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Ezeonwha was walking down a long hallway. The dry and plain painted walls and the pure white lighting of the lower levels of the 102nd Visitor Welcome Office helped to frame the dingy realities of those who could only afford these floors. Not even capable of having windows, these were for those who were the cheapest of the cheap or those who mingled with them. He'd passed several Guides on the way in, their claws echoing in the halls as a sign of authority in this lawless land.
Here, mediocrity was king, and he was a loyal servant. He drew his cloak closer about his neck, unwilling to reveal himself to those who weren't already equipped to see through it all. He was famous enough to be an abduction target if he let his guard down. This place was no exception, though Justicar tried to make them such. Too much security on the higher levels and too little on the lower levels. That was the way of things.
Another hallway, this one marked with bullet holes. Two contractors and a Guide were discussing the pricing of the fix project when he turned the corner. Their voices quieted to nothing, the stillness pressing down upon them with the same intensity as the false lighting. Ezeonwha clacked his jaws, giving them a low bow before continuing on his way. He saw the Guide's eyes light up with the sign of his implants getting a reading. It was another impromptu way of tracking via facial recognition, but it was an ancient practice.
Nothing was new about what the Guides did; only how many of them seemed to be on general patrol. Had Justicar hired more of them or actually done full conversions for all of them? Those arm cannons surely weren't cheap or ethical to insert into unwilling participants. And giving a victim a gun they couldn't be disarmed of was a very bad idea, even for Elders. And Justicar was better than most Elders when it came to abject stupidity. He'd likely only been dropped a few hundred times as a child versus the more likely Elder average of a few thousand.
Ezeonwha chuckled at his internal joke, heading deeper underground into the complex. He was going to a certain meeting, and it would be best not to be late. Even if the Guides tracked him, it wouldn't be negative. The group he had been approached by a few days ago wasn't a terror group. He'd looked them up. They dealt in 'freedom and liberation from all chains.'
The Eyes Of Liberty had focused upon Penny as their latest propaganda target and perhaps as a valuable ally in their fight against all tyranny. Though such a flowery message was likely steeped in idealism for the lower ranks, with more pragmatic and likely richer inner circle elites and leaders ensuring the pot would always simmer but never boil or grow cold. That was the way movements such as these managed to skirt the line between inaction and terrorism.
It was a dangerous thing to do. But these were dangerous times. If Penny left, he'd die. Someone with a grudge would kill him. It was a given, and he'd made peace with it now. He needed to get to work, to help others like him and those worse off, with just a small piece of the meager time he had left.
He was in the system as a friend of Penny, so little scrutiny would fall on him as he came and went. He had a new friend, one who was very interested in connecting to Penny.
The offer had come through his communicator, and he'd answered it given its interesting title. After a lengthy discussion about their goals for him and Penny, he'd agreed to at least have a meeting. He didn't tell them that he had a tracker from Phoebe, which would 'be impossible to miss' if things went badly. He knew the value he had, which was why one of the androids was also accompanying him under the guise of being a Sprilnav.
The android was 'walking' on all fours, its mechanical motion entirely silent. It was obscured by a wave of holograms and hard light holograms that would ensure that it wouldn't be considered suspicious beside him. His only guard was a capable one, and Phoebe had all the confidence of an AI who knew that the destruction of her android would only be an inconvenience for her.
Ezeonwha came to an unmarked door with a well-worn door frame. One knock. One pause. Two knocks. Another pause. Four knocks. He waited, and the door swung open. Eight Sprilnav greeted him warily but warmly, their eyes shifting to Phoebe.
The inside of the room was a dull red, coming from a pair of lights in the center of the ceiling that cast dark shadows near the edges. The whole room felt dark and dangerous, and the walls were lined with guns, computers, and several drones. Shelves and drawers were neatly stacked against the wall, as well as five couches and four double beds with ladder access to the top portions.
Bags of food rested atop a trash compactor unit, and the room service button on the inner side of the wall that Ezeonwha could see in the mirror was worn down to the raw metal. No paint jobs here, only grit and business. The room faintly smelled of body odor and assorted foods. Not entirely unpleasant, but also not what he'd expected from a group with sich a flamboyant name. Perhaps they worked in cell-based units. And that was another thing.
Minds were visible in the distance of the mindscape, but the people here were huddled together mentally. They appeared to be haphazard, but Ezeonwha recognized an old army-type defensive formation a mere step from each of their positions. They were more than they appeared. Though based on how their room looked, they probably weren't veterans, just decently trained.
As they walked through the doorway, a scanner activated. One of the Sprilnav, wearing a headset with numbers and letters swirling on the inner side of the visor, called out: "Phoebe android. Commando variant. Risk assessment: Certain Death. Ezeonwha. Carrying two pistols, one hidden in the pack on his left, and the other tucked inside a strap near the lower bottom of his chest."
That made them all pause, sizing each other up. Ezeonwha smiled nervously, failing terribly to break the building tension once again. His nerves started to get to him, but finally, Phoebe spoke. "Well, friends. I, for one, am happy to talk of the business of liberty. Tell us, what do you have in mind for my friend Ezeonwha?"
"It is not about him, AI. It is about the freedom all sentient beings deserve, and which we shall bring to the galaxy no matter if we are alive or dead."
"An honorable goal to strive toward," Phoebe said.
"Thank you. Your words are quite kind for your type."
"I didn't know I had one," Phoebe replied. "But thank you."
Ezeonwha turned his head toward the Sprilnav with all the fancy equipment.
"What is the best way for me and Penny to help in the fight?"
"The best way would be for you to start killing the gang leaders you come across. Barring that, have Penny ignore the graveyards, and continue freeing the slaves as she ought to. The dead have their freedom; the living need her work more."
"I agree with my companion," another of them said. "So far, Penny has done more for the fight for justice than any other on Justicar in generations, so it is a terrible thing to ask more, but we must ask. Even knowing the terrible toll it would have if she loses the Judgment, Sprilnav are at stake."
"People are at stake, you mean," Ezeonwha said. "There is no need to bring species into this."
"There would not be, but it is still a clear factor," another of them said, a female who looked more shifty in her gaze and demeanor. The Eyes of Liberty seemed like one of those groups with too much division.
"Do you disagree with each other often?" Ezeonwha asked innocently.
"Here and there," the tech guy said. "Not often enough to be a problem, and not when what matters is at stake."
"But that is the thing. How can you agree on when something that matters is a stake?"
"Is this a test?"
"Why would it be? Think of it as a genuine concern," Ezeonwha said. "To associate with your group, I have to be certain it will be resilient to change and risks escalating in the future. If the gangs cannot strike at Penny, they will pick the next best targets. Currently, that is me. If I associate with you in a way they can find out, and I assure you they will find out eventually, you all may be at risk as well. And your group's seemingly cell-based design also means large scale mobilization is difficult, ineffective, and risks severe coordination issues which cannot be quickly or safely remedied without changing core security features of it."
"You deduced all of that from context? You are smart, Ezeonwha. And have a good brain in your head. Everlasting knows we need one of those between all of us."
They all shared a laugh.
"I am not as young as I may look," Ezeonwha said. "Penny is not properly learned of the danger that faces us here. I am. The Underground will kill me when this is over. Do you want to die alongside me, all for your beliefs?"
Silence descended again. Ezeonwha kept the pressure on them when one of them stepped forward. "For freedom and liberty? Yes. I would die for that."
"As would I."
"And I."
They all declared the rest in orders that followed the patterns Ezeonwha was noticing. There were variances in their levels of belief and faith in their purpose. Each person had a different level of value difference, which meant that their lives would be worth more or less comparatively.
Cohesion was weaker, too. Not a full defector team, but likely pieces of several. Was that by design from a higher up leader, or was that just circumstance? Another thing to figure out later, that wasn't critical yet, but he would know before he truly went on any missions with them, if he did at all.
He suspected running messages to Penny would be the majority of their tasks. The quality of intelligence the Eyes of Liberty had offered was substantial. Perhaps enough for Penny to turn herself from a major annoyance to the gangs into an actual existential threat. With Justicar's swarming protection of the Fort Court and the 102nd Visitor Welcome Office, there was a limited amount of things that even the gangs could do. And if the rumors were correct, a Progenitor would be partaking in the trial.
"To be clear, if I join up with you, Phoebe would come too."
"Why would we let an AI join us?"
Phoebe smiled. "Without me, you'll die in this fight. You have trained for around 2000 days. You're acceptable combatants, as is Ezeonwha. But you are fighting in a city, and underneath it. You need to know how to keep a low profile. You need to know how to move through a crowd, get in and out. And you need to keep collateral damage to a zero, or the gangs will use you like they have others who had your purpose and were less careful to justify their 'protection' continuing. If you march in there and kill 50 slavers, if you kill a few slaves or a single bystander in the process, your credibility will be smeared. And frankly, with me on your team, you won't get blown up by an IED when you try clearing your first room in a fortress."
"IED?" One of them asked, while the rest digested her statement, going through various levels of offended looks.
"Your translator is too cheap. Improvised explosive device. Here, that can be old engines, reused oil, cracked plastic, frictional fuel bombs, circuit extruders, sodium splash grenades, as well as the more military style attacks they can pack, from small micro rockets all the way up to lower level fission or fusion bombs. Though if you're in a fight with those things involved, you're already dead."
"Why?"
"Because unless you're Elders, or holograms, a nuke will kill you whether you're right next to it or just inside the same shield. They concentrate the thermal pulse, so your bones would be ash before the pain hit your eyes."
"And what protection could you bring against that?"
"Telling you it's there before you start the attack. That is, if you listen to me. I value your lives over that of this android, but also I value Ezeonwha over all of you combined. I will not prevent him from doing this, but I will have you all know the risks involved."
"We are prepared, Phoebe. We have done much of the training you say, though we do not believe the gangs would plant explosive devices in their own fortresses. There is too much risk around that, with betrayals so common. However, the minefields we have scouted are easy to defeat with the right tactics. Perhaps you can give us a briefing on those, too?"
A challenge.
"I can, depending on how long you wish to do this for. But I have the stamina for either hours or weeks, depending on which you choose."
"What of your batteries?"
"They are of sufficient quality," Phoebe assured.
"I hope so."
Their tech guy nodded, more numbers flashing on his visor. Ezeonwha hoped he had a different way of display, like through an implant or something, for the missions in darker areas. The Underground was, by its name, not a place where much natural light was to be found. And the gangs controlled all the power systems in their territory. It was another part of the racket.
"Why aren't you guarding Penny?"
Phoebe's back straightened, a subconscious posture change to make her seem more confident. Ezeonwha caught the tactic for what it was, though without extensive knowledge of bipedal forms, it was less likely the surrounding Sprilnav knew it.
"Penny proved before a trillion eyes she's capable of fighting Elders, Progenitors, and a Dreadnaught Captain. Not to mention her immense power. I can shoot bullets, but she can literally snatch them out of the air and eat them. She has her own way of doing things, and it is a good way."
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Penny landed in the rubble and headed for the Vaquah with a trail of survivors behind her. Many of them, she could recognize the marks of slavery on, with numbers or brands on their skin or just the trauma crouching in their eyes dulled by the pain of a long life in a work camp. Penny went through the wreckage to the shield surrounding the rubble and the defining line between the rest of the city and the destruction. Several news drones flew above her.
More were arriving from various directions. The soft footsteps grew into a constant drumming sound, like a beating heart of doom. Penny marched with them, heading to the spaceport. A large medical operation there quickly rerouted many of its various branches to the most injured freed slaves.
Penny pressed her considerable psychic energy on the entire group, accelerating their healing, slowing bleeding, and generally repairing their bodies and cells from the trauma they'd suffered. But the cloud over their heads did not brighten. The atmosphere remained tense and mournful. Many of them had lost friends, family, and more. She had no right to ask them to feel any different.
She had freed them, that was all. They were not her servants. She was not their ruler.
Several of them came up to her, offering thanks in the small ways they could. Kind words. Attempts at hugs. Even offers of devout prayer and worship, which Penny respectfully declined. She knew, as did most of them, that veneration for her deeds was inevitable. She didn't want to be seen encouraging it at all, since this was a public place where many eyes were upon her.
She knew that it would be misconstrued as a threat if she did. Religions were some of the most major threats entrenched powers could face if not properly co-opted by the state to suit their needs. And here, the 'state' was a military dictatorship billions of years old, ripened with corruption, money, and the immortality of Elders sporting technology beyond any other in the galaxy.
The sky was blue with shields overhead. The Vaquah hung in the distance, its thrusters gently burning to keep it aloft. A trail of shuttles linked the massive ship with several spaceports, including this one. Penny watched the freed Sprilnav get on it one by one, promising themselves to a new life aboard her ship. Technically, they were citizens of the Autonomous Peoples' Stars.
That protection, Penny knew, was why the Vaquah and its innocent inhabitants were still intact. Elders already had hired mercenaries to attack it. They'd failed, thanks to Rimiaha and Penny, but also the defenses of Kashaunta's Grand Fleet when it was in higher orbit. Kashaunta, despite her willingness to use Penny as she would, also had a certain intelligence and empathy. It was highly selective, and only money and power seemed to flip that switch.
But Penny needed the Elder, and Kashaunta only had use for her as an asset. She palmed the new communicator Kashaunta had issued her after the last one's destruction. Kashaunta's hologram appeared. It looked around, noticing the news drones in the air.
"Not here."
"Where?"
"You will know."
In the mindscape, a Sprilnav appeared on Penny's layer. They felt odd to her, almost like the minds of certain humans high up in the hivemind's network. Penny greeted the Sprilnav warmly.
"Hello."
"Queen and Elder Kashaunta requests your presence on her flagship."
"Very well."
In reality, Penny looked around at the crowd. She waited until it dwindled to nothing, and then spoke.
"Displace."
Conceptual energy twisted, and she stood on Kashaunta's flagship, though nearer to the edge than she'd expected. The Elder was waiting for her in an outfit that looked much like pajamas, though they were under a few armor pieces that appeared anything but decorative. Now that Penny noticed it, it was the same sort of armor that Yasihaut had worn to their last encounter, which interfered with conceptual energy. The Sprilnav were highly advanced. She wondered just how far their technology could go. She'd heard mentions of some ships having artificial gravity, and of nanites and programmable matter. But nothing certain.
"Hmm," Kashaunta said, giving Penny a once over. "You have come back. Shall I assume you are still my ally?"
"Nervous, are we?"
"Nervous is what you should be, Penny. The Judgment is coming. Ten days. Indrafabar and Justicar will both be on the court as High Judges. That is not good for us at all. So I figured a bit of prudence was in order. I have thought long and hard about this, and with the great battles of our time so fast approaching, I figure it is time to mend our relationship before the chasm grows any wider."
Kashaunta motioned to a special looking sword sheath on her back. Slowly, she drew a sword. A Soul Blade. Penny began to draw up her armor.
"Oh, I am not wishing for a fight, Penny. I know the damage you could do, even in my sanctum in the sky. Tell me, do you know how Soul Blades are forged?"
"No."
"Good. And tell me, do you know why they draw so much power to swing, even for Elders and beings as capable as us?"
