Cash and carry food

I have a fast food place a little over a mile from my house. It’s an easy ride and I hate driving…. But, if I go, I always bring it back before eating. How do y’all carry fountain drinks, slushies, etc. with one of those dome tops that is not fully sealed? When I go to the grocery store, I just bring a backpack and it works great, but I have not been brave enough to try something like fast food drinks.

There have been a couple of posts and comments recently regarding what does or doesn't have 'SPIRIT' or can or can't be classed as 'ANIMIST'
Position: My Animist Perspective: Everything Has Spirit
Scenario: As animists, we want to eat the meat of some type of antlered deer in a ceremony and also use the antlers for various purposes (personal ornaments, decorations, tools, etc).
For this to occur, a farmer or a Hunter is needed. The items that are needed to humanely cull and process an ungulate deer.
The farmer or hunter cull a stag to harvest both meat and antlers.
The hunter uses a firearm and ammunition and the farmer may use the same or an electric/hydraulic bolt or perhaps even a steel knife to dispatch the animal humanely. The ammunition for the rifle contains, lead, brass, composite alloys, chrome, gunpowder (chemicals), and electricity.
The rifle is made from various types of metal, metal alloys, hardwoods farmed and exotic, plastics, fibreglass, rubber, glues, chemicals, glass if a scope is attached, lasers, batteries, electricity, etc.
The steel bolt is made from metal, metal alloys, plastic, composite rubbers, chemicals, and electricity. The knife is made from metal, metal alloys, hardwoods farmed and exotic, plastics, fibreglass, rubber, glues, chemicals, electricity, and if kept in a sheath leather, nylon chemical plastics.
Also, don't forget everything associated with the refrigeration of the meat. The packaging for everything. The electronic and paper products are used for advertising. The manufacturing distribution and administration buildings. The transportation vehicles include all the metal, plastic, rubber, oil, chemicals, electricity, etc. The people involved - their housing, food, clothing, medications, etc.
The infrastructure for producing all of the power necessary for the above - electricity, hydro, coal, uranium, geothermal, solar, tidal.
etc, etc, etc.
My Animist Perspective: Everything Has Spirit
From an animist viewpoint, the belief that all entities—animate and inanimate—possess a spiritual essence is central. This perspective imbues every element of the scenario described with a sense of interconnected spirituality. Here, I present a detailed and compelling positive argument that everything involved in the process of culling and utilising an antlered deer for ceremonial purposes belongs to the realm of animism.
The Deer and Its Spirit
In animism, the deer is not merely an animal but a being with a spirit. The stag embodies strength, grace, and the cyclical nature of life. The meat and antlers are gifts from the deer's spirit, offered in a ceremonial context to Honor its life and essence. The act of culling the deer, therefore, is not just a hunt but a sacred exchange, acknowledging the deer's spirit and its contribution to human sustenance and culture.
The Hunter and the Farmer
The hunter and the farmer, as facilitators of this process, are seen as mediators between the human community and the spiritual world of the deer. Their skills, tools, and knowledge are not just practical assets but are imbued with their own spirits. The hunter's connection to the deer through the hunt is a deeply spiritual bond, one that respects the life of the deer and acknowledges its spirit.
The Tools of the Hunt
* Firearm and Ammunition: Each component of the firearm and ammunition—the metals, wood, plastics, and chemicals—has its own spirit. The metal alloys are born from the earth, the hardwoods from the forests, and the chemicals from complex natural processes. The firearm, as a composite entity, carries the spirits of all its parts, combined into a tool that serves a sacred purpose.
* Steel Bolt and Knife: Similarly, steel bolts and knives are more than mere tools. The metals used in their creation have been shaped and transformed, their spirits forged to create instruments of humane dispatch. The wood, rubber, and other materials each bring their own spiritual essence to these tools, making them part of the ceremonial act.
The Process and the Ritual
The act of culling the deer is a ritualistic one, steeped in respect and spiritual significance. The hunter's or farmer's actions are guided by a profound understanding of the balance between taking life and honouring it. This process is a form of communication with the spirits of the tools, the deer, and the natural world.
The Role of Technology and Infrastructure
Even the technology and infrastructure involved in processing, preserving, and transporting the meat and antlers are seen through an animistic lens:
* Refrigeration and Packaging: The machinery and materials used in refrigeration and packaging are composites of various natural elements. The metals, plastics, chemicals, and electricity all carry the spirits of their origins. These spirits contribute to the preservation of the deer's gifts, ensuring they remain viable for ceremonial use.
* Transportation and Buildings: The vehicles, buildings, and infrastructure involved in the distribution process are also imbued with spirit. The metals and plastics in vehicles, the materials in buildings, and the energy sources (electricity, coal, uranium, etc.) all possess spiritual essences derived from the natural world. The interconnectedness of these elements ensures the respectful and efficient handling of the deer's gifts.
The Human Element
The people involved in this process—the hunter, farmer, workers, and consumers—each carry their own spirits. Their interactions with the deer, the tools, and the infrastructure are part of a larger spiritual network. Their homes, food, clothing, and medications are also seen as having spirits, derived from the earth and other natural sources.
Energy Sources and the Natural World
Finally, the sources of power—electricity, hydro, coal, uranium, geothermal, solar, and tidal—are manifestations of the earth's spirit. Each energy source, whether harnessed from water, wind, sun, or the depths of the earth, contributes its spiritual essence to the process. This interconnected web of spiritual energy sustains the entire chain of activities.
Conclusion
From my animist perspective, every element involved in the culling and utilisation of an antlered deer is imbued with spirit. This worldview sees the interconnectedness of all things, recognising the spiritual essence in the deer, the tools, the technology, the infrastructure, and the people. Each component plays a sacred role in the ritual, contributing to a holistic understanding of life, death, and the spiritual continuum. This deep respect for the spirits of all entities fosters a harmonious relationship with the natural world, emphasising the reverence and interconnectedness that are central to animism.
References

1. Bird-David, Nurit. "Animism Revisited: Personhood, Environment, and Relational Epistemology." *Annual Review of Anthropology* 21 (2023): 67-91.
2. Harvey, Graham. *Animism: Respecting the Living World*. London: Hurst & Company, 2017.
3. Van Eyghen, Hans. "Animism and Science." *Religions* 14, no. 5 (2023): 653. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14050653.
4. Astor-Aguilera, Miguel. "Animism and Materiality: Relational Ontologies and Practices." *Religious Studies Review* 44, no. 2 (2018): 139-147.
5. High, Casey. "Waorani Perspectives on Animal Spirits and the Agency of Shamans." *Journal of Anthropological Research* 73, no. 1 (2017): 129-147.
6. Fienup-Riordan, Ann, and Alice Rearden. *Yuungnaqpiallerput: The Real Person of the Ancestors: An Ethnohistory of the Cup'ik Eskimos of Nelson Island, Alaska*. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2016.
7. Skvirskaja, Vera. "The Sacred Space of the Nenets Tundra: Rituals and Practices." *Journal of Siberian Studies* 15, no. 3 (2022): 147-159.
8. Chidester, David. "Animism and Religion: Material Dynamics." *Religion* 48, no. 1 (2018): 85-97.
9. Tylor, Edward Burnett. *Primitive Culture*. New York: Harper & Row, 1871.
10. Hallowell, A. Irving. "Ojibwa Ontology, Behavior, and Worldview." In *Readings in Indigenous Religions*, edited by Graham Harvey, 17-49. London: Continuum, 2002.

These references provide a comprehensive academic basis for understanding animism in the context of both traditional and contemporary practices, emphasising the interconnectedness and spiritual significance of all elements involved in the described scenario.

Howdy KS? Hope everything is ramping up for Memorial Day this weekend. Got some goodies up for your consideration today. As always price includes shipping inside the US only. Please no trades! Payment methods are preferably Zelle, cash app or Apple Pay. But I can take PP or Venmo if absolutely necessary.
2 KNIFE MINIMUM!!!
Timestamp & Goodz
https://imgur.com/a/OgQzDRE

• Demko AD 20.5 in clip point D2, second owner bought off here and must say the knife is surprisingly smoother than all it other 20.5s. Very solid 8/10 condition with zero issues to note of. Comes with box & docs. SV $60
  
• Cold steel Air lites 1 tanto & 1 drop point, both are NIB in aus10A. SV $30 each.
  
• Boker Kalashnikov drop point in D2, once again NIB I bought this off blade HQ and has never seen any pocket time because of my Boker strike auto. SV $25
  
• CJRB pyrite in titanium scales w/stainless liners & AR-RMP9 steel, NIB bought a few of these when on sale at CKW. Fun little fidget knife for sure! SV $40
  
• CJRB WMK exclusive mini pyrite in fragged aluminum scales in AR-RMP9 steel. NIB SV $32
  
• Civivi baby banter in Nitro-V & canvas micarta, carried maybe 3 times but never used & no box. SV $35
  
• CJRB mini pyrite w/smooth aluminum scales, again carried a few times but never used no box. SV $25
  
• Ontario rat model 2 Aus8 steel, NIB SV $15
  

I thought I had a good budget but now I’m in a rut. I honestly see no way out as bills pile up and my household necessitates are all almost gone. I have a tablespoon of soap left for dishes, I need pads, and lots of other little things. I’m 19 with $15,689 left on my car loan I got last year($500/m) a personal loan that has $476 left ($50/m) a quick cash loan that has $762 left ($153/2wks). My bills without my loans are $1021. I get paid every two weeks ($875-$1200) and I can’t seem to budget so I have a couple dollars left for the second week each time I’m paid. My workdays fluctuate so I can never fully plan on what I’ll be getting paid.i try to budget the minimum amount but I can’t scrape by. I have a chance to get another $700 loan but it will be $125/2wks for way too long. I’m struggling and my bf wants to move in but doesn’t want to pay rent. I need the extra help and all I asked him to pay was utilities at $150/m. He just got a new job that pays roughly $650 on the low end, and that’s every week. I currently have food stamps but once he moves in I’m going to get way less, possibly none. I already have a copay on Dr visits for me and my child and I refuse Tony pay upfront with those. I’m scared of going into too much debt and no way out.

I am a 20 year old female, diagnosed last year with memory loss after going through extensive testing.
I used to have an amazing memory and IQ- better than most of my peers to a point where I would impress them. 3 years ago, for an unexplained reason, my memory and IQ began to decline. As of last year it was tested and shown to be in the low range and now, it’s difficult to even recall my last thought.
I carry a notebook with me everywhere now to write every important thought because I will forget. My memory significantly impacts my work performance and relationships with others. I had to stop going to college because I can’t remember basic concepts in the lessons anymore.
I’m constantly going into thought loops and get borderline obsessive over random topics that in the end, meant nothing to me. I sometimes forget my coworker’s names. I zone out often. Sometimes my body seems like it forgets how to swallow even when I know I have to swallow my food or drink. Sometimes I forget to take a breath and I nearly choke. I get dizzy randomly and trip over nothing, but luckily I haven’t fallen so far. I forget what I’m thinking about in the middle of thinking. Very frustrating for me and everyone around me. I forget my appointments and miss them. I forget how much money I have and end up spending too much, thinking I had way more.
It’s difficult to write this because I’ve zoned out and forgot what my goal was behind this post like 5 times.
My neuropsychologist asked me (last year) if I hit my head really hard some years ago !!! I said no. I’m not sure why this is happening. Family history of cancer and brain tumors. Mother has memory problems too, not sure what it is and she’s 40.
Should I get re-evaluated from last year? Get accommodation at work for this condition? I don’t know what to do. This impacts every second of my life and it scares me.

