Part 14.3

Heracles VS Lernaean Hydra

Author Note: I was thinking about it and I really wish that GT9 used more draconic symbolism throughout the story when (or if) I revisit Team Crowley VS Rosencreutz I'll have symbolism of Aleister (TheBeast666), Aiwass (Codename: DRAGON) and Coronzon (The Dragon of the Abyss) all have symbology of them being Dragons preying on a God/Hero like CRC and the reversed conflict of Chaos VS Order you see in mythology, I also wanted to achieve something similar with Kakine Teitoku as he can represent the Fallen Angel and the Seraphim but for now I'll try adding draconian symbolism into Gunha VS CRC.
True Expert Christian Rosencreutz, with his golden rosy cross sword, clashed relentlessly against the indomitable force of the Strongest Gemstone, Sogiita Gunha. With each clash of their powers, the air crackled and compressed, and the pavement trembled beneath.
CRC, observed Sogiita with a mixture of intrigue and disdain. "You fight like the legendary Heracles," he remarked, his voice carrying over the din of battle. "But know this, I am the Lernaean Hydra, and no matter how many heads you sever, I shall always rise again!" Rosencreutz roared to slice the #7’s midsection.
Sogiita, his entire body wreathed in unknowable energy, met CRC's blade unyielding. "Bring it on, old man!" he retorted, his voice brimming with confidence. "I'll knock you down as many times as it takes! I won't stop till you come to your senses and remember your roots, like the roses you love so much, Rosencreutz!!"
Their clash intensified, that old man’s higher dimensional sword colliding with the raw power of that boy’s fists and kicks as they pushed each other to their limits with each sword swing, punch, kick and flash.
Sogiita unleashed a barrage of punches, each strike carrying the force of a meteor, while that silver young man countered: he wielded his sword in his right hand and released impacts followed by white light that was enough to previously take down all of The Bridge Builders Cabal.
As the battle raged on, the very fabric of reality seemed to warp and shift around them, bearing witness to the titanic struggle between two unparalleled forces.
The founder of Rosicrucianism who intimidated reality itself to obey his will and that Gemstone with an unstable personal reality that could change on a whim.
The atmosphere crackled with electrifying distortion.
Sogiita's fists tore through the air with the ferocity of meteors, their velocity enhanced by his ability to adapt and accelerate, surpassing even CRC's speed. As each blow was released, the friction with the surrounding air molecules ignited a scorching heat, intensifying the impact.
The rapid movement of molecules generated an escalating thermal energy, causing the air to seethe with increasing temperature. It was akin to a tempest of incandescent projectiles hurtling towards CRC, their speed surpassing the limits of human perception.
It was like a storm of brilliant fiery arrows was fired at Rosencreutz.
These blazing arrows of force were reminiscent of the elusive strikes employed by the Rose & Cross Leader, ignoring distance with deceptive agility.
With each thunderous punch, that bandana boy sought to overpower his adversary through sheer kinetic force, his unwavering resolve palpable in every motion.
But that wasn't enough for this superhuman.
CRC, wielding his cross sword with precision and skill, deflected each and every one Sogiita's flaming arrows with calculated strikes of his own. Each impact unleashed a burst of blinding white light, sending shockwaves rippling through the chaotic city.
"You think brute strength alone will defeat me?" the silver man taunted, his voice cutting through the chaos of battle. "You may be strong, but strength without strategy is nothing but raw power wasted."
Sogiita grinned, his confidence unshaken. "Strategies for cowards who can't handle a real fight," he retorted, his voice ringing with defiance. "I'll K.O. you with my fists and guts alone!!!!"
Rosencreutz's eyes narrowed as he parried another of Sogiita's punches. "Your arrogance will be your downfall," he warned, his tone tinged with certainty. "I may not match your overall speed, but I have something you lack: intellect and precision.”
Christian Rosencreutz then plunged his cross sword into the ground.
"This is what harmed Kamijou Touma," he declared, grinning and unleashing a torrent of lethal invisible attacks from his outstretched palms.
However, the #7 countered with a relentless barrage of flaming arrows from the thermal aftershock of his punches.
Each strike akin to a particle accelerator in its intensity and speed. That Gemstone was the particles being fired on the right and that True Expert was the particles fired on the left.
As the attacks clashed, the battlefield became a spectacle of raw power and precision.
“Roar!” CRC held his open palm to his mouth and blew gently on the tip of the middle finger.
That was all it took for a blaze easily outdoing a flamethrower to rush out. And this was not just any fire. It fed on the power of a ley line and stole vitality from space itself. This overwhelming mass of light and heat was wielded for no other purpose than to take lives. Anyone who tried to survive it using simple composite armor or special fibers would dry up and burn away in less than a second.
But that wouldn't kill another superhuman would it?
Of course not.
“Aaaaarghhhh!!!!” screamed the #7.
Some assaults bypassed the fray entirely, slipping through the chaos like elusive particles in a collider.
A smokescreen.
Those brilliant fireworks from hell weren't meant to take Sogiita’s life. They were meant to disrupt the Gemstone's senses and sight so he couldn't counter all of that old man’s deadly attacks.
Invisible strikes found their mark on that Gemstone, and the searing arrows of the arrows scorched Rosencreutz.
CRC was wounded but he rejected to make any whimpers. Instead with a sudden burst of velocity, the young silver man picked up his cross sword from the ground and launched a flurry of strikes, cutting at the #7’s body with pinpoint accuracy.
His arms, his head, his face, his stomach, his legs, his midsection, his back.
Each blow landed with devastating force, causing Sogiita to stagger back under the onslaught.
If that bandana boy hadn't had his defenses and general stats raised by the #5 he’d be cut to pieces.
The #7 fell on his back.
"There's a fire," Sogiita declared, his voice ringing out amidst the chaos of battle.
With each attempt to break his spirit, Sogiita's resolve only grew stronger, fueling the flames of his determination. "Every time someone tries to make me give up, it's like wind feeding my flames, making them burn even brighter just like my punches," he explained, his words carrying the weight of his unwavering determination.
He refused to stay down.
With a roar of defiance, Sogiita surged forward once more, his movements blurring with speed as he disappeared from view. In the blink of an eye, he reappeared behind Christian Rosencreutz, catching the magician off guard.
"Hey, old man," Sogiita taunted, his voice filled with confidence as he seized Rosencreutz from behind.
Christian Rosencreutz's eyes widened in surprise as he realized he had been outmaneuvered.
As Sogiita Gunha faced off against Christian Rosencreutz in their airborne duel, he felt the flames of determination burning within him, driving him forward with unstoppable force.
Before he could react, the boy lifted him effortlessly and slammed him onto the pavement below with a resounding thud.
"I'm not just a kick-boxer!!" Sogiita sang.
As the impact reverberated through the air, the young silver man let out a pained cry. The force of the collision compressed the surrounding air, heating it up until it crackled with energy. Christian Rosencreutz's head struck the ground with a velocity equivalent to mach 20, igniting his body in flames upon impact.
This move is called a suplex.
Struggling to regain his bearings, Rosencreutz muttered in a daze, "The House of the Holy Spirit...the seven walls..."
"You said it yourself, didn't you?" the gutsy boy retorted, cocky. "My power and my guts can break through your impenetrable walls. And I can spread those same guts to the world around me."
With a grimace, Christian Rosencreutz acknowledged the truth of the boy's words. "Your uncontrolled AIM field grants you the ability to imbue non-organic objects with the properties of your virus," he observed, his voice tinged with begrudging admiration. "Allowing them to bypass even the defenses of the seven-walled tomb.”
"A virus? Don't be so gutless, CRC," the #7 retorted, his voice filled with defiance. "This battleground ruled by wills is a two-way road between you and me."
Christian Rosencreutz raised an eyebrow at the boy's words. "Hey Gemstone, you could've killed me if I weren't a superhuman with an idealized body that accomplished The Great Work and crossed the Ungrund, what then short-stack?" he questioned while fitting an insult against his height.
Even without the seven-walled tomb or sheets of diamonds Rosencreutz was cartoonishly durable.
"Sorry, old man," Sogiita replied, his tone tinged with annoyance. "I might've gotten carried away, but I know it'll take more than that to kill you. No matter how many heads you regrow, like Hydra, I will not give up until I've completed all my labors."
"Mhm, so you do know your mythology," CRC remarked, a hint of amusement in his voice. "The Lernaean Hydra, or simply Hydra, is a serpentine lake monster in Greek and Roman mythology. Its lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, known as an entrance to the Underworld. In the canonical myth, the monster is slain by Heracles as part of his Twelve Labors."
"Yeah, I know," Sogiita replied confidently. "I studied the tales of great gutsy heroes in school.”
"So, short-stack," Christian Rosencreutz began, his voice carrying a hint of scholarly interest. “Have you ever considered the parallels between our battle and ancient Near Eastern religions?”
Sogiita listened intently. "Are you saying you see yourself as a god of war or a hunter?" he inquired.
CRC chuckled softly. "In a sense, indeed. We are both assuming roles in this grand theater, are we not? I, the Hydra, and you, Heracles."
He continued, "Consider the Second Labor of Heracles. Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns, sent Heracles to slay the Hydra, which Hera had raised specifically to defeat him. Heracles approached the swamp near Lake Lerna, where the Hydra dwelled. To protect himself from the poisonous fumes, he covered his mouth and nose with a cloth and shot flaming arrows into the Hydra's lair, causing it to emerge and terrorize the surrounding villages."
CRC paused, drawing a comparison. “In our own clash, the flaming arrows that Heracles hurled at the Hydra find their echo in your lightning-fast fists, generating shockwaves that ignite the air with their speed and force. It's as though each strike of yours is akin to shooting a flaming arrow, much like Heracles did.”
“Huh? Are you suggesting we're caught in a time loop? That some enigmatic group, like the Bridge Builders Cabal, manipulated events to resurrect you, pitting us against each other in a timeless struggle? I've never met them, and I'm certainly no child of Zeus. Are you implying that our battle will be distorted into a Greek legend by a meddling time traveler?!” frantically asked the boy.
“No, no, you simpleton. This world contains synchronicities. In Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian mythology, the war and hunting god Ninurta was celebrated for his deeds. The Angim credited him with slaying eleven monsters during an expedition to the mountains, including a seven-headed serpent, possibly identical to the Mushmahhu, and Bashmu, whose constellation was later associated with the Hydra by the Greeks. In Babylonian contexts, the Hydra's constellation is also linked to Marduk's dragon, the Mushhushshu.”
“Uhhh….” That shounen boy was dumbfounded.
"Hhm, I suppose calling it a time loop isn't technically wrong," Christian Rosencreutz began, his tone measured. "I'll break it down from history class and reconstruct it through the lens of the occult. Historic recurrence, young Gemstone, is the phenomenon of events echoing throughout time. Whether it's the rise and fall of empires or the repetitive cycles within a single society, it's all part of this grand plan that was decided when Adam ate the forbidden fruit."
The #7 with his guard up but curious listened: "So, history just keeps repeating itself? Just a series of coincidences?"
Christian Rosencreutz shook his head sagely. "There is no such thing as coincidences. Take, for instance, the Doctrine of Eternal Recurrence, pondered upon by thinkers like Heinrich Heine and Friedrich Nietzsche. While it's said that 'history repeats itself,' it's not quite that simple. Rather, these recurrences stem from identifiable circumstances and chains of causality."
He continued, his voice carrying the weight of centuries of philosophical debate. "Consider the phenomenon of multiple independent discoveries in science or the reproducible findings in natural and social sciences. These recurrences, whether in the form of rigorous experimentation or comparative research, are vital to our understanding of the world."
Christian Rosencreutz paused, allowing the weight of his words to sink in. "G.W. Trompf, in his seminal work, The Idea of Historical Recurrence in Western Thought, illustrates the recurring patterns of political thought and behavior since ancient times. Through these patterns, history offers us invaluable lessons, often leading to a sense of resonance or déjà vu."
Their words reverberated like a challenge to destiny itself, a testament to their unyielding determination in the face of adversity.
That Gemstone didn't surrender his characteristic fervor. "History echoing through time, huh? It's like the universe itself is stuck on repeat, and we're just caught in the cycle. But you know what? If history's gonna keep looping, then let's break the pattern! Let's smash through those chains of causality and forge our own path. Who cares about déjà vu? We'll create something entirely new, something that'll shake the very foundations of this world and we’ll do it with guts!!!" He defied that silver monster.
But Rosencreutz wasn't finished. He pulled out his Crystal World Map.
The supposedly old man listened intently to that boy's impassioned response, his expression inscrutable behind his clairvoyant card. After a moment of contemplation, he spoke.
“Gemstone, you speak of breaking free from the chains of repetition, of forging a new destiny against the backdrop of eternal return. It is a noble aspiration, indeed. However, consider this: eternal return is not merely a philosophical concept or a whimsical notion of fate. It is the very fabric of existence, woven into the nature of time itself.” He pressed his finger on the Miniature Garden and a 3D holographic projection flew out—
“In ancient times, the Stoics grappled with the idea, seeing in it both a sense of cosmic order and a challenge to individual agency. Augustine and others recoiled from its implications, fearing it as a negation of free will and salvation. And yet, Nietzsche, in his brilliance, dared to confront the concept anew, exploring its depths in the crucible of human consciousness.”
Didn't Aleister Crowley say that he had to shatter every single phase in order to eliminate the concept of fate?
“I will shatter every last phase and put an end to all mysticism. It can be helped and we need not restrain our tears and bite our lip when faced with tragedy. I will bring back the pure world in which everyone can feel anger like normal and question it all like normal!!”
And didn't Coronzon appear to break down all the phases including the Pure World?
Partial destruction would be meaningless. If anything remains and an eternal distortion is born from that, then it will all happen again. I will eliminate the ten spheres, the twenty-two pathways, and the hidden eleventh symbol. Collisions between phases? Sparks and spray? You cannot save anyone if you only treat those symptoms. All of the fundamental clogs must be removed. All so we can pass the baton to whoever comes next.”
“Sparks and Sprays…” Rosencreutz muttered.
“Eh?” The #7 didn't quite hear him.
"Beside time stands fate, cruelty's steadfast herald. In the silent chambers of the soul, whispers the most profound wisdom. Humanity, in its folly, neglected to exalt life's splendor, its radiance, its grandeur. Truly, it is a rare gift to comprehend the forces that shape our existence.” That magician spoke in despair.
“From the moment man ate the fruit of knowledge, he guaranteed your species’ failure... Entrusting his future to the whims of fate, man clutches to a flickering hope. Yet, within the Miniature Garden lies the key to all revelation. Beyond the well-trodden path lies the ultimate terminus. It matters not who you are; Death is the sole certainty awaiting all.” he finished with scorn.
Shokuhou Misaki was currently linked to Sogiita Gunha so was overhearing the entire conversation.
“Are you okay, Leader?” asked Kamijou back at the hospital.
“Yeah…” she responded.
“Really?” Mikoto breathed a white sigh. “It wasn’t the shock of seeing their school destroyed. Nor was it the fear of having those rioters attack. …They’re afraid of their own power. And after learning how exactly to use that power to survive, they’re not sure they can just switch it off and return to their normal lives. So their gears have ground to a halt.” Tokiwadai Middle School was a prestigious esper development school.
The young ladies registered there were Level 3 at the lowest and Level 5 at the highest.
Almost all of the students had a power that surpassed that of a blade or handgun if used properly, but something had become twisted.
Yes.
“A lot of them weren’t really sure why they were training their powers.”
Shokuhou breathed a white breath, wrapped her own arms around herself, and rubbed her thighs together.
Why are you studying?
How many people could give a proper answer to that question? Because my parents told me to, because my teachers taught me to, because that’s how the world works. Those would be most people’s answers. Even the students with a clear vision of their future would only have something vague like “for the entrance exams” or “for my future”.
Only a small handful would have specific puzzle pieces in mind, such as “I need to learn how to use this equation so I can build a rocket”.
The young ladies of Tokiwadai Middle School were the same.
What if the very gears that humans have…their actions, reactions, inactions were all the result of some transcendental entity hovering above.
Like God or The Devil watching over humanity’s reality sphere and ordering around his system like everyone was a pre-programmed NPC that had specific events occur to them to get them to develop in the way that they did and determined their genetic bloodline that composed their psyche?
Is there truly a free will?
It was said that in order for you to break out of the system of society that the working class was stuck in you had to climb to the top where the corrupt elites resided.
Imagine Breaker negated sparks, Aleister Crowley could see through the veil thanks to Holy Guardian Angel Aiwass, Great Demon Coronzon could always see the cogs.
Christian Rosencreutz could view the entire world through his Miniature Garden.
The rest of humanity was at the mercy of their own destinies.
A Guardian Angel wouldn't arrive to save a parent’s child from fate every single time.
"Okay, nice poetry, can we get back to fighting already?" asked the #7 impatiently.
"Seems I got carried away," the old man conceded with a nod. "The synchronicities of this world, akin to the astral configurations in astrology, serve as an example of synchronicity, according to Jung. It describes circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection, much like the parallel relationship between celestial and terrestrial phenomena. Synchronicity experiences entail subjective encounters where coincidences between events in one's mind and the external world may lack a clear causal link but still harbor an unknown connection.”
"Ah," Sogiita chimed in, recalling his philosophy class discussions. "We talked about synchronicity back then. Jung thought it was a good thing for the mind, but said it could get dicey in psychosis. He cooked up this theory as a kind of mental link between those meaningful coincidences, calling it a noncausal principle. This term came about in the late 1920s, and then he teamed up with physicist Wolfgang Pauli to dive deeper. Their work, The Interpretation of Nature and the Psyche, dropped in 1952. They were big on this idea that these connections, even the ones that don't seem to have a cause, could still teach us a lot about how our minds and the world work."
“Mhm, you know more than you lead on, Gemstone.” pondered CRC.
“Oh this? My teachers say I'm not good at remembering speeches hahaha…” The #7 looked slightly nervous. “You know, analytical psychologists really push for folks to get what these experiences mean to boost their awareness instead of just feeding into superstitions. But funny thing is, when clients spill about their synchronicity experiences, they often feel like no one's really hearing them out, or getting where they're coming from. And hey, having a bunch of these meaningful coincidences flying around can sometimes ring the schizo bell. Delusions aren't healthy.”
Where was this conversation going?
"Delusion! Hah! That's a good one coming from you," CRC fired back.
"The real delusion is thinking humanity isn't worth a damn," Sogiita shot back, pulling out some info from Johansen and Osman. "Some scientists think coincidences are just random flukes, but counselors and psychoanalysts reckon there's more to it, like some deep-down stuff needing to come out.”
"Delusion! Hah! That's a good one coming from you," CRC fired back.
"The real delusion is thinking humanity isn't worth a darn," Sogiita shot back, pulling out some info from Johansen and Osman. "Some scientists think coincidences are just random flukes, but counselors and psychoanalysts reckon there's more to it, like some deep-down stuff needing to come out. Unconscious material to be expressed."
Rosencreutz interjected, his expression reflecting a mix of confusion and concern. "Aleister Crowley's actions have left a lasting scar on this world and this city," he began, his voice weighted with solemnity. “The vacuum-like dichotomy between magic and science created by the use of that colossal psychotronic weapon, has damaged this world's memory irreparably.”
Psychotronic weapon?
The Archetype Controller?
He paused, his gaze piercing as he continued, "Jung's exploration of synchronicity as evidence of the paranormal paved the way for further inquiry, notably by Koestler and the subsequent embrace of these ideas by the New Age movement.”
Sogiita shrugged, "Some folks say synchronicity is impossible to test or prove, so it gets labeled as pseudoscience. Jung even acknowledged that these synchronicity events are basically just coincidences, statistically speaking. But hey, who's to say what's really going on without some solid scientific studies, right?"
"Dubious as his experiments may have been," CRC interrupted, "Jung believed in a connection between synchronicity and the paranormal, drawing parallels to the uncertainty principle and works by parapsychologist Joseph B. Rhine.” CRC posed a thought-provoking question, "How are we to recognize acausal combinations of events, since it is obviously impossible to examine all chance happenings for their causality? The answer lies in the fact that acausal events are most readily expected where a causal connection appears inconceivable upon closer reflection. It's impossible, with our current resources, to explain ESP or meaningful coincidences as mere phenomena of energy. This challenges the very notion of cause and effect, as these events occur simultaneously rather than in a linear cause-and-effect manner. Hence, I have coined the term 'synchronicity' to describe this phenomenon, placing it on equal footing with causality as a principle of explanation."
Getting closer to that Gemstone, CRC emphasized, "Esper abilities cannot be fully understood with science alone. They defy traditional cause-and-effect explanations, instead representing a convergence of factors that create a quantum phenomenon affecting both the micro and macro. Why were there the naturally gifted and the naturally ungifted?”
Why did some students get praised for their abilities while others needed to work harder?
Others among them would have worked every hour of their free time and not progressed anywhere in this city’s leveling curriculum.
Why did this city present such an unfair and unpredictable status quo of potential?
Why did hard work barely matter in a city of empirical evidence to record any possible progress?
Sogiita Gunha wasn't a normal Level 5 but he wasn't always this powerful. He went through the curriculum same as everyone but if the outside conditions for his Gemstone ability to manifest didn't form in the exact way that it did, in such an acausal form then would he even be here to challenge Christian Rosencreutz right now?
Everything just happened to fall right into place.
All those puzzle pieces that would lead to this moment here and now.
Was it all just talent? God picking a fool as his champion?
The #7 leaned back, absorbing CRC's words with a thoughtful expression. "So, what you're saying is, there's this whole other layer to reality that we can't quite wrap our heads around," he summarized, nodding slowly. "I mean, it's like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands—slippery and elusive."
He chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "Historic recurrence, synchronicities, all these things—they're like pieces of a puzzle scattered across this substantial reality. And sometimes, they just... click into place, right? It's like the universe has its own plan, and we're just along for the ride."
That bandana wearing boy's gaze drifted, lost in thought. "You know, CRC, it's funny," he remarked, a wry smile playing on his lips. "Here we are, with all our powers and potential, but at the end of the day, we're still grappling with the same questions as everyone else. Talent, destiny, divine intervention—maybe they're all just different sides of the same coin."
He shrugged, the weight of the philosophical musings settling over the broken city. "Who knows? Maybe God does have a sense of humor, after all.” that boy chuckled.
There was a deep silence between them.
Rosencreutz’ response was swift and resolute, his tone filled with certainty. "All this ‘universe has a plan’ banter is just a distraction from the inevitable," he declared, his eyes narrowing. "We can debate the nature of us being all-powerful yet struggling with mortal issues until the sun burns out, but it won't change the fact that our fate was sealed upon the knowledge Adam learned."
“To think so many trivialities have developed while this old man wasn’t watching. Heh heh. Then I should assume the thread of fate has again begun to weave its strange connections between myself and some unknown human.”
He rose forward, his movements purposeful. "It's time to put an end to this dance of platitudes," CRC continued, his voice cold and unwavering. "We'll settle this the only way that somewhat matters—through objective action in this grand play."
“Silence, preserved doll. Illusionists are meant to remain silent. That is all we magicians are: wielders of substanceless illusions. Opening your mouth serves only to break the illusion.”
With a flicker of resolve in his eyes, he locked gazes with the #7. "I am Hydra, Gemstone," he said, his voice carrying a hint of challenge. "Our battle ends now.” CRC opened both his palms and began shooting at their surroundings, the buildings, the pavement, the apartments, the rubble.
It probably wasn't random as it seemed to create a pattern.
“Huh are you getting senile old man?” asked the young Gemstone.
“What fun. I never imagined someone would bother diligently polishing their skills this far while knowing it is all essentially an illusion. Didn’t you ever feel silly going to the effort?”
Rosencreutz dropped to all fours, his rosy cross sword gripped tightly in his right hand.
He moved—
“Arrgh!” Sogiita yelled amidst the relentless and precise and precise strikes from that golden cross. “Old man?” he asked.
That magician didn't say anything.
That silver man’s movements became more beastly.
Faster.
Stronger.
Fiercer.
Something new was beginning to manifest.
With each strike of his higher dimensional blade that old man’s blows seemed infused with an otherworldly energy.
The wounds inflicted by his weapon burned with a venomous intensity, sending searing pain coursing through Sogiita's body.
That boy grimaced as the poison from that silver man’s strikes surged through his being, each wound feeling like it was ablaze with venomous fire.
"Damn... That burns…like a killer hornet’s sting," he muttered through clenched teeth, his voice strained with effort. Gritting, he fought to maintain his focus, despite the agony threatening to overwhelm him.
Was this another application of The Four Stages? Citrinitas? No, there was nothing yellow here, it was more like a dirty purple.
But it wasn't just the physical damage that posed a threat.
As the Rosy Cross leader leaped on all fours his movements took on an almost erratic quality, he was bouncing from one building to another with an animalistic agility.
With each jump, a shockwave rippled through the air, carrying with it a palpable sense of dread.
Something was spreading.
The air around them seemed to thicken with a toxic miasma. The #7 struggled to breathe, the noxious fumes clouding his senses.
Like a chaotic monster’s venomous poison breath.
The once-clear air now felt thick and suffocating.
Gasping for breath, the bandana boy struggled to maintain his focus amidst the swirling chaos.
His vision blurred, his movements sluggish as he fought against the oppressive atmosphere.
Blinded that heroic boy could only fire a flame arrow without his sight.
His fists striking out with all the strength he could muster. Igniting in that poisonous compressed air.
It seemed to be flammable like a dragon’s breath.
???
At the hospital, Shokuhou's voice carried a mix of surprise and relief. “He caused real damage.” she exclaimed.
Kamijou turned his attention to her, intrigued. “What happened?”
“It's hard to see clearly, but it looks like the #7 managed to rip off CRC's left arm,” she explained. “Though, I'd say it was more of a lucky shot. I can read he acted on pure instinct.”
Kamijou nodded, a hint of melancholy in his tone. “Yeah... the psychic link and all.”
Had the #7 Level 5 given up on the old man?
Back on the battlefield, Sogiita cursed under his breath. “Dammit... Sorry, old man,” he muttered. “I was aiming to hit your whole body to maximize the surface area, maybe break a few bones as a casualty. We can probably get your arm reattached at the hospital. Heaven Canceller has enough guts to even fix me.”
It was clear—he hadn't given up.
It was an accidental strike of his arm.
“As each ghastly head was severed from its serpentine form, dreadfully, two more writhed forth from the abyss.” a cryptic voice amidst the chaos spoke.
Wasn't it said that the Hydra’s lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid.
Lerna was reputed to be an entrance to the Underworld.
The abyss.
The Ungrund.
There is no limit to the depth of the Alcyonian Lake, and I know of nobody who by any contrivance has been able to reach the bottom of it since not even Nero, who had ropes made several stades long and fastened them together, tying lead to them, and omitting nothing that might help his experiment, was able to discover any limit to its depth. This, too, I heard. The water of the lake is, to all appearance, calm and quiet but, although it is such to look at, every swimmer who ventures to cross it is dragged down, sucked into the depths, and swept away.
The keeper of the gate to the Underworld that lay in the waters of Lerna was the Hydra.
The serpentine Lake Monster.
“Rosencreutz……?” The #7 muttered.
That magician chuckled ominously. "Indeed, young Heracles," he intoned, his voice echoing with a bizarre resonance. “The Lernaean Hydra's curse is upon you now.” as he said that he ripped off a bit of his arm that was cuterarised and it began bleeding.
Anna Sprengel’s blood was said to create unknown miracles when spilled.
Christian Rosencreutz’ blood was so virulent that even its scent was deadly.
As Sogiita Gunha glanced at his severed arm lying on the ground, a creeping sense of horror enveloped him. "All fate is a curse and that curse," he murmured, his words barely audible over the din of battle, "extends even to my severed limb.”
Christian Rosencreutz’ left arm grew back.
No.
Two new arms grew in its place.
The arm was fully functioning with no defects.
Although one of the arms appeared somewhat scaly and lanky like a serpent.
It had human anatomy but something was abnormal here.
He almost looked like a spider as he emerged from the poisonous fog as he remained on all fours.
“So short-stack. Are you ready to complete your final labor: Crossing the abyss!!!” He challenged that boy with his cross sword facing him.
"Boss, what's up? You look kinda stuck," Kamijou asked, his tone concerned.
Two students were sitting together in the waiting room at a hospital.
"—abyss, Hydra, curse, synchronicities, Historic recurrence." she replied, her words carrying a weight of unease.
"Huh? What? Can you give me the lowdown?" Kamijou prodded, his urgency evident.
"Can't quite wrap my head around it. But what I can tell you is that after CRC started talking about these esoteric concepts, he leveled up his power ability, managed to seriously hurt the #7 despite me cranking up all his stats for the win condition," the honey-blonde girl explained, frustration creeping into her voice.
"Can you beam all that stuff into my head, like a memory download? You're a psychological esper, right? My right hand won't mess with it, and we've done the telepathy thing before," Kamijou suggested.
"Memory download's not quite it, but I can send you a recording," she clarified.
"Got it," Kamijou muttered as he absorbed the info.
"You got any ideas to help the #7’s situation ability, Kamijou-san? We're kinda desperate here," she asked.
"I wish Index was still here, dammit.” he lamented, “But you know about magic, right?" he queried.
"Yeah, people converting their delusions into reality right?," she admitted.
"Well, magic's not just about delusions; it can be tied up to the whole world. Not sure if it's relevant, but based on Idol Theory, Rosencreutz might be pulling in 'energy’ from the Greek 'phase’ of Heracles for an edge," Kamijou theorized.
"Like a chessboard flip?" Shokuhou Misaki inquired, her brow furrowed with concern.
"No, more like... imagine you're playing checkers with a buddy, and you're totally crushing it because you're a checkers pro. Then suddenly, your buddy switches it up and challenges you to an arm wrestling match, and you lose because, well, arm wrestling isn't your forte," Kamijou Touma explained, trying to paint a vivid picture.
"So, by taking on the role of the Hydra from Greek myth, he's essentially forcing the #7 into the role of Heracles? But didn't Heracles defeat the Hydra?" Shokuhou sought clarification.
"Yeah, but..." Kamijou recalled the tale from the movies he'd seen. "Lichas gave Heracles a shirt soaked in the Hydra's poisonous blood from his arrows, which ends up killing him by tearing his flesh down to the bone," he elaborated.
"It was actually Nessus seeking vengeance and tricking Deianira into giving it to Heracles as a gift, delivered by Lichas without disclosing the tunic's lethal bloodstained secret from the Lernaean Hydra, but you're right," Shokuhou corrected gently. "So, Rosencreutz is harnessing the power of that legend to slowly poison the #7 to death?"
"Not literal. I mean the poison is real but his slashes do significant harm now so it's more like shifting the paradigm in his favor shifting his position.” The spiky-haired boy wasn't in the mood to explain Phases, “Earlier, he mentioned Sogiita spreading his 'virus' throughout the world. A virus isn't a poison in the traditional sense, but the Rosicrucians originally sought to create a universal cure for all illnesses. Now, CRC is spreading a literal poison, positioning himself as the ultimate predator and his opponents as prey rather than his savior role, the paradigm has been shifted." Kamijou concluded, his voice tinged with gravity.
“So he’s changed the environment to get the win condition? The #7’s durability doesn't matter in the face of the world being forced to go about a certain way because of Rosencreutz stage play?” The girl asked.
“Yeah…if things keep going this way…Sogiita will….goddamnit….” The spiky haired boy swore. “I can't let someone else die after all that's happened but I feel like if I go out there I really will kill him…” he muttered that last bit while clenching his right fist that began shaking uncontrollably.
The girl’s eyes seemed confused. “What did you say?” The honey blonde middle schooler asked.
“Nothing, just mumbling to myself.” he spat out.
That boy and girl could never come to the right conclusion on their own without the aid of former Magic God Othinus by their side.
“Did you think I had challenged you with no hope of succeeding, you cesspool? The magic born on earth is bound by the directions based on the earth’s magnetic field and by the density and composition of the air which is determined by air pressure which is in turn influenced by gravity. That is inevitable when you are focused on the cardinal directions of north, south, east, and west or on the basic elements of fire, water, wind, and earth. But what you will find upon leaving the atmosphere is an unknown. Coronzon, are you sure there will be no malfunction in the magic giving you control of Avatar Lola? And before, my power was bound by the puny speck named earth which failed to become a black hole or even a sun, but once we enter outer space, just how far do you think that power will be released? I do not mind at all that I will lose the support of Academy City.”
Well the boy was half right.
“Let us test it out, you cuspidor. On one side, we have you using the planet and bound to an avatar. On the other, we have me exposed and freed from the planet. Now, who will be the star of this show?”
Christian Rosencreutz did not shoot at his surroundings for no reason.
The battlefield transformed into Rosencreutz's canvas, resembling the legendary battleground of Lerna where Heracles once clashed with the Hydra.
Yes.
He didn't unleash his powers randomly; every action was deliberate.
In the magical side of Idol Theory, mimicking an object, event, or person allowed one to tap into a fraction of its power.
And that even applied to locations that essentially worked as stage plays.
Idol Theory was so absolute that even the basic cross held a portion of the son of God’s power.
As Above, So Below.
As Below, So Above.
Macro to micro.
Micro to macro.
And the macrocosm and the microcosm are always linked.

