Hello all, long story short, my friend (she is from India and so are her captors/employers) is a victim of "forced labor" human trafficking. She has gone to hell and back in the last 7 years and has finally mustered the strength to leave, I am picking her up tonight at 10:30 p.m. and I am terrified... If you're interested in reading more details about her ordeal, read the long paragraphs below, but in short... my plan is to drive her up to the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, CA (she has recently talked to her sister in India who informed her that this is what she should do in order to go back to India, but what if she's wrong?) which is where she will get help and be on her way to India? Is this correct? I have never done this before and I am not sure what to do... The last thing I want to do is to drive my friend (who has zero money, an expired visa, no passport, speaks broken English, and is extremely vulnerable) to a place where she won't be helped and she has nowhere to turn to.
I met (let's call her Maria) Maria, about 2.5 years ago. We are both vendors at local Farmers markets here in Los Angeles, CA. From the MOMENT I met her, I knew something was very wrong. On my first day arriving at a specific farmers market, she and her boss were my next-booth neighbors. I asked Maria, "Hello, it's my first day here at this market, do you know if I can park at xy street or would I get a ticket??". She looked at me and immediately walked away. Her boss right away stepped up and said "Don't ask her, she wouldn't know, yes you can park at xy street". I thought well that's strange... why did she not let her talk... that girl looks scared. I had never seen such a tired and defeated looking human in my life. Most times her boss left her there to work while she went and worked other markets. Well I got to know maria and she became a very special friend of mine, she is caring, selfless and has all the good traits any good and decent human does. I don't know where to begin with describing what she's gone through. Her English is broken but I can understand 95% of what she tells me. I will try my best but I don't know every single detail.
She knows these people since when she lived back in India with her mom, dad, brothers, sisters. These suspects have businesses here in the U.S and over in India and employ both her father and uncles. They told Maria that they had an opportunity for her if she was interested. There was a man who was looking for a wife and they had told this man about Maria, he was interested. The plan was for Maria to travel to the U.S, marry this man, and employment with these suspects was guaranteed. Since her life was hard over there, she was intrigued and accepted. When she arrived they gave her the runaround...seems there was never a man for her to marry, instead they had her work endlessly on their business that is ran from a remote farming community here in Southern California. They threatened her by telling her they'd hurt her family back in India AND they'd lose their jobs, they'd hurt her, they'd do this, they'd do that. They have beaten her so many times, I've seen the bruises and begged her to let me take pictures that I would keep privately (but for proof if in the future they were needed) but every time I would ask, she'd always immediately refuse and said she'd have hell to pay if they found out. They have told her that she will never talk to her family back in India and she has not been able to do so since she left India.
They have her sleep inside a barn with the animals. They humiliate her, the husband and wife (and sister of wife) hit her so often and even broke her nose once. You can actually see where her nose healed crooked. There's been times where I did not see her for 2 or 3 weeks straight and sure enough, it was because she had some sort of injury she was healing (black eye, etc.). She has ran away several times only to go back several hours later because she has nowhere to go and is scared shitless. She basically works 24/7 too. She is not allowed to talk to anyone and when she and I are both at the same market (and her boss is dropping her off) we have to pretend to not know each other. Her boss picks her (and the equipment) up from the farmers market sometimes at 5-6 p.m. Mind you... all us other vendors have left at 2pm. So she just waits and waits to be picked up. She is not allowed to have ANY technology. She is not able to watch TV (she doesn't live inside a house anyway), when I was getting to know her... i realized she doesn't even know what is going on in the world (doesn't even know school shootings exist in this country). Her captors go through her things, they get extremely upset if vendor friends gift her items, (little pastries, gifts, etc. that they sell) or make conversation with her. For Christmas, my birthday, any holiday, she will go out of her way to give me a little gift (even if it's an insignificant little thing like a nail polish etc.) and she has given me her food when she knows I'm having a hard day and I'm upset (she knows I deal with an abusive husband and we bond over our difficult experiences) just to cheer me up. Little by little I have convinced her that she can trust me and that I would drive her to the airport and pay for her ticket, etc to get her back to India and escape from this abuse. I got her a cell phone that she only uses for internet that she has to keep hidden. Well with that cell phone and apps she was finally able to contact her family. She said that they said that they had not had jobs with these people for years and basically all the fear they put into her was B.S. They have for years been looking for her. She's still scared shitless but she says she cannot take it anymore. I have lost sleep over what my friend goes through. I don't know anyone who has suffered as much as she has. Again, what I described above is not all she has shared with me.. it's worse.
She doesn't want me to meet her at the ranch where she lives because she fears for my safety. She worries they will do something to me out of desperation (because they might be facing legal issues now), so I have to meet her in front of a store tonight, she will walk hours to get there. She doesn't trust the police, the last time she ran away she flagged down the police, told them the situation and basically said hey you don't have proof, there's not much we could do. I'd imagine that this distrust for the police is shared in these migrant-rich farming communities. I recently got a new job (in order to leave my own abusive relationship) and I will have to miss work to take her there, which I'm willing to do, I just want to make sure that we are going about this the right away. I also have two little kids at home (6 and 4 y.os) I am willing to pay for her ticket...I can make that money back. But gosh... I'm terrified. All these government offices are closed right now, since it's the weekend. I will make so many calls early tomorrow to make sure I know what my friend is getting herself into. Does anyone here have any advice? Tips? Anything that might be helpful.
I really hope she presses charges and these people pay for what they have done but I am discouraged by the fear I see in her. I can't blame her. I look forward to seeing their business crumble as they no longer have her endless help. Thanks for reading all this..

Did anyone catch this interview? I was wondering what your thoughts were.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pThJBLscn1Y
Personally I felt like the student looked a little silly. She was making unfounded claims, with non factual information, like the claim of Genocide from the International Court. She was also talking about being anti capitalist without realising that she is deeply embedded in capitalist culture. I mean, if she doesn’t like the country she could leave? we all have complaints about how the country is run, funding issues, policies etc. but do you think this student realises what it would actually be like living in Palestine? It seems odd to me that someone so supportive of a cause is really very naive. It also strikes me that these students are just shouting about a cause for the sake of it. The student didn’t want to condemn Hamas and couldn’t even say she wanted the hostages returned. It feels like there is pro Hamas training going on when these people are so manipulated that they can’t answer as a human being. I don’t particularly like Suella, but actually I think she did well here. The student was very rude calling her liar and a war criminal and she kept very calm. It seems the student was just there to slate her rather than talk about Palestine, talking about bringing ‘governments down’. Personally I think it was an embarrassment for pro pallys because it just demonstrates their lack of facts and totally misrepresents what is actually going on. Is there something I am missing? Every time I hear a pro Palestinian talk they can’t show any empathy. She also tried to make out that anti semitism doesn’t exist which just seems delusional. Are these people so affected by the media that they can no longer rationalise facts from propaganda?
What do you think?

There are many XFs like this WF from the background who loves and supports AMs such as found in the link

https://old.reddit.com/AsianMasculinity/comments/1cv3urz/yall_are_loved_and_cherished_and_if_youre_not/

Then there are ricels who get skeptical just because they don't get any action, thereby projecting their personal failures with women unto Asian fellas as a whole. You see them with comments like

Supportive words have their place, but validation of those words by proof of results is what ultimately matters.

and

because truth of the matter is the average asian guy won't get the same attention as the average non-asian guy.
i know you're trying to uplift and encourage but in real life the avg asian guys are mostly invisible.
hope the best for your relationship. i know y'all will raise your kids well (if y'all plan that far ahead and plan to have kids).

Both of them lie because the truth is that WMAF/XMAF < AMWF/AMXF quantitatively and qualitatively, and this includes the extensive cheating advantage of mail order brides in WMAF/XMAF, yet still arent as numerous as AMWF/AMXF. Always has and this was during the pre-Hallyu era, making XM incels, Lululemons, and ricels become xxxtra butthurt. Want to know which non-Asian countries where AMWF/AMXF outnumber WMAF/XMAF? Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Jamaica, Morocco, and Tunisia. Even some legit western countries are included such as Germany, France, Sweden, Netherlands, Wales, Austria, and Spain. This not a full list either. There are many others I didnt bother to mention and not going to moving forward because I rather have Asian fellas travel and explore the world, beyond the usual suspects. Holy moley, Russia alone has more AMWF than all the WMAF has combined in the west! Its so overwhelming that some white fella had to point it out to another White fella https://archive.ph/fB8RS.
Ricels are mostly American, thus, have a very narrow American-centric view of things. Despite the US making up immigrants from every part of the world, people who have been abroad knows that America is still not all of humanity, and not's even close. For one, the US population is small relative to its large land size. Two, the majority of descendants from Europe, Asia, Africa, etc, that immigrated to America many generations ago were beta rejects from their native countries. Three, the US is increasingly becoming irrlevant on the world stage and its demise is due to their maladjusted and inadequate government, and China with its allies accelerating America's fall.
Multitudes of US born and raised AMs are also very clueless regarding romance. I guarantee there were many or at least some real cases about windows of opportunity throughout their lives for them to get with excellent high quality XFs that werent descended from beta reject families of their native countries, and these XFs also being a lot more attractive in every level than Americanized Lululemons, yet numerous American AMs chose not to reciporcate flirations by XFs that clearly showed strong interest.
Partly to blame is the beta upbringing that American AMs had, so they lacked the ability to read signals accurately and act accordingly combined with outdated expectations for the AMs to only go for AF, while only living in a non-Asian country where XFs are so much more common. Another reason is the brainwashing effects of American media that engineered AMs to be undesirable within the US.
Even then, propaganda does have its limitations and the previous generations of Boomers, GenX, and Millennials success of AMs with XFs is proof of that, especially Southeast Asian men (Filipinos, Burmese, Viets, Cambodians, Malaysians, Indonesians, etc) who did a lot more repping AMXF without any media hype uplifting their image. This must be endlessly frustrating for East AM ricels that look down on Southeast Asians lol. Not saying Southeast AM ricels dont exist btw because they do. Its just more impressive that a group of men (Southeast AM) which had the same hurdles as East AM, yet Southeast AMs still slayed so much in comparison! Southeast AM didnt have the advantage of having tv dramas that tug at the heart strings or exhilarating comic books to give them any halo effect which East AMs have in spades. You can even say Southeast AM faced more discrimination than their East AM bruthas because not only did Southeast AM get racist treatment from non-Asians in America as many of us know how a lot of Americans especially tend to be "Hurr durr, ALL gooks look alike, whether theyre east or southeast hahahahahaha", Southeast AMs also got racist treatment from their snooty East Asian-American kin. I can picture East AM ricels try to come up with a retort that goes "But but but but Southeast AMs don't have the cultural expectation to only stick with AFs from their respective ethnic group." Uh yeah they do, including Filipinos who are arguably the most chill and relaxed ethnicity out of all Southeast Asians or Asians as a whole or people in general.
A solacement is that some American AMs, particularly East Asian because they prematurely sabotage themselves the most, broke away from the evil magic spell of US brainwashing and rebelled against their mommy's and daddy's expectations about being a "good" Asian son, whatever the fuck that means, unashamedly went for the XFs they love rather than settling with a disturbed Lululemon. The AF may not even be a Lu. There are Asian fellas that barely find AFs physically attractive while these Asian fellas are genuinely attracted to XFs. I don't blame them because physical Asian attributes look better and more fitting on men after all. Physical attraction is usually the first step for men to be interested at starting intimate relations with a women, although other aspects are important too such as personalities being compatible. Asian fellas who had the guts to forge their life like that can be considered BAD (Big Asian Dick) Boys as well.
Then at the first link I showed, there is a Lulumon larping as a young White woman who said

As a white girl with a Chinese husband, I loved your post until I got to the mega cringe part attacking Asian women. We should try not to make more hate and problems. There are wonderful Asian girls too. We need less racism towards Asians, not more. Our daughters will be Asian/white mixed girls. Let’s not be the inverse of white dads with Asian women that push their Asian sons to only date other Asians while encouraging their daughters to date white.
You’re doing great supporting people that need it! Please stick to the part that’s great and don’t also spread hate 😊

No you troll Lu. WMAF/XMAF are not equal to AMWF/AMXF. I'm happy the post opener called out that Lululemon larper on her stupidity.
BAD (Big Asian Dick) Boy are genuinely loved.

