Good news everyone! While my little brother and I had a lot more cards than this between the two of us when we were younger, it seems like a lot of the valuable ones survived the usual parents purge! Here's a link to an imgur photo album of the bulk of the binders (~30 pictures with a couple extra random shots of what else I found in the binders). I am honestly dumbfounded by the luck, because I know my parents didn't save these on purpose while giving away so many others haha. I thought they were lost over a decade ago. I don't even know where to start! I wanted to share this basement find with some people who might appreciate it, and maybe get a little advice on how to approach the evaluation process.
First, I realize my pictures really suck, I just went through quickly to start here to get an overview of the collection. Obviously these were stored back to back in the binders, and some of the pockets have multiple (from what I can tell less rare) cards stuffed into them, so I'm not sure what else might be stashed in these quite yet. I figure the first step is to sleeve everything and top load the rarer ones, then start figuring out which ones are worth evaluating further and start taking better picture, correct? I'm guessing a good number of these are in rougher conditions since my brother and I both played the TCG pretty heavily and clearly weren't overly cautious with how we stored them. We at least sleeved our decks, but even just trading on the playground probably caused some scratches here and there. That being said, we did cherish them and didn't want to damage them, so who knows what I ultimately have quality wise.
I guess the main reason for posting is to see if anyone has general advice for getting started with the evaluation process? Even just basics, like do I want a directly overhead light when taking photos, or is there a good angle I should shoot at? Is there a color that works good contrast-wise that I would want to place the cards on when taking the photos? I would assume it's better to take pictures of their condition before putting them into sleeves/cases, no?
I've browsed through TCG Player and it seems like we've got a decent collection, but I've never resold TCGs before. The resleeving and cataloging will be time consuming enough to start. Does anyone have experience trying to unload an old collection like this? Did you try to sell them individually, as a collection, or a combination of both? How long did it take? Any cards in our collection stand out at first glance here as particularly cool and/or valuable that would be worth grading consideration if they're not too beat up? That is, outside of just the obvious big ones. Which one is your favorite? Mine was always that first holo promo Mew that I got from the TCG events, it was the coolest thing as a kid! I really loved my Dark Blastoise as well since I always picked Squirtle in the 1st gen games.
Obvious disclaimer: I am not looking to sell here (I read the rules!) or at all until I have the time to go through everything more thoroughly and discover what all I actually have. I'm mostly just looking for tips and wanted to share my excitement! Please don't DM me offers.
Thanks in advanced for any advice! And even if I don't get any, I hope ya'll can appreciate my joy at finding these childhood gems. So many memories.

Firstly, saying you have relatives in Ukraine 🇺🇦 doesn’t mean shit as there are a lot of connections between the two countries for a lot of people, the same Russians doing heinous stuff in Ukraine. This guy is Russian so frick him. Also continuously repeating that Russia cannot lose after 2,5 years of grueling combat is not even cope. You are just rooting for the west to give up cause is the only way to claw back some sort of victory. You actively undermine the war effort on our part. Also this Finnish guy is not impressed (https://x.com/joni_askola/status/1792545162125537448?s=46) Lastly, just read his opinion on Ukraine (https://www.konstantinkisin.com/p/ukraine-and-the-age-of-cowards). This is the usual narrative that whatever we can give to them is ultimately useless cause Russian victory is inevitable. I just see a guy that’s using Ukrainian lives as an excuse, at the end of the day he wants us to stop killing his buddies cause he’s Russian and that what they advocate for. Stop helping Ukraine cause it’s too dangerous for us and for them. Just make an armistice with Putin (lol) and give him some land. Surely that would work no? I’m done. Sorry for the rant

Hi everyone!
I've (27M 190cm) been working on losing excess weight for a while now, but in April I decided to tackle it with maximum dedication
I did 16/8 Intermitten fasting, kept my calorie decifit of 800-1000 per day (i mean i was eating 1000 below my basic metabolic stuff), and also walked and biked a lot
I managed to lose weight from 102 kg to 93 kg in 6 weeks. No fatigue, feeling great, great sleep - etc.
Two weeks ago my town turned into a war zone, which made it impossible to leave the house, but I am still maintaining the same calorie deficit, but without the aforementioned activity and intermitten fasting (the daily regimen has suffered a lot due to the political situation).
I don't know why, but my weight though has not increased, but it remains at the same level. What can be done in this situation if my diet has already not very many calories for my weight?
I consume between 1300 and 1600 calories a day, centering it in two meals and one snack
Could giving up fasting make such a big difference in my weight loss? Could it be just normal bloating caused by lack of activity

Today I’m looking to write an rp based from a different perspective, the villains (based off Inca, to be specific. And sorry if some specifics are not 100%, I’m not caught up with the anime yet)
My whole life I knew I was different, I had always lived on the streets and had no family, and I was always a fair bit stronger than other people I knew. Of course that power was thanks to my Adolla Burst (which I of course didn’t understand, and wouldn’t for a while), but little did I know that my future was following me secretly since the start, waiting for a sign of my power taking form.
See the White Clad and the Evangelist are looking for the 8 Pillars to finish what the Great Cataclysm started 250 years ago, and me and the other 7 Pillars were the key. As I grew older I began to get a love for danger, so that led me to getting into small crime (small robberies, stuff like that), and thanks to my power and cute looks I always got away with my crimes. One night I experienced what I’d learn to be an Adolla Link, and with that my Adolla Burst was awakened. And with that the Evangelist sent the White Clad to collect me, and the Fire Force was sent to protect me.
There was of course a huge battle over me (which of course made me very “excited” seeing people fight over me), but little did the Fire Force no my mind was already made up. The Fire Force got to me first and I played along with their game acting like I wanted to be saved, but I knew deep down I didn’t want to live a safe life with them, I loved danger and despised safety. So when the fight was over and the time came for my final decision, I let my crazy personality out (much like how Inca did when she made her decision) and even though the White Clad had lost the fight I choose them.
Hi girls, today I’m looking to do an rp based off the character Inca from the show Fire Force. It will start as we leave the fight with the Fire Force, and we journey back to the White Clad’s base, then move to me getting blessed by the Evangelist so I get stronger, and then really starting it with your character playing as my Protector Maid. Like in the show the Protectors are a perfect match for their Pillar, so ideally your character would be crazy (again I’m basing my character off Inca, so think her kinda crazy) and crazy strong just like me. Like I hinted at in the scene, my character’s love for danger causes her to get extremely turned on whenever she’s in any kind of danger, which of course leads to a lot of after mission or training fun between the two of us. Anyways I’ll stop rambling and wrap this up, thank you all for reading and if you enjoyed please feel free to reach out, and in your first message please include the following message:

1. As you can tell by the length of this I’m more on the detailed side, so please put some effort in or I won’t answer
   
2. Please include your character’s description and references (for the first couple of scenes with going back to the hideout and meeting the Evangelist you can use in show characters, but once you get assigned as my maid you’ll be using you’re own oc), and also please include your k and limits (even tho my name says I’m a switch, I’m really a sub Reddit is just dumb. Also my k and limits are posted on my page)
   
3. Lastly please include the password “Adolla” so Ik you read this far
   

I basically just broke up with my boyfriend. He basically gave me the silent treatment for a week, hanging up on all my calls. His texts never responded to my messages of me pouring my heart out and were extremely vague. We had only been together since this March, but at first we talked everyday.
Then I sent this message a week ago or more:
“Baby...if you think about me all the time...how come you will not talk to me? I feel like I am being held at a distance from you. I don't know what to do except to try and talk to you about it. Also I just realized something that has been bothering me...I wanted to ask you. Yet I feel like I shouldn't because you are already so stressed. Though I do want to be part of this because you are a part of my life and I need communication. I don't want to be left in the dark with whatever is going on right now with you. I want to hear about it all, the good and the bad. I want to be able to call you by the end of the day and you can vent to me. I want more than anything for you to lean on me like a healthy relationship. I don't see it as burden. Remember I did say when you go quiet and don't talk to me about what's going on it does the opposite of what you want. You said you don't want to worry me, but that is exactly what that does. I do not expect you to talk to me at all hours a day. Just a few messages a day and a call every other two days, something like that.”
He basically said this message pissed him off and that I was incredibly self absorbed. After that he refused to talk to me. Before that he was barely talking to me and I was pouring my heart out trying to let him know I am there for him.
Then this morning he finally called me back.
I asked if he actually thought I was self absorbed.
Then he said, “Really that is what you’re worried about?” And hung up.
There was a WHOLE LIST I was worried about, but how the fuck am I supposed to get to that if you hang up on me. He never communicated with me and would shut down. He said I didn’t care, but dammit there are messages of me flooding his inbox sick with worry. I’d almost have panick attacks cause he wouldn’t answer. If there was anyone who didn’t care it was him. My sister said he was still an immature child if this is how he handles conflict, by name calling and shutting down. I knew this wouldn’t work with the way he acts, but it still hurts.
I was trying to do everything in my power to stop us from splitting, but how can you do that if your partner refuses to even talk to you. It is like she said, you shouldn’t be having this many issues this early on into the relationship.
I mean the amount of anxiety he gave me from ignoring my calls, not answering any of my messages and literally giving me vague responses that only led to more questions. It was just too much. In the beginning it felt too good to be true and of course it was. The funny thing is he said he was sorry that we stressed each other out so much, but the only thing that was causing stress is the fact he shuts down anytime you need to talk to him about something serious. I am pissed and I am hurt…