Couple of catch and releases up for grabs this evening. Both have COAs and pouches. Know your local knife laws. Pay pal G&S as I’m still a few swaps away from 25 flair. YOLO > chat. CONUS shipping. If bought tonight, I’ll ship tomorrow. Both really nice knives I’m glad I got to try but ultimately not keepers for me. OBO (make me an offer I won’t be offended)
Timestamp and pics
https://imgur.com/a/0KVwFIO
Herman Sting 182, m398 blade steel. Been around the swap but not carried much. I believe it has a factory edge which is still sharp. Has been dissembled as it had a rainbow clip and back spacer which was removed by a previous swapper. Favoring show side but a really nice herman action. Comes with the pivot tool. Check video but I don’t see much wear at all. SV 650 625 OBO
https://imgur.com/a/XjUjXGm
Tactile Archer with feather milling and blue/orange inlays, magnacut. I believe I’m the third owner but I don’t think it has been carried or cut or disassembled. Centered. Really nice shape, I don’t see any wear marks. Maybe one on the clip but honestly could be stone wash. Really smooth flipper action and falls shut. I personally can’t thumb or reverse flip it well but supposedly these take some breaking in. There aren’t a lot of inlay versions out there to my knowledge. SV 650 625 OBO
https://imgur.com/a/wXXZJDV
Thanks for looking. Let me know if you have questions or if I’m missing anything.
Trade interests, Eutsler stoned DUK (+$), user Rosie (+ a little bit of cash), other DUK/DUKlings considered.
Feel free to send me any trades but kinda picky.

I really don’t think that the worst part of this situation we are all in is the anhedonia/emotional numbness itself… nor the sensation of already being dead while you’re still alive… nor seeing everyone around you moving on with their lives, having no clue how much you are struggling every single second of every day while everyone carries on like normal… nor people not taking you seriously when you try to describe how absolutely soul crushing and debilitating this shit is. Nor the loneliness of literally no one being able to relate to you.
It’s the not knowing… not knowing when this hell is going to end for us and when we will feel like ourselves again… IF we ever will. The big IF. THAT is what gets me. That is the worst part of this for me.
I try to be optimistic and hopeful, but it still crosses my mind all the time. Will I ever be able to feel the love for my loved ones again? Especially my husband and children? My pets? Will I ever be able to enjoy the simple things in life again? My favorite drink? My favorite foods? Sunrises and sunsets, planting in my garden, the comfort of cuddling with my family, my favorite shows? I think if I knew that one day I would be better, I could be okay and content with waiting it out. It is the not knowing if that will ever come that is tortuous.
I swear to God I won’t take the little things for granted anymore after this. I see people do it all the time around me and it makes me want to puke and scream and cry out for them to JUST BE THANKFUL THAT YOU CAN FEEL ALIVE!! I just want to feel alive again. I just want us all to feel alive again. It’s all I want.
Love you all.