I have never shared this story with anyone for 30 years including my wife and friends because I know they would laugh at me. They know I am a man of science and am always skeptical of any religious beliefs. I have a Degree in Zoology and I can’t think anything beyond evolution and genetics. This is a real story from my childhood which I am going to share with you all. I would appreciate if you read the entire long post (save it for later if need be) especially the description of the Jinn(s) (yes, 's' they come in groups)….
A little background about me (for context)…
I was born back in the 80’s in a small town in India up in the mountains. It was nothing like the India that you see in the news. That town was full of young people from all around the place because it had a big science college (big for that time and place) and everyone was into science & rock metal (not sure why rock), may be because it had some influence of British culture who setup “shop” (aham! colony) in that town long time back.
STORY BEGINS: Anyways, my mother was always sick because of her diabetes which had affected her other organs. My father, a religious man, was wealthy enough to get all modern medicines available at that time for her, but nothing worked.
One day someone suggested him to go meet “a man” (don’t remember his name) in a small village located ~300 miles away. My father had never heard of that village so he took help from a family friend to be his guide. We hired a car and my family along with his friend’s family went in search of that mysterious man.
ON THE WAY: On the way, we were asking people for the exact direction to the village (no internet back then). Some guided us, some were totally oblivious. We did find one person on the road who *warned* us not to go there…I don’t remember anything else about that journey other than that strangers warning….
FOUND ‘The Man': To keep the story short I will skip some minor details. We did eventually find the man we were looking for. I was expecting him to look like a wizard with skulls all around his house but he was a thin looking man, with beard, in a normal white gown. Nothing special about him other than his aura and a mild sweet smell around him.
He asked my father to go to a nearby village and bring some fruits for the “process”, especially “~Apples~”. He asked us to stay in his house till sunset and then it began….
~THE JINN:~ The man asked us to cover our eyes with cloth or stay in a different room while he did the process. Even he covered his entire head with a white cloth. The apples and other fruits were on a table, in a different room. He said it was for the "little ones". I didn't understand what he meant. I remember he had a “~bowl of water~” that he was constantly looking at. He started chanting some verses in a low voice and we were just waiting…and waiting…and waiting....nothing happened…..Then…. the entire house started shaking…. Yes, not just one table or one chair…. The entire freakin house started shaking and we could hear nearby trees sway and sounds of leaf’s falling…. then we heard voices in the other room.
~DETAILS ABOUT THE JINN:~ It seemed like there were more than one in that room. They sounded like children, ‘very mischievous children’ but their voices were not human. You could hear the excitement in their voice when they saw those apples. It sounded like the small ones started fighting with each other. Even if I couldn’t understand what they were saying, I could tell they were happy (like, if you listen to hyenas fighting for food).
Then came a BIG heavy voice which literally shook the windows. It seems like it commanded "shut-up" to those small ones. All the small noises just vanished in an instant. It was as if I was in a vacuum because there was no sound at all. Like not even a cricket chirping around the forest.
The man chanting the verse (still his eyes fixed in the bowl of water) told my mother to ask her question to the Jinn. My mother, (who was multilingual) asked if she would ever get cured. The BIG guy said something in a heavy voice in a language that I couldn’t understand. But my mother did. She didn’t ask any more questions. My father also asked some questions and so did the friend’s family, but honestly, I don’t even remember what they were as it was so overwhelming for me as a kid.
I do remember seeing a glimpse of a huge broken 'mango tree’ in the other room that was not previously there. I am 100% sure it was not there before as I checked that room out of curiosity before the process began. Not even sure how it got there. We asked the man where did this come from and he said "They" bring it along with them every time for some reason. We left the place all confused and on the way my father barely spoke.
CONCLUSION: "The man" ~didn’t take any money~ from us for doing this. He said he would "~lose his gift~~"~ if he did it for money. My father, however, gave him the remaining of the fruits that he bought as a token of gesture. Just some leftover fruits, not money.
As a grown-up man now, I still don’t believe what I heard or saw that day and my mind has always tried to push this experience in some corner of my brain. But for some reason I thought of sharing it with you all after almost 30 years….

THANK YOU for reading my story.

Whenever I catch him looking he has an excuse or it's NEVER him. Reddit naked women? He said he bought the account off someone because it has good karma and the owner forgot to delete the history? Twitch woman doing sexy asmr wasn't him he said he saw it pop up and only went on their profiles to click not interested? And latest is downloading tiktok and a girl from his uni popped up because she was in his WhatsApp uni group chat and the shaking boobies, bikinis and sexy dances just kept appearing on his tiktok and he supposedly kept clicking not interested, I've had tiktok and its never showed a thirst trap. He always says its not him he swears on the family etc etc. I think he thinks I'm stupid tbh could it possibly just be showing up? He has said once it's because the algorithm knows he's a man

This is a rant post/story. I'll try and keep it short, but it'll still be long lol.
I work at a non profit thrift store. I'm the recieving attendant (all products are donations, I just decide if we can take it or not based on condition). I've worked for this place on and off for almost 10 years. I generally like it, I've known most of the employees for a long time now. I started working for the store again about 1 year ago and at this point they have a new assistant manager.
First off I give credit where it's due. The man's a hard worker, and takes his job seriously, you could argue too seriously. But when I started back up I had a few workers and couple of volunteers pull me aside and say things along the lines of " this guy has a big ego and is a bit of a power tripper, just try not to let it get to you so much" I appreciated the heads up so I was at least somewhat prepared lol. I definitely picked up on it when he would address himself as "assistant store supervisor" anytime someone called or he spoke to a customer who had questions or complaints. Always going by his job title instead of his name. Since I'm the younger one he always calls me by my first name in kind of a demeaning tone, or talks to me like I'm an idiot for having questions about certain items like I should know what name brands are good or worth more. Hey it's all just items to me right? I learned to just placate him and keep basic conversations neutral like video games and old movies. Seems to work the best.
I remember my boss had to have a conversation with me about my dependability due to health reasons and asked if I feel I'm being overworked and want to consider cutting back to part time? She had called me to her office to talk about this and the assistant manager (Mr. Ego) was happy to follow her in the office with me in hopes I'd be reprimanded.You could just see his snarky grin lol. I stepped into her office and she told me to shut the door behind me. She told the assistant manager it was a conversation between just her and I and that he didn't need to be there. I swear you could almost feel his disappointment that he wasn't included in this "serious matter".
Time goes on, he is who he is, work relationship got quite a bit better to my surprise honestly.
They hired a new employee about a month ago and now she's unfortunately had to experience it herself. What happened was a guy showed up with a chair in his van and I couldn't really get a good look at it so I went ahead and told him to pull up to furniture recieving and they get the final say. The new girl does a little bit of everything so she was just curious on how things worked in recieving so she was helping me out. Apparently the guy with the chair had told the people in furniture recieving that the lady said we would for sure take it and before they could even get a good look he dumped it off then sped out of there. Her and I were in the middle of recieving more stuff so we didn't even know what had happened.
Suddenly he comes back to main recieving and straight up yelled across the room for everyone to hear, Hey! Calling her by name. You don't ever tell people that we'll take furniture without looking at it first! Just send them to furniture recieving and let them decide because now we have a trash piece of furniture taking up space because you told him we'd take it without question! Then he went to the office and slammed the door behind him.
This lady is about 35 years older than him btw (So much for respecting your elders). So I did what others had done for me and pulled her aside and said "try not to let it get to you, he's more angry at the overall situation" her response was very valid, "there's two sides to every story and that it's his job as a manager to keep his emotions in check instead of calling her out in front of everyone and embarrassing her like that" I agreed and again tried to tell her to brush it off.
This all took place when our main manager was away at a meeting otherwise he never would have went completely ballistic over it. At least not in front of everyone. Main manager comes back a couple hours later. The assistant manager pulled the new girl aside more privately which he should have done in the first place to ask exactly what had happened. The new girl asks if I can come because I was there too as a witness? In my mind I'm thinking don't bring me into this, me and him aren't exactly best friends lol. But I went with them anyways, as I was there and would want someone to have my back too I guess. He asked her what she noticed about the chair? At first we didn't notice anything. Then he spun it around and there was a big tare along the seems which split the leather really bad. He then asked me how it looked in his van. I told him the nice side was facing us and we couldn't move the chair to get a better look hence why we had him go to the loading dock otherwise we would have turned it down then and there. He was a little more cooled off at this time so just told us if you see that vehicle again to let him know right away.
He likes to play store "security" like a hot shot lol. I'm going to try and be nice but he's a stereotypical power tripper with signs that you'd expect. He's almost completely bald at 35 (we're guys, just let it go man it happens to a lot of us lol) he's about 100 lbs overweight maybe more, around 5'4 the size of our sweet little old lady volunteers, lives with his parents (which I won't pitch him too much shit for because things have gotten very expensive, especially if you're single), doesn't drive, I wouldn't be surprised if he's never spoken to a woman by himself let alone kissed one.
I mostly think it's because he feels inadequate. He has 3 brother's all in law enforcement. His oldest brother is a Sherriff deputy his 2nd oldest brother is a police officer in Seattle and his brother who's only a couple years older is a corrections officer. His father is a military vet. Meanwhile he ended up being a college dropout assistant thrift store manager at 2 different thrift stores including our current one. I just think he should look for another line of work. I think it could be beneficial for his sense of self worth and overall mental health to see a therapist. We all have bad days, but come on man we work at a thrift store we're not burly construction workers or loggers lol, just calm down a little ya know lol.
Anyways thanks for reading my long rant post lol. Wishing everyone true happiness ✌

23rd: Jane Bright (Nicaragua - 6th)

