The second ever hg-engine hack, Mythic Silver, is now live.
Get ready to spam some ubers.
A MASSIVE thank you goes out first to BluRose, Aero, Mixone, Senate, AdAstra, Silast, Drayano, ActiveHenry, Mojo, Brioche, Trinsic, Kenzy, and Cy for all their immense help in creating Mythic Silver, one of the most ambitious NDS hacks ever made. Without their continued help, none of this would have been possible. After nearly a year, and hundreds upon hundreds of development hours, the public beta is finished (the game is 100% finished minus a couple of signature move animations, and minor bugs).
You can download the game's patch and documentation here: DOWNLOAD HERE and the discord server for Mythic Silver and all other sauceyaTTa hacks here: DISCORD SERVER
HG-engine (the gen4 equivalent of CFRU, the "Radical Red engine") allows for previously tedious or impossible features, such as a massive dex expansions only seen in Emerald and FireRed decomps. Pokemon, moves, items, and abilities from generations 1-9 are included in this game for you to use and fight against.
Examples of new features are: automatic trick room battles, randomized leads, custom opponent Pokemon nicknames, enemy shinies, dynamic speed calculations, all 4 terrains, Primal Kyogre and Groudon weathers, gradually scaling hard level caps, trainer gauntlets, custom global warp zone to remove HMs, reusable TMs, Nature Mints, new battle items (Weakness Policy, Eviolite, etc...) as well as hundreds of new generation moves and abilities.
Oh, and a completely brand new region, story, and objective.
Example of a mid-game battle, with functioning electric terrain.
Pokemon Mythic Silver is an enormous overhaul to the Johto region, including a completely new story, with new maps, new sprites, new music (from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Platinum and more), new trainers, new gen Pokemon, and new battle modifiers.
Example of a new area -- Warped Weald, covered by a hazy fog.
Mythic Silver takes place after the events in PMD Explorers of Sky, this time with Darkrai seeking revenge, mangling both time and space from different regions all into one. Blessed by Arceus to encounter the most absurdly strong Pokemon, and partnered with some other familiar faces, the protagonist must journey throughout a new region to put a stop to Darkrai's plans.
Static Encounter with Volcanion in Azalea Industries, Flint's home.
There are many different flavors of maps in this game, from forests to wastelands.
Static encounter in Fleur Forest, the fairy haven.
The player may only obtain Mythical, Legendary, Sub-legendary, and Mega Pokemon. Despite this, there is a large pool of over 150 obtainable Pokemon, making for replayability. All of them have custom battle sprites, ranging from generations 1-9.
A typical encounter.
Throughout the game, you will meet many familiar faces, like the dynamic duo, Flint and Volkner from Sinnoh, who have come to make renovations to some towns. You will also learn more about Team Galactic, and other trainers like Clair, Whitney, Cynthia, Cyrus, Blue, Red, and many more.
Tag battle in the early game for extra items. Lava is animated!
If you've read this far, I highly recommend you try this game, the early beta testers have all really enjoyed it. On a very personal note, I have poured easily 600+ hours into development of this game. Many a night has been spent wondering how I can fit more textures into the game for more maps, how to compress songs so that the game doesn't reach the RAM limit, or even how to animate lava textures (which may have taken 4 hours by itself). I learned so much from other knowledgeable hackers, and made so many friends along the way. I especially enjoyed watching other hackers developing their own hg-engine hacks, such as Dray's Aurora Crystal, and taking inspiration from each other. I had so much fun live streaming map design (which you can watch all my hacking tutorials and development process at www.youtube.com/@sauceyaTTa), and I am going to go into detail at some point this summer to explain how I made certain features.
Mahogany Slum, a brand new area with a little Eternatus friend <3
Dynamic Camera which zooms out when crossing the bridge, thanks to Trifindo and Mikelan's PDSMS and bdhcam routine.
Lastly, I am very very very thankful for those in my discord server who extensively helped in testing, moderating, and keeping me motivated to churn out more features and content. Especially StaraptorOP, who has made numerous calcs, inspired me to continue hacking, and never lets any bugs or QoL features slide. I've been making ROM hacks for 2.5 years now (started December of 2021), and this is my 5th game, which took the longest by far to complete. I hope that you will enjoy playing this as much as I enjoyed writing the story, making the maps, crafting trainers, and re-arranging/porting custom music and sprites.
With much love,
sauceyaTTa

https://www.northumbriangames.com/post/of-orcs-and-ai

Made vs. Created and the Nature of Orcs

J.R.R. Tolkien's stories are deeply rooted in Thomistic metaphysics and Christian theology, where the distinction between "made" and "created" is pivotal. This distinction underscores the nature of goodness, creation, corruption, and the intrinsic limitations of evil. The dichotomy between making and creating is most vividly illustrated through the origins and nature of orcs, the monstrous foot soldiers of Middle-earth's dark lords.

Creation: The Divine Act

In Tolkien's world, true creation, or creatio ex nihilo (creation from nothing), is the exclusive province of Eru Ilúvatar, the supreme deity. This act of creation involves bringing something into existence that possesses the Flame Imperishable (or the Secret Fire), which grants true life, free will, and inherent goodness. Beings created by Eru Ilúvatar, such as the Ainur (angelic beings), elves, and men, are imbued with this divine spark, making them fundamentally good and capable of independent existence and moral choice.
From The Silmarillion:

"Therefore Ilúvatar may not only send forth the Flame Imperishable into the Void, but he may also bestow it to others, who may then sub-create, though only as permitted by Ilúvatar"​​.

Making: The Act of Sub-creation

In contrast, the Valar and other beings can engage in making or sub-creation, which involves shaping or manipulating pre-existing matter. They cannot infuse these creations with the Flame Imperishable. A notable example is Aulë, one of the Valar, who crafted the Dwarves. Initially, these beings were mere automatons, moving only according to Aulë's thoughts. It was only when Eru Ilúvatar chose to bestow them with the Flame Imperishable that the Dwarves gained true life and independence. This story illustrates the fundamental difference between divine creation and sub-creation: the former grants true life and free will, while the latter lacks these essential qualities until blessed by Eru. Tolkien clarifies this distinction in his letters:

"They [the Valar] shared in [the World’s] 'making'—but only on the same terms as we 'make' a work of art or story. The realization of it, the gift to it of a created reality of the same grade as their own, was the act of the One God"​​.

Orcs: The Corruption of Creation

The origin of orcs in Tolkien’s mythos serves as a poignant example of the difference between making and creating. According to various writings, orcs were not created by Morgoth or Sauron but were made by corrupting pre-existing beings. In "The Silmarillion," it is suggested that orcs were originally elves who were captured, tortured, and perverted by Morgoth's malevolent influence. This corruption transformed them into beings of evil, stripped of their original grace and beauty. In Morgoth's Ring we find:

"It became clear in time that undoubted Men could under the domination of Morgoth or his agents in a few generations be reduced almost to the Orc-level of mind and habits; and then they would or could be made to mate with Orcs, producing new breeds, often larger and more cunning. There is no doubt that long afterwards, in the Third Age, Saruman rediscovered this, or learned of it in lore, and in his lust for mastery committed this, his wickedest deed: the interbreeding of Orcs and Men, producing both Men-orcs large and cunning, and Orc-men treacherous and vile."​​.

Tolkien emphasizes that orcs, though rational and capable of independent thought, lack the divine spark of the Flame Imperishable. This absence signifies that while Morgoth could mar and twist the creations of Eru, he could not create life himself. In Flame Imperishable, Tolkien is quoted as saying:

"Treebeard does not say that the Dark Lord 'created' Trolls and Orcs. He says he 'made' them in counterfeit of certain creatures pre-existing. There is, to me, a wide gulf between the two statements"​​.

Essence
Elves: Created with inherent goodness and free will. Their essence is tied to beauty, longevity, and a deep connection to nature and creation.
Men: Created with inherent goodness and free will. Their essence includes mortality, adaptability, and a dynamic nature.
Orcs: Originally, corrupted elves or men, or made from slime and heat, the essence has been radically distorted and corrupted by evil. Their essence now reflects malevolence, subservience, and a perversion of their original nature.
Existence
Elves: Given existence by Eru Ilúvatar, independent and autonomous. Their being is fully realized with a true purpose aligned with their essence.
Men: Given existence by Eru Ilúvatar, independent and autonomous. Their being is dynamic, capable of growth, and change, and is fully realized.
Orcs: Their existence is subjugated to the will of their corrupt masters (Morgoth or Sauron). While they have real, physical existence, it is dependent on the malevolent forces that control them.
Autonomy
Elves: High degree of moral autonomy, capable of making independent choices and pursuing their own paths.
Men: High degree of moral autonomy, capable of making independent choices and pursuing their own paths.
Orcs: Almost entirely controlled by their evil masters, reflecting their corrupted essence and dependent existence.
Connection to Eru
Elves: Directly created by Eru with the Flame Imperishable, giving them true life and free will.
Men: Directly created by Eru with the Flame Imperishable, giving them true life and free will.
Orcs: Not created by Eru but rather made by corrupting pre-existing beings or materials. They lack the Flame Imperishable, highlighting their dependent and perverted nature.
Philosophical Implication
Elves: Represent the ideal of Tolkien's metaphysical and theological views, embodying true creation and the perfect blend of essence and existence.
Men: Embody the dynamic and adaptable nature of true creation with a perfect blend of essence and existence, according to Aquinas's philosophy.
Orcs: Serve as an example of how essence and existence can be corrupted and diminished by evil. Their existence is real but heavily dependent and perverted, lacking true autonomy and the Flame Imperishable.

Philosophical and Theological Implications

The distinction between made and created has profound implications in Tolkien’s universe. It aligns with Christian theology, reflecting the belief in a singular, omnipotent Creator who alone can grant true life. This distinction underscores the inherent limitations of evil: it is parasitic, relying on the corruption of what is good rather than generating new existence.
Orcs epitomize this concept. They are beings made through corruption, reflecting the perversion of creation. Their existence as fundamentally corrupted creatures illustrates the limits of Morgoth’s and Sauron’s power. They can induce suffering and manipulate life, but they cannot originate a true life that burns with the Flame Imperishable. This underscores a central theme in Tolkien’s works: the resilience of good and the ultimate impotence of evil to truly create.

On Artificial Intelligence

This leads us to Artificial Intelligence. Modern large language models (LLMs) and artificial intelligence systems, despite their sophisticated capabilities, are constructs without true volition or understanding. Basically, an LLM is an advanced version of autocomplete. These systems operate on vast datasets and algorithms designed to predict and generate human-like text (or audio or images), but they lack genuine consciousness, intent, and moral agency. Unlike beings created with the divine spark in Tolkien's world, LLMs do not possess free will or intrinsic purpose; they are tools made by humans to process and mimic patterns. Some commentators have even referred to AI as an alien intelligence, a ~shoggoth with a human face~, meaning that while the text may look humanlike, in reality, it originated not from a human but from an unknowable, formless alien process, which is the LLM.

"Well, we're fooled by their fluency, right? We just assume that if a system is fluent in manipulating language, then it has all the characteristics of human intelligence. But that impression is false." --Yann Lecun​​ on the Lex Fridman podcast #416

The outputs of an LLM are determined not by experience, education, and emotion but by the data and programming they receive, reflecting the biases and limitations inherent in their design. This underscores the crucial distinction between artificial constructs and beings endowed with the Flame Imperishable, with true life and volition. Parents, for instance, should think carefully about giving a child unbridled access to an LLM which has no discernible ethics. The AI is a soulless, thoughtless machine built by human researchers, much like an orc is designed by Sauron simply to act as an instrument of his evil desires. The ethical and philosophical results of deploying such constructs into our society is staggering indeed.

The AI is only the Tool of the Maker

Of course, while the analogy between LLMs and Orcs highlights the artificial nature and purpose-driven creation of both, there are clear and fundamental differences in moral intent and potential for ethical use. LLMs are not (as far as we know) inherently evil constructs. They seem to be neutral tools that reflect the intentions of their creators and users. As such, the focus should be on ensuring that AI development and deployment are guided by ethical principles to maximize their benefits and minimize potential harm. That said, as with social media, we may come to regret the technology and wish to fling it back into Mordor's fire.

Conclusion

Tolkien's distinction between made and created is a metaphysical aspect of Middle Earth. It emphasizes the unique power of Eru Ilúvatar's true creation and the corruptive nature of evil. The orcs symbolize this dichotomy, illustrating how evil can distort but not create. This concept resonates in modern large language models and AI systems, which lack genuine consciousness and moral agency despite their advanced capabilities. Orcs and contemporary LLMs demonstrate the ethical implications of using such technologies and serve to enrich the philosophical depth of Tolkien's work.

Warning: this is very long
It’s always been like that for me. For some reason it takes me a LOT longer than my peers to find employment. I often find myself chronically unemployed (even though I have years of experience) for a year or more. To top it off I’m autistic and suffer from severe ADHD with anxiety and depression on top of it.
After I graduated university it took me a year to find a job. Had consistent employment for almost 4 years straight until 2018. During this period I actually had a job lined up before I quit.
Fast forward to 2018. Had a job as a software developer for a well known company (no it’s not FAANG) and they paid pretty well. It was the most money I ever made in my life. Unfortunately things didn’t work out there and the work environment and culture wasn’t for me. I was placed on a team as a new dev and they barely gave me any work. After awhile I hated going to work everyday cause everyone basically just ignored me and I spent most of my time self studying on my own. I found this job through their autism to work program. Before accepting the job I was told that I’d get support and accommodations with a mentor.
My “mentor” was basically useless. She didn’t do a damn thing and would cancel our one on one meetings half the time. Sometimes she wouldn’t even tell me at the last minute. She just never showed up. All she did was report negative feedback from my manager and provided no solutions or recommendations to improve. I was let go cause they felt like I “needed a lot of hand holding” lol. They barely gave me work to do. I would finish my assignments in a day or two max. They made some other bullshit complaints too. I showed up on time and did what I had to do every time. It was awful. I was far far away from home and lived out of state at the time also.
Lost my apartment and had to move back home with my family. Long term unemployment stint #1 begins here (if you don’t count how long it took me to find my first job you can say 2)
Fast forward to September 2019 and a friend recommended me a job as a software developer and I finally moved out again. I taught myself HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP to the best of my ability. I was not only learning on the job but maintained their website, ran chron jobs, and troubleshooted issues with site functionality and even the web server. I was literally a one man show. To top it off I was working for $15/hour. To top it off my boss was a prick and would sometimes short my coworker and I money on our checks. My coworker handled all the marketing and promotion. I handled everything related to the website.
Fast forward to June 2020. Of the two of us unfortunately I was the one laid off for whatever reason. My boss just called me and said that they’re laying me off right in the middle of COVID. Since I wasn’t working I could no longer afford rent so I had to move back home. I became super depressed and it took me a little over a year to find a job.
Fast forward to August 2021 and I found a job at a call center. Ended up getting fired and it was my fault sadly. I got fired for yelling and hanging up on a customer. That day I was in a really bad mood and the person on the other line started cursing me out and getting real disrespectful with me. I was happy to be fired. Worked there for only two weeks.
Four months later in December 2021 I landed a job that was closer to home but another shitty call center. Surprisingly I lasted there a year and a half. My mental health was already in the toilet and I was doing everything I could to hold onto this job for dear life. So I sucked it up until I found another job. I wanted to get out that call center so badly since it was nothing but micromanagement and back to back calls.
June 2023 rolls around and I finally started my job in desktop support as a contractor. Offer letter said 6 month contract then when I read it found out it was a 3 month contract to hire and also found out that they shorted me a dollar on the agreed pay rate. I asked for $30/hour and they agreed to it only to find out they changed things last minute. Spoke to the recruiter about the discrepancies and was told that’s the best they can do so I said screw it and took it.
My recruiter told me that they would “definitely” be converting me at the end of the three months but sadly that never happened. I showed up on time everyday and did a good job according to my manager and everyone else (so they said). I even got good reviews from a number of clients I worked with. About two months in I noticed things began to go south. Had a small disagreement and misunderstanding with my manager on a ticket she said I messed up on for whatever reason. Long story short she said the ticket was urgent when nowhere on the ticket said there was a deadline and she made a huge stink about it. Not only did I receive few tickets to begin with but I had to share the one or two tickets I had with a bunch of interns so I barely had anything to do. My other coworkers had more tickets than me yet would rarely put the interns with them. It was always with me which in my head made no sense. I get a call from the recruiter saying that they’re ending my contract early. I asked why and they said it was due to “performance reasons”. At that point I had two weeks left. I worked one of those weeks then one morning left the building during a meltdown. Left my badge, laptop and all their property on the desk and didn’t say a word to anyone. Been looking for work ever since. Sent out hundreds of resumes and so far only had 2 interviews which led to nothing despite both of them saying I did well and they liked me.
Hundreds of applications later and here I am with no job. I’m still looking for work and decided to also start a small business in the meantime. I started a month ago and only had 2 clients so far. Still no luck with applications. I’m 35 now and had to move back home during the pandemic and been here ever since after living on my own for years.
I’m very thankful and grateful for my mother. She’s the only reason why I’m not homeless. Everyday I think about suicide and I’m reaching a point where I might actually go through with it.
I’ve always been behind in life and feel like I progress slower than my peers. Deleted my social media cause I found myself comparing myself to my former classmates and friends achieving the things I tried so hard for and failed miserably.
I also suck at everything I do. After 1300 hours in valorant I only peaked at Gold 2. I’m the worst in my friend group like with every video game and sport. At one point I even paid for a few Valorant coaching lessons which IMO didn’t think were that great. I was always picked last in gym class. At my first job I was the last one to receive an offer to convert full time and the people that joined way after surpassed me despite having good metrics and being top of the leaderboard several times for several weeks.
Honestly at this point I’m ready to give up on life. Feels like I was destined to be a failure. I always felt like my efforts don’t pay off for anything. I failed my career. I failed in dating. I failed in my hobbies. Now I know you shouldn’t compare yourself to others but when I’m the only one I know of in my situation it’s damn near impossible not to. I’m not gonna act like I have the worst life ever but I don’t know of ANYONE my age struggling like this.
Every time I think I’m building momentum some bullshit always happens and every time it feels like I’m knocked back to square one. Feels like building a house that’s in a tornado zone only for my foundation to be knocked to pieces every time and cant afford to move.
I’m just frustrated with life and everything at this point. I hate everything about myself and seriously can’t wait to die. I’d pay someone to kill me. I’m crying while writing this thesis paper of a post. Maybe there’s something very wrong with me. I think I’m slow and stupid. Maybe even borderline retarded. I’m the failure of all failures. Nothing but a talentless garbage can loser bum.
Don’t know what to do. I don’t wanna go back to the hospital but I may have to. Thanks for reading my rant. I needed to get this out since I have no one to talk to.

🌸✨ Join Our Cozy, Immersive Modded Minecraft Server! ✨🌸
Hello Minecraft Enthusiasts!
Are you ready to dive into a beautifully enhanced Minecraft world with your friends? We're thrilled to announce our new modded server that's all about creating a cute, cozy, and immersive experience! Here's what you can expect:
🌍 World Generation & Mobs: - Alex's Caves: Explore stunning new cave systems. - Alex's Mobs: Discover a variety of adorable new animals. - Better Dogs x Doggy Talents: Train and adventure with your furry friends. - Fireflies: Light up the night with charming fireflies. - Bok's Butterflies: Enjoy the beauty of colorful butterflies. - Better Villages: Experience enhanced and detailed village life. - Monsters and Girls: Encounter whimsical new mobs. - Tans Huge Trees: Marvel at towering, majestic trees. - Terralith: Explore diverse and unique terrains.
🏗️ Building & Engineering: - Create: Craft intricate machinery and automation systems. - Create Crafts + Additions: Expand your building possibilities. - Create Big Cannons: Build and use massive cannons. - Ars Creo: Blend magic and engineering in your builds. - Create Ender Transmission: Teleport items and fluids across distances. - Macaw's Building Series: Add elegant and detailed structures. - Valkyrien Skies: Construct and fly custom airships. - Eureka: Innovate with new building mechanics. - Immersive Aircraft: Take to the skies with realistic aircraft. - Iron Jetpacks: Fly with customizable jetpacks.
🍲 Immersion, QoL, and Simulation: - Let's Do Bakery: Bake delightful treats with friends. - Let's Do Brewery: Brew various beverages and enjoy them together. - Let's Do Vinery: Ferment and create fine wines. - Let's Do Candlelight: Illuminate your world with cozy candles. - Blackwing Survival: Enhance your survival experience with realistic mechanics. - Exposure: Manage your body temperature in different environments. - Farmers Delight: Cultivate and cook a wide range of foods. - First Aid: Manage your health with detailed injury and healing mechanics. - Friends and Foes: Improve interactions with new friendly and enemy mobs. - Guard Villagers: Protect your villagers with trained guards. - Golems are Friends Not Fodder: Befriend and utilize golems. - Immersive Melodies: Fill your world with beautiful music. - Immersive Paintings: Decorate with stunning artworks. - Inventory Sorter: Organize your inventory with ease. - JEI: Simplify crafting with Just Enough Items. - Jade: Get detailed information about blocks and items. - Luck's Tough as Nails Compat: Enhance survival with realistic needs. - Macaw Building Series: Add a touch of elegance to your structures. - Nutritional Balance: Maintain a balanced diet for better health. - Sit & Chill: Relax and take a break with friends. - Sophisticated Backpacks: Carry your items with stylish, functional backpacks. - Villager Workers: Employ villagers for various tasks. - Waystones: Travel quickly with waystones. - Xaero's Minimap: Navigate easily with a detailed minimap.
🔮 Magic, Combat, and Adventure: - Ars Nouveau: Master powerful spells and magical crafting. - Ars Creo: Combine magic with engineering. - L_ender's Cataclysm: Face thrilling challenges and bosses. - Better Combat: Experience enhanced combat mechanics. - Black Powder Weapons/Guns: Equip a variety of firearms. - Cave Dweller Reimagined: Encounter new and dangerous cave-dwelling creatures. - Create Big Cannons: Use massive cannons in combat. - Divine Weaponry: Wield legendary and powerful weapons. - First Aid: Manage combat injuries with detailed healing mechanics. - Guard Villagers: Protect your village with skilled guards. - Ice and Fire: Dragons: Tame and battle fearsome dragons. - Monsters and Girls: Engage with whimsical and charming new mobs. - Old Guns Mod: Use historical firearms in your adventures. - Simple Weapons for Better Combat: Access a variety of new weapons. - Wizards Reborn: Embark on epic quests as a powerful wizard.
Currently spawn is set in Hey. Cherry tree bottom on top of a mountain with a village and everybody is working to build a Beautiful community in this beautiful setting. Feel free to join the community and contribute or seek your own adventure and write your new story!
Come join us and create unforgettable memories in a world filled with wonder, adventure, and cozy moments.
Whether you're building intricate machines, cooking delicious meals, or exploring enchanted lands, there's something for everyone to enjoy
Comment or dm if you'd like to join!
We can't wait to see you in-game! Let's make Minecraft magic together! 🌟
Happy crafting! 🏡🧙‍♀️🛠️