"I have a few theories."
"I am sure you do," Kashaunta said. "But here is the thing. Soul Blades are typically weapons assigned to highly promising Elders, or even Progenitors. Filnatra, undisputed sword master that she is, can wield them as easily as breathing. If I were to swing this blade, there would be no drawback. Why?"
"Because you own that Soul Blade."
"Because this Soul Blade is mine. It is not just something I own. I own around seven or so more Soul Blades, with some weapons nearing their quality lying in my various vaults even now. You did not detect them, because I willed that not to be. I need you to understand this, Penny. You have power. You have might. But you are not invincible. My Soul Blade, if it struck you, would not cutely separate Nilnacrawla or Cardinality from you. Nor would your speeding space entity be able to block this blade with his flesh. If this cut you, it would release unending agony upon you before you exploded in a burst of burnt gore."
Penny sighed. "There is no need to threaten me. Allies do not threaten each other."
"But you do not see me as an ally. You see me as your means to get through the Judgment. You believe I see you as nothing more but a linear singularity maker, and perhaps a passing curiosity I'm backing on a whim. You neglect to imagine that there might be firmer reasons why I back you, and why more Elders are getting drawn into this conflict. You believe I am comfortable with showing you my more pragmatic and ruthless sides because I am comfortable with the fact that you cannot harm me. That you would not dare to do so, when you need my assistance so badly. That I might even be aiming to normalize my 'new' self with you."
"That is hardly my belief alone."
"Is it now."
Kashaunta grinned. There was no warmth in her gaze.
"Nilnacrawla," Kashaunta said. "Cardinality. Exile. Come out and show yourselves. You are being rude as guests."
Exile detached from Penny's head. He grew into the shifting array of fractals and shapes she was more familiar with. What had once grated on her eyes did so no longer. Kashaunta stared at the speeding space entity for ten seconds, then looked back up at Penny.
"He will not work on us. I will cover his form with holograms if he walks through my ship out of courtesy for my workers and crew, if he cannot."
"I am capable, Queen Kashaunta."
"You are quite knowledgable, aren't you?" Kashaunta mused, looking at him hungrily. "Oh, how I wonder what secrets you have in your head. How many of ours do you know?"
"I will not be taken as a hostage," Exile said.
"You will not because I decide not to," Kashaunta said. "Formally, our species are still at war. There is no treaty."
"The Sp'rkial'nova no longer exist."
"Yes, they do," Kashaunta said. "The name was discontinued for use regarding the lesser specimens we created. But I can assure you, Exile, if you wish to go by that name here, that we still do exist. I am a Sp'rkial'nova in the flesh. In the blood. In the mind. In the soul."
"Say what you will, Sprilnav. It changes nothing."
"On that I agree. Though our views on how things are may differ, and yours is wrong, your opinion is not valuable enough to matter."
She turned to Penny. She would have defended Exile, but he gave her a simple shake of his head area.
Nilnacrawla formed out of psychic energy in front of Penny. Cardi did the same beside her. Kashaunta tapped a claw on the ground. Tables and chairs appeared. A chef brought in food that looked passable and a few decent attempts at human cuisine.
"We do not have to eat, though I would expect that all of you at least sit at the table. We will discuss our grievances, and how to solve them before we proceed with the future. We shall first go to the matter of the Alliance. Penny, many in their number wish to establish contact with you. Do you agree to this? If so, I will add their communicator numbers to the translation program I have reserved for your personal use, in case your own device needs another sudden replacement."
"I agree."
"Good. A first step of diplomacy, I would say. Agreement. Now, Nilnacrawla, you look like you have something to say to me. What is it?"
"Free Meridia."
"Meridia was detonated by planet cracker during the 139th Sector 9 Border War. I am sorry more could not be done."
A cold draft of air rushed out of Nilnacrawla's nose. He glared at her. "You let them die."
"I did not. A Grand Fleet was defending that star system, and three came to lay siege. I am many things. A tactician, a queen, an Elder. But I am not a god. I cannot perform miracles. I evacuated 30 billion people from that world and its surrounding stations before the planet crackers hit it. 4 trillion more souls died in that blast. The best I can do is to offer an apology."
"That will never be enough for what you did. If you had never established your nation, they would still be alive."
"They would be slaves. Chattel slaves, not that cute little 'wage slavery' concept privileged people throw around. Perhaps I should remind you just how much darker that reality would have been for your female descendents, specifically. I am a brutal warlord, a dictator with an iron fist. But my claws do not squeeze nearly as tightly as I could. Metrics say that I could extract at least 370% more profit from my people if I simply enslaved them. But despite the shock this may bring to you all, I do have principles. The Autonomous Peoples' Stars are my people. My nation. My empire, if you think I'm imperialist. But I protect them as best I can."
Nilnacrawla's cold anger didn't lessen. Penny placed a calming hand on his front left thigh. He blinked. He let out a long, pained sigh. And he bowed his head to her. Not to Kashaunta, but to Penny.
"There is no need to be cruel."
"My language was accurate, Penny. He is a strong Elder. Everlasting knows he's stronger than most of these fools. Nilnacrawla was and is a hero of the Source war. I respect him enough not to mince words, or to give platitudes. Coddling is for babies. Nilnacrawla is far more mature."
Kashaunta turned to Cardi. "You have been remarkably silent in this, concept."
"I have."
"A wonderfully succinct statement. Perhaps you can shorten it further. But nevertheless, you and I will be working together with Penny much more in the near future. Rest assured, if you refuse to become more independent, you will be nothing more than a crutch for her to rely on before leaving her to fall when you are ripped away."
"When, Elder? I would like to think your protection is sufficient."
"I am sure the truth is quite the opposite, dear. I will now get to the point. Penny needs to move faster, and needs to break out of her shell. She needs to be pushed to do more. She has signed a binding treaty, which shows she is capable of more than barbarian aliens, as some Elders would call her. You, Cardinality, will help her be a high achiever. To do this, you need to learn more about your own history.
That is the theme of the year, after all. History. My history, Penny's history, Sprilnav history, and even Gaia's history, it would seem."
"Gaia? What do they have to do with all of this?" Penny asked.
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that."
"Excuse me? You don't get to decide that, Kashaunta. You will tell me. I refuse to be coddled, like you say. I demand the respect I am owed."
"You forget yourself, Penny."
"I remember myself, actually. I am all I need to be. I can become all I need if I must. You can hold your backing against me all you want, but you won't withdraw it. As you said, more binds you and I than mere money and ideology."
"And if you're wrong?"
"Then I've doomed my species and my nation to war, and this planet to the full power of my wrath."
"Wrath, Penny. Wrath. The Sprilnav have many words for anger, rage, hatred. There is the desire for vengeance, in varying degrees. There is that for justice, which does differ. And that for belonging. I know you believe you are standing up to me as a way to assert your own authority in this relationship of ours. You believe I see you as inferior, and will pull back my help when it is profitable for me. I will not offer you the consequences of what your words could mean.
You already know them, and that argument is as stale as your view on us Elders. I will say this once, Penny. You are the Champion of Humanity. The apex predator of your planet, the only one mostly in charge of an Alliance that does more than merely dream of overthrowing us. It is easy for me to say you are not a threat, though I do not ignore the threat you and your nation are trying to become. Gaia will be a part of your movement, but even my information is not entirely complete. I will not mislead you by claiming I know Gaia's link to this, just that there likely is one.
And I am not unreasonably petty. I am willing to put all our animosity behind us and start anew. Even if you are not willing to do the same, I am willing to make this work for us. You have more people to care for than just the Alliance, now. Do not forget them."
"A lot of words that mean nothing."
"Because you heard, but did not listen. Perhaps it will be easier this way, Penny. I want you to win."
"Explain."
"You wish to overthrow the current Sprilnav led order of the galaxy. Your path to that will likely be through mass slave revolt. A viable strategy that I could spread far beyond just this planet. And I actually agree with you. This Judgment, this utter insanity around the Alliance and your species has shown me the truth. The Elders as a class and a species cannot be trusted to rule any longer. We need new leaders. Better leaders."
"And yourself?"
"As the hypocrite that I am, and the power-hungry ruler of the Sprilnav, I would obviously exclude myself from that number. Let's be realistic. The Sprilnav will never accept a non-Elder ruler. If you wish to see what our insurgencies would be like, imagine the 2090s Struggles of Asia. Expand that to billions of planets, large and small. Countless ships and space stations. We have more collective ships than you have people. And as your military planners know, there is no such thing as an unarmed ship. Without us, without me, your plans are stillborn. Your galactic Alliance or whatever you make will fall to pieces without proper counseling. In essence, my offer to you, and you alone, is this. The galaxy, for the Sprilnav."
"Who backs your offer, with the power to give it?"
Progenitors Lecalicus and Nova appeared in the room.
"I back Kashaunta," Lecalicus wheezed.
"I observe her offer, and wish it a proper outcome," Nova said.
"Thank you, esteemed Progenitors," Kashaunta said, standing just to bow to them. Penny stared at Nova, balling her fists.
"There will be time for battle later," he said. "But not now. Hear out her request. She does not make it lightly."
The Progenitors disappeared.
"If I accept your offer, it will be on a written record."
"No. It will not be, because if that record is written, my nation will be facing war on all sides. A better idea would be for us to keep this under wraps."
"Perfect for betrayal," Nilnacrawla muttered.
"It would be, yes. But consider the second part of this situation, Nilncrawla. If word of this galactic offer, not just the Pact, were to get out, which is why two Progenitors who know the price of interference were called here, it would mean the deaths of Penny and all her kind. Or do you forget what rapidly approaches us?"
Nilnacrawla frowned. "I did. I apologize, Penny."
Kashaunta spoke up again.
"Penny. You believe I will betray you. So I make an offer of collateral. An offer so unbelievably sacred for us Elders that many would recoil at the mere thought of it. Now that you have signed a backed treaty, you are fully qualified."
Kashaunta grabbed her Soul Blade and presented it to Penny.
"What does this mean?"
"Nilnacrawla, tell her," Kashaunta said. "She will trust your mouth more than mine."
"Bonded Soul Blades are priceless artifacts," Nilnacrawla said. "To offer one to another is the ultimate gesture of trust and respect among many martial Sprilnav cultures. It can also allow for a mind bridge, a soul pact, or a proposal for marriage between two great houses, martial families, or Elders of great wealth and power. To offer this to a human... to anyone... is an ultimate sign of backing, and one of trust.
It is a sacrosanct honor, the absolute agreement of speaking truth and respect. The words I can use in any human language are insufficient to describe the weight of this honor. This gesture is one of absolute truth. Family lines with hatred going back millions of years would never dare to violate this honor."
"Only one Elder in history did so, one who once led a group known as the Stannic Resistance. He does so no longer. Penny Balica, Champion of Humanity... if there is nothing else I can give you to prove that I do really back you, there is this."
"...Just how low are my chances in the Judgment for you to resort to this?" Penny asked.
"They are not zero, but your battle with be incredibly difficult even with this boon of mine. The future of the galaxy, I now realize, hinges on the outcome of this. If we do not have enough trust, they will sniff it out, and we will fail."
So she had no choice. But as Nilncrawla continued to explain in her mind, Kashaunta was getting the worse side of the deal. Which meant she was throwing her backing behind Penny for real, beyond all reproach and retraction. Kashaunta, the most powerful Elder in the galaxy.
"And if I reject this gift, or your reasons for it?"
"Circumstances would demand that I kill you and then myself using this blade as a way to cut apart the dishonor, before my remains are dumped into a black hole to be forgotten forever. I would not do this."
"A dark and archaic custom," Penny said. She would have said more, but she looked at Nilnacrawla's face. He was clearly deeply uncomfortable. Her five words had shaken him more than anything she'd ever said to him before.
"You do not understand," Nilnacrawla said. "This is not something to joke or lie about. With a Soul Blade Pact in play, all else must cease. Right now, there is you, and there is her. Accept or decline. The choice, your only choice, is yours."
"How will this look to the Elders in the court? To the Sprilnav, and the people who back me?"
She could see how it would be a boon and a curse.
"You, and I," Kashaunta said. "The whole of the universe between us right now is you and I. No others exist until this one act is done. There will be trust or there will be death. No in between. No middle ground. The nature of this bond will be a Pact of Blades."
Conceptual energy swirled between them. Penny's natural translation, as part of the hivemind, failed for the first time ever. Her communicator likewise did not translate the words Kashaunta spoke.
"Eis nama kaste Penny Balica, sun lanci Dorima Kashaunta. Ko'ri, lanci nupa bes na Dorima'Pecunyanova. Sp'rkial'nova. Sun. Homo Sapiens."
The air grew thick with tension. It was not just emotional, either. Psychic and conceptual energy gathered. The mindscape started to distort as more and more eyes began to view Kashaunta and Penny. But all of them were Sprilnav eyes. All of them were Progenitors. Nova's appeared brightest and largest, nearly six times the size of the next largest pair. They stared at her, sending psychic and conceptual energy down upon her in waves that forced her and Kashaunta to kneel to the ground.
"I apologize for my earlier words," Penny said. "I should not have denigrated this."
Penny stood for an hour, deeply contemplating the Pact. If it was as Nilnacrawla was describing to her, it was a promise that Kashaunta would not break. If she was offering it at all, especially to Penny, it meant she had a level of trust in Penny's capability far above what Penny had previously thought. Apparently, there were even higher agreements than this that were possible, with this Pact being the lowest level of bond and considered unbreakable with the enforcement of consequences coming from the Progenitors themselves.
She thought of her place in Justicar and the wider universe. Hours passed like water. And then, by the end of it, after nearly 19 hours, Penny finally had decided. She gave a short nod to Kashaunta, who had been kneeling to Nova all this time.
Kashaunta gestured at the sword. "Tol, nopa shikai."
Nilnacrawla fed her a few suggestions on what she would need to say.
"I come to this Pact seeking peace, justice, and hope," Penny said. "And a promise not to betray one another, by lies or by treachery."
Nilnacrawla translated Kashaunta's next words to her.
"I come to this seeking trust, understanding, respect, and peace," Kashaunta said. "And a promise not to betray one another, by lies or by treachery. I make this Pact before the gods, those who equal them, and those who surpass them. I bind them to an oath of silence regarding this event, until I directly instruct them otherwise, in a state of a sound mind, body, and soul. Here, we shall step into a future that needs both of us, casting aside that which is unimportant to focus on the ultimate goals we have. I offer my Blade to Penny Balica, of species Homo Sapiens. In this way, we forge a new future, and walk a new path. I accept the Pact."
"I accept the Pact."
Nova and a hundred Progenitors descended. Nova grew larger, and Kashaunta knelt to him. Penny remained standing. His sharp teeth glittered in the light. He pressed his claws to Penny's chest, and to Kashaunta's chest.
"The Pact of Blades is made before the Progenitors. We agree to your vow of silence. The penalty of breaking it will be dismemberment and disposal into a black hole. Penny Balica, Engineer Kashaunta. To break this Pact without mutual agreement is to call down our collective wrath upon yourselves. You both have agreed, and are of sound mind, body, and soul. The Pact is forged. By sword, by word, by action. I, Nova, Everlasting, Lord of the Progenitors, King of all Sp'rkial'nova, Heir to the Mantle of Power, Heir to Narvravarana, Progenitor, Elder, and Sprilnav, declare the deed done, etched in time, space, and Reality."
They winked out of existence one by one, leaving Penny and Kashaunta alone, to ponder the future. Penny's thoughts turned to the Judgment, and her confidence she could win it began to waver. How much worse was this Judgment going to be than before?
Penny stared at Kashaunta's Soul Blade. With careful fingers, she took it. Kashaunta sat up, satisfied.
"Now we can begin. I shall compile all the news about you I can find, and we shall see how to address the questions the High Judges will ask. Now that you trust me, I cannot betray you."

