicted more harm upon itself than upon the Princess given that all she’d suffered was some distinct dents, while a not so small pool of blood was starting to form at the beast’s legs.
/Don’t just stand there while our maiden engages in righteous melee with the ferocious foe, let us aid her!\ The smitten chastised the Knight.
While the Knight didn’t plan to directly charge the monster and risk finding out the hard way just what that club could do to his birdlike body, he had to admit that the voice had a point.
With the keening sound of metal on stone the Princess pushed off against the wall and began to advance towards the monster once more. Her body lacked any obvious method of ambulation and yet somehow the massive collection of blades that formed her lower half twitched, tilted and reshaped themselves ever so subtly allowing her to cross the distance between them like a metal millipede.
“You know, there are so many things I’d rather be doing right now. I wanted to look at a bird or touch a tree! Life, is, so, unfair!” Each word was punctuated by the infliction of a fresh series of puncture wounds on the monster.
It responded with an upwards swipe of its club with that struck what would have been the jaw of the Princess, making her metallic form ring like a bell.
While the big brute was focused on fighting a foe of roughly equal size and strength… it hadn’t noticed that the Knight had managed to creep around behind it.
Striking with a blade whose edge seemed to be impossibly keen given how effortlessly it sliced through the monster’s hide, the Knight severed the beast’s tendons.
It howled in anger again… but even as stupid as the monster was, it was at least dimly aware of the fact that one of its legs could no longer properly support its own weight. It collapsed down on one knee, which brought its head perfectly level with the Princess’s arms.
There was an ugly sound as both of the monster’s eyes had blades driven into them, and a quick twist of her wrist a few moments later was all it took to shear the creature’s head from its shoulders.
The massive crimson monster toppled to the floor, the oversized club joining it a few moments later.
“Princess, I’m a big enough bird to admit when I’m wrong. I want you to know, I genuinely enjoyed the mutual romantic subtext to that murder.”
The Princess stood there, somehow managing to pant in exhaustion even though she lacked lungs; her shining metal form dyed ruby by the blood of her foe.
“Do… do you still like me… even like this?” Asked a massive collection of swords shaped into crude facsimile of a human being.
The Knight reached out with a hand, tenderly taking one of the multitude of branching blades that served in place of fingers, somehow managing to find just the right grip to avoid slicing open his own flesh in the process.
Words didn’t seem necessary.
/Yes, our perfect woman!\ Which didn’t stop a new/old voice from speaking up all the same.
“Wait, doesn’t he tend to be...” The Princess began.
/Now let us beat her into scrap metal, let the halls ring with the sounds of our glorious confrontation!\
“Stubborn, we’re not going to fight her. We’re trapped in another bad situation, but this time she’s not the monster we have to fight.”
/You’re no fun anymore.\ Huffed the Stubborn.
Voice of The Stubborn :
Card Type: Attack .
Energy Cost: X .
Effect: Deal X \X* damage three times .
Upgraded Version: Deal X \* X damage four times .
/How could you be such a brute as to suggest that we should inflict savage violence upon one whose heart is filled with naught but affection for us?\ Smitten reprimanded his fellow voice.
While the Knight had never achieved what might considered “excessive” luck at corralling the various voices in his head, he decided he might as well make an attempt at it now before things got worse. The last thing he needed was for Stubborn to be constantly trying to convince him and the Princess to fight each other to the death.
“Stubborn, do you even know where are?”
/We’re in arena suitable for combat!\
The Knight wondered if Stubborn genuinely didn’t know or was simply being his usual combat mono-focused self. In the past every time that he’d gained a voice they’d always been perfectly aware of everything that had taken place recently… granted in the past every time he’d gained a voice it’d also been the result of him dying.
Either way, best to see if he couldn’t re-frame the matter.
“Stubborn we’re in some kind of mystical Spire. We’ve got no choice but to climb upwards, but each new floor is home to a monster stronger than the last.”
/A gauntlet!\
Unsurprising the Stubborn seemed quite enthusiastic about the idea.
/No, a quest! A chance that we might prove our self against foes of the flesh just as we already proved our spirit against that horrific interloper who tried to turn us against our beloved!\
“Uggh, I really hope this doesn’t hurt as much as I think it will...” The Princess sighed, while looking as uncertain as she possibly could at the moment, given that her “face” amounted to little more than some empty space between blades.
Then all of a sudden time started flowing backwards, at least where the Princess was concerned. Metal blades that had extended outwards began to fold in upon themselves. That on its own wouldn’t have been so strange, but torn pieces of flesh and cloth suddenly begin to lift themselves from the floor and fly back towards the Princess.
Her body shrunk as all the parts of herself that she’d previously discarded now began to reattach themselves, with her clothing knitting itself back together every bit as quickly as her flesh did.
Inch by inch and invisible stitch by stitch the Princess once more returned to her previous form. It wasn’t the worst thing the Knight had seen… but it was still a far from pleasant sight all the same.