At the world’s top college of magic and technology, every day brings a new discovery -and a new disaster. The advanced experiments of the college students tend to be both ambitious and apocalyptic, with the end of the world only prevented by a mysterious time loop, and a small handful of students who retain their memories.
Surviving the loops was hard enough, but now, in his senior year, Vell Harlan must take charge of them, and deal with the fact that the whole world now knows his secrets. Everyone knows about Vell’s death and resurrection, along with the divine game he is a part of. Now Vell must contend with overly curious scientists and evil billionaires hungry for divine power while the daily doomsday cycle bombards him with terrorists, talking elephants, and the Grim Reaper himself -but if he can endure it all, the Last Goddess’s game promises the ultimate prize: power over life itself.
[Previous Chapter][Patreon][Cover Art]
“Should I be worried?”
Why would you be worried?” Kim said. “Dean Lichman loves us.”
Dean Lichman had asked the two of them to stop by his office, though his brief message had not said what for. That left Vell to concoct nightmare scenarios in his head.
“He doesn’t love all of us.”
“Alex doesn’t count as ‘us’,” Kim said. She was a looper in purely a technical sense, mostly due to her own refusal to be a team player. “Besides, she’s been behaving lately. She’s only been an asshole, not an active liability.”
“That we know of.”
“If we don’t know about it, Dean probably doesn’t either,” Kim said. “It’s fine, Vell, he probably just wants to ask us for advice or deal with some problem he has.”
“That’s not much better,” Vell said. “How weird would things have to be that the Dean is asking us for help personally?”
“Only one way to find out,” Kim said. She gestured to the door to the Dean’s office.
Kim entered first, and found it in much the same state as it always was. The desk piled high with paperwork, a small bowl of assorted candies shoved into the corner of the desk, and Dean Lichman behind it, frantically tapping away on a laptop. Vell had not been in this office for several years, and it was vastly different than the last time he’d been here.
“Ah, there you are, come in, have a seat,” Dean Lichman said. “Unless you’d rather we have our conversation elsewhere, Vell.”
“Why would I want that?”
“Well, it’s my understanding you haven’t been in this office since my, uh, predecessor,” Dean Lichman said.
“Oh, right, the kidnapping,” Vell said. “No, I’m good, I don’t really get traumatized by things anymore.”
Vell had been killed too many different ways in too many different places to have a functional trauma response. A few days ago he’d gotten his legs chewed off by a vending machine, and still stopped by it to pick up a soda on his way to the office.
“That’s a very concerning response, Mr. Harlan.”
“Yeah. Anyway, what did you need?”
Dean Lichman gestured for the duo to take a seat, and both did so. He folded desiccated hands in front of himself before beginning to speak.
“I would like to ask you two to take a look at an experiment that will be occurring later this week,” Dean Lichman said. “I don’t have any reason to believe it poses a threat, but I would like to be assured it is a safe and ethical environment, and, well, you two have a knack for identifying trouble spots.”
“You could say that,” Kim said. It was more accurate to say that trouble had a way of identifying them -and then leaping at them and ripping their heads off.
“I’d appreciate it if the two of you could simply examine the laboratory and give it your approval, or disapproval, as the case may be,” Dean Lichman said. “Though if you’re too busy, I fully understand.”
“If you don’t think this is dangerous, why are you asking for our help anyway?”
“Simply for my own peace of mind, frankly,” Dean Lichman said. “The school’s policies on animal experimentation are...satisfactory, I suppose, but I do want to take extra precautions when the subject is a creature as smart as an elephant.”
“An elephant?”
“Yes, a resident of a reserve in Thailand,” Dean Lichman said. “An older elephant by the name of Mae Noi. She has cancer, apparently, and she is submitting to experimental treatment in the hopes it will be useful for younger elephants.”
Kim’s digital face briefly flashed with a facial expression of concerned skepticism.
“‘She’ is submitting to treatment? As in the elephant?”
“Yes. Apparently the elephant can talk,” Dean Lichman said. “No, I don’t know how it works, they said it was ‘more impressive in person’.”
“Well now I kind of want to go just to see the talking elephant,” Vell said.
“Same.”
“Well, do try to take a few glances at the experiment’s safety while you’re there,” Dean Lichman said.
“Sounds like a plan,” Vell said. “Thanks for the heads up.”
“I’ll be there too,” Kim said.
“Excellent. Thank you both, and I’ll try not to take up too much of your time,” the Dean said. He then bid them both a polite goodbye and returned to his mountains of paperwork. Vell took a step out of the office and then took a sip from the soda he’d recently retrieved from the evil vending machine.
“So, what do you think?”
“I think I really do want to see the talking elephant,” Kim said.
“Obviously, yeah, we all want to see the talking elephant,” Vell said. “I mean the whole situation. You think the elephant thing is going to be the daily apocalypse for that day?”
“Well, on the one hand, an elephant seems like the kind of thing that would kill us,” Kim said. “But on the other, I feel like the fact we have advance warning means it’s not going to happen.”
“True. The universe probably wouldn’t make it that easy for us.”
“Yeah, but the elephant thing still feels pretty threatening,” Kim said. “Only way to find out is to wait a few days, I guess.”
A FEW DAYS LATER
“Hello you two,” Dean Lichman said. “And Hawke.”
“Hey,” Hawke said.
“He also wanted to see the talking elephant,” Kim explained.
“Well, that’s not a problem, it was an open invitation,” Dean Lichman said.
“Thanks. Still, sorry for not saying I was going to show up in advance,” Hawke said. “It took me a long time to make up my mind whether I was more interested in or afraid of a talking elephant.”
“They are rather large, aren’t they? I suppose that could be intimidating.”
“I’m okay with elephants on their own, it’s the talking part that doesn’t sit right with me,” Hawke said. “What if the elephant doesn’t like me? What if I’m the first person to ever get insulted by an elephant?”
“You’re less afraid of getting trampled by an elephant than insulted by one?”
“I’m a little afraid of trampling, but elephants are chill,” Hawke explained. “They wouldn’t attack unless provoked. I kind of feel like one might call me a dipshit unprovoked, though.”
“You have oddly specifics fears, Mr. Hughes,” Dean Lichman said.
“Yeah.”
In spite of those fears, Hawke happily stepped through the door to the zoology lab. It did not take a long time to locate the elephant in the room, as it was a literal elephant. The towering pachyderm was in a makeshift pen in the center of the lab, with an ample supply of food and a strange pedestal in front of her.
“Dr. Chanthara,” Dean Lichman said, with a polite wave to one of the researchers in the room. “Good to see you. These are the students I told you about.”
“Hm. Nice to meet you,” Dr. Chanthara said. He was, perhaps not unreasonably, skeptical of why three seemingly random students were in charge of a safety inspection. The fact that one of the three was a robot made him even more skeptical.
“Hi, nice to meet you too, and, uh, don’t mind us,” Vell said. “We just have an eye for weird things other people might miss.”
“Sure. I- wait. Aren’t you that kid who got chosen by a god?”
“Yeah, that’s me,” Vell said. “And her too, technically.”
Kim shrugged. She didn’t care for any extra attention on that point.
“Right,” Chanthara said. He was beginning to see why these students might know their stuff. “I suppose we should start by introducing you to Mae Noi. Say hello, Mae.”
The elephant shifted on her feet and poked her trunk at the wide pedestal in front of her twice.
“Hello. Friends,” a synthesized voice droned. Vell stepped a little closer to the pedestal, just enough to see that there were an array of buttons on the side facing Mae Noi.
“Oh, it’s kind of like a keyboard,” Vell said. He’d seen similar things used with dogs, though usually in a much simpler fashion. Mae Noi seemed to have a few dozen buttons at her disposal.
“Smart,” Mae Noi said, with another prod of her trunk.
“We initially put it into our sanctuary as a bit of a novelty, something elephants could choose to interact with,” Dr. Chanthara explained. “Mae Noi took to it a bit better than most. Especially once she found out she could use it to ask for food.”
“Food. Pumpkin. Pumpkin. Pumpkin.”
“No, Mae, no food until after experiment,” Dr. Chanthara scolded.
“Experiment,” Mae Niko said with a prod. “Pumpkin.”
“Yes, experiment then pumpkin,” Dr. Chanthara said.
“That’s not really a talking elephant, is it?” Hawke said.
“It’s more talking than most elephants,” Dr. Chanthara said.
“Elephant. Smart,” Mae Niko said. “Smart.”
“Yes, uh, right, elephant smart,” Hawke said. He took a step back, to avoid any further offense and any further risk of being insulted by Mae Noi.
“You’re very impressive, Mae, don’t mind him,” Kim said. “How many words does she know?”
“Our platform back home has around three hundred words, though she’s still learning some of them,” Dr. Chanthara said. “The ‘travel’ version we put together only has a hundred, just enough to make sure she can get her basic needs met and communicate about the experiment.”
“Right, speaking of, I do believe we should put some time into our reason for being here,” Dean Lichman interjected. “You’re welcome to stick around afterwards, at Dr. Chanthara and Mae Noi’s discretion, of course, but we should get underway.”
“We probably should get to business, yeah,” Kim said. She tapped the side of her metal head. “I’m going to scan the lab. Vell, you talk to the elephant and make sure everything’s above-board.”
“Abov- oh, right,” Vell said. “Sorry, not exactly used to being able to ask animals if they agree to animal experimentation.”
“Experiment,” Mae said.
“Yeah, experiment,” Vell said, as he turned to Mae. “So, Mae Noi, this experiment might hurt, do you know that?”
“Experiment. Hurt. Elephant,” Mae Noi prodded. “Experiment. Help. Elephant. Help. Baby.”
“Help baby?”
“Baby. Baby. Elephant. Sick. Baby. Sick.”
“We’ve explained the nature of her condition to Mae Noi as best we can,” Dr. Chanthara said. “She has several children, and is concerned they might be similarly affected.”
“Help. Baby,” Mae Noi said. “Experiment. Help.”
The way Mae Noi frantically tapped the buttons tugged at Vell’s heartstrings, but he choked those emotions down.
“So you want to do this experiment to help baby, got it,” Vell said. “Even if it hurts you?”
“Elephant. Old,” Mae Noi said. “Hurt. Okay. Help. Baby.”
“Huh. Well, that does sound like informed consent to me,” Vell said. “Passes ethical muster, at least.”
The campus rules allowed students to be experimented on, with their consent, so Vell saw no reason not to apply the same standard to an elephant.
“You speak up if you change your mind about the experiment, okay?”
“Stop. Stop. Stop,” Mae said, mashing the same button a few times. “Yes.”
“You got it. I’m going to go help my friends check things out,” Vell said. “Good talking to you, Mae.”
“Good. Talk. Friend,” Mae said. She waved goodbye with her trunk, and Vell waved back. He wandered away from Mae Noi’s pedestal and found Kim and Hawke carefully examining rows of beakers and various other supplies.
“Nothing sus yet, boss,” Hawke said.
“Nothing caustic, mutagenic, or explosive?”
“Well, something mutagenic, but it’s supposed to be,” Kim said. She had scanners built into her body much like those that had once been in Vell’s glasses, allowing her to analyze the complex chemical formulas at a glance. “They’re going for some gene editing similar to what we’ve tried to do on human cancer patients. Low success rate, but not harmful. Some adaptations to work on elephants, of course.”
“Run it by any of our chemistry and biology student friends yet?”
“A few,” Kim said. “Haven’t gotten anything back yet, though.”
“Maybe run it by Skye, too,” Vell said. “She’d recognize anything that’d mutate an animal.”
“She does love to mutate things,” Kim said.
“Benevolently,” Vell insisted. “Just show her. I’m going to check for any stray equipment.”
The presence of an unusually large test subject had resulted in the lab being rearranged and reshuffled, so Vell did a quick scan for any misplaced equipment that might pose a threat. He found, to his surprise, a tidy and well-organized environment, with any and all extraneous materials securely locked away. There wasn’t so much as a shrink ray out of place. Vell did another loop just to be sure, but returned to his friends empty-handed.
“This place has less safety hazards than my lab,” Vell said. Hawke stared at him for a while.
“Why does your lab have safety hazards?’
“I do runecarving, there’s like, hammers and chisels,” Vell said. “Those can hurt people.”
“Mm, true,” Hawke said. “So you really didn’t find anything?”
“Nothing,” Vell said. “This place is secure as I’ve ever seen a lab be.”
“It’s like I said,” Kim began. “We got an actual warning about it, so obviously nothing’s going to go wrong. That’d be too easy.”
“Maybe,” Vell said. “Things can get teleported in, or someone could cast a spell, or something.”
“Yeah, but that applies to anywhere, at any time,” Kim said.
“Kim’s right,” Hawke said. “I say we go business as usual.”
“I guess,” Vell said. “We have to branch out a little, at least. Can’t keep an eye on one room all day.”
The trio stopped sulking around the outskirts of the lab and returned to Dean Lichman and Dr. Chanthara.
“Everything looks good,” Kim said. “Probably the safest lab I’ve ever seen.”
“I’ll choose to take that as a compliment,” Dr. Chanthara said.
“We have very high safety standards here at the Einstein-Odinson,” Dean Lichman said, defensively. “Relatively speaking. Innovation requires some risk.”
“I understand perfectly. So does Mae.”
“Hurt. Okay,” Mae said.
“Not that okay,” Vell said. “Nice meeting you, Dr. Chanthara. You too, Mae.”
“Wait.”
Mae prodded one of the buttons on her pedestal and then pointed her trunk at the three of them. Hawke looked deeply concerned, but stepped forward alongside Vell and Kim. Mae Noi appraised them with massive brown eyes, and then moved her trunk back towards the pedestal. Vell noticed a distinctive scar on the bridge of her long nose just as Mae Noi pressed another button.
“Joke.”
“...Joke?”
Dr. Chanthara sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Just go along with it,” he said. “She likes to tell her joke.”
“Uh, okay,” Vell said. “Let’s hear it.”
“What. Elephant. Favorite. Part. Tree.”
“Umm...I don’t know, Mae,” Vell lied. He’d heard this joke from a kid, once. “What part?”
“Trunk,” Mae said. She gave a loud bray of amusement and then slammed her trunk down a few more times to emphasize the punchline. “Trunk. Trunk.”
“Oh, ha, I get it,” Kim said, hoping her feigned laugh was convincing. She’d never tried to lie to an elephant before. “Good one, Mae.”
Mae Noi shifted from side to side, looking pleased with herself, while the trio took a step back and stopped their feigned laughter.
“Did you give her buttons just to tell that joke with?”
“She gets upset,” Dr. Chanthara said. “I’m not even sure she understands the pun, she just likes people’s reactions.”
“As long as she’s having fun,” Hawke said.
“We’ll get out of your hair now,” Vell said. “Good luck with the experiment, feel free to let us know if you need a hand with anything.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” Dr. Chanthara said. Some of his earlier skepticism seemed to have softened, but he did not seem entirely onboard with three strangers mucking about with his experiment. Vell and his friends left before they stretched what little goodwill they had any further. Mae Noi waved her trunk goodbye as the three left the lab and stepped back onto the quad.