Hermione and Harry fall into the Veil by Anonymous
Summary
Harry and Hermione fall into the veil and start popping up in time. This can be just going back to their own time or their parents or somewhere further back.

Love fall through the veil plotlines as they all tend to be very wildly AU and imaginative! This one was submitted for the Harmony Summertime Madness Fest which has both Claiming and Posting open! Works are not due until July so you have plenty of time if you choose to participate!
One of my favorite fall through the veil fics is Rouch's Through the Veil, although this prompt is focused on time travel! (a favorite trope ❤️❤️❤️)
Here's a drabble for fun based on this prompt! Maybe someone will decide to take up the challenge and write it out completely! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione stumbled towards the screaming and snapping sound of spells as she clutched her side. Every movement sent a dull throb throughout her entire body from where Dolohov’s spell had hit her. She ignored the pain with a single-minded focus of finding and making sure one person was okay. The person she was determined to keep alive no matter how many times he ran straight into danger.
Perhaps that’s why she was the only one who reacted fast enough when disaster stuck. In a large open room, dozens of fights were going on, but none as flashy and vicious as between Sirius and his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange. Sirius laughed as he fought his cousin, taunting her as they exchanged mortal curses. Sirius’ entire attention was on his dangerous and cousin and he didn’t seem to notice he was getting too close to an ominous stone arch in the center of the room. A veil drifted from the arch on a phantom wind-like ghostly fingers reaching out for those closest.
It all happened in slow motion. Bellatrix screeched in fury at Sirius’ latest taunt and snapped out a spell swifter than Sirius expected. He tried to dodge the jagged red curse, but he stumbled, and his arms pinwheeled as he tried to keep his balance and not fall backward through the arch. The veil flared hungrily as if sensing Sirius’ demise.
Harry ran forward, determination in every line of his body as he arrowed toward his godfather. He was going for Sirius. Hermione didn’t yell; she didn’t try to warn anyone. Instead, she ran as fast as she could to save Harry. To save both of them if she was lucky enough.
But she wasn’t the only one trying to save their best friend.
Harry latched on Sirius, yanking him forward just as Remus crashed into his back the momentum propelling Harry into the stone arch as suddenly he and Sirius switched. Hermione gasped as she saw the veil too close to Harry, the gossamer cloth brushing over his face, and stretched out her arm grasping the back of Harry’s shirt to try to haul him back, but he was too heavy.
With a whisper of sound, Harry and Hermione were pulled through while Remus and Sirius crashed backward onto the floor in front of the stone arch.
On the other side Hermione felt weightless, and it was hard to see as if a dense fog covered everything. The only thing she knew was that she had the fabric of Harry’s shirt grasped tight. Whispers in familiar voices echoed around her, too low to make out what they said.
She tried to yell or talk to Harry, but she wasn’t able to make a sound. A part of her wondered if she was dead or dying. It certainly didn’t feel as she thought death would. Would her hand still ache from her grip on Harry’s shirt if she was dead?
Time didn’t have any meaning. The fog could have lasted only seconds or could have lasted days. Hermione only had one point of reference, one sensation. Her hold on Harry.
An analytical part of her thought it was the only thing she could affect and so maybe she should let go and see what happened. But no. That was simply something she was never going to do.
So the stasis held, the whispers washing over her, floating in the grey fog.
Until…
But no…
Was that something different?
Was that change?
The whispers had sharpened. The fog had darkened, and the weightlessness was leaving her.
Her stomach somersaulted and suddenly she realized she was falling. She yanked with all her might on the shirt fabric she still had clutched in her hand and grunted when she slammed into something hard.
“Hermione!” someone was patting her face gently. “Hermione wake up.”
She woke up and groaned, rolling over and clutching her hand to her stomach. It felt like her fingers were broken. They ached so badly. Someone pushed at her insistently, talking and trying to grab at her hand.
“Shhh, shhh, I know it hurts. I have some dittany still in my pocket from Umbridge.”
At that familiar voice, she opened her eyes to see Harry above her, looking at her worriedly. “Harry? Harry!” She surged up, throwing her arms around him and squeezing him tightly. “You’re okay!”
“I was a bit more worried about you, actually.” He said in a slightly strained voice from her chokehold, lightly patting her arms to get her to let go.
Hermione let go abruptly, looking around for the first time, noticing they were in an unfamiliar bedroom. “Where are we?”
“I don’t know. I just woke up here, and you were next to me holding my shirt.”
“We fell into that veil, I think,” Hermione said quietly.
Harry opened his mouth to reply but abruptly shut it as they heard voices approaching the closed door to the bedroom. Standing, he swiftly pulled Hermione to her feet, stepping in front of her as they both watched the bedroom door tensely. “Do you still have your wand?”
Hermione patted her pockets for a frantic second before locating her wand. Thank god for tethering charms. “Yes.”
“It doesn’t make sense. They would have been stupid enough to leave us with our wands if they meant us harm, but we need to get back to find out what happened to everyone.”
“Yes,” she repeated, agreeing as her hand tightened on her wand with only a slight ache after the dittany.
The bedroom door opened slowly, and they heard the humming of a lullaby first. A red-haired woman entered carrying an infant that was so small it must have been only hours old. “There, there now, love. I’m sure daddy is going to smush that silly old dog for laughing too loud and frightening you.”
Harry gasped, stumbling back into Hermione and squishing her against the wall.
“Wha–” Hermione’s question was choked off as the woman’s head snapped up, her wand appearing and pointing straight at them. It was the woman’s eyes that caught her. They were the same shade of green as Harry’s eyes.
The woman, however, had no such hesitation. Her spells snapped out lightning quick, disarming them and tying them up neatly with an incarcerous. She didn’t take her eyes off them as she raised her voice, yelling, “James! Sirius!”
​

