Girly blue myspace layouts

So I'm asking this for a specific reason that you probably haven't heard someone complain about but for me, the score"s blue light completely throws me off, I always mess up when it charges up because the light illuminates the highway too much and my eyes can't focus (I have an eye disease that makes my eyes sensitive to light).
Can I mute this? Or change the layout so that it's not merging into the highway? Please help this is annoying md

Cmdr. Kara Wellington wiped beads of sweat from her forehead and swatted at yet another mosquito for what seemed like the thousandth time. As a native of Sudbury, she was thoroughly unacclimated to the heat, humidity, and flying insect biomass of British Honduras. Still, it was necessary to be as close to the Equator as the CSA could manage, to give her the best shot at reaching orbit today, and the United Maritimes had kindly offered to provide a launch facility in Honduras after the success of the first Vulcan flight.
Over the PA, she heard the announcer say "T MINUS ONE HOUR." This spacesuit was hot, heavy, and bulky, but she knew that it provided the last line of defense against the otherwise-certain death that awaited her in the event of a malfunction on orbit. Technician Willard brought over her helmet and placed it on the locking ring, confirming the seals were tight, while Technician Roberts attached her gloves and checked the respiration hoses. She was now fully insulated from the outside world, and the feeling was definitely eerie - sound was near impossible to hear if it wasn't broadcast over radio, and touch had an odd delay. Willard tapped on her chestpiece and made a thumbs-up gesture, indicating that everything was working correctly.
"T MINUS FORTY MINUTES."
It was time to get underway to the rocket, which stood taller than most of the facilities on Launch Site Robarts (save the Vehicle Assembly Building where it had been constructed), and taller than most buildings Wellington had seen in her life. Gas hissed from the fueling hose connectors eerily, as the methane and oxygen were loaded into the storage tanks.Three massive E-1 methalox engines were mounted to the bottom of the first stage of the rocket, which would do most of the work in getting her through the atmosphere before the vacuum-specialized second stage J-2 hydrogen/oxygen engine took over.
The technicians guided her to the elevator that ran to the top of the rocket stack, then rode up with her. Roberts placed his hand on her parachute pack and said "You've got this, Commander!"
"T MINUS TWENTY MINUTES."
Commander Wellington buckled the seven point harness around her, and went over the control scheme one last time. She had seen it plenty of times in the novel flight simulator that CSA had used in training, but it was still a complicated layout of analog switches and dials, and it paid to be painstakingly familiar when it came to this.
She made a thumbs up gesture toward the hatch, where Willard and Roberts waited. They mounted the hatch, and together the three of them secured it to the capsule.
"T MINUS FIVE MINUTES."
Everything on the dashboard looked exactly like it had in the simulator, which was reassuring to no end.
"T MINUS THREE MINUTES. COMMENCE ENGINE TEST."
She felt the rocket shudder under her as the fueling hoses disconnected and the engines began the pre-launch sequence.
"T MINUS ONE MINUTE."
Well, we're all in now!
"T MINUS THIRTY SECONDS TO LIFTOFF. INITIATE IGNITION SEQUENCE."
At first, she heard nothing, as the only thing that happened was the water suppression system kicking in to protect the pad. Then, a thunderous roar, as thousands of pounds of methane and liquid oxygen poured forth through the nozzles of the E-1s and ignited, causing the rocket to strain against its bindings.
"FULL THRUST ACHIEVED. T MINUS FIVE. FOUR. THREE. TWO. ONE. WE HAVE LIFTOFF!"
Hestia I soared upwards into the abyss of space, carrying Commander Wellington and the hopes of the Canadian people with her. As planned, the E-1s cut off as the rocket approached the upper atmosphere, and the bottom stage of the rocket dropped away into the Atlantic Ocean that just twenty years ago had swallowed so much of human civilization. The one J-2 on the second stage ignited, and carried Hestia I into a medium Earth orbit. There, with experimental freeze dried food and a copious supply of water, Kara Wellington stayed for three days, seeing the sunrise multiple times and being brought to tears each time by the sight of the sun peeking around the Earth's horizon. Eventually, though, it was time to come home. With Mission Control's direction, she turned the rocket using the OMS and then expended the last of the J-2's fuel to put herself back on a suborbital trajectory, aiming for a point near the coast of Honduras, then jettisoning the second stage. The capsule drifted peacefully for a few minutes, before it was time to prepare for re-entry.
The telltale glow appeared outside the window, just as she knew it would, and the ablative heat shield mounted to the bottom of the capsule blunted the incredibly hot temperatures outside that would have disintegrated her and just about everything not coated in ceramic tiles specifically meant for the purpose. Eventually, the glow and the rocking of the capsule subsided, and the atmospheric blue returned to the window. The capsule's parachutes worked perfectly, thanks to rigorous testing following the Zander incident, and her capsule splashed down a few kilometers from the expected landing zone. Before long, a Province-class airship was overhead, winching her capsule aboard using a powerful crane, and Premier MacDonald himself welcomed Canada's first true astronaut back to Earth.

I am trying to find really girly skins with pink or baby blue colors you know. Maybe even with my little pony on it or something, like really really girly, cute skins.
Was browsing at a skins site to see all there are, and there really aint many like that. Sure there are a few, I got the pink SG 553 pulse skin though. Just wish there were more.
Or is this better achieved with stickers maybe?
Anyone has suggestions I didnt think about? I want to be as girly as possible, for I find it funny to kill people with kinda ridiculous looking skins. Same as the clown mask in CoD :P
No I am not gay or a femboy :P its just funny to me lol

Blue Star IVRF (Inverter Variable Refrigerant Flow) units are highly sought after in Bangalore for their advanced cooling capabilities, energy efficiency, and flexibility. These units are particularly suitable for large commercial buildings, office complexes, and upscale residential properties where precise climate control is crucial. The technology allows for individualized temperature settings across multiple zones, ensuring optimal comfort and energy savings.
Blue Star IVRF UNITS Dealers in Bangalore are located in strategic commercial and residential areas such as Koramangala, Whitefield, Jayanagar, Indiranagar, and MG Road. This strategic presence ensures that a broad range of customers, including businesses and high-end homeowners, have convenient access to these sophisticated cooling systems.
Blue Star IVRF dealers offer an extensive selection of units designed to meet diverse cooling requirements. They provide detailed consultations to understand the specific needs of each client, taking into account factors such as building layout, usage patterns, and energy efficiency goals. This personalized service ensures that customers receive the most suitable and cost-effective IVRF solutions.
Installation services are a critical aspect of what these dealers offer. Blue Star's certified technicians handle the installation, ensuring that each unit is set up for optimal performance. Proper installation is essential for maximizing the efficiency and longevity of IVRF systems, and these technicians are trained to adhere to the highest standards.
In addition to installation, Blue Star IVRF unit dealers in Bangalore provide robust after-sales support. This includes regular maintenance services to keep the systems running efficiently and to extend their lifespan. Prompt repair services are also available to address any issues that may arise, ensuring minimal downtime and continuous comfort.
The commitment to quality service, from initial consultation through to installation and ongoing maintenance, sets these dealers apart. They ensure that customers receive the best possible solutions and support for their cooling needs. In summary, Blue Star IVRF unit dealers in Bangalore provide a comprehensive package of advanced cooling technology, expert installation, and dependable after-sales service, making them a preferred choice for sophisticated air conditioning solutions in the city.

Closeup of the Box
Screencap of the desktop, showing scale and positioning.
Booted my pc from sleep and found this box in the top right, for what I assume is a missing texture. I've avoided restarting my PC as I feel like this might be symptomatic of a deeper issue that I want to understand first. The box cannot be clicked/right clicked or moved; however, it does pull focus when clicked on (the window behind it 'greys' indicating that the box is now clicked on). The box is not flush with the corner, offset slightly from the border.
The Box is overlaid across all my windows and apps, and doesn't seem tied to the monitor (changing resolution scales the Box accordingly within the frame, see picture 3.
Fullscreen image of the settings menu
I haven't noticed any dips in graphical fidelity, no artifacts that might reveal a dying GPU for eg.

Cawthon, Scott. The Bobbiedots Conclusion: An AFK Book (Five Nights at Freddy’s: Tales from the Pizzaplex #5). Scholastic Inc, 2023. 

I am not explicitly looking for more than friendship here/NSFW in general, but so be it if it would happen. Something like that should happen naturally with mutual attraction.
Since people like descriptors, I'm about 5'8" on a good day, hazel eyes, 220lbs (but getting back to my goal weight of 180-200). Happy to exchange pics if you'd like.

• Brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt, also doing some lifting
• Beginning to learn both guitar and bass
• Learning to cook (better) and a pretty decent baker
• Doing some minor apartment redecoration, need someone with taste to assist me
• IT worker, so any codemonkeys or computer girlies welcome
• Have lost over 250lbs naturally
• Am frequently complimented on my smile
• My favorite movie is Hobo with a Shotgun

I don't really care where you've from or our time differences. We'll either vibe or we won't, and that comes naturally. If for some reason you live nearby (doubtful, everybody is in SoCal or bay area), I'd be open to hanging out.
Chat > DMs. If we actually vibe vibe, I like telegram for messaging my usual people.

Cawthon, Scott. The Bobbiedots Conclusion: An AFK Book (Five Nights at Freddy’s: Tales from the Pizzaplex #5). Scholastic Inc, 2023. 