“I’m going to try and sneak some classes in,” Hawke said. “Later.”
“I’ll check some of our usual hot spots,” Kim said, before she too left. Once again alone, Vell headed to one of his own classes, and called up Samson.
“Hey, Samson,” Vell began. “See anything interesting while we were playing with the elephant?”
“Well, I thought I clocked someone acting suspicious, but it turns out he was only sneaking around to go see his boyfriend,” Samson said. “Nothing apocalyptic, but I did get called a homophobe, which is pretty emotionally devastating.”
“I’m sure you’ll recover someday,” Vell said. “Keep an eye out. Usually the safer things look, the more dangerous things end up being.”
“Will do,” Samson said, before saying goodbye and hanging up.
***
Vell got increasingly nervous the longer the day went without its daily disaster. He thought about checking in on Mae Noi again, but then recalled Kim’s warning about it being too obvious, but then remembered that nobody had seen anything suspicious anywhere else, but then remember that Mae Noi’s lab had looked perfectly safe-
“Vell.”
“Huh?”
“You’re spiraling,” Kim said.
“I’m not spiraling, I’m just,” Vell said, with a pause for contemplation. “Considering multiple options.”
“In a spiral fashion,” Kim said. “Eat the damn french fries. Honestly, what’s the point of ordering so many if you’re just going to let them get cold?”
“It’s not like they’re going to go to waste,” Vell said. The same time loop that allowed him to eat massive amounts of french fries without fear of gaining weight also allowed him to avoid food waste. One of the upsides of life in a time loop.
“Just eat, Vell,” Kim said. “You worry too much about all this shit.”
“I’m in charge, it’s my job to worry about it,” Vell said.
“It’s your job to handle it,” Kim said. “There’s no point thinking about this shit before it happens, you spend all day thinking about an elephant and then the universe drops, like, a bat with tentacles on your head. Just deal with as it comes, Vell.”
Vell leaned on the table and managed to chomp down on a french fry or two.
“You know, next year, when I’m not running the show anymore, I’m going to call and see if you still think it’s that easy.”
“I sure hope so,” Kim said. “I’m saying all this shit trying to make myself believe it too.”
“Oh good, you’re lying to both of us,” Vell said. “That’s cool.”
“Fake it ‘til you make it, Vell, that’s how it goes,” Kim said. “Eat your damn french fries.”
Vell rolled his eyes and returned to his fries, which were now starting to cool. Thankfully he would not have to worry about finishing them. A loud crash from across campus interrupted him mid-bite and nearly made Vell choke on his fries. He painfully swallowed the half-chewed food and then looked over his shoulder.
“Son of a bitch, finally,” Vell said. A few years ago he’d found it weird whenever he was relieved about a disaster, but now he was just genuinely glad to get it over with. The waiting was as killer as the apocalypse. He tossed his fries in the trash and headed toward the sound of chaos, with Kim right behind him.
“Already told everybody?”
“Well, I may or may not have left Alex and Helena out of the loop…”
“Kim.”
“They’d find out anyway,” Kim said. “I got to use my brain parts to get in touch with them, even over wi-fi that shit feels dirty.”
“Just get in- stop.”
Vell held out his hand. Kim froze in place and did not move. Not intentionally, at least. There was a small amount of unintentional movement. The ground was vibrating.
“Always love a good earthquake,” Kim said.
“That’s not a quake,” Vell said. “That’s...footsteps!”
Vell grabbed Kim and dove out of the way just in time for something to barrel through the walls of the dining hall and stampede across the room. Tables, chairs, and more than a few students were crushed under the feet of a hulking, brown-furred behemoth as it charged. Kim picked herself and Vell up off the floor and tried to trail its progress.
“That’s a- oh fuck me,” Kim said. “Please don’t say you told me so.”
Vell got his bearings and looked across the room at the titanic form of a woolly mammoth. Though it was definitely recognizable as an archaic mammoth, the ancient creature was also heavily mutated, unnaturally large even by mammoth standards, and with multiple curled, jagged tusks protruding from a slobbering maw.
“Well that could be unrelated,” Vell said. “Mammoths can come from a lot of places, cloning accidents, time machines…”
The mammoth reached a wall, and rather than barreling through, turned around, facing directly towards Vell. A prominent scar covered the bridge of its broad trunk.
“Oh, nope, that’s definitely Mae,” Vell said. The scar was in the same place and at the same angle. Even a clone wouldn’t have an identical scar.
Once the revelation had struck, Mae took her turn. Vell found himself staring straight down the barrel of a very angry mammoth coming right at him at Vell-squishing velocity. Luckily he’d been charged at by a lot of creatures over four years of looping.
Vell jumped up and to the side, and latched on to one of the curled tusks, which made for very convenient handlebars. Kim did the same on the opposite side of Mae, and punched her in the head.
“Wait, wait, hold off on the violence for a second,” Vell shouted. He tried to wave at Kim to stop, but Mae was thrashing so violently he had to grip the tusks with both hands.
“Good plan,” Kim shouted. “Can you get Mae on board?”
Another set of tables got crushed underfoot. Thankfully the other students were out of trampling range by now, but Mae Noi’s feet were still coated in the blood of earlier victims.
“Mae’s smart, maybe we can calm her down,” Vell said. He then ducked to dodge a swat from Mae’s mutated trunk.
“Call me crazy, Vell, but I think this is more than just a bad mood,” Kim said, as she climbed up Mae’s seven jagged tusks like a ladder.
“We have to try,” Vell said. The loopers rule against hurting other intelligent life forms had some flexibility for blood-crazed mutants on violent rampages, but they had to at least try to reason first. Vell climbed up on of Mae’s tusks and looked into one of her bloodshot eyes for any sign of recognition. “Mae! It’s Vell, do you remember?”
The only response Vell got was an enraged trumpet, which he didn’t think was a “yes”.
“Come on, bud,” Vell said. “What’s an elephant’s favorite part of a tree, right? The trunk?”
The massive brown eye staring at Vell blinked, and he felt a brief glimmer of hope. He then felt a brief glimmer of his lungs being crushed as Mae swung her head and slammed her tusks into the wall, and Vell along with them. Kim punched Mae in the throat and then jumped across the tusks to grab Vell and carry him to safety.
“You okay, Vell?”
He opened his mouth to respond, and a pint or two of blood came out instead.
“Apparently not,” he mumbled. “I might be down a few ribs. And a lung. Or two.”
Kim carried Vell a safe distance from the fight and set him down on the ground, where he promptly spat out another mouthful of blood.
“Okay, uh, you just lie there and try to die peacefully, I guess,” Kim said.
“Way ahead of you.”
***
“Was that last bit as funny as I thought it was?” Vell asked. “I think the blood loss was affecting my sense of humor.”
“It was kind of hard to appreciate in the moment,” Kim said. “But as far as dying jokes go, it was pretty good.”
Vell and Kim walked into the lair for their morning meeting and joined the loopers that had already gathered.
“Okay, what’d I miss while I was dead?”
“Well, after Alex was done getting herself killed,” Samson began.
“You’re saying that as if it’s something to be ashamed of,” Alex said. “Vell also died.”
“Yeah, but he got killed trying to do something good. You got killed trying to do something stupid.”
“Trying to eliminate a threat is not stupid,” Alex said.
“We don’t kill intelligent creatures,” Hawke said. “Sometimes we punch them into a coma, but we don’t kill them.”
“When a dog bites, you put it down, I don’t see why the same principle doesn’t apply to a mammoth that’s crushed seventy people.”
“That wasn’t Mae’s fault,” Vell said. “She got mutated, or something. On that note: did you guys figure out what happened to Mae Noi?”
“Nothing,” Hawke said. “Looked like Mae smashed up the entire lab, trampled everyone involved in the experiment too. Nothing left to investigate, and nobody left alive to interrogate.”
“Typical,” Vell sighed. “At least we have an easy out. Dean Lichman was really concerned about the ethics of that whole experiment. We raise some kind of complaint, we could probably get the whole thing shut down.”
“The problem is getting the complaint,” Hawke said. “That lab was airtight, Vell.”
“Apparently not completely airtight,” Kim said. “I can camp out in the lab and raise an entirely justifiable stink whenever something capable of making a murder-mammoth shows up.”
“And what if it happens so suddenly you can’t complain about it?” Samson asked. “For all we know that could’ve been some kind of dimensional rift, or time anomaly, or something. It might not be as simple as somebody just putting in the wrong syringe at the wrong time.”
“He’s got a point,” Vell said. “We might want to shut this down before it gets there.”
“Seems like our best option is to plant evidence, then,” Alex said.
Everyone else at the table spent a few seconds brainstorming ways to prove her wrong, and much to their frustration, could not.
“Okay, fine,” Vell said. “But it needs to be something incidental, not something anyone would get blamed for. We want to cancel the experiment, not get anyone in trouble.”
“I could have a seizure on some sensitive equipment,” Helena offered. “It’ll break something and nobody would dare get mad at me.”
“Can you fake a seizure?”
“No, but I’m allergic to elephants, so I’d probably have one anyway the moment I stepped in the lab,” Helena said.
“I don’t feel entirely comfortable sending you into anaphylactic shock for a bit,” Vell said.
“Offer’s on the table,” Helena said. “I’ll live. Wouldn’t have made it through that trip to the zoo otherwise.”
“Anybody have any non-medical emergency suggestions?”
“Seagull in the air vents,” Kim said.
“Will that work?”
“It happens now and then,” Kim said. “Seagull gets in, and Dean has to close down the whole lab for potential material damage and biohazard risks if they shit in the vents.”
“Really? We’ve never had to deal with anything like that,” Hawke said.
“It may shock you to learn that sometimes minor, tedious bullshit happens that we have nothing to do with,” Kim said.
“That is kind of surprising, actually.”
“Enough. Kim, can you grab a seagull?” Vell asked. He shouldered his bookbag, and stuck a hand into the extradimensional pocket that existed within it. “I can probably smuggle it in with my bag.”
“Yeah, I can get you a seagull,” Kim said. Since she did not need to sleep, she had to find ways to keep herself entertained at night, seagull-grabbing being among them.
“Alright, we’ll go grab one and put it in the bag,” Vell said. “The rest of you, be ready to meet us when I call.”
***
Roughly three minutes later, Vell put out the call and they reconvened in front of the biology lab.
“Yeah, that was much faster than I thought it would be,” Vell said.
“I’m great at grabbin’ birds,” Kim said. Seagulls were among the easier birds to snatch, even. They were suckers for food, and many of them were attracted to her shiny metallic body anyway.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Vell said. “I want this thing out of my bag ASAP.”
Even though the seagull was safely within a pocket dimension, Vell would swear he could still feel the bird thrashing and squawking inside his bag. He tightened his grip on the shoulder strap and led the way towards the zoology lab entrance. He grabbed the handle and held it as he froze for a second.
“Vell, what’s up? Is this bird escaping?”
“No, the handle’s vibrating,” Vell said. It was shaking the same way a wall near an incredibly loud speaker might. He pressed his ear to the door and listened closely. He opened the door immediately, and let all his friends hear the frantic trumpeting of a panicked elephant.
Inside the lab, Mae Noi was stomping her feet and trumpeting as loud as he long trunk would allow. She swayed from side to side in her pen, bumping against the walls not quite hard enough to damage them, but hard enough that it was clear she was doing it on purpose.
“What the heck is happening here?”
“Ah, Vell,” Dean Lichman said. He hustled over to Vell’s side and gestured to the entire room. “Maybe you can figure out what’s going on.”
Mae Noi stopped braying long enough to start mashing her trunk against her pedestal, mashing out the word “Bad” over and over again.
“Our test subject, Mae Noi, has been throwing an absolute fit ever since she got here,” Dean Lichman said. “Dr. Chanthara, these are the students I was telling you about earlier.”
While Vell reintroduced himself to Dr. Chanthara, Kim and Hawke stepped up to examine Mae Noi and her enclosure. It was a far cry from the peaceful, orderly scene they had examined on the first loop. They were half an hour earlier this time than before, but Kim found it unlikely that they had been able to calm Mae Noi down, clean everything up, and get back to work in such a short amount of time. They hadn’t mentioned any of this panic on the first loop either. They were soon joined in their confusion by Chanthara and Vell.
“We’ve tried everything; food, water, her favorite toys, even videos of her children,” Dr. Chanthara said. “We’ve even offered to call off the experiment, but she won’t listen.”
“She is an animal,” Alex said. “Sometimes they do things arbitrarily.”
“Not Mae,” Dr. Chanthara said. “Some of our sanctuaries residents from traumatic backgrounds can have outbursts, but Mae was injured in the wild. She’s never been like this.”
“Maybe some experiment on the island is upsetting her,” Vell said. “A sonic experiment only she can hear, or something…”
Vell stopped and thought about it. If there had been such an irritant, it would’ve been there on the first loop too. Everything always repeated exactly the same, except for-
“Could you, uh, take a step back for a second?” Vell mumbled. “I want to try talking to her.”
“Don’t get close,” Chanthara warned him.
“I’m not, I’m not,” Vell said. He didn’t need to get very close to tell a joke.
The massive brown eyes of Mae Noi stayed locked on Vell as he approached, and she continued to mash the “Bad” button on her pedestal.
“I know, I know, bad,” Vell said. “But, uh, do you want to hear a joke?”
Mae Noi stopped. She locked eyes with Vell for a few seconds, and then cautiously tapped a button on her pedestal.
“Joke.”
“Right, joke,” Vell said. He tried to recall the exact sequence of words Mae had used on the first loop. “What elephant favorite part tree?”
Mae didn’t blink.
“Trunk,” Vell said.
After a moment of contemplation, Mae Noi let out one final, fervent, trumpet, and then started mashing buttons on her pedestal again.
“Bad. Help. Help. Experiment. Bad. Help. Bad. Help.”
“Yeah, bad help, one second,” Vell said. He turned away from Mae Noi to look at Dean Lichman. “Hey, uh, excuse me, Dean? Hey, uh, if I remember correctly there are some pretty complicated rules on having intelligent animals on campus, yes?”
“Well, yes,” Dean Lichman said. After hearing of some questionable ethical practices involving an octopus back in first year, he had instituted a few clauses into the school’s ethical code of conduct regarding intelligent animals like elephants, octopuses, and dolphins. “Mae’s presence here is a bit of an outlier, but there were workaround, given her apparent consent to the experiment.”
“Yeah, about that, is she, uh,” Vell began. “Is she registered as a student?”
“Yes.”
Vell pursed his lips. It took a few seconds for his friends to catch on.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Samson snapped. He turned his back on the crowd and leaned against a wall while Hawke put his head in his hands.
“The first rule of looping,” Alex said quietly. “Loopers are randomly selected-”
She looked up and locked eyes with Mae Noi.
“From all registered students.”