A deserving, incredible Survivor endgame level character standing next to Jane Bright.
u/SMC0629:
I don't have Jane in my personal endgame, but I'm not mad at all that she made it here. She's probably the most divisive character in Nicaragua, but I personally love her. She's got a spunky attitude, has a great rivalry with Marty, great relationship with Chase, and has one of my favorite eliminations ever. Her boot is so god damn memorable, that lasting moment of the alliance telling her it's gonna be her tonight, with Jane in complete shock and despair is just perfect. One of the best characters of Nicaragua for sure.
~
u/DryBonesKing:
Jane is on a very small list of players who I think has run the entire spectrum in terms of where they land in my rankings. Top ten, top hundred, middle of the pack, bottom hundred, bottom ten… I think I understand pretty much every Jane take known to humanity, cause I’ve had them. Nowadays, I tend to lean more positive on her, but I definitely still have too many issues I’m hyper aware of to let her rank too highly for me.
“What if we have Rupert’s hero edit to someone who was just really really mean, and did the bare minimum to hide it” is genuinely hilarious to me. Jane’s got good energy and her many, many, many feuds (the majority of which being with Marty) make her a great character to guide the narrative. There’s also just her boot episode, which is like… way too good of an episode for Nicaragua. I think I’m neutral-lean positive on Nicaragua, but it’s not a season that does a ton for me, but dear god, Jane’s boot and the scene of her dousing the camp fire is like so fucking metal.
She’s such a raw, powerful person. I think my biggest issue with her right now is just that, in a similar vein to Brandon Hantz, sometimes she feels a little too real at times. Like is she funny when she’s talking shit about Marty? Yes! Is the story great? Yes! But does some of what she says about Marty and his kids feel a bit too much? Yes, very much so. It’s not enough to detract from her character, but again… Brandon Hantz-tier of character. For me, that’s a pretty big compliment, but I also do not keep him in my Top 100. Same with Jane. But despite being one of the names that made Endgame that I disagree with the most, I am very curious and excited to see our resident “Least Sane Jane Bright Enjoyer” spin a tale or two about why she deserves to be up here!
Overall Rank – 138/821
~
u/Zanthosus:
While I disagree with her being endgame, I understand the reasoning and defense behind it. I respect the hustle that Tom did to get her here and I’m happy for him that Jane made her first endgame.
~
u/Regnisyak1:
I love that Jane is here, I am not even going to lie. Before my recent rewatch, I had Jane in the 200s, and after my rewatch, I was completely blown away at how complex her character is and the great relationships she had all season. To me, she felt real with her hatred, and the switch between the dry laugh we know her for, to the nasty person she became was endlessly incredible, she was such a great part of Nicaragua and one of the few praises I have for that season. Plus, when she finds out Chase, Holly, and Sash are voting for her, the music change and piano chord that happens there might be the piece media I have ever seen. Congrats Tom for getting her here!
Personal Rank: 73/821. 9/10.
~
u/ninjedi1:
Nicaragua is such a great season due to how emotionally charged it is, and Jane is a big part of that. Jane is the sweet southern lady until she feels crossed, then she has a whole vendetta against anyone who crosses her, so it's a lot of great fun. She is not in my personal endgame, but I can always appreciate a kooky character showing up in it.
~~~~~
u/Tommyroxs45:
Jane Bright:
This is undoubtedly my most anticipated write up of the rankdown, I have such a love for Jane and everything she does for Nicaragua. She has one of the best stories of all time, and just has so many moments that further it and make it cohesive. And that is what I will explain today. Jane is not just some badass southern old lady, ok well she is, but she’s also a very deep, broken old lady trying to put on a facade for herself. Her hatred towards everyone around her has its story and here it is…
The Mask
A lot like Rupert, Jane tries to paint a mask on herself as a hero and somebody who always follows her heart for the greater good. However, throughout the season we see cracks start to arise in this persona she puts on herself. She’s someone who needs a purpose and when somebody gets in the way of that, she gets insecure and bitter and that’s when we see the wrath of Jane break out.
The editors never try to pull the wool over your eyes by painting her as a hero, because they show petty rivalries with her and Marty and her boot episode meltdown. We get to see her from all angles, even if she only wants to present one. She’s insecure about herself, making her feel entitled to be treated as a queen and carried to the end due to her “heroic” manner. Once she realizes it doesn’t work like that and she actually has to play the game, all gloves come off and we get some of the most petty, uncalled for, or even bitchy moments that just have so much raw emotion.
She’s not painted as a hero while being an asshole (*cough* Ozzy *cough*) They show her as her flawed self, but they also let you make your own decision on what to feel without pushing a narrative onto you. Of course she wins Favorite Player at the reunion, so some people still thought she was a hero but you get to see this very broken and entitled person struggling. She really hates everyone but that’s not what she can show because that’s now who she wants to be and it’s such a complicated story arc throughout the season that we see the cracks grow and it’s told so subtlety but perfectly. And this is only the tip of the iceberg with how deep this old southern lady is.
Without this defining feature, she’d just be a badass southern lady but with it she becomes so much more just adding to this brilliant story building up all season until her boot episode. Her masking her real personality just makes her a much more complex character and when we see these glimpses of it, you start to realize, ohhh this is the person I’m supporting.
Even on top of the mask, there is so much more to Jane’s character…
Grief
When you watch Nicaragua for the first time, this part of her character is not inherently obvious. Grief?!? What are you talking about? She just seems like a badass until she’s a bitter old hag for being the target. While, yes that’s a very simplified version of this, there’s so much more to dissect there. The grieving of her husband, greatly plays a role in her story, and although it’s sometimes subtle you can see how it play into it so beautifully well.
In her very first confessional, what do we see Jane say?
“They think I'm some middle aged housewife that tootles around the house all day long, they’re in for a big surprise. Because that is definitely not me. I'm fifty-six years old and I'm the type person that stays busy all the time doing things. I just don't think there's anything I can't do. Winning the million dollars is real important to me ‘cause it’ll help me pay off my farm and the fact that I lost my husband, uh, in '09, it-it-it means I wouldn't have to work as hard as I do. But his spirit, I know is still with me and that's what keeps me going.”
Her husband obviously is impacting her mentally during this season, and we see this throughout the game. Every Time somebody makes a gesture that they want her out, her personal viper just breaks out. This is because she knows this is getting in the way of her dream, and the spirit of her husband that made her want to do this and she’s not letting anybody take that from her.
She’s still grieving and wants to win for her husband, and it is a very sweet story but sadly it takes a dark turn as she starts using this as entitlement for her to win. She believes she’s obligated to be brought to the end because of who she is and the loss of her husband and yeah, it’s dark but damn is it good when you think about it.
This is also why the family visit is SO important to her story in her boot episode. Right when her daughter, Ashley gets there, she starts talking about her husband and how Ashley is the one she is doing this for, to help her. This is WHO SHE IS FIGHTING FOR!
That is why it hits so hard when everyone flips on her! How dare they! She thinks. These people are voting me out right after I fought my hardest to give my daughter a better life?!? She’s one of the only I have left, this is disgusting. It’s so sad but at the same time it’s brilliantly shown not told. And what do you know, when Jane is talking about Sash’s mama raising him, she immediately brings up her daughter, just ugh how perfect does it round back to her family and her grief with loss.
Now obviously, does that make her outrage justified, I don’t know, maybe? Is she still kind of a bitch? probably! Is she a badass? Probably! That leads me to my next point.
Perspective
If you have read a lot of my other writeups on Nicaragua you would have noticed I love to talk about the perspective a lot of these characters receive on the season. Complimenting how diverse they can be seen depending on your morals or values. No character represents this better than Jane Bright.
How do I know this? Well let’s look at her placements in Rankdowns Past:
SRI - 485/501 - Seen as a bitchy, entitled, worse version of NaOnka, and someone who went way too personal in the game.
SRII - 455/537 - Seen as annoying and sour, forced fan favorite edit not giving her the trashing she deserved by the other tribemates.
SRIII - 549/575 - Seen as a narcissist and self-righteous, below the belt remarks and “a human embodiment of a rash” (that made me laugh a bit).
SRIV - 518/615 - Seen as an ultimately fascinating character, who got a dishonest edit that didn’t show her true side until the end. Ultimately ending up as an unlikable “venomous bitch” who somehow won fan favorite.
SRV - 108/653 - Seen as a great T.V personality whose kooky first half and vigorous 2nd half make for a good story and uplifts everyone around her while also being a great character.
SRVI - 127/731 (Had to be idoled to get here though smh) - Seen as a badass challenge competitor who is actually sour, who unfairly attacked Marty and is a bit too much when it comes to her toxic side to make her slightly less good.
SRVII - 185/767 - Seen as an extremely authentic personality and very entertaining to the chaos of Nicaragua, as well as having an iconic rivalry with Marty, being an iconic mother.
See the difference between one half and the other? Yeah, that shows just how well of a character she is edited as. She has so many times where she is shown to be a hero but juxtaposed with so many times she is shown as an asshole and it works off each scene perfectly. This is why we get such a difference of opinion and I think it’s told so well to where most people don’t even see it.
You have to weigh her good and bad and see based on your morals, if she’s a good person or not, and how acceptable or right was she for her constant hatred of others? I really love that as they aren’t trying to make you think a specific feeling about her. You need to come up with that conclusion yourself on how you think she is, that’s why she won the fan favorite vote in 2011 but today many call her an entitled bitch. (And yeah, she is but that’s a lot of what makes her so amazing).
Her kicking ass in challenges and being a lively spirit contrasted to her nasty demeanor to Jill and especially Marty personally attacking them and her boot episode meltdown, contribute to making one of the most wishy-washy characters when it comes to people’s opinions on her. I don’t what to be told how to feel, I want to come up with it on my own, and I feel like a lot of that has been lost in recent years of Survivor and seeing Jane and having all these different perspectives on her personality just adds so much life.
There is a reason why so many people despise her and so many people love her, she’s just edited that well to where people have had to come up with their own feelings about Jane. Not being coerced to feel a certain way, and I feel that is the best way to edit a character. What you see is what you see, not an objective stance the show is trying to put onto you, and I feel all of Nicaragua shows this but Jane is the prime example. Perspective means everything with her.
This makes her one of the most complex characters of all time, she’s either a broken woman seeking admiration, an entitled bitch, or a badass southern lady who is an inspiration. It’s all based on what you value and isn’t that what Survivor is all about, a social experiment where you weigh your values and personalities with each other to build a society.
Speaking of building a society, how is Jane’s relationships with the cast, well let’s see her main stars:
Sash: Jane and Sash’s dynamic isn’t really shown and I think that actually helps her and Sash’s story. Sash is sleazy and doesn’t really make any genuine connections and we see that in her breakdown scene. When you watch the moment she learns she’s going home and the confessional she gives, you see a direct tone shift from how she talks about Chase and how she talks about Sash. When she’s almost crying about Chase and his betrayal, she is outright vile and nasty when talking about Sash. Showing this major lack of connection between them, that she never saw him as a friend and will not hold back from releasing her rage on him.
Chase: Jane and Chase’s connection is one for the books. Both being from North Carolina and being southern types, they instantly bond and feel close to each other. Their relationship just feels more special than anyone else’s that season, that’s what makes the betrayal so much more entertaining. You literally see her about to cry over Chase, they really were close and got to know each other and just to have him stab her in the back, it’s so good. It just felt special but it wasn’t enough for him to not cut her…
Now how could you talk about relationships and not bring up Jane’s defining one…
Fartay:
Come on! This rivalry is one of if not the best rivalry in all of Survivor. They just despise each other and really are either of them in the right? Not at all, that’s what makes it so great. Marty’s a sleazeball, cocky, and a smart ass while Jane’s an entitled, bitter, old lady and they just work so well off each other. You just have personal jab after personal jab that is just so entertaining and perfectly helps tell Jane’s story.
There is really no reason why they should hate each other as much as they do but their walks of life and personalities just clash so hard that you still understand why they hate each other. Jane takes everything Marty does to heart without any grain of salt, and it makes her reactions so visceral and truly legendary. It’s what makes Jane the Jane we love to love or love to hate!
Now, I think it’s time to talk about the pinnacle of Jane. Her magnum opus if you will… her boot episode.
The Wrath of Jane Will Break Out Tonight
This is one of my favorite episodes of Reality TV. Everything about it is perfect and told in such a way to where it’s the perfect ending for such a broken character.
Building her up with her daughter coming during the family visit, talking about her and how much she wants to provide for her. Having a seed planted in Jane’s brain after she’s not taken to the reward thinking she was entitled to be brought.
Fabio winning immunity, throwing everything for a loop, just when Jane’s attitude has really started to shift and then we get to the scene. Which personally is my favorite scene in all of Survivor without a doubt. The scene where the alliance tells her it has changed and she’s going home is so brilliant. The raw awkwardness and silence next to Jane’s utter disbelief and anger. After she flips them off it is followed by again my favorite confessional of all time.
This is what she has been building up to, everything just falls about when she believed she deserved to win. Having such raw and unfiltered emotions where she’s about to break down and cry and then the turn to anger and fury bringing Sash’s mother into it, talking about how she raised a damn liar. (WITH THAT HEAD COCK THOUGH) All with very subtle sound effects or just no music at all until she gets up and makes one last hoorah by pouring water on the fire. “I started and I put it out” 🔥🔥🔥
Then we get to tribal, where Jane is just done with the bullshit and just calls everyone out for being liars and backstabbers. “The writings on the wall Fabio!” Like come on, that is TV gold, followed by the vote having Chase and Sash “cowardly” play their idols sticking it to Jane when she is already at her lowest by not even having her vote count. She leaves bitter and broken, not the happy ending she felt she deserved.
Mortgage Gate
I’m putting this here because that’s where it best fits, and this is brief because it doesn’t really affect my rankings on Jane because it’s not in the season.
I wish they did show this though, as having this added layer of controversy between Sash and Jane with real world implications would have been amazing, even if what Jane is saying isn’t true it still would’ve shown her as an ass, making up lies just to make someone look worse. I just think it’s such an interesting topic to discuss that I wanted to give it its own section. Sash is sleazy so I wouldn’t pass him to do that, however Jane is extremely bitter and entitled so I could also see her making that up, I guess we'll never really know will we… (I know Marty called the incident fake, but it’s Marty, of course he’s gonna dispute whatever Jane says, if she says the sky is blue, he’ll say it’s orange).
I'm Not Breaking My Tile!
This kind of relates to the mask section of this write up. However, I wanted to talk specifically about Jane’s challenge prowess and wins throughout the season and how much it adds to this arc. Building her up as this badass figure competing against big guys half her age and actually winning?!? It gives an excellent face to the real Jane, having this much courage to go against Chase and Fabio even after winning, not only being such a badass in that moment but showing how she’s trying to play up this persona of old challenge great.