“How was it?” He asked when whatever bizarre magic had been at play finally abated.
“You know how it feels when you sneeze?”
A quick nod of affirmation.
“It was nothing like that.”
End Chapter.
AN: So to start with, I just went and double checked and I am like 99% certain that we never actually see what the “standard” Princess is wearing for footwear due to the length of her dress always obscuring her feet. If I’m wrong someone please let me know and I’ll go back and edit it.
As things stand I’m going with her being barefoot since her corpse in the Spectre route while still having tatters of a dress on it is completely devoid of any kind remains of footwear.
Some meta stuff… I’m going to assume that the “You’re on a path in the woods” ending took place at least a few times before eventually reaching the “And? What happens next?” ending, with the latter ending and the decision to deliberately invoke it granting knowledge of all events that came before including the previous “endings”. This does directly contradict canon (where the “path in the woods” ending can involve the Princess saying there’s no way they’ll ever know if this isn’t the first time they’ve fully reset their memories), but this story is just more fun/interesting for me to write if the Knight and Princess already are reasonably familiar with all major permutations of their past rather than only having obtained five vessels for the Shifting Mound.
Also while Stubborn is always depicted as wanting to fight the Princess rather than just wanting to fight in general, some of that may also be that there’s literally nothing BUT the Princess to fight while they’re stuck together inside the construct. Either way, it wouldn’t be especially fun or interesting to have him be a burden to our protagonists by having him constantly insisting that the Knight and Princess should fight each other when they’ve both decided to team up against the Spire instead.
Now for some stuff about card design.
Witch was quite easy for me to design (she also made it quite easy for me to design the Opportunist who will show up later) since one of the most defining nature of her runs are when she seems to command the cabin to come alive and crush you to death, even if she experiences the same fate. Since base Slay the Spire already has “constricted” as a “deal X damage at the end of your turn” effect, it was a natural fit. The way that her stacks increase if you get attack an enemy numerous times reflects the ending where you and her fight each other until the cabin closes in around you both. I used to worry that she might be under costed at one energy, but then I remembered that Noxious Fumes is a thing. Unlike poison, stacks of constricted don’t decrease, but fumes places the poison stacks on all enemies while Witch does them only one, so it balances out.
Razor meanwhile is indeed something of a hard counter to to the Gremlin Nob. Granted, not as much as some cards I’ve seen playing modded versions of the game (there are ones that flat out delete enemy buffs which would let you completely ignore his enrage mechanic). I do feel my design is a good thematic fit for what we see of the Razor; the first time we meet her she has one arm replaced with a blade, the next time both arms, then there are a series of images with her bladed arms continue to split apart into more and more blades in each successive image, and it eventually leads up to her entire body being nothing but blades. Thus the more Razor stabs you, the more of her body becomes made of blades, and while under the Razor Princess effect the more you attack/stab your foes the harder you become (by gaining lots of block).
Stubborn meanwhile would probably require just a bit more tweaking if I was making an actual mod, but on baseline for three energy the normal version deals 27 damage upgraded deals 36 which is less than Ironclad’s bludgeon (32 and 42 respectively), it’s just that Stubborn offers a little more flexibility, and a can offer increasing benefits if you can either generate a ton of energy or gain a bunch of strength stacks, since stubborn dealing three (or four) instances of damage benefits more from strength stacks then a standard attack. Stubborn benefits from strength… that’s good gameplay and story integration!
Finally, while Stubborn does get some benefits from pairing with the Adversary Princess Card (we’ll see her later) he also synergizes well with Razor (after all, we all know how much he appreciates Razor) since while otherwise you might worry about dumping all your energy into doing nothing but attacking, dropping a full five energy into an upgraded Stubborn while you have Razor as your active Princess will not only deal a full hundred damage, but also give you fifty block!
submitted by iwfan53 to slaytheprincess [link] [comments]
Chapter Two: I know you, you've been there from the start, so baby, chop, chop, chop, chop away at my heart!
The Princess and the Knight made their way upwards, finding the experience quite unsettling; mainly because the Spire wasted no time in revealing yet more of its unnatural nature.
Each stride was accompanied by the sound of grinding stone; no sooner was a step taken forward then where they’d previously been was consumed by the Spire. The architectural abomination left them ever facing a blank featureless wall only a few feet behind them.
Yet even more unnerving was the way such changes seemed completely content to match the Knight and Princess’ pace. There was no sense of them being hunted or threatened by the Spire’s rearrangement, only that they were being endlessly surrounded by them. It almost would have been better if there had been some element of threat, it would have meant that the Spire viewed them as dangerous. Instead, it evidently saw no reason not to bide its time.
“Do you think that he’s watching us right now?” The Princess couldn’t help but wonder.
From her tone of voice it was all too obvious who she meant, granted the somewhat short list of people they’d ever encountered helped.
“He better not be.”
