This is my logcat output, a bit confused on whats going on here:
2024-05-21 12:45:29.368 14444-14444 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator I Late-enabling -Xcheck:jni
2024-05-21 12:45:29.489 14444-14444 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator I Using CollectorTypeCC GC.
2024-05-21 12:45:29.491 14444-14444 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Unexpected CPU variant for x86: x86_64.
Known variants: atom, sandybridge, silvermont, goldmont, goldmont-plus, tremont, kabylake, default
2024-05-21 12:45:33.991 14444-14444 Compatibil...geReporter com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator D Compat change id reported: 171979766; UID 10190; state: ENABLED
2024-05-21 12:45:33.994 14444-14444 Compatibil...geReporter com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator D Compat change id reported: 242716250; UID 10190; state: ENABLED
2024-05-21 12:45:34.527 14444-14444 ziparchive com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Unable to open '/data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/base.dm': No such file or directory
2024-05-21 12:45:34.527 14444-14444 ziparchive com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Unable to open '/data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/base.dm': No such file or directory
2024-05-21 12:45:35.014 14444-14444 nativeloader com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator D Configuring clns-6 for other apk /data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/base.apk. target_sdk_version=34, uses_libraries=, library_path=/data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/lib/x86_64, permitted_path=/data:/mnt/expand:/data/use0/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator
2024-05-21 12:45:35.031 14444-14444 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V Currently set values for:
2024-05-21 12:45:35.031 14444-14444 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V angle_gl_driver_selection_pkgs=[]
2024-05-21 12:45:35.032 14444-14444 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V angle_gl_driver_selection_values=[]
2024-05-21 12:45:35.033 14444-14444 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V ANGLE GameManagerService for com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator: false
2024-05-21 12:45:35.033 14444-14444 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator is not listed in per-application setting
2024-05-21 12:45:35.033 14444-14444 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V Neither updatable production driver nor prerelease driver is supported.
2024-05-21 12:45:35.046 14444-14444 AndroidRuntime com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator D Shutting down VM
2024-05-21 12:45:35.053 14444-14444 AndroidRuntime com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator E FATAL EXCEPTION: main
Process: com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator, PID: 14444
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to get provider com.google.android.gms.ads.MobileAdsInitProvider: java.lang.IllegalStateException:
******************************************************************************
* Missing application ID. AdMob publishers should follow the instructions *
* here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/admob-android-update-manifest *
* to add a valid App ID inside the AndroidManifest. *
* Google Ad Manager publishers should follow instructions here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/ad-manager-android-update-manifest. *
******************************************************************************
at android.app.ActivityThread.installProvider(ActivityThread.java:7770)
at android.app.ActivityThread.installContentProviders(ActivityThread.java:7276)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:6983)
at android.app.ActivityThread.-$$Nest$mhandleBindApplication(Unknown Source:0)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2236)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106)
at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:205)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:294)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8177)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:552)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:971)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException:
******************************************************************************
* Missing application ID. AdMob publishers should follow the instructions *
* here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/admob-android-update-manifest *
* to add a valid App ID inside the AndroidManifest. *
* Google Ad Manager publishers should follow instructions here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/ad-manager-android-update-manifest. *
******************************************************************************
at com.google.android.gms.ads.internal.client.zzek.attachInfo(com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads-lite@@23.1.0:26)
at com.google.android.gms.ads.MobileAdsInitProvider.attachInfo(com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads-lite@@23.1.0:1)
at android.app.ActivityThread.installProvider(ActivityThread.java:7765)
... 11 more
2024-05-21 12:45:35.883 14444-14444 Process com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator I Sending signal. PID: 14444 SIG: 9
2024-05-21 12:47:10.642 14530-14530 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator I Late-enabling -Xcheck:jni
2024-05-21 12:47:10.711 14530-14530 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator I Using CollectorTypeCC GC.
2024-05-21 12:47:10.713 14530-14530 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Unexpected CPU variant for x86: x86_64.
Known variants: atom, sandybridge, silvermont, goldmont, goldmont-plus, tremont, kabylake, default
2024-05-21 12:47:11.262 14530-14530 re-initialized> com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W type=1400 audit(0.0:99): avc: granted { execute } for path="/data/data/com.example.bodypartworkoutgeneratocode_cache/startup_agents/0b0c1899-agent.so" dev="dm-40" ino=320360 scontext=u:r:untrusted_app:s0:c190,c256,c512,c768 tcontext=u:object_r:app_data_file:s0:c190,c256,c512,c768 tclass=file app=com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator
2024-05-21 12:47:11.286 14530-14530 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W DexFile /data/data/com.example.bodypartworkoutgeneratocode_cache/.studio/instruments-ac9f170b.jar is in boot class path but is not in a known location
2024-05-21 12:47:11.352 14530-14530 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Current dex file has more than one class in it. Calling RetransformClasses on this class might fail if no transformations are applied to it!
2024-05-21 12:47:11.359 14530-14530 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Current dex file has more than one class in it. Calling RetransformClasses on this class might fail if no transformations are applied to it!
2024-05-21 12:47:11.366 14530-14530 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Redefining intrinsic method java.lang.Thread java.lang.Thread.currentThread(). This may cause the unexpected use of the original definition of java.lang.Thread java.lang.Thread.currentThread()in methods that have already been compiled.
2024-05-21 12:47:11.366 14530-14530 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Redefining intrinsic method boolean java.lang.Thread.interrupted(). This may cause the unexpected use of the original definition of boolean java.lang.Thread.interrupted()in methods that have already been compiled.
2024-05-21 12:47:11.370 14530-14530 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Current dex file has more than one class in it. Calling RetransformClasses on this class might fail if no transformations are applied to it!
2024-05-21 12:47:11.382 14530-14530 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Current dex file has more than one class in it. Calling RetransformClasses on this class might fail if no transformations are applied to it!
2024-05-21 12:47:11.402 14530-14530 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Current dex file has more than one class in it. Calling RetransformClasses on this class might fail if no transformations are applied to it!
2024-05-21 12:47:11.424 14530-14530 Compatibil...geReporter com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator D Compat change id reported: 171979766; UID 10190; state: ENABLED
2024-05-21 12:47:11.426 14530-14530 Compatibil...geReporter com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator D Compat change id reported: 242716250; UID 10190; state: ENABLED
2024-05-21 12:47:11.503 14530-14530 ziparchive com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Unable to open '/data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/base.dm': No such file or directory
2024-05-21 12:47:11.503 14530-14530 ziparchive com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Unable to open '/data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/base.dm': No such file or directory
2024-05-21 12:47:11.940 14530-14530 nativeloader com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator D Configuring clns-6 for other apk /data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/base.apk. target_sdk_version=34, uses_libraries=, library_path=/data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/lib/x86_64, permitted_path=/data:/mnt/expand:/data/use0/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator
2024-05-21 12:47:11.977 14530-14530 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V Currently set values for:
2024-05-21 12:47:11.978 14530-14530 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V angle_gl_driver_selection_pkgs=[]
2024-05-21 12:47:11.979 14530-14530 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V angle_gl_driver_selection_values=[]
2024-05-21 12:47:11.981 14530-14530 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V ANGLE GameManagerService for com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator: false
2024-05-21 12:47:11.981 14530-14530 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator is not listed in per-application setting
2024-05-21 12:47:11.982 14530-14530 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V Neither updatable production driver nor prerelease driver is supported.
2024-05-21 12:47:12.012 14530-14530 AndroidRuntime com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator D Shutting down VM
2024-05-21 12:47:12.025 14530-14530 AndroidRuntime com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator E FATAL EXCEPTION: main
Process: com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator, PID: 14530
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to get provider com.google.android.gms.ads.MobileAdsInitProvider: java.lang.IllegalStateException:
******************************************************************************
* Missing application ID. AdMob publishers should follow the instructions *
* here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/admob-android-update-manifest *
* to add a valid App ID inside the AndroidManifest. *
* Google Ad Manager publishers should follow instructions here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/ad-manager-android-update-manifest. *
******************************************************************************
at android.app.ActivityThread.installProvider(ActivityThread.java:7770)
at android.app.ActivityThread.installContentProviders(ActivityThread.java:7276)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:6983)
at android.app.ActivityThread.-$$Nest$mhandleBindApplication(Unknown Source:0)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2236)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106)
at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:205)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:294)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8177)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:552)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:971)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException:
******************************************************************************
* Missing application ID. AdMob publishers should follow the instructions *
* here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/admob-android-update-manifest *
* to add a valid App ID inside the AndroidManifest. *
* Google Ad Manager publishers should follow instructions here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/ad-manager-android-update-manifest. *
******************************************************************************
at com.google.android.gms.ads.internal.client.zzek.attachInfo(com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads-lite@@23.1.0:26)
at com.google.android.gms.ads.MobileAdsInitProvider.attachInfo(com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads-lite@@23.1.0:1)
at android.app.ActivityThread.installProvider(ActivityThread.java:7765)
... 11 more
2024-05-21 12:49:25.826 14587-14587 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator I Late-enabling -Xcheck:jni
2024-05-21 12:49:25.871 14587-14587 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator I Using CollectorTypeCC GC.
2024-05-21 12:49:25.874 14587-14587 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Unexpected CPU variant for x86: x86_64.
Known variants: atom, sandybridge, silvermont, goldmont, goldmont-plus, tremont, kabylake, default
2024-05-21 12:49:26.198 14587-14587 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W DexFile /data/data/com.example.bodypartworkoutgeneratocode_cache/.studio/instruments-ac9f170b.jar is in boot class path but is not in a known location
2024-05-21 12:49:26.174 14587-14587 re-initialized> com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W type=1400 audit(0.0:134): avc: granted { execute } for path="/data/data/com.example.bodypartworkoutgeneratocode_cache/startup_agents/0b0c1899-agent.so" dev="dm-40" ino=320360 scontext=u:r:untrusted_app:s0:c190,c256,c512,c768 tcontext=u:object_r:app_data_file:s0:c190,c256,c512,c768 tclass=file app=com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator
2024-05-21 12:49:26.266 14587-14587 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Redefining intrinsic method java.lang.Thread java.lang.Thread.currentThread(). This may cause the unexpected use of the original definition of java.lang.Thread java.lang.Thread.currentThread()in methods that have already been compiled.
2024-05-21 12:49:26.266 14587-14587 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Redefining intrinsic method boolean java.lang.Thread.interrupted(). This may cause the unexpected use of the original definition of boolean java.lang.Thread.interrupted()in methods that have already been compiled.
2024-05-21 12:49:26.278 14587-14587 Compatibil...geReporter com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator D Compat change id reported: 171979766; UID 10190; state: ENABLED
2024-05-21 12:49:26.279 14587-14587 Compatibil...geReporter com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator D Compat change id reported: 242716250; UID 10190; state: ENABLED
2024-05-21 12:49:26.516 14587-14587 ziparchive com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Unable to open '/data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/base.dm': No such file or directory
2024-05-21 12:49:26.517 14587-14587 ziparchive com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Unable to open '/data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/base.dm': No such file or directory
2024-05-21 12:49:33.674 14587-14587 nativeloader com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator D Configuring clns-6 for other apk /data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/base.apk. target_sdk_version=34, uses_libraries=, library_path=/data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/lib/x86_64, permitted_path=/data:/mnt/expand:/data/use0/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator
2024-05-21 12:49:33.896 14587-14587 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V Currently set values for:
2024-05-21 12:49:33.897 14587-14587 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V angle_gl_driver_selection_pkgs=[]
2024-05-21 12:49:33.897 14587-14587 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V angle_gl_driver_selection_values=[]
2024-05-21 12:49:33.899 14587-14587 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V ANGLE GameManagerService for com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator: false
2024-05-21 12:49:33.899 14587-14587 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator is not listed in per-application setting
2024-05-21 12:49:33.900 14587-14587 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V Neither updatable production driver nor prerelease driver is supported.
2024-05-21 12:49:33.929 14587-14587 AndroidRuntime com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator D Shutting down VM
2024-05-21 12:49:33.938 14587-14587 AndroidRuntime com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator E FATAL EXCEPTION: main
Process: com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator, PID: 14587
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to get provider com.google.android.gms.ads.MobileAdsInitProvider: java.lang.IllegalStateException:
******************************************************************************
* Missing application ID. AdMob publishers should follow the instructions *
* here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/admob-android-update-manifest *
* to add a valid App ID inside the AndroidManifest. *
* Google Ad Manager publishers should follow instructions here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/ad-manager-android-update-manifest. *
******************************************************************************
at android.app.ActivityThread.installProvider(ActivityThread.java:7770)
at android.app.ActivityThread.installContentProviders(ActivityThread.java:7276)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:6983)
at android.app.ActivityThread.-$$Nest$mhandleBindApplication(Unknown Source:0)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2236)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106)
at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:205)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:294)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8177)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:552)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:971)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException:
******************************************************************************
* Missing application ID. AdMob publishers should follow the instructions *
* here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/admob-android-update-manifest *
* to add a valid App ID inside the AndroidManifest. *
* Google Ad Manager publishers should follow instructions here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/ad-manager-android-update-manifest. *
******************************************************************************
at com.google.android.gms.ads.internal.client.zzek.attachInfo(com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads-lite@@23.1.0:26)
at com.google.android.gms.ads.MobileAdsInitProvider.attachInfo(com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads-lite@@23.1.0:1)
at android.app.ActivityThread.installProvider(ActivityThread.java:7765)
... 11 more
2024-05-21 12:49:33.964 14587-14587 Process com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator I Sending signal. PID: 14587 SIG: 9
2024-05-21 12:51:47.556 14658-14658 ziparchive com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Unable to open '/data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/base.dm': No such file or directory
2024-05-21 12:51:47.556 14658-14658 ziparchive com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Unable to open '/data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/base.dm': No such file or directory
2024-05-21 12:51:52.553 14658-14658 nativeloader com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator D Configuring clns-6 for other apk /data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/base.apk. target_sdk_version=34, uses_libraries=, library_path=/data/app/~~7Ri2jlni0A4K8y6WxuAD1g==/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator-iqXpAxZzmBfP8gj3FijQuA==/lib/x86_64, permitted_path=/data:/mnt/expand:/data/use0/com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator
2024-05-21 12:51:52.579 14658-14658 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V Currently set values for:
2024-05-21 12:51:52.580 14658-14658 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V angle_gl_driver_selection_pkgs=[]
2024-05-21 12:51:52.580 14658-14658 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V angle_gl_driver_selection_values=[]
2024-05-21 12:51:52.582 14658-14658 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V ANGLE GameManagerService for com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator: false
2024-05-21 12:51:52.582 14658-14658 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator is not listed in per-application setting
2024-05-21 12:51:52.582 14658-14658 GraphicsEnvironment com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator V Neither updatable production driver nor prerelease driver is supported.
2024-05-21 12:51:52.586 14658-14658 ActivityThread com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator W Application com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator is suspending. Debugger needs to resume to continue.
2024-05-21 12:51:52.603 14658-14658 System.out com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator I Sending WAIT chunk
2024-05-21 12:51:52.734 14658-14658 System.out com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator I Waiting for debugger first packet
2024-05-21 12:51:56.725 14658-14658 System.out com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator I Debug.suspendAllAndSentVmStart
2024-05-21 12:52:08.721 14658-14668 orkoutgenerator com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator I Background concurrent copying GC freed 8240(456KB) AllocSpace objects, 0(0B) LOS objects, 49% free, 2235KB/4470KB, paused 8.651ms,747us total 2.538s
2024-05-21 12:52:16.526 14658-14658 System.out com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator I Debug.suspendAllAndSendVmStart, resumed
2024-05-21 12:52:16.637 14658-14658 AndroidRuntime com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator D Shutting down VM
2024-05-21 12:52:16.678 14658-14658 AndroidRuntime com...mple.bodypartworkoutgenerator E FATAL EXCEPTION: main
Process: com.example.bodypartworkoutgenerator, PID: 14658
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to get provider com.google.android.gms.ads.MobileAdsInitProvider: java.lang.IllegalStateException:
******************************************************************************
* Missing application ID. AdMob publishers should follow the instructions *
* here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/admob-android-update-manifest *
* to add a valid App ID inside the AndroidManifest. *
* Google Ad Manager publishers should follow instructions here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/ad-manager-android-update-manifest. *
******************************************************************************
at android.app.ActivityThread.installProvider(ActivityThread.java:7770)
at android.app.ActivityThread.installContentProviders(ActivityThread.java:7276)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:6983)
at android.app.ActivityThread.-$$Nest$mhandleBindApplication(Unknown Source:0)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2236)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106)
at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:205)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:294)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8177)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:552)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:971)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException:
******************************************************************************
* Missing application ID. AdMob publishers should follow the instructions *
* here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/admob-android-update-manifest *
* to add a valid App ID inside the AndroidManifest. *
* Google Ad Manager publishers should follow instructions here: *
* https://googlemobileadssdk.page.link/ad-manager-android-update-manifest. *
******************************************************************************
at com.google.android.gms.ads.internal.client.zzek.attachInfo(com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads-lite@@23.1.0:26)
at com.google.android.gms.ads.MobileAdsInitProvider.attachInfo(com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads-lite@@23.1.0:1)
at android.app.ActivityThread.installProvider(ActivityThread.java:7765)
... 11 more
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1. Courtesans and the Crown: I will be playing M! I am also open to potentially playing a MxM version. (1530s) Benjamin, the illegitimate son of a King, lives a life of luxury without any of the consequences that come with royal blood. He indulges in fine clothing, gambling and is a frequent patron of brothels. At sixteen, he met a courtesan named Antonia, who was five years his senior. Unlike the other women he had encountered, Antonia was beautiful, kind, and captured his heart. While they both share a deep love for each other, they face their own challenges. Benjamin is still learning the ways of the court at the age of eighteen, while Antonia holds a great deal of influence over him due to her life experience. From encouraging him to invite her to tea to spite his royal parentage and even convincing him to petition for legitimation to take his sister's throne, she is ready to shake things up, disguising their power-hungry nature as love. What started as a quiet and humble relationship has now turned them into vicious antagonists towards themselves and others, but their love for each other remains strong. Even though the character's name is Antonia, feel free to create your own character with a courtesan theme. I even encourage it!!!
2. Our Father, who art in Heaven: I can play M or F! (1450s) Through a combination of extortion, torture, and occasional bribery, Pope Castello has ascended to the Papal throne. Despite his vow of celibacy, his illegitimate offspring roam freely in the town, behaving as though they were the offspring of a monarch. His son, in particular, plowing through any woman with a pulse, loses vast sums of money gambling, and harbors his own dark secrets. Meanwhile, his father strives to elevate him to the rank of cardinal. However, what will happen when his son encounters the same fate as his father? Will he fall in love with a noblewoman and violate his church oath? This woman has her own secrets and a father who is eager to marry her off to the wealthiest suitor available. The resulting whirlwind will leave blood on the floor and lipstick stains on collars, reminiscent of The Borgias, but without the incestuous undertones.
3. Of course, Your Majesty: I will be playing M! (1500s) Your protagonist is the eldest child of a powerful monarch, destined to become the next Queen. During her childhood, she formed a close bond with the son of a Lord who was a bit older than her. As they grew up, their feelings for each other became more than just friendship, prompting them to explore a romantic relationship. However, it is the heavily religious 1500s, and fearing that their relationship would compromise her purity and jeopardize her chances of marrying another royal, the Lord's son was sent away to a chateau. Despite the distance, they kept in touch through letters and other means. But, a dramatic shift in the court's dynamics has brought him back, much to the chagrin of your character's father. He is willing to disrupt the status quo for the sake of love and occasionally for his own gain.
4. The Lost Princess: I will be playing F! (1480s-1520s) Princess Margery was adored by her subjects and set to ascend the throne one day. However, her fate changed drastically when, at the tender age of four, her carriage was attacked by bandits. In a desperate bid to survive, Margery pretended to be dead in the frigid snow of the forest. She wasn't certain what happened next, but she eventually found herself in the care of two kind-hearted parents who renamed her Elizabeth and raised her as their own daughter. As Elizabeth came of age, she began searching for potential suitors. But what happens when a young man uncovers her true identity? How does she make her way back to the castle, and what challenges await her upon her return? Most importantly, where do you fit into this tangled web of intrigue and deception?
5. For Our Kingdoms: I am open to playing M or F! (1530s) An arranged marriage between a prince and princess from neighboring kingdoms looms on the horizon. Is she a timid princess, suddenly thrust into the role of heir apparent, seeking a partner to bolster her claim to the throne? Or is she merely a commodity being sold off to the highest bidder? Regardless, what happens when two royals who are less-than-enthusiastic about the arrangement are forced to wed for the betterment of their kingdoms? With an unkind and brash prince making every quip in the book as he rises to the throne, she must find a way to make her marriage work. Will they find common ground, or will they be at each other's throats? Only time will tell.
6. Shadow in Stage Lights:I will be playing M! I am also open to potentially playing a MxM version. (Post-WWII 1940s) In the smoky haze of post-war Hollywood, where dreams are traded like currency and the past casts long shadows, Jack Turner returns from the frontlines of battle a shattered man. Once hailed as a literary luminary, he now struggles to find his place in a world that has moved on without him, haunted by memories he can neither escape nor forget. Enter your character, a radiant starlet whose ascent to fame is as swift as it is dazzling. Cast as the lead in Jack's latest play, she embodies the very essence of the character he once envisioned, igniting the stage with a brilliance that eclipses his own. But as the spotlight shines ever brighter on YC, Jack finds himself consumed by a bitter resentment, his heart seething with anger at the injustice of it all. In a world where shadows lurk behind every smile and fame is but a fleeting illusion, Jack and YC must navigate the treacherous waters of love and ambition, forging a path forward that leads them out of the darkness and into the light.
7. The West was Wilder: I will be playing M or F! (1830s) A young man is a moonshiner and owner of a notorious saloon in a small frontier town. With a reputation for brewing the finest illegal whiskey in the region, he walks a fine line between outlaw and respected member of the community. Meanwhile, a young lass is new to town and is seeking change. She has a tough exterior, but there is a vulnerability that draws folks in. As their paths cross in the dusty streets and dimly lit saloons of the Wild West, sparks fly between them. Whether it's a fiery confrontation over a poker game gone wrong or a chance encounter in the dead of night, their chemistry is undeniable. But with danger lurking around every corner and secrets waiting to be uncovered, their burgeoning romance is anything but smooth sailing.
8. Underneath the Bald Cypress: I will be playing F! (1930s) Amidst the sultry streets of New Orleans, the daughter of a wealthy sugar cane baron, finds herself torn between societal expectations and her own desires. Engaged to a controlling man of her father’s choosing, she longs for true love. Her path collides with your character, a jazz singer, a man of color, or something else entirely, sparking a forbidden romance that defies family secrets. As their love blossoms amidst the city's vibrant nightlife, she must choose between the safety of convention and the allure of a life filled with passion and uncertainty, where forbidden love and hidden truths threaten to unravel the world she knows.
9. Revolution or Run: I will be playing F! (Fallout Fandom) In Vault 47, life appears idyllic, with its inhabitants blissfully unaware of the horrors unfolding beneath the sterile corridors. Your character, recently assigned to a coveted scientist position, stumbles upon a hidden lab deep within the vault, where ghastly experiments are conducted on unsuspecting fellow dwellers. Amidst it all, your character finds help in a resourceful maintenance worker with a knack for uncovering secrets. With the weight of responsibility heavy on their shoulders, they must navigate a treacherous path, torn between loyalty to their community and the pursuit of justice.As tensions escalate within the vault, they must decide whether to ignite the flames of rebellion from within or to venture into the unforgiving wasteland beyond the vault's walls.
Linked here is my writing sample and lore explanation.
I am also open to sending a master list of my current OCs with their vague descriptions!
When you DM me, please send me the answers to these questions!

