Pipe sketches

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Hello again! This batch of chapters is looking pretty spicy, and I'm really excited to share them with you! Not really much else to say, tbh, other than that I'm once again really thankful for all of your patience and understanding when it comes to my upload schedule. I know it's tough sometimes to drop in and out of stories like this, and even worse to see the last upload date for a story you like being "100 days ago," but we're still making our way there slowly! Besides, the most tender dishes are the ones that boil slowly~
As always, I hope you enjoy reading! :D
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Fanart: The Brightest Star in the Night Sky, by u/Frostedscales
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Thank you to Philodox on discord for proofreading and editing RfD.
Thank you to Pampanope on reddit for the cover art.
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​
Memory Transcript Subject: Sylvan, Venlil Citizen
Date: [Standardized Human Time]: December 13, 2136
​
“Everything’s good to go over here, Kenta! How about you?”
“Fine on my end too boss! Though I still don’t know how to feel about how I’ve arranged the sandwiche– err… sylvanas. Cucumber salad next to blueberry? They kind of don’t match…”
“I already told you a million times, they look fine!”
“You sure…?”
“I’m sure! Now are you ready to start this thing?”
“Ready!”
“Then let’s go!”
I shut the door to the kitchen, making sure that I had not left anything behind that would be needed for the day, then began wheeling out the final cart of amenities. As I rolled it down the wooden floor of my emptied out diner, one long serving tray jostled back and forth across the surface top.
I looked down to recap my inventory. A motley of sylvanas cleanly cut into triangles lay in an ornate pattern atop a decorative bed of raw ipsom grain stalks, spiraling around the edges of the plate as it creeped its way closer to the center. The sylvanas were split into clear groups based not only on their filling, but of the colour of that filling as well, creating a literal rainbow of flavours to choose from. By all means, it was an absolutely marvelous display of art; a visual performance that I had no idea could be captured in something like a dish to be served at such a quaint event. Kenta, however, seemed to still be worrying over it.
Despite it apparently being part of the name according to my translator, the Terran fruit named “blueberry” was actually a deep shade of indigo rather than blue, especially when crushed into a form of jam. As a result, lacking any blue to connect the various green options of our rainbow to that of the very limited indigo, Kenta had ended up spending much too long worrying over such a minute detail.
‘What a dummy…’ I thought back to myself with a slight chuckle. ‘I guess he’s worrying about this just as much as I am.’
Hardly two or three steps remained between the food cart and the diner’s entrance. Hastily, I jogged up to the front door to prop it open. However, when I went to turn the handle, I felt it give way without even the slightest push. Someone was pulling it from the other side, causing me to be yanked forward and stumble. Looking up, I saw the rusty figure of Fehnel standing impatiently in the doorway.
“You almost done in here, Sylvan?” she asked in a hurried breath. “Here, let me help you with that.”
Before hearing my response, Fehnel had already grabbed ahold on the cart and began pulling it outside without delay. I let go and didn’t attempt to stop her, knowing full well the farm woman was likely much stronger than I. In a blur, she was already far from the door, and I began jogging after her in an attempt to keep up.
Just as the day before, the Inverter was powered on and running perfectly. The metal pylon let out a slight, continuous hum as it projected an energetic beam from its center, which split at the apex around the height of the Lackadaisy and fell down in a parabolic curve, creating a tangible anti-gravity field in its wake.
Just outside the field, it became immediately clear just how necessary this piece of advanced Federation technology was. Beyond the radiant dome, a thick rain riddled the sky and drowned the world it fell unto. A harsh wind howled and distant thunder roared, which combined with the rain to push against the field to no avail. Within, where so many confectionaries, decorations, and other preparations had been so carefully placed, not even the paw of Solgalick could disrupt us.
“You know this would be goin’ a lot faster if I could jus’ start grabbin’ the food ma’self,” Fehnel commented in a tone too preoccupied to be annoyed.
As I ran after the hauling Yotul, I tried to say, “Fehnel, I’d really appreciate it if you would–”
“I know, I know,” she interrupted back, seemingly distant. “You want me to ‘not go into the diner during the event.’ Listen Sylvan, I get that Kahnta back there is a fainter, but don’t you think that this is a tad extreme? We’re on a tight schedule here, y’know?”
“I know… it’s just kind of a golden rule. I can’t stress to you enough how important it is that nobody does so much as peak in there,” I reiterated as I jogged alongside the speeding Yotul. “And don’t worry. Once everything starts, then you can feel free to socialize and spend the day with your daughter. I’ll take care of restocking the food.”
“I suppose that’s awful nice of ya,” Fehnel breathed out. “Sure you won’t be tirin’ yourself out, hun?”
I shrugged. “Eh. How fast could people possibly eat? It’ll be fine.”
“Careful there. Don’t wanna be sprintin’ before your legs catch up,” Fehnel chuckled. “But I’m plenty thankful for the confidence. I’ll try to hold ya to your word.”
As we moved, I was able to take a brief second to look around. I began to marvel at how far the event had come since its initial inception. And under such short time restrictions as well! Through a combination of both the Lacakdaisy’s furniture, as well as a number of decorations that I had rented, we had ended up with something that I had truly considered exemplary. In traditional Venlil style, a forest of various greenery had been set out in a colourful array of paw-crafted pots and other containers. Small bushels, flowers, a few overhanging trees, and other vegetation stood proudly within. From each, incandescent ornaments of various hues emerged in a bright and brazen display. All of which combined to transform the normally secluded street atmosphere into one that was truly cozy, if not just the slightest bit packed within the bubble. In accordance with one of Fehnel’s initial requests, we had even arranged for a small wooden stage to be brought in, which fit neatly against… something that I would rather not look at…
Of course, decorations aside, one of the most enrapturing displays was that of the food itself. Positioned at various places all around the event’s area, tables upon tables of buffet items had been laid out. It was a marvelous display on all fronts. From the generously sized serving bowls of pasta, plates of still steaming gyoza, and the diverse types and variations of strayu laid in motley rows all throughout, the feast was like a colourful microcosm of everything Kenta and I had been working towards.
But what was even more impressive were all the new additions Kenta had made. Just as expected, my wayward chef had taken the original request and spun it on its tail, seemingly pulling no stops when it came to expanding our already diverse arrangement. From end to end, small, round discs of strayu called “Danishes” lay against each other down the side of one of the tables. Most impressively, the center of each had been filled in with various hues of jam, in a similar style to that of the sylvanas that I was currently wheeling towards it.
On the other side of the same table, a sundry of embellished wooden bowls sat parallel, each filled with various kinds of Venlilian-style salads. I had taken the time to teach him such recipes a good while back, but while at first these seemed to be rather unostentatious, a quick look revealed that Kenta had added his own twist to the otherwise typical mix of local produce. Tossed about each salad were dozens of small strayu cubes called “Croutons,” each baked until crisp and crunchy. What’s more, if the olfactory receptor in my mouth didn’t deceive me, I had even picked up the heavenly aroma of something Kenta had only introduced to me recently as “Garlic,” which had clearly been infused into the cubes.
On another table, steaming crocks of both soups and stews had been laid out for guests to self serve. But in lieu of a bowl, Kenta had elected to do something truly unique. It had taken me a moment to process his idea at first, but hollowed out husks of rotund strayu loaves had been left out for guests to grab, in which they were supposed to fill the “bread bowls” – as Kenta had called them – with the soup and eat them as normal. This even came with the advantage of being able to tear off small pieces of the now soup-soaked strayu, allowing one to enjoy the taste of both simultaneously. This idea, I had soon realized, would be the hardest to explain to any confused guests that might happen by.
As we approached the soup table, Fehnel and I began loading up the cart-full of sylvanas we had brought over onto a free area. We placed them right next to one other new recipe that Kenta had decided to share. A simple display of thinly cut slices of crunchy, lightly seasoned strayu, with a bright red sauce readied next to it that I instantly recognized as being the product of tomatoes mixed with oil. According to Kenta, these “Bruschetta” were a simple, yet simultaneously alluring appetizer, which would do well to pair with the soup he had stirred up.
Once the sylvanas had been laid out, Fehnel felt the urge to ask, “Is that the last of it?”
“Yes, for now,” I replied, absentmindedly stretching my back. “This’ll cover the initial rush of hungry people, I assume. But Kahnta’s already busy working on seconds.”
“Gotta say Sylvan, this is quite the impressive spread,” Fehnel said with a quick, delighted wag of the tail. “Y’know… When I asked for somethin’ new, I wasn’t expectin’ Kahnta over there to whip up so much.”
“Oh this isn’t the new dish you asked for,” I answered flatly. “That’s still being worked on.”
Fehnel froze solid, only her ears remaining seemingly automotive as they slowly shifted towards me. “Wait… what?
“Yeah all of this is just the appetizer according to Kahnta,” I explained, messing with a few arrant sylvanas that had broken symmetry. “There’s going to be one more plate of food that should be coming out shortly. And then dessert after that.”
“That’s… surely somethin’...” was all Fehnel could say. She opened her mouth as if to continue her train of thought, only to have something else pull her attention away.
Peering out into the stormy weather of the darkened town, an eye-catchingly large herd of people were making their way towards the bright dome that sketched our event’s area. Silhouettes of familiar patrons and wayward newcomers alike huddled under their umbrellas. All the while, an excited murmur hummed throughout the air, despite the noise of the rain around them. The guests were here, and they seemed excited.
I peered down at a small data pad. “Oh, second-sun already? Looks like we just barely made it on time.”
Fehnel simply wagged in acknowledgment, still the slightest bit flabbergasted.
I nudged her side, which seemed to knock her out of her trance. “Want to go greet them?”
Taking one look at me, then peering back at the ensemble of strange and alien foods behind her, one of Fehnel’s ears flicked a little. Then, she did the tail equivalent of a Human shrug, letting out a pleased chuckle. Whatever had been on her mind was apparently pushed to the side for now. “Heh, of course hun. Let’s treat ‘em to somethin’ special.”
With a newfound kick in her already hastened step, Fehnel began to proudly jog over towards the approaching crowd. By now, we could already begin to make out some faces, each looking more curious than the last.
In addition to the Brachistochrone Inverter itself, Jeela had also taken the liberty to have a reception area installed in the form of a metallic tunnel about the width of three Venlil. The tunnel seemed to fold and bend the anti-gravity energy around it, allowing for people to easily enter the repulsion field without having to tread through a torrent of redirected rainwater. Additionally, a series of hooks alongside the interior of the tunnel also served as a convenient area for the storage of umbrellas and coats, which our guests quickly began making use of the moment they started funneling through.
Fehnel and I stood at the side of the entrance, welcoming in guest after guest with the appropriate propriety. At first, many of them were stymied in their step, staring in awe at the sanctuary-like atmosphere that had been created in the middle of the street. But almost as soon as they got their bearings, most realigned their immediate priorities, and subsequently made a beeline for the buffet tables. That’s what they were here for, after all. Hopefully they’d come to appreciate the actual reason Fehnel was hosting this event soon enough.
As we busied ourselves, the voices of many excited guests made themselves audible.
“I’ve been looking forward to this!”
“Look at the decorations!”
“I feel like I’m in the Capital!”
“Are you sure all of this is free?”
“The ad said it was! Either way, I need to try some of this!”
Fehnel and I watched in delight as the crowd began to form around the tables, a number of plates I had left out disappearing as fast as the eye could blink. However, it was clear that a majority of the attention received had been focussed solely on the more familiar menu items already offered by the Lackadaisy.
“Think they’re gonna touch any of the new stuff?” Fehnel idly commented, her attention still fixed on the crowd. “It’d be a shame if any of it goes to waste.”
“Oh they will,” I answered without hesitation. “Just give them a moment. They’ll be all over it soon enough.”
Fehnel laughed. “You sound awful confident, don’tcha?”
“Oh please, this is hardly the first time I’ve served some wacky new thing to my customers,” I answered back with a chuckle of my own. “If anything, at this point I’d say I’m quite the expert. Just watch. You’ll see.”
Like clockwork, my precognitive claim had been proven true mere moments later. Some soul amongst the table’s crowd had seemingly been more curious than the rest, and ended up taste-testing one of the bruschetta. It was hard to make out from this distance, but if I had to guess, her ears had perked up and her eyes had widened in surprise. What was made clear, however, was their opinion of the new food, because only a few moments later could their voice be heard.
“You have got to try some of this stuff!” she practically yelled at anyone who would listen. “It tastes like the red stuff that’s on the pasta, but like… even stronger! It’s so good I feel like I died and am one with the Stars already!”
Like a Farsul unto a library, the crowd collectively swiveled their ears and began to gravitate towards the bruschetta with eager eyes. A few more voices piped up in glee, each more delighted than the last as paw after paw descended on the strayu until there was nothing scarce of crumbs left.
‘Guess that’ll be the first thing I’ll need to restock,’ I thought with a passive wave of the tail, before a sudden realization crept into my mind. ‘Ugh… Kenta and I might be busier today than I thought…’
It wasn’t long before the elation of trying something new, mixed with the sudden and devastating lack of bruschetta, had urged our party guests to move on to the other, never before seen options that laid out to fill their fancy. All at once, the wall of wool and fluff had spread out the slightest bit as fresher waters were explored. Plates were filled with various salads, despite the unfamiliar bits of crunchy strayu inside raising some skeptical ears. Helping after helping of the technicolour pastries were reached for as well, with the sylvanas not lasting much longer after that. And most impressively, it seemed that people had quickly begun to figure out the concept of Kenta’s cute “bread bowl” idea as well, even without instruction.
That last turn of events had actually caught me the slightest bit off guard. For the bread bowls being quite possibly the most unique aspect of the event – well, that I knew of – I found myself rather impressed by how fast people were getting the hang of it. Sure, it meant that I wouldn’t have to bother myself with having to go around explaining it to everybody, but in my eyes, there was a bit more to it than that. Perhaps it was a case of grasping at straws, but for the briefest moment, it made me wonder whether or not Humanity’s ideas had been affecting my people more than I had realized. Perhaps, if only in the slightest, Kenta had been opening their minds to more unique ideas than I had given him credit for. Without the slightest bit of hesitancy, the partygoers did well to experiment with more than the obvious, quickly wrapping their minds around something completely new and extraordinary.
I exhaled a short-breathed snicker, shaking the thought out of my head. ‘Calm down there, Sylvan. It’s just some soup and a piece of strayu shaped like a bowl. No need to get all philosophical about it. Still, I guess them figuring it out saves me some time. Good, cause it looks like I already need to start stocking the next round…’
I moved to grab my cart so that I could head back inside, only to have Fehnel call out and grab my attention instead.
“Sylvan, hun,” she began. “Before you go makin’ yourself scarce. I think there’s somethin’ about this here party that you haven’t explained yet.”
My head turned out to face her. “Hm?”
“Now, don’t get me wrong… What you did here is great and all. By all means, whenever it is that Kadew decides to show up here with that date of hers, I’m sure she’ll start coming around to the idea of my peoples’ Runnin’ Day. But…”
I now realized that Fehnel was completely focussed on something off in the distance.
“Oh,” I replied. “That…”
I had done well to ignore it up until this point. In fact, if I tried hard enough, I was even able to keep it completely hidden from my peripheral. But the truth was, no matter where I went or what I did to distract myself, there was no denying that it was there – that She was there.
At the opposite end of the dome, an onyx terror lurked over the ignorant, complacent masses. Its wicked enormity great, and the pressure about it even greater. The form it took was terrifying. An alien pose, unknown to the mind, originated from a people feared by many. Its peering eyes descended as domineering malevolence. And from its onyx chassis, a message rang clear as a day personally forged by Solgalick themself: Even if I couldn’t see her; if I shielded herself from my sight all day… No matter what, She could always see me.
“I’m gonna be honest Sylvan, I did not take you as someone that had a thing for Magister Jeela.”
I shot back quicker than a bolt of lighting. “I DO NOT HAVE A ‘THING’ FOR–” before stopping myself short.
Luckily, my voice had not been noticed among the now loud, chattering crowd about us. Which was good. I was pretty sure that my voice had cracked into an almost childishly high pitch. Taking a deep breath, I yanked my composure back, and stuffed an air of professionalism back into my voice yet again.
“I a-appologize…” I mumbled out, my head shrinking between my shoulders.
“No worries!” Fehnel replied. She couldn’t help but let a few chuckles pour into her voice. “I was just teasin’ is all. But seriously, you’re gonna have to whip up a pretty darn good explanation… Else I’m boutta start thinkin’ that what I just said was true.”
I took a deep breath, which soon shifted into a long-winded sigh. “Listen… It was part of the deal, alright? I’m not proud of it, but it’s there now, and unless you’ve got a herd of Mazic heavylifters at the beck and call, I can’t get rid of it.”
“Part of the deal?” Fehnel repeated.
“It’s my end of the bargain for us being able to have this Inverter during the event. And no, before you ask, it was not worth it,” I explained.
I could do nothing but feel immense shame for the inconvenience. To have something so overbearing, so shamelessly grandstanding placed in the middle of what was supposed to be a quaint event about cross-cultural understanding… It was beyond disrespectful to Fehnel’s original request. It took something that the poor woman had been planning for who knew how long, and brutally morphed it into a shadow of its former self. Into nothing but an ego trip for a politician that probably already surrounded themselves with weed biters and paw lickers.
“Listen…” I said, lowering both my tail and ears in respect. “Fehnel, I apologize profusely for allowing that thing to be placed here. I should have put my paw down and just hosted the event inside like we planned. But it’s too late now. I’m really sorry…”
But to my surprise, Fehnel had not been paying attention to my display of humility. Instead, her focus was still on that of the statue.
“I think it looks neat!” she said in a cheery tone.
“Y-you do?” I mumbled back.
“Well yeah!” She wagged her tail to assure me. “Sure it’s a bit, err… unconventional… But I think it’s got quite a bit of charm to it!”
“That’s… one way of saying it…”
“Besides, it might not be the worst thing to have somethin’ from the Magisters here with us,” Fehnel continued to think out loud. “Sorta gives this whole event a kinda official feel, y’know? Like it’s lettin’ everyone here know that the Yotul have got just as much right bein’ under the same heedin’ ears of the Governor as anyone else. Sure, dependin’ on where you are and who you ask, that may or may not be a good thing. But it at least means it’s harder to ignore us now. Heck, might even convince some of the people ‘round here to open up a little to the other parts of us.”
“Well… so long as you’re happy with it, I suppose?” I worded awkwardly.
If I had been completely honest with myself, I was expecting the slightest bit more… Well, I wasn’t sure. Perhaps anger? Annoyance? Unrelenting grief that invariably led to locking yourself in a closet, crying? But there was no sign of that in the rusty Yotul’s eyes. As she stared up at the onyx marvel, I couldn’t help but feel as though there was no sign of the negativity I had anticipated in the slightest. Instead, all that remained was that of a solemn pride. Maybe she was lying to herself. Like it was some sort of coping mechanism that helped her work around this unwelcome development in her plans. But regardless, the end result remained. And I was left feeling relieved at being able to avoid yet another hurdle.
‘Fehnel really knows how to look at the optimistic side of things, I guess… Good. I could really use some more of that around here.’
“Feel free to run along now, Sylvan,” she said, waving me a satisfied flick of the tail. “I’ll keep waitin’ here so I can greet the other guests. And I do hope you and Kahnta can bring out the main course whenever it’s ready. I wanna make sure everything’s ready to blow Kadew’s fur off whenever she decides to get here.”