Jane, The Tribe Has Spoken
So in conclusion, you can see that when you really glance over Nicaragua you don’t see Jane as some sort of deep character. However, when you really look into her and her actions and motives you see a broken old lady who is obviously grieving. She is such a deep and complex character that Nicaragua needed to really round out the story.
Jane isn’t supposed to be this likable hero, nor is she supposed to be a villain, she’s not edited as one archetype. However you value your morals, is how you will see Jane and even if you find her an ass, you have to admit they tell it very well. She’s also objectively entertaining, her rivalry with Marty, her being badass during challenges, cooking fish in the woods, her boot episode meltdown, and so much more are just so iconic to me and make this season what it is.
This write up obviously won’t sway everybody, but I hope that if you rewatch Nicaragua, take a closer look at Jane and her actions and see how it lines up with somebody like Rupert or Coach who are much more prevalent when it comes to these “entitled, broken, facade” archetypes. You will see a brilliant story of grief, hatred, entitlement, and a fake persona that the show knows she is trying to present.
Personally, Jane will always be one of my favorite characters of all time with amazing scenes and a story almost as complex as Ian’s. She didn’t win this rankdown, but she won my heart and has definitely earned herself a #1 spot on my rankings for this endgame.
SMC0629: 19
DryBonesKing: 21
Zanthosus: 24
Tommyroxs45: 1
Regnisyak1: 20
DavidW1208: 24
ninjedi1: 24
Average Placement: 19.000
Total Points: 133
Standard Deviation: 8.206 (2nd Highest)

It was three years ago when I met her online in a game and I liked her since the very first day we live in same country but different cities I liked her so I started spending more time to her and looked out for her and she told me her previous bfs just cheated on her and replaced her ... I wanted to treat her right after 8-9 months she said just ask me out or we should really act like friends and not a couple so I immediately asked her out to be gf and she said yes ... After relation she started getting dry most of the times and there really wasn't much we were doing so it made me a little dry also but I always carried the convos ... So dec last year she says she wants to breakup and I begged her to not do it we can fix stuff together but she didn't listen and we broke up after a week like few days after new year we r talking and she is all lovey dovey with me again and she keeps me in a situationship we r saying I love Yous to each other and everything but after some time in March she says that I m not her type anymore and she wants to check out new people and she told me a boy asked her out on valentine but I didn't take much of it and convinced her I will change myself and I really did after endless begging I made her stay and changed for her and she admits it also but in April she says she is leaving for that boy who asked her out and I still begged but she didn't stay this time and left I blocked her and all that but after 3 or 4 days she sends me msg and apologize and says she rejected that boy and wants to come back I accepted her as I love her soooo much and then after few weeks she says she lost feelings for me and she don't love me anymore and she came back only bcz she had guilt and panicked guilt that I was giving her so much love and treating her good I still make her stay and tell her I'll fix everything but after 2 days she tells me to cut ties as that boy reached her out and she is going to date him now...I still didn't accept it and told her to stay but she left and I blocked her from everywhere now it's been a week and both of them are in love using matching pfps and saying lover girl forever shit and she made me so insecure by praising him Infront of me and pointing out his looks and how he is so talented and better than me I literally did so much for her gave her love bought her gifts made her feel special u can check my previous post on Reddit about me wanting to buy her a gift she wants I don't even want her to love me back but atleast I deserve an apology from her she always said she knows she did me wrong and ruined my life but no apology from her Will the same happen to her and karma will get them and she will regret and comeback?

Hi guys
Apologies if this is the wrong place for this post, but it was my first thought.
I've recently realised that I don't completely know how to manage players whose characters can't accept that they don't get something, without it leading to an encounter.
For context, I'm running a campaign at the moment where there's quite a few NPCs who have many reasons not to like the party. My issue is that, when the party wants to speak to them, they can't accept that the NPCs might not want to give them what they want, and keep pushing them to a point which I don't know how to manage. At first, I tried leading the NPCs towards violence after several warnings from them (most of the NPCs in question are in high society or are very powerful), but I always feel like there's a better way to resolve this, as I feel terrible bringing violence into something where it doesn't need to be. However, I also don't want them to get absolutely everything they ask for, as it gives little consequences for their actions.
An example I've had fairly recently, where I wasn't sure how to handle it.
*Players knock on the door of a person they have previously annoyed due to pushing boundaries related to traumatic family history*
Players ask him if they could come and have a look for something in his house (I can't recall quite what it was), rolls bad on persuasion check
NPC says no, as this is weird and he doesn't trust them. He shuts the door.
Players knock again (I considered just making him not answer, but I've done this in the past and it didn't stop them from knocking until something happened)
NPC eventually answers the door again
Players continue to push, trying to force their way into the house (not with violence, more just shoving their way into the door)
NPC threatens town's guards (he is head of said town)
Players continue to try and persuade him, despite his clear annoyance
Guards arrive and try to get them to leave, which eventually leads to violence (the only way I could think the manage the situation, but I felt super bad after the session)
This has happened on so many occasions, and I'm not sure if / how to bring this up to my players, so I'd appreciate some advice in this regard.
Thanks in advance

I remembered reading this one book about a world that was flooded, and the main girl was from a tribe of people that had something to do with fire. She also has this weird unexplained virtual reality machine where she meets this digital fox creature.
I know for a fact they start the book with a small description on why they call the earth 'Irth'. I also know that at some point in the book, they get to a city on the water and they have to camp outside on a ship. During this, one of their friends dies and they have to give her a viking funeral (let out onto the water and burned). I remember little bits and pieces about it, but never actually finished it.

Are wa tenshi no koe!

"Temple — The Communicator — Pancakes"

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Comment of the Day!!

StardustGoetia has been tricked into believing the Haibane propaganda!

All the talk about how the Haibane are not allowed to have new goods, or how they can't leave or communicate with outsiders, makes things sound rather insidious. The shopkeeper seemed nice enough, though, and all the Haibane seem pretty friendly. (The idea kind of reminds me of the Pig Liver show from a couple seasons ago, except the execution here is decidedly better.)

JustAnswerAQuestion has been nosing through their dvd extras which amusingly dates the anime so well. Can you imagine back when Ai Yori Aoshi or Sakura Taisen were new!?

Pulled out some of my DVDs (couldn't find DVD right away, which apparently has extras.)
DVD 1 came with a big insert booklet full of character info, and messages to the the consumer! Typing the text into google doesn't give any hits, sorry.
DVD 1 extras: NC OP, Japanese OP (they use a really nice font), the previews, which I don't think were even in my fansubs. There's an art gallery not just of the characters, but every day objects like Reki's lighter and medical kit.
Previews for Sakura Taisen Gekijouban, Ai Yori Aoshi, Chobits (oo-oo! oo-oo! dakishimetainoni), Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar, Gatekeepers 21, Lupin the 3rd (TMS), Patlabor WXIII, Master Keaton, Heat Guy J, Live Action Saikyou no Onmyouji, L/R Licensed By Royal

QotD

• Hikari is becoming dangerously close to going from Angel to little devil!! How shall we correct this lost child!?
• What do you suppose Haibane halo are actually made out of?
• What are your current thoughts on the Renmei? They look after the girls but leave strict demands and boss them around right?
• Do you feed strays when able? Would you grudge an adorable little crow, fox, trash panda, or Kuu their midday snack?
• What's the one food you can never get yourself to eat? It's fine to be immature, we're adults and are perfectly capable of acknowledging out shortcomings~
• It is really that bad to have a constant smell of bread about you? Does Rakka sound more tasty when she stinks of freshly baked bread?

Abyssbringer's "What is the thematic purpose of this scene corner!!"

Vaadwaur speaks from experience.

The prompt is the reminder of that feeling you have when you wake up after a pub crawl and realize you don't know what city you are in.

Yesterday's Prompt!

Today's Prompt!

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If you strain your ears, you can probably hear it.

Hey I ordered a ton of perfume during a mental breakdown. Here are my thoughts on some of them.
— Black-Hearted Tart —
We Fell In Love In October (Fluffy, hot off the griddle pancakes topped with butter and smothered in golden maple syrup. Accompanied by a side of spiced baked apples with notes of nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger): Buttercream, cinnamon yankee candle, nothing. That’s the extent of my journey. Honestly, it’s fine, it’s a very inoffensive fall scent, if you want to smell like you’ve crushed a craft store on your wrist it’s great, but a lot is missing. If notes are a choir, the cinnamon has a megaphone. Honestly, I’ve been looking for a good pancake or waffle scent for a while, and this misses the mark. 3/5, not bad at all, but not was I was looking for and definitely not fit to wear yet in the Hell Summer I have coming up.
Potential Practical Uses:

• Gifting to people who still use the word “spoopy”
• School bake-sale days
• Smoking cigarettes on the roof

Boys Wanna Be Her (Uplifting basil and bergamot add freshness. Enhanced with an earthy blend of buddha wood and oak moss. Tonka bean and white patchouli evoke a bohemian vibe): Boys Wanna Be Clean too, apparently, because the crux of this frag is SOAP, lots of it, and nothing but it. I have no clue where it’s coming from based on the notes, but it’s undeniably suds. It smells like those industrial strength white bars. Like “I just worked a twelve hour shift and the first thing I did when I got home was scrub myself down so hard my nose forgot what work smelled like.” This would probably be great for layering, come to think of it, but I like “violently clean” scents and will probably wear it on its own anyway. 3.5/5 if you’re like me and soap is a comfort scent, or if you’re some kind of Patron Saint of Laundry Detergent, you’d probably like this too.
Potential Practical Uses:

• Showing up Febreeze
• Infiltrating rich person bathrooms where the shower has fifty nozzles that move and every surface is marble
• Feeling peppy and awake on mornings where you just want to crash

— OSMOFOLIA —
Finally A Star (The glitz of cardamom and sparkling grapefruit stars, outer space ozone, dreamy tuberose, searing gunpowder, and a ham hock for a head): I’m so mad that this is good. The joke with my IRL friends regarding this order was “you know I wasn’t in a good place when I made this purchase because I got ham perfume.” And I'm the joke now, because I ended up liking it a lot. Like, this is currently the only Osmo frag that has ever worked on me, and I’ve tried a sizable chunk of their library. (Seriously, I was going to include another perfume of theirs to compare and contrast, but everything I said felt too mean.) To make matters worse, you can definitely smell the ham and the gunpowder in the beginning! It’s in the background behind a really juicy grapefruit note, but it’s present. Part of the way this perfume was sold to me were reviews that assured me the ham was more of a bacon note, but no. This is honey baked ham. Deli-core. But the grapefruit note is so juicy that it takes over and makes it manageable. It’s pretty and weird and vaguely delicious and I’m worried someone will try to take a bite out of my facemeat when I wear this, but I will wear it. 3.5/5, I guess?
Potential Practical Uses:

• Ill-advised bereavement meals
• Going poolside but your bathing suit is hotdog-themed
• Happily single manic pixie dream girls

— Sorcellerie Apothecary—
Cake For Breakfast (Birthday cake, ripe mango, pineapple, coffee, maple syrup, and a hint of cardamom): Okay, I get it, coffee doesn’t like my skin. This is a bitter burnt caramel on me, though according to my friends with working noses, it reads more vanilla to them. I wish I could get what they got: as the day goes on, it started pulling borderline savory on me. It’s like… okay, you know when you make pancakes and little drops of batter get stuck to the pan? And then they stay there and slowly burn into little balls of ash? It smells like the process of that happening, but someone is chugging coffee syrup. I can’t say I got the mango or pineapple, which I was kinda pulling for; there’s a possibility it was there in the opening, but I also could have been hallucinating considering how fast it vanished. I’m giving it a 2/5, I can’t fully say it’s bad, especially because the drydown is okay if you like your caramel overdone, but I don’t think I’ll be keeping this.
Potential Practical Uses:

• Manifesting disappointment
• Becoming the exhausted diner waitress you’ve always dreaded being
• Reconnaissance in Seattle

Your Girlfriend Is A Badass (Yellow cake with fudge icing, oakmoss, Himalayan cedar, forest floor): By all accounts, this shouldn’t have worked. I hate chocolate as a perfume note, because it tends to go tootsie roll on me, and I’m not the biggest fan of yellow cake because vanilla is a death note, and “forest floor” implies dirt, which I’m also not an enjoyer of. This is all to say I honestly don’t know what possessed me to buy this, but I’m extremely glad it did because I’m in love. When they say fudge icing, they mean it: it didn’t go cheap or artificial on me, it was honest to god chocolate the whole time. I know “I wanted to lick my wrist” is a cliche in reviews, but it did smell like my arm was edible. That dirt note is prominent, but it works in harmony with the chocolate and gives the whole thing depth. As it dries down, an unexpected party joins: incense. I can’t name which exactly, but it has undeniable headshop vibes to it. It sounds weird, especially because it’s not in the notes (unless this is just Sorce’s base), but it works. It’s like… a joint retirement cake between Joni Mitchell and Walt Whitman. Or like you’re making s'mores in a log cabin with a bunch of your stoner friends who super aren’t going to die to a slasher later. It’s definitely greater than the sum of its parts, and pretty much seals the deal on me crawling back to Sorcellerie for another order. 4.5/5, easy, would annoy the Haunted Forest No One Should Step Foot In for cake again.
Potential Practical Uses:

• Tracking down the man who killed your parents
• Hiking on a cold Midwest evening, alone with your thoughts
• Daphne specifically

OOC: Co-Written with u/VictoriousBaffon :)
When Maxwell took the job to refuel the car, he figured he would be the one doing the oil change. Quick business, 20 minutes in and out. Wrenches, rags, the whole shabang. Easy job, easy brownie points for the empty Techne cabin. Let’s clear the three elephants in the room, though.
Firstly. Why is the job labeled as refueling the car when it actually needs an oil change? That’s not a refueling! That’s an oil change!
Secondly! Why did he need to find a mechanic? Maxwell could do it! It’s easy! You just put the car on a jack, crawl under it, remove the oil pan screw, wait for it to drain, screw it back in, remove the filter, replace it with the new one, and then add oil at the top! Whatever. One day, he might just do something like that here.
Thirdly…
“Theo, why did you sign up for this?” Maxwell questioned his girlfriend as she approached, a grin plastered on her face.
“Oh, come on, Max. It says it right there! One of you probably needs to know how to drive! I can drive, and, besides, if you went alone, someone might try to steal you from me, and I can’t have that.” She said simply, patting Maxwell’s cheek affectionately.
“Theo, nobody would try to steal me from you. Besides, it’s not like the mechanic is far. Maybe… 12 miles? That’s, what…” He scratched his head, his fingers moving in a way as if they were typing on an invisible keyboard, “20 minutes? Half an hour? If that.” He said simply before something clicked in his brain. “Hey! I can drive too!”
“Mario Kart doesn’t count. Not even that old one from some 30 years ago where you actually steer with the remote.”
“Mario Kart Wii is probably more realistic than what you’ve done. Besides, when have you driven?”