OP-https://www.reddit.com/WritingPrompts/s/Gnc74v6EBj
.
Andy watched the streets from his apartment window with bright eyes; The music was alive.
Brass instruments trumpeted into the night sky; people bustled every which way and singers sang the rhythmic tunes of the blues on every corner. The honey notes of jazz rose and fell and seemed to hang on the breeze, making each breath intoxicating. It was like the music itself entered into the bodies of each person in the crowd and began forcing its way out in strange, swinging movements until it took shape. Then, it flowed through their limbs as smoothly as running water.
Alex began to nod his head a little. It was as if the sound itself was a living thing and had crawled into him as well; the bass drums thud, thud, thudding against his ears and his heart rate slowing to match the pace.
Performers walked up and down the sidewalks, some on unicycles or stilts, others breathing fire and juggling thin silver hoops, and everyone was dancing. It looked like the damn Mardi Gras.
Andy looked down and realized he’d been slowly tapping his leg as well. Then his body became restless. He had to get up and move, and the movements came out jerky and spazzy at first, but quickly gained fluidity. He danced alone in his apartment, swinging his arms and twirling circles over the floor. He danced all the way to the door, but just as he grabbed the handle he stopped.
The television blinked white and an alarm began barking a hateful and continuous “BZZRT” noise.
For a moment it broke the spell, and he had stopped moving. He watched the TV as the letters C.D.C. dawned over the screen. An automated voice began to speak in a deep and monotonous tone, “A state of emergency has been declared over the states that follow: Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Georgia. There is a deadly virus that has become airborne; the most prominent symptoms are vivid audio hallucinations, and uncontrollable restlessness. We ask all of you to stay indoors while authorities handle the situation.”
Andy stood motionless as the words disappeared, and the alarm whirred back up into its “BZZRT” noises. He thought of the people in the streets, of the jazz and the rhythmic tunes that had hypnotized him just moments ago, and—
“BZZRT”
Andy looked back at the TV. The alarm continued to sound and it interrupted each of his thoughts. It came in intervals. There were three seconds between each buzz and it sounded over and over and after a few moments it became all he could think about.
“BZZRT…BZZRT…BZZRT”
Andy began to slowly tap his foot in rhythm with the alarm, and its noises began to fade into the sweet sounds that spilled in through the window until they had mingled as one, and that tune that was in Andy’s right leg spread through the rest of his body like a hot fever.
He grabbed the handle of his door and ran to the streets below.
Outside, it was ecstasy. Andy moved like he had never moved before. The lights were incredible, casting yellow glows over everything and shimmering off of bead necklaces and fancy jewelry. Exotic perfumes hung thick in the air along with the sweet smell of sweat, and body odor.
He danced with strangers, spinning and holding random people without a second thought to it. His mind was enveloped in a cloud of golden melody, and his body a bird, soaring through it as high and free as one could possibly be. He wasn’t Andy anymore, in fact, he couldn’t remember his name at all. He was one with the music, and to him, that was okay.
.
A few hours later, Andy was still jiving to the music, only a little more slowly. A few people had dropped from exhaustion, and their faces were stomped bloody by those who still had enough energy to continue.
A wall of armed men wearing hazmat suits approached from the south end of the street, and gunshots began to cut through the night. The snaps of their rifles sounded like someone playing the spoons, so Andy took it as that and danced to its tune as well. He danced all the way up until the moment that the firing squad put a bullet through his hard.
The hot pain of the bullet hole wasn’t surprising, nor was the fact the man shot him in the chest. For some reason, that made perfect sense in Andy’s mind. The only thing that really surprised him in that moment was the fact that he couldn’t move his arms anymore, and soon after he couldn’t move his legs. He sprawled backwards over the asphalt and his vision faded into blackness as he slipped into a honey sea of melodies, never again to be interrupted.
END

I live in Portland Metro Area in Oregon and have been faced with a couple issues from my employer, mostly HR specifically.
Keeping it short as possible while providing enough context..
1st problem -When I got hired (back, as I’ve worked for them before and left on good terms) HR had agreed to hire me back at the rate of $xx.xx and in a couple months they could bump me to my requested $xx.xx She asked if I was okay with that and I agreed with emphasis on as long as that bump up happens in the amount of time she had stated. (I have text proof of this exchange)
Fast forward about 3 months, I send her an email asking her and following up on the bump in pay. A couple more weeks pass and I’ve gotten no response or anything that indicates she even read or acknowledged said email. Suddenly my schedule changes in a manner it never has before.
In the weeks to follow.. now pushing 4-5 months of being employed there.. I wake up one morning to a coworker texting me asking why I’m not on next weeks schedule. Turns out, my HR had fabricated weeks worth of stories to get the store manager to clear her actions and “write me off the schedule” something I’ve seen her do to many employees before (they will not formally fire anyone) So I speak with my hr and store manager and get everything sorted out.. after tons of drama my HR immediately writes me back into the schedule per store managers instructions and I keep my job (which my store manager confirmed they were not going to keep me around by simply writing me off the schedule with no formal termination)
2nd problem -Fast forward to this last month, I request my first sick paid time off day only to be met with my HR telling me in email, that because of my hours (full time 2 weeks, part time 2 weeks) I do not qualify for paid time off.
I sent her screenshots from my states labor laws and disagreed with her statement, screenshots as proof. She apologized and said she would make sure I got my paid time off hours for the requested day.
NOW. My question..
Do I have any legal ground to stand on here if I were to get a lawyer?? Or did correcting her actions throw that out the window if there ever was a possibility?
From what I can read for my states laws, retaliation for asking about wages is considered discrimination.
****Side note for further last minute context: she tried setting up a coworker of mine with her son, and when she saw this coworker and I working well with each other and socializing after work, is also when problems began to arise (around the 3 month mark mentioned above making this all feel very personal)
Edit: 3rd problem, both managers (store and intake) + hr all partake in the associates tip pool that they don’t disclose how much is totaled before split at the end of the week. Everyone knows they help themselves to more than the workers. Every week we get the same set amount no matter if we have a very lucrative day or not (where we could split tips just from that shift and garner more than what we always get at the end of the week)

Links:

• [Hypepost]()
  
• [Signups]()
  
• Rounds:
  
  • Coming soon

obligatory quirky introduction:

Hey there folks, it’s Tad. You may remember me from such threads as funny heavy, rhyme satan, and obama.
I really enjoyed the tournament format of the last AAC, so I'm back again with a similar split tier and a whole new set of maps to run this back.
For those of you who’ve never heard of these kinds of tournaments, here’s the rundown:

• Competitors will submit teams of characters of their choosing and debate them against the submissions of others to determine who would win, using linked scans as evidence of their abilities.
  
• Submitted combatants are balanced against a ‘tiersetter’ character, against whom they must have a plausibly non one-sided matchup and be able to feasibly lose against. The tiersetter is the “measuring stick” for the tournament’s power level.
  
• Winners of each round of debates will be determined by majority vote by a panel of judges factoring in the strength of arguments made and evidence provided both in favour and against the victory of characters.
  

Here’s an example of one of these kinds of debates from a previous tourney.

A Primer For Newcomers:

Transitioning to strict evidence-based GDT format VS Debates has been tricky for new arrivals from informal battle boarding subcultures. In light of this, I've prepared a quick primer on the conventions you should expect entering this tournament.

How’s This Work?

Submissions:

Signups will begin 3 days after this was posted. They will last about 2 weeks before the signup thread will be locked and the brackets and first round of the tournament will be posted..
To sign up, comment on the signup thread with the two characters you intend to run, a brief justification of why they’re in tier vs the tiersetter characters, and a linked "respect thread" including links to all the scans/feats you intend to use in the debate. The Respectthreads forum has a large pre-existing list of these, but you may draw from any comprehensive equivalent or create one yourself. Vs Battles Wiki pages are not permissible substitutes.
Stipulations are alterations to a characters’ gear, powers, mindset, or sources used. The following are examples of reasonable stips:

• The T-800, wielding a minigun.
  
• Mace Windu, cannot use force-crush on opponents.
  
• X-23, brainwashed and bloodlusted by Trigger 42.
  
• Post-Crisis Batman, only feats from Year One.
  

Certain conditional stipulations are also permissible to allow a character's environmentally limited abilities to function:

• Firelord Ozai, Sozin's Comet is in the sky

Stipulations CAN NOT alter a characters’ stats directly (IE “Nerf strength to tier”) or change them or their loadout in ways that is not reflective of them in their source media (no giving Batman a lightsaber, no arbitrary 'Morals Off' stips without canonical basis).

YOU DO NOT PUT SIGN UPS HERE, HOWEVER, YOU MAY COMMENT TO BE NOTIFIED OF SIGN UPS WHEN AVAILABLE.

Matches:

AAC will follow a debate tournament structure after similar tourneys hosted on /whowouldwin like Great Debate or Arena of Assholes.
Each round of debates will last 5 days, with a minimum of two responses within 48 hours to avoid disqualification and a maximum of three responses per competitor, plus optional closing summaries. Responses can be up to two maximum length reddit posts long, or 20k characters including spaces.
Arguments will be judged with special attention paid to the effective use of linked scans of feats, antifeats, character behaviour, etc. as evidence.

The Tier:

Teleasshole

“Teleasshole” is a split tier consisting of two characters: the frenemy duo of Cable & Deadpool from Marvel Comics. Participants will submit one combatant to each tier character to form a two-person team.

• Cable is a brawler armed with a rapid fire, long ranged heavy weapon that tears apart his enemies' bodies. He supplements his ability to provide fire support, telekinetic ballistic shields as cover, and intuitive telepathic tracking of his opponents.
  
• Deadpool is an agile assassin who fights with unpredictable acrobatics wielding a blade that can cleave through moderate amounts of metal. He has a potent healing factor which allows him to fight recklessly through injuries, and a long ranged teleporter that lets him scout the battlefield and freely reposition with his ally.
  

This tier is designed for characters who can react to bullet to arrow-speed projectiles, bust sizable holes through concrete with exertion, and endure similar impacts.
More than that, this tier is designed for teams that synergize well together in creative, effective, and unpredictable ways.
The two tiers are deliberately asymmetrical, with Deadpool as the more dangerous and mobile melee combatant while Cable is slower and less durable, but offers ranged support and telepathic tracking to enhance Deadpool's effectiveness. This dynamic should be reflective in team composition, with mixed support and offence taken into account.
Characters will be considered for in-tierness both as a 1v1 against either Cable or Deadpool, and as part of a 2v2 team fight alongside their teammate.
[Here are some example picks with explanations of their abilities and matchups against the tiersetters.](tbd)

All debates this tournament will be 2v2 team fights.

The Arenas:

Seven arenas have been chosen for this tournament both to offer a diversity of environments and to encourage strategic thinking about positioning and ambush tactics. As a result, all of the maps are huge and teams spawn kilometres apart.
Picks who might do well in straightforward 1v1s like strong “brick” archetypes may not perform well on these maps without being paired with some form of support utility such as mobility to cross large distance and close on enemies, stealth or fight intelligence to execute ambushes, tracking/super-senses to detect opponents and counter-ambush, and other powers and skills that take advantage or mitigate the environment.
The Arenas Are:

• Vice City, Florida
  
• Waterton Lakes National Park
  
• Moscow Metro, Circa 2033
  
• Malé, Maldives
  
• Pearl Skyscraper, Hong Kong
  
• Isla Nublar, Costa Rica
  
• Mystery Flesh Pit National Park
  

Judge Tryouts:
TBD once I've gotten my practice round with Wolf finished to be judged.

Confused or have any questions? Leave a comment or join the official Character Rant Tournament Discord to write questions, complaints or suggestions for any facet of the tournament!

I don’t really know how to start this post but I felt obligated to write an update after everyone sent me so much love and support. There were a couple of questions I saw were pending when I logged back in so I’ll answer those first.
Jay got a permanent restraining order against my sister. It took some months and a lot more harassment but he does have that now. As for why my sister was lying to get money from our parents, I couldn’t tell you. I don’t know where all the money was going but I’m pretty sure that she lied because she didn’t want them to be disappointed in her.
A lot has happened but to sum up, my sister was arrested for violating the restraining order and breaking into my home. My parents were furious with me after I didn’t help bail her out. They blame me for her getting arrested and getting fired from the three jobs she’s had since my last post. Since then, I have not had any contact with my mom or my sister. My dad called to wish me a happy new year but that’s about it.
Also, I finished my master’s and after countless job applications and rejections, I finally found a job in my field! It’s far away from where I currently live which is a major plus. I’m sad to be leaving my friends but I’m so excited to start this new chapter in my life.
I think overall, I am in a much better place mentally than I was when I first came on to write my post. I intended to use reddit as a tool for journaling but I think that didn’t really work for me, so I’ve found different methods to express and reflect on my feelings and situations. I think I’ll still use my account but probably just for trivial things that will hopefully not get very much attention.

Hello all I was diagnosed with lyme disease last year around june and on medication for a month. I first felt symptoms in febraury with flu like Symptoms and the main issue I still face which is mental fog and a feeling of not always being in the driving seat of my own body. I would constantly throw up which I assume now is from the anxiety of feeling something wrong with my body but not knowing. I did blood test and an mri and even had an endoscopy because I was diagnosed with eoe as a kid. All these came back normal and I just went on feeling awful until we tested for lyme in June. I do not know how long I had lyme but was given treatment for a month and it seemed to help. But as I write this a year later I have one persistent issue which is the brain fog. I still don't always feel present in my daily life and even sometimes my vision just feels dull, I've done my fair share of searching online and have seen the chronic lyme but have also seen how discredited it seems to be. I know symptoms can last years and there's no sure fire cure but not feeling a 100% for over a year now bothers me and creates anxiety in itself which I assume then worsens the feeling. I wanted to post this to see if anyone else has a similar situation or what people thought of it. Thank you for taking the time to read this. BTW I am a 20 year old male that's regular active.

FAIR WARNING THIS WILL BE A WALL OF TEXT
Intro: In a series of reviews that will begin (or return) here; we are going to try and take a critical look at the Chuck series, especially the unfolding of the story as scene through the teleplay. In this case we are assuming multiple things about a potential watcher:

• The watcher is new to the series and does not know about future episodes, but there is an expectation any previous episodes have been watched.
• I will try not to point information out that becomes important for later episodes, though there may be times it's important because of how episodes are filmed and how episodes string together, I will however try and hide these behind a spoiler tag. I say this as a person who has watched Chuck dozens of times, so if I inadvertently spoiler, sorry.
• I will do my best to point out interesting references that are hidden within the Chuck universe, but not at the expense of extended expositions unless in-depth analysis is necessary as it relates to the scene.

What is this all for: This started as a project to improve my critical reviewing skills for a hobby of movie script writing and analysis. Chuck happens to have published 3 original scripts and all the text of every episode has been published to a searchable database. This affords an opportunity to break from my movie writing woes and infinite revisions to just have fun enjoying Chuck and trying to deepen my understanding of the intersection of script writing with filmography and visual editing. Having said this, it should be known I have no affiliation to the show, no additional insider knowledge, and I do not write scripts for a living. So, consequently, feel free to ignore everything I say :). I do hope, however, we can go on this journey together and appreciate the excellence that is a love story called Chuck.
So, don't freak out, and lets get started.
​
Chuck 01x04 (Chuck vs the Wookiee): TEASER - We open with the gang playing "Know Ya!", which isn't actually a real board game, but based on the game Paddles. It's amazing that Morgan can't stand Ellie/Awesome being in love/winning, but marches triumphantly whenever he gets a question correct. I also like we see, in frame, Chuck watching Sarah pick off olives; he's beginning to notice things just like a real spy. The deep sadness and yet storied confliction on Chuck's face when he discovers Peaches 1 and Peaches 2 was great.
For those who don't know about dogs:

• A cocker spaniel is typically smaller; by ~5inches and up to 30lbs lighter than a springer spaniel.
• Springer spaniels also have shorter fur across their bodies, with feathered hair under their chests and legs.
• Only a cocker spaniel will be solid colored
• Springer spaniels have longer muzzles, while cockers have fluffier ears.

I find it very interesting how Sarah has "spidey sense" about potentially being watched. At no point previously did either Sarah nor Casey display this trait and I'm not totally sure how an open window was enough to do this; I wonder if Sarah's comfort being around Chuck's family is causing her to develop a "feeling of being watched" as she is comfortable with the Bartowski's? For those who missed it, Sarah talks about having a sister I think at the time this was just a throw-away line to protect her cover, but in season 5 Sarah does actually have a little sister if you count the little girl she rescues One last thing about Sarah here, when Bryce is being discussed, I really like how it was played where she acts quiet and shocked, but not saying anything. The facial expressions of Yvonne here are really special and you can tell Sarah lives a life of secrets. This is carried outside when Chuck asks Sarah about her relationship with Bryce. She is totally looking down and to the right, a classic indication of an emotional response searching for rationalization (ie. she is clearly lying)
As they end the game and exit to the courtyard, there teleplay of Chuck does something I've been wanting to see forever; they switch perspective to keep both characters in camera and follow them around from a 3rd perspective. We know this is supposed to indicate they are being watched, but I really enjoy getting to see them together reacting and talking instead of the constant close-ups and cuts. Normally Chuck will be shot with something between a medium close up (MCU) and Medium Shot (MS) to emphasize their characters and highlight their faces and expressions. This works really well because Chuck's cameras are typically either shoulder level or hip level based on the operators moving through their space. In many more modern TV shows, the technology of boom cranes and gyroscopic gimbals allows for content to be show from ground level to overhead giving directors the opportunity to tell their story through a variety of shifting profiles. If Chuck were shot today, we would see everything from full body shots all the way to extreme closeups without the need for continual jump-cuts and re-shoots because the technology is there. At least for this episode, it's nice to see the director explore more hip/knee level motion and more cowboy framed shots when having a distant observer perspective. https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/types-of-camera-shots-sizes-in-film/ does a fantastic breakdown of all the different shot type and camera perspectives for you want to read more!
As we transition into Sarah's hotel room, did anyone pick up on how NICE this is? She has double sinks, a king bed, a sitting mirror, free standing tub, and a great view. I doubt any agency in the "real world" would ever spring for something like this for multiple years for one of their agents, it's fancy! Enter Carina, tell me, who saw Sarah fight with a soap sock and think of iCarly and the famous "butter sock". Also during this fight, why is Sarah wearing a golden bikini? I know she is about to get into the shower, but what plausible reason is there for her to a) wear a bikini at all and b) it to be a bright golden yellow?? If you slow this fight scene way down, you will notice Yvonne's strikes actually come close to hitting Mimi as she has had a lot of training, whereas Mimi's strikes are miles from Yvonne and she just over-acts their impact. The most noticeable is the kick into her table, Sarah goes flying back, but we can tell from the angle, Carina missed her by a good 2 ft. This was just some sloppy editing and not getting the camera into position. I give it a pass because you have probably 3 camera operators wearing stabilized camera rigs trying to rotate around a room with 2 girls fighting and they just missed the angle by like 2 feet. I did really like at the end of the fight Carina had the option to go for the gun but instead went for the fish. If you didn't know they were not enemies before, this should have been a big clue! Carina calls Sarah's life in LA boring #1
​
ACT I
​
Carina aka: Maria Elena Argalberdi was born Jun 16, 1978 in Alberdi Argentina with a Buenos Aires passport. Maria Elena is actually the name of a famous song in Mexico and eventually had a movie. This Chuck learns on Flash #1 and is the precursor to meeting the general for the first time. I know I've mentioned this before, but to reiterate; the pictures in Casey's apartment are all wrong; he has photos of Chuck and Morgan that don't happen until season 5 (lost footage) he has a map of Echo Park and Malibu already on display, and he has tactical information for each member of the Buy More (which he has no reason for at this time). It is interesting they talk about an opium cartel in Afghanistan as Afghanistan is known for it's huge poppy fields for heroin drug money.
The NADAN-I-NOOR diamond:

• The Nadan-I-Noor diamond has never been known to be bought or sold and ha only changed owners as a result of theft, conquest, or endowment
• It's listed as having 57 facets + 16 facets on girdle = 73. A facet is comparable with the brilliance of a diamond and is really the flat surfaces of a gemstone arranged in a geometrical pattern. In this case it helps characterize the refraction of light through the diamond interior. The girdle i the outer edge of a diamond surface, having 16 faces is quite large, as the girdle is the largest section of a gem, but also the thinnest when viewed from the side. In this case, having 73 facets puts the Nadan-I-Noor in either the Princess-Cut Diamond or Radiant Cut Diamond category, which are also the most expensive as they have the most possible facets.
• having 4-fold, mirror-image symmetry refers to how the light reflects internally to the diamond and indicates there are no impurities within the crystalline structure.
• interestingly a purity rating is not given, i would expect something like a F or IF (flawless/internally flawless) for a diamond described like this, but one isn't provided.
• the angles of incidence just describe the best way for light to enterefract from the diamond, these numbers are fake, but the metric is real
• there is a lot of sanscript written around the diamond markings, I can't figure out what if anything it means it looks like repeated nonsense
• could be a nod to the Koh-i-noor or "mountain of light" diamond, although this one in Persian is the "fool of light".