1. What is your name and pronouns?
2. What RP are you interested in?
3. Are you comfortable playing on Discord?
4. What gender are you interested in playing? (for scenarios 2, 5, and 7 only!)
5. What are your hard boundaries for writing? (i.e. unwilling to write gore/abuse/etc)
6. What is your biggest roleplay pet peeve?
7. What is your paragraph min/max?
8. What is the most important thing to you in RP?
9. Are time zones important to you? If so, what is yours?
10. Is ooc essential to you?
11. Are you okay with a fade-to-black romance style?
12. What is your typical romance speed? Slow/Medium/Fast Burn?

I will answer these questions back! Thanks for reading!

Hi! First and foremost, thanks for your interest and I apologize in advance for how long this is, I like to be thorough. I want to start this off with some important things regarding playing at my digital table. My games are all inclusive both OOC and IC, that means both the players and the inhabitants of the game world will be varied. There will be cultural and ethnic diversity, there will be people with physical disabilities, there will be LBGTQ+ characters, the game may very well (see: likely) explore mental health, gender identity, and any number of things. My games are a safe place and I take that promise very seriously. I cannot stress this enough; bigotry of any kind will not be tolerated. There won’t be a warning, there won’t be a compromise, you’ll be out of the game, period. If you can’t manage this, then please save everyone some time and just don’t read further.
Now with that said, let’s discuss the beautiful game of D&D and this campaign and how I DM my games. My games are presented less as a static sequence of events and more of threads in the world that can be followed in any order. In a shorter campaign like this one there has to be a little more structure than a longer campaign, but this is not a railroad. Whatever ending we find to this campaign, we will find it together. Whether that’s the traditional fight the BBEG, talk them down, or join their side and plunge the world into chaos, it’s all on the table.
This campaign is set in the homebrew world that I have created and in truth I am using the campaign to explore individual parts of the world and hopefully expand upon the lore, add new NPCs, sure up any shortcomings, etc. Not because I’m publishing an adventure or anything, just because I really enjoy worldbuilding and having player choices affect the world going forward.
I like to incorporate backstories into the plot, I want everyone to have a chance to really feel a part of the story, not just along for the ride. This is also limited in a shorter campaign like this, but we can work together to give you something to identify with in this world. Whether it be directly connected to a figure in your backstory or just incorporating a theme or dynamic that resonates with your character, let’s find a way. If you give me something to work with, I promise I will find a way. This is a collaborative story, let’s create something hauntingly beautiful together.
There will be a session 0 to go over lines and veils, character creation, as well as just getting comfortable with one another. If there is a need for it to go over additional character creation, getting more acquainted with one another, or anything else we can also have a session 0.5. The point is that we are all comfortable when we begin play. Without any further ado, let’s finally get to the campaign details!
Campaign: Homebrew
System: D&D 5e
Players Needed: I already have some players, looking for 3-4 more.
Ratio: My games tend to lean more towards the RP heavy side of things though I do mix in combat. There are very few potential combat encounters that can't be solved in another way via talking, parlaying, or creativity. The amount of combat is dependent on the group as a whole. I would say in terms of planned potential combat that it will be a 60:40 or even 70:30 lean towards RP.
Scheduling: Bi-Weekly Wednesday 7pm-11pm CST, for 6-12 sessions. There is a chance this goes longer depending on RP, but I believe it will fit into 12 sessions. There’s no hard start date, just when we get the right players we will start scheduling, but it will be within a few weeks.
Software: Discord for voice, Foundry for VTT, D&D Beyond for character creation.

Character Creation:

• This campaign can work with players starting at level 3 or level 5. It will be decided by a group vote on which we start at. This allows for the characters to have some level of experience and renown but not be adventurers of legend (yet).
• All characters get a free feat. The caveat here is that if you pick a newer background that grants a feat, you don’t get an additional feat.
• Play the character you want, don’t worry about party composition. It’s my job as DM to worry about balancing the game, items, and encounters around party composition.
• Interparty conflict is fine and makes for good RP, deliberately obtuse characters designed for the sole purpose of being antagonistic to the party are not.
• All official content is allowed and most 3^rd party content is as well. If you want to use some homebrew content, send it to me so I can review it to ensure it’s balanced.
• We roll for stats. 4d6kh3, drop the full set if under 72 unless you just want to keep them. Rolled in D&D Beyond. I trust my players to not lie about rolls or to try to re-roll 20 times for ideal stats. If I find that I can’t trust you to be honest then we just can’t play together.

Setting:

Welcome to Elysiia, the year is 756 PSC - or Post-Second Cataclysm - and Elysiia is a vibrant planet. Long gone are the days of the Primordials’ dominion over the lands, gone also is the War of Gods, sealed away thousands of years ago. From the ashes of a bygone era has risen a thriving land with many diverse people. From the displaced Feylands of Remcourt - home to fey descendant creatures and prison to incorporeal creatures unfortunate enough to be caught behind it's barrier - to the Flying City of Arigon, floating among the clouds interweaving magic, nature, and technology.
Our story, however, begins in the lands of Morroch, born after the splitting of the worlds by the World Serpent. It is said that Morroch was a point of direct impact of the World’s Serpent’s bite, leaving behind the most diverse array of biomes on Elysiia, much of it incorporated with serrated mountains and rolling hills. There is much to explore here including the northern region belonging primarily to the Stone Giants of Thulkna who call the Crimson Peaks – given their name because of the reddish color of the soil – home. Let us not forget the western seaboard of the Tilltona Coast, cliff-lined coasts with treacherous waters and frequent storms, home of the Storm Giants of the nation of Salleria.
For this story, we explore the Decayed Heights of the western region of Morroch. A brutal and unforgiving arid desert dominated by three powerful tribes: the Jeswye, renown for their connection to fire and abilities as blacksmiths and warriors; the Sandstriders, Lizardfolk who traverse the vast desert with ease, trading, and maintaining the fragile peace; and the Ironhoof Tribe, fierce warriors who thrive in the storm-battered coastal regions of the Decayed Heights.
Recently, the long-standing tension between the Jeswye and the Ironhoof has escalated to the brink of war, threatening the stability of the entire region and crucial trade routes that allow for safe passage through an otherwise inhospitable region. The campaign will begin in the floating bustling trade city of Vespera, located off the coast of the Decayed Heights. Here the characters have received a request from a representative of the Merchant’s Guild to meet to discuss a lucrative opportunity that is for the betterment of the world.
More world info and campaign info will be given before character creation and upon request (I will never turn down an opportunity to talk about lore and worldbuilding).
Who am I? My players typically call me Hex or simply Chris (he/him)

• 33
• DMing for 4 years
• I work in tech so I like to try to do cool tech shit with my VTT.
• I’m a power nerd and love a bit of everything. Anime, comics, rp, tech, ttrpg (obviously), video games, writing, wrestling.
• For me D&D is a collaborative storytelling experience. I’m not out to murder your PCs or make things overly difficult for the sake of making you sweat.
• If I had to rate my skillset as a DM I’d say I’m very good at improv and storytelling but I don’t have a huge vocal range so I won’t be mesmerizing you with a unique voice for each NPC. I do what I can.
• These games are designed for me to experiment with technology, new in-game locales, cultures, etc. and as such some aspects are generated on the go or in the case of technology might experience some technical difficulties.
• Rule of cool. Yes the rules have a place, no we won’t be throwing them completely out. But if something is creative and feasible to at least attempt, yeah you can roll for it. If it’s not feasible I won’t even ask for a roll.

In closing, I’ve attached a google form below to fill out. I hate forms that make trying to get into a D&D game feel like a job interview so I’ve tried to stray away from that as much as possible. I don’t care how much experience you have, be it you’re entirely new or a 20 year vet. But comments, messages, and chat requests can often get missed so this helps me make sure I’ve seen everyone’s submissions. If you've made it this far, thank you so much for your time and patience.
If the post is not marked closed, I am still reviewing submissions.
https://forms.gle/5E1Qm2ghAU73gNGN8

Hi everyone. This group has been dead for a bit, and that's because it hasn't had a mod alive in the last 3 years it seems.
My name is Cacille and I run findapath and /failuretolaunch as well. Findapath is a group of over 610,000 people, though I've only been in charge there for 6 months, I've changed the group around to be a healthier, growing community with helpful, non-judgemental people. Failuretolaunch has more than doubled in size since I took over, but was also as small as this group is.
I happen to be a master of skills and a bit of a Jill of all trades myself. Quite literally, "skills" in my passion - teaching them, identifying them, using them on resumes to leap careers forward - my job is Career Consultant so that's what I do!
As of this point, the plan for this group isn't set but I let it come to me as I observe the group and learn about it, learn the history, clear the mod queue, and get rid of spam and angry commenters (if any)! Good managers sit back and learn first, before doing changes and throwing their weight around!
I can tell you the group will be connected to other groups and I will get in at least one other mod from another group, so the group will have active moderation from here on. I will also update this thread with new info as it comes to me. For the moment, what I see is the last mod set the group up well (whew!) so there's not too much to worry about.
Feel free to jump in the comments and say Hi if you're still around, and any feedback or ideas you have about the group or for the group's future!

"Nature of the Crime: Bow Street Duchess Mystery, Book 6" by Cara Devlin is a gripping historical mystery thriller that continues the intrepid Duchess of Bow Street, Lady Antonia Carstairs, as she investigates a series of crimes that threaten to rend the fabric of London society.
In this part, Lady Carstairs finds herself engaged in a hazardous conspiracy involving extortion, murder, and political intrigue. As she goes deeper into the case, she uncovers a labyrinth of lies and treachery that forces her to confront her own past and the terrible secrets of those closest to her.
Devlin's storytelling is rich in historical detail, immersing readers in the bright and busy streets of Regency-era London. The author skillfully depicts the mood of the historical period, from the extravagant ballrooms of the aristocracy to the sordid underground of crime and corruption.
One of the strengths of the book is its complex and well-developed characters. Lady Carstairs is a compelling heroine, with her acute brain and tenacious will propelling the investigation ahead. The supporting cast is equally intriguing, from the enigmatic Viscount Blackthorne to the elusive femme fatale, each adding depth and mystery to the drama.
The mystery itself is well constructed, with plenty of twists and turns to keep readers wondering until the very end. Devlin brilliantly creates tension and suspense, weaving together various plot strands with finesse and precision.
While "Nature of the Crime" is a compelling solo mystery, readers may find that certain narrative themes and character relationships are better completely appreciated when read in the context of the greater Bow Street Duchess Mystery series. Additionally, some readers may find that the pacing of the novel is a bit slow at points, particularly in the middle sections.
Overall, "Nature of the Crime: Bow Street Duchess Mystery, Book 6" is a gripping and evocative historical mystery story that will thrill fans of the genre. Devlin's descriptive style, fully created characters, and sophisticated plot make this installment a great addition to the series.
Listen for free with a free trial of Audible at freeaudiobookstrial .com

Hi there!
We're nearly done with the Zero series now. After the next post, these updates may slow down a bit, as it seems the ZX games are a lot longer, being full-on Metroidvania style titles. We'll see.
In the meantime, here's my retrospective on Zero 3, a game that honestly blew me away a little!