Between 1974 and 1975, there was a local man in San Francisco who would dump his victims bodies in Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach. He became "The Doodler", as one of his last surviving victims said told him that he was a "cartoonist" who doodled during their late night dinner. The surviving victim met the Doodler at a truck stop diner near Market and Church after the bar closed in July of 1975. The victim told police, that the serial killer was in art school and learning to training to be a cartoonist. It has been noted that many, if not all, of his victims - both deceased and surviving - are gay men.
The attacks on two gay men happened at the Fox Plaza Apartments in July of 1975 in two weeks of each other. Both men lived on the same floor, but they didn't know each other. The last known survivor met the Doodler at the truck stop mentioned after last call at 2AM on Market and Church street.
Once the first sketch was released of the Doodler in October of 1975, there was a call from a anonymous woman - she gave a name and a license plate number possibly belonging to the Doodler. The police are looking for the woman who called SFPD in October of 1975 to step forward, as they want to speak to this person. The name she gave to SFPD has been their prime suspect, even as late as 2023.
SFPD have stated that if any surviving victims of the Doodler to "step forward", as they can be the missing link to solve this mystery, however, because of previous prejudices of that time, for fear of being possibly being outed as gay, as it's possible the victims now have families of their own, married to either their partners or possibly still believing in the social stigma of times gone by. It should be noted, that the fear in the LGBTQ+ community during that time, people that belonged in that community didn't come forward due to fear of social stigma and/or career lost for being gay, queer, bisexual, trans, etc....There have been long standing rumors that one surviving victim of the Doodler was a high ranking representative in government at that time, but it is hard to tell without them coming forward.
That said, if you or anyone you know has any information that can lead to the identity and arrest of the Doodler, you are urged to call the Cold Case Investigators Tom Newland at 415-553-1144, Dominic Celaya at 415 553-9856, Daniel Dedet at 415 553-1450, or Daniel Cunningham at 415 553-9515.
Sources, Doodler: https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/doodler-serial-killer-suspect-sketch-age-progression-san-francisco-cold-case/
Reward, Dooler: https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/reward-to-catch-doodler-serial-killer-increased-by-san-francisco-police/