Theodora shrugged nonchalantly as she explained, “Nikita showed me how. I’ve driven around in an empty parking lot once or twice, so I figure I’m more qualified.”
Maxwell sighed, shaking his head. “I really feel like we should get someone who has an actual license on hand. Besides, Theo, this is an entirely different beast! New York traffic is infamous for being impossible to navigate without wanting to burn your horn out with how much you use it!”
“Max, c’mon. We’ve got seatbelts for a reason. ‘Sides, who’s gonna know?”
“Me! You! Hell, I wouldn’t be shocked if Mr. D, Chiron, or Lady A found out! No, I will not let you drive!” Maxwell stomped his foot on the ground as he huffed, coming off as more adorable than actually scary or intimidating. Of course, unphased as always, Theodora just laughed as she kissed her boyfriend.
“You’re the worst…”
“I love you too, Max.”
Maxwell stood beside the van, looking down at the ground as he nudged Theo, nodding towards an approaching NPC daughter of Hypnos. Theodora glanced at her boyfriend exasperatedly, making the son of Techne just shake his head as the daughter of the god of sleep got into the driver’s seat.
Maxwell got into the back seats of the van, leaving shotgun open if Theo wanted it. She did not. Instead, she decided to get back at her boyfriend for daring to doubt her ability to drive, license be damned. That’s why she got in the backseat with Maxwell, deciding to get into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, taking great satisfaction in the flushing of his face.
The daughter of Nike couldn’t help but laugh slightly at how easily the boy flushed, teasing him. “Something wrong, Max?” She asked nonchalantly as she fiddled and toyed with the drawstrings on Maxwell’s hoodie.
“Yes? One. We’re about to leave, and you’re on my lap. That’s… Not safe. Two. We’re not exactly alone, Theo. Three. This is my seat!” Maxwell listed off his reasons for wanting Theo to get off of his lap, unable to meet her eyes as he did so.
“Buzzkill.” Theo rolled her eyes as she slid off of Maxwell’s lap, plopping down right next to him afterwards. She got adjusted in her seat, wrapping an arm around Maxwell’s shoulder, pulling him close to her as the three demigods rode off towards the mechanic.
The mechanic was no further than half an hour out from camp, and the car ride was… Uneventful, to say the least. Mostly the occasional murmur from the young couple in the back, mostly about things such as Sam– Theo’s cousin, the son of Hecate– and his relationship with the other Sam, or about how Theo could go to the Techne cabin at any time due to it being mostly empty now.
Thankfully, right as Theodora was about to fall asleep from boredom, the car came to a halt as the daughter of sleep, who had driven them here with a valid driver’s license, of course, gave the keys to the mortal mechanic, telling him they needed an oil change. This was, of course, the cue for Maxwell, Theo, and their chauffeur to get out of the van, Maxwell stretching out as he did so.
Now, it was pleasantly warm outside today, and, as such, Maxwell decided to take his hoodie off, revealing a pair of overalls underneath. By the look of things, he really had his little heart set on changing the oil himself. Now, of course, the instant he took his hoodie off, Theo paused to check her boyfriend out just a bit think about something. For all of a second. The daughter of victory was quick to the draw thanks to her superior speed. Maxwell’s own creation, the flight-capable Omnichao, could only fly at 15 miles to the hour. Theodora, on the other hand, at her maximum potential, could blast past the automaton at a mindboggling 23 miles an hour. With this speed, dexterity, and agility, Theo could do a lot of things.
This includes stealing the seafoam green hoodie from Maxwell’s hands.
Maxwell’s eyes went wide as the hoodie was ripped from his hands. Of course, he kept a loose grip on it, but he didn’t expect it to just be ripped out like that. “Theo!” Maxwell said sharply, turning around, pouting as he saw her putting his hoodie on. There was a decent size difference between Maxwell’s clothes and Theo’s, and it showed. Maxie’s hoodie was just a little bit large on Theodora, and it was clear she was loving this. The grin on her face said it all as she spoke, “What? You clearly don’t want it on right now. That’s why you took it off, right? For me?”
“That’s–”
“That’s not–”
“I didn’t–”
“I knew it. Oh, I must be the luckiest girl alive.” Theo stuck her tongue out as Maxwell attempted to plead his case. “‘Sides, it smells like you, and I like having things which remind me of you.” Seeing Maxwell’s eyes roll, Theo clicked her tongue before she approached Maxwell, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed his nose. “I’ll let you have one of mine in exchange. Deal?”
“...Deal.” Maxwell sighed, folding his arms across his chest as he subconsciously used his thermal grasp power to steal some bodily heat from the blonde.
Mortal mechanics work fast. Provided they’re competent, that is. This particular mortal, who semeed no more than 40, seemed competent, though, as if making sure, Maxwell subtly watched from behind. The last thing he needed was for the three of them to be on their way back, only for the car to try to use gunk shot, and blast oil all over the freeway like they were laying the course for a Mario Kart track.
Thankfully, Maxwell couldn’t find any faults within the mechanic’s working. The man charged the trio of demigods a large fee of 70 USD, which made Maxwell cringe, taking a mental note to just ask if he could do it himself next time. He could’ve done it for a fraction of that price. 30 USD, if that. But, whatever. Not his problem. It would normally have been the problem of Theo’s moms, except for two issues. One. It’s not even a problem– they’re millionaires. 70 dollars is like pricking someone on the finger for one measly droplet of blood. They’d survive. Two. It seemed as though the daughter of Hypnos had them covered. Well, that was nice of her. The three campers all climbed back into the van after they paid for the mechanic’s service, riding back off to camp. Discussions between Maxwell and Theo mostly consisted of topics such as, ”When are we going to spar?”, ”My sleep schedule is fine.”, and, ”Since when did you appear in the news?” Normal demigod business. Another half of an hour passed, and the three demigods rolled up, the van still notably in one piece. Maxwell and Theo talked about it before they decided that they probably(?) didn’t have to go to the big house to make an announcement. It’s not like they fought monsters, much to the disappointment of Theodora.
Instead, Maxwell allowed himself to be dragged off to cabin 17 for the hoodie he was promised from Theo.

Previous Part
I grabbed the back pack Bianca had left in the kitchen and waited in the living room. I had no idea what she was packing for but after this morning I wasn’t going up there to check. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to ask Tuck yet. I wanted him to tell me he was a werewolf himself, that seemed like pretty important information just on the basis of trust. But I also wanted to know why he was really out by the mine yesterday. His story didn’t add up and there’s no way he knew we would be up there, I think that was just a coincidence. As I was trying to come up with exactly how I wanted to broach the question to Tuck, Frank put a hand on my shoulder. He was wearing his lab coat so I guessed he just came up from the basement. The hairnet he always seemed to wear when he was working was in its usual spot. I suppose he wore it to protect the memory of hair that was once on his head. He looked solemn and a little sick as he turned to me.
“Keep her out of trouble will you? I know we haven’t always been the best to her and I’m sure Stein and I don’t really give her the help she needs. But she’s like the daughter I never had time to have, I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to her.”
“Frank, you probably do more than you know for her. Did she ever talk about her family with you?”
“Very briefly throughout the years, I don’t know if she’s told you much or anything for that matter. It… it certainly wasn’t easy for her growing up and it never got easier.”
“I’ll do my best to keep her out of trouble. If she does end up following me into… whatever this trial ends up being just promise me you’ll have a way to get her out. Some kind of contingency, I can fend for myself but I’ve seen her just shut down before. Like yesterday in the caves someone grabbed her and she lashed out and just… wasn’t herself. She just froze and I don’t want that to happen anywhere near Shaoni.”
“I’ll work on something but I can’t promise that. Like Stein said we’re scientists, we don’t really do field work like that. If I do come up with something you’ll be the first to know. I’m glad she ran into you when she did Keith, she could really use a friend.”
With that Frank walked away, back towards the kitchen and into the basement.
It wasn’t long after that when I heard Bianca coming down the stairs asking if anyone had seen her toothbrush. At which point Rocco appeared in front of me from god knows where holding a suspicious disassembled toothbrush.
“Not. A. Word. Kid.”
Rocco growled at me as he scampered out the door behind me.
“I have a couple that I packed for the trip here from Wisconsin I can just give you one of those.”
I called to Bianca. Partially because I wanted to get a move on and partially because I wanted no part in whatever Rocco was getting up to. If there was one supernatural thing about this town it was that raccoon’s knack for mischief. I get that’s what raccoons are known for but seriously, Rocco was on another level. Bianca reluctantly agreed to take one of the travel tooth brushes I had back at my house. I wasn’t even going to ask why she packed a duffle bag to go a few hundred feet into town and back again.
“Come on we’ll take the bikes again.”
Bianca said as she made her way behind the house.
“I’m telling you they’re going to give me tetanus one of these days but sure. Lets just stop at my place first, I want to drop off this backpack you took yesterday first.”
Bianca was still wearing the ratty jeans she’d taken from me yesterday and at this point I just figured she could have them. I really wasn’t about to get into an argument as to why she should take my pants off and… ugh even saying it is just… no. Those were hers now as far as I was concerned.
We rode over to my house through the crisp autumn afternoon. The trees along the street were finally being to change color, it looked like a scene from a postcard. One of those one’s of the idyllic towns that could’ve come straight out of a hallmark movie. I had to give it to Eagles Peak, it may by turning into a den of vipers for me minute by minute but it sure could be beautiful, in it’s own isolated kind of way.
“Wow its very… small.”
Bianca commented as she stepped into my house and looked around.
“Yeah not everyone has a blank check from two different governments like Stein.”
“I didn’t mean li…”
“It’s ok I know what you meant, its different.”
I said cutting her off before she had the chance to apologize. I dropped off the backpack in my room and rooted around in the one duffle bag I still hadn’t unpacked from my trip here. I found the toothbrush without to much trouble and walked into the living room to give it to Bianca only to find her unpacking on the couch.
“What’s going on here, are you moving in?”
I joked, not expecting the answer I was about to get.
“Yeah, kind of hard to keep an eye on you from my house. I suppose I could from the top floor but if we’re working against Shaoni that doesn’t seem like a great idea. She’s got that whole thing with lighting and I get the sense her being angry at you while your up in the air isn’t a great combination.”
Bianca said, unpacking a blanket like she wasn’t just inserting herself into my house.
“WHAT?”
I shouted, maybe a little too loud.
“Is there a problem?I thought you wanted me looking out for you, this is me, doing that.”
She said looking up at me with puppy dog eyes. You’ve got to understand, those eyes coming from someone like Bianca, glowing or otherwise, well you just can’t say no to that. When it’s Bianca you really can’t say no. She can just take that option away in an instant but again she didn’t for me, it was still my choice.
“I.. sure but you can have my bed. We’ll get everything set up once we get back from the Roost. You did tell Frank and Stein about this right?”
I gave in, deciding to let her stay.
“I’m a big girl, they doin’t need to know everything I do, and… thanks”
“It’s alright, just let me know next time you’re going to pull something like this ok?”
I added, equal parts excited to actually have someone to talk to besides myself in my own home, and worried what Frank and Stein might think was going on here. I put those thoughts out of my head for the moment as we got back on the bikes.
It was about 3 by the time we made it to Tuck’s bar after the delay Bianca had caused by moving herself out before we left. Just as I expected the sign said closed but the door was unlocked. The bar looked exactly the same as the last time I was there. Stone fireplace roaring and pristine wooden floor looking like it had been polished just this morning. Tuck was sitting behind the bar looking worse for wear. The look on his face said he knew we were coming and he wasn’t to thrilled about it.
“Does he know?”
Tuck asked pointedly, looking straight through me and speaking to Bianca.
“About me or you, because the answer is both of us.”
Tuck shook his head at this and a grim look came over him.
“Ya shouldn’t have pulled him into this.”
“Actually I pulled her into it if anything, going out there was my idea. I’ve got a mark like Robert’s, its actually what brought me to town in the first place.”
I said, hoping my honesty would get the same out of Tuck.
“So that bird called ya out here somehow?”
“More or less, but that’s not what I’m here about. I want to know why exactly you followed us out there yesterday.”
Tuck sighed and gestured to the seats at the bar, beckoning Bianca and I to take a seat.
“When Robert chased ya out the other night some of his friends came by. They all got that mark like him, they were sayin’ something about the thunderbird makin’ an appearance back at the old mine. I wanted to see for myself and make sure they were wrong. I found those bikes and ended up followin’ the trail. By the time I got there some guys were poking around that hole in the wall and a storm had kicked up. I saw them cut that rope and figured they weren’t doin’ no good. I… changed and dealt with them then forced my way into the old mine entrance, the rest ya already know cause I ran into ya not long after.”
This story made more sense to me, Tuck never came out there to find me, I just so happened to be out there. Those boulders I thought were moved had been, by Tuck which made me question just how strong he was. Each of those huge things had to weigh tons and there were three strewn about the entrance.
“Ok that makes more sense than what you told me, but what were you hoping to accomplish up there. If you ran into the thunderbird what would you have done?”
“I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t really up there again but the storm seemed to say otherwise. No storm like that just pops up and goes away, the bird had to be involved with that.”
“Actually she was there, just not as some huge bird. She was down in the caves with us but she looked human, native American to be more precise. That’s how I met her when I got marked and now she’s holding some kind of trial out in those mines.”
“You met the thunderbird, its a person? What does she want with this place now.”
Tuck said his demeanor changing into one full of concern. I didn’t know what else to say cause at the moment I didn’t actually know much more than that. It’s infuriating, this being in the dark thing. I just settled for dodging the question.
“Not to change the topic but are we to early to grab a bite to eat?”
I wish I had a camera handy because the face Tuck made at that whiplash change of topics was priceless. I can’t properly do it justice with words. Suffice it to say one of his eyebrows hit the ceiling while the other hit the floor and a violently confused expression plastered his face.
“Sure I guess, what do the two of ya want!”
Tuck exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air and walking back behind the counter. I ended up ordering some fried chicken sandwich with bacon and pickles, and as I took the first bite my risk of heart attack increased ten fold. Bianca ordered the same thing and was pecking at it inquisitively when I asked,
“So what’s the story with Rocco?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean why, why did Frank and Stein make him in the first place?”
I asked through a mouthful of greasy goodness.
“Well I think it started out as a joke, then Stein actually wanted an assistant and that joke became Rocco. They worked on him for a while, pretty much they took a random raccoon off the street and played around in its head. I know there was some gene splicing involved but if you want to know how they did it ask them.”
“So he was supposed to be an assistant in the lab? I think I’ve seen him doing one thing to help them out this whole time and he was poking through a back alley for old batteries.”
“Yeah, he’s not a great assistant, must be good enough though cause they haven’t tossed him out.”
“Are you kidding me! If they tossed him out he be so much worse! Just think, Rocco left to his own devices without any supervision.”
Both of us shuddered at the thought, if he was bad now he’d be a menace to society without the little control we had over him.
