Hi there! I live in Boston with my 5.5 year old male German Shepherd. I lived in Costa Rica when I got my baby, I had 2 other smaller dogs with my ex at the time. He kept the other two after our separation and I moved back to the states during Covid. My dogs were never on leash in CR, so moving here was a major life adjustment for him, he never had an issue with other dogs before. Because he was 1.5 years when I moved he was never socialized on leash, it was during Covid and a lot of people are afraid of GSDs so his bark scares people so he really never socialized. He has been attacked 4 times now (never attacked back until the most recent attack where I was seriously injured) and he is definitely anxious around dogs now, does a loud bark and heavily breathes when he sees other dogs, so we try to stay at a safe distance. He does has dog friends (dutch and German shepherds) that are neighbors at my parents house in Maine, he plays with off leash when we visit. I’ve tried so many different types of training (basically everything) and my baby is so stubborn and is probably never going to get over being afraid on leash, I use an e collar on low setttings and find that gets him out of the red zone when he can’t control his big feelings. He is the sweetest, most lovable angel, but he has some big feelings about other dogs.
So here is my dilemma.

1. In November - I was walking him at night around my block, there is a playground (not dog park) directly next to my house, which does not have dog proof gates because shocker it’s a playground and not a dog park. A woman had a pit bull off leash who came chasing after me and my dog on the street and I took 9 bites to my hands and fingers and my dog took a few bites to the face. My healing took about 5-6 months and I’m finally back to normal but the stress and trauma is still there. The owner also slowly strolled over to get her dog who was attacking me and my dog as I’m screaming and crying. So now I don’t know how he would react to an off leash dog approaching him. I also now walk him with a leather working dog harness with handle in case I need to pick him up in a dangerous situation.
   
2. I don’t know what is wrong with people but I’m seeing more and more dogs off leash, like as in an everyday occurrence - in places where leashes are required… My partner and I took him on a walk to a public walkway/park the other evening and a woman had her husky off leash, I ran ahead and tried informing her I have a reactive dog we are trying to walk through the path and to leash her dog. She basically ignored me then her dog started chasing after me when I turned away!!!! So then I laid into her that I have a reactive dog and she needs to have control over her animal. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to do this and it’s exhausting. I have a right to walk my dog in peace. I don’t want to muzzle him, I believe that would cause more stress, “avoiding these situations” is not an option - I went to take him on a walk and some neighbor had a tiny dog off leash in their driveway.
   

I’m trying to protect my dog, myself and unfortunatly the dog of any idiot who has them off leash in leash required places. Any suggestions? My friends don’t have dogs here, so I don’t have anyone to practice with. I’m always on edge :/

Frequent traveler here. Don’t be fooled by the promise of discount airfare or the name “Cheap” in the company’s title. When you call to book a ticket, you will almost be quoted a higher price than is available on the specific airline’s website.
For example:

• Let’s say a flight from LA > NY is $400 on X airline’s website.
  
• When you call Cheapo, they will quote you something like $450–they have to make some money somehow, right?
  
• Then you’ll say, “Oh, that’s too expensive.” And suddenly they’ll offer you a lower price or, more likely, ask you how much you want to spend.
  

Cut out the middle man. Use google.com/flights to compare flights in different airlines (not including Southwest, so you’ll have to look at their website directly to compare) (Edit: Apparently Southwest also shows up now, as of this past week! Thanks to u/LankyEmergency7992 for the tip.) Use the filters to discard any dealbreakers (e.g., a ticket may be cheaper, but have a 6 hour layover or 2 stops — filter those out).
Then you’ll be able to see the prices across airlines, as well as see their recommended best flights. If you’re flexible, you can use the calendar function to see the same price with the same filters for days starting/ending around your dates, in case it’s significantly cheaper.
Once you find your flight, book it on the specific airline’s website. It will be cheaper 99% of the time. The only exception is if the airline has raised their prices, and the third parties haven’t adjusted yet and you can get the flight reserved at the cheaper flight during that tiny window. But overall, it’s usually not worth it because…
If you need to change/update your flight, it’s almost always easier to do it through your airline instead of the third party, which has to talk to the airline on the backend anyway.
I see people booking with Cheapo all the time and 99% of the time it’s a higher price. Don’t let yourself be tricked. Book directly with the airline. Cheers!
—
Two bonus tips:

• This is not true of some third-party hotel booking sites. I’ve had success with Booking and Agoda but YMMV. But always check the hotel’s website to compare prices before booking. (edit: And also, if you go third-party, it's always a good idea to research the company and read some company reviews before you book, in case they are know for being particularly horrible.)
  
• US flyers should be familiar with the 24 hour rule. If you book a flight on any American carrier (or a flight on a foreign carrier traveling in/out of the US) >7 days before the trip, you have exactly 24 hours to cancel for free for a full refund — even for non-refundable tickets. Exactly 24 hours though.
  

Superman #97 - Tales of Metropolis

<< < > Coming July 1st
Author: MajorParadox
Book: Superman
Arc: Heritage
Set: 97

Rain

78 Reeve Rd, Metropolis
Rain poured down over the Kents’ new house. Inside, toys and clothes were littered all around. Clark was in the living room, rocking a crying Lara in his arms as Lois worked on Jon’s grilled cheese in the kitchen, the boy sitting at the table with a coloring book.
“Lois,” Clark called to his wife as he heard a cab pull up in front of the house. “They’re here.”
“What?” asked Lois, pushing down on the bread with a spatula. “Who? Ma and Pa? I thought you were picking them up at the airport.”
“I was,” said Clark, taking in the mess their home had become. “Can I put you down, Lara?” he asked the baby, who took a quick break to stare but quickly returned to tears.
It would only take a few moments to gather all the clutter, but he didn’t want to be holding her during a burst like that. Instead, he made sure Jon was distracted and proceeded to blow a gust of wind, but it didn’t quite go as planned. While some toys moved into the corner, other items in the room fell onto the floor.
“Oops,” said Clark just before there was a knock at the front door.
“We have two kids,” Lois called. “They’ll understand.”
Clark walked Lara to the door and opened it.
“Oh my god,” said Martha as her face melted. “She’s even more adorable than her photos.”
“What happened here?” asked Jonathan, noticing the chaos in the living room.
“Our grandkids did,” Martha retorted, reaching her arms out.
Clark handed Lara to her grandmother and she looked up at her, finally quieting down.
“You are just the sweetest,” she said and the baby cracked a tiny smile.
“Come on in,” said Clark as Jon came running over with a grilled cheese in his hands.
“Gramma, Grandpa!” he yelled.
Jonathan kneeled down and lifted Jon into his arms, letting out a small groan. “Oh boy, Jon,” he said. “You’re getting so big!”
“Hi,” said Lois, walking in next, raising an eyebrow at the Clark once she saw his attempt at cleaning. “You’re here early. ”
“We were able to get on an earlier flight,” Jonathan explained. “And we didn’t want to bother you with picking us up. You’ve got enough on your plates.”
“Besides,” said Martha as she leaned over to Jon to kiss him on the forehead. “We couldn’t wait to get here.” She gave Lara a kiss next and the baby let out a squeaky coo.
“Well, we’re glad to see you,” said Lois, rubbing a hand behind her neck.
“You seem tired,” said Martha. “You two take a break and Jonathan and I will watch the kids.”
“Well, we need more diapers first,” said Lois, looking at Clark. “Do you want to rush over to–”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Jonathan, zipping up his jacket.
“Can I come too, Grampa?” asked Jon.
“Are you sure?” asked Lois, kneeling to his level. “It’s raining pretty hard out there.”
“He’ll be fine,” said Jonathan, tapping his umbrella. “This thing is heavy duty and the convenience store is just down the road.”
“I’m sure, Mommy,” said Jon, rushing to the door.
“Put on your coat,” Clark called, grabbing a small, blue rain jacket from the closet.
“Okay,” Jon agreed.
Jonathan and Jon left once he got all zipped up.
“Go rest and take a nap,” said Martha, realizing Lois wasn’t in the room anymore before she could add “you two.”
“Lois beat you to it,” said Clark. “She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Let me just clean–”
“Clark…” said Martha in a mom voice he hadn’t heard in years.
“Okay, Ma,” said Clark, kissing his mom on the forehead and following it up with a kiss for Lara. He moved toward the stairs but suddenly stopped.
“What is it?” asked Martha.
“Clark may need a break,” he said, “but Superman doesn’t always have the luxury.”
Reeve Rd.
Jonathan walked down the sidewalk with Jon close to his side, both shielded from the rain by the rather large, black umbrella.
“I don’t like rain,” said Jon. “I’m not allowed ta play in the yard.”
“Rain is a great thing,” Jonathan said. “It helps plants grow, it cools it down when it’s been too hot, and it can be peaceful to just listen to the sounds of it.”
“Oh,” he answered, not quite sure if he should be upset that his grandfather didn’t agree with him.
“You’re right, it’s not always the best,” Jonathan added. “Like if you had other plans. But, rain doesn’t last forever. And the world would be worse off if it never rained at all.”
Jon considered the words but wasn’t quite sure what to say. He looked up to see a man in red, blue, and yellow flying overhead. “Look!” Jon called. “It’s Superman!”
Jonathan smiled as his son disappeared into a blur. “Wow,” Jonathan exclaimed.
He must have slowed down to give Jon a glimpse. Jonathan wondered how often Clark did that for others.
“Did you ever seen’d him before?” asked Jon.
“Once or twice,” Jonathan answered with a smile.
“Wow,” Jon replied, copying the tone his grandfather used earlier.
The two got to the 6/21 store and Jonathan reached for the door as he looked up at the sky. “The rain’s letting up,” he said.
“I still don’t like rain,” said Jon as he went inside.
Ace O’ Clubs, Suicide Slum
“Hey, Jimbo,” said Bibbo Bibbowski as Jimmy Olsen sat down at the bar. “What can I getcha?”
“Just a beer,” said Jimmy. “Thanks.”
“Everythin’ okay?” asked Bibbo as he poured a glass.
“Girlfriend broke up with me,” Jimmy explained.
“Ruby?” asked Bibbo. “Sorry to hear that.” He flung a drink coaster down and placed the beer on top of it.
Jimmy nodded. “We’d been together for over a year,” he stated.
“That’s rough, pal,” said Bibbo, catching the TV with the corner of his eye. “Hey, look, it’s Supes!” he shouted, reaching for the remote to pump up the volume.
A woman’s voice could be heard describing the video feed. “–fighting what can only be described as a–”
“Did she say why?” Bibbo asked, returning to his conversation with Jimmy, but still watching the news break.
Jimmy sighed. “I wouldn’t say the ‘l’ word.”
“Laundry?” asked Bibbo.
Jimmy almost choked on his beer. “What?” he asked.
“Oh, love!” Bibbo realized. “What’s so hard about that? I love ya, Jimmy Olsen. See? Rolls off da tongue.”
“Excuse me,” a woman with long brown hair, sitting a few seats over said. “I couldn’t help but overhear. Are you the Jimmy Olsen? The one who gets all those great photos of Superman?”
“Yeah, that’s me,” said Jimmy, taking a sip of his beer.
“Can I buy you a drink or something?” the woman asked.
Jimmy sighed and pointed to his beer, oblivious to her smile that faded at his non-answer.
“Oh yeah,” said Bibbo, pointing to the TV. “How come you ain’t out there snapping Superman right now?”
“It’s my day off,” Jimmy answered. “Besides, I’m not in the mood to be around all that excitement right now.”
“Hey!” a man from a table shouted, pointing toward the TV. “That fight is only a couple blocks away.”
Bibbo turned the volume down and motioned for everyone to be quiet. Loud bangs could be heard in the distance. “Yer right!” he shouted. He jumped over the bar and ran to the windows, trying to see if he could catch a glimpse of anything.
A monstrous figure flew by and crashed into the asphalt, causing several cars to slam their brakes and turn around. Superman appeared in a burst of speed, dropping down next to the threat. The rain had picked up again and they were both soaking wet.
“Okay,” Bibbo announced. “You know da drill. Stay away from the door and da windows.”
A man by the door was typing away on his phone.
“Hey!” Bibbo shouted, nearly giving the man a heart attack. “Didn’tcha hear me?”
The man moved further inside the bar as Bibbo stayed at the window, watching the two outside trade blows.