We open back to see Carina and Sarah looking at classified files within the restaurant. THIS IS AGAINST THE LAW, you do not look at classified files out in the open and especially not where there are clearly other customers around. Venturing into the BuyMore, there is a monster truck rally on the TV's showing grave digger and reaper, two famous trucks from this time period. Morgan wants to spread his wings and be the fourth wheel to the perpetual 3 wheel party and Sarah, ever the schemer, literally glows when she thinks of the plan to have Carina go on a date with Morgan. I THINK this was just to help maintain their cover, but also maybe Sarah is just needling Carina? If you look in the back of the store when Chuck is talking to Sarah and Carina, there is a really cool Nerd Herd poster that says "Bringing peace to your computer emergency". "if a yawn could yawn" is Carina calling Sarah's job boring #2. One thing I really like with the double data is the way the camera jumps between the couples: boy/girl, boy/boy, girl/girl. I think they way they try and keep private conversations via screen time is a really nice, typical, teleplay trick that really works well here. In a "real" environment, everyone could hear everything, but by splitting the camera focus or playing with perspective, the viewer clearly knows "this is a conversation between girls the boys don't hear it". We see Chuck noticing Sarah picking off olives #2 while they watch a movie about penguins: who mate for life, present their love in the form of rocks, and are pack animals. In Chuck's bedroom as he talks to Morgan, Chuck has a box of King Edward Invincible underneath bongos; for those who don't know this is a famous box for mild tobacco cigars. So I wonder what Chuck is up to in his free time :P.
On the Nerd Herd call with Carina, she opens a bottle of wine with a butter knife. This is actually a pretty famous thing that is done all over the world with everything from a key to a saber. In fact they make a specially type of knife with an extra wide blade for this it Italy. I do want to ask the question; is Carina dressed in red lingerie (Chuck's favorite color she stole from Sarah) really necessary for this scene? I know that Carina is all about improvising and she often uses her sexuality to progress her cause (Casey), but I think we could have gotten away with just the top. I can certainly see the rationalization for going this far, but I think as an artistic choice it wasn't necessary. What IS necessary however is to talk about how Chuck's world implodes when Carina tells him about Sarah and Bryce. Also the perfect act transition ending right at Chuck's jaw dropping and the work boyfriend!
​
ACT II
​
I'll say it again, the back an forth with Chuck and Sarah should have been a medium close up, shoulder level straight on shot instead of the constant cuts. Seeing their reaction in real time would have been easier and it would have allowed the Weinerlicious to be maybe 15 ft smaller to not need so many cameramen rotating. "Unless talking to your boyfriend is a matter of national security, the ketchup bottles won't refill themselves". Why yes it IS a mater of national security for Sarah to talk to Chuck... also if any one of us stood up to our boss like Sarah did, I'm pretty sure we'd be fired on the spot!
Malibu is ~2hours for Echo Park with standard LA traffic. Seriously, how do girls in high heels walk down stairs; we see Carina and Sarah walking sideways so there is enough space on each step to fit their shoes. Girls, how do you do that and not fall especially with narrow staircases and 3-6inch heels! Inside the room with the stone there is a bust of Cesare, archenemies, da vinci, and biblical David. There is also some famous paintings the best of which is Vemieer's "young girl with a pearl earring" which is rather appropriate considering it's meaning. There is also a Van Gogh of man in a wheat field and a Monet in one shot too. If ANY of these paintings were real instead of reproductions, they would be worth millions, in fact the young girl with a pearl is estimated at 40million, which is 1.5x the sell value of the Nadan-I-Noor! If we take a look at the engineering drawing of Flash #2 on the pedestal, we would see this design creates a closed circuit around the tongs the diamond rests on; which might explain it's red hue. If a person were to touch the diamond, it would close the circuit on their body allowing the 4000volts to travel through their heart. A person can die with ~20volts, though it's usually more like 50 in most occurrences. 4000volts is enough to kill a herd of elephants and completely overkill for a person. Also the amount of power that would take is more than the city of Malibu... this is to say the trap is real, the numbers are complete nonsense; thinking lightning! Nice shot by Sarah with the plate (there are some great bloopers on this too where she misses badly)! A remote controlled jet ski... i'm not even going to calculate the nonsense for this; it's just total nonsense. Almost as much nonsense as Casey using his phone to track Carina's call. That would take minutes, even with today's technology to back trace like that and way more power than just pushing a button on a razer flip-phone from the 90's!
back at the house, Chuck i playing halo with the legendary skulls as his weapon; this is nice because in the BuyMore at the end of the episode there are dudes dressed as master chief! I really like the changing perspective here with Chuck and Morgan. Chuck's reactions remain in focus while Morgan tells a story behind him, then it switches as Chuck starts to move around until bringing both into focus for the final line "we still have each other and that's really sad". The side cut to Sarah picking locks to the hotel door is classic early 2000's TV and i'm all for it, even if it is super cheezy. BTW as someone who used to lock pick in college, that's .... not how that works, but good try. We get our Flash #3 on the diamond in Morgan's back nuclear explosions. I wonder if the refractive capability of a diamond this pure is enough to focus laser to induce fission or if the value of selling the diamond is enough to buy nuclear material on the black market? Either way, we end the act with... the man with the golden gun!
​
ACT III
​
Chuck uses Sarah's plate move against Carina, nice inter-episode call back; he's clearly watching/learning, but his aim is terrible. This was actually clever as Sarah has perfect aim for she is a professional, while Chuck is still definitely a civilian and has no aptitude for fighting. I really like both these types of simple call backs but also how seemingly throw-away lines/actions help tell the broad story of the show. Chuck talking to Carina also shows Chuck has this weird, innate aptitude to get people to re-evaluate themselves and grow internally. You can watch Carina "grow in real-time. When we get to the hotel and Carina opens her trunk first there are a few glocks, a couple rugers, and a 1911; then she switches to blades and we see some folders, some strait blades, an illegal gravity blade (still illegal today), and a kbar... nice selection! Carina, always the flirt, gives Chuck some very insightful works about the nature of being a spy, but also maybe some way to get through to Sarah.
Inside the hotel we see Carina and Sarah speaking; Carina is speaking Swedish, while Sarah replies in Polish. "Om jag slänger nycklarna till dig, kommer du tappa dem då?" which is Swedish for "If I throw you the keys, will you drop them?" Sarah answered in Polish: "Tylko jak rzucisz jak twoja mamusia", which means "Only if you throw it like your mommy". This is just great!
I want to talk about how fast Chuck managed to find an address for DC, print a label, open a box, put the label on, and get the diamond there all before the door gets broken. Somehow on screen time this is like 10seconds, but in real life this would have to be like 3minutes minimum? Either that door is remarkably strong or... TV magic??
​
ACT IV
​
Even with all the flirting, as we say goodbye to Carina >! for now !< she is still joking with Casey and every the professional. I like how they show when it's "game time" it's all about the job, but spys can be people too! Carina still calls Sarah's life boring #3 (the common trifecta of episode repeats).
Sarah's face when Chuck brings the pizza with no olives is the reason I think Yvonne makes the perfect Sarah. She exudes the hidden beauty needed and has the acting to so such emotion for Chuck being sweet. The whole scene with Chuck and Sarah asking questions, then Chuck backing off, then Sarah acting stoic like she WANTS to open up but doesn't know if she can really trust Chuck, is ready to move on from Bryce, and should for the nature of her job. This was probably the most well acted 20seconds of the entire episode. Finally, we hear Sarah's middle name is Lisa. Now we never officially know if Chuck hears this or not both due to camera focus and distance, it's never officially confirmed in the entire show. When the intersect is updated in season 4 we see Sarah's picture and it lists Lisa as a middle name, so we assume it's official, but it's never confirmed at any point. Finally, I really like how they end the episode with Sarah closing her eyes as the fade to black.
​
Few notes: There are 5 official songs in this episode:

• "Yea Yeah" by Matt and Kim - when the gang is playing board games during group date night. This song is about not worrying about the things you cannot change. Little things that build up and bum you out that you need to just let go.
• "Wild Girl" Matt Pond PA - Chuck and Morgan discussing their relationship problems. This song is about overcoming past struggles and finding hope in the present and future. Describing a sense of resilience and optimism
• "weird science" by does it offend you - Chuck and Carina talk at Peyman' Malibu Compound. This is a remind to break free and embrace individuality and live on your own terms. Be unapologetically ourselves.
• Shy by Mathew Dear - the double date
• "Fall into place" the apartment - the team say's goodby to Carina. Deals with growing up, taking (or not taking) chances. finding oneself in the unpredictability of life. I have to say, we don't actually hear the lyrics to any of these songs during the episode just the melody, but I don't really appreciate the music choices here. I feel like there were better options at key points, so that's a miss from me.
  
• On the DVD for Season One the word Wookiee is spelled incorrectly, leaving off the last E.
  
• "It used to be titled "Chuck Versus the Speedo" because the main bad guy in this show is this dude who wears a Speedo all the time. Then when the casting guy realized he had a good amount -- and by good, I mean healthy, a healthy amount of body hair -- they thought, why not call it "Chuck vs. the Wookiee". So it's this guy who's got this diamond, and we're trying to heist the diamond and all hell breaks loose." ―Zachary Levi quoted by Access Hollywood discussing this episode's title
  

​
I think this was a great episode and really showcased what they can do when additional cast members join the team and when they are not afraid to play with perspective. Mimi as Carina is a great addition to the ensemble and I wish we saw her more, but every time she drops in, it's always a wild episode and it's fantastic. Watching Chuck learn about Sarah and seeing Sarah start to open up is a good way forward and heck Casey had some of the best humor in the episode. Overall, it was fast paced, had some nice character development, as funny in the best way, and moved the main theme along, 8/10.

Secret Dragon - Chapter 2: Ignite
I opened the book and skimmed through a few chapters, happy to finally see some true information, with substance. Although I had many books of my own, I had never brought any of them to class; I had no intention of being asked about them or pressing the issue.
By virtue of my existence, it and I would be scrutinized. I had neither the patience nor the desire for another microscope to be placed above me.
But Sasha had no such reservations even after I told him about the curriculum, although he relented and said he would figure out a way around that nonsense. It seemed as if he was determined to go against the grain.
We spoke deeply, about different subjects, our project, and his books. The more he talked the more at ease he became. I unknowingly got closer and closer to him as the time passed. I had to literally pull myself back a few times. I wondered if he noticed. It was confusing how I kept leaning into the heat coming off his breath.
We were both startled at the sound of chairs scraping. We looked around as our peers gathered their things.
“It seems that for the first time this class is actually worth my time. Usually I am the first to leave,” Sasha said, surprised.
“I know,” I revealed.
“Hmmm,” he vocalized deeply. I had no idea if it was “oh really” or “interesting” or any other answer. It was just a deep throat vibration. I just knew he would do that a lot. I could feel it.
As I was packing my things, I realized I was a little feverish. I put a hand to my cheek. Was it hot? Or was it that he was speaking heat in my direction? I couldn’t tell. I never ran hot.
He watched me touching my face and chuckled to himself, putting away his books. I really wanted to be annoyed—at anyone else I would have been—but his lighthearted laughter surprised me; so joyous after so many weeks of being a specter in the classroom.
I looked him in his eyes, though, and shook my head challengingly at him, as if to say “what?” That only made him laugh out loud. It was both quiet and bassy all at the same time. The kind of laugh that was bottomless, scratchy. The kind of laugh you could tell would boom and shake you if given the space.
I never thought I’d hear that coming from him, let alone directed at me. I refrained from expressing an iota of emotion beyond a small smile. I had to stay cool.
Pam walked over to our table swiftly, no doubt looking to be rid of Jonah. She smiled at Sasha, grinned really.
“So. We finally meet! Pam Swiftwater,” she chirped. Her hand shot out as fast as she walked. Sasha halted his movement. He extended his hand more slowly, gently, engulfing her delicate hands in his large ones.
“Of course. I am Sasha Emberscale,” Sasha said, pulling his hand back to pat his chest.
Pam gave me a knowing glance of drama. “Oh I know who you are,” she said.
“Likewise; you are in my open physical hour,” he reminded her. “You are on the track team.”
“That’s right! It’s nice to finally, officially, meet you.”
Sasha raised his brow at her. “My friend has spoken of you,” he said offhand.
“What friend?” Pam asked, taken aback.
“Seth Fairbreeze, dragon of the wind.”
“Oh?” Pam said, her interest piqued. I didn’t know whether she knew who that was. But it intrigued both of us nonetheless.
“I will introduce you, of course, now that we are properly acquainted.”
“I can’t wait.” I knew she couldn’t.
Pam glanced back at her table and groaned. “Let’s get out of here. If I have to talk to Jonah any longer, I swear Imma strangle him.”
Sasha laughed heartily. “Very well. Let us depart this place to avoid attempted murder,” he joked.
“Why don’t you stick with us? We’re in the same course after this,” I suggested, gathering my items. I didn’t even hesitate asking him that. I’d done enough hesitating.
Sasha’s laugh tapered off into a quiet chuckle. “Of course. I would desire nothing more.”
I couldn’t hide my elation this time. Pam snickered at me. Thankfully he didn’t notice. I assumed.
Sasha draped his jacket across his arm, opting not to put it back on. Admittedly I enjoyed the view. He gestured for us to exit the class before him.
Every once in a while he would look down at me as we walked through the halls. I noticed his eyes following me.
I would sneak a glance at him when he wasn’t looking. It was apparent just how large he was now that I was walking right next to him. He was one of the only people in school taller than me. His shoulders were broad, arms thick. I know I was staring at the way they flexed as he moved. Couldn’t help but to.
Everything in me wanted to take that arm of his for my own. The thought of it being mine just felt so natural. I had to check myself a few times walking beside him.
It would be mine in time. That I promised myself.
—
We entered our Dragontongue class where I took a seat on his right at a table. Pam sat at mine.
Class with Sasha was much more interesting than ever before. He spoke freely and pleasantly, a stark contrast to the silent dragon he had been before I sat at his table in Dragonology. It was like something that had weighed on him had vanished.
I wasn’t unaware that he was happier since we had talked. I was pleased that it was me that had pulled him out of whatever darkness was holding him.
Again a pang of irritation ran through me. Why had I not introduced myself before? Just hearing the depth of his voice and the eloquence of his speech had me feeling some type of way. I could have been hearing that in my ears for weeks, those words of his carried on desert sands.
As class droned on, I saw that Sasha was appraising the professor with a raised brow as if too polite to allow complete disdain across his face.
He began to tell us about different Dragontongue dialects quietly, I suppose to keep himself occupied or distracted. I had to lean all the way in to hear his voice. It reverberated in my ears.
“If you were to say that word in the southern regions of Lyfax, it would mean to place bricks or stones atop each other as if building something. If you said that in the northeastern region, it means much the same, but doubles as a slang word meaning to fu— I am sorry, to have relations with someone.”
Pam squealed and covered her mouth. I covered mine too. I had wanted to hear the word ‘fuck’ come out of his polite mouth.
“Are you serious?” I asked instead.
“Yes, I am,” he said, brow raised. “Take care in who you say it to and in what context.”
Sasha tapped another paragraph “This term here. If you were to say it in the Northernmost tip of the country, it is basically calling someone a piece of filth in the wrong context, while just a few regions down it simply means to clean something without any further colloquial use. Their origins most likely started off with the same meaning and deviated as the people left and settled elsewhere. Knowing different dialects of Dragontongue in Lyfax is important. Linguistics interests me, as you can probably surmise.”
“Do you speak a lot of languages?” Pam asked.
“I occasionally travel for my work and interact with different dignitaries. I must know many languages and dialects at least at a rudimentary level.”
“Oh wow…” I said, truly impressed. Now that I had listened to his voice, I couldn’t place his accent. Unless deep was one. It wasn’t as if I was familiar with Lyfaxians’ manner of speech or various accents anyway. “What do you speak?” I asked
“Hmmmm. Common Lyfaxian. Common Lizardtongue. Dragontongue, of course; several dialects: fire, moon and wind. Many people know these. Shelltongue. Salamandra…one other.”
“Goodness,” I said in awe. I stashed away that “one other.” I’d ask about it later. I couldn’t imagine why it would be a secret. Hypocritically.
“My speech is not perfect in Shelltongue or Salamandra yet. But I can hold a conversation. I would enjoy learning and speaking your dialect of Dragontongue, as you mentioned earlier,” he remarked to me. Of course, Pam regarded me in shock. She gave me a chiding look, rightfully so.
Sasha didn’t miss her reaction. “If it is trouble, do not worry about it,” he said, frowning.
“No, It’s okay,” I reassured him. “I don’t mind.”
He was still uncertain, looking at Pam’s concerned face. “If I am to converse with a new group of dragons, I would prefer to know their dialect,” he whispered. “But not if it is cause for alarm. For some reason.”
Pam sighed in relief upon hearing him refer to me as a dragon. “Oh okay.”
“It’s fine. Complicated. I’ll tell you later,” I said, waving it all away. Sasha nodded.
“So did you all decide on a topic for your assignment?” Pam asked.
“Of course. We spoke much of it. I look forward to working with Leila.” Sasha said. I liked the way he said my name, the way he swung the vowels upward to where they needed to go. As it should be. “It will be interesting,” he said.
Pam glanced over to me. “How so?”
I looked amused, I’m sure. “Let’s say our Dragonology topic is about to be spicy,” I hinted.
“Sasha you’re a horrible influence already,” she accused, raising her brows at him.
“Of course,” he confirmed, chuckling deeply. “One needs a little corruption in the right direction, every once in a while.”
“Corruption? Oh really?” I said, regarding him in what I intended to be mock surprise. But I was genuinely shocked that he said it. He hadn’t corrupted me yet. He could try, but only when I was through with him.
Sasha chuckled silently. Just a trembling of the shoulders. A soft billow of scalding heat wafting across my face. Mmm, maybe sooner then.
Pam’s eyes widened, but she was beyond amused. If she could manifest a snack to observe our rapidly forming dynamic, she would have in a heartbeat.
She sat back, twirling her pencil. I knew she was about to start something. The twitch in the corner of her mouth was working. She was about to instigate her heart out. I groaned quietly.
“You know, Leila speaks all the same languages you do. She’s fluent in Shelltongue even; one of her best friends is Turtlefolk. She works at a place where a lot of people from different places come through. She took it upon herself to learn their languages.”
I groaned more.
“Is that so?” Sasha inquired, angling his body toward me. He sounded impressed.
I just rubbed my brows. I did not advertise my language skills. He looked at me with interest. “That is admirable. Why do you not wish to speak of it?” he asked.
“I don’t like puffing myself up. Drawing attention. Not that you are doing that,” I clarified.
Sasha smiled. “I know what you meant,” he said, speaking Shelltongue. I grinned. “I have been somewhat successful at not drawing attention—past my appearance at least—for a few weeks now.”
“Except your grades of course,” I pointed out in Shelltongue as well. “Literally perfect grades except two, and that’s only because of inaccuracies.”
Sasha raised his brow. “Ah, right, you have been keeping tabs on my marks. Very well; I have been under the radar except for my marks.”
“See? Y’all can speak tongues to each other in every flavor,” Pam said casually.
My mouth dropped. To say my eyes widened would be an understand. I shielded the side of my face.
Sasha choked and laughed quietly, holding his chest.
Never had she been that brazen. And she had said some crazy ass things for as long as I’d know her.
She looked so proud of herself.
“Pam, you are trying to start something, are you not?” Sasha guessed—back in Lizardtongue—looking away in laughter.
“Of course not. I don’t know what you mean,” she said, smirking.
I rubbed my face. “What were we even talking about?”
Sasha spoke as quietly as he could. “Different languages. Dialects. Things of that nature. Tongues, apparently,” he said, leaning toward me.
Really Sasha? I thought. He was something else.
He leaned back again and looked ahead, his smile dimming. “Also, things your professor apparently will not teach,” he said, the scales of his brows beginning to furrow.
“Yeah. It’s frustrating,” I agreed, uncovering my face.
“This class is testing my endurance. To hear my language butchered and be told that the proper way is incorrect is vexing.”
Pam stared at the professor, then at Sasha. “I’m sorry. This class is far beneath how you—and we—speak.”Pam and the rest of the Swiftwater Clan spoke to my family in the True way, the way of Sun Dragons.
Sasha leaned back. “And yet I have no choice but to be here,” he remarked. “And, apparently, neither do you both.”
It was a painful requirement, but a mandatory one. I nodded.
Pam turned back to the front of class. “You must be bored here at this university,” she said.
Sasha rubbed his chin. “Hmmmm,” he rumbled deeply. The vibration of that inquisitive hum made my shoulders tingle. I had to close my eyes and put a hand to my chest to halt my heart’s pounding.
“I was, yes,” he said slowly, “but yesterday was my last day of boredom. Today, the season has changed.” He glanced at me as he said it.
My mouth twitched into a smile. I found his choice of words particularly appealing. Pam looked curiously at him, but said nothing.
Sasha angled his body back toward me. I don’t know if I imagined it, but it felt like his whole existence was radiating heat now. It sent rush through my body.
“Let us return to our ‘lesson’ and pretend to care,” he suggested.
“Sasha,” I laughed, nudging his arm. It was hot to the touch. I was not imagining it.
“What?” he said innocently.
I shook my head at him, incredulous. I had no idea he was so funny. Who would have thought that sullen dragon was full of humor. He relented.
“I will behave myself,” he lied through his fanged teeth, patting his chest.
“Doubtful,” I returned, amused. It was easy to talk to him. Like we were old friends. Sasha was right: Pam had started something.
—
Sasha continued pointing out more language dialect rules and vocabulary from Lyfax. Things we couldn’t have learned on our own.
There were so many regions to learn about. I listened intently as he described them, and asked questions about everything. It was as if he was taking me on a mental tour of those far away places…
Before that day we hadn’t said a word to each other. Hadn’t shaken hands or anything. Whenever we had met eyes, we would quickly look away. I didn’t understand why we had done that. Now here we were hunched over a text book with our heads damn near touching. The heat of his breath warmed my face. It was hotter than earlier that day. Much hotter. No one was close enough to be bothered by it but Pam, and she did not seem to react to it.
And still I kept on gravitating closer. Because of how he had angled his body toward me, my left arm eventually pressed against his right.
My breathing stuttered, being in such close proximity to him. And I knew he felt it. He had to have felt it. Because I felt him tremble.
And there it was again! That strange rumble emanating from him, from his throat, I could now tell. Now that I was touching him, it was amplified, coursing through me. I tried to pinpoint its essence. It was very much like a growl, the crackling of a fire. And a hum; it reminded me of the way he responded to things without words. Hmmm.
All of it together was a magnetic song. I couldn’t help but listen. Let it lull me into a dream.
I wandered from the lesson for a moment to imagine what it would be like to just feel all of it pressed up against my chest. To embrace him and the heat he radiated.
I wanted to feel his fire whipping around me, not just the heat off him. To embrace a cascade of his flames. washing over me, engulfing me fully.
What would kissing Sasha be like? By the Goddess, the thought of drinking his fire until the persistent ice inside me melted was too tantalizing. If only I could just taste his breath inside my mouth… I wanted to look into his throat where I knew a flickering flame lie in wait. To explore it. Mmm.
It was like some deep ancestral memory was awakening. My breathing grew heavier. I swear to the goddess I heard his breath do the same. Except his breathing was punctuated by the rumbling crackle right under it. I knew he was in the same place I was.
I had to close my eyes and turn my head away from the heat coming off the words from his mouth. Because if I didn’t I would do something about it in that classroom—
“Leila?”
I emerged from my other world, his voice having shaken me from my daydream. I looked back to him.
“Class is over,” he rumbled into my ear quietly, the hotness washing over my neck and face. I rubbed those intense thoughts from my brows but they lingered everywhere else. I inhaled deeply and set about gathering my stuff. My hands shook.
Something hot brushed down my arm as he got up to gather his things. I looked down to see his claw drifting away from it. I thought it was an accident until he glanced at me. He smiled faintly though his brows were intense.
“Let us go,” he said gently, nodding toward the door.
“Okay,” I said, my eyebrow raising in interest. I slipped my bag over my shoulder. When he turned toward the door, I touched the trail of burning scales where he’d run his finger. When I say I could not breathe… I covered my mouth, then just rubbed my face with both hands. I didn’t know what to do. Mercy.
Looking around, my peers were also preparing to leave, so I composed myself the best I could and followed Sasha through the doorway.
—-
Dragontongue had been our last class of the day—”wow, you want that Dragontongue real bad huh?”Pam said— and it was time for us to part ways.
She chatted with Sasha, and I examined him while he was distracted.
I followed his gestures and mannerisms, wondering how he could weave such a spell over me that day. My behavior and my carefully curated facade were usually well under my control, perfected to give nothing away but pleasantness. But this dragon…
What I thought had been a perfect program was utterly interrupted. And the funny thing was, I wasn’t even mad at it. It was a break from the rigidity and monotony of my endless time at school. A break from my own reluctance to invite unknowns to myself, even those I desired. Like him.
For the first time in my life I thought ‘this is what the Sun must feel like to everyone else.’
From the moment I knew myself, my body had been cold. It was a point of contention between me, my parents and my Clan, all the Sun Clans. My mother was literally the leader of the Sun Dragons. And we, Sunscales, were Prime. Named directly after the Goddess.
People thought I was sickly. Anemic they called me. Even worse, some thought I was cursed. Most thought I wasn’t fit to be a leader in the future.
I did not let it stop me. I aimed for absolute perfection to stave off any doubt. Even at the expense of my own happiness sometimes.
My cold scales did not bother me. Although, at times, I wondered if I would be that way forever.
But now, I had felt Sasha’s warmth. This dragon had actually apologized in our first class for giving me the heat I never felt outside of putting my whole hand in a woodfire. It lingered in my scales as if they had drank it. They had awakened from a cold slumber.
I couldn’t go back.
I touched my arm that had been pressed against his, where his claw had grazed. Still hot to the touch. In fact everywhere he had breathed on, been near or looked at blazed. He had touched other things, shook hands with peers, finally, spoken to Pam, and none reacted as if he was exuding endless fire. Just me. Just for me.
“It has been a good day. You two have been so welcoming,” he said graciously. I was broken from my musings, realizing he was leaving. “I hope we continue to be friends during my time here.”
“For sure,” I said without hesitation, a little breathlessly. I didn’t want him to leave. He smiled warmly at me, almost in relief.
Pam smiled too. “Same,” she said. She began to rummage in her bag.
“It was nice to finally meet you,” he said softly to me. He put his hand out. I took it in mine. It was even hotter than before, unless I imagined it. I again put my other hand on top of his as if taking the warmth from it, to hold till later.
I don’t know what possessed me, but I let my thumb slide over the scales on the back of his hand. I didn’t even realize at first. But then I looked up and noticed Sasha was staring at me with his brow raised.
Gods, I could have died right there. Melted right into the floor and fallen into the void.
I almost pulled my hand in embarrassment, but he did not seem startled or upset. Instead Sasha placed his other hand atop mine. His face became intense for a moment, then softened. It seemed that neither of us wanted to let go. We did, though. The moment was brief, but it held much.
Pam, who had glanced up at us, had a barely concealed grin spreading over her face. She broke the spell that had drifted over us.
“Thank you for teaching us all that extra stuff about different dialects. I especially like that ridiculous word with the bricks,” she said, breaking the tense air.
Sasha shook his head as if clearing it. “Of course. I thought you might find that one amusing,” he said. He glanced at his phone, which had vibrated.
“You can lay your bricks on me anytime,” I mumbled to myself, still feeling the heaviness of that moment in my chest. I couldn’t help myself, saying that. I knew good and well it was provocative. I knew he might hear me. My mouth simply didn’t care. It was going to get me in trouble, I just knew it. I stared at my hand in wonder. It felt like fire had spread over it. What was he doing to me? Did he even realize that he was doing something? It didn’t seem like it.
In that same vein, Sasha didn’t say anything; he hadn’t been paying attention, I thought. Probably for the best. But then I heard him say something under his breath.
“Wow,” he whispered, silently laughing. I looked up at him. He covered his eyes, his shoulders shaking.
“Oh shit,” I said, covering my eyes as well.
Pam looked up. “What?” she asked, startled.
Sasha tried his best to keep a straight face, but it was impossible. He just laughed aloud then, a laugh that shook me to the core.
“Shut up,” I said, also laughing. I shielded my face in my hand as if I could hide from the embarrassment.
“I have said nothing,” he pointed out, his hands up.
“Please, please, let’s pretend I didn’t just say that shit,” I pleaded with him.
Pam’s eyes widened. “Oh my gods, what?”
“I will not say, Pam, yet I will never forget it,” Sasha said, smiling widely.
“What?” I replied, shocked.
“I will never forget it,” he repeated.
“By the Goddess Sasha. Are you serious?”
Sasha rubbed his eyes, still chuckling occasionally. “I am. Would you, if you were in my position?”
“Oh my gods,” I said weakly, still covering the side of my face.
Sasha patted his hand on his chest. “Gods, truly I needed today, desperately. It is no trouble to me, that you have said this. Certainly not. Unfortunately, I have a meeting to attend to, but we will discuss this permanent memory later, Leila Sunscale,” he said.
“Yeah, I bet,” I groaned, my voice shakey. I covered my face more. I was out of my mind, surely.
I heard Sasha begin to walk away, but his footsteps slowed. He hesitated, I guessed.
“Leila, do you have plans today?" he asked.
I looked up. He was looking at me expectantly. I couldn’t even say anything. I was still reeling from my ridiculous blunder. Now he wanted to see me! “What? I… umm—“
“No she doesn’t have plans,” Pam spoke up. Bless her.
Sasha smiled. “Perhaps we can speak of our project. I will find you later this evening as long as you are outside. I apologize for my abrupt departure but I must go.”
“Okay, cool,” I said. I rubbed my forehead.
He walked to the exit and looked back at me. “Perhaps we can build something later; I am not a bad mason, Leila Sunscale,” he said, chin raised. My mouth dropped. This dragon…
He let out a deep laugh and left. I watched him disappear through the doors of the hall, then followed him out. I saw a flash of red turn a corner into another building, vanishing from my sight.
"No he didn’t," I said in disbelief. "Did you hear what he just said?" I asked incredulously, gesturing toward his exit.
“What the hells did you say Leila?”
“I may have said a little something about bricks under my breath but his ass heard me. My gods.”
“Are you serious? Girrrrl," Pam said, shaking her head. “The gall on you.”
"Why did I say that? I must be crazy." I placed my hand over my forehead. Hot.
"I mean, he liked it," Pam said. "He thought it was funny. See, no harm done. If anything it sounds like Sasha has some business with you Leila," she teased.
I rubbed my face. I couldn't believe that I had run my mouth like that. In the other hand, I was pleased to have been so reckless. It had led me down this path. My scales prickled despite my embarrassment. Why should I feel bad now? He took my accidental flirtations as an invitation. And wasn’t that what I wanted?
Pam’s demeanor softened.
“Hey, for weeks you’ve been talking about how attracted you are to him. He turned out to be super nice, and he has a sense of humor, too. I like him. Fate is smiling on you again.”
"You sound like my mother," I noted.
“That's 'cause she's always right, isn’t she?" Pam pointed out, brow raised.
“Fine… She is,” I conceded. She would have said those words. In truth I had heard her say them many times.
Resigned to my fate, I stepped into the quad with Pan. I walked into a shaft of sunlight and sat on the bench it spilled onto, the Sun’s rays warming me. I closed my eyes against them, basking.
“I may as well go study while I wait for him. I can’t believe this is happening,” I remarked.
“Well believe it. Your bricklayer is seeing you today,” Pam teased.
“Pam, for real?” I remarked, opening my eyes.
“What? Come on. We can both go study.” Pam hugged me. She looked puzzled though.
“Leila. You feel hot. You never run hot. You’re not having a stroke are you?” she asked, alarmed.
“No. That’s just because he sat next to me the whole day,” I revealed. And breathed on me, leaned on me… I shut my eyes, wishing I had lied.
Pam nodded, not noticing my apprehension. “Oh okay. That makes sense. We did just get out of class. I didn’t know fire dragons were like that just idly,” she mused. “Let’s get on out of here.”
I wanted to tell her what I really felt. But I was sure it would sound crazy. Maybe I would after I met him and spoke to him. Privately.