Bianca and I ate and eventually Tuck came out and I told him my story about Imalone. He seemed really concerned at the fact that the thunderbird could be walking around town and he wouldn’t know about it. I assured him that Shaoni was really hard to miss if you just looked at the eyes. It wasn’t like she looked any different either, no matter what she was wearing those tattoos would be a dead giveaway. Tuck assured me he was going to keep an eye out and gave me his number to call if I saw her. I don’t want to talk down on Bianca, but something about having a werewolf looking out for me as well was reassuring. Tuck told us a bit about what he was doing with Frank and Stein too. Apparently he contracted his “disease” as he called it long before he came to work in Eagles Peak. He was originally from Louisiana and moved to New York for a change of scenery and ended up getting a job in the mines here around 1940. I should also mention Tuck ages very slowly due to his “disease” so he looks like he’s in his 50’s or so but he was born in 1900. To his credit you’d never know he was anything other than your friendly middle aged bartender.
Bianca and I were getting ready to leave as it came time to open the bar for real. When Tuck offered us a round of drinks on the house.
“No, no that’s alright Tuck, you’ve done enough for us we’ll see you later.”
Bianca politely declined, pulling me towards the door. After I said my goodbyes and we had gotten back to the bikes I asked Bianca,
“Do you not drink? I’m not judging just… when Tuck offered you seemed kind of jumpy.”
“I just never have, I was kind of bouncing around the country when I turned 21 so I just never started.”
“So your telling me you never had your first drink? Well, we have to fix that then.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, its like a right of passage where I’m from. We’ll pick up a six pack or something on the way back but we don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”
I said, trying to convince her. I’m not a huge drinker but I am from Wisconsin, alcohol is a way of life out there and we’re know for our beer. In my family turning 21 and having your first drink is cause to bring the whole family together. I couldn’t do that for her but I could at least give her the experience, maybe give her just one more good thing to remember.
Bianca agreed and we pulled into the Save-A-Lot just outside town. The building was painted white bit it was slowly peeling away revealing a concrete grey underneath. The big glowing sign was missing a few letters now simply reading Sav- -Lo. Despite its decaying state it still had the classic beer cave inside. I took a second to look for something from Wisconsin, call me a snob but we do beer right. I settled on a 12 pack of Leinenkugel, that was close enough to home for me. Bianca trailed behind me in the store, a bit like a scared cat looking for a place to hide. Obviously she didn’t get out much and having people she didn’t really know much about was stressing her out somewhat. We got to the checkout and an older cashier eyed my suspiciously.
“Can I see an ID”
She croaked in a hoarse smokey voice. Now I don’t always look my age but I’m 28 there was no reason to try and ID me. That didn’t really bother me so much as the fact that my wallet was still at home. I’ve been spending the cash Bianca gave me back when I watched her house and I just keep that in my pocket. I also have a bad habit of only brining my wallet when I knew I would need it instead of carrying it on me. Regardless I started to sweat a little as I tried to explain the situation.
“You see I would but I left mine at home and I’m not sure if…”
I was cut off by Bianca reaching out and brushing the cashier’s hand Then looking her straight in the eye. I knew exactly what she was doing.
“Look we don’t have an ID for you right now can you just take it on faith?”
“I understand sweetie, here why don’t I cover it for you, my treat.”
The cashier said, turning a complete 180 on her previous question. I looked from Bianca to the old woman a few times before Bianca finally shrugged.
“What?”
I wondered if it was that easy for her to change my mind back when she manipulated me into watching the house.
“So she just payed for it?”
I asked Bianca as we walked back to the bikes.
“That was her, not that I couldn’t make her do that. As far as I can work out, if I suggest something people tend to do it. Over the years I learned how to control that to the point where I’m only able to do it when I want to. Frank said it has something to do with pheromones in my breath or something like that.”
Bianca explained, hoping onto her bike and keeping pace with me back towards my house. I didn’t ask for an explanation but she gave it. I’m not really sure pheromones were something that could have that profound of an effect on someone but I’d just add it to the list of questions I’d have to ask Frank or Stein at some point.
“Still it was a bit weird seeing it from the outside. Was I that easy to convince before?”
Bianca got a mischievous look in her eye.
“Oh, you were so much easier, I barley needed to try. Just flip my hair and flutter my eyes a few times and that was that.”
She said, smiling devilishly at me. I blushed a little bit, partly because that’s probably all it would’ve taken from someone who looked like her and partly because I was embarrassed that she might not just be poking fun at me.
“No you definitely did something to me, I lost like 6 hours in your kitchen! That was you right…right?!”
I asked a little nervous. Bianca just laughed and pedaled off ahead of me. She did not put my mind at ease with any sort of answer but she did beat me back to the house.
When I got in She was sitting on the couch sorting through a pile of movies she pulled out of her duffle bag. She really had just thrown the entire contents of her room into a bag and brought them over. Bianca seemed to settle on a movie before she realized I’d walked in.
“So you like horror?”
I said, gesturing to the same movies I’d seen lying out earlier when I watched her house.
“Yeah, I just like seeing how people think all these things act. Like Tuck, werewolves are always looked at as these big imposing things in movies but he’s a puppy in comparison.”
“The guy looks like he could tear me apart down the middle with his bare hands buuuut, I see your point.”
Thinking back to every interaction I’d had with the guy so far, he never really was as scary as he looked. I sat down on the couch, dropping the case of beer on the coffee table.
“So, have you picked out a movie yet?”
To which Bianca closed her eyes and poked at a random movie in the pile. “Dog Soldiers”, it was called, actually I think I’ve heard of that movie before. One of those its so bad its entertaining things. I popped the movie into my DVD player and sat back, handing Bianca a beer.
“ Is this how normal people feel?”
She asked as the movie started.
“Depends on what you mean by normal, even then I’m not sure that’s the question I’d be asking. Maybe you just finally have a chance to relax after years of never being able to.”
“Oh sure, I’ll just relax now that I know we have the actual thunderbird looking to force you into some kind of trial.”
Bianca joked sarcastically before suddenly softening and taking a sip of her beer.
“Uggg that’s bitter… but not bad. Maybe your onto something Kieth.”
I don’t remember much from the movie. One scene stuck with me, a guy trying to fist fight a werewolf. It was already campy but the effects on the werewolf were just dated enough to make it that much funnier. Bianca and I couldn’t help but to Imagine Tuck as the werewolf, bewildered as to why this scrawny thing thought it could fight him. At some point the beer ran out, Bianca and I making it through the whole case. I remember getting up to go to my own room and Bianca pulling me back. What I didn’t remember though was letting Shaoni into my house. I was woken up by a tap on my shoulder, coming face to face with her. Shaoni’s hand was on one shoulder and Bianca’s head was on the other. At some point we both feel asleep on the couch together, the TV was still on, illuminating the dark room.
“Well well, I wasn’t expecting you to have guests Keith.”
Shaoni mocked, clicking her tongue at me as she finished. She wore the same white night dress I’d seen her in before. Something in the house was open, a window, a door? I didn’t know but the smells of an autumn rainstorm blew into the house, a storm no doubt caused by Shaoni.
“I… its not what it looks like.”
I stammered out, embarrassed to be caught like this.
“I don’t care what you get up to in your free time Keith. I just came to tell you I’ll expect you at the mine tomorrow, The trials will be starting soon and I want everyone who will be participating to meet each other, you will be participating, won’t you Keith?”
She asked like it was a question but it really wasn’t, wether I liked it or not I was going to be there, I could come willingly or kicking and screaming. She was simply asking which I wanted it to be.
“When do you want me there?”
“Oh don’t worry about that, I’ll send someone to collect you around noon.”
With that she turned to walk away, but I wasn’t done with her yet.
“Wait! What exactly are these trials, what am I going to be doing out there?”
“That would spoil the surprise Keith, be patient, you’ll know in time. That pretty little thing there, her name wouldn’t happen to be Bianca, would it?”
Shaoni asked, pointing at Bianca who was still asleep on my shoulder.
“How did you know that?”
I shot back, immediately jumping to Bianca’s defense. I hadn’t known her all that long true, but I didn’t want her any closer to this than she had to be.
“Oh no reason.”
Shaoni said with a snicker that sounded more like a hiss. With that she disappeared, and I mean she was just gone. One minute she was there the next there was a gust of wind and a brief flash of light and she was gone. The disruption was enough to wake Bianca up finally.
“Ugh, head..still…spinning.”
“Heh, I think you overdid it a bit last night.”
“Ugh maybe.”
She said, holding her head that still rested on my shoulder.
“What’s going on anyway, why’d you wake me up.”
“It’s just… well things are moving a bit faster than I hoped.”
I said, trying to reassure her that it was nothing, most likely failing miserably but she didn’t seem to notice. There was a second there that I thought maybe things could just be normal. This whole thing would just blow over and Shaoni would never come back and get me for these “trials” but I always knew it was wishful thinking. Now Bianca was a part of it to somehow, that had made up my mind. She’d been through enough, now Shaoni seemed interested in her all of a sudden. If putting myself through these trials kept her away from Bianca that’s exactly what I’d do.

Previous part
I stood in my doorway, frozen to the spot as Shaoni walked past me, into my house.
“Weren’t you going to invite me in?”
Shaoni cooed at me, somehow making the arbitrary question sound like a threat.
“I uh… what can I get you.”
I stammered out, automatically reverting to subservient. I know it sounds bad but when you’ve seen what I’ve seen her do you listen first, ask questions later.
“Is water alright? It’s all I’ve got since I only just moved here because… well I guess you know why already.”
I said, wanting to keep the orange juice I was currently hiding behind me in the fridge for myself.
“The visions? Yes I do know about them. It’s what drew all of you here, just like I wanted. Though you weren’t supposed to see the stage yet, none of you were.”
She said, narrowing her eyes at me, presumably because of my earlier expedition into the mine.
“Why do you keep saying “you” like there’s more than one of me?”
I asked, finally working up the confidence to question her.
“Because there is, do you really think you’re the only one I marked? Keith your a special case yes, but not that special.”
“Special case? What do you..”
“If you let me finish I’m getting to that.”
Shaoni cracked back at me, I could feel the pressure in the room rise with her temper.
“Sorry ma’am… it just slipped out.”
She seemed to find my knee-jerk formal apology amusing and the pressure in the room returned to normal.
“I offered several people the same deal I offered you, most accepted. These are the others I refer to, all of which are here or on their way here now. That’s what the dreams, visions, whatever you’d like to call them, were for.”
“So you wanted us here, all together in this one specific town, why?”
“The trials of course, if you remember you agreed to take a burden from me. I guess I would describe it more accurately as a gift but it has become a burden for me.”
“What is it?”
“Now where’s the fun in telling you now? Besides your smart enough, I’m sure you’ll figure it out on your own.”
She answered, smiling devilishly at me and sending little pin pricks of ice down my spine. I let the conversation fall silent for a bit, watching Shaoni sip absentmindedly at the glass of water I’d given her before I asked another question.
“So what exactly are these trials for?”
“I want to use them as a selection process, it separates the wheat from the chaff as the saying goes. Only one of you will take on my burden and I want to make sure its the right one.”
“Ok, that makes sense but I’ve still got one more thing. Why did you say I was special before?”
I inquired, as Shaoni got up and started to leave.
“Well, because this is all new to you, you have no idea of the forces really at play in the world, the “supernatural” is what you’d call it. You’re at a particular disadvantage because you didn’t know what you were getting into so I figured I’d help out of the kindness of my heart. In addition to that, many of those I’ve chosen came from my own followers. You are one of the few I found on my travels that accepted my deal. I believe in keeping things fair, and so I came to warn you of what’s to come.”
Shaoni told me as she walked out the door without so much as a goodbye. The storm that had been brewing outside left with her, dropping bits of cracked branches and loose leaves to the ground as she got further and further away. I finally realized I was still standing at my front door, glued in place watching her. Once I closed and locked the door I heard a shrill screech pierce the night as Shaoni shed her human appearance and took to the skies as I saw a single shiny grey feather flutter to the ground.
I didn’t get much sleep that night, I didn’t even try. After something like Shaoni waltzing into my home like she owned the place and telling me I’m about to be part of some kind of “trials”, I just gave up on sleep that night. What I was worried about more than anything was the fact that I didn’t have a choice. Sure, she had never said that out right but if she showed up to tell me the trials were starting and I said no, that wouldn’t go well. I’d probably end up like those men in Imalone, just ashes on the wind. There was something she wasn’t saying as well. Shaoni wanted to flaunt that there was some sort of reward at the end of this, that the whole process would help her select a “worthy candidate”. But the reward was also the burden I had agreed to take. If whatever it was was something she wanted to get rid of why would anyone look at it as a reward? Something just wasn’t adding up in my head so I decided not to think about it for a bit. I instead I threw on some clothes as the sun finally rose and made my way over to Bianca’s house to pick up my backpack that she still had.
“Hey there Frank. Where’s Stein I wanted to ask how that research was coming, and has anyone seen Bianca?”
I said as soon as I’d walked in the front door. Rocco was eating something out of a bowl on the counter top and shot to attention as he saw me.
“What do you just live here now?”
He remarked, whirling around to face me. Frank looked up from the paper he’d been reading at the counter and gave me a half hearted wave.
“Stein’s in the basement testing a few samples of thunderbird feathers Tuck brought in.”
“You know Tuck? The mountain that just so happens to run a bar in town, that Tuck?”
“Yes of course, he’s helped us immensely with developing a suppressant for lycanthropy.”
“I… we’ll unpack that one later I guess but I’ve got too find Bianca first, she still has something of mine. Let Stein know I’m looking for him if he comes back up.”
I told Frank as he nodded in acknowledgment and I made my way over to the stairs leading up to the second floor.
“Oh god dammit, I just got that!”
I yelled to no-one in particular as I knocked on Bianca’s bedroom door. I heard a crash behind it as Bianca came flying towards me, throwing open the door and almost smacking me in the process.
“What the hell is going on why are you here! And what did you just get?!”
She belted out at me, apparently startled by my outburst. She had a long loose t-shirt on and maybe something on underneath that, I wasn’t going to check. I must’ve turned crab red as I saw her but it didn’t stop me from telling her what I just pieced together.
“Their names, Frank and Stein, Frankenstein. They did that on purpose didn’t they? I can’t believe I didn’t pick up on that sooner!”
“What are you… oooh, OOOH! I’ve been around them how many years and I’m just picking up on that too.”
She said, sounding a little disappointed and smacking herself in the head with the palm of her hand.
“So what’re you doing here anyways Keith?”
“You still have my backpack from yesterday and I could use that back.”
“Oh sure I forgot about that, come in.”
She said holding open the door for me and causing her shirt to hike up a bit, She did not in fact have anything other than what you’d expect on under it.
“Ummm… do you maybe want to get dressed first?”
Bianca turned redder than I’d ever seen anyone get in an instant. Her eyes Immediately started glowing and she slammed the door shut, apparently just realizing she had answered the door in nothing but a T-shirt and underwear. I heard of muffled groan of embarrassment from the other side of the door and decided to leave her to it.
When I came back downstairs into the living room Frank and Stein where waiting for me on the couch. It was a sight to see, two old scientists sitting in the middle of a lavish black leather couch that wrapped the outer edge of the room. The two looked out of place, like a time traveler trying desperately to look normal in a society they knew nothing about.
“Before you guys start I’ve got to know, did you do that intentionally?”