We usually hear about how being a child star comes with a lot of problems, and there seems to be a common trope of former "Disney" stars trying to shed their innocent child image once they grow up by taking on adult roles. However, despite this it seems to me that former child actors tend to play it a lot more safe/modest than most actors.
Often times the "shedding" of the innocent image is never actually taken to crossing any line. It's more of a hint at growing up. A couple examples would be Selena Gomez in Spring Breakers (and probably some others in that movie) or Zendaya in Challengers. They want the adult subject matter, but are famous enough they can probably dictate no nudity clauses, etc. So you end up with this kind of having it both ways thing where you want a movie for adults but let's keep it PG-13, people.
Then there's probably a selection bias for movies with graphic sex/nudity. If you're an actor looking for a big break or just some paid work, you'll be more open to doing anything. So a lot of those roles probably end up going to either less established actors or actors who already have done a lot of that and don't mind it.
It's hard for me to even think of former child actors who have done graphic sex/nudity scenes later in their career. A couple of outliers come to mind like some woman from Boy Meets World who shows up as a TIL that she does porn now, and the girl from Still Standing which was a favorite show of mine that also went on to do porn. But those that stay in TV/film acting seem to continue to avoid sex/nudity and also kind of maintain a wholesome image despite trying to show the world they've grown up now. Miley Cyrus might be the only obvious exception, but that seems like she personally just wants to be an exhibitionist rather than anything for career reasons (which I guess still counts). But is there something about being a child actor that pushes them away from these scenes or gives them the ability/reason to avoid them? Or is it the opposite and I'm mistaken here and they are more likely to take on those type of roles either as a kind of subversion of their brand or even exploitation by the system?
(Also, I realize this will probably skew more relevant to actresses given how sex/nudity tends to work in film.)
What do you think? Is there any cause/effect here or is it just random or what?

I have some general questions that have come from watching a certain TV show about plane incidents. These are not questions born of my fears but simply of curiosity. If any pilots could answer I would be most grateful.
Situations where the autopilot became disengaged and the pilots didn't realise or at least didn't acknowledge further along in proceedings. Is there an audible warning when the autopilot disengages? Is there any ongoing indication that is hard to miss?
Two pilots with a side stick each, how does one know what the other is doing if there is no verbal indication? I'm sure you know which incident I'm referring to. If one pilot is holding the side stick to cause a nose up attitude but he's not telling anyone what he's doing and they don't realise that he's the cause, is this somewhat problematic or has this been addressed already? Excuse my terminology, I'm not sure if side stick is the correct term. The joystick? Commodore 64 controls? 🤔
Finally, would it be helpful or redundant to have actual visibility of the major aircraft surfaces and key parts? The pilots have a very limited view of the plane from their vantage point. Of course, they have numerous sensors and gauges but there are certain things that cannot be seen or accurately gauged and hence can only be deduced. An extreme example would be that the vertical stabiliser has detached, an incident which occurred years ago. Again, my terminology might be off. I mean the tail fin. Now, clearly in this incident it was terminal anyway so I'm not sure that knowing about it would have helped. How about being able to see the engines though, or the entirety of the wings? Is the best solution to rely on the cabin crew to report back with what they see?
Please excuse any accidental stupidity in these questions, I'm just curious to learn and it's rare that you get to ask pilots. Many thanks in advance for any replies 👍