Familiar Faces

Near The Ace O’ Clubs
Mitch Anderson walked up the stairs to the subway, reaching the sidewalk. He didn’t even bother opening his umbrella, instead letting the rain cover him. The ground was shaking underground and he could finally see the source. Superman was fighting some kind of monster in the street.
“Good old Metropolis,” said Mitch, dashing to the nearest secluded alleyway. He pulled off his shirt to reveal his red and white uniform underneath. “Good thing I wore this today,” he said to himself, stripping the rest of his street clothes away and tossing them and his umbrella to the ground. He pulled his mask over his face and glided his way toward the battle.
It had been a long time since Mitch used his powers in public (Superman #66). His mom had moved the family away and forbade him from being a superhero anymore. That didn’t stop him, though. He still helped people when he could in secret.
But Mitch was eighteen now and moving back to Metropolis in the fall. It was time for the return of–
“Outburst!” yelled Superman as Mitch made it onto the scene. “It’s been a while.”
The monster lifted an empty car and tossed it toward the Man of Steel, but Mitch lifted his hands, slowing it down until it hovered next to him.
“Nice save,” Superman said before Mitch sent the car flying back toward the attacker.
Mitch swung his hands around in a swoop, bringing in several other parked cars, forming a blockade around the beast. The magnetic force was held tight, keeping him from escaping.
Superman flew over and dropped with an elbow, finally knocking the monster unconscious.
“Sorry for that, fella,” he told him. “You didn’t seem to mean any trouble. You were just frightened.”
“Nice shot, Superman!” yelled Bibbo from the door to the bar.
Mitch swerved the cars back to their parking spaces and Superman lifted the unconscious animal in his arms.
“Thanks for the assist,” he said. “I better get him somewhere safer before he wakes up.” With that, the hero flew off into the distance.
“Any time,” said Mitch to himself, wondering if Superman heard him anyway. He returned to the alley and picked up his clothes, dressing himself quickly. They were soaking wet, but what could he do? The rain wasn’t letting up either.
Mitch opened the door to the Ace O’ Clubs and Bibbo’s eyes lit up.
“Mitch Anderson?” he asked. “Is that’chu?”
“Hey, Bibbo,” Mitch answered, letting the door close behind him. “Long time no see.”
“How ya doin’?” Bibbo asked. “How’s yer mom?”
“Mom’s good,” said Mitch. “I’m in town for college orientation. Going to Met U in the fall.”
“That’s great!” said Bibbo, patting him on the shoulder. “You hungry?” he asked. “Anything you want is on da house!”
“Thanks, but I can’t stay long,” said Mitch. “I’m meeting a… friend.”
“Would they be of the romantic kind?” Bibbo asked.
Mitch couldn’t help but blush a bit. “My ex,” he explained. “Well, kinda. We never really put a label on it. I’m hoping we could pick up where we left off when I moved, but–”
“Dunno if she feels the same way?” Bibbo cut in.
“Yeah.”
Bibbo didn’t even take a moment to consider his answer. “Never really know unless ya ask her, right?”
“Hey, thanks for the beer,” said Jimmy, walking by toward the door.
“Take care, Jimbo,” said Bibbo with a nod. “And don’t be afraid of love.”
Jimmy chuckled before leaving the bar.
Subway
Soon
Jimmy watched the underground tunnels go by while lost in thought. Was Bibbo right? Was he afraid of love?
He couldn’t be. Jimmy loved Lucy Lane once upon a time. And then a kiss happened with Dana Dearden (Superman #53)– AKA Obsession– and things spiraled from there. It seemed like they got past it for a bit, but it didn’t last.
But if Jimmy wasn’t afraid of love, why was he so hesitant with Ruby? He never really stopped to think about why it was so difficult. He really did care for her, but… Maybe he just didn’t love her. Not like he loved Lucy.
“Jimmy?” a voice said above him. He looked up to find Lucy holding the handrail.
Did he just manifest her? Was he developing powers? Or maybe just dreaming?
“Hello?” Lucy asked, waving her hand as her lips did that almost mischievous half-smile of hers.
“Lucy!” Jimmy said louder than he expected, drawing stares from others. He stood up to meet her eyes. “What are you– um, how are… it’s good to see you.”
“You too,” Lucy answered. “I’m in town to meet my new niece.”
“Oh, that’s great,” said Jimmy. “She’s adorable. You’ll love her.”
Lucy’s perfume overpowered Jimmy’s senses. He missed the way she smelled.
“You know it’s funny,” said Lucy. “We started dating after Jon was born.”
Jimmy thought back. He had worn a bowtie that day in the hospital. It’d become a lucky charm since.
“That is funny,” Jimmy replied. He looked up at the next stop displayed on the readout. It was his stop. But he didn’t want to get off. He wanted to keep talking to Lucy forever.
Oh god, he realized something. He was certain he wasn’t afraid of love now. The problem was he still loved Lucy.
Jimmy’s heart pounded so hard, he thought it would pop right out of his chest. He panicked and pointed toward the doors as the subway car slowed. “This is my stop,” he said.
“Oh,” said Lucy.
“Yeah,” said Jimmy.
“Maybe we can–”
“How about–”
Lucy smiled and Jimmy let out a nervous giggle.
“I’ll be in town for a bit,” Lucy said. “Let's get together and catch up sometime.”
Jimmy nodded and stepped out of the subway car as soon as the doors opened. He turned around and watched Lucy wave through the window. As the car took off again, she went to sit down and pulled out her phone.
Why did he leave? It’s not like he had plans. Why did he feel so nervous? He knew Lucy. He loved her.
Maybe Bibbo was right after all. Maybe he was afraid of love.
LexCorp Tower
Lena Luthor’s phone began ringing as she walked toward the entrance to LexCorp Tower, her umbrella in hand. She pulled the phone out of her coat pocket to find a photo of her old roommate Lucy Lane on the lock screen.
“Hey, Lucy,” she said upon answering it.
“Lena,” Lucy said. “It’s been too long. I’m actually in town visiting my new niece, but I was wondering if you were free later this week to catch up.”
“That would be great,” said Lena as the automatic doors to the building opened. She tucked the phone into her neck and collapsed the umbrella. “I’ll have to move some things around in my schedule, so let me get back to you.”
“Of course,” said Lucy. “You’ve been through so much since– uh, things went downhill with your dad. It’s amazing to see how far you’ve come since our Gotham U days, though.”
“Yeah, it took a while,” Lena agreed. “But after a lot of paperwork and legal hoopla, the board finally named me as the new CEO.”
“Congratulations,” Lucy offered, but Lena didn’t quite catch it. Someone outside caught her eyes instead.
There was a man in a black hoodie with brown hair and sunglasses. Who wore sunglasses in the rain? Lena only saw him for a second, but he looked oddly familiar. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
“Still with me?” asked Lucy.
Lena couldn’t see the man anymore, so she shook her head and proceeded toward the elevators.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” she said. “I’m heading inside now, let me take a look at my calendar and get back to you.”

Sunny Days

LexCorp Tower
The man in sunglasses was hiding behind a pillar. He tapped a sequence against the metal structure and a piece of it swung open, revealing a small, tube-like compartment. The man stepped in and it swung closed and the compartment moved downward, underground..
Shortly after a woman in a gray hoodie walked over, made sure the coast was clear, and disappeared from LexCorp Tower’s entrance in the same manner.
Underneath the building a small doorway opened into a secret area and the woman walked out. The place was small, but there was a lot of equipment scattered around. And an array of security monitors displaying different areas inside and outside of LexCorp.
The man walked over, taking off his sunglasses and pulling at his hair, which popped right off, revealing a bald head.
“Lex,” she said. “Why are we meeting here? This is the last place you should be.”
“Mercy,” Lex answered. “This is also the last place they’d look for me. Now, what happened with the so-called Superman Revenge Squad?”
“Even with the kryptonite,” Mercy explained. “Superman managed to get away unharmed.” (Superman #95).
“Just as well,” said Lex. “I didn’t think they could succeed anyway. But it was a good field operation to test the blue variety against him. How did that turn out?”
“Things went south quickly, so I wasn’t in a position to monitor the fight,” said Mercy. “But, the Kryptonian named General Zod is being held at S.T.A.R. Labs now. Rumor has it they managed to render him powerless.”
“Powerless,” Lex repeated. “If they used blue kryptonite and it can deactivate a Kryptonian’s powers entirely, this could be a game-changer.”
“Lex,” said Mercy, taking a few moments to find the right words. “I know you blame Superman for your downfall, but you got away. We could just go and find a new life. Together.”
Lex raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never known you to be sentimental,” he said. “I also thought you knew our arrangement was purely physical.”
Mercy felt her breathing stop. She knew the whole time Lex never felt the same way about her that she felt about him. But once they started getting closer… Maybe she fooled herself, thinking he would.
“I know,” said Mercy, holding herself back from shaking. “It was just a thought.”
She sacrificed so much for him and she was offering to sacrifice more. None of the legal trouble after the presidential fallout stuck to her. She could move on with her life. Was it worth it sticking with him?
“So, what comes next?” asked Mercy.
Lex let out a half smile. “I want to show you the other reason for staying close to Metropolis,” he said, walking over to a table of circuits and machinery. There was a white sheet over something big in the corner, which Lex pulled off in a display of showmanship.
It wasn’t much to look at, but it had the familiar outline of a manned exo-suit.
“Is that…?”
“Yes,” said Lex. “I’ve been sneaking parts from upstairs for a while now to rebuild my armor. It will take a while, but when it’s done, the world won’t be ready.”
Mercy let out a smile. How could she ever doubt him? The man was a visionary genius and she would always love him, even if he never felt the same way.
Lex’s attention turned to the security monitors. One of them at street level showed a car accident quickly turning into a four-car pile-up. Superman arrived on the scene and was seemingly checking on the injuries.
“This is why it’s not safe here,” said Mercy. “The last thing you need is for him to spot you before you’re ready for him.”
Lex watched as Superman lifted one of the passengers into his arms and flew away.
“He hasn’t spotted me yet,” said Lex.
Mercy nodded. The man knew what he was doing.
Metropolis General Hospital
Superman arrived in the emergency room entrance and gently placed the injured passenger into an empty wheelchair. “Excuse me,” he said to the triage nurse who was already staring in his direction.
She had heard stories of Superman showing up before, but she’d never been on duty to see it for herself.
“Can- can I help you?” she asked the hero.
“This woman was involved in a car accident and needs medical attention,” Superman explained.
“Is- Is everyone else okay?” the nurse asked. “From the accident?”
“They’re fine,” said Superman. “But this young woman seems to have broken her leg.”
“Thanks, Mr.– Uh, Superman,” the nurse managed to get out. “We’ll take good care of her.”
Some orderlies came by to wheel her toward an empty room.
“I’m sure you will,” said Superman before waving as he walked back the way he came. He passed by another woman entering who he seemed to know and the two exchanged pleasantries.
“Hi,” the woman said upon reaching the desk, holding her left arm by the elbow with her other one. “I’m Inspector Maggie Sawyer of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit. I hurt my arm on duty and I need to get it checked out.”
“Bring her to exam four,” a doctor said as she walked by the desk.
In the quick moment Maggie saw her, she couldn’t help but notice her kind, brown eyes.
“But Dr. Franklin,” the triage nurse called.
The doctor lifted a hand in the air, and spun around to give a carefree wink.
“I guess you can fill out these forms in the exam room,” the nurse said, handing over the clipboard.
Maggie took them and followed an orderly to the room, where she sat down and waited.
She felt her heart beating a mile a minute. Was her injury worse than she thought? Sure, the doctor was attractive, but Maggie never had a reaction like that to meeting anyone. Not even her on-again off-again girlfriend Toby Raynes.
Maggie was too in control of her emotions to swoon like a teenager. It must have been something else. Maybe she had too much coffee.
“Hello again, Inspector,” Dr. Franklin said, entering the exam room and Maggie’s heart dropped. “Let’s take a look at that arm.”
Maggie nodded. “Thank you Dr. Franklin,” she added as an afterthought.
“You can call me Amina if you want,” the doctor said, taking Maggie’s arm into her hands. The pleasantness of her gentle touch vastly outweighed the pain.
“You can call me Maggie.”
“I have to admit,” said Amina. “I’m a little starstruck. I’ve seen you on the news. You lead such an extraordinary life.”
Maggie pulled from deep down, knowing she had to say something. “Being a doctor must be extraora– I mean extraordinary too,” she said.
What was wrong with her? She was never shy or messed up her words like that before.
Amina just chuckled. “It has its days,” she replied. “I don’t think it’s broken, but I’d like to get some x rays just to be sure.”
“That’s good,” said Maggie, realizing Amina was still holding her arm.
“Oh, sorry,” the doctor said, letting go. “I guess I was lost in thought.
“Me too,” said Maggie, realizing she had rarely looked away from Anima’s eyes.
“We should have asked Superman to check you out when he was here,” Amina said with a chuckle.
Maggie delighted in the sound. “I’m sure he had better things to do.”
Kent House
Clark opened the door to find Sam, Ella, and Lucy Lane. “Right on time,” he said. “Come one in and get out of the rain.”
Jon ran over and gave Lucy a high five as Martha walked over with Lara in her arms. Lois walked up beside them.
“Oh, she’s even more adorable in person,” said Ella, reaching out her hands. “May I?” she asked.
Martha handed over the baby with an “Of course!”
Ella looked down into Lara’s eyes and smiled.
“Look!” said Jon, pointing outside before Clark closed the door. “The rain stopped!!”
“You’re right,” said Clark.
Jonathan walked over and knelt down to Jon. “See,” he said. “It can’t rain forever.”
“I guess,” said Jon. “But I think I like the rain now.”
“You know what’s even better than rain?” asked Lois, walking over to the two. She pointed up into the sky and Jon’s face lit up.
“Wow,” said Jon.
Everyone walked out to the front porch to admire the rainbow spread across the sky.
<< < > Coming July 1st

Just an FYI for all you backpack and hikers in the pnw, the tick season is big this year. We saw many and avoided most of them, however a little passenger managed to get under my skin while I was sleeping in my tent.
I did the thing that some people tell you to never do, and rubbed a viscous substance over the little guy and watched them back right out of my forehead (or rather my wife watched it because I had no mirror and wasn't smart enough to use my phone camera). I used Carmex Lip Balm, the kind that you squeeze out of a tube. It only took a second to back out.
I was told once that it is the safest way to remove ticks as they won't break their heads off under your skin which greatly reduces the chances of catching Lyme disease. They breathe through their butts and once the air supply is cut off, they will back out in search of air. Recently I have been told this is the wrong approach. I was told that they might vomit anything in their tiny mouths increasing the chances of Lyme disease. Instead, I was told to use tweezers and get a close to the head as possible and yank, which directly contradicts my previous guidance from a doctor in North Carolina...
I digress, the point is to be careful out there and I am not sure what the correct procedure for removal is, however I know an effective one that hasn't made me sick yet, fingers crossed. Lyme can start showing symptoms anywhere from 5-30 days, I hear. So whatever the right choice is, I'll know if i made the wrong one by the end of summer lol
I hope to see you all out there later this summer. You will know me by the toddler who looks like an absolute angel, happily carrying her own pack pack (until she needs to pee outside in the rain. then she becomes an inconsolable demon)
Happy camping!