Luckily the Knight and Princess were able to continue the process of climbing up the staircase, steadily placing one foot in front in front of the other, their determination never wavering even as the Spire reshaped itself around them, without needing to worry about an external being narrating their each and every action.
Finally they came to an archway and emerged into another room, slightly smaller than the one where they’d met the whale. Much like that room this one was completely empty save for a single entrance to a staircase leading up on the other side of the room, and a single figure who stood in front of it.
Rather than being a gigantic aquatic monster, this figure was… well if anything he in some way resembled the Knight.
The figure was a symmetrical bipedal being, and what was either its head or a seamless mask was crafted in the shape of a light blue avian. Its body was covered by a cloak of dark blue feathers and in either hand they grasped a sharpened wood stick crafted into an odd design.
“Relative of yours?” The Princess couldn’t help but ask.
“It’d be nice if they’re friendly.”
“My power is unmatched!” Bellowed the figure before striking the twin sticks against each other in an undeniably martial manner.
“I don’t think they’re friendly.” The Knight amended his previous statement.
/This foul fowl is surely no relative of ours, for how else could such a blackguard find it within their empty heart to bar the way of those in the blissful enrapture of true love?\
The figure in blue charged swinging their sticks with wild abandon.
With reflexes born of countless battles the Knight brought up his pristine blade to defend the Princess.
The wooden sticks to their credit proved to be strong enough not to break on impact with the blade, but all they managed to achieve was sending some slight tremors up the Knight’s arm as he deflected the figure’s strikes.
“Huh, this is a lot easier when I’m not fighting you.” He chuckled before his counter stroke filled the air with a small cloud of blue feathers, only failing to remove one of the figure’s limbs due to a lucky wild spasm on the figure’s part.
Heedless of the danger, the figure simply attacked again… but this time had been a slight tremor was now fierce enough to make the Knight’s fingers vibrate.
“Me and my big beak.” He groaned, fearing that if his foe’s strength did indeed just kept right on increasing….
Sure enough the figure’s next attack so jarred his arm that it took all of the effort he could muster not to drop the pristine blade.
“You said you had some of your other versions’ powers, is there anything you can do to help?” He begged the Princess while wishing he could find a proper chance exploit his foe’s utterly slapdash fighting style.
The only good news was that while the figure seemed to grow stronger with every strike, they weren’t growing any faster.
Rather than try to block or parry the figure’s next attack the Knight dodged to the side and the figure’s own momentum lead to them slamming one of their sticks into the floor.
“CRACK.”
By this point the figure was striking with such force that their wooden weapons somehow managed to sunder a section of stone floor revealing crudely packed dirt beneath.
“You know, I think I can.”
/See how our darling strives to aid us on the field of battle? Such boundless devotion!\
The Knight was too busy watching the figure then ducking, dodging and weaving out of the way of their attacks to pay any attention to the Princess at the moment, but if he had been watching her, he would have seen a remarkable change starting to overtake her body.
It was a good thing that the Princess was already barefoot since the process started with her feet practically doubling in size. Or was “feet” even really the right word to describe the appendages in question now? Given the layer of fur, and the collection of claws growing from them, surely “paws” was more apt?
Still more fur spread across the Princess’ body as her face warped into something that was as feline in nature as the Knight’s was avian, while a leonine tufted tail slid out from the back of her dress.
Petite fingernails became sharpened claws… yet the Princess had no intention of using them for the sake of battle. Instead she simply waved them about as if she was conducting an invisible inaudible orchestra. Soon the section of the Spire’s floor that the figure had heedlessly broken began to writhe about, as if something was moving underneath it....
The Witch (Princess):
Card Type: Power.
Energy Cost: 1.
Effect, Active Princess: At the end of your turn select one enemy at random, inflict two constrict or constrict equal to the number of times you attacked said enemy, whichever is greater.Effect, Empty Shell Princess: At the end of the turn inflict one constrict on a random enemy.
Upgraded Version:
Effect, Active Princess: At the end of your turn select one enemy at random, inflict three constrict or constrict equal to the number of times you damaged said enemy, whichever is greater.Effect, Empty Shell Princess: At the end of the turn inflict one constrict on a random enemy.
(Rule Clarification: You can only have access to the “ Active Princess” power of one card at any time. Whenever you play a new “ Princess” power card you will gain access to that card’s “ Active Princess” ability, and the “Empty Shell” ability of all previously played Princess cards).
Roots as thick as an arm broke free from unearthed dirt and lashed out wrapping themselves around the figure’s torso.
With utterly inhuman strength the figure still continued their attacks, their movements somehow not slowed in the slightest by being entangled by first one root, then two, then three….
The figure could still fight, and yet with every passing moment it became more and more obvious that the figure’s ribcage was waging a war it couldn’t possibly win.
“If you hadn’t insisted on attacking us, those roots wouldn’t be squeezing the breath from your lungs and choking the life out of you!” The Princess mocked the figure.