I spent my years as a little girl trying so hard to be anything else OTHER than "just a little girl" because I was raised in a heavily religious and Latino household where being born a girl basically determined that you'd be forgotten and ignored. Any accomplishments you put in the effort to complete in the hopes of maybe some sort of parental attention was almost always steamrolled over to make room for other sub-par things your brother, uncles, or nephews did.
So I became this little angry girl who studied hard. Up until puberty at 11 quickly beat my spirit to pieces with a wave of depression that wouldn't ever fully go away or recede far enough into the horizon enough for me to get comfortable ever again in my skin without fear of drowning in my own emotions that at that time I simply labeled "useless and stupid."
I was 5 years old when I remember my Dad ripping and cutting these little heart shaped dangly charms off of the hem of a pastel printed dress I really liked. He didn't like that they skimmed my little kid ankles. He called the outfit "whore practice" clothing and made sure I knew only girls "asking for bad attention" wore "outfits like that." I quickly stopped wearing my earrings too as he once yelled at my mom so hard about the size of these tiny hoop earrings she had once put on me. He accused my mom of buying me "adult" earrings so after that she never got me another pair. To make matters worse he abused my mother, oftentimes ruining her dresses and outfits too because he claimed she was "dressing to get another man" so she could leave.
I had to be the strong one, at 7 years old. I would sometimes watch Cardcaptor Sakura (when it aired in English in the U.S., late 90s/early 00's) or Sailor Moon and I would draw pictures of what I imagined I would look like if I had a cool magical dress. These girls got to fight crime while being pretty. Pam Grier could fight crime and look gorgeous, but I had to watch her in secret on my own time. Tarantino really hit me hard with how strong he makes his female leads too. I mean sure yeah weirdo foot stuff, but Uma Thurman is depicted as this angel faced beautiful charming woman but who is dedicated and deadly and can kill if her life is at stake or anyone tries to get in her way. The women in Death Proof totally kicked ass while being pretty at the same time. I had a girl crush on She-Ra and also on Star Fire and Lady Death from the horror comics my uncle would borrow and I'd find, not even realizing how raunchy the art was. The women were strong. The women were fiercely beautiful. They could fight.
My mom would then marry another idiot when I was 10. A conservative raised little mommy's boy shit stain of a man who took joy in picking on literal children for things they could not control. Total narcissist. His mom was a 1950's housewife who had passed away but her control over how he dressed and acted eventually spilled onto me. Why am I in a dress today? which boy am I trying to impress? Nevermind that it's 96 degrees Fahrenheit in a middle school with no A/C, I MUST be wearing a knee length skirt at 12 because OBVIOUSLY a boy told me to wear it so he could touch me.....there was no rational thinking. I was taught that being even a little feminine or expressing femininity was a definite horrendous declaration of "omgeee please touch me, I'm stupid and want 100 babies!!!" By 14 years old I didn't own a single other skirt or dress except for some black dresses meant for funerals and one white skirt I buried in the back of the closet.
I ate my feelings. I ate and ate and ate and ate because I felt so empty. I was limited from 14 to 17 to only big flared oversized jeans and boys tshirts. My stepfather was a big believer in clearing your plate plus he just loved food. He was over 400 lbs himself, and while my siblings and I didn't go to regular doctors exams we simply just gained weight recklessly as we would be punished for leaving anything behind on our plates while our stepfather would make weekly $300 purchases on more and more and more just food food food. So then, at 14, I just had no idea I would never see 225lbs again until over a decade later. By 16 I was nearing 300 lbs and wanted to die. I was watching other more normal healthy weighted girls grow into beautiful women all around me. Filling out dresses, wearing cute tops, actually being able to purchase clothing they liked with no worries. I'll never forget shopping for the dress I wore for my Senior Yearbook photos. My mom planned a "girls day out" for us to go and find a dress at a mall. I was ecstatic. I asked my mother maybe 15 times if she was SURE and CERTAIN we were going to get me a dress. The literal DAY OF the trip my stepfather had a "change of heart" and insisted the entire family go to the mall together. I found a dress. Bright Teal/Blue. Checker patterned. It had a wide rounded scoop neck, a very flowy skater-type skirt, and the Mannequin at the store had the dress paired with red flats and these beautiful blue-bird earrings. I put the dress on and in that instant I just felt so pretty that I almost forgot who I was and out loud asked "are you FUCKING serious?!" when I stepped out of the fitting room with it on and my stepdad just kept loudly snorting and laughing at me. He made me put that beautiful dress back and honestly my heart was so broken that even 7 years ago when I was 25 I was still actively looking for it on Mercari and at other Plus Size secondhand clothing sites. I ended up wearing this absolutely hideous brown and beige old woman slip style wrap dress with this ugly tacky red border. I looked like someone's secretary job having mom and the dress just further highlighted my lack of actual breasts and lack of a waist. So when Prom rolled around and my stepfather even TRIED suggesting this big shiny pretty pearlescent pink ballgown for me I bit back and DEMANDED all black. I was pissed. I had no date. I let my mom buy the Prom dress out of spite and even afterwards I cut it to pieces just for shits and giggles because I was so angry.
Then one day I actually followed through with my threats and ran away from home. I was free for the first time at 17! I could wear what I wanted!
Except I couldn't because I proceeded to pursue toxic relationships with controlling narcissistic men because of the way I was raised. The first guy insisted that me wearing a dress meant he could just have me be "free use" which I hated back then, I didn't know anything much about sex at all as I was sheltered and constantly grounded for minor shit. I totally just was not ready to be cutting potatoes for breakfast in a nightgown at 5 a.m. just to find myself mid-sex with potato skins still stuck on my hand while I'm trying to get the person to just STOP for like ONE SECOND so I can get on with wtf I was doing. FFs. The second guy decided that me wanting to wear a lot of bright colors meant he could belittle me for "listening to goth music but dressing like a total narc fed", except he would hit me. Like we were once just walking. Literally JUST walking. I was wearing just plain old brown flipflops and ran out of clothes so I threw on my old white skirt. I forgot it had little sequins sewn onto the hems. It started raining so I asked for his jacket so I could cover the skirt so it wouldn't get wet and become see through and he proceeded to slap and punch me "for making stupid decisions" and then belittled the sequins and shit as "little girly" details and decorations that I apparently should have known better than to dare to throw on just to walk to the corner store at 6 in the evening on a summer day. The skirt was ankle length, long as shit. Then I met the third guy who decided that any time I so much as wore anything that wasn't pants, it meant I was cheating. I stuck around in THAT relationship for 6 long grueling years. We didn't sleep in the same bed anymore after the second year as he would belittle me for my weight and lack of femininity, but then anytime I wore a dress it would turn into a fist fight. He would say that me wearing a dress in the house was me feeling guilty for cheating and trying to "look cuter than I normally am" so he wouldn't hurt me. He really messed my brain up. Around that time I was so desperately alone and withdrawn from everyone and everything that I would often spend weeks and weeks with no positive human interaction other than cashiering at my job I hated. I would lie and say I was working just to actually take the bus freely all over the city and I would buy cheap nightgowns from secondhand stores to wear in my room at night while I did college homework. I wasn't allowed to wear makeup with him, I wasn't allowed to wear dresses or anything pretty. Like a sad little child I would time when I knew he had to get online to play his video games and I would use that time to put on a whole face of makeup, shave my legs and wear the nightgowns just to "pretend" I was a very feminine and pretty woman in her own apartment enjoying life. It always made me cry to have to shower afterwards and take the makeup off.
I was 31 and had just been fired from one job while working my first day at a new one. I'm not sure what happened in that instant or maybe if I just had an "oh shit" moment but I just had a strong urge at that moment to just wear a dress again. I had a long week of nonstop dreaming and thinking about my 20s. How sad is it that society tries as hard as it can to make us think that our 20s are supposed to be this MAGICAL time you can NEVER get back? My 20s were so bad I'd literally probably actually toss myself off a bridge if I woke up and realized this was a dream and I'm actually still 22, homeless, dating a total shitbag who hits me, and being too traumatized to just stand up and DO SOMETHING. I also feel like there needs to be more of an understanding that not everyone's 20s are going to be awesome. My mother is a jealous asshole and didn't like that I dated three men in my 20s. She straight up believed it should be one and done since she hated herself for divorcing my Dad but SHE needed to understand that not everyone is just hunky dory OKAY with settling for the first smarmy toad that lands in their pond. I'll never forget her little shit eating grin and face when I brought #4 home and she said "oh sweetie I just hope you one day find someone who can just get your toes to curl." She thought all the break ups were strictly sex related. I asked her and she just steamrolled over it with "well you cant just dump everyone the second they turn you down for sex or ask for more, sometimes you need to be patient!" Like excuse me? Ah yes because as a woman in her 20s it was *impossible* for anyone to think that most of my break ups were about my money being stolen, people not keeping a job, apartments always having "surprise new roommates" that never clean their messes, or straight up abuse. Nope. Both of my parents and most of my relatives apparently assumed any break up between 20-somethings is just "lol, the sex is bad." As if we don't have any sort of character depth to us.
So I guess the point of this is that I am beyond grateful that 31 and 32 coming soon here are bringing me these sudden realizations that I probably should've had in my 20s. Its liberating to wear a damned dress to work and not WORRY about 1478349237498743987 scenarios that can go wrong. Its so much fun to finally fully dive into makeup and what different things do and what they're for. I feel like when I dress up and feel good about myself its truly just for me and it brings me joy. Not even 6 years ago I would have been absolutely panicking about the dresses in my closet I've collected but today I finally wore one outside. Its a skater dress and very flowy and I feel pretty and unafraid. I feel like I can do anything even dressed this way. I feel like this is what being in your 30s is supposed to be. Finally not giving a shit what other people think and accepting that different people feel pretty doing different things. Wearing a dress or dressing up shouldnt make you feel powerless

I've used the Events Calendar for a long time now and never had a problem. I tried to add a event today to my website and the screen is totally different. I post a picture of what I see. What am I doing wrong? Appreciate any help
https://preview.redd.it/jq975h3dan1d1.png?width=2560&format=png&auto=webp&s=1beb8f9ebf9ab650e16efd63b4e9ea3aab57837c