Chapter 4: Blue lies
…The past I used to know a dream till they see…
…I wanna live, wanna die, deep inside…
Earth woke up, his head pounding, another nightmare. He sighed he was used to it now, this one a vivid description of how his celestial friends will look strangled in various ways, it had barely been minutes since Luna left and he was already desperate for company, and somehow he kept managing to fall asleep every minute, and his headache from Earthlings was growing again.
He didn’t know whether to yell or sigh in relief when a strange celestial approached him, almost making the planet jump.
‘H-hi Mr. Earth’s Moon- damn it I mean Earth-’ The satellite (He supposed) stammered in front of him like a fish out of water.
‘Hm, I’ve never seen you before.’ Earth remarked skeptically, his energy low for his usual front.
‘...Well you did, now.’ The satellite replied awkwardly.
‘Cut to the chase, what do you want?’, Earth practically snarled.
‘To meet you, I think.’ the former looked hesitant, maybe suspicious…
‘You think?’, Earth snapped back quicker than normal.
‘Maybe…It’s, I don’t know.’, he sighed one with exertion,’Y-you know what? Nice to meet you, I gotta go.’
‘Why you-’
He disappeared, Earth stared after the golden trail, there was something so endearing about the moon, he had a feeling, it wasn’t a good feeling. The name…
His name was Luma right?
A pounding headache pierced through his skull, that is to say if he had one, Earth wasn’t sure as he clutched his hair, the mope of Blue wig covering most of his eyes, not again, he thought to himself the feeling was much too familiar as he felt himself slipping into a dream state, the voices whispering frantically to him.
***
‘This was harder than i thought…’ Luma mumbled to himself as he drifted aimlessly in the asteroid belt, fumbling with the papers in his hand, Earth was careless when it came to disposing of the scripts. Not like anybody cared, Luma felt strange, an instinct told him not to trust Earth, not to trust it…the Crysta symbol had disappeared right out of his hands the moment he had entered this circus and he had no idea where to find it, he had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with the gatekeeper,
‘Don’t trust them.’, Ophelia had said, well the satellite had successfully managed to alarm the celestial, who most definitely would label him as a snooper or criminal, due to one interaction that could be turned into a fallacy, for someone who knew so much about spying he sure panicked under pressure, Luma thought to himself.
‘Hey lil- bro, you act like i’ll-’ His brother’s voice echoed in his head, he pushed that thought aside, stuck in hell the last thing he needed was the sociopathic freak helping him, that monster. No, no way, can’t trust Nyx, nobody can, nobody should.
‘Lunatic has got him…the madness in his eyes…that was blood lust.’
Chapter 4.5:lies-Everything to hide
…The past I used to know a dream till they see…
…I wanna live, wanna die, deep inside…
Spirit of vengeance heir of throne, we will make you one of us,
You can run but you can’t hide,
She will find you, she will…
Another ghost without a mouth but yet you must scream,
Soon you’ll be one of us,
Soon you will be one of them.
Earth could never tell if it was his insanity speaking or the cry of Lunar.
Lunar…
‘Hello old friend.’, Spoke a voice behind him, it was a soft yet sinister voice and Earth knew who it belonged to.
‘What do you want Lunatic?’ The celestial answered as a bead of sweat trickled down his neck.
‘You know very well.’ Earth in fact did know, but he pretended not to as he wished not to become a dead version of the zodiac killer.
‘I am not your friend.’
‘Who is yours?’
Earth flinched, he hated when Lunar was right, the manipulative, gaslighting bastard.
‘Now, now, let’s use less colorful and less modern insults, I have no energy for this.’, Earth couldn’t see him in the dream state, but he knew the monster was right behind him, he could feel Lunar’s shallow breath on his neck, the celestial tried to distract himself from the fact that he was a mind reader,
But all that came to his mind was vivid images of the manipulator as a green alien.
‘I am not that ugly.’ How did he hear his thoughts?! It was a stupid question after all he was in the Celestial’s mind.
Earth didn’t feel panic, he felt numbness, Lunar never attacked him, he always wanted something.
‘Don’t believe me?’ Earth didn’t.
In a blink of an eye the celestial felt himself being forcefully spun around, well it wasn’t much of a force, Earth didn’t care and he had no energy to fight back against it, nor that he can. The celestial inhaled sharply and had to force his mouth closed, Lunar was handsome.
The most endearing thing besides the literal Lunar symbol on his forehead were his eyes, which were sharp, cryptic, analytical and reminded Eaarth of his own moon, and an unsettling feeling of being watched and exposed naked with his identity filled him, he folded his arms tighter.
‘Surprised?’ He grinned, and maybe…almost maybe, didn’t look like the sadistic narcissist he was, Earth didn’t bother to answer.
‘I asked, “What do you want?” ’ Earth forced himself to look Lunar in the eyes to show his courage but his confidence crumbled away like bread crumbs left at the end of the packet.
‘Right to the point eh? Not my style but I’ll take it.’ He remained quiet for a few seconds before continuing,’Keep an eye on him, don’t try any wisecracks or tricks with me.’
‘Who?’Earth played obliviously.
‘The one you just met, don’t play dumb’
The words burned like H2So4 on the tip of Earth’s tongue, his palms sweating, he knew the name, why did he know the name? That’s right…Lunar told him, the satellite, he he was-
‘Luma Lenquiks the freak.’, Earth spat out, he didn’t know anything more about this Lenquiks and he didn’t care as long freedom was granted, of these nightmares…of this hellhole…of whatever…
‘Good. I wish you luck, betray me and…My eye will watch you.’ he chuckled at his own joke but it felt unnatural, Earth wasn’t planning to stick to the instructions.
Earth woke up with a start finding himself staring right into the face of his moon., thoughts of anxiety rushed through his head, some of irritation, others of anger, all of it crippled and left disabled by the fear the planet felt when he glanced at Luna’s hand, clutching the very papers that weren’t to be seen by a single soul in his hands, of course the careless celestial didn’t dispose of them, between the lunatic and the demon he always had a splitting headache, which causes him to lash out, and other times try omnicide.
‘What is this?’ Luna asked, trying to keep his tone placid but obvious as he leveled the paper to Earth’s eye, his hands shaking, in fright or terror Earth didn’t know.
‘How would I know?’ Earth answered, picking up the usual snarky tone and playing dumb, avoiding the question but Luna knew him too well.
‘Don’t. Lie.’ Luna said, his tone cold as he crumpled the papers,’This has somethings, something I never told you and it could only belong to you-’
‘What about Mars or Jupiter? They are closer to the asteroid belt my dear friend.’, Earth picked up another tone entirely as he clutched his head, damn it the voices again, fighting for control.
‘Mars and Jupiter don’t refer to me as Luna or ‘their moon’.’, he pointed at the script, confusion and fear visible in his eyes while Earth cursed his imbecility.
‘I-I h-have solution-’ Earth stammered another string of empty promises and lies started to push through his tongue.
‘No you don’t, stop lying!’Earth could practically feel the suspicion and anger steaming off the generally calm satellite. Earth didn’t feel anything, he never did, he doesn’t care. He didn’t…right?
‘...’
‘I thought so, ugh.’Luna huffed in frustration and left in one swift turn, but Earth saw his knuckles were pale from clutching so long and the sheets of paper now in his orbit were on the verge of being torn down. Thoughts raced inside his head, he didn’t notice as tear paths streaked his cheeks or a familiar, comforting pat on his shoulder., before he could stop himself he found himself squeezing the life out of his best friend.
***
Mars did not understand, he did not understand the celestial sniffing beside him as he tightened the scarf around his neck, shivering, something was wrong. He felt as if he was being watched all the time. Earth has suddenly taken up enigmatic as his new personality, Luna was worried, the moons of Jupiter, especially Europa were acting really strange and the Red planet wasn’t sure why. He had an idea, but it wasn’t an idea anybody wanted to believe. He awkwardly patted his friend’s shoulder who seemed quite embarrassed at this point.
‘Hey bruh..’ Earth murmured avoiding eye contact, Mars raised one of his eyebrows as Earth instinctively ruffled some sheets in his hand but the planet did not bother to question it.
‘Hey Earth, are you okay?’ Mars just blurted out directly, his voice devoid of any real emotion, which made him frown, he always talked like this, it wasn’t something new but it was like a distinct voice was calling out to him saying he’s wrong, he never ad the energy to be subtle, too lost in is thoughts he nearly missed earth’s reply.
‘Of course! What could possibly go wrong?!’ Earth forced the words out his mouth bashfully, the red planet was sure he detected bitterness but kept up his usual therapist tone anyways as he pulled his jacket tighter.
‘You need to open up Earth, it’s not fair to anyone’ Mars answered monotonously as the word “therapist” rang in his head again and again, an odd sense of tranquility washed over him, he smiled meekly at his friend, unfortunately Earth did not return the favor.
‘Oh sure, you would know.’, Earth’s voice cut through Mars’ thoughts as it grew higher in pitch.
‘What is that supposed to mean?’ Mars asked, trying not to lose his head and pushing the feeling of wrongness aside, a mild pain in his chest took over as his heartbeat (corebeat?) grew faster.
‘It’s not like you have to constantly deal with parasites on your surface.’ Earth finally snapped, he covered his mouth as he realized what he had said.
‘You can talk to me if something is-’ Mars gently and simply replied only to be cut off again by Earth’s turbulent phrase.
‘I don’t understand, I don’t understand you, how the fuck can you be so calm?!’
‘IS there something wrong that I shouldn’t be calm about?’ The red planet’s voice grew steely as a scowl covered his face, more of irritation than anger as the mild pain in his chest subsided.
‘You know what just leave me alone.’, Earth looked down, dejected, Mars couldn’t help but notice how endearing yet sad the planet looked as if a part of him was missing, the latter celestial was truly lost if that was the case because he felt lost himself.
‘For another one of your phases? Who are you planning to enact next, friend ?’ Corner of Earth’s mouth twitched as his eyes wrinkled in a smile, a rather insane and dark one but a smile nevertheless, Mars was horribly wrong about the intent of smile though as he’ll see.
‘Friends? Sure, believe what you want.’ For some unknown reason the words finally broke Mars’ cool, he replied furiously as his ears grew hot and heartbeat increased.
‘You know what? I’ve had enough with you! Most celestials want to live or die but you…you just sit there watching everyone, belittling them, angering them, demeaning them…for what? For pity? No! You like it. You like making us angry, then once you run out of people to piss off then what? You apologize?!! I can make plenty of friends without the likes of you, who think we are some lab rats to be experimented on for our feelings, don’t you?!’ Mars rambled, barely pausing for breath. He was tired of being Earth’s little toy, everyone’s doormat, dealing with their messes and then listening on and on about how bad their problems are, Earth’s expression flicked for a second, he either looked as if he would hit his best friend or cry.
He did neither, he just stared into the void and said one thing the red planet would never forget,
“I don’t want you…I don’t need you…I wish he was here, they were here” and then Earth just turned away without saying a single other word and drifted onto the other side of the sun, leaving the red planet with his mouth hanging open, the expressions that lit his face were not of hurt, not of anger, not even sadness, not hatred but…
Monachopsis?
(2114 words)
Mon-a-kopsis: Feeling violently out of place even in a familiar situation/setting.
Chapter 3.5: Hello! This is hell
…Who are you? Who am I? What the hell’s my fucking name…
…You gotta look forever friend, did you say…
‘Oh look he’s alive..yay!’ called out a bored voice but Rio couldn’t pinpoint the source of voice as darkness loomed over him, his skull pounded inside his head as if a war was going on inside him, his memories were frenzy and hazy, slowly Rio realized that his eyes were closed and he cracked them open a bit, taking a tiny peek, soon enough his impatience won over and he opened them completely, it was a huge mistake needless to say as the pain nearly made him faint again but he caught a glimpse of angry mud coloured eyes and disheveled dark Auburn hair, soon Rio realized that he wasn’t falling…
He was floating?
He struggled to maintain balance and not drift upside down, his body felt heavier, the boy in front of him had started speaking but Rio didn’t pay attention to a word he said as he inhaled sharply while looking down at his hand, they were…Blue? It dawned on him he was wearing different clothes, lighter clothes with something resembling a light shawl draped over his shoulders and a plain white T-shirt, he blinked. The boy in front of him wore much darker and heavier cloth with a winter poncho over his shoulders, Rio suddenly realized that the boy had stopped speaking and was just looking plain annoyed.
‘Were you listening to a word I said?’ he asked, a tint of irritation in his voice not even masked by his faked enthusiasm.
‘I- Who are you??’, Rio asked sharply, which caused the warm smile to melt, replaced by a dark glint in his eyes that seemed to hide great secrets.
‘Is it not obvious? I am Mars.’, Was all he said thought in a tone of mockery, leaving Rio very irritated and inquisitive, he was hazed out or else he would’ve shown his anger through verbal aggression.
‘Like the planet?’ asked the curious boy, amused by the choice of name, his tone grew higher with panic, a sigh of exasperation filled the air around them, guess who it belonged to.
‘Yes I suppose’, he huffed and answered reluctantly, a wave of nausea hit him, he nearly passed out again, Mars didn’t bother to help but he looked mystified, and that is when our protagonist noticed the gigantic…star?? Human-star?? No that didn’t seem right, he glowed brightly so the former looked away, it was a star…that looked like a human? He seemed to be talking to someone or himself, Rio wasn’t sure, then it hit him like a train wreck. Didn’t Mars look like a planet too? Rio slowly turned towards him, the panic of the new place began to settle in, he felt as if his chest would explode, wait was it space?? How was he breath-
‘Okay…are you freaking out?’ Mars looked a little worried,’Guess I should probably explain before someone finds us and blows the cover’ Rio nodded dumbly, too overstimulated to comment on anything.
Mars sighed ,’How do I say it…? Mm…Hello to hell?’ Rio must’ve looked pretty moronic with his jaw hanging open that the weird Halloween costume guy snickered, which annoyed the former.
‘What-’
‘Listen.’ he hissed ’Listen properly, whatever your name is-’
‘My name is Rio.’The boy said, his face growing hot and his mind tired of the condescending tone.
‘Yeah well, not anymore, it’s Earth.’ Mars said as he glared at Rio, as if daring him to challenge his authority, the latter for once in his life did not start a fight and instead proceeded to fill in the knowledge gaps.
‘Earth like the planet? How-’
‘Listen Rio…or Earth, this place is designed in such a way to resemble the solar system, the last person who was playing Earth.’ he paused as if struggling to remember and finally gave up shaking his head,’I can’t remember.’, he admitted.
‘What do you mean?!’ Earth/Rio felt panic rising in his chest again, Mars inhaled sharply, he looked less angry and more troubled now.
‘What I mean is, we can’t leave.’ dead silence, pure silence, Rio stared at him as if waiting for him to say “haha, it’s a prank bitches”, that never happened, and to make matters worse, mars added another thing that made the ball drop to Rio’s stomach.
‘And the longer we stay here..We forget who we are…some go insane, others simply forget…I am the few to remember.’ He looked like as if he wanted to add more but said nothing as seconds trickled by, then minutes and what felt like an eternity before Rio replied,
‘What is your name?’
‘...’, Mars didn’t know, Earth knew that, then a disturbing thought erupted out of nowhere, multiple actually, he had siblings, what were their names? Where did he live? Who was he? But the most terrifying thing to have happened was..
My name is Rio, right??
‘Calm down.’
‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN CALM DOWN-’, Mars covered Rio’s mouth, he struggled but the fiery glare quieted him down
***
Needless to say, Earth had trouble settling in, after digesting the most horrifying news, Mars suggested him to meet others so he doesn’t drive himself paranoid, the latter wasn’t particularly fond of the idea or Mars but agreed nevertheless mostly because he didn’t want to talk to asteroids, partially because he was on the verge of another panic attack. The red terrestrial (as he called himself) guided him (Or rather choked and then dragged, Rio pretends to forget the details) does not into an orbit closer to the sun, revealing in turn another person (‘We call ourselves celestials.’, Mars said.), that “celestial” happened to be much smaller than the other two and was gray in color and Earth admitted he was adorable, however timid.
His name was Luna or Moon, Mars had told him.
‘Hey Earth, where were you? I was worried about you, thanks for finding him Mars.’ Luna returned a grateful smile to the smaller terrestrial who just scoffed, but Moon didn’t mind.
‘I…uh got lost, not important.’ Earth replied, his left eye twitching and a squeak escaping his mouth, which obviously didn’t sound like the Celestial who was before him because Luna frowned and became overly concerned like a human mother (or Mars would call an Earthling mom).
‘Are you okay?’ Luna rambled on,’Mars he-’
‘He’s fine you big baby!’ the named one snapped, Luna did not respond and just brushed it off, Rio frowned, he himself is not a saint but he’s not mean either, Mars just sounds like a jerk. The Moon just continued to chatter lectures to Earth as the latter shot the Red planet a nasty look as he left.
‘Earth, you okay?’, his voice sounded strained.
‘Yeah Luna…who does he think he is?!’ Earth growled toying with two asteroids in hand, not paying any particular attention to anything.
‘You mean Mars?’ Luna blinked, an expression of sadness surrounded his non-existent atmosphere, which might’ve sent Earth into a deep state of sonder for a while if not for the response that followed.
‘You know it’s because of what happened to Phaeton.’ Luna had a look of sorrow on his face, but he did not hesitate to be direct, Earth racked his brain to figure it out, he could not remember anything about Phaeton.
‘Phaeton?’ Earth asked, a delicate balance to his tone.
‘Right, I forgot you don’t remember much, I mean Venus told me.’ Luna answered, he seemed a bit out of place before continuing,’I feel, I think, he gets lonely sometimes.’
Earth blinked and then proceeded to frown, Phaeton, whoever he was seemed like he was close with Mars, maybe the only other person beside him to know the truth. If The Blue ball didn’t want to scream and run for his mommy right now, he probably would’ve felt guilty, or not. He’s not exactly empathetic and for now he doesn’t care.
‘Big deal.’ Earth scoffed, then cursed himself internally for opening his mouth, was it too insensitive, callous, thoughtless? Luna didn’t utter a word, an ever so blank expression present on his face, Earth just sighed and waited for Luna to fall asleep, he needed to talk to someone before he threw himself in the sun (Not that there was any chance it would work), besides Mars owed him an apology.
***
Mars stared at the asteroid belt, the only Celestial keeping him sane was destroyed, destroyed by Jupiter, left friendless the Red planet was building constructions out of the space dust, while Phobos and Demios up to some mischief none cares about, he wondered if he was going to get estranged out at the point of becoming Neptune, or something more like Venus or Luna? Or maybe-
‘Hey.’, called out a voice pulling him away from his thoughts, Mars groaned.
‘What do you want?’ He muttered, keeping his stoic expression, Earth or Rio whoever he was, shrugged, The former felt a pang of jealousy, why does Rio get to remember his name?
‘Nothing, just hanging’ Earth said before poking in, ’Whatcha doing?’
‘None of your business.’ He snapped back, callously, giving Earth the cold shoulder who for some reason brushed it off, Mars momentarily wondered about the change of attitude.
‘Can I hang out with you?’ Earth blurted out directly.
‘What?’ Mars jerked his head in confusion, why would anyone in the universe hang out with him?
‘No…reason…’ Earth replied, it clicked and anger bubbled in Mars’ chest, pity, that was it, pitied by a stranger.
‘What did Moon tell you?’ Mars tried to take control of his temper, of course Luna told his precious planet.
‘Why will he tell me-’
‘Just leave me alone.’
‘Whatever…’ Earth looked directly at him before adding,’Maybe control your temper.’
‘Yeah, sure.’ The former replied sarcastically, trying not to prove the idiot’s point, but thankfully the latter left him alone after that without further questions, Mars didn’t really regret it but he still felt lonely.
***
Earth felt bad to say the least, but he was more worried about something else that bothered him, his name, what was his name? He couldn’t remember, that made him anxious and probably self absorbed in the eyes of others as the development in the human world got higher developments in technology, causing headaches all the time, lice, any sane person would call them. But the Blue ball wasn’t sane, he adored the tiny humans to some extent, okay maybe a lot, and as time went on he grew close to and fond of Luna.
That is until~
The offer.
Flashback:
The Earth fell asleep on one particular day, nothing about it would stand out because there was no way to tell what was day or what was night, thoughts that would drive any normal person sane, but he, Whatever his name used to be, wasn’t sane, wasn’t born normal. Hazy memories of the weirdest animal interactions would pop up in his head, but this by far was still his most cryptic experience.
‘Hello.’ called out a dreamy voice in an ink black void, Earth looked around, he must be dreaming.
‘Hi?’ he replied.
‘You’re Earth, aren’t ya?’ The voice seemed to be male…but it was too soft.
‘Yes?’, it popped like a question.
Earth doesn’t remember what happened afterwards, all he knew was that-that
His name was Lunar…right?
(1877 words)
Chapter 4: Estranged times
…In a RUSH, he’ll come and get ya…
…Turn ya whole skin inside out with a zipper…
‘Ophelia, it’s no use, we are getting nowhere.’ Nyx grumbled as he toyed with a miniature toy in his hand, it held sentimental value for the Panthesa but it was pure distaste and rage that went into somehow dismantling it. He's been at it for days now; the craft gave no sign of structural damage. Thankfully Ophelia replied before he got an aneurysm.
‘This is the Night-Cage maze, I am not sure we CAN get anywhere.’ she replied dejected, pouting; for a person who treats him like a child, she sure knows how to act like one.
‘Thanks your ever cheerful highness.’ The feline replied sarcastically, he was clueless about their whereabouts and how long they’ve been stuck in this hellhole, the only thing luminating in the blanket of cold darkness around them was a neon lamp, which fed on energy they didn’t have.
‘You’re not exactly Luma either.’ she sighed.
‘Don’t you dare bring him up again.’ Nyx snapped, he clenched the toy hard. He loved Ophelia but she was damn insensitive, like she didn’t know-
Who was he kidding? Of course she didn’t, one of her few quirks that emerged as a part of her …no he mustn't not think about it.
‘Right, the fight…sorry?’ She was silent for a while before quietly adding,’I’m sure we can fix this.’
‘As much as I like fixing things, not all can.’, The feline pushed away his tears, choking down a sob, he hesitated before bitterly adding,’You don’t know what’s broken-’
‘Bold of you to assume.’ Ophie mumbled, was there amusement in her tone? He tried to control his temper and not wipe the ever present trace-like, confused expression on her face; which often occurred in a conversation about emotions and subtle players.
‘What is that supposed to mean?’ Nyx tried to sound furious but failed miserably as his voice came out meek and pathetic, Ophie sat beside him against the wall, fixing his mask as he avoided eye contact.
‘I mean, I know what happened before- before, like he told me.’ she finally finished, looking defeated but Nyx’s blood grew cold as his heartbeat raised exponentially.
‘You know…’
‘This really isn’t a big deal, we can fix this-’ she desperately clinged on to any moment of silence but The feline’s ear twitched and cat eyes turned into mere slits.
‘You. Know.’ he looked ready to pounce on her, she didn’t seem particularly afraid, her dull green eyes locked with his.
‘Yes, I know. But surely you must have a reason?’ she asked as she ruffled his disheveled Black hair, nearly making the already loose winter cap fall, moments like this made him wish he was taller. He hated being short.
‘I don’t need your pity.’ he pushed her away, straightening the loose beanie.
‘Seriously? You know how hard it’s for me to keep check of human emotions, don’t get me started on extra terrestrial ones!’ she huffed, he was secretly relieved that she had diverted from the topic, Ophie usually does, attention wasn’t exactly a skill of hers, unless it came to science.
‘Ouch, I am soooo hurt.’ Nyx replied in an overly dramatic fashion, and it did fool her.
‘Wait really? Oh I am so-’ Ophie frantically began to apologize, he put a hold to that.
‘That was sarcasm, your highness.’
‘Oh- wait is this sarcasm??’ She asked, clearly suspicious, moments like these were what made Nyx wonder who was older.
‘No my queen.’ He showed his fake disappointment in an even more dramatic fashion, wanting to keep her far away from the truth and the original point of discussion.
‘Distractions don’t work on me, you know?’ Ophie frowned, Nyx had to admit; he was a little confounded that her dense brain got him, but mostly it was irritation laced with guilt and regret. Why? He tried not to think about it.
‘It wasn’t even you, literally.’ Ophie seemed to be annoyed, of course he could be wrong but that doesn’t stop one from being right.
‘Don’t speak about things you don’t know.’
‘I think I know.’ her annoying voice interrupted his thought.
‘Know what?’ Nyx snapped, tired of her omniscient tone.
‘Welll, you think we are fucking doomed, guess what? We’re stuck, not same as dooming.’ She shrugged, looking carefree as ever, everything was a joke to her.
‘Oh, big talk coming from you, asshole.’ He could practically feel her anger radiating like heat, sadistic as he was, the pleasure found was even more so.
‘I said I was sorry.’
‘I wish I could believe you.’
‘Look you’re that thing or whatever…just forget it, I don’t wanna talk about it.’
‘I’m sorry, you want to talk about quantum mechanics instead?’
‘Will you let it go?! I’m sorry I was a total bitch but I…don’t know what to say, huh.’
‘Of course you don’t, my lady. Next time I’ll hang myself if necessary.’
‘What do you want me to do Nyx?! Get a fucking pill for it?!’ she finally burst out.
‘How about trying not to be…’, his voice trailed off.
‘I. Am. Not- you know what? I don’t see the fucking point…I give up, let’s just not talk.’ She finally answered, not making eye contact, as usual.
Nyx felt his ears twitch as he heard steps,
Approaching closer and closer.
‘Don’t move.’ Ophie covered his mouth and pulled him behind another wall, he nearly tore her hand off, probably would’ve growled if not for the warning look she was giving him.
‘It’s the shadow hunter.’ she whispered.
‘I figured, genius.’.
Without any warning Nyx felt an arm grabbing him,
Pulling closer and closer.
(935 words)
Chapter 5: Just a burning memory
…It’s everything you ever want, everything you ever need…
…It’s fire, it’s freedom, it’s flooding open, it is the greatest show!…
He had tears in his eyes, he had clothes on his body, hair on his head but he had no name and as the rain plattered and splattered on his head, he most likely did not have a roof over his head. Who was he? It’s hard to say when one doesn’t have a name and is disowned by their own parents at the age of ten. He wallowed in self pity as his woe ran down his head- his face. All he could think about was the buzz of angry questions in his head, why was magic forbidden among civilians? The overlords and their majesties were both loved and feared upon because of their magic, why did he have to be any different? What was so wretched about these crafts?
‘I hope Karo drags them to hell…those big-’
‘Now, now, is this any way to speak about your parents, little one?’ Came one of those highly charismatic voices that made you wanna absorb every word of what the person says, with no care for the content.
He turned sharply, expecting…oh who in The Angel’s name cares? A man stood there, a little short of 6 feet, his face and eyes largely hidden by a ridiculously large cap, but even without that ‘He’ could practically taste the arrogant smile which lay upon his face, which left ‘him’ lingering with hatred.
‘How can you know you-you cunt?’ ‘He’ asked, far worse slurs resting on his lip, threatening to spill as his eyes burned and vision blurred.
‘I am used to the expression and tears little one, I see it everyday.’ answered the man, the child couldn’t tell whether the man was being serious or sardonic.
‘Watcha want?!’
‘What can I want from you? Do tell me dear child.’
‘Stop it. Stop it.’ His hands were shaking, as he sat down on what was supposedly a bench. The man bit his lip, as he moved towards the child and sat down beside him without uttering a word.
‘These are called words my little friend, they won’t hurt you.’ One of his visible eye was liquid Blue.
‘Go away.’
‘And if I don’t?’
‘Then-then, I will!’ The child declared as the man sighed and removed his hat. He had a sharp face, his messy hair falling on his golden headband around his forehead.
‘My dear you mustn’t-’
‘When will you stop treating me like a child?’ then the man stared right into his silver eyes,
‘Aren’t you one?’
Tears threatened to spill out, ‘He’ wanted to crawl in a hole and die, what would they even write in his grave if he had one?
‘Ah…you mustn't be afraid to cry, you are still a child, it doesn’t matter what your parents say.’
No reply.
‘My name is Adam, what’s yours little one?’ that hit the nerve for the child, he burst out into violent tears, what was he to say? What was he to say? That thy’s parents have not given him a name?
Adam just watched his gaze still like ice as the child cried, making no effort to comfort him and ‘He’ couldn’t understand why, why was here, why wouldn’t he walk away, why wouldn’t he react? Slowly the child stopped bawling, and just stared into his lap, refusing to make eye contact.
‘Why wouldn’t you do something? Why wouldn’t you scold me? Why wouldn’t you walk away?’
‘My, my, for a grown up child you sure ask a lot of questions.’ Adam chuckled.
‘You did not answer my question.’
‘Would you want a strange man to comfort you?’
‘No.’
‘Would you want him to scold you?’
‘No.’
‘Would you want him to walk away?’
‘No-’the boy realized what he had just said,’You tricked me!’
‘No my friend, I simply did what you asked me to do.’
~discontinued (Too formal/changed storylines, doesn’t sound like Luna or Earth)
This is fine.