Given the ever increasing strength behind its blows, the figure should have been able to pry free the roots… but they had been so caught up in their endless assault that they never even made an attempt. Instead they opted to launch one final faltering attack on the Knight, before two sticks fell from limp hands.
“My power… was matched...” Croaked the blue clad figure as they perished.
No sooner had the figure collapsed than the vines that had ended their life retreated back into the floor. Not only that, but the floor itself seemed to shift, with stones merging back together so as to prevent the roots from being able to return. It seemed that the Spire wasn’t especially fond of anyone else altering its designs.
“You know when you said a little power, I thought, well a lot more little.” The Knight admitted as he paused to catch his breath, wishing he had a sheath to go with his pristine blade.
“The power is easier to channel when I’m angry. Like when no sooner have I laid eyes on someone then they attack me. What kind of a cold blooded killer would do something so cruel?” The Princess pondered with a taunting twitch of her tail.
/Only a dastard of the highest order!\
“Smitten, you and her are having two very different conversations.”
/How could such a thing be possible when our very essences are bound together by the crimson tether of true love? With such a connection how could mere words truly ever lead us astray?\
Honestly, the Knight wasn’t sure why he was even bothering.
Even as he spoke, he couldn’t help but notice that the Princess’ tail seemed to be retracting itself back into her body, her hair was busily unmussing itself and her tiara was transmuting from wood back to metal.
“Guess we’ve got no choice but to take those stairs next?” The Princess pondered.
“Think so. Especially since I don’t remember the walls always being quite that close...” The Knight noted while fixing a wary eye on the side of the room that they’d entered through.
Not only was it now a blank wall with no trace of a downward leading staircase, but it seemed to already be slowly edging its way closer. Clearly this was a none too subtle hint from the Spire that having secured a path forward they had best take it.
Since the force that was railroading them lacked a convenient disembodied voice to argue with, there didn’t seem to be much point in spending excessive time protesting how blatantly unfair this all was.
Instead the Knight and Princess just made their way to the next staircase and started heading upwards once more.
XXX XXX XXX
When the eventually managed to complete their journey up that staircase they emerged into a room whose design were a perfect match for those in which they’d done battle with the figure in blue.
Just like in that one, this room also only had one singular occupant awaiting them… sadly it looked even more unwelcoming.
The creature’s legs were relatively short and stubby… but only in comparison to the rest of it, and there was plenty of “rest of it” to go around. A massively muscled bare torso that was at least twice the length of the creature’s legs extended upwards past the Knight and Princess’ heads, from which a pair ape like drooping arms emerged. Its skin was a uniformly the red of a cooked lobster, while its eye sclera and horns were an unseemly yellow.
Clutched in one hand was, judging by its: ivory color, vaguely skull shaped adornment at one end and rib like protrusions, what had once been a significant portion of the skeleton of a former foe, now repurposed into a club that was equal parts crude and macabre.
Thin oblong red eyes glared down at the two new arrivals with disgust, as if their very existence was an affront to the beast’s senses.
“Seems like the whale was at least telling the truth about how the Heart makes everything in here want to murder us.” The Knight lamented.
/Indeed, only a beast without even the smallest scrap of a soul could be so utterly unmoved by the sight of two lovers whose only wish is to defend one another against a harsh and cruel world!\
“If he wants to hurt us that badly… then I’ll just have to be the one who hurts him instead!” Insisted the Princess as she pushed past the Knight to face the monster.
Without hesitation it brought down its weapon upon her and there was an ugly sound. A sound of something heavy and firm striking something wet and squishy. The Princess’ skull was caved inward by the attack, and a blizzard of skin and fabric was let loose upon the room.
Yet even as as the Princess was deprived of clothing, skin, muscle, and bone, some part of her still remained.
Some part of her that glistened.
The Princess’ body began to unfold like a clockwork toy, but the “clicks” that echoed off the walls were not generated by some internal mechanism, but rather a multitude of blades planting themselves against the floor.
Blades here, blades there, blades, well blades everywhere honestly. The only portion of the Princess’ anatomy that was still biological in nature was a heart that somehow hung suspended in midair, protected by a faux rib cage of blades. Her heart mysteriously beat on, despite all logic suggesting not only the impossibility but also the futility of such an action.
The Razor (Princess):
Card Type: Power.
Energy Cost: 2.
Effect, Active Princess: Whenever you deal damage from an attack gain half that amount of damage as block.
Effect, Empty Shell Princess: Whenever you play an attack card gain one block.
Upgraded Version:
Effect, Active Princess: Whenever you deal damage from an attack gain half that amount of damage+1 as block.
Effect, Empty Shell Princess: Whenever you play an attack card gain two block.
Where once the monster had towered over her, now the Princess could look the beast in the eye… not that she had any eyes of her own to look with at the moment.