I recently switched from Brxsie's LO template to LLO2. My game has never been this problem free. Previously, I was dealing with what we're calling "script bloat," though the jury is still out on if that's the real issue. So, there were occasional crashes and the dropped dialogue, missing or disappearing dialogue options, or not even being able to engage in dialogue with NPCs.
When I switched, I also dropped a lot of mods. With the Brxsie template, I had a count of 241 actual mods. I don't know the Just Checking count. I dropped down to 187 actual mods with Just Checking reading 159. Vast freaking improvement.
So, everything has been hunky dory until a couple of quests seem to be coming into some conflict.
When speaking to Froki, there are no dialogue options other than to upgrade his shack, not the usual dialogue to start Kyne's Sacred Trials.
The other is with the Thieves Guild. I was able to go all the way through Taking Care of Business and after following Brynjolf into the Cistern, he turns around and walks out and everyone in the Cistern turns hostile.
But man, it is fantastic to play the game again without the "script bloat" problem. Script bloat would require an occasional shut down of the game and a restart to get things going. With no crashing and no restarting, its been fantastic!
Anyone mind taking a look at my order, see if the placement is causing these quests to not start?
MASTER FILES

• Unofficial Skyrim Specical Edition Patch
  
• Unofficial Skyrim Creation Club Patch
  
• Simple Workaround Framework
  
• Reconciliation QoL and Bug Fixes
  
• Recon AE
  
• Recon/USSEP patch
  
• Campfire
  
• Whiterun Forest Borealis 3.2.3
  
• Jaysus Swords SE
  
• Myrwatch CC - Editable Home Cells
  
• Falskaar
  
• Unofficial Falskaar Patch
  
• Wyrmstooth
  
• Environs Master Plugin
  
• TDG Goblins Around Skyrim
  
• Comprehensive Falskaar Fixes
  
• Wyrmstooth Tweaks and Fixes
  

CREATION CLUB EDITS
N/A
BUG FIXES
N/A
CHEATS & NEW NON-COMBAT MECHANICS

• Hide UI
  
• Frostfall
  
• iNeed
  
  • Cutting Room Floor
  • Indrith's Tweaks - Beginnings
• Skills Increase Stats
  
  • World Encounters Overhaul
  • Cheat Room
  • Cheat Room Anniversary Edition Patch
• Tiny Houses
  
• Camper's Workbench
  
• Camping Extended
  
• (Creation Club) Simple Camping
  
• TDG's Crafting Bag
  
• Random Alternate Start Reloaded
  

MENUS AND UI
N/A
MUSIC & SOUNDS

• Music of Tamriel

DIALOGUE
EXISTING QUEST EDITS

• College Curriculum
  
• Jayserpa's College of Winterhold Quest Expansion
  
• College of Winterhold - Open Campus
  
• Thieves Guild Requirements
  

NEW PURELY CRAFTABLE ITEMS

• Equippable Tomes
  
• Equippable Tomes - Campfire add-on
  
• Shortbows
  
• Rough Leather Armor
  
• Bandoliers
  

EXISTING MECHANICS & SETTINGS EDITS

• Apocalypse
  
• Ars Arcanum Nova
  
• Conjuror's Forge - 2L2Q Edition
  
• Tanning Equals Experience
  
• Serendipitous Rewards of the Weary Traveller
  
• Serendipitous - AE patch
  
• Reconciliation AE - Serendipitous Patch
  
• Realistic Night Eye - Original
  
• Arquebus
  
• Undress for Bed
  
• Archery Tweaks Anniversary Edition
  
• Faster Bow Draw
  
• Sniper - Add Damage Bonus here
  
• Headsplitter
  
• Andromeda - Unique Standing Stone
  
• Big Jump x2
  
• Improved Backpacks V2
  
• Paths of Devotion - CC Version
  
• Amulets of the Nine Divines
  
• Hunter's Senses
  

PERK EFFECTS

• Vokrii Maxx
  
• Apocalypse-Vokrii patch
  
• Odin-Vokrii patch
  
• Perks Unbound
  
• Stealth Archer Damage Modifier
  
• Simple Magic Perk Tweak
  

MAGIC & SHOUTS

• Immersive Carry Weight Spells
  
• Austin's Spell Pack
  
• Neutralize - A Nonlethal Alteration Spell
  
• Levitate Spell - Morrowind Edition
  

LEVELLED LOOT LISTS

• Loot Satchels of Skyrim
  
• Better Loot
  
• Lootable Things
  
• Fishermen Sell Creation Club Fish
  

GRASS & LANDSCAPES FIXES
N/A
NON-COMBAT NPC AI

• Ducks and Swans
  
• Otters
  
• Squirrels
  
• Immersive Patrols
  
• Hold Riders
  
• Heart of Gold Adoption Bundle
  

MULTIPLE LOCATION EDITS

• Lush Vanilla Trees
  
• Manor Roads
  
• Lanterns of Skyrim
  
• Skyrim Better Roads
  
• Wooden Bridges
  
• Carriage Stops of Skyrim
  
• Spaghetti's AiO/Capitals and Towns/Trees in Cities
  
• Spaghetti's Orc Strongholds AiO
  
• OLD_Cities & Villages
  
• Better Dwemer Exteriors
  
• Quaint Hjaalmarch Swamp (Myrwatch Compatibility Edition)
  
• Environs - Whiterun Watchtower
  
• Environs - Riften Wearhouse
  
• Environs - Abandoned Abodes
  
• Environs - Hroggar's House
  
• TNF Skyrim House Remodel
  
• Hold Border Guards AE
  
• Lightly Populated Settlements
  
• Merchants in Inns
  
• Water Plants
  
• Populated Dungeons Caves Ruins
  
• Hand Placed Enemies
  

SINGLE LOCATION EDITS

• Arena - Markarth Side
  
• Darkwater Crossing
  
• Dawnstar
  
• Dragon Bridge
  
• Falkreath
  
• Granite Hill
  
• Ivarstead
  
• Juniper's College of Winterhold
  
• Juniper's College of Winterhold - CRF Patch
  
• Juniper's College of Winterhold - No Doors Patch
  
• Juniper's College of Winterhold - Courtyard Patch
  
• Juniper's House for Golldir
  
• Juniper's House for Illia
  
• Karthwasten
  
• Kynesgrove
  
• Oakwood
  
• Galaxy's Riverwood
  
• Rorikstead
  
• Shor's Stone
  
• Soljund's Sinkhole
  
• Solsthiem Lighthouse
  
• Solsthiem Stables
  
• Whistling Mine
  
• Understone Keep Swept
  
• Blackreach - Clockwork City
  
• Hearthfire Upgrade Bundle - Library
  
• Hearthfire Extra Planters
  
• Windstad Garden Extended
  
• Oddities from Morrowind
  
• Red Mountain Volcano
  
• Ragged Flagon Secret Entrance
  

MESHES & TEXTURE FIXES
N/A
MESHES & TEXTURES GENERAL

• Creation Club Textures
  
• Dark Brotherhood Armor Black 2K
  
• Leather Armor
  

MESHES & TEXTURES LAND AND BUILDINGS
N/A
WEATHER

• Cathedral Weathers and Seasons

INTERIOR LIGHTING

• Skyrim is Luminous

INTERIOR LAYOUTS & DECORATION

• Spaghetti's Palaces AiO
  
• Spaghetti Faction Halls AiO
  

OBJECTS ADDED TO STATIC LOCATIONS

• Adventurer's Sketchbook
  
• Mirage - Summoned Mount
  
• Auto Harvest Ring
  

MESHES & TEXTURES VISUAL EFFECTS
N/A
NPC FOLLOWER MECHANICS
N/A
COMBAT MOVEMENT, RESOURCES, ENEMY AI, ETC
N/A
ENCOUNTER EDITS & ENEMY LEVELLED LISTS

• Ancient Nord Shield
  
• Steel Soldier Shield
  
• Wooden Shield
  
• Pirate's Life for Me
  
• Bonemold and Chitin Weapons
  
• Guards Armor Replacement
  
• Thieves Guild Armor Enchantments AE
  
• Left Hand Rings Complete
  
• Falmer Equip Armor
  
• Unplayable Faction Armors
  
• Unplayable Faction Armors - USSEP Patch
  
• All Armor Lootable and Wearable
  
• Cloaks of Skyrim
  
• Face Masks of Skyrim
  

ENEMIES SPECIFIC VARIANTS, STATS
N/A
NEW FOLLOWERS, NPCs, & SPAWNS
N/A
NEW QUESTS & LANDS

• Caves of Morrowind
  
• Frostmaarch
  
• Northpoint
  
• Vilskrag
  

MESHES & TEXTURES ANIMALS & CREATURES

• Immersive Dragons Resized SSE

BODY MESHES & SKIN TEXTURES

• Males With Tempered Skins Body
  
• SL01
  
• Master Skin Fix
  

CHARACTER CREATION ASSISTS & OPTIONS
N/A
NPC FACES REPLACERS

• Sorsia's Selections
  
• Aratamiste Hair Pack
  

RACIAL ABILITIES & STARTING STATS

• Sos Ahst Mulasg
  
• Reconciliation QoL - Sos Ahst Mulasg patch
  
• R246 Presets
  

WEREWOLF & VAMPIRE PLAYER MECHANICS
N/A
BODY SKELETON
N/A
ANIMATIONS, BEHAVIORS, & KILL MOVES

• Girly Animation

WEAPON, ARMOR REPLACERS
N/A
UNIQUE ITEM EDITS & POTION EFFECTS
N/A
BOTTOM OF LO

• Skyrim Particle Overhaul

NON-TREE LOD
N/A
NON GRASS & TREES LOD
N/A
MAP MODS
N/A
ALTERNATE STARTS

• Alternate Start Live Another Life
  
• New Beginnings
  
• Unplayable Faction Armors - LAL Patch
  

WATER MODS

• Some High Quality H20

CONTROLS, HOTKEYS, AIMING
N/A
ABSOLUTE BOTTOM

• SkyHide - Don't Show Headgears
  
• Less Grass 120
  
• Dragons From the Start
  
• Radiance - Radiant Quests
  
• Protect your People
  
• Run For Your Lives
  
• Buffed Enchanting
  
• AFT AE
  
• Just Checking
  

Good evening everyone, currently with the current layout of the components I can make one column light up at a time (with the blue cables) I would like to expand it so that with the yellow cables I can also make the rows light up, the only problem lies in the fact that if I wanted to connect all the LEDs in series in the rows I can't access any of them, how do you think I could connect all the LEDs in series in the rows?