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/HrB53iN Serial number: https://imgur.com/a/YR9KVp7
Daily carry for a while, just moving a different direction yet again.
RM06 3.25 MOA Red
S/N:00289362
She’s got a little scuff on the right ear as well as on the windage and elevation. Other than that glass is clean and no issues otherwise
Would trade for an Aimpoint Acro p2 plus cash on my end obviously
Really looking for a 508T X2 red plus cash (dependent on condition)
Would also be interested in an dual illuminated RMR
Includes original warranty info as well as box and paperwork.
Dibs then PM with pic link
TV: $340

Timestamp
LNIB. Never carried, cut, or sharpened. Kept in foam, and have original box and packaging. Birthdate 2/2024. PP G/S includes shipping SV $350. Apocalyptic finish.
Pictures
Video
will consider trades + cash (on my end) for mid-techs
YOLO > Chat

I've suffered over a year and a half of progress being undone in the wake of this relapse & in my experience both before and after recovery, one of the most vicious and difficult parts of this ED is the inherent gaslight of just how invisible the very nature of this fkn ED.
Now before anyone jumps on me about the rules, I'm not comparing or invalidating other ED's. I'm ranting on my own experiences from my personal perspective on my individual struggles from two opposing ED's. I apologize if any statements come across as inflammatory, I just want to make this clear bc even tho ik no one is likely to give this the time of day I'm only seeking an outlet for my pain, and in case anyone does scroll past this, I want this context so nothing I say risks being received in a damaging way.
I was in a medical magnet program throughout the entirety of high school + summer courses and despite all the classes, units, lessons, and a whole year of school - all focused specifically on health, diet, and nutrition - it took me YEARS and a stroke of blind luck and chance to stumble across something & then later realize not only did non restrictive ED's exist but I myself had one.
I was failed by my education AND my doctors bc even though I was far from healthy and overweight, restriction was the only concern anyone ever had - & likely only as a precaution bc my medication has a known side affect suppressing appetite.
And despite all the results I could pull up with a Google search, I've only ever experienced Binge ED as feeling invisible, dismissed, and invalidated.
I distinctly remember breaking down in frustration over discovering that nothing relating to binge ED would trigger the same content warning/concern pop ups on different platforms that tags and keywords pertaining to restriction & other EDs/mental health struggles are flagged by.
I'd grown so bitter and resentful bc the experiences I had just seem to compound this feeling that my struggle and pain was only ever seen, validated, cared about, etc if it fit some pre-constructed narrative. Like even tho it existed, it wasn't acknowledged or important enough to be on anyone's radar like other issues are. Dealing with an ED sucks, but an ED so seemingly forgotten and dismissed felt like rubbing salt in a wound the world gaslight you about and does it so well you feel like can't even be upset you're being gaslit.
It took me two years to overcome my ED, and I still felt a flicker of resentment when my history in my relationship with food couldn't be avoided bc where before I'd be met with platitudes about body positivity, at a smaller size people would immediately jump to conclusions about the nature of my past struggle with food.
And don't get me started on boundary pushing even after point of recovery. Holidays, celebrations, special occasions. No one tells a recovered alcoholic "oh treat yourself, you can afford it, it's just one glass." And it seems the smaller you are, the more conscious everyone else is about your boundaries with food & more easy it is to disregard your comfort. And like the social awareness of restrictive disorders makes people feel more comfortable in encouraging you to indulge and cross that boundary, especially in cases where you're confronted with someone who weaponizes "body positivity" as a vehicle for their own toxicity.
Being in a smaller body when struggling with a relapse just inflames these sensitivities to an exponential magnitude and I'm now dealing with the vicious whiplash of not just my ED, but the old wounds from before my recovery, the pressures after recovering, and now being met with assumptions trying to seek support and dismissal if I try to get ahead of the assumptions when I just want to reach out and feel seen.
I slipped up some thanks to boundary pushing over the holidays, but it's my medication that tipped me over into a full blown relapse and despite raising concerns with my doctor, seeing my weight increase steadily over time with episodes becoming more and more frequent, my concern has been brushed aside and I've now been left with the devastating impact of facing a year and a half of recovery undone and stuck taking a medication that is triggering my ED and an overall feeling of suffering for things entirely out of my control.
It took years finding what meds worked for me, and unfortunately mine carry a stigma and have a well known side effect of suppressing appetite. There's also a nationwide shortage and each prescription that gets filled feels weaker and weaker. Prior to my recovery, I was quite sedentary and while I've finally gotten to a place where I'm invested in my quality of life and am thriving pursuing a demanding lifestyle that's kept me active and engaged in my day to day, managing my disability requires a higher threshold than my current dose can meet and while my prior dose was most effective and is one I had for years, it's higher than standard and my doctors are reluctant to help me.
So I face having to overcome the stigma my meds carry, trying to build trust with my medical providers to gain back the Healthcare I lost to depression (& losing my Prior insurance/coverage - too $$$), am working gradually towards increasing my dose amidst a shortage where others with my disability are universally reporting weakened-totally ineffective prescription, and because my meds were adjusted (increased for one, decreased proportionally for the other) my doctor dismissed my concerns citing the lowered dose when I stated my new meds trigger my appetite even tho I could have eaten and be full shortly before they take effect.
I can't stop these meds but keeping them makes me feel insatiable and is inflaming binge episodes but it's effect on my appetite is dismissed as a change of dose and if not being able to manage my disability well enough with this lower dose isn't enough to advocate for my meds, raising a weight concern with a medication that is reputed to be an appetite suppressant is going to work against me even more.
The end result has me now at the point of calling out of work on bad days to spare the mental distress of having to tie an apron around my waist and be a constant trigger the entirety of my shift, and feeling like my only options are to choose between managing my disability or my ED -
All because no one takes binge eating seriously and so stubbornly clings onto the societal view of restrictive disorders as the default and if you're small your struggles with eating aren't valid outside those parameters.
I just want to pursue health, happiness, and mental & physical wellness and not let my disability or disorders be a barrier to my pursuit in sustaining quality of life.
I've never felt so powerless, unseen, or alone.

Timestamp and pics https://imgur.com/a/nJSrjVC
This is a great blade that I took in on a trade and it's just not for me. It has a few snails on the scales from carry but the blade is in awesome shape and looks to ne factory (not the original owner) I'm looking for 500SV or 650TV will look at multiples or trades plus cash. This is a hell of a deal for a knife that tabled over 1k.

I was pumping gas at a gas station and while standing there a gentleman came up to me and asked for a couple of bucks. I have no problem helping a guy down on his luck, i said yea hold on and look in my wallet and car for something. Not even a dime, i was almost tempted to tell him do you have a venmo, paypal, or zelle? And when i was thinking about it i cant even remember the last time i had cash on me. Which is horrible, i dont want a cashless society but i have inadvertently joined. Now I’m going to carry 20 on me all the time.