Mega Man Zero 3
I was told, repeatedly, that this was the Zero game. Since starting this series, it’s been hyped up to me to an extent that I was worried it couldn’t possibly live up to expectations.
I am thrilled to report that those worries were unfounded.
Mega Man Zero 3 is the culmination of everything that’s been good about the Zero series up to now, with almost none of the drawbacks. The Elf system has been updated to allow you to use up to two of the little guys without tanking your rank, creating a risk/reward customization system that lets you play as you like. Do you want more health? More firepower? A larger combo? Some free health pickups? It’s up to you. The game also introduces a sort of “easy mode” path for beginners in the form of Cyber Space, a version of each level that activates every Elf you’ve collected and has enemies drop tons of health at the cost of rank.
You can now obtain various parts for your body as you defeat bosses, which unlock everything from the ability to auto-charge, double-jump, and more. You can mix and match these upgrades as you see fit. EX Skills are still rough to get on your first playthrough, but I’ve grown on the system a bit. This game does have Elves that will boost you to A-rank for free in a level, and I decided to use them to get a few of the abilities. I can sorta see why they’re locked behind good play—a few of them are, quite frankly, game-bustingly good.
Gameplay-wise, the game is as smooth as ever. There are more bosses this time around, and each one is a blast to fight. The level design is fantastic, and they’ve even introduced a mechanic that pans the camera to make navigating certain hazards easier on the GBA’s tiny screen. I will say that I started a NG+ run and intend to go back and finish it, as this game scratches the itch that games like Metroid: Zero Mission have left in me (that being the need to replay and tear through the game as fast as possible, and—in this case—maximize my rank).
But what I really want to talk about here is the story.
Mega Man Zero 3 takes the narrative structure of Zero 1 and 2 and cranks it up to 11. We have a new stand-in for Dr. Wily, whose character basically amounts to “What if Dr. Wily were like… y’know, a villain? With actual cunning, and the ability to outsmart the good guys with a sinister edge that makes him threatening?” The story is a bit simple, but that doesn’t make it any less effective. You’ll see alliances tested, our heroes brought to their lowest, and a classic overarching theme of hope prevailing over it all. There are some twists and turns, especially by the end, that had me hootin’ and hollerin’. I wouldn’t dare spoil those here. But to those in the know: yes, the last fight is incredible. The ending pays off in a way that feels extremely satisfying.
For me to sit here and sing praises for the storyline in a Mega Man game is not something I expected to do when starting this series. I kinda want to write a full-on review for it, but I suspect I have nothing new to bring to the table that hasn’t been discussed to death by now.
This may be a knee-jerk reaction, and I’d like to sit with it a bit (and finish Zero 4 and the ZX games) before really solidifying this opinion, but for now? I think I can safely say that Zero 3 is peak Mega Man. The game design is as good as it’s ever been, and the story really took me by surprise. I cannot imagine it going any higher from here, but I’d love to be proven wrong.
10/10

Classic Series 1-4 Classic Series 5-6 Classic Series 7-8 Classic Series 9-10
Mega Man X Mega Man X2 Mega Man X3 Mega Man X4
Mega Man X5 Mega Man X6 Mega Man X7 Mega Man X8
Mega Man Zero Mega Man Zero 2

Previous Part
The first sound I heard that morning was foot steps outside my tepee.
“Get up! Shaoni wants you all in town.”
The gruff but familiar voice of my driver from three days ago shouted at me. It had to be some sick sense of humor on Shaoni’s part, sending this guy to come get me for things again and again. Honestly, even I was starting to feel bad for him. Bianca stabbed his friend I knocked him off that stage yesterday with one of the war clubs. I speak from experience when I say those things HURT.
“Alright alright, just give me a second to get dressed!”
I yelled back to the man as I rushed to get around inside. At least he had the common courtesy to stay outside. A minute or two later I stepped out to see everyone else gathered around the man. Brooke, Katrina, John, and Robert all stood there, just staring at me.
“Mornin’ sleeping beauty”
Robert finally said after what seemed like forever, nearly choking on laugher at his own joke.
“I thought you were never going to wake up. Did you not hear Shaoni last night? We were supposed to be up 6 sharp.”
He explained after his laughing fit. Apparently I had missed that bit of Shaoni’s whole presentation last night. Katrina grabbed a pair of keys out of her pocket and started walking away.
“Come on, we’ve got to get into town and finish this whole thing.”
She called back to us just a little too eagerly.
“She’s letting us drive? I thought she didn’t want us heading back to town without some kind of supervision.”
I questioned as we all walked toward the same beat up red pickup that had brought me here.
“I guess she decided to make an exception.”
Katrina replied, not even bothering to look at me.
“Besides I don’t think running is much of an option at this point.”
She continued, pointing up towards the sky. A storm was brewing there, a killer one by the looks of it. The odd thing was it didn’t seem to want to break, it was just stuck in that state right before it starts raining cats and dogs. The dark, angry clouds tapered off in the sky the further they got from town, Shaoni’s doing, it had to be.
The five of us would just about fit in the truck, not comfortably but we would fit.
“Oh hell no! I’m not dealing with you up here!”
“Why not?! You know you love it.”
Brooke and Katrina argued as he tried to take the passenger seat next to her.
“No you go in the back or I’m driving us straight into a tree, I can’t put up with you anymore.”
Katrina yelled at Brooke, tensing up and getting ready for a fight.
“Would you guys just knock it off! Just sit in the back Brooke, I’ll take the passenger seat.”
I scolded both of them, I was done with their little arguments, it was starting to get under my skin. An evil grin crossed Brooke’s face as he turned to me
“What’s up with you two? You’ve been all buddy buddy with him since we all beat the shit out of each other with wooden sticks. He didn’t get to you first did he? Hmmmm?”
Brooke prodded with a wink.
Katrina Immediately punched him in the face before I even had a chance to respond.
“Ey that’s a good right hook! Give em’ another one, come on come on!”
A heavily accented voice cut in from below my feet. Rocco had managed to slip in without any of us noticing. When Brooke lay eyes on him he just about jumped straight into the truck bed. Apparently whatever Rocco did to him yesterday had left quite the impression.
“I’m not even gonna ask, just shut up and take a seat.”
Katrina told Rocco, slamming her door shut as I took a seat next to her and Rocco hopped in the back. Robert and John pretty much made themselves flat to their doors as Rocco took a seat in between them in the back. Brooke rode in the bed, shooting nervous glances at Rocco every now and then.
Katrina drove like a bat out of hell through the woods and back into town. I’m not sure if she was in that much of a hurry to get all this over with or if she just hoped her crazy driving would throw Brooke overboard. Given where we were headed and how close we would probably be to Bianca, I can’t say I wasn’t hoping the same thing.
We pulled into the parking lot of the Save-A-Lot I’d gotten groceries from my first day here. The storm over head was raging but oddly enough It still wasn’t raining or anything like that. The wind was picking up and the sky looked absolutely sinister but other than that everything seemed fine in the town.
Before Katrina’s combat boots had even touched the ground she was already giving orders.
“Alright listen up, We’re working as a team this time wether you all like it or not. I want us to split up and see what we can find. Anything out of place, anything that seems suspicious, I want you to make a note of it. We have to figure out who the victim is going to be and who’s doing the killing. We have nothing to go on either so nothing is to small here. Lets all take a look around town and meet back here in two hours. That’s two hours sharp Keith!”
Katrina barked, taking charge of the situation and leveling one quick jab at me before turning on her heels and heading out into the town.
As everyone else hurried off in different directions I took a second to think. If I was looking for someone where would I go? Where in town would I most likely go no matter what? That line of thought is what led me to the front door of the Eagle’s Roost. Cliche I know, but a bar was a good a place as any to start, even if it was 8 in the morning. Maybe someone new had stopped by and Tuck would know something about it.
The door was unlocked as usual so I let myself in, if Tuck didn’t want guests I’m sure he’d lock it.
“Hey, Tuck? You in here?”
I called into the bar as I noticed the usually roaring stone fireplace had fallen silent.
“Tuck’s not here right now sweet heart, but I can take a message if you’d give me a moment.”
“Oh, ok take your time then.”
I answered before realizing the motherly southern voice couldn’t possibly belong to Tuck.
“Wait who are you?!”
I chirped as I rushed up to the bar and peered back into the kitchen where Tuck usually was. In his place was a dark skinned woman that looked a little older than Tuck. She wore a pink checkered shirt under an apron that read, “Kiss the cook”.
“My, I haven’t seen you around. I’m Richelle, Tucker’s wife.”
She answered. Her southern accent was smooth and calm. The exact opposite of Tuck’s brutal hillbilly speak that he tried to hide.
“Did he not mention me? He doesn’t like to introduce me to the new comers, always worrying about me that one.”
“No, I think he mentioned you helped keep this place running when I first met him.”
“He must like you then, most people round here don’t even know he’s married. Anyways what can I help you with sugar?”
Her motherly voice did wonders for my stress. I could see why Tuck married her, with just a few words I’m sure she could set anyone at ease.
“I was wondering if anyone new came into town or passed through here. Maybe someone out of place, something like that? Oh, and where’s Tuck?”
“Well I can help with both those things. There was a man here, got off a bus last night all alone and came right in. I don’t know what it was but I just had a bad feeling about him, made me shiver.”
She gave a little shiver at that, to demonstrate I guess?
“As for Tuck he’s been staying with those scientists and…. and I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone that.”
She explained, a look of embarrassment crossing her face as she finished.
Before I had a chance to respond I heard the door slam open behind me. I swore I heard someone shriek my name. All I saw before someone knocked me over the stool I’d been standing next to was a blur of black hair flying toward me, and bright glowing blue eyes.
Bianca wrapped me in a bear hug on the floor.
“What happened to you, are you hurt, how are you back!?”
She fired questions at me as fast as she could.
“Bianca, crushing my… can you just, ease up a bit.”
I pleaded as she squeezed me harder than a boa constrictor.
“Sorry! I just didn’t think I’d see you…”
She squeaked, trailing off suddenly. A single tear making its way down her face as she blushed slightly and released me. In that moment I realized Bianca, who had stabbed a guy not to long ago for grabbing her hand, just bear hugged me. I’m not sure what I felt about that but at the moment, I was just happy to see her and even happier that she was happy to see me.
“Shaoni let us back into town for the last of the trials. We’re supposed to stop a murder in town.”
“A murder?! Is that what you were asking about? Is that man a murderer? My, what is going on in this town.”
Richelle shrieked, reminding Bianca and I that we weren’t alone in here. I felt the hot blood rush to my face as I looked up to see Bianca blushing as well, even redder than before.
“So, did you end up finding anything out about Shaoni?”
I asked Bianca as we took a seat at the bar, getting straight down to business as Richelle started stress cleaning in the kitchen.
I was a bit surprised by what she said. I never expected Shaoni to be THE Thunderbird or a descendent of them. I was still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing.
“So she went into hiding here then? That cave we stumbled into that was connected to the mines. Was that her… nest?”
I thought out loud, hoping Bianca would have some kind of answer.
“I guess, that’s what Frank and Stein have been calling it too. Speaking of Frank and Stein we should probably go see them. We were planning to break you out today, guess we were a little late on that huh.”
Bianca said, getting up from her seat at the bar. I’m not sure reuniting with Frank, Stein, and the rest of them was the best idea. At the moment I didn’t have a whole lot of other options though. I got up and followed Bianca out the door, heading back to her house to call off their rescue mission.
“Good luck darlin’!”
Richelle called after us, I felt sure we could use all the luck we could get.
“How the hell’d ya get back here son?!”
Tuck asked as soon as Bianca and I walked through the front door. Rocco had already found his way back and had apparently been filling everyone in on what had been happening. Stein was unloading some sort of pistol with a long thin barrel on the kitchen table.
“I’m glad I won’t have to use this at least. It’s been… many years since I’ve had to take this out of storage.”
Stein explained to no one in particular while staring at the gun. No doubt it brought back memories of his time with the German military. Frank walked out of the basement at that moment and nodded to me.
“Glad to have you back Keith.”
He said, clapping a hand on my shoulder.
“It’s great to see you all but I can’t stay too long, I’ve got to go back.”
“WHAT?!”
Everyone yelled in unison, even Rocco.
“It’s the last trial and Shaoni is overseeing it personally. You see that storm outside? That’s all her, if I don’t go back she’ll know and I’m sure there will be consequences. Besides Brooke is here too, I don’t want to give him any reason to go looking for me and bump into Bianca.”
I explained to everyone, not enough to wipe the shock off all their faces but at least Stein seemed to understand. Just the mention of Brookes name made Bianca freeze up. Only for a second but I could see this tension pass over her whole body and her eyes suddenly glowed blue and widened with fear. I was paying so much attention to how she’d react to that name that I almost didn’t feel her reach out and squeeze my hand from her place at my side. She sighed quietly before her eyes returned to normal but she still kept my hand in hers.
“You can’t go back! We only just got you back!”
Bianca protested, but my mind was made up.
“I need to see this through and besides someone’s life is at stake. I should try and stop that at least.”
Bianca couldn’t argue with that, neither could anyone else. I could tell Tuck and her wanted to but they didn’t. All Tuck did was quietly nod his head and grunt. I could tell Bianca was running through every possible argument in her head to try and make me stay but wasn’t coming up with anything. Bianca let go of my hand and asked,
“Can I at least come with you? To help stop the murder I mean.”
She looked into my eyes like a puppy, begging me to say yes.
In any normal circumstance I would’ve given in immediately to that, especially coming from someone who looked like her. This time though, I just couldn’t. I couldn’t take the chance that Brooke would see her and something bad would happen.
“You can’t Bianca, I don’t want anything happening to you especially with… him out there. I think Shaoni offered to help him find you if he showed up for these trials or something like that. Either way I’m pretty sure he’s here for you.”
I told her as gently as I could. I could see her recoil at the idea that Brooke might be here just for her. She was scared, maybe more scared than she’d ever been that there was even a small chance of Brooke getting his hands on her again.
“I… no, no your right.”
I didn’t expect her to give in so easily but it was a welcome surprise.
“I hope you know what yer doin son.”
Tuck told me as I got ready to head back out. Frank and Stein cornered me before I could leave as well.
“Take this.”
Frank said, thrusting what looked like a jury rigged walkie talkie into my hands.
“If you need anything call us on that. We’ll help however we can, and don’t expect us to sit around quietly when you go back. We fully intend get you out still, no reason to let a perfectly good plan go to waste.”
I thanked them for the walkie talkie. I was glad they were still looking out for me even if I doubted they could do much against whatever was to come, it was good to have people in your corner. Bianca was waiting for me when I got to the door.
“At least I get to say goodbye this time.”
She said with a little smirk. She’d been acting different since I got back, much more… personable?
“Yeah I guess so. What’s been up with you? You’ve been acting… different.”
I asked her, a little nervous for some reason.
“You helped me… a lot actually. Your the first person who’s really cared about me in years.”
“That’s not true, look at Frank and Stein.”
I responded, missing the point of what she was saying.
“No, not like that. I mean your a friend, a good friend… no that’s not, ugh.”
She said, shaking her head and looking a little embarrassed. Then she did something I really didn’t expect, she leaned over and kissed me.
“Just… make sure you come back ok? For me.”
She added as she pushed me out the door, starting to turn lobster red. My head was spinning but there was a bug dumb smile on my face, I’m sure of that. Filled with all the confidence that brought me, I headed back to the Save-A-Lot to see what everyone else had turned up on the impending murder.
As I walked back lighting began to crack across the sky. The lightning took all kinds of unnatural shapes. I swore one time it almost looked like a pair of eyes, watching me from the sky.
“Alright everyone, I want reports!”
Katrina shouted like a drill instructor, bring the group of us gathered around the hood of the truck to attention.
“The elderly cashier inside, she was… disquieted. More so than I would expect of someone in this strange town.”
John spoke, saying the first words I’d ever heard from him in a wise sage-like voice.
“I looked around for some kinda police station but this shit hole town doesn’t have one. How the hell am I supposed to report a murder if there’s no police!”
Brooke complained to the crowd.
“So, you accomplished absolutely nothing, I kinda figured that.”
Katrina scoffed at him.
“Yeah there hasn’t been a police station here as long as I remember. We never needed one, everyone either moved on to fast or stuck around and just wanted to be left alone, never caused any problems. Still, it’s a little strange come to think of it, would’ve figured the government would make us have some kind of police.”
Robert informed us before giving his own report.
“I looked around a bit myself, didn’t come across much on account of there not being all that many people to talk to in this town. Those old scientist types in the big white house never answered the door when I knocked and I couldn’t find their daughter.”
To my horror Brooke’s eyes lit up and he was suddenly razor focused on what Robert had to say.
“I did see some guy I’d never seen in town before walking around. Didn’t want to talk much though, he just turned around and walked the other way as soon as he caught sight of me.”
Robert finished with a shrug. Brooke seemed less interested after he heard nothing else about the daughter Robert mentioned. Did he know Robert was taking about Bianca?
“Wait that strange guy, was he wearing an old hat? Some kind of bowler I think, looked really out of place.”
Katrina asked suddenly, her eyes lighting up.
“Yeah now that you mention it I think he did.”
Robert answered after thinking for a second.
“Damn it! He saw me and ran when I was searching around town myself. So next order of business we find that guy. Keith! Did you see anything else?”
Katrina asked, whirling around to face me.
“I stopped by the bar and the bartender there told me someone new came into town a few days ago. Apparently she had a bad feeling about him. Maybe its the same guy you two saw?”
I proposed, pointing to Robert and Katrina. Katrina paced around for a bit, thinking I guess. She finally came to a rest again at the front of the truck, apparently she’d come up with another plan.
“Alright, I want that guy in the bowler hat found so we’re breaking into teams of two.”
“Uh, isn’t there five of us, that won’t work.”
Brooke interjected, earning him a look of pure murder from Katrina.
“Keep that up and I’ll find that raccoon, you can pair up with him!”
She yelled completely over Brooke’s attitude.
“I’ll go alone, Robert, John, you two are together same with you Keith and asshole.”
“I have a name you know!”
Brooke complained, getting yet another look from Katrina. If he kept that up I had a pretty good idea of exactly who the murderer and victim would be.
“Alright alright Jesus lady cool your jets!”
He said, putting his hands up in surrender as Katrina took a threatening step towards him.
A few minutes later Brooke and I had broken off from the other three having all agreed to meet up back at the truck in another hour. Brooke had insisted we go to the bar and search for the guy but I had a feeling there was more to it than that. He proved me right when he ducked into an alley and pushed me up against the side of a building right on main street. Usually that would be instantly seen by someone but here wasn’t like anywhere else. There was no one around to help me out or even see what was going on.
“I know we’re supposed to be looking for a murderer but I’ve got other things in mind. That daughter Robert was talking about, you know something about her don’t you.”
Brooke questioned with a growl, arm against my throat holding me uncomfortably tight against the building.
“Daughter? What are you talking about?”
I choked out, deciding to play dumb. He didn’t like this to much and pushed me even harder against the wall.
“That raccoon mentioned her name the other day when the fuckin thing attacked me and it seems pretty buddy buddy with you! Bianca! ring any bells!”
I felt my face grow red at the mention of her name as I thought back to the way she kissed me at the door. That reaction betrayed me and the beginnings of a twisted smile appeared in Brooke’s eyes.
“Oh yeah, you know her don’t you? Know what she can do to I bet. Did she tell you about me, how she threw away everything I could’ve given her.”
He hissed at me, venom dripping off every word.
“At first I didn’t care but then I heard stories of this whore who could wrap you around her finger like nothing else. She’d do whatever you wanted but you’d also pay whatever she asked, do whatever she asked. Imagine my surprise when I started looking into it and it turned out to be my little escaped bird.”
Brooke continued, grinning like a mad man. He was obsessed with her, it didn’t take a genius to see that. But I was in no position to argue with him, I could barley speak with the pressure on my neck from his arm.
“They called her a succubus, the crazy ones at least. Turns out they were right though, there was something off about her from the first day I met her but I had no idea she was something exotic like that. See I make a habit of collecting things, rare things, and she’s the rarest I’ve ever been able to find. I was so close to having her at one point but she just had to break away. When I met Shaoni late one night researching the supernatural she agreed to look into her for me on one condition. I agree to show up in this town in the ass end of nowhere and participate in some trials for her. Easiest deal I ever made, now I’m this close to getting my hands on her again. Imagine what she could do for me, what I could get with her powers.”
Brooke finished his monologue, finally letting me go.
“Now you’re going to show me where she is and I’m going to get the hell out of here. Get going!”
He shouted at me, drawing a pocket knife from his white suit jacket.
My first reaction was to look around and search for a way out. I couldn’t fight him, that was clear. I really didn’t want to get stabbed either. My eyes darted around trying to find anything that could get me out of this. Then I found exactly what I was looking for on the other side of the street.
Katrina had found the man in the bowler and he was running back toward the Save-A-Lot like Usain Bolt himself.
“Katrina, HELP!”
Brooke whipped his head around, trying to catch sight of her before she did anything. Katrina wasted no time though. She took one look at him, pulled the gun from its holster on her waist, and fired. The crack of the bullet made me run on pure instinct and Brooke dropped to the ground. It hadn’t hit him unfortunately, but it had bought me enough time to run.
“Argh that bitch! I’ll find her myself!”
Brooke shouted before getting back to his feet and running the other direction. The guy Katrina had been chasing used the distraction to make some distance on her. He was nearly to the corner that turned towards the Save-A-Lot. I took off after him as Katrina did the same, ripping the walkie talkie from my pocket as I ran.
“Stein get Bianca out of there! Head out to the mine, maybe there aren’t to many people there now, just get her out of town! Brooke is here and he’s looking for her I’ll meet you once this is all over ok.”
I think Stein said something back but I didn’t catch it. The adrenaline spike of getting shot at and chasing this guy who was likely a soon to be murderer made it hard to hear.
We weren’t as fast as we hoped but we were just fast enough to see the consequences of that. As Katrina and I got into the parking lot the guy was already inside, pointing a gun of his own at the elderly cashier that gave me a hard time about my ID. I made out the movements of her lips just before he pulled the trigger. It looked like she said “Oh, you’re the one she sent then.” Just before he killed her.
I stopped dead when I saw the body drop, I’d never seen someone die before. In Imalone people had died but I’d been knocked out for most of it. Seeing it up close though, it made my stomach drop. I fell to my knees and threw up on the spot, the blood, god the blood splatter behind her it was horrible.
Katrina didn’t stop after the shot, if anything she charged in even faster. The gun was still in her hand and she held it up in front of her, using the weight of the gun to smash through the glass doors with the bottom of the grip. The shards of glass rained down on the murderer who surprisingly, seemed just as stunned as I was by the corpse. Katrina dropped her shoulder and charged into him, hitting him so hard they both fell to the ground. She was back on her feet quick as lighting, flipping the guy over onto his front and putting a knee on his back in between his shoulder blades. Katrina locked his arm behind his back and said something I couldn’t hear. At that point I kinda spaced out. The only other thing I remember before getting in the truck was Katrina leading the man out of the store with his hands zip tied behind him. The few people who were in the store had come out and were starting to pick over the scene as we shot out onto the road back to the mine.
I noticed one of us was missing when we came to a stop.
“Where’s Brooke?”
“I wasn’t waiting for him, not after whatever he pulled in town. He can find his own way back.”
Katrina answered me while pushing the man she’d apprehended out of the truck and toward the entrance to the mine.
“Are you doing ok? You looked a little white on the way out here, like you saw a ghost.”
Robert asked me as we got out and followed behind Katrina.
“Sure sure I just… never saw someone die like that you know.”
I said, never so sure that I wasn’t ok. Robert gave me a knowing nod as we made our way down to the coliseum.
Shaoni and Katrina were waiting for us already. Brooke was there too, beaten and bloody against the wall. It looked like someone had dragged him back here against his will, probably Shaoni if I had to guess.
“I can’t say I’m pleased with what went on in town but in the end you did discover the murderer, even if it was too late. Now it’s time for the second part of this trial. I want to hear your judgements, what should this man’s punishment be?”
Shaoni greeted us, ignoring everything that had gone on before like it didn’t even matter. Something about that made my blood boil.
“Katrina, you first. What should this man’s punishment be?”
“P please.. you said.”
The man muttered before Shaoni slapped him hard across the face.
“You will be silent!”
She ordered, the room suddenly becoming electric with her temper. Katrina stepped up in front of Shaoni and gave her judgment.
“He took a life, he should be killed as well. It’s the only way to be sure he doesn’t do something like that again.”
Shaoni nodded at that and pointed to me.
“You next Keith, what should we do with him?”
I was filled with a rage I’d never felt before as I looked at the whole situation. Shaoni was meant to be a spirt of justice, or so I thought. Yet she let that woman die. Worse still, after what the woman said I believed Shaoni may have arranged the whole thing, murderer, victim, and all. That’s not justice, that’s playing god, using her power and influence to mess with people like pieces on a chessboard and for what? Just so she could “test” a few people who’d caught her eye?
“You deserve punishment Shaoni. That man is innocent, you put him up to it didn’t you? Him, the victim, all of it! It’s all just some kind of game to you isn’t it?! You keep claiming you represent justice but from what I’ve heard you’ve had a problem with that. This is something else though, where is the justice in this Shaoni, where! I don’t pretend to know what you’ve been through over the years Justice, but this isn’t right. If it was up to me this man should be let go so he doesn’t have you whispering in his ear and you should go back to sleep like you had been years ago.”
I shouted at her, not caring what she would do to me. It felt good though, to finally let her have it, especially after all she’d put me through.
I learned Shaoni’s real name from Bianca but hearing it seemed to make her shrink. The second I said it I had her full attention.
“No! You don’t understand Keith! These people were terrible, guilty of their own crimes. I found them both and offered them a deal. Submit to my judgment or do something for me and face the judgment of another. They got their punishments, I’m no monster!”
She roared back, the beginning of tears brimming in her eyes.
“Guilty or not you used them like pawns Justice! None of this is right, there’s no justice in it, no right and wrong. It’s just a game to you! Don’t you see this is wrong!”
I yelled at her again.
“DON’T YOU USE THAT NAME!”
She thundered back.
“Would you prefer Vengeance?!”
I added, shattering her.
The mention of that name brought Shaoni to tears and she lost her temper. She threw her hand out toward the man still zip tied on the ground in an act of anger. The tattoos on her arms glowed with a blue, ghostly light. The energy grew until a bolt of lightning arced from the tattoos, filling the room with the scent of ozone. The bolt hit the man in the head, searing the skin of his face black in an instant as his body went still.
“You don’t understand, all those years, all those mistakes. Do you know what that…!”
Shaoni started to scream to me again, but she was cut off by the sound of vehicles above us and the cracks of gunfire.
I looked around in surprise, still in shock after the brutal death of the murderer in front of me. I saw Katrina holding her own walkie talkie and smiling.
“Looks like my ride is here, time to end this little charade. Keith, I’d suggest running if I where you. Shaoni, I’d say its been fun but you’re the whole reason they sent me out here in the first place. You’ve been way too much trouble but for what its worth, good luck.”
Katrina hissed at the two of us. Robert, John, and I were stunned, even Shaoni herself seemed shocked back to reality by whatever was happening. With her piece said, Katrina turned and walked out of the mine, towards the growing sounds of shouting and gunfire coming from outside.