My family and I just got back from our trip and I always see recaps so here's mine!
We booked a Cabana Bay pool view family suite package via Costco Travel and the price was a pretty great deal. I enjoyed working with Costco Travel immensely!
SUNDAY
We arrived to the resort via the SuperStar Shuttle around 2pm. The SuperStar Shuttle wasn't anything exciting. The tvs didn't turn on and the driver didn't speak to the passengers. I thought it'd be like Disney's shuttles but alas. No biggie, though.
We checked in, zero wait there. We were assigned a room immediately in the Continental building, first section closest to the lobby on the 6th floor. We went to our room and it was fine. It felt dated, but the beds were soft and it was clean. There was an outside speaker directly below by the doors to Bayliner that was blaring music and it was loud in our room. Since it was only on during pool hours we sucked it up. We were barely going to be in the room anyway.We tried to take a quick nap since we had been up since 6am, but the music couldn't be drowned out via white noise. Thankfully in the couch area once we pulled the divider shut, it was barely noticeable and our 4 year old napped fine. Once she was awake, we headed to the pool. The pool was fun. Not super crowded, and we loved the lazy river. For dinner we ate at Hard Rock in CityWalk. Then we went to bed around 9:30. I learned the pullout couch my daughter was on was AWFUL. It was like sitting on 2x4s. However my 4 year old just slept on the extra pillows from the 2nd queen bed and she was perfectly fine.
MONDAY
We headed to the parks! We are not rope droppers at Disney nor here. We had breakfast at Bayliner Diner (mediocre) and left. We started in Seuss Landing where we rode everything. The longest wait was for the sneetches high in the sky ride and it was only 15 mins. We watched the live book show which was super cute.
Next was Jurassic Park. My 4 year old is only 40" so no rides here, but she thoroughly enjoyed Camp Jurassic. We stopped by the Discovery Center where my kiddo was chosen to name a baby trex. This put her on cloud 9. The discovery center was a lot of fun in itself!
We ate at Thunder Falls Terrance. The chicken was dry as chickenly possible. The corn on the cob and milkshakes were good though.
Next was Hogsmeade...something I was excited about. We first did the wand experience and then afterwards my daughter became hot mess express. She was not interested in WWoHP (how dare she.) So we took a break and relaxed a bit in some AC. After about an hour, we walked over to Universal Studios. We did the Minions ride then Villain Con. Loved both of them! When we left the minions ride, gru and 2 of his daughters were at the exit for meet and greets. When we left villain con and turned the corner, Kevin and Stuart were out for meet and greets. Universal doesn't disappoint with seeing characters! Next was Jimmy Fallon. It was alright.
We walked some circles, then our last ride was Kang and Kodos. On our way out, we saw the Animal Actors show started in 5 minutes so we grabbed a seat. The show was a lot of fun! Back at Cabana Bay we grabbed dinner at the Bayliner. The food was nothing to wrote home about as usual.
TUESDAY
Volcano Bay Day! Breakfast again at Bayliner. Still not great food, but whatever. We walked the short path over to the water park. My daughter is essentially a fish so she had a blast here. We've been to a lot of water parks and this is definitely one of the best, if not thee best. I like the condensed layout. We couldn't ride anything due to our shortie, but we had a blast. There was a severe t-storm that hit about 2 hours after we arrived. We were going to try and make it back to Cabana Bay, but the torrential downpour hit as soon as we exited. We sheltered under the entrance and after the storm passed (45min) we re-entered to a fairly empty park. Ate lunch there, swam, had a good time. We stayed until close and loved every minute. My in laws arrived this evening and checked into their (very quiet) room I. 1 section down from us. I was shocked they couldn't hear the music we could. We ate dinner at NBC bar at CityWalk which was delicious. That night we got some loud neighbors next to us, banging around and talking loudly. Sounded like a group of 20-somethings. They finally quieted down around 11.
WEDNESDAY
Back to the parks, but my kiddo spent the morning with her grandparents. My husband and I got to enjoy the rides. I LOVED the Jurassic River Adventure ride. However the long neck dino at the beginning might want to see a chiropractor for his messed up neck. We popped on over to Hogsmeade and took the train to Diagon Alley. There we grabbed lunch at The Leaky Cauldron - fish and chips. Delicious! We walked around Diagon Alley taking in the sights. It was not busy at all. We watched Celestina Warbeck sing and then I spent too much money on merch. We rode Escape from Gringotts and it was my favorite ride of the trip. We met back up with my in laws and headed back to the resort around 4. I cannot remember what we ate for dinner this evening. We had some pretty intense noise issues from our neighbors. Woke us up twice and my kid once. I have no idea what they were doing but I utilized the text service to which they responded they'd send a security officer to the room. They finally quieted down around 12:30am.
THURSDAY
I was done with the neighbors by this point so walked up to the front desk to see if we could switch rooms. She said yep, just need to pack up. Back to the room i walked. We left our kid at the pool with her grandparents and we packed up. Finally at 11:30 we were in a new room. It was completely quiet. No pool music noise at all. It was the furtherst building in the continental next to the tower, poolside. After getting settled again, back to Volcano Bay. I think our kid was absolutely whooped at this point. We should have done a no parks, rest at the resort day. It ended up being a bust since she cried and fussed most of the time. We came back to Cabana Bay around 3pm. We cleaned up and headed to CityWalk. We had dinner reservations at Toothsome and it was fabulous. Everything we ate was delicious. We spent the evening walking around CityWalk and shopping. That night we had no noise issues in our room, but the pool was packed since Gradventure had started. Middle schoolers everywhere!
FRIDAY
Last parks day. Mid-breakfast at Bayliner. We began the morning in Universal Studios where we met everyone. Betty Boop, Scooby-Doo Gang, Marilyn Monroe, Marge and Bart, Beetelgeuse. We did ET which I ADORED. I didn't expect to enjoy it so much. Then we went to the Bourne Stuntacular and it was mind blowing. My mouth was open the whole time. It ended up being our favorite show. Again, didn't expect to love it since I haven't seen a Bourne movie in ages but it was extremely well done. Next up we rode Transformers... no one was a fan of that one. We ate lunch at the Irish pub (can't remember the name). Service was bad. I think she forgot we existed, but food was food. Upon leaving we saw the Blues Bros show and took some pictures with the stilt walkers in front of the mummy ride. We met up with my in laws upon their exit from the horror makeup show and they took our kiddo back to Cabana Bay to swim around 330. My husband and I went to Kings Cross, waited about an hour with hordes of middle schoolers, then in Hogsmeade we grabbed some butterbeer. We rode flight of the hippogriff and trekked over to Jurassic Park again. We rode Kong after a 25 minute technical delay. We both didn't think it was worth the wait. By then the park was closing so we headed out. We picked up our daughter and went to Aventura across the street. Dinner there was delicious! Back at Cabana Bay we swam then fell asleep.
SATURDAY
check out day. Check out was easy. We had a late afternoon flight delayed by 4 hours due to storms but made it home around 10pm. SuperStar Shuttle was great. Our driver told us jokes and they played Rise of Gru on the tv. I'm now in post vacation blues mode :(
SUMMARY
I felt it hard to not compare to Disney since we've done Disney a lot minus COVID years. Disney's resorts were all cleaner, food was all better quality, and the overall atmosphere is more magical. We've stayed at 4 Disney resorts from economy to luxury and all were stellar. I found Cabana Bay to be lower quality than Pop Century at Disney.
Cons about Cabana Bay: The grounds were not well kept...cigarette butts everywhere. The pool area was trashed. I hate to say it but it was like the caliber of people in the resort just didnt care about litter or cleanliness. I watched families toss their trash in the sand and leave wet, used towels on the ground (towel returns were readily available.) When the pool closed, there were families that were literally arguing with the lifeguards because their watch said they still had 3 minutes. 2 families just berating the lifeguards!? Awkward. The Bayliner constantly had drink machines down and the food was blegh except for a few things. The pool was great but for some reason had no small youth life vests? Super weird. That would seem like the size you most need. The noise problems with room #1 put a damper on our nights, but the new room was great so that was just poor luck initially. More than once we entered an elevator that reeked of weed. I smoke weed, but it was a turn off to be in a hot elevator with it. Sofa beds are bad. I saw other people talk about this, too. Buy a topper!
Pros about Cabana Bay: transportation. Literally never waited longer than 5-10 min. Bus drivers were all so nice. The gift shop employees were delightful and the arcade and bowling alley were clean and an added bonus. The milkshakes from the malt shop were AMAZING!! The main pool was large and the slide and splash pad was great. Check in and ticket pick up was a breeze. The middle schoolers packed the resort beginning on Thursday, but the chaperones kept them in check so we were never bothered.
Final note... Going from CB to Aventura and Sapphire Falls across the street was like daylight and dark. Those 2 resorts were quiet and felt way more like Disney's moderate or luxury resorts: clean, peaceful, modern. I'd definitely stay in one of those next time.