We walked together through the courtyard. I glanced through the windows of various buildings looking for red scales moving in the halls. I saw nothing, of course.
We ended up going to the library. The room was large and made of ironwood. Small nooks with tables were tucked away amongst large shelves full of tomes.
We chose a table with a window next to it.
I studied as attentively as I could, trying to occupy my mind. But I could not stop seeing Sasha in my vision. Pam gave up trying to get me to engage in conversations with her. Instead I studied for the assignment in Dragonology on my laptop, and daydreamed.
—
“It’s getting late. You don’t know when Sasha will be looking for you.” Pam said, shaking me from my focus.
The light from the windows had waned somewhat, giving way to the Sun readying for slumber.
“Oh, right. I was deep into this essay here. I wish I had borrowed his books and saved my eyes,” I said, rubbing them.
Pam yawned as we packed our things, hefting her bag up. “I’m going to head home. Tell me how everything goes. Tell me if y’all build a house!”
“Pam!” I gasped. “Oh my gods.”
“Love you! Bye!” Pam called, rushing off.
—
I strolled around the grounds reading a book, looking up at the Sun every once in a while. But I didn’t spot Sasha anywhere. I hoped that I had not missed him. I had studied a bit longer than I intended.
Eventually I sat on a bench to wait. I would wait until dusk settled. And if he didn’t show I would see him the following day. It was not as if we had exchanged our numbers.
I pulled out my notebook full of writings, poetry, doodles. It was just one volume from a collection of filled books over the duration of my life, where I pressed flowers of my heart through its pages.
Before I could put pen to paper, I paused.
I put away my old faithful journal and pulled out a new one in deep red. It was not a coincidence by any stretch. I had stared at it on the shelves of an art store until I gave in and bought it.
I hadn’t written one thing in it since. After all, I hadn’t known him, and didn’t want to write only about his appearance. I wanted to know what he was made of. Now, having met Sasha, the red book was begging for ink.
So I let myself fall into a rhythm. So many elements of Sasha had revealed themselves to me that day: this dragon’s voice, his heat, his mannerisms. The words he said, the way he said them, his sense of humor hidden under all that seriousness.
I searched my brain and gathered up all my own words, sifted through them. I wrote a few things here and there, but nothing like what I wanted.
I looked up toward the Sun for some bit of inspiration, and my breath caught. A red form flew in front of it, wings beating. Seeing Sasha framed in that circle of fire was more than I could have hoped for. I stared up at him flying until he stopped, scanning for something.
The moment of inspiration I had been searching for was right there. I spoke aloud what I had and wrote it as swiftly as my claws could move:
“A dragon in a Circle. An Inferno wrapped in the Sun A scarlet vision framed in fire A cloud of embers in the Goddess’s hands She Holds all of him out toward me The gift of a flame within a flame “
I dropped my pen and covered my mouth in embarrassment. “Oh my gods what am I writing?” I asked myself. I stared at the words.
I turned my head to read them as if a new perspective would make them less mortifying.
“Hmm,” I muttered. “Needs some work but…’A flame within a flame.’ That’s some good shit.”
I looked back up. Sasha’s gaze swept over me then away. I waved my arm up at him, bangles jangling, hoping he saw me so he wouldn’t be looking all around all day.
When Sasha looked back in my direction he stopped where he was. He descended slowly until he locked eyes with me. My heart pounded again. It was driving me up the wall, the anxiety. Or rather anticipation. I pressed my hand to my chest watching him grow closer. His wings were huge, blocking out the Sun.
I had been staring at Sasha from a distance since he had arrived, his very first day. He was imposing, the way he had entered my classes, but exceptionally polite. I had been silently competing with him since laying eyes on his grades.
Now the distance was finally closed after my nervousness had kept me away. I folded my notebook shut and stood as Sasha landed with a woosh of air.
I looked upon him not as a mysterious figure in the back of class but as a new friend. More. I couldn’t help but smile when he straightened his already straight clothes as he moved toward me.
He smiled right back at me, chin raised.
“Leila,” he said.
“Sasha. Hey,” I replied.
“So,” he said, “you spoke of bricks earlier,” he teased.
My mouth dropped again. This dragon…
“You aren’t letting that go are you?” I asked.
“Never. Even if nothing ever came of it, I would never forget.”
“By the gods,” I muttered.
“I am not complaining,” he clarified.
My eyes widened. Then it occurred to me that he had insinuated something would come of it. Goddess, I felt my own fire sweep across my cheeks. I was so flustered I covered my mouth with the heel of my palm letting my claws settle over my cheek. I couldn’t stop the motion fast enough.
Sasha laughed good naturedly. Sweetly, even. “I will stop teasing. For now,” he said.
“For now?” I repeated past my palm.
“For now.”
I lowered my hand. “You are a trip, do you know that?” I said, raising my eyebrow. Even though I had been nervous, actually talking to him made me feel like meeting all his words head on.
He gestured for me to walk beside him without answering. I did. I almost took his arm again, so I clutched my notebook to my chest to keep my hands in check. We didn’t say much as we walked along the quad together.
Some students were staring at us as we walked. I suppose we made quite the pair together.
“It appears we are a bit of a spectacle,” he muttered to himself curiously, agreeing with my thoughts.
I couldn’t help stealing glances at him every once in a while.
His posture was impecable. He held his left hand behind his back. The other lingered in front of his chest as if ready for something. I didn’t know how else to describe it. It was interesting, that pose; deliberate. I saw that he had rings on his fingers as well. I had not noticed them before. They were red like his scales, rough hewn. The overall pose made him seem so stately.
I couldn’t quite describe his expression. It was both intense and peaceful all at once.
He caught me staring one time, though. He was looking right at me when I peeked. I turned away and put a hand to my face. I hoisted up my bag.
“Here,” he said.
I turned back. “Here what?” I asked.
He put his hand out to me, gesturing toward my bag. I stopped walking.
“Oh. Okay. Such a gentleman,” I said, a smile playing on my face, impressed. He chuckled to himself, accepting my compliment.
I slipped my bag from my shoulder, and he took it to hold on his elbow. We started walking again. I didn’t care after that; I looked at him openly, a little bit enamored.
‘Ok Mr. Sasha Emberscale. I see you,’ I thought.
PART 2

Can anyone tell me how to properly bag orders? I work in pick up and got zero training before they sent me to the floor, and during my online orientation they assigned me videos that weren't even for the pick up department so I have zero idea on how to properly bag and have some questions like does milk go in a bag or in the back of a tote, do I bag alcohol or put it in the back of the tote, do I have to do separate bags for everything, can I use more than two bags, just anything that can help me? My department is implementing a write up strike system on orders that are bagged wrong and I really don't want to get fired.

TL;DR: Shooters have notoriously had a difficult time staying alive while under Nexon's banner.
Go ahead and spam your downvotes, but if you're someone that actually likes to engage in conversation, I urge you to read on.

Intro -- Personal

For starters, The Finals is my favorite FPS game to come out in the last 5 years. I've played since the second CBT and have loved just about every second of it. Prior to my time with The Finals, I was an Apex Legends nerd since release. The pro match hacking incident in Apex Legends is what pushed me over the edge; an edge that I was already barely hanging onto after 3+ years of awful decision-making, balancing, bugs, and tone-deaf MTX offerings. And going even further back 13-ish years (my time with League of Legends), I played Combat Arms for about 4 years and ran a very successful Guild.
Keep Combat Arms in mind for a little later.

The Final(s) Nail In The Coffin

HYENAS
At the time of the first The Finals trailer, HYENAS had been running in closed testing for about 8 months and was luke warm, to say the least. I actually find it very eerie how similar the HYENAS and The Finals were in terms of theming: heisters/contestants fighting for cash in arenas and needing to 'Cash Out'. HYENAS was a game I had on my radar for a bit and was semi-excited to tell my friends about because Apex Legends was in a really rough position and was growing stale in it's growth - we were looking for something else. It had some interesting movement mechanics, which myself and my friends were enamored by in Apex Legends, but nothing too crazy. I was hopeful. After about 2 testing runs, I phased out of HYENAS pretty hard and lost interest as it wasn't really what we were hoping it would be.
Breaking Convention
Fast forward to that 8-month mark, and the trailer for The Finals launches. It's this over-the-top explosive FPS with some crazy arena gimmicks, and holy shit it was pretty. The destruction was incredible, and the developers were touting server-side destruction so that it would be consistent for all players. The gameplay and graphics looked so familiar, and as it turned out, it was made by a bunch of ex-DICE devs. Count me in. Oh, and these were the same cats that released that short but impressive looking trailer for their other game Arc Raiders? Exceptionally promising pedigree, and an already promising duo of upcoming projects to boot. Couldn't be more excited. However... to this day, I don't know if I was getting struck by the Mandella Effect, but I swear I didn't see Nexon's publisher tag in the first few trailers. In any case, by the end of my first beta test, I was well aware and to say I was concerned would be an understatement.
The Good
Embark have done a phenomenal job at creating something unique in a market of Battle Royales and old titans slapping each other with wet noodles on bi-annual cycles. The Finals is insanely unique. Whereas a lot of games that try to break conventions like this tend to have iterations across many years and multiple development studios up to an eventual peak, the formula of The Finals feels like the final iteration of a genre that has never existed. Performance is top notch, the game does what it needs to do graphically and still has additional bells and whistles, and it had a near flawless release (all things considered). Were you to ask me, I could not imagine another game like The Finals existing in it's current exceptionally polished state. The next game like The Finals, whenever it comes out, will likely be exceptionally different. However...
The Bad
Lightning eventually breaks out of the bottle and disappears forever. The Finals, in all of its game design competency, has major issues for lasting in a market like today's and thankfully, for once, it's not actually due to it's MTX implementation and a greedy publisher (I say that cautiously, more on that later). No - the issue that The Finals has and why it's on a trajectory for shuttering is that it has almost zero skill expression. Let me explain.
Were The Finals released 12-ish years ago, it'd be a behemoth of an IP by now and likely would have changed the trajectory of the market in terms of player and audience capture. What do I mean by that? Well, lets look at games 10+ years ago - specifically FPS'. What was the primary appeal and objective? The appeal was an easy to pick-up game which allowed you to get into the action almost immediately. The objective? Click heads faster than your opposition. Game design around that time was rather linear in how it delivered the objective mechanism to the player. Give player gun, player click button; happy player. Competitive games have all existed, but competition now is vastly different.
Today, skill expression is the name of the game. It's not enough to click heads the fastest - that's not how you get your high anymore.
For DayZ, it was a masterful bait and deception. For PUBG, it was about maneuvering long before your opponent did and mastering weapon control. For Fortnite, it was about 'cranking 90s' and building the most optimal structure AROUND your opponent. For Overwatch, it was about chaining a series of abilities together into a combo that 6 players couldn't predict. For Apex Legends, it's about mastering movement in such a way that your opponent gets whiplash. Hell, even in Counterstrike - a game about holding angles - it's about mastering grenade throws.
The Finals... does none of that. You're not baiting anyone around fixed objectives. You're not out maneuvering when spawns are fixed. While structures exist around you, they serve more as an element of chaos than necessarily for control. There's no abilities to string together in some wombo-combo. Grenades are static and don't have a lot of physical attributes to facilitate against the environment like physics. And lastly, and this one hurts me the most because I was absolutely a sweaty try-hard in Apex Legends that spent hours in the shooting range practicing; while there is speed and movement in the game, you're not breaking the game's engineering to manipulate your movement in unintended ways - ways that become SO common... that the developer themselves puts those exploits in future season trailers for the game making them canon mechanics.
In other words, the skill ceiling is about as high as the desk players sit at to play the game. If you can move a mouse or a controller and click buttons, you're in. You just need to get familiar with the maps and weapons and... that's about it. :/
The Ugly
Don't believe me? Lets get numerical. Go look at Twitch stats for The Finals. Now, Twitch isn't an arbiter of truth in terms of a game's performance metrics, but it shows what players are watching. I'll save you the click: The Finals (at the time of writing) is the 215th most watched game. It's a whole 20 rows down on the front page. Now, players love watching high-skill play, but this also shows that even casual viewers still prefer casual games over The Finals. There is no external appeal. As much as I love this game, I'm not above a good joke, so I just wanted to highlight the irony of The Finals being a gameshow... and not being very popular as a show. Lol.
With all of the above said, the game is still in a relatively good position at this moment. Despite having very low player counts (no, I'm not the kind of person to spell doom for a game just because it's player count is dropping - it's on a normal interest decline curve), it requiring a low amount of players to start a game at all is a good thing. Unlike a BR or even a normal TDM-like game, you need a minimum of 9 players to start a round. A 9-player minimum goes a long way in expanding the ability to find a game with only 15,000-ish players. It puts it right in the comfy zone of co-op games like DRG or Vermintide. However, competitive games requiring a stalwart player count to be viable unlike co-op, so that's a bit of a problem right now.
So with that being said, it can always improve right? Something can change to bring back players and bolster it's numbers again, right? Well... um...

Nexon -- The Gravedigger

Nexon & Me -- We Don't Talk About It
My relationship with Nexon is long and... tenuous, at best. To me, Nexon is that family member that only ever comes to larger family get-togethers likes weddings or baby showers. They tend to give out some of the highest ticket gift cards but once the party is over, everyone finds that the giftcards are empty or deactivated. Nexon, over the years since it's arrival in the West in 2005-ish, has been flakey at best, and absent at worst. I'm envious of those who don't have a relationship with Nexon like I do because Nexon has truly been that family figure in my life of gaming since Maplestory - I have been apart of just about every major release pre-2016. I'm 31 now - that's over half of my life. Spoilers: It's not all been good. I'm happy to say that I've been able to communicate with a small handful of you over the last 18 months who have shared my same concerns and have the same history with them that I do.
I played Maplestory religiously. I played Mabinogi diligently. I played Kart Riders confusingly. I played Sudden Attack curiously. I played Combat Arms consistently. I played Vindictus excitedly. All of the previous, and a few more, intermixed with other games not made by Nexon - aside from Runescape, Nexon has been with me just as long, if not longer (depending on how you look at it). I know how Nexon is. I know how Nexon works. I know how Nexon behaves. With that said, it doesn't bring me any joy to pop the virgin cherry for some of you who don't know much about them.
Nexon Doing Nexon Things
I'll only be mentioning relevant titles here to paint the picture that needs to be seen.