Boss and District Manager make me quit, costs them big time I'll start by saying that I never thought I would be on here, but after listening to SLASH, Am I The Jerk, and Ripe on Youtube I thought it time to tell my story.
For context, I (M 23) used to work at an electronics and entertainment store for three years and quit due to issues between workers and management. I had worked with a friend (M 36) at this place for a year or so. This friend was a good guy and great to hang out with when things weren't busy. He would find a job at another company and we would keep in touch as he would come in and chat occasionally. He would become a manager at one of these stores a small distance away. Each time he would try to sway me to come and work for him. I still liked what I was doing then and didn't think it was the right time to switch jobs. But again, due to management issues, I finally decided to quit and take up my friend's offer.
For the remainder of this story, my friend will be referred to as Dumb Boss. After a week or so I started at this new job I will not name, but they sell mattresses and rhyme with Jeep Hummer.
The first month of the job went very well as Dumb Boss trained me and another new employee, and the pay was very nice, and the work was nice with small amounts of actual labor. By the second month, things were doing okay as Dumb Boss continued to train me and the other employee more, but it started to change as my training would be halted in the process every time before I got to even finish. He would continue to do this every single time I was being trained, and stop it mid-session and start from scratch the next day I worked with him. I would never be able to even finish most of the day's training and only learn beginning things. I would say more about the training but it would say too much about where I am from and am.
A small time later I would get the news that my grandfather would pass and would wake up early to get the news. I would inform Dumb Boss later in the day before my shift of what had happened. My call would be very short as I told him of the passing and asked if there was any way I could call out that day. He would show some sympathy and tell me I could get the day, but after that, he didn't know. I would have to bring proof of the death and I would have the obituary already to show. He would go on to tell me the next day that I was in as I would only have that day to grieve that I would not be able to get any more days for my grandfather's death as grandparents weren't supposedly covered under bereavement as directed by him and Dumb District Manager (He'll be relevant later). On the day of my grandfather's funeral, I would have to work and Dumb Boss would have off. Me and the other employee I worked with, and is smarter than me when it comes to job things, talked about the situation of bereavement and who counted. She would ultimately look this information up for me and show me that grandparents were covered under bereavement and the information Dumb Boss and Dumb District Manager was not true. This made me upset and frustrated, enough to punch holes in walls, but I didn't. I would call Dumb Boss and tell him I was upset that the information he had given me was wrong and that I had missed my grandfather's funeral, something a person can't go back and do again. He apologized but looking back on it that phone call he showed little remorse or care. The next time I worked with him the same could be said in person. I would get no apology or communication from Dumb District Manager either about the situation. This was strike one.
Skipping some time to the next event I and everyone else were to attend a meeting for the whole district at a store about 100 miles from where I lived (Dumb Boss would have his own the day after ours). I was paid for the travel and had arrived at the store and worked with everyone that had shown up. Enter Dumb District Manager who was there for the meeting and mostly stayed on his computer the entire 8 hours we were all there. I thought everything went very well for my first meeting like this as we were being trained better than at our own stores. The next shift I worked with Dumb Boss and thought it would be a decent day, but would not be. I greet him and get ready as the store hasn't opened yet, him telling me he has to talk with me once I have finished. We talk and he tells me that even though the meeting/training went well Dumb District Manager and a couple of others had reported to Dumb Boss, as he had wanted them to, that I wasn't as good at the meeting as I thought. They had reported to him that I had been overly fidgety, barely worked with others, and was dressed like a cartoon. Please keep in mind, that I am no top-notch person. I make mistakes and like many other people no 100 percent good at a job. I do have issues with my legs that require them to move. I was nervous around people I had just met and did communicate with people in the training. Finally, I didn't understand why I would be dressed like a cartoon when I was the same as everyone else; in a shirt and tie. We talked about it then and throughout the day what went wrong and why, even though did my best, I was being treated like a negligent employee. This would go on Dumb Boss saying things like this to me and telling me I am not cut out for this and to just quit. This was strike two.
Strike three would happen two months or so later when the store would have a massive sale and pressure was on me and the other employee under Dumb Boss as he would press to make quotas that month or we are faced to be chewed out by him following his chew out by Dumb District Manager. The final day of the sale I would receive a nice old couple and when finishing up with them as I talked with them and the other employee talked with them they had purchased an item and had left to wait for it to arrive. Dumb Boss would walk over to me after they had left. Dumb Boss would tell me that I had a choice after they had left, either leave for the rest of the day and take disciplinary. The second choice was to stay and lose the commission on the sale I helped the elderly couple with. Now I did not know what he was going on about and he told me that because the couple I was working with had been talking with had talked with the other employee and she had left the floor and went to the back to collect herself. I would later find from her that she was just frustrated about the sale and trying to reach her quota and not because of what Dumb Boss was bringing up. I decided out of my own frustration and everything else that had been happening to just take the rest of the day and come back the next shift refreshed and able to talk to Dumb Boss with calm and collect. I would return and talk with Dumb Boss trying to keep a level head and would almost lose it as he told me that because I left he reported it to me being sent home to Dumb District Manager. After choosing the option to better help myself financially and leave and save my commission I would be given the third much later option of getting the commission taken away, losing the pay from the lost hours, and taking a disciplinary action regardless of what I did. This was the option that was forced on me after we talked and I knew this was it.
I was done and would put my notice in on the job about two weeks later and only need to give one week as Dumb Boss wanted to hire a new replacement and train them before the holidays. He even had the audacity to set up an interview for my replacement right in front of me. I was done like I said but I wasn't going out without a bit of a fight.
Something they had taught us throughout this job had been to say something if we see something. This was implied for any sort of ethics violations or issues that couldn't be brought up to management and be sent to an outside company they work with and their H.R. department. Remember that sale that we had at the store, well the sale was meant for friends and family only and no one else. Dumb District Manager told everyone to use the sale on anyone, he didn't care who and wanted the "coupons" we used gone, and if we didn't make the quota chewing would happen. This was considered an ethical no-no and Dumb District Manager and Dumb Boss didn't care as long as the coupons were gone. I would send in the ethics complaint stating what had been going on with the coupons. I know what some of you are thinking, I could have gotten Dumb Boss and Dumb District Manager on harassment, lies, etc. but unfortunately, two things happened. I am not as smart to put things like the lies and harassment on paper and turn it into H.R. The second is that I did send things to H.R regarding what had been going on via the ethics and how I was being treated but this went on deaf ears as Dumb Boss already told them crap to get out from this.
Basically, I left the last day with not even as much as a goodbye or good luck. I didn't need it though as I had pretty much left my own goodbye for him and Dumb District Manager with the ethics complaint.
I didn't hear much of what happened after I left, but after calling the other employee I worked with did I get more info. Turns out the ethics complaint actually went somewhere. She told me that Dumb Boss and Dumb District Manager were under investigation and that they were both getting their own write-ups for what they had pulled and lost the commissions not just for one sale but for the entirety of that month's commission totaling around 15,000 dollars.
If you can't hurt them where it counts, hurt their pocketbook.
P.S. Never doing another sales job ever again.