Previous Part
The next day went by in a blur. Rocco was walking the perimeter of the camp, keeping an eye out for Brooke when I woke up. I didn’t really think he’d leave, but it seemed to give Rocco something to do other than being a general menace to society. All of us ate breakfast as normal but no one really said much. I’m not sure if they were still reeling from things they saw yesterday or if they just weren’t in a talking mood. The thought occurred to me that Shaoni may have payed a visit to each of them as well. Prying into what they saw and answering questions they might have. Honestly the whole thing felt like we were guinea pigs. Shaoni didn’t really seem to have a great handle on the trials so far. It was… mildly concerning that the ringmaster of all this didn’t seem 100% in control anymore.
Actually, I’d thought about that a lot last night. Shaoni just sort of left us to our own devices when we went through those “visions” yesterday. It’s not like she backed up her claim that she’d know what we’d seen either. If anything the fact that she came to ask me about it made me even more suspicious that she wasn’t really sure what she was doing. It was the first time I’d ever thought of Shaoni as anything other than in complete control. Slowly but surely it was becoming glaringly obvious that wasn’t the case.
If I was remembering correctly today’s trial was the trial of strength. I sincerely hoped that was a metaphor for something. You’ve got to understand, I’m not a very strong person, not physically anyways. I hoped Shaoni wanted to test mental strength or strength of will something like that. My hopes shattered as we arrived at the coliseum and saw an arena set up. There were several dummies in a corner, the kind you would see used in martial arts or HEMA or something to that effect. At the foot of the dummies were several wooden clubs. I couldn’t see them to clearly but they almost looked clawed from a distance. The real centerpiece was the platform in the middle of the coliseum. It looked like a stage and I’m sure that’s exactly how we were going to use it. The raised wooden platform had been constructed with boards placed across the top. It looked like those boards could be removed and under that was simply the cold hard ground about two feet below.
Katrina’s eyes lit up as she looked over the room.
“Now this is what I’m talking about, a real trial!”
She just about shrieked in excitement, throwing one fist in the air and startling the rest of us to attention. Katrina was the only one that really seemed excited about this. John and Robert just looked accepting and I’m not sure Brooke had put two and two together yet. I’d seen the clubs laid out by the dummies and already figured we’d be sparing with each other.
“Good morning everyone, I hope your ready for today.”
Called Shaoni, emerging unseen from behind us. Anyone who wasn’t fully awake at that point sure was then. There’s just something about Shaoni that makes you really really not want her to show up behind you unannounced. Probably why she kept doing it to us.
“Today I will test your strength, while I’d rather avoid conflict it’s sometimes unavoidable. My ideal candidate not only knows themselves but can handle themselves as well. We will allow you some time to familiarize yourself with the war clubs you’ll be using. Then you will compete against each other to find the strongest, most skilled warrior among you.”
Shaoni explained, Katrina’ excitement growing with every word.
I wasn’t to keen to participate in any of this but, like usual, I didn’t really have much of a choice at this point.
“So will you be sticking around this time then?”
I asked, wondering if Shaoni was going to cut and run again.
“I have other matters to attend to today. While I would like to stay and observe the whole day I need to prepare things for the final trial tomorrow. I’ll be back in time to see you test each other though.”
She replied dismissively, already on her way out. Shaoni seemed almost uninterested in us now. For someone evaluating us she seemed awful happy to pass off the evaluation to her followers. I didn’t say anything else as she walked out of the coliseum and towards the exit.
As I walked over to the little training area I saw the clubs were actually ornate masterpieces. They were carved from a hard dark wood. The handles resembled an eagles talon, curving near the end to grip a wooden orb. Whoever made these was beyond skilled, these things were works of art. I didn’t have much time to admire them before Katrina interrupted me.
“Hey, Keith was it? Want me to show you how to use these things?”
She called over to me, it was more of a command than a question but that’s pretty par for the course with her.
“If you want, sure. I’m uh… I’m kinda a fish out of water with this find of thing.”
I told her, rubbing the back of my neck with one hand in embarrassment. I wasn’t sure why she was singling me out for that but she answered that question for me.
“Good, Those two creep me out and that one has been drooling over me since we got here.”
She said, pointing over at Robert and John who had already started practicing, then at Brooke. Katrina showed absolutely no subtly in any of this, earning us looks from all three of the others.
I was a little afraid of Katrina teaching me anything, if someone was gonna kill me by accident it would be her. That and she still had that gun on her. Despite my misgivings she was actually a pretty good teacher. She was a bit like a drill instructor but I learned a thing or two. By the time we were done I felt like I might stand half a chance in this trial.
“Just remember your footwork, keep your balance and the rest should come natural. Oh, and if we get paired up, take a dive, it’ll be less painful.”
Katrina added with a smirk, walking over towards the group by the stage in the center of the room. Shaoni had just come back in and was up on the balcony. A few of her followers had collected us and informed us we were about to start the, ”practical part”, as they put it.
“There’s five of you so for the first matchup one of my own will serve as the opponent. Anyone what to go first?”
Shaoni asked us, looking down with a raised eyebrow and waiting for a response. Before I realized what I’d done my hand was in the air, my body subconsciously wanting to get this over with as fast as possible. Shaoni actually looked surprised as she gestured for me to take my place on the stage. Two of the boards had been removed on either side leaving us something like six feet of space to work with before falling off the platform. But I was far less concerned about that after I saw the guy walking over. It was the driver from a few days ago when Shaoni had me brought out to the camp. The guy that had his friend stabbed by Bianca, he didn’t look like he’d forgotten about that as they gave him his club.
As I took my place on the stage the only thing I was thinking was exactly how bad it hurt when you got hit with one of these things.
“Begin when you are ready.”
Called Shaoni from her place on the balcony. The guy across from me took absolutely no time to think, charging at me wildly right away. I tried to brace myself and remember Katrina’s training, taking an even stance and angling my club for the coming blow. I did manage to block his strike but the force of it threw me to the ground. My mind went into full survival mode as he swung down at me. He was way less fluid than Katrina had been when she was showing me the ropes. He just seemed like he wanted to hurt me by any means necessary. As I rolled from side to side avoiding his blows I waited for an opening. He took a particularly hard swing at my head and I rolled at the last possible second. He lost his balance, giving me a chance to slip between his legs and get back to my feet. I stood back up narrowly avoiding a swing for my head as my opponent regained his balance and swung back at me. His wide hate fueled swing carried his whole body around with it and gave me another opening. I planted my feet and took one hard swing at the man’s turned shoulder hitting him right on the bone with a sickening crack. He stumbled around towards the edge, turning his back to me. I took one final swing, hoisting the club above my head and bringing it down in between his shoulder blades with a hollow thud. The blow sent him tumbling forward over the edge and off the stage, falling to the floor below.
Katrina shot me a quick thumbs up as I walked off the stage while Shaoni looked down at me and gave me an approving nod. No one else seemed to pay me any mind as I rejoined the group. I felt empowered, I hadn’t expected to get even that far, maybe there was a chance for me in this trial after all. Robert and John fought next and despite their age they each held their own. In the end John forced Robert off the edge, his age and weight throwing off his balance. I was still impressed either of them could move like they had, I guess I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Then Katrina fought Brooke in the last… round I guess I’d call it. The smile on her face was unsettling from the moment she realized she’d be paired up with him, like a shark smelling blood in the water. You could just tell that she was going to take pleasure in what happened next.
That smile was still on her face as she walked up onto the stage and took her place across from Brooke.
“I hope you like it rough baby, cause I’m not going easy on you!”
Brooke called to her from the other side of the stage making a point to puff out his chest and flex his muscles. That set her off like a bomb, the smile disappeared and she exploded towards Brooke. I saw the exact moment that false confidence left his eyes and he actually turned to run, he was far to late and way to slow. Her first strike went low, shooting out in front of Brooke and coming back to catch his knee sending him tripping forward. He tried to regain his balance but she had no intention of letting him. Katrina swung out in front of him again, this time catching his neck with the club on its way back. That sent him flat onto his back, the club falling form his hand and rolling off the edge of the stage was the only sound in the whole coliseum. All eyes focused on Katrina as she took a breath then delivered a kick to Brooke’s ribs so hard that he went rolling off the edge, following his club. I returned her thumbs up she had given me as she rejoined the group.
Next, those of us who remained got matched up with each other. Shaoni wanted to use another one of her followers to stand in but Katrina insisted on just going twice. That meant I’d fight her and then the winner would fight John to see who the victor of the day was. As I stood across from Katrina I considered taking her advice from before, “…Just take a dive…” she had said. I thought about it, I really did, but I’d done so well earlier right? Why stop now? While I’d been thinking Katrina had walked up to me and started to swing. I had just enough time to realize my mistake before she cracked me across the head so hard she knocked me out.
I came to an hour later, alone on an animal skin cot. I was still in the coliseum but everyone else had left apparently. The only thing I saw when I got up from the ground was the torchlight illuminating the passage that lead back outside. That and the note scribbled on a scrap of a sticky note taped to my fore head.
“I told you to take a dive.”
Well at least she might feel bad about knocking me out. I figured we must be done for the day given how dead the camp seemed when I emerged back into the light. With nothing better to do, I walked off towards the forest to clear my head. I wondered what Bianca had been up to since I’d been gone as I aimlessly wandered around the forest’s edge.
“No that wouldn’t work! We don’t know what’s up there and we are not just waltzing in through the front gates!”
Stein yelled at me as I went over my most recent idea for breaking Keith out of whatever trials were going on out by the old mine. It had been two days since I watched him get kidnapped in front of me and I was getting drastic, aaaannd maybe a little dramatic.
“But I could do it guys! Remember back at the reservation? Those guys were willing to do anything for me and there can’t be that many guards in one place. Maybe I just convince a small group to lead us in and make an excuse for us.”
“For the last time Bianca, They’re just about cultists far as I can tell. You ain’t gonna be able to fight the kinda conviction they have to that bird, even if ya could its to much of a risk.”
Tuck protested from his seat at the kitchen table.
The kitchen table had become our war room over the past few days. A map of Eagles Peak Frank had made lay across it with dozens of pins stuck in around where the old mine would be.
“I don’t think an approach from the front is a good idea at all. You and Keith got to the mine through the forest once. Could we follow that path, approach without anyone knowing we were there?”
Stein theorized as he paced back and forth at the head of the table.
“Well, we really just wandered around for a bit and ended up there. We didn’t find the mine either, it was a hole that lead down to an old cavern near the mine. They turned out to be connected but that was just dumb luck.”
I explained to the group. Tuck looked like that had given him an idea.
“So you two got some backdoor entrance figured out that you’re only just tellin’ me about? That could be perfect! The four of us could make our way out and drop through that hole, take em all by surprise!”
Tuck exclaimed, leaping to his feet. His enthusiasm was nice but it wasn’t going to be that easy.
“We… kinda made a bit of a scene when we were there, they might be watching for something like that to happen again.”
“True, but it’s the best entrance strategy I’ve heard so far, I think following up on it is worth a try.”
Frank added with a nod. Stein then started pacing up and down the length of the table for a bit. He was coming up with something, that much was obvious.
“So we’ll enter through this hole leading into a cave connected to the old mine. From what you told us about your time there its some sort of staging area for these trials, at least that’s my best guess. Odds are there won’t be many people there overnight so we make our way out there during the night. From there we move through the cave and into the mine but after that we know nothing about what we’re running into.”
Stein lectured to his audience.
“But I think we have a solution for that. Frank do we still have that drone?”
An hour later the four of us were gathered at the edge of town on that path Keith and I had taken into the forest. The trees growing together forming a sort of arch over our head’s were unsettling but I couldn’t decide why. It just didn’t sit well with me, it looked unnatural I guess and that just gave me the creeps. I get that’s rich coming from a literal succubus but its how I felt.
“Alright, just watch the trees as you take it up, I don’t want a repeat of Missouri.”
Stein instructed Frank as he got the drone in the air.
“You’re never going to let me live that down are you?”
Frank chuckled, shaking his head.
“It was the first time we used this thing, there was bound to be a few unexpected variables.”
“If you call “unexpected variables” an itchy finger on the throttle. We had to have Rocco untangle it from the branches.”
Stein joked as he checked to make sure the drones camera was feeding back into the app on his phone.
I hadn’t seen them like this, being friendly with each other. There was never a time where they hated each other or anything like that but they’d been so… business like with for a long time now. It was nice to see them act like real people again. Leaning over Stein’s shoulder I got a birds eye view from the drone.
“ Just go East, its what we did. Just walked East till we stumbled into everything.”
Frank followed my advice and flew the drone due East. Eventually a campsite came into view, there were a bunch of tepees and a bunch of people just walking around.
“What, they just look normal?!”
I blurted out, a little louder and a bit more distressed than I meant to.
“How’re they supposed ta look then?”
Tuck asked
“They’re just people like you n’ me. Nothin to special about em other than the fact they worship some big ass bird.”
He continued with mild annoyance.
“I don’t know, I guess I expected these creepy guys in tarps, like from Keith’s story. These are just… well they’re just people!”
I responded, Throwing my arms out to my sides in exasperation. Tuck was right, I shouldn’t have expected everything to be just as Keith had said. Still, something just didn’t fit together for me about that whole thing. What had the deal been with those people in Imalone then? I shook my head, clearing the question from my mind, it wasn’t important now.
“There! That’s the entrance to the old mine.”
Tuck told Stein as he looked at screen. I looked over myself and felt my entire being freeze. It was Brooke, walking out from the entrance with some bitchy looking girl and two older guys that I’d seen around town before. How could he be here? After all this time why, why was he anywhere near me?
My vision swam, when it came back Frank was standing in front of me. His mouth was moving but I couldn’t hear anything.
“…anca! Are you ok, what’s going on? Bianca!”
I finally heard over the sudden ringing in my ears.
“Him.”
Was the only thing the escaped my lips as I pointed one finger at the screen. I felt warmth coming back into my limbs as that frozen feeling slowly left me.
“He’s here…. Shouldn’t be here… why.”
I mumbled to myself as Frank helped me into the back of the SUV twenty minutes later. I was still nearly catatonic as we headed back into town.
“So… that was him, the one you were running from when we found you.”
Stein said, breaking the silence that had fallen. I could talk normally again but I still only managed a quick “yes”.
“You know you don’t have to come with us, I’d understand.”
Frank said, snapping me to attention again.
“NO! I’ve got to help Keith, I don’t care if… if Brooke’s up there too.”
I tripped over my words just mentioning his name.
“I can do it, I can do this Frank, please.”
I begged, taking deep breaths to try and calm myself down. We pulled into the driveway before Frank said anything back. As we were all getting out he muttered something under his breath. He didn’t mean for me to hear him but I did.
“I’m not sure you can girl.”
I went straight up to my room after that, I didn’t want to be around anyone. All I caught before I left Frank, Stein, and Tuck before running up the stairs was the hard look Stein shot both of them. A look that said “We need to talk” and told me that he finally had a real plan. I spent the rest of that night thinking about the past and what I’d been through. Could I go out to that mine and rescue Keith if I had to face Brooke again? The last time I’d seen him had been as I leapt out of a moving car as my eyes turned to meet his one last time, rolling down that hill to freedom. I’d never seen him since and it was rare for him to even cross my mind. I wanted to go with the rest of them but despite what I said I really wasn’t sure I could do this anymore. Eventually I just decided only time would tell, hopefully Stein’s plan was a good one and we could put this whole thing behind us.
“Ey! Ey Keith!”
Someone yelled out as I came back from my little hike around the edge of the forest. My eyes darted around behind me before they finally focused on a rustling bush. Rocco jumped out of it holding a cigar in his mouth.
“That Brooke asshole hasn’t gone anywhere, I found him out by that trail the trucks drove in on with this.”
He said, tossing the cigar up in the air where it twirled around before he caught it in his mouth again.
“I figured I should frisk him just in case. I took a bite of his pants and stole this little number out of his coat pocket.”
He continued, shaking a silver lighter with a gold inlayed image of a lion in his paw.
“Oh and the cigar, I took that too. Cuban so the guy’s got taste, still a prick. Anyways, it looked like someone got to him before me. The guy was pretty beaten up, had some nasty bruises.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was just trying to picture Brooke getting mugged by a raccoon In my head and I burst out laughing. Rocco walked back to the camp in toe with me, only stopping to look up at some weird buzzing sound we both heard above us. Probably some rickety old plane or something way up there. I think I was finally starting to get why Frank and Stein had kept Rocco around. He may be a furry criminal mastermind but when he was motivated he could actually be really helpful. I never would’ve been able to keep any sort of tabs on Brooke without his help.
We made our way back to the long tent that still had remnants of lunch sitting on the table. Usually I would’ve tried to hide Rocco but at this point I figured he deserved the free food. Plus I just didn’t want to argue with him after getting my shit rocked most of the morning. Someone walked up behind me and I heard Shaoni’s voice, of course she was creeping up behind me again.
“Your feeling alright after today I hope?”
She asked me, taking a seat next to me.
“I’ll be alright, I’m sure I’ll have a killer headache in the morning but I’ll manage.”
“Good, good. We’ll be gathering in a few hours so I can announce the final trial. I expect you out by the entrance to the mine by 6.”
“What’s the matter? No cryptic questions this time Shaoni?”
I asked, paying no mind to what was sitting next to me.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you always stop by to check in after these trials. You don’t have any questions this time?”
“No, Katrina was the victor today, there is no question about that, the woman is… brutal. I just wanted to make sure she didn’t hit you to hard, you were unconscious for some time.”
She answered, some genuine concern slipping into her voice again.
“Heh careful, I might start to think you actually care.”
I joked, less nervous than I should’ve been.
“I’ll see you tonight with the rest for the announcement.”
She said with a deep sigh, standing up and walking off toward where ever she came from.
I took a nap and just barely managed to wake up in time for this “meeting” Shaoni had planned. I couldn’t find Rocco before I left but I wasn’t all that concerned about that anymore. When I got to the entrance a massive bonfire was lit and Shaoni stood alone in front of it. Robert and John were already there and Katrina showed up a little after me. Brooke hadn’t arrived before Shaoni started her speech.
“I thank all of you for coming here tonight. Regrettably one of you is missing but I won’t be waylaid by his absence.”
She spoke with clear annoyance in her voice.
“Tomorrow marks your final trial, the most important of the three. The trial of justice. Tomorrow there will be a murder in Eagles Peak. I want you all to work together to stop it. Then, succeed or fail, pass judgment on those involved in the murder. Afterwards I will select which among you will receive my gift. But for tonight, talk amongst yourselves, plan, and rest. Prepare yourselves for tomorrow, I will have my eye on each of you.”
With that Shaoni stepped away from the fire and into the night. Not accepting any questions about anything she had said.
“What do you think she has planned?”
Robert asked me as I took a seat by the bonfire to think over everything Shaoni had said.
“I don’t know, a murder apparently. Shouldn’t you know more about it? You’re one of her followers after all.”
I said as I turned my head to see John walking off into the night. That man was weird, really weird. I knew next to nothing about him and he seemed to never speak.
“Usually sure, but she hasn’t said anything to us about this. It’s why she hasn’t directly overseen all the trials, she’s set this last one up all on her own. I guess there’s nothing to do but wait, we’re all in this together for the first part of the trial I guess.”
Robert explained, leaning back and sprawling out on the ground. He was right, there wasn’t much we could do until we were in the middle of it.
I looked around, searching for Katrina in the firelight. I found her leaning against the rocky wall that made up the entrance of the mine. I stood up, leaving Robert to relax and made my way over.
“How’s the head?”
She asked, feigning taking a swing at me again with an evil grin on her face.
“I told you to take a dive.”
“Yeah, I should’ve listened.”
I admitted, rubbing the goose egg that had formed on my head over the course of my nap.
“So what do you thin about this last trial?”
“Well, I can say that If that Brooke guy tries flirting with me one more time the murder won’t be that hard to solve. Seriously though, I think she’s gone off the deep end. How does she know there’s going to be a murder?”
Katrina made a really good point, how was Shaoni so sure?
“That’s… hmmmm, you’re right.”
“Well I’m gonna head to bed then. Something tells me tomorrow is gonna be a headache. Just try to stay out of my way when we’re all forced to work together and you should be fine. All goes well and maybe we’ll be out of here tomorrow, I know I will.”
Katrina said as she pushed herself off the rock wall she’d been leaning against. Something about the way she said that last part, it made me think she was up to something. Like she was leaving no matter what or she had some sort of exit strategy.
As I left Robert relaxing by the fire and hiked back to my own tepee for the night I spied Katrina. She had climbed up a tree and had her legs wrapped around the trunk and one of her arms gripped a branch above her. There was some kind of box in her other hand, a radio maybe. I had no idea what she was saying, she was too far off, but it had to mean something. As far as I knew none of us had any contact with the outside world since we got here. My gut feeling was that she wasn’t meant to be doing that. I wasn’t going to bother her at this point though so I went my own way and settled down for the night.