Disruption
First Prev
There was a moment where Alex thought it might be prudent to reach over and grab Carbon’s jacket, just kinda ground her a little bit given what she’d done to the Royal Guard the other day. But the soldier had specifically told them to move away from him, so that might look like trying to take a hostage and he knew fuck all about this guy’s intentions.
He could say for certain he didn’t particularly enjoy looking down the barrel of a gun, though.
The only upshot so far? This guy, and the whole crew behind him, were composed. The translator was good at managing the nuance of voices and while he was loud, he wasn’t angry. He wasn’t nervous. He was doing his job. Presumably that job was protecting the ship.
From Alex. For reasons that were not obvious to anyone else in the room.
“Sergeant. I assume you believe you have reason to point that rifle at the Prince, but I would like it if you did not.” Carbon switched to Tsla, and she dropped right out of that friendly tone she’d just had, the pleasant demeanor she had carried discarded in favor of an unspoken preparation for violence. Her voice carried that as a promise, hard and low.
To his credit as a professional, the Sergeant didn’t react. He stood his ground, one eye hidden behind the sensor cluster of his rifle’s scope, the other still trained on Alex. “Princess, step away from him. He has attempted to compromise this ship.”
“Fu-” While Alex was emboldened to speak his mind by Carbon’s reaction, cussing the guy out first thing was probably not the best idea. He still refrained from making any sort of movement, as well. He had no idea how he could have compromised the ship sitting around talking about heraldry. “I haven’t done that.”
“He would not.” Carbon swiveled her chair to fully face the Sergeant, the systems on her clothing coming back online with a soft hum before racks of shield emitters that dotted her protective gear popped back to life. “Stand down now or I will make you.”
That got his attention, eyes darting to Carbon and back to Alex even though his firearm never wavered. He seemed to be taking Carbon’s words into consideration, at least, even if he did look unsure of himself now. He swallowed, ears flattening as he gripped the rifle tighter.
“I’d do what she says, just as some friendly advice.” He tried to act nonchalant despite his voice rising as fear crept up his spine. He didn’t enjoy the idea of getting shot, even if he was sure that he could get it fixed up if it was just a round or two in the chest. More time in the mediboard was not on his list of stuff to do. Alex cleared his throat gently, placing his hands on the table before he continued, hoping to set the Sergeant at ease. “Not big a deal anyway, I’m staying in this chair until I find out what’s going on.”
It didn’t seem to help, at first. He was clearly conflicted but his body stayed tense, gray eyes intent on Alex. He lowered the barrel slowly, the weapon still pointed in Alex’s direction but no longer covering him. The rest of his team followed suit.
“Thank you, Sergeant. Explain why you are here.” Carbon had dialed the venom back but her words were still sharp, commanding.
“Lady Sorenson, Communications alerted us to an unexpected transmission from this compartment’s intranet link.” He continued to eye Alex, still ready for action even if he wasn’t set to gun him down immediately.
Alex kept his hands on the table, turning just his head to look at the Sergeant. “And how does that implicate me?”
“Approximately fifteen minutes ago, an unregistered computer accessed the Human Solanet connection and began transmitting an encrypted datastream. All secured non-Tslao equipment has been checked to prevent espionage. You are in possession of the only unsecured Human electronics on the ship.”
“Okay, you know what. That is pretty good.” Alex nodded in agreement. Fifteen minutes ago was about when they arrived in the area, so potentially anything he had on him could have accessed the network. There was one little issue, though. “But. I can’t send any information. The only Human technology I have with me is my translator and implants, and neither of those have the modems to connect to networks like the Solanet. What’s more, no one in their right mind is going to let their brain implants touch the internet.”
Carbon gave a little nod in agreement.
The Sergeant was not so easily swayed. “There is no other place for it to have originated from.”
“I’m just saying, if I wanted to send data, I’d just send it via the milnet. I wouldn’t even have to roll out of bed.” He was getting a little more animated as he worked up his defense. “I had no hand in making this appointment, and I’m supposed to be the one using it as an excuse to ‘compromise’ the ship? Besides, if I had known there was a live Solanet connection, I would be up here daily.”
“The prince speaks the truth. I have seen him and he has no interest in deceit.”
The Sergeant shook his head, obstinate, which was probably a good trait in his line of work. “This is the only compartment with an open link to the Human public Solanet right now. All others are limited to their milnet. Communications stated that the stream originated from an unnamed device, not the workstation that had been issued here.”
That gave Alex something to chew over. Admittedly, it sounded like it locked him in pretty tight, even if he didn’t have the equipment, or inclination to do anything like that. He did have some lived experience that would prove his intentions out, though. “We can settle this right now. I’ll show you what I’ve been doing for the last fifteen minutes. The whole damn morning, if it makes you feel better. Come on, get those things out.” He gestured at the Sergeant’s antenna, currently resting in an interface on the back of his combat shirt.
He looked from Alex to Carbon, even glanced over at Lyshen for half a second. “You can do that?”
“Yeah.” Alex closed his eyes and exhaled a very annoyed sigh. “Yeah I can. I don’t have the antenna, but it still works. It’s a brain layout thing. You know how it works for babies or people who are unconscious?”
“I do.” He contemplated what Alex was saying before shaking his head. “It does not matter. I am not here to determine your innocence. I am here to take you into custody and move into an area where you cannot continue to transmit data.”
“Really. I’m telling you, I’m not transmitting any data. I have no way to do that.” So just fuck off. He didn’t say that part, but it was there. He wasn’t here to compromise the ship, whatever that meant exactly. He wouldn’t spy on anyone! Not on purpose, anyway. He didn’t even like the way just thinking about it made him feel...
But he worked for people who would gladly do so without issue. That was their entire reason for existing! It wasn’t the Civilian Pilot Program on the paperwork to get his Amp replaced, it was the Office of Naval Intelligence. It was the ONI that provided the Internal Translator with a custom language package. Who likely had fingerprints all over every part of his substantial list of wetware, which had been exhibiting unexpected behaviors since he got them. “Oh, fuck!”
“What? What is wrong?” Carbon jerked back around towards him, startled by his sudden burst of profanity.
“I'm fine, I just think he’s right.” Alex looked up at the Sergeant, the easy tone he’d been affecting so far gone, replaced by sudden intensity. “They cut the transmission?”
His eyes had widened slightly, the rifle back up at Alex’s chest. “Yes, it was stopped automatically.”
Lyshen’s Solanet link hadn’t gone down, it had been shut off by Communications.
“Good. Could you put that fucking thing down? You’re about to get what you came here for, so chill.” He slipped his external translator off his shoulder and started picking at the latch on the back with his fingernails as he turned to Carbon. “Could you call Eleya? I don’t have her number.”
Carbon had Eleya dialed in less than a minute.
Alex plucked the battery out of the back of the translator and dumped all the parts onto Lyshen’s desk. The lights on the device going dark after a few seconds, his Amp complaining as it lost the connection. He took the phone from Carbon. Remarkably, it worked just like a Human phone did. You just press it to your head and talk.
When the Empress picked up she sounded pleasant again, familial warmth cranked all the way to eleven. “Hello, my dearest niece. I am-”
“Hey, it’s me.” Even with the soldier’s rifles lowered again, each second waiting for Eleya had been an eternity. His suspicion about the transmission was making every moment stretch out, even though it would likely take some time to find out one way or another. “You remember that time I almost got killed?”
“Yes.” The charm had gone away, though she remained civil.
“I know you had some research done while I was out.” He assumed as much. They had the opportunity, it stood to reason they would take it particularly after what they had found out yesterday. Was that bad? Maybe. Did he care? Not right now. ”Did you do anything with my Amp?”
There were a few heartbeats of silence on the call. “Are you in a secure location?”
“Yeah.” Alex looked from Carbon to the Sergeant and over to Lyshen. “Of course.”
“All of your on-board technology was studied.” Eleya was clearly reluctant to say even that.
“Super. I need someone who’s gotten familiar with it to take a look at mine. There may be something wrong with it. Security and privacy problems, for you and me respectively. Big ones.”
Another hesitation. “Come to aft research lab six. I will meet you there and we will discuss these problems further.”
“Aft research lab six. See you there.” Alex tapped the button to end the call, which he seemed to have gotten correct. He handed the communicator back to Carbon. “I’m going to need you to translate for a bit.”
“Of course.” It sounded more like a question, but she nodded in agreement as the black rectangle disappeared back into her jacket. “What is in the research lab?”
“Something related to my Amp.” He assumed, anyway.
“Ah. I see.” Carbon seemed to be putting things together with him.
“Alright, this is going to look weird so everybody just chill. Don’t. Fucking. Shoot. Me.” That last bit was aimed squarely at the Sergeant. Alex reached up and began tapping his face in a particular series of locations. Left temple, right temple, nose, left temple again, left cheek... He ran down this physical cheat code and ended it by tapping his chin three times. All his machine interfaces shut off. “Okay. Somebody say something.”
Carbon was first to react. “What was that?”
She said it in English.
“I meant in Tsla.” He paused, a stressed laugh escaping him. That had been a little funny. “Deep brain interfaces have hardcoded shutdown sequences that sit in the body interface layer - also hardcoded - so it can’t be intercepted, or otherwise bypassed. Y’know, in case of runaway processes, lock-in, spyware your government installed. That sorta stuff.”
She rattled off something in Tsla that sounded a wee bit accusatory. He caught a ‘you’ in there, but that was it.
“Ok, it appears to be off. All the electronics I received from the ONI are currently off.” Alex stated that loudly, this whole endeavor suddenly feeling much more martial. He shrugged off his jacket, piling the translator and its battery into it and then wrapping it up into a tight bundle, which he stuck under his arm. Good thing he opted for the plain t-shirt today. “Sergeant, per the instructions of the Empress, please escort me to aft research lab six.”
It was weird to walk in such a large group and not have anyone talking. Seven people there, following Carbon as she actually knew where the lab was without having to consult a map. Everyone just walking. The single-note step of a Tsla’o footfalls was even more noticeable when that was the only sound, Alex’s heel-toe stride an outlier.
Ship security had their own maglev lines, running above the main line. There were multiple tracks, with smaller, windowless, cars. Everyone filed in, and they departed for the other end of the Sword of the Morning Light.
For the first time in quite a long while, he didn’t feel like chatting with Carbon about whatever was on his mind as soon as his butt was in a seat. Alex did reach over to her and pat her knee, smiling when she turned to look. She returned it, faintly, though the thin smile disappeared when the Sergeant looked over at them.
Since they were going to be looking at them, Alex turned his attention to their escort. Two gray, two red, one blue. Wearing the gray camo uniform that Amalu had worn, but none of them were wearing body armor, or even carrying much extra equipment aside from what fit on a belt.
The Sergeant had the most detailed rank marker, despite being ‘just’ a Sergeant, and was the only one carrying a rifle. The next down was a red-furred female that reminded him of Zenshen, but clearly wasn’t. Older, more muscular. About half as much detail on her rank, and sporting what looked like a snub-nosed SMG.
The remaining three were probably the Tsla’o equivalent of Privates. One of them had a single line carved in his plate, and looked almost as young as Haraya. All of them were packing some sort of sidearm, all stowed in holsters now. Alex did recognize the Tsla’o symbol for ‘electricty’ on the neon pink magazines on the belt of the closest soldier, clearly different from the plain black mags the two real guns had. Obvious visible differences for nonlethal weapons, if that convention held between their races. It was nice to see they hadn’t all come ready to kill. If the stun baton was anything to go by, those pistols would still hurt like hell.
The car dinged its arrival, the sound more business than the friendly notes that the regular maglev played, and they exited. Two stops from the furthest aft, and Carbon gestured for them to follow to the nearby lifts.
The ride had not done anything to ease the obvious anger that was simmering just below the surface. Alex assumed he was the only one picking that up because he’d come to know her well - her face was placid as they piled into the elevator, with the exception of a brow crease that he hadn’t seen since the early months of the Kshlav’o expedition.
They went all the way up to deck twenty.
While Alex was fully comfortable with Carbon’s navigation of the ship, the Sergeant and Not-Zenshen were discussing something quietly behind him, both of them looking at a map on his communicators when he stole a glance back. Neither of them sounded worried, but the Sergeant’s tones were much more relaxed as he traced a finger along the screen. Trust but verify, apparently.
There was a particular scent in the air as they approached a massive white blast door. Ozone, and a hint of something else hidden under it. Something bitter. Large block letters in Tsla marking the door as leading to... whatever was in there. Alex still couldn’t read enough of their language to decipher it, but he did recognize the symbol for ‘6’ at the end of one line.
Carbon leaned into the access panel and it scanned her - not the usual blip of a retinal scan, either. This took seconds, lasers sweeping across her face. Down and then back up, left to right, right to left. It beeped an affirmative and the heavy doors began to retract, the better part of a meter thick.
Beyond it was a large, brightly lit social area. Benches, plants, doorways and corridors running off to who knows where. There were even a few Tsla’o sitting at tables in the back trying to eat with the Empress standing right there.
Eleya had made good on her word. The Tsal’o Empress was waiting for them on the other side of the doors, arms crossed over her chest. Clearly annoyed, and flanked by the indistinct forms of her Guard. The most curious thing about her today was the shift in clothing. Her usual formal jacket replaced with a black version of the shirt the soldiers behind him were wearing, but buttoned to the top and bereft of any adornment. She wasn’t even wearing her piercings.
“Hey, my favorite aunt!” He lied, tossing his arms out and pulling her into a hug. Alex was careful about this, putting Eleya’s head between him and Carbon and lowering his voice to the faintest whisper. “She’s already mad. Best behavior.”
He released her before the guard did anything about that, which... Alex couldn’t tell if that was a training issue, or if he was on the OK to hug the Empress list. Perhaps the shakeup that Eleya had spoken about the night before was already underway.
Eleya said something to him, unaware he did not have his translator on. She didn’t spill the beans about what he’d said, as near as he could tell, a brief glance she shot him while smoothing her shirt out did make it clear she caught it. The Empress turned her attention to the Sergeant and rattled off something that sounded very official, ending her statement with a short bow.
The entire crew that had brought them there bowed back, deeply, and turned to leave. There was another Royal Guard on the door controls on this side, the blast doors sliding closed as soon as they had crossed back into the hallway.
Eleya turned back to Alex, and started talking.
He held up a hand. “Hang on. All my hardware is off.”
“He is not getting a translation right now.” Carbon added.
Eleya’s eyes widened at hearing a version of Carbon through her translator. They started conversing, going back and forth until Carbon looked over at him. “Explain what’s happening.”
“Short of it is that your Comms team caught something on my person attempting to send data using the public network. I left my Human-made phone in our cabin, and all of my wetware shouldn’t be able to access it anyway. My going theory is one of my implants was modified to secretly record and then send that data out, but only on public networks where something like that would go unnoticed, to maintain deniability. I'll bet you anything that the Human computer in Lyshen's office has a mesh node, and that's where it gained access.” All of that came spilling out a little faster than he liked, but it was good to get it out. The idea that the ONI would use him as a tool to spy on them, well, in retrospect it really did fit. The assertion he wouldn’t actually be spying. No tradecraft. So much easier to load him up with technology and let him bumble his way through whatever might happen, soaking up who knows what in the process. And when he inevitably came back to a Confed station, or went back to Earth, it would dump it right into their lap. “I’m really hoping you’ve started developing a way to drive a keyed PIN, because that’s the only way we’re going to be able to check it.”
Eleya spoke, gesturing up a flight of stairs.
“She says we will speak with the head researcher.” Carbon was still terse, but it wasn’t directed at Eleya for once. They both had their attention drawn to a problem that needed fixing.
“Alright.” Alex breathed in deep and heaved a heavy sigh. The bitter scent in the air was a little more clear now. Something he definitely recognized, a familiar taste on his tongue. “Ok, just a little aside here... Who's making coffee?”
 