Noah The Pilgrim
Previous First Next
'Noah.'
You can't feel your body, you try to move but receive no feedback from your arms and legs. You open our eyes, or were they always opened? It's difficult to tell when only darkness surrounds you.
'You're here again.'
It's that same voice you heard before waking up in that pod. You try to speak but fail. It feels like you left your body behind, existing only inside your mind.
'Allow me.'
From the dark, a circle of light emerges, filling your vision. The light is not blinding, nor is it too bright to obfuscate the dark, it's just bright enough to reach your eyes without prompting discomfort.
It's the Star. That much, you know for certain.
Normally, you'd feel hopelessly scared, but somehow, all you feel is soothed by its light.
'I remember telling you we wouldn't see each other for a long time. Why are you here?'
Although you wished to answer the question, you could not. Both because you have no control over your body, and because you don't know the answer.
'...'
You recall the AI telling you the purpose of the ship you're in. It was to study this star.
Why? What's so special about this particular star? Sure, it's on the very edge of the ever-expanding universe, but aside from that, it's just a star. A very odd-looking star, but a star nonetheless.
'What's so special about me... Nothing.'
A shiver runs down your spine. It feels as though you've forgotten a significant thing about yourself, and you're sure this star has something to do with it.
'How are you feeling, Noah?'
Like shit. That is what you wanted to answer.
You've been going with the flow ever since you woke up in that pod, not asking yourself neither how or why you've been put in that place, only nodding your way to the bridge.
You've been bombarded with memories that you're sure aren't yours, but your own memories also feel shrouded in a thick haze, and yet, you didn't bother to even think about why it was, only accepting that as truth without understanding this strange phenomenon.
When confronted with things beyond your current knowledge you refuse to acknowledge it by not asking yourself what it is, or by illuding yourself into thinking it's a dream.
Even now, you refuse to acknowledge this impossible place you've found yourself in.
'Why is it that you turn away?'
What to blame for that? You didn't even feel the need to ask anything about yourself. Randomly remembering things as though you were reading them off a manual, taking whatever FYARN says as an absolute truth, and not even reacting to the abhorrent state of the Odyssey.
When FYARN told you about the relationship between the alien and the human races, it told you how superior humans were, and it also told you that the human race lost the war. You didn't bother to call out that clear discrepancy then because you felt as though it didn't concern you, despite being clearly at the forefront of that conflict.
When FYARN asked what you remembered, you simply stated you didn't remember nearly anything, and yet you've made no strive to fix that issue, accepting it as the absolute truth.
All there was left to blame was yourself.
'You're doing it again, turning away from the truth.'
Was it because your situation was impossibly bizarre?
Waking up in a half-blown spaceship could be enough to drive a man to the brink with how random and impossible that notion was. Especially when that man was just a salary man, living month to month, working an unfulfilling job, all while being called the best.
'Perhaps. But I believe that the issue lies much, much deeper.'
The utter darkness shifts and contorts unexplainably. Moving shadows take formless shapes before you. From black to grey, and from grey to different shades of it. Those shapes of impossible geometry cast shadows downwards, as the star stared at you from above.
The shapes expanded and contracted into euclidean and understandable structures. Tall rectangular towers filled the horizon, decorating a path akin to buildings in a busy city.
On the foot of one of those structures, you see a man dwarfed by the sheer size of the scenery.
'Who do you think that is?'
You approach him.
You see a young man that looks to be in his mid-twenties. Your brown eyes stare back at it, analyzing the bags beneath his eye sockets. The dark hair is neither too long nor too short, hastily combed to hide the laziness behind his look. You see a beard that has not been trimmed for weeks, but also lacks thickness, each singular hair isn't particularly long either; and some even appear to be in-grown.
He's wearing a white tuckered-in buttoned shirt with a pair of jeans. A black backpack weighed on his back as he walked through this empty street.
A position you could imagine yourself in, every day of the week.
If you had failed to piece together who that was, it became clear once you noticed the empty look on his face.
It's obvious who that is.
He is a man whose bright dreams have been crushed under the weight of mankind.
How cruel, to be forced to gaze into a dirty mirror...
'You are starting to see it. Let's go further.'
The ractangular towers floated away, as the man continued to walk into the grey void.
Four white walls covered both you and the man, grey shapes transformed into a chair and desk, inviting the man to sit on it.
It was a plain desk and a plain chair, and when the shapes stopped transmogrifying themselves, a plain computer, monitor, keyboard, and mouse rested atop the desk.
Fitting for a plain man. You watch him sitting down in the chair, putting his backpack on the floor beneath the table.
From the backpack, he conjured a notebook and a set of pencils and erasers. He quickly turned the computer on.
This was his job.
The monitor remained grey despite how the man typed on the keyboard. The notebook remained grey despite how the man scribbled on it with the pencil.
A humanoid figure came to be from the geometric mess of grey nearby. It passed by the working man. "G'day Noah." It spoke, as he vanished into the white walls that surround you.
The man didn't bother to respond, he didn't bother to stop his work, and he didn't even bother to look up from his notebook.
Another humanoid figure passed by, holding what looked to be sheets of paper. "Hey Noah, could you sort these documents out for me? I'm swamped today..."
The man looks at the thick collection of papers in the figure's hands. He just started his shift and already lacks the energy and motivation to keep going with his day.
And despite that, he did not want to disappoint.
He points to the empty space on his desk, motioning for the figure to leave it there.
The figure places the paperwork on the man's desk. "Thanks, I owe you big time for this!" After saying that, the figure disappeared into the white walls of the room.
He did not speak a singular word.
You recall this... Feeling.
'Do you remember their names, Noah?'
You could not.
'Do you remember their faces, Noah?'
You could not.
'These people, you used to see them every day. Why do you not know who they are?'
What was the point of it? Why did it matter? Why did they matter?
'Because they are people.'
To you, those figures were nothing but placeholders for those who did the same thing as you. They were nothing special, just like you. So why bother to recall their faces?
'We must go further.'
The white cubicle ceased to be, alongside the man in plain clothing.
The towering rectangles swiftly returned, and with it came a young adult in his early twenties.
Your brown eyes stare back at his. The short dark hair looked as though it was combed for hours until it was perfect. You see a trimmed beard, neatly cut with a blade most sharp. You see that his face has been recently subjected to a daily skin-care regime.
This young man looks to be full of energy.
He's wearing a white tuckered-in buttoned shirt with a pair of jeans. A black backpack was strapped to his back as he walked through this empty street.
Again, you know who this is, yet you don't have the guts to accept it.
'...'
The ringing tune of a cell phone came from the young man's pockets. He promptly picked it up.
"Hey, Noah!" You hear the voice coming from the other side of the call. "The boys and I are going to throw a party today in my place to celebrate finishing high school. You better show up tonight!" It sounds like the voice originates from a man. He is yelling at the phone.
You watch as the young man smirks. "You can bet I'll be there." He answered. "I'll be done with today's interview and head there as soon as possible."
"Great... Something came up, catch you later bud!" And just like that, the call ended. The young man pocketed his phone.
You know how the rest of that day went. The young man passed the interview and secured his spot in a large IT company, then he went to his friend's place and had the best night of his life.
Those memories were the ones you revisited endlessly.
The grey shapes and humanoid figures vanish, returning to utter blackness.
Once again, all you see is the star.
'What happened, Noah?'
You couldn't say. Maybe it wasn't some big thing that happened, but rather a large quantity of small things that eventually crashed down upon you like an avalanche that built up for a long time.
Friends leaving to live their own lives.
Underappreciation of your career.
Your incapacity to form meaningful relationships.
The feeling of being small in the greater scheme of things.
The notion of your life being wasted for nothing.
A lack of accomplishment that was caused by a lack of problems.
You letting your physical appearance go.
But, even amongst all of those aggravating motives, there was one thing that always pained your heart to even recall. For that reason, you refused to acknowledge and even think about it. A trend that would continue for the upcoming years of your life.
Your dream.
Once adulthood came and expectations weighed on you, you had to choose. Live a comfortable life, or throw it all away in exchange for an idea that probably wouldn't even work, to begin with.
You refused to let go at first. Holding unto what little hope there was left for that dream of yours.
In three short years, your life shifted completely.
Friends grew distant, and now all you had as a replacement for them were faceless figures who spoke to you about a job you never really wanted.
Those very same figures held you in high regard, always saying how talented you were or how impressive your skills were. In truth, you never felt like what you did was worth the effort or the praise.
All you ever did in that company was half-assed at best, yet they praised you like their savior. You grew complacent under those who put you on a pedestal.
Your salary increased, and so did the responsibilities, but never were it challenging or engaging. It felt tasteless and odorless.
You refused to even respond to small talk from those people. How could you? If you did, they would shower you with praises you didn't deserve. That theory was proven time and time again.
All you did every day was sitting on a chair, eyes glued to the screen to meet an assortment of numbers and labels. This was nothing. There were people out there, changing the world, fixing the real problems, and you're there, sorting out numbers for a company created to sort out data for a company created to sort out data.
A null uroboros.
Twenty-eight years of a human's life, and for what? To waste away like a gear on a machine?
You remained ignorant of your ignorance. There were no problems since you had more than enough money from your ever-increasing salary you felt you didn't deserve.
You couldn't even bring yourself to quit, afraid to face the consequences, afraid to be replaced. A fact you understood fully well, yet you refused to acknowledge.
Clinging to a feeling of guilt, you couldn't help but hold on to this life. Your life, Noah.
You longed for a change, but wouldn't bring yourself to change it.
Your dream that you lived for so long ago, is something you couldn't even remember. You hid it away in a dark corner of your mind, hoping to never face it again, or else you would break down.
That is what happened.
The coldness of the world is what happened.
You wouldn't go as far as to say that you were a victim of fate.
Instead, you'd say you were a victim of yourself.
'And yet, you're here now. In an impossible place. In an impossible life.'
Are you to waste away on this place as well?
'You had conviction, but lacked guidance.'
Can you even muster that much courage? You fear what the future could bring.
'I presented you this chance for a reason, so you may show them that your soul is the brightest of them all.'
Fear is born for there is hope, but bravery is born for there is fear. You recall someone telling you that once, but...
'Remember this, Noah.'
Where does the courage to take a step forward come from? When it's so dark that you can't see the path ahead, how should one muster enough courage to make the right call?
'Whenever you feel lost, or alone; Whenever you feel like there is no way forward;'
Your vision starts to blur. The star begins to fade.
'So you may never lose your way again;'
Looks like it's time to return to reality.
'I, am your...'
This is my first HFY story, and also my very first OC story. I plan to post at least one of these per week while also posting it on my Patreon. Noah The Pilgrim will always be two to three chapters ahead in there, so if you'd like to directly support this writer, or just want to read more, feel free to check it out.
This has been Lushi, and I'll see you next week.

Context: I'm a 2nd-year student at a T100 undergrad 7-year BS/MD program and I am trying to figure out whether I should apply out.
My direct med program grants me admission to a ~T50 medical school, however, the school has three different campuses. Two of them are more rural and are more catered towards FM/less competitive specialties while the third campus (the more desirable one) is in the heart of the city and is generally much better for research, networking, and specialty choice (this is likely the campus the T50 ranking is based off). Previously, students in the program were allowed to pick any campus and have it be guaranteed for them. This would be true even if we chose to apply out. Per a recent policy change, we can be guaranteed a seat at the main city campus ONLY if I choose not to apply out to any other medical school. If I do choose to apply out, I forfeit the campus guarantee but retain my medical school seat. However, since this is a new policy and the administration is not being super transparent, we are not sure what applying out will do to our chance of being placed at the city campus (it may be impossible, it may still be possible but improbable, they refuse to say).
I would be very happy with taking the city campus guarantee, however, I'm not sure if I have a chance at getting into a T20 medical school. More specifically, I'm not sure if my chance of getting into a T20 is good enough that I can confidently forgo a guaranteed seat at the city campus. That is why, after literal years of scouring reddit for answers, I've decided to turn to reddit once more. (Yes ik applications are due in ~1 week)
Application Details:
Undergrad: T100
Grade: Sophomore (graduating early and applying this cycle)
ORM
Major: Standard premed major
cGPA: 4.0 sGPA: 4.0
MCAT: 526
Gap years: -1? lol
Research exp: 1350 hours at submission, projected 2200 hours across 2 labs (one clinical one basic).
Publications: 2 accepted to medium impact journals in the field (6th author at a SJR Q1 ranking journal and 3rd author at a SJR Q2 ranking journal), 1 under review (4th author at a SJR Q1 ranking journal).
Presentations: 3 projects presented at 7 forums/symposia (5 school presentations, 1 regional, 1 national).
Clinical Experience: 150 hours working as an EMT at submission, projected ~800 hours (just started working this semester after wrapping up the MCAT). 150 hours of basic hospital volunteering. 100 hours of volunteer experience from a club that I have a leadership position in.
Physician Shadowing: ~50 hours across 4 specialties
Non-clinical volunteering: 150 hours across two clubs I have leadership positions in.
Misc. extracurriculars: Leadership roles in 4 large organizations both on and off campus. Won a few awards and research grants. Have a hobby with ~300-400 hours that I’ve pursued on my own.
LoRs: 6 letters. Ranging from what I hope are decently strong to very strong letters from my PIs, one science prof, one non-science prof, and an academic advisor. Last letter is what's probably a very mid letter from a second science prof cause I realized I needed a second science faculty letter lmao
Personal Statement: Probably the weakest part of my application considering AMCAS opens next week and I've only just drafted them. Finding the motivation to write is difficult enough, but considering this whole policy chance shit, it's becoming increasingly frustrating to put in the work when I don't even know what I should do.
Sorry for the long post and slightly vague details (trying to remain as anonymous as I can lol). So my question after all of this is: Given my application strength/details, is it worth essentially giving up a free spot in a T50 school for the low chance that I get into a better school (preferably T20 since I'd rather just stay at my home school than go to anything lower than that) or should I just shut up and take my acceptance and continue kicking ass at this school.