We all know cheating in Conan, thanks to easily obtainable and relatively affordable hacks, is out of control especially in populated official PvP servers. The cheats, currently being offered by someone named Xetal, allows players to speed around the map, see through walls, chests, benches, beds, and unconscious players, and enter player bases regardless of server settings. A select few individuals even have the ability to loot every single piece of loot a player owns with a simple console command, something only admins have the power to do. This of course drives players away and Funcom continues to alienate their leftover dedicated playerbase by not acknowledging the issue at all and stonewalling us with silence.
I have friends who are in regular contact with Xetal who just released an update to the hacks today. The hacks now allow cheaters to change the time of day in-game at a whim, which may not seem like a big deal, until it's always night time or someone is constantly switching the lights on and off.There are new updates to what they can do to your thralls as well. It used to be that your most important loot would be safe on your thralls, especially outside raid. There have been many times where I would encounter a player with speed hacks and simply told my companions to stop following me as I accepted my inevitable death and loss of hard earned loot to the cheater. Not anymore! Your thralls and companions are now at the mercy of the same hitbox pulling many of us experience when facing someone with these cheats. Nothing you own is safe.
I have dedicated thousands of hours of my time into this game. Conan Exiles is my favorite game of all time, and I truly think it could be one of the best out there if Funcom wasn't so incompetent and ignored their player base. I thought the introduction of the battle pass and bazaar would help resolve many of the issues the game has, but nothing has been done. I have invested heavily into this game and seen no attempts to even acknowledge any of these issues. I am at the point where I am even ready to quit the game and put Funcom on my black list out of spite. I will never touch a game published by them again if this is never resolved.
However, I have not lost hope yet, and will continue to actively report these hacks, put an end to Xetal's business, and fight against anyone else with ambitions to ruin this game. I think hacking in the video game industry is generally ignored when it's an issue that should be prioritized above all else. Gaming companies themselves don't seem to have any interest in doing anything about this problem, so I believe it is up to the players to do something about it. Stop playing the game, don't purchase anything in the bazaar, spread this around like wildfire and MAYBE Funcom will be the one company that starts a revolution against these losers who actively try to ruin the gaming experience for everyone.
Don't let them win.

Hey guys, quick question here. I have a very crowded 3 gang switch box in my bathroom. the builder pulled 3 passing through to hallway and 3 switches making 7 cables all terminate in the same box that also require switch install in the same box.
Its on an interior wall, and the current box is as deep as it can go. I wonder if I can get a 3 gang box that extends downward so there's more space for me to work with? I remember seeing something similar but I can not find it now.
A box that extends below the opening of the drywall.

Before I give up on this... can someone tell me if I softlocked myself here?
I hit one of the two switches below me with the yoyo as I jumped, thinking that was how I had to proceed. I'm now stuck between two switched walls!
My yoyo is sort of stuck retracting below the floor I'm on (even after switching items), but I can't send it out again to hit the switches below.
https://preview.redd.it/k9yswehp3i0d1.png?width=3440&format=png&auto=webp&s=0295b7372d10579cbe265af40ddfa9eefcd04104
https://preview.redd.it/kl1n43eo3i0d1.png?width=3440&format=png&auto=webp&s=f53b1530a0c50b3693df43e2d1054e75d2fb02b2
https://preview.redd.it/wopy4agr3i0d1.png?width=3440&format=png&auto=webp&s=3ad0a03cbb3903bdbb5a04ae997d1b02d983e4a9
Edit: Marked the post as spoiler since there's some content here, I guess? (And I don't know how to hide images as spoilers.)