First Prev
*****
This guy and his priorities, I swear.
Art pile: Carbon reference sheet. Art by Tyo_Dem

Hi all, this is a new account because I don't ordinarily post on reddit. However, through this sub, I found this great collection of artwork by u/Jolu42. Recently, I've located roms for the full set of Virtual Boy roms, USA and Japan, released and leaked (but finished). This adds up to 24 games in total. Unfortunately, I found that locating nice looking box art proved a lot harder...
Hence, I decided to just do the job myself. Because I'm quite fond of the end result, I thought I should return the favor to this sub and share it with you all, too.
All artwork has been sourced from the highest quality sources I could track down. All images are 750x750px--should be sufficient for most use cases. Where the artwork was standardized, i.e., the generic blue bottom and top red area, the Virtual Boy logo, and the age rating, I have recreated these areas for them to turn out consistent across the images.
While I was at it, I also have a collection of DS roms that do not require touch input--perfect for emulation without a touch screen (some of these games require minor patching). Since DS artwork can be equally hard to find if one should desire consistency in layout and quality, I decided to do those as well. This adds up to another 62 games, and all of these I have created in 760x680px. Hopefully, I can make some of you happy with this collection, too. :) (If I missed any games here, feel free to provide input!)
DOWNLOAD THE VIRTUAL BOY BOX ART HERE.
DOWNLOAD THE NINTENDO DS BOX ART HERE.
edit: my post keeps getting removed by the auto filter for some reason. How can I post them???
Find here a list of all Virtual Boy Games:

• Waterworld (USA).png
• 3-D Tetris (USA).png
• Bound High (USA).png
• Galactic Pinball (USA).png
• Golf (USA).png
• Innsmouth no Yakata (Japan).png
• Jack Bros (USA).png
• Mario Clash (USA).png
• Mario_s Tennis (USA).png
• Nester's Funky Bowling (USA).png
• NikoChan Battle (Japan).png
• Panic Bomber (USA).png
• Red Alarm (USA).png
• SD Gundam Dimension War (Japan).png
• Space Invaders Virtual Collection (Japan).png
• Space Squash (Japan).png
• Teleroboxer (USA).png
• V-Tetris (Japan).png
• Vertical Force (USA).png
• Virtual Bowling (Japan).png
• Virtual Boy Wario Land (USA).png
• Virtual Fishing (Japan).png
• Virtual Lab (Japan).png
• Virtual League Baseball (USA).png

And here all DS games I managed to do:

• Advance Wars Days of Ruin.png / Advance Wars Dual Strike.png
• Aliens infestation.png
• Asphalt Urban GT.png
• Assassin_s Creed II.png
• Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow / Order of Ecclesia / Portrait of Ruin.png
• Contra 4.png
• Dragon Quest Heroes Rocket Slime / IV / V / VI / IX / Monsters Joker / Monsters Joker 2.png
• Etrian Odyssey / II / III.png
• Final Fantasy III / IV / Tactics A2.png
• Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon.png
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Besides, if anyone should want to mess around with the templates I used myself, I have uploaded them along with the files as well (Affinity + psd).

I'm trying to find out how much my insurance will cover of all associated parts of getting hrt from Planned Parenthood before I make an appointment at PP, because my dad and I would prefer to know abt how much would be covered before I start there.
I asked planned parenthood on the phone what cpt codes would be used and they said that would be answered at an appointment.
My insurance (Blue Cross Blue Shield Blue Advantage Administrators of Arkansas) asked me what cpt codes would be used and I told them what PP told me, and they said my question of "What would coverage be for getting transgender hormone replacement therapy at Planned Parenthood" was too vague bc they need to know the cpt codes.
If any girlies here used Planned Parenthood for hrt, used BCBS Blue Adv of Arkansas to cover hrt (especially informed consent but anything is probably fine), or if anyone even just knows what questions to ask to get a real estimate of coverage I would appreciate it so much!