Alright guys, let’s get started
💛Everfriend 2024 - Wowie. What a beaut. I love it. It is so intricate, ornate and was executed perfectly. It’s almost as if Titanic were a halo, if that makes sense. Despite it costing a fortune, it is my absolute favorite.
🎀Valentines 2021 - The bows and the ribbon like material of the halo tie together so perfectly. It’s simple enough that any outfit can work with it, but still has enough detail that I’m not drooling of boredom. I fell in love with it when I first saw it😍
❄️Winter 2022 - This halo makes me think of the Tinkerbell movie, like if the fairies were all to have their own halos, this one would belong to Periwinkle. It works great for a spring, fall or winter outfit.
🖤Eveningfall 2023 - Another amazingly well done halo. I don’t even know what all the toggles are since I don’t own it but I’ve seen it around enough to stop and stare at it for a few seconds out of pure admiration. Whoever came up with its design, bravo 👏
🌸Spring 2022 - This one is a big hit for me. Not my all time favorite but it’s got everything going for it. Butterfly? Check. Hearts? Check. Flowers? CHECK. I love warm, intricate and regal designs and this definitely checks off the warm/inviting box.
✨Winter 2021 - An Aurora Borealis themed halo. Need I say more? It just captures the whole essence of it. Love love love.
🍀Lucky 2021 - It’s so dainty, like if I look at it for too long it’ll fall apart. It’s super beautiful. I honestly have this tied for the previous 2 halos just because it’s such a unique design. 11/10 mwah chef’s kiss.
🌙Autumn 2022 - I really really love the way it turns like a clock. I mean that’s just so dope. The moon phases in the center of it are equally as dope. But there’s something about it that I don’t love. It’s missing a soft aspect, it’s very harsh and pointy and looks like it would cut me if I touched it. Again, I’m a lover of cutesy halos, so it’s just not really my type, but it’s still very impressive.
🐚Mermaid 2019 - It’s so nostalgic to me. The halo just screams original Royale High and for that alone I love it. It’s a bit cluttered and it’s hard to make an outfit with, but I still think it’s gorgeous. It screams Mermaid Royalty🤩
☀️Solarix 2023 - Like a ray of sunshine. It’s so majestic, and the toggles are lovely. I don’t have much to say about it, but I love it for its simplicity.
🧊Winter 2019 - It looks like a blueberry glazed donut with yummy sugar shards sticking out of it. I WANT A BITE!!! Chef Gordon Ramsay would approve.
🕯️Halloween 2021 - CANDLE HALO CANDLE HALO. The candles on this halo look edible, I just want to take a big bite out of them. Kinda hard to make outfits with but I don’t hate it. I like to think of it as a chandelier on my characters head.
⭐️Glimmering - Pairs super well with most halos and gives that additional vibrance that some halos lack. Does give shiny onion ring vibes on its own but if done right, it can look gorgeous in an Angel themed outfit. Classic. Love her.
💖Mermaid 2020 - My first ever halo. It holds a special place in my heart. I love everything about it but I just WISH we could recolor it. That is literally the only thing it’s missing. 9.5/10
🌹Valentines 2019/2020 - Lovely. These two are tied because of nostalgia. They’re perfectly fine and pretty halos, however I do just wish I could color them other than pink.
🥶Winter 2018 - Just a simple, classic winter halo. Nothing more, nothing less. I like it, it’s easy on the eyes, and a nice shade of blue. I think it’s good to have a simple selection of halos and this achieved that perfectly.
🔱Mermaid 2021 - I don’t know if I love the trident aspect of it, but the color ability, pearls and gems make up for that. 6.5/10
💙Mermaid 2022 - It’s dainty, detailed, and I should love it. But I don’t. I try to but there is just something wrong with her. It’s almost too busy. Too much going on. Too many tiny details. It needed a statement piece, a center piece and it just lacks that.
👻Halloween 2019 - The ghost is so adorable. Again, it is really only missing the recolor aspect. This halo would be worth so much more if it had that. I’m just not a fan of the eye sore that is neon purple, sorry.
🌸Spring 2020 - The classic starter halo. Nothing is wrong with it or bad about it but there are just so many new halos that top it. For its time though I think it’s sweet and elegant and got way more hate than it deserved.
🪷Spring 2021 - My only issue with this halo is that it’s too small. I love that it’s not empty in center, the little scenic view with the pond and the rocks and mushrooms is so well thought out, but it’s just too small and squished looking.
🌑Halloween 2020 - I like it, I’m not crazy about it, but it was a hit when it came out. Not really sure why. I never wear this halo and honestly don’t know why I still have it. Maybe I just haven’t found a good outfit for it to go with yet. Hmm.
💜Corrupt - Boring. I know the same could be said for Glimmering but again, I’m just not a huge fan of that bright purple. NEXTTTT
🌨️Glitterfrost 2023 - This and the Flowering 2024 halo have the same issue. I really dislike how the design taper towards itself at the top. Like it’s collapsing in on itself. The bright jewels on it were a nice touch though!
🌲Winter 2020 - I like the idea, but the actual manifested version of that idea isn’t what I was hoping for. The antlers, the random ribbon, and the pine trees on it all clash instead of harmonizing. It just looks thrown together. Meh.
🌼Starlight 2023 - Not a fan. Objectively it’s cute, it’s got stars and flowers and little floaty sparkles, but it looks like little baby toys to me. Little baby toys taken apart and forced into a halo. No thank you.
💚Flowering 2024 - The picture of it on Traderie does it so much more justice than what it actually looks like. The idea was cute with the vines but it should’ve been more flowy and free, it looks really constricted and like it’s caving in on itself. Definitely one of my least favorites…but not the worst
🌈Lucky 2019 - The colors of the clovers? Lovely. The design? Chunky, clunky, round and bowl-like. The clouds look more like waded up pieces of toilet paper, that neon rainbow makes me squint. I never liked it. But yet, there’s something still charming about it. Darn you Lucky 2019. I love you but just no.
🥚Easter 2019 - Eggs with a pattern. Whatever. They could’ve done so much more. Add some cute baby chicks, some bunnies, a little garden with grass with the eggs placed throughout. A 5 year old could’ve come up with this.
🍁Autumn 2019 - The colors are pretty. They should’ve made this more lively looking, or more full like the Val20 halo. This just looks like the sad aftermath of a lovely pile of autumn leaves being ran over by a car.
💚Lucky 2020 - It’s so green and bright and bad looking. Like a big ugly piece of plastic. Trash it. No offense to whoever made it lol.
🕸️Halloween 2018 - I don’t like spiders. I don’t like spider webs. I don’t like that ugly shade of purple. I don’t like this halo. It’s a huge big fat whopper of a no from me.