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Memory Transcription Subject: Elias Meier, Former UN Secretary-General
Date [standardized human time]: July 13, 2160
The irritability coursing through my psyche was palpable. Every sound was dialed up to eleven, stabbing at the core of my sensory processing. Constant awareness grated on me after days without sleep, never having any break from the stream of information I needed to digest. There was no way to shut the world off and reset, and no reprieve from the unsettling reality of my physical experience. I was curled up in a ball on the floor, rocking back and forth; I wasn’t sure how much longer I could go on like this.
Virnt scuttled over to me in the spaceship, jostling my shoulder. “Elias? Would you like to turn back from this mission?”
I remembered how I’d spent most of the trip, standing under the water in the shower. There was a special shampoo they’d provided for synthetic hair, like a wig. I held out my phony hand and emptied most of the bottle’s worth of goop, zoning out; I was trying to soak in the distant sensation of liquid running down my spine. Once upon a time, this had been the most relaxing time of my day—letting muscle tension fade away and cleansing grimy skin oils. Now, I knew neither of those two still existed in my day-to-day life to assuage.
Did it even matter to slap soap on some metal frame? There were no consequences of letting hygiene go by the wayside. I didn’t sweat in order to start to reek, and I couldn’t get skin conditions or be affected by bacteria. It could be that I was bathing out of habit, clinging to my old lifestyle, that I kept going to wash up. Perhaps the shower had become my favorite haunt because I felt disgusting in this body. Everything was a reminder that I was an inhuman scrap pile, and it was wearing on my sanity. It wasn’t like anyone related to what I was going through.
I used to spend so much time fussing over making my suits look crisp and perfect—immaculate ties, UN pins adjusted just right. The heavy jackets would trap my body heat in the summer; now, it no longer had that effect. I could bundle up as much as I wanted in 40 degree Celsius heat, unless there was some limit that would fry my circuits. Shit, I might not need a spacesuit in the vacuum of space—I couldn’t freeze or suffocate, after all. Being left out in the void for all eternity didn’t sound that much different from my present experience.
I hate what I’ve become. I hate what they’ve done to me; all I do is think, and every part of my new self lives in the uncanny valley. There’s nothing positive. Maybe it’s time to call it…death was better than this. I can’t bear another day of this hell.
“Hey, stay with me! Distractibility, depression, being unable to maintain concentration—these are natural consequences of sleep deprivation. I’m surprised it carries over without a physical mechanism to grow tired…but I’m working on a sleep suite, I promise,” Virnt said, glossy eyes staring at me.
I groaned. “I’m not tired, but it’s just nonstop. I…I’m having trouble remembering what I read.”
“Here, I’m going to try a temporary fix. You look like you need it. I don’t want you to suffer; just turning you off and on isn’t the same. I’m going to emulate GABA, uh, shut off your optic sensors, decrease the activity in your prefrontal cortex, and simulate delta waves for an hour. We can see if it somewhat fills the need for deep sleep, okay? Relaxation, no processing: worth a shot, right?”
I nodded mutely, staying in the fetal position. I didn’t have the will to move, and I didn’t want to get my hopes up that Virnt’s plan would be any mercy. The sensation of the Tilfish tinkering with my settings was strange, as if my brain was being overridden in the moment. There was no process of falling asleep to give it the air of naturalness. Suddenly, I was blind, trapped in darkness—and a modicum of drowsiness kicked in, limiting my movement. Thoughts died down, offering much-need relief; I faintly wished I could remain in this state.
When I came to, there was a sudden influx of information as the rest mode was switched off; it was hardly a seamless waking, but I’d take it. Peace in my own head was something I’d never take for granted again. I hadn’t thought myself to be a weak-minded individual, but I hadn’t realized how much it wore on you: feeling out of place in your own body every waking second, and not trusting your senses. Brain function had been restored enough that I could get a grip on myself, and rise in my disheveled state. A peek out the window revealed we’d completed our intra-atmosphere transit to the Duerten embassy.
I rubbed my eyes on reflex, but there were no gifts from the Sandman there. “Why couldn’t you have just added everything to start with, Virnt?”
“The humans I talked to said they wouldn’t want to sleep, unless they had to! I put the most focus on your emotional matrix and your facial expressiveness, since I thought that has the highest importance of what makes you human,” the Tilfish replied.
“You could’ve made it at least optional.”
“I sent the option to your holopad for the future, to trigger this program for as long as you’d like. This is a learning process, so I’m sorry for anything that’s off. All trial and error here, but it’s only going to get better! That’s the positive.”
“There are a lot of patches needed. For starters, you’re missing two of the senses: taste and smell. In spite of that, ever since I walked past the Terra Technologies staff eating tater tots, I’ve been craving them at random intervals. I’m not hungry—I can’t consume food!”
“Predator instincts,” Virnt teased. “The Federation was right.”
“I’m serious! Why on Earth would that be a thing? I literally can’t satisfy it, so it’s almost cruel.”
“It’s psychological, Elias. I looked into it after I saw it in your transcript. When humans are under a lot of stress or otherwise feeling down, you seek dopamine from food. It’s something familiar that activated your memories, and promised emotional comfort. That’s why you have the phrase ‘comfort food.’”
“I can already see how the Federation remnants would spin that. A predator’s so-called emotions are tied to food, and stimulate appetite to fulfill their whims.”
“You seem in better spirits. To add to your improved mood, we announced the success of your memory transplant to the world. The response was overwhelmingly positive—history looked back fondly on you. You got a lot of well-wishes, and I was able to get almost all of your social media re-activated. At least, the platforms that are still active.”
“I’m…allowed to share my honest experiences?”
Virnt eased me out of the shuttle, into the sunlight; cameras were waiting, causing me to stiffen. “Of course you can. I’m not here to muzzle you, my friend. Quite the opposite, in fact: I want your experiment documented as thoroughly as possible! You’re the spokesperson for—”
I shielded my face from the reporters, who were lobbing questions. “What is this? I don’t have a prepared statement. This is an ambush.”
“Terra Technologies has a mission of transparency, and improving sapients’ quality of life through digital means. We had to announce such a monumental breakthrough, but you’re under no obligation to speak with them.”
“Good,” a warm voice chimed in from next to me, making me jump. “The poor guy’s come back from the dead, Virnt. Give him a break. He’s here to speak with the Duerten Forum and their ambassador, for some semblance of his old life.”
I turned my head, beaming as I recognized her. “Erin? Oh, sorry: that’s Secretary-General Kuemper, isn’t it? You’ve moved up in the world. The United Nations is in good hands.”
“It’s good to see you, Elias. I bawled my eyes out at your funeral. You cared so much for peace and taking the high road; there isn’t a person out there who could’ve handled first contact with more grace. You inspired me, and an entire generation of future diplomats.”
I embraced Erin, who’d once been a passionate SETI researcher giving me all of the bad news about aliens. As we flailed about in the dark to save humanity and adjust to the galaxy, finally acquiring a few friends, she’d become my Secretary of Alien Affairs. I’d trusted her to do whatever it took to stabilize our extraterrestrial relations. It was a bit of a relief to see a positive reaction from someone I knew; I wasn’t sure how my friends would take my return, but I hadn’t been expecting a welcome with open arms. It brought me solace and comfort to know about the legacy I’d left behind, and the ripple effects my tenure had on the United Nations.
It is strange to see how much she’s aged. That’ll be the reality of anyone that used to be an acquaintance of mine.
The alarm bells pinging in my head faded into the backdrop, and I forgot that the wind gusting against my face only felt like a dull push. My mind slipped away from food cravings that failed to get my mouth to water, how there was no feeling of tightness from my dress shoes, and the stillness of my non-existent diaphragm. I was simply happy to see someone I cared about and enjoyed working with, in my old life. There was safety in having a person I trusted to be on my side. My brain snapped back into diplomat mode, falling into a familiar flow of conversation. If I had nothing else, I still had my social skills—an ability to navigate various cultures.
“So the Duerten Forum agreed to meet with the two of us. They know about the Sivkit attack, but not the full threat,” I spoke aloud, after breaking away from the rather soul-affirming embrace. “I read the strategy meetings for briefing them, and I’m on-board to appeal to nostalgia; humanity saving their homeworld was after my time, but close enough to it that I could serve as a reminder. A blast from the past.”
Erin nodded, her security forming a wall between us and the cameras as we walked toward the embassy. “I always wondered what you’d think of modern Vienna, Elias. All of the aliens willing to be here on our world, and to treat us like people. Friendship used to seem like a pipe dream; we were happy if they’d allow us to exist, tolerate us to that extent. Look at us now.”
“I almost gave up hoping that they could care about us, or stand beside us at all. We couldn’t do it alone then. It’s time we remember to stand together—to rise to the occasion once more. I can’t bear the thought of anything threatening our home, or our friends. I saw enough needless death twenty-four years ago.”
“That pain is a lot more recent to you. It’s completely okay to be wrestling with grief. A billion of ours died.”
“We didn’t become the monsters they thought we were, and we pulled through. We revealed their hatred and treachery, and have chosen a future set on rectifying every right they trampled. I’ll always mourn what we lost, but I’ve never been more proud of humanity in my life.”
Kuemper patted my shoulder. “You sound like yourself, my dear old friend. It’s very good to have you back; you were much better at smiling while they spit in your face than I ever was. Let’s do what’s necessary to get the ball rolling with the Shield.”
“I’m right behind you.”
The exterior of the Duerten embassy had a distinct construction style, with metal and concrete forming the bulk of the outside structure; on Kalqua, sturdiness was at the foremost of their priorities. Winds on a normal day could ratchet up to what we’d consider a tropical storm, according to my brief review of their culture. The door was evidently heightened to facilitate foot traffic from humans, despite the exit hatches on the upper floor which seemed frequented by the avian staff. Their personnel could literally fly away during an emergent situation. I tailed Kuemper into the lobby, and noted how much of the inside’s floor was concrete as well. It was resilient and easy to clean, a perfect surface to avoid being marred by talons.
Most of the gray avians used perches instead of chairs, with several staffers working on paperwork at their desks; in private areas, some met with any humans who had business with the Duerten Forum. The lack of reaction to a predator’s approach was new to me, but a welcome change. Kuemper confidently led the way to an elevator, which had the English and German words for “Welcome to the Duerten embassy!” written above the opening. The generic Shield logo was painted on both sides of the door, and emblazoned with a representation of Kalqua. There were no buttons inside, apart from an emergency exit; a camera surveyed us, before a watching staffer summoned the car upward. I felt a jolt as we reached the top floor.
“To be visited by two Secretary-Generals: one of whom is a ghost! Let me express the Duerten Forum’s honor and delight. Not, of course, that I don’t cherish Ambassador Hannah Marston’s visits.” A silver-feathered head poked out of a door at the end of the hallway, past a spacious lounge; his beak was the precise yellow of corn. “Please, come in. Make yourselves at home. Can I get you anything to drink?”
Kuemper shuffled forward, giving me a knowing look. “Water would be lovely for me. Thank you for the warm welcome, Ambassador Korajan.”
“I second that gratitude. Enchanted to meet you. I’m sure you know, but I’m Elias Meier.” Taking a gamble that the ambassador was more than acquainted with our customs, I extended a hand. Korajan strode forward with confidence, ensnaring my palm in his wingtip. “We appreciate you taking the time to sit with us, Ambassador.”
“Just Korajan,” the avian said, feeling my artificial hand with undeniable curiosity. He finally released my grip, and waited for us to get seated. “There’s no need for formalities, especially when I’m in such esteemed company. What can I do for you?”
“We’ve come to seek your assistance in the fight against the Sivkits’ assailants. The Sapient Coalition needs allies to back us against these menaces,” Kuemper stated. “Any help we can get would make a difference.”
“I see. I heard about your unfortunate defeat in your prior engagement, but I don’t see how it involves or concerns us. The Duerten, as you well know, aren’t in the position we used to be. We’ve turned our focus inward for years, shoring up our defenses to watch out for our beloved planet. The potential benefit it might offer you is so negligible that it’s hardly worth increasing our vulnerability. The risk far outweighs the rewards for any party.”
I studied the avian, careful to avoid a direct stare. “I understand that it’s a lot to ask. However, small bits of help from across the Shield can accumulate to be a massive difference maker. We want to stop this genocidal force from getting anywhere near Kalqua; if we play our cards right, you won’t need defenses.”
“Elias—sorry, may I call you Elias?” Korajan asked, continuing after I nodded. “We’re, of course, concerned to have a predatory species with such power and intentions, outside our known terrain. They bear a striking resemblance to the Arxur, and my government does appreciate the advance warning from the SC so we can make preparations. Yet the Forum is concerned by several of your recent initiatives, which would make us doubly unwilling to back your cause.”
“Go on. What initiatives have unsettled you?” I hope he doesn’t mean me, with resurrecting dead humans; that’d hit close to home, and I don’t know how to defend it. “Perhaps we can clear up our rationale and intentions, ensuring that there are no misunderstandings.”
“I hope I’m not impolite to point it out, but my government is beginning to see a pattern in your recent connections to carnivores. The Sapient Coalition is attempting an uplift on one race, despite what we all know happened on Wriss, and has brought them into your mix while they are at war with each other. We’re also aware of these Osirs—a race you are resurrecting to live among you, despite having no idea what they’re capable of. Present company excluded, species that need meat are not trustworthy types. These Osirs are weapons: look at the fangs.”
“Anything is a weapon in the wrong hands. Respectfully, we don’t feel that it’s right to judge a species for their diet. If I’m not mistaken, your own kind were once omnivores, Korajan.”
The Duerten fluttered his wings in acknowledgement. “The Federation changed us greatly—some things for the better, others to erase our intellect. We’re an individualist species, and they tried to make us…what do you humans call it? A ‘hive mind.’ Hive minds, of course, are fiction, yet they tried to make it real. Still, sometimes when you’re changed enough, it makes it impossible to go back to how things were.”
“I of all people grasp that sentiment,” I sighed, without moving an abdominal muscle, reflecting how my life would never be the same in this state. “We believe all sapients deserve a chance at life and happiness. Equality isn’t a principle we withhold based on any factor, and we don’t change species to fit our own whims.”
“This is why we’re content with our relations as is: separate, so we’re not connected to your disputes or obligated to get involved. The Duerten will always have differences between what are considered acceptable behaviors, and our guiding principles and overarching goals.”
Kuemper tapped her fingers on her knee. “Regardless, our choices with the Bissems and Osirs will have no impact or tangible effects on the Duerten. Nor is it a reason to shy away from protecting herbivores, the mandate that led you to stand up to the Federation in the past.”
“That cost us everything. Kalqua took a beating worse than Earth did. We don’t set out to attract the ire of powerful enemies these days.”
“We saved Kalqua. We were there when you needed our help to keep your innocents safe,” I reminded him, knitting my eyebrows with earnestness. “We answer when others call for our help to stay alive; the Duerten know what drives us to answer the bell. Isn’t that worth a smidge of reciprocation?”
“If Earth, or for that matter, Leirn were under siege, we would come. However, it appears to us that you entered their territory, not the other way around.”
“Think of the type of species…no, the kind of governments that would glass worlds. The old-school Arxur Dominion. The Kolshian shadow caste when they were defied. The Krakotl extermination fleet because they hated us. That’s what we see in the Osirs, and the gluttonous killing of Sivkit civilians while refusing to speak. We can’t turn a blind eye.”
“I’m sorry, Elias. Even if I wanted to help you, I don’t have the authority. I’m expressing my government’s position, and I’ve been told the Duerten Forum isn't going to war under any circumstances. I apologize that I can’t be of more use, and regret if you might feel your time has been squandered, leaving empty-handed.”
I shared a look with Kuemper, recognizing that we had been stonewalled; there was an implication in Korajan’s last statement that the discussion on this matter was over. The Forum hadn’t given him any negotiating room, so I didn’t get the sense I could do better than asking for him to take a message. If this was the most friendly party we’d be interacting with, I wasn’t off to a good start wrangling support for an alliance. There were a few other Shield races we could try, but an endorsement from the founders might’ve gotten the whole union on board. We had to find another angle—negotiating with the Fed remnants would be impossible without the Shield as an intermediary.
“Of course we don’t feel that way. The back-and-forth was enlightening, productive communication, as much as humanity would love to stand side-by-side in this endeavor,” I offered. “We appreciate you hearing us out, and do hope you’ll pass along our rationale to the Forum, for clarity.”
“I will,” the Duerten responded. “Your words, as always, deserve to be heard and treated with respect.”
Kuemper followed my lead, rising as I stood. “Korajan, I want you to know I deeply appreciate what you said about coming to Earth’s aid should we ever fall on hard times. That stood out to me, as a reason why our cooperation is so precious and beautiful.”
“I agree wholeheartedly. I do wish you the best of luck in your future engagements; my people hope you emerge victorious.”
“Thank you. Our door will always be open if you have a change of heart.”
In my mind, I had already vacated the Duerten embassy, but it was necessary to retrace my steps to depart the ambassador’s office. Aliens were much more diplomatic in rebuffing us now than in my era, which was the proper way to express disagreements between nations. It wasn’t lost on me that the differences in “behaviors” and “principles” Korajan meant were things such as hunting, omnivory, accepting carnivores, exterminators, and predator disease facilities. The Forum still clung to much of their old lifestyle; the gray avian had stated that some Federation changes were “for the better.” That was telling about how much of their ideology they’d yet to shed.
“Forgive my impertinence, but before you go, Elias…may I ask a personal inquiry? It’s not on my behalf of my government,” Korajan called, as our shoes cleared the threshold of his office.
I turned around, giving him an encouraging smile. “Of course. Go ahead.”
“What…what was it like? To die…to be dead?”
“It wasn’t like anything. It was a singularity of all outcomes: all I ever was, and all I ever could be, condensed to nothing. There are no words to describe emptiness and infinite rest. It’s a peace that knows no equal.”
The Duerten dipped his head. “Thank you. It gives me some…personal solace, to know…to know my daughter is resting peacefully. She died in so much pain after only a short period of remission. Ahem…if you’ll excuse me, I…”
“We’ll leave you in peace,” Kuemper replied, softness in her voice.
I folded my hands behind my back, mulling over the choked-up ambassador’s words. How could I let a few days of mental suffering defeat me, when kids suffered through such terrible diseases—never getting to reach adulthood? This program could give children like Korajan’s daughter a chance to grow up, and be a kid, free from pain. As soon as I was alone, I knew I’d be cast back into a maddening state of consciousness, with my brain struggling to stay tethered to this reality. Where I’d been ready to give up before Virnt’s quick fix, the avian’s story made me want to remain in the fight.
The Tilfish had been right: there was the potential for the technology that had brought me back to do a lot of good, and save others a great deal of heartbreak and suffering. No personal sacrifice was too great to ensure that one day, no parent would ever have to bury their child.
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(undiagnosed) For some background, I work from home in a research-heavy field, so my job inherently involves keeping a lot of notes.
I have found that I remember things a lot better, and can hold things in my mind longer if I can verbalize something into a complete sentence and then write out that full sentence as a written note to myself. I use this for to-dos, decisions I need to make, and things I need to think about in the future. So in addition to keeping a personal to-do list for each day, a work to-do list, and work notes, I also write myself a lot of notes throughout the day just to organize my thoughts for later in the day, the next day, etc. I will write down names, additional context, short feelings and reflections -- basically any thought that I want to hold on to.
This all results on having many, many pieces of paper scattered around my desk area, kitchen table, and bedside table. Most of the notes can be thrown out the following day, but there is some carryover. I usually reserve a journal or notebook for things that are worth keeping, not these intra-day notes that are just to organize my thoughts.
So my question is, does anyone have a similar habit of writing down little notes to themselves, and has found a better solution than just having loose sheets of paper everywhere? If I don't clean them up at the end of a day, they accumulate so so fast that it becomes overwhelming.