Hi, I am a big fan of Gigantic. I have been playing this game for the last couple of weeks and was thoroughly enjoying every second of it. Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz around this game, specifically from people complaining about it not being free-to-play. Instead, this game has a price tag of $20 with no microtransactions.
Many people believe that this $20 price tag is hurting the game and that turning it into a F2P game with microtransactions might help the player base grow. And while I’m sure that these people have some valid points to support their case, I believe I can come up with a good enough counter-argument as to why the F2P model might not be the best way to go moving forward. After some careful consideration and a bit of research, here are my two cents on the issue:
Argument #1: Gigantic have tried going F2P before and it didn’t help them one bit.
Back when Gigantic was first released in 2017—where it was first developed by Motiga—the game was initially released as a F2P game. Despite that, at the time, it did not help the game whatsoever in terms of acquiring a sizable player base, which led to it shutting down a year later. Now, you might argue that Gigantic’s initial shutdown can also be attributed to other factors such as having to switch publishers mid-development, causing it to have a rocky launch. Another possible contributing factor is also the timing of its release, where games like Overwatch have already gained a massive following—taking most of the attention away from Gigantic.
With that said, some of you might still think that the F2P model might work for Gigantic this time around. However, I don’t believe that is very likely. Currently, Overwatch 2 still dominates the market of hero-shooter games and League of Legends is still going strong as one of the powerhouses of the MOBA genre. The current situation is more or less the same as it was back when Gigantic was first released. If nothing has changed before, do you honestly think the developers and publishers of this game would want to risk making the same mistake again? If it already didn’t work the first time, what makes you so sure that it’s going to work the second time?
Of course, there's still a chance that the F2P model might work, though it is not a guarantee. I believe many people out there are highly overestimating the effect of the F2P model on a game like Gigantic, thinking that it might miraculously turn this whole situation around when there is clearly already evidence that suggests otherwise.
Argument #2: There are examples of similar games out there that are massively popular despite not being F2P when it was first released.
I’m going to use Overwatch again, as it is the game that most people would compare Gigantic to. Remember back when Overwatch first released, it was priced at $40, and that was only the bare-bones version on PC. If you get the “Game of the Year” Edition, the price goes up to $60. If you get the “Collector’s Edition”, it goes up to a whopping $130. That didn’t stop it from being one of the most popular games at the time, now does it? Of course, Overwatch had only turned into a F2P game after it had gained its massive popularity as Overwatch 2.
And then there’s TF2—another game that is often compared to Overwatch. Back then, before it turned F2P, TF2 as a stand-alone game cost $20. If you buy it as a bundle with the Orange Box, it costs $50. Yet another game with a price tag that only got turned into a F2P game after it got popular, not before.
In both of these examples, putting a price tag on a game clearly did not deter customers from buying them. These games did not need the F2P label to be popular, so why should Gigantic be any different? Why is Gigantic so viciously hated for putting a modest price of $20 on a game when there are similar games who had done similar things and ended up becoming massive successes? When you look at it from that perspective, it simply does not seem fair.
Argument #3: The F2P model with microtransactions is shady as hell, even at the best of times.
Of course, there are also massively successful games that started out as being F2P from the get-go, the most notable ones being League of Legends. Out of all the games out there, many consider LoL to have one of the best F2P monetization models. The items that you can buy with real money are mainly cosmetic items and are not pay-to-win. You can play the game as much as you want without spending any real money. And if you do have some extra cash to spend, you are welcome to buy any of the skins to make your champion look just a bit cooler. It’s a pretty good system overall. Surely, if LoL can benefit from it, Gigantic can too, right?
That is until you realize that LoL players spend an average of $92 per year on this so-called “free-to-play” game. (Source) And that’s only an average! There are more extreme cases of people spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year on this game. When compared to that, $20 for a game like Gigantic might as well be a drop in the bucket. How is it possible that, for a supposedly “free-to-play” game, people on average are spending more money than they do with traditional games in the long run? It’s ridiculous!
Now, I’m sure that there are some of you out there who have enjoyed playing LoL for years without spending a single penny. If you are one of those people, good on you; you have more self-control than most of us. I’m sure that, from your perspective, paying $20 for Gigantic just doesn’t seem worth it to you. That is a fair and valid point and I completely understand. However, if the statistics are to be believed, most of you LoL players out there are not that type of person.
Most of you do not have that kind of self-control. Eventually, FOMO is going to hit you hard and you'll cave into that pressure. Eventually, you will be inclined to spend more money than you should and even lose track of how much you are spending. Eventually, the act of paying money itself becomes a habit and then, all of a sudden, you’re playing the equivalent of a down payment of a car on this game—a game which, may I remind you, does not require you to pay any amount of money to play in the first place! Is “free-to-play” actually free to play if you’re just going to end up paying money anyway?
Try as you might, you’re going to give into that temptation eventually. That’s how F2P games are designed. They manipulate you psychologically. Games like LoL did not get as big as they did on a gaming community that is good at self-control with their money. Sure, maybe the F2P model is a financially sustainable model if done right. That doesn’t change the fact that F2P games are shady at its core even at the best of times and are downright predatory and exploitative at the worst of times.
Sure, maybe you think that all that money you’ve spent on the game is worth it. Maybe you bought all those skins with absolutely no regrets whatsoever. If the game is good, then it totally deserves whatever amount of money you’re paying it, right? To which I ask you this: if you’re already willing to spend that much money on a F2P game like LoL, why would you be so apprehensive to spend $20 on a full game like Gigantic? Is $20 really that big of a deal when compared to all the other gaming-related purchases that you’ve made throughout your lifetime? Plus, that $20 is a one-and-done deal, after which you don’t have to pay any more money. You literally cannot toss in the down payment of a car into this game even if you wanted to!
The team behind Gigantic are probably aware of the negative reputation of microtransactions. While I don’t know for certain, I suspect that they have heated debates amongst themselves before settling with the final asking price of $20 as the best compromise in order to rid the game of any microtransactions. Even though $20 might seem a lot at first when compared to its F2P competitors, on average, playing Gigantic is going to cost you less money than playing LoL in the long run. That’s because Gigantic is designed like a real game, not a glorified Skinner box.
For a long time, people have been complaining about microtransactions in video games—so much so that not even games like LoL are completely free of criticism. Gigantic dares to take a step towards the right direction by introducing a reasonably priced game that doesn’t have any microtransactions even when it probably should. Assuming that the team did so under genuinely benevolent reasons, Gigantic should be praised for taking such a bold step, not condemned, and I just really want to get that out there to all of you guys.
+++
Of course, on the off-chance that Gigantic might actually go F2P in the future, all the points I’ve made so far will be rendered moot. And while I might be a bit upset at their decision to do so, if they truly think it is what’s best for the survival of the game, I have no right to stop them. At the end of the day, the point I’m trying to make here is that Gigantic’s $20 price point with no microtransactions is not without its merits. Plus, Gigantic is just a really, really good game in general that totally deserves $20. Make of that what you will.
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TL;DR
Gigantic tried going F2P before and it didn’t work
There are examples of non-F2P games of a similar genre that end up becoming successful
Seriously, fuck microtransactions!

Hi guys, I’m completely new to building PC’s and I finally was able to build one. But I cannot for the life of me figure out how to start up my motherboard. I tested my PSU and confirmed it was working, however, the PSU will not turn on when connected to the mobo, and neither will the mobo. No lights, no beeping, no fans on. The power switch was on. I did try jumpstarting the motherboard, but that did not work. I tried turning on the case button, didn’t work. I don’t know if maybe I messed up a cable somewhere? Or if the motherboard is damaged? Again im totally new to this so I’m hoping maybe I just made a little mistake.
Specs: NZXT H9 Flow Dual-Chamber ATX Mid-Tower PC Gaming Case ASUS Prime B650-PLUS Seagate BarraCuda 2TB Internal Hard Drive HDD AMD Ryzen 7 7800x3D 8-Core Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE CPU Cooler XFX Speedster SWFT 319 AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Core Corsair Vengeance DDR5 RAM 32GB Seasonic Focus V3 GX-850

What is one OW character you despised at first but ended up enjoying after learning said character?
I used to hate Lucios (not the healbot lucios but Lucios that can go on the offensive side of things). I mainly played as DPS and Tank when I first started OW2 a year and a half ago. With the only support character I’ve played being Zen for his DPS-like capabilities. I know , that’s silly but I’ve shredded teams playing as that metallic monk. Normally , I would shred through healbot lucios who couldn’t wallrun or boop to save their life. But..I would run into some Lucios whose wallrun was too cool and calculated. And those Lucios most certainly wasn’t afraid of a fight. I will not lie, some of my rage inducing moments comes from a Lucio who knows what they’re doing and is good with his aim. So months ago I’ve decided to pick him up since I had started practicing playing support so I can play all roles if any of mates wanted to switch out. I will not lie. It was a tough learning curve for me learning Lucio. It took me a good 2 weeks to adjust to the character’s play style, capabilities, weaknesses, strengths, and more importantly, his wall run mechanics. Now I’ve got over 40 hours of playtime on Lucio at the current time of this post. And I love playing as him now when I’m support because I’ve gotten his wallrun mechanics down to the point where I was able to successfully do the infamous Lijang tower rollout (only once lol) , having resulted in me booping an enemy rein and tracer off the bridge. I’ve gotten myself out of sticky situations thanks to his wall run and speed, kept my teammates healed and we’ve even been able to make some team plays with my ult/speed mechanic. I especially love displacing enemies with the boop or just overall booping them off an edge into oblivion. Most notable accomplishments I’ve achieved as Lucio was successfully doing the Lijang tower rollout once, having done 17k heals as the most amount of heals I’ve done as a Lucio , and having gotten 25 elims one match.

I'm building a gaming PC for the first time. This is what I have so far. I had some help from buildapc. I decided to switch the PSU from what I had originally. Does it still work with the rest of the components? Thoughts, advice, and opinions? Also, I need help deciding on a good monitor. Some of the games are shooter, competitive, and adventure-type on PC.
I originally had "Be quiet! Straight Power 12 1000 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply". I switch to MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
[PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fsWqn6)
**CPU** [AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor]
**CPU Cooler** [Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler]
**Motherboard** [Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE AX ATX AM5 Motherboard]
**Memory** [G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory]
**Storage** [Western Digital Black SN850X 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive]
**Video Card** [Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24 GB Video Card]
**Case** [NZXT H9 Flow ATX Mid Tower Case]
**Power Supply** [MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply]
**Operating System** [Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit]

When it comes to home AC electricity I am full of ignorance. For automobile DC stuff I’m usually pretty handy.
Unfortunately for me I have a AC problem and would like to narrow the problem down or even fix it myself due to funds being tight.
I should preface with saying I think my dishwasher has been on its last leg for a few months. I’m about 85% sure it has nothing to do with my issue but it is what caused me to turn the breakers off and on.
I noticed the lights on my dishwasher were flashing giving some kind of error. I tried to reset it and nothing so I went and shut the breaker off. I didn’t know which breaker it was on so I just shut them all off to that general area of the house. I turned them all back on that’s when I noticed my lights started flickering in the kitchen.
As far as I can tell I have one 15 amp breaker and hooked to it are a ceiling fan in the center of the kitchen, a fluorescent light above the sink, and my microwave above the stove. The ceiling fan and fluorescent light are on the same wall switch. I flip one switch both lights come on. I have discovered the dishwasher is not on this breaker.
After noticing my lights flickering some in the ceiling fan. I tried tightening the bulbs (LED) and that didn’t help so I replaced them hoping that may fix the issue but it didn’t. At this point my lights would flicker but would stay on.
Since replacing didn’t fix the issue I thought maybe if I turn the breaker off and back on again that may help since the issue started after flipping the breaker. That didn’t help either.
Now with the breaker on I can flip the switch and both lights with light up flicker a few times and go out, my microwave also isn’t working correctly it just shows random characters on the lcd and when you try to run it it just gets dimmer and sounds like it is losing power. After a few moments the lcd will not even light up.
So basically if I use anything on this breaker it will flicker or try to work for a few seconds before dying down. Once it dies down it will not turn back on unless the breaker is turned off then on.
So even after the lights and microwave go out my breaker still hasn’t tripped. Once the lights go out they will not come back on unless I go turn the breaker off and on. Then it just repeats they will flicker a few times and go out. Turn the breaker off and on and they will flicker again and go out. Breaker never trips though.
Any idea what this could be?
We have had a few storms but nothing to bad I don’t think I have any water leaks or anything.