Now that we've burned someone at the stake for marking their lie in a circle around the disc, I have another question with similar issue.
There is a par 5 hole near me that is a "U" shape—meaning you have to travel down the fairway and around a mando, and then back towards the basket which is the direction you just came from.
In many cases, people will not get to the mando on their drive—they play down the fairway and go around the mando on the second (or sometimes even third) shot.
When marking the lie, as far as I'm aware, the mando does NOT affect the line of play:

How Do Mandos Affect the Line of Play in Disc Golf?
As of a January 2022 rules update, mandos have absolutely no effect on the line of play in disc golf. The line of play is always a direct line between a player's lie and the basket.
Those who don't know what "line of play" means can find a detailed description in our post on relief in disc golf. In essence, it's the line between your lie and the basket, which effects where you can have supporting points during a throw. Before the January 2022 rule updates, mandos could affect the line of play. As we said above, that's no longer the case.
https://udisc.com/blog/post/disc-golf-rules-explained-mandatories-mandos

One this hole, that means you're marking your like the opposite direction you're throwing on your second shot—is this right? It often causes confusion on this hole, and people mark their lie relative to the mando... but according to that udisc article, that is incorrect.
What's the move?
(Brewer Golds hole 4 for those wondering)

My bf and I went through a hard patch. He has no one for family love and as a Hispanic family that I have, they love him like his own. He admit he’s a bit jealous of how my mom is sweet to me. His mom is a drug abuse and alcoholic. She told her two sons (my bf and his brother) that they were failed abortions when they were 8, The mother “Sania” was raised by her father who was in WW2 military and a stepmom who was always flying and both parents didn’t give her love but only money. Sania became a drugie and the husband stole 30K and left her because Sania was cheating on him with another drugie. At least that’s what I’ve been told. Both drugies didn’t care about the kids but instead they put them in a room and locked them with no food like animals. At Age 16 my bf escaped the house with his brother and came to their step grandma because she was all they had/knew. One day, his grandma who raised them since 16 died and Sania came, not to see the old lady dying but to steal some jewelry because she was known for being a drug abuse. She brought her pets (2 big dogs, 3 jellyfish, 2 birds and 1 fish) and car, her 2 kids because she became pregnant of the drugie age 25, and she brought her new Puerto Rico bf too, as if she was moving in. My bf wanted me to be with him through hard times but I had school and he didn’t, I had my job but he quit his. I was exhausted and I was there in the hospital when I could, and so were some of my fam members. My family didn’t have to see him, they did it out of heart. You must know I do not drive because of my mental illness. And I can’t take Ubers because I don’t trust them if I have a seizure. Anyway, The operated day I was at home didn’t wanted to see him because I was exhausted emotionally and who knew if all my emotions came out and I could have a seizure. He got mad and broke down and spoke to Sania that I wasn’t there. The next day, I came to the hospital and Sania in front of him, his brother, said quietly “fat cow” quietly that only I could hear. I’m 5’8 and I weight 149 so Im in a good shape. I said “sorry for not coming to the operation”. Then she said out loud “everything that your boyfriend said and what you’ve done is a disappointment, we will talk later”. I said “yes”. Acting as if she was my mom. My bf didn’t defend or said anything to her. He stayed quiet looking at his grandma in hospital bed. Don’t forget I apologized the same day of the operation for not seeing him through text. His mom spoke bad about me to him and telling him to dump me, until I dumped him. I couldn’t take hearing all his problems it was causing me anxiety. He apologized to me 3 months after his grandma death. And his mother left our city and I didn’t want him back until he brought me flowers, we hanged out and it felt normal. He joined an academy. So I accepted him back. It turned out he was going to another girl’s house behind my back with 2 more guys. I know I shouldn’t have checked his phone but he was being secretive. He stopped talking to her and I never knew if he cheated but he was “30 min from Orlando” at least that’s what the message said with hearts. And he met her parents. We’re together it’s been up and down. But we’re loving each other and going on dates. I’m still with him and he’s taking bout kids with me and we’re only 21/22🤨.

About a year ago, I started having a change in my bowel habits. I went from going 2-3/day with normal solid stool, to 8-20/day with loose/yellow/floating/mucous combination stool. No matter what I eat I continue to go straight to the bathroom. My stomach pains were unbearable at times and I have a constant fear of not making it to the bathroom on time every single day. I could not go out to eat with family. There was no eating before going anywhere. No trips anywhere, nothing. I finally went to the doctor about 3 months in. I went to my primary care to get a referral for a GI doctor. At my primary care appointment, they drew labs to check my white blood cell count, electrolytes, gallbladder labs, and even checked to see if my thyroid was causing any of this. Then they hit me with giving them a stool sample to check for C-diff… I am a nurse and knew what types of stool C-diff can look like, and i DEFINITELY know what it smells like. I knew I didn’t have it and I never turned in my stool sample. I just thought it was a total waste of time. My other labs came back normal, everything did. She referred me to a GI doctor and the earliest appointment was 3 months away. I waited and continued to try and deal with this completely awful new way of life. I changed my diet to absolutely no sugar, no gluten, no dairy, and high protein/fiber STRICT diet…. This of course did nothing for me. The time has come and I go to the GI appointment, finally. I went on to tell them all of my issues I had been having for the past 6 months. There was the stomach pain, change in bowl habits, constantly having to have a bowel movement, the cololook of the stool, and the 10 pounds of weight loss that had taken place since this has started. They checked the same labs on me as my primary care doc did, did an ultrasound of my abdomen/pelvis, and gave me a stool testing kit. I told them I didn’t have C-diff, but they wanted to check anyways. They also scheduled for me to have colonoscopy and an upper GI scope. The only problem was that the earliest possible appointment was 6 months away…. I begged for them to find a way for it to be pushed up because I had started becoming depressed, developed anxiety, and became a total recluse. I even started taking anxiety medication solely because of this. They said since my ultrasound was normal (other than extreme gas in my abdomen) and my labs didn’t reflect anything serious, they can’t move it up due to being so booked up. I drove home and cried the whole way home. I’ve never felt so defeated in my life. I took my stool sample items and threw them away. The only thought I had was, “what a waste of my time”. I thought nothing was going to be normal again. I had forgotten what even normal was. I decided to call my primary care doctor to see if she could refer me to another GI office. They did, and the earliest appointment was 3 months away…. Yes, another delay. I waited and waited. Still no socializing, staying home, going to work ONLY, barely eating, more weight loss, and now the presence of blood that started to appear in my stool…. Did I mention that I had been taking a box/more of immodium every month in order to be able to work my full time night shift ICU nurse job…??? Yep… not kidding, and every NP/doctor I had talked to thus far knew this… Finally, after 9 months I had my appointment with the other GI office. They again did the same as the other office except order an ultrasound. The only thing different was they told me that I would be priority over anyone on receiving a colonoscopy due to my s/s. They scheduled it 2 weeks away which was their earliest appointment possible at the time. I was so relieved it was unreal. I was finally taken seriously. They also said they MUST have a stool sample on me before I had the scope done. So i grabbed the supplies they gave me and went home to have a BM, placed it into the fridge (absolutely disgusting), and then drove it up to the clinic the next day. 3 days went by and I had a phone call. They called to tell me my labs came back normal, but that I tested positive for C-diff…… I couldn’t speak. I was in such shock and disbelief. They also called to tell me that they were canceling my scope and sending in 2 weeks worth of Vancomycin that I need to take 4/times. I cried and cried and cried. I just knew it wasn’t C-diff and they had gotten my samples mixed. I was so disgusted and angry at them for canceling my scope because I knew that would give me the answers that I needed to possibly get back to normal again. I got over it. Started taking the antibiotics, and stopped taking the immodium. My bowel movements decreased. Stomach pains went away. Blood stopped appearing in my stool. I was almost back to my old self…. Then after the Vanc was done and I had completed the prescribed course, all of my awful, no good symptoms I had before the meds… started again in full force. I have now lost 7 pounds in 3 days. I have not stopped going to the bathroom. I have very pale yellow colored stools. I now have 20 bowl movements a day. I have intense, not being able to even breathe stomach pains. And now a toilet bowl full of blood with a select few of those bowel movements. I called the GI office and they told me they are sending me in a 10 day dose of some other medication that I have yet to figure out due to this occurring today and the med not even being able to be picked up from the pharmacy yet. I am disappointed and mad. I can’t do this anymore. I can barely preform my job which takes ALL of my focus and energy and doesn’t share those things with anything. I have talked myself out of going to the emergency room every time, I guess that’s the nurse in me. I am miserable. I’m going to take these meds and if this doesn’t help I’m telling them I am headed to the emergency room and I don’t care what happens. I just will not let this be me for the rest of my life. I can’t do this another day. Please… can someone help me. I have had C-diff for a total of a year and only known I’ve had this for 1-2 months now. Please tell there is hope of getting rid of this. Anything is helpful at this point…. (Yes I take probiotics and prebiotics. Intake fiber. Even drink Kefer. I also eat yogurt with probiotics every day. None of this helps.) * I also have pictures of my stool that I did show each and every doc * - I know that is insanely weird but I just wanted to be take seriously…..