“Did we do what, what are you talking about?”
They both asked in unison.
“The names, Frank and Stein, did you do that on purpose?”
Frank smiled at this and looked toward Stein who seemed to be fuming.
“It’s been 60 years since I’ve heard that question and no, its purely coincidental. We just so happen to share similar names with this Frankenstein”
Stein replied, actually shaking with anger. Frank on the other hand, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. In light of this I decided to push my luck just a little further.
“Ok, but I’m still going to call Rocco Frankenstein’s monster from now on, I can’t just pass up that opportunity.”
Frank laughed at this and Stein shook his head in disappointment.
“Children, both you.”
“Oh come now Stein, even you have to admit its a little humorous.”
“I will not be compared to some fantasy doctor and their failed facsimile of life! Rocco is a proper experiment with guidelines and uses that monster from the story is just a harebrained pet project!”
Stein fumed, seemingly offended at the concept of being compared to doctor Frankenstein. After a short tirade, none of which I really want to repeat here, we got Stein calmed down. Then the two got me seated and asked a question I wasn’t expecting.
“Do you know why we decided to settle down in this town in the first place?”
The question took me by surprise, I had assumed they just ended up here for no particular reason. Like a tumble weed being blown across the desert. They were here now caught on a fence or something but I always got the sense the wind would blow them along to somewhere else eventually. I hadn’t given much thought as to why they would be here at all. My vacant stare must’ve clued them into the fact that I had no idea how to answer the question.
“Let me rephrase, do you have any idea why things like Bianca or Tuck or even us seem to be concentrated here?”
Stein asked again, a calm tone to his voice like he was explaining something to a child.
“Tuck? What does Tuck have to do with this? I get you two are supernatural researchers and Bianca is a succubus but Tuck is just a really, really string guy right?”
I shakily asked, slowly drawing a connection to what Frank said about Tuck and lycanthropy when I came in.
“Tuck is a werewolf, a repentant one but a werewolf nonetheless.”
“That… actually would check out, It would definitely explain why the guy is built like the Rock’s bigger cousin. But what exactly are you getting at?”
“This town Keith, There’s a reason it attracts people like us and the Thunderbird is a big part of that. It had been sleeping in the mines as far as Frank was able to tell, once it woke up it caused the collapse and it made a huge stir. Obviously reports came out about this massive thing coming out of the ground and talking flight but you’ll never find any of them. The government stepped in to help Eagles peak cover up its existence, if people knew about the Thunderbird there would be uproars and questions as to what else was out there, questions no-one really would’ve had answers too. Instead they buried it and tried to bury most records of this town, turning it into a haven for the supernatural, especially those who would rather be left alone.”
Stein’s lecture made sense, if the town was basically wiped off the map as far as recent information goes it would explain its small size. I really hadn’t seen anyone in town besides those people getting off the bus the day I met Tuck and a few employees at local stores I went to. But not all of them could’ve been supernatural beings right?
“So are you trying to say everyone in town is some kind of what… supernatural entity?”
“Nothing as grand as that but there’s certainly more supernatural beings than usual concentrated in this town. Even some of the normal people have ties to the supernatural here. It’s a place were people who know about these things can pass through without to much scrutiny. What’s more interesting though is the other Thunderbird sightings we were able to dig up. Almost all of them lead to a town like this, taken off the usual map with a barley visible digital presence. Tiny little nowhere places that aren’t known for much and never show up on the news. The Thunderbird seems to be making these sanctuary’s for the supernatural throughout the world. It doesn’t seem to monitor these places afterwards but they certainly never recover from the coverups after the Thunderbird makes an appearance.”
Stein continued to lecture, speaking just as much with his hands as he did with his words.
“Has she ever come back to any of these sanctuaries she’s created.”
“She!? You don’t mean the woman you saw in Imalone? I had chalked her up to a stress induced hallucination.”
I had to briefly explain to Stein that I had not in fact hallucinated the naked woman that ultimately turned out to be Shaoni, to his displeasure.
“So you saw this woman then?”
“Yeah, in the cave attached to what I’d have to guess were the mines. She even showed up at my house last night.”
“It… she, talked to you?”
“She said that there was going to be some sort of trials to see who takes on this burden of her’s. The whole thing was really unclear if I’m honest.”
“So she’s coming back then, not only that but she’s in the town or the forest right now. I don’t get to say this often but I really don’t know what’s going to happen with this Keith. Frank and I will keep an eye on what we can but we’re researchers, if she decides to pull you into these trials we won’t be much help.”
Stein said, growing concerning on his face. I don’t think seeing Stein in this state did anything to assure me. This is someone who worked on the wrong side of world war 2 and he seemed scared by the thought of what Shaoni might be up to. It was at least nice to know someone would be monitoring the situation when I got myself killed.
“I could go with him.”
An unexpected voice cut through the silence of the room, Bianca’s voice. She had wandered down from her room wearing a black leather jacket paired with a tight red shirt and ratty jeans, my ratty jeans I noticed. She had the backpack she owed me in one hand and her eyes locked on us.
“What?”
We all said, in shock of what Bianca had just offered.
“I could go, watch your back and see what’s going on with these trials. I’m familiar enough with the supernatural, not as much as Frank or Stein but I could help.”
She said with raw unfiltered confidence that was unusual for her.
“I couldn’t ask you to do that, I told you the story, you know what Shaoni is capable of.”
I bargained, hoping to keep her out of the line of fire for some reason. I knew it would probably be smarter to bring her with me if I did get forced into these trials but some protective instinct kicked in. I’d seen her barley able to keep herself together just talking about her past and shut down when someone grabbed her. I didn’t want to see her get hurt trying to look out for me. Her past obviously still effected her in a big way. Another part of me wanted to bring her with me just to see her fight against the power her past still held over her. When we were on the way to that mine yesterday she finally seemed alive. Bianca wasn’t just this this scared person living in a gilded cage with two people who took her in like a kicked puppy. Yesterday she was her own person again, if only for a little bit.
“Look I can’t stay here doing nothing forever, besides you helped me out watching the house way back when you first got into town. You didn’t hold the fact I manipulated you into it against me and you never really cared about what I was. I at least owe you this Keith, please.”
Bianca begged, I didn’t feel like she was trying to pul me one way or another this time, the choice was my own. I could also tell it was hard for her to give me a choice, her nature was to just use her power and make me agree with her. That single fact meant more to me than whatever fight was going on in my head, I nodded to tell her I agreed.
Frank and Stein weren’t particularly thrilled with the idea of Bianca watching out for me. They were worried it put her in too much danger. Despite the situation surrounding those three I could tell Frank and Stein really did care for her, or at the very least worried about her. She may not realize it but she was like a daughter to them, anyone could see that, anyone but her apparently. Or maybe she had closed herself off from the world so much to try and survive on her own that she just couldn’t bring herself to realize it anymore. I think that’s the more likely option but it begged the question. Why exactly does she keep going out of her way for me?
Bianca managed to convince them to let her keep an eye on me. Thanks in no small part to the fact that she claimed living anywhere near Rocco for prolonged periods of time was hazardous to her health. At which point almost as if on cue, Rocco shot out of a wall. Not off of it or out from around, no straight out of the wall sending plaster flying like shrapnel. Right after this we smelled the beginnings of an electrical fire. Rocco ran back into the room and jumped back through the hole in the wall with a fire extinguisher. Frank and Stein lost their minds at this point and went to find the proper equipment to deal with that. They agreed with Bianca on the spot after that one. Rocco claimed he was “trying to update the wiring in the house”, whatever that meant but you could never tell with him. Once everything had calmed down I headed over to the kitchen to make lunch for myself. I settled for a bologna and mustard sandwich and sat down to eat. As soon as I took a bite of the sandwich my phone rang with a number I didn’t expect a call from, Mom.
“Hi, what’s going on?”
“Are you ok, You never call, I just got your message.”
My mother Carla said, in that worried but angry tone only mothers can pull off.
“I’m fine mom I just wanted to let you know what was going on with me, I don’t think I ever told you I was moving and I didn’t want you to worry.”
Bianca walked into the kitchen at this point in the conversation and looked at me. I put my finger to my lips and shushed her. She just sat down across from me and took a bite out of MY sandwich.
“You didn’t, I know I don’t see you much and your fine on your own but I still worry. We were never the closest but that doesn’t mean I don’t wan to know If you’re moving halfway across the country on a whim.”
“I know mom, I know. A lot of things happened at once and it was such short notice I just… forgot.”
“I understand… just call me next time alright, and if you ever just want to talk I’m here. Just because we weren’t all that close doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear from you now and then. Anyways I have to get back to work.”
“Oh, ok Just… how’s dad doing?”
I sighed knowing the answer to my question already.
“He’s… he’s the same Keith, Love you.”
And with that Carla hung up.
Bianca eyed me with a mildly stunned look on her face. Like she just realized I was born not raised in a test tube somewhere.
“That was your mom?”
She asked, pointing at the phone in my hand and still eating the sandwich I had made for myself.
“Yes, Oh come on give me that!”
I yelled, reaching for the sandwich in her hand. She laughed and pulled it away, finishing it. She tried to speak with a mouthful of sandwich but I couldn’t make out a thing till she gave herself a minute to chew.
“I haven’t talked to my mom since the whole thing with Brooke. She never approved and that was that, I went my way and she went her’s.”
“What about your dad?”
I asked her, suddenly not as mad about her stealing my food.
“I never really knew him. Apparently he left when I was really young but that’s about all I know.”
“Is there a single question I can ask about you that won’t just leave me feeling sorry I had a moderately normal life before this? Really I just… that’s terrible.”
Bianca looked a little sullen as she thought about her family, her real family. I realized that as strange as this whole relationship with Frank and Stein was it was the closest thing she had to something stable. Hell, I might be the first real friend she’s had outside of the house in years.
“Tell you what, I’m suddenly hungry for some reason so why don’t we head down to the Eagle’s Roost and get something to eat?”
I glared at her just a little bit as I said that first part.
“It’s like 1o’clock now I don’t think Tuck opens up till 5 or so.”
“Well I’ve got a few questions for him now, besides last time I went down there early too and he was just hanging out behind the bar, didn’t seem to mind either. Wait, you know him? He didn’t really look at you when he saved us yesterday, come to think of it he barley mentioned you.”
“Yeah I’ve seen him coming in and out of the house when he helps Stein with his experiments, giving blood and tissue samples to him, that sort of thing. I don’t know why he didn’t say anything to me. Maybe cause he thought Frank and Stein didn’t know I was out there so he just didn’t want to stick his toe in that situation?”
She had to think for a second about that last part, furrowing her brow and shrugging when she couldn’t come up with anything better.
“Could be it, anyways its just one more thing I can ask him. So are you coming with me or what?”
“Yeah sure, just let me pack a few things.”
“Pack a few things? What do you mean it’s just…”
But Bianca was already running up the stairs back towards her room.

Looking to get the thoughts and pick brains of other people with this experience.
I am Chamorro(Pacific Islander) and White. I have literally to no interactions with my white dad’s side of the family. I was raised by my mom’s side which is islander.
My grandparents came over from Guam and had my mom and her siblings. Because they were impoverished minorities we are located in a large section 8 public housing project. A very racially diverse hood but with no other islanders.
My mom and her siblings picked up very little accent from their parents and got most theirs from the world around them, which is mostly white and black people.
I grew up with that and had mostly black friends growing up.
I talk with a slight african american accent and with some aave, not as intense as most black people in my area but it’s noticeable.
Kicker: despite everyone raising me and surrounding me being brown I came out extremely white passing.
I feel like I get strange reactions from people of any group. White, black whatever can think im a white boy pretending to be black and hood/gangster. Other pacific islanders I meet generally refuse to believe im part of the culture I say I am. Im in a city that is very white outside of the section im from, so I really don’t relate to most white people too well. I subconsciously talk more white around coworkers who are mostly white, I think to avoid some judgment and confusion.
Any other people have a similar experiences?

The barrowlands were a vast expanse, unforgiving and empty. Hills undulated and rolled, carved by the winds and time and the hands of the First Men. Dust that had once been kings’ bones sat in the thousands of slopes that defined the landscape, their blatant artificiality only occasionally marred by collapses and uncontrolled treelines.
It was in one of these barrows that the Locke party had taken shelter. The edges of a spring storm had reached them, darkening the sky before its time and blanketing the land with misty rain.
The barrow was unmarked to their eyes, any runes long since worn away by time. Even Valena did not know to whom the tomb had belonged, and to Harwin’s mind, that meant nobody knew. Now, night had fallen in truth, and a small cookfire crackled fitfully, smoke curling out of the doorframe to be lost in the mist. Their meal was strips of salted venison, the finest gift of the Manderlys’ court, and a small celebration that they had set out on their way.
They had spent two weeks in White Harbour, in the end, and the memory left him glad to be free. Bella Woolfield was a busy woman, distracted and superior in equal measures. Harwin had felt exposed, especially when their hosts toasted the memory of Lord Barthogan and Marlon Locke.
Sylas sat against the far side of the dark barrow, eyes straining at that book he had brought from Oldcastle. He’d so far evaded any questions about it, and the well-worn leather binding gave little clue. The space was crowded by the rest of their retinue, quiet men intent on their food, tired from a day’s travel and disheartened by the weather. Only Valena seemed energised, scanning the roof of the barrow, a sketchbook open on her knees, charcoal staining her fingers as she scraped it across the pages.
“What are you drawing?” Harwin asked, finding her easiest to engage with. The question drew several pairs of eyes. Only three of their number weren’t present. Frenken was out checking on the horses, Jorah had insisted on standing guard, and Benjicot had not yet returned.
“Ceiling,” Valena said, pointing. “See how the way the stones are stacked makes an alternating pattern? Sort of back and forth here by the entrance? Spiralling in the burial chamber?”
Harwin nodded, though in truth it took him a moment to parse what she meant.
“That allows them to stack into an arch without mortar. The weight of the soil on top keeps everything tight, and it’ll more or less stand forever.”
“Why not build castles like that?”
“Because–” Valena flicked the stick of charcoal in that way that meant she had caught herself before giving an inadequate answer. She took a moment.
“They did build fortifications. I guess you wouldn’t call them castles, and honestly this all depends on which maester you read. In any case, though, it doesn’t scale. You couldn’t build something the size of the Wolf’s Den or Oldcastle like this.”
Harwin nodded. There was a fragility in expansion, he knew. He had seen some small glimpse of it in the pulls on Bella Woolfield’s time. So many things that could go wrong. It didn’t discourage him as much as it probably should have.
“Who goes there?” came a voice. In the muffling of the wind and the barrow, it took a moment for Harwin to identify Jorah. The voice that answered was too far away for Harwin to make out the words, but he knew its sound. He was on his feet before he knew it, striding out of the ancient tomb.