I live in NC near the triangle, so I got 2 quotes, waiting on 3rd for CAI, Headers(Kooks), Cam and Tune.
Total is 15k, 13k without head porting at both shops. These are 2 major speed shops in the area. Is this normal pricing as of 2024?
At one shop I asked about no Cam, only CAI, Headers and Tune = 6,500
I really like the idea of deleting the AFM/DOD lifters but do they really fail that often? My car has 15k miles on it.
Do you think adding only a A&A blower on a 100% stock car will be cheaper? Reliability?

I recently moved to a new area and have to get a new mechanic and I want to make sure I start things out well because I found it makes such a huge improvement to the stresses of having work done on my vehicle.
With my old mechanic I used to periodically bring them baked goods (I used to work at a Panera and would get day olds for free if nobody from the nonprofits came to pick them up overnight). I don’t work at Panera anymore but could make some baked goods? But I’m not sure if that’s a good way to initiate after I’ve just had my car towed to them the first time. Is it bribery? Maybe. But that feels way too obvious/crass in this situation.
Worth noting: did I sometimes get special treatment previously? Yeah. Am I EXPECTING it? No. If I’m not given special treatment I’m not going to be upset or complain about it because honestly nobody owes me something they didn’t offer for doing something they didn’t ask for.
So… you’re a mechanic, would this be a welcome thing to do? And what would your ideal customer do to show appreciation? What would be a good surprise from a new customer?

Hi - We have a 2014 AWD CRV-EXL that we are giving to our daughter so we won't be trading in. We are looking at purchasing either a 2024 AWD EX-L or a hybrid. As we are used to certain features, we find ourselves creeping up to the Sport-L Hybrid and it is getting pricey so we are debating about the AWD if we decide on the hybrid. We now live in the south and get a lot of rain. Does it help/matter here?
Is there anything glaring between the EX-L, Sport Hybrid or Sport-L Hybrid that we should be aware of - either pro or con? We do drive about 1500 miles every summer (3,000 round trip) and then mostly local stuff the rest of the year. We are still on the fence and are old school and we don't love the idea about the lack of spare tire and traveling. What work arounds do people have, if any?
On another note, shopping from home is still awful with some of these dealers (and their add-on packages). We tried the Costco route with not a great amount of success. One dealer in our area - and not great. We are also looking at the Mazda CX5 but we think it doesn't have enough cargo space for us.
Are you happy with your EX-L or Hybrid? Please share your opinion and experience.
Thank you so much!

So I've been searching my area(TX) for used 5th gens for the past couple of weeks. There are a few in my area that I like, and meet my price range($40k and under). One of the vehicles I'm interested in is a 2022 TRD ORP with 70k miles on it. I know I shouldn't be worried about 70k on this drive train, but 70k in under 2 years or right at it makes it seem like this car was driven hard and basically lived in for those years lol. Everything looks clean on it though.
Dealer wants $38k for it, which with those miles seems high, but also Toyota tax so I don't really know. If it is high, what would you try to get it down to?
Disclaimer I know a few will say "but why not just spend a little bit more, and get a brand new one?" Well because I honestly do not want to finance and have a car note over my head. I am in a fortunate position to even be able to get something at $40k without financing, just trying to keep the voice in the back of my head quite so I stay responsible lol.

(Flagging as ELI5 because I need help approaching this to people with limited English skills.)
I work for an Asian culture non-profit that throws a yearly festival in my city. We've been invited, along with the organizers of other festivals, to a meeting to discuss the use of Placer.ai at our events. The meeting will be held at the office of a non-profit that promotes tourism in my city, and I view it as an arm of the government because they are the primary and officially-sanctioned source of visitor information for our area, and they work closely with county and city government.
My director and most of our board is comprised of immigrants who either have limited English skills, low tech proficiency, or both. I'm being sent to this meeting because I'm a Gen Z native English speaker, but my knowledge of data collection, AI, and privacy in the digital age is not the best. We have a lawyer who specializes in this sort of thing coming with us, as well, to further back us up.
Some concerns my director has expressed:

• Placer is an Israeli company. (Regardless of feelings about the Israeli government and the ongoing conflict, we aren't comfortable with a semi-governmental body having a contract with a foreign-based company collecting location and demographic data.)
• How this data is being collected and used, especially by a semi-governmental office. (Big one for us as an organization primarily comprised of immigrants. We live in a very Republican state.)

I have some notes and did some research, but I'd like to hear from you all who might be better versed in this. A lot of the people in our organization hear "AI" and get real scared, and I want to be able to reassure, or at least, better educate them. Meeting is later today (1PM EST), and I can share my notes afterwards if you all are interested.

Ever since my school has been established, our band has carried out the “traditional” marching style, and we’re decent at it. We don’t place very high in the top ten at competition, mainly because we are a smaller 6A school (luckily, we got reclassified). Also, I want to mention that we are a mostly black school. This is important to the story!
Our superintendent really wants us to change our style into a “show band” (HBCU style), because we aren’t “capital” enough. I looked up the meaning and she’s basically saying that we aren’t black enough, which is INSANE. The reason that i’m really sensitive to her saying that is because “not being black enough” is a common saying in the black community. Your blackness shouldn’t be defined by if you act like other black people, (in this case, marching).
To add to that, I’ve NEVER seen her at our competitions or seen her posting about us on the school page. When we won our UIL trophy at region, where was she??? But she wants us to change the way we operate. It’s insane. Nobody wants this but her and maybe a few other citizens in our city. She barely even funds us. Our school has had gun issues lately, so she has bigger problems than worrying about how we execute marching.
I like marching traditionally because it’s different. Most black high schools in our area don't have that style of marching, so we kinda stand out.
I will also say that NOBODY in the band is built to do that. Especially our future drum majors. Nobody will be able to properly capture the image of a HBCU drum major in our band.
Honestly I’m not sure what to do. My BD might not accept his contract for the next school year, so we might get a new director that could possibly be manipulated by the superintendent to get what she wants. If we do switch, I don’t want to quit because most of my friends are in band, and I genuinely love playing music! Also I think the HBCU style is pretty boring on the clarinet.
So I don’t know what to do? Are we screwed or what???
PLEASE NOTE: I am in no way shaming HBCU-style marching bands!!! I do admire this style of marching band, I just don’t think it's the best option for my band!!