Previous Part
“I knew it, I knew he’d pull something like that!”
Was the only thought running through my head as I watched Keith get forced into the truck outside. I was scared for Keith and I was angry, that kind of anger you feel in the pit of your stomach. Not at Keith though, my fury was directed at myself for freezing again. I just sat in the window and watched him get taken. Headache or not I should’ve done something, anything! Instead I just sat there and watched, powerless as always. My first instinct was to go running back home, maybe Frank and Stein could help somehow. Imagine my surprise when I walked in the door and they were looking for me. Well maybe I wasn’t to surprised, I hadn’t told them I didn’t plan on coming back home when I left yesterday.
“Bianca! We were just going to come looking for you, Keith had this idea and… are you alright?”
Frank asked, concern covering his face like a shadow. I must’ve looked like a mess, and the hot wet feeling on my face told me I’d started crying at some point on my way over as well.
“Are you ok? Did something happen?”
Frank repeated in his best fatherly voice. I could barley stammer out the words.
“Keith… gone… they took him.”
My babbling was enough though, realization shown on both their faces. Stein said something to Frank that I couldn’t hear then they nodded to each other.
“He was almost spot on with the timing. Well we best start getting around to do our part then.”
Stein said in his usual uncaring and mildly haughty manner. I don’t know why but it really boiled my blood this time. Keith was gone and he’s just moving on with things?
“Does no-one care about what just happened?! We agreed to look out for him and what did we do? Nothing!”
I screamed at no-one in particular. Those two just gave me a look like I was a misbehaving child.
“We’ve done what we could Bianca, besides Keith is the one who suggested what we’re about to do next.”
Frank stated, in an even and calm tone that made me stop and realize how ridiculous I was acting. Freaking out wouldn’t get us anywhere, even though I really wanted to. So I took a deep breath and stepped back for a second to collect myself.I hated to admit it but in a way their cold, calculating, order of operations approach would probably help here. Those two would never crack under pressure like me. While they didn’t talk about it, I’m sure they’d seen far worse working with the government.
Stein was rushing around looking for car keys when I came back into the kitchen. Frank however, stopped what he was doing to come over to me. I held up my hand to stop him when he opened his mouth to say something.
“No, you don’t have to try and convince me, I’ll come with you. What was Keith’s plan anyways? What did he put you guys up to?”
I asked, much calmer than before but still a little on edge. I couldn’t help but to feel at least a little responsible for what happened to Keith. I know it wasn’t my fault but I came with him for a reason. As much fun as last night had been I wasn’t taking it seriously. I should’ve stayed up to watch for Shaoni, maybe looked around for something she left when she was there before. Regardless, I had to be better next time.
“Keith thought that maybe someone from the reservation a little while outside town may have heard legends about Shaoni. She’s the Thunderbird, that’s an important figure in their stories and legends. Being so close to where she had been sleeping for years he thought there might be a connection. So he asked us to go out and ask around.”
Stein answered me before Frank had a chance to, walking into the room and tossing a jacket my way.
“And put this on, its cold out there.”
It was actually funny how often Stein tried to care and actually came off as so much colder. Almost like he was doing it because he had to, not because he actually cared about me.
“Don’t mind him, he’s just stressed with everything going on lately.”
Frank explained, trying to comfort me. He was right of course, but it didn’t change the fact that it still rubbed me the wrong way.
Ten minutes later I was in the car headed out toward the reservation. It wasn’t a very eventful ride and the pine trees didn’t make for great scenery, I’d seen it all before anyways. Frank and Stein were quiet the whole time and we couldn’t find Rocco before we left. Part of me wondered where he was and part of me didn’t want to know. This gave my mind time to wander and I found myself thinking my life before meeting Frank and Stein. It was weird, I usually tried not to think about it at all but something had brought those memories roaring back. Probably due to Keith asking about it the other day. No-one ever seemed to care about that, my past that is. Every now and then I’d get bored and wander around town. Someone might come up to me and talk but not like Keith did. The only real questions they asked were usually something along the lines of “What’re you doing tonight?” And other variations of that. They were usually looking for something I had no interest in. Sometimes it wasn’t entirely their choice to talk to me. I’d just use my powers simply to have a conversation with someone. Keith actually cared about me though, at least I think so.
A loud honk broke me out of my trance, we had arrived on the reservation. The improvised trailer park we’d arrived in wasn’t much to look at. A dog or two ran around the cluttered ground, free from any sort of leash. An older car missing most of the front end sat raised on a few blocks of concrete. The trailers themselves were run down and rusted. Despite the sorry sight of the place three men sat around a fire, laughing and generally having a great time. The trio looked up as we walked over, recognition passing over their faces. We must’ve looked out of place here in our shiny SUV and Frank and Stein’s three piece suits. Those two were always overdressed when they went out. The only place they fit in was the lab and they seemed more than fine with that.
“Stein! Is that you?”
Exclaimed the man on the left, standing to meet us. He looked happy to see Stein, though I had never seen the guy before in my life. Which meant he must’ve been a friend from before I knew Stein.
“My friend! How have you been? Have you had any difficulties with your… condition.”
Stein replied, cutting his eyes at the other two men like he didn’t trust them.
“They know old friend, no need to beat around the bush here.”
He had to have some supernatural abilities, that’s the only way Stein knew anyone. The question was, what was he?
The man’s name was Sam, Frank told me as we joined the men at the fire. I asked him for more, like what he meant by condition but he wouldn’t budge. Condition usually meant supernatural but a lot of them just looked like normal people. I’m sure everyone has some picture of a succubus in their head and I’m… not that. So I couldn’t even begin to guess at what Sam’s “condition” was.
“So what brings you out here Stein? I hate to say it, but I never expected to see you again.”
Sam said, trying to be as friendly as possible while ultimately telling Stein he didn’t really want him here. He didn’t feel nervous, that much I sensed for sure. No, it was fear that drove him to try and push Stein away, but what did he have to be afraid of?
“I assure you I’ll be gone before I overstay my welcome. I just have a few questions I’d like answers to. It’s entirely possible that you know nothing as well, in which case I’ll be gone even sooner. But you wouldn’t lie to me just to see me gone, now would you?”
Stein almost threatened, some of the friendliness slipping out of his voice. There was more going on here than what I could see or even sense. I’ve got a really good sense of what people are feeling at any given time but the context of those feelings can get lost on me. Sam was feeling fear, way too much fear for the situation. Maybe he knew what Stein was going to ask but I couldn’t tell for sure. I looked to the two scientists, cutting my eyes from Frank to Stein trying to see if they wanted me to step in and calm them down.
“Stein… I can’t… if she knew I talked to you she’d come here. The things I’ve done… what you helped me stop doing. She wouldn’t see it that way if she came here… she would…”
Sam blubbered out, completely losing his composure before Stein raised a hand and cut him off.
“She? You mean Shaoni, we’re aware of what’s going on. We still do have some questions about her though, ones I hope you have answers to.”
At the mention of her name all three men shot up, so I stepped forward. Frank protested but he was to slow to stop me. It’s difficult to describe how I can make people do what I want, these days I just kind of will it to happen and it does. I can force an emotion, or a feeling onto someone else by imagining it myself and projecting it onto them. Frank and Stein think it has something to do with pheromones my body produces. These pheromones can induce certain emotions or feelings if I want them too. In this case I wanted these men to feel tired, cooperative, compliant, and that’s just what they became. Just as soon as they tried to stand they buckled to their knees. I was pushing a little to hard so I eased up a bit, I didn’t want to just put them to sleep or something. Sam got back to his feet and sat down in his chair as the others did the same.
“I’d like to know about Shaoni, The full story, as much as you know.”
I commanded more than asked Sam as he just nodded towards me, a vacant look in his eyes.
“Where should I start exactly little lady?”
Sam asked me, his tone a mix of nervous and compliant.
“I want to know what you know about her, all of it, then we’ll go.”
I answered, trying to ignore the looks Frank and Stein were giving me. They knew I was taking a risk, he didn’t want to share what he knew so I was forcing it out of him. He wanted to tell me now but it wasn’t really “him”. I was in his head, and while he wasn’t going to fight me on anything now, I was sure a part of him was screaming deep down. Fighting desperately to keep his mouth shut to avoid the consequences of telling me anything. I tried not to think about what I was doing to him as Sam began his story.
“Well to start her name wasn’t always Shaoni, It’s hard to keep one name when you’ve lived as long as her. Her name meant “Stormcaller” as near as it translates to your language. She was an elder in a long forgotten tribe in what you know as Canada today. She was renowned for her ability to over see trials and solve debates among her people, always able to set right apart from wrong. The exact name and place of her tribe have been lost to the ages but I do know that it was wiped out. As the story goes the tribe met its end at the hands of “explorers”, all save for Stormcaller were killed. She fled far into the forests and eventually stumbled upon four spirits, the original Thunderbirds. At this time they were still great spirits, created by Nanabozho. Those spirits took pity on Stormcaller, allowing her to live with them in the four corners of the world. With them she learned many things, how to fight, how to think as only a spirit can, and most of all she sharpened her already formidable sense of justice. That need to see justice done, and the proper sense to see what was right from what was wrong is what lead the chief of the Thunderbird spirits to bind itself to her, giving her the powers she’s said to have today, letting her exist as spirit and man made one.
The other Thunderbird spirits eventually followed this example, choosing representatives of their own, each representing an Ideal: Courage, so that our people would never falter in the face of adversity. Solidarity, so that, divided as they may be at times our people were one at heart. Duty, so that our people would never forget their place in the world and the customs and traditions we upheld. Finally there was Justice to lead them all, so that no wrong would be left to stand, and so that one among the ideals would keep the rest in check. These four formed a council that watched over our people for many years.
As imperialism grew in the world and more crimes were committed against their people this council became more and more warlike. Often Stormcaller, now simply known as Justice spearheaded these actions. She sought to right the wrongs committed against her people and hold all responsible accountable for their actions. In accordance with her duties as the embodiment of justice for our people. This war of hers would prove to be her downfall, every day her sense of justice became more absolute, more black and white. She stopped consulting the council to help guide her decisions, believing she and she alone knew what was best for her people and fellow ideals. One thing that changed when the Thunderbird spirits bound themselves was their immutability. As a spirt nothing could harm them, they were eternal, they were and always would be. But once they had become one with a man they could be ended, They would live forever but man’s mortality meant they could be killed unlike before. Something Justice would learn for herself in time.
As her warlike nature grew, Justice began to involve the ideals in open conflict with those who sought to take their peoples land and desecrate their way of life. Eventually Solidarity fell in battle, and those who saw him fall learned of the greater forces at play. These people sought to learn the truth of the power the had seen from Solidarity and doubled their intrusions into sacred land, searching for answers. Suddenly the hunters had become the hunted, perhaps if Justice had not clung so tightly to her convictions everything would’ve ended differently. Instead Justice doubled down on her pursuit to right every wrong she could lay her eyes upon, spurred on by the death of Solidarity. Eventually Courage fell and so to did Duty, only hardening Justice’s resolve. It was only when she revealed herself to her people one day and they fled from her, afraid of what she would do. Afraid that they to had committed some wrong that she sought to right in her own violent way. This reception forced Justice to realize what she had allowed herself to become. Justice had become Vengeance, lost in anger for wrongs she could never hope to right she had lost herself, becoming something else entirely.
She shed her name, her duties, her people and disappeared into the world. Watching what would come for her people broke her. She had lost what she sought to guide and guard, let the people the Thunderbird spirits sought to protect so long ago fall to ruin. Her need to see justice done never left her, but what was once a raging inferno became nothing more than a spark. If she came across one that had escaped justice, hidden their tracks or found a way out she would know. She would right the smaller wrongs of the world in her own way, stoking what remained of the flame within and finding her own purpose in the world. Eventually she would take on a new name, Shaoni, why I do not know but it is what she choose. Her sense of justice was still absolute, she saw no shades of grey just right and wrong. But the scale of her judgment was reduced, no longer would she try and right every wrong the world had to offer but only those she could reach. The world is a dark place though, and sometimes a lesser evil can ease pain. Shaoni didn’t see lesser evil as something she could abide and so her judgements often left more pain in their place. She grew weary of her pursuit once again, seeing how little she had changed and how much pain she had brought. She chose to settle down and remove herself from the world. Shaoni would never be able to die, not from the passing of time. She could remove herself from the equation in a cave not to far from where we stand now.”
Sam’s story hurt to listen too, in some ways it only seemed like Shaoni did what she thought was right. Yet time and time again she failed to see shades of grey, and that cost her everything. It made me think of who I was years ago in a way, not that I was some all powerful spirit thing like her but still. What would Shaoni think of the person I was? How would she judge me for my actions before I meet Frank and Stein? I certainly wasn’t a saint, but did that mean I couldn’t be better? I shook my head, now wasn’t the time to think of things like that. I stopped forcing Sam to answer my question, leaving him to his own devices. There was always some lingering effects after I… did my thing. I’m not sure how exactly it felt for them but I don’t imagine it was pleasant. Realizing you weren’t really in control of yourself has a way of causing issues for a person. Sam seemed to be shaking it off pretty well though, I’d seen worse things happen after I’d finished with someone, like Keith losing hours of time sitting in the kitchen. Playing with emotions can cause stress in the brain, especially since I’m forcing an emotion or feeling on them. More than once I’d seen someone left with uncontrollable swings in mood or a complete lack of emotion or feeling of any sort because of me. I hopped that wasn’t going to happen again here.
“Bianca what was that!”
Frank complained, finally breaking free of the spell the situation had cast over him. He ran over to the other two men that hadn’t gotten up from their chairs like Sam. Worry crashed over me like a wave as I realized why Frank sounded so concerned. One of the men was seizing on the ground, his body shaking violently as spasms coursed through him, had I done that? Sam was in a blissfully ignorant sate, he just sat in his chair watching the fire, unaware of what was happening to his friend. Frank and Stein leapt into action, holding the seizing man on the ground. Stein pulled off his belt and placed it in the mans mouth, trying to keep him from biting himself. My eyes were fixed on the third man who lay motionless on the ground. I took small steady steps toward him, hoping against hope that I could find a pulse. As I got closer I realized his chest was rising and falling. He was alive but who knew what he was going through right now. I felt distant, Frank was yelling something at me but I didn’t catch a word. I had to do it right? I had to make them tell us what they knew, it could help Keith right?
“What did you do to them?”
Sam asked me, apparently free of the aftereffects of my influence. I snapped my head to the side and watched him take a threatening step towards me. I backed away, afraid he might do something rash. I shouldn’t have done that, Stein could’ve convinced them on his own.
“What did you do to them? What’s wrong with them?”
Sam asked again, his voice growing more desperate. Stein picked that moment to appear at my side.
“Sam they’ll be ok just give them a minute. She didn’t mean to hurt you or your friends, just let it go. I’m helping her the same way I helped you, she’s not always in control.”
Sam softened a little bit at that but he was still wary of me. What Stein said was a lie, I had control of my abilities most of the time these days but Sam didn’t know that. Frank walked over to where we were standing with a relieved look on his face.
“They’ll be alright, they just need rest. What about you, are you feeling alright Sam?”
Frank asked, nodding towards him. Sam didn’t answer but it was plain to see he was doing far better than his friends.
“I’d like you all to leave.”
Sam ordered, putting his metaphorical foot down. Whatever favor he owed Stein didn’t matter anymore, he wanted us out. People were beginning to come out of some of the other trailers, gawking at the scene in front of them. As the three of us were leaving Sam said one more thing,
“Stein, this makes us even.”
He growled in an even but angry tone. You could just tell he was staring daggers at us the whole way back to the SUV. I turned back for a moment and I could’ve sworn his skin was wriggling and changing. Like he was just barley holding back something. What concerned me even more was what he felt, not anger or worry, but fear.
The ride back was less than pleasant. You know that feeling when you’ve done something wrong but no one really wants to address it yet? Yeah, that’s what was going on here, the air was practically electric.
“We needed him to talk…”
Stein cut me off immediately, shouting,
“Sometimes you don’t need to help! Look… I know you meant well but you can hurt people with that power of yours. I’ve never seen it that bad before but then again you’ve never done it to a group of people that long. Who knows what longterm consequences it might have. Just… be more careful in the future.”
Stein wasn’t as angry as he tried to appear, part off him was even relived, maybe because I had been the one to handle the situation instead of him.
“I know, I know its just… Keith is stuck out there at that mine with her, I couldn’t leave with nothing.”
I agreed, He was right, it was a risk but how could I have just let it be? No-one else was going to look out for him so that fell on us now. As much as I hated having to force things out of people I was good at it, really good. Despite how I felt about what I could do to people that was the easiest way to get Sam to speak back there.
“Where did this whole drive to help Keith come from anyways? A few days ago you talk him into watching the house and throw some money, our money, at him for the trouble. I’ve seen you do that a few times before with others so you could come with us when we went to stock up on things. Regardless of our misgivings surrounding your methods. So it didn’t go that well this time and he found out about you and us. Something like that was bound to happen eventually. What I can’t picture is why you go out of your way to help him. I don’t personally have any issue with you jumping to his defense. Its not too hard to understand why someone would, considering his situation. But for you, well it seems out of character for you.”
Frank chimed in with a question of his own. I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it hurt to see him so surprised that I’d consider helping another person.
I never answered Frank’s question, I thought about it a lot the rest of the way back though. Why was I so intent on helping Keith? All my life I’d done things just to survive, even when I was really young I had to find a way to get by on my own. Sure I had my mother but she had her hands full with her own life. She didn’t have much after my father left and did everything she could to make ends meet. I just tried to stay out of her way and help where I could. I never complained when she forgot to make dinner, or when there just wasn’t food around the house. I’d just go without or take what I needed from someone else. Even back then I knew it was wrong but I always had looks on my side. Combine that with pity and not a lot of people would say no to the cute hungry kid. After Brooke, I only had myself and I just kept doing what I needed to. This was different though, I didn’t have to help Keith but I wanted to help him all the same. I didn’t get around town much and I always felt like I just existed around Frank and Stein. With Keith I wasn’t just this thing lying around the house, I was a person, a friend even. That was it, the first time it really clicked for me, Keith was my friend, not because I had wanted him to be or because I made him think he was. No, he was actually there for me and it was all his choice. I didn’t have to puppet him around myself, he actually wanted to be there. I didn’t have to wonder if it was just me and everything I could do pulling him in. For the first time in years someone had actually cared enough to ask about me, Frank and Stein never really did because they knew how much it hurt. Keith didn’t know how much it hurt to talk about but still. I needed to actually talk about all that happened to me with someone who listened for real.
Coming to that realization only made me want to do something stupid. Like run up to that mine and try to get Keith out of there myself. But that’s exactly what it was, stupid. If we wanted to get Keith back we’d need something better than just me. We’d need a real plan, one I’d just started thinking of. There was something else eating at me to. Keith had offered to take some burden from Shaoni back in Imalone, I had an idea what it might be and it scared me. If I was right well, Keith was in more danger than we all thought.
When we pulled back into the driveway Tuck was waiting at the door.
“Where’ve Y’all been?! I been lookin’ for ya damn near all afternoon! Somein’ happened o’re at Keith’s place, He’s gone. I cain’t find that “lab assistant” of yours neither.”
Tuck said hurriedly, his southern accent that he usually tried to hide seeping out into his words.
“We know, it was those trials he told us about. I presume he told you as well then?”
Stein informed him as he got out of the car and marched towards the door, barely making eye contact. Stein had an idea, I could read it all over him. He got this way when he was away from home and wanted too test something, once he was back there was no standing between him and his lab.
“Yeah, the kid told me something like that. Would explain where all those people were goin’ to. Couple of the regulars in town, ones I know look up to that damn bird, left this morning headin’ towards the old mines.”
Tuck spoke to no one in particular, nodding to himself as if to check off the fact that Keith disappearing and people leaving town were two related things.
“Why don’t you come in then, you might be able to help out with the situation. We just learned a few things about this… “damn bird” of yours. I really would’ve appreciated if you told us about that years ago. Perhaps you’d like to tell us what you know of the Thunderbird in the lab?”
Stein ordered rather than asked, pointing to the door for no more than a moment before continuing on his march to the basement. Frank and I filed in after them but I didn’t join them in the lab.
I looked around the house for Rocco but couldn’t find a trace. It wasn’t like him not to leave some trail of destruction in his wake. Well hidden or not, we usually found evidence of whatever he was up to but this time there was nothing. I had no clue where he’d gotten off to, maybe I was better off not knowing. After I gave up I joined the others in the basement, to their surprise I actually had decided to make an appearance. Frank and Stein were a little rattled at first but soon went back to their work. Tuck just beamed at me proudly, like he knew something I didn’t. We set about comparing notes on Shaoni, and separating fact from fiction based on Frank and Stein’s many years working with the supernatural. It was… nice, in a family bonding kind of way. Keith had brought us all together, gave these scientist a new problem to solve. Gave Tuck a chance for some kind of justice for the friends he’d lost in the mine collapse all those years ago. For me, he’d brought me together with the family I’d fallen in with. Strange as they were, this was my family, or at least the closest thing I had to it. I had to help, not just for Keith but for them. I’d been a burden, scared to go outside, hateful of what I could do despite using it to make life easier for myself. Worst of all I’d been stuck in my own head, I’d gone through awful things, done awful things, used my body and my charm to get through life. I’d been every bit as evil as Brooke had been to me. I did everything he’d done to me to others, only it was so much easier for me to do it. I hate myself for it, maybe I always would, but I couldn’t let that stop me now. I had to set all that aside and be there for the people in my life, I had to be a person again, not just hope everyone would treat me like one.