For that matter she didn’t have any lips, teeth, jaw, gums, tongue, lungs, mouth or any other organs that might prove useful for the shaping of words, and yet she managed to speak all the same.
“Are you ready for what comes next?” The Princess taunted the monster.
The beast raised its club high into the air as it let loose with a bellow of rage.
The Princess responded by impaling the monster with a quite literal handful of blades.
The beast’s skin was tough as beaten leather though, and it didn’t help that the monster seemed too stupid to realize what manner of horrific injury had just been inflicted upon it. Rather than recoiling in pain, it brought its club down and smashed it into the Princess a second time.
The impact knocked her clear across the room, which also meant that the Princess’ blades inflicted a fresh round of lacerations as they were unceremoniously torn free from the beast’s body.
Indeed one might argue that the monster’s attack had inflicted more harm upon itself than upon the Princess given that all she’d suffered was some distinct dents, while a not so small pool of blood was starting to form at the beast’s legs.
/Don’t just stand there while our maiden engages in righteous melee with the ferocious foe, let us aid her!\ The smitten chastised the Knight.
While the Knight didn’t plan to directly charge the monster and risk finding out the hard way just what that club could do to his birdlike body, he had to admit that the voice had a point.
With the keening sound of metal on stone the Princess pushed off against the wall and began to advance towards the monster once more. Her body lacked any obvious method of ambulation and yet somehow the massive collection of blades that formed her lower half twitched, tilted and reshaped themselves ever so subtly allowing her to cross the distance between them like a metal millipede.
“You know, there are so many things I’d rather be doing right now. I wanted to look at a bird or touch a tree! Life, is, so, unfair!” Each word was punctuated by the infliction of a fresh series of puncture wounds on the monster.
It responded with an upwards swipe of its club with that struck what would have been the jaw of the Princess, making her metallic form ring like a bell.
While the big brute was focused on fighting a foe of roughly equal size and strength… it hadn’t noticed that the Knight had managed to creep around behind it.
Striking with a blade whose edge seemed to be impossibly keen given how effortlessly it sliced through the monster’s hide, the Knight severed the beast’s tendons.
It howled in anger again… but even as stupid as the monster was, it was at least dimly aware of the fact that one of its legs could no longer properly support its own weight. It collapsed down on one knee, which brought its head perfectly level with the Princess’s arms.
There was an ugly sound as both of the monster’s eyes had blades driven into them, and a quick twist of her wrist a few moments later was all it took to shear the creature’s head from its shoulders.
The massive crimson monster toppled to the floor, the oversized club joining it a few moments later.
“Princess, I’m a big enough bird to admit when I’m wrong. I want you to know, I genuinely enjoyed the mutual romantic subtext to that murder.”
The Princess stood there, somehow managing to pant in exhaustion even though she lacked lungs; her shining metal form dyed ruby by the blood of her foe.
“Do… do you still like me… even like this?” Asked a massive collection of swords shaped into crude facsimile of a human being.
The Knight reached out with a hand, tenderly taking one of the multitude of branching blades that served in place of fingers, somehow managing to find just the right grip to avoid slicing open his own flesh in the process.
Words didn’t seem necessary.
/Yes, our perfect woman!\ Which didn’t stop a new/old voice from speaking up all the same.
“Wait, doesn’t he tend to be...” The Princess began.
/Now let us beat her into scrap metal, let the halls ring with the sounds of our glorious confrontation!\
“Stubborn, we’re not going to fight her. We’re trapped in another bad situation, but this time she’s not the monster we have to fight.”
/You’re no fun anymore.\ Huffed the Stubborn.
Voice of The Stubborn :
Card Type: Attack .
Energy Cost: X .
Effect: Deal X \X* damage three times .
Upgraded Version: Deal X \* X damage four times .
/How could you be such a brute as to suggest that we should inflict savage violence upon one whose heart is filled with naught but affection for us?\ Smitten reprimanded his fellow voice.
While the Knight had never achieved what might considered “excessive” luck at corralling the various voices in his head, he decided he might as well make an attempt at it now before things got worse. The last thing he needed was for Stubborn to be constantly trying to convince him and the Princess to fight each other to the death.
“Stubborn, do you even know where are?”
/We’re in arena suitable for combat!\
The Knight wondered if Stubborn genuinely didn’t know or was simply being his usual combat mono-focused self. In the past every time that he’d gained a voice they’d always been perfectly aware of everything that had taken place recently… granted in the past every time he’d gained a voice it’d also been the result of him dying.
Either way, best to see if he couldn’t re-frame the matter.
“Stubborn we’re in some kind of mystical Spire. We’ve got no choice but to climb upwards, but each new floor is home to a monster stronger than the last.”
/A gauntlet!\
Unsurprising the Stubborn seemed quite enthusiastic about the idea.