The Zoo - A NoSleep story
***
Full job description:
Immediate Opening!
Night shift zoo managesecurity. All-weather foot patrol opportunity for a “night-owl”, who enjoys working outdoors and with minimal supervision.
Under general direction of the manager of the zoo, the Security Guard patrols the zoo grounds on a regular basis throughout the shift. Responds in a timely and professional manner to a wide variety of routine and emergency situations.
Requirements: BA in wildlife, biology, etc, which provides the required knowledge, skills, and background for this position. Valid Florida Driver’s License with good driving record is desirable. First Aid and CPR certification preferred.
The qualified candidate has the ability to use independent judgment in handling routine as well as the capacity to perform under stress when confronted with an emergency, unusual, or dangerous situation. Ability to oversee animals’ well-being, monitor conditions, create enrichment activities, and exercise safety precautions.
The Security Guard must be able to walk and remain on feet a full shift (up to 8 hours), and potentially up to 12 hours at a time. Must be able to exert a minimum of 50 pounds of force and able to lift, push or pull, or otherwise move objects that may exceed 50 lbs. Ability to negotiate all areas of the zoo in all weather conditions.
Note: Zoo is haunted.
***
I’ll start with the job posting, I guess. I spotted it on Indeed while making my daily check for anything and everything that would hire someone with my biology degree, and it seemed on the up and up. Their website looked decent, the guy on the phone sounded nice, and I was looking for anything even slightly related to working with wildlife. Being a night shift guard at a zoo was fine, especially when I took the incredibly generous rate of $25/hr. into account. That’s eleven bucks more than my dad makes at the local grocer, and he’s been working there for thirteen years. Then again, from the P.S. on the posting, I thought there might be good reason for the rate.
It said at the end, almost as an afterthought, ‘Zoo is haunted.’
When it comes to ghosts, they’ve never made much sense to me. Considering how badly our brains function from just getting jostled around on a football field, I’m not sure how ghosts could exist without a brain at all. I’d be excited as the next person to find proof, but YouTube videos are always fishy and the people on TV are essentially actors who only focus on the entertainment factor for their ratings. So, since I’d never seen anything that vaguely resembled a ghost, I’d say binge-watching Supernatural on Netflix last year was the extent of my experience in that department.
It seemed that the zoo hadn’t been here for long since it wasn’t even on Google Maps yet. There was a bit of a commute, it was half an hour away, but since I’d worked local jobs while I attended college online for the past four years, I’d saved up the money to buy a car. It wasn’t anything fancy, just an old Nissan sedan that I’d bought from someone in the next town over, with faded red paint and a mismatched back right door painted blue. It accomplished the job of transportation, though, which let me search the job market further away, a good thing considering how small a town I lived in. I really didn’t want to leave home yet, so moving for a job in a city or another state wasn’t an appealing option.
The website said very little. It had yet to fill in drop down menus that would excitedly describe their attractions. So far it only had some small sections about conservation and education, though that was intriguing because it mentioned that all the animals they had were endangered. I read that notation and wondered what the animals were. Mammals were always favorites of mine, which I know is a bit of a cliché, loving the furry ones. But when it comes down to it, I’ll take any animal over a person.
The employee entrance to the zoo was a door in the large steel gate that surrounded the property, a few yards down from the sliding gate that presumably opened to let visitors in. I pressed the button on a panel beside it, glancing up at the camera, and I was buzzed in. There was a short path that led to the building near the front and I knocked politely before going inside.
The interviewer, a plain metal nameplate on his desk describing him as Director of Security for the zoo, welcomed me in and sat on the other side of his desk, lounging back in his desk chair. His name was Andrew Higgs, and he had a British accent, which I thought was cool. I sat in one of the two loveseats in front of the desk.
Andrew was dressed business casual, with a blue Polo shirt, a thin black jacket, and I saw he was wearing slacks when he stood up to shake my hand. He was black, with dreadlocks that stopped just short of his shoulders, and a closely trimmed mustache. There was a tattoo, an artistic rendition of a hippo, on the right side of his neck, which bode well in my opinion. So many places hiring these days were overly uptight about their employees’ appearance, but it seemed that wouldn’t be the case here.
We went over the basics before he picked up the piece of paper off his desk, my resume, which he’d printed out. “Well, I spoke to all three of your references,” Andrew noted. “They had some good things to say. You were a great employee on the farm you worked last summer, your boss said. Punctual, hard-working, took instructions well…”
That was nice to hear. I’d spent this past summer working at a dairy farm, mostly assigned to the goats and cows they kept for milk. Aside from the staggering muscle pain that tapered from agony to merely miserable by the end of the summer, it wasn’t a bad job. I did have an old shoulder injury that I always had to work around, but it was my left shoulder and I was a righty, so it wasn’t that difficult to manage.
If anything, the muscle pain in my back and legs from being on my feet all day distracted from the typical issue I dealt with. My standard exercising day-to-day was typically either riding my bike or yoga, although yoga is mind-numbingly boring, so I need to listen to a podcast to pass the time. So, in fact, through the job, I was sort of grateful that my brain was focusing on a different area of my body that was in pain. Yeah, chronic pain is weird.
“He also said you don’t work well with others,” Andrew added, glancing up to me. “You kept submitting complaints about incompetent coworkers?”
I pursed my lips and let out a long breath through my nose, considering the most delicate way I was capable of replying to that before saying, “I dislike stupid people.”
Andrew gave me a half-smile and sighed, replying, “Well, I must confess I’m not fond of them either.” He looked back down to the paper. “This job will be a great fit for you.”
The job interview seemed like a formality, and I don’t know why. I was twenty-three and the ink had barely dried on my degree from the online college I’d attended. I’d been applying to jobs for months and had been thrilled when I’d gotten a call for an interview for this one, but also surprised. Call me a cynic, but I expected more invasive questions about any past work I’d done for a job in security, since I was a woman.
It's not like I was petite. Actually, the most common word I’d heard to describe me is ‘built’, and I fall short of being labeled overweight only because of muscle mass. One comment I recall from high school was being teased for being shaped like a rectangle. Even so, there was no good reason to look a gift horse in the mouth, but of course, me being me, that meant I examined its teeth closely.
“So, you’re hiring me? Just like that? Why?”
Andrew, chuckled. “Look, you’ve got BA in wildlife biology, and specializing in animal behavior is just the cherry on the sundae. That tells me you know animals are not people, and even if you feel like you know them, they can still be unpredictable. They can hurt you. But also, it makes me know you care.”
I suppose that did make sense, and it was true, so I’m glad he knew that. Most of my job on the night shift would be watching cameras and then walking around the place to make sure all the animals were as they should be, but it was more than that. Working at a zoo meant knowing where the line was, and sometimes it wasn’t exactly at the fence, but sometimes just putting a single finger through that fence meant losing that finger. As a whole, humans are generally idiots. Looking at you, anyone who really, honestly thinks that a bobcat would sense your boundless love enough to let you pat it.
“The website didn’t have much about the animals,” I said. “I know this place is new, so you might not have info on them up on the site yet. Do you have a map for me?”
“Oh, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Andrew said with a wave of his hand. At that point, it had seemed to be a reasonable thing for him to say, but I will tell you, the reason was not what I thought. “Just to confirm, you’re not an early bird, Miss Mason? This schedule isn’t a concern?”
I shook my head. “Nah, I’m pretty talented at sleeping in, actually. I never really got past that teenage talent of staying up until five and sleeping in until three. And you can just call me Ripley.”
That made him smile. “Good. Then I won’t worry about you falling asleep on the job, Ripley.”
“Oh, no way.”
“All right. So. You saw the note at the end of the job posting?”
He just stared at me and I was forced to answer, “That the zoo is haunted.”
“Right. What are your thoughts on that?”
There was no easy answer to that question, especially depending on how seriously he took it. “Do you know the best word the Brits gave to us?”
“What’s that?”
“Bollocks.”
Andrew slowly smiled and pointed at me with the end of the pen in his hand. “I think I’m going to like you,” he remarked. “Look…this is the part of the interview where we switch gears. If this was a regular zoo, you’d be a shoo-in for the job. But we’ve got other boxes to check. This outfit is…basically a preservation society. As you saw on the site, all the species are endangered, but what it didn’t say online is that the only people who came to visit are private parties.”
“So, that means…what?” I asked. “You bring in super-rich people who feel special when they get to see the animals you’re rehabilitating and taking care of? Then they donate oodles of money so they can brag to their rich friends about their charity contributions and having seen the animals here?”
Andrew raised his eyebrows. “Pretty much got it in one. It’s just more preservation and less rehabilitation. And a lot of our patrons really do care about the animals, or else they would just donate and not visit. You’ll see tourists a couple times a week, but we decided not to have anyone until we’re settled in here, and that means a person who’s on during the night shift that I can count on. And I don’t know if I can count on you yet.”
“Wait, I’ll see the tourists?” I asked. “They visit at night?”
“Everything we have is nocturnal,” he told me. That struck me as odd, but he continued before I could question it. “Listen up, and I’ll start with the basics. Have you ever seen anything weird? Possibly supernatural?”
“Nope,” I said with a shrug.
The fact is, I got along with my classmates, but I never did have any close friends. So, I thought maybe that’s why I missed out on all those reckless teen moments that started every horror movie. Maybe it left me without a bunch of exciting stories to tell. But hey, at least I didn’t break my leg falling through the floor of an abandoned building in eleventh grade.
Yes, that happened. It was a classmate of mine by the name of Brent. And yes, he’s just as much of a moron as you would imagine.
“If you see the ghost here,” he said, his tone emphatic, “will you freak out?”
I paused. “You’ve seen the ghost?”
“All the time,” Andrew told me. “It’s a young woman in a blue shirt and tan slacks, looks like she just walked out of a lake.”
“Do you have a picture?”
“No, and absolutely no photos or video are to be taken of her,” he said, his tone abruptly turning stern. “It’s cause for immediate dismissal. We have video cameras for security, but they all record off-site in a secure location, and Suzanne Cooper, the owner, manages it herself. Firstly, the ghost deserves privacy rather than exploitation, she’s not to be displayed like one of our animals, but secondly, people believe in ghosts. One leaked photo of her connecting it to us means we get overrun by ghost hunters, and if we trace it back to you, you’re done.”
Andrew seemed next-level serious about that, so I nodded. “Understood. That makes sense.”
The animals were the priority after all, I knew. I preferred them over people anyway, and that included dead people. Even if I could get a video of this ghost doing cartwheels back and forth through a wall, I would never post it and spread word of where I’d taken it. Andrew was right; the zoo would never get the paranormally-obsessed to stay away and would definitely have to relocate.