First, be aware that this is a complex topic and summaries are not a realistic reflection of the Stoic position about the self.
Second, try to let go of your biases. In Europe and in America the dominant narrative is the dualist one: humans have a body and a soul, the latter being your true essence. If you approach Stoicism without letting go of that background you’re likely to make mistakes.
So what are we, according to the Stoics?
 

A psychophysical composite

That expression is based on Christopher Gill's reasoning in The Structured Self(2006) as well as A. Long's Soul and Body in Stoicism (1982) and Hierocles' Elements of Ethics. So the Stoic self would be defined as a structured whole, a concept that is incompatible with the essentialist view of other schools.
Hierocles (Elements of Ethics 4.30 ff.) says that the mind is a cohesive force, and that animals are nothing else than a composite (syntheton) of body and mind. Note that, as I'll mention below, "body" and "mind" are further divided by the Stoics in several others parts.
With that understanding it would not be possible to claim that a human being is only one part of a larger composite. Instead, the human being is the totality of that composite.
 

Psychē as a body.

A brief but significant axiom is that for the Stoics the mind (psychē) is corporeal. Any distinctions between body and mind that we see in the texts are made on a conventional level of speech (i.e. exoteric, directed at a general audience or at amateur readers). On an absolute level of speech both the mind and the body are "bodies".
The consequence of this is that the mind is mortal and changeable. More on this later.
 

Eight parts

In some sources we find that what constitues the human being is a composite of eight parts. More appropriately, the self/psychē is eightfold:

• the five sense faculties (aisthētēria),
• the part of speech (phonētikos),
• the part of thinking (dianoētikos/logistikos),
• and the part of reproduction (gennētikos).

Furthermore, the thinking part is considered the regent of the mind and further divided into several other parts, namely:

• Appearance (phantasiai): in humans, all appearances are logikai (Diogenes Laertius 7.51).
• Impulse (hormai): in humans, impulses are produced by logos (Diogenes Laertius 7.86).
• Assent (synkatatheseis): in humans it's related to lekta ("""meaning"""/"""sayable""") and also dependent on logos.
• Reason (logos): among mortals, only humans have this part.
• Perceptions (aisthēseis): in humans, the information from the senses is integrated and interpreted by the thinking part.

Source: Diogenes Laertius 7.110 and 7.157; the SVF also offers a whole list of sources about this starting at 2.823.
 

Eight parts, addendum

In relation to the first point I mentioned above, do note that also in these multiple parts we see an expression of Stoic holism. The reproductive part, for instance, isn't just a single organ but rather a power, or faculty, that draws pneuma from the entire body, and reproduction itself doesn't happen without the other parts (such as the senses).
We shouldn't view these parts as separate objects as one would e.g. in a mechanistic worldview.
Similarly, rationality permeates everything in a human self, and even phenomena that some other schools would consider negative due to their "irrational" tone, such as impulses, are ultimately influenced or created by the human logos.
To be clear: human irrationality is not caused by a "bad" or "dark" part of one's self, but rather by a diseased reasoning faculty.
So at this point I'd like to reiterate my initial comment that trying to understand Stoicism from a dualist worldview is harmful to one's understanding – be such dualism Platonic, Manichaeist, Gnostic, Christian, Cartesian, Marxist etc.
 

As graspable as water

In Seneca's Letter 58.22-23 we see the description of the self as a very fluid, changeable, and fuzzy instance of a person.
This is not a novel concept in Stoicism. As you may know, the Stoics had a very unique approach to time, even stating (according to doxographers) that the "now" i.e. the "current moment" does not exist. The "now" is a fluid intersection between all the past and all the future, with nothing in between, and the same thing seems to be applied to their idea of self: it's an individual instance in time that is constantly being superseeded by another instance.
 
 
This is a complex topic. Bonhöffer (Epiktet und die Stoa, p. 40-41) lists several different descriptions of a "self" among some the later Stoics, but this is not to say that there's no consensus. Rather, there are subtleties to which we don't have access. Even so, there are several sources who do describe the "self" as a composite of multiple parts, and that's meaningful as well as sufficient for us to have a general understanding of the idea.
Furthermore, if we approach the Stoic self from Stoic physics, it becomes clear that neither dualist nor essentialist views are tenable – the Stoic cosmology doesn't support it.
I can get more sources if you'd like, but it might take me a while to respond in the next few days.