I had to force myself not to flash a Human smile in return. She and the rest of the partygoers had no idea what was coming. And to a certain extent, neither did I. He did mention he had some sort of “surprise” coming, after all. But I always trusted Kenta for his word, and knowing what my chef was capable of, it never occurred to me once that it wouldn’t live up to the expectations. In fact, I was counting on him to exceed them.
I turned around and headed back to the kitchen. It was time to get the real party started.
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-First- -Previous- -Next (on Patreon)-

-First- -Previous- -Next (on Patreon)-
—————————
Hello again! This batch of chapters is looking pretty spicy, and I'm really excited to share them with you! Not really much else to say, tbh, other than that I'm once again really thankful for all of your patience and understanding when it comes to my upload schedule. I know it's tough sometimes to drop in and out of stories like this, and even worse to see the last upload date for a story you like being "100 days ago," but we're still making our way there slowly! Besides, the most tender dishes are the ones that boil slowly~
As always, I hope you enjoy reading! :D
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Fanart: The Brightest Star in the Night Sky, by u/Frostedscales
—————————
Note: This is a Fanfic of the Nature of Predators series by u/Spacepaladin15, that is being reposted from the NatureofPredators sub. Please support the original content.
Thank you to Philodox on discord for proofreading and editing RfD.
Thank you to Pampanope on reddit for the cover art.
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​
Memory Transcript Subject: Sylvan, Venlil Citizen
Date: [Standardized Human Time]: December 13, 2136
​
“Everything’s good to go over here, Kenta! How about you?”
“Fine on my end too boss! Though I still don’t know how to feel about how I’ve arranged the sandwiche– err… sylvanas. Cucumber salad next to blueberry? They kind of don’t match…”
“I already told you a million times, they look fine!”
“You sure…?”
“I’m sure! Now are you ready to start this thing?”
“Ready!”
“Then let’s go!”
I shut the door to the kitchen, making sure that I had not left anything behind that would be needed for the day, then began wheeling out the final cart of amenities. As I rolled it down the wooden floor of my emptied out diner, one long serving tray jostled back and forth across the surface top.
I looked down to recap my inventory. A motley of sylvanas cleanly cut into triangles lay in an ornate pattern atop a decorative bed of raw ipsom grain stalks, spiraling around the edges of the plate as it creeped its way closer to the center. The sylvanas were split into clear groups based not only on their filling, but of the colour of that filling as well, creating a literal rainbow of flavours to choose from. By all means, it was an absolutely marvelous display of art; a visual performance that I had no idea could be captured in something like a dish to be served at such a quaint event. Kenta, however, seemed to still be worrying over it.
Despite it apparently being part of the name according to my translator, the Terran fruit named “blueberry” was actually a deep shade of indigo rather than blue, especially when crushed into a form of jam. As a result, lacking any blue to connect the various green options of our rainbow to that of the very limited indigo, Kenta had ended up spending much too long worrying over such a minute detail.
‘What a dummy…’ I thought back to myself with a slight chuckle. ‘I guess he’s worrying about this just as much as I am.’
Hardly two or three steps remained between the food cart and the diner’s entrance. Hastily, I jogged up to the front door to prop it open. However, when I went to turn the handle, I felt it give way without even the slightest push. Someone was pulling it from the other side, causing me to be yanked forward and stumble. Looking up, I saw the rusty figure of Fehnel standing impatiently in the doorway.
“You almost done in here, Sylvan?” she asked in a hurried breath. “Here, let me help you with that.”
Before hearing my response, Fehnel had already grabbed ahold on the cart and began pulling it outside without delay. I let go and didn’t attempt to stop her, knowing full well the farm woman was likely much stronger than I. In a blur, she was already far from the door, and I began jogging after her in an attempt to keep up.
Just as the day before, the Inverter was powered on and running perfectly. The metal pylon let out a slight, continuous hum as it projected an energetic beam from its center, which split at the apex around the height of the Lackadaisy and fell down in a parabolic curve, creating a tangible anti-gravity field in its wake.
Just outside the field, it became immediately clear just how necessary this piece of advanced Federation technology was. Beyond the radiant dome, a thick rain riddled the sky and drowned the world it fell unto. A harsh wind howled and distant thunder roared, which combined with the rain to push against the field to no avail. Within, where so many confectionaries, decorations, and other preparations had been so carefully placed, not even the paw of Solgalick could disrupt us.
“You know this would be goin’ a lot faster if I could jus’ start grabbin’ the food ma’self,” Fehnel commented in a tone too preoccupied to be annoyed.
As I ran after the hauling Yotul, I tried to say, “Fehnel, I’d really appreciate it if you would–”
“I know, I know,” she interrupted back, seemingly distant. “You want me to ‘not go into the diner during the event.’ Listen Sylvan, I get that Kahnta back there is a fainter, but don’t you think that this is a tad extreme? We’re on a tight schedule here, y’know?”
“I know… it’s just kind of a golden rule. I can’t stress to you enough how important it is that nobody does so much as peak in there,” I reiterated as I jogged alongside the speeding Yotul. “And don’t worry. Once everything starts, then you can feel free to socialize and spend the day with your daughter. I’ll take care of restocking the food.”
“I suppose that’s awful nice of ya,” Fehnel breathed out. “Sure you won’t be tirin’ yourself out, hun?”
I shrugged. “Eh. How fast could people possibly eat? It’ll be fine.”
“Careful there. Don’t wanna be sprintin’ before your legs catch up,” Fehnel chuckled. “But I’m plenty thankful for the confidence. I’ll try to hold ya to your word.”
As we moved, I was able to take a brief second to look around. I began to marvel at how far the event had come since its initial inception. And under such short time restrictions as well! Through a combination of both the Lacakdaisy’s furniture, as well as a number of decorations that I had rented, we had ended up with something that I had truly considered exemplary. In traditional Venlil style, a forest of various greenery had been set out in a colourful array of paw-crafted pots and other containers. Small bushels, flowers, a few overhanging trees, and other vegetation stood proudly within. From each, incandescent ornaments of various hues emerged in a bright and brazen display. All of which combined to transform the normally secluded street atmosphere into one that was truly cozy, if not just the slightest bit packed within the bubble. In accordance with one of Fehnel’s initial requests, we had even arranged for a small wooden stage to be brought in, which fit neatly against… something that I would rather not look at…
Of course, decorations aside, one of the most enrapturing displays was that of the food itself. Positioned at various places all around the event’s area, tables upon tables of buffet items had been laid out. It was a marvelous display on all fronts. From the generously sized serving bowls of pasta, plates of still steaming gyoza, and the diverse types and variations of strayu laid in motley rows all throughout, the feast was like a colourful microcosm of everything Kenta and I had been working towards.
But what was even more impressive were all the new additions Kenta had made. Just as expected, my wayward chef had taken the original request and spun it on its tail, seemingly pulling no stops when it came to expanding our already diverse arrangement. From end to end, small, round discs of strayu called “Danishes” lay against each other down the side of one of the tables. Most impressively, the center of each had been filled in with various hues of jam, in a similar style to that of the sylvanas that I was currently wheeling towards it.
On the other side of the same table, a sundry of embellished wooden bowls sat parallel, each filled with various kinds of Venlilian-style salads. I had taken the time to teach him such recipes a good while back, but while at first these seemed to be rather unostentatious, a quick look revealed that Kenta had added his own twist to the otherwise typical mix of local produce. Tossed about each salad were dozens of small strayu cubes called “Croutons,” each baked until crisp and crunchy. What’s more, if the olfactory receptor in my mouth didn’t deceive me, I had even picked up the heavenly aroma of something Kenta had only introduced to me recently as “Garlic,” which had clearly been infused into the cubes.
On another table, steaming crocks of both soups and stews had been laid out for guests to self serve. But in lieu of a bowl, Kenta had elected to do something truly unique. It had taken me a moment to process his idea at first, but hollowed out husks of rotund strayu loaves had been left out for guests to grab, in which they were supposed to fill the “bread bowls” – as Kenta had called them – with the soup and eat them as normal. This even came with the advantage of being able to tear off small pieces of the now soup-soaked strayu, allowing one to enjoy the taste of both simultaneously. This idea, I had soon realized, would be the hardest to explain to any confused guests that might happen by.
As we approached the soup table, Fehnel and I began loading up the cart-full of sylvanas we had brought over onto a free area. We placed them right next to one other new recipe that Kenta had decided to share. A simple display of thinly cut slices of crunchy, lightly seasoned strayu, with a bright red sauce readied next to it that I instantly recognized as being the product of tomatoes mixed with oil. According to Kenta, these “Bruschetta” were a simple, yet simultaneously alluring appetizer, which would do well to pair with the soup he had stirred up.
Once the sylvanas had been laid out, Fehnel felt the urge to ask, “Is that the last of it?”
“Yes, for now,” I replied, absentmindedly stretching my back. “This’ll cover the initial rush of hungry people, I assume. But Kahnta’s already busy working on seconds.”
“Gotta say Sylvan, this is quite the impressive spread,” Fehnel said with a quick, delighted wag of the tail. “Y’know… When I asked for somethin’ new, I wasn’t expectin’ Kahnta over there to whip up so much.”
“Oh this isn’t the new dish you asked for,” I answered flatly. “That’s still being worked on.”
Fehnel froze solid, only her ears remaining seemingly automotive as they slowly shifted towards me. “Wait… what?
“Yeah all of this is just the appetizer according to Kahnta,” I explained, messing with a few arrant sylvanas that had broken symmetry. “There’s going to be one more plate of food that should be coming out shortly. And then dessert after that.”
“That’s… surely somethin’...” was all Fehnel could say. She opened her mouth as if to continue her train of thought, only to have something else pull her attention away.
Peering out into the stormy weather of the darkened town, an eye-catchingly large herd of people were making their way towards the bright dome that sketched our event’s area. Silhouettes of familiar patrons and wayward newcomers alike huddled under their umbrellas. All the while, an excited murmur hummed throughout the air, despite the noise of the rain around them. The guests were here, and they seemed excited.
I peered down at a small data pad. “Oh, second-sun already? Looks like we just barely made it on time.”
Fehnel simply wagged in acknowledgment, still the slightest bit flabbergasted.
I nudged her side, which seemed to knock her out of her trance. “Want to go greet them?”
Taking one look at me, then peering back at the ensemble of strange and alien foods behind her, one of Fehnel’s ears flicked a little. Then, she did the tail equivalent of a Human shrug, letting out a pleased chuckle. Whatever had been on her mind was apparently pushed to the side for now. “Heh, of course hun. Let’s treat ‘em to somethin’ special.”
With a newfound kick in her already hastened step, Fehnel began to proudly jog over towards the approaching crowd. By now, we could already begin to make out some faces, each looking more curious than the last.
In addition to the Brachistochrone Inverter itself, Jeela had also taken the liberty to have a reception area installed in the form of a metallic tunnel about the width of three Venlil. The tunnel seemed to fold and bend the anti-gravity energy around it, allowing for people to easily enter the repulsion field without having to tread through a torrent of redirected rainwater. Additionally, a series of hooks alongside the interior of the tunnel also served as a convenient area for the storage of umbrellas and coats, which our guests quickly began making use of the moment they started funneling through.
Fehnel and I stood at the side of the entrance, welcoming in guest after guest with the appropriate propriety. At first, many of them were stymied in their step, staring in awe at the sanctuary-like atmosphere that had been created in the middle of the street. But almost as soon as they got their bearings, most realigned their immediate priorities, and subsequently made a beeline for the buffet tables. That’s what they were here for, after all. Hopefully they’d come to appreciate the actual reason Fehnel was hosting this event soon enough.
As we busied ourselves, the voices of many excited guests made themselves audible.
“I’ve been looking forward to this!”
“Look at the decorations!”
“I feel like I’m in the Capital!”
“Are you sure all of this is free?”
“The ad said it was! Either way, I need to try some of this!”
Fehnel and I watched in delight as the crowd began to form around the tables, a number of plates I had left out disappearing as fast as the eye could blink. However, it was clear that a majority of the attention received had been focussed solely on the more familiar menu items already offered by the Lackadaisy.
“Think they’re gonna touch any of the new stuff?” Fehnel idly commented, her attention still fixed on the crowd. “It’d be a shame if any of it goes to waste.”
“Oh they will,” I answered without hesitation. “Just give them a moment. They’ll be all over it soon enough.”
Fehnel laughed. “You sound awful confident, don’tcha?”
“Oh please, this is hardly the first time I’ve served some wacky new thing to my customers,” I answered back with a chuckle of my own. “If anything, at this point I’d say I’m quite the expert. Just watch. You’ll see.”
Like clockwork, my precognitive claim had been proven true mere moments later. Some soul amongst the table’s crowd had seemingly been more curious than the rest, and ended up taste-testing one of the bruschetta. It was hard to make out from this distance, but if I had to guess, her ears had perked up and her eyes had widened in surprise. What was made clear, however, was their opinion of the new food, because only a few moments later could their voice be heard.
“You have got to try some of this stuff!” she practically yelled at anyone who would listen. “It tastes like the red stuff that’s on the pasta, but like… even stronger! It’s so good I feel like I died and am one with the Stars already!”
Like a Farsul unto a library, the crowd collectively swiveled their ears and began to gravitate towards the bruschetta with eager eyes. A few more voices piped up in glee, each more delighted than the last as paw after paw descended on the strayu until there was nothing scarce of crumbs left.
‘Guess that’ll be the first thing I’ll need to restock,’ I thought with a passive wave of the tail, before a sudden realization crept into my mind. ‘Ugh… Kenta and I might be busier today than I thought…’
It wasn’t long before the elation of trying something new, mixed with the sudden and devastating lack of bruschetta, had urged our party guests to move on to the other, never before seen options that laid out to fill their fancy. All at once, the wall of wool and fluff had spread out the slightest bit as fresher waters were explored. Plates were filled with various salads, despite the unfamiliar bits of crunchy strayu inside raising some skeptical ears. Helping after helping of the technicolour pastries were reached for as well, with the sylvanas not lasting much longer after that. And most impressively, it seemed that people had quickly begun to figure out the concept of Kenta’s cute “bread bowl” idea as well, even without instruction.
That last turn of events had actually caught me the slightest bit off guard. For the bread bowls being quite possibly the most unique aspect of the event – well, that I knew of – I found myself rather impressed by how fast people were getting the hang of it. Sure, it meant that I wouldn’t have to bother myself with having to go around explaining it to everybody, but in my eyes, there was a bit more to it than that. Perhaps it was a case of grasping at straws, but for the briefest moment, it made me wonder whether or not Humanity’s ideas had been affecting my people more than I had realized. Perhaps, if only in the slightest, Kenta had been opening their minds to more unique ideas than I had given him credit for. Without the slightest bit of hesitancy, the partygoers did well to experiment with more than the obvious, quickly wrapping their minds around something completely new and extraordinary.
I exhaled a short-breathed snicker, shaking the thought out of my head. ‘Calm down there, Sylvan. It’s just some soup and a piece of strayu shaped like a bowl. No need to get all philosophical about it. Still, I guess them figuring it out saves me some time. Good, cause it looks like I already need to start stocking the next round…’
I moved to grab my cart so that I could head back inside, only to have Fehnel call out and grab my attention instead.
“Sylvan, hun,” she began. “Before you go makin’ yourself scarce. I think there’s somethin’ about this here party that you haven’t explained yet.”
My head turned out to face her. “Hm?”
“Now, don’t get me wrong… What you did here is great and all. By all means, whenever it is that Kadew decides to show up here with that date of hers, I’m sure she’ll start coming around to the idea of my peoples’ Runnin’ Day. But…”
I now realized that Fehnel was completely focussed on something off in the distance.
“Oh,” I replied. “That…”
I had done well to ignore it up until this point. In fact, if I tried hard enough, I was even able to keep it completely hidden from my peripheral. But the truth was, no matter where I went or what I did to distract myself, there was no denying that it was there – that She was there.
At the opposite end of the dome, an onyx terror lurked over the ignorant, complacent masses. Its wicked enormity great, and the pressure about it even greater. The form it took was terrifying. An alien pose, unknown to the mind, originated from a people feared by many. Its peering eyes descended as domineering malevolence. And from its onyx chassis, a message rang clear as a day personally forged by Solgalick themself: Even if I couldn’t see her; if I shielded herself from my sight all day… No matter what, She could always see me.
“I’m gonna be honest Sylvan, I did not take you as someone that had a thing for Magister Jeela.”
I shot back quicker than a bolt of lighting. “I DO NOT HAVE A ‘THING’ FOR–” before stopping myself short.
Luckily, my voice had not been noticed among the now loud, chattering crowd about us. Which was good. I was pretty sure that my voice had cracked into an almost childishly high pitch. Taking a deep breath, I yanked my composure back, and stuffed an air of professionalism back into my voice yet again.
“I a-appologize…” I mumbled out, my head shrinking between my shoulders.
“No worries!” Fehnel replied. She couldn’t help but let a few chuckles pour into her voice. “I was just teasin’ is all. But seriously, you’re gonna have to whip up a pretty darn good explanation… Else I’m boutta start thinkin’ that what I just said was true.”
I took a deep breath, which soon shifted into a long-winded sigh. “Listen… It was part of the deal, alright? I’m not proud of it, but it’s there now, and unless you’ve got a herd of Mazic heavylifters at the beck and call, I can’t get rid of it.”
“Part of the deal?” Fehnel repeated.
“It’s my end of the bargain for us being able to have this Inverter during the event. And no, before you ask, it was not worth it,” I explained.
I could do nothing but feel immense shame for the inconvenience. To have something so overbearing, so shamelessly grandstanding placed in the middle of what was supposed to be a quaint event about cross-cultural understanding… It was beyond disrespectful to Fehnel’s original request. It took something that the poor woman had been planning for who knew how long, and brutally morphed it into a shadow of its former self. Into nothing but an ego trip for a politician that probably already surrounded themselves with weed biters and paw lickers.
“Listen…” I said, lowering both my tail and ears in respect. “Fehnel, I apologize profusely for allowing that thing to be placed here. I should have put my paw down and just hosted the event inside like we planned. But it’s too late now. I’m really sorry…”
But to my surprise, Fehnel had not been paying attention to my display of humility. Instead, her focus was still on that of the statue.
“I think it looks neat!” she said in a cheery tone.
“Y-you do?” I mumbled back.
“Well yeah!” She wagged her tail to assure me. “Sure it’s a bit, err… unconventional… But I think it’s got quite a bit of charm to it!”
“That’s… one way of saying it…”
“Besides, it might not be the worst thing to have somethin’ from the Magisters here with us,” Fehnel continued to think out loud. “Sorta gives this whole event a kinda official feel, y’know? Like it’s lettin’ everyone here know that the Yotul have got just as much right bein’ under the same heedin’ ears of the Governor as anyone else. Sure, dependin’ on where you are and who you ask, that may or may not be a good thing. But it at least means it’s harder to ignore us now. Heck, might even convince some of the people ‘round here to open up a little to the other parts of us.”
“Well… so long as you’re happy with it, I suppose?” I worded awkwardly.