• Maplestory - Nexon's most popular MMO. A mere shadow of what it used to be and caught in controversy of trying to be fresh, but appeal to players of the past. Extremely underpopulated now, and generally only played by people who spend money. Maplestory is arguably the birth place of MTX whales in the West. Whaling and spending is so engrained in Maplestory now, it's considered part of it's active culture. Still active, but in perpetual suffering.
  
• Vindictus - One of the very first (if not the first - feel free to correct me) MMO's in the West to introduce brawl-style active combat. Extremely modest MMO at the time. Lackluster story, but very appealing gameplay loop. Practically dead today, and it has succumbed (not necessarily a bad thing) to the 'Korean Developer' trope in introducing a bunch of scantily clad ladies. While the combat loop is still rock-solid, it has aged and others have now done it better (See Blade & Soul, etc). Still alive today, but I'm using that term very loosely.
  

(From here, the only relevant conversation pertaining to this thread will be about FPS')

• Combat Arms - THE absolute F2P FPS behemoth in the West (while Sudden Attack was still in the East). It's both surprising and not surprising how many people don't know or have ever heard about this game. In a time where CSS was still the primary talk in the West, Combat Arms started bringing the Eastern F2P heat. With the largest arsenal of any FPS game to ever be released in the West, Combat Arms was a beacon for the F2P formula behind Maplestory. The beginning of the end occurred with the release of the specialist class which signaled Nexon's decline into P2W depravity. It was now another thorn in the side of players beyond the rampant cheating. Combat Arms declined very quickly beyond that point, and was eventually sold to another company - starts with a 'V'. I can't remember.
  
• Sudden Attack - I'd have to double-check, but I'm fairly confident that this is still the most-played FPS in the world between SK and China primarily due to it's accessibility. While still active today, Western servers were shuttered in 2014. Sudden Attack 2 ceased development less than 2 months after it's release.
  
• Dirty Bomb - After Sudden Attack 1's shuttering, Dirty Bomb came onto the scene. Most people don't know it, but Dirty Bomb was one of the first major contenders to break into the scene that Overwatch eventually solidified. However, Nexon and Splash Damage parted ways, and less than a year later, Dirty Bomb shuttered as well.
  
• LawBreakers - We all remember this well roasted chestnut, don't we?
  

With all of the above information about Nexon's history, its fair to surmise that Nexon has a turbulent cycle serving as a publisher for games. This does not bode well for Embark.
I'd like everyone to remember that the people we engage with on a daily basis in the Discord are passionate Embark folk. This critique of Nexon has no bearing on Embark, however it's important to remember that they'll likely be affected, and it's a shame. Even in the best case scenario that The Finals doesn't shut down, but just maintains a low player-count, it will not serve well under Embark. Unfortunately it will affect Embark's pedigree more than it would ever affect Nexon as Nexon has the same priveledge and power of the likes of EA.
I'll be honest, when I first found out Nexon is the primary publishing house behind Embark, Nexon's history of shuttering games wasn't the first thing I thought of. The first thing I actually thought of was it's history of MTX in it's game. We all joke about horse armor and FIFA packs, but Maplestory led the charge of overbearing MTX in the West. Given today's game market, I was admittedly expecting a lot worse in terms of monetization for The Finals. I'm happy to report that I'm pleasantly surprised with it's current state. I still wouldn't say it's TRUE 'micro' like Helldiver's, but it's way better than a lot of other offerings, especially for me personally coming from a game like Apex Legends.
However, Nexon's influence still can't be ignored. You see, with a history like Nexon's you probably expect what we've all witnessed in the market over the last decade, but Nexon doesn't operate that way. They have a penchant of being rather silent during most, if not all controversies. Hell, just in general - controversies aside. Unlike bodies that we're familiar with like EA, Take-Two, Ubisoft and the like, Nexon doesn't speak outside of their games often, if ever. If you were at a public execution, all of the companies we're familiar with would likely be the Officiant at the pulpit. But Nexon? They're the executioner - completely silent and performing a duty without remorse. This is always how they've acted.

Closing Thoughts

I know I said above that the MTX concerns for The Finals kind of faded away for me as it doesn't seem to be an issue we'll have to worry about, and while it's not the main point of this post, I still find it necessary for players to keep in the back of their head, especially since Embark have other games coming out. Were The Finals not to shutter due to low player count, this is my PSA to all players moving forward, whether it be about The Finals or beyond: Nexon cannot be trusted.
"Well, duh! You can't trust companies anyway, nor should you. It's a company. It's incentive is profit."
To that I say, "That's not my point".
In today's market, we're typically used to a controversy happening in the game on top of whatever PR blunders is going on with the organization, but that's not what would really happen here. The Finals doesn't have any issues beyond it's declining player count, but I want everyone to remain aware of Nexon's moves going forward. Just because we don't necessarily see the smoke here doesn't mean that there isn't a fire somewhere else.
So, for your own interest if you'd like to research on your own, here are some topics of concern:

1. Variety of game closures and sunsets under contentious situations with developers and publishing partners alike.
2. Account security breaches (I guess a more relevant tangent would be GameGuard. Nexon was the first to widely use GameGuard when Maplestory came to the West. I personally don't care, but I know some others would.)
3. Various cases of government scrutiny world-wide due to addictive Gachapon implementations.
4. Speaking of Gachapon (and P2W), their recent suit around manipulating odds for a P2W item outside of it's listed values: https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20240312050604
5. And lastly, most recently, Nexon pulling back public support for Maplestory's would-be world-first level 300 player when he used the opportunity to address genuine concerns about the game's current state, including the above lawsuit.

The Collect
O God, your never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and earth: Put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel
Mark 2:23–3:6
3:23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.
24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful
25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?
26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?
27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath
3 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.
2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.
4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
Commentary on Today’s Gospel Selection;
One thing you can say about Mark, of the Gospel writers, he is the one who doesn’t mess around but goes to the heart of the matter; if Mark was writing about food, he would skip over the appetizers and go right to the main course. Here at the beginning of his Gospel he has grouped stories of Christ’s ministry that establish the God given authority of Jesus, and sotries that introduce the antagonism of the scribes, Pharisees, and Herodians—antagonism that will eventually lead to Jesus’ death on the cross.
We begin with a story of Jesus and the disciples traveling, on the Sabbath day, walking from village to village preaching the good news and Jesus healing the sick, and the disciples being hungry they begin to gather grain with their hands to eat.
The law of Moses allows for the hungry to gather grain, or even grapes for the purpose of immediately satisfying hunger, by hand on the Sabbath but not with implements or to put the produce up for later use. (see Deuteronomy 23:25) But here we find the detractors of Jesus trying to point blame at him for not teaching his disciples to observe the laws regarding labor on the Holy day. They contend that performing any work, even to satisfy one’s own hunger, violates the laws found in the Torah.
Assuming our modern day translations are correct, Deuteronomy 5:12-15 obviously bans performing routine labor on the Sabbath day, even the servants are to have a day of rest.
At issue here is what constitutes work. Is it work to pluck grain to satisfy one’s hunger? While various Old Testament passages deal with the subject of work (Exodus 16:22-30; 34:21; 35:2-3; Numbers 15:32-36; Nehemiah 10:31; 13:15-22; Jeremiah 17:21-22), they leave much to the imagination when it comes to defining exactly what constitutes work in particular situations.
However, Exodus 34:21 says, “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest”—so plowing and harvesting are clearly among the proscribed activities. The scribes list reaping as third among the 39 types of activities that they classify as work. The immediate question is not whether reaping is prohibited, then, because it clearly is. The question is whether plucking a few handfuls of grain constitutes reaping.
But of all God’s creation, he gave humans common sense and expects us to make use of it. If your house caught on fire during the Sabbath day, would you not and try to get as many of your possessions out which would in effect be labor? Would you expect the fire department to come put the fire out or would you not want the firemen to “labor” on the Sabbath day?
However, as often happens when people devote themselves to a narrow, intensive enterprise, their study took on a life of its own. By Jesus’ time, a substantial amount of scribal interpretation had been codified into the Mishnah (the Talmud, an extension of these studies, would come later).
Two problems resulted.
[1] Jewish religious leaders began to regard the Mishnah as second in importance only to the Torah—or even as equal to the Torah. It became increasingly difficult for them to differentiate between the Torah (God’s law) and the Mishnah (their interpretation of God’s law)—and they became increasingly inflexible in the application of their interpretations.
[2] As so often happens with academic endeavors, the scribes became so preoccupied with the fine points of the law that they lost the main point. We will see that in these verses as they criticize Jesus for allowing his disciples to pluck small amounts of grain on the sabbath (2:24)—and as they watch Jesus “to see whether he would cure (the man with the withered hand) on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him” (3:2).
At the core of the contention between the religious leaders and Jesus, is Jesus’ adherence to the intentions of his Father, God in heaven, and the religious leader’s inflexible application of their interpretations of God’s commands. It comes down to; “God’s way or their way.”
Jesus asked them: “Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?”
David was Israel's greatest (earthly) King, and by the time of Jesus, King David enjoyed an iconic status. Under his reign Israel and its people enjoyed the greatest days of glory, so much so that each and everyone of them were eagerly anticipating the prophesied return of the king, the Messiah, the anointed one who would return Israel to its former glory. Here we find Jesus, in his infinite wisdom demonstrating that the actions of his disciples parallel that of David’s actions, doing so will present his opponents with an irrefutable argument. He begins by stating that David and his companions were hungry—an obvious parallel to Jesus’ disciples.
“How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?” Mark mistakenly uses Abiathar’s name—it should be Ahimelech (1 Samuel 21:1). Abiathar was Ahimelech’s son (1 Samuel 22:20) who became David’s priest and served David prior to and after his ascension to the throne. It is generally recognized that Matthew and Luke used Mark as one of their key sources. Both tell this story (Matthew 12:1-8; Luke 6:1-5), but neither mentions Abiathar’s name, presumably because they know that Ahimelech is correct.
Jesus is referring to an incident from 1 Samuel 21:1-6 where David, warned by Jonathan, fled for his life from King Saul. While on the run David asked the priest Ahimelech for bread. Ahimelech protested that the only available bread was the holy bread, the Bread of the Presence, also known as the Showbread—bread intended to be eaten only by the priests in a holy place (Leviticus 24:5-9). However, Ahimelech offered to give the holy bread to David if David’s young men had kept themselves from women. David promised that this was the case, and Ahimelech gave him the bread. God did not condemn this action, a fact that Jesus uses to support his contention, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:” (v. 27).
While Jesus cannot claim that his disciples’ circumstances are as desperate as David’s, the obvious parallel is that both David and Jesus’ disciples engaged in a forbidden activity (David date holy bread and Jesus’ disciples plucked grain on the sabbath) to satisfy their hunger. If it was appropriate for David to eat the holy bread to satisfy his hunger (and the Pharisees would not dare suggest otherwise), then it must also be appropriate for Jesus’ disciples to pluck and eat grain on the sabbath.
But there is also something more happening here. Jesus is drawing a parallel between David prior to David’s enthronement and Jesus prior to his enthronement. This incident points to Jesus’ kingship and his yet-to-come enthronement.
“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:” Jesus puts forth the principle that God gave the sabbath to help people—not to arbitrarily restrict their activities. By abstaining from work on the sabbath, people keep it holy (a service to God), but also gain a day of rest (a service to themselves and their families). In the two instances mentioned in this Gospel lesson, neither Jesus’ disciples attempting to quench their hunger, nor the man with the withered hand have needs that could not wait for resolution, until after the sabbath is ended.
“Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath” Son of Man is Jesus’ favorite self-designation. It has its roots in Daniel 7:13. Son of Man comes without well-defined meaning, which suits Jesus’ purposes. The Romans would kill Jesus if he called himself king, and the Jews would convict him of blasphemy if he called himself Son of God.
Jesus has taught in the synagogue “as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (1:21). He has used the title “Son of Man” for himself and claimed authority to forgive sins (2:10)—an authority validated by the healing of the paralytic (2:11-12). Now he pronounces himself “Lord also of the sabbath” (2:28)—putting himself on a par with God (Edwards, 97)
At the synagogue, Jesus commands the man with the withered hand (3:1) to stand up in the center of the gathering, he wanted everyone to see this man and the point he was going to make. He addresses the Scribes and Pharisees, these so called religious leaders of that time and place: “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?”
Jesus’ opponents, of course, would advocate a third alternative: Let’s wait until the sabbath is ended. Let’s honor God on the sabbath and heal this man on the next day. There is no urgency. This man has lived with this condition for years. Another few hours won’t make any difference.
But Jesus has come to bring life and release and freedom. What better time to do a good deed than on the sabbath! What better place than the synagogue! Jesus is obviously at odds with any interpretation of the Torah that would stifle the impulse to relieve suffering on the sabbath.
In our example previously cited, if your house was on fire on the Sabbath day, should the firemen wait until sundown, before attempting to extinguish the flames?
Jesus is saying that he, The Son of God, is Lord of the Sabbath, not the narrow interpretations of his Fathers commandments as enshrined by mankind. What he says, should take precedence of their obsessive adherence to the law.
Jesus sent the message to us that even on the Lord’s day, we should attempt to do good works, to labor, in his name.
What better day of the week, to labor in his name thereby fulfilling his mission?
Benediction:
Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

The Collect
O God, your never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and earth: Put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel
Mark 2:23–3:6
3:23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.
24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful
25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?
26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?
27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath
3 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.
2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.
4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
Commentary on Today’s Gospel Selection;
One thing you can say about Mark, of the Gospel writers, he is the one who doesn’t mess around but goes to the heart of the matter; if Mark was writing about food, he would skip over the appetizers and go right to the main course. Here at the beginning of his Gospel he has grouped stories of Christ’s ministry that establish the God given authority of Jesus, and sotries that introduce the antagonism of the scribes, Pharisees, and Herodians—antagonism that will eventually lead to Jesus’ death on the cross.
We begin with a story of Jesus and the disciples traveling, on the Sabbath day, walking from village to village preaching the good news and Jesus healing the sick, and the disciples being hungry they begin to gather grain with their hands to eat.
The law of Moses allows for the hungry to gather grain, or even grapes for the purpose of immediately satisfying hunger, by hand on the Sabbath but not with implements or to put the produce up for later use. (see Deuteronomy 23:25) But here we find the detractors of Jesus trying to point blame at him for not teaching his disciples to observe the laws regarding labor on the Holy day. They contend that performing any work, even to satisfy one’s own hunger, violates the laws found in the Torah.
Assuming our modern day translations are correct, Deuteronomy 5:12-15 obviously bans performing routine labor on the Sabbath day, even the servants are to have a day of rest.
At issue here is what constitutes work. Is it work to pluck grain to satisfy one’s hunger? While various Old Testament passages deal with the subject of work (Exodus 16:22-30; 34:21; 35:2-3; Numbers 15:32-36; Nehemiah 10:31; 13:15-22; Jeremiah 17:21-22), they leave much to the imagination when it comes to defining exactly what constitutes work in particular situations.
However, Exodus 34:21 says, “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest”—so plowing and harvesting are clearly among the proscribed activities. The scribes list reaping as third among the 39 types of activities that they classify as work. The immediate question is not whether reaping is prohibited, then, because it clearly is. The question is whether plucking a few handfuls of grain constitutes reaping.
But of all God’s creation, he gave humans common sense and expects us to make use of it. If your house caught on fire during the Sabbath day, would you not and try to get as many of your possessions out which would in effect be labor? Would you expect the fire department to come put the fire out or would you not want the firemen to “labor” on the Sabbath day?
However, as often happens when people devote themselves to a narrow, intensive enterprise, their study took on a life of its own. By Jesus’ time, a substantial amount of scribal interpretation had been codified into the Mishnah (the Talmud, an extension of these studies, would come later).
Two problems resulted.
[1] Jewish religious leaders began to regard the Mishnah as second in importance only to the Torah—or even as equal to the Torah. It became increasingly difficult for them to differentiate between the Torah (God’s law) and the Mishnah (their interpretation of God’s law)—and they became increasingly inflexible in the application of their interpretations.
[2] As so often happens with academic endeavors, the scribes became so preoccupied with the fine points of the law that they lost the main point. We will see that in these verses as they criticize Jesus for allowing his disciples to pluck small amounts of grain on the sabbath (2:24)—and as they watch Jesus “to see whether he would cure (the man with the withered hand) on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him” (3:2).
At the core of the contention between the religious leaders and Jesus, is Jesus’ adherence to the intentions of his Father, God in heaven, and the religious leader’s inflexible application of their interpretations of God’s commands. It comes down to; “God’s way or their way.”
Jesus asked them: “Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?”
David was Israel's greatest (earthly) King, and by the time of Jesus, King David enjoyed an iconic status. Under his reign Israel and its people enjoyed the greatest days of glory, so much so that each and everyone of them were eagerly anticipating the prophesied return of the king, the Messiah, the anointed one who would return Israel to its former glory. Here we find Jesus, in his infinite wisdom demonstrating that the actions of his disciples parallel that of David’s actions, doing so will present his opponents with an irrefutable argument. He begins by stating that David and his companions were hungry—an obvious parallel to Jesus’ disciples.
“How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?” Mark mistakenly uses Abiathar’s name—it should be Ahimelech (1 Samuel 21:1). Abiathar was Ahimelech’s son (1 Samuel 22:20) who became David’s priest and served David prior to and after his ascension to the throne. It is generally recognized that Matthew and Luke used Mark as one of their key sources. Both tell this story (Matthew 12:1-8; Luke 6:1-5), but neither mentions Abiathar’s name, presumably because they know that Ahimelech is correct.
Jesus is referring to an incident from 1 Samuel 21:1-6 where David, warned by Jonathan, fled for his life from King Saul. While on the run David asked the priest Ahimelech for bread. Ahimelech protested that the only available bread was the holy bread, the Bread of the Presence, also known as the Showbread—bread intended to be eaten only by the priests in a holy place (Leviticus 24:5-9). However, Ahimelech offered to give the holy bread to David if David’s young men had kept themselves from women. David promised that this was the case, and Ahimelech gave him the bread. God did not condemn this action, a fact that Jesus uses to support his contention, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:” (v. 27).
While Jesus cannot claim that his disciples’ circumstances are as desperate as David’s, the obvious parallel is that both David and Jesus’ disciples engaged in a forbidden activity (David date holy bread and Jesus’ disciples plucked grain on the sabbath) to satisfy their hunger. If it was appropriate for David to eat the holy bread to satisfy his hunger (and the Pharisees would not dare suggest otherwise), then it must also be appropriate for Jesus’ disciples to pluck and eat grain on the sabbath.
But there is also something more happening here. Jesus is drawing a parallel between David prior to David’s enthronement and Jesus prior to his enthronement. This incident points to Jesus’ kingship and his yet-to-come enthronement.
“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:” Jesus puts forth the principle that God gave the sabbath to help people—not to arbitrarily restrict their activities. By abstaining from work on the sabbath, people keep it holy (a service to God), but also gain a day of rest (a service to themselves and their families). In the two instances mentioned in this Gospel lesson, neither Jesus’ disciples attempting to quench their hunger, nor the man with the withered hand have needs that could not wait for resolution, until after the sabbath is ended.
“Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath” Son of Man is Jesus’ favorite self-designation. It has its roots in Daniel 7:13. Son of Man comes without well-defined meaning, which suits Jesus’ purposes. The Romans would kill Jesus if he called himself king, and the Jews would convict him of blasphemy if he called himself Son of God.
Jesus has taught in the synagogue “as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (1:21). He has used the title “Son of Man” for himself and claimed authority to forgive sins (2:10)—an authority validated by the healing of the paralytic (2:11-12). Now he pronounces himself “Lord also of the sabbath” (2:28)—putting himself on a par with God (Edwards, 97)
At the synagogue, Jesus commands the man with the withered hand (3:1) to stand up in the center of the gathering, he wanted everyone to see this man and the point he was going to make. He addresses the Scribes and Pharisees, these so called religious leaders of that time and place: “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?”
Jesus’ opponents, of course, would advocate a third alternative: Let’s wait until the sabbath is ended. Let’s honor God on the sabbath and heal this man on the next day. There is no urgency. This man has lived with this condition for years. Another few hours won’t make any difference.
But Jesus has come to bring life and release and freedom. What better time to do a good deed than on the sabbath! What better place than the synagogue! Jesus is obviously at odds with any interpretation of the Torah that would stifle the impulse to relieve suffering on the sabbath.
In our example previously cited, if your house was on fire on the Sabbath day, should the firemen wait until sundown, before attempting to extinguish the flames?
Jesus is saying that he, The Son of God, is Lord of the Sabbath, not the narrow interpretations of his Fathers commandments as enshrined by mankind. What he says, should take precedence of their obsessive adherence to the law.
Jesus sent the message to us that even on the Lord’s day, we should attempt to do good works, to labor, in his name.
What better day of the week, to labor in his name thereby fulfilling his mission?
Benediction:
Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