Kriebstein Castle is like a toy (as if you were a giant 100 meters tall), in red-cyan anaglyph iXYt 3D. For details please visit syla.top/by-angels-eyes/. iXYt 3D is a method of writing 3D videos for VR (or more precisely TR, transferred reality - more natural looking than common "plastic" VR, but never seen by the naked eye). ixyt.info is a worldwide affiche-map-calendar and our sponsor partner.
It's a rebranding from youtube.com/@ixyt and youtube.com/@anatlaz to youtube.com/@ixyt-anatlaz and youtube.com/@ixyt-vr

Please don't hesitate to contact me to discuss the sale of my sets at the prices listed below, payable in items.
If you're curious about why you should trust me, consider my extensive track record. I've successfully sold over 1000 sets from events like TI6, TI7, TI8, TI9, TI10, Nemestice, Aghanim's, and Diretide 2022 Collector's.
For checking my gifting Cache Sets history, feel free to review the comments on my profile and verify the sets in their inventory that were gifted by me.
In terms of transaction protocol, the buyer is always goes first. However, if you prefer an added layer of security, we can involve a middleman from this subreddit.
Regarding any concerns about scamming, it's simply not in my best interest. With over 800 cache sets available for sale, my focus is on providing a trustworthy and legitimate service.
Profile [https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198107212373](here)

Diretide 2022 Collector's Cache II

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Bird of Prey	Legion Commander	20+	$15
Grand Suppressor	Silencer	20+	$10
Darkbrew's Transgression	Alchemist	20+	$15
Transcendent Path	Oracle	20+	$15
The Wilding Tiger	Brewmaster	20+	$10
Dawn of a Darkness Foretold	Doom	20+	$15
Cursed Cryptbreaker	Pudge	20+	$15
Feasts of Forever	Night Stalker	20+	$10
Darkfeather Factioneer	Phantom Assassin	20+	$10
Withering Pain	Clinkz	20+	$10
Freeboot Fortunes	Ogre Magi	20+	$10
Acrimonies of Obsession	Vengeful Spirit	20+	$20
Sacred Chamber Guardian	Huskar	20+	$15
War Rig Eradicators	Techies	20+	$10
Grudges of the Gallows Tree	Treant Protector	20+	$25
Brands of the Reaper	Anti-Mage	20+	$40
Sublime Equilibrium	Void Spirit	20+	$50

Diretide 2022 Collector's Cache

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Shadowleaf Insurgent	Hoodwink	20+	$15
Scarlet Subversion	Riki	20+	$15
Whippersnapper	Snapfire	20+	$10
Hounds of Obsession	Chen	20+	$10
Seadog's Stash	Clockwork	20+	$10
Starlorn Adjudicator	Dawnbreaker	20+	$15
Spoils of the Shadowveil	Spectre	20+	$15
Chines of the Inquisitor	Faceless Void	20+	$10
Trophies of the Hallowed Hunt	Ursa	20+	$10
Crimson Dawn	Phoenix	20+	$10
Forgotten Station	Terrorblade	20+	$15
Dirge Amplifier	Undying	20+	$15
Champion of the Fire Lotus	Monkey King	20+	$10
Deathstitch Shaman	Witch Doctor	20+	$10
Blue Horizons	Marci	20+	$30
Angel of Vex	Invoker	20+	$50
Dark Behemoth	Primal Beast	20+	$50

Aghanim's 2021 Collector's Cache

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Scales of the Shadow Walker	Phantom Lancer	23	$15
Perception of the First Light	Dawnbreaker	22	$15
Apex Automated	Clockwerk	22 S	$15
Test of the Basilisk Lord	Razor	25	$10
Secrets of the Frost Singularity	Ancient Apparition	23	$8
Perils of the Red Banks	Chen	22	$10
The Chained Scribe	Grimstroke	24	$10
Widow of the Undermount Gloom	Broodmother	23 S	$15
Forgotten Fate	Mars	22	$5
March of the Crackerjack Mage	Rubick	24	$10
Cosmic Concoctioneers	Alchemist	23	$20
Days of the Demon	Axe	22	$20
Blightfall	Abaddon	23	$15
Pyrexae Polymorph Perfected	Ogre Magi	25	$35
Stranger in the Wandering Isles	Drow Ranger	10 *C - 3 reserved	$35

Nemestice Collector's Cache 2021

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Twilight Hex	Dark Willow	23 S	15$
Litany of the Damned	Doom	24	15$
Astral Terminus	Enigma	23	10$
Caerulean Star	Enchantress	22	10$
Arcane Inverter	Gyrocopter	22 S	25$
Creed of the Skullhound	Lycan	22 S	25$
Desert Bloom	Nature's Prophet	23	20$
Silence of the Starweaver	Oracle	23	10$
Eyriebound Imperator	Skywrath Mage	23	15$
Anthozoan Assault	Tiny	23	25$
Defender of the Brumal Crest	Winter Wyvern	10 S	10$
Red Sands Marauder	Shadow Shaman	23	20$
Footfalls of the Sporefathers	Witch Doctor	12	60$

Collector's Cache I 2020

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Ravenous Abyss	Underlord	20+	$15
Apocalypse Unbound	AA	20+	$10
Beholden of the Banished Ones	Warlock	20+	$15
Fury of the Righteous Storm	Disruptor	20+	$5
Mindless Slaughter	Pudge	20+	$20
Heartless Hunt	Bounty	20+	$15
Herald of the Ember Eye	Grimstroke	20+	$10
Fissured Flight	Jakiro	20+	$10
Flashpoint Proselyte	Husker	20+	$15
Signs of the Allfather	Nature prophet	20+	$15
Glory of the Elderflame	Lina	20+	$35
Origin of the Dark Oath	Night Stalker	6	$25
Songs of Starfall Glen	Enchantress	20+	$10
Ancient Inheritance	Tiny	20+	$30
Forsworn Legacy	mars	20+	$50

Collector's Cache II 2020

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Evolution of the Infinite	Enigma	20+	$6
Beast of the Crimson Ring	bristle back	20+	$15
Clearcut Cavalier	Timber	20+	$10
The King Of Thieves	Keeper of light	20+	$10
Horror from the Deep	Tide	20+	$20
Talons of the Endless Storm	chaos knight	20+	$15
Carousal of the Mystic Masquerade	Rubick	20+	$6
Crown of Calaphas	Shadow demon	20+	$15
Wrath of the Fallen	doom	20+	$20
Blacksail Cannoneer	Sniper	20+	$10
Secrets of the Celestial 📷	Skywrath mage	20+	$5
Blaze of Oblivion	Phoenix	20+	$10
Steward of the Forbidden Chamber	Templar Assassin	20+	$25
Claszureme Incursion	Void	20+	70$
Ire of the Ancient Gaoler	Arc Warden	6* C	35$
Master of the Searing Path	Ember Spirit	3* C	40$