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So, if you’re just joining us, I work at a haunted zoo now. Since I’ve gotten some rest, it feels like I’ve got my head on straight, at least, so I’d like to continue where I left off.
I sat on the floor in the office after meeting the ghost until I’d settled my rattled mind (and realized I’d forgotten to ask her name, how rude is that?). I took a deep breath and got up off the floor. Walking over and falling into the rolling chair in front of the large screen of camera views, when I brought up the camera that covered the area in which I’d spotted her, she was still there, and it seemed she hadn’t moved an inch.
Sitting there, at a loss, I continued to watch her. The ghost hung around for another five minutes or so, appearing to look at a few things off-screen, though I’m not sure what. Then she walked off into the forest and left the view of the cameras. I wasn’t sure if she vanished into the ether or if she’d gone looking into the trees to look for something.
But that wasn’t the end of the job interview, so let me jump back there. It continued into what kind of animals the zoo had, with Andrew asking me how much experience I had with dangerous animals.
I took a moment to consider the question. “So, ah…I’ve been going hunting and fishing with a neighbor since I was sixteen,” I told him. “We always have to keep an eye out for gators, bears, and hogs. Then there’s snakes, of course…snapping turtles… Since I’ve lived here my whole life and been aiming for a job with wildlife for a long time, I know a lot about the animals in Arkansas in general. But good advice for all of the above is avoid them, so I’ve had encounters, but I don’t know if you’d say I have experience with them.”
“That’s fine,” Andrew said, nodding. “That’s an answer I’m satisfied with. Now, the ghost was the appetizer, Ripley; here’s the main course. To start with, the pay isn’t twenty-five an hour. It’s fifty.”
Staring in shock for a moment, I asked, “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. But that’d be weird to post online considering what applicants think we need, so I halved it.”
“That’s… Okay, why?”
“The animals are already here. You just can’t see them.”
I stared at him for a long moment, some disbelief worming its way into my expression, before saying, “Sorry, what?”
“There’s a chance you’d naturally never see them, or at least some of them,” he continued casually. “It depends on both your genetics and how long you stay on the job. I can naturally see six of them, but that’s it. Suzanne can see all of them, and more. Some are what people would label demons or ghosts. Or magic. Mostly you’d call them cryptids. The ghost was just a warm-up; I mentioned her first because it never takes more than a week to see her if you work the night shift. If you manage to handle her okay, soon you’ll be able to see the animals too. The more time you spend on the grounds, for weird reasons,” he said, wiggling his fingers in the direction of the back door, “the more you’ll be able to see.”
“So, this…this is a zoo for cryptids,” I echoed slowly. He nodded once, waiting to find out what kind of reaction I would have. I gestured vaguely around the room. “If this is a hidden camera show, will you cut me a check for showing up and participating?”
Andrew coughed out a chuckle and shook his head. “No joke. There are a ton of stories out there that have been written to death, pulverized until they’re not the Grimm stories of old and instead they’re Disney films. A lot of those stories come from what some humans have seen. There are dozens of other worlds pressed up against ours, and occasionally things come through by accident. If they’re smart, they’ll lay low and then make their way back when they can. If not, they become local folklore until someone helps them back. I’m just from London, but Suzanne is from somewhere else. She hires people like us for this zoo. Humans.”
Sighing, I shook my head. “That makes no sense. Why would she hire a muggle for a magic zoo?”
Andrew burst out laughing at that, and then waited to gather himself before he continued. “Fair point, but this is less about magic and more about animals, and you’re missing some information that will explain it. First of all, if I misjudge an employee, and they think they can make bank by outing the endangered and valuable animals we have, it’s easy to relocate the zoo.”
“Because magic?” I asked.
“Exactly,” he replied, ignoring the thread of skepticism in my tone. “That means it isn’t the end of the world if that happened, though it is a pain in the arse. But second…let me ask you a question. Speaking of reality shows, say the Discovery Channel put out a call to replace Steve Irwin when he passed. Imagine they had a line out the door,” he said with a gesture, “of people who thought they had the skill and natural talent to replace him, to take on everything he’d been doing his whole life. How many do you reckon would lose an arm, a leg, or their life, by the end of the day?”
My lips parted in surprise and I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re saying people from…wherever…they’re just as dumb as humans, but they’re worse, because they actually think they can handle these things.”
Andrew pointed the pen at me. “Things. Exactly. You called them things. Suzanne and her friends grew up with them and would call them animals. These animals have dispositions and temperaments that we’ve studied for as long as there have been scientists. Where Suzanne’s from, they know the weaknesses of these animals, and also they’re in enclosures here, even if you and I can’t see the walls because they’re invisible things called ‘wards’. If I hire someone who’s got magic on top of all that, they’ll have almost no instinctive fear.
“Everything here is nocturnal, and every one of them is a hunter. Some of these things? Humans see them and they pass out. Not that I want you passing out, but I need someone who is scared of these things, who knows to stay out of the enclosures no matter what. Not someone who thinks they can train them to do tricks, who gets close enough for them to grab a mouthful of hair and drown them. Once, we had a night shift manager injured, and once killed, because they didn’t take these animals seriously enough.”
Thinking back to the Sea World orca incident I knew he’d been referencing, I remembered wondering how someone at that level of her profession could be so careless as I watched the video on YouTube. It made sense when he explained it like that. I hesitated before mentally throwing my hands up and going all in. “So, why put this place here, then? If they’re endangered and also dangerous, why have a zoo at all instead of just a small reserve?”
He pursed his lips, looking disappointed in me. “Ripley. You know that already. You already said as much.”
Thinking back through our conversation, I said, “The rich humans who pay top dollar to see supernatural animals.”
“Not humans,” he told me. “But people, yes, and they are rich, and they’re making donations and spending their money on a ticket here because everything we have is endangered.”
“So…”
I just let my voice trail off and my mind started to drift. Andrew remained silent, letting me do so. There’s that thing people say, ‘I believe that you believe it,’ which is just a kinder way of saying, ‘Bullshit.’ Parents say it about closet monsters. Psychologists say it to people who say they’ve been abducted and probed by aliens. I wanted to say it to Andrew.
But I also wanted a job. If it meant working overnight at an empty zoo, that was fine. When it came down to it, especially when I took the tone of our conversation into account, this was a zoo specifically focused on preserving endangered ‘animals’, and it was allegedly doing important work. Also, if this turned out to be the real deal and I started seeing the animals, I would deal with it, just like I would deal with an enclosure that had a lion or tiger or gorilla. If it came with a ghost and invisible creatures, I really didn’t see what the difference was, if I couldn’t go in the enclosures either way.
On that note, I’d like you to imagine a kid who looks at a roller coaster, watching everyone screaming and grinning as they go up and down and all around and they’re like, ‘Heck, I could do that! That looks like a blast!’
Then they get on, the first drop hits, and they realize they’ve made a terrible mistake.
“All right,” I sighed. “I can’t say I’m going to turn down a job just because it’s going to be scary. Especially not one with this paycheck.”
Andrew smiled. “Awesome. There’s an adjustment process for anyone working here, similar to a dog that gets adopted, actually. I know the general guidelines of, ‘three days, three weeks, three months’ in terms of milestones, until they finally feel they’re where they’re supposed to be,” he told me, “and you can think of your time here along those lines. I really think you’re a great fit, and once you reach the milestone of working here for three months, I’ll officially consider you our new night shift guard. And I hope you’ll stay with us for many years.”
I nodded and smiled at the flattery of an employer wanting me to work a great job for them for a long time. I’d never had a dog, but those milestones were well-known among anyone who knew animals, especially dogs. The first three days, the dog is getting to know its new digs, exploring, and decompressing. At three weeks, they’ve gotten used to their environment and are starting to get comfortable with their surroundings and the routines of the humans they live with. By three months, they know the rules and follow them, they trust you, and they feel they are where they’re meant to be. I could only hope to be so lucky.
I saw the ghost two days ago and she has yet to make another appearance (for those who are curious, I asked, and her name is Leila), and I still hadn’t seen any animals. I did hear one, though, I feel compelled to note. A growling roar sounded from the lake on occasion, echoing across the vast zoo, sending a shiver down my spine. Whatever that animal was, it sounded gigantic.
Andrew said there was apparently a group that wanted to visit for a birthday and they were offering a huge donation, so he let me know they were making an exception and that this group would be walking through the park that night. That meant I’d be watching people watching animals that, as far as I could tell, weren’t there.
It was anticlimactic. Even the three people who came for the tour just looked like people, not like aliens or something eldritch from another dimension, and I stayed in the security office the whole time. Andrew was the one giving the tour. I watched them spend about five minutes at each enclosure, the hour or so that they were there passing without incident. It was clear that they were able to see all the animals, though, since they motioned excitedly at each enclosure and spoke to Andrew, who presumably answered any questions they had.
If they could see the animals, that was that. There was still that niggle in the back of my head, from my twenty-three years of life never encountering anything like ghosts or cryptids, telling me that this was ridiculous. Waiting for someone to knock on the door, a camera mounted on their shoulder, to tell me that it was a big joke and they wanted to see how long I’d play along. But from all I saw, this was a real place with real, invisible animals.
I do carry a taser and pepper spray in my capacity as a security guard. Though it isn’t for the animals, since they’re in the enclosures; they’re actually for the rare instance of a break-in. Andrew mentioned that it had happened several times it the past, someone trying to steal an animal in the hopes of selling it on the black market. They’d been successful before, but apparently my predecessor Roger was good at his job, and mostly they left in handcuffs.
I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of confrontation, but my job was to call Andrew and then confront the person, not kick their ass. That’s what the police were for, or rather, the people Andrew would call in lieu of police in certain situations.
Fifty bucks an hour. That’s the key here.
Andrew hadn’t set up direct deposit, since he was sticking with a strategy of waiting to see if I’d continue to work there once I found out myself dealing with the animals (I’ve decided I am going to just call them animals). Instead, I got an old-fashioned check after my shift every Friday. The number on the first check was delightful. I went out that evening and had a big dinner at the local diner, order my most expensive favorites on the menu and a big slice of pie for dessert.
When it came to the paychecks in general, though, I had this weird feeling of not wanting to tell my dad and brother about the fact that it was actually $50/hr. I previously mentioned that my dad, his name’s Nathan if you’re curious, works at a local grocery store. Our town has a couple food franchises, but I think its size is just short of whatever threshold Walmart uses to decide where to open. He earns $14/hr. and that’s after the tiny raises he’s gotten over the past thirteen years.
That’s not to say he’d feel bad about not making as much as me. On the contrary, he would be ecstatic for me and really proud. But, like me, he’d be suspicious. That hourly rate was the biggest hint that this was more than just a private zoo for cryptids. And as soon as that fat check cleared without problems, my dad wouldn’t be satisfied with reassurances; he’d want to come visit the zoo and look around.
I’d told him it’s a private preservation with scheduled (expensive) visits only and that it had only eleven animals, so he’d been appeased by me brushing off the idea of a visit. Also, I took a few photos of my workplace; one of the security room, one of me sitting in my chair, one photo of the many screens I watched, and a selfie where I was feigning sleep out of boredom, slouched in my chair with my mouth open in a faux snore. That let him feel like he knew where I was and what I was doing, and that I was safe.
But if I told him I was making double what he thought, my father would practically order me to quit. No job was worth my safety, he’d tell me. I was quite of the opposite opinion, however, considering how crucial any and all conservation efforts were these days. Especially with the steep extinction levels due to humans competing with other animals for space, not to mention climate change. Working in any job that helped preserve species and keep ecosystems in balance, or put them back in balance, was so important.
Then again, my father would also point out something I had realized right away: the fact was that I was working with endangered species that were not from Earth. I wasn’t helping my planet. To be honest, though…that didn’t matter to me. Especially after that talk with Andrew about why he hired a human for this job, I figured whichever dimension these animals came from had the equivalent of us, razing forests to the ground, clouding the planet with pollution, and leaving the animals with no avenue of recourse when yet more land was taken from them.
I really do hope to keep working here for a long time, though, and not just because of the money. I can’t help it; I want to know what these things were, and I want to work with them, to do the job of a zookeeper. The same way you go up to the chain-link fence to get close to a carnivore on the other side who thinks you’d make a nice afternoon snack. You just want to be closer to them, to experience that incredible, daunting feeling of being in their presence.
Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t long before I got what I wanted.
The day after we had the tour go through, I was doing my sweep when I saw the ghost again. She was sitting on a small boulder in the same area I’d seen her the first time, looking identical, blood covering the front of her slashed shirt, the wounds visible underneath. I stopped and stood there for a moment before I decided to raise my hand in a small wave.
The young woman cocked her head at me and raised a hand in the air in an imitation of my gesture, her expression showing a bit of curiosity.
She was low-key, seemingly not concerned with my presence, looking at me as a novel phenomenon in her world. I wondered what that world consisted of. Was she always here, sometimes visible and sometimes not? Or did she have another world next to ours, in the ether, where she left everything in this world behind and floated in her disembodied form? Did she still feel emotions? Was that really curiosity on her face, or was I projecting? Did she feel happiness? Fear? Did she have the option of moving on, or was she stuck here?
Many questions that I might never get the answers to. And that was assuming Andrew knew the answers, since I’d never met Suzanne Cooper and he hadn’t even mentioned that possibility. This place was clearly her baby, but I’m sure running it was a lot of work. Plus, if she was rich enough to own it, she was rich enough to have other businesses and charities to run.
When it comes to the enclosures, they’re all wrapped by a barrier of some kind, though never one that seems adequate. There was not a single place with the ugly metal weavings of a chain-link fence, and no stretches of circular razor wire. Instead, there are nice fences. Black iron, or wrought steel fencing in a similar style to the one circling the perimeter of the zoo, just shorter and with different patterns. Or a spaced picket fence, the wood stained in some tone of brown, or a split two-rail fence. As if to say, ‘This is the border of your enclosure, but we’re just letting you know out of courtesy.’
When I started to pass enclosure number seven last night, a young woman’s voice spoke, “Hello.”
I startled, unaware that I hadn’t been alone. “Oh. Hi,” I said, staring at her standing a few yards in.
She had been next to a large tree and I hadn’t seen her. This enclosure was behind a picket fence, and she walked through the large area of wild grasses and flowers that stretched across the other side of the fence. There were fewer tall grasses closer to the fence, which I guessed was because it had been tromped down by her regular pacing along it when there were visitors, or if she wanted to see the various enclosures of the zoo. Her sudden appearance was a bit weird, considering I had been expecting to see a cryptid and instead I was looking at, it seemed, an attractive Asian woman.
She wore a black kimono, the soft silk robe draped gently over her body, with beautiful patterns of cherry blossoms, more so over her left side, and red and blue birds with their wings spread. A sash wrapped around her abdomen, she wore socks and sandals on her feet, and her hair was up in those rolls that gave volume to the style.
I was no expert on any fashion, much less that of another country, so I just assumed it was all traditional Japanese clothing. Most likely, the visitors who came liked to see a certain time-honored style and that’s what she stuck with. Or maybe she played on stereotypes. That would be amusing.
“I’m Yui. It’s nice to meet you,” she spoke, arriving at the border of the fence and holding out a hand for me to shake.
I’d been standing about three yards away from her, and I’ll be honest, muscle memory tried to kick in. But I only made it two steps, my hand starting to rise, before I froze, the hand falling limply at my side. “Nice to meet you, too,” I answered, my voice quiet.
Damn. I wonder how many times that honey trap works back where she comes from.
The pleasant look on her face faded, and she lowered her hand. “You won’t shake hands with me? Isn’t that rude?”
“I mean, I kind of like my hand where it is. You know, attached to me.”
Her demure smile widened into something more amused. “I would never do something so revolting.”
Looking her up and down, as if more visual information would give me more knowledge of what she was, I asked her, “What would you do?”
“I would be less wasteful,” she said softly.
A finger of ice trailed down my spine, and I had the sudden image in my head of her grabbing my outstretched hand in an iron grip and yanking me over the fence, leaving me to sprawl on the ground. Then killing and consuming me efficiently, without a single careless step, the same way humans slaughtered pigs, using everything from the hog but the squeal. I was struck with a shiver at the idea of her consuming everything from me but my screams.
Slowly, I took one step further down the path, then another. Just as I got to a walking pace, though, I realized the woman had started walking too, in the same direction. I’d have eventually gotten to the end of her enclosure and keep going, leaving her behind, but she spoke up. “Are you leaving?”
I came to a stop, meeting her gaze again. “My job is to walk the zoo every hour. Then I’ll get back to the security room and stay there until my next walk.”
“Have you met the others yet?”
I hesitated before saying, “Just Leila.”
She blinked languidly. “That means nobody welcomed you here.”
“Andrew did.”
She didn’t reply to that. Instead, she slowly started to lean forward, and I flinched backward a few steps further as I saw insect legs start curling out from her back.
No. Not insect. Arachnid.
The eight legs ended in small ‘paws’ with tiny claws, a layer of hairs covering the leg from top to bottom, like any typical tarantula. I took two more slow steps back and my mouth went dry as the jointed legs just kept lengthening, until they were large enough to lever her off the ground.
My gaze had been on the spider legs, but my heart skipped a beat as I realized her human legs had melded together and turned into a bulging abdomen. Her skin was shifting to a carapace, eventually all the way up to her shoulders and down her arms, her fingers elongating and her nails stretching to claws. From there down, her body was that of a pale tarantula with pedipalps the size of my arms and piercing fangs in her jaws that looked like they could take my head off.
There was a moment, my vision blurring, where I was worried that I might piss myself. The part of my brain that still had its humor intact in that moment told me that I should keep an emergency set of clothes in my car, or at the very least, start wearing Depends to work.
“I show you my true form,” she said softly, her voice now raspy like an eighty-year-old after a lifelong smoking habit. “Welcome to Suzanne Cooper’s zoo. The night shift guard for many years was Roger, before he retired and the zoo moved, and I miss him dearly. What should I call you?”
I choked on my words. There was no way my throat was going to cooperate enough for me to clearly get a sentence out. Instead, I realized my legs had taken control of the situation themselves, unsatisfied with my conscious brain’s decision to stand and stare, taking steps backward. I backed up a yard, then five yards, then ten.
My mind focused on the fact that spiders don’t waste anything, and pictured my demise. I’d be wrapped in a cocoon, killed, and made nice and mushy before she had me for dinner.
The whole time, my brain was a frenzied mess, my pupils were probably the size of dimes, and I was staring at that tiny, pathetic fence between her and me. There was so much adrenaline pumping through my body that I felt like my bones were vibrating. The fence was, to my eyes, the only thing between us. The only thing keeping her from tackling and killing me. My only hope was that she’d do it quickly.
But she didn’t move. As I absorbed her innocent, polite words, the look on her face was calm, and I wondered if this was typically the way a conversation went before she devoured her prey. I wondered how many people she’d eaten. Not humans, not people from Earth, but the ones from where she came from. The fact that she doesn’t scare the shit out of those people means they’re staggeringly dumber than humans.
Finally, I rounded a corner, both relieved at having her out of my sight and worried that she would take that moment to come find me. When she’d been within eyeshot, I had at least known where she was and could run in the other direction. But I didn’t hear the sound of faint footsteps moving rapidly toward me. All was quiet, in that deep, smothering way that only an empty business in the middle of the night in small town America could be.
My hands trembling, I barely paid attention to anything but the confirmation that my surroundings were free of the colossal spider as I finally got back to the door. Grabbing the handle and letting my eyes dart around for about ten seconds and my ears prick for the slightest sound, I finally swiped my key card across the pad and went inside, shutting the door behind me and engaging the backup deadbolt.
Maybe that was why they had decided on keycards. If I was running from something and panicking, using an actual key or inserting the card like at a hotel would keep me from getting to safety considering my hands were shaking enough to mix a margarita.
Walking over to my chair, I fell into it, letting my body flush itself of terror as I looked up at the cameras. There she was, still in arachnid form, exactly where I’d left her behind that rinky-dink fence, casually looking around and slowly pacing back and forth. I stared at her as my racing heart gradually slowed, and a minute or so later she turned on her eight legs and walked back into the trees.
Whatever invisible fences the enclosures have apparently work, which is nice, because I wasn’t keen on getting killed by one of the creatures here. And that’s what brings me here, spilling out everything that’s happened so far. Because nearly passing out from terror isn’t something I wanted to deal with at work, obviously, but I keep going over what she did in my head again and again, and I feel like I reacted like a child who spotted a wolf spider on their bed. I started to worry for my overactive sense of self-preservation, at least in my capacity as an employee here.
The spider didn’t even try to hurt me, and so I was feeling a bit foolish. Even annoyed, actually, at the fact that I’d freaked out so hard and took off instead of trying to engage in at least basic conversation. I got the sense that she wasn’t at human-level intelligence, but I was never going to be able to hold any level of conversation with an alligator.
Sure, she did mention that she wouldn’t be so crass as to yank off my hand because she’d rather just have my entire corpse, but wouldn’t a wolf do the same if it was hungry? Wouldn’t any carnivore? Actually, they probably would’ve been satisfied with one of my hands. The fear here was from the fact that she turned into a giant spider. If she’d turned into Clifford, I would’ve reacted the same way, if not better than, meeting Leila.
With that, I decided I’m staying on the job. Considering how frustrated I can get with foolish people, it’s a bit hypocritical, and I’m being a bit of an idiot. But…there are definitely wards keeping them in their enclosures. Also, I signed up for creatures for another dimension, whether or not I believed in them at the time, and I will not let encountering my first one in an objectively boring way be the reason I quit.
The money is a factor, I’ll grant you. Of course it is. And I can’t spend it if I’m dead, but all signs point to surviving as long as I don’t do anything dumb. Also, yes, I’ll admit there’s a not-so-little voice in the back of my head that’s desperate to know what else is here. I never thought I’d do something like this, but finding out these things are real, I honestly do want to learn more about them.
Still, though, I decided to call Andrew at the end of my shift to ask if the pepper spray and taser I carried worked on a certain spider, as well as the other animals I’d yet to meet.
​
Previous
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/storiesbykaren

Hi,
I'm about to publish my game for steam, but I keep getting my library logo rejected.
I know this isn't a tradional rpg maker post but I'm confused on why?
https://ibb.co/Qr6Fjq8
Here are the requirements
After upload, you can use the preview tool to select the logo's position. Options include: left bottom corner, centered top, centered middle, and centered bottom.
Note: If a hero graphic and logo are not uploaded, the hero area will display a screenshot from the store, with the application name in text overlaid in the bottom left corner.
Design
For best results, use the logo that is being used for any retail boxes or marketing. You’ll want to ensure the logo is both visible and legible against the hero graphic background, sometimes a drop shadow can help. The PNG image should have a transparent background.
Usage
Appears at the top of a user's library details page for this product, placed on top of the hero graphic.
Sizes
1280px x 720px (an additional half-size 640 x 360px PNG will be auto-generated from larger file) Ensure that the logo extends the full width of the PNG, without extra padding.

Just started rise and got to sunbreak but would it be nice to have Siege areas in wild lure a monster into a area before having your buddy unload the cannons into them i mean isnt that the spirit of the hunt after all prepare a plan to hunt the and execute it the thing i loved in World was the amount of enviromental damage you could do but in rise its only in the Volcano map in 2 areas so preparing an area to lure the monster in to weaken instead of just running up and attack would be fun once in a while
Side note i think a random event where Zorah Magdaros shows up for a limited time and we climb his back and it is the guiding lands would be pretty cool and we only get like 10 minutes before he leaves

I am struggling with how to solve this problem. I am asked to solve for the surface area and volume of this object.
I can see the obvious cylinder with the radius of 8 so can solve for that piece. I have no idea how to handle the 2 triangle stubby pieces on the top and bottom. I am not even sure what this shape would look like in real life space. Can anyone provide a solution so that I can understand it? Thank you.