From the beginning...
Cast

Part 2, Chapter 10

The next morning dawns cold and clear. It is plain that autumn is upon the land, and with the Great Glacier just leagues to the north, winter will come soon. The party goes about their morning business, eating (everyone), checking the state of the beard and deciding whether or not to shave it off (Arthur, generally, but also Atticus as Novos doesn’t grow a beard and Zander doesn’t shave his), climbing into armor (pretty much everyone except Dillium, Felicity, and Pocky), feeding and loading horses and asses (pretty much everyone, but particularly Zander, Arthur, Atticus, and Pocky), and finally packing up the pavillionsol (Dillium). Ready for the day’s journey, the group mounts up. On cue, the guide appears, apparently having prepared well ahead. If he’s irritated that the party slept all the way until dawn, he has the good grace to keep that to himself.
Felicity speaks up. “We’ve changed our minds, actually. I don’t think there’s any particular benefit in going to Dragon’s Perch—”
“I agree.”
“—so we’re going to go to Samek instead.”
“Samek? Hmmm. Do they know you are coming? If they don’t, it will take them a while.”
“No, they don’t know we’re coming, that I am aware of.”
The guide nods once and sets out. Much of the day is uneventful, and it does warm up to a comfortable level. By late afternoon, those with tender backsides are wondering when the ride will conclude when the guide raises his hand in a universal gesture of ‘stop and shut up a minute.’ The party still hasn’t learned that gesture, but fortunately there are no giants about [1]. “We’re here,” is all he says.
“Where?” “I don’t see anything.” “What are we supposed to see?” Like tourists on vacation, they peer around in all directions. They can’t see the entrance for the hill. Or rather, the entrance to the gnomish town of Samek is so well hidden in the side of the hill that for a while, only Dillium can see the faint outline of the round doorway. One by one, Flea, Arthur, and Zander finally pick it out. Novos is absolutely certain they are playing a prank on him. Arthur is first. Knocking on the hill seems odd, but practically before he gets a third knock, a small hole opens up around waist height. Two beady little eyes peer out (at Arthur’s belt).
“What!?”
“We are here—”
“So I see.” The window closes.
Zander walks up and knocks. The same window opens, and the same beady little eyes peer out.
“What!?”
“Do you know who I am?” Zander asks.
The beady little eyes look him up and down. “No,” and the window closes.
Dillium tries next. Knock, window, eyes. “Good day. We are here to see—”
“So see.” Window shuts.
Novos walks up. “I know how to do this.” Knock, window, eyes, increasingly aggravated tone. “Let us in.”
“No.”
Felicity has had enough of this. Walking up to the door, she stands for a moment gathering her thoughts. Knock, window, eyes, aggravated tone. “Good day. I’m here on behalf of the Duke of Soravia to see the wise men of your town, or those in charge.”
“Which ones?”
“What?”
“Which ones, the wise men, or those that are in charge?”
“How about if we start with the ones in charge, and perhaps they will decide to allow us to speak with the wise ones.”
The beady little eyes peer out, look around at the party, and appear to give that some thought. “Wait here.” The window closes.
Minutes pass. Tens of minutes pass. Novos gets bored and walks up to the door. He barely gets a third knock in before the window opens. A different set of beady little eyes peers out, and a different aggravated voice says, “What do you want now?”
“We’ve been waiting for a while, and—”
“—And you’ll continue to wait!.” The window slams shut unnecessarily roughly.
“Why you—” Rough arms grab Novos from behind and pull him away before he can do something regretful.
“We’ll wait, as they’ve asked,” Felicity says. She looks around to ask the guide how long they can expect to wait, but he’s disappeared.
The evening passes. As the cold sets in, Atticus and Pocky gather enough light branches for a fire. There’s no benches or logs to sit on, so they squat or sit on the ground. Arthur has taken to pulling off portions of his armor and working on polishing and repairing the scorch marks from the lava snakes [2]. Atticus and Mar debate the relative benefits of following the letter of the law versus being merciful, though in the end, both of them seem to be arguing the same things in violent agreement. Pocky falls asleep against Modred’s side as Beaker plays with a bone left over from… Wait, where did he get that bone anyway?
Finally, the reality that the night is upon them sets in. A proper camp is set, and watches begin. Zander takes the first watch, but sees nothing of interest. He does hear the chirping of grasshoppers, the droning of the cicadas, and the baying of the hounds. Suddenly, the hounds stop. Unnerved, Zander wakes Arthur, who has the next watch. Arthur, Atticus, and Zander take a turn around the camp, but cannot see nor hear anything that sounds like dogs. Arthur agrees to start his watch a few minutes early and Zander takes Pocky inside the pavillionsol to sleep. Arthur’s, and then Dillium’s watches pass uneventfully. Novos, as normal, takes the last watch. As usual, he is so wrapped up with his puzzle box that he notices absolutely nothing.
The cold morning brings breakfast, bickering, and an irritated Novos marching up to the door to bang on it. “We’ve been here all night,” he informs the guard.
“Yes. Yes you have.” The window closes.
Knock. Window. Eyes. “When will we see—”
“When it is time.” The window closes.
Before he can knock again, Dillium grabs his wrist, pushing him back, she squares herself to the door. “When it is time, please inform us.” She says to the closed window.
The window opens and two beady little eyes peer out. A slightly irritated voice replies, “What else would we do?” The window closes.
Several hours pass as the valley warms up. Arthur, Pocky, Atticus, and Mar all work on armor, doing the necessary daily ritual of dusting, oiling, checking rivets to make sure they are still tight and sound. Polish is applied, worked into the metal, and removed. Bickering, some good natured and others not, flows. At midmorning, the guide turns up suddenly, and squats down near the fire. Minutes later, the window opens and familiar eyes peer out. Felicity quickly crosses over to the door.
“Is the council ready for us?” She asks.
“Council? You wanted to speak with those who lead.”
“Yes. I assume that would be your leadership council.” Felicity replies.
“So it is. So it is. There certainly are a lot of you. You can’t all come.” The window closes.
Felicity thinks quickly and makes a motion to Dillium. Knocking gently, she waits for the window to open. “How many of us may come?” She asks sweetly.
“Uhm… “ The window closes. A minute later it re-opens. “Three.” The gnome says.
“Fine. I agree.”
“You agree? I mean, Yes, of course you agree. Come, come!” Suddenly in a hurry, the gnome opens the door, which slides open silently.
As Felicity and Dillium take a step toward the door, the guide steps up behind them. “Where are you going?” Flea asks imperiously.
“The little ones know me.”
“Which ones?”
The guide thinks. “Mayhaps all of them?” With a slight shrug, Felicity accepts that, and they all pass into a dark room, barely tall enough to stand up in.
Dillium is the tallest of the small group, and she has to stoop over to get through the passageway. The guide bends his head down a bit, but Felicity strides forward as if she owns the place, the top of her hair only occasionally brushing the ceiling of the passage. There are guards in dark metal armor in front and behind, but the guard who let them in the door is wearing a much more colorful shirt. As their eyes grow accustomed to the darkness, they note that there are luminescent lichens on the walls, providing a dim light that casts no shadows and fails to illuminate the armored gnomes.
The corridor stretches on for ages. There are branching tunnels to either side, and once, down. Tiny faces can be seen in the dim light as word spreads of the Big’uns. Dillium’s back is screaming by the time they finally reach a room and stop. A door on one side of the room is guarded by two more of the dark-skinned, dark-armored gnomes and a small fire is burning in the middle of the room. The benches around the room are designed for shorter legs and smaller butts, so the guide simply squats down. Dillium sits and starts to work the kinks out of her back. The guards don’t speak, but every once in a while, a face peers in through the open doorway they came in. Some faces are much smaller than others, and a motherly hand frequently grabs the tot and hustles them along.
The trio waits.
***
Pocky and Zander practice sword work as Atticus watches and occasionally tosses out suggestions. Mar naps. Arthur works on removing scorch marks from his armor while Novos plays with his puzzle box and loafs. Something draws Arthur’s attention. As he looks up, he sees eyes staring at him intently peering out from a bush. Without breaking eye contact, he feels around until he grabs Novos’ head and points it at the bush. Novos stares, uncertain what he’s meant to be looking at. “Zander!” Arthur hisses. He points at the bush with too many eyes. Well, two is too many for a bush. Zander looks. He looks some more. Arthur looks away for a moment, and when he looks back, the eyes are gone. Everyone runs over and crowds around the bush. Novos sees what looks like prints—paw prints not unlike Modred’s pawprints, though Modred is being lazy over next to the pavillionsol. Novos looks around, but sees no other paw prints. The men walk around the bush looking for other tracks, but only manage to obscure everything.
***
An hour passes. The guide lounges as if he has nothing on his mind. Dillium meditates, while Felicity tries to work out what the team’s next move should be. Somewhat abruptly, a young gnome opens the door and comes through. “Ready are you?” The darkened room has only a few dim lights. An ancient gnome sits on a three-legged stool in the middle of the room, a small rod in his hand. Eight or nine other gnomes cluster around the small room, some sitting on tiny gnome-sized benches, others standing. Any whispering that might have been going on ceases when the Big’uns come into the chamber.
The eldest speaks. “Warren. Several turnings it has been since last among us you came. Tell. What is the state of the above-realm?”
“They grow bolder. I have seen them throughout the valley, and without fear. If you are to act, you might contemplate doing so soon.” The gnomes chatter amongst themselves in a foreign tongue. The elder lets it go for a few minutes, then he raps on the floor with his rod. Silence returns.
“As I have feared it is. Soon must we act. Well to see you it is. Not so long to visit should you wait.” Turning his attention to Felicity, he inquires, “Please to tell name and purpose for disturbing.”
Felicity tells who she is, and allows Dillium to introduce herself. Flea announces that war is soon to be upon the land. The Duke of Soravia needs friends and allies for the coming conflict, and wishes to include the gnomes. The gnomes chatter nervously, and some of the chatter sounds of anger or fear. Again, the elder waits several minutes and then raps his rod upon the ground.
“Aware of the duke we are, but no call to extend friendship hand we have heard. What does the duke wish of us?” The chatter now is less nervous and more fearful.
“The danger to us all is great, but the duke understands that each should contribute within their talents and means. I suggest that your greatest assistance may lie in logistics, and supply. Perhaps providing some of the greatly admired gnomish craftsmanship would help to raise funds. Any assistance that you willingly provide for the benefit of one and all is exactly enough.” The chatter and babble of the gnomes in the room sounds almost relieved, but still a touch fearful. The elder allows it to go on for several minutes before he raps on the floor once. Saying something in gnomish, he raises his hand. One by one, the gnomes lift their hands out parallel to the floor. It takes a moment or two, but finally all of them agree.
“Determine what we can contribute, we must. If any. As talk we must, a favor for us could you do.” He speaks a few words of gnomish before continuing.
***
“So what is inside that puzzle box you keep playing with?” Arthur asks. He seems more tired of the delay than curious, and is simply passing the time. Mar casts an irritated glance at Novos.
“Dunno. Perhaps a great treasure. Maybe all the misfortune in the world. Probably nothing. Dillium gave it to me months ago.” He continues manhandling it, pushing, prodding, tapping, and so on.
Zander comes over and plops down next to Novos. “Can I have a go?”
“Sure.” Novos hands the box over to Zander, who takes it gingerly in his large rough hands. After a minute or two of working with it to no avail, he hands it over to a beckoning Arthur who seems to have seen something the others missed. He didn’t. Atticus and Mar both have a go before Pocky takes a turn. In three deft moves, the box is opened, revealing an empty space in the middle, roughly large enough for three large silver coins stacked on top of each other. He shrugs as he hands it back to Novos.
With a sigh, Novos starts trying to close the box.
*** “Many generations ago, when but a babe my own great-grandsire’s great-grandsire was, did Callarduran Smoothands of a king tell us. When nigh was the time would he arise. Half of a golden crown he gave us, and a tomb of a great warrior king showed he us. When greatest was our need, take our half of the golden crown to the tomb we are to do, and with the other half reunite it. Drawing close the time is. Our enemies the tomb have discovered we fear. The other half of the crown have they stolen. Taken our birthright, they have. The other half of the crown return to us?” [3]
Dillium recognizes Callarduran Smoothands from a lecture that seemed to last forever, but probably was just before lunchtime. Callarduran is the god of the Svirfneblin, and is held in high regard—perhaps more so than the head of the gnomish pantheon, Garl Glittergold [4].
“Who are these enemies?” Felicity asks.
“Evil ones they are. From us they rob. Our people they kill. Monsters they are.”
An older gnome arrives from the darkness. He is wearing dark armor, and carrying a soft bag made of what appears to be moss. The eldest reaches into the bag and withdraws an arc of gold. It certainly appears to be what you’d expect half a tiara or head band to look like, but it is nearly entirely devoid of ornamentation or decoration. The full crown must be rather plain indeed. Dismissing the trio with a “Think on your words we will,” Felicity, Dillium, Warren (the guide), and Ser Reginald the gnome are escorted from the hall and out of Samek.
Ser Reginald greets them as friends, and chatters through much of the trek up to the surface. He says he is one of a very few remaining ‘royal escorts,’ first named soon after Callarduran Smoothands gave them their half of the crown. They have, over many many many many many many generations (he was unable to count them all), been responsible for guarding the crown and preparing for the arrival of the king. He’s fought the evil ones, and admitted to hunting and killing them in their beds, but would not give a physical description of them. He also admitted that he knew precisely where the tomb was, but had never been inside, “as the time was not yet to hand.”
Finally, they reach the doorway to the outside. With a warning to shield their eyes lest they be struck blind by the sun, Ser Reginald leads the group out to find the rest of the party scrambling to their feet. To the consternation of Ser Reginald, they take the time to break camp, saddle their beasts, and mount up. Ser Reginald wants nothing to do with the horses, so the party creeps along at gnomish walking pace. It is quite possibly the slowest escort quest ever.
Several hours later, the group approaches yet another clearing when they everyone hear a loud rumbling WHOMP! Everyone recognizes it as the sound of rocks falling inside a cave or building. Ahead, a cloud of dust pours out of a cut stone entrance into a hill. “We need to get a move on. The evil ones are already inside!” cries Ser Reginald.
Leaving the horses and asses outside, the party enters the main hall. Arthur asks Atticus to remain with Pocky and the animals, but Mar accompanies the group inside. The moderately sized room has two doorways, though both appear to have been blocked by the recent rock movement. A few minutes of contemplation leads Arthur to believe that one side would take considerable effort to unblock, while the other could be done rather quickly. As he gets to work, the others take in their surroundings. Just inside the door is a carving in an archaic form of common that says “Allies Over Enemies”. Zander notes that there is some indication that there is a test, and one of the mostly broken archways has the word ‘Wit’ carved above it. Felicity notes that according to the archaic writing, there are two tests inside. Dillium is drawn to the faded frescos, though they tend to depict war and destruction.
Soon enough Arthur has the passageway cleared well enough, and the party groups up to go into a large room. The door slides shut smoothly behind them, though there is a door on the far side. Arthur inspects it, “just in case” it is unlocked. It isn’t. The room is more or less devoid of decoration or ornamentation, but there are four columns, one each corner of the room. Novos looks at the column, but fails to note that each side has a letter on it. He does see that he can turn the column one quarter turn, so he does. Once it turns, it refuses to turn again. Members of the party spread out to try to understand the test. Someone notices that there is a small mark on the wall beside each column, but it takes everyone writing down the letters on each column before someone decides to make an effort to coordinate. Arthur suggests that since each column contains an “L”, they should turn the L’s toward the center. Novos points out that he can’t turn the column any further, but Zander turns another column easily. Mar turns another one. As Novos leans up against his column, it turns. The party realizes that the columns can be turned to spell words, and Mar identified the word that was spelled out when they entered. This gets the group going, and with some tactics employed, spell out a word that they hope will open the door. As the last column clicks into place, the door opens smoothly.
The doorway leads to a huge cavern with a five-foot wide natural stone bridge crossing what appears to be a deep, wide chasm. The cavern is pitch black, and while there might be some air movement, the ceiling is too far above and the floor of the chasm too far below to see. The party sets up a marching order with Arthur in the lead and Novos in the rear. Dillium Lights up her staff so that the humans can see and they set out. Ten or fifteen paces across, the party is surprised to come under attack by arrows and javelins. Everyone dodges out of the way of the poorly thrown darts, but one strikes home. No one can see where the javelins came from, or whether it is some sort of trap or if they were thrown. Unfortunately, no one notices that one of the party members has fallen off the stone bridge, either. At the other end of the bridge is a door that opens easily, and everyone makes it into a small foyer. Except for Felicity, who lies at the bottom of the chasm, nearly impaled by a stalagmite. [5] Novos disappears and makes his way to the bottom of the chasm where he finds Felicity and feeds her his last healing potion. Zander pulls out his Wonderous Figurine and activates it. A good-sized wyvern appears on the bridge. He tells it to go down into the chasm and bring back the human. He might have said ‘woman’ but the stone wyvern doesn’t know the difference anyway. It takes off and glides down into the chasm below, and when it finds a human, the wyvern grabs it with his sharp claws and brings it back up to Zander. Novos picks himself up, dusts himself off, and winces at the fresh puncture wounds. Zander, a little annoyed, tells the wyvern to go get the other one, and he does, fresh puncture wounds and all.
Meanwhile, Arthur, Dillium, Mar, and Ser Reginald continue on into a large room. The room is dominated by a huge stone in the middle, with some sort of gemstone embedded in. They also see a dog-like creature standing on the stone, with a piece of golden metal in one hand and a bow in the other. Ser Reginald shouts, “The evil one has the other half of the crown! Get it!” Arthur races forward and Smites the creature.
Mar snarls, “Gnolls. I should have known their stench. She manifests a Spiritual Weapon and attacks with it, then casts a Guiding Bolt. The gnoll, clearly outmatched, fires his bow (missing) and climbs down off the stone. By this time, Novos, Zander, and Felicity have come in (minus the wyvern). Novos speeds over to take a flanking position on the gnoll, but the recent puncture wounds from the wyvern still ache, and he misses entirely.
Around the same time, a larger group of gnolls, armored and armed with swords and axes, enter from the other side and take up positions. One of the larger ones raises his axe to cut down Novos, but one of the gnolls barks out something in a barking sort of bark. All of the gnolls stop and refrain from attacking. Except the one with the huge gash down his front from Arthur. He comes up with a sword and stabs at the air near Arthur. Dillium, likewise shouts for Arthur and Novos (and Mar) to stop.
“Who leads?” asks the female gnoll, as she wraps her shawl around her.
Zander raises his hand. “That would be me. I am the leader of Task Force Chimera.” He sheathes his sword and meets the female gnome in the middle of the room. “I am Zander Roaringhorn, from Cormyr. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”
“Raa’ka. Ssand’r. Sand’r.” Her mouth doesn’t quite make all the sounds as she tries to get his name right. She tells Zander that they are here to fulfil a prophecy that tells of an Alpha Gnoll that will arise in their hour of need. Unfortunately, the crown is… not what they expected. Arthur climbs up on the stone and agrees that the gemstone in the middle seems to connect two pieces of a crown—there’s three pieces total, rather than the two that both the gnolls and gnomes thought.
“Give me the crown!” Ser Reginald cries. Mar snarls.
“I will not. Perhaps we should put the crown together, and then figure out what to do. It is obvious neither of us have the whole tale.” Ser Reginald, thoughtful, agrees.
“You put your piece in first, then.” He says.
“No you put yours in.” Raa’ka replies.
Arthur says, “How about you put them in together. At the same time,” clarifies when the gnolls seem unsure. He jumps down from the stone and gives Ser Reginald a boost up. Raa’ka needs no help.
Gently placing the two pieces of the crown in small cutouts in the stone that appear to be made exactly for their pieces. Ser Reginald and Raa’ka watch for a moment. “Now what?” The crown welds itself together before their eyes. The gem in the center pulses, then shines brightly. Then the whole crown sinks down into the stone. “NO!”
The room rumbles and shakes. The giant stone is cracked into pieces as Raa’ka and Ser Reginald leap to safety. As the dust swirls around and the rumbling fades away, all hear a booming voice.
“AT LAST I AM FREE!”

End of part 10.


[1] Unlike last chapter.
[2] in Chapter 8
[3] Modified slightly from Race for the Crown, Adventures of the Potbellied Kobold, by Jeff Stevens Games.
[4] The Gnomish Pantheon
[5] Remember, stalagmite “might” reach the ceiling, and stalactites hang on tite to the ceiling. Or, you can do the boring National Parks Service way of remembering.