If I had been completely honest with myself, I was expecting the slightest bit more… Well, I wasn’t sure. Perhaps anger? Annoyance? Unrelenting grief that invariably led to locking yourself in a closet, crying? But there was no sign of that in the rusty Yotul’s eyes. As she stared up at the onyx marvel, I couldn’t help but feel as though there was no sign of the negativity I had anticipated in the slightest. Instead, all that remained was that of a solemn pride. Maybe she was lying to herself. Like it was some sort of coping mechanism that helped her work around this unwelcome development in her plans. But regardless, the end result remained. And I was left feeling relieved at being able to avoid yet another hurdle.
‘Fehnel really knows how to look at the optimistic side of things, I guess… Good. I could really use some more of that around here.’
“Feel free to run along now, Sylvan,” she said, waving me a satisfied flick of the tail. “I’ll keep waitin’ here so I can greet the other guests. And I do hope you and Kahnta can bring out the main course whenever it’s ready. I wanna make sure everything’s ready to blow Kadew’s fur off whenever she decides to get here.”
I had to force myself not to flash a Human smile in return. She and the rest of the partygoers had no idea what was coming. And to a certain extent, neither did I. He did mention he had some sort of “surprise” coming, after all. But I always trusted Kenta for his word, and knowing what my chef was capable of, it never occurred to me once that it wouldn’t live up to the expectations. In fact, I was counting on him to exceed them.
I turned around and headed back to the kitchen. It was time to get the real party started.
—————————
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The Art of Cakes : Tips and Tricks
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A few days ago, I received a file from a journalist friend who teaches at a private university in Montevideo. I known this person for years now and the exchange with her on our countless bar nights basically made me want to try to study journalism. After I started my career we became even closer and we shared concerns about the evolution of information, social media and the infamous cerebral callosity we acquired to endure the tragedy.
My friend, let's call her Valeria, was part of a public competition to accompany a minor scientific expedition to the Uruguayan Antarctic base. Her thesis was about investigating how information reception behaves in remote and isolated areas.
I barely read it , but basically tries to show that information circulates and is received in a particular way in these circumstances by a group of unfamiliar people living under extreme climatic and isolation conditions, having as an example, life in submarines and in military bases in Siberia. The Antarctic base gave her the chance to observe some of her postulates up close.
Finally, she was chosen and traveled with this scientific group in a commercial flight Montevideo - Santiago de Chile to later arrive at Punta Arenas and fly to the Antarctic base.
The last communication I had with her before she sent me the almost 90 photographic captures of the Journal, was on March 15, 2024.
We talked over the phone about how the weather was in Montevideo, that it does not stop raining and the cars are practically floating on the streets. She told me that the transport that was going to take them back was having mechanical problems and they would probably have to order spare parts for the plane from Punta Arenas. Then She told me that it is freaking cold down there and his colleagues are all very boring. Nobody has whisky for the evenings. We laughed about that part because I told her to bring at least one bottle of Grappa in her purse.
Before saying goodbye, she told me they had spotted some old metal structures south of the base. The soldiers told her that it was safe to go near that part so she was going to explore them. It wasn't there when they first arrived and that the recent and atypical heat wave probably must have exposed it. I told her to be careful and we said goodbyes.
Three days later I received an email. “Valeria shared a file with you.” As I start to see what it was about she calls me.
“Mauro? MAURO!, can you hear me?” She said in a nervous and excited voice.
“I can barely hear you, what happened?”I asked half asleep, while still lying on my bed.
“Listen to me carefully, don't talk, just listen” I could tell by her agitation that she was walking fast or maybe running. The creaking footsteps in the snow could be heard in the background. in the distance, a catastrophe-type siren was blaring.
“Are you alright? What happened? What's that noise?” I said, now sitting on the edge of my bed.
“I sent you a file. Transfer it to a flash drive, delete history and reset your cell phone, the computer and your email address. I'll explain everything later, it'll be worth it.”
“What? What are you talking about Vale?, what for? Tell me what's going on - I started to yell at her, in slide panic.
“Listen, I found something that is not supposed to exist. In the diary he explains everything. I'm going back to the base, I think someone is following me, I set off an alarm or something. Save that file for me until I get there and remember that... “
There were two loud booms and the sound of water invading the transmission. A choked bubbling and cracking sound reminded me of ice collapsing. My friend had fallen into the water, in Antarctica.
“HEY, are you OK?! What happened?!” - I kept screaming hysterically until the call was cut off.
I looked at my cell phone for a second. My hands were shaking, I tried calling several times but the phone went dead. I looked at the compressed file. I jumped up and ran to the dining room furniture, frantically looking for a white flash drive that had to be in a drawer somewhere. I couldn't find it, so I went back to my desk. I pulled the drawer so hard that it came off the rail and fell to the floor. I started to dig through my belongings on the floor, coins, papers, cards, nothing.
I thought, I struggled to remember where I had fucking put it. Finally I saw my backpack peeking out from behind the desk chair, I jumped on it and in the second small pocket from the inside, there was a cheap white 16G flash drive. I put it in the pc, downloaded the file directly there, took it out and fabric restored the entire system on the computer. I do the same with my cell phone as Valeria said.
At the time I didn't even question if those measures really prevented me from being tracked, and the idea that that was the reason made panic run through my body like lightning. Sitting on the floor of my room next to the mess, my body was numb with tension. After a few seconds, I rebooted my cell phone to try to call Lucia, her sister.
“Hello?”
“Lucia, it's that you? I think something bad happened to Vale, I hear her over the phone as if she fell into the water, and some rumbling. I don't know what I heard, I think she got into some trouble or some place she shouldn't have been - I realized that I was mumble and not saying anything clear. For some reason, I didn't mention the file.
“It can't be Mauro, I just spoke to her on the phone. She was at the airport in Santiago de Chile at the boarding lounge, we talked for about half an hour, she told me she was bringing a fancy bourbon to share and…”
I stopped listening, it didn't make sense, how could it be? what the fuck is going on!
“Mauro, are you ok? Is something wrong? it's too early, are you sure you didn't dream it?”
“Did you talk to her? half an hour ago? But...,” I exclaimed without being able to hide my confusion.
“Are you... sure it was her?”
“Yes, of course you moron, it's my sister! Did you smoke pot again on an empty stomach?”
“No, you're right, nevermind, thanks Lucia, talk to you soon.” I ended the call without letting her say goodbye.
Had I dreamt about it? I erased everything now, how will I know if I dreamt it? I hesitated absurdly.
This is surreal, I thought to myself as I looked at the flash drive in my hand. I refocused my attention and went to the attic looking for my brother's old laptop he left me before going to live in Spain. It was practically useless, but it was enough to see the file. I turned it on, waited for the decrepit Windows XP to load, and put the flashdisk in, opened the compressed folder and found two files.
“LabNotes.pdf”
“PersonalDiary.pdf”
I decided to open the journal first. From what I interpreted from the loading order of the screenshots, after reading it, I opened the image of the last page.
I transcribe as is.
Day 243 of the 2nd mission 10: 40 am. March 12, 2019.
I am the head researcher of the Psychological Area at the UN Antarctic base; I'm currently assigned to Project Sisyphus categorized as the highest classified rank.
This is going to sound crazy, but the person living with my family is my clone.
It still surprises me when I say it out loud, but after being able to replicate the brain-muscular history (a perfect copy of our memory) of any person and having mastered replicating every cell of our bodies at any age, it was only a matter of time before the development of social biotechnology would emerge. Now and by worldwide agreement, as a complete secret.
There is absolutely no shame or a shred of ethics in what we do, there is no longer any constraint on what we can do to the subjects for the sake of research. That haunts me every day.
It all went to shit so fast, I doubt anyone will come to our rescue. The protocol says so, the base in the face of an imminent security risk will erase itself. The structure was designed to collapse methodically following a protocol of incineration and sinking. The immediate perimeter has underwater mines that make the ice collapse almost imperceptibly, but deadly to anyone who tries to leave.
No one can escape from the base, neither the research staff nor the subjects. Our place in the world is already taken.
I only hope that this journal along with my lab notes will be found at some point. I managed to construct a small insulating gasket for it so I trust it will survive in case this part of the building collapses as well.
Please use this data to let the world know what happened here and don't let perversity define us once again.
To my family: I love you and miss you every minute.
B.
At the exact moment I ended the reading I received a video call that made me jump with fright, it is...
Valeria.
With my pulse shaking, I answered the call.
“Hi you! The flight was delayed, can you believe it? This one is absolutely in my top three, worst trips of my life. I'm really hungry and everything is so expensive here. What are you up to? Tell me something, please, I'm soooo bored!”
I looked at her with confusion and I couldn't manage to pronounce words. When I was about to modulate an answer she interrupted me.
“What's the matter Mauro?, are you on pause? Is the signal OK? HELLO! Can you hear me? Can you see me?” She started to walk through the boarding lounge looking for better signal
“Yes yes, Valeria I can hear you.”
She laughed and looked at me with a face between sensual and serious, and continued.
“Do you miss me?” while raising the phone jokingly as she typically does in her selfie pose.
“Valeria, don't you remember calling me earlier today?”
“I? called you? Nop. Why? Ah! By the way, did you know there are penguins in Tierra del Fuego? I would have liked to go and see them.” She continued his verbose conversation in a carefree tone, with her typical hand gestures and playing with his hair.
“Well, at last!” She interrupted herself and shouted, jumping up from her chair.
“We are being called to board, see you in a couple hours!” She said goodbye with a smiling sonority, and began to walk towards the boarding gate.
But at the last second, before ending the call, her gesture changed. She looked directly at the camera with a hardened and emotionless face and almost mechanically, she whispered.
“(I'm going to retrieve that diary).”
My stomach dropped to the floor and I could feel as if my blood was running cold with fear. I could not shake the awful and eerie feeling that this person, who was returning, whom I had never in my life called by her full name, was not my friend.
So, the next couple of hours I put everything in to transcribe the rest of important passages of the diary. Something was compelling me to do it, i can't explain it, Some mix between moral duty, and morbid curiosity. Here is my selection of it.
Lab notes. day 96 of 1st mission 08:00 am December 22, 2016.
Subject JON X012:
First physical assessments: Normal, alert and inquisitive, exhibits some alteration to screens.
We place 100 cc of sedative in room air. The subject attentively follows the narrative of scenario B5 “The last mission”.
The subject responds positively to the premises of the story, where he is asked to address an audience threatened by a natural disaster, convincing them to choose a certain path out of the city.
He offers to collaborate but fails to articulate the message with the power to overcome the simulation.
We resort to pouring 125cc of concentrated Psilocybin into the air as stipulated in the protocol sheet.
The vocal frequency and body language reading receptors in the observation room are activated. The subject manages to formulate a series of premises articulately and with discursive power, circulating around the observation room.
Successful reaction.
We move on to the next stage.
Case is filed under the label “Jobs Project.”
Diary entry: Day 96 of the 1st mission 21:30 pm. December 22, 2016.
Today they transferred subject JON X0012 for psychological evaluation, several in the lab were very anxious about this arrival. I was never the religious type, but I can understand why. Truth be told,
I always imagined Jesus would be taller.
*********
Day 106 of the 1st mission 08:00 am January 02, 2017
Today we received a new lab assistant for the night shift. Much needed as I was covering these shifts myself and am really burned out. The underground operates at full power at those hours, the hum of the machinery becomes unbearable. This must be why the rooms have an insulating structure.
********
Day 112 of the 1st mission 19:00 pm January 08, 2017.
The new integration is not very bright. He labeled the transcripts wrong again yesterday and doesn't seem to fully understand the importance of these. I'm going to have to go through the whole method with him again. I don't have much patience lately, it's not his fault, he seems like a nice guy and it's real that I need a second of confidence. Better train him from now on. Maybe start a sketch of a short explanatory document.
*******
Small introductory guide.
When the subjects conclude the incubation and breeding process (pages 19 to 52 of the manual), that is to say, that they have at least remembered speech and with it, depending on the time in which they lived, reading and writing, they generally begin to perceive themselves. Just before situational curiosity is when the psychology department comes into action. Either to run the “stand by” simulation or the main tests.
In each subject's file is the target of their cloning, the era in which they lived, and the recommended scenarios to trigger the desired response. If the file has X amount on the cover, this corresponds to the generation of the subject, whether it is the first or 10th time it is incubated.
Generally, it takes between 2 and 5 attempts to generate the correct simulation, and administer the appropriate drugs.
It took 5 attempts to come up with the correct amount of methamphetamine that subject AH X005 (Hitler) needed to function in the scenario, as the correct amount bordered on overdose.
Simulations are much easier since the implementation of multisensor AI. We managed to generate almost any scenario including temperature, smells, lights and sounds. We tried not to use familiar ones, as human smells are impossible to replicate. We found this out in a complicated way. We tried to recreate a conversation between RR subject X003 (Reagan) and his mother, but he recognized the fakery by the absence of body odor. His mind collapsed and we had to move him to the Underground. The people in Area C (Private Clients) almost lost a very large Chinese account.
After calibrating the subject, we ran both psychological and behavioral tests, scanned retinas, analyzed blood, as well as vocal and body language. But what has really yielded surprising results are the free interviews. It is amazing what some minds are capable of with the right environmental and chemical stimulation. That's why transcription is vital (!!)
Our area develops BC (Behavioral Algorithms) which are then bought by the private sector, and some government agencies.
To give you some examples: Twitter was an idea of subject JO X008 (Orwell).
Bots in social media and the use of big data was an idea of JG X002 (Goebbels) and KM X014`s worst nightmare (Marx) was bought by Amazon.
It is an arduous process and the success rate is low, but when we achieve the goal per subject, well, these results are a mein part of the latest revolutions of mankind.
So follow the lab rules, never refer to subjects by their actual historical name, and always remember, they are assets, not people.
***********
Day 117 of the 1st mission 16:30 am January 12, 2017.
Today is a rest day all over area D. I miss many things from the old world that I thought I would never miss, taking a bus, standing in line with strangers, and today I miss Sundays. We only have one on the month. So as usual we gather in the rest area to listen to a liberated jukebox that tries to lighten the mood. I know, right? Why I wrote about this “Saturday” photocopy, well besides the same nostalgic drunks, I was approached by a person I didn't recognize.
From what I understood he was a rehabilitated alcoholic, maybe that's why I didn't see him on “Saturdays”. He must be in his 50's, he was portly and wore thick black-rimmed glasses, he seemed to have a slight limp, I noticed it when he went to refill my beer.
I am a very reserved person and find it hard to talk to people. Truth be told, I've lost the desire to talk to people here. What can you actualy fucking talk about here, if it's not about the same thing. Everything revolves around work and some inter-area gossip, which never escalates much.
But yesterday was Clara's birthday and to hide the remorse and sadness of only having shared with her the first 3 years of her life, I had a few too many beers.
We chatted about banal aspects of life in isolation, and the things we miss. For him it was going to the stadium to watch soccer with his grandchildren. I think it was loneliness and nostalgia that brought us together that night.
His name was Sigfried, I don't know if I spelled it right, but it was clearly Nordic, i notice because of some of the words he mixed up with English. He works as the underground level security manager. We all know that it is one of the most restricted areas and what we have learned in these almost 10 years in the project, is that the more restricted, the less questions you should ask.
But that day, I think I felt the urge to hurt myself, to go off the rails, so I asked what we all suspected but no one knew for sure. I asked about the blenders. I wish I hadn't.
************
Day 126 of the 1st mission 08:00 am January 21, 2017.
I almost can't express how furious I am today, but I'm going to try because if I don't, I'm going to punch the new assistant in the face. He has nothing to do with this, he's just mildly irritating.
Anyway, in Genetic Mapping or area A, they approved the incubation of another Anomaly. It seems to be an express request from a major shareholder and there is not much to say. Anomalies are very risky to reproduce, nature is wise, and for some reason it placed them in history moments where they had their limitations.
It seems that after the crisis of 2010 with “The Russian Devil” it is no longer scary enough. New school morons... If they had been there they wouldn't even dare to think about it. I AM FURIOUS.
The arguments are that this case lived longer, that the clone would be in his 70s, and that he possessed noticeably more “civilized” traits. As if the court of the last Zar had not been somewhat civilized.
Personally I think this is a big mistake. Since the discovery that some people possess unknown DNA components and with the 2010 background, they should draw the line. There are certain things, still beyond our ability to understand. But it is delusional of me to think that there are limits, someday the absence of them will consume us all.
************
Lab notes day 142 of 1st mission 08:00 am February 06, 2017.
Final free interview with JON subject X012
Scenario B-24 or “The Dinner Party” Result: Normal.
Notes: Subject is grateful, positive, docile and hopeful for the future. Offers to cook next time by asking for spices and ingredients of typical Hindu dishes.
The subject is directed to the Underground area.
Attached audio for transcription.
Case is filed under the label “Jobs Project”.
**********
Day 142 of the 1st mission 21:00 pm February 06, 2017.
Today was the last session with subject JON X012, I managed to extract the last retinal and body language readings, as usual before sending them to Underground level. We ran the dinner scenario, the truth is that is one of the best simulations we have achieved. The subjects are relaxed resulting in the best free interview environment. This one was no exception, I must say I understand the charm of the “messiah” turned out to be quite an entertaining subject. I hope his next generation will be similar.
**********
Day 152 of the 1st mission 19:00 pm February 16, 2017.
I was tasked with the continuous monitoring of subject NT X004. I am not at all happy with this transfer. First of all, I know nothing about area B of engineering and technology. Secondly, I still think this is a really bad idea.
One of the laboratories has been set up with the essential simulation equipment and personnel. Tomorrow we start with the calibration.
**********
Lab notes day 153 of the 1st mission 08:00 am February 17, 2017.
First interview with subject NT X004, we run simulation scenario 54-A, “Signal from another planet.”
Subject is observed to be receptive at first but quickly changes to paranoid. We administer 300cc of MDMA via air, according to protocol.
We introduce the reconstructed figure of a colleague in a cry for help speech.
The Subject laughs and doesn't believe a word, we move to a physical approach plane,
I volunteer myself with a room operator from the engineering area, we show him unfinished plans of an experimental vacuum propulsion engine.
He laughs again and tells us that we are not who we say we are.
We administer 50cc of DMT and move on to the next scenario.
From the screen an astronaut with non-human features sends a distress signal and intergalactic coordinates.
The subject looks thoughtful, reassesses, picks up the blueprints and begins to shout out values and what appears to be mathematical and physical formulas.
Air is charged with percentages of absolute sedation.
Audio recording is attached.
It is filed under the name “Project SpaceX.”
**********
Day 153 of the 1st mission 21:00 pm February 17, 2017.
I'm not sure what happened today, this is the first time in 10 years that a subject overcame the deception of 3 simulations. We had to place absolute sedation in the air, as risky as we know it is. I recommended that we restart the process from scratch, but it was a resounding no, the client is in a hurry.
I need to get more involved in this case to recalibrate the subject. I don't know if I want to. The words before full sedation still resonate with me. “are you still using DC current? interesting...”
**********
Day 154 of the 1st mission 21:00 pm February 18, 2017.
Something happened, I don't quite know what. The rooms have an emergency lockdown active. Outside hear security personnel mobilizing. I tried the intercom but it didn't work. The insulation prevents my screams from being heard from the outside. If this goes on another day I'm going to break the lock. I'm going to set my backpack to the bare minimum.
**********
Day 157 of the 1st mission 21:00 pm February 21, 2017.