Dracula: World of War --- The Violet Reaper ---- Humans Don’t Make Good Familiars Book 1 ---- The Lonely World --- Discord ---- YouTube --- My Patreon --- My Author's Page --- ArcAngel98 Wiki ---- The Next Best Hero ---- HDMGF Book 2 ---- Jess and Blinx: The Wizard ---- The Questing Parties ---- Previous
It took a month for Zanwy to recover from losing her wing. The shaman said everything went well, but afterwards she developed a fever for three days, and couldn’t move from the pain for over a week. Even after the fever broke and the pain faded, she was still too weak to move, and could not eat for some time. I visited her every day, bringing her food, making sure she ate even a little, and peeling the chard scales off the wound to help it heal. The shaman never even returned once to check on Zanwy. Her parents and siblings stayed with her, but that may have only been because they lived there too. After she recovered her strength, we started making plans on what to do. She knew the swarm wouldn’t accept her anymore, and I never felt at peace within it, so our plan was to leave.
“Are you ready?” I asked Zanwy as we overlooked the cliff edge. Even though I could fly now, I was not strong enough to carry her, so she needed to climb down. Which, after a month of infrequent meals and not moving much, seemed risky. “We could wait a few more weeks. Until you recover.”
“No. I can’t stay here.” One claw after the other, her wing pressed tightly to her back so she didn’t catch an updraft and twist, her belly flat against the rock, and her head pointed to the ground, she climbed down carefully. Of course, I could have glided down, but I didn’t. It felt wrong now somehow. The rocks shadows had moved over an inch before we made it to the bottom, with the forest we loved so much as our first destination. We thought that maybe the first place we should go could be past the furthest point we’d gone together.
Walking through those familiar rolling grassy hills and past the jumper’s nests, I listened to these familiar sounds one last time. Taking it all in, I heard, of course, that penetrating roar of the swarm, but there was also the small wet splashes of the jumpers moving about, the small howl of the wind as it made waves in the tall grass, the crunch of that same grass under our claws as we walked, and Zanwy’s slight panting. She was out of breath, but was keeping quiet, hoping I wouldn’t notice.
Eventually, we reached the edge of the forest, and stopped to eat red-berries. We sat in the grass and ate the red-berries that had fallen out of the treetops. Once we’d had our fill, and juice dripped from our snouts, I asked Zanwy, “How do you feel?”
“Off balance. Walking is a lot harder than I remember it being.” Zanwy said, limping slightly.
“Can you climb?” I looked up to the branches we always run along.
“I… no. I don’t think so.”
“What if I helped you?”
“Maybe, but jumping along the branches would be hard.” A drop of berry juice ran down her mouth and landed on the grass as she licked her claws clean.
“Okay, we can just-”
“No, I wanna try.” Zanwy said.
Getting Zanwy up the tree truck was clumsy and hard. She rested her tail on my head as I climbed below her, pushing her up for support. It took a few minutes but she and I made it to the strong branches. The branch swayed with the wind, and Zanwy flared her one wing, before quickly realizing her mistake and pulling it, and herself, closer to the branch. Using my wings to balance myself, I walked over to her. “Should we go back down?”
“Not yet. Just let me…” She slowly stood back up, and kept her wing pressed to her body. The nub where her missing wing had once been pressed itself down too, mimicking the movements of the other like an invisible mirror. Pushing off, she jumped to another nearby branch, and landed safely on the other side. Once again, I heard heavy panting, but she couldn’t hide it as well right now. “See, I can do it!” Zanwy yelled excitedly as her tail swayed back and forth from the edge. I followed suit, and lept to the branch next to her. It took a while, but she found a rhythm, and we ran along the branches for nearly an hour, until the sun began to set.
“It’s almost night. Let’s find somewhere to sleep.” I suggested.
“Yeah, let’s head back to the ground.” Zanwy agreed.
“You don’t want to sleep in the trees?”
“No. Without my wing… I don’t wanna risk falling by accident. Do you mind sleeping with me on the ground?”
“Okay, let’s find somewhere safe.” We spent a few minutes looking around, and found a tree with a hollow spot near the base. It was cramped, but empty. By the time the moon rose we had already settled down. Zanwy rested closer to the back of the hollow, and I slept near the entrance.
“It’s cold.” She said, and yawned. Since we were under a tree, the walls of the hollow couldn’t be heated with fire directly. So slowly and carefully, Zanwy and I used our fire to heat the dirt under us instead. Small embers of grass charred, caught fire, and burned away, leaving the ground much warmer; enough for us to sleep comfortably.
That night, I dreamt of Zanwy. She was flying around, soaking up the sunlight with her wings. I was the too; flying right beside her. We danced in the sky together. Zipping and diving about. It was so quiet. It was just us; as a perfectly happy swarm of two. Later that night, I woke up feeling sluggish and dizzy. A moment later I realized how cold it had gotten, and that the heat from the ground had long since gone. Zanwy was still asleep, and I didn’t want to wake her up.
Controlling flames is easy… to a point. But once something is on fire, you don’t control how it burns. That was something my father taught me when I breathed my first flame. The grass had already burned, so I assumed it could burn again. Because of that, I thought it would be safe to use more this time. I assumed wrong. One breath was all it took, and the walls turned yellow with fire. I tried to put it out by beating it with my tail and wings, but that only spread it faster.
“Zanwy! Get up!” I shouted. Dragons may be harder to burn, but enough fire can char and blacken even our scales.
Zanwy startled awake, “what’s going on? What happened!?” The flames started creeping closer, so she scrabbled to her and we both ran out of the hollow. It didn’t take long for the rest of the tree to burn, and for the fire to spread to the nearby trees. We ran away as fast as we could, the smell of smoke in our noses, and the sounds of crackling flames left behind us. Once we’d gotten safely out of the forest, I told Zanwy what happened.
“I’m sorry.” I told her.
“I guess the forest isn’t as used to fire as our nests are.” She said. She was upset, but was trying to not let me hear it. “Let’s just find someone else to sleep for tonight.” It was dark, but we could both see well enough to spot a rocky outcrop.
“Rocks are harder to burn than trees.” Zanwy said, crawling into an opening between the rocks. We crawled inside, and made sure there was nothing that could burn this time.
“Looks safe to heat these up.” I suggested. Zanwy agreed, and we spent several minutes making the place warm. “Much better.”
We finally got to sleep again after that, and woke up to beams of light hitting our eyes from the opening in the rocks. I rolled my head away from the light, and covered my eyes with my wings. I was all set to go back to sleep, until Zanwy said, “Woah… look at this, Blinx.”
Sliding one of my wings down, I peaked an eye open. With the sun out, the cave we were in became a lot brighter. Enough to see that it was much deeper than we’d realized. Zanwy, who’d slept further in than I did, noticed it first.
“This hole is really deep.” She said. “And it gets darker inside too. Do you wanna go explore it?”
I stood up, and my stomach growled. “Sure, but let’s eat first.” We left the cave in search of food. Outside, we found three things. One, some tasty slitherers under a big rock. Two, some water under another rock. And three, a burned down forest. Well, not the whole forest, but a lot of it that we could see. In the distance, white smoke rose into the sky from a few different places. A lot of the grass around the rocky area had been burnt up too.
“I guess we slept through the worst of it.” Zanwy said.
“Are the fires out now, at least?”
“Yeah, the smoke it white, so nothing’s burning anymore.” The was a moment of quiet, and I thought about how lucky we were to escape that tree in time, and how careless I was.
“I’m… sorry. We almost got hurt because of me.”
“Forget it. Name one dragon who hasn’t accidentally burned something with their breath. Let’s just go look at that cave. That’s why we left, right? To explore?” She said.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
The cave itself was very deep, and the walls were made of stones of lots of different colors. As we climbed down, we had to squeeze between rocks, and scrabble with our claws to make holes as we went deeper and deeper down. Eventually, the light from outside didn’t shine, but we could still see fairly well, though not as far, and without any colors. The cave quickly went from colorful, to just shades of gray. As we went along, the sounds of our claws on the stone did something strange. The sounds started happening several times, and coming from all around us.
“Do you hear that Zanwy?” I asked.
“Hear what?”
“Listen,” I said, and tapped the stone with my claw. Suddenly, the same tap came from above, below, and beside us; like a tiny swarm was clattering all around the rocks.
“Let me try.” She said, and scratched a stone. Once again, the sounds repeated. “Oh wow!” We decided to go deeper, and find out what was causing the sounds to do that. Eventually though, we entered a big open area in the cave.
“What is this?” I asked, hoping down into the area, and looking around.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s the village of another species!” Zanwy said. “Hello!” She cried out with her mind in a way that any species could hear and understand, but there was no answer. As we continued to look around, we found all kinds of things. There were strangely small hard clay nests all around, but they were filled with tiny rocks and ash and mud. There were also lines of white mud on the ground. I followed them, and they led to the center of the ‘village’.
“Find anything?” Zanwy asked, walking over.
“No, but I am getting cold.”
“Yeah, it was much warmer aboveground.”
“Do you wanna warm up?”
“No, you go ahead, I’m going to keep looking around.” She said. As she walked away, I used my fire to warm up the rocks below me. Suddenly, light started to shine from the mud lines, revealing that I was standing on a large, circle with a strange pattern on it. The light got brighter and brighter, and I tried to run, but found that I couldn’t move. “Blinx!”
“Zanwy!” Without warning, I felt dizzy, and I could move again. Then I heard the sounds of something behind me, but it wasn’t Zanwy. Growly, I tried to make myself look bigger, and threatening. Whatever it was, it stood on two legs, and was rubbing its eyes. In its hand was a broken tree branch, with a rock at one end. The cave village had been filled with light, but it came from all around.
“What the?” The creature mumbled, looking at me. “Are you a dragon?” I growled at the creature, while looking around for Zanwy, but she wasn’t there.
“Who are you? Where’s Zanwy?” I demanded. I let the flames build up in my mouth to show that I was dangerous.
The creature grabbed her head. “Telepathy. That’s new. My name is Jess. I’m a wizard. Who are you?”

Just finished a 10 day mediterranean cruise on Resilient lady. Having only previously cruised on Scarlet lady in early 2022 at a third capacity on a 5 day Caribbean itinerary, I thought I would share my impressions.

1. This cruise was at capacity which I was worried about how the experience would differ. Overall, it did not feel busy to us. We didn't really have to wait in any lines, we were able to see all the shows we wanted, and we were able to book all the dinner reservations and gym classes we wanted. I will note that we knew to book restaurants as soon as we got on the ship and as soon as the exercise classes opened at 3pm. In comparison, this recent experience was much more lively and active. The previous cruise was creepy at times with venues often being empty.
2. This cruise seemed like a much older crowd than our previous experience- they said average age was 52. We are in our late 30's and it didn't seem like there were many younger passengers. With that said, the 5 day Caribbean itineraries are more likely to have a younger party crowd so we were partly expecting this to be an older demographic. There were a number of people who walked out of some of the performances making comments about having an agenda pushed down their throat, but overall, didn't feel like the "come as you are" vibe was impacted. The only issue I saw was that many of the older passengers seemed to not be aware of the option to order at your table in the galley. Most mornings, there were lines forming at the various breakfast counters unnecessarily, which made it often difficult to walk around. We ordered from the staff at our table and were able to be served and complete our meal within 30 minutes. So keep in mind you can use the red flag to order at the table- no need to line up! Another concern was that there were a lot of obviously sick older people coughing, etc. The amount of times we saw people touch things without using the readily available hand sanitizers after wiping their noses and coughing was quite astonishing. Yes, this happens on all cruises, but this seemed a bit more frequent than we have seen before.
3. All of the port tender and shuttles went really smoothly! Longest we had to wait for a shuttle was about 10 min in Crete. Disembarkation was also super quick as we were off the ship carrying our luggage within 10 min.
4. We bought the 5 day thermal spa pass for $259 each person. We aren't big party people or drinkers, so we would often go to the spa in the evening after dinner. If you do this, note that on one of the days you get a special sugar scrub and lotion to use as part of the mud room which was lovely!
5. We had a $600 bar tab which we used despite not drinking much. We had specialty coffees at each breakfast and also bought non-alcoholic drinks such as Humm Kombucha and Kin Euphorics. Also, each restaurant and bar seemed to have at least one or more non-alcoholic or low alcoholic options. Finally, if we did decide to have a drink, we splurged on expensive glasses of wine (Caymus, Moet, etc) which was a nice experience.
6. We booked an excursion at each port and all were pretty great experiences. Of note, I didn't think the excursion prices were that much more expensive than what I found on trip advisor, etc, so I preferred to book with the ship for flexibility and securing tender spots where needed.
7. One of the few negative experiences we had was the room location. I mentioned we aren't big on partying and treated this trip as more of a wellness and relaxation vacation. We booked an XL sea terrace about a year before the trip using a travel agent. I didn't bother to look at the room location and unfortunately we had 8330Z, which had a speaker from the Red Room right below. I'm not kidding when I say the room shook from the sound system- to the point where we had to disassemble the mini fridge shelves and pull out the drawers as they were knocking around so much and the noise was absurd. Even if you were hard of hearing, the vibration and shaking alone would make it impossible to relax and fall asleep. We reached out to sailor services who said they could offer ear plugs, but that was it. Luckily on the 2nd day, sailor services called us and offered us a room change to 11350A, an XL sea terrace (without hammock), which we gladly accepted. Note that Red Room entertainment goes to 11pm, so this would only be a problem if you are early to bed and early risers like us.
8. We had on board credit so decided to do the behind the scenes tour. It was definitely a good one-time experience and we learned a lot of interesting aspects. For example, all the restaurants cook the plates per order (yes there's prep, but there's not plates just sitting under a warmer waiting to be served). All pastries are made on ship. One of the striking impressions was that the staff seem to genuinely enjoy their job. Several times they said they were promoted quickly, there's lots of perks including being able to eat at the restaurants and book excursions, and they liked that they can show their tattoos, piercings, have hair of any color, etc. They also said there's purposely no visible rankings, uniform differences, or countries of origin listed. They want everyone treated with the same level of respect- you may actually have encountered the captain and not know it. It's a bit refreshing from the over the top interactions that staff on other cruise lines show. Staff seem genuinely in a good mood on Virgin.
9. Overall, this solidified that we love Virgin Voyages. We did an Alaska itinerary on Royal Caribbean (Quantum of the Seas) last summer and Virgin is a much better experience in our opinion. On RC, we felt like everything was an upsell or shopping centric and run down (yes it is an older ship than Resilient but it seemed grimy). Areas were over crowded on RC and overall felt chaotic. Virgin seemed to have longer stays in the ports than we have experienced on RC (less concerned with shopping and casino sales?) Also, not having kids on the cruise makes a big difference. Food is much better on Virgin, apart from us really liking the sushi restaurant on Quantum- note that we did the unlimited specialty restaurant package on Quantum as we thought the dining room quality had gone down and we don't like buffets. Overall, I feel that while Virgin is more expensive up front, it is a better quality experience. We will likely go on another RC cruise as my parents are avid cruisers and won't try another line despite our encouragement, but we are definitely sold on the Virgin experience. We used the book your next voyage promotion on the ship and will be going on Brilliant Lady in 2026 in a suite. Having a suite on the 2022 voyage and an XL terrace on this recent voyage, we feel the cost is worth it for the suite, although the XL sea terrace was still a very nice experience.