Invasive Callery pear trees crowd out our native tree species and wildflowers.

Left unchecked they can dominate forest understories. Their rapid spread also endangers the food source of native birds. Ohio has gone as far as banning them. In Bloomington, they are disallowed in new developments by the City's Unified Development Ordinance (UDO).

Identifying Callery Pear

Cultivars of Callery pear trees go by many common names such as Cleveland Select, Autumn Blaze among others. All are invasive.
Learn to identify them and watch a video from WTIU about why they are such a problem in Monroe County. The video thumbnail is worth the click alone 🤪: https://www.mc-iris.org/callery-pear-aka-bradford-pear.html

Free Replacement Tree

MC-IRIS offers a free replacement tree when you remove a Callery pear from your landscape.

"Remove a Callery pear that's over 2" diameter from your landscaping and you can choose from one of six native trees".

Upload a picture of the removed tree to qualify. Apply here: https://www.mc-iris.org/reduce-invasive-species-challenge.html
As of this writing, the replacement trees offered are:

• Allegheny serviceberry
• American hornbeam
• Redbud
• Pagoda dogwood
• Black gum
• Shumard oak

Discounts for Callery Pear Removals

Bluestone Tree offers increasing discounts based on the number of Callery pear trees removed. https://bluestonetree.com
1 tree - save 15% 2-5 trees - save 25% 6-10 trees - save 30% 11-30 trees - save 35% Over 30 trees - save 40%

FINISH HIM!!

In this Kombat with invasives, the job isn't done until the stump is dealt with. Callery pear regrows vigorously from cut stems and stumps, so it's important to use a cut stump herbicide before striking that flawless victory pose.

Below is a quick review on my trip on Wots, it was amazing and we loved it, the crew was the best and we met new friends along the way
Day1 - Saturday
Landed Gate C, MCO waited a good 40 minutes for our bags, called hotel for complimentary shuttle and waited 5 min at the curb, checked into courtyard Marriott in Orlando, walked to dinner at TGIF headed back to bed early.

Day2 – Sunday boarding day
Breakfast at hotel. Uber to port Canaveral $68 after tip. Handed bags to porter and walked onboard. Waited in line to book our 3-day dinner package. Picked up our free cups. Free bracelet. Solarium for lunch. Got drinks. Explored the ship, found front spot I solarium for sendoff. Went to room received 1 luggage at 3pm but state room attendant found our other bag for us. Waited in room till 5 PM dinner in MDR. Good food. Guest service to fix reservation time. Solarium pool and hot tub all night.

Day3 – Monday CocoCay
Woke up and looked out window to see Celebrity Beyond already docked (beautiful Ship). Windjammer breakfast. Packed bag and put on Bathing suits, walked to S beach. Swam to bar. Hung out on sandbar. Had lunch (birds were crazy). Headed to ship early (ship was empty). Solarium pools. Table Tennis. Showered watched send off from room with ship-to-ship horn battle. Dinner at 5 pasta night. Bought tampons in store ($8 for 10 cardboard tubes). Hung at park listened to jazz, 3 drinks at trellis bar. Attic for adult comedy. Bed

Day4 – Tuesday Sea Day
Boardwalk Cafe. Johny rockets for pancakes. Hangout aft jogging track to watch the waves. Walked to room. Solarium hot tubs pool. Lunch MDR. Walked Ship. Alpha Alpha Call. The Abyss. Room. Solarium for drinks and people watch. Nap. Jazz in park, 150 Central Park for Dinner. Food was delicious smaller portions FRIED CHEESECAKE FTW! Bed.

Day5 – Wednesday St. Thomas
Windjammer for quick Breakfast. Solarium to watch docking process. Windjammer for lunch. Crazy taxi to Magen’s Bay. Hit the water and made friends who gave us free zinc sunscreen and drinks, also there were small jelly fish larvae that stung us the entire time. (didn’t hurt more of an annoyance). Taxi back to the ship where we showered and hung out on the balcony. Formal night and we went to Chops Grill where I had the best Fillet of my life. Bed
For taxi it was $15 a person one way and $6 pp to get into the beach. Total spent $82 with tip.

Day6 – Thursday St. Maarten
Parking Café for Breakfast and Coffee. Drank Coffee in promenade for dock in.
Then we walked to the excursion. Excursion – Captain Bobs, 15 min walk from the boat where we checked in with Captain Brett I will no spoil the excursion as there are thousands of good reviews on trip adviser, I can’t say more than good things it was worth the money as it was the highlight of the entire trip.
Shower and nap. Mason jar for dinner (not worth is IMO as it tasted like boring BBQ) Aqua Show was inTENse, awesome show, Bed

Day7 – Friday Sea Day
Sleep in. Coffee and leftover for breakfast on private balcony. Solarium to hang. Walk around ship. Every pool and hot tub is max capacity. Hear we going to Turks for a crew member emergency, all we know is that they were flown to Miami. Hangout in room afternoon and received the dreadful disembark paperwork. Dinner at MDR. We wore out bathing suits under out clothes and hit slides then the Solarium Pool as because of dinner they were EMPTY. 365 ice show which was awesome and the best show we saw. Bed

Day8 – Saturday Sea Day
Woke up to watch sunrise at 605 AM. Then slept in. Breakfast at windjammer for the hash browns. Last Rubber Duck hunt as we found 4 total all week and re hid 2 for the kids. Walked the Ship. Taste of Royal at 150, Upset that it was not wonderland as was posted. Meals were underrated and the time in between courses was 20+ min long very boring. Also, wine pairing is extra $. Took over 2 hours.
Casino to check things out. Hang out on balcony then Dinner MDR, Casino and left happy with some winnings, pool rest of the night. Hit the solarium and we were the only 2 people in the pool with a full ship, met up with new friends we made to say goodbye. Back to room to pack.

Day9 – Sunday Disembark
Woke up 545. Both showered. Breakfast at Solarium Bistro, off the boat with our bags at 730. We chose to self-disembark to not deal with the hassle of finding out bags to walked straight to GO Port to bring us back to MCO
bus left and picked more people up at Carnival Mardigras, off to MCO. By the time we got through security at gate C and relax, it was 930… flight was delayed till 4..