Yesterday I heard explosions in the B area. I couldn't take it anymore and broke the lock. Whatever it was I had to go out and see. The corridors were dark, and the underground buzzer went on, at least that worked.
I went right to the north staircase, down the 4 floors in near darkness, the power was failing. The entrance to the underground area was barricaded but I managed to see a figure peeking out from inside as they felt me making noises.
It was Sigfried, he pointed me in the doors direction and I entered through a heavily armored side door. I was surprised by the immensity of this section, it encompassed a large hall below almost all the sectors of the base. In front of us there were 4 large industrial pipes with switches and multiple smaller pipes coming out of their bases. These were repeated like mosaics throughout the area until they disappeared into the distance in the darkness.
Leaning against one of them were 3 officers in formerly white coats and a nearly dead guard bloodied on the floor. Poor guy, his legs were crushed with his flesh in the open. He was lying in a pool of his own blood.
He had a blank stare and was panting, it seemed from the pale of his skin, that his fate was imminent. My asthma began to pound in my chest sharply, so I reached into my bag looking for my inhaler. I told them between visible gasps of bad breath to please tell me what's happened.
One of the doctors had a badge from area B and another from area E which corresponds to bio-armamentistics. The latter burst into tears and said “We deserve it, every one of us, we deserve it”.
I knew the other guy, he is an engineer in area B. I could hear him babbling almost nonsensically about, as why they never thought about it, an issue with electrical power.
He looked at me carefully as if recognizing me and grabbed me tightly by my jacket pulling me close to his face transformed for the panic.
“He let them out, all of them!” but not only that, no no no no... he told them the truth. Nikola fucking Tesla hacked us and told them the truth.”
He began to laugh frantically with a face of absurdity until he burst into a choked cry. At that moment everything went dark. The emergency lights activated, and from far away and getting closer, along with the emergency sirens that began to sound, we heard a large mass of people screaming and running through the corridors outside.
Sigfried looked at me as they started to pound on the shielded door and said.
“We're fucked.”
**************
Day xx of the second mission, month xx of 2017
“()The industrial sounds of spinning blades, the cries for mercy followed by the thunderous, liquid crack, down that big pipe, into the green barrels, with the Monsanto logo, dripped down one side an elongated drop of pink paste ending in the letter E on the chemical label. FERTILIZER.”
**********
After finishing the transcription, my whole body began to want to flee, the walls of my house were tinged with a faint blue light as the cloudy dusk came through the window, the lights turned off by my abstraction at the computer gave way to the dark corridors that began to feel alien. As I gently closed the pc my ears began to ring as if under pressure, my breathing became more present and the vibration of my cell phone interrupted my trance.
A call from the office. It was to tell me that I had a vacation week pending, that by schedule, I had to take it starting today.
Sons of bitches, now they even choose your time off - I thought at first, but at the same time I found the voice on the phone very strange, and to tell the truth, the procedure itself.
The anger turned into confusion that only added to the paranoia. The sounds in the street began to seem erratic, a chaotic and strangely familiar feeling came over me. My senses seemed increasingly acute, and they screamed:
Go away.
I grabbed the old laptop, the flash drive and headed for the bus station. The short trip from my house seemed like a long journey. People on the street looked at me with strange faces, the cell phone kept ringing with unknown numbers on the screen and a strange idea began to formulate in my head that whispered “Them, Valeria is one of Them”.
Already on the platforms I rummaged through my backpack where I confirmed that I had the key to the family beach house in San Luis, 60 km to the east of Montevideo. I turned off my cell phone, got on a bus heading to another and much far away town called Treinta y Tres. Sat near the last seat and slipped my cell phone in my front pocket of the seat in front of me, got off and commented to the driver with a clueless face, “I got confused, I'm going to the coast”.
I almost jumped onto the steps of the correct bus to where I was heading, unable to avoid the gazes of the passengers questioning me for the last minute drop in. I sat in my numbered seat and defragmented in dissociation, trying to understand what I was doing, I was running away, but from what?
The images of the last transcriptions were engraved in my mind, the last paragraph was repeated over and over again making me shake my head from time to time trying to get them away from my thoughts. The road was dark and I lost track of time, the digital clock within sight of the passengers jingling since we left, reading 10:40.
“San Luis Station!” - I heard the guard's shout in low volume.
I staggered to my feet, hurried to get off and with the same impulse I entered the dirt roads.
I zig-zagged through the dark, cold and silent beach town. The moonless night and the smell of the sea calmed me.
When I turned the corner to the gabled beach house of my family, on the steps of the front door lit by a white light, was her. Sitting, waiting for me. I stopped dead in my tracks and a chilling vertigo ran down my torso to my throat. We looked at each other for a short two seconds, until she stopped and started walking in sliding steps towards me, smiling and playing with her hands, crossing and uncrossing her arms. The growing sound of the wind through the trees covered us.
“Darling, how are you? How nice is the summer house, I don't think we ever came here, did we? Is it the one your grandmother left you?”
I felt the adrenaline rushing through my bloodstream, how could such a familiar attitude from such a familiar person transmit such panic to me? I had to answer something.
“Yes, this is it. I came to clear my head for a while, they gave me a few days at work and I wanted to take advantage of it.” I tried to excuse myself with failed dissimulation, since I stuttered in the middle of the words.
“Yes, I know! We arranged it with them, so you can be more relaxed and as a gesture for taking care of the file. Ah! and another thing. I think someone stole your cell phone at the bus station.” She looked at me with a smart-ass smile.
“Anyway, don't worry, they already found it on a bus on the way to “Treinta y tres”. You can get it back later.”
At this point I opened my mouth to ask for explanations, but as terrified as I was I only mumbled a “thank you”.
All this dialogue let us half a body length away, Valeria looked at me now a little more serious and stood at my side. She took my arm petrified and I could feel how a strong smell of neutral soap invaded me, as if she had rubbed herself in it too much.
“Shall we go inside? it's getting cold,” She said, finishing the sentence with a sweet gesture of pleading.
“Emm, shure.” I said.
My trembling hands managed to hit the lock on the 3rd attempt, we entered, turned on the lights and from his backpack she took out a red wine. Our favorite.
“Bring me some glasses, Mauro”. - She said to me as she sat down on the armchair against the window overlooking the gentle hills outside.
She poured wine until he almost filled the ex-cottage cheese glass, looked at me and in a toast gesture said.
“To... Dr. B?”
I slid a little smile and raised my eyebrows. Then I took half a glass in one sip.
“Well!” - She exclaimed, leaning over and resting the glass on the coffee table, and continued.
"You must be very confused, I understand, I saw it many times, the mind trying to adapt to a new, unsuspected reality and in your case all at once. It is not easy. First, make sure that no one is going to hurt you or anyone you know, second, what you read in that file, as you may have noticed, is not intended for public knowledge. Also to tell you”. I couldn't take the stress anymore, I exploded.
“You're not Vale. Who are you?! You're almost identical, but....”
“Ah yes, that one it's a tricky one to explain. Let's try, let's see:
“I'm a version of Valeria that she accidentally gendered when entered the lab. In one of the incubation rooms she touched a scan button that photographs her mind for 48 hours. It contains a micro needle that took her blood and thus generated me.”
“The thing is that we were in a situation of self-destruction of the systems, and that part of the programming code of the protocol was also copied in Valeria's mind.”
“And Valeria? She 's... dead?”
“Well, yes and no. If she tried to leave the base she's probably dead. if she's still there, she's probably frozen to death or killed by the cleanup command, but basically, if I'm here, she's not anymore.”
the coldness with which she answered me made me lose the little calm I had, I got up from the armchair and started to back away with my hands on my head, I couldn't stop repeating,
“this can't be happening, this can't be happening”.
“Hey! Mauro, calm down, it's going to be alright. I'm Valeria too. In every way, I'm still your friend, I know who you are and everything we went through, really, it's me, and when I finish managing the leak, the code, it won't work anymore, it will be erased from my mind and I'll be me. So don't worry. You only have to give me the flash disc and this issue ends here. We go back to normal life and nobody will know about anything.
“I'm not going to pretend that my friend didn't die! Alone, fucking freezing to death, I'm not going to let you take her place, I'm not going to let you!” - She interrupted me.
“Mauro, listen to me” - She came closer to me and grabbed my hands, her big, lined eyes looking at me with sweetness, like so many times before.
“I AM Valeria, I have the same fingerprints, the same blood, the same DNA, the same memories, the same scars, absolutely everything. Are you going to tell my mother that I died? to my sister? Are you going to report me? Nobody is going to believe you at all. If anyone even wants to believe you, how would you prove it? I am an exact copy”. - she told me, smiling with real sweetness and empathy.
I could only cry, for my friend, for the helplessness of the conclusion that she was right. I collapsed on the couch, and watched as the hills swayed in the night.
“Let's have the last glass and I'm leaving.”- she said to me.
“After I give you this, and that part of you disappears, will you remember that you are not... really Valeria?
“No, there is already a simulation on pause about Valeria's last week, she won't remember anything about this situation when she wakes up, because the memory is simply overwritten.”
“So I'm going to be the only one to know about this?”
“Take it as a gift Mauro, a glimpse behind the veil. And if you keep it that way, everything will be fine” - The threatening tone was soft but evident.
“Okay, hand me your PC and the flash drive.”
I looked at her evaluating all possible actions and if this decision was the right one, she stretched out her hand and smiled sympathetically. I gave her the old computer and the black 16G flash drive with the file. She inserted it, typed mechanically fast until the screen went black.
“Perfect, That would be all - She took out the flash drive, threw it on the floor and stepped on it violently with the heel of her shoe, put on his backpack and headed for the door.
“Stop,” I said.
“The things that Dr. B wrote... about the underground…
“Yes, they are true, it was the only way to be self-sustainable and to be able to isolate the complex from the rest of the world. Even the most morally flexible scientists would question the work if they knew where the subjects ended up, and what we were doing with their bodies... Anyway, I'm going home, Lucia called me 5 times already. Talk to you tomorrow.
“Love you,.” - She smiled at me and closed the door behind her. I felt a car slowly drive away from the house.
From my pocket I took out the white flash drive and looked at it. Now I had a decision to make.

I hired a builder who is quite reputable and member of the FMB to build a single storey extension for me. The work is progressing well and the building control inspectior is happy with the build so far during his inspection of the footings, dpc and the superstructure. He proposed some changes to the drainages which we agreed to amend.
Yesterday I received an email from the building control technical department after they had completed their plan check and requested further details, trouble is I can't get hold of my Architect, it seems like he gone AWOL and I don't know what to do.
My plans were approved in 2019 and some details on there do need amending to comply with recent regs particularly Part L, but my builder has built the walls, Roof and floor to meet the current regs which isn't reflected on the current drawings.
Do I need to have the drawings amended or could my builder provide a sketch to clarify the details with U Value calcs from the insulation manufacturer website?
One item I might struggle with providing is providing information relating to the foundations (Part A) , is this for the structural engineer to answer?
PART A - Structure • Please provide details of your proposed foundation depths and your justification for those depths considering soil conditions, land levels, local drainage and influence of any adjacent trees within 30m of proposed works.
PART B - Fire Safety • New structural elements should achieve 30 mins fire resistance. Provide details. - (no problem)
PART C – Site Preparation and Resistance to Contaminants and Moisture
• Provide details of how sub-floor ventilation will be maintained if existing floor is suspended. (no problem)
PART F – Ventilation • Please provide details of the mechanical, background and purge ventilation strategies. (no problem)
PART H – Drainage and Waste Disposal • New WC connection should not discharge into main sewer as per drawings submitted. Provide an alternative solution, and provide details of new kitchen waste pipes and connections.
As the proposed works are within 3m of a public sewer, we have consulted the local Water Authority on your behalf regarding the proposals, Any comments we receive will be forwarded directly to you.
( This has been sorted, we built a new manhole outside the extension, broke out the existing manhole, and re routed all the private drains to the new manhole outside before it goes into the main sewer. Build over agreement has been obtained )
PART J – Combustion Appliances and Fuel Storage Systems
• Please clarify the proposed heating and if any flues are proposed, as their location is subject to control. (no issue)
PART K – Protection from Falling, Collision and Impact
• Any glazing in critical locations should be constructed of safety glass. (just a note)
PART L – Conservation of Fuel and Power • Please provide build revised up details along with U value calculations from the insulation manufacturers to show how the new Part L requirements are achieved to each thermal element.
The U-values proposed do not meet current thermal performance standards. The walls should be no worse than 0.18 W/M²K, the roof no worse than 0.15W/M²K, and the floors no worse than 0.18W/M²K. • All new windows and glazed doors (60%) should achieve a U-Values of at least 1.4W/M²K, and roof lights 2.2 W/M²K.
Does all the above need reflecting on an updated set of drawings?
Before I started the work my architect advised it will be ok to start and any comments received by the BCO he would close out but I can no longer get hold of him. This inspector coming down again on Monday to see the insulation.
😢

I am trying to learn and I a wondering if the sketch I made here is correct.
The differences I can see so far:

1. In TTY one end of the terminal is physical (keyobard+screen, serial-port, network interface, etc...) and you have both an input and an output.
2. With PTY you essentially replace a physical user (e.g. a person using keyboard-screen pair, a device sending and receiving data from the serial port, etc) with a "virtual" user, namely a process.It is like having a process sitting in front of a computer typing with a keyboard and reading output on the screen, but in this case is a process operating like that. Alike a person sitting in front a computer can change, the process using the same pty may change as well at any time.
3. PIPES are like "soldered pipes" and they are unidirectional. They are used to connect stdin/stout of processes. You cannot change "user" connected to an end of a pipe because they are kinda... soldered.

Is it correct? Is there something else that I am missing?

First < Previous Next >
After a few more hours, I finish the sketches, and Silvra somehow manages to make blueprint quality drawings of them.
“Well, that’s done, now we just need to get these parts made,” Silvra remarks, placing the pencil down. “Let’s go to Eldrin’s place and get these made. I’ll foot the bill. It should be fairly small as these are not massive components, but just fairly intricate. I’ll bring some of the wire so he just has to stretch it out. We’ll have to protect it though, as he won’t have the material to do that.
Silvra and Lena quickly head over to where our outerwear is hanging and start getting ready. Thallion, on the other hand, is a little hesitant, but eventually follows.
Suiting back up to go outside, we quickly get ready with a brim of excitement and hope as we step back out into the frigid weather. After a couple minutes walking, we come to a larger house near the gate that is shooting sparks up into the clear sky through its chimney. We enter and are immediately hit by the intense heat of the forge and smell of sweat and hot iron. Shedding our outer layers, we wait by the counter as a rather muscular, built elf is pounding away at what looks to be a railway spike.
“Be with ya in jus’ a momen’! He barks, as he plunges the spike back into the coals of the forge, and leaning on the blower lever.
“Ter’ w’go. Nao wha’ cannae do fer ya?” He says, as he turns around. As soon as he sees our group he pauses mid turn.
“Sorry ta keep ya waitin master. Tis been a busy dae mendin tools. Liora’s awl was dull an roun’d oer so aye be fixin it now. Jus’ hardenin’ ‘t off and be done in a few. Wel’ome ladies as well ta mine humble abode. An’ who’s the new un? I have nae se’n before?”
Thallion is just about to speak, but Lena steps in. “Good afternoon Eldrin. This here is Ethan, who has travelled a long way to learn about us, and give us some ideas from his area. He has graciously given us a drawing of one of his simple tools and we need some parts made.”
“Yes!” Silvra steps in, picking up what Lena is putting down, “I here have plans for a turning machine which requires the creation of 2 curved pieces of metal, as well as a tube, and a rod.”
“Oh? New plans eh? Fro’ far ‘way. Wel’ let’s tae a look”, He replies, reaching for the rolled up paper that Silvra has been carrying. Laying them out, he scans over them, then looks at me, and scans again.
Turning serious, he looks at Lena and Silvra. “Now, now. I mae soun’ a bi’ odd, bu my masta taugh me one thin well, and tha’ is how ta spotta lie. This, this here is no mere simple tool, nor from this place. An’ Lena, if this can do half o wha’ is on this shee’, we woulda been conquered by em! No, let’s try this again.”
At hearing this, Lena and Silvra wince, and Thallion facepalms.
“Hello E’an, Wel’ome ta me forge. I am Eldrin. You be clear no’ from ‘ere. My guess’s one of the summons tha’ got out when th’tower fell.”
My eyes bug out. The tower fell?!
“I guess ya did ne’er hear bout that, the summoner ‘ower fell down. Tha’ was the large boom few ‘ays ago was. Also means tha you ‘scaped ‘fore i’ fell. Ya got sum brains kid, I give ya tha’.”
He reaches over and clasps my hand in bro grip.
“Oh ho! Srong ‘un ‘ere too! Migh’ ‘ave even brough’ t’ower down ‘imself. May even be a bit orc in ‘im, like me!”
“Anyways, no lies, no half ‘ruths, give the dope.”
I start speaking: “Well, you cut through that pretty quick, and read me like a book. No point lying now. I am a summon, not sure why. I jumped out of a window, and ran away from there, as it sounded too much like plot. I like being here, don’t turn me in! I have many things that could help around here, and I don’t want to be taken to be a ward of the state!
“I can see ‘he passion brewin’ inside ya, bu’ I go’ no’ a wor’ ya said. I gotta translator in ‘he des’ wired through the floor.”
Looking over the desk, I see that the floor is covered in little insulated bumps, and he is barefoot.
“Helps with those s’umblin’ in’o ‘ere so I can calm ‘em down and aler’ ‘he guards ‘bout more los’ ‘venturers. Bu’ is doesna wor’ t’other way.”
Silvra pipes up, “ you nailed it in one Eldrin. And you really made a translation floor and work barefoot so you can talk to any one, just in case someone comes in? How did you even make that?!”
“Yeah I di’. Qui’e simple really, jus’ use wire an’ weave i’o each bump in ‘he floor. Pro’ec’ ‘em from ‘he main pla’e with some leatha, an’ ‘en wire ‘he bumps to the tap, an’ ‘he pla’e t’a body and it works. Did i’ because I scare some of the young’uns with mae accent and build afta se’n a monsta”
“Fascinating! And how did you tune it to translate so well even after such a distance?”
“Tha’ was a job an’ a ‘alf! S’ill ‘ave some por’s not working righ’! All I ‘ad ta do was ‘wist a live and a pla’e wire ‘ogetha and “
“That’s all very well and good.” Lena interjects, “but we need your help. Ethan here made it very clear he does not want to be sucked into the summon job, we want to protect him, he is giving ideas from his world to us. Do you want to help or do you want to claim the bounty on him? Cause if you do, we are going to have some problems right now.”
“Now tha’s more like it! I like some spice! I’ll help. Bounty was ne’er igh enuf for tha’ anyway. An’ ‘e coul’ probly throw me cross the room!” He looks to study the plans again, and sees the use of copper.
“I donna have ‘e coppa, bu I do have ‘e wire pla’es. Ya can borrow em ‘o make the wire. Never ‘ouch ‘e s’uff. Hur’s way too much.”
“Fair enough” Silvra says sighing, “I do have copper, but I hate working with it as well.”
“Res’ o’it is simple, save for the curve chunks. I do have some pure iron ‘o ma’e i’ from, but i’ ill be a bi’ ‘o make it. Complicated shape, especially tha’ circular”
“I’m footing the bill, and you are the best we have. Especially without ordering in and answering a bunch of questions”
“Fair ‘nough. I’ll ge’ ya the pla’e now, and le’y’all know when tis ready.”