Previous Part
My eyes darted around the room, still shocked from the brutality I just witnessed from Shaoni. Katrina had strutted out of view and when my eyes turned to where Brooke’s crumpled form should’ve been he was gone to. At some point both Robert and John had run off towards the growing sounds of gunfire. Shaoni and I still stood in the coliseum, shaken to our cores but both for very different reasons.
*CLANG*
The sudden noise startled me, the sound of metal on metal. The sound came again, this time I heard it clearly and turned around to face the noise only to be met by a few familiar faces.
“Don’t mean to bother you but their shootin up the place, could ya let us the hell in!”
Rocco shouted as he beat Brookes stolen lighter against the metals bars that closed off the back entrance to the coliseum. Bianca gave me a sheepish wave as I looked over their faces again. Frank, Stein, and Tuck were with her. They must have come through the same way Bianca and I had a few days before.
“NOW!”
Rocco shouted in irritation as my brain finally kicked into gear and I ran over to let them through the barred metal gate.
“What’s going on up there?”
I wondered out loud, concerned by how shell shocked they all looked.
“I’d guess something involving the government, with equipment like that I doubt it would be anyone else. Just as we got to the hole Bianca mentioned several men in black tactical gear came out of the forest at our sides. When we didn’t clear out like they demanded they started firing so we dove in.”
Stein explained.
“I take it that’s Shaoni?”
He added, pointing towards where she lay, hunched over and taking shaky breaths on the ground.
“Is she alright?”
Bianca chimed in, craning her neck to get a better view of her past everyone else.
“The hell should we care!? Isn’t it her fault we’re doin’ any of this in the first place?”
Rocco grumbled up at us as he laid back on the ground. Glad to see he wasn’t taking things to seriously. Tuck just stared at Shaoni with this intense anger in his eyes, he didn’t say a word.
I know I shouldn’t care what happened to her at this point but a part of me just couldn’t leave Shaoni like this. Sure, she probably didn’t deserve the sympathy but I couldn’t help feeling a little bad for her now that the anger had passed. When I made my way over to her I got the sense I was seeing the real Shaoni for once. I was seeing someone who witnessed her people rise and fall, saw the country we live in change and grow as it became what we know today. Someone who’d lived countless lifetimes as a piece that just didn’t quite fit the puzzle anymore. I thought about everything Bianca had learned about Shaoni, how she was given her powers, no, her burden in the first place. Suddenly I had a pretty good idea of what exactly she brought everyone here for.
“Shaoni?... Are you… uh, you ok?”
I said like I was trying to comfort a dying animal. The closer I got the more I could hear, she was crying. It was that held back sort of crying right before the dam breaks into full on sobs. She was cracking but still trying to put on a tough face, still trying to be every bit as imposing as she had been the first night I saw her. But she wasn’t, now she just looked pitiful.
“You… you’re right you know Keith. I’m not Justice anymore… I…I don’t think I have been for a very long time.”
She choked out through tears that flowed freely down her face as she rose to her feet.
“I don’t know why I brought you here… I was just so desperate to…”
She trailed off but that was alright, I already knew what she was going to say.
“To escape? Pass on your burden? This whole thing was to chose someone to pass the Thunderbird spirit onto wasn’t it?”
I asked, sure that I was right.
“Yes, this is what I wanted from the start, to give my burden to one of you. At first I wanted the trials to help me make my decision but by the time all of you arrived I just wanted a way out. I wanted to finally live a real life. I’ve lived too long… I just want to live simply before the end that should’ve come so long ago.”
Shaoni cried, more controlled now as she finally started to get a hold of herself.
“So what? You’d just give it to someone else! What about what that would do to them?”
“I just wanted out Keith! I know it was selfish, I don’t care! I just want the nightmare to be over!”
Shaoni screamed out at me. She was hysterical enough that I saw Stein’s hand shoot towards his belt. I’m sure he had that gun I saw yesterday waiting there so I held out my hand to signal him to wait.
“We did good once, in the beginning. But that changed, the wars the injustice I just couldn’t stand by and let that happen so I fought back. I spread the idea that fighting to the death was better than compromising for peace, compromising to save lives. That’s when we… I went wrong. I lead them astray! I was responsible for their deaths! Every! Single! One! I was bitter and resentful for years and I took it out on anyone I thought was guilty. I’ve lived with that for centuries! Do you think I don’t know I’ve become a monster Keith?!”
Shaoni finished with a look of profound shame on her face.
I never thought I’d see the day when I actually felt bad for Shaoni. Not some spur of the moment there’s a full on shootout going on above us and I probably shouldn’t let her die, feeling bad. No, I genuinely felt sorry for her after hearing her talk about the past with total honesty for once.
“You could come with us.”
I offered, looking back to everyone who’d gathered around her at that point. The looks on their faces all told me they weren’t fans of that Idea but only Tuck protested.
“I won’t help her crawl outta the bed she made! Keith, do you honestly think she doesn’t deserve everything thats comin’ to her?!”
“No, but I think she’s suffered enough. Besides, I really don’t want to leave someone down here to die knowing I could’ve done something about it.”
“You know what, fine! You care to much about this Keith, she deserves it! But if you want to take her with us don’t be surprised when she goes on and stabs ya in the back! Now come on, we should get moving.”
Tuck finished, throwing his hands up in the air in an act of frustrated surrender.
“So you realize we’ve got to go out there right? We’re not climbing back out the way we came in so heading out the main entrance is our only option at this point.”
Frank said bluntly as we watched Rocco scurry out of the hole they had dropped in from. We’d all collectively decided we were better off sending Rocco back home. Frank was right though, and even though the sounds of gunfire had started to sound a little farther away I still wasn’t a fan of getting anywhere closer to them.
“I might be able to help with that.”
Shaoni replied, getting to her feet with an air of determination.
“Stay behind me and move when I tell you to.”
We all fell into line behind Shaoni without another word. I guess all of us realized the the sobbing mess we’d seen before also just so happened to be the same Thunderbird that reduced most of Imalone to ashes. So despite how we felt about letting her lead us around it was probably our best chance at the moment.
I was a little surprised that none of… whatever was happening out there hadn’t spilled into the mine and made its way to us. We found out why just as soon as the single file line behind Shaoni made it out of the mine. The camp was devastated, what wasn’t on fire or covered in bullet holes was smashed or ripped to pieces. The ground was littered in bodies and shell casings. A few hundred feet in front of us a small group of Shaoni’s followers where taking shots at the men in black tactical gear Stein had mentioned. There was maybe ten of them but it looked like those ten had slaughtered nearly all of the followers that had made up this camp.
I threw up on the spot, I was so shocked by the scene in front of me I didn’t even manage to bend over, it just kinda waterfalled out of my mouth. I heard Bianca groan in disgust from behind me. I didn’t understand why everyone else wasn’t reacting the same way I was. As I came back to my senses after a minute or so I took off my now vomit covered jacket and felt the cool air through my shirt. Shaoni had instructed us to move and I must’ve moved on my own. All of us were gathered behind a small rocky outcrop near the entrance to the mine.
“You doing alright?”
Bianca asked quietly from behind me, putting a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at her and noticed the jewel encrusted dagger from before was clutched in her hand, twinkling with reflections from her now glowing blue eyes.
I could barely hear Bianca over the sounds of gunfire. Which almost certainly meant the last of the survivors were being wiped out. I couldn’t watch anymore death today so I just ducked lower behind our cover.
“You hear me Keith? Are you ok?”
Bianca persisted with a little more concern in her voice. I was still trying to pretend I hadn’t just seen dozens of dead bodies but I couldn’t really ignore her forever.
“No not…not really.”
I said, my voice coming out silent as a church mouse.
“Was it the-”
I cut her off
“I’ve never seen a dead body before, I mean I have but not like… not like that. The one guy his jaw was just…. Just gone. How do you guys do it? How do you just look at that and not react?”
Bianca sighed and looked me in the eyes. There was a kind of recognition in them, like she was seeing a little bit of herself in my situation.
“We’ve all seen a lot of horrible stuff in our lives, we’re used to it. Still it doesn’t make it feel normal to see… this. Do you think you can hold it together a bit longer or do you want me to…”
Bianca trailed off but it was obvious to me what she meant. Bianca was offering to soothe that terrified part of me with her powers again.
“Thanks but no, I’ll be alright I’ll probably be seeing this in my dreams for weeks though.”
I answered, trying to make a stupid joke to lighten the mood. Bianca cracked a hint of a smile and that was enough for me.
While we’d been talking everyone had failed to notice Shaoni was gone. She had stood up and was walking straight towards where those men in black gear where picking through what was left of her followers. She was glowing though, every single tattoo glowed with an intense white light and then in a flash she was gone, and the Thunderbird was in her place. Frank and Stein stared in awe of the huge beast in front of them. The Thunderbird looked exactly as I remembered. The blue feathers and steel gray beak reflecting in the light from its crackling white eyes.
“That’s it, That’s the god damn bird!”
Tuck yelled like we couldn’t see what was right in front of us. I think he was just surprised to see the Thunderbird again. Even after years of swearing to get back at “the bird” for the friends he lost I don’t think he ever thought he’d come face to face with it again. Seeing it must be bringing up more than a few memories he’d rather forget.
“Don’t do anything you’ll regret! She’s been helping us Tuck, at least put your differences aside until we’ve gotten all this figured out.”
Stein yelled over an ear splitting screech from the massive bird as Tuck began to tense up. Every muscle in his body looked like it was about to pop, they were bulging to an inhuman degree. With a long exhale he loosened up and the swelling went down.
“Damn it… fine! But only till we got things settled here, after that I need to have a “conversation” with that… thing!”
Tuck shouted in begrudging agreement.
The men in front of us all turned toward Shaoni, her new form towering over them. Then I heard a familiar voice shout out,
“You wanted it gone, You’re looking at it! What’re you all waiting for!”
A commanding voice rang out from one of the people in front of us. I didn’t take long to spot the platinum blonde hair poking out from under the armored black helmet the woman wore, not just any woman, Katrina. I didn’t have much time to let that sink in before Katrina made a fist, stuck two fingers up in the air and shook them forward at us. After that, all hell broke loose.
The men behind Katrina rushed forward, guns drawn. Stein drew his own pistol and cocked it, taking aim at the approaching men. Tuck tensed up again and this time he didn’t hold himself back. Bones cracked and skin shifted to accommodate the inhuman muscles he now possessed. Hair sprang up all over his body and under it his face became more angular, his nose almost snout-like. Tuck looked something like a werewolf but definitely not the wolf man I expected. He looked more like an extremely hairy, unnaturally muscular feral person than any wolf man. Frank, Bianca, and I all hunkered down behind the outcrop, waiting for the worst to happen. Shaoni took to the sky with a flap of her massive wings as the gunfire started.
Nothing ever really prepares you for how loud a gunshot actually is, especially a whole bunch of them from fully automatic weapons. There’s nothing quite like being shot at either, at some point you just have to accept the fact that at any moment one of those things flying around you is going to hit you and just get ready for it. That doesn’t actually do anything to calm you down though, at least it didn’t for me. I was huddled behind that little outcropping like a puppy hiding from fireworks on the fourth of July. Wind gusted all around us as Shaoni flapped her wings furiously. The wind coming from her winds was so intense it blew the bullets being fired at her off course. Lead rained all around us as I listened to the cracks of even more bullets being fired. I heard growling as something roughly Tuck sized tore forwards toward the gunfire.
The sky was turning an enraged black and rain had already started to fall in sheets. Lightning struck the ground every so often as well, to close and regular to be natural. I peaked up over the outcrop at one point. I was just in time to see one of the men get struck by a bolt of lightning and tense up as he fell to the ground. As the men kept firing at Shaoni some of their shots started to hit home. The bullets that didn’t get turned away with the wind glanced off her massive form. Whatever those feathers were made off seemed to stop most of the bullets dead in their tracks but it was becoming obvious Shaoni couldn’t keep this up. From our position behind the outcrop Bianca and I both felt the beats of her wings and the gusts of wind that came with it coming slower and slower. We shared a glance for just a second, from the look in Bianca’s eyes, I felt certain we were doomed. More and more of the bullets seemed to be hitting Shaoni and her movements became slower still until eventually it happened.
With a shrill cry she fell from the sky, her blue features stained red in places. Shaoni hit the ground with an earthshaking crash and lay still. Katrina screamed something I couldn’t hear in the violent storm that still raged all around us. When I inched my way up to take a look I saw Katrina and her men charging toward Shaoni guns drawn. Behind them I caught sight of Tuck’s muscular figure getting back up from the ground. I hadn’t been keeping an eye on him before but it looked like he’d seen better days. He hesitated a bit before me moved, looking back to the outcrop where we were and over towards where Shaoni lay. He looked once, twice, then shook his head, mind apparently made up and ran at the men on all fours.