Hi, I'm aware this is not official support, but I have seen some useful suggestions. I also tried pretty much all other options, so might be useful to someone before purchasing from Amazon. I had purchased an electrical outlet with current resistance (BrennenStuhl Premium Line-6 socket) from my local Amazon about 5 months ago. The item was sold and shipped by Amazon Germany (aka. Amazon EU/Amazon.de). All was good, the picture was the same item as the title. Price was a little cheaper which I thought it was a good deal.
They sent a different item with 4 sockets and no current resistance or anything. It was a BrennenStuhl standard outlet. Basically, it was an overly expensive regular extension cord. Under the consumer protection laws, we have a 14 days return right with no strings attached. I mean quite literally no monetary or legal obligations can be required from consumers. We also have a law where if a wrong product is sent, we can choose one of our rights such as replacement, refund, partial-refund but keep item. So I decided to request a replacement first. Amazon immediately denied saying it was an international purchase and replacement was not possible. So I tried to refund it with 14 days return right.
This is where things got shady. I requested that I had the right for 14 days return with no strings attached hence I want to return it and refund it through this. Amazon proceeded to require me to print out 3 barcodes and required me to use a specific shipping company that did not offer services in my region. I repeated that I am not obligated to spend any money for my return package but they didn't care for the laws. I told them the shipping company didn't offer services in my area, they then forwarded me to another shipping company where I was required to pay for the shipping to forward the package to their own shipping company???
So far all clear, only that these would cost half the price of the order already. When I asked how the refund will work for these costs, Amazon said they will be adding "account balance" for these costs. Account balance strictly means that it will return back to Amazon and not really a refund at all. So I sued them. They won on the premise that they were not responsible due to the fact they were only service providers and the real seller is Amazon.de. When I contact Amazon.de they don't have any info of the order and tell me my local Amazon is responsible??
When I tried explaining this, obviously they didn't care to take any responsibility and tried to extort half the money I paid for the order on return under the guise of "account balance". They also dropped the refund of customs payment of which a previous rep had promised and took note on the order?? After continuous arguing the fact that the seller page on the website says amazon.de return policies apply, they also denied that is the case?? Amazon also implied that due to the past 30 days of return, they may confiscate the order on return to the depot and don't have to send it back or refund anything, huh.
So I sent a complaint to econsumer.gov, tried reading Luxemburg laws (where Amazon.de located) couldn't find much help due to the fact I am not an EU citizen or live anywhere in EU. I can't chargeback because it has been over 5 months (due to legal proceedings taking so long).
At this point I'm pretty sure I'm not getting that money back without them extorting me half the cost of the order and I'm not intending to do that. Possibly intending to avoid all things Amazon related as well.
Any suggestions? I take the condolences for the death of my 30 bucks as well.
Edit: Not in US, I wish I was I would instantly forward the case right at FTC and BBB.

Ravens fan here. We went to the Ravens-Titans game last year, and here are some tips if you are thinking about going:
1. Register on the NFL Europe website early and often. Have various family members register on the NFL Europe site, using different email addresses. Note that each team’s season ticket holders get first dibs on tickets before they go on sale to the general public. DO NOT pay ticket brokers for tickets, they are massively overpriced and not worth it. You can always get a ticket cheaper, right up to game day. Our tickets went on sale in mid-June. Actually, registering early doesn’t matter, for the next reason:
2. Everyone will be tossed into a queue randomly the day tickets go on sale. Have all family & friends report their place in the queue, and go with whomever gets in first. Important note: The ticket site is hosted by NFL Europe. They will show you the start time for purchasing in Greenwich Mean Time. Make sure you convert that time to your time zone. For us it was 7 am EDT. Once you get online and into the queue, DO NOT LEAVE. This is an easy way to get bumped. I had my daughter watch my place in the queue while I was at work, and had her buy the tickets.
3. Speaking of the queue, do not blow a gasket when you see your spot is #229,767 in the queue:
a. All 5 NFL Europe games go on sale all at once;
b. Like you, everyone registered with 5-10 different email address and family member name combinations;
c. That number literally was our spot in the queue, and we cleared the queue in 90 minutes and got tickets.
d. Be ready to make an instantaneous decision – Don’t mess around trying to get a better seat. They go fast. We ended up getting 4 seats, not together, but in the same section.
e. If you miss out, don’t worry because plenty of fans sell them back as the Summer progresses.
4. Book air travel as soon as you know you have tickets. When you fly into London (recommend Heathrow), take the Underground right into Central London. The station is right at the Airport outside baggage claim. It’s a 45 -60 minute trip into Central London. When returning to the airport, make certain that you are getting on the line that goes to Heathrow. There is also a Heathrow Express train, but it’s only 15-20 minutes faster and costs a lot more than the Underground. Buy an Underground pass at a kiosk in the airport outside baggage claim.
5. The hotel situation in London is great, we had no issues getting a room. Recommend booking the hotel early, since you can always cancel if you don’t get tickets or change your mind. If I can make a recommendation that is convenient to a lot of attractions, including the underground to get to Hotspur stadium, check out this hotel: https://arosfalondon.com/ We had NFL fans from across Europe staying at our hotel.
6. Speaking of which, stay in Central London. Make a week out of it. The NFL and the teams usually have a week-long celebration around the city. Access to the stadium is easy via the Underground.
7. Usually the local soccer clubs are typically on break the week of NFL Europe games, and those tickets are a tough get anyway. But if you have a favorite club, schedule a tour of their stadium. It’s worth it.
8. Speaking of Stadiums, Hotspur Stadium is one of the newest and is massive. It is all enclosed around the seating areas. But the roof is open, and most seats are covered. Do not worry about the weather on game day. Sweat pants and a sweatshirt/game jersey was more than adequate. Getting to and from the Underground, however, you will be exposed to the elements. Do not bring an umbrella, wear a rain jacket if rain is in the forecast.
9. You will see jerseys of all 32 NFL teams represented at the game. Over a third of the fans are from the UK or Europe. They are just there to see “proper football”, as the person sitting next to me said. The fans get into the game, and have a really good time. The people surrounding us bought us beers and sang much of the game. It’s a ton of fun.
10. On game day, take the Tube to Hotspur Stadium. It’s about a 10 block (.75 mile) walk to/from the stadium. You can ride a bus to the stadium from the Underground, but do not expect it on the way back. The atmosphere surrounding the stadium is amazing. The stadium is surrounded by activities, including a lot of people who don’t have tickets, but are there for the spectacle. Eat a good brunch/lunch before going. Do not expect to be able to get seated at a restaurant near the stadium. And do not expect great food in the stadium, it was a major disappointment.
11. Upon conclusion of the game, it will be a massive river of people heading for the tube. I do not recommend taking the Overground train to leave, the queue can be quite long. Instead, just follow the flow of people to the regular underground stop 10-11 blocks south of the stadium. Don’t worry, the long line goes surprisingly fast. And the fans are still having a good time.
12. Feel free to ping me if you have questions!

Some of my notes on the instincts (kind long and rambly but could be helpful:
The instincts generally reflect our own personal prioritizes for having our needs met, but also manifests in how we try to mirror and channel those instincts in our relationships with others. Here’s a little bit about how being SX instinct first/second contrasts with being that instinct last in this regard. So we look after our own instinctual needs (as prioritized by our stacking) and we also extend the same priorities to others by default.
Dominant instinct is like a drug fix, we go after it and desire it so much that we develop a tolerance to it, become hard to please, addicted, constantly craving it. It starts out as a genuine/balanced need and we just take it too far (that’s how it ends up being our dominant, usually happens early in childhood, think way back).
Second instinct is more “natural”, something we do somewhat spontaneously, can be a “free/easy” space for us (depending on the relationship with the other two instincts), can sometimes antagonize the dominant or can work in synergy with it.
Last instinct is omitted from the “stacking”, and sometimes known as the blind spot. Definitely an area we are very close to literally blind in it. Blind to what it is, blind to how to take care of it, and blind within that domain in general.
We don’t see any of the instincts clearly, they’re all distorted, even the secondary – but given our priorities, the secondary instinct can be a place that we seem weirdly skilled and it’s often somewhat effortless. An example would be me, I went into a job for a specific technical skill and then was promoted as an HR person due to my social skills. No training or intention in that area, just happened naturally because I have a knack for understanding people and their potential.
SX FIRST/SECOND: offers and initiates SX with charged looks, sexual attraction gestures, erotic and emotional revelations, sexual provocations, opportunities to channel passions and chemistry, welcomes “fusion” in the form of opening/dissolving boundaries and expanding sense of self, can often take the first steps towards intimacy and push the envelope on boundaries. Readily allows themselves to be swept up in passions/impulses and invites others to do the same. Can also be overly provocative and always “on the hook/in heat” for SX stimulation. E.g. the codependency of SX comes in and they can be sensitive to your rejection or easily turned on and off (fickle, on and off, up and down, hot and cold, etc). Still, the idea is that they’re sensitive to your SX needs and look first for chemistry, attraction, charge, sexuality, repulsion, boundary-pushing, etc. in the relationships. Even if you aren’t in a sexual relationship they have an eye out for that and overemphasize SX. Can be prone to commodifying/objectifying their relationships and feelings towards others based on how many SX sparks fly in their company.
SX LAST - deprioritizes SX and can make others’ intimacy needs seem lost, unacknowledged. Can turn sexuality into something frigid/stiff/forced, forbidden, or shallowly physical and/or social (“friends with benefits”). Doesn’t naturally enjoy having mutual boundaries disturbed or expanded in real time and can seem overly inhibited. Lacks spontaneity when it comes to taking risks from an emotional or sexual standpoint. SX becomes an afterthought. All the energy is spent trying to focus on other instincts. E.g. if others are feeling comfortable/taken care of/boundary maintenance (SP) or involved/included/affiliated (SO) and SX boundary dissolution and sexual ecstatic peaks/intensities gets hung out to dry. This can lead to (at times) rather practical, mundane, efficient, boring, perfunctory, formal, lifeless relationships lacking much spark and charisma. And because SX is being repressed, it can come out in unhealthy and irresponsible ways.
SP FIRST/SECOND - naturally looks after your needs, asks if you are comfortable, produces physical sustenance and naturally provides practical help. Make strong caretakers and providers. (I stopped writing here, maybe others can fill this in, I'm not SP first or second but you get the idea. Often wants to engage others in more physical activities, like fitness, eating, exploring, going out. SP is often about "lifestyle" and SP-types can be classic "good life" people who wants to welcome you to enjoy their lifestyle with them, whatever that may be. They can really encourage you to indulge and enjoy life e.g. through food, drink, etc. An SP-first or second can have a "don't hold back" attitude that they extend towards others, like spending money shopping, food, making sure you're feeling good, looking good, etc. But it can be a bit shallow since it doesn't necessarily integrate SO and SX needs. Still, has a way of really looking at the basics of what you need and works in cooperation with you to have both of your SP needs addressed.
SP BLINDS - can make others feel neglected in SP, glosses over physical needs and forgets about practical needs and responsibilities. Has a childish quality about them, will tune out when SP responsibilities come up, will lose track of what you’re saying if it’s too focused on practicality, etc. Will often find it pretty boring and tedious to talk about stuff like finances, health, job, logistics, material needs, etc. Won’t naturally take into account your SP needs/state when trying to filter the experience, will sometimes lack some empathy e.g. if you’re sick they might dismiss you as being sick, or if you’re poor they might not realize how much worse off you are than they are, etc. This can lead to various forms of tactlessness because SP is such a central need that when it’s downplayed in importance, there’s this lack of understanding what really makes us tick and needs to be addressed.
SOC-FIRST/SECONDS - involves you in their life, welcomes you to concessions, events, causes, shares with you the latest news and brings you into their circle. SO is very much about larger groups, beyond one-to-one (where SX intimacy is dissipated and collective needs are met). It can be very relating/bonding/friendship-focused in the one-to-one sense but the topic of conversation quickly moves towards other people and broader affiliations. Usually a one-on-one relationship won’t be able to sustain if there isn’t a good bit of juice from SX. Therefore SOC-FIRSTS/SECONDS will often be skilled at connecting you, them, others, to a larger group. Often that’s where their relationships play out most vibrantly. Will invite you to the party, bring up something that’s going on in the community, ask about your friends, tell you about theirs, ask about your social groups, etc. You’ll quickly start to see that the energy is expanded beyond just you/them. And can also sometimes easily get into politics, since understanding the broader sphere becomes very important and central to the personality.
SOC-BLINDS: can be totally oblivious to larger groups like that and will downplay their importance. SOC blind can easily lump big groups of people together due to their blindness, will make generalizations about all social connections being a waste of time, etc (unless they can push SP or SX buttons). Can stereotype other people quite easily as faceless masses. Often won’t invite you along, won’t focus on broader inclusion, won’t be interested in coming along with you and others, just tends to draw a strong boundary, has limited energy or motivation to really participate in a community. Seemingly not as good relating to a group as a whole, doesn’t feel motivated or driven to talk to people, can easily remove themselves from group involvement and will often feel relieved. Can easily see SOC as a burden/waste of time. Too complicated, not enough independence/intimacy, just a general pain, obligation, etc. Also, can be quite tactless because there isn’t such a strong sensitivity of customs, traditions, manners, ethics, morals, politeness, adapting to others, can seem selfish, disinterested, and cold.

Please excuse any errors, I had 2 strokes last year and sometimes struggle with words and typing.
This story involves my youngest son. He is currently 8 but has always been head strong and outspoken. I call him the bully's bully at school because he sticks up for people who are being bullied by other kids. He is very protective of what is "his" (ex. friends, family, toys). He can hold a grudge like nobody's business.
This story happened when Jude was about 4 or 5. Jude was not your ordinary 5 year old. He had an amazingly advanced vocabulary and used it wisely. He gave (and still gives) absolutely no fucks for what people think. He is a very black and white type of person. He has no filter and at times has 100% no chill, especially if he thinks someone is in the wrong or has wronged him. You know when you make it to his shit list because he let's you know. He's blunt... and hilarious. Ok.. onto the story..
Jude wanted to spend some of his Christmas money on a few toys. He picked out a pink dinosaur, a blue dinosaur, a pink travel hair brush with mirror, a rainbow notebook with pink pencil, a pink ball and a pink plushy unicorn. Can you guess what his favorite color is? After he is finished, we head to the registers. We have to go self-check out because he's 5 and wants to do everything for himself. 🙄😂 We get the scanner closest to the line. While Jude is scanning away, an old, creepy looking, dried up shrivel of a man walks up behind us. (Seems like a mean description but stick with me). Jude is chitter chatting away (again, because he's 5) when this POS old man says, "You ain't gonna let him get them toys, are ya?" (We are from a city in central Ohio and yes, people really talk like that.)
Me: with a who-are-you atritude, "He wants them, he has enough money, so yes, if you need to know."
Old man: "Well, ain't ya afraid they'll turn him... you know... frou frou?" And does a bent wrist motion.
Now Jude has heard my tone, so he knows somethings up and has been listening. Jude whips around with an intense are-you-a-dumbass look on his face. He says, "Umm... a color doesn't make you gay..."
Now the old man turns to Jude: "Don't you want a boy toy? Like a truck or something that's not for girls or pink?"
Normally, I am a mild mannered person who takes a lot before I get super pissed, but mess with my kids... Welcome to your worst nightmare. But I was not needed, Jude had it covered this time.
By this point, Jude is pissed. No one attacks his favorite color and toys! Congratulations, Captain Crusty! You've made it to the shit list!
Jude: in a very stern, loud voice, "Pink is my favorite color and my mom said I can like whatever color I want! Leave my toys alone! You're very rude! My mom always tells me to think before I talk. Maybe you should try it."
Giving zero fucks as to who is hearing him talk to this man. Jude returns to scanning his toys.
The man looks at me as though I should correct Jude's outburst, I just look at Crusty with a matter-of-fact look, "I can only correct him if he's wrong. But I agree with his advise. And who are you to care if he is or isn't gay? Good thing you're not his parent, huh?"
The old turd walks to a different area of the store to get away from the 5 year old who just lit into him. Jude yells as he's waving, "Kay, byyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeee! Try using your brain when you talk!" And I feel a sense of victory all while trying to contain my laughter. Does it make me an asshole for not saying something to Jude for talking that way to an elderly man? I don't think so but also don't care.
Jude proceeds to scan and purchase his toys. The store employee supervising the self-check out comes over to Jude and me. He asks me, "Can he have a little candy bar?" I nod. He looks at Jude, "I am so proud of the way you stuck up for yourself. You keep doing that and don't let people tell you who you are." He tells me he wished his mom had been accepting of his life (he was gay). Such a bittersweet moment, my heart felt full and broken at the same time because of his words. This was a very proud mom moment for me.
I have so many Jude stories. He keeps life interesting, for sure.
Note for Charlotte: I don't know if you'll see this but thank you for doing what you do. I had 2 cerebral strokes in March 2023 (I was 35). You have been a huge part of my recovery because you help me see the funny in things. I have needed lots of laughs to get through this and you have been a great part of them. So thank you and keep doing what you're doing! You rock! And Jude loves watching your videos with me. And it opens up conversations of the right way to act/react to people. I told him I was posting his story and he hopes you read it, even if you don't put it in a video.