“Thank you very much. This piece will be a master work when done, and may even revolutionize how we do everything, and not just because it rotates” Thallion chimes in, with a little glint in his eye, and some other emotion underneath that I cannot place.
Suiting back up, we head back to the schoolhouse and debrief.
“Well that went better than expected.” Lena starts.
“I still don’t like how we had to tell him what Ethan is. Now there are 4 that know what he is, besides him.”
“I know him well, he is a man of his word and work. He’s been working here as the main smith for over 5 years now, he knows how to keep business going, and trained well” Thallion specifies.
“Anyways, sorry Ethan, but I’m tired from translating, we will pick up the device if we need to, but hot potato is tiring”
As they start to talk amongst themselves. I still see the communication barrier as the big thing I need to conquer now. Turning to my box of supplies that Silvra gave me, I look at one of the tremorsenses, and start drawing what it looks like. Eventually, I draw the outside and note the little holes within the front plate. Turning back towards Silvra, I wave her over and point at the tremorsense and my drawing. She catches on and starts drawing the inside.
“I guess you wouldn’t have this as it is pretty useless without being able to read it,” she remarks. “It can take years to get one of these to work for you. But inside it is just 2 pieces of metal, with a piece of quartz in between. I don’t know how it works, but when touched, you can feel the sound around you.”
My eyes light up. Wait. Quartz! They know about quartz and its properties! This is not a tremorsense, this is a piezoelectric microphone!

So I bought a property that was built in 1940, which was converted to 4 units. Owner listed for 250k - 40k for repairs (so my VA loan is for 210k). Now I agreed to this, being young and motivated... but it was never disclosed to me just how many issues there are with the home.
There's lots of original old hidden galvanized pipes, totally corroded and rotting the foundation. The electrical cables are asbestos/cloth insulated and totally old and rotted, and some of the units are wired to eachother, so the tenants would be paying an unfair electric bill. The foundation is illegally supported in many areas, with literal cinderblocks or bare beams not even doing they're jobs.
There's also many other issues, like cracked windows, cracked walls all caked with old layers of wallpaper, mice that I had to get rid of, an undisclosed squatter that I had to deal with before closing, uneven flooring, structural damage, and much more. The property was left in a disgusting mess too- mice poop everywhere and they left all their junk in a unit and the garage.
Many issues were not brought to my attention from my inspection, or the owners. I think everyone involved including me at the time just wanted the deal to go through. Hell the apraiser never even came to look at the home, which has also made me sketched out about my realtor because he reffered the inspector and i think the apraisor not showing up was his doing.
So I ended up fixing most of these issues, spending all my savings of 70k, and am having to borrow money from family just to finish repairs so I can start renting. I already spoke with a lawyer and he told me basically, it's gonna cost me a lot of money that I cant afford to fight this. And it will take a long time. And there's also the factor of who would I sue? Owners? Inspector? Realtor? He advised it's probably just in my best interest to finish repairs, rent and make the best out of this situation and learn from this.
But I saw a similar post and thought maybe I'd ask if anyone had legal or helpful advice, or thinks I should fight this in any way.

Hi there, I'm 17 and currently trying to figure out what career I want to study for.
I really like suits, and would prefer to have a job where wearing them is either encouraged or at the very least won't put me at odds with coworkers/management. I'm not interested in being a lawyer or salesman, and I don't think becoming a c-level executive is anything more than a pipe dream.
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I enjoy problem solving, sketching up ideas and creating them, and in general working with anything tech related - be it a desk fan, a car, a fridge, computer, or a game engine. Electrical, mechanical, software, anything tech. I'm also interested in computer animation, concept art, product design, and watchmaking. I'd prefer something where you work at an office and gives a minimum net income of 55k/yr.
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What kind of career might be a fit for me? I've looked at engineering jobs but from what I've heard people say you should only wear a suit to the interview and then never dress beyond a t-shirt again; I've looked at watchmaking but I can't find *any* information on pay or dress code; and I'm somewhat discouraged from anything art/production related because of the advancements in AI. Thanks in advance.

I'd put "spoiler" on this, but since the title tells you it's a recap, I'm just going to roll with it. Moderators, let me know if you'd prefer me to make it a spoiler.
This episode felt a little more like they are finding their footing with the new dynamics. I still don't know what Elizabeth sees in Nathan -- he's a nice enough guy, but if he wasn't a Mountie and was, instead, a farmer or a barber, would she be interested?
Allie and Nathan are walking along the road to school, and Allie asks him “what’s going on between you and Mrs. Thornton?” Nathan denies anything is going on, but Allie tells him that it didn’t look like “nothing” when she saw them in the orchard. Nathan shrugs it off, but Allie persists: “She’s amazing, and she’s super-important to me. I just . . . don’t want you to get hurt . . . like before.” He tells her that “that was a long time ago, and things have changed” but Allie is skeptical. He reassures her that there’s nothing to worry about, and shoos her off to school.
On her way to school, Elizabeth is giving Toby a pep-talk about an upcoming test. She spots Lucas across the way, and tells Toby she’ll see him at school, and walks to meet Lucas, who has seen her and is walking towards her. He tells her he owes her an apology. “I’m listening,” she responds, and Lucas proceeds to apologize for Jeannette ambushing her, and most of all, not telling her about his previous relationship. “So, were you engaged?” Elizabeth asks, and Lucas allows as how they had talked about it. . . “well, mostly, she had talked about it . . . but there was never a ring or anything like that.” Elizabeth thanks him for the apology, but tells him that she’s really not bothered by Jeannette. He tells her that he was trying to leave his past behind him, and sympathetically she finishes the sentence, “ . . . but it always seems to catch up with you.” As they are talking, Nathan comes around the corner and sees them in serious conversation, as Elizabeth puts hand on Nathan’s arm and tells him “I’m very glad to hear that – you and I will always be friends.” (Ouch – “friend zone”?) Nathan watches her hand on Lucas’ arm, and swallows.
(So far, we’ve taken care of most the previews in the first 5 minutes . . . )
Lucas finds Henry in the orchard, and tells him that he doesn’t think that growing hazelnuts is going to be enough for him for long. “Henry . . . “ he begins, but Henry cuts him short and tells him that if he’s going to ask him to come work for him again to save his breath. Lucas tells him that he needs Henry’s help with the location of the resort. Henry wonders why it’s so important to Lucas, and Lucas admits that while all his other initiatives are helping other towns, he wants to do some especially for his own home town. Henry shakes his head, and when Lucas starts to beg him to reconsider, Henry cuts him off, and tells him that “I promised myself I was going to take a different road.” (Again with the cryptic life choices. Just marry Abigail, already!)
Elizabeth pops into Nathan’s office with a soup bone that she has saved for Scout. (goodness, she’s getting a lot done before school starts!) Nathan, pretending to be very busy at his desk, tells her that Scout isn’t in right now (weird response, but ok . . . ) but Elizabeth puts the bag on his desk and tells him to give it to him later. She sits down and asks him if everything is alright. (Why shouldn’t it be, Elizabeth?) Nathan doesn’t look up from his desk. “Nathan?” she asks, and Nathan finally looks her in the eye and tells her that he really has to finish up his paperwork. So Elizabeth leaves in a huff, with a snarky “Of course. Don’t let me distract you.” as she leaves. (What did you expect, Lizzy? You busted in on him unannounced and he’s supposed to stop what he’s doing and flirt with you?)
Maisie Hickham presents Lee and Mike with a list of Benson Hill’s requirements to participate in the resort. They unfold the very long list and start frowning. “You want us to build you a new train station? And a railroad extension?” Lee asks incredulously. “And you want us to build you a new dump?” Mike asks. “It’s only fair, Mikey,” responds his sister, citing the increased trash all the tourists will produce. Lee goes on to review the list, his voice rising with each item:: “Benches, a baseball diamond, and a new public transportation system with 10 buses?!” Maisie smiles and declares, “That a must –with all those tourists going back and forth to the resort.” She also adds that the new access road must go through Benson Hills. Mike, with years of frustration in his voice, whines “Why does everything have to be your way?” She declares that if the governor wants this “pipe dream” to go ahead, we want to be in control of it.” Mike and Lee exchange exasperated looks.
At the Canfields, Joseph has just finished repairing the water pump as the children are doing their homework, when Minnie bursts in with mail. “You have a letter!” she announces, and he just gestures for her to leave it on the table. “You’ll want to read this one . . . it’s from Jacob.” Surprised, Joseph slowly opens it as the children watch breathlessly. “What does it say?” asks Minnie, and Joseph, puzzled, reads, “he says it’s been too long and he’s open to a visit.” Minnie and the kids declare “that’s great!” but Joseph is still puzzled, wondering how he got their address. Minnie suggests a relative, but Joseph keeps reading and stops: “He says he got my letter . . . and he’s looking forward to my apology.” He throws the letter on the table angrily. “Has he lost his mind? I never wrote him!” Joseph takes a deep breath and quotes some Bible verses about welcoming all in their home as the kids cower slightly, but he finishes by declaring “and if he thinks he’s going to get an apology from me, he has another thing coming!” and storms out.
Bill and Rosemary come running into Nathan’s office, showing him that the crime report of Nathan’s shooting doesn’t mesh with the testimony. The shooter was supposed to be far away, but the trajectory of the bullet that hit Lucas’ leg is consistent with Lucas struggling with the shooter at close range. “So close, Lucas had to see his face!” Bill observes, but Rosemary finishes with “if only he could remember.”
The children are finishing up a math test. Opal even gets acknowledged: “Thank you, Opal.” She then announces that she has a surprise – it’s Anna, all the way from the teaching college in Capital City. (Can I just mention that I really, really hate the name “Capital City?)" The older girls are excited to see her, and Elizabeth announces that Anna will be doing her practicum (i.e., student teaching) there. “You mean, you’re going to be teaching us?” one of them asks. “I’m going to try, but I’m sure I’m not going to be as good as Mrs. Thatcher!” (Oh, barf . . . ) Elizabeth reassures her.
Mike and Lee review the meeting at the saloon with Mei. Mike admits that when he’s around her, he feels like her little brother. “She even called me Mikey,” he admits glumly, and Lee agrees. Lucas comes over and is intercepted by Bill with news about the shooter. “Can it wait? I have bigger problems,” and invites him to join the pow-wow with Mike, Lee and Mei, who admit the negotiations are stalled. Bill tells Mike to “just stand his ground!” but Mei observes that Mike may not be the best person to be negotiating with Maisie. Lucas suggests Bill take over, but Bill refuses (so much for “let us know how we can help!”), and they ask Lee to step in as mayor. Mike is on board – “you only lost by just a little bit!” – but Lee demurs: “Not like this!” Bill points out that the Governor is there, and then turns to Lucas and asks “Your Eminence? What sayth ye?” Lucas asks Hickam, who gladly resigns on the spot. Lucas then proclaims Lee as mayor pro tem, pending a special election. Everyone congratulates Lee, who looks a little aghast at the turn of events.
As the children play at recess, Elizabeth and Anna chat on the steps of the church. Anna admits that the classes are harder than she expected, but Elizabeth reassures her by telling her that teachers are best made by experience, not just what is taught at teacher’s college. As they stand up to go inside, Elizabeth pauses, watching Nathan ride across town on his horse, dashing in red serge. She pauses so long that Anna asks her “What’s the matter?” and then shakes it off.
An excited Lee bursts into his and Rosemary’s office. He prefaces his announcement by assuring her that this will not affect how much time he spends with Rosemary and Goldie. She frowns: “Oh no – did we buy another saloon?” Lee blurts out that Lucas just made him mayor. “WHAT?!” exclaims Rosemary, but Lee earnestly tells her that he wants a shot at the job, because he thinks he can really make a difference. Rosemary rises, goes to him, and gives him a lingering kiss. “Lee Coulter, you were made to be mayor,” she assures him. “It’s perfect – I’m so proud of you!” Then, suddenly it’s all about her: “I always thought I’d make a wonderful political wife - holding salons, debating issues of the day, driving the conversation towards a better world for all of us!” Lee just shakes his head, smiling. “I can see it now,” he smiles, and receives another kiss.
Anna hands out the math tests – Toby did well – and gets to ring the bell to dismiss class. Toby thanks Elizabeth for her help. The Canfield children are talking to Allie, telling her about the letter Joseph received, and Elizabeth overhears. They wonder if they should tell their dad who wrote the letter. “I think you already know the answer to that,” she tells them, and they nod glumly.
Henry wanders to the cafe and joins Joseph at a table outside. Joseph notices that Henry is troubled and asks what the problem is. Henry says, “I just want peace,” to which Joseph responds, “Why do you think you can’t have it?” (Oooh, nice philosophical question, Joseph!) Henry says that Lucas has asked him to help with the resort, but admits he doesn’t know if he can do it. “Business doesn’t excite you any more?” Joseph asks. “It’s not the business anymore, it’s the person I become when I’m doing the business.” Joseph puts his cup of tea down, and tells Henry that he has grown, changed and is wiser now. Henry gestures to his hair and retorts, “I’m greyer now! I wouldn’t say that I’m any wiser, now.” (And if that isn’t wise, I don’t know what is.) Joseph observes that he’s been called upon to share his wisdom, but it’s up to him to decide if he wants to share it.
Maisie is enjoying a mud facial from Mei, and comments that her shoulder is acting up, as it usually does with stress or family – “in this case, both” Mei offers to try acupressure, and Maisie agrees. While she relaxes, Maisie lets her guard down and tells her that she thinks it’s a bad idea of the governor’s, but the people of Benson Hills are “dazzled” by it. She then relaxes into a snooze just as Mike appears. Mei motions him out, and joins him outside as Maisie snoozes, and tells Mike that the people at Benson Hills are for the project, which delights him.
Elizabeth is walking down the street (with basket!) and sees Nathan chatting to some townspeople. He tips his hat and walks away, stops when he sees Elizabeth, but then keeps walking away. Elizabeth looks confused and slightly hurt. Later, she and Rosemary are talking by her front porch, and Rosemary asks if everything is ok between her and Lucas. Elizabeth says she thinks that both of them just want to be friends, and Rosemary agrees that it’s good to have fabulous friends that endeavor to do great things. Elizabeth goes on to say that “looking back, there was love, but not . . . “ “. . . the love you had with Jack,” Rosemary finishes for her. “Or the love you have with Lee. Is it asking too much to want that kind of love again?” Rosemary reassures her that no, it’s not, and that there’s a love written for her in the stars. Elizabeth, frowning, says, “Sometimes the stars don’t get it right,” and Rosemary asks what’s wrong. “Sometimes, it’s just hard to know what’s going on in other people’s minds – and hearts,” Elizabeth says. Rosemary asks if she’s talking about Nathan, and observes that minds and hearts don’t always agree.
Lee, Mike and Lucas are meeting to discuss the new information from Mei. Henry is sitting a few feet away, pretending to read a book, but is listening closely. Mike says that he thinks that Maisie is being deliberately difficult because she wants to force Hope Valley to pull the plug because she knows that the people of Benson Hills actually want the resort. Lee realizes that what they have isn’t a negotiation. Lucas looks at Henry and asks him if he’s hearing this. “I am,” Henry replies, nose still in the book. “Well, could you throw us a bone?” Lucas asks. Henry replies, “She’s trying to paint you in a corner – you have to take the paintbrush away from her.” The guys think about this for a moment, and Lee asks “How do we do that?” Henry allows as how he has a thought. Lucas smiles and says, “It sounds like you’re on board, Henry.” “Maybe. Let’s talk more,” Henry replies, as he gets up and walks out. Lucas starts to follow him, but notices Nathan, in off-duty clothes, listlessly playing darts in the corner. He walks over and proposes a wager on a game, and Nathan says he doesn’t trust his luck. Lucas throws a dart, smiles, and says, “It’s not luck, it’s skill.” Nathan laughs and says, “That, too!” and observes that Lucas seems to be in a good mood. “Some things seem to be going in my favor, and I cleared up a small misunderstanding with Elizabeth,” Lucas admits. “You mean, with Jeannette?” Nathan asks. “You were engaged to her?” Lucas observes that you can’t put your socks on in this town without everybody knowing it, and that no, he and Jennette were not engaged, but were together for a while. “As it turns out, Elizabeth hardly batted an eye, so I guess that means she has well and truly moved on.” “You’re ok with that?” Nathan asks skeptically. Lucas looks at Nathan and tells him “I’d rather have her as a friend than not have her in my life at all.” Nathan absorbs what Lucas has just said.
At the Canfields, Angela offers Joseph some pie. As he sits down, he notices they are nervous and asks what’s wrong. Angela admits that they sent Uncle Jacob the letter, but they didn’t mean to cause trouble, but after what he had told them about how important siblings are, and how you shouldn’t take them for granted . . . “ “ . . . we just thought that maybe you were taking it for granted, too.” finishes Cooper. Joseph sighs and says “you may be right,” and tells them it’s ok.
At school, Opal has made a very detailed picture of what she imagines the new resort would be like. Elizabeth suggests that she could be an architect or even an engineer. Opal looks thoughtful and asks Elizabeth to give the picture to Governor Bouchard.
Maisie enters the conference room for the next round of negotiations, but is surprised to find Lucas and Henry also in attendance. Lucas tells her they have an idea that might be fair to both parties, and Henry explains that they accept all of her demands. “You do?” she says, nervously. Henry goes on to add that they have an idea to help both towns. “What’s the idea?” Maisie demands. Lucas replies simply: “We merge the towns.” Maisie explodes, accusing them of trying to push her out of office, but Lucas explains that there will be co-mayors, until the next election. She looks speculatively at Mike, then smiles. “Co-mayors, you say?” Mike tries to interrupt her (to explain about Lee being the current mayor), but Maisie brushes him off with a condescending sweep of her finger and tells him “Mikey, I’m speaking with the governor.” Mike sits back with a “well, I tried” look on his face and a small smile. She asks Lucas, “And if either of these co-mayors persuades the other to oppose the resort?” Lucas smiles charmingly and tells her that ‘that would be most unfortunate, but I can’t see moving forward unless we have the full support of at least one mayor.” “Then I agree!” she says, standing and preparing to leave. “Thank you, Madame Mayor” Lucas tells her, and then administers the coup de grace: “Oh, by the way, Mike isn’t mayor anymore, Mr. Coulter is.” Maisie turns in disbelief, as Lee puts out his hand, smiles, and says, “And I look forward to our collaboration!’ he tells her, with a little laugh. She glares accusingly at Mike, who shrugs and says apologetically “I’m sorry Maisie – I tried to tell you.” She storms out of the conference room, leaving behind a room of smiling men.
Nathan (in uniform) sees Elizabeth on the street and asks to speak with her. He guides her over to an alcove and apologizes for his curt behavior the day before. “It obviously was just bad timing,” Elizabeth offers, but Nathan denies it and says, awkwardly, “I thought you and Lucas were . . . still . . . “ Elizabeth denies it, and assures him that she and Lucas are just friends. “I know,” says Nathan, “but what am I to you?” he asks earnestly. “I mean – are we just friends?” Elizabeth stares at him, mouth open, but is then interrupted by Henry, who tells Elizabeth there is an emergency meeting of the town council, and tells Nathan he might want to attend, too.