/No, a quest! A chance that we might prove our self against foes of the flesh just as we already proved our spirit against that horrific interloper who tried to turn us against our beloved!\
“Uggh, I really hope this doesn’t hurt as much as I think it will...” The Princess sighed, while looking as uncertain as she possibly could at the moment, given that her “face” amounted to little more than some empty space between blades.
Then all of a sudden time started flowing backwards, at least where the Princess was concerned. Metal blades that had extended outwards began to fold in upon themselves. That on its own wouldn’t have been so strange, but torn pieces of flesh and cloth suddenly begin to lift themselves from the floor and fly back towards the Princess.
Her body shrunk as all the parts of herself that she’d previously discarded now began to reattach themselves, with her clothing knitting itself back together every bit as quickly as her flesh did.
Inch by inch and invisible stitch by stitch the Princess once more returned to her previous form. It wasn’t the worst thing the Knight had seen… but it was still a far from pleasant sight all the same.
“How was it?” He asked when whatever bizarre magic had been at play finally abated.
“You know how it feels when you sneeze?”
A quick nod of affirmation.
“It was nothing like that.”
End Chapter.
AN: So to start with, I just went and double checked and I am like 99% certain that we never actually see what the “standard” Princess is wearing for footwear due to the length of her dress always obscuring her feet. If I’m wrong someone please let me know and I’ll go back and edit it.
As things stand I’m going with her being barefoot since her corpse in the Spectre route while still having tatters of a dress on it is completely devoid of any kind remains of footwear.
Some meta stuff… I’m going to assume that the “You’re on a path in the woods” ending took place at least a few times before eventually reaching the “And? What happens next?” ending, with the latter ending and the decision to deliberately invoke it granting knowledge of all events that came before including the previous “endings”. This does directly contradict canon (where the “path in the woods” ending can involve the Princess saying there’s no way they’ll ever know if this isn’t the first time they’ve fully reset their memories), but this story is just more fun/interesting for me to write if the Knight and Princess already are reasonably familiar with all major permutations of their past rather than only having obtained five vessels for the Shifting Mound.
Also while Stubborn is always depicted as wanting to fight the Princess rather than just wanting to fight in general, some of that may also be that there’s literally nothing BUT the Princess to fight while they’re stuck together inside the construct. Either way, it wouldn’t be especially fun or interesting to have him be a burden to our protagonists by having him constantly insisting that the Knight and Princess should fight each other when they’ve both decided to team up against the Spire instead.
Now for some stuff about card design.
Witch was quite easy for me to design (she also made it quite easy for me to design the Opportunist who will show up later) since one of the most defining nature of her runs are when she seems to command the cabin to come alive and crush you to death, even if she experiences the same fate. Since base Slay the Spire already has “constricted” as a “deal X damage at the end of your turn” effect, it was a natural fit. The way that her stacks increase if you get attack an enemy numerous times reflects the ending where you and her fight each other until the cabin closes in around you both. I used to worry that she might be under costed at one energy, but then I remembered that Noxious Fumes is a thing. Unlike poison, stacks of constricted don’t decrease, but fumes places the poison stacks on all enemies while Witch does them only one, so it balances out.
Razor meanwhile is indeed something of a hard counter to to the Gremlin Nob. Granted, not as much as some cards I’ve seen playing modded versions of the game (there are ones that flat out delete enemy buffs which would let you completely ignore his enrage mechanic). I do feel my design is a good thematic fit for what we see of the Razor; the first time we meet her she has one arm replaced with a blade, the next time both arms, then there are a series of images with her bladed arms continue to split apart into more and more blades in each successive image, and it eventually leads up to her entire body being nothing but blades. Thus the more Razor stabs you, the more of her body becomes made of blades, and while under the Razor Princess effect the more you attack/stab your foes the harder you become (by gaining lots of block).
Stubborn meanwhile would probably require just a bit more tweaking if I was making an actual mod, but on baseline for three energy the normal version deals 27 damage upgraded deals 36 which is less than Ironclad’s bludgeon (32 and 42 respectively), it’s just that Stubborn offers a little more flexibility, and a can offer increasing benefits if you can either generate a ton of energy or gain a bunch of strength stacks, since stubborn dealing three (or four) instances of damage benefits more from strength stacks then a standard attack. Stubborn benefits from strength… that’s good gameplay and story integration!
Finally, while Stubborn does get some benefits from pairing with the Adversary Princess Card (we’ll see her later) he also synergizes well with Razor (after all, we all know how much he appreciates Razor) since while otherwise you might worry about dumping all your energy into doing nothing but attacking, dropping a full five energy into an upgraded Stubborn while you have Razor as your active Princess will not only deal a full hundred damage, but also give you fifty block!