Happy to answer any questions you have!

It’s quite well known now that games are a terrible way to make NP and that food club, Battledome etc are the means for raking in quick cash. With the responsibilities of adulting, I find myself hardly touching the games compared to my younger days since I can make NP more efficiently via other means. How many of you guys play Neopets in the same way?

Intro: For your distinguished service to the crown, you’ve been assigned the difficult and dangerous job of slaying a dragon purported to have slaughtered a village on the outskirts of the kingdom. It’s a job you should be able to handle, and you’re not too scared… now, if only the whole thing felt less wrong…
Summary: Listener meets a new acquaintance who befriends her, and offers to guide her where she needs to go. They face a danger together, and she learns that he is not what he seems.
Go ahead and monetize, it's fine. Word count is about 3800.
If you fill this or plan to fill this, please notify me. Please don't make edits without asking first.
TWs: Running deception, combat, discussion of mass murder (dragon burning places to the ground), possessiveness, forced sleep
Line breaks represent the listener talking or space where no one talks and should be short pauses, words within {brackets} represent the speaker’s tone or sfx. At ellipses, the speaker trails off, and at dashes, he is either cut off abruptly by the listener or by himself.
Author’s Note: And also the flipped version, for the draconic gentlemen out there!
If you want to read this somewhere other than Reddit, it's also here.
F4M version here.
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{internal monologue} {disgusted} Ugh, those damn livestock merchants charge more every time. Gouging bastards, {rationalization} but I do need them to stay silent. If the town finds out how much food I have to purchase every month, it’ll only end badly. Besides, it’s not like even this much bribery makes a dent in my hoard. I should really just be glad I haven’t met any merchants with integrity, that wouldn’t end well. Good thing it’s a vanishingly rare trait these days… {annoyance} wait, no, that’s not a good thing, what am I saying? It’s sad… but it does make my life easier. Well, that’s a hell of a conundrum. {sigh} {bored} Not one I haven’t dealt with before, though. Have this conversation with myself every time. Oh, well. What matters is the food’ll be delivered soon, I don’t have to go into hibernation, and the merchants won’t talk. Anything else I wanted to do before heading home? Hmm… I think I wanted to stop at the spice merchant, see how much- {interest} HELlo. Who is that?
{curiosity} What would a knight be doing here? I mean, I suppose the goblin raids have been getting more brazen, but the town guards seem to have it handled, I haven’t even needed to get involved yet. I guess she could be here about that, but it doesn’t feel right. Maybe she’s just passing through? Well, best way to find out is to go talk to-
{quiet} Oh, damn. That’s- oh, damn. Fuck, she’s hot. {forced calm} Okay, composure. You are an all-powerful dragon. You will not be thrown off your game by one mortal, no matter how shiny her armor is. And it’s only her armor you’ll be looking at, right? Right. Ignore that beautiful face, you just need to find out what she’s doing here, not-
{suspicious} Wait. Who’s she talking to? {upset} The spice merchant? And he’s BLUSHING? Uh-uh. No. Not gonna fly.
{out loud} {sickly sweet} Hiiiii, hello! It’s me again, I’m here to pick up some- Oh? Who’s this? A new friend?
Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were having a conversation. Please, continue. I can wait.
{cough}
Oh, no, don’t mind me, just looking at… cumin. My, this smells awfully strong.
So sorry to barge in again, uh, I would like to buy these.
Are you leaving? Well, it was lovely to meet you.
{internal monologue} Okay, let me just finish up here, and I can go talk to her.
{pleased} Hah! Look frustrated, spice sleazeball. Serves you right. {confused} Wait, do I know your name? Have I ever asked your name? Eh, doesn’t matter right now, I don’t need to know everyone in the village. {disgust} Especially not someone who flirts with- {confusion} Wait, what am I doing? I don’t have any claim over some random knight, why am I acting like this?
{frustrated noise} Figure out internal dilemma later, find human now. Where’d she go?
Agh! Curse this mortal form’s short legs, I can’t see- wait! Shiny!
{out loud} Hey! Hey! Wait up!
{out of breath} Whew… Thought I was gonna… gonna lose you… for a minute.
Thanks. Only need… a few seconds…
{composed} Hi. I’m Typhon*.* Sorry to chase after you like that, but I realized I didn’t catch your name?
Oh, that’s a lovely name. It suits you.
{pleased} Oh, flatterer. {internal monologue} She’s smooth, isn’t she? I was expecting all armor, no brain. I understand why the spice merchant was blushing now, I guess. {out loud} I just wanted to ask you… uh, I wanted to ask you what you were doing at the spice merchant’s? Usually passers-through don’t stop there when they can get their salt cheaper elsewhere.
Oh, that’s interesting! I didn’t know you could find that here.
Oh, no, I don’t spend very much time there. I mostly go in, buy what I need for my next few weeks of meals, and leave. Other places to be. More important places.
{laugh} Well. You certainly know the way to a man’s heart. {internal monologue} A knight with both manners and a sense of humor… who’d have thought?
{out loud} Wonderful. So, what brings you to Wylgrith? It’s not a large settlement by any means, and well out of the way of… everything, really. What reason would a mighty royal knight have for stopping by? Were you sent to handle the goblins that-
{stunned} …Say what now?
The dragon? You were sent to kill the DRAGON?
Can you… not?
{off-balance} I mean- uh- Well, I don’t see why you would, do I? After all, the dragon hasn’t been seen or heard from in years, right? And even before that he didn’t harm any humans for decades. He-
I- uhhh… I guess I’m guessing he’s a ‘he?’ I did see him once, flying overhead, though, and he looked like a boy dragon. Kind of stocky.
I… suppose ‘it’ works as well, yeah. {quiet, sad} A little hurtful, though…
{back on track} Nothing, nothing. So, why are you killing the dragon, again? I don’t think… it… has even harmed a human in living memory.
{sputtering} What? No it didn’t!
I- I think I would know if it burned down a village. I mean, this place is still standing, right?
A different- Well, I’m sure he wouldn’t have done anything like-
{quickly} No, no, I don’t know. It’s not like I’ve met the thing, right? But it hasn’t burned down this village, so why would-
{tentative} Oh. They said that?
Right to the king?
Right in the middle of court, where everyone could hear it?
{sad} I guess that settles that, then. The dragon needs to die.
{internal monologue} Damn. What a waste of such a beautiful knight. There’s no chance she could possibly beat me on her own, so she’s going to end up- wait, on her own?
{out loud} {confused} And the king sent you? Alone, I mean? No army, or squad of knights, or cadre of mages? Why would he do that?
{awed} Oh. Oh, that is a very magic sword.
Well, no, I haven’t. But- but you can just tell, can’t you? It’s glowing! And it’s covered in some kind of weird letters, those have to be magical, right?
{internal monologue} {hesitant} Okay. That’s somewhat worrying. Even with all the useless sigils and that pointless glow siphoning its energy, I can feel the power rippling off that thing. Where did she ever find- No, that doesn’t matter. Could it level the playing field? Give her a chance? Hard to tell, I think, my senses in this form aren’t as-
{out loud} I’m sorry, what? I was distracted. Uh- it’s a very pretty sword.
{taken aback} That’s- that’s a good name for it. Very dangerous-sounding.
{internal monologue}{stressed} ARE YOU KIDDING ME? FANGBANE? SHE FOUND FANGBANE? HOW IN THE- {forced composure} no, I’m calm, I’m calm, it’s fine. It’s not worrying at all that she has the most dangerous dragon-slaying sword ever forged. Wow, this very quickly went from “I don’t want to fight her, I don’t want to kill her” to “I don’t want to fight her, I don’t want to die.” Okay, time to nip this in the bud.
{out loud} Wow, it’s done that much? I never would’ve guessed that, it looks much too fancy for that. So… you can actually kill the dragon?
{hesitant} You’re right, I suppose. If it burned a village, it does deserve that. Well… *{resolve}*Do you know how to find its lair?
No, it’s not. If it was, everyone would be constantly in there robbing the hoard, wouldn’t we? Everyone knows that the lair is somewhere on the mountain, but no one knows where.
{triumph} Yes. Except me. And I’ll guide you there.
{reasonable} We already agreed, right? If it burned down a village, killed that many people, it needs to be put down. I want to help with that, and besides, you need someone to take you there. You’ll never find it on your own, so you can’t be too choosy about who you bring, can you?
I like hiking, and the mountain isn’t dangerous if you’ve known what you were doing since you were a child. I found it once, but I ran immediately, because I didn’t want to risk angering the dragon. I think I can find it again, but it’ll be a long trip. Three days at minimum.
{internal monologue} {satisfied} Perfect. A few days wandering in the forest should discourage her, maybe I can even convince her I didn’t burn any village. {confused} Why would she have been told… {moving on} Doesn’t matter right now. What matters is getting her off my trail, and maybe getting to know her in the meantime… {upset} No! Stop that! Bad Typhon! She’s literally trying to kill you. She is not a prospective mate, she isn’t even another dragon!
{sigh} {wistful} She is gorgeous, though, especially when the light catches her armor like that… No! Stop!
{out loud} {serious} We should set out soon, then. Do you have enough provisions for the trip?
Good, good. No time to waste, come on.
You’re hunting a dragon. A dragon. Don’t you think it might be wise to move before he- it catches wind of your presence?
Let’s go, then.
{some indicator of a time skip}
{amused} What, don’t tell me you’re getting tired? We’ve only been hiking for a couple hours today, aren’t you supposed to be a big, strong knight?
You could take off the armor, if it’s that hot.
{concession} All right, your decision. And I suppose wearing the armor was helpful when the tangler tree tried to grab you. Fine, we’ll stop for a bit.
How much is left in your waterskin?
Good, good. Mine’s pretty full, I haven’t felt thirsty in a while.
No, we’re definitely going in the right direction. {grasping at straws} I recognize… uh, that rock! Yeah. See how it kinda looks like a bear, if you tilt your head?
Really? Well, I see it. Anyway, I remember seeing that before. We’re about a day’s walk away from the lair, I’m almost certain.
You know, you never asked why I decided to hike in a random direction for three days. {internal monologue} {pleased} I have such a good story for it, too. It’ll leave you crying, and then maybe I can-
{out loud} {taken aback} You do?
What? You’re a royal knight, one of the most honored positions in the land. Why would you feel the need to escape?