He continued, “If you’re curious, she’s never so much as tried to hurt anyone. But the zoo has moved before, and she moved with us.”
“She moved with you?” I asked, my eyebrows rising. “Is it like one of those stories where she’s attached to something in the zoo rather than a place?”
“More complicated than that,” he said. Then he grimaced. “She died because she was too ambitious with one of our animals. It never should have happened, but she… She was foolish, you’d say. Attempted to interact with one of the animals, got too close, and honestly, she should have known better. I thought she did.”
“Holy shit,” I whispered. “What killed her?”
He stared at his hands and shook his head. “It was before my time.”
It was clear Andrew was a true believer, but I still really wasn’t sure at that point. How was I supposed to react, though? Zoos have fences and tall barriers for a good reason. Not just to keep the animals away from us, but also the other way around, and ‘death by stupidity’ is not uncommon amongst humans. So, the story wasn’t outrageous, but still, I’d never so much as experienced something unexplainable. But if I saw a ghost, I suppose that’d be that.
“I just need to know, plain and simple, if you’re the kind of person who can handle things that are terrifying,” Andrew told me, splaying his hands. “Our last night shift bloke there was with us for years and years, but we spent months going through other employees. There were six we tried before we found him.”
“Six?” I exclaimed.
He snorted. “Yes, six. Let’s see…” Andrew counted off each one on his fingers. “The first two, the first night they saw the ghost, they lost it. One called me in a panic, babbling, and I had to get out of bed and drive to the zoo to send him home, and the second quit, although at least she made it to the next morning and didn’t drag me out here,” he said, his voice thoughtful. “They just thought I was blowing smoke up their bums with the whole thing.”
He shrugged. “Then, the third one was a bloke who was asleep when I got there in the morning, so I had to fire him. Then another ghost freak-out. The fifth bloke was someone who couldn’t deal with the animals, and then the sixth was so scared of the ghost that when I got here, he was already outside the zoo, pacing, waiting for my car. Apparently he’d said some stuff, rude or mean or whatnot, to try to get her to leave him alone and she had followed him back into the security room, so he fled. I need the opposite of those folks. Alright?”
At this point, I was starting to take it more seriously. Sure, this could just be Andrew’s thing, that he believed in ghosts and then made up these sightings to ensure I believed him. But if I saw her? What would I do?
Well, this would be my job, so I would have to take it seriously. Maybe that was why the pay was so good, to make employees think twice before ditching it. From Andrew’s perspective, if it really was haunted, he was the one who had to deal with applicant after applicant quitting as soon as they laid eyes on the guest who would never leave.
“So…honestly, I can’t say I won’t freak out, considering how next level this is,” I told him, feeling compelled to go with honesty, “but yeah. I think I can handle it, mostly because it’s important for someone to look after this place, look after the animals, so I’d do my best to work around anything that freaks me out. I mean, I have to say that I’ll believe it when I see it. But if ghosts really exist, as long as it isn’t some serial killer who stuck around to keep gutting people, I’ve always thought it’d be cool to find out we can exist after we die.”
The thing is, I think I did believe him. I thought there might really be a ghost there, because otherwise, why take it so seriously? It could’ve been that Andrew had only glimpsed her out of the corner of his eye a few times and could ascribe it to lack of sleep, but he was literally worried about word getting out. I thought that being halfway to believing him would give me the mental preparation I needed if I saw her. At least, I’d hoped so.
It turned out that most of my time would be spent at the security desk in the main building, near the entrance. Real-time footage played through thirty-five cameras around the zoo, all on a large screen that was five cameras across and seven cameras top to bottom. The cameras were impressive. I would mention the resolution, say something about them being 4K, but Andrew explained some stuff about how it’s actually the lens that is the biggest selling point. Looking at these cameras on the giant screen, I could see practically every corner of the place, and if I brought up one camera in particular to encompass 2/3 of the screen, I could zoom in so far that it felt like I could use it to check if one of the animals had fleas.
The zoo was well lit, not surprising considering nighttime was apparently the zoo’s business hours, and all of the tall lamps had red bulbs. For those of you who know why, A+ to you. For those who don’t, fun fact, it’s because red is closest to the dark and your eyes don’t need to strain to adjust to it. That meant I didn’t need my flashlight all that often, and even that was red, a solid name-brand one that had been on my desk when I arrived. I kept the white lights on back in the security room, though, because I didn’t want to make my brain think it was time to get tired.
When I headed out for my first sweep on that first night, I had the folded map in my pocket, but I already knew my way around. The layout of the zoo wasn’t that difficult to memorize, since there were only eleven expansive enclosures, and after the interview I walked around for half an hour to start training my memory. I’ll admit, working in a dark environment was creepier than I thought it would be.
I do want to mention the high quality of the zoo. The size of each enclosure was considerable, and the greenery was natural, hinting that they’d hired a pricey professional just to do landscaping toward the front of the enclosures after buying the land. The backs of the enclosures backed up into forestry, and from the estimate I got from Andrew, it seemed each of the animals had plenty of roaming space, including the small lake at the northwest corner and a manmade lake for one of the animals in particular. When I considered all of that, the thought passed through my head about how horrible it would be if word got out about the zoo having a ghost and needing to relocate, because it’d be devastatingly expensive.
My orders were to walk the zoo once every hour. This was my first security gig, so I’m not sure if that’s more or less than typical, but I had my comfy hiking boots on, the ones I’d saved up for and invested in a couple years earlier and were perfect for a job where I had to do laps around an area. This job was one that I didn’t have to worry about my shoulder pain worsening, since it was mostly about being on my feet. I take one or two Vicodin a day, depending on how bad my pain is. It came in handy in high school, actually. With a flexible ‘take as needed’ prescription, I occasionally sold pills for extra cash.
There wasn’t much to step in and there weren’t even any dips in the concrete sidewalks that I followed around in a route that easily led me back and forth until I made my way back to the office. The first three nights were actually boring. I would have thought Andrew had been pranking me about the ghost, but like I said, it hadn’t felt like that. And he hadn’t been specific about when she showed up for new people, or even for him.
To keep myself busy, I’d brought my e-reader with me, and I got into a cycle of looking over each of the cameras every time I hit the end of a chapter. I’m a pretty fast reader, so it was a good system. Also, every once in a while, I looked up if something moving caught my eye, like an owl flying close enough for the camera to catch it, but that’s about it.
Then, every hour on the hour, I did a walk through. The fourth night, I was passing by the small lake at the back left corner of the property when I saw her.
People say that you can tell if someone’s staring at you, that there’s some sixth sense humans have. It’s not true; they’ve done experiments. But the thing is, all those experiments were of someone human looking at them. After this last shift, I would guess that the sixth sense that sends goosebumps down your arms, the one that makes you feel an intangible pressure, that slides your body toward fight or flight mode, might be true of…other things.
Slowly coming to a stop at the disturbing feeling, I hesitantly looked around, through the trees. Then my heart skipped a beat and my breath hitched. It was startling because she wasn’t moving. Just standing among the trees, staring at me. I broke out in a cold sweat as I stared back at her, unsure what to do. I didn’t run. I didn’t try to talk to her. I just stood there. So, there’s my answer to Andrew: I didn’t freak out. I just froze.
The woman was Latina, her skin tone pallid from death, and was dressed as he’d described her, in slacks and a silky blue blouse. And she was soaked, as if she’d just walked out of the lake. Beyond that, her shirt was drenched in blood from what looked like claw marks across her abdomen. Her eyes were dark and penetrating, boring holes into me, as if she were able to get any and all knowledge that she wanted about me simply by glaring. The fabric of her shirtsleeves clung to her skin and was dripping, as was her long black hair. Speaking of her hair, it appeared to have seaweed woven into it, or maybe she also grew seaweed along with hair. Not my area of expertise.
The look on her face was indescribable. There was something deep in her eyes, behind her closed-off expression, that made my heart beat rapidly. Maybe I would’ve projected some emotion into her face if I’d had any idea of what she was capable of, whether she could move objects, or possess me, or if all she did was hang around. As things stood, I was left just projecting my fears, which gave me the impression that she was cross with me simply for being present. It felt like I was trespassing, even though I was a dozen feet back from the fence that encircled the enclosure. And also, this was my job so I was explicitly allowed to be here.
She was disturbingly close, and remained unnaturally still. If she had attacked me, I wasn’t sure what I would’ve done. Ran, probably, but considering ghosts probably don’t follow the laws of physics, maybe she could’ve chased me at Usain Bolt speed. For all I knew, she could teleport.
After an amount of time that felt awkwardly long, I finally spoke up.
“Hi,” I croaked.
The woman slowly tilted her head but didn’t otherwise move. I’d forgotten to ask Andrew for her name, I realized, but he had mentioned her death had been before his time, so maybe he didn’t know.
Swallowing hard, I tried to take a slow, deep breath, even though it felt like there was a cinder block on my chest. “So, I, uh…I work here now,” I said slowly. “I’m night shift security.” Pausing, I kept trying to gather information from her demeanor but failed. “Is that okay?”
At that, I saw a hint of curiosity flash across her face. “Why would it not be?” Her voice sounded completely normal, which was an off-putting contrast to her appearance.
Good question. Hell if I know the answer. “I don’t know. I mean…you were here first. I don’t know if you feel like I’m…intruding…or something.”
“You’re just doing your job,” she said, her tone softening a smidge.
I waited to see if she wanted to say anything else before saying, “Right.” Can I get you anything? A towel? Some bandages? “I’ll be going now.”
The woman made no movement to come after me as I gradually took one step, then another, keeping her in my sights as I walked off. I finally had to turn to face forward, unable or unwilling to be seen by her foolishly walking away backwards. Instead of continuing my sweep, I took the path that would lead me back to the security room. I kept looking behind me and felt her eyes on me all the way back, though I didn’t see her following me. At that point, even if she hadn’t moved an inch, my brain was on red alert when it came to self-preservation and figured I would continue to feel like a wet hand might grab me from behind at any moment.
Finally, I returned to the security room, swiping my card across the panel at the back door with a beep. Opening the door, darting inside, and slamming it behind me, I walked to the far side of the room and turned around, putting my back to the wall. Until I’d gotten back, I hadn’t noticed how fast I’d been walking, how quickly I’d been gasping for air. Leaning back against the wall, my legs turned to jelly and I slowly slid to the floor.
And that was it. My first sighting of the ghost. I’d thought that if I had seen her, there would be some part of me that was skeptical, that would reason my way out of it, convinced it was a prank. But I knew. She wasn’t a person. At least, not anymore.