2023.11.17 20:19 100T_Jasmine Things to know: 100 Thieves x Malbon
 | Introducing 100 Thieves X Malbon submitted by 100T_Jasmine to 100thieves [link] [comments] Blending the worlds of Hunting and Gaming, 100 Thieves and Malbon unite for their first collaboration into the woods. Drawing inspiration from the classic console and arcade games like Duck Hunt and Golden Tee, the collection features a seasonal earth tone color palette, complemented by a custom tree camo and safety orange hits. Stand-out pieces from the collection include the Fowler insulated polar fleece jacket, Woodsman two-tone zip off windbreaker, custom camo golf bag, and the Buckshot long sleeve “pixelated” jacquard knit polo. "We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to partner with 100 Thieves" says co-founder Stephen Malbon. "We set out to create a collection that found the overlap between console and course, and we felt that leaning into the hunting aesthetic bridged that gap." "Doing a collaboration with Malbon has been a moment I've been extremely excited about. As the tastemaking brand within the space, Malbon has pushed past the norms of golf apparel, creating a product that simultaneously holds respect for the game and its traditions, but also pushes the boundaries on how the everyday golfer expresses themselves on and off the course." - Matt “Nadeshot” Haag The collection launches on November 21st at 10am PST and will be available for purchase on 100Thieves.com and Malbongolf.com. All products are produced by Malbon You can view the lookbook here. #100thievesapparel Here’s some additional information I wanted to share with you prior to the drop: Products: https://preview.redd.it/dtbdo55qot0c1.jpg?width=1060&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ebb6a7db8ffa27006126cda8701280cbfe8f7ecc 100 Thieves x Malbon Woodsman Zip Off Windbreaker - Tree Camo Made of 100% Polyester, the 100 Thieves x Malbon Woodsman Zip Off Windbreaker Features a Zipper Closure Center Front with a Double Zipper Pull, Two Front Pockets at Chest with Hidden Black Metal Snap for the Flap Pocket Closure, Two Welt Pockets with Zipper Closure on the Front, Velcro Strap Closure at the Cuffs with Detachable Sleeves by a Zipper. Finished with a 100 Thieves x Malbon Logo Embroidered on the Left Chest Pocket.
The 100 Thieves x Malbon Fowler Polar Fleece Jacket is the perfect for cooler climates. Made of 94% Polyester and 6% Polyurethane. Features a Front Zipper Closure with a Malbon Silicone Pull, Two Front Pockets with Zipper Closure. Finished with a Buckets Logo Embroidered on the Right Sleeve and a 100 Thieves Logo Embroidered on the Left Chest.
The 100 Thieves x Malbon Flintlock Puffer Vest is composed of 50% Polyester and 50% Polurethane. Perfect layering piece for Cooler Climates. Features a Center Front Zipper Closure with Welt Pockets with Zipper Closure on the Sides. Finished with a 100 Thieves Logo Embroidered on the Left Chest and Malbon Script Rubber Patch Sewn on the Back Neck.
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100 Thieves x Malbon Wrangler Rope Trucker Hat - Tree Camo The 100 Thieves x Malbon Wrangler Rope Trucker Hat is a Cotton Twill Rope Trucker Hat. Features a Tree Camo Print with Orange Rope and Snapback Closure. A 100 Thieves x Malbon Logo is Embroidered on the Front and has custom Malbon Script Taping inside.
The 100 Thieves x Malbon Wrangler Rope Trucker Hat is a Cotton Twill Rope Trucker Hat. Features an Orange Rope and Snapback Closure. A 100 Thieves x Malbon Logo is Embroidered on the Front and has custom Malbon Script Taping inside.
The 100 Thieves x Malbon Caliber Glove is made with 100% Premium Cabretta Leather. Features Stitched M Script on Top of Glove, a Removeable Ball Marker Magnetically Attached on the Velcro Closure Flap and a Malbon Silicone Patch Sewn on Center Back Cuff. Ball Marker Size is .875” W x .875” H.
100 Thieves x Malbon Wrangler Driver Cover The 100 Thieves x Malbon Wrangler Driver Headcover is made of 100% Genuine Leather. Features a Camo Print and Orange Interior Lining. A 100 Thieves x Malbon Logo is Embroidered on the Front with a Buckets Logo Embroidered on the Top and finished with a Malbon Script Woven Flag Label Attached at the Back.
100 Thieves x Malbon Carbine Blade Cover The 100 Thieves x Malbon Carbine Blade Headcover is made of 100% Genuine Leather Panels with Magnetic Closure for a Secure Fit. Features Contrast Orange Piping Detail, Malbon Script Logo Embroiderd on Top, Buckets Logo Embroidered on Side and 100 Thieves Logo Embroidered on Opposite Side. Malbon Script Woven Flag Label on Side.
The 100 Thieves x Malbon Woodsman Golf Towel is composed of a soft 100% Polyester Microfiber and measures 16" W x 24" H. Includes a Detachable Carabiner Clip for easy hanging from your golf bag. Features a 100 Thieves x Malbon Logo on the Front of the Towel.