The Collect
O God, your never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and earth: Put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel
Mark 2:23–3:6
3:23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.
24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful
25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?
26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?
27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath
3 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.
2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.
4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
Commentary on Today’s Gospel Selection;
One thing you can say about Mark, of the Gospel writers, he is the one who doesn’t mess around but goes to the heart of the matter; if Mark was writing about food, he would skip over the appetizers and go right to the main course. Here at the beginning of his Gospel he has grouped stories of Christ’s ministry that establish the God given authority of Jesus, and sotries that introduce the antagonism of the scribes, Pharisees, and Herodians—antagonism that will eventually lead to Jesus’ death on the cross.
We begin with a story of Jesus and the disciples traveling, on the Sabbath day, walking from village to village preaching the good news and Jesus healing the sick, and the disciples being hungry they begin to gather grain with their hands to eat.
The law of Moses allows for the hungry to gather grain, or even grapes for the purpose of immediately satisfying hunger, by hand on the Sabbath but not with implements or to put the produce up for later use. (see Deuteronomy 23:25) But here we find the detractors of Jesus trying to point blame at him for not teaching his disciples to observe the laws regarding labor on the Holy day. They contend that performing any work, even to satisfy one’s own hunger, violates the laws found in the Torah.
Assuming our modern day translations are correct, Deuteronomy 5:12-15 obviously bans performing routine labor on the Sabbath day, even the servants are to have a day of rest.
At issue here is what constitutes work. Is it work to pluck grain to satisfy one’s hunger? While various Old Testament passages deal with the subject of work (Exodus 16:22-30; 34:21; 35:2-3; Numbers 15:32-36; Nehemiah 10:31; 13:15-22; Jeremiah 17:21-22), they leave much to the imagination when it comes to defining exactly what constitutes work in particular situations.
However, Exodus 34:21 says, “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest”—so plowing and harvesting are clearly among the proscribed activities. The scribes list reaping as third among the 39 types of activities that they classify as work. The immediate question is not whether reaping is prohibited, then, because it clearly is. The question is whether plucking a few handfuls of grain constitutes reaping.
But of all God’s creation, he gave humans common sense and expects us to make use of it. If your house caught on fire during the Sabbath day, would you not and try to get as many of your possessions out which would in effect be labor? Would you expect the fire department to come put the fire out or would you not want the firemen to “labor” on the Sabbath day?
However, as often happens when people devote themselves to a narrow, intensive enterprise, their study took on a life of its own. By Jesus’ time, a substantial amount of scribal interpretation had been codified into the Mishnah (the Talmud, an extension of these studies, would come later).
Two problems resulted.
[1] Jewish religious leaders began to regard the Mishnah as second in importance only to the Torah—or even as equal to the Torah. It became increasingly difficult for them to differentiate between the Torah (God’s law) and the Mishnah (their interpretation of God’s law)—and they became increasingly inflexible in the application of their interpretations.
[2] As so often happens with academic endeavors, the scribes became so preoccupied with the fine points of the law that they lost the main point. We will see that in these verses as they criticize Jesus for allowing his disciples to pluck small amounts of grain on the sabbath (2:24)—and as they watch Jesus “to see whether he would cure (the man with the withered hand) on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him” (3:2).
At the core of the contention between the religious leaders and Jesus, is Jesus’ adherence to the intentions of his Father, God in heaven, and the religious leader’s inflexible application of their interpretations of God’s commands. It comes down to; “God’s way or their way.”
Jesus asked them: “Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?”
David was Israel's greatest (earthly) King, and by the time of Jesus, King David enjoyed an iconic status. Under his reign Israel and its people enjoyed the greatest days of glory, so much so that each and everyone of them were eagerly anticipating the prophesied return of the king, the Messiah, the anointed one who would return Israel to its former glory. Here we find Jesus, in his infinite wisdom demonstrating that the actions of his disciples parallel that of David’s actions, doing so will present his opponents with an irrefutable argument. He begins by stating that David and his companions were hungry—an obvious parallel to Jesus’ disciples.
“How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?” Mark mistakenly uses Abiathar’s name—it should be Ahimelech (1 Samuel 21:1). Abiathar was Ahimelech’s son (1 Samuel 22:20) who became David’s priest and served David prior to and after his ascension to the throne. It is generally recognized that Matthew and Luke used Mark as one of their key sources. Both tell this story (Matthew 12:1-8; Luke 6:1-5), but neither mentions Abiathar’s name, presumably because they know that Ahimelech is correct.
Jesus is referring to an incident from 1 Samuel 21:1-6 where David, warned by Jonathan, fled for his life from King Saul. While on the run David asked the priest Ahimelech for bread. Ahimelech protested that the only available bread was the holy bread, the Bread of the Presence, also known as the Showbread—bread intended to be eaten only by the priests in a holy place (Leviticus 24:5-9). However, Ahimelech offered to give the holy bread to David if David’s young men had kept themselves from women. David promised that this was the case, and Ahimelech gave him the bread. God did not condemn this action, a fact that Jesus uses to support his contention, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:” (v. 27).
While Jesus cannot claim that his disciples’ circumstances are as desperate as David’s, the obvious parallel is that both David and Jesus’ disciples engaged in a forbidden activity (David date holy bread and Jesus’ disciples plucked grain on the sabbath) to satisfy their hunger. If it was appropriate for David to eat the holy bread to satisfy his hunger (and the Pharisees would not dare suggest otherwise), then it must also be appropriate for Jesus’ disciples to pluck and eat grain on the sabbath.
But there is also something more happening here. Jesus is drawing a parallel between David prior to David’s enthronement and Jesus prior to his enthronement. This incident points to Jesus’ kingship and his yet-to-come enthronement.
“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:” Jesus puts forth the principle that God gave the sabbath to help people—not to arbitrarily restrict their activities. By abstaining from work on the sabbath, people keep it holy (a service to God), but also gain a day of rest (a service to themselves and their families). In the two instances mentioned in this Gospel lesson, neither Jesus’ disciples attempting to quench their hunger, nor the man with the withered hand have needs that could not wait for resolution, until after the sabbath is ended.
“Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath” Son of Man is Jesus’ favorite self-designation. It has its roots in Daniel 7:13. Son of Man comes without well-defined meaning, which suits Jesus’ purposes. The Romans would kill Jesus if he called himself king, and the Jews would convict him of blasphemy if he called himself Son of God.
Jesus has taught in the synagogue “as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (1:21). He has used the title “Son of Man” for himself and claimed authority to forgive sins (2:10)—an authority validated by the healing of the paralytic (2:11-12). Now he pronounces himself “Lord also of the sabbath” (2:28)—putting himself on a par with God (Edwards, 97)
At the synagogue, Jesus commands the man with the withered hand (3:1) to stand up in the center of the gathering, he wanted everyone to see this man and the point he was going to make. He addresses the Scribes and Pharisees, these so called religious leaders of that time and place: “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?”
Jesus’ opponents, of course, would advocate a third alternative: Let’s wait until the sabbath is ended. Let’s honor God on the sabbath and heal this man on the next day. There is no urgency. This man has lived with this condition for years. Another few hours won’t make any difference.
But Jesus has come to bring life and release and freedom. What better time to do a good deed than on the sabbath! What better place than the synagogue! Jesus is obviously at odds with any interpretation of the Torah that would stifle the impulse to relieve suffering on the sabbath.
In our example previously cited, if your house was on fire on the Sabbath day, should the firemen wait until sundown, before attempting to extinguish the flames?
Jesus is saying that he, The Son of God, is Lord of the Sabbath, not the narrow interpretations of his Fathers commandments as enshrined by mankind. What he says, should take precedence of their obsessive adherence to the law.
Jesus sent the message to us that even on the Lord’s day, we should attempt to do good works, to labor, in his name.
What better day of the week, to labor in his name thereby fulfilling his mission?
Benediction:
Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

The Collect
O God, your never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and earth: Put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel
Mark 2:23–3:6
3:23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.
24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful
25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?
26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?
27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath
3 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.
2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.
4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
Commentary on Today’s Gospel Selection;
One thing you can say about Mark, of the Gospel writers, he is the one who doesn’t mess around but goes to the heart of the matter; if Mark was writing about food, he would skip over the appetizers and go right to the main course. Here at the beginning of his Gospel he has grouped stories of Christ’s ministry that establish the God given authority of Jesus, and sotries that introduce the antagonism of the scribes, Pharisees, and Herodians—antagonism that will eventually lead to Jesus’ death on the cross.
We begin with a story of Jesus and the disciples traveling, on the Sabbath day, walking from village to village preaching the good news and Jesus healing the sick, and the disciples being hungry they begin to gather grain with their hands to eat.
The law of Moses allows for the hungry to gather grain, or even grapes for the purpose of immediately satisfying hunger, by hand on the Sabbath but not with implements or to put the produce up for later use. (see Deuteronomy 23:25) But here we find the detractors of Jesus trying to point blame at him for not teaching his disciples to observe the laws regarding labor on the Holy day. They contend that performing any work, even to satisfy one’s own hunger, violates the laws found in the Torah.
Assuming our modern day translations are correct, Deuteronomy 5:12-15 obviously bans performing routine labor on the Sabbath day, even the servants are to have a day of rest.
At issue here is what constitutes work. Is it work to pluck grain to satisfy one’s hunger? While various Old Testament passages deal with the subject of work (Exodus 16:22-30; 34:21; 35:2-3; Numbers 15:32-36; Nehemiah 10:31; 13:15-22; Jeremiah 17:21-22), they leave much to the imagination when it comes to defining exactly what constitutes work in particular situations.
However, Exodus 34:21 says, “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest”—so plowing and harvesting are clearly among the proscribed activities. The scribes list reaping as third among the 39 types of activities that they classify as work. The immediate question is not whether reaping is prohibited, then, because it clearly is. The question is whether plucking a few handfuls of grain constitutes reaping.
But of all God’s creation, he gave humans common sense and expects us to make use of it. If your house caught on fire during the Sabbath day, would you not and try to get as many of your possessions out which would in effect be labor? Would you expect the fire department to come put the fire out or would you not want the firemen to “labor” on the Sabbath day?
However, as often happens when people devote themselves to a narrow, intensive enterprise, their study took on a life of its own. By Jesus’ time, a substantial amount of scribal interpretation had been codified into the Mishnah (the Talmud, an extension of these studies, would come later).
Two problems resulted.
[1] Jewish religious leaders began to regard the Mishnah as second in importance only to the Torah—or even as equal to the Torah. It became increasingly difficult for them to differentiate between the Torah (God’s law) and the Mishnah (their interpretation of God’s law)—and they became increasingly inflexible in the application of their interpretations.
[2] As so often happens with academic endeavors, the scribes became so preoccupied with the fine points of the law that they lost the main point. We will see that in these verses as they criticize Jesus for allowing his disciples to pluck small amounts of grain on the sabbath (2:24)—and as they watch Jesus “to see whether he would cure (the man with the withered hand) on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him” (3:2).
At the core of the contention between the religious leaders and Jesus, is Jesus’ adherence to the intentions of his Father, God in heaven, and the religious leader’s inflexible application of their interpretations of God’s commands. It comes down to; “God’s way or their way.”
Jesus asked them: “Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?”
David was Israel's greatest (earthly) King, and by the time of Jesus, King David enjoyed an iconic status. Under his reign Israel and its people enjoyed the greatest days of glory, so much so that each and everyone of them were eagerly anticipating the prophesied return of the king, the Messiah, the anointed one who would return Israel to its former glory. Here we find Jesus, in his infinite wisdom demonstrating that the actions of his disciples parallel that of David’s actions, doing so will present his opponents with an irrefutable argument. He begins by stating that David and his companions were hungry—an obvious parallel to Jesus’ disciples.
“How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?” Mark mistakenly uses Abiathar’s name—it should be Ahimelech (1 Samuel 21:1). Abiathar was Ahimelech’s son (1 Samuel 22:20) who became David’s priest and served David prior to and after his ascension to the throne. It is generally recognized that Matthew and Luke used Mark as one of their key sources. Both tell this story (Matthew 12:1-8; Luke 6:1-5), but neither mentions Abiathar’s name, presumably because they know that Ahimelech is correct.
Jesus is referring to an incident from 1 Samuel 21:1-6 where David, warned by Jonathan, fled for his life from King Saul. While on the run David asked the priest Ahimelech for bread. Ahimelech protested that the only available bread was the holy bread, the Bread of the Presence, also known as the Showbread—bread intended to be eaten only by the priests in a holy place (Leviticus 24:5-9). However, Ahimelech offered to give the holy bread to David if David’s young men had kept themselves from women. David promised that this was the case, and Ahimelech gave him the bread. God did not condemn this action, a fact that Jesus uses to support his contention, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:” (v. 27).
While Jesus cannot claim that his disciples’ circumstances are as desperate as David’s, the obvious parallel is that both David and Jesus’ disciples engaged in a forbidden activity (David date holy bread and Jesus’ disciples plucked grain on the sabbath) to satisfy their hunger. If it was appropriate for David to eat the holy bread to satisfy his hunger (and the Pharisees would not dare suggest otherwise), then it must also be appropriate for Jesus’ disciples to pluck and eat grain on the sabbath.
But there is also something more happening here. Jesus is drawing a parallel between David prior to David’s enthronement and Jesus prior to his enthronement. This incident points to Jesus’ kingship and his yet-to-come enthronement.
“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:” Jesus puts forth the principle that God gave the sabbath to help people—not to arbitrarily restrict their activities. By abstaining from work on the sabbath, people keep it holy (a service to God), but also gain a day of rest (a service to themselves and their families). In the two instances mentioned in this Gospel lesson, neither Jesus’ disciples attempting to quench their hunger, nor the man with the withered hand have needs that could not wait for resolution, until after the sabbath is ended.
“Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath” Son of Man is Jesus’ favorite self-designation. It has its roots in Daniel 7:13. Son of Man comes without well-defined meaning, which suits Jesus’ purposes. The Romans would kill Jesus if he called himself king, and the Jews would convict him of blasphemy if he called himself Son of God.
Jesus has taught in the synagogue “as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (1:21). He has used the title “Son of Man” for himself and claimed authority to forgive sins (2:10)—an authority validated by the healing of the paralytic (2:11-12). Now he pronounces himself “Lord also of the sabbath” (2:28)—putting himself on a par with God (Edwards, 97)
At the synagogue, Jesus commands the man with the withered hand (3:1) to stand up in the center of the gathering, he wanted everyone to see this man and the point he was going to make. He addresses the Scribes and Pharisees, these so called religious leaders of that time and place: “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?”
Jesus’ opponents, of course, would advocate a third alternative: Let’s wait until the sabbath is ended. Let’s honor God on the sabbath and heal this man on the next day. There is no urgency. This man has lived with this condition for years. Another few hours won’t make any difference.
But Jesus has come to bring life and release and freedom. What better time to do a good deed than on the sabbath! What better place than the synagogue! Jesus is obviously at odds with any interpretation of the Torah that would stifle the impulse to relieve suffering on the sabbath.
In our example previously cited, if your house was on fire on the Sabbath day, should the firemen wait until sundown, before attempting to extinguish the flames?
Jesus is saying that he, The Son of God, is Lord of the Sabbath, not the narrow interpretations of his Fathers commandments as enshrined by mankind. What he says, should take precedence of their obsessive adherence to the law.
Jesus sent the message to us that even on the Lord’s day, we should attempt to do good works, to labor, in his name.
What better day of the week, to labor in his name thereby fulfilling his mission?
Benediction:
Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

The Collect
O God, your never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and earth: Put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel
Mark 2:23–3:6
3:23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.
24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful
25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?
26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?
27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath
3 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.
2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.
4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
Commentary on Today’s Gospel Selection;
One thing you can say about Mark, of the Gospel writers, he is the one who doesn’t mess around but goes to the heart of the matter; if Mark was writing about food, he would skip over the appetizers and go right to the main course. Here at the beginning of his Gospel he has grouped stories of Christ’s ministry that establish the God given authority of Jesus, and sotries that introduce the antagonism of the scribes, Pharisees, and Herodians—antagonism that will eventually lead to Jesus’ death on the cross.
We begin with a story of Jesus and the disciples traveling, on the Sabbath day, walking from village to village preaching the good news and Jesus healing the sick, and the disciples being hungry they begin to gather grain with their hands to eat.
The law of Moses allows for the hungry to gather grain, or even grapes for the purpose of immediately satisfying hunger, by hand on the Sabbath but not with implements or to put the produce up for later use. (see Deuteronomy 23:25) But here we find the detractors of Jesus trying to point blame at him for not teaching his disciples to observe the laws regarding labor on the Holy day. They contend that performing any work, even to satisfy one’s own hunger, violates the laws found in the Torah.
Assuming our modern day translations are correct, Deuteronomy 5:12-15 obviously bans performing routine labor on the Sabbath day, even the servants are to have a day of rest.
At issue here is what constitutes work. Is it work to pluck grain to satisfy one’s hunger? While various Old Testament passages deal with the subject of work (Exodus 16:22-30; 34:21; 35:2-3; Numbers 15:32-36; Nehemiah 10:31; 13:15-22; Jeremiah 17:21-22), they leave much to the imagination when it comes to defining exactly what constitutes work in particular situations.
However, Exodus 34:21 says, “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest”—so plowing and harvesting are clearly among the proscribed activities. The scribes list reaping as third among the 39 types of activities that they classify as work. The immediate question is not whether reaping is prohibited, then, because it clearly is. The question is whether plucking a few handfuls of grain constitutes reaping.
But of all God’s creation, he gave humans common sense and expects us to make use of it. If your house caught on fire during the Sabbath day, would you not and try to get as many of your possessions out which would in effect be labor? Would you expect the fire department to come put the fire out or would you not want the firemen to “labor” on the Sabbath day?
However, as often happens when people devote themselves to a narrow, intensive enterprise, their study took on a life of its own. By Jesus’ time, a substantial amount of scribal interpretation had been codified into the Mishnah (the Talmud, an extension of these studies, would come later).
Two problems resulted.
[1] Jewish religious leaders began to regard the Mishnah as second in importance only to the Torah—or even as equal to the Torah. It became increasingly difficult for them to differentiate between the Torah (God’s law) and the Mishnah (their interpretation of God’s law)—and they became increasingly inflexible in the application of their interpretations.
[2] As so often happens with academic endeavors, the scribes became so preoccupied with the fine points of the law that they lost the main point. We will see that in these verses as they criticize Jesus for allowing his disciples to pluck small amounts of grain on the sabbath (2:24)—and as they watch Jesus “to see whether he would cure (the man with the withered hand) on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him” (3:2).
At the core of the contention between the religious leaders and Jesus, is Jesus’ adherence to the intentions of his Father, God in heaven, and the religious leader’s inflexible application of their interpretations of God’s commands. It comes down to; “God’s way or their way.”
Jesus asked them: “Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?”
David was Israel's greatest (earthly) King, and by the time of Jesus, King David enjoyed an iconic status. Under his reign Israel and its people enjoyed the greatest days of glory, so much so that each and everyone of them were eagerly anticipating the prophesied return of the king, the Messiah, the anointed one who would return Israel to its former glory. Here we find Jesus, in his infinite wisdom demonstrating that the actions of his disciples parallel that of David’s actions, doing so will present his opponents with an irrefutable argument. He begins by stating that David and his companions were hungry—an obvious parallel to Jesus’ disciples.
“How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?” Mark mistakenly uses Abiathar’s name—it should be Ahimelech (1 Samuel 21:1). Abiathar was Ahimelech’s son (1 Samuel 22:20) who became David’s priest and served David prior to and after his ascension to the throne. It is generally recognized that Matthew and Luke used Mark as one of their key sources. Both tell this story (Matthew 12:1-8; Luke 6:1-5), but neither mentions Abiathar’s name, presumably because they know that Ahimelech is correct.
Jesus is referring to an incident from 1 Samuel 21:1-6 where David, warned by Jonathan, fled for his life from King Saul. While on the run David asked the priest Ahimelech for bread. Ahimelech protested that the only available bread was the holy bread, the Bread of the Presence, also known as the Showbread—bread intended to be eaten only by the priests in a holy place (Leviticus 24:5-9). However, Ahimelech offered to give the holy bread to David if David’s young men had kept themselves from women. David promised that this was the case, and Ahimelech gave him the bread. God did not condemn this action, a fact that Jesus uses to support his contention, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:” (v. 27).
While Jesus cannot claim that his disciples’ circumstances are as desperate as David’s, the obvious parallel is that both David and Jesus’ disciples engaged in a forbidden activity (David date holy bread and Jesus’ disciples plucked grain on the sabbath) to satisfy their hunger. If it was appropriate for David to eat the holy bread to satisfy his hunger (and the Pharisees would not dare suggest otherwise), then it must also be appropriate for Jesus’ disciples to pluck and eat grain on the sabbath.
But there is also something more happening here. Jesus is drawing a parallel between David prior to David’s enthronement and Jesus prior to his enthronement. This incident points to Jesus’ kingship and his yet-to-come enthronement.
“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:” Jesus puts forth the principle that God gave the sabbath to help people—not to arbitrarily restrict their activities. By abstaining from work on the sabbath, people keep it holy (a service to God), but also gain a day of rest (a service to themselves and their families). In the two instances mentioned in this Gospel lesson, neither Jesus’ disciples attempting to quench their hunger, nor the man with the withered hand have needs that could not wait for resolution, until after the sabbath is ended.
“Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath” Son of Man is Jesus’ favorite self-designation. It has its roots in Daniel 7:13. Son of Man comes without well-defined meaning, which suits Jesus’ purposes. The Romans would kill Jesus if he called himself king, and the Jews would convict him of blasphemy if he called himself Son of God.
Jesus has taught in the synagogue “as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (1:21). He has used the title “Son of Man” for himself and claimed authority to forgive sins (2:10)—an authority validated by the healing of the paralytic (2:11-12). Now he pronounces himself “Lord also of the sabbath” (2:28)—putting himself on a par with God (Edwards, 97)
At the synagogue, Jesus commands the man with the withered hand (3:1) to stand up in the center of the gathering, he wanted everyone to see this man and the point he was going to make. He addresses the Scribes and Pharisees, these so called religious leaders of that time and place: “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?”
Jesus’ opponents, of course, would advocate a third alternative: Let’s wait until the sabbath is ended. Let’s honor God on the sabbath and heal this man on the next day. There is no urgency. This man has lived with this condition for years. Another few hours won’t make any difference.
But Jesus has come to bring life and release and freedom. What better time to do a good deed than on the sabbath! What better place than the synagogue! Jesus is obviously at odds with any interpretation of the Torah that would stifle the impulse to relieve suffering on the sabbath.
In our example previously cited, if your house was on fire on the Sabbath day, should the firemen wait until sundown, before attempting to extinguish the flames?
Jesus is saying that he, The Son of God, is Lord of the Sabbath, not the narrow interpretations of his Fathers commandments as enshrined by mankind. What he says, should take precedence of their obsessive adherence to the law.
Jesus sent the message to us that even on the Lord’s day, we should attempt to do good works, to labor, in his name.
What better day of the week, to labor in his name thereby fulfilling his mission?
Benediction:
Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Chapter 9: Knowing
—
Suggested Listening:
Nicholas Brittel Agape
Required Listening ⭐️ Kwabs Like a Star Cover (Corinne Bailey Rae)
⭐️ Raye Vela Like a Star Cover (Corinne Bailey Rae)
—
“Is your heart doing okay?” I asked.
“Yes. It is fine. I am tired, but alright.”
“Good,” I said. “I was wondering. Can you tell me another poem? And then we can go to sleep.”
Sasha looked at me. “About what?” he said, smoke drifting into my face.
“I don’t know. Tell me one about someone you love.”
“Hmm,” he nodded. “Let’s see.”
He pondered this, then an expression I can only describe as conflicted crept across his face.
“What?” I asked.
“There are few I love so dearly as this person.”
My eyes widened. “Who is it?”
Sasha’s brow furrowed. Then he frowned. At first a little, then deeply.
“What?” I asked gently.
Sasha shook his head. I saw pain now in his expression.
“You don’t have to,” I said, my own brow furrowing. “Please don’t. I can pick something else. Or, actually, we can just go to sleep right now.”
Sasha closed his eyes. Then nodded as if he had come to a decision.
“I will do this. This person I love more than my own self. I would die for him. However, it will not be pretty, this poem.”
I frowned too. “Okay,” I whispered.
“ Sharp Like the tip of a blade Blunt Like the pommel of the same sword Me Like the face of his face Him Like the reflection of my visage Swift Like the bird of prey’s flight Ruthless Like the killing of its hunt Dark Like the night without the moon Troubled Like the Dead River of the Void Alive Like his heart’s beating rhythm Dying Like the joy of his soul “
“Who is that about?” I asked, concerned. “You, ‘the face of his face.’ Your twin?”
“Yes. He is not well,” Sasha said.
“Why? What happened?”
Sasha turned away from me, shaking his head. “It is too heavy to speak of just now. In the future we will.”
“Okay, I get you,” I reassured him.
“Thank you. I worry about him everyday. I call him just as much. I would give my life for him. I owe it to him,” Sasha said fiercely. “He gave his and much more. Because of his strength we survived an ordeal too terrible to speak of.”
I thought back to when he said he felt as if he were dying. I hadn’t known he meant it literally. Then the words he had latched on to: mangled and twisted. A picture was forming. A bad one.
“Thank you for creating this poem. You didn’t have to put yourself through that pain for me,” I said guiltily. Sasha shook his head at me.
“It is okay. Perhaps it was good to express his personality in poetry. It hurts to be away from him in this place. He-“ Sasha stopped. He rubbed his mouth. “I hope he is well enough to come eventually.”
I wondered what he’d been about to say. But I did not press the issue.
“Me too. I’m so sorry you all are dealing with that kind of pain. For what it’s worth, I think the poem you made about him is beautiful. Your brother sounds like a strong Wingscale that’s really going through it right now. I hope whatever joy has been stolen from him—from his soul—renews from the ashes. Or maybe some new joy will settle there, burning brightly.”
“Like a Phoenix,” he smiled. “I will tell him what you said. You two would get along, I think.”
“I can’t wait to meet him then,” I said. I wondered what sort of person he was. Moreover, I found it incredibly interesting that Sasha had a twin considering I did as well. I would tell him that news sometime when he was not already overwhelmed.
“Why don’t you get some rest? You’ve had all kinds of heart attacks and poetry and seen fire wings and what have you,” I suggested.
Sasha chuckled. “Perhaps. I must escape from this. I do not think I have made so many beautiful words manifest as poetry as I have tonight. If I do not sleep I will continue.”
“Okay, right? I usually spend some serious time writing these things. But tonight it’s like my mouth is possessed by my own self.”
“What an apt way to describe it. I feel the same. I acknowledge that my manner of speech is skilled, but tonight it holds a level of eloquence that I did not know I possessed.”
I thought back to his oration, the first thing he recited of our lyrical night. I shivered. “Sasha, you can ‘Speak to me’ anytime. This soul is listening. Eloquence indeed.”
“I promise I will speak to you more oration. You are the only person I know who would enjoy such serious strings of words for your own enjoyment.”
“I have a taste for dignity,” I replied.
Sasha paused. “What more do you need of eloquence when your mouth creates it from nowhere?”
“You have the flavor I want.”
Sasha stared at me incredulously and shook his head. “I am done with you again. You talk me into a trap at every turn.”
I cackled at him. “Alright, alright. It’s time for you go to sleep.”
“Very well,” he said, laughing gently.
I held him closer, although it was impossible. His wing came down over me like a shroud of protection. We held on to each other in silence, not needing anything to fill the space. I just breathed him. Smoke. Fire. Silence. Warmth. Breath. Growl. They spoke enough.
After a while of just laying there in peacefulness, he fell asleep. I could feel the regular inhalations and exhalations marked by the shudder of his chest. And he was a heavy sleeper. Or he was exhausted. Both probably. His flames were still wild even in slumber. Small flickers and tendrils of fire peeked every so often from his mouth. A deep growl emanated from his chest and throat at every exhalation. I stroked Sasha’s face as he slept, the heat of his fire on my hand, and he didn’t move an inch.
I watched him for a while until it occurred to me to write out all the words we had recited to each other. I turned over and reached past his wing to grab my phone from the nightstand. The glow from my screen was strange, it’s blueness cutting through the smoky red in my vision. I sat back and typed every amazing thing we had said.
Those collections of words we had stitched together from nothing just floored me. I had never made poetry like what I did that night. Such passion and beauty.
I looked at Sasha again, thinking about the words that had entranced me from his mouth.
‘Speak to me.’
‘Speak to me.’
The phrase kept ringing out in my chest. He was right. It was a rare thing to find someone who would hang on to your every word with the utmost attention. With actual interest, engagement. I wanted to speak to him forever, about anything. And he would listen. I would listen to him.
I closed my eyes and shook my head at such strong thoughts about a stranger. I thought of all the ‘normal’ people I had dated in the past. The relationships had all gone ‘normally’: date, texting, talking into the night, more dates, sex, dates. Accusations, breakups, crying. Getting over it. Normal stuff.
This was not normal, not in the slightest. Never in all my life had I behaved the way I did under that tree. I was still wondering who that was. Who was the Leila that kissed that way, that straddled dragons in broad daylight? That made love without a first date at all and then swore a stranger to an oath of binding, a whole relationship? That spoke poetry at him from her breath like it was my own fire?
Apparently I was her. It frightened me, the speed with which she and I had moved in one evening. And yet it all felt perfectly normal, inevitable.
Of course I had known when Sasha arrived there was something special about him, no matter how I tried to pretend everything was normal. why was I pretending?
That very first day, when I saw him walk into my morning class, I wasn’t paying attention when he said who he was. I had looked up and locked eyes with him. We held each others gaze for a beat longer than necessary.
Every damn class that day, and the following, I missed him announce his name. It was like a comedy sketch. The writing class we shared was the only one I was paying close attention to, and the professor had written his name on the board of course. It was infuriating.
I watched him like a hawk after he arrived that week. In all that time he didn’t speak around me. And I never spoke to him. Why hadn’t I? What had stopped me?
Just like he said, we just kept Circling each other, but never allowed ourselves to meet at the center of our orbit. He felt the same way. He had said he wanted to speak with me as well but for some reason he didn’t.
It was like a force was beckoning us to each other. To finally meet at the center of a Circle.
This day had been the first time I heard his voice at all. If I had heard it earlier, I would have been completely undone. I would not have let him walk away from me so many times.
I stared at his sleeping form, and a thought came to me again. He avoided speaking around me on purpose. Talking to me. He had known that getting close to me might start something, but had he know it would be his voice that caused such a domino effect? Then again, he knew far more than I did about Callings. Frequencies.
I balked at that word. It was so clumsy, so empty to how it felt. We shared vibes. My soul vibrated on the same wavelength as his body. Our mouths breathed the same breath. Our hearts beat the same.
Sameness. Oneness. Vibes.
He knew something would happen to his body if he let us get too close to each other. I was what he thought I was, and he had failed to prevent that change in us. But he didn’t know anything of how these changes would manifest.
It had happened so fast that he was alarmed to see me standing there in class. As soon as I greeted him, the very second he said ‘hi,’ that curious sound beneath his voice started. The thought that he was so helpless at that moment saddened me the same way it did him when he revealed the permanence of Calling. He never stood a chance. I kissed my hand and continued to stroke his face with that kiss.
And then the wings. The dreams and visions. Those two otherworldly beings… What were we? Were we gods or something? Were we reincarnated versions of them? Possessed? Were they using us? What did any of this mean? I did not know.
I tried to be more upset about this breech on our lives that sent us careening down a path we didn’t ask for. But looking at that red dragon, how could I? Our first contact was so lovely. The way we had spoken to each other in class was sweet. Neither of us could keep a smile off our faces. Laughing and carrying on, a perfect match of good humor.
I stared at him trying to conjure up feelings of grief, apprehension, fear, irritation or anything negative at all, and I came up with nothing.
I sighed. I could tell that in that other life, in that place of lakes of fire and expanses of the cosmos, that we were really something special. Something strong. Something beautiful. I was not alarmed at our sudden connection, the strength of it, the passion of it.
But if we broke apart from one another in the future—everything in me said no—that alarmed me. The coldness. The despair. The threat of death at an incomplete attunement. At a great falling away into a chasm. It was horrifying that Sasha could literally die from us being separated. It was unfair.
I would never let that happen. How horrible a thought. Not after this Calling had fallen upon him and surprises kept rearing their heads.
I was done writing our poems and, subsequently, my musings. I put my phone back where it belonged. My head was still swirling with all those thoughts, but I shut my eyes and tried to shut down my mind.
I held Sasha again. Even in his sleep he put his arms back around me. It made me smile to be enveloped in his warmth.
Eventually I drifted off to sleep as well.