They didn’t hear him coming from behind over the storm and as they raised there weapons Tuck pounced. With one swipe of his humongous hand he sent one of the men flying off towards the forest. Even Katrina was surprised by Tuck’s sudden attack. The time provided by everyone taking a moment to decided who to point their gun at gave Shaoni just enough time to act. She shot one wing out, glancing off everyone near her and knocking them to the ground. One of them men’s helmets flew off with the hit and Stein quickly lined up a shot and fired, hitting the man in the top of the head. The look in his eyes was devoid of any emotion as he ducked back down behind the outcrop. I got the sense this wasn’t the first time Stein had killed, not surprising considering his time in Germany. Still, there was something unsettling about that look in the old scientists eyes.
As Katrina and her men got their bearings again and started firing at Tuck bullets plinked off the outcrop. Apparently they hadn’t forgotten we were there. I stole a quick glance over to where Shaoni had fallen but the Thunderbird was gone revealing a hole in the ground created from the impact of her fall.
“TUCK!”
I screamed out to get his attention for a moment. Tuck’s head swirled towards me just long enough for him to see my outstretched hand pointing to the hole in the ground. I grabbed Bianca’s hand and pulled her to her feet, making a mad dash to the hole. Frank and Stein saw what we were doing and followed after us. Stein fired wild shots off towards Katrina and her men while Tuck kept harassing them.
By some miracle Tuck was still going even as I saw bullets tear into him, he was an animal. He tossed the men around like rag dolls and at one point I turned to see him bring his now claw-like fingernails arching upwards. The head of the man he’d hit was bent back at a sickening angle, he was dead there was no question but Tuck didn’t even stop to spare a thought for the man. Seeing one of their comrades killed in front of them seemed to get the attention of the entire group of them. I hated to admit it but it was exactly the distraction we needed.
As we ran past the chaos of the fight I heard a mix of screams of agony and determination. At one point one of the men’s broken bodies flew over the four of us and hit the ground with a wet crunch that sent a shiver down my spine. We just kept running though, everyone following behind me because I looked like I had a plan. To be fair I did, it was just a bad plan, more of a feeling honestly. I thought if we could get into that hole Shaoni made we might find a way out, a real long shot but it was the best I could do right now.
By the time we reached the hole and I jumped in Tuck had thrown just about every one of Katrina’s men all over the little clearing we were in. Some where very clearly dead but some where rolling around and groaning. Katrina was still standing though, just before I fell deep enough into the hole I got a quick glance at her as she took aim at Tuck who seemed to finally be feeling all the punishment he’d been taking.
I didn’t even have time to scream a warning before my feet hit the hard rock below me and everyone else fell in on top of me.
“Sorry… sorry”
Bianca squeaked out as she pulled herself out of the pile of bodies we’d become. Frank, Stein, and Bianca seemed alright but my ankle was definitely sprained, badly.
“Can you walk on that?”
Bianca asked, examining my ankle in the strange blue light that emanated from further down the chamber we’d fallen into.
“Maybe? Here can I just lean on you?…. yeah, yeah that’ll work.”
I told her, using her to pull myself to my feet and leaning on her for support.
“What are we looking for Keith?”
Frank wondered out loud, a little fear creeping in to his voice as he looked around the chamber.
“I’m not actually sure, I was hoping we’d find Shaoni down here, maybe a tunnel out.”
I grunted out honestly, still reeling form the pain shooting up from my ankle.
“Wait where’s Tuck?”
“If he didn’t make it down we have to assume the worst. We can’t afford to wait now.”
Stein answered, quickly and professionally like someones life wasn’t at stake.
“He never had to come out here for me! We can at least wait for him, give him a chance-”
Stein cut me off
“None of us had to come here for you! We knew the risks so did Tuck. If we wait here now his sacrifice means nothing!”
Stein yelled at me. He was right, none of them needed to be out here but I still didn’t like leaving someone behind. As Frank and stein trudged forward Bianca and I hesitated a bit.
“I don’t want to leave him either but Stein’s right. Just lean on me and lets keep moving, we can come back later and look for his…”
Bianca trailed off before she could say body but I got the message, and if Bianca was moving forward I really didn’t have much of a choice.
We didn’t have to go far to find Shaoni, her usual deerskin clothing was ripped and stained with blood in places. All in all she didn’t look as bad as I thought she would. The light we saw at the entrance was coming from her tattoos as every one glowed brightly with blue light. The same light glowed faintly from four Thunderbird totems placed in the corners of the huge room.
“Welcome to my nest.”
Shaoni said with a dry chuckle, extending her arms out to her sides before immediately clasping them back over a wound in her side.
“Shaoni, are you… are you going to be alright.”
I asked, but before I could get any sort of answer I was interrupted by snarky laughter and a cocking gun.
“Well thanks for leading me right to where I wanted to be Keith.”
Katrina remarked as she walked into the room.
Bianca’s eyes glowed that all to familiar blue but Katrina was a step ahead of her.
“Yeah I wouldn’t try that if I were you. Sure you could force me to walk right out of here but it’s going to take a second to break me, longer than it would take me to pull this trigger.”
Katrina responded with a sneer, turning the gun on Bianca. Bianca jumped back like a scared cat. Ducking under my arm and putting all my weight back on my sprained ankle.
“Wait Don’t!… Argh!”
I cried out at her just before I fell to the ground.
“Ok, ok just… don’t.”
Bianca conceded, putting her hands up and backing away as the blue glow faded from her eyes. When he saw what Katrina was doing Frank wrestled Stein’s gun out of his hands and pointed it straight at Katrina, finger trembling on the trigger.
“Don’t you dare hurt her!”
Frank shouted, face turning red with fury.
“Well thats cute…”
And with an earsplitting bang Katrina turned and shot Frank in the leg. He fell to his knees, dropping the gun he’d been holding as Stein scrambled to hold him up.
“Don’t get in my way, don’t threaten me, and I won’t have to hurt anyone. Now Shaoni, where were we?”
Katrina cooed with murder in her voice as she took a step forward. I tried to pull myself up to my feet, only succeeding in making a pitiful cry as I fell back down again. Bianca flinched towards me but backed up fast when Katrina’s gaze shot her way.
“Keith, you’re still alive? I don’t know how you keep getting mixed into things but you’ve gotta learn when to just give up. I was supposed to kill all of you down there after the third trial. I gave you an out and you just stuck around. Tell you what though, you can still walk away cause I feel bad you got dragged into this in the first place. I have no idea what she was thinking, roping you into this with no idea about the supernatural at all.”
Katrina addressed me, pointing over at Shaoni after helping me to my feet. It hurt to stand but I was getting used to the pain.
“Above everything else I was supposed to kill the Thunderbird and thats what I’m going to do, after that you all can walk out of here.”
Katrina took slow steps toward Shaoni who simply glared at her. She didn’t try to run though, something told me she was ready, no matter how the next few minutes played out. But I had one more trick up my sleeve as I limped over, putting myself in between Shaoni and Katrina.
“She just wants out of all this Katrina! You have to know about where she came from, everything she’s been through!”
I yelled through gritted teeth, biting back the white hot pain shooting up from my ankle.
“I know enough It’s sad sure, but everyone’s got a sad story these days. She’s been flying around taking out whole towns to use as havens for people who want to follow this ass backwards sense of justice she’s got. I don’t want to become that person who’s hunting down supernaturals like her no questions asked just because I was ordered to. But in this case she’s responsible for hundreds of deaths. The “accidents” that happen in those towns are all her fault, and not all of them are as nice as Eagles Peak. The kind of people a town outside of any real form of government or law attracts aren’t the people you want to be neighbors with. She’s got to die Keith, so do you if your going to try and stop me.”
Katrina explained as she stalked closer to me. I really didn’t want to do what I knew I had to do next but I couldn’t watch anyone else die today.
“Alright, I guess there’s no other way then, Shaoni I’ll take on your burden.”
The whole room exploded into a chorus of “what” in varying degrees of shock but my mind was made up. I turned to Shaoni as she asked,
“Are you sure Keith?”
“Yes.”
Before anyone could recover from the shock of what I was about to do she reached out and grabbed my hands. I took hold of her’s and she said something in a language I couldn’t hope to understand as my vision went white.
When I could see again I was… somewhere else. Lightning flashed intermittently overhead and a grassy field extended out forever around me. In front of me stood a misty grey form of a bird it was huge, easily twice the size of the form I’d seen Shaoni take. Through its shifting misty form I could see Shaoni. The bird seemed to be talking to her but I couldn’t make anything out, I could only guess it was a Thunderbird spirit. It seemed to nod to Shaoni before it turned to me and stared me dead in the eyes. Its beak didn’t move, actually no part of it moved but I still heard its voice in my head as its eyes continued to boar into me.
“My chosen, Justice, claims she has lost her way, is this true?”
I couldn’t begin to describe how this voice sounded, powerful is the only word that came to mind. I didn’t feel like I was in any danger though, in fact I felt calmer than I ever had.
“She has.”
I got the sense that quick simple answers were probably best here.
“Justice spoke very highly of you. You offered to succeed her if she is to be believed.”
“I did, but how exactly do we-”
But I was cut off with a bow from the spirit who evaporated all around me. My vision blurred and everything went white again as I collapsed into the soft grass.
I came to on the floor next to Shaoni, it couldn’t have been that much later because neither of us had any new bullet holes in us.
“What did you just do?”
Katrina asked standing above me and looking absolutely stupefied.
“The Thunderbird is dead.”
Was my simple, potentially completely bullshit answer. Katrina looked from me to Shaoni and back again, eyes growing wide as the realization dawned on her.
“You know what? That works for me, just don’t cause us any trouble and we can just forget this whole thing ever happened. Oh, I like the new eyes by the way.”
With that Katrina walked off and climbed a rope ladder she had attached to the ground outside the hole we fell through.
Everything else that happened was a blur, we went back out and found pretty much all of Katrina’s men dead. Tuck was shot several times and barley breathing when Shaoni of all people found him. She called us over and Stein assured us he’d be alright if we got him back to the lab soon. We carried Tuck’s hairy form over to one of the SUV’s and raced back into town. On the way we drove past Katrina who’d also taken one of the SUV’s and was heading out of town. Bianca made a comment at some point that I looked different. When we got back to the house I looked in a mirror and saw my eyes where the same shade of grey Shaoni’s had been.
Speaking of Shaoni we took her with us, she followed us over to the car after she found Tuck. She looked a bit like a lost puppy at that point if I’m honest. I guess finally being able to live your life free of some strange sense of duty after hundreds of years will do that to you. Shaoni hasn’t actually said much since we settled back in at Bianca’s house. She eats and goes through the motions of normal life, she’ll even shoot you a warm smile if she catches you staring at her. I’m still not used to seeing her with green eyes though. I think she just feels lost but I’m ready to help show her the ins and outs of normal-ish life when she’s ready to ask for help.
Frank and Stein went back to doing their normal experimenting pretty fast. The whole thing past them by like a particularly eventful weekend. Even Frank’s bullet wound was quickly forgotten about. Pretty much as soon as he treated it it was like it never even happened to him. Tuck got back on his feet with a lot of help from Frank and Stein. He walks with a permanent limp now but other than that he’s fine. Richelle just about had a conniption when we told her what happened and she hasn’t left Tuck’s side since. She seemed surprised when we described his transformation and we came to find out he never told her about his, “Condition”. That may be why they’ve been so inseparable lately, she just wants to help him however she can and he sure isn’t complaining about that.
Tuck and Shaoni have been getting along as well. I never thought I’d see the day those two sat down and just talked but after a tense first few weeks they came to an understanding. They aren’t old friends now by any means but I’ve walked in on them both talking about their pasts. Maybe sharing stories helps them deal with living such long lives.
As for me and Bianca we started dating and thats been… well that’s been just great. I think its good for both of us cause after everything that happened at the old mine I was just a bundle of nerves. Having someone like her to talk to, someone who gets it, who’s seen so much worse helps put things in perspective. She finally has someone to really talk to in town too. Theres not a whole lot of trouble for us to get up to but we’ve started making a habit of pouring over Frank and Stein’s notes on the supernatural. Not the most riveting idea for a night in but I like learning more about whats really out there.
I still don’t feel any different after taking on Shaoni’s “burden”. Maybe that sense of duty she felt really was just all in her head, a promise to her people that she never let go. Honestly I haven’t tried to use whatever powers might come with my own condition. I just don’t feel like I need to. Like I told Katrina, the Thunderbird is dead. I’m sure not going to be the next Shaoni or anything like that but maybe It’ll help us find Brooke.
Thats the one thing that keeps Bianca and I up at night, we never found Brooke’s body. The two of us went up to the old mine a week or so after everything happened to look around for any sign of him but we didn’t find a trace. In fact the whole thing was cleaned up and the entrance to the mine was collapsed. I’m willing to bet whoever Katrina works for came back to try and wipe away any traces they may have left here. Maybe they found Brooke out there and dealt with him themselves, maybe he’s still out there somewhere. But for now everything’s been pretty calm, even normal around here.
Rocco is still a menace, Tuck still leaves the Eagle’s Roost door unlocked at all hours of the day, and theres still next to no people living here. Without Shaoni and her trials looming over me life is actually pretty good here. So that’s my story, how a storm and a huge bird dragged me halfway across the country and I started dating a succubus…right after I became the Thunderbird. It still seems crazy when I say it like that. Maybe I’ll dig up something on Brooke but for now I think I’ve finally found my new normal out here in the curiously named town with no Eagles and no Peaks.