Sizing: It’s important to familiarize yourself with our size chart before making a purchase as all items are considered final sale. Below are the size guides. You can access this size chart in the product description on the day of launch. For questions on how to measure your size please reference our FAQ here. https://preview.redd.it/xyxe2f8ivs0c1.png?width=1084&format=png&auto=webp&s=dee5c1543ec9b69aeb8628b450a6d774538fa144 https://preview.redd.it/vdgmdgytus0c1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=5b7232c264fa0da27dd4e1859a3e4aff33f8fd4a https://preview.redd.it/6skxy8brus0c1.png?width=1070&format=png&auto=webp&s=82fcadb5546cf82d0ca129b3dde32b4b08aae64e https://preview.redd.it/to78xnwmus0c1.png?width=1092&format=png&auto=webp&s=6be3f322ef289764207a460d76a40416e375dfca https://preview.redd.it/d8op57vbvs0c1.png?width=1048&format=png&auto=webp&s=21b7898101dc2500fcaac33ae7b378f14c35c65e https://preview.redd.it/fs7mv62vvt0c1.png?width=1070&format=png&auto=webp&s=e1e57dce8a7e703725eef46d66d3446bd651c63d https://preview.redd.it/im7821fwus0c1.png?width=1018&format=png&auto=webp&s=f97c6a8bded1641a014002cdd1b1d6eb0dbc50d3 https://preview.redd.it/4stwuhqyvt0c1.png?width=1172&format=png&auto=webp&s=484d7e6074bcfd493b0c16c3e15fbaf48c761645 https://preview.redd.it/9rboopwyus0c1.png?width=1072&format=png&auto=webp&s=7a0a10a7166a5b690833e0ca8124cabcfe9cb0f9 Shipping: Due to the holidays, please allow up to 14 business days for your order to ship out of our warehouse. Once a package has been shipped out of our warehouse, it may take up to 24 hours for the tracking information to update via the carrier. If you have not received a tracking update after 15 (U.S. Domestic) or 20 (International) days, please contact us through our portal here. False Fraud: Make sure your payment details are correct at checkout. We have an automated system that will cancel your order if it shows inconsistencies between your billing and shipping details with your card (typos, address or zip code do not match, etc) Wash Care: All garments will have an inside label with the wash instructions. For other issues, please review these links before reaching out:
Thanks all, and enjoy the drop! Jasmine Sr. Manager, Apparel Operations/Product |
2023.11.17 05:52 windkirby Animal Crossing Pocket Camp v5.5.0 Update
 | https://preview.redd.it/66rk3fqs5u0c1.png?width=150&format=png&auto=webp&s=9780bcba36af1d22499d56a745d5be46a5a83b05 submitted by windkirby to ACPocketCamp [link] [comments] Greetings, creatures of the boogie-night, and happy sixth birthday to Pocket Camp! (I got this post up just in time...) Why it seems like it was just yesterday Twitter preview for November 2023 in Pocket Camp
Tip screen for the Gala Garments collection; event preview image for Isabelle's Luxe Toast gardening event; tip screen for the sunset fête terrain; auto-designer images using the sunset fête terrain and items from November's main three events
Tip screens for the Lavish Wall & Floor Collection, Cesar's culinary cookie, and the Sparkling Icicles Tree
Event preview image for the Bottled Ship Fishing Tourney; tip screens for the Dressy Doll Collection and 6th Anniversary Special Pack
Tip screens for Moe's illusion cookie and the Magician Wall & Floor Collection
https://preview.redd.it/61qrlip09u0c1.png?width=512&format=png&auto=webp&s=1758bd38ed3521a796f77d6ad83597e293b62538
Well, that’s all I’ve got for ya on the anniversary festivities! (Well, almost all—there is some more crud in the sticky thread that I just couldn’t fit up here!) Here’s hoping the party ends smoothly so Isabelle can finally get some time to mourn her missing hubby—if she wants to, that is, it’s hard to say. Sadly as hard as Detective Beardo and Merengue have worked, many questions go unanswered… Will they be able to find out what happened to Curly, or anyone else besides them who still cares? With yet another version behind us without new features, has Pocket Camp given up on adding new features from here on? And what’s with the predicted Sanrio announcement on Christmas day this year? Has Hello Kitty finally usurped Santa Claus as the cultural holiday godhead in an adorable cute-d’état? Is Curly actually gone on a mission to rid the Pocket Camp world of Sanrio for good to make way for his monster truck rally empire? Check in next time for possibly none of these answers as well as an assortment of the typical batch of Pocket Camp holiday goodies and news, and until then, remember—and I can only speculate what happened—sometimes it can be preferable to make your beloved breakfast in bed than to go missing where no one will find you… You know what they say, it’s the most important meal of the marriage! In other news, if you think you’ve seen Curly out in the wilderness, or if you have questions about why he didn’t try to find Ankha this hard, please call the Detective Beardo tipline, open 24 hours a day in the Feedback section of the game! (Note: Please don’t actually use the Feedback form for anything other than requesting king-sized bugs.) —Woodsy |