I don’t know how long I had been asleep when I felt Sasha’s heartbeat pick up enough to wake me. It was the time where night lingers in the earliest of hours. Nothing but the soft murmur of calling insects and wind outside.
I groaned and looked up into Sasha’s face, but he was still sleeping.
“What is it?” I asked, groggy.
“Please,” he slurred.
“Please what?” I whispered, more alert.
He mumbled something more in his sleep. “Make it stop,” he whispered. “Please,” he pleaded. “…the shore...”
I put my hands over my mouth. I didn’t know what he could be dreaming about. It occurred to me that all that talk of pain and wounds might have stemmed from ptsd or something like that. He was in the military after all.
I let him be just in case that’s what it was. I did not want to add additional stress or confusion to a ptsd dream.
Eventually Sasha stirred of his own accord. He opened his eyes and looked around in confusion. I waited until he seemed to be all there with me.
“Hey, you alright?” I didn’t mention his sleep talking.
He didn’t say a word for a moment, just rubbed his eyebrows. Then he patted my back. I let go of him so he could sit up.
He removed his wing from around me, groaning.
“What is it?” I inquired.
Sasha rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked at me. “I heard your Calling…” he whispered tiredly in wonder, so low I almost didn’t hear him. “It was soft and quiet, almost imperceptible. But I heard it, still, in my sleep…”
My eyes widened, my heart pounding as well. I sat up. “Really?” I whispered back. “What is it like?”
He moved his head to the side, still listening. “Soft waves. A wind chime. A whisper of song. I have heard it before. That is why I awoke,” he said.
“Really?” I asked. My Calling sounded peaceful like being at the beach. Of course, my favorite place. Interesting. I sleepily folded my arms under my head.
“It is very faint.” Sasha closed his eyes. “I know when I heard it.”
“When was that?” I asked.
“You are sleepy still. We can speak of it later.”
I waved him off. “We are awake now. I have no doubt when we say we’ll sleep again it will be no trouble. I fell to sleep easily and so did you.”
Sasha chuckled to himself. “Very well, Leila.” He leaned his back, head against the headboard. His eyes stayed closed.
“I was sitting with my brother, Pasha, upon a stone wall at the beach. It was the evening before I came to this place. I was unsure if I had made the right decision to go with my father. To leave Pasha behind. I had wanted to throw myself into my work to forget the ordeal we had both gone through. But Pasha told me I needed something new, and that whatever it was lie across the ocean waiting for me. Something fulfilling. He said that, surely, wallowing in guilt, in anger and sadness, would not help me heal my wounds although he was dealing with wounds of his own.”
I wondered what wounds he meant. I had seen the scars on his wings. More pain. More scars. Mangled and twisted. He had died and would do so again. Moreover, he had muttered something about the shore. And here it appeared in his story. What had happened to him?
As if sensing my questions, he inhaled deeply.
“I will tell you of the things that transpired eventually. It was… horrible. It is still too raw for me. I apologize for these strange disjointed hints of pain, of suffering.”
“No, no. It’s okay. We will discuss it all later,” I said appreciatively. “Go on.”
“Hmm. Even after Pasha’s encouragement, I still felt apprehension about traveling to this land. All at once, I heard a woman singing on the beach, yet I saw no one.
I heard the sound of wildly swaying wind chimes, of rain, of whipping winds, but there were nothing anywhere to make such sounds.
My brother thought I was crazy. But that voice stirred my spirit as I stared out at that dark water. It was mournful, like a siren in a tempest whose heart had been broken to pieces.
At one point, she whispered a barely discernible plea: ‘Someone, just please help me.’ ‘I can’t do this.’”
I gasped in alarm, my heart hammering away so hard I thought I would have a heart attack. I knew at once the woman was me. It was me who had been pleading in turmoil, with those precise words, wanting someone to swoop down and save me. By the Goddess…
Sasha continued his tale, perhaps not noticing my change in demeanor. “I didn’t know where she was, or what it was she did not want to do, but I told my brother to give me a moment.
I stood and walked along the shore, looking for someone in need, for anything strange. I never found any such woman. I spoke a word of peace to her, whoever she was, wherever she was.”
At the same time, we both said:“Calm your spirit and be at peace. Whatever you feel, just let it exist. Let it be.”
Sasha stopped. He opened his eyes and stared at me in awe. “You heard those words?”
I nodded, heart still pounding. Which of us was having these heart troubles? Him or me?
Sasha shook his head, rubbing his face. “Madness. But truly amazing nonetheless,” he said quietly.
“Yeah…” I responded. I didn’t know what else to say.
“It was you,” he said, not asked.
“I suppose so…”
Sasha continued.
“I returned to my brother to conclude our talk. I told him I wanted to stay a while, and he stayed with me. The song turned into something sweeter after a time. I went looking yet again but never found you. Of course I could not. You were nowhere near me.
Eventually we left. Pasha and I parted ways, and I returned to my home.
No matter what I did, I could not shake your voice from my mind that evening. It sent shivers down my spine. So I returned to the beach. There was nothing else for it; I would have remained awake all night agonizing over my travels the next day anyway. Why not do so surrounded by such mystical music?
I went to a quiet place, book and blanket in hand. The water was complete still, yet the sound of waves was everywhere. Intangible, lapping against the shore.”
I recalled when I had mentioned sitting at the beach watching waves lapping on the shore. He had paused then, as we stood in his living room, thinking of something. I now knew he had recalled this event and wondered at the similarities.
“The sunset was vibrant, strangely so. It was stunning, like a painting. No one else seemed to find the sight of note but me.
You were singing, but again in sorrow. I stayed out there, reading a book and meditating, until others went away from the beach. Until only I remained. Your faint song, the softest whispers of singing, became sweet again. So much singing, you did. By the gods so much singing. It was like a quiet concert.”
I covered my face. “I’m glad you caught them,” I said, laughing.
“There was only one song I caught well enough to hear the words. You sang it over and over. I did not sleep until you uttered nothing more, your voice fading away. I felt empty at the silence, but content in that, perhaps, my presence had calmed this siren, that perhaps her broken heart had somewhat mended. Unfortunately for me; the absence of your songs caused a melancholy to settle in my spirit. A longing. I came here looking for your voice. I questioned your love of voices because it shocked me, the similarities we continue to share.”
“Hmmm,” I vocalized, not unlike he so often did.
Sasha regarded me, shaking his head in wonder. “Repeating that event back, it is obvious that this woman was you. At the time, back when it happened, I regarded it as a very strange occurrence or perhaps my descent into madness,” he said.
“You most certainly are not mad,” I said.
“Indeed. I know very well at this point that your experience across the ocean happened at that time. You knew my words.”
“I remember them well. Just like a lot of things so far, we have these experiences, the aspects of ourselves that are too similar to be a coincidence. We are like mirrors.”
“Only one of us is larger.”
“Sasha!” I exclaimed.
He laughed at me, hugging me. Then he lay down onto the bed again.
“Speak to me of that same evening,” he said.
I sat up slightly, leaning on my elbow, looking into his eyes.
“I was at the beach too. Certainly the same night, the same week you appeared at school. I have this one particular spot on the beach where no one goes but me. I would make myself a wood fire and look at the smoke swirl into tendrils, embers scattering to the wind. I would sit there to watch storms roll in the distance, writing poetry or doing homework or what have you.”
Sasha nodded, acknowledging the picture I painted was the same as his Call. I nudged him, making him smile.
“But that day? I was having an awful time. Every year I dreaded the same thing, but I always escaped. This time, there was no more running. I was cornered, trapped. And the choice was before me. I stared across the ocean and cried. I said it as you heard. ‘I can’t do this. Please help me.’ I just wanted someone to get me out of that situation, but I wasn’t willing to ask for it again. I was so tired of disappointment.
So I’m sitting there in front of these hypnotic flames singing to myself, trying to shake off those bad spirits. Couldn’t even write a poem about my own despair.”
“Impossible. I refuse to believe such nonsense,” he said, chuckling.
“Shocking, I know,” I agreed, smiling. “That’s when I heard a thunderstorm on the horizon. At least there was that, I thought. My greatest comfort to cheer me.
I’m listening to that distant storm, but there were no clouds, no darkness, no strike of lightning. It puzzled me.
But the sky. Oh Sasha, that was the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen. The same wonderful night sky you saw. It was brighter than normal, like fire and roses and gold melding with the sea. I have never seen a more beautiful place for the Goddess to drift into slumber.
I stood up and looked around. Further down the beach people were still going into the water, chatting, lazing about, like nothing was happening. Like this gorgeous sky and this distant storm did not exist.
Then I heard this voice. It was faint. Super faint. But so deep—“ I patted his chest, now knowing it was him. “Your voice; you said those words to me such that my soul was contented.”
“Calm your spirit and be at peace. Whatever you feel, just let it exist. Let it be,” he repeated quietly. “I live by these words. I acknowledge the feelings and emotions, the pain and joy, that exist in me, that often loom before me. The negative ones will not simply vanish because I ignore them. Sometimes it is easy to face them. And sometimes it is so, so hard, Leila. So hard it feels impossible. But I try, still.”
“And your way of facing your emotions is the truth. I did as you suggested that night; the intense sorrow I felt was for a reason, for many reasons. And I just let all that sorrow unfold so I could face it. Your words were like a warm hug in the midst of my despair. Thank you.”
“You are always welcome,” he said, stroking my face. “Go on.”
“After that, I stayed out there all night. The storm never showed itself, but only grew louder. It’s like it rolled only for me. And it did, didn’t it?
I slept out there under the stars that night. Didn’t care about school. Didn’t care about anyone or anything. Your voice of peace washed away all my worries. So after that I just sang as the thunder peeled, and I did so all evening and into the night. I started singing to you specifically after that. Joyously. I broke out my best numbers,” I said. I covered my face, cracking up.
He laughed quietly. “Indeed; as I said, what I could discern was beautiful.”
I uncovered my face and smiled. “Thank you,” I said. I sighed, reaching my tale’s conclusion. “The next day I felt like I had come out of a deep meditation. Like the sorrow of yesterday did not exist. I had hoped to the Sun that your voice was the Answer to what troubled me. Then your voice stopped for a time. Until today.”

TLDR: Passed with 70 points on first try. I'm happier about passing on the first try than about passing at all, because that means I won't have to endure this again.
Background:
I have about 6 years of experience as a Security Engineer in IR teams, but I have never done any penetration tests. Never heard of winpeas, linpeas, etc. Barely heard of mimikatz and bloodhound because they would come up once in a while when responding to alerts or when engaging against red teams. Also, half of those 6 years were in the military where I hardly ever got to do the job. Im sure some of you can relate.
Why OSCP:
TL;DR: vanity.
Every year or so, I feel an itch to get a new cert that's harder than the previous one. The progression went from CompTIA certs to SANS certs in forensics and malware reverse engineering which landed me in pretty demanding jobs. Recently, I took a step back to take a less demanding job, but with that, came a compulsive itch to tickle my brain with something demanding. I'd heard of OSCP, and the horrors. Purely out of vanity, I figured there's no better way to feel good about myself than to get this cert. I had no incentive to get a new job, or to get promoted or to make more money or anything like that because I am already in highly overpaid role.
How I did it:
TLDR: 4 months of prep. 1.5 month for PEN200, then 2.5 months of labs.
At the end of December, I signed up for LearnOne. The discount didn't matter to me because my employer paid for it, but it definitely helped. Starting in January, I skimmed over the PEN-100 modules to familiarize myself with Kali Linux, and then started PEN-200 full speed. With a wife, toddler and a newborn, it wasn't easy to make time to study at home, but I went through the modules as often as I could at work. I completed the course in about a month and a half. It was like drinking from a firehose. Never had I ever felt so overwhelmed by so much new and exciting knowledge at such a pace. Really enjoyed the learning process.
After PEN200, I dove right into the challenge labs. I was very quickly humbled by Medtech when I spent an entire week trying to figure out how to get an initial foothold. That's when I had to take a step back, go through Portswigger, and then try again. Overall, Medtech took me at least 2 weeks. Followed by another week for Relia. Did a couple PG practice boxes, and then dove straight into OSCP A B and C so could get the 10 bonus points. I think the practice tests were easier because they were smaller AD sets, but some of the standalones were absolutely brutal. Before I moved on to more PG boxes, I took a few weeks off from studying as I realized that I was spending way too little time with family, and way too much time at the desk.
My next prep work as PG boxes. I think I did about 25 PG boxes total, mostly windows. I didn't watch any Ippsec walkthroughs, but I did follow TJ Null's list for PG boxes.
I also read the HTB Academy's Active Directory course, which I think is absolutely excellent. I didn't complete it, but I studied and took notes on the portions that I found relevant. I basically entirely replaced my PEN200 AD notes with the HTB Academy's AD notes because HTB material was so much better.
Walkthroughs: I really really enjoyed S1REN!'s PG practice boxes walkthroughs. Highly recommend.
I have no opinions about Ippsec because I didn't watch his videos because I wanted to focus as much as possible on Offsec material, and I considered HTB boxes as more of a "distraction" of sorts from the Offsec way of doing things. Don't trust my opinion blindly though, since there are so many people out there who love IppSec for good reasons. If you're tight on time, I'd skip Ippsec. HOWEVER, I highly recommend you to bookmark his website ippsec.rocks where you can keyword-search for walkthrough. This is incredibly helpful and I am very grateful to Ippsec for doing this.
Tib3rius: Cough up the $30 or so and purchase the Windows/Linux privesc bundle by Tib3rius. It's not better than PEN200's material by a whole lot, but it's still better.
My exam experience:
I knew this would not be easy, but it was much harder than I imagined. This was because against by best judgement, [1] I started later in the day, and [2] I didn't take as many breaks as I should have and [3] I forgot it KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. Up until the 12 hours, I had 0 points. I finally made progress only after I backed off from the complex approaches and tried something ridiculously simple. After initial foothold, it was super easy. Same with my next standalone. After initial foothold, it was super easy. Couldn't crack into the other 2 standalones because I was just too exhausted from beating my head against the keyboard for 12 hrs. Had I taken a step back and got some rest, perhaps I would've been in a better mental state to tackle all the boxes.
Tips for preparing:

• Get the 10 bonus points. I wouldn't have passed if I hadn't.
• For SQLi, do Portswigger modules first before doing the PEN200 modules. Portswigger has interactive exercises that solidify your SQLi knowledge before you can put it into practice. Don't bother with the Blind SQLi portions (except for what you need to do to get your 80% completion)
• Don't waste time by being stuck. Don't tRy hARdER when all you're doing is beating your head against the keyboard and burning yourself out. Look for solutions. The goal is to learn, and the time you spend pulling your hair out is better spent on adding more knowledge to your arsenal.
• Do the PG boxes, but again lean on walkthroughs as needed. Out of the 20+ boxes I did, I think I pwned only 2-3 boxes on my own.
• If you are not on a time crunch, give yourself the time to learn from HTB Academy, TCM, etc before jumping into PEN200. If I had known any better, that's what i would've done. If you are like me and are willing to take on a challenge at the cost of family life and Work life balance, go ahead and throw yourself into the fire. Otherwise, I'd recommend taking a softer and longer ramp up approach.
• Take notes but don't bother wasting time on learning how to write reports. As long as you take screenshots, you'll be able to slap together a report on exam day. Way too many people overcomplicate report writing. Use the OffSec template. It's ugly, but 70 points is 70 points.

Tips for exam:

• Keep it simple. If you find yourself pulling your hair out trying to figure out how to exploit a machine, you're likely going down the wrong path. The vectors of exploit are very simple, but only slightly out of reach. Perhaps you under-enumerated. Or maybe you went straight to trying complex solutions without trying the easy solutions that were right under your nose the whole time.
• Start early even if you're not a morning person. I started at midday, which was a mistake.
• If you get stuck for too long, go for a drive or just step away.
• Do everything twice. On the first go, just do the hacking and don't worry about the notes too much. After you've got enough points, revert the machines, then go back through your steps, taking VERY thorough notes and screenshots.

Good luck, all!