I'm having surgery done tomorrow and I wanted to check with my mom that I'm not allergic to the medicine I'm taking. The medicine could cause anaphylaxis which is one of the major side effects. I know I'm not likely to get that reaction, but I don't know if I will because I'm unsure if I have taken it as a child or not. I would just like reassurance that I will be okay if I take it. Also, if I do take it and have that reaction, I live in a small city where uber drivers can take 10+ mins to arrive, so I will probably be SOL. My thought was to check with my mom but when I called she immediately said "I will call you back, I'm in the store". I asked her to stay for a few seconds to answer my question and she said "Hurry up!" Immediately I felt the tears coming and I kinda gave up. I asked her the question but she says I have to find out elsewhere. What does that even mean? My appointment is tomorrow. I have to start the medicine today. She knows this. I told her yesterday, but oh wait, she also partially fell asleep while talking to me so maybe she didn't hear me. Am I really that boring??
I mean, man, this medicine could possibly kill me and she can't be bothered to have the time to talk to me about it. What the fuck? I feel like crying. I hate feeling like such a bother to her. Whatever happens, happens I guess. I don't care if the medicine could cause a negative side effect anymore. I'm tired of fighting to stay alive. My mother, the person who is supposed to love and care for me the most, doesn't have time for me when I'm in need. Perfect. 🙃

I've been diving deep into the world of digital marketing lately, specifically focusing on analyzing website traffic and user behavior. One common issue that keeps popping up is the dreaded high bounce rate from ads traffic. It can be quite perplexing to see those numbers soar, making you question the effectiveness of your ads and the quality of your landing pages.
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While a high bounce rate from ads traffic is not ideal, it's not necessarily a cause for panic. It's essential to monitor and analyze the data to understand the root causes behind the high bounce rate and make necessary adjustments to improve the performance of your ads and landing pages.
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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.

I'm a long time Fifa player, I got 118th in Asia/Oceania in Champs back in 21. But this game is utterly woeful. There is zero consistency. That whole "reach around tackle" ruins any player that is not built like a brick shithouse.
Every team can press even when you know the other player is bad, like running in a straight line with the ball bad. That stupid team will still win cause no matter what I do, all he has to do is shoot and my goalkeeper will save nothing or on the good days palm it in.
Like I even stopped playing this back in October and got on this month just for fun and thought oh yeah lets log on and play for a bit. Still shit.
This game is made for those idiots who don't understand football and only wanna score goals and open packs. I can't wait for an alternative.