Collector's Cache 2019

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Paean of the Ink Dragon	Grimstroke	1*C	15$
The Arts of Mortal Deception	Enigma	21	10$
Poacher's Bane	Tidehunter	20	10$
Soul of the Brightshroud	Death Prophet	21	10$
Curse of the Creeping Vine	Undying	6*C +1	25$
Appetites of the Lizard King	Slark	18	25$
Riddle of the Hierophant	Oracle	20	10$
Defender of Ruin	Disruptor	22	25$
Allure of the Faeshade Flower	Dark Willow	4 * C - 1 reserved	25$
Pursuit of the Ember Demons	Huskar	4* C	25$
Forbidden Medicine	Dazzle	3* C	35$
Priest of the Proudsilver Clan	Chen	4* C	15$

Collector's Cache II 2019

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Sight of the Kha-Ren Faithful	Drow Ranger	31	15$
Tribal Pathways	Warlock	30	10$
Directive of the Sunbound	Clockwerk	31	10$
Endless Night	Abaddon	30	15$
Dapper Disguise	Pudge	27	15$
Fury of the Bloodforge	Bloodseeker	30	15$
Automaton Antiquity	Broodmother	31	10$
Grim Destiny	Wraith King	29	10$
Distinguished Expeditionary	Tusk	30	10$
Verdant Predator	Venomancer	31	10$
Prized Acquisitions	Batrider	31	5$
Fowl Omen	Necrophos	34	30$
Echoes of the Everblack	Abaddon	4*C	25$
Souls Tyrant	Shadow Fiend	1 * C	45$
Tales of the Windward Rogue	Pangolier	3 * C	45$

The International 2018 Collector's Cache I

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Trail of the Sanguine Spectrum	Bloodseeker	20	10$
Insights of the Sapphire Shroud	Dark Seer	18	4$
Pillar of the Fractured Citadel	Spirit Breaker	21	$10
The Murid Divine	Necrophos	22	25$
Molokau Stalker	Venomancer	21	$10
Morbific Provision	Witch Doctor	22	10$
Raptures of the Abyssal Kin	Queen of Pain	20	15$
Grasp of the Riven Exile	Weaver	20	5$
Fate Meridian	Invoker	2 *C	30$
Visions of the Lifted Veil	Phantom Assassin	1 *C	40$
Grasp of the Riven Exile	Weaver	4 *C	20$

The International 2018 Collector's Cache II

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Pitmouse Fraternity	Meepo	37	10$
Fires of the Volcanic Guard	Ember Spirit	37	10$
Shackles of the Enduring Conscript	Axe	37 S	6$
Shimmer of the Anointed	Nyx Assassin	29	5$
Loaded Prospects	Brewmaster	39	15$
Ire of Molten Rebirth	Phoenix	36	10$
Pattern of the Silken Queen	Broodmother	26	5$
Third Awakening	Dragon Knight	7 *C -2nonR	35$
Dread Ascendance	Doom	5 *C	40$
Raiments of the Obsidian Forge	Underlord	22	20$

The International 2017 Collector's Cache

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Rumrunner's Carronade	Brew master	20	15$
Abyssal Vortex	Enigma	27	10$
Samareen Sacrifice	Huskar	22	10$
Shadowforce Gale	Luna	24	20$
Mechalodon Interdictor	Gyrocopter	27 + 3*C	15$
Cunning Corsair	Riki	24	20$
Pressure Regulator	Clockwerk	3 *C	20$
Meranth Dragoon	Sven	2 *C	35$
The Dread Prophet	Nature's Prophet	2 *C	35$
Riptide Raider	Monkey King	2 *C - 1nonrev	20$

The International 2016 Collector's Cache

Set name	Hero	Quantity	$$
Nightsilver's Resolve	luna	2 M* dtygod*	20$
Oni Knight the Dark Conqueror	Chaos Knight	3C + 2 dtygod dopey*	20$
Rising Glory	Magnus	2C+ 1 moiz	20$
Dirgeful Overlord	Undying	3 *C	25$
Iceburnt Elegy	Winter Wyvern	1 *C	25$
Wartorn Heavens	Zeus	1 *C	35$

I've updated my policy and no longer entertain joy riders. If you're interested in adding me, I request a $3 deposit in items upon adding me.
This $3 deposit will be deducted from your total set cost.
Please refrain from adding me if you're not comfortable with the listed prices.
Keep in mind that prices are subject to change, and sets may go out of stock even if you're waiting for one, as someone else may purchase it before you.
If you're interested in reserving sets, please make sure to do so.

​Heres whats happening this month on RetroBattlestations
Events:

• June 14-16: Boatfest Retro Computer Expo 2024 (Hurricane, West Virginia)
• June 14-16: Vintage Computer Festival Southwest 2024 (Richardson, Texas)
• June 15: Retcon The Retro Gaming Festival 2024 (Greenford, United Kingdom)
• June 22: Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo (New Westminster, Canada)
• June 22-23: Pacific Commodore Expo NorthWest v5 (Seattle, Washington)
• June 29-30: UK Commodore Amiga Show (Nottingham, United Kingdom)

Upcoming Birthdays and Anniversaries:

• June 5: Apple II birthday (The Apple II computer went on sale on June 5, 1977)
• June 23: Alan Turing's Birthday

Here's the calendar so you can subscribe or just check it out:

• HTML version
  
• iCal version
  

The discussion thread is for casual and off-topic conversation that doesn't merit its own submission. If you've got a good meme, article, or question, please post it outside the DT. Meta discussion is allowed, but if you want to get the attention of the mods, make a post in /metaNL

Links

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Upcoming Events

• Jun 06: LA New Liberals June 2024 Business Meeting
• Jun 06: Austin New Liberals June Social
• Jun 06: Columbus New Liberals Zone In Public Hearing

"Do not think about it too much, my love. Sometimes it is better to simply act. Here. Do you feel my hand on yours? Feel my pulse. The rhythm of it. When you want to calm down, just think of that. Imagine you are holding my hand. I will be there to calm you."
Guilliman stared at the gate to the Throne Room steeled herself. She understood, with grim clarity, the magnitude of the audience she was about to have. The first meeting of the Emperor and one of... What even was the Emperor? A man? A woman? Something in between or neither at all? Nobody ever seemed to recollect which pronouns to use. Some worlds Guilliman had encountered revered Her as a goddess; others as a god; others, still, saw Them as something else. Father or mother, it made no difference.
The Centurion had lied. They were not here. They had died a long time ago, their corpse watching over her as she wasted away with that damn Warp-poison in her neck. The first sight Guilliman had seen of the 42nd Millennium was the corpse of the person she had loved more than anything. Needless to say, the traitors she saw next did not live for very long.
Throne, she wished they were here. She wanted nothing more than some familiar face, someone she knew to come and see her. She did not wish to bear this burden alone. She was nervous. She shouldn't have been. She was a Primarch. Even still, she dreaded the mere thought of seeing the Emperor of Mankind again. What would He say? What truths would be revealed? Would He be of any help at all, or was He too far gone? Ten thousand years was no small feat. Perhaps He only remained in body and not in mind. If that was the case, what was the point? What would she do? Why even come all the way to Terra, then, instead of staying to fight in Imperium Nihilus? It was illogical. Impractical. She would not find the boon she sought. She knew it. She had nothing to-
"Breathe. You are the Lord of Ultramar. You are the Primarch of the 13th Legion. Your prowess is unmatched, even by your sisters. Breathe. Remember who you are. Theoreticals and Practicals. Just take a breath. Calm down. I am right here."
Theoretical: The Emperor might have a boon for His daughter. He might not. Whatever the case, Cawl's works have provided the Imperium with reinforcements on a scale necessary to survive the opening of the Great Rift. All is not lost.
Guilliman did not have the strength of will necessary to consider all the practicals. She could not. Not right now. Too many variables to consider. Too many possibilities to manage, even for her enhanced cognitive capabilities.
Oh, to have just one sister. Just one. Sanguinia, Leona, or Freya. No, any of them would have been fine. Even Curze would have been better than no one. She was insane, but at least she was loyal.
"Primarch Guilliman? Are you prepared to enter?"
Guilliman's eyes flicked down to the Custodian who said her name. "Yes. Open the door."
"We can only allow you five minutes. The Emperor is not in a condition to accept long visits."
Finally, a small mercy. "That will be enough," Guilliman responded.
"Be cautious," the Custodian warned. "Her energies have grown since you last saw Her. The mental toll of seeing the Emperor is a steep one."
"Open the door."
The Custodian signaled to a pair of his companions waiting nearby. They turned some sort of mechanism to open the gate and, with a series of deafeningly loud groans of ancient machinery, the door began to slowly open. As soon as Guilliman laid eyes on the Emperor, however, she began to feel the recoil of the psychic energy.
All at once, it was as though she was being struck with every possible emotion. The blistering wave of energy both caressed and crashed into her, simultaneously intimately gentle and violently enraged. It wore the paint off of her armor. It sent visions of things she wished never to see only to have them ripped away, replaced by memories of a universe that might not have ever existed. There were visions of her sisters, then of their corpses—all of them, even hers. Then the emotions, too. The desperation and the relief and the disappointment and the fury and the love and the apathy and the suffering and the hatred all slammed upon her, forcing her to struggle to keep her own thoughts her own. It was as though the Emperor was barely even containing His own essence. If things got much worse, Guilliman was uncertain she would be able to survive it.
"Father," she said. "It's me, Guilliman. I've come to-"
+GUILLIMAN. THE 13TH. MY DAUGHTER. MY SON. MY LOVE. MY FAILURE. MY LAST HOPE.+
With that came another rush. Eyes were upon her, now. The Emperor's. He had already scanned the room, searching for her. Though the empty golden sockets of His once-human frame bored into her, He did not see her through them. He saw her through everything, even herself. He saw things about her that she did not wish to share with Him. He saw her grief, and He saw what caused it. He did not respond to it.
+THE IMPERIUM. YOU MUST SAVE THE IMPERIUM.+
Guilliman was forced to her knees. There was no conflicting emotion in those words. There was only sorrow. Only desperation. Only the pleading of a creature who had failed Its mission, who now sat on a throne of agony and lived only to burn out Its own soul. She tried to reason with It. "Tell me how, Father. Tell me how I can save them. Give me something. Anything."
+YOU WILL BE MY BLADE. YOU WILL PURGE THEM. YOU MUST SAVE THE IMPERIUM. 13TH. DAUGHTER. MY LOVE. IT RESTS IN YOUR HANDS.+
"Father! Tell me how! How can I close the Great Rift? How can I stop Chaos? Tell me how!" Guilliman begged. She almost cried, but she did not. The pain kept her from doing so. Tears would have been evaporated instantly, anyhow. "What would you have me do? Please, just-"
+YOU ARE MY PLAN. YOUR SISTERS. THE 1ST. CURZE. THE ANGEL. YOU ARE ALL THAT REMAINS. HELP THEM. HELP ME. SAVE THE IMPERIUM. I HAVE NO PLAN. MY DREAM HAS DIED. YOU ARE ALL THAT REMAINS.+
Another flash. A solitary one, this time. An image of a mother, radiant and shining and loving, pressing Her hand against Guilliman's cheek. It was not Tarasha Euten. This was the strongest one of the flashes so far, but it was tainted by pain. Slowly, the mother's face twisted into something vengeful until She stopped being a mother at all.
+MY DAUGHTER. MY TOOL. ROBERTA.+
For a moment, everything stopped. Guilliman let out a panting breath. "Father?"
The Emperor spoke with Her own mouth for the first time in ten thousand years. She did not look at Her daughter. She may not even have been speaking to her. She spoke all the same. "You must live," she said. Her voice was dry and dead. Her voice was bereft of any hope, of any joy. Her voice had nothing. The Emperor had nothing. She ruled Mankind, and she could not even gaze at her daughter's face one last time. "Roberta," She tried to say. "Roberta-"
The doors began to close. Guilliman, recognizing her time to go, made an about face and left. She did not look back.
The Emperor stared at her daughter's back. She watched as Guilliman's scratched plate sank into the recesses of the Imperial Palace, away from her mind. She did not say what she wished to say. She couldn't have. The Emperor had nothing, not even a voice. She had known her daughter, then, for a moment. She had known the woman's suffering, known the impossibility of achieving the task thrust upon her. Yet, Guilliman would try all the same because that was the sort of woman she was.
And then everything left Her mind, and She was alone again, the only bulwark against the darkness that Mankind had. Her daughter, the final mercy She would ever receive, left Her mind. She forgot, with most of Her being, that final encounter with the Lord of Ultramar. Yet, there was a tiny piece of Her that She tucked away, that She put aside and allowed to survive despite the strength of the Powers beyond. And the final words, too, that She wished to say to Guilliman. She preserved them, and She said them. She said them, even though none could hear Her.
"I love you," the Emperor said to an empty room.