The internet is a strange place, inadvertently designed to bring out the best and worst in people. People can be whoever or whatever they want to be. For predators and malignant narcissists and who live in their own delusions to begin with, it's like a hunting ground. They can create whatever persona they wish, fill their victims' heads with lies and half-truths that paint them out to be someone they are not, and by the time their victim actually meets them, it's too late - they've already created an image in their mind of this perfect person the narcissist has convinced them they are, and it usually takes time before the curtain comes down, the lies fall apart, and the mask breaks away.
I'm no saint, and I've learned my own tough lessons from the internet. I grew up under not-so-great circumstances, only getting 5 years of education before I turned 18 and was largely raised by a computer screen. Along the way, I catfished a woman in her mid-20's when I was 14-16 years old. It wasn't intentional at first, I told everyone that I was in my mid-20's and I worked as a bouncer at a bar in NYC. I never meant any harm, I was just raised by a computer and spent all my time alone playing MMOs and learned quickly that if I told people how old I was, they'd stop playing with me. So a bouncer seemed like a job I could bullshit about easily enough, and I was a big dude at 6'1 260lbs so I figured I could maybe pass it off as legit if it ever got hectic.
I started playing with this woman in her 20's and her husband frequently. We became friends fast, and soon we were virtually inseparable on the game. Her marriage ended up not working out, and after they separated she told me she had feelings for me. I should've admitted I wasn't who I said I was then, but I was young and dumb and she was the only real friend I had, so I kept up the ruse. Eventually I did come clean, and she broke it off with me not long after. We stayed friends, albeit with my heart hurting pretty bad, for a few months afterwards - until she met Jack.
When she first told me about Jack, he sounded like a great catch. He had his own IT business in Canada, was a couple years older but not by much, and she was infatuated with him. Obviously I was crushed and didn't handle it well, being a practically feral teenager at the time, so not long after they started getting serious she ghosted me altogether. I was around 17 at the time, and shit started going off the rails for me. After I got out of juvie, I started drinking heavily on a near-daily basis and selling and doing drugs. This led to a lot of pathetic, inebriated, desperate attempts to contact her and apologize for how I acted.
After months of being ignored, eventually grief and regret turned to anger, and finally acceptance. When the pain passed and I came to my senses a bit, I had an epiphany and realized that if I loved her as much as I thought I did, the best thing for both of us would be to let her go. I was a high school dropout with no job, selling drugs to get by. She had 2 kids, and what kind of life could I provide for them? She made the right choice, my age and the fact I made a grown woman fall in love with a teenager not withstanding, and as bad as it hurt I realized it was selfish of me not to accept the way things were and leave her alone, so I did.
10 years or so later, I had gotten my shit together. Worked my way up from cleaning dead shit out of swimming pools, to an entry level position at an environmental consulting firm, to a Project Manager at one of the largest firms in the field in the DC area. I'd met someone, got her pregnant, and for some reason I felt a pull to contact her again. Not to rekindle an old flame, but because she had been a tremendously positive influence on my life in a time where I had few. She was the first good thing I had in my life at a time when I was sleeping on old blankets on a hard floor in an abusive home, and what I'd held onto from our time together wasn't our romantic relationship, it was the best friend I'd ever had. And something made me want to tell her that all that work she put into getting my head right wasn't in vain, and I'd finally made it out of the gutter.
So I messaged her on Facebook, and to my surprise she actually responded. We started talking again, and soon it was back to every day. When my baby mama got back on drugs and turned abusive and was putting my daughter's life in jeopardy on a near-daily basis, she was the one who convinced me I could fight for custody - that I had to fight for custody. So I did, and I won, and I've had full custody of of my daughter since she was 6 months old and for the 10 years since.
But eventually we parted ways again. I'd started seeing someone, and part of me knew I couldn't commit to another woman while I was still carrying on with her. Our relationship had started turning romantic again, and she had dropped some hints about old Jack that would come to the forefront later, but she wasn't ready to leave him and I didn't want to be that guy, so I sent her a message explaining why we had to stop talking, apologized, and ghosted her.
7 more years went by after that night. The relationship I abandoned her for soured quickly when I found out that chick was a carbon copy of my baby mama, and I quit dating to focus on my career and raising my daughter. But on the long, 2+ hour commutes each way from work, I often found myself stuck pondering the "what ifs". What if I hadn't ghosted her? What if our age gap wasn't there, and we'd never had to split up to begin with? I knew in my soul I was never going to find someone like her again, but I made peace with it. I imagined her happy life, her kids with Jack, and convinced myself I made the right choice.
Then COVID hit, and near the start of it, I stumbled on a post on reddit about this dude who sent his high school sweetheart a message many years later apologizing for how he treated her and telling her how her presence impacted him, and I thought to myself, "Hey, I did that!". So I started writing a reply, and for the first time told the story of this girl and I. I'd never told a soul about what happened with us, not even my family or closest friends. Maybe it was the stigma of having an online relationship back in those days that carried over, or maybe it was just too personal to share with my friends or family. It got long, so eventually I just decided to start a new thread. When I was done, it was so long I figured no one would ever read it, but I hit submit anyway and put my phone down and got back to work.
Well, I was wrong. People did read it - a lot of people. Soon my phone started blowing up. Thousands of comments, hundreds of DMs, people offering me book deals and asking if they could have the rights for a screenplay or have me on their podcasts. It was fucking surreal, and being generally a private person who tries to fly under the rader, it got overwhelming fast. Eventually I reached out to her again on Facebook, warned her about what happened, and apologized for putting her business out there.
She didn't respond for a couple weeks, and when she did we started talking again almost immediately. And then in mid-April 2020, she told me that she needed to talk to me. She spilled everything, and told me exactly who Jack was. How he would hack into her devices to spy on her, threaten to kill her and her partner if she ever left him, say vile things to her and her daughters, calling the young girls cunts and bitches. How he alienated all her friends and family, and kept them all isolated in the house her parents bought them that he would rarely leave.
And I felt deceived too. All those years I'd convinced myself that she was happy, that she got together with Jack and was living the life she deserved. In reality, Jack intentionally got her pregnant not long after he flew out to her state the first time. He quickly moved into her house, and refused to work or provide not only for her kids or their kids, but for the other 3 children he abandoned in Australia and Canada who he had no relationship with, with 3 different women he victimized in the same manner. When she was 8 months pregnant with their first kid, she was working nights doing hospice care while he sat on his ass playing videogames all night and talking to his ex. In 17 years, this fucking loser with 7 kids by 4 women worked a grand total of 5 weeks, quit his job, claimed he got PTSD from the experience, and somehow manipulated his way into getting SSDI for it. They survived off SSDI and her parents' charity for years.
But Jack was reading all of this, because like I mentioned earlier, he was hacking her devices and watching us talk remotely. Jack knew the jig was up, and slowly started to unravel. She told him she wanted a divorce, and that she was not going to sever her friendship with me again. And he pretended to take that well, going as far as to try to befriend and manipulate me. He tried every trick to keep her he'd done for years - telling her he was going to get help and would change first, then when that failed he made suicide threats and somehow got his therapist to call her and tell her as long as she didn't leave him he wouldn't kill himself, and then he tried to intimidate her. Eventually he went off the rails completely and sexually assaulted her when he thought she was sleeping.
She called me from her parents' house crying the night it happened, and I convinced her to file a police report. She did, and a couple weeks later Jack got removed from the home, served with a protective order, and charged for sexual abuse. This of course did nothing to stop Jack - he broke into their house a couple days later when she and the kids were out to upload a folder of revenge porn to his Google Drive under the guise of wanting to drop off a cake for her birthday.
Then the stalking started. Jack would relentlessly message her all day and night on Facebook, switching between rage, trying to garner sympathy, convince her he would change, and threatening self-harm. We later found out via a cyber forensics report that he was hacking into the laptop she had taken with her while she hid at her parents' and had been so bold as to steal her Victim Impact Statement and send it to all his World of Warcraft buddies as a joke.
And he didn't just stalk her, he came for me too. Constant unauthorized attempts to access my accounts for everything from Windows to my bank, spam calls and emails - shit, the wormy little fuck even got his friends to stalk my social media and pretend to be strangers to gaslight me. I ignored all of it, and he got desperate enough to send me a lovely message attempting to extort and blackmail she and I, claiming he had "all my posts" but wouldn't do anything with them if I called him. The tipping point for me is when he subscribed to my small YouTube channel - which had nothing on it but 3 videos of my daughter. That veiled threat wasn't lost on me.
But Jack fucked up. I don't know if he thought his insane nonsense would scare me off, or if in his delusions he really thought he was the bad mother fucker he convinced himself he was, but Jack didn't know jack about me. I'm a crazy fuck too, and while he was sitting on his fat ass playing World of Warcraft all day every day for the past couple decades, I was selling drugs and hanging with some of the grimiest mother fuckers Baltimore had to offer. I've seen and experienced a lot of real violence outside a computer monitor, and the prospect of a violent resolution to this saga didn't phase me a whole lot. I'd spent years trying to be a better person and avoid conflict, but I sure as shit wasn't afraid of it either. Leading up to this point, I was already trying to calm myself down and talk myself off the ledge and not pack my guns and drive out there to keep watch until the police did their thing and put him away, which took a lot longer than it should have - this fucking guy violated his protective order 80 times in just a couple weeks.
So I called him, and he spent the next 26 minutes crying over the phone like a drunk little bitch, while I tried my best to be kind and to talk him off the ledge. And yes, I did record it, and yes it is hysterical listening to it now in hindsight, and yes I still have the recording. Anyway, I told him he was scaring the shit out of her and the kids, and he promised to leave us alone and I told him if he could chill the fuck out I would try to talk her into giving him more access to the kids. The next day, she got an email from her first ex-husband - Jack had reached out to him with a link to my reddit post trying to get help from him to come after me, which he promptly shut down and sent to her.
The next few weeks were terrifying as Jack descended further into madness and became more scared and desperate. He knew she was gone and not coming back, and he was facing real charges and real jail time, and while Jack is a fucking moron in a lot of ways, I'm sure he knew a fat, greasy computer nerd with a sex offense conviction wasn't going to have a good time in County. Jack was a murder-suicide waiting to happen, the police were doing nothing to stop his stalking, and I felt powerless to help her. Eventually after he sent her $50 over PayPal at 4:00am with what appeared to be a suicide note, I had enough. I called the DA's office, asked them why the fuck this was being allowed to happen, and promised them I'd been taking meticulous notes and if anything happened to her I would be taking it straight to the media. The DA told me if I was going to make threats the conversation was over, but sure enough he was finally arrested not long after.
Ironically we had remained platonic friends through most of this, but the shared experience of dealing with this psycho brought us closer together and things quickly changed. We knew he wasn't going to stop when he got out of jail, I felt responsible for her safety after my stupid reddit post started this chain of events that led to Jack's unraveling, and with the world seemingly coming apart during COVID, decided if we were ever going to meet it felt like it was now or never. So I booked a plane ticket across the country, spent a week with her and her family, and a few days after I came home she flew out to visit me and meet my family.
We went into it with no expectations. I fully accepted we might not click and our relationship would go back to being platonic. For my part, I just wanted the closure of finally meeting this person who had such a profound impact on my life before COVID mutated or something and killed us all.
But we did click, and the next two weeks were life-changing. I met and cooked for her entire extended family the day after I arrived, and it went well. While I was there I got her mom's email address, and after I went home I had an idea. I knew her parents had met in DC, so I emailed her mom and asked her for a list of places that were special to her, and she told me about the church her parents had met in. I asked her to keep our conversation secret so it would be a surprise, and she did.
So when she comes out to the east coast, I take her on a tour through DC and park the car a few blocks down the street from the church. As we're walking by, she notices the church and comments on how beautiful it is.
I keep it cool and respond, "Yeah, that's a pretty important place.".
She looks at me and says, "Oh? Why's that?".
"That's where your parents met.".
She audibly gasps, giddily bounces a bit, starts to cry, and we pulled down our masks (fuckin covid) and kiss. Her reaction is easily one of the greatest memories in my life. What I didn't know at the time, was that her parents had told her about that church since she and her siblings were kids. When the church changed denominations, the church took the angel statue off the top and brought it back to her home state, and her parents had taken them to see it a few times throughout her childhood.
Anyway, getting sidetracked here, the sappy love story stuff is a different story altogether.
A month after we met for the first time, I had quit my job, sold everything I couldn't fit in my sedan, and she flew back out and drove across the country with my daughter and I.
Sounds crazy as hell, and it was, but it worked out better than it should have. I got a good job making more than I did back home right away, her kids loved me, and my daughter loved her and adjusted to her new home fast. And by the time Jack got out of jail for felony cyberstalking, sexual abuse, and Intimidation of a Witness in a Domestic Violence case, we had cameras all over the house, and I had taught my fiancee how to shoot - which she quickly became better than me at.
But Jack's time in jail didn't slow him down, and the 2-10 year suspended sentence didn't deter him at all. As a matter of fact, on his first day out one of the first things he did was start trying to hack her accounts again. He managed to con an elderly couple he knew threw World of Warcraft from a different state into letting him live with them, and from there he spent a lot of time and energy stalking us and hacking our devices to the best of his ability. He also convinced these poor, very stupid elderly people from his videogame to bankroll a lengthy, expensive divorce. Somehow a man who hadn't worked in almost 20 years managed to run us into over $50,000 in legal fees in two years. How a marriage with zero assets turned into a two year battle when both parties were officially in poverty before the divorce, or how the family courts never saw through the bullshit is beyond me.
To Jack's credit, he did a pretty good job remaining a thorn in our side. Largely due to the complete and utter ineptitude and indifference of the police and District Attorney who could and should have put a stop to his bullshit at any point in that time. Old Jack got hit with a permanent criminal stalking injunction and a 10-year protective order along with his probation, and no amount of effort on our part would get the police, DA, or probation to put a stop to it, despite mountains of evidence.
He successfully managed to draw the divorce out right up to the wedding we planned a year and a half prior, with his attorney putting in motion after motion to delay the process. With all our family and friends coming from all over the country and as far away as Japan, we accepted our wedding would just be a celebration and not an official wedding. Until the night before the wedding, she got a call from her attorney - he had made a call to the clerk's office at the court and got her to move the paperwork to finalize the divorce to the top of the pile, and she was officially divorced. Our wedding would be a real wedding after all, and despite Jack's best efforts, he lost again. We had the wedding on a remote ranch that we rented for a week, and foolishly decided to cater and decorate ourselves, which would have been a colossal undertaking without the extra 4 hours to drive into town and get our marriage certificate at the courthouse. But we pulled it off and it was everything we could have hoped for and then some, and we were officially married.
Jack of course didn't stop after the divorce was finalized. The list of shit he tried to do to us before and after that is too long to spell out in an already too long post, but here are some choice bits:
He wrote a demented letter to the oldest of his kids with her who severed her relationship with him, calling my wife and her mother "vipers and cowards" and promising we would "answer for what we've done sooner or later".
He continuously hacked our computers, miscellaneous accounts tied to our emails, and any other devices he could get into - dropping in remotely via Amazon Alexa, phones, etc.
He set up bots to send us thousands of spam emails, sign us up for dozens of international newsletters all at once, and requests for consultations for things like solar panel installations.
He told the kids vile lies about my wife and I, although the most egregious was when he used a court-ordered therapy appointment with his second oldest daughter to accuse me of distributing child porn, told the therapist I am an "evil man", and told him I wasn't safe to be around his daughters. This led to her being forensically interviewed by the police, where she spelled out what happened, but of course they did nothing.
He gave the two youngest children cell phones to sneak into our house, with Google accounts activated and location tracking turned on.
He sent packages to our house 5 times in the space of a few months, one of which was addressed to himself and contained nothing but a bag of Stevia and a pack of gum. These packages generally came to our door the day before his scheduled visitation with the kids.
During this time my bank account was hacked four times in the span of just a few months with nearly identical fraudulent charges. In each of these instances, I had completely changed my bank account information.
He filed false reports with CPS twice, alleging we were beating the children, locking them in the closet, and not feeding or bathing them. This led to a CPS agent coming to our house to investigate.
We brought all this to the police over and over as it happened, and they did nothing. The DA running the case wasted 5 months subpoenaing a fake email address that we told them when we reported it was fake and spoofed. After finding out about that, we went to the DA's office to find out what the fuck was going on. A Victim's Advocate met with us, and was horrified about how the case was handled, looked up the prosecutor assigned to the case, rolled her eyes and said "Oh...it's Stephanie", confirming what we already knew - this prosecutor was completely incompetent, an elect3d politician moonlighting as a prosecutor. She called us the next day to tell us the actual DA called a meeting and a warrant was put out for Jack's arrest. For some inexplicable reason, they pulled the warrant back, and the advocate told us it was because the DA was pursuing more serious charges.
Then, they stonewalled us. The Victim's Advocate we had met with that actually tried to help us was moved off our case, and the new one assigned refused to talk to us or return our calls. The few exchanges we had with her, she made it abundantly clear she had the DA Office's interests in mind and not ours. We decided to just stay quiet and let the process play out and hope for the best, up until we received an email on Friday night before Election Day from the Detective telling us Stephanie had closed the case. I assume she didn't want her incompetence coming to light, and didn't want to shut the case down before Election Day knowing we would be on the warpath.
Eventually, Jack caught wind that he was officially under criminal investigation, but clearly had no idea they were never going to press charges. He got quiet for a bit, until he was ultimately let off probation early. We still get the occasional reminder he's out there watching, but his fear of going back to jail and the belief it might happen cowed him a bit. So instead he harasses us through the family courts, filing constant bullshit motions with no evidence to support them, and for some reason the courts let it continue. Somehow a man who makes ~$800 from SSDI and is only paying $30 a month total to support his 3 kids with my wife is able to fund tens of thousands of dollars worth of legal proceedings every year, and no one in the family courts has ever stopped to ask how he is paying for it or why all this money isn't being spent on supporting these children.
But despite Jack's best efforts, his bullshit hasn't worked. My wife and I have been together for four years soon, and married for two. His kids call me dad and hate his guts, only seeing him because the courts force them to. I continue to advance in my career, landing two major promotions in the past 2 years and now running a division in one of the largest companies in my field in this part of the country. I just enrolled in college to go back to school and get a degree in family law with a focus on domestic violence. The most frustrating part of the whole experience with ol' Jack was having no one to turn to when all the institutions who were supposed to keep this from happening ignored us, and even though I'll be well into my mid 40's before I accomplish my new goals, I plan to advocate for domestic violence victims and do everything I can to lobby for change to these laws to keep as many people as I can from going through what my wife and I did. I learned that the only way to beat these people at their game is to play on the same field right along with them, and that's what I intend to do.
My wife went back to work too once she healed from some of the trauma, making $30 an hour as a personal assistant for a fella who's had two movies made about his life. Our kids struggled a bit with school and dealing with all their biological parents' issues, but they quickly turned it around and have been excelling. We're all happy, healthy, and doing better now than ever.
As for Jack? Well, he's pushing 50 and still spending his days alone, playing World of Warcraft and jerking off in this old couple's basement. Nothing has changed there, and now he's too fat, old, and visibly an enormous fucking loser to victimize women in the same way he did in his youth. I have no doubts he'll find another victim eventually, probably when these old weirdos bankrolling his life now finally wise up, but one thing Jack forgets is that karma is a mother fucker, and I have a giant database of evidence that I can and will send out to whoever I please to help pull that mask down and keep him from doing this to someone else. Nothing is more appealing to a potential love interest than hearing their man cry like a drunk bitch for 26 minutes to the man he claims stole his wife, while simultaneously admitting to sexually assaulting said wife.
As wonderful as it would have been for Jack to go to prison where he can't hurt anyone again, there is some catharsis knowing Jack will forever be in a prison of his own making. His children want nothing to do with him, and he'll never see them graduate or walk them down the aisle. Jack will die miserable and alone, and in his narcissistic delusion will still be blaming everyone else for the colossal failure of his life, while continuing to fail to grasp the one thread that ties all his misery together - himself.
And since he somehow manages to find and stalk most of my social media, I'd wager Jack will end up reading this too. I hope he does in all honesty. And Jack, if you are reading this, I want you to know that you can kick, flail, manipulate and lie, cry and complain until you're red in the face. None of it matters. You don't matter. You'll leave this world alone, as sad and bitter as you are now, and the world will be a better place for it.