“Benji!” he called, grinning unexpectedly. The soaked knight smiled in return. One hand held the reins of his horse, the other rose in greeting. Harwin ran in, clasping a hand to Ser Benjicot’s shoulder.
“My lord, it’s good to see you again,” Benji said.
“And you - I was worried you would pass us by, in truth.” Harwin took the reins from him, and Benjicot hesitated only slightly at the unexpected courtesy.
“I did,” he admitted. “I passed by here, oh, four hours ago, when the storm was worse. I figured I must’ve missed you and turned back.”
“Glad you did, ser.” Harwin brought the horse over to the others, and thanked Frenken when he took a blanket from one of the carriages, throwing it over Benji’s steed and tying it down.
“How was your visit to White Harbour?” Benjicot asked, wiping the rain from his brow uselessly.
“Uneventful, in truth. We didn’t mean to stay so long, but the Woolfield-Manderlys were having a feast to celebrate a nameday. Insisted we stay.”
“Sounds luxurious, my lord.”
Harwin shrugged. “If I ever eat another lamprey pie, it will be too soon.”
Benjicot chuckled, and then made a little oh noise at the back of his throat, and fumbled for the saddlebags of his horse. “That reminds me, my lord. I have something you may enjoy, hold one moment-” Whatever he sought had been packed low, but eventually Benjicot pulled out a small satchel, opening it to reveal what initially seemed like so many mottled bones.
“King crab legs. Salted, from Sweetsister. Care to try one?”
He handed the leg over, and Harwin followed his lead as he split the shell with a press of his thumbs, pulling the pale meat out from within with his teeth. The meat was softer than he expected, sweetness mixing with the salt of its preservation. He made a satisfied grunt as he swallowed.
“Gods, that is good. Sweetsister, you said?”
“Aye, my lord.”
“I must visit some day. Is everything there that delicious?”
Benji chuckled. “I couldn’t say, honestly.”
“And this,” Harwin gestured to the food as Benjicot stowed it again, “should I take it as an indication your visit also went well?”
“I believe so, my lord.” Benjicot pulled a different, familiar satchel from the saddlebag, and gestured ahead of them in a question, shall we step out of earshot for this part? Harwin nodded, and they began walking in a wide orbit around the barrow. Harwin blinked into the mist, trying to clear the rain from his lashes to no avail. Benjicot took a moment before he spoke again.
“I wasn’t perfectly successful, my lord. The captains I spoke to were – I think understandably – mistrustful of an unproven town like Shackleton. Not to say there was no interest, mind. There was one captain from Widow’s Watch who seemed to take pleasure in the idea of undermining the Manderlys.”
Harwin couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Well, it’s one way to make an ally.”
“Indeed, my lord. Once I realised I should emphasise that Shackleton is a lumber town, I got some more interest. The Sisters have a great demand for wood these days, as I understand, and Braavos’ Arsenal is always hungry. In all, I think I convinced seven captains to make some trade, with another four or so on the fence.”
He handed over the satchel, and Harwin opened it. He didn’t bother counting the coins within, merely shifting them from side to side to get an impression. A bit over half remained from the allowance that Harwin had given.
“Thank you,” Harwin said. “I hope you didn’t run into any trouble?”
“Thankfully not. I met a man I had known as a squire, but he did not think to suspect me of anything.”
The near miss sent a small stab of fear through Harwin’s heart, but he tried to put it aside. It was days or weeks past now, and not worth worrying about, especially if Benjicot was discussing it so offhandedly.
“No other news from the New Castle?” Benji asked. “I know you had some concerns about the possibility of a marriage being suggested.”
Harwin laughed. “No, it never came up. Sylas tried to flirt with Bella’s cousin, but I don’t think it went well. He’s been unusually quiet since, though he was quite happy to spend my money to distract himself at the time.”
“My sympathies to him,” Benji grinned. “And your sister?”
“Oh, she spent much of the trip in the Wolf’s Den. I went with her a few times, stopped by the weirwood there. She took notes on the construction of the Den, I’m sure she’ll tell you everything you might want to know about Eyronic columns.”
“I have no doubt, my lord.”
Harwin stopped walking for a moment, looking out into the darkness of the barrowlands. The shadows were impenetrable, the rain oppressive. And yet he felt warmer than he had in weeks.
“I have missed you,” he said, turning to his knight. “More than I had expected to.”
Benjicot’s hair was windswept, auburn darkened to almost brown with the damp, and his beard was growing in stronger than he had let it before. It did not hide the smile that crept up his cheeks.
“And I you, my lord.”
“Thank you, again, for everything. We should probably go inside, get you warm.”
“I would appreciate that, my lord.”
They completed their lap of the barrow, returning to the small room with too many people, and the warmth of their greeting was greater than that of their fire. A plate of venison was pressed into Benjicot’s hands, and an energy filled the space anew as everyone asked after the knight’s health and of his news. Sylas retrieved wine from one of the carriages, and laughter rang through the tomb. The secrecy of Benjicot’s purpose in White Harbour was maintained, but gently mocked by all involved.
Harwin watched them all, trying not to focus too much on Benjicot. One would not think to look at the knight that he had risked his honour and freedom for Harwin. The merchants that he bribed would, Harwin hoped, prove profitable to Shackleton and Oldcastle for years to come. It was impossible to know just yet.
He was just glad to have Benjicot back amongst them. He had almost forgotten how close he had come to rely on the man in their weeks apart. Now, his household felt complete again. And it was his household, after all. The thought warmed him more than it once might have.
Sylas’ voice cut through the din of conversation. “Harwin, what’s our next stop?”
It took Harwin a moment to understand the context of the question, and so he barely avoided stammering when he answered, “Greywater Watch. Wanted to meet with the Reeds.”
Sylas nodded, curiosity satisfied, and returned to his conversation with Frenken. Their destination seemed to be helping him prove some point in a friendly argument. Benjicot was speaking with Jorah and his men, laughing over some dockside tale, pushing crab legs into the protesting guardsmen’s hands. Finally, Valena caught Harwin’s eye, smiling knowingly.
“Are we making friends all over the North?” she asked, half-mocking and half-sincere.
Harwin laughed, and didn’t answer.
Gods, he hoped so.

I am posting this for my friend to hopefully pass on some advice to her from here as she does not have Reddit. She lives in CA in San Diego County.
Here it goes: “I moved my stuff into the house I found and signed a lease for Friday. I hired movers and as they were moving stuff in I noticed a couple dead bugs and I took a picture and sent it to my sister in law and asked if they're roaches. I also asked the property management but it was after 5 so I'm sure they were out of the office by then. Well my sister in law said they are roaches but if I didn't see any they may be outside ones so I thought okay good to know. Well it got late and my movers were done at about 930 and then I was getting my kids to bed and I noticed the bottom of their feet were black from playing in the house. I was upset that they didn't clean but I thought it's fine. I'm just happy to be in a new house. Then as I'm laying in bed with my kids getting them to sleep I felt something crawling on my hand and shook it fast and turned the light on and it was a roach, it ran away on my bed then up the wall I grabbed my vacuum and vacuumed it up. I called my sister and told her and she said "omg I wonder if they're inside. Go into your kitchen flip the lights on fast and see if you see them crawling around." I did and it was horrific 😢 they were crawling all over the floor, walls, door and my furniture😭 all sizes even little baby ones. I immediately grabbed my kids one by one and put them in my car no pants or shoes! I left everything except my wallet, their tablets and the clothes on our backs. I got a hotel since there was nothing my apartment for us to sleep on or blankets or pillows. I'm traumatized and devastated and can't even explain thing to my kids because they don't understand but they keep saying new house new house. I cried all day yesterday. I have been so sick thinking about what will happen next. I don't want to live there and I know by the dead roaches they were aware of the infestation and didn't tell me about it at all. I would have never signed that lease. It's a dream come true turned to nightmare. I want my money back for the deposit and rent (3600 each and so 7200) and I paid 1300+ for movers and 700 on a hotel. I also don't want my stuff since it's contaminated. My sister and I looked up info and roaches leave a trail of urine, feces and saliva which can cause an array of disease and health problems. Not only that but they didn't clean after trying to get rid of them and I was feeling sick and my daughter threw up yesterday. I took her to urgent care. I'm just devastated and just seeking resources”

Anywho... my gf's cousin (lets call her P) was hanging out with this guy last week (let's call him S). One day this couple(a guy a girl) comes to the front yard and ask the other members of the house if P lives there. They say she does. Anywho, they say she needs to stop hanging out with S because he's dangerous and something bad might happen (S was with P inside the house at this time)
The same night, the tires on their car get slashed. So obviously they call the cops, open an investigation and relay everything to the cops (we have a theory amongst ourselves that S is part of a local Asian gang. Naturally P stopped hanging out with S).
Anywho, the very next day they install one of those front door camera ring bells that records when there's movements. They fix the tires and await the cops to investigate.
A few days ago they saw the same girl who threatened then pass by the house, I guess to stalk?
Anywho, today... it's discovered the tires got slashed AGAIN, but only on one side, and the camera didn't pick it up. The cops are already there investigating
My question is... is there anything they could get to better protect themselves? They're not rich by any means, so anything budget friendly would be appreciated

My normal posts are 2-5 paragraphs. This is long because it's a starter.
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The sloping ground around the Kiaurk family mesa had been sculpted into shelves or terraces, and it was on one of those upper terraces that Kiaurk Nshurr now lounged beneath a pergola anchored to the striated stone face behind her. The mesa rose at her back: an enormous, looming, almost sheer outcrop that her family's dwellings had been carved into the face of. Wide, shallow steps cut into the artificial (but entirely convincing) sandstone wound their way up between landings and porticos leading inward, between tiny balconies shaded by bright solid-colored canopies, between rooms with flat walls and rounded corners that came jutting out to shadow the steps below. Rriigkhans rarely used glass as window barriers; smooth-edged holes had been cut through the rock in varying shapes and sizes. It could be difficult to tell which apertures were windows and which were entryways. A physical barrier that kept out the elements was obsolete in all but the crudest dwellings, though some of these larger holes were curtained with braided string or strips of cloth that served a purely decorative purpose.
From her high vantage point Nshurr could see the shelves stretching out below her as the base of the mesa leveled out to flattish terrain that was a wonderland of vegetation in muted rainbow colors: mustard yellows, clay reds, earthy browns and the occasional dash of sage or dusty blue. This scrubland lay like a blanket around everything below that was not part of the village between the mesas. Down there, adobe compounds never taller than two or three storeys seemed so squat compared to the mesas that Nshurr could see towering in the distance, many of those family mesas only a few hours walk from her own if she traveled by foot. The village sprawled, with tile parkways winding in serpentine fashion between the various buildings, courtyards, parks, and ponds. There were no property lines, no clear division of the land into neat little plots owned by the individuals who lived and worked in these places. It all seemed to be part of a whole, with a single unifying aesthetic. The village housed those rriigkhans of the lower castes, the kharratah and chelhautah, and the humans which were a caste all their own, haukagh-ar, except for a small number who lived with their employers in the caverns of the mesas or up on the plateau.
This planet, Sgarrl, terraformed over three hundred years ago, was home to more humans than any other Ssaarian world – aside from Earth, of course, discovered eighty years ago. The fact that humans shared so much in common with rriigkhans made them the perfect species to incorporate into the rriigkhan caste structure. They breathed the same mix of gases and required similar gravities, and their nimble little fingers were very useful for all sorts of work.
Still, despite the weird pidgin humans had made of her language and their English, she liked the little creatures. She had come to live with her Grandmother on Sgarrl only a month ago, and had never encountered them before. The males only stood as tall as her collar. The females were shorter still, much like the males of her own species.
To human eyes Nshurr was , with a muscular swimmer's body and the broad muzzle of a big cat, with watchful, forward-facing predator's eyes that seemed unexpectedly expressive, because rriikghans had almost as many muscles around their eyes as humans did around their mouths to convey the nuances of emotion. Despite being larger than even many Earth men, she was considered sleek by rriigkhan standards. She made up for that with her broader crest.
The rriigkhan crest was something like the crest of Utahceratops – a keratinized plate growing up out of the skull, except divided into three lobes instead of two, with scalloped edges along the outer rim. Unlike depictions of Utahceratops, the rriigkhan crest was not covered by skin. At least, not on the top. Thick ropy veins squiggled under velvet fur on the underside, closer to the neck. (A thick, arching neck muscular enough to support the weight of that crest meant that Rriigkhans walked with a stoop that made them seem hunchbacked, to humans.) The surface of the plate on top was often rough, even bumpy or corrugated like deer antlers in some areas, smooth in others. Every female crest had four tines jutting from the front – a pair several inches above the eyes, and another pair further up.
Nshurr's crest was wider than average, her upper tines spaced further apart, and combined with a compact face this made her look top-heavy. (A human might say that she was more snow leopard than lion.) Most female crests did not interfere with the movement of the ears – highly mobile, highly expressive paddle shaped things – but the edges of Nshurr's crest did jut out enough to almost shield them.
That her crest was weighty, that it was inconvenient, that she was often aware of it – this was Nshurr's pride. Her long tail curled happily when she caught males looking at it. Humans seemed to be intimidated by it sometimes, as if she might decide to stab them with her “horns.” She considered herself a confident person; not a braggart, but self-assured, and to carry her jhekaah so visibly pleased her to no end.
Her fur was an almost peachy off-white, but a mask of pale peach shaded each seafoam green eye. The mask blended into the white further up her forehead until fur gave way to bone-tan crest, and was split between her eyes by the white of her nose. Oblong spots in that same peachy color, each blending from dark to light, streaked down her sides.
These weren't the natural colors of her distant ancestors. It was unheard of to see a rriigkhan who was not gene-modified in some way, even if those modded genes had been part of rriigkhan life for so long that no one thought of them as mods any longer. She also thought nothing of the subtitles her augmented reality implant displayed whenever a human spoke, AI translated to help her decipher the pidgin. AR was simply a part of her, had been since she was a kit.
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OOC Information:
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For this particular prompt I imagine you'd play a human, probably a new arrival to Sgarrl but maybe someone who was born there. Even though I've set up a situation where my character would have a lot of power and yours very little, I want to clarify that I'm only looking for a mutually loving, slow burn romance.
My “type” that I'd like you to play would be an average man in the 40-60 age range, with realistic personality flaws.
I prefer partners who like to reply more than once a day. 2-3 replies per day would be ideal, but I understand life gets in the way. I usually write 2-5 paragraphs, or 150-450 words per post. This starter is much longer than my typical post length, but my lengths really vary a lot. If I'm introducing a new character or scene, my post might be 1,000 words, or it could be 100 words if our characters are in the middle of a conversation.
Please send a writing sample if you have none in your post history. No need to custom write anything for me, old samples are fine.