RimworldPorn Link: https://rimworld.gallery/m/RimWorldPorn/t/1116/Grem-Silo-Year-2-Heavily-Modded
Having gotten back into Rimworld and re-acquainted myself with all the various important practices, it was time to create a proper, beautiful colony. Our general outset: * Crystal Cave, nice and underground. * Lake in the center. There is a little island with our Anima Tree in the middle. * Sunroof! The mountain opens up to the sky around the lake, allowing normal plants to grow in a small, exposed area.
This took some doing, and needed a bit of playing around in dev mode painting the map, but we got there.
The Cave Lake, before colony start
From here, we needed colonists! I was hoping for a decidedly no humans playthrough, though the results have been slightly mixed. 1.5 did a number on race mods, and we had to scuttle the nice Pokemon, Naga, and Lapelli in favor of more serpentine snake people, ponies, and bringing back the Cutebolds, Apini, and Ferians(with some Buns for bun). We'd go for something properly psycaster(Vanilla Psycasts Expanded), given the nice tree and the pilgrimage needed to speak with it, and generally make a cozy colony where things could be beautiful and functional. Comfort is important!
5 Pawn start. Starlight Muse was a unicorn with T4 in Skipmancy(to be able TO skip, as it's quite gated). Psychically sensitive, passions in the brain department, our main caster and intellectual.
Nova was a pony with plant aspirations. Kind! Nibbler. Wanted to grow all the plants, even the weird cave ones. Gourmand caused him to go a little food bingey every now and then, but such was the price for having a good cook.
Echo was the aloof sniper, the pegasus crafter who made guns and shot them too. Jogger meant he was fast, and a blazing passion for shooting meant nothing would stand in his way. His crafting skill notably lagged behind his hunting and constructing, despite being the support crafter of the colony.
Zephyr was a Ferian, a fox to some(I like the spritework on their race, and they were updated to biotech making them beautiful weenies). Delicate, but intellectual, he was our main crafter and artist. Why just churn out goods when you can create art! Guns can be art. Beds can be art. Beautify the surroundings, and make them wonderful.
While Nova led our colony, Gremmy was the moral leader. A small cutebold, wrapped up nice and snug with pacifism and a smile. He would not shoot people, nor cut them down. He merely wanted everyone to be happy, and to eat good food. Perhaps that meant becoming something more than who you were? Being happy with yourself is important, and if you need to turn into a snake person to make it happen, you do you!
The Boy! The Childe.
A good, if slow start. Took some modding and finagling to terraform the overworld into a state where the game actually understood that yes, people should be allowed to visit and raid. The caverns were carved down into a mountain pass, with roads and such. We were surrounded by hostiles, but that's okay. We had magic on our side!
Most everyone in the colony is a psycaster, and their powers helped turn the tide. Nova's skip and waterskip were staggeringly useful. Hop around, pull snipers out of position, put out blazing fires, the works. Gremmy's happy spells helped recruits come faster, and when Randy came crawling with a psychic drone, he simply hugged Randy and said "No." with a psychic soothe of his own. You've been BAD. Go to your corner. Eat without a table and think about what you've done.
Early recruits were mixed. Notables were TOM(he looked like my editor, and so I asked him what he wanted to be). He said "Capybara" and so the lad was given a capybara mutasyringe. Mr. Potato Head! At last.
DUSA was a gorgon from Mythic Biotech. Our colony was certainly willing to help a stranger running for her life, taking a gamble on who she was. And oh were we rewarded! Literally a gorgon, petrification stare, super archite genes to the moon, only 12 years old and running away from giant crystal crabs(as one does). She was adopted by the colony and named(I pondered Zola, but that would be rude). She took an interest in rocks, mining and shooting and following around the other colonists even as she rapidly outgrew them.
Not all colonists were upright. EREBUS and BUNGAR came to us from raids. Erebus turned into a thing, a Genix from Alpha Animals, while Bungar properly upgraded from a kemonomimi sort of Bun into a fluffy Bun-Hound.
Look sometimes these things just happen.
We had an alpha moth named Angel Dust, but it became quickly apparent that despite her fervent heartfelt wish to become an animal, she was incapable of manipulation which meant even research was out of bounds. Alas, she had to be given feralizer and let loose.
That's a lot of potatoes. Pick your favorite name!
We had guinea pigs! We started with an Animus Vox named Morpheus who was brutally cut down by a local mantis, but the guinea pigs Neo and Trinity most definitely created Zion. When all was done and sterilized, there were about 75 guinea pigs. They got sold to a morph trader until about 30 remained with us. Still enough to crowd the sidewalks and give everyone nuzzles as needed. A tearful salute to Emergency Ration, who died horribly in a mech raid with 3 of his kin(Ration Jr. took up the mantle), as well as Wumpus who lost an eye and a leg but survived with 1h of blood. He was upgraded to Wumpus the Hero, and got a proper masterwork sleeping bed.
Grem Silo Year 1
The colony thrived, fought off mechanoids, and slowly expanded. In year 2, they created many more silos, adding a skipgate network and field hospital to the outer terrain. Three elemental snakes bolstered our ranks(Cambiar, Pazuzu, and Slinky), and though the game saw fit to throw many spacer raids at us, we kept things in line as best we could.
Randy Moments: Drop Pod Buns in someone's bedroom. Hi! Ancient danger while building out bedrooms(yes dear, there are monsters in the walls, we call them centipedes). Behemoths(Unbehemable and Behemothman) wandering in, managing to tame two of them though the second took a lot of effort. Hunting party that aggroed all the animals on the map(they were not good at their job). Thrumbofur commissar cap from a cargo pod. Gremmy happily let Nova wear his heavy coronet so that he could wear the comfy hat instead. It's a metaphor.
Their trek continues! We're finally able to put up turret bunkers(a castle isn't ideal given the terrain, but having points that can cover the lakebed is helpful). Dusa as an adult can psycast and start adding skipgates of her own, expanding our network. People can actually have armor! The mind boggles.
Grem Silo Year 2
Currently Grem Silo dabbles in curing the incurable. Elderly bun with a bad back? Not when the time's been sucked out of her! Snake raider with tail shot off? Gremmy will kiss it and make it grow back even stronger. If we can stuff a behemoth into a tiny animal bed, who's to say we can't defeat the horrible dangers of Rimworld? It's only 2 years into a wealth-independent progress track of... 18. Surely that just means we'll have Extra fun coming up!

BUUUUUTTTT she has apparently blocked out of her memory after having 4 kids how hard feeding and soothing tiny babies is. I’m a second time mom and exclusively breastfed my first and I’m 11 weeks into my 2nd. We tried bottles, kids hated them and I truly hate having to pump milk when I could just feed them.
We are attending a child free wedding tomorrow and asked my husbands parents to come to the hotel with us to watch the kids and I would leave during cocktail hour and after dinner to go back to feed our newborn (and have no problem leaving and not going back to the wedding if I have to). We also bought tickets to go to an amusement park on Sunday with our 3 year old so we can make more of an experience out of the trip. Tonight MIL says “well if she took a bottle you could leave her and other daughter at our house for the night”
…no grandma, ILY but even if my 11 week old took a bottle of breast milk or formula and was an angel unicorn sleeper I’m still not leaving them overnight at this age. That comment is making me not even want to go to the wedding and stay back with the kids🙄

I provide a bit of context for the whole situation that isn’t strictly necessary, so I have a TL:DR at the end and a “story begins here” if you want to skip.
I got Atlas out of the shelter on March 15th of this year, and he was in there for 111 days. He is a very good boy and knows all the basic commands, including heeling on and off-leash, but all of this commands are pretty exclusively hand signals. He does not have a good grasp on the vocal cue, which we've been working on. He had pretty intense kennel stress (of the charging, snarling, biting at the gate variety) in the shelter, to the point the shelter staff informed me that during his whole stay, I was the only one to even ask to see him out of his cage. Of course, out of a tiny-ass cage, Atlas is an angel. He lives with three other dogs, we’ve gone to a dog park, gone on hikes, he’s been around kids, my grandparents, and a bunch of strangers (to him, anyway) during get togethers. However, he was very high energy, so I looked into nose work and agility amongst other things to find a place to work his body and brain, when a coworker suggested the agility place she takes her dog to. When I reached out to the place, they said he would need to pass their beginning and intermediate classes in order to take the agility classes. Honestly, this wasn’t a super big deal to me, as it was still a place to work on Atlas’ behavior, energy, and control. Practicing being in control of himself even while surrounded by puppies/poorly behaved adult dogs is still a great opportunity, and the classes were pretty cheap.
THE ACTUAL STORY: So I go to the class, and my mom comes along to watch. Almost all of the dogs in the class are pure bred, something that initially didn't strike me as too odd. At least five of the dogs were very clearly aggressive to both dogs and other people, and a few of them even lunged at the trainer. Each of the dogs was displaying pretty typical guarding behavior of their owner. With each dog the trainer worried about being aggressive, he had the owner hand off the dog to him so as to break that frame of "I need to protect my owner". It's a pretty common tactic that I've seen before, and it didn't really strike me as odd, except that he had me hand over Atlas, despite Atlas doing literally nothing. Atlas, as I said in the context, is perfect intent to ignore anyone. He's very loving and snuggly to me, but most of the time, he just ignores everyone else. It's fine though, Atlas looks scary, so I handed him over even though he didn't do anything. The other dogs he had corrected had snarled/lunged/had possessive body language. Atlas was actually overly friendly when the trainer took him and jumped on him, which the trainer didn't correct. I thought it was odd, but better than Atlas eating him, I guess.
The class goes about and more than once, the small dogs, whose owners were less in control of them than any of the large dog owners, literally went underneath Atlas. Which I was like, damn be glad it wasn't one of the aggressive dogs over there. Atlas could not be bothered, even when two of the aggressive dogs snapped right at his face at two different points during the class. Never once did he growl or lip lift. Other than over excitedly greating the trainer initially, Atlas was perfect. He was calm. He didn't engage with the other dogs, even when they attempted to engage him, but there was an issue with one thing. The trainer had this specific way he wanted the dogs to lay down that I personally have not heard of before. Rather than having them go butt down into laying down, he wanted them to "bow" down, with their front half going down first, but Atlas would not do that and reverted back to his preferred style every time.
At the end of class, I went over and asked the trainer for tips about having him lay down in that fashion, as I always want to improve my knowledge of things, even if I like my way of doing it. Initially, the trainer said that if Atlas already knows lay down, that I'm fine, and he even remarked that Atlas did great in the class. So I'm like cool and go to leave, but before I can, he goes, "So have him lay down then." So I start to ask Atlas to lie down, but I use a finger signal, which a.) Atlas pretty exclusively responds to and b.) is my preferred method and something I do with every dog I've ever trained to sit or lie down. I snap my fingers into the signal, to let my dogs know to be looking at my hand. It's a good, non-verbal attention grabber, something that is important when I have non-verbal folks giving commands to my dogs.
And the guy stops me and says, "What are you, a witch? What are you snapping your fingers for?" I'm taken aback, and I try to explain, but he kinda bulldozes over me and is like, "No, just use your words."
But as I've said, Atlas knows the hand signals, so he doesn't respond. At the same time, my mom starts to walk over because this conversation is taking way longer than she'd expected, so Atlas turns his head and wags his tail at her approach.
Which prompts the trainer to say, "Well, there's your problem, this dog is already bonded with her (my mom), that's why he isn't listening to you."
Both my mom and I are supremely confused by this assertion, and my mom starts to be like, "No, he's pretty much obsessed with atticusfinchismydog."
The trainer, once again, talks over her and tries to justify what he was saying, but then my mom mentions me getting him out of the shelter. The guy asks, "Wait, how long have you had him?"
We explain he came home March 15 after 111 days in the shelter, so he then goes, "Oooooh, so he hasn't bonded with anyone yet!"
Just completely contradicting what he'd said 30 seconds ago, and he was still wrong. Unfortunately, he starts launching into this whole monologue.
"Well, you see the issue with shelters is that they get these dogs in and they lie about why they came in, so these dogs come in having bit another dog, or bit a kid, or bit a person in the face, and they just won't tell you that that happened." He continues on, "Yeah, so you take the dog home, and the first week the dog is like thinking, 'oh I don't wanna be sent back so I'm gonna play it cool but you know maybe I don't like this dog or this person in the home'. Then like a month in and they start to feel more comfortable, but they're still worried about being sent back so they're gonna play it cool. Then around three months they're starting to get more relaxed so they think 'oh I'm not going anywhere', so that's when the problem start, and that's when they start to revert back to their old behaviors that got them put in the shelter in the first place. By six months you'll see exactly what kind of dog they were that got them put in the shelter. A leopard can't change its spots, you know?"
He just plows on forward in spite of that insanity he just said, and goes, "So Atlas doesn't know his name yet, right? Let me show you a trick"
I'm just already so confused, but this man tells me that the way to get a dog to learn their name is that you pinch them on the butt, say their name, and run so they'll chase you.
I started laughing because I was so viscerally uncomfortable and that might just be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. He tells me to try the method, but I do it kinda half-heartedly because it's one of the biggest crocks of shit that I've heard, and the trainer goes, "No, let me show you." and then asks for Atlas' toy.
Now, for reference for what I'm about to tell you the trainer did, Atlas had one of the hard rubber kong toys that looks like a rope, but it is not a soft toy as it is made out of thick rubber, so I give him the toy, thinking he's going to do a demonstration. Honestly, I'm also bad at conflict and didn't know how to just leave the conversation.
The trainer takes the toy, and he is trying to get Atlas to play, but as I said earlier, ignores anyone who isn't one of his people. Since this guy is essentially a stranger, Atlas is not having it and showing no interest in play even though that's his favorite toy. He wants to go home, everyone else has left and it's dark outside. Since Atlas is not engaging with the play, this man is just smacking him on the face with this toy. He is bopping Atlas on the face trying to get him to play because Atlas isn't engaging at all. He does this for like 30 straight seconds as Atlas is looking at me, looking at the toy, like, "What this?"
At this point (and even earlier lol) I am just so confused because this started as asking about lay down tips and turned into shelter dog sleeper agents and then into a demonstration to learn Atlas' name and now he's kinda just bopping my dog in the face with a hard rubber toy, and I have no fucking clue what's happening.
Then this man stops (finally) and repositions.
Originally, Atlas was in heel position beside me on my left. When the guy repositions, Atlas is now in front of me and directly between me and the guy.
The guy has been smacking him in the face for like 30 seconds with a hard rubber toy and now lunges towards Atlas, and by extension, me, so Atlas finally lunges back and grabs the toy.
It was not a friendly lunge, but I reprimanded Atlas and he immediately backed down. Then this nutter of a man has the audacity to say, "See, that could have been a kid."
I did not go back.
TL:DR Dog trainer bulldozes over me in conversation, insinuates that all shelter dogs deserved to be put there naming the likely causes of attacking a child or other dog, suggests shelter dogs are sleeper agents that 'revert' to old behavior after six months of ownership, taunts my dog with a hard rubber toy and says that my dog could bite a kid after lunging toward him.