I (22m) live with my cousin (22m). I had moved out since I was 20 into my own house that my dad bought my sister which evidently been handed down to me. My father paid off the house so all he gave me to worry about are the utility bills. The bills comes out to be 300 a month. I handle all the bills while my cousin just sends me through Zelle his portion. Other than that we share the cost of everything pretty” fairly”. I usually am the one to tell my cousin when he should be buying stuff like the necessities like toilet paper, paper towels, toilet bowl cleaners, etc. whenever he goes shopping, it’s only for what he thinks the house needs (usually only foods)
Routine: My cousin works 40 hours a week with some days of the week he may work 12 hours. He enters at 2pm and gets home anywhere between 10:30-2am. His routine is pretty much, wake up at 12pm, take a shower, get ready, get to work by 2am (only a 30 min commute due to traffic). When he gets home, he would pretty much smoke weed, play video games and finish off his night watching tv. Rinse and repeat every single day. He claims he can’t get adequate sleep.
Kitchen/ dishes issue: When it comes to chores, he is very poor when it comes to it. We had a routine where we would switch on and off who does the dishes by who did them last. Whenever I have dishes that I need to do, I tend to do all of them and clean the sink itself as well but when it’s his turn, he only does whatever he can in that free time being 1 sink and/or leave all the pots and pans left for me.(I have 2 sinks) we had multiple discussions where the dishes are becoming a problem because they pile up pretty bad to where they start to smell. He told me to let’s no longer do the “your turn for the dishes strategy” but just do the dishes whenever we can. Since last month, I had done the dishes 80% of the time as he never did them after he got out of work. It’s been dreadful as I know I am picking up the slack whenever he is not doing his 50%. Let me inform you guys that he is the type of person to leave the drain hole without the middle piece to prevent food from going down the drain because “it was clogging the sink”. There was a time where I told him that I will be cleaning out the fridge to which I did while he did the dishes and he left some for tomorrow to which it never got cleaned by him but instead piled on until the following week. I had told him 2 weeks ago that if he can clean the stove as there is buildup of grease/ oil and grime. As well as the microwave to which he agreed but he never cleaned the microwave and he did clean the stove but never washed / dried the shiny trim that is removable from the sink. Instead what he did was put it in the sink and left it there for 3 days until I told him to clean what he left.
Smoking Issue: Overall he is a person that has some respect for the house but he is living too comfortable I would say and is using my kindness to an advantage. I used to have a roommate which would throw get togethers every week or so and whenever she has multiple people over, she would feel like to smoke a cigarette inside the house without asking me. She didn’t do this on a daily basis but only whenever there are people in a party setting. I told my cousin to not do this and which he agreed. Soon after him moving in, he would smoke a blunt in his room which would make the house smell like weed and would occasionally creep into my room through the vents. I told him to stop smoking blunts / joints as it makes the entire house smell which he understood and began to smoke bongs only. I would say smoking a bong is 100x better than joints. Smells a bit but not where I am constantly thinking about it. As long as it does not smell like weed while I’m in the bathroom, room, living room, or kitchen.
Lawn: It’s starting to get warmer and I have paid 80 bucks for spring cleaning work from this landscaper and mentioned it to my cousin that we should go half and half. He disagreed and said we should work on it ourselves. I didn’t care about spending 80 bucks so I bought it and told him that I don’t expect him to pay half to just consider it me doing my turn in a way. Well it began to grow after a week pretty quickly and needed a trim again. Instead of me just tellling him “hey it needs a cut” I just cut it myself again after I worked 8 hours, a 10-6. After that I told him to cut it in 1-2 weeks and which he said okay but when it was getting closer to 2 weeks, he couldn’t cut the lawn as it began to rain and it was pushed back to 3 weeks. when he was cutting the lawn, he took separate days to cut the back and front and when he was cutting the back, he had asked me to buy a rack as there was a lot of grass ontop of the lawn and which I did. He ended up making me rack the lawn as we went out randomly to a bar that night. The lawn is pretty big, so I only did 30% and which he never finished the job. The next week being this past week, he had went outside to cut the grass as he just wants me and him to cut the grass as we go whenever one of us has the chance. That day we had a lot of dishes to do and the grass I had the ability to mow the next day as I had the day off. Overall I just am getting frustrated with the change of dynamics of how things were getting done as now it just seems like he wants to find someway of not doing work for a week or 2 consecutively rather than staying on a planned schedule.
Bathroom: The bathroom has been minor but yet just frustrating as whenever I use the bathroom, I always set up a new roll of toilet paper when I finish it into the holder and when I am drying my hands off with the hand towel, I hang it up neatly back where I had it placed. Now when it comes to my cousin, he does things differently. When he finishes the toilet paper roll, he leaves the old one in the holder and grabs a new one and leaves it infront of the toilet where I have a shelf at. I told him multiple times to just put the toilet paper roll in the holder where it belongs and he agreed but still ignored me. Finally after he lived there since October of 2023, he finally did it as of recently. Just once. When he washes his hands, he leaves the hand towel on the table when he can just put the hand towel up normally keeping the bathroom as it possibly can. Another thing which I take blame for my part is the leaving the clothes in the bathroom. There is a little space under the sink that can fit a laundry basket for dirty clothes and I use that area for my clothes after I finish the shower. It never sticks out or anything as I push it far back as possible. Whenever my roommate finishes the shower, he leaves his clothes in the bathroom maybe once every week being socks, shorts, underwear, socks by the toilet, by the sink, on the shelves. I take part blame as I do that as well. Not really something I complain about as whenever I see it, I just grab them and throw them in his room.
Tip of the iceberg: I had told my cousin to do a deep clean of the bathroom, while I clean up the kitchen and living room. I believed it was fair as he has not done a deep clean of the bathroom yet while me and my girlfriend (she does not live in my house, just sleeps here for a few days in a row) has cleaned it once each. We scrub the tub, walls, sweep the floor, mop the floor, clean the sink table and wipe down the mirrors. I had told him Sunday to do it and he told me he was going to do it next weekend with no given reason. I told him to do it whenever he has free time as it only takes about an hour and that he has no other chores as I made a bet with him to which I lost and have to do the dishes for the next 2 months (he claimed that I don’t have to follow through with that bet). I am frustrated because why can’t he complete it within the week? The bathroom is not that hard to clean as it just involves scrubbing and personally the tub is very disgusting. I wonder how did he not just want to be proactive. I personally wanted to wait until he decided to clean it but I waited over a month having the expectation that he wanted to clean it. I remember I bought the curtains for it and I know it will have to be replaced but personally I already know if I tell him to replace it, I would feel cheap and just feel guilty that I don’t want to buy the replacement. To me it’s just the principle of things that if I bought the first one, he buys the next and the cycle continues. He told me that he wants to hold the “big chores” for the weekend but I told him that I have the rest of the chores covered as I already partly cleaned the basement (we had a table full of clothes that we didn’t know what to do.) I cleaned the kitchen, and the living room. All he really had to do was fold his clothes and that’s it. I basically told him that that’s really his only chore that he has. I feel like a butthole just for me to tell him as soon as he can but I know he can wake up early being at 10am to clean it or something and go to work after or when he gets home from work to do work around the house instead of smoking pot and playing video games. If he couldn’t do the chore because of work then he could tell me but instead his immediate answer was “I’ll do them next weekend” not a “I’ll try before the weekend but it may end up being done at that time”. Am I just nitpicking? Should I be easier on him as he never lived alone? I feel like I have to tell him to do stuff around the house.

The fourth pic is from a few months ago.
I put together some modular shelves, new rug, new coffee table, switched out some pillows (don’t love the mauve pink but it’s what I had), brought in a chair from the other room, needed some big art so I painted the flowers (I would prefer a horizontal piece, but again it’s what I have), and mounted some things.
I just still don’t love it. This room is so dark and only has that small, east-facing window under a porch covering - I always feel like I’m fighting the dark and have to have these plant lights everywhere but I’m trying my best to make them look nice.
I want to display the portraits of my dogs but the colors are obviously very bright. I think I need help figuring out how to style the wall - either short or long. A mirror could help with the light but it wouldn’t reflect anything particularly pretty and I don’t know if it would fit nicely. And I don’t know that I’d love yet another gallery wall.
As a last note I only feel like the room is leaning too young or too feminine. I like earthy colors and things that are fun, but I want it to feel elevated.
Yes, I know my sectional is shoved in a corner, RIP. It’s a small room, I promise I’m doing my best.
Please help!!

Bought a butterfly xt from target yesterday and have been messing around with it. I can do some tricks on it but spin time is super short (maybe 15 seconds at most ). What’s a good one to buy? I’ve been researching but there’s so many I’m still lost. At what point does one switch to unresponsive? Unresponsive yo-yos seem cooler

I am looking for a “smart” or wireless controlled plug that is controlled by a switch that can go in a standard switch outlet box. I have seen plenty that come with a battery operated switch that you can stick on the wall but I want one I can put in a blank spot I have in my switch box and can preferably be powered from wires in that box as well.
Any ideas?

From RoadtoVR:
https://www.roadtovr.com/apple-vision-pro-schematics-measurements-guidelines-third-party-accessories/
I hope this can accelerate third party accessories development. There are quite a lot of headstrap mods for the Vision Pro already on the market, but there are a few things that I wish seeing 3rd party accessories maker addressing:

• Different light seal designs!! In my case, I find the Apple light seal one of the major contributing factors to my face pressure. The 21W puts way too much pressures to my cheekbone due to its shape. The 33W is a lot more comfortable to me, but I loath the noticeably reduced FOV. Open face design is cool but it is not great for immersive content. I would like a thinner and less assuming facial interface all together.
• There are quite a lot of head strap mods already out there. However, I would like to see one with higher quality build, easy switch between open and closed facial mode, and one that works well with the Solo knit. I find myself, quite surprisingly, loving the Solo knit for its comfort and the dial design.