News Link: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/05/14/2881828/0/en/Dyadic-Announces-First-Quarter-2024-Financial-Results-and-Highlights-Recent-Company-Progress.html
Human Health Sector

• Final Clinical Study Report has been issued for the First-In-Human Phase 1 clinical trial demonstrating safety and antibody response for DYAI-100, a recombinant protein receptor binding domain booster vaccine candidate for protection against COVID-19 infection
• Entered into several fully funded vaccine and antibody projects covering more than twelve targets, five of which are funded by two of the top ten pharmaceutical companies
• Successfully expressed a H1N1 influenza antigen in our collaboration with the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center (“VIC”) at Massachusetts General Hospital
• Announced strategic partnership to develop affordable rabies prophylactics and vaccines using C1-cell protein production platform
• Published a manuscript of preclinical studies on C1 produced monoclonal antibody in non-human primates and hamsters in prestigious peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications
• Advanced collaboration with Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) targeting bio-threats and emerging disease solutions
• C1 produced adjuvanted recombinant ferritin nanoparticle H5N1 “Bird Flu” human vaccine candidate demonstrated a strong immune response in animal studies

Animal Health Sector

• C1 produced adjuvanted recombinant ferritin nanoparticle H5N1 “Bird Flu” human vaccine candidate demonstrated a strong immune response in animal studies for potential use in poultry, cattle and other animals
• Expanded collaboration with Phibro/Abic to develop vaccines and treatments for companion and livestock animal diseases

Alternative Proteins Sector

• Executed a term sheet to utilize our microbial protein production platforms to develop production strains for the production of recombinant serum albumin
• Advanced development of 6 product candidates for non-pharmaceutical applications utilizing the Dapibus™ platform technology

Corporate

• Closed a $6.0 million convertible note in a private placement, with a conversion price of $1.79 and no warrants
• Appointed Mr. Patrick Lucy as Board Chairman and Mr. Joe Hazelton as Chief Operating Officer
• Cash and investment grade securities of $12.1 million as of March 31, 2024
• Financial results and business update conference call scheduled for 5:00 p.m. ET today

JUPITER, Fla., May 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dyadic International, Inc. (“Dyadic”, “we”, “us”, “our”, or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: DYAI), a biotechnology company focused on the efficient large-scale manufacture of proteins for use in human and animal vaccines and therapeutics, as well as non-pharmaceutical applications including food, nutrition, and wellness, today announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2024 and highlighted recent Company progress.
“We continue to execute our business strategy to focus on near-term pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical applications for our proprietary and patented C1 and Dapibus™ protein production platforms and pipeline products,” said Mr. Mark Emalfarb, President and CEO of Dyadic. “One of our key highlights was the successful completion of a Phase 1 clinical trial that met its primary endpoint of safety and reactogenicity affirming the safety of proteins produced by Dyadic's C1 platform in humans. We believe this milestone not only establishes the safety of our platform but also provides a solid foundation for C1 technology’s future applications in human and animal vaccines and therapeutics. With the H5N1 ('Bird Flu') virus outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows, along with one recent human case, we are seeing an increasing interest in our H5N1 'Bird Flu' ferritin nanoparticle human vaccine candidate, developed with ViroVax. Additional animal studies indicate that the vaccine candidate has the potential to generate high neutralizing antibodies for use in cattle. Our Q1 2024 achievements demonstrate our ongoing commitment to enhancing our microbial platforms for diverse applications, and our dedication to improving health for humans and animals, while tackling the challenges of sustainable food production.”
Mr. Emalfarb continued, “As we progress into the second quarter, our Company continues to focus on enhancing the Dapibus™ platform, designed specifically for non- pharmaceutical uses in industries such as food, nutrition, health, and other bioproducts. To accomplish this goal, we have honed our business development strategy, focusing on key areas where our technologies can deliver the greatest impact with shorter commercialization timelines. Our strategy includes simultaneously targeting multiple offtakes for a single product in several corresponding business segments and seeking out new opportunities that are in line with our strategy.”
Joe Hazelton, Dyadic’s Chief Operating Officer, elaborated, “In addition to operational advancements, we also strengthened our financial position with the issuance of $6.0 million in convertible notes, which will be used to accelerate and exploit our strategic objective of near-term revenue generating products and commercialization opportunities for pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical applications. We believe that product opportunities such as recombinant human albumin and alpha-lactalbumin provide Dyadic with multiple monetization opportunities as a licensed product or cell line in pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and food applications. We are confident that our strong position, both financially and scientifically, will enable us to implement our business plans with improved capabilities and resources. We are enthusiastic about our future prospects and remain committed to providing value to our customers and stakeholders.”
Recent Company Progress
Corporate Events:

• On March 8, 2024, the Company issued an aggregate principal amount of $6.0 million of its 8.0% Senior Secured Convertible Promissory Notes due March 8, 2027 (the “Convertible Notes”) in a private placement in reliance on the exemption from registration provided by Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The purchasers of the Convertible Notes include immediate family members and family trusts related to Mark Emalfarb, our President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors, including The Francisco Trust, an existing holder of more than 5% of the Company’s outstanding common stock.
• On March 28, 2024, the Company announced changes in the leadership roles of the Board and senior management team: the appointment of Mr. Patrick Lucy as Chairman of Board of Directors and promotion of Mr. Joe Hazelton to Chief Operating Officer.

~Human Health Sector~
DYAI-100 Phase 1 Clinical Trial
DYAI-100, a C1-SARS-CoV-2 recombinant protein RBD vaccine candidate, is the first C1-expressed protein tested in humans. The Phase 1 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was designed as a first-in-human trial to assess the clinical safety and antibody response of DYAI-100, produced using the C1 platform and administered as a booster vaccine at two single dose levels in healthy volunteers. Following regulatory clearance from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), the trial was initiated in 1Q 2023, with the last patient visit occurring in 3Q 2023. On November 29, 2023, the Company announced the top-line safety results, indicating that the study has met its primary endpoint that both the low and high dose levels of the vaccine are safe and well tolerated among participants. Additionally, the vaccine has been shown to induce immune responses at both dose levels, suggesting its potential efficacy in generating protective immunity against the target virus. The study has been finalized, and the final Clinical Study Report has been issued, demonstrating that the DYAI-100 vaccine met its primary endpoint of safety and reactogenicity.

• In April 2024, Dyadic and its development partner ViroVax reported pre-clinical animal testing on a ferritin nanoparticle H5N1 bird flu recombinant protein human vaccine candidate that demonstrated a strong immune response in rabbits. The potential vaccine combines Dyadic’s C1 single step ferritin nanoparticle H5N1 antigen production with a novel adjuvant from ViroVax. Additional animal studies are being carried out that preliminarily show that this H5N1 bird flu vaccine has the potential to be used in humans.
• Successfully expressed H1N1 influenza antigen in the fully funded research collaboration with the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center (“VIC”) at Massachusetts General Hospital to express vaccine antigens for influenza A and other infectious diseases, as part of a US $5.88 million award from the Department of Defense (“DoD”).
• On March 25, 2024, the Company entered a funded research collaboration with a top ten pharmaceutical company to develop a vaccine antigen and a monoclonal antibody produced from the C1 technology.
• In March 2024, a manuscript of preclinical studies on C1-produced monoclonal antibody in non-human primates and hamsters was published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications. A non-human primate challenge study completed dosing of a C1-produced COVID-19 monoclonal antibody (mAb) that had previously demonstrated broad neutralization and protection against Omicron (BA.1 and BA.2) and the other earlier variants of concern in hamsters. Preliminary results obtained from the challenge study with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta virus on non-human primates demonstrated potential high protection. This was the first time a C1-produced monoclonal antibody was used in a non-human primate study validating the safety and efficacy of a C1 produced antibody for infectious diseases.
• On February 28, 2024, the Company’s Dutch subsidiary, Dyadic Nederland BV, entered into a strategic partnership agreement and collaboration with Rabian BV (“Rabian”), a Dutch innovative SME founded by experienced entrepreneurs and vaccine scientists. Awarded by Eurostars for the AVATAR project, a part of the European Partnership on Innovative SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), and co-funded by the European Union through Horizon Europe. Rabian will use the total funding of approximately Є1.7 million leveraging its expertise in virology to develop a rabies vaccine using Dyadic’s C1 protein production platform to tackle the challenges posed by rabies, particularly in lower- and middle-income countries. Dyadic is expected to receive an equity stake in Rabian, fully funded research and development costs, and specified product milestones and royalties upon commercialization.
• On February 21, 2024, the Company announced it has advanced its collaboration with the IIBR and its commercial arm Life Science Research Israel (LSRI), to target emerging disease solutions. This partnership aims to leverage Dyadic’s expertise in microbial platforms for flexible scale protein bioproduction and the IIBR’s antibodies and antigens discovery capabilities to develop and manufacture innovative solutions for addressing emerging diseases and potential bio-threats. Through this collaboration, both parties are working towards the development of effective treatments and vaccines to combat global health challenges with the intention of future commercialization (to date, the framework is non-binding and subject to the execution of a binding agreement to be negotiated by the parties) through collaborative out-licensing initiatives.
• On February 13, 2024, the Company announced a strategic partnership with Cygnus Technologies®, part of Maravai LifeSciences®, who have developed the C1 Host Cell Protein ELISA Kit for the quality release of products produced using Dyadic’s protein expression platforms. The C1 Host Cell Protein ELISA Kit is now available for purchase on Cygnus Technologies website under Fungal HCP ELISA kits tab.
• On February 6, 2024, the Company announced it signed a fully funded evaluation agreement including a commercial option with an undisclosed leading global biopharmaceutical company to design and produce recombinant proteins using Dyadic’s C1 microbial protein production platform.

~Animal Health Sector~

• On March 15, 2024, the Company expanded its collaboration with Phibro Animal Health/Abic Biological Laboratories Ltd to develop vaccines and treatments for companion and livestock animal diseases.
• C1 produced adjuvanted recombinant ferritin nanoparticle H5N1 “Bird Flu” human vaccine candidate demonstrated a strong immune response in animal studies for potential use in poultry, cattle and other animals.
  • The H5N1 C1 produced bird flu ferritin nanoparticle vaccine elicits high neutralizing antibodies against all three virus isolates (including Texas) of the H5 virus in livestock.

~Alternative Proteins Sector~
Dyadic is advancing a pipeline of differentiated product candidates that leverage its microbial protein production platforms, including Dapibus™ which have demonstrated the ability and efficiency to enable the rapid development and large-scale manufacture of proteins at low cost in a wide range of non-pharmaceutical applications and commercial use.
Cell Culture Media Products

• In March 2024, the Company executed a term sheet with a large global albumin manufacturer and distributor to develop and license Dyadic’s recombinant serum albumin. The Company’s animal-free recombinant serum albumin projects were initiated in late 2022 using Dyadic pharmaceutical cell lines for use in potential therapeutic, product development, research, and/or diagnostic human and animal pharmaceutical applications. The Company has completed the initial analysis of its recombinant albumin products and has Certificates of Analysis for recombinant human and bovine albumin that demonstrate comparability to reference standards used in the testing.
• In March 2024, the Company entered into a co-promotion agreement with Biftek Co. for the promotion of growth media supplement for cell culture.
• The Company is undergoing a project to produce recombinant transferrin for use in cell culture media for the alternative protein industry.
• The Company is currently sampling recombinant bovine albumin for application testing as growth media for the cultured meat industry.

Non-animal Dairy Products

• As previously announced, in September 2023, the Company entered into a development and exclusive license agreement to commercialize certain non-animal dairy enzymes used in the production of food products using Dapibus™ and received an upfront payment of $0.6 million in October 2023. The Company believes it has achieved the specified target yield level required for a milestone payment upon verification by its partner, and the development of a second enzyme is progressing as planned.
• The Company has developed a highly productive strain and is actively sampling recombinant alpha-lactalbumin, a whey protein, and is currently negotiating several development and commercialization agreements.
• The Company is undergoing a beta-lactoglobulin animal-free recombinant whey protein project, expected to begin sampling in the late third quarter.
• The Company is undergoing a recombinant lactoferrin project, expected to begin sampling the product in the late second or early third quarter.

Bio Industrial Products

• The Company has developed three enzymes, with plans for two additional enzymes, that have the potential for use in multiple industries, such as dairy, nutrition, biogas, biofuels and biorefining. Several initial targets are under evaluation with interested parties.

Financial Highlights
Cash Position: As of March 31, 2024, cash, cash equivalents, and the carrying value of investment-grade securities, including accrued interest, were approximately $12.1 million compared to $7.3 million as of December 31, 2023.
Revenue: Research and development revenue and license revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2024, decreased to approximately $335,000 compared to $934,000 for the same period a year ago. The decrease in research and development revenue was due to the winding down of several large research collaborations conducted in 2023. For the three months ended March 31, 2024, the Company’s revenue was generated from ten collaborations compared to seven collaborations in the same period a year ago.
Cost of Revenue: Cost of research and development revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2024, decreased to approximately $144,000 compared to $727,000 for the same period a year ago. The decrease in cost of research and development revenue was due to the same reasons as for revenue described above.
R&D Expenses: Research and development expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2024, decreased by 35.5% to approximately $523,000 compared to $811,000 for the same period a year ago. The decrease reflected the winding down of activities related to the Company’s Phase 1 clinical trial of DYAI-100 COVID-19 vaccine candidate and a decrease in the amount of ongoing internal research projects.
G&A Expenses: General and administrative expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2024, increased by 20.9% to approximately $1,789,000 compared to $1,480,000 for the same period a year ago. The increase reflected increases in business development and investor relations expenses of approximately $138,000, audit fees of $99,000, management incentives of $59,000, and other increases of $59,000, offset by decreases in insurance expenses of $29,000 and legal expenses of $17,000.
Loss from Operations: Loss from operations for the three months ended March 31, 2024, slightly increased to $2,126,000, compared to $2,050,000 for the same period a year ago.
Net Loss: Net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2024, was $2,010,000 or $(0.07) per share compared to $956,000 or $(0.03) per share for the same period a year ago. The increase in net loss was derived from the sale of the Company’s equity interest in Alphazyme LLC for $989,000 in 2023.
Conference Call Information: Date: Tuesday, May 14, 2024 Time: 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time Dial-in numbers: Toll Free 877-407-0784 International +1-201-689-8560 Conference ID: 13743568 Webcast link: https://viavid.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1650831&tp_key=0f89478e24
An archive of the webcast will be available within 24 hours after completion of the live event and will be accessible on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at www.dyadic.com. To access the replay of the webcast, please follow the webcast link above.