I provide a bit of context for the whole situation that isn’t strictly necessary, so I have a TL:DR at the end and a “story begins here” if you want to skip.
I got Atlas out of the shelter on March 15th of this year, and he was in there for 111 days. He is a very good boy and knows all the basic commands, including heeling on and off-leash, but all of this commands are pretty exclusively hand signals. He does not have a good grasp on the vocal cue, which we've been working on. He had pretty intense kennel stress (of the charging, snarling, biting at the gate variety) in the shelter, to the the shelter staff informed me that during his whole stay, I was the only one to even ask to see him out of his cage. Of course, out of a tiny-ass cage, Atlas is an angel. He lives with three other dogs, we’ve gone to a dog park, gone on hikes, he’s been around kids, my grandparents, and a bunch of strangers (to him, anyway) during get togethers. However, he was very high energy, so I looked into nose work and agility amongst other things to find a place to work his body and brain, when a coworker suggested the agility place she takes her dog to. When I reached out to the place, they said he would need to pass their beginning and intermediate classes in order to take the agility classes. Honestly, this wasn’t a super big deal to me, as it was still a place to work on Atlas’ behavior, energy, and control. Practicing being in control of himself even while surrounded by puppies/poorly behaved adult dogs is still a great opportunity, and the classes were pretty cheap.
THE ACTUAL STORY: So I go to the class, and my mom comes along to watch. Almost all of the dogs in the class are pure bred, something that initially didn't strike me as too odd. At least five of the dogs were very clearly aggressive to both dogs and other people, and a few of them even lunged at the trainer. Each of the dogs was displaying pretty typical guarding behavior of their owner. With each dog the trainer worried about being aggressive, he had the owner hand off the dog to him so as to break that frame of "I need to protect my owner". It's a pretty common tactic, that I've seen before, and it didn't really strike me as odd, except that he had me hand over Atlas, despite Atlas doing literally nothing. Atlas, as I said in the context, is perfect intent to ignore anyone. He's very loving and snuggly to me, but most of the time, he just ignores everyone else. It's fine though, Atlas looks scary, so I handed him over even though he didn't do anything. The other dogs he had corrected had snarled/lunged/had possessive body language. Atlas was actually overly friendly when the trainer took him and jumped on him 😂 Which the trainer didn't correct, which I thought was odd, but better than Atlas eating him, I guess. The class goes about and more than once, the small dogs, whose owners were less in control of them than any of the large dog owners, literally went under Atlas. Which I was like, damn be glad it wasn't one of the aggressive dogs over there. Atlas could not be bothered, even when two of the aggressive dogs snapped right at his face at two different point during the class.Never once did he growl or lip lift. Other than over excitedly greating the trainer initially, Atlas was perfect. He was calm He didn't engage with the other dogs, even when they attempted to engage him, but there was an issue with one thing. The trainer had this specific way he wanted the dogs to lay down that I personally have not heard of before. Rather than having them go but down into laying down, he wanted them to "bow" down, with their front half going down first, but Atlas would not do that and reverted back to his preferred style every time. At the end of class, I went over and asked the trainer for tips about having him lay down in that fashion, as I always want to improve my knowledge of things, even if I like my way of doing something. Initially the trainer said that if Atlas already knows lay down, that I'm fine, and he even remarked that Atlas did great in the class. So I'm like cool and go to leave, but before I can, he goes, "So have him lay down then." So I start to ask Atlas to lie down, but I use a finger signal, which a.) Atlas pretty exclusively responds to and b.) is my preferred method and something I do with every dog I've ever trained to sit or lie down. I snap my fingers into the signal, to let my dogs know to be looking at my hand. It's a good, non-verbal attention grabber, something that is important when I have non-verbal folks giving commands to my dogs. And the guy stops me and says, "What are you, a witch? What are you snapping your fingers for?" And I'm taken aback, and I try to explain, but he kinda bulldozes over me and is like, "No, just use your words." But as I've said, Atlas knows the hand signals, so he doesn't respond. At the same time, my mom starts to walk over because this conversation is taking way longer than she'd expected, so Atlas turns his head and wags his tail at her approach. Which prompts the trainer to say, "Well, there's your problem, this dog is already bonded with her (my mom), that's why he isn't listening to you." Both my mom and I are supremely confused by this assertion, and my mom starts to be like, "No, he's pretty much obsessed with atticusfinchismydog." The trainer, once again, talks over her and tries to justify what he was saying, but then my mom mentions me getting him out of the shelter. The guy asks, "Wait, how long have you had him?" We explain he came home March 15 after 111 days in the shelter, so he then goes, "Oooooh, so he hasn't bonded with anyone yet!" Just completely contradicting what he'd said 30 seconds ago, and he was still wrong. Unfortunately, he starts launching into this whole monologue. "Well, you see the issue with shelters is that they get these dogs in and they lie about why they came in, so these dogs come in having bit another dog, or bit a kid, or bit a person in the face, and they just won't tell you that that happened." He continues on, "Yeah, so you take the dog home, and the first week the dog is like thinking, 'oh I don't wanna be sent back so I'm gonna play it cool but you know maybe I don't like this dog or this person in the home'. Then like a month in and they start to feel more comfortable, but they're still worried about being sent back so they're gonna play it cool. Then around three months they're starting to get more relaxed so they think 'oh I'm not going anywhere', so that's when the problem start, and that's when they start to revert back to their old behaviors that got them put in the shelter in the first place. By six months you'll see exactly what kind of dog they were that got them put in the shelter. A leopard can't change its spots, you know?" He just plows on forward in spite of that insanity he just said, and goes, "So Atlas doesn't know his name yet, right? Let me show you a trick" I'm just already so confused, but this man tells me that the way to get a dog to learn their name is that you pinch them on the butt, say their name, and run so they'll chase you. I started laughing because I was so viscerally uncomfortable and that might just be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. He tells me to try the method, but I do it kinda half-heartedly because it's one of the biggest crocks of shit that I've heard, and the trainer goes, "No, let me show you." and then asks for Atlas' toy. Now, for reference for what I'm about to tell you the trainer did, Atlas had one of the hard rubber kong toys that looks like a rope, but it is not a soft toy as it is made out of thick rubber, so I give him the toy, thinking he's going to do a demonstration. Honestly, I'm also bad at conflict and didn't know how to just leave the conversation. The trainer takes the toy, and he is trying to get Atlas to play, but as I said earlier, ignores anyone who isn't one of his people. Since this guy is essentially a stranger, Atlas is not having it and showing no interest in play even though that's his favorite toy. He wants to go home, everyone else has left and it's dark outside. Since Atlas is not engaging with the play, this man is just smacking him on the face with this toy. He is bopping Atlas on the face trying to get him to play because Atlas isn't engaging at all. He does this for like 30 straight seconds as Atlas is looking at me, looking at the toy, like, "What this?" At this point (and even earlier lol) I am just so confused because this started as asking about lay down tips and turned into shelter dog sleeper agents and then into a demonstration to learn Atlas' name and now he's kinda just bopping my dog in the face with a hard rubber toy, and I have no fucking clue what's happening. Then this man stops (finally) and repositions. Originally, Atlas was in heel position beside me on my left. When the guy repositions, Atlas is now in front of me and directly between me and the guy. The guy has been smacking him in the face for like 30 seconds with a hard rubber toy and now lunges towards Atlas, and by extension, me, so Atlas finally lunges back and grabs the toy. It was not a friendly lunge, but I reprimanded him and he immediately backed down. Then this motherfucker has the audacity to say, "See, that could have been a kid."
I did not go back.
TL:DR Dog trainer bulldozes over me in conversation, insinuates that all shelter dogs deserved to be put there naming the likely causes of attacking a child or other dog, suggests shelter dogs are sleeper agents that 'revert' to old behavior after six months of ownership, taunts my dog with a hard rubber toy and says that my dog could bite a kid after lunging toward him.

Obligatory long time lurker, first time poster. Please provide feedback for my writing, how I might improve.
Xelyana waited in line anxiously. Orion Station had been her home for 3 months, by the human’s standards, and she wanted to begin her next assignment.
And what an assignment it was! Her very first human vessel, straight from the staryards of Hestia, the renamed planet of humanity’s origin.
“The Sacajawea” was a fine ship, named after a woman who was instrumental to the safe travels of some of human history’s most famous explorers. “Without her, the bumbling fools would have died shortly into their journey,” her professor had said. Having a woman and her newborn as part of their group had certainly sold their peaceful intentions to the tribes they encountered.
And like her namesake, The Sacajawea would be instrumental to the further development of galactic civilization! Outfitted with the most advanced translation AI, six redundant sensor arrays, and a command center with a faraday cage built into the walls themselves, this was a vessel built to explore the uncharted regions between stars and planets, finding the safest routes for travel and trade. To make first contact with who knows what sort of creatures lived in the dark!
Xelyana had been approved for this mission due to her dual degrees in xenobiology and xenoanthropology, and by this point, almost everyone had met a human before. But humans were, as repeatedly expressed, not a monolithic species, and atop that, prone to wanderlust. Hence, she had met many humans on the station, in her classes, and especially in the old bars by the docking bays.
What a fascinating species she found in humanity. On average, 66% larger in stature than her fellow Celenians, and nearly 150% more mass, owed in large part to the gravity of their homeworld. A history overwhelmingly dominated by nearly 97% warfare since they first began recording their history, and yet she had never encountered individuals so kind, gentle, and warm (both metaphorically and literally! They averaged 37 degrees!).
They were not monolithic, of course, the human race being as varied as the galaxy itself, so there were some unpleasant individuals she had had to contend with, but more often than not, she found a friend in humans.
Virgil had jokingly called it their “capybara effect.”
“Strangest little animal, that one. You can always find them, friendlier than anything, with anything.”
Of course, she had seen that in how many animals they had domesticated over the millennia, using selective breeding to produce subservient beasts. She hardly considered using wolves as hunting tools or sentinels as “friendly” relations with humans, symbiosis at best, but the fact was that humans and wolves still ate one another.
She was drawn from her drifting thoughts when she noticed something strange about the crew. Each and every one was stepping into the hatch, then reaching up and patting something.
It didn’t take her long to reach the hatch herself, and she looked up and saw a most peculiar symbol, one she did not recognize from her linguistic studies of humans. As she moved forward, she saw Virgil reach up and gently touch the symbol, with a smile on his face. A religious symbol perhaps? One she had missed?
Hours later, she sat across from Virgil in the mess hall, shuffling aside her excitement for the human delicacy known as “tiramisu.” She simply must have an answer.
“Virgil, may I ask you something?”
“Mhm.”
A usual response from him. It had taken her some time to realize that it was both an expression of disinterest and an assent to continue. He was obviously more focused on scooping his “iced cream” in between two… were they called biscuits, or cookies? A question for later.
“That symbol that you humans touched, just beyond the threshold of the ship’s hatch, could you tell me what it meant?”
“Hm? Ah, you must be talking about Little Laika, humanity’s guardian angel.”
“Oh! So it is religious iconography? I did not recognize it.”
“Eh, it’s not truly religious, just… traditional?”
“But you called it an ‘angel.’ Is that not a religious icon?”
“Angels are, yes, but… well, it’s better I explain the whole story to you.”
“Please do.”
“So, in the mid twentieth century, on Hestia, then called ‘Earth,’ humanity was taking its first steps towards true extra-terrestrial flight. While we had achieved air-flight decades prior, we were still bound by our planet’s gravity, and still within atmo. It wasn’t even certain at the time if a living being could even survive leaving the atmosphere. No one had yet tested anything they built. So, one of the old nations, the Soviet Union, their space program scientists plucked a dog off of the street. Just this tiny little stray mutt. They named her Laika. It meant ‘Little Barking One.’”
“So, your religious iconography is of a ‘mutt?’”
“I’m getting there. So, they picked up this dog from the streets of Moscow. She was already a few years old, so they figured she was used to being cold and hungry. She was something between 5 or 6 kilos, and was pretty even tempered. She barked, of course, and before she had an official name, they called her things like ‘Little Curly,’ ‘Little Bug,’ or ‘Little Lemon.’”
Virgil’s smile fell a little, and his eyes looked sad.
“One of the scientists, Vladimir Yazdovsky, took her to his home before her flight. He wanted her to experience the love of children, and a family at least once. He said ‘I wanted to do something nice for her: she had so little time left…’”
Xelyana looked stunned at her friend. This giant of a man, near 2 meters tall and at least half as wide, with his dark prickly hairs on his face and head, had tears silently flowing down his cheeks. She knew that humans considered the canids a companion species, but this emotional response for a dog that had died centuries ago… it did give her a reason to reconsider just how close dogs and humanity were.
He cleared his throat and continued.
“They spent months training her to live as close to normal as possible in such a confined space as the capsule they were testing. No room to move, just stand, sit, or lay down. They hooked up monitoring equipment, made sure she wouldn’t be laying in her own waste, and prepared seven days worth of food for her. One of the other scientists, Anatoly Zak, he said… ‘After placing Laika in the container and before closing the hatch, we kissed her nose and wished her bon voyage, knowing that she would not survive the flight.’”
He took a moment to draw in a few deep breaths.
“She orbited the planet four times, before she died of overheating. The capsule didn’t separate properly, causing thermal controls to malfunction. Thermal Insulation tore. Cabin temperature rose to about 40 degrees. Life signs stopped transmitting between 0500 and 0700.”
He shook his head, looking down.
“It took five months, and over 2500 orbits, before her capsule orbit degraded enough to re-enter atmo. It wasn’t equipped with any way to de-orbit safely. Burnt away on re-entry.”
Virgil looked devastated for this little thing. The fact that he had memorized so many details…
“As for why we call her our guardian angel, there was this old belief that the first soul to be laid to rest somewhere would remain there, to guide other souls laid there to the afterlife. Of course, people weren’t keen on their immortal souls being separated from their families and friends simply because they were buried first, so the graveyards and cemeteries were inaugurated by burying a dog. It was believed that the dog would serve as guard and companion to people, in death just as they would in life.”
He looked fondly out of the porthole.
“Laika was the first creature from our planet to die out here. Beyond our home. And she never touched home again. So, a lot of us like to think that she watches out for us. And if worse comes to worse, she’ll be there for us. Like we should’ve been for her. She’s our little guardian angel.”
He smiled sadly at Xelyana.
“Hestian staryards always make sure to engrave her image at the threshold of each ship. So we always remember the sacrifices that got us where we are.”
Xelyana ate her treat with less zeal than she ever had before. To immortalize such a small creature, who had no idea what her purpose was…
Years later, after decades of exploration, and dozens of ships, she always reached out and touched her guardian angel.