I naturally fell into babysitting around the age of 14. Through friends and family, I got leads for babysitting to score some cash, which definitely beat having to work at a restaurant. The job had its ups and downs, but overall it wasn’t a bad gig at all.
Yet, as many good experiences as I had, they were all eclipsed by one night.
A new family in town talked to my dad at work and it turned out that they needed a babysitter. I happily took the job and found myself watching their 10-year old boy a couple of weeks later. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the family themselves. They were the model citizens of suburban America, complete with the white picket fence and blue shutters. Nothing about their house was strange or even unique. Their son Avery was very mild-mannered and polite. Even their car was basic. Not that these were bad things, but I expected it to be a very boring night.
What I did not expect was the uncomfortable, inexplicable feeling that I got when I set foot in the house. A chill ran through me, but there was no draft. I rubbed my arms as I gazed at their staircase as we passed. They gave me a brief tour of the house before they left a note of instructions and all the usual information I expected from a job.
While trying to figure out what was making me so uneasy about the place, I noticed something about their basement door when I passed it. A padlock was placed on the door, along with a deadbolt in place.
"Any questions?” The father asked as my mind was pulled out of my curiosity.
"No, sir. Everything looks great!”
So they left and Avery and I played some games before I made dinner. A couple of times, I thought I heard Avery call me into the den. Both times, I found him sitting on the couch in what most recognize as the TV-zombie state. He denied having called me, and I went back to making dinner. After the third time, I told Avery it wasn’t funny and that he should stop.
“I’m not doing anything, I’m just watching TV!”
His voice went to that higher tone of pleading, sounding desperate for me to believe him.
“Avery, I know it’s my first time and sometimes you wanna test things out, but I’m trying to get dinner ready so if you call me again, I’m not checking on you, okay?”
“I didn't say anything.”
The child glared at the TV with a pouting face, and I began to feel bad. As many times as I’ve heard lies, I was starting to sense that he was telling the truth. So what was I hearing?
“Hey, it’s fine. I’m not mad. Promise.”
Avery turned his head back towards me, seeming to test if I was the one fibbing now.
“How about I let you stay up a little later if we forget about it?”
“Do you really promise?”
“Pinky promise.”
With our contractual pinkies interlocked, spirits were raised again and I was able to finish dinner. Although I didn’t finish without hearing Avery’s voice calling me once more. I ignored it, and when Avery didn’t mention it at dinner I figured it was him fooling around again. The whole time we chatted as we ate, I couldn’t help but feel that something was not right about this house.
As hard as I tried to not look, my eyes kept diverting to the heavy padlock and chain on the basement door. Curiosity got the best of me and as we were cleaning up, I couldn’t help but ask.
“So Avery, what’s the deal with the basement door?”
“What do you mean?”
His words did not match his demeanor. It was obvious he didn’t make eye contact as he forced his sentence out.
“C’mon, you know what I mean. The padlock, chain, and deadbolt. Y’all have dangerous chemicals down there?”
Avery’s face grew paler and he stared at the wall for a moment.
“Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me. I didn’t mean to…”
“Dad said no one can talk about it anymore.”
This really threw me off, and I couldn’t possibly finish my sentence now. A thick veil of tension materialized between us.
“So you…you guys aren’t allowed to talk about it?”
Avery shook his head.
“Ah, okay. That’s cool. No big deal.”
It was nothing but a big deal.
Was their dad doing something illegal down there? Or was it something strange that no one could do anything about it? Maybe their dad was in denial about something going on. There were waaaaaay too many questions going through my head now.
“Hey, how about we put on a movie?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“What am I saying? Everyone likes movies, right?!”
Now excited, we decided on a fun movie that quickly pulled our minds away from the mysterious basement door. Well, that’s not entirely true. Maybe Avery was distracted, but it was killing me. As we ate popcorn, I couldn’t help but watch Avery, wondering what was going on in that little head of his.
Was there something awful going on in the house and there was nothing I could do to stop it? Or maybe the dad was just…
“Stop,” I told myself inwardly.
Mulling over it all endlessly was not doing myself any favors.
So the movie ended, and I ushered the drifting child to his bed. Now, the house was all to myself until twelve, so I had a good three and a half hours to myself. Immediately, I began texting my friend to tell her all about the weird experience I was having that night. She dismissed it, saying that I was getting spooked by a new place. This annoyed me to no end. I’d been at bigger, way creepier-looking houses but never got weird vibes like this.
Then…I heard it.
“Stephanie…..”
I went instantly still and listened intently.
“You didn’t hear that, Steph. Just keep texting your friend and…”
“Stephanieeeee…”
There was no mistaking it this time. It was definitely coming from the basement.
The acoustics couldn’t have been from Avery upstairs. The voice sounded like a little girl’s. In fact, I’m not even sure he could make his voice like that, anyway.
Slowly, I stood up from the couch and approached the door. Maybe like earlier, I was just hearing things. Maybe being creeped out by the house was starting to mess with my head. That made sense…right?
“Stephanie?”
I jumped back from the door, almost wetting myself in the process. There was no way I could dismiss it as anything else now. There was a little girl’s voice coming from the basement.
“H-hello?” I responded.
I couldn’t keep my voice from shaking.
“Is this Stephanie?”
“Y-yes, it’s Stephanie.”
“Can you help me?”
“Who are you? Why are you locked in the basement?”
“My name is Meredith Rosenberg. They’re kept me locked up for a long time now. The police were almost on to them and that’s why they moved. Can you get me out?”
A cold shock washed over me and made it hard to respond. Was I actually babysitting for a family that kept a little girl prisoner?
“Oh my God…um….how long have you been locked up with them?”
“Ever since I can remember.”
I felt somehow hot and cold at the same time, and wanted to throw up. This all made sense now with what Avery had told me. Of course his father didn’t want him talking about the door…
“I just need to find the keys and I can…”
“They’re hidden in the garage underneath the metal shelf. It’s inside a magnetic key holder.”
“Okay, just hold tight.”
In a panic to free the poor girl, I darted into the garage and began feeling the space underneath the bottom shelf and sure enough, there was a magnetic key holder there. Running back, I popped the key holder open and began to insert the key into the padlock.
“Did you find it?”
“Yes, sweetie. I’m almost there!”
“Oh, please hurry! Sometimes they come home early!”
This sent me into even more of a rush, and I barely managed to fumble the key into the padlock. I finally heard the successful click of the padlock, pulled the chain off, and slid the deadbolt to the right.
“I’m coming, Meredith. Hold on!”
I turned the doorknob and threw open the door, only to be met with darkness. Now full of adrenaline, my hands felt around for the light switch. Finally finding my purchase, I flicked the light on which lit up most of the stairs.
“Meredith?” I called out.
Unless I was remembering it wrong, it sounded like her voice was just on the other side of the door a minute ago. In fact, it was quite strange that she wasn’t waiting for me at the top of the stairs. Wouldn’t you immediately run out of a basement that you were locked in for God knows how long?
“I’m down here!” The little girl’s voice called out.
Judging from the distance, it sounded like she was calling from somewhere at the bottom of the stairs. My brain suddenly began piecing all the details of this interaction together and the idea of going down into the basement became absolutely terrifying.
“Meredith, you can come up now! The door’s open!”
I couldn’t hide the tremor in my voice. Why I was scared of a little girl was beyond me, but much like the house itself, something felt very wrong here.
“I hurt my leg, owww! When you said you were getting the key, I went back down to get some of my things and got hurt. Ahhh….”
Her sounds of pain filled me with sorrow, but an invisible force was holding me back from taking another step into that basement.
“Can you move? Maybe pull yourself up on the railing?”
“I can’t! It hurts too bad!”
“Okay, sweetie umm…”
“What’s wrong? Won’t you help me?”
“I-I it’s just…really dark down there and…and I don’t want to get hurt too. Is there any way you can get to the stairs? Any way at all?”
“I tried to sit up, but my shoulder hurts too much.”
“I thought you said your leg got hurt?”
The words hung in the air like a noose. It was only after I said it that I realized there was several things seriously wrong about all of this. A question popped into my head I didn’t even have time to think about until now.
How did she know where the padlock key was?
A deathly silence took up the space between me and wherever this girl was. It was a standoff, and I couldn’t think of anything else to say. There were questions I could ask her to figure out what was happening, but I felt that her answers weren’t going to be honest. Perhaps at this point, the truth was too frightful to know.
"Meredith? Are you still there?"
It was a stupid question, but it was the only thing my mind could conjure. The additional silence only unnerved me, so I decided to try and get a better look. Fishing my phone out of my pocket, I clicked on the flashlight. It didn’t do me any good because of the awful range, so I did the one thing I’d already told myself not to do…
I took a step forward...
Maybe it was the angle of the stairs or the lighting, but that one step gave me more information than I ever wanted to know. I caught a better view of the bottom step, which was essentially a ledge into a black abyss. Something looked different on this step, but it took a second to register what it was.
The step was wet, a pool of some unknown liquid overflowing into the darkness of the basement. I knew for sure that the father hadn’t mentioned any flooding so it would be way too random for that. So I stood there, watching in frozen curiosity as the puddle then suddenly rippled…and I realized the abominable truth.
It wasn’t water.
It was a puddle of saliva…and something was drooling into it from the dark.
A wretched chuckle emanated from the horrid void beyond the step, and it cemented me even further into place. It was a wet chortle, and positively evil.
“How did you like my voices?” The thing said from the dark. “I’ve been practicing."
The epiphany creeped down my spine…it was now talking in Avery’s voice. Everything in my body screamed at me to run. I heard the screams but I couldn’t respond no matter how hard I tried.
"A pity though…almost got you."
At this, the most gruesome face peeled back the shadows and revealed itself, along with its unearthly mandibles and small fountain of saliva. My faculties finally came to and I threw myself into the house and kicked the door closed. In mere seconds, I had the door bolted and chained. Leaning against the door, my chest heaved as I struggled to catch my breath.
Just as I felt I was safe, the door shuddered as a terrible blow rocked it. I screamed and ran upstairs to grab Avery.
I practically dragged the poor kid out the door and called the police. It wasn’t until the operator came on that I realized I was about to report a monster in the house. Thinking quickly, I told them that I heard a burglar in the home.
It wasn’t long before the police and Avery’s parents came home. Nothing was found, even in the basement, but I didn’t even care at that point. I just wanted the hell out of that house and away from whatever that….thing was. Avery’s parents kept glancing at me funny the whole time, probably because they knew I had their basement key. I shoved it into their hands before I hugged Avery and got into my car to drive home. That poor kid has to live in that house with that thing, but there was nothing I could do about it.
As long as I am alive, I will never….ever set foot in that house again.
And as for basements go, I can't go into them anymore. I just simply can't...