(Interesting to see who is on the town council. Where is Molly? Or Faith?) Florence and Ned Yost, Mike, Mei, Lee and Rosemary, Bill, Joseph and Henry. Apparently Elizabeth is, too. As they enter, everyone is already gathered, with Lucas standing in front of them. Bill is incredulous: “You want to merge the towns?” Ned Yost asks, “We won’t be Hope Valley any more?” Lucas reminds them that Maisie will also have a say, but tells them the vote must be unanimous, or else the project goes to Jamison or Buxton. Lucas also reminds them that if they merge, their school would come under the jurisdiction of the Valley School District and they would lose their independence. Elizabeth goes wide-eyed, and then looks down in thought as Rosemary looks at her worriedly and says “I don’t like the sound of that.” Florence agrees, remembering “the last time the school board came knocking.” Ned says that if it affects Elizabeth’s school, he votes no. Everyone looks at Elizabeth, who slowly says that while they have had their issues with the school board before, they have always overcome them, and this might mean more benefits. Lee agrees, saying there may be more resources and more opportunities for their kids. Ned asks Elizabeth if she agrees, and she hesitates, gazing at Lucas. “Do you really believe in this?” she asks him. He holds her gaze and says, “I do. Economically, it means a better future for the whole valley and everyone in it.” “She thinks for a moment: “Then I say ‘yes’.” She turns and glances at Nathan, who gives her a small smile – which is observed by Lucas.
Maisie is meeting with Henry, Lucas, Mike and Lee, and declares that the towns aren’t merged. “We thought you were in agreement?” responds Henry, and Maisie blusters, “Well, THAT was before . . . “ and Lee smiles and finishes her sentence for her: “Before you found out that I was going to be your co-mayor instead of Mike?” Mike throws his two cents in gleefully: “You aren’t pushing Lee around!” Maisie shrugs, and Lucas tells her that they want to work with her, and promise to deal with her demands in good faith, but “yes, it is a fait accompli.” Maisie is still against the idea of the resort, and states that it will bring endless trouble to the valley. Lucas promises her that won’t happen, but Maisie shoots back, “Just like your predecessor promised the water would be safe? I may be a lone voice, but I will continue to fight this monstrosity. And maybe the voters will turn against me in the next election – but at least I will be able to sleep at night. Can you say the same?” Mike tries to reason with her: “Your own council agrees!” She dismisses his argument, telling him that he is being fooled. Mike stands firm, though, and tells her “Maisie, you’re wrong. I know you aren’t used to being told this, but you’re wrong.” She glares at Mike, and then tells them all that “this isn’t over” as she flounces out. Mike apologizes to Lucas, who says that he’s sorry, too, for causing a family rift. Mike brushes that prospect off with a short laugh: “As Hickam rifts go, this is mild!” Lee congratulates Lucas and leaves, leaving Lucas and Henry. Lucas turns to Henry and tells him, “Well played – I knew we needed you on the team. Welcome aboard!” Henry nods, but looks less than thrilled.
Elizabeth (carrying the basket) knocks on Lucas’ office door and asks if he’s busy. He invites her in, and apologizes for blindsiding her at the council meeting, but she admits that it was inevitable that they would end up joining the school board. He assures her that he will do everything in his power to maintain independence, and she thanks him. She reaches into her basket and pulls out Opal’s sketch, and tells him that Opal really wanted him to have it, because she had been inspired on the hike. Lucas studies it and says “this is even better than I had imagined it!” Elizabeth tells him that “she really believes in the Bouchard GV!” “GV?” “Grand Vision” she explains, smiling. “And I believe in it, too.” Lucas tells her that that means a great deal to him. As she turns to leave, he tells her that he really meant what he said to her, and asks her to promise him that if she ever does have a chance at happiness, that she will jump in with both feet. You deserve that.” Touched, she tells him “Thank you. I will.”
Minnie joins Joseph, who is deep in thought, on the porch of the cafe. They talk about Jacob, and how Minnie remembers them being inseparable when they first met. Joseph agrees, but then says that after the argument that his brother was “Impossible! And difficult! And stubborn!” Minnie observes that “I guess it runs in the family,” and reminds him that it’s been a long time, and that he should remember what he told the kid, that there is nothing more precious than family. Joseph shakes his head slightly, but Minnie persists: “You have nothing to lose . . . and everything to gain.”
Bill and Rosemary are explaining the shooter theory to Lucas, who still doesn’t remember the shooting. He points out that Clayton Pike confessed, but Bill presses on, and reminds Lucas that Pike may not have been acting alone – or even was there. Rosemary chimes in, saying that if that’s the case, the real shooter is still out there, and Lucas is still in danger. Lucas tries to brush it off, reminding them that it’s been five months, and the other person has had plenty of time to finish the job if he was still in danger. Rosemary reminds him that they just want him to be safe, and he thanks them. Bill picks up the file as he and Rosemary begin to leave, and a photo of the crime scene falls out. Lucas picks it up to hand to Bill, but as he glances at it, he has a short flashback. “I do remember . . . something I grabbed the gun.” Bill asks eagerly if he remembers the face, any detail that might help, but that’s all Lucas can recall for now, and he promises to tell them if something else comes to mind. He looks distracted. “Right now, I’m just tired – it’s been a long day.” Bill and Rosemary nod understandingly and leave. Lucas stands in the middle of the room, as flashbacks flit through his mind: The headlight of a car. A man with a hat with his back turned towards him. A struggle. A gun. And lastly, an umbrella lying on the ground in the rain.
Nathan is enjoying a drink on the front porch of his house as Allies comes out, declaring the dishes have been done. He thanks her, and she apologizes for "sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong” the day before. He reassures her it’s ok, but she asks what he’s going to do. “I thought I’d walk Scout and walk off some of that dinner,” he teases, and she says, “No! About Mrs. Thornton!” Nathans tells her it’s complicated, but Allie looks over his shoulder and interrupts him by springing up and telling him, “Oh, I have homework!” and dashes inside. He turns and, surprised, sees Elizabeth walking up to him. “I didn’t get a chance to answer your question,” she tells him. He tries to be nonchalant about it, but she persists. “Nathan. Friends don’t look at friends . . . this way.” She tears her gaze from his and walks away, leaving him smiling.

P.S. This is Tagged as spoilers for some pieces of infromation that may be spoilers for those who have not seen or done her interrogation or the Floral Unfurl and RainBurst Events. This is also the first post of mine to break the Character limit so I will be breaking it into two parts.
Link to Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/PathToNowhere/comments/1clu7gw/path_to_nowhere_sfw_headcanons_for_shalom_part_2/
Part 3: https://www.reddit.com/PathToNowhere/comments/1clua8k/path_to_nowhere_sfw_headcanons_for_shalom_part_3/
1. She has many times attempted to usurp Nightingale as the chief’s adjutant in an effort to get closer to the Chief, with her efforts ranging from subtle attempts to discredit Nightingale, to outright attempting to have her transferred to a different Agency, though these efforts have all been in vain.
She has since switched her efforts from removing the Adjutant from play, to making her into an ideal subordinate to aid the Chief and to use as a proxy for her own plans to benefit the Chief, herself, and the rest of the MBCC through a variety of means, some of which have left Nightingale adamant in putting a bullet in the head of whoever is responsible for them.
2. She does not like overly spicy food, something with a little kick is fine, but anything above that is too much for her, a weakness that Coquelic somehow figured out and used against her by lacing one of her meals with a notoriously hot pepper.
Shalom’s yelp of pain as the spice overwhelmed her, and the way her eyes had begun to water as she downed her entire drink before she asked Rahu to get her another one, is an image that has been immortalized in the halls of The Garden via several covertly taken photos and videos.
That the Garden found its flower garden in the Greenhouse dying barely a week later, in addition to the Chief being unable to get her hands on any additional flower seeds to replace the ones they had lost for several months afterwards was certainly just a coincidence…right?
3. She still has a soft spot for Christina despite past…incidents. And while she desires for Christina to make her own path, she still considers her to be her detective, and as such maintains a careful eye on her.
From keeping track of which cases she is working, the threat they pose to her detective, the people she socializes with, her newest interests, her family’s state of affairs, to the way she decorates her room, and so on, she feels at ease knowing that her detective is safe and sound.
She has made it clear to her detective that she will always be present to offer her help should she need it, granted her help tends to come with the requirement of Chris having to spend time with Shalom while she addresses her as ‘Big Sister Shalom’ during said time and allowing the Hush to call her ‘Little Sister’ as well.
As such she is never able to fight the smile that comes to her face when Christina needs her help, especially when she is able to use the chance to pamper her detective and see how far she has grown while on her own.
4. This suggestion came from EinarKaslana on Ao3, the credit for it goes to them.
That said, it is a shared headcanon between us that she is fond of photography, and maintains many photo albums throughout her places of residence, with specific people, such as the Chief, Christina, and Rahu, having entire albums devoted to pictures taken of them by the Hush.
That some of them were taken by cameras they were unaware of is neither here nor there to Shalom, and so long as they remain unaware of them, it will be nothing to them either…especially so long as they do not discover the albums that contain more candid pictures of them in various states of undress or in certain…compromising positions.
It is safe to say that those albums are among her most well hidden and well defended of treasures, with even Schorl being unaware of their location.
5. She has a soft spot for cats and dogs, often leaving out food for them or taking the time to pet and pamper them when she encounters them, as such she was one of the staunchest backers for the MBCC gaining an on site pound/shelter.
That said, she is also an avid fan of cat cafes having dragged Christina and Rahu to enough that they can reliably name the majority of the cat cafes in Dis off the top of their head, with but a few exceptions for those that have yet to have the Hush grace them.
She also tends to leave very sizable tips at said cafes, enough that the staff go out of their way to meet her expectations, and that they do not say a word about her gathering enough cats to cover herself and whoever is with her at the time in them.
6. Her room is surprisingly rather homey, with a number of bookshelves lining the walls, only broken up by small tables or wall fixtures with lamps and candles resting on them, an assortment of dark colored furniture, a large amount of flowers, both in pots on tables and hanging from the ceiling, and a rather sizable collection of horror related media.
She also has a large canopied bed that she has covered in enough pillows that many periodically fall off when anything jostles the bed, and a rather sizable amount of scented candles and incense scattered throughout her room.
Her main outfit of choice, along with several copies of her favorite coat, is kept in a dresser near her bathroom, while a much larger walk-in closet is dedicated to other uniforms and outfits that she has amassed over the years, though they are a subject for later on.
There is also a room that is hidden within her cell, a result of her machinations and of several deals made to allow her skills to be used to benefit the MBCC, said room being filed with a wall of monitors and terminals, a large number of filing cabinets rigged with incendiary devices that she can activate by tapping a button on her terminal, and a sizable amount of targets for her to focus her skills on.
She can never stop herself from chuckling everytime she enters the room, picturing the look on her former handlers faces were they to become aware that the Hush of Paradeisos, has become the Hush of Minos, granted said role is kept secret from the Chief, but it is the thought that counts…at least to her.
7. While there are many Sinners and staff within the bureau that adore Shalom, there are equally as many that hold in her both dread and contempt, be it because they know just Who she is, or because they feel that something is not quite right with her, some sixth sense warning them to avert themselves from aligning so closely with her.
Among those who hold her in disdain are Langley, who has seen enough of the mountain of corpses the Hush has built as an agent of Paradeisos to fully trust her, even with her devotion seemingly to have switched to her rookie.
As a result, the Spider has a special bullet with Shalom’s name written on it for the moment she feels the Hush has become more trouble than she is worth keeping around.
Another one that holds the Hush in contempt is Chameleon, the hypnotist being able to see through the mask that Shalom wears and finding the thing she glimpses beneath it to be of no small amount of concern, hence her own caution in regards to her.
Her trepidation regarding Shalom was only further cemented by the fact that the one time Chameleon attempted to use her power on Shalom resulted in her awakening in her cell with a migraine, a bloodied nose, and a letter reading- “Please, don’t try that again. I would hate to have to explain your loss to the Chief. Sincerely-Shalom”
Of course there is also the Garden and their own wariness of the woman to consider as well, as, while they do admit her actions allowed for them to escape the clutches of the Underground, her methods…have done their perception of her no favors.
Though they can agree with her desire to support the Chief and to safeguard their new home, it does nothing to keep them from having their eyes on her, and a blade marked with her name on it should she overstep her bounds.
While there are many more who feel wariness of the former Hush of Paradeisos, perhaps rivaled but by that of the former leader of Rustifre is that of her own former protegee and pseudo sister, Chirstina.
Having seen first hand just how ruthless her mentor can be, along with having gotten a glimpse as to the true nature of her work for Paradeisos, she has since found that while she yet has a fondness for Shalom, she can never feel as at ease in her presence as she once did due to what she has done, something which is bittersweet to Shalom.
8. She is one of a very select few to have actually beaten Eirene at both normal chess, and a specialized version of it designed by the Head Of Quinn, with her version of chess being something which involves multiple chess boards linked to a rotating table, where the players are playing multiple games simultaneously with but a few moments to make each decision and move.
Said game lasted nearly 12 hours, and ended with Shalom claiming a resounding victory with but minimal losses upon the other boards, a feat which has since earned her no small amount of fame within the bureau, even from her detractors, and a standing offer to play chess with Eirene whenever she wishes to.
9. While she is physically frail, especially for an S-Rank Sinner, she is still heads and shoulders above an average person in terms of speed, strength, and endurance, being as able of breaking bones with a punch as she is ruining someone's life with a few well placed whispers.
That said, she is surprisingly somewhat unaware of the extent of this strength, especially given that she is severely lacking in training for CQC and the usage of firearms and other weaponry, given her preference for remaining on the backlines and using the overwhelming might of Schorl to contend with any foe that gets in her way, and has thus not really had any reason to use it.
Yet even without training, she is still a capable threat should someone get in close, something which has lead to several sinners and staff seeing the surreal scene of her casually flinging a corruptor, that had somehow bypassed Schorl’s scanners, three times her size against a wall before it was vaporized by the aforementioned Paradeisian weapon.
10. She has gained a habit of messing with Schorl by putting stickers and such on it, something which the machine does not seem to enjoy given how it will try and find any way it can to remove the stickers or markings from itself the moment they are applied.
Shalom even once went so far as to write on the Paradeisian device with a pink marker, using it as a means of reminding herself of an appointment she had with Dr. Iron and Nurse Anne regarding her health, with the machine actually allowing the message to be written and to remain…at least until after her appointment, at which point it bore a hole through a water pipe and used it to wash itself off.
Similarly, she once brought up the idea of coloring the Schorl, with the machine and its operators adamantly rejecting the very concept of the idea, going so far as to destroy the can of paint and paint brush that she had purchased to do so before they scurried off.
11. She cannot drive. This is one of the few points of agreement the Chief and Paradeisos have ever been able to reach as Shalom’s driving can lead to no small amount of damage to the vehicle she is behind the wheel of, along with the sanity and health of her passengers.
The last time she attempted to drive she managed to make it a quarter of the way to her destination before Rahu and Christina, both of whom were holding on to one another for dear life, managed to convince her to switch with Rahu while Christina and Schorl spoke with the sherrifs regarding the collateral damage.
They were less than 3 minutes into what should have been a 9 minute long drive at the time.
12. She is fond of dropping by the Chief’s office and helping them with their work whenever the opportunity presents itself, something which has greatly endeared her to the Chief, and, albeit begrudgingly, Nightingale.
That she tends to leave each of these sessions wondering just how it is that the Bureau has not imploded in on itself or declared secession from Dis in some fit of mad lunacy, is something that tends to add some enjoyment to her day by trying to make sense of the insanity of the MBCC.
She has even gone so far as to compile many of the more interesting stories and reports into a personal collection to browse for her own entertainment whenever she feels the need for some levity.
To this day, one of her favorites remains the time that Emp managed to weave so elaborate a lie that it resulted in the FAC spending nearly 4 days investigating a ‘Duck Sinner’ that was responsible for the destruction of a power plant, with the Archer even managing to, albeit unknowingly, have Paradaisos waste several days investigating the same claim when it was relayed to them.
The true culprit of the Power Plant overloading was of course, EMP herself, though Shalom vowed to take that secret to her grave in exchange for the amount of humor her lie gave her.
13. Rahu once attempted to teach her how to use a conventional weapon for self defense, in the event that Schorl was destroyed or disabled and she was not present, only for the attempt to end with Christina having to get her hat repaired courtesy of the bullet ricocheting off of the target, off of the ground between Rahu’s feet, the ceiling above them, the railing of the shooting range, and then into the top of Christina’s hat.
That Langley had the audacity to not only laugh when she heard the report, but to then order Shalom not be allowed to touch any firearms in the Bureau has since been something of a sore spot for the Hush, especially since both Christina and Rahu aid the Spider in enforcing such a rule.
14. While her fondness for the horror genre of film has long been a well established trend in the bureau, with her appreciation for it in literature and art being similarly well known, her fondness for horror games is a relatively new obsession of hers.
Most of this fondness for the horror genre of gaming can be laid at the feet of Etti, who Shalom overheard running a horror themed tabletop session, EMP, who introduced her to horror anime as repayment for lending her a movie, and Nino, who she watched stream a horror game that caught her fascination.
Since then, she has devoured many horror games in terms of both playing them and watching them, with some of the games being of such disturbing levels that even Schorl was driven to escape the room to avoid the more disturbing scenes and gameplay.
That her new fascination has started a trend among the ones in charge of monitoring her via Schorl using the media she enjoys as a form of Test Of Courage, is something she is aware of enough to greatly enjoy.
With her fondness later extending to Tabletop games and the potential for horror and suspenseful storytelling within them as she learned of many of the horror campaigns that had been run by other DMs.
This being something that led to her approaching Etti to request her guidance on the matter, with Etti agreeing to help her DM a horror themed session, the young dragon all too happy to help a fledgling DM in the art of destro-*Ahem* creating an enjoyable session for everyone with minimal tears and screams involved.
That said session she ran resulted in Horo hiding under Zoya’s bed, Christina hiding with Thistle in a closet, Hella and Ninety-Nine refusing to leave their room without ear plugs on as they cursed her to hell and back, was something that lead to Etti declaring Shalom to be her new apprentice in the art of DMing.
The sheer panic that announcement caused nearly brought the Bureau to its knees.
15. Upon learning of Cabernet’s ability to materialize and consume souls, Shalom sought her out with a rather curious request, as she wished for the Franc Heiress to materialize a piece of Shalom’s own soul so that she could taste it out of her own curiosity.
After a rather lengthy debate with the Chief, and several tablets of aspirin, it was decided to allow the experiment of sorts to take place, with Cabernet materializing 2 pieces of Shalom’s soul as a pair of grapes, one being given to the Hush and the other being kept by the Glutton of Souls herself.
Cabernet would later remark that the taste was bizarre, as at first there appeared to be no flavor at all to her grape, only for her to be suddenly hit with an overwhelming bombardment of taste to such an extent she was nearly ill, the heiress later remarking to the Chief that beyond all of the myriad flavors there was something else…a feeling that was unnamable to her, yet left her feeling uneasy for many days afterwards.
Shalom would claim that she enjoyed the taste of the grape as well, though the true joy of the experience seemed to be an idea that had come to her as she would later approach the Glutton with an offer that she would request be kept between the two of them.
What was that offer?