Some Facts-
We did have the drink package and we always had a drink in our hands.
Yes, a lot of room time as it was a good way to get away from the crowds.
This was my second cruise but first as an adult.
A lot of Solarium time to stay away from the kids so I have no complaints about them as other people have.
Food everywhere I had Sorrento’s and hot dogs whenever we passed.
I miss that blue water so
Biggest Complaint would have to the older generation, They complaint the most and were the rudest people Ive ever seen.
for MDR we had Ivan and his assistant Agus (who was on his first week) and they were amazing and made us laugh everynight.
food was good everywhere, idk why everyone complains there when i dont have to cook it and its all handed to me.
5 stars across the board

i was born and raised in central florida/orlando area and i'm ready to leave. i lived in el paso texas for 6 months when i was 15 and i LOVED it. i loved the sense of community and smaller city vibe. the condensed city compared to the horrific sprawl of orlando was so refreshing. i also moved to gainesville for 2 years for college and loved the same thing. the sense of community, the public transportation, and the smaller city vibe. i've been back in the orlando area for 2 years now and im losing my mind here.
the traffic is INSANE. it takes me an hour just to get to the other side of town. there is no real dense city center almost anywhere besides orlando and they won't stop building subdivisions. my once rural city has become a breeding ground for dollar generals and car washes. its such a bland life here, i need to be in a new community. everyone is always angry here- im tired of the hostility. i dont feel like anyone in orlando actually "likes" orlando- they were just born here and have never left. the only people that like orlando are the people who are there for the theme parks and i couldn't care less about them.
i'm 22 and most concerned with growth opportunities. i was in grad school to be a mental health counselor but didn't feel ready to have clients so i'm currently a high school substitute teacher which i love but it's only a temporary job. i know i love politics and social services but i dont know much else.
obviously affordability is a concern but i currently spend 60% of my income on rent and make things work so im okay moving somewhere with the same ratio as long as im happier in the area.
i want to move somewhere where the people feel a connection to their city and are proud of it. i want to live someplace with a bunch of community groups/activities. i don't have much to compare to but my grandma lives in seattle and tells me all about all the gatherings and events they have all across the city on almost any given day.
i dont want to move too far away from florida so im mostly considering the upper east coast with the exception of iowa lol
the places i've considered are: - des moines, iowa (SUPER affordable, smaller community vibe, but i dont think there's much room for growth or community building) - maryland - idk where, i just know i appreciate the diversity of large city (DC) and countryside (cumberland) - pennsylvania - all i know is the cost of living is better in comparison to most upper east coast states - virginia- it's pretty there? - chicago- ive heard it's walkable but idk anything else LOL
i really don't know much of anything about these places im considering moving. i was planning on moving next year but my landlord is moving back and has given me 3 months to move. i KNOW i dont want to stay in florida so im taking this as my opportunity to leap and jump into the unknown but with so little time and such little money i cant afford to travel to all of these places and rule them out myself.
please help me with any and all info you can 🥺

This is my first reddit post, although I have been a long time lurker of many subreddits. I am 23 years old and an only child. I am not a native english speaker, so please forgive any weird formatting or any spelling/grammar mistakes.
As the title states, my mom died ... and I am currently writing this to try and process this whole situation. I've tried to section all the paragraphs in chronological order, to make reading easier. Sorry for the extremely long post - I just needed to get it all out.
We only just celebrated her 60th birthday back in february. She did all the cooking, cleaning and planning without any trouble - even down to picking out the perfect napkins and flowers for her white and gold theme.
My mother was without a job. She had been jobless for almost 2 years now, after she was fired from her old cleaning job due to frequent sick days because of stomach cramps and pain. She was seen by a doctor back in 2022 for her stomach aches, and they found no physical cause - hence why we concluded it must've been due to stress. The stress and stomach pains subsided after she'd been fired. So we thought no more of it.
In march she was doing a 4-week internship in a local supermarket to see if she might've been a good fit for a permanent paid position. This is common practice for unemployeed people here in Denmark.
My mother started having stomach pains again during this internship, soon followed by back pains as well. She figured this was due to her spending most of the day sitting as a cashier in an uncomfortable position. My mother wasn't very tall, so she had trouble reaching the floor pedals that control the cashier conveyer belt.
In the beginning of april, she went to the doctor. Her stomach and back pains hadn't gone away although the internship was over. Her doctor also concluded it was most likely due to her uncomfortable working position, and that it would pass in a few weeks time. The doctor did some bloodwork, and found that she was severely lacking vitamin D, but nothing else seemed concerning at the time.
In the middle of april, her pains had only gotten worse, and she went to the doctor again. Her doctor did more bloodwork, and did a phisycal exam of my mothers stomach. Her doctor ordered a CT scan to check for anything serious.
19th of april. I accompany my mother to the hospital for her CT scan. We get told that we'll have the results in a week or so. My mother is not looking good when I pick her up at the bus station. She is more pale than usual, and has trouble walking at her usual pace.
23th of april. My mother received a referral to a meeting at the hospital with a doctor and nurse, to discuss the results of the CT scan. This referral is sent from the hospitals cancer department. My mother and I speak on the phone, she is concerned, but I tell her that this type of referral must just be standard pratice, and that she shouldn't worry untill we have spoken with the doctor. I cried that night.
25th of april. The day before her meeting with the doctor, I received a phone call from my mother. She tells me that she had fallen while at home, but that I shouldn't worry. I, of course, worry.
I pack my things and leave for my mothers house, I live an hour away by bus. When I finally arrive my mother seems okay-ish, but the house is another story. My mother is normally known for being a clean freak, and her house has always been clean and organized, But it wasn't anymore.
Her kitchen was a mess, and the dishwasher hadn't been empited or loaded for at least two weeks. Her bathroom is even worse, and I won't even begin to describe the state of the toilet it self. It is a sight that will horrify me for the rest of my life. I cleaned everything, while my mother rested.
My mother had also started sleeping on the guest bed, saying her own was too uncomfortable for her.
While cleaning the bathroom, my mother wakes up. Despite her state, she says she wants to help. But before I can even tell her no, my mother has another fall. Her legs essentially just crumble beneath her, and she falls backwards and lands head first on the floor. We argue back and forth about calling an ambulance, but she refuses to let me - so I don't, even though I should have. I guess I still respected my moms authority too much.
My mother lives alone, as my parents are divorced (they are very good friends though). My mother refuses to let me call my dad and tell him about this whole situation. She is stubborn and too proud to admit defeat.
26th of april. We take a taxi to the hospital. The taxi driver has a help my mother into the car. During the carride my mother says very little, but seems slightly delirious and very tired. When we arrive at the hospital, I quickly borrow a hospital wheelchair for my mother. She is almost unable to walk unassisted at this point.
After waiting for a while in the waiting area, a nurse comes and guides us to a meeting room. My mother is very tired at this point, and still delirious, and I have to handle most of the conversation with the doctor.
The CT scan results showed Pancreatic cancer. The cancer had already spread to her liver and abdomial cavity.
I had read about this cancer a few days prior, trying to figure out what was wrong with my mother. I knew what this meant, and I knew that it was effectively a death sentence. The doctor told us that an operation was out of the question, since the cancer had already spread. And due to the clearly weak state of my mothers health, chemo would also not be offered, as it would finish her.
I told the doctor of her two falls and the state of her home, and that she would not be safe on her own. The doctor had her admitted to a nearby bed department for stomach- and gastrointestinal surgery patients.
The hospital did a ton of bloodwork on my mother when she got admitted, and everything was off. All numbers were either too high or dangerously low. My mothers health was in fact so bad, that I was told she was a heart attack risk. I was also told that if a heart attack happened, she would not be brought back - as it would only prolong a very short and painful life.
I called my dad.
27th of april. My mother slept most of the day.
28th of april. My mother had another fall during the night, trying to get to the bathroom.
29th of april. My dad shows up to the hospital. He wasn't able to get off work until now, as he works in the other end of the country. He is shocked to see my mother in this state. We are told once again by a different doctor that nothing can be done. They are looking into getting her a spot at a nearby hospice.
The rest of the remaining week is spent in hospital. My dad and I are by my mothers side every day. She doesn't leave her hospital room, apart from a few times a day for a smoke break outside. My dad and I take her outside in a wheelchair, which she needs help to get in and out of.
Her bloodwork is showing some slight improvements, but she is still having trouble with infections and receives a lot of antibiotics. She eats like a mouse, but drinks a lot of fluids.
My mother is often very confused or tired most days. She gets referred for an MR scan, to see if the cancer has spread to her brain, or if one of her falls has caused permanent damage. Lucikly the MR scan shows that nothing is wrong with her brain.
She gets confused about her diagnosis a few times, thinking that she had brain cancer instead due to the MR scan. I have to remind her a couple times about what the doctor actually said.
6th of may. My mother seems to have stabilized somewhat so my dad has gone back to work.
7th of may. I get told by the hospital staff that my mother is to be transferred to a different hospital, which is one hour away. I become very upset by this news, and unfortunately yell at one of my mothers nurses in frustration. I yell at her that It'll be harder for me to get to my mother in time if something were to happen. I am ashamed of this childish behavior, as the transfer was the best desicion for my mother in hindsight.
I leave with my mother as we get transferred to the new hospital and their department of palliative care.
I am very ashamed by my behavior to my mothers old nurse, as this department for palliative care was truly the best place for my mother. She seemed very satisfied and happy to have been transferred. They have a large garden with wild flowers, and lovely staff. And my mother got a much bigger room all to herself. She also meets with their physical therapist, who helps my mother relieve some of her pain.
My mother and I have dinner together in the evening in her hospital room. My mom is her old self, although with some delayed speaking. I unfortunately have to rush a bit when leaving, as to not miss my bus home, so I quickly say goodbye to her and leave.
8th of may. In the morning on my way to the new hospital, I received a phone call from her new doctor. My mothers liver has suddenly started to fail due to the cancer. When I arrive, she is asleep. I am told she wont wake up again.
I called my dad, but he wont arrive until the evening, due to the distance from his workplace.
I spend most of the day in my mothers hospital room, listening to her sleep. She occasionally attempts to cough in her sleep, but it mainly just sounds like yells. It is terrifying. The nurses give her pain medication and some sleep medication to help her body relax.
My dad arrives in the late evening. We drive to my mothers house and stay the night there. We spend most of the late evening looking at pictures and scrapbooks of my mother, and packing a bag with clothes for her, for when she passes.
When prepareing the guest bed for my dad, we find a blanket that my mother slept on. It is stained, matching the previous state of the bathroom. We throw the blanket out.
9th of may. Mom is sleeping. Dad and I spend the day at the hospital, but we don't sit in her hospital room. It is too eerie and uncomfortable. We check on her occassionally. Towards the evening, her breathing becomes slightly more rapid and quick. But the nurses tell us to go home. There is no reason for us to sit by her side during the night - as it'll only make it worse for us.
10th of may. I wake at 6.12 am to my phone ringing. It is a nurse. My mother has passed away in her sleep at 6.05 that morning due to liver failure. My dad and I drive to the hospital. I am the first to see her body after the nurses prepared and dressed it in the clothing we picked.
(warning: the following paragraph may be slightly upsetting to some readers)
It it eerie and uncomfortable to see my mother like this. A symptom of pancreatic and liver cancers is that your skin will yellow. Something that I hadn't noticed in my mother till now. I cant help but think that she looks like a wax doll, although I feel horrible for thinking it. I finally touch her hand, after gathering the courage to, almost like I am afraid to distrub her. Her hands are cold, and only get colder as I sit by her side. I am supposed to say my goodbyes to her, and tell her how much she means to me, but in this moment I am speechless. I can't say anything, even on my mothers deathbed. I feels wrong to speak to a corpse. I should've said those things while she could hear them instead. I kiss her forehead before I leave the room.
17th of may. Funeral. The church and casket was beautifully decorated with colorful flowers, like my mother had requested. She didn't want anything white or depressing. I cried all the way through the funeral service, stopping only when it was time to carry the casket out. My dad on the left side, and me on the right, and some other family members behind us. Purple rain by Prince was played on the church piano as we carried the casket. I knew the casket would be heavy, but nothing prepared me for the sheer weight of that thing.
21th of may. Today. I don't really know what to think of my mothers death. Some days I almost forget that shes gone or that all this has been happening, until something reminds me of it.
In a way, I am thankful. Of course I didn't want my mother to die, but I'm glad that her suffering wasn't prolonged for months while she slowly withered away to cancer. And I'm thankful that my mother didn't live to suffer from alzheimers, like her own mother. And I am glad that if anything, my mothers death has brought my dad and I closer.
But at the same time, I am angry that she didn't get to live more of her life. She was only 60 years old, and should have had 20 more years at least. If she at least was 70, it might've been easier to lose her but I doubt it.
I think mostly of all the things she will miss out on, which saddens me the most. I am 23 and my mother wont get to see most of my life or my achivements. If I have kids, she'll never meet them, and she I get married, she'll never see it. My 24th birthday is coming up soon, and I don't know how I'll handle that day without my mother for the first time - or christmas for that matter.
I want my mom.

When i do the "flatpak update" it give the below recommendation. When I look at my installed list of qt5 packages, there are a lot. How do I get the latest Qt stable and SDK without janking my system.
user@hostname ~> flatpak update
Looking for updates…
Info: org.kde.Platform//5.15-22.08 is end-of-life, with reason:
We strongly recommend moving to the latest Qt 5.15-based stable version of the Platform and SDK
Applications using this runtime:
com.github.cubitect.cubiomes-viewer
Nothing to do.
user@hostname ~> nala list grep qt5
cyclograph-qt5 1.9.1-1.1 [Ubuntu/jammy universe]
dde-qt5integration 5.5.17-2 [Ubuntu/jammy universe]
dde-qt5integration-dbgsym 5.5.17-2 [Ubuntu/jammy universe]
└── debug symbols for dde-qt5integration
fcitx-frontend-qt5 1.2.7-1.2build1 [Ubuntu/jammy universe]
fcitx-frontend-qt5-dbgsym 1.2.7-1.2build1 [Ubuntu/jammy universe]
└── debug symbols for fcitx-frontend-qt5
fcitx5-frontend-qt5 5.0.10-1build1 [Ubuntu/jammy universe]
fcitx5-frontend-qt5-dbgsym 5.0.10-1build1 [Ubuntu/jammy universe]
└── debug symbols for fcitx5-frontend-qt5
gambas3-gb-qt5 3.16.3-3 [Ubuntu/jammy universe]
gambas3-gb-qt5-dbgsym 3.16.3-3 [Ubuntu/jammy universe]
└── debug symbols for gambas3-gb-qt5
gambas3-gb-qt5-ext 3.16.3-3 [Ubuntu/jammy universe]
gambas3-gb-qt5-ext-dbgsym 3.16.3-3 [Ubuntu/jammy universe]
└── debug symbols for gambas3-gb-qt5-ext
gambas3-gb-qt5-opengl 3.16.3-3 [Ubuntu/jammy universe]
gambas3-gb-qt5-opengl-dbgsym 3.16.3-3 [Ubuntu/jammy universe]
└── debug symbols for gambas3-gb-qt5-opengl
gambas3-gb-qt5-wayland 3.16.3-3 [Ubuntu/jammy universe]
.....
It goes on for quite a bit.
My system is below (it does this on my LMDE "Faye" also):
OS: Linux Mint 21.3 x86_64
Host: 10T8SCNT00 ThinkCentre M720q
Kernel: Linux 6.5.0-35-generic
Packages: 2981 (dpkg), 8 (flatpak)
Shell: /usbin/fish 3.6.1
DE: Cinnamon 6.0.4
WM: Mutter (Muffin)
WM Theme: Mint-Y-Dark-Aqua (Mint-Y)
Theme: Mint-Y-Dark-Aqua [GTK2/3]
Icons: Mint-X-Aqua [GTK2/3]
Terminal: alacritty
CPU: Intel i5-8400T (6) @ 3.3GHz [33.0°C]
GPU: Intel CoffeeLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630]

The twin suns of the alien planet were high in the sky outside your window. Birds with four wings chirped and flitted between shoulder high blades of purple grass. Outside your kitchen window a brook babbled quietly between enormous trees twice the size of the giant sequoias of Earth. In the distance you could hear a few of your fellow colonists chatting cheerily. The BUZZ of your communicator interrupted the moment. It read:

Congratulations! The Colonial Supercomputer has located a suitable mate for you. He will arrive in fourteen (14) standard days. His information is as follows:

Category	Specifications
Name	Dr. Paul Stevens
Age	29
Education	PhDs in Astronomy, Astrometrics, and Physics
Height	6'6
Weight	195
Flaccid Length	6.9''
Average Seminal Emission (Volume)	testing error
Average Seminal Emission (Frequency)	3.2 Per Standard Rotation

Paul enjoys nature, good food, a good book, and everything to do with the stars. Please prepare for your mate's arrival. Contact the Colonial Authority if you have any questions.

A picture of a ruggedly handsome man with wavy, dirty blond hair, green eyes, and just a bit of stubble followed the message. His eyes were warm and friendly, as was his soft smile.
Aboard the colonial transport starship, Ares, Paul and a few hundred other male colonists had woken from cryosleep just a few weeks ago. It had taken Paul a few days to adjust, but the anti-atrophy system that had been developed a few years ago was really working wonders. He felt stronger than ever. He was playing Spaceball with his friends in the gym when he got the notification.
"Here! Pass!" His friend Tom shouted. Paul threw him the ball. Tom dodged by one opponent, turned as he was blocked by another, and then through the ball back to Paul who was now in full sprint. Paul caught the ball in midair and immediately threw it at full speed toward the goal. The BUZZ of the goal sounded almost at the same time as Paul's communicator. Paul wiped sweat from his forehead as he high fived Tom and looked down at his communicator. His heart skipped three beats. He had been matched. His heart pounded more and more as he read your profile. His jaw visibly dropped when he got to your photo.
"Hey man! What's up?" Mark, another friend, walked up to Paul and clapped him on the back as he looked over Paul's shoulder. He immediate saw what was 'up' and he let out a dramatic. "Damn... son! Good for you!"
The rest of the guys ran up to peep over Paul's shoulder. Various comments filtered through. "She is fucking gorgeous," "Holy fucking shit dude," and "You lucky bastard," were some of them.
Finally the guys got back to the game, but Paul's mind never left the profile on his phone or the photo. His head was in the clouds and amongst the stars the rest of the day as he showered after the game, ate dinner, and worked half-heartedly on his usually consuming research.
Paul and the other three guys that he shared quarters with finally went to bed. He took one more glance at your profile as the lights went out and he tucked himself into his twin-sized bunk cut out from the wall. He drifted off peacefully to sleep to the gentle hum of the engines. He dreamed of the woman in his match message, his future mate. At around 2:00 a.m., the bulge between his legs swelled as he dreamed. The soft fabric of his pajama pants shifted and rose, and rose, and rose... Soon his bedsheets were a mountain in the darkness of the bed quarters. And Paul dreamed even more vividly of his mate. The bulging mountain tensed and shuddered visibly. And then again. And again even more powerfully. A moment later, wetness soaked his pajama bottoms and then the bedsheets over them. The wetness flowed and spread. More, and more and more, until it oozed to cover a large portion of the lower half of the bed. As it finished, the outline of a raging hard penis was clearly shown by the soaked bedsheet and pajamas that clung to it so tightly the thick veins would have been visible if there were a little more light in the dark room. Paul simply smiled in his sleep and rolled over. He would have to change, shower, and wash his sheets in the morning. He would also have to endure some playful teasing from his roommates. But Paul was the happiest man in the universe.
Two weeks later.
It was another beautiful day on the alien planet. It was the day Paul and the other male passengers of the Ares arrived. Paul waved goodbye to his friends as he followed the map on his datapad to your home. He passed an elk like creature with antlers almost the size of its body that was grazing between the huge trees. Paul's jaw almost never left the grown as his eyes passed from one alien wonder to the next. Finally he arrived outside your front door, his heart racing. He knocked twice. His deep voice followed. "Hello. It's Paul, Paul Stevens."
Hello! I thought it would be fun to set a smutty, romantic romp on an alien world.
I was also toying with the idea of our characters being somehow genetically enhanced to make them sexy as fuck, which explains Paul's absurd statistics early in the prompt. I am happy to discuss that though. Perhaps they are just hot from centuries of natural selection. Perhaps they were engineered from birth to be perfect space colonists, or perhaps they were given genetic treatment while in cryostasis on the journey, or we can totally ignore the issue and just have them be hot for hotness sake! I do like the idea of our characters being very attractive though. I also have to say I am a HUGE fan of big boobs and big booties.
I know I wrote your part in second person, and mine in third person. I am happy to write my character in either first or third person. I am also happy to write the parts of third party characters that flit in and out of our story, and I would be happy if you also share the burden!
Another idea that might be fun to explore is if additional "mates" are added to our "family" at some point. Not sure on this, happy to hear your thoughts if you are interested.
Some other kinks and interests that may work for the story: detailed writing, creative writing partners, fit characters, big tits, big butts, big cock, lots of cum, passionate fucking, outdoor sex, group sex (when it fits the story), voyeurism, exhibitionism, playful competition and comparison, and I am sure much more!
Limits: noncon, violence, poop, animals, underage, anything else gross or illegal.
Let me know your ideas, or feel free to just jump write in where I left off and answer the door!
I prefer to write by PM, by chat and discord also work. Hope to hear from you soon!