{internal monologue} What? What was that? There for a second and then gone, was that… a crack in the charming exterior?
{out loud} No, no, I understand the feeling. I just… didn’t expect it from this quarter. Is something wrong at court? Are you-
{inner monologue} {protective} Oh… Oh her eyes… So sad… What did they do to you, my knight?
{out loud} Please, anything you can-
{confused} What? What’s wrong?
No, I’m not going to shush, we’re talking, and-
{muffled} Mmph! MMMMPH!
{inner monologue} {angy} This presumptuous human dares lay her hand on ME? I don’t care what might be inside her, I’m going to make it outside- {considering} Wait. What’s that noise?
That doesn’t sound like- oh. Oh, those are goblins. And she wanted me to be quiet, and now they heard us, and- oops. Why did I not sense them coming? Goblins wouldn’t know stealth if it snuck up behind them and ripped their legs off, I should’ve heard them from miles away. This doesn’t make any sense… Oh, well. I suppose it doesn’t matter, in the grand scheme of things. Just a few more goblins to kill. If she’d just let go of me… wait, but I don’t want to reveal myself. That makes this much more difficult. Can I kill all these green idiots in my human form? {concerned} Oh, wow, that’s… a worrying amount. Where are they all coming from? All right, I think I can take- wait, what? Human? What are you doing?
{out loud} Why are you getting in front of me? That is far too many goblins for any human to handle, we need to run!
{internal monologue} {flustered} Wha? What does she mean by that? And why does she have to be this lovely as she says it? That’s unfair!
{out loud} No- you can’t-
{internal monologue} {upset} Oh, the stupid, brave, self-sacrificial idiot! She’s gonna get herself killed if I don’t help her- wait, what?
{taken aback} She’s- oh, wow, that’s quite impressive. That’s- wow. I’ve never seen a human fight like that.
{confused} Huh? Why’s she looking back… Is she angry? What?
She’s yelling something… She wants me to run? Wha- {realization} OHHHHH- She thinks I’m in danger, and she’s trying to protect me! She wants to- {touched} aw. That’s the sweetest thing… My heart- {serious} I need to keep this knight alive.
{realization} Oh! I have to pretend to be running, yes. I can’t help her here, much as I want to. Besides, it looks like she has it handled. Those goblins aren’t laying a claw on her, somehow. Guess it was a good decision to wear the armor.
{planning} I’ll come back for her later, and she can be happy that she kept me safe, and maybe I can use that to find out what’s wrong with her, oh, looks like she’s just about finished with those- {shock} wut.
What is that.
That’s a- that’s a freaking hellhound! What in the Low Realms is a hellhound doing here?
{protective} Okay, no, unacceptable. I am not risking my treasure- {concerned} the human. The human! Why did I just think of her as- never mind, time for that later.
{whoosh sfx}
{roar}
{desperate} Oh no, please don’t let me be too late…
{out loud} {furious} Stay away from my human!
{crunch sfx}
{triumph} Hah. That’ll teach you.
Did you get the last of the goblins, lady kni- {wary} What are you doing.
Put that sword down, please, I’m not your enemy.
Okay, no, no, calm down, there’s no need to get worked up.
This isn’t helping anything, can we just talk?
{upset} OW! All right, this has gone far enough
{magically resonant} Sleep.
{sigh} {fading out} What am I going to do with you?
{some indicator of a time skip}
{cordial} Good morning, lady knight. As promised, I brought you to my lair.
Oh, yes, you must be confused.
{whoosh sfx}
There, is that better?
{resigned} Yes. It was me the whole time.
No, it wasn’t. If it had been a game, you would be dead right now. Instead you’re alive, unharmed, even unrestrained, in the middle of my hoard.
Or didn’t you notice?
{amused} Yes, I thought that might get your attention. Being surrounded by enough gold to fill a palace ten times over generally does the trick where humans are involved, or so I am informed.
{annoyed} Fangbane? The sword that slew more of my kind in two years than any other managed in thousands? You want it back?
Tch, no, but I would’ve if I could. That butcher’s blade should’ve been melted down long ago. Alas, it was impervious even to my fire.
I thought that was clear: no, you can’t have it back. You can have another sword, even a magic one, but not that atrocity forged in steel.
{considering} That would seem to be the question of the hour, yes. “What are you doing here.” Well… why don’t you tell me? You were sent to kill me, that much is clear. But much more isn’t. I would like… an explanation.
{annoyed} Oh, come on. You’ve been interacting with me for days now. Do I really seem like the type of person who burns down villages at random? That excuse is worthless… and… {suspicious} I think we both know it. You were sent here for some other reason. What was it? Tell me, before I grow cross.
Oh, I believe they didn’t tell you. But, though I think you like to pretend otherwise, dumb is one thing you are not. You know more than you’re saying, so answer me. Please. Why does the king want me dead?
{stunned} That’s- that’s it? Of all the petty, arrogant, stupid- I’m not even going to bother trying with that. {snort} And humans use dragons as symbols of greed.
{explaining something obvious} Yes. Because I like gold, its color, its luster. And because I enjoy living comfortably. {disgust} Not just… to have more than others.
Even if you don’t want to concede the difference, surely it does not escape you that I earned all of this, not just killed its old owner and stole it.
{offended} Of course I did! The very idea of taking something unearned… ugh.
{considering} You really know so little of my kind…
All of this, though… brings us back to you. You were sent here, presumably because you’re the kingdom’s best knight, the one with the highest chance of victory. You weren’t given any backup because there’s only one Fangbane. And you were fed a lie about me slaughtering innocents to make the job go down easier, but something in you knew that it was a lie. Tell me, am I hitting the mark with these?
So, my question becomes… why didn’t you? You had me at the point of your blade, and with a sword like that and skills like yours, you could’ve done it. If you wanted me dead, I would be, draconic magic and might notwithstanding. Instead, all I have is a scratch on my snout- {venomous} yes, that is the scar on my nose. Injuries do carry over, thank you so much for noticing.
{curious} And now you’re sorry. I don’t think I understand you at all, no matter how hard I try. Please, answer me. I want to.
Wha- {sigh} {exasperated} Well, if you were so certain it was a lie, why come here in the first place? If you felt you were given unjust orders, you could’ve just left the kingdom. Plenty of other places need knights, and there’s always work to be found as a sellsword. You risked much to gain… nothing, as best as I can see.
{dangerous} He… he what?
The king threatened to…
{cold} No. No, that is unacceptable.
No one threatens my human.
Yes, my human. I- {sigh} {warmer} I believe an explanation is in order. You see, I finally figured out what I’ve been feeling these past few days. At first, I thought it might be love, and, well, I suppose it is, of a kind: hoarding instinct. I feel hoarding instinct when I look at you. I saw you for the first time, and something in me just knew. You are the most precious treasure in this entire cavern, and I need to protect and keep you until the end of time, like the work of art you are.
{worried} Ohh, that’s not a good expression. Did I say something wrong? Come on too strong? I promise, living here won’t be bad at all, it’s quite a comfortable lair, whether I’m in human form or dragon. I maintain a good relationship with the villagers, too, so we can even go down to Wylgrith on day trips, as long as you don’t try to leave. You understand the importance of that, I trust.
{calming} No, no, don’t get all worked up. There’s no need to do something we’ll both regret.
Please, calm down. We’re both rational people, let’s discuss this as such.
{harder} Human, I don’t want to put you to sleep again. Don’t make me.
{pleased} Good, that’s much better. Now, what are your objections?
Mhm, mhm… {logical} Well, in point of fact, no, you don’t have a home anymore. If you go back without proof of my demise, the king will have you executed, will he not?
As I thought. So there’s nowhere else for you to be. As to your next point, of course I won’t keep you as a pet, you’re a sentient human. You have your own free will, thoughts, ideas, desires, the whole package. You would never be a pet. You will be my treasure. Very different thing, and it means I will want to keep you close, keep you safe, and stare at your radiance for as long as draconically possible.
{considering} Well, no, I haven’t heard of this. A living part of a dragon’s hoard? I believe it’s unprecedented, since nothing but gold lasts forever. Nevertheless, we’ll figure something out, we can make it work. And this doesn’t reflect strangely on me, you needn’t worry. I am one of the eldest dragons of this age, the young are used to my… peculiarities by now.
{pleased} Ah, yes, I wondered when we would get to that point. No, as a matter of fact, the king will not be sending other knights, or mages, or armies after me. I will not be killed like that, and you will not be reclaimed by them. And do you wish to know why?
{colder than ice} Because I am going to burn this kingdom to the ground. {amused} Naturally. I could overlook the attempt on my life - it brought me the most precious treasure I have ever known, after all, - I could forgive the use of Fangbane, since now I can make sure it never harms one of my kind again, I could even somewhat tolerate the blatant lies spread about me as flimsy justification. {angry} What I cannot accept, however, is what they have done to you. Threats on your life, on your body, on those you protect, promises of execution, forcing you to stain your soul against your will… no. No one is permitted to harm my human and live. This will, I admit, be something of a first for dragonkind, actually killing humans instead of protecting them is practically unheard of. I may even face repercussions from my kind for this. I find it hard to care, though, these ones are only getting what they deserve, for their actions or their complacence.
Now you’re getting upset again. {soothing} Don’t worry, this isn’t a sign of my outlook changing. I still have no desire to harm humans, and the village is perfectly safe.
We were communicating so well a second ago, if we could return to that, I would be grateful.
I promise you, this shouting and carrying on is nothing but counterproductive.
{tired} Lady knight, if you are not capable of being objective, I will be forced to- oh, forget it.
{magically resonant} Sleep.
{gentle} {slowly fading out} I truly am sorry to do this to you, but I can’t have you fighting me on this. I don’t want you to be upset at me, treasure, so, by the time you wake, the cause of this contention will be gone.
Shh, shh. It’s okay. It’s just a simple sleep spell, you’ll wake up comfortable and well-rested.
There. It will all be fixed before you awaken. Don’t worry, my treasure, nothing will ever harm you again.