Perhaps it is better off unknown if the way the Franc Heiress refused to leave her room for several days afterwards was anything to go by, and it is likely better still to not question why it is she seems to make a weekly tribute of a grape to the Hush, one that could not possibly have been made with Shalom’s own soul.
Indeed, it is better not to question what was said between the two.
16. She is still in regular contact with, and financially supporting, her former maid from her time at Erica Villa, Rosa.
The young woman having managed to somehow earn the fondness of the former Hush to such an extent that she has been working quite tirelessly to convince the Chief to allow for her to be employed at the Bureau, her main argument being that she could be of great help as part of any of the departments that need her…along with being another at least semi-sane and responsible person to help keep the MBCC in…relatively stable condition.
With each day she makes the argument to the Chief she wears her down more and more until she will be able to have her maid back at her side, and once more enjoy teaming up with her to make Rahu, and soon the Chief, as flustered as possible with their shared teasing.
17. She is not allowed any form of caffeine, a rule Paradeisos ‘forgot’ to inform the Chief of when Shalom was sent to the Bureau, with Rahu and Christina thinking the Hush herself or Schorl would have informed the Chief of this rule…only to learn that was not the case.
Indeed, the Chief learned of this rule when someone, she is willing to bet her life that it was either Hella or EMP, saw that the former Hush looked tired and offered her some of Summer’s Special Brew Coffee.
What happened next is something known but to those who were there that day and who managed to gain access to the security footage, something which was soon locked behind the highest grade of confidentiality that Paradeisos could create, with the files being further encrypted by Summer and Langley as well.
Any attempts at acquiring an answer from those who witnessed what happened that day would be met with nothing but a thousand-mile stare, with several others whimpering and curling into the fetal position or turning and fleeing as swiftly as they can, with none daring to vocalize just what happened that day.
All anyone knows is that a substantial portion of the bureau needed repair done to it, several officials that had been adamantly against the Chief and the MBCC had to resign from their positions in disgrace once certain information regarding them was leaked, along with a rather sizable amount of collateral damage being done to several major roadways and side streets.
Schorl has since been given permission to destroy any source of caffeine Shalom manages to get her hands on.
18. She has been utilizing her abilities to commune with the Mania Monster made of her discarded humanity known as Rebel in a bid to earn its compliance and to be assemble to utilize it to its fullest one day, her primary reason for doing so being something of an emergency measure should Paradeisos attempt to remove her from play along with having an emergency ace in the hole for rainy days.
That it could be an additional tool for the Chief and a means of further defending her should anything befall the Hush, the monster having long made clear its own deep seated adoration for the Chief to her during their…’Conversations’, is but yet another lie she has come to tell herself.
That she also wants to reconnect with her lost humanity and to try and bond with it is something she has tried time and again to deny even to herself, yet as time has gone by, and her emotions have begun to return to her, she has found it increasingly hard to deny her true reason for wishing to do so.
The truth of the matter…is that all of this is being driven by Her ability to feel the loneliness of that missing part of herself and her desire to end it and fill the gaping wound torn in her own soul all those years ago by Paradeisos.
All she truly wants is to feel whole again.
19. She has an odd relationship with Hecate, somewhere between an almost sisterly bond and that of a mentor, with the former Hush often volunteering to accompany the younger sinner into the field to act as a mentor to her, that she still unconsciously tries to protect her is something neither will directly mention to one another.
The pair have likewise somewhat exchanged hobbies with Shalom managing to get Hecate interested in the horror genre, while Hecate has managed to convince Shalom to take up sketching and, to a lesser degree, painting as a hobby, something the Hush has taken the somewhat relaxed leash and observation she is under during her stay in the bureau to thoroughly enjoy.
That most of her works feature the Chief, several even having her in a state of undress or in various…compromising positions, is something that only the Hush and Hecate, who happened to mistake her sketchbook for an empty one, knows of.
It is safe to say the following exchange was quite awkward for the pair, though they were eventually able to work past it and continue their regular sessions of shared artistic endeavor…with the addition of a rather bright tag to mark which sketchbook is Shalom’s.
In a similar vein, Shalom has taken a rather sizable amount of time in teaching Hecate how to think strategically and to plan for various scenarios, with the young Sinner having shown a marked improvement in her Dispatches as result of the tutoring, that the Chief saw fit to praise Shalom was simply a bit of icing on the cake to her.
That said, many Sinner feel no small amount of unease at the idea of the Hush having taken the Chief’s Shadow under her wing, especially given the uncanny similarities the pair seem to share, the only comfort most have been able to find in the matter being their shared loyalty to the Chief.
Though even so, most fear the idea of just what Hecate could become if Shalom is allowed to mold her enough, thus all of those within the Bureau tend to keep an eye on the pair whenever they are together and they can.
20. She has mapped out the vast majority of the secret tunnels that span the Bureau, particularly all of the ones that lead to the kitchens and to the Chief’s room, with her making use of them to not only be able to sneak away to the kitchen for late night snacks or when she needs a drink during her work, with her also using the tunnels to deliver snacks to the Chief and to surprise her when she is working.
She also makes use of them to avoid certain parties and to surprise others, with her usage of them having gotten to the point that a not so small number of Sinners and staff are of the opinion that she is in possession of some form of teleportation device.
That Shalom seems to find some humor in these rumors and even tends to encourage them through her own actions and inactions has likewise led to no small amount of confusion and unease among the Sinner population due to the potential threat she could pose with such a device.
The Chief has tried time and again to dispel these rumors, only for them to constantly re-emerge after enough time has passed, something which has led to the Chief and the rest of the administration staff of the Bureau nearing the end of their rope in regards to how to handle the spreading rumors, with Paradeisos offering no help on the matter.
21. She has found something of a way to utilize her “Mark” in tandem with the Chief’s Shackles, a method of piggybacking off of the Shackles and utilizing her ability in a way that makes it considerably less obvious towards both the recipient of the ‘Mark’ and the Chief herself that one is under the Hush’s influence.
Even with this loophole removing her need for direct eye contact with her targets among the Sinners, it still requires for the targets to be in a heightened emotional state, and for the Chief to not be aware of her actions due to her ability to sense the influence through the Shackles and throttle it before it truly spreads.
The knowledge of this influencing power is strictly confidential so as to prevent any panic from spreading among the Sinners, especially among those who have prior experience with the Hush and her power., with the Chief having further heightened her security around the Hush, despite her claims of only wishing to use her power to aid the Chief.
That said, the loophole has a further weakness in that Sinners of strong enough will, or those who are particularly Contaminated, such as Nox, Dreya, and so on, can not only resist the influence of the Mark through this loophole, but can also somewhat retaliate against it, causing Shalom a sizable amount of pain when they do so, Nox’s own retaliation leading to her having a severe nosebleed and being near catatonic for several hours.
The final weakness of this ability is that she requires time to focus on the Shackles, and the slightest of disturbances can interrupt her ability, with contact with the chief being an additional means of furthering her power’s stability, though since this loophole came to her awareness she has made certain to be on her guard around her the vast majority of the time.
A final note is that by some means she has been able to keep this development secret from Paradeisos, using it as yet another tool in whatever schemes of rebellion she harbors against the organization.
22. She has given Thistle the equivalent to ‘The Shovel Talk’, with the exception of her talk involving her simply sitting in silence for a while as she looked Thistle in the eye, smiling as a triangle Mark flared in her eye as an unspoken warning of what awaits the assassin if anything befalls Christina.
Thistle’s reply simply being to lift up her sword and set it alight with her own silent vow, that should any of the Hush’s schemes cause harm to the detective, she would not live long enough to enjoy whatever form of victory she managed to achieve.
That the Hush has the audacity to smile at her actions a low chuckle slipping past her lips as she finished her tea before rising and walking past the assassin, pausing but to ruffle Thistle’s hair with an amused glint in her eyes as she left the assassin, only caused her to further despise the woman even if they could agree on protecting Christina.
That Thistle collapsed back into her chair as she fought to control her heart beat and suppress the adrenaline tearing through her body after Shalom had left the room, is something that she will deny ever happened that day.
23. She has met Christina’s step sister several times, each time ending in her being chased out of the house courtesy of the wheelchair bound girl either throwing objects at her or swatting at her with something as she tells her to stay away from Christina.
That said, she has not stopped her attempts at somewhat courting the young woman’s favor, having arranged for, and personally done, many things to make life easier for the young woman, such as aiding in her finding a stable source of income from home, and ensuring that she and Christina are able to visit whenever they wish.
Even with all that she has done however, the young woman still does not trust her, and does her best to try and mitigate any influence Shalom has over her, that said, she does appreciate Shalom’s efforts and has at least allowed for them to chat for more than 30 minutes before she starts chasing her out of her home.
24. While Shalom can be said to have a rather refined palate, she does also have a taste for more simple foods as well, especially given that Paradeisos did not allow her to indulge in them before due to her needing to maintain an image as their Envoy and their close monitoring of her.
As a result of this, and the somewhat increased freedom she has at the Bureau, she has gained the habit of searching for small hole in the wall restaurants and such to dine at with the Chief, Rahu, or Christina, with her having gained a reputation as an exceptionally generous patron.
More than once, Rahu has been caught off guard by seeing staff greet the former Hush by name and show her to her favored seat in the establishment, one time of note involving a rather portly chef who was easily double Rahu’s own size and weight leaving the kitchen to greet Shalom with an embrace as he sat her down and spoke with her for a little bit before going to cook her meal.
She has even tried some of the more exotic foods brought back by Wolverine from his hunts, such as the meat of Sand Worms, which she claims has an oddly gamey flavor to it that is not that unpleasant, and a form of lizard that she actually quite liked the taste of, much to everyone’s shock.
That said, she did refuse to even look at the scorpions and other multi-legged insectoid like creatures the Hunter caught, due in part to a reason that will be touched on below.
To Be Continued in Second Part due to 40,000 character Limit.

So I started out with one vanity light over the mirror, and wanted two sconces beside it instead. (Don't mind the pointless broken support lol, I will be adding a bigger better one before closing up the wall)
I measured + cut the new 4" holes for the new lights, and installed the new junction boxes (had to add some wood for support, and on the left side there was an unexpected pvc pipe behind the wall that had the wires leading up to the light attached to it, so I had to improvise and got a 1" deep saucer light junction box for that side) flush with the drywall.
I then cut two new segments of 14/2 wire, as per my breaker, and routed them each from a new junction box to the old one in the middle.
I stripped each wire to 1/2" using a stripper, and used 3 port push-in connectors in the main box. For the configuration, I did:
Connector 1: -Black from main source -Black from 1st light -Black from 2nd light
Connector 2: -White from main source -White from 1st light -White from 2nd light
Connector 3: -Pigtail wire, with other end connected to ground screw alongside original ground wire -Ground wire from 1st light -Ground wire from 2nd light
In each new box, I stripped the wires 1/2", and capped both the black and white wires, in preperation for the new fixtures.
I then installed the base of the new fixtures onto the new junction boxes, these lights came with a 22-20 stranded wire, and it just sketched me out a bit to combine the stranded and solid, so I swapped out the provided ground wire for my own 14g wire and screwed it onto the base of the fixture where the old one was.
I took the ground wire from the new box, and the new 14g wire from the fixture base, and created a pigtail , I twisted the 3 wires together, and capped them with the appropriate size wire nuts. I then screwed the other end of the pigtail to the ground screw of the box.
Now, as per my local building code, I am going to fasten the hanging wires to the studs using cable staples, here it is 12" from the junction box and every 4.9 ft thereafter, so I only really need one for each cord, but will probably do a couple just to keep it neat. Then I am going to place a blank plate over the middle box, and simply hang my mirror over it so it is accessible.
And... I think that's it! Right? I honestly have no experience but really wanted to do this myself, I used a lot of sources to figure it out, and just don't want to mess anything up, thanks so much for your time I know this was super long but I seriously appreciate you for it

Has anyone installed stage with ramps. Hoping ramps ok for the intake pipe install. Anyone do it this way? Getting under the car on jack stands sketches me out.

This is the list that I wrote for the 113 inmates executed by the state of Virginia, from the 1976 Gregg national reinstatement of the death penalty to the state abolishing it in 2021. For the sake of clarification, the dates given here are an approximate timeframe of the offender's earliest known criminal activities to their executions. Many of the crimes surveyed here are also extremely horrific, and the gory details are discussed in my descriptions. Please read at your own risk.
Unfortunately, as with Missouri, the list exceeds the maximum 40,000 character count Reddit allows for submissions, and thus I had to split it into two separate posts. Here is the link to part 2 of this list.
The 113 executed offenders:
1. Frank Coppola (~1960s-1982, electric chair): Coppola, his wife, and two other accomplices hatched a plan to rob Payton Wetchell, a 55 year old car dealer, at his home. One of the accomplices posed as a delivery girl, and lured Payton's wife, 51 year old Muriel, out by ringing the doorbell. The group then forced themselves inside at gunpoint and tried extorting from her valuables though beatings. Mariel’s head was slammed against the door numerous times, and she ended up dying from suffocating on her vomit and a brain hemorrhage. When Peyton arrived at the scene, he was beaten as well. Although he survived, the treatment for the fractures required Peyton to have a steel plate grafted on his forehead, and he took his own life about a decade after the incident. The Coppolas and their accomplices made off with $3,000 and 3 rings. Coppola was a career burglar, and lost his job as a policeman for failing to report inmate abuse. His execution caused some controversy, as a witnesses described Coppola's legs catching fire during the electrocution.
2. Linwood Briley (~1971-1984, electric chair): In 1971, at the age of 16, Briley killed his neighbor, 57 year old Orline Christian, in a sniper attack from his bedroom window while she was laying clothesline. He escaped prosecution by convincing authorities that it was an accident. 8 years later, Briley went on a rape and robbery spree with two of his brothers (including James) and another accomplice. They murdered anywhere between ~12-21 males and females in their attacks. Their means of killings were very diverse and circumstantial, and completely indiscriminate on who they killed. The eldest known victim was 76 year old Mary Gowen, whom they raped and shot to death, while their youngest was 5 year old Harvey Barton, who was shot dead after the gang gang-raped and murdered his pregnant mother, 23 year old Judy. Some like, 17 year old Christopher Philips had his head crushed with a concrete block, a few others like 62 year old Mary Wilfong were beaten to death with baseball bats, and 59 year old Charles Garner was fatally stabbed with scissors and a fork. Almost all the victims were murdered in their homes, but some were attacked at their jobs. While on death row, Briley and James escaped with 4 other inmates, but were recaptured after a 3 week long manhunt.
3. James Briley (~1970s-1985, electric chair): He was one of Linwood Briley's brothers, and he assisted in him in the robbery, rapes, and murders of at least 12 to 21 people. As previously mentioned, Briley and Linwood broke out of prison on death row with several other inmates, and were all recaptured within weeks after their escape.
4. Morris Mason (~1960s-1985, electric chair): Mason broke into the homes of two elderly women, 86 year old Ursula Stevenson and 71 year old Margaret Hand. In both attacks, the victims were raped, beaten with an ax handle, bound and nailed to chairs, and burned alive when he set their houses on fire. He also attacked a pair of sisters, who were 12 and 13 years old, in their home. The 13 year old grabbed a gun from their father’s closet for protection, but Mason wrestled the gun away, and shot her instead. She survived with crippling injuries. Mason then kidnapped the 12 year old, took her to a nearby forest, and sodomized her. He covered the girl with leaves, lit them on fire, but she survived with only minor burns to her hair and shirt. Mason was also responsible for several burglaries during his crime spree, and was convicted several previous times for arson attacks. Authorities believe that Mason was committing acts of arson since his childhood. His execution sparked some controversy, due to him allegedly having a cognitive disability.
5. Michael Smith (~1970s-1986, electric chair): Smith kidnapped 35 year old Audrey Weiler while she was walking from a beach. He dragged her into a forest and raped her. During the sexual assault, Smith stabbed Weiler and drowned her in a nearby river. At the time of the attack, Smith was a sex offender with a rape conviction, and had reoffended against Weiler only months after his release from prison.
6. Richard Whitley (1980-1987, electric chair): Whitley went to the home of his occasional employer, 63 year old Phoebe Parsons, to vent about his broken marriage. As they were conversing, he stabbed Parsons to death. During the attack, he sodomized Parsons with an umbrella, and engaged in sex acts with her body. He then sacked the home of any valuables, stole her car, and fled to Florida.
7. Earl Clanton Jr. (~1971-1988, electric chair): At the age of 17, Clanton killed an unidentified woman in circumstances largely undisclosed beyond it being a robbery. Although Clanton was given a 26-28 year sentence, he was paroled 8 years later. A year after his release, he strangled a neighbor, 38 year old Wilhemina Smith, during a robbery of her home. He also had a malicious wounding conviction when he badly injured a teenage boy with brass knuckles, and his mother had made complaints of him stealing money from her. However, Clanton claimed that she faked her complaints in retaliation for him refusing a sexual relationship with her. Clanton also took part in the mass prison escape orchestrated by the Briley brothers, but was recaptured with them.
8. Alton Waye (1977-1989, electric chair): Waye invaded the home of 61 year old Lavergne Marshall, and stabbed her 42 times. He then raped Marshall and poured bleach on her body.
9. Richard Boggs (1984-1990, electric chair): After Boggs killed an unidentified man in a hit and run accident, he rushed to the home of his neighbor, 87 year old Treeby Shaw. When she offered him tea, Boggs hit her in the head with a steel object, and stabbed her to death with a butcher knife. He stole some silver from the home, which was discovered by investigating police officers in his car. On an unrelated side note, Boggs' older brother was shot dead by police during a car chase some years after his execution.
10. Wilbert Evans (~1964-1990, electric chair): While incarcerated for a robbery in North Carolina, Evans was transferred to Virginia to testify at a murder trial. While being transported in a prison van, he decided to take the opportunity to escape, and seized a gun from one of his escorts, 47 year old William Truesdale. Truesdale was shot dead during the struggle and Evans used the gun to destroy his handcuffs. Although he managed to jump out of the van, Evans was cornered by police officers only a few blocks away, and was recaptured followed a bungled suicide attempt. Evans had an extensive criminal history, and was convicted of robbing a gas station at the age of 18. During his time on death row, he protected staff members held hostage from being raped and abused by the Briley brothers during their attempted escape. His execution caused some controversy, as blood was observed coming out of his blood, nose, and eyes during the fatal shocks.
11. Buddy Justus (1978-1990, electric chair): Justus abducted and raped 3 women, 32 year old Rosemary Jackson, 21 year old Stephanie Hawkins, and 21 year old Ida Moses, and shot them to death. He was charged with a 4th murder, as Moses was pregnant and her unborn child also died in the attack. In two of his known murders, Justus was assisted by an 18 year old man that he befriend after he picked him up hitchhiking. He also received several life and death sentences in the states of Georgia and Florida.
12. Albert Clozza (1983-1991, electric chair): Clozza snatched 13 year old Patricia Bolton while she was walking home from a bookmobile. He dragged the girl into a forest and sodomized her with a twig. She was also severely beaten in the attack, and the corner's report mentioned that Bolton was "asphyxiated by her own blood."
13. Derrick Peterson (1982-1991, electric chair): During a holdup of a grocery store, Peterson shot and killed the manger, 45 year old Howard Kauffman. He then ran off with thousands of dollars worth in checks and cash.