Welcome to Reading The Big Book of Cyberpunk!
Each week we (u/FarragutCircle and u/fanny_bertram) will be reading 5-ish stories from Jared Shurin’s The Big Book of Cyberpunk, which includes a curated selection of cyberpunk stories written from 1950 to 2022! We’ll include synopses of the stories along with links to any legally available online versions we can find. Feel free to read along with us or just stop by and hear our thoughts about some cyberpunk stories to decide if any of them sound interesting to you.
Every once in a while, we reach out to people who have more insight, due to being fans of the author or have some additional context for the story. (Or we just tricked them into it.) So please welcome u/RuinEleint who will be sharing their thoughts on "The Yuletide Cyberpunk Yarn, or Christmas_Eve-117.DIR" by Victor Pelevin!
“Deep Eddy” by Bruce Sterling (published 1993; also available in his collection Ascendancies: The Best of Bruce Sterling)
Deep Eddy is acting as a data courier to the Cultural Critic in Düsseldorf, right as the city goes through a Wende (a sort of anarchist “Purge”).

• Farragut’s thoughts: We’ve read Sterling before in Science Fiction. Eddy is a misguided libertarian creep who won’t stop hitting on his German bodyguard and is too dumb to understand the philosophical points that the Cultural Critic is making (for that matter, I’m too dumb to understand, too). He survives his time in Germany, but has learned nothing of value for his punk attitude. What’s the point of rebelling if you don’t understand why? The naivete and creepiness were a little too much for me.
  
• fanny’s thoughts: This did not work for me. Eddy is creepy and annoying. He keeps hitting on the bodyguard and she makes it VERY clear she is only there in a professional context. Eddy also seems to generally not have any clue what he is doing. He is libertarian and against something but no one seems to know what. He doesn't even seem to know what he delivered to the Cultural Critic.
  

“The Yuletide Cyberpunk Yarn, or Christmas_Eve-117.DIR” by Victor Pelevin (1996, translated from Russian by Alex Shvartsman)
A corrupt mayor’s computer is infected by a virus that causes chaos in Russia.

• Special Guest Ruin: This was a fascinating story to read. The way the narrative segued from a discussion on poetry to a darkly comedic look at a Russian city was remarkable. The author seems to like to start or lead with a theme or themes which seem to be only tangentially related to each other such as for example the name of the computer virus, or Gerasimov and his dog. But both elements circle back into the story and are crucial to its structure. As for the content of the story itself, I amused myself by imagining the events as being a movie that blended the stylistic elements of Tarantino and Wes Anderson. So we have brutal, bloody violence in increasingly absurd settings and the way it is all described makes it easy to imagine it all taking place amidst the highly stylized sets and characters we would expect in a Wes Anderson movie. Overall, I really enjoyed this story.
  
• Farragut: We’ve read Pelevin before in Modern Fantasy. First of all, this is a fantastic title for a story, period. Second of all, I just enjoyed Pelevin’s style here (via Shvartsman’s translation), with an omniscient narrator telling us about a completely ridiculous situation. It gets a little cagey with the identity of the perpetrator and the ending, but I’m very curious as to how darkly I should read it (now that I think about it, it’s directly connected to the original, so I should read it very darkly indeed). Shvartsman’s occasional footnotes were very helpful, however, especially with the context surrounding Gerasim(ov) and Mumu.
  
• fanny: Ruin's review is so good, I am not sure what to add. The style of this story fit the elements so well. It starts with a poem whose themes carry through the story. The footnotes were a really great addition and helped contextualize. The narrator keeps upping the ridiculousness until we get to the end and everything gets wrapped up.
  

“Wonderama” by Bef (1998, translated from Spanish by the author)
Lalo (or is it Eduardo?) wakes up every day in the most awesome life in 1974, but it’s revealed to be a lie and ends tragically.

• Farragut: Bef is a Mexican SF writer, a crime writer, and a graphic novelist, and honestly his whole bibliography sounds cool as heck. Told in a series of diary entries with some small interruptions, we follow a kid whose life is like a Mexican kid’s sugar-fueled dream. The reason for its inclusion in this thematic section of the anthology becomes clear however, and I yelled, “Noooo!” at the ending. Sigh. It’s very good!
  
• fanny: I am a sucker for diary entry style stories and this was no exception. Lalo’s life seems almost perfect, but it feels so off. The story feels progressively more off until we start to question everything. Also, yelled “Nooo!” at the ending. Very good. Absolutely loved.
  

“comp.basilisk FAQ” by David Langford (1999) (link to story)
A FAQ-style story that clearly describes a bizarre future where images on the web and TV are banned due to the risk of death.

• Farragut: Langford is famous for having the most Hugo wins (29), mostly for the Fan Writer category, but also Short Story (not this one) and Best Related Work (not this one either). This is a delightful story that made me think of it as a precursor to qntm’s later story “Lena” from Week 5 (though obviously only in general form). Apparently I love the faux-nonfiction style where some of the horror and plot is between the lines. The final FAQ about Microsoft was darkly funny.
  
• fanny: This was fun and very short. The FAQs related to basilisk and writing were great. It goes between funny, dark humor, and just dark. I liked the commentary on technology and software. I also really appreciate the standard response answers explaining they should post someone else. This is something I deal with often and this was great.
  

“Spider's Nest” by Myra Çakan (2004, translated from German by Jim Young; also available in the anthology The Apex Book of World SF 3 edited by Lavie Tidhar)
Spider, uh, does something? Is looking for drugs, maybe? But something else happens instead?

• Farragut: Çakan is a German writer from Hamburg, and after reading this story, I’d say Shurin made hamburger out of me, too. The main thing I got out of this story was that Spider really wanted something, maybe. I thought it was drugs, but he got angry at his dealer and then got super weird with his friend’s girlfriend? And then there was a Silver Spider, who wasn’t him, but maybe he plugged himself in to replace her? What is happening?
  
• fanny: Spider definitely wanted drugs from his dealer, Ant. I think. Ant got annoyed at something then Spider got into a voyeur situation (maybe). There is a Silver Spider in his dreams that makes him feel better. I couldn't tell if this was dream or drug induced or technology induced. The end is super weird and makes even less sense than the story. Spider might have done a murder on himself? I have been confused before in this anthology, but not to this level.
  

That’s it for this week! Check back the same time next week where we’ll be reading and discussing "The Last American" by John Kessel, "Earth Hour" by Ken MacLeod, "Violation of the TrueNet Security Act" by Taiyo Fujii, "Twelve Minutes to Vinh Quang" by T. R. Napper, and "Operation Daniel" by Khalid Kaki.
Also posted on Bochord Online.

2024-2025 Team Salary Outlook:
I wanted to do a deep dive of the teams current salary cap situation going into next year. Who is under contract? Who is a Free Agent? What types of exceptions will the Knicks potentially have avialable to use?
I made the majority of the assumptions you will see related to the team's fianaces based off of the the Collective Bargaining Agreement (See Below).
References: July 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement
4 Key Numbers we should all care about below are:

2024-2025 Salary Cap	Tax Level	1st Apron Level	2nd Apron Level
≈141M	≈171.3M	≈178.7M	≈189.5M

Below is what the Payroll currently stands at as per Basketball Reference.
Below is the Source used to determine Salaries for 1st Round selections this year

Salary

Player	Age	2024-2025
Julius Randle	29	30,317,760
Jalen Brunson	27	24,960,001
Bojan Bogdanovic	34	19,032,8501
OG Anunoby	26	19,928,5712
Mitchell Robinson	25	14,318,182
Josh Hart	28	18,144,000
Donte DiVincenzo	27	11,445,000
Jericho Sims	25	2,092,3443
Miles Mcbride	23	4,710,144
2024 24th 1st Round Pick		2,361,500
2022 25th 1st Round Pick		2,266,700
Total Team Salary	26.7	130,544,2024

^{1 Partially Guarenteed Contract for 2,000,000
2 Player Option
3 Team Option
4 Includes Team Option for Sims Only}
If OG opted into his PO the team salary would be at 149,577,052M
Notable Free Agents

• Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA)Bird
• UFA-Early Bird
• (RFA) Restricted Free Agent

Player	Type	Cap Hold
Alec Burks	UFA- Bird	19,930,240
Isaiah Hartenstein	UFA- Early Bird	12,018,657
Precious Achiwa	RFA	13,138,578
OG Anunoby	UFA-Bird	29, 892,856

Other Considerations

• We can only offer Hartenstein about 16.2M (due to his early bird rights) in his next contract which is 175% of his previous salary. With 8% raises each year the total maximum contract we can offer him is about 4/72M.
  
• What exceptions will we have access to Non Taxpayer MLE? MLE? credit to u/Traditional-Smoke-72 in his post breaking it down what roster moves we can make to have access to it. To summarize any shot at the Non Tax Payer MLE we would need OG to opt in to his PO if not most likely we will still have access to the taxpayer MLE worst case scenario which starts at roughly 5.4M in contract lengths of 2 years.
  

2024-2025 Team Salary Outlook:
I wanted to do a deep dive of the teams current salary cap situation going into next year. Who is under contract? Who is a Free Agent? What types of exceptions will the Knicks potentially have avialable to use?
I made the majority of the assumptions you will see related to the team's fianaces based off of the the Collective Bargaining Agreement (See Below).
References: July 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement
4 Key Numbers we should all care about below are:

2024-2025 Salary Cap	Tax Level	1st Apron Level	2nd Apron Level
≈141M	≈171.3M	≈178.7M	≈189.5M

Below is what the Payroll currently stands at as per Basketball Reference.
Below is the Source used to determine Salaries for 1st Round selections this year

Salary

Player	Age	2024-2025
Julius Randle	29	30,317,760
Jalen Brunson	27	24,960,001
Bojan Bogdanovic	34	19,032,8501
OG Anunoby	26	19,928,5712
Mitchell Robinson	25	14,318,182
Josh Hart	28	18,144,000
Donte DiVincenzo	27	11,445,000
Jericho Sims	25	2,092,3443
Miles Mcbride	23	4,710,144
2024 24th 1st Round Pick		2,361,500
2025 25th 1st Round Pick		2,266,700
Total Team Salary	26.7	130,544,2024

^{1 Partially Guarenteed Contract for 2,000,000
2 Player Option
3 Team Option
4 Includes Team Option for Sims Only}
If OG opted into his PO the team salary would be at 149,577,052
Notable Free Agents

• Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA)Bird
• UFA-Early Bird
• RFA) Restricted Free Agent

Player	Type	Cap Hold
Alec Burks	UFA- Bird	19,930,240
Isaiah Hartenstein	UFA- Early Bird	12,018,657
Precious Achiwa	RFA	13,138,578
OG Anunoby	UFA-Bird	29, 892,856

Other Considerations

• We can only offer Hartenstein about 16.2M (due to his early bird rights) in his next contract which is 175% of his previos salary. With 8% raises each year the total maximum contract we can offer him is about 4/72M.
  
• What exceptions will we have access to Non Taxpayer MLE? MLE? credit to u/Traditional-Smoke-72 in his post breaking it down what roster moves we can make to have access to it. To summarize any shot at the Non Tax Payer MLE we would need OG to opt in if not most likely we will still have access to the taxpayer MLE worst case scenario which starts at roughly 5.4M in contract lenths of 2 years.
  

Discovering Jibhi: Your Journey from Delhi to the Hidden Gem in Himachal Pradesh

Are you yearning for a serene escape from the bustling city life of Delhi? Look no further than Jibhi, a picturesque village nestled in the Tirthan Valley of Himachal Pradesh. Renowned for its natural beauty, serene environment, and charming treetop treehouses, Jibhi promises an unforgettable retreat. Here’s your comprehensive guide on how to Reach Jibhi from Delhi.

1. By Road: Embrace the Scenic Route

Self-Drive

Driving from Delhi to Jibhi offers the freedom to explore the breathtaking landscapes at your own pace. The journey spans approximately 500 kilometers and typically takes around 10-12 hours, depending on traffic and road conditions. Here’s the route:

1. Delhi to Chandigarh: Start early from Delhi and head towards Chandigarh via NH44. This leg of the journey is about 250 kilometers and takes around 4-5 hours.
2. Chandigarh to Aut: From Chandigarh, continue on NH205 to reach Aut, covering approximately 180 kilometers in 5-6 hours.
3. Aut to Jibhi: At Aut, take a right turn towards Banjar on the Banjar-Aut Road. Jibhi is about 35 kilometers from Aut and will take roughly 1.5 hours.

By Bus

If you prefer a hassle-free journey, taking a bus is a viable option. Several Himachal Pradesh State Transport (HRTC) and private buses operate between Delhi and Manali, with a stop at Aut.

1. Delhi to Aut: Board an overnight Volvo or HRTC bus from ISBT Kashmere Gate to Manali and alight at Aut. The bus journey takes around 12-14 hours.
2. Aut to Jibhi: From Aut, you can hire a taxi or take a local bus to Jibhi. The taxi ride takes about 1.5 hours and offers a comfortable and scenic drive.
3. By Train: A Blend of Comfort and Adventure

While there is no direct train to Jibhi, you can combine a train journey with road travel for a comfortable trip.

1. Delhi to Chandigarh/Kalka: Board a train from New Delhi Railway Station to Chandigarh or Kalka. The Shatabdi Express is a popular choice, taking around 3-4 hours to reach Chandigarh and 5-6 hours to Kalka.
2. Chandigarh/Kalka to Jibhi: From Chandigarh or Kalka, hire a taxi or take a bus to Jibhi. The taxi ride takes approximately 8-9 hours from Kalka and 7-8 hours from Chandigarh.
3. By Air: Quickest Route to Tranquility

For those short on time, flying is the quickest way to reach close to Jibhi.

1. Delhi to Bhuntar: Catch a flight from Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) to Kullu-Manali Airport (KUU) at Bhuntar. The flight duration is about 1.5 hours.
2. Bhuntar to Jibhi: From Bhuntar, Jibhi is about 60 kilometers away. You can hire a taxi, which takes around 2-3 hours to reach Jibhi.

Where to Stay: Experience the Magic of Treetop Treehouse Bahu

Once you arrive in Jibhi, immerse yourself in nature by staying at Treetop Treehouse Bahu. Nestled amid lush greenery, these treehouses offer a unique lodging experience, combining rustic charm with modern comforts. Wake up to the symphony of chirping birds, enjoy panoramic views of the valley, and relish the tranquility that Jibhi is famous for.

Tips for the Journey

• Travel Light: Given the hilly terrain, it's best to travel light for ease of movement.
• Stay Hydrated and Carry Snacks: Long journeys can be tiring, so keep yourself hydrated and pack some snacks.
• Check Road Conditions: Before starting your journey, check the latest road conditions and weather updates.
• Book in Advance: Whether it’s your bus tickets, flight, or stay at Treetop Treehouse Bahu, booking in advance ensures a smooth trip.

Embarking on a journey from Delhi to Jibhi is an adventure in itself. Whether you choose to drive through winding mountain roads, relax on a bus journey, enjoy a scenic train ride, or fly directly into the heart of the Himalayas, Reach Jibhi from Delhi is the beginning of an unforgettable escape. Pack your bags and get ready to experience the serene beauty of Jibhi and the magical stay at Treetop Treehouse Bahu.

CONTACT/BOOK NOW

Leon Psychology Clinic is a province-wide online psychology and therapy service. We offer expert, high quality and evidence-based psychological evaluations and psychotherapy for kids, teens and adults.

Contact information

Email: [info@leonpsychology.ca](mailto:info@leonpsychology.ca)
Phone: 819-200-7718
When contacting us, please leave your full name and phone number. We will contact you back within 1 week.
Book an appointement online

Accepting New Clients

MS. SUBITHA: Immediate availability (Ontario – anglophone & francophone – kids/teens)
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DR. LEON: Waiting list OPEN – current wait time is 2 months
Ms ROBITAILLE: Waiting list OPEN – current wait time is 6 weeks

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Contact / Book Now

CONTACT/BOOK NOW

Leon Psychology Clinic is a province-wide online psychology and therapy service. We offer expert, high quality and evidence-based psychological evaluations and psychotherapy for kids, teens and adults.

Contact information

Email: [info@leonpsychology.ca](mailto:info@leonpsychology.ca)
Phone: 819-200-7718
When contacting us, please leave your full name and phone number. We will contact you back within 1 week.
Book an appointement online

Accepting New Clients

MS. SUBITHA: Immediate availability (Ontario – anglophone & francophone – kids/teens)
MS. ROBYN : Immediate availability (Ontario – anglophone – kids/teens)
DR. FAULCONBRIDGE: Immediate availability (Quebec – anglophone – kid/teens)

Waiting list information

DR. LEON: Waiting list OPEN – current wait time is 2 months
Ms ROBITAILLE: Waiting list OPEN – current wait time is 6 weeks

Free 15-minute introductory call

We offer a free 15-minute introductory call to all our new clients.
During this call we will answer your questions and discuss your preferences and availability. We will take the time to assign you to the member of our team who best suits your needs.
Book a free introductory call now
* Don’t forget to visit our FAQ page for more information regarding virtual psychotherapy and fees.
* Note that you will have to create an account to book a call.

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The Leon Psychology Clinic provides online child, adolescent and adult therapy.

Our virtual therapists work with kids, teens, and adults.

Our psychotherapists and psychologists can work with families from all over Ontario and Quebec.

• Ottawa
• Toronto
• Kingston
• London
• Windsor
• Gatineau
• Montreal
• Quebec

Psychologist Ottawa
Psychologist Toronto
Psychologist Windsor
Psychologist Brampton
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Psychologist near me
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