14. Roger Coleman (~1977-1992, electric chair): Coleman tricked his sister-in-law, 19 year old Wanda McCoy, into letting him inside her house. He then raped and stabbed her, and she was nearly decapitated in the attack. A long standing sex offender, Coleman was convicted of raping a woman in her home a few years prior to McCoy's murder, and had exposed himself to two other women just before the killing. Unfortunately for him, one of the women happened to be an artist, and she drew a sketch that enabled the police to identify him for the murder. Despite his past offenses, Coleman had a strong following for his innocence among the anti death penalty crowd. A notion that was debunked following a 2006 DNA test that concluded his guilt.
15. Edward Fitzgerald Sr. (1980-1992, electric chair): Out of fear of her being a police informant, Fitzgerald abducted his drug dealer, 22 year old Patricia Cubbage. He raped and stabbed her 184 times, and reportedly carved a "tick-tack-toe design" into Cubbage's back.
16. Willie Jones (1983-1992, electric chair): Jones tricked the parents of an acquaintance, 78 year old Myra and 80 year old Graham, into letting him inside their house by pretending to be an undercover cop searching for missing children. He shot and killed Graham, tied up and gagged Myra, locked her in a closet, and stole their entire life savings (which amounted to $30,000). To destroy any evidence of his crime, Jones set the house on fire. Myra, who was still tied up and trapped in her closet, was burned alive. Jones was also one of the inmates that escaped from death row with the Briley brothers, but was recaptured weeks after the breakout
17. Timothy Bunch (1982-1992, electric chair): Bunch, a then active service Marine, was dating Su Cha Thomas, a 40 year old South Korean immigrant. Believing that Thomas was too much like his “slut” ex wife, Bunch decided that he wanted to rob and kill her. He tricked Thomas into letting him inside her home with the promise of a date. She was shot in the head and Bunch hung the body to a closet doorknob with a scarf. Bunch then ransacked the home, and stole a watch, diamond ring, and a pearl necklace. According to investigators, he confided in them that he had an orgasm while robbing and murdering Thomas. After the killing, Bunch was deployed to Japan, but extradited back to Virginia to face trial for Thomas’ murder.
18. Charles Stamper (1978-1993, electric chair): While robbing a restaurant that he worked at, Stamper shot and killed three of his co workers, 43 year old Agnes Hicks, 35 year old Franklin Cooley, and 20 year old Steven. He stole a total of $4,000 in the robbery. On death row, Stamper was attacked by fellow death row inmate Lem Tuggle for allegedly being a snitch. The assault left him permanently paralyzed, which made his execution somewhat controversial.
19. Syvasky Poyner (~1970s-1993, electric chair): Poyner shot and killed 5 females, 72 year old Louise Paulett, 45 year old Joyce Baldwin, 44 year old Carolyn Hedrick, 43 year old Chestine Brooks, and 17 year old Vicki Ripple during a two week long robbery spree. He directed his attacks towards beauty parlors, supermarkets, ice cream shops, and motels. A life long career criminal, Poyner had several auto theft, forgery, and burglary convictions, and his earliest date back to when he was 14 years old.
20. Andrew Chabrol (1991-1993, electric chair): Chabrol, a Navy serviceman, made unwanted advances on a fellow married sailor, 27 year old Melissa Harrington, and refused to back down despite repeated rejections. Harrington filed sexual harassment charges, and Chabrol was dismissed from service following an investigation. Angered by the loss of his career and her rebuffing his advances, Chabrol kidnapped Harrington from her home with the help of a friend, and tied her to his bed. He then raped and strangled her to death. The case attracted outcry years later when it was discovered that Chabrol and Harrington’s remains were buried in close proximity to each other in the Arlington cemetery.
21. Joe Wise (1983-1993, electric chair): Wise abducted 45 year old William Ricketson during a robbery. He beat and shot his captive in the eye and chest, dumped him in a water hole used for an abandoned power plant's lavatory, and drove off with his truck. Although Ricketson survived the shooting, he drowned in the hole.
22. David Pruett (~1975-1993, electric chair): In 1975, Pruett fatally stabbed his co worker, 22 year old Debra McInnis, while robbing a restaurant they worked at together. As the investigators weren't able to solve the McInnis murder, Pruett remained a free man. 11 years later, he tied up his friend's wife, 35 year old Wilma Harvey, in the couple's home while her husband was out of town. He raped Harvey, stabbed her 29 times and slit her throat, ransacked the house for any valuables, and stole an undisclosed amount of money. Pruett was also tried and sentenced for an unrelated rape incident alongside Harvey and McInnis' murders.
23. Johnny Watkins Jr. (1983-1994, electric chair): Watkins gunned down two store clerks, 41 year old Carl Buchanan and 22 year old Betty Barker, during a week long robbery spree. In the robberies that killed Buchanan and Barker, Watkins stole a combined total of $125. His brother Ronald was also executed for an unrelated robbery murder [for more details, please see section 49 on Ronald Watkins].
24. Timothy Spencer (~1980s-1994, electric chair): Spencer broke into the residences of at least 5 women and girls, 44 year old Susan Tucker, 35 year old Debbie Davis, 32 year old Susan Hellams, 32 year old Carolyn Hamm, and Diane Cho, a 15 year old South Korean immigrant, and raped them. All the verified victims were strangled to death with ligatures and ratchets. Another man was falsey convicted of Hamm's murder, but was cleared of guilt in a 1989 DNA test. The falsely accused man was one of the first inmates to be exonerated using DNA testing, while paradoxically Spencer was the first serial killer to be convicted with DNA evidence. Spencer also had a history of burglaries before his killing sprees.
25. Dana Edmonds (1983-1995, lethal injection): During a robbery of a grocery store, Edmonds tied up a grocer, 62 year old John Elliott. He bashed Elliot's head with a brick, stabbed his neck, and took $40 from the register.
26. Willie Turner (~1970s-1995, lethal injection): In 1978, Turner shot and killed W. J. Smith, a 54 year old jeweler, during a jewelry store robbery. A few years prior to Smith's murder, Turner had killed an unidentified inmate in largely undisclosed circumstances while serving time for a malicious wounding conviction, but was let out on parole. While on death row, Turner took part in the Briley brothers led breakout, and made several escape attempts on his own. In one incident, Turner pretended to have smuggled a gun in his cell, and used the hoax to make threats against the prison staff.
27. Dennis Stockton (~1950s-1995, lethal injection): 18 year old Kenneth Arnder allegedly crossed a dealer during a drug deal. The dealer retaliated by paying Stockton $2,000 to kill him. Stockton lured Arnder in his car with the promise of driving him to safety, and shot the youth in the eyes. He cut the hands off his body to prevent identification and dumped it in a remote North Carolinan forest. Stockton had a long criminal history since he was a teenager, which included several convictions of arson, safecracking, drug dealing, and weapons possession charges. Police also found dismembered body parts kept in a jar in his home, but Stockton claimed that it was simply a gift given to him by a biker gang, and he only kept the remains to show off at parties.
28. Mickey Davidson (1990-1995, lethal injection): Davidson’s wife, 36 year old wife Doris, made a decision to leave him for her ex husband. In a jealous rage, he beat her and her two daughters, 14 year old Mamie and 13 year old Tammy Clutterback, to death with a crowbar.
29. Herman Barnes (1984-1995, lethal injection): Barnes held up a grocery store at gunpoint, and shot and killed the owner, 72 year old Clyde Jenkins. Mohammad Afifi, a 42 year old Palestinian immigrant that worked as the store’s clerk, was also gunned down when he came to his boss’s aid.
30. Walter Correll Jr. (1985-1996, lethal injection): Correll and two accomplices ambushed, carjacked, and kidnapped 24 year old Charles Bousman Jr. after they motioned him to stop on a remote highway. After they stole his rings and watch, they beat and stabbed Bousman to death, dumped his body in a nearby forest, and drove off with his car. His execution was a source of contention, as Correll's supporters and attorneys assert that he was an intellectually disabled man set up by his accomplices for lesser sentences.
31. Richard Townes Jr. (~1970s-1996, lethal injection): Townes shot a clerk, 32 year old Virginia Goebel, in the head while robbing a grocery store, and stole $183 from the register. He had a long history of violent robberies, and had shot and wounded a taxi driver after holding him hostage for 6 hours several years before Goebel's murder.
32. Joseph Savino III (~1980s-1996, lethal injection): After he was released on parole from an armed robbery conviction, Savino beat his boyfriend, 64 year old Thomas McWaters, to death with a hammer in their home. According to Savino, McWaters was pressuring him for sex, and threatened to have his parole revoked if it was withheld.
33. Ronald Bennett (1985-1996, lethal injection): Bennett broke into the home of Anne Vaden, a 28 year real estate agent. After he tied Vaden up, Bennett beat, strangled, and stabbed her to death. One of Vaden's rings was stolen in the robbery, and he gave it to his wife. The murder was left cold for a year, but was solved when Bennett's wife drunkenly confessed her husband's deeds to a friend while showing off the ring.
34. Gregory Beaver (~1980s-1996, lethal injection): After Beaver escaped from a Maryland rehab center, he went on a rampage that involved stealing a car and storming a restaurant his stepfather owned to rob and assault him. While speeding away from the scene with a hitchhiker he picked up, Beaver was pulled over by Leo Whitt, a 49 year old state trooper. In the scuffle that broke out, Beaver shot and killed Whitt. The hitchhiker then tricked Beaver into stopping at a nearby restaurant, and he used the payphone to call the police on him. Beaver previously had 10 unspecified felony convictions, which was why he was placed by his family in the Maryland rehab center.
35. Larry Stout (1987-1996, lethal injection): Stout assaulted a dry cleaning store with a knife, slashed the throat of the owner, 40 year old Jacqueline Kooshian, and stole $1,200.
36. Lem Tuggle Jr. (~1971-1996, lethal injection): In 1971, Tuggle raped and fatally strangled 16 year old Shirley Brickey, and was given a 20 year sentence for it. He was released from prison after serving 10 years. Two years after his release, Tuggle lured 52 year old Jessie Havens from a dance hall, and then raped and shot her to death. On death row, he participated in the mass escape orchestrated by the Briley brothers, and paralyzed the above mentioned Charles Stamper for allegedly being an informant.
37. Ronald Hoke (1985-1996, lethal injection): Hoke forced his way inside the home of 56 year old Virginia Stell, a woman he met at a bar. He raped and stabbed her to death with a knife taken from the kitchen, and stole some medication from Stell's purse.
38. Michael George (1979-1997, lethal injection): In 1979, George lured 9 year old Larry Perry from his grandparents' home, and shot the boy dead after raping him. As the body was never found and the prosecution couldn't disprove his claims of it being an accidental killing, George was able to secure an involuntary manslaughter plea deal from the courts, and was released within two years for good behavior. After his release, he molested several teenage boys, and expressed fantasies about them being sexually tortured by "evil creatures" in the forest in his written works of fiction. In 1990, George made his fantasies a reality when he ambushed and abducted 15 year old Alexander Sztanko while the boy was ridding a motorbike. He shackled Sztanko to a tree, sodomized him with a stun gun, sliced pieces of his skin with a machete, shot him in the head, and stole his motorbike. Other teenage boys in the area also reported being assaulted in the same manner as Sztanko by a “Rambo like” camouflaged assailant. Although it is strongly believed that George was responsible for the attacks, he wasn't convicted of them.
39. Coleman Gray (1985-1997, lethal injection): Gray kidnapped 49 year old Richard McClelland while robbing a store he managed. He forced McClelland to collect over $12,000 in cash, drove his captive to a remote dirt road, and shot him six times in the head.
40. Roy Smith (1988-1997, lethal injection): Smith got into a violent argument with his wife in their home, and the neighbors called the police on him. He fired on the responding officers, and killed John Conner, a 38 year old sergeant. The remaining officers managed to subdue him after a brief standoff and physical struggle.
41. Joseph O'Dell III (~1958-1997, lethal injection): O'Dell was condemned for the abduction, rape, and strangulation murder of 44 year old Helen Schartner. She was last seen leaving from a night club, and her body was found near a beach. His execution was controversial, as O'Dell had a massive support base who believed in his innocence. The circuit court's decision to burn the DNA evidence relating to the Schartner case in 2000 sparked further outcry from them. Despite this, O'Dell was a long time felon with over 17 convictions dating back to the 1950s, and a woman claimed to have escaped a kidnapping attempt from him.
42. Carlton Pope (~1982-1997, lethal injection): Pope shot and killed 24 year old Cynthia Gray and wounded her sister while robbing them at a pool. He had a malicious wounding conviction when he shot a friend in the toe, and was paroled months before Gray's murder for that sentence.
43. Mario Murphy (1992-1997, lethal injection): 37 year old James Radcliff's wife hired Murphy to kill him in order to collect a life insurance policy. She, her boyfriend, Murphy, and 3 other conspirators pounced on Radcliff while he was sleeping in his bed, and they stabbed and beat him to death with a metal pipe. Due to all the other conspirators accepting plea deals, Murphy was the only one sentenced to death for the murder, which he perceived was because of Mexican nationality. His death sentence and execution also caused a minor diplomatic dispute with Mexico.
44. Dawud Mu'Min (1973-1997, lethal injection): At the age of 19 in 1973, Mu'Min shot and killed Charles Shupe, a 43 year old taxi driver, while robbing his taxi. He was given a 48 year sentence for the murder. 15 years later, Mu'Min was assigned to a inmate labor program. While working on a road, he pretended to be on a lunch break, and took the opportunity to sneak away from his escorts and supervisors. Mu'Min broke into a shopping center, raped Gladys Nopwasky, a 42 year old retailer, and stabbed her 16 times with a screwdriver. After he stole $4 from her purse, Mu'Min returned back to the work program.
45. Michael Satcher (1990-1997, lethal injection): Satcher ambushed 23 year old Anne Borghesani while she was biking near a highway. He raped, beat, and stabbed her 16 times with an axl. Another young woman was also assaulted by Satcher in a similar fashion, but she survived the attack. Both of their purses were stolen and disposed of in the same bush.
46. Thomas Beavers Jr. (1990-1997, lethal injection): Beavers broke into the home of 61 year old Marguerite Lowery, and raped and suffocated her to death with a pillow. He sacked the house, stole her jewelry, and drove off with Lowery's car. The killing went unsolved until a year later when Beavers was arrested for sexually assaulting a neighbor in circumstances nearly identical to Lowery's murder. A police search while investigating the neighbor incident found Lowery's stolen jewelry in his house.
47. Tony Mackall (1986-1998, lethal injection): While holding up a gas station at gunpoint, Mackall shot the cashier, 31 year old Mary Dahn, and took $515 from the register.
48. Douglas Buchanan Jr. (1987-1998, lethal injection): Enraged that his father, 43 year old Douglas, married a much younger woman, 31 year old Geraldine, shortly after his mother's passing, Buchanan shot him to death in their home. He also gunned down and stabbed Geraldine and her two sons, 13 year old Joel and 10 year old Donnie.
49. Ronald Watkins (1988-1998, lethal injection): While robbing a store that he formerly work at, Watkins stabbed the store owner, 29 year old William McCauley, 7 time in his back and slit his throat. McCauley's body was discovered by his father, who stopped by to check on his son after he failed to return home on time. As a sidenote, Watkins was the younger brother of the above mentioned Johnny Watkins Jr..
50. Ángel Breard (1992-1998, lethal injection): Breard stabbed his neighbor, 29 year old Ruth Dickie, to death during a botched rape in her home. He also made another unsuccessful attempt at sexually assaulting a second neighbor half a year later, which enabled investigators to tie him to Dickie's murder. His death sentence and execution sparked outrage in his native Paraguay.
51. Dennis Eaton (1989-1998, lethal injection): Eaton and his girlfriend, 24 year old Judy McDonald, carjacked 68 year old Ripley Marston Sr. and 26 year old Walter Custer Jr., and shot them both dead. While speeding away from the murder scene, the couple were pulled over by a state trooper, 48 year old Jerry Hines, and gunned him down as well. In the following police chase, Eaton ended up crashing his car into a telephone pole, and injured McDonald in the process. As they were corned, Eaton finished off McDonald by shooting her in the head, and made an attempt to commit suicide before he was subdued.
52. Danny King (~1980s(?)-1998, lethal injection): King and his then wife duped Carolyn Rogers, a 55 year old real estate agent, into letting them inside a vacant house by posing as clients. They jumped Rogers as she was giving them a tour of the house. She was choked with King's bare hands and stabbed to death in the assault. The couple then stole rings and checks from her purse. Both King and his ex wife blamed each other for the murder, but King was the one that was convicted of it by the courts. King also had a long history of robbery and car thefts, and was released from prison 10 days before the murder.
53. Lance Chandler Jr. (~1987-1998, lethal injection): Chandler shot and killed a clerk, 33 year old William Dix, during a convenience store robbery. He had a criminal record dating back to the age of 14, and had previous arrests for armed robbery, assaulting officers, and public intoxication.
54. Johnile DuBois (~1990s-1998, lethal injection): During a convenience store robbery, DuBois and 3 teenage accomplices tried forcing the clerk, 39 year old Philip Council, to open the register for them. When they thought he was acting too slow, the DuBois and the other robbers beat Council and shot him to death. DuBois had a history of thefts, illicit firearms possessions, assault, and probation violations.
55. Kenneth Stewart Jr. (1991-1998, lethal injection): Stewart separated from his wife, 35 year old Cynthia, after their marriage disintegrated. He was forbidden by the courts from being in contact with their son, 5 month old Jonathan, without Cynthia's consent. To overcome the custody barriers, Stewart tried to reconcile with Cynthia. When she refused, he shot her and Jonathan dead in her home.
56. Dwayne Wright (1989-1998, lethal injection): Wright went on a weeklong crime spree in Maryland and Virginia. In his Maryland attacks, he shot and killed 31 year old Odell Thomas and 24 year old Reginald Turman, and stole Turman's car and a total of $400. He then drove to Virginia, and held Saba Tekle, a 34 year old Ethiopian refugee, at gunpoint in her apartment. Wright forced Tekle to undress, shot her dead when she resisted his attempts at sexual assault, and swapped Truman’s car for hers.
57. Ronald Fitzgerald (1993-1998, lethal injection): Fitzgerald shot and killed 39 year old Coy White in his home in order to get his hands on the man’s 13 year old daughter. He abducted and raped the girl after forcing her to steal money from her father’s pockets, and left her locked in the trunk of his car. After abandoning White’s daughter, Fitzgerald flagged down a taxi driver, Hugh Morrison (age unknown), and shot him dead. Fitzgerald used Morrison’s stolen taxi to kidnap an 18 year old woman and her two children, and drove them to a motel. He raped the 18 year old in the motel room while her two children were watching tv. The family were spared and released, and Fitzgerald forced a couple to drive him to a courthouse with the intentions of committing suicide there. However, the attempt failed with his gun jamming, and he was captured by the police.
58. Kenneth Wilson (1993-1998, lethal injection): Wilson forcibly entered the home of his cousin's girlfriend, 31 year old Jacqueline Stephen, with a knife. He bound Stephen to a bed, and tied her 12 year old daughter and her daughter's 14 year old friend to the bed's posts. Wilson then made an attempt to rape Stephen, and cut her and the girls' throats. Stephen died at the scene, while both of